Priscilla Presley, second from left, her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, second from right, and Lisa Marie's children, Riley Keough, left, and Benjamin Keough, right, take part in a ceremony commemorating Elvis Presley's 75th birthday in Memphis, Tenn., on Jan. 8, 2010. (Mark Humphrey/AP Photo) Elvis Grandsons Death Ruled Suicide by Gunshot Wound: Medical Examiner The grandson of Elvis Presley and son of Lisa-Marie Presley was ruled a suicide via a gunshot wound, said the Los Angeles County Medical Examiners Office on Tuesday. Benjamin Keough, 27, died on Sunday, and an autopsy was completed on Monday. The Los Angeles County medical examiners office told news outlets that his cause of death was intraoral shotgun wound, while his manner of death is listed as suicide. Lisa-Marie Presley reacted to her sons death in a statement on Monday. She is completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated but trying to stay strong for her 11-year-old twins and her oldest daughter Riley, her representative said in the statement. She adored that boy. He was the love of her life. Keough was the son of Presley, 52, and musician Danny Keough, meaning he is the grandson of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. Hes also the brother of actress Riley Keough. According to TMZ, he signed a $5 million record deal in 2009, and he has one acting credit listed on IMDB. However, Keough is known for his striking resemblance to his grandfather. Lisa-Marie once addressed the comparisons between the two. Ben does look so much like Elvis. He was at the Opry and was the quiet storm behind the stage, she said. Everybody turned around and looked when he was over there. Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny. Keoughs ex-girlfriend, Alexa Rohde, also posted a tribute after his passing. You made the best jokes, and always broke the rules, she wrote on Instagram. You were my favorite person from the moment I met you. I wish we couldve kept you forever Ben Ben. I hope youre having all the delicious sushi in paradisewords will never be enough. Reportedly, Presleys song Storm and Grace is about her son, whose middle name is Storm. Other details about Keoughs death were not made publicly available. Suicide Hotlines If you are in an emergency in the United States or Canada, please call 911. You can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255. Youth can call the Kids Help Phone on 1-800-668-6868. In the United Kingdom, call Samaritans at 116 123, Papyrus at 0800 068 41 41, or Childline at 0800 1111. In Australia, the suicide prevention hotline at Lifeline is 13 11 14. You can also visit the Lifeline website at lifeline.org.au. Youth can contact the Kids Helpline by phoning 1-800-551-800 or visiting headspace.org.au/yarn-safe If you are in an emergency in India, call Befrienders IndiaNational Association at +91 33 2474 4704. April 7, 1930 - June 28, 2020 Knut F. Olsen, of Palmyra, Va., died peacefully in the arms of his daughter, Ann-Louise and son-in-law, Joe Fisher on Sunday morning, June 28, 2020, after struggling with anemia and a weakened heart valve after open-heart surgery many years ago. Born in Horton, Norway, on April 7, 1930, to a large family, Knut grew up under Nazi occupation until he was 15, when he joined the Norwegian Merchant Marines and literally travelled the world, from the Northern Arctic to Cape Town S. Africa, to the Pacific Islands and oceans everywhere in between. Aboard ship, he developed careers as both a machinist and a cook. While home he met his future wife, Evelyn, an American of Norwegian descent who was visiting her family. He later immigrated to the United States and married Evelyn at the Norwegian Sailors Church in Brooklyn, N.Y. They settled in Brooklyn and Knut joined the United States Army. So, remarkably, Knut served both the Norwegian fleet services and the American ground forces. Later, they moved to New Jersey where Knut resumed his career as a machinist. They lived there until they retired and moved to Lake Monticello in Palmyra, Va. in 1987. Getting restless, in 1991 Knut began another career, joining the Lake Monticello maintenance team where he was often seen supporting the main club house and swimming pool. Knut was instantly recognizable around the Palmyra area from his variety of cowboy hats and his Norwegian accent. He received a 15 year certificate of appreciation from the Lake in 2006 and retired shortly thereafter. After his wife's passing in 2016 and a serious bout with pneumonia shortly thereafter, he moved in with his daughter, Ann-Louise in early 2017, where he passed away this past Sunday. He is survived by a younger sister in Norway; his son, Kenneth; his daughters, Ann-Louise and Lise; seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. A private family service is being held. "The ruling by the New York Court of Appeals is a good outcome for the Northern Access Project, and is consistent with long-standing principles concerning the use of eminent domain for federally-regulated gas pipeline projects," National Fuel spokeswoman Karen Merkel said. The company has not said when it would start construction. There is further litigation, including an effort by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to get a federal court in New York City to block the project. The DEC refused to give National Fuel a water quality permit allowing the pipeline to cross streams along its route. But the Court of Appeals said that's irrelevant because FERC's ruling trumps anything the DEC might do, and FERC didn't make state action a condition for its approval of the project. "A FERC order is final and effective as a matter of federal law until it is stayed by FERC, itself, or an appropriate reviewing federal court," the Court of Appeals said. Gary A. Abraham, Schueckler's attorney, said two federal laws seem to conflict, and the two Court of Appeals judges who dissented from the ruling recognized that. As a girl growing up in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates, Sarah al-Amiri looked at an astronomy book with a photograph of Andromeda, the giant galaxy neighboring our Milky Way. I cant describe it, al-Amiri said in an interview, but just to realize that something that was printed on a page was larger than anything that Ive ever seen and dwarfs the planet that I live on. When she was in college, there were few opportunities in the Middle East to pursue studies of the universe, and al-Amiri majored in computer science instead. But now, the UAE is aiming to inspire its youth to pursue science and technology careers, and al-Amiri has forged a career pursuing the heavens. Just 33 years old, she is the head of science operations and the deputy project manager for a space probe that the UAE is about to send to Mars. At 4:51 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, a rocket lifting a spacecraft called Hope is to begin its journey to Mars. It is the boldest move yet by a country that is looking to establish a future that will long outlive its oil wealth, and sees a space program as one way to accomplish that goal. Mars will be much in the news for the next month, a once-every-26-month interlude when Earth and Mars line up to allow robotic spacecraft to make a relatively quick trip. After several delays, NASAs next Mars rover, Perseverance, with instruments to search for chemical signs of past life, is scheduled to launch July 30. China will also try to launch an ambitious mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, in about a week. A fourth mission, which would put a Russian-European rover named Rosalind Franklin on Mars, was pushed off the calendar because of technical hurdles that could not be cleared in time. Preparations for Hope, the smallest of the bunch, proceeded smoothly, and it is now the first to be ready for liftoff. Because the UAE does not yet have its own rocket industry, it bought the launch for Hope aboard a H-IIA rocket from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a machinery maker in Japan. At the launch site, on Tanegashima Island in Japan, the liftoff will occur at 5:51 a.m. About the size of a Mini Cooper car, Hope is to arrive in orbit around Mars in February. The spacecraft which cost about $200 million to build and launch is carrying three instruments: an infrared spectrometer, an ultraviolet spectrometer and a camera. From its high orbit varying from 12,400 miles to 27,000 miles above the surface Hope will give planetary scientists their first global view of Martian weather at all times of day. Over its two-year mission, it will investigate how dust storms and other weather phenomena near the Martian surface speed or slow the loss of the planets atmosphere into space. That, however, is not the main reason that the Emirates government built Hope. A lot of you might ask us, Why space? Omran Sharaf, the Hope project manager, said during a news conference Thursday. Its not about reaching Mars. Rather, Sharaf said, the countrys primary aim is to inspire schoolchildren and spur its science and technology industries, which, in turn, will enable the Emirates to tackle critical issues like food, water, energy and a post-petroleum economy. Its about starting getting the ball rolling, Sharaf said, and creating that disruptive change, and changing the mindset. The Emirates previously built and launched three earth observing satellites, collaborating with a South Korean manufacturer and gradually taking on greater shares of the engineering. The country even has a nascent human spaceflight program. Last year, the UAE bought a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket and sent its first astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, for an eight-day stay at the International Space Station. For the Mars mission, the country took a similar approach to the earlier satellites by working with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, where Hope was built before being sent to Dubai for testing. By design, Emirati engineers worked side by side with their counterparts in Boulder, learning as they designed and assembled the spacecraft. One of the requirements that the government gave us since the beginning, Sharaf said, they told us, You have to build it and not buy it. The science piece of the mission was an even bigger gap to fill for a country without Mars scientists, which until recently constituted an unfathomable career choice. Al-Amiri is the head of science even though she never formally studied planetary science. After she graduated college with a computer science degree, the likeliest job prospects working at a networking company performing troubleshooting and maintenance did not enrapture her. She wanted to design and build new things. She saw a job posting at what is now known as the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai. She joined in 2009, working as an engineer on the satellite programs. When that assignment wrapped up in 2014, she moved on to her current roles on the Hope mission. She now also serves as the countrys minister of state for advanced sciences and chairs an advisory council of scientists. If the UAE had tried to train planetary scientists from scratch to work on Hope, the mission would have been long over before the scientists were ready. Instead, Emirati officials took a quicker approach: converting some of the space centers engineers into scientists by offering apprentice-like training with researchers in the United States. I was put there to develop scientific talents within the organization and be able to transfer knowledge in a nontraditional way, al-Amiri said. The coronavirus outbreak tossed in more challenges. Once construction of the spacecraft was complete in Colorado, a large Ukrainian transport plane ferried it to Dubai, where it was to undergo a round of testing before heading to the launchpad in Japan. But at the end of February not long before the European Space Agency and Russia postponed the launch of the Rosalind Franklin mission in part because of the logistical hurdles created by the pandemic Sharaf and al-Amiri realized the outbreak could disrupt their carefully planned schedules if airports were shut down. Based on that, we started working on a plan to get the team across to Japan as soon as possible, al-Amiri said. They shuffled some of the tests in order to hurry the spacecraft to Japan, three weeks earlier than originally planned, and where some of the testing would instead be completed. Travel restrictions meant team members could not travel back and forth. A small team went ahead in early April to wait out a quarantine. Two weeks later, the cargo plane with Hope flew to Japan with another small team from the Emirates. In Japan, the people who flew with Hope then went into quarantine and then those who had gone ahead joined the spacecraft on the barge trip to the island that is home to the launch site. Sharaf and al-Amiri said the mission was now ready, and the nations space program would continue regardless of the outcome. The Emirates fully understand the risk associated with this mission, Sharaf said. So does the team. Lets be honest. Fifty percent of the missions that have been to Mars have failed. The greatest success is the training of the people, he said. For the Emirates, its more about the journey, Sharaf said. Its more about the impact. Reaching there is one of the goals. But that doesnt mean that the mission has failed, if we didnt manage to get there. So failure is an option. c.2020 The New York Times Company The Sea Hawks were playing their first game in three weeks, but were able to hold off the Panthers for the win. By PTI KOLKATA: Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for the release of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case in Maharashtra. Rao at 81 years of age "cannot be a threat to one of the strongest countries" in the world, Chowdhury said. "A person of 81 years of age has been languishing in jail for years without knowing his offence, now he has been mentally disoriented, having no medical assistance. "You may please intervene into this matter and save his life, otherwise our future generations will not forgive us (sic)," he wrote in his letter to Modi. Rao and nine other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, which was initially probed by the Pune police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency in January this year. The case pertains to the alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The poet was admitted to J J Hospital in Mumbai on Monday night after he complained of dizziness. Highlights UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticized for including Huawei in the new 5G network model. Ten Conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from the UK's critical national infrastructure. Britain has imposed the ban after the US to cut off security cooperation unless Britain dumped Huawei. Britain's government on Tuesday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company -Huawei a limited role in the UK's new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing. As noted by a news agency Associated Press, Britain imposed the ban after the US threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement because of concerns Huawei equipment could allow the Chinese government to infiltrate UK networks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under pressure from rebels in his own Conservative Party who criticized China's new Hong Kong security law and its treatment of ethnic Uighurs, as well as Huawei's links to the Chinese government. Ten Conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from "the UK's critical national infrastructure." The new decision, however, disppointed Huawei. The spokesperson of Huawei UK, Edward Brewster, said: "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of 'levelling up' the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK." Johnson in January sought to balance economic and security pressures by agreeing to give Huawei a limited role in Britain's so-called 5G network, excluding the company from core components of the system and restricting its involvement to 35% of the overall project. But the move set up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who threatened to cut off security cooperation unless Britain dumped Huawei. Brewster, in his statement, further said: "Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about US trade policy and not security. Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected UK. As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done. We will conduct a detailed review of what today's announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain." Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the US in May imposed new sanctions that will bar companies around the world from using American-made machinery or software to produce chips for the Chinese company. After digging in his heels for days, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada changed tack on Monday and apologized for taking part in a decision to award a no-bid government contract to a charity deeply connected to his family. The apology came four days after it was revealed that the prime ministers mother and brother had received more than $200,000 over four years to give speeches at events for the development organization, called the WE Charity, which had been awarded a government contract to oversee the disbursement of hundreds of millions of dollars of student grants. I made a mistake in not recusing myself immediately from the discussions given our familys history, and Im sincerely sorry about not having done that, said Mr. Trudeau from outside his Ottawa home, during one of the briefings he has given regularly since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. At Mondays news conference, the virus took a back seat to a sustained grilling from reporters about the charity scandal. NEW ORLEANS - Opponents of a Taiwan-based companys plans for a $9.4 billion plastics complex asked a federal judge on Tuesday to stop work at the site in Louisiana. Planned construction would irreparably harm the community and environment by destroying wetlands, increasing chances of offsite flooding, and desecrating grave sites of enslaved persons, which bear witness to both our countrys shameful past and the faith, resilience, and perseverance of the present-day St. James community, according to the 55-page request. Company spokesperson Janile Parks said the motion was meritless, full of speculation and short on facts. The current limited and unintrusive site preparation doesnt justify shutting down the entire project, she said Tuesday in a statement emailed by a public relations firm. Groups represented by the Center for Biological Diversity made the request to the federal judge overseeing a lawsuit filed in January against the Army Corps of Engineers for approving wetlands permits for the project. U.S. District Judge Randolph D. Moss is likely to rule on the motion within weeks, Julie Teel Simmonds, an attorney for the centre, said in a news release. The Corps cannot comment on pending litigation, spokesman Ricky Boyett said. Simmonds said the company already has heavy equipment in some wetland areas. Were alarmed that they think they can just start bulldozing, she said. FG LA LLC, the Louisiana member of Formosa Plastics Group, plans 10 chemical plants and four other major facilities on 2,500 acres (1,000 hectares) in St. James Parish as what it calls The Sunshine Project after the nearby Sunshine Bridge. The Corps took only a cursory look at the projects likely effects on wetlands and flooding rather than the hard look required by law, according to the motion filed for Rise St. James, Healthy Gulf and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. The Army Corps did a frankly terrible job. ... It wholesale relied on Formosa consultant reports and deferred all analysis to state agencies and thats totally against the law, Simmonds said during an online news conference. The permit lets FG LA fill in wetlands and low-lying areas with enough dirt to fill more than 45,000 dump trucks, damaging neighbouring wetlands and increasing the chances of flooding outside the site, according to the motion. The claim leads off about 24 pages of allegations against the Corps. Simmonds said the Corps and Formosa have seven days to respond, and the judge can either rule or set a hearing within three weeks after that. The centre represents the same groups and others including the Sierra Club in a state court appeal of air quality permits. Two dozen plants already pollute the parish, Rise St. James Vice-President Stephanie Cooper said. She blamed pollution from open containers at one plant for repeated bouts of strep throat, which she said ended after she changed her commute to avoid the Sunshine Bridge. And she blamed the plants combined effects for heart disease and other medical problems among her family and friends. Were environmental hostages. ... We cant breathe, Cooper said. Work begun so far includes highway improvements, soil testing, driving test pilings and utility relocation, Parks said Monday. Pipeline work needed to deepen and widen drainage areas and construction of a dock for contractors also is planned this summer, she said. Her statement Tuesday noted that the company has protected the one area where graves were found and did not find any evidence of human remains at another area marked on old maps as a cemetery. FG will always be respectful of the burial remains discovered on its property, she said. Parks said other areas identified by project opponents as possible cemeteries are anomalies - like a tree, for example - on historic aerial photographs that have never been shown on any historic map as a possible cemetery. She said shovel tests in or near those areas have not found any human remains. The company stopped all work in April and May because of the COVID-19 pandemic but now has safety procedures to avoid spreading the new coronavirus that causes the disease, it said in a notice sent to area residents. The site is about 50 miles (80 kilometres) west-northwest of New Orleans and 30 miles (50 kilometres) south-southeast of Baton Rouge. ___ This story has been corrected to show that the judges first name is Randolph not Randall. Fullscript announces its new Medical Advisory Board and six integrative medicine pioneers as its first members. The board will help shape the company and support the medical community. SCOTTSDALE, AZ, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Fullscript announces the Fullscript Medical Advisory Board. Composed of six healthcare visionaries, the new advisory board will provide strategic direction for the organization, helping develop new product lines, treatment focuses, platform features, and more. The board will also support the medical community with exclusive, innovative educational content. Fullscript Medical Advisory Board Members (left to right) Dr. Robin Berzin, MD, Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD, Dr. Jeffrey Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, CNS, Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, ND, Dr. Jeff Gladd, MD, Dr. Cheng Ruan, MD (CNW Group/Fullscript) Introducing its members: Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, MD Dr. Jeffrey Bland , PhD, CNS Dr. Joseph Pizzorno, ND Dr. Robin Berzin , MD Dr. Cheng Ruan, MD Dr. Jeffrey Gladd , MD Though advisory boards are commonplace in the industry, the Fullscript Medical Advisory Board remains unique. Its degree of medical insight and expertise is only acquired through decades of sustained innovation and practical experience. Each member brings exceptional knowledge, achievements, and acumen that will inspire innovation at Fullscript and in integrative medicine. Fullscript Chief Medical Officer and Medical Advisory Board member Dr. Jeffrey Gladd, MD had this to say, "It's an honor and pleasure to work alongside such prominent figures in both the scientific and business fields of medicine. On behalf of myself and all of Fullscript, we are eager to learn from such legendary innovators and share their knowledge with practitioners." The board will meet with Fullscript's leadership team on a regular basis, providing guidance on platform direction, education, business development, logistics, and more broadly, how Fullscript can best serve the healthcare community. Composed of pioneering academics and innovative entrepreneurs, the board's understanding of the 'what', 'why', and 'how' at the point of care is unmatched. Fullscript is thrilled to harness their knowledge for the betterment of its platform and the medical world. To learn more about the new Medical Advisory Board and how it will shape Fullscript and support the medical community, read the full article in the Fullscript Knowledge center. Fullscript is the ultimate free platform for those who want to do wellness the right way the personal way from anywhere. This virtual dispensary has the most comprehensive catalog, integrates with EHRs, automates refill reminders, and offers evidence-based resources. It's an always-accessible solution that helps people get better. SOURCE Fullscript Related Links http://fullscript.com/ Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:29:51|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A security officer checks the temperature of visitors at a medical center in Damascus, capital of Syria, on July 14, 2020. (Photo by Ammar Safarjalani/Xinhua) DAMASCUS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- New COVID-19 cases were reported in both the rebel-held and government-controlled areas in Syria on Tuesday, activists and state media reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three new cases have been recorded in the rebel-held areas in Idlib province and northern Aleppo province in northern Syria over the past 24 hours. The UK-based watchdog group placed the overall number of infections in rebel-held areas at eight. Meanwhile, the state news agency SANA said 22 new cases were reported on Tuesday as well as two new deaths. It placed the overall number of infections in government-controlled areas at 439, including 138 recoveries and 21 deaths. The new toll in opposition and government-controlled areas doesn't include six cases that have been recently recorded in the Kurdish-controlled areas in northeastern Syria. The Syrian government has taken several measures to prevent the spread of the virus such as a curfew and shutdown of businesses. However, with the tough economic situation and the new sanctions imposed on the country, the government eased the measures while urging people to adhere to safety measures. China has offered help to Syria to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 15, China delivered the first batch of medical aid, including 2,016 COVID-19 test kits, to Syria. On April 23, a video-conference was held between Chinese and Syrian medical experts for sharing the experience in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 4 and June 24, Syria received another two batches of medical supplies donated by China, including test kits, protective suits, masks, goggles, and infrared thermometers. Enditem Apple will be announcing a partnership with Verizon that will see it offer new iPad buyers in the United States free subscription to Apple News+ for six months. The offer will only be available to new Apple News+ subscribers and is not for existing or former users. The announcement is expected to go live later this week on Thursday. The Apple News+ subscription in the United States is priced at $9.99/month meaning new iPad buyers will save around $60 thanks to this partnership. As per the report, the offer will be limited to one per Verizon account. The carrier will also be mailing all eligible customers directly to redeem their Apple News+ subscription for free. The terms and conditions are not yet clear, but it looks like all iPads are eligible including Wi-Fi only variants. While not mentioned, it is likely that customers will have to buy their iPad from Verizon to be eligible for the offer. This is not the first time that Apple has partnered with Verizon for a promotional offer. In 2018, Verizon subscribers could get six months of Apple Music subscription for free. Then in 2019, Verizon added an Apple Music subscription as a part of its Unlimited plan package. Despite Apples marketing push and the initial hype surrounding the service, Apple News+ has failed to gain traction among iPhone and iPad users. The service offers access to over 300 magazines and a bunch of newspapers at a flat monthly fee of $9.99 in the U.S. Many publishers have been unhappy with Apples revenue-sharing model for the News+, with The New York Times ending its partnership with the company and removing all content from the platform. [Via 9to5Mac Were going through some hell of a time, Taylor had told his wife. Baby, just be safe. Annlattea said she had so much Lysol, Clorox and hand sanitizer in her car, it needed its own seat. But the bookstore has recently benefited from the racial awakening happening nationally through the Black Lives Matter movement. It was placed on a black-owned businesses list, which has prompted an increase in online orders. Annlattea said she plans to keep the business going online for now but will reopen the physical building when she feels that its safe. Annlattea said her husband suffered from an illness but not the coronavirus. She said before he died, he asked for one more book: the Bible. He pointed to Genesis and told Annlattea that she was the Eve to his Adam. That they fit together. That man loved (me) from the depth of his soul, she said. And I loved him more. When its all said and done, I will tell his story. Marshall Taylor was preceded in death by his parents, Lizzie and John Taylor. July 14 (Reuters) - Calfrac Well Services said on Tuesday it had rejected two proposals submitted by share and debt holder Wilks Brothers to buy the Canadian oilfield services firm's U.S. business in exchange for some of the company's debt. Calfrac said the two non-binding proposals submitted last month "significantly undervalued" the unit and would leave its first-lien senior creditors with less than one-third of the collateral they currently hold, with no debt reduction. Last month, the Canadian company said it would work with advisors to examine its options as its market value had collapsed and it deferred an interest payment on debt that does not mature for six years. The company, which had a net debt of C$987.4 million ($725.34 million) as of March 31, said on Tuesday that it agreed with some debtholders to restructure some of its debt and issue some new shares. Wilks Brothers LLC holds about 19.78% of Calfrac's shares and more than 50% of its second-lien notes, and also owns ProFrac Services Ltd, a competitor of Calfrac in the U.S. ($1 = 1.3613 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel) Lucknow: As politics heats up in the state ahead of 2022 assembly elections, the parties seem to have shifted focus. This change was prompted by the encounter of dreaded gangster Vikas Dubey that gave rise to emergence of 'Brahmin votebank' as the centre of attraction. Nearly all the opposition parties in the state like Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party are trying to woo the Brahmins, considered to be the traditional votebank of the Bharatiya Janata Party. However, it is former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada who has been a constant Brahmin face in UP. He has been in the state and also to some extent has been successful in positioning himself as the Brahmin face of Congress. Apart from raising issues related to Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh, Prasada had recently thanked BSP supremo Mayawati for a tweet on the issue of discrimination on caste lines post Dubey's death. Quoting Mayawati's tweet, the Congress leader wrote, "Mayawati ji, I express my gratitude to you from my society for what you have said about our society." The BSP Chief in a bid to improve social engineering had tweeted, "The BSP believes that the entire community of a person who committed a crime should not be tortured and put in the dock as a punishment for his crime. That is why the atmosphere of fear and terror that has gripped the community of Kanpur police murder case accused Vikas Dubey with regard to the crime committed by him and his henchmen should be removed." The former chief minister further said that the state government should not take any action that would make the Brahmin community feel scared, terrorised and insecure. "At the same time, it is better if the UP government takes action on the basis of facts to restore public confidence in this regard and does not indulge in politics under the garb of Vikas Dubey case. The government should not do any such work that would make the Brahmin community feel scared and insecure," she said. Prasada had earlier launched Brahmin Chetna Sawaad for raising the issues related to the community. In the same sequence, he had released a video on his Twitter handle saying, "In the past few years, the work of marginalizing our society is being done in a planned manner. Our society is being seen as malicious and step-motherly treatment is given. It has been time. We all have to face this challenge. We have all seen many people from our society have been brutally murdered. I myself reached out to the families of the victims at many places. People from our community have to wander for justice. It is being felt that the government is working with a wrong intention towards society. We will have to come together to face this challenge. According to CSDS, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, only six per cent of Brahmins voted for the Congress in UP, whereas BJP had 82 per cent support. In UP, Brahmins with about 10 per cent of the population are more effective in Purvanchal and play a key role in about 30 districts. This is considered to be a 'Deciding Shifting' vote. This is the main reason why Congress is trying hard to win back the Brahmin votes which was once considered loyal to the Congress. Apart from Jitin Prasada, Congress leader Acharya Pramod Krishnam has also gone full throttle against the Yogi Adityanath government on the issue of encounter of Vikas Dubey and even termed the government as killer of Brahmins. This government is the murderer of Brahmins. It is a curse to be a Brahmin, will the government curse Brahmins, he wrote on his official Facebook page. Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. By Express News Service CHENNAI: The Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has urged the Centre to expedite free trade agreements (FTA) with high potential markets such as the European Union, UK, US,Australia and Canada which could lead to exports doubling in three years time. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, AEPC chairman, A Sakthivel said that Indias principal export markets, including the US, the UK and Europe, were badly impacted due to the pandemic. Seeking a review of Indias trade pacts with these countries, Sakthivel pointed out the recently, Vietnam, too, concluded a FTA with the EU and most competitors were leveraging such FTAs in a big way to enhance their cost competitiveness. An important area that can supplement your efforts in this direction is improving export competitiveness through a comprehensive review of Indias trade agreements, through a fast-tracked mechanism, with EU, UK, US, Australia and Canada, he wrote in the letter. The Council pointed out that Indian apparel exports have a duty disadvantage of 9.6 per cent in the EU market as compared to competitors like Bangladesh, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Most of these countries get duty concessions under schemes such as Generalised System of Preferences. There is an urgent need to have a level playing field in terms of market access and margin of preference in our biggest global market and to rectify the distortion that we are suffering, Sakthivel said. An FTA with the US, which has a 27 per cent share in Indias total garments exports, may have a significant impact on Indias apparel exports to the country as on certain items like MMF-based apparel, which India is promoting, there is a peak tariff of 28 per cent. The council also sought CEPA with Canada and Australia. FTAs with EU, UK, US, Australia crucial Garments is one of the top export items from India. According to AEPC estimates, exports have plummeted 91 per cent and 66 per cent in April and May respectively due to the pandemic. With the bilateral free trade pacts in place, India will be able to ramp up exports significantly. A photo of former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is displayed in front of his office in Seoul City Hall, Friday, hours after Park was found dead on a mountain near his residence. His death came after his former secretary filed a complaint with the police accusing him of sexual harassment. The mayor post will remain vacant until by-elections next April. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han By Jung Da-min The ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is in a dilemma over whether to nominate candidates for next year's by-elections of lawmakers and heads of local governments, following the death of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and earlier resignation of Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don. The party's own regulations state the DPK will not field a candidate for a by-election that was triggered by a party member resigning over their own wrongdoing. Park was Seoul's longest-serving mayor, serving his third consecutive term since he first took office in 2011, and with his rising presence in the DPK he was considered a potential presidential contender. Two days before he was found dead, Park's former secretary filed a complaint accusing him of sexual harassment but in accordance with a relevant law the police investigation into the case has now been closed as the suspect is deceased. In late April, DPK member Oh Keo-don stepped down as Busan mayor, admitting to sexual misconduct after a civil servant accused him of sexually assaulting her in his office. Former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don bows in a show of apology during a press conference at Busan City Hall, April 23, while announcing his resignation after admitting that he sexually harassed a female employee at the city hall. Yonhap With the head positions of the country's two largest cities Seoul with a population of about 10 million and Busan with about 3.45 million now vacant, next year's by-elections, set to be held on April 7, are expected to be a major competition between parties to take political power. The elections are also being held just a year before the next presidential election slated for March 2022, so winning the by-elections is critical for the parties as a barometer of public opinion. But critics say and even some members within the DPK agree that the ruling party should not nominate candidates because of an internal rule that bans candidate nomination for a constituency where an elected DPK member resigned over their own "grave wrongdoing." But the rule does not elaborate on what kind of misconduct is defined as "grave." ALTON Its funny how life can repeat itself, but that seems to be the case when you compare Baxters Distributing Co.s beginnings 75 years ago with its plans for the future, as it prepares to close its physical store. Bob Baxter and his sister, Janet Hansen, have co-owned and operated the party store since 1992, when their mother, Lorraine, died. But the history of the lucrative business goes back much further than that. It was just after World War II, and our dad (and our grandfather) were out of work, Hansen said. All they had then was $300 and me. Their father, Cliff, had previously worked at Shell Oil; their grandfather at the Western Cartridge Company. But in the post-war economy, they found themselves out of a job. Their grandfather, Adolph Schnell, had previously been in the grocery business, and he came up with the idea of buying drugstore sundries, like aspirin and cough medicine, and selling them to grocery stores (they delivered them from their car), which at that time, were most often, family-owned stores found here and there around the city, which was convenient for walking residents. Likewise, in the decades following World War II, and for many years after, schools were tucked into neighborhoods, and thats where the next business opportunity came to the Baxters. I was in kindergarten, and at that time, every school had a social fundraiser at the end of the year, Hansen said. There were ponies and games, and one of the teachers asked Dad if he could find unique toys that they could give the kids for prizes. That was the seed for what eventually became the store, with the Baxters setting up tables of toys and trinkets in the basement of their home, where the school committees came and shopped. As word spread and the business grew, the family moved to a retail location on Broadway, then another, and in 1976, to 912 E. Broadway (the old Riley Brothers Chevrolet building), the third and final Broadway location. Cliff Baxter sadly died the following year, but his wife and family kept things going. Now, the family has decided to close its bricks-and-mortar store, sell the current inventory, and focus on online sales. With Baxters daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Brandon Fergurson leading the charge for www.baxterspartystore.com, Hansen said it has truly come full circle. Our parents lived the American dream, and the family business will still continue online, she said. Officially, Hansen retired about three years ago, but she still helps when needed, and cant help but be drawn to the business that has always been a part of her life. Same with her brother. You can usually find him there 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week. He created many of the items that were used as props for themed-party rentals, as well as signs and promotional materials for the store itself. At one time, we were doing a lot of work at the (Argosy) casino, decorating the atrium, and we have a lot of things that we made for that, Baxter said. Hes been working at the store since he returned from the U.S. Army after a 14-month stint in Vietnam. Before that, he was attending Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, pursuing a theater degree and creating props for the theater department. When I got back from Vietnam, I decided to work at the store, and Ive been here ever since, Baxter said. In 1980, he and his wife, Jan, started the costume business, and at the beginning, made many of the costumes themselves. For years, it flourished people were having masquerade parties, and there was a big call for the costumes, Baxter said. Everything is cyclical. Now, the 2,100 costumes will be available as part of the sale, ranging from Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, to Sherlock Holmes, various animals, princesses, and everything in-between. Balloons have also been a booming business that has stayed fairly steady, though different kinds of materials and fillers come and go. Hansen also attended Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, earning a degree in education. She taught fifth and sixth grades at Irving School for a while, before starting a family of her own. At one time, creating flower arrangements for weddings was a big part of Baxters business. Hansen recalls after she began having children, she, too, worked from her basement, making wedding bouquets for the store, which gave her the best of both worlds. Brother and sister recall many years of attending conventions to purchase inventory in Atlanta and Chicago, and distributor shows in St. Louis. Hansen remembers how excited she was when they discovered the newly marketed hot glue gun at a convention, which made it so much easier when assembling flower arrangements, wreaths, hats and crafts. Her two boys worked summers at the store, and Baxters two sons also spent summers working at the family business. His daughter, Ann Fergurson, has been involved with the store for 26 years, beginning part time, when she was a teenager. Her husband, Brandon, joined the team about 10 years ago, developing the Internet side of the business. The two of them with their three children, Logan, Hannah and Corey, will carry the flame for the family business, operating the online version from their own basement. It is amazing that things really have come full circle, Hansen said. The web site at www.baxterspartystore.com will be available by late summer or early fall, and online sales will begin mainly with paper products like plates, napkins and placemats, available in many colors and themes, party packs that are pre-packaged in various quantities, decorations, centerpieces, wall hangings, and the selections will continue to grow and evolve. Many reasons led to the decision to close the physical store, including COVID-19 shutdown since March 15 and online competition but the entire family is excited about the upcoming virtual store. If you think about it, the Internet contributed to our closing the store, but the internet is also saving the business, Hansen said. Beginning Monday, July 20, the store will reopen to liquidate the current inventory. Store hours will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and most of the contents will start at 60% off the marked price, with the exception of props and rentals, which will not be priced as marked. Nayef Hashlamoun considers himself a true believer in nonviolence. He worked with Palestines leading nonviolent leader, Mubarak Awad, during the period preceding the first intifada, and he later initiated the Watan Center for Culture in his hometown of Hebron. Hashlamoun told Al-Monitor that he credits what he learned about nonviolence in his latest effort to lead and encourage Hebronites to avoid public gatherings as a way to stem the sudden spike in the spread of the coronavirus in the Hebron district. The Palestinian Ministry of Health had announced July 4 that 2,576 out of the 4,013 Palestinians who had tested positive for the coronavirus come from the Hebron district. During the same period, nine out of the 16 deaths from the coronavirus also came from Hebron. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh sent four Cabinet ministers to Hebron to assess the situation. Hashlamoun told Al-Monitor that when he noticed the spike in cases, he took the initiative to try and stop the spread through his own family tribe. Our family belongs to the Ayoubi tribe, and we have a council of elders and a young council. I am active in our tribal affairs because of the need to raise awareness and to address problems from a humanitarian view. Hashlamoun says that when he contacted the two tribal councils and expressed the need to act quickly, they gave him the green light. It was hard to meet face to face, so we were in contact by cell phone. And after discussions, I was given the OK to write an appeal to the members of our own extended family tribe about the need to put a stop to the spread of this virus, which had reached a dangerous level. In a strong July 7 statement published on electronic and social media, the Hashlamoun/Ayoubi tribe announced that it will not participate in any weddings or other public events and [will] follow strict health regulations. Hashlamoun told Al-Monitor that the Palestinian government was very happy with their efforts. We have three ministers from our tribe who are in the government, and we received a high level of feedback from them. The initiative of this family was followed the next day by the higher tribal council. Haj Nafez Jaabari, head of the Tribal Commission in Hebron, said in an interview with An-Najah University TV July 8 that all tribal leaders have signed a joint honorary declaration to voluntarily stop all weddings and funerals and other large meetings to avoid further spread of the coronavirus. While the role of tribal leaders in stopping weddings and public events will eventually produce good results in stemming the spread of the virus, the spread in Hebron also was blamed on religious edicts. Hamadeh Faraneh, a leading observer of the Palestinian scene, said in the daily Ad Dustour July 13 that part of the problem in Hebron was the position of and public declarations by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Because of the policies and statements of the Islamic Hizb ut-Tahrir, which said that the coronavirus was a conspiracy to hurt Islam and close mosques, they incited the public not to follow the Ministry of Health calls, saying that nothing will affect us except what God has deemed for us. As a result, their followers were among the hardest hit when the virus spread. Another Palestinian columnist, Hafez Barghouti, also zeroed in on religious Islamists. He wrote July 11 on the news site Khabar Press that religious Islamic groups, especially Hizb ut-Tahrir, are imitating religious Jews in not following health directives. They are confident that the virus will not affect the believers and will not spread in places of worship. They even attacked the Palestinian government, calling them heretics because they closed mosques. Barghouti said that supporters of Hizb ut-Tahrir broke open mosques and encouraged all to hold mass weddings and funerals, and then the spread happened to reach 300 a day in Hebron even though it took months to record 300 cases before that. The dangerously high increase in the number of affected cases in the Hebron governorate is very worrisome. The Palestinian government has added curfews and taken unprecedented steps to close off movement between governorates and ensure that all public gatherings are prohibited. The efforts of community leaders in raising awareness of the importance of health restrictions are of utmost importance to negate those using unscientific facts to discourage the public from following well-researched health orders. The prospect of a summer vacation in Hawaii this year is looking bleaker after Governor David Ige said Monday he intends to delay a planned Aug. 1 reopening of the states tourism industry to travelers who test negative to COVID-19 prior to arriving in the state. Under pressure from local lawmakers and an alarming spike in COVID-19 cases in Hawaii and elsewhere, Ige reportedly will extend the existing 14-day quarantine requirement for all travelers arriving from the mainland United States and abroad through the end of August. A formal announcement is expected sometime Monday, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Ige said he will also delay a plan to waive the quarantine through a pre-testing program. Under that plan announced on June 24, travelers who test negative for COVID-19 no more than 72 hours before arriving in Hawaii were able to waive the 14-day quarantine. The testing idea excited tourism-dependent Hawaii businesses because it effectively allows for short-term vacations. But a slew of elected leaders decried the idea in recent weeks, saying the pre-testing would not be adequate to prevent travelers from bringing the virus to the islands, which the state has largely been able to manage, until recent weeks. The state reported three COVID-19 related deaths over the weekend. Hawaiis Department of Health said community spread was responsible for outbreaks at two Oahu gyms and at the Hawaiian Airlines training center. Dozens of infections in the state have been linked to each outbreak. Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our FREE weekly email alerts. Hawaiis tourism dependent economy has taken a major hit because of the quarantine order, which was implemented in March. The state currently has about 240,000 unemployed residents in a population of 1.4 million. In May, tourism to Hawaii dropped a staggering 98.9 percent according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority. Airlines were counting on Iges plan, too. United and Hawaiian Airlines said it would increase flying between the mainland U.S. (namely from California airports) and the islands beginning Aug. 1 because of the pre-testing concept. Alaska Airlines said it intended to restart its Hawaii flights too next month. What do you do if youve booked airfare for a Hawaiian vacation that may not be happening in a few weeks? Travelers can take advantage of airlines' generous no-fee flight change policies to delay taking those Hawaii flights. But keep in mind that the airline will not offer a refund unless it outright cancels your flight, or reschedules it with drastically different arrival and departure times. With todays word from Hawaii, its unclear if carriers will follow through with their grand plans to reinstate several nonstops between the mainland and the islands. Those holding tickets for August flights should expect to see itineraries change in the coming weeks as airlines adjust to the announcement. Read all recent TravelSkills posts here Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE weekly email updates! SFGATE participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Q1 2020 Systemwide Pro Forma Sales of $23.7m , an increase of 36% over Q4 2019. Robust consumer demand continues across all operating markets despite COVID-19. Company reaches final resolution with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission with respect to legacy regulatory issues. The Company expects the agreement will clear the path for recreational licensing of its Massachusetts locations. Funded expansion plans underway in both Massachusetts and Illinois production facilities expected to be completed by Q4 2020. Company remains on pace to be cash flow positive in 2H 2020 and poised to show significant operating leverage in 2021. Company is in progressive discussions to strengthen its balance sheet through a financing/sale leaseback of its affiliated facilities in Washington state . PHOENIX, AZ, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - 4Front Ventures Corp. (CSE: FFNT) (OTCQX: FFNTF) ("4Front" or the "Company") today announced its financial results for the First Quarter of 2020. First Quarter 2020 Financial Results Highlights Total Systemwide Pro Forma Sales for the first quarter 2020 increased 36% quarter-over- quarter to $23.7m . . IFRS Sales for the first quarter of 2020 increased 37% quarter-over-quarter to $17.7m . . Gross profit for the first quarter was $9.7m . . Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was a loss of $2.8m . Business Update Robust consumer demand continues across all operating markets despite COVID-19. All states where the Company operates have deemed cannabis operations as "essential businesses" during the pandemic. Company reaches a resolution with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission with respect to legacy regulatory issues. The Company expects the agreement will clear the path for recreational licensing of its Massachusetts locations. Funded expansion plans underway in both Massachusetts and Illinois production facilities expected to be completed by Q4 2020. These upgrades represent Phase 1 of the Company's expansion plans in two of its core markets which are expected to double the output of its Georgetown, Massachusetts facility and more than triple current output in Illinois. Company remains on pace to be cash flow positive in 2H 2020 and is poised to show significant operating leverage in 2021. Having reduced corporate overhead expense by over 40%, the Company anticipates generating positive cash flow commensurate with final recreational licensing in Massachusetts and producing positive adjusted EBITDA in 2020. Washington Financing/Sale Leaseback Update. As of May 31, 2020, 4Front's balance sheet had cash and equivalents of $11.5m with total debt of $80.1m (excluding in-the-money convertible debt of $5.8m). The Company owns and controls highly attractive real estate in Washington state consisting of 176,000 square feet of state-of-the-art industrial space built for cultivation, production and distribution. The assets are encumbered by senior secured debt associated with Gotham Green Partners. A financing/sale and leaseback of these assets is expected to remove senior secured debt from its capitalization table, giving the Company flexibility to more freely pursue non or minimally dilutive project financing options. The Company is in progressive discussions with multiple partners on this transaction. Management Commentary Leo Gontmakher, CEO of 4Front, said, "Entering 2020, we have been laser-focused on leaning out and replicating our low-cost cultivation and production model in targeted states. We left the first quarter with a focused business model, streamlined cost structure and fortified balance sheet that has set the stage for us to accelerate growth across our core markets of Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan and California." Mr. Gontmakher added: "We are ecstatic to have reached resolution with the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission as it clears the way for our long-awaited approvals for adult-use licensing in the state. We continue to execute on our plans to not only flip to cash flow positive this year, but to set the stage to exit this year in a position to drive meaningful operating leverage in our business. With funded expansion already underway in Massachusetts and Illinois, we look forward to commencing construction of our Commerce, California facility before the end of the year. We are proving that our success in Washington can be replicated in every state in which we operate and are extremely confident in how the company is positioned as we enter this new season." (Please see Note Regarding Non-IFRS Measures, Reconciliation, and Discussion below.) (*Please see the Financial Statement section below, and the Company's First Quarter 2020 Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements and Management Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A"), available under the Company's SEDAR profile, for more information.) Additional Details As of the date of the MD&A, there were the equivalent of 506,379,437 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares outstanding when calculated as if all share classes were converted to Subordinate Voting Shares. For further details regarding 4Front's share structure, please see its profile at www.thecse.com. Conference Call The Company will also host a conference call and webcast on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. EDT to review its operational and financial results and provide an update on current business trends. To join the call, dial 1-877-407-0792 toll free from the United States or Canada or 1-201-689-8263 if dialing from outside those countries. The webcast, which will include a slide deck, can be accessed at this link. The call will be available for replay until Tuesday, July 21, 2020. To access the telephone replay, dial 844-512-2921 toll free from the United States and Canada, or 1-412-317-6671 if dialing from outside those countries, and use this replay pin number: 13706966. Financial Statements The condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2020 and 2019, have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 Interim Financial Reporting. These statements have not been reviewed by an auditor. 4FRONT VENTURES CORP. Formerly 4Front Holdings, LLC Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Financial Position As of March 31, 2020 (unaudited) and December 31, 2019 Amounts expressed in thousands United States dollars unless otherwise stated March 31, December 31, 2020 2019 ASSETS Current assets: Cash $ 9,288 $ 5,789 Accounts receivable 786 677 Other receivables 247 325 Lease receivables 11,186 9,556 Inventory 12,638 9,138 Biological assets 1,226 2,187 Notes receivable 1,644 1,871 Prepaid expenses 1,919 2,198 Total current assets 38,934 31,741 Restricted cash - 2,352 Property and equipment, net 45,091 41,822 Notes receivable 1,135 1,049 Lease receivables 22,477 23,944 Intangible assets 41,756 41,442 Goodwill 27,763 33,988 Right-of-use assets 32,696 20,476 Investments 759 759 Deposits 4,947 6,346 TOTAL ASSETS $ 215,558 $ 203,919 LIABILITIES AND EQUITY LIABILITIES Current liabilities: Accounts payable and accrued expenses $ 9,414 $ 8,138 Taxes payable 2,569 1,609 Lease liability 1,230 972 Convertible notes 2,651 - Contingent consideraton payable 750 750 Notes payable and accrued interest 7,115 7,382 Total current liabilities 23,729 18,851 Convertible notes 35,982 35,607 Notes payable and accrued interest 44,326 44,289 Long term notes payable 1,941 1,903 Long term accounts payable 1,600 1,600 Contingent consideration payable 4,714 4,714 Lease liability 33,288 20,976 TOTAL LIABILITIES 145,580 127,940 Equity (Deficiency) Equity attributable to 4Front Ventures Corp. 252,656 252,656 Reserves 27,783 25,618 Deficit (210,238) (202,090) Non-controlling interest (223) (205) TOTAL EQUITY (DEFICIENCY) 69,978 75,979 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY (DEFICIENCY) $ 215,558 $ 203,919 4FRONT VENTURES CORP. Formerly 4Front Holdings, LLC Condensed Consolidated Interim Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss For The Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 and 2019 Amounts expressed in thousands United States dollars unless otherwise stated Three Months Ended Three Months Ended March 31, 2020 March 31, 2019 REVENUE $ 16,950 $ 3,466 Cost of goods sold, sale of grown and manufactured products (2,815) (1,227) Cost of goods sold, sale of purchased products (4,684) (1,137) Gross profit before fair value adjustments 9,451 1,102 Realized fair value included in inventory sold (137) (57) Unrealized fair value gain on biological assets 373 592 Gross profit 9,687 1,637 OPERATING EXPENSES Selling and marketing expenses 7,633 1,631 General and administrative expenses 5,223 4,056 Depreciation and amortization 1,340 652 Equity based compensation 1,227 459 Total operating expenses 15,423 6,798 Loss from Operations (5,736) (5,161) Other Income (Expense) Interest income 56 - Interest expense (3,307) (355) Accretion 173 - Gain on sale of subsidiary 1,652 - Foreign exchange loss 37 - Total Other Income (Expense) (1,389) (355) Net Loss from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes (7,125) (5,516) Income Tax Expense (862) (470) Net Loss from Continuing Operations, Net of Taxes (7,987) (5,986) Net (Loss) Income from Discontinued Operations, Net of Taxes (179) 42 Net Loss (8,166) (5,944) Net Loss Attributable To Non-Controlling Interest (18) (86) Net Loss Attributable to Shareholders $ (8,148) $ (5,858) Basic and Diluted Loss Per Share $ (0.02) $ (0.02) Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding, Basic and Diluted 531,552,819 340,370,271 Note Regarding Non-IFRS Measures, Reconciliation, and Discussion In this press release, 4Front refers to certain non-IFRS financial measures such as Systemwide Pro Forma Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. 4Front defines Systemwide Pro Forma Revenue as total revenue plus revenue from entities with which the Company has a management contract, or effectively similar relationship (net of any management fee or effectively similar revenue) but does not consolidate the financial results of per IFRS 10 Consolidated Financial Statements. 4Front considers this measure to be an appropriate indicator of the growth and scope of the business. Adjusted EBITDA is defined by the Company as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization less share-based compensation expense and one-time charges related to acquisition and financing related costs, excluding fair value adjustments for biological assets. 4Front considers these measures to be an important indicator of the financial strength and performance of our business. The following tables provide a reconciliation of each of the non-IFRS measures to its closest IFRS measure. About 4Front Ventures Corp. 4Front (CSE: FFNT) (OTCQX: FFNTF) is a national multi-state cannabis operator and retailer, with a market advantage in mass-produced, low-cost quality branded cannabis products. 4Front manufactures and distributes a portfolio of over 25 cannabis brands including Marmas, Crystal Clear, Funky Monkey, Pebbles, and the Pure Ratios wellness collection, distributed through retail outlets and their chain of strategically positioned Mission branded dispensaries. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, 4Front has operations in Illinois, Massachusetts, California, Michigan and Washington state. From plant genetics to the cannabis retail experience, 4Front's team applies expertise across the entire cannabis value chain. For more information, visit 4Front's website. This news release was prepared by management of 4Front Ventures, which takes full responsibility for its contents. The Canadian Securities Exchange ("CSE") has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. Forward Looking Statements Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in 4Front Ventures' periodic filings with securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should," and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements related to future developments and the business and operations of 4Front Ventures, developments with respect to legislative developments in the United States, expectations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, future revenue or Adjusted EBITDA expectations, statements regarding when or if any contemplated or in-progress transactions will close or if/when required regulatory approvals are attained, and other statements regarding future developments of the business. The closing of the transactions described in this news release, including the divesture of Pennsylvania and Maryland assets and the sale of convertible debt, is subject to customary conditions and there can be no guarantee that such transactions will close. Although 4Front Ventures has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, there can be other factors that cause results, performance or achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, including, but not limited to: dependence on obtaining regulatory approvals; investing in target companies or projects which have limited or no operating history and are engaged in activities currently considered illegal under U.S. federal laws; change in laws; limited operating history; reliance on management; requirements for additional financing; competition; hindering market growth and state adoption due to inconsistent public opinion and perception of the medical-use and adult-use marijuana industry and; regulatory or political change. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. As a result of these risks and uncertainties, the results or events predicted in these forward-looking statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. 4Front Ventures disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and 4Front Ventures does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein. SOURCE 4Front Related Links https://4frontventures.com Even though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle seem to be all smiles whenever they are out and about or during video calls, usually to volunteer or talk about some social issue, reports of Prince Harry regretting moving out of UK keep coming up. It appears to be that in reality, Megxit only benefits Meghan Markle and that even though the world is presently plunged into a pandemic, Markle is quite at peace with being back in her hometown while her husband is getting more and more angsty by the day. Here are three things Prince Harry lost with Megxit, based on different royal insiders' revelations. Prince Harry Lost His Plot in Life According to a royal photographer who has been taking picture of the royal family, including Prince Harry, revealed that following his marriage to Meghan Markle, the duke simply lost his plot. In essence, he lost his purpose and direction in life. Harsh. Arthur Edwards, the veteran royal photographer, said that when Harry went out his way to publicly criticize the British Commonwealth, it was apparent that he already lost his sense of self. It was not only because he was saying something negative about the Commonwealth, but because he was criticizing his own grandmother, Queen Elizabeth. The royal photographer added that Harry must be listening only to his wife, and coming up with all these faulty comments. "Any country can look back and find faults, but we learn from history and move on. Harry should stop listening to his wife, who is obviously filling him full of these ideas," he said. Prince Lost His Peace Being in LA, even though everything has slowed down because of the pandemic is hardly the peace and stability that Prince Harry allegedly wanted. According to one royal commenter, there is a difficult irony to their departure that made this dream essentially impossible. Speaking ate Sentebale charity dinner in London last January, the Duke of Sussex explained his Megxit decision. "I hope that helps you understand what it had come to, that I would step back from all I have ever known to take a step forward into what I hope can be a more peaceful life," he said. However, the moment they set foot in the US, it seemed that the only way they can achieve financial independence is to let people into their lives and ruin the peace they are allegedly trying to build. evidence? The countless books that have been written and will be written about them. Speaking with Express UK, the commenter claimed that it is ironic that Prince Harry could be so traumatized by the media, not just because of what Meghan Markle allegedly gone through, but because of what his mom, Princess Diana went through. It's ironic because no less than four books are in the works about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's lives, which would invite attention that they reportedly did not want! Prince Harry Lost His Relevance Given that prince Harry has grown up essentially being a prince, he's used the having the limelight at him. Even if he says he's tired of it and he feels suffocated by it, it was essentially his life. Everything he does will be covered by the media, so moving to LA where celebrities reigned supreme can certainly rain on his parade. More so when Meghan Markle IS the celebrity and not him. More so when it is still the UK media that is keeping tabs at them and waiting negative stuff about them, while the US media essentially treat them just like ordinary celebrities, and not even AS big as the A-list stars. Meghan Markle plans to chase her Hollywood dream once more, but since COVID struck, it has to be set aside first. Prince Harry wants to be involved in different speaking arrangements but for the same reason has to forget that for a while. Moreover, even if they get into Hollywood and their speaking arrangements, Americans are not likely to treat them in the level Prince Harry got used to be treated in the UK. In the first place, some vocal Americans did not want them to be in the US. Not only are they ex-royals, they were also deemed as hypocrites for saying they do not want attention but still doing things that garners it, and for saying they will not live in the US because Trump is the president, but here they are. READ MORE: Prince Harry Suffering: Meghan Markle Positivity Becoming Toxic Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about modernizing infrastructure and his plans for tackling climate change during a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., July 14, 2020. Former Vice President Joe Biden released a sprawling plan Tuesday to revamp American infrastructure and energy to both curb climate change and spur economic growth. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's proposal aims to achieve carbon-free power generation by 2035. As the coronavirus pandemic leaves the U.S. mired in an economic crisis, Biden said he will set out to create "millions" of union jobs that pay at least $15 per hour as the U.S. overhauls its roads, bridges, trains, auto industry and broadband system. The plan, which comes days after a joint task force formed by the Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders campaigns outlined a climate change agenda, sets out a more ambitious approach to developing clean energy than the Biden campaign did during the Democratic primary. It calls for $2 trillion in spending over four years, more than the $1.7 trillion the campaign previously proposed to spend over a decade. "Even if we weren't facing a pandemic and an economic crisis, we should be making these investments anyway," Biden said of the plan during remarks in Delaware. He called the investments "critical" for the economy and public health. The Democratic presidential hopeful also aims to use the federal government to reverse years of Trump administration efforts to ease environmental rules, including by setting up an environmental and climate justice division within the Justice Department. The campaign said it would create tools to better monitor and root out pollution that disproportionately leaves communities of color with chronic health issues. "We need to be mindful of the historical wrongs and damage" that companies have done to vulnerable communities, which are often composed of people of color, Biden said. He added that he aims to hold chief executive officers more accountable for practices that leave neighborhoods polluted. The Ector health department said Monday that the countys death toll from coronavirus is at 19 after four residents died over the weekend. There were six deaths between Medical Center Hospital four -- and Odessa Regional Medical Center two -- said Dr. Tim Benton. One of the patients was from Kermit (Winkler County) and one was from San Angelo (Tom Green County), he said. Ector had 1,129 active coronavirus cases on Monday, according to the departments website. The county reported 816 people have recovered. There are 1,370 confirmed cases and 594 probable cases. Medical Center Health System CEO and President Russell Tippin said he has reached out to retired staff -- nurses, respiratory therapists and labotamists seeking their help. Chief nursing officer Christin Timmons said the hospital is accepting those people with an active license to come on board and take a temporary contract with us, she said. We have lots of experience and lots of great caregivers in our community and surrounding communities. The hospital is also trying to enhance its recruiting efforts in preparation for the future. She said they are working with local nursing college graduates and also recruiting around the nation. Tippin said MCH used Dr. Richard Bartletts treatment of inhaled budesonide at a patient and familys request. He said the patient has not shown and change in their condition. Dr. Khavar Dar, who is in charge of the coronavirus unit at ORMC, said, Last Friday, we spent about six hours in the covid unit in what I would call organized chaos, said. There were rapidly deteriorating patients and requiring multiple interventions between nurses and providers. He said there arent any good treatment options. We talk about plasma and Remdesivir but really none of those modalities are of any proven benefit, he said. We use Remdesivir in most patients, but plasma we are finding more and more, is relatively ineffective because the course of the illness is out of our control. We provide supportive care and thats about all we can do. He said it is difficult to communicate with family members because they cant be at the bedside. Coronavirus stats Medical Center Hospital The hospital has 10 patients in the critical care unit, with five on ventilators. Five patients are being treated on ventilators in the Wheatley Stewart Medical Pavilion, 16 are being treated on the seventh floor and 16 patients are being treated on the eighth floor. Eleven patients are from Sienna Nursing and Rehabilitation, two are from Focused Care in Odessa, two are from Pecos County Hospital, three are from Andrews, one is from Reeves County Hospital and one is from Rio Grande City. MCH has received 694 positive coronavirus results, 2,948 negative results and 436 pending results for a total of 4,078 tested. Source: MCH Odessa Regional Medical Center --16 patients being treated in the hospital with 10 on ventilators. --two patients are from The Courtyards and one is from Big Spring. --the hospital has 16 staff members isolating, 13 of those have tested positive. Four staff members have returned. All staff members acquired the virus through community spread. --the hospital has received 232 positive results, 997 negative results and 25 pending results with 1,254 total tests taken. --the hospital had five discharges and five admissions over the weekend Source: ORMC Representative Image Gazi Hassan The recently introduced expat quota Bill in Kuwaits National Legislative has caused some buzz in India, especially after several media reports suggested that if the Bill was made law, it would force about 800,000 Indians to leave the small West Asian country. The Bill has been doing the rounds for a few years now and while it is not sure what will be its fate, it is important to understand what is at stake here. India-Kuwait ties have always had a significant economic and trade dimension. In recent years it has also diversified to include culture, science, and technology, civil aviation, and youth affairs. India has consistently been among the top trading partners of Kuwait. Kuwait has been a reliable supplier of crude oil to India. During 2017-18, Kuwait was the ninth largest oil supplier to India, and it meets about 4.63 percent of Indias energy needs. Bilateral trade with Kuwait during 2016-17 was $5.9 billion, and in 2017-18 it went up to $8.53 billion. In FY19 it grew by 2.7 percent growth to $8.76 billion: while Indian exports were $1.33 billion, imports were $7.43 billion. Exports from India include food items, textiles, electrical and engineering equipment, ceramics, automobiles, chemicals, jewellery, metal products, etc. Importantly, Kuwait is one of the top sources of remittances for India. According to the Ministry of External Affairs data, in 2018, India received $4.8 billion as remittances from Kuwait. According to the Reserve Bank of India, 58.7 percent of total remittances was received by four states: Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The flow of remittances broadly mirrors the state-wise composition of overseas migrants. The southern states dominated with a combined share of 46 percent in total remittances. The migration to West Asia has continued to rise and has reached approximately 8 millionalmost a million in this is in Kuwait. The Indian diaspora in Kuwait has played a very significant role in converting the desert nation into a modern luxurious welfare state filling the nations skyline with skyscrapers, constructing and operating huge power stations having the capacity to produce 12,000 MW, and millions of cubic meters of potable water distilled from seawater. According to the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, 28,000 Indians are working in various government jobs such as nurses, engineers and a few also work as scientists. However, the majority of Indians (523,000) are employed in the private sector There are about 116,000 dependents, out of which 60,000 are the students studying in Indian schools in Kuwait. There was a time when a small percentage of migrants constituted professionals and others mostly were into menial blue-collar jobs, nicknamed as ABCs-Ayahs-Butlers-Clerks. Today, most of the migrant workers are professionals, engineers, medical doctors, graduate nurses, accountants, and specialists in their respective fields of work. Although Kuwaitis generally nurture a dislike towards migrant workers, Indians are the most respected and loved community for their hard work and loyalty. Indian companies in Kuwait have been a source of employment for many, expats and locals alike. Some of the major Indian PSUs, such as TCIL, LIC (International), LIC Housing Finance, New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company, Air India Ltd., have offices in Kuwait. In the last two years, Indian EPC companies such as Larsen & Toubro, Shapoorji Pallonji, Punj Lloyd, among others have been awarded contracts worth over $6 billion in Kuwait. On the other hand, Kuwaiti companies have also made investments in India. The total estimated investment in India is over $3.5 billion, of which approximately $3 billion is by the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA). Some of the other major investments are made by Alghanim Group of Kuwait, the KAPICO group, National Aviation Services, Agility Logistics, Hasibat Holding Co, Global Investment House, and Kuwait Finance House. In early April, the COVID-19 outbreak presented itself as an opportunity to reaffirm the friendly ties. Following the request of the Kuwaiti government, New Delhi sent a COVID-19 Response Task Force for assisting in testing and treatment of the affected people and training of personnel. The task force comprised of 15 healthcare professionals, including doctors, and India also bolstered the supply of medicines to West Asia. However, Kuwaits draft expat quota Bill may hit India hard in the short term with more than 800,000 returnee migrants to look after and a resultant loss of remittances. In the long run, Kuwait will most likely feel the heat of losing a huge chunk of working migrant population, which filled the labour and skill gap in the oil-dependent economy looking to diversify. Since the 2008 financial crisis, regulators each year have required big banks to prove they could keep lending through new calamities. The rules, so far, have focused on purely economic disasters: Do they have enough capital to keep their doors open when markets collapse, or if unemployment explodes? But theres another kind of risk that didnt burst onto the radar during that crisis but could trigger just as much of an economic disaster: climate change. With increasingly severe storms, floods and fires, many forecasters envision a crisis that pivots from the physical to the economic. Imagine back-to-back wildfires and floods devastating huge swaths of California, or an epic drought coupled with tornadoes in Oklahoma during an oil price dip. The growing fear is that widespread damage to property serving as collateral for loans and to assets underpinning other investments could cause devastating financial blowback to banks, not to mention insurers on the hook for the damage. And as governments try to ratchet down carbon output, it could also threaten banks through their exposure to fossil fuel investments. Some see the global economys potential next "Minsky moment"a reference to the economist Hyman Minsky, who warned of speculative business cycles that end in destabilizing crisis. What to do about the problem is emerging as a high-level conversation among global bankers, their regulators and an increasingly influential coalition of Wall Street watchdogs and environmental advocates who are winning over a growing number of U.S. lawmakers. Should banks be subject to a stress test for climateand if yes, what would it look like? Stress tests are just one of the tools advocates want regulators to deploy to avert a disaster. But already the conversation is split between different approaches. One prevailing idea is to require more corporate disclosure of climate change risks. Others see the potential need for stricter regulatory intervention such as an overhaul of bank capital rules to nudge financial institutions toward a greener economy. Story continues Im not looking at this as a social policy, said Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Federal Reserve governor and deputy Treasury secretary who is widely seen as a contender for Fed chairman or Treasury secretary for the next Democratic president. Im looking at this as economic resilience and financial institution resilience. I see it as integral to how we actually manage risk. The financial fallout from climate change falls into two potential buckets. The first category is the so-called physical risks, the danger that collateral such as real estate underlying bank loans is susceptible to natural disasters, exposing lenders to financial risks in particular if they arent diversified. The second category is less extreme and dramatic, but may have bigger long-term consequences. Those are the transition risks the costs incurred as the world, as expected, reduces its carbon footprint to mitigate global warming. The concern is that it could trigger its own kind of shock making financial institutions oil and gas investments worthless as carbon-producing energy sources become stranded and unburnable. According to the Rainforest Action Network, 35 of the worlds biggest banks provided $735.6 billion in financing to fossil fuel companies in 2019. One calculation from February by Financial Times Lex Research Editor Alan Livsey put a $900 billion price tag on the value of fossil fuel assets that would be lost if governments tried to limit the increase in temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Other estimates have put the degree of economic risk in the trillions of dollars. Many economists have long suspected that climate risks are an underanalyzed, underappreciated threat to the world economy. In a study released in May, then International Monetary Fund found that global stock markets arent reflecting the physical dangers of natural disasters. IMF officials said that a first step should be more transparency: "granular, firm-specific information" on climate change exposure, wrote the IMFs Felix Suntheim and Jerome Vandenbussche, would help lenders, insurers and investors better understand the liabilities. The IMF said climate change stress testing and scenario analysis for financial firms can play a potentially important role in providing a better sense of the size of the exposures at a highly granular level. The development and enforcement of the recommendations would fall to national regulators, including central banks. Some have already started to move in this direction. Before Bank of England Governor Mark Carney stepped down in March, he pioneered an effort to begin stress testing banks for climate factors. (Hes since been appointed United Nations special envoy for climate action and finance.) The Bank of England, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan are among the more than 60 central banks and regulators that have formed the so-called Network for Greening the Financial System to collaborate on the issue. In June, the group released a set of climate scenarios as a starting point for analyzing the risks and a guide for regulators with practical advice on how they should proceed. Central banks around the world, including the Bank of England, are pressing the banks they regulate to incorporate climate change among the risks to their portfolios. Here, former Bank of England Gov. Mark Carney talks at a United Nations climate change conference earlier this year. In the U.S., bank regulation falls to the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and state agencies. Among them, the New York Department of Financial Services is the only U.S. representative in the Network for Greening the Financial System. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, first nominated by President Barack Obama to serve at the the Fed in 2011 and then confirmed as chair under President Donald Trump in 2018, said in January that a systemwide risk to financial stability from climate change is certainly possible over the longer term. He indicated that the central bank would take a cautious approach. We are in the very early stages, as are other central banks, in understanding just what that means, he said. And theres quite a lot of work going on around the world at other central banks and at the Fed, too, to think that through. He signaled that the Fed should play a limited role in the broader policy response to climate: Societys overall response to climate change needs to be decided by elected officials and not by the Fed. Now, environmental activists, financial reformers and a growing number of influential Democratic policymakers are calling on the Fed and other U.S. regulators to act more aggressively. One of them is Raskin, a former Obama Fed and Treasury official who has emerged as one of the leading voices on the issue. She said her two former agencies "have to get caught up with the rest of the world." Raskin, who is allied with progressives and is seen as a potential top economic appointee in a potential Biden administration, giving her views extra weight. "The other central banks are all on this," Raskin said. "They completely understand that climate change is a potential exogenous shock that needs to be prepared for." Raskin takes a broad view of how the government should get involved. She argues that a Treasury official should be tasked with bringing together financial regulatory agencies to articulate what the problems look like from the position of the firms they oversee. Raskin served a similar role coordinating the Obama administration's response to cybersecurity threats in the financial industry. "There needs to be a concerted effort first of all within each regulatory agency but then cohesively around what are the real risks," she said. "You can come up with a list of priorities. Maybe that will involve a climate stress test. Maybe it will involve better disclosures around a firm's market valuation that have to do with what their exposure to carbon-based assets is. Maybe firms just need to have plans regarding transitioning away from carbon-based assets." At the modest end, policymakers around the world have called on corporations to step up disclosures of risks they face from global warming. Beyond that, Democratic lawmakers and activists want the Fed to formally include climate in its bank stress test calculations, forcing lenders to be transparent about their assets at risk. At the more ambitious end, some European and U.K. officials have discussed adjusting rules governing bank capital the financial buffer to protect against losses to incentivize green investments while penalizing more environmentally harmful brown activities. Advocates in the U.S. have said its also an idea worth exploring. Underlying the proposals is a belief that the tools could also hasten the transition to a greener economy a goal that supporters do not hide. That has banks distressed about whether theyll become a tool for climate change policy. In the U.S., stress testing by the Fed has a direct impact on how banks must manage their balance sheets, and bank representatives argue the risks of climate change extend far beyond their current financial exposure. Tinkering with how much capital they have to hold based on whats more environmentally friendly is even more horrific to lenders who say its as a way for governments to use bank deposits instead of taxpayer money to fund climate policy decisions. Capital requirements, including risk-weighted requirements and stress tests, should be based on actual financial risk and not co-opted as a subsidy or penalty to serve other public policy goals, however worthy," said Greg Baer, who represents the largest U.S. lenders as president and CEO of the Bank Policy Institute. "Climate change policy should be effectuated through fiscal policy and direct regulation, while financial regulation should remain focused on protecting taxpayers and reducing systemic risk." The issue has become a political sweet spot for Democrats who want to talk about greening the economy and policing Wall Street excess. "The failure of our regulators to accurately and thoroughly account for that risk is growing more serious by the day," said Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee who has drafted climate stress test legislation. "They don't have to have an opinion about climate change as a public policy matter. But risk is risk." In the U.S., where lobbies exert large influence on the agencies that regulate them, what happens will likely need to involve the banks themselves. While the finance industry is uneasy with the idea of climate stress tests and changes to capital rules, its started to show some willingness to put potential threats under a microscope as political pressure has grown. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are among the supporters of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, a G-20-organized group chaired by Michael Bloomberg that is developing voluntary climate-related financial disclosures. With a range of rules and regulations looming, some of the industrys biggest players are calling for greater international coordination on what the next steps will be. "Our members have been on the record and very consistent in saying, these risks need to be identified, they need to be managed," said Andres Portilla, head of regulatory affairs at the Institute of International Finance, which represents global banks and insurers. But there are limits. "Whether the regulatory approach needs to be a prescriptive one, or one that leads to capital charges, then it's a different question, Portilla added. With U.S. regulators focused on the emergency response to the pandemic, nothing major is likely to happen in the near future, and Trumps appointees have not signaled that its a priority. So climate-related financial risk is shaping up to be another issue on the ballot in November whether voters are tracking it or not. The debate thats just beginning to ramp up will likely leave a mark on the economic policies of the Democratic Party, including presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Bidens presidential agenda. A lot of what we have tried to do and are going to continue to try to do is set the stage for action under a future administration, said Gregg Gelzinis, senior policy analyst for economic policy at the Center for American Progress. The first time we progressives think about this issue and think about some of the policy details shouldnt be the first day controlling the levers of power. Graham Steele, a former senior aide to Senate Banking Committee Democrats, who now oversees the Corporations and Society Initiative at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, has written a paper that reads like a road map for the next administration, outlining the potential risks and the options available to regulators. All these ways in which climate scientists talk about how risk in one region can lead to a tipping point that impacts a different region is deeply analogous to how we think about things like fire sales and run risks, he said. It felt sometimes they were using literally the exact same terminology we use when we think about financial regulation. It will be a litmus test on the left for Biden's executive appointments, if he wins in November. Elected Democrats including Schatz are already calling on Biden and his advisers to act. "What I'm hopeful of and have certainly had conversations about this with all the presidential candidates including now our nominee is this is not just a question of do they prioritize these issues," said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), who is sponsoring bills on climate stress tests and climate risk disclosure for corporations. "But do they structure their administration in a way that ensures there's a single point of control to make sure we factor all these things in." It's been several weeks since Angela, 'the last interesting housemate', was mercilessly spared. For no apparent reason, Adelaide's worst driver was offered the same respite on Monday. I've had sneezes more interesting than him. Nobody asked for it, nobody wanted it, but here it is. That may as well be the tagline for the 'new' Big Brother. Welcome home: Kieran was saved from elimination and whisked to the familiar surroundings of a white padded room on Monday. 'Wait a second?' he asked. 'I thought only the interesting ones got saved?' Sophie's Chump Aftermath: With nobody left for the lighthearted cold open, we were instead dropped into the aftermath of Casey's elimination at the hands of Sophie on Tuesday With nobody left for the lighthearted cold open, we were instead dropped into the aftermath of Casey's elimination at the hands of Sophie on Tuesday. 'Hey, Soph! Pack your bags, you're next!' barked Dan and Mat, who forgot how to think for themselves shortly after entering into a co-dependent bromance in week three. 'You're next' seemed like a pretty clear-cut threat, but Sophie still needed to consult the brain trust: Chad. Sophie: 'Hey, babe. Something about what Dan and Mat said makes me think they're going to eliminate me next?' You're next! 'Hey Soph! Pack your bags, you're next!' barked Dan and Mat, who forgot how to think for themselves after entering into a toxic, co-dependent bromance in week 3 Chad: 'Really? That's not what I took from it at all.' Sophie: 'What did you take from it?' Chad: 'More, like. Packing bags an' that.' Sophie: 'So you think I'm safe?' Chad: 'From what?' Brain's trust: Sophie: 'Hey babe? Something about what Dan and Mat said makes me feel like they might want to eliminate me next?' Chad: 'Really? That's not what I took from it at all' Sophie: 'Oh I get it! You're so smart. You're saying life is pointless and nothing really matters?' Chad: 'A hundo per cent. Giz a kiss?' Sophie: 'Silly me! This whole time I thought Mat and Dan were planning to eliminate me.' Chad: 'From what?' Sophie (swooning): 'You're so deep.' So help me God, If one of these two Steven Bradburys their way to $250k, we riot. Sophie: 'I get it, you're so smart! You're saying life is pointless and nothing really matters?' Chad: 'A hundo per cent. Giz a kiss?' It's Bullying Week! Kieran was in the lounge room, explaining his strategy for surviving until the final six. 'You gotta be smart,' he began. 'Like, you can't be a moron and still be here. You need to be strategical!' 'Totally, ay': Chad nodded extra hard in approval, fooling nobody Kieran was in the lounge room, explaining his strategy for surviving until the final six. 'You gotta be smart,' he began. 'Like, you can't be a moron and still be here. You need to be strategical!' Chad nodded extra hard in approval, fooling nobody. 'A hundo per cent,' he added. 'Giz a kiss?' The singular entity of Dan and Mat (herein D&M) called an emergency meeting with Chad, in the 'privacy' of the open-planned and acoustically dampened kitchen, where they proceeded to b***h about Kieran Hearing this, the singular entity of Dan & Mat (henceforth referred to as D&M) called an emergency meeting with Chad, in the 'privacy' of the open-planned kitchen. D&M: 'Thing about Kieran is that his biggest threat is he's so nonthreatening.' Chad: 'A hundo per cent. And all that stuff he was sayin' about bein' a genius an' that.' D&M: 'Thing about Kieran is that his biggest threat is he's so nonthreatening.' Chad: 'A hundo per cent. And all that stuff he was sayin' about bein' a genius an' that' D&M (laughing): 'Chad, mate. If the bloke was smart, don't you think he would have passed his L-plates by now?' Stupid question, Chad doesn't think D&M (laughing): 'Chad, mate. If the bloke was smart, don't you think he would have passed his L-plates by now?' Stupid question. Chad doesn't think. Kieran: 'Hey, you know we can all hear you, right? This house is open-planned AF.' Dan and Mat ran. Chad stood very still then slowly backed away - a technique he learned on The Crocodile Hunter. Kieran: 'Hey, you know we can all hear you, right? It's an open-planned house.' Dan and Mat ran. Chad stood very still and slowly backed away - a technique he learned on The Crocodile Hunter What's In The Box? Weekly reward challenge: 'Housemates. Looks like you've been getting into the spirit of international bullying week, which is odd seeing as though I haven't announced it yet,' said Big Brother Big Brother called the housemates into the backyard for the weekly reward challenge. 'Housemates. Looks like you've been getting into the spirit of international bullying week, which is odd seeing as though I haven't even announced it yet,' he said. The housemates nodded extra hard in approval, fooling nobody. 'One by one, you will enter a wind booth and grab either a pink or blue envelope. Pink is a reward; blue is a thinly-veiled excuse to bully Kieran.' 'One by one, you will enter a wind booth blindfolded and grab either a pink or blue envelope,' he said. 'Pink is a reward; blue is a thinly-veiled excuse to bully Kieran.' 'Kieran hasn't cracked yet, but this challenge will do it!' All told, he ended up with permanent dish-washing duties, his belongings confiscated, and a large pepperoni pizza. 'Pink envelope represent!' he beamed in between bites. All told, Kieran ended up with permanent dish-washing duties, his belongings confiscated, and a large pepperoni pizza. Pictured: Daniel and Mat trashing all the dishes to mess with him Some Balls Balls: The stupid eviction challenge was 'who can balance these balls on a board for three hours?' which Chad won The stupid eviction challenge was 'who can balance these balls on a board for three hours?' Apparently, it's Chad. He had the opportunity to put D&M up for eviction, effectively removing the last remaining threats. Luckily he had that conversation with Sophie earlier! Big decision: He had the opportunity to put D&M up for eviction, thus effectively removing the only remaining threats. Luckily he had that conversation with Sophie earlier! 'Yeah, I'm nominating Kieran coz I don't know why or whatever, and Mat, as a safe option,' he decided. Big Brother: 'Ok. No worries.' Chad: 'Wait up, isn't this the point where you question the contestant's logic?' Big Brother (baffled): 'Your logic? That's like asking me to question a witness in the death of Jeffrey Epstein: there isn't any. Kieran copped all three nominations and was seemingly on his way out... 'Yeah, I'm nominating Kieran coz I don't know why or whatever, and Mat, as a safe option,' he decided. Kieran copped all three nominations and was seemingly on his way out It's Just Not White Saved! Just like Angela, Big Brother spared Kieran at the last second, whisking him away to a white padded room. Kieran: 'Wait, why am I being spared? I thought that was only for interesting people?' He ended up getting the Angela treatment: spared at the last second and whisked away to a white padded room. 'Wait, why am I being spared?' he asked. 'I thought that was only for the interesting ones?' 'To be honest we were expecting you to crack under all that bullying, HA!' replied Big Brother. 'We had a full blown mental asylum storyline ready and everything.' 'But to your credit, you're a resilient little s**t, so just hang in here for a couple days.' Big Brother: 'Yeah, we thought you were going to crack. We had a full blown mental asylum storyline ready, the works. But you're a resilient little s**t, so just hang in here for a few days.' Kieran cheered and jumped for joy Kieran cheered and jumped for joy. 'Oy, does anyone hear that from next door?' asked Chad. 'Sounds like Dame Edna just won the Lotto?' 'Sound really travels in 'ere, ay?' JACKSON, Miss. - At least 30 Mississippi legislators and 11 other people who work in the state capitol are now known to have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the states top public health official said Tuesday. That is an increase from last week, when officials initially said 26 legislators and 10 others had the highly contagious virus. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state health officer, had said the numbers could go up as more people received test results. Dobbs said Tuesday that two people from the Capitol were hospitalized, but he did not say who they are. Mississippi has the largest outbreak of COVID-19 among state legislators in the U.S., according to numbers tracked by The Associated Press. Legislators left the Mississippi Capitol on July 1, after being there through most of June. Some people in the building wore masks and kept distance from others as precautions against spreading the virus, but many did not. It was common to see people leaning in to talk to each other with their faces uncovered. People also crowded into elevators and committee meeting rooms, and legislators also sat shoulder-to-shoulder in the House and Senate. Legislators will need to return to the Capitol at some point to approve a budget for the state Department of Marine Resources and to decide whether to override Republican Gov. Tate Reevess veto of parts of the education budget. The state budget year started July 1. Reeves said Tuesday that he does not yet know when it will be safe to bring legislators back to finish that business. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. Tablighi members walk out of Nizamuddin Markaj in Old Delhi. PTI photo New Delhi: A Delhi court Tuesday granted bail to 150 Indonesians who were chargesheeted for attending Tablighi Jamaat congregation here allegedly in violation of visa norms, indulging in missionary activities illegally and violating government guidelines issued in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted relief to the foreigners on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each. The accused will file their plea bargaining applications on Wednesday, said advocates Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh and Fahim Khan, appearing for them. Under plea bargaining, the accused plead guilty to the offence, praying for a lesser punishment. The Criminal Procedure of Code allows for plea bargaining in cases where the maximum punishment is 7-year imprisonment; offences don't affect the socio-economic conditions of the society and the offence is not committed against a woman or a child below 14 years. These foreigners had attended the event in March, following which in April COVID-19 cases across the country spiked after hundreds of Tablighi Jamaat members, who had attended the religious congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz event, tested positive. As large swaths of Ontario move to Stage 3 of reopening this Friday (Toronto not included), bars and restaurants will be allowed to offer dine-in service in addition to takeout and outdoor dining. But just because theyll be open, it doesnt mean the pandemic is over. So is it safe to go to the corner pub for a burger and a pint, or is it better to continue with takeout? Dasantila Golemi-Kotra, a microbiologist and associate professor at York University, said that for the time being, shell continue getting takeout and cook at home. It seems that the conditions this virus thrives on is in confined areas with proximity to others, she said. Bars and restaurants meet all those requirements. We spend time leisurely there, and you find yourself talking louder to compete with the music and other people. Studies have shown that respiratory droplets are released as you talk and the virus persists even in the smallest drops. The rule laid out by the province so far is that indoor gatherings, such as in restaurants and bars, need at least two metres of space between patrons from different households and social bubbles, unless theres a barrier like a Plexiglas shield. Theres a maximum indoor gathering limit of 50, guests have to remain seated and buffets are still a no-go. Golemi-Kotra added that respiratory particles can travel beyond six feet within a confined space with poor air circulation, which is why she said patio dining has worked relatively well so far. Alcohol can also make a person more relaxed about social distancing guidelines. Patrons also cant wear a mask when eating or drinking. Another risk is restrooms. And while the risk of contamination is small, there are surfaces touched by many people and the ventilation isnt the best. For those that absolutely must head to a bar or restaurant, Golemi-Kotra still recommends the patio or takeout. For dining-in, she said to restrict the tables to people from the same household. If you must dine with your social bubble be strict about it, dine with the people that you share the same health and safety concerns and lifestyle as. Be mindful that asymptomatic people are responsible for as much as 40 per cent of the SARS-CoV-2 spread. Keep the dining and drinking sessions short, exercise good hygiene and dont share food or utensils, she added. Still, even then, she said theres still a risk of infection as cases have spiked in cities that already reopened bars and restaurants. B.C. health officials issued a warning after eight people who tested positive for COVID-19 had visited downtown Kelowna and the citys waterfront between June 25 and July 9. Montreal health authorities also told people to get tested after 13 patrons tested positive and visited at least nine bars since July 1. Last month in Michigan, more than 100 COVID-19 cases were traced back to a single bar. On Monday, just after Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the provinces Stage 3 plans, Californias governor closed all bars and indoor restaurants for a second time as COVID-19 cases continued to rise. Councillor Joe Cressy, chair of the Toronto Board of Health, told the Star on Monday that the city needs to be extremely cautious when it comes to reopening bars in indoor settings and monitor other jurisdictions around the world to see how theyre handling indoor drinking. Im happy that the numbers in Ontario are (low) but people tend to forget that were doing well because were staying home, Golemi-Kotra said. Thats why we have to be careful or else the numbers will go up again. ALBANY Following mounting criticism and legal challenges, President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday walked back on a plan that would have forced international students to take in-person classes or risk deportation. The move to rescind the policy came out of an agreement made between the government and Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Both of those schools had filed a lawsuit following the Trump administration's July 6 announcement of the planned practice, according to the New York Times. Earlier Tuesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James held a phone conference discussing a separate lawsuit she had filed calling for the directive from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be set aside. She was joined by several leaders in higher education denouncing the policy and outlining the negative impact it would have on communities across New York. International students should never be used as political fodder to force colleges to reopen their doors, but the presidents inability to remove politics from public health decisions endangers us all, James said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. The diversity of our colleges and universities is what makes New York schools among the worlds most competitive and most sought after, but President Trumps reversal in policy not only threatens these innocent students educational paths, but our states hard-hit economy and the public health of millions of New Yorkers. New York joined over a dozen other states as well as other educational institutions that filed similar lawsuits. The directive would have required international students to maintain at least one in-person class in order to keep their F-1 visas that allow them to study in the United States. The instruction came at a time when public and private colleges and universities have developed extensive plans for the fall semester, many of them opting to provide all classes online, to protect staff and students from contracting the coronavirus. Critics of the ICE directive called it politically motivated and part of an effort by Trump to force colleges to hold in-person classes, as the president has urged schools and colleges to open their doors for the fall semester. CUNY, SUNY and labor unions representing college staff blasted the directive and pointed to the myriad ways international students contribution to the economy. James said New York ranks second in the nation for the number of international students it attracts to public and private universities, with New York City having the most international students in the United States at over 100,000. There is another 42,820 international students throughout the rest of New York, including more than 5,000 international students enrolled in colleges in the Capital Region. International students often pay the full price of tuition, provide valuable research work and teach classes, higher education leaders said. They also have made New York communities their homes, developing careers and buying homes in the area, said Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission of Independent Colleges & Universities, which represents over 100 private and nonprofit colleges in New York. To frame just how important this issue is to the higher education ecosystem in New York, out of 1.2 million degree seeking college students about 10 percent are international students, she said. They contribute $5.3 billion to the economy each year and support nearly 60,000 jobs. They are an integral part of the rich fabric of higher education in New York state. A last-gasp attempt is under way to overturn the NSW government's decision not to build a metro rail station at Camellia, as proponents argue a train stop is needed as a trigger for development of the industrial suburb near Parramatta. The government is also facing growing pressure to construct a station at Pyrmont, as part of the $20 billion-plus Metro West line project from Westmead to Sydney's CBD. Parramatta City Council endorsed on Monday night an urgent plea for the government to include a station at Camellia, or at least provision for one to be built there. Long dominated by industry, Camellia is earmarked for a major urban renewal project. Credit:Brendan Esposito A seven-kilometre stretch of the proposed line between stations at Parramatta and Olympic Park will easily be the longest section without a proposed stop if one is not built at Camellia. Taoiseach Micheal Martin has warned that house parties are an issue in the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Ireland. Mr Martin told the Dail that during a conversation with acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn, concerns were raised about the increase of coronavirus cases in recent weeks. He said that congregated indoor settings where up to 30 or 40 people gather in a house are a concern. The Taoiseach also said that following the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) meeting on Tuesday, the Government will meet on Wednesday to consider its advice and discuss international travel. Expand Close People wearing face coverings in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People wearing face coverings in Dublin (Niall Carson/PA) The Government is expected to agree on a green list of countries where people can travel to. Mr Martin said that while there has been a lot of commentary around the number of American tourists arriving in Ireland, information from the Department of Transport suggests that the numbers are quite low. He said: From the outset of the pandemic, travel has never been banned officially. Ive been speaking to the chief medical officer, there are concerns in terms of increases in the number of Covid cases over the last fortnight. Congregated indoor settings is presenting a problem 30 or 40 people in the house, for example at house parties, is an issue. We have to be very strong in terms of travel as well in terms of our messaging around travel, and with a view to keeping the rate down. That would be our objective in the coming weeks, with the overarching consideration being getting the schools open and getting the non-Covid strand of medicine opened up and free up our hospital capacity to do that. Meanwhile, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar ruled out mandatory quarantine for people arriving into Ireland, saying it turned out to be a bit of a disaster in Australia. The objective was to flatten the curve, suppress the virus, it was never to eliminate the virus. New Zealand thought they'd done that and they haven't Leo Varadkar There have been increased calls for mandatory quarantine rules for people arriving from countries such as the US that have high numbers of coronavirus cases. Dr Glynn said on Monday that, from a public health perspective, mandatory quarantine would be a desirable measure but it was up to the Government to decide given the wider implications. Mr Varadkar said the Department of Health and Government have insisted mandatory quarantine would not be practical. Its a high possibility this pandemic will go on for years until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment, and its just not practical to cut ourselves off to international travel for that long whether its business, leisure, essential workers, people visiting friends and relatives, people coming home, he told Newstalk FM. The objective was to flatten the curve, suppress the virus, it was never to eliminate the virus. New Zealand thought theyd done that and they havent they now have new cases every day. Australia tried mandatory quarantine and it turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The centres, the hotels in which they quarantine people, became clusters for infection and now Melbourne is in a second lockdown. Mr Varadkar said the Government intends to publish a green list of countries where it is safe to travel to and from without having to quarantine next week. What were going to do when it comes to travelling to countries that arent on the green list or a list, is (look at) tighter controls that could mean putting the passenger locator form online and it also means potentially looking at testing, he added. Expand Close PA Graphics Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PA Graphics People will say testing is inferior to mandatory quarantine, but if we know mandatory quarantine cant be done then maybe its better to do something like that than nothing at all. Ryanair announced on Tuesday that it is cutting its Ireland-UK schedules for the months of August and September by up to 1,000 flights. A spokesman for the budget airline said Ireland is now suffering unrecoverable losses as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains open with no quarantine requirement for passengers. Last week, when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short-haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14-day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland, the spokesman said. Ryanair called on the Irish Government to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland as a matter of urgency. No new coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Ireland on Tuesday, leaving the total at 1,746, the National Public Health Emergency Team said. As of midnight on July 13, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) had been notified of 32 confirmed new cases of Covid-19, taking the total to 25,670 confirmed cases in Ireland. With COVID-19 infections surging, Pennsylvanias health secretary on Monday warned that making the right choice on face masks and social distancing is critical to avoiding a repeat of the situation that prompted major restrictions during spring. If you feel uncomfortable with how close people are at, for instance, a restaurant where you might be dining, then make the choice to leave, Dr. Rachel Levine said. If you are in a store where people are not following the mandatory mask order, make the choice to leave. And if you are getting together with people who might be talking that they are not changing their lifestyle or not wearing masks, then make a choice not to go to be with those people. Levine said, As much as our efforts are about laws and mandates and requirements, they are mostly about your choices. As of Monday, Pennsylvania over the past week was averaging 776 new cases per day, up from 543 per day two weeks earlier. The state logged more than 1,000 new cases on Friday, breaking the 1,000 mark for the first time since May 10. Levine on Monday warned of a repeat of Pennsylvanias first surge, when infections among adults younger than 50 spread to people over 65, who have accounted for the vast majority of the nearly 7,000 COVID-19 deaths in Pennsylvania. She said people over 65 now account for about half of cases, with people 19-49 accounting for 45 percent of total cases. Still, Levine on Monday said she and Gov. Tom Wolf have no plans to impose any statewide restrictions in response to the surge. Rather, she stressed that local officials in places such as Allegheny County, which has restricted indoor dining and on-site drinking, have taken precise and targeted steps which are working. We are very carefully monitoring data from across the state to ensure that we stay on the right track, Levine said. In rural Perry County, county Commissioner Gary Eby on Monday said hes been seeing more people without face masks in places such as stores. Eby, a Republican, said he worries its a sign people feel the threat is gone and are letting down their guards. The most important thing is dont get complacent, he said. Eby said he and fellow commissioners remain worried about a surge in the county, and are especially worried about the possibility of COVID-19 infections interfering with the reopening of schools. Another worry, he said, involves the potential for spread among Perrys approximately 3,000 Amish and Mennonite residents. They commonly visit, or have visitors from, places such as Lancaster which have higher concentrations of infections, and Amish and Mennonites may be less inclined to wear face masks and practice social distancing, Eby said. He said commissioners have been reaching out to Amish and Mennonites, stressing they are part of an overall community, with everyone having a responsibility to protect the community. Another worry, he said, is that county employees will vacation in hard-hit areas, causing them to miss work because of illness or having to quarantine for two weeks. Everybody needs to be here. We dont have fat to cut, Eby said. On Monday, cases continued to surge around the United States, with some states and cities adding new restrictions or rolling back aspects of re-opening. California, for example, shut down indoor activity at places including restaurants, bars and movie theaters. Oregon banned most indoor gatherings of more than 10 people and imposed an outdoor mask requirement similar to Pennsylvanias. New York said it will begin tracking people from a list of hard-hit states and requiring them to quarantine for 14 days, with fines for people who try to skirt the process. Levine noted on Monday that states including Florida, Texas, California, Arizona and South Carolina didnt see the kind of surges that Pennsylvania did during the spring. But now some of those are logging far higher cases counts than Pennsylvania did during its peak, with their health care systems more stressed than was the case in Pennsylvania. She said Pennsylvanians must stay vigilant in order to prevent the situation from turning more dire. Whats most important for Pennsylvanians to know right now is that in order to go about their routines, we need to make important choices to lower our risk, she said. We have to adapt our activities to protect against COVID-19 and make the choice to not do some of those activities if theyre not safe. She said people should please go for a walk, go hiking, enjoy state parks, but take your mask, just like you take your sunscreen. Think about yourself, think about your family. Think about your community and others, and make those smart choices. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. With almost double the number of students scoring above 95 per cent in the CBSE Board results this year, the Delhi University cutoffs are also likely to be high this year. A major chunk of students who apply to the Delhi University are CBSE students. Shobha Bagai, dean (admissions), said the registration process was already underway till July 18. "The next step for students will be to update marks. There is an increase in students scoring above 95 per cent and 90 per cent marks, and we will see which streams they are from and how that will impact the cutoffs," Bagai said. "Once we get the data on the portal, only then an analysis can happen. We have been waiting for the revised academic calendar from the UGC," she said. "For us, it will make a difference, specially for science courses since NEET and JEE exams are scheduled in September." Many of the NEET and JEE aspirants also apply to the DU. In few days, the admission committee will sit down and take a decision, Bagai said. Former Academic Council member Pankaj Garg said the cutoffs in the first list would be high, but even the cutoffs in the fifth and sixth lists would be higher than last year by two-three percentage points. For instance, if the cutoff was 88 per cent in a subject last year, it will be 90 or 91 per cent this year, he said. "Also, this year, students were not allowed to choose courses while filling the varsity registration form. So colleges will keep their cut-offs high since the number of seats are limited for courses," he said. Anju Srivastava, principal of the Hindu College, said the first cutoff would be the same if not higher than last year. "There is data that students who have scored above 95 per cent is almost the double of last year. We will have to keep the cut-offs high because of the limitations," she said. The internationally acclaimed Architecture for Dogs exhibition will launch at Japan House London on Saturday 19 September 2020 exhibition will launch at Japan House London on Saturday Japan House London will be the first destination in Europe to exhibit Architecture for Dogs with a physical and virtual experience for guests to exhibit with a physical and virtual experience for guests The free exhibition features designs by world-class architects such as Ban Shigeru, Kuma Kengo , Sou Fujimoto and Ito Toyo, each capturing the quality of the relationship between dogs and their people. , Sou Fujimoto and Ito Toyo, each capturing the quality of the relationship between dogs and their people. A number of exhibits will be available for dogs to interact with, including a roadshow of several designs under consideration. Architecture for Dogs allows guests to become architects themselves, encouraging the creation of new designs and offering downloadable blueprints for each of the exhibition's works. allows guests to become architects themselves, encouraging the creation of new designs and offering downloadable blueprints for each of the exhibition's works. The exhibition will run from 19 September 2020 for 18 weeks LONDON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Japan House London today announces it will be the first destination in Europe to host the internationally acclaimed Architecture for Dogs exhibition, set to open to the public on Saturday 19 September. Architecture for Dogs features a collection of 16 architectural designs for different dog breeds including the Beagle, Bichon Frise and Poodle. The exhibition will be available to visit at the Kensington High Street venue, as well as a through virtual experiences such as a 3D Tour, online talks and 'live' guided tours. With our loyal, four-legged friends proving their value as comforting companions during lockdown more than ever, Architecture for Dogs offers guests a fun and insightful exploration into how it is possible for dogs and their human companions to be at their happiest through interaction with specially designed architectural pieces. The exhibition offers smaller dogs the opportunity to interact with a number of the designs, such as the "Architecture For Long-Bodied Short-Legged Dogs' designed by the world renowned architectural practice Atelier Bow-Wow. Other exhibits featuring in Architecture for Dogs include: A new home for Snoopy? - MVRDV presents a playful take on the dog house, with an interactive toy which is at the same time a stimulating environment for the intelligent Beagle breed to enjoy. - MVRDV presents a playful take on the dog house, with an interactive toy which is at the same time a stimulating environment for the intelligent Beagle breed to enjoy. Who's the prettiest of them all? With poodles known for loving their own reflection, Konstantin Grcic has created a fun mirror-led structure for pooches to gaze at themselves With poodles known for loving their own reflection, has created a fun mirror-led structure for pooches to gaze at themselves Candy floss cocoon - inspired by the distinct fur of the Bichon Frise, Sejima Kazuyo has created a hideaway where dog and structure blend into one. Architecture for Dogs was created and directed by Hara Kenya, Nippon Design Center in conjunction with co-founder Imprint- featuring world-class architects and designers including Hara Kenya himself, Ban Shigeru, Kuma Kengo, Ito Toyo, Sou Fujimoto and Ma Yang Song. Japan House London will shortly be announcing a critically acclaimed UK-based architect, commissioned to create a new design, becoming the 16th exhibit in Architecture for Dogs. During the exhibition, a range of canine-related items from Japan can be found in The Shop at Japan House London. The exhibition first launched at Design Miami in 2012 and has since received global acclaim touring in Japan [Tokyo, Gallery - MA], China [Shanghai, Himalayas Museum] and Brazil [Japan House Sao Paulo]. This exhibition at Japan House London will be the first time for it to be seen in Europe. Japan House London was one of the first cultural institutions in the UK to re-open to the public on Thursday 9 July. Locals and Londoners are welcomed back to explore the Ground Floor, the first space to reopen in accordance with UK Government guidelines, with a newly introduced booking system and raft of safety measures in place. Hara Kenya, Chief Creative Director for the Japan House project and creator of Architecture for Dogs: "We are delighted that, at the invitation of Japan House London, we are able to take this exhibition to London. While the architecture is 'for dogs', each of the contributors taking part in this unique project is a first class, world renowned architect. Please come and enjoy this cutting-edge architecture exhibition". Simon Wright, Director of Programming, Japan House London: "This exhibition, featuring architecture specially designed for our canine best friends by a pantheon of stellar creative minds, is thoughtful, provocative and delightfully playful. Come and join us, and design with us." "Architecture for Dogs has always allowed us to see designers and architects as creative problem-solver, story-teller and even empathic futurists," says Julia Y.C. Huang, CEO of Imprint, co-founder of Architecture for Dogs. "In its eighth year of inception, we cannot but think it has a special meaning for it to take place in 2020. In this time of uncertainty, I can be certain that a visit to Japan House London for this exhibition will bring smiles to your faces." Notes to Editors: For more information on Architecture for Dogs visit www.japanhouselondon.uk or https://architecturefordogs.com To download images of the architecture designs that will be on show please visit our Media Centre https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/media-centre Sign-up to our newsletter: https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/discover/enewsletter/ Follow us on social media @japanhouseldn About Japan House London Japan House London is a cultural centre offering visitors an experience of the best and latest from Japan. Located on London's Kensington High Street, the experience is an authentic encounter with Japan, engaging and surprising even the most knowledgeable guests. Presenting the very best of Japanese art, design, gastronomy, innovation, and technology, it deepens our appreciation of all that Japan has to offer. Part of a global initiative led by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are two other Japan Houses in Los Angeles and Sao Paulo. Safety measures [July 2020] The cultural destination has received Visit Britain's 'We're Good To Go' Standard, to reassure guests that they can visit Japan House London safely, with clear processes in place that adhere to Government and public health guidance. In addition to a one-way visitor route, Japan House London has installed a raft of new measures to ensure visitor safety, published at www.japanhouselondon.uk/covid The measures include: All staff will be wearing face coverings Hand sanitizer will be provided on entry and exit One-way system in place on the Ground Floor 2-metre social distancing How to plan a visit A visit to Japan House London currently re-quires pre-booking a free entry ticket. Find out more: www.japanhouselondon.uk/covid New (temporary) opening hours [July 2020] Monday-Friday: 11:00-16:00 Saturday: 11:00-18:00 Sunday: 12:00-18:00 Last entry: Monday-Friday: 15:15 and Saturday-Sunday: 17:15 Fifty years ago, he designed a braking system that helped reduce fatal car crashes. Now Mario Palazzetti has invented a device he hopes will curb the spread of COVID-19. The retired Fiat Research Centre engineer is known as Mr ABS for the anti-lock braking system he created that is now standard in all motor vehicles. At the age of 84, he has devised a gadget about the size of an electric kettle which creates local air currents that aim to stop the circulation of tiny droplets expelled when people speak - potentially hindering the spread of COVID-19 infections. "We've called it the Biostopper and it's used to create an aerodynamic field, so that all the breath that someone emits when talking comes back to them," he explained. Palazzetti started work on the device two months ago, hoping to address the difficulties of social distancing in schools, offices, bars and restaurants as the pandemic that has killed more than 548,000 people took hold. 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 He is now working with a team at the Politecnico di Torino (University of Turin) to fine tune and test the product. "I can't tell you so many technical details because we are still in the patenting phase," Professor Marco Simonetti of the Politecnico's energy department told Reuters. "The concept is simple, the ambition is not to kill the virus, but to reduce the distance (between people) safely," he added. The Biostopper was initially designed to allow two people to get closer together, but Simonetti said it could work for small groups. "We are concentrating on talking, because with sneezing we would need a much more invasive system," he said. The Politecnico team hopes to have a prototype by the end of July and to go to market by the end of the summer. Mr ABS, who retired in 1997, is behind a string of other inventions, including the TOTEM (Total Energy Module), a small heat and power generator, and an air conditioning system called Aircare which also recovers energy. "The ideas come to me, it's not like I'm thinking," he said. "My regret is that I have a lot of ideas that are asking to be brought to light, but it's really difficult." Take it from a former DACA recipient, the US Supreme Courts verdict is just the beginning. On June 19, DACA recipients across the country erupted in celebration. The United States Supreme Court struck down the Trump administrations attempt to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which grants undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children deferral on deportation and eligibility for work permits. Five out of the courts nine judges voted against the administrations actions, calling them arbitrary and capricious. To the immigrant community that has suffered relentless dehumanising attacks and scapegoating under Donald Trumps presidency, the courts ruling represents a critical victory. Together with the hundreds of thousands of DACA recipients across the country who have been waiting on the Supreme Court to rule on this case for months, I share the deep sense of relief that comes with this victory. When I was just 11 years old, my family immigrated from Morocco, like so many families in search of education and opportunities for a better life. I did not know that I was undocumented until I was in high school and began filling out college applications. I asked my mother for my social security number, and discovered that I did not have one. Not only that, I did not have any kind of residency or the papers needed to protect my ability to stay in this country. After the 9/11 attacks in the US, Muslim men were ordered to register their presence in this country under the guise of national security. It was then, as a college student, that I learned just how precarious our situation was. Others saw me and men who looked like me as potential terrorist threats simply because of where we were born and how we worshipped. Deportation orders were initiated for my family. That is when I decided to become a lawyer and fight for the rights of immigrants. In 2012, when the Obama administration established DACA, I took the risk of relying on the governments promises of protection against deportation under the programme. I felt an overwhelming sense of stability that I had never experienced in my time in the US. From my fathers first attempt to renew our familys visa after we arrived in the US to the gruelling process I went through to attend law school as a Muslim in a post-9/11 world, DACA gave me a chance to succeed in, and contribute to, the country I grew up in, and to get a taste of what it feels like to be seen as a human being who belongs. Just a few months later, I joined the staff at the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), a nonprofit organisation which advocates for the rights of low-income immigrants, and led its DACA implementation efforts. Today, I serve as NILCs deputy director and am proud of our work representing courageous young DACA plaintiffs who pushed this administration all the way to the Supreme Court and prevailed. Together with them, I feel at once elated and apprehensive. While the Supreme Courts decision to uphold DACA is a momentous victory, President Trump wasted no time in stating that his work to dismantle the programme will continue with renewed vigour. In fact, in a recent media interview, he indicated that he is planning to make new changes to immigration policy by issuing an executive order, and stated that DACA might be included in some way. For immigrants and DACA recipients, for our families and the communities we love, the fight must continue, much as it has throughout our lives in this country. The stakes in November are clear: DACA is on the ballot. We need a president who will honour the human dignity of all who call this country home no matter what you look like or where you were born. We need a president who will appoint Supreme Court justices committed to inclusion, equity, and justice. Trumps narrative of exclusion based on race, birthplace, and religion is detrimental to our country. His use of law enforcement and state violence time and time again to tear apart families, terrorise communities of colour, and trample over our constitution is dangerous and divisive. Americans of good conscience must come together to ensure he is replaced in November by someone who will work to bring this country together and fight for all people, Black or white, rich or poor, immigrant or native-born. Immigrants are people. We are people when we arrive in this country, and we are people when we become citizens and every day in between. And just because someone is legal now does not mean they are better than they were when they were undocumented. I was granted US citizenship just last year. This November, I will have the opportunity to vote in my first presidential election. For DACA recipients everywhere, for my family, for the sake of the future of our country, I will be casting my vote on behalf of, and in support of millions of immigrants who are still struggling to be recognised and welcomed in America, which they have chosen as their home. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. A portable testing lab that fits into a suitcase is being hailed as the key to tackling one of the world's biggest dangers to health. Experts from Newcastle University UK, have been working with the Addis Ababa Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), Addis Ababa University (AAU) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to ensure waterborne hazards can be identified in a quicker, easier and ultimately cheaper way, anywhere in the world. Using smaller and less expensive versions of the same type of specialist equipment found in state-of-the-art microbiology laboratories in the UK, the new suitcase lab - believed to be a world-first - enables screening of millions of bacteria in a single water sample, instead of running many tests in parallel to look for different pathogens. Genetic analysis can bring to light numerous hazards potentially present in water, but such analysis is currently carried out in a laboratory, using large and expensive machines. These facilities are often not available in developing countries, and the process of sending samples from the affected country to the UK for detailed analysis can take more than a month. The portable lab means scientists can go direct to the location where a waterborne disease is thought to be present and screen a water sample for genetic material - with results available within a day or two. The data can be used for measuring the effectiveness of wastewater treatment, faecal pollution source tracking, and the identification of waterborne hazards in surface and groundwater. The rapid data generation gives public health officials more opportunity to quickly identify and deal with local hazards, potentially saving countless lives. After initial on-site testing on samples collected at Birtley sewage treatment plant in North East England, the suitcase lab was used to carry out water quality screening in the Akaki River catchment near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These achievements have just been published in the journal Water Research. Dr. David Werner, Professor in Environmental Systems Modelling, Newcastle University, explains: "By taking advantage of innovative technologies to make it easier and faster to carry out on-site water quality assessments, and with our Ethiopian colleagues, we have demonstrated a way to study genetic material with affordable resources almost anywhere in the world. With our portable laboratory, we successfully screened millions of bacteria in Akaki River water samples and discovered a high prevalence of Arcobacter butzleri, a still poorly understood waterborne hazard that can cause watery diarrhoea. Unfortunately, diarrhoea is still a leading cause of death among children under the age of five." Dr David Werner, Professor, Department of Environmental Systems Modelling, Newcastle University Government advice to "wash your hands frequently" exemplifies the importance of safe water and sanitation for hygiene and public health. But according to the United Nations, six in 10 people lack access to safely managed sanitation facilities, and three in 10 people in the world lack access to safely managed drinking water services. As well as reducing the time required to measure water quality, the project aims to enable the independent use of the tools by researchers and water systems engineers in Ethiopia. Dr. Alemseged Tamiru Haile from the IWMI is confident that the scientific break-through will make a difference in Ethiopia. "Our collaboration with Newcastle University in terms of carrying out the fieldwork and analysis provided an opportunity for the hands-on training of 13 junior experts in Ethiopia at AAWSA facilities," he says. "One AAWSA staff member then visited Newcastle to receive intensive training in water quality monitoring with the portable laboratory. Academics from AAU can now integrate the novel approach into their curriculum. The equipment items we have assembled in the portable laboratory are affordable for AAU and AAWSA." AAWSA is constructing more sewage treatment plants in Addis Ababa, and the team will continue their monitoring in the Akaki catchment to provide evidence for the benefits of these investments in public health. Dr. Kishor Acharya is the early career scientist at Newcastle University who has led the development of the portable molecular toolbox. He has delivered training workshops in portable metagenomics to junior academics and laboratory technicians from research institutions, NGOs, and government agencies in Tanzania, Thailand, Malaysia, Nepal, India, and Ethiopia. Dr. Acharya, who is originally from Nepal, says that the portable lab kit could easily be used in many different contexts to screen for dangerous pathogens. "I want to demonstrate the applicability of the mobile toolkit and the protocols we've developed for microbial hazard surveying to other disciplines," he explains. "In the future, this kit could potentially be used as a way to assure food and drink safety, efficient health services, productive agriculture, and beyond." Flash The surge in COVID-19 cases across the United States has resulted in delays in processing and delivering test results, a leading U.S. diagnostic service company said on Monday. Quest Diagnostics, one of the companies performing a significant amount of COVID-19 testing in the United States, said its average time to get test results back is now "7 or more days" for everyone except the highest-priority patients, meaning people who are hospitalized or symptomatic health care workers. "Despite our rapid scaling up of capacity, soaring demand for COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tests across the United States is slowing the time in which we can provide test results," said the company in a statement. "We attribute this demand primarily to the rapid, continuing spread of COVID-19 infections across the nation but particularly in the South, Southwest and West regions of the country," said the statement. The company is able to perform up to 125,000 molecular diagnostic tests a day, almost double its capacity two months ago, and expects to have the capacity for a 150,000 tests a day by the end of July. "Despite that dramatic increase, demand for testing is increasing even faster. As a result, our average turnaround time for reporting test results is slightly more than 1 day for our priority 1 patients. However, our average turnaround time for all other populations is 7 or more days," said the company. More than 3,353,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States with the fatalities surpassing 135,500 as of Monday evening, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. BOSTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Botkeeper , a leading automated bookkeeping solution that works hand-in-hand with Accounting Firms to help grow their business, improve margins, and deliver better service to their clients by augmenting manual and tedious bookkeeping work, announced it has joined the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) , a nonprofit dedicated to unifying the financial industry around a common, interoperable, royalty-free standard for secure and convenient consumer and business access to their financial data. As an FDX member, Botkeeper joins the ranks of more than 100 notable industry powerhouse partners such as Bank of America, Intuit, USAA, and Fannie Mae who are coming together to help consumers and businesses make informed financial decisions by sharing their financial data safely and conveniently. Botkeeper provides their Accounting Partners and clients a combination of software and bookkeeping services, part of which includes the secure connection to over 16k banks and credit card institutions for electronic data fetching, and transaction categorization. CPA firms and businesses using these services require secure, fast, and convenient connectivity to the financial data necessary to conduct the bookkeeping. "Botkeeper has been a big proponent of democratizing AI and automated bookkeeping for the accounting industry," said Enrico Palmerino, co-founder, and CEO at Botkeeper. "We do this by building and licensing our software to the 46,000+ existing accounting firms, allowing them to immediately benefit from a level of efficiency and accuracy that they could otherwise not afford to develop in-house. Embodied in this belief is the idea that financial data should be free and secure for all to access, process, and glean insights from. Botkeeper has thus chosen to invest in and join FDX as it strives to provide free and secure financial data to consumers and businesses alike." "There is a very large spectrum of financial institutions that have varying degrees of access to the changes and regulations around data authentication," said Justin Whitehead, CTO at Botkeeper. "With the larger banks at the forefront of this information, there are also thousands and thousands of small to mid-sized banks doing everything they can to keep up with the rampant and frequent changes. Even closer to home for us at Botkeeper, there are thousands of Accounting Professionals who have been operating in an industry that had been largely untouched by technological innovations up until just the last few years." Justin went on to say, "As accounting professionals are self-educating and researching concepts like AI, ML, and RPA, they're also having to keep up with the banking regulation shiftsand this is on top of continuing to support their business clients. This reality spurred the question, 'How do we help the accounting and business community operate in this new digital world, securely, and at scale?' In having a seat at the table with FDX, alongside some of the biggest names in finance, Botkeeper is going to be able to contribute to the long-term solution to these challenges. This is a space that is near and dear to our missionan area we're able to work on, so our clients don't have to. We're thrilled and honored to be able to help accounting professionals and business owners sleep better at night knowing that their data is being handled with respect and care." "We are really excited to have Botkeeper join FDX!" said Don Cardinal, Managing Director at FDX. "The addition of Botkeeper's voice will help ensure that the FDX API standard and associated use cases work well for B2B applications like bookkeeping and accounting. Like many FDX members, Botkeeper is helping small businesses monetize and leverage their own financial data in ways never before possible, and we are excited to welcome them to the FDX ecosystem." About Botkeeper Botkeeper provides secure automated bookkeeping support to Accounting firms and businesses by using a powerful combination of skilled accountants, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Clients receive 24/7 accounting and support as well as incredible insight into their financials with interactive dashboards and unlimited reporting. Botkeeper's Accounting Partners are able to grow their book of business and provide high-quality services to their clients, increasing their ability to take on new clients, all while getting crystal clean financials at tax timeall while reducing overhead. Botkeeper is the only solution of its kind, acting as a force multiplier for business owners and Accounting firms. The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with offices in North Carolina, New York, and Balanga. To learn more about Botkeeper, visit botkeeper.com . About the Financial Data Exchange Financial Data Exchange, LLC, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to unifying the nancial industry around a common, interoperable, royalty-free standard for secure and convenient consumer and business access to their financial data. FDX empowers consumers through its commitment to the development, growth, and industry-wide adoption of the FDX API, according to the principles of control, access, transparency, traceability, and security. Membership is open to financial institutions, fintech companies, consumer advocacy groups, and other industry participants. FDX is an independent subsidiary of FS-ISAC. For more information and to join, visit www.financialdataexchange.org . Contact: Jessica King, 1-800-388-3323 ext. 714, [email protected] SOURCE Botkeeper Related Links https://www.botkeeper.com The United States Supreme Court ruled last week that 3 million acres of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation including most of Tulsa are still a reservation at least so far as criminal prosecutions go. The direct implications of the high courts McGirt ruling are obviously big. State prosecutors dont have jurisdiction over Native American defendants in that area, meaning a lot of Oklahoma criminal convictions may have to be retried in federal court. The court makes it clear that, to use the terms in federal criminal law, the Creek nation is Indian Country. Some people are suggesting that the implications could get even bigger if they were logically applied to other tribal nations in the eastern half of Oklahoma and issues beyond criminal justice, but others were counseling against a sky-is-falling reading of the case. The ruling doesnt apply outside Oklahoma. It doesnt change the states ability to prosecute the vast majority of crimes anywhere in the state, and it didnt change anything outside of criminal justice for now. New Delhi, July 14 : While the mention of South Africa immediately brings alive the imagery of safaris, glamping, bungee jumping, diverse food and warm people, its rich and diverse cultural history is equally appealing. An inseparable part of the historic fabric of this nation remains its iconic leader - Nelson Mandela, or as he is affectionately known -- Madiba. Mandela, born into a South African royal family, went on to become an influential political leader and then also the President, and was at the forefront of South African freedom struggle. From serving 27 years in prison to working as a philanthropist, his life was legendary to say the least. The 'Gandhi of the African continent' has received, and rightfully so, more than 250 honours, including The Nobel Peace Prize and the Bharat Ratna. July 18 (also known globally as Mandela Day) 2020 marks the passage of 102 years since the birth of the great South African revolutionary. From the rolling hills and scattered villages of Qunu in the Eastern Cape, to reverent reflections in the prison cells of Robben Island, to the sacred sidewalk on Vilakazi Street in Soweto -- South Africa offers a chance to follow in the footsteps to freedom of the nation's most iconic hero -- Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Image Source: IANS News Walk with us around: Robben Island Nelson Mandela spent 18 immensely challenging years in prison on this little island situated off the coast of Cape Town and yet emerged from it filled with forgiveness instead of hatred. Robben Island is now a World Heritage site and museum. Although from the 17th to the 20th century the island was a place of imprisonment -- today it is a beacon of hope and a place where visitors can gain some insight into the life and times of Nelson Mandela and fellow freedom fighters. Google offers a narrated tour -- complete with a visit to Mandela's 6.5 x 6.5 foot cell -- led by Vusumsi Mcongo, an anti-Apartheid activist who was imprisoned on Robben Island from 1978-1990. Constitution Hill Through the years, the Constitution Hill functioned mainly as a prison. It was here that many passive resistors and freedom fighters including the Father of our Nation - Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela were held; the site has two permanent exhibitions that revolve around the lives of both these revolutionaries. A walk through Number Four section of the prison, reading up on the horrific conditions of the time and the difference in how prisoners of different races were treated, quickly hammers home the need for radical reform and equality for which Mandela was fighting -- and ultimately achieved. The Constitution Hill in Johannesburg is now a fascinating museum and the home to South Africa's constitutional court. The website www.constitutionhill.org.za offers a virtual representation of what visitors can experience at the site. Image Source: IANS News Apartheid Museum Apartheid -- a system of institutionalized racial segregation and discrimination, had infiltrated every nerve of the country. These dogmas (or the resistance towards them) helped shape Mandela's entire life and nowhere can you get a better grip on what transpired during the proceeding struggle than at the Apartheid Museum, situated south of Johannesburg. The Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and is acknowledged throughout the world for its illustrious display of the rise and fall of Apartheid. Allow yourself at least a couple of hours to soak it all in, and get over an emotional yet interactive and informative visit. Google Street View offers several guided tours to the Apartheid Museum. Capture Site This site has enormous significance in the history of the freedom struggle because it was here that, after 17 months if evading the apartheid authorities, Nelson Mandela was arrested. On August 5, 1962, the policed flagged down a car driven by Nelson Mandela in a chauffer's uniform while he was returning from a secret meeting with the African National Congress president -- this incident would go on to shape the future of an entire country. To mark the historic spot is a sculpture comprising of 50 steel rods, that align to create a magnificent portrait of Mandela. Street View users can now view Marco Cianfanelli's extraordinary sculpture of Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Capture Site. Mandela House Image Source: IANS News Situated in Vilakazi Street, the humble home Mandela moved into in 1946, the Mandela House gives visitors great insight into the Mandela family. "It was the opposite of grand," he wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, "but it was my first true home of my own and I was mightily proud." The house is filled with memorabilia about the family, complete with photographs and visuals and is a fitting tribute to the incredible struggle for freedom. Vilakazi Street is usually flooded with visitors wanting a glimpse into the home of the great Madiba -- hence getting an early start to this place might be a good idea. The building, which is now a museum dedicated to his life, can be explored via Google Street View. Route 67 Port Image Source: IANS News Elizabeth includes Nelson Mandela Bay where one can find Route 67 -a collection of 67 art pieces by 67 local artists celebrating the 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted to public life, and his contribution to the freedom struggle in South Africa. It begins at the Campanile in Strand Street and winds its way through the CBD -- the heart of the city, through Vuyisile Mini Square, past the City Library, up the steps of St Mary's Terrace and up to the Great Flag in the Donkin Reserve. Nelson Mandela once said, "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." The Rainbow Nation beckons you to witness that journey of freedom! (IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in) -- Syndicated from IANS A St Louis lawyer who aimed an assault rifle Black Lives Matter demonstrators outside his mansion has been told he and his wife will be 'indicted shortly'. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are personal injury lawyers, were caught on video brandishing guns as demonstrators walked past their Renaissance palazzo-style home on June 28 while on the way to protest outside Mayor Lyda Krewson's house. Last week, authorities searched the couple's home and seized Mr McCloskey's AR-15 assault rifle. Arrangements were also made to turn over the handgun wielded by Mrs McCloskey. The couple's attorney Joel Schwartz admitted afterwards that 'charges are more likely than they were two days ago'. And on Monday, Mr McCloskey, 61, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that Mr Schwartz had told them they are likely to be indicted. St Louis lawyer Mark McCloskey who aimed an assault rifle Black Lives Matter demonstrators outside his mansion has been told he and his wife will be 'indicted shortly' He said: 'My attorney advised me not to be on the show tonight because the rumour is that we are going to be indicted shortly.' Speaking critically of Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, he went on, 'this is the same circuit attorney that released 35 of the protesters that torched and looted downtown St Louis. But now she wants to indict me. 'I didn't shoot anybody, I just held my ground, protected my house. I'm sitting here on television tonight instead of dead or putting out the smouldering embers of my home.' Mr McCloskey went on to heap praise on the police, even though they recently searched his home. 'They didn't want to have to be there,' he said. 'They were doing their job. Patty wanted to take a picture to document it and she asked if they wouldn't mind facing away from the camera so that people wouldn't get mad at them if their faces were shown on TV. They all did so. Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are personal injury lawyers, were caught on video brandishing guns as demonstrators walked past their Renaissance palazzo-style home on June 28 while on the way to protest outside Mayor Lyda Krewson's house 'They, unfortunately, are stuck between a circuit attorney that wants to prosecute us, and their own belief that we did nothing wrong.' It comes after the couple said they received at least 50 offers to replace the AR-15 seized by cops. Their attorney Mr Schwartz told Forbes a Missouri gun store was among those to have made the offers, which they are 'kindly refuting'. Authorities executed a search warrant Friday evening and the long-barreled gun Mr McCloskey was holding in the video was seized. 'They took my AR. Im absolutely surprised by this', Mr McCloskey said. Attorney Schwartz said arrangements have been made to turn over to authorities on Saturday the handgun that Mrs McCloskey had been holding, adding that her gun was inoperable at the time of the protest and still is. Last week, authorities searched the couple's home and seized Mr McCloskey's AR-15 assault rifle. Arrangements were also made to turn over the handgun wielded by Mrs McCloskey Mrs McCloskey, left, works with her husband Mark, right, as a personal injury attorney Mark and Patricia McCloskey's attorney Joel Schwartz told Forbes a Missouri gun store was among those to have made the offers, which they are 'kindly refuting' Gun store Alien Armory Tactical wrote on Facebook: 'To the couple that had this warrant served, please come on by our shop and we will gladly rearm you with a brand new ar15 for ( FREE ). 'We will gladly assist you with a replacement for you to protect your private property for FREE! Also we will assist you with some FREE firearms training so if anything were to happen you will be better prepared.' The couple, who have a 25-year history of filing a slew of lawsuits against people including their own family, has not been charged. Schwartz added that charges against them would be 'absolutely, positively unmerited.' 'A search warrant being executed is clear indication of what the circuit attorney's intentions are. Beyond that, I can't comment,' Schwartz said. The protesters were en route to Mayor Lyda Krewson's home to demand her resignation after she released the names and addresses of residents who had suggested defunding the police department. They had broken their way into the gated community where the McCloskeys live. Attorney Gardner, who is St. Louis' top prosecutor, issued a statement after the June 28 incident in which she said she was 'alarmed' by what happened. Gardner added that 'any attempt to chill (the right to peacefully protest) through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated.' Schwartz said that under Missouri law, people who are in reasonable apprehension or fear have the right to take necessary steps to defend themselves. 'In this particular situation, people not only broke the law and trespassed on private property, but they committed property damage,' Schwartz said, adding that a St. Louis business was burned down and a retired police captain was killed in the week leading up to the confrontation. Photos of the couple standing outside their palatial property armed with an AR-15 and a handgun were beamed around the world at the end of June Meanwhile, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Saturday that public records and interviews show the McCloskeys are almost always in conflict with others, typically over control of private property. They filed a lawsuit in 1988 to obtain their house, a castle built for Adolphus Buschs daughter and her husband in the early 20th century. At the McCloskeys property in Franklin County, they have sued neighbors for making changes to a gravel road and twice evicted tenants from a modular home on their property. Mark McCloskey sued a former employer for wrongful termination and his sister, father and his fathers caretaker for defamation. The triangle of land bordering the McCloskey home has been the source of a long dispute The McCloskeys and the trustees of Portland Place, the private street in a St. Louis historic district where they live, have been involved in a three-year legal dispute over a small piece of land in the neighborhood. The couple claim they own it, but the trustees say it belongs to the neighborhood. Mark McCloskey said in an affidavit that he has defended the patch previously by pointing a gun at a neighbor who tried to cut through it. This 2020 electron microscope made available by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention image shows the spherical coronavirus particles from the first U.S. case of COVID-19. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-C.S. Goldsmith, A. Tamin/ CDC via AP Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event Tuesday in Wilmington, Del. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press ) Joe Biden unveiled a proposal for rebuilding the economy Tuesday that focuses heavily on restoring American leadership in the fight against global warming, directing government recovery efforts toward expanding clean energy and rapidly reversing the Trump administrations abandonment of climate efforts. In a speech in Wilmington, Del., the former vice president called for a massive green jobs and environmental justice program that would invest $2 trillion in his first term on building new renewable energy infrastructure. "Climate change is a challenge that's going to define our American future," Biden said. "I know meeting the challenge will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to jolt new life into our economy, strengthen our global leadership, protect our planet ... We're not just going to tinker around the edges. We're going to make historic investments that will seize the opportunity to meet this moment in history." The spending would go toward expansion of high-speed rail, building electric cars and greatly increasing the use of wind, solar and other renewable technologies to generate power, among other goals. Under Biden's plan, the U.S. would fully end the use of oil, coal and other fossil fuels to generate electricity by 2035. He would bring the nation to net zero emissions of greenhouse gases no later than 2050. The plan is notably more aggressive than the one Biden campaigned on during his party's primaries, part of an overall move in which he has embraced some of the proposals of his more progressive rivals in an effort to unify the party for the general election. Nominees typically moderate their positions as they move into the general election. On climate, Biden is going in the opposite direction. Compared with Biden's earlier proposals, the current one would spend more, do it faster and aim more investment toward disadvantaged communities. The science tells us there is no time for delay on climate change, the plan says. Biden will make a $2 trillion accelerated investment, with a plan to deploy those resources over his first term, setting us on an irreversible course to meet the ambitious climate progress that science demands. Story continues Biden stressed the need to put policies in place that could not be unwound the way President Trump has tried to reverse the Obama administration's climate plans. "We're going to lock in progress that no future president can roll back or undercut to take us backward again," he said. Republicans warned the plan would further sink the economy and trigger the loss of millions more jobs. "Today, Joe Biden gave a speech in which he said the core of his economic agenda is a hard-left crusade against American energy," President Trump said during an hourlong Rose Garden polemic against Biden. "He wants to kill American energy. This would do nothing for the environment but would cripple the American economy." Biden's increased assertiveness on climate comes as the former vice president has worked to build bridges with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in the face of a pandemic that has left millions of Americans unemployed. The proposal is part of a broader economic plan Biden began unveiling last week, aimed at creating the largest public investment in American infrastructure since World War II. Some key details, however, were absent from the proposal. Most notably, it does not specify how it would be paid for. Senior campaign officials said a rollback of the Trump tax cuts, as well an increase in corporate taxes would be part of the payment plan, which the campaign vowed to release in the coming months. Biden has also said he supports a carbon tax a policy many environmental economists say is crucial to effectively curbing climate change but there is no mention of that in the current proposal. Much of the plan would require congressional approval, which would prove a heavy lift even if Democrats win back control of the Senate. Even so, the audacity of the spending plan reflects the increased appetite among voters for taking action to curb global warming, as scientists warn time is running short and Trump administration rollbacks have left America isolated from the global effort. "When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is 'hoax,'" Biden said. "The word I think of is 'jobs.'" The plan would quickly inject $400 billion into the federal purchase of clean energy technologies with the goal of accelerating research development on a scale well beyond the Apollo program. It aims to create 1 million new auto industry jobs by pushing the industry which has been resistant to change to take the lead in electric-vehicle manufacturing. High-speed rail is a focal point of the plan, as is a big investment in zero-emission public transit. The goal for quickly decarbonizing the power sector would require new subsidies such as tax credits and grants to accelerate production of solar and wind energy technologies. The federal government would also help subsidize the retrofitting of 4 million buildings to make them more energy efficient and aim to create 250,000 jobs plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal, hardrock, and uranium mines. Much of the money would be aimed at disadvantaged communities. "We have to make sure that the first people who benefit from this are the people who were most hurt historically, Biden said. His plan sets a goal that low-income communities that have traditionally suffered disproportionately from pollution would receive 40% of overall benefits of spending by the federal government in areas such as clean energy and energy efficiency, green transportation and sustainable housing. Underpinning the plan is a restructuring of key agencies in the federal government, restoring the climate-forward focus put in place by the Obama administration but then abandoned by Trump. The Justice Department, for example, would launch a new Environmental and Climate Justice Division to hold polluters accountable. "We're going to hold accountable those CEOs of corporations that benefit from decades of subsidies that just walked away from their responsibilities to these communities, leaving the wells to leak," Biden said. Such an agency was championed by Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington, an early rival of Bidens in the presidential primary who ran on a platform dominated by confronting climate change. Biden adopted several of the ideas pushed by Inslee in his plan. The plan also reflects parts of the agenda of another erstwhile rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose supporters agreed to work with the former vice president on policy compromises that would help unify the Democratic Party. But some goals of progressives are notably absent from the plan. It does not include a ban on fracking, which many on the left are demanding but which some Biden advisors consider politically untenable in key states such as Pennsylvania. The plan also embraces nuclear energy as a viable zero-emission technology, even as many environmentalists are demanding closure of Americas remaining nuclear plants. The target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 may also underwhelm activists who say such action is too little, too late. Polluters arguably could continue to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases even after the goal is reached by offsetting them with such activities as planting trees. Sanders had demanded a far more rigid rule on curbing emissions, calling for complete decarbonization by 2050. A bat has been discovered in a car boot in County Durham after the vehicle had travelled over to the north of England from France. The animal was found in a brand new red Vauxhall SUV which had made an 800km (500 mile) journey to Hartlepool for display in a showroom. It is not clear whether the bat was in the car for its entire journey. Staff at the car dealership got a surprise when they went to inpect the vehicle and found the bat in the boot. They kept the animal in a cardboard box until Shane Lynn, an RSPCA animal collection officer, arrived to rescue it. "The little pipistrelle bat seems to be a real joker and has travelled at least 800km from his home in the boot," Mr Lynn said. He added: "The bat - around 10cm big - was found when the car arrived at the showroom and staff had quite the fright. "Luckily, despite his adventure, he didn't seem to be too worse for wear." The animal had stowed away in the boot of a Vauxhall Grandland X which had been manufactured in France, the RSPCA said. Mr Lynn took the bat, who seemed lethargic, to a local vet, and alerted the Bat Conservation Trust. "It's always really rewarding when we can help an animal in need and ensure they're safe and well," he said. "This little one is now with a bat carer and will be released back into the wild once he's strong and healthy enough." He said pipistrelle bats are common in the UK. "He should join a local colony and do well," Mr Lynn said. America continues to stand with Ukraine in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has increased COVID-19 related funding for Ukraine by US$1.8 billion. "Earlier this month, the United States announced an increase in COVID-19 related funding for Ukraine, from US$15.5 million to nearly US$17.3 million. The newest funding of nearly US$1.8 million will support the International Organization for Migration(IOM)'s activities in eastern Ukraine, supporting IDPs [internally displaced persons] and other conflict-affected populations," the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said on Facebook on July 14, 2020. Read alsoZelensky's Office chief, World Bank official discuss provision of US$350 mln loan to Ukraine It says with the funding, IOM will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 through provision of humanitarian assistance, support for isolation and treatment centers, health and hygiene programs, and more. "The United States continues to stand with Ukraine in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences," reads the report. As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers had already allocated UAH 19 billion (US$701.4 million) to fight against the coronavirus. 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. Paragon 28 conducted cutting-edge biomechanical research, including a CT study of arthritic ankles to determine implant geometry and sizing, and a weightbearing CT study of healthy ankles to best match the native kinematics. The system offers choices in instrumentation, alignment techniques, and implant selection, including ARC or flat tibia trays and either chamfer or flat talar components. Mark Dalton, MD, an APEX 3D designing surgeon, said, "Long-term implant survivorship will best be achieved with initial and ultimate implant stability, optimized articulation, improved bearing surfaces, appropriate sizing, and accurate and reproducible alignment with streamlined instrumentation. This system was designed from day one to meet these goals." Albert DaCosta, Paragon 28's President and CEO commented, "P28 remains committed to providing better outcomes in all aspects of foot and ankle surgery. The total ankle is another giant step in fulfillment of our mission. The timing is ideal to offer the next generation of ankle technology for patients desiring a more active lifestyle." The addition of the APEX 3D Total Ankle Replacement System bolsters Paragon 28's Precision Ankle Solutions product offering, which includes the Gorilla Ankle Fracture Plating System, Silverback Ankle Fusion Plating System, and Phantom TTC Fusion Nail Systems. With this comprehensive portfolio, Paragon 28 provides its customers innovative ankle solutions for trauma, arthritis, and limb salvage. Contact Paragon 28 for more information at: [email protected] SOURCE Paragon 28, Inc. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 13:49:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday delivered remarks on the Iranian nuclear issue, reiterating China's firm support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). According to a statement released on the Foreign Ministry's website, this July 14 marks the fifth anniversary of the conclusion of the JCPOA. On June 7, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the rotating president of the UN Security Council, elaborating on China's position and proposition on the Iranian nuclear issue, said spokesperson Hua Chunying. She said that five years ago, the P5+1 (China, Russia, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States), the European Union and Iran reached the historic JCPOA in Vienna. This important outcome of multilateral diplomacy was then endorsed by UN Security Council Resolution 2231. The JCPOA has become a key element of the international nuclear non-proliferation system, an important positive factor in maintaining regional and global peace and stability, and good practice of resolving regional hotspot issues through multilateral approaches. "Unfortunately, the United States has in recent years been upholding unilateralism, renouncing its international obligations and withdrawing from treaties and organizations," Hua said, adding that the U.S. side withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018 and thwarted other parties' implementation of the agreement. "Such clear violation of the UNSCR 2231 have led to continued tension over the Iranian nuclear issue. At present, the United States attempts to further undermine the JCPOA by pushing for the extension of the Security Council arms embargo against Iran and threatening to activate the rapid reinstatement of sanctions mechanism," she said. According to the spokesperson, China believes that preserving and implementing the JCPOA is the right way to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue. Iran's scaling back of compliance is the result of the maximum pressure exerted by the United States. Parties to the JCPOA should strengthen dialogue and consultation within the framework of the Joint Commission, seek a solution to the compliance dispute in a step-by-step and reciprocal approach, and restore the balance of rights and obligations under the JCPOA, she said. The parties should support strengthened dialogue and cooperation between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran in order to properly resolve the safeguards issue as soon as possible, Hua said. Hua called on the international community to jointly oppose the United States pushing the Security Council to extend or reinstate sanctions against Iran and urge the United States to return to the right track of compliance with the JCPOA and UNSCR. "On the Iranian nuclear issue, China's unwavering aim is to maintain the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and peace and stability in the Middle East, and to uphold multilateralism, the authority of the UN and the international order based on international law," Hua said. In the process of negotiating the JCPOA, China actively promoted peace talks, put forward China's proposal at a critical moment and made due contributions to reaching the agreement. In the implementation of the agreement, China has conscientiously fulfilled its obligations and led the Arak heavy water reactor conversion with positive progress, which has become a major highlight, said the spokesperson. "No matter how the international situation evolves, China will always stand on the right side of history and work with other parties to the JCPOA to continue advancing the political and diplomatic resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue," Hua said, stressing that at the same time, China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests. Enditem Twelve days before Quebec artist Mylene Michauds exhibit 1:1 was set to open at La Maison des artistes visuels francophone, COVID-19 forced the St. Boniface art gallery to close its doors. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Twelve days before Quebec artist Mylene Michauds exhibit 1:1 was set to open at La Maison des artistes visuels francophone, COVID-19 forced the St. Boniface art gallery to close its doors. The pandemic put gallery director Astrid Alexandra Keim in a tough spot. While the planned opening reception scheduled for March 26 was cancelled, Keim still wanted to uphold her end of the deal and ensure Michaud and future artists exhibiting work at the gallery would be compensated fairly and have an opportunity to display their art. Rather than having Michaud come to Winnipeg to set up the exhibit and attend an opening reception in person, Keim got creative. She had the artwork delivered to the gallery via FedEx and set it up with Michauds help over Skype. "We set it up together and we just left it up," says Keim. "We were just going to leave it up and figure out things week by week." Now, after a 2 1/2-month period of closure, the doors of La Maison des artistes visuels francophone are open again (with reduced hours and a smaller capacity) and Michauds exhibit, which was originally set to close at the end of June, has been extended to the end of July. JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Art work of Mylene Michaud which is currently on display at La Maison des artistes visuals francophones on Wednesday. Keim, who has been director of the gallery for five years, was in the middle of preparing a big celebration for Maisons 20th anniversary when the pandemic forced a change of plans, but by staying flexible and taking it week by week, she was able to take some bad news (the cancellation of the anniversary celebration) and turn it into good news (an extension of Michauds exhibit). In 1:1, a site-specific installation, Michaud combines computer work with knitting as she explores the similarities between pixelated images and knitting structure through a ratio of 1:1. Through her depictions of the land, the artist poses questions about time, space and the digital era. "All of these are textile pieces. They have been knitted and then fabricated together," Keim says. "She does site-specific work, so everywhere she has an exhibition, she does a map of that place." The exhibition features textile work depicting a birds-eye view of Winnipeg at night, images of the Prairie landscape and the coast of Hudson Bay. "Every year we sort of have a focus, and over the past couple of years its been based on ecology and Earth and land and how we relate to it," Keim says. That focus is shifting soon to include the physical body and its relationship to ecology with the upcoming exhibit by Charley Farrero, a French artist who will be coming in from Saskatchewan with his ceramics in tow. JESSE BOILY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Mylene Michauds work was mounted with the artists help via Skype; the pandemic prevented her from coming to the gallery in person. Since Farrero is driving in, he wont need to self-isolate upon arrival and will be able to help install the work and attend an opening reception, an event that will run a little differently than normal. "Were being cautious," says Keim. "We dont want huge public events." To attend Farreros opening, which will take place at a date to be determined in August, audiences can book an hour-long time slot to view the exhibition. The gallery will operate a maximum capacity of 20 people at a time. "When they leave, well let the next group in," Keim says. "Well see how that works. We usually have huge events all summer long, but everythings been cancelled, so were just trying to figure out new ways to come up with events." One of those new ways includes a few upgrades to the gallery, like barriers made of Plexiglas a material that seems to have taken over from toilet paper as the must-have item of the pandemic. "Whoever is making it is making a lot of money," Keim says. "Plexiglas has gone up in price incredibly because everybody wants it all over the country." frances.koncan@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @franceskoncan A doctor has admitted stalking TV explorer and documentary-maker Levison Wood in a three-month harassment campaign that left him 'constantly looking over his shoulder'. Fiza Jabeen, 36, from Harborne in Birmingham, obsessively contacted the former paratrooper on social media despite being handed a restraining order after she contacted his parents and an ex-partner. Mr Wood, a former paratrooper, made a name for himself through his documentaries and books about his epic hitchhiking journeys spanning several continents. Most recently he appeared in the Channel 4 series Walking With Elephants, which saw him follow on foot the largest annual migration of Botswana's elephants on their 650-mile journey. Levison Wood, a former paratrooper, made a name for himself through his documentaries and books about his epic hitchhiking journeys spanning several continents Jabeen admitted one offence of harassment and an offence of stalking at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. In March, Mr Wood, who is originally from Staffordshire, complained on social media about the abuse he was receiving from Jabeen and revealed he had contacted West Midlands Police after she threatened his parents. On 9 June, Jabeen was made the subject of a restraining order from Birmingham & Solihull Magistrates' Court banning her from contacting Mr Wood. But she breached the order only a month later after attending Mr Wood's home in Surrey on July 10. Misba Majid, prosecuting, told the court that the victim and the defendant were not known to one another and that they had never met before Jabeen began the harassment. Most recently he appeared in the Channel 4 series Walking With Elephants, which saw him follow on foot the largest annual migration of Botswana's elephants on their 650-mile journey The prosecutor said Jabeen had attended the explorer's house at around 1pm after finding his address on Companies House and approached him as he was walking his dog. 'The victim recognised the defendant and explained to her she should not be present,' she said. 'The defendant identified herself as Fiza Jabeen and said she wanted to come to his address for a cup of tea and to use the internet. 'Mr Wood was understandably shocked and concerned given that the defendant lives in Birmingham, and he contacted the police.' In a short statement to police, Mr Wood said he felt he was 'constantly looking over his shoulder' and said he was concerned for both his and his family's safety as a result of Jabeen's actions. Julian Young, for Jabeen, told the court that his client had significant mental health problems, adding that he was concerned her issues had not been addressed sufficiently at her previous court appearances in Birmingham. District Judge Nicholas Rimmer declined jurisdiction of Jabeen's case and remanded her into custody ahead of her sentencing at Kingston Crown Court on a date yet to be set. He ordered that both a pre-sentence report and a psychiatric report be prepared ahead of her next court appearance. Judge Rimmer referred to the defendant as 'Dr Jabeen' throughout the proceedings. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:45:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A medical worker is seen at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, on July 14, 2020. Egypt on Tuesday confirmed 929 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total cases to 83,930, said Egyptian Health Ministry. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa) CAIRO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Egypt on Tuesday confirmed 929 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total cases to 83,930, said Egyptian Health Ministry. It is the fifth consecutive day for the country's daily COVID-19 infections to fall below 1,000 since May 28. Meanwhile, 73 patients died from the virus, bringing the death toll to 4,008, Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said in a statement. He added that 569 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals, taking the total recoveries to 25,544. Egypt announced its first confirmed COVID-19 case on Feb. 14 and the first death from the highly infectious virus on March 8. The country resumed international flights on July 1 after more than three months of suspension, amid a "coexistence plan" to maintain anti-coronavirus precautionary measures while resuming economic activities. The government has recently lifted a partial nighttime curfew it imposed over the past three months, and reopened restaurants, cafes, theaters and cinemas, as well as hotels, museums and archeological sites for tourists, all with limited capacity. Egypt and China have been cooperating closely in fighting the pandemic through exchanging medical aid and expertise. In early February, Egypt provided aid to China to help with its fight against COVID-19 and China later returned favor by sending three batches of medical aid to the North African country. "So far, Chinese medical experts have held eight video conferences with Egyptian counterparts over COVID-19," Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao Liqiang said earlier this month. Enditem North Korea is currently facing embarrassment after the sister of the supreme leader, Kim Jong-un, publicized that she was given a special permission to witness the US Independence Day celebrations from July 4 via DVD. According to Daily Express, the country has since then been implementing strict rules regarding anyone special caught viewing, listening, or reading contents provided by outside the country based media outlets. Those caught will be at risk to be sent to concentration camps where maltreatment is inescapable and situations are brutal. Kim Yo-jong, an increasingly eminent adviser of the dictator, claimed to have received special consent from her brother to view the celebrations. On Friday, a statement from the supreme leaders sister was publicized on a state-run Korean Central News Agency, saying to pour cold water on circulating rumors about Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump having a meeting ahead of the November US presidential elections. But Kim articulated she has received special consent from the supreme leader by the time she requested to watch the US Independence Day celebrations through DVD. She also stated that from now on she will try to personally procure DVDs on the events of the US Independence Day celebrations and that the Chairman, referring to Kim Jong-un, has given her approval regarding the said matter. Kim, who was expected to become the successor of Kim Jong-un during the leaders unexplained absence from the eyes of the public, claimed she did not want to put in writing a disdainful letter to the US. Read Also: North Korea Threatens Britain After Sanctions Were Imposed on Two of Its Organizations In her statement, Kim uttered that it is not the countrys thing to harm the US, adding that even Kim Jong-un has made this matter clear with US President Donald Trump. Despite the apparent pleasant tone to the US and President Trump, Kim made it clear that North Korea has no intention of partaking in face-to-face with the officials of Washington this year. As stated by Kim, unless there is a crucial change in the stance of US towards North Korea, it would not be necessary for both countries to meet since both have different opinion. Reportedly, the sister of the North Korean leader stated in her personal view that another summit is unlikely to happen between the two leaders, but added that surprising events may still happen. Last year, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un assembled in a historic meeting, which Trump and his allies proclaimed as the start of denuclearization and sanction relief. With the present regular carrying out of weapon tests by North Korea, the talks between the two super power nations have fallen apart. Pyongyang has acted in accordance with the requests to hold back from performing nuclear weapon and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. But last month, after an inter-Korean liaison office that is situated in the border city of Kaesong has been attacked, risked tensions escalated. Despite the cold relationship between the two super power nations, there is still a slim possibility that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump could come together in an assembly. Related Article: Kim Jong Uns Lavish Missile Test Palace and North Koreas Nuclear Dilemma @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Western Australians have felt the pandemic pinch worse than other states, according to tax office payroll data released on Tuesday. Using experimental data from the ATO's single touch payroll system the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found WA fared worse than the national average in terms of jobs and wages lost. WA has been one of the hardest hit states. Credit:Erin Jonasson Worryingly, in the final week of June alone, payroll job losses in WA were far greater than the rest of the country at 3 per cent. Since mid-March - when Australia recorded its 100th confirmed COVID-19 case - to June 27, WA lost about 6.2 per cent of jobs, behind the ACT at 6.3 per cent and Victoria at 6.6 per cent, but still above the national average of 5.7 per cent. China Rejects US Nuclear Talks Invitation as Beijing Adds to Its Arsenal By John Xie July 13, 2020 China has rejected any prospect of joining in nuclear talks with the United States and Russia, raising fears that nuclear weapons will become a new issue of contention between Washington and Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters Friday that "China's objection to the so-called trilateral arms control negotiations is very clear, and the U.S. knows it very well." To try to reduce the odds of nuclear annihilation, Washington and Moscow reached a reduction treaty in 2010 that limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads each can possess. As Beijing's military has steadily grown as a global power, Robert O'Brien, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, said in February that the new pact should include China. "The president believes that it shouldn't just be the U.S. and Russia," he said to a group of 50 foreign ambassadors in Washington, adding, "The days of unilateral American disarmament are over." State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said last Thursday in a statement that the special presidential envoy for arms control, Ambassador Marshall Billingslea, would invite China to join in negotiations and that it was time "for dialogue and diplomacy between the three biggest nuclear weapons powers on how to prevent a new arms race." However, China doubled down on its opposition last week, accusing the U.S. of "playing dumb." "The U.S. keeps badgering on the issue and even distorted China's position," Zhao said. The US-China nuclear deadlock The current arms control architecture, which helped keep the world from nuclear annihilation during the U.S.-Soviet Cold War of the 1980s, was a result of years of tough negotiations between Washington and Moscow. By inviting China to the talks, analysts say Washington essentially is acknowledging Beijing's status as a military power. "The U.S. knows it is unlikely that China will join the talks, but the fact that China was invited shows that the U.S. recognizes China as an increasingly very powerful country with a military that the U.S. regards as threatening. That wasn't the case years ago," Timothy Heath, a senior international and defense researcher for the policy research group the RAND Corporation, told VOA. "The notion of trying to pull the Chinese into that agreement is, in theory, a good idea. In practice? impossible," former Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said last month at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China has about 320 nuclear warheads, only a fraction of what the U.S. and Russia have. In comparison, SIPRI estimated that the U.S. has 5,800 warheads in its stockpile and Russia has 6,375. Analysts say that given "the huge gap" between China's nuclear arsenal and that of the U.S. and Russia, "it is unrealistic" to expect China to join the negotiations. "My view is that the United States is unlikely to convince China to join the nuclear negotiations with Russia. Moscow and Washington retain far more nuclear weapons, so Beijing sees little reason to enter into the negotiations," said Zack Cooper, a former U.S. official working on China-related issues at the White House and the Department of Defense. "So in the view of Communist Party leaders, it is not in their strategic interest to negotiate from a position of weakness," Cooper told VOA. A senior Chinese diplomat said last week Beijing would be happy to join talks if the U.S. agreed to lower its number of nuclear weapons to match China's. "I can assure you that if the U.S. says that they are ready to come down to the Chinese level, China will be happy to participate the next day," Fu Cong, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's arms control department, said at a news briefing in Beijing. "But actually, we know that's not going to happen." Yang Chengjun, a former Chinese nuclear negotiator, said last month that Washington's true aim is getting China to provide an accurate count of its nuclear weapons. "They invited China to participate in the talks to get to the bottom of our nuclear forces." Yang wrote in the state-run Global Times. A growing nuclear threat While the Chinese military currently has far fewer nuclear weapons than the U.S. and Russia, it is widely believed that Beijing has dramatically increased its nuclear capability. The New York Times reported early this month that the American officials surprised their Russian counterparts with a classified briefing on China's threatening nuclear capabilities at a recent negotiation in Vienna. Billingslea described the Chinese program as a "crash nuclear buildup." The report said that nuclear weapons are joining the other issues including trade deals and 5G that Trump has put at the center of a series of U.S.-China standoffs. General Robert P. Ashley, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said last year that "the resurgence of great power competition is a geopolitical reality." According to a speech posted on the agency's website, Ashley said China launched more ballistic missiles for testing and training than the rest of the world combined in 2018, and over the next decade, China is likely to at least double the size of its nuclear stockpile in the course of implementing the most rapid expansion and diversification of its nuclear arsenal in China's history. In Beijing, Washington's foreign policy choices are increasingly being seen as aggressive and aimed at containing China. They say Chinese officials may see the country's nuclear weapons program as one way to respond. "If left unaddressed, this issue would continue fueling China's anxiety about its nuclear deterrent and seriously disrupting the stability of the bilateral nuclear relationship," Tong Zhao, a senior fellow at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing, wrote on June 29. He said this comes "at a time when the world's existing arms control institutions are falling apart and there are public voices within China calling for massive Chinese nuclear expansion." One of the calls for more weapons came from Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of Global Times. Hu argued in a recent Weibo post that "China needs to expand the number of its nuclear warheads to 1,000 in a relatively short time and procure at least 100 DF-41 strategic missiles." Last October, China had a massive military parade that displayed some of the country's most advanced military equipment, including a supersonic drone, hypersonic missile and a robot submarine. But the huge intercontinental-range DF-41 ballistic missile took center stage in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Touted as the most powerful missile on the planet in China, the DF-41 is capable of carrying 10 independently targeted nuclear warheads and could theoretically hit the continental United States in 30 minutes, according to the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address New Delhi: Rahul Tiwari, the man who filed an FIR against gangster Vikas Dubey following which the police conducted a raid at Bikru village early on July 3, has gone missing. A report in Hindustan Times quoted a police officer as saying that being a complainant, Tiwari was a key witness to the case related to events that led to the ambush. His mother was quoted as saying that he last spoke to her on the night of July 2. "He sounded scared over the phone; then he disappeared with his wife, children and his sister-in-law. I havent heard from him since," mother Suman Devi said. The report further quoted Kanpur's senior superintendent of police, Dinesh Kumar P, as saying that he also faces a grave threat to his life. A team led by deputy SP (LIU) Sookshm Prakash is searching for him. Gangster Vikas Dubey was killed in an encounter on July 10 after a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, police said. The SSP had then briefed the media and said that the accident took place in the morning when it was raining heavily and the police vehicle overturned near Kanpur. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3. The Trump administration on Tuesday morning carried out the first federal execution since 2003, following a series of court battles and a Supreme Court order, released shortly after 2 a.m., clearing the way for the lethal injection to take place. Federal officials executed Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, who was convicted in 1999 of killing a family of three, at a penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. Lee was pronounced dead at 8:07 a.m. Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons said. "I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I'm not a murderer," Lee said when asked if he wanted to make a final statement, according to the pool report. His final words were: "You're killing an innocent man." Although the death penalty has been in decline nationwide for years, with executions and death sentences down significantly, the Justice Department has publicly pushed against that trend for nearly a year. The department has argued in court and in public statements that it needed to carry out lawful sentences, citing the gravity of the crimes involved. Last year, the department laid out a new lethal injection protocol - using one drug, pentobarbital - and said it would begin carrying out executions, leading to extended legal challenges. Attorney General William Barr had said recently that officials "owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind." Lee had challenged his execution on his own and along with other death-row inmates. His execution was also opposed by some relatives of his victims, who argued against his death sentence in the case and sought to stop his lethal injection from taking place amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Monday, Lee's lethal injection - originally scheduled for 4 p.m. that afternoon - was left on hold following a judge's order that he and other death-row inmates could pursue their court cases arguing that the new lethal-injection protocol is unconstitutional. An appeals court said late Monday that it would not let the executions take place as planned, but a divided Supreme Court weighed in overnight saying they could proceed. In an unsigned 5-4 order, the court's conservative justices said the prisoners on death row had "not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention." "It is our responsibility to ensure that method-of-execution challenges to lawfully issued sentences are resolved fairly and expeditiously, so that the question of capital punishment can remain with the people and their representatives, not the courts, to resolve," said the opinion, which quoted court precedents. Although the author is unclear, the opinion was the work of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. The court's four liberal justices wrote two dissents. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, said that the court was "hastily" ending the inmates' challenges and that as a result, there would "be no meaningful judicial review of the grave, fact-heavy challenges" they brought. Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Ginsburg, reiterated his view that the court should examine whether the death penalty itself is unconstitutional. Media witnesses at Lee's execution on Tuesday morning saw him strapped to a gurney and with an IV in his left arm and both arms restrained, according to the pool report. When the lethal drug was being injected, his breathing appeared to become labored, his chest eventually stopped moving and his lips appeared to turn blue. Ruth Friedman, an attorney for Lee, decried the government's decision to execute him during the coronavirus pandemic. "It is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this execution in haste, in the middle of the night, while the country was sleeping," she said in a statement. "We hope that upon awakening, the country will be as outraged as we are." Barr said Lee had "finally faced the justice he deserved" on Tuesday morning. "The American people have made the considered choice to permit capital punishment for the most egregious federal crimes, and justice was done today in implementing the sentence for Lee's horrific offenses," he said in a statement. Even after the Supreme Court's order, uncertainty still lingered for hours in the case. Friedman said Lee "remained strapped to a gurney" for the four hours leading up to his execution as another legal dispute played out. She said another stay was still in place. The Justice Department said Lee would have been executed at 4 a.m., but it attributed the four-hour delay that followed to his attorneys contesting whether the execution could proceed. Kerri Kupec, a department spokeswoman, called it "a last-minute procedural claim" in a statement. Lee and another man were convicted of murdering three people, including Nancy Mueller and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. He and this other man, Chevie Kehoe, were part of a group intending to create a white supremacist community in the Pacific Northwest, and they traveled to Arkansas in 1996, where they robbed and murdered William Mueller, a firearms dealer, along with his wife and the child, court records show. The men placed plastic bags over their heads and threw them into a bayou, the records show. Relatives of victims in the case had fought against Lee's execution, asking that it be called off or at least postponed because of the coronavirus, saying they would have to put their lives at risk to witness his death. Lee's execution, which was first scheduled to take place last year before being delayed several months by other court challenges. The victims' relatives who spoke out said it was unfair that Lee was given a death sentence while Kehoe, who officials described as the ringleader in the killings, was sentenced instead to life in prison, a position echoed later by the judge and lead prosecutor from the trial. In a court case filed last week, the three relatives - Earlene Peterson, Nancy Mueller's mother; Kimma Gurel, Mueller's sister; and Monica Veillette, her niece - had asked that the execution be postponed. Although they did not support the execution, the relatives said, they still felt obligated to attend. But all three said they have existing health issues, so they faced "grave risk" if they traveled during the pandemic and went to a federal prison. They asked that it be postponed so they did not have to choose between staying home or risking infection. "No other family should have to make this decision . . . the families of victims should not be put in a position where they have to risk their lives or give up their right" as a witness, Veillette said in an interview. "That is not how we should be treating the families of victims in this country." Lee's execution had been put on hold and then cleared to proceed multiple times in recent days. A federal judge in Indiana last week blocked it from proceeding because of the relatives' court challenge, while an appeals court panel on Sunday evening said it could take place. The relatives ultimately decided not to travel to Indiana because they had determined that the health risks were too great. The appeals court's ruling also came too late for them to travel as planned, they said. Then on Monday morning, a federal judge blocked the government from executing Lee or two other men scheduled to face lethal injections this week. Wesley Purkey, who was convicted in 2003 of raping and murdering Jennifer Long, a teenage girl, and Dustin Lee Honken, who was convicted in 2004 of killing five people, including two young girls. Purkey's execution is scheduled for Wednesday, although another court has temporarily stayed it on other grounds, while Honken's is scheduled for Friday. The Justice Department is also asking the Supreme Court to let Purkey's execution proceed, but the court has not ruled on that yet. In a separate case, spiritual advisers for Purkey and Honken are seeking to have their executions delayed and arguing that they face health risks if they minister during the pandemic. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia wrote in an order Monday that she was blocking all of their executions, and another set for August, because it was necessary to let the inmates' legal challenges to the government's lethal-injection protocol play out in court. They had argued that lethal injection is unconstitutional, saying it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. The Justice Department quickly appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. Late Monday night, hours after Lee's execution was originally scheduled, the D.C. Circuit appeals court declined to let the lethal injections proceed and said the inmates' challenges could move forward. In its early morning orders on Tuesday, the Supreme Court also rejected a case brought to them by the relatives of victims in Lee's case, seeking to have his execution postponed because of their coronavirus-related fears. The court denied that without comment. "It just became very painfully clear to us that as many times as it was said this was being done for the families of the victims ... that in the end nobody cared about us at all," Veillette said in an interview after the execution. She called the Supreme Court's early morning orders disappointing but not surprising. Veillette said she was up all night monitoring the news from her home in Washington state and in regular touch with her mother, at her own home in the same state, and her grandmother in Arkansas. Early Tuesday morning, Veillette said, her attorney told her Lee had been executed. "We will never get peace from this," Veillette said, describing herself as deeply sad and angry at the outcome. "Because justice was not served ... This was done in Nancy and Sarah's name. And that is the final part of their story now." --- The Washington Post's Robert Barnes contributed to this report. BETHALTO 1st MidAmerica Credit has been named to Forbes annual list of Americas Best-In-State Banks and Credit Unions. Being recognized by Forbes as one of the top five credit unions serving Illinois is a great honor, said Alan Meyer, President and CEO of 1st MidAmerica Credit Union. This prestigious award is a testament to the work our 230 employees do every day and their commitment to service and helping our 68,000 members achieve their financial goals. A nationwide survey asked 25,000 consumers about their overall recommendation and satisfaction of banks and credit unions with which they have banking relationships. Financial institutions were scored on respondents overall recommendations and satisfaction, as well as five specific criteria: trust, terms and conditions, branch services, digital services, and financial advice. The results were then used to compile the Best Banks and Best Credit Unions lists for each state. Of more than 5,000 credit unions nationwide, only 3.5% were awarded the designation. A c0mplete list is online at www.forbes.com/best-in-state-credit-unions/. For more about 1st MidAmerica Credit Union, visit www.1stMidAmerica.org. FM spox says foreign elements behind attacks to Iran-China 25-year draft document IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, July 13, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday said the smear campaign against the 25-year draft document for comprehensive cooperation between Tehran and Beijing has foreign roots. We all can see what the counterrevolutionary groups are doing to attack and criticize the draft document, Mousavi told reporters at his weekly press briefing. Mousavi said that Iran has expressed readiness to sign the draft documents of agreement on cooperation with friendly states. In related developments, Head of Iran's Presidential Office Mahmoud Vaezi said on Saturday (July 11) that the enemies misportray the issue of Iran-China 25-year plan for comprehensive cooperation to put pressure on the country. Elaborating on the cooperation plan, the spokesman said Iran in West Asia and China in East are two important countries with traditional cooperation in various areas. After the travel of Chinese president to Iran, the two were determined to draw a roadmap for strategic cooperation, Mousavi said, adding that the latest draft for the 25-year comprehensive cooperation plan was brought by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to China. Iran has prepared a draft document, it should be sent to the other side to be finalized, then an agreement will be signed according to the drafts, the spokesman noted. He added that such a cooperation plan is unacceptable for some countries because they think that it will make the sanctions and pressures ineffective. "And what they think is true." The diplomat further said Iran is ready to have such agreement on cooperation with other friendly countries as well. Tehran is willing to develop long-lasting relations with friendly nations, he stated. Referring to foreigners' criticism over Iran-China 25-year draft document for comprehensive cooperation, the official said the Iranian nation is vigilant and not affected by such a smear campaign. Elsewhere, the senior Iranian diplomat talked about the July 2015 landmark nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers- the US, the UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany, and said the deal was following its normal procedure till the current US President Donald Trump took office, withdrew unilaterally from the international agreement in May 2018 and imposed [the highest level of] sanctions against Iran. Mousavi blasted the US for its withdrawal and said the parties to the nuclear deal had reached such a landmark agreement after 13 years of intensive talks. On the first anniversary of the US exit from the deal, Iran started reducing its commitments from the 2015 deal, aka Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), step-by-step, and based on Articles 26 and 36. Asked about the fifth step of reducing Iran's commitments, the diplomat said Iran's nuclear program is now moving towards technical needs of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) with no limitations on operation; meanwhile, the country continues cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) according to agency's safeguards and implementation of additional protocol voluntarily. As he added, the Trump administration is after the annihilation of the JCPOA. At the June 30 session, all permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security Council, except the US, gave unconditional support for the July 2015 nuclear deal. The spokesman said that in order to counter the US' anti-Iran measures, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has given due orders and the foreign minister has sent letters to the UN chief and the European Union and elaborated on Iran's stance on the US moves. Mousavi went on to say that the world well knows the US regime, adding that such a regime that is merely after its domination throughout the world cannot take control over the international bodies through its illegitimate stance. The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman stressed that the era of relying on the law is not over yet. Mousavi, meantime, pointed to turning to the recent incident in Natanz site in central Iran and said security examinations have been carried out on the issue and precise judgment cannot be made till the final revision is conducted. Referring to the latest remarks of Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about Iran's situation, the spokesman said the Supreme Leader has the final say on all issues. The diplomat further stressed the importance of breezing through the current critical situation via cooperation among all national branches of power. Touching upon the security agreement between Iran and Syria, Mousavi said military cooperation between the two countries is not a new issue as Iran has had all-out relations with Syria since many years ago. As he stressed, Iran is present in Syria under the invitation of the Syrian government and will stay there until the annihilation of the terrorist groups. At the end of his remarks, the spokesman talked of the upcoming US presidential election and said Iran does not care about who or what type of party takes office in the United States. Trump seeking Iran's losing JCPOA's advantages Mousavi said that due to the presidential elections in December 2020, Donald Trump's regime is trying to achieve a victory in his foreign policy towards Iran, so it favors destroying JCPOA and tries his best to prevent Iran from benefiting from the JCPOA. He added that according to the Resolution 2231 of the Security Council in October 2020, the arms embargo on Iran will be removed; the Trump regime has sought to disrupt the Resolution 2231. Mousavi noted that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has recently given warnings to the remaining countries in the JCPOA and international community, adding that Iran's reaction will be so decisive if it does not benefit from JCPOA. In correspondence with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the European Coordinator of the UN Security Council, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has officially announced the positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran. 1483**1416 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A man who reportedly defended his wifes honor by beating up a man who threatened to rape his wife has been charged in court. Gabriel Wanjohi was charged at the Makadara Law Court with causing grievous harm to Gregory Muendo Musyoka on June 30, 2020, at Kware estate in Embakasi, Nairobi. The accused allegedly assaulted Musyoka after his wife called him for help. It is claimed that Mr Musyoka was at Wanjohis wifes business premises where he ordered food before hurling insults at her and threatening to rape her. The terrified businesswoman made a distress call to her husband who arrived at the hotel and allegedly slapped and pushed Muendo sending his tumbling on the tarmac. Muendo reportedly fell on his back and fell unconscious. Police officers who arrived at the scene took Muendo to a nearby clinic for first aid before he was transferred to the Kenyatta National Hospital. Appearing before Senior Principal Magistrate Merissa Opondo, Mr Wanjohi denied the charges. The court granted him Sh200,000 bond and an alternative cash bail of Sh100,000, with the hearing of the case set to start on September 22, 2020. Photo: Contributed On the heels of another class-action lawsuit against the RCMP a petition calling for justice for Mona Wang has now garnered over 372,000 signatures. The petition posted on Change.org states, "we are calling on the RCMP and the Canadian Government to fire Officer Lacey Browning and charge her with assault. She must not be allowed to hurt an already struggling person ever again." The petition was started after Castanet posted surveillance video footage of Wang being dragged down a hallway, pulled by her hair and stepped on by RCMP Officer Lacey Browning sparked outrage against police brutality in Canada. The latest update follows protests held in both Kelowna and Vancouver this past weekend. I am not the first and I will not be the last to have this happen to me...So many people since I have told my story have come out and said that similar things have happened to them, except they did not have video surveillance, said Wang. On January 20 Wangs boyfriend called the police to request a wellness check for her, which resulted in the alleged assault captured on video. Im sure we can all agree that the use of force that Wang was subjected to was definitely neither limited nor reasonable or necessary, said the organizer of the petition. Wang has now brought a civil lawsuit against the officers involved. Government says it is setting up additional COVID-19 treatment centres at yet to be completed hospital facilities in the Ashanti Region. This is to ease pressure on already existing treatment centres which are getting choked following the rising COVID-19 cases in the region. The centres that are being set up at the Bekwai, Fomena and Sewua hospital project sites according to government is part of plans to address future and further emergencies. Speaking to the media, Health Minister Kwaku Agyemang said they are hopeful the centres will be ready in a fortnight. We went to see Bekwai. It is a project that we started sometime last year, we wanted to complete this hospital in Bekwai and some places are such that we can quickly turn them into treatment centres temporarily until we get our own treatment centre somewhere else. Recently, health officials in the Ashanti Region disclosed that treatment facilities in the region had become full, a development that is making case management difficult. The Director-General of the Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye last week noted that, The upgrade in Kumasi South will be ready this weekend. They have expanded to move to about 30 beds from 18 beds, and then also adding some eight ICU beds in Kumasi. That is ongoing. Within the week, we are also looking at the centre at Toase; the one donated by Dr, Frimpong Boateng, will be ready. Currently, the staff who will be managing the place are in training and we hope that we'll also have catering services. Once those things are ready, we'll move in there and start. The Ashanti Region has consistently been the second region to record high COVID-19 infections after the Greater Accra Region. The region currently has more than 5,000 cases. citinewsroom 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... President Donald Trump participates in a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in the East Room of the White House in Washington on June 26, 2020. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) 17 States Sue Trump Admin for New Visa Rules for International Students A coalition of states and Washington are suing the Trump administration over its rule that prevents international students from staying in the United States if their school only offers online courses in the upcoming fall. Seventeen states and the U.S. Capital filed the lawsuit on Monday asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to block the rule that requires international students to leave the country or transfer to another institution if their schools offer classes entirely online in fall 2020. If not, the students may risk consequences such as deportation. The rule was announced by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 6. The Trump Administration didnt even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who is leading the lawsuit, said in a statement. The administration has been facing widespread criticism and multiple lawsuits for promulgating the rule, which is said to have created uncertainty for about a million of international students in the United States. Many academic institutions, who are already struggling to navigate the logistical challenges of safely resuming classes amid the CCP virus pandemic, are also taking actions in an effort to block the enforcement of the rule. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) brought a lawsuit last week in an effort to block the rule, claiming that the rule was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall. Similar litigation efforts have been brought by other higher education institutions such as Johns Hopkins University. The states lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other state officials, saying that the rule would exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 and exile hundreds of thousands of college students studying in the United States. The lawsuit alleges that the new rule would cause substantial irreparable harm to states, schools, and students because the Trump administration had failed to consider the public health and safety amid the ongoing pandemic. The 17 states and Washington are home to a combined 1,124 colleges and universities and hosted over 373,000 international students last year, which equates to $14,502,646,811 of revenue to those states economies in that year, the attorney generals say. Students and pedestrians walk through the Yard at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., on March 10, 2020. (Brian Snyder/Reuters) The rule would upend the lives of international students and their families, and bring enormous administration burden on schools in order to reconsider carefully calibrated fall semester plans and to make individual certifications for each individual international student in a matter of weeks, the lawsuit (pdf) says. It also said the effect of the rule would deprive the university community of the perspectives, skills, and talents of so many international students, as well as bring a loss to the economy. The states lawsuit is also asking the court to delay the rule from going into effect. Along with Massachusetts and the U.S. Capital, states including Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are participating in the suit. President Donald Trump has been pushing for schools to reopen in fall 2020, which is tied to his effort to help the country resume normal economic functions. During a roundtable discussion with health experts, educators, students, and parents on Tuesday, Trump said he will pressure governors to reopen, saying that he believes that the governors who didnt were doing it for political reasons. We dont want people to make political statements or do it for political reasons, they think its gonna be good for them politically, so they keep the schools closed, no way, Trump said. Were very much going to put pressure on the governors and everybody else to open the schools. Under ICEs announcement, students who are attending schools that offer both a mixture of online and in-person classes are allowed to take more than one class online as long as the schools certify that the program is not entirely online, that the student is not taking the course entirely online that semester, and that the student is taking the minimum number of online classes required to make progress in their degree program. A States Department spokesperson said that this temporary accommodation for students getting instruction under the hybrid model 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. Only at the hospital did Robertson learn that her grandmother had given her both medical and legal powers of attorney. And amid bleak medical prognoses at the New Jersey hospital, she sought her guidance. "I asked, Do you want to fight? She looked at me and nodded her head very emphatically, Yes. After hovering near death, Viviano recovered, but with restricted speech and movement. Yet when Robertson inquired if her grandmother would prefer a nursing home, she was met with tears. Robertson realized that caring for her at home was her only option. She moved her to the condominium in Charleston, S.C., that she shared with her husband. She struggled to find reliable certified nursing assistants to help her. But as hard as it was, We shared many awesome moments." Viviano stayed at Robertson's home, where she died peacefully after nearly two years, surrounded by family. Lost in the neighborhood Jeanne Wintz of Seattle is the main caregiver for her husband, Jim, a role that began when he first showed early signs of dementia. He had worked for decades as a psychiatric social worker. Now she grew uncomfortable leaving him home alone. "I realized he couldn't find his way around the neighborhood where we had lived for 40 years, Wintz said. She is now 72, in good health, and her husband is 89. For his sake, they moved to an independent living complex, where he attends a regular memory fitness class that he thoroughly enjoys, she said. Wintz uses spreadsheets to keep track of her husband's appointments and their locations. After all, she formerly worked as a top executive at a major research company. But she is the exception. More than 1 in 4 caregivers said they find it difficult to synchronize such care, up from 19 percent in 2015. "The care coordination should not be so hard, said AARP's Reinhard, who believes caregivers should be part of the official caregiving team. Racial disparities Hispanic and African American caregivers devote more hours to caregiving, and they also help with more medical and nursing tasks, the report found. Nearly 50 percent of Hispanic caregivers are more often in a high-intensity care situation than non-Hispanic white and Asian caregivers and on average provide care for 26 hours a week. Hispanic caregivers are younger than most (43.3-years-old, on average) and a large number 48 percent live with the person they are caring for. In some cases, they may find it hard to find long-term care facilities where they feel comfortable, or that are affordable and located in their communities, said Maria P. Aranda, associate professor and executive director of the Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The increased prevalence in caregiving shown by the report may have several causes, said Aranda, who served on the report's advisory panel. It may reflect that care recipients are living longer, with a variety of disabilities, she said. And it may also show that people are embracing the label of caregiver, as it becomes more acceptable in society, she said. "Caregiving is part of the family life cycle, Aranda said. The lion's share of people do it because they want to do it, and they want to provide the best care for their loved ones." Editors note: This article has been updated to reflect more recent information. MILWAUKEE For Hannah Arbuckle, a summer internship focused on helping people cultivate wild foods at a Wisconsin reservation was an opportunity to help the tribe she belongs to. It was also the University of Wisconsin-Madison senior's chance to complete her last requirement for graduation. But when she called her supervisor at the reservation to ask if her internship was still happening, Arbuckle learned the program had been canceled. They responded that they werent going to try and make it work, said Arbuckle, a community and environmental sociology major. She is not alone. Many students who secured a job or internship before the coronavirus pandemic arrived in the United States have been dealing with delayed start dates or have had their positions rescinded altogether. From that March to May period, we saw a pretty significant drop in the number of opportunities for students and for graduating students, said Rebakah Pare, executive head of career services at UW-Madison's College of Letters and Science. Arbuckle, though disappointed, restarted her search. Hannah Arbuckle in front of the Kakagon Slough on Bad River where they harvest our Manoomin (wild rice). Arbuckle says Manoomin in the Ojibwe language means "the good berry", and has many traditional and cultural value to us including being apart of origin story where we were told to settle "where food grows on water". Arbuckle has an internship working for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, located on the Bad River Reservation. Opportunities listed on UW-Madison's online jobs page were scarce. The few jobs that were open were very competitive. She applied to a handful of internships and jobs for the summer and fall, but the process has been slow. Unsure if she'd find another internship, she enrolled in an online class to make up for the internship she lost in March a requirement for her certificate program in food systems. It took her three months to secure a new internship working for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, located on the Bad River Reservation. With half of the summer already gone, she got to work collecting information on wild rice production. I feel like I got to UW-Madison and I graduated, and felt like I did all the right things, but then it was like nothing I did or was doing once the coronavirus hit was right," Arbuckle said. Back at home: Recent grads hit with layoffs, furloughs worry returning home is 'the image of failure' Story continues Navigating a chaotic job market Jason White, president and CEO of the Greater Oshkosh Economic Development Corporation, said the pandemic has brought chaos for employers. Many companies in our own community kind of have had a whirlwind opened in the middle, he said. The economic turmoil has hit all sorts of professionals: those with lengthy careers under their belts and those just trying to get started. Being fit, losing weight is a powerful force against COVID-19: But cities have to do more Still, White said, college students face unique challenges. Even if they manage to get remote work, they may struggle because they may be unfamiliar with the company and how it operates. Many employers aren't even hiring as they try to manage supporting their current payroll. And competition in the job market remains fierce given how many people have lost work during the pandemic. Since March 15, when businesses began shutting down, more than 3.76 million weekly claims have been received by the Department of Workforce Development and nearly 3.2 million of those had been paid out through June 27, state data shows. Ledin said he's hopeful that internships will soon return to in-person work. He is already applying to positions for next spring. I have my fingers crossed, but I just have to be flexible with anything that happens," he said. 'Recalibrating expectations' At Milwaukee Area Technical College, students are being told to cast a wide net. Technical colleges prepare students to fill current openings in the local job market. But more students have been forced to find jobs outside of their degree programs with the hope of gaining skills they can use in the future. "Students across the board were kind of frozen," said Jenny McGilligan, MATC's director of student employment, career and transfer. "They were scared. They didn't even know where to begin," she said. "They see all this unemployment and think that there are no options." Still, some are making it work. When Benedicto Azcueta, 37, started his job hunt, he expected he'd work for a technology firm. But after he graduated from the IT networking specialist program last spring, Advocate Aurora Health was the first to put his skills to use. He acknowledged there are people who can't be as aggressive in their job search. Many of his peers have struggled, especially those who have children to care for or other circumstances that have kept them from applying in earnest. His choice of degree also helped, he said. "There's a lot of jobs for IT in Milwaukee," he said. Benedicto Azcueta is a recent graduate of the Milwaukee Area Technical College. Pare and McGilligan said the job hunt in 2020 will require more flexibility and be more competitive than before the pandemic. We are talking with students about recalibrating their expectations, Pare said. This job search now, in this particular time, is going to take a lot longer. Despite students' enthusiasm, some of the positions they wanted no longer exist in the coronavirus world. For Nateya Taylor, a Carthage College graduate who studied criminal justice and Spanish, the job hunt has been difficult. Taylor conducted multiple informational interviews over Zoom but heard at the close of each session that the company didn't actually have any openings. Many of her peers are heading to grad school, delaying a job search. But that's not an option for Taylor. Nateya Taylor, a Carthage College graduate who studied criminal justice and Spanish, with her senior thesis. -- photo by: Asmau Diallo "I did apply to grad school for this upcoming fall and I was accepted, but because of financial reasons, I wasn't able to attend this fall," she said. Some of her friends have found jobs in high-demand careers like nursing. Meanwhile, career advisers have said students have been finding work in fields such as software development and technology, teaching, health care, manufacturing, research and IT. For now, Taylor is preparing a new set of grad school applications for next school year, hoping to get a better financial aid package. "I'm still trying to find something that meets my needs," she said. Laura Schulte of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. Follow reporters Natallie St. Onge (@natallie_stonge), Margot Armbruster (@margotarmb) and Devi Shastri (@DeviShastri) on Twitter. Ghislaine Maxwell: Why the case is so shocking to so many Reopening: Four ex-CDC directors decry Trump administration effort to 'cast public doubt' on reopening guidelines This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: College students pivot in volatile job market during COVID-19 pandemic He reportedly sold information about Iran's missile program to the CIA. Iran's judiciary said it had executed an Iranian agent linked to the CIA on Tuesday, its news site Mizan reported. Reza Asgari, a former employee of the ministry of defence, had sold information about Iran's missile program to the CIA and was executed last week, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said, according to Mizan, Reuters reported. Read alsoBloomberg: Iran says forgetful operator was trigger for Ukraine jet crash Tensions have increased between Tehran and Washington since the United States killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, prompting the Islamic Republic to retaliate with a missile strike against a U.S. base in Iraq. Last summer, Iran announced it had broken up a CIA spy ring of 17 individuals and that some had been sentenced to death. DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan says an Austrian court's decision to invalidate the extradition of a Tajik asylum seeker who has already been sent home is "not valid" in the Central Asian nation. "Hizbullo Shovalizoda was prosecuted on the basis of evidence gathered in the criminal case that proved his illegal actions inside Tajikistan," Tajik Prosecutor-General Yusuf Rahmon told reporters on July 14. The statement comes a week after the Supreme Court of Austria invalidated an extradition order for Shovalizoda, 29, who was sent back to Tajikistan in March and sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 10 after a court in Dushanbe found him guilty on charges that included participating in the activities of an extremist organization and high treason. According to the court ruling, Austria failed to secure the Tajik national's right to freely leave the country. It added that the decision on his extradition was based on outdated information about the current situation in the former Soviet republic. Shovalizoda's lawyer in Vienna, Gregor Klammer, told RFE/RL last week that the Supreme Court had obliged Austria to bring his client back to Vienna. Tajik authorities have said that Shovalizoda was suspected of being a member of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) and of participating in an attempt to overthrow the government by force. The IRPT, long an influential party with representatives in the government and parliament, was labeled a terrorist group and banned in 2015. Dozens of IRPT officials and supporters have been prosecuted and many of them imprisoned, drawing criticism from human rights groups. Shovalizoda arrived in Austria in early 2019 and asked for asylum but instead was placed under arrest in January. Exiled Tajik opposition activists told RFE/RL that they had urged Austrian authorities not to extradite Shovalizoda, as he was not a member of any political opposition group or party. The IRPT said at the time that Shovalizoda had never been one of its members. "Shovalizoda is most likely to be subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and unfair trial. He, as in previous similar situations, may be forced to testify against himself and other people under torture," the party said in a statement at the time of the extradition hearing. Tajik authorities have been criticized for cracking down on dissent for years. In 2014, the opposition movement Group 24 was labeled as terrorist and extremist and banned. In March 2015, the movement's founder, Umarali Quvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul. Smoke billows from the plains near Waterville as the Road 11 fire rages out of control on Saturday. Whats new: China is in talks with South Korea to double the number of flights between the two countries to 20 a week, which could provide more going-home options for Chinese students stranded abroad by travel restrictions and school closures amid the Covid-19 pandemic. China and South Korea will allow 10 carriers each to run the flights, according to people close to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Currently, seven Chinese airlines provide seven flights a week, two South Korean carriers each provide a weekly flight, and Asiana Airlines became the first South Korean carrier to provide two flights to China a week starting Sunday. The two countries are trying to reach an agreement to expand flights by the end of July, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea. The background: To prevent imported coronavirus cases, China began enforcing the so-called Five Ones policy in March, limiting the number of international flights into China to one weekly route per carrier. Tens of thousands of Chinese students, business people and other travelers have found themselves stranded in the U.S. and Europe for months amid travel restrictions and flight cancellations. Increasing flights between China and South Korea could help Chinese passengers in Europe and the U.S. return home, a person close to the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. Seats on Asianas Sunday flight from Seoul to Nanjing were mainly sold to passengers on connecting flights from Europe and the U.S. to China via South Korea. Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here. Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com) Related: Cover Story: The Challenge of Uncorking the ChinaU.S. Travel Bottleneck XICHANG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China has been actively engaged with the international space community, providing services to global users, strengthening cooperation and contributing Chinese wisdom. The newly-launched satellite APSTAR-6D is the latest example of the country's efforts in propelling global space development. Launched on July 9, the advanced commercial satellite will provide a high-quality broadband network and facilitate data communication services for users across the Asia-Pacific region, said its developer, the China Academy of Space Technology. The satellite was sent into the planned orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the country's earliest launch site for foreign satellites. On April 7, 1990, the center saw the lift-off of AsiaSat-1, the first international commercial satellite launched from China. In due course, the country launched communication satellites from Xichang for many countries, such as Nigeria, Bolivia, Belarus and Algeria. Since its establishment in 1970, the center has witnessed 34 international launches, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the country's total foreign satellite launch missions. The last satellite of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) was also launched from the Xichang center on June 23. More than half of the countries in the world have been using the BDS, China's independently developed and operated global navigation system. "China is willing to share the achievements of BeiDou development with other countries," said Wang Zhaoyao, chairman of the Chinese Satellite Navigation Committee, at the 9th ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held on July 6. The Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of the southern island province of Hainan is another launch site to witness China's international space cooperation. It is preparing the launch of China's first Mars probe. On May 5, the trial version of China's new-generation manned spaceship and a cargo return capsule for tests were sent into space from the Wenchang center. This launch marked the "third step" of China's manned space program, which is to construct a space station. China has continued to participate and deepen international cooperation for manned missions. It has forged several collaborative projects with countries, including Russia, Germany, France, Italy, and organizations such as the European Space Agency and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. In June 2019, China announced the first nine international cooperation projects for its planned space station, which is expected to be completed in 2022. According to the China Manned Space Agency, upon completion, the station will foster international exchanges and cooperation in the areas of equipment development, space applications, astronaut training, joint flights and aerospace medicine. " " Presenters from the pirate radio ship Caroline photographed at the police station after being rescued after their ship ran aground on the beach at Frinton-on-Sea, United Kingdom, January 20, 1966. Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Pictures If you've been binge-watching movies lately, you may have come across "Pirate Radio." Director Richard Curtis' 2009 comedy-drama stars the late Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Count, a disc jockey for an unlicensed rock radio station that broadcast from a rusty, decrepit ship off the British coast in the mid-1960s, defying government authorities to spin the rock records that weren't allowed on the BBC at the time. The plot is based loosely on the saga of an actual former pirate station, Radio Caroline, that was founded by an offbeat Irish entrepreneur named Ronan O'Rahilly, the inspiration for the character portrayed by Bill Nighy. "Pirate Radio" is a period piece, set in a time when the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" and the Who's "My Generation" were still scandalous and controversial rather than nostalgic anthems for today's aging baby boomers. So you couldn't be blamed for assuming that it depicts a long-vanished phenomenon, like Nehru jackets with iridescent scarves and psychedelic-patterned paper mini dresses. To the contrary, though, more than a half-century later, pirate radio is still a thing. In fact, it's possibly more widespread than it was in the 1960s, even in an age when streaming internet services such as Spotify and Pandora put the equivalent of a jukebox in the pocket of everyone with a smartphone. And as a bonus, Radio Caroline still exists though, ironically, it's gone legal. In the U.S., pirate stations have popped up in recent years all over the country, from West Virginia to Washington state, according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which plays a continual game of whack-a-mole in an effort to keep them off the airwaves used by licensed broadcasters. Unauthorized stations are particularly prolific in the New York City area, where a 2016 study by the New York State Broadcasters Association (NYSBA) found that there actually were more pirates then on the FM band than legal licensed stations. "Pirate radio continues to exist in the internet age for a variety of reasons," John Nathan Anderson, a broadcasting scholar and author who is working on a book about pirate radio, explains via email. "One is cost. It's eminently cheaper to purchase or build an unlicensed radio station than it is to set up a robust streaming channel online, especially if you're looking to cover a local area. All you need is a location to host the antenna and access to electricity unless you've got batteries, then just the location." Additionally, pirate broadcasters don't have to deal with all the legal complexities of setting up and running a streaming internet service, such as writing terms of service or meeting contractual obligations, he notes. And audiences can get the station on inexpensive radio receivers there's no need to have a computer or a smartphone with 5G, or to pay a monthly subscription fee or worry about blowing through their data limits. They just twist the dial. Very old school, and cheap enough for anyone's budget. Thanks to e-commerce, it's also easier than ever for a would-be pirate to find the necessary equipment and have it delivered to his or her door, as FCC enforcement official David Dombrowski described in this 2019 podcast. Powerful, uncertified transmitters manufactured in foreign countries easily slip through customs at U.S. ports. Advertisement Pirate Radio's Quirky History Unlicensed radio broadcasters have been around practically since governments started trying to control and regulate the airwaves. That was particularly true on the other side of the Atlantic, where the U.K. allowed only state-controlled radio from the 1920s through the mid-1960s. "The government decided that radio was too influential as a means of mass communication to be in private hands," Peter Moore explains in an email. He's the station manager for today's legal, land-based version of Radio Caroline, which obtained a license to broadcast at 648 Khz on the AM band in 2017, but still strives to preserve the rebellious spirit of the original operation. "Private radio was prohibited and only the British Broadcasting Corporation, which was part of the political establishment, sent radio to the British people with the remit to be morally uplifting, informative and educational," Moore says. But by the 1960s, the postwar baby boom filled the U.K. with millions of teenagers who were eager to hear the rock 'n' roll records that the BBC declined to play. Enter Ronan O'Rahilly, who learned that the U.K. government's jurisdiction ended 3 miles (5 kilometers) off the coast, and that stations from other countries already were exploiting that loophole by putting transmitters on offshore ships, according to Moore. " " Radio Caroline founder, Ronan O'Rahilly, in Amsterdam, 1967. Wikimedia Commons (CCO 1.0) "He created Radio Caroline operating in that way and the station was at once called a 'pirate,'" Moore says. As this 2009 article from the Independent, a British newspaper, details, O'Rahilly obtained a 63-ton (57-metric ton), Danish passenger ferry, the MV Frederica, and renamed it Caroline, after the daughter of the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy. He anchored the ship in international waters in the North Sea, just off Frinton, Essex, and hired a crew of DJs to play music around the clock at the time, a revolutionary concept. On Easter Sunday in 1964, the station went on the air, playing the Rolling Stones' single "It's All Over Now" as its first song. "By playing nonstop current pop music in a situation where this had never before been available, Caroline had within months a larger audience than all the BBC stations combined," Moore explains. Here's a 12-minute recording of Radio Caroline DJ Tony Blackburn's show in 1965, which includes both a breakfast cereal commercial and the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun" and "For Your Love" by the Yardbirds: Because the station had to fill so much airtime DJs had to come up with 2,500 tracks to play each week Radio Caroline helped foster what Moore calls "an explosion of new artists and bands who may have started recording conventional pop music, but who then expanded their musical abilities. The Moody Blues are one example of this." Having that exposure helped boost the careers of scores of British bands whose music eventually made it to America. The Who actually paid homage to Radio Caroline and other offshore broadcasters by parodying them on their 1967 concept album "The Who Sell Out," as music historian John Atkins has written. Radio Caroline because so influential that, pretty soon, other ships were broadcasting rock off the coast as well. The Offshore Radio Museum website commemorates many of those pirates. Advertisement Offshore Broadcasts Become Illegal The British government, though, didn't appreciate what Radio Caroline and other pirate broadcasters were doing. In 1967, Parliament enacted the Marine Broadcasting Offenses Act, which made offshore broadcasts from ships illegal, on the pretext that their broadcast interfered with marine weather radio and distress signals, as this contemporaneous New York Times account notes. Violators faced two years of imprisonment and fines. But O'Rahilly was undeterred, even after his ship was seized briefly by Dutch authorities. He got the craft back and kept at pirate radio for nearly another quarter century. Ex-Beatle George Harrison was sufficiently appreciative of Radio Caroline's mission that he even wrote a sizable check in the early 1970s to help keep the ship in operation, according to Ray Clark's book "Radio Caroline: The True Story of the Ship That Rocked." The original converted ferry sank in 1980, but the five DJs on board and the ship's canary, Wilson, named after British Prime Minister Harold Wilson all were rescued, according to O'Rahilly's New York Times obituary. He then obtained another ship, a German trawler called the Ross Revenge, which continued to host the station until it ran aground along the British coast in 1991. " " The pirate music station ship, Radio Caroline, after it sank in heavy seas in the Thames Estuary. The crew of five were saved from the ship after it broke away from its permanent moorings near Southend and drifted on to a sandbank. PA Images/Getty Images Even then, though, Radio Caroline wouldn't go away. It eventually regrouped and resurfaced as an internet station, which gave it a global reach. "Caroline now has two stations, one playing album music and one playing the original pop music for which the station is remembered," Moore explains. Meanwhile, the Ross Revenge was repaired and converted into a floating museum for tourists. "While Radio Caroline is no longer 'illegal' the philosophy is unchanged," Moore says, noting that the station's staff has the motto "New Technology, Same Ideology." Advertisement Pirate Radio in America The U.S. has had its share of pirate broadcasters over the years as well. A few of them broadcast from ships, such as Rev. Carl McIntire, a fundamentalist preacher who briefly broadcast fire-and-brimstone sermons from a converted minesweeper off the coast of New Jersey, as this 2014 NJ.com article details. In the late 1980s, unlicensed operators tried broadcasting from a Honduran-flag freighter in the waters off Long Island, according to The New York Times. But most of the current American pirates are based on dry land, broadcasting from clandestine antennas on rooftops in places such as Brooklyn. Unlike the rock 'n' roll hipsters of 1960s British pirate radio, who aimed at a mass audience, most of Brooklyn's unlicensed broadcasters seem to be immigrants and members of ethnic and religious minorities trying to reach their own groups and neighborhoods. David Goren, a veteran radio producer who's created programming for National Public Radio, has spent years studying pirate broadcasters. In addition to this 2019 BBC documentary, Goren also has created the Pirate Radio Map, which documents pirate radio stations in Brooklyn and even includes brief samples from their broadcasts. "One reason I've found as to why people are still using pirate radio is that these communities have very strong cultural and historic connections to radio," Goren explains. "In Haiti during the Duvalier regime, people depended on radio to get news from independent sources off the island. To have a radio station here helps to establish the station's operator as an important source of information and influence in the community." For many of the people in those communities, who may not be able to afford a computer or a smartphone and a broadband connection, pirate radio is an affordable medium. "I spoke with a pastor of a church in the community which had a station and the antenna was taken down by the FCC," Goren says. "He was waiting several months to come back on the air (and therefore was only willing to speak off the record to me). I asked him why he would still take the risk to go back on air and he said he wanted to reach the homeless, the shut-ins, the elderly who couldn't access the internet." " " Britain's most famous pirate radio station took to the airwaves again for a month in 2014 from the Mersey Bar Lightship in Liverpool. The original pirate radio station which was named after President Kennedys daughter Caroline was based on two ships anchored outside U.K. territorial waters to avoid government control. Beverley Goodwin /Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) But the FCC, Congress and the commercial broadcasting industry don't see the pirates as serving such a benign purpose. In January, President Donald Trump signed into law the Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement (PIRATE) Act, which gives regulators the ability to hit pirate stations with fines of up to $2 million, according to this summary from Radio World. "These transmissions can interfere with licensed radio signals including broadcasters' sharing of vital public safety information with their communities," FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. "To enforce the law and protect American radio listeners and lawful businesses, the Federal Communications Commission has made a concerted effort in recent years to step up our enforcement efforts against pirate radio stations." But just as the British government's stiff penalties didn't deter Radio Caroline, at least so far, the U.S. government's crackdown doesn't seem to have deterred the pirates. Goren, who's been monitoring the airwaves since the law was passed, notes that on a typical day, he picks up about 26 pirate stations in Brooklyn alone. HowStuffWorks may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Now That's Interesting Radio Caroline founder Ronan O'Rahilly had another claim to fame, in that he influenced actor George Lazenby to give up the role of James Bond after playing in just one film, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," in 1969. "He convinced me to not stay on as Bond I'd be in danger of becoming part of the Establishment," Lazenby wrote on in an Instagram tribute after O'Rahilly's death in April 2020, noting that he had no regrets about taking that advice. Both countries are forcing other nations to take sides, even if they are disinclined to do so. The Trump administration, for example, has pressed allies with some success in Australia and, on Tuesday, in Britain to forswear Chinese tech giant Huawei as they develop 5G networks. China, facing condemnation over its policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, has rallied countries to make public demonstrations of support for them. According to Maria Elena Martinez, Executive Director of the Immunizations Division at Minsa, this joint work with the Directorate of Integrated Health Networks (Diris) in Eastern Lima has begun in El Agustino district. "We are planning a vaccination campaign because the scheme has been interrupted for a long time, and there is a need to keep the population protected," she noted. Additionally, the specialist explained that in addition to home visits Mobile Vaccine will be allowed to immunize people in the streets if they request it so. "Right now, we are doing a focused activity. We will be located in a specific area from where we will call on the population to approach us following social distancing rules in order to be vaccinated," she pointed out. According to Martinez, health personnel shall not enter homes in accordance with health protocols unless it is absolutely necessary. "Similar initiatives will be carried out in other parts of Lima and regions across the country led by the Ministry of Health and in coordination with local governments and strategic allies using Mobile Vaccine minivans, buses, cars, river vessels, among others," she said. Mobile Vaccine was launched on Saturday by Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra as he oversaw a primary care intervention event called "Target Shooting against Diseases" aimed at children, pregnant women, senior citizens, and people with comorbidities residing in Lima's El Agustino district. Editor's note: It must be noted this vaccine is not the cure against COVID-19. (END) NDP/LIT/RMB/MVB Loading... Group bookings at pubs will be reduced from 20 people to 10 and large venues will not be allowed to have more than 300 patrons under new COVID-19 rules to be introduced in NSW. The Berejiklian government will announce the measures on Tuesday, which include stricter requirements for venues to collect contact details of patrons in case of an outbreak, and tougher rules on how pubs are cleaned. The line outside The Golden Sheaf in Double Bay last week Credit:Reddit The changes relate only to pubs and will not apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino, which was fined $5000 on Monday after inspectors were told of groups mingling and people standing together while drinking on Saturday night. The new measures follow the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's south-west which is now responsible for 21 coronavirus cases. By STACEY HAIRSTON After a lengthy debate between school board members Monday night about the best way to reopen schools, Franklin County Public Schools voted unanimously to open school buildings to its youngest students first. Beginning Aug. 10, students in pre-K through second grade, Early Childhood Special Education and self-contained classes will attend school for in-person instruction Monday through Friday, while students in third through 12th grade will learn virtually from home. Initially, the plan was for all students to attend school in-person two days a week and virtually three days a week; and for students in ECSE and self-contained classes to attend in-person four days a week. Students would attend school on an A/B schedule, with half of the countys students inside school buildings on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half there on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays would have been used for cleaning and sanitation, as well as a day for virtual learning and connection between students and teachers. As board members began discussing the initial A/B schedule, most expressed concerns around the recent rise in coronavirus cases across the county. Currently, the number of cases has surpassed 100, and results are still not in from 250 coronavirus tests administered in Rocky Mount last week. Weeks ago, I would have said this was a good plan, said board member Jeff Worley of the initial A/B schedule. But things have not improved, theyve gotten worse. We need to be concerned about the safety of our students and our staff. I dont think were ready to put all of these people together, even in that limited time and space, with this thing (coronavirus spread) still going on to the extent that it is. Board member John Atchue also expressed his discomfort with starting schools Aug. 10. I am not comfortable that we have our teachers and our students physically back in the buildings on Aug. 10, Atchue said. I see people walking around Rocky Mount not wearing masks and not practicing social distancing. There are so many unknown factors out there, and I certainly dont want to roll the dice, even knowing we are doing as much mitigation as we can. There was also concern that children could potentially spread the virus to other members of their families. If were going to send them two days a week and then put them in an elderly grandparents home for babysitting and, heaven forbid, one of the kids had the virus, we have just probably helped to eliminate a grandparent, said board member G.B. Washburn. By having them in school five days a week, were less likely to have that babysitting problem, making it much easier on working parents. Parents are now going back to work, and they have to have places for their kids. Board member Arlet Greer agreed that keeping young children contained in one facility all week is the safest plan. Were trying to contain the students, Greer said. Elementary students will be contained in their classrooms with lunches brought to them. Because of the lack of child care in the county, if they go to school for two days, they may be going to three different places for child care the remainder of the week. Containing them in the same group five days a week is better than them having to go to different childcare facilities. Board member Penny Blue said that many of the community members she has spoken with are also concerned that schools are reopening too soon. People are concerned that we may be starting back too early or that we need more time to consider based on where the county is with regards to the virus, Blue said. I think we need more time. I dont think we can answer all the questions tonight. But Franklin County School Board Chair Julie Nix said parents needed some sort of answer before the end of the night. Maybe it would be smart to err on the side of caution, Nix said. Parents are going to have to know what to do with their children. Another force driving the board to make a decision is that the Virginia Department of Education is requiring a plan to be presented 15 days before to the start of school. Superintendent Dr. Mark Church said the plan could be changed afterward as VDOE does not have to approve the plan. Church said both plans followed the current guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and VDOE. We are following what they are proposing, Church said. We are not having to ask for many additional mitigating strategies. We understand its important for our teachers and students to come together to interact with each other. There is no scenario of no risk, but we certainly have tried to reduce the risk as much as we can. Church suggested the plan to bring back younger students first could work for a first step since the school system has implemented a more stable platform for online learning. We are in a much better place than we were in the spring, Church said. Our teachers are being trained on a program. We are in a much better spot to provide instruction online. We want to get the little ones in as quickly as we can while reducing the number of people in the buildings. Assistant Superintendent Sue Rogers added, There is no perfect plan. The perfect plan would be for our students to all come back and everything be safe, but we are not in those waters right now. Our No. 1 priority is for student and staff safety and well-being. Board member P.D. Hambrick called the coronavirus a moving target and suggested the board vote to keep the A/B scheduling and get students back into the classrooms as quickly as possible. These kids are so far behind already, Hambrick said. A lot of parents contacted me to say they were hopeless at home trying to work with their children on the internet. They readily admitted they got nothing done. The longer we wait, the further they will get behind. You cant keep pushing your date further and further down the road hoping that moving target stops. Its not. This disease is here for the long run. Were going to have to deal with it, and the kids are suffering and getting further behind. Face coverings was another topic of discussion during the meeting. Teachers and staff will be required to wear face coverings. Students will be strongly encouraged to wear them, but not required. Church said students will be required to wear them while riding the bus, but not while at school. The guidance is that face coverings should be worn when the 6-foot social distancing guidelines cant be maintained, Church said. Several board members suggested requiring students to wear masks while at school, but attorney Steve Maddy advised against it, suggesting the board did not have the authority to require it. The governors orders state that children under 10 are not required to wear face masks, and I dont think the board has the authority to make it stricter, Maddy said. I think you would be setting yourselves up for someone to file an injunction against us to keep us from enforcing such a requirement. Washburn said he believed making masks mandatory on school buses would not qualify under the equal protection as transportation was a privilege not a right. I would like to see us not try to exceed what is in the governors executive order, said board member Donna Cosmato. Board members will begin meeting once a week on Mondays to make adjustments and tweaks to the plan on an as-needed basis and based on current data and the countys number of cases. The current plan is keep students in third through 12th grades home until at least Labor Day. Our goal is to get all our kids back in the classrooms as soon as possible, Church said, adding that the board planned to phase all children back into classrooms over time when it was safe to do so. Parents will also be given the option for their children to receive an all-remote education, which will be provided by the school system. An option the school board said parents can change their minds on at any time but will remain available. In the new world order heralded by the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada is going to have to rethink just what border security means, experts say. On Tuesday, media reports indicated Ottawa and Washington plan to extend the current shutdown of the Canada-U.S. border for 30 more days beyond the previously announced endpoint of July 21. But there are longer-term implications that the health crisis has made clear, observers say, including the presence of public health guards at our border. There is a general appreciation that a restricted border regime has been imposed temporarily because COVID-19 is not under control, said Wesley Wark, a leading Canadian security expert, told the Star. That view is shortsighted, and it doesnt reflect the reality that were moving toward. One of the new (things) we are going to have to do is some more strategic thinking about monitoring bio-security hazards at borders as a long-term proposition. Just as the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorism attacks in the U.S. transformed security measures at airports, the pandemic will make health and temperature screening, as well as the requirement to wear masks, the new norm, some predict. Were going to see an intensification of surveillance technology as a policy response to the pandemic at the border, said Sharry Aiken, immigration law professor at Queens University. We are going to see the border being pushed further away from the geographical border points and into all of our lives, as we distinguish who has a right to be here and who doesnt. While Canada currently has a more blanket approach that bans all non-essential travel regardless of country of origin, Wark believes border restrictions down the road will have to be more targeted based on data on the prevalence of the pandemic in other countries. The blanket approach is easier. Thats why we have one at the moment. We have to move to a more targeted approach to allow travel, said Wark, a visiting professor at the University of Ottawas Centre for International Policy Studies. If youre going to have selective control of travels, then you have to be prepared to be nimble and agile, to open and close the border quickly. That complicates it. It will also require a more nuanced approach for different types of visitors. Screening, tracking and self-isolation measures may vary for tourists, international students and migrant workers. Aiken said she has no issues with the use of enhanced technology to detect and monitor people for the sake of public health, but that it must be done in an open and transparent manner in which the public is informed and there are remedies available when mistakes are made. My biggest concern is not whos coming, but what a piecemeal job were doing of actually following up on these quarantine requirements. We have put in place steep sanctions, but there are no implementation measures, said Aiken. These (implementation) challenges can only be fixed by money. It requires resources. I dont think the answer is just close the border even further. Border clamping-down can work temporarily, but its a not a long-term solution. As Canada is currently enjoying a relative lull with the pandemic, Wark said officials must start formulating an emergency plan before a second wave hits, to make sure border measures are not haphazardly imposed as Canadians experienced during the first wave. We will have to have a plan ready to roll out immediately when global pandemic occurs, he said. The emergency border plan must include public health officials at border points to inform immigration policy as border agents are no health experts, observers say. What needs to change is information processing and application. We need better information system to distinguish between potentially dangerous travellers and the vast majority who pose no threats, said Wark. We need that information capacity to be increased to better support human judgments. In the long run, with frequent pandemic outbreaks, Wark said he could see the current measures of temperature screening and self-quarantine to remain in place and maybe a new item in passports to indicate the expiry of the travelers COVID-19 vaccine when one is available. We need to reinvent a smart border that takes into account the reality of threats present to Canada and at the same time try to ensure Canada is open to migration, trade and travel, said Wark. We need to work on not just a secure border but a smart border that works for Canada. Wark said hes not sure when Canada will move to open its border to select countries because Ottawa certainly doesnt want to offend and slight its biggest trade partner south of the border, which is still grappling with the spread of coronavirus. Thats another friction point in the U.S.-Canada relationship. The government is anxious about that, Wark said. San Francisco restaurateur Nick Bovis, who pleaded guilty to felony wire fraud charges in a City Hall corruption investigation, has been sued over alleged unpaid rent at his closed restaurant Leftys Ballpark Buffet. Bovis and his wife, Connie Morris, allegedly failed to pay more than $221,000 in rent for the Leftys location at 145 Jefferson St. in Fishermans Wharf, landlord Fong Real Estate Company said in a lawsuit filed July 9. Bovis and Morris allegedly failed to pay rent owed in November 2019 and didnt resolve a notice of default in December, according to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco County Superior Court. The suit, a civil claim, is unrelated to the federal criminal charges from a corruption investigation centered on former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. Bovis was originally arrested by the FBI in January for attempting to bribe a San Francisco airport commissioner alongside Nuru. Attorneys representing Fong and Bovis didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. Leftys Ballpark Buffet opened in 2018, two years after the closure of the original Lefty ODouls bar and restaurant near Union Square. The Ballpark Buffet closed in December 2019 because of water damage from a burst pipe and has yet to reopen. Bovis and his wifes 10-year lease agreement for the location does not expire until 2027, and Fong is seeking damages for unpaid rent through the end of the lease if the court grants the landlord possession of the property. Along with the unpaid rent allegations, Fong said Bovis breached his lease agreement by failing to include the landlord on a list of payees from an insurance claim for the water damage in December 2019, and failed to promptly repair the damage. The cost of the property damage exceeds $600,000, Fong alleges. Fong also alleges that building insurer Hartford Insurance Company intends to pay the damages to Bovis and Morris and not the landlord. In addition to a request for financial damages, the company has asked for a restraining order to prevent the insurance company from paying the claims value to Bovis and his wife without designating the landlord as a payee. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Bovis has been grappling with financial setbacks, friends told The Chronicle in January. Both the original Lefty ODouls and Bovis nearby piano bar Gold Dust Lounge closed after a dispute with another landlord. The Gold Dust Lounge closed a second time last year at its 165 Jefferson St. location, not far from Leftys Ballpark Buffet. Bovis also failed to secure a lease for a Leftys expansion at SFO. As part of the citys investigation into corruption, City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued subpoenas in February to Lefty ODouls Foundation for Kids, in addition to nine other corporate entities. The city believes that Bovis Leftys foundation may have been involved in funneling donations to fund Public Works Department holiday parties. Anna Kramer is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: anna.kramer@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @anna_c_kramer Martin Rogan, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland, was giving evidence to the Special Oireachtas Covid-19 committee (Screengrab/Oireachtas TV/PA) A mental health charity chief has warned of a slow-burn effect from the impact of coronavirus restrictions, an Oireachtas committee has heard. Martin Rogan, chief executive of Mental Health Ireland, said that while people had coped in the immediacy of lockdown measures, the aftermath might not be felt for some time. The Oireachtas Special Committee on Covid-19 Response, which discussed the impact the pandemic has had on mental health services, heard that demand for help had increased by 200%. Expand Close Kate Mitchell, from Mental Health Reform, said the sector had been incredibly responsive (Screengrab/Oireachtas TV/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Kate Mitchell, from Mental Health Reform, said the sector had been incredibly responsive (Screengrab/Oireachtas TV/PA) Mr Rogan said mental health issues may be exacerbated throughout the crisis. Sometimes when a person has a mental health issue they do their utmost to pretend they are fine. When some family members came together they discovered their partner, son or daughter was masking a significant mental health issue, be it anxiety, depression or perhaps an eating disorder, he told the committee. We can expect to see a slow-burn effect in terms of Covid. People cope in the immediacy of the here and now but when people look back they feel the dislocated effect from those certain routines that protected their health. Kate Mitchell, senior policy and research officer at Mental Health Reform, said that a survey published on Tuesday showed the increase in prevalence of mental health difficulties and increase in demand for support. While the sector has been incredibly responsive, it doesnt negate that there are challenges for these services, she added. Expand Close Dr Joseph Duffy, from Jigsaw, said there had been a 200% increase in people seeking support (Screengrab/Oireachtas TV/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Dr Joseph Duffy, from Jigsaw, said there had been a 200% increase in people seeking support (Screengrab/Oireachtas TV/PA) Many of our members say Covid-19 has had a negative impact. Seventy-five percent report they had to withdraw services they would usually provide. It is imperative that the community and voluntary sector have additional support and resources. Dr Joseph Duffy, chief executive of Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health, said there had been a 200% increase in the number of people seeking support through their mental health platforms. Paul Longmore, acting clinical director of Jigsaw, said that some young people had found support within their family. He said: For some young people we have spoken to, their family situation has proven very supportive. We have seen the importance of a supportive adult in the life of a young person and some have been pleasantly surprised by how their family have come together to support them at a difficult time, when they are missing out on structure, such as school. There are certain families who are experiencing certain distress and sometimes that is manifesting in relationships. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends 12% of total health spending should be allocated to mental health care. In Ireland, this number is less that 7%. In a statement, Mr Rogan said that fundamental constraint needed to be addressed before considering how additional demands associated with Covid-19 could be met. Mr Rogan also said that Ireland did not compare well with its European partners in relation to its mental health budget. Mr Gehlot accused Mr Pilot of playing into the hands of the BJP New Delhi: Aggravating the political crisis in Rajasthan, the Congress Party on Tuesday sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of deputy chief minister and state president of the party and in the process put the Ashok Gehlot government on the brink. Minutes after his removal as Rajasthan deputy CM, rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot said "truth can be rattled, not defeated". He also changed his profile on Twitter deleting all references to his position as deputy CM and Rajasthan Congress chief and only described himself as MLA of Tonk and a former minister of IT, telecom and corporate affairs, Government of India. The party also expelled Mr Pilots loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state Cabinet. Soon after the Congress Legislature Party meeting where these decisions were taken, Mr Gehlot drove to the Governors residence and briefed him on the political developments. Sources in the chief ministers camp said he has the support of 109 MLAs. However, some MLAs belonging to Mr Pilots camp rubbished this claim and demanded a floor test in the state Assembly to know the number of legislators backing Mr Gehlot. A floor test should be conducted in the Assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs, MLA Ramesh Meena, who is aligned with Mr Pilot, said. Senior party leader and Sardarshahr MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma too claimed that the figure of 109 being projected in support of the chief minister is incorrect. The MLA said he will not join the BJP but wants a change in leadership. "The figure of 109 being projected is completely fake. The Congress has 107 MLAs. We are 22 together and six more will join us. Not more than 81 MLAs are on the other side, otherwise what was the need to show the strength before the media and camp the legislators in a hotel," he said. The demand for a floor test was echoed by Opposition BJP in the state. Shortly after the CLP meeting, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that Mr Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy. It cannot be acceptable to any political party. Therefore, the Congress took the decisions with a heavy hear. Education minister Govind Singh Dotasara will be the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. Mr Gehlot accused Mr Pilot of playing into the hands of the BJP and alleged that the saffron party wants to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh. I am very sad that horse trading was going on. It is for the first time in the country that democracy is under such a grave threat. The Infiniti logo is tied closely to the ethos and foundation of a luxury brand built to challenge convention, value human connections, and focus on the endless possibilities of the road ahead, said the automaker in a media statement. However, many believe the Infiniti logo is designed to look like Mount Fuji, the largest mountain in Japan - paying homage to the marquees Japanese heritage while others see it as a lemniscate, the mathematical symbol for infinity. The metallic oval of the Infiniti symbol features two dynamic lines converging in the centre, symbolizing elegance, the 'infinite road' and the vanishing point of a straight road over the horizon. The horizon is sentimental as the brand aspires to new horizons in the automotive industry. Together with its customers, employees and retailers, Infiniti looks to travel the open road toward infinity. In addition, the brands name plays a crucial part in its philosophy. In 1989, when Infiniti was founded and introduced with the Q45, the architects of the marquee saw symmetry in the four 'I's of the company's name, fitting its artistic vision and commitment to dramatic design. However, the four 'I's go beyond symmetry, reflecting the brands essence and where it is heading, while keeping all 'I's on the future, the statement said. TradeArabia News Service So when the General Assembly passed a law last month addressing the fall elections during the COVID-19 pandemic, legislators inserted a provision that would add public-assistance cards to the qualifying list should the voter ID mandate get enforced. Lawyers writing Thursdays motion said the voter ID law now included nearly every legislative proposal designed to ameliorate portions of the requirement that critics argue could harm Black voters disproportionately. Now that the Court of Appeals principal concern with (the law) has been remedied, equity demands that the preliminary injunction in this case be dissolved, the attorneys wrote. Some legislative Democrats have said the public-assistance ID provision is worthless because such cards usually dont require a photo. The broader COVID-19 absentee ballot bill containing the provision was approved overwhelmingly and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, an opponent of photo voter ID. Thirty-five states have laws currently in force requesting or requiring some kind of identification be shown at the polls, with about half of them asking for a photo ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. North Carolina Republicans have pressed for photo ID for the past 10 years, saying it will build confidence in elections. Many legislative Democrats see the ID requirement as unnecessary or a tool for voter suppression, especially of minorities and the poor. Abosso Goldfields Limited (AGL) has so far offered employment for one hundred and fifty three people from January this year to date. The beneficiaries; drawn from the Mine's catchment communities include: Aboso, Amoanda, Bompieso/Atta ne Atta, Huni-Valley, Koduakrom/Mile Ten, Nyamebekyere, Kyekyewere, Twenda, Subri and Damang/ Kwabenaho/ Enimilkrom. Speaking at the company's Community Consultative Committee meeting organized for its stakeholders, Mr Abdel-Razak Yakubu, Regional Manager-Sustainable Development Projects, explained that even though the COVID-19 pandemic had forced firms globally to scale down operations Gold Fields had made this remarkable achievement. "This is a pride for the company because during these hardship times with companies laying off its workers, Gold Fields as a corporate body in Ghana has been able to engage such a number of citizens from its nine host communities at AGL" he indicated. He said the tenure of office for the committee responsible for host community employment which commenced work in 2018 ended on February, 2020. Mr Yakubu also thanked the members for their hard work and said a new committee wolud be established to coordinate employment issues between the company and their catch communities. He emphasized that Goldfields Ghana since its inception engaged the service of their host communities. The Regional Manager, mentioned that "Gold Fields sees community employment as the main tool for securing our social license. We can build schools and roads, but if we don't make the community part of the company, they will not see the firm as their own" He said "These methods of employment, where we channel vacancies to the general community through committees started in 2016 and that has contributed to the peace we have been enjoying" Mr Yakubu said. He pointed out that for the past 10 years they did not record any community agitations because of the transparency, within which the Mines approached employment matters. Nana Kwabena Amponsah IV, Chief of Bosomtwe, lauded AGL for their commitment to improve on its operational area and beseeched Ghanaians to stick to the social and physical distancing protocols on COVID-19 to curb the spread of the disease. Dr Isaac Dasmani, the Municipal Chief Executive for Prestea Huni-Valley was present at the meeting. 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 Eisai: Initiation of New Phase III Clinical Study (Ahead 3-45) of ban2401 Preclinical (Asymptomatic) Alzheimer's Disease Details Category: Antibodies Published on Tuesday, 14 July 2020 09:53 Hits: 2510 TOKYO, Japan I July 14, 2020 I The Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC), Eisai Co., Ltd., and Biogen Inc. announced today that a new Phase III clinical study (AHEAD 3-45) of BAN2401, an anti-amyloid beta (A) protofibril antibody, has been initiated in the United States of America for individuals with preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD), meaning they are clinically normal and have intermediate or elevated levels of amyloid in their brains. Currently, BAN2401 is being studied in a pivotal Phase III clinical study in symptomatic early AD (Clarity AD), following the outcome of the Phase II clinical study (Study 201). The AHEAD 3-45 will be conducted in the US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Europe. AHEAD 3-45 is a Phase III clinical study, conducted as a public-private partnership between the ACTC, funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, and Eisai. After a common screening period in AHEAD 3-45, participants will be enrolled into one of two randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials based on the level of amyloid in the brain: the A45 trial and the A3 trial. A total of 1400 participants will be enrolled in the study and treated with BAN2401 for 216 weeks. The A45 trial will enroll cognitively unimpaired participants who have elevated levels of amyloid in the brain, and aims to prevent cognitive decline and suppress the progression of brain AD pathology with BAN2401 administration. The primary endpoint for A45 is the change from baseline in the Preclinical Alzheimer Cognitive Composite 5 (PACC5) at 216 weeks of treatment. Secondary endpoints are changes from baseline in brain amyloid levels as measured by amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) and in brain tau levels as measured by tau PET and Cognitive Function Index, a participant and study partner reported outcome. The A3 trial will enroll cognitively unimpaired participants who have an intermediate amount of amyloid in the brain, and who are at high risk for further A accumulation. The primary endpoint for A3 is change from baseline in brain amyloid levels as measured by amyloid PET. The secondary endpoint is change from baseline in brain tau levels as measured by tau PET. Both trials include additional clinical assessment scales, imaging, blood biomarkers and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in a subset, as exploratory endpoints. An ATN (Amyloid, Tau, Neurodegeneration) biomarker panel of imaging and biofluid, especially CSF, markers including A 1-42, A 1-40, t-tau, p-tau, neurogranin, neurofilament light chain, will be used to evaluate therapeutic effects on the progression of AD pathophysiologic changes. "It is hoped that initiating treatment much earlier in the disease process may be advantageous in preventing future cognitive decline. The AHEAD 3-45 should provide critically important answers about the optimal time to intervene with anti-amyloid therapy," said Dr. Reisa Sperling, Director, Center for Alzheimer Research and Treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital and co-Principal Investigator, ACTC. Dr. Aisen, Director of the University of Southern California Alzheimer's Therapeutic Research Institute, which serves as the coordinating center for the ACTC, noted, "The mission of the ACTC includes the development of public-private partnerships to conduct trials of promising candidate therapies. AHEAD 3-45 is the type of collaboration we need in the fight against Alzheimer's disease." "The initiation of AHEAD 3-45 with BAN2401, focused on therapies for the earliest stages of the AD continuum through our collaboration with the ACTC group, marks an exciting time for us," says Lynn Kramer, M.D., Chief Clinical Officer, Neurology Business Group, Eisai. "This represents a next step in developing precision therapies for AD using biomarker panels as part of our human health care mission; we are committed to making a difference for patients, their families, and health care professionals across the globe." For additional information please visit: https:/www.a3a45.org/ BAN2401 is a humanized, monoclonal, anti- A soluble aggregate (protofibril) antibody obtained through collaboration research between Eisai and BioArctic AB (Sweden). BAN2401 selectively binds to neutralize and eliminate toxic A protofibrils that are thought to be a causative factor for AD. This suggests that BAN2401 may have the potential to have an effect on disease pathology and to slow the progression of AD. Study 201 demonstrated a statistically significant slowing of disease progression and decreasing of brain A accumulation as the first late-stage large scale clinical study for early AD, and successfully showed potential disease-modifying effects. It is being conducted along with the 201 Open-Label Extension (OLE) study (Open-label continuous administration study) and one pivotal clinical study (Clarity AD). Eisai and Biogen Inc. have entered into a collaboration to develop and commercialize BAN2401. About The Alzheimer's Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC) The ACTC, funded by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (grant number U24AG057437), provides the infrastructure for academic clinical trials in Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias. The consortium, based at the University of Southern California, Harvard University and the Mayo Clinic, includes expert units to support clinical trials design, biostatistics, informatics, medical safety, regulatory oversight, recruitment, clinical operations, data management, site monitoring, a biomarker laboratory and repository, and neuroimaging. The ACTC includes 35 primary clinical sites across the United States. About Eisai Co., Ltd. Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. Eisai's corporate philosophy is based on the human health care (hhc) concept, which is to give first thought to patients and their families, and to increase the benefits that health care provides to them. With a global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realize our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products to target diseases with high unmet medical needs, with a particular focus in our strategic areas of Neurology and Oncology. Leveraging the experience gained from the development and marketing of Aricept, a treatment for Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, Eisai aims to establish the "Eisai Dementia Platform." Through this platform, Eisai plans to deliver novel benefits to those living with dementia and their families through constructing a "Dementia Ecosystem," by collaborating with partners such as medical organizations, diagnostic development companies, research organizations, and bio-ventures in addition to private insurance agencies, finance, fitness clubs, automobile makers, retailers, and care facilities. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit https://www.eisai.com. About Biogen At Biogen, our mission is clear: we are pioneers in neuroscience. Biogen discovers, develops and delivers worldwide innovative therapies for people living with serious neurological and neurodegenerative diseases as well as related therapeutic adjacencies. One of the world's first global biotechnology companies, Biogen was founded in 1978 by Charles Weissmann, Heinz Schaller, Kenneth Murray and Nobel Prize winners Walter Gilbert and Phillip Sharp. Today Biogen has the leading portfolio of medicines to treat multiple sclerosis, has introduced the first approved treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, commercializes biosimilars of advanced biologics and is focused on advancing research programs in multiple sclerosis and neuroimmunology, Alzheimer's disease and dementia, neuromuscular disorders, movement disorders, ophthalmology, immunology, neurocognitive disorders, acute neurology, and pain. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at https://www.biogen.com. Follow us on social media -- Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Aging (NIA) NIA, one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of NIH, leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life. NIA is the primary Federal agency supporting and conducting Alzheimer's disease research. The National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aging are providing funding for the A45 Study (grant number R01AG061848) and A3 Study (grant number R01AG054029) About the Preclinical AD Cognitive Composite 5 (PACC5) The PACC5 is a composite score for evaluating the severity of cognitive decline to enable highly-sensitive detection of changes in clinical functions in the preclinical AD stage. About the Cognitive Function Index (CFI) The Cognitive Function Index is an evaluation index that assesses the ability to perform advanced functional tasks in daily life and general cognitive function. SOURCE: Eisai Tear gas is fired at protestors who previously gathered on the Vine Street Expressway blocking traffic in Philadelphia, June 01, 2020. Monday is the third day of protests about the police involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Read more Citing extraordinary abuses of police power, more than 140 Philadelphia protesters and residents sued the city Tuesday over the departments response to the unrest that gripped the region in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. In three separate federal lawsuits, 146 plaintiffs alleged that heavy-handed tactics deployed to disperse crowds of largely peaceful protesters and bystanders violated their constitutional rights to free expression and freedom from excessive force. Their claims focus on two incidents that have garnered national attention the June 1 teargassing of a crowd of demonstrators on I-676 and the police use of military-style armored vehicles, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and tear gas on protesters and neighborhood residents during efforts to quell looting and violence along 52nd Street in West Philadelphia the day before. The plaintiffs who range in age from 18 to 50, with most being Philadelphia residents in their 20s or 30s describe skin rashes, difficulty breathing, and pain they suffered due to their exposure to noxious chemicals. Some required hospitalization, while others are still undergoing mental health treatment for trauma. Their suits are believed to be the first filed in response to the unrest that roiled Philadelphia, and join a wave of litigation against police departments nationwide alleging violence and excessive force during the protests. City officials must be held accountable for these militaristic police actions, which are discriminatory, illegal, and completely unacceptable. Our clients deserve safety and security in their own neighborhood and to be free of fear of discrimination and police terror, said Cara McClellan, an attorney with the NAACPs Legal Defense Fund, representing 13 of the West Philadelphia plaintiffs. READ MORE: Mayor Jim Kenney approved tear gas use at Philly protests, officials say as City Council questions police response The city declined to comment on the lawsuits Tuesday. But in a statement, Mayor Jim Kenney said he was highly concerned about what transpired on both I-676 and 52nd Street and fully regret[s] the use of tear gas and some other use of force in those incidents. As a result, the City has initiated an independent after-action review to fully examine the circumstances of both events, he said. The investigation is still underway, but any officer found to have violated PPD policy will be held accountable. In both incidents, attorneys said, the departments use of force was grossly excessive. Police corralled protesters on I-676, leaving hundreds stranded on [a] hill, unable to leave, engulfed in clouds of smoke, as officers fired tear gas canisters and rubber bullets that left people coughing, vomiting, crying, unable to breathe, and, in some cases, losing consciousness, one lawsuit said. The citys actions on 676 were simply stunning, said Jonathan Feinberg, one of several attorneys representing 41 protesters caught on the Vine Street Expressway. In West Philadelphia, what started as a police response to looting and violent skirmishes with officers drew crowds of peaceful demonstrators and onlookers who were met with the same aggressive tactics, the plaintiffs said. Dozens described indiscriminate deployments of pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas that blanketed surrounding neighborhoods, sickened children, and prompted some residents to evacuate as clouds of noxious fumes seeped through windows and under doorways. READ MORE: Police tear gassed a West Philly community, leaving residents feeling betrayed and angry Residents and passersby [some of whom] were doing nothing more than sitting on their porches or walking home from work were caught in the crossfire, causing residents including elderly residents and children to seek shelter at home or wherever they could nearby, another lawsuit states. During a video news conference Tuesday, lawyers told the stories of a grandmother who was shot in the face with a rubber bullet while walking down the street and a 32-year-old man, protesting police brutality near 52nd Street with his children, who alleges he heard officers use anti-Black slurs while telling the protesters to go home. Police officers repeatedly sprayed him with pepper spray and dislocated his shoulder with a rubber bullet, his lawyers said. While a large police presence and some military equipment may be a more common sight during demonstrations in Center City, you dont see this on 52nd and Arch, said Anthony Smith, another plaintiff and a social studies teacher and activist who was arrested while protesting in his neighborhood. All of these are on these skinny blocks in West Philly. READ MORE: Police brutality against Black people in Philadelphia: A timeline Some of the attorneys described those tactics as racially discriminatory retaliation against Black residents exercising their right to free speech and assembly and linked it to a decades-long history of heavy-handed police response in West Philadelphia including, most notably, the bombing of the MOVE house in 1985 that led to the loss of dozens of homes in the fire that followed. Kevin Mincey, an attorney representing clients on both 676 and 52nd Street, said he views the litigation as an opportunity to pursue real change in the way that Philadelphia polices its citizens. READ MORE: This West Philly neighborhood had been struggling to rebuild. Then the looting started. City officials have acknowledged they were unprepared for the size of the protests that erupted after Floyds death. The Inquirer has previously reported that police abandoned strategies that had previously earned them national accolades for dealing with demonstrations. Instead, they risked responding with minimal staffing and, once they became overwhelmed, escalated with heavy-handed tactics. Earlier this month, after the New York Times published a video report on the I-676 incident, city officials apologized for teargassing protesters there, calling the use of force unjustifiable and admitting that they had offered incorrect and uncorroborated explanations for why officers resorted to the tactics. READ MORE: Philly police identify SWAT officer to be fired for pepper spraying protesters on 676 Kenney also said he regretted his decision to green-light the use of tear gas in West Philadelphia but has continued to defend it as justified. From the armchair on Monday morning, its easy to criticize, he said at another video news conference Tuesday, referring broadly to the citys response to the first three days of protests. People have a right to criticize if they choose. But this was real-time stuff, and life-and-death decisions that had to be made. And we did our best. Also Tuesday, Kenney announced that city Managing Director Brian Abernathy under fire for his role overseeing the citys response to the protests will resign from his position. READ MORE: Managing Director Brian Abernathy to resign so different voices can lead in Black Lives Matter era Kenney, Abernathy, and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw are named as defendants in Tuesdays lawsuits, which seek compensatory and punitive damages as well as a declaratory judgment that the Police Departments use of force was unconstitutional and in violation of civil rights laws. The First Amendment is the cornerstone of our democracy, as is the struggle for racial justice, attorney Paul J. Hetznecker said. The city sent a paramilitary force to crush peaceful protests against racial injustice. This lawsuit amplifies their message from the street into the legal process. CEDARVILLE, Ohio, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sending out isolation and quarantine orders. Delivering food and water to COVID-19 patients recovering at home. Contact tracing. For Cedarville University senior Hayley Penrose, her summer internship has taken on a significance of pandemic proportions. Hayley Penrose, a social work major scheduled to graduate next spring, has been serving this summer with the Clark County Combined Health District. Her assignment began with the health district's "Help Me Grow" program for mothers and their young children. By the middle of May, she was one of 16 staffers, plus epidemiologists, contact tracing positive COVID-19 cases. "I received positive cases of COVID-19 from test centers, then I did over-the-phone intakes to discover all the individuals that the client, who was positive with COVID-19, may have come in contact with during the time when they were contagious," Penrose said. In addition to contacting clients, Penrose sent isolation orders to individuals with a positive test and 14-day quarantine orders for those who had been in contact with them. In June, Penrose switched to the Housing and Support Needs Team, where she fulfills requests from residents who are isolated or quarantined. "We deliver essential items like food, water, cleaning supplies, thermometers, and hygiene products to people all over Clark County," she explained. "This job is very rewarding because I get to help the community continue to heal and feel better," Penrose continued. "When I was doing well-checks and positives we would all work through hundreds of cases. I now fill 10 to 20 needs requests each day with the housing and needs request team." Penrose is also educating and demonstrating for clients what healthy COVID-19 habits look like. "A mask can be uncomfortable but COVID-19 is even more uncomfortable," she said. "I don't mind wearing a mask and practicing social distancing as a health measure if it means I can help my community heal from the pandemic." Located in southwest Ohio, Cedarville University is an accredited, Baptist institution with an enrollment of 4,380 undergraduate, graduate and online students in more than 150 areas of study. Founded in 1887, Cedarville is recognized nationally for its authentic Christian community, rigorous academic programs, strong graduation and retention rates, and high student engagement ranking. For more information about the University, visit www.cedarville.edu. SOURCE Cedarville University Related Links http://www.cedarville.edu Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Gayle Issa (Reuters) Tue, July 14, 2020 07:00 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406660b334 2 World WHO,coronavirus,coronavirus-effect,COVID-19,COVID-19-infection,health-crisis,global-crisis,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free Coronavirus infections rose above 13 million across the world on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, climbing by one million in just five days in a pandemic that has killed more than half a million people. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there would be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future, with too many countries headed in the wrong direction. "The virus remains public enemy number one," he told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva. "If basics are not followed, the only way this pandemic is going to go, it is going to get worse and worse and worse. But it does not have to be this way." The Reuters global tally, which is based on government reports, shows the disease is accelerating the fastest in Latin America. The Americas account for more than half the worlds infections and half the deaths. Parts of the world, especially the United States with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases, are still seeing huge increases in a first wave of COVID-19 infections, while others "flatten the curve" and ease lockdowns. Some places, such as the Australian city of Melbourne and Leicester in England, are implementing a second round of shutdowns. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, albeit with a low 1,522 cases, is to tighten social distancing measures again amid growing worries about a third wave. The United States reported a daily global record of 69,070 new infections on July 10. In Brazil, 1.86 million people have tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 72,000 people have died. The US state of Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, more than South Korea's total since the disease was first identified at the end of last year. Florida tallied 12,624 new cases on Monday. Coronavirus infections were rising in about 40 US states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks. Yet US President Donald Trump and White House officials have repeatedly said the disease is under control and that schools must reopen in the autumn. "The president and his administration are messing with the health of our children," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union" program. "We all want our children to go back to school, parents do and children do. But they must go back safely." Stay at home Hungary has imposed new restrictions on cross-border travel as of next Wednesday in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after a surge in new cases in several countries, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff said on Sunday. The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia called on residents of an area that has seen a surge in coronavirus cases to stay at home despite a ruling by a judge who threw out a mandatory lockdown order for the district of 160,000 people. Spain, which has been one of the European countries worst hit by the coronavirus, lifted nationwide confinement last month, when the pandemic seemed to have come under control. Since the first cases were reported in China around the new year, it took three months to reach one million cases. It has taken just five days to climb to 13 million cases from 12 million recorded on July 8. India, the country with the third-highest number of infections, has been contending with an average of 23,000 new infections each day since the beginning of July. In countries with limited testing capacity, case numbers reflect only a smaller proportion of total infections. Experts say official data likely under-represents both infections and deaths. Aggrieved contractors on Tuesday stormed the Imo Government House, Owerri to demand payment for contracts they executed for the State Universal Education Board (IMSUBEB). The contractors numbering over 100, defied an early morning downpour and sang solidarity songs in front of the Government House. They carried placards with inscriptions: IMSUBEB save our souls and pay us, Imo government save our properties from our creditors; Hope, interests on loans are piling, save our souls, UBEC in Abuja has sent the money, please pay us among others. Chairman of the Registered IMSUBEB Contractors, Williams Ejiakor, who led the protest, said some of their property had been taken over by their creditors due to their inability to refund their loans. Mr Ejiakor claimed that they were aware that the Federal Government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had released the money to the state government to offset the contractors. He said the protest was meant to draw the attention of the state government to their plight. Jobs for the 2016/2017 Revised Action Plan were awarded to us during the Emeka Ihedioha era. We went into the field immediately even without mobilization and most of us had even delivered our projects. Ihedioha was at the verge of paying us when he was unfortunately removed by the court. Our money has since then been domiciled at the bank. We want Governor Hope Uzodinma to help us, he said. Mr Ejiakor said they had gone through Fr. Mbaka, Archbishop Anthony Obinna, and his Chief of Staff, to reach the governor but to no avail. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the contractors later dispersed when no official of the government attended to them. (NAN) Advertisement Deaths related to COVID-19 have increased across the United States by 46 percent in the past week with Texas, Arizona and Mississippi reporting the biggest weekly spikes. More than 5,000 people died from COVID-19 between July 6 and July 12, which is an increase of 46 percent compared to the previous week, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. About a dozen states have reported increases in deaths for at least two straight weeks, including California, Florida and Texas. In Texas, news deaths surged by 127 percent last week when it added 555 new deaths, bringing the total to just over 3,100. Arizona's deaths increased by 94 percent after adding 428 deaths. The hard hit state's death toll was at 2,237 the week ending July 12. Mississippi's deaths spike by 92 percent last week compared to the previous week. The state added 138 deaths, bringing the total to just over 1,200. In California and Florida - two of the other hot spot states - deaths surged by more than 60 percent last week. Florida recorded 514 deaths in the week ending July 12, bringing total to over 4,300; and California reported 686 deaths, bringing the total to 7,000. Florida on Monday added a record 132 fatalities to its death toll. Deaths related to COVID-19 have increased across the United States by 46 percent in the past week with Texas, Arizona and Mississippi reporting the biggest weekly spikes More than 5,000 people died from COVID-19 between July 6 and July 12, which is an increase of 46 percent compared to the previous week, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project New cases also continue to rise with the US reporting over 400,000 infections for the week ending July 12, which was up 21 percent from the previous seven days. Nationally, new COVID-19 cases have risen every week for six straight weeks Forty-six states reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, the analysis found New cases also continue to rise with the US reporting over 400,000 infections for the week ending July 12, which was up 21 percent from the previous seven days. Nationally, new COVID-19 cases have risen every week for six straight weeks. Forty-six states reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, the analysis found. Cases are only falling on a weekly basis in New York, Tennessee, New Jersey and Delaware. While Southern and Western states are seeing the biggest increase in cases, infections are also rising in the Midwest with Minnesota cases up 60 percent, Missouri up 40 percent and Iowa up 30 percent. Currently, more than 135,000 Americans have died from coronavirus and there have been more than 3.3 million infections. Until now, the number of deaths per day from COVID-19 had been falling for months even as hot spots states like Florida, Texas and Arizona saw explosions in cases and hospitalizations. Daily infections across the US have broken records several times in recent days. Health officials have been warning for weeks that deaths would surge again because the fatality rate lags several weeks behind infections. A coronavirus death, when it occurs, typically comes several weeks after a person is first infected. Experts had predicted states that saw spikes in cases and hospitalizations would, at some point, see deaths rise too. The impact of the new surge in deaths has been felt by the healthcare workers grappling in overstretched hospitals with Texas and Arizona requesting refrigerated trucks as morgues reach capacity. In Arizona, capacity within intensive care units had surged to 90 percent. Hospitalizations in Texas continue to spike to record highs with more than 10,000 people being treated on Monday. Researchers expect deaths to rise for at least several weeks but some think the count probably will not go up as dramatically as it did in the spring. A forecast model from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics is predicting the death toll to rise to 208,255 by November 1. Experts say the death toll may not be as bad as when the pandemic first hit because testing was extremely limited early on and that many people's health behaviors have now changed with mask-wearing becoming more common in some places. Testing for COVID-19 rose by 7.4 percent in the United States last week and set a new record high on July 10, with over 823,000 tests performed, according to the Reuters analysis. Nationally, 8.8 percent of tests came back positive for coronavirus, up from 7.5 percent the prior week and 5 percent three weeks ago. The World Health Organization considers a positivity rate above 5 percent to be a cause for concern because it suggests there are more cases in the community that have not yet been uncovered. TEXAS DEATHS: Texas has recorded a surge in new deaths in recent days with 43 new fatalities reported on Monday TEXAS CASES: The number of infections have also been increasing in recent days in Texas. Just over 5,600 new cases were reported on Monday ARIZONA DEATHS: In Arizona, eight new deaths were reported on Monday ARIZONA CASES: Arizona recorded 1,357 new infections on Monday as capacity within the state's intensive care units surged to 90 percent Thirty-one states had positivity test rates above 5 percent, according to the analysis, including Arizona at 27 percent, South Carolina at 19 percent and Florida at 19 percent. The surge in new cases has prompted many states to temporarily halt the reopening of their economies or order some businesses to close for a second time. California's Gov Gavin Newsom has once again closed bars, inside dining and, for much of the state, gyms, indoor church services and hair and nail salons in an effort to prevent COVID-19 cases from swamping hospitals. The Gov issued the sweeping set of closures on Monday as the state recorded more than 329,000 cases and deaths topped 7,000. Hospitalizations have surged by 28 percent in the past two weeks, including a 20 percent increase in patients requiring intensive care. 'COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon, until there is a vaccine and or an effective therapy,' Newsom said. The affected counties include Los Angeles and virtually all of Southern California. In Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti immediately implemented the shutdowns and warned that the city was 'on the verge' of raising its COVID-19 threat level from orange to red the highest level and resorting to shutting down all but essential businesses. Garcetti noted that Los Angeles County now has more virus cases than Canada. 'We have never had as many people infected, or infectious,' he said. 'We've never had as many people in the hospital as there are tonight.' CALIFORNIA: California's cases surged to just over 8,300 and daily deaths increased by 23 on Monday A court notice was displayed on Monday at the residence of Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, giving him a final chance to appear before it on August 17 in a corruption case. Sharif, the supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), may be declared proclaimed offender if he does not appear before the court to defend himself in the Toshakhana (treasure house) corruption case. Proclamation under section 87 Cr. P.C. is hereby made that the said accused Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is required to appear before this court to answer the said reference on August 17, the court notice said. The Accountability Court of Islamabad had recently issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Sharif in the Toshakhana case. Sharif is accused of taking cars from the treasury house by paying 15 percent of the price of these vehicles. Sharif, former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani are also accused of receiving luxury vehicles and gifts from the treasure house. Gilani had facilitated Zardari and Nawaz in this respect, alleges the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court has directed the Foreign Office to execute the arrest warrants against Sharif through the Pakistan High Commission in London. He is residing in Avenfield Apartments in the UK. Sharif, 70, left for London in November after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission to go abroad for treatment. He had submitted an undertaking to the court to return to Pakistan citing his record of facing the law and justice within four weeks or as soon as he is declared healthy and fit to travel by doctors. He was also given bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving a seven-year sentence in Kot Lakhpat Jail and in a money laundering case to facilitate his travel abroad. Sharif has been diagnosed with complicated coronary artery/ischemic heart disease. His daughter Maryam Nawaz had said her father was a high-risk patient and therefore, his cardiac catheterisation/coronary intervention had been postponed owing to COVID-19. Last month, the country's anti-graft body filed a corruption reference against Nawaz Sharif, Jang/Geo media group owner Mir Shakilur Rahman and two others in a land case in the Lahore's accountability court. According to NAB, Sharif in 1986, when he was the Punjab chief minister, allotted 54 kanal land in Lahore to Mir Shakilur Rehman in violation of rules. Rahman has been on judicial remand after his arrest by the NAB on March 12. Since Sharif did not respond to any of the NAB's summons and questions, his arrest warrants had already been issued and the bureau announced to have moved the accountability court to declare him a proclaimed offender. Image credits: PTI Subscriber content preview OLYMPIA (AP) Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is requesting an extension of the state National Guard's to continue their work on missions related to the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter sent to the Trump administration Monday, the Democratic governor requested an extension of federal authority and funding for the National Guard emergency response operations through Dec. 31, citing the rising cases of coronavirus in the state. . . . Travel to countries including Malaysia, France and the US has led to people picking up Covid-19 and testing positive for the virus after returning home. Since June, people who have travelled to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Sudan, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the US have come back with the virus, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn revealed. Clusters The extent of the global reach of the virus and its impact here - leading to clusters of infection in some cases - exposed how an infection contracted in a far-flung country can end up being spread here. It comes amid ongoing concern at the rise in cases reported here in recent weeks. No new deaths from the virus were reported yesterday, but Dr Glynn said over the past 14 days, the total number of confirmed newly diagnosed cases has reached 165. Of these 59pc are women and the median age is 31. There were new cases in 20 counties, 47pc of which were in Dublin, 16pc in Kildare and 6pc in Wicklow. Of these as many as 12pc were travel related, he said. Public health doctors are continuing to investigate a large cluster of cases arising out of a house party held in Killarney last week. Some of those infected have since returned to other parts of the country. "There have been clusters in many counties around the country and our public health teams are on top of those," Dr Glynn said. He urged people who had been identified as being a close contact of someone who had been confirmed as having Covid-19 to "please go and get tested". He said the aim was to still stop as much non-essential travel abroad as possible. Referring to the proposed 'green list' of countries to be published next week - where people can travel without needing to quarantine on their return - he said from a public health viewpoint, there would be less concern about a small list of countries than those areas of the world people are returning from which are not on it. Avoid The advice remains to avoid non-essential foreign travel. "Our research shows that 38pc of the population now believe the worst of the pandemic is ahead of us," said Dr Glynn. "This does not have to be the case. Simple measures like hand washing, physical distancing, face coverings in appropriate settings, cough/sneeze etiquette and watching out for symptoms are the crucial elements in suppressing Covid-19." Department of Health chief nursing officer Rachel Kenna said: "Almost 1.25 million people in Ireland have downloaded the Covid App. "That represents 34pc of the adult population. This has already served as a support to contact tracers. If you have not done so to date, please download the app." Dr Siobhan Ni Bhriain, an HSE consultant psychiatrist and integrated care lead, said: "As we see more cases and clusters emerge, it is important that anyone experiencing symptoms isolates and contacts their GP. "The aim is to find all cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and to isolate and contact trace them. "Early reporting of symptoms and prompt testing helps us achieve this." Research shows 55pc of the population now self-report to wearing face coverings. Some 81pc of people who use public transport say they wear a face covering every time, with 13pc saying they wear a face mask most of the time. He noted that Maxwell has been enmeshed since 2015 in civil lawsuits stemming from Epsteins conduct, and her involvement in those cases showed she was not seeking to skirt or evade the court system. Maxwells phone was wrapped in tin foil, her lawyer said, because it had been hacked and she didnt want to throw it away out of concern she might be accused of destroying evidence. Naming your business can be a complicated process. Using a business name generator can help. But conventional wisdom plays a role too. We take a closer look at how prominent leaders name their businesses as well as to explore popular tools. Why is naming a business so challenging? Naming your business takes time, careful thought, and perseverance. You will want your business name to be creative, reflect your values and differentiate you from similar businesses. This means you will need to think out of the box. With so many factors to consider, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and stressed. Fortunately, you do not have to do it alone. There are many resources that can assist you to make the process easier. One example is to hire a naming firm who will often also assist in trademark law. The downside is that it involves costs, which you may want to use elsewhere in your business. Another option is to utilize online business tools such as business name generators. What are some prime examples of companies with great brand names and a reputation to match? The example of Elon Musk, CEO of The Boring company The latest venture by Elon Musk, involved striking out with humor and naming a new business "The Boring Company". Musk is successful and known for clever marketing ploys that work, but he also has a lot of credibility and a track record speaking for itself. The example of Michael Kodari, CEO of KOSEC: KOSEC-Kodari Securities is a top performing private wealth management firm that works with some of the wealthiest and most successful investors in Australia. A philanthropist and a prominent expert in the stock market, CNBC Asia has referred him to as "the brightest 21st century entrepreneur in wealth management" and "a trailblazer within the Australian stock market". Michael has featured on Australia's Channel 7 as the "Money Expert" on the weekly Sunday program Elevator Pitch, and he is recognised internationally by governments as one of the world's best. The Chinese government selected Michael as the guest of honour, from the entire funds management industry, for the 'Inside China's Future' event held in Sydney in April 2014. In March, 2019, Michael also sat on a panel of judges alongside top scientists, distinguished professors for the Shenzhen Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition chosen and sponsored by the Chinese government. Other catchy names of top performing brands include Brandless, Carta, and Ollie. Certain facts that transpire from brand research, include that brands cannot please everyone, that they need to show consistency and most importantly, produce value. So what are the options for people who want to find a new business name quickly and efficiently? The answer to this could be a business name generator, like the one TRUiC designed: What is a business name generator? A business name generator is an online tool designed to generate business name ideas based on your keywords. Most naming generators are free, while others have a cost involved. This is optional and depends on the degree to which they help you with the naming process. Why should I use a name generator? 1. It caters for all businesses ranging from startups to bigger companies. 2. You do not have to register or sign up for anything to use name generator tools. It is there for everyone to use. All you need to know is the website name you want to consult. A simple Google search will do the trick. 3. It is quick and easy to use. Thinking of creative names for your business can be laborious, exhausting, and overwhelming. With a name generator you do not need hours of brainstorming. However, it is advisable to have a list of possible keywords ready for input. 4. It is cost-effective. Some name generators are free, while others charge a minimal fee, depending on the degree to which they help you with the selection process. 5. You will have an extensive list of creative and unique names suggestions. This is important as you will want your business to have a name that is unique, creative, and memorable. Be sure to check out the free TRUiC creative business name generator. This tool also allows you to input geographical information and your specific industry, which then generates variations of names relating to your specific service or product. Once you have selected the possible names that resonate with your business, take it a step further by, for example, fusing it with the words you initially brainstormed. 6. It checks your domain main (.com) availability. This is especially important as you will want your business name and online presence to be the same. You will want customers to find you easily and not have to think of your online name. Once you have decided on a name that is available, you can register it as a DBA (Doing Business As) or as a corporation. A DBA allows you to operate your business under a different name without doing a full legal change. The process varies by location, so be sure to check with your state. 7. Some generators filter by many variables including niche markets. The options are endless. Final thoughts Naming a business takes commitment and time. Choosing the right name can be the success or failure of your venture before it even launches. Once you choose a name, it is possible to change it. However, it can be potentially expensive, and you run the risk of causing confusion of your customers. Consider using business generators to help you with creative, unique business names that are easy to remember, differentiates you from the crowd, and helps with your brand identity. Make sure you get it right the first time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wanq3MATOfI&t=6s John Turturro as Rabbi Bengelsdorf, who supports the Nazi-friendly Charles Lindbergh in The Plot Against America, Sky Atlantic I read the book again and I thought, Nah, its not the right time. And then, three years later: Trump. This is what David Simon told Esquire magazine in April when talking about his and Ed Burns dazzling mini-series, The Plot Against America, starting on Sky Atlantic tonight. The idea of adapting the late Philip Roths 2004 alternative history novel about the USA sleepwalking into a fascist dictatorship was first suggested to Simon in 2013 as it happens, the very same year I read the book. Barack Obama had won a second term and the country seemed to be moving towards a more inclusive society. The story of a celebrity demagogue with no political experience who appeals to fear and bigotry, buddies up to dictators, does their bidding and rides into the White House on a crude, racist, jingoistic message of America First seemed like an outlandish fantasy. Then, as Simon said, along came Trump. If the timing of the mini-series was appropriate when it was shown on HBO in March, it feels even more so a few months later. The Plot Against America imagines what would have happened if Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh (Ben Cole) had beaten Franklin D Roosevelt in 1940. Events are witnessed through the eyes of the Levins (called the Simons in the novel), a working- class Jewish family living in Newark, New Jersey. The novels narrator is 10-year-old Philip (Azhy Robertson), but Simon and Burns replace the memoir-style perspective with a broader point of view that encompasses the experiences of the entire family. What was the novels foreshadowing albeit an unconscious one of things to come now feels like a queasy echo of things that have already happened. Few people, at least among New Jerseys Jewish community, treat Lindberghs campaign as anything but a joke, not least head of the Levin family Herman (Morgan Spector), an insurance agent and Roosevelt Democrat. Video of the Day Lindbergh is a national hero who made the first solo, non-stop transatlantic flight and won the sympathy of millions after his infant son was kidnapped and murdered. However, his non-interventionist views, pro-Hitler stance and disparaging comments about Jews (all fact, not fiction) render him unelectable until, that is, he is elected in a landslide. Tonight's opening two episodes, which end with President Lindbergh proclaiming, Weve taken our country back, brilliantly evoke the creeping sense of unease through the radio broadcasts always playing in the background and the newsreels carrying images of a bombed London and Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany and Poland. Herman turns down a promotion because it would mean moving to a new neighbourhood swarming with pro-Nazi Germans. Hermans wife Bess (Zoe Kazan) takes a job in a New York department store and is unnerved by the rich WASP women wearing pro-Lindbergh badges on their coats and anti-Semitic sentiments on their sleeves. Meanwhile, her brittle, unmarried sister Evelyn (Winona Ryder), a schoolteacher, becomes assistant then lover to the charismatic Rabbi Bengelsdorf (John Turturro), who compliantly plays into Lindberghs hands. The only one in the family who realises the full implications of whats happening is Hermans tearaway cousin Alvin (Northern Irish actor Anthony Boyle), who ends up enlisting in the Canadian army. Subsequent episodes focus on the effects on Philip and his teenage brother Sandy (Caleb Malin), who idolises Lindbergh and begins to be seduced and brainwashed by the new order. The Plot Against America faithfully adapts the novel, yet also amplifies several characters and plot elements. Its a stunning alt history drama that suddenly feels like reportage in period garb. 5 stars The current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has a likely connection to bats, and the next viral outbreak probably will too, unless scientists can quickly learn more about the thousands of viruses carried by one of the most diverse mammals on the planet. Evidence already links different bat species to human outbreaks of SARS, MERS, some Ebola viruses as well as the Marbug, Hendra, Sosuga and Nipah viruses. Beyond these connections, there is very little known, and a recent article in Nature Reviews Microbiology calls for more research into bats' molecular biology and their ecology, to help predict, and hopefully prevent, the next pandemic. The more researchers have looked, the more we've found that a lot of these emerging pathogens, at one point or another, originated in bats. Over time, we have accumulated a lot of information about some of the species of bats and some of the viruses they carry, but there are still these huge glaring holes in our knowledge." Michael Letko, lead author and assistant professor of molecular virology at Washing State University's Paul G. Allen School of Global Animal Health With more than 1,400 species, bats represent an extremely diverse mammalian order, second only to rodents, which are also known viral hosts. However, unlike rats and mice, bats are not great lab animals. Simply keeping flying animals in labs is difficult. Also, most of the mammalian cell lines developed for research came from other animals and cannot be used to study viruses found in bats. This knowledge gap is dangerous as the current pandemic shows. Bats are found almost everywhere scientists have looked, and with expanding human encroachment on their habitat, viral infection is almost inevitable, Letko said. "We are coming into more contact with animal species around us in general, and then we find out these species are loaded with viruses," he said. "The COVID-19 pandemic is unfortunate, but it's not surprising. We roll the dice for 20 years not doing anything to reduce contact with these animals. It was more or less a matter of time before something like this was going to happen." In the paper, Letko, and his co-authors including WSU assistant professor Stephanie Seifert and Vincent Munster from Rocky Mountain Laboratories, outline ways to decrease the odds of the next pandemic by increasing research into bats on the smallest, molecular level and on the broader macro-level of the environment. While many pathogens have been identified, the authors point out the need to move beyond discovery and use the latest genetic technologies to better understand how viruses can be transmitted. This knowledge can increase the ability to develop medicines quickly after a pathogen has been found--or even better, create vaccines to protect against whole virus groups before they emerge. Letko has already taken a step in this direction. Before the current crisis, he built a platform using synthetic coronavirus particles to test which were most likely to infect human cells. When the current pandemic began, Letko tested the SARS-Cov-2 genome as soon as the sequence was available and quickly identified the likely receptor on human cells. That study, published in Nature Microbiology on Feb. 24, was one of the first to provide functional laboratory data on the new virus, providing researchers with necessary information and tools to help determine which existing drugs might work against SARS-Cov-2 and start development on new ones as well as test various aspects of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efficacy. Letko is setting up his lab at WSU to continue this work, providing initial screening of bat-borne viruses to help identify those that are most likely to be transmitted to humans. Beyond the lab, Letko and his colleagues point to the need for better understanding of bat ecology which can lead to solutions that are relatively simple to implement. The researchers cite examples such as the effort to vaccinate horses in Australia to stop the Hendra virus which was spreading from fruit bats to horses and then potentially on to humans. Another intervention in Bangladesh involved simply putting lids on palm sap containers to keep bats out and prevent human outbreaks of Nipah virus. "Sometimes, you don't need vaccines or drugs. It's just a behavioral change that helps mitigate and reduce the contact between people and the animals," Letko said. "These are some of the kinds of interventions that we can take once we begin to understand what these viruses actually do." By Lisa Shumaker July 14 (Reuters) - With coronavirus infections and deaths rising in many parts of the country, U.S. educators from California to Wisconsin are opting for online learning rather than a return to classrooms when the school year begins in a few weeks. Schools from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Fort Bend County, Texas, joined California's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, in announcing plans to keep teachers and students from the close contact that classrooms demand. The decision puts the districts at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds or remove tax-exempt status if they refuse to reopen classrooms, even though most schools are financed by state and local taxes. Trump's campaign views the reopening of classrooms, enabling parents to get back to work, as a key to economic recovery and a boost to his re-election chances on Nov. 3. Los Angeles and San Diego schools said in a joint statement on Monday that countries that have safely reopened schools have done so only after establishing declining infection rates and on-demand coronavirus testing. U.S. coronavirus cases rose in 46 of 50 states last week and the number of deaths rose nationally last week for the first time since mid-April and about six weeks after cases began to increase, according to a Reuters analysis. With more than 3.3 million COVID-19 cases, the United States ranks first in the world in cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis, and with 135,000 deaths, ranks seventh in deaths per capita among the 20 countries with the most cases. (Open https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR in an external browser for a Reuters interactive) LONG WAITS FOR TESTS, RESULTS Testing in several states has been plagued by long lines and waits of more than a week to learn the results, according to numerous posts on social media and videos at test locations. Teachers in Loudoun County, Virginia, protested outside school headquarters on Monday with one woman fully enclosed in a white lab suit and face shield holding a sign that said, "Our new school uniform." To keep physically distant, the teachers honked their car horns in unison, according to a video. Faculty members were protesting against a school board plan for hybrid instruction that would include two days of in-person teaching, according to local media. Story continues Florida, the epicenter of the current outbreak, still plans for its schools to resume in-person learning in August. Despite nearly 28,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last two days in Florida, Disney World in Orlando welcomed the public on Saturday for the first time since March with guests required to wear masks, undergo temperature checks and keep physically apart. After experiencing nearly 16,000 new cases in the last two days, California further retreated from reopening its economy. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ordered bars to close and restaurants, movie theaters, zoos and museums across the country's most populous state to cease indoor operations. Gyms, churches and hair salons must close in the 30 hardest-hit counties. "It's incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon, until there is a vaccine and/or an effective therapy," Newsom said at a news briefing. (Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Howard Goller) Bengaluru, July 14 : The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) has suspended all its operations for a week from July 15 to 21, owing to the Covid-induced lockdown here amid rising cases. Only 134 skeletal essential services will be operated, an official said on Tuesday. "BMTC bus services to the general public are suspended from Wednesday to next Tuesday. However, as per the orders of the government, BMTC will operate essential services for permitted activities during the lockdown period," said an official from the road transport corporation. During the lockdown, the city bus service will operate 134 essential services, excluding the containment zones for 12 hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Only selected essential services providers working in government departments and others, students attending examinations and those taking trains and flights will be allowed to move out. Meanwhile, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has scheduled 1,100 buses on Tuesday to facilitate the homeward journey of many people scrambling to go back. As many as 20 pick up points have been arranged by the road transport corporation to ferry the passengers to the interior districts. KSRTC Managing Director Shivayogi C. Kalasad held a video conference on Monday and directed the officials to arrange a sufficient number of buses, so that the public is not inconvenienced. The transporter is deploying only local drivers and has also deputed senior officers at all the pick up points for smooth operations. On Monday, the KSRTC operated 1,100 buses to destinations such as Davangere, Hosadurga, Yadgir, Hassan, Kalaburagi, Shivamogga and Pavagada. It also ran buses to Tirupati and Ananthapur in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, ferrying a total of 32,000 passengers. Similar to Monday, several migrant workers were also seen in the city on Tuesday, rushing back home. Many people were seen boarding KSRTC buses with their luggage while some people also made their own arrangements to cram their stuff into auto-rickshaws to reach home. Several people were seen riding back home on two-wheelers. On Monday, Karnataka registered 2,738 new COVID-19 cases with the majority of them emerging from Bengaluru, breaching the 40,000 mark for the state's tally to settle at 41,581, even as 73 people succumbed to the virus. Bengaluru accounted for the highest number of infections with 1,315 or 48 per cent of the new cases. With the addition of new cases, the city tally rose to 19,702, out of which 15,052 are active. Alarmingly, the city alone accounts for 61 per cent of all the active cases in the southern state. Amid the surging COVID cases daily since July 1, the Karnataka government has decided to re-impose a total lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from July 14 till July 22. Trump last week had said he is considering banning the wildly popular TikTok app as a way to punish China over the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo | Pixabay - Nitish Gupta) San Francisco: 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 Navarros comments as ridiculous and narrow-minded, and slammed the United States as the worlds 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 TikToks new boss Kevin Mayer, former head of Disneys 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. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Employers Can Stop Paying Salaries Based on Former Salaries. Another step employers can take to eliminate the pay gap is to end the practice of relying on a job applicants current salary to set their new salary. Depending on an applicants current salary in setting compensation often serves to further perpetuate the wage gap. For example, a female applicants salary at a previous job might be lower than another equally qualified male candidate because of pay discrimination at the former workplace. Additionally, depending on an employees current salary can cause the gap to slowly increase overtime, creating an even large pay disparity. Several states and cities have banned employers from asking past salary history because of the research linking this practice to the pay gap. This phenomenon was brought to life in a recent Supreme Court case Yovino v. Rizo, 139 S.Ct. 706 (Feb. 25, 2019). A female math consultant sued her employer under the EPA because she was being compensated less than her male colleagues. Her employer did not deny she was being paid less than the men in her department, but explained she was paid less because her current salary was based off her prior earnings. Before going to the Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit ruled in Yovino that prior salary could not be used to justify any differences in compensation between two employees because this practice exacerbates the gender wage gap. This was a great ruling for employees, as it clarified that using a prior salary was not allowed in determining their wages. However, the Supreme Court did not rule on the case and sent it back to the Ninth Circuit because the judge who authored the opinion passed away. The Ninth Circuit has yet to issue a new opinion. A ten-year-old boy is among 11 coronavirus-infected Australians who arrived on a single flight from the UK. The boy and his family landed in Perth after travelling from the United Kingdom via Dubai on July 1. He has been in a quarantine hotel since leaving the plane in Western Australia, but tested positive to COVID-19 on Monday night. Eleven others on the international flight from Dubai have also tested positive, bringing the state's total up to 21 - of which 16 are locals and five are from interstate. On Tuesday the WA Health Minister Roger Cook (pictured) announced tougher restrictions for people travelling from Victoria Western Australia has had a total of 621 cases and nine deaths since the pandemic began On Tuesday the WA Health Minister Roger Cook announced tougher restrictions for people travelling from Victoria as the threat of a second wave looms. Effective from Wednesday, people arriving from the southern state will be required to wear face masks and be tested for the respiratory virus on arrival, then again 11 days later. 'This means we are doubling down on limiting any potential spread of the virus from Victoria,' Mr Cook said at a press conference. 'From tomorrow we will have staff and resources in place at the airport to take swabs from people before they collect their luggage.' On Friday, Western Australia banned anyone who had been in Victoria within the last 14 days from entering the state. On Friday, Western Australia banned anyone who had been in Victoria within the last 14 days from entering the state. Pictured: Perth CBD as initial restrictions began to ease earlier this year While state leaders claim they are trying to take a 'compassionate approach' to the border lockdown, several families have been left stranded in Victoria and will have to apply for special exemption to be allowed back in to WA. More than 29,000 people who applied to enter WA from Victoria have had the applications denied since Thursday, Brisbane Times reported. The strict border closures do not apply to the rest of the nation, but Mr Cook said he will be monitoring the cases in New South Wales. LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / CLS Holdings USA, Inc. (OTCQB:CLSH) (CSE:CLSH), the 'Company' or 'CLS', a diversified cannabis company operating as Cannabis Life Sciences, today announced its financial and operational results for the months of May and June 2020 with net revenues of $1,011,907 USD and $1,102,498 USD, respectively. Despite ongoing operational restrictions from COVID-19, the Company has increased its June 2020 net revenue by over 5% compared to June 2019. 2019 2020 Net Revenue Net Revenue Gross Margin April $ 1,256,859.45 $ 946,322.21 45.61% May $ 1,058,571.35 $ 1,011,907.90 45.97% June $ 1,046,777.41 $ 1,102,498.34 51.96% "The CLS team has made a number of operational pivots since overcoming its initial financial decline in April, and we have taken the past 90 days to assess how the state's new rules and regulations will impact the Company. We are pleased to see that our ongoing efforts have reaped impressive returns," said Andrew Glashow, President and COO of CLS Holdings. "Our wholesale and branded products division, City Trees, has navigated through the most pressing challenges with state-wide Covid-19 related shutdowns and the cancellation of 4/20. Starting in May and throughout June we began to see an increase in orders from our City Trees customer base. We are cautiously optimistic that City Trees revenues are beginning to return to pre-Covid-19levels Despite a 40% reduction in operating hours throughout the 3 month period , CLS' Oasis retail subsidiary has experienced a consistent increase in average dollar amount per transaction of 35%. Since the state allowed in-store dispensary sales to resume on May 9, the Company has successfully implemented fully functioning curbside pickup and in-store services, in addition to its previous delivery services, that are all receiving substantial consumer demand. CLS plans to continue to offer these three services until further advised by the state. In response to the retail market stabilizing and steadily returning to pre-COVID levels, CLS plans to unveil a new product line that will feature environmentally-friendly packaging this summer. The Company has expanded its sales team in anticipation of rising demand throughout Nevada and from neighboring states. "CLS' consistent and strong performance in spite of recent regulatory hurdles is a testament to the Company's sound foundation, and we are eager to expand our product offerings in the coming weeks," said Andrew Glashow. "Oasis has been able to successfully navigate these difficult times by remaining nimble and adjusting its operations to effectively serve our local customers". About CLS Holdings USA, Inc. CLS Holdings USA, Inc. (CLSH) is a diversified cannabis company that acts as an integrated cannabis producer and retailer through its Oasis Cannabis subsidiaries in Nevada and plans to expand to other states. CLS stands for "Cannabis Life Sciences," in recognition of the Company's patented proprietary method of extracting various cannabinoids from the marijuana plant and converting them into products with a higher level of quality and consistency. The Company's business model includes licensing operations, processing operations, processing facilities, sale of products, brand creation and consulting services. http://www.clsholdingsinc.com. Twitter: @CLSHusa Oasis Cannabis has operated a cannabis dispensary in the Las Vegas market since dispensaries first opened in Nevada in 2015 and has been recognized as one of the top marijuana retailers in the state. Its location within walking distance to the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown Las Vegas in combination with its delivery service to residents allows it to efficiently serve both locals and tourists in the Las Vegas area. In February 2019, it was named "Best Dispensary for Pot Pros" by Desert Companion Magazine. In August 2017, the company commenced wholesale offerings of cannabis in Nevada with the launch of its City Trees brand of cannabis concentrates and cannabis-infused products. http://oasiscannabis.com Photo: Oasis Cannabis Dispensary. Las Vegas, NV Founded in 2017, City Trees is a Nevada-based cannabis cultivation, production and distribution company. Offering a wide variety of products with consistent results, City Trees products are available in numerous dispensaries throughout the state of Nevada. https://citytrees.com Photo: City Trees production lab. North Las Vegas, NV Forward Looking Statements This press release contains certain 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and 'forward-looking statements' as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (collectively, the 'forward-looking statements'). These statements relate to, among other things, the impact of the COVID-19 virus on our businesses, the results of our initiatives to strengthen our relationships with our customers and community during the pandemic, the effect of our initiatives to expand market share and achieve growth following the pandemic, and results of operations during the pandemic. In some cases, we have also attempted to estimate our present operations and results of operations. These statements are estimates, and even if presently accurate, such statements or results could change quickly as a result of the rapid changes we are experiencing during this pandemic, and such changes could be adverse and material. The continued spread of COVID-19 could have, and in some cases already has had, an adverse impact on our business, operations and financial results, including through disruptions in our processing activities, the businesses or our wholesale customers, and our retail dispensary operations as well as a deterioration of general economic conditions including a possible national or global recession. Due to the speed with which the COVID-19 pandemic is developing and the uncertainty of its magnitude, outcome and duration, it is not possible to estimate its impact on our business, operations or financial results; however, the impact could be material. In some cases, you can identify forward looking statements by terminology such as 'may,' 'might,' 'will,' 'should,' 'intends,' 'expects,' 'plans,' 'goals,' 'projects,' 'anticipates,' 'believes,' 'estimates,' 'predicts,' 'potential,' or 'continue' or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements are only predictions, are uncertain and involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, levels of activity or performance to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity or performance expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. We cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity or performance. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date that they were made. These cautionary statements should be considered together with any written or oral forward-looking statements that we may issue in the future. Except as required by applicable law, we do not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to reflect actual results, later events or circumstances or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. See CLS Holdings USA filings with the SEC and on its SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com for additional details. Contact Information: Corporate: Chairman and CEO Jeff Binder 888-438-9132 Investor Relations: investors@clsholdingsinc.com SOURCE: CLS Holdings USA, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597404/CLS-Holdings-Announces-April-May-and-June-Financial-Results-Is-on-Track-to-Deliver-Strong-Monthly-Revenue-During-Ongoing-Pandemic Thriveworks Counseling in Atlanta (Buckhead) offers teletherapy options via telephone and video. Individuals will be able to choose the option that best suits their needs during these unprecedented times. In the near future, Thriveworks Atlanta (Buckhead) counselors will be settling into the physical location, located at 2999 Piedmont Road, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30305. This locations team of counselors are highly trained and experienced with helping clients across a broad spectrum of mental health concerns. Alongside the ease and accessibility of online counseling, Thriveworks offers its clients additional competitive benefits such as innovative technologies and quick scheduling. In addition, flexible appointment options are offered, which include evening and weekend sessions in addition to their normal daytime availability. Ryan Culkin, Executive Clinic Director at Thriveworks, understands the importance of offering clients quick and easy assistance: "At Thriveworks we believe that the therapeutic journey can be difficult and painful, this is why it is our mission to make it as seamless as possible to get you connected with an excellent therapist fast." About Thriveworks: Thriveworks Counseling believes the cornerstone for compassionate care is centered around putting the client and their needs first. The mental health professionals at Thriveworks can provide a broad range of services, including but not limited to depression therapy, anxiety therapy, trauma therapy, couples therapy, family therapy, stress management, and more. The Thriveworks team strives for excellence. Thats why they pride themselves on helping people live full and happy lives. To learn more about Thriveworks Atlanta (Buckhead), call (678) 804-7374 or visit https://thriveworks.com/atlanta-therapy/. Police officers have searched the houses and workplaces of three people including a public servant, a police officer, and a personal driver of the chairman of Hanoi on suspicion of stealing state secrets. The Ministry of Public Security confirmed on Monday that the three have been suspected of appropriating documents containing state secrets. The suspects include Nguyen Anh Ngoc, 46, Nguyen Hoang Trung, 37, and Pham Quang Dung, 37, all of whom are Hanoi residents. Ngoc, who lives in Bo De Ward, Long Bien District, works in the secretarial office of the assistance team of the Hanoi Peoples Committee. Trung, a resident of Bach Dang Ward, Hai Ba Trung District, is a chauffeur of Nguyen Duc Chung, chairman of the Hanoi Peoples Committee. Dung, who resides in Thanh Tri District, is an officer at the anti-corruption and smuggling division (C03) under the Ministry of Public Security. Further investigation is ongoing. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Just after 3 p.m. on July 14, 2004, Garth Warner was blown out the back wall of his house clutching 3-year-old Madison. Warners wife, Michelle, huddled with their 1-year-old on the floor, which was all that was left of their house. "It sounded a little like a freight train, a sound I will never forget," he said. "I was getting pelted. I was screaming for her, but I couldn't hear my own screams. I thought I was going to die, I truly did. But we're here. I'm talking to you. The house can be rebuilt." The Warner family had lived through an F-3 tornado that touched down at 3:05 p.m. in South Londonderry Township, Lebanon County. On the ground for 10 to 15 minutes, the tornado cut a path of destruction 7.5 miles long through Country Squire Estates and other nearby areas. Winds whipped between 175 mph and 200 mph. In its wake - 37 homes were destroyed, 30 homes were severely damaged, 80 homes were moderately damaged and 24 people were hurt. Up to 500 acres of crops were lost and agricultural damage topped $3 million. Nine farm buildings were damaged or destroyed and six farm animals were killed. Thousands of people were left without electricity and were temporarily homeless. Volunteers rallied. They prepared meals, helped to clear debris and begin repairs. Donations poured in - soda, water, diapers, first-aid kits, batteries, toys, clothing, food and cash. Residents were glad to be alive. A few days after the tornado, the Rev. Dwight C. Hein talked to his congregation at Salem United Church of Christ about hope and optimism. Im not naive to think that everyone is in that place right now, Hein said. When the people were being evacuated, I could see in their eyes that hope was not in ample supply. But soon I saw tears of desperation changed to tears of thankfulness. Nine days after the tornado, Kurt Yordy said he believed the response of volunteers to help him and other victims should be remembered for generations. He and other victims have set up a fund to collect donations for use toward recognizing the volunteers' work. "I get more choked up about these volunteers than what happened to me. People took off their work, their jobs to come and work for me," Yordy said. "I don't want them to be forgotten, what they did." Carole Ackerman of Campbelltown wrote this letter to the editor July 23, 2004: "Our clocks still read 3:05 p.m. -- the time a tornado tore apart our beautiful homes in Country Squire Estates in Campbelltown. For 15 minutes I listened to our windows blowing out, siding being ripped off and house alarms blaring. I prayed for it to end and that everyone would emerge unharmed. I was not prepared for what I found when the storm passed and everyone came running outside -- a sight that no one will ever forget. It has been more than a week now and the backhoes are scraping up the lost trees and what is left of demolished homes. Monstrous Dumpsters hold the remains of so many beautiful possessions. But we are still here, safe and accounted for. God was watching over us, despite the storms devastation. Our spirits are high because of the hundreds of volunteers and emergency personnel who have flocked here to help. The fire companies, ambulance staff, rescue squads, Red Cross, Salvation Army and the local and state police have been outstanding. They are well-trained for disasters and their work here was evident of that. Everyone should be proud of it. The landscape looks different now. But were still neighbors helping neighbors. The hugs are more plentiful and the smiles are broader, the handshakes last longer now. Well be even closer now. Thanks to all who have helped in any way. Their prayers and thoughts are much appreciated. Damage from a tornado is seen in Campbelltown, South Londonderry Twp., Lebanon County, on July 14, 2004. (The Patriot-News)PN READ MORE Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Stonington, Conn. A white couple has been arrested in New York after an alleged racist attack at a Connecticut hotel. NBC reports the U.S. Marshals Service and the New York Police Department arrested Philip Sarner and Emily Orbay in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday. Police say the couple is suspected of beating a Black hotel worker twice at the Mystic Quality Inn in Stonington, Connecticut, on June 26, and calling her a racial slur. According to a lawyer representing Crystal Caldwell, she was working at the hotels front desk when a male guest called to complain about not having hot water. Caldwell said she would have someone fix it or could move them to a different room, but Sarner allegedly became upset and threatened to send his girlfriend down to kick her ass and she hung up. Sarner, 38, and Orbay, 28, allegedly then confronted Caldwell and attacked her in a hallway. The Day reports police officers were called to the scene. Caldwell told the publication that she was asked to wait in the employee lounge while Stonington Police reviewed surveillance footage, but she left to get ice for her swelling face. Hotel security video shows Sarner and Orbay hitting her near an ice machine and throwing Caldwell to the floor; Sarner then appears to kick her in the head. At least one witness is visible on camera during the second attack, which allegedly occurred while police were in the building. Caldwell, 59, told The Day that the couple repeatedly called her an old monkey and said her life didnt matter, an apparent reference to the Black Lives Matter movement. Caldwells attorney, M. John Strafaci, told Fox 61 that Caldwell, who has worked at the front desk of the Mystic Quality Inn for seven years, suffered a concussion, facial swelling, back, wrist, knee, and lung injuries, on top of struggling with PTSD. Sarner and Orbay were extradited to Connecticut Monday night; Sarner was charged with assault in the second and third degree while Orbay faces two counts of third-degree assault. Both were also charged with intimidation based on bigotry and bias. According to NBC, they were released at 1 a.m. after posting bond. A court date has been set for later this month. Strafaci is questioning why the couple wasnt arrested in Connecticut when the incident occurred. If Crystal had been a 59-year-old white lady from Mystic, Connecticut, and it was two Black individuals that brutally assaulted her, the two Black individuals wouldve been arrested on the spot and incarcerated, Strafaci told Fox. Sarner and Orbey were reportedly interviewed by police, and then returned to the hotel before heading back to New York; warrants for their arrest were issued July 1. NBC reports police have released two 911 recordings, one from a hotel employee saying a guest had smacked Caldwell, and the other from Sarner, accusing a staff member of punching my head. The Stonington Police Commission said a third-party investigation is looking into how police handled the incident. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ardila Syakriah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Sun, July 19, 2020 15:33 548 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066636bf4 1 National rapid-testing,#COVID19,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,COVID-19,#rapid-tests Free The widespread use of rapid antibody tests for COVID-19 as requirements for various activities during the pandemic, including for traveling in Indonesia, has sparked concerns among experts, who called for better government control over their use. Post-market surveillance on rapid antibody test brands used in the country carried out by the Association of Indonesia's Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine specialists (PDS PatKLIn) showed that many of them had sensitivity and specificity lower than 50 percent, the association's chairwoman, Aryati, said. "With low sensitivity, chances of false negatives are high [...] While with low specificity, chances for false positives are high," Aryati, also a professor at Surabayas Airlangga University, told The Jakarta Post, on Monday. The COVID-19 task force has recommended 155 brands from various producers, as of April 28. It said it was referring to a list issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) -- which did not endorse the brands but rather inventoried lists from national regulatory agencies -- and products with certification by the European Union, the United States Food and Drug Administration and the like. Although the varying quality of the test kits was the main problem, Aryati said how laboratory workers carried out the tests and the absence of training for these workers had also affected the accuracy of the tests. She pointed to examples of how the incorrect volume of the samples taken, the prolonged time to interpret the results and the sampling of capillary blood, rather than venous blood, could lead to false negatives or positives. In addition, many of those who had "nonreactive" rapid test results -- indicating no virus exposure -- did not take another test within 10 days after the first one, as opposed to the prevailing protocol, Aryati said. The PDS PatKLIn issued a recommendation on July 6 for the COVID-19 task force not to require rapid tests for travelers, citing that the possibility of false negatives and positives "could have dangerous and harmful impacts". It also recommended against requiring polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as its sensitivity was only at between 60 and 80 percent, and given the time lag between samples taken and results announced -- which could be up to three weeks. The letter was in response to the COVID-19 task force's circular issued on June 26 requiring people traveling domestically by land, sea or air transportation to present proof of negative PCR or nonreactive rapid test results that are valid for 14 days. An earlier circular on June 6 required a shorter validity period -- seven days for PCR tests and three days for rapid tests. The association, instead, recommended using rapid molecular tests PCR (TCM PCR) or antigen tests with samples taken from travelers at ports before departure, checking their body temperature and oxygen saturation, as well as ensuring other health protocols and clean air circulation on board. Aryati said she hoped the government would use a recent Health Ministry study on the accuracy of rapid tests and her association's post-market surveillance research to further shortlist the recommended test kits allowed to be distributed, as opposed to what she described as current "lax regulations". "My concern is not only the transportation [sector]. There are also rapid test requirements for some participants of the state university entrance exams, or people willing to return to offices [...] I think it is concerning and unnecessary, Aryati said. Read also: State university entrance exams held with strict yet misguided health protocols in place Even though rapid antibody tests are not for diagnosis, they have now become a common requirement for some activities during the pandemic, including even for domestic violence victims seeking to take refuge in state-owned shelters. Some hospitals have reportedly also used the tests to screen patients. "Amid the suffering, there is indeed business [of rapid tests] running here," epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, Tri Yunis Miko, said. He said rapid tests could aid contact tracing and surveillance efforts, especially because the government was still working on making PCR testing more accessible by adding more labs, machines and reagents. But the problem, he said, was the absence of regulations on who or which entities could administer the tests. "There should be regulations overseeing facilities that offer rapid tests. All hospitals and clinics can offer such a service now, even small clinics, as long as they have medical staff," he said. Following mounting complaints over the high prices of rapid tests, the Health Ministry issued a circular on July 6 setting a price ceiling of Rp 150,000 (US$10.41) for these tests. The government's intervention should not stop at the prices but should also touch on the quality of test kits, standardization of the test performers and test availability for low-income people, said Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) chairman Tulus Abadi. "Do not turn rapid tests into some formality or fake [procedures]. What is the point of using it if it only leads to [money] lost for consumers and is not effective in controlling [transmission]? he said. Read also: Victims of domestic violence struggle to access help during quarantine The WHO, in a scientific brief in April, cited several studies that weak, late or absent antibody responses had been reported among some people who were confirmed to have COVID-19 by molecular testing, and that the majority of patients developed antibody response only in the second week after an onset of symptoms. "This means that a diagnosis of COVID-19 infection based on antibody response will often only be possible in the recovery phase, when many of the opportunities for clinical intervention or interruption of disease transmission have already passed," the WHO said. In the latest decree on pandemic control on July 13, the Health Ministry maintained that rapid tests were not for diagnosis, saying that in conditions where there was limited PCR testing capacity, rapid tests could be used to screen specific populations and on specific occasions -- such as travelers, including returning migrant workers. The tests could also be used to enhance contact tracing, such as in correctional facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, dormitories, Islamic boarding schools and among vulnerable groups. The COVID-19 task force, meanwhile, said it was working on adding more labs to run PCR tests and more lab workers to allow Indonesia to phase out rapid antibody tests. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! If you're looking at a mature business that's past the growth phase, what are some of the underlying trends that pop up? Typically, we'll see the trend of both return on capital employed (ROCE) declining and this usually coincides with a decreasing amount of capital employed. This reveals that the company isn't compounding shareholder wealth because returns are falling and its net asset base is shrinking. So after glancing at the trends within Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (NYSE:CCO), we weren't too hopeful. Understanding Return On Capital Employed (ROCE) For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. Analysts use this formula to calculate it for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.044 = US$211m (US$6.1b - US$1.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020). Therefore, Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings has an ROCE of 4.4%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Media industry average of 8.9%. View our latest analysis for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings roce Above you can see how the current ROCE for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings. How Are Returns Trending? In terms of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings' historical ROCE movements, the trend doesn't inspire confidence. Unfortunately the returns on capital have diminished from the 5.7% that they were earning five years ago. On top of that, it's worth noting that the amount of capital employed within the business has remained relatively steady. Companies that exhibit these attributes tend to not be shrinking, but they can be mature and facing pressure on their margins from competition. So because these trends aren't typically conducive to creating a multi-bagger, we wouldn't hold our breath on Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings becoming one if things continue as they have. Story continues While on the subject, we noticed that the ratio of current liabilities to total assets has risen to 21%, which has impacted the ROCE. If current liabilities hadn't increased as much as they did, the ROCE could actually be even lower. While the ratio isn't currently too high, it's worth keeping an eye on this because if it gets particularly high, the business could then face some new elements of risk. Our Take On Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings' ROCE In summary, it's unfortunate that Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings is generating lower returns from the same amount of capital. We expect this has contributed to the stock plummeting 80% during the last five years. That being the case, unless the underlying trends revert to a more positive trajectory, we'd consider looking elsewhere. On a final note, we've found 3 warning signs for Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings that we think you should be aware of. While Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets. 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. Washington, DC: canary in the infosec coal mine As this research points out, Cyber is not only a new, multi-disciplinary career, it also demands a constellation of skills making it critical for companies to develop this expertise internally as well as search externally. New research released today by Emsi, a national labor analytics firm, reveals that the US has less than half of the cybersecurity candidates it needs to keep up with ever-intensifying demand. The research says the answer to this challenge is a Build (Dont Buy) strategy. Other key findings from the research are: Cybersecurity demand is twice as great as supply Major cybersecurity markets are hurting the most Washington, DC leads the way in cybersecurity demand Companies need to develop cybersecurity talent by retraining IT, finance, and business operations roles Domain expertise and local industry needs also shape regional cyber demand To solve the cybersecurity shortage companies should recruit from within Cybersecurity workers were already in high demand (and short supply) before the COVID-19 crisis. Now we need them more than ever as e-commerce skyrockets, colleges and universities go digital and millions of Americans work from home on personal networks. Spam, malware, and scams sabotage the unsuspecting. Cyber attacks against the WHO doubled in March. And the US Health and Human Services Department was hacked. Cybersecurity is one of the vital new professions that grows exponentially and surprises everyone, said Josh Bersin, Global Industry Analyst. As this research points out, Cyber is not only a new, multi-disciplinary career, it also demands a constellation of skills making it critical for companies to develop this expertise internally as well as search externally. The cybersecurity crisis presents major opportunities for all: an opportunity for companies to save jobs while meeting real needs, an opportunity for workers to unlock the next level in their careers and an opportunity for regions to coordinate innovative programs that meet the needs of both," said Dr. Yustina Saleh, SVP of Analytics. The research from Build (Dont Buy) provides clear evidence that collaboration is key. Together, employers, workforce development organizations and higher ed institutions can develop workers with the necessary skills and close the talent gap in this vital cybersecurity industry. Emerging jobs like cybersecurity roles are typically tough to deal with. They are new, fast changing, and it takes time to build the right programs to fill the demand. With our findings and the more skills-based approach we have developed here, we think learning providers and businesses can now accelerate their approach to filling cyber-gaps, said Rob Sentz, chief innovation officer. To learn more about the paper visit https://www.economicmodeling.com/cybersecurity/ Contact: Rob Sentz Chief Innovation Officer Emsi rob@economicmodeling.com http://www.EconomicModeling.com About Emsi: Founded in 2001, Emsi is a labor market analytics firm that uses data to drive economic prosperity. Emsi works with professionals in higher education, economic development, workforce development, talent acquisition, real estate and site selection. Headquartered in Moscow, Idaho, with offices in the U.K. and Dallas, Emsi serves clients across the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia. Emsi is an affiliate of the Strada Education Network. Nigerian House of Representatives on Tuesday moved a motion asking President Muhammadu Buhari to order partial reopening of schools to allow students sit for the 2020 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, WASSCE. The motion, moved Nnolim Nnaji was unanimously endorsed by the lawmakers during plenary. The House of Representatives, through its Committee on Basic Education and Services had on Friday criticised the move by the Federal Government to suspend the plan to partially reopen schools for pupils in final classes to take external examinations. According to the committee, the decision to disallow Nigerian students from sitting for WASSCE to be conducted by the West African Examination Council for the 2019/2020 academic session, was unacceptable. The Federal Government had in June approved the partial reopening of schools to allow students in SSS 3 sit for their WASSCE between August 4 and September 5, However, Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu later came up to reverse the decision, saying that all schools remained closed. Related The Old Ones have always reminded us that we will be here long after colonization has worn itself out. An elder explained to me once, pressing her fingers together, See this? I could see no light between her fingers. This is the time since European settlement. Then, she spread her arms from horizon to horizon: This is the whole of time. The Supreme Court decision last week affirmed what those of us who live close to our history here know already. Still, we werent sure what was going to happen because we do not usually fare well in courts. We have always been dogged by legal fictions and false narratives. In the Declaration of Independence we are referred to as the merciless Indian savages on our frontiers. That a conservative nominee to the Supreme Court stood with four other justices and followed the rule of law, instead of bowing to political arguments, is striking: a decision of integrity. It provides hope that the rule of law upon which this country is based can be applied equally. The Old Ones understood the truth that we are all related, and now, as a nation reckoning with racism, maybe more of us are beginning to understand it, too. We tribal nation citizens will continue to go about our lives here as ordinary U.S. and Oklahoma citizens: going to public schools, working jobs, paying taxes, holding positions of public trust and raising our families. And still, we will have our lives apart from the mainstream. You will find us in our Creek churches, ceremonial grounds and community centers, situated in our rural communities, at the edge of the towns and cities, out there in the trees, the land. LONDON Britons, a people famously averse to seeming ruffled in times of distress, have taken slowly, if at all, to face masks during the coronavirus pandemic. Jim Williams says people in his home city, Newcastle, have even yelled at him and shot him angry looks when he wore one. Brits would rather be sick than embarrassed, said Mr. Williams, 31, adding that his own family had turned down masks he bought for them. Were all very concerned with doing what other people are doing, and not wanting to be seen as being hysterical or ridiculous. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, rushing to reopen the hardest-hit country in Europe, weighed in on Tuesday on the side of embarrassment rather than sickness: He mandated that people wear masks inside shops and supermarkets in England, putting an end to months of equivocation on the matter. Many scientists have found the dithering over face coverings mystifying and uneasily reminiscent of Britains delay in imposing a lockdown in March, part of a laissez-faire approach to the pandemic that has drawn intense criticism. In March, Mr. Johnson proclaimed Britain a land of liberty as he resisted following countries across Europe into lockdown. He, himself, later became seriously ill with the virus. Grant Imahara, host of Discovery Channel's "MythBusters" and Netflix's "White Rabbit Project," has died, according to a statement from the Discovery Channel. He was 49 years old. The host was known in Hollywood for his work in electronics and animatronics. "We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family," a statement from Discovery sent to CNN said. No cause of death was available. Former "MythBusters" co-host Adam Savage said on Twitter, "I'm at a loss. No words. I've been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I'll miss my friend." CNN has reached out to Imahara's agent for comment. Photos: Notable Deaths in 2020 Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Germany took over the six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, 2020. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says that Germany's policy regarding Ukraine and Russia will be one of the priorities for his country during the presidency of the Council of the EU. According to him, there is "minimal consensus" within the European Union on the policy vis-a-vis Russia; it includes, among other things, the regular extension of sanctions, according to Deutsche Welle's Ukrainian service. Read alsoYermak: New Normandy summit to be held in coming months "I believe that we need more. Therefore, we want to prepare for the time when we could again talk more intensively about strategic relations with Russia. I think this requires preparations. Therefore, this is a topic that we will deal with as part of our presidency of the Council of the EU," he said. Maas added that "a solution in Ukraine is needed" to change or restore the EU's strategic relationship with Russia. He also said that talks in the Normandy format on the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements on Donbas and the conclusions of the December 2019 summit in Paris were moving slowly. "Negotiations are not easy, progress is limited, but decisions in the east of Ukraine will be a prerequisite for possible discussions of the topic of Russia within the EU," he said. In particular, he mentioned that there is no complete ceasefire in Donbas and the agreements reached by the Normandy Four leaders at the Paris summit on the withdrawal of forces had not been fulfilled. It was reported that a new Normandy summit in Berlin with the participation of the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France should be held as soon as possible. The Ukrainian side hopes that it would be held in August, while Russian negotiator Dmitry Kozak said he saw no reason for this. Germany took over the six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union on July 1, 2020. Two runaway workers have been traced after vanishing from a Covid-hit vegetable farm in Herefordshire - but a third remains on the run. One of the men was a picker who had tested positive for the virus before fleeing from Rook Row Farm. He and a second worker have been told to self isolate as police and health officials are trying to trace a third man. A spokesman for Public Health Midlands confirmed two people were now self isolating after leaving the site near the village of Mathon. A hunt was yesterday launched for the three runaway workers after they escaped from the farm over the weekend. They are thought to have run across fields near the farm, which supplies a number of major supermarkets. Around 200 workers have been forced into isolation in mobile homes on the A S Green And Co site after 73 tested positive for the killer bug. Four vegetable pickers, three of whom had tested positive for Covid-19, have fled after 75 people working for A S Green And Co in Mathon, Herefordshire (aerial view of the farm pictured), tested positive for Covid-19 A police officer wearing a face mask stands by his car outside the gates of Rook Row Farm near Malvern West Mercia Police have yesterday confirmed that three workers have left the site, one of whom has tested positive for coronavirus. Pictured: Men wearing full PPE leave the site in Mathon, Herefordshire It also emerged today workers at the farm went shopping to Primark and three supermarkets just days before the positive Covid results. The infected farmhands may have unwittingly spread the deadly bug after going on the trip last week. North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin confirmed members of the group were taken by minibus to Worcester where they shopped in the city's Primark. They also went to an Iceland shop and the Romanian store in the city before being driven to a Morrisons supermarket in nearby Malvern. Mr Wiggin said: 'Worcestershire County Council have been informed that a minibus took workers to shop in four separate locations in Worcester and Malvern last week. 'The shops and locations are Worcester's Primark, Iceland and the Romanian store, and Malvern's Morrison's supermarket.' The Eastern European farmhands shared a single toilet at the site, according to a British couple who worked there. The plastic portable toilet, with just one sanitiser dispenser, was ferried to a field each day where migrant vegetable pickers were working. The toilet was shared between up to 60 pickers working in hot and sticky conditions for eight hours. Brandon Burridge, 22, said: 'It was pretty horrible, especially as the day went on. We were told to ring the office if it got bad but most of the time it was just left there for people to use. 'Obviously I and the other men used the hedge but the women had to use the toilet, it wasn't great.' Mr Burridge and his girlfriend Leah Johnson, 21, picked broad beans during the three shifts they worked together at the farm in June and July. The couple stayed with family locally after their request for accommodation was turned down. Karen Wright, the director of Public Health Herefordshire, pictured right, is seen at the farm yesterday Karen Wright, Director of Public Health for Herefordshire CCG, gives a press statement outside Rook Row Farm yesterday Workers at A S Green And Co were tested after some workers showed symptoms of the bug (stock photo) A large container reverses at the farm earlier yesterday after the outbreak of coronavirus Mr Burridge said: 'I assume they reserve that for people from Eastern Europe who they bring in. We we're probably lucky that we didn't stay.' The couple from Worcester worked in fields alongside Bulgarians, Romanians and Ukrainians who arrived shortly after the lockdown. Mr Burridge and Ms Johnson were due to set up glamping areas at music festivals all over Europe this summer. But when the events were cancelled they turned to picking fruit and vegetables for an income. The couple are angry Rook Row Farm failed to tell them about the coronavirus outbreak they only discovered they were at risk after reading media reports. The pair organised their own Covid-19 tests and both came back negative on Tuesday. Mr Burridge said: 'I have our contact details but they haven't been in touch to tell us we are risk. He said: 'As an employer it is their duty to let us know, they have been quite poor in communicating to us about the virus at the farm.' Residents agreed with Mr Burridge, with Richard Thomas, 71, a retired chemical company CEO, saying: 'We know absolutely nothing about what happened on Sunday. 'We are disappointed haven't heard from anybody officially. We are 200m from the gates and have got everything we know from the media. 'Nobody has had the common courtesy to knock on our door and tell us what's going on. We haven't been offered tests. Should we be tested? 'Apparently it is airborne and we are hundreds of metres from the mobile homes. There are two houses right opposite the gates and they haven't heard anything either. 'It is a little hamlet of 13 homes and seven of those are in the vulnerable bracket through age or through illness. 'One guy up the road has one lung and another was ill with coronavirus and got particularly poorly. 'It is just really really disconcerting nobody has bothered to let us know officially. A lady from Public Health Hereford said on the news there was not a problem. 'That's really nice to know when you are 200m. That's fantastic news. People were interviewed on the news in another village a mile and a half away.' He added: 'They have grown the business substantially. We are friends with them and have been over there for parties. I used to run his daughter over to various pony clubs. 'I know he's been busy, but even he didn't phone anyone to say he has got a problem. It is incredibly discourteous.' The staff have been ordered to self-isolate in trailers that are set up near to where the staff work An officer wearing a face mask stands at the entrance to AS Green and Co Farm, where employees have tested positive for Covid-19 Rook Row Farm is currently closed for all visitors and workers are receiving support required on the site, the company said in a statement 200 workers at the vegetable farm have been asked to self isolate in mobile homes (pictured) onsite after people tested positive for coronavirus Workers are being asked to isolate on the farm and stay within household groups to reduce the risk of spreading the virus within the workforce Authorities have reportedly been offering the isolating workers - most from Eastern Europe - beer and cigarettes to prevent another break out attempt. Two of the escapees, one who had the virus, reportedly left on Saturday, while the other two, who also tested positive, fled yesterday, a source told the Sun. The first case was reported on the farm on Wednesday and another five tested positive the day after, the source added. By the time it was locked down, the farm, run by Andrew Green with the help of his son Tom and wife Caroline, had 72 cases, but it is understood to have risen. In an attempt to keep workers from fleeing, local authorities are said to be keeping their passports 'secure' and offering 'beer and cigarettes'. The workers are employed to carry out picking and packing work at the site while living in mobile homes. Police wearing protective face masks have been guarding the exits of the farm and Herefordshire Council has organised deliveries. Workers have been told they are not be permitted to leave the site but are receiving the required support - with officials treating the group as 'one extended bubble'. Meanwhile, visitors and management have been tested for the bug and the company confirmed all results to date outside of their site have been negative. The firm has put in place a range of infection control measures to try to reduce the risk of staff being exposed to the virus. These include supporting testing, promoting social distancing in communal social areas and the indoor packaging areas. They are providing PPE for staff where applicable, encouraging regular hand washing for 20 seconds and promoting the use of face coverings in closed areas. The farm supplies vegetables to major supermarket chains, such as Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asda and M&S. Trade body the British Retail Consortium last night reiterated advice from PHE that it is 'very unlikely' that the virus can be transmitted through food. Andrew Opie, Director of Food and Sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said: 'Retailers are well versed in managing potential disruptions to prevent any impact on consumers. 'This outbreak involves one farm in a very large supply chain, so retailers are confident that there will be no interruption to supply. 'The farm in question is being supported by Public Health England, which has advised that it is very unlikely that the virus can be transmitted through food or packaging.' Director of Public Health at Herefordshire CCG speaks outside Rook Row Farm in Mathon, near Malvern A man puts on PPE as he arrives at Rook Row Farm in Mathon, near Malvern in Herefordshire During the harvest season, workers live onsite in shared mobile homes which have toilets, showers and kitchen facilities. As a precaution the whole group are being treated as 'one extended bubble', according to officials. Herefordshire Council has been arranging food and essential supplies for residents on the site while they self-isolate. It comes after farmers appealed for people to take up paid roles on local farms to stop food being left to rot in the fields as part of the Feed The Nation campaign. Owner of A S Green And Co, Mr Green, was looking for 100 pickers and 60 packers to join their family team at the end of April, the Hereford Times reported. In a previous statement posted on its website, the company said: 'We confirm that we are working closely with, Public Health England and the Public Health team at Herefordshire Council to support a number of our workers that have tested positive for COVID-19. 'As a precautionary measure we have arranged for testing of additional key workers including management team members and visitors connected with A S Green and can confirm all results to date outside of our site have been returned with negative results. To date there are 73 positive cases on our site. '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. 'Our work force and local community are our priority at this difficult time and we continue to follow the guidance of the relevant bodies to ensure that the spread of the virus is controlled and our workforce is supported. '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. 'Thank you for your understanding in these difficult times.' Katie Spence, PHE Midlands Health Protection Director, said: 'We are working closely with the management at AS Green and Co to support the health and wellbeing of their workforce and wider public health. 'At this phase of the pandemic, we still expect to see cases in the community and within settings where people are closer together, such as workplaces, which is why the Test and Trace system is important, to help us pick up on any potential problems and swiftly to take remedial action to reduce spread. 'To support this workforce of around 200 key workers, the company has put in place a range of infection control measures to try to reduce the risk of staff being exposed to COVID-19. 'Measures include supporting testing on site, promoting social distancing in communal social areas and in the indoor packaging area; providing PPE for staff where applicable, encouraging regular handwashing for at least 20 seconds, and promoting the use of face coverings in closed areas.' The site is still waiting on all the results but has asked all workers to seld-isolate as a precaution (stock photo) The owner of A S Green And Co was looking for 100 pickers and 60 packers to join their family team at the end of April The company said that Public Health England advises that it is very unlikely Covid-19 can be transmitted through food or food packaging (stock photo) '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. 'In line with NHS guidance, affected individuals were asked to self-isolate for 7 days, with their households and close contacts asked to isolate for 14 days.' '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 initial batch of results showed a significant percentage of positive cases, despite these individuals being asymptomatic. 'We are still awaiting a few final results, but currently we have 73 positive cases of COVID-19 among the workforce.' 'PHE Midlands and Herefordshire Council are therefore working with AS Green and Co to closely monitor and manage the outbreak and support individual workers.' 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.' Karen Wright, Director of Public Health for Herefordshire, said: '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. A S Green And Co specialise in growing runner beans, Tenderstem broccoli, broad beans and helda beans The company harvest from mid-May to mid-November and have packing jobs during the winter '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.' Herefordshire have had 809 confirmed cases of the virus, with a rate of 421.1 (per 100,000 resident population), according to the Government's daily statistics. In April Andrew Green, owner of AS Green and Co, told the Hereford Times: 'The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in soaring demand for fresh produce, but with tighter border controls and travel restrictions in place, many UK farmers have been left with a labour shortage, putting their produce at risk.' He added: 'Not only does the role provide the opportunity to work in a safe, healthy environment throughout the summer months, but it also enables those who have been financially impacted by the pandemic to boost their income, without jeopardising the support they will receive through the Government furlough scheme.' 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 firm's 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. A spokesman for the National Farmers' Union (NFU) said: 'The industry takes this issue incredibly seriously and everything is being done to keep workers safe; their health and safety remains the priority. 'Across the sector there have been significant investments this season; from the use of additional safety equipment and PPE, regularly testing temperatures, and following government guidance created specifically for seasonal workers.' The outbreak comes after lockdown was extended for at least two weeks in Leicester, east midlands, after a surge in coronavirus cases. Thirteen Iranian Christians Arrested By Revolutionary Guards in Raids At least 13 Christians, mainly converts from Islam, were arrested by intelligence agents from Iran's Revolutionary Guard in coordinated operation across three Iranian cities on 30 June. An informant, who gained the Christians' trust and infiltrated their meetings, is understood to have led agents to the Tehran home of a recent Christian convert, where about 30 believers had gathered. Five Christian converts, including two elderly sisters and an Armenian-Iranian Christian, were handcuffed, blindfolded and taken to their homes, which were searched. Other Christian converts were arrested in the cities of Karaj and Malayer. Dozens more Christians, many of them converts, were ordered to give their contact details to the security agents and told they would soon be called in for questioning. The director of a theological college for Persian-speaking Christians saluted the "fidelity and faithfulness" and "unwavering devotion" to God of four students who were among those arrested. "They have learned that the key to living a meaningful life is to live a faithful life, a yielded life," he said. "They have learned that God builds his Kingdom not on their achievements but on their commitments and sacrifices. So though I weep when they suffer and pray for their freedom, I delight in their astounding witness." The director told of another student who, two weeks before the arrest of the four students, began a one-year prison sentence imposed because of his faith. In an email to a tutor, the student wrote, "Please find attached my 19th assignment. From tomorrow I will go to prison. I am in need of your prayers but I go there with a deep joy ... unfortunately, this means I will have to take the course exam in a year's time, once I am released. I am sorry." The director added, "How should one respond to such a note?" Assyrian and Armenian Christians are normally expected to worship in their respected languages, which is not understood by Farsi speaking Christian converts. Moreover, since the language of the education system is Farsi, the majority of young Armenians and Assyrians are not able to read the Bible in their own language or participate in their church's liturgy. Christian worship in Farsi, the language spoken by most Iranians, is often targeted by authorities in their efforts to discourage the conversion of Muslims to Christianity and limit the understanding of Christian faith among Armenian and Assyrian youth. All Farsi-speaking churches have been closed by authorities, who target Muslim-background converts and their house churches for harassment and persecution. - In South Sudan, there are more cattle, goats and sheep than human population of 11 million people - The country has 12 million cattle, 20 million sheep and 25 million goats - South Sudan is the world leader in terms of animal wealth per capita Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in There are more cattle, goats and sheep than humans in South Sudan which has 11 million people, while the livestock population is estimated at 57 million. According to the national ministry of livestock and fisheries industry, South Sudan has 12 million cattle, 20 million sheep and 25 million goats. South Sudan is the world leader in terms of animal wealth per capita, The African History reports. YEN.com.gh gathers that in 2018, South Sudan had an estimated population of 10.98 million people. READ ALSO: We have jobs but graduates aren't fit for them - Top Ghanaian employer explains (video) South Sudanese cattle keeper looking after his cows. Photo credit: The African History Source: UGC Most South Sudanese live mainly on traditional agriculture and pastoralism. The people of this African country depend on cattle husbandry as a cultural pride and not for financial purposes or meat. They use cattle husbandry for cultural demonstrations, customs, marriage dowries and milk feedings for all ages. Meanwhile, a Nigerian man identified as Adewale Adeniyi has inspired many people on LinkedIn with his grass to grace story. Adeniyi said he worked as a roadside mechanic for six months without being paid during his undergraduate years at the higher institution where he studied engineering. He said bailing oneself out of the less privileged circle is by showcasing "uncommon knowledge", adding that one becomes irresistible by doing so. Adeniyi shared a picture in which he was flanked by two roadside mechanics to show his humble beginning. READ ALSO: COVID-19: 2 lawmakers die of coronavirus in Madagascar He said: "I like sharing this picture because it reminds me of a time I worked with roadside mechanics as a University Engineering Student for 6 months and was never paid a kobo. I felt cheated but what I learned was priceless. "Today I tell my mechanic what to fix and replace. I troubleshoot and do the mental work. I save some cash there." He assured people that are struggling to make it that the future ahead of them is a good one. He said they should make sure that they are growing professionally and intellectually and monitor their growth. Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Vox pop: Which team Nana-Bawumia or Jane-John will win the 2020 election? Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: YEN.com.gh Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Norman Harsono (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 14:49 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662d6a1 1 Business omnibus-bill-on-job-creation,electricity,PLN,trade-unions,privatization Free Major electricity industry trade unions are considering public protests and strikes to opposite revisions to the 2009 Electrification Law in the controversial omnibus bill on job creation, mainly over concerns that the countrys electricity supply chain will be privatized. The unions are particularly opposed to the addition of Article 10 (2) and Article 11 (1) to the omnibus bill, which appear to give more room for private enterprises to enter Indonesias electricity industry. Article 11 (1) of the bill states that electricity for the public interest can be provided by state enterprises, municipally owned firms, private enterprises, cooperatives and the community. Under existing regulations, private entities can only act as power producers, which entails building power plants, while state-owned electricity firm PLN has a monopoly on the transmission, distribution and sale of electricity, which involves the construction of significant amounts of electricity infrastructure. The unions most prominent association, the PLN Workers Association (SP PLN), is planning to coordinate fellow power unions in resistance the bill, said union leader Abrar Ali. That [resistance] can be in the form of public protest or a work strike, he told reporters during an online conference on July 9. The omnibus bill on job creation seeks to revise 79 laws simultaneously, including the 2009 Electricification Law. It supporters say it will boost investment, cut red tape and make it easier to do business in Indonesia. Lawmakers have said the bills ultimate aim is to create more job opportunities, but civil society organizations and trade unions have contested the bill over a myriad of issues related to transparency, labor rights and environmental protection, among other concerns. The electricity trade unions issued a formal statement on on July 9, signed by six organizations, including SP PLN, the Indonesia Power Workers Union (PP Indonesia Power) and the Pembangkit Jawa Bali Workers Union (SP PJB). The latter two unions represent workers under two of Indonesias largest power producers, Indonesia Power and Pembangkit Jawa Bali, both of which are PLN subsidiaries. The unions criticized the lack of transparency in the bills deliberation, as well as its apparent effort to centralize power. The two contested articles were originally added to the 2009 Electrification Law but were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2015. SP PLN filed the lawsuit. The way we see it, lawmakers are revising a zombie article, said PP Indonesia Power secretary general Andy Wijaya. He added that the unions respective companies, as state-owned businesses, were powerless to oppose government wishes, and therefore, the unions had not had talks with their boards of directors. PLNs management is more of an executor. They cannot do anything. But we know there is disquiet, he said. The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry directorate for electricity, which has overseen the drafting of the omnibus bills electricity-related revisions, declined to comment on the unions privatization concerns. The bill is currently being discussed with the House [of Representatives] in relation to the problem inventory list [DIM] and has not yet [been discussed] with the Energy Ministry, ministry secretary general Munir Ahmad told The Jakarta Post on Monday. Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said on June 2 that the government was expecting the House of Representatives to conclude deliberation on the omnibus bill on job creation in July and that the government expected the bill, if passed, to speed up Indonesias economic recovery. The government previously delayed deliberation on the labor-related provisions of the bill following strong objections from members of the public, especially workers organizations. The interior of a car involved in an alleged robbery and shooting death in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. A Chinese resident of Bokeo province in northern Laos is in police custody after he and his wife allegedly shot and killed four other Chinese and injured another during a suspected robbery at a rented house near a casino in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, sources in the country told RFA. Critics in Laos have characterized the Golden Triangle SEZ as a de-facto Chinese colony, with the casino, hotels and restaurants catering mainly to tourists from China and operating largely outside the reach of Lao law. The zone also has had many documented cases of illegal activities including human and animal trafficking. On the evening of July 7, Yin Aseung, 58, and his wife allegedly entered a house in Ton Feung districts Khuane village, near the Kings Roman casino building, and shot the five victims with a handgun before fleeing the scene, police said. Ho Zin Long, 33, Ly Fu Kang, 33, Yang Feng Za, 31 and Luy Yu Chin, 33 were killed, and Yu Ly Ly, 34, was injured in the attack, according to names released by the police. They said no Lao citizens were involved in the incident. Witnesses say the couple fled the scene in a car with some of the victims belongings. Police arrested Yin the next day after a shootout with the couple in Nam Keung village, about eight kilometers (five miles) from the SEZ. At present, we can report that one of the suspects, the husband, was arrested, and the wife remains at large, an officer at the Bokeo province police department told RFAs Lao Service Friday. Yin suffered a gunshot wound, while his wife escaped during the fray. We still dont have a motive for the shooting, but once the investigation has been updated, we will report it to the public right away, the officer said. Witnesses believe that the incident was a robbery, as police confiscated Chinese yuan, Thai baht and casino chips worth about U.S. $133,000, and a handgun from the house that the suspects were renting. But police said they are not ready to declare robbery as the motive until their investigation is complete and they anticipate delays until Yin recovers from his wounds. The violence is the latest of numerous reported crimes committed by Chinese nationals in Laos special economic zones (SEZ), in which Lao authorities have little to no access under the terms of concessions granted to Chinese investors. Lao law limits The Golden Triangle zones association with crime combined with its special legal rules concerns many Lao residents. The law is too soft on Chinese. Under normal circumstances, foreigners who come to invest in Laos are under Lao laws. But in the SEZ, Chinese have more rights than us, a Lao villager who requested anonymity to speak freely told RFA. We cannot even investigate because everything is under their control. We are too soft in this matter, the villager said. The source called on the Lao government to rethink its law enforcement role inside the SEZ to ensure public safety, saying that Lao officials need to be in charge of investigations so that the truth can be revealed. Another villager, from Ton Feung district, told RFA he was in shock. I heard the news on Facebook. Incidents like this never happened before in this area, said the second villager, who requested anonymity for legal reasons. The Lao authorities will be involved in the investigation, according to an official from the ministry of planning and investment. The official told RFA that based on the rules of the SEZ, the investigation will report to a board committee in the zone made up of the zones investors and representatives of the Lao government. However, the official said that the investigation will be managed by the Chinese companies due to concession terms granting them rights to keep order within the SEZ. The official added that Lao authorities generally cannot get involved in the domestic affairs of the zone unless they are in very high-level positions. When [Chinese] make trouble, they deal with it themselves, the official said. How they do that, we dont know. The safety of the public is our responsibility, so if it involves Lao citizens, we have to talk with them, he said. Trouble in paradise The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone has not been without controversy. In January 2019 the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted Kings Roman group and its head Zhao Wei as a crime syndicate because it was involved in human, animal and drug trafficking, accusations denied by the company. At the end of 2019, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) reported that there are about 100 live tigers kept in the cages at the economic zone to be sold as their body parts are believed to have medicinal properties for traditional Chinese remedies. The Lao government has allowed Chinese investors to open casinos in other areas of the country on the promise of economic benefits, but gambling often attracts criminal activity. For instance, in Luang Namtha province, the Golden City casino in Boten was ordered to close after it attracted money launderers, murderers, fraudsters, kidnappers, drug pushers, human traffickers and prostitutes. The Savan Vegas casino, near the Thai border in Savannakhet province, was ordered closed as its Macau-based investor defaulted on unpaid taxes. It has now reopened under a different name and new management. With the exception of the Malaysian-owned Dan Savan Nam Ngeum Resort casino in Vientiane, all the casinos in Laos are backed by Chinese companies, two of them in tax-free special economic zones. Reported by RFAs Lao service. Translated by Sidney Khotpanya, Written in English by Eugene Whong. (Newser) Four former heads of the CDC fought back Tuesday against Trump administration efforts to pressure the agency into revising its coronavirus guidelines. Their defense of the agency, contained in an op-ed in the Washington Post, was critical of "political leaders and others" but did not name President Trump, Politico reports. "As the debate last week around reopening schools more safely showed, these repeated efforts to subvert sound public health guidelines introduce chaos and uncertainty while unnecessarily putting lives at risk," wrote Tom Frieden, Jeffrey Koplan, David Satcher, and Richard Besser. Besser was once an acting director of the CDC; the others were directors. They led the CDC for 15 years total. In that time, they could not recall "a single time when political pressure led to a change in the interpretation of scientific evidence," they wrote. story continues below "Willful disregard for public health guidelines is, unsurprisingly, leading to a sharp rise in infections and deaths," the op-ed said. After Trump called the CDC guidelines for schools "very tough & expensive" and threatened to cut funding if schools don't reopen in the fall, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the agency would release "additional guidance." Dr. Robert Redfield, the current director, said he would not back off the original school guidelines despite Trump's opposition. On Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos dismissed the guidelines as suggestions, basically. CDC guidelines sometimes change during a review process, the former directors wrote, but "it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release." You can read the op-ed here. (DeVos discounts CDC guidelines.) 'STAND in Prayer for America' Rallies Held Nationwide Today NEWS PROVIDED BY STAND July 14, 2020 RICHMOND, Va., July 14, 2020 /Christian Newswire/ -- Under the leadership of Bishop E.W. Jackson, STAND - Staying True to America's National Destiny - has created a network of prayer rallies across America today, July 14 at 2 p.m. The date and time symbolize 2 Chronicles 7:14, a well known passage in the Bible, which reads: "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." Public prayer rallies are being held at 50 locations in thirty states. Families and nonprofit organizations are also hosting private prayer events throughout the country. They will be praying for America, the Constitution and the rule of law and against socialism and communism. Says Bishop Jackson, "This is truly a nationwide movement, but the mainstream media won't acknowledge it because they don't like patriotism and they don't like prayer. Yet our country is in desperate need of Divine intervention. First we were hit with the COVID -19 crisis, and then the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis precipitated a racial crisis. Riots, looting, vandalism, violence, murders, burning American Flags and attacks on police overwhelm our cities. A one year old was just shot in New York and two police officers assassinated in Dallas. Mayors and governors are doing nothing. Christian patriots who love our country must engage. Today we are uniting in prayer all over America, and further action will grow out of this." Jackson, who lives in Virginia, will attend the Richmond prayer rally at the capital steps. Virginia rallies will also be held in Portsmouth and Harrisonburg. STAND has a permit for 50 people at the capital, but expects more to attend. Jackson expects the same latitude he says has been shown to Black Live Matter protesters. Bishop Jackson says, "Black Lives Matter is not about saving black lives. It is about dividing and destroying America. These prayer rallies are about unifying and strengthening America." Jackson is Founder and President of STAND and Pastor of The Called Church in Chesapeake, Virginia. He ran for Lt. Governor against Ralph Northam and for US Senate. www.standamerica.us SOURCE STAND CONTACT: 757-375-6444, Vanity@standamerica.us Related Links www.standamerica.us In a country where only 60 percent of eligible voters go the polls, and where the president actively sows doubt about the integrity of the election system, the right to cast a ballot means everything to immigrants waiting to take the oath of allegiance. Voting is "a fundamental privilege of U.S. citizenship, they state in a lawsuit against the Trump administration to speed their naturalization ceremonies. Read more Abdel Wahab Alaussos so badly wants to vote in the presidential election that hes suing the Trump administration for the right to do it. The Glenside man, who came to America from Syria, is among hundreds of area immigrants whose work and determination have led them to the brink of U.S. citizenship. But that final step was delayed first by the coronavirus-driven shutdown of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which administers the oath of allegiance, and now by slowdowns as the agency reopens. Soon, furloughs could eliminate two-thirds of USCIS workforce. Its important for me to be a U.S. citizen because its the only country where I can unite all my family in one place, enjoy the best human and constitutional rights in the world, live the rest of my life in the greatest country in the world, and guarantee a good future for my children, Alaussos said. Its important for me to vote in the next presidential election because this would be a special moment in my life to start practicing my constitutional rights in a great democratic country. He and his co-plaintiff, Maria Campbell Davis of Philadelphia, originally from Jamaica, are asking the U.S. District Court in Eastern Pennsylvania to order the government to quickly administer the oath to everyone in their position, while theres still time to register to vote. In a country where only 60% of eligible voters go to the polls and where the president actively sows doubt about the integrity of the election system, the right to cast a ballot means everything to them a fundamental privilege of U.S. citizenship, they state in the suit. A USCIS spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. Alaussos and Campbell Davis, both lawful permanent residents, filed the class-action lawsuit against USCIS and other federal agencies and officials, saying that while the initial delay was understandable, it now has gone on too long. They want USCIS to use all available means and technologies from virtual, online interactions to live, drive-up appearances to conduct naturalizations by Sept. 28. Thats three weeks before Oct. 19, the last day on which Pennsylvanians can register to vote in the November election. Before the outbreak, the suit said, the USCIS Philadelphia field office naturalized about 420 people a week. The office shut down operations on March 18, then reopened June 4 to hold smaller, socially distanced, safety-compliant oath ceremonies. Now, only about 75 new citizens are sworn in weekly an 80% drop. Even that lower number is threatened, as USCIS sends furlough notices to an estimated 13,400 employees nationwide; they would begin leaving their jobs on Aug. 3. The National Association of Immigration Judges says that exodus will have dire consequences across the U.S. immigration system. The agency says it needs $1.2 billion in emergency cash from Congress to replace dramatic losses in immigration filing-and-petition fees, caused by the pandemic and economic crises. At least 181 workers in Pennsylvania could be furloughed, according to Rep. Dwight Evans. He is among six state members of Congress who asked the House leadership to work to provide $1.5 billion in emergency funding during the next two years. Anytime folks are furloughed, there arent enough bodies to do the work, said lawyer Trina Realmuto of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, a Massachusetts advocate that represents Davis and Alaussos. Are naturalization ceremonies going to take a backseat? Or will the agency prioritize them, given the importance of the right to vote in our democracy? Congress has empowered USCIS and the federal court to provide for immediate administrative naturalizations, she noted in the lawsuit. USCISs closing and limited reopening is also generating uncertainty and anxiety among foreign workers who depend on employment visas. For instance, Maria, a 30-something Philadelphia woman from Central America, is employed at a local college, helping to create an online-and-hybrid classroom model amid the pandemic. Her job will end in August unless something changes. Maria, who spoke on condition of being identified only by her first name, said USCIS has been unable to set an appointment to gather her biometrics, which include fingerprints, photograph, and signature. Until that happens, she wont get her work permit. A lot of people who are in my position in tech, theyre going to be losing their jobs, she said. Today, an estimated 13.2 million foreign-born, permanent residents live in the United States, most of whom qualified for a green card named for its traditional hue because they are the family member of a citizen, an employee of a U.S. company, or a refugee or asylum-seeker granted protection in this country. Green-card holders can live and work here indefinitely, but do not enjoy all rights of citizenship. They cannot vote in federal elections, nor in most state and local balloting. About nine million are eligible to become naturalized citizens. To do so, they must live in the U.S. for at least five years, then pass one test on English proficiency and another on American history and government. Alaussos and Campbell Davis lawsuit comes as immigrant voters are poised to exert new impact on a purple Pennsylvania that Donald Trump won by less than a percentage point in 2016. The number of immigrants in Pennsylvania who will be able to vote in November surged 7.9% in a year to 465,395, according to New American Economy (NAE), a bipartisan, business-focused research organization in New York. NAE gathered data on all 50 states to determine the growth or decline of eligible immigrant voters that is, newly naturalized American citizens over the age of 18. Pennsylvania added about 34,000 immigrant voters from 2017 to 2018, not much less than the 44,000 votes by which Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the state. New Jersey, which went decisively for Clinton, added 60,769. Nationally, the number of potential new immigrant voters increased by more than 700,000 in the same period, for a total of 21.4 million, the study found. Alaussos was approved for naturalization in March but was never scheduled for an oath ceremony. The delay keeps him separated from his wife and children, who are in Turkey. As a U.S. citizen, he could immediately apply for a visa for his wife. Campbell Davis was interviewed for naturalization in January and was set to take the oath on March 19. But the ceremony was canceled and not rescheduled, the suit said. That means shes unable to petition for her Jamaican sons to immigrate to the U.S. A much larger, expedited effort is needed to accommodate the hundreds of plaintiffs [whose] paths to U.S. citizenship have been delayed, the lawsuit stated, to ensure that they are not needlessly harmed by any additional delays. More than 200 face mask products have been withdrawn because they are not deemed suitable for surgical use. The masks de-registered by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) are typically made from cloth and don't protect the wearer from coronavirus. A rush to secure personal protective equipment when the pandemic struck meant many were mistakenly classified as registered medical goods before having their status corrected in a post market review by the TGA. But while the non-surgical-grade masks may no longer be sold to hospitals, they are still available from stores - as long as they are not advertised as being for medical use or providing protection from COVID-19. Hundreds of face masks were able to be classified as medical grade despite offering the wrong protections (pictured: Melbourne residents wear masks on the streets during lockdown) Medical Authorities are racing to find out if any incorrectly registered face masks ended up with frontline healthcare workers (pictured: a staff member sanitises her hands outside the Menarook aged care facility in Melbourne on Tuesday) The TGA said: 'concerns have been raised about the quality and effectiveness of some products.' This was the result of the federal government granting an emergency exemption on March 22 to import large quantities of medical supplies for the National Medical Stockpile. Three months later the TGA conducted a post-market review, and informed face masks suppliers they would face significant fines if their goods weren't up to medical standards. This resulted in more than 200 suppliers withdrawing their products from inclusion as medical goods across Australia. The Victorian state government has encourage residents to don cloth masks if they will be in public spaces where they can't practice social distancing University of Queensland Occupational Health and Safety Expert Professor Keith Adam said he was witnessed an incredibly low standard of face masks. TGA APPROVED MEDICAL FACE MASKS N95 respirators A single use item designed to form a very close seal around the nose and mouth, to protect the wearer from exposure to 95 per cent of airborne particles, including pathogenic biological airborne particulates such as viruses and bacteria. Surgical N95 respirators A similar structure and design to standard N95 respirators and therefore meet the same testing requirements to achieve a minimum 95% filtration against airborne particulates, but have also been tested for fluid resistance against penetration by synthetic blood under different pressures, such as may occur during certain high risk medical procedures. Surgical masks Single use, fluid-resistant, disposable, and loose-fitting protection devices that create a physical barrier between the mouth and nose of the wearer and the immediate environment but do not achieve a close seal to the wearer's face. Surgical masks have different grades of filtration and are useful for blocking splashes and large particle droplets or sprays which may occur. They do not provide complete protection from germs and other small particle contaminants. Source: Therapeutic Goods Administration Advertisement 'The quality had to be dodgy I've seen lots of dodgy masks walking down the street,' he told the Herald Sun. He said it was 'like the wild west' in the first few months of the pandemic due to the sheer number of fraudulent operators selling their wares. The TGA told News Corp it will be notifying hospitals and health facilities about the affected masks and it is still investigating where the equipment may have ended up. While the face masks can no longer be supplied to medical professionals they are still allowed to remain up for sale in hardware stores and other retailers. But the items must not be marketed as medical devices or a way of preventing the transmission of diseases like coronavirus. Surgical grade masks need to be at least three layers thick and fabricated out of a material which acts like a filter. They achieve a physical barrier between the mouth and nose but do not form a tight seal around the face. While masks which offer the wearer greater protection from the risk of infection are typically labelled as P2 or N95 and filter out 95 per cent of fine aerosol particles. But not all masks with these ratings are necessarily regulated as medical supplies and should be double-checked by buyers. Residents are being urged to check face masks comply with the Australian/New Zealand protective standard for respiratory equipment: AS/NZS1716. This includes brands like 3M and Drager, Uvex, iQuip or ProChoice. The TGA is urging Australians to take extra caution when it comes to purchasing masks as a result of complaints around dodgy medical equipment. 'Be aware of potentially counterfeit devices. Look at product markings, such as the name of the manufacturer, to determine whether anything is amiss (incorrect spelling, faded packaging, incorrect filters/materials, etc.)' the TGA website says. A man walks down Collins Street in Melbourne wearing a surgical face mask The Drager P2 mask is one of the recommended masks which complies with Australian standards for respiratory equipment The warning comes as health authorities urge residents to wear face masks out in public as cases surge in Victoria and New South Wales. The Victorian state government has encourage residents to don cloth masks if they will be in public spaces where they can't practice social distancing. Cloth masks do not need to be surgical grade, meaning they will protect the wearer from spreading any possible infections but won't protect people around them. Black employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent a letter to CDC Director Robert R. Redfield, MD, calling out the racism and discrimination they say theyve experienced at the agency. The letter, which was provided to NPR and has been signed by more than 1,000 CDC employees, starts by pointing out the long-festering disease of racial discrimination and oppression in the United States, including the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others. We are hurt, the employees wrote. We are angry. We are exhausted. And ultimately, we fear that, despite the global protests, little will be done to address the systemic racism we face each and every day. Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta) They state that systemic racism at the agency is a crushing reality and the CDC must clean its own house first. The employees note that well-meaning, yet under-funded, diversity and inclusion efforts at the federal agency have resulted in scant progress. They also call out the lack of inclusion and diversity at senior levels and allege that Black employees are being stifled and blocked from opportunities for professional advancement. They go on to describe a toxic work environment thats rife with racial aggressions, bullying and marginalization. According to the letter, Black CDC employees have filed hundreds of complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over the past decade and allege that many were met by inaction, or worse, retaliation. The letter concludes with a list of seven detailed action steps the employees would like to see implemented at the CDC, starting with immediately and publicly acknowledging that systemic racism is a public health crisis. They also call for greater diversity, stating that Black employees at the CDC make up only 10 percent of the federal agencys senior leadership, along with increasing opportunities for Black scientists to lead scientific and programmatic activities as they are typically more equipped to understand issues that disproportionately affect Black Americans. Story continues Most notably, one of those pressing health issues that has significantly affected Black Americans is the coronavirus. According to the New York Times, which sued the CDC to obtain more detailed federal data on racial disparities in coronavirus infections: Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in a widespread manner that spans the country, noting that Latino and African-American residents of the United States have been three times as likely to become infected as their white neighbors, and Black and Latino people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people. Quinn Capers, MD, a professor of medicine at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, tells Yahoo Life that he finds the letter concerning. Im troubled that in a pandemic, which really is disproportionally impacting Black and brown lives, that the Black employees, scientists and health professionals at our nations premier public health organization feel they are suffering from discrimination. Capers says the situation is particularly disheartening but adds that hes proud the employees wrote the letter. Sometimes you have to take things to a public forum, he says, and simply knowing the world is watching is what gets action sometimes. Referring to the protests against racial injustice after the murder of Floyd, which took place not only in all 50 states and D.C. but also across the globe, Capers says, It really feels like this time the whole world has had enough. Theres just no more appetite for racism and bigotry. He adds: I hope that the same can be said within the CDC, because the CDC is critically important to all of us. But only if it has a broad base of expertise and how they look at pandemics and outbreaks from a diverse perspective [with] scientists from different walks of life. In a statement provided to Yahoo Life, the CDC acknowledges that Redfield received the letter and responded, without providing any further details, adding: CDC is committed to fostering a fair, equitable and inclusive environment in which staff can openly share their concerns with agency leadership. For the latest coronavirus news and updates, follow along at https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and those who are immunocompromised continue to be the most at risk. If you have questions, please reference the CDCs and WHOs resource guides. Read more from Yahoo Life: Want daily wellness, lifestyle and parenting news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here for Yahoo Lifes newsletter. Nicosia (AFP) - Oil-rich Libya has been torn by violence since the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Khadafi in an uprising backed by a NATO bombing campaign. The North African country has since become a battle ground for tribal militias, jihadists and mercenaries and a major gateway for desperate migrants bound for Europe. Multiple foreign powers have sent fighters and weapons, fuelling a bloody proxy war that reflects wider geopolitical rifts and divisions in the Middle East and within NATO. Since 2015, the UN-recognised, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) has battled against strongman Khalifa Haftar, based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Turkey's military support for the GNA has recently tipped the balance and allowed its forces in June to repel Haftar's 14-month advance on Tripoli and launch a counteroffensive. The frontline has since moved east to the coastal city of Sirte, Kadhafi's home city. While the GNA under Fayez al-Sarraj has also been backed by Turkey's Gulf ally Qatar, the renegade general Haftar has received covert support from the United Arab Emirates and Russia and backing from France. Here are the main outside players and their motivations. - TURKEY - Under authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has projected its influence over former Ottoman territories from the Balkans to the Middle East. In Libya, Turkey has since late last year stepped up open support for the GNA with military advisors, pro-Ankara Syrian militia, drones and air defence systems, tipping the battlefield balance. Ankara and the GNA in November signed military cooperation and maritime jurisdiction agreements under which Turkey claimed extensive areas of the eastern Mediterranean where it eyes disputed oil and gas reserves. Erdogan and Russia's President Vladimir Putin have in recent years formed a partnership, brought together by a shared distrust of the West, even as they back rival sides in the Syria and Libya wars. Story continues - QATAR - Turkey's gas-rich partner in the Gulf, Qatar, which hosts a key Turkish military base, has also backed the GNA. Qatar has been isolated in the Gulf since Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain along with Egypt over three years ago abruptly cut diplomatic, economic and travel ties with Doha. They insist, among other charges, that Qatar is funding radical Islamist movements, which Doha strongly denies. - RUSSIA - Under Putin, Russia has expanded its global influence with military operations from Ukraine to Syria. In Libya, Haftar has received support from Russia's Wagner Group, a shadowy private security firm reportedly close to Putin which Washington has labelled "an instrument of the Kremlin's policy". A UN experts' report says Wagner has backed Haftar with "combat and influence operations", sniper teams and technical support. The US military has accused Moscow of also supporting the mercenaries with fighter jets. Moscow has denied backing Haftar or being responsible for deploying the group. - UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - The super-rich UAE has for years covertly backed Haftar forces with fighter jets, Chinese-made Wing Loong drones and other sophisticated weapons. The Emirates accuses Ankara and Doha of supporting Islamist groups, and the GNA of being close to the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE and other Gulf countries have been said to be financing pro-Haftar fighters. The UN report also said Haftar was receiving help from pro-Damascus Syrian fighters and mercenaries from Sudan and other countries. - EGYPT - Egypt, worried about security along its long desert border with Libya, has long backed Haftar who is based in adjoining eastern Libya. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in June, after the GNA's gains, proposed a ceasefire and then warned that Cairo could intervene militarily to halt a further eastward march by the unity government forces. Cairo-Ankara ties have deteriorated dramatically since Sisi led the army's 2013 ouster of his predecessor, Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was supported by Turkey. - FRANCE - France has been suspected of favouring Haftar while insisting it is neutral in the conflict. Paris has always been eager to have influence in Libya due to its own colonial heritage in North Africa and also worries any surge in jihadist militancy there could imperil its anti-terror operations in the Sahel region to the south. President Emmanuel Macron has bitterly attacked NATO ally Turkey's intervention in Libya. Europe has been split in its Libya policy, despite being under strain from the arrival of thousands of irregular migrants in recent years. Former colonial power Italy backs the GNA while Germany has attempted to broker a ceasefire and peace talks, so far without success. - UNITED STATES - The United States recognises the UN-backed government, but President Donald Trump caused confusion last year by praising Haftar after a telephone conversation with him. Trump has close ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who both favour Haftar, a former Kadhafi-era general who defected decades ago to go to the US where he was rumoured to be working for the CIA. burs-fz/dr H undreds of thousands of teenagers have today received their GCSE results, with their scores based on teachers' estimates amid cancelled exams due to the coronavirus pandemic. Exam boards had asked teachers to submit judgments about the grades they thought their students would have received if tests had gone ahead. In June, secondary schools in England submitted centre assessment grades for their Year 11 pupils to exam boards; the government stressed these should be fair and objective. England's exam regulator then moderated the grades with a controversial algorithm which used schools' exam performance history. However, after backlash following moderated A-Level results last week which saw as many of 40 percent of pupils' results downgraded, pupils were eventually given their original teacher-assessed grades, unless their moderated grade was higher. Here's what you need to know about grade boundaries this GCSE results day. Jeremy Selwyn How does the GCSE grading system work? Changes introduced in 2014 by former Education Secretary Michael Gove saw the replacement of the A*-G grades with 1-9 grades - with 9 being the equivalent of a high A*. The move to change England's grading system formed part of a wider reform of exams which has seen a complete overhaul of the content and structure of GCSEs. What is the new GCSE grading system? The overhaul of traditional GCSEs in favour of more demanding, more fulfilling and more stretching exams was an effort to help the UK better compete academically on a financial level. Its also hoped that tougher exams will mean GCSE grades are taken more seriously by employers. What are the GCSE grade boundaries this year? Due to this year's exceptional circumstances, there were no GCSE grade boundaries this year. As exams were cancelled, and students received a calculated grade, grade boundaries are irrelevant as they relate to the marks achieved on actual exam papers. Ofqual said on their website: "Ofqual has been working with awarding organisations to ensure that as many learners as possible are able to receive a grade this summer and progress with their plans to either continue their education or go into the workplace when schools, colleges and employers open up as restrictions are lifted." There are five different exam boards used within every school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The list includes; Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), Council for Curriculum and Examinations Assessment (CCEA), Pearson Edexcel, Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Exams (OCR) and Welsh Joint Examinations Committee (WJEC). OCR stated: "Due to coronavirus, there were no OCR exams in summer 2020. This means we will not be issuing any grade boundaries for the summer series." Normally, each exam board has its own set of grade boundaries which change annually; grade boundaries show the minimum number of marks you need for each grade, and are typically published on results day. How were GCSE results determined this year? Results were initially calculated using a controversial algorithm that was scrapped at the eleventh hour in favour of using grades submitted by teachers. The moderated results took into account a school's previous exam performance, sparking concerns that students from disadvantaged backgrounds who attended typically under-performing schools would suffer the most from the moderating algorithm. When A-Level results were released last week, using grades moderated by Ofqual's algorithm, as many as 280,000 results were downgraded. After backlash, ministers were forced to U-turn and allow pupils to receive their original grades assessed by their teachers, unless the algorithm gave them a higher grade - in which case they receieved their moderated grade. The U-turn also applied to the grading of GCSEs. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nepal, has issued a statement as an attempt to do damage control over PM Olis controversial statement on Ram and Ayodhya. On 13th July, Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli had said that Shri Ram was Nepali and India has engaged in cultural encroachment by creating fake Ayodhya. Now, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Nepal has issued an official statement as clarification. Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India have claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram, PM KP Sharma Oli had said. Alleged wrong interpretations of the statement The ministry said that the statement made by PM Oli during the 207th birth anniversary celebration of Adikavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya had been misinterpreted. PMs speech had no political link and he had no intentions to hurt anyones sentiments or feelings. The Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization, the ministry added. They said that there are several myths and references about Shri Ram and places associated with him. The PM did not mean to debase the significance and cultural values of Ayodhya. The festival Bibaha Panchami is celebrated in Nepal and India in which a marriage possession comes from Ayodhya, India, to Janakpur, Nepal, every year. In May 2018, the Prime Ministers of Nepal and India launched the Ramayana Circuit. Janakpur-Ayodhya bus service is an integral part of the initiative, the statement added. Increasing problems in India-Nepal relationships In the past few months, several steps taken by Nepal have damaged the relationship between the two nations. The new map approved by the Nepalese Parliament in which it included parts of India drew sharp objections from Indian side. There have been reports that Nepalese Radio stations have been playing anti-India songs across India-Nepal border. Nepal also removed a Nepalese lawmaker Sarita Giri from the House of Representatives for taking a pro-Indi Nepals Communist PM says Shri Ram was Nepali and India has created fake Ayodhya July 14, 2020 Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has been unwell lately. Recently, when news of his impending resignation was rife, he was admitted to a hospital for treatment. He escalated diplomatic tensions with India by updating the map of Nepal claiming Indian territories for the country. Now, after allegations of encroachment of land, KP Sharma Oli has taken to claiming that India has engaged in cultural encroachment. During a recent event to commemorate Bhanubhaktas birth anniversary, the Nepalese Prime Minister claimed that India had created a fake Ayodhya in India when, according to him, it is a village in Birgunj in Nepal. Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India have claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram, said KP Sharma Oli. Real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India. Lord Ram is Nepali not Indian: Nepali media quotes Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (file pic) pic.twitter.com/k3CcN8jjGV ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2020 He said, We also believe that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj. Ayodhya is at Thori, west of Birgunj, Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dasharath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi, he added. The Nepalese Prime Minister stated, Dasharaths son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal. We did not give Sita, who was born in Janakpur, to an Indian prince but Sita was married to Ram of Ayodhya, not of India, he said. Opposition parties in Nepal have slammed KP Sharma Oli for making such ridiculous remarks. Co-chairperson of Rastriya Prajatantra Party Kamal Thapa it does not behove a Prime Minister to make such baseless, unproven claims. It looks like the PM wants to further spoil Nepal-India relations rather than working to resolve tensions, Thapa said. It is pertinent to note that the birthplace of Shri Ram has always been regarded as Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya. His birthplace was the site of a dispute centuries old. Hindus secured the right to build a Temple at the sacred site through a Supreme Court verdict in 2019. The Ram Janmabhoomi Movement, which was launched to reclaim Shri Rams birthplace, has altered the course of Indian history for all eternity. KP Sharma Oli did admit while making the ridiculous claim that scholars would not agree with him on this new fact. Some members of Peterborough County council are concerned about the region moving into Stage 3, while the Greater Toronto Area remains in Stage 2. When Selwyn Deputy Mayor Sherry Senis heard Doug Fords announcement on Tuesday, her initial worry was folks from the GTA fleeing to the county for a day trip, she said. I thought, Oh, here we go again. Were opening ahead of the GTA and I do believe that that will mean increased travel to our area, said Senis. While moving into Stage 3 could be beneficial for local businesses, Senis said shes worried about day-trippers coming to the county who dont respect the region while visiting. Us locals, we appreciate where we live and we treat it well, and some people that come up from other areas are not doing that as weve seen, she said. Although seasonal cottage owners from the GTA arent a burden, day-trippers from that region are, said Asphodel-Norwood Mayor Rodger Bonneau. If theyre professional cottagers, and in our area most of them are, they know the rules and they behave themselves. Its the day-trippers that come out of the city that could be a bit more of the problem, said Bonneau. Otonabee-South Monaghan has been experiencing issues with GTA day-trippers at Squirrel Creek Conservation over the last couple of weeks, said Otonabee-South Monaghan Mayor Joe Taylor. He said he is very concerned folks from the Toronto region may come in larger numbers with the county now moving into Stage 3. There have been some problems associated with a multitude of people from out of the area coming into there and behaving inappropriately. I have no reason to believe that that wont continue and it may even get worse, he said. If the problem continues, Taylor said they may need to close the area. We cant continue to allow it to be used the way it has been the last couple of weekends, he said. If people cant regulate themselves, then well regulate it for them. Senis said the closure of the Burleigh Falls Crown land area on Thursday was a necessary action to take given the way in which the area was being treated. Our OPP that work in the area, one of the officers said that he had been in the business for 27 years and hed never seen anything like it, she said. The issues with the large influx of day-trippers from the GTA is strictly a 2020 pandemic-related issue, Taylor believes. It would be wonderful if people came and treated the areas theyre visiting in the county with respect, he said. Actor Aamir Khans daughter, Ira Khan, moved into her own apartment earlier this month and has been sharing glimpses of the house since then. On Tuesday, she took to Instagram to post a picture of her favourite spot in her new home. In the picture, Ira was seen sitting on a lounge chair in a cosy corner with a wooden table. She wrote in her caption, Everyone should have a favourite spot... #myspot #morningroutine #coffeetable #ikea #happyplace #favourite #sowhatifitsblurry #home. On July 2, Ira had shared a few pictures of her apartment and written, Look at my new home... #movingout #myspace #firsttime #newbeginnings #milestone #cantwait #lettheadultingbegin #manvshouse. She has moved in with her close friend Danielle Pereira. Ira is not keen on following in Aamirs footsteps and becoming an actor. She is more inclined towards direction and made her directorial debut last year with a play titled Euripedes Medea, starring Hazel Keech in the titular role. The play was produced by veteran actor Sarika under her banner NautankiSa Productions. Also see: Step inside Gauri Khans sea-view workspace at Mannat. Watch video Earlier, in an interview with Hindustan Times, Ira said that she was not intimidated by the fact that she was one of the youngest on the sets of her maiden play. She also shared the sage advice given to her by Aamir. He said that the play is the most important thing and I cant be nice about things. The play is the priority and I needed to make decisions as the director of the play, and not keep anyones feelings in mind. You cannot forsake your work because of how someone would feel about it, Ira said. Meanwhile, Aamir will be seen playing the titular role in Advait Chandans Laal Singh Chaddha, a licensed adaptation of the Hollywood blockbuster Forrest Gump. The film also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan and Mona Singh. Follow @htshowbiz for more A team comprising officials from Niti Aayog on Tuesday held detailed discussions with officials of four districts of Meerut division and asked them to follow Delhis model of combating Covid-19 ramping up testing while simultaneously making efforts to bring down the case fatality rate. The team led by Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul arrived in Ghaziabad on Tuesday and took a review of different strategies being adopted by the NCR districts of Uttar Pradesh. The visit came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah had held a video conference with UP and NCR officials in June 18 and called for a unified approach to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak. On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also appreciated efforts of the Centre and Delhi government in containing the Covid pandemic outbreak and directed that a similar approach adopted in the entire NCR. The Niti Aayog officials also called for a consolidated policy for NCR and asked officials to increase antigen testing in UP and work towards bringing down number of fatalities. We gave a presentation to the team about the recently conducted special surveillance drive in Meerut division and also appraised them about strategies we have adopted to bring down the case fatality rate, especially in the month of July, said Ajay Shankar Pandey, Ghaziabad district magistrate. The officials told the team that four districts of Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut and Baghpat, under the Meerut division, had a case fatality rate of about 3.04% (124 deaths) in the month of June. This had come down to .7% (23 deaths) in the first 11 days of July. The team was also apprised that a total of 15,89,22 testing were conducted till July 12 and 8,684 cases turned positive with positivity rate of 5.46%. The recovery rate stood at 66.44%. The team praised our district for two indicators tests per million and case fatality rate. These are the two factors which are observed by the Centre. All the credit goes to our health teams. We have better TPM (tests per million) indicator than other districts in Delhi, UP and Haryana, besides keeping our case fatality rate low. We are already working on a strategy of track, contain and treat, said Suhas LY, district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar. Till July 12, Gautam Budh Nagar district had conducted at least 45,902 tests, according to data prepared by Meerut division officers for the review meet.. During the special surveillance drive conducted from July 2 to July 12 in Meerut division which comprises six districts and was the most affected by Covid-19 the teams identified 14333 suspected cases from 3278871 households surveyed in the districts of Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Meerut and Baghpat. Amit Mohan Prasad, UPs additional chief secretary (health), who was also present during the meeting in Ghaziabad, requested the team for five lakh more rapid antigen test kits for UP and said that testing will be hiked to 50,000 tests per day in the next few days Till July 12, the total testing in UP reached 11,56079 and daily testing has also been ramped up to 40,000 tests per day, which stood at about 60 tests per day in March, according to UP officials.. We also suggested the team members that some beds in government hospitals in Delhi should be reserved for patients from NCR region for better treatment. We also told them that Khoda and Loni areas were affected by Covid-19 and we implemented the sector scheme to contain cases. So, such a scheme should also be adopted by bordering districts in Delhi in order to effectively check the spread of Covid-19, Pandey added. The Ghaziabad health department officials told the team that they have adopted strategy for better identification of positive cases, their effective contact tracing with the help of police officers and early referral to Covid hospitals. There were 51 deaths in the month of June. In July, however, there has just been seven deaths in the first 14 days. For better treatment of critical patients we have reserved 20% of ICU/ventilator beds in private hospitals and critical patients are immediately referred for treatment. We have roped in eight private hospitals, which have total of 544 beds, said Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer of Ghaziabad. According to the figures complied for the Niti Aayog team, the officials said that at present they have 3176 (L1 category), 3390 (L2/L3 category), 331 (ICU) and 2348 (oxygenated) beds which are operational in the four districts. The L1, L2 and L3 hospitals are dedicated facilities which have come up under UP governments three-tier health structure to deal with Covid-19 cases. The L1 category hospitals are meant for asymptomatic patients while L2 category facilities admit Covid-19 patients with moderate health complications. The L3 category hospitals deal with positive patients requiring critical care. According to official figures, the four districts at present have a total of 971 active containment zones with 326 in Gutam Budh Nagar, 362 in Ghaziabad, 267 in Meerut and 44 in Baghpat. Earlier in the day, additional chief secretary (health) Amit Mohan Prasad also visited the MMG district hospital and inspected the premises, where a new RT-PCR laboratory will be set up on directions of UP chief minister. The additional chief secretary directed that the RT-PCR machine will arrive from Lucknow in the next two days and four new staff members will also join. We will also provide with four lab technicians and two other staff. We are expecting that the new laboratory will start functioning within next 10 days and this will be Ghaziabads first in-house RT-PCR testing facility, said Dr Anurag Bhargava, chief medical superintendent of MMG Hospital. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Lidl will open one new store per week between now and Christmas, creating up to 1,000 jobs, as part of plans to expand to 1,000 supermarkets by the end of 2023. The discounter plans to open over 25 stores in the next six months, and 100 stores in 2021 and 2022, creating a further 4,000 new jobs. By comparison Sainsbury's has 1,400 supermarkets, Morrisons has 500 outlets, and Britain's largest supermarket Tesco has 6,800 stores. Expanding: Lidl plans to open over 25 stores in the next six months, and 100 stores in 2021 and 2022, creating a further 4,000 new jobs Lidl GB chief executive Christian Hartnagel said he was pleased to be expanding 'despite the challenging circumstances' surrounding the virus. The supermarket also took on 2,500 temporary jobs at the start of lockdown, to help meet increased demand. Lidl saw its sales rise 16.5 per cent in the 12 weeks to May 17, according to data from Kantar, a bigger rise than those enjoyed by the Big Four of Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's. This is despite the discounter having a negligible online business. Discounters, Aldi and Lidl, together had 13.6 per cent of the UK grocery market. Cairo is reviewing its options as the latest round of negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) ended in deadlock. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said on Monday that regrettably the African Union (AU)-brokered talks between Cairo, Addis Ababa and Khartoum had ended without an agreement being reached. In phone interview with several satellite channels on Monday Shoukri said Egypt had engaged in the talks in good faith. Cairo has shown much flexibility and understanding over GERD issues and Ethiopian needs, but once again the round ends with no agreement, he said. We were looking forward to a change in some of Ethiopias positions, but they remained the same and we didnt reach consensus. We dont wish to return once again to the United Nations Security Council [UNSC], but if something threatens regional and international peace, the responsibility falls on the Security Council to take action to prevent it. On Tuesday news agencies showed satellite imagery suggesting the reservoir behind GERD was beginning to fill, though the phenomenon could be due to seasonal rains. On Monday, Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia presented the AU with their assessments of the outcome of the talks that had unfolded over more than a week. Held via video-conference, and with the presence of the AU, US and EU as monitors and a panel of experts sitting in online, the 10 sessions of talks failed to resolve outstanding points of disagreement. The Ministry of Irrigations almost daily statements on the progress of the negotiations were dotted with words like hiccups, difficulties and disagreements, and phrases such as Ethiopian intransigence. Off record, members of the negotiating team were even more pessimistic. And as one negotiator said on 11 July, the last day of talks, we tried everything and we were open to reasonable compromises but things are not moving. According to the same source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the ball is now in the court of the AU, which sponsored the talks and must now try to produce a text in the next week or so that can be approved by the three countries. No one is holding their breath given the statements coming out of Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa. In Addis Ababa, the line increasingly being adopted is that the first filling, of a little under five billion m3, does not require an agreement given that it is part of the construction and testing of the turbines. Cairo and Khartoum disagree. While neither Egypt nor Sudan have fully closed the door on the possibility of an AU-drafted compromise, the Egyptian negotiator said should one emerge, it will be little short of a miracle. Ethiopia is still not coming round on some very crucial points, he said, including filling in periods of drought, mitigation measures, a dispute settlement mechanism and the necessity for the agreement to be legally binding. Egypt, according to official statements, is unwilling to put such crucial matters on hold for an interim agreement on the first filling. Sudan has been insisting on some, but not all, the points that Egypt is stressing: for Sudan GERD poses problems that relate to the details of water management, rather than the existential issue of access to water. Egypt, which already suffers water poverty, depends on the Nile for close to 98 per cent of its water. The Blue Nile, on which GERD is being built, is the source of 85 per cent of the 55 billion m3 of Nile water Egypt receives. On Monday, the Ethiopian press reported that early filling measures began on 8 July, though this was denied by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew. Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, last week told his countrys parliament that the filling will begin this month and diplomats who follow internal politics in Ethiopia say it would be political suicide for Ahmed to retreat from this position. Cairo has no illusions. It is preparing for a first filling and considering a set of reactions that according to government officials includes recalling its ambassador to Addis Ababa and requesting a second UNSC session on the issue. Ahead of the first session Egypt requested, Cairo presented the UNSC with a draft resolution seeking a binding commitment that the parties to the dispute refrain from taking any unilateral steps. The draft did not go far. In an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly last week, Maged Abdel-Fattah, the permanent representative of the Arab League to the UNSC, questioned the political appetite of the UNSC to get involved in disputes over transboundary rivers. Still, Abdel-Fattah said that if the AU-sponsored talks failed to strike a deal then the matter would have to be referred again to the UNSC. Egypt maintains that if GERD is filled and operated without taking into consideration Egypts crucial water concerns the dam would constitute a direct threat to peace and security in east Africa. Cairo, according to informed officials, is ready to present the UNSC with a new draft resolution requesting a condemnation of Ethiopias unilateral move. Officials who spoke to the Weekly on condition of anonymity say Cairo is determined to push forward on the political and diplomatic fronts. In an earlier phase of the dispute over GERD, which has been unfolding for over a decade, Egypt secured a suspension of international support and assistance for the dam on the grounds no mega project on a transboundary river should be allowed without prior notice and prior agreement. The 2015 Declaration of Principles, signed by the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, furnished Egyptian consent for the construction of GERD, but should Ethiopia go ahead with a unilateral filling then Egypt will once again demand suspension of support for the project. According to officials in Cairo, Egypt is fully aware that should it fail to secure a fair agreement before the first filling, it will need to continue the uphill political battle to secure such an agreement before Addis Ababa moves on to the second filling of over 18 billion m3. Unfortunately, as one Cairo-based Western diplomat put it, the difference is at heart about the shares: Ethiopia is not willing to let Egypt keep its annual 55 billion m3 and Egypt is not willing to let go of this share, and it is hard to see how this will change after the first filling. By next year things might be a lot more complicated than they are today, not just because relations between Egypt and Ethiopia will have taken a turn for the worse, but also because Egypt could well have concluded that the AU is not a fair broker. With neither the UNSC nor the AU coming forward to help fix a deal, Egypt might have to resort to the US again. But next year will see either the second presidency of Donald Trump, who maintains very good relations with Egypts President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, or a new administration under Joe Biden. Should the latter come to pass Biden is unlikely to want to get involved in a seemingly intractable dispute during his first year in the White House. In his daily column in the independent daily Al-Shorouk, Editor-in-Chief Emad Hussein quoted a former high ranking and well-informed official as saying that if Ethiopia was to deny Egypt sufficient water, then Egypt could work on denying Ethiopia the electricity that it hopes GERD will generate. Hussein quoted his source as saying that Egypt would not target GERD but could well target the electricity stations connected to the dam. In his statement to the UNSC session on the dam, Foreign Minister Shoukri said that if it is filled and operated without an agreement GERD would constitute an existential threat to Egypt. While our position is that the only viable solution is to reach a fair and balanced agreement, Egypt will uphold and protect the vital interests of its people. Survival is not a question of choice, Shoukri told the UNSC. As well as lobbying for international support should there be no deal sometime this month, Egypt will also reach out to Nile Basin countries. This is crucial, Egypt has been reaching out to Africa for some time now but there is a lot more work to be done, especially when it comes to the countries of the Nile Basin. We need to pursue a multilayered developmental cooperation scheme, says Amany Al-Tawil, expert on East Africa at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Cairo officials say several Nile Basin countries are already contemplating irrigation and hydrological projects on the White Nile. The sooner we reach out to these countries to help them with these projects and make sure that their interests are served without causing significant harm to us the better it is for everyone, says Al-Tawil. Sooner or later, says Al-Tawil, the dispute over GERD will have to be resolved. It could happen in a matter of weeks if there is sufficient pressure put on Abiy Ahmed, or it may take longer. The question is about the future to make sure that this dispute does not repeat itself with Ethiopia or any other riparian state. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! When we're researching a company, it's sometimes hard to find the warning signs, but there are some financial metrics that can help spot trouble early. A business that's potentially in decline often shows two trends, a return on capital employed (ROCE) that's declining, and a base of capital employed that's also declining. This reveals that the company isn't compounding shareholder wealth because returns are falling and its net asset base is shrinking. So after glancing at the trends within Blancco Technology Group (LON:BLTG), we weren't too hopeful. What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)? For those who don't know, ROCE is a measure of a company's yearly pre-tax profit (its return), relative to the capital employed in the business. To calculate this metric for Blancco Technology Group, this is the formula: Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) (Total Assets - Current Liabilities) 0.0038 = UK287k (UK86m - UK9.3m) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2019). Therefore, Blancco Technology Group has an ROCE of 0.4%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Software industry average of 9.5%. View our latest analysis for Blancco Technology Group roce Above you can see how the current ROCE for Blancco Technology Group compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you're interested, you can view the analysts predictions in our free report on analyst forecasts for the company. So How Is Blancco Technology Group's ROCE Trending? We aren't inspired by the trend, given ROCE has reduced by 90% over the last five years and Blancco Technology Group is applying -44% less capital in the business, even after the capital raising they conducted (prior to their latest reported figures). Story continues On a side note, Blancco Technology Group has done well to pay down its current liabilities to 11% of total assets. So we could link some of this to the decrease in ROCE. Effectively this means their suppliers or short-term creditors are funding less of the business, which reduces some elements of risk. Some would claim this reduces the business' efficiency at generating ROCE since it is now funding more of the operations with its own money. The Bottom Line In short, lower returns and decreasing amounts capital employed in the business doesn't fill us with confidence. Despite the concerning underlying trends, the stock has actually gained 20% over the last five years, so it might be that the investors are expecting the trends to reverse. Either way, we aren't huge fans of the current trends and so with that we think you might find better investments elsewhere. Blancco Technology Group does have some risks though, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Blancco Technology Group that you might be interested in. While Blancco Technology Group isn't earning the highest return, check out this free list of companies that are earning high returns on equity with solid balance sheets. 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. Flag carrier Vietnam Airlines may face a liquidity shortage from late next month due to the coronavirus pandemic impact, the government said on Tuesday, as it explores measures to help the firm. Though Vietnam has successfully contained its own outbreak and its airlines are quickly restoring and expanding their domestic operations to meet growing demand, a ban on international commercial flights is still in place. "Without liquidity support, Vietnam Airlines will face a liquidity shortage from the end of August," Vietnam Airlines chief executive officer Duong Chi Thanh said in a news release on a government website. The company will lose 50 trillion dong ($2.16 billion) in revenue this year due to the impact of the pandemic, Thanh said in the news release, which was issued after Monday's meeting of government economic advisors. They were exploring measures to help the airline, in which the government holds the controlling 86.19 percent stake. Nguyen Dinh Cung, a government economic advisor, said at the meeting the government needed to work out measures to protect its assets at Vietnam Airlines. "As a shareholder, a government can lend, act as a guarantor or issue shares to existing shareholders to keep a company from going bankrupt," Cung was cited as saying in the news release. Shares of Vietnam Airlines have so far this year fallen by 22 percent to 26,300 dong each. The government has agreed to resume commercial flights to and from China after months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the frequency and timing of flights were still being discussed. Mayank Singh and Pushkar Banakar By Express News Service NEW DELHI: India is planning to urge China for exchanging maps of the western sector after the disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control is complete. Sources said that the exchange would help achieve clarity over each others claims in the region and thus making patrolling easier. Even after 22 rounds of talks on the border issue, China has shown no urgency in exchange of maps or clarifying their stand on the LAC, sources said and added that maps only for the central sector have been exchanged between the two countries. The high-level meeting is scheduled to begin at 11:30 AM in Chushul on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh. A senior Army officer said, Corps Commander level meeting scheduled tomorrow around 1130hr at Chushul, on our side. The last exchange of maps took place in 2002 when special representatives held talks. The maps pertain to the Central sector around Sikkim, an area that is largely peaceful. BR Deepak, sinologist and chairperson of the Centre for Chinese and South Asian Studies at JNU said that China fears opening a Pandoras Box by sharing maps. China believes it will open a Pandoras box as perceptions of the two countries with regard to the LAC are different, this will open many more points of frictions, he said. A former diplomat, who did not wish to be named, had a slightly different opinion. It has been Chinas strategy after the 1962 war to demand for a package deal and walk out of agreements. They did it even during one of the special representative talks where initially they agreed to share maps of the eastern sector and backed out at the last minute, he said. Former US ambassador to India, Rich Verma said, A central pillar of our partnership now rests on a free and open Indo-Pacific, a commitment to the rule of law, to international norms. By Anirban Sen, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and David Henry (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co beat Wall Street profit estimates in the second quarter due to a surge in trading revenue while setting aside a record $10.5 billion to cover future defaults, as the bank predicts the United States faces a tougher path to economic recovery. The biggest U.S By Anirban Sen, Elizabeth Dilts Marshall and David Henry (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co beat Wall Street profit estimates in the second quarter due to a surge in trading revenue while setting aside a record $10.5 billion to cover future defaults, as the bank predicts the United States faces a tougher path to economic recovery. The biggest U.S. lender's loan loss provisions reflect the damage wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, but its performance in markets bode well for trading powerhouses Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, both of which report later this week. The bank suspended share buybacks at least until the end of the third quarter but Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said its reserves were substantial enough to endure more losses and still be able to pay investors a dividend. "We can easily get through very, very tough times and never cut the dividend," Dimon told a call with analysts. Shares in JPMorgan rose about 2% as both profit and revenue beat consensus estimates, but the reserve build of $8.9 billion painted a grim picture for future quarters. JPMorgan now expects double-digit unemployment in the United States through the first half of 2021, but it warned that it may not have much visibility on the damage it is dealing with. "Compared to the first quarter, our reserve build now assumes a more protracted downturn ... as we prepare and reserve for something worse than our base case," Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Piepszak told reporters on a call. The provisions were a record for the bank, and came as Citigroup and Wells Fargo also set aside the biggest amounts since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, in part to accommodate for changes that require banks to take provisions now if a borrower may default at any point in the future. Dimon warned this was not a normal recession because of the high level of government funding propping up corporations' and consumers' finances. The tell-tale signs of a downturn may not be visible for months, he said. "You will see the effect of this recession. You're just not going to see it right away because of all the stimulus," he said. TRADING BOOM The bank's traders, often operating from home, had a huge quarter, with revenue up 77% as financial market dealing volumes hit record-breaking levels. Bond trading alone generated $7.3 billion in revenue as central banks bought billions worth of government paper under the huge stimulus programs to deal with the pandemic. While executives had indicated that Wall Street trading desks would set records in the quarter, the jump was well beyond expectations. "At first blush, our take is positive," said UBS AG analyst Saul Martinez. "Capital levels improved ... reserve builds appear conservative and full year guidance for net interest income and expenses were generally maintained." Overall, the bank's net income did fall, to $4.69 billion, or $1.38 per share, beating analysts' lowered estimates of $1.04 per share. Revenue rose 15% to $33.8 billion, also beating estimates. Net interest margin fell to 1.99% from 2.37% in the first quarter. Trading revenue surged to $11.3 billion. "We'd view these results as a good read-through for the other capital markets-centric banks, particularly Goldman," Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr wrote in a note on Tuesday. (Reporting by Anirban Sen in Bangalore and Elizabeth Dilts-Marshall and David Henry in New York; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra, Patrick Graham and Nick Zieminski) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Toronto police have arrested a 45-year-old teacher and charged him with five counts of sexual assault-related charges. Between January and June, a man befriended a 17-year-old girl and they communicated in-person and on telecommunications devices, police wrote in a statement released Tuesday morning. Police said the man sexually assaulted the girl and they are concerned there may be more victims. On Friday, Colin Ramsay, of Toronto, was charged with two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of luring a child. Ramsay has taught at Georges Vanier Secondary School since 2007, police said. Georges Vanier sent a letter to parents and guardians, dated Monday, that said the communication technology teacher was placed on home assignment when the administration learned of the allegations. While it is important to remember that laying criminal charges does not constitute guilt, and that a person is innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law, we also cannot and do not take these allegations lightly, the letter read. The safety of our students is a top priority and we are committed to enforcing policies about their well-being. Sure, it might be warm Wednesday, but what about the rest of the week? But six women who were part of the class-action litigation against Weinstein alleged in a Manhattan federal court filing that the settlement would only lead to class-action members receiving just US$11.2 million after deducting legal fees and costs. The awards from the settlement will range only from US$10,000 to US$20,000 each, they suggested, and the defendants insurers will be shielded from larger disbursements, the six additionally claimed. The six women also complained that the settlement agreement virtually absolved Weinstein, his brother Bob Weinstein and the board of liability; and that the settlement also earmarks another US$15.2 million to cover for the defendants defense costs. According to the filing, the settlement is a cruel hoax and one of the most one-sided and unfair class settlements in history. Reuters reported that the settlement requires approval by US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Following his conviction on February 24 of one count of criminal sexual assault in the first degree and one count of rape in the third degree, Weinstein is serving a 23-year prison term. In March, he tested positive for COVID-19 despite not showing any symptoms of the disease, but was said to be recovering a month later. Apart from land acquisition, another major cause for concern before the project is cost escalation owing to a fall in the rupee against the Japanese yen. Despite facing public protests and resistance from the Maharashtra government, the countrys first bullet train project between Ahmedabad and Mumbai has been able to acquire almost 60 per cent of the land required for the project. However, meeting the December 2023 deadline is still a cause for concern for Prime Minister Narendra Modis pet project on the back of the Covid-19 outbreak. We are on fast track. We have acquired 60 per cent of the land required for the project. Interestingly, in Gujarat it goes up to around 77 per cent, said Achal Khare, managing director of the National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), the company in charge of Indias bullet train road map. The total land requirement for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail corridor project was reduced to 1,380.08 hectares (ha), from 1,434.47 ha late last year, mainly due to actual reconciliation of the project scope. Of the total land required, 1,004.91 ha is private land. So far, around 820-830 ha has been acquired by NHSRCL. The government has signed a loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for providing Rs 15,000 crore, of the total loan amount of Rs 88,000 crore. The estimated total cost of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad project is Rs 1.08 trillion, of which 81 per cent cost is planned for funding through the loan from JICA. The project is on track, despite strong opposition from Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. If someone gives a loan without interest or loan with minimal interest, that does not mean we take it and snatch land from farmers. This is a white elephant, Thackeray said in an interview to Marathi daily Saamana. A large chunk of land acquisition is complete. Ironically, peoples queries are not answered in social impact and environment impact hearings. "In Gujarat, it is a forceful acquisition of land and in Maharashtra, too, the government has changed the rules from the earlier model of direct purchase. "Even now, acquisition in areas like Palghar in Maharashtra and Navsari in Gujarat may be a difficult task for the authorities, said Krishnakant Chauhan, an office-bearer of the National Alliance of Peoples Movements. Apart from land acquisition, another major cause for concern before the project is cost escalation owing to a fall in the rupee against the Japanese yen. Moreover, farmers in Maharashtra were asking for a higher compensation package. The 508.17-kilometre long network will pass through three districts (Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar) in Maharashtra and eight districts (Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Kheda, and Ahmedabad) in Gujarat. The alignment also passes through a small section falling in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Though the state government of Maharashtra was showing discontent, it had recently amended state land rules to start the process of acquisition as direct purchase of land was taking too much of time. Last year, the company had floated nine civil work tenders, which Khare said would be opened by the end of July or early August. One of the civil work contracts for construction of stations, bridges, viaducts, maintenance depots, and tunnels across the network is to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore. However, key tenders, including Shinkansen technology like electrical, rolling stocks, signaling, and tracks, will be open to only Japanese companies. By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government has launched a probe to find if the Chief Ministers Office was compromised in any way in assisting the accused in the smuggling case. The probe is being carried out by Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta and Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Rajesh Kumar Singh to find how Swapna Suresh managed to get a plum posting in a project under the IT department using a fake degree certificate. She was appointed in Space Park Projects under Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Ltd (KSITIL) . The findings would be significant as the future action on M Sivasankar, who was KSITIL chairman, hinges on the report. Though there were reports that he could be suspended, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he needed more proof. Sivasankar should not have gotten involved with the woman. So we removed him from the post, he said. The probe is also going to be crucial for consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) which advised the government in Space Park and e-mobility projects. the CM hinted the firm could face blacklisting. KSITIL MD C Jayasankarprasad has already filed a complaint accusing PwC and headhunting agency Vision Technology and Staffing Solutions Pvt Ltd for Swapnas appointment in Space Park Project. Pinarayi also dismissed Opposition UDFs move to bring in a resolution against Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan for his alleged links with the accused. He said the Speaker should not have been dragged into the controversy just because he inaugurated a shop belonging to the accused. There was no reason to doubt Swapna: Chief mInister Chief MInister Pinarayi Vijayan said the government was unaware of Swapnas departure to Bengaluru. As per media reports, she left two days before triple lockdown was announced in Thiruvananthapuram on July 6. There was no need for registering on Covid Jagratha portal for people going out of the state, he said. He said they had no reason to check her credentials as she was part of the UAE Consulate and used to accompany the UAE Consulate General. There was no reason to doubt her, he said. He said monitoring of such officials comes under the ambit of Central agencies. Coronavirus in Colorado: Live updates for Tuesday, July 14 - 403 coronavirus outbreak sites in the state; Over 136,000 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. OTTAWAThe case of a five-year-old Canadian girl stuck in Syria appears to be headed to court as her family escalates efforts to bring her to Canada. The girl known publicly as Amira was found on the side of a road last year after her parents and siblings were killed in an airstrike, and she was taken to a refugee camp. Her uncle, known as Ibrahim, has been trying to get her out of Syria and to Canada but the federal government has refused to help. His lawyers filed a lawsuit in Federal Court on Tuesday saying that in failing to assist the child, the government is violating her rights. Ibrahim has done everything humanly possible, including travelling to Syria on his own without security or protection, in an effort to bring his niece home to Canada, the application says. The respondents, despite their statutory and international law obligations and the rights of the applicant Amira, guaranteed by the charter, have for more than a year been unwilling to take a single step to enable the repatriation of Amira to take place. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been asked on June 29 why the federal government wasnt doing more to get Canadians out of the region. Trudeau said while there are countries that have diplomats on the ground in Syria, Canada is not one of them and it remains a dangerous place. We will continue to ensure that were keeping as a priority the protection of Canadians working abroad, particularly in this COVID context, but in every context, he said. In the court application, lawyers note that other countries with no consular services in Syria have leaned on other countries or humanitarian groups to help repatriate their citizens. The court documents state that Amira is one of 47 Canadians, 26 of whom are children, stuck in northeastern Syria. The regional government has urged countries to repatriate their citizens. In the court documents, lawyers say Ibrahim met personally with officials to plead Amiras case. The documents say he was assured that upon Canadas request, and coupled with the attendance of a delegate or representative of the Canadian government, the local government would be only too pleased to facilitate the repatriation of Amira to Canada. Read more about: Jaipur, July 14 : Congress MLA Vishvendra Singh, who was on Tuesday dropped from the Rajasthan cabinet for standing along with former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, warned Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot that the real game will start now. "It was 20-20 today, from tomorrow, the test match shall start, now wait and see what happens next.... I thank you all from my side. Ram Ram sa," he said in a tweet in Hindi. Retweeting it, he tagged Gehlot and sought to draw his attention with a finger pointing downward to his 'test match' tweet. Expressing his reaction to him being stripped of his ministerial post, he tweeted: "I just love the way how from being called 'Mantri' to 'MLA' was a day's work! Actually that gives me more room on the drawing board! A fresh canvas !" Also in a video posted on his Twitter handle, he questioned Gehlot's act of removing him along with Pilot and Ramesh Meena from the government, asking what mistake did they commit. "We never gave any statement against the Congress. We were simply trying to draw the attention of the party, the high command towards the manifesto which we drafted for the assembly elections and promised to implement those policies after we win the election. "We were simply trying to bring the government's attention towards issues of the state such as power, water supply and loan waivers," he said adding that he wants to know what will be the CM's answer to the people who have elected us as their representatives. Protesters are rallying again in southeast Russia in support of a popular regional governor who has been arrested for murder, citing political charges. Protesters are rallying again in southeast Russia, in support of a popular regional governor who has been arrested for murder. They say the charges are political, because Sergey Furgal won his seat in Khabarovsk from the governing United Russia party in 2018. Al Jazeeras Alexi OBrien reports. Harvey Weinstein enters State Supreme Court in New York on Oct. 11, 2018. A federal judge has rejected a settlement between Weinstein, who is serving a 23-year prison sentence, and his accusers. (Mark Lennihan / Associated Press) After more than a year of negotiations, infighting, numerous roadblocks and a criminal rape conviction for Harvey Weinstein, a federal judge rejected a proposed settlement between the disgraced mogul and nine women who said he sexually assaulted or abused them. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in New York said Tuesday he wouldn't consent to the $18.9-million settlement in part because the agreement tried to include claims by women who asked to be excluded from the deal. He said the proposed settlement unfairly included women who simply met Weinstein, in addition to those who were sexually assaulted by him. Not every woman was captured in the same way, Hellerstein said. Your settlement would create inequality among all of those people." Attorneys for women who opted out of the settlement praised the decision. We have been saying for over a year and a half that the settlement terms and conditions were unfair and should never be imposed on sexual assault survivors, said Douglas Wigdor, who represents six women who allege they were abused by Weinstein, in a statement. On behalf of our clients, we look forward to pursuing justice against Harvey Weinstein and his many enablers. Elizabeth A. Fegan, an attorney representing the class action plaintiffs, expressed disappointment in the ruling. "Weve long held that we needed to find justice for all the women that Weinstein preyed upon in a fair and equitable way," Fegan said in a statement. "Now, we need to turn our attention to litigating our clients individual cases." The women agreeing to the proposed settlement actresses and screenwriters sued the former movie producer in December 2018. They alleged his company, its officers and directors, and Miramax, the studio he once ran, enabled his predatory conduct. The only remaining defendant in the case is Weinstein, after others won dismissals. On Monday, one day before the hearing, numerous women vociferously objected to the agreement, denouncing it as offering inadequate compensation to the victims while enabling Weinstein and the directors of his namesake company to evade accountability or liability. Story continues This is great news, said Rowena Chiu, a former assistant for Weinstein who worked in Miramaxs London office. She alleges that Harvey attempted to rape her during the 1998 Venice International Film Festival. Weinstein has denied claims of having nonconsensual sex. We have been conditioned to expect the worst and that was true of this too," said Chiu, who is not participating in the class action settlement. "But this is a good indication that the wheels of justice are finally changing and turning for the better. I am grateful that the burden is not just on the survivors to say this is unfair to women. From the start, the negotiations were fraught and complex, according to various parties involved. The settlement was contingent upon all of the plaintiffs being aligned. In this case, there were numerous accusers across multiple jurisdictions, each with her own claims and agendas. In addition to a class action suit of alleged victims and former Weinstein Co. employees, there are at least 18 women with individual suits against Weinstein for sexual misconduct, assault or harassment. Last year, as the process dragged on, some attorneys, including Wigdor, rejected the proposal outright, while victims expressed disgust at the process; one called it absolutely re-traumatizing. New York-based Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy in March 2018 and later sold of most of its assets to private equity firm Lantern Capital Partners for $289 million. Last June, a dispute between the estate of the Weinstein Co. and former directors whove been accused of enabling Weinsteins alleged misconduct threatened to derail the settlement altogether. The directors and officers of Weinstein Co. declined a demand that they pay $5 million to help defray the estates debts. In exchange, the estate would agree to keep the company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and not liquidate assets by pursuing a Chapter 7 filing, according to two people involved in the matter. Under the proposal, the estate would not retain a law firm that could sue the directors for failing to protect the company from Weinsteins alleged sexual misconduct. The directors balked, however, saying that the $5 million should be paid out by other parties; the estate rejected that idea. The numerous hurdles also jeopardized the amount of the potential payout. The sum that went before the judge was considerably less than what was initially proposed when an investor group sought to buy the Weinstein Co. assets two years ago. That deal, which eventually collapsed, included a victims fund of up to $90 million. Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year sentence at a maximum security prison in upstate New York after his conviction at a trial this year. He was convicted of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. A representative for Weinstein declined to comment. He has denied all wrongdoing and plans to appeal. Information from Bloomberg contributed to this report. Ghislaine Maxwell attends day 1 of the 4th Annual WIE Symposium at Center 548 in New York City, on Sept. 20, 2013. (Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images) Ghislaine Maxwell Pleads Not Guilty in Epstein-Related Case, Held Without Bail Former Jeffrey Epstein girlfriend and associate Ghislaine Maxwell pleaded not guilty to charges of recruiting teenage girls for Epstein, who was later convicted of related sex abuse charges. A judge later ordered her to be held without bail until her trial after prosecutors argued she is a flight risk. When asked by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan on how she pleaded to the charges, she replied, Not guilty, your honor, according to reporters in the court. Maxwell, the wealthy daughter of British media mogul Robert Maxwell, appeared via video conference for her arraignment on six charges including the recruiting and grooming of minors to be abused by Epstein in the 1990s. Nathan scheduled her trial for July 12, 2021, with a prosecuting lawyer estimating that it could take three weeks to complete. Prosecutors stated on Tuesday that the investigation remains ongoing but at this point, we do not currently anticipate seeking a superseding indictment that includes more charges and other defendants. This was not a single incident, a single victim, or anything isolated, they also said. This was an ongoing scheme to abuse victims for a pattern of years. Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell with an unidentified male companion attends the Opening of the Asprey Flagship Store on 5th Avenue in New York City on Dec. 8, 2003. (Mark Mainz/Getty Images) Prosecutors also argued in court papers filed on Monday that Maxwell was a danger to flee the country, describing her as an extreme risk. She has access to millions of dollars and is also a French citizen. Instead of attempting to address the risks of releasing a defendant with apparent access to extraordinary financial resources, who has the ability to live beyond the reach of extradition in France, and who has already demonstrated a willingness and ability to live in hiding, the defendant instead proposes a bail package that amounts to little more than an unsecured bond, a government memo stated. L: Jeffrey Epstein in a booking photograph in Palm Beach, Fla., on July 27, 2006. (Palm Beach Sheriffs Office) R: An aerial view of Little Saint James Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, a property purchased by Jeffery Epstein more than two decades ago. (Gianfranco Gaglione/AP Photo) Prosecutors on Tuesday said that financial information that Maxwell gave to the government was questionable, saying that she had zero income. It just doesnt make sense, a prosecutor said, adding that it is not clear whether she received money from a trust or insurance fund. Her lifestyle does not match the assets she listed, they said. Maxwell was arrested on July 2 at a New Hampshire home where she was residing. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell last year, which triggered speculation about whether he really died of a suicide, as the citys medical examiner ruled. He counted powerful figures such as former President Bill Clinton, Britains Prince Andrew, and Microsofts Bill Gates as friends. Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls between 2002 and 2005. Maxwell, meanwhile, was accused of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls from 1994 to 1997 and lying about her role in 2016. Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing says it plans to expand its operations to smaller cities and towns in Australia, reaching 3 million more people, in the latest move by the company to push its global expansion. Starting August 10, Didis Express service will be available in 20 new regional cities and towns including the countrys capital Canberra and Adelaide in South Australia, while its 7-seater Max service will initially be available in Adelaide, according to a company statement on Tuesday. Since entering the Australian market in May 2018, the platform has been available in eight cities including the countrys four largest Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. Operating locally through its wholly-owned subsidiary, it has around 75,000 regular drivers and 1.5 million active passengers in the country. Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. Globalisation is one of Didis core strategies after the company became the top player in the saturated mainland Chinese market. Since pushing Uber out of China four years ago, Didi has been on an acquisition spree around the world, investing in Grab and Ola in Asia, Lyft in the US, 99 in Brazil, Taxify in Europe and Careem in Dubai. The company now operates in eight overseas markets outside China including Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Japan, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Panama, covering more than 260 major cities globally. By the beginning of this year, Didi had delivered more than 1 billion trips in its international markets, the company said. While Didi is accelerating its international development, the platform is expanding its scope of operations and diversifying its business, according to a Didi spokeswoman. Amid the global coronavirus pandemic when international transport ground to a virtual standstill and Didis core ride-hailing business was hit hard, the company started to offer services such as on-demand delivery and food delivery. Now Didi offers food delivery services in Brazil, Mexico and Japan. Story continues Despite the negative impact from the pandemic, Jean Liu Qing, president of the privately-owned Didi, said in May that the companys core ride-hailing business had reached profitability for the first time and that the company had no plans for job cuts or raising capital. The Beijing-based business is on track to hit its target of processing 100 million orders per day worldwide and reaching 800 million monthly active users within three years, Didi chief executive Cheng Wei said in an internal meeting in April. Didi counts Apple, SoftBank Group, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings among its biggest shareholders. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post. Purchase the 120+ page China Internet Report 2020 Pro Edition, brought to you by SCMP Research, and enjoy a 30% discount (original price US$400). The report includes deep-dive analysis, trends, and case studies on the 10 most important internet sectors. Now in its 3rd year, this go-to source for understanding China tech also comes with exclusive access to 6+ webinars with C-level executives, including Charles Li, CEO of HKEX, James Peng, CEO/founder of Pony.ai, and senior executives from Alibaba, Huawei, Kuaishou, Pinduoduo, and more. Offer valid until 31 August 2020. To purchase, please click here. More from South China Morning Post: This article Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing expands to smaller cities in Australia as part of global push first appeared on South China Morning Post For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2020. Oregons jobless rate fell sharply in June as businesses called tens of thousands of employees back to work, according to new data out Tuesday. Employers added nearly 57,000 jobs in aggregate, dropping the states unemployment rate by 3 percentage points to 11.2%. Thats still a historically high rate, though, and the states outlook is highly uncertain. Coronavirus infections are on the rise statewide and statistical models warn of exponential growth through the end of July. That could keep more Oregonians at home depressing future job growth and the pace of the recovery. Also worrisome: the number of new jobless claims being filed in Oregon is running at twice the rate it was before the pandemic indicating the states labor market remains historically weak. Oregons labor market looked to be as good as one could hope for in June. Growth is driven by workers being recalled to their jobs as social distancing restrictions lifted and the pandemic looked to be improving, Josh Lehner, a state economist, wrote in an analysis of Tuesdays numbers. " However given the uptick in new COVID-19 cases, and the uncertainty surrounding federal aid to businesses and households, there remains considerable uncertainty surrounding the overall economic outlook. The state had 243,000 jobless workers in June, according to Tuesdays data from the Oregon Employment Department, nearly triple the number of unemployed a year earlier. But some industries are bouncing back. The leisure and hospitality sector added nearly 50,000 jobs in May and June as restaurants reopened and hotels began filling some rooms that had been empty since March. The sector is still down 73,000 jobs from where it was before the shutdown. Health care has recovered nearly 60% of the jobs that industry lost early in the pandemic, when hospitals and clinics stopped elective procedures in anticipation of an influx of COVID-19 patients. And retail has recovered about half of all jobs it lost. Oregons June jobless rate was roughly equal to the national rate last month (11.1%), but there are a number of signs suggesting limits to Oregons recovery. The state was averaging 4,700 new jobless claims a week before the pandemic hit. Oregon fielded 8,600 new claims in the week ending July 4, indicating the many employers are still struggling and an alarming number of workers continue losing their jobs. Oregons faltering jobless claims system, which has left tens of thousands of Oregonians without income through the heart of the pandemic, continues to struggle. While the state has effectively cleared the backlog of unprocessed regular jobless claims, which once numbered more than 100,000, thousands of those workers are still waiting for their benefits. Thats because the state is struggling to resolve errors in processing their claims and to adjudicate questions about eligibility. On top of that, the state has a backlog of more than 60,000 self-employed workers newly eligible for benefits whose claims havent been processed. The employment department hopes to work through that backlog within the next month, but its behind schedule. -- Mike Rogoway | mrogoway@oregonian.com | twitter: @rogoway | Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. The number of primates and primate parts imported into the UK for laboratory animal experiments has nearly tripled in a year to more than 6,700, figures suggest. Experts warned the steep rise risks spreading diseases that could be fatal to humans. Monkeys can pass viruses including avian flu, Sars and vCJD to people. Authorities handed out permits last year for an unusually high 6,752 monkeys and monkey tissue parts to be flown in and sent to laboratories, where chemicals or drugs would be tested on them. Primate-welfare workers are demanding to know why numbers shot up. The animals long-tailed macaques were mostly from Mauritius (6,120), and another 632 were flown in from Vietnam. The figures are based on permits issued by the government-run Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). But activists say that more primates may also have been imported for lab tests from within the EU, where there are several primate-breeding companies, but the agency does not have to record them. Britain has banned tests on wild primates but still allows them to be brought in and sold as pets and allows their offspring to be imported for research. In 2018 the most recent data available the number of experiments on primates in the UK rose by 8 per cent, to 3,170. Most of these 2,900 were carried out on long-tailed macaques, of which four-fifths were testing the toxicity of chemicals or drugs. Sarah Kite, of Action for Primates (AfP), said the level of imports was unusually high, calling for the APHA to provide reasons for the sudden increase. In 2018, 2,666 long-tailed macaques were imported to the UK from Mauritius and Vietnam, Cites data shows. In 2017, it was about 1,000. But last year, APHA permits were given for 6,790 imports, including 38 for breeding. Of these, 25 were squirrel monkeys and seven black lion tamarin monkeys. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said a number of tissue samples, such as blood or saliva, could be taken from one animal, but each sample could have a permit so the actual number of live animals imported was lower than 6,790. Ms Kite said: The UK has, over the years, continued to perpetuate a trade that centres on the cruel trapping of wild animals. Recommended Hundreds of animals suffered as experimenters broke rules in UK labs Importing the offspring of wild animals for tests helps fund the capture of monkeys from their habitats, AfP says. The capture of wild monkeys inflicts significant suffering and distress. Primates are highly social animals, and trapping and removing them from their habitats, families and social groups is cruel. It can also result in injuries or even death, she said. Globally, the long-tailed macaque is the most heavily traded primate and the most widely used in research. Experiments on them to assess their reactions to drugs or chemicals involve restraining the animals and injecting them with the drugs or force-feeding them through a tube down to the stomach. The black lion tamarin, native to Sao Paulo in Brazil, is officially endangered. Permits last for up to six months so some of the 6,790 animals may have been imported this year. Recommended Monkeys steal coronavirus blood samples after attacking lab assistant Monkeys bought for breeding will have gone to zoos or the pet trade, it is believed, after previous surveys found thousands of primates are kept as pets in the UK. Ms Kite also warned of the disease risk, pointing out that the US banned imports of primates for the pet trade as long ago as 1975 because of the risk of disease. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention states: Non-human primates may carry infectious diseases that are dangerous and sometimes fatal to humans. It says they include Ebola, yellow fever, monkeypox and other diseases not yet known or identified. Last year a case of monkeypox was found in southwest England. China has long been the key supplier of macaques for international research but the countrys ban on the trade and transport of wild animals following the coronavirus outbreak, along with the USA-China trade war, has effectively ended its trade, prompting countries such as the US to look for other sources for lab monkeys. Africa and Mauritius are the next biggest suppliers of long-tailed macaques for research. But hundreds of primates are also captured each year from tropical rainforests in South America. Recommended Oxford University tops list for experimentation on animals Action for Primates is part of the Campaign to End Wildlife Trade, a coalition calling on the UK government to fight for a global ban in wildlife trade at the G20 meeting in November and to end the import and export of wild animals into the UK. The Independents Stop The Wildlife Trade campaign was launched by its proprietor Evgeny Lebedev to call for an end to high-risk wildlife markets and for an international effort to regulate the illegal trade in wild animals to reduce our risk of future pandemics. A government spokesperson said: The UK has one of the most comprehensive animal welfare systems in the world, and we are committed to the proper regulation of the use of animals in scientific research. All research must implement the 3Rs replacement, reduction and refinement which require that animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible and the number of animals used is reduced to the minimum needed to achieve the results sought. For those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering. Photo: (Photo : Screenshot from YouTube) They say siblings have a bond that stays forever. Even though as little kids, they would seem to get into fights frequently, they tend to become closer when they get older, just like brothers Todd and Alex Burkemper from Missouri. Older brother Todd has been stashing his younger brother's rent money for years. That was not because he wanted to piss him off like when kids do pranks. It was because he wanted to surprise him later. READ ALSO: Mom, Surprised by 3 Young Daughters After Giving Birth Todd's care for his brother The Chive reports that after graduating from college in 2011, Todd started to work hard. He landed a job in a property management software company as an app designer and senior software developer. Being blessed with such a job opportunity, Todd was able to move forward. Despite the debts from his student loan, house, and car payment, he managed to pull through. However, this did not mean abandoning his beloved brother. It was actually the exact opposite. Todd made sure she got Alex's back. When Alex graduated from college in 2017, Todd offered for Alex to stay in his house at Wentzville, Missouri. For the first six months, Alex stayed for free. Although after that, Todd charged his brother for rent. Todd religiously took his brother's money. The older sibling deposited this to a savings account and tossed in a few more bucks before he revealed a surprise to Alex. READ ALSO: Dad Who Grew Up Without a Father Creates a YouTube Channel For Kids Who Need Support Rent money turned house down payment All along, Todd kept the rent money to give it back to Alex as a down payment for Alex's own home. Todd only revealed this to Alex when the latter already decided that he wanted his own home. Alex's offer to a house was accepted last May 26, so it was only proper for Todd to surprise his sibling. The brothers' parents were there to witness the revelation to Alex. They have known about the secret savings over the years but made sure it remained a secret. READ ALSO: 6 Amusing Facts About Sibling Relationships That Parents Should Know A heartwarming story The brothers' mother, Barbara Burkemper, filmed the surprise to Alex. She was also the one who share the story to Good News Network, for everyone to see. She said in an email to the site that "After posting this story on my FaceBook page that evening, and reading all of the heartwarming responses, I felt compelled to share this story of brotherly love with a wider audience." Barbara also shared that the two are best friends since the beginning. Todd said that as an older sibling, he does not want Alex to experience the same struggles that he had to go through. Everyone in the room was crying during the announcement, especially Alex. When Todd showed the screen of his phone to Alex and told him that it was his money from all the rent payments that he made, the brothers turned emotional. The parents of the Burkemper brothers are very proud of the kind of people their boys became. READ ALSO: 50 Years After: Brother and Sister Finally Reunited By Kim Bo-eun Lina Korea CEO Benjamin Hong. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:57:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The mega Temburong Bridge, partly built by a Chinese company, linking Brunei's capital Bandar Seri Begawan and its Temburong district was officially named as the "Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Bridge" on Tuesday evening. Brunei's Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah announced the decision to name the newly opened sea-crossing bridge during a nationally televised speech on his 74th birthday celebration, which falls on Wednesday. The Sultan Haji Omar Ali Saifuddien was the father of the monarch, who is also widely recognized as the Architect of Modern Brunei. Temburong district has been physically isolated from the rest of Brunei, which has hindered the economic growth of the district. The sea-crossing bridge is one of the key national balanced development projects promoted by the Brunei government, which is also the largest bridge construction project ever in the history of Brunei. In his speech, the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah stated that the Sultan Haji Omar 'Ali Saifuddien Bridge' is the most prominent symbol of Brunei's modernization. The 30-km bridge aims to reduce traveling time between Brunei's capital and Temburong district from two hours to about 15 minutes by bypassing Malaysia's Limbang. Construction of the bridge started in 2014 and was officially opened in March 2020. The bridge was jointly built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a Chinese state-owned company, and Daelim, a South Korean company. "We are proud to be involved in the building of the bridge and we are proud to demonstrate Chinese technology in the construction of the bridge," Jin Chunshang, a manager from CSCEC which is responsible for the CC4 package of the bridge, told Xinhua on Tuesday evening. According to the manager, started on October 1, 2015, the CC4 section constructed by CSCEC spans about 12 km in length, including a fully prefabricated viaduct, which crosses Brunei's uninhabited forests and swamps. Wang Xiaolin, president of the Chinese Enterprise Association in Brunei and general manager of Bank of China Brunei Branch, said that the bridge is the largest and most influential transportation infrastructure project in Brunei and has become a new landmark in the country. "After the bridge was opened, the travel time between the capital and Temburong has been shortened from two hours to about 15 minutes, which is of great significance to the social and economic development of Brunei," he told Xinhua. Enditem New Delhi, July 14 : The employees union of state-run telecom operator BSNL will stage protests across the country on Thursday on a host of issues including the cancellation of its 4G tender and non-payment of salaries. All major unions are organising 'lunch-hour black-flag' demonstrations throughout the country under the banner of All Unions and Association of BSNL (AUAB), said a statement by AUAB. These demonstrations will be organised, by maintaining social distancing and by taking other precautions, like wearing of masks. The BSNL employees will also wear black-badges the whole day on July 16. The employees body would demand that BSNL should immediately be allowed to roll out its 4G services and the tender should be issued immediately. Further, they want that in the matter of procuring new equipments and upgradation, there should not be any discrimination between BSNL and other private telecom service providers. Recently, the Centre cancelled the 4G upgradation tender for BSNL as it had decided to come up with fresh specifications for the upgrade process, in a move to keep Chinese technology companies at bay as the border tussle escalated with the northern neighbour. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) would issue a fresh tender for the same, and people in the know said that Chinese companies may not be allowed to participate. "The agitational programme is being organised to express the deep anguish and resentment of the employees against cancellation of BSNL's 4G tender, cancellation of BSNL's proposal for upgradation of its 49,300 BTSs to 4G, abnormal delay in issuing 'Add on Order' for 4G equipments, inordinate delay in the implementation of BSNL's Revival Package and against the non-settlement of the burning problems of the employees," said the statement. The umbrella body of BSNL's employees' unions noted that rolling out of 4G services is the backbone for the revival of this telecom PSU, but the recent cancellation of the tender floated by BSNL for procuring 4G equipments at a cost of Rs 9,300 crore, has brought the company back to square one. It said that BSNL is already having 49,300 base transceiver stations (BTS), which are 4G compatible and through minor upgradation, all these equipment can be converted into 4G BTSs with an investment of about Rs 1,500 crore. In addition to this, BSNL could have added another 15,000 BTSs, by placing an Add on Order to the existing mobile tender, it added. Noting that in October 2019, the PSU could have rolled out pan-India 4G services, AUAB said: "Being the sole owner of the company, the Government of India also cannot shirk its responsibility in this matter." "Adding insult to injury, the tender floated by BSNL to procure 4G equipment, has been cancelled by the government, based on a complaint from the Telecom Equipments and Services Promotional Council (TEPC)," it said. AUAB said that BSNL is already lagging four years behind the private operators, in terms of 4G and the cancellation of the tender is going to inordinately delay the company's 4G launch. Saying that TEPC's contention has been to bar foreign companies from participating in BSNL's tender, AUAB statement pointed out that when private operators are procuring equipment from multinationals, "why BSNL alone should be compelled to procure 4G equipments from domestic vendors, whose 4G technology is not tested or proven so far." It alleged a conspiracy to destabilise BSNL by disrupting its rolling out of 4G services. AUAB further said that even after the lapse of nine months, the implementation of the much publicised BSNL's Revival Package is moving at a snail's pace. "Except the swift retrenchment of 79,000 BSNL employees under VRS, all other assurances given in BSNL's Revival Package have been put in cold storage." The management should ensure that the salary payment of the employees is made on the last working day of every month. Deductions made from employees' salary, on account of "society dues", should immediately be remitted, it said. Regarding the monetisation of the company's assets under the revival package, the organisation said that the land asset should not be handed over to corporates, at "throwaway" prices. "These lands should be sold in a transparent manner and at the prevailing market rates. They should not be sold at book value or at circle rates. The AUAB will strictly monitor these dealings," it said. Such memories surfaced Sunday, when Twitter users took on the anti-Semitic hashtag #JewishPrivilege, a variation on the old smear that Jews are somehow controlling money and politics, and that everyone else is suffering as a result. Jews and allies retweeted the hashtag thousands of times, with ironic references to the privilege of losing relatives to Nazi death camps, fearing for your safety in your house of worship or being showered with pennies on the school bus. The USS Ralph Johnson. US Navy A US Navy destroyer challenged China in the South China Sea with a freedom-of-navigation operation on Tuesday. The USS Ralph Johnson sailed near the disputed Spratly Islands, the Navy said, adding in a statement that "unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas." The operation, one of at least six such operations this year, comes after the US State Department officially rejected most of China's sea claims, declaring its maritime efforts to assert sovereignty unlawful. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. After the US State Department declared Beijing's maritime claims in the South China Sea and efforts to assert dominance unlawful, the US Navy destroyer USS Ralph Johnson further challenged China with a sail-by operation Tuesday. The Navy released a couple photos on Tuesday of the destroyer sailing near the contested Spratly Islands, and a Navy spokesman confirmed the ship conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation in the area. The USS Ralph Johnson conducting maritime security operations near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Anthony Collier "This freedom of navigation operation upheld the rights, freedoms, and lawful uses of the sea recognized in international law by challenging the restrictions on innocent passage imposed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan," the Navy said in a statement. "Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea pose a serious threat to the freedom of the seas," the service added. "The United States upholds freedom of navigation as a principle," the Navy said later in its statement. "As long as some countries continue to claim and assert limits on rights that exceed their authority under international law, the United States will continue to defend the rights and freedoms of the sea guaranteed to all. No member of the international community should be intimidated or coerced into giving up their rights and freedoms." Story continues The US is aligning its South China Sea policy with a 2016 international arbitration tribunal ruling and officially rejecting many of China's claims to the contested waterway, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday. "Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," Pompeo said, adding, "The PRC's predatory world view has no place in the 21st century." While China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei all have overlapping claims to the strategic South China Sea, China is among the most aggressive in enforcing its claims. Chinese military outposts can be found in the disputed Paracel and Spratly islands, despite a 2016 arbitration tribunal ruling that discredited many of China's claims. Beijing rejected the ruling by the international Permanent Court of Arbitration, which made the decision at the request of the Philippines after China's seizure of Scarborough Shoal, and has continued to pursue its interests. The USS Ralph Johnson near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Anthony Collier Much to China's frustration, the US routinely challenges Beijing's restrictions on innocent passage and excessive claims through regular freedom-of-navigation operations. The Navy has conducted at least six such operations this year alone, as well as multiple presence operations. The Air Force also routinely conducts bomber overflights in the region. Earlier this month, the US sent two carrier strike groups into the South China Sea to conduct dual carrier operations at the same time the Chinese military was conducting exercises in the area. In recent months, the US military has stepped up its activities in the South China Sea in response to what the Pentagon described as "increasing opportunistic activity by the PRC to coerce its neighbors and press its unlawful maritime claims in the South China Sea while the region and the world is focused on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic," a global crisis that has triggered an apparent escalation in US-China tensions. David Stillwell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific, strongly criticized China's efforts to enforce its will in the South China Sea as "gangster tactics" at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event Tuesday. He said the US "will not let China claim the South China Sea as its own," USNI News reported. Pompeo's statement Monday provided clarity on the US position in the South China Sea, where Stillwell said the US will not remain neutral. The statement clears the way for potentially tougher US responses. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the US statement on the South China Sea "irresponsible." "It violates and distorts international law, deliberately stokes territorial and maritime disputes, and undermines regional peace and stability," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said Tuesday. He later stated: "We strongly deplore and firmly oppose the wrong move by the US and urge it to stop stirring up trouble on the South China Sea issue and stop continuing down the wrong path." Read the original article on Business Insider ISTANBUL - The Turkish government noted that it would not accept any interference into its sovereignty after Pope Francis said he was ''pained'' by the reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The building had in the past served as the largest church in Christianity for almost a millenium prior to becoming a mosque and then a museum. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that it is a domestic issue and that foreign countries and authorities had no right to interfere in such matters. Turkey plans to reopen Hagia Sophia - which had been a museum for 85 years - as a mosque for worship on July 24. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart in a phone call that access to the monument would remain open to all, including foreign nationals, and that Christian relics would be safe. Entrance will become free of charge, as is the case for all mosques. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Family members of three people slain in Arkansas more than 20 years ago have been among the most vocal opponents to the federal governments plan to execute one of the men convicted of killing their loved ones. That man, Daniel Lewis Lee, is first on the list of prisoners set to be killed as the Trump administration tries to bring back federal executions this week after an almost two-decade hiatus. But relatives of William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, who were killed in 1996, say thats not what they want. They have pleaded for years that Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, should receive the same life sentence as the ringleader in a deadly scheme that aimed to establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. Hours after the scheduled time for Lees execution, it was unclear whether any of the executions would go forward. The family members say their grief is compounded by the push to execute the 47-year-old Lee in the middle of a pandemic. As a supporter of President Trump, I pray that he will hear my message: the scheduled execution of Danny Lee for the murder of my daughter and granddaughter is not what I want and would bring my family more pain, Earlene Peterson, Nancys mother and Sarahs grandmother, said in a statement last month. Family members say the government is forcing them to put their lives at risk if they travel during the coronavirus pandemic to witness Lees execution. Peterson; her granddaughter Monica Veillette; and Kimma Gurel, Nancy Muellers sister and Sarahs aunt, asked a judge for a delay, which a judge initially granted. That decision was overturned as lawyers for the federal government, Lee and others fought in court in the days leading up to the execution. Peterson, 81, lives in Arkansas, while Veillette and Gurel live in Washington state. An attorney for the relatives who object to the execution said they hadnt travelled to Indiana as of Monday morning. A Justice Department official said other members of the family were still planning to attend. Some would have to travel thousands of miles to witness the execution in a small room in which the social distancing needed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is virtually impossible. It feels disingenuous to me for someone to say theyre doing this in our familys name and for us, and no ones taken into account our well-being and health, Veillette said. She said other relatives want to witness the execution to counter the governments argument that its 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, she said. Lees execution would be only the third carried out in the U.S. since March due to concerns about COVID-19. Missouri executed an inmate in May, and Texas executed a man last week. The federal executions will bring together lawyers, victims families, media and others from other communities, which could pose a public health risk. By late June, more than 57,000 inmates at state and federal prisons had tested positive for the virus, according to data compiled by The Marshall Project and The Associated Press You are creating a petri dish, and then youre bringing that into the prison, and the prison is already a hot spot for the virus, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The Bureau of Prisons says its implementing safety measures that include conducting temperature checks and requiring witnesses to wear masks. Lees attorneys have pressed their case that his death sentence is unfair, and cited evidence from his trial that Chevie Kehoe, the alleged ringleader, actually killed Sarah. Kehoe, of Colville, Washington, recruited Lee in 1995 for his white supremacist organization. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of the Muellers and Sarah in Tilly, Arkansas, about 75 miles (120 kilometres) northwest of Little Rock. At their 1999 trial, prosecutors said Kehoe and Lee stole guns and $50,000 in cash from the Muellers as part of their plan to establish a whites-only nation. Prosecutors said Lee and Kehoe incapacitated the Muellers and questioned Sarah about where they could find money and ammunition. Then, they used stun guns on them, sealed trash bags with duct tape on their heads, taped rocks to their bodies and dumped them in a bayou. Kehoe and Lee were both convicted of murder. The lead prosecutor and judge from Lees trial have in recent years called the disparity in their sentences unfair. Perhaps more than anything else, this case illustrates that the most carefully crafted capital punishment regime in the hands of the humans who must carry it out can never be completely free of arbitrariness in all of its implementations, Judge G. Thomas Eisele wrote in a 2008 ruling denying Lees request to set aside his death sentence. The U.S. Supreme Court last month cleared the way for Lee and three other federal inmates to be put to death. The other three are slated to die for killing people from Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. ___ AP writer Michael Balsamo in Terre Haute, Indiana, and former AP writer Hannah Grabenstein contributed to this report. ___ Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo. Sorry! This content is not available in your region Controversial abortion law advanced to the second reading, Kicura remains behind bars. Education Minister Branislav Grohling is said to be another politician, within a short period of time, who plagiarised his dissertation in the past. (Source: TASR) Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Here's your overview of news from Slovakia for July 14. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Education minister's questionable degree Another member of the current government - Education Minister Branislav Grohling - is suspected of not having written his dissertation as it should have been. The minister's work stands somewhere in between a plagiarised and compiled work, with nearly 60 percent of the dissertation being identical with previously written books, including his own undergraduate thesis. Speaking with journalists, the minister said he would write his final thesis better today. I am not saying that the work is super great. Education Minister B. Grohling Grohling obtained his law degree from the Pan-European University (PEVS) in Bratislava. The university, as well as the minister himself, have claimed the work was written in accordance with the then valid rules. It is the second plagiarism case of the current government, after allegations faced by Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollar, who faced a no-confidence vote recently. Imported COVID-19 cases: Czech Republic tops the list As many as 187 new COVID-19 cases were imported from abroad last month, a new analysis by the Banska Bystrica regional branch of the Public Health Authority. People contracted the virus most often in the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Great Britain. Most patients were asymptomatic. The analysis looked into the June and early July data. Holidaymakers in Bratislava get on a train from Prague, heading for Croatia, on June 30. (Source: TASR) Investigation of fighter jet crash concluded The MiG-29 fighter jet crash was not caused by a technical issue of the machine, but a series of wrong decisions. Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad , along with representatives of the armed forces, reported on the conclusions of the 11-member investigative committee on Monday. The committee found 13 partial factors contributed to the crash. When the pilot failed to land in Sliac, he rerouted to Bratislava airport, but the plane ran out of fuel halfway there. The fighter jet was fully equipped with ammunition that started to explode after the crash, causing an estimated 38 million in damage. In other news on Tuesday: United Kingdom: Regular flights between Slovakia and the UK should resume from next week, July 20, following Slovak experts' decision from July 13 to put Britain on the list of less risky countries. It is yet unknown if Great Britain will include Slovakia on the list of its travel corridors. Regular flights between Slovakia and the UK should resume from next week, July 20, following Slovak experts' decision from July 13 to put Britain on the list of less risky countries. It is yet unknown if Great Britain will include Slovakia on the list of its travel corridors. New COVID-19 cases: A total of six people tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. The total number of cases stands at 1,908 as of today. A total of six people tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday. The total number of cases stands at 1,908 as of today. Coronavirus fines: MPs are discussing higher fines related to non-compliance with the self-isolation requirement after returning from the countries outside the list of low-risk countries in a fast-tracked procedure. One of the amendments includes additional checks of people returning from red-zone countries who are to report their return to public health authorities; mobile operators should provide the Public Health Office with the phone numbers of such people. MPs are discussing higher fines related to non-compliance with the self-isolation requirement after returning from the countries outside the list of low-risk countries in a fast-tracked procedure. One of the amendments includes additional checks of people returning from red-zone countries who are to report their return to public health authorities; mobile operators should provide the Public Health Office with the phone numbers of such people. IT faculty tensions: Ivan Kotuliak will remain the dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies (FIIT) of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The academic senate upheld him in its Monday vote. In protest to Kotuliak's management, a group of lecturers had announced earlier they would leave the faculty by August. Ivan Kotuliak will remain the dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies (FIIT) of Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava. The academic senate upheld him in its Monday vote. In protest to Kotuliak's management, a group of lecturers had announced earlier they would leave the faculty by August. Kicura in custody: The Supreme Court, at its Tuesday's non-public session rejected a custody-related complaint filed by Kajetan Kicura, a former head of the Administration of State Material Reserves. Kicura, currently held in custody, is prosecuted for the particularly serious crimes of accepting a bribe and of money laundering. The Supreme Court, at its Tuesday's non-public session rejected a custody-related complaint filed by Kajetan Kicura, a former head of the Administration of State Material Reserves. Kicura, currently held in custody, is prosecuted for the particularly serious crimes of accepting a bribe and of money laundering. Changes to the 2020 budget: The parliament passed the amendment to this year's budget, with a new deficit of almost 12 billion, to the second reading. Finance Minister Eduard Heger talks about the need to respond to the pandemic, correct the mistakes of his predecessors and create reserves for the possible further deterioration of economic development. The parliament passed the amendment to this year's budget, with a new deficit of almost 12 billion, to the second reading. Finance Minister Eduard Heger talks about the need to respond to the pandemic, correct the mistakes of his predecessors and create reserves for the possible further deterioration of economic development. Parliament advanced the amendment that would change rules for abortions written by OLaNO MPs to the second reading. The MPs will debate the the law at its September session. Read more on Spectator.sk Coronavirus redesigns office space Read more You can sit on Vaclav Havels bench in Bratislava Read more For full access to all our stories and more, buy our online subscription. Thank you for being our readers. PARIS Clementine Sebert buzzed through an Ikea furniture store during her lunch break, filling her cart with decorative cushions, a new nightstand, lamps and a small rug. After being cooped up for two months during Frances coronavirus quarantine, she was back to work at the firm where she is a legal counselor and ready to spend. Im not so worried about the future, said Ms. Sebert, who returned to her office last month after Frances lockdown was lifted, and was settling into a new rental apartment. Because of a government program to support businesses during the crisis, Ms. Sebert kept her job and most of her pay while on furlough a big help in paying for the new purchases. If I had been unemployed, I wouldnt be spending as much, she said. Consumers in Europe are going on a shopping spree as their economies reopen, offering hope that a fragile recovery from a deep pandemic-induced recession may be taking hold. Vessels on the Welland Canal are being asked to make their way slowly past McKeil Marines damaged Florence Spirit, currently docked in Welland. The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. issued a notice Tuesday asking vessels to proceed at the slowest safe speed when passing by Wharf 10 between Mile 16 and Mile 18. Wharf 10 is on the west side of the canal in Welland and sits east of Bradley Avenue. The Florence Spirit moored at the dock after it and dship Carriers MV Alanis collided Saturday afternoon in the Welland Canal south of Port Robinson. The two vessels the Florence Spirit was headed toward Lake Ontario, and the Alanis toward Lake Erie collided starboard to starboard just before 4 p.m. No one was injured on either vessel and there was no impact on the environment. The Florence Spirit was carrying coal and bound for Quebec and the Alanis was carrying wind turbine parts headed for Duluth, Minn. Transportation Safety Board investigators interviewed members of both crews and the pilot on board the Alanis and downloaded data from the black boxes of both. A report into the collision investigation could take up to a year to be released. In the spring of 2002, a curious building took shape just off the shore of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland. It looked like a bare industrial platform surrounded by a mesh of tubes and scaffolding. But the structure had an "on" switch, and when it was flipped, the open-air decks were transformed. Water from the lake was pumped at high pressure through 35,000 nozzles, aerosolized into a fine mist that became a cloud of vapor engulfing the whole thing. Visitors to the Swiss Expo, for which the building was designed, could enter the cloud, move around in it, ascend just above it and experience the curious effect of having the world blurred away and dissolved in artificial fog. The Blur Building, created by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, was one of the iconic architectural events of the new millennium. It was a temporary structure that served no purpose other than to delight and perhaps provoke its visitors, to offer them an experience apart from ordinary cares and concerns. But that experience also made tangible dreams that have animated architects for a century at least - to create spaces in which the interior and the exterior flow into one another, to dematerialize buildings from stone and steel to something more fluid, dynamic and permeable. "The public can drink the building," the designers wrote. The project also created space without enclosure, in which people were invited to move with no set patterns of circulation, no hallways or corridors or walls to guide or contain them. It was, seemingly, an architecture of total freedom. Imagine if that building were being proposed today, in the middle of a pandemic, when the first association of the word "aerosolize" isn't fog, mist or clouds, but the product of a cough or sneeze, laden with a dangerous virus, a vector for death. Now that everyone on the planet must carefully weigh the benefits and dangers of crossing the threshold between private and public space, between indoors and outdoors, can we salvage anything of the old fantasy of erasing these boundaries? When the best hope for slowing and containing the coronavirus is the careful regulation of movement and strict observance of social distancing, what happens to our desire for buildings that celebrate wandering, promiscuous exploration and spontaneous social interaction? As covid-19 spread from China to the world, and became a pandemic with devastating effects on national health-care systems and the world economy, architects found themselves in the same position as everyone else: shut indoors, nervous about the future and scrambling to remain relevant and necessary as clients fled or postponed major projects. The shutdown hit the industry hard, with the Architectural Billings Index, which is used to project nonresidential building prospects, experiencing its largest single-month decline since the American Institute of Architects developed the economic indicator 25 years ago. By April, more than 8 in 10 architectural firms surveyed by the AIA had applied for federal Paycheck Protection Program loans. Suddenly, the profession was at a crossroads. Was this a time for quick, targeted, pragmatic responses to a built environment that no longer felt safe, or was this a revolutionary moment, a call to rethink everything? In March, news from the architecture world was all about postponed lectures, closed offices and canceled conferences. On March 26, Michael Sorkin, one of the country's most outspoken voices on urban design and architecture, died of complications from covid-19. He had been a revered educator and an inspiration to some of the most progressive, socially minded architects working today. His loss was a blow to the field. By April, the architecture and design community was flooded with webinars and online talks and cyber conferences, addressing a range of issues as vast as the profession itself: How to turn convention centers into hospitals and how to make overcrowded hospitals safer. But also, how to "turn your home into a sanctuary" and how to 3-D-print face shields at home. Some thinkers were making big connections (one architect offered "a new design model [that] can curb the environmental destruction that contributes to pandemics"). Others were connecting the pandemic to familiar, favorite issues: "The coronavirus has created an opportunity to improve the pedestrian experience in our cities and towns. ..." This was architecture being architecture. The purview of the field is as specific as doorknobs and light switches, and as far-reaching as global transportation infrastructure and communication networks. The profession is intensely practical, often highly specialized and sometimes maddeningly theoretical, and the sudden, seemingly chaotic burst of responses to the pandemic is simply how it collectively thinks. But there was an urgency driven by more than just the mounting death toll from the virus. Enlightened designers know that our cities need to be dense and connected if we are to avoid the environmental problems of the mid-century suburb and a car-based culture. Tall buildings, with elevator cores, help increase density. Urban life must also be full of interaction and social energy if we are to live happily in proximity. Social stability across the generations requires that we live in fluid, multigenerational communities, integrating rather than isolating or alienating the young, the working-aged and the elderly. Yet covid-19 has threatened all of this, not just high-minded ideas about dense, socially diverse, democratically engaged cities, but also the way we inhabit buildings and move through space. In big cities around the world, people eyed each other warily over face masks, moving to the edges of the sidewalk, hugging the entryway to buildings, letting the elevator pass rather than join other passengers in a confined space. Images emerged of ice rinks turned into impromptu morgues. On television, Americans saw family members gather outside the windows of senior living facilities, where their parents and grandparents were dying in record numbers. They stood unprotected from the elements, among spindly ornamental bushes, putting their hands to windows above them, seeking communication with people on the other side of plywood walls clad with aluminum siding. This wasn't just a social tragedy; it was a mark of architectural failure and a real-time example of how people will spontaneously repurpose buildings if those buildings aren't serving them well. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of people, including many architects, were confronting the inadequacies of their own domestic spaces: small apartments, clustered around empty event spaces and workout rooms that weren't safe to use, with laundry available only in the basement. Open-plan suburban houses, with vast interiors, lacked sufficient partitions to keep people with the virus apart from those without it. As weeks of isolation turned into months, and as the fear of a rise in infections grew with the approach of summer, these inadequacies seemed to forge a new consensus, not fully articulated but widely felt: Architecture is about rights, about air, about equal access to the necessities of life. As the pandemic continues, and as architects are emboldened by the growing realization that this is a transformational moment that could topple old hierarchies, and even capitalism as we know it, they are thinking about the legacy of modernism and its promise to remake the world. Is it possible that architecture could be broadly political, as it once was, but more effective? Could it undertake projects larger than walkable cities and energy-efficient high-rises? Could it aim for something bigger than the creation of buildings in which we live, work and die, something more like an environment that surrounds us, protects us and inspirits us? Could architecture, like the world the virus was threatening, become organic? - - - In the spring, as the pandemic spread, Hashim Sarkis published a book he had been working on for years, while managing the details of the now postponed 2020 Venice Biennale of Architecture, for which he was the curator. Sarkis, the dean of the MIT School of Architecture and Planning, had written a survey of projects by architects who designed (though rarely built) often fantastical structures on a global scale. Written with Roi Salgueiro Barrio and Gabriel Kozlowski, "The World as an Architectural Project" explores designs akin to the Blur Building in their speculative and sometimes playful ambition, but bigger, more utopian and sometimes dystopian. It includes a short analysis of Constant Nieuwenhuys's New Babylon, described as "a camp for nomads" on a planetary scale, a vision of a new world in constant flux, catering to the creative whims, energies and shifting impulses of a society liberated from the necessity of work. And critical commentary on a plan for a Continuous City, by the British architects Alan Boutwell and Michael Mitchell, which would encircle the Earth like a vast elevated bridge, incorporating the social, domestic and infrastructural necessities of a highly technical society into a single megastructure. "As architects, we are condemned to optimism," Sarkis says in an interview. "Our field is necessarily about proposing and imaging new things, what the world could be through making a part of it better." His book is more than a compendium of wild ideas from the past, and these unrealized projects are part of an essential tradition of "paper" architecture that keeps the field intellectually lively and grounds actual buildings in a larger theoretical discourse. Many of these ideas - often made in response to discontent with the reigning dogmas of the era in which they were conceived - also trace the contemporary fault lines of the profession today as it grapples with an accelerating pace of chaos and crisis: not just a pandemic, but social and economic inequality, entrenched racism and environmental collapse. Some of the projects Sarkis analyzes tended toward creating isolated, self-sufficient architectural entities - giant safe zones - while others sought to integrate the world into a seamless whole. Some looked for redemption through technical or scientific solutions; others posited anarchic, earthy new utopias. But none of the architects thought small. "We are entangled and exhausted by a procedural thinking," says Sarkis, who stresses what he calls "the imaginary," the inherent power of architecture to visualize and suggest new possibilities. "Rather than say ... is it worth it or not? Can we get there or not? Let's imagine it, let's figure out how to get there." "I don't want to throw a technical solution at this," architect Michael Murphy says of the challenge architects confront with covid-19. Murphy is founding principal and executive director of MASS Design Group, a Boston-based firm that defines itself as a catalyst "for economic growth, social change, and justice." His comment is interesting, given the particular attention and practical expertise he and his firm have devoted to the health-care industry. Murphy's group was instrumental in designing the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., which memorializes African Americans killed by lynching. It is the most powerful and significant memorial created in this country since Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but it is Murphy's earlier work, on health-care facilities in Africa, that has established his reputation as an essential voice in the field. His 2011 Butaro District Hospital in Rwanda was designed to use sustainable and mostly low-tech means, including natural ventilation, high ceilings, external corridors and low-speed fans to minimize the transmission of airborne diseases. Critics have praised how its natural stone walls and red roofs are fitted into a hilly landscape, how its bright, open interiors seem to gather and hold light in a quiet stasis. But the building was also conceptualized to promote healing at a deeper level by using local labor for construction, local building materials and techniques, making it a collective project and an economic engine in a country still suffering the social trauma of the 1994 genocide. Murphy is in demand today to talk about how to rethink hospitals and health-care facilities. But he doesn't think that such practical responses will be the legacy of the pandemic. The architect is more interested in a broader paradigm shift in a field that is grappling with a troubling thought: The buildings that many of us live and work in offer little sense of comfort, safety or sustenance. "I think this is one of our great existential moments in the built environment," Murphy says. "We've lost touch with the public's understanding of what the built environment is supposed to do. Those questions were kind of academic, but now they are present in everyone's daily life. The built environment is threatening us." "This is one of our great existential moments in the built environment," says architect Michael Murphy. The pandemic has made the theoretical and philosophical immediate, not just to architects, but to everyone stuck indoors. "That offers us some really unique opportunities and some true questions of accountability and ethics about what we build, what we have built and what we invest in in the future," says Murphy. "I think this intersects with questions of ethics and morality and equity that are now present to everybody." Kulapat Yantrasast, founding partner and creative director of the Los Angeles-based wHY Architecture, puts it another way: He isn't interested in your mudroom. By which he means that he isn't interested in addressing the immediate need for small-bore, surgical interventions to keep the virus at bay. And he certainly isn't interested in the "mudroom," which stands for a whole nexus of architectural jobs revolving around the needs and wants of moneyed elites, like improving the sanitary cordon of a McMansion's entryway. "The profession is focused on being hired to solve problems, to sanitize spaces, to plan offices better, or shopping malls better, or hotels," Yantrasast says. "We can do all that very well. We understand how to use UV light, density, materials. But we have not really been deep in our mission." Scattered, targeted responses, such as antimicrobial surfaces and touchless elevators, he says, "don't constitute a philosophy or a direction." And architects who hang out a shingle that says, "We can save you," Yantrasast says, are just addressing "the low-hanging fruit." Architecture, he argues, needs to radically change toward a service profession, working not in isolation, but across disciplinary boundaries, approaching projects not just as problems to be solved with steel, concrete and glass, but as social problems and needs that demand wider, more holistic solutions. All of this can sound a bit vague, like the inspirational but vaporous language one hears at professional symposiums and TED Talks. We need architecture that is sustainable, flexible, adaptive, responsive and local, but without being parochial. But we also need architecture that is cosmopolitan and smart, engaged and connected. It seems we want an architecture that does everything. But what does that look like in real life? - - - "Pandemics are a spatial problem," says David Benjamin, associate professor of architecture at Columbia University and a founder and principal at the Living, a New York-based research and design group that fuses biological insight with design practice. In September 2018, he and his colleagues opened an exhibition at New York's Storefront for Art and Architecture called "Subculture: Microbial Metrics and the Multi-Species City," which explored the microscopic biodiversity of city life. Using the analogy of the microbiome - the idea that every human plays host to a unique colony of microbes - the exhibition speculated that cities and neighborhoods have characteristic biomes. The exhibition had a larger argument, about how a "culture of cleanliness" in our architecture and urban design was self-defeating. This fetish for sterile environments - and environments that look sterile - included using materials, such as concrete designed to repel bacteria and sanitized Sheetrock, that were ultimately isolating us from the healthy multiplicity of the biological world. When the exhibition opened, it was meant to be thought-provoking and suggestive, rather like the Blur Building and the paper architecture of Sarkis's book. Wooden tiles, cut in such a way as to maximize their receptivity to microorganisms, were affixed to the exterior of the building and periodically sampled to track the accumulation of microbes and other visitors. Benjamin was looking at how microorganisms move through space, how they can be detected and tracked, how living entities might be used as sensors - just as mussels can be used to track pollution in water. He was speculating about how smart, networked buildings could help trace and track the movement of microscopic life, and potentially pathogens. And the larger architectural argument Benjamin had been making - that the seemingly sanitary, modernist glass-and-steel box, shut from the outside with its own HVAC system, wasn't serving us well - never seemed more urgent. On one level, "pandemics are a spatial problem" is simply a call for architects to be directly engaged with the issue. They are trained to deal with spatial problems: how one space relates to another, how rooms flow into each other, how they are connected by corridors and how their volumes interrelate. But at a deeper level, Benjamin is saying that the pandemic touches on everything; it transpires throughout the totality of the three-dimensional world we inhabit, influencing and influenced by every relation of one thing to another. The pandemic, and the problems it has highlighted and exacerbated, is as inescapable as space, or life. "The crisis of the pandemic is highly related to the crisis of climate change, and to the economic crisis," he says. "We can't and shouldn't address one alone, and we must address all three together. That means designing with uncertainty and with invisible forces in mind." That's a very different formulation from how architects considered design projects in much of the past century, and it reveals how much the fundamental metaphor governing buildings is changing. Throughout much of the 20th century, buildings were conceived of as machines. There was a definite problem to be solved, and the building was designed as a tool to solve that problem. A house is a machine for living in, wrote the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier in a 1923 manifesto, a phrase that has been distilled to an all-purpose slogan suggesting that all buildings are somehow machines. But machines are good at doing a very specific set of tasks, and they almost always become obsolete, often quickly. "I think we need to lose the machine," says George Ranalli, a New York-based architect and former head of the architecture program at City College of New York. "They're not even machines," says Ranalli's wife and partner, Anne Valentino, who is a psychologist. "They are designed like consumer products: They have a case and a screen." And they do one or two things well, for a while, and quickly end up in the dump, superseded by a new product. That sense of disposability is an environmental problem, and it makes the built environment seem alien, a part of the corporate landscape of consumerism, not something we inhabit, tend, care for and love. The machine as metaphor has been on the way out for a few decades now, but its replacement - the building as a living organism - has been slow to gain widespread acceptance. References to the organic world exist throughout architecture, from the forest-like interiors of Gothic architecture to Frank Lloyd Wright's lily-like columns of his Johnson Wax headquarters in Wisconsin to green buildings. Green buildings, like a pair of "vertical forests" built in Milan, also reference the idea in their emphasis on sustainability, and biomimicry - the use of biological forms as a basic inspiration for design - is a fashionable subset of contemporary design. But the pandemic may hasten a universal and pragmatic acceptance of these ideas and other even more far-reaching ones. Not only has it made a few billion people more intimately aware of the larger, organic world, and our contingent place in it, but it has also demonstrated in real time the interconnections between social, economic and environmental problems. No single metaphor seems big enough to encompass how we think about this array of crises, and the old metaphors deployed at moments of crisis in the past - let's mount a War on Poverty or a crusade against hunger - seem entirely ill-suited to a moment when everything wants healing, nurturing, sustenance and connection. Throughout much of the 20th century, buildings were conceived of as machines. There was a definite problem to be solved, and the building was designed as a tool to solve that problem. The metaphor that equates a building or urban space to a living thing takes different forms, from analogies to basic biological processes to a wider sense that while buildings emerge from mankind's technical prowess, they also reflect a deeper sense of humanism. They breathe, excrete and circulate air and fluids, but they also think and perhaps feel. Buildings, neighborhoods and cities, and the natural landscape into which we insert them, have rights, and those rights must be negotiated. "I've come to believe that breathing and the access to clean air is a fundamental issue," Murphy says. "Breathing is an architectural and spatial problem." It is about things as basic as materials that inflame asthma, or neighborhoods encased within highways that befoul the air. But it's also about access to open space, buildings with functioning windows and domestic spaces that breathe. There is also a bigger, metaphorical sense of existential comfort in the idea of breathing, as in spaces, places and environments that allow us to "breathe easy." "What is clean air?" Murphy asks. "Not just pathogens, or toxins, off-gassing building materials, releasing carbon into the atmosphere. Air, when it becomes spatialized, offers us this window into these broader needs and questions." We can survive for a while without light, but we can't survive without air, so air makes old architectural questions more urgent: Whose office is near the open window? Who gets a big, airy house that fronts onto a park, and who gets a small apartment that faces a fetid alley? These questions recur at a national and global scale when we think not just about pollution, but how pollution travels, how fires, man-made and naturally occurring, erase forests the entire planet needs to breathe and send giant plumes of smoke over cities inhabited by people who live hundreds of miles from the flames. Modernism privileged light as an aesthetic commodity, because it enabled us to see; organic architecture privileges air, which enables us to live. - - - As the pandemic was shutting down the University of California at Los Angeles, architecture student Jacob Sertich, 26, was finishing his senior project. Working with the Japanese architect Hitoshi Abe, Sertich was studying an interesting idea: Could senior housing be inserted into busy, dynamic, mixed-use buildings, such that the elderly had access to the full panoply of urban life? How might a high-rise with shops and offices and transit connections be adapted so that people dealing with the physical challenges of aging might live richer, more connected lives? And then the pandemic made it painfully obvious that, to stay safe and healthy, elderly people needed to be isolated from the free flow of the virus. "I was caught up in this research when this all still made sense, and it seemed like an inevitable architectural trend," Sertich says. "Now, having wrapped up my project, which dealt with co-living for the elderly, which reduced social isolation, there were basic questions of whether those models can work." Sertich submitted his work, and it took the top award for a graduate research project in architecture at UCLA. But he's been rethinking all of it. And there are no easy answers. In Italy, where the elderly often live closely integrated with their families, they were susceptible to the virus brought into domestic spaces by younger relatives. In the United States, where older people are too often segregated in facilities staffed by underpaid workers who live in inadequate housing, use crowded public transit and sometimes work several jobs to make ends meet, seniors have been dying at appalling rates. What is the answer? Architecturally, there isn't one. This is a social problem, an economic problem, a moral problem. Sertich's answer speaks to a new humility in the profession: "You can't find a solution if you are the one mastermind behind the design." Yet the exciting thing today is that this sense of humility is now joined to a resurgent sense of ambition. That makes the current moment of social and political activism different from earlier inflection points in the recent history of architecture. Unlike the 1980s and '90s, when many architects turned inward into theoretical discourses that grew increasingly detached from practical building issues, and from the larger public, there is now a feeling that architecture must be, and can be, both theoretical and pragmatic. And unlike the 1960s, the era that saw many of the megaprojects discussed in Sarkis's book about global architecture, the ambition is tempered by the understanding that pure imagination is insufficient, unless informed by things like observation, listening, collaboration and practical insight. Yantrasast goes so far as to say that architecture as we used to know it will disappear. "I do not think that architecture will continue to exist by itself," he says. "It will integrate itself with other things. The discipline has realized that the isolation from life, from social knowledge and discourses, has harmed us." And how would he suggest young architects further that evolution? Make friends. Read everything. Engage. "If you have friends across the disciplines, you will understand what these disciplines need from you." And what of projects like the Blur Building? Do they belong to the pre-covid era when architects could shoot to stardom by building something dazzling, buildings with no particular purpose other than to make the mind dance and engage the senses? Is the playfulness of the Blur Building, and the dark irony of many of the world-encompassing projects surveyed by Sarkis, a relic? "I am very proud of that project, but when we (think about) it today, certainly atomized particles in the air are infectious," says the Blur Building's co-designer, Liz Diller, now a principal at Diller Scofidio + Renfro. "If the length of a sneeze can determine safe distance to somebody else, then it does make us think about this atmosphere as a potentially negative thing, that air could carry a virus or contagion." She trails off, and then begins thinking aloud. The Blur Building helped make her firm one of the most sought-after in the world. Among its projects is the 2009 High Line, the elevated railroad converted to a fashionable park in Manhattan. Closed during the pandemic but scheduled to reopen on July 16, the High Line is usually crowded, full of people flowing past one another in tight but open-air spaces. Diller, speaking before the reopening had been scheduled, wonders if it could be made one-way to limit possible exchange of the virus (and that is now the plan). Or perhaps, through careful entry and exit patterns, people can be spread out so they aren't bumping into each other. "I have been thinking a lot about atmosphere," Diller says. And also about time, the "fourth dimension." Time, she says, may be the new critical element to architecture and urban space, just as it is the critical thing that distinguishes a living thing from an inanimate machine. She isn't turning back from the old promise of the Blur Building, the ideals of freedom and engagement and, yes, delight. But maybe the High Line can be pulsed with people, spread out through the day, which might be a model for the city at large, just as dense and dynamic as it always was, but throbbing with life around-the-clock so that streets and subways are a little less crowded. In retrospect, the Blur Building looks as prophetic of a post-covid world as it is emblematic of the pre-pandemic one. It had much of the old machine about it, with water nozzles and pumps, and a sleek, machine-age aesthetic in its materials and assemblage. But it also made people keenly aware of some of the issues explored in Benjamin's 2018 project at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. How do small particles move? What kind of miasmas surround us, and how do we relate to them? The pandemic, architect Elizabeth Diller says, "is a problem that is going to be solved by medicine and not cured by architecture. But notions of flexibility are the way that our studio is going to go forward." "That building was for us really, really important because it proved that buildings don't have to have walls and they don't have to have a program," Diller says. In 2002, that expressed an ideal of pure freedom. Today, it might better express an ideal of pure adaptability. The pandemic, she says, "is a problem that is going to be solved by medicine and not cured by architecture. But notions of flexibility are the way that our studio is going to go forward. It isn't just the virus; it is the change of the speed of society, where (the old) architecture (was) too slow to react, and very geo-fixed and heavy and expensive. "The way to think about architecture to prevent its obsolescence is to stress things like lightness, adaptability, suppleness, the ability to think about program change, the ability to think about sudden economic changes and population increases. This kind of adaptability to economic, environmental, political change is really, really critical for the discipline to become important, vibrant and connected to what is happening." There's a curious echo in these words, which express an organic idea of lightness, adaptability and suppleness, of one of the most famous statements ever made about the design of buildings - that form must follow function. The words were written by the great American pioneer of the high-rise, Louis Sullivan, a generation before Le Corbusier defined buildings as machines. They seem to encapsulate the machine-age of architecture, but Sullivan wrote them in a context that has been all but forgotten: "Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open apple-blossom, the toiling workhorse, the blithe swan, the branching oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law." The problem, it seems, wasn't the modernist ambition to remake the world. It was an image, a mistaken mental picture of what a building should be, that led so many architects astray. They looked to the world of machines, to automobiles and home appliances, which were transforming the planet and daily life, and that world seemed, for a time, full of infinite possibility. But if they had looked to the living world - blithe, winding, sweeping and drifting alongside us - they would have found something better than a machine. If they had gotten out into the open air, they would have realized that they needed something more encompassing than a picture or a metaphor. They needed an idea capacious enough to include not just buildings or cities. They needed to think not about things but beings, and not in isolation. A virus is giving our planet a remedial lesson about how we are all connected, and architecture may be the science that consolidates this terrible but liberating new wisdom. DeWitt, N.Y. Byrne Dairy plans to expand its Ultra Dairy plant in DeWitt again, creating 64 jobs and giving it the ability to produce dairy products with an unrefrigerated shelf life of up to a year. Byrne has submitted plans to the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency for a 22,000-square-foot addition to the south side of its 138,000-square-foot facility at 6750 W. Benedict Road. The $28.5 million project will create 64 full-time jobs paying from $37,000 to $54,000 a year, according to the plans. The facility employs 198 people, so the project will expand its workforce to 262. James Gosier, Byrnes general counsel, said the company will start construction this year and complete the addition in March 2021. Nearly $17 million of the $28.5 million cost is for equipment, he said. Opened in 2003, Ultra Dairy uses ultra-high temperatures to produce milk, cream and non-dairy products with shelf lives from 70 to 180 days. According to the company, 92% of the plants products are shipped out of New York for wholesale and retail sale. Byrne said the addition will create an aseptic processing area where dairy products and packaging will be sterilized to give the products a shelf life of up to one year without refrigeration. This advanced technology results in products that can be shipped across the United States and around the world, the company said. The ability to manufacture these products is particularly important in times like these when supply chains are stressed. Gosier said consumer demand for dairy products with a long, unrefrigerated shelf life has been increasing in the U.S. its already common elsewhere in the world and the trend in the U.S. has grown substantially during the coronavirus pandemic as more people buy their groceries online. Thats all you see in other parts of the world shelf-stable products, he said. Put it in your pantry for up to a year. When youre ready to use the product, you put it in your refrigerator and off you go. This will be the fourth expansion of the facility. Previous additions were built in 2007, 2008 and 2019. Byrne Dairy plans to build a $28.5 million addition to its Ultra Dairy plant at 6750 W. Benedict Road in DeWitt, creating 64 full-time jobs. Ellen M. Blalock The company has applied for $224,336 in property tax exemptions and a $400,000 exemption from sales taxes on construction materials. The development agency is expected to vote on the exemptions at a special meeting on July 28. The project is eligible for a $750,000 state grant and $4.25 million in state tax credits, according to the company. Rick Moriarty covers business news and consumer issues. Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact him anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148 Todays Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. Email address By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy PASADENA, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- White Castle, the country's first fast-food hamburger chain, announced today a planned pilot with Miso Robotics creators of the first autonomous grilling and frying kitchen assistant, Flippy to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence and robotics in the restaurant industry. As part of the deployment, White Castle will bring the new version of Flippy, Robot-on-a-Rail (ROAR), into kitchens for testing and future integration. The deployment will put autonomous frying to work for enhanced production speeds, improved labor allocation and an added layer of health and safety in the cooking process. Committed to delivering the best customer dining experience, White Castle's selection of Miso Robotics marks a move by the pioneering chain to modernize operations for even faster, fresher and delicious meals, every time. Like many sectors, the restaurant industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and has been forced to reexamine business operations and best practices. Through the adoption of innovative and forward-looking technologies like robotics automation and artificial intelligence restaurants can build a future focused kitchen that reassures customers of the best standards in food preparation. White Castle's decision to pilot Flippy in the kitchen creates an avenue for reduced human contact with food during the cooking process reducing potential for transmission of food pathogens. The implementation also brings intelligence to cooking, tapping into sensors, intelligent monitoring and anticipated kitchen needs to keep food temperatures consistent, that ensure optimal quality and a perfect bite for customers. With Flippy in the kitchen automating repetitive, time consuming and dangerous tasks like frying, team members can be redeployed to more customer-experience driven tasks. "White Castle is an industry innovator, and we take a great amount of pride in our history never forgetting about the future ahead," said Lisa Ingram, 4th generation family leader and CEO of White Castle. "With 100 years of quick service success, the time has never been more perfect to envision what the next century of White Castle and the restaurant industry looks like. Miso Robotics understood where we could improve and stay true to White Castle's brand of taste, innovation and best-in-class dining. A great customer and employee experience is in our DNA, and we are thrilled to bring the future into our kitchen with solutions that will transform the industry and make the White Castle experience all that it can be for generations to come." Founded in 1921, White Castle became the first fast food restaurant. Throughout its nearly 100-year history, White Castle created the framework for the modern QSR business model and reinvented the restaurant experience. As the company approaches its centennial anniversary, it Flippy ROAR's deployment commemorates another historic moment in the chain. "Miso Robotics couldn't be more excited to bring Flippy ROAR into White Castle," said Buck Jordan, CEO and Co-Founder of Miso Robotics. "Artificial intelligence and robotics brings a very real opportunity to continuously enhance the cooking process and optimize taste for restaurants. White Castle's brand is iconic, navigating new challenges to bring their menu to more customers, prepared in a healthier environment by staff in better working conditions that adhere to social distancing needs is something only Miso Robotics can do. We look forward to being a part of White Castle's next 100 years." Flippy ROAR will deploy later this fall. The deployment will test speeds in production, taste, quality and operational optimization with backend POS integration. Following integration, Flippy ROAR's zero-footprint design will be tested to improve employee and food preparation, for wider location integration. About White Castle White Castle, America's first fast-food hamburger chain, has been making hot and tasty sliders as a family-owned business for more than 99 years. Based in Columbus, Ohio, White Castle started serving The Original Slider, made from 100% USDA inspected beef, in 1921. Today White Castle owns and operates more than 365 restaurants dedicated to satisfying customers' cravings, morning, noon and night and sells its famous fare in retail stores nationwide, in a growing number of international locations, and at military exchanges around the world. The Original Slider, named in 2014 as Time Magazine's most influential burger of all time, is served alongside a menu of creatively crafted sliders and other mouthwatering food options, including White Castle's Impossible Slider, named by Thrillist in 2019 as the "Best Plant-Based Fast Food Burger." White Castle's commitment to maintaining the highest quality products extends to the company owning and operating its own meat processing plants, bakeries and frozen-food processing plants. White Castle is known for the legendary loyalty of its team members, more than one in four of whom have worked for White Castle for at least 10 years, and of its faithful fans, affectionately referred to as Cravers, many of whom compete each year for entry into the Cravers Hall of Fame. The official White Castle app, available at iTunes App Store or Google Play, makes it easy for Cravers to access sweet deals and place pick-up orders any time. They can also have their orders delivered using one of White Castle's delivery partners. For more information on White Castle, visit whitecastle.com. About Miso Robotics Miso Robotics (www.misorobotics.com) is revolutionizing the restaurant and prepared food industries with innovative robotics and artificial intelligence solutions. Miso was founded with a mission to leverage AI technology to help chefs cook food perfectly and consistently and enable restaurants to increase labor productivity, reduce costs and drive profitability while improving the overall dining experience. Miso employs a respected team of scientists, roboticists, engineers and industrial designers from Caltech, Cornell, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Harvey Mudd, UCLA, USC, Art Center and UNC Chapel Hill. Miso Robotics is now taking reservations for their equity crowd-funding raise, to invest in the future of restaurant automation go to https://invest.misorobotics.com/ Press Contact Diane Zuniga 909-510-0433 [email protected] SOURCE Miso Robotics Related Links http://misorobotics.com By PTI NEW DELHI: Seeking a CBI probe into the mysterious death of party leader Debendra Nath Ray, a BJP delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday and demanded dismissal of the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. The delegation, which included BJP General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, party MP Raju Bista and nominated Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta among others, told President Kovind that Ray's "murder" is another one in the long series of "political killings" in the state. The body of Hemtabad MLA Debendra Nath Ray was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village in North Dinajpur district on Monday. "Democracy has been hanged in West Bengal. Political workers were being killed so far, and now elected leaders are being murdered and shown to have committed suicide. Anarchy prevails in the state, and its government has no right to be in power. We have demanded that the assembly be dissolved," Vijayvargiya said. He alleged that over 105 people associated with the BJP have been killed in the state in last three years. Bista alleged that the state police and other agencies were being used by the Mamata Banerjee government to "harass" her political rivals, and that a CBI probe was necessary to bring out the truth. ALSO READ | Bengal BJP MLA's death: Mark around neck indicates suicide by hanging, says autopsy report Dasgupta said "political murders" in the state have just gone on for too long, and Ray's alleged killing was not an isolated incident. "We have seen a series of them. There is also harassment of political rivals in violation of all democratic norms," he said. The BJP has termed Ray's death a "cold-blooded murder" and alleged involvement of the ruling Trinamool Congress in it. His family has also said that he was "murdered" and sought a CBI investigation. Ray had won Hemtabad (reserved) seat on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016 but later joined the BJP. He had, however, not quit his assembly seat. According to the post-mortem report, Ray's death was due to hanging and no other injury mark was detected. The West Bengal Police said a suicide note was found from his shirt pocket where he blamed two people for his death. The second series of sitcom Derry Girls has been removed from Netflix UK four days after it first appeared on the service. The Irish comedys second run, about a quartet of teenagers attending a Catholic secondary school at the end of the Troubles, was added to Netflix UK on 9 July, with the platforms UK Twitter account expressing excitement. Derry Girls S2 is now on Netflix if you were looking for an excuse to watch it again, a tweet read. Fans were quick to notice this week, however, that the series has already been taken off the platform. Utterly bizarre that season two of Derry Girls has disappeared off Netflix, read one tweet. I know Netflix regularly removes and renews content [but] it usually leaves it up a bit longer than 4 DAYS!!! Another added: In the middle of watching #DerryGirls season two on @netflix and it just disappeared. Others found that the series suddenly became unavailable while they were mid-stream. Can someone PLEASE TELL ME why derry girls season 2 has been REMOVED from netflix while i was in the middle of an episode a few hours ago!!!!!!!!! read another tweet. Aware of the upset, Netflix UK confirmed via their official Twitter account that they had added the series to the service a bit early. They also, somewhat unusually, advised Derry Girls fans to watch the series via a rival streaming service. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up It looks like we were a bit early with this one so have had to take season two down for now, the tweet read. Well let you know when its coming back as soon as we can. In the meantime, its available now on All 4. The Independent has reached out to Netflix UK for comment. The post-mortem report of eight policemen who were killed by slain gangster Vikas Dubey and his gang members in Kanpur's Bikaru village on the intervening night of July 2-July 3 has revealed that the policemen including CO Devendra Mishra were brutally killed by Dubey and his associates. The post-mortem report has also revealed that sharp-edged weapons were also used to kill all policemen, including CO Mishra. Uttar Pradesh police believes that the motive was not only to kill the cops but to also seek revenge from them. According to the post-mortem report, CO Mishra was shot four times, out of which three bullets passed through his body. One bullet hit his head, one in the chest and two in the stomach. Apart from this, Vikas Dubey and his associates had also cut CO Mishra's leg after shooting him dead. According to the post-mortem report, all the bullets were fired from point-blank range. Apart from this, three policemen were shot in the head and one in the face. It is clear from the post-mortem report of all 8 policemen that all were brutally murdered. It is to be noted that Uttar Pradesh government has constituted a one-member panel to probe into the encounter of gangster Dubey and the shootout which took place in Bikaru village. The official statement read, "The incident by Vikas Dubey and his associates on July 2-July 3, 2020, along with the incident on July 10, 2020, and the encounter between police and criminals at various places during this period is a subject of public importance." It added, "Therefore, it is necessary to investigate in this regard." The statement mentioned that the inquiry commission will be led by retired Justice Shashi Kant Aggarwal and the headquarters of this commission will be in Kanpur. State officials in California filed a response on Friday to the lawsuit filed by the Socialist Equality Partys (SEP) candidates for President and Vice President, Joseph Kishore and Norissa Santa Cruz, against Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Alex Padilla. In the lawsuit, filed June 30, the SEPs candidates are challenging the states requirement that they gather and submit nearly 200,000 physical signatures in a 15-week period between April 24 and August 7 in order to appear on the November 3 ballot. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages out of control in California, these requirements are effectively impossible to meet without risking human life. The SEPs candidates are arguing that these requirements, which do not apply to Democratic and Republican candidates, are unconstitutional and that enforcing them during the pandemic constitutes voter suppression. The California Attorney Generals office, which represents Newsom and Padilla, acknowledged the requirements and declared the states intention to enforce them. They claimed that if the SEP candidates prevailed in their lawsuit, the result would be an unmanageable and overcrowded ballot for the November presidential general election that would cause voter confusion and frustration of the democratic process. In the Kafkaesque jargon of these Democratic Party officials, allowing the SEP candidates on the ballot would frustrate the democratic process. They do not explain what they mean by voter confusion. Perhaps they mean that a voter could become so confused that he or she might vote for the wrong candidate. According to Newsom and Padilla, the SEP should have gathered the signatures anyway, regardless of the pandemic. The SEP candidates could have begun gathering signatures no later than May 1, 2020, they write. The SEP candidates had 14 weeks out of the 15-week period to collect signatures in person for independent nomination. Newsom and Padilla specifically suggest that the SEP should have deployed 66 signature gatherers, working five days a week for 15 weeks, to obtain the requisite number of signatures. If SEP supporters had attempted to do this, they would have risked death, both for themselves and for their loved ones and the general public. In the past two weeks, according to statistics displayed on Newsoms own website, there have been 109,910 new cases in California and 1,104 new deaths. This is more deaths in two weeks, in the state of California alone, than the death toll of South Korea and Denmark combined over the entire course of the pandemic. The states hospitals also reported a 27.8 percent increase in hospitalizations over a 14-day period ending on Monday. Newsoms position in the SEP lawsuit is in striking contrast to his other statements and actions. Such is the scale of the disaster in California that Newsom himself was compelled on Monday to issue an order rolling back the states efforts to reopen, ordering a long list of categories of businesses to close for indoor and outdoor service. The position of Newsom and Padilla is determined by politics, not reality. The Democratic Party throughout the country is frightened by the notion that the SEP candidates could win significant numbers of votes if allowed on the ballot, under conditions where both Democratic and Republican candidates are widely viewed with skepticism and mistrust, if not outright hostility. The Democratic Party officials responding to the lawsuit filed by Kishore and Santa Cruz also argued that if the SEP candidates appeared on the ballot it would irreparably harm the public interest. They claimed that the SEP candidates were not diligent since they did not attempt to gather any signatures during the ongoing statewide lockdown. The SEP is contending that no reasonably diligent candidates could or would meet the states requirements, as the state officials well know. In their initial filing, the SEP candidates argued that gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures during the pandemic would be impossible without putting their supporters and the general public at risk. The lawsuit cites an order from Governor Newsom in March in which he warned that in-person voting presents risks to public health and safety in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and could risk undermining social distancing measures imposed by the State Public Health Officer. Despite Newsom's issuance of a stay-at-home order on March 19, his attorneys claimed that Californias public health orders at most restricted [the SEPs] ability to gather in-person signatures by one week, since an exception was subsequently allowed in the law for election-related activity. Newsom and Padilla do not explain how campaigners could gather in-person signatures without exposing themselves and potential signatories to COVID-19. Nor do they address the reality that approaching a stranger on a sidewalk with leaflets and a clipboard in the summer of 2020 is totally impractical and likely to result in the person walking away or condemning the campaigner for failing to maintain social distancing. Norissa Santa Cruz responded to Newsom and Padilla in a statement yesterday, calling their arguments a farce of democracy. Its pure insanity that our campaign should be required to collect some 200,000 signatures in the midst of a deadly pandemic, especially as cases continue to skyrocket in California and throughout the region, she said. This is the extent to which Gavin Newsom and the Democrats that run California are desperate to keep socialist candidates off the ballot. The SEP candidates are waging a similar challenge to impossible ballot access restrictions in the state of Michigan. Yesterday, Kishore and Santa Cruz filed an appeal to the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The appeal challenges the decision of Republican-appointed District Judge Sean F. Cox, who ruled in favor of Democratic Michigan state officials last week. In his decision, Cox claimed that the SEP should have gathered the signatures regardless of the pandemic. At the time of Coxs ruling against the SEP candidates, health experts and Michigans Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer were warning that there was a high risk for a renewed outbreak of COVID-19 in the state. In the California case, the SEP candidates formal legal response to Newsom and Padilla will be filed on Wednesday. The oral arguments, as well as the judges decision, are expected to take place next week. David Attenborough and Queen Elizabeth II should wear masks in public to promote their use, a scientific advisor has said. Professor Robert West, a member of the governments SPI-B behavioural science advisory group, explained that role models should be utilised by the government in order to encourage the British public to wear masks in confined public spaces. A new rule set to be imposed from 24 July will make it compulsory to wear face masks in shops. Currently, they are only compulsory on public transport. But scientific advisors have expressed concerns that Britons won't abide by the rules. On Monday the Independent Sage group concluded that masks should be made mandatory in indoor public spaces and called on the government to launch a campaign to ensure this is abided by the public. Sir David King, its chairman, said: The evidence is increasingly clear that face coverings have an important role in tackling the ongoing pandemic. Alongside any proposed legislation, it is essential that the government undertakes a comprehensive education campaign to ensure the proper use of masks." Now, Professor West has added that the government should make the most of public figures and encourage them to wear masks in public. David Attenborough and the Queen, thats who they want, he said. Im surprised how little use has been made of role models. Polls have shown that only one third of Britons regularly wear face coverings. Professor Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society, said that evidence has shown that face coverings are more effective than it was previously thought with regards to preventing the spread of Covid-19. Speaking on Good Morning Britain on ITV, he said: People have, since last week, been going about their business, going shopping. It gives people confidence. The best way to revive our economy is to prevent repeated disruptive lockdowns. These are disruptive economically but theyre also disruptive psychologically. "The more tools we can throw at the problem to avoid disruptive lockdowns the better off we are. Victoria and Queensland are home to Australia's biggest car theft hot spots, new data has revealed. Victoria took home first place in data released by the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council, showing 14,567 vehicles were stolen in the state in the 12 months to March 2020. The three worst Local Government Areas (LGA) for car thefts in the state included Hume with 962 incidents, Casey with 745 and Greater Geelong with 633. The most common cars stolen included the Nissan Pulsar N15 with 428 thefts, Holden Commodore VE with 316 and Nissan Navara D22 with 168. The value of vehicles stolen in Victoria up to the end of March was $200,832,819, with 40 per cent costing up to $5,000 each. The Nissan Pulsar has been listed as the most popular car stolen across Victoria, with 428 taken in the 12 months to March The Holden Commodore VE took second place, with 316 taken in Victoria An additional 2,177 motorcycles and 739 'other vehicles' were stolen in Victoria, bringing the state's tally up to 17,483 vehicles stolen for the period - up 13.4 per cent over the previous 12 months. Queensland followed closely behind, scoring second place with 12,626 cars stolen in the 12 months to March. The total value of the vehicles was $185,810,632. Data from the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council shows an additional 2,128 motorcycles and 688 'other vehicles' stolen in Queensland. The figure for all vehicles stolen across the state was up 21 per cent for the period. Queensland hot spots included Brisbane city with 2,801 thefts, Gold Coast city with 1,903 and Logan city with 1,362. The Holden Commodore VE, Toyota Hilux and Nissan Navara D40 were stolen most often. National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council chief executive Geoff Hughes told Daily Mail Australia the top vehicles targeted all had electronic protection. This meant most of them were stolen due to the thieves getting the keys, he said. 'Many of the thefts recorded are occurring from the street,' Mr Hughes said. 'The overwhelming majority will have been what we term sneak thefts, with offenders sneaking into homes to quickly grab keys left in easily accessible spots, often gaining access via unlocked doors or windows. 'The good news is that sneak thefts are preventable, and our message is simple pop keys out of sight. Lock all doors and windows and make sure everyone in the household is doing the same thing and we can stop sneak theft.' The Toyota Hilux was the second most commonly stolen car in Queensland, followed by the Nissan Navara D40 but beaten by the Holden Commodore VE The National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council's data also shows New South Wales in third place, with 9,815 car, 2,155 motorcycles and 552 'other vehicles' stolen. Canterbury-Bankstown, the Central Coast and Blacktown were the three biggest hot spots across the state, with the Toyota Hilux, Holden Commodore VE and Toyota Hiace the most commonly stolen vehicles. Western Australia was the fourth worst state for car theft, with 7,712 vehicles stolen across all categories - 5,276 cars, 2,178 motorcycles and 258 'other vehicles'. Western Australia's biggest hot spots included Stirling, Swan and Wanneroo. Its most common vehicles stolen included the Holden Commodore VE, Toyota Hilux and Toyota LandCruiser Ute 70 Series. The estimated value of cars stolen across the state came in at less than half of Victoria's - totalling $64,952,415. National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council chief executive Geoff Hughes told Daily Mail Australia the top vehicles targeted all had electronic protection South Australia was listed in fifth place, with 2,919 cars stolen. This was followed by the Australian Capital Territory with 995 (up 63 thefts), Tasmania with 984 (up 79 thefts) and the Northern Territory with 619 (down 128 thefts). Nationwide, Mr Hughes said motor vehicle theft rose 11 per cent (6,074) in the 12 months to March to a total of 60,165. Theft of heavy vehicles, as in trucks, also had an increase of 12 per cent, as well as motorcycles and cars, each with 11 per cent. There was also an increase in both short term and profit motivated theft across all vehicle types, with short term theft rising by 3,867 (up 10 per cent) from the previous 12 months and profit motivated theft up 2,207 (15 per cent). National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council's data shows there was a considerable increase in short term motorcycle thefts (13 per cent) as well. Across the nation, Mr Hughes said motor vehicle theft rose 11 per cent (6,074) in the 12 months to March 2020 to a total of 60,165 Mr Hughes told Daily Mail Australia, with the ongoing disruption of the coronavirus pandemic, it was almost certain the current uplift in vehicle crime will extend well into 2021 at a minimum. This will include true vehicle theft and instances of insurance fraud disguised as theft and or staged collisions', he said. 'The preliminary post-March data indicates that the social lock-down arrangements implemented nationally have had a very positive dampening effect,' Mr Hughes said. 'Despite this, it looks very much like FY2020 will see many parts of Australia record double-digit percentage increases across all vehicle types for both short-term and profit-motivated theft. 'Unfortunately, this puts the nation on the path to more than 60,000 thefts per annum for first time since the Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:54:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HONG KONG, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The spread of the coronavirus has been accelerating in South and Southeast Asia on Tuesday as India reported over 100,000 infections in the past four days. The total number of COVID-19 cases in India surpassed the 900,000-mark on Tuesday, according to the latest data issued by the federal health ministry. The ministry announced 553 new deaths and another 28,498 cases during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 23,727 and total cases to 906,752. Bangladesh reported 3,163 new cases, taking the total to 190,057, with over half of the patients having recovered. Nasima Sultana, a senior Health Ministry official, said in a briefing in Dhaka that 33 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh, bringing the death toll to 2,424. In the Philippines, the number of positive cases surged to 57,545 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 634 new infections on Tuesday. The DOH said the number of recoveries rose to 20,459 after 88 more patients survived the disease. The death toll also increased to 1,603 after six more patients died, the DOH said. The confirmed cases in Indonesia rose by 1,591 within one day to 78,572, with the death toll adding by 54 to 3,710, a Health Ministry official said on Tuesday. According to Achmad Yurianto, 947 more people had been discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 37,636. In Japan's capital city Tokyo, the metropolitan government confirmed 143 new infections, with the number staying below the 200-mark for the second straight day but spiking above the 119 cases detected a day earlier. Monday's figure marked the first time the number of daily COVID-19 cases had dropped below 200 in five days. New Zealand reported one new case, with the number of active cases in the country remaining at 25, according to the Ministry of Health. It has been 74 days since the last case was acquired locally from an unknown source, said a ministry statement. The number of people that arrived in New Zealand in May 2020 was the lowest for any month since May 1959, because of COVID-19-related border and travel restrictions, the country's statistics department Stats NZ said. Cambodia confirmed nine more cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 165, according to a Health Ministry's statement. South Korea reported 33 more cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 13,512. The daily caseload fell below 40 in three days, but it kept rising in double digits due to the continued small cluster infections and imported cases. New Delhi: Amid ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan, Union Minister and RPI (A) chief Ramdas Athawale has praised sacked Congress leader Sachin Pilot and welcomed his decision to take a stand against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. In a video posted on Twitter, Athawale on Tuesday said, "Sachin Pilot has taken the right decision by resigning from the Congress. I welcome his decision. Sachin Pilotji should move ahead for the development of Rajasthan under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi." Athawale, a BJP ally who heads the RPI (A), said the Congress will lose power in the desert state if Pilot and MLAs supporting him join hands with the BJP. Athawale said Pilot was allegedly not being respected by the Congress and chief minister Gehlot. A BJP government will come to power automatically in Rajasthan if Sachin Pilot and the 30 MLAs supporting him come with the BJP. Congress has already lost power in Madhya Pradesh, it is about to lose power in Rajasthan and after that, the Maharashtra government too will not last long. Athawale has also appealed to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar to snap ties with the Shiv Sena and join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The Union Minister said that there should be a grand alliance of BJP, NCP and RPI (A) in Maharashtra, where the days of Uddhav Thackeray government are numbers. Athawale said the NCPs tie-up with the Congress and the Shiv Sena was not beneficial to it, adding The NCPs decision to support the Shiv Sena is not giving any benefit to the NCP. If Pawar sahab wants the countrys development and that the Centre gives more fund for the development of Maharashtra, then he should take the decision to support (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi ji and he should think about joining NDA (National Democratic Alliance). The video posted in Hindi on Twitter, Athawale said, The country and Maharashtra will benefit from his vast experience. In Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came together to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Uddhav Thackeray in November last year. India's recent ban of dozens of Chinese mobile apps gives local start-ups some leeway to develop products to replace the affected services, but the country's existing data protection laws are inadequate, the legal director for the Software Freedom Law Center said Monday. The Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps in late June, citing security concerns. That move was received favorably by some local start-ups that have struggled to carve out space in a highly competitive landscape against global tech giants. "This ban has given a little bit of a longer runway to the Indian homegrown markets and the apps, which are developed in the market itself, considering TikTok was so popular," Mishi Choudhary said on CNBC's "Street Signs Asia." "But, again, it only gives them leeway for a little while because they will also have to come up with products which have a user interface or the ease of usability just like the apps they would like to replace," she added. India lacks data protection laws Critics have raised concerns over the personal information collected by apps that are made by both international and domestic companies in India. Choudhary explained that the country does not even have a basic data protection bill yet. India does have the Information Technology Act passed in 2000 by parliament and amended in 2008 which governs the digital space. "It does not adequately protect either the people, all the data of the people, and does not lay out a framework, which is required, whether you're an American app, you're a Chinese app, or you're an Indian app and lays down the rules and the regulations about it," Choudhary said about the existing law. India currently has a comprehensive personal data protection bill that is under discussion in a joint parliamentary committee, which is said to be similar to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation. If it is passed in parliament, it will set the rules on how personal data is processed, stored, and used; it will also spell out what people's rights would be. AMSTERDAM, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AfterPay Insights' end of June research - now covering more 7.400 interviews with German online shoppers - indicates that German consumers will reduce their overall purchases in July. But at the same time, German consumers say that they will continue to shift purchases to online channels in July. This means that e-commerce growth will likely further amplify in Germany in July, coming at the expense of purchases in brick-and-mortar stores. This is a continuation of the trend that AfterPay Insights saw in June, when German online purchases picked up to +24% in mid-June (compared to early March) - after a period of stabilized and even decreased growth in May. Even though German society has opened up, consumers' return to brick-and-mortar stores is - so far - not happening very fast. Only 7% of German consumers say they shopped more in physical stores in June, compared to 17% who say they shopped more online. German consumers are less worried and have a positive outlook on their personal financial situation in July AfterPay Insights' research shows that German online shoppers' worries have decreased continuously since end of March. Worries about personal health have decreased the most, from 51% at the second half of March to 39% by mid-June. In that same period, worries about the personal financial situation also decreased, from 39% to 31%. From this, we can also conclude that - over the past months - German consumers worries have been more health than finance-focused. In AfterPay Insights' surve, 22% of German online shoppers say that their financial situation has become more stressed and 7% say that their financial situation has improved in June. The most important reason for fewer purchases is the need to save money; this is especially evident in the younger age groups. Secondary motivations are the intention to change lifestyle by reducing overall consumption, along with having general worries about the future. And third tier motivations include the risk of becoming unemployed, as well as wanting to pay off mortgages and loans. However, German consumers remain optimistic about their short-term financial future: 7% of German consumers say that their financial situation is better in June, and 18% say they expect their financial situation to further improve in July. Fashion leads German e-commerce purchases in July When looking at the development of online product categories, Fashion stands out in Germany, as it is the leading category in acquiring new consumers: in the second half of March, 18% of German shoppers made at least one purchase in online Fashion, and this share has grown to 26% by mid-June. Price and convenience become more important motivations to purchase online In Germany, finding cheaper prices online has become increasingly more important over time, along with the fact that online shopping offers more convenience. It looks like the functional benefits of online shopping have increased in impact, and are possibly leading to a lasting change. AfterPay Insights will monitor consumer behavior throughout the summer and get back with an update on e-commerce in Germany at the end of July. This article is a summary, read the full article here: " German consumers state they will make a larger share of their purchases online in July while overall purchases are likely to reduce" View the interactive dashboard with e-commerce behavior and attitudes from more than 19.000 consumers. About AfterPay Insights AfterPay Insights is a knowledge platform for e-commerce professionals. From mid March, AfterPay Insights has researched consumers' e-commerce behavior during the corona outbreak and intend to continue this study through out the pandemic. This article is an abstract. About AfterPay AfterPay, developed by Arvato Financial Solutions is the biggest payment-after-delivery service in The Netherlands and Belgium, and is also available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. About Arvato Financial Solutions As part of Bertelsmann, Arvato Financial Solutions provides professional credit management solutions across all segments of the customer lifecycle in around 20 countries. By revealing the advantages of predictive analytics, leading-edge platforms and big data, provided solutions result in optimized financial performance and empower clients to fully concentrate on their core business. Research contact Aida Beelaerts van Blokland a.beelaertsvanblokland@afterpay.nl +31657321095 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/afterpay---arvato-financial-solutions/r/afterpay--german-consumers-state-they-will-make-a-larger-share-of-their-purchases-online-in-july-whi,c3152601 The following files are available for download: The documentary Dateline-Saigon reconstructs the early rumblings of the Vietnam War mainly from 1961 through 1964 through the eyes of five print reporters who were on assignment in Saigon. Professionally, they were rivals. During the period in question, Malcolm W. Browne, Peter Arnett and the photojournalist Horst Faas worked for The Associated Press; Neil Sheehan for United Press International; and David Halberstam for The New York Times. But in the films telling, they nevertheless forged a kind of brotherhood, competing for stories as they began to question the United States governments official narrative. Delta Airlines has lost $5.7 billion in the last three months and its CEO is predicting it will take more than two years for the industry to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic - as American Airlines is expected to warn employees this week about any potential furloughs. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on Tuesday that any uptick in travel that occurred last month has now stalled again as coronavirus infections surge in parts of the country following the April peak that brought travel to a near standstill. 'Growth has stalled,' he said. 'It was growing at a pretty nice clip through June. The virus, unfortunately, was also growing.' Bastian warned it would take more than two years for the airline to make 'a sustainable recovery' from the virus and the harm it is doing to the global economy. Delta is the first US airline to report financial results for the May-through-June quarter - and the numbers were ugly. Passengers boarding Delta planes also tumbled 93 percent from a year earlier, revenue plummeted 88 percent and the company's adjusted loss was worse than anticipated. The airline has lost $5.7 billion. Delta Airlines is the first US airline to report financial results for the May-through-June quarter - and the numbers were ugly. The airline has lost $5.7 billion in three months Airlines are expected to furlough thousands of workers when federal aid to help cover payroll expenses runs out on October 1. Bastian is holding out hope that Delta might avoid those cuts because 17,000 of its employees have accepted early retirement, and another 35,000 will be taking unpaid leave during July. Meanwhile, American Airlines is expected to warn employees this week if there will be any furloughs. The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to notify staff 60 days in advance of any possible layoffs. Pilots were told those warnings were coming this week, CNBC reports. American Airlines, which has not yet commented on any potential layoffs or furloughs, was among the carriers to receive $25 billion in federal aid which prevents it from laying anyone off until October. United Airlines said last week it is warning 36,000 employees - nearly half its US staff - that they could be furloughed in October. The company said job losses could be reduced if enough employees accept buyouts or early retirement by a deadline next week. Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday it needs a dramatic jump in passenger demand or it will be forced to take new steps to reduce staffing. Employees face a Wednesday deadline whether to participate in a voluntary incentive program to leave the airline. Delta Air Lines lost 3.3% after its earnings and revenue for the latest quarter fell short of Wall Street's already very low expectations. The pandemic is keeping fliers on the ground, and Delta's passenger count plunged 93% during the quarter from a year earlier Airlines are expected to furlough thousands of workers when federal aid to help cover payroll expenses runs out on October 1. American Airlines is expected to warn employees this week if there will be any furloughs The potential job cuts form the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus pandemic is hurting the airline industry. The most important financial measure in the airline business right now is cash burn, which determines how long carriers can keep flying while travel remains severely depressed. Delta has about 19 months worth of cash and short-term investments at its current burn rate of $27 million a day. Back in March, Delta was blazing through nearly $100 million a day. Since then, it has persuaded 40,000 employees to take unpaid leave and it parked hundreds of planes to save money on fuel and maintenance. What's missing now are passengers willing to buy a ticket. 'Our goal is to get to break-even by the end of the year, but its clearly dependent on the virus starting to be contained again,' Bastian said. 'There is a lot of it that is out of our control.' Air travel within the United States fell 95 percent from the start of March until mid-April, when on some days fewer than 100,000 people boarded airline planes, down from more than 2 million a day a year earlier. That rose to more than 700,000 on the best days, but it has hit a plateau in July, coinciding with increased COVID-19 cases across the Sun Belt and new quarantine restrictions on visitors to states like New York, which recently reported its first day without a COVID-19 death. Delta, along with Southwest and JetBlue, has tried to make people more comfortable about flying by limiting capacity - to about 60 percent on domestic flights in Delta's case. United and American dont block seats, and a United executive recently dismissed Deltas approach as a public-relations ploy. Airline customers are notoriously obsessed with jumping at the cheapest fare, even if its only a few dollars less. Bastian suggests that could be changing because of the pandemic - he says passengers tell the airline they are uncomfortable boarding full planes. Booking flights 100 percent 'is not what Delta is going to do,' he said. Air travel within the United States fell 95 percent from the start of March until mid-April, when on some days fewer than 100,000 people boarded airline planes, down from more than 2 million a day a year earlier Delta has promised to cap seating through September 30. Those limits won't stay forever, though, because airlines can't make money with so few seats occupied. Delta depends on business travel for an outsized share of its revenue and profits, but Bastian acknowledged that corporate travel will be slower to recover than leisure travel as in-person meetings are replaced by Zoom calls. Delta's second-quarter loss compared with a year-ago profit of $1.44 billion during what is normally a strong season for airlines. The loss included more than $2 billion in write-downs for the value of Delta's investments in Latam Airlines, the biggest carrier in Latin America, and Aeromexico and Virgin Atlantic. All three have filed for bankruptcy or the equivalent after failing to get financial help from their governments to survive the pandemic. Delta also wrote down the value of planes that it decided to retire. Excluding those items, Delta said its adjusted loss worked out to $3.9 billion, or $4.43 per share, wider than the $4.16 per share average in a FactSet survey of analysts. Revenue nosedived to $1.47 billion from $12.54 billion in the same quarter last year, with domestic and international flying suffering almost equal downturns. However, total revenue was slightly better than analysts had forecast. The average flight in the quarter was 34 percent full, a stunning drop from 88 percent a year earlier. Even with fewer flights and fewer seats filled, Delta was able to prop up prices. Passengers paid an average of 4 percent more per mile than they did a year earlier. Revenue from cargo and the SkyMiles credit card and loyalty program dropped, but not as sharply as money from tickets. The airline raised $11 billion during the second quarter by mortgaging assets such as takeoff and landing slots, airport gates, and routes, and getting an unsecured loan from the government - part of $5.4 billion in federal aid to help pay workers through Sept. 30. Delta has signed an agreement with the Treasury Department for an additional secured loan of $4.6 billion but hasn't decided whether to take the money - it could find better terms on the private market. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges following a standoff with police at his Arizona home. Gray, who played Hakeem Lyon on the Fox TV series, was taken into custody on Monday at about 7am at his home in Goodyear, Arizona, where he had barricaded himself overnight. The incident began at about 10.15pm when police were called to a Circle K gas station in Goodyear to help a woman. Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges Monday morning. He is pictured here in his mugshot (left) and booking photo (right) The woman had flagged down a passerby at another gas station, stating that 'she had been assaulted at her Goodyear home for the last several hours by her husband,' according to the police report obtained by Fox 10. The passerby then drove the woman - who was not named - to the Circle K and called 911, at which point the woman identified Gray as her husband. Police said the woman had multiple visible injuries on her body and that she had said Gray had strangled her at one point, leading to her temporarily losing consciousness. The woman was taken to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released. Gray (right) played Hakeem Lyon in the Fox series Empire. He is pictured with cast mate Jussie Smollett (left), who faces legal charges of his own related to an alleged attack in Chicago Gray (pictured in 2018, left, and 2017, right) was arrested after his wife told police he had been assaulting her for hours and had strangled her until she lost consciousness temporarily Gray barricaded himself inside his home (pictured) when police arrived to talk to him. He surrendered himself to police the next morning at 7am and was arrested Upon arriving at their home later, police said that Gray refused to exit the property and barricaded himself inside. Between the barricade situation and the possible felony domestic violence charge, police called Goodyear SWAT and Crisis Negotiations to the scene, AZ Family reported. Gray barricaded himself inside the house overnight, eventually surrendering himself to authorities without incident at about 7am Monday. Gray was then arrested and booked into jail. He was taken into custody and booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Gray now faces charges including assault (domestic violence), aggravated assault (strangulation) and disorderly conduct. Following her hospital discharge, Gray's wife is being assisted by Goodyear detectives and a victim advocate, AZ Family reported. Gray isn't the only Empire cast member facing legal troubles now. Co-star Jussie Smollett has been charged with multiple felonies related to allegedly faking being the victim of a hate crime while living in Chicago in February 2019. Smollett filed a police report claiming that he had been attacked by two men while walking on the street late at night, who used both racist and homophobic slurs while assaulting him. He then said that they tied a rope around his neck and splashed bleach on him. Following an investigation, police said that the Smollett's attackers were actually two Nigerian brothers that the actor had paid to attack him in an effort to boost his profile and TV series salary. In February 2020, a grand jury indicted Smollett on six felony counts of disorderly conduct related to four false reports that he gave to police about the alleged attack. The city of Chicago is also suing Smollett for $130,000 in overtime that was paid to the officers who investigated the supposed attack. Smollett has claimed he's innocent of the charges and sued Chicago for malicious prosecution in the fall of 2019. The sheer, fantastic diversity of avian life in the Americas has been captured in more than 6,000 submissions to the National Audubon Societys (NAS) 2020 Photography Awards, from all 50 US states and seven Canadian provinces and territories. 2020 marks the 11th year of the contest, which honours images that evoke the resilience and beauty of birds of all sizes and affinities, be it land, air or sea. The winning photographs will be featured in future issues of Audubon and Natures Best Photography magazines. This year, grand prize winner Joanna Lentini took home $5,000 (3,988) for her breathtaking photograph of a double-crested cormorant underwater, diving for fish. Among the other winning images was a frigate bird puffing its red chest, a bare-throated tiger heron, a striking northern jacana, an American goldfinch searching for food on a cup plant, an American dipper veiled by water, a greater sage-grouse, Annas hummingbird piercing a droplet of water, a greater radrunner about to snack on a lizard, and a Tennessee warbler on an eastern prickly gooseberry. But as bewitching as the beauty of avian life may be, NAS warned that the climate emergency is a serious threat to two-thirds of North American birds. Recommended Rare bearded vulture spotted in UK for only second time According to a recent climate science report, in which researchers studied 140 million observations recorded by birders and scientists, it is clear that birds will be forced to relocate to find favourable homes as the climate continues to warm, and may not survive. By stabilising carbon emissions and holding warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, 76 per cent of vulnerable species will be better off, and nearly 150 species would no longer be vulnerable to extinction from climate change, said the report. A manhunt is underway for the man accused of disposing of the body of Myriam Camarillo, 27, in a plastic container and pouring bleach on it. READ MORE: Death of elderly Laredo man under investigation as possible murder Joseph Steven Carrizales had a pretrial hearing on Monday morning but failed to appear in court in the 111th District Court. The Laredo Police Department, the U.S. Marshals and the Webb County District Attorneys Office are working together to locate Carrizales. People can call LPD at 795-2800 or Laredo Crime Stoppers at 727-TIPS (8477). A reward is being offered. Carrizales, 27, had his bond revoked on June 2. He failed to comply with bail bond rules and regulations. Carrizales has avoided contact and has breached his contractual agreement, fail to report on a weekly basis, either by phone or in person. He went missing on May 31. An aunt filed a missing person report for him with LPD. Carrizales was indicted for tampering with a human corpse on Sept. 25. The case unfolded on July 8, 2019, when a woman called police to report that her daughter, Camarillo, had not returned home from a night out with friends. An investigation revealed that Carrizales saw Camarillo crying and sitting on a bench in downtown Laredo. He alleged they did cocaine and waited for a Lyft to pick them up, and then they went to his house in the 100 block of Saint Pierre. Both continued doing cocaine and had sex before falling asleep, Carrizales told police. He then woke up around 2 p.m. and found Camarillo dead next to him. He tried to mask the odor with bleach and allegedly made a small cut on her arm to reduce her body swelling. Carrizales tried to abscond into Mexico, where he had an encounter with violent drug cartel members. His injuries were not life-threatening. Mexican military apprehended Carrizales and turned him over to LPD on July 13, 2019. The Webb County Medical Examiners Office ruled her death undetermined. She did have traces of cocaine and alcohol in her system, authorities said. Carrizales was released on bond on Oct. 23. Carrizales was placed on monitoring surveillance program, specifically GPS, as a condition of his $60,000 cash bail surety bond. Carrizales was required to charge the GPS for a minimum of two hours a day and check in with pretrial services on a weekly basis in person. READ MORE: Records reveal details in Laredo capital murder case involving death of 2 year old, family of 4 On June 1, authorities received information from pretrial services that Carrizales GPS was no longer in service as of May 31. Pretrial services last made contact with Carrizales on May 28. Numerous attempts were made to contact Carrizales to no avail. First of all, though we call them white no human being on this earth has ever been born white. The Caucasians are peach, pink or reddish. Just like black people are not necessarily black in colour, they are variations of browns, from very light brown to very dark brown. So in this article, I am going to be discussing the origins of these people we call today white even though technically they are not white. May I also add that this a quite a long read, its a research piece, so its not for the browser. As a writer, I am not claiming to be 100% accurate, because no one on this earth has everything 100% figured out. We see everything, especially history behind a veil, and until the veil is completely lifted up, we can never have the complete picture. We see in part and prophesy in part. So this is the TRUTH and the gospel of white people according to Mary-Tamar. Because the original creation of this world were black people, there are so many theories out there as to where white people came from. I hear a very popular theory that white peoples skin lightened over time because of the cold weather conditions of Europe. Honestly, I cannot insult my own brains by believing this evolutionary theory. You cannot tell me that black peoples skin gradually turned white, their hair gradually straightened and became longer and blonde or red because of the weather. That theory comes from Cheddar man, a human male fossil found in Goughs Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England, of which scientists believe that he was a black man and through weather conditions, black people turned into white Europeans, which makes so no sense at all. Another popular theory is that white people originated from Japheth, one of Noahs three sons. But thats not true, all of Noahs sons where black. I believe so because historically, Ham is known as a black man. Historically, Shem, is known as a black man, so there was no way Japheth would be the odd one out racially, if he was white, it would have been recorded that one of Noahs sons was different to his two brothers. Another bizarre theory is that white people originated from the fallen angels who mated with the women in Genesis 6. The theory says white people are not 100% human but are the seeds of fallen angels. Ive even heard theories that their DNA proves that they are not 100% human, and popular British conspiracy theorist David Icke whom I really like by the way, says the British Royal family are of this lineage or something and calls them reptiles. Its all very fascinating, but for me, I get my answers from just studying history and the evidence I see with my eyes. I believe that just like black people were created by God, I believe that white people were also created by God. They were, however, created at a later time in history than the original race, the black people. In fact, when God decided to create white people, he decided to create two distinct nations and races at that time. God did not need to form a white man out of the dust like he created the black man Adam. The white man was not a completely new creation, he was to be a variation of the black man who already existed. Something similar had happened before in history, where all peoples were black but white-looking people cropped up here and there, and at that time it was considered a curse in the form of leprosy or albinism. But then God decided to make such a kind of a people a distinct race, so out of the womb of a BLACK WOMAN the first white man was birthed. This first white man wasnt exactly albino, he wasnt a leper either, this wasnt a spiritual curse or a medical condition, he was actually to be that way naturally. This historical event is recorded in the book of Genesis from chapter 24. What I love about the Old Testament is that its an accurate historical book, supported by other historical texts. So the origin of the white race began with a black woman called Rebekah, or rather, Rivkah in the Hebrew language. After years of failing to conceive, God finally opened Rebekahs womb after her husband Isaac prayed for her, and lo and behold, she conceived twins. The twin pregnancy troubled her, and she asked God what on earth was happening inside her womb. She was clearly told by God that she is carrying two different nations (races) in her womb. When the boys were born, only the colour and race of the firstborn twin is described because he was the one who was born different. There was no need to describe the second-born twin because he was normal, he looked just like his mother and father, and every other human of that time, he had brown skin. Genesis says the firstborn twin was born RED and hairy, so he was named Esau, which means hairy. The normal-looking second-born twin came out holding his brothers heel, trying to push his older brother back into the womb, so he was named Jacob, which means deceptive. However, God favoured and loved the deceptive boy more than his older brother Esau, so when Jacob was grown, God changed his name to Israel, as he was to be the father of Gods chosen nation. Esau on the other hand, who was the first white red human being on this earth was like a cursed child because God did not love him. His behaviour throughout was problematic, he was actually the very slow twin and growing up Jacob always had an upper hand over him because Jacob was naturally cunning. Esau sold his own birthright to his clever little brother for a bowl of soup, fulfilling the prophecy told to Rebekah when she was pregnant, that the older will be a servant of the younger brother. Needless to say, as stupid as Esau was, his father Isaac loved him more, he was the favoured son. Even though Esau was white, but by the description, he sounds like a red-haired ginger hairy man, he never saw his skin colour as white or purer, or more beautiful or superior to that of his own mother, his father and his twin brother, and in fact the rest of the peoples around him. Esau, the father of the white race, never saw himself as more special because he was red, if anything he probably grew up hating that he was different to his own family, as he was a completely different race to his own parents. On top of stealing his older brothers birthright, Jacob, a mummys boy, through his mothers scheming was later to steal the fathers blessing from Esau. Because Rebekah knew that Jacob was the one chosen by God, she made sure her favoured son got all the blessings and this is where the enmity between the blood brothers was born. Esau hated Jacob and sought to kill him. The blessing which Jacob received was actually from God because he was the chosen one, Genesis 27:27-29. Part of Jacobs blessing was that all peoples, all nations should bow to him and serve him, but not only all peoples and nations, but that Esau his own older brother will be his servant. The older shall serve the younger. Genesis 25:23. Because Esau was the one favoured by his father Isaac, though through deception Jacob got the original blessing, Esau through tears begged his Father for a blessing too and Isaac out of the love and sympathy he had for his first-born, gave Esau the Daddys boy, a temporary blessing, which is a manifestation of what we see today. Also because of Jacob/Israels continued disobedience towards their God, God took the blessing from them and temporarily gave it to his rival/servant Esau/Edom. King Solomon a descendant of Jacob, was a manifestation of the supremacy and favour of Jacob over all nations, all Kings of the world bowed to King Solomon. But because of his disobedience, Solomon was told by God that his blessing would be given to his servant, Esau and that was the beginning of the rise of Edom, or rather white people. That is why Esau/Edom or white people as we call them today are enjoying a temporary blessing of having all peoples and nations on this earth bow down to them, including Jacob. Jacob is supposed to be the elite race/nation over the whole earth, but this blessing was taken away from him, (Jacobs trouble) as the bible calls it. Thats why today we live in a white mans world, even though they are very few in number. White people are actually the ethic minority race of this world. Most black who understand this truth are sadly under the impression that all black people are descendants of Jacob. Their logic is that if all white people are descendants of Esau, then all black people are from Jacob. But they fail to remember that all people of different pagan nations were there before Jacob and Esau, and they were all black, this includes the Africans, the land of milk and honey Canaan, where Isaac, his wife Rebakah and their two boys dwelt. They lived among the pagan Africans/Canaanites. I was born in Zimbabwe, from the Shona people who are descendants of pagan Ham/Kush. And remember this, Esau, the first white man actually took his wives from Africans/Canaanites. There were no white women, all women were black, so he couldnt have married white. Esau, was actually attracted to Pagan Africans/ Canaanites, hence it grieved his God fearing mother and father so much. Esau was attracted to black pagan African women According to history, and Jewish texts, Esaus two Canaanite wives, Adah and Aholibamah were pagan whores. They dwelt in Esaus tent, but at night went back to their people and prostituted themselves. Because these two wives were such a thorn in the flesh to his mother Rebekah, he then decided to take on a third wife, a daughter of Ishmael, Bashemath, to please his parents. But according to history, his third wife was even worse than the Canaanites, and through Esaus union with Bashemath, he conspired with his uncle Ishmael to kill Isaac and Jacob and eliminate the seed of Israel and replace it with his, hence today the Edomites born from the womb of Ishmaels daughter Bashemath are what we know today as the Jews. Just like Israel came from 4 different black women through Jacobs seed, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah, the Edomites, or white people also came from the wombs of three different pagan women, all black as well, Adah, Aholibamah and Bashemath. That is why scientifically, there is no denying that white people originated from Africans because their white father had to impregnate black women for them to be born. Esaus children would have been more like him than their black mothers because it was the purpose of God to birth a completely new race. When a white man has a baby with a black woman, the baby comes out more white than black, especially as they grow up, a good example is Megan Markle, because her father is white, she is literally white. According to proven scientific research, a black woman can give birth to a white child, if the father is white. A black Nigerian woman, from UK, Milton Keynes, with a white husband, stunned doctors in 2014 by becoming the first black woman to give birth to a baby who was completely white. PIC BY Ian Jamieson/ Caters News. A black woman has become the first mum to give birth to two white babies. Catherine Howarth, from Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, is the only black woman in the world with two white children.. But we know that there is nothing knew under the sun, Esaus descendants by three women of colour were born white, and as the generations pro-created they even became whiter and whiter. Now, whilst Jacob and his 4 wives were constantly foreigners, travellers, and never quite settled in their own land, Esau on the other hand, through his temporary blessing was smart enough to travel to a new country and dwell in the mountains and establish empires and kingdoms. Esaus descendants already had Kings before Isreal had their first King, Saul. Esau quickly became more advanced and powerful than his brother Israel. Esau was even richer than Jacob when they met years later after they had initially fallen out. When Esau heard that his little brother was running away from their uncle Laban, he went to meet him, and Esau had a company of 400 men, whilst Jacob only had his 4 wives and numerous children. This proves that within a short time, Esau had established himself as some sort of Lord/Chief/King over the peoples of the land, whilst his brother Jacob was actually homeless. So when the Babylonians were to destroy the temple centuries later, in what was the ultimate fall of Jacob, it was Esau/Edom who quickly took advantage of that fall, and took over, establishing the Roman Empire, and chased away the remnant of Israel, who fled to Africa in which was the end of them being a nation. The Edomites, the Roman elite then converted the Ottoman Turks, their fellow Edomites to Judaism, replacing the vast black Jews. Esau had become so advanced that even when Christ was born, the King of that era was Herod, who was a white man, an Edomite, who ruled over the remnant black Jews in the Middle East, hence Christ referred to them as the lost sheep of Israel. They were lost not just spiritually, but had no identity as well. It was so bad that the greatest sin among the black Jews was to work for the Roman Empire, (the tax collectors). The black Jews were in such political bondage and oppression from white rule, thats why whey were anticipating the birth of the black Jewish Messiah, whom they thought was coming to free them from bondage and be their earthly King. But when Christ came, he was a poor carpenters son who was homeless, so most of them doubted him, because he was nothing like the glorious King they thought had been prophesied. Even John the Baptist was like, Who are you, are you even the one? Christ did not physically free the black Jews, if anything their suffering under the Roman Empire continued, and Christ did nothing about this. But even though Edom ruled during the Roman Empire, white supremacy was not necessarily a thing till about 400 years ago, when the transatlantic slave trade began. Esau himself never knew that his descendants would claim to be the superior race over all humanity, and in the name of white supremacy would commit such inhumane atrocities, the book of Obadiah explains in detail the fate of Edom, and how he will eventually pay for his sins, pride and atrocities against humanity but especially against his brother Jacob, the chosen one, to whom he is a servant. So yes, that is the history and origin of white people, and how they came to be the most powerful race in this world The Genesis Of The Revelation By Mary-Tamar was Jean A couple was on Sunday afternoon found dead at Kaumoni village in Machakos County, with preliminary investigations pointing at suicide. The bodies of 28-year-old Pius Dennis and 19-year-old Susan Ndeto were found hanging from the roof of their house with ropes around their necks. The girls body was naked in a kneeling position while the mans body, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, was almost standing, held upright by a rope. Confirming the discovery, Kithuani Assistant chief Serah Mutua said the motive of the suspected suicide is yet to be established as they did not leave behind a suicide note. According to reports, the lovebirds had traveled from Kayole in Nairobi on Friday to Kaumoni where they had been staying at the mans house. They just came after the President lifted the travel restrictions from the capital, a witness told reporters. The couple came home on Friday evening from Kayole area when today(Sunday) in the morning they were seen by villagers but seemed to be okay, said the assistant chief. Police said the girls mother received a call from her daughter at around 11.00am on Sunday. However, the mother was later unable to reach her daughter, forcing her to travel from Kayole to Machakos where she found the two dead inside the the one-roomed house. Investigating officers moved the bodies to the Kangundo Hospital Mortuary awaiting a Post-Mortem. Press Release July 14, 2020 Bong Go assists a thousand LSIs return to the provinces under strict health and safety protocols The office of Senator Christopher Lawrence "Bong Go" continues to provide support to individuals who remain stranded in the metropolis due to limited transportation and strict quarantine measures imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. "Nais ko ipaalala sa lahat na hindi natin pwedeng ipagkait ang karapatan ng mga Pilipino na makauwi sa sarili nilang bayan. Gawin lang po ito sa ligtas at tamang paraan. Sundin palagi ang health and safety protocols, at siguraduhin na maprotektahan ang mga komunidad na kanilang uuwian," he reiterated. Recently, Go's office extended additional aid to around 1,000 Albay-bound locally stranded individuals (LSIs) who were given clearance to travel home under strict health and safety protocols. The Senator's staff members brought test kits for screening the LSIs who also received free meals and food packs from the team. The Department of Social Welfare and Development provided cash assistance after Go's office reached out to the agency. The applicants who tested negative of the virus causing COVID-19 were granted a travel authority and brought home by the Albay provincial government via bus on July 10 and 11. Go's team also delivered free meals and food packs to 25 LSIs bound for Bohol. The DSWD on their end likewise extended various forms of aid. The group was transported by ship on July 11 by the Philippine Coast Guard. Go reminded concerned agencies and the beneficiaries of the Hatid Tulong initiatives to strictly follow protocols even as they pass the screening tests and undergo the mandatory fourteen-day quarantine at the final destinations. He also previously urged concerned national agencies to provide an efficient system of air, sea and land travel options to avoid overcrowding and prevent any unwanted exposure in airports, seaports and terminals. "Tulungan natin ang ating mga kababayan na naghahanap ng paraang makauwi pero bigyan natin sila ng maayos na sistema para hindi sila nakaabang lang sa mga transportation terminals. Alagaan rin natin sila, bigyan ng pagkain, maayos na masisilungan, at huwag hayaang magkumpol-kumpol para rin maiwasan ang lalong pagkalat ng sakit," he said. In the previous months, the Senator repeatedly raised concerns about the growing number of LSIs and returning OFWs who were rendered homeless and jobless due to the adverse effects of the pandemic. "Sa ating mga kababayang Pilipino na uuwi ng Pilipinas, may mga nilatag na health and safety protocols ang ating gobyerno upang protektahan po kayo at ang inyong mga pamilya. Sundin natin ito para masiguro nating magiging ligtas din ang mga mahal ninyo sa buhay sa inyong pag-uwi," said the Senator, also the chair of the Senate Committee on Health. "Sa anumang mga hakbang na gagawin ng gobyerno at pati ng mga ordinaryong mamamayan, palagi nating unahin ang buhay at kapakanan ng kapwa nating Pilipino," he added In mid-June, the government temporarily suspended the Balik Probinsya, Bagong Pag-asa (BP2) program in order to prioritize the Hatid Tulong initiatives. Hatid Tulong is a short-term transportation assistance program intended to help LSIs affected by the lockdown to return to their home provinces. In contrast, the BP2 program is a long-term plan of the government to decongest the capital by encouraging residents and businesses to relocate to and invest in regions outside Metro Manila. The Hatid Tulong Program is a joint initiative of the Office of the President, COVID-19 National Task Force, Department of Transportation and various other agencies. The Office of Sen. Bong Go actively participated in the initiative that was launched in response to a directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to help locally stranded individuals, OFWs and other affected Filipinos who need to go home to their families in the provinces. "It's unacceptable that our countrymen could not go home. It is their right to go home, to live or die there. You can't deny that from Filipinos," the President said in a previous address, sternly reminding local government units to accept returning residents. While the sentence handed down today will not bring John back to those who loved him, perhaps it will help them in some way as they continue their lives knowing that the man responsible for his murder will spend the next three decades of his life behind bars, DuPage County States Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. Grant Imahara, an electrical engineer who co-hosted the pop science show MythBusters on the Discovery Channel and operated robots in the Star Wars prequels and other major Hollywood films, has died. He was 49. His death was confirmed on Monday night by Discovery Communications. A company spokeswoman said that the cause was believed to be a brain aneurysm and that Mr. Imahara, who lived in Los Angeles, was thought to have died hours earlier. No other details were immediately available. Mr. Imahara was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 23, 1970, and graduated in 1993 with a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, according to his Facebook page and a brief biography on the Discovery website. He later worked as an animatronics engineer and model maker for Industrial Light & Magic, a designer of movie special effects that was founded by George Lucas in 1975. In a brief biography on the Internet Movie Database, Mr. Imahara is described as an electronics wizard who worked behind the scenes of many top Hollywood films for years. By Trend Nikol Pashinyan's government carried out a provocation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border to protect its dictatorial regime from the growing anger of the Armenian people, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov said in an interview to the local REAL TV channel, Trend reports. He pointed out that Azerbaijan's army gave a worthy response to the Armenian armed forces. Our soldiers inflicted devastating strikes on the Armenian army. I think that the Armenians at least regretted attempting this provocation, as our martyrs were revenged, Ahmadov noted. The deputy prime minister pointed out that Armenia cannot reconcile with the strengthening of Azerbaijans position in the international arena, the growth of Azerbaijan's prestige, its direct participation in the implementation of various international projects. According to him, the decision to convene a special session of the UN General Assembly on the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev also shows importance of Azerbaijan for the international community. However, Armenia is trying to weaken the position of our country in the world community by making provocations on the border and blaming Azerbaijan for this, although it is a lie, he said. He reminded that President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon Armenia's provocation during the online meeting of the Security Council. "This is a message to the international community, including the OSCE Minsk Group, that Azerbaijan will never allow the creation of a second Armenian state on its territory, using all means to free its lands, Ali Ahmadov said. The Azerbaijani society and government repeatedly expressed concern over the OSCE Minsk Groups activity. The fact that the conflict is still unresolved is clear evidence of the groups inability to adequately fulfill its responsibilities. Despite the military aggression, the occupation of part of our lands and the fact that a million people became internally displaced persons, the Minsk Group did not name the aggressor by its name. In the case of aggression, its impossible to eliminate it without identifying the perpetrator. Therefore, the OSCE Minsk Group should clearly state its position," Ahmadov added. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. 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. Dozens already reported dead as rivers burst their banks after days of heavy rain, with more forecast. As many as 33 rivers in China have risen to their highest levels in history after days of torrential rain, a senior water ministry official has said, with more rain forecast. Ye Jianchun, vice minister of water resources, told a briefing on Monday that 433 rivers as well as major lakes like the Dongting, the Poyang and the Tai had all risen beyond their warning levels since the flood season began in June. Going into the key flood-prevention period of late July to early August, the current trends remain grim on the Yangtze and the Lake Tai basins, he said, adding that the belts of heavy rain that have lashed central China would eventually head north. Average rainfall has been at its highest since records began in 1961. State news agency, Xinhua, reported on Tuesday that the countrys largest river, the Yangtze, has started to recede from the previous peak of 28.77m to 28.74m (94.38ft to 94.29ft). The emergency ministry said last Friday that 141 people were dead or missing, and economic losses are estimated at 60 billion yuan ($8.57bn). Flood-control authorities throughout the Yangtze basin have already issued red alerts for major population centres such as Xianning, Jiujiang and Nanchang. A red alert has also been declared at Poyang Lake, where water levels are more than 3 metres (9.84ft) higher than normal, another record high. Warning levels breached In some flood-stricken regions, soldiers filled sandbags to shore up riverbanks and prevent more damage. Town streets were inundated, rescue workers wading through hip-deep water with inflatable boats to reach people trapped in homes turned into islands. Chinese paramilitary policemen form a line to move sandbags to reinforce a dyke along the banks of Poyang Lake in Chinas Jiangxi Province on Sunday [Cao Xianxun/Xinhua via AP Photo] According to water ministry data, warning levels were breached at more than 70 flood-monitoring stations on Monday. Water levels at the Three Gorges reservoir, which cut its discharge volumes for a fifth time on Saturday to ease downstream water levels, have now risen to 153.2 metres (502.62ft), 6.7 metres (21.98ft) higher than the warning level. Chinas weather bureau said although some regions in the southwest would see a temporary respite from the heavy rain on Monday, central and eastern China would continue to bear the brunt of the storms. Authorities, however, dismissed fears of a possible repeat of the devastating flooding that hit the country in 1998, according to the state-owned Global Times. Analysts also said that while the situation was likely to be difficult in the coming week or weeks, China had made significant investments in water conservation initiatives, especially the Three Gorges Project, and improved its emergency response in recent years. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: Armenian armed forces have again opened fire at the Dondar Gushchu village in Azerbaijan's Tovuz region using large-caliber weapons and artillery installations, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Vagif Dargahli said, Trend reports. Dargahli said that the a residential building was damaged, yet no human casualties were reported. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. 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. As long-time epidemiologists and infectious disease experts, a few main takeaways have become increasingly apparent as to how the global health community can better prepare." With more than three million cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., and nearly thirteen million worldwide, the global pandemic has slowed but not stalled. As the healthcare community prepares for the long fight, the Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems (LRC), provider of research-based solutions that drive scientific, commercial and social breakthroughs, is releasing insights based on what weve learned from the outbreak so far and how the world can prepare for whats next. Were learning something new every day as it relates to COVID-19, but were also seeing what works and what is lacking when it comes to managing emerging health threats, said Dr. Shailesh Date, founder and CEO of LRC Systems and Associate Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UCSF. As long-time epidemiologists and infectious disease experts, a few main takeaways have become increasingly apparent as to how the global health community can better prepare. In the spirit of these takeaways, we feel it is our duty to share our insights with the world. Lessons Learned Make mitigation standards uniform: It is imperative that the global health community develop and maintain uniform protocols for tracking and tackling pathogens. With a common, more streamlined approach in place, path and treatment options will be more clear and thus, disease spread can be better understood and mitigated. Leverage dual surveillance: To address the complexities of evolving pathogens, both active and passive surveillance is vital. With active surveillance, data is collected for a specific gain, i.e. how is COVID spreading. With passive surveillance, there are systems in place that continually gather data, helping build a foundation for response. It is important to combine both approaches: while active surveillance is the most commonly used approach for epidemics, passive surveillance is what allows people like scholars and policymakers to understand long-term trends so that changes can be made to public policies. Collaborate globally: With COVID-19, widespread sharing of information is critical to better understand and slow the spread of the virus. Experts agree that this approach should be the norm (during pandemics and beyond), so that researchers, clinicians and frontline workers are communicating and collecting data on a regular basis. In fact, the World Health Organization recently said that the greatest threat from COVID-19 is not the coronavirus itself but a lack of global solidarity" in confronting it. To support this approach, LRC is working on a full rollout of Sample.Exchange, a web-based platform that will allow researchers worldwide to share biological samples for a wide variety of projects, including samples related to the current COVID-19 outbreak. With a sharp increase in US cases in recent weeks - with as many as 30,000 to 40,000 new cases being reported daily - and a recent rebound in cases in South Korea and across Europe, concern looms over a second wave of infections following the lifting of lockdowns across the globe. Heres what the experts at LRC say are the best ways for the world to prepare: Manage the socioeconomic impact: A big and important facet of epidemiology and public health is understanding impact beyond just the disease. With an unprecedented 13.3 unemployment rate from nearly 45 million people filing for aid, the next wave has more to do with socioeconomic fallout than the disease itself. The understanding and management of human behavior and interaction will be critical for mitigating disease fallout beyond its spread. Americans, including essential workers, that don't have the means to call in sick or quarantine, will remain vulnerable. As a result, it is critical to track openings and take a slow approach to returning to life as normal. The more we can track the communities that don't have the luxury of working from home, the more we can slow the spread and make decisions that support all Americans. Threat of co-infections: As restrictions are lifted and the country transitions away from social distancing, other diseases are expected to resume transmission as well. A byproduct, and perhaps a silver lining, of decreased contact in the past few months has been that the threat of other viruses and pathogens has also been mitigated. When interactions between people increase, many of these temporarily dormant pathogens will begin circulating again. With the novel nature of COVID-19, it also remains to be seen how co-infections with other pathogens impact patients, treatment options and spread. In order to remain protected, people should continue to distance as much as possible, wear masks, and keep to smaller groups while staying away from places that arent adhering to suggested guidelines. The need for a plan: The biggest challenge with managing the COVID-19 crisis is and remains the absence of a national plan and guidelines that can be moderately tweaked and modified to suit local conditions. It is still not too late; as we look to whats next, it is critical that we take what weve learned to develop a plan and better prepare for whats ahead--both with COVID-19 and other pathogens that we encounter down the road. This planning needs to be top-down: given our resources, what can we do to best mitigate disease spread? We need this to be initiated by the disease experts at the CDC, so policymakers can take control and issue clear guidelines that are implemented across the country together. For more information about LRC Systems and its game-changing approach, visit https://www.lrc.systems/. About LRC Systems Laboratory for Research in Complex Systems (LRC) develops powerful research-based solutions that drive scientific, commercial and social breakthroughs. Led by a team of trailblazers from industry and academia, LRC uniquely combines advances in natural and quantitative sciences with cutting-edge technology to help solve fundamental health, economic and social problems for public and private organizations. LRC serves as an ideas hub for high-level transdisciplinary research that is bigger, faster and more impactful, to propel innovations that can change the world. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A federal lawsuit alleges the City University of New York has not taken the necessary steps to avoid layoffs during the coronavirus pandemic. Approximately 2,800 teaching and non-teaching adjunct staff members face the prospect of not returning to work when the fall semester gets underway, and more than 35% of such staff at the College of Staten Island could be cut, according to the lawsuit filed in the Southern District of New York on July 1. The Professional Staff Congress (PSC), which represents those staff members and filed the lawsuit, alleges the cuts violate a stipulation in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. That federal legislation, which President Trump signed into law on March 27, stipulates that institutions of higher learning receiving money through the Education Stabilization Fund take steps, to the greatest extent practicable, to continue to pay its employees. According to the lawsuit, the CUNY system received approximately $251 million through the fund, and has not done all it can to avoid laying off its employees -- including no cuts to executive pay like has been done at university systems across the country. PSC President Barbara Bowen described adjuncts as essential faculty. According to the lawsuit, CUNY employs approximately 12,000 adjunct faculty members and 2,000 adjunct professional staff. How can CUNY lay off thousands of workers when it has been awarded $251 million in CARES Act funds, which come with an explicit requirement about keeping employees on payroll? she asked. The PSC will not stand by as CUNY lays off adjuncts and eliminates classes for students when Congress named job protection at colleges as one of the purposes of the stimulus bill, she continued. CUNY officials sent decisions to adjunct staff earlier this month notifying them as to whether they would be reappointed in the fall semester, according to information from the university. They delayed that process twice, and had asked the union for a third extension. Spokesman Frank Sobrino, who declined to discuss the specifics of the lawsuit, said CUNY is relying on the best fiscal information that it has available to make its decision, and that it values its part-time staff. Unfortunately, CUNY is not immune to the challenges and uncertainties engendered by the COVID-19 crisis, and in the absence of federal funding to support New York State and New York City through this crisis, our fiscal outlook is dim and uncertain, he said. This uncertainty is why we reached out to PSC leadership to seek a third extension to sending appointment letters, but they would not agree to it. As a result, colleges are informing a large number of adjunct professors that their reappointment for the Fall 2020 semester cannot be guaranteed. If the federal government acts as it should, and the fiscal outlook improves, many could be re-hired to teach in the fall, he continued. Due to the layoffs and reduced assignments, approximately 422 adjuncts will lose health insurance, including 13 at CSI. On June 26, PSC members hosted a CUNY Board Hearing for the People in the absence of an official hearing that would typically be held in June. Dr. Michael Paris, a CSI associate professor and chair of the schools Department of Political Science and Global Affairs, submitted testimony to the CUNY Board of Trustees as part of that hearing. In his testimony, Paris pointed to a lack of funding pre-COVID, and accused the board of aligning itself with Governor (Andrew) Cuomo, and his refusal to have the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, instead of with us, the faculty and students. Students and faculty will not accept this. They will resist, and, eventually, withdraw their support from CUNY as an institution, he testified during the hearing. There will be a revolt the likes of which we have not seen since the late 1960s. I urge you to reconsider your complacency and complicity. A delegation of 70 New York elected officials, including State Sen. Diane Savino (D-North Shore/Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Charles Fall (D-North Shore), signed a letter expressing their concerns about layoff plans and calling for transparency on CARES Act funding. New York must not turn its back on CUNY now. We call on you, as leaders of the City University system, to be a voice against the destruction of CUNY, the politicians wrote to CUNY Board Chairperson William C. Thompson and CUNY Chancellor Felix V. Matos Rodriguez. We ask you to defend CUNY at this critical moment in history, not find ways to dismantle it, they continued. On Saturday, the PSC will be leading drive-thru protests across Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island calling for the adjunct jobs to be saved. Nairobi, Kenya (PANA)- At least nine people have been shot dead and 17 others injured when security forces, affiliated to the Sudanese government, opened fire against protesters in Fata Borno, North Darfur, Amnesty International said on Tuesday After a civil party request within the UN-assisted Khmer Rouge tribunal and as part of a reparations project, a 2011 government letter stated that the state agreed to grant, in principle, the request made by the Civil Parties and other victims, designate the 20th of May as the National Day of Remembrance, an annual public holiday celebrated instead of the day of Anger or Memorial Day, which has been observed since 1984. This letter also noted that teaching history of the Khmer Rouge years would be included in the national curriculum for high school students. Sum Rithy, a survivor of the regime and party to Case 003 against former Khmer Rouge Naval Commander Meas Muth, said victims wanted the day to be on April 17, to mark the day the genocidal regime took control of Phnom Penh and atrocities began. As the government suggested May 20, the Victims Support Section at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal decided to take May 20 and my group [of victims] agreed, Sum Rithy recently told VOA Khmer. Victims of the Khmer Rouge and advocates have called on the Cambodian government to continue the commemoration of the Day of Remembrance, which was a collective reparations project to honor the victims and give voice to the survivors of the brutal regime. The Day of Remembrance, which used to be called the National Day of Hatred, is marked on May 20 and was declared a national holiday in 2018. After only one year, the holiday was canceled as part of the governments efforts to increase workdays in the year. Victims have used the day as a way to express their experiences of the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime while highlighting atrocities. The government and Khmer Rouge Tribunal mark the day with events across the country, including reenactments of the regimes crimes at Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. The day was first initiated by the Peoples Republic of Kampuchea in 1984 and called it the Day of Hatred. Celebrations involved angry speeches from senior government and Cambodian Peoples Party leaders against the Pol Pot-Ieng Sary-Khieu Samphan clique and the Sihanouk-Son Sann reactionary groups. Bryant Ben, a victim of the regime who lives in Long Beach, CA., said the Day of Remembrance is important because it denotes a respect for victims and invites the sharing of personal histories. He said the holiday helps keep the issue alive in the national conscience and society to learn from the past. Regularly we gather together to commemorate it and we understand that the past is at fault, Bryant Ben said. [We] learn about the wrongdoings. We learn what is good, we do it better... and we change our minds. Katrina Natale, an American international legal consultant, who used to work with victims at the tribunal from 2010 to 2015, said that the issue of the date whether to use May 20 or April 17 for this holiday has been highly politicized in the past. In my experience, especially in working with Khmer Rouge victims at the court, victims have felt ambivalent about the May 20 holiday and many prefer and only really relate to the idea of there being a holiday on April 17, the true start of the suffering and trauma for many, Katrina Natale said. Natale said that events during the Khmer Rouge regime needed to be commemorated at the national level so that the dignity and humanity of the victims was restored. While the national holiday was canceled starting this year, the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum were also closed in 2020 on account of the novel coronavirus pandemic, preventing commemoration of the day. The government had banned large public gatherings and shut down museums during the peak of the outbreak in Cambodia. Youk Chhang, executive director of Documentation Center of Cambodia, said the government should take responsibility and maintain the holiday in an act of good faith for the millions affected by the Khmer Rouges brutal governance. When you know nothing can be healed, it's time to cry, Youk Chhang said. And you need time to cry. The commemoration of the day of remembrance regularly and publicly [marked] as the national event, I think it does not only help us all together not to forget, but to remember the past lessons for the young generation. On May 20, at Wat Sguon Pich in Khan Kambol on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia W. Patrick Murphy met survivors, and victims and villagers. Hundreds of Cambodians, researchers say, were killed there during the 1970s by the Democratic Kampuchea regime which converted the Buddhist temple into a prison. NEW YORK Three days, no Aaron Judge. The Yankees star right fielder has been hampered by what manager Aaron Boone has called a stiff neck. Boone has also said Judges neck locked up on him, and that the slugger believes it happened in his sleep. Isom, 54, is currently being held at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City awaiting his fate, according to the DOC online offender search tool. Germann said prosecutors seem to be pursuing fewer death penalty cases, in part, because of the enormous costs of preparing for trial and decades of appeals. "This is all at the public's expense," he said. Germann said he let his own death penalty defense certification lapse following his last case. "After that case, I couldn't do it anymore," he said. Carter said his decision process in pursuing the death penalty includes meeting with the families of victims to see "what their sense of justice is." He serves on a statewide panel that reviews potential death penalty cases brought to it by prosecutors. The move to resume federal executions in Terre Haute triggered opposition last fall from Indiana Catholic Bishops, who called the move, "regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified." This week I should have been flying into Heathrow for the launch of my new book 'Hidden Hand: Exposing How The Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping The World', serialised exclusively in the Mail this week. Coronavirus has put paid to that, but it got me thinking about who would have been the perfect guest of honour. Step forward the Chinese ambassador to the Court of St James. Not because Liu Xiaoming endorses the book far from it. But because His Excellency exemplifies the books alarm call to the world. His sinister and bombastic treatment of your country reveals the true face of China under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Chinese ambassador for the UK, Liu Xiaoming (pictured), warned that China could retaliate to Britain's decision to strip Huawei out of the 5G network Even before your Government yesterday found some backbone and belatedly decided the Chinese tech giant Huawei is a danger to national security, the ambassador was making threats of retaliation and giving the British media a dressing down. Britains protests about the crackdown in Hong Kong including the imposition of a draconian new security law and its offer of a path to UK citizenship for three million Hong Kongers were gross interference, he said last week. If Britain stands up to China, it would face the consequences. Liu Xiaoming warned then that the Huawei decision was a litmus test of whether Britain is a true and faithful partner of China. So, in the eyes of the Chinese Communist Party, the decision to ban Huawei from the UKs 5G infrastructure means that this country has spectacularly failed that test of friendship. Liu Xiaoming warned then that the Huawei decision was a litmus test of whether Britain is a true and faithful partner of China In the eyes of your oldest allies, however, you have finally come to your senses. The Johnson Governments toleration of Huaweis role in the next-generation mobile data network caused consternation in the United States and in my own country, Australia. How could we, along with New Zealand and Canada, Britains closest intelligence partners, trust you with our secrets, if the CCPs favourite technology company were running your critical communications infrastructure? Australia is far more dependent economically on China than Britain. And Chinese penetration of Australian politics as I detailed in my first book, Silent Invasion is more dangerous. But my country had no hesitation in telling China that Huawei could have no role in what will be the central nervous system of our economy for the coming decades. True, we have paid a price Chinese proxies have huffed and puffed. We faced cyber-attacks and a propaganda blitz. Our exports including beef and barley have been hard hit by punitive tariffs. Be under no illusion: now Britain faces the same. For the message of what has been dubbed Chinas wolf warrior diplomacy is simple: be our friends, or else... As my co-author Mareike Ohlberg and I explain in Hidden Hand this friendship comes at a price. If you play along with the bullies of Beijing, you will be feted and rewarded. If you step out of line you will be punished by the worlds second largest economy. This is not friendship. It is servitude. To see the true nature of the CCP regime, let us return to Hong Kong. Protests have been taking place in Hong Kong against plans to allow extradition to mainland China. UK Prime Minsiter Boris Johnson has since offered sanctuary to people in the former British colony Few expected that Hong Kong, once part of the Commonwealth and with decades-long ties to Britain, could be crushed so speedily and ruthlessly as it has in the past few months and with such contempt for world opinion. And so I applaud Boris Johnsons decision to offer sanctuary to people in the former British colony around whom the walls of the CCPs prison are going up fast. The thousands of young people who have campaigned for democracy over the past year with their dramatic weekend protests now face secret trials and long stretches potentially life imprisonment in Beijings gulag. Meanwhile, the Great Firewall of Chinas internet censorship is descending on your former colony. Beijings Ministry of State Security, which last week brazenly opened an office in the supposedly autonomous region, will pounce on any whisper of dissent. Books are being purged from libraries. The principles of freedom and democracy are vanishing from the school curriculum. The crackdown has chilling echoes of the barbaric treatment meted out to millions of Muslim Uighurs living in their also supposedly autonomous region of Western China. In recent weeks, evidence has emerged of a grotesque policy of mass sterilisation, on top of a systematic attempt to obliterate this ancient peoples language and culture. Australia has offered limited asylum to Hong Kongers already living there, urged businesses to relocate, and is warning against travel to the territory. China has responded with the same bellicose threats it issues to Britain: Australia must stop meddling ... otherwise it will lead to nothing but lifting a rock only to hit its own feet. I hope that Australia and other countries will join you in making a much bigger offer of political refuge in the months to come. But be in no doubt. Those who flee will find that the CCPs tentacles stretch all over the world especially Britain to an extent that you (and they) will find terrifying. The Pentagon says China is now the greatest military threat to the United States. The director of the FBI, Christopher Wray, warns that the Chinese regime is engaged in a whole-of-state effort to become the worlds only superpower by any means necessary. Aggressive naval expansion in pursuit of preposterous territorial claims in the South China Sea is stoking unprecedented concern. Yesterday we learned that Britains new aircraft carrier may be deployed there next year to bolster allied efforts to keep sea lanes open. Recent violent skirmishes on the Himalayan border between India and China both nuclear powers are another warning signal, even as Beijing has been boosting its arsenal of doomsday weapons. The threat stretches further, to unprecedented cyber-attacks on Western democracies, a program of espionage, and the subversion of other countries decision-making. Under the isolationist and erratic leadership of Donald Trump, as the U.S. has retreated from the world, China has grabbed the opportunity, not least when coronavirus spreading fast in Wuhan as we finished our book hit. Chinas leadership used the pandemic to showcase the countrys global clout. Its propaganda organs trumpeted the success of its efforts. Although their claims are often bogus, many around the world believed them, as politicised aid shipments took the message into the heart of the West. In countries like Italy, China was the most visible aid donor. The real and still untold story is about the origins of the virus: the bullying of Chinese doctors and the silencing of its world-class virologists in the early weeks of the outbreak. Yes, Western governments have blundered, some badly. But if the Beijing regime had been efficient and transparent, hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide would have been saved. Yet the CCPs power rests on its ability to twist the facts, at home and abroad, backed up with colossal economic sway. Depressingly, in many countries China appears to have won the propaganda battle. At present, my biggest worry is Germany, where Angela Merkels government seems to put trade and investment ahead of national security and human rights. Never underestimate the political power of the German auto industry, whose largest market is China. The CCP has for years been grooming Germanys elite as indeed it has in other countries including Britain, as the Mail has revealed this week. In Australia, I have seen for myself how far the CCPs power can stretch. In November 2017 my publisher Allen & Unwin shelved publication of my book, Silent Invasion, which detailed the CCPs influence in my own country. It was cold comfort that its pre-emptive capitulation confirmed the books central argument: China uses our system against us. The Chinese Communist Party, led by President Xi JinPing (pictured), has for years been grooming Germanys elite as indeed it has in other countries including Britain Beijing can punish publishers in a number of ways. One is lawfare, expensive libel actions from deep-pocketed friends of China. These can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal fees, even if rock-solid research means the publisher eventually wins in court. Another worry is cyber-attacks: devastating intrusions into the publishers computer networks, crippling its activities. Then there is financial pressure. Australian publishers, like their British counterparts, use low-cost printing plants in China. Those commercial contracts now have a political twist. Chinas censors have prescribed for Western publishers a list of banned topics. No Chinese dissidents can be mentioned. No religion or politics, or maps that contradict the Chinese leaderships dogmas. So, the regime in Beijing can censor even books written by Westerners and published by Western publishers for Western readers. Those bastions of free speech, university publishers, shunned my book too, fearful that they might jinx the lucrative flow of student fee income from China. My personal safety became an issue. Other China analysts have suffered break-ins to steal computers and intimidatingly intrusive surveillance. Before I knew it, Australian security experts turned up at my office to advise me. We installed swipe cards and security cameras in the building. In cafes, suspicious characters sat near me and placed devices on the seats between us until I started taking photos of them to send to the authorities. At first I fumed: Im just an academic whos written a book in a country with free speech. How dare they try to intimidate me! Then I came to accept that this is the new normal for those who dare cross the CCP. For activists in Hong Kong, or human rights lawyers in China, it is far worse: life and death are at stake. The Australian public sensed something was wrong. Once a small but brave publishing house took on my book, they bought Silent Invasion by the pallet load. Britons too are beginning to question the way the country has succumbed to Chinas blandishments and pressure. And the clearest sign of that is Boris Johnsons Government U-turn on Huawei yesterday, in response to the opposition of members of the Tory Party and criticism of security experts in the UK and abroad. Treated as a privileged insider in the UK for years, the tech company founded by a former member of the Peoples Liberation Army the military wing of the CCP weaselled its way into critical infrastructure while courting the support of influential figures including a peer, three knights, a top Whitehall mandarin, City grandees and charity heads on its board, as the Mail has revealed. Privately, British spooks were furious, but Government arm-twisting forced spymasters to say that the risk could be managed. Please understand: this is not just an argument about technological standards. The new 5G system is the backbone of the worlds future economy. It is essential for the so-called internet of things. Until now, people have used computers mainly to communicate with other people. The next industrial revolution will involve machines talking to each other. That promises great improvements in efficiency and convenience but it is an irresistible target for those wishing to compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Huawei has become the global leader in 5G equipment and systems, offering the cheapest and most advanced products. It claims to be an independent employee-owned company. On paper, it is. But Huawei also enjoys a protected home market and both hidden and overt support from the Chinese regime exemplified by Chinese official demands that foreign countries treat it favourably. Moreover, any business in China is subject to the countrys strict national security laws, which demand immediate and complete compliance with its spy agencies. The West can trust Huawei, in short, only as much as it can trust the CCP. Which is not at all. It is time to call a halt, and to put safety and security ahead of cost and convenience as Britain has done, although the price may be considerable. The roll-out of better broadband, and the exciting new services promised by 5G will be slower. It will hurt this countrys competitiveness. But the cost of continued complacency will be even higher. The decision on Huawei is just a small step on a long march to protecting the nations security and sovereignty. Next, Britain will have to deal with other aspects of Chinas technological clout. It should worry greatly about seemingly harmless manifestations such as the TikTok app, beloved by teenagers for its ability to create amusing videos. There are also concerns surrounding some of China's other data collection efforts, such as the TikTok app (pictured) which has proved popular amongst young people But TikTok is a pernicious part of Chinas global data collection efforts, vacuuming up details including address books and photos from mobile phones. That data can easily end up in Beijing, in the hands of Chinese spymasters, fuelling the countrys surveillance system. This is no longer just targeted at inmates of the CCPs realm. It is used to monitor and bully people abroad, part of a global effort to blunt threats and criticism that may offend the paranoid regime in Beijing. No wonder that India has banned TikTok, and other countries are considering following suit. Another worry for Britain should be Chinas grip on the nuclear power industry. In partnership with the French company EDF, China has a minority share in Hinkley Point in Somerset and Sizewell C in Suffolk. China General Nuclear Power Corporation also hopes to build a nuclear reactor at Bradwell in Essex. Xi Jinping's China has its fingers in many British pies including Hinkley Point Power Station (pictured) I hope the people who praised Chinas reliability when those contracts were awarded are now eating their words. And I hope Boris Johnson has contingency plans for the future of Britains energy sector if Beijing pulls the plug. A more sinister and less visible danger is the Chinese regimes penetration of universities, the business community and cultural institutions and, of course, the political system. Far more is yet to emerge of the depth and scale of these efforts, in Britain and elsewhere. Be warned: the Chinese Communist Party loves to operate in the shadows. It snarls when the spotlight is turned on it. I wish you luck as you try to extricate your country from the mire into which your decision-makers greed, naivety and complacency have buried you. You will need it. Hidden Hand: Exposing How The Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping The World, by Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg, to be published by Oneworld on July 16 at 20. 2020 Clive Hamilton and Mareike Ohlberg. Public safety professionals across the country are encountering uncommon challenges where increased situational awareness is critical to their success." Critical Response Group, Inc. announced that Richard Laverty, former Deputy Branch Commander for Investigations of the New Jersey State Police will lead its public safety implementation efforts. Mr. Lavertys 26-year career included command assignments at the training academy, as a Troop Commander overseeing field operations in central and southern New Jersey and Commanding Officer of New Jerseys Regional Operations Intelligence Center, the states fusion center. He is a 1993 graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Criminal Justice and received his MA in Education from Seton Hall University. Public safety professionals across the country are encountering uncommon challenges where increased situational awareness is critical to their success. Our company realizes the importance of supporting CRG clients and their use of our products in these times, and feel Rich is perfectly suited to lead that effort across the country, said Phil Coyne, president of CRG. His extensive background in emergency operations, training and policy development make him uniquely qualified to assume the role of Director of Implementation. About CRG United States Military Special Operations Force (USSOF) faced the challenge of operating and communicating about unfamiliar locations with diverse groups and nationalities while under stress during counter-terrorism missions. Similar to dynamic emergency situations firefighters and law enforcement officers confront, USSOF deal with chaotic operations and collaborate with partners who may not share a common background. To solve that problem, USSOF developed a visual communication tool called a Gridded Reference Graphic (GRG) that combined a grid overlay with high-resolution overhead imagery so mission participants could communicate from a site-specific common operating picture. The principles of a GRG were expanded and pivoted for domestic use as a Collaborative Response Graphic, or CRG. CRGs are built for any facility including schools, places of worship, hospitals, airports, government buildings, prisons, parks, corporate facilities, theme parks, and other critical infrastructure, and are regularly used for pre-planned and emerging events. Critical Response Group, Inc. is a group of retired United States Military Special Operations personnel, public safety professionals and talented technical experts committed to introducing validated, simple to use and practical tools to first responders which will enhance their planning for, and ultimately their coordination when responding to, any critical incident. For more information about Critical Response Group, Inc. visit: https://www.crgplans.com Additional information can be found here: https://youtu.be/10aghbY3AKI 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. New Delh: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the class 10 results on July 15, it announced on Tuesday. The board had on Monday announced the results for class 12. However, unlike the Class 10 results, there was no prior intimation about Class 12 result declaration. HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' also took to Twitter to share the update and wish luck to the students. "My dear Children, Parents, and Teachers, the results of class X CBSE board examinations will be announced tomorrow. I wish all the students best of luck," he said. My dear Children, Parents, and Teachers, the results of class X CBSE board examinations will be announced tomorrow. I wish all the students best of luck.#StayCalm #StaySafe@cbseindia29 Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 14, 2020 The board will announce the results through an alternative assessment scheme after it cancelled remaining exams in wake of rising coronavirus cases in the country. While class 12 exams were rescheduled to be held in July in all parts of the country, class 10 exams were rescheduled only in North East Delhi which was affected by riots in March. However, later all exams were cancelled following spike in COVID-19 cases. Total 88.78 per cent students have passed this year in CBSE Class 12 board examination 2020. This year, the pass percentage among girls is 92.15 per cent and among boys it is 86.19 per cent. Girls have performed better than boys by 5.96 per cent. The pass percentage among transgender students is 66.67 per cent. The pass percentage has increased by 5.38 per cent from last year when 83.40 per cent students passed. The CBSE will not issue any merit list this year. Earlier, CISCE had also announced that it will not announce topper's list for ISC and ICSE exams. Here's how to Check CBSE Result 2020: Step 1: Login to the official website cbseresults.nic.in or cbse.nic.in Step 2: Enter your exam details like roll number and date of birth. Step 3: Check your CBSE Board results for classes 10th and 12th. The brother of Luke Denman, a former Green Beret detained after a failed invasion of Venezuela told The Grayzone ex-US diplomat Bill Richardson has embarked on a private mission after the State Department failed to assist his family. By Anya Parampil The Grayzone has confirmed that former US ambassador to the UN Bill Richardson traveled to Venezuela on Monday, July 13, following conversations with the families of former Green Beret soldiers Luke Denman and Airan Berry. Venezuelan authorities detained Berry and Denman on May 4, after they participated in a failed mercenary invasion of Venezuela with the stated goal of kidnapping the countrys elected president, Nicolas Maduro. Mark Denman, the younger brother of the detained mercenary Luke Denman, told The Grayzone that Richardson had agreed to help his family after the US Department of State failed to offer assistance. Denman said the FBI had contacted his family, but only to advance its apparent criminal investigation into the ringleader of the botched mercenary invasion, Silvercorp CEO Jordan Goudreau. Richardson is not a government official, hes a private individual right now and so Im glad he agreed to help us out, Mark Denman told The Grayzone. According to Denman, Lukes girlfriend reached out to [The Richardson Center] and got them involved and they agreed to help. We formally asked them to help out and they said that they would love to. It is unclear whether the families of other US citizens charged with crimes in Venezuela, such as the Citgo 6, have also reached out to Richardson. Denman said his older brothers girlfriend had learned about The Richardson Center after reading about Governor Richardsons successful effort to free a US Navy Veteran held in Iran this past June. Richardson has previously led successful missions to free US prisoners in North Korea and Iran, including in the high-profile cases of college student Otto Warmbier and journalist Laura Ling. His efforts earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. I was glad to see this tweet today, everyone was sending it to me, to see that they are traveling and all, Denman said, referring to The Richardson Centers announcement of its latest mission on Twitter. Governor Richardson, at the request of several American prisoners families, is traveling to Caracas on a private humanitarian mission to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to discuss the status of the American prisoners and other COVID-19 humanitarian issues. Richardson Center (@RichardsonCNTR) July 13, 2020 Richardsons effort came as the US government has failed to offer any official support to the Denman and Berry families. As of yet we have not had any contact with the State Department, Denman explained to The Grayzone. He described a frustrating Catch-22 situation in dealing with US diplomats. Weve spoken with employees at the US embassy in Bogota, who have asked us to get Luke to fill out a privacy release form so that they can speak to us more about his situation. And I asked them how they propose I do that since technically I dont even know where these guys [Luke and Airan] are, Denman said. The employee then advised we hire an attorney in Venezuela, and I asked how they propose I do that since as far as I know there are massive efforts to shut off any method of sending money to Venezuela and attorneys want to get paid, he stated, referencing the impact of unilateral US economic sanctions which have restricted the ability of US citizens to transfer funds to Venezuela. I dont know what information theyd be able to get out anyway since theyre in Colombia and we dont have any diplomatic ties with Venezuela right now, Denman added. Beyond those conversations with US officials in Bogota, Denman said the only contact his family has had with the US government arrived through the FBI as part of what sounded like a criminal investigation into Jordan Goudreau, the former US Green-Beret who directed the bungled invasion of Venezuela, dubbed Operation Gideon. Weve been talked to by the FBI a little bit. The questions they asked are revolving around Jordan and any contact weve had with him, Denman said. Theyve been very basic questions like, Did we know Jordan before this? When have we talked to him? What numbers do we have for him? And if we have record of any communication between Luke and Jordan. Denman told The Grayzone he was happy to cooperate with the FBI because based on my communication with Luke from the beginning, what it looks like is that Luke genuinely believed this to be a US-backed operation and was acting [based] on that I think any investigation is going to show that whatever Jordan actually knew and had actually going on, or whether the US was actually involved or not, Luke and Airan certainly believed that was the case. Denman explained that Luke and Airan trusted Goodreau because he was a guy they had been in a lot of combat with, [who had] superior rank and all that stuff, so they did this thing they thought was meaningful. Denman expressed caution in dealing with US politicians, or either Presidential candidate, to assist his family in bringing Luke and Airan home, saying he would rather leave the task to private individuals and members of society who actually honor soldier services as opposed to politicians who [are only concerned with] their own re-elections. Id like them involved if theyre helpful but if theyre not helpful Id rather they just stay out of it, he added, suggesting President Donald Trump or Democratic Nominee Joe Biden would only involved if some campaign advisors advised them [putting together] a photo-op with these guys would be good, but its a little unpredictable. When asked what he would like the US and Venezuelan public to know about his brother and his friend Airan Berry, Denman remarked, they believed the Venezuelan people to be suffering and they thought they were working in their governments interest and with the backing of their government. People work with limited information, he added. The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on a plea by Jharkhand government challenging its decision to auction coal blocks in the state to private players for commercial mining. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde sought the Centres response in the plea which alleged that the Union government had unilaterally decided to auctions coal resources in Jharkhand without consulting the state government. We are inclined to issue notice and hear on the injunction (to stay the auction), CJI Bobde said. Senior counsel Fali S Nariman, who represented the Jharkhand government along with senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singh, pointed out that the auction will take place on August 18 and the matter should be heard before that. CJI Bobde said that the Centre can extend the auction date and the Attorney General KK Venugopal, who was representing the Centre, should look into it. The matter is likely to be heard next on August 17. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had, on June 18, launched virtual auction process of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining. These coal blocks are situated in the states of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. Nine of the 41 coal blocks are in Jharkhand. The decision was part of the series of announcements made by the Government of India, under the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan aimed at making India a self-reliant country. The Prime Minister said that after the reforms, the coal sector in India will become completely self-reliant and will also make eastern and central India, with substantial tribal population, pillars of development. The Jharkhand government then moved the Supreme Court in June, first by filing a writ petition and then by way of a suit under Article 131 of the Constitution, challenging the centres decision. Article 131 empowers the Supreme Court to hear disputes between central government and states. Jharkhand submitted that the decision was made unilaterally by the Centre without consulting with the state and it was highly inappropriate. The state is the owner of the mines and minerals situated within the territory of the plaintiff (Jharkhand). The defendant (Centre) has announced the auction unilaterally without consultation with the plaintiff (Jharkhand), the suit said. Though there were consultations regarding the same between the Centre and states in February, Jharkhand has contended that fresh consultations should have been held in view of the changed situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown imposed to combat the same. The meetings of February 2020 are meaningless as they do not take into account the materially changed circumstance arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic. Renewed consultation with the plaintiff state was indeed required due to Covid-19 pandemic which has brought the nation and the entire globe to a standstill, in a manner never seen before, the plea stated. It also took objection to the fact that centre resorted to such a move during time of Covid-19 pandemic. The impugned action impinges the rights of the indigenous people of the plaintiff state and will lead to large scale displacement and consequential rehabilitation and re-settlement issues, the plea added. An employee at an Alameda convenience store was arrested on suspicion of murder after he fatally shot a man trying to steal cigarettes Saturday night, later telling police he thought pointing the gun at the mans neck would deter the would-be thief from returning, according to court documents. Wenyong Huang, a 26-year-old San Leandro resident, was charged with murder, carrying a concealed firearm within a vehicle and carrying a loaded firearm on ones person in a city, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday by the Alameda County district attorneys office. Prosecutors also added special allegations of personal use of a firearm, concealed firearm with ammunition and having a loaded, unregistered firearm. Huang was working at a convenience store Saturday night on the 1700 block of Webster Street when he recognized a man who had previously stolen from the shop, according to court documents. The man allegedly walked behind the counter and removed a pack of cigarettes from a display case. Huang allegedly grabbed a firearm from his waistband and pointed it at the mans neck. As he leaned toward the man and reached across his body to recover the pack of cigarettes, he shot the man in the head, according to court documents. The man was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead. The victim was identified by the Alameda County coroners bureau Tuesday as 24-year-old Ethan Escorcio, of San Leandro. During an interview with authorities, Huang allegedly said he had found the firearm and kept it for safety. He expressed anger at thieves and said he believed pointing a firearm at the man would stop him from returning, according to court documents. Police said Huang was familiar with the mechanics of a firearm and understood the lethality of his actions. 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. He was cooperative during the initial investigation, Alameda police said in a statement about the incident, but based on the totality of the circumstances, coupled with store surveillance, was ultimately arrested for the homicide. Huang is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, according to jail records. Alejandro Serrano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @serrano_alej Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) The lockdown in Navotas City will begin on Thursday, July 16, with the citywide re-imposition of rigorous stay-at-home restrictions. Mayor Toby Tiangco signed Executive Order TMT-038 on Monday, which will put all 250,000 Navotas City residents under strict lockdown from 5 am of July 16 to 11:59 pm of July 29. Workers residing in the city will be allowed to leave if they work outside Navotas. Similarly, nonresidents who work in the city will be allowed to enter during the lockdown period. Delivery of goods from outside the city, except for food deliveries, will be permitted. The city will start scheduling the use of quarantine pass to reduce the number of market goers with only one person per household allowed to go out. On Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, residents of Barangays SRV, NBBS Kaunlaran, Bangkulasi, BBS, Navotas East, Sipac-Almacen, Daanghari, Tangos North, and Tanza 1 will be allowed to go out to buy food and medicine. Residents of NBBS Proper, NBBS Dagat-Dagatan, NBBN, BBN, Navotas West, San Jose, San Roque, Tangos South, and Tanza 2 will be allowed to go out for essential trips on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The city will be on total lockdown on Sundays, with all public markets shutdown for disinfection. Elderly and children under 21 are not allowed to go out except for medical emergencies. The city recorded 50 new cases on Monday, bringing the total to 576 active cases. Tiangco said the city's two isolation facilities are now full, which prompted local health officials to bring patients to government-managed quarantine centers. Navotas has recorded a total of 981 confirmed cases, with 341 recoveries and 64 deaths. Tiangco said random RT-PCR testing will be conducted during the 14-day lockdown. Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio in New York on March 2, 2017. (Richard Drew/AP Photo) Tucker Carlson: Ex-Staffers Social Media Posts Were Wrong Fox Newss Tucker Carlson condemned racially charged posts his staff member made and announced a long-planned vacation on Monday night. Carlson, the most popular cable news host in America, talked about posts made by Blake Neff, a writer for Tucker Carlson Tonight. Neff, using a pseudonym, posted a number of racist remarks on a forum in the past several years. After stories linking him to the post were published last week, he resigned. We want to make abundantly clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic, and homophobic behavior, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said in a memo to staffers published by news outlets. Neffs abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force. Carlson told viewers that Neff was posting anonymously on an Internet message board for law school students. On Friday, many of those posts became public. Blake was horrified by the story and he was ashamed. Friday afternoon, he resigned from his job, he said. Michael Brendan Dougherty (L) and Fox News host Tucker Carlson talk during the National Review Institutes Ideas Summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington on March 29, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We dont endorse those words. They have no connection to the show, he added. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. We often say that because we mean it. Well continue to defend that principleoften alone among national news programsbecause it is essential. Nothing is more important. Neff fell short of that standard and he has paid a very high price for it, Carlson said. It was the first time Carlson addressed the matter publicly. He hosts a show every weekday night. Neff previously worked for The Daily Caller, a news outlet that Carlson co-founded. He recently told the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine that he was writing the first draft of anything Carlson reads off the teleprompter. Were very aware that we do have that power to sway the conversation, so we try to use it responsibly, Neff said. Our show is controversialthats just objectivebut I dont believe that were stoking conflict. When people accuse us of that, theyre allowing actual firebrands to stir them up. Carlson later turned to critics who took glee in Neffs downfall. We should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests and triumph of the destruction of a young man, that self-righteousness also has its costs, he said. We are all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all and we will be punished for it. Theres no question. Carlson said he was taking a vacation soon to go trout fishing, insisting the trip was long-planned. This is one of those years where if you dont get it in now, youre probably not going to do if something dramatic happens, of course. Well be back, he said. Thats one thing, where a character is written and he could be white, he could be Indian, he could be Mexican. But its another thing to say, Were going to put a black person in this role and were going to make it as specific to his experience as possible. Ive benefited greatly from colour-blind casting and wanting to see diversity championed, says Brown, who won back-to-back Emmys for his roles in The People Vs OJ Simpson and This Is Us . In the angry echo chamber of social media right now, some would insist that should condemn it to an early death. But, says African-American actor Sterling K. Brown, not so fast. And that, he says, is what happened with Waves, in which Brown plays the father of Tyler (Kelvin Harrison jnr), a smart and popular high-school student who is on track for a wrestling scholarship to college until his life goes horribly, violently, off the rails. Brown had reservations about the story arc when he first read the script, but he didnt then realise the guy behind it was white. I had this conversation with him on the phone, and he has more bass in his voice than I do, and I thought Im speaking with a brother named Trey, he laughs. Hes like, I hear what youre saying, brah, can you talk to me about ways you think we can make it better. Yeah, bro, of course. Shults assured him he wasnt interested in vilifying the black male body, but rather wanted to show the humanity of a young child who loses his way and makes a bad choice. Brown was impressed, and still is. When that kind of collaboration happens, you can have a Trey at the helm because he cares about getting it right, he says. Hes not so beholden to his original vision that theres no room to breathe and expand and grow and make something specific to [the characters] experiences. And thats what made me feel so great about being a part of it. 90 Day Fiance stars Ariela Danielle and Biniyam Shibre are off to a rough start on The Other Way. After reuniting in Ethiopia to prepare to welcome their baby boy, Ariela began to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks. Both were brought on by Biniyams changed appearance and her disappointment in the living conditions that he had arranged. Now, sources claim that Biniyam was denied a United States visa three times while he was married to his ex-wife. Leaving fans wondering if Ariela knows, and if they cant get a visa, does that mean she is stuck in Ethiopia? 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way stars Ariela and Biniyam Ariela met Biniyam while he was still married Ariela was freshly divorced and on a trip to Ethiopia when she met Biniyam waiting for a taxi. While the Princeton, New Jersey native had been separated from her first husband, Leandro, for three years, they only finalized the divorce in 2018. I was young and immature, and I definitely rushed into a responsibility that I wasnt ready for, Ariela said on 90 Day Fiance. Much like his relationship with Ariela, things between Biniyam and his ex-wife moved very quickly. After just three months together in Ethiopia they were expecting a baby. Their baby was diagnosed with a serious medical condition, so his ex-wife came back to the US to receive medical care. Biniyam remained in Ethiopia waiting to get the green light to come to America and reunite with his wife. Biniyam was denied a US visa 3 times As 90 Day Fiance fans are well aware, couples face many roadblocks when it comes to acquiring a spousal visa to come into the US. According to The Hawk Eye, Biniyam and his ex-wife asked Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley and U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack for help in obtaining a spousal visa. The couple was denied three times according to TLC blogger @sharrellsworld. They were eventually granted Humanitarian Parole in order for him to come to the US for the birth of his child. On her YouTube channel, @sharrellsworld claimed that the reason Biniyam was denied a spousal visa is that he is from a third world country. Biniyam and his ex-wife got married while he was in the US and after the birth of their son, they all went back to Ethiopia to live. The specifics about why Biniyam and his ex-wife split seems to be as big a mystery to Ariela as it is to 90 Day Fiance fans. I dont know the specifics about why Biniyam and his ex-wife divorced. I do know they are not on speaking terms, Ariela told ET Online. She returned to the U.S. with their son and he hasnt seen his son face to face since. Are the 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way stars still together? Since Biniyam had previously tried to obtain a visa and been denied, it seems as though Ariela may be in Ethiopia to stay, that is if she wants to stay keep her family together. Despite any red flags she and her family may have detected in her relationship, the 90 Day Fiance wanted to at least try. I decided that I wanted to try at least the experience of being together because I really wanted to start my own family, she told RELATED: 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way: How Did Ariela and Biniyam Meet? But, is the couple still together after their journey on 90 Day Fiance? While speaking with ET Online, Ariela played coy about her relationship status with Biniyam. The first thing Ill say is, I got a baby boy out of it, so, it didnt go too bad. The other thing Ill say is, you know, in relationships, whether you end up with the person forever or not, you definitely learn something from them and you grow as a person and you learn something about yourself, so, I dont think its a loss either way. Fans can watch Ariela and Biniyams journey on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Mondays on TLC. PM Narendra Modi (File image) Capping 13 years of negotiations, India and the European Union have finalised a framework agreement on cooperation in the civil nuclear sector ahead of their online summit on July 14, officials of the 27-nation bloc said. In the summit, the two sides are expected to unveil a five-year roadmap to further broadbase ties, launch separate dialogue on maritime security and for boosting trade and investment besides kicking off a process for effective cooperation between the CBI and Europol, they said. The Indian delegation at the summit will be led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while the European side will be headed by President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The 27-nation EU is a strategically important region for India. The EU as a whole was India's largest trading partner in 2018. India's bilateral trade with the EU in 2018-19 stood at $115.6 billion with exports valued at $57.17 billion and imports worth $58.42 billion. The EU officials said an announcement on firming up of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement will be made during the summit on Wednesday. The pact provides for extensive cooperation in the civil nuclear energy sector. They said both sides are expected to finalise an agreement between Europol and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on having a working arrangement to deal with organised crime and terrorism. The Europol is the EU agency for law enforcement cooperation. The officials said both sides are also expected to launch a maritime security dialogue as part of efforts to expand defence and security cooperation. On the long-pending India-EU free trade agreement known as EU-India Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), the officials said the current trade relationship between the two sides was below its potential and far less than what the bloc expects. In the context of the stalled talks on the FTA, the officials talked about "India's protectionist approach" on tariffs and reservations on opening up its services sector, adding New Delhi is also not showing interest in trade with sustainable development. Asked whether the EU was looking at a limited trade pact with India, the officials said the bloc was not looking at such an option and that it was for a comprehensive trade agreement. Launched in June 2007, negotiations for the proposed agreement have witnessed many hurdles as both sides have major differences on crucial issues. Besides demanding significant duty cuts in automobiles, the EU wants tax reduction on wines, spirits and dairy products, and a strong intellectual property regime. On the other hand, India is asking that it be granted data secure nation status by the EU. The country is among the nations not considered as data secure by the EU. Talking about the post-COVID-19 situation, the officials said India as well as other countries will have to resist the temptation of initiating protectionist measures to ensure economic recovery following the pandemic. Asked about the Afghan peace process, the officials said the EU was in touch with India and other partners involved in Afghanistan, and hoped that the peace initiative gains momentum. They said Pakistan too will have to contribute towards the Afghan peace process. On cross-border terrorism from Pakistan and whether the issue will figure in Wednesday's talks, they said both India and Europe have been victims of the menace and the leaders are expected to reaffirm their position on dealing with the challenge. The officials said the summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the EU-India strategic partnership, stressing the shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and respect for human rights by both sides. They said the summit is aimed at delivering concrete benefits for people in the EU and India. The summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the EU-India Strategic Partnership. The leaders will discuss how to further develop their trade and investment relations and support sustainable growth and jobs on both sides, the officials said. As the world is fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the leaders will discuss global cooperation and solidarity to protect lives, to mitigate the socio-economic consequences and to strengthen preparedness and response capacities, they added. Lisa Marie Presleys son Benjamin Keough had recently been to rehab for addiction weeks before he shot himself dead over the weekend, new reports suggest. Keough, 27, was found dead with a gunshot wound to his chest in the early hours of Sunday morning after reportedly shooting himself during a party at his mother's luxury Calabasas, California mansion. His death comes as a source who has reportedly known Keough since he was a child revealed to writer Tony Ortega that the grandson of Elvis had recently been struggling with alcohol and drug addiction. The source also claimed that Keough had recently spoken to him about how f***** up kids get in Scientology, having been brought up in the church with his sister, Riley, before his mother fell out with its controversial leader, David Miscavige, in 2014. The important thing is that the entire family was shaped by Scientology, and its paying the price because of it, the source said. Lisa-Marie Presleys son Benjamin Keough (shown together) had recently been to rehab in the weeks before he shot himself dead amid a struggle with alcohol and drug addiction, reports suggest The source also claimed that Keough had recently spoken to him about how f***** up kids get in Scientology, having been brought up in the church with his sister Riley (left), before his mother fell out with its controversial leader, David Miscavige, in 2014 The source further speculated that the family's involvement in Scientology likely denied Keough access to proper mental health care, in addition to driving 'a destabilizing force between the parents and children,' the Underground Bunker reported. Keoughs father and Lisa Maries first husband, Danny Keough, is still a member of the Church of Scientology. Meanwhile, Lisa Marie has been going through bitter divorce dispute with her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, which includes a custody battle over their 11-year-old twins, Finley and Harper. Speaking about Lisa Marie, another source told Ortega: Ben was her baby. More than Riley. More than the twins. This will be beyond inconceivable for her. I really worry that it might be too much for her. The bereaved mother was said to be completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated with a representative for Lisa Marie telling Dailymail.com that she She adored that boy. He was the love of her life. However, a source told the Sun that however tragic, Keoughs death wouldnt have come as a huge surprise to Lisa Marie. It is shocking news but it also isnt a huge surprise as he had been struggling, the source said. Everyone is heartbroken and devastated. This is the girlfriend of Benjamin Keough, who pleaded with him not to shoot himself, later telling police she feared his mother Lisa Marie Presley and the rest of his family would 'blame her' for his death, DailyMail.com can reveal Neighbors of Lisa Marie exclusively told DailyMail.com yesterday how people had been partying inside Presleys home, where Keough had been staying for months, on Sunday night before screams were heard around 3:30am. This comes at it's claimed that Keoughs girlfriend, Diana Pinto, was heard screaming 'Don't do it' to the 27-year-old as he fatally shot himself in the chest inside his mother's luxury Calabasas, California mansion. His girlfriend Diana Pinto was reportedly heard screaming 'Don't do it' to the 27-year-old as he fatally shot himself in the chest. She later telling police she feared Lisa Marie and the rest of his family would blame her for his death. She was pretty hysterical saying ''I can't believe it.'' She just kept swearing and saying, ''I can't believe it... I can't believe he would do that to himself, the neighbor explained. 'She said, ''The family's going to hate me'' and ''they're going to blame me.'' I think she was feeling guilty for it happening.' DailyMail.com identified the girlfriend as Pinto, who works as a post-production coordinator at Fox (Film, TV and Sports), according to her LinkedIn page. The neighbor said they had seen Pinto coming and going from the home with Benjamin regularly, adding the couple had been dating at least two years. The resident said Benjamin's mother, Lisa Marie, was not in the house at the time of the shooting and they had not seen her at the property for several weeks. But other neighbors saw the Presley family gathering at the house later on Sunday, after news of the shocking reported suicide emerged. The bereaved mother was said to be completely heartbroken, inconsolable and beyond devastated with a representative for Lisa Marie telling Dailymail.com that she She adored that boy. He was the love of her life' The important thing is that the entire family was shaped by Scientology, and its paying the price because of it, the source said (Left to right: Riley, Lisa Marie, and Ben in 2010, when they were still members of the Church of Scientology) Residents of the guard gated Calabasas community which was cordoned off by police after the shooting on Sunday said the family kept to themselves. 'They're very private,' a neighbor told DailyMail.com. 'They go out of their way to turn around and not even wave or anything. Not that they're rude, they just don't want anybody to know who they are.' The Sheriff's Department issued a statement Sunday saying Elvis' only grandson had died after suffering 'one gunshot wound to the upper torso.' 'Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau detectives are continuing their death investigation of a male White adult in his 20s, who was discovered [at] Alexandra Court, Calabasas, on Sunday, July 12, 2020 at approximately 6:30 a.m,' the statement said. 'Detectives have learned that deputies assigned to Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's Station responded to the location regarding a 'rescue response' call. 'Upon their arrival, they located the victim suffering from one gunshot wound to the upper torso. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.' An official could be seen outside the mansion on Sunday while police and a coroner's vehicle were parked nearby. A neighbor exclusively told DailyMail.com they heard the residents of the Presley's $1.8 million property (pictured) partying at 1am, before a woman was heard screaming loudly, 'don't do it', at 3.30am - although the neighbor didn't hear a gunshot Lisa Marie Presley with Benjamin's father, Danny Keough, at a California theater in 1991 (pictured) Lisa Marie, second from left, is pictured with her four children; twins Finley and Harper, front left and right, and Benjamin, back right, and his sister Riley, center Benjamin was the son of musician Danny Keough, who married Lisa Marie in 1988 and divorced her in 1994. His mother, who has three other children, had previously spoken of her son's similarity to her dad Elvis, calling their resemblance 'uncanny'. 'Ben does look so much like Elvis,' Lisa Marie said in a 2012 interview with CMT. 'Everybody was grabbing him for a photo because it is just uncanny. Sometimes I am overwhelmed when I look at him.' In June last year Lisa Marie opened up about her struggles with 'opioids and painkillers' in an essay penned for the forward of the book The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain by Harry Nelson. She warned of the dangers of prescription drugs as she explained how easily her addiction began after being prescribed painkillers following the birth of her twin daughters in 2008. Benjamin's grandmother Priscilla, 75, married Elvis in 1967 but they divorced six years later. They had only daughter Lisa Marie in 1968. Elvis died just nine years later in 1977 at just 42. Keoughs ex-girlfriend, Alexa Rohde, paid tribute to her favorite person Monday after the news of the 27-year-olds death was made public. She wrote: 'Benjamin Storm, YOU. Always happy in the sun and water. And a laugh that made everyone happier. You gave love to anyone who needed it. You were wise like a thousand year old man, but silly as a 5 year old. 'You always said your favorite tarot card was the hermit, cause you could relate. You made the best jokes, and always broke the rules. You were my favorite person from the moment I met you. I wish we couldve kept you forever Ben Ben. 'I hope youre having all the delicious sushi in paradise. Words will never be enough.' The charge of murder brought against Garrett Rolfe, the Atlanta police officer who shot and killed Rayshard Brooks, seemed dubious the moment it was filed. On examination, it became clear that the prosecution is outrageous. The D.A., Paul Howard, Jr., brought charges before the Georgia Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation. And, as Andy McCarthy has shown, Howards felony murder theory is ludicrous on the facts of this case. The prosecution also appears to be politically motivated, and not just as an attempt to appease a mob. Howard is running for reelection. Reportedly, he was trailing in the polls, weighed down by allegations of sexual harassment and corruption. The state ethics board is investigating the corruption charges. Throwing the book at Officer Rolfe was likely a desperation move to secure Howards reelection. Now comes news that potentially makes this prosecution all the more scandalous. Howard may have fraudulently issued grand jury subpoenas against Rolfe and his fellow officer on the scene when Brooks was killed. Ed Morrissey has the details, quoting the local Fox News affiliate in Atlanta: [T]he I-Team has. . .obtained a copy of a Grand Jury subpoena, sent from Howards office to the Atlanta Police department instructing them to turn over its open investigation regarding Garrett Rolfe and the use of force incident. The subpoena required that the documents be turned over for the Grand Jury, June/July term on the of 14th day of July. Other grand jury subpoenas were issued for phone and surveillance camera videos. But there is a problem. How can the grand jury issue these subpoenas when there is no grand jury. It had been suspended on March 13 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, legal experts weve talked to say Howards grand jury subpoena with no grand jury in session could be an ethical or possibly criminal issue. Howard has offered three explanations for how he got his subpoenas: Explanation Number one: Howard told the Fulton County Daily Report the subpoenas were sent out for a potential future grand jury. Explanation Number two: Howard later told FOX 5 an employee thought a past grand jury was still in session. Explanation Number three: Friday Howard issued a third statement saying wait it was neither there was actually a second grand jury all along that hadnt been dismissed and was still available. That second grand jurys legal term had already ended when the subpoenas were issued. Jessica Gable Cino, a law professor at Georgia State University, notes that Howards three explanations for sending out grand jury subpoenas contradict one another, and none of them makes legal sense. For all intents of purposes right now it looks like theres an abuse of process which could completely derail this case, and nobody wants that outcome, Cino said. Im not sure about the last part of that statement. The outcome I want is a thorough investigation of D.A. Howard and, if the outcome warrants it, the prosecution of this corrupt prosecutor. Georgias attorney general reportedly has asked for the investigation. There are many reasons why government has strict rules around the awarding of contracts. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. There are many reasons why government has strict rules around the awarding of contracts. One of them is to avoid allegations of political favouritism and conflict of interest the kind swirling around Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as he scrambles to explain why federal cabinet approved a single-source contract to WE Charity to administer a student volunteer grant program. Ottawa cancelled the contract last week, after revelations it was not awarded through a competitive bid and that members of Trudeaus family his mother, brother and wife had been paid to speak at past WE events. Had government complied with federal contract rules (including the requirement that, with few exceptions, contracts should be tendered), the WE story probably would have fizzled after a day or two especially had Trudeau recused himself from cabinet when the final decision was made. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized Monday for not recusing himself from cabinet when the WE contract was approved. He admitted he knew at the time his mother and brother had done work for the charity. (Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press files) The rules under the federal regulations are clear: contracts for goods and services must be awarded through a competitive bid process, unless they fall under certain prescribed exemptions. In times of emergency, for example, government may award a sole-source contract, if theres an urgent need for a good or service. However, the department in question has to demonstrate a delay in awarding the contract could be life-threatening, or result in the significant loss of property. Its a high bar that allows government to act quickly during times of crisis. It would be a long shot to apply it in this case. The exemption the Liberal government is citing is WE was the only organization that could administer the student grant program. That is a legitimate exemption under the regulations and can be applicable in rare cases. However, it must be justified and explained in detail, including why no one else was qualified and why the price agreed to was fair and appropriate. Was that due diligence done? So far, no evidence has been provided to demonstrate it was. There are also questions about why the program wasnt administered through the public service, as it normally would be (and may now be after the WE contract was cancelled). Its a high bar that allows government to act quickly during times of crisis. It would be a long shot to apply it in this case. Trudeau apologized Monday for not recusing himself from cabinet when the WE contract was approved. He admitted he knew at the time his mother and brother had done work for the charity. However, he refused to answer directly when asked several times by reporters if he was aware (at the time of the cabinet meeting) if they had been paid by WE. He would only say he "wasnt surprised" they were compensated, but claimed he didnt know the details. The prime ministers caginess and his refusal to answer the question directly casts doubt on his truthfulness. Trudeaus failure to recuse himself from cabinet is only part of the story. The issue of why a $900-million contract was awarded without a bid solicitation has not been resolved. The idea Toronto-based WE was the only organization in Canada qualified and capable of handling such a contract is highly questionable. Either way, that assumption should have been tested through a request for proposal, on an expedited basis, if necessary. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The public service has the ability and expertise to fast track bid solicitations when required; the federal government has issued several urgent RFPs during the pandemic, some with shortened bid windows. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada issued a solicitation in May with only a six-day bid period for a global analysis on economic stabilization and recovery; it received dozens of applications. Ottawa issued an urgent RFP in May for a digital services and system integration contract with an 11-day bid window. It drew broad interest. Even though there was an urgent need for those services, the department still procured them through an open bid process to comply with governments contract rules and to ensure taxpayers got the best service at the best price. Why was that not done for the student volunteer grant program? Trudeau claims the public service recommended the sole-source contract to cabinet. If thats true, and there was no political interference in that decision, senior public servants and relevant ministers including the prime minister should appear before a parliamentary committee to explain why. There are still a lot of unanswered questions Canadians deserve answers to. tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form JCPOA product of Iran's openness to engagement: Foreign Ministry Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 12:52 PM Iran's Foreign Ministry says since its inception, the Islamic Republic has always been open to dialogue on critical issues on the basis of mutual respect. The ministry made the remarks in a string of Tweets on Monday, which marks the national day for Dialogue and Constructive Engagement with the World. "Since its foundation, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been developing cordial, balanced relationship with the world and settling challenges through dialogues based on mutual respect." Iran's interest in the promotion of dialogue with all countries on critical issues demonstrates the country's "seriousness, pragmatism on bringing peace & stability to the world," the tweets read. Pointing to the landmark nuclear deal clinched by Iran and world powers back in 2015, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iranian Foreign Ministry said it was "the product of Iran's openness to engagement." Elsewhere in the tweets, Tehran censured the administration of US President Donald Trump for unilaterally withdrawing from the multilateral nuclear accord, noting that Washington's measure "wreaked havoc on this multilateral accomplishment." The US reinstated illegal sanctions against Tehran in 2018 after leaving the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement between Iran and major world powers. Ever since quitting the deal, Washington has been trying to scare other countries of the world into abiding by its coercive measures, warning they would face punitive action if they failed to do so. Under Washington's pressure, the three European signatories to the JCPOA France, Britain and Germany have so far failed to fulfill their contractual obligation to protect Tehran's business interests against the sanctions. In response, Iran began last May to gradually reduce its commitments as part of its legal rights under the JCPOA to both retaliate Washington's departure and prompt the European trio to respect their obligations towards Tehran. Despite Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA, the Foreign Ministry's tweets read, Iran still "remains committed to diplomatic engagement, as it's been & will be a trusted partner to its neighbors & beyond." It added that Iran has so far spared no effort to promote peace and stability in the region, saying that the country "has long proposed several inclusive peace plans in MidEast; the latest one is #HOPE. Always believe in dialogue." Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented the initiative known as Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE) while delivering a speech at his UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 25, 2019, inviting all regional countries to participate in it. Iran's initiative comes as the US has been trying to persuade its allies into a maritime coalition purportedly seeking to boost security in the Persian Gulf, after it blamed Tehran for two separate attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May and June last year, without providing any credible evidence to back up the allegation, which Iran has categorically rejected. Tehran has repeatedly said outsiders are not only incapable of safeguarding the region, but will fuel tensions there. Iran believes it is the countries of the very region which can ensure peace there. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 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. Temperature checks needed before boarding buses Students arriving at school will have a mandatory temperature check. Many of our students at special schools will have already been on their bus for up to 1 to two hours, in close proximity to other students and also the bus driver and chaperone. Temperature checks are not foolproof, but it is all we seem to be able to offer at this stage is it too much to ask that temperature checks be given before these children board the buses, to give parents a little peace of mind? Name withheld THE FORUM Perspectives on activism I appreciate The Ages diversity: providing Tom Switzer (11/7) and Lisa Sthalekars (13/7) different perspectives on activism. Maybe Switzer has no friends of colour who have trusted him with their painful experiences of racism, or loss of family owing to legally sanctioned brutality. He overlooks the fact that black people the world over were actually obliterated sold, murdered and omitted from constitutional rights or treaties for centuries. So Switzers claim that the Right only disagrees with rights claimed by oppressed minorities ignores this history of murder and disenfranchisement, which was authorised and led by his establishment Right-wing predecessors. But I also agree with Switzer that the woke mob mentality of both Right and Left is frightening and dangerous. My point is that Switzer being denounced for his views is trivial compared with George Floyd losing his life, or Adam Goodes his career. Sthalekars calm, respectful contribution could be a lesson to Switzer: What my sister went through ... due to her darker skin colour is something I will never know, but that doesnt mean I turn a blind eye. Her capacity to empathise is what Switzers article lacked. People should not lose careers because of things they said decades ago but how do people defending their lives get a voice? Deal with injustice first, then cancel culture will fade away. David Mackay, Macleod Aged-care debacle Dr Sachin Patel (Aged care staff ordered to wear masks, 14/7) is quite right to worry about the spread of COVID-19 in aged care homes. More than 60 per cent of aged care facilities are seriously understaffed. Personal care workers supplied by agencies move between the various facilities on a daily basis. The high rate of casualisation and the reliance on agency-supplied carers will put many of our most vulnerable citizens at a dangerously high risk. For our loved ones in aged care homes, it is only a matter of time. Mark de Roy, Montrose Dismissing a conspiracy The Palace letters have been released and the conspiracy has been shown to not exist at all. Nothing explosive, not even the suspected smoking gun just a damp squib. The push to release the letters in the hope to reignite the republic debate wont materialise. Sir John Kerr acted on his own without the Queen telling him what to do just as it should be and as we were told it was the Queen is not the power behind Australia. Now all those still aggrieved with the dismissal will have to build themselves a little bridge and get over it. Douglas Potter, Surrey Hills Praise for Ita Buttrose I commend Professor Jenny Hocking for her Palace letters persistence. This examination of ancient history also offers an opportunity to praise Ita Buttrose and staff. Buttrose had only recently become editor of The Australian Womens Weekly and in the December 17, 1975 edition commissioned the revered political journalist Alan Reid to provide a full discourse on these political events titled History in the Making, Australia: Election 1975. After 45 years, the Weeklys political assessment stands out as fair and frank in preparing the people of Australia for the double dissolution election that our constitution required. Yes Jenny Hocking, we were incandescent with rage but our nation went to an election and the people decided. And thanks to our beloved Gough, we (under 21) could vote. Ronald Elliott, Sandringham Release the detainees A coronavirus-affected security guard at the Mantra Hotel has laid bare the vulnerability to the virus of the 60 detainees held there. More than 1000 doctors have called for the detainees to be removed from such a potentially disastrous environment. Activists have protested, they have implored unresponsive parliamentarians, signed petitions and posted on social media, to no avail. Surely its time that this government finally addressed the detainees vulnerability and prioritised their humane treatment by releasing them into a safe environment. Virginia Schneiders, Mount Dandenong Victoria the whipping boy Victoria is being blamed for just about everything over and above the second wave of the virus. The Australian economy will take longer to recover because of Victoria. The price of looking after quarantined people in hotels will increase because of Victoria. Australians wanting to get home will have to wait because of Victoria. Next we will hear that a Victorian was on the grassy knoll in Dallas in 1963. There are even rumours that Adam and Eve only got the apple because a Victorian slipped over the border to Eden and didnt use the fruit fly bin! Greg Tuck, Warragul Total elimination needed It now seems that we may be years from a vaccine, so surely a policy of total elimination, at any cost, is cheaper than endless rounds of lockdowns and stopping and starting the economy. Such a policy would also improve our mental health by giving us hope instead of despair. John Killmister, Brighton East No light-bulb moment I applaud the admission of misogynistic abuse of power from photographer Jack Stafford (Music photographer admits Im an abuser after dozens of #MeToo posts, 14/7). However, his lack of honest remorse and open apology to his many victims leaves his acknowledgment of complicity reeking of more self-serving behaviour that provides somewhat positive PR and places him ahead of the eight ball. No light-bulb moment here, as Stafford scrambles to save his career. Tim Webster, Brunswick East Protect healthcare staff Given the unacceptable numbers of medical staff contracting COVID-19, why arent they provided with the highest level of protection available? Especially P2 or N95 masks. And full coverage of clothes and hair. Their health is the most important, but also to consider is the massive extra expense in having all those people being quarantined and replacement workers found. The Victorian AMA president Julian Rait is now calling for this, as are healthcare workers. Laureen Tracey, Hawthorn East Paid leave essential I write not as a healthcare worker who has had three COVID-19 tests, all so far negative, but as a daughter of parents in an aged care facility. I am alarmed that Fair Work Australia has dismissed the submission from healthcare workers in relation to paid leave for workers who have symptoms of COVID-19. If we stand any chance of controlling this virus in the aged care and disability sector, we must act now to support these workers. The decision to not grant workers in the aged and disability sector paid leave is placing those who are the most vulnerable in our community at risk. My mother has advanced Alzheimers and my father has moved into the facility to support her. Their facility has again gone into lockdown and again I must hand over the care of my much-loved parents to strangers who may be forced owing to financial hardship to go to work while they have symptoms of the virus. To control the spread of the virus in the healthcare sector, all workers should be supported financially to not come to work if they have symptoms while waiting for test results. Jane Fletcher, Chadstone Time for the hard yards An expert taskforce presented the federal government with a Roadmap to Recovery in May. Two scenarios were detailed elimination and suppression. Eager to get the economy moving again, Scott Morrison and his government chose the suppression strategy. They publicly pressured the premiers to open schools, businesses and borders. We are now seeing the result of his decision. Under the suppression plan, what has happened in Victoria would have happened anywhere. More by accident than deliberate strategy, all the states, except Victoria and NSW, have effectively achieved an elimination of COVID-19 infections. Now is the time for us to declare an elimination plan for the entire country, as NZ has, and do the hard yards so that we can have a future free of more outbreaks and lockdowns. Andrew Johnson, Brunswick Look outside the box I find it strange that Brett Sutton says they are so short-staffed they cannot afford to call each person isolating daily and instead leave an automated message. There seem to be no jobs advertised for contact tracers in Victoria, only jobs advertised for NSW. Is this the reason we are so short-staffed, or the rather specific recruiting criteria for contract tracers tertiary degree in health science, nursing or related public field; postgraduate degree in public health or environmental science desirable. I know its a stretch, but havent most of the consulting firms laid off thousands of employees who are well-educated problem solvers? Maybe we should adopt more of a wartime resourcing strategy and look outside the box. Jennifer Sjostrom, McKinnon Keep calm and carry on The Kick a Vic article (14/7) is a reminder of the ugly side of human nature. While living in northern Tasmania when the Burnie COVID-19 cluster took hold, and listening to Australias Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy and his spurious, cavalier comments related to an illegal dinner party as a plausible cause of the outbreak, it does not surprise me to hear the current crop of comments from those in authority from other states. Here in Victoria we need to keep our composure, as Tasmania did, and not add to the insults by engaging in self stigma. Lesley Osenieks, Birregurra AND ANOTHER THING ... Coronavirus The dying words of a young man in Texas may well serve as an epitaph for all COVID-19 deniers: I thought it was a hoax. Mike Puleston, Brunswick Credit: Hospital with no patients? Yes Minister! Tim Brown, Ascot Vale Are we still permitted to phone an interstate friend or will our line be cut off at the border? John Bye, Elwood It appears the coronavirus numbers might be creeping up in NSW. Perhaps its best to close our border now. Just in case. John Cain, McCrae Excuse me, NSW. Youre blaming Victoria for the COVID-19 outbreak? I seem to remember there was a ship called the Ruby Princess somewhere up there. Ellen Mcgregor, Frankston Wearing is caring mask wearers not only care for their family, but for me and mine as well. Steve Melzer, Hughesdale Please no more could have should have. I am starting to embrace the word journey. Mary Walsh, East Brunswick Where is todays morale-building Vera Lynn? Is there one somewhere? When can we all meet again? Stan Marks, Caulfield Did someone say KFC? Zena Marzi, Kew The evidence for the efficacy of masks in removing microdrops is overwhelming. All we hear from governments is silence. Why? Louis Roller, Fitzroy North Diplomacy Its (about bloody) time (Palace letters, 14/7). Jenny Bone, Surrey Hills Kerrs letters were just a lot of hot air after all. Reg Murray, Glen Iris So Mathias Cormann is off to the OECD. We should warn them he is coming. Graeme Lee, Fitzroy Finally Just remind Hong Kongers not to try coming to Oz by boat. Graham Reynolds, Soldiers Hill The presidential primary season might be winding down, but further down the ballot, the latest primary clashes are still bringing front and center this cycle's elephant in the room: President Trump. Across three states, Alabama, Maine and Texas, voters are weighing in on primaries in some of this year's most highly anticipated races that could ultimately tip the scales for control of either the U.S. Senate or House. And in an array of these mid-summer contests, Trump looms large. In the Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff, a battle between scoring the president's backing and vigorously aligning with his agenda is coming to a head. For Maine Sen. Susan Collins, one of the most endangered Republicans in the Trump era, her toughest re-election yet is about to officially get a rival. And in Texas, two Democrats are tangling over the Senate nomination to take on the president's ally, Sen. John Cornyn, and help put the state in play for former Vice President Joe Biden at the top of the ticket. Beyond the Senate, a slate of key races across the House battlefield, some of which are where Democrats are eyeing pickup opportunities to expand their current 40-seat majority in the lower chamber, will also be settled. As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, particularly in Alabama and Texas, where runoffs will finish out a primary season that began in March, voting will look far different than it once did pre-pandemic. Here are five things to watch for: The end of Jeff Sessions' comeback? In the deep south, former U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, is competing in Senate primary runoff to mount his comeback to politics after his stint in the Trump administration. In his last Senate race in 2014, Sessions was uncontested, gliding to victory. But then, during his tenure in Trump's White House, he recused himself from the Russia probe, inciting a three-year grudge from his former boss, who is seeking to thwart his chances of returning to the Senate. Story continues This time around, Sessions is locked in a tough primary with Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach who Trump endorsed in March, in a race that is all about the president. Trump's wholehearted backing of Tuberville appears to be damaging Sessions' campaign, with Tuberville topping the field in the primary, leading in recents polls and pulling ahead in fundraising. PHOTO: Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville waves to his supporters at Auburn Oaks Farm in Notasulga, Ala., Monday, March 3, 2020. (Joe Songer/AP Photo) "This race is not about Jeff Sessions versus Tommy Tuberville. It is about Jeff Sessions versus Donald Trump," Angi Stalnaker, a GOP strategist in the state, told ABC. But Sessions isn't ready to give up on his tenuous relationship with Trump, instead seeking any opportunity to showcase his pro-Trump agenda, tout Trumpian policies and remind voters that he was the first senator to back the president during the 2016 campaign. In the final days, he's focused heavily on casting himself as an outsider to Washington. Even after Trump renewed his endorsement of Tuberville over the weekend and called Sessions a "disaster," Sessions replied, "Ive taken the road less travelled. Not sought fame or fortune. My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults...Alabama does not take orders from Washington." Susan Collins' challenger set to be picked on Tuesday With a more than two-decade career in the U.S. Senate, Susan Collins, the last New England Republican in either chamber of Congress, is now fighting for survival of her political life - even though her opponent has yet to be nominated. On Tuesday, voters will have their say in statewide primaries that were initially scheduled for June 9 but were postponed by about a month due to the coronavirus. MORE: Susan Collins, Congress's last New England Republican, facing toughest reelection yet In the Democratic primary, Sara Gideon, the two-term speaker of Maines House of Representatives whos been a state lawmaker since 2014, is widely considered the frontrunner to face off against Collins. But first, Gideon must beat out two other candidates attorney Bre Kidman and businesswoman Betsy Sweet. Throughout the primary, shes been competing in a general election campaign, spending more time contrasting herself with the sitting senator than her primary competitors. For the senior senator from Maine, who is one of the most vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in the fall, the ramifications of her controversial vote to confirm Trumps second Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, and a pursuit of a fifth term in the Trump era in a state carried by Hillary Clinton in 2016 are roiling her chances. Maine is one of only two states to split its electoral votes among congressional districts, but Trump lost statewide by 2.9 percentage points, while carrying the 2nd Congressional District four years ago. The political environment has been completely transformed, one where Collins' disposition is increasingly out of step with elected leaders and voters, and her more recent voting record continues to be leveraged against her. PHOTO: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 30, 2020. (Kevin Dietsch/AP Photo) Still, Collins is not going down without a fight - touting her legislative achievements on the coronavirus response and underscoring what her campaign views as her likely opponent's lack of action on the pandemic since the Maine House has been out of session since March 17. Texas Democrats' tangle over nomination to take on Cornyn M.J. Hegar and Royce West, the two Democrats tangling over the Senate nomination to take on the state's senior senator, John Cornyn, and finish what Beto O'Rourke almost achieved, have been at sharp odds in the lead up to Tuesday's primary runoff election. Both are defining the race as a measure of experience, with Hegar pitching her outsider status as a former combat veteran, and West elevating his decades-long career in the state Senate to make the case to voters. "I believe we need people with the right experience representing us in D.C.," Hegar said in an interview, before adding what appeared to be a veiled swipe at her runoff rival. "I think we had an overrepresentation of career politicians and attorneys and we need more combat veterans who understand the cost of war." MORE: Texas Democrats eye GOP Senate seat. But first they must survive a contentious primary. "Look at my resume," West said in an interview. "Democrats are tired of being victims of history. ... We can make history by electing me as the next United States senator from the state of Texas. And not just because I'm African American, but because I've readied myself for this time in history to represent the Democratic Party in Washington." Hegar was favored to win the primary back in March, but landed in a runoff with West after failing to secure more than 50% of the vote. She finished in first with 22%, just ahead of West's 15%, and is still considered the front-runner, as the top fundraiser in the race, who has the backing of the national Democratic establishment. It will ultimately be a tall order to oust Cornyn, a three-term Senate veteran who secured Trump's endorsement early and has a formidable war chest. Still, Democrats eager to put the state in play this cycle, after years of holding out hope that finally the battleground will turn blue, view Cornyn, who has tethered himself to the president in the hopes of being buoyed by the the pro-Trump flank, as out of touch with voters in fast-changing Texas. "Texas is ready to lead," Hegar said. "We don't want to be thought of as the state that has kids in cages. We're ready to lead in immigration reform. We're ready to lead on health care reform because Texas even before the pandemic was in a health care crisis." House battlefield takes shape in Texas suburbs In a state that could offer Democrats some of the biggest payoffs, the party is looking to a slew of congressional districts across the Texas suburbs to expand their offensive front for the fall -- as the outskirts of cities, that were once the bedrock of the GOP's support, drift away from the party under Trump. In the Houston suburbs, both the 10th and the 22nd Congressional Districts offer Democrats an opportunity to make inroads after two nearly successful challenges against GOP Reps. Michael McCaul and Pete Olson. In the race against McCaul, Mike Siegel, a civil rights attorney and the 2018 Democratic nominee, is seeking a rematch to represent the district, which also stretches to the Austin suburbs, but only if he can defeat Dr. Pitesh Gandhi in the runoff. In the Republican runoff to replace Olson, who is retiring, Troy Nehls, the Fort Bend County sheriff, is squaring off against Kathaleen Wall, a GOP donor who is using most of her own millions to fund her bid and tethering herself to Trump after coming in second in March. But waiting on the other side of Tuesday is an expected tight race, after Olson faced a surprisingly tight challenge from Sri Kulkarni, a Democrat, who came within 5 percentage points in 2018, and is the Democratic nominee again this year. MORE: Suburban revolt boosts Democrats on Election Day in the age of Trump: ANALYSIS One of the seats most primed for Democrats to take come November is the 23rd congressional district, which sits along the U.S.-Mexico border and covers parts of the San Antonio and El Paso suburbs, after GOP Rep. Will Hurd announced he was not seeking re-election. His retirement has left two Republicans, Tony Gonzales and Raul Reyes Jr., fighting for the nomination. PHOTO: Ellen Ott, center, controls the flow of early voters at a polling site, Tuesday, July 7, 2020, in San Antonio. (Eric Gay/AP Photo) Trump has already intervened in the primary, lining up behind Gonzales, but on Monday, his campaign waded in deeper, sending a cease-and-desist letter to the Reyes campaign for a "misleading" mailer that features the president, suggesting Trump backed him. The eventual Republican nominee will ultimately face Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, the 2018 congressional candidate who lost to Hurd by less than one percentage point, and is the Democratic nominee this cycle. In the suburbs of Dallas, Democrats are aiming to loosen the GOP's grip on the 24th Congressional District, after the retirement of Rep. Kenny Marchant. But the Democratic primary runoff is shaping up to be a battle over credentials, with Kim Olson, who ran for agriculture commissioner in 2018, leaning heavily into her experience as a retired Air Force colonel, and Candace Valenzuela, a local school board member, tapping into the energy of the nationwide protests over racial inequality to underscore why her candidacy is ready to meet the moment. She would be the first Afro-Latina in Congress. For Republicans, one primary stands out as a test of the weight of the president's endorsement, reflecting the central fight at heart of the Alabama Senate race: who is Trumpier? In Texas' 13th Congressional District, the two Republican contenders, Ronny Jackson, the former White House physician, and Josh Winegarner, an agriculture expert and lobbyist who is backed by retiring GOP Rep. Mac Thornberry, are competing over who could ultimately best serve the interests of the district, which is rated as the most Republican in the country. Despite nabbing Trump's endorsement, which came just before the March primary, Jackson finished nearly 20 points behind Winegarner, who has been weaponizing Jackson's Washington's ties against him, running ads saying that the district is his rival's back-up plan. Jackson contends that his personal connection to the president could boost his clout in Washington. On election eve, the president shored up last-minute support for Jackson, according to the Dallas Morning News, pitching him as a "friend" and "somebody that can help me a lot in Washington." But in the Texas Panhandle, personal ties might not be enough. How coronavirus changed it all Since the onset of the coronavirus, the spring has been marred by a turbulent election season. From Wisconsin's risky spring election, which brought long lines at the height of the state's lockdown, to Georgia's messy primary that left voters waiting for hours, after some never received an absentee ballot, to even Kentucky's mostly successful contests, state election officials have been tested by the coronavirus in unprecedented ways. But now, a resurgence of the coronavirus across the Sun Belt and west is emerging as three more states step up to the plate to attempt voting in the middle of a pandemic. In all three, contests were delayed by the virus. In Maine, the governor signed an executive order to expand absentee voting in the state, not requiring voters to cite a specific reason for requesting a ballot in their forms. MORE: 'This is not just a Georgia problem': Primary election troubles foreshadow challenges for November But in Alabama and Texas, election officials are taking an opposing path. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this month to reverse a lower court order that expanded absentee options for Alabama voters. The high court opened the door for the secretary of state to reinstate restrictions for voting, including prohibiting statewide curbside voting and requiring that voters applying for absentee ballots provide a copy of their ID and signature of two witnesses or one notary public with the ballot. In Texas, after weeks of legal wrangling between Democrats and Republicans in the state that led all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Texas existing vote-by-mail apparatus was not expanded universally to allow for any voter to cast an absentee ballot during the pandemic. In-person voting will take place across roughly 6,600 polling locations in a state seeing a record-breaking spike of coronavirus cases, including in Houston, a hotspot. Across all three states - at least in some of the most populous regions - safety precautions, from face coverings, to hand sanitation stations, and the like, will be in place to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Still, some areas are facing the same hurdles that arose in many states that preceded Tuesday's elections. MORE: As ballots pile up in the mail, a potential 'nightmare' looms on Election Night In Bexar County, which covers San Antonio and is the fourth largest in Texas, at least eight polling locations were closed due to poll worker shortages. "There is protection for them in terms of what they try to do, but anybody can walk in without a mask," Nelson Wolff, the county judge in Bexar said, underscoring the risks of holding in-person voting amid a rapidly spreading virus. "The governor did not cover elections, and so they dont want to work. Quite frankly, I dont blame them." ABC News' Alisa Wiersema contributed reporting. Down-ballot races across Alabama, Maine and Texas revolve around Trump: 5 things to watch on Tuesday originally appeared on abcnews.go.com 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 The Prince of Wales has honoured 95-year-old World War II veteran, Private Joseph Hammond for his contribution to Ghanas Coronavirus recovery. A statement issued by the British High Commission, made available to the Ghana News Agency said Private Hammond, inspired by the United Kingdoms Captain Sir Thomas Moore, walked two miles every day for a week in early May to raise money for Ghanaian veterans and frontline health-workers impacted by the global pandemic. I am delighted that I could present Private Hammond with a Point of Light award from Her Majesty the Queen, and deliver a personal letter and a private donation from His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales to Private Hammond. "The amount of support for his cause is incredible and it was a privilege to convey the message from His Royal Highness. It was humbling to see Private Hammond visibly moved. "We all hope the support will inspire others to donate too. The statement said Private Hammond, like Sir Thomas Moore, also fought in Myanmar, during World War II. it noted that Mr Thomas Hartley, the Deputy British High Commissioner to Ghana and Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Mckechnie, British Defence Attache to Ghana, visited Private Hammond at his home in Osu in Accra to deliver a handwritten letter from The Prince, praising Private Hammonds efforts and offering a donation to the cause. Mr Hartley, after visiting Private Hammond said, Even at 95 years young it is clear that nothing will slow Private Hammonds commitment to serve his country". "His walk has raised hundreds of thousands of cedis for health workers and veterans across Africa and inspired many across Ghana to support their communities too. The Prince of Wales also congratulated Private Hammond for the Commonwealth Points of Light Award that he received from The Queen in June for his fundraising work. Commonwealth Points of Light Awards are given to people throughout the Commonwealth by The Queen as Head of the Commonwealth, to thank inspirational volunteers across the 53 Commonwealth nations for the difference they made to their communities and beyond. Mr Hartley and Lt Colonel McKechnie also delivered Private Hammonds Points of Light certificate to him. Lt Colonel Mckechnie said: Private Hammond walked to support the hardest hit by Covid-19, he is an inspiration to me, Ghanaians and the world, Deserving of this 144th Commonwealth Points of Light certificate and letter from Prince Charles. The Duke of Sussex Prince Harry also wrote to Private Hammond in June recognising his contribution to veterans across Ghana. The Duke said: "Even at 95 years young I imagine it was not an easy taskHowever, given the service and selflessness, you have demonstrated throughout your life, it does not surprise me that you would take on a challenge such as this and that you wanted to walk even more miles. As you said yourself, it is amazing!" Private Hammond met Prince Harry at Westminster Abbey in London last year. Private Hammond has now raised more than 40,000 and working to continue his fundraising efforts with the hope of raising half a million pounds for his cause. The Queen, as Head of the Commonwealth, is thanking individual volunteers across the 54 Commonwealth nations for the difference they are making in their communities and beyond. One outstanding volunteer from each of these countries was recognised with Commonwealth Points of Light awards running up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, April 2018. Following the success of this programme, The Queen has decided to continue this work and award one volunteer from each Commonwealth country every week. 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 Chinese tech giant Huaweis equipment will be stripped from the UKs 5G network by 2027, adding billions to the cost and delaying the delivery of the high-speed mobile network. The National Security Council took the decision which will increase tensions with Beijing after the impact of US sanctions raised concerns about Huaweis continued involvement in the UKs 5G infrastructure. From next year, telecoms firms will be banned from purchasing new 5G equipment from Huawei. They will also be ordered to shift away from the purchase of Huaweis equipment for full-fibre broadband networks over a period lasting up to two years. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Tuesday morning. It followed an assessment of the impact of US sanctions by experts from the National Cyber Security Centre. In January, before the tough restrictions imposed by US President Donald Trumps administration, Huawei had been allowed to play a limited role in the 5G network despite concerns that it was a high-risk vendor because of its links to the Chinese government. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden set out the revised position on Huawei in the Commons, acknowledging that the moves could delay the rollout of 5G by two to three years and potentially add 2 billion to the overall cost. The Government had faced pressure from Tory backbenchers for a quicker approach to removing Huawei equipment, but Mr Dowden insisted that the changes would mean that, by the time of the next general election expected in 2024 the UK would be on an irreversible path to a network free from the firm. Mr Dowden said Januarys decisions to restrict Huaweis role had added a year to the timetable and cost up to 1 billion. Todays decision to ban the procurement of new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of this year will delay rollout by a further year and will add up to half a billion pounds to costs. Requiring operators in addition to remove Huawei equipment from their 5G networks by 2027 will add hundreds of millions of pounds further to the cost and further delay rollout. This means a cumulative delay to 5G rollout of two to three years and costs of up to 2 billion. NEWS: Huawei will be removed from the UKs 5G networks by the end of 2027, the government has announced, following new advice produced by the @NCSC on the impact of US sanctions against the company https://t.co/GbFe3U52fn pic.twitter.com/W39UY5pSwc DCMS (@DCMS) July 14, 2020 The US sanctions were imposed on Huawei in May, banning the firm from access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. The NCSC concluded that the company will need to carry out a major reconfiguration of its supply chain as it will no longer have access to the technology on which it currently relies and there are no alternatives which we have sufficient confidence in. That means it is impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future, Mr Dowden said. The UK is braced for the prospect of reprisals from China in response to the announcement. GCHQs protective signals intelligence network is on stand-by to detect and disrupt any attempt by China to mount cyber attacks on the UK in retaliation for the decision. Officials say they are already dealing with a sustained high tempo of hostile cyber activity by state-sponsored actors including both China and Russia. Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said the Government should expect repercussions from China. Tory former Cabinet minister David Jones highlighted Chinas ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaomings warning of consequences if the UK banned Huawei. Mr Dowden said: This Government will not be cowed by the comments of any other country. This decision has been made in the national security interests of this nation. Our future in the UK has become politicised - this is about US trade policy and not security Ed Brewster, Huawei UK Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster said the disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK, he said. Regrettably, our future in the UK has become politicised this is about US trade policy and not security. Shadow digital, science and technology minister Chi Onwurah accused the Government of an incomprehensibly negligent approach and questioned whether the UKs security policy is now being led by the US. It has been clear for some time that there are serious questions over whether Huawei should be allowed to control large sections of our countrys telecoms networks, yet the Government refused to face reality, she said. ISTANBUL More than 50 people were detained during early morning house raids in southeast Turkey Tuesday. They included Musa Aydin, co-chair of the Gaziantep provincial branch of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP). According to the state-funded Anadolu news agency, the suspects, most of which are women and include Free Women Movement spokesperson Ayse Gokkan and journalist Ayse Guney, are charged with having links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state. The detentions took place a day after Betul Yasar, HDP co-mayor for Diyadin in Turkeys Agri district, was taken into custody and replaced by a state-appointed trustee Monday. Following Yasars detention, trustees have been appointed to 47 of the 65 municipalities won by the HDP in the March 2019 municipal elections, in which an additional six elected HDP mayors were denied the mandate to govern. The developments come as HDP members and supporters continue to face pressure from Ankara lawmakers, who claim party affiliates have ties to the PKK. In a statement Tuesday, HDP representatives said the ongoing detentions were undermining democratic principles and amounted to political genocide. Ayse Acar Basaran, an HDP deputy and spokesperson for the partys Womens Council, noted the detention of leading womens rights activists is taking place as Ankara lawmakers debate withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention, which was designed to combat violence against women. These detentions are measures to prevent women's opposition to these debates, Basaran told Al-Monitor. This is what happens when hostility toward Kurds combines with hostility against women. She added, Turkey violates the international conventions it's party to every day. The silence of international the audience results in more brutal crackdown by the AKP government," Basaran said, using the acronym for Turkeys ruling Justice and Development Party. Arrest warrants were issued for 33 people in Diyarbakir and 23 were taken into custody at the time of reporting. Additional arrest warrants were served in Gaziantep and over 50 people were detained in both districts Tuesday, according to the HDP statement. Lawyers working on the cases could not immediately share details on the prosecutions as the charges remain sealed under state security laws. The news comes after HDP members and supporters held nationwide marches last month against the ongoing detention and replacement of elected party officials with state-appointed trustees. In June, the Council of Europes Venice Commission called on Ankara to reverse policies undermining Kurdish voters right to elect representatives. The decisions by [Turkeys] Ministry of the Interior are based on state of emergency-rooted legislation, which allows for replacement of elected mayors by government officials, the Commission stated. They undermine the very nature of local self-government and also should be repealed. The HDPs former co-chair Selahattin Demirtas has also been imprisoned since November 2016 despite rulings by Turkeys Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights, which found that his rights had been violated. Figen Yuksekdag, the HDPs former co-chair who has also been imprisoned since November 2016, stood trial in Ankara Tuesday on terror-related charges. Nicholas Danforth, a fellow at the Wilson Centers Kennan Institute who recently published an analysis with the Project on Middle East Democracy, said following initial openings, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken a more hard-line approach to Kurdish politics, particularly since the collapse of peace talks in 2015. After repeatedly failing to defeat the HDP through democratic means, Erdogan has again fallen back on arresting its members, Danforth told Al-Monitor. In place of a long-term strategy, all they have left is continued repression. He added, Erdogan has been eager to maintain a facade of democracy, but in the southeast that's already in ruins. The events take place amid Turkish military operations against PKK militants in northern Iraq. Ankara also continues to manage parts of northern Syria after a string of military incursions that officials said were launched to defend the nation against threats from PKK-linked militants operating in the areas. More than 600 members of the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) were forced to take time off work due to stress-related illness over the last three years. Some 675 staff required sick leave for stress, anxiety or depression between 2016 and 2019, according to figures released by the NIAS in response to a freedom of information act request. The highest number of absences (267) was recorded in 2018/19 because of stress, anxiety and depression. This was a rise from the 215 recorded in 2017/18 and 193 the previous year. Males accounted for the higher proportion of absenteeism, with 470 men taking sick leave for stress, anxiety or depression in the three years period compared to 205 females. Read More Of these 181 were paramedics who were recorded on the Health and Social Care Trust's Human Resources, Payroll, Travel and Subsistence system (HRPTS) as having been absent from work due to stress, anxiety or depression. Meanwhile, six female officers staff members required sick leave for post-natal health concerns in the past three years. Commenting to the figures, a spokesperson for NIAS said the service recognised that significant psychological and emotional stress is being experienced by staff in their frontline, control and support duties. "We are committed to supporting all staff to the maximum extent," the spokesperson said. "Some stresses are naturally associated with a first responder service like NIAS. However, these stresses can be intensified by factors such as assaults on staff, resource shortages, difficulties with shift patterns or meal breaks, the pressure of generational health crises like Covid-19, and also, personal issues. "Recognising such factors, NIAS began a Wellbeing Partnership with trade unions in November 2017. "This work has sought to normalise and address psychological and emotional health issues, and to encourage openness among all staff about these realities." NIAS said that since then, a range of support measures has been developed, including: training and guidance around wellbeing and resilience; various health and wellbeing events and initiatives across the Trust; commencement of a Health and Wellbeing Project Manager in April 2019; establishment of a staff-led Peer Support project, to which two staff have been seconded since August 2019 and participation in the regional psychological support services framework launched by the Minister for Health in April 2020." The NIAS spokesperson added: "In particular, Peer Support has provided a significant psychological first-aid and signposting service to staff following the most traumatic incidents of the past 18 months. "This project has developed links with partners across the UK and Ireland, working closely with PSNI and HSC colleagues, as well as international experts. "During the most serious weeks of Covid-19, over 500 Covid-related staff contacts were proactively initiated by Peer Support to help staff. A review of Occupational Health provision is currently ongoing. The need for additional resources and expert psychological support has already been identified. "Recently, an increase in attacks against staff has caused even greater trauma and added stress to our teams. "These attacks need to stop." Last month the NIAS revealed that assaults on ambulance staff soared to 44 incidents in May after dropping significantly during the March and April lockdown. Some of the incidents involved patients spitting at NIAS crews, urinating over equipment and telling staff that they had coronavirus and intended to pass it on to them. As a result of the Covid-19 restrictions on movement, ambulance crews had been at a lesser risk of assault in public places -but since the easing of the regulations, physical and verbal attacks have surged. A spokesman for the Unison union, which represents the overwhelming majority of Ambulance Service staff, added: "Unison has been working constructively with the NIAS in an innovative partnership project to protect and improve the health and wellbeing of all staff, given the particular levels of stress faced by these key workers." MANISTIQUE, MI Two children and 39 animals were removed from an Upper Peninsula home this week when police found evidence of neglect and unsanitary conditions. Police are also investigating the possible neglect of two vulnerable, elderly adults who were living the home, WLUC reports. The Manistique Public Safety Department searched the home around 5 p.m. on Monday, July 13, the report said. Police had received several reports of animal abuse at the house. Police found that nine people and 39 animals were living in the house, including two children ages 10 and 16, and two elderly adults, the report said. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services was called to the scene to remove the children, and is investigating possible elder neglect. There were 13 chickens, 12 cats, nine dogs, four bearded dragon lizards and a hamster in the home, the report said. Most of the animals were in poor condition. Eva Burrell Animal Shelter and Upper Peninsula Veterinary Service took the animals into their care. Schoolcraft County Prosecutor Timothy Noble is considering possible criminal charges, the report said. The homeowners could also have been in violation of city ordinances. READ MORE: 6-foot tall black bear spotted on path at Northern Michigan nursing home Fish caught in Mecosta County, Monroe County set new Michigan records Prime accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh and two firms, including PricewaterHouseCoopers, were on Monday booked on charges of cheating and forgery by Kerala police over alleged fake degree certificate submitted by her to secure a job in the state IT department, from which she has been removed now. The consulting agency PricewaterHouseCoopers and Vision Technologies, responsible for verifying the documents submitted by her, were the second and third accused in the case, police said. The case was registered on a complaint by the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL), which is under the IT department, they said. It has been registered under IPC sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document). Suresh is facing allegations of submitting a fake B.Com degree certificate of Maharashtra-based Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar University for getting an appointment in the Space Park under the I-T department. Her employment was terminated by the government after her name cropped up in connection with the bid to smuggle over 30kg of gold using a diplomatic baggage through the international airport here recently. She has been arrested in the smuggling case by the NIA along with another accused. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Saturday said an inquiry will be held into the complaint regarding the alleged fake degree certificate submitted by Suresh, who is the second accused in the gold smuggling case. The woman, a former employee of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) consulate, is among the four accused booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Complaints had been filed in some police stations against the woman for allegedly submitting the fake degree certificate. The BJP has also submitted a complaint to the state police chief in this regard. OTTAWA - The federal governments key emergency benefit for workers with jobs hit by the pandemic is not a permanent solution to ongoing hardships, a Senate committee says in a report that makes an argument for a guaranteed minimum income. The $500-a-week Canada Emergency Response Benefit has helped millions of workers who have seen their incomes shrink or dry up entirely due to the pandemic. While touting it as a vital lifeline, the Senates national finance committee said Tuesday the CERB misses some who lived in poverty prior to the pandemic, and lacks sufficient flexibility for others. Finding adequate employment will be an ongoing challenge for workers as some industries like tourism and air travel will take longer to come back from COVID-19 closures, while some jobs may not come back at all in businesses that go bankrupt, the committee said in a new report. So senators urged the government to work with provinces, territories and Indigenous governments to give full, fair and priority consideration to a basic income, saying that the idea deserves a more thorough investigation. Why not give it a serious consideration and take a look at what can be done? said Sen. Tony Loffreda, an Independent who sits on the committee. The next crisis, if we have a guaranteed basic livable income, I think we can save a lot of aid going forward. The idea of a basic income means different things to different people, but it is usually viewed as a no-strings-attached payment governments provide to citizens, replacing multiple programs targeting different needs. Earlier this month, the parliamentary budget office estimated a six-month basic income starting in October would cost between $47.5 billion and $98.1 billion, depending on how much is clawed back from people whose other incomes increase. That is the challenge. How do you integrate that into an annual budget and sustain it going forward? said Loffreda, an accountant and former bank executive. Theres a lot of thought that must go into it and seeing how we can let it work, to make it more sustainable and maybe reduce that gap between the return on capital and the return on labour. Federal aid has reached some $230 billion, not counting tens of billions more in tax deferrals and government-backed loans, pushing the deficit to $343.2 billion and the national debt past the $1-trillion mark by the end of the year. The fiscal response, the committee said, likely averted financial devastation for millions of Canadians. But now the government must address what the committee said was a lack of accountability and transparency about spending. Senators called on the government to provide quarterly economic and fiscal updates for the remainder of the crisis, similar to the one Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered last week. And senators said it is time for the Liberals to let Parliament review and approve new measures, rather than rely on sweeping spending and borrowing powers granted as the economic situation rapidly deteriorated in March and April. The Liberals are expected to make changes soon to the $80-billion CERB and an $82.3-billion wage subsidy program, hoping to prod more people to move from the former to the latter as part of the reopening process. Amin Mawani, an associate professor at York Universitys Schulich School of Business, said proportional subsidies that can wind up or down as circumstances require such as filling in shortfalls in wages would be better than an all-or-nothing approach for workers and businesses. We have to help businesses get up slowly. They cant get up fast to 100 per cent capacity. They can only get up as fast as they can get up, said Mawani, who has written about possible changes to the CERB and wage subsidy. He said other ideas for officials to consider are incentives like a signing bonus for CERB recipients who take jobs. The Senate committee called for a graduated system to benefits: clawing back CERB payments as incomes rise rather than cutting them off abruptly, and offering different levels of benefits for different levels of revenue loss as opposition parties have suggested in the House of Commons. Allowing for greater flexibility ... would help more businesses and lets them plan to bring staff back to work in preparation for their busiest season of the year, NDP finance critic Peter Julian said in a statement Tuesday about the Liberals pledge Monday to extend the wage subsidy until December. He, like the Senate committee, also called for the Liberals to quickly tell people what they will do for those who max out the CERB in the fall without jobs to go back to. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2020. Mumbai, July 14 : Actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja is currently in London. In a string of pictures that Sonam has posted on Instagram Stories, we can see her aboard a flight, wearing a mask. Her husband, Anand Ahuja is next to her. Her recent Instagram posts reveal that she is in London. Sharing a view of London from the plane, Sonam wrote: "London I am back. So beautiful." Earlier, Sonam had spent three months of lockdown in Delhi at her in-laws' residence. She flew to Mumbai to be with her parents and siblings ahead of her birthday on June 9. On the work front, Sonam was last seen in "The Zoya Factor", which also featured Malayalam star Dulquer Salmaan. The film , which is an adaptation of a book of the same name written by Anuja Chauhan, fared below expectations. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps re-election campaign has had enough of a San Antonio-area Republicans deceptive campaign mailers, which the Trump team says make it seem like the president has backed him and not his opponent. The Trump campaign sent a cease and desist letter to Raul Reyes Jr., a retired Air Force officer based in Castroville, saying a mailer with an altered photo purporting to show Reyes and Trump standing together, giving the thumbs-up sign is misusing the presidents name, image or likeness. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox Its the latest volley from the Trump campaign, which previously referred to Reyes mailers as misleading, and possibly unethical. The president has since endorsed former Navy cryptologist Tony Gonzales in the race for the Republican nomination to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (who has also endorsed Gonzales). Your campaign mailer is misleading, the cease and desist letter, sent on Monday, says. In it, you repeatedly reference President Trump by name, refer to yourself as the pro-Trump conservative in the race, and even include a photograph designed to appear as if the president is approvingly pointing in your direction. Trump earlier this month tweeted his Complete and Total Endorsement! of Gonzales, saying, we need him to defeat the Radical Left in November. The Reyes campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He previously responded to the Trump campaigns complaints about his mailer by saying: No deception here. The mail is true: I am the only TRUMP REPUBLICAN. Wake up before you realize Tony G (Will Hurd clone/2.0) is in Congress. TEXAS PRIMARY RUNOFFS: Fiery Democratic race for U.S. Senate fuels record turnout While he doesnt have Trumps approval, Reyes drew the backing of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who put out a 30-second ad saying "President Trump needs more congressmen like Col. Reyes, leaders who wont surrender our border, our sovereignty, our way of life." Voters on Tuesday will choose one of the two Republicans to face Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones in the sprawling congressional district, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso County and includes 820 miles of the Texas-Mexico border. ben.wermund@chron.com A boost for Latin American digital connectivity may be on the cards with the entry of global telecoms operator BSO into the Latin American market. Existing BSO customers can now connect to ten of Latin Americas largest data centres immediately, says BSO. These sites are spread across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Chile. Local companies can use BSOs global network for data centre connectivity as well as access to internet exchanges and connectivity to cloud service providers. BSO has partnered with EdgeUno which provides managed cloud, smart remote hands, and high-available, low-latency, high capacity connectivity services along with independent cable operator Seaborn for this expansion. BSOs connectivity is made possible by Seabras-1, which Seaborn describes as a 6-fibre pair, 72Tbps submarine cable system that is the only direct POP to POP system between Sao Paulo, Brazil and New York/New Jersey. While BSO has, in its owns words, always delivered robust connectivity to Latin America, these partnerships mark its formal entry into the market. BSO is also in the process of connecting to Brazils data centre B3, the countrys largest liquidity hub and a major financial centre for international traders, market makers, banks and financial services firms. BSO is also establishing its first Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud onramp in Brazils Equinix SP4. What does this mean for business in the region? Mehmet Akcin, CEO of EdgeUno suggests, This partnership allows companies from 200+ global data centres to connect to and from Latin America on high-availability and low latency routes. It also allows Latin American corporations to connect to the rest of the world through better network performance. A Portland man accused of killing his mother believed she was possessed by demons, records show. Todd Allan Carr, 54, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the death of his mother, Sharon Carr, who also went by Sharon Tate. He remains held without bail in the Multnomah County Detention Center. An officer found Sharon Carr dead July 5 inside an apartment she shared with her son and his wife in the 400 block of Southeast 99th Avenue. Todd Carr told detectives he felt he had been attacked by demons for several days, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court. He encountered his mother upon returning to their apartment, the affidavit says, and he thought she was possessed. Todd Carr told detectives he caused the injuries that killed his mother, the affidavit says. He said he did what he needed to do in order to survive and that he disassembled the demon, according to the court document. The Oregon State Medical Examiners Office determined Sharon Carr, 73, died of blunt force trauma and homicidal violence. -- Jim Ryan; jryan@oregonian.com; 503-221-8005; @Jimryan015 Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Organisers of Mrs Nigeria, a non-Bikini pageantry for married women, have called for the resignation of Godwin Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, following allegations of sexual harassment. Joy Nunieh, the former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), on Monday accused Mr Akpabio of sexually harassing her. Mrs Nunieh alleged that the minister wanted to come up on her at his guest house in Abuja, an incident which she said led her to slap the minister. In a statement on Tuesday, the organisers of the beauty pageantry asked Mr Akpabio to resign his position as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs. The group threatened to initiate a lawsuit on sexual harassment allegation if he fails to resign. Sarah Anogwi, the Managing Director of the group, said the allegation, if eventually proven to be true, vividly depicts a perfect precursor to typical rape incident, as severally reported. Mrs Nigeria is a non-governmental organisation that seeks to honour outstanding married women with beauty pageantry and champion programmes for vulnerable women and children in the country. The organisation, through its i-CARE (I Create Awareness to Reduce Exposure) initiative, called for the resignation of the former Governor of Akwa Ibom state. While the nation still grapples with the shockwaves from the monumental stealing allegedly ascribed to the countrys supposed corruption czar, Ibrahim Magu, the former boss of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), and the mind-blowing amounts involved in the Nigerias Instagram sensations international cybercrime, Raymond Abass, the allegation of sexual harassment publicly against the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godwin Akpabio, has become too much to bear. Given the magnitude of this allegation, and its devastating impact on the nations integrity and moral compass, we hereby call on Senator Akpabio to resign his appointment with immediate effect, the statement read in part. The group said it found the allegation too weighty to be swept under the carpet, especially in the light of increasing cases of rape, domestic violence and marital-related homicides in the country. The organisation called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order a probe into the two allegations, saying the act, if let go, would amount to sexual endangerment of the entire women folk by a chauvinistic dominant male, even in the position of power across the country. The organisation further commended the courage of Mrs Nunieh in speaking up against sexual harassment and encourage other women to fight free from the hands of their sexual violators. While evidence indicates that Massachusetts black bears are becoming adept at weaving their lives around our own and are expanding their territories eastward, its not clear just how many of them are out there. An ongoing study, called MassBears, is attempting to answer that and other questions through DNA analysis and reports of sightings from residents who encounter bears, or evidence of them, near their homes and workplaces, in their neighborhoods or in the woods. The study, a collaborative effort between Amherst College, MassWildlife and the Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, is also seeking volunteers willing to gather more extensive data on bears while hiking or by submitting photos from trail cams that capture them at specific times and places. As we obtain a broader participant pool, we can get a better idea of bear distribution and activity across the state, said Thea Kristensen, laboratory coordinator at Amherst College, who is overseeing the undergraduate students who are analyzing DNA samples from bear hair obtained through a non-invasive technique in the field. It also can inform us about how people are perceiving their interactions with bears, she said. Such input from community members, known as citizen science, is being increasingly used in wildlife studies, Kristensen said. We have had wonderful responses from participants who are excited to be able collect data that will contribute to scientific studies, she said. Citizen science is a really incredible way of pursuing questions in science and involving a wide variety of people in the process. Kristensen also oversees a sister project, Pioneer Valley Mammal Citizen Science, which enlists volunteers to report sightings and collect data on other mammals of Massachusetts such as moose and coyote. Bears have been on the rise in Massachusetts, the third most densely populated state in the country, since the 1970s when isolated populations in the Berkshires began to grow as unused agricultural land reverted to forest. They continue to expand eastward and some are now living and breeding in communities as far east at the Interstate 495 corridor. Dispersing young bears and wandering males can now be found east of Interstate 495. In 2012, one storied young male made it to the tip of Cape Cod. Captured and relocated to central Massachusetts, the same bear showed up in Brookline a few weeks later. That time around, state wildlife personnel relocated bear even farther west. David Wattles, black bear and furbearer project leader for MassWildlife, said a growth model conducted about a decade ago, building on early work in the Berkshires, estimated there were some 4,500 to 5,000 bears in the state, primarily in the western and central regions. I think we can be very confident to say our bear population is still increasing, he said. Survival rates are high and the population is thriving. Wattles said he has received anecdotal reports, much of it from inquiring reporters, regarding increased bear activity in residential areas this spring and early summer. He believes several factors may have played into that, including the coronavirus pandemic which has resulted in more people staying at home and perhaps seeing bear activity that they may otherwise have missed. Also, spring and early summer is a particularly busy time for bears as yearling cubs disperse across the landscape in April and May and mating season reaches in peak in June, he said. Bears, however, have been on the increase in some of the states more extensive urban areas, especially in the Connecticut River Valley, Wattles said. Some studies have shown the density of bears in such areas can be higher due to the availability of human-generated food sources such as bird feeders and garbage bins. Several weeks ago, state wildlife officials safely captured a female bear in downtown Holyoke. They installed a GPS tracking collar on the bear and released it on Mount Tom, which they believe is part of its territory. We are just starting to get data on that bear, Wattles said, adding this marks the first time they have begun tracking a bear in the Holyoke area. All told, Wattles and his colleagues are monitoring approximately three-dozen collared bears in various areas within their range in the state. Another collared bear has been moving between areas in Ludlow, South Hadley and Chicopee and has crossed the Massachusetts Turnpike multiple times, he said. Kristensen said advances in DNA analysis makes it possible for the MassBear researchers to identify individual bears and get a sense of their ranges without trapping them. They do so by obtaining samples of bear hair from simple set-ups known as hair corrals that use strands of barbed wire to create an enclosure around a brush pile and a suspended scent that drips onto it. When bears cross the barbed wire to investigate the scent, they leave hair on the barbs. Last summer, MassWildlife personnel put up 121 of the corrals in two different sets, one east of the Connecticut River and the other to the west of it, for a ten-week period. During that time, the Amherst College students made weekly visits to the corrals to collect and log in captured bear hair. Back in their on-campus lab, the students then extracted DNA from the samples, using specific genetic markers to identify individual bears and their sex. Plans to reinstall the hair corrals for another ten-week field season this summer, however, were derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, Kristensen said. That portion of the study is expected to continue for one or two more summers, she said. Their findings, garnered over time, along with information gleaned from the citizen science portion of the study, will enable researchers to estimate the density of bears in different areas of the state and ultimately the size of their population statewide. The researchers will likely arrive at their final conclusions about one year after their field work has been completed, Kristensen said. That information, according to the MassBear website, will help wildlife managers make scientifically informed decisions about how to manage the bear population and help predict when nuisance situations potentially dangerous for bears and people and their pets may arise. Even after those estimates are determined, however, Kristensen said she and her students will continue their research, augmented by citizen science, on the states bears and other mammals. Kristensen said her students have been enthusiastic to work with members of the community on the projects. We have had wonderful responses from participants who are excited to be able collect data that will contribute to scientific studies, she said. Citizen science is a really incredible way of pursuing questions in science and involving a wide variety of people in the process. Kristensen praised the efforts of the MassWildlife personnel who have been supporting and contributing to their research. Many came from all over the state to install and take down the hair corrals, she said. They have such incredible investment in the project and it would not be possible without their dedication, Kristensen said. Particles produced from plastic waste are being absorbed through plant roots and end up in the wheat and vegetables that we eat, a new study finds. A team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the prevalence of microplastics - produced when things like water bottles degrade. This source of pollution has previously been found throughout the ocean and other aquatic ecosystems, and even in our seafood and salt, according to researchers. Microplastics have become ubiquitous and this has led to concern among scientists about the transfer of the particles from the environment and into our food chain. In a new study, researchers found these plastic pieces had contaminated edible plants regularly eaten by humans - suggesting no food is free from plastic pollution. Large gaps between epidermal cells at the site of lateral root emergence. In a new study, researchers found these plastic pieces had contaminated edible plants including vegetables regularly eaten by humans Yongming Luo, a professor at the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research (YIC) and the Nanjing Institute of Soil Science said the plastic could pose a health risk. He said most microplastics are emitted to the environment and accumulate in large amounts of soil with secondary particles found by the degradation of plastics. This soil, plus wastewater - a vital source of water for agricultural irrigation - contain small-sized microplastics that are entering our food supply every day. Despite the prevalence of microplastics throughout the environment, the matter of their uptake by crop plants had not been well studied until now. For decades, scientists believed that plastic particles were simply too large to pass through the physical barriers of intact plant tissue - that isn't the case. 'Cracks at the emerging sites of new lateral roots of lettuce and wheat crops can take in microplastics from the surrounding soil and water. 'Those microplastics can then be transferred from the roots up to the edible parts of the crop,' said professor Luo. Louise Edge, senior campaigner at Greenpeace, told the Telegraph that it is well known plastic waste is degrading into tiny particles and reaching seafood. It is also going into 'tap water, beer, and even the air we breathe', she said. 'Shoppers choose to buy loose produce to avoid single-use plastic packaging, so reports that tiny microplastics could be getting inside vegetables and cereal crops directly from the environment is disheartening, not to mention unappealing.' Scientists already knew that particles as tiny as 50 nanometers in size could penetrate plant roots but this new study shows plastics 40 times larger can enter. The microplastics identified in this study were spherical plastic particles up to 2 micrometers in size with a small degree of mechanical flexibility, he said. These features allowed them to squeeze into the small space of plant root cells. The red box areas show places where pieces of plastic have infiltrated plants including polystyrene beads in wheat and lettuce leafs 'Another mechanism is that at the lateral root emergence sites there are small cracks, and then the particles go through those cracks and enter the xylem vessels. 'Thus it is even possible that particles larger than the ones we studied might also be taken up by plants,' said Dr LI Lianzhen, first author of the study. These findings shed new light on the possibility of food chain transfer of microplastics, the team explained. If microplastics are getting into our crop plants, they are also getting into our meat and dairy. This raises obvious concerns about growing crops on fields contaminated with wastewater treatment discharge or sewage sludge, a process that could introduce microplastics into the food chain. It also raises the key question of how microplastics affect human health, a question for which there is as yet no clear answer. Aside from the possible health impact, microplastics in crops is also undesirable from the standpoint of agricultural sustainability, Luo said. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Sustainability. A former white supremacist convicted of murdering a family of three in 1996 was put to death by lethal injection on Tuesday in the first federal execution in the United States in 17 years. The death penalty no longer exists in Luxembourg - but that was not always the case... The death penalty is (almost) as old as humanity itself. Did you for example know that the first established death penalty laws date back as far as the 18th century B.C.? The Code of King Hammurabi of Babylon codified capital punishment for 25 different crimes. It was only in the 20th century that increasing numbers of countries in the Western world started to abolish a punishment that Amnesty International today describes as "cruel, inhuman, and degrading." Luxembourg was no exception. The death penalty was only officially abolished in 1979 under the remarkable Luxembourgish politician Robert Krieps (fun fact: he's the grandfather of actress Vicky Krieps). The death penalty before 1795 The methods of execution largely depended on the nature of the crime. In 1570, the court in Remich for example declared that criminals may be "executed by the sword, by fire, by the gallows by means of rope or chain, or by drowning in the Moselle river." A decree from the same year established that the execution of the death sentence had to occur within 24 hours after it had been pronounced. The swift execution was meant to serve as a repelling "example to the people." The dead bodies were not buried unless a high-ranking judge gave formal authorisation. Defendants who were found guilty of serious theft, sacrilege, fraudulent bankruptcy or the publication of defamatory material were sentenced to death by hanging. Those found guilty of witchcraft and sodomy were burned. A particularly grisly sentence awaited women found guilty of infanticide: they were usually buried alive. This was for example the fate of young Mariechen from Bauschleiden in north-western Luxembourg in 1574. She was accused of throwing her illegitimate child into a well at night. She was found guilty and buried alive under the gallows in Arlon. Another mother who killed her child was sewn into a sack while she was still alive and then thrown into the Our river in Vianden. Other similar executions took place in Grevenmacher (1555), Luxembourg City (1589), and Diekirch (1594). This list is likely to be incomplete due to lack of historical sources. Under French occupation between 1795 and 1814 French troops occupied Luxembourg in 1795. You guessed right, they brought their beloved guillotine with them. The first execution by guillotine on Luxembourgish soil took place on 24 September 1798. One year later, 14 people who had participated in the Peasant's War (a revolt against the French occupiers in several regions including Luxembourg) were beheaded in Limpertsberg. Other executions took place at the fish market in Luxembourg City. Luxembourg's guillotine / Zinneke at lb.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 lu, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14712184 Under Dutch occupation between 1814 and 1821 This time period has been comparatively peaceful execution-wise. Only three men were sentenced to death for murder. One of them, a miller named Francois Hilbert from Schrassig, was found guilty of murdering his wife. He was the last Luxembourger to meet his end by the national razor in 1821. After 1821 According to various sources, the time between 1863 and 1879 saw an increase of crime in Luxembourg. The increase of crime went hand in hand with an increase in death sentences. Around 20 people were sentenced to death for a variety of offenses. The penal code was amended in 1879 to include mitigating circumstances. As a result, fewer people received the death penalty. After 1945 Execution by firing squad was introduced after World War II for war crimes. 18 people were sentenced to death in this context - 4 German war criminals and 11 Luxembourgish collaborators. Nine of them were executed; the others were pardoned. The last execution of a Nazi collaborator took place in 1949 in Reckenthal. Luxembourg's last death sentence for ordinary crime The last death sentence for ordinary crimes (excluding war crimes) took place on 7 August 1948. Nikolaus Bernardy from Everlingen was found guilty of a veritable massacre near Ettelbruck. He reportedly tied the family who owned the "Windhof" farm to chairs before shooting them in cold blood. He also killed two farm laborers the same day. Police told him 30 minutes before his execution that the Grand Duchess had refused to pardon him. He was executed by firing squad. On a side note, the last person executed in Germany was the East German Werner Teske. He was killed in an East German prison in Leipzig in 1981. In France, the last execution by guillotine took place in 1977 in Marseille. The death penalty around the world The United States, where the Supreme Court has allowed the first federal executions in 17 years to proceed, is among the minority of countries to retain the death penalty. The methods used around the world include beheading, electrocution, hanging, lethal injection and shooting, according to Amnesty International, which released its latest report on the subject in 2019. Here is an overview of the state of the death penalty around the world. - Abolished - death penalty By the end of 2019, 106 countries had abolished thein law for all crimes, and 142 countries had abolished it in law or practice, according to Amnesty. In March 2020, Colorado became the 22nd US state abolish the death penalty. The next month, Chad eliminated an exception for terrorist acts, in effect abolishing the death penalty. Last year steps to abolish the death penalty, or pronouncements about doing so, were made by the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Zimbabwe. - Executions in 20 countries - At least 657 executions were known to have taken place globally in 2019, a decrease of five percent compared to 2018, according to Amnesty. The figure did not however include the "thousands" of executions believed to have been carried out in China, which keeps such data secret. Last year's known executions were in 20 countries, with at least 251 recorded in Iran alone. Excluding China, 86 percent of all reported executions took place in just four countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt. Bangladesh and Bahrain resumed executions. Among the countries that increased their yearly executions were Iraq, which nearly doubled its number to at least 100, and Saudi Arabia, which executed a record 184 people, up from 149 in 2018. For the 11th consecutive year, the United States was the only country on the American continent to execute prisoners, putting to death 22 people -- three less than in 2018. Texas remains the leading state for executions in the US, with more than 40 percent of all recorded executions in the country being carried out there. - Death sentences - death Amnesty recorded at least 2,307sentences were given out in 56 countries in 2019, a decrease of more than 200 from the previous year. The most deaths sentences were handed out in Pakistan with at least 632, and Egypt with at least 435. Around the world at least 26,604 people are known to be under a death sentence. A US federal judge in New York on Tuesday rejected a proposed civil settlement that would have created a nearly $19 million fund for dozens of women who suffered sexual misconduct and harassment at the hands of Harvey Weinstein. The proposed deal had been announced last month by New York state's attorney general, putting an end to both a class action suit and a separate case brought against Weinstein, his brother Bob and their former film studio The Weinstein Company. Despite the attorney general's approval of the settlement, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on Tuesday rejected the deal, which had been contested by several of Weinstein's victims. Notably, the disgraced Hollywood mogul was not to be required to admit any responsibility for his actions, nor was he expected to contribute any of his own money to the fund. Attorney Douglas Wigdor -- whose clients include Tarale Wulff, a former cocktail waitress who alleged that Weinstein raped her in his New York apartment in 2005 -- had described the deal as "a complete sellout." "We have been saying for over a year and a half that the settlement terms and conditions were unfair and should never be imposed on sexual assault survivors," Wigdor and two other attorneys representing victims said in a statement. The trio said they were "pleased that Judge Hellerstein swiftly rejected the one-sided proposal." John Clune, an attorney for another alleged victim, quoted Hellerstein as saying: "This is not a class action." Lawyers representing several women were angry that survivors who did not want to accept the settlement would have been prevented from pursuing other legal avenues. In February, Weinstein was found guilty of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree in a landmark verdict for the #MeToo movement. He is currently serving 23 years in prison. The lengthy sentence capped a remarkable downfall for the 68-year-old, who has been accused of years of vile predatory behavior by almost 90 women, including Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek. This fund was seen by some of the parties as possibly the best settlement his accusers would ever reach. A federal judge has rejected a settlement deal in cases brought against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein over his alleged sexual misconduct involving dozens of women Biden has promised to contend Texas, which Trump won by 9 percentage points in 2016, the smallest margin for a GOP nominee in the state since 1996. The 2016 Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, ran TV ads in the state, though she did not do so until less than a month out from the election and made a relatively small investment. While the Biden campaign did not detail how much it is spending specifically in Texas, the official said the four-state buy "will run in each states top markets, on local cable, and on Sunday cable shows." In Texas and two of the other states, the campaign is running Spanish-language versions of the spots, with captions, on YouTube, Facebook and Univision. Trump has brushed off the threat of Biden in Texas, casting doubt on the polls. "I think Texas is going to be very strong for us all of us as it was in the past election, 2016," Trump said during a tele-town hall Monday evening with a congressional candidate here. It is important to know the status of our public safety employees so we can do all we can to ensure that they are not exposing the public to the virus and to ensure that we can continue to maintain continuity of operations of our government, he said in a statement. At this time, we have sufficient testing capacity to undertake these efforts. Advertisement Banksy has disguised himself as a Tube cleaner to graffiti a bustling train as it went through central London in a piece named: 'If you dont mask - you dont get', it was revealed today. The guerrilla artist, dressed in a high-vis jacket, boiler suit, goggles and face mask, paints a black rat coughing and sneezing green paint across the carriage's window and walls to encourage people to cover their faces in public. Using the same pressure sprayer used by London Underground staff to disinfectant trains, Banksy then tags the door leading to the driver's cab and paints other rats using face masks as parachutes or shooting antibacterial hand gel. Banksy is filmed entering a Tube station and getting on a train with his paint and stencils. At one point he ushers commuters away as he spray-paints the train as it travelled between Baker Street and Euston in broad daylight. Fans have hailed his work, calling it 'powerful' and 'crucial', but critics were shocked that he was able to graffiti a train while posing as a Tube worker completely unhindered before walking off and out of the station minutes later. It also appears he was able to graffiti a wall on a platform with nobody noticing. His latest work makes it clear that he believes anyone not wearing a mask is risking the spread of coronavirus in a film that ends with the message: 'I get locked down - but I get up again' - a play on words on the Chumbawamba hit that plays at the end. The star, who released a video of him spraypainting the train on Instagram this afternoon, has never identified himself but he is believed to be former public schoolboy Robin Gunningham, from Bristol. This sneezing and coughing rat is at the centre of a new Banksy artwork on the Tube, carried out as the train passed through central London The artwork was filmed being made and at one point Banksy ushers away a commuter from the part of the carriage he wants to paint The piece, named 'If you dont mask - you dont get', is encouraging Britons to wear masks to halt the spread of Covid-19 He even tags the door leading to the Tube driver's door as people in the train watched him do it in broad daylight It ends with the message: 'I get locked down - but I get up again' - a play on words on the Chumbawamba hit The release of the artwork today is significant because it came on the day Boris Johnson revealed that face masks will be compulsory in confined spaces such as shops and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan admitted one in ten on the Tube are still not wearing masks and only around 50 people have been fined. A British Transport Police spokeperson said: 'Banksys strength of feeling towards the importance of wearing face coverings on public transport mirrors our own, which is why we have hundreds of officers out across the capital every day encouraging passengers to wear their face coverings. 'Regardless, please remember that it is an offence to deface any Tube or train carriage, or other station property.' The Tube artwork came weeks after Banksy showed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, saying 'people of colour are being failed by the system'. His comment came after week of protests sparked by the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in the US. The graffiti artist, who rose to fame for his provocative street art, shared a painting of a vigil candle burning an American flag along with his message. He wrote: 'At first I thought I should just shut up and listen to black people about this issue. 'But why would I do that? It's not their problem, it's mine.' He continued: 'People of colour are being failed by the system. The white system. 'Like a broken pipe flooding the apartment of the people living downstairs. The faulty system is making their life a misery, but it's not their job to fix it. They can't - no-one will let them in the apartment upstairs. 'This is a white problem. And if white people don't fix it, someone will have to come upstairs and kick the door in.' Banksy has shown his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, saying 'people of colour are being failed by the system'. He shared a painting of a vigil candle burning an American flag along with his message Who is Banksy? Experts believe guerilla artist is middle-class boy from Bristol or could even a group led by Massive Attack star 3D Insiders in the art world have previously claimed there is compelling evidence suggesting that the artist is former public schoolboy Robin Gunningham, from Bristol, who is believed to be in his early forties. In March scientists at Queen Mary University of London backed a Mail on Sunday identifying Mr Gunningham as 'the only serious suspect'. They used 'geographic profiling', a technique more often used to catch criminals or track outbreaks of disease, by plotting the locations of 192 of Banksy's presumed artworks. But there have always been doubts. Is this him? The only clue until now has been a photograph taken in Jamaica 11 years ago of a man with a bag of spray cans and a stencil by his feet, who people say is Robin Gunningham Others have claimed Banksy is older, having been inspired by French artist Blek le Rat, who began working in 1981, which could make him at least ten years older. The only clue until now has been a photograph taken in Jamaica 11 years ago of a man with a bag of spray cans and a stencil by his feet, who people say is Gunningham. Banksy has admitted he disguises himself when in public and claims it is much easier and quicker to install works himself. Appearances in public, or on film, have also been in disguise or with his face covered. Banksy says he must remain anonymous because of the often illegal nature of his art. Robin Gunningham, who is thought to be in his late 30s or early 40s, remains the man most believed to be Banksy, although only a handful of the artist's friends know his true identity. He was educated at the 9,240-a-year Bristol Cathedral School, which shocked some of the artist's fans who were fond of their hero's 'anti-establishment' stance. Is it him? Massive Attack star Robert Del Naja, pictured arriving at Banksy's Dismaland in Weston-Super-Mare, has also been accused of being the guerrilla graffiti star Banksy has become renowned for his use of stencils to spray illegal images on public walls. Some councils and businesses have begun to protect his creations and his works have been sold to celebrities, including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Rumours have persisted that the artist is called Robin Banks, that he is from Bristol, and that his parents think he is a painter and decorator. Gunningham's former school friend Scott Nurse said in 2011: 'He was one of three people in my year who were extremely talented at art. I am not at all surprised if he is Banksy.' Records reveal Gunningham once lived with artist Luke Egan, who later exhibited with Banksy. Mr Egan initially denied knowing Gunningham but later admitted he had lived with him. Around 2000, when Banksy moved to London, Gunningham relocated to a flat in Hackney. A number of Banksy's most famous works have appeared nearby. At that time Gunningham lived with Jamie Eastman, who worked for the Hombre record label which has used illustrations by Banksy. Mr Gunningham's own parents have denied the artist was their son, although when his mother Pamela was shown the picture by the Mail on Sunday four years ago she initially denied she even had a son, let alone one called Robin, according to the paper. But in 2016 a member of Massive Attack was named as the artist. Robert '3D' Del Naja, the founding member of the Bristol band, has been accused of being the guerrilla graffiti star because art keeps appearing near their gigs. I nvestigative journalist Craig Williams, 31, claims the artist could be Mr Del Naja, or perhaps a team of people led by him and linked to Massive Attack who combine their concerts with graffiti. Mr Williams has plotted Banksy murals around the world and said that on at least six occasions more than a dozen appeared shortly before or after Massive Attack gigs in the same cities over the past 12 years. 3D was a graffiti artist in the 1980s and has admitted he is friends with Banksy - but the journalist's new research concludes he may be the artist himself. His band, famous for songs Tear Drop and Unfinished Sympathy, has made millions while Banksy's art sells for at least 500,000 a piece. Mr Williams said it has been the common conception was that the artist was 'plain old public school boy Robin Gunningham'. He said: 'But what if Banksy isn't the one person everyone thinks he is. What if Banksy is a group of people who have stencilling different locations both at home and abroad? Such a rich body of work done over a decade, across the globe, may allow for the suggestion. A copy of their report, obtained by the Daily Southtown through a public records request, showed containers of known, as well as unknown, materials scattered around the property. Inside the power plant are about 30 metal and plastic drums, most of which are not labeled while others are labeled as containing used oil, according to the state examination. A former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murders of seven veteran patients and an attempt to kill an eighth at the facility. Reta Mays, 46, worked the night shift at the medical center's medical surgical award and was accused of injecting seven patients with fatal doses of insulin, in addition to being charged with intending to kill an eighth by the same method between 2017 and 2018. Read Next: VA Partially Suspends Debt Collections on Veterans Through End of the Year She entered a guilty plea on all eight charges in federal district court and waived her right to a grand jury trial, affirming with a tearful voice to District Judge Thomas Kleeh that she was of sound mind in admitting her guilt. Her plea bargain includes seven life sentences for the murder charges, a 20-year sentence for the charge of assault with intent to commit murder, and a $500,000 fine. At least 26 family members of the victims were present in the courtroom Tuesday for the proceedings, which also were broadcast via Zoom. Defense attorneys requested time before sentencing to "develop mitigating evidence," meaning they will investigate possible reasons for Mays to have committed the crimes -- circumstances that might draw a lesser sentence. Mays, an Army veteran, told the judge she is taking medication for post-traumatic stress disorder. According to court documents, a doctor at the hospital alerted supervisors to the suspicious deaths, all of which involved "unexplained hypoglycemic episodes" in patients with no or minimal history of diabetes. Mays' job was to take vital signs, including monitoring patients' blood glucose levels, and to sit with patients overnight. But according to court documents, she "willfully" and "maliciously" injected insulin into patients who either did not have diabetes or have an insulin prescription. She was not authorized to administer insulin. Nor was she a credentialed nursing assistant. At the time of her hiring, the Clarksburg VA facility did not require nursing assistants to have a certificate or licensure as a condition of hiring or continued employment. According to court documents, Mays is a former West Virginia corrections officer who was eventually fired by the VA for lying on her resume, saying she was a certified nursing assistant. The rapid turnaround of the dramatic case follows nearly two years of investigations by the U.S. Justice Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General, and several lawsuits filed by the families of victims against the VA. Melanie Proctor, daughter of former Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott, filed a lawsuit against the VA in March over the death of her 82-year-old father. In April, Norma Shaw, widow of Air Force veteran George Nelson Shaw, also filed a wrongful death suit, alleging that a "widespread system of failures" at the hospital contributed to the 81-year-old's death. In June, the children of John William Hallman, 87, filed a federal lawsuit seeking unspecified damages for Hallman's June 2018 death. Prosecutors had said they were investigating up to 11 suspicious deaths at the facility. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie repeatedly called for the VA Office of Inspector General to release results of the investigation last year, while Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, pressed for answers from Attorney General William Barr on the case, saying the delay was tortuous to the families, some of whose loved ones were exhumed during the investigation. In a statement Tuesday, Manchin said the charges were overdue but he hoped the announcement would bring "some semblance of peace to the hearts" of the victims' families, as well as those "who are still uncertain about the fate of their veterans." "As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I will not stop until we determine how this could have happened, and ensure it never happens again. Our veterans deserve world-class care, and their families deserve peace of mind at every step of the way," Manchin said. According to court documents, the victims who died, in addition to McDermott, Shaw and Hallman, were: Navy veteran Robert Edge, 82 Army veteran Robert Kozul, 89 Army veteran Archie Edgell, 84 Army and Air Force veteran Raymond Golden, 88 The veteran who initially survived the attack and died two weeks after receiving the injection was a 92-year-old Navy World War II veteran, identified by his initials, R.R.P. Sen. Shelley Capito, D-West Virginia, called the situation at the Clarksburg VA "sickening and deeply troubling." "It is unacceptable in any setting. My heart breaks for the families of these veterans, and I know I speak for all West Virginians when I say that we are astounded that something like this could happen," Capito said in a statement. Wesley Walls, chief of public affairs at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, pointed out that Mays had been fired by the VA, and its inspector general investigated the case for more than two years. "Our hearts go out to those affected by these tragic deaths," Walls said. "We're glad the Department of Justice stepped in to push this investigation across the finish line and hopeful our court system will deliver the justice Clarksburg-area veterans and families deserve." -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime. Related: Lawmaker Wants U.S. Attorney General to Intervene in Suspicious VA Deaths Probe Ford has unveiled its 2021 Bronco fleet, 26 years after OJ Simpson's name became synonymous to the model because of his infamous slow chase in connection with the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend. The auto maker was due to reveal the new SUVs on July 9 but had to push back the date after people noticed it coincided with Simpson's 73rd birthday last Thursday, something Ford insisted was unintentional. United Auto Workers leader, Todd Dunn, who represents about 20,000 workers, said the delay was the 'right thing to do' and Nicole's sister told the Detroit Free Press in June that it was 'was a smart move on their part, a respectful move'. 'This was a horrible crime, a horrible murder. Why give somebody that attention, once again?' Tanya Brown said addressing opinions that the release helps glamorize domestic violence after Simpson was infamously acquitted in the murder case of Nicole and Ronald Goldman. Ford unveiled its 2021 Bronco fleet on Monday night, 26 years after the SUV became synonymous which OJ Simpson Modular hardtops have rear quarter windows that are removable by snapping, pushing and lifting away 'in a fraction of the time it takes for competitors without removing the roof panels' The trail mapping system is 'truly a game-changer' according to Ford, which is starting production early next year and the motors will be in dealerships spring 2021 Eager to avoid association with Simpson's 1994 case, the automaker opted to introduce its new vehicles on Monday, after facing a backlash on social media. When it hit the market in August 1965, the Bronco was the first reference to a sport utility vehicle from an American automaker. Now the new Ranger pickup-sized Bronco that will come in two- and four-door versions, and the smaller Escape-sized Bronco Sport, the three designs are reportedly aimed at taking sales from Fiat Chrysler's top brand, Jeep. The Bronco declined in popularity after a three-decade run that ended in 1996 amid declining demand for two-doors. But the new Bronco lineup will offer off-roading technology aimed at people who want a comfortable ride on the highway, and who go off-roading on sand, gravel or dirt, not clambering over boulders, Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley previously said in an interview. They will offer Trail Control cruise control for low-speed trail driving, while Trail Turn Assist tightens off-road turning radiuses through torque vectoring, and Trail One-Pedal Drive acceleration/braking control makes for more precise and confident slow-mode rock crawling. A 360-degree camera system provide additional visibility in technical pursuits such as rock crawling. The cars were due to be unveiled July 9 which happened to be OJ Simpson's birthday but a union leader expressed concerns it could glamorize domestic violence. Simpson was infamously acquitted of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Motorists wave as police cars pursue the Ford Bronco (white, R) driven by Al Cowlings, carrying fugitive murder suspect O.J. Simpson, on a 90-minute slow-speed car chase June 17, 1994 on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles, California Ford insisted last month the July 9 unveiling date was not intentionally to acknowledge Simpson's birthday. An auto union leader was one to express concern Plus the Broncos are based on a fully boxed, high-strength steel chassis that delivers available 'best-in-class suspension travel' which Ford says has 17 percent more both front and rear over the closest competitor. Modular hardtops have rear quarter windows that are removable simply by snapping, pushing and lifting away 'in a fraction of the time it takes for competitors without removing the roof panels'. The two new models offer the largest overall open-top view in its class, which it says it great for taking in the sunshine or of stargazing. Ford says its frameless doors are also easier to remove than what competitors offer and they can be stored onboard with protective door bags. Exclusive cowl-mounted mirrors maintain sideview visibility when the doors are removed. 'We created the Bronco family to elevate every aspect of off-road adventure and equipped them with class-leading chassis hardware and exclusive technologies to raise the bar in the rugged 4x4 segment and take people further into the wild,' Farley said in a press release. 'They're built with the toughness of an F-Series truck and performance spirit of Mustang and come wrapped in one of the most stunning and functional off-road designs that's true to the original Bronco design DNA.' The novel off-roader might appreciate the trail mapping system which they say is 'truly a game-changer'. 'It works online or off on either of the navigation-capable 8- or 12-inch SYNC systems, allowing users to select one of hundreds of available curated trail maps to map out and then track, capture and share their adventures with others,' Mark Grueber, Bronco consumer marketing manager, said. 1993 Bronco Horsepower: 185 to 200 hp Torque: 270-310lbs Transmission: 4-speed automatic, 5-speed manual Engine: 5.0 L V8, 5.8 L V8 Doors: 2 Price: $20,150 - $24,810 Advertisement 2021 Bronco Horsepower: 270 to 310 hp Torque: 310-400lbs Transmission: 10-speed automatic, 7-speed manual Engine: 2.7 L EcoBoost V6 engine, 2.3 L EcoBoost V6 engine Doors: 2, 4 Price: $29,995 Advertisement Washable rubberized floors with integrated drains, marine-grade vinyl seating surfaces that resist mildew, and silicone sealed switches make for a more convenient cleaning experience. Production will begin in early 2021 and the first vehicles are set to hit dealerships next spring with a base MSRP of $29,995. Reservations launched at 8pm on Monday for $100. It comes as the company aims to boost profits to repay debt taken on to weather the coronavirus slowdown. Last year, Ford said retooling its Wayne, Michigan, assembly plant to build Ranger mid-sized pickup trucks and the Bronco instead of hybrid and compact cars would improve operating earnings by more than $1 billion. The vehicles' boxy looks, their new bucking bronco logo, a 'Bronco Nation' online fan club along with the 'Built Wild' marketing campaign are all part of Ford's plan to muscle into the lucrative off-road adventure segment that Jeep has dominated for decades. Up to seven driver-selectable modes are offered including Normal, Eco, Sport, Slippery and Sand, with Baja, Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl for off-road driving. More than 200 factory-backed accessories are available for maximum personalization and the cars incorporate off-road mapping and drive technologies to give novice adventurers as much fun as hard-core off-road experts. Sales of the earlier Bronco peaked in 1979 at around 100,000. Ford is hoping for 125,000 sales in the first year of the new Bronchos, according to suppliers. Last year, Fiat Chrysler sold about 1.5 million Jeeps globally, down from almost 1.6 million in 2018. 'We see our vehicle different than Wrangler,' the Jeep model favored by extreme off-road enthusiasts, Farley said. 'We see it as a vehicle you can live with every day.' United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said the world is experiencing the sharpest decline in per capita income since 1870 and that between 70 and 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty. Africas coronavirus caseload has climbed above 600,000 as the pandemic on the 54-nation continent continues to gain speed. Hong Kong is set to impose its toughest curbs yet to control the coronavirus, after authorities warned the risk of a large-scale outbreak was extremely high. The World Health Organization has warned the pandemic could get far worse if countries around the globe do not follow basic healthcare precautions. The virus remains public enemy number one, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing from WHO headquarters in Geneva. More than 13 million people around the world have been diagnosed with COVID-19, 7.3 million have recovered, and more than 573,000 have died, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University. The United States, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Mexico and Italy have recorded the most deaths. Here are the latest updates. Tuesday, July 14 23:10 GMT Initial testing of first COVID-19 vaccine shows promising results The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the United States revved up peoples immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported on Tuesday as the shots are poised to begin key final testing. No matter how you slice this, this is good news, Dr Anthony Fauci, the US governments top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press news agency. The experimental vaccine, developed by Faucis colleagues at the National Institutes of Health in partnership with Moderna Inc, will start its most important step around July 27: a 30,000-person study to prove if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the coronavirus. Moderna's Phase 1 data are out. Their #Covid19 vaccine, which is expected to go into Phase 3 late this month, generated an immune response in all subjects vaccinated. Will it be protective? How long will it last? Phase 1 trials can't answer those Qs. https://t.co/gheH5gsuyo Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) July 14, 2020 21:55 GMT CDC Director: face masks could bring COVID pandemic under control in US in a matter of weeks The head of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, said on Tuesday that if all Americans wore a mask, the rising cases of COVID-19 could be under control within four to eight weeks. Speaking in an online interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association, Redfield said, I think if we can get everyone to wear masks right now, we can bring this under control within four, six, eight weeks. The CDC director also said wearing a mask was a public health issue and that he was sad to see it become so politicised. 20:40 GMT Guterres: COVID-19 could set us back years, even decades Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres [File: Carlo Allegri/Reuters] UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned the coronavirus pandemic might set the world back years and even decades in terms of economic progress. We are experiencing the sharpest decline in per capita income since 1870, he said, adding that between 70 and 100 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty. He also warned that some 265 million people could face acute food insecurity by the end of the year. Guterres called for an inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism to deal with the crisis. 20:20 GMT US rescinds order denying visas for foreign students The United States has rescinded its controversial decision to revoke visas for foreign students whose courses move online due to coronavirus, a federal judge said. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with the support of a number of other institutions, had taken legal action against the move that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on July 6. The government has agreed to rescind the decision as well as any implementation of the directive, Judge Allison Burroughs said in a brief hearing. Read more here. 20:00 GMT Pandemic slows down in Chile, where improvement continues Coronavirus infections are no longer increasing as rapidly in Chile, which has reported 1,836 new cases the lowest figure in 63 days. The improvement continues, Radio Cooperativa quoted Health Minister Enrique Paris as saying. One of the Latin American countries with the most COVID-19 cases, Chile has confirmed a total of 319,493 infections and 7,069 deaths. Paris gave credit for the general improvement to his predecessor Jaime Manalich, who prepared the country very well, above all in testing, treatment in intensive care units, the purchase of ventilators. 19:45 GMT South African teachers call for school closures Teachers practice social distancing before being screened as schools begin to reopen after the coronavirus disease lockdown in Langa township in Cape Town, South Africa [File: Mike Hutchings/Reuters] South Africas largest teachers union has called on authorities to close schools until the number of COVID-19 cases drop in the country, which has the most infections on the continent. The community infections have been rising since the reopening of schools and [it is] inevitably affecting the schools, Mugwena Maluleke, the general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union, said in a virtual media briefing. In the country, the virus is reaching its peak and at the same time, we are in winter season known as the influenza season, he said, adding that if schools remain open, learners, teachers, and academic staff would be at high risk of contracting the virus as South Africa approaches its peak of infections. 19:19 GMT Record virus death toll in Florida The US state of Florida one of the current epicentres in the nations coronavirus crisis on Tuesday posted a record number of deaths for a 24-hour period at 132. The state department of health reported more than 9,000 new cases in the same 24-hour span. Overall, Florida has recorded more than 290,000 cases and more than 4,400 deaths. Read more here. 18:50 GMT Italy health minister says country will continue some virus measures Visitors enter Romes ancient Colosseum as it reopens with social distancing and hygiene measures in place, after months of closure due to the spread of the coronavirus disease in Rome, Italy [File: Yara Nardi/Reuters] Italys Minister of Health Roberto Speranza said the country will continue enforcing some restrictive measures at least until the end of this month. We must not retreat one inch on prevention, Speranza said. The minister also said that authorities are keeping a watchful eye on all arrivals from abroad, including migrants landing on Italys shores. The country will maintain a mandatory quarantine period of 14 days for everybody arriving from outside the European Union, Speranza said. 18:30 GMT Algeria reports 527 new coronavirus cases, highest daily record Algeria has recorded 527 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, health authorities said, the highest single-day increase in the North African country. In recent weeks, the number of infections in Algeria has been on an upward trend. Tuesdays update brings the total number to 20,216 cases, including 1,028 deaths, according to Djamel Fourar, the spokesman for the committee monitoring the pandemic. On Friday, the government put 29 provinces out of the countrys 48 under lockdown for one week. A nighttime curfew is in place in these provinces, including the capital Algiers. 18:00 GMT No vaccine, no carnival, Rios samba schools warn Members of samba schools parade during the 2020 Carnival at the Sambadrome Marques de Sapucai in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [File: Anadolu Agency] Some of Rios biggest samba schools say they will not participate in next years Carnival unless a coronavirus vaccine is widely available, Brazilian media reported Tuesday. Five of the 12 top samba schools, including Mangueira and Beija-Flor, told Brazils O Globo newspaper they would vote to postpone the parades at a meeting set for Tuesday. Its simple. If theres no vaccine, there will be no samba, said the head of the Sao Clemente school, Renatinho Gomes. How can you gather crowds without collective immunity? 17:35 GMT Sweden defends no mask policy People have a drink after work while keeping a social distance due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Stockholm, Sweden [File: Stina Stjernkvist/TT News Agency/via Reuters] Swedens health agency said that it would not urge people to wear face masks and that social distancing and proper hand hygiene should be enough to curb the coronavirus. Sweden, which is an outlier in the way it is handling the outbreak of the virus, has one of the worlds highest death rates per capita. Sweden has defended its approach by saying the measures in place can be maintained for months, unlike full lockdown measures in other countries that led to a backlash in many places. 17:05 GMT COVID-19 spread increases in Spain with 666 new cases As Spanish health authorities have been battling around 120 COVID-19 outbreaks, the health ministry registered 666 more cases. It is the second-highest daily jump since late May and has brought the total number of infections to 256,619. The number of infections over the last week nearly 4,300 has doubled from a week ago and reached the highest number since the ministry changed its reporting methods in late May. Infections have been steadily increasing since the country entered into the new normal on June 21, opening borders, free internal movement and restarting the vast majority of economic activities. 16:45 GMT Hungary lawmakers hand PM Orban EU virus deal veto Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban discusses the law granting the government special powers to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis at the Hungarian parliament in Budapest [File: Zoltan Mathe/Reuters] The Hungarian parliament has mandated Prime Minister Viktor Orban to veto a huge European Union pandemic recovery fund deal if it is deemed unfair by Budapest or sets rule-of-law conditions. EU leaders meet later this week to agree on an $850bn coronavirus aid package aimed at helping countries hit hardest by the virus. The parliament resolution said the money must also be used only to restart economic growth, protect and create jobs. But Orban has said he will veto a deal if poorer EU members like Hungary receive less funding than richer ones, or if conditions like rule-of-law or migration policy conformity are imposed. 16:00 GMT Canada, US poised to extend border restrictions to August 21 The US and Canada are poised to extend their agreement to keep their shared border closed to non-essential travel until August 21, but a final confirmation has not been given, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. The agreement would likely extend the closure by another 30 days. The restrictions were announced on March 18 and were extended in April, May and June. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week that a decision on the border would be announced in the coming days. Were going to continue to work hard to keep Canadians safe and to keep our economies flowing and we will have more to say later this week, Trudeau said. 15:45 GMT Indonesian journalists urge safety first during coronavirus The Alliance of Independent Journalists of Indonesia asked media companies to raise awareness about the safety and health of journalists amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 50 staff members at the Radio of the Republic of Indonesia in Surabaya have tested positive for the disease, while two employees of Television of the Republic of Indonesia died due to the infection. Abdul Manan, the chairman of the alliance, said media companies should provide adequate protective equipment for their employees. The media should allow their staff, especially journalists, to work from home, he said in a press release. 15:20 GMT Swiss Indoors tennis tournament cancelled The Swiss Indoors tennis tournament has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Organisers say it would be irresponsible and logistically difficult to go ahead amid uncertainty about public health and the economy. Tournament head Roger Brennwald says social distancing or matches played behind closed doors were out of the question for us from the start. 15:00 GMT Germany eyes local travel bans to prevent second virus wave The German Chancellerys Chief of Staff Helge Braun said his country is considering banning local travel to stem a second wave of the new coronavirus [File: Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters] Helge Braun, who is Chancellor Angela Merkels chief of staff and tasked with coordinating the governments pandemic response, said Germany is considering local travel bans for areas that see a sudden, unexplained surge in virus cases. Our measures are appropriate to preventing a second big wave, Braun told The Associated Press in an interview at the Chancellery in Berlin. But this requires us to stay the course, not get careless in our measures and maintain our respect for the virus. Germany has managed to flatten the curve of infections to three per 100,000 inhabitants a week a very low rate by international comparison. The country of 83 million has reported just over 200,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 9,077 deaths since the start of its outbreak. 14:15 GMT Which activities are at a higher risk for contracting COVID-19? 14:00 GMT Global vaccine plan may allow rich countries to buy more Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones cant afford to place such speculative bets at all. Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, vaccines will be hoarded by rich countries in an unseemly race to inoculate their populations first. After the recent uproar over the United States purchasing a large amount of a new COVID-19 drug, some predict an even more disturbing scenario if a successful vaccine is developed. Hello, this is Linah Alsaafin taking over from Ramy Allahoum in Doha. 12:45 GMT Philippines to use police in house-to-house searches for COVID-19 cases Philippine authorities and police will carry out house-to-house searches for COVID-19 patients to prevent wider transmission, a minister has said, amid soaring death and infection numbers and some areas returning to a stricter lockdown. Interior Minister Eduardo Ano urged the public to report cases in their neighbourhoods, warning that anyone infected who refused to cooperate faced imprisonment. 12:30 GMT Oman to start allowing citizens to travel abroad: state TV Oman will start allowing its citizens to fly outside the country, but they must apply with authorities to do so and quarantine upon their return, state television has reported. Oman TV also said on its Twitter account that the Gulf Arab state had decided to maintain a lockdown on two regions, Dhofar and Masirah, without specifying for how long. The sultanate has been gradually easing coronavirus restrictions that were imposed in March. Oman TV did not specify when Omani citizens would be able to travel abroad. 12:15 GMT Catalan authorities order home confinement in Lleida Spains Catalonia has approved a resolution to place the residents of the city of Lleida and seven nearby towns under home confinement to stem a surge in coronavirus infections, after a judge earlier ruled that such a measure was unlawful. The confinement will come into force on Wednesday and last for 15 days, Catalan regional government spokeswoman Meritxell Budo told reporters. 12:00 GMT France to require masks at indoor public spaces French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he favours making face masks mandatory in public indoor spaces to curtail the coronavirus pandemic, possibly starting on August 1. I would like to make masks mandatory in all enclosed public spaces, he said in a televised interview, adding: We have indications that (the outbreak) is accelerating a bit. In an interview with French television networks marking Bastille Day, President Macron said the best prevention for the virus are masks, social distancing and hand washing [File: Reuters] 11:45 GMT Iran reports 179 new virus deaths Iran has reported 179 new deaths from the novel coronavirus as authorities announced a decision to once more shutter some businesses in the capital to contain the virus resurgence. The reimposition of restrictive measures comes after the government had progressively lifted them from April to reopen its sanctions-hit economy. The one-week measure in Tehran includes the closure of gyms, pools, zoos and cafes, ISNA news agency quoted deputy Tehran governor Hamidreza Goudarzi as saying. 11:30 GMT Africas virus caseload climbs past 600,000 Africas coronavirus caseload has climbed above 600,000 as the pandemic on the 54-nation continent continues to pick up speed. Africa surpassed the half-million case mark less than a week ago. The continent now has more than 610,000 confirmed cases. South Africa has the most cases on the continent, with more than 287,000. 11:15 GMT Israel confirms record 1,681 new cases Israels Health Ministry said the country confirmed 1,681 new coronavirus cases, a record high. Israel was widely praised for taking swift action early in the pandemic by closing its borders and imposing other restrictions to contain the viruss spread. But since reopening the economy and schools in May following a more than month-long lockdown, the number of new cases has steadily increased. 11:05 GMT Thai authorities seek to fix errors that allowed infected foreigners in Authorities in Thailand have urged almost 1,900 people to quarantine themselves and get tested for the virus after a breakdown in screening allowed two foreigners with the disease to pose a risk to public health. The agency coordinating Thailands coronavirus response also announced it is rolling back regulations for admitting foreign visitors in order to tighten up procedures. 10:50 GMT Singapore enters recession with 41 percent contraction Singapores economy slipped into recession in the second quarter, contracting by a record 41.2 percent from the previous three months, and is facing its biggest slump ever this year as measures to contain the coronavirus hammered the trade-reliant country. Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had expected a 37.4-percent slump, but the pandemic took a heavy toll on the construction sector, which plunged 95.6 percent. Read more here. The lockdown hit Singapores retail industry badly but analysts say consumer spending should recover as the government now has more experience in fighting the virus [File: Edgar Su/Reuters] 10:35 GMT Virgin Atlantic to clinch $1.5bn rescue deal British airline Virgin Atlantic is close to securing a 1.2 billion pound ($1.5 billion) rescue deal, Sky News reported, removing the medium-term chance of administration as a result of the coronavirus crisis. The deal, which will involve backing from Richard Bransons Virgin Group and hedge fund Davidson Kempner, could be confirmed later on Tuesday, Sky News said. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic declined to comment on the report. 10:15 GMT UK demands the public wear face coverings in shops Britains government will demand people wear face coverings in shops as it seeks to clarify its message after weeks of prevarication amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to tell the House of Commons on Tuesday that anyone failing to comply with the order could face a fine of up to 100 pounds ($125). The order comes into effect on July 24, giving shops and the police time to prepare. Many European nations, including Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece, already require masks to be worn in enclosed spaces. Britain, which has reported one of the worlds highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths, had taken a more relaxed attitude, recommending masks but not requiring them at least until now. 10:00 GMT Transparency concerns raised over India COVID-19 fund Bejon Misra responded quickly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal in March for donations to a new fund to strengthen the countrys fight against the coronavirus. The next day, the 69-year-old retired management professor made a donation. It was a generous contribution because Modi is the face of it, Misra said. Such trust in Modi is common in India, the prime minister enjoying a very high approval rating, despite coronavirus infections spiking in recent weeks. Read more here. 09:15 GMT Philippines confirms six new coronavirus deaths, 634 cases The Philippines health ministry has reported six new coronavirus deaths and 634 additional infections, the lowest daily increase in cases in nearly two weeks. In a bulletin, the ministry said total deaths had increased to 1,603, while confirmed cases had reached 57,545. More than 1,600 people have died from the virus in the Philippines [File: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images] 09:05 GMT Hong Kong reports 48 new coronavirus cases Hong Kong has reported 48 new coronavirus cases, including 40 that officials said were transmitted locally, ahead of new social distancing measures due to come into force at midnight. Tuesdays toll was slightly lower that Mondays 52 new cases but remained broadly in line with a recent sharp increase in the city. Since late January, the global financial hub has reported more than 1,500 cases and eight deaths 08:55 GMT Indian IT hub Bangalore locks down again Indias IT hub Bangalore will go back into lockdown on Tuesday as the number of coronavirus cases in the country surged towards a million with about 500 people dying daily. After imposing one of the worlds strictest lockdowns in late March, India has been steadily easing rules to lessen the huge economic impact. But infections have continued to soar, passing 900,000 on Monday with almost 24,000 deaths, according to health ministry figures that many experts say underplay the severity of the situation. 08:40 GMT Turkmenistan halts passengers trains amid virus reports Turkmenistan has ordered passenger trains halted from July 16 amid reports of coronavirus in the isolated Central Asian country that has yet to declare any cases. A statement on the state-run railways website this week said that local passenger train travel would be suspended for a week from July 16 to July 23, but gave no reason for the stoppage. Turkmenistan a tightly-controlled, oil-rich ex-Soviet state is one of a few countries in the world yet to declare any coronavirus cases. 07:45 GMT Russia coronavirus deaths reach 11,614, total cases 739,947 Russia has reported 6,248 new cases of the novel coronavirus, pushing its confirmed national tally to 739,947, the fourth largest in the world. Officials said 175 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 11,614. Health authorities have registered 175 new deaths over the past 24 hours [File: Tatyana Makeyeva [Reuters] 07:30 GMT India reports more than 28,000 new coronavirus infections India has reported 28,498 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total number of infections to 906,752. Cases have jumped by 100,000 in four days. The Health Ministry also reported another 553 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 23,727. India has largely lifted its nationwide lockdown, but the spread of the virus has prompted several big cities to reimpose partial lockdowns. 07:25 GMT Yemens Houthis announce easing of coronavirus lockdown Yemens Houthi rebels are easing a variety of coronavirus restrictions amid a news blackout on the viruss toll in their territory. The Houthi Cabinet announced late on Monday it was allowing restaurants, wedding halls, public baths, parks and playgrounds to reopen. The statement encouraged people to sanitise regularly and practise social distancing. Over the past months, the Houthis, who control Yemens capital, Sanaa, and much of the war-torn countrys north, have suppressed all information about the virus. Theyve severely punished doctors and journalists who speak out, imposed only loose restrictions and promoted conspiracy theories. 06:55 GMT Study predicts surge in HIV, TB and malaria deaths amid COVID-19 pandemic Deaths from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria could surge in poor and middle-income countries as already weak health systems grapple with severe disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a predictive study published on Monday. Over the next five years, deaths from the three diseases could rise by as much as 10, 20 and 36 percent respectively putting the mortality impact on a scale similar to the direct impact of the coronavirus pandemic itself, the modelling study found. In countries with a high malaria burden and large HIV and TB epidemics, even short-term disruptions could have devastating consequences for the millions of people who depend on programmes to control and treat these diseases, said Timothy Hallett, a professor at Imperial College London who co-led the work. He said the knock-on impact of COVID-19 could undo some of the significant progress against these diseases made over the past two decades, compounding the burden caused by the pandemic directly. 06:40 GMT Germanys confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 412 to 199,375 The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 412 to 199,375, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed. The reported death toll rose by four to 9,068, the tally showed. More than 190,000 people in Germany have tested positive for the coronavirus [File: Anadolu] 06:30 GMT Mexico reports 485 new coronavirus deaths, 4,685 infections Mexicos Health Ministry reported 4,685 new confirmed coronavirus infections and 485 additional fatalities, bringing the countrys totals to 304,435 cases and 35,491 deaths. The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. 05:15 GMT Debt-relief measures failing to help Cambodian poor Human Rights Watch says debt relief measures by micro-loan providers in Cambodia are failing to help families struggling with the impact of the pandemic, who may be forced to sell land and homes to survive. The rights group says the National Bank of Cambodia and the government should suspend debt collection and interest accruals for borrowers who can no longer meet their payments because of the pandemic. Many Cambodians fear losing their lands more than catching the coronavirus and the government has done little to help them, HRWs Asia Director Phil Robertson said in a statement. HRW says Cambodians have the worlds highest average amount of micro-loans at $3,804 per capita. Strong statement from Human Rights Watch detailing how MFIs in Cambodia threaten land tenure security and human rights, especially during COVID-19. European development banks and IFC still investing in sector without any enhanced borrower protection. https://t.co/KIIsMmK6gO Brendan O'Byrne (@BrendanOByrne) July 14, 2020 05:00 GMT Worse than dismal: Singapore Q2 GDP plunges 41.2 percent Singapores economy suffered a coronavirus-induced record contraction in the second quarter, putting it on course for its worst-ever slump this year. Gross domestic product (GDP) plunged by a record 41.2 percent in the three months ended June, on a quarter-on-quarter annualised basis, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting a 37.4-percent decline. We were expecting these numbers to look quite dismal, although this is worse than what we had expected, Steve Cochrane, economist at Moodys Analytics, told the news agency. 04:45 GMT Tokyo theatregoers asked to come forward for testing Some 800 Tokyo theatregoers are being asked to come forward for testing after at least 20 coronavirus cases were traced back to a production involving a Japanese boy band. Health officials are focusing on the Theatre Moliere, a 190-seat theatre in the Shinjuku area of the capital, which put on the show Werewolf for six days earlier this month. The first case was reported on July 6 and involved a cast member. 04:30 GMT DRC facing new Ebola outbreak as tries to control COVID, measles Ebola is spreading in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo, with nearly 50 known cases across a region bordering the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Mike Ryan, the WHOs top emergencies expert, says the outbreak, first detected on June 1, remains very active and of great concern. The DRC is also dealing with a measles epidemic that has killed more than 6,000 people and COVID-19, which has infected more than 3,000 and killed 188. You can read more on that story here. FILE PHOTO: Mwamini Kahindo, an Ebola survivor working as a caregiver to babies who are confirmed Ebola cases, holds an infant outside the red zone at the Ebola treatment centre in Butembo, DRC, 2019 [Baz Ratner/Reuters] 03:45 GMT Malaysia and Singapore ease some border restrictions Border restrictions between Malaysia and Singapore will be eased to support essential business and official traffic, as well as the movement of residents who have long-term work permits for either country. This will include a Reciprocal Green Lane for essential business and official purposes where all travellers have to undergo a PCR swab test before travel and submit a detailed itinerary for the duration of the visit. The new measures are expected to come into force on August 10, the two countries governments said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The details of the arrangements including health protocols and the application process will be announced 10 days before that. Joint Press Statement by FM Dato' Seri @HishammuddinH2O and Singapore FM Dr. @VivianBala on the implementation of the reciprocal green lane & periodic commuting agreement. pic.twitter.com/vjQ0F3sSIY Wisma Putra (@MalaysiaMFA) July 14, 2020 03:30 GMT Hong Kong prepares for toughest-ever coronavirus curbs People in Hong Kong are preparing for the toughest curbs yet to control the coronavirus as authorities warn that the risk of a large-scale outbreak in the territory is extremely high. The new measures come into force at midnight (16:00 GMT). They include mandatory face masks on public transport and a limit on the size of gatherings to just four people. You can read more on that story here. Masks will be mandatory on all public transport in Hong Kong under measures that come into force at midnight [Tyrone Siu/Reuters] 02:30 GMT Mystery of Argentine sailors who caught virus while at sea Argentina is trying to solve the mystery of how 57 sailors managed to come down with COVID-19 while they were at sea even though all had tested negative and spent 14 days in quarantine in a hotel before the voyage began. The health ministry for the southern province of Tierra del Fuego says the fishing trawler is now back in port after 35 days at sea, with 57 of the 61 crew diagnosed with the virus after a new test. Two are now in hospital. A team is trying to establish the chronology of contagion among the crew. An incubation period this long has not been described anywhere, said Leandro Ballatore, head of the infectious diseases department at Ushuaia Regional Hospital. 01:25 GMT No new cases confirmed in Beijing for eighth day The wave of coronavirus cases connected with Beijings wholesale market that began in June appears to have been brought under control with no new cases of the disease reported in the Chinese capital for eight successive days. Chinas National Health Commission reported five new cases on the mainland on Tuesday, all among people returning from overseas. #Beijing sees zero locally transmitted #COVID19 cases for the eighth consecutive day. On Monday, 21 people recovered and were discharged from hospitals, lowering the number of active cases in Beijing to 205. pic.twitter.com/W5fNQkEsWe CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) July 14, 2020 01:00 GMT Nearly 1,000 staff at US immigration detention centres have COVID-19 More than 930 people working for four private companies that run detention centres for US immigration services have tested positive for coronavirus, according to executives speaking at a congressional hearing. The four firms are CoreCivic (554 cases), the GEO Group (167 cases), Management & Training Corp (73 cases) and LaSalle Corrections (144 cases). The US immigration department has reported 45 cases among its own staff. Lawmakers are concerned about the spread of the virus across the USs nearly 70 detention centres. More than 3,000 detainees have tested positive for the disease, and two have died. There are currently about 22,580 people in immigration custody. 00:00 GMT UK to make masks mandatory in shops The British government will announce on Tuesday that people will have to wear masks when they go into a shop from July 24. There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus, a statement from the prime ministers office said. Masks have been required on public transport since June 15. 23:45 GMT (Monday) Worldwide cases surpass 13 million More than 13 million people around the world have now been confirmed to have had the coronavirus, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Below are the five most-affected countries. United States 3,361,042 Brazil 1,884,967 India 878,254 Russia 732,547 Peru 330,123 - Hello and welcome to Al Jazeeras continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Im Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur. Read all the updates from yesterday (July 13) here. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- TriNetX, the global health research network that revolutionizes clinical research and enables discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence (RWE), today announced the signing of an agreement with the FDA Sentinel Program. FDA, through its Sentinel Program, is licensing the full TriNetX analytics suite that provides direct access to de-identified real-world data (RWD) in the TriNetX U.S. network for the FDA's Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology (OSE) and the Sentinel Operations Center (SOC) led by the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute (HPHCI). The contract builds on TriNetX's growing relationship with the FDA. The agency's epidemiologists are already directly leveraging the TriNetX platform to access RWD and conduct in-depth analyses to monitor the use of critical drugs for COVID-19 patients in an effort to monitor potential drug shortages and to better understand the natural history of the disease. TriNetX is working closely to support the Sentinel Initiative, a national data network set up by the FDA and led by HPHCI to monitor the safety of regulated medical products. "There is clearly a need for a large, frequently refreshed, and up-to-date EMR dataset to support FDA's response to COVID-19," said Jennifer Stacey, Vice President, Clinical Sciences at TriNetX. "Being able to directly and interactively query TriNetX data in real-time and to answer questions quickly provides the agency with a unique capability and is playing a role in FDA's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited about this partnership which aims to further support FDA's real-world data and evidence initiatives." Sentinel is one of the FDA's premier evidence-generation platforms and has become a core feature of the agency's post-market safety system. Sentinel is the FDA's largest RWD platform for conducting post market safety analyses. "We recognize the importance of TriNetX to achieving the goals we have set for the Sentinel program, in particular incorporating EMR data into Sentinel to support FDA needs," said Jeffrey Brown, PhD, from the Department of Population Medicine at the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School. "This new contract provides FDA and the HPHCI team access to TriNetX's growing network of EMRs that we expect to leverage for multiple purposes in the coming months and years." "We are extremely pleased to extend our relationship with the FDA and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute," said Michael Sullivan, Director of U.S. Public Sector at TriNetX. "This partnership ensures that real-world data from TriNetX's network of leading healthcare organizations will continue to inform FDA's COVID-19 response and support regulatory decision-making at the highest levels of the FDA." About TriNetX TriNetX is the global health research network that connects the world of drug discovery and development from pharmaceutical company to study site, and investigator to patient by sharing real-world data to make clinical and observational research easier and more efficient. TriNetX combines real time access to longitudinal clinical data with state-of-the-art analytics to optimize protocol design and feasibility, site selection, patient recruitment, and enable discoveries through the generation of real-world evidence. The TriNetX platform is HIPAA and GDPR compliant. For more information, visit TriNetX at www.trinetx.com or follow @TriNetX on Twitter. About Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute's Department of Population Medicine is a unique collaboration between Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Harvard Medical School. Created in 1992, it is the first medical school department in the United States based in a health plan. The Institute focuses on improving health care delivery and population health through innovative research and teaching. Media Contacts: TriNetX Jennifer Haas (857) 285-6052 [email protected] Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute Maya Dutta-Linn [email protected] SOURCE TriNetX Related Links http://www.trinetx.com WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House is trying to discredit Anthony Fauci, a top U.S. infectious diseases expert, amid a ballooning caseload of COVID-19 in the United States, according to U.S. media. In a report on Sunday, CNBC quoted a White House official as saying that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things." The official mentioned Fauci's earlier comments on the pandemic, including his description of the coronavirus as "not a major threat" in January, as examples. However, on Sunday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams explained to CBS that "when you learn more, you change those recommendations. Our recommendations have changed." Additionally, the Washington Post reported Sunday that Fauci has been sidelined by the White House, despite his leading role in the country's fight against the epidemic. Citing a senior White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Post reported that Fauci "no longer briefs (President Donald) 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." More than 3.3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 135,000 deaths, as of Monday morning local time, according to Johns Hopkins University. WASHINGTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sixteen finalists are announced in the "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" special COVID-19 edition competition presented by the National Capital Consortium for Pediatric Device Innovation (NCC-PDI). Representing innovations in COVID-19-related pediatric medical devices, the finalists will compete in a virtual pitch event held on July 20, 2020. Winners will receive grant awards of up to $50,000. The competition is led by NCC-PDI co-founders the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children's National Hospital and the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland and powered by nonprofit accelerator and NCC-PDI member, MedTech Innovator. This competition focuses on pediatric medical devices that support home health monitoring and telehealth, and improve sustainability, resiliency and readiness in diagnosing and treating children during a pandemic. "As COVID-19 continues to threaten the health of families and children across the nation, we must continue to seek new and better ways to deliver quality care during a pandemic and offer technology solutions to reopen more safely," says Kolaleh Eskandanian, Ph.D., MBA, PMP, vice president and chief innovation officer at Children's National Hospital and principal investigator of NCC-PDI. "Competitions like this are vital to get ahead of the healthcare challenge that COVID-19 presents in the world of pediatrics. By supporting innovation, we provide critical breakthroughs that can positively impact the lives of the children and families we serve." Along with grant funding, one company from the competition will be selected by Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS to receive a one-year residency at JLABS @ Washington, DC, which will be located on the new Children's National Research and Innovation Campus currently under construction. In addition to the 2021 JLABS residency, the awardee will have access to the JLABS community and expert mentoring by the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. The following are the 16 pediatric device innovations that judges selected for the final competition: Adipomics - simple and fast, one-step COVID-19 diagnostic kit for home or school use - simple and fast, one-step COVID-19 diagnostic kit for home or school use Bloom Standard (Kaaria) - wearable, AI-driven ultrasound for infant cardiac and pulmonary screening and diagnostics - wearable, AI-driven ultrasound for infant cardiac and pulmonary screening and diagnostics CereVu Medical - remote COVID-19 sensor, monitor and centralized data hub that measures blood oxygen saturation, muscle aches, temperature and trouble breathing - remote COVID-19 sensor, monitor and centralized data hub that measures blood oxygen saturation, muscle aches, temperature and trouble breathing Children's Hospital of Philadelphia a transparent reusable DIY origami facemask that reveals facial expressions & improves communication a transparent reusable DIY origami facemask that reveals facial expressions & improves communication Children's National Hospital - Lab-on-a-chip device for high-throughput combination drug screening - Lab-on-a-chip device for high-throughput combination drug screening Hopscotch - gamified cognitive behavioral therapy-based computer exercises to encourage kids to stay engaged and complete treatment programs - gamified cognitive behavioral therapy-based computer exercises to encourage kids to stay engaged and complete treatment programs Medichain - cost effective, accurate COVID-19 test with results in minutes and can detect the virus in the early stage - cost effective, accurate COVID-19 test with results in minutes and can detect the virus in the early stage Medipines - monitor device that displays critical respiratory parameters analyzed from a patient's breathing sample - monitor device that displays critical respiratory parameters analyzed from a patient's breathing sample OtoPhoto - a smart otoscope that quickly and accurately aids diagnosis of ear infections for home telehealth use - a smart otoscope that quickly and accurately aids diagnosis of ear infections for home telehealth use OxiWear continuous wear oxygen-monitoring device used to reduce patient insecurity continuous wear oxygen-monitoring device used to reduce patient insecurity REALTROMINS - real time, continuously updated predictive analytics to identify impending mortality in children - real time, continuously updated predictive analytics to identify impending mortality in children SurgiPals - digital assistant and urine biochemical sensor to aid in outpatient care of children with COVID-19 - digital assistant and urine biochemical sensor to aid in outpatient care of children with COVID-19 TGV-Dx - a novel, phenotype-based test system for rapid selection of effective antibiotic regimen - a novel, phenotype-based test system for rapid selection of effective antibiotic regimen VitaScope - quick, accurate infant vital signs to facilitate high-quality virtual care - quick, accurate infant vital signs to facilitate high-quality virtual care Vitls - wearable platform for remote patient monitoring of the vitals clinicians require to assess a patient - wearable platform for remote patient monitoring of the vitals clinicians require to assess a patient X-Biomedical - rugged, portable smart ICU ventilator for pediatric and adult patients Funding for the competition is made possible by a grant from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a philanthropic gift from Mei Xu, founder of e-commerce platform Yes She May, a site dedicated to women-owned brands. The creator of successful global businesses, Mei Xu is also a mother who understands the importance of pediatric specialty care and wants to encourage innovators who are developing solutions that can improve children's health care. In addition to this COVID-19 special edition event, NCC-PDI recently revealed the ten finalists in its prestigious 8th annual "Make Your Medical Device Pitch for Kids!" competition. Cardiovascular, NICU, and orthopaedic and spine device innovations are the focus of the fall competition, taking place October 7, 2020 as part of the 8th Annual Symposium on Pediatric Device Innovation, presented by Children's National and co-located with The MedTech Conference powered by AdvaMed. About Children's National Hospital Children's National Hospital, based in Washington, D.C., celebrates 150 years of pediatric care, research and commitment to community. Volunteers opened the hospital in 1870 with 12 beds for children displaced after the Civil War. Today, 150 years stronger, it is among the nation's top 10 children's hospitals. It is ranked No. 1 for newborn care for the fourth straight year and ranked in all specialties evaluated by U.S. News & World Report. Children's National is transforming pediatric medicine for all children. In 2020, construction will be complete on the Children's National Research & Innovation Campus, the first in the nation dedicated to pediatric research. Children's National has been designated twice as a Magnet hospital, demonstrating the highest standards of nursing and patient care delivery. This pediatric academic health system offers expert care through a convenient, community-based primary care network and specialty outpatient centers in the D.C., metropolitan area, including the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs. Children's National is home to the Children's National Research Institute and Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation and is the nation's seventh-highest NIH-funded children's hospital. It is recognized for its expertise and innovation in pediatric care and as a strong voice for children through advocacy at the local, regional and national levels. For more information, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. SOURCE Children's National Hospital Related Links https://childrensnational.org Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball (Reuters) Washington, United States Tue, July 14, 2020 13:45 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662a6c9 2 World Donald-Trump,Roger-Stone,clemency Free President Donald Trump's executive clemency to his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone not only commuted the veteran Republican operative's prison term but it also spared him a hefty fine and two years of supervised release. The details of the clemency arrangement were made public by the Justice Department and Stone's lawyer on Monday after the judge who presided over the case asked the Trump administration to explain whether the commutation announced on Friday meant he would not be supervised, as many convicted felons are after being freed. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had set a Tuesday deadline to receive a copy of Trump's clemency order along with an explanation about whether it also commuted the period Stone was meant to be supervised after leaving prison. "I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said Roger Stone, Jr. to expire immediately," according to Trump's order. "I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised released with all its conditions, and finally, I remit any unpaid balance of the $20,000 fine imposed." Congressional Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of abuse of power and an assault on the rule of law. Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being convicted by a jury in Washington last year of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Stone was found guilty of all seven counts against him. The commutation did not erase Stone's conviction as a pardon would have. Stone was due to have reported to a federal prison in Georgia on Tuesday. Trump's action marked his most assertive intervention to protect an associate in a criminal case and his latest use of executive clemency to benefit an ally. Stone's attorney Grant Smith, who tweeted out a copy of Trump's order, said it speaks for itself in answering the judge's inquiry. Click here to read the full article. Iconix Brand Group Inc. has opened itself up to a sale. The New York-based brand management house, parent to brands such as Rocawear, Pony, Danskin and Joe Boxer, informed the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that it is considering a potential sale of the company, or a merger. In a bid to shore up cash, the company had already reached agreements to sell off the Umbro China and Starter China businesses, deals worth $62.5 million and $16 million, respectively. More from Footwear News Iconix is also exploring other strategic alternatives including recapitalization of its existing capital structure, refinancing or a stock share. We are confident in the companys strategy to continue to de-lever its balance sheet and rationalize our cost structure. While we have undertaken a number of actions toward positioning the company to drive growth and preserve operating leverage to achieve sustainable market leadership in the brand management sector, including recent asset sales, after careful consideration, our board has determined that it is prudent at this time to undertake a broader strategic review in order to ensure that all available alternatives for the company are being evaluated to maximize value for our shareholders, said CEO and board member Bob Galvin in a statement. As the board conducts its review, we remain focused on executing on our strategy and continuing day-to-day operations as usual. As of now, Iconix has not set a timetable to conclude its review of strategic alternatives. Like others in the fashion and footwear space, Iconix has faced increased challenges stemming from COVID-19. In its earnings report for the first quarter ended March 31, the company said the pandemic has had a meaningful impact on its performance. Whats more, the firm said it had substantial doubt regarding its ability to continue going forward, suggesting it could be forced to either file for bankruptcy and/or liquidate. Story continues At the end of Q1, the group had a debt load of $644.7 million, with assets of $465.3 million and annual pre-tax revenues of $141 million. As of Monday, Iconixs market capitalization sat at just $9.3 million, with shares closing at just 78 cents. Months of government-mandated store closures and decreases in discretionary spending have brought significant difficulties for brands across the fashion and footwear space. Since May, numerous boldface names have filed for Chapter 11 protection, among them J.Crew, JCPenney and Neiman Marcus. On Monday, RTW Retailwinds, parent to New York & Co., joined the bankruptcy fray, filing a Chapter 11 petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for New Jersey. (TNS) Facial recognition , a controversial type of software criticized for its inaccuracies and potential to violate personal privacies, has been at the forefront of debates on surveillance throughout the country, and Massachusetts may now be poised to ban the technology.In February, The New York Times dedicated a 31-minutes episode of its popular podcast The Daily to reporting on the softwares existence and whether the technology provides a beneficial tool for law enforcements investigations or poses an even bigger threat to privacy.Many individuals are continuing to argue for the latter.Opponents of the form of biometric surveillance have pointed out that the software is being used by governmental agencies with minimal oversight and that it raises serious questions about the extent to which artificial intelligence should be used in everyday life.Another concern is that facial recognition has proven to frequently misidentify people of color, elderly people and children.The software even led Robert Williams, a Black man living in a suburb of Michigan, to be wrongfully identified and taken into custody for a crime he did not commit, according to the American Civil Liberties Union Theyre really only good at evaluating the faces of middle-aged, white men, which is obviously not the majority of the population, Kade Crockford, director of the Technology for Liberty program at the ACLU of Massachusetts, told MassLive when discussing facial recognition. The tech. is just not ready for primetime, not even close.Starting as early as last year, residents, public officials and advocacy organizations from across the U.S. have fought for the technology to be regulated, and so far, seven communities in Massachusetts have either temporarily or outright banned their municipal governments use of the software. Easthampton was the most recent city to pass such a ban. A similar ordinance restricting the technology was signed into law in Boston , the second-largest city after San Francisco to ban the software in the United States.Its hugely significant, Crockford said of communities taking it upon themselves to restrict facial recognition at the local level. City councilors have agreed that this technology poses really an unprecedented threat to peoples privacy and civil rights.Despite being lambasted for its civil liberties concerns and racial biases, facial recognition still remains largely unrestricted at both the state and federal levels. However, that could change in the weeks to come.A wide-ranging, omnibus police reform bill , introduced by the Massachusetts Senate Ways and Means Committee on Sunday would temporarily ban the governments use of the software.The piece of legislation, called S.2800 , would issue a statewide moratorium on the use of the technology, banning the government from using the software from the date the bill is potentially signed into law until Dec. 31, 2021.Such legislation would prohibit a government agency, office, department, commission, bureau, agent or contractor from acquiring, possessing or accessing any form of biometric surveillance, excluding identification based on finger or palm prints.A statewide facial recognition moratorium had previously been in the works for months but was then added as a provision onto the police reform bill.Crockford pointed out that state legislatures are slow to act but noted the Massachusetts Senate is finally taking notice.The State Legislature is finally realizing that they need to do something, she said. Were happy to see that.Among the dozens of provisions inside the police reform bill is the establishment of a special commission to study the use of facial recognition by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and law enforcement agencies.The provision follows controversy from a year ago after the ACLU of Massachusetts sued MassDOT over the agencys use of the drivers license database for surveillance. MassDOT has used its database of state-issued identification photographs for facial recognition since 2006.The state of Massachusetts has a facial recognition program in their Registry of Motor Vehicles system, so that every time you go to get a drivers license now, the picture that is taken of your face is scanned against all of the existing images that they have in their database, Crockford explained. They basically compare them to see if theres a match, and if there is a match, you may be investigated for trying to get a drivers license under a fake name or something like that.The committees members would include the State Senate and House chairs of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary as well as one person with academic expertise in bias in machine learning and another expert on privacy, technology and the law.Several state officials, or representatives in their stead, would also serve as members on the committee, including Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Stephanie Pollack, Secretary of Public Safety and Security Thomas Turco and Attorney General Maura Healey.Gov. Charlie Baker will be able to appoint five members to the commission as well, including executive directors or designees from the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, the New England Innocence Project, Jane Doe Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, the New England chapter of the American Immigration Lawyer Association and the ACLU of Massachusetts.A statewide ban on facial recognition technology is direly needed, Crockford emphasized, because, in its current state, the software cannot be used appropriately in any circumstances.Were not going to stop. Were going to continue until every single person in Massachusetts is protected, she said. Adding New Depots and Additional Hubs Provides More Agile Solutions for Clients RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Marken, the clinical supply chain subsidiary of UPS Healthcare, announced today they are adding a GMP-compliant depot in Los Angeles, California and a new GMP-compliant depot in Kiev, Ukraine. In addition, two GDP-compliant logistics branches will be added in Dublin, Ireland and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. These newest additions to Marken's global network add increased capacity and enables Marken to continue to offer superior supply chain services to its clients, their investigator sites and patients. The Amsterdam facility will include a cryogenic filling station to meet the growing need of Marken's cell and gene therapy clients. An additional LN2 service station has been added to Marken's network in Geneva, Switzerland. "The infrastructure investments we have made in all of our facilities globally serve a single purpose," said Ariette van Strien, Marken's President. "Since 2011, we have made investments which meet client demands where they need us. Marken will always strive to offer the very best service, reliability and security for our clients." By early Q4, Marken will have 12 fully operational GMP-compliant depot locations, complemented by more than 10 million square feet of GMP-validated commercial warehouse space in 56 UPS Healthcare distribution centers. This extensive global network provides an exceptional degree of flexibility and efficiency, whether it involves coordinating supplies from a central or regional location based on trial enrollment activity or implementing innovative strategies that are built for future demand. Wes Wheeler, UPS Healthcare's President, commented: "Marken continues to lead as our clinical trial logistics subsidiary with unique new services and a very broad reach. We will continue to invest in Marken as the industry moves into new regions of the world, becomes more virtual, and demands a greater degree of control and visibility. We are also using their unique knowledge in clinical trials to influence our strategic investments in healthcare." About Marken Marken is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UPS Healthcare division. With Polar Speed and Marken included, the UPS division staffs 128 locations with 5500 employees worldwide. Marken maintains the leading position for Direct to Patient and Home Health care services, biological sample shipments and offers a state-of-the-art GMP-compliant depot network and logistic hubs in 54 locations worldwide for clinical trial product storage and distribution. Marken's dedicated 1200 staff members manage 85,000 drug product and biological sample shipments every month at all temperature ranges in more than 220 countries. Additional services such as biological kit production, ancillary material sourcing, storage and distribution, shipment lane verification and qualifications, as well as GDP, regulatory and compliance consultancy add to Marken's unique position in the pharma and logistics industry. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/732970/MARKEN_Logo.jpg Related Links http://www.marken.com SOURCE Marken Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) President Rodrigo Duterte has touted his success in toppling an "oligarchy" without the need to declare martial law in the country. In a speech before troops in Jolo, Sulu, he said he was able to end the power of one family which took advantage of its "political power." "Kaya [kung] ako mamatay, mahulog yung eroplano, p***** i**, I am very happy. Alam mo bakit? Sabi ko without declaring martial law, I dismantled the oligarchy that controlled the economy of the Filipino people," he said in a speech that aired on Tuesday. "Sinira ko 'yung mga tao na humahawak sa ekonomiya at umiipit. At hindi nagbabayad." [Translation: If I die after a plane crashes, I will die happy. You know why? Because I dismanted the oligarchy that controlled the country's economy, without the need to declare martial law. They are also not paying." Duterte, who was in Jolo on Monday, did not specify which family he was pertaining to. But his remark comes days after a House panel rejected ABS-CBN's franchise application bid. This was only the second time Philippines' major broadcasting network went off air since then-President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in September 1972. After the House panel voted no to grant the Lopez-owned media network a new franchise on July 10, Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano maintained that Congress simply had to end the privilege of one family. "We simply put an end to the privilege of one family in using a public resource to protect and promote their private interests," he said on Monday. Duterte has publicly threatened since 2018 to shutdown the network for failing to air his paid 2016 presidential campaign ads and for running an opposition advertisement against him. The network apologized, but explained that it failed to air some of Duterte's ads because the spots were ordered in the last few days of the campaign period and many previous telecast orders came ahead. Duterte has also cursed the networks chairman emeritus Gabby Lopez and called him a thief, saying he will reject the renewal of ABS-CBNs franchise. He previously slammed the media conglomerate for its supposedly unfair labor practices, and earlier challenged the network to accompany him to the central bank to open his bank accounts, amid news reports that he had undeclared wealth. Malacanang has claimed Duterte is "neutral" on ABS-CBN's franchise renewal bid. Members of the Lopez family are not included in the Top 20 of Philippines' richest individuals. Oscar Lopez, the Chairman/President/CEO/COO/CFO at ABS-CBN Holdings Corp., ranked as the 27th richest in Forbes' 2019 Philippines' 50 Richest list. He has a net worth of $460 million as of September 2019. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who admitted that he did not watch Duterte's speech, clarified that the President was not referring to ABS-CBN. He said the remark only coincided with the end of the media network's franchise. "Itong kaso ng ABS-CBN ay kaso na nag-expire na prangkisa at hindi na-renew ng Kongreso," he said in a media briefing on Wednesday. [Translation: This case is about ABS-CBN's franchise expiring and the House decision not to renew it.] He said Duterte was referring to Philippine Airlines Chairman Lucio Tan and water concessionaires Manny Pangilinan and the Ayala Group based on the President's previous gripes against these businessmen. "Pagdating sa oligarchy, paulit-ulit niyang sinasabi Well, bati naman na sila ngayon MVP, Ayala, Lucio Tan," he added. [Translation: When it comes to oligarchy, he has always talked about Manny Pangilinan, Ayalas, and Lucio Tan. But all is well now.] Ravindra Rao Comex gold slipped more than 0.5 percent and was trading near $ 1,801/oz after gaining a 0.7 percent on July 13. Gold has struggled to hold momentum after failing to break past $1,830 but is hovering around $1,800. The metal, which has been moving in line with other commodities, was under pressure as market uncertainty has increased US dollars safe-haven appeal. Coronavirus cases have been rising globally, however, a resurgence in cases in the US and other countries has unnerved market players as some states have rolled back reopening plans and reimposed some restrictions. Also weighing on the market is increased tensions between the US and China and China and other countries over issues like handling of virus outbreak, Hong Kong security law and human rights violation. Tensions rose after the US on July 13 rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move that Beijing criticised as inciting tensions in the region, reported Reuters. Adding to it, the European Union said it was preparing counter-measures in response to Beijing's new security law for Hong Kong, Reuters said. Market sentiment also weakened as data showed that Singapores economy entered a technical recession after shrinking by 41.2 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter. While firmer US dollar pressurized gold, increasing uncertainty may increase the metals safe-haven appeal. Gold may also benefit from renewed buying by ETF investors. Gold holdings with SPDR ETF rose by 3.5 tonne to 1203.965 tonne, first increase in three sessions and the highest level since 2013. Gold may witness choppy trade as market players assess virus and geopolitical risks but the general bias may be on the upside amid increasing challenges to global economy. NYMEX crude slipped more than 2 percent to trade near $ 39.3 a barrel after a 1.1 percent decline in the previous session. Crude was under pressure amid choppiness in equity markets and as market players waited for clarity on OPECs production policy. Equity markets turned choppy as market players continued to assess rising virus cases and US-China and China-Australia tensions against hopes of continued economic recovery and signs of progress in vaccine development. On the supply side, crude is pressurised by expectations that OPEC may reduce the pace of production cuts. OPEC and allies have agreed to cut output by 9.7 million barrels per day till July but are expected to reduce it to 7.7 million bpd starting August (as part of original April deal) due to stable prices and improving demand. An OPEC monitoring committee is meeting on July 14 and 15 and is expected to recommend levels for future cuts. Market players are also worried about slowing pace of decline in US crude production. As per US EIAs latest drilling activity report, crude production from shale resources is expected to fall marginally from 7.546 million barrels per day in July to 7.49 million bpd in August, a two-year low. Crude may remain choppy to negative ahead of inventory report as well as outcome of OPEC meeting. (The author is VP- Head Commodity Research at Kotak Securities.) : 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. As a girl growing up in Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates, Sarah al-Amiri looked at an astronomy book with a photograph of Andromeda, the giant galaxy neighboring our Milky Way. I cant describe it, Ms. al-Amiri said in an interview, but just to realize that something that was printed on a page was larger than anything that Ive ever seen and dwarfs the planet that I live on. When she was in college, there were few opportunities in the Middle East to pursue studies of the universe, and Ms. al-Amiri majored in computer science instead. But now, the U.A.E. is aiming to inspire its youth to pursue science and technology careers, and Ms. al-Amiri has forged a career pursuing the heavens. Just 33 years old, she is the head of science operations and the deputy project manager for a space probe that the U.A.E. is about to send to Mars. Syracuse, N.Y. Prosecutors say theyve bent over backward for Tyiesha Fletcher, ever since she was shot by police after charging an officer with a knife in February 2019. But Fletchers case will not go down as a success story. The drug-addicted woman with mental health issues has been jailed since last November after walking into a South Side church and punching the pastor, only months after being sentenced to probation in the knife incident. Now, shell walk free in a month or so after ditching rehab, failing to take her medicine and testing positive for drugs. Fletchers case shows how, under the right circumstances, a person with documented mental health or drug issues can avoid rehabilitation or severe punishment by simply ignoring the rules. County Court Judge Matthew Doran, who approved the sentence Tuesday, acknowledged that Fletchers crime of menacing a police officer could have resulted in state prison. But he agreed to go along with a plea offer Fletcher made in court. After admitting she failed to go to rehab, Fletcher was sentenced to a year in local jail. Shell then walk free with no further counseling or supervision. Given that shes already been jailed since last year, and coupled with standard sentence deductions for good behavior, shell be released in a month to a month and a half from now, her lawyer, Timothy Roulan, said. Prosecutor Joseph Coolican and police officers involved in Fletchers 2019 attack have bent over backward on her behalf, understanding that her actions that day were caused by mental illness and drug addiction, the prosecutor has said. Coolican has previously expressed a wish that Fletcher go to state prison after failing probation. But he had no say in the judges decision Tuesday the sentence was for a probation violation, which is the judges discretion. Syracuse Police Officer Andrew Murphy had responded to Fletchers residence Feb. 17, 2019, on Frisbie Court in the shadow of Upstate University Hospital for a domestic dispute. The father of Fletchers child had complained that she damaged his car, breaking a headlight, taillight, mirror and windshield wiper. When police arrived, Fletcher was holding two knives, a grand jury investigation found. At some point, she charged the officer with the knives. Murphy fired his service weapon once, hitting Fletcher in her left side, the bullet exiting her buttocks. Coolican, after talking to the officer, agreed to a plea deal last year that spared Fletcher jail in the knife incident. She completed a month of treatment for drug addiction and depression, then was supposed to be a free woman on probation supervision. The problem? Fletcher showed no willingness to accept help, Coolican said. Two weeks into probation, Fletcher was already back in trouble after testing positive for drugs, the prosecutor said. But it wasnt until Fletcher entered the Heavenly Vision Apostolic Church, 121 Rose Ave., in November 2019 and punched the pastor that authorities took her back into custody. The pastor, Yavonda Cardwell, accused Fletcher of intentionally slapping, punching and pushing me several times during the encounter. Since then, her lawyer has been trying to find another rehabilitation program. But she either didnt qualify or had already used up her goodwill during her failed attempt on probation. On Tuesday, Fletchers options appeared to be simple: jail for a year or state prison. Coolican also offered to delay a decision for awhile longer to investigate Fletchers apparent disregard for the rules, while keeping her in jail during that process. Roulan, the defense lawyer, argued that sending Fletcher to state prison wouldnt help matters: her problems were not the kind that could be remedied in prison. Instead, Fletcher said shed take a deal that included a year in local jail and no further punishment or supervision. And Judge Doran agreed, while noting that prison wouldnt have been unreasonable. Fletchers demeanor in court has remained polite, to the point of saying too much. Shes repeatedly apologized for what she did the day she swung the knife at police. On Tuesday, she tried to help the judge determine what day shed pleaded guilty (she got the wrong date) and wished everyone well during the pandemic on the way out. In a matter of weeks, Fletcher will be released from jail without the help or rehabilitation everyone agrees she needs. Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070. Sudan has declared a state of emergency in the western region of Darfur, according to state media. The move follows an escalation of clashes between demonstrators and security forces after weeks of protests. The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur said it had sent a team to the town of Kutum following the reported burning of a police station and cars. On Sunday, security forces fired live rounds to disperse another protest, reportedly killing five people. There have been peaceful demonstrations and sit-ins in many parts of the region, calling for the dismissal of corrupt officials and the withdrawal of armed militias from towns and villages. The Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Sunday pledged to address the insecurity. Source: BBC 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 Migrant miners live next to a jade mine near Hpakant in northern Myanmar's Kachin state, July 5, 2020. A Myanmar government team sent to the jade-rich Hpakant area of Kachin state to investigate a deadly mine landslide barely sought local input during a brief tour of the disaster zone, disappointed residents said Monday. Heavy rains caused piles of loose dirt and rubble to collapse on July 2, killing at least 200 scavengers looking for discarded pieces of jade left behind by miners and creating lake of mud full of bodies with some still missing. A six-member team investigative body led by Ohn Win, Myanmars minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, was appointed the day after the disaster to look into the cause of the latest of many accidents to hit the gemstone industry. The team visited the site in northern Myanmar from July 4-6 with Kachin state officials. They paid 500,000 kyats (U.S. $361) to the families of each dead scavenger and 300,000 kyats (U.S. $217) to the relatives of each injured miner. But U Pannita, a monk from Wai Khar village, said the investigators barely spent any time on the ground collecting information from locals in Hpakant, home to some 500,000 scavengers from across Myanmar. They didnt go the places where the landslide occurred to see the people who are facing many problems there, he told RFA. Other residents also said they worried that the team would return to the capital Myitkyina without learning the real causes of the landslide because they didnt speak with those who experienced or observed it. Thant Zin, chairman of the Thukha Lin Pyae Charity Clinic, said Union and state government officials should have spoken first with local authorities, people, and experts. Locals didnt have a chance to tell them the true situation of what happened, he told RFA. They may have had some difficulty traveling here and there, as well as a lack of time, but when they visit problem places like this, they wont know the truth, he added. Thant Zin did not elaborate on what he wanted the investigators to know. Dangerous location Groups that monitor resource extraction in Myanmar say that Hpakant, the worlds largest jadeite mine, suffers from being in a conflict zone since a ceasefire ended in 2011, with central government authority challenged by militias, criminal groups smuggling drugs and jade, and other shady operators. Daung Zay, administrator of Hapkants ward No. 6, said the members of the investigative team told local officials to inform residents they should not live in the area and ask them to move out. I dont understand them, he said. Its difficult for people to move their entire household. What they should have done is helped people move from the dangerous areas and made [alternative] arrangements for them during the moving period. H La Aung, Kachin states minister for natural resources and environmental conservation, told RFA that the investigative team didnt meet with many locals on account of COVID-19 guidelines that restrict gatherings, though they met with victims families and community leaders. RFA could not reach Win Myat Aye, Union minister for social welfare relief and resettlement who is a member of the investigative body, for comment. No one from President Win Myints offices responded to questions submitted by RFA as of late Monday. Myanmars military said on July 5 that it took action against Kachin states security and border affairs minister and an officer in charge of a military unit over the latest landslide, demoting them to their former positions after deeming them responsible for the disaster. The army is largely responsible for security and maintaining order in the region. On Monday, Tint Soe, a lawmaker representing the Hpakant constituency, called for one minute of silence in parliament in honor of those who lost their lives in the landslide, the latest in a series of such accidents that kill hundreds each year. Residents move out As of Friday, more than 30 households from Hpakant wards Nos. 2 and 6 and from Wai Khar village began leaving their communities on their own and seeking shelter in the homes of relatives, out of fear of more deadly landslides. Local authorities, meanwhile, began inspecting houses in villages where possible landslides could occur. Authorities are checking the dangerous places, such as Lone Kin, Saik Mu, and Wai Khar, Soe Tint said, adding that signboards warning residents would be put up. If needed, we will take action against people who violate the orders, he said. Some houses high above a cliff adjacent to the accident site are at risk, said Shwe Thein, chairman of Hpakants National League for Democracy (NLD) party. It is very dangerous, he told RFA on Friday. I did not even dare to look down. Local villagers told RFA that heavy machines that remove soil from underneath villages during mining operations leave residents sitting on land above huge holes. A house in Lagu Chaung lost its garage and toilet from a landslide, said Htan Tike who lives in ward No. 6. The rest of the house has got cracks. All of it will collapse soon, he added. Hpakant administrator Nyan Lin Aung told RFA that he asked the Natural Disaster Management Committee to help people who have evacuated their homes. The township administration department, Myanmar Gems and Jewelry Entrepreneurs Association, and community leaders will also help them, he added. Reported by Elizabeth Jangma and Zarni Htun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. WATERLOO REGION Ellen Papenburg is hopeful for clear weather this week so she can catch more sightings of Comet NEOWISE. The latest comet to blaze across the night sky will be visible just after 10 p.m. each night for the next little while. I could see this one in the city, which makes it special, said Ellen Papenburg, a local amateur astronomer and member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Astronomy Club. NEOWISE isnt as bright as some of the comets Papenburg has seen in 50 years of skygazing, but it is still a pleasant surprise after two promising comets, Atlas and Swan, disintegrated before they got close enough to the earth to see. Comets are quite fickle, Papenburg said. I compare comets with cats. They do what they want and they have tails. That is why it is such a delight to be able to spot one so easily. Papenburg was able to see NEOWISE from her downtown Kitchener home with a pair of binoculars, and then again with a friend early one morning. It has been seven years since she has seen a comet with the naked eye. Last week, Papenburg woke up at 3 a.m. to go out and find NEOWISE with a friend. The comet was only visible in the early hours of the morning then. It was worth it, she said. Im not a morning person so Im glad it will be visible in the evening now. Papenburg has spent most of her life chasing these celestial objects. They are like dirty snowballs. They are made of rock and ice and frozen gases, she said. She has seen between 15 and 20 comets in her lifetime. Her love for these fickle balls of rock and ice began with her first comet sighting at 16 years old. It was 1970 and she was living in Holland when she watched Comet Bennett brighten in the night sky. She was hooked after that. Her favourite one was Comet West in 1976. That one was so big, she said. It had such a long tail it took up almost one-sixth of the sky. Im still waiting on another one like that. NEOWISE is about the width of a fist above the northwest horizon, just below the Big Dipper. It will be climbing upward in the coming weeks which also means it will become dimmer in the sky catch a glimpse before its too late. It was discovered by the Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) space telescope on March 27. The K-W Astronomy Club is the K-W Centre of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and can be found on Facebook or at kw.rasc.ca. Check out the website for a clear sky chart and other resources. No one answered the door at the home when a reporter knocked on Tuesday. It was like something out of the Wild West, said Julie Urena, who lives in Chesterfield County but owns a rental home in Oregon Hill. Her son lived there for five years while at school at VCU, and her daughter stayed there recently. She said the situation has given her pause about who might be renting her home. I saw what had happened, and it was very scary. The neighborhood group has long grappled with encroachment from VCU, whose students find the low rent and proximity of Oregon Hill appealing. In his letter to residents, Woodson told them to stay vigilant of problem party houses. Woodson said he filed a zoning complaint against the property owner, whom he alleges is renting the home room by room, which is not allowed. Like a lot of people, I was disturbed to learn from neighbors that some 80 rounds were shot in Oregon Hill from people who were around a house party on Albemarle, said Scott Berger, a longtime resident who runs the neighborhoods website. He said he was two blocks away and heard the gunshots, but didnt realize how close they really were. The International Court of Justice rejects appeal by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE over an air blockade. The International Court of Justice, the UNs top court, has backed Qatar in a dispute with four neighbours that imposed an air blockade against Doha more than three years ago. The Hague-based ICJ on Tuesday rejected the appeal by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against a decision by the world civil aviation body in favour of Qatar over sovereign airspace, ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said on Tuesday. The court also holds that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has jurisdiction in the case, by 15 judges to one, Yusuf said. The ICAO in 2018 ruled it had jurisdiction to handle a dispute brought by Qatar, which accused its neighbours of violating a convention that regulates the free passage of its passenger planes through foreign airspace. But the four allies disagreed saying the ICAO was not the right body to judge in the dispute and its decision to do so was manifestly flawed and in violation of fundamental principles of due process and the right to be heard. They had asked the ICJ to declare the aviation bodys ruling null and void and without effect. Arguments dismantled Doha welcomed Tuesdays ruling saying it will lead the blockading countries to face justice for violating international aviation rules. We are confident that the ICAO will ultimately find these actions unlawful, Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, minister for transport and communications, said in a statement. This is the latest in a series of rulings that expose the blockading countries continued disregard for international law and due process. Step by step their arguments are being dismantled, and Qatars position vindicated, Al Sulaiti added. Since the start of the blockade in June 2017, Qatar maintained the four blockading countries acted illegally and in violation of international law. In a statement, the Qatari government said Tuesdays verdict is the latest in a series of international judgements vindicating its position. Al Jazeeras Step Vaessen, reporting from The Hague, said the ruling meant the ICAO has done the job correctly and can deal with the case from now on. LIVE: The International Court of Justice, the UN's top court, has backed Qatar in a dispute with four neighbours which imposed an air blockade against Doha more than three years ago. LATEST: https://t.co/F1s3lpGGsZ https://t.co/ZRpr6gIuM5 Al Jazeera News (@AJENews) July 14, 2020 The blockade The four Arab countries abruptly severed ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing the country of backing extremists among other allegations that Doha strongly denies. They imposed wide-ranging punitive measures, including banning Qatari planes from their airspace, closing Qatars only land border with Saudi Arabia and expelling Qatari citizens. The countries justified the moves against the peninsular Gulf state, saying it was their sovereign right to protect their national security. Qatar fiercely rejected the claims that it violated a series of agreements reached with its neighbours in 2013 and 2014 aimed at settling years of diplomatic rancour. Last year, the ICJ set up in 1946 to rule in disputes between UN member states rejected a request by the UAE to take special measures against Qatar, after Doha won a case at the ICJ in 2018 over alleged discrimination against its citizens. Doha in June again accused the Saudi-led alliance of refusing to engage with efforts, which it said were backed by the United States, to resolve the crisis. A 19 million US dollar (about 15.1 million) settlement between Harvey Weinstein and some of his accusers has been rejected by a judge. US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein in Manhattan said Weinsteins accusers in the proposed class-action settlement were too varied to be grouped together. Lawyers for several women who had opposed the deal praised what they described as the judges swift rejection of a one-sided proposal. A spokesman for Weinstein did not immediately comment. A lawyer for his companies declined comment. Expand Close Harvey Weinstein (Anthony Devlin/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Harvey Weinstein (Anthony Devlin/PA) A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who announced the tentative agreement on June 30, said her office is reviewing the decision and determining its next steps. Our office has been fighting tirelessly to provide these brave women with the justice they are owed and will continue to do so, Morgan Rubin said in a written statement. The deal to settle lawsuits brought by the New York state attorney generals office and a Chicago lawyer on behalf of multiple women would have provided between 7,500 dollars and 750,000 dollars to some women who accused Weinstein of sexually abusing them. The 68-year-old former Hollywood producer was convicted earlier this year of rape and sexual assault against two women. Weinstein was diagnosed in March with the coronavirus just days after he was moved to the states maximum-security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo to begin serving his 23-year prison sentence. One must have heard about governments constructing embankments, undertaking repair works to prevent breaches and other similar measures to prevent floods and mitigate the sufferings of the people in the event of flooding. But an Uttar Pradesh minister, who, ironically, was the water minister, has come out with an altogether different measure to prevent the threat of floods. He has directed officials to 'worship' the rivers to please them so that they did not overflow their banks. ''Pujas should be held on the banks of the rivers....flowers should be offered to them (rivers).....it will prevent floods,'' minister Mahendra Singh said in a direction to the officials of the flood control department. The minister said that worshipping the rivers had been a tradition in the Hindu culture. ''It is not a new thing...people living near the rivers have been worshipping the rivers for a long time..Hindus consider the rivers as goddesses and worship them,'' he added. Singh's remarks came at a time when almost all the major rivers in the state had been rising following heavy monsoon rains in the past few days and flood threat loomed large in several eastern and central districts in the state. Ghaghra river has already crossed the danger mark at several places displacing people in Barabanki, Faizabad and some other districts. Incidentally Singh is not the only UP lawmaker to have come out with such bizarre suggestions to ward off natural and other kinds of threats. Earlier also some BJP lawmakers had suggested to set up cow shelters to tackle the coronavirus pandemic saying that the coronavirus did not affect those who reared cows. It remains to be seen if the officials do follow the directive of their boss. Girls who want to learn to weld or enjoy using a laser cutter and 3D printer can advance their skills this summer at STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) camps at Triton College in River Grove. They will be held in-person with social distancing and other protocols to protect against COVID-19, college officials said. New York: Mary Trump has permission to talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, US President Donald Trump, a judge has ruled in an 11th-hour decision that prioritised the First Amendment over a dated confidentiality agreement among members of the Trump family. Judge Hal Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, rejected arguments by the President's brother, Robert Trump, that Mary Trump could not talk about family members publicly as it violated the agreement in an inheritance case settled two decades ago. The judge reversed orders he had previously issued which temporarily blocked Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing or distributing the tell-all book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man. An appeals judge had already lifted the order blocking Simon & Schuster, and the publisher subsequently brought forward the book's release date to Tuesday, US time, citing high demand. Greenwald noted copies of the book had already been distributed. On the eve of its publication, the book was ranked No. 1 on the Amazon.com list of best-selling books. The potential to monitor, study, and assess the activity of neuronal cells accurately representing human phenotypes is a major barrier in the study of human diseases that affect the nervous system. The use of neurons derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) is a novel method for monitoring neurological disorders. Shortcomings of existing biological protocols and instrumentation clearly show that there is a need for more advanced methods developed to quantify the functional activity and connectivity of iPSC-derived neurons over time with very little perturbation. This article presents validation data obtained using the Incucyte S3 live-cell analysis system to define spontaneous neuronal activity and connectivity from a range of hiPSC-derived neurons and rat primary neurons after the transduction of a genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI). Different metrics of neuronal activitysuch as active object #, strength, mean intensity, duration, and rate, as well as network correlation (connectivity) over days/weeks in culturewere analyzed by using the Incucyte S3 automated live-cell neuronal activity analysis software. Neuronal activity workflow Image Credit: Incucyte. Automated neuronal activity analysis and metrics Image Credit: Incucyte. The images above illustrate the user interface designed to observe data from a 96-well plate at each scan of the experiment (A). Fluorescent image depicts the activity range over a complete 30180 second scan (B). Active objects are defined by automated segmentation (C). Integrated analytical tools enable data analysis of neuronal activity with metrics that outline the neuronal activity (active object #, mean intensity, burst rate, burst duration, burst strength) and connectivity (mean correlation) (D). It is feasible to generate movies for each well using viewing and export tools (E) and single object temporal traces (F) or overlays of temporal traces of all active objects in an image (G) can be displayed. Summary traces of mean intensity of the whole well offer comprehensive plate view of data along with mean correlation metrics and active object # for well-to-well comparison (H). Sample data with endpoint pharmacology of picrotoxin (PTX, 100 M) or tetrodotoxin (TTX, 1 M) exhibits the qualitative effects on neuronal activity, where PTX treatment increases the burst rate and correlation (connectivity) and TTX treatment considerably decreases all quantified metrics. This shows that the activity measured is synaptically induced (I). iCell GlutaNeuron spontaneous activity kinetic analysis Image Credit: Incucyte. Seeding of iCell GlutaNeurons from Cellular Dynamics International was performed at the rate of 30K cells/well, together with a co-culture of rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well on PEI/laminin-coated 96-well culture plates. GECI reagent was used to transduce neurons at DIV 3 or DIV 21. Monitoring and analysis of spontaneous neuronal activity were performed for 27 days starting at DIV 3. Quantification of active object #, mean intensity, mean correlation, mean burst rate, mean burst duration, and mean burst strength (A) (n = 3 wells for each condition) was analyzed in an automated manner. There were no differences in metrics between DIV 3 and DIV 21 GECI transduction at later time points. The variation in the neuronal activity pattern while performing the experiment with DIV 3 GECI transduction is illustrated by example trace overlays of all active objects from a single well at Days 4, 7, 12, and 19 (B). Mean burst rate kinetic graph has been included to underscore the differences in activity (trace) over time. Peri.4U morphology + spontaneous activity analysis Image Credit: Incucyte. Seeding of Peri.4U Neurons from Ncardia was performed at the rate of 25K cells/well, together with a co-culture of rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well on PEI/laminin coating. Transduction of neurons was done with GECI reagent at DIV 2, which were then cultured in Neuro.4U media or BrainPhys media. Differences in media had no effect on the morphology of the neurons on Day 13 or Day 21 of scanning (A). Quantification of the metrics of spontaneous activity was performed starting at DIV 3 (n = 3 wells). There was an increase in all analyzed metrics in Neuro.4U media, except mean correlation, which clearly shows the impact of culture media on neuronal activity (B). Modulation of iNeuron spontaneous activity via FGF2 treatment Image Credit: Incucyte. Induced iPSC-derived neurons, or iNeurons, obtained from Michael Uhlers lab at the University of Michigan were seeded at the rate of 10K cells/well, together with a co-culture of rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well on Matrigel. Culturing of cells were performed +/ FGF2 (20 ng/ml). Transduction of iNeurons was performed with GECI reagent at DIV 21, and spontaneous neuronal activity was quantified for 10 days following GECI transduction through automated analysis (n = 3 wells). Treatment with FGF2 increased active object #, mean intensity, mean burst duration, and mean burst strength. There was no effect of FGF2 on mean correlation, although there was a decrease in mean burst rate. Conclusions Both rat primary neurons and multiple human iPSC-derived neuronal models were used for validating the Incucyte S3 spontaneous neuronal activity and analysis system (refer to the summary table below). spontaneous neuronal activity and analysis system (refer to the summary table below). Spontaneous neuronal activity can be modified over time by both the addition of growth factor and culture conditions (for example, media/coating substrate). These data show the advantage of using the Incucyte S3 spontaneous neuronal activity and analysis system as an effective tool to image, monitor, and analyze live-cell neuronal activity over time from hundreds to thousands of cells cultured in 96-well microplates with very less perturbation. Source: Incucyte Cells Type Setup Vendor Differentiation Media Pref Rat E18 Forebrain Primary Co-culture Thermo/ Global Stem NA BrainPhys or NB iCell GlutaNeurons iPSC Mono and Co CDI Unknown BrainPhys iCell GABANeurons iPSC Mono and Co CDI Unknown BrainPhys iCell DopaNeurons iPSC Co-culture CDI Unknown BrainPhys MyCell DopaNeurons (A53T) iPSC Co-culture CDI Unknown BrainPhys Peri.4U iPSC Co-culture Ncardia Unknown Ncardia CNS.4U iPSC Co-culture Ncardia Unknown Ncardia iNeurons iPSC Co-culture Academic Neurogenin2 BrainPhys Acknowledgments Produced from materials originally authored by Aaron C. Overland1, John N. Rauch1, Libuse Oupicka1, Michael D. Uhler2, David M. Rock1, Daniel M. Appledorn1 from 1. Essen BioScience (A Sartorius Company) 2. University of Michigan About Incucyte The Incucyte Real-Time Quantitative Live Cell Analysis System, designed by Essen BioScience, Inc (now a Sartorius company) is the first system to continuously quantify cell behavior over time (from hours to weeks) while cells remain undisturbed inside a standard incubator. The Incucyte System automatically collects and analyzes images continuously around the clock, providing insight into active biological processes that is difficult to achieve with endpoint assays. The Incucyte suite of assays utilize proprietary reagents that do not perturb cell health with validated 96/384 well format protocols that save time and money. Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis has revolutionized numerous studies, with applications such as stem cell monitoring and reprogramming, label-free analysis, ATP metabolism, multiplexing, neurite outgrowth and dynamics, migration/invasion, 3D-spheroids, angiogenesis, NETosis, reporter gene expression, immunocytochemistry, immune cell killing, apoptosis, cytotoxicity, kinetic data generation, antibody internalization. All this without the removal of cells from an incubator. Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. Grant Imahara, a roboticist, electrical engineer and host of the hit science show "Mythbusters," died suddenly at age 49, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday. He was 49. The reported cause of death was a brain aneurysm. Imahara, a graduate of the University of Southern California and native of Los Angeles, joined Discovery's "Mythbusters," in its third season, co-hosting the show with Kari Byron and Tory Belleci until 2014. The show was filmed in San Francisco. Imahara later co-hosted the Netflix show "White Rabbit Project." RELATED: Zindzi Mandela, daughter of Nelson and Winnie, dies at 59 The Discovery Channel said it was "heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant," in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Byron said she "wish I had a time machine," accompanying a photo of her, Imahara and Belleci on the red carpet. Adam Savage, a former "Mythbusters" host, said on Twitter he was "at a loss. No words. Ive been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. Ill miss my friend." Michelle Robertson is a freelance writer. You can find her on Twitter at @mrobertsonsf or by email at michbrobertson@gmail.com. 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. 7,000 army soldiers deployed to fight floods in east China PLA Daily Source: Xinhuanet Editor: Chen Lufan 2020-07-14 00:14:32 FUZHOU, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Over 7,000 army soldiers have been deployed to the eastern part of China for flood control and emergency rescue operations, according to the Chinese military. Among them, over 3,800 soldiers were sent to Jiujiang City and Poyang County in Jiangxi Province, where they were tasked with patrolling, reinforcing embankments and transferring residents affected by floods, among others. In the flood-stricken Tongling City in Anhui Province, over 1,000 army soldiers have been working around the clock to strengthen dikes and help evacuate affected residents to safety. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ambassador Nguyen Ba Hung called on Vietnamese businesses in Laos to actively to find development direction suitable to the new situation. (Photo: nhandan.com.vn) The event, organized by the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos, was attended by representatives of some 50 Vietnamese companies and agencies. Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung said that after initial success in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic, the Lao government has implemented a series of measures to promote investment, business and production to support businesses, including Vietnamese businesses. However, the two countries should further boost cooperation with the efforts of both sides. He also called on Vietnamese businesses to increase support and solidarity among to help each other among the Vietnam Business Association for Cooperation and Investment in Laos. The association and its members were urged to change management mind to continue keeping up with development of the society and market. At the seminar, Chief Representative of Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam in Laos, General Director of Lao Viet Joint Ventrure Bank Nguyen Van Binh affirmed that the Bank of the Lao PDR has allowed the implementation of numerous policies in order to cope with negative effects of the COVID-19 epidemic, especially policies related to online payment. Some issues related to macro policies or issues that need to be clarified in the near future were mentioned at the seminar./. The ongoing political drama in Rajasthan reached its climax on Tuesday (July 14) with the Congress deciding to sack Sachin Pilot as the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and the state party chief. Along with Pilot, two other Rajasthan ministers who had revolted against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and supported Pilot have also been fired from the cabinet. Former president of Sikar Congress Govind Singh Dotasra has been appointed as the new chief of Rajasthan Congress. Dotasra is also a Minister of State in CM Gehlot's cabinet. Govind Singh Dotasra was born on October1, 1964 in a village Kripa Ram Ki Dhani in Sikar District of Rajasthan. Dotasra is also an ex-Deputy Whip of congress in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly and he represents the Laxmangarh constituency of Sikar district of Rajasthan since 2008. He joined the Congress in 1981 and was appointed Chariman of Media and Communication Committee ahead of 2018 Assembly election in state. Dotasra is the Vice President of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee since 2014 and has served as President of district Congress Committee, Sikar for 7 years. He was also a member of the 13th Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 2008 to 2013 in Ashok Gehlot Government. Dotasra was also elected as a Pradhan of Panchyat Samiti Laxmangarh, Sikar in 2005. He is an active member of congress party from 1981 by joining NSUI and in July 2011 he got an opportunity to work as a District President of Congress Party. Dotasra also represented India in 24th Commonwealth Parliamentary Seminar in Singapore in 2013. The decision to sack Pilot was announced by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjeawal during a press conference. The Congress decided to show the door to Tonk MLA after he skipped a second meeting of Congress Legislative Party on Tuesday in Jaipur. Congress made Sachin Pilot a Union minister in his 30s, a deputy chief minister in his 40s..We have given Sachin Pilot many opportunities. He has been an MP, MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP...This is unacceptable, said Surjewala. The political crisis in Rajasthan started on Sunday (July 12) after Pilot raised the banner of revolt against CM Gehlot and sent a message to the party that he may quit the party with this loyalist MLAs. Pilot claimed in some interviews that he has the support of over 30 MLAs. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: A civilian resident of a village in Azerbaijans Tovuz district was killed as a result of artillery shelling by the Armenian armed forces, Trend reports on July 14. The resident, Aziz Azizov, born in 1944, was killed in result of artillery firing at Agdam village of Tovuz district by the Armenian armed forces, which continue shelling the Azerbaijani villages. As earlier reported, units of the Armenian armed forces fired at the village of Dondar Gushchu of the Tovuz district from the D-30 howitzer. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Azerbaijan's Tovuz district, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian armed forced to retreat, suffering losses. Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, non-commissioned officer, sergeant Vugar Sadigov and senior soldier Elshad Mammadov died in holding off an Armenian attack. Despite the efforts of Azerbaijani doctors, a badly wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, soldier Khayyam Dashdamirov also died. On the night of July 12-13, tensions continued on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the Tovuz districts direction. In the night battles involving artillery, mortars and tanks, Azerbaijani military divisions destroyed the stronghold, artillery installations, automotive equipment and manpower of the Armenian military unit. During the battles, the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army Rashid Mahmudov was killed. The legal fight against the border wall continues to mount in Webb and Zapata counties, where a week after several landowners argued the constitutionality of the wall citing racial discrimination, another is tackling the just compensation involved in the governments right of entry process. Both of these filings argue landowners rights under the Fifth Amendment. READ MORE: Laredo-area plaintiffs challenge legality of border wall under Fifth Amendment Attorney Ricardo De Anda is representing affected property owner Guillermo Caldera in his opposition to the governments order of possession of his 3.5 acres in west Laredo where he runs his business. The feds are seeking access to the land for 12 months in order to conduct surveys to determine the feasibility of constructing a 30-foot-high border wall there. Generally, the government offers $100 to landowners during this survey period and then enters into negotiations for the purchase of an easement when it comes time for construction of the wall. During the initial pretrial hearing for the case, De Anda argued that $100 is not adequate compensation for a 12-month right of entry to Calderas property. Magistrate Judge John A. Kazen gave De Anda additional time to confer with the government outside the courtroom. According to a July 10 filing in opposition of the governments motion, Caldera asked for $2,230 in compensation for the governments right of entry to his property. The government responded that no compensation was due, and that it would not agree to any amount beyond its $100.00 on deposit with the court, De Anda wrote. In essence, the government has responded to the defendants attempts to resolve this dispute by submitting that the temporary estate in real property that it seeks to take in its cause of action has no value. De Anda goes on to note that this right to just compensation for property taken for public use is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment, and that the $100 the government has offered is arbitrary, a pretense and a fiction. He argues that the compensation should be pursuant to a commercial appraisal. ... Landowners have typically gained payment for the temporary non-exclusive use of their private property. Construction easements, grazing and hunting rights, recreational easements, are examples of temporary, non-exclusive property rights providing monetary value to landowners, De Anda writes. He argues that if the court does not order the government to comply with the Declaration of Taking Act and provide just compensation for landowners right of entry, it will be casting aside the legal rights of hundreds of landowners in Webb and Zapata counties. READ MORE: Laredo to allow access for border wall surveys This filing was at the center of a second rally in a week against the border wall outside the Laredo federal courthouse. The No Border Wall Coalition, which organized the event, also announced a new landowners coalition for riverside property owners in Webb and Zapata counties. They aim to help educate landowners and help them attain legal representation. Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 Indian Council of Medical Research Chief Balram Bhargava said human trials of vaccine had begun in different sites, and each of which will do clinical testing of vaccine on 1,000 volunteers. Sixty per cent of vaccines supplied in the world are of Indian origin... Any vaccine produced in any part of the world will have to be scaled up by India or China... We are putting all our efforts to fast track the vaccine, he said. The health ministry on Tuesday said the rate of growth in daily Covid-19 cases had declined to 3.24 per cent in July, from over 31 per cent in March, even ... Bogota Colombian medical and scientific organizations have warned that there is an "alarming, vertiginous" surge in Covid-19 cases across the country, pointing to a steep increase since the authorities started reopening the economy in late April. The Andean country is under a nationwide quarantine until August 1, but President Ivan Duque's government is simultaneously taking steps to relaunch the economy, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa). The epicentre of the infections is Bogota, 15 organizations said in a letter to Duque and to the city's mayor, Claudia Lopez, which was quoted by broadcaster Caracol on Monday. They called for a two-week strict lockdown across the entire capital, which started introducing rolling two-week quarantines in its areas with the most Covid-19 cases on Monday. The quarantines, which cover most of the capital's districts, will run until August 23. A lockdown for the entire city of 8 million residents, however, has not been imposed so far. Coronavirus infections have increased rapidly in Colombia since April 27, when the authorities started giving permissions for dozens of economic sectors to reopen, the medical and scientific organizations pointed out. The Health Ministry has confirmed 150,445 novel coronavirus infections, including 49,644 in Bogota. More than 5,000 people have died from the disease. Aaron Brady has told his trial that he is a victim of the media and the gardai who he said "ganged up" on him following the shooting of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe. Denying any involvement in the robbery that led to Det Gda Donohoe being shot dead, Mr Brady told prosecution counsel Brendan Grehan SC that he was targeted because he lied to gardai about his movements on the night the garda was shot dead. But he insisted he lied to cover up his involvement in illegal diesel laundering and that his lies had nothing to do with the murder. He further accepted that the first time the Director of Public Prosecutions was notified of his alibi was in December last year. Mr Brady also said that prosecution witness Molly Staunton was "mistaken" when she said she heard Mr Brady admit to shooting a "cop" and he dubbed another prosecution witness, Daniel Cahill, a "psychopathic, pathological liar". Mr Cahill has told the trial that he heard Mr Brady admit to killing or shooting a garda in Ireland on three occasions while Mr Brady lived in New York. Mr Brady also called Sgt John Moroney a liar as he disputed Sgt Moroney's testimony that he, Mr Brady, claimed to have no knowledge of the shooting when he was questioned by gardai the day after it occurred. Aaron Brady (29) from New Road, Crossmaglen, Co Armagh has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Det Gda Adrian Donohoe who was then a member of An Garda Siochana on active duty on January 25, 2013 at Lordship Credit Union, Bellurgan, Co Louth. Mr Brady has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of robbing approximately 7,000 in cash and assorted cheques on the same date and at the same location. Beginning his cross examination Mr Grehan asked the accused if he was "the victim in all of this". Mr Brady replied: "I would say I am." When Mr Grehan asked if the media and gardai "ganged up on you", he replied: "Absolutely, no question." His cross examination continues in front of Mr Justice Michael White and a jury of six men and seven women. Joe Biden unveiled another key pillar of his build back better economic revival blueprint on Tuesday, promising to boost growth and create millions of jobs by fast-tracking trillions in clean energy infrastructure spending should he win the White House in November. Speaking near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee pledged to invest $2 trillion over his first four-year term in office to promote a clean energy economy, advance environmental justice and turbo-charge the nations pandemic-ravaged labour market. When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is hoax, Biden told reporters. When I think about climate change, the word I think of is jobs good-paying union jobs. The plan, which aims to eliminate carbon emissions from the nations electricity grid by 2035, is larger in scope and timing than Bidens primary pledge to spend $1.7 trillion over 10 years. The accelerated timetable is designed to lock in progress to prevent future administrations from unwinding action on climate change. With more than 30 million Americans collecting unemployment benefits, Biden promised to re-energise the jobs market by rebuilding the nations crumbling infrastructure, promoting US manufacturing of electric vehicles and parts, upgrading buildings to make them greener and more climate resilient, cleaning up existing environmental hazards, and furnishing US cities with 100,000 or more residents with zero-emissions public transport. Another bedrock of the plan is the advancement of environmental justice. Noting cancer clusters in Louisiana and Delaware and the high rates of childhood asthma in Black and brown communities, as well as findings that Black Americans are more than three times as likely as whites to die of asthma-related causes, Biden promised to redress the fallout of industrial pollutants on low-income, historically disadvantaged communities. Im setting a goal to make sure that these front line and fence line communities, whether in rural places or centre cities, receive 40 percent of the benefit of the investments were making in housing, pollution reduction, in workforce development, in transportation, across the board, said Biden. Though he did not offer specifics on how he would fund the $2 trillion initiative, Biden pledged to hold past polluters to account by going after CEOs and corporations that benefitted from decades of subsidies, then just walked away from their responsibilities to these communities. By inextricably linking climate change policy and environmental justice with economic growth, Biden is targeting a favourite narrative of President Donald Trump whose administration has consistently promoted a policy of generating growth by rolling back regulations, including those designed to protect the environment and lower emissions. Were going to reverse Trumps rollbacks of 100 public health and environmental rules and then forge a path to greater ambition, said Biden. Last year, the Trump administration also began the formal process of withdrawing from the Paris Agreement to combat rising temperatures, claiming that US pledges agreed to by the Obama administration imposed an unfair economic burden on US workers, industries and taxpayers. Were going to get back in the Paris Agreement, back in the business of leading the world, said Biden. Were going to lock in progress that no future president can roll back or undercut to take us backward again. NORTHRIDGE, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Producer Joseph E. Miller, Jr., passed away June 3, 2020. Mr. Miller wrote and produced over two hundred hours of broadcast and cable television programming, including "Case Closed", "Where Are They Now", "Missing Reward", "Perfect Crime", "A Memory in My Heart" and "When Andrew Came Home". His novel, "The Romanovsky Stain," was published under the pseudonym, Duke Zimmer. Mr. Miller was born in Seattle, Washington and attended schools in California, Kansas, Georgia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the US Army and spent five years in Western Europe during the height of the Cold War as a Counterintelligence Agent. In December 1969, Mr. Miller was transferred to Vietnam where he served as an infantry scout with the Reconnaissance Platoon of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion 506th Infantry (Currahee) 101st Airborne Division -- the "Band of Brothers unit" -- from December 1969 to November 1970. Mr. Miller was wounded in action and spent fourteen months at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center recuperating from his wounds. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and numerous other awards and commendations. Mr. Miller was a graduate of the University of Maryland. He wrote, produced and directed more than fifty medical motion pictures for Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Walter Reed Army Medical Center and received numerous awards for his work, including the Honor Award of the Association of Military Surgeons International and the coveted CINE Golden Eagle. During his eclectic career, Mr. Miller testified before Congress in support of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and brought about the creation of the Vietnam Veteran Vet Centers. As a registered lobbyist, Mr. Miller served as assistant director of the Legislative Division at The American Legion's Washington Headquarters office from 1982 until 1987 and helped shape the Legion's policies on national security and foreign relations issues and improving veterans' employment programs. He also played a critical role in the promotion of and celebration of a Legion initiative more familiarly known as the original GI Bill. He is survived by his wife Barbara Gregson, his daughter Nancy Miller of Germany, his father LCDR (Ret) Joseph E. Miller, Sr. of Florida, and brother Michael Miller of New York. SOURCE Miller-Gregson Productions, Inc. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. The Houston Rockets arrived to Orlando but without their two main guys, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Some thought it was because they just wanted a couple of extra days at home, but now it's been confirmed that Westbrook has tested positive for Coronavirus. The 'brodie' tested positive prior to his departure to Orlando and is currently in self-quarantine. He will rejoin his team once he has been cleared. In his statement, Westbrook urges citizens to take the virus seriously and to wear a mask. Russell Westbrook is the fourth All-Star, along with Nikola Jokic, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, to have tested positive for coronavirus this season. Two more All-Stars, James Harden and Bam Adebayo, have not joined the bubble for undisclosed reasons. Before teams departed for Orlando, the NBA began testing players daily to ensure positive cases were caught before entering the bubble. Even before the pandemic, Britains escalating care crisis was rarely far from the headlines. But it has been all too easy for politicians of all parties to acknowledge the problem, promise the earth and then move swiftly on. Well, not any more. In an open letter to Boris Johnson, the head of Care England which represents 4,000 providers, makes an emotional plea for the Prime Minister to fix it once and for all. We are fed up with procrastination: it is a crying shame that this pandemic has shown the nation just what an important sector we are . . . writes Professor Martin Green. Well, not any more. In an open letter to Boris Johnson, the head of Care England which represents 4,000 providers, makes an emotional plea for the Prime Minister to fix it once and for all. pictured: Stock photo of a nurse helping an elderly woman He demands Mr Johnson makes good his promise uttered on the steps of Downing Street almost exactly one year ago when he took power to end the social care crisis, promising a clear plan we have prepared to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve. Ravaged And he lambasts him for trying to deflect blame for the tens of thousands of deaths in care homes as he did last week. When I first heard the PM attributing the Covid-19 carnage among Britains elderly to care home staff, I assumed he must be joking. A bad taste joke, admittedly. But it seems he was deadly serious. In his view, the shamefully high number was because too many care homes didnt really follow the procedures. I gave him the benefit of the doubt: perhaps he had been wrongly briefed and would soon retract his words? But when pressed, his spokesman refused to offer an apology. The Health Secretary Matt Hancocks attempt to clarify the PMs controversial remark was equally baffling. The PM was explaining that because asymptomatic transmission was not known about, the correct procedures were therefore not known, he said. Had neither seen the harrowing footage of Spanish and Italian care homes being ravaged by the virus which dominated the TV news until the middle of March, when our own impending lockdown began to take over the agenda? It was slowly becoming clear that a rising proportion of our Covid-19 deaths were happening in the same way. And yet the Governments guidance didnt change: It remains very unlikely that people receiving care in a care home or the community will become infected, we were told. That statement turned out to be false. And lethally so. But this guidance was far from the only, tragic error. On March 19 hospitals were instructed to discharge all patients who were blocking beds which included those awaiting places in residential care or needing care in their homes in advance of the expected tidal wave of Covid-19 cases. Many were moved to care homes without being tested for the virus. Inevitably, it soon transpired a significant number had contracted the virus in hospital and spread it to care home staff and other residents. It was proof, if we needed it, that Government policy was to protect our most cherished institution, the NHS, rather than individuals who ended up paying with their lives. It was another four weeks before the Government decided that all patients discharged from hospital should be tested for Covid-19 first. But even this was not as it seemed, because the guidance also stated they could be discharged before the test results had come back. Soon after it was revealed that there had been 100 new outbreaks in care homes across the country I wrote on these pages that the elderly in care homes were being abandoned like lambs to the slaughter. Pictured: A nurse testing an elderly man at a care home for coronavirus in Brussels in April this year Today, I make no apology for venting my fury about this situation once again. I am deeply concerned at the staggering failure to take responsibility for the abandonment of our most vulnerable citizens. Unless those at the top of Government understand the extent of the failures in our social care system, there will be no sense of urgency to address them. Of course, it is possible some care homes may not have followed the proper procedures through incompetence or ignorance or cost-cutting. And perhaps some homes struggling to stay afloat might have welcomed a new influx of residents from hospitals, in order to boost their revenues, despite the risk of Covid-19. It was concerning to learn last week that 16 struggling care homes in Birmingham accepted a 1,000 extra cash incentive from the council to take in hospital patients, even though some had coronavirus. But this is a minority. Many care home managers started to shield their residents long before being officially required to, while also doing their utmost to source sufficient personal protective equipment and struggling to replace sick staff due to the high costs of locum cover. Abandoned But none of this excuses the years and years of political neglect of the failings of the social care system that made this tragedy inevitable. Legislation passed in 2014 to redress some of the means-test inequity, cap care costs and give more protection to those needing long-term care was subsequently abandoned. In March 2017, the then Chancellor Philip Hammond promised a Green Paper on the care system by the years end. It never materialised. Hopes were again raised by Boris Johnsons promise. Almost a year later, that clear plan is nowhere in sight. And Britain is left with a social care system unfit for purpose. How else can we explain the unfair rules which mean a millionaire can get expensive cancer treatment free on the NHS, while a widow must run down her savings and even sell her house before the state will intervene to help her in the last years of her life? By far the most depressing aspect of this is how the care sector and those it is responsible for are viewed as a second-class branch of our health system. Protect the NHS was the first official slogan of the pandemic. There was no such exhortation to Protect the Elderly and Vulnerable, who were the most likely to die from Covid-19. Failure It is impossible to imagine any PM publicly criticising the NHS or its staff, yet it was deemed acceptable to try to blame managers and those tireless foot soldiers in the care system. The NHS has been venerated during this pandemic, and rightly so. But what of those badly paid care home staff without generous public sector pension entitlements? What about those carers who are not trained to be nurses, yet did their best while working without the proper protective equipment? The artificial divide between NHS and social care leaves too many of Britains most frail citizens exposed. Yesterdays announcement on new immigration rules that effectively block care providers from recruiting the staff they need is further evidence of the failure to recognise that social care is about healthcare. Frontline workers often earn well below 20,000 a year. The sector had 120,000 vacancies before the pandemic. If providers cannot bring in staff from overseas, then care provision will deteriorate further. To right this wrong should be a mission to establish social care and healthcare as issues of national welfare. The elderly and vulnerable must never again be abandoned on such a scale. It is a disgrace to any country that aspires to be civilised. Ros Altmann is a former Pensions Minister. Last week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared his criminal intent to reopen the largest school district in the US, with over 1.1 million students and over 75,000 teachers, on September 10. Giving voice to the interests of Wall Street that his Democratic administration so dutifully serves, he declared Thursday, Were full steam ahead for September. The goal, of course, to have the maximum number of kids in our schools as we begin schools. New York City public school On Monday, New Yorks Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo followed suit by announcing that public schools statewide can open in September if the two-week average coronavirus positive testing rate is below 5 percent by August 1. De Blasio and the citys Department of Education (DOE) have released a plan, following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in which classes of 12 students will be held on alternating days or weeks. Students will continue remote learning on days in which they are not in a school building. The DOE dubiously claims that these minimal social distancing measures, along with the usage of face masks and the deep cleaning of school facilities, will prevent the transmission of the coronavirus among educators and students in the citys dilapidated schools. They fail to explain how these measures will be implemented when the district has slashed its budget by $773 million for the coming fiscal year. The DOEs school reopening plan has been met with widespread skepticism by New Yorkers and opposition by educators and parents. As one educator told the online education journal Chalkbeat, Its just a lot more questions than answers at this point, and thats frustrating because we have, what, eight more weeks? Parents must decide between July 15 and August 7 whether they would prefer a blended learning program, with childrens attendance in a physical school some days and remote learning on others, or whether they would opt for full-time distance learning. The DOE has made no provision for daycare for children on days on which they are not in physical classrooms or for the children of educators. The DOEs proposed temperature checks at the school entrance does not guarantee safety from asymptomatic or presymptomatic students or teachers, while having children wear masks and social distance consistently is a near impossibility. According to media reports, the city has no plans to bus over 90,000 children to school buildings and will only transport children with special needs for whom busing is mandated. No word has been given on if or how these buses will be cleaned. As to the hundreds of thousands of students who will simultaneously take public transportation to school, the DOE has issued no word on safety measures on the city buses and subways. The DOE plan to reopen schools is, in fact, so full of holes, and its proposals are so improbable, that it is transparently only one more aspect of the effort to push the working class back to work regardless of the death toll. This return-to-work campaign has been spearheaded by the Trump administration and the corporate media, and carried out with only minor variations by Democratic and Republican politicians across the US. As a result of these policies, the virus is now spreading out of control, with Friday seeing the highest number of new cases so far, 71,787. Yesterday saw an additional 65,488 new cases, the second highest figure to date. The de Blasio administrations intransigent opposition to shutting down the city by mid-March, including the public school system, caused New York to become the epicenter of the pandemic for months. To date, the city has 215,924 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 55,451 hospitalizations and 18,670 deaths, with a minimum of 4,613 additional deaths likely attributable to the virus, by far the highest figures of any state in the US. The DOEs track record in the early days of the pandemic is nothing short of criminal. Information was suppressed by the department in early March about the rate of infection in the school system. At least 74 educators have now died from the virus, while the DOE continues to stonewall about releasing information on the circumstances of these deaths and any estimates of those who have been infected with the virus. Also complicit in the late closing of the schools was the local teacher union, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), which refused to mobilize its membership against the continuation of in-person classes in March, despite the fact that its president, Michael Mulgrew, privately warned de Blasio of the dangers of continuing to hold classes. Only after teachers began agitating on social media for a strike or sickout and thousands signed a petition saying they would not come in to teach on March 16, did Mulgrew reluctantly send a letter asking parents to demand the mayor close schools. One New York City teacher told the World Socialist Web Site, Are we going to get to the Florida and Texas range? Hopefully not. But really, increasingly my worry is, come September where will we be? If we add all these people back to classrooms, coupled with the outdoor dining stuff that appears to be going on, theres at least going to be some spread. I work in a really large school where people come in by one door at the same time. We have several elevators and they are usually crowded. I dont think its going to get any safer when flu season comes around in late October and people are showing some of the same symptoms as COVID. The DOE has claimed that it will disinfect school buildings. Last week Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza claimed that the reopening plan calls for every school to be deep cleaned on a nightly basis with electrostatic disinfectant sprayers, and HVAC systems are being upgraded as we speak to ensure better ventilation in all of our schools. The teacher who spoke to the WSWS said that he had seen the DOE so-called deep cleaning in March, before the schools were shut, noting, It was completely half-assed, done with a spray-bottle. Everything will be done on the cheap. Another teacher remarked on Facebook, the DOE needs to provide supplies for all schools as needed. They werent doing that before Covid and we know that. Its why many of us worry. Cleaning, building maintenance and even reasonably sanitary conditions in school bathrooms have been degraded from years of neglect. The school system is totally unprepared to provide students and educators with a clean environment. The DOEs plan, in short, is criminally negligent. That, however, has not stopped the UFT from giving its full backing to the plan. In a letter to its members, UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, We believe a blended learning model, with students in class on some days and remote on others, balances our safety concerns with the need to bring students back. Since the shutdown of the schools, the UFT has played an active role in suppressing basic information about the health and safety of teachers. It has stopped teachers from taking out grievances against the DOE for COVID-related issues. Over 200 members of the UFT have taken out an improper practice charge against the union with the New York State Public Employees Relations Board for violating its duty of fair representation. The struggle to protect the health and safety of educators and students and to prevent the New York City public school system from once again becoming a vector for the transmission of the virus cannot come from the UFT. Like all unions, this organizations sole purpose is to ensure that any resistance to the policies of the ruling class is neutralized and turned back into fruitless efforts to change the right-wing trajectory of the Democratic Party. The Socialist Equality Party calls on educators and parents to take matters into their own hands by forming independent, rank-and-file safety committees in every school and neighborhood, in order to build a nationwide strike movement in opposition to the unsafe reopening of schools. Inevitably, this will entail a struggle against the capitalist profit system itself and for the implementation of socialist policies. All those educators and parents interested in taking up this fight should sign up for our email newsletter and contact us today. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Vietnam-US diplomatic relations, VietNamNet invited the US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink to join an online talks with our readers. browser not support iframe. Journalist Dieu Thuy: Twenty-five years ago, on the night of July 11, 1995, US President Bill Clinton declared the normalization of relations with Vietnam. On the next morning of July 12, Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet read the statement on establishing diplomatic relations with the US. Over the last 25 years, leaving behind hatred and suspicion, the US-Vietnam relationship entered a completely new period with outstanding developments in many fields. The two sides have been looking for a common voice on many issues, including sensitive issues that are barriers in bilateral relations, to strive for mutual benefit and development. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishment of Vietnam - US diplomatic relations, VietNamNet invited to this online talks a very special guest, the US Ambassador to Vietnam Daniel Kritenbrink. Thank you for joining us! Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Xin chao cac ban, toi ten la Daniel Kritenbrink. Toi la Dai su My tai Vietnam (Hello, my name is Daniel Kritenbrink. Im American Ambassador to Vietnam). Im so honored to be here today, thank you for having me! Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink at VietNamNet's studio. Photo: Pham Hai Dieu Thuy: We have received many questions from readers inside and outside the country. This is the first question from reader Tuan Anh, Hanoi: What were you doing when US President Bill Clinton declared the normalization of relations with Vietnam? What did you think at that time? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I had just started my career. I joined the US State Department as an American diplomat in 1994 and at the time of normalization I was actually serving as a consulate in Japan. I remember watching the news of normalization with great excitement and great interest. It was such a historic event and all of us were aware of it. Dieu Thuy: Readers Tran Van Phu (Ho Chi Minh City) asked: The Vietnam-US diplomatic relations have made extraordinary developments in the past 25 years. What are the most important factors for both sides to promote bilateral relations? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I do think that the US-Vietnam partnership is the strongest it has ever been and we are closer than we have ever been. I think that there are several factors that have helped bring about this extraordinary achievement and I want to emphasize the most extraordinary achievement is that today we are partners and friends. I think the most important factor is leadership on both sides were committed to overcoming our past, focusing on our future and advancing our common interests. Dieu Thuy: Many readers have been interested in Vietnam-US relations over the last 25 years and the future of relations. Reader Nguyen Van Dung has a question: Do you think that Vietnam-US relations will be upgraded to a strategic one in the near future? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I do, and I agree with your viewers and readers who think that the relationship is the best ever and has exceeded our expectations. But I want to emphasize that what we achieved together was not a miracle as the first American ambassador to Vietnam Pete Peterson - told me: It was not a miracle, it was not an accident and it was not an act of God. What we have achieved together is the result of hard work, courage and good will by leaders and average people in both Vietnam and the United State. I am very proud of that and I think that is what we should be celebrating during this 25th anniversary. Dieu Thuy: In 2020, we are going through very special times as the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic is upsetting everything. Many readers are concerned about how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect the prospects for cooperation between the two countries. Readers Le Phat asked: How does the Ambassador see Vietnam's efforts to control Covid-19? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I do think Covid-19 has been a tremendous challenge and it has impacted some of the events that we had hoped to hold this year to celebrate the relationship. But ironically, I think that Covid-19 has also demonstrated just how close our partnership is and how well we worked together. We have been proud to be Vietnams partner for 20 years in promoting the development of Vietnams Health Sector. We provided 700 million dollars in assistance to develop to the health sector and 13 million dollars specifically to help Vietnam fight Covid-19. But just as importantly, Vietnam has also helped the US. I have been so moved that the Vietnamese government and the Vietnamese people have donated millions of masks and other medical protective equipment to help save American lives. Both the US and Vietnam are helping each other with Covid-19 so I think it has been a great example of how our partnership has flourished. Dieu Thuy: Thank you, Mr. Ambassador, for your objective evaluation of Vietnam's efforts to fight the covid-19 pandemic. I would like to share with VietNamNet readers that, at a recent press conference, the ambassador said the words that touched me very much: "A friend in need is a friend indeed. And when the covid-19 pandemic occurred, we found that Vietnam is a very good friend of the US. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Thank you for saying that! It is one of our best known sayings. It means that when we are facing a difficulty, when we are in the time of great need is when we find out who our real friends are, and I think we found out that the US has no better friend than Vietnam. I have been so moved to see thousands of Vietnamese people donated masks and other equipment to the US. It is a beautiful thing and we are forever grateful because this assistance has saved lives in the US. I think that Vietnams response to Covid-19 has been the best in the world and we are very impressed by the work Vietnam has done to control Covid-19 within Vietnam. And because of that we can now meet face to face and I am confident that we will be able to celebrate the 25th anniversary in the right way during the rest of 2020. Dieu Thuy: I myself and many readers wish that the United States will soon be able to control the disease so that life can return to normal, so that we can develop together, cooperate, and implement projects together. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I am confident that the US will get Covid-19 under control. As you have seen in many countries around the world, it is a very serious disease and the challenge is great, but I am confident that the American people will overcome this and I know when we do, we will always remember the assistance from our friends, including our many friends in Vietnam. Dieu Thuy: A reader named Huy has a question: Does the epidemic in the US have any impact on economic, health and social cooperation with Vietnam? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I think that the impact on cooperation and health has been very positive. I think the Covid-19 challenge has demonstrated just how well we worked together in Vietnam and it has been made public that our single largest team in the US diplomatic mission to Vietnam is our Health Team: we have more than 100 people working full time on health and we have a great partnership on health. I think the challenge that we face together is how do we collectively get our individual economies and our regional and global economies restart to overcome the shock caused by Covid. I think we have a very good dialog with the Vietnamese Government together with other regions around the world and I am very confident that we will work together to overcome the economic challenges that are posed by Covid as well. Dieu Thuy: As a journalist in charge of foreign affairs news, I had the opportunity to attend some events held by the US Embassy in Vietnam. I was really moved when seeing you play with disabled children in Soc Son district (Hanoi) or making lanterns and banh deo (Vietnams traditional cake for the Autumn Festival) with autistic children in Hanoi. I also know that you are the first American ambassador who burned incense for martyrs at the Truong Son National Martyrs' Cemetery. Im sure that you have a lot of emotion and impressions about the country and people of Vietnam? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I love Vietnam, I love the Vietnamese people. Everywhere I go I have been so moved by how gracious, warm, welcoming and friendly everyone in Vietnam has been to me and to my family. We have a very important partnership now and I regularly talk with Vietnamese leaderships and senior officials across your government on many important issues from trade to security to energy to health issues and all of that was very important. But I think it is at least as important and probably more important to make sure that we do everything we can to grow the friendship and the ties between the American and Vietnamese people. Here in the US mission we said that we are here to support a strong, prosper, independent Vietnam. We want Vietnam to succeed. We try to demonstrate that through all of our activities including our outreach activities to the Vietnamese people. You mentioned my visit to Truong Son Cemetery. I have to say I think that is the most personally meaningful and moving thing that I had the honor to do as the ambassador here. My hope is such an activity can make a small contribution to our friendship. Dieu Thuy: Readers Tran Khanh asked: I am very impressed by the Ambassador's visit to the Truong Son Cemetery and Hien Luong Bridge in Quang Tri Province? Could the ambassador share your feelings when you visited these places? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: It was a deeply moving experience for me both personally and professionally as the ambassador. My objective was in the spirit of reconciliation and mutual respect to honor all of those who made such great sacrifice in the name of patriotism on all sides and to demonstrate that the USA and I as the ambassador are committed to overcoming our past and further strengthening the partnership we have today. Your question makes me thing that what we believe is that we are building this partnership for the benefit of our people today and in for our children in the future. But to do that we still believe that we have to deal responsibly with the issues of the past and I think that is why we continued to invest such effort in things like accounting for soldiers from both sides, cleaning up dioxin Agent Orange, remediating on unexposed ordnance and treating Vietnamese with disabilities because I think that work on those legacies of the past builds trust between us and helps us do more together for the future. We cant change our tragic past but we are committed to doing everything possible to try to overcome it and to try to make peoples lives better. Journalist Dieu Thuy Dieu Thuy: Reader Le Chi Na asked: The people of Quang Tri in particular and the Vietnamese people in general appreciate the ambassador's visit to the Truong Son cemetery. Over the past 30 years, with aspirations for peace and reconciliation, the US and Vietnam have been actively seeking missing people during the war. Could you tell us about the projects to further promote activities to heal the wounds of war and to cooperate in resolving the consequences of war? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: First of all, thank you for the question and thank you for the kind comment from your reader. We really do remain committed to doing everything possible to address responsibly the issues of the past because we think they are important to building trust and expanding our cooperation related to the future. As you know, these issues are foundational in many ways for our relationship. Vietnams assistance in helping us locate missing American soldiers was the first issue on which we cooperated after the war that is the issue we called the bridge to normalization that brought us back together. We are very grateful to Vietnams assistance that allowed us to account for 727 missing American soldiers. Last year Defence Secretary Esper announced during his trip to Vietnam that the US was going to increase its assistance to Vietnam to help Vietnam locate its missing soldiers. In fact, Im going to participate in a signing late today in which we are going to witness a new agreement between USAID (United States Agency for International Development) and Vietnam to help Vietnam develop its DNA capacity so that we can better identify the missing soldiers that we are able to locate. Our work in cleaning up dioxin Agent Orange is really important. In 2018, I was honored to participate in the ceremony marking the completion of our remediation project at Danang National Airport, and last year I was honored to go with nine sanitors from the US to launch a similar but much larger project at Bien Hoa Airbase in order to clean up Agent Orange there. We are very proud of our work cleaning up unexposed ordnance and bombs and mines in Quang Tri province where there has been no injuries and no deaths for almost the last 3 years. Yesterday we announced that we are going to expand that work to the 2 neighboring provinces: Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue. And finally, last year we announced that an expansion in our assistance to Vietnamese with disabilities, particularly with the 8 provinces in Vietnam that were most heavily sprayed by Agent Orange during the war. We believe that this work on the legacies of war is vitally important and we are committed to continuing it. Dieu Thuy: Reader Nguyen Hoang Chuong wanted to ask about the image of Vietnam in the eyes of Americans before and after 1995? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I think there is a huge difference between Americans perceptions of Vietnam from 20-30 years ago compared to today dramatic transformation. When I think back to 1985 or even 1995 and even after that, I think that if you were to ask the majority of Americans about Vietnam, most Americans would immediately think of the war. Now I think what is happening in the US is when Americans hear the word Vietnam they dont think about the war. And they know what I know, that Vietnam is a beautiful country with beautiful people that is becoming one of Americas closest partners. And I think that we achieved that because there are hundreds of thousands of American tourists and business people that come here, 30 thousands of Vietnamese students that travel to the US every year. I think that is a great accomplishment that when Americans hear the word Vietnam they dont think about our past war but they think about what a wonderful country Vietnam is. And I want to add that in February 2019, when Vietnam hosted the Hanoi Summit between President Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un. Vietnam did a brilliant job and your diplomacy is fantastic. But I think just as important that that summit changed the image that the world and many Americans have about Vietnam. And I had so many American friends during that time who wrote to me saying that: Wow! Vietnam is so beautiful! We really want to visit it. Again I think that as our partnership has grown and as Vietnams leaderships role on the world stage has grown, it has introduced Vietnam to many people around the world including many Americans and I think that is a very positive thing. Dieu Thuy: Another part of the question: Do you have an idea to introduce Vietnamese food, including pho and banh mi - two famous Vietnamese dishes, to your friends? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I dont know if we are going to have any official initiatives but every American friend I talk to, I tell them about how wonderful Vietnamese food is. As your readers probably know, Vietnamese food is really popular in the US. We are very proud that we have more than two million Vietnamese Americans. I think they did a great job of introducing Vietnamese cuisine to the US. And I should say that my home in Washington DC area, North of Virginia is very close to a shopping center where there are dozens of Vietnamese restaurants. I am looking forward to going back there and having their food again. I have to say I really love Banhmi and Pho, but I think my two favourite dishes in Hanoi are actually Bun cha and Cha ca. Dieu Thuy: Reader Bui Thanh Mai asked: I was impressed with your recent visit to Thanh Hoa province with veterans. It seems that you paid special attention to Vietnamese veterans. May I ask the Ambassador that July 27, the Day of War Invalids and Martyrs, has great significance for the veterans and their families and do you plan to meet veterans on this day? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I did not realize that it was the day for war veterans and martyrs - July 27th but I think it is a brilliant idea to do something, so I think we should do that! Thank you for the suggestion! I want to highlight that we think that our engagement with Vietnamese veterans is incredibly important. When I arrived in Vietnam almost 3 years ago, I had both some Vietnamese friends and some Vietnamese officials who suggested that a good way to promote reconciliation and friendship between the US and Vietnam would be for us to increase our engagement with the Vietnam Veterans Association. I have been really honored to meet several times with the Vietnam Veterans Association here in Hanoi and the Veterans Associations in many of the provinces that I have traveled to. Some of them involve exchanging views and activities designed to promote reconciliation. For example, when I was in Thanh Hoa, we went to the Ham Rong Bridge, which is a sight of many fierce battles set during the war. It was so moving that we held hands together: the Vietnamese veterans and the American veterans along with myself and my colleagues walked to the middle of the bridge. It was an incredibly moving experience for me. We also tried carrying out some assistance activities for veterans as well. A few months ago I went to Friendship Village and was able to witness the donation of some medical equipment that would help the Vietnam veterans. I hope we can expand our engagement with Vietnam veterans even further and I really appreciate the idea of July 27th. We will do something with that, thank you! ' Dieu Thuy: In many fields of cooperation between Vietnam and the US, cooperation in the field of education is highly focused and promoted. Currently, Vietnam is the leading country in Southeast Asia in the number of international students going to the US. Education-related stories as well as international student policies are of great interest to readers in this online exchange. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I think educational exchange is one of the most important things that we can do to contribute to Vietnams development and to build the US-Vietnam partnership. We think that education in the USA is a great investment and I am so impressed by all of the great things that Vietnamese students who had studied in the US have done when they came back to Vietnam. They make tremendous contributions to Vietnams future development. And I think it is also an important investment in our friendship. I often say that those 30 thousand Vietnamese students are 30 thousand new cultural ambassadors for the US-Vietnam friendship that we are creating every year. And I am a personal believer in the impact of international exchange because I was an exchange student when I was in college back in ancient history (laugh). And it really changed my life for the better. So we really do encourage as many Vietnamese students as possible to study in the US. I think it will give you great education and it will be a great experience. But wherever you want to study, I really encourage Vietnamese students who have the opportunity to study abroad. I think you will learn a lot about yourself and your own country and your host country, I think you will develop a lot of skills that will help you in the future. For me, my studying abroad experience helped inspire me to be a diplomat. Dieu Thuy: I would like to repeat the question of reader Nguyen Hoang Chuong. What would you wish for Vietnams education if you had a magic lamp like Aladins? And could you share with us how should Vietnam do to develop education and to attract international students in the future? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: That is a great question, a hard question! I really look forward to seeing Fulbright University in Vietnam develop because I think that is one way that our Vietnamese friends can get world class education right here in Vietnam. The USA is committed to assisting the development of Vietnams education sector in every way possible, including by helping Vietnam develop its English language capability including its teaching capacity. We sent a lot of teacher and English teaching assistants, Full bright scholars to help Vietnam with its English language capacity. I am hopeful that some day we are going to bring the US Peace Corps to Vietnam to help assist Vietnam with English language education as well. If I could rub that magic lamp and have any wish at all, I would love to see Vietnam develop more capacity for hosting international exchange students at its universities. For example, we have 30 thousand Vietnamese students in the US, but I think we have less than 2,000 American students in Vietnam. Even though that number is growing, it is still pretty small. But I would love to see it grow even more. Someday I would love to see us to have 30 thousand American exchange students in Vietnam, wouldnt that be great? Because then, every year we would have 30 thousand new, young American students who would know Vietnam, love Vietnam and would go back to the US and they would contribute to the US and contribute to our friendship. It reminds me, last night I had the honor of hosting 4 former Vietnamese ambassadors to the US for dinner at my home. And one of the former Vietnamese ambassadors said to me that the more Americans and Vietnamese understand one another, the more we would like one another and respect one another. I agree with that and I think educational exchange and bringing more students to both of our countries will help promote that friendship and mutual understanding. VietNamNet chief editor Pham Anh Tuan presents flowers to Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink Dieu Thuy: Reader of Vo Huy Thai had a question: I want to apply for a visa to study and work in the US during the time of Covid epidemic. Could you tell us if the visa is suspended? If it is suspended, when can it be removed? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Thats a great question. Yes, it is true that Covid-19 has had a number of impacts including on our Visa operation here in Vietnam. For a while we had suspended issuance of most Visas. We have now started to resume issuance of some Visa categories and all along we have been issuing Visa renewal by mail. Covid-19, as we have discussed today, is a great challenge. There is a lot of uncertainty. But we know how important educational exchange is and we know what a great investment in American education is. So Im confident that we will be issuing new guidance in the coming weeks that will provide additional clarity to the visa situation for perspective students in the US. My advice would be as follow: If you are interested in studying in the US, follow us on Facebook, check out our website for the latest information on studying in the US including students visa. Give our education USA advisors a call either here at the Embassy in Hanoi or at the Consulate General down in Ho Chi Minh City. Our education USA advisors have only one job, and that is to help assist Vietnamese who want to study in the US to determine the best way for them to do so. And finally, if you have identified the school in the US at which you want to study, be in touch with them as well. They will obviously know the latest information regarding conditions and visa regulations for their school. Dieu Thuy: Thank you for sharing useful information, not only for the readers who wish to study and work in the US. Mr. Ambassador, the Vietnam-US relations have not only obtained outstanding achievements in bilateral fields. On the multilateral level, the two countries have also cooperated in many areas. Reader Pham Xuan Quy had a question: How do you assess the role of Vietnam in the US Indo-Pacific strategy? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: We think that Vietnam is central to our Indo-Pacific strategy. I think its important to note that in November 2017, when President Trump paid his first visit to Vietnam, he delivered a speech in Danang that outlined Americas vision for the Indo-Pacific. The reason why I say Vietnam is central to our strategy is its not just Vietnam; if you look at our strategy, our former policy it was predicated on the belief that America is stronger, more prosper, more secure if we have strong, successful, independent partners, allies and friends around the world. That is why we said we are interested in Vietnams success: a strong, sovereign Vietnam is an Americas interest and I think it makes us all better off. But its not just Vietnam, its the 10 countries of ASEAN. We very much believe in ASEAN. Its our partner across the region whether its Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and many other countries. We believe that together we can advance to our shared interests in peace, stability and respect for international law. So we really look forward to working with Vietnam both to help Vietnam to succeed, and then to working with Vietnam and all of our other friends in the region to advance our shared interests in peace and stability and prosperity. Dieu Thuy: At a press conference you said that the US delegation is here to help Vietnam, and your success is our success, your prosperity is our prosperity. Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: We really believe that. We dont think that any of us can survive just on our own. America first does not mean America alone, its the opposite. I think you said it very well - Your success is our success - when we both succeed, we both help one another and then we can work with our likeminded partners around the region and the world to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity. I should also add that the principle that we believe in are not designed to exclude anyone, our cooperation is not aimed at anyone. Rather, its aimed as I said at supporting a rule-based international system that rooted in international law in which all countries, large and small, play by the same rule. We think Vietnam has an important role to play in that. Vietnam is Chair of ASEAN this year and is doing a brilliant job. Vietnam has a two-year term on the UN Security Council and is playing a very responsible role. We are very proud to support Vietnams deployment of its first peacekeepers to South Sudan. So, again, we think Vietnam is central to our strategy in the region. Dieu Thuy: Reader Nguyen Minh Duc would like to have some questions for the Ambassador. Vietnam wants to be friend with all countries in the world. Do you think the US can become one of the friendliest and closest friends of Vietnam? In your view, what should the international community do to ensure security, safety and freedom of navigation in the East Sea (internationally known as the South China Sea)? As the leading economy in the world, why the US has not been the biggest investor in Vietnam yet? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: Absolutely I think we already are close friends. And I think particularly, if you think about all we that achieved in the last 25 years, it is really extraordinary, it makes us very optimistic about what we can achieve in the next 25 years. I see no limits on our partnership and friendship. About maritime security: This is a great question! We believe that maritime security is vital to the regional and global economy and its also vital to each individual countrys security as well. We think that perhaps the most important thing we can do is ensure that international law is respected and that all countries act in accordance with international law. We also think its important that countries do not use force or coercion or bullying to try to advance their interests. We also oppose the efforts by some countries in the region to try to interfere with long-standing energy exploration including Vietnam in long-established fields in the East Sea. Maybe the best way for me to explain what we should do is to explain the main elements of our East Sea strategy. The first pillar of our strategy is diplomacy. We think its important for all countries in the region who believe in international law and peaceful resolutions of dispute to work together within the ASEAN and within other institutions to promote freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, freedom of commerce and diplomatic resolutions of dispute. Secondly, we think its important that all countries have the ability to understand what is happening in their territories and have the means to defend their own interests. That is why we continue to work with partners like Vietnam and many others in Southeast Asia and across the region to help increase your maritime capacity, because we think that the more countries can defend their own interests, the more stable the region is and the less likely conflict will be. And then thirdly, the US will continue to develop our own capabilities and we will continue to exercise them regularly. Thats why you regularly see US naval assets and air assets operating in the East Sea either doing routine presence operations or conducting freedom of navigation operations. These activities are designed to demonstrate our commitment to the region, our commitment to the principles that I talked about here, particularly respect for international law. And they are also designed to show that the USA will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere that international law allows and we think it is a right that all countries in the region and the world should enjoy as well. Dieu Thuy: This is a question from reader Hoang Hoa: Recently, US President Donald Trump decided to stop granting green cards until the end of. Will this policy last until next year, and if so, how will it affect the Vietnamese community in America? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: I have to confess that I dont know much about the details of the issuance of the green cards in the US, but I think if you do have concerns and questions about those issues, Id suggest the following: You can always to our Consulate Sections at the Embassy and the Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City. And you can always be in touch with the US Citizen and Immigration Services USCIS in the US. Dieu Thuy: Reader Tran Tuan was very interested and impressed with your greeting in Vietnamese at the beginning of the talks. I know that you have learned Vietnamese. In your opinion, which part is the most difficult to learn Vietnamese? Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink: First of all, my Vietnamese is very bad. Im embarrassed by that and I wish it were better. But I have had very little time to study since Ive been here, so that has been the number one challenge. I will say, though the little bit that Ive studied, Vietnamese really is a beautiful language. I dont know how Vietnamese people feel when they hear English, but I think, as an American, every foreign language gives you a different feel when you hear it. When I hear Vietnamese, its a very soothing and pleasing language. I know like all languages, it too is a very rich and has many historical influences that make it very rich with extensive vocabulary. The single hardest part of Vietnamese for me is pronunciation. My staff will often suggest that I say something in Vietnamese and they will give it to me on a piece of paper and they will say it to me and then I say it out loud and they say No, wrong! and sometimes when Im out on the street or traveling I will say something to a Vietnamese friend in Vietnamese but they dont understand me. I had the pleasure in my life and my career to live for a long time in Japan and China. What I learned through those two experiences is that the key to learning a foreign language is long-term investment, you just have to keep working on it over the long run. I lived in Japan for 8 years and China for 8 years and my Japanese and Chinese are both okay so hopefully, the longer I stay in Vietnam and the more I study, the better I will get. But right now Im not very good, I have to stay. What I have been most impressed by is the English language capability of so many Vietnamese friends, particularly young Vietnamese students: they speak beautiful, perfect English and I always ask them: Have you studied overseas?, and the answer is almost always No and that theyve studied exclusively in Vietnam. I hope my Vietnamese friends can give me some advice for your success in studying English and maybe I can apply that to my Vietnamese study. Dieu Thuy: Thats a good idea! The US-Vietnam relationship over the past 25 years has been a story full of ups and downs, from war, hostility, embargo, to reconciliation, trust and development beyond expectation. The online talks with the US Ambassador today helps readers better understand the width, depth and prospects for Vietnam-US relations in the coming years. Thank you Mr. Ambassador for joining us today! VietNamNet Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh and BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav have gone into self quarantine after receiving reports of BJP's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina testing positive for coronavirus. The minister said that he has gone into self quarantine from 4pm on Tuesday, adding Raina "had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July." The doctors said Raina was being put under isolation in the Narayana hospital in the Katra town of Reasi district. For the same reason, Madhav too has gone into self quarantine for a "few days". He said, "I tested negative for coronavirus 5 times in the last two weeks. Yet taking precautions to ensure safety of me and others." Two days ago, Raina had accompanied Singh, Madhav and some other senior leaders to offer condolences to the family of Wasim Bari, a local BJP leader who was killed along with his father and brother by terrorists in Bandipora town in north Kashmir. Government borrowing could top 660billion over the next two years as the cost of the pandemic spirals. In its latest update, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) laid out the potential damage which coronavirus will cause to the public finances. In its central forecast, public sector borrowing will shoot up to 372.2billion this financial year and 155.7billion next year. National debt: In the Office for Budget Responsibility's central forecast, public sector borrowing will shoot up to 372.2bn this financial year and 155.7bn next year Borrowing will not fall below 100billion for five years, as the UK tries to prevent the economy stagnating. But the OBR warned that in the worst-case scenario, borrowing could rise as high as 441.4billion this year and 220.4billion next year. Its outlook becomes even more bleak over the long term, as the OBR predicts debt will rocket as the UK struggles to cope with its ageing population. In 50 years, the Government could be borrowing more than five times the size of the economy every year, according to the OBR. That could mean public borrowing would hit more than 10trillion by 2069. The OBR said that the UK was clearly on an unsustainable path, and added that taxes would have to rise by around 60billion every decade. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has ruled out any major changes to taxes for now, as the Government is desperate for households to start spending again. But Sunak wrote to the Office of Tax Simplification yesterday, requesting a review of capital gains tax rules. Individuals and businesses have to pay the tax when they sell or transfer an asset, such as a painting or property that isnt their home. BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it is firmly opposed to the U.S. State Department's statement rejecting China's disputed claims in the South China Sea and called Washington's accusations of China bullying its neighbours 'completely unjustified.' 'The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue,' the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in statement published on its website. BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it is firmly opposed to the U.S. State Department's statement rejecting China's disputed claims in the South China Sea and called Washington's accusations of China bullying its neighbours "completely unjustified." "The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue," the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in statement published on its website. "Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region." (Reporting by Beijing newswroom; writing by Se Young Lee; editing by Christian Schmollinger) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Hillary Clinton lashed out at Donald Trump on Twitter Tuesday morning, suggesting the president's latest push to reopen schools is forcing teachers to choose between their health and going back to work. 'Teachers shouldn't be forced to choose between their lives and their jobs,' the former secretary of state tweeted. Trump's administration has initiated a huge push for schools to reopen in the fall previewing new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Clinton's comments and the president's push comes as the U.S. continues to experience a spike in coronavirus cases following more than a month of nationwide massive protests and relaxing on lockdowns. Some areas in states like Florida, California and Texas have even started reimplementing certain orders like limiting or ending eat-in dining or shutting down gyms and other indoor locations. As of Tuesday morning, there are more than 3.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the first known case in the U.S. in March and nearly 136,000 deaths. The U.S. by far has the highest number of infections, as many other countries prepare to start up schools as they have seen such large declines. Hillary Clinton lashed out at President Donald Trump on Twitter Tuesday morning, claiming he is making teachers choose between their lives and their work Donald Trump and his administration are pushing for schools to reopen in the fall, claiming it is completely safe for students and teachers to return to the classroom CDC Director Robert Redfield (left) and Vice President Mike Pence (right) announced the CDC would issue five new documents with guidelines on reopening schools. Redfield asserted that the guidelines should not be used as a rationale for school's to remain closed Vice President Mike Pence and CDC Director Robert Redfield announced during a press conference at the Education Department Wednesday that there will be five new documents helping guide teachers, students and schools through getting students back into the classroom. The announcement came hours after the president said he did not 'agree' with the CDC's initial guidelines, which were issued months ago, on reopening and making schools safe. 'I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools,' Trump tweeted last Wednesday morning ahead of the press conference. 'While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things,' he continued. 'I will be meeting with them!!!' Education Secretary Betsy DeVos claimed Sunday that students should return to in-person classes in the fall, and would not say if she feels they should follow the new CDC guidelines. 'There's nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous,' DeVos told Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, likely a nod to the fact that the virus disproportionately targets the elderly. 'We know that children contract and have the virus at far lower incidence than any other part of the population.' She also referenced that other countries have reopened school 'successfully and safely.' When asked during a separate interview with CNN's Dana Bash whether schools should follow the new CDC guidelines, DeVos was less committed in her response. 'Dr. Redfield has clearly said, these are recommendations and every situation is going to look slightly different,' she said of comments from the CDC director. 'And the key for education leaders, and these are smart people who can figure things out.' Schools shuttered their doors in March as coronavirus surged across the country, and while other countries have began reopening their schools, many in the U.S. have already claimed they will no reopen in the fall During the press conference at the DOE on Wednesday, Refield said the new guidelines should not be used by school administrators as an excuse for not reopening altogether. 'Its purpose is to facilitate the reopening and the keeping open of the schools in this country,' Redfield said at the podium, while flanked by Pence, DeVos and a few members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. 'It is critical that we get these schools open.' Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, is joining a slew of other Democrats who are pushing back against the president's desire to reopen schools. Trump, however, believes it is another attempt by the opposition to hurt his chances in November against presumed Democratic nominee Joe Biden. Trump retweeted a post from former talk show host Chuck Woolery on Tuesday morning: 'There is so much evidence, yes scientific evidence, that schools should open this fall. It's worldwide and it's overwhelming. BUT NO.' Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Tuesday defended lawmakers decision on the franchise bid of media giant ABS-CBN, saying it is only their duty to look into the application and study the compliance of an organization seeking to operate. In this particular case of the ABS-CBN franchise hearing, it is not our duty to be popular. Our duty is to comply with our constitutionally mandated task of looking into a private franchise application, Defensor told CNN Philippines The Source, in response to the Social Weather Stations survey saying majority of Filipinos wanted the companys franchise renewed. I think its a disservice for any congressmen or for any senator to vote for something that is wrong or they find it wrong, but because it is popular, they will still do so I think you fail as a leader if you always do what is popular, he added. The SWS survey released a day after the House committee on legislative franchises rejected the network's fresh application showed 3 out of 4 Filipinos or 75 percent wanted Congress to renew ABS-CBN's franchise. Another 56 percent, on the other hand, said the non-renewal was a "major blow to press freedom." Defensor, for his part, acknowledged that there may be comments and criticisms on the case, noting how the franchise issue has been a highly politicized one. However, he said he is not personally affected by it. The lawmaker was among the 70 who voted to junk ABS-CBNs application a move widely criticized by netizens and rights groups in the country and abroad. Some critics noted that the technical working groups report which recommended the license denial due to various issues did not give a comprehensive overview on the reasons or basis for some of the networks supposed violations. But Defensor maintained the decision went through a process, adding that all essential points and arguments raised in the panel deliberations were reflected in the document. While ABS-CBN remains off the air, the company said it will continue to deliver news through the limited platforms available to them. Malacanang, on the other hand, stressed affected employees can also avail of the same benefits and support provided by the government to workers displaced by the COVID-19 pandemic. READ: Palace on ABS-CBN franchise denial: Respect the decision, lets move on Your browser does not support the audio element. A man has been attacked by strangers at a coffee shop in Da Lat, a popular tourist destination in Vietnams Central Highlands, after criticizing a new attraction in the resort city on his Facebook account. Do Khoi Nguyen, 34, was assaulted by a group of four men at a coffee shop near his house in Ward 2, Da Lat City on Saturday afternoon, police confirmed on Monday. Nguyen was hospitalized with soft-tissue injuries following the incident. One of the attackers was later identified as Pham Duc Vuong, an employee of Lien Minh Group. Lien Minh Group is the developer of a brand new and rather controversial attraction in Da Lat the Quy Nui-Suoi Ma (Mountain Demon-Ghost Stream) tourist area. The venue is designed with a dark theme and features various types of demons, monsters, and other horrific creatures. In this screenshot are photos of the Quy Nui-Suoi Ma tourist attraction posted to the Facebook account of Do Khoi Nguyen. Nguyen said he had posted two photos of the demon statues at the tourist area to his Facebook account last week, along with a negative caption. The men also mentioned Ngo Quang Phuc, chairman of Lien Minh Groups management board, in his post. Shortly after the status was uploaded, Vuong contacted Nguyen and came to his workplace, demanding that the post be removed. When Nguyen agreed to delete the photos, Vuong invited him to a nearby coffee shop. Vuong and three other men who were already there then required Nguyen to make an on-camera apology. Nguyen refused and ended up being attacked by the men. Do Khoi Nguyen suffers an injured face after being attacked at a coffee shop in Da Lat City, Vietnam, July 11, 2020. Photo: L.D. / Tuoi Tre A representative of Lien Minh Group has confirmed that Vuong is a probationary employee of the firm who is in charge of teaching martial arts at a subsidiary of the group that provides security and bodyguard services. The representative asserted that Lien Minh did not ask Vuong or any of its employees to contact or attack Nguyen. We have been working with police officers to verify the case and asked Vuong to apologize to the victim, said Vo Thi Khiet, vice-chairwoman of Lien Minh Group. Meanwhile, Ngo Quang Phuc, Lien Minhs chairman, stated that Vuong has been dismissed following the incident. We would never do such a thing. It would surely damage our credibility, Phuc said. However, we will take responsibility for Vuongs action as he was our employee, and make sure Nguyen will be protected from other potential harm. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Pilot has been upset since the Congress picked Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister after the 2018 Assembly polls, The political crisis in Rajasthan deepened on Tuesday as the Congress cracked down on Sachin Pilot, stripping the dissident leader of the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit president. The party also sacked two of Pilot's loyalists Vishwendra Singh, who was the state tourism minister and Ramesh Meena, who held the portfolio of the food and civil supplies minister from the state Cabinet after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party, its second in the last two days. According to reports, several members of the Congress and its affiliates in Rajasthan either resigned in protest or were dropped. However, Gehlot continued to blame the BJP for the current crisis. Later in the evening, he held a meeting with his Cabinet and Council of Ministers. Pilot sacked as Deputy CM The CLP meeting on Tuesday was billed as a second chance for Pilot, who had turned down appeals from the party's top leadership including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to return to the party fold. Pilot has been upset since the Congress picked Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister after the 2018 Assembly polls, while his supporters insisted that he deserved credit for the party's victory as its state unit president. Soon after the CLP meeting, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala announced the removal of Pilot and two of his supporters from their ministerial berths. Pilot enjoyed the blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy, Surjewala claimed. "This cannot be acceptable to any political party. Therefore, the Congress took the decision with a heavy heart," Surjewala said. Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara, a leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) was appointed as the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra immediately after the meeting and apprised him of the developments in the state, sources told news agency PTI. NSUI state president resigns The dismissal of the leaders from their posts seemed to trigger a wave of resignations and changes in the leadership of various organisations affiliated with the Congress. As many as 59 office bearers of the Party's Tonk unit tendered their resignations in protest against Pilot's removal from the two posts, reported news agency ANI. 59 office bearers of Tonk unit of Congress party in #Rajasthan tender their resignations in protest against the removal of Sachin Pilot as the Deputy CM and Rajasthan PCC Chief. pic.twitter.com/rMR9VMCkep ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 Abhimanyu Poonia, the president of the state unit of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), also resigned. Tribal leader and MLA Ganesh Ghogra was appointed the new president of the state Youth Congress, a post held so far Pilot loyalist Mukesh Bhakar. Bhakar has yesterday in a tweet said that being loyal to the Congress meant being in "slavery" to Ashok Gehlot. " " Mukesh Bhakar (@MukeshBhakar_) July 13, 2020 Hem Singh Shekhawat replaced another Pilot loyalist, MLA Rakesh Pareek, as the state president of the Congress Sewa Dal. Congress leaders term development as 'sad' Pilot's removal evoked mixed reactions from Congress leaders across the country, with a section of them still hoping for the issue to be resolved and the rest blaming the young leader for his haste. Most of the leaders, however, described the turn of events as "unfortunate" and "sad". Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said he was sad to see Sachin Pilot leave and asserted that instead of "parting", the former Rajasthan deputy chief minister should have joined the effort to make the party a more effective instrument for "his and our dreams". However, when asked on Twitter whether Pilot had left the party, Tharoor said, "Not formally. I certainly hope that reconciliation is still possible. The events of the last few days led me to draw an obvious inference." Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the development was "disappointing" for the party workers who have reposed faith in the Congress party. "It is not just disappointing for the party, but also for the grassroot workers, who want the party to progress and do well. The biggest blow is to the common workers who have reposed faith in the party.This has certainly hurt the common workers," he told PTI. Noting that what has happened is "unfortunate", veteran Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said the BJP is exploiting the vulnerability of young Congress leaders who are ambitious. He also felt that Pilot should have had patience and perseverance and not been in haste. "Pilot was made deputy chief minister and given the reins of the party in Rajasthan and the next leg was the chief ministership. But he had no patience. The BJP made use of his vulnerability," he told PTI. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot too blamed Pilot for playing into BJP's hands. Pilot playing into BJP's hands, alleges Gehlot Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh but asserted that it will not succeed in Rajasthan. The Congress government led by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh had collapsed in March after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later joined the BJP. "There is nothing in the hands of Sachin Pilot. He is playing into the hands of the BJP which is making all the arrangements," Gehlot told reporters after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra. "I am very sad that horse-trading was going on. It is for the first time in the country that democracy is under such grave threat," he said. Anybody who believes in party's ideology welcome , says BJP The BJP continued to refute Gehlot's allegations instead saying that the Congress's weak structure caused the crisis. BJP vice president Om Prakash Mathur said the political crisis in Rajasthan has been caused by "weakness" within the Congress. But the party also said that the doors of the saffron party were open to those who believed in its ideology. Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, "If anybody with a mass base joins the BJP or any political party, everybody welcomes him. Expressing trust in our ideology, if anybody joins us we will welcome him with open arms. This is a normal procedure." Shortly after he was sacked, Pilot said, "Truth can be rattled, not defeated". He also changed his profile on Twitter, deleting all references to his positions as deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress chief. He only described himself as MLA of Tonk and a former minister of IT, Telecom and Corporate affairs, Government of India. Speculation continued on whether Pilot was in talks with the BJP. The saffron party, apart from saying its doors are open, has made no official comment about any political negotiation with the rebel former deputy chief minister. Congress sources had earlier said he has spoken to some leaders from the saffron party. According to PTI, sources close to Pilot had insisted earlier that he would not join the BJP. His supporters have said that their aim is change in the state leadership. In the 200-member Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. Gehlot had in the past claimed the support of 13 Independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). Pilot's camp has claimed that he enjoys support of around 30 MLAs.However, a video clip circulated by the Pilot camp late on Monday appeared to show a group of 16 Congress MLAs. The numbers are large enough to keep the Gehlot camp on edge, even if most of the 107 Congress MLAs and Independents have expressed confidence in his leadership. The BTD and CPM have indicated that that their MLAs could stay neutral till the Congress settled its factional feud. In recent days, the Gehlot camp has also distanced itself from three of the Independents, after their names surfaced in an alleged plot to topple the state government. The Pilot camp has been repeatedly calling for a floor test, a demand echoed by the BJP. BJP says Gehlot must prove majority before expanding Cabinet Quoting unnamed sources, News18 had reported that Gehlot was likely to expand his Cabinet on Thursday. The chief minister also held meetings with Cabinet ministers and Council of ministers at his residence in the evening, where reports said a possible reshuffle in the Cabinet was on the agenda. After the sacking of the three ministers, 12 senior ministers, including the CM, remain in the Cabinet. The council of ministers has 10 ministers of state. The BJP said the chief minister must first prove his majority in the Assembly and then talk about Cabinet expansion. "A vertical division can be seen in the Congress party in Rajasthan, with the sacking of the deputy chief minister. Now, if the chief minister wants to expand his Cabinet, he should first prove majority on the floor. He will not send a good message if he does it without floor test" ANI quoted Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Gulab Chandra Kataria as saying. The expelled ministers have also challenged Gehlot's leadership, claiming that they had done nothing wrong. "What anti-party statement did we make?We only wanted to get high command's attention to promises in our manifesto as we haven't been able to deliver them in close to 2 yrs of being in power. For what fault was action taken?" ANI quoted Vishvendra Singh as saying. He later also took to Twitter to challenge Gehlot. The current crisis surfaced last Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over the alleged bid to bring down the government. The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The Special Operation Group (SOG) had sent out the notices after tapping a phone conversation between two men, who were allegedly discussing the fall of the Gehlot government. With inputs from agencies The Living Prairie Museum is once again alive with the bleating of sheep. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The Living Prairie Museum is once again alive with the bleating of sheep. For a second year, a flock will take part in a City of Winnipeg pilot project to test if grazing sheep are a viable option for vegetation management. The animals will spend their weekdays in a temporary, moveable, fenced enclosure at the Ness Avenue preserve. Theyll return to their home farm on the weekends. Living Prairie Museum, located in St. James-Assiniboia, is one of the few remaining local areas still occupied by native tall grass prairie, according to a city news release Monday. More than 160 species of plants and wildlife are situated on the parks 30 acres. 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. "There have been a number of studies showing that grazers can have a positive effect when maintaining natural areas and can be an effective tool for weed control," city naturalist Rodney Penner said in the release. Visitors can watch the sheep graze, but they arent permitted to pet, feed or directly interact with the animals. Organizers will follow the Canadian National Farm Animal Care Council code of practice for the care and handling of sheep while managing the grazers. Millar Safety & Environmental Services, Prairie Habitats Inc., and a Manitoba sheep farmer will be on the museums grounds for about two weeks. Visitors should stay on the museums trails and keep any dogs on-leash, according to the city. The museums Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages will have updates on its unusual maintenance crew. gabrielle.piche@freepress.mb.ca A day after the Morandi Bridge collapsed in Genoa in August 2018, claiming 43 lives, Giuseppe Conte said he would strip Autostrade per l'Italia SpA of its motorway concessions. Two years later, Italy's prime minister is making the same noise - but has not yet made up his mind. The case is a prime example of Conte's dangerous habit of postponing difficult decisions to hide the divisions within his weak government majority. It is also a warning to investors about the uncertainty of putting their money into a regulated business in Italy at a time of whimsical politics. The prime minister had three options to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy. He could have stuck to the existing contract, perhaps seeking to renegotiate parts of it by demanding that Autostrade spend more on maintenance. He could have nationalized Autostrade, paying the existing shareholders a fair price for their stakes and allowing for penalties. Finally, he could have revoked the concession, opening a legal fight with the company over possible damages. Instead, Italy's prime minister and his government colleagues issued a number of threats, without taking any decision. A change of government - from an alliance between the populist Five Star Movement and the right-wing League, to one between Five Star and the center-left Democrats - did not help. But Conte also failed to take responsibility for the choice, leaving the company, its employees and investors in a seemingly never-ending limbo. There is no doubt that Autostrade has much explaining to do over what occurred two years ago. It says it always met its obligations under the concession agreement following privatization. But for years, the company could charge relatively high tolls, allowing for a hefty rate of return, and is now proposing multibillion euros settlements to keep the concession. It appears it could have afforded to spend much more on investment than it did. What went on in Genoa remains unclear - the painful wait for the conclusion of the investigation continues - but the company clearly needs to show that it took adequate precautions to ensure that the bridge would be safe. Still, this does not justify the way the last two Italian governments have handled Autostrade and its main shareholder, Atlantia SpA, in which the Benetton family has a 30% stake. Conte sought to show that he was taking the high ground, defending the victims and their families, but then kept bargaining with Atlantia over the concession and other deals - including a possible rescue of Alitalia, Italy's chronically loss-making flag carrier. This month, Autostrade made a revised offer for a possible settlement. The proposal includes tariff cuts and extra capital and maintenance spending. Atlantia would also cede control of Autostrade to infrastructure fund F2i and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA while retaining a minority stake. However, Conte rejected this offer, telling newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano it was "embarrassing" and hinting that the Benettons should fully exit Autostrade. This looks like a vendetta more than a point of principle. The sorry saga can only make a terrible impression on foreign investors. The Italian government passed a law in February cutting the cost of revoking the concession. The lesson funds will take is that any promises from Italy are not worth the paper they are written on. The European Court of Justice could also have a future look at this decision, as it seems to infringe on property rights and the sanctity of contracts. Italy's government is clearly stuck amid difficult options. Autostrade's existing ownership structure is unpopular; leaving it unchanged would make a mockery of the earlier political grandstanding. Nationalizing the business, or revoking the concessions, could be expensive, and could force the Italian state to run these assets amid conspicuous legal and economic uncertainty. But the cost of these difficulties cannot be Italy's reputation as a credible investment destination. Conte must take a decision soon - and live with its consequences. - - - Giugliano writes columns and editorials on European economics for Bloomberg View. He is also an economics columnist for La Repubblica and was a member of the editorial board of the Financial Times. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Canarc Resource Corp. (TSX:CCM)(OTCQB:CRCUF)(FRA:CAN), announces that a Phase-2 core drilling program of 1,500 meters in six holes will commence on or about July 20th at its 100%-owned Windfall Hills gold property located in north-central British Columbia. Highlights from the Phase 1, 3-hole drill program conducted in 2014 included a drill intercept of 1.38 grams per tonne (gpt) gold equivalent (AuEq) over 28.0 meters (m). Exploration work since 2014 focused on detailed geological mapping, geochemical sampling and geophysical surveying to better define the main target over a 1.5 kilometer (km) by 1.5 km area. The principal target and planned drill holes are shown on Figure 1. Scott Eldridge, Canarc's CEO, stated: "We are pleased to announce the commencement of a Phase-2 drill program at Windfall Hills to follow up on the encouraging Phase 1 drill results. Subsequent exploration work helped to delineate a much larger primary target. Our Phase 2 drill program will test for bulk tonnage, epithermal gold-silver mineralization, similar to the Blackwater Davidson deposit located in the same geological belt as Windfall Hills." "We put a coronavirus prevention and response plan in place for this Phase 2 drill program in order to ensure a safe working environment as our top priority, including but not limited to social distancing and extra sanitation to protect our employees, contractors, residents in nearby communities and other stakeholders." Location The Windfall Hills property is located 60 kilometers south of Burns Lake within a belt of Late Cretaceous to Early Tertiary volcanic rocks hosting epithermal Au-Ag deposits that includes the 9.6 million-ounce Blackwater-Davidson gold-silver project located 90 km southeast of Windfall Hills. Artemis Gold recently announced a $190 million purchase of Blackwater Davidson from Newgold. Phase 1 Drill Results A Phase 1, 3-hole, 1,149-meter diamond drill program was conducted at Windfall Hills by Canarc in 2014 and returned gold mineralization in all 3 holes (Table 1). Gold mineralization is disseminated within strongly clay altered and silicified volcanic rocks of the Eocene Ootsa Lake Group. Hole WH-14-03 intersected 28 meters grading 0.89 gpt gold and 39 gpt silver or 1.38 gpt AuEq, using an 80:1 silver:gold ratio, from 11 to 39 meters and terminated below a 1994 trench that yielded 0.41 gpt gold over 41 m. Table 1. Summary of 2014 Drilling* Hole From m To m Length m Ag gpt Au gpt AuEq gpt WH-14-01 1 7 6 1.9 0.96 0.98 Incl 3 5 2 2.5 1.19 1.22 WH-14-02 217 221 4 58 0.27 1.00 Incl 217 219 2 88 0.34 1.44 WH-14-03 11 39 28 39 0.89 1.38 Incl 11 13 2 63 2.19 2.98 and 17 19 2 92 2.45 3.60 WH-14-03 137 143 6 19 0.66 0.90 Incl 137 139 2 22 1.28 1.56 * Ag:Au ratio is 80:1 Primary Target Extensive thin glacial till covers the property which has limited geological mapping and rock-chip sampling. However, a property-wide aeromagnetic survey completed in 2018 revealed a strong northwest-trending, linear magnetic low passing through the main mineralized zone. The linear magnetic low could be related to hydrothermal destruction of magnetic minerals along the fault zone, which itself could be related to a major northwest trending lineament that can be traced on satellite imagery southeast all the way to the vicinity of Blackwater-Davidson. 3-D modeling of the mineralization intersected in the 2014 drill holes suggests a northwest-striking, east-dipping body broadly parallel to the magnetic low. An induced-polarization (IP) survey completed in 2016 in the area of the 2014 drill holes revealed high resistivity and chargeability anomalies in the main mineralized area. Phase 2 Drill Program The 2020 Phase-2 drilling program is designed to expand the area of gold-silver mineralization intersected in the 2014 drill holes, constrain the geologic controls on mineralization and test the geophysical targets within the broader geochemical anomaly. Holes will be approximately 250 to 300-m in length at inclinations of 50-60 degrees. Director Resignation The company also announces that Mr. Kai Hoffmann has resigned as a director of the Company, effective immediately, given growing commitments outside of Canarc. On behalf of the management team and board of directors, Bradford Cooke, Chairman of Canarc, thanks Kai for his contributions to the Company. Qualified Person Garry Biles, P. Eng, President & COO for Canarc Resource Corp, is the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. "Scott Eldridge" Scott Eldridge, Chief Executive Officer CANARC RESOURCE CORP. About Canarc - Canarc Resource Corp. is a growth-oriented gold exploration company focused on generating superior shareholder returns by discovering, exploring and developing strategic gold deposits in North America. The Company is currently advancing two core assets, each with substantial gold resources, and has initiated a high impact exploration strategy to acquire and explore new properties that have district-scale gold discovery potential. Canarc shares trade on the TSX: CCM and the OTCQB: CRCUF. For More Information - Please contact: Scott Eldridge, CEO Toll Free: 1-877-684-9700 Tel: (604) 685-9700 Cell: (604) 722-5381 Email: scott@canarc.net Website: www.canarc.net Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Statements contained in this news release that are not historic facts are forward-looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the future performance of Canarc, and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, the Company's ongoing due diligence review in relation to the Acquisition, risks related to the uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Figure 1. Phase-2 drill plan SOURCE: Canarc Resource Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597364/Canarc-to-Commence-1500-Meter-Drill-Program-at-Windfall-Hills-Project-BC-Director-Resignation More Explosions, Fires At Industrial And Commercial Sites In Iran Radio Farda July 13, 2020 In Iran police is investigating the explosion of a gas tank and a fire at an industrial complex in the country's northeast, local news agencies reported. There were several condensate gas tanks at the location. Javad Jahandoust, the fire chief at the Kavian Fariman industrial complex, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Iran's second largest city, Mashhad, was quoted as saying six storage tanks had caught fire, including the one that exploded. He said the fire was under control and there were no casualties, but police were investigating the cause. There have been several explosions and fires around Iranian military, nuclear and industrial facilities since late June. The most notable was a mysterious explosion and fire at Iran's uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. The government claims it is still investigating the incident that some say is a foreign attack. On Sunday, the official IRNA news agency reported a fire at a petrochemical facility in southwest Iran, which was blamed on an oil leak. There were no casualties. Another fire broke out Monday evening in Najafabad, west of the central city of Isfahan that reportedly destroyed three shops at the local bazaar. It is not clear how many of these incidents in recent weeks are accidents or deliberate acts of destruction. Some fires have occurred in forests and parks and some others at commercial establishments. But explosions and fires around military and strategic locations have led to a sense of planned acts of sabotage. With reporting by Reuters Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/khamenei -tells-iran-parliament-not-to- impeach-rouhani/30722199.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Announcement by Elyes Fakhfakh comes as Ennahdha calls for consultations to appoint a new prime minister. Tunisian Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh says he will conduct a cabinet reshuffle in the coming days, amid rising tensions with coalition partner Ennahdha. The announcement on Monday came as Ennahdha, the biggest party in the countrys Parliament, called for a new government, saying the current coalition had lost credibility due to allegations of conflicts of interest involving Fakhfakh. Last month, an independent member of parliament published documents indicating that the prime minister owns shares in companies that had won deals worth 44 million dinars ($15m) from the state. A judge has opened an investigation, and the anti-corruption minister has assigned a public watchdog to look into the issue and report back. Fakhfakh, who was sworn in in February after winning a confidence vote in Parliament following four months of post-election deadlock, denies he did anything improper or corrupt. He has promised to step down if investigators find wrongdoing. Fakhfakh has rejected accusations of corruption and promised to step down if investigators find wrongdoing [File: Fethi Belaid/AFP] Following the emergence of allegations against the prime minister, Ennahdha said last week it would review its support to the government. It gave no details of what action it would consider taking, but reports citing sources close to the party said at the time that the withdrawal of its seven ministers from the government was among the possible options. On Monday, Ennahdha called for consultations to appoint a new prime minister, a move opposed by President Kais Saied. There will be no consultations so long as the prime minister remains in power, Saieds office said in a statement after a meeting with the prime minister. Fakhfakh strongly criticised Ennahdha, saying in a statement that Ennahdhas calls violated governmental solidarity and served partisan interests. With a cabinet reshuffle, Ennahdha may find itself out of position power for the first time since 2011 following the overthrow of longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali by a popular uprising. While more than 1,000 Clubs are currently open to offer childcare for essential workers, COVID-19 has forced nearly half of Boys & Girls Clubs across the country to close their doors in a traditional fashion. To ensure the organization is still able to help kids and families in communities with the greatest need, more than 3,000 Clubs nationwide are offering a range of services such as virtual academic programming, activity kits for pickup and providing meals to children who are out of school. "For nearly 160 years, Boys & Girls Clubs have provided youth with the services, stability and support they need to succeed," said James A. Haslam II, founder of Pilot Company. "As a long-time valued partner of Pilot Company, we appreciate the commitment of Boys & Girls Clubs to serving children in our communities. Thanks to the generosity of our guests, Boys & Girls Clubs will be able to help youth across the country stay connected and keep learning in these uncertain times." Throughout the two-week campaign, guests are invited to visit any of the 700 company-operated stores to participate, including Pilot and Flying J travel centers and restaurants, EZ Trip, Mr. Fuel, Stamart and Pride locations. Guests will be prompted at checkout to round-up their purchase* or make a donation of another amount. When guests donate, 100% of the proceeds will benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of America and its continued efforts with youth development and community services. "We are so thankful to the Pilot Company for supporting children, families and communities as they navigate this difficult time in 2020," said Jim Clark, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "Because of Pilot's commitment, we can continue to help ensure all youth have equitable access to opportunities to learn and grow in a safe, online environment while they prepare to return to school." This is Pilot Company's second round-up campaign this month in an effort to make a positive impact while responding to the nationwide coin shortage. While Pilot Company continues to provide change as appropriate, the round-up option provides a simple way for guests to instead donate their change. To learn more about Pilot Company and its longstanding commitment to giving back, visit pilotcompany.com/about. For nearby travel center locations to donate, download the Pilot Flying J app.** More information about Boys & Girls Clubs of America is available at https://www.bgca.org/. *Certain purchases (including, without limitation, fuel and fuel additives and purchases made on fleet cards or direct bill programs) are not eligible for round-up contributions. **Standard data rates may apply. About Pilot Company Pilot Company keeps interstate travelers moving as one of the leading suppliers of fuel and the largest operator of travel centers in North America. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot Company supplies more than 11 billion gallons of fuel per year and has an industry-leading network of more than 950 retail and fueling locations that offer a variety of products, amenities and innovative solutions to make road travel easier. The Pilot Flying J travel center network includes locations in 44 states and six Canadian provinces with more than 680 restaurants, 74,000 truck parking spaces, 5,300 deluxe showers, 6,200 diesel lanes and 35 Truck Care service centers. The One9 Fuel Network provides fleets and professional drivers with more places to stop at a variety of fueling locations. Pilot Company's energy division supplies fuel, DEF, bio and renewables and provides hauling and disposal services as the third largest tanker fleet in North America. Pilot Company is currently ranked No. 10 on Forbes' list of America's Largest Private Companies. More information on locations and amenities are available on the Pilot Flying J app. For additional information about Pilot Company and its commitment to team members and giving back, visit www.pilotcompany.com. About the Boys and Girls Clubs For 160 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,700 Clubs serve 4.6 million young people through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun and friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Club programs promote academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 54 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at Facebook and Twitter. SOURCE Pilot Company Related Links http://www.pilotcompany.com A federal judge has rejected a $19million proposed settlement for Harvey Weinstein's accusers after several women slammed the deal as a 'cruel hoax' that would result in the disgraced movie mogul not paying a dime. U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Heellerstein in Manhattan announced the move on Tuesday noting the accusers in the class-action suit were too varied to be grouped together. 'Based on my studies of the papers, based on my study of the objection papers, and based on the flaws that I have already noted, I will not give preliminary approval to the settlement,' he said. A federal judge rejected a $19million settlement deal for Harvey Weinstein's accusers that had been criticized by plaintiffs as a 'one-sided proposal' Dominique Huett (pictured left) and former actress Tarale Wulff (right) were among six accusers who filed opposition documents on Monday, slamming the deal as a 'cruel hoax' Heellerstein told the plaintiff's lead attorney Elizabeth Fagan that the deal would 'create inequality' among those involved, because not every woman was subjected to the same extent of sexual abuse, Deadline reported. He also highlighted the fact that it would leave Weinstein and his team with a $15million defense fund which he called 'unconscionable.' The deal to settle the lawsuits, brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Chicago lawyer on behalf of multiple women, would have seen accusers claim $7,500 to $750,000 each. A spokesperson for James, who announced the tentative agreement on June 30, said her office is reviewing the decision and determining its next steps. 'Our office has been fighting tirelessly to provide these brave women with the justice they are owed and will continue to do so,' Morgan Rubin said in a written statement. Lawyers for several women who had opposed the deal have praised what they described as Hellerstein's swift rejection of a one-sided proposal. In a Manhattan federal court filing Monday, six women said the settlement would ultimately add up to a $11.2million payout after deducting legal fees and costs, with typical awards of just $10,000 to $20,000 - while shielding the defendants' insurers from big payouts. Lawyers for accusers, including Rowen Chiu (left) Kaja Sokola (center) and Wedil David (right) argued the settlement would ultimately add up to a $11.2million payout after deducting legal fees and costs Included in the class-action suit is Zelda Perkins (pictured with Weinstein in 1998) who served as the former movie mogul's personal assistant The opposition document was filed by attorneys for accusers Wedil David, Dominique Huett, Kaja Sokola, Rowena Chiu, Zelda Perkins and Tarale Wulff, according to The Wrap. They argued that the settlement 'absolved' Weinstein, his brother Bob Weinstein and the board of liability, while while setting aside another $15.2million to help cover their defense costs. 'Equally reprehensible are the millions of dollars going to lawyers, corporations and famous actors at the expense of the survivors, while the insurance companies pay pennies on the dollar and Harvey Weinstein himself pays nothing,' lawyers said in a joint statement Monday. 'The efforts being made to prevent women from continuing with their litigation and holding those responsible for their trauma accountable are simply unprecedented. We are heartened by the growing opposition to this settlement and are hopeful that it will be rejected.' A spokesman for Weinstein did not immediately comment. A lawyer for his companies declined comment. The 68-year-old former Hollywood producer was convicted earlier this year of rape and sexual assault against two women. Accusations by dozens of women in 2017 led to the downfall of his career and gave rise to #MeToo, the global movement to hold powerful men accountable for their sexual misconduct. Weinstein was diagnosed in March with the coronavirus just days after he was moved to the state's maximum security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo to begin serving his 23-year prison sentence. iGotcha Media (http://www.igotchamedia.com), a fully-integrated brand experience firm that specializes in emotionally captivating consumers, today launched its all-new Health and Wellness System. Brands and retailers worldwide are facing an unprecedented challenge. The need to reinvigorate commercial activity while managing risk to consumers and employees, and compliance with regional health authorities. The iGotcha Media team has responded to this challenge by developing the Health and Wellness System. This system creates a safe and secure retail environment a safety zone that may extend from the parking lot to the stock room. Modular applications include: Drive-In Pickup Kiosks Curbside Apps Dynamic Digital Signage Customer Queue Apps People Counters Hand Sanitizer Kiosks Thermal Detection Digital Traffic Signs Occupancy Sensors Queue Management Antimicrobial Touch Interfaces Sanitization Robots All applications generate real-time data that demonstrates safety and compliance with regulatory standards. The Health and Wellness System also offers dynamic interactive digital signage solutions that provide a platform for engaging with consumers by offering promotions, special offers and product information. The objective is to rebuild the connection between brands/retailers and consumers by telling powerful stories that create real human connections in an era of infinite choice, eroded consumer loyalty and low attention spans. iGotcha Medias integrated brand experiences are impactful and memorable, converting passive consumers into experiential partners. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a boom in online shopping, but research shows that almost 90% of consumers still want the in-person retail experience, says Greg Adelstein, President, iGotcha Media. We expect our new system to help consumers get what they want. The new normal may be different but we believe that we can protect consumers and employees while offering brands and retailers new promotional platforms. A safe and secure partial return to normalcy would contribute to overall economic growth, satisfy pent-up consumer demand and provide innovative platforms to better connect with existing and prospective customers. About iGotcha Media iGotcha Media creates fully-integrated brand experiences that emotionally captivate consumers. We help our clients creatively communicate their value propositions. iGotcha Medias solutions include screens, interactive kiosks, video walls, RFID technology, audience measurement technology, wayfinding, payment solutions, in-store audio, strategy and content creation. With offices in Montreal and Toronto, iGotcha Media's clients include Birks, Browns Shoes, Cirque du Soleil, Groupe Touchette, Lamar Advertising, Loto-Quebec, National Bank of Canada, Nissan Canada, Old Port of Montreal, Psycho Bunny, Reebok, Toronto Congress Centre and VIA Rail Canada. For more information, please visit http://www.igotchamedia.com. Media Contact: Mark Lowe, PRagmatic Communications, for iGotcha Media mark.lowe(at)pragcom.com / (514) 576-2519 Paul Junck, president of the Luxembourg Hospital Federation, spoke to RTL Radio on Tuesday morning. Junck told RTL Radio the recent increase in new infections has caused concern among Luxembourg's hospitals, but they are prepared for a potential second wave. All necessary materials are available and staff within the sector can benefit from the experience gained since the pandemic began. However, they are still faced with the challenge of finding new qualified staff - around 80-100 additional employees are required. Junck said it was also important that people who are ill know they are not putting themselves at risk by going to hospital if they are suffering from an illness other than coronavirus. Hospitals are not virus centrifuges, explained Junck, who hoped to spread the reassuring message among the public. Video in Luxembourgish: Strategic direction post-COVID-19 and further details on asset monetisation are key expectations from the 43rd AGM of RIL, analysts said. Billionaire Mukesh Ambani is likely to announce plans of leveraging recent partnerships with global technology giants like Facebook as well as a vision to maximise oil to chemical conversion at his flagship Reliance Industries' annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, analysts said. Ambani, 63, may at the company's first online AGM also give a sneak preview of his vision for decarbonization of energy molecules to create value-added products with almost no carbon emissions. Strategic direction post-COVID-19 and further details on asset monetisation are key expectations from the 43rd AGM of RIL, analysts said. The AGM is "expected to report on progress on asset monetisation (INViTs and stake sale in O2C business), more details on strategic partnerships in digital business, growth plans on financial vertical, oil to chemical integration progress and new technologies," Morgan Stanley said. Ambani had at the last AGM on August 12, 2019 announced plans to sell stake in RIL's technology venture as well as in its oil-to-chemical (O2C) business to help become net debt-free by March 2021. The net debt-free status has been achieved much ahead of the deadline thanks to Rs 1.18 lakh crore amassed through the sale of 25.24 per cent in Jio Platforms Ltd - the unit that houses India's youngest but largest telecom firm Jio Infocomm and apps - to likes of Facebook, and the country's biggest rights issue of Rs 53,124 crore. The sale of a 20 per cent stake in O2C business, which comprises of its twin oil refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat and petrochemical assets, to Saudi Aramco for an asking of $15 billion has however dragged on, although RIL has said it is on track. "We expect investor focus to be on asset monetisation details especially on telecom InvITs and Saudi Aramco stake sale; capital allocation and growth strategy post-COVID-19; plans to leverage the partnerships with global technology peers and integrate its retail, digital and financials business; details on oil to chemicals integration and expansion of oil retail and new energy business with BP," Morgan Stanley said. Over the past three years, RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani focussed on de-leveraging, asset monetisation and strategic direction for various business lines. The 2017 AGM highlight was 1:1 bonus issue, the launch of JioPhone with free voice calls and energy assets monetisation while 2018 AGM focused on O2C integration, integration of Jio and offline retail stores and transitioning into a technology platform. The 2019 AGM highlight was the end of the telecom investment cycle, de-leveraging in 18 months and telecom and retail listing in 5 years. Proceeds from the stake sales in Jio Platforms along with the Rs 53,124 crore raised in a rights issue in June and from the sale of a 49 per cent stake in its fuel retail network to BP last summer for Rs 7,000 crore, will help the company become net debt-free, Reliance announced last month, once the promised funds come in (75 per cent of the funds from the rights issue will come in next year). Goldman Sachs said the focus of the AGM is expected to be largely on product launches around RIL's partnership with Facebook potentially ranging from integration of JioMart with WhatsApp, additional colour on payments business and launch of a large product ecosystem (Super App) where Jio could integrate its services with WhatsApp. "We also expect additional colour on their vision to maximise oil to chemical conversion (to over 70 per cent) to create an annuity-like cash flow, potentially leveraging its proprietary Multi-zone Catalytic Cracking process and through a potential strategic partnership with Saudi Aramco," it said. In the past, RIL has talked about 500 million customers being within its reach. Jio currently has a base of around 388 million subscribers. "We will look for any further colour on Jio's strategy to bring the next 100 million into the fold," it said. Last year, RIL announced plans to reach 20 million homes and 15 million businesses for its JioFiber. As per TRAI data, Jio had less than a million subscribers for this product as of February 2020. RIL at the last AGM stated that Jio is already a software company, and had invested in 14 startups until then. "We will look for potential colour on the monetisation of its existing internet platforms (music, video, and news apps), and potential foray into any newer verticals," it said. In the 2019 AGM, RIL had outlined its ambition to be in the top 20 global retailers in the next five years. Following the recent launch of JioMart, the management is expected to provide more colour on the path to achieve this ambition. Goldman Sachs said it expects management to provide greater insights into the strategic partnership with Saudi. BofA Securities said of the five key initiatives announced in last AGM, RIL completed the strategic stake sale of Jio, petro-retail, and moved to zero net debt. "We might get an update on the remaining two - stake sale to Aramco and of Reliance Retail." "We may get further updates on how RIL is looking to capitalise on the digital trends and how it is leveraging and nurturing the start-up ecosystem," it said adding progress/update on other initiatives from last AGM like home broadband, online grocery/new commerce initiatives, Jio First Day-First-Show along with a few new announcements are expected. JP Morgan said the AGM could have updates on Reliance Retail (large new commerce/e-commerce rollout). "While we do not expect any large strategic investor in Reliance Retail any time soon, this is a key potential event the investors will be watching, especially as the Jio Platforms stake sale seems done," it said. Photograph: PTI Photo Weber State University joins 180 colleges and universities in litigation opposing international student ban July 13, 2020 OGDEN, Utah Today, Weber State University, in partnership with the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, joined 180 colleges and universities in an amicus brief filed in support of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)s legal complaint against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The plaintiffs seek an injunction against new guidance from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which effectively bans international students enrolled exclusively in online courses as a result of COVID-19 from remaining in the United States. The brief argues that higher education institutions and international students will be burdened by the guidances arbitrary prohibition, without notice, to online-only courses for international students, particularly after investing substantial resources in planning their fall 2020 operations. Institutions, the amicus argues, relied heavily on the existing SEVP guidance that flexibility would continue for the duration of the emergency. The brief and list of the colleges participating in this legal action is available here. The new ICE guidance announced on July 6 has added significant uncertainties both for higher education institutions and for international students, in addition to the existing challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic situation, said Dr. Yimin Wang, senior international officer at Weber State University. Cases of the virus are increasing and the national emergency is still in effect. We request ICE to allow institutions to continue to operate under the flexible policies previously established so as to enable higher education institutions to best serve our students. Currently, Weber State has about 300 international students. Since the announcement of the new ICE policy, WSUs Office of International Programs has been working with both international students and the academic departments to make sure that each student meets the visa requirement and continues to make academic progress during the course scheduling process. Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University. Mumbai, July 14 : Actress Rhea Chakraborty has shared that she will never come to terms with actor Sushant Singh Rajput not being around anymore, and said she is still struggling to face her emotions. For the first time since Sushant's demise, Rhea took to Instagram to express her state of mind and emotions through a moving note. "Still struggling to face my emotions.. an irreparable numbness in my heart . You are the one who made me believe in love, the power of it . You taught me how a simple mathematical equation can decipher the meaning of life and I promise you that I learnt from you every day. I will never come to terms with you not being here anymore," she wrote on Instagram. The actress continued: "I know you're in a much more peaceful place now. The moon, the stars, the galaxies would've welcomed "the greatest physicist "with open arms. Full of empathy and joy, you could lighten up a shooting star - now, you are one . I will wait for you my shooting star and make a wish to bring you back to me." Rhea also shared two photographers from the happy moments that the two spent together. In the pictures, they are smiling, beaming with joy and looks at peace in each other's company. Rhea said that words can't express her real state of emotional turmoil. She said: "You were everything a beautiful person could be, the greatest wonder that the world has seen . My words are incapable of expressing the love we have and I guess you truly meant it when you said it is beyond both of us. "You loved everything with an open heart, and now you've shown me that our love is indeed exponential. Be in peace Sushi. 30 days of losing you but a lifetime of loving you," she added, and signed off the emotional post by writing: "Eternally connected... To infinity and beyond". On June 14, Sushant was found hanging in his Bandra residence by his domestic help, which left the industry and his fans shocked. He was reportedly battling depression over the past few months and undergoing treatment. Latest updates on Sushant Singh Rajput Death Mystery -- Syndicated from IANS UB center launches online courses about solar energy technology We recognize that the demand for PV technology is rising, and that our university plays a role in supporting the sector. BUFFALO, N.Y. As climate change increasingly drives adoption of sun-harnessing technologies, the number of clean energy jobs grows, too. A new set of online, non-credit courses from the University at Buffalo aims to cultivate the worker pipeline. Solar Energy for Engineers, Architects and Code Inspectors consists of three courses that explore fundamental concepts and mechanics of photovoltaic (PV) technology. It examines the intricacies of solar system design and provides a framework for solar PV project management. We recognize that the demand for PV technology is rising, and that our university plays a role in supporting the sector, says Jonathan Bird, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. We devised a curriculum that supplies the base knowledge needed by anyone interested in the field. It is particularly beneficial for engineers, HVAC installers, architects and building code inspectors. The series was created and produced by The Center for Industrial Effectiveness (UB TCIE), in collaboration with SUNY Erie. It was made possible by a $760,000 Performance Investment Fund grant from the State University of New York (SUNY) via New York State Governor Andrew Cuomos Climate Jobs NY initiative. Content includes how PV technology operates, the anatomy of solar electric systems, solar energy economics, pros and cons of different systems, considerations for designing a PV system, and fundamental code compliance. These courses prepare learners to distinguish the elements necessary for creating optimal PV systems, says series facilitator Gay Canough, PhD, founder and president of ETM Solar Works in Endicott, New York. Good designs result in long-lasting systems that require minimal maintenance. The series is available on the Coursera platform and includes: Solar Energy Systems Overview: Introduces the history and mechanics behind converting light into electricity Solar Energy and Electrical System Design: Supplies insights necessary for properly planning, and therefore successfully installing, PV systems per design specifications Solar Energy Codes, Permitting and Zoning: Covers local, state and national code and zoning rules specific to PV systems, as well as key design elements and points for inspection Content consists of 5- to 10-minute video lesson learning sprints, demos, hands-on exercises, project work, readings and discussions. Learners may sign up for individual courses or the complete set. There is no charge to audit a course, which includes videos, readings, community discussion forums and the ability to view assignments. The fee to gain complete course access which includes submitting all assignments for feedback or a grade, and the opportunity to earn a certificate for the complete series is $49 per month. Continuing education units (CEUs) and professional development hours (PDHs) are also available through UB TCIE for learners who earn course certificates. The Solar Energy for Engineers, Architects and Code Inspectors courses join 19 others created and produced by UB TCIE and available on Coursera. Topics include digital manufacturing and design, blockchain technology, energy, collaborative robot safety and computer vision. (Photo : How Krishna C. Mukherjee has Shaped the Computing Landscape ) Technology has evolved at an incredible speed in the past three decades. Behind every technical innovation is an inventor who could envisage what others could not even imagine. Krishna C. Mukherjee is one of those few technology pioneers, inventors, and innovators who've shaped the computing landscape. He has functioned as Chief Software Architect and Engineer for Microsoft. The technical genius has been involved in the creation and development of world-famous products such as Windows, Office, and Visual Studio. During his professional career, Mukherjee made significant contributions in the areas of software architecture, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing. Krishna C. Mukherjee is a distinguished alumnus of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). He earned his Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and his Master of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Kanpur. As a student at the IITs, he specialized in AI and Robotics. In 1988, Microsoft Corporation recruited Mukherjee from IIT Kanpur to architect, design, and develop mission-critical products. Mukherjee was completing his Master's degree at that time. He received the degree with the highest distinction. Soon after that, he joined Microsoft at the company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA. Mukherjee led the development of many popular features which include page layout, printing, proofing tools such as Spelling, Grammar and Thesaurus, WordBASIC, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and Component Object Model (COM). Mukherjee introduced AI technology at Microsoft in the early 1990s. He oversaw the creation of features such as AutoCorrect, AutoFormat, Office Assistant, and IntelliSense. In the late 1990s, workflow automation using AI was alien to the world. Krishna C. Mukherjee invented the Intelligent Filing Manager to improve the efficiency of business processes significantly. He says, "My idea behind creating the Intelligent Filing Manager was to provide a collaborative and efficient way to maintain frequently changing data and perform multi-jurisdictional filings. Prior to my invention, the banking, insurance, legal and medical sectors faced challenges managing data and workflows. The AI system provides a one-stop automated solution that eases high-volume forms publishing where large sets of varied forms need to be filed simultaneously. My invention automates workflows in a user-friendly manner. It enables enterprises to engage with their customers and become highly profitable effectively." Krishna C. Mukherjee's distributed architectures and domain-driven designs inspired the creation of advanced technologies for Windows and open-source platforms. Microsoft developed Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) and Blend under Mukherjee's leadership. In the 2000s, Mukherjee leveraged AI to establish the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model for transacting business across the Internet or the cloud. Microsoft released Windows Azure in 2010 and renamed it, Microsoft Azure, in 2014. Microsoft released Office 365 in 2011. Krishna C. Mukherjee created financial applications that are used globally. He directed the development of Bloomberg Valuation Service (BVAL), which utilizes scalable architecture, quantitative algorithms, and predictive models to price millions of financial instruments across different asset classes accurately. BVAL was released in 2008. In 2011-2012, Mukherjee developed the AutoPay platform, which facilitates online bill payments. Recently, he built SaaS applications for omnichannel retailing. Further, he has been designing Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and chatbot systems, which use natural language processing and machine learning to deliver outstanding customer experience. In an illustrious career spanning over three decades, Mukherjee has made stellar contributions to business and technology. He received prestigious awards from industry stalwarts and international institutions. His work has created the foundation for future generations to build upon. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Lu Yuyu, Chinese activist and founder of citizen media outlet Not The News, in this undated photo. Lu was imprisoned for four years and suffered torture in prison. (Courtesy of Lu Yuyu) Chinese Activist Journalist Stands up Against Torture in Prison Lu Yuyu, the founder of the citizen media outlet Not The News, was released after four years of imprisonment on June 15. He told The Epoch Times that despite the physical and mental torture he suffered in prison, he would never succumb to the Chinese regime. Since October 2012, Lu and his girlfriend, Li Yuting, had managed to publish the daily blog Wickedonnaa on Twitter about protests happening around China. The blog keeps track of the scale and number of incidents, the number of arrested protesters, and the reason behind the demonstrations. The site recorded 28,950 incidents in mainland China in 2015, and 9,869 incidents in the first quarter of 2016. Lu and Li worked hard to bypass the Chinese regimes sophisticated online censorship mechanism, known as the Great Firewall. Certain topics and information that the regime deems sensitive would be immediately deleted by web censors. Through their work, Lu and Li observed that uprisings and violent suppression of protesters occurred more frequently in remote areas. This has to do with peasants being discriminated against for a long time, having no right to speak, being left out of social attention, being stigmatized for a long time. The information blockade also allowed the suppression to go to its extreme, Lu said. In their last post on June 13, 2016, they documented 94 protests, including a demonstration of over 2,000 retired military officers in Beijing, according to China Labour Bulletin. On June 16, 2016, the police kidnapped the couple from their hometown in rural Dali, in Chinas southwest Yunnan Province. They were both charged with picking quarrels and provoking trouble, a vague charge often used to detain dissidents in China. In November 2016, Lu and Li were recipients in absentia of the Reporters Without Borders (RSF)-TV5 Monde Press Freedom Prize, and won in the category of citizen journalist. Suffering From Depression Lu said that at the end of 2016, after a month of interrogation, he developed depression. He explained that from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. he would be kept in an isolated cell where he was interrogated by the security guards and leaders of the public security (Chinese police). Lu was tortured with the tiger bench method. Prison guards use belts to bind the victims arms and legs tightly to a bench. They then add layers of bricks or some other hard object under the victims feet, which further pulls the binding, sometimes to the point that the belts break. Victims endure unbearable pain from the pressure of the belts and often pass out. In the torture called tiger bench depicted in this drawing, the elevation of the legs over time causes excruciating pain. Torture is routinely used in Chinas labor camps, and also in the brainwashing centers to which prisoners of conscience will be sent. (Minghui.org) While Lu was tied up to a bench, the police repeatedly tried to break his will by persuading him to plead guilty and to change lawyers, along with showing him videos of other dissidents pleading guilty. Later, Lu began to experience hallucinations. He said, I became suspicious, and I felt that everyone was talking about me. I knew it wasnt true, but I couldnt help it. One day, the police told Lu to lower his head, but he refused to do so. So the police kicked him and a fight broke out. The police threatened to kill Lu. He was severely beaten and then restricted with handcuffs and shackles for more than 10 days. Slave Labor in Prison In August 2017, Lu was eventually given a four-year prison sentence. On Oct. 13 that same year, he was transferred to a prison in Dali. He was assigned to the clothing workshop to sew clothes for popular name brands. He worked non-stop from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. Lu would wake up at 6 a.m. and go to bed at 9:30 p.m. When he wasnt working, he would undergo brainwashing and re-education by being forced to watch certain TV programs that contained communist ideology. A meal was served after 6 a.m. The workers were barely compensated for such laborious work. Lu disclosed that people who could meet the quota received dozens of yuan per month, but later it was reduced to 10 yuan ($1.41) or less. Those who could not meet the quota would get punished. Lu described one form of punishment. It was the discipline exercise, such as left turn, right turn, etc., after the TV news time. Lu stood up against the punishment. As a consequence, his monthly purchase limit was drastically reduced from 300 yuan ($42.46) to 30 yuan ($4.24). The living condition was really bad. Its sad when you cant [afford to] buy something to eat, he said. At the end of 2019, Lu told his lawyer that he suffered from depression and malnutrition. After the lawyer raised the health concern with the prison, Lus monthly purchase limit was readjusted so he could buy more food. The prison arranged a police officer to conduct a psychological evaluation on Lu before granting his request for a doctor to treat his depression out of his own pocket. During the imprisonment, Lu was not allowed to do any exercises, not even push-ups or sit-ups. He would be punished if he broke that rule. Despite various tortures, Lu has never pleaded guilty. He said that the prison had a two-month training for new offenders. It was to brainwash you into making a confession and pleading guilty. I rejected it. Last year, the prison told him that if he confessed to his crimes, the sentence would be reduced by eight or nine months. He refused the offer. If I could persist (with the blog) for so long, theres no way I would give up anything half way, he said. Bigger Prison Cell On the day Lu was released, three security guards accompanied him to his local police station where his father went to pick him up. Lu was ordered to report to the local police station and judiciary sector with his cell phone number. He was also banned from going to Beijing, Shanghai, and Xinjiang. A police officer was also assigned to monitor Lu and to report his daily whereabouts. The close surveillance made Lu feel like he was back in prison, but in a bigger cell. This is the Chinese law, operated by the regime itself. Most chief executives will say there is never a "good time" to leave the job. But there is a bad time - and ME Banks Jamie McPhee appears to have found it. After more than 10 years at the bank, which is owned by industry funds, McPhee has chosen to exit in the aftermath of a damaging and highly public snafu over the banks mishandling of a change to its customer redraw limits. The problem was not about changing the customer redraw limits - it was the execution of the change in policy that brought ME Bank unstuck - ie, it neglected to tell its customers. And it was a move for which the bank was forced to ultimately and unreservedly apologise. ME Bank CEO Jamie McPhee quits to have some me-time. Credit:Jesse Marlow McPhee's decision to quit appears to have taken the board by surprise, based on the fact that he will leave in a couple of weeks rather than wait until a replacement can be found. That in itself creates strange optics. NATO Deputy Secretary General visits Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation 13 Jul. 2020 Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana visited Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium on Monday (13 July 2020). He had talks about NATO's military priorities with the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Tod D. Wolters, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Tim Radford, Chief of Staff, General Markus Kneip, and other senior commanders. The Deputy Secretary General thanked General Wolters for his leadership and for SHAPE's role in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing to maintain strong deterrence and defence. Since the beginning of the pandemic, NATO and Allied armed forces have played a key role, including with 350 flights airlifting hundreds of tons of critical supplies around the world, almost 100 field hospitals, and more than half a million of troops supporting the civilian response. During his visit to SHAPE, one of NATO's two strategic commands, the Deputy Secretary General visited the Cyberspace Operations Centre and the Comprehensive Crisis and Operations Management Centre. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IHG, Hilton, Marriott Among Hotel Giants Battling for UK Budget Hotel Chain Global hotel companies are in negotiations with the leading ownership group of a UK-based economy chain to change flag affiliation. If talks result in a deal, it could end up being the first major hotel transaction resulting from the coronavirus pandemics downturn in travel. The Travelodge Owners Action Group, an organization representing the landlords of more than 400 of the 580 Travelodge no relation to the Wyndham-owned Travelodge hotels in the UK has been in a tense rent battle with the economy hotel chain since the pandemic forced hoteliers to suspend operations. UK hotels were only able to reopen to non-essential travelers on July 4. Travelodge, owned by Goldman Sachs as well as hedge fund groups GoldenTree Asset Management and Avenue Capital Group, didnt pay a round of quarterly rent due at the end of March, citing the tanked demand in travel led to lost revenue. The hotel company, which operates the hotels and pays rent to the landlords who are responsible for keeping the real estate up to brand standards has since worked out a deal with creditors for reduced rent with individual landlords through the end of 2021. But the rent reduction deal struck in June also enables those landlords to consider a new operator, and plenty of companies from outside the UK are jockeying to get a foothold in the countrys economy hotel space. We are doing everything we can to procure as many options as possible to determine what the realistic best option may be, preferably one that would give landlords a base payment and profit share, said Viv Watts, managing partner of Oasis Holding who founded and leads the Travelodge Owners Action Group. Accor, Hilton, IHG, Magnuson Hotels, Marriott, and Oyo are among the companies in talks with the TOAG, Watts confirmed in an interview with Skift. A Hilton spokesperson has since refuted Watts claim, telling Skift the hotel company has not been in contact or in talks with the Travelodge Owners Action Group. Story continues Travelodge operates under a leasehold business model in the UK, where the company inks 25-year lease terms with landlords. Watts recognizes many of the bigger global companies operate under franchise or management agreements but is still trying to get a compromise deal with a new operator to give landlords a base payment and share of the profits. Accor is an attractive option for the landlords due to its Ibis Budget brand linking closely with Travelodge and likely not requiring as much capital investment for a conversion as some of the other global brands, Watts said. Magnuson Hotels and Oyo are also leading contenders in ongoing talks. Marriott would use the Travelodge properties as a way to introduce the Fairfield Inn brand to the UK, Watts said. Under the June company voluntary arrangement with Travelodge that mandated landlords comply with a reduced rent structure, landlords have until mid-November to consider and enter into a new brand agreement with a different company. If a deal is struck, Travelodge would have 30 days to either come up with their own offer or leave the impacted properties. But Travelodge repeatedly ignored flexible rent offers and negotiations the TOAG offered the hotel company ahead of its turn to the legal system for a rent deal, Watts claims. He isnt expecting too much from the company ahead of the November deadline. Some operators are getting paid little to no rent through as far as the end of next year, Watts said. Why would they want to stay with Travelodge? Travelodge did not respond to Skifts request for comment in time for publication. Igniting the Conversion Engine Travelodge landlords are looking for a more financially sound hotel operator. Any deal with one of the global brands would be the first major transaction struck since many of these companies claimed conversions where a hotel owner changes flag affiliation will be the major source of growth during the initial coronavirus recovery when construction lending is tight. If you look through cycles, in a weaker environment, conversions go up for us and go up for the stronger brands because not every hotel can perform as well in the weaker environment, Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson said during the companys first quarter earnings call in May. But Magnuson Hotels CEO Thomas Magnuson is banking on bigger not always equating to better in his own pitch to Travelodge landlords. The Travelodge landlord situation is an economically tragic situation, where the landlords are not being allowed to capitalize on their end of the deal even though from what we understand the company does have the resources to pay the rent, Magnuson Hotels CEO Thomas Magnuson said. Given our above-market averages through Covid, we are confident we can take the above-industry results during these times and help owners regain their expectation very quickly. Magnuson Hotels focuses on midscale and independent hotels in roadside, secondary, and drive-to markets. The company claims its U.S. room sales in April the worst month of the pandemic for the U.S. hotel industry outperformed the national average by nearly 17 percent. The more than 500 Travelodge hotels across the UK are located across primary, secondary, tertiary, and highway markets nearly identical to Magnusons U.S. portfolio. The hotelier aims to do what he did in the U.S. in the UK, where it is headquartered but currently has less than 20 properties. Id love to see what they can deliver here because they seem to have interesting results in the U.S., Watts said. Magnuson argues Travelodge landlords should view his companys current small UK footprint as an attractive commodity. There are 247 Accor hotels already in the UK. Travelodge landlords could find themselves in competition with their own company just as individuals and franchisees have in Choice [Hotels] or Marriott, Magnuson said. When consolidation occurs and brand saturation happens, usually the corporation wins and property and hotel owners lose. Theres only so much business to go around, and thats the way it works. Lets Make a Deal With roughly five months to go, Watts recognizes there is a lot of negotiating to be done, both with global hotel companies as well as the coalition of Travelodge landlords within his own organization, most operating with only one or two properties. Some may ultimately decide to leave the hotel business altogether. The options are not binary between a new deal and Travelodge, Watts said. Some operators could decide to convert properties to housing. The TOAG needs at least 100 of the more than 400 properties it represents to move into a new agreement for a deal to make sense, Watts added. But hes aiming for at least 200 to sign onto a deal that would preferably be announced well before the November deadline with Travelodge. While the deal could be among the hotel industrys most notable portfolio transactions for 2020, Watts recognizes it is also not exactly the best time to be at the negotiating table. This gives us five months to determine our next position and get back in the drivers seat, he said. Were doing it at probably the worst time in the industry, but at least we will have some degree of control over our destiny. [UPDATE: After publication, a Hilton spokesperson contacted Skift to say the company was not among the group of hotel brands in talks to take over Travelodge management contracts in the UK.] Subscribe to Skift newsletters for essential news about the business of travel. As the United States continues to struggle with COVID-19, Florida broke a U.S. record for the largest number of new cases in a single day. State officials reported more than 15,000 new infections on Sunday. That number broke New Yorks record of more than 12,000 cases in one day, set in April. Florida, however, is reporting far fewer deaths than New York did during the height of its crisis. COVID-19 deaths have been rising in the U.S., especially in the South and West. But the levels are still well below numbers recorded in April. Florida experienced a record-breaking week last week, with 514 reported deaths. That is an average of 73 deaths a day. Three weeks ago, the state averaged 30 deaths a day. Dr. Cindy Prins is a disease expert at the University of Florida. She told The Associated Press, I really do think we could control this, and its the human element that is so critical. She added, It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when were in a crisis, and were definitely not doing it. The record number of daily cases was reported one day after Floridas popular theme park Walt Disney World reopened. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered bars to close in an effort to slow the virus spread. But he has so far resisted calls for a statewide rule for people to wear face coverings in public. People have resisted face covering rules in other U.S. states, too. On Sunday, U.S. Health and Human Services Department official Brett Giroir said he thinks public face coverings are essential to help slow the virus. Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC television, if we dont have that, we will not get control of the virus. President Donald Trump, a Republican, wore a face mask in public for the first time on Saturday. The Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, said Trumps action showed he might have crossed a bridge. Pelosi told CNNs State of the Union that she hopes the move means the president will change his attitude, which will be helpful in stopping the spread of the coronavirus. In Houston, Texas, two top Democratic officials called for the nations fourth-largest city to issue stay-at-home orders. Hospitals there are struggling with increasing numbers of sick patients. Around the world, other countries experiencing sharp increases in COVID-19 cases include India, South Africa and Brazil. India has the most cases after the U.S. and Brazil. It has reported a record 28,637 cases in the past 24 hours. Officials announced a weeklong lockdown beginning Tuesday in the southern technology center of Bangalore. The city includes offices of top tech companies, including Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. South Africa has reported more than 10,000 new daily cases for the past several days, including 13,497 new infections on Saturday. Johannesburgs densely populated Soweto township is one of the virus hot spots. With over 264,000 cases and nearly 4,000 deaths, South Africa has reported more than 40 percent of all COVID-19 cases in Africa. Im Bryan Lynn. The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. Ashley Thompson 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 theme park n. a park built for fun that usually includes games, machines to ride on and restaurants bar n. a place where alcoholic drinks are sold and served essential adj. necessary attitude n. how you think or feel about something lockdown n. a state of isolation or restricted movement established as a security measure hot spot n. a place where there is a lot of particular activity We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Floridas rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases is turning Miami into the epicenter of the pandemic, a top doctor warned Monday, while an epidemiologist called the regions situation extremely grave. Those assessments came as Florida recorded more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases Monday after a record-setting weekend, a spike that partly reflects the larger number of tests being performed but also a high percentage of those returning positive. The state set a national record with more than 15,000 cases reported Sunday. Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged Monday that the disease is spreading and urged people to take precautions such as wearing masks in public places, social distancing and avoiding crowds. We have to address the virus with steady resolve. We cant get swept away in fear, we have to understand what is going on, understand that we have a long road ahead but we also have to understand that within the context of the moment, he said during a Miami press conference. While the outbreak has been spreading through much of the state, it has hit South Florida particularly hard, both now and throughout the pandemic. Its three counties Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach make up about a quarter of the states population but have been responsible for about half the new cases. Florida International University epidemiologist Dr. Aileen Marty called the regions situation extremely grave, saying the public is not taking this virus seriously enough, ignoring the guidelines DeSantis and others have been pushing. They have not adhered to guidelines, Marty said at an online press conference with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. They have been in those closed spaces without taking the appropriate precautions, and thats the main reason we are where we are. The chief for infection prevention at Jackson Health System, Dr. Lilian Abbo, described nurses and doctors working around the clock and some getting sick. We really need to work on this together, she said. Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic. What we were seeing in Wuhan (China) six months ago. Now, we are there. Theres at least one glimmer of hope for Florida overall: The positivity rate for tests has been just over 11% the last two days. That is still four times the 2.3% rate the state had in late May, but a drop from the near 20% of last week. Officials have said they want to get the rate below 5%, which is when they believe spread is less likely and measures are taking hold. DeSantis said it isnt clear whether the downward positivity rate of the weekend will continue. We will see if that is a trend or whether that would be something that is short lived, he said. The state added another 35 deaths Monday, with the one-week average remaining at 71 per day. The daily rate had been 30 deaths three weeks ago, and crept up to 44 last week before skyrocketing with a state record 120 deaths reported Thursday. Overall, 4,381 people have died in Florida from the coronavirus since March 1. The increase in coronavirus cases has filled some Florida hospitals, or brought them close to their capacity. At Cleveland Clinic in Broward County, less than 10% of its 230 beds are available, according to the state, and nine of its 48 intensive care beds were available Monday morning. Dr. Rodolfo Blandon, its president, said he expects the number of ICU patients will increase through the end of the month, a result of the recent spike in cases. We know that these patients will likely seek medical care two to four weeks after they test positive, he said. His biggest concern is having enough nurses as coronavirus patients require extensive care 20 are being brought in from other states to help. On the positive side, Blandon said the virus seems to becoming less aggressive as it mutates many patients arent getting as sick as others were in March and April, and he said the drug Remdesivir has been a promising treatment. He said if the numbers keep spiking, he suspects there would have to be a roll back of some of the current freedoms. After reopening its economy with restrictions throughout May, Florida recently re-closed bars because customers werent wearing masks or practicing social distancing. Miami-Dade County again recently prohibited restaurants from having indoor seating. Still, Walt Disney World reopened over the weekend with limited crowds, making it the last of the states four major theme parks to do so. ___ Follow AP coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak. Welcome Guest! You Are Here: As Nigerian authorities review plans to get schools in the country reopened, the coronavirus infection toll rose to 33,153 on Monday after 595 cases were found. The federal government on Monday released guidelines for the safe reopening of schools and learning facilities after the COVID-19 pandemic. But the contagion appears not to be going away anytime soon. Nigeria has reported over 500 cases daily in the last four days. According to the new figures announced by Nigerias infectious disease outfit, NCDC, the death toll from the virus rose to 744 after four people succumbed to the deadly disease in the last 24 hours. The new figures show a slight decrease from the 571 infections recorded Sunday. The NCDC in a tweet said the new cases were reported in 20 states including Lagos-156, Oyo-141, FCT-99, Edo-47, Kaduna-27, Ondo-22, Rivers-20, Osun-17, Imo-13, Plateau-10, Nasarawa-8, Anambra-8, Kano-5, Benue-5, Borno-5, Ogun-4, Taraba-3, Gombe-3, Kebbi-1, Cross Rivers-1. All 36 states and the FCT have recorded at least a case of the disease. 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 over 50 days ago. Till date, 33,153 cases have been confirmed, 13, 671 cases have been discharged and 744 deaths have been recorded in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, it stated. Union minister of state Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday went into self quarantine with immediate effect after he got to know that the Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief whom he met on July 12 has tested positive for coronavirus. Have gone into Self-Quarantine with immediate effect from 4 PM today, after receiving the news about Corona positive test of J&K BJP President Sh Ravinder Raina who had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July, Dr Jitendra Singh said in a Twitter post. Sources confided to HT that Ravinder Raina, the vociferous BJP leader, has been hospitalised in Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Super Specialty hospital in Kakryal in Reasi district. For five days I was in Bandipora where our party leader Sheikh Waseem Bari, his brother and their father were martyred. Covid infection rate is more in Kashmir and this morning I had a mild fever. My first report tested me positive, though I am asymptomatic. I am going for a second test and will follow all the guidelines of the health ministry and the J&K administration, he told HT. It may be stated here that Raina had been staying back in Bandipora following the killing of Sheikh Waseem Bari, his brother and their father. Raina had met several people during the funeral of the deceased party leader and other members. The administration has now started contact tracing. All the top BJP leaders, including party general secretary Ram Madhav, union minister Dr Jitendra Singh and vice president Avinash Rai Khanna and workers, will be quarantined and tested as per contact tracing protocol due to contact with party president Ravinder Raina who has tested positive, said a party leader. On July 12, accompanied by Raina, BJPs national general secretary Ram Madhav, union minister Dr Jitendra Singh and BJPs national vice president Avinash Rai Khanna had visited the residence of Bari to express their condolences to the family. The virus has started witnessing a sudden spike in Jammu and Kashmir where the wife and son of an adviser to lieutenant governor and two senior IAS officers have tested positive. Ram Madhavs personal secretary, who picked up his cellphone, informed that he was busy in a meeting and will get back about his status and whether he will undergo a Covid-19 test. BJP vice president Avinash Rai Khanna said that he has been tested negative. With the mandatory mask covering the mouth and nose, the lipstick has been the one object of beautification that women have been forced to surrender during the pandemic. The off-and-on lockdown has been keeping us confined at home, and why would one wear lipstick at home? Lipstick, powder and paint! (Shutterstock) Research shows that the sale of lipsticks in the US increased in the aftermath of 9/11. Lipstick is a great stress buster at a reasonably moderate price. A woman has the choice to alter her appearance, to look brighter and better, by wearing lipstick if she wants to; she can also buy a stick of lipstick within her budget, and in the colour she likes. All of which means that the choice is hers; it isnt taken away from her. Covid-19 presents a completely different picture. The choice to wear lipstick is taken away entirely from a woman since masks and wearing one is mandatory makes lipstick redundant. Global business transformation firm RedQuantas research paper on the economic slowdown resulting from the pandemic mentions the Lipstick Effect: Faced with a short-term cash deficit, consumers may forego big-ticket retail items like a luxury bag in favour of a small but still premium product like a good quality lipstick. Perhaps some renaming of effects is in order. While lipstick has been rendered redundant, there has been a boost in the sale of eye makeup during the pandemic. This is a bit surprising because eye makeup and lipstick are no substitutes for each other. Each has its own role to play in a womans life, in the shaping of her personality, and in impacting on her social and cultural life at home and beyond. Social distancing also adds to this intriguing situation. Every woman who uses lipstick will agree that it makes her feel good. In times like these, she may either look for something to replace it or learn to go without it altogether. Whenever I have a quarrel at home or feel depressed, I just wrap myself in a lovely dress or sari, dab on some lipstick and step out. I come back refreshed and happy, says my friend Amrita Soman, who has just retired from her college job. Now she cannot go out; nor can she dab on that lipstick. So she tries to keep her trap shut and avoid conflict. Lipstick, a sign of female agency (Shutterstock) Lipstick makes a powerful statement in a patriarchal society where women were once looked down upon if they wore lipstick as it was worn only by those of supposedly loose morals. In the World War II era, wearing makeup sometimes indicated overly-sexualized, manipulated women, as echoed in the words of the uncle in Ann Petrys short story In Darkness and Confusion (1947). To some, makeup suggested a woman intimately bound to sex, prostitution, and rape, for whom lipstick signified her regrettable victimization. But in this wartime picture, there was also the sort of woman, evoked in the words of army nurse Ruth Haskell, for whom makeup in general and lipstick in particular was a sign of female agency and of sexuality that was disruptive of war times masculine codes of power. In the July 1942 entry for her Leningrad Diary, (trans. Serge M Wolff and Rachel Grieve, 1971), Russian poet Vera Imber, a member of the Leningrad Writers Union, records her flight to the city of Christopol on a tiny aircraft: I tried to give my pilot a woman - cigarettes, but it seemed she did not smoke. I offered her half a bottle of good red wine, but no, she did not drink, either. Then after a short hesitation I pulled out a new lipstick, and this, the pilot could not resist. Smiling and embarrassed, she took it. In India, women of an earlier era cleverly skirted the lipstick taboo by reddening their lips with paan or betel leaf folded with spices and condiments. Paan is a very democratic aftertaste because courtesans, prostitutes, housewives, spinsters, and aristocratic ladies all partook of it. It was once believed to be sensual and erotic. Today, many men chew paan as an addiction and so did elderly matriarchs like my late mother-in-law. But back to lipstick, until about four decades ago, an Indian girls parents were the ones who decided if she could wear lipstick. Later, after she got married, she would have to follow the dress and cosmetic code followed by the women in her husbands home. She had no choice about the use of lipstick. Still, over time and across the world, the lipstick became a language of protest, of rebellion and of self-assertion. Transgenders asserting their right to look beautiful. (Shutterstock) Its potency can be gauged in how transgenders at traffic signals effectively use bright make-up and red lipstick. They dress up proudly and loudly because they revel in drawing attention to themselves, and enjoy asserting their right to look beautiful. And then there are gay men who use dark shades of lipstick to assert their identity and sexual preferences. The little boy in Zoya Akhtars Sheila Ki Jawani, a segment from Bombay Talkies, has an instinctive understanding of the power of lipstick when he borrowed his mothers make up because he wants to dance like Katrina in Sheila Ki Jawani. First mass-produced in 1915 when American Maurice Levy designed a metal case for the waxy tube, lipstick was one of the few luxuries purchased by Depression-era women in America. Lipstick hit its stride commercially in the 1950s. Shade card (Shutterstock) According to Carole Morin, in her column in New Statesman (November 1996): Lipstick has always been a matter of life and death. Lana Turner died with her lipstick in her hand in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Harry Limes girlfriend is reminded not to forget her lipstick by the soldier who arrests her in The Third Man. When noted British novelist Anna Kavan overdosed, there were 50 lipsticks the same colour in her bathroom and enough heroin to kill the street. Kavans lipsticks may have looked the same to the policeman who found her, but there are a million shades of scarlet. In Satyajit Rays Mahanagar, the lipstick functions as a signifier of the changing face of femininity among Calcuttas Bengali middle-class, especially within the milieu of Arati, the housewife-turned-working woman. Lipstick creates a bond between the Bengali housewife and her Anglo-Indian colleague, who teaches her to use the lipstick she gifts her. Arati looks at herself in the mirror and likes what she sees. It changes her perception of herself but she uses it without her family knowing. When her husband finds it in her purse and questions her, she almost snatches it from his hand and with a flick of her wrist, throws it out of the window. Using the lipstick and throwing it away are both signifiers of her choice. In Lipstick Under My Burkha, lipstick, for the three out of the four women of different ages, backgrounds, faiths, marital status and education featured in the film, is a metaphor for self-assertion and liberation from patriarchal controls. The two Muslim women do it under the safety of the burkha thereby sticking their tongues out at the forced veil. Seal it with a kiss (Shutterstock) Honoured as one of 12 objects included in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Arts exhibition (April 18 to August 5, 199) entitled Icons: Magnets of Meaning, lipstick has transcended its decorative roots and become culturally indispensable as a quick and affordable way to transform an individuals image. Dougherty Delano Page in Loose Lips Sink Ships: Women, Citizenship, and Sexuality in Wartime Culture, writes: Lipstick is worn for looking good, it is worn for going out and being seen, it is worn for parties, it is worn for work; it is put on privately, at the bathroom mirror, or it is applied publicly, in restaurants and in subway cars. It disguises. Or it amplifies. It is worn for kissing, to seduce. Sometimes it is used as a writing instrument. Lipstick is not just a cosmetic. It is an aggressive statement, a mark of identity, a weapon of defence and a beauty accessory. It establishes the identity of a woman in a public space. A stick of lipstick is an object that acquires emotional, cultural and political resonance. So what is to be done in this era when lipstick has been rendered redundant? One young acquaintance insists that even during within the lockdown when women are confined to the home, they must preen, dress up and wear lipstick. Many are doing precisely this. Eye make-up might be having its golden moment during this era of masks and social distancing but the lipstick will never go out of style. Of that we are sure. Shoma A Chatterjee is an independent journalist. She lives in Kolkata. Dublin, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Smart Agriculture - Global Market Outlook (2018-2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The Global Smart Agriculture market accounted for $11.45 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach $30.00 billion by 2027 growing at a CAGR of 11.3% during the forecast period. Increasing income levels and command for protein-rich aqua food and rising focus of farmers on livestock monitoring and disease recognition are the major factors propelling the market growth. However, factors such as high upfront cost for use of new agricultural equipment and on the whole fragmented agriculture industry are hampering the market growth. Smart agriculture is the method of performing the agricultural activities using highly developed technologies. This smart agriculture is the innovative way of carrying out the agricultural activities by reducing the human efforts and by making maximum consumption of the resources which are available. Smart agriculture includes the agricultural activities with the adoption of internet of thing (IoT), sensors in order to raise the productivity of the farm. Based on the application, the precision farming application segment is likely to have a huge demand due to the growing focus on farm efficiency and productivity. The execution of precision farming tools has the potential to change the concept of agriculture for good, making traditional agricultural activities more well-organized and predictable. Precision farming technologies, such as guidance technology, smart sensors, drones, and variable rate technology (VRT), have made it possible to manage the soil and crop effectively. By geography, Asia Pacific is going to have a lucrative growth during the forecast period due to the increasing government support and rising awareness among cultivators. For instance, in Japan, the ministry of agriculture has been providing funds for developing precision agriculture. The farmers' association and community-based organizations in each country play a major role in promoting a sustainable agriculture. Some of the key players profiled in the Smart Agriculture Market include DeLaval, Deere & Company, BouMatic, Aurorass.r.l., Agribotix LLC, Trimble Inc., TOPCON, The Climate Corporation, SST Development Group, Inc., Semios Bio Technologies Inc., Precision Planting LLC, Raven Industries Inc., AgJunction LLC, AGCO Corporation and Ag Leader Technology, Inc.. Farm Sizes Covered: Large Medium-sized Small Offerings Covered: Hardware Software Services Solutions Covered: Smart Water Management Logistics Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Agriculture Asset Management Network Management Applications Covered: Precision Farming Application Livestock Monitoring Application Precision Aquaculture Application Smart Greenhouse Application Precision Forestry Application Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) Other Applications Regions Covered: North America US Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK Italy France Spain Rest of Europe Asia Pacific Japan China India Australia New Zealand South Korea Rest of Asia Pacific South America Argentina Brazil Chile Rest of South America Middle East & Africa Saudi Arabia UAE Qatar South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa What our report offers: Market share assessments for the regional and country-level segments Strategic recommendations for the new entrants Covers Market data for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2027 Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations) Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements Key Topics Covered: 1 Executive Summary 2 Preface 2.1 Abstract 2.2 Stake Holders 2.3 Research Scope 2.4 Research Methodology 2.4.1 Data Mining 2.4.2 Data Analysis 2.4.3 Data Validation 2.4.4 Research Approach 2.5 Research Sources 2.5.1 Primary Research Sources 2.5.2 Secondary Research Sources 2.5.3 Assumptions 3 Market Trend Analysis 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Drivers 3.3 Restraints 3.4 Opportunities 3.5 Threats 3.6 Application Analysis 3.7 Emerging Markets 3.8 Impact of Covid-19 4 Porters Five Force Analysis 4.1 Bargaining power of suppliers 4.2 Bargaining power of buyers 4.3 Threat of substitutes 4.4 Threat of new entrants 4.5 Competitive rivalry 5 Global Smart Agriculture Market, By Farm Size 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Large 5.3 Medium-sized 5.4 Small 6 Global Smart Agriculture Market, By Offering 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Hardware 6.2.1 Automation and Control Systems 6.2.1.1 Displays 6.2.1.2 Drones/UAVs 6.2.1.3 GPS/GNSS Devices 6.2.1.4 Guidance and Steering Systems 6.2.1.5 Irrigation Controllers 6.2.1.6 Handheld Mobile Devices/Handheld Computers 6.2.1.7 Flow and Application Control Devices 6.2.1.8 Driverless Tractors 6.2.1.9 Wireless Modules 6.2.1.9.1 Bluetooth Technology 6.2.1.9.2 RF Technology 6.2.1.9.3 Wi-Fi Technology 6.2.1.9.4 Zigbee Technology 6.2.2 Sensing and Monitoring Devices 6.2.2.1 Soil Sensors 6.2.2.1.1 Soil Nutrient Sensors 6.2.2.1.2 Soil Moisture Sensors 6.2.2.1.3 Soil Temperature Sensors 6.2.2.2 Water Sensors 6.2.2.3 Climate Sensors 6.2.3 Harvesters and Forwarders 6.2.4 Cameras 6.2.5 RFID Tags and Sensors 6.2.6 Variable Rate Controllers 6.2.7 Transmitters and Mounting Equipment 6.2.8 Monitoring Devices 6.2.8.1 Temperature and Environmental Monitoring Devices 6.2.8.2 pH and Dissolved Oxygen Sensors 6.2.9 Control Systems 6.2.10 LED Grow Lights 6.2.11 Material Handling Equipment 6.2.12 Valves and Pumps 6.3 Software 6.3.1 Cloud Based 6.3.1.1 AI-As-A-Service 6.3.1.2 Platform As A Service (PaaS) 6.3.2 On-premises 6.3.3 Web Based 6.4 Services 6.4.1 System Integration and Consulting 6.4.2 Professional Services 6.4.3 Assisted Professional Services 6.4.3.1 Climate Information Services 6.4.3.2 Supply Chain Management Services 6.4.4 Managed Services 6.4.4.1 Analytics Services 6.4.4.2 Data Services 6.4.4.3 Farm Operation Services 6.4.5 Connectivity Services 6.4.6 Support and Maintenance 7 Global Smart Agriculture Market, By Solution 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Smart Water Management 7.3 Logistics 7.4 Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition 7.5 Agriculture Asset Management 7.6 Network Management 8 Global Smart Agriculture Market, By Application 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Precision Farming Application 8.2.1 Yield Monitoring 8.2.1.1 Off-farm Yield Monitoring 8.2.1.2 On-farm Yield Monitoring 8.2.2 Field Mapping 8.2.2.1 Drainage Mapping 8.2.2.2 Boundary Mapping 8.2.3 Weather Tracking and Forecasting 8.2.4 Farm Labor Management 8.2.5 Crop Scouting 8.2.6 Variable Rate Application 8.2.7 Irrigation Management 8.3 Livestock Monitoring Application 8.3.1 Milk Harvesting 8.3.2 Feeding Management 8.3.3 Breeding Management 8.3.4 Heat Stress Management 8.3.5 Animal Behavior Management 8.4 Precision Aquaculture Application 8.4.1 Feeding 8.4.2 Monitoring, Control, and Surveillance 8.5 Smart Greenhouse Application 8.5.1 HVAC Management 8.5.2 Yield Management 8.6 Precision Forestry Application 8.6.1 Harvesting Management 8.6.2 Silviculture and Fire Management 8.6.3 Inventory Management 8.6.4 Fish Tracking and Fleet Navigation 8.6.5 Water Quality Management 8.7 Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) 8.8 Other Applications 8.8.1 Horticulture 8.8.2 Orchids 8.8.3 Cannabis 9 Global Smart Agriculture Market, By Geography 9.1 Introduction 9.2 North America 9.2.1 US 9.2.2 Canada 9.2.3 Mexico 9.3 Europe 9.3.1 Germany 9.3.2 UK 9.3.3 Italy 9.3.4 France 9.3.5 Spain 9.3.6 Rest of Europe 9.4 Asia Pacific 9.4.1 Japan 9.4.2 China 9.4.3 India 9.4.4 Australia 9.4.5 New Zealand 9.4.6 South Korea 9.4.7 Rest of Asia Pacific 9.5 South America 9.5.1 Argentina 9.5.2 Brazil 9.5.3 Chile 9.5.4 Rest of South America 9.6 Middle East & Africa 9.6.1 Saudi Arabia 9.6.2 UAE 9.6.3 Qatar 9.6.4 South Africa 9.6.5 Rest of Middle East & Africa 10 Key Developments 10.1 Agreements, Partnerships, Collaborations and Joint Ventures 10.2 Acquisitions & Mergers 10.3 New Product Launch 10.4 Expansions 10.5 Other Key Strategies 11 Company Profiling 11.1 DeLaval 11.2 Deere & Company 11.3 BouMatic 11.4 Aurorass.r.l. 11.5 Agribotix LLC 11.6 Trimble Inc. 11.7 TOPCON 11.8 The Climate Corporation 11.9 SST Development Group, Inc. 11.10 Semios Bio Technologies Inc. 11.11 Precision Planting LLC 11.12 Raven Industries Inc. 11.13 AgJunction LLC 11.14 AGCO Corporation 11.15 Ag Leader Technology, Inc. For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/9f3y7e Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:56:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the U.S. state of Oregon Kate Brown on Monday announced new requirements for face coverings and limits on social get-togethers in response to the alarming rise in COVID-19 case counts across the state over the last several weeks. Effective Wednesday, Oregon's face covering requirement will be expanded to apply to outdoor public spaces when six feet of distance cannot be maintained. In addition, indoor social get-togethers of more than 10 people will be prohibited, the announcement said. According to the announcement, the gathering limit applies only to indoor social get-togethers. This new rule does not change the operation of businesses or churches at this time. Brown noted that failure to comply with the new requirements would lead to more outbreaks of COVID-19 and more restrictive closures with greater impact on Oregon's economy, communities, health care systems, and families. "We need to do absolutely everything we can to reduce transmission in ways that do not require us to close down businesses again," she said, adding that "the proof here will be in the numbers. Either people will adhere to this requirement and be a positive force for stopping COVID-19, or I will be forced to take more restrictive measures." Oregon reported more cases in the past week than in the entire month of May. The last time Oregon had less than 100 cases in a single day was more than a month ago. Half of all cases in Oregon are from people under the age of 40 and one third of all cases are from people under the age of 30, Brown said in a news conference on Monday, noting that people in their 20s and 30s are currently the most likely group to get sick with COVID-19. "It all depends on you. Your choices determine our future," she said. As of July 13, there were a total of 12,438 COVID-19 cases in the state including 237 deaths, according to the Oregon Health Authority. Enditem Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Monday reaffirmed Indias zero tolerance policy against ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops and attempts by terrorists to infiltrate into Kashmir from across the border. Ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir have increased, and the Indian Army has said it had recorded as many as 2,542 breaches until June 30 this year. On Sunday, Pakistan initiated cross-border firing in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri and Kirni and Qasba sectors of Poonch. As many as 3,289 violations of a truce deal reached in November 2003 were recorded last year, the highest in 16 years. The COAS (chief of army staff) reinstated the fact of zero tolerance against the ceasefire violations by Pakistan and infiltration attempts by terrorists, Lieutenant Colonel Devender Anand, the defence ministry spokesperson, said in a statement. He further highlighted that all agencies of the services and government are working together relentlessly and will continue to do the same to defeat the nefarious design of proxy war being fuelled by our adversaries, he added. Gen Naravane visited the forward areas along Indias 198 kilometre-long international border with Pakistan to review the security scenario and preparedness of troops deployed in the Jammu-Pathankot region. He interacted with the field formation commanders and troops during his visit. He also visited the forward areas of Gurj Division and was briefed by Major General YP Khanduri, general officer commanding (GOC), Gurj Division. The Army Chief addressed all ranks of Western Command through video conferencing and lauded the morale of the troops. He expressed complete confidence in Indian Armys capabilities to thwart any misadventure by the enemies of our country and handle any situation, the spokesperson said. The army chief arrived in a fixed-wing aircraft at the technical airport in Jammu and then visited the Tiger Division from where he flew in a helicopter to forward areas. The international border in the Jammu region is manned by the Border Security Force (BSF) on the Indian side and Pakistani Rangers on the neighbours side. Though there is no heightened activity across the IB, the army chief had to see the prevailing security scenario and readiness of the troops deployed on the ground in Jammu-Pathankot region, said Col Anand. The Army Chief was received in Jammu by Lt Gen RP Singh, GOC-in-C Western Command, Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi, GOC Rising Star Corps, Maj Gen VB Nair, GOC Tiger Division and Air Commodore AS Pathania, AOC, Air Force Station Jammu . Gen Naravane was briefed by Lt Gen Dwivedi on the operational preparedness, upgrading of security infrastructure and internal security matters. The Army Chief addressed all ranks of Western Command through video conferencing and lauded the morale of the troops. He expressed complete confidence in Indian armys capabilities. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 07:03:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday asked for efforts to promote peace through development in Colombia. China is of the view that in order to fully, effectively and sustainably implement the peace agreement in Colombia, focus should be on a proper balance and synergy between development and security, said Yao Shaojun, minister counselor of China's Permanent Mission to the United Nations. Development and security are interdependent and inseparable. The development perspective should be stressed to promote peace through development, he told the Security Council. Rural reform, development programs, and poverty relief and eradication feature prominently in the Colombian peace agreement. They also represent a conclusive approach to tackling the root causes of the conflict, he said. China encourages the Colombian government to overcome the difficulties, carry on the development programs, and ramp up its efforts to promote balanced, inclusive, and sustainable development, especially by helping those who have no land or insufficient land to gain access to it. China supports the efforts of the Colombian government to strengthen infrastructure development in territories most affected by the conflict, including transport, irrigation, and electricity, and to provide essential public services, including education, health care, and housing, in order to narrow the urban-rural disparities and those between territories, said Yao. The Security Council was hearing a briefing from Carlos Ruiz Massieu, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for Colombia. Enditem A Tunisian court has sentenced blogger Emna Chargui to six months in prison and a 560 fine for reposting a Facebook joke about the coronavirus written as if it was a Koranic verse. The 27-year-old was found guilty of offending religion and 'incitement to hatred' in a May 4 satirical post entitled 'the Corona Surah', mimicking the Quran in reference to the illness. 'There's no difference between kings and slaves, follow science and ignore traditions,' a passage reads. Chargui, who is not in custody, has three weeks to appeal 'This is unfair and unjust ... this proves that there is no freedom here,' she told Reuters from home where she had been waiting for the ruling. Chargui's sharing of the post in May angered some conservative social media users who demanded punishment in a nation periodically polarised between secular and Islamist political wings since a revolution that introduced democracy nine years ago. Emna Charki, a 27-year-old Tunisian charged with offending common decency and incitement to violence, arrives at a court in the capital Tunis on May 28, 2020, for her first trial hearing Court spokesman Mohsen Dali said the sentence was on charges of inciting hate between religions and races. The case has brought criticism from rights groups. Saying she was a victim of a 'repressive law' that curtailed free speech, Amnesty International said the prosecution did not allow Chargui's lawyer to accompany her to court, where she was asked about her religious beliefs and mental condition. Amnesty also said that Chargui received 'messages from people threatening to kill or rape her', and that the authorities failed to take action or to investigate the threats. Saying she was a victim of a 'repressive law' that curtailed free speech, Amnesty International said the prosecution did not allow Chargui's lawyer to accompany her to court, where she was asked about her religious beliefs and mental condition 'It is unacceptable for someone to face a prison sentence of up to three years just for sharing a satirical post on Facebook,' they wrote. 'Such a trial sends a message that anyone who dares to express a controversial view on social media runs the risk of being punished. 'We are calling on the authorities to immediately end her prosecution, investigate the worrying death and rape threats she has been receiving, and ensure she is protected.' Chargui blogs on freedom and women's issues. A DUBLIN man repeatedly stabbed another man in the face with a broken glass bottle in a vicious street attack that continued as the alleged victim was lying unconscious on the ground, a court heard. Gardai believe Anthony Purcell (42) was acting in retaliation after his partner was allegedly punched in the face in a fight in Dublin city centre. Dublin District Court was told Mr Purcell left the scene on a bus, gardai stopped it and found him on board, covered in blood. Judge Paula Murphy refused to grant him bail and remanded him in custody, for the directions of the DPP. Mr Purcell, of Cleggan Park, Ballyfermot, is charged with assault causing harm to the man at Wellington Quay on July 11. Objecting to bail, the prosecuting garda said there was CCTV footage of the fight which happened in broad daylight at 4.26pm. The accused was in the company of three other males and his partner at the time. It would be alleged that the victim first punched Mr Purcells partner in the face and after this, the accused walked away and took an empty bottle from his back pack. He then walked around his partner, raised the bottle and smashed it over the mans head and continued to stab him a number of times in the face, chest and neck. While the alleged victim was lying defenceless on the ground and unable to get up, the accused continued to stab him, the garda said. The attack stopped but shortly after, in a matter of seconds as the man was sitting up in the footpath, it was alleged Mr Purcell returned and kicked him in the face. As a result, the man was unconscious and lying on the footpath for a minute and 14 seconds. During this time, Mr Purcell continued his vicious attack, kicking him, the garda alleged. He then walked away from the scene and eventually got on the no 13 bus. Mr Purcell had been followed by witnesses and the garda stopped the bus at Dame Court. The accused was sitting in the back row of the lower deck with a hand injury and covered in blood, the garda said. He was in the company of his partner, who had an injury to her upper lip. The garda believed the alleged assault was retaliation by the accused for an assault on his partner, who was punched in the face. He alleged the accused had no regard for others safety and he viciously stabbed the injured party multiple times, then left without checking on his welfare. The garda said the accused and alleged victim were frequent visitors to the city centre and it was likely they would see each other on the street if Mr Purcell was released. He told defence solicitor Aoife McNicholl that the alleged victims injuries were not life threatening and he had been discharged from hospital. Applying for bail, she said the accused was living in stable accommodation. The judge refused bail and remanded the accused in custody, to appear in Cloverhill District Court next week. Syracuse, N.Y. The Erie Canal Museum on Tuesday will host a talk about the Ohio canal systems history, its connection to New York, and its national impact by John J. Grabowski of the Case Western Reserve University and the Western Reserve Historical Society. The program begins at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on the Museums Facebook page. Admission is $5 for the general public. There is no charge for Museum members. Sign up here. Between 1825 and 1845, Ohio completed two major canals that linked Lake Erie and the Ohio River. Often seen as separate from the Erie Canal, the Ohio and Erie and the Miami and Erie canals share a common origin that dates back to George Washington. When the system was completed it formed part of a waterway that stretched from European ports to the Gulf of Mexico. Dr. Grabowski will discuss the history of these canals in this broad context. He will talk about the waterways conception, completion, success, and finally their fiscal collapse. The story links New York State with Ohio and a process that opened the west in the decades just before the Civil War. John J. Grabowski received his BA, MA, and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University. His interests include immigration, migration, public history, and museum studies. He holds a joint position as the Krieger-Mueller Associate Professor of Applied History at Case Western Reserve and Senior Historian and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Western Reserve Historical Society. He is the editor of the online edition of the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History and the Dictionary of Cleveland Biography. He has written numerous articles about immigration history and archival issues. He recently completed a history of Bilkent University. Established in 1962, the Erie Canal Museum protects and showcases the countrys only remaining weighlock building and shares the history and impact of the Erie Canal through displays, original artifacts, and virtual programs. While in-person programs are currently postponed to protect visitors, volunteers and staff from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Museum is offering a variety of programs and resources through its website, YouTube channel, and social media. The Erie Canal Museum is partially funded by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. For more information, email outreach@eriecanalmuseum.org. A state lawmaker is pressing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for answers after more than 500 inmates tested positive for COVID-19 at the Dominguez State Jail on the Southwest Side. Rep. Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio, wants to know what the agency is doing to minimize the spread of the virus at the jail, where at least 515 inmates one-third of the total have confirmed infections. Twenty-nine employees also have tested positive. One inmate, Paul Alexander Casiano, 51, who was serving a six-year sentence for a felony assault conviction in Kendall County, died June 27 at a Galveston hospital. Casiano had tested positive for the virus, and it was a contributing factor in his death, TDCJs website said. Three other inmates remained hospitalized in stable condition as of Friday, down from eight Monday. Some 441 inmates still had active cases as of Friday. Most were asymptomatic, TDCJ spokesman Jeremy Desel said. Seventy-four inmates have recovered. Cortez said the spread of the virus within the Dominguez lockup was unacceptable. He asked TDCJ to provide him weekly reports on the situation. That would be unbelievable, unbearable and unacceptable if the percentage was to continue to grow, he said. Whether or not theyre asymptomatic or symptomatic, the potential is there for it to become a bigger and bigger problem. And so we have to get to the bottom of it now, Cortez said. On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio inmates urge officials to rethink parole guidelines as coronavirus spreads All Dominguez inmates and staff have been tested at least twice because of a spike in COVID-19 cases across Bexar County, Desel said. The Dominguez unit is one of many Texas state jails and prisons that imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. As a result, Dominguez inmates dont have phone privileges and cannot call their families to give updates on their health. Cortez said he asked TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier earlier this month to allow inmates easier access to communication with their worried relatives. The last thing (families are) hearing from their loved one before they go into isolation is, I got COVID-19. And then it goes silent, Cortez said. He suggested that inmates who tested positive should be allowed to call their families using phones sanitized after each use. Collier seemed receptive, Cortez said. The legislator said the prison system has been relying on its chaplain staff to deliver messages between infected inmates and their families, but Collier agreed thats not working the way he was hoping it would. Desel confirmed that TDCJ is reviewing its phone policy and exploring new ways for inmates to connect with their families. We understand this communication is incredibly important, he said. For Jennifer Dobbs, the lack of information has been stressful. Her fiance, Robert Aguirre, 28, of New Braunfels, became sick and tested positive for the virus while serving a six-year sentence at the Dominguez unit. Dobbs said she wasnt able speak to him by phone for at least a month, until he was able to make several five-minute phone calls to her last week. Its a real tough situation, said Dobbs, who is also from New Braunfels. Theres really nothing that I can do but pray and hold my faith. On ExpressNews.com: At Bexar Countys jail, inmates complain of superficial cleanings, scarce soap and flimsy masks amid COVID outbreak Aguirre told Dobbs he didnt feel well as they spoke by phone one day in mid-June. On June 28, Aguirre told her in a letter that he had COVID-19. But in subsequent letters, he reported that he was feeling better. Both of us, we have a very strong faith walk, Dobbs said. And we choose to live like that which is not to let life get the best of us. Cortez said hes asked Collier if the prison system has plans to install air conditioning throughout the entire Dominguez facility. At present, only some areas have AC. As a state, we should be leading that effort to make sure that they still have some dignity and some quality of life there, he said, adding that TDCJ seems very willing and wanting to try to correct some of these scenarios. I have no doubt that they want to do whats best for the inmates that are battling COVID. Besides the Dominguez facility, TDCJ officials have been monitoring hundreds of active COVID-19 cases at the Lychner State Jail in Humble, the Stiles prison unit in Beaumont, the Hamilton pre-release unit in Bryan, the Coffield prison unit in Tennessee Colony and the Daniel prison unit in Snyder. Nearly 13,000 inmates have tested positive statewide, according to TDCJs COVID-19 dashboard, a public website that provides daily updates for each facility. More than 9,500 inmates had recovered as of Friday, while more than 2,800 still had active cases of the virus. To date, 94 TDCJ inmates deaths statewide have been connected to COVID-19. An additional 28 deaths are under investigation. Among TDCJ employees, 2,355 had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Friday. Ten have died in the line of duty from the virus. Peggy OHare covers demographics, the census and occasionally crime and general assignment stories in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from Peggy, become a subscriber. pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: @Peggy_OHare Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! When close to half the companies in Canada have price-to-earnings ratios (or "P/E's") below 13x, you may consider Geodrill Limited (TSE:GEO) as a stock to avoid entirely with its 22.5x P/E ratio. Although, it's not wise to just take the P/E at face value as there may be an explanation why it's so lofty. With earnings growth that's exceedingly strong of late, Geodrill has been doing very well. It seems that many are expecting the strong earnings performance to beat most other companies over the coming period, which has increased investors willingness to pay up for the stock. You'd really hope so, otherwise you're paying a pretty hefty price for no particular reason. See our latest analysis for Geodrill Where Does Geodrill's P/E Sit Within Its Industry? We'd like to see if P/E's within Geodrill's industry might provide some colour around the company's particularly high P/E ratio. It turns out the Metals and Mining industry in general also has a P/E ratio significantly higher than the market, as the graphic below shows. So we'd say there is merit in the premise that the company's ratio being shaped by its industry at this time. Ordinarily, the majority of companies' P/E's would be lifted firmly by the general conditions within the Metals and Mining industry. Still, the strength of the company's earnings will most likely determine where its P/E shall sit. pe Although there are no analyst estimates available for Geodrill, take a look at this free data-rich visualisation to see how the company stacks up on earnings, revenue and cash flow. Is There Enough Growth For Geodrill? The only time you'd be truly comfortable seeing a P/E as steep as Geodrill's is when the company's growth is on track to outshine the market decidedly. If we review the last year of earnings growth, the company posted a terrific increase of 195%. Despite this strong recent growth, it's still struggling to catch up as its three-year EPS frustratingly shrank by 58% overall. Accordingly, shareholders would have felt downbeat about the medium-term rates of earnings growth. Story continues This is in contrast to the rest of the market, which is expected to decline by 7.8% over the next year, or less than the company's recent medium-term annualised earnings decline. With this information, it's strange that Geodrill is trading at a higher P/E in comparison. With earnings going quickly in reverse, it's not guaranteed that the P/E has found a floor yet. Maintaining these prices will be extremely difficult to achieve as a continuation of recent earnings trends is likely to weigh down the shares eventually. The Bottom Line On Geodrill's P/E It's argued the price-to-earnings ratio is an inferior measure of value within certain industries, but it can be a powerful business sentiment indicator. Our examination of Geodrill revealed its sharp three-year contraction in earnings isn't impacting its high P/E anywhere near as much as we would have predicted, given the market is set to shrink less severely. When we see below average earnings, we suspect the share price is at risk of declining, sending the high P/E lower. We're also cautious about the company's ability to stay its recent medium-term course and resist even greater pain to its business from the broader market turmoil. This would place shareholders' investments at significant risk and potential investors in danger of paying an excessive premium. You should always think about risks. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Geodrill you should be aware of. It's important to make sure you look for a great company, not just the first idea you come across. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with strong recent earnings growth (and a P/E ratio below 20x). 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. One of Britain's new 3billion aircraft carriers could be sent to the Far East under new plans drawn up by military chiefs, reports today suggest. The class leading HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit the region during its maiden grand voyage next year. The aircraft carrier is set to be involved in joint military exercises with allies such as the United States and Japan during the visit, according to the Times today. The move is likely to be seen as a counter to China's increasingly assertive attitude in the region and beyond. And the reports of the voyage comes amid growing tension between London and Beijing, as well as the government's row over whether to include Chinese tech firm Huawei over security fears and growing pressure from America to exclude them from the process. The class leading HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit the Far East during its maiden grand voyage next year This map shows China's territorial claim in the South China Sea (in red), which the US yesterday described as 'unlawful'. Marked in blue are US bases in Okinawa off Japan and in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, and Sembawang wharf in Singapore where Britain's Royal Navy maintains a presence. The diagram on the right shows the carrier strike group of HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will reportedly be deployed to the region in 2021 The HMS Queen Elizabeth (pictured right with sister ship HMS Prince of Wales - left) is set to be involved in joint military exercises with allies such as the United States and Japan during the visit, according to the Times. On its Far East voyage The Queen Elizabeth is to be accompanied by other warships, including two Type 45 destroyers and two frigates, while it will also have two squadrons of F-35B Lightning II jets (pictured) On its Far East voyage The Queen Elizabeth is to be accompanied by other warships, including two Type 45 destroyers and two frigates, while it will also have two squadrons of F-35B Lightning II jets. It is likely one of those squadrons will be from the RAF while the other could be from the US Marine Corps, the Times reports. As well as taking part in military exercises, the carrier, which along with its sister ship HMS Prince of Wales is the largest ever built by the British Navy, will also provide a platform for trade talks, the Times, quoting an unnamed defence source, reports. The HMS Prince of Wales, which also cost 3billion, is said to be around 18 months behind its sister ship in terms of deployment. Once completed, defence chiefs hope to base one of the carriers in the Indo-Pacific region. A source told the Times: 'One carrier will support Nato in the North Atlantic. The HMS Prince of Wales (pictured) is said to be around 18 months behind its sister ship in terms of deployment. It is likely one of those squadrons of F-35B fighter jets (pictured) will be from the RAF while the other could be from the US Marine Corps, the Times reports 'Where else are you going to put the other? On the main trade routes and to counter the emerging threat of China.' Meanwhile the Ministry of Defence last night said 'no decision' had been taken on the HMS Queen Elizabeth's deployment. It comes as ministers fear China could unleash a devastating online attack on Britain dubbed a 'cyber-9/11' amid increasing tensions between London and Beijing. Senior sources say 'a perfect storm' of diplomatic rows over Hong Kong, the tech giant Huawei and Covid-19 could lead to an all-out attack by Chinese-backed hackers. The warning comes as the Government prepares to formally announce a U-turn that would block Huawei from helping build Britain's superfast 5G mobile network. After Australia adopted a similar hard line, it was hit by a sustained large-scale cyber attack. Boris Johnson has also infuriated the Chinese Communist Party with his tough stance on Beijing's clampdown on Hong Kong's freedoms and calls for an inquiry into the true source of coronavirus, which is suspected to have accidentally leaked from a Wuhan laboratory. Senior sources say a perfect storm of diplomatic rows over Hong Kong , the tech giant Huawei and Covid-19 could lead to an all-out attack by Chinese-backed hackers (file photo) Security chiefs fear that, in a worst-case scenario, state-sponsored attacks would cripple computer networks, leading to phone and power blackouts and bringing hospitals, government and businesses to a halt. Meanwhile ministers are braced for a backlash from Beijing today when they confirm a ban on Huawei's involvement in the 5G network. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden will announce that telecoms firms will be banned from installing new equipment supplied by the Chinese giant by Christmas. He will also order firms to rip out all existing Huawei kit by the middle of this decade. Huawei executives held last-ditch talks yesterday with officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the hope of watering down the plans. The Huawei ban follows intense pressure from Donald Trump to deny China a foothold in the West's critical infrastructure. Tough American sanctions have prevented the firm from using any US-patented technology in its microchips But a Whitehall source said the ban would go ahead, adding: 'It's fair to say Huawei won't be very happy with the result.' China dismissed on Monday comments by a top White House official on Chinese social media apps as "ridiculous and narrow-minded," and slammed the United States as "the world's real hacker empire." White House adviser Peter Navarro said on Fox News on Sunday that he expects U.S. President Donald Trump to take "strong action" against Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat over what he alleged were national information security concerns. "For a long time now, (the U.S.) 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 press briefing. In Fox's interview, 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 claimed that the apps can be used to steal intellectual property. "So expect strong actions on that" by Trump, Navarro warned. In response, Hua said she "doesn't know where the evidence is," adding that if Navarro was not able to show proof to the public, then he would have added another falsehood to his "shameful list of lies." "The U.S. continues to have strong values, but why is it so scared of a fun video-sharing social media network loved by young people?" Hua asked. TikTok in trouble TikTok belongs to the Chinese group ByteDance and has nearly 1 billion users worldwide. Navarro has accused TikTok's new boss Kevin Mayer, the former head of Disney's streaming platforms, of being a puppet. TikTok was recently banned in India, along with 58 other Chinese apps, after a border clash between India and China. New Delhi said it believed the apps posed a "threat to sovereignty and integrity." The head of TikTok India issued a statement later saying the firm has "not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign government, including the Chinese government." Beijing said that India's move to ban 59 Chinese mobile apps could be a breach of World Trade Organization rules, and urged New Delhi to create an open and fair business environment. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the United States is "certainly looking" at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok. "I don't want to get out in front of the president (Donald Trump), but it's something we're looking at," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. U.S. lawmakers have raised national security concerns over TikTok's handling of user data. TikTok has said previously that it would not comply with any requests made by the Chinese government to censor content or access TikTok's user data, nor has it ever been asked to do so. Another Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, has responded to the controversy, saying "Following the U.S. side's logic, isn't it a threat to the world given that the U.S. social media platforms have vast users in the world?" "The U.S. should boost trade cooperation between the two sides," noted Zhao. Last Friday, Amazon said it mistakenly sent workers an email telling them to dump TikTok from their smartphones because of security concerns. But the company later said, "There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok." Research firm eMarketer estimates TikTok has more than 52 million U.S. users, having gained about 12 million since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. TikTok is especially popular with young smartphone users. Meanwhile, WeChat, owned by Tencent, is a versatile app with more than 1 billion users in China who use it for text messaging, mobile payments and social media. (With input from AFP) (Bloomberg) -- Facebook and Google have for years operated like shop windows for news stories, plying their billions of visitors with free snippets and information from articles across the web. An antitrust tussle thats coming to a head in Australia is set to change that. Australias competition regulator will this month publish draft rules forcing the two U.S. tech giants to share revenue generated from news with the original publishers, including Rupert Murdochs News Corp. A final version of the code, the first of its kind in the world, is due to follow soon after. Between them, Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.s Google have a dominant position in the online advertising market and that has been under intensifying regulatory and political assault in the U.S. and Europe, with Australia now adding another front of attack. Investors are sitting up, too. Should watchdogs in other markets follow Australia, it would chip away at two of the most wildly successful business models of the 21st century, built largely on content free-for-alls. Facebook and Alphabet have combined market values in New York of about $1.7 trillion. Read more: Europes Failure to Tame Googles Dominance Is a Lesson for U.S. This would be a major shot across the bow from a regulatory perspective, said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in New York. It could open up a Pandoras box around monetization and sharing of data. This One Matters In an interview, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Chairman Rod Sims said he knows of several counterparts overseas who are considering taking similar steps. With traditional media hemorrhaging jobs and facing an assault from populist politicians alleging fake news, the 69-year-old is swinging the pendulum back in the publishers favor. To Sims, its about more than simply forcing businesses on his beat to play fair. This one matters because journalism matters, he said. The fourth estate is such a fundamental part of what makes our societies work. Story continues Traditional media companies have long complained their content is being exploited by digital platforms without due compensation. But thats only part of the picture. While platforms and publishers all compete for web clicks and eyeballs that can be turned into advertising revenue, theyre also allies of sorts. News stories, or even just links to them, are part of the appeal of Facebook and Google, helping them keep visitors engaged and vacuum up more data. The tech giants, in turn, direct traffic back to the publishers websites. Fundamentally Incorrect The nature of this relationship is central to the crackdown by Australias competition watchdog. Theres no doubt the net value flow is to the platforms, said Sims. Facebook has called such an assumption fundamentally incorrect. In a 58-page submission to the ACCC last month, Facebook described news as highly substitutable content. Even a complete purge of stories in Australia, Facebook said, would make little difference. News does not drive significant long-term commercial value for our business, it said. Australian news organizations, meanwhile, garnered 2.3 billion clicks from Facebooks news feed between January and May 2020, Facebook said. At Google, only a very small direct and indirect economic value comes from news in Google Search, Australia Managing Director Mel Silva said in a May blog post. Meanwhile, Google Search accounted for 3.44 billion visits to Australian news publishers for free in 2018, she wrote. Amid the dispute, its not clear what the code will cost the tech giants in Australia. Thats partly because in between the baby pictures and community group posts on Facebook, its almost impossible to quantify the subjective appeal of news. I would say #goodluckregulators, Rich Greenfield, an analyst at New York-based research firm LightShed Partners, said in an email. I have no idea how they will determine the value. Turning Tide Even Sims warns it will be extremely hard, but says there are always ways to put numbers around things. And in recent months, publishers appear to have gained ground in the argument. In April, Frances antitrust regulator ordered Google to pay media companies to display snippets of articles. Then in June, Google said it would pay certain media outlets it will feature in a yet-to-be-released news service in Germany, Australia and Brazil. Terms werent disclosed. Perhaps most significantly, Facebook late last year introduced a separate news section, paying the publishers whose stories were featured. Some 200 publishers were involved in the Facebook News service, some of them receiving between $1 million and $3 million a year to put articles in the section. The ACCCs mandatory code goes further: the watchdogs concepts paper raised the possibility of collective media boycotts of Facebook and Google in the absence of appropriate remuneration. In a statement, Google said it has worked closely and constructively with news media businesses, the ACCC and the government as part of this process and will continue to do so. Facebook will continue to work closely with news organisations, the ACCC and the Australian government to sustain a strong news ecosystem, said Mia Garlick, the companys director of policy for Australia and New Zealand. But she said: A regulatory approach that lumps two tech companies together and benefits only the most powerful publishers does not do that. Sims says hes skeptical of Facebooks argument that news delivers little economic value, and expects his code to start balancing the equation. Im not contemplating failure, Sims said. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The US government can proceed with prisoner executions for the first time in almost two decades due to a Supreme Court decision. The court on Tuesday overturned a Washington district court injunction placed against the justice department, which planned to execute triple murderer Daniel Lewis Lee on Monday. Lee, from Yukon, Oklahoma, was convicted with murdering William Mueller, his wife Nancy, and her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in 1996. Washington district court judge Chutkan said on Monday that inmates had presented evidence to show how their executions would constitute "cruel and unusual punishments". The inmates also named alternatives which included opioids or anti-anxiety drugs at the start of the procedure or firing squad, she said. The scientific evidence before the court overwhelmingly indicates that the 2019 Protocol is very likely to cause Plaintiffs extreme pain and needless suffering during their executions, wrote Ms Chutkan. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that the prisonerss "executions may proceed as planned". Lee's execution was due to take place around 4am local time on Tuesday, according to court papers and The Associated Press. The Bureau of Prisons continued with preparations even as lower courts paused the proceedings. When the Trump administration announced last year that executions would resume, Attorney General William Barr said: "The justice department upholds the rule of law - and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system." Recommended Texas carries out its first execution during pandemic Tuesdays decision to proceed with executions during the Covid-19 pandemic attracted widespread criticism. The Supreme Court overturned claims that family members risked contracting coronavirus by attending the execution, because that was not guaranteed under federal law. The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee's execution and their own health and safety," said Baker Kurrus, the family's attorney, on Monday. Two more executions are scheduled this week and another in August, although one was on hold due to another legal challenge. Qatar won a legal battle Tuesday in its efforts to end a long-running aviation boycott by Arab neighbors when the United Nations highest court ruled in its favor in a procedural dispute linked to the boycott. The International Court of Justice rejected an appeal by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of a June 2018 decision by the International Civil Aviation Organization to dismiss the countries challenge to its jurisdiction to rule in the aviation dispute. The ruling clears the way for the ICAO to be able to rule in Qatars case, filed in October 2017, claiming the boycott breached an international convention governing international aviation.Qatar's Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, welcomed the ruling. We are confident that the ICAO will ultimately find these actions unlawful, he said. "This is the latest in a series of rulings that expose the Blockading Countries continued disregard for international law and due process. Step by step their arguments are being dismantled, and Qatars position vindicated. Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut ties with Qatar in the summer of 2017 over its support for Islamist opposition groups that they view as terrorists.They also launched an economic boycott, stopping Qatar Airways flights from using their airspace, closing off the small countrys sole land border with Saudi Arabia and blocking its ships from using their ports. (Image Credit: AP) China will impose unspecified sanctions on defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. after the U.S. approved a possible $620 million deal to supply missile parts to Taiwan, marking the latest in a volley of punitive actions by the superpowers as relations grow colder. "China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. "We will impose sanctions on the main contractor of this arms sale, Lockheed Martin," he said, without elaborating on what form the sanctions may take. The move comes as tensions grow between the U.S. and China on a number of fronts, from the trade war and territorial claims in the South China Sea to the coronavirus pandemic and new security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong. Zhao, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, called on the U.S. to cut military ties with Taiwan -- which China considers part of its territory -- to avoid "further harm to bilateral relations." "It's tit-for-tat between the two countries," said Shukor Yusok, founder of aviation consultancy Endau Analytics in Malaysia. "The impact this time is going to be small, but it could be the start of more to come." U.S. arms manufacturers face strict limitations on what kind of business they can do with countries deemed by Washington to be strategic rivals, such as China. Lockheed generated 9.7% of its revenue in the Asia-Pacific region last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, though that's not broken down by individual countries. Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., which is owned by Lockheed, has a joint venture called Shanghai Sikorsky Aircraft Co. that does business with aviation companies and government-backed enterprises. "It's a futile exercise that will have no direct effect on Lockheed Martin given that they aren't allowed to sell anything to China," said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners in London. "China may have a go at disrupting supplies, but that will only further accelerate the U.S. attempts at autarky." Last week, the U.S. sanctioned a top member of China's ruling Communist Party and three other officials over alleged abuses in the western province of Xinjiang. Then, on Monday, the Foreign Ministry announced unspecified sanctions against U.S. officials, including Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, after the Trump administration levied penalties on Chen Quanguo, who sits on the Communist Party's 25-member Politburo. China previously threatened to sanction U.S. companies, including General Dynamics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc., on numerous occasions over arms sales to Taiwan. It also threatened to blacklist FedEx Corp., while Ford Motor Co.'s main joint venture partner in China was fined $23.6 million (162.8 million yuan) last year, days after the U.S. put a ban on doing business with Huawei Technologies Co. Huawei is one of several Chinese technology companies in the sights of the Trump administration, which also is seeking to bar the telecommunications giant from advanced 5G wireless trials in countries such as the U.K and India. "This is completely just a countermeasure in response to the U.S. taking a more destructive approach to Taiwan and Hong Kong issues, and escalating long-arm jurisdiction," said Tian Feilong, associate professor with the Law School of Beihang University. China and its state media have alluded to further action against U.S. companies, but the sanctions against Lockheed are a concrete move, signaling Beijing is willing to intensify its pushback as the U.S. criticizes it on political fronts like Hong Kong and the South China Sea. "It further confirms how we expect the Chinese government to behave in terms of international relationships," said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London. "There will be a lot of 'you are either with us or against us,' so companies will be forced to choose." While China has often invoked the threat of putting U.S. companies on a blacklist -- or list of "unreliable entities" -- in response to various actions by the Trump administration over the past year, it has yet to name any, at least publicly. The U.S. last week also approved a military sale to Japan of 105 of Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and related equipment for an estimated price of $23.1 billion. (Updates with more Foreign Ministry comment starting in second paragraph) Investors piled into G4S after the security giant said profits would trump expectations and unveiled a shake-up that could see it axe 1,150 jobs. First-half profits will be far higher than the 159million outsiders have forecast, G4S said, despite previously flagging revenues which fell slightly between January and May. A short update to the stock market on the profit outlook sent its shares rising in early trading. Rosy outlook: Security giant G4S said first-half profits will be far higher than the 159m outsiders have forecast And they stayed high after it later emerged the company is planning to make sweeping changes to its UK cash handling business, which fills up ATMs and transports money from small businesses. It could cut up to 1,150 roles in the division or just under a third of its more than 4,000 employees. People were already switching from paying for things in cash to electronic card and phone payments. But the pandemic has sped this up. Staff across the business, from couriers to administrators, will be affected by the cuts, which the GMB union said marked 'another worrying step towards a cashless society'. Stock Watch - Luceco Shares in LED lighting maker Luceco rose after it told investors it is likely to pay a half-year dividend. The company will confirm this in September. Profit in 2020 is on track to smash analyst expectations and, at the very least, be in line with last years 18million. But Luceco which has offices in Telford as well as Houston and Hong Kong said if there are more lockdowns this year, it will cost the group 750,000 a month. Shares rose 18.6 per cent, or 19p, to 121p. Yesterday was also the first trading day after it was announced late on Friday that G4S had agreed to pay 44million to the Serious Fraud Office to avert criminal charges after it was found to have overcharged the Government for electronically tagging offenders. Jefferies analysts said it was less than they'd been expecting. G4S's shares were up 9.3 per cent, or 11.05p, to 130.5p by the close, making it the top gainer on the FTSE 250. The mid-cap index as a whole started the week on an upbeat note, rising 1.2 per cent, or 205.12 points, to 17385.09. As well as the helping hand from G4S, it was boosted by a 1.9 per cent rise in the Egypt-focused gold miner Centamin, which finished 3.6p higher at 191.5p. Centamin produced more gold than it expected to from its Sukari mine between April and June 130,994 oz in total after it delayed plant maintenance shutdowns until later in the year as a pandemic precaution. Mining stocks also drove the FTSE 100 higher. The Footsie rose 1.3 per cent, or 80.78 points, to 6176.19 trailing a rally in Asian markets as traders bet a slew of government relief packages would help the global economy to rebound. Mining company shares tend to track economic growth, as countries consume and use more raw materials when things are on the up. Some might argue that optimism is premature, given recent increases in coronavirus cases. The oil market is certainly being more cautious, because rising infection rates and the threat of more lockdowns could seriously damage demand for oil if transport grinds to a halt again. Oil prices fell 1 per cent to $42.79 yesterday. Conference organisers had a mixed reaction after the Events Industry Alliance warned 30,000 UK jobs could be lost unless the Government pins down a go-to reopening date for the industry. Hyve Group ended up 0.6 per cent, or 0.55p, to 90p while Informa fell 0.8 per cent, or 3.3p, to 437p. Shareholders in student accommodation provider Unite Group were little moved by news the company has bought a 300-bed development site in Edinburgh. The project is expected to cost Unite around 24million and it would bring in rent for the first time in the academic year starting in 2023. Its stock fell 0.3 per cent, or 2.5p, to 936.5p. Among the small-caps, photo booth and coin-operated laundry machine provider Photo-Me sank 11.5 per cent, or 6.35p, to 49.05p, after reporting its operations chief, Eric Mergui, had left the board over the weekend. Last week it said annual profits sunk 96 per cent after business was upended by the pandemic, warning recovery would take 'some time'. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. The Report Essential Oil Market [By Product Type (Lemon, Lime, Orange, Corn Mint, Eucalyptus, Peppermint, Citronella, Clove Leaf, Others); By Distribution Channel (Offline Stores, Online Platforms); By Application (Healthcare and Pharmaceutical, Cleaning, Food and Beverages, Spa and Wellness, Others); By Region]: Market Size & Forecast, 2017 2026 According to a new report published by Polaris Market Research the essential oil market is anticipated to reach USD 16,172.2 million by 2026. In 2017, the orange essential oil segment dominated the global market, in terms of revenue. Europe is expected to be the leading contributor to the global market revenue during the forecast period. Browse for full research summary: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/essential-oil-market A significant increase in disposable income, changing lifestyles, and initiatives by market players to promote healthy lifestyles drive the growth of this market. Other driving factors include increasing incidences of stress and anxiety, growing inclination towards use of natural and organic products, and increasing awareness regarding physical and mental health. The use of essential oils in various applications such as food and beverages, healthcare, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and aromatherapy further propel the market growth. Increasing demand in developing nations is expected provide numerous growth opportunities to the market players during the forecast period. There has been a shift towards e-commerce and consumers are increasingly purchasing essential oils through online platforms. The variety of choices available coupled with ease of purchase offered by online platforms encourages consumers to buy essential oils online, supplementing the growth of the market. Improvement in lifestyle due to rise in income level, especially in the developing countries of Asia-Pacific fuels the demand for essential oils market. Factors such as increase in per capita income and changes in consumer behavior towards physical and mental health are expected to accelerate the adoption of essential oils in the coming years. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/essential-oil-market/request-for-sample Europe generated the highest revenue in the market in 2017, and is expected to lead the global market throughout the forecast period. The high geriatric population in the region coupled with high disposable income drives the market growth. The high demand of essential oils in food & beverages and cosmetic products support the market growth in the region. Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to increasing disposable incomes in developing countries of this region, rising awareness about benefits of essential oils, and rising demand of essential oils from healthcare sector in this region. The different types of essential oils in the market include lemon, lime, orange, corn mint, eucalyptus, peppermint, citronella, clove leaf, and others. In 2017, the orange essential oil segment accounted for the highest market share. The increasing demand for orange essential oil is owing to properties such as anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and antispasmodic. Use of orange essential oil has a calming effect on mind and body, and is used in various cosmetics products. It is also used in various foods and beverages to enhance flavor. Make Inquiry about this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/essential-oil-market/inquire-before-buying The well-known companies profiled in the report include Doterra International LLC., Rocky Mountain Oils, LLC, Naturals Together, Robertet SA, Now Health Group, Inc., Biolandes SAS, Falcon Essential Oils, Ungerer Limited, The Lebermuth Company, Flavex Naturextrakte GmbH, Farotti Srl, and E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company among others. These companies launch new products and collaborate with other market leaders to innovate and launch new products to meet the increasing needs and requirements of consumers. Essential Oil Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Product Type Lemon Lime Orange Corn mint Eucalyptus Peppermint Citronella Clove leaf Others Essential Oil Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Distribution Channel Offline Stores Online Platforms Essential Oil Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Application Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Cleaning Food and Beverages Spa and Wellness Others Essential Oil Market Size and Forecast, 2017-2026 by Region North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany UK France Italy Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia-Pacific Latin America Brazil Middle East & Africa Check for discount: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/essential-oil-market/request-for-discount-pricing About Polaris Market Research Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. Contact us- Polaris Market Research Phone: 1-646-568-9980 Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com STAMFORD For the second time in less than two weeks city police have helped a nearby police department apprehend a homicide suspect in Stamford. The latest capture happened on Friday, after Stamford police were notified by Danbury that a homeless man by the street name of Chica-bomba might be living in Stamford. The man, whose real name is Carlos Enrique Guzman-Lopez, was wanted in connection with the death of a 60-year-old man whose body was found near the Danbury railroad tracks in June. Capt. Richard Conklin said Danbury police told them that the man could be anywhere, even camping out in city parks or under bridges. Police combed through the city, accompanied by Danbury police officers. On Friday afternoon investigators received a tip that the man they sought was at an apartment building on Taylor Avenue, police said. Police found Guzman-Lopes in an apartment unit in the building, Conklin said. He was taken into custody without incident and Danbury police were very appreciative of our efforts, Conklin said. After being brought to Danbury Guzman-Lopez, 46, was charged with first-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault. Almost a week earlier, Stamford police officers responded to a downtown car accident. One of the drivers involved was Danarius Dukes, 44 of Stamford. When police ran his name, they discovered he was wanted for the 27-year-old shooting death of 77-year-old Theodore Edwards, who was killed inside the Duchess Diner in Bridgeport where he worked as a custodian. Dukes, who has spent 20 years in prison for an unrelated shooting, has since been charged with murder and felony murder and is being held in lieu of a $2 million court appearance bond. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:29:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BUDAPEST, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The output of Hungary's automotive sector, an engine for industrial growth under normal circumstances, fell sharply in May due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) said on Tuesday. The automotive industry, which accounted for 21 percent of the country's manufacturing output in May, shrank by 53 percent year-on-year, the KSH said. However, the decline slowed from a 79.5-percent drop in April as the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Hungary was gradually lifted in May. Several carmakers have plants in Hungary, such as Audi, Mercedes and Opel of Germany, BYD of China and Suzuki of Japan. BMW of Germany has also announced the construction of a new plant. Enditem Eric Sprott Significantly Increases Investment in Karora Resources; Subscribes for 26 Million Shares Posted by Publisher Internet Karora Resources Inc. (TSX: KRR) (\Karora\ or the ?Corporation\ https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/karora-resources-on-track-to-become-mid-tier-gold-producer-in-australia/ ) is pleased to announce that Eric Sprott has agreed to increase his ownership in Karora by 26 million shares. In a strategic move, Karora has worked alongside Maverix Metals Inc. (?Maverix?) to effectively place the entire planned share issuance previously announced June 30, 2020 (see Karora news release dated June 30, 2020). In lieu of issuing shares to Maverix, Karora will use the proceeds from total of 36.5 million common shares to be issued to Eric Sprott and one other institutional investor to complete the previously announced Maverix transaction with an all-cash consideration of US$18 million (subject to the conditions described in the Karora news release dated June 30, 2020). The shares of Karora to be issued to Mr. Sprott and the institutional investor will be issued at the same $0.506 price per share that had been agreed with Maverix. Subject to completion of the transactions, no common shares of Karora will be issued to Maverix. Paul Andre Huet, Chairman & CEO of Karora, commented: ?I am very excited that Eric Sprott, a highly influential and well-known leader in the resource investment community and one of the world\-\-s premiere gold and silver investors, has significantly increased his investment in Karora. This investment is a strong endorsement of the confidence Mr. Sprott has in both our execution over the past year and our plans to unlock the value of our Western Australian gold mining assets.? In total, Karora intends to issue 36.5 million common shares, made up of 26 million shares to Eric Sprott and the balance expected to be to another institutional investor. The completion of this investment transaction is subject to the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange and other customary conditions. A cash finder\-\-s fee will be payable to certain third parties in connection with this private placement of Karora shares. About Karora Resources Karora is focused on growing gold production and reducing costs at its integrated Beta Hunt Gold Mine and Higginsville Gold Operations (\HGO\) in Western Australia. The Higginsville treatment facility is a low-cost 1.4 Mtpa processing plant which is fed at capacity from Karora\-\-s underground Beta Hunt mine and open pit Higginsville mine. At Beta Hunt, a robust gold mineral resource and reserve is hosted in multiple gold shears, with gold intersections along a 4 km strike length remaining open in multiple directions. HGO has a substantial historical gold resource and highly prospective land package totaling approximately 1,800 square kilometers. Karora has a strong Board and management team focused on delivering shareholder value. Karora\-\-s common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol KRR. Karora shares also trade on the OTCQX market under the symbol KRRGF. Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements This release contains certain ?forward looking statements? and certain ?forward-looking information? as defined under applicable Canadian and U.S. securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as ?may?, ?will?, ?should?, ?expect?, ?intend?, ?estimate?, ?anticipate?, ?believe?, ?continue?, ?plans? or similar terminology. The forward-looking information contained herein is provided for the purpose of assisting readers in understanding management?s current expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements and information include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the closing of the private placement. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Karora to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect the outcome include, among others: future prices and the supply of metals; the results of drilling; inability to raise the money necessary to incur the expenditures required to retain and advance the properties; environmental liabilities (known and unknown); general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; results of exploration programs; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; political instability, terrorism, insurrection or war; or delays in obtaining governmental approvals, projected cash operating costs, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Karora \-\-s filings with Canadian securities regulators, including the most recent Annual Information Form, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although Karora has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this news release and Karora disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Cautionary Statement Regarding the Higginsville Mining Operations A production decision at the Higginsville gold operations was made by previous operators of the mine, prior to the completion of the acquisition of the Higginsville gold operations by Karora and Karora made a decision to continue production subsequent to the acquisition. This decision by Karora to continue production and, to the knowledge of Karora, the prior production decision were not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, which include increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Corporation?s cash flow and future profitability. Readers are cautioned that there is increased uncertainty and higher risk of economic and technical failure associated with such production decisions. Aaliya Alleges Nawazuddin Siddiqui Invited Girlfriends Home While She Was In Labour At The Hospital, Brother Gave Her Details Dear Editor: I read with outrage that President Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime friend Roger Stone. A press release from Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., reminds us that Stone was convicted on seven counts of obstruction, false statements and witness tampering by a jury of his peers. In April, Michael Cohen, the presidents former personal attorney was released early from the federal prison in Otisville to serve out the remainder of his sentence at home as the coronavirus continued to spread behind bars. (Cohen later was sent back to prison for violating the terms of his release.) So while people like Stone and Cohen have been allowed to live at home, dozens of senior citizen prisoners are languishing behind bars in prisons like Otisville, threatened by the spread of the virus. The criminal recidivism rate among seniors who leave prison is just one-half of 1%. These people are nor a danger to our society. Many of them have served over 25 years behind bars, and they now should be sent home to their families instead of costing society over $50,000 per year for boarding, clothes and food, all while being exposed to the virus. Please contact your New York state representatives and Gov. Andrew Cuomo and urge them to support elder parole bills S2144 and A6354A to help our seniors who are in prison. Barbara Sarah Kingston N.Y. French fries are served as a common side dish to burgers, fried chicken, grilled steak and also, fried fish. The worlds most favourite potato fritters also have cultural variants. In Belgium, fries are often eaten with cooked mussels or with a fried egg on top. The United Kingdom is famous for its fish and chips. In the Middle-East, fries make for a wholesome snack when served with pita bread and other fillings (shawarmas, anyone?). Poutine, a famous Canadian dish, includes french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy. via GIPHY The origin story Despite its name and popularity, the French fries are not French. The origins can be found in Belgium, where historians claim potatoes were being fried in the late-1600s. According to Belgian lore, poor villagers living in Meuse Valley would often ate small fried fish they caught in the river. During the winter months when the river froze, fishing would become an impossible task and forced villagers to find other sources of food. This is when the villagers turned to the root plant, potatoes, slicing and frying them just like the way they prepared fish. American soldiers were first introduced to the fries while they were stationed in Belgium during World War I. Fries, or French fries, are one of the most popular side dishes in the world. They find accompaniment in dips, mayonnaise, ketchup, and even vinegar. The French fries American connection According to an early 19th century manuscript written by then-US President Thomas Jefferson, he talks about a dish called Pommes de terre frites en petites tranches (Potatoes deep-fried while raw, in small slices). Some historians have claimed that this recipe came from the French chef, Honore Julien. By 1850s, this recipe gained so much popularity that it became a mainstay in several American cookbooks as French Fried Potatoes. Interesting facts Did you know Belgium is also home to the worlds first, and so far the only, French Fry Museum? The tasty snack also has a day assigned to it. National French Fry Day is celebrated across the US on July 13 every year. In 2014, Belgium sought to give French fries a cultural heritage status. According to a 2014 report by Reuters, Belgian fries are traditionally sold, in a paper cone, in a fritkot, generally a shack or trailer. There are some 5,000 of these in Belgium, making them 10 times more common, per capita, than McDonalds restaurants in the United States. To become recognized by the United Nations cultural arm UNESCO, they need to be endorsed by a minister of culture, and Belgium has three of them, it added. The government of the Dutch speaking region of Flanders recognized Belgian fries as an integral part of national culture this year, and the French- and German-speaking communities are expected to debate the issue next year. UNAFRI, the national association of fritkot owners, which started the drive, says the unpolished establishments are uniquely Belgian, combining the countrys embrace of chaos with a dislike of corporate uniformity, the report continued. Even though potatoes are a versatile vegetable, the Belgian/French discovery remains a sinful treat we will be ready to munch on, without counting those calories! Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Saumya Sharma Saumya Sharma enjoys writing, reading and watching short and long-form content across the vast expanse of the world, in all forms - print, web, 70mm and more. A soul traveller by choice, she sometimes finds herself well-blended amongst Mango people, thinking about life as we know it. She has been in the digital content and social media marketing space for the past seven years and counting. She is fond of dogs, haikus, limericks and poetry. ...view detail Teachers are heroes too. Sadly, not all teachers die heroically. Some die of deaths; they never imagined they would be caught up with. The 61-year old Arizona elementary school teacher Kimberley Chavez Lopez Byrd returned to teaching after retiring. Everyone who knew her and had worked with her respected her. This was what superintendent of the Hayden Winkelman Unified School District Jeff Gregorich told reporters. Lopez Byrd shared a classroom with Jena Martinez-Inzunza and Angela Skillings for a summer school program. They were all teaching virtual summer school to kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students with school shutdown. Lopez Byrd tested positive for COVID-19 on June 13, and she was put on a ventilator the next day. She died on June 16. Byrd also had lupus, diabetes, and asthma, according to reports. Both Inzunza and Skillings also tested positive for the disease and are still recovering from the illness. "They took extra precautions because Jena is a cancer survivor and has a compromised immune system. They followed the CDC guidelines and more," Gregorich was quoted in a report. The teacher's colleagues are now saying her death serves as a warning to those who push for schools to reopen in the fall. Gregorich told the Arizona Republic that they would lose more teachers if schools were to open in the fall. Arizona Schools Reopening School board leaders and medical professionals want to push back school openings to at least Oct. 1. Arizona governor Doug Ducey pushed back the reopening until Aug.17. But school board members said they wanted to wait for a downward trend in the COVID-19 before reopening schools. Industry experts say the current environment is still dangerous for children and educators. School board members in the Alhambra Unified School District Adam Lopez Falk said they are afraid of going back to school. Tempe Elementary School District Board Member Monica Trejo said that they want their children educated this coming year. "But until Arizona shows a downward trend in identified COVID-19 cases, it's just too dangerous for our kiddos and educators," Trejo was quoted in a report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that reopening schools have the "highest risk" for spreading the virus. Arizona School Board Members sent a letter to Ducey requesting for a statewide closure of buildings and classrooms. They may only open the said buildings if data show a reduction of risk and infection in the community. They also requested the governor and other concerned leaders to fund distance learning at the same level as in-person teaching without requiring face-to-face classes five days a week. The board members also said that remote learning is the only way to ensure the safety of students and educators during the pandemic. Arizona's school superintendent Kathy Hoffman expressed doubts about whether Arizona schools are ready. "Today's discussion at the White House Summit on Safely Reopening America's Schools did not reflect the magnitude or severity of Arizona's growing public health crisis," she was quoted in an AZ central report. Hoffman said she expects "more aggressive action" from Ducey to help lower the spread of COVID-19. Arizona COVID-19 Caes Arizona has around 124,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 2,249 deaths. Maricopa County has a higher number of COVID-19 cases with 81, 216 positive cases, and 1, 140 deaths. Next is Pima County with 11, 856 positive cases, and 327 deaths. The third highest is Yuma county with 8, 392 cases, and 154 deaths. Want to read more? Check these out! Back in January, being an upstanding citizen involved donating to charity, volunteering your time, or (hardest of all) being nice to strangers. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened, and now all that requires is wearing a mask when you go outside to literally save others' lives. You've got lots of mask options, but there's a new one for sale today: Everlane's new face masks let you be a good person twice, as 10% of the proceeds from your purchase will go to the American Civil Liberties Union, the 100 year-old non-profit dedicated to defending the rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country. The 100% Human face masks come in packs of five for $25 (thats $5 per mask), are made from 100% cotton, are machine washable, and you can choose between tie-dyed varieties or and a matte black pack. The masks also feature double-layer knit fabric with cotton-lycra ear loops for comfort and stretch. Like most masks available online, Everlane's are not FDA-approved, nor designed for use in a medical setting, but they can significantly reduce your risk of spreading COVID-19 when social distancing isn't possible or when you're performing essential functions, like visiting a grocery store. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Abhirup Roy (Reuters) Mumbai, India Tue, July 14, 2020 12:32 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666255b6 2 Entertainment Amitabh-Bachchan,bollywood,coronavirus,COVID-19 Free Fans across India prayed on Monday for Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan and others members of his movie star family who have fallen sick with the coronavirus as the one-day rise in infections hit a new record without any sign of a peak. Bachchan, 77, and his son, Abhishek, remained in hospital in Mumbai while daughter-in-law and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and his eight-year-old granddaughter, who also tested positive were at home, quarantined. The Bachchans are the highest-profile Indians to have contracted the virus, which is spreading faster after a months-long lockdown was eased at the end of May to revive a battered economy. Special Hindu rituals were performed in temples all over India by fans praying for the recovery of an actor adored and respected for a career spanning decades. "It feels like not only Amitabh Bachchan has fallen sick, but an entire generation has become sick," Vijay Patodia, a member of the All Bengal Amitabh Bachchan Fans' Association, told Reuters in a temple in the eastern city of Kolkata. A spokeswoman for Nanavati hospital where the father and son are admitted declined any comment, saying the family will provide updates. Bachchan is a prolific Twitter user and had announced his illness on Saturday after he was admitted to hospital. "Hope he, @juniorbachchan & his family recover from #Covid_19 very soon & released from hospital," @jaikukki tweeted from the United States, along with a video of Bachchan singing a popular hymn. There was no update from the family or hospital by mid-afternoon on Monday, but health officials had said on Sunday the father and son were stable. Some people, however, said the Bachchans were privileged to have got top-class treatment immediately while many others struggled with a shortage of hospital beds, medics and medicines in major cities. "Without any malice for them, and hoping that they get well soon, this only makes many wonder how easily they got beds while regular common ppl are struggling," tweeted @rajneilkamath, a factchecker. India, along with the United States and Brazil, tops the global caseload of infections. It declared an early lockdown of its 1.3 billion people in March but it has not been able to flatten the curve yet. Cases of COVID-19 shot past 878,000 with a record 28,701 new infections reported on Monday, even as parts of the country went into fresh lockdowns. India appears to have fared far better than many places in terms of the ratio of deaths to cases, with the official toll put at 23,174, but some independent observers believe the figures are unreliable as people who die with symptoms are not counted as victims unless they have been tested. The Congress Legislature Party meeting called in to resolve the political crisis in Rajasthan has been skipped by the Deputy Chief Minister for a second time as Congress forebodes another government fall after Madhya Pradesh. A Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting is being held at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, Rajasthan. Earlier on Monday, twenty MLAs, including Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, did not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting held at the residence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot amid the political crisis in the state, sources said. Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, P Chidambaram and KC Venugopal have spoken to Sachin Pilot several times. Rajasthan: Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting begins at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur. pic.twitter.com/YIeLQMVl3H ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 However, sources stated that there is very less possibility of Pilot attending the Congress Legislature Party meet today. Also read: BJP trying to demolish Cong in Rajasthan, Sena attacks erstwhile ally Also read: Ahead of CLP meet, Cong reaches out to Pilot The Rajasthan Congress is in turmoil over the past few days. While Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for attempting to destabilise the State government by poaching MLAs, Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has been camping in Delhi. 102 MLAs present at the ongoing Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur have unanimously demanded that Sachin Pilot should be removed from the party: Sources. #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/g6b3TNO5uC ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 A controversy broke out in Rajasthan after Special Operation Group (SOG) sent a notice to Pilot to record his statement in the case registered by SOG in the alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the State. Also read: Pilot not joining BJP, CMs back garden not place to prove majority: Sources close to Dy CM For all the latest National News, download NewsX App The Fox News star Tucker Carlson said on Monday evening that he would leave on a vacation, starting immediately, days after a writer on his program, Blake Neff, resigned over racist, sexist and misogynist messages that Mr. Neff published pseudonymously on an online message board. Mr. Carlson told viewers that he would return to his show next week and described the vacation as long planned, suggesting that his time off had been set before Mr. Neff was revealed on Friday as the author of the offensive posts. It was not the first time that Mr. Carlson has announced that he would take a break from the anchor chair in the immediate aftermath of a sensitive moment for his prime-time program. Last August, Mr. Carlson went on vacation two days after he likened white supremacy to a hoax, saying it was actually not a real problem in America, remarks that prompted some advertisers to distance themselves from his show. In response to an inquiry on Monday, Fox News said that Mr. Carlsons vacation was preplanned. Mr. Neff, who had written for Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2017, resigned last week after Fox News learned of his activity on AutoAdmit, an online forum popular with law students. There, Mr. Neff had written messages that denigrated African-Americans, Asian-Americans and women. Fox Newss top executives condemned Mr. Neffs conduct as abhorrent in a memo to staff and said the show had not previously been aware of his writings. Kolkata, July 14 : A group of employees of state-run West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation on Tuesday staged protest at the Sector-V depot after a colleague tested coronavirus positive to demand health safety measures. Sources said a Transport Department employee was also detected with Covid-like symptoms. They demanded immediate sanitisation of the Sector-V depot and the barrack where they live. "We are protesting to demand immediate sanitisation of the bus depot and the barrack where we stay. The Transport Department has to assure us that they will take care of our health during the pandemic," said Abhijit Hore, a corporation staff. Hore said that the government must take necessary measures to protect the health of transport employees who are running bus services. The Zimbabwean government has reacted angrily to opposition parties and non-governmental organizations planned July 31st public protest over the deteriorating economic situation, corruption and alleged Zanu PF misrule. The government says the protest, dubbed #ZanuPFMustGo, is an attempt to unconstitutionally remove President Emmerson Mnangagwa from office. In a several tweets, Information Secretary Nick Mangwana, said, Its not about corruption. Its an unconstitutional plan to seize power and give it to the unelected. Another tweet reads, If there was no #Covid19 catastrophe nobody would have a problem with an Anticorruption March. But to try to overthrow a constitutional order and replace it with an unelected monster is not democracy. It's lawlessness. Democracy does not work that way. Focus on #Covid19Zim. The Zimbabwean government says there are now more than 1,000 people that have contracted COVID-19 in the country and as a result, there is need to tighten Coronavirus regulations. Indications are that the government is planning to tighten the COVID-19 lockdown before the July 31st protest. Mangwana claims that the planned protest is being led by outsiders with a regime-change agenda. The greatest lesson, however, are the desperate lengths opposition parties and their handlers are prepared to go in pursuit of their illegal regime change agenda to the point of exposing innocent Zimbabweans to the deadly Covid-19 The Signal which President ED Mnangagwa has given to this Nation is that we need to reform. Not reform because someone is pushing us to. Not to reform as a sign of capitulation. Reform because it's in our best interests. But it's not a sign of weakness. In an editorial, the state-controlled Chronicle newspaper also claimed that the planned protest is being led by outsiders. The editorial reads in part, the opposition and NGOs parties working in cahoots with some Western countries want to use their planned July 31 illegal demonstrations as an attempt to overthrow the Government. With cases of Covid-19 spiraling in the country, the opposition parties and their acolytes want to put the people into unnecessary risk by involving them in an illegal activity that could see more people infected with Covid-19. That the planned demos, like many others behind them, will fail, is not in doubt as Zimbabwe is a democracy where leaders are installed through elections and not sponsored acts of violence and chaos. Besides, the relevant arms of the law stand ready to carry out their mandate in the defence of the people and maintaining law and order. Opponents say the government is panicking over the planned protest amid concerns that state security agents are currently allegedly attempting to abduct some NGO and opposition leaders ahead of the protest. The government has distanced itself from the abductions. Several people were gunned down by state security forces during public protests over delayed presidential elections results in 2018 and steep fuel price increases in 2019. The Department Related Standing Committee for Information & Technology headed by Shashi Tharoor met today in Parliament. On the agenda was the banning of Chinese apps recently by the government and a few other issues like the safety of public data on Aarogya Setu app widely publicized by the government. A total of 8 members attended the meeting. Tharoor from Congress, others from BJP Nishikant Dubey, Tejasvi Surya and former information & broadcasting minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Sanjay Seth were amongst those who attended. The BJP MPs in the meeting lauded Tharoor's tweet where he had supported the Modi government's stand on banning Chinese apps. In the Committee meet, officials from the IT Ministry & Home Ministry explained to the members the reasons behind the centre's decision to ban these apps. Sources tell CNN-News18 that IT Ministry said to members that a detailed input came in from the Home Ministry about threat of using the Chinese apps after which the decision was taken. According to sources, an MP said in the meeting that wouldn't it be a threat because police in states like Gujarat or Maharashtra a lot of criminal data was scanned through Cam Scanner, a Chinese app to scan documents on the phone. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey then intervened and said let China also know what sort of criminals we have in this country and that should actually scare China. Members also asked officials about their concern about safety of their data on Aarogya Setu app. Many people had expressed their concern whether their data was safe on the app and whether govt would use it further for other means too. Time and again the Centre had said the app was safe and foolproof. Today too the IT Ministry officials explained to the members the steps taken to build and upgrade the app and how it was impossible for citizen data to be compromised. Members seemed to be pretty satisfied with the response of Ministry. In fact, the Aarogya Setu app has a new feature which allows users to delete their data and accounts from the app permanently. The new feature allows users to delete both personal as well as location information from the contact tracing app upon their desire. It was on June 29 when the IT Ministry announced the ban on 59 Chinese apps posing a threat to Indian data. Popular apps like TikTok, WeChat, Club Factory, Cam Scanner were among those banned. The government a few days later ensured these apps were banned for Army personnel for the fear of data leak and to prevent soldiers from falling prey to espionage or honey trap. The BACnet Institute launched the BACnet Device Profiles course, which offers free CEUs. Understanding the device profiles, new and old, and how they fit in relation to the requirements of buildings is very important. BACnet International is excited to announce the launch of its newest online course titled BACnet Device Profiles. This course explains the various BACnet device profiles and how the profiles can be effectively used to ensure the successful specification of BACnet in a Building Automation System (BAS) implementation. The course can be accessed on The BACnet Institute (TBI) online learning site, which provides free educational resources to assist the understanding and successful implementation of the BACnet protocol. As with all courses on TBI, Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be awarded upon its completion. In this new course, the purpose of each BACnet Device Profile is defined, explaining the role each plays in the context of building automation and how the profiles can be effectively combined in a specification to ensure the functionality required is achieved. While the course is geared toward specifiers, end users and integrators, other professionals in the building automation industry are encouraged to take it as well to broaden their understanding of the BACnet protocol, the specification process, and building automation. The following are the learning objectives defined for the course: Explain why Device Profiles are an important element in specifying a BACnet device. Describe the basic concepts of BACnet Building Blocks (BIBBs) and how they relate to Device Profiles. Recognize the name and identify the purpose of all BACnet Device Profiles. Define the ways in which different profiles can be combined in a single device. Explain why selecting a Device Profile may not be sufficient to fully specify the BACnet device required in a specific application. Recognize and specify valid BACnet Device Profiles. The BACnet standard has been extended significantly over the past few years, which has extended the number of device profiles as well, stated Andy McMillan, president and managing director of BACnet International. So, understanding the device profiles, new and old, and how they fit in relation to the requirements of buildings is very important. Visit The BACnet Institute, thebacnetinstitute.org, to access these courses as well as many other BACnet-related resources, including articles from various industry publications, lectures from leading industry events, and a knowledge-sharing forum. Site registration, which grants access to all of TBI resources, is free. About The BACnet Institute The BACnet Institute (TBI) is a global online learning environment that It is designed to serve as a central BACnet-focused resource for interactive courses, curated articles and lectures, and a collaborative forum. TBI is intended to serve the needs of the whole BACnet community including building owners and operators, system integrators, consultants, facility management professionals and product developers. It provides opportunities for participants to learn about and share innovative strategies, research, and best practices from anywhere around the world, at any time of the day. The BACnet Institute operates under the auspices of BACnet International in collaboration with other BACnet industry groups. BACnet International is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. About BACnet International BACnet International is an industry association that facilitates the successful use of the BACnet protocol in building automation and control systems through interoperability testing, educational programs and promotional activities. BACnet International oversees operation of the BACnet Testing Labs (BTL) and maintains a global listing of tested products. The BACnet standard was developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and has been made publicly available so that manufacturers can create interoperable systems of products. BACnet International complements the work of the ASHRAE standards committee and BACnet-related interest groups around the world. BACnet International members include building owners, consulting engineers and facility managers, as well as companies involved in the design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and maintenance of control equipment that uses BACnet for communication. For more information, please visit bacnetinternational.org. Before being treated at the Omaha hospital, Schulz had traveled to surgeons in California and Nevada. He underwent nine surgeries and bought braces and belts to help with the pain. This was a last resort, he said. Schulzs first hernia surgery took place in his hometown of Bishop, California, in 2012. Doctors fixed that hernia, which was about the size of a walnut, when they performed gallbladder surgery on him. Four months later, the hernia was back. This time, said Schulzs wife, Bonnie, it was about the size of an egg. As it got larger, Schulz was referred to a surgeon in Reno, Nevada. That surgery proved to be another quick but short-lived fix. Again, a few months after surgery, the hernia reappeared. The cycle continued. After one surgery, Schulz went into septic shock. He spent four days in the intensive care unit. Schulzs niece learned of Fitzgibbons and his program at CUMC-Bergan through friends. She kept urging her aunt to make a call. Bonnie Schulz said the choice was up to her husband. Tories heralded a 'long march' away from Beijing's influence today as Boris Johnson prepares to announce that Huawei is being axed from the UK's 5G network. Despite threats of 'consequences', the PM is expected to declare that telecoms firms will be banned from installing new equipment supplied by the Chinese tech giant by Christmas. Companies will also be told they need to rip out all existing Huawei kit by the middle of this decade - five years earlier than they say can be done without causing service blackouts. The move, which represents a dramatic U-turn from January when Mr Johnson gave the green light for Huawei's involvement in 5G, was welcomed by senior MPs who said the UK must break its 'addiction to Chinese tech'. Former Conservative leader Lord Hague said the country must not be 'strategically dependent' on the Asian superpower, but cautioned the decision could be the start of a 'very long march'. It came as it emerged that Lord Browne, the chairman of Huawei's operations in the UK, is stepping down from the role earlier than planned. The peer, a former boss of BP, will quit the firm's board in September instead of in March when his term was due to expire. The Huawei ban follows intense pressure from Donald Trump to deny China a foothold in the West's critical infrastructure. Tough American sanctions have prevented the firm from using any US-patented technology in its microchips Ministers including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (left) and chief whip Mark Spencer (right) were in Downing Street for Cabinet today Huawei executives held last-ditch talks yesterday with officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the hope of watering down the plans. But a Whitehall source said the ban would go ahead, adding: 'It's fair to say Huawei won't be very happy with the result.' Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden is expected to confirm the steps in a statement to the House of Commons later. Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the foreign affairs select committee, called on the Government to take the opportunity to distance itself even further from Beijing. In a column in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Tugendhat said it was time for the UK to kick its 'addiction to Beijing tech'. He said: 'To keep power distributed and trade on the basis of law, not force, we need a new alliance. Going further than the World Trade Organisation and recognising the importance of India and Nigeria, would reinforce the interdependence of democracies against authoritarian regimes. 'We have the innovations and size that could create a market for companies that share our values. The majority won't be British but they'll share our values, and that will protect us all.' His sentiment was echoed by former Conservative leader William Hague, who wrote in the Telegraph: 'What matters is that we should not be strategically dependent on Chinese technology for the future, and that will require building up the production of alternative companies. 'It is not essential to rip everything out immediately - we just have to be able to maintain our own critical infrastructure for the long term.' Lord Hague warned Beijing's 'ludicrous attempts to shift blame or cover up' over the coronavirus crisis would harden opinion. He cautioned there was currently 'no sign' that the US and China could find a way of defusing tensions. 'If that continues, the Government's retreat on Huawei will be the beginning of a very long march indeed,' he added. The U-turn could jeopardise Mr Johnson's target to roll out full fibre broadband to the entire country by 2025. BT chief executive Philip Jansen said yesterday it could take ten years to strip out Huawei's equipment from UK networks. He also warned of 'outages' and possible security risks if the sector was told to curtail all business with the Chinese technology firm during the 5G network upgrade. Ministers are also watching for a backlash from Beijing, which has warned the UK will face consequences if it sides with the US to ban one of the jewels in China's industrial crown. Industry sources said yesterday the decision not to ban Huawei until Christmas left open the chance that US policy could change if President Trump fails to secure re-election in November Former MI6 chief Sir Richard Dearlove warned at the weekend that Beijing could even order retaliatory cyber-attacks against the UK, adding: '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.' The Huawei ban follows intense pressure from Donald Trump to deny China a foothold in the West's critical infrastructure. The US has long urged its allies not to use Huawei technology because of national security concerns - concerns which have always been rejected by the company. Meanwhile, tough American sanctions which have recently been put in place will prevent the firm from using any US-patented technology in its microchips. Mr Johnson's National Security Council will consider a report from the NCSC on the impact of the US sanctions on Huawei's ability to supply the 5G network. A Whitehall source said the sanctions have had a 'severe' effect on the firm, adding: 'There is no way that we can now say their equipment is safe.' Industry sources said yesterday the decision not to ban Huawei until Christmas left open the chance that US policy could change if President Trump fails to secure re-election in November. But with a powerful group of Tory MPs also pushing for Huawei's expulsion, few in Whitehall believe the firm has any prospect of long-term involvement in 5G even if Mr Trump loses. Huawei executives held last-ditch talks yesterday with officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the hope of watering down the plans. One of the company's offices is pictured above in Reading Bob Seely, a Tory MP who is co-ordinator of the Huawei Interest Group, which has pressed ministers to impose a ban, yesterday welcomed signs that the Government has had a change of heart. He said it is critical that Huawei is banned from installing new kit by the end of this year. Huawei has always denied that its equipment represents a security risk. The firm insists it is not controlled by the Chinese state. But critics claim Huawei is being used as a Trojan Horse by Beijing to undermine the West's critical infrastructure. Ministers ruled in January that Huawei - designated a 'high risk vendor' by the UK Government - could play a role in the construction of the nation's new 5G network but that its involvement would be capped at 35 per cent. Last week China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, urged the Government not to shut out Huawei warning there would be 'consequences' if Britain tried to treat China as a 'hostile country'. The price of pigs in Vietnam, which while dropping remains much higher than before the global health crisis, is being deemed the main factor creating breakthrough profits for husbandry groups, while a deeper drop thanks in part to Thai imports has yet to materialise. illustration photo, source: VNA Recent costs for live hogs (see box) in the country continued to draw a bleak picture for the domestic husbandry sector in the first half of the year. However, proactive enterprises are taking advantage of rising prices in an attempt to profit. Reports of the vast revenue and profit of Dabaco Group JSC, a multi-field group specialising mainly in animal feed, cattle, and poultry breeding, as well as food processing, is one such example demonstrating the sectors speed of growth. Talking to VIR, a representative of another foreign-invested group confirmed that despite the company having to spend massive fees to prevent and control the pandemic, it still achieved its whole-year profit targets in only three months. This breakthrough growth has not only offset those fees but also the loss from breeding chicken. It is a historic opportunity for husbandry companies, the representative said. There have been no official reports about bleak business results of either foreign or domestic husbandry enterprises in the first half of this year. Even enterprises outside the sector, including steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and automobile assembly group THACO, have reported impressive business results, thanks in part to the rising price of pigs. In 2015, Hoa Phat Thai Binh Breeding One Member Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hoa Phat Group, was granted an investment licence for its pig breeding project with a scale of more than 20,000 pigs in Thai Thuy district of the northern province of Thai Binh. After five years, the group stands 17th in terms of market share in the pig breeding sector with 200,000 units in total. In the first quarter of this year, the group earned VND480 billion ($20.8 million) in profit from its agricultural segment, accounting for 21 per cent of its total profits. Hoa Phat expects to earn VND10 trillion ($434.7 million) in revenue and VND1.2 trillion ($52.1 million) in after-tax profit from agriculture, making it the second-largest revenue stream following steel. Group chairman Tran Dinh Long confirmed at its shareholders meeting in May that a large part of the profit from the agricultural segment came from the higher selling price of pigs. Being aware of the important contribution of the husbandry sector, Hoa Phat will continue to promote existing livestock farms and expand when possible. The groups goal is to reach a maximum capacity of 600,000 tonnes of animal feed and 450,000 pigs per year. Last month, meanwhile, THACO added pig breeding to its business registration certificate. This move came in the context of failures in the cow breeding sector. The expansion of enterprises has raised expectations of a bright picture for the animal husbandry sector the second half of this year, following a bumpy past six months. Risks of a return of African swine fever (ASF) and the impact of the current pandemic have been creating difficulties for re-populating pigs and ensuring steady supply for the domestic market. In the first six months of this year, the industry faced massive difficulties due to both disease outbreaks. The latest report published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that ASF returned in 20 cities and provinces including in Hanoi, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, and Lang Son in the north, forcing a cull of 4,000 pigs. A representative of a foreign-invested husbandry company told VIR, While ASF has broken out again, the number of pigs raised by households remains limited, thus information about the epidemic has not been mentioned regularly in the media. Meanwhile, along with the impact of the pandemic, the cost of breeding pigs has been another barrier for re-populating herds. Pig farm owner Nguyen Tan Hau told VIR that the selling price had already increased to nearly VND2.5 million ($110) per unit, and is even more so now. I hoped the price would fall when Thai-imported breeding pigs arrived in Vietnam. However, the selling price of has climbed to VND3-3.5 million ($130-152) per unit. The average selling price of pigs plunged to VND84,000 ($3.60) per kilogramme last month, to better align with the price of imports from Thailand. According to a report published by the Department of Export and Import under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in June, the price of pigs in the local market decreased to better compete with imported pigs. In the northern region, the price stood at VND85,000-91,000 ($3.70-3.95) per kg, while in the central region it was VND84,000-88,000 ($3.65-$3.80), and VND85,000-88,000 ($3.70-3.80) the southern region. The department forecast that prices will continue to decline in the coming weeks as pig imports from Thailand increase. These imported pigs fetch around VND82,000 ($3.55) per kg. According to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments Department of Livestock Production, as of July 5, 30 Vietnamese enterprises registered to import 4.5 million pigs from 13 Thai exporters. Seven of these businesses have imported 9,000 pigs in total. VIR Kim Oanh Imported pigs from Thailand expected to reduce Vietnams pork price The price of live hog in the Vietnamese market decreased recently after the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) allowed imports of pigs from Thailand. MINSK -- Thousands of people across Belarus protested and scuffles broke out with police after a top challenger to President Alyaksandr Lukashenka was barred from running in the country's election next month amid growing public discontent over the Belarusian authoritarian leader's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The Belarusian Central Election Commission (CEC) announced on July 14 that five candidates were officially registered for the August 9 ballot, including Lukashenka, 65, who has ruled the country since 1994. However, the CEC also said that Viktar Babaryka, a former bank manager now in jail on charges that he and his campaign say are politically motivated, was left off the list of candidates. CEC chairwoman Lidziya Yarmoshyna said that Babaryka was not registered because inconsistencies were allegedly found in his income and property declaration, and because a foreign organization had taken part in his election campaign. She did not elaborate. Valer Tsapkala, a prominent businessman and former Belarusian ambassador to the United States, was also disqualified from running by the CEC. 'Lacking In Transparency' Yarmoshyna said Tsapkala had been disqualified due to the rejection of many of the signatures his campaign collected to get him on the ballot. The European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that "the seemingly arbitrary exclusion of candidates limits the possibility for the Belarusian people to express their will and already undermines the overall integrity and democratic nature of the elections." "By denying the registration of Viktar Babaryka and [Valer] Tsapkala the Belarusian authorities have failed to ensure a meaningful and competitive political contest," Borrell said in a statement. In the capital, Minsk, thousands of protesters held demonstrations at various locations, walking peacefully and clapping as passing drivers honked their horns in support. Similar protests were held in regional cities, including Brest and Gomel. More than 140 people were detained across the country, according to the human rights center Viasna. Among those detained were two RFE/RL journalists during a live broadcast in Minsk. Videos circulating on social media showed protesters being detained by police officers and plainclothes police, who threw some protesters into vans. In scenes rarely seen during a recent wave of protests, protesters also scuffled with riot police and plainclothes police officers. The protests over the disqualification of candidates on July 14 were only the latest in weeks of political unrest that has resulted in dozens of demonstrations and scores of arrests. The upcoming election comes as Lukashenka faces mounting public opposition to his rule. The country has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic with more than 65,000 confirmed cases as of July 14, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Lukashenka ignored calls to institute any lockdown measures, dismissing the virus as nothing more than a 'psychosis.' Hundreds of people, including activists and bloggers have been arrested as the government has cracked down hard on rallies and demonstrations despite calls for restraint from Western governments and institutions, including the United Nations. Babaryka and his son were arrested on June 18 after police questioned them on allegations of tax evasion and money-laundering in connection with an investigation at the Russian-owned Belgazprombank, where the elder Babaryka worked for 20 years. Belarusian authorities on June 15 took control of the bank and arrested more than a dozen top executives on charges of tax evasion and money-laundering. Analysts said Babaryka could have posed a threat at the ballot box to Lukashenka. His election team said they had collected nearly 435,000 signatures to support his candidacy, a number they said was unprecedented for an independent candidate in Belarus and more than four times the required 100,000 needed to get on the ballot. Besides Lukashenka, the CEC cleared four other candidates for the August 9 poll: Andrey Dzmitryyeu, Hanna Kanapatskaya, Syarhey Cherachan, and Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Tsikhanouskaya is the wife of a jailed vlogger, Syarhey Tsikhanouski, who also sought to take part in the presidential election. Tsikhanouski was detained in May and sentenced to 10 days in jail for taking part in an unsanctioned rally in the western city of Hrodna in late-May held to collect signatures for potential presidential candidates, including himself. He was set to be released on June 8 after completing the sentence but authorities kept him incarcerated and said a day later that he and seven others had been charged with "the organization and preparation of actions that severely violated public order," a reference to the Hrodna rally. If convicted, Tsikhanouski and the seven others in the case may face up to three years in prison. On July 1, Tsikhanouski received an additional 15 days in jail for refusing to follow a police officer's orders during the rallies. He and his supporters have rejected all the charges, calling them politically motivated. Amnesty International has recognized Babaryka, his son Eduard and Syarhey Tsikhanouski as prisoners of conscience. Kanapatskaya was one of two opposition candidates elected to the Belarusian parliament in 2016. However, her 2019 bid to seek reelection to the lower house of the country's largely rubber-stamp National Assembly was struck down by the CEC, which has been led by Yarmoshyna for 20 years. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Nargiz Sadikhova Trend: Kazakhstan will start exporting locally produced horse meat to Japan, Trend reports with reference to the Kazakhstans Ministry of Agriculture. Within the framework of Kazakhstans export potential development, Kazakhstans Veterinary Control and Supervision Committee had sent a first request to Japan in 2018, in which the ministry expressed interest of Kazakh farmers and entrepreneurs in supplying horse meat to Japan. As a result of the negotiations, Japans Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries agreed on a veterinary certificate for export of meat, offal obtained from slaughter of horses from Kazakhstan to Japan. The Japans ministry has also sent an official notification on the exports allowance starting May 25, 2020. In turn, based on the agreements, Kazakhstans Veterinary Control and Supervision Committee has compiled a list of Kazakh enterprises that are ready to export their products. A total of 34 local ventures were included in the list, which was passed to Japanese import authorities. The Kazakhstans Ministry of Agriculture has also emphasized that Japan is interested in not only importing horse meat, but also in importing live horses. --- Follow the author on twitter: @nargiz_sadikh PTI: RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh scoffed at Prime Minister's 'Mann Ki Baat' programme on Tuesday and said RJD would start 'Kaam Ki Baat' to highlight the promises the PM failed to keep. The RJD national vice-president expressed surprise and dismay over a 'Mann Ki Baat' programme aired in November 2015, wherein the Prime Minister sounded ignorant about 'ASHA' workers. "There are altogether nine lakh ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers in the country. But to my utter surprise, PM Modi in his 'Mann Ki Baat' programme, aired in November, 2015, said he came to know about the nationwide network of ASHA workers after Bill and Melinda Gates praised their work," Singh said. In order to counter Modi's 'Mann Ki Baat', RJD has decided to start 'Kaam Ki Baat' every month to highlight the unfulfilled promises given by the PM to masses. "By holding 'Kaam Ki Baat', we will not only be talking about issues, but would make efforts to get the works related to poor done, by putting pressure on authorities via agitation," Singh said. To begin with, the former Union minister said, RJD would start a stir for paying a fixed amount to ASHA workers and also for enhancing monthly payment to around 20 lakh Aganwadi workers in the country. Besides, the party would also launch agitations for providing more subsidy to farmers and payment of wages to labourers working in fields from the account of MGNREGA scheme, Singh, who is credited with starting the rural employment guarantee scheme during UPA I, Singh said. The RJD leader also sought to know about the fate of the second AIIMS promised for Bihar in addition to the one at Patna. In reply to a query as to why Bihar CM and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar was not going to Samajwadi Party rally on November 5, Singh said, "If the CM is not going to the rally, what can I do?" Singh, however, said that he would try to create an atmosphere to bring together all the secular forces on a single platform to defeat BJP in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. On Sunday, the chef and owner of the trendy Sqirl cafe in Los Angeles released a statement responding to a controversy that had been fermenting all weekend in the petri dish of social media. In the missive, Jessica Koslow - whose Instagrammable brunch food regularly draws out-the-door lines of patrons and who built a retail empire out of jars of preserved fruit - addressed the topic at hand: moldy jam. Yes, she said, her lauded jams contained less sugar than supermarket preserves, making them "more susceptible to growth of mold." And she admitted that the containers of bulk jam used in her restaurants "sometimes" would develop a layer of mold that she had instructed her staff to remove, as well as several inches of the jam below, before serving them, often atop a piece of toast slathered with fluffy ricotta cheese. The statement followed a barrage of complaints from people claiming to be former employees describing stomach-churning scenarios and one particularly disgusting photo purporting to show a bucket of scraped-off mold. Joe Rosenthal, a mathematician, food blogger and self-described "food antagonist," began assembling their grievances and posting about his conversations with current and former employees in an Instagram story he labeled "The Fungal." In her statement, Koslow, whose jam cookbook hits bookstores next week, said she was acting on the advice of experts in the handling of large jam containers. "With this bulk jam, mold would sometimes develop on the surface that we handled with the guidance of preservation mentors and experts like Dr. Patrick Hickey, by discarding mold and several inches below the mold, or by discarding containers altogether," she wrote. Reached by phone in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hickey - a mycologist who studies the structures of mold growth - seemed perplexed that Koslow would drop his name. He does not recall having ever met or spoken to her, he said. He did give a 2014 interview to the BBC in which he suggested that some moldy items found in people's home refrigerators, including jam, would likely be safe to eat with the mold removed. But a commercial operation is far different, he noted in an interview. For one thing, he said, there's no way of knowing how much of the jam below the surface had been contaminated. "There's a danger that the toxins could build up in that jam and diffuse down deeper," he said. Another risk is to people working around the area where the scraping was done, he added. While most people breathe in plenty of mold in their everyday lives, scraping mold off - and depositing it into a bucket - could create high concentrations. Depending on the type of mold, the spores could cause infections, particularly in immunocompromised people, he noted. Randy Worobo, a professor of food microbiology in the food science department at Cornell University, also called the method unsafe. "Once the mold is on the surface, no matter how you remove it, there will be some mold that carries on," he said. "Basically, they're just inoculating the next level." The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service recommends that any moldy jam be discarded. While Koslow explained that low-sugar jam is more likely to develop mold, Worobo said there are ways to make and store even low-sugar jams safely, including cooking the fruit to higher temperatures and storing them in smaller containers or sleeves that minimize contact with air. "It's an unacceptable product quality for a retail level," he said of a mold-coated jam. " There are a lot of questions for this bakery." Koslow did not respond to emailed questions about whether the image of the mold-filled bucket was, in fact, taken at her restaurant, and what kind of instructions were given to staff about handling mold. The complaints, though, soon went beyond the moldy jam. Employees accused Koslow of hiding the operation from health inspectors by closing off an "unvented" and "illegal" kitchen where the jam was stored. According to conversations that Rosenthal posted, employees claimed that they were shut into the darkened kitchen during health inspections. Koslow responded to an emailed question about this kitchen, saying that around 2013, when she acquired the space next to Sqirl for the takeout operation Sqirl Away, the kitchen in that space "fell off the radar of the Health Department." "Ashamedly, I took advantage of their oversight and did the best we could as we used Sqirl's main kitchen for all our restaurant orders including jam, and used the secondary kitchen primarily for baking and food prep," she said in the email, although she said jam was never made - only stored - in the secondary kitchen. And she said the Department of Health has been aware of it since 2018, and that it now has an "A" grade. She also vowed to end the practice of removing mold from jam and will use the same "hot pack" process for the bulk jams that she does for the retail products. "I realize that I was wrong and I am sorry," she wrote. "We have already thrown out any jam with mold on it and will continue to do so moving forward," she wrote. "Jam with mold will not be permitted in any of our kitchens or our restaurant." She added that she is submitting samples of Sqirl jam to an outside lab for testing "to ensure its safety and longevity." As the stories circulated on social media, the complaints against Koslow, who has cultivated a cool, entrepreneur-next-door persona, grew. Two former employees also accused her on social media of appropriating their work as her own, according to Rosenthal's screenshots. Former Sqirl chef de cuisine Javier Ramos wrote in an Instagram comment that Koslow "took credit" for his work and that he "didn't get recognition or payment for the recipes that I contributed to the cookbook." Former chef Ria Dolly Barbosa similarly said her contributions to the cookbook weren't acknowledged and that she wasn't paid or credited for recipes she wrote on behalf of Sqirl for Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazines. Koslow "took credit for the first two years I was her chef there," she wrote. Koslow said such practices are common among restaurants but that she uses social media to give chefs props. "This model where gifted chefs create and the restaurant becomes known for their food is not a new phenomenon in our industry," she wrote. "Unlike the vast majority of restaurants, I have done my best to regularly credit our chefs in our social media as recognition for their contributions to Sqirl and will continue to do that." Despite Koslow's apology, the controversy has already taken a toll. Diaspora, a California spice company, on Sunday disavowed its recent collaboration with Sqirl, a rhubarb-hibiscus jam scented with cardamom that as of Monday afternoon was still available on the bakery's website. "After hours of conversations with Sqirl employees (current and former), a mold expose, and some difficult convos with Sqirl leadership, we are here to say this collab was a mistake," the company wrote on an Instagram post. "We knew maybe 1% of everything that was going on at Sqirl." The Maharashtra government, which had issued a transfer order to Annasaheb Misal, commissioner, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), in June and later withdrew it, replaced him with Abhijit Bangar, who is slated to take charge on Tuesday. Bangar, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 2008 batch, replaced Misal amid the worsening coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak in Navi Mumbai, which is fast approaching towards clocking 10,000 positive cases. Bangar, who had served as the chief of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) for 14 months, was the additional commissioner of Nagpur division before he has transferred as the NMMC commissioner. Earlier, Misal, along with several other civic body chiefs in the densely populated Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), which has been in the grips of an acute viral outbreak, had got a transfer order on June 23. Later, however, Misals transfer order was cancelled, which was allegedly done following pressure from some political quarters. Bangar enjoys the reputation of being an upright officer like one of his predecessors Tukaram Mundhe, who was involved in several confrontations with elected civic representatives and politicians in Navi Mumbai. Misal had replaced Ramaswamy N as the NMMC chief last July. Insurance companies cannot discriminate against disabled people by broadly denying coverage for the types of treatment they need, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a lawsuit against Kaiser Foundation Health Plan by two hard-of-hearing patients insured under the federal health care law, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said they may not be entitled to coverage, because not everyone with a hearing loss is disabled. But the court said Kaiser and other insurers that provide coverage under the 2010 law known as the Affordable Care Act may not design their plans in ways that exclude the disabled. The law attempts to provide adequate health care to as many individuals as possible by requiring insurers to provide essential health benefits, Judge Jacqueline Nguyen said in the 3-0 ruling. And it imposes an affirmative obligation not to discriminate in the provision of health care in particular, to consider the needs of disabled people. It was the first such ruling by a federal appeals court, said Eleanor Hamburger, a lawyer for the two Washington state residents who filed the suit. It has broad impact on people with disabilities. Obesity, hearing loss, vision treatments, all of those are implicated by this decision, Hamburger said. She said her clients, both of whom suffer severe hearing loss, can revise and refile their suit to implicate Kaiser in disability discrimination. Lawyers for Kaiser were not immediately available for comment. The Affordable Care Act provides insurance coverage, with federal subsidies, for most Americans not already covered through their employers. Kaisers policies under the ACA provide coverage for cochlear implants, electronic devices inserted behind the ear, but not for other types of hearing aids or visits to medical specialists. The Washington plaintiffs say they need such care, and the court said both of them qualify as disabled. But Kaisers lawyers argued that the 2010 law left it up to each state to determine the essential benefits that must be covered. The court said it was possible that Kaiser has a reasonable, nondiscriminatory reason for its blanket exclusion of treatment for hearing loss other than cochlear implants, an issue the company can present to a federal judge. But Nguyen said the Affordable Care Act explicitly forbids insurers to make coverage decisions ... or design benefits in ways that discriminate against individuals because of their ... disability. A patient would have to prove intentional discrimination in order to win financial damages, Nguyen said. But she said a suit seeking coverage would require proof only that the denial has a discriminatory impact on the disabled. Hamburger said the ruling differed from a June 2019 decision by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which said federal law allowed insurers to deny coverage to the disabled as long as there was no intentional discrimination. That ruling was not appealed. After Tuesdays ruling, attorney Daniel Sternberg of Consumer Watchdog in Los Angeles, which represented HIV/AIDS patients unsuccessfully seeking coverage in last years case, said, Unlike the Sixth Circuit, the Ninth Circuit has embraced what the Supreme Court acknowledged 35 years ago that discrimination can be unintentional but nonetheless threaten the health of individuals with disabilities. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko The UK is facing a 'grief pandemic' after almost half of bereaved adults were denied the ability to say goodbye to their loved ones during lockdown, a report has warned. Some 59% of mourners believe their grieving process has been negatively affected by the coronavirus restrictions, while just over one quarter expressed guilt that their loved one did not have the funeral they deserved. A survey of almost 10,000 adults, commissioned by Co-op Funeralcare, found that 47% of bereaved adults in the UK were denied a final farewell in the weeks following March 23, when the country went into lockdown. This includes those who were unable to say goodbye to their loved one before their death, attend a funeral or view the deceased, according to the funeral provider. The UK is facing a 'grief pandemic' after almost half of bereaved adults were denied the ability to say goodbye to their loved ones during lockdown, a report has warned (File image) Restrictions on the number of attendees to restrict the spread of Covid-19 meant that many were unable to attend services held in memory of their loved ones, with churches and crematoriums closed to the public. The Nation in Mourning report - the first in a series looking at how the nation deals with grief - says the impact of funeral restrictions are only just emerging, with experts warning the UK is on the 'brink of a grief pandemic'. The YouGov survey, carried out between May 7-13, found that 2,008 out of 9,551 respondents had experienced a bereavement during lockdown, with 9% stating the death was due to coronavirus. When asked about the most important way to say goodbye, some 42% of respondents said being present for their death, while 33% chose attending a funeral or memorial service. Some 37% of mourners said they were unable to pay their respects by attending a funeral, while 45% said the funeral went ahead, or is due to go ahead, with restricted attendees only. The Nation in Mourning report - the first in a series looking at how the nation deals with grief - says the impact of funeral restrictions are only just emerging, with experts warning the UK is on the 'brink of a grief pandemic'. Above, staff pay their respects as the funeral cortege passes the entrance of the Southampton General Hospital Meanwhile, some 10% of those who experienced a bereavement said attending a virtual funeral, live-streamed for those unable to be there, aided in their grieving process. Just over three fifths (61%) said nothing has helped them to grieve, which the report warns could present the nation with a prolonged period of mourning for months, or even years, to come. Since June there has been a gradual easing of restrictions, with funerals in places or worships now permitted to have up to 30 mourners in attendance. David Collingwood, director of funerals at Co-op Funeralcare said: 'A funeral provides a sense of closure for bereaved families and is very often the start of the grieving process. 'Tragically, we don't yet know what the long-term psychological effects will be for families denied the last opportunity to say goodbye, so it is vital that we do everything possible to allow families and individuals to attend funerals, whilst always prioritising the health and safety of our communities.' Andy Langford, clinical director at Cruse Bereavement Care, said: 'The coronavirus pandemic has meant it is an incredibly distressing time to be grieving, whenever your bereavement occurred. David Collingwood, director of funerals at Co-op Funeralcare said: 'A funeral provides a sense of closure for bereaved families and is very often the start of the grieving process.' Above, Declan Harley from Anderson Maguire Funeral Directors checks the empty coffins in the storage room at their offices in Glasgow 'Many people have been grieving in isolation, unable to attend funerals, say goodbye, and be close to those they love. 'When you feel you have no control over how you can experience those last moments with someone, this can have a profound impact on the grieving process.' And Jane Murray, one of Marie Curie's adult bereavement coordinators, said the lack of a 'typical' grieving process means some relatives have not been able to accept their loved ones have died. She said: 'I am seeing families simply unable to believe or accept that their relative has died, because they were not allowed to be present during the death or able to see the body. 'Some say they will never truly know if it was their loved one in the coffin on the day of their funeral, because they were not allowed to be a part of the process.' Protesters gather in Terre Haute, Indiana, to demonstrate against the resumption of federal executions after more than 17 years - TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock The Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday allowed the first federal executions in 17 years to proceed, overturning a lower court order delaying them. Four federal executions were scheduled but a district court judge had suspended them to allow for legal challenges to the lethal injection that was to be used. The district court decision had come just hours before the first execution, of former white supremacist Daniel Lewis Lee, who was convicted with another man of murdering a family of three during a robbery intended to help fund the founding of an "Aryan Peoples Republic". The prisoners "have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a Federal Court," the Supreme Court said in a ruling released in the early hours of Tuesday. "We vacate the District Court's preliminary injunction so that the... executions may proceed as planned." In staying the executions, District Judge Tanya Chutkan had ruled that the use of a single drug, pentobarbital, to carry out the executions could cause "extreme pain and needless suffering" and may violate a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Daniel Lewis Lee will be executed after the Supreme Court overturned a suspension to his death sentence - -/AFP An appeals court had upheld that order before the Supreme Court vacated it. Lee would be the first federal inmate to be executed in the United States since 2003 and the first since President Donald Trump announced plans to resume federal executions. There have been just three federal executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Lee and another man, Chevie Kehoe, were convicted in Arkansas in 1999 of the 1996 murders of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, and her eight-year-old daughter. According to prosecutors, the pair robbed Mueller to steal guns that they planned to sell to finance the founding of a white supremacist "Aryan Peoples Republic" in the Pacific Northwest. Lee, who has since renounced his white supremacist beliefs according to his lawyers, was sentenced to death while Kehoe received three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Story continues Daniel Lewis Lee is scheduled to die first by lethal injection for murdering three family member in 1996 - TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock Earlene Peterson, 81, whose daughter and granddaughter were killed, has campaigned against Lee's death sentence, saying she wants him to spend the rest of his life behind bars. "It's an easy way out," Peterson told The New York Times. "He should have to live through this. Like I did." Peterson and relatives of other victims also filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the execution, arguing that it was dangerous for them to travel to Terre Haute to witness Lee's execution because of the coronavirus pandemic. An appeals court dismissed the suit on Sunday, but Baker Kurrus, a lawyer for the families, said he would take it to the Supreme Court. "The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lee's execution and their own health and safety," Kurrus said. The Supreme Court, however, denied their application. People gather to protest the resumption of federal executions near the US Penitentiary and execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana - TANNEN MAURY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Shutterstock The Bureau of Prisons said Sunday that a member of the Terre Haute prison staff had tested positive for Covid-19. "There's no reason for anybody to be carrying out executions right now because of the pandemic," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. More than 1,000 US religious leaders urged Trump last week to abandon plans to resume federal executions and Dunham accused the president of "political use of the death penalty." Trump, who faces a tough re-election battle in November, has called for stepped-up use of capital punishment, especially for killers of police officers and drug traffickers. Only a handful of US states, mainly in the conservative South, still actively carry out executions. In 2019, 22 people were put to death. Most crimes are tried under state laws, but federal courts handle some of the most serious crimes, including terror attacks and hate crimes. The New Patriotic Party Parliamentary Candidate (PC) for the the Builsa North Constituency of the Upper East Region, Mr James Maurice Abakisi, has lauded the registration exercise in the constituency. He described the process as peaceful and devoid of major challenges, saying he was satisfied with the exercise at all the centres he visited within his constituency, since the nationwide exercise begun. He said Apart from some few hitches, which were quickly fixed, so far, I am satisfied with what is going on and what I am seeing for now. We cant have a perfect system, but so far it has been peaceful and orderly. Mr Abakisi who spoke to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Sandema, while monitoring the exercise, added that he did not receive any report of foreigners trying to register during his visits to the registration centres. He said even though there might be some speculations that some people were planning to smuggle people into the District to register, We havent had any real case yet, we are watching to see what happens. Mr Abakisi implored his constituents to continue to observe the Ghana Health Service protocols of keeping social distance, wearing of face masks, frequently washing their hands with soap under running water and avoid touching their mouths, eyes and noses. He said it was critical for his constituents to observe the COVID-19 protocols to stay healthy and alive, and cast their votes for him and the NPP government to retain power and continue with the development agenda of the country. He encouraged all eligible voters to register for the new voter card to exercise their franchise in the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections. If you dont participate and look adamant about the process, others will vote for people that you dont like, you are voting for development and you have to tell your own story as to who you believe can develop your area for you. Touching on the importance of the voter identification card, Mr Abakisi noted that the card was not only to enable eligible voters to cast their votes during elections, but would be needed for other official transactions. 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 The reconversion of Hagia Sophia, a symbol of Istanbul and a marvel of Byzantine art, into a mosque is a historic moment. The controversial move, put in motion by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decree, could fairly be seen as the Turkish Reconquista. Istanbul was Constantinopole in 1453 when it was conquered by the Muslim-Turkish Ottomans under Mehmed II, and the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire ceased to exist. Some 40 years later, Catholic monarchs Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon conquered Granada, ending the only Muslim kingdom in Europe in what became known as the "Reconquista." The first thing Mehmed II did after entering Istanbul was to visit Hagia Sophia, the Greek Christian Orthodox cathedral. The Ottoman sultan swiftly converted it into a mosque. Constructed in 537 by the Roman Emperor Justinianus, Hagia Sophia was the worlds largest cathedral for almost a thousand years. For pious Muslim Turks, it signified the glory of the Ottoman Empire, a place of worship converted into a mosque by Mehmed, who they venerated almost as a saint. The conquest of Istanbul, transforming the Ottoman state into an empire, bears great significance for Turkish nationalists and conservatives. Nevertheless, following the fall of the Ottomans, the founder of the secular Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum in 1935. Hagia Sophia has ever since been a deep wound for political Islamists in Turkey, a symbol of their suppression in hands of the secularist elites. In the 1950s and the 1960s, plans to reconvert the edifice into a mosque have been a powerful political card for political Islamists and Muslim nationalists. Hagia Sophia has remained in the national subconscious of the Turkish people as a source of national pride. Still, its conversion to a museum is more associated with secularism's triumph over Turkey's Ottoman past in the minds of political Islamists. Erdogan's decision to annul the decree of Ataturks government was, therefore, the realization of a decades-old dream among his supporters. After 85 years, on July 24, Hagia Sophia will open its gates for Muslim worship once again. In a flurry of articles within and outside Turkey, many commentators explained the move as having electoral motives. For them, Erdogan, whose electoral support in Turkey is steadily eroding according to the polls, took the dramatic step of converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque to replenish his dwindling support among conservative voters. Some speculated that in the face of a devastating economic crisis, he has a mind to call early elections. The regular schedule puts them in 2023, the centennial of the republic. In their eyes, Hagia Sophia's issue was nothing more than a tactical political move by an increasingly desperate president. It is also seen as the last nail on the coffin of secularist Kemalism by the notorious Islamist Erdogan, a symbol of the worrisome regime change in Turkey. Yet some Turkish secularists are duped by Erdogans emphasis on Turkeys national sovereignty. Playing on the anti-West impulses of Turkish secularists helped him to soften the strong opposition to his move. The date of Hagia Sophia's reopening as a mosque is also symbolic: It is the anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which provided the legal basis for the foundation of the Republic of Turkey that replaced the Ottoman Empire. Erdogan sees the Lausanne Treaty more as restricting Turkeys potential than as a diplomatic triumph that crowned the national struggle led by Ataturk. While both these arguments may carry a grain of truth, arguably neither is the real reason behind Erdogan's Turkish Reconquista. More than anything else, reports Haaretz, Erdogans Hagia Sophia decree is a power move, both symbolically and geopolitically. It is in many senses the apex of his 18 consecutive years in power, enabled by his newly recharged international standing. Naturally, it also aimed to reinvigorate his standing domestically, yet the international ramifications of his power move are more telling. He addressed the Muslim world on the evening of July 10, the day he signed the decree, with unusual passion and ambition. In a carefully worded statement that sounded like a victory speech, he declared, "Today, Hagia Sophia is enjoying one of the resurrections that it witnessed since its construction. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the harbinger of the liberation of Dome of the Rock. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the sound of Muslims' footsteps all around the world, exiting from interregnum. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the fire of hope for all the oppressed, downtrodden, exploited and aggrieved in the world along with Muslims. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the expression for us that as the Turkish nation, Muslims and humankind, we have new messages for the world." Erdogan also characterized "the resurrection of Hagia Sophia" as "a salute to all those symbolic cities of civilization from Bukhara to Andalusia." His message and actions make up his forceful claim for the global leadership of Muslims at a time when Turkeys aggressive foreign policy has proliferated its military presence from the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan to Syria and with some degree of success to Libya, where he confronts such traditional power centers of the Sunni Muslim world as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He audaciously challenged France and Greece, thus implicitly the European Union, in Mediterranean geopolitics. He is looking for a way to project his and Turkeys influence on Yemen as well as Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa. With military bases in Qatar, the Gulf and Somalia and aspiring to build them in Libya, Turkey is already involved in the most volatile geostrategic arenas of the globe. Its leader must have global appeal. It's mandatory for his survival. That is the main driver behind Erdogans Hagia Sophia move that has stirred unease in the Western world, especially in the Christian world. Pope Francis stated unequivocally that the Hagia Sophia decision pained him, while the Russian Foreign Ministry limited itself to expressing regret. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had issued a warning before the decree was made. UNESCO, which registered Hagia Sophia as a world cultural heritage site, is now reviewing its status. It is impossible for Erdogan not to have calculated all the backlash that his decree could bring. Only a year ago, in a live broadcast, Erdogan had responded to a question that although reverting Hagia Sophia to a mosque had been his youthful dream, for him to make such a decision would be a provocative trap he was keen not to fall into. After a year, he seems much more self-confident about placing himself in history as the victor of the Turkish Reconquista, giving a sense to world Muslims that Islam is winning its last battle with the West, against the new crusaders, under his leadership. The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began Tuesday morning with Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot turning down appeals to participate. According to sources, however, Pilot was told by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra it was okay to not attend the meeting for now as long as he does not quit the Congress, and she also requested him to issue a statement that he still stands with the party. According to sources, Priyanka Gandhi had called Pilot four times on Monday as the Congress top brass went all out to placate Pilot, who has declared an open rebellion against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Senior party leader P Chidambaram had also reached out to the Rajasthan deputy CM again late last night, sources said. Sources told News18 that the second Congress meeting was especially called to give Pilot "another chance". Pilot, who is in Delhi, has not been taking calls of many party leaders. AICC general secretary in-charge for Rajasthan Avinash Pande has said that Pilot has not been responding to calls and messages have been left with him. Ahead of the meeting, Pande made another bid to reach out to the rebel leader, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home on Monday. Eighteen other Congress MLAs also did not attend the two meetings, according to sources. But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot. Besides Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and Chidambaram, other Congress leaders who are learnt to have spoken with Pilot are Ahmed Patel and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal. Pilot has raised a banner of revolt against Gehlot, after the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan Police sent a notice to him for appearing before it in the case involving "horse-trading" of MLAs in the state. The SOG has registered an FIR in this regard and has also sent notices to the chief minister, chief whip of Congress and some ministers and MLAs. Pilot has claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government is in minority and that he has the support of over 30 MLAs in the 200-member Assembly. ROCKFORD, MI At Rockford Brewing Company, surviving the coronavirus pandemic has meant staying flexible. The same day Gov. Gretchen Whitmer banned dine-in service at bars and restaurants, the brewery pivoted to carry out and delivery orders. As unemployment skyrocketed, leaving patrons with less disposable income, it temporarily cut prices. And as business began to pick up, and to-go orders came flooding in, Rockford Brewing Company reconfigured its kitchen so that to-go orders could be filled in 15 minutes. It was a complete transformation of how we and everybody had gotten used to doing things, said Matt Valleau, general manager of the brewery, which is located at 12 E. Bridge St. NE in downtown Rockford. Now, as bars and restaurants reopen their dining rooms, the brewery is carrying that spirit of flexibility forward. Because its housed in a relatively small, narrow building, where social distancing would be a challenge, the brewery is keeping its tap room closed for dine-in service. Instead, its offering scaled-back seating on its outdoor patio. Its just not worth it for us, Valleau said of opening the brewerys tap room for dine in service. He said the most important thing for the brewery is to keep its patrons and staff safe, and to ensure that Rockford Brewery Company is not a place where the coronavirus is spread. Jeff Sheehan and Seth Rivard opened Rockford Brewing Company opened in 2012 in a rustic, two-story building with picturesque views of the Rockford Dam. The brewery added food service in 2016. Its menu centers around classic pub fare such as beer battered cheese curds, sandwiches, burgers and wings, but it also includes salads, a fried rice bowl, and a kids menu. Valleau calls it pub fare done well, with a few menu items that push the palate a bit too. Rockford Brewing Company produced 1,500 barrels of beer in 2019, and its products can be found in select stores, bars and restaurants around Michigan. Its most popular beer is its flagship IPA, Hoplust, as well as Rogue River Brown and Sheehans Irish Stout. Valleau said Rockford Brewing Company has stayed afloat through loyal patrons. Takeout orders were initially slow but picked up as the pandemic dragged on. The brewery was forced to adapt to its new business model. Early on, when to-go orders began picking up steam, some customers were forced to wait longer than they should have, Valleau said. To solve the problem, brewery staff reconfigured the kitchen, reconfiguring items in a way that shortened prep time. Soon enough, orders were being filled within 15 minutes top. We got to the point where we thought we were knocking it out of the park, Valleau said. The brewery also reduced prices to help customers struggling with job losses or reduced income caused by the pandemic Kids meals and appetizers, for example, were all reduced to $5, and all sandwiches and bowls were lowered to $10. Beer prices were also cut: A four-pack of 16-ounce cans was lowered to $10. Those deals were temporary, but Valleau notes that prices are still lower across the board than they were pre-COVID. Looking forward, Valleau says Rockford Brewing Company wont likely be opening its building for in-person dining anytime soon. He says the companys current approach, consisting of outdoor patio seating and a maintained focus on takeout and delivery, is working well. The company has structured its outdoor patio seating to involve as little person-to-person contacts as possible. Patrons seat themselves when a clean table is available, and they place their order by text message, Facebook, or by calling the brewery, Valleau said. Once their order is ready, customers can pick it up from inside the building or a staff member will bring it to their table. Were pretty comfortable with where were at now, Valleau said. We have no urgency to change it. We are in a position where we can come together to listen and be guided by science rather than be pressured by the economic constraints of running a business. Rockford Brewing Company is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Call, text or email them at 616-951-4677, 616-439-0417 (text) or info@rockfordbrewing.com. Every Tuesday, well be spotlighting one local establishment. Have a suggestion for a featured Grand Rapids Local Eat? Email the author, bmcvicar@mlive.com. Read more: 185 Michigan businesses got at least $5 million in federal paycheck protection dollars Police release numbers behind Torch Fest 2020: See arrests, warnings and tickets issued West Michigan gets nearly $200,000 grant to combat violent crime WASHINGTON A new round of contracts in the Trump administration's coronavirus food box program again does little to address increasing hunger in New York, 14 congressional representatives warned the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture on Monday. After awarding a second round of contracts, companies serving the Northeast received only 4% of the funds, although roughly 10% of the nation's population lives in the area. Weve had less luck in the second round," said Mark Quandt, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. Were fighting with other food banks for the same product, which we dont want to do. Dan Egan, executive director at Feeding New York State, said New York has "barely been impacted by this program." "Its $3 billion, Egan said. There should be food flooding in and there is barely a trickle. After awarding just 4% of food box funds to companies in the Northeast in a first round of contracts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in late June awarded $202 million worth of new contracts to 16 companies and continued earlier deals. Four of the new companies with contracts totaling $8 million will serve the Northeast, including New York that means only 4% of second round food box funds went to companies in the region. The new distributors will direct food to under-served areas and will have an increased focus on Opportunity Zones in order to deliver food to places where either no boxes have yet been delivered, or where boxes are being delivered but where there is additional need, a spokesperson for the USDA said. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, said USDA has "chosen to double down on their obvious and puzzling mismanagement of this vital food assistance program." "I cannot fathom why USDA continues to exclude local food banks that are already set up to do this work in support of the neediest among us," Tonko said. "Instead, USDA has chosen to award lucrative food distribution contracts to small out-of-state companies that have little or no presence or capacity here." Limited contracts mean its harder for food banks in the region where coronavirus struck hardest this spring have less access to food through the program, the New York lawmakers wrote in a letter to Sonny Purdue, the secretary of Agriculture. Meanwhile, demand for food assistance from banks remains high, Quandt said. Over the past four and half months, over 350,000 people have submitted new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program applications (food stamps) in New York. The number of individuals on food stamps in New York rose from 2.6 million in March to 2.7 million in April, according to the most recent data available. For farmers whose supply chains have been upended by the pandemic, the program establishes new buyers for the products in areas where contracts were awarded. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. 'Both our family farmers in upstate and most vulnerable populations have experienced dire consequences from the coronavirus pandemic and it is essential that the programs designed to assist both communities are transparent and good stewards of taxpayer dollars, said Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, whose rural district is home to many small farms. The solution the administration crafted was supposed to move boxes of farm fresh produce, dairy and meat from "truck to truck" using $3 billion of federal funds. In a few short weeks in May, the USDA contracted 198 companies to create $1.2 billion worth of boxes. In this first round, only 29 companies won contracts to distribute the food boxes in the Northeast region, including eight from New York. Their contracts totaled $54 million about 4 percent of the total food boxes funds. In late June, the USDA announced it would continue most of the contracts, including all eight from New York, but the agency did not provide details on how much the extended contracts were worth nor whether the companies would be asked to produce more. Several of the new companies selected for contracts in the second round are the nation's largest food distributors, a change from the first round in which some contractors lacked clear food distribution experience. For the first round, the USDA quickly approved bids for the $3 billion program, so fast that some companies had an approved contract in hand one week after they applied, raising questions about the agency's vetting process. The contracts have set off a "chaotic" scramble as food banks around the country compete to secure the food from the box distributors with no oversight from agency governing how many boxes food banks and non-profits can snag, Egan said. "There was no traffic cop," he said. The USDA also did not lay out who covers the cost of shipping the food boxes from food banks to food pantries and other places of distribution, Egan said. This has created friction between some food banks and distributors. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:26:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Iran's total COVID-19 cases on Tuesday crossed a new threshold to hit 262,173, after 2,521 new cases were added. Meanwhile, the pandemic's resurgence also continued in Iraq, where the tally of coronavirus infections surpassed 80,000. The death toll from the infectious respiratory disease rose to 13,211 in Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, after 179 more fatalities were recorded. So far, a total of 225,270 recoveries from the virus have been reported in Iran, while 3,389 others remain in critical condition. Saudi Arabia, the worst-hit Arab country, reported 2,692 new COVID-19 cases, raising the tally of infections in the kingdom to 237,803. The coronavirus death toll climbed to 2,283 after 40 more fatalities were added, while the tally of recoveries rose to 177,560 with 7,718 new recoveries recorded in the last 24 hours, the Saudi health ministry said. In Iraq, which has witnessed a rapid resurgence of the pandemic over the past month, the health ministry announced 2,022 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total infections in the country to 81,757. The ministry reported 95 more deaths, raising the death toll to 3,345. On the same day, 3,784 more people recovered, the highest single-day record so far, taking the total recoveries in Iraq to 50,782. In a separate statement, the health ministry said it had started to provide its institutions with more than 300 ventilators to enhance their ability to contain the pandemic. In Israel, the resurgence of COVID-19 pandemic continued as 1,728 new cases were reported on Tuesday, taking the tally of infections to 42,360, including 371 deaths and 19,665 recoveries. The Israeli cabinet held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the measures to curb the pandemic resurgence, but failed to make any new decisions. The government is reportedly mulling new restrictions to limit the size of gatherings, close schools and synagogues, and impose curfew on weekends. Oman's Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday 1,389 new COVID-19 cases, as the tally of infections is poised to surpass 60,000. The new cases, including 339 non-Omanis, took the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 59,568. The death toll in Oman climbed to 273 after 14 new deaths were confirmed Turkey on Tuesday reported 992 new COVID-19 cases, as the country's daily infections have been below 1,000 for consecutive 33 days. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said that the tally of COVID-19 cases in Turkey climbed to 214,993, while the death toll increased to 5,402 after 20 more fatalities were added. In Egypt, the health ministry reported 929 new coronavirus cases, increasing the tally of confirmed cases to 83,930, and 73 new deaths, taking the death toll to 4,008. Kuwait on Tuesday reported 666 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 56,174 and the death toll to 396. Kuwaiti Health Ministry said that 9,617 patients are receiving treatment, including 156 in intensive care units, while the total recoveries rose to 46,161. Algeria reported 527 new cases of COVID-19 infections, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 20,216, including 1,028 deaths and 14,351 recoveries. In Qatar, the health ministry announced 517 new COVID-19 infections, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 104,533. The total fatalities from the disease rose to 150 after one more death was reported, while the total recoveries soared to 101,160 after 533 more patients recovered. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday announced 375 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the UAE to 55,573, including 335 fatalities and 46,025 recoveries. Morocco reported 161 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections in the country to 16,097, including 257 deaths and 13,442 recoveries. Moroccan Minister of Health Khalid Ait Taleb urged the citizens to stay alert and increase vigilance as the epidemic is not over yet. Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Tuesday by 32 cases to 2,451, while death toll went up by one to 37. In a possibly positive development, Israeli and U.S. researchers have found that a cholesterol-lowering drug could be effective for COVID-19 treatment, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) in Israel reported. In a study published in the journal Cell Press Sneak Peak, researchers from the HU and New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center found that the cholesterol-lowering drug Fenofibrate (sold as Tricor) showed extremely promising results in preventing the coronavirus from reproduction. Enditem How does Bobby Berk from Netflixs Queer Eye always hit the mark when it comes to uncovering a persons design style? Home design is seriously personal, but Berk always meets but exceeds his clients expectations. Karamo Brown and Bobby Berk | Matt Winkelmeyer/VF20/WireImage Berk told Showbiz Cheat Sheet he goes through a process to learn about his clients, especially the heroes featured on the show. He doesnt want producers to give him more than the basic details about a client on the show because he finds getting to know them himself is the ideal pathway to design. I learned very quickly to ask about things like what their favorite movie is, their favorite show, their dream vacation, he says. Even their favorite article of clothing. And thats how I get kind of get a window to their soul about what they want in their home. You can take, for example, the episode with Remy. He had inherited his grandmothers home, perfect for grandma when she was there but not for a 27-year-old bachelor. I never asked him about design. I asked him what his favorite show was, which was Mad Men, Berk recalls. What his favorite vacation was, which was Cuba. So Im like, Those guys definitely like mid-century modern. Cuba is stuck in the 50s. Mad Men is in the 50s. So I did mid-century furniture with a Cuban flair. And he was like How did you do this? But I said, I asked you what you like from life. Bobby Berk dishes about how much producers really tell them Berk says he and the rest of the Fab Five insist on only getting the basic information about their heroes. They prefer to learn about their subject through their own exploration. The team is always seen driving to the new heros home while they review a basic profile. Berk says he gets a little more information than the rest of the guys because he needs to know room and space dimensions. But as far as other information, like about them, that is all the information we get, he says. There have been a few episodes in the past where they give us a little more information, but we actually didnt like that. RELATED: Bobby Berk of Queer Eye Says an Unnamed RHONY Star Stole From His Store After two episodes we were like, You know what, actually, lets go back to the way we did it before, he recalls. We dont get any information except what our viewers hear. Because we found if we got more information before, we didnt do as much digging ourselves. We didnt ask as many questions in the beginning ourselves. So we like to know really as little about the heroes as possible before we go in, he continues. Because we really want the conversation that were having with them is where were finding out whats going on with them and the issues they have. We want it to be legit and we want it to be real. And we want our heroes to know we are legitimately learning about them and being inquisitive. Berk reveals his favorite filming location so far I mean wed love to film in Texas and when I say that I mean wed love to finish season 6, Berk laughs. He confirms that season 6 production is still on pause. RELATED: Theres Another Season of Queer Eye Coming to Netflix This One Taking Place in the Lone Star State While he loved filming in Japan, Berk says he really enjoyed filming in Kansas City, Missouri. Here in the states was Kansas City, he says. Kansas City was really great. Its not that every city weve filmed in hasnt been really great, but Kansas City was super welcoming. Anything we need. The mayor created little videos that he sent to all of us. And the fact that there is really no traffic in Kansas City. He says design can be simple and fun Berks shares that design style doesnt have to be complex. He recently partnered with Oui by Yoplaits Limited-Edition Heritage Collection to make it easy to add French-inspired touches to your home. He created a fun project you can do at home during quarantine and will host a tutorial on his Instagram on Bastille Day, July 14. RELATED: How to Nominate Someone for Queer Eye Crafters can learn how to a hanging planter using glass pots from Ouis Heritage Collection. There are three different designs on the jar that can hold the succulent planters, he shares. And it comes with a cool macrame rope hanger. Its just a really great, fun series to give everyone something to do while were all stuck at home. COLONIE Health Department employees and law enforcement officers on Tuesday weren't yet greeting air passengers at their arrival gates at Albany International Airport. But the airport's largest carrier has stepped up its notifications to passengers that they must submit traveler forms as the state seeks to control the spread of novel coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced measures to toughen the regulation on Monday, announcing the new procedures and $2,000 penalties for noncompliance. Those passengers arriving from one of 22 states where the virus is rapidly spreading also are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine. Southwest, the largest carrier at Albany International Airport, said it has posted information about the new procedures, along with a link to the New York State Traveler Health Form. A Southwest spokesman said the airline also sends pre-trip email reminders to passengers four days before their flight and again the day before. Announcements also are made in the gate area of all flights departing to Albany, Buffalo, Islip, LaGuardia and Rochester, the destinations Southwest serves in New York state, said Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish in an email to the Times Union. Forms also are available at the arrival gates. When Cuomo first announced the new procedure, it was apparently widely ignored, according to one passenger who flew to the West Coast during the Independence Day weekend. "We flew Southwest, so we transferred planes each way at Chicago MDW," the traveler told the Times Union in an email. "When we returned to Albany, I think I caught a glimpse of the table containing the forms that incoming travelers were meant to grab & fill out. "I think, because by the time I realized what was on the table we were past it & on our way to our car in the garage," the Saratoga County resident wrote. "There were no signs anywhere in the airport alerting travelers to NY State's quarantine order, and certainly nothing and no person directing travelers to this table. "I can tell you everyone on our plane scooted right past the table," which was located at the top of escalators to the baggage claim area. Meanwhile, Cuomo added four more states Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin to the travel advisory on Tuesday, requiring travelers arriving from COVID-19 hotspot states to quarantine for 14 days. Delaware, on the original list, was removed. The other states on the advisory are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Procedures are in place to permit the health department employees and State Police at the arrival gates, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said Tuesday. "State police and state health department employees will be permitted through TSA checkpoints for the purpose of health screening," spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told the Times Union. "There is a valid reason for them to be there for official state business. "Health officials will still need to go through the checkpoint screening process. Active law enforcement officers who are on duty also have a checkpoint screening process that they undergo since they are working in uniform and carrying a firearm," Farbstein added. On Tuesday, flights that weren't originating in one of the quarantine states still weren't being met by health and law enforcement officials in Albany. The health department table was still next to the baggage claim escalators. "U.S. carriers are making every effort to cooperate and be good partners as we all work to protect the wellbeing of the traveling public," a spokeswoman for the industry group Airlines for American told the Times Union. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: After taking tough stand against Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan for his anti party activities, Maharashtra Congress suspended Congress leader Sanjay Jha on Tuesday evening. Jha was suspended with immediate effect, mentioned in a letter signed by Maharashtra Congress president Balasaheb Thorat. The suspension of the leader was announced on social media by Maharashtra Congress. Sanjay Jha got the news of his suspension when he was defending Sachin Pilot and slamming Congress on television channel. Last month, Jha was suspended from the post of party spokesperson for anti-party activities and writing against the party line in a newspaer article. Breaking: After taking aggressive stand against Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan for his anti party activities, Maharahtra Congress suspends estranged Congress leader Sanjay Jha with immediate effect. Jha was recently suspended as Congress Spokesperson @NewIndianXpress @Sunday_Standard pic.twitter.com/h9Ac6JbmTT Sudhir Suryawanshi (@ss_suryawanshi) July 14, 2020 A senior Congress leader, on request of staying anonymous, said there was no contribution of Sanjay Jha in the growth of the party. "Jha can't even get one vote. We have decided not to tolerate any more anti-party activities. We have prorated a list and once we get approval, more suspension will happen. We want hard working and loyal soldiers not the paper tigers," the leader said. Earlier this month, Jha took to Twitter to announce his decision to resign as President of the All India Professionals' Congress Maharashtra. "I have submitted my resignation as President, AlPC, Maharashtra. My political outspokenness conflicts with my official position. I am glad my signature #AIPCInteractive brand is being used by the Congress. @ShashiTharoor is a delight to work with. Thanks all!" Jha said in his tweet. Woolworths shoppers in Melbourne's west are being urged to look out for coronavirus symptoms after a worker tested positive to the virus. Store manager of the Sunshine Marketplace supermarket, Glenn Rayner, said the staff member worked Sunday July 5 from 10am to 3pm. However, the store did not have a deep-clean until a week later on July 13. 'As a food retailer, we already have high standards of cleaning and hygiene in place, and the store had a detailed deep clean overnight on Monday July 13,' a store notice read. Store manager of the Sunshine Marketplace supermarket, Glenn Rayner, said the staff member worked Sunday July 5 from 10am to 3pm Woolworths shoppers in Melbourne 's west are being urged to look out for coronavirus symptoms after a worker tested positive to the virus (Sunshine Marketplace pictured) 'The wellbeing of our customers, team and communities is our highest priority, and in line with public health advice, we are taking all necessary steps to ensure ongoing safety in our stores.' Anyone who has been in the store around the time of the person working and feels unwell has been urged to contact the Department of Health immediately. A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they were notified a team member had tested positive. 'Were making contact with our Sunshine Marketplace team members and will provide our full support to those required to self-isolate in line with advice from the health authorities,' the spokesperson said. 'While the risk of transmission to customers and team members is low, the safety and wellbeing of the local community is our priority. 'Customers and team members should be assured they can continue to safely shop and work at our Woolworths Sunshine Marketplace supermarket.' Victoria has recorded 270 new cases of coronavirus , the state's second-worst figure since the pandemic began. Pictured: Workers carry out testing in Melbourne Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured on Tuesday) said 28 cases are connected to known and contained outbreaks, while 242 infections are under investigation The news comes as Victoria recorded another 270 coronavirus cases on Tuesday. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said 28 of the new cases were connected to known and contained outbreaks, while the sources of the remaining 242 infections were unknown. There were more than 1,800 active coronavirus cases in the state, with 81 people in hospital and 26 in intensive care. 'With such large numbers it's a real challenge to get to the bottom of exactly where those people have been, who they've spent time with,' Mr Andrews said. Melbourne went into lockdown on July 9 after Victoria has seen an outbreak in cases (pictured, a man wearing a face mask in Melbourne on Monday) A total of 85 people are in hospital with 26 fighting for their lives and 21 on ventilators. Health officials carried out 21,995 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday. The 270 new cases is the state's third-worst figure since the pandemic began, recording 288 new cases on July 10 and 273 cases on July 12. Around 1,000 new ADF troops have been drafted in to help with testing and enforcing a border between Melbourne and the rest of the state. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned that around 200 people will be rushed to hospital with the virus in the next two weeks. 'There's often 10 per cent to 20 per cent of all coronavirus infections who require hospitalisation, so that's a couple of hundred individuals at least,' he said. A Chicago court, on Monday, denied a Nigerian suspected internet fraudster, Ramon Abbas, known online as Hushpuppi bail and ruled that he remains in detention till his next trial date later in the year. Mr Abbas, 37, who was resident in Dubai and known for flaunting extravagant lifestyle on social media, was arrested last month over money laundering allegations and extradited to the U.S on July 3. An FBI affidavit, alongside a criminal complaint filed in court by the U.S. authorities, alleges that Mr Abbas was part of a network that made hundreds of millions of dollars from business email compromise frauds and other scams. The American government said Mr Abbas funded his extravagant lifestyle with stolen money. He was formerly held in the Metropolitan Correction Centre in Chicago, United States but now, would be transported to Los Angeles by the U.S. Marshals Service, a court in the Northern District of Illinois ruled. Mr Abbas, appearing at the detention hearing, was also denied to stay with his girlfriends uncle in Homewood, Illinois, Forbes reported. His trial will continue in Los Angeles where the case was first filed and not from Chicago where the investigation is being handled. Mr Abbas had hired a top lawyer in the U.S., Gal Pissetzky of the Pissetzky & Berliner law firm who argued that his client sourced his money from promoting designer products on social media and a real estate investment. Mr Abbas is an Instagram personality. A social media personality. Of course, he poses with high price items because thats what he gets paid to do. Thats what he has built from growing up very poor in Nigeria, he was able to develop himself into this very well-known personality with millions of followers on Instagram. He is an influencer that is what my kids would call him an influencer. And people seeing him with these Louis Vuitton bags or clothes, or Gucci bags and clothes, or these fancy cars and they go and want it. They wanna buy it. Thats a job today. As much as its hard to imagine thats a full-time job, Mr Pissetzky told Forbes. However, on Monday, an assistant U.S. Attorney, Melody Wells who is a prosecutor in the Chicago district attorneys office, convinced the court that Mr Abbas is a flight risk, describing his significant financial assets, deep ties to foreign countries and a lack of ties to the United States. RAMON OLORUNWA ABBAS, aka Ray Hushpuppi, aka Hush, Mr Wells said the suspected fraudster had the perfect recipe to flee the charges that he faces here. It was gathered that Mr Abbas had sought to live with a girlfriends relative in Illinois, but this was countered by Mr Wells who argued that he had up to this point never visited the girlfriend or their child in the United States. There is no evidence that he has ever even met this Uncle who would be the third-party custodian under these circumstances, Mr Wells was quoted as saying. Nonetheless, his lawyer, Mr Pissetzky, denied that his client was a flight risk or a danger to the community, repeatedly rejecting the allegations made against his client by the FBIs affidavit. He added that his clients social media images of lifestyle are being used as greater implied evidence of wrongdoing, than the actual evidence of wrongdoing presented by the FBI in the affidavit. Consequently, the court ruled that there was more than enough justification to order that the U.S. Marshall bring [Abbas] to California as soon as possible to answer the complaint there. It ruled that Mr Abbas had a great incentive not to continue to respond to these proceedings here, as he is facing a long sentence. The court said there were risks if he was not immediately transferred to California, since, in addition to holding passports to other countries (Saint Kitts and Nevis), he also has access to large amounts of money. New Delhi, July 14 : The repetition of a Chinese "V-shaped" recovery in the Indian passenger vehicle (PV) industry has been ruled out, rating agency ICRA said on Tuesday. ICRA ruled out the repetition stating that the demand is expected to witness a gradual and a slow pace recovery in volume. "The industry is pinning hopes on revival in rural income to support growth during the festive season and thereafter," the report said. "Currently reeling under an economic slowdown and coronavirus-induced lockdown, both demand and production have been disrupted, the recovery is likely to happen in the two wheeler and used car segment first compared to new car purchases as concerned buyers will want to own personal transport over public transport due to possible infection fears." According to the report, the industry is banking on revival in rural incomes for recovery as urban markets may remain suppressed in the near-term. It said that COVID-19 has adversely impacted performance of almost all companies which will have bearing on salary increments and job security of employees, thereby impacting their morale. "The pandemic has dented customer's financial resources as well as their sentiments which will impact car purchase decision," the report said. "Discretionary purchases may thus witness deferment in demand, especially in urban segment though rural markets like UP, MP and Rajasthan should perform relatively better." Furthermore the report said the industry's recovery prospects have been delayed due to COVID-19 and it will take minimum 6-8 months for consumer confidence to scale back at Feb-2020 level. "Also, recovery in rural income and improvement in overall economic activity remain crucial to have any meaningful improvement in retail demand off-take," the report pointed out. Additionally, the domestic PV demand is estimated to decline by 22 to 25 per cent in FY2021, as multiple lockdown extension has direct bearing on economic environment and consumer sentiments. "Back-to-back lockdown extension by government post the pandemic has wiped off volume during first two months of current fiscal (Apr/May 2020)," it elaborated. "Each lockdown extension by 15 days has taken toll on full year industry demand by 3-5 per cent. While demand environment is likely to remain weak for next 4-6-month, low base of Q2 FY2020 will moderate pace of decline in Q2 FY2021." San Francisco, July 14 : Microsoft has reportedly pushed back launch plans of its foldable smartphone Surface Duo to "sometime this summer." Microsoft first revealed the Surface Duo at its annual Surface event in October 2019. The company promised to make the device available in holiday season 2020. According to Windows Central's Zac Bowden, Microsoft is taking the additional time to further refine the experience on the Surface Duo. "Update on Surface Duo schedule: MS has pushed back internal plans to launch the device later this month. Sounds like it'll still happen sometime this summer, just later than originally planned," Zac said in a tweet. Surface Duo is expected to come with mid-range specs, including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, 6GB RAM, and either 64GB or 256GB of storage. The device will also feature a single 11MP camera sensor above the right display that will be used for both front and rear-facing photos and videos and will be powered by Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB RAM/64GB or 256GB storage options. The smartphone houses two equal-sized 5.6-inch AMOLED displays. Each screen offers a 4:3 aspect ratio, 1800 x 1350 pixels resolution and 401ppi pixel density. Surface Duo's two displays are held together with a fully rotating hinge that can be adjusted to any angle. The device is loaded with Android 10 OS and is expected to come with apps from Microsoft. Surface Duo will ship with a 3460mAh battery and feature USB-C fast charging. It won't support 5G, maxing out at 4G LTE speeds instead. It is also speculated that the device lacks support for wireless charging and NFC. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Private hospitals in the country have shown a low compliance rate for bed capacities intended for coronavirus patients, Health Undersecretary and Spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said Tuesday. Speaking to CNN Philippines' Balitaan, Vergeire said private hospitals all over the country have shown a 9-percent compliance rate out of the mandated allocation for COVID-19 beds. "Hospitals are mandated to accommodate 30% of their beds for COVID cases, but when we tried analyzing the number of beds being allocated, we found that only 14% of beds in the totality of beds in the country are being allocated for COVID," Vergeire said. "20% are coming from our government hospitals, and for the private hospitals, they only have a 9% compliance rate," she added. This comes amid reports from four major hospitals in Metro Manila that they have already reached full capacity for COVID-19 patients. These are The Medical City in Pasig, the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, Makati Medical Center, and St. Luke's Medical Centers Quezon City and Global City branches. In the last 24 hours, the said hospitals issued statements requesting the public to look for other health care facilities, so as not to compromise the service of other general patients they need to attend to. The NKTI was among the hospitals which declared that it has already reached the "danger zone," which means that COVID-19 patients have occupied more than 70 percent of the hospital beds allocated for them. Vergeire said this is a general problem among public and private hospitals regarding capacity, including social distancing and other health and safety protocols inside hospital wards. However, Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, the newly-designated "chief treatment czar," is already working towards implementing a network among hospitals and the public sector to address this problem, Vergeire said. "Ang ating National Task Force ay tumutulong para magkaroon ng network, not just to expand our hospitals, but to also have a system for referring patients at mailipat sila sa ibang hospitals," Vergeire said. [Translation: The National Task Force is already looking into putting up a network not just to expand our hospitals, but to also have a system for referring patients who could be transferred to other hospitals.] Earlier in the day, Health Secretary Francisco Duque and testing czar Vince Dizon said the government is already considering transferring mild and recovering COVID-19 cases to the government's quarantine facilities to free up hospital beds in the country. Duque said the DOH had already appealed to some hospitals in Metro Manila to increase their bed capacity from 30 percent to 50 percent to make room for more COVID-19 patients amid surge in infections. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque reiterated this appeal in a separate briefing in Malacanang. "Pinakikiusapan din natin talaga ang mga ospital kasi mayroon silang allotment for both hospital beds and ICU beds for COVID patients. Pinakikiusapan [ni Usec. Vega] kung pwedeng ma-increase pa din 'yung allotment for COVID patients." [Translation: We also appeal to hospitals since they have an allotment for both hospital beds and ICU beds for COVID patients. Usec. Vega is already appealing to have them increase their allotment for COVID patients.] A total of 57,006 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the country as of Monday. At least 1,599 patients have died and 20,371 have recovered from the disease. The family of a young man who vanished without trace as he returned home from a Christmas party almost 20 years ago have warned that unfounded rumours on the internet cause untold hurt and suffering for loved ones. The warning came as the family of Trevor Deely (22) again appealed for anyone with information about what happened to him in Dublin on December 8, 2000, to contact gardai. Read More Trevor's sister, Michele, said a major Garda appeal for information in 2017, on foot of digitally enhanced CCTV security camera footage, had failed to deliver the breakthrough for which they had hoped. "We are still basically at ground zero," she said. "We still don't know what happened to Trevor. The gardai have still not been able to identify the man or men who were standing in the background behind Trevor on the CCTV images." Expand Close Gardai searching a site in Chapelizod in 2017 as part of the Trevor Deely investigation. Photo: Fergal Phillips / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Gardai searching a site in Chapelizod in 2017 as part of the Trevor Deely investigation. Photo: Fergal Phillips Michele said what was most hurtful for the family - beyond not knowing what happened to Trevor - was having to deal with the theories and wild speculation by 'armchair experts' on the internet. "Some of the material in these online chat rooms can really get out of hand," she said. "It can be very hurtful and distressing for family members who have to read it or who are then asked about it." Michele said her family remained committed to doing everything they possibly could to assist gardai in discovering what happened to Trevor. Her 22-year-old brother, who was from Naas in Co Kildare, had been attending a work Christmas party on December 7 held at the Hilton Hotel on Charlemont Place. After the party ended, he went with some work colleagues to a popular nightclub, Buck Whaleys, located on Lower Leeson Street. Trevor left the nightclub and was seen on CCTV footage returning to the Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) building, where he was employed, to collect an umbrella. After having a coffee with a workmate, he left around 30 minutes later and was seen on CCTV footage walking past the Bank of Ireland on Haddington Road. This was at 4.14am on December 8. Trevor was never seen again. He was reported missing the following Monday when he did not arrive for work as scheduled. A massive search was launched for Trevor with his father, Michael, placing posters of his son throughout the south inner city area. Gardai were supported by search volunteers and examined parks, waste ground, building sites and even local canals and the River Dodder. But there was no inkling of what happened to the young man. In 2010, on the 10th anniversary of his disappearance, gardai launched another appeal for information. In 2016, gardai launched a full cold case review and it was decided to re-examine all the CCTV footage. A specialist UK firm was contracted to digitally enhance some of the images amid indications another individual or individuals may have been in the background behind Trevor. That work by the UK firm revealed a person or persons in three different portions of the CCTV footage harvested - one segment of which shows a person, a male in dark-coloured clothing, apparently chatting with Trevor. In another, a person appears to be walking behind Trevor as he walks home just after 4am. "The gardai have never been able to tell us that they think the images on CCTV are of the same man," Michele said. "They explicitly told us that their specialist forensic team could not reach a conclusion on that. "They do believe the images from the side and back gates of BIAM are of the same man. "But not the image at 4.14am on Haddington Road. That is important as that man was the only person on that particular CCTV clip not to come forward - there were others on that clip that have been edited out - and hence he is technically the last known person near Trevor who has not been accounted for. "Keeping Trevor's case in the headlines is very important because we know that is our best hope of helping the gardai to find out what happened that night," Michele said. "Unfortunately, there has been nothing new with the case. But we will keep trying. Not knowing what happened has been very difficult for us as a family over the years." Three years ago, gardai followed up information with a search of a three-acre property in Chapelizod - at the time describing it as the most significant development in the case for over 15 years. Unfortunately, the six-week search failed to yield the hoped-for breakthrough. The six weeks proved "a living nightmare" for the Deely family - and, while the Chapelizod dig was the correct course of action given the information obtained, it has now been forensically determined that Trevor was not there and had never been there. "It was a complete dead end and there were no follow-on links or leads from it," Michele said. "But we want people to come forward. That is what we have always been actively campaigning for." A major renewed appeal is expected next December to mark the 20th anniversary of Trevor's disappearance. Crimestoppers have offered a 100,000 reward - courtesy of an anonymous donor - for any information which leads to solving the mystery of what happened to Trevor. The 100,000 reward remains on offer. U S secretary of state Mike Pompeo has hailed the UKs decision to strip Huawei equipment from its 5G network, saying it would protect free-world values. Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered telecoms firms to strip equipment from the Chinese tech giant out of 5G networks by 2027. However, China slammed the move and questioned whether the UK could provide a fair environment for business as tensions with Beijing deepened. The decision will likely delay the deployment of 5G technology by up to three years and add billions to the cost. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo / POOL/AFP via Getty Images But it came after UK experts warned that highly restrictive US sanctions meant the security of Huaweis equipment could not be guaranteed. The US welcomed the decision with Mr Pompeo tweeting: Todays decision by the UK to ban Huawei from its 5G networks advances trans-Atlantic security in the 5G era while protecting citizens privacy, national security, and free-world values. But Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, tweeted: Disappointing and wrong decision by the UK on Huawei. It has become questionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries. The reaction from China signals a reversal in relations since former prime minister David Cameron heralded a golden era between the two countries less than five years ago. The decision, taken by the National Security Council (NSC), led to concerns being raised in the Commons about the possibility of retaliation from Beijing, but ministers insisted they would not be cowed by China. Huawei said it was disappointed by the move and claimed decisions on its future in the UK had become politicised. From next year, telecoms firms will be banned from purchasing new 5G equipment from Huawei and will have to remove all the Chinese companys kit by 2027. The controversial firm's involvement in Britain's 5G network has been a bone of contention / REUTERS They are also expected to be ordered to shift away from the purchase of Huaweis equipment for full-fibre broadband networks over a period lasting up to two years. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the NSC, chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Tuesday morning. It followed an assessment of the impact of US sanctions by experts from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). In January, the firm had been given permission to play a limited role in the 5G network, but Downing Street insiders said the sanctions imposed in May were a game changer. A Chinese technician wears a protective mask as he installs a new Huawei 5G station on a tower in a business district on April 23, 2020 in Beijing, China / Kevin Frayer/Getty Images The restrictions imposed by Donald Trumps administration removes Huaweis access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. The NCSCs technical director Ian Levy said products adapted to cope with the restrictions are likely to suffer more security and reliability problems because of the massive engineering challenge ahead of them and it will also be harder for us to be confident in their use within the mitigation measures already in place for the high risk firms equipment. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the decisions taken in relation to Huawei could delay the roll-out of 5G by two to three years and potentially add 2 billion to the overall cost. Huawei kit to be stripped out of UK 5G network by 2027 There had been a global market failure which meant that there countries including the UK had become dangerously reliant on too few vendors leaving few clear alternatives to Huawei, Mr Dowden said. The Government had faced pressure from Tory backbenchers for a quicker approach to removing Huawei equipment, but Mr Dowden insisted that the changes would mean that, by the time of the next general election expected in 2024 the UK would be on an irreversible path to a network free from the firm. The move takes place as the relationship with Beijing was already under strain over the imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong. Mr Dowden said the Government is clear-eyed about China but wanted a modern and mature relationship based on mutual respect. Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said the Government should expect repercussions from China. Oliver Dowden makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons / House of Commons/PA Wire Tory former Cabinet minister David Jones highlighted a warning from Chinas ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, of consequences if Huawei was banned. Mr Dowden said: This Government will not be cowed by the comments of any other country. This decision has been made in the national security interests of this nation. Meanwhile, GCHQs protective signals intelligence network is on stand-by to detect and disrupt any attempt by China to mount cyber attacks on the UK in retaliation for the decision. Officials say they are already dealing with a sustained high tempo of hostile cyber activity by state-sponsored actors including both China and Russia. Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster said the disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK, he said. Regrettably, our future in the UK has become politicised this is about US trade policy and not security. The decision was welcomed by the US, which has called for members of the Five Eyes alliance which also includes the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to avoid Huawei kit. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted: Todays decision by the UK to ban Huawei from its 5G networks advances trans-Atlantic security in the 5G era while protecting citizens privacy, national security, and free-world values. Shadow digital, science and technology minister Chi Onwurah accused the Government of an incomprehensibly negligent approach and questioned whether the UKs security policy was now being led by the US. Huaweis UK chairman Lord Browne is to step down six months early, the firm announced shortly before the Governments decision was made public, leaving the company in September. The federal employee who critically wounded a 26-year-old demonstrator on Saturday is assigned to a specialized tactical unit of the U.S. Marshals Service, members of Oregons congressional delegation revealed in a letter Tuesday to top federal law enforcement officials. The U.S. Marshals Service Special Operations Group is made up of deputy marshals from throughout the country. The Marshals Service also maintains a full-time unit based in Louisiana that can be deployed anywhere in the U.S. Those assigned to the group are typically involved in arresting fugitives, transporting high-profile prisoners and providing security for federal court staff. The lawmakers demanded to know more about the federal governments response to protests that have roiled Portland nightly for nearly two months. They said they are especially concerned that the Marshals Service and other federal agents working the protests are taking direction from federal officials outside of Oregon. Their presence and lack of coordination raises urgent concerns about how those engaging in illegal use of force against demonstrators will be held accountable, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, and U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer and Suzanne Bonamici, all Democrats, wrote in a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr and Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. The letter was spurred by an incident Saturday night in which a deputy U.S. Marshal fired across a street on a demonstrator identified as Donavan LaBella, critically wounding the man. The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General. The federal government so far has declined to say anything about the federal employee who fired the impact munition at LaBella, who suffered a skull fracture, according to his mother. On Tuesday, the Marshals Service said it would typically does not release the names of employees involved in use of force incidents until the conclusion of all investigations surrounding the incidents, or unless charged criminally as the result of investigations surrounding the incidents. The agency did not answer a question from The Oregonian/OregonLive about whether the employee was placed on leave. In a statement, the Marshals Service said it would continue to investigate, arrest and prosecute those persons instigating or involved in riots, looting and other violence against persons and property involving the violation of federal law. Also on Tuesday, Russel Burger, the top U.S. Marshals Service official in Oregon, issued a written statement declining to answer questions about the circumstances leading up to the incident. Instead, Burgers statement focused on another incident on Saturday in which a man allegedly armed with a hammer tried to enter the federal courthouse and, authorities say, try to injure a deputy U.S. Marshal. Burger went on to say that Marshals Service personnel were assaulted while they tried to arrest other violent protestors. He said people directed strobe lights and lasers on federal law enforcement officers and threw objects at the federal courthouse and federal law enforcement. He said another two people were arrested Monday on allegations of assaulting a federal officer and arson. Federal law enforcement officers assigned to protect the federal judiciary and federal property have needed to respond to violent rioters suspected of violating federal law in Portland, he said in a prepared statement. It is unclear what, if any, connection exists between the activities Burger described and the deputy U.S. Marshals shooting of LaBella. Videos posted to social media over the weekend appear to show the federal employee firing on LaBella. One video shows La Bella holding a speaker while standing across the street from the courthouse between two parked cars. Federal officers throw a canister that lands at his feet, which he lightly tosses away from him back in the direction it came. It lands partway across the street. A few seconds later, a firing sound can be heard, and LaBella 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. Another video shows LaBella bleeding on the sidewalk and apparently unconscious after being struck in the face. Several protesters rush to check on him and carry him away, revealing the splatters of blood on the sidewalk. The officers are shown standing across the street and are not reacting. The lawmakers described the shooting of LaBella with impact munitions as an unnecessary escalation by federal authorities. The lawmakers said the federal government has sent an unknown number of law enforcement officers to Portland in recent weeks, a response they characterized as politically driven and intolerable. We unequivocally condemn such acts of violence and any effort to target, attack, or silence those peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights, they wrote. Among their questions for Barr and Wolf: Which agencies, departments or units and how many personnel have been deployed in Oregon in response to protests? What is the mission of each entity as it pertains to the protests? Are the badge, name and personnel number for those assigned to the protests visible to the public? Who is directing the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security response in Oregon? What is the chain of command, in particular who does the U.S. Marshals Service tactical unit report to? To which Oregon cities have federal law enforcement personnel been deployed? How are these federal employees communicating with state and local police? What guidance has either agency provided to personnel regarding engagement with protesters, the media and the public? What guidance in particular has been provided regarding the use of gas and impact munitions and use of force? What are the protocols for undercover officers working the protests? What training and guidance have federal officers, agents, and marshals received on how to interact and respond to protesters? Does their training include nonviolent de-escalation tactics? Lawmakers asked the federal officials to identify policies that authorize violence against peaceful protestors. They also asked Barr and Wolf to confirm that the employee who fired on LaBella has been identified, and they asked if the person will face professional investigation, sanction, or other action. The lawmakers asked for answers by July 21. -- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the veteran director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been sidelinedboth internally, in terms of his access to President Trump, and externally, in terms of the media appearances hes permitted to make. The Posts story contained many concerning details, including that officials banned Fauci from going on Meet the Press, PBS NewsHour, and a CNN town hall last week after he strayed from the administrations preferred line during a virtual event with Doug Jones, a Democratic US senator. The story also contained a statement, released by an unnamed White House official, claiming that Several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things, and listing examples from early in the pandemic. The statementwhich the White House also circulated to other outlets (some of which, confusingly, referred to it as a leaked memo)drove a mini news cycle as well as an ongoing furor. The New York Times, CNN, and others noted that the statement looked like a dossier that a political campaign might prepare on an opponent; it also closely resembled White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnanys habit of quoting news organizations early covid coverage back to them during briefings. At a briefing yesterday, CNNs Jim Acosta confronted McEnany about the statement. Why is the White House trashing Dr. Fauci and sending out opposition-research-like memos to reporters? he asked. Why not have the guts to trash Dr. Fauci in your own names? McEnany denied Acostas characterization; the Post, she said, had asked about Trump referencing Faucis mistakes, and so the White House had provided a direct answer to what was a direct question. (Presumably, the other outlets were sent the same statement out of generosity.) ICYMI: Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter? Amid widespread outrage about the anonymous statement, news outlets were criticized, in some quarters, for going along with it. The media is covering the anonymous trashing of Fauci, Brian Schatz, a Democratic US senator from Hawaii, tweeted, and by covering I mean participating in. BuzzFeeds David Mack argued that if administration officials want to discredit Fauci, they should come out and put a name to it. There is no journalistic reason to grant them anonymity. This serves no one, spreads confusion, and is actively dangerous. Throughout the Trump era, White House officials have insisted on anonymity in all sorts of scenariosfrom routine press briefings to laundering dishonest talking points to writing a Times op-ed and subsequent book about the internal resistance to the presidentand media critics have argued that reporters shouldnt allow the practice, especially in light of Trumps media-bashing claims that anonymous sources are often fabricated. Last year, Dan Froomkin wrote on his blog, Press Watch, that granting anonymity to sources is a show of faith on the part of the press. Publishing what anonymous sources say is essentially vouching for their credibility, because readers have no way of judging it on their own, Froomkin wrote. It also means the sources can avoid accountability of any kind for what they said, including if they lied. And if theres one thing we know about Trump and his enablers, its that they lie all the time. As Froomkin notes, anonymity is complicated. When properly granted, it can enable journalists access to information of genuine importance that would otherwise remain secret; recently, for example, the Times used anonymous sourcing to report on intelligence linking Russia to attacks on US troops in Afghanistan, and Trumps non-response to it. As Jonathan Swan, of Axios, reported on Sunday, that leak so infuriated Trump that he tasked Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, with hunting down the leaker; so far, Meadowswho has been feeding information to suspected leakers to see if it ends up in the presshas not been successful. Trump is famously obsessed with leaks, to the extent that hes had staffers phone records searched, used authorship attribution software to try and identify the op-ed writer, and even suggested the use of lie detector tests. Under such conditions, its not hard to see why sources would insist on anonymity. But theres no doubt, too, that officials use the same shield to disseminate useless gossip and palace intrigue. In 2018, Swan asked prolific administration leakers why they do it; one said they were concerned with the historical record, but also cited personal vendettas. (Im also told leaking is pretty fun, Swan wrote. Give me a call if youd like to try it out.) Sign up for CJR 's daily email By any metric, the Fauci statement looks like as clear an example as any of an occasion when anonymity should not have been granted. It consisted of disingenuous score-settling utterly inimical to the public interest, and it wasnt an unauthorized leak with an attendant fear of retribution, but rather an official statement of the White Houses position. In response to Schatzs critical tweet, Adam Nagourney, of the Times, argued that it was newsworthy that the White House was smearing one of its top public health experts, and that the challenge was to communicate that in a way so its about the fact of the attack without amplifying it. But some reporters fell short of that goaland, as is always the case with disinformation, even critical coverage of the statement couldnt help but amplify its central claims. And was it really newsworthy? At base, yes. But we already know Trump doesnt listen to Fauci. And there are better, more urgent ways of illustrating the key newsworthy point herethe administrations disastrous assault on sciencethat dont involve allowing the assaults perpetrators to land a free hit, without even having to own it by attaching their name to it. Instead, this looked very much like the press getting played again. Yesterday, after Trump insisted that he gets along fine with Fauci, CNNs Acosta said on air that the White House appeared to be backing off its prior claims. Perhaps it was. Still, the anonymous statement, and our reporting of it, allowed officials to pump poison into the discourse, then retreat, with a wink and a nod, to a place of plausible deniability. That isnt new. Acostas question to McEnanyWhy not have the guts to trash Dr. Fauci in your own names?was a good one, and we can only hope reporters are as assertive asking in private as they are in public. The next time an official insists on anonymity, reporters should consider just walking away. In addition to the unsigned statement, the Posts weekend story included an attributed quote from Peter Navarro, Trumps uber-hawkish trade adviser, impugning Faucis credibility. The news value of Navarros opinion to that story is questionable. But at least readers got the chance to weigh whom, out of Navarro and Fauci, theyd rather trust. Below, more on the Trump administration and the pandemic: Other notable stories: Related: The mystery of Tucker Carlson Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Jon Allsop is a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and The Nation, among other outlets. He writes CJRs newsletter The Media Today. Find him on Twitter @Jon_Allsop. (Natural News) Have you heard any of the wall-to-wall coverage of the young white woman who was killed by Black Lives Matter thugs after she dared to challenge them with the truth that All Lives Matter? What do you think about all of the nationwide protests, massive demonstrations, rampant destruction, wanton looting, and violence directed towards police as a result of that murder? What are your thoughts about ALM activists now intimidating and attacking black people, toppling and defacing monuments to Martin Luther King Jr. and painting murals saying, All Lives Matter across the street from Barack and Michelle Obamas homes in Washington, D.C. and Marthas Vineyard? You dont have an opinion on any of these things, no doubt, because they havent happened and they arent going to happen. And yet, a young white woman was killed by BLM thugs along the canal in Indianapolis, Indiana over the Fourth of July holiday specifically because she told them All Lives Matter. Outside of local media and a few independent news sites, few Americans have heard this heartbreaking story because it is anti-Mainstream media narrative and does not comport with the Democratic Marxism of the ongoing culture war against our founding. Fox59 reports: An Indianapolis mother was shot and killed along the canal early Sunday, marking the second homicide on the canal in a week. According to the victims family, the shooting started over some racially charged language. The victim, Jessica Doty Whitaker, leaves behind a little boy. She shouldnt have lost her life. Shes got a 3-year-old son she loved dearly, said her fiance Jose Ramirez. According to Ramirez, he and the victim and two other people were hanging out along the canal when someone in their group used a slang version of the N-word. That led to a confrontation from a nearby group of black males who, you know, never call each other the N word (except that they do, and they celebrate it in rap music as well). At one point, Fox59 noted, someone in the shooting suspects group shouted, Black Lives Matter, prompting a response from Whitaker or someone in her group, All Lives Matter. (Related: Marxist BLM terrorists cut down memorial to 9-11 firefighters in New York: This isnt about George Floyd anymore.) The local station says that eventually both groups realized each other were armed so they fist-bumped and separated. But then, according to Ramirez, as he walked with his fiancee, someone from the other group ambushed them from a bridge and ran off. Whitaker, 24, was struck in the head and leg, according to reports. 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 thats when she got shot, said Ramirez, who admitted he returned fire but did not hit anyone. Its 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 said. Whitakers response All Lives Matter was confirmed by her family in interviews with The Gateway Pundits Cassandra Fairbanks. According to her report, the victims grandfather wrote on Facebook that she was attacked by multiple black assailants. Jessica Doty Whitaker, a 24-year old home health nurse and mother, was gunned down in Indianapolis. According to her grandfather, she said "All lives matter" and then got murdered for it by multiple black BLM assailants. pic.twitter.com/w5VGcyP4S8 Everygun (@EverygunSafety) July 10, 2020 How is it that 2 white young people are out for some alone time they drop her 3 year old off at her grandmas house expecting to have an evening to reconnect, but all they got was terrorized by multiple black BLM assailants on the canal in downtown Indy, the grandfather, Dale Snavely, wrote. To top it off after the 2 young people continued their walk and then turned back, that is when the multiple black Blm assailants came out of hiding and shot JESSICA in the head. Why isnt anybody outraged about this? Snavely added. Is it that BLM was involved or that it was white young adults that [were] the victims? Thats a great question. Sources include: TheGatewayPundit.com Fox59.com NaturalNews.com Lawyers for a man charged with shooting scores of people in a racist attack at a Texas Walmart say their client has diagnosed mental disabilities that should be a 'red flag' for federal prosecutors considering whether to seek the death penalty. Patrick Crusius 'has been diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental disabilities' and was treated with antipsychotic medication following his arrest moments after the massacre in El Paso, his attorneys wrote in a court filing. The shooting left dozens wounded and ultimately killed 23 people. Soon after it, Crusius' lawyers say, jail mental health staff found the 21-year-old to be in a 'psychotic state.' Patrick Crusius 'has been diagnosed with severe, lifelong neurological and mental disabilities', his attorneys wrote in a court filing Crusius' mental health conditions, which have not been previously reported, were revealed in a request by his lawyers for more time to investigate these 'mitigating themes' because of the coronavirus pandemic. Crusius' mental health conditions, which have not been previously reported, were revealed in a request by his lawyers for more time to investigate 'Counsel must gather all of the information necessary to inform experts who will then be in a position to interview Mr. Crusius at the jail and render opinions regarding his mental status at the time of the shooting,' the motion said, CBS DFW reports. 'As of now, no experts can accomplish these things, as to date, they have either been under stay-at-home orders from the Government or their employers, or they are in a high-risk category for COVID and cannot travel to meet Mr. Crusius.' The court record also states Crusius was in special education for much of his schooling, but does not elaborate on his mental health. A lawyer for his family, Christopher Ayres, declined to comment. Crusius was arrested soon after the August 3 shooting. Police later said he confessed to driving to border city from his home near Dallas to target Mexicans. Soon before the attack, he posted a racist screed online that railed against Hispanics coming to the U.S., according to prosecutors. Crusius pleaded not guilty in a state case where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty but has not entered a plea to the scores of hate crime and gun charges he faces in federal court. A trial date has not been set in either case. The August 3, El Paso shooting left dozens wounded and ultimately killed 23 people Conviction on the federal charges could also come with a death sentence, and Crusius lawyers said in their Saturday court filing that prosecutors said they'll proceed with a decision about what sentence to seek by July 30. David Lane, a Colorado-based defense attorney, wrote that this schedule would violate Crusius' constitutional rights because the virus has stalled their investigation of issues the government must consider. Crusius pleaded not guilty in a state case where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty but has not entered a plea to the scores of hate crime and gun charges he faces in federal court Lane, who is over 65, said safety concerns have blocked the defense team from doing in-person interviews since mid-March, including with Crusius, who is jailed without bond. He asked the judge to schedule a discussion of these issues for October. Federal prosecutors are opposing the request and have said the Attorney General will decide whether to seek the death penalty. They not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lane declined to comment, saying 'the motion speaks for itself.' About four dozen people were struck by gunfire, and 20 were killed outright during the August 3 shooting. Two more victims died of their wounds two days later. Another victim died in late April. Police said they arrested Crusius near the shooting after he surrendered to officers, telling them he was targeting 'Mexicans.' They also attributed to him a four-page racist screed that decried a Hispanic 'invasion' of Texas and the U.S., and called for ethnic and racial segregation. Police said they arrested Crusius near the shooting after he surrendered to officers, telling them he was targeting 'Mexicans.' FBI agents in the aftermath of the shooting on August 3 The shooting was the largest terrorist attack targeting Hispanics in modern history, and spread fear throughout the Latino community. In the wake of the attack El Paso police said the Walmart had previously hired armed off-duty police officers to guard larger stores, but removed them at some point. The store where the shooting took place reopened in November. The assault in the Texas border city was followed just 13 hours later by a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, where a gunman killed nine people and wounded 27 others before he was shot dead by police. The back-to-back massacres sparked a political outcry, with El Paso native and then-Democratic Party presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke demanding the mandatory confiscation of the assault-style rifles often used in mass shootings. Vox Media, the owner of media properties including New York Magazine, The Verge, SBNation and Eater, has informed its worker unions to prepare for company-wide layoffs, according to people familiar with the matter. Vox spoke with union leaders Monday to inform them of their plan to cut staff, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Vox furloughed about 100 employees in April, or 9% of its staff, until July 31 as Covid-19 affected advertising budgets. Many of the furloughed workers who haven't already taken buyouts will be laid off, according to a person familiar with the matter. These employees primarily work for parts of Vox that were especially hit hard by the Pandemic, such as SBNation, Curbed and the company's events group. There are likely to be additional job cuts, two people said. Both the Writers Guild of America, East, which represents about 350 of Vox's 1,200 employees, and NewsGuild of New York, which represents New York Magazine employees, are meeting with executives this week, two of the people said. Vox hopes to resolve those discussions by Friday, one of the people said. Vox reached profitability in 2019 and planned to become even more profitable in 2020. While the company hit its revenue targets for the first two months of 2020, Vox was 40% off its forecast for the second quarter and plans to miss its full-year target by 25%, said two of the people. Chief Executive Jim Bankoff held an all-hands meeting last week outlining the company's overall struggles while also highlighting some bright spots, such as podcast revenue bouncing back to pre-Covid levels, said the people, who asked not to be named because the meeting's details were private. Unlike some of its peers, Vox attempted to avoid layoffs in April, hoping the business outlook would improve. Media companies across the U.S. have had to cut salary and staff during the coronavirus pandemic to make up for lost advertising revenue. Union leaders have asked Vox representatives for more data to back up the need for layoffs by Wednesday, said the people. A Vox spokesperson declined to comment. Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal is an investor in Vox Media. A car crashed into a hospital clinic Tuesday morning in Chelsea, police said. Officers responded shortly before 8 a.m. to a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a building in Chelsea, according to a social media post from the citys police department. The 63-year-old driver had apparently crashed into a Massachusetts General Hospital clinic located at 151 Everett Ave, police said. Nobody was injured in the crash, according to the Chelsea Police Departments post. City engineers later assessed the building and eventually deemed it structurally safe, the department said in an Instagram post. TOKYOThe governor of Japan's Okinawa island demanded a top US military commander take tougher prevention measures after officials were told more than 60 Marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus in 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 center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen, since last Tuesday. They said that US military officials told them the two bases have since been put in lockdown. The disclosure of the exact figures came only after Okinawa's repeated requests to the US military. Governor Denny Tamaki, in telephone talks late on Saturday with Lieutenant General H. Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, demanded the US military increase disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stop sending personnel from the mainland US to Okinawa and seal the bases, and provide more transparency. "Okinawans are shocked by what we were told (by the US military)," Tamaki told a news conference on Saturday. "It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among US personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections. "We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease prevention measures." Tamaki said he wants more talks with the US military. Okinawan officials also asked the Japanese government to pressure the US 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 US citizens service members arriving from the mainland US for staff rotations at an off-base hotel due to a shortage of space on base, officials said. The US Marines said in a statement on Friday that the troops were taking additional protective measures to limit the spread of the virus and were restricting off-base activities. The statement said measures are "to protect our forces, our families and the local community", without providing details of the infections. Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 US troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact, and the residents are sensitive to US base-related problems. Many Okinawans have long complained about pollution, noise and crime. Dublin, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ResearchAndMarkets.com published a new article on the airline industry "Airlines Who Avail of Loans Under the CARES Act Must Provide Compensation to Taxpayers" Some of the largest US air carriers have signaled their intention to apply for federal loans. Many airlines already received $25 billion in financial aid under the CARES Act which was passed in March and could be eligible for another $25 billion loan program. Airlines that have signed letters of intent with the US Treasury include United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue Airways, American Airlines, Frontier, Hawaiian Airlines, SkyWest, Spirit and Southwest Airlines. US air carriers have until September 30th to decide if they will take the loan. Air travel had begun to increase in some US states as a result of economies reopening and travel restrictions being relaxed. However, a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in some states has lowered demand for air travel and led to the introduction of new restrictions. Several US states now require out of state visitors to quarantine for 14 days on arrival. Airlines who avail of loans under the CARES Act must provide compensation to taxpayers in the form of warrants or equity interests issued to the US Treasury as well as committing to limiting employee compensation and dividends. To see the full article and a list of related reports on the market, visit "Airlines Who Avail of Loans Under the CARES Act Must Provide Compensation to Taxpayers" About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kennedy Lewis Investment Management LLC ("Kennedy Lewis"), a leading opportunistic credit manager, has hired Rakesh Wilson as a Partner and Head of Natural Resources, Infrastructure and Special Situations. Mr. Wilson joins Kennedy Lewis from Apollo Global Management where he was a Senior Partner. While at Apollo, Mr. Wilson led many equity and debt investments in natural resources and infrastructure. Prior to joining Apollo in 2009, Mr. Wilson was with Morgan Stanley's Commodities Division in the principal investing group. Mr. Wilson began his career at Goldman Sachs in equity research and then moved to its investment banking division, in New York and Asia. Mr. Wilson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Economics and received his MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. David Chene and Darren Richman, Co-Founders of Kennedy Lewis, commented "We are thrilled to welcome Rakesh to the Kennedy Lewis team. We have known Rakesh for many years over which time we've greatly admired his talent and judgment. He is an exceptional investor and wonderful person who possesses a deep understanding of the credit markets and has built an impressive track record across cycles. Our team and our investors will greatly benefit from his extensive knowledge, deep experience and vast network as we continue to grow our platform." Mr. Wilson and Dik Blewitt, Partner and Head of Tactical Opportunities, will also serve as the Co-Heads of ESG, responsible for leading Kennedy Lewis' ESG initiatives and impact investment strategy. Under their guidance, Kennedy Lewis will seek to enhance its existing ESG investment focus and corporate ESG policies and efforts. Mr. Chene added "the themes of sustainability, responsible investing and impact while generating attractive returns for our investors will only grow in importance at Kennedy Lewis. ESG continues to be a strategic priority for Kennedy Lewis, and we look forward to sharing additional updates on our ESG efforts." About Kennedy Lewis Kennedy Lewis is an opportunistic credit manager founded in 2017 by David K. Chene and Darren L. Richman. The Firm pursues event-driven situations in which an idiosyncratic catalyst may unlock value. The strategy focuses primarily on the stressed and distressed segments of the corporate and structured credit markets in North America and Europe. Contact: Carly Causey, carly.causey@klimllc.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/710505/KLIM_logo_Logo.jpg San Antonio officials have prepared temporary morgues to deal with the number of people dying at local hospitals. "We're always in a mode of preparing for contingencies, so we do have refrigerator trucks on standby in the area should they be needed," said Mayor Ron Nirenberg at a daily news briefing Monday. In the past week alone, 58 people with COVID-19 in Bexar County have died. Area hospitals were under "severe stress," Nirenberg said, and only 10 percent of staffed beds were available. On ExpressNews.com: Novel coronavirus cases soar past 20,000 in San Antonio area; 11 more people with the virus die Ken Davis, chief medical officer for Christus Health South Texas, said hospitals and funeral homes were "out of space" for the deceased. "It's a hard thing to talk about people's loved ones are dying but in the hospital, there are only so many places to put bodies of the loved ones in," Davis said. "We're out of space, our funeral homes are out of space, and we need those beds. So when someone dies we need to quickly turn that bed over." He noted that one of the city's larger hospitals had two slots for people who have died. "We need more than two," Davis said. "We had 14 die in the hospitals this weekend, plus other non-COVID patients of course are dying, so theres nowhere to put them. "We're looking ourselves for refrigerated trucks to put bodies, to hold them, until the morgue or the funeral home can come pick them up. Which sounds terrible, but its true." In Nueces County, officials requested a FEMA mobile morgue unit (a refrigerated trailer) and body bags from the state. County Judge Barbara Canales told residents Thursday that "the sudden spike in deaths has created this need." MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Last week, the Trump administration and several state and local governments launched their campaign to reopen schools with daily in-person instruction across the country. On July 6 Trump provocatively tweeted, SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!! This was followed on July 7 by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos telling a meeting of governors, Schools must reopen, they must be fully operational. Floridas Department of Education issued an order requiring five days of in-person instruction when their schools reopen in August, sparking immediate protests from teachers. Nationwide the pandemic is spiraling out of control after lockdowns were lifted and social distancing measures relaxed with no plan at the federal, state, or local levels to contain the disease. Friday saw a record 71,373 new infections nationwide in one day. The increase of new cases is paralleled by a steadily increasing death toll, with 830 lives lost Friday. A return to in-person instruction under these conditions, where even the pretense of containing the pandemic has been abandoned, is homicidal. With ongoing community transmission, classrooms would become major vectors for further transmission. Teachers have responded with outrage to this callous disregard for the safety of students, teachers, and staff. Spontaneous discussion between teachers on social media in areas like Arizona and Oakland, California immediately turned to organizing strikes to prevent in-person teaching where the pandemic is growing. For their part, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and National Education Association (NEA) have solidarized themselves with the demand for students to physically return to school, merely quibbling over the details. On July 10 they released a joint statement with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stating: Educators and pediatricians share the goal of children returning safely to school this fall. Our organizations are committed to doing everything we can so that all students have the opportunity to safely resume in-person learning. In working with the AAP, the unions signed on with an organization providing pseudoscientific justifications for the Trump administrations drive to reopen schools. On June 26 the AAP released their Guidance for School Re-entry which strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school [bolding in original]. This reckless guidance was given as new cases in the US were already soaring to record highs. In the AAPs specific guidelines, scientific proposals are filled with caveats subordinated to economic concerns. For elementary schools they state as a high priority, Desks should be placed 3 to 6 feet apart when feasible, but list reducing class sizes to make this feasible a low priority, because The risk reduction of reducing class sizes in elementary school-aged children may be outweighed by the challenge of doing so. After decades of budget cuts and bipartisan privatization schemes, public schools across the country are woefully underfunded. More than 30 students are regularly crammed into classrooms. School nurses, when schools even have them, cover thousands of students. Basic healthcare supplies, like bathroom soap and paper towels, run out months before the school year ends. Under the economic impact of the pandemic, schools are bracing for sharp cuts to education funding. In May the Learning Policy Institute estimated that states would require an additional $230 billion to fund education through the coming fiscal year. Throughout the current pandemic, there has been overwhelming bipartisan support for providing public money to banks and corporations while carrying out cuts to social services. Democratic senators like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders voted for the CARES Act, which funneled trillions of dollars to prop up the stock market but provided only $13.5 billion for K-12 education. Now the Democratic Party is promoting the HEROES Act, passed by the House, that only provides $60 billion of relief to K-12, leaving roughly $170 billion in education cuts to be made this year. AFT President Randi Weingarten and Elizabeth Warren working to shut down the 11-day Chicago Teachers strike, October 2019 That was enough for AFT President Randi Weingarten, who tweeted on Thursday: A reminder that if we really want to reopen schools, the Senate needs to pass the #HEROESact. In other words, all Weingarten needs to take her seat at the table and push teachers back into the classrooms is for the budget cuts to come from the Democrats. On Thursday, the AFT held a School Reopening Roundtable chaired by Weingarten with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Dr. Jill Biden, Joseph Bidens wife. None of the speakers suggested any action to oppose the forced reopening of schools under conditions of the accelerated spread of COVID-19, and not once were any of recent strikes or protests by teachers mentioned. Elizabeth Warren cynically dismissed the concerns of teachers fearful for their own health and safety, the health and safety of their students and the broader community by declaring, I get it. Ignoring the recent mass struggles by teachers over cuts to education funding she added, but the next time you feel frustrated, do something about it.. .. The thing you can do is you can sit down and think, OK, we are aiming toward November 3rd. How do we make sure, make sure, make sure, make sure that Joe Biden is going to be elected and that were going to get Democrats up and down the ballot. The claim that electing Democrats will protect the lives of teachers and students forced into the classroom during the pandemic is absurd. All across the country Democratic governors have lined up behind the return to work and sanctioned ending all measures to seriously confront the pandemic. Meanwhile, they completely accept plans to force the cost of the CARES Acts multitrillion dollar corporate bailout to be paid for through cuts to education and other services. Already California, with a Democratic governor and state legislature, has passed a budget delaying a record $11 billion in payments to school districts until the next fiscal year forcing cuts upon districts. In no state was the time spent social distancing used to hire enough contact tracers and expand hospital capacity to actually contain the pandemic. Weingarten, Warren and the Biden campaign imagine teachers have no memory. When the Obama administration with Joseph Biden as vice president took over in 2009, a Democratic majority controlled both the House of Representatives and Senate. Immediately they launched a nationwide campaign against public education, including massive budget cuts and the promotion of privately run charter schools. The budget cuts were so deep that 12 years later when schools were closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, per pupil spending in many states remained below 2008 levels. The chronic underfunding of public schools in the United States over the past decade was a policy carried out by the Democrats. The bipartisan assault on education drove a series of militant struggles that were bitterly opposed by the trade unions. Beginning in February 2018 teachers in the United States launched a series of wildcat strikes outside of the trade union straitjacket. First, in West Virginia, then Oklahoma and Arizona, followed by strikes in Los Angeles, Oakland, and protests in many more states, teachers took a brave stand to demand living wages and safe working conditions. In each case, Weingarten and the AFT fought tooth and nail to isolate the strikes and demobilize them. During the Arizona strike, Weingarten explicitly opposed a nationwide teachers strike, telling the WSWS that education is a statewide issue and she wanted to make sure that these walkouts become walk-ins to the voting booth in November. The Democrats, no less than the Republicans, at the national and local levels have proven themselves unwilling and incapable of fighting the pandemic. We urge teachers, students, parents and workers to form rank-and-file safety and workplace committees in every school and neighborhood to determine under what conditions schools should reopen. Preparations must be made for a nationwide strike of teachers and school workers to block the unsafe reopening and demand a crash program to rebuild the schools and hire the necessary staff to provide high quality, safe and equal education for all. No teacher or school should be penalized for refusing to work under unsafe conditions. There must be no loss of income as long as the pandemic continues. Editor's note: Peggy Drexler is a research psychologist and the author of "Our Fathers, Ourselves: Daughters, Fathers, and the Changing American Family" and "Raising Boys Without Men." She is at work on a book about how women are conditioned to compete with one another. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. View more opinion on CNN. (CNN) Actress Naya Rivera, perhaps best known for her turn as Santana Lopez on the campy Fox dramedy "Glee," was found dead Monday after disappearing at a California lake last week, authorities said. She was 33 and leaves behind a 4-year-old son. Her death is being considered accidental. The loss has resonated powerfully across headlines, on social media and elsewhere in the culture. People can't avert their eyes because they are horrified at the passing of a young, beautiful person. Then there is the oddity that she is the third of the show's actors to have passed at a very young age. Co-stars Cory Monteith died in 2013 of a drug overdose and Mark Salling died by an apparent suicide in 2018. As we lament Rivera's loss, we can't help but evaluate our own lives and perhaps ask ourselves some questions. Facing death the idea of it, even is never easy. There's something especially tragic, though, about early, untimely death; about being forced to consider the potential lost in a life not quite fully lived. With celebrities, the feeling may be heightened, because they are, after all, larger than life and often present us an idealized image of a life we might aspire to. Rivera began acting at the age of 4 on the show "The Royal Family." Over her nearly three-decade career, she appeared in the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Family Matters," "The Bernie Mac Show," "Baywatch," "CSI: Miami," and many others, including "Glee." Still, at 33, one assumes she had many years of career ahead of her. Her story is particularly jarring in a time when emotions around illness and death are top of mind for most of us. Months of living through the Covid-19 pandemic has had many of us contemplating mortality: how short life is (and tenuous), how we want to spend the time we have the length of which, it has perhaps never been clearer, is entirely unknown. The death of anyone reminds us: What have we not done, what could we be doing? Should we re-prioritize our lives? And we've already seen a lot of that happen during lockdowns and dislocation from our families, friends and jobs. For many, taking a step back from typically busy lives has afforded them the opportunity to question whether those lives are the ones they really want to live and, if not, what changes they may be inclined to make. At the same time, the sudden death of another can help us reconsider how much we "need to know" what our own lives will bring and to stop making rigid plans. Humans are wired to plot and fret so much about the future, but what Covid has shown us, and what young death shows us tenfold, is that we can't know what will happen tomorrow. Learning to live in the now becomes essential. When dealing with death in the present or at any point in one's life, it's key to understand that emotions will vary, but are to be felt (and not avoided) to best process and deal with the pain. Such emotions can include hurt, confusion, anger, regret. They are not necessarily comfortable emotions, but they must be experienced. How they are experienced on any given day will differ from the next. Taking one day at a time may be a cliche, but it is true. Unfortunately, there's no fancy, modern way to face the idea of death, no quick fix or easy out. There is no good way to fathom the often-unfathomable how, say, a young mother with so many resources and so much going for her could, in the blink of an eye, no longer exist. Our best bet is not to try to understand why, but to try to take from Rivera's, or any other's death a lesson we might apply to our own lives. In thinking about who the young and talented Naya Rivera was and who and what she has left behind, we might begin to question, usefully, who is it we want to be? This article has been updated to reflect the confirmation of Naya Rivera's death. This story was first published on CNN.com 'Naya Rivera's loss is a hard reminder' Donald Trump and Wolf Blitzer ahead of a 2015 GOP debate. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Long before former Vice President Joe Biden became President Donald Trump's reelection challenger and even before Biden was VP Trump chided him over a plagiarism scandal from earlier in his career. In a 2008 CNN interview unearthed by Insider, Trump calls Biden's history of plagiarism "a very bad statement." "You know, he's also been involved in pretty big controversy like plagiarism in college and various other things," Trump told Wolf Blitzer shortly after Biden was tapped as Obama's VP pick. "That's a pretty big statement." Biden admitted to plagiarizing in an essay he submitted as a Syracuse Law student in 1965, to which Trump may have been referring. In a forthcoming book from Mary Trump, President Trump's niece, he is accused of cheating on his SAT to get into the University of Pennsylvania by paying someone to take the test for him. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. President Donald Trump's new attack line on former Vice President Joe Biden isn't actually new. Last week, Trump accused Biden of plagiarism on flimsy grounds when the former VP rolled out his "buy American" economic plan, but he has been vocal about Biden and plagiarism going back to 2008. In an interview transcript unearthed by Insider, the first thing Trump jumped to when asked to weigh in on Biden being picked as Obama's VP nominee was the Delawarean's history of plagiarism. This 2008 CNN interview sheds light on Trump's instincts when it comes to his 2020 opponent. Asked by Wolf Blitzer to offer his thoughts on Biden joining the ticket, Trump replied, "I really don't know Senator Biden but I know one thing. He's run a number of times for president. He's gotten less than 1 percent of the vote each time." "And that's a pretty tough thing," Trump continued. "You know, he's also been involved in pretty big controversy like plagiarism in college and various other things. That's a pretty big statement. So perhaps you change over a period of time. But when you plagiarize, that's a very bad statement." Story continues Leveling allegations of plagiarism may not be the sturdiest ground for Trump, given how his wife Melania was caught red-handed lifting lines from a Michelle Obama speech in her 2016 Republican National Convention address, and now that Trump faces questions over cheating on an SAT exam. There is no evidence Biden's 2020 campaign copied any verbiage or figures from Trump for it's "buy American" plan, though Biden's plan did earn begrudging praise from Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. 'A pretty serious charge' In the 2008 sitdown with Blitzer, Trump went after Biden over plagiarism, but not the 1987 plagiarism scandal that has typically generated the most headlines. That involved media reports showing Biden appeared to lift passages from a British Labour Party politician, which contributed to his failed 1988 presidential bid. "That hasn't been brought up yet, but I'm sure at some point it will," Trump continued. "I'm sure that Sarah Palin will bring it up in a debate or somebody's going to bring it up." Blitzer then asked if Trump was referring to the 1987 scandal. "No, I'm talking about when he was a college student as I understand it, and this was a big issue originally but he supposedly plagiarized as a college student," Trump replied. "That's a pretty serious charge." Biden did admit to plagiarizing in an essay he submitted as a Syracuse Law student in 1965, to which Trump may have been referring. Trump went on to paint Biden as a potentially weaker VP pick than Obama's longest standing opponent in the 2008 primary and his eventual secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. "More importantly, he didn't get 1 percent of the vote," Trump said of Biden during the 2008 campaign, where he only made it to Iowa before dropping out. "Hillary got more than 50 percent of the vote. So say why isn't he picking Hillary? It just doesn't make sense." A clip from Blitzer's 2008 interview with Trump made the rounds in late 2019 during the impeachment scandal for different reasons. Trump told Blitzer he thought House Speaker Nancy Pelosi should have moved to impeach then-President George W. Bush when the Democrats had the majority later in his presidency. Both instances point to Trump claiming to adhere to a relatively higher standard of conduct in office than he has demonstrated in his first three years in the White House. The Trump comments on Biden's plagiarism also stand out now that he has been accused of cheating on his SAT. Trump insisted Biden would have to answer for his plagiarism issues in his debate against Republican VP pick Sarah Palin, though the topic never came up. "Maybe he has a fine answer and maybe it didn't take place," Trump told Blitzer. "I think it's pretty serious and a very serious charge." Read the original article on Business Insider Register with JOC.com and receive 5 free pieces of content for the first thirty days. After thirty days, you will receive 3 pieces of content and after sixty days you will receive 1 piece of content. To receive full access, Subscribe Today . You can also subscribe to our daily newsletter. Register Colorado Springs, Colorado, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the third consecutive year, Ent Credit Union has been named the top-ranked credit union in Colorado, and one of the best credit unions in America according to Forbes. We are honored and humbled to once again receive this national recognition from Forbes, said Chad Graves, chief executive officer for Ent. The fact that our members took the time to rate us highly in areas such as trust, financial advice, transparency and service means everything to us. More than 25,000 U.S. citizens were surveyed, with only 3.5% of the nations 5,236 credit unions receiving a Best-In-State designation. Though banks and credit unions were ranked in their respective categories, Forbes noted that Americans generally gave their banking institutions good reviews on satisfaction with scores of 4.2 on average on a scale of one to five. But banks cant touch credit unions; they averaged 4.5. Credit unions, as a whole, have done a nice job educating consumers about how our products and services deliver all the same bells and whistles, often without the fees of other financial institutions, said Graves. The unwavering dedication of our team to put members first is what allows us to consistently deliver the Ent difference, especially during these uncertain times. We dont serve for the awards. We serve because we care, and its the right thing to do. An award like this is the best kind of thank-you note from our members. In addition to the national designation from Forbes, Ent continues to be recognized regionally as it expands across the Front Range. Ent was recently named Best Credit Union by the Colorado Springs Gazette, ColoradoBiz Magazine, Pikes Peak Courier and the Colorado Springs Business Journal, who also recognized the credit union as Best Financial Advisor. Ent received Best Mortgage Company honors from the Colorado Springs Gazette as well. About Ent Founded in 1957, for the third consecutive year Ent is ranked Colorados #1 credit union by Forbes. Ent, a not-for-profit financial, community-chartered credit union is committed to improving members financial quality of life with better rates, lower fees and unparalleled products and services. With $6.8+ billion in assets, Ent serves more than 385,000 members at 40 convenient service centers across the Front Range. Ent is an Equal Housing Opportunity and Equal Opportunity Lender, insured by the NCUA. Visit Ent.com for more. Attachment Dried beans from Nigeria have been withdrawn from sale and a consumer alert has been issued by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The alert applies to all dried beans originating from Nigeria. Products include dried brown beans, honey beans, sweet beans, oloyin and bean meal. All batch codes and best before dates of any dried beans that come from Nigeria are included in the alert. Consumers are advised not to eat any of these products. Food businesses who have been supplied with these beans should dispose of them or return them to their supplier. According to the FSAI, all dried beans originating from Nigeria have banned from import and sale in the EU since 2015. This is due to previous breaches in the use of pesticides in these beans. However some products have been found on the market during recent checks. Official agencies have been asked to check for imports of dried beans originating from Nigeria. They are to withdraw any such products from sale and inform the FSAI of details. CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian and NZ dollars fell against their major counterparts in the Asian session on Tuesday, as rising U.S.-China tensions and the reimposition of coronavirus restrictions in California send Asian equities lower. California Governor Gavin Newsom rolled back reopening, ordering to close bars, restaurants and movie theatres following a recent spike in coronavirus cases. The measures followed fresh restrictions imposed in Texas, Arizona, Florida and other major states. U.S.-China tensions renewed after the White House has rejected China's expansive claims in the South China Sea. Survey data from National Australia Bank showed that Australia's business confidence and conditions rebounded in June. The business confidence index rose 21 points to 1 from -20 in May. The aussie declined to a 2-week low of 1.6373 against the euro, 4-day lows of 0.6926 against the greenback and 0.9432 against the loonie, from its early highs of 1.6315, 0.6954 and 0.9465, respectively. The aussie is likely to challenge support around 1.65 against the euro, 0.68 against the greenback and 0.92 against the loonie. The aussie edged down to 74.29 against the yen, from a high of 74.62 seen earlier in the session. The aussie may test support around the 72.00 region, if it falls again. The kiwi dropped to 1-week lows of 0.6525 against the greenback and 1.0638 against the aussie, after rising to 0.6544 and 1.0605, respectively in early deals. The kiwi is seen finding support around 0.64 against the greenback and 1.09 against the aussie. Reversing from its early highs of 70.21 against the yen and 1.7334 against the euro, the kiwi depreciated to near 2-week lows of 69.93 and 1.7383, respectively. The next possible support for the kiwi is seen around 67 against the yen and 1.78 against the euro. Looking ahead, German ZEW economic sentiment index for July and Eurozone industrial production for May are due in the European session. U.S. CPI for June is set for release in the New York session. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de New Delhi, July 14 : India and China military delegates hold talks on Tuesday about disengagement and de-escalation of troops and materials at the borders in eastern Ladakh. Both the countries are locked in ten week long stand-off at multiple points, hitherto unprecedented along the border. The main agenda of Indian delegates at the meet is about Chinese People's Liberation Army removing tanks, artillery and additional forces at Pangong Lake and Depsang areas in eastern Ladakh. The meeting between 14 Corps commander Lieutenant General Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military District chief Major General Liu Lin is happening on the lines of the one held at the Chushul-Moldo border personnel meeting (BPM) point in eastern Ladakh on June 6. This is the fourth meeting between the delegates. The third such meeting continued for almost 12 hours wherein India had put a strong message to that Chinese People's Liberation Army troops have not aided by the disengagement consensus. Both the countries are engaged in military and diplomatic deliberation to de-escalate the tense situation at the border areas. On Friday, diplomatic meeting took place between both the countries delegates. The meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on July 10. The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Director General of the Boundary and Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation. The two sides recalled the agreement reached between the two foreign ministers on June 17 as well as the agreement between two Special Representatives during their telephonic conversation on July 5, and reaffirmed that both sides will ensure complete disengagement of the troops along the LAC and de-escalation from India-China border areas for full restoration of peace and tranquility in accordance with bilateral agreements and protocols. They also agreed that for the overall development of bilateral relations it was necessary to maintain enduring peace and tranquillity in the border areas. The two sides also agreed to maintain the ongoing communication both at the diplomatic and military level to ensure early resolution of the situation. A total 20 Indian soldiers and an unknown number of Chinese troops were killed on June 15 in their worst clash in four decades at another disputed border area - Galwan Valley. China has started to change the status quo at the border at various places moving inside the Indian territories. India has objected to it and is taking up the matter with China at all levels. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In her previous publication titled Disease is an Expiation of the Sins, Dr. Mira Bajirova explains that the diseases inflicted to humanity are the result of Decreased Oxygen Utilization and the Evil Jinn. The Ultimate Cure from all diseases is the Ruqya, Negative Ions and Prophetic Medicine. She continues to expound about this evil jinn in The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases (published by Partridge Singapore). In this book, Bajirova tells that the coronavirus is a jinn (demonic) possession due to humanitys sins. It serves as a wake-up call for all the disbelievers to repent to Allah before it is too late because He is the only Who can forgive all the sinners, remove the evil jinn and grant them a blissful life of paradise if they will only obey Him. One thousand four hundred years ago, Almighty God sent down the Noble Quran and Prophetic Medicine for all mankind as a cure for all diseases but medicine went astray, ignoring the Divine cure. Instead of healing, it is harming and killing. This is what happens when humanity do not follow our Creator Who knows what is best for them, Bajirova says. People should know that the coronavirus was sent because of humanitys sins. Sins should be stopped and people should repent to Allah, for their own benefits and salvation from the hellfire. The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases aims to remind readers that the end of the world is approaching and on judgment day, Allah will judge humanity by the Quran, Sunnah and their deeds. They should obey Allah and His Messenger and stop sinning, Bajirova adds. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Cure-Coronavirus-Widespread-Diseases/dp/1543757677 The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases By Dr Mira Bajirova Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757682 Softcover | 6 x 9in | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757675 E-Book | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757699 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the Author Dr Mira Bajirova is an associate professor, consultant OB-GYN, IVF from Paris. She has obtained 14 university diplomas and certificates. She received the Women Achievers Award 2018. She published the book Infertility Caused by Decreased Oxygen Utilization and Jinn (Demon). She is an international speaker and worked in many countries. Partridge Publishing, an imprint of Author Solutions, LLC, aims to help writers in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Southern Africa become published authors. Partridge gives authors in these region direct access to a comprehensive range of expert publishing services that meet industry standards but are more accessible to the market. For more information or to publish a book, visit www.partridgepublishing.com or call 800 101 2657 (Singapore), 1 800 81 7340 (Malaysia), +44 20 3014 3997 (Africa) or 000.800.10062.62 (India). Attachment General Atlantic-backed Capital Foods said it will be investing Rs 100 crore for brand development across categories. "We are very serious about brand development and will be investing Rs 100 crore on our brands this fiscal," its chief executive Navin Tewari said over phone. The company, which also counts on Invus Group as its biggest investor, is very serious about protecting its trademark and reporting infringements on the same, he said. Tewari said the company, which has developed the popular 'Ching's Secreat Schezwan Chutney', has recently won an interim relief from the Bombay High Court against local rival Damai International. The court ruling establishes its exclusivity over the usage of "Schezwan Chutney", Tewari said, adding that the company had registered a trademark over the brand in 2012 itself. As per the court relief, a warehouse in Maharashtra storing goods which were infringing upon the company's trademarks was raided on July 10 and has also been sealed, he said. He said there is a great demand for the chutney and sales have been growing at 25 per cent despite the lockdown. The chutney brand's sales had grown 25 per cent last fiscal to Rs 100 crore and it will be Rs 150 crore in FY21, Tewari said, adding that there is a greater appetite for the brand now. The company's overall turnover in FY20 was Rs 550 crore and at Rs 100 crore, the chutney brand contributed sizably to the topline, he said. At present, the company manufactures the chutney in Nashik in Maharashtra and Haryana's Panipat. 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 Hong Kong: CE tightens epidemic measures In view of the latest COVID-19 situation, Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced the Government will tighten social distancing measures and mandate that people wear masks on public transport from midnight on July 15. Outlining the anti-epidemic measures at a press conference this evening, Mrs Lam said based on the re-emergence of local cases and their spread and diversity in the past seven to eight days, it was the right time for tightening. We naturally confess that this will have an adverse impact on business, especially with the closures of the 12 types of premises and for the first time the banning of eat-in for restaurants after 6pm. But you will recall that in the last five, six months, whenever we talked about this subject, we said that we were in a situation of a three-way tug of war. One is we have to take account of the latest public health situation, secondly is the economic impact and thirdly is the social acceptability of the people. I think based on what we have seen in the last seven or eight days about the re-emergence of local cases and the spread and the diversity of these local cases, this is the time for tightening, which means that it will affect business, which means that people will become more inconvenienced. I will have to appeal to people, that I fully understand they want to go to the Book Fair, they want to go to restaurants, they want to meet friends, but this is a time for us to put our act together in order to fight this latest re-emergence of cases. For catering businesses, the number of customers at restaurants at any one time must not exceed 50% of the normal seating capacity of the premises. A maximum of four people can be seated per table. From 6pm to 4.59am of the subsequent day, restaurants must cease to provide dine-in services and can only offer takeaway services and deliveries. Twelve scheduled premises including amusement game centres, fitness centres, party rooms, night clubs, karaoke establishments and club houses have to suspend operation. These requirements in respect of catering businesses and scheduled premises will take effect for seven days until July 21. Meanwhile, group gatherings in public places will be tightened from 50 to four unless exempted during the 14-day period from July 15 to 28. The Government will also adjust the limit on the number of people for exempted group gatherings. Not more than 20 people will be allowed during wedding ceremonies and listed company shareholders' meetings, at which no food or drink is served. The exemption on group gatherings during religious activities will also be removed. To prevent the spread of the disease through transport carriers, Mrs Lam announced two new regulations will be enacted. They will be also effective from July 15. Under the Prevention & Control of Disease (Wearing of Mask) (Public Transport) Regulation (Cap 599I), passengers must wear a mask when boarding or on board a public transport carrier, or when entering or present in a Mass Transit Railway paid area during the period from July 15 to 28. Those who fail to do so may be denied from boarding the public transport carrier or must leave the paid area. The maximum penalty is a fine of $5,000. The Prevention & Control of Disease (Regulation of Cross-boundary Conveyances & Travellers) Regulation (Cap 599H) introduces a mechanism to empower the Secretary for Food & Health to impose conditions on cross-boundary conveyances arriving in Hong Kong from specified places and relevant travellers coming to Hong Kong on the conveyances. Travellers from specific high-risk places, air crew or sea crew have to obtain a negative COVID-19 test result conducted by a recognised laboratory before arriving in Hong Kong. This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. DES MOINES, Iowa, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Kemin Industries, a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services, has acquired a U.S. patent application for a method to control African Swine Fever virus (ASFv) in feed and feed ingredients using Sal CURB Liquid Antimicrobial a global pathogen control product manufactured by Kemin. New data generated by Kansas State University and Dr. Megan Niederwerder demonstrates that Sal CURB effectively inactivates ASFv in livestock feed. The data in support of the patent application, "Mitigating the Risk of African Swine Fever Virus in Feed with Antiviral Chemical Additives," was recently published in the Transboundary and Emerging Diseases journal. The research was conducted at the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University, which is a biosafety level-3 facility and one of only two locations in the U.S. that can handle and conduct scientific studies with the virus. Sal CURB is an antimicrobial solution known to maintain the Salmonella-negative status of complete feeds and feed ingredients for up to 21 days, in addition to controlling mold. By using a blended solution of formaldehyde and propionic acid, known to eliminate mold and pathogens, Sal CURB plays an important role in reducing biosecurity risks. "Protecting the global food supply, ensuring food safety, maintaining biosecurity and transforming the quality of life for those around the world are extremely important to Kemin. This new research helps to address one of the biggest challenges facing the global agriculture industry," said Dr. Chris Nelson, President and CEO of Kemin Industries. "Sal CURB is a proven solution, backed by 25 years of research, innovation and safety we are thrilled to explore this new application and further invest in solutions that may prevent the transmission of African Swine Fever virus." A research team including Dr. Scott Dee, Director of Research at Pipestone Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Niederwerder and additional colleagues at Kansas State University, previously demonstrated that an array of viral pathogens could survive in feed ingredients under simulated transboundary shipping models. Among the pathogens examined in the study, ASFv was shown to remain stable and infective in a wide array of feed ingredients posing a high threat to the global agriculture industry. Dr. Niederwerder's continuing research on ASFv was then able to hone in on plausible means of infection via feed and water. While feed is not the only transmission route for ASFv, the high number of animal exposures to this vector increases the likelihood of infection dramatically. Turning the research toward chemical treatment of feed was a crucial next step, which identified Sal CURB as an effective method to inactivate this impactful virus. "Our new research reports novel data evaluating the efficacy of feed additives on inactivating ASFv in an in vitro cell culture model and a feed ingredient transoceanic shipment model," said Niederwerder. "This will provide valuable information to the swine industry with regards to mitigating the risk of potential routes for introduction and transmission of ASFv through feed and ingredients." For livestock producers and manufacturers responsible for meat, milk and egg production, pathogen control is essential to managing possible biosecurity risks like ASFv, which has been reported throughout China and in several other countries across Asia, Europe and Africa. Breaches in biosecurity can impact food safety, consumer trust and lead to lost production, ultimately impacting the global food supply chain with significant economic implications. "Keeping pathogens at bay is a crucial component of any on-farm biosecurity program. Kemin is highly invested in pathogen control research, such as the recent work conducted by Kansas State University," said Kristi Krafka, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Kemin Animal Nutrition and Health North America. "We recognize this data has significant implications, and the ability to complement biosecurity measures in the agricultural sector worldwide." For decades, Kemin has partnered with third-party institutions to further research and provide solutions for important animal production, health and welfare issues. This new development is the result of a years-long relationship between Kemin and the KSU Research Foundation. Kemin anticipates further data will be generated in support of this patent application. For more information, please visit kemin.com/africanswinefever or kemin.com/salcurb. Certain statements may not be applicable in all geographical regions. Product labeling and associated claims may differ based upon government requirements. About Kemin Industries Kemin Industries (www.kemin.com) is a global ingredient manufacturer that strives to sustainably transform the quality of life every day for 80 percent of the world with its products and services. The company supplies over 500 specialty ingredients for human and animal health and nutrition, pet food, aquaculture, nutraceutical, food technologies, crop technologies and textile industries. For over half a century, Kemin has been dedicated to using applied science to address industry challenges and offer product solutions to customers in more than 120 countries. Kemin provides ingredients to feed a growing population with its commitment to the quality, safety and efficacy of food, feed and health-related products. Established in 1961, Kemin is a privately held, family-owned-and-operated company with more than 2,800 global employees and operations in 90 countries, including manufacturing facilities in Belgium, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa and the United States. Media Contacts: Lauren M.G. Burt, Head of Worldwide Communications, [email protected] | +1 (515) 249-4219 Emily Claghorn, Sr. Marketing Communications Specialist, [email protected] | +1 (515) 559-5428 SOURCE Kemin Industries Related Links http://www.kemin.com Product experience leader and farm-supply retailer recognized for customer experience excellence BOSTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Akeneo, a global leader in Product Experience Management (PXM) solutions for corporate brands and retailers, has won "The Orchestrator" category of the 2020 Adobe Experience Maker Award along with its client Rural King, America's go-to farm supply store. Adobe's Experience Maker Awards recognize some of the most innovative and impactful customer experiences achieved through digital transformation. As an Adobe Premier technology partner, Akeneo created an engaging online shopping experience with Magento Commerce that matches the welcoming, helpful, and convenient feel of Rural King's physical stores. With 120 locations in 13 states and over 100,000 products, Rural King is known for providing a broad range of necessities, selling everything from livestock feed and farm equipment to fashionable clothing and children's toys. Bringing that experience online demanded a robust product information management (PIM) system to help farmers, ranchers, and rural customers across the United States easily find, understand, and select the products they need. Akeneo's enterprise PIM capabilities, coupled with Magento's industry-leading order management system, delivered a truly omnichannel experience for Rural King's customers. The farm-supply leader doubled its online product offerings in six months, and grew online revenue 34% year-on-year, by creating consistently delightful customer experiences and boosting brand loyalty. "Rural King is an iconic American company, and this award recognizes Akeneo's success in delivering a winning eCommerce experience that stays true to Rural King's vision by leveraging Magento," said Fred de Gombert, CEO and co-founder of Akeneo. "By putting customer experience front and center, Rural King turbocharged its omnichannel sales, brought loyal customers online, and helped them fall in love with its brand all over again." About Us About Akeneo: Akeneo is a global leader in Product Experience Management (PXM) solutions that help merchants and brands deliver a compelling customer experience across all sales channels. Akeneo's open-source enterprise PIM, and product data intelligence solutions, dramatically improve product data quality and accuracy while simplifying and accelerating product catalog management. Leading global brands trust Akeneo's solutions to scale and customize their omnichannel and cross-border commerce initiatives. Using Akeneo, brands and retailers can improve customer experience, increase sales, reduce time to market, go global, and boost team productivity. https://www.akeneo.com/ Contacts: Benedicte Ferrari Head of Communications pressroom@akeneo.com SOURCE: Akeneo & Rural King View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597276/Akeneo-and-Rural-King-Win-Adobe-Experience-Maker-Award WASHINGTON A federal report released on Tuesday found the Trump administration set a rock-bottom price on the damages done by greenhouse gas emissions, enabling the government to justify the costs of repealing or weakening dozens of climate change regulations. The report by the Government Accountability Office, Congresss nonpartisan investigative arm, said the Trump administration estimated the harm that global warming will cause future generations to be seven times lower than previous federal estimates. Reducing that metric, known as the social cost of carbon, has helped the administration massage cost-benefit analyses, particularly for rules that allow power plants and automobiles to emit more planet-warming carbon dioxide. Critics described the Trump administrations move as turning a deliberate blind eye to the dangers of climate change. Some critics likened it to President Trump downplaying the risks of the coronavirus, hoping it would go away but instead leaving the country unprepared for the pandemic. Climate change is a massive threat to our economy. That threat will only grow in years to come, even if we take the action necessary to avoid the worst effects of climate change, said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, one of eight Democrats who requested the review. What is going on? Black Lives Matter, antifa and their large numbers of imitators and loosely organized wannabes mostly are made up of middle-class youth, often either students or graduates. They deem themselves the brains of the rioting, the most woke of the demonstrators, the most sophisticated of the iconoclasts. In truth, they also are the most paranoid about being charged or being hurt. What explains the passive-aggressive nature of these protesters and rioters? Many no doubt are indebted, with large, unpaid student loans. Few seem in a hurry to get up at 6 a.m. each day to go to work to service loans that would take years to pay in full. While some of those arrested are professionals, many are not. Few seem to be earning the sort of incomes that would allow them to marry, have children, pay off student loan debt, buy a home and purchase a new car. Historically, the tips of the spears of cultural revolutions are accustomed to comfort. But they grow angry when they realize that they never will securely become comfortable. US infectious disease chief Dr Anthony Fauci is being targeted by the Trump administration as tensions rise between the health expert and the president. Image copyright Reuters The White House has been increasingly critical of Dr Fauci, and on Sunday, an official shared a list detailing past apparent erroneous comments. Dr Fauci's changing advice on masks and remarks on Covid-19's severity are among the points from the White House. The move to undercut him comes as the US continues to see surges in Covid-19. There are over 3.3 million cases confirmed and more than 135,000 deaths nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. Dr Fauci has contradicted President Donald Trump's comments on the pandemic a number of times, pushing back on the president's claims that the outbreak is improving and attributing hasty state reopenings to the recent surges. The White House memo leaked over the weekend had noted "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things". Though the White House said Dr Fauci and Mr Trump have a "good working relationship" on Monday, Trump adviser Peter Navarro told CBS News: "When you ask me if I listen to Dr Fauci's advice, my answer is only with caution." What has the White House said? During a law enforcement event at the White House on Monday, Mr Trump said: "I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci. I've had for a long time - right from the beginning. "I find him to be a very nice person. I don't always agree with him." The president added: "I get along with him very well. I like him personally." Mr Trump earlier on Monday retweeted comments from a game show host accusing "everyone", including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), of lying about the coronavirus. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later told reporters Mr Trump still had confidence in the CDC and the tweet was meant to express his displeasure with "some rogue individuals" who leaked planning documents. Echoing the contents of the anti-Fauci memo earlier, Mr Navarro, an economic adviser to Mr Trump, said Dr Fauci "has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on". "When I warned in late January in a memo of a possibly deadly pandemic, Fauci was telling the media not to worry," he said. Mr Navarro said Dr Fauci fought against Mr Trump's "courageous decision" to halt flights from China, initially said the virus was "low-risk" and "flip-flopped on the use of masks". "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." The lost six weeks when the US failed to control the virus Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant US health secretary and member of the virus task force, told NBC News on Sunday that while he respects Dr Fauci, he is not always right. "Dr Fauci is not 100% right and he also doesn't necessarily, he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind. He looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view." As cases and deaths continue to rise in a number of states, Mr Trump has been accused by critics of politicising health issues, including wearing masks. Mr Trump has also clashed with the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the body of mismanaging the pandemic when it began and failing to make "greatly needed reforms". On 7 July, he formally began to pull the US out of the WHO and said funding would be redirected. A White House at war with its own experts Donald Trump has often railed against newspapers that publish anonymous quotes from administration aides critical of the president. Over the weekend, however, the White House was using its own unnamed "officials" in a remarkable attack on a member of its coronavirus task force, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci. The White House even provided a list of Fauci's old statements about the virus similar to the kind of memo a campaign might use to direct negative attention on a political opponent. The administration, it appears, is trying to paint Fauci as wrong about the early threat of the virus and, consequently, untrustworthy when he questions the administration's analysis of the current situation and its planned actions. As if that wasn't enough, on Monday morning the president retweeted a post by former game show host Chuck Woolery, accusing the Centers for Disease Control, among others, of lying about the virus in an effort to undermine the Trump's re-election prospects. An administration at war with its own scientific and medical experts in the middle of a pandemic that is once again on the upswing makes developing a cohesive strategy - one that the public trusts and will follow - challenging, to say the least. What has Fauci said? Dr Fauci has not weighed in on the White House memo, but he has remarked on his recent lack of television appearances. "I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things," he told the Financial Times on 10 July. "And that may be one of the reasons why I haven't been on television very much lately." Dr Fauci also said he has not seen Mr Trump in person since 2 June and has not briefed him for the last two months. The infectious disease chief has instead been appearing on livestreams and podcasts. On 9 July, he told FiveThirtyEight: "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." Dr Fauci participated in a livestream with Stanford University Medical School on Monday afternoon, but did not directly address the White House comments. A New York Times/Siena College poll at the end of June found 67% of US voters trusted Dr Fauci regarding the pandemic, with just 26% expressing trust in Mr Trump. Did Fauci get things wrong? In February, Dr Fauci did not advise Americans to change their behaviour due to the pandemic, but he did note the situation was evolving. During an interview with the Today morning programme on 29 February, Dr Fauci said: "Although the risk is low now, you don't need to change anything you're doing, when you start to see community spread, this could change." At the time, there were fewer than 100 cases in the US. In early March, Dr Fauci and other health officials did advise against having the public wear masks. He did, at the time, note that infected individuals should wear one to prevent spreading the disease. Dr Fauci has defended his earlier comments on masks, citing new research and saying it was due to concerns over scarcity at the time for healthcare providers. He has since strongly recommended wearing face coverings in public. A career official, Dr Fauci has advised six presidents - Republican and Democratic - on health issues, including the HIV/AIDs epidemic. He has been the director of the National Institutes of Health Allergy and Infectious Diseases division since 1984. BBC - A so-called medical mystery recently happened in Argentina involving a total of 57 sailors - All of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease despite being at sea for 35 days - Reports said that these sailors tested negative before they left port and began their voyage - They only returned to the port after some of them began experiencing symptoms linked to the coronavirus PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed A total of 57 Argentine sailors were infected with the novel coronavirus disease despite the fact that they had been at sea for 35 days. KAMI learned that the said incident becomes a medical mystery in Argentina especially because all of the sailors tested negative before leaving port. The health ministry for the southern Tierra del Fuego province stated on July 13 that the crew went back to port after some of them began experiencing symptoms of the virus. As reported by Agence France-Presse, 57 out of 61 crew members have tested positive for COVID-19. "It's hard to establish how this crew was infected, considering that for 35 days, they had no contact with dry land and that supplies were only brought in from the port of Ushuaia," Alejandra Alfaro, the director of primary health care in Tierra del Fuego, stated. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! As of this writing, there are more than 100 thousand confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease in Argentina. The data came from Worldometer.com. Sea (Photo from Getty Images) Source: Getty Images PAY ATTENTION: Shop with KAMI! The best offers and discounts on the market, product reviews and feedback The novel coronavirus disease continues to impose threat on the lives of people around the world. There are already 13.2 million confirmed cases in more than 200 countries and territories. In the Philippines, a development was observed yesterday as the country recorded the highest single-day number of recoveries since the virus first hit the country in January. The team of Chinese medical experts who went to the Philippines also divulged their findings regarding the COVID-19 situation here. Please like and share our Facebook posts to support KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinion about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts! Source: KAMI.com.gh Two former private girls school teachers have been charged with sexually assaulting two students who were aged between 14 and 16, and detectives believe there may be more victims. Police allege the incidents took place when the men were teachers at a school in the Perth metropolitan area and the victims were students between 1982 and 1986. Detective Sergeant Roberta Richardson of the Child Abuse Squad said one of the victims came forward to police in March, and as a result of talking to her other victims had also come forward. Police seized items at both of the mens' houses that were "quite significant to our investigation", she said. Both of the men finished at this school in 1988," Detective Sergeant Richardson said. The United States on Monday categorically rejected all of Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea in a hardening of its position on a long festering regional dispute that reflected worsening of relations between the two countries in recent months. We are strengthening US policy in a vital, contentious part of that region, the South China Sea, Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo said in a statement. We are making clear Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them. The United States was aligning itself, Pompeo added, with a 2016 order of the Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention that had rejected Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea. China has claimed between 85% and 90% of the South China Sea hemmed in by the so-called Nine-Dashed Line - a Chinese cartographic inscription from 1947 and modified to its present form in 1952 - that extends 2,000 km (1,243 miles) from the Chinese mainland, up to a few hundred kilometres from the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. The tribunal rejected its claims in 2016. Washington DC had welcomed the decision then but had not embraced it so forcefully until now, inserting itself into the multi-nation dispute, involving on the other side, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam. The hardening of the US position came amidst a recent spike in tensions between the two countries triggered by the Covid-19 epidemic, which started in Chia but hit the United States the hardest. The Trump administration has sought to blame China for it in a bid to shift some of the blame for its own mishandling of the outbreak. President Donald Trump said last week the relationship with China has been severely damaged by its handling of the coronavirus epidemic. The United States has announced sanctions against Chinese government agencies and officials over the persecution of Uighur Muslims, travel restrictions to Tibet, increasing Beijing role in Hong Kong and curtailed visa duration for some Chinese journalists posted in the US. In the India-China border conflagration that started and worsened in coinciding weeks, the Trump administration, and the US Congress sided unequivocally with New Delhi. Both Trump and Pompeo have blamed Chinese aggression for the tensions, as a reflection of the countrys and the ruling communist partys aggressive intent around the world. Though the Monday statement came around the fourth anniversary of the 2016 decision of the tribunal, the Trump administration had signaled its new aggressive posture in the region deploying two aircraft carriers into the region for exercises for the first time in many years in the South China Sea, at the same time when the Chinese were conducting theirs. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire, Pompeo said, adding America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law. Three US states break single-day records for coronavirus deaths Alabama, Florida and North Carolina reported record daily increases in COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, a trio of grim milestones that follows the first nationwide increase in fatalities since mid-April as some US states rushed to reopen. The number of new cases reported daily began rising about six weeks ago, especially in southern and western states such as Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, which have been quick to lift restrictions meant to control the spread of the virus. A healthcare worker at a COVID-19 testing site in South Florida, the centre of one of the latest outbreaks in the US. Credit:AP Florida on Tuesday reported 132 additional deaths, topping the previous record the state set just last week, bringing the state's death toll to 4514. Alabama reported a record increase of 40 deaths and North Carolina 35 deaths, bringing each state's total to more than 1100. The new deaths in Florida raised the state's seven-day average to 81 per day, more than double the figure of two weeks ago and now the second-highest in the US behind Texas. Doctors have predicted a surge in deaths as Florida's daily reported cases have gone from about 2000 a day a month ago to more than 12,000. Loading Lilian Abbo, an infectious-disease specialist at the University of Miami Health System, said the city had become the new epicentre of COVID-19, comparing it with Wuhan, China, some five months earlier. "Every healthcare worker is working non-stop," Abbo said during a conference call with Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. "Our workforce is also falling sick as they're getting infected as well in the community, and many people are getting infected around us." Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said the White House had to accept some of the blame. "We had the Vice President here last week telling us that were in a much better place," he said, "and then immediately, its as if the virus had a heightened sense of irony and karma, we had the worst couple days in the history of the pandemic anywhere in the world." With more than 3.3 million COVID-19 cases, the US ranks first in the world in cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis, and with 135,000 deaths, ranks seventh in deaths per capita among the 20 countries with the most cases. With coronavirus infections and deaths rising in many parts of the country, US educators from California to Wisconsin are opting for online learning rather than a return to classrooms when the school year begins in a few weeks. Schools from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Fort Bend County, Texas, joined California's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, in announcing plans to keep teachers and students from the close contact that classrooms demand. The decision puts the districts at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds or remove tax-exempt status if they refuse to reopen classrooms, even though most schools are financed by state and local taxes. France, Britain mandate masks in enclosed public spaces France will in the next few weeks make it compulsory for people to wear masks in shops and other enclosed public spaces to stop a resurgence of the COVID-19 outbreak, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday. The virus, which killed more than 30,000 people in France, has been on the decline, but Macron said it was spreading again in some places as France opens up beaches, bars and restaurants after a two-month lockdown. "We have some signs that it's coming back a bit," Macron said in an interview with French broadcasters. "Faced with that, we must anticipate and prepare. Loading "I want us, in the next few weeks, to make masks compulsory in enclosed public places. "I ask fellow citizens to wear masks as much as possible when they are outside, and especially so when they are in an enclosed space." In Britain, officials announced they will require people to wear face masks starting on July 24, after weeks of dismissing their value. "We are not out of the woods yet, so let us all do our utmost to keep this virus cornered and enjoy summer safely," British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons. Hong Kong Disneyland to close Disney officials announced that Hong Kong Disneyland Park is closing on Wednesday until further notice following the city's decision to ban public gatherings of more than four people to combat newly spreading infections. Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, announced new coronavirus-related restrictions on Monday after 41 out of 52 newly reported infections were locally transmitted cases. Hong Kong has reported 250 new cases since July 6. Lam urged the private sector to put in place work-from-home arrangements for employees. Visitors wear face masks at Hong Kong Disneyland last month. Credit:AP Two foreign arrivals raise alarm in Thailand In Thailand, where there have been no reports of locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, authorities have revised rules governing visitors from abroad after a breakdown in screening led to two infected foreigners posing a possible risk to public health. The government said on Tuesday that diplomats will be asked to stay in state-supervised quarantine for 14 days, instead of self-isolating. And it is postponing the recently allowed entry of some foreign visitors so procedures can be changed. "I am angry because this shouldn't happen. They should have been quarantined, same as Thais who travel back have to be quarantined for 14 days. Why should this group of people get the privilege to skip quarantine?" said Panpen Sakulkru, a company manager who was among hundreds who lined up for virus tests in the Thai city of Rayong on Tuesday. The cases that caused concern involved a member of an Egyptian military group and the young daughter of a foreign diplomat whose family returned from Sudan. Thai authorities revoked landing permission for eight Egyptian flights, and some schools and a mall were closed in the eastern province where the Egyptian man may have had contacts. India nears 1 million cases India, which has the third-most cases after the US and Brazil, was rapidly nearing 1 million cases with a jump of more than 28,000 reported on Tuesday. It now has more than 906,000 and accumulated more than 100,000 in just four days. Its nationwide lockdown has largely ended, but the recent spikes have prompted several big cities to reimpose partial lockdowns. A 10-day lockdown that began on Tuesday in the southern city of Pune will allow only essential businesses such as milk shops, pharmacies, clinics and emergency services to open. The ebb and flow of the pandemic has governments scrambling to quash new outbreaks while attempting to salvage economies from the devastation of long shutdowns and travel restrictions. South Africa imposed tighter restrictions including a ban on alcohol sales, mandatory face masks in public places and an overnight curfew, as a surge in new infections pushed it into the 10 worst-affected countries with nearly 300,000 confirmed cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Loading In the US, flaring outbreaks have led officials in some areas to mandate mask wearing and close down bars and some other businesses to once again try to bring the pandemic under control. A mber Heard's sister has been accused of lying after claiming she was not "frightened" of her older sibling. Ms Heard, 34, has concluded her evidence in her ex-husband Johnny Depp's libel case against The Suns executive editor Dan Wootton and the papers publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN). The actress has made over 14 allegations of domestic violence, which NGN relies on in its defence of an April 2018 article which branded Mr Depp, 57, a "wife beater". Mr Depp denies the allegations and accuses Ms Heard of orchestrating a #MeToo "hoax" against him. Ms Heard's younger sister Whitney Henriquez had told the High Court she was not "frightened" of her sibling and denied ever being on the receiving end of any violence. But Mr Depp's lawyer David Sherborne accused Ms Henriquez of lying on Friday and a bombshell tape was played in court which shows injuries said to have been inflicted on her by Ms Heard. Mr Sherborne said his team was given the video overnight "to explain Amber Heard has a history of violence and attacking people". Follow here for lives updates... New Delhi: Accusing China of pushing its territorial claims amid the coronavirus pandemic, Japan has come out with its defence white paper on the security in the region. It highlighted the growing Chinese aggressiveness and its naval acitivities in the region and its plans to alert status quo unilaterally in several areas in Asia including India, Bhutan and South China. News agency Associated Press (AP) quoted Japanese Defence Minister Taro Kono speaking on Chinese aggressiveness India and Japan as he stated, "Bejing has been unilaterally enforcing its power on the border between China and India, the Bhutan border, in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and multiple places. We wrote specifically about its behaviour (in the white paper)." As per WION, the white paper by the Japanese Defence Ministry stated, "China has relentlessly continued unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion in the sea area around the Senkaku Islands, leading to a grave matter of concern." In its white paper, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government criticised Beijing for relentlessly attempting to undermine Tokyo's administration of the Senkaku Islanad in the East China Sea . Explaining how the Chinese Navy and Air Force have in recent years expanded and intensified their activities in the surrounding sea areas and the airspace of Japan, and there are cases involving the one-sided escalation of activities. Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea are administered by Japan but China claims them as their own and call it Diaoyu. On the South China Sea issue, the Japanese defence white papers said,"China is moving forward with militarization, as well as expanding and intensifying its activities in the maritime and aerial domains, thereby continuing unilateral attempts to change the status quo by coercion to create a fait accompli." On the increased capabilities by Chinese forces in more distant seas such as the Indian Ocean in recent years, the defence white papers said, "China"s support for the construction of port infrastructure in Indian Ocean countries as well as Pacific island countries could lead China to secure bases available for its military purpose". This is something that has been a worry for India, given China's first overseas base in Djibouti and presence in Pakistan's Gwadar port. Both India and Japan have been increasing defence partnership. In September 2019, a Japan-India defense ministerial meeting was held followed by the first Japan-India 2+2 foreign and defense ministerial meeting in November of the same year. On COVID-19, the white paper said, "The pandemic may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries intending to create international and regional orders more preferable to themselves and to expand their influence." When the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1787, it never guaranteed the rights of women or men as a class to be equal. The rights it affirmed were guaranteed equally only for certain white males. Two-hundred thirty-three years later, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is necessary and heres why. The ERA was first introduced to Congress in 1923 and passed 49 years later (1972) as follows: equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. The ERA sought to end the distinctions between genders in matters of divorce, property, employment and other legal issues. Just like it took 72 years (1848-1920) for men and women to endure arrests, beatings, imprisonment and derision for the 19th Amendment to be part of the Constitution giving women the right to vote, here we are 97 years after Congress first introduced the ERA seeking equal rights for all American citizens regardless of gender. Hard Won Not Done is the theme of Iowas 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration (circa 1920-2020, womens right to vote) and seeking passage of the ERA is a prime example of the Not Done element. Early opponents of the ERA asserted passage of the ERA would nullify alimony or Social Security benefits based on a husband's income, thus harming middle-aged women and widows who did not have the skills to join the labor force. Todays woman is at par, skill-wise, educationally, and occupationally, with her male counterparts. Americas 21st century legal system has greatly assisted womens rights. The anti-ERA arguments are now moot. Despite gains for womens rights, pervasive gender discrimination persists in the form of wage disparities, sexual harassment and violence. On January 15, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the 38th state surpassing the 3/4th state requirement -- to ratify the ERA. But, Congress gave states until 1979 to ratify the ERA and then extended the deadline to 1982. How can the ERA be adopted if were 18 years beyond the deadline? In 1939 the Supreme Court ruled that the question of whether an amendment has been ratified in a reasonable period of time is a political question best left in the hands of Congress, not the courts. Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued for jurisprudence of gender equality under the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause and received no rebuttal from her peers or Congress. We know the Supreme Courts ruling. How about the general public? Three in four Americans support the ERA; 9 in 10 Democrats and six in 10 Republicans (AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 2020). Its not surprising that 72 percent of Americans incorrectly believe the Constitution now guarantees men and women equal rights under the law. On Feb. 13, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.J. Res. 79 to remove the ERA deadline. S.J. Res. 6, with similar language, is now before the Senate. In 1972, Charles Grassley voted aye when he served in Iowas House of Representatives, helping Iowa become the fourth state to ratify the ERA. With voting consistency a hallmark of Sen. Grassley, I presume he will vote aye on S.J. Res. 6. Sen. Joni Ernst was only 2 years old at the time Iowa passed the ERA. As Iowas first elected female senator, she knows, firsthand, the value of equal rights and should logically support S.J. Res. 6. Lets see if our 21st century senators truly represent the equal rights of Iowas 21st century woman. Call Sen. Grassley (202-224-3744) and Sen. Ernst (202-224-3254) requesting they vote aye on S.J. Res. 6. The ERA. Its about time. Doris J. Kelley of Cedar Falls, Iowa, is chair of Iowas 19th Amendment Centennial Commemoration Committee. Editor's note: Tuesday Topic is a weekly Opinion page feature. Each Tuesday in this space, local, regional and state writers will discuss issues in the news. If you have an idea for a Tuesday Topic, please contact Editorial Page Editor Michael Gors at 712-293-4223 or mike.gors@lee.net. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Manitoba health-care employees and the province are hailing an agreement that provides front-line workers with greater access to personal protective equipment. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba health-care employees and the province are hailing an agreement that provides front-line workers with greater access to personal protective equipment. Nurses and other health-care workers across the province will have more access to N95 respirators and will now be allowed up to two procedure face masks per shift, Shared Health chief nursing officer Lanette Siragusa announced at a news conference Tuesday. "As we continue to plan and prepare, our current supply of PPE has improved steadily in all categories since the height of the pandemic," Siragusa said. "The global production of supplies continues to improve; our shipment orders are arriving on time in the quantities ordered and of the quality theyve been ordered in." The new protocol will allow N95 respirators to be available for all health-care workers providing care to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases upon request, amends guidelines to implement a two-mask-per-shift policy, removes restrictions on workplace accommodations for health-care workers, and establishes a committee to monitor PPE supply and usage in order to ensure a lasting stockpile of equipment. The Manitoba Nurses Union announced the victory in a release Tuesday morning, noting the changes mark a resolution to nine grievances filed against Shared Health at Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg. "MNU and nurses in this province had been advocating and speaking out for months with regards to the lack of appropriate, adequate supplies of PPE," MNU president Darlene Jackson said in an interview Tuesday. "Theres been many, many concerns from nurses in the province with regards to the ever-changing guidelines, the direction on extended use of masks, reuse of masks. Wed been talking about this since March." Jackson said the MNU was set to go to arbitration in early June, but the employers and province conceded last minute and agreed to a memorandum of agreement between all parties. "Ill be really clear that this settlement would not have been reached without MNU taking legal action. This is the result of many, many, many grievances filed by nurses who stood up and said this is not safe for my patients, this is not safe for the public, and this is not safe for nurses," she added. Siragusa said the province currently has a minimum 30-day supply of all protective equipment. "We didnt anticipate a global shortage of PPE... so were definitely in the planning looking at how we can stockpile," she added. "We are looking months ahead and we are looking at making sure we have that stockpile available." Though Manitoba currently reports only five active cases of COVID-19, Siragusa warned the impact of the novel coronavirus in the months and years ahead is still unknown. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. "COVID-19 is still a threat in Manitoba," she said. "We anticipate that PPE procurement will be an ongoing challenge that will require close scrutiny in the foreseeable months. And while we continue to adapt the PPE guidelines based on evidence and based on circumstances, we still do encourage clinical providers to embrace these changes but also remain vigilant in their efforts to conserve PPE as much as possible." The Manitoba NDP celebrated the provinces decision in a statement Tuesday, but criticized government as well. "Its unfortunate the Pallister government waited until Manitobas COVID-19 case count was at a record low before finally listening to nurses and agreeing to give them and other health-care workers the life-saving PPE they need and the ability to determine appropriate usage," wrote NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara. Siragusa told media the changes came about after negotiation with the MNU, though the changes will be applied throughout the health-care system. julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca What just happened? Whats worse than a data breach? A data breach that impacted a lot more people than first reported. Thats the situation MGM Resorts finds itself in, after a 2019 hack that was initially said to have affected 10.6 million guests is now believed to have involved over 142 million people. Back in February, it was reported that the personal details of more than 10.6 million people who stayed at MGM Resorts hotels had been published on a hacking forum. But its been discovered that the actual figure is much higher after an ad appeared on the dark web offering details of 142,479,937 MGM hotel guests for just over $2,900. The info, which allegedly includes data on celebrities and government employees, consists of names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and dates of births. MGM said that financial information, ID or Social Security numbers, and hotel stay details were not part of the breach. ZDNet contacted some of the past hotel guests to confirm the lists accuracy. The MGM details came from a data breach on the hotel last year, in which a hacker gained unauthorized access to a cloud server that contained information on previous guests. The chain said it has notified all those impacted, as required by state laws. Image courtesy of ZDNet The person who posted the ad claims the data actually comes from a recent attack on DataViper, a data leak monitoring service, but the company denies owning a copy of the full MGM database and says the hacker is trying to ruin the firms reputation. MGM says it was always aware of how many guests had their data compromised during the breach but wasnt legally required to reveal the number. MGM Resorts was aware of the scope of this previously reported incident from last summer and has already addressed the situation, said the company. Amazingly, the actual number of affected guests could be even higher, with posts on Russian hacking forums claiming there are details of 200 million people on the list. Image credit: Alizada Studios Albuquerque startup WaveFront Dynamics Inc. has opened a new, 9,800-square-foot office to continue developing an advanced eye-measurement system that could provide customized sight correction for hard-to-treat patients. The company, which launched last year, is led by the same team that built an eye-measurement system to prepare patients for laser refraction surgery that is now used across the globe. The team is now refocusing its sights on a new way to intricately measure individual eyes to provide contact lenses specially built for the patient. The new facility at 2420 Comanche NE provides laboratory space for research and development, and manufacturing space for the company to build its eye-measurement machine and related devices on-site. It includes an array of individual offices for the 15-member team to sustain social distancing during the pandemic, much more so than the three-office space it previously occupied at the Bioscience Center in Uptown Albuquerque, said Chief Operations Officer Ron Rammage. Everyone now has a private office and theres plenty of space in the common areas to practice safe distancing, Rammage said. Weve already moved in. The team has worked together since 1996, when former Sandia National Laboratories scientist Dan Neal launched WaveFront Sciences, a previous company that built the eye-measurement system for laser eye surgery. That company was acquired for $20 million in 2007 by Advanced Medical Optics, which later sold it to Abbott Laboratories. Johnson & Johnson then acquired Abbotts ophthalmic division in 2017. The team continued to develop the eye-measurement system under different owners, eventually perfecting its measurement technology to allow 100% of patients to achieve 20/20 vision with laser surgery, said Dan Neal, who developed the original technology at Sandia and now heads WaveFront Dynamics as CEO. In April of last year, Johnson & Johnson concluded there was no more need for research and development on LASIK because it was so well-perfected, so they consolidated their operations and closed our office, Neal said. We then took the technology and equipment to focus on under-served groups of people who cant be treated with LASIK. That includes patients who suffer from things like cone eye, where the dome-shaped tissue that covers the cornea thins and bulges outward into a cone shape that cant be corrected with laser surgery or with current contact lenses or glasses. Unlike the LASIK measurement system, which provides snapshot-like images, the new technology will take video-like images to record much more detail about an individuals eyes to develop custom-made contact lenses, Neal said. The new startup will not only develop and build the measurement systems, it will also provide custom-made contacts, allowing the company to expand its markets. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has called for applications in a prescribed format from eligible and retired Police Officers in the rank of Inspectors and above, for filling numerous vacancies to the post of Consultants for attending to the work related to trail cases in various courts at Hyderabad through direct selection. The offline application process towards the same started on July 13, 2020 and closes on July 31, 2020. CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Consultants Organisation Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Educational Qualification Graduation/Bachelor's Degree Experience 10 years in investigation and prosecution of criminal cases Skills Required Physical and Medical Fitness Job Location Hyderabad Salary Scale Rs. 40,000 per month Industry Intel Agency, GoI Application Start Date July 13, 2020 Application End Date July 31, 2020 Age Criteria And Fees Candidates qualified to join as Consultants through CBI Recruitment 2020 must meet the age criteria as per the CBI norms, with relaxation (upper age limit) for reserved categories as per the Govt. of India guidelines. For details regarding fee towards application processing, refer to the official advertisement given at the end of the article. NBE Recruitment 2020 For 90 Assistants, Accountants And Steno Posts. Apply Online Before July 31 Educational Criteria And Experience Desirous candidates interested in joining as Consultants through CBI Recruitment 2020 must possess a Graduation/Bachelor's Degree from a recognised University/Institution with minimum 10 years of experience in Investigation and Prosecution of Criminal Cases in the Court of Law as detailed in the notification. Selection And Pay Scale The selection of candidates qualified to join as Consultants through CBI Recruitment 2020 will be done through Shortlisting, Interview and Document Verification. Candidates selected to join as Consultants through CBI Recruitment 2020 will be paid an emolument of Rs. 40,000 per month. UPSC Recruitment 2020 For Scientists, Information Officer And RO Posts. Apply Online Before July 30 How To Apply Candidates qualified to join as Consultants through CBI Recruitment 2020 must fill the application form in a prescribed format attached with the advertisement, and submit the same along with relevant supporting documents to, "The Joint Director & Head of Zone, Central Bureau of investigation, Anti-Corruption Zone, 'A'Wing, lll floor, Kendriya Sadan, Koti, SultanBazar, Hyderabad -500 095" on or before July 31, 2020 through registered/speed post. Download application form and read the detailed notification about CBI Recruitment 2020 for Consultants post here The LoginID FIDO2 and UAF certified Strong Customer Authentication platform will provide Data on Tap, Execuvault, NetCents, Global Asset Technology, POS Connect, and FroogalPay customers frictionless, secure biometric logins, removing the need for traditional logins and passwords SAN MATEO, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - LoginID Inc. has announced new partnerships as part of its launch of FIDO-as-a-Service, for small and medium sized enterprises. This follows on its recent announcement for the Indonesian market, with eKYC leader, ASLI RI. The new partners announced will integrate the LoginID FIDO2 and UAF certified biometric strong customer authentication in support of various use-cases. By integrating the LoginID strong customer authentication, partners will now be able to reduce end-user dependency on weak logins and passwords. According to the FIDO Alliance, 64% of eCommerce customers and 78% of peer to peer transfer users, prefer stronger authentication versus traditional logins and passwords. With LoginID's FIDO-as-a-Service, partners will be able to provide their customers additional confidence, and higher security in their daily digital interactions, eliminating passwords and logins. "Developers and enterprises are looking for very low-lift integrations of leading-edge products. Our FIDO2 and UAF certified strong customer authentication can be integrated in less than an hour, and will provide end-users a frictionless experience" says Simon Law, CEO of LoginID. Differing from proprietary biometric solutions, the LoginID FIDO2 and UAF certified platform utilizes cryptographic security based on the customer's device hardware, therefore it is not vulnerable to hacks or OS takeovers. It works right out of the box, with no additional hardware or downloadable software required by customers. The customer experience is very simple and intuitive, with a 'biometric login' button displayed, where customers can use their fingerprint scanner on their device to login to an application or website. Customers won't have to remember passwords or use other weaker forms of logging in. Data on Tap is a Canadian based telecom technology company that is developing a digital ecosystem of highly-customized mobile services serving smartphone customers. "With the LoginID FIDO2 service we will be able to increase digital in-app and web interactions security and where required provide additional authentication and user level control," says Algis Akstinas, CEO of Data on Tap. "This will also alleviate any customer concerns around SIM swap attacks, which is becoming more of a prevalent issue for customers". Execuvault is a Toronto-based FinTech Startup on a mission to transform the legacy transfer process using blockchain technology. Self-executing smart contracts record the terms of users' directives and bequests (assets, investments, life insurance policies, and documents securely stored in a personalized vault); and then validate the criteria for assignment and disbursement. The XV Legacy Transfer Platform automates the division of funds through trusted transactions which are digitally notarized and irrefutable and can be carried out among disparate, anonymous parties; without the need for a central authority or external enforcement mechanism. "We see a lot of flexibility around how we can easily integrate FIDO2 biometrics into our existing customer experience with LoginID" says Brian Kieller, CEO of ExecuVault. NetCents Technology (CSE: N.C. / Frankfurt: 26N /OTCQB: NTTCF) provides a very simple way for merchants to accept cryptocurrency as a payment option for their customers. By integrating the NetCents crypto payment button, merchants have an easy way to process various cryptocurrencies and as a complement to traditional payment methods. "Security is top of mind for our merchants and their clients. Anything we can do to help further secure out interactions with our merchants or their customers, will help increase our future transaction volume," says Pat Albright, Executive Vice President at NetCents Technology. FroogalPay is middleware that provides software developers a quick and easy way to accept payments from within their application. "Our clients not only need the highest standard around security, but we need to ensure that we provide ways to increase conversions. With LoginID's FIDO2 biometric button, there are various ways merchants can integrate into their customer journeys, making it simpler and safer for customers to pay while protecting merchants from fraud." says Jonathan Reinsdorf, CEO of FroogalPay. Global Asset Technology has developed an asset based crypto token that can be used towards traditional assets. "With LoginID we will secure our interactions for our institutional clients, who need simple, yet rigorous security that eliminates threats to their accounts from outside parties" says Steve Katmarian, CEO of Global Asset Technology. POS Connect is a software developer and payment processor which provides merchants and enterprises secure ways to bill and collect payments. "More and more of our services are global in nature. Since the FIDO standard is aligned with regulatory standards such as PSD2 and GDPR, our clients will have assurances that services they are providing meet the expectations of the market as it relates to security and privacy" says Marius Kimel, CEO of POS Connect. Simon Law, CEO of LoginID says "These partners provide a great cross section of the types of businesses that can leverage strong customer authentication by integrating a simple, biometric button. We expect to see more and more companies like these recognizing how easy it is to protect their customers while at the same time improving the overall experience." LoginID will be adding more functions and features for partners and developers as part of its self-serve digital onboarding experience, in the coming weeks. About LoginID LoginID is a San Mateo/Toronto based company focused on bridging the gap around authenticating users and securing their information, using its patent-pending encryption protocol Secure Data Diffusion. This is facilitated through its FIDO2 and UAF certified strong customer authentication, privacy and tokenization platform. The team is composed of seasoned executives with decades of experience, across global brands, helping commercialize products around security, cryptography, payments and mobile. [email protected] About Data on Tap Inc. Data on Tap Inc. is building dotmobile, a smart tiny telecom with a goal - to make wireless more affordable and awesome for youth, seniors, students, newcomers, visitors to the country, small businesses, and families that want to save. Data On Tap, dotmobile, dot. and the dotmobile logo are trademarks of Data On Tap Inc. About Execuvault Inc. For more information about ExecuVault: Brian Kieller [email protected] execuvault.com About Net-Cents Inc. NetCents Technology Inc (NC.CN), the transactional hub for all cryptocurrency payments, equips forward-thinking businesses with the technology to seamlessly integrate cryptocurrency processing into their payment model without taking on the risk or volatility of the crypto market. NetCents Technology is registered as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FINTRAC For more information, please visit the corporate website at www.net-cents.com or contact Investor Relations: [email protected]. To keep up on the latest make sure to join the telegram channel http://t.me/NetCents About FroogalPay FroogalPay is a user-friendly Virtual Terminal/Invoicing System/Hosted Payment Pages platform for merchants that turbocharges how 125+ payment gateways process credit cards and ACH. In addition, FroogalPay is middleware that provides software developers a quick and easy way to accept payments from within their application. With a single lightning-fast integration, software developers can access all of our 125+ turbocharged gateways, FroogalPay is headquartered in Chicago with an office in Montreal, Canada. Visit froogalpay.com. About Global Asset Technology Inc. Global Asset Technology is developing a user-friendly and compliant platform that allows non-coders to launch and manage sophisticated blockchain applications. For more information visit our platform site argoblock.com About POS Connect Inc. Toronto based POSconnect develops and supports a number of proprietary integrated payments software and platform solutions, both in North America and globally. POSconnect's diverse customer base represent a multitude of market segments, from Brick and Mortar to Broker-Dealer, SME's to multinationals, POSconnect supports streamlined, ubiquitous global payments and fintech related services. Visit POSconnect.com to learn more. SOURCE LoginID Related Links loginid.io The leadership of some major churches in the Sunyani Municipality have lauded Mckenzie Ghana Limited for its efforts towards stemming the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the Municipality. They praised the Sunyani-based local garment manufacturing company for supplying free nose masks to the populace to augment governments efforts in combating the spread of the viral disease. The churches include; Christ the King Catholic Cathedral, St Anselms Anglican Cathedral, Wesley Methodist Cathedral, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Temple of Praise Church and the Sunyani Central Pentecost Church. The churches made the commendation when the company presented 300 pieces of re-usable nose masks to each of them during their respective church services on Sunday in Sunyani. Nana Kakari Addo, the Peoples Warden at the St Anslems Anglican Cathedral noted the contribution of the company towards fighting the COVID-19 in the Municipality was overwhelming and therefore required commendation. All the churches had observed the health and safety protocols against the COVID-19, as Veronica buckets were sighted in their premises to aid hand washing with soap under running water. Majority of them held three services to ensure effective social and physical distancing, while body temperatures of all congregants, including; the clergy who were wearing nose masks were checked. Mr Michael Asare Yeboah, the Managing Director of McKenzie Ghana explained the company had to date distributed 12,000 nose masks in the municipality. Other beneficiaries included; security agencies, health facilities, commercial drivers, market women and traders, the media and other public institutions. Mr Yeboah indicated that the government was spending a lot of resources to contain the COVID-19 in the country and implored the populace to wear the nose masks and comply with all other directives. He said his company was determined to ensure that all religious bodies in the Municipality benefitted from the supply, saying it would distribute more than 5,000 of the masks by the close of the week. 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 Over 3,600 rape cases were recorded across Nigeria during the lockdown, the minister of women affairs and social development, Pauline Tallen, has said. She made this revelation during a courtesy visit to the Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, on Monday. This was contained in a statement by Mr Omo-Ageges media office. Her comments come amidst increase in the number of reported rape cases. The UN Women recently reported a rise in Gender-Based Violence in Lagos State, indicating a 300 per cent increase between March and April. Also in June, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, disclosed that the Nigerian police recorded 717 rape cases between January and May. He said 799 suspects have so far been arrested while 631 cases have been conclusively investigated and charged to court and 52 cases are still being investigated. Meanwhile, Mrs Tallen said reports she received from commissioners of women affairs across the 36 states of the federation revealed that during the lockdown, each state recorded not less than 100 cases of rape. While she applauded the Nigeria Governors Forum for declaring a state of emergency on sexual and gender-based violence, the minister called for more legislation to protect the girl-child and women. The minister also commended Mr Omo-Agege for sponsoring the anti-sexual harassment bill recently passed by the Senate. In his remark, Mr Omo-Agege said the approval of the sexual harassment bill by the Senate is in furtherance of its legislative agenda, which seeks the protection of womens rights. READ ALSO: When signed into law, he said, it would not only send a strong signal to those who may want to abuse women and ensure that students are not at the mercy of sexual predators. For most of us who went through higher institutions, we know what happened. It is just that some would rather see it as business as usual, he said. But having convinced my colleagues that this shouldnt be business as usual and we needed to arrest the situation, we had to rise above our cultural, ethnic and religious differences to be able to make the case that an attack of this nature on our daughters, sisters, wives in Warri is not any different from an attack in Sokoto, Maiduguri or anywhere. And we needed to move past that culture of lecturers who see our young women as perquisites of their offices. And we thought we should put a stop to that, he added. We are also in support of strengthening our anti-rape laws both under the criminal code and penal code. We will also make it in such a way that there will be better appetite for enforcement of the laws, once we create the enabling environment that encourages the prosecutors to prosecute it, the better for us. On affirmative action, he said the Senate would examine what obtains in other jurisdictions and make informed decisions. Other lawmakers present at the meeting include Betty Apiafi, Stella Oduah and Akon Eyakenyi. "But to use them is a heavy responsibility and it is only at the very end when there is demonstrably no other course that they should be used." Sir John named the reserve powers in a statement on November 11 to explain his authority to remove Mr Whitlam, install Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker prime minister and force a general election to be held the following month. Monash University professor Jenny Hocking said the Palace advice was "totally improper" and countered Sir Martin's public claim after the dismissal that the Queen had played "no part" in the events. Professor Hocking said the Queen had breached a central tenet of the constitutional monarchy, to remain politically neutral. Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the disclosures confirmed that having a monarch who was the head of state of another country was a flaw in the Australian system. "What this demonstrates is the Palace was intimately aware of and contributed to Kerrs decision-making process about the constitutional crisis," said Mr Turnbull, a founder of the Australian Republican Movement. "It underlines why Australia should have an Australian head of state." Mr Turnbull said Sir Martin would not have been able to sit in the Australian Parliament and yet could influence the nations affairs from London. Former prime minister John Howard, a Liberal frontbencher at the time of the dismissal, countered those arguments by saying the letters highlighted what was being discussed in public. Loading "The use of reserve powers was being canvassed publicly at the time. The palace behaved with complete propriety. These letters confirm that," Mr Howard told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. University of Sydney professor Anne Twomey said the letters countered the "silly conspiracy theories" about foreign intervention and showed the key decision was made by an Australian, Sir John. But former Labor Senator Doug McClelland, a member of Mr Whitlams ministry and later a President of the Senate, denounced the dismissal as a "denial of democracy". "What Kerr did was awful, it was a demonstration against social democracy," Mr McClelland said. "Not only was it a dismissal of the Labor government, a duly elected government, but it was a wanton disregard of the will of the House of Representatives in expressing no confidence in the Fraser government." Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the dismissal, and the 45-year wait for the Palace Letters to be revealed, reinforced the need for an Australian head of state. Peter FitzSimons, the chair of the Australian Republic Movement and a Herald journalist, said the letters revealed an "undemocratic power structure" in the Australian constitution that "should offend all Australians". "We still have democratically elected Australian leaders reporting in to unelected English people. It was an affront to the national dignity then. It is a double affront now," he said. Writing to the Palace on the day of the dismissal, Sir John said he had chosen not to tell the Queen he would dismiss Mr Whitlam. "I was of the opinion that it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is, of course, my duty to tell her immediately," he said. Sir Martin responded with sympathy and support and praised Sir John for acting with "perfect" constitutional propriety as well as "admirable consideration" for the Queen. Professor Hocking said the letters highlighted Sir Johns crucial decision to seek counsel from the Palace but to keep Mr Whitlam in the dark on his intentions. "Thats the deeply troubling aspect of all of this the deception of the prime minister," she said. Gough Whitlam on the steps of Parliament after his dismissal in 1975. Credit:Archive In significant revelations, the letters confirm Sir John told Prince Charles in September that he feared Mr Whitlam would ask the Queen to recall him as governor-general and that this conversation was relayed to the Queen. In a letter that shaped the dismissal, Sir Martin wrote on October 2 to tell Sir John that the Queen would take "most unkindly" to any request to recall him but would have to act on the prime ministers advice. Loading "I think it is right that I should make the point that at the end of the road the Queen, as a constitutional sovereign, would have no option but to follow the advice of her prime minister," he wrote. The letters show Sir John dwelt on this scenario and sent the Palace a news clipping that suggested Mr Whitlam could remove him. Several areas across Queensland's south-eastern corner have come within a whisker of freezing point on Tuesday morning as the expected peak of this week's cold snap reached the state. However, the central-southern Queensland town of Roma, 430 kilometres north-west of Brisbane, dropped to minus 1.3 degrees on Tuesday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. FILE IMAGE: Keep the warm clothes and blankets handy, we are only halfway through winter. Credit:Bradley Kanaris Brisbane recorded a low of 10.1 degrees on Tuesday, the Scenic Rim town of Beaudesert had 1.4, and the Ipswich suburb of Amberley hit 7.1. Cape Moreton recorded 10.3, the Gold Coast's Coolangatta reached 4 degrees and Nambour on the Sunshine Coast registered 8.7 degrees. In a bid to fight back crop-munching locusts, the government of India has carried out locust control operations across various states on July 11 and 12. As per a press release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, locust control operations were carried out in around 3 lakh hectares area in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Haryana and Bihar. During July 12 and 13, the operations were carried out at 26 places in 7 districts of Rajasthan as well as in Sitapur and Gonda districts of Uttar Pradesh, and Mahendragarh and Bhiwani districts of Haryana. The operation is being carried out with the help of 60 control teams with spray vehicles in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Also read: Locusts devour crops in six Haryana districts Over 200 central government personnel are engaged in locust control operations across various states. In addition to this, 20 spray equipments have been received and are deployed for locust control. To strengthen the control capacity, 55 additional vehicles have also been purchased and deployed for locust control, the release stated. The government is also deploying drones for locust fighting operations. 5 companies with 15 drones are deployed at Barmer, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Nagaur and Phalodi in Rajasthan for effective control of locusts on tall trees and in inaccessible areas through spraying of pesticides. The Indian Air Force has also conducted trials in anti-locust operation by using a Mi-17 helicopter. Also read: Locust swarm reach central UP, damage crops in Lucknow, Sitapur According to the government, no significant crop losses have been reported in the Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Haryana. However, some minor crop losses have been reported in some districts of Rajasthan Swarms of immature pink locusts and adult yellow locusts were active in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Jhunjhunu, Sriganganagar, Alwar and Churu districts of Rajasthan; Bhiwani, and Mahendragarh districts of Haryana and Sitapur and Gonda districts of Uttar Pradesh, the release read. Most west-central Illinois counties are lagging oh-so slightly in responding to this years census, as groups gear up to canvass neighborhoods about the every-decade population count. As of Sunday, the national response rate was 62%. Illinois was higher than the average, with 66.8% of its residents providing details about their households and how many people live in an area. The U.S. Census also asks for details about age, race, gender and national origin of residents, as well as questions about housing. In 2010, the state had a 70.5% self-response rate, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Among west-central Illinois counties this year, Jersey was leading the pack at 67.5% compared to a 72.9% self-response rate in 2010. Morgan County followed, with a 67.3% response rate compared to 73% in 2010. Other counties, in order of self-reported responses for this year are: Scott, 65.8% (72.8% in 2010); Cass, 65.3%, (70.3% in 2010); Schuyler, 62.7% (68.5% in 2010); Pike, 60.9% (64.8% in 2010); Brown, 60% (65.3% in 2010); and Greene, 57.7% (68% in 2010). For the first time this year, census information could be provided online, which appealed to Scott County residents more than any others in the region. Of Scott County responses, 51% were submitted online, followed by Morgan County at 50.2%. Greene County had the lowest online response rate so far, at 24.9%. Groups will be going through neighborhoods starting Wednesday to leave information about the census with the hope of getting more involvement before census workers start rolling out a national person-to-person campaign Aug. 11 in which they will go to the houses of those who have not responded to the mandatory decennial count. U.S. Census Bureau associate director Albert Fontenot said during a news briefing last week that the coronavirus pandemic has made it a very challenging time as the virus ebbs and flows and increases in certain areas of the country. Although the deadline for providing census information has been extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing shutdowns, cities and counties have been making a last-minute push to get as complete a count as possible. The population numbers are used for determining funding of more than 100 programs, from education to road construction. They also help determine congressional representation, and Illinois already is expected to lose one of its 18 congressional seats based on population estimates since the last census in 2010. A 'homesick' farm camel has gone on an arduous solo trek to find its old home after being sold to another family more than 100 miles away. The loyal animal was exhausted and covered in scars when it finally met its former owners, according to local media. The elderly camel had walked more than 62 miles alone in the desert before being spotted by a herdsman, who took it home and contacted its previous keepers, it is reported. An elderly camel has been reunited with its former owners in China after the animal went on an arduous quest to find home. The camel is pictured returning to its former owners in China The couple in northern Chinese region Inner Mongolia initially sold the livestock to another herdsman who lived 170 kilometres (106 miles) away. The picture released by local media shows the camel's former owner being reunited with the loyal animal after nearly nine months Heart-warming footage released by local newspaper Bayan Nur Daily shows the camel finally returning to its former owners on Wednesday after nearly nine months. The city is also known as Bayannur. The couple said that they had sold the aged animal in October to a herdsman who was farming camels. But the 'homesick' camel ran away from its new home eight months after being purchased by the new keeper. The loyal animal then went on a trek trying to find its former owners on June 27, according to the report. The camel was said to have been covered in scars after trudging through sharp fences and busy highways. After walking over 62 miles for seven days, the injured animal was finally spotted by a local herdsman who took the camel home to look after while trying to find its owner. The animal escaped from its new owner's farm and walked over 100 kilometres (62 miles) to look for its old keepers after 'missing home terribly', reported the local media Bayan Nur Daily The camel was said to have been covered in scars after trudging through sharp fences and busy highways. The picture released by Bayan Nur Daily reportedly shows the camel's wounds The camel's new keeper then went to the herdsman's home to retrieve the livestock after discovering the event. Upon hearing about its arduous journey, the couple who sold the camel said that they were deeply touched by the animal's loyalty. They decided to contact the new owner to buy the camel back again. They agreed on a deal of using another camel to exchange the animal. The couple is seen in a touching video wrapping Hada, a traditional Mongolian ceremonial scarf, around the camel's neck, meaning that the animal is becoming part of the family. Upon hearing about its arduous journey, the couple who sold the camel said that they were deeply touched. The camel is pictured in Inner Mongolia after its former owners bought it back The couple told Chinese media that they planned to keep the camel and let it roam freely outdoors. The picture shows the camel being led home by its former owners in Bayan Nur The couple told Chinese media that they planned to keep the camel and let it roam freely outdoors. 'We won't do anything to it. I would not sell it for anything,' the husband told Pear Video. The story has touched tens of millions of Chinese web users after the footage was shared on social media. One commenter wrote: 'Animals really understand and have a connection with humans. If you treat them well, they will miss you.' Another one said: 'This has brought me to tears. Animals are so pure. Please take good care of it from now on.' FP Trending Centuries after Isaac Newton proposed his Law of Universal Gravitation, a scientist has now claimed that the legendary physicist's theory is out of date and in need of a 'fundamental paradigm shift.' Newtons theory of gravity claims that gravitational attraction between two space bodies is directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. In Newton's model of gravity, the ocean tides were a consequence of the gravitational attraction of the Sun and Moon on the Earth's oceans. In an interaction with Express UK, Alan Lowey, a former Royal Aircraft Establishment scientist, said that he has proposed an alternative to Newton's idea of the theory of the ocean tides. According to Lowey, Newton formulated his theory of gravity 300 years ago and reportedly had reservations about the ocean tides and how that actually worked with his mathematical theory. "The French mathematician, [Pierre-Simon] Laplace helped him out by coming up with his own mathematics," Lowey told Express. But the theory, in spite of being a revolutionary and foundational to the field of astrophysics, has issues that need to be resolved, according to Lowey and several other physicists. "In hindsight, we now have a missing mass problem, which is the reason for the dark matter theory, he elaborated, claiming that there is an alternative way of thinking about how the ocean tides are created. Lowey said that new research into the existence of black holes and dark matter clearly indicates that the theories and hypothesis put forward by Newton and Albert Einstein are wrong, IBTimes reported. The report mentions Lowey citing a recent study conducted by Professor Andrea Ghez, a UCLA professor, and saying that there are stars moving around black holes at the center of the Milky Way. Lowey proposes that the dark matter at the center of the moon could be the reason behind the creation of ocean tides on the earth. A hugely controversial nationalist group has launched a petition to stop a Muslim celebration from taking place at Croke Park. The GAA announced on Monday that 500 worshippers would be permitted to Croke Park for the celebration of the Islamic festival of Eid at the stadium on July 31, provided government public health advice allowed such gathering. Gatherings of that sie will be permitted if the country moves to Phase 4 of the roadmap to reopening Ireland as planned on July 20. Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri of the Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council described the use of Croke Park for the event as "symbolic to Irish Muslims in their dual-identity as being both Irish and Muslim" given the "significance Croke Park and the GAA have in Irish history." The GAA is making great strides in embracing all communities nationwide. Irish Muslim Peace & Integration Council is profoundly grateful to Croke Park for facilitating Eid in Croke Park which is a clear demonstration of the GAAs unflinching commitment to promote social inclusion and intercultural diversity," he added. The historic Muslim celebration of Eid Al Adha at Croke Park this year will be a positive representation of Irelands growing diversity of many different faiths. Invitations have been extended to other faith leaders and politicians in Ireland to the Eid Al Adha in Croke Park. The announcement of Croke Park as the venue for Eid given the closure of mosques around the country due to Covid-19 has caused very little controversy but the far-right Siol na hEireann group has launched a petition to stop the event taking place. They say they oppose the staging of the event in Croke Park for the following reasons: "Ireland Belongs To The Irish: we oppose the importation of foreign and dangerous creeds like Islam. "Croke Park is important to Irish nationalism as the GAA formed the backbone of resistance to foreign rule in this country Gaelic games are an integral part of Irish culture and must take precedence over the foreign and dangerous ideology of multiculturalism. "We oppose absurd liberal policies which place the interests of foreign people over those of the Irish people. "Mass immigration is a danger to Irish nationality, if things continue like this we will be a minority in our own homeland." The self-proclaimed leader of Siol na hEireann, Niall McConnell stated: "Croke Park is holy ground stained with the blood of Irish patriots, built by the hands of pure-blooded Gaelic Catholics." "Why should we allow a foreign celebration to be held in our Gaelic grounds while Gaelic games are still not permitted? This is our Mecca, how dare the GAA sell-outs allow this desecration?" The petition has received minimal support. H.I.G. Capital ("H.I.G."), a leading global alternative asset manager with over 34 billion of equity capital under management, announced today that one of its portfolio companies, UK -based Vernacare, has carved-out the Infection Prevention business from Frontier Medical Group, including the brands Sharpsafe, Clinisafe and eXchange. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquired businesses are industry-leaders in the infection prevention market providing an extensive range of sharps and clinical waste disposal solutions. Sharpsafe was the world's first purpose-designed plastic sharps container. With a customer base across the UK and Europe, the business operates from its site in Blackwood, Wales. James Mitchell, Principal at H.I.G. Capital in London, commented on the transaction, "The Frontier Infection Prevention business is a growing industry leader in the manufacture and supply of products that contain and dispose of infectious material safely critical systems in protecting the Healthcare workforce and limiting the spread of infection. H.I.G. is looking forward to working with Frontier Medical's Infection Prevention business which is highly complementary to Vernacare's existing presence in the clinical Infection Prevention sector. We believe the combination will strengthen Vernacare's market position and support an ambitious organic growth strategy; we will also continue to pursue similar accretive acquisitions in the sector across the UK and internationally over the coming years." James Steele, Chief Executive of Vernacare, added, "Frontier's Infection Prevention business and Vernacare fit very well together, with a common focus on best practice within Infection Prevention, and together, will be even better placed to help improve Infection Prevention standards within UK and overseas healthcare systems.'' About H.I.G. Capital H.I.G. is a leading global private equity and alternative assets investment firm with over 34 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach: 1. H.I.G.'s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses. 2.H.I.G.'s debt funds invest in senior, unitranche and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. is also a leading CLO manager, through its WhiteHorse family of vehicles, and manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance. 3.H.I.G.'s real estate funds invest in value-added properties, which can benefit from improved asset management practices. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firm's current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of 27 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com. Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005101/en/ Contacts: John Harper Managing Director jharper@higcapital.com James Mitchell Principal jmitchell@higcapital.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) New York, United States Tue, July 14, 2020 15:08 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662f222 2 People Ghislaine-Maxwell,Jeffrey-Epstein Free Ghislaine Maxwell cannot be trusted to be freed on bail while facing charges she helped advance Jeffrey Epstein's sexual abuse, and deserves no "special treatment" because she might contract COVID-19 in jail, US prosecutors said on Monday. Prosecutors urged Maxwell's continued detention one day before her scheduled arraignment on charges she helped the late financier recruit and eventually abuse girls from 1994 to 1997, and lied about her role in depositions in 2016. Maxwell is in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said had been hiding out at a 156-acre (63-hectare) property she bought last December. Lawyers for Maxwell urged on Friday she be freed on $5 million bond, subject to home confinement with electronic monitoring. But prosecutors said her wealth, multiple citizenships and being "skilled at living in hiding" made her an "extraordinary" flight risk. "The court should take the proposed bail package for what it is worth: nothing," prosecutors said. Prosecutors also said Maxwell did not deserve favored treatment over detainees at the Brooklyn jail who, unlike her, have medical conditions making COVID-19 a greater risk. Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted. Epstein hung himself last Aug. 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail, while awaiting trial on charges he sexually exploited dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005. In Friday's filing, Maxwell's lawyers said she had always denied being involved in misconduct related to Epstein. They also said she was shielded by Epstein's 2007 plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Miami, which covered "any potential co-conspirators." The Manhattan prosecutors called that claim "absurd," saying they were not bound by the agreement, and Maxwell's indictment covered conduct from several years earlier. Former prosecutor Duncan Levin said Maxwell faced an uphill battle for bail, citing public pressure and "the vast number of victims" allegedly harmed by Epstein. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-07 18:03:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GABORONE, July 7 (Xinhua) -- Botswana government through the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security told the public that the country is experiencing a supply-demand mismatch. "Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) operating in Botswana have informed the government of Botswana that their supply chains have been disrupted, hence they are experiencing some challenges meeting the demand," the statement issued by the ministry on Monday said. Over 90 percent of Botswana's fuel is supplied by the private sector through oil marketing companies. Botswana Oil Limited, which is the government's arm in the oil sector, imports limited volumes for strategic stocks, and commercial stocks based on orders from oil companies. "The government has so far released 30.8 million liters of combined strategic and commercial stocks to assist the OMCs. However the demand still exceeds the supply. Panic buying is a major contributor to the rapid depletion of fuel at filling stations", said the statement. Botswana has been experiencing a shortage of fuel since June 27, 2020. The southern African country uses three million liters of fuel per day but the consumption has since doubled because of stockpiling of fuel on jerry cans by the public. Meanwhile, members of the public are also advised that as fuel is a regulated commodity, its illicit trading is prohibited. Any person found selling fuel without a license will be liable to a fine. Enditem President Donald Trump plans this week to overhaul a federal law that poor and minority communities around the country have used for generations to delay or stop projects that threaten to pollute their neighborhoods - a law he says needlessly blocks good jobs, industry and public works. The president's plan to streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a bedrock environmental law signed with much fanfare by President Richard Nixon in 1970, would make it easier to build highways, pipelines, chemical plants and other projects that pose environmental risks. If the final version mirrors a proposal from January, it would force agencies to complete even the most exhaustive environmental reviews within two years and restrict the extent to which they could consider a project's full impact on the climate. Trump is scheduled to announce the changes on Wednesday in Atlanta, as part of his effort to revive the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. But the proposed changes also threaten to rob the public, in particular marginalized communities most affected by such projects, of their ability to impact decisions that could affect their health, according to many activists. "This is the epitome of environmental racism," said Angelo Logan, the 53-year-old campaign director for the Los Angeles-based Moving Forward Network, who grew up surrounded by highways, rail yards and industrial plants in nearby Commerce. "The working class, communities of color, will have to suffer the brunt so corporations can make money hand over fist." African Americans are 75% more likely than non-Hispanic whites to live in communities next to pollution sources - increasing their risks of diabetes, asthma, hypertension and other ailments, studies show. Nixon signed NEPA on Jan. 1, 1970, saying it was fitting that the policy marked his first official act of a new decade. "The 1970s absolutely must be the years when America pays its debt to the past by reclaiming the purity of its air, its waters, and our living environment. It is literally now or never," Nixon said that day. Weeks later he devoted a significant portion of his State of the Union address to sweeping efforts to protect the environment, from conserving land to tackling pollution belching from the nation's cars and trucks. "We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the consequences," he said. "Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard. This requires comprehensive new regulations." Among the regulations was NEPA, which requires the federal government to not only consider the ways in which a major project might affect the environment but to seek public input before issuing any permits. Environmental advocates and community activists have consistently used that ability to weigh in, coupled with the extensive analysis required by the law, to challenge projects around the country and sometimes stop or delay them for years, driving up costs. The White House declined to release details about the final revisions in advance of Wednesday's event, but spokesman Judd Deere said in an email, "The President will continue to take action to facilitate the great American comeback and to improve the quality of life all Americans." A slew of industries, along with some building trades unions, have lobbied to speed up the federal permitting, which they argue has become unnecessarily burdensome. Though it still provides for public comment, Trump's revisions will restrict how agencies can apply the law with the goal of accelerating approvals. "We want to make sure we get things right. But it shouldn't have to take seven years to get a yes or no on a highway project," said Marty Durbin, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Energy Institute. "We do have a process that's broken, and we need to bring some more reason to the process." But activists say NEPA has been instrumental in allowing communities to have some control over what gets built in their backyard. For 15 years, Logan's group and others have been fighting a plan to expand Interstate 710, a major north-south freeway designed in the 1950s that connects Long Beach to central Los Angeles. Population and job growth, combined with increased volume at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, have clogged the highway and led state and local officials to try to add lanes in both directions. An initial proposal would have added six additional lanes to the southern part of the freeway, destroying 660 homes, encroaching on the Los Angeles River and dramatically increasing truck traffic alongside neighborhoods that are majority African American and Latino communities that already have elevated levels of soot in the air. The highway plan now on the table in Southern California calls for no more than two additional lanes but also includes bike trails and dedicated green space, and it identifies improving air quality and public health as among the multibillion-dollar project's goals. Activists devised and submitted their alternative plan during comment periods allowed under the law, hiring technical consultants to analyze the government's 8,000-page draft proposal. "There was a shift in focus," Logan said. "Without community engagement and involvement, it would just be a 14-lane freeway right now." In Kansas, activists are using the federal law to try to influence the Flint Hill Expansion Project, which will add a major railway track, seven rail bridges, shift the paths of the local streams and tear up native tallgrass prairie. Beto Lugo Martinez, a community organizer and co-director of CleanAirNow, said he and others fear the ensuing pollution from increased rail traffic and habitat loss could hurt residents in neighboring Belle Plaine. One of the biggest changes the administration is proposing is eliminating the law's requirement to examine a project's cumulative impact, when taken in the context of other sources of pollution in the area. The revisions would also require that the most complex analyses be completed within two years. And the initial proposal would limit consideration of climate change, saying that the "effects should not be considered significant if they are remote in time, geographically remote, or the product of a lengthy causal chain." Under that reasoning, experts have said, officials weighing a proposed coal mine or oil drilling operation would not have to consider whether burning those fossil fuels will contribute to climate change. These revisions would make it easier for developers to get a definitive answer on whether a project will receive federal approval, and could narrow the basis for legal challenges. In the past few months alone, NEPA-related lawsuits have temporarily halted the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline, and helped prompt the sponsors of the Atlantic Coast pipeline to abandon their plans altogether. Groups have also used it to suspend a massive timber sale in Alaska's Tongass National Forest and to challenge the construction of a new airport terminal at California's San Bernardino Airport. The Trump administration has insisted that it plans to maintain the core objectives of NEPA, while eliminating endless delays on worthwhile projects. "The consequences of the government being stuck in place are far-ranging," Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told reporters earlier this year, citing the lengthy process to approve new schools on Native American reservations, upgrade visitor centers at national parks and approve requests from ranchers to graze on public lands. "The list goes on and on and on. The reality is that the needless red tape has, over time, lowered the expectations of American exceptionalism and excellence. And that is backwards." Ann Navaro, a partner at the law firm Bracewell who spent more than 25 years as a top litigator and policy adviser and the Interior and Justice Departments and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said in an interview that the law was intended to help policymakers make informed decisions but that it has become unwieldy. "There was no intention for NEPA to require endless reams of paperwork and a kitchen sink approach to environmental reviews," she said, adding that reports can sometimes now run to 500 or even 1,000 pages. "It's paralyzing, and it's not useful to the decision-maker." Based on her review of the proposed revisions, she added, it's not accurate to say communities won't be able to weigh in on future projects. "The public is going to have the same kind of opportunities that they do now to be involved in the process and provide comments," she said. Examples of projects tied up by the law abound. Durbin pointed to projects like the $2 billion Purple Line light rail between Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland, which has been hobbled by litigation and other issues. It took five years to complete the environmental impact analysis required by NEPA, and then opponents convinced a judge to suspend the project for 10 months on the grounds that the government's cost-benefit analysis overstated ridership for the 16-mile stretch. Now the private firm building the Purple Line along with the state of Maryland has suspended work, citing construction delays and cost overruns. The project is projected to take 17,000 vehicles off local roads when fully operational. Durbin defended the project as a way for transit-dependent riders to travel in a way that emits less carbon, rather than having to take a trip "that takes three buses and several hours." Environmentalists are planning to challenge Trump's NEPA revisions in court once they are finalized. Kristen Boyles, a staff attorney with the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, said in an interview that the revisions could be vulnerable in court because the administration is seeking profound changes to a law without congressional action. "It's such an extensive rewrite, you're fundamentally changing the way the whole environmental review process works," she said. "It's that sort of reach that makes it amenable to a court challenge." - - - The Washington Post's Darryl Fears contributed to this report. Pilot says truth can't be defeated, expresses gratitude to those who came out in his support India pti-PTI Jaipur, July 14: Soon after his removal as Rajasthan deputy chief minister, rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Tuesday said "truth can be rattled, not defeated". Pilot, who has not spoken in public over his revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, posted the message on Twitter and also changed his profile on the social media platform, deleting all references to his position as deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress chief. He only described himself as MLA of Tonk and a former Minister of IT, Telecom & Corporate affairs, Government of India. "Truth can be rattled, not defeated," he said in his tweet in Hindi. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Later in the evening, Pilot tweeted, "My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today." Cracking the whip against Pilot, the Congress removed him as deputy chief minister of Rajasthan and PCC president. Rajasthan ministry meets after party sacks Sachin Pilot, his loyalists Pilot has been upset since the Congress picked Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister after the 2018 assembly polls, while his supporters insisted that he deserved credit for the party''s victory as its state unit president. The current crisis surfaced last Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged bid to bring down the government. The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot''s supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The Special Operation Group (SOG) had sent out the notices after tapping a phone conversation between two men, who were allegedly discussing the fall of the Gehlot government. The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) has proposed a raft of measures that it wants the State to implement in the wake of increased teenage pregnancies. Kuppet Secretary-general Akelo Misori said the government should establish special schools and rescue centres for teenage mothers. The special schools should be mainstreamed to cater for young mothers who experience challenges whenever they resume studies in regular schools, he said. According to Misori, the schools will go a long way in tackling discrimination against school-going mothers who often face stigma from their fellow students. Mr Misori noted that establishing such schools for teenage mothers should not be misinterpreted to mean they are being isolated from other students but to encourage them to continue being in school. In many cases, the teenage mothers resort to abortion, which also caries grave risks including death, loss of childbearing capacity among other long term effects, he said. The Kuppet official further wants the Ministry of Public Service, Youth and Gender Affairs to explore the costs of establishing at least one borstal institution per county to deal with child offenders. Borstal institutions are juvenile correctional facilities for boy offenders between ages 15 and 17. Kuppet chairman Omboko Milemba added that the government must make a deliberate effort to protect the girl-child. Parents have the responsibility of looking after their children, the current pandemic has exposed how parents have neglected their duty to teach their children on morality, he said. Mr Misori also faulted teachers for not supporting the sexual health reproductive bill that is in parliament. He maintained that the current curriculum on life skills addresses the required sex education. Kuppet also wants quality assurance and curriculum support officers to be empowered to enforce guidelines for the location of schools concerning bars, clubs, trading centres and other institutions not compatible with the education of children. Meanwhile, Interior Cabinet Secretary on Monday held a meeting with the National Crime Research Centre team to discuss strategies on curbing teenage pregnancies. This follows President Uhuru Kenyattas directive to prepare an advisory on escalating cases of gender-based violence and violation of childrens rights. He also met women leaders under the auspices of the National Gender and Equality Commission and the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association on the same. They advocated for a grassroots-up approach that will have matriarchs of good character embedded in Nyumbani Kumi-like structures. The matriarchs would be providing guidance and counselling to children in both the rural and urban setting. The women leaders also expressed need to have stronger tracing mechanisms for the evidence trail, especially for repeat offenders. Travelers in Vietnam are expressing interest in future domestic travel, because the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way people will approach travel-related decision-making, according to the latest study by Google. Source: the Global Web Index The Global Web Index (GWI) study showed that in Vietnam, Indonesia, India, and the Philippines, more than 25% of respondents said they plan to travel domestically in the next three months, compared with countries like Australia and Japan, where less than 14% of them plan to do so. This differing sentiment is also reflected in future international travel plans, of which, respondents in Indonesia, India, the Philippines, and Vietnam have indicated they are 1.5X more likely than those in Australia, Singapore, and Japan to travel internationally in the next six months. Source: the Global Web Index According to the GWI study, in the world, 45% of people who delayed a vacation due to COVID-19 are planning to prioritize booking a vacation or trip after the pandemic ends. Search data indicates some early signs of recovery for Vietnams tourism industry after the period of social distancing ended in late April. In June, the number of searches for tourism doubled compared to that in March, however, was still 20% lower than last June. Searches for homestay accommodations are gaining momentum with an increase of 180% in June, while searches for resorts, What is tourism marketing, or all-inclusive travel deals are also on the rise. Top 10 favorite destinations such as Danang, Hanoi, Lam Dong, Thua Thien-Hue, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Yen Bai and Phu Tho are starting to pick up in Vietnam. Source: the Global Web Index According to the study, when APAC consumers begin to consider traveling again, a key motivator for booking will be both the flexibility to make changes to reservations and the promotional discounts available to them. Particularly, 29% of Vietnamese respondents indicated plans to make more use of promotions as they are looking for cheaper vacation packages in the future. The Vietnamese travelers are also concerned about free masks/sanitizer wipes when booking a flight in the next three months. The findings highlight emerging trends that travel companies should consider in trying to catch the demand of Vietnamese travelers. Hanoitimes Senior students who have gone back to school this week have had it drummed into them to practise social distancing wherever they can, but year 12 student Max Sandler isnt confident his peers will take heed. "I know from my school and from other schools, people have not really heeded the warnings very much," said Max, who attends the King David School in Armadale. Year 12 student Max Sandler is not confident teens will heed social distancing warnings. Credit:Chris Hopkins "And just from a practical point of view, how can they really if theres 25 people in a classroom? There is no way they are going to be able to socially distance in any school, unless they are doing it on a football pitch or whatever." Max, 17, fears the state governments decision to send year 11 and 12 students back to class will increase the risk of COVID-19 spreading through schools and into the wider community. A man described by authorities as a leader of the neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division admitted in Alexandria, Va., federal court Tuesday that he harassed minorities and journalists by calling police to their homes and offices. John Cameron Denton, 26, of Montgomery, Texas, while pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy to make interstate threats, agreed with a federal judge that he had "expressed white supremacist views" and was "motivated by racial animus." Denton and five others were arrested earlier this year as part of a federal crackdown on Atomwaffen Division, a group linked by prosecutors to five killings across the country. Atomwaffen, which began in online extremist message boards in 2015, advocates random acts of violence in hopes of starting a race war. It has affiliates in several European countries, including Germany, where officials say members have threatened Muslim residents and liberal politicians. Denton is described by prosecutors and in leaked online chats as a leader who chose targets and created propaganda for the group. A co-conspirator, John William Kirby Kelley, is set to plead guilty next week, court papers say. In the United States, Denton admitted that he, Kelley and others, including two foreign nationals, engaged in "swatting" over the past two years - calling in fake threats at victims' homes and offices, hoping to provoke a violent law enforcement response. One target was a historic black church in Alexandria, Va.. Another was Old Dominion University, where Kelley attended school. A third was then-Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, according to people familiar with the case. The case was prosecuted in Alexandria because Nielsen lives there. "Swatting is a dangerous act with potentially tragic consequences," G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. "Sending law enforcement and emergency responders rushing to an individual's home, business, or place of worship, in an effort to target individuals because of their race or religious affiliation or simply to create chaos shows both criminal behavior and a complete disregard for public safety." Denton's former roommate from Texas, Kaleb Cole, is charged in Seattle federal court with threatening journalists and Jewish activists. Cole previously lived in Washington state, where local prosecutors had temporarily taken away his gun collection under a "red flag" law because of his engagement in white-supremacist activity. Denton said it was his idea to target the ProPublica reporter who had exposed him and others as part of Atomwaffen, calling in threats to the organization's New York office and the journalist's California home. The office had to be evacuated, and the reporter and his wife were both detained by police in front of their young child. Denton went by the moniker "Rape" online, he admitted. Not long before his arrest, according to prosecutors, Denton told an undercover agent that it would "be good for Atomwaffen" if he was charged with making the false threats, because it was a "top-tier crime." As part of his plea, Denton agreed to pay restitution to police in New York and Contra Costa, Calif. He is set to be sentenced Nov. 17 and faces up to five years in prison. It also did not hurt that I sometimes think of the Late Fred Willard, which well exhibits my frivolous mind at work, stupidly and hilariously saying "What happened?" He is a funny guy, always will be: Below. This will be a collaborative effort from the BCN team, both technical and creative, and the public at large. The show, at least for the time being, will be referred to as. The title came to me late last night, the night before our first session, with the criteria of not being pretentious met, and not having my name in the title since I may not always be the host also met.All frivolity aside and there is nothing frivolous about this gentleman, The Beaufort County commissioner big daddy of them all - Hood Richardson - will be my first honored guest, and he will not disappoint. In this inaugural edition of What Happened ... NOW, he is on point, on message, and clearly knows his topic - governing as if one has good sense.Wait for it ... we shall be finished soon with this new presentation of information that will have its fair share of programming bugs to correct, but we shall endeavor, as always, to correct them, and then exceed all expectations. The show will touch on all issues, all subjects, and shall offer straight talk that should inform and enlighten.If the eastern North Carolina region is home to you or your business, and what we are doing piques your interest to gain greater exposure for your own special message, please contact us here:. I cannot guarantee that our show would be a good fit for your message; however, if there is a strong possibility that it could be, it would be worth your while to make that effort to present to the public.In the meantime, we shall create more content that is informative and hopefully, in some small way, entertaining as well.It has been our short history at BCN, about 3.4 years back, when we reached out in video, we were quite successful in that task of reaching over a hundred thousand folks for just a wee handful of editions, but, alas, we stopped because of time constraints. Now, with so much on the line in our Republic, with so much to profess, and so much to make understood, we are reaching out again, but with better equipment, greater production knowledge, and a fine will to succeed in this re-invented process.I am well satisfied, even at this onset, that we will succeed. By Sheila Dang and Arriana McLymore July 14 (Reuters) - Ty Gibson, 20, of Greensboro, North Carolina, brushed off speculation last week on TikTok that his favorite video sharing platform was going to be banned. By Thursday, users panicked after a glitch on the service erased video views, a measure of video popularity. Suddenly, news reports of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeos threats to block Chinese-owned apps like TikTok hit home as he watched other users flood the app with goodbyes. U.S. lawmakers have raised national security concerns over TikTok's handling of user data, and said they were worried it would be required to share data with the Chinese government. I thought it was the end, Gibson said in an interview. I didnt even have time to think things through. Gibson recorded his own farewell video for his 4.6 million fans, asking them to follow him on YouTube and Facebook's Instagram. While TikToks fate in the United States is undecided, the news set off a wave of worries among its devoted user base, who are coming up with backup plans on other services. Some, like e-sports star Tyler Blevins, known more widely as Ninja, who has 4 million followers on TikTok, told his 6 million followers on Twitter that he already deleted TikTok from his phone. Loyalists are sitting tight for now. But they are distraught - sharing videos of themselves crying (and dancing) with hashtags like #TikTokBan which has 212 million views and #SaveTikTok, with 315 million views on the app. If TikTok loses consumer trust, then they lose their relevance, said Alexander Patino, deputy director of the American Influencer Council, a trade association for social media personalities who market products online. While there are real security questions about TikTok, the Trump administrations motives are primarily political, which make it not only difficult to predict what the government will decide, but nearly impossible to fight back if it proceeds with a ban, said Justin Sherman, a nonresident fellow at think tank Atlantic Council, who focuses on geopolitics and cybersecurity. I dont think the company could do anything to placate them, he said. Story continues TikTok has said it has never given user data to the Chinese government, and would not do so if asked, adding that the company has not been asked. SPONSORS ON HOLD The effect of a ban on the advertising world would be minimal as TikToks ad business is still nascent and brands would easily migrate to other platforms, one executive at a major ad agency said. But corporate sponsorship of so-called influencers has already suffered. One major consumer-goods brand put a five-figure deal with a TikTok influencer on ice for at least two months, because it did not want to be associated with negative news about the app, said Joe Gagliese, chief executive of influencer marketing agency Viral Nation, declining to name the brand. James Lamprey, a chef with 1.2 million TikTok followers, said the uncertainty has caused a camera company to pause their deal with him for a sponsored TikTok video, worth $1,000, until there was more clarity about the apps fate. Lamprey said he has started trying to get his TikTok fans to follow him on Instagram. But if TikTok is banned, the impact to his earnings could be huge, he said. For TikTok, these brands are contacting me left and right, Lamprey said. They want to get in front of that audience. RIVALS CLOSING IN Smaller rivals like Triller, Byte and Dubsmash have watched downloads of their apps spike after Pompeos comments. Some are now proactively targeting TikTok users. Triller, which became known for its focus on hip-hop music, is reaching out to top TikTok stars while it fields inbound interest from creators wanting to grow their Triller accounts, said Ryan Kavanaugh, founder of Proxima Media, which operates Triller. Taylor Cassidy, a TikTok influencer with 1.7 million followers, said some TikTok competitors, which she declined to name, have nudged her to build her presence on those apps, guaranteeing her an immediate verified account, which often helps influencers negotiate larger deals. Daily app downloads in the United States for Byte, Dubsmash, Triller and Likee have all jumped, according to data from Apptopia. In particular, Dubsmash more than doubled to over 46,000 downloads on Thursday, while Byte skyrocketed to over 28,000 downloads on Thursday, versus just 3,400 the day before. Dylan Tate, an 18-year-old TikTok user from Greenville, South Carolina with 1.2 million followers, has been promoting reasons why users should move to Byte in his recent TikTok videos, including that Byte gives 100% of ad revenue to its creators. Ive been commenting on people's TikToks to tell them to go to Byte. Now people are doing it themselves, he said. (Reporting by Sheila Dang and Arriana McLymore, additional reporting by Echo Wang Editing by Kenneth Li and Nick Zieminski) Rogerwilco, 2021 FM AdFocus Digital Agency of the Year, is an independently owned level 2 B-BBEE full service digital marketing agency with a presence in Cape Town, Johannesburg and London. Comet Neowise has been dazzling the Northern hemisphere skies for some days now. People from different countries have been sharing pictures of the comet with the long tail, looking spectacular in the night and the morning skies. Jeremy Parez Good news for star gazers in India is that Comet C/2020 F3, or NEOWISE will be better visible in India with naked eyes from July 14, 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 According to NASA, Neowise was visible best in the hour before the dawn till the middle of the month but it can be best viewed as an evening object from mid-July onwards. 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, Dr Pattnaik reportedly said. Comet Neowise from the Joshua Tree National park on the 9th. Image Jack Fusco. pic.twitter.com/sJE5Njy9ch Con Stoitsis (@vivstoitsis) July 11, 2020 To have a better viewing experience he recommended a pair of binoculars. Around 30th July it can be seen near Ursa 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. Just a few hours ago I saw this incredible sight - Stonehenge with the comet Neowise above and noctilucent clouds rippling behind. Worth the 5 hour roundtrip to capture this once in a lifetime image#cometNEOWISE #thephotohour #NLCnow @virtualastro @ProfBrianCox @BBCStargazing pic.twitter.com/0xNn12aVqP Mathew Browne (@mathewbrowne) July 11, 2020 With every passing day the comet will become clearer and easier to glance at and will be the closest to Earth between July 22 and July 23. According to scientists the comet is about five kilometres. Its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating back to the origin of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. AP The comet will not appear again for almost 7,000 years; it is already headed back to the outer solar system. So, do not miss this opportunity of a lifetime to catch a glimpse of it in the northwestern sky after sunset, for the next coming days! MINSK: Hundreds of people protested in the Belarusian capital Minsk on Tuesday after the central election commission refused to register the two main rivals of President Alexander Lukashenko as candidates in the August 9 presidential election. The commission`s decision all but ensured victory for Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years. Viktor Babariko, a banker who was detained last month, was excluded from the ballot because of a criminal case against him, the commission said. Valery Tsepkalo, a former ambassador who runs an office park for tech companies, was also rejected after signatures on a supporting petition were nullified. The two men had been widely seen as the last candidates left with a chance of defeating Lukashenko, who faces his strongest opposition in years as frustration mounts over the economy, human rights and his playing down of the coronavirus pandemic. Several hundred people took to the streets in the centre of Minsk, periodically breaking into applause - a common form of public protest in Belarus of late. Police detained several dozen people while blocking off main streets. "We are categorically for honest and fair elections," a protester who gave his name as Ruslan, told Reuters. Social media networks released images of what they said were other protests in the cities of Grodno, Gomel and Brest. Reuters could not immediately confirm those reports. Over the past few weeks, police have arrested hundreds of people in an effort to quell anti-government protests before the elections. Almost all of Lukashenko`s main rivals are either in detention or under investigation. The European Union delegation to Belarus said the electoral commission`s decision "undermines the overall integrity and democratic nature of the elections". Andrei Lankin, an official in Tsepalko`s campaign, said Tsepalko would go to court to challenge the ruling. Babariko, who headed the local unit of Russia`s Gazprombank before deciding to run for president, was detained last month on accusations he spirited hundreds of millions of dollars out of the country in money laundering schemes. He has rejected the charges as a way for the authorities to sideline a critic. Lukashenko`s campaign chief, Mikhail Orda, called for a calm election "without any provocations and upheavals". Greater transparency on sheep imports has been demanded by farmers following recent confusion around the number of stock brought into the country for slaughter. ICSA sheep chair Sean McNamara said Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen needed to address the issue "as a matter of urgency". While figures from the EU's Trade Control and Expert System supplied by the Department of Agriculture show that Ireland imported 521,798 sheep in 2018 and 461,522 in 2019, the corresponding figures from the CSO were just 19,232 and 19,305. The CSO said it was investigating the significant differences between the two data sets. "There may be valid reasons for this, related to below-threshold trade, and whether or not there has been a change of ownership when meat processing plants process the meat; but as of yet, we do not have a definitive answer," a CSO official stated. Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Livestock and Meat Commission confirmed that 421,365 sheep from Northern flocks were exported to the Republic in 2018, with the figure for 2019 totalling 380,431. As the Northern Irish export figures are around 100,000 and 80,000 head respectively below total imports into the Republic for 2018 and 2019, it is accepted in the industry that imports directly from Britain make up the difference. Expand Close ICSA sheep chairman Sean McNamara / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp ICSA sheep chairman Sean McNamara The ICSA is calling on the Department of Agriculture to provide: Weekly reports on the number of lambs imported, and from where; Full transparency around which markets these imported lambs are servicing; A comprehensive explanation on how farmers can be assured these lambs are not being sold as Origin Green lambs; An outline of the veterinary protocols and traceability requirements on all lambs at the point of export before they come to Irish meat factories. A spokesman for Meat Industry Ireland insisted that all live sheep imports were "as per EU legislation" and their carcases and resulting product were "labelled in accordance with EU labelling legislation". Vasco da Gama, a city on the Mormugao peninsula in coastal Goa, has emerged as the epicentre for coronavirus disease (Covid-19). On June 2, a man from Mangor Hill, a densely populated Vasco suburb, was the first local case of the viral infection in Goa since Covid-19 was first reported in the country in March. The Mangor Hill resident, a fish truck driver, was rushed to Goa Medical College and Hospital amid difficulty in breathing. Later, he tested Covid-19 positive. Soon, his family members and neighbours found to have contracted SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease, and the state healthcare authorities marked Mangor Hill as Goas first containment zone. A little over a month later, Vasco and its neighbouring areas have reported 562 Covid-19 positive cases, which work out to around 25% of the total viral load of the state, and 11 of the 18 deaths recorded in Goa. On the contrary, Panaji, which sees maximum movement because it is Goas administrative capital, has recorded six Covid-19 positive cases to date. Mangor Hill is the epicentre of Covid-19 positive cases in Goa, as people from that area is more mobile. Besides, Mangor Hill is linked to several slums in and around Vasco and thats how many Covid-19 clusters were formed in the area, said Dr. Utkarsh Betodka, an epidemiologist. He pointed out that in other parts of the state, only isolated Covid-19 positive cases have been reported so far. However, there has been not been any community transmission in Vasco, he added. Vasco is a mercantile town and many of the Covid-19 patients do odd jobs such as private taxi drivers, who hang around at the Goa International Airport in Dabolim or at the cruise ship terminal in Mormugao. There are people from other walks of life such as welders at shipyards, mechanics, etc; for whom maintaining social distancing is a daily struggle because they live cheek-by-jowl. Vasco and its neighbourhood also host the Indian Navy airbase, the Coast Guard headquarters, Goa Shipyard Ltd, a defence public sector undertaking (PSU) company and several other government installations. Its a densely populated area, where social distancing is not always possible to be maintained, said a doctor, requesting anonymity. At present, Vasco has two containment and micro-containment zones, respectively. Mangor Hill and Zuari Nagar are the largest containment zones in the state since June. Dr Jose DSa, director, health services, Goa, said that more senior citizens are now susceptible to contract the viral infection than youngsters. Epidemiologically, viral outbreak cases usually start with a younger generation and when the virus gets into a home, people, who are on the sick bed and are suffering from comorbid conditions, t get infected. This is how the viral load and the virulence go up, as it affects many elderly people, said Dr DSa while explaining Vascos Covid-19-related death toll, which is 11 to date. However, he sought to reassure that Goas case fatality rate (CFR) is less than 1% and most of the Covid-19 patients have died due to comorbid conditions. Goas CFR is 0.61%. Besides, most Covid-19 victims were suffering from severe comorbid conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, renal ailments, and malignancy (cancer), he added. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 03:26:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close AMMAN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Jordan on Monday urged all stakeholders to continue supporting the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to sustain its services for Palestinian refugees. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made the remarks at a meeting in Amman with Commissioner-General of UNRWA Philippe Lazzarini, where the Jordanian official called for assistance to the UN agency concerning offering its vital services to refugees, according to a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry. The two sides looked into the outcomes of the ministerial conference organized by Jordan and Sweden In June, which resulted in securing 130 million U.S. dollars in financial pledges, in addition to the future steps to build on the results of the international conference and ensure continued financial support to the agency. He said Jordan would continue to lobby support for the UN agency, which provides services to Palestinian refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. The UN official voiced appreciation for Jordan's efforts to garner international support to the UNRWA. Enditem Fetch.ai decentralized machine learning: collective learning framework As our healthcare demonstration shows, these algorithms will enable organisations to train machine learning models in new, privacy preserving ways which previously had not been possible Fetch.ai (http://fetch.ai) today announced the development and release of software demonstrating novel machine algorithms that will enable developers and enterprises to train machine learning models without sharing any underlying data or exposing private or personally identifying information (PII) to any of the individual participants of the system. The software deployment is the next stage in the progressive release of the Fetch.ai network (FET) which is a Tokenized Open-Source Software stack built on a decentralized network of distributed system operators. Humayun Sheikh, CEO and co-founder of Fetch.ai commented: With this release, we are progressively building functionality into the Fetch.ai network, increasing utility, and developability for application builders to train AI collectively and deploy agent-based software solutions on the Fetch.ai open network. Toby Simpson CTO, and co-founder of Fetch.ai continued: As our healthcare demonstration shows, these algorithms will enable organisations to train machine learning models in new, privacy preserving ways which previously had not been possible, helping realize our vision of an open, global-scale machine learning network. The breakthrough vision of Fetch.ai, a Cambridge-based artificial intelligence company, is to create a decentralized machine learning platform based on distributed ledger technology, that enables secure sharing, connection and transactions based on data globally. Fetch.ais network is based around an open-source technology that any business can operate to gain access to the power of a world-scale AI network, to carry out complex coordination tasks in the modern economy. The advances in Artificial Intelligence over the past decade have been driven by the revolution in machine learning - the ability of computers to perform processes or tasks, using algorithms that learn from past experience. This has driven huge improvements in how rapidly and cost-effectively businesses can operate at scale, as well as unlocking new economic opportunities. One of the current limitations of the Machine Learning revolution is the extent that data can be securely and ethically shared to deliver value for businesses and users. At present, huge data aggregators now control large portions of our online lives, presenting ethical and legal challenges. This data often resides in standalone silos where its value cannot be fully realized. Decentralized Machine Learning enables privacy preserving training on remote data models to enable new forms of collaboration. Fetch.ai is releasing a code module to enable anyone to deliver collective learning solutions within their organisation. For more information or to discover more about decentralized machine learning, please visit fetch.ai. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Media assets: Provided with this press release are the following assets available for your use Healthcare use case animation - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1axoeKCrRAB7lx5semIb16cdLkPkQdPDB/view Demo video - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ftpigcYr1UBXtTVVt7sd7L7Hc_NH_23g/view --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT Fetch.ai: Fetch.ai is an artificial intelligence lab based out of Cambridge, UK. Founded in 2018, Fetch.ai delivers a groundbreaking AI and blockchain powered platform that enables emergent solutions to complex problems. It does this by enabling the deployment of complex multi-agent systems (MAS) over a decentralized network and provides tools to enable the delivery of new finance models. Powered by innovations such as the smart ledger, Fetch.ai has digital intelligence at its heart: delivering actionable predictions, instant trust information, enabling the construction of powerful collaborative models, improving efficiencies and streamlining processes. Find out more about Fetch.ai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s34H-yujHIg Every Covid-19 patient who has died of the disease shows signs of blood clotting, a leading scientist has claimed. Professor Graham Cooke, an infectious disease specialist at Imperial College London, has analysed post-mortems of patients who have succumbed to the life-threatening illness. Results showed 'very clearly' that all Covid-19 patients had some form of thrombosis, the medical term for a blood clot. It may not have been the direct cause of each death but the findings, which have yet to be released, support the theory Covid-19 causes vascular complications. Although the coronavirus is considered a respiratory illness that attacks the lungs, in severe cases it can damage other organs. Blood clots have emerged as one of many surprising complications and has led to the trial of a drug designed to stop blockages in vessels. Every Covid-19 patient who has died of the disease shows evidence of blood clotting (stock illustration), a London scientist involved in a post mortem study has claimed Professor Cooke discussed Imperial's research at a webinar for the Royal Society of Medicine. 'We did a very large post mortem series which showed very clearly that every patient we looked at had evidence of thrombosis somewhere,' he said. 'Obviously there is an element of chance for each patient for how that plays out. 'Weve seen patients who have coronary thrombosis [a blood clot in a heart vessel] and vascular thrombosis [a blood clot in a vein generally]. 'So it does appear to be a very important part of the disease and we see that in terms of activation of the coagulation system.' Blood clotting involves a series of steps, the first of which is known as 'activation' This occurs when platelets blood-clotting cells change shape from a flat disk to a ball and congregate together to form a plug. Professor Cooke, involved with the National Institute for Health Research, a research arm of the NHS, added: 'It's important to note Covid is a multi-system disease. 'I think one of the features that seems to separate it from other severe viral disease is this more hypercoagulable state that seems to be associated with later disease.' WHAT'S CAUSING BLOOD CLOTS IN COVID PATIENTS? One in three people who fall severely ill with coronavirus develop dangerous blood clots, which scientists believe is contributing to their deaths. The clots can become fatal if they migrate to major organs, like the lungs, and cut off their blood supply. The blockages can trigger heart attacks, strokes, organ failure and pulmonary embolism, if they migrate to major organs. While experts are unsure why the virus causes the blockages, there are three main theories: CYTOKINE STORM The prevailing theory is that it is the result of a an immune overreaction called a 'cytokine storm'. Cytokines are chemical-signaling molecules which guide a healthy immune response. They tell immune cells to attack viral molecules in the body. But in some people, this response goes into overdrive and immune cells start attacking healthy tissue as well, known as a cytokine storm. As blood vessels become damaged they can leak, causing blood pressure to drop and driving up the chance of clots forming. BYPRODUCT OF INFECTION Other scientists say the surge in strokes may be a byproduct of the way COVID-19 invades the human body. Professor Ian Jones, a virologist at the University of Reading, told MailOnline: 'Covid binds to an enzyme called ACE2 which is on the surface of the cell. 'It simply uses it as a way of attaching itself but in doing so the enzyme function of ACE2 is reduced. 'The consequence of this is an imbalance of hormones called Angiotensin I and Angiotensin II which together regulate blood pressure. 'It could be related to the increase in strokes reported.' VIRUS' UNIQUE SHAPE Dr Robert Bonow, a professor of cardiology at Northwestern University, said it may be the coronavirus' unique shape that is causing the blood-clotting issues. He said the virus' spikes, which latch onto receptors in cells, can also attach to blood vessels. Once they dock onto these blood vessel cells, the viral particles can trigger damage to these as well as to heart muscle, Dr Bonow says. Advertisement A hypercoagulable state occurs when the blood is clotting more than necessary, and can be part of a blood disorder or triggered by medications, cancer, heart attacks or HIV, for example. It's dangerous because it can lead to the formation of a blood clot in the veins which can travel through the bloodstream and cause deep vein thrombosis a blood clot in the veins of the pelvis, leg, arm, liver, intestines or kidneys. It can also cause a pulmonary embolism a blood clot in the lungs and raise the risk of stroke, heart attack, severe leg pain, difficulty walking, or even the loss of a limb. Doctors say they have noticed a considerable amount of Covid-19 patients with blood clotting problems, sparking concern the disease is a vascular infection as well as a respiratory one. Professor Roopen Arya, from King's College London, estimated in May that as many as 30 per cent of coronavirus hospital patients had blood clots. 'I think it has become apparent that thrombosis is a major problem,' he told the BBC. While experts are unsure why the virus causes the blockages, the prevailing theory is that it is the result of a an immune overreaction called a 'cytokine storm'. When the immune response goes into overdrive, it can damage healthy tissue. if blood vessels are affected they can leak, causing blood pressure to drop and driving up the chance of clots forming. Scientists at the University of Utah suggested inflammation is triggering a change in the behaviour of blood cells. They made the 'important' discovery that platelets were 'hyper active' in Covid-19 patients compared with healthy people. In petri dish experiments, the platelets of infected patients stuck together faster. The virus was not found in the platelets themselves, which suggested that the virus indirectly causes changes to the blood, perhaps through altering hormones. But Dr Robert Campbell, senior author of the study published in early July, said: 'Our finding adds an important piece to the jigsaw puzzle that we call Covid-19.' It could explain why up to 62 per cent of hospitalised Covid-19 patients in the UK suffer a stroke during their stay, according to figures from 125 patients investigated by British researchers. Professor Cooke said there are studies ongoing to look at whether anti blood-clotting therapies could improve outcomes for Covid-19 patients. It follows the British Heart Foundation launching a trial of TRV027, which could work by maintaining a healthy balance of hormones that regulate the thickness and pressure of someone's blood. This is usually done by proteins called ACE-2 receptors. Coincidentally, ACE-2 receptors are the doorway for the coronavirus to enter human cells. The virus latches onto the proteins that coat cell surfaces before infecting them. The fact that both the drug and the virus interact with the same receptor has given scientists hope that the treatment could work. TRV027 has already worked for heart failure by keeping a healthy balance between two key hormones which regulate the thickness of someone's blood. The drug functions by maintaining a healthy balance between the two hormones angiotensin II and angiotensin 1-7. If angiotensin II becomes too dominant, the blood gets stickier and more likely to clot. Seriously-ill coronavirus patients tend to have a balance that seems to tip towards higher amounts of angiotensin II, studies have shown. Yosemite is undeniably beautiful and crowded these days but it's always been that way. Back in June of 1866, a Chronicle headline read: "Yosemite Getting Popular." According to the story, "There seems to be a mania for visiting the Yosemite this year, and already there has been about as many there as the average of any of the past five seasons." Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:46:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISLAMABAD, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's army said Tuesday night that terrorists targeted security personnel in the country's southwestern Balochistan province and killed three security personnel. An army statement said that terrorists fired on a party of the security forces, who were on a routine patrol in Panjgur area of Balochistan. The statement from the army's media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, said three security personnel were killed while eight others received injuries, including a military officer. Five injured personnel are in critical condition, who have been evacuated to a military hospital in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, according to the statement. The banned Balochistan Liberation Front claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to the local media in the area. In May, at least 13 security personnel were killed in attacks and exchange of fire with militants in different areas of Balochistan, according to the army. Enditem Investigators had focused on Mays from the start, moving to have her taken off patient care once the hospital notified the inspector generals office in July 2018. But they had to build a circumstantial case because the hospital ward does not have cameras in patients rooms, and cameras in the common areas, including the supply room where insulin was kept, were not working, investigators said. VANCOUVER. B.C.Broker.xxx has announced that it has completed the sale of a leading online shop specializing in the sale of smoking accessories and glassware. The originally Denver-based ecommerce business has a customer list which includes more than 28,000 individuals. The retail revenues of the business for April 2020 were over $24,720. The business, which began in Colorado over a decade ago, was sold for an undisclosed sum to a private company based in California. "Despite growing earnings, it was time to sell to focus on other projects," the seller stated through its representative. "I highly recommend Broker.xxx; their reputation is unbeatable and they handled the sale of my business better than I think anyone else would have." Recognized as one of the top 20 online smoke shops, the business had multiple interested parties and the deal closed within six months of initial offering. "If you feel like you missed out on this listing, we have a much larger offering in the same online smoking niche available. There is no public listing as of yet at Broker.xxx, but the company is currently projected over $720,000 in annual sales and is being offered at $1.5M," stated Juicy Jay, CEO and founder. "We handle more than just brokering adult websites." Broker.xxx helps people buy or sell websites and businesses, with focus on the adult industry. The platform was launched by JuicyAds founder "Juicy Jay" and Jimmy "Wizzo," who have more than 42 years combined experience in the adult industry. Broker.xxx offers what it has assessed as the lowest commission rate and highest referral finder's fee. The platform is accessible at Broker.xxx and can be contacted at [email protected]. New Delhi: Signalling a fresh slide in ties, Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions in the wake of the latest diplomatic spat over the spying episode, a media report said on Friday. 1) India, Pakistan may temporarily recall their high commissioners: Report Signalling a fresh slide in ties, Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions in the wake of the latest diplomatic spat over the spying episode, a media report said on Friday. 2) In audio: Go ahead, finish them off, cops alleged conversation during Bhopal encounter The voices on the unverified audio are allegedly of the police team on the spot, commanding officer and police officials sitting in the control room. Orders such as Don't fall back, go ahead, surround them and finish them off and Don't leave them can be clearly heard in the clip. 3) Delhi Police Commissioner writes to Kejriwal seeking 'source' of Judges phone tapping allegations Commissioner of the Police, Delhi Alok Kumar Verma, has written a letter to the Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, expressing concerns over Kejriwal's allegations to have 'overheard' judges talking about their phones being 'trapped, at the 50th anniversary function of the Delhi High Court. 4) Pak shelling: Injured 14-month-old girl Pari battling for life at Government Medical College Undergoing treatment for severe neck, spinal and abdominal injuries at a hospital here, 14-month-old Pari is a testimony of the "barbarism" unleashed by the Pakistan Rangers on unarmed civilians on the Indian side. 5) US security and intelligence agencies fear Russia-backed cyber-attack on election day: Report US security and intelligence agencies fear that Russia-backed hackers might try another round of cyber-attack on the election day next week, multiple media reports have said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up peoples immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday -- as the shots are poised to begin key final testing. No matter how you slice this, this is good news, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press. The experimental vaccine, developed by Faucis colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will start its most important step around July 27: A 30,000-person study to prove if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the coronavirus. But Tuesday, researchers reported anxiously awaited findings from the first 45 volunteers who rolled up their sleeves back in March. Sure enough, the vaccine provided a hoped-for immune boost. Those early volunteers developed what are called neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream -- molecules key to blocking infection -- at levels comparable to those found in people who survived COVID-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection, said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, who led the study. Theres no guarantee but the government hopes to have results around the end of the year -- record-setting speed for developing a vaccine. The vaccine requires two doses, a month apart. There were no serious side effects. But more than half the study participants reported flu-like reactions to the shots that arent uncommon with other vaccines -- fatigue, headache, chills, fever and pain at the injection site. For three participants given the highest dose, those reactions were more severe; that dose isnt being pursued. Some of those reactions are similar to coronavirus symptoms but theyre temporary, lasting about a day and occur right after vaccination, researchers noted. Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter Small price to pay for protection against COVID, said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a vaccine expert who wasnt involved with the study. He called the early results a good first step, and is optimistic that final testing could deliver answers about whether its really safe and effective by the beginning of next year. It would be wonderful. But that assumes everythings working right on schedule, Schaffner cautioned. And Tuesday's results only included younger adults. The first-step testing later was expanded to include dozens of older adults, the age group most at risk from COVID-19. Those results aren't public yet but regulators are evaluating them, and Fauci said final testing will include older adults, as well as people with chronic health conditions that make them more vulnerable to the virus and Black and Latino populations likewise affected. Nearly two dozen possible COVID-19 vaccines are in various stages of testing around the world. Candidates from China and Britains Oxford University also are entering final testing stages. The 30,000-person study will mark the worlds largest study of a potential COVID-19 vaccine so far. And the NIH-developed shot isnt the only one set for such massive U.S. testing, crucial to spot rare side effects. The government plans similar large studies of the Oxford candidate and another by Johnson & Johnson; separately, Pfizer Inc. is planning its own huge study. Already, people can start signing up to volunteer for the different studies. People think this is a race for one winner. Me, Im cheering every one of them on, said Fauci, who directs NIHs National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. We need multiple vaccines. We need vaccines for the world, not only for our own country. Around the world, governments are investing in stockpiles of hundreds of millions of doses of the different candidates, in hopes of speedily starting inoculations if any are proven to work. --The Associated Press Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Ministry details slew of measures to redeploy fishermen to other sectors China has ramped up efforts to enforce a fishing ban on the Yangtze River in concert with stronger steps to cushion the blow to fishermen forced to give up their boats and nets, as experts highlight the importance of across-the-board measures to restore the ecology of Asia's longest river. In a notice released on Wednesday, the General Office of the State Council said more work must be done to enforce the Yangtze fishing ban and ensure the livelihoods of former fishermen in its river basin. Local authorities must ensure that eligible fishermen are included in social security networks and also come up with tailored plans to help with their employment, based on their age, level of education and professional skills, the office said. China introduced a 10-year fishing ban on the Yangtze at the start of this year to protect its aquatic life in the face of dwindling fish stocks and declining biodiversity. However, illegal fishing has persisted in areas where local authorities failed to faithfully carry out measures to identify fishermen, offer them aid and enforce fishing bans, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in another notice released on Wednesday. Xia Dejun, a fishery administration officer in Maanshan, Anhui province, told People's Daily that a lot of illegal fishing took place late at night, which made law enforcement difficult, and officers were also challenged by a lack of staff and equipment. Xu Pao, head of the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences' Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, said the fishing ban is a key measure to curb the decline of the river's ecosystem and avert a biological diversity crisis. A study by the center suggests populations of four main fish species in the river have fallen by more than 90 percent since the 1980s. In recent years, less than 100,000 metric tons of fish have been caught in the river each year, down from more than 400,000 tons in 1954. "Even worse, in the face of declining fishing resources, some fishermen have resorted to illegal fishing tools and methods, similar to ways that drain ponds to get all the fish," Xu said. "As a result, the fishermen were getting even poorer and fish stocks were in an increasingly dire situation. It was a vicious circle." He said a lack of official statistics on fishermen and boats along the river posed a major hurdle to enforcement of the ban. "Many boats were unlicensed, and the fact that the ban involves a large area has also made data collection difficult," Xu said. "However, for authorities, accurately and comprehensively grasping information about fishing boats and fishermen is a prerequisite for enforcement of various policies." The fact that most fishermen had low levels of education and few other skills made the implementation of official policies difficult, he said, citing a study that showed 65 percent of fishermen along the Yangtze only finished primary school and about 27 percent were illiterate. The ministry's notice detailed a slew of measures to redeploy fishermen to other sectors. The government will encourage the development of fish farming, aquatic products processing and leisure fishing to create new jobs, in addition to measures to offer them free training in other skills. Businesses will also be encouraged to recruit them. Former fishermen who launch startups that operate for more than a year will be rewarded with a one-time subsidy, the notice said. The authorities also rolled out plans to relocate fishermen living on islands in the river or lakes in its basin to more developed areas. To ensure the enforcement of the fishing ban, a joint law enforcement campaign will be launched by eight central government departments and the Supreme People's Court targeting illegal fishing and the sale of illegal fishing gear. Xu said the fishing ban is only the first step to restore the Yangtze's aquatic life and ecosystem. "It's only an immediate method," he said. "To attain long-term outcomes, more systemic ecological restoration measures, such as water environment treatment and shoreline repair, must move forward." The National Youth Organizer of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Lawyer Henry Nana Boakye (Nana B ) has challenged the NDC to give account for the youth-focused policies and programs they (NDC) implemented in their 8 years in government and the impact such policies, if any, had in the lives of the Ghanaian Youth. Speaking at a Press Conference dubbed The Youth Must Know Series, Nana B asserted that the NPP Youth is giving the National Youth wing and the Communications Outfit of the NDC a one week ultimatum to tell the Ghanaian Youth, specific Youth-focused policies and programs that they implemented in their 8years administration and the impact it had in the lives of the youth of Ghana. The policies of President Akufo-Addo and Vice President Bawumia that have had far reaching benefits to the youth are over hundred. But for strategic reasons, I will list 60 of them: 1. One District One Factory: over 58 factories out of the 181 under the 1D1F initiative have been completed and operationalized 2. NABCO: 100,000 young persons have been employed 3. Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has employed over 70,000 young people 4. YEAs Job Center platform, Region Flagship Projects and the Artisan Directory has enabled thousands of young people across the country to secure sustainable jobs in the short to medium term. 5. Financial Support to one thousand athletes - a monthly stipends of Ghc500.00 to be paid to 1,000 athletes for a period of six (6) months. 6. Recruitment of 8,872 Teachers 7. Recruitment of 1,445 Non-Teaching Staff 8. Recruitment of 7,700 youth under Educational Support Programme under GES and YEA 9. Recruitment of 54,000 Nurses 10. Recruitment of 18,000 Other Health Workers 11. Recruitment of 1,174 Environmental Health Officers/ Assistants: 12. Recruitment of 2,700 Extension Officers 13. Recruitment of over 12,000 Security Personnel 14. Investment and Jobs under Ghana Automotive Development Policy - Volkswagen has commenced assembling cars in Ghana, Toyota, Nissan, Renault, Hyundai, Sinotruck and Suzuki to start very soon. 15. Hundred and five thousand three hundred and fifty (105,350) Job Creation in Cocoa 16. Eighty-Three Thousand (83.000) youth employed By Forestry Commission 17. Twelve thousand (12,000) start-ups and small business trained, 3,000 provided with funding to expand their businesses in order to create jobs under the Presidential Business Support Programme 18. Presidential Pitch: 40 young persons given financial support, 460 jobs created. 19. Equipping the Youth with Entrepreneurial Skills under NEIP - NEIP has trained 45,000 youth in Agricbusines, ICT, Trade and Commerce 20. Funding of Young Entrepreneurs under NEIP: A total of 9,350 businesses have been funded within 3 years 21. Campus Business Pitch Programme: building the entrepreneurship culture among students with the intention of catching them young to contribute meaningfully to the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda. 22. Rural Enterprise Programme (REP): A total of 3,833 new rural businesses were established whilst 4,727 direct jobs were created. 23. Green Business Initiative: 75 Greenhouses (Domes), 1,500 young graduates engaged. 24. Jobs under Incubation and Support Programme at Accra Digital Center: 150 start-ups supported, additional 200 ancillary jobs created. 25. Technology Transfer, Research and Product Development Programme (TTRPDP) 26. Technical and Vocational Skills Training - trained 11,662 persons in various vocational trades. 27. Jobs under Labour Department 2,250 persons in gainful employment 28. 1,438 Jobs under National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) 29. Planting for Food and Jobs - 1.9 million people including the Ghanaian Youth have benefited from this program. 30. Planting for Export and Rural Development (PERD) - The programme aims to promote the export of tree crops including cashew, coffee, coconut, oil palm, mango, rubber and sheanut to increase export earnings. The youth of Ghana are beneficiaries of this novelty. 31. Aquaculture for Food and Jobs (AFJ): 321 youths trained in modern methods of aquaculture production. Over 1,200 direct jobs and 1,800 indirect jobs projected in 2020 32. Jobs at Fish Landing Sites: To ensure safe launching and landing of artisanal fishing, create and maintain hygienic environments and create potential job opportunities within the fishing communities 33. Free Basic Education Certificate Examination: Government absorbed the registration fees for 391,318 candidates from public Junior High Schools and 397,500 candidates from Public JHSs in 2020. 34. Free West African Senior School Certificate Examination: Ghc75 million used to pay for the WASSCE examination fees of the 313,838 students - the soon to be Akufo-Addo Graduates. 35. Free Learning Materials: By virtue of Free SHS, learning materials like core textbooks, supplementary readers, uniforms, house-cloths, house-dress, technical drawing equipment, PE kits, notebooks and exercise books are being supplied for free since 2017. 36. Double Track System - 520,000 Ghanaian Children get access to SHS 37. Unprecedented Infrastructure Projects in SHS and Basic Schools - 1,200 infrastructural projects in SHS and 557 at the basic. 38. Library Infrastrature Development for Academic Excellence: The construction of 2 libraries and renovation 10 existing libraries, including the Accra Central, Asokore and Hohoe libraries 39. The construction and establishment of Ten (10) Training Centres of Excellence for the Council for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) 40. Restoration of Teacher Trainees Allowance: In 2020 fiscal year alone, Ghc357 million is being paid to 48,000 Teacher Trainees. 41. Restoration of Nursing Trainees Allowance: In 2020 fiscal year alone, Ghc336 million is being paid to 49,000 Nursing Trainees. 42. Scholarships for the youth: In 2019 alone, over 30,000 brilliant but needed students were given scholarship through the District Level Scholarship Scheme. It is projected that 60,000 students will be given scholarship in 2020. 43. Over 20,000 students trained under the Student Entrepreneurial Initiative rolled out by NEIP. 45. Enhanced Professional Image of Teachers through the introduction of Licensure Examination 46. Professional Allowance For Teachers: From this year, every Teacher will be paid Ghc1,200 annually as Professional Allowance. 47. Timely Payment of Salaries of Newly Recruited Teachers 48. Abolishment of Three (3) months Salary Pay Policy 50. Enhanced Teacher Motivation Package: In 2019 government disbursed GH52.6 million to SHSs and technical institutions for academic interventions and teacher motivation. 51. Restoration of Book and Research Allowance and a Bill in parliament to provide secure and reliable funding. 52. The curricula of Colleges of Education has been updated to ensure they produce graduates that would teach the well-equipped and critical thinking population we need to move the country forward 53. Construction of 10 ultra-modern and multi-purpose youth centers, with five thousand capacity, across the country by NYA. 54. The construction of astro-turf by the Ministry of Inner City and Zongo Development across the country 55. Free water for all Ghanaians for 3 months (April, May and June). 56. Free Electricity for lifeline customers and 50% discount for other customers for 3 months (April, May and June). 57. Six Hundred Million Ghana Cedis (Ghc600 million) Coronavirus Alleviation Program Business Support Scheme for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). 58. Tax exemptions for 6 months for Front-line Workers. 59. Additional allowance of 50% of their basic salaries for 6 months for Front-line Workers. 60. Almighty Free SHS: 1.2 million children benefiting from Free SHS Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video FILE PHOTO: Philippines' Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro Locsin Jr. (L) talks to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during the inauguration of the Consulate General of China in Davao, in the southern island of Mindanao on October 28, 2018. (Photo: MANMAN DEJETO/AFP via Getty Images) MANILA, Philippines (AP) The Philippines on Sunday renewed its call for compliance with a 4-year-old arbitration ruling that invalidated Chinas vast claims in the disputed South China Sea on historical grounds without any possibility of compromise. Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. issued the call on the anniversary of the July 12, 2016, ruling by an international tribunal in The Hague that he said conclusively settled the issue of historic rights and maritime entitlements in the South China Sea based on the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. The award is non-negotiable, Locsin said in a statement. The tribunal authoritatively ruled that Chinas claim of historic rights to resources within the sea ... had no basis in law. Its the strongest statement the Philippines has issued so far in marking the milestone. China has dismissed the decision as a sham and refused to participate in the arbitration proceedings after the administration of Philippines' president at the time, Benigno Aquino III, challenged in 2013 Chinas claims to virtually the entire disputed waters. China has continued to defy the decision with aggressive actions that have brought it into territorial spats with Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia in recent years. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has nurtured close ties with China since taking office in 2016, raised the issue last year in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jingping, who he said flatly told him then, We will not budge. Duterte has long been criticized by nationalists and left-wing groups for not immediately and strongly demanding Chinese compliance with the ruling, which he initially relegated to the back burner while he took steps to revive relations with China that have been strained due to the long-raging territorial conflicts. He has turned to China for trade, investment and aid while often lashing out at U.S. security policies. Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have also laid claims to the strategic waters. The United States has no claims to the waters but has deployed warships and aircraft for decades to patrol and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the busy waterway. Story continues The ruling also upheld the Philippines sovereign rights over a wide stretch of waters called the exclusive economic zone, where Chinese territorial claims have delayed for years Manilas plan to explore and extract potential undersea deposits of oil and gas. Locsin said the arbitration tribunal ruled that certain actions within the Philippines exclusive economic zone violated the countrys sovereign rights and were thus unlawful. He outlined other Chinese violations cited by the tribunal, including the large-scale reclamation and construction of artificial islands that caused severe environmental damage. Compliance in good faith with the award would be consistent with the obligations of the Philippines and China under international law, Locsin said. We commemorate the issuance of the award as a celebration of the rule of law, as a means to settle disputes amicably ... and clearly mark out who would be in the wrong to insist on claims contrary to this award. U.S. Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and the rest of the U.S. Senate are working on a new COVID relief bill the Legislative Branch will consider in July. This raises the question: what should the new plan look like? While the House-passed HEROES Act authorized another round of $1,200 stimulus checks, last week, many Republicans including ones that previously championed the idea in the CARES Act, like Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have already expressed their disapproval. And for good reason. The term "stimulus checks" is a bit of a misnomer. Stimulus is supposed to encourage production and generate new income, but printing dollars to create free income from the Treasury Department does the opposite. In many cases exceeding standard take-home pay, these checks do nothing other than embolden the status quo by redistributing wealth and discouraging the citizenry from going back to work. The federal budget deficit has already hit an astounding $1.8 trillion in the first half of this year, compared to $984 billion for all of 2019. This reckless fiscal path is unsustainable and will ultimately benefit no one. Rather than spend more money we don't have, the Treasury and Congress should enact real stimulus in the next round of COVID relief. That means shelving the printing press and pushing forward pro-growth policies that improve business conditions, accelerate job development, and increase consumer demand. Instead of handing out checks, the federal government should allow business-owners and workers to hold on to more of the money they already have. Implementing a payroll tax holiday through the end of the year represents an ideal place to start. Currently, this Social Security and Medicare tax takes roughly 7.5 percent from a worker's paycheck, with another 7.5 percent paid by employers. Suspending it until 2021 will make immediate cuts to the overhead costs for small business, allowing them to hire more workers and get their operations back on more stable grounds. The payroll tax holiday will bring significant more opportunity to the one in four people who find themselves on the unemployment line today. By fattening the paychecks of all 150 million U.S. workers, it will also increase economic activity by shoring up demand for goods and services. While lowering the American people's tax liabilities will help drive more consumer spending and business growth, lingering health concerns among the public will still remain an obstacle to the circulation of this money throughout the economy. Congress and the White House must also address this issue for consumers and businesses to reap a payroll tax holiday's full benefits. In letters to the Executive Branch, nearly three quarters of the U.S. Senate and a sizable majority of the House have already expressed their support for fast-forwarding government advertising spending during this pandemic. This would help significantly in resolving the current consumer confidence problem throughout the economy, and best yet, it wouldn't add a cent to the deficit. Historically, advertising has always been one of the leading drivers of economic growth during recessions. Research has shown that every $1 of spending generates $19 in economic activity, but in a pandemic-plagued economy, the informational value of advertising should make the resulting return on investment even greater. The American people need real solutions, not more Band-Aid measures. Another round of broad-based stimulus spending won't create economic prosperity; it will prolong the current mediocre state of affairs. By lowering government impediments to job growth and employment and enacting laissez-faire policies that increase consumer demand, Congress and the White House won't receive the same degree of short-term accolades from the public as they would from sending out more direct payments to individuals. However, choosing to enact thoughtful policy-based reforms over more ballooning of the deficit will cement their legacies as the COVID economic doctors in the months and years ahead. Ken Blackwell is on the Board of Directors of both the Club For Growth and The National Taxpayers Union. He is the former treasurer of the State of Ohio. Graphic credit: Needpix. Manitoba Public Insurance chief executive officer Ben Graham is cutting his time in the drivers seat short to take up a new position in the private sector. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Public Insurance chief executive officer Ben Graham is cutting his time in the drivers seat short to take up a new position in the private sector. Since being named president and chief executive officer of the Crown-corporation in February 2018, Graham has endeavored to modernize the auto insurer, the results of which include a pending 10.5 per cent general rate decrease, expected to come into effect next April. Grahams last day on the job will be Sept. 30, at which time hell take over as chief executive officer at Manitoba Blue Cross. "It was not an easy decision to leave in the early stages of implementing this multi-year strategy. However, we have achieved a lot over the last (two and a half) years," Graham said in an email response to questions. He was not available for a phone interview Monday afternoon. "Success is about the results achieved not tenure. The opportunity to work for a great brand like Blue Cross was difficult to pass by," Graham said. The Australian expat came to Manitoba from QBE Insurance Asia Pacific, where he was head of risk for the Hong Kong based firm, and took over as president of MPI from Dan Guimond, who retired after 28 years with the corporation. According to public compensation disclosure reports, Graham made $358,279 last year. "My decision to leave MPI is to pursue an opportunity in the private sector where my background and experience are best aligned," Graham said. Under Grahams watch, MPI met a government directive to add more cash to its stabilization reserve, and in mid-May, he announced changes to the basic insurance products, raising the basic Autopac deductible from $500 to $750 effective April 2021. In the corporations latest general rate application, the insurer is asking the Public Utilities Board to approve an historic rate decrease which Graham attributed to enhanced fraud management, efficiencies and smart capital management in line with best industry practices. Hes also pushed for insurance products to be available for purchase online, leading to a drawn-out dispute with the Insurance Brokers Association of Manitoba, which went into a government directed conciliation process last year. A final report on the process has not yet been released. Given the changes at the corporation, Graham said he recognizes there will be speculation surrounding his resignation. 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. "As stated before this is not about running away from something but more the right opportunity being offered to me," he said. "I feel that with the support of my board and team, we have put many great things in place for the next CEO to hit the ground running and continue with this success." Minister of Crown Services Jeff Wharton said hes pleased with the way the corporation has been moving under Grahams leadership and expects MPI will stay the course. "The board, and the administration and Ben, again under his leadership, are quite qualified to run the corporation and its evident in the accomplishments that theyve seen over the last couple of years," Wharton said. "Were excited about the direction." Opposition NDP MLA Adrien Sala urged the province to pick a replacement for Graham who is committed to low insurance rates and keeping MPI public. "It is vital that MPIs leadership recognize and appreciate that the needs of Manitoba ratepayers must be ahead of insurance brokers, the expertise and rulings of the Public Utilities Board should be respected, and that any government interference which puts Manitobans insurance rates at risk should be resisted," Sala said. danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca Two snapshots. Its June 2011 in Khost, Afghanistan, and Brig. Gen. Mark Martins is showing me a map of the Afghan districts that dont have government judges or prosecutors; then he shows me a map of districts where the Taliban is strong. Theyre the same map. Or its October 2003 in Fallujah, Iraq, and Sheik Khamis Hassnawi is explaining to me what will happen if American troops leave quickly and the extremists take over: The strong will eat the weak and people will start killing each other in the streets, he says. When the city debuted its Tenderloin COVID-19 testing site in May, it was hailed as a key component in giving low-income and unhoused people access to testing. But the reality was very different. As Mission Local reported at the time, the site, a partnership with Verily, a research organization under Google's parent company Alphabet, required both a smartphone and a Google account to get tested. It also gave preference for testing to those who pre-registered online. That's a tall order in a neighborhood where many people can't even afford basic needs like food and housing, and where the only reliable source of free internet access, the public library, remains closed for safety reasons. Some people seeking testing were forced to wait in long lines because they didn't pre-register, or turned away altogether for lack of a smartphone. Last week, the SF Department of Public Health launched a new testing site in the Tenderloin. Run in partnership with GLIDE, it aims to address the previous site's disparities, with a focus on consistency and regular access. Unlike the Verily site, the GLIDE site doesn't require a phone, internet access or a Google account to get tested. While it is currently only open for testing once a week, the goal is to add a second weekly test day as early as August. The initial expectation was the majority of people served at the GLIDE site would have to pre-register during two six-hour windows, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each Thursday and Friday, at GLIDEs 330 Ellis St. location, then return to the same location for their tests anytime between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on a following Tuesday of their choice. However, in the first day of testing on July 7, which saw about 60 people tested, the majority were walk-in patients that had not pre-registered, according to GLIDE senior director of programs Kenneth Kim. "It's starting to look more like registration assistance," Kim said, and a fully walk-up testing process without the need for any pre-registration is now the goal. "The major challenges are more tied to how to get people their results," Kim said. Once they're tested, people without phones or internet can return to get their results between two and seven days later, within those same six-hour windows. In order to have GLIDE track and share their results, individuals have to sign a consent form when they register for testing. "Whether or not the results will be there when they [return] depends on the lab turnaround," Kim said. People seeking COVID-19 tests will register in advance at GLIDE's 330 Ellis St. entrance | Photo: GLIDE Kim said DPH is also working on a system that would enable people to sign themselves up for testing at the site online. While it's still not optimal, "it's pretty much the best we can hope for at this point given the current limitations of testing capacity," Jennifer Friedenbach, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness, said. "Ideally, we should have drop-in, citywide testing opportunities with immediate results on site." Kim said another major barrier, which GLIDE, DPH, and other community partners are grappling with, is ongoing systemic distrust surrounding the public health system among unhoused people and many Tenderloin residents. Many people "are wary about getting tested because they are scared or have mistrust of the health care system in general," he said, and wonder "what will be done with my information," or even "will I be discriminated against if I come back positive." He said GLIDE is working to develop best practices to address some of those concerns. Funding for the GLIDE testing site is coming from DPH, and GLIDE is providing in-kind services, Kim said, including sites and staffing for both the registration process and the testing. Looking for COVID-19 testing near you? A new site has popped up at @GLIDEsf. Find others near you at https://t.co/v2QlZ8CuLl or call @SF311 for more information. #GetTestedSF #StoptheSpreadSF pic.twitter.com/mPZr6x2Xt0 San Francisco Department of Emergency Management (@SF_emergency) July 7, 2020 Kim says the regularity of the weekly, or soon bi-weekly, testing opportunity is already gaining traction in the community. He recalled a man receiving dinner from GLIDE last Tuesday asking him whether he had missed his chance for testing. "I said, 'you can come back next week,' and that's the kind of consistency we need to offer," Kim said. Anyone is eligible to receive a test through the GLIDE/DPH partnership, regardless of whether they have symptoms or a doctor's note. Asymptomatic individuals are encouraged to wait 14 days before getting any repeat testing. The map of existing COVID testing sites in the city includes only one free site, at GLIDE, in the Tenderloin. The free test sites are indicated by purple dots, and paid sites or ones requiring insurance by green dots | Map: DataSF Meanwhile, the city is expanding its testing capacity at other sites in the city. Veronica Vien, spokesperson for DPH and the city's emergency operations center, said the city is adding more testing availability at the Embarcadero and SoMa sites, and is working with community organizations to develop additional pop-up and mobile testing sites. Kim said the partnership reflects to him a structural change in how the city offers testing, through DPH's clear engagement with community organizations. "It represents a new collaborative effort to create a network for testing," and ultimately "roving sites to increase access throughout the community," he said. McConnell: Senate Will Debate Next Pandemic Stimulus Bill Next Week The Senate will begin debate next week on the next pandemic response bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters, suggesting it will be difficult for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on key measures as Democrats are seeking more aid. Next week, well be beginning a new bill, McConnell told WRVK radio in Kentucky. Even though the negotiations are expected to be lengthy, he said, I do think well get there and do something that needs to be done before Congress begins its August recess. For the next package, the Kentucky Republican argued, Congress should not lightly add more to the national debt. When my members come back next week, well start socializing it with them, begin to discuss it with the Democrats and start the legislative process, he explained on the radio program. I think you can anticipate this coming to a head sometime within the next three weeks, beginning next week. The Senate is slated to return on July 20 after being on recess since early in the month, and the next recess is starting on Aug. 10. The extra unemployment payments of $600 per week are scheduled to end at the end of July, although most Republicans dont support extending the measure, while Democrats have sought to allow the benefits to end in early next year. McConnell and other White House officials have talked about the next package costing no more than $1 trillion, while Democrats in the House of Representatives approved a $3 trillion bill in May that has been mostly ignored by Senate Republicans. That bill, the HEROES Act, would allow for more direct payments to a broader swath of Americans, extend the extra unemployment payments, and give more money to city and state governments. People eat sitting outside of a restaurant on Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on May 18, 2020. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) President Donald Trump, at the same time, said he would like to see more direct stimulus payments to Americans, adding that he supports sending checks with greater amounts than what Democrats have proposed. However, White House adviser Larry Kudlow suggested in an interview last week that the payments will be smaller than $1,200 and will be targeted at lower-income Americans. That kind of economic assistance will probably be very carefully targeted, Kudlow said at the White House on July 10. Its not going to be across the board, he added, according to the Reuters news agency. McConnell also discussed the possibility of sending direct payments to individuals who make less than $40,000 annually. The CARES Act, passed in March, was created to offset potential economic losses and budget shortfalls as governors issued stay-at-home measures and closed businesses to curb the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is going to announce the 10th class results on July 15. Once declared, students will be able to check their results online on various official websites, IVRS telephone numbers and mobile apps. Here's how to you can check your CBSE class 10th result 2020: Step 1: Login to the official website cbseresults.nic.in or cbse.nic.in Step 2: Enter your exam details like roll number and date of birth. Step 3: Check your CBSE Board results for class 10th. The schools will also receive the results of their students on the registered email IDs. The CBSE has decided to 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 students will receive DigiLocker account credentials via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE. The results will also be available on UMANG mobile platform which is available for android, iOS and windows-based smartphones. The CBSE class 10th results will also be available on an android mobile app called DigiResults. CBSE will also send Class 10th results to the students on their registered mobile numbers. Earlier on July 13, CBSE had announced class 12th results. A total of 88.78 per cent students passed this year in CBSE Class 12 board examination 2020. Also read | CBSE Class 12 result 2020 announced: Check zone-wise details here The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will gherao more than 50 police stations across Kolkata at 12 noon on July 15 and staged protests over the death of Hematabad BJP MLA Debendra Nath Ray. The state police on Tuesday arrested one person in connection with the death of Ray. This is the first such arrest made by the police. Ray was found hanging at a shop near his home in Bindal village on July 13 morning. His family alleged that he was killed and then hanged. The BJP has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death of Ray. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh had called it a 'cold-blooded murder' which 'is shocking and unfortunate'. He had asked for a CBI investigation as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) 'will not do fair enquiry.' On July 15, General Secretary Sanjay Singh will hold a protest at 11 am outside the Park Street Police Station demanding justice for Ray, Mahila Morcha President Agnimitra Paul will protest outside the Anandapur Police Station at the same time. State president, Dilip Ghosh will hold several protests throughout the day--Eco Park, Newtown at 5.10 am for Morning Walk and Cha Chakra; Dubrajpur Court at 11.30 am and Birbhum's Dubrajpur at 2 pm for the Organisational Meeting. On Tuesday, a post-mortem report stated that Ray's death was due to hanging and no other injury marks were found on his body. A BJP delegation also met President Ram Nath Kovind and cited 'political killings' in West Bengal. The delegation sought the dismissal of the ruling Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee in the state, confirmed party MP Raju Bista. A suicide note was found from the pocket of Ray. The note mentions the names of two persons and reads, "these two people are responsible for my death". The names are not being shared by the police as their role need to be investigated. Libya oil company says UAE ordered Haftar's forces to re-impose blockade on crude exports Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 5:57 AM Libya's national oil company says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been behind a decision by eastern-based rebel forces to hinder its latest efforts to resume crude exports for the first time in six months and re-impose a blockade on the country's oil industry. Libya's Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation (NOC) said in a statement on Sunday that oil exports had resumed on July 10 following negotiations with the rebel forces led by renegade general Khalifa Haftar. The blockade, however, returned in place only a day later as Haftar's forces stepped back from the negotiations, added the NOC. "NOC has been informed that the instructions to shut down production were given to (Haftar-led rebes) by the United Arab Emirates," it said in a statement on Sunday, resuming "force majeure on all oil exports." "This is gravely disappointing, especially following repeated statements by very senior representatives of the UAE last week in support of international efforts to restart oil production in Libya," it added. The NOC is the only Libyan firm that can produce and sell oil under UN-endorsed agreements, which stipulate that revenues from the sales must flow into the Central Bank of Libya in Tripoli. Following an agreement between Haftar's forces and the internationally-recognized government in Tripoli, the oil company announced on Friday it had lifted the force majeure and resumed crude exports from all its key terminals. Later in the day, the Vitol tanker Kriti Bastion docked and loaded at Es Sider port before sailing on Saturday, the first legal export of Libyan oil since the blockade was imposed. But the rebel forces said Saturday that the blockade would remain in place until the rebels' demands were met on the distribution of the country's oil income. Haftar's forces say proceeds from oil sales should be fairly distributed among all Libyan regions and not fund the sectors of the Tripoli government. Ahmad al-Mismari, a spokesman for Haftar's militia, also called for the opening of a bank account in a "foreign country" for the distribution of oil revenue. Libya which sits atop the largest oil reserves in Africa has been forced to stop oil production since the rebel forces took control of the export terminals and fields in the east in January and launched a push to squeeze resources of the Tripoli government. The blockade has cost Libya 6.5 billion dollars in lost revenue, according to NOC. The NOC further said the states responsible for this blockade should be held to account by the United Nations Security Council. Haftar's forces began an offensive in April 2019 in an attempt to seize Tripoli and unseat the government. The Libyan government, however, launched a counter-offensive backed by Turkey and has so far managed to retake most of the areas seized by Haftar's forces. The rebels have the support by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and Russia, among others. The North African country first plunged into chaos in 2011 when a popular uprising backed by a NATO intervention led to the ouster of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:20:09|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HELSINKI, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee on Monday received an investigation report on alleged impropriety by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in treating a ministry official. Committee chairperson Johanna Ojala-Niemela told media that it will take time for committee members to study the about 1,300-page report before deciding on any further move. The committee in February asked the state prosecutor's office to conduct the probe after a complaint was filed late last year. According to Finnish media reports, in 2019, Haavisto ordered Pasi Tuominen, director general of consular services at the Finnish Foreign Ministry, to take charge of the administrative preparations for securing the return of Finnish nationals from the al-Hol refugee camp run by Kurdish forces in northeast Syria. After his decision was rejected by Tuominen, he assigned the work to another civil servant and allegedly started preparations to transfer Tuominen to other duties. Haavisto, who later apologized to Tuominen and asked the latter to remain at his office, was widely criticized by the public for his handling of the situation. Haavisto, who has denied any wrongdoing, told media on Monday afternoon that the investigation has not affected his work as foreign minister. Earlier in July, a poll by the Maaseudun Tulevaisuus newspaper showed public support for 62-year-old Haavisto declined to 12 percent from 18 percent in February. Enditem Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe In his column on the Red Bull website, team boss Horner discussed the results of the Steiermark Grand Prix. The team boss is satisfied with Max Verstappen and comes with an explanation for the poor speed of Alexander Albon during the race on Sunday. In addition, the Brit does not like the bad memory of some followers. Verstappen third The team boss first comments on Saturday's qualification: "It was good to be back on the podium, especially after the first weekend in Austria. It was nice to see how Verstappen competed for pole in qualifying and it gave us new useful information about the car in the rain". "On Sunday Max took everything out of the car. He did what he does best: fight to the bitter end. Unfortunately Bottas had a tyre advantage at the end compared to us. With our strategy we tried to keep the P2". Horner repeats that he doesn't regret the strategy and Verstappen fully understood it. During the race the Dutchman wondered if it was the right strategy. Horner hates opinions about Albon Horner is outspoken about the way Albon has been criticized after the match. The Thai was in some parts of the race one second per lap slower than the Dutchman and ended at a distance from Verstappen, who even made a pit stop more. Horner criticizes the short memory of some journalists: "After the race I got a lot of questions about Albon's race speed but let's not forget that he drove a strong weekend a week earlier, where he competed for the victory and started the fight with Hamilton. It just shows how short the memory of some people is in Formula 1, who quickly forget things". Then the team boss goes into the reason for Albon's poor speed at the beginning of the race, although that doesn't sound very convincing: "During the first stint we were worried about a potential blister on Albon's front tyre which forced us to control his speed until the first pit stop". According to Horner this was the reason that Albon's speed was a lot lower than the cars in front of him although the blister was not yet visible. ALTON Area officials are finalizing fall class plans as the return to school draws closer. Tentatively the first day of classes for many local districts including the Alton district and the East Alton-Wood River High School District is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 19. Madison County Superintendent of Schools Robert Werden said he spoke with other district superintendents in Illinois on Friday and many shared similar coronavirus concerns. They have all been working with their boards, teachers, staff, legal teams and community members to create their own local plans, Werden said. Roughly a third of them have released their plans to the public. Civic Memorial High School in Bethalto is beginning online registration on Monday, July 20. The school is encouraging families to do this all online as the buildings will not be open for mass numbers of people. Families will be served one at a time, according to district information. In addition, parents will be able to access and pay registration fees directly in PowerSchool or MySchoolBucks. In a letter to Jersey Community Unit District students, Superintendent Brad Tuttle said the district has formed a transition team and is discussing options on how to move forward. Right now, we dont have all the answers, Tuttle said. We will continue to consult with the local health department for advice as more detailed guidance becomes available. Roxana School District posted a small survey on its website, asking parents for their input in what they want to see in the districts re-opening plan. We understand that families have varying circumstances, and our goal is to prioritize the health and safety of students and staff while providing dynamic learning opportunities, the post read. Bunker Hill school officials also have formed a committee for re-opening representing parents, teachers, board members, support staff and administrators, as well as members of the Macoupin County Public Health Department. Superintendent Todd Dugan said the district is very much aware of the urgent need to communicate to families about what to expect next school year, He said the district will release information as soon as it is finalized. Werden said one of the problems schools are fighting is the limit of 50 people in one room, especially for cafeterias at breakfast and lunch. Most middle and high schools are going to give the students food to take home with them, he said. And most elementary schools will be feeding the students in their classrooms. In May 2019, senior members of Ghanas law enforcement posed for photos with the U.S. ambassador to their country at a ceremony in the capital, Accra. Between them they held boxes and bags, gifts from the U.S. government to Ghana which, according to one of the recipients, contained Israeli phone-hacking technology. That recipient was Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah, then-director general of the Ghana polices criminal investigation department. In May 2020, she spoke to CPJ about how the U.S. and U.K. governments, as well as Interpol, provided Ghanas security forces with digital investigations training and technology. She cited tools made by the Israel-based Cellebrite corporation whose website says their technology can break locks and encryption and two U.S.-based companies, IBM and Digital Intelligence. Journalists in Ghana say they are worried about how such technology may be used against them or their sources. Last year, CPJ documented the use of Cellebrites Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED) by Nigerian security forces, and how the military targeted journalists phones and computers with a forensic search trying to reveal their sources. Six days before the U.S. gave the same tools to Ghana, The Washington Post reported on how police used UFED to retrieve documents from journalists phones in Myanmar. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Cellebrite has pitched its technology to help authorities access devices of infected people to trace their contacts, Reuters reported in April. If a state agency can decode my system without access to my password, that is scary, Emmanuel Dogbevi, managing editor of the website Ghana Business News, told CPJ in early July. Dogbevi, a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has reported on sensitive subjects, including offshore finances and Ghanas purchase of hardware from the Israel-based spyware company NSO Group. He told CPJ that many sources were already hesitant to speak for fear of being identified, and the years-long pattern of Ghanaian authorities trying to intimidate journalists left him worried he too may be targeted. Sources send me information, send me documents. I wouldnt want anyone to have access to that, Dogbevi said. Before being transferred from criminal investigations to head police welfare in January 2020, Tiwaa Addo-Danquah said she sought to strengthen prosecutions by building the polices capacity to extract and analyze information from phones and computers. In this [digital] era, most of the evidence are held on electronic devicesYou arrest one person and the person says Im not going to inform you [of] my accomplice. These are the tools that can help you to know who or whom that person is talking to, she told CPJ. A year earlier, in June 2019, officers from Ghanas National Security Ministry arrested editor Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri and reporter Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum, both of the Modern Ghana news website, held them for days, and searched their phones and computers in an effort to reveal their sources for a report on National Security Minister Albert Kan Dapaah, CPJ reported at the time. Abugri told CPJ his devices were taken to an IT room and he was forced to give the officers his passwords. They were going into my gadgets, he said. The Greater Accra police command still has Abugris phones and tablets, while the National Security Ministry has his computer, Abugri said. (A police spokesperson, Afia Tengey, said she was unable to comment because she could not locate the case files). The experience changed the way Abugri thought about the safety of information: Sometimes in journalism there are certain information that are very confidential to you, that you dont want any other person to know the sourcehaving those information on your gadgets and those same gadgets are in the hands of certain people [security forces], I feel threatened. Abugri sued Ghanas national security coordinator, inspector-general of police, and attorney general claiming his arrest and detention, including alleged torture, violated his constitutionally guaranteed rights; the case is due in court July 15, he told CPJ. CPJs calls to Kan Dapaah following the June 2019 arrests and in June 2020 rang unanswered. But Tiwaa Addo-Danquah told CPJ that she had at times relied on the National Security Ministry digital forensics and surveillance capacities to assist with police investigations. If the phone is on, [based on a telephone number] they were able to tell that this person was here at this time, he moved here at this time, she said. Manasseh Azure Awuni, a freelance investigative journalist, told CPJ the arrests of the Modern Ghana journalists and seizure of their devices shows that journalists and sources are vulnerable. If it has happened to some journalists, it is possible it can happen to me, Awuni said. Awuni said he received death threats and was forced into hiding in 2019 because of a documentary that alleged Ghanas ruling party operated a secret militia group. The party denied ties to the group, he said. It can exert a chilling effect on press freedom, Roland Affail Monney, president of the Ghana Journalists Association, told CPJ of security forces capacity to break into journalists phones and computers. Ghanas police first received Cellebrites UFED technology from Interpol in 2017 at training for West African law enforcement in Cote dIvoire, Tiwaa Addo-Danquah told CPJ. The year before, Cellebrite signed an agreement to provide Interpol with digital forensic equipment [including UFED] and training services over a three-year period, according to their websites. Interpols press office acknowledged in an email that has provided Cellebrite tools to some national police but did not identify which countries or otherwise elaborate. Tiwaa Addo-Danquah said that in 2019 the U.K. trained and provided Ghanaian police with IBM i2 Analyze to help organize and evaluate information pulled from devices. IBM i2 Analyze facilitates analysis of large volumes of data and uncover[s] hidden connections, according to its website. CPJ emailed the British High Commission in Accra requesting an interview regarding U.K. digital forensics support for Ghanaian law enforcement, but no interview was arranged before publication. IBMs head of communications for the Middle East and Africa, Mark Fox, told CPJ in an email that IBM had no record of selling or providing IBM i2 Analyze to the government of Ghana, but declined to comment on whether Ghanas police used the technology. [W]e carefully review potential business opportunities to ensure they do not conflict with IBMs principles of trust and transparency, Fox said. Separately, a 2019 British Immigration Enforcement document appears to show that the agency supplied Ghanas Immigration Service with Detego digital forensics equipment made by U.K.-based MCM Solutions (the document misspells the equipment as Detago). Detego can [e]xtract and seamlessly analyse data from multiple devices, according to MCMs website. In March 2019, MCM posted on Twitter that its staff were in Ghana conducting an advanced [Detego] training course for a number of specialist units. Detego is used as the digital forensic tool of choice around the world. Here in sunny Ghana our professional services team is conducting an advanced training course for a number of specialist units. pic.twitter.com/ekr3o5Pa1k MCM Solutions (@MCM_Solutions) March 19, 2019 John-Paul Backwell, MCM Solutions global sales and marketing director, told CPJ that the company had multiple clients in Ghana, but did not respond by publication time to a question about which security agencies had the technology. Backwell said MCM Solutions ambition was to have their technology used for good to solve security challenges, but acknowledged the company cannot always control how a customer uses the software. MCM Solutions would investigate cases where their tools may have been used against journalists, he said. The U.S. embassy provided Ghana with Cellebrite UFED and UltraBlock, another digital forensics tool made by the Digital Intelligence corporation, in May 2019 at the ceremony with U.S. Ambassador Stephanie Sullivan, Tiwaa Addo-Danquah told CPJ. UltraBlock is used to facilitate the extraction of information from hard drives, but does not have decryption capacity, Chris Stippich, the president of Digital Intelligence, told CPJ by phone in late June. He said company policy did not permit him to comment on Digital Intelligences customers. Procurement documents reviewed by CPJ and a report by the Nextgov news website indicate that in December 2018 the U.S. embassy in Ghana made a request to purchase UFED and UltraBlock technology. The request specified UFED be capable of extraction and decoding of major cellphone models, including Android, Blackberry, Nokia, and Huawei, as well as GPS systems like TomTom. Ghana officials receive technology This screenshot from the U.S. Embassy in Ghana website shows Ambassador Stephanie Sullivan, right, donating technology to the executive director of the Economic and Organized Crime Office, Frank Adu-Poku, rear, and Jacob Puplampu, left, at a cyber dark web investigations training session in Accra in May 2019. According to a U.S. government database, State Department contracts were awarded to two U.S.-based companiesBIT DIRECT INC and Lyme Computer Systems, Inc for cyber investigations equipment for Ghana. Other contract listings indicate that in recent years U.S. embassies around the world have ordered equipment directly from Cellebrite. CPJs calls and an email to Josh Longacre, Lyme Computer Systems CEO and president, as well as calls and a voicemail to the publicly listed number for BIT DIRECT INC, went unanswered. CPJs questions emailed to Cellebrites press office and Masao Koda, a representative for Cellebrites Japan-based parent company, Sun Corporation, were not answered before publication. The U.S. embassy in Ghana told CPJ in an emailed statement that it gave the countrys police and the Economic and the Organized Crime Office (EOCO) assistance to enhance their capability in investigating cyber-related offenses with technology and training. It said those who were trained underwent Leahy vetting, a reference to U.S. laws that prohibit spending on foreign security forces implicated in human rights abuses. The embassy did not directly answer CPJs questions specific to UFED and UltraBlock. CPJ reached Frank Frank Adu-Poku, executive director of Ghanas EOCO, by phone in May 2020, but he declined to comment. Ghana immigration service spokesperson Michael Amoako-Atta told CPJ by phone that he would check for information about British support in 2019, but CPJs subsequent calls and text messages to Amoako-Atta went unanswered. Any data that is accessed by police would be done so in accordance with [the] law, Sheila Kessie Abayie-Buckman, a spokesperson for Ghanas police, told CPJ by phone. She said a framework for police-media relations and safety of journalists launched on July 1 would help curb instances where officers seized journalists devices or interrogated them about their sources. Abayie-Buckman did not provide answers to emailed questions concerning police use of Cellebrite and IBM technology. Sometimes I think it is good for governments to have that kind of [digital forensics] tools, Abugri told CPJ, noting that there are public safety reasons for devices to be searched. But in a situation where people like us [journalists] are involvedthose tools are not being used for their intended purposethat is where it becomes a worry. More flight routes between Korea and China will resume to ease difficulties for businesses. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said on Sunday that flights will be resumed from the current 10 flights a week to 20 by later this month. On Sunday, Asiana Airlines started flying again to Nanjing. Additional flights between Incheon and Guangzhou, Jeju and Xian and Shenzhen will also resume. Britain has begun to ease lockdown meaning we could finally be able to head abroad again, to certain destinations, for the first time in months. While some will be excited to potentially get away, a vast number will be cautious about stepping foot in a foreign country, especially with the mass confusion about what is and isn't allowed. There are now a number of countries British citizens can travel to without having to quarantine on arrival or upon return - but holidaymakers should still check a number of things before they commit to purchasing a trip. To help travellers understand how risky it actually it is to book a holiday, This is Money - with help from Emma Coulthurst, from holiday price comparison site, TravelSupermarket - reveal the answer to your most common questions. There are a number of things people need to consider before booking a holiday abroad Are insurers currently selling travel insurance? In March, a large number of providers removed themselves from the market, to review their stance and redevelop their policies. While those who had already bought insurance could still keep hold of their policies, it was closed to new customers. However, now travel insurers are selling policies again. Currently, there are around 12 providers on TravelSupermarket's platform and there are more policies going live every day. Check other comparison websites to see which is offering the best deal. It is vital to get insurance for trips, including to Europe, and not solely rely on a European Health Insurance Card - and do it as soon as you book. Will insurance cover me if I contract Covid while on holiday and need medical treatment? This is likely to be one of the things on holidaymakers' minds as to whether to book a holiday or not. Many providers cover 'emergency medical and repatriation' for Covid-19 if you were to contract the virus on holiday. This means that you will be covered for medical treatment and be brought home, if needed, to have further medical treatment back in the UK. If your policy was bought before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11 March or if you've renewed your annual policy since 11 March, then annual travel insurance should cover you for events relating to coronavirus as long as you would have been covered beforehand. For any EU holidays this year, make sure your EHIC card is up to date and take it with you to access reciprocal free health care, but these cards will only be valid until the end of 2020. Many holidaymakers will be hoping to head abroad soon but they will still need insurance Will I be able get my money back via my insurance policy if I contract the virus before going? If you need to purchase insurance, there are some insurers who will cover you if you contract Covid and cannot travel. There are currently four providers who have confirmed that they will provide cover for this; Coverwise, Southdowns, Cedertree and Cover for You. For a policy bought before 11 March, you should be able to claim for cancellation, even if it is an annual policy which you have renewed since then. If your travel insurance policy covers a pre-existing medical condition that makes you more vulnerable to Covid-19, you also may be able to claim. It is also worth bearing in mind that many airlines and holiday providers are offering flexible booking policies which allow you to move holidays and flights to different dates without a change fee. There is often a timeframe within which you need to do this without incurring a fee. Each airline will have its own policy so be sure to understand the company's terms and conditions before you go ahead and book a flight or holiday. Can I get cover to protect me in case my airline goes bust? End supplier failure covers you if an airline folds. It isn't normally included within a policy but needs to be requested as an add-on. Many providers exclude a pandemic from this cover and therefore airlines going bust at this time might not be covered. If your airline was to go into administration, another option is to try and claim for a refund through your debit and credit card company via the voluntary chargeback scheme. If your flight cost you more than 100 and you paid for at least 1 of it on a credit card, you can claim under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act as the card provider is jointly liable with the airline for any goods or services not received. If you need insurance, there are some insurers who will cover you if you contract Covid What should you do if your trip is cancelled by the holiday provider or airline? Your first port of call should be with the company you booked with whether that is your airline, tour operator or accommodation provider. If you are not getting confirmation from your travel provider of when it will pay your refund, check with your travel insurer to see if they will pay out. However, most are likely to refer you back to the travel provider or airline. Under EU law 261, you are entitled to a refund on any cancelled flight within seven days and this is set to continue once the UK has officially left the EU as this right is enshrined in UK law. Under the Package Travel Regulations, you are also entitled to a refund within 14 days of the package holiday being cancelled. If your travel dates move and you rebook, your travel insurance provider should look to change your single trip policy to match the new dates without charging you an admin fee. The date of the rebooked trip needs to be within 12 months and the holiday needs to be like for like. If your trip is different or if there has been a change to your health, you may have to pay more. Can I get a refund for a travel insurance policy, which I can no longer use as my holiday has been cancelled? Zurich has recently announced it will be giving its customers full refunds if they have been unable to travel due to lockdown. Many other major travel insurers are offering pro-rata refunds to customers, whose holidays have been cancelled as long as you haven't made any claim on the policy. However, you'll need to request a refund to get one and should only do this if you're certain you no longer need the cover. If you think you might want to book a trip in the near future, consider carefully if it's worth keeping your policy anyway as getting new travel insurance can be tricky at the moment. If you booked your insurance within the last 14 days, then you've the right to cancel the policy under 'cooling off' rules though firms can charge an administration fee. What should I bear in mind before booking? Many tour operators have said they will not take travellers on a package holiday to a country where they will have to quarantine either on their arrival or their return, saying they will cancel holidays in this situation and you would then be legally entitled to a refund. However, if you booked a flight separately and it wasn't cancelled, you won't be able to get your money back unless you have 'cancel for any reason' as part of your travel insurance. You will need to move your flight to a future date, in the hope that the FCO advice will not be in place for your rebooked date. Luckily, many of the airlines are waiving change fees at the moment due to the uncertainty. But be aware that, to qualify for a free change, you often need to do it a certain number of days beforehand. For example, in the case of easyJet, it is 14 days before. Many airlines are also offering vouchers if you can't fly. Many tour operators won't fly to places where customers have to quarantine at either end I'm worried about being quarantined while I'm away or getting stuck if there is an outbreak. Will I be covered? Talk to your travel company and airline and check your travel insurance documents carefully to see what you are entitled to. Every insurance policy is different, so check your individual policy's travel delay section. Some providers will cover claims made for missed excursions, for example, when you have to quarantine or self-isolate on a standard policy. Sometimes you will need to take out a trip disruption cover extension, to get this covered. What should you look for when buying your travel insurance? To save money but also ensure the right cover for your needs, compare and choose the policy which covers all of your requirements. A decent policy only costs a small amount more than the cheapest deals so buying the lowest price deal can be a false economy. Higher levels of cover give greater peace of mind and usually have lower excess levels, if needing to make a claim. When comparing travel insurance products, it is recommended you get the following minimum levels of cover: 2million for medical expenses 1million personal liability 1500 cancellation - or enough to cover the total cost of your holiday 750 baggage or enough to cover the cost of your baggage 250 for cash Policy excesses under 100 Delay cover (e.g. 20/hour for first 12 hours) It is also recommended that your excess is no more than 100. It is worth enquiring how much it costs to waive the excess so that you don't pay any excess at all to make a claim as sometimes it is just a few pounds extra. If you follow these recommended cover levels and compare online, you'll get the right cover for you at the best price, with the peace of mind that if anything goes wrong, you've got good quality cover. Once you've found a policy that works for you, however boring it may seem, it is worth spending 15 minutes reading through the policy to help you understand how it works should anything go wrong while you are away. What about Brexit? The UK Government on Monday morning launched a campaign encouraging holidaymakers planning trips to Europe for 2021 to prepare for things to change in January, after the UK leaves the Brexit transition period. This covers holidays to the 27 EU member states, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. EHIC cards will no longer be valid after 31 December, meaning travellers need to make doubly sure their insurance covers their medical needs, including pre-existing conditions. The EHIC card currently covers these, but not all insurance policies do. This means those with pre-existing conditions could either struggle to find comprehensive cover or have to pay a lot more for it, while everyone will almost certainly end up paying more for travel insurance from 2021. Pet owners taking their animals on holiday should also contact vets four months before they travel, the Government said, while travellers should also watch out for the return of mobile phone roaming charges. The aviation sector may be far from getting back to normalcy. In fact, IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta last week indicated that the country's largest airline may not reach its pre-COVID-19 levels before the mid of next year. Internationally too, data from travel consultancy OAG show that passenger traffic in early July, despite getting better, was equivalent to the numbers way back in 1996! But it's not all doom. Tell tale signs are beginning to emerge of the industry opening up. Globally, including in the US, Europe, Africa and Asia, airlines are slowly but surely ramping up daily flights and adding to destinations. Which aviation markets are doing better? A report by Airline Ratings says that nine out of the 10 biggest regional markets have been growing. Countries such as the UK, Spain, France, the US and China have shown growth up wards of 16 percent. The UK has been the fastest growing, with over 45 percent jump in capacity "week after week," says the report. In Nigeria, five out of its nine commercial airlines restarted operations in early July. The Indian aviation market, where the government has now increased the cap on capacity utilisation to 45 percent, is doing better than the global average. By June itself, the domestic market's capacity utilisation was higher than its international peers. Have all airlines restarted operations? Not really. Still, says the same report quoting OAG, about 140 airlines who had operated in January are yet to resume services. Many of them, may never. Some of the big names that may have been permanently grounded include, LATAM, Air Mauritius, South African Airways and Flybe. In India, Air Deccan halted operations in April. Then what are the tell tale signs one is talking about? Airlines who have managed to survive the last few months, are beginning to spread their wings. Middle Eastern airlines, including Emirates, Eithad and Air Arabia, have begun services to and from India. Emirates, which was recently in news for its mega layoff exercise, has continued to expand its services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 9, it added seven more destinations, taking the total to 58. Before the disruption caused by the pandemic, the Dubai-based airline was flying to 157 destinations. Similarly, Lufthansa and its group carriers have now made plans to soon start using half -380 aircraft- of their fleet. In June, the airline was operating 200 fewer planes. By November, the group, which also includes the Swiss and the Austrian airlines, will cover 90 percent of its short and medium haul destinations, and 70 percent of the long haul ones. United Airlines, which has started repatriation flights from India, will add 25,000 more flights by August. Though this will still amount to about 40 percent of its 2019 schedule, the airline is clearly seeing an uptick in demand. These airlines continue to advise fliers about the restrictions in flying, and point out that local regulations in each country. Which countries are allowing tourists? On July 15, Maldives will become the latest addition to the international tourist map. The island nation is opening up for international tourists. Earlier in the month, European Union had opened up borders for travellers from 15 countries outside the continent. These included Thailand, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Rwanda and New Zealand. Apart from the European nations, countries in the Caribbean islands and some in Africa, are also welcoming tourists from across borders. Can Indians start traveling? Alas, we need to wait. For instance in Europe, the Union has excluded the US, Brazil and India from the list. The three countries now top the world in COVID-19 tally. Sure, those working in Europe or North America can go back on the flights operated under Vande Bharat Mission flights. But for those looking to take a break from the virus menace, please stay put for some more time. That would be the healthier option too. New Delhi, Jul 14 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh and senior party leader Ram Madhav tweeted on Tuesday, informing that they were going on self-imposed quarantine as BJP's Jammu and Kashmir unit chief Ravinder Raina has tested positive for coronavirus and they had met him on Sunday. "Have gone into self-quarantine with immediate effect from 4 PM today, after receiving the news about Corona positive test of J&K BJP President Ravinder Raina, who had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July," Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Singh said in his missive. Party general secretary, Mr Madhav said he is also quarantining himself as a precaution. "Am quarantining myself for a few days since my colleague and BJP J&K President Ravinder Raina tested positive for Corona today and I was with him 48 hrs ago in Srinagar. I tested negative for Corona 4 times in last two weeks. Yet taking precautions to ensure safety of me and others," he tweeted. Mr Madhav, in-charge of the affairs in the Union Territory, wished speedy recovery for 'our leader in J&K Ravinder Raina'. UNI RSA JTS 2115 Rescue workers attend the scene where the bus crashed into a lake - STR/AFP via Getty Images A Chinese bus driver upset that his home would be demolished had been drinking at the wheel before plunging his vehicle into a reservoir, killing 21 people including students heading to their college entrance exams, police say. The bus careered into a lake in the city of Anshun in the southwest province of Guizhou last Tuesday. The driver, surnamed Zhang, "was unhappy about his life and about the demolition of the public-owned house he rented," Anshun city police said in a statement on Sunday. Anshun emergency authorities have said five students heading to their university entrance exams were among those killed, while 15 other people were hurt. On the morning of the incident, Zhang saw that the house was about to be demolished and rang a government hotline to complain, the police statement said. It said Zhang had signed an agreement in June authorising the demolition and had been promised more than 72,000 yuan ($10,000) in compensation, which he left unclaimed. But news media reported that he had not been able to secure alternative housing, leaving him homeless when the demolition went ahead. Zhang is suspected of deliberately "conducting 'an extreme crime'", the police statement said. They found that Zhang, 52, had been drinking alcohol while passengers got on and off the bus. As he approached the reservoir, Zhang suddenly veered across five lanes of traffic, through a guardrail and into the water, police said. Zhang drowned and an autopsy found alcohol in his system. A hashtag relating to the Anshun police statement gained over 1 billion views on Weibo, a Chinese social media site, by Monday morning, with many comments condemning the driver. "Why impose your own pain on so many families?" wrote one user. Critics say the case shines a light on problems caused by China's urban redevelopment schemes, which often displace residents living in older accommodation who cannot afford the prices charged for new properties. New Delhi: Britain on Tuesday (July 14) decided to put a ban on equipment from the Chinese technology giant Huawei from the countrys high-speed wireless network. The UK's policy reversal is a victory for US President Donald Trump's administration in the trade battle between Western powers and China, according to a New York Times report In January this year, Britain said that Huawei equipment could be used in its new 5G network on a limited basis, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson had to take this decision as he was facing growing political pressure domestically to take a harder line against Beijing. The latest decision on part of Britain reportedly shows a new willingness among Western countries to confront China, a determination that has grown firmer since Beijing last month adopted a new law to tighten its grip on Hong Kong, which was a British colony until 1997. President Trumps national security adviser, Robert OBrien, was also in Paris today for meetings about China with counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. Huaweis critics reportedly apprehend that its close ties to the Chinese government mean Beijing could use the equipment for espionage or to disrupt telecommunications. The UK is understood to have argued that Huawei created too much risk for such a critical, multibillion-dollar project that it has decided to bar the purchase of new Huawei equipment for 5G networks after December. The existing gear already installed would need to be removed from the networks by 2027, it added. The UK, however, said that proceeding any faster would produce a greater risk to the security and resilience of the network. As facts have changed, so has our approach, Oliver Dowden, the government minister in charge of telecommunications, reportedly told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon, adding This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the U.K.s telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run. He is quoted as saying, This government is clear-eyed about China, adding What we want is a modern and mature relationship with China based on mutual respect. The UK government's decision is expected to add significant costs, and delay the rollout of 5G in Britain by around two years. The decision follows the announcement in May of further US sanctions against Huawei, preventing it from using microchips from American suppliers, the NY Times report said . Huawei, however, urged the UK government to reconsider, and said the UK would be economically damaged if it goes ahead with this decision. It said, "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. " "We will conduct a detailed review of what todays announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain," the statement added. Protesters Block Detroit School Buses on First Day of In-person Summer Classes The first day of in-person summer learning for Detroits public school students was disrupted as protesters attempted to prevent buses from leaving to pick up students who wish to return to their classroom after more than four months. Nearly 100 protesters organized by By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) started to gather outside the Detroit Public Schools Community Districts garage site around 5 a.m., according to The Detroit News. Holding up signs expressing health concerns over the CCP virus pandemic, they formed a picket line to block the buses from leaving to take students to school. Some protesters also dug up plants and tree branches and used them to obstruct the driveway. Theres a reason theyre only opening these schools in Detroit and Detroit has had the worst of COVID-19, BAMN organizer Kate Stenvig told The Detroit News. Were not going to allow our kids to be guinea pigs in this experiment. About 4,000 K-12 students are enrolled for Detroits summer program. Half of them signed up for in-person classes in school buildings, while the rest take classes online. Summer classes are scheduled for four hours on Monday through Thursday, and will end Aug. 6. The demonstration ended at around 9 a.m., meaning that students who rely on bus transportation would likely miss their first day of classes, which had started by 8:30 a.m. Those who did make it to school would have to undergo a temperature check and symptom screening before they entered classroom wearing masks while maintaining physical distance. Each classrooms capacity is limited to no more than 15 students. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered the closure of public schools in March when the pandemic struck Michigan. While some schools had the necessary technology and resources to help students shift to remote learning, others struggled to provide students with the devices and internet connection they needed to complete assignments from home. In an interview with CNN last week, Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said people in the school district are in desperate need to return to in-person learning. The online learning wasnt ideal and our children have fallen farther behind, Vitti said, emphasizing what a challenge it is for for working parents to support their childrens virtual learning at home. COVID is not going away, Vitti wrote on Twitter. Many of our children need face-to-face, direct engagement. We should not make that requirement for all children and families. Parents should be able to choose face-to-face or online. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has recorded more than 69,000 COVID-19 cases and 6,000 deaths since March. Although recent COVID-19 numbers in the state have been increasing, the fatality rate and infection rate are both falling. Have you always wanted to join a reputable university from which you can acquire an internationally recognized certificate? Now is your best chance to do that. You have probably finished your secondary school education and looking for a tertiary learning institution that can allow you to achieve your academic dreams. The Regional Maritime University is a premier learning institution in Ghana that attained full university status on October 25, 2007. Since then, the learning centre has offered Ghanaians impressive skills relevant in the current fast-paced industry. The school has terrific undergraduate, postgraduate and other diversified courses that would be of interest to numerous college applicants. Which one should you choose and what are the admission requirements? Image: facebook.com, @rmuofficial Source: Facebook It is no secret that the most prestigious learning institutions in the world are the most sophisticated. They hire the best lecturers, gurus in their field, and acquire the most advanced equipment to support research and equip students with relevant skills. The Maritime University Ghana likely falls in this class because of their incredible academic prowess. Not only is the universitys background impressive, but they have created a great foundation that sees students acquire relevant skills. Therefore, considering their numerous courses, would it not be a great idea to familiarize with the available slots? Update yourself before making an application. Regional Maritime University background The Ghana Maritime University was known before as the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), but it was renamed. It was founded in 1958 and is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in Africa. The Government of Ghana promulgated the Regional Maritime Law 1982 that followed the signing of the instrument of transfer. This turn of events transferred the college to the Maritime Organization of West and Central Africa (MOWCA) that was then known as the Ministerial Conference of West and Central African States of Maritime Transport (MINCONMAR). The institutions main founding members are the Republics of Cameroon, Ghana, Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The main objective of founding the RMU. Ghana is to promote the regional cooperation between African countries when it comes to the maritime industry in general and also focus on the training and the teaching of the African youth. That is why the Regional Maritime University is one of the significant and leading projects in which African countries cooperated to build for the benefit of all African people. The Regional Maritime University fees are also not considered so expensive compared to the quality of education and certifications that the students get. The vision of the university now is to become the first choice of all African students within the next decade when it comes to advanced maritime training and education. Its mission though is to enhance the development of the maritime transport sector and the fishing industry in African member states through: Professional and advanced maritime education of students Training of different marine personnel Advanced consultancy and research Enhancement of maritime cooperation The institution of higher learning is looking to meet all international education standards through a sophisticated learning system that is perfectly customized for students. Therefore, the school emphasizes on teamwork, discipline and professional integrity. The institution has affiliations and accreditations from different well-recognized international organizations like the Department of State Education of The Gambia, National Accreditation Board of Ghana and the Republic of Liberia. Regional Maritime University admissions Image: facebook.com, @rmuofficial Source: Facebook Since RMU has various member countries, the institution of higher learning has a multifaceted learning system that accommodates the needs of this diversified population. Therefore, RMU has a flexible admission policy for students looking to pursue their courses. The learning institution offers: Undergraduate Postgraduate IMO Mandatories Events and seminars Admission requirements Every program at RMU possesses distinct application requirements. For instance, anyone looking to apply for diploma program must meet the below general admission requirements: WASSCE, SSSCE, or NECO holders: Must have six [6] passes (A1-D7/A-D) in all subjects including English Language, Mathematics and Integrated Science and a minimum of C6 in three (3) passes in relevant subjects (e.g. Elective Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Applied Electricity, Geography, etc.). General Certificate of Education (GCE) Holders: All applicants have to have credits in at least five (5) GCE' O' level subjects that include Mathematics and English language in addition to at least three advanced level passes in other relevant subjects. In some cases, applicants are required to attend a selection interview to qualify for the relevant courses. For postgraduate degrees and other bachelor's programs, students ought to have a first degree in the required filed of at least second-class Lower Division. READ ALSO: Central University College fees, courses, and admission in Ghana The application process Every interested student in Regional Maritime University courses has to partake in the institutions application process using the steps provided. Step 1: Procure the admission form After making the relevant payment, access the application form. You can do this at the designated sales centres to access the RMU. E-Voucher. This will be your ticket for the commencement of the application process. Step 2: Get the PIN and serial number The purchased E-Voucher possesses the relevant PIN and serial number that you will utilize to access the online form. Make sure that you preserve all the documentation. Step 3: Collate your documents Prepare all your academic paperwork like official transcripts, identity documents and any other paper that possesses any required data. This will support your online application after submission. Step 4: Verify and submit Visit the universitys student portal to access the online form. Fill all the relevant paperwork and provide the required documents. Once done, check all the information thoroughly before submitting your final application. Submit once you have checked and verified all the details. Domestic applicants for RMU Ghana courses have to pay the following admission fees: Diploma programs: GH 150.00 or $50.00 Bachelors programs: GH 120.00 or $40.00 Postgraduate programs: GH 210 or $70.00 International applicants ought to log in to the admissions portal and access the international applications link. They will gain access to all the relevant instructions that will enable them to finalize their application. Regional Maritime University courses What programs does RMU Ghana offer? The learning centre certainly has exciting courses that offer students relevant skills. Postgraduate courses These cover some of the most demanding skills in Ghana and West Africa. If you are looking to attain an advanced qualification in your profession, you can try these courses. MSc. Bio-Processing Engineering MSc Renewable Energy Engineering MSc. Environmental Engineering MA in Ports and Shipping Administration (with the University of Ghana) Undergraduate courses RMU undergraduate courses are competency-based programs that equip students with relevant skills for the industry. Without a doubt, after completion, you will be eligible for employment in various sectors. BSc. Computer Engineering BSc. Marine Electrical & Electronics Engineering BSc. Marine Engineering Diploma courses These courses are developed in collaboration with government bodies, and they ascertain that they are well-aligned with industry demands. Diploma in Electrical/Electronic Engineering Diploma in Ports & Shipping Management Regional Maritime University short courses Image: facebook.com, @rmuofficial Source: Facebook Besides the universitys diplomas, postgraduate and undergraduate studies, it also offers a big list of short courses in many different fields for anyone who might be interested. Basic Welding & Metal Fabrication Advance Welding & Metal Fabrication Pre-Sea Vocational Training Programme Programmable Logic Controller Training Basic Level The above courses take between 2 to 6 weeks to complete, and the fees start from $300 and above. The main target groups for these courses are professionals looking to advance their skills in their profession. READ ALSO: How to check GES promotion list for 2020/2021? Is Regional Maritime University a public university? The Regional Maritime University is a private institution located in Ghana. Over time, the university has elevated its status in the academic filed to become a giant not only in Ghana but in Africa, mostly the western part. How much is the school fees of Regional Maritime University? RMU has different courses that have different fees reliant on the depth and mode of study. The institution boasts of offering the most qualified education even at a constrained budget. A six-week short course can cost you an average of $400 at the university. What is Maritime University? The Maritime University is an international institution of higher learning located in Accra Ghana. The learning institution was given full university status on October 25, 2007, presided over by the then President of Ghana, John Agyekum Kufuor. Before, the tertiary institution was referred to as Regional Maritime Academy. If you are looking to apply to the Regional Maritime University, better learn more about their courses and relevant fees. The university's ascent in the education sector is enough proof that you are going to earn sufficient skills after completing your course. READ ALSO: Business courses offered at KNUST 2020: entry requirements & fees WAEC timetable and grading system 2020 Takoradi Technical University courses, registration and admission requirements Source: YEN.com.gh With summer weather hitting in earnest, Jennifer Garner looked simply overjoyed to be cooling off in the ocean waves. The Elektra actress, 48, was seen Monday on the beach in Malibu, California wearing a slick black wetsuit while enjoying some bodyboarding with her eight-year-old son Samuel. Garner smiled widely as she came in from the surf, wearing her wetsuit that ended at her mid-thigh, with a white accent at the elbow. With summer weather hitting in earnest: Jennifer Garner looked simply overjoyed to be cooling off in the ocean waves on Monday in Malibu Sydney Bristow bodysurfing: The Elektra actress wore a slick black wetsuit while enjoying some bodyboarding Jennifer also wore dark goggles as she swam, watching over the son she shares with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck. Garner looked in amazing shape for her swim outing, her toned legs on full display. She rode a yellow and black bodyboard, which was attached to her wrist via a strap. Mon and son funday: Jen was out with her eight-year-old son Samuel Summer fun: Garner smiled widely as she came in from the surf, wearing her wetsuit that ended at her mid-thigh Ocean frolicking: Garner's suit featured a white accent at the elbow Samuel donned a shirt in blue with white stripes, and brightly patterned trunks. Jennifer's only son's mop of blond hair shined in the sun, and he enjoyed the waves with a bright green bodyboard also attached to his wrist. Earlier in the day, the mother-of-three showed off her toned arms and shoulders while running on the beach. Colorful: Samuel donned a shirt in blue with white stripes, and brightly patterned trunks Adventurous: Jennifer also wore dark goggles as she bodyboarded The Yes Day star, who also shares daughters Violet, 14, and Seraphina, 11, with Affleck, has been determined to make her 9.3m Instagram followers smile even more of late. On Sunday, the actress and do-gooder showed off her giant sunflowers in an encouraging post. And earlier than that, Jen shared an absolutely sidesplitting #tbt video in which she's seen describing the joys of the musical Hamilton while still under the effects of laughing gas from the dentist. Let's dance: The Yes Day star also shares daughters Violet, 14, and Seraphina, 11, with Affleck Beach family scene: Jennifer's only son's mop of blond hair shined in the sun, as he enjoyed the waves with a bright green bodyboard attached to his wrist Jen has been determined to make her Instagram followers smile even more of late: On Sunday, the actress and do-gooder showed off her giant sunflowers in an encouraging post Garner has been keeping busy during the coronavirus crisis with her latest venture Save With Stories. She teamed up with fellow actress Amy Adams to launch the initiative in partnership with the nonprofits Save the Children and No Kid Hungry. @SaveWithStories features celebrities reading children's books to provide some fun and education for families during the pandemic. Donations raised through the platform are used to support school and community programs that work to make sure children in need continue to receive nutritious meals even while schools are closed. An air and sea search during the week failed to find any trace of the Veronica. Wreckage washed up east of Nelson was thought likely to be from the missing vessel. Len Joseph kept a log book which spells out the drama of the ordeal. Rough seas began pounding the Veronica after the engine failure. To keep the boat afloat, the men rigged a makeshift sail of blankets and an old overcoat. Mr. Joseph recalled last night: "The only time I really lost hope was on Tuesday night when water started to pour in. But luckily we lived through it." Loading He said he put the log in a saucepan and sealed it. "I thought if we went down it would be a mystery," he went on. People would be more likely to pick up a saucepan than a bottle on the beach." After zig-zagging around the coast looking for a landing-place, the two men reached a spot near the Cape Otway Lighthouse at 3.30 p.m. on Saturday. Mr. Joseph sent an SOS with a torch but got no response. Then he repaired a rocket which had misfired. The lighthouse keeper saw it. The call was flashed to the Cape Otway Fishermen's Co-operative and within minutes dozens of fishermen were on their way. Fifteen fishermen on board the Guyra, Invictus and Worraine, many of whom had stubbornly refused to believe the Veronica pair dead, put out to bring home their mates. After battling seas swept by 80 mph winds, the Worraine finally reached the distressed Veronica about midnight on Saturday. About six hours - and four broken tows - later the rescuing armada dropped the two men ashore. Bleary-eyed and unshaven, the pair wolfed a meal of steak and eggs before being taken home to Portarlington. Log book tells survival story The Veronica's log hook provides a graphic account of her crewmen's fight to stay alive. The entries in that log, made available exclusively to "The Age," tell part of the dramatic story. The entries, day by day, were written by Len Joseph, who last night filled them out further. SATURDAY, JULY 8: Departed for Portarlington and Geelong to deliver Veronica to new owner. We were about two miles off Port McDonald, 35 miles north-south-east of Cape Northumberland, when we struck engine trouble. I carried out repairs but when I pressed the starter button nothing happened. Loading SUNDAY, JULY 9: Dropped makeshift anchor but set adrift late Saturday night. Still drifting today. Fresh winds sprung up offshore and we decided to make some type of sail. We got two old blankets and an overcoat and made a square sail. MONDAY, JULY 10: Decided to make for Cape Bridgewater but the seas kept carrying us out. At 10.30 a.m. we used the sail to the best advantage and decided to let her drift out to sea. But on Monday night we were still drifting out to sea and were carried out into the strait. The seas swept over us and we began taking on water. I cut the bulwarks and the boat righted itself for the moment. But we were out of food we had brought for the 30- hour voyage to Geelong and we had no cigarettes the wind was pounding us and I thought the end was near. This may be our last entry. TUESDAY, JULY 11: Battery still weak we are not able to transmit. I listened to all news reports of the search for to but we saw no planes or boats searching. I wanted to let everyone know we were all right but I had no means of communication. WEDNESDAY, JULY I2: Within 10 miles of Port Fairy at 2 a.m. but strong north-westerly carried us out to sea again. We began eating raw spuds became we did not have any gas left in the bottle to cook them. We snared a crayfish pot and pulled up two leather-Jackets. Ron skinned them and we ate them raw. I don't recommend raw leatherjackets. Torch signal Loading THURSDAY, JULY 13: At 1.30 p.m. we came away west and set course for Moonlight Head, near Cape Otway. We decided to go ashore that night but could not pick up the shore. We dropped our ballast for an anchor and waited for daybreak. FRIDAY, JULY 14: We got her to go ashore but all we could see was cliffs. We decided to head for Cape Otway. SATURDAY, JULY I5: Off Cape Otway lighthouse at 3.30 p.m. I sent an SOS with a torch but did not get any response. I repaired a rocket which had misfired and that attracted the attention of the lighthouse keeper. Britain's move is providing Huawei's Nordic competitors with some tailwind Network equipment providers Ericsson and Nokia, Huawei's biggest competitors, said Tuesday they were ready to step in after the UK announced it was phasing out the Chinese telecoms giant from its budding 5G network. "We have the capacity and expertise to replace all of the Huawei equipment in the UK's networks at scale and speed," Nokia CEO for the UK and Ireland Cormac Whelan said in a statement to AFP. Ericsson echoed that stance in a separate statement. "We stand ready to work with the UK operators to meet their timetable, with no disruption to customers," said Arun Bansal, President of Europe and Latin America at Ericsson. Both companies stressed that they were already established in the UK and experienced in building 5G networks. The UK's digital minister Oliver Dowden announced Tuesday that "from the end of this year, telecoms providers must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei". Dowden added that all existing Huawei gear should be stripped out "by 2027". As two of the main competitors to Huawei, the companies have been benefitting from a US push to have countries avoid Huawei. The US government has claimed that Huaweifounded by former Chinese army engineer Ren Zhengfeiis a security risk and has urged allies to shun its equipment over fears it could serve as a Trojan horse for Chinese intelligence services. Huawei, who is the sector leader in terms of market share, has always denied links to the Chinese government. Dowden said the process of finding new entrants would start with South Korea's Samsung and NEC of Japan, while Nokia and Ericsson would be protected as existing players. 2020 AFP In recent time, Harris Chuma has demonstrated his knew found love for letter writing. He would write the Wife of the Governor of Anambra State thusly: Osodieme, do not Reject Ndi Ogbunike proudly making the letter a public document. Erroneously concluding that the relative public silence over the hogwash meant its endorsement, he would engage Gov Willie Obiano himself with a sequel - again in public space. His trumped-up grouse on each count: crass abandonment of Ogbunike town by Chief (Mrs.) Ebelechukwu Obiano, Wife of Anambra State Governor; Chief Willie Obiano, Governor Anambra State, and the Obiano administration. Balderdash! Which Obianos and Obiano administration abandoned Ogbunike?, ndi Ogbunike promptly queried. When, in the history of Ogbunike has the town and her people received as much attention as the government of Akpokue has so far given us? Did Ogbunike not produce the third citizen in Nigeria in Chuba Okadigbo? Do we suffer any shortfall in the assembly of the wealthy in Anambra? Have our sons and daughters not occupied privileged public offices before now? Now, tell me who among all these has done anything for our people in comparison with Akpokues government. What comparison can ever be contemplated, given the unprecedented volumes of empowerment our people enjoy from this government; the infrastructural uplift we enjoy in critical interventions like road construction typified in Ugwu Nwasike-Azu Ogbunike, Amawa-Osile-Ifite-Umueri-St. Monica-Ogbunike Cave Road; Oye Olisa Road, High Court and Magistrate Court roads; not discounting Kisa bridge and the palliative enhancement done the long stretch of the Caves steps, pending anticipated take-off of its comprehensive reform/upgrade? By the way who is Chuma to assume the voice of Ogbunike? O kwa nnwaa aputanwuro okuko akwu ka ayi ga aya tinyelu Covid kana enye uwa isi owuwa? Idi sure na anya nnwaa adiro noche Okpala Anaedo? I ma na anyaukwu na mpako ya enweghi ngwota. The above were some of the reactions of ndi Ogbunike against the scathing assumptions of Chuma Harris. Evidently, avarice, mischief, resentment and envy, other than culpable survival instinct or any vestige of patriotism, have taken prisoner of Harris Chuma, a Nollywood chief claimant from Ogbunike who is better known as a media charlatan on rampage in the social media space. When Harris haughtily assumed a dedicated mouthpiece that propagates and projects the sensibilities of the noble clan of Iguedo, not a few watchers suspected foul play. His miserably beggarly, uncouth and indecorous delivery of the self-assigned responsibility quickly confirmed the thought of many that the motive of the adventure was grossly self-serving and injurious to the Ogbunike community which his acts are unduly exposing to public odium. An exemplification of a butterfly assuming itself a bird, Chumas reputation for self-serving ego, greed, envy and grievous calumny broke loose recently after over a six year waiting for political appointment from his brother-in-law Governor. He chose to go off tethers after the recent appointment of Honourable Tony Muonago, Tony Oneweek, as a Special Adviser to the Governor on Diaspora and Tourism Affairs. That appointment fired the embers of hurt in Harris who quickly resumed flaunting his social media-hyped PhD as marking him as a preferred candidate for such appointment. He recently was heard sulking over the long stay of Bob-Manuel Udokwu and other notable Nollywood fellows in Gov Obianos government, saying that Onye okwa rilu ji ya kotakarisilu ji. Of what value is an in-law who would not allow me a bite from the allurements of government? Abeg! Of course Harris PhD! adjudges himself superior to other associates in Akpokues government, and so finds it extremely hard to come to terms with the exclusion he suffers. Nobody yet told him that apart from the fact that everyone, not minding their claims to ultimate expertise, must not and cannot be in government before they can add value to humanity; his inexplicable vain disposition may well be a limiting overhang. In his desperation to get even with both sister and in-law, Chuma Harris has despicably opened himself up as a low hanging fruit for a horde whose contrivances are tailored towards pronouncing failure on Gov Obianos administration. But ndi Anambra have repeatedly demonstrated their preferences for the unprecedented safety they enjoy, the critical interventions on roads and ecological challenges, the superlative performances of students, teachers and schools of Anambra in national and international competitions, the revolution in agriculture and the entrepreneurial mentorship the youths of the state enjoy under the watch of Chief Willie Obianos government. Indeed no Chuma Harris, no calumny will derail the peoples choice for Akpokuedike and for the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. What justification does the butterfly regaling on petals have lending the gait and compliments of an eagles supreme flight upon itself? The discrepancy between the two flying beings compares to that between notoriety and popularity. The difference cuts clear! Okwudili Echezona, a public affairs analyst, writes from Ifitedunu NEW YORK, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") (NYSE: WFC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and indexed under 20-cv-03697, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo securities between April 5, 2020, and May 5, 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 Wells Fargo securities during the class period, you have until August 3, 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 [email protected]omlaw.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] Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company that provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services to individuals, businesses, and institutions in the U.S. and internationally. On April 5, 2020, Wells Fargo announced that it had received strong interest in the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"), a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the "CARES Act"), and was targeting to distribute a total of $10 billion to small business customers under the requirements of the PPP. On April 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would allow Wells Fargo to exceed the asset cap that it had imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 after revelations that the Company had opened millions of accounts in customers' names without their permission, a change which would allow Wells Fargo to make additional small business loans as part of the PPP. That same day, Wells Fargo issued a press release stating, in relevant part, that, "beginning immediately, in response to the actions by the Federal Reserve, [Wells Fargo] will expand its participation in the [PPP] and offer loans to a broader set of its small business and nonprofit customers subject to the terms of the program." The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about Wells Fargo's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Wells Fargo planned to, and did, improperly allocate government-backed loans under the PPP, and/or had inadequate controls in place to prevent such misallocation; (ii) the foregoing foreseeably increased the Company's litigation risk with respect to PPP allocation, as well as increased regulatory scrutiny and/or potential enforcement actions; and (iii) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On April 19, 2020, after at least one lawsuit was filed against the Company, reports emerged that Wells Fargo may have unfairly allocated government-backed loans under the PPP. For example, USA Today reported that "[t]he lawsuit filed on behalf of small business owners on Sunday alleges that Wells Fargo unfairly prioritized businesses seeking large loan amounts, while the government's small business agency has said that PPP loan applications would be processed on a first-come, first-served basis." According to the lawsuit, "[t]he move by Wells Fargo meant that the bank would receive millions more dollars in processing fees," and, "[m]aking matters worse, Wells Fargo concealed from the public that it was reshuffling the PPP applications it received and prioritizing the applications that would make the bank the most money." Following this news, Wells Fargo's stock price fell more than 5% over two trading days to close at $26.84 per share on April 21, 2020. Finally, on May 5, 2020, Wells Fargo filed a quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing, in addition to multiple PPP-related lawsuits initiated against the Company, that Wells Fargo had "received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans." Following this news, Wells Fargo's stock price fell by more than 6% over two trading days from its closing price on May 4, 2020, closing at $25.61 per share on May 6, 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 [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Nextdoor is launching the KIND Challenge, a global effort that aims to unite neighbors to cultivate a kinder world by fighting loneliness and social isolation. With new research showing that COVID-19 has had a negative impact on mental health, the KIND (Kindness Is Nextdoor) Challenge will encourage neighbors to reach out online to build deeper connections in their neighborhoods. The KIND Challenge also kicks off of a global research study conducted by Nextdoor on connectedness, community, and kindness, and how these relate to our neighbors and neighborhoodsthe first at this scale. Nextdoor will work with three top health researchers to analyze the survey results: Australia-based Dr. Michelle Lim, a leading expert on loneliness and health; UK-based Dr. Pamela Qualter, a leading expert in child and adolescent loneliness; and US-based Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a leading expert on social isolation and the influence of both the quantity and the quality of social relationships on long-term health. Loneliness is a worldwide health problem: In the United States , a Cignastudy found that over 60% of adults report feeling lonely, which can have the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it more dangerous than obesity. , a Cignastudy found that over 60% of adults report feeling lonely, which can have the same impact on mortality as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, making it more dangerous than obesity. Research in Australia found that 1 in 4 people felt lonely at least three days a week. found that 1 in 4 people felt lonely at least three days a week. According to research from the BBC, 40% of people in the UK under the age of 25 report feeling lonely often or very often, and 27% of people over the age of 75 report feeling the same. "Social connection is crucial to human development, health and survival, and that starts where we live, in the neighborhood," shared Dr. Holt-Lunstad. This is demonstrated in her findings , which indicate a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period. Dr. Michelle Lim who leads the multi-country study with Dr. Holt-Lunstad noted that "This study is the first of its kind in terms of global scale as it is being conducted across three countries. This important effort will examine the effects of these connecting behaviors and whether these small acts can improve one's quality of life, health, and wellbeing." A recent Nextdoor study in the US showed that while 83% of members are feeling overwhelmingly isolated from friends and family, 84% of Nextdoor members feel they have a neighbor they can rely on and 46% believe their neighbors have had a positive impact on their community during this time. "As focused as we've been on the current public health crisis and the effects it will have on our economy, our impulse to come together during this time has laid the groundwork for fighting a social recession within our neighborhoods," stated Nextdoor CEO, Sarah Friar. "Now more than ever, reaching out and connecting with our fellow neighbors will continue to be important. Nextdoor is proud to partner with leading researchers on this work to help build connections with the people nearest to us our neighbors so our neighborhoods can re-emerge with lasting strength." Through its research partnerships, Nextdoor is looking at ways to break the cycle of loneliness and social isolation, and create a more welcoming climate around the world, one neighborhood at a time. Learn more about the study at https://go.nextdoor.com/KIND-Challenge-us . About Nextdoor, Inc. Nextdoor is the neighborhood hub for trusted connections and the exchange of helpful information, goods, and services. We believe that by bringing neighbors together, we can cultivate a kinder world where everyone has a neighborhood they can rely on. Building connections is a universal human need. That truth, and the reality that neighborhoods are one of the most important and useful communities in our lives, have been a guiding principle for Nextdoor since the beginning. Today, neighbors rely on Nextdoor in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, and Canada, with many more to come. Nextdoor is a privately-held company based in San Francisco with backing from prominent investors including Benchmark, Shasta Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Riverwood Capital, Bond, Axel Springer, Comcast Ventures, and others. For additional information and images: nextdoor.com/newsroom. SOURCE Nextdoor, Inc. On April 8, the Federal Reserve agreed to temporarily and narrowly modify the growth restriction on Wells Fargo so that it can provide additional support to small businesses. However, those proceeds are required to be transferred to the U.S. Treasury, or to nonprofit organizations approved by the Fed that support small businesses. Wells Fargo said the bank is required "by our agreement with the Federal Reserve to transfer the fees if/when we exceed the asset cap, which we have not done." "We are voluntarily donating all of our fees." Wells Fargo said its Open for Business Fund will work with nonprofit organizations to provide capital, technical support and long-term resiliency programs. The PPP program Of the PPP loans made by the bank as of June 30, 84% are for companies that have fewer than 10 employees, and 90% of applicants had $2 million or less in annual revenue. The Treasury Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration have extended the PPP with $131.91 billion in the program. RESTON, Va., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Reston-based consulting firm Counter Threat Solutions LLC (CTS) recently promoted veteran media and communications expert Mark Beran to Program Manager. In this capacity, Beran will oversee several of the firm's intel community contracts and personnel. "Mark's background spans program management, business development, marketing, media and broadcast production, corporate communications, and public relations, making him a versatile and valuable addition to the CTS management team," says Theresa Keith, CEO. Mark Beran,Counter Threat Solutions Beran started at CTS in August 2019. He previously worked for Microsoft as a senior account executive serving intel community clients, and prior to that, held the position of senior director and division manager of CACI's integrated communications division for nearly two decades. Under Beran's leadership, the CACI division became the largest media production company in the Washington, D.C. metro region. A veteran of the U.S. Navy where he served as a Corpsman/8404 Field Medical Technician with the Marine Corps, Beran earned his Bachelor of Science degree in marketing management from Bellevue University and has additional training in technical communications and broadcast engineering. He maintains certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) and recently served on the executive advisory committee for George Mason University's Simulation and Game Institute. About Counter Threat Solutions Counter Threat Solutions LLC (CTS) is a Woman-Owned Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) consulting company named a 2020 Best Place to Work by The Washington Business Journal. CTS provides mission-savvy subject matter experts to the U.S. Government's intelligence and defense communities, as well as innovative financial and IT solutions to its civilian clientele. Learn more about CTS at ctstruenorth.com or LinkedIn. Media Contact Valerie Passwaiter (703) 987-1584 [email protected] SOURCE Counter Threat Solutions OTTAWAPeter MacKays Conservative leadership campaign said Monday the partys deputy leader wasnt promised a similarly high-profile position in the House of Commons in exchange for supporting MacKay for the top job. Leona Alleslev had been expected to remain neutral in the contest, but announced late Sunday she didnt want to sit on the sidelines and resigned as deputy leader, a post shed held since the last federal election. Monday morning, she declared she is backing MacKay. Canada faces an uncertain future. Canada needs a leader who has the experience and a plan to tackle the priorities of our time, Alleslev said on social media. That is why Peter MacKay has my support. Voting in the leadership race is underway. A new leader will be elected in August. Should MacKay win, hell have to appoint someone to lead the party in the House of Commons in his stead, as he does not currently have a seat. Given Alleslevs past role within caucus, questions immediately surfaced whether shed already been tapped for that job. Absolutely not, MacKay campaign spokesperson Chisholm Pothier said in an email. Those are decisions for once hes leader. Alleslev declined a request for an interview on Monday, but in a statement said her only conversations with MacKay have been about his credentials for the leadership job. Service to country before my personal needs is who I am at my core, she said. My loyalty cant be bought, it must be earned. Alleslev has been part of a team helping current leader Andrew Scheer guide the Oppositions operations in the House. The task took on additional weight once Scheer announced in December he was stepping back pending the election of his replacement. To try to keep the politics of the race off at least the front benches, and avoid any sense that Scheers office was meddling in the race, members of his leadership team were not to publicly endorse any candidates. In her resignation letter, Alleslev said she felt compelled to break ranks. The selection of the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is too important a decision for me to stand to the side, she wrote to Scheer. Alleslev was elected as a Liberal in 2015 and crossed the floor to the Tories in 2018, saying she no longer shared the Liberal vision on a number of policies. She was appointed deputy leader after the 2019 election, having succeeded in winning her Toronto-area seat of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill for the party when so many other Conservative candidates failed to do the same in nearby ridings. Among the casualties: Lisa Raitt, who was the deputy leader headed into that campaign, but lost her seat in Milton, just west of Toronto, to the Liberals. Alleslev was billed by Scheer as having some of the same political oomph as Raitt: female and from a Greater Toronto Area seat. In turn, she was held up as proof the party did still have support in the area and could win more come the next election. MacKays campaign said much the same about Alleslev on Monday. Shes a great person to have supporting us. Served the country in the military, accomplished in her career after that and before politics, and was elected as a Conservative in a suburban Toronto riding, where very few did and we need to next election, Pothier said. MacKay lives in Toronto now, though in the next general election is expected to return to his Nova Scotia home and seek to run in a riding in that province. Erin OToole, one of his competitors, has represented the suburban-Toronto riding of Durham as an MP since 2012. He often makes the pitch to party members the fact hes held that seat for so long is proof he can woo more voters from the region the next time. Leslyn Lewis, who has never held elected office, currently lives in the Toronto suburbs and did once run in a Toronto riding, losing to the Liberals. The fourth competitor, Derek Sloan, is the MP for the rural Ontario riding of Hastings-Lennox and Addington. Read more about: With Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo and Gov. Greg Abbott publicly disagreeing over the need for a new stay-at-home order to control the COVID-19 outbreak, a key constituency has declined to offer public guidance: Texas Medical Center executives. TMC leaders in March unanimously called on elected officials to issue a stay-at-home order and praised Hidalgo when she did so. Two months later, they commended Abbotts reopening plan. They continue to urge the public to wear masks and practice social distancing. They conspicuously, however, have avoided offering opinions on the debate between Hidalgo and Abbott over a new stay-home order even as a top medical adviser to the governor said Tuesday the tactic was worth considering. The Houston Chronicle on Monday asked all 10 TMC executives whether they supported such an order. Nine did not respond. Memorial Hermann Health System CEO Dr. David Callender said the query was above my pay grade, though he did address the situation the local hospitals face. What we are seeing, though, in terms of the demand for hospitalization, the continued growth in demand for hospitalization, puts us in a situation where we will be out of capacity across the greater Houston region in a matter of days, Callender said. Thats a very scary situation for us to ponder. Callender said if too few residents are wearing masks and social distancing, further measures will be needed. The CEOs are in a difficult position, with most balancing responsibilities to ensure their hospitals remain profitable and supporting the best coronavirus strategy, all the while wary of crossing state leaders on whom the nonprofit institutions depend for funding, health care analysts said. Their first duty is to the organization that they lead, and the board that they report to, said Ken Janda, an adjunct professor in health care management at Rice University. They are absolutely between a rock and a hard place, where no matter what they say, theyll be criticized. And so they dont. The dynamic played out Monday, when Hidalgo again said a stay-home order was the only way for the Houston area to rein in the pandemic. Over the weekend, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner endorsed the idea. If it wasnt clear before, its obvious now that having so much open, from restaurants to all-size indoor events to water parks, is not working, Hidalgo said. The strategy of just filling our hospital beds with sick people is not working. Its the wrong way to pursue public health policy. The TMC leaders are keen to preserve the ability of hospitals to perform elective surgeries, a crucial source of revenue, said Episcopal Health Foundation President Elena Marks. When Abbott suspended these procedures in March, in an effort to free more ICU beds for COVID patients, Marks said hospitals took a significant financial hit. That ban ended in the last week of April, but even in mid-May UT Health research calculated Houstons hospitals were collectively losing $25 million per day. When COVID hospitalizations surged after Memorial Day, the governor on June 25 again restricted some elective procedures in Harris County. The hospitals are walking a fine line because they are regulated by the state, Marks said. Judge Hidalgo cant stop them from doing elective surgeries. The state can. The state did. The government response to the pandemic has become increasingly political since some Republicans criticized Hidalgos mandatory mask order at the end of April. Neutral medical professionals, including hospital executives and public health authorities, suddenly found their everyday decisions read through a partisan lens. As the pandemic wore on, Hidalgo and the TMC leaders adopted a markedly different tone in describing the severity of the pandemic in Houston, even when describing the same sets of hospitalization and case data. The executives on June 25 circulated a letter warning COVID hospitalizations were increasing at an alarming rate that threatened to soon overwhelm hospitals capacity. The leaders walked that statement back the following morning and assured the public the system had plenty of space. Janda, of Rice University, said he believed the about-face was an unsuccessful attempt to show state leaders they did not need to suspend elective surgeries, which Abbott did that same morning. The next day, however, Hidalgo warned at a news conference the Houston area was careening toward a catastrophic and unsustainable situation and urged residents stay at home except for essential errands. While TMC executives in the past had attended Hidalgo announcements, including when she unveiled the original stay-at-home order, none attended that event. Hidalgo was among the public officials who were alarmed when the TMC stopped publishing data on the availability of intensive care unit beds for several days after the system hit base capacity for the first time during the pandemic and then changed how that information was presented. She disputed a statement from the CEOs that said the change was made after officials including Hidalgo were consulted. We never approved these changes and do not agree with their approach, her spokesman said. This pivot creates confusion and muddles the facts at a time when residents and policymakers all need clarity and transparency. A senior medical adviser to Abbott said Tuesday the states coronavirus surge is rampant enough to warrant lockdowns in at least the hardest hit regions. In an interview, Dr. Mark McClellan said Texas is not meeting key requirements that would need to be in place for a safe reopening, especially with the school year set to convene next month. Those include declining cases and adequate hospital capacity. Its clear that the state has not been on a sustainable course and its worth considering a regional approach, said McClellan, a physician and economist at Duke University and a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He added, Its so hard to stay ahead of the pandemic when its in a growth phase. Mike Morris and Todd Ackerman contributed reporting. zach.despart@chron.com AND WE'RE BACK!!! Please Dont Bring Corona To Kansas City Swim Time Two public pools open today The Gorman Pool at 1101 NE 47th St. and the Grove Pool at Truman Road and Benton Boulevard are set to open Monday, July 13, at noon. The Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department announced the pools would be open for recreational swimming on Monday morning. Life Lessons Start 2 North Kansas City schools begin in-person classes KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -- Monday is the first day back for some students as they return to in-person learning at two North Kansas City schools. Crestview and Winnwood elementary offer year-round schooling in the district. Before heading into the classroom, everyone will have their temperature checked and mask on. No Fair In Kansas Board votes unanimously to cancel 2020 Kansas State Fair HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KSNW) - The Kansas State Fair Board voted on Monday to cancel the 2020 Kansas State Fair due to the coronavirus pandemic. The motion was supported 13-0 to cancel the fair and go with staff recommendations on how to handle 4-H and FFA events. Show-Me 2020 Voting Missouri Secretary of State explains voting options, requirements ahead of primary election - Missourinet Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft is traveling the state to get the message out about the different ways to vote this year and the requirements that come with them. Missouri voters can cast a ballot in person, by absentee, and the new mail-in voting option. Candice Shares New Looks Candice shows off smoldering summer body in green bikini She rose to fame as a Victoria's Secret Angel. And Candice Swanepoel showed off her supermodel credentials as she posed up a storm in a meadow for Instagram. 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. Prez Trump Vs. Top Doc White House targets US disease chief Fauci US infectious disease chief Dr Anthony Fauci is being targeted by the Trump administration as tensions rise between the health expert and the president. The White House has been increasingly critical of Dr Fauci, and on Sunday, an official shared a list detailing past apparent erroneous comments. Game Show Host Solidarity Trump retweets Chuck Woolery saying "everyone is lying" about coronavirus Talk and game show host Chuck Woolery has sparked anger over a tweet in which he claims Democrats, doctors, and others are lying about COVID-19-but President Donald Trump agrees with him. The television personality of Wheel of Fortune fame has caused ire on social media for his views on the pandemic, which contradict those of the CDC. Red Scare Tactics Target Republican Senators China announces retaliatory sanctions against US officials The Chinese government has announced sanctions against US officials, including the Republican senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in response to US sanctions over Beijing's treatment of ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang province. China's ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said the retaliatory sanctions would be in place from Monday, but gave no details on what they would entail. Time Running Out For Hot App Trump advisor Navarro accuses TikTok's American CEO of being a 'puppet' for working at the Chinese app White House trade advisor Peter Navarro dubbed TikTok's new CEO Kevin Mayer, an "American puppet" for working at the Chinese-owned social media app, in an interview with Fox Business on Sunday. Navarro also used the interview to double down on accusations that Chinese apps are gathering data on Americans and handing that over to Beijing. Deadly French Fight Against Masks Shocks The World Bus driver beaten to death after asking passengers to wear face masks: "It's barbaric" The wife of a French bus driver who was beaten to death after he asked four passengers to wear face masks aboard his vehicle called Saturday for "exemplary punishment" for his killers. The assault on Philippe Monguillot has scandalized France. President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday dispatched the interior minister to meet the driver's widow after his death was announced Friday. Westport Hipsters Quickly Adapt To Pandemic Historic Westport building transformed into eateries, bar amid pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic, several businesses have closed for good as restrictions and consumer habits have changed, affecting their bottom line. But one company bucking that trend will open in Westport, bringing an assortment of foods and concepts inside a historic building. Scorching KC Week Ahead Sunny, hot Monday, temperatures rising Tuesday Hide Transcript Show Transcript FROM THE GREEN. MY GOODNESS, A BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE. WE WILL GET SOME GOOD PICTURES COMING IN. IF YOU HAVE THEM, SEND THEM TO ME ON FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER. BEAUTIFUL GORGEOUS WAY TO START THE WEEK. 60 SEVEN DEGREES, DEW POINT AND THE LOW 60'S SO IT DOESN'T FEEL THAT HUMID RIGHT NOW. Right nowand her Summer fashion winning inspires this quick collection of local news links along with a glance at pop culture, community news and info from across the nation and around the world . . .is the song of the day and this is thefor right now . . . Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has ruled out mandatory quarantine for people arriving into Ireland, saying it turned out to be a bit of a disaster in Australia. There have been increased calls for mandatory quarantine rules for people arriving from countries such as the US that have high numbers of coronavirus cases. Acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said on Monday that, from a public health perspective, mandatory quarantine would be a desirable measure but it was up to the Government to decide given the wider implications. Mr Varadkar said the Department of Health and Government have insisted mandatory quarantine would not be practical. The objective was to flatten the curve, suppress the virus, it was never to eliminate the virus. New Zealand thought they'd done that and they haven't Leo Varadkar Its a high possibility this pandemic will go on for years until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment, and its just not practical to cut ourselves off to international travel for that long whether its business, leisure, essential workers, people visiting friends and relatives, people coming home, he told Newstalk FM. The objective was to flatten the curve, suppress the virus, it was never to eliminate the virus. New Zealand thought theyd done that and they havent they now have new cases every day. Australia tried mandatory quarantine and it turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The centres, the hotels in which they quarantine people became clusters for infection and now Melbourne is in a second lockdown. Mr Varadkar said the Government intends to publish a green list of countries where it safe to travel to and from without having to quarantine next week. Expand Close PA Graphics Press Association Images / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp PA Graphics What were going to do when it comes to travelling to countries that arent on the green list or a list is (look at) tighter controls that could mean putting the passenger locator form online and it also means potentially looking at testing, he added. People will say testing is inferior to mandatory quarantine, but if we know mandatory quarantine cant be done then maybe its better to do something like that than nothing at all. Ryanair announced on Tuesday that it is cutting its Ireland-UK schedules for the months of August and September by up to 1,000 flights. A spokesman for the budget airline said Ireland is now suffering unrecoverable losses as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains open with no quarantine requirement for passengers. Last week, when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short-haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14-day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland, the spokesman said. Ryanair called on the Irish Government to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland as a matter of urgency. No new coronavirus-related deaths were reported in Ireland on Monday, leaving the total at 1,746, the National Public Health Emergency Team said. As of midnight on July 12, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) had been notified of 11 confirmed new cases of Covid-19, taking the total to 25,639 confirmed cases in Ireland. Mike Giannattasio joins Leica with over 30 years' experience in the luxury accessory sectors at Montblanc North America, Christian Dior Watches, Breguet, and Swatch Group. Before joining Leica, Giannattasio held the position of President of Silhouette International, a pioneer in the professional eyewear and lens industry. Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG says, "Mike's background will bring a new layer of expertise and experience to our leadership team here at Leica. We look forward to his impact on our brand and distribution strategy in the ever-changing optical industry, and how he envisions Leica's growth as a leader in the space." Roger Horn retires from his position as president of Leica Camera USA following a successful and distinguished 40-year career. Horn paved the way for Leica's growth and development in North America, and cemented its reputation as a leader in innovation, quality and cutting-edge technology in the world of optics. "It is with the deepest gratitude that we thank Roger for his vast contributions to the Leica family. Roger has helped drive this company to its current success since his first day over 40 years ago and we are very appreciative for his leadership over the years. Therefore I'm very happy that we are currently evaluating in what role Roger can remain a part of the Leica family, so that we can continue to benefit from his expertise and perspective," says Dr. Andreas Kaufmann, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG. About Leica Camera Leica represents a union of craftsmanship, design and experience. It is a beautiful collision of art and engineering, and the future of form and functionality. Leica Camera, headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany with a second production site in Vila Nova de Famalicao, Portugal, is an internationally operating, premium-segment manufacturer of cameras and sport optics products. The legendary status of the Leica brand is founded on a long tradition of excellence in the supreme quality and performance of cameras and lenses, and the iconic images that artists and photojournalists everywhere captured with them. For more information about Leica visit www.leicacamerausa.com, or follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Press Contact M Booth PR: [email protected] / 212-481-7000 SOURCE Leica Camera Related Links https://www.leicacamerausa.com In just 44 days, Midlands Open Door provided over 8,000 meals to the community in addition to its regular crisis shelter and soup kitchen operations. In the aftermath of the flood, Midlands Open Door filled a crucial role to provide thousands of meals to displaced flood survivors. Less than one week after the emergency shelters closed, Open Door partnered with the American Red Cross to provide breakfast and lunch to the 252 displaced flood survivors staying in local hotels. This meant producing over 500 more meals every day, in addition to the meals already served in Open Doors soup kitchen and shelters. Although Open Doors dining room is currently closed due to COVID-19, the soup kitchen still serves lunch Monday through Saturday, grab-and-go style, on the front porch of 412 W. Buttles. Restrictions on refrigeration space and volunteer availability called for quick action. The Great Lakes Loons provided extra refrigerator space for weekly milk deliveries and volunteers coordinated teams to help Open Door prep and package the meals every morning so they were ready to be picked up by American Red Cross drivers at 7 a.m. With our limited refrigerator and prep space, the challenge of 500 more meals every day was an incredible undertaking and would not have been possible without the support from the community, said Renee Pettinger, Executive Director of Midlands Open Door. During the summer when donations tend to decline, it was encouraging to see the outpouring of support for those in our community who have suffered so much devastation, Pettinger said. This collaborative community effort was made possible through volunteers and donations throughout the Midland community including the following groups: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Blessed Sacrament Church, St. Brigid Church, Midland Evangelical Free Church, Midland Nazarene Church, Midland Reformed Church, Our Redeemer Evangelical Free Church, Sunrise Church, The Church of Jesus Christ LDS, Midland Kiwanis Club, Mid-Land Realtors, Trinseo and the Zonta Club. The Open Door wrapped up the feeding initiative on July 14, providing 8,357 meals in just 44 days. We are very grateful to have worked with so many generous community partners and volunteers who assisted during this disaster, ensuring our clients had a safe place to stay and food for their family, said Amy Meister, executive director, East Central Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross. Midlands Open Door is committed to serving the homeless, hungry, and hurting in the Midland community 24/7, 365 days a year. To donate or inquire about volunteer opportunities, call its office at 989-835-2291. Processed by Victoria Ritter, vritter@mdn.net A phased reduction of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) from 350 a week to 203 between August and Christmas will form the bedrock of next Mondays July Jobs Plan. Intense negotiations led by Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath will take place in the coming days to finalise the multi-billion package, aimed at aiding the economy from the impact the Covid-19. According to senior Government sources, promises to avoid a cliff-edge on August 10 will see the PUP extended but with a focus on reducing down the payments month by month. Earlier suggestions that a two-stage drop to 275 a week and then to the 203 have given way to proposals of having more intervals on the way down. Senior sources close to the process have said the final decisions on that element are yet to be taken. However, the Irish Examiner can reveal the plan will include proposals to: Extend the PUP and the Temporary Wage Supplement Scheme until year-end; Improve the Credit Guarantee scheme for businesses; A provision to give grants supports as opposed to new loans; A waiver of commercial rates until the end of the year at a cost of 560 million; Accelerate the start of so-called shovel ready projects which can help to get people back to work quickly. Target tax breaks for certain employment heavy industries like tourism and hospitality are likely. Mr McGrath confirmed unlike the previous waiver of rates which only covered businesses that closed, the government is examining the scope of the waiver to include businesses that have remained open. Sources from across the government have made clear there is a recognition across government that the plan needs to be of a sufficient scale and needs to be ambitious if it is to have any meaningful impact on the struggling sectors of the economy. The revelations come as it emerged that the PUP is being paid this week to 345,600 people, a decrease of 67,300 on the 412,900 people paid last week, the largest weekly decrease to date. It is also a decrease of 252,400 or 42% since May 5 when 598,000 people received the payment. The government will introduce new rules on Monday to "maximise compliance" with self-isolation for people landing in Ireland. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that people who are planning on coming to Ireland should be aware that they must self isolate at nominated addresses. Failure to be at an address or fill out the passenger locator form is an offence. However, tourism businesses have reported denying service to tourists who haven't isolated for the 14 days and Mr Donnelly said that measures will be introduced to ensure compliance with both the form and isolating. Elsewhere, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris got formal Government approval to publish legislation to establish his department. The West Bengal government on Tuesday claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Devendra Nath Roy--whose death has triggered a massive political row in West Bengal with the saffron party alleging he was murdered--had died by suicide. The police suspect that it was a case of suicide. We will take the investigation to its logical end. There would be no interference, said Alapan Bandyopadhyay, state home secretary. In Delhi, a delegation comprising top leaders of the BJP, including Kailash Vijayvargiya, Babul Supriyo and Arvind Menon among others, met President Ram Nath Kovind and union home minister Amit Shah and briefed them about the incident and alleged lawlessness in the state. The BJP leaders demanded a CBI investigation and alleged that 105 BJP workers have been murdered in the last three years in Bengal by ruling party goons. A senior police officer from the district said the preliminary post-mortem report of Roy suggests that he died by suicide. A detailed chemical report is awaited. The post mortem report suggests that the death was due to the effects of hanging which was ante-mortem in nature. There were no other external injury marks, said the officer, adding that this negates the allegations levelled by the family and party leaders that Roy was murdered and then hanged. BJP observes 12-hour bandh in North Bengal over death of party MLA Senior leaders of the BJP, however, said that they have no faith in the post mortem report as the state is trying to pass off the murder as a suicide. We have no faith on the report and the CID investigation which has been ordered. The chief minister should order a CBI enquiry or a judicial enquiry by a sitting judge of the High Court. The Trinamool Congress, like before, is trying to cover up a murder case and pass it off as a suicide, said Rahul Sinha, BJP national secretary. Meanwhile, police claimed that Roy was suffering from depression as he had accumulated a huge debt since he was duped while trying to start a business. During the left regime, Roy was the manager of a local cooperative bank. He had invested around 1.5 crore to start a business with two other partners. There was a complaint lodged against Roy that he had siphoned off Rs 1.3 crore from the cooperative bank, which had not undergone any auditing for many years. He had also mortgaged his house to get a loan of Rs 25 lakhs and even collected money from locals to start the business. But he was allegedly duped and the business never took off, said a police officer. He added that one person had been detained for questioning. or Coronavirus Live Updates Roy had won the assembly elections from Hemtabad in Uttar Dinajpir district with a CPI(M) ticket in 2016 but had later joined BJP in 2019. He has named the two persons in his suicide note. There were some financial transactions. Investigation is on. We have handed over the investigation to the state criminal investigation department (CID), said Sumit Kumar, superintendent of police of Uttar Dinajpur. His family members, including his wife Chadima Roy, said that Roy had been suffering from depression over the past few days. Police also claimed to have found that one of the persons named in the suicide note had called on Chadimas mobile at least three times on Sunday and spoken to the victim. Roy had lost his own mobile a few days ago. The last call was made around 9:30 pm on Sunday. Meanwhile several BJP supporters were arrested when they allegedly damaged at least three buses and tried to forcibly shut down shops in various districts of north Bengal. Protests were also staged in Kolkata. The party also alleged that some of their workers were attacked by TMC. TMC leaders reacted to the barrage of tweets BJPs state and national leaders posted since Monday. BJPs national president himself is also spreading fake news. He is competing with his IT troll ring leaders. Jumping to conclusions without facts in desperation to score political points. Instead, he would do well to stand by the deceaseds family. Every death is a tragedy. Sad, tweeted TMC Rajya Sabha member Derek OBrien in response to a tweet by BJP president J P Nadda. By Dong Sun-hwa Actor Hyun Bin headed to Jordan Monday morning to film the thriller "Negotiations" amid the COVID-19 pandemic. "Negotiations" is the first Korean flick to start overseas shooting following the virus outbreak that has deterred international travel. Hyun Bin and other actors, including Hwang Jung-min, took a charter flight from Incheon International Airport. After they arrive in Jordan, they will go through COVID-19 checks and then self-isolate for eight days before to start filming. The exact date of their return is unknown, but the Jordanian government reportedly allowed two months for the shooting. Crew members initially planned to visit the Middle East country in March, but had to put off the plan when Jordan banned entry to people coming from Korea, due to a spike in confirmed virus cases here. The film revolves around a National Intelligence Service agent (Hyun Bin) and a diplomat (Hwang) trying to arrange the release of Koreans kidnapped in the Middle East. Yim Soon-rye who was behind the success of popular movies including "Little Forest" (2018) directs the star-studded production. With "Negotiations" leading the way, more Korean films are expected to start or resume overseas shooting. Hyun Bin, whose real name is Kim Tae-pyung, debuted in 2003 in the drama "Bodyguard" and was catapulted to fame after starring in the TV series "My Name is Kim Sam-soon" in 2005. He recently appeared in another hit drama "Crash Landing on You" with actress Son Ye-jin. In a bid to ward off the European Union (EU) antitrust concerns, Google has offered not to use Fitbit data for ad targeting. The Mountain View company is facing a possible antitrust investigation from the European regulatory body on its proposed $2.1 billion takeover of Fitbit. The regulators are concerned that Google could use sensitive health data from Fitbit devices to target ads. Google, however, has maintained since the very beginning that it will not use Fitbits health data for ads. This deal is about devices, not data. We appreciate the opportunity to work with the European Commission on an approach that safeguards consumers expectations that Fitbit device data wont be used for advertising, Google said in an emailed statement to Reuters. Google also last year promised to offer existing Fitbit users the choice to review, move, or delete their data. Advertisement The EU had sought feedback from potential rivals to the two companies about how this deal would affect competition. The regulators also asked app developers and healthcare providers for their opinion. They are likely to hear the feedback before deciding on their stance. Theyll decide on whether to approve the deal, demand more concessions, or open an extended, four-month-long investigation on the 20th of this month. Google will not use Fitbit health data for ads Google announced the acquisition of Fitbit in November last year. However, the deal is yet to go through all the required regulatory approvals around the world. Advertisement We reported earlier this month that the EU may launch a formal investigation on the deal. While privacy issues do not fall under competition rules, Google using Fitbit health data could strengthen the formers dominance in the advertising business, where it faces little competition. Google, meanwhile, says the deal is about devices only. The company is aiming to take on Apple, Samsung, and the like in the fitness-tracking and smartwatch market. It currently does not have a significant presence in this space. Advertisement However, there are again concerns that the company may stop providing its smartwatch operating system (Wear OS) to rival companies if it starts making its own devices. Thats unlikely to happen but the EU has some concerns. Market leader Apple and Samsung have in-house OSes for their watches. But the likes of Xiaomi, Huawei, and others mainly use Wear OS. Along with the EU, Australias ACCC as well as several advocacy groups from around the world have also warned against the deal. The deal is facing a probe by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) as well. I used to dream of a library devoted entirely to walking. Most of the books, spanning the centuries in many languages, would be narratives: accounts of exploration, pilgrimage, jaunts in the countryside, strolls in the city, purposeful journeys, and rambles with no particular destination. The shelves would contain works as various as The Narrow Road to the Deep North and other travel writings by the 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bash; Samuel Taylor Coleridges notebooks recording his impressions of the mountains in Britains Lake District (when fell-walking just for the experience, not for any practical purpose, was regarded as highly eccentric); Werner Herzogs memoir Of Walking in Ice; and Bruce Chatwins genre-crossing foray into the Australian Outback, The Songlines. Surely, somewhere, there must be an enormously wealthy, passionate walker who would like to endow such a project. Alas, I never found such a figure. Mores the pity, too, since in the past 20 years alone, enough good walking books have been published to fill a number of shelves in that imaginary library: not only superb chronicles of walking but also books about walking, the most influential and widely imitated of which is Rebecca Solnits Wanderlust: A History of Walking. In recent years especially, there has been a vogue for books that champion walking with considerable fervor. (See, for instance, Antonia Malchiks A Walking Life: Reclaiming Our Health and Our Freedom One Step at a Time, and In Praise of Walking: A New Scientific Exploration, by Shane OMara, a professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin.) And for readers who want to have their cake and eat it too, ... 1 You have reached the end of this Article Preview You have reached the end of this Article Preview To continue reading, subscribe now. Subscribers have full digital access. Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here. A special court under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of the promoters of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL), Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang, who are behind bars, for their alleged links to the 6,500-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank fraud case. In their bail pleas, the Wadhawans had claimed that they were ready to repay the loans taken from the bankrupt bank. They also claimed that they had provided enough collateral security in the form of immovable properties while taking out the loans. However, the prosecution objected to their contentions, citing that the value of the properties that were submitted as collateral security was far less than shown on paper. The court rejected the bail pleas after taking into account the arguments of both parties. Rakesh, who has been found to be infected with SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease (Covid-19), had moved his bail plea on health ground. His lawyers also moved a plea, seeking his transfer to a private hospital from a government-run facility. The court was informed by the prison authorities that initially, he was taken to JJ Hospital, which doesnt have a Covid-19 facility, and later he was shifted to GT Hospital, where he is undergoing treatment. On Tuesday, his lawyer Subodh Desai argued that Rakesh is suffering from several serious ailments, including gastrointestinal bleeding. He requested the court for a report from GT Hospital authorities, stating they have all the facilities to treat his multiple ailments. The court paid heed to Desais plea and directed GT Hospital to submit a report. The court will hear the plea next on Wednesday (July 15). Earlier, the Wadhawans were booked by the Mumbai Polices Economic Offences Wing (EOW) after they had defaulted on the repayment of the loans taken from PMC bank. The accused are said to have conspired with bank officials and took loans without submitting adequate collateral security. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also initiated a probe into money laundering allegations after EOW registered the case. ED has claimed in its charge sheet that the loan amount obtained from PMC was used to repay debts of other group companies, business, and cash requirements, meet personal expenditures, and for repayment of loans. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The $600 figure was passed barely in Congress as a national level benefit to get the payments out quickly rather than determine payments by individual states. The Democratic-controlled U.S. House has passed a bill that would offer a new round of benefits. Some members of the Trump administration are considering another federal stimulus package, while the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate did not take action on the House package before heading into a two-week recess that ends Friday. For example, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told cable TVs Fox Business last week that the Trump administration would cap the federal benefits so that workers dont receive more money than they did at their previous job. Adam Webb, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Friday that the senator believes we need to help North Carolinians who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and have been hurt the most, and his top priority is getting them back to work as soon as possible. U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., has not commented publicly on whether he supports an extension of federal UI benefits. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:39:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. forces sent military reinforcement and logistics to Hasakah in northeastern Syria on Tuesday, state news agency SANA reported. The U.S. brought the military gears into the Gweiran neighborhood, where the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured several government institutions late last month, said SANA. Radars and jamming systems are among the military gears the U.S. brought to Gweiran, SANA added. On June 27, the SDF stormed several government institutions in Gweiran and prevented state servants from entering them. Hasakah province and the city of Qamishli in the province are controlled by both the Syrian government and the Kurdish forces, the latter of which have bigger parts. The Syrian government has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from areas in northern and northeastern Syria, branding them as "forces of occupation" as they entered Syria without the consent of the Syrian government. Enditem https://solidarity-us.org by Ansar Fayyazuddin and M. V. Ramana Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future By Kate Brown New York: Norton, 2019, 432 pages, $27.95 paperback. On April 26, 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine exploded, scattering highly radioactive materials into the surroundings. As the fire ignited by the explosion in the reactor core burned, more radioactive effluent was expelled and swept by the winds from the Ukraine and neighboring Belarus, to much of Europe. In fact, the disaster came to international attention partly as a result of radioactive rain falling in far-away Sweden, only two days after the explosion. To date, thousands of square kilometers in Ukraine and Belarus remain closed off because of high radiation doses that would accrue to inhabitants. This was all inconceivable to nuclear experts. In 1983, a Soviet nuclear specialist wrote in the Bulletin of the International Atomic Energy Agency: aa serious loss of coolant accident is practically impossiblea the safety of nuclear power plants in the Soviet Union is assured by a very wide spectrum of measuresaa The irreconcilability of experience and professional expert testimony has been a signature motif of the Chernobyl disaster. Kate Brownas Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future lays bare the toll of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster from the perspective of the people who experienced it. Brownas book is distinguished from other works on Chernobyl by years of archival and on-the-ground field research, as well as extensive first-hand oral history. It is the confluence of the right person for the subject approaching it at the right time. Brown is a renowned historian and professor of Science, Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her first major publication, A Biography of No Place, won the American Historical Association prize for the best book in International European History. She has deep knowledge of the local culture and has had significant previous engagement on the effects of low-level radiation, especially found in Plutopia, another prize-winning book. Plutopia recounts the effects of radiation on the communities and environment around two plutonium plants. Her timing was good too: archives from the former Soviet Union were opening up their records of Chernobyl, and some of the survivors of the disaster were still available to recount their experience. Her human subjects are portrayed with empathy and warmth even when she disagrees with them, the landscape is vividly described, and the historical background always engaging and pertinent. Mystery and Official Denials Manual for Survival is partly structured as a mystery: why do official accounts of this major disaster only record an absurdly small number of deaths and relatively minor long-term ill-effects? For decades, the Soviet state and many international bodies offered figures that ranged from 31 to 54 short-term fatalities and a few thousand thyroid cancers. Brown investigates how these numbers came about and provides a fuller picture of the devastating consequences of the accident, many of which continue to unfold today. Her heroines a factory workers, doctors, some scientists and activists a are all, in their own ways, carrying out a science for the people, often at odds with officialdom. They donat start off trying to carry out such science, but are driven to it by virtue of living and working in contaminated regions and endeavoring to make sense of their own experience and observations. As elsewhere, citizens in Belarus and Ukraine had to take matters into their own hands and learn to measure radiation doses and mitigate contamination. Brownas portraits bring to life what cold numbers never can. One is reminded of psychologist Robert Jay Liftonas pithy observation: astatistics donat bleed.a The official denial of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster follows a familiar playbook. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were followed by a blackout of information about the resulting deaths and, especially, the impact of radiation exposure. Similarly, the adverse health effects of atomic bomb tests and accidents at nuclear facilities were kept secret and any revelations treated as a public relations problem rather than as an opportunity to address the public health disaster that it actually was. Surprisingly, the United States, far from using Chernobyl in anti-Soviet rhetoric, accepted the Soviet claims of minimal disruption of the ecology and ill-effects on humans. This strange congruence between the Cold War rivals, Brown argues, was due to their mutual interest in preserving the legitimacy of nuclear power as a safe energy source. Timing also played a part. During the 1990s, when Chernobylas impacts were being debated, many Western countries, including the United States, were being sued by their citizens for exposing them to radiation from atomic weapon tests. Minimizing the Toll Manual for Survival documents the various devices used to minimize the health toll from Chernobyl. One was to allow only a very small number of conditions, specifically cancers, thyroid cancer in particular, as the only admissible signatures of harmful radiation. A second was to use unwarranted extrapolations from earlier studies (e.g. the Hiroshima Lifespan Study) to Chernobyl. A third was to low-ball the radiation dose people were exposed to, and then argue that any observed health effects could not be due to such small doses. A fourth was to define safe levels by fiat and declare that exposures below these levels could not cause health impacts. A chapter called aThe Butterfly Effecta explores the history of how official bodies like the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) dealt with the explosion of cases of thyroid cancer in the region. It is a good example of the way Brown integrates biographical narrative, history and political analysis. The chapter details the hard work and uphill struggles in which scientists like Valentina Drozd from the Institute of Radiation Medicine in Minsk and Keith Baverstock from the WHOas European office were involved. They ultimately uncovered the aunexpectedly early and large spike in cancers in children from the most contaminated regions.a (251) Brown goes on to document the hostile response of officialdom, particularly how the upper echelons of the WHO, UNSCEAR and the International Atomic Energy Agency tried to suppress this knowledge. She crisply summarizes the playbook they employed: aclassify data, limit questions, stonewall investigations, block funding for research, sponsor rival studies, relate dangers to anaturala risks, draw up study protocols designed to find nothing but catastrophic effects, extrapolate and estimate to produce numbers that hide uncertainties and guesswork, privately slander and threaten dissenting scientists, and cast doubt on known facts so that scientists must pursue expensive and duplicative investigations to prove what is clearly evident.a (256) The resulting charts in UNSCEAR documents, Brown says, afelt like meditationaI too wanted to believe in the charts, to dissolve into them and make those sick kids in the contaminated regions go away.a (262) Proliferating Disasters Manual for Survival also records one role that scientists sometimes play in undermining struggles for environmental justice: abusing their status as experts by denying negative health consequences of alowa levels of radiation, they delegitimize and undermine the lived experience of the affected population. This role is by no means specific to radiation debates, as scientists have been deployed by corporations and governments to discredit popular environmental and public health movements. Brownas questioning of the legitimacy of the technocratic whitewashing of the real impact of Chernobyl has unsurprisingly been criticized. Some reviewers have attacked her by counterposing her claims with those made by the kinds of aexpertsa whose work stands exposed by the history Brown uncovers. Underlying these attacks, and the associated debate over the health impacts of low-level radiation, is the future of the nuclear industry with billions of dollars at stake. Brown is open about her stance on these subjects and has argued for her point of view vigorously yet rigorously, without pretending to be observing from the proverbial disinterested academic ivory tower. Finally, Brownas book is opportune. The subtitle, aA Chernobyl Guide to the Future,a suggests that this is not history for historyas sake but a message for us now when nuclear power is being aggressively promoted as a solution to climate change. By bringing home the lessons of CherAnobyl, Brown gives a glimpse of a possible future if nuclear power is pursued. If we absorb this history, the seductions of nuclear power will no longer have a hold on us. We thus have in our hands history as redemption a the unacknowledged victims of Chernobyl finally have a voice. Like Hamletas father, their ghosts flicker through these pages demanding acknowledgment and redress for the injustice done them. And we have history as prophecy, what Chernobyl portends for the future if we pursue nuclear power a a proliferation of nuclear ecological disasters. Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - The Libyan Army loyal to the Government of National Accord (GNA) on Tuesday stressed the need to resume oil production in the country, blocked since last January by forces loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, assuring that it has the capacity to control the Libyan state and its sovereignty over the whole territory This is a competition between two competing philosophies going on in the country right now, and I think a large part of that battle is going on at the federal level where were either going to go toward the traditional American experiment, which is the idea that the governments role is to protect your liberty, protect your property and to let you live your life, Freitas said, versus the other philosophy, which is more based around the idea of government just constantly intervening in how we raise our kids, how we run our businesses and how we live our lives. COLUMBUS, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine inexplicably canceled his expected Tuesday afternoon briefing on coronavirus, the first scheduled since the state hit a record number of newly confirmed cases. DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney didnt provide a specific reason for the cancellation, though denied there was an emergency when asked. Tierney also offered that DeWine had not tested positive for coronavirus following reporters questions. Tierney said DeWines schedule is in flux and did not provide a specific date for the next briefing, though said Thursday was likely. On Thursday the state is releasing its third coronavirus warning color-coded map. DeWine has regularly held briefings throughout the pandemic, including nearly daily for the first two months of the crisis. His decision to cancel Tuesdays briefing comes just days after Ohio hit a record of 1,525 newly confirmed coronavirus cases on Friday, beating the 1,380 on April 19 following mass testing in prisons. Read more cleveland.com politics coverage: New Ohio House bill would make Feb. 26 Dr. Amy Acton Day Ohio Gov. Mike DeWines economic panel says wearing masks key to overcoming coronavirus Republicans slam the Ohio Democratic Party for getting federal Paycheck Protection Program loan Cuyahoga County births more likely to be spaced apart than others in Ohio Russia's lower chamber of parliament, the State Duma, has approved the first reading of an expanded extremism bill aimed at further quelling opposition activists and politicians as well as anyone questioning Moscows forcible seizure of the Crimean Peninsula. Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin said on July 14 that, after the bill is adopted and becomes law, "calls for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity, including calls to alienate parts of its territory, will be considered extremism." "Any calls to separate Russia's region or its part are unacceptable and must suppressed," Volodin said. The bill, proposed by a group of lawmakers, is primarily aimed at targeting any discussion or criticism of Russia taking Crimea from Ukraine. Among other things, the legislation outlines fines and criminal liability for "public appeals" using the media, the Internet, or any other information channel. Volodin said that the bill would amend the law on extremism bringing it in line with constitutional amendments that were adopted and took effect on July 4 amid protests by opposition and rights defenders. Among other changes, the constitutional amendments allowed President Vladimir Putin to seek two more presidential terms after his current second term in a row expires in 2024. The bill must go through approvals in two more readings by the State Duma and an approval by the parliament's upper chamber, the Federation Council, before President Putin signs it into law. The head of the committee for constitutional legislation and state-building at the parliaments upper chamber, Andrei Klishas, who is also the bill's author, said on July 8 that the legislation may be fully approved by parliament by the end of July. Russian lawmakers amended the Criminal Code in July 2014, several months after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea, toughening punishment for public calls for separatism by introducing the possibility of imposing a sentence of up to five years in prison for publicly advocating separatism via media and the Internet. That amendment was used by Russian authorities to proseecute dozens of journalists and activists in Crimea for their open stance opposing the seizure of the Black Sea peninsula. The new bill proposes imprisonment of 6 to 10 years, especially for repeated violations of the law. With reporting by TASS and Interfax Web Toolbar by Wibiya Get the book on John Summers HERE. This is a story of evil and profound injustice in the legal community. Explore demonic minds in the legal community that include judges. Most people today would regard climate change, environmental destruction, terrorism, or the threat of nuclear war as being at the forefront of challenges which threaten human survival. But today I am here to provide you with a different perspective on the threats to human survival, which I don't expect you to believe. With that said, and based upon my many years of critical research, it is apparent that the greatest threat to our survival as a species is, in fact, people who collaborate with lower-dimensional and manipulative non-human entities. I know of no systemic problem on our planet that is not the direct result of someone who has literally sold their soul to the devil for a financial or political reward which has resulted in the oppression and destruction of human lives. In Walking Through Walls and Other Impossibilities: The Hybrid Agenda, Milton E. Brener cites references to the existence of a "Greada Treaty" in 1954 whereby manipulative aliens would provide big business interests with technology and, in exchange, these aliens could then abduct a "few" humans for various experiments to be determined by the non-human entities. In the video above, Alex Collier describes how various individuals are collaborating with manipulative aliens regarding the alien abduction phenomenon. In the video below, Phil Schneider discusses his direct personal contact and observations of the non-human entities that are working with individuals and organizations that seek to facilitate such abductions. It is my view that Horace Carby-Samuels was an apparent victim of a "regulated" abduction scenario by non-human entities and that Ottawa lawyer John Summers enabled the enforcement of this abduction as a result of the existence of such alleged treaties between people and non-human entities. When most people think of an alien abduction, they tend to picture aliens physically beaming the human into a UFO where various experiments are performed. However, in the case of Horace Carby-Samuels, his body was left in place but his soul was abducted and then replaced by a demonic non-human entity that began to abuse his wife, Dezrin. Horace Carby-Samuels had already had a near-death "out-of-body" experience (NDE) during the 1960s, and it is apparent that the demonic aliens that abducted his soul were able to do this because of his previous "out-of-body" experience. During the process of alien abduction, Horace began to have hysterical fits about an unspecified "extraterrestrial threat." Horace then began to experience dual personalities, which swung between his normal self and a bizarre psychopathic persona that stabbed his son with a kitchen knife, sending his son to the emergency room. The patterns of abuse worsened until the non-human entity completely took over Horace's body. After the non-human entity completely took over Horace's body, he became a raging psychopath subjecting his wife to profound emotional, psychological, and physical abuse which her son Raymond sought to protect her from. But rather than the system working to assist Raymond in protecting his mother, a mysterious lawyer began to claim that he was hired by Horace to overturn a default judgement that Raymond had successfully obtained in February 2016. The default judgement issued by Ontario Justice Patrick Smith had empowered Raymond to see his mother on a daily basis to ensure her well-being and protect her from abuse which rendered Dezrin not being able to talk, walk, and write. This lawyer's name is John Summers, and he claims to work at a minimum rate of $300 per hour. There is absolutely no way that Mr. Carby-Samuels could in any way afford such legal expenses. Indeed, when pressed by Raymond, John Summers refused to disclose the name of his actual client. Furthermore, in my book, I document that Mr. Summers involvement in the case was in tandem with a dirty cop in the Ottawa Police Services whose name is Detective Robert Griffin Jr., and four specific apparent secret society of judges who were working with Mr. Summers in a clandestine manner. Starting on June 15, 2015, dirty cops led by Robert Griffin Jr. began to threaten social service workers and other witnesses who observed the non-human behaviours that Horace Carby-Samuels began to show in his abuse against his wife. It was David Icke who in a YouTube video before his YouTube Channel was censored had made representation of a whistleblower seeing a cop changed into an alien and back to a cop again. It is apparent that Ottawa detective Robert Griffin Jr. is part of apparent demonic sleeper cells which allegedly operate in various police forces and then surface to perform unspeakable acts, which have included the killing of George Floyd and many other members of visible minorities with an emphasis on blacks and First Nations victims. Such acts, which seem on the surface to be products of systemic racism, appear to be consistent with human sacrifice rituals carried out by human physical receptacles of alien minds that seek "loosh" energy from the fear and terror which their acts are designed to provoke among humans. My book supports the contention that Mr. Summers has sought to collaborate with non-human entities that have dispossessed Horace of his body to enable bizarre multi-faceted torture experiments. It is my view that Mr. Summers' actual client(s) are collaborators with non-human entities who are using Mr. Summers as a legal "front" to ensure that an experiment under the auspices of non-human entities and their anti-human agendas is carried out against both Dezrin Carby-Samuels and Horace Carby-Samuels. John Summers and Ottawa detective Robert Griffin Jr. combined forces to ensure that Horace Carby-Samuels' state of psychosis under the control of a demonic entity was not examined by health authorities. John Summers then conspired to ensure that Dezrin was denied medically prescribed speech therapy and any assistance that Dezrins son sought to provide to aid in her recovery from abuse. However, Mr. Summers nefarious activities would not have been possible without the presence of non-human operatives both among the police and in the justice system, which collectively engaged in criminal conspiracy, supported by the intimidation of witnesses who sought to expose Summers' "House of Torture." In the old days, black elites sold-out fellow black people to European colonial powers in what became an African slave trade. Nowadays, the slave trade apparently continues, but this time it involves non-human entities that Alex Collier asserts are living underground and that collaborate with humans who, in turn, seek various personal benefits. It is my humble opinion that this experiment consists of Horace being made to watch his wife being abused by a non-human entity occupying his body, and that his being made to watch his wife being abused out of his body, as he had been originally when he reportedly saw himself being operated on with his wife hovering over him at a hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia. It is also my humble opinion that although Mr. Summers would likely regard himself as a good person, I would regard the kinds of activities he has been involved with as those of a total scumbag who has betrayed the human race through crimes against humanity. Thanks to John Summers, Horace appears to have been dispossessed of his body, and his wife reportedly passed away sometime around February 2020 as a result of sustaining years of torture. This torture was what John Summers sought to perpetuate with the support of an apparent underground network of sleeper cell collaborators who report to non-human entities that seek to perpetuate the oppression and destruction of all humans. If Dr. Michael Salla is correct in his assertion that much of science fiction hides truth in plain sight, then it was ABC-TVs now-cancelled V science-fiction series which vividly revealed the kind of sleeper cells seen in the abduction of Horace Carby-Samuels through the illicit activities of John Summers and his confederates. Mr. Summers' role has been to manufacture a tissue of lies and criminal manipulations of judicial procedures with the needed support of sleeper-cell collaborators willing to sell-out the entire human race for financial and political favours. John Summers has not only engaged in terrestrial crimes. He has also apparently conspired in breaches of human sovereignty which violate alleged intergalactic conventions described by Alex Collier in Defending Sacred Ground. The collective result of people like Mr. Summers apparently collaborating with manipulative non-human entities has been worsening patterns of destruction, apparently including the ongoing pandemic. Dr. Michael Salla and other researchers have linked the prevailing coronavirus pandemic to such collaborations with non-human entities. In his apparent work on behalf of non-human entities, John Summers literally turned his back on a sick and disabled woman, left in feces, crying to see her son. He turned his back on these torture experiments conducted by the non-human occupying Horace's body. These bizarre torture experiments occurred under the auspices of John Summers from early spring 2016 into 2020. Indeed, two independent investigators corroborate the taking over of Horace's body by non-human entities. Furthermore, handwriting analysis also supports the contention that Horace was dispossessed of his body. In the image on the left, you will see the signature that Horace has had for over 60 years. To the right, you will then see the signature of the being occupying Horace's body. Multiple handwriting experts have asserted there is no way the two signatures could have been written by the same person. When Raymond sought to bring this matter to the attention of the Superior Court of Ontario, the administrative judge agreed to investigate. However, John Summers then got Justice Sylvia Corthorn, who appears to be working for the same non-human entities as John Summers, to declare Raymond to be a "vexatious litigant." This declaration was designed to prevent Raymond from interfering in this apparent demonic experiment against both Horace Carby-Samuels and his wife, Dezrin Carby-Samuels. In my book Justin Trudeau, Judicial Corruption and the Supreme Court of Canada: Aliens and Archons in Our Midst, I explore in more detail the institutional context of an apparent alien abduction scenario against both Horace Carby-Samuels and his wife, Dezrin Carby-Samuels. My book also relies on Dr. Michael Salla's research of manipulative aliens that are associated with a myriad of systemic problems on our planet. If we as humans want to begin to redress systemic problems on our planet, we must first redress the iniquity of those humans who have sought to sell-out fellow humans beings to self-serving and demonic non-human entities. No words can truly capture the evils of John Summers and other such people who are collaborating in the eventual destruction of humankind. Chief Marketing & Development Officer, Kelly Dolan to succeed Musolino in leadership of the Charity; Janet Burton appointed to Chief Operating Officer Kelly Dolan Kelly Dolan Janet Burton Janet Burton Chicago, IL, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) president and CEO, Sheila Musolino, announced her plans to retire in December, after leading the global nonprofit organization through a remarkable period of growth and mission delivery over the last 7 years. Musolino joined RMHC in 2013, serving as Chief Operating Officer and was later elected president and CEO in December, 2015. Under her leadership, RMHC has strengthened its global network and expanded infrastructure to support over 260 Chapters in 65 countries and regions around the world. With a focus on deepening the impact of RMHC and delivering compassionate, family-centered care, Musolino has led the global system in providing comfort and support to millions of families with ill or injured children - keeping them together and near the medical care their child needs at leading hospitals worldwide. It has been my great honor to serve an organization that is deeply committed to serving children and families at a time when they truly need it most, said Musolino. Our dedicated staff, volunteers and community partners around the world are working to advance the RMHC mission each and every day, ultimately reducing the stress and financial burden families must face when they have a sick child. I am proud and honored to have been a part of such an impactful organization. Prior to joining RMHC, Musolino spent nearly 30 years with McDonalds Corporation, where most recently she served as vice president, U.S. Supply Chain. In this role, she led the supply chain strategies for all food and beverage product categories. Throughout her extensive career with the company, she held various roles within supply chain, operations and purchasing to support McDonalds U.S. business. Story continues Over the next several months, Musolino will focus on ensuring a smooth and successful transition for the RMHC system. Effective December 8, 2020, Kelly Dolan, the current Chief Marketing & Development Officer of RMHC, will be appointed the new President and CEO. In her new role, Dolan will lead strategic planning for the organizations long-term growth, impact and delivery of mission at RMHC Chapters around the world. Dolan joined RMHC in 2017 and has made a tremendous impact through her successful leadership of all areas of fundraising, marketing and communications for the global organization. Dolan brings over 30 years of non-profit management and fundraising experience to her new role. Dolan started her career with Leo Burnett in Chicago and transitioned into the non-profit sector after a move to Atlanta. Her non-profit experience includes serving as Executive Director for The Atlanta Womens Foundation and as the Executive Director for two global health organizations, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Georgia and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Greater Atlanta Affiliate. Kelly also has experience in non-profit hospital administration including her role as Director of Strategic Marketing for Egleston Childrens Health Care System (now Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta), the largest childrens healthcare system in the Southeast. In addition to the CEO transition, RMHC is pleased to announce the appointment of Janet Burton to Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Burton has more than 35 years of experience in non-profit management focused on designing and executing strategies for global growth and development. Her career with RMHC began in 2002. Serving as the Chief Field Operations Officer, she has successfully designed and executed the Charitys international expansion, program development efforts and operations for the global RMHC Chapter system. In her new position as COO, Burton is responsible for leading the strategic direction for all administrative and operational functions of the global organization. On behalf of the entire RMHC Board of Trustees, I would like to thank Sheila for her dedicated leadership, passion for family-centered care, and decades of service to RMHC and our Founding Mission Partner, McDonalds, said Steven M. Ramirez, Global Chair, RMHC Board of Trustees. The moves for Kelly and Janet reinforce the depth and organizational strength of the RMHC infrastructure. I am confident that under their leadership, RMHC will continue to advance family-centered care and providing support services to a diverse population of families with ill or injured children, ensuring they are fully supported throughout their health care journey. About Ronald McDonald House Charities Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) corporation that creates, finds, and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families. Through a global network of over 260 Chapters in 65 countries and regions, RMHC enables, facilitates and supports family-centered care through three core programs: the Ronald McDonald House, the Ronald McDonald Family Room and the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile. RMHC programs help families with ill or injured children stay together and near leading hospitals and health care services worldwide, ensuring they have access to the medical care their child needs while fully supported and actively involved in their childs care. For more information, visit rmhc.org. Follow RMHC on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. Attachments CONTACT: Kristin Hylek Ronald Mcdonald House Charities (773) 547.1018 kristin.hylek@us.mcd.com Meghan Markle spoke out about the fight against gender and race inequality while addressing young women around the world at a digital global leadership summit on Tuesday - during which she quoted the Dalai Lama while urging participants to focus on 'compassion' instead of 'anger'. The 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex joined the event, organized by UN initiative Girl Up, to give a passionate speech about racial and gender injustices the world over - insisting that young women are the key to global change if they are willing to put aside negativity and focus on 'building each other up'. Standing in front of a plain wall while wearing a vibrant blue dress, Meghan told participants that they must challenge world leaders and executives to fight major issues including racial injustice and gender inequality, as well as gun violence, mental health awareness, and the reform of the criminal justice system. Motivation: Meghan Markle urged young women around the world to fight race and gender inequality with 'compassion' while addressing the Girl Up Leadership Summit on Tuesday Exciting: The 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex was announced as a keynote speaker at the online event just last week 'those in the halls and corridors and places of powerfrom lawmakers to world leaders to executivesall of those people, they depend on you more than you will ever depend on them. And heres the thing: They know this,' Meghan said. 'Now many of them, better or worse, they dont listen until they have to,' she continued. 'Because the status quo is easy to excuse and its hard to break.' The Duchess of Sussex, who is currently living in Tyler Perry's $18 million Los Angeles home with her husband Prince Harry and their baby son Archie, noted that powerful organizations, including government, 'pull tightest right before snapping' and she urged the young summit participants to 'keep challenging' global leaders. 'I say to you, keep challenging, keep pushing, make them a little uncomfortable. Because its only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to reimagine our standards, our policies, and our leadership,' she insisted. However, the former Suits star also noted that any fight for change or social justice should be done with 'compassion', insisting that 'compassion doesn't mean you shouldn't feel anger or outrage' - but rather than you should 'broaden' those emotions into something positive. Quoting the Dalai Lama, Meghan continued: 'Compassion doesnt mean we shouldnt feel anger and outrage when we see blatant injustice all around usof course we should. But I challenge you to broaden that feeling. The Dalai Lama famously said, Compassion is the radicalism of our time. 'Compassion means seeing the pain and suffering of others and knowing its our duty to try to help relieve it.' The duchess also addressed the 'power' of social media, noting that it has the potential both to 'aid' and 'impair' the fight for justice. 'Our online role has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm,' she noted. Speaking about dealing with negativity in all forms, Meghan shared her advice for how to handle it, both in person and online, telling the summit participants that they must learn to drown out the 'noise' of negative voices and prioritize positivity. Pro: Meghan is now more than used to speaking via meeting software having dialed into several events recently, including an address last month to her former high school Working together: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also joined a video call with young leaders from the Queen's Commonwealth Trust earlier this month 'We are not meant to be breaking each other down,' she said. 'Build each other up, support each other. 'There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because thats what it isjust noise. 'But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder.' The Duchess of Sussex also shared two role models that she looks towards for inspiration and motivation: New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and WNBA star Maya Moore. 'We can take inspiration from women like Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who brought New Zealand together to swiftly and boldly tackle COVID-19, or Maya Moore, the WNBA star who has sat out from professional basketball since 2019 to free a man [prisoner Jonathan Irons] who served 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit,' she said. Meghan then vowed to continue 'cheering on' all young women who are leading the fight for social change, while also offering the support of Prince Harry and their son Archie. 'I will be cheering you on, so will my husband, so will Archie, as you all continue marching, advocating, and leading the way forward,' she concluded. Girl Up, which has the motto 'uniting girls to change the world', revealed that the royal was set to appear at its virtual 2020 Global Leadership Summit last week, sharing the news on its social media platforms. Meghan was a keynote speaker at the online event, which began on July 13 and is set to continue until July 15. It is the latest in a series of public steps taken by Prince Harry and Meghan as they shift the focus of their royal work towards racial equality and social justice. The post announcing the Duchess of Sussex's appearance read: 'The present is female! But dont take our word for it. 'Hear from our keynote speaker Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex, as she takes the stage at our 2020 Leadership Summit, happening virtually July 13-15!' The campaign group said this year's summit promises to be 'unforgettable with interactive virtual workshops, panels with global leaders, and so much more'. Cheerleaders: Meghan told Girl Up summit participants that she will be 'cheering them on' alongside Prince Harry and their son Archie The Girl Up Global Leadership Summit is part of an initiative started by the UN, which is 'dedicated to securing equal opportunities for underprivileged adolescent girls in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Guatemala, and India'. Initially, the leadership summit was due to take place in Washington, D.C., however it was moved to an online format over fears about safety amid the coronavirus pandemic. The summit boasts a host of big-name corporate sponsors, including P&G, while the organization itself has partnered with the likes of Google, BNY Mellon, H&M, Intel, and Penguin. A spokesperson for Girl Up confirmed to DailyMail.com that speakers are not paid for their time, and all take part in the summit on a volunteer basis. However, experts have previously revealed that both Meghan and Prince Harry could stand to earn millions from public speaking engagements in the future - with one agency estimating that the couple could rake in up to $500,000 each from a single appearance. In February, a PR expert told DailyMail.com that the couple may have earned 'up to $1 million' between them to speak at a star-studded JP Morgan summit in Miami, insisting that the couple will be the 'highest-paid speakers that exist on the corporate market'. 'I would not be shocked if they earned in excess of $1 million,' Ronn Torossian, CEO of New York-based firm 5W Public Relations, said of their JP Morgan engagement. 'Over the year their earning power could be unlimited. Meanwhile, GDA Speakers, whose clients include Nicole Kidman and Diane Keaton, told TMZ that the Duke and Duchess will likely attract much higher fees than regular celebrities, even without their HRH titles. The majority of big-name celebrities earn between $200,000 and $300,000 for a speaking engagement, however the agency estimates that Harry and Meghan could each earn close to double that amount thanks to their impressive global standing. 'The LA celebrity hotness is back!' Fans swoon over Meghan Markle's flowing locks, bare shoulders and glowing skin as she ditches the royal look for good - and 'emerges rebranded and more confident than ever' Fans have praised Meghan's appearance as 'flawless' and remarked on her 'LA makeover' following her live speech for UN initiative Girl Up, Followers quickly flooded Twitter with tweets remarking on her 'flowing hair, Hollywood glow - comparing relaxed look to her reserved former royal look Body language expert Judi James described the LA native's appearance as redesigned and rebranded Described her as 'fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track and on form as a confident and inspirational speaker in her own right' By Jessica Rach for MailOnline Fans have praised Meghan Markle's appearance as 'flawless' and remarked on her 'LA makeover' following her live speech for UN initiative Girl Up, which an expert has called her 'most important one to date'. The Duchess of Sussex, 38, appeared via video link as she spoke out about the fight against gender and race inequality while addressing young women around the world at a digital global leadership summit today. And followers quickly flooded Twitter with tweets remarking on her 'flowing hair, Hollywood glow and bare shoulders' - comparing Meghan's relaxed look to her more reserved former royal look. Meanwhile body language expert Judi James described the LA native's appearance as redesigned and rebranded, describing her as 'fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track and on form as a confident and inspirational speaker in her own right'. Fans have praised Meghan Markle's appearance as 'flawless' and remarked on her 'LA makeover' following her live speech for UN initiative Girl Up, which an expert has called her 'most important one to date' Speaking to FEMAIL, Judi said: 'This was a very redesigned and rebranded Meghan, with her body language suggesting she has now fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track and on form as a confident and inspirational speaker in her own right. 'Meghans gesticulation was more guru than Hollywood actress and wife of a prince. 'The way her cheeks rounded in a calm smile at the start showed happy confidence to be there addressing her young audience and throughout her speech she avoided showboating or over-congruence, both of which are trait-traps that less experienced and less adept speakers often fall into, using over-exaggeration to try to hammer their messages home. 'Instead Meghan spoke with a calm and warm tone, using long blinks and a raised index finger to suggest wisdom and empathy. Her finger pinch gesture flagged up precise thought and a desire to give advice from a place of experience and when she pulled her hands into fists she showed a desire to create change.' udi James described the LA native's appearance as redesigned and rebranded, describing her as 'fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track' (Meghan is seen with Harry at a final royal engagement in March at Westminster Abbey in a more demure look) Fans quickly shared their excitement over Meghan's impressive appearance, with one writing: 'Meghan Markle bringing full Los Angeles celebrity hotness for the UN speech She continued: 'Her eye-gaze commanded the camera and when she told her audience to Chase your convictions with actions she coupled it with small but dramatic pauses and the slow, calm blink. 'This was possibly Meghans most important speech to date, alongside the likes of women like Michelle Obama, and it was clear she was more than up to the challenge. 'She was at her most confident here and the way she ended with a praying hand clasp pointed at the camera means her message of support should have inspired a whole new audience.' Another added: 'This girl! She was glowing!', while one said: 'Meghan was amazing!'. Remarking on her speech, another wrote: 'What a powerful and inspiring speech', and one tweeted: 'It's done, I want to listen to her more!' And fans quickly shared their excitement over Meghan's impressive appearance, with one writing: 'Meghan Markle bringing full Los Angeles celebrity hotness for the UN speech. 'No more royal hairstyles, covered shoulders or minimal make-up. She is back!'. Another added: 'This girl! She was glowing!', while one said: 'Meghan was amazing!'. Remarking on her speech, another wrote: 'What a powerful and inspiring speech', and one tweeted: 'It's done, I want to listen to her more!'. Elsewhere one shared a meme of Rihanna wearing a crown, and remarked: 'She's just so effortless with it.. my goodness!'. Elsewhere one shared a meme of Rihanna wearing a crown, and remarked: 'She's just so effortless with it.. my goodness!' Girl Up, which has the motto 'uniting girls to change the world', revealed that the royal was set to appear at its virtual 2020 Global Leadership Summit last week, sharing the news on its social media platforms. Meghan was a keynote speaker at the online event, which began on July 13 and is set to continue until July 15. It is the latest in a series of public steps taken by Prince Harry and Meghan as they shift the focus of their royal work towards racial equality and social justice. The post announcing the Duchess of Sussex's appearance read: 'The present is female! But dont take our word for it. 'Hear from our keynote speaker Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex, as she takes the stage at our 2020 Leadership Summit, happening virtually July 13-15!' The campaign group said this year's summit promises to be 'unforgettable with interactive virtual workshops, panels with global leaders, and so much more'. The Girl Up Global Leadership Summit is part of an initiative started by the UN, which is 'dedicated to securing equal opportunities for underprivileged adolescent girls in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Guatemala, and India'. A spokesperson for Girl Up confirmed to DailyMail.com that speakers are not paid for their time, and all take part in the summit on a volunteer basis. Delivering her live speech in a vibrant cobalt blue dress in front of a plain wall at Tyler Perry's LA mansion, where she is currently staying with Prince Harry, 35, and Archie, 1, Meghan told participants that they must challenge world leaders and executives to fight major issues including racial injustice and gender inequality, as well as gun violence, mental health awareness, and the reform of the criminal justice system. The former Suits star also noted that any fight for change or social justice should be done with 'compassion', insisting that 'compassion doesn't mean you shouldn't feel anger or outrage' - but rather than you should 'broaden' those emotions into something positive. Quoting the Dalai Lama, Meghan said that she, her husband and Archie would be cheering change-makers on, as she continued: 'I challenge you to broaden that feeling. The Dalai Lama famously said, "Compassion is the radicalism of our time."' The duchess also addressed the 'power' of social media, noting that it has the potential both to 'aid' and 'impair' the fight for justice. 'Our online role has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm,' she noted. Speaking about dealing with negativity in all forms, Meghan shared her advice for how to handle it, both in person and online, telling the summit participants that they must learn to drown out the 'noise' of negative voices and prioritize positivity. 'We are not meant to be breaking each other down,' she said. 'Build each other up, support each other. 'There will always be negative voices. Drown out that noise. Because that's what it is, it is just noise. Your voices can and should be much louder.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:51:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Angela Merkel refused to comment on Tuesday on Bavarian Minister President Markus Soeder's purported candidacy to succeed her as German chancellor. By announcing that she will not seek reelection, she has imposed a "particular restraint" on her succession, Merkel said during a joint press conference with Soeder in Bavaria. "Therefore, you will not hear me comment on the issue... in any form or in any forum," Merkel said, adding that she would only say that "Bavaria has a good premier." Germany is scheduled to hold its next parliamentary elections in autumn 2021. Last year, German media identified Merkel's potential successors. The list included Soeder, former leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in the Bundestag Friedrich Merz, Health Minister Jens Spahn, and minister president of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet. Support for Soeder's candidacy has increased in recent days as he imposed strict measures to contain the pandemic in the southern German state. Enditem Let's Talk Cattle & Sheep Webinar - BEAM Scheme Requirements Event Time 6:30pm Venue Online Timely, relevant and practical advice to allow you make better management decisions on your beef and sheep farm This webinar on Wednesday, 15 July will focus on: What farmers need to do to ensure their 2019 BEAM scheme payment is not penalised in 2021 and is part of a series of fortnightly webinars for Irish beef and sheep farmers which will be hosted by Teagasc. Speakers Alan Dillon, Teagasc (Facilitator) Aidan Murray, Teagasc Beef Specialist Christy Watson, Teagasc B&T advisor Kildare Topics to be covered BEAM scheme requirements Key dates to comply with in the scheme How to avoid a penalty Worked examples of farmers on how to plan out a drop in organic N Make sure to join on Wednesday evening at 6.30pm for timely, relevant and practical advice to allow you make better management decisions on your beef and sheep farm. Be prepared to get involved in the discussion there will be an opportunity for you to pose your questions to the presenters. Click here for a full list of upcoming webinars by Teagasc Egypt's Court of Cassation rejected on Tuesday a prosecution appeal against the acquittal of former interior minister Habib El-Adly on charges of illicit gains. The public prosecution had appealed against a 2019 criminal court verdict that acquitted Mubaraks longest-serving interior minister, and eight others, on charges of of illicit gains during his time at the ministry of interior. That earlier verdict saw them instead fined EGP 500 each for charges of negligence and unintentional damage. The Court of Cassation did not accept the defendants appeals against the fine. El-Adly and his co-defendants were originally accused by the prosecution of embezzling interior ministry funds amounting to EGP 2.38 billion. In 2017, he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison, but the Court of Cassation accepted the defendants appeal in 2018 and ordered a retrial. El-Adly served as minister from 1997 until president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in 2011. After the revolution he was charged with the murder of protesters and the cutting off of telecommunications, but he was acquitted in all of the cases except the illicit gains case and another known in the local media as the conscript enslavement case. He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2013 for charges related to that case, a verdict and sentence which was upheld by the Court of Cassation in 2014. Search Keywords: Short link: Healthcare workers test patients at the COVID-19 drive-thru testing site at the Duke Energy for the Arts Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Fla., on July 8, 2020. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images) COVID-19 Testing Data in Florida Inaccurate, Hospitals Say Sky-high positivity rates listed by the Florida Department of Health in its daily CCP virus report are wrong, hospitals told The Epoch Times. It looks like there is an error in the data report. Lee Health has not experienced 100% positivity in our lab testing, Pat Dolce, a spokeswoman for Lee Health, said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. We are reaching out to the Department of Health to resolve the discrepancy. The report (pdf) showed that Orlando Health had a 98 percent positivity rate. That number is incorrect, an Orlando Health spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email. The hospital systems positivity rate is 9.4 percent as of July 12, she said. A nurse takes a patient to their car from Memorial West Hospital where COVID-19 patients are treated, in Pembroke Pines, Fla., on July 13, 2020. (Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters) The Orlando Veterans Medical Center was listed as having 76 percent positivity rate. But a Veterans Affairs spokeswoman told The Epoch Times that the positivity rate for the center is 7 percent. The positivity rate refers to the percentage of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus tests that come back positive. The new virus from China causes COVID-19, a disease that kills a small percentage of patients. The Florida Department of Health reported an 11.5 percent positivity rate across the state on Monday, a slight uptick from Sunday. A spokesperson for the department confirmed to The Epoch Times that some of the figures in its daily report are not correct. In recent days, the Florida Department of Health noticed that some smaller, private labs werent reporting negative test result data to the state. The Department immediately began working with those labs to ensure that all results were being reported in order to provide comprehensive and transparent data, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. As the state continues to receive results from various labs, the Department will continue educating these labs on proper protocol for reporting COVID-19 test results. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis puts on a mask during a press conference at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Fla., on July 13, 2020. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images) The story was first reported by Fox 35. A rise in CCP virus cases and the positivity rate in Florida has caused concerns among officials. State officials said 112,624 tests were done on July 12 and 12,624 came back positive. Florida doesnt appear to track the daily number of hospitalizations; officials say 18,881 people have been hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic started. According to an independent group, the COVID-19 Tracking Project, 8,051 people are currently hospitalized in the state. Florida reported that 35 residents who tested positive for the new disease have died since July 12, bringing the deaths linked to COVID-19 to 4,514. The positivity rate, even with the errors, stayed steady for two days straight after the state recently saw a 16 percent rate. Most patients who get infected with the CCP virus eventually recover. The virus primarily causes severe illness in the elderly and infirm. Britains government on Tuesday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a limited role in the U.K.s new high-speed mobile phone network in a decision with broad implications for relations between London and Beijing. Britain imposed the ban after the U.S. threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement because of concerns Huawei equipment could allow the Chinese government to infiltrate UK networks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was under pressure from rebels in his own Conservative Party who criticized Chinas new Hong Kong security law and its treatment of ethnic Uighurs, as well as Huaweis links to the Chinese government. Ten Conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from the UKs critical national infrastructure. Johnson in January sought to balance economic and security pressures by agreeing to give Huawei a limited role in Britains so-called 5G network, excluding the company from core components of the system and restricting its involvement to 35% of the overall project. But the move set up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who threatened to cut off security cooperation unless Britain dumped Huawei. Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the U.S. in May imposed new sanctions that will bar companies around the world from using American-made machinery or software to produce chips for the Chinese company. The British government is reportedly poised to backtrack on plans to give Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei a limited role in the U.K.s new high-speed mobile phone network, a decision with broad implications for relations between the two countries. Britains decision to re-examine the question, the results of which will be announced Tuesday, came after the U.S. threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement because of concerns Huawei equipment could allow the Beijing government to infiltrate U.K. networks. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also under pressure from rebels in his own Conservative Party who criticize Chinas new Hong Kong security law and its treatment of ethnic Uighurs, as well as Huaweis links to the Chinese government. Ten Conservative lawmakers sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from the UKs critical national infrastructure. Everybody has advocated engagement for years and years and years, but its become apparent that weve been mugged by China, Neil OBrien, a Conservative member of Parliament and secretary of the partys China Research Group, told the BBC Monday night. Weve tried to be nice and theyve just become more and more aggressive. Johnson in January sought to balance economic and security pressures by agreeing to give Huawei a limited role in Britains so-called 5G network, excluding the company from core components of the system and restricting its involvement to 35% of the overall project. But the move set up a diplomatic clash with the Americans, who threatened to cut off security cooperation unless Britain dumped Huawei. Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the U.S. in May imposed new sanctions that will bar companies around the world from using American-made machinery or software to produce chips for the Chinese company. The back and forth has put Huawei at the vortex of tensions between China and Britain. Last fall, the U.K. called on China to give the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights free access to the Xinjiang region, where most of the countrys Uighur people live. More recently, Johnsons government has criticized Chinas decision to impose a sweeping new national security law on Hong Kong. Britain accused the Beijing government of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration under which the U.K. returned control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible residents of the city. Chinas ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, last week decried what he described as gross interference in Chinese affairs. Britain can only be great, he said, when it has an independent foreign policy, adding that it sets a bad precedent to make your policy in the morning and change it in evening. It also sends out a very bad message to the China business community, Liu said, suggesting Chinese companies might think twice about investing in Britain. They are all watching how you handle Huawei. Rana Mitter, an Oxford University history professor specializing in China, said that the security law combined with broader resentment about the way China handled information about the coronavirus created increased wariness among Britains politicians and the public. But for China, it is the way Britain has handled the Huawei issue that is the major problem. Even if Britain decides that buying Huawei isnt a good idea, this could have been done more discreetly, Mitter said. There is a sense, I suspect, in Beijing that the Huawei row has made China lose face, he said. And this is one of the things that clearly does not go down well with China, which is, of course, a proud country, the worlds second biggest economy with the capacity to use that economic power when it wants to, and also a country which in general feels on the back foot at the moment because of the COVID pandemic and the worlds reaction to that. Before the decision, Huawei announced that its U.K. chairman would step down early. John Brownes term was due to end in March but ex-boss of energy company BP is now expected to depart in September. Kolkata: The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) Board Madhyamik class 10 result 2020 will be declared on Wednesday (July 15) whereas the Uccha Madhyamik class 12 results will be announced on July 17. The class 10 results is expected to be out at 10 am on Tuesday. The announcement was made by Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today. Candidates can check their results on official websites wbbse.org and wbresults.nic.in or third-party website examresults.net. Here's how to check WBBSE Madhyamik Result 2020: Step 1: Visit this link or wbresults.nic.in or examresults.net Step 2: Click on WBBSE class 10 results 2019. Step 3: Enter the required details as asked on the page and hit the 'Submit' button. Step 4: The WBBSE Madhyamik Result 2019 will be displayed on the screen Candidates are advised to download marksheet for future use. This year, around 10 lakh candidates including 5 lakh female students appeared for the Madhyamik examinations. In the year 2019, West Bengal Madhyamik result was declared on May 21, 2020. The pass percentage was 86.07% last year. Last year, the overall pass percentage was 86.07 per cent. To pass the WBBSE exams, it is mandatory that students pass all subjects with a minimum of 25 per cent. The Board has given students an option to appear in supplementary examinations. This year the results were delayed due to the pandemic and the nationwide lockdown. Class 10 exams ended on February 22, 2020. Around 10 lakh students appeared for the exams this year. Usually, mark sheets are handed over to the students as soon as results are declared but this year it will be made online. India has recorded over 28,000 new cases in a day to take its total number of Covid-19 cases to 907,645. This is the third consecutive day when India has recorded over 28,000 new cases. The country's death toll stands at 23,727. Maharashtra has seen a spike of 6,497 cases in the past 24 hours, while Delhi has added 1,246 cases to its tally. on Monday said Why are states like Telangana, Bihar just not doing enough testing and not putting out data. Consequences of this will be seen in two-three months. All these states, which are not doing testing, need to be shamed. He said states and districts should be ranked not in terms of absolute number of Covid-19 cases, but in terms of testing. And Goa government makes it compulsory for all private hospitals in state to reserve 20 per cent of their beds for Covid-19 patients Tune in to the podcast for more New York: A $US19 million ($27 million) settlement between Harvey Weinstein and some of his accusers has been rejected by a judge. US District Judge Alvin K. Heellerstein in Manhattan said on Tuesday, local time, that Weinstein's accusers in the proposed class-action settlement were too varied to be grouped together. Harvey Weinstein, pictured arriving at a Manhattan court in February. Credit:AP Lawyers for several women who had opposed the deal praised what they described as Hellerstein's swift rejection of a one-sided proposal. A spokesman for Weinstein did not immediately comment. A lawyer for his companies declined to comment. Since nearly seven months, COVID-19 has been wreaking havoc all over the world. What started in a small market in the city of Wuhan has completely crippled our world while also claiming the lives of millions around the world. Getty Images Since the very beginning, researchers have been striving hard to find a solution to take down the novel coronavirus once and for all. And it looks like that day is finally here. Reports by Russian news agency TASS has announced that Russia has become the first nation in the world to complete clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine on humans. Smolyarchuk, who heads the Center for Clinical Research on Medications at Sechenov University said in a statement, "The research has been completed and it proved that the vaccine is safe. The volunteers will be discharged on July 15 and July 20." Russian COVID-19 vaccine trials Alexander Lukashev, the director of the Institute of Medical Parasitology, Tropical, and Vector-Borne Diseases at Sechenov University, said in a statement to Sputnik, The safety of the vaccine has been confirmed. It corresponds to the safety of those vaccines that are currently on the market. Russia had permitted clinical trials of two forms of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology. The first vaccine trial was carried out at the Burdenko Military Hospital, wheres the second one was tested by researchers at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University. Around 20 people volunteered for the injection. After administering the vaccine, the volunteers were quarantined in the hospital for 28 days. According to a statement from Russian Defence Ministry, earlier, results of the COVID-19 vaccine tests performed on volunteers revealed the development of immunity to COVID-19, but the details for the drug havent been revealed as of now. Reuters Is the COVID-19 vaccine race over? In case you were wondering this is it and our lives will soon go back to normal, the answer is no. Firstly, this was a Phase I human trial and there are two more stages that remain. These tests, even though successful, were only conducted with a small group of volunteers. Testing on a larger group is imperative if the vaccine is going to be rolled out to the masses as a silver bullet to stop COVID-19. A loving mother found dead in her home by police on Tuesday night has been remembered as a "beautiful angel", while her estranged husband remains under police guard in hospital after being arrested. Elaine Pandilovski, 44, was found dead in her Mill Park home on Hawkes Drive about 9.30pm on Tuesday by police who were conducting a welfare check. Elaine Pandilovski was found dead in her home in Mill Park on Tuesday night. Her estranged husband, Zoran Pandilovski, 45, has been arrested and was in hospital under guard on Wednesday after he was involved in car crash on Tuesday morning. He has not been charged. The dailies on Tuesday, July 14, reported on the alarming surge in cases of COVID-19 infections and fatalities from across the country. The papers have also reported on the silent return of ODM party leader Raila Odinga from Dubai where he had gone to seek treatment. READ ALSO: Coronavirus update: 12 patients die in Nairobi as 189 more test positive Kenyan newspapers for July 14. Photo: UGC Source: UGC READ ALSO: Confusion in Western Kenya as 4 factions emerge seeking to unite region 1. People Daily Kenya recorded the highest number of coronavirus deaths on Monday, July 13, after 12 people succumbed to the virus. The crisis continues to loom, especially after one of the doctors who was on the frontline in battling the pandemic died last week. About 15 other nurses at Pumwami Maternity Hospital have already been diagnosed with the virus and their colleagues are currently on a go-slow. Hospitals appear to be already overwhelmed and the government is advocating for home-based care for asymptomatic cases. This is happening at a time the country is yet to reach the peak of infections. READ ALSO: Man United vs Southampton: Obafemi scores late as Red Devils are held at Old Trafford People Daily newspaper for July 14. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC 2. The Star Opposition leader Raila Odinga silently landed in the country on Sunday, July 12, evening, raising eyebrows among Kenyans who were expecting a triumphant return. However, ODM chairman John Mdadi said Raila chose to jet back silently to avoid huge crowds that would have thronged the airport to welcome him. Mbadi stated with the current COVID-19 restrictions, the former premier did not want his supporters to expose themselves to the virus. Raila will not go to his Capitol Hill office for the next two weeks but will be working from his Karen office. This is aimed at minimising engagements with many people intending to meet him. The Star newspaper for July 14. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC 3. The Standard The daily has looked at other options that the Ministry of Education can consider for the reopening of schools. Some of the recommendations include allowing Standard Eight and Form Four learners to resume studies in September and prepare for the national exams while observing COVID-19 safety protocols. The government is advised to use capitation funds to equip other learners with tablets and laptops to facilitate virtual learning and use of digital content where appropriate. Learners are then to be allowed to transition to the next class based on their past marks and arrange to cover lost time during subsequent years to unclog the system. The daily also proposes change of the academic calendar to run from September to July. The Standard newspapers for July 14. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC 4. Daily Nation The daily has sampled names and images of some Kenyans who have succumbed to COVID-19 to debunk allegations that the disease is a hoax. At least 12 victims have been listed on the top page of the publication. Among those whose identities have been disclosed include Doreen Lugaliki, a medic who was buried on Monday in Bungoma county. Others include Ursula Buluma and James Oyugi (KPA employees) and Captain Daudi Kibati. Maurine Namilinda Barasa, Clifford Manyara Mburia and Moses Gitonga (a nurse) have also been listed. Daily Nation newspaper for July 14. Photo: UGC. Source: UGC 5. Taifa Leo Deputy President William Ruto's allies have invaded Raila Odinga's home base in such of support for the DP 's 2022 presidential bid. Kapseret MP Oscar Sudi and is Kiharu counterpart Ndindi Nyoro visited Bondo town in Siaya county to woo youths to support Ruto's presidential ambition. The two lawmakers are said to have laid plans for the youths to visit Ruto's Sugoi home once coronavirus is fully contained. Do you have an inspirational story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Tuko news. We lost five children before our daughter Charisa came - Shinel Wanja | Tuko Talks | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke In a stunning claim which is set to spark controversy, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Monday (July 13) said that Lord Rama was born in Ayodhya village of Nepal and not in India as claimed. Nepal PM Oli made the bizarre claim while addressing a program to mark the birth anniversary of Bhanubhakta Acharya. "Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Rama was born there. Due to these continuous claims even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Rama of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj," he said. PM Oli also accused India of cultural encroachment by "creating a fake Ayodhya." "Till now we have remained under the belief that Ram, the man Sita married, was an Indian... he was not, he was a Nepali. Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi. Dashrath's son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal," he noted. The Nepalese prime minister also asked how Lord Rama could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there was "no means" of communication. He added that it was impossible for Lord Rama to come to Janakpur from Ayodhya in India. "Janakpur lies here and Ayodhya there and there is talk of marriage. There was neither telephone nor mobile then how could he know about Janakpur," Oli said. It is to be noted that Janakpur in Dhanusa District of Nepal is mythologically revered as the birthplace of Sita. In 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited Janakpur and had inaugurated a direct bus service to Ayodhya as part of a Ramayan Circuit. During his visit, PM Modi had also visited the 20th century Janaki temple, dedicated to Sita, in Nepal. He had also announced a Rs 100 crore package to develop Janakpur. The bilateral ties between India and Nepal came under strain after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand. The inauguration of 80-km-long road did not go down well with Nepal government with Kathmandu claiming that the road was built on Nepalese land. Nepal recently updated its political map and included some Indian territories in the new map. New Delhi, July 14 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested the seventh accused linked to the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) in a terror funding case registered by the Jharkhand Police in 2016. Fuleshwar Gope, 44, a resident of Gumla district in Jharkhand, was arrested by the anti-terror agency on Monday. He was produced before a special NIA court in Ranchi and was remanded to the custody of the anti-terror agency for four days. This is the seventh arrest in the case since the NIA began investigating the matter in January 2018. The agency has conducted searches and seized properties worth Rs 90 lakh and other incriminating documents. Fuleshwar had conspired with PLFI chief Dinesh Gope and formed a dubious company, namely Shiv Shakti Samriddhi Infra Pvt. Ltd, in partnership with Hira Devi (first wife of Dinesh) for channelising the extorted levy amount into legitimate means by depositing them in the bank account of the dubious company. Shiv Shakti Samriddhi Infra became a frontal company to legitimise the levy amounts collected by Dinesh, who is absconding, and invest the same in properties. The profit earned by the company was intended to be used for furtherance of terrorist activities of PLFI. This case was filed at the Bero police station in Ranchi under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Criminal Law Amendment Act. It pertains to seizure of Rs 25.38 lakh belonging to Dinesh. The amount was to be deposited in a State Bank of India branch in Ranchi on November 10, 2016 by the associates of Dinesh when Jharkhand Police arrested four of them and filed a chargesheet in the case on January 9, 2017. The bail of the four accused persons was cancelled and the first supplementary chargesheet in the case was filed on October 21, 2019 against a 10 arrested accused persons, and Dinesh who is absconding. During further investigation, Hira Devi and Sakuntala Kumari, both wives of Dinesh, were arrested on January 30 this year by the NIA. The agency also arrested two associates of Dinesh -- Jaiprakash Singh Bhuiya and Amit Deswal -- on March 2. Testing resources will be boosted on the Gold Coast and Cairns in an attempt to stamp out any spread of COVID-19 in Queensland amid outbreaks in southern states and eased border restrictions. Four new pop-up testing clinics are being established across the regions, with other areas standing by should they also need increased capability. Deputy Premier and Health Minister Steven Miles said the clinics were being rolled out as part of a "testing blitz" targeting tourists and truck drivers to ensure everyone with symptoms was able to be tested. "COVID-19 tests are free for tourists and visitors as well as residents and available at several locations around the state, including some drive-through sites," Mr Miles said in a statement. A man who conspired to distribute methamphetamine was sentenced July 13 to 12 years in federal prison. Dylan Davis, 27, from Hartwell, Georgia, received the prison term after a March 10 guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Evidence at the guilty plea and sentencing hearing, showed that in November 2017, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle Davis was a passenger in. During the stop, law enforcement located a loaded CZ Scorpion EVO 3 S1 9mm pistol and two magazines - one loaded with 12-9mm rounds over which which Davis admitted ownership. Pursuant to the stop, officers lawfully searched the vehicle and recovered approximately 4 ounces of methamphetamine located on the back seat near the gun, along with numerous baggies containing approximately 70 grams of marijuana, three digital scales, a red plastic grinder containing methamphetamine, numerous prescription pills, zig zag rolling papers, syringes, 2 glass methamphetamine pipes, numerous plastic zip-lock baggies of various size, two cell phones, and other drug paraphernalia. Davis was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Davis was sentenced to 144 months imprisonment. He must also serve a 5-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system. Davis is being held in the United States Marshals custody until he can be transported to a federal prison. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikala Steenholdt and investigated by Tri-State Drug Task Force based in Sioux City, Iowa, that consists of law enforcement personnel from the Drug Enforcement Administration; Sioux City, Iowa, Police Department; Homeland Security Investigations; Woodbury County Sheriffs Office; South Sioux City, Nebraska, Police Department; Nebraska State Patrol; Iowa National Guard; Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement; United States Marshals Service; South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation; and Woodbury County Attorneys Office. Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The Nigerian government has announced that the fifth evacuation flight for its citizens stranded in the United States of America is set for July 31. This was contained in a statement by the Consulate General of Nigeria on Monday and shared by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama. The Ethiopian Airline with flight number ET547 will depart George Bush International Airport, Houston, Texas on Friday, July 31 and arrive Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos on Saturday, August 1. All prospective evacuees duly registered with any of the three Nigerian missions in the USA can purchase their one-way tickets through www.ethiopianairlines.com. The air fare is USD1,500.00 for economy class and USD3,000.00 for business class for adult/child fare including all taxes, with the usual percentage reduction for infants under 2 years, the statement partly read. A copy of the ticket bought by prospective evacuees together with details of their next of kin in Nigeria is to be forwarded to info@nigeria-consulate-lorg. READ ALSO: In line with the earlier announced protocols from the Nigerian Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the evacuees will be expected to present an original COVID-19 negative test result not older than 14 days on the day of departure at the airport. The consulate said there will be temperature checks at the airport, and any intending evacuee with a body temperature above 38c or any symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 will not be allowed to check in. Evacuees are expected to wear a face mask as a matter of necessity and be in possession of hand sanitiser for intermittent use during the flight, while also adhering to the instructions of the Port Health Service. Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces escalated on Tuesday, with Azerbaijan reporting seven more troops killed, including a general, and Armenia saying it has lost two servicemen. Skirmishes on the volatile border between the two South Caucasus nations began Sunday. The new losses bring the number of Azerbaijani troops killed to 11. Armenia previously reported five of its troops wounded. An Azerbaijani civilian also died from Armenian shelling on Tuesday, Azerbaijans foreign ministry said, bringing total casualties from the fighting to 14. The two neighbours in the South Caucasus have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current skirmishes appear to mark the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting. The latest incident began on Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued. Azerbaijans defence ministry said two senior officers, major general Polad Hashimov and colonel Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed in fighting Tuesday along with five other servicemen. Armenian officials claimed that Azerbaijani drones launched an attack on the Tavush province town of Berd, targeting civilian infrastructure. Defence ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said that one of Azerbaijani drones was downed. The Azerbaijani military denied losing a drone and in turn claimed that its forces shot down an Armenian drone and destroyed an Armenian cannon along with its crew. As hostilities continued, Armenia also accused Azerbaijan of launching cyberattacks on Armenian government websites. Smoke from the explosions of the shelling by Armenian forces in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan (Armenian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP) Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences. Azerbaijani president Ilhan Aliyev denounced what he described as another provocation of Armenia and vowed to protect Azerbaijans national territory. Turkey, which has close ethnic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support to Baku in the conflict. The United States and Russia, which co-chair the Minsk group of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have condemned the violence and called for restraint. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov had separate calls with his counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to call for an immediate ceasefire. Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Tuesday that Moscow was deeply worried about the fighting and stands ready to play mediator. AP PICKERING, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Renforth Resources Inc. (CSE:RFR)(OTC PINK:RFHRF)(WKN:A2H9TN) ("Renforth" or the "Company") would like shareholders to know that July 2020 field work at New Alger has commenced. Plans for our wholly owned open pit constrained gold resource property in July 2020 are blasting a mini-bulk sample in the area of the Discovery Veins and drilling both infill and step out holes in the Discovery Veins. Please see below for more information regarding New Alger, its resource and our plans. Blasting Our geologist is in the field this week preparing the site for blasting in four selected locations within the 275m stripped portion of the Discovery Veins. Management will be on site for the blast with several of our consulting geologists, imagery and video will be posted to social media channels. The purpose of this blast is to create fresh rock for visual evaluation, assaying and if warranted by the assay results processing for the recovery of gold. Drilling Our exploration team and the resource team have planned a drill program designed to begin the infill of the Discovery Vein, which we have drilled with a widely spaced maiden 7 drill hole program, each of these drill holes intersected gold in quartz veining both within and outside of the stripped area (PR Jan 21 2020). This program has been designed to begin to fill in the gaps within our resource model caused by gaps in the drilling, and to also step outside of the stripped area to the west. Results obtained in the field may change the drilling plans. It is anticipated drilling will be underway early next week. New Alger Pit Constrained Gold Resource 3d Model The above images, taken from the New Alger video on our website, illustrate the location of the Discovery Veins relative to the main mineralized area of the property, the former Thompson-Cadillac Mine which is on the southern edge of the Cadillac Break. In addition, in the view of the pits looking SW the viewer can see that each little pit is associated with a location of one of three 2 drill hole fences which were drilled in the maiden November 2019 program. New Alger Mineral Resource Estimate (1-6) Area Classification Cut-off Au (g/t) Tonnes (k) Au (g/t) Au (koz) Pit Constrained Indicated 0.32 1,016 1.88 61.5 Inferred 0.32 2,322 1.65 123.3 Out-of-Pit Indicated 1.44 19 1.81 1.1 Inferred 1.44 904 2.23 64.7 Total Indicated 0.32 + 1.44 1,035 1.88 62.6 Inferred 0.32 + 1.44 3,226 1.81 188.0 1) Mineral Resources which are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. 2) The Inferred Mineral Resource in this estimate has a lower level of confidence than that applied to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of the Inferred Mineral Resource could be upgraded to an Indicated Mineral Resource with continued exploration. 3) The Mineral Resources in this report were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by the CIM Council. 4) Historically mined areas were depleted from the Mineral Resource model. 5.) The pit constrained Au cut-off grade of 0.32 g/t Au was derived from US$1,450/oz Au price, 0.75 US$/C$ exchange rate, 95% process recovery, C$17/t process cost and C$2/t G&A cost. The constraining pit optimization parameters were C$2.50/t mineralized mining cost, $2/t waste mining cost, $1.50/t overburden mining cost and 50 degree pit slopes. 6.) The out of pit Au cut-off grade of 1.44 g/t Au was derived from US$1,450/oz Au price, 0.75 US$/C$ exchange rate, 95% process recovery, C$66/t mining cost, C$17/t process cost and C$2/t G&A cost. The out of pit Mineral Resource grade blocks were quantified above the 1.44 g/t Au cut-off, below the constraining pit shell and within the constraining mineralized wireframes. Additionally, only groups of blocks that exhibited continuity and reasonable potential stope geometry were included. All orphaned blocks and narrow strings of blocks were excluded. The longhole stoping with backfill method was assumed for the out of pit Mineral Resource Estimate calculation. Brian H. Newton P.Geo is a "qualified person" pursuant to the requirements of National Instrument 43-101. He has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. Renforth would like to inform the reader that it is anticipated there will be a second and final closing to our previously announced financing on July 20th 2020. (PR July 6, 2020) For further information please contact: Renforth Resources Inc. Nicole Brewster President and Chief Executive Officer T:416-818-1393 E: nicole@renforthresources.com #269 - 1099 Kingston Road, Pickering ON L1V 1B5 ABOUT RENFORTH Renforth Resources Inc. is a Toronto-based gold exploration company with five wholly owned surface gold bearing properties located in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. In Quebec Renforth holds the New Alger and Parbec Properties, in the Cadillac and Malartic gold camps respectively, with gold present at surface and to some depth, located on the Cadillac Break. In both instances' additional gold bearing structures, other than the Cadillac Break, have been found on each property and require additional exploration. Renforth also holds Malartic West, contiguous to the western boundary of the Canadian Malartic Mine Property, located in the Pontiac Sediments, this property is gold bearing and was the recent site of a copper discovery. In addition to this Renforth has optioned the wholly owned Denain-Pershing gold bearing property, located near Louvicourt, Quebec, to O3 Mining Inc. In Ontario, Renforth holds the Nixon-Bartleman surface gold occurrence west of Timmins, Ontario, drilled, channeled and sampled over 500m - this historic property also requires additional exploration to define the extent of the mineralization. No securities regulatory authority has approved or disapproved of the contents of this news release. Forward Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements and information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward looking. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as 'may', 'will', 'plan', 'expect', 'believe', 'anticipate', 'estimate', 'intend' and similar words referring to future events and results. Such statements and information are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, the risks of obtaining necessary approvals, licenses and permits and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in the Company's securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and the reader is cautioned against placing undue reliance thereon. Forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which it is provided and the Company assumes no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements except as required by applicable law. SOURCE: Renforth Resources Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597391/New-Alger-Surface-Gold-Mineralization-to-be-Mini-Bulk-Sampled Favour of the Hong Kong investors toward properties in Vietnam Investors from Hong Kong are known for their strong appetite for real estate. We are glad that the pandemic did not kill the mood for investors and they remain optimistic about the real estate market. The outstanding performance of Vietnam in containing COVID-19 has shown investors the nations determination and strong will to achieve unstoppable growth, said Kingston Lai, founder and CEO of the Asia Bankers Club. Compared to other regional markets like Hong Kong or Singapore, high-end residential properties in Vietnam come at a lower price while the profitability of leasing is at an attractive level, creating advantages for high-end residential projects in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. City centre locations within easy reach to business and shopping destinations, an outstanding suite of facilities within the developments and reputation of the developers are important factors for investors from Hong Kong. City centre location within easy reach of business and shopping , outstanding suite of facilities within the reputation of the developers are important factors for Hong Kong investors Talking about the difference between property in Ho Chi Minh Citys central business district (CBD) and other big cities in the region, Lai added: Becoming a global city soon, Ho Chi Minh City is determined to develop a regional economy that can turn into a growth leader for Vietnam and Southeast Asia. However, compared to other property hotspots in Asia such as Singapore or Thailand, home prices in Vietnam are considered very reasonable, especially in central Ho Chi Minh City. Investors in Hong Kong were excited about The Marq project Furthermore, property prices are expected to rise in the future as the country scales up its development. According to CBRE a prestigious foreign-backed real estate consultancy firm in the country District 1 in downtown Ho Chi Minh City recorded the highest real estate listing prices in the third quarter of 2019. This was due to limited supply while the strong increase in the number of ultra-high net-worth individuals (UHNWI) in Vietnam has increased demand for high-end living spaces in the CBD. Most high-end apartment projects in central Ho Chi Minh City currently receive a rental yield of 6-8 per cent which is 1.5-2.5 per cent higher than those in Bangkok or Singapore. All these factors make Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City appealing to foreign buyers who view real estate as a long-term investment, whether as a primary residence or for rental. Why the Marq? For savvy investors from Hong Kong, The Marq offers a great combination of desirable location, luxurious interiors, and reputation of regional and local developers. About The Marqs location an important factor that creates timeless value for the project Lai said: As Ho Chi Minh Citys CBD has always been like a magnet to both the successful Vietnamese elite and foreigners, especially Hong Kong investors. Luxury developments in the CBD always magnets to savvy investors who are looking to diversify their portfolio. Investment in such developments in other major Asian cities has proven effective in both leasing prospects and capital gains. The lower entry cost of Ho Chi Minh Citys property compared to cities like Singapore and Hong Kong is an advantage for The Marq." The Marq is next to Lim 3 Tower-a premium Grade A office building Besides the timeless value of prime CBD location, The Marq lures investors by its sophisticated design that fuses modern architecture with natural elements. Without a doubt, Hongkong Lands reputation with premium quality and excellent finishing of development across different cities give great confidence to investors. With Hong Kong investors' growing interest in prime Vietnamese real estate, The Marq is expected to be one of the highlights of the post-pandemic overseas property investment market. We are very glad that investors see high-end residential developments like The Marq as a rare opportunity that cannot be missed amidst the economic downturn in some countries. The buying signs among investors have been very strong since the partnership was announced. The growth story of Vietnam is surely as excited as ever to the investors and also our team, Lai continued. Live District 1. Live The Marq To celebrate the previous topping out ceremony on May 22, 2020, developers Hongkong Land and An Khang have released new attractive sales policies for all The Marq units receiving deposits from May 25, 2020 to August 24, 2020. It's not uncommon for tourists as well as Gaspe residents to spend the night under the stars, setting up a tent to sleep on one of the region's pristine beaches. Nancy Gaul, a resident of Douglastown, southeast of the city of Gaspe, said most locals know to "leave no trace" of their passage, but with a recent surge in tourists, those beaches are taking a beating. "We've noticed an influx, I would say twentyfold, of the number of campers," Gaul said. In June, the city of Gaspe decided it would not allow travellers to set up tents or park their RVs for free on municipal streets or in public parks. Perhaps as a result, a stretch of marshland near the Douglastown beach has become a magnet for travellers looking to camp in the wild. Julia Page/CBC The city did not have the power to keep people off the beaches near Douglastown because they are under provincial jurisdiction and belong to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Without any toilets or amenities on site, the arrival of tourists coincided with the appearance of trash, bottles, human feces and even a seat from a van. Camping on public land is permitted for up to seven months, the ministry said in an email. It said it would inspect the area but is not in charge of maintaining the site. Julia Page/CBC Some local residents say they no longer feel comfortable walking to the tranquil point that's always been a favourite. They're upset with the campers, said Gaul. "They're squatters. These people are probably very good at heart, but there are campsites that have the proper [amenities] for camping." While many campgrounds are full, locals believe many travellers are on the beach because they are looking for a free place to camp in the wilderness. 'Leave no trace' Gaul would like camping banned at the site, but the spokesperson for a local citizens' committee, Gerard Gagnon, told Radio-Canada he'd prefer to see the beach better equipped. He said signs could educate campers to leave no trace. Failing that, trash cans might solve part of the problem. Story continues "We don't want to stop people from coming, but we want them to be equipped to pick up all their waste," Gagnon told Radio-Canada. Julia Page/CBC Tim Adams, a member of the Mi'gmag Gespeg Nation who lives across the bay from Douglastown in Penouille, said even if it's a minority of campers who are disrespectful, it's affecting the whole region. "I just saw a diaper down the beach. Why did they leave it there?" Adams asked. Many locals walk around with plastic bags tied to their waists to pick up the trash, he said. In a Facebook post on July 11, Gaspe Mayor Daniel Cote said "beaches are a fragile environment. They are neither race tracks nor dumps." Cote said the city is working with the province, as well as provincial police, to find a way to deal with the problem. Months of being cooped up Isabelle Martin is the co-director of the Douglastown Community Centre, which runs a hostel in town overlooking the beach. She said that after months of being cooped up, many people are trying to find their own piece of paradise, far from the crowds. "People hope to be alone and they wander, and don't realize the impact on the environment," Martin said. The hostel normally allows campers to drop in for a shower or to do laundry. But with the new COVID-19 restrictions they've had to restrict access to their customers only. Julia Page/CBC COVID-19 boosts Gaspe tourism Several hotel owners and tourist attractions told CBC the 2020 season started earlier than usual, with many Quebecers making a head start on their summer vacations. With the border closed between Canada and the U.S., many are turning to their home province, making accommodations hard to find. Campgrounds with signs that read Complet No Vacancy are commonplace along Highway 132, which wraps around the peninsula. With the two-week construction holiday starting this weekend, when thousands of Quebecers take time off work, many locals are expecting the pace to pick up even more. 3 1 of 3 Twitter screengrab Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Twitter screengrab Show More Show Less 3 of 3 San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg joined Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight" again Monday, this time in a "deja vu" scenario the nation watched unfold in New York months ago. The mayor has made multiple appearances on national media shows throughout the coronavirus pandemic. First, when JBSA-Lackland hosted different cohorts of evacuees from Wuhan and cruise ships, then when the city was seeing success in flattening the curve as the virus ravaged other parts of the country. The tables have turned over the last month as San Antonio's COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging at a "frightening" rate. More than 8,000 traditional Bosnian coffee cups were installed as a memorial in the town of Srebrenica on Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the massacre of Muslim men and boys by Serb forces near the end of Bosnias war. The porcelain cups are part of a Where Have You Been exhibit that a Bosnian-born American artist created in 2006 and displayed in different countries every year before bringing them back to the site of Europes worst atrocity since World War Two. This is the place where they belong. Theyre here to stay, said Aida Sehovic, a former refugee from the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict. About 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were rounded up, taken away and slaughtered after nationalist Bosnian Serb forces stormed and seized Srebrenica, a mainly Muslim enclave that had been designated a U.N.-protected safe area, on July 11, 1995. A volunteer helps prepares the installation of some 8,000 traditional porcelain cups filled with Bosnian coffee at the Potocari-Srebrenica Memorial Centre for victims of the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Serb forces, in eastern Bosnia, July 10, 2020. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic) The massacre was declared an act of genocide by two international courts. The victims bodies were tossed into mass graves later exhumed by U.N. investigators and used as evidence in war crimes trials of Bosnian Serb leaders. Sehovic, in her early 40s, launched her memorial exhibit in Bosnias capital Sarajevo in 2006 with a donation of 923 cups from Srebrenica women who lost loved ones in the massacre. She collected traditional coffee cups and lyrics from old Bosnian folk songs to illustrate the feelings of loss and remembrance that Muslims who escaped death in Srebrenica experience during their morning coffee-making ritual. As volunteers were installing the sea of ceramic cups in a meadow next to the Srebrenica memorial centre on Friday, a tearful man filled six of the fildzan - traditional cups - in tribute to six relatives he lost in the massacre. In a nearby building were coffins containing the remains of nine newly identified massacre victims. They will be buried on Saturday, the anniversary, in an adjacent cemetery where tall white tombstones mark the graves of 6,643 other victims. Artist Aida Sehovic speaks during an interview with Reuters while installing her collection of some 8,000 traditional porcelain cups filled with Bosnian coffee at the Potocari-Srebrenica Memorial Centre for victims of the 1995 massacre of Muslim men and boys by Serb forces, in eastern Bosnia, July 10, 2020. (REUTERS) The remains of more than 1,000 others have not been found. Sehovic had assembled the coffee cups annually on July 11 in the squares of cities across the United States and Europe, each filled with Bosnian coffee brewed on site. The exhibit grew every year with more donations of cups from the Bosnian diaspora or passersby who helped augment the collection to over 8,000, matching the known number of victims. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON While there won't be any grunts manning the rotors of a $6 million military helicopter anytime soon, there could still be some qualified to fly them. The secret is in advanced drone technology that makes the task as easy as flying an off-the-shelf quadcopter back home. All they need is a tablet device. If it sounds outlandish, Marine Corps infantrymen have already flown a UH-1H Huey after a few hours of instruction, using a tablet and a laptop computer. In 2017. Spearheading the drive to autonomous helicopters and other technologies is the Innovation team at Sikorsky Aviation, led by Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations. "I get to run a group of very talented people who go out and design all sorts of new things," Cherepinsky said. "Aircraft, software, ideas ... we kinda serve as an incubator for new and exciting things." Cherepinsky's team not only develops the ideas behind these innovations, it designs and builds flying prototypes. Once the idea is matured, it hands the inventions off to the rest of Sikorsky to figure out how best to build them into viable products. In the latest episode of Military.com's podcast "Left of Boom," Managing Editor Hope Hodge Seck talks with Cherepinsky about some of the programs Sikorsky has developed and what the Lockheed Martin-owned company has in store for the future. 1. The Fastest Military Helicopter In 2008, Sikorsky Aviation created the world's fastest helicopter. Dubbed the X2, it was capable of speeds greater than 300 mph, shattering the previous record of 249 mph set by a U.K.-made Westland Lynx in 1986. That technology is being used today to develop the Army's S-97 Raider attack helicopter, a replacement for the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior or MH-6 Little Bird, among other possible uses. The Raider uses Sikorsky's X2-style coaxial rotor technology and has already had its first flight. 2. 'Loyal Wingman' Drones This is a program designed to deploy unmanned, autonomous drones in tandem with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, giving the F-35 pilots an "unmanned wingman in the air." This program, run by Boeing, takes retired F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters and transforms them into unmanned drones. The Air Force Research Laboratory began the program in 2018, planning for a proof-of-concept flight by 2022. Boeing already delivered a "loyal wingman" prototype to the Royal Australian Air Force in May 2020. Read: Boeing Delivers First 'Loyal Wingman' Drone Prototype for Testing 3. Easy-to-Fly Autonomous Helicopters Many pilots will tell you that helos are not the easiest machines to fly. In fact, many also say they're constantly fighting the helicopter because it's a machine that "wants to crash." How much of an exaggeration this is will be known only to helicopter pilots who have actually manned the controls of one. Future helicopter pilots may never get in the cockpit. Sikorsky has developed an autonomous flight control system called SARA (Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft) so easy to learn and use that it allows first-time pilots (that is, people who have never flown anything, let alone a rotary aircraft) take the helm. A grunt flying a helicopter really isn't that far away. 4. Future Vertical Lift The FVL program is an effort to transform the Army rotorcraft fleet. Five designs are intended to completely replace the UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache, CH-47 Chinook and OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. Utilizing the technology developed by Sikorsky's innovation team to develop the X2, Sikorsky introduced the Raider X and the SB-1 Defiant. The Defiant is designed to deliver soldiers as fast and stealthily as possible, flying twice as far and twice as fast as the Black Hawk, all in the same operational footprint. The Raider X is a two-seater attack helicopter designed to replace the Kiowa. The SB-1 has already flown its first flight, while the Raider X is still in development. To learn pretty much everything you need to know about the near future of military aviation, be sure to listen to the latest episode of Military.com's Left of Boom podcast. Tune in to new episodes of Left of Boom every two weeks on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and Stitcher. Follow Hope Hodge Seck on Twitter @HopeSeck, and if there's a military hot topic you want to know about, drop Left of Boom a line at podcast@military.com. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Learn More About Military Life? Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox. Karnataka 2nd PUC Results 2020: The Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) on Tuesday declared the results of second pre-university (PUC) exams 2020. Students can check the PUC 2nd Year Results 2020 at the official websites: karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, pue.kar.nic.in and the Suvidya portal at result.bspucpa.com. Follow Karnataka 2nd PUC Results 2020 live updates This year, around 6 lakh students registered for the Karnataka 2nd PUC examinations. Heres direct link to check results. Karnataka 2nd PUC result 2020: How to check 1. Visit the official website of Karnataka PUC result at karresults.nic.in 2. Click on the link for Karnataka 2020 PUC result 3. Key in your registration number and submit 4. Your result will be displayed on the screen 5. Download and take its print out for future reference. In 2019, 6.71 lakh students appeared in the PUC II year exam, out of which 4.14 lakh passed, which is a pass percentage of 61.73%. The pass percentage in arts was 50.53% in commerce it was 66.39% and in science the pass percentage was 66.58%. Grant Imahara, who shot to fame for his technical expertise in creating robots on the hit series' Mythbusters, died suddenly on Monday of a brain aneurysm at 49. 'We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,' the Discovery rep said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. The brilliant roboticist, who studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, officially joined 'The Build Team' as Scottie Chapman's replacement in the third season in 2005 and remained until 2014. Rest in peace: Grant Imahara, who shot to fame for his technical expertise in creating robots on the hit series' Mythbusters, died suddenly on Monday of a brain aneurysm at 49 In 2016, he reunited with co-hosts Kari Byron and Tory Belleci for Netflix's White Rabbit Project, which lasted for one season. Byron paid tribute to her late pal on Twitter with a series of throwback pictures, including one of her, Imahara and Belleci with the caption: 'Somedays I wish I had a time machine.' As part of the Mythbusters team, he 'sky-dived and drove stunt cars' according to THR, and also went on to install 'lights onto Star Wars' R2-D2' and create 'the robot Geoff Peterson for The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.' 'We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family,' the Discovery spokesperson said in a statement to THR Memories: Byron paid tribute to her late pal on Twitter with a series of throwback pictures, including one of her, Imahara and Belleci with the caption: 'Somedays I wish I had a time machine' 'I'm at a loss. No words. I've been part of two big families with Grant Imahara over the last 22 years. Grant was a truly brilliant engineer, artist and performer, but also just such a generous, easygoing, and gentle PERSON. Working with Grant was so much fun. I'll miss my friend,' Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage also tweeted. Additionally, he worked behind-the-scenes on Galaxy Quest, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Terminator 3. In March, he went viral for building a animatronic Baby Yoda based on Star Wars: The Mandalorian. 'Universally cute': In March, he went viral for building a animatronic Baby Yoda based on Star Wars: The Mandalorian Beloved: The brilliant roboticist, who studied electrical engineering at the University of Southern California, officially joined 'The Build Team' as Scottie Chapman's replacement in the third season (seen in 2015) 'Baby Yoda is universally cute, hands down,' Imahara told CNet. 'In the few public outings we've had, everyone melts. He's a happiness maker. Everything about him is designed to trigger the human nurturing instincts.' In 2008, Imahara opened up to Machine Design about enjoying the 'challenge of designing and building things.' 'When I was a kid, I never wanted to be James Bond. I wanted to be Q, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. I guess you could say that engineering came naturally.' he revealed. 'Faced with an assassination similar to Soleimani's, West would declare war' Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 6:11 AM A UN special rapporteur, who has raised a firestorm by condemning the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, has once again denounced the United States' sheer disregard for international law. "It is just violation of every single principle not only governing international law, but governing international relations," Agnes Callamard, United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told al-Mayadeen in remarks aired on Sunday. General Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), was assassinated in a US airstrike at Baghdad airport on January 3, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and a number of their companions. Both commanders were extremely popular because of playing a key role in eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria. On Thursday, Callamard provided the UN Human Rights Council with a report on the atrocity, which underlined the "unlawful" nature of the operation because the US had failed to provide evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack against its interests to justify the strike. 'Worrying evolution' In her interview, Callamard repeated that the US has "failed to demonstrate how the strike could match and meet the requirement under the definition 'self-defense.'" "I should add that what they have done is part of an evolution that has been worrying me and many others for a number of years now," she added. The UN official explained how the US has falsely tried to rationalize such acts of aggression. In response to the assassination, the IRGC fired volleys of ballistic missiles at a US air base in Iraq on January 8. Iran has also issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining US President Donald Trump, who ordered the assassination, and several other US military and political leaders behind the strike. Had an official "from a so-called 'democratic' Western country" been targeted in such a manner, that country would have considered the attack "as an act of aggression and as declaration of war," Callamard said. She recalled how the aftermath of the strike featured a flurry of diplomatic efforts at avoiding the exacerbation of the already dire situation brought about by the assassination, "because everyone understood that we were on the brink of something extremely serious". Warning to Washington The UN rapporteur finally issued a warning to the US and other countries, urging them not to repeat such acts of aggression. "I'm hoping that the international community and the United States will understand that we avoided the abyss after that strike," she said. "Let's make that the one and only moment, where such a step would have been taken." Callamard's stance has enraged the United States, with State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus calling her report "tendentious and tedious." Ortagus on Wednesday accused her of "a special kind of intellectual dishonesty" for condemning the United States, claiming that Washington's assassination of Gen. Soleimani was an act of "self-defense". NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer As the death toll rises in Texas, things are becoming dire in some counties as hospitals fight the coronavirus. The Texas Tribune reported that Nueces County, which includes Corpus Christi, has requested a refrigerated morgue trailer to accommodate a surge in deaths. Travis County is also in the process of procuring a similar trailer, and Cameron County bought a 53-foot refrigerated trailer in preparation for a surge. Now that the Palace Papers have clarified our past, they give us a better glimpse into our possible futures. Some will be disappointed that the letters reveal no shocking constitutional or royal blunder the system worked broadly as it was designed to do. In fact, that's cause for concern. Because the system remains in place. The only thing holding another such crisis at bay is convention. And convention is easily broken. That means that it could all happen again. A democratically elected government could be sacked by a governor-general. Peter Weber and Kelley Flanagan may not have had the most traditional or easy start to their relationship, but it seems to be working out for them. In a strange twist of fate, the couple had a chance meeting at a hotel prior to Flanagan competing on Webers season of The Bachelor. The moment was serendipitous enough to give the relationship real momentum and Flanagan seemed to be a frontrunner. But, she was sent home just before hometowns. Kelley Flanagan and Peter Weber | Francisco Roman via Getty Images After breaking things off with the attorney, Weber was briefly engaged to Hannah Ann Sluss. But, when he was unable to give Sluss his full heart, he broke things off with her as well. Things got even more confusing when Chris Harrison intervened and flew Madison Prewett (who self-eliminated in the final week) out to Weber and she confessed that she still had feelings for him. How Peter Weber and Kelley Flanagan started dating again During The Bachelor: After The Final Rose, Weber and Prewett had plans to give their relationship another try. But, due to familial tensions and differences in lifestyles and beliefs, they decided to go their separate ways. Only a short while later, Weber was photographed in Chicago, spending time with Flanagan. After quarantining together and working on their relationship as friends, they decided to officially become a couple. RELATED: The Bachelor: Fans Are Convinced Peter Called Hannah Ann Madison During His Proposal Though the pair had a rocky start and had to have some difficult conversations, they seem to be over the moon with each other these days. Not only does Webers mom, Barb, wholeheartedly approve of Flanagan, Flanagans family also cant get enough of the pilot. In a recent interview with ET Online, the couple revealed that theyve had many conversations about why they didnt work out on The Bachelor; but they have since accepted their faults in the matter and moved. on. The Bachelor alums are moving in together While Flanagan and Weber arent moving at the breakneck pace that The Bachelor requires, they have taken some giant steps. Theyve already declared their love for one another and even have plans to move to New York together in the coming months. Im super excited to take this next step with Kell and move to New York and to see what adventures await, Weber shared. The two have even talked about getting married and having kids one day. However, they are quick to stress that theyre in no rush to do either of those things. Instead, theyre taking life at a pace that feels natural and normal for them. But, even though the pair arent rushing into an engagement, Weber already put a ring on Flanagans finger when he first declared his love for her. Flanagan and Weber are writing their own love story Wanna know how I told her I loved her for the first time? Neil Lane wasnt there I know but I got her this little gumball machine ring. We were having a pool day, and I told her I wanted her to remember this day from this gumball machine ring is the day that I told you that I loved you, Weber recounted about the special moment. Clearly the pair have found a way to make their relationship work. Only time will tell what more is in store for them. Advertisement Britain announced 138 more coronavirus victims today as the daily fatality toll continues to drop but the average number of new cases is still higher than last week. Department of Health bosses say the official death toll now stands at 44,968, with 81 Britons succumbing to the illness each day on average down 14 per cent on last Tuesday's 95. Government statistics show 11 fatalities were posted yesterday but counts released on Mondays are always lower because of a recording lag at weekends. For comparison, officials posted 155 deaths last Tuesday. The drop comes as separate promising figures today revealed the number of people dying from suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in England and Wales has dropped to the lowest levels since mid-March. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also showed deaths are still falling in every region and that the number of fatalities from all causes has now stayed below average for three weeks. But other Department of Health records show the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus each day is higher this week than it was last, raising fears Britain's outbreak could be on the rise again. Only 398 more cases were confirmed today but the rolling seven-day average stands at 597 4 per cent higher than last Tuesday's 575. The spike comes little more than a week after Britain took the first steps back to normal life, after Number 10 finally relaxed strict lockdown rules in a desperate bid to kick-start the economy. In other coronavirus developments in Britain today: Workers at a coronavirus-hit vegetable farm in Hertfordshire went on shopping a trip to Primark and three supermarkets just days before 73 staff tested positive for the virus, it was revealed; Doctors have demanded ministers set out a clear strategy to prevent a second Covid-19 wave amid fears the virus could kill 120,000 Britons in hospitals if it strikes again this winter; Boris Johnson's decision to make face masks mandatory in shops descended into chaos as businesses called the plan 'utterly ludicrous' and police said it will be 'impossible' to hand out 100 fines; Grim economic figures showed the UK's recovery from lockdown could be slower than hoped with GDP rising just 1.8 per in May nearly a quarter lower than before draconian restrictions were imposed. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE REALLY DIED OF THE CORONAVIRUS? Department of Health: 44,830 Department of Health's latest death count for all settings stands at 44,830. The daily data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. It also only takes into account patients who tested positive for the virus, as opposed to deaths suspected to be down to the coronavirus. Many people were not tested early on in the outbreak, meaning thousands are suspected to be missing from the total. National statistical bodies: 55,706 Data compiled by the statistical bodies of each of the home nations show 55,706 people died of either confirmed or suspected Covid-19 across the UK by the end of May. The Office for National Statistics confirmed that 50,698 people in England and Wales died with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 by July 3. The number of coronavirus deaths was 835 by the same day in Northern Ireland, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA). National Records Scotland which collects statistics north of the border said 4,173 people had died across the country by July 5. Their tallies are always 10 days behind the Department of Health (DH) because they wait until as many fatalities as possible for each date have been counted, to avoid having to revise their statistics. Excess deaths: 64,698 Excess deaths are considered to be an accurate measure of the number of people killed by the pandemic because they include a broader spectrum of victims. As well as including people who may have died with Covid-19 without ever being tested, the data also shows how many more people died because their medical treatment was postponed, for example, or who didn't or couldn't get to hospital when they were seriously ill. Data from England and Wales shows there has been an extra 58,830 deaths between March 27 and July 3, as well as 4,867 in Scotland, and 1,001 in Northern Ireland. Advertisement Department of Health figures released yesterday showed 144,000 tests were carried out or posted the day before. The number includes antibody tests for frontline NHS and care workers. But bosses again refused to say how many people were tested, meaning the exact number of Brits who have been swabbed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been a mystery for a month since May 22. Health chiefs also reported 398 more cases of Covid-19. Government statistics show the official size of the UK's outbreak now stands at 291,373 cases. But the actual size of the outbreak, which began to spiral out of control in March, is estimated to be in the millions, based on antibody testing data. It means the rolling average of daily cases has dropped from 624 to 597, after it increased for three days in a row. However, it is still higher than it was last Tuesday (575). Before yesterday, the UK suffered an increase in its average number of daily cases was on May 7, when 5,600 Brits were diagnosed with Covid-19 and the spike was blamed on more people being swabbed for the infection. The daily death data does not represent how many Covid-19 patients died within the last 24 hours it is only how many fatalities have been reported and registered with the authorities. The data does not always match updates provided by the home nations. Department of Health officials work off a different time cut-off, meaning daily updates from Scotland as well as Northern Ireland are always out of sync. And the count announced by NHS England every afternoon which only takes into account deaths in hospitals does not match up with the DH figures because they work off a different recording system. For instance, some deaths announced by NHS England bosses will have already been counted by the Department of Health, which records fatalities 'as soon as they are available'. NHS England today posted 26 deaths in hospitals across the country. Two fatalities were recorded in all settings in Wales but none were registered in Northern Ireland or Scotland, which has now gone six days without suffering any victims. More than 1,000 infected Brits died each day during the darkest days of the crisis in mid-April but the number of victims had been dropping by around 20 to 30 per cent week-on-week since the start of May. It comes as official statistics today revealed the number of people dying of coronavirus rose in Wales during the first week of July for the first time since April. Thirty people died with Covid-19 in the seven-day spell between June 27 to July 3, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data up from 26 a week earlier. But the government data also showed the number of confirmed or suspected coronavirus deaths has continued to fall in every region of England, suggesting the outbreak may still be slowing down. Other promising figures showed the number of people dying of all causes has now been below average for three weeks in England and Wales and just 381 deaths were recorded in that week the fewest since mid-March. Hospital and care home deaths are still lower than would normally be expected at this time of year but deaths in people's own homes remain higher, by 755 in the first week of July. WEEKLY CHANGES IN DEATHS IN ENGLAND AND WALES Region North East North West Yorkshire East Mids West Mids East of E London South East South West Wales W/E June 26 28 110 68 75 68 58 32 78 18 26 W/E July 3 17 73 47 39 39 51 20 56 9 30 % change -39% -34% -31% -48% -43% -12% -38% -28% -50% +15% Advertisement And the number of Covid-19 deaths registered each week by when they were counted as opposed to when they actually happened has also fallen to its lowest level for 15 weeks. According to the data from the ONS, the number of deaths registered in England and Wales involving Covid-19 in the week ending July 3 known as week 27 was 532. The report said: 'The number of death registrations involving the coronavirus (Covid-19) decreased from 606 in Week 26 to 532 in Week 27, the lowest number of Covid-19 deaths registered since Week 12, week ending March 20, when 103 deaths involved Covid-19. 'Of all deaths registered in Week 27, 5.8 per cent mentioned Covid-19, down from 6.7 per cent in Week 26.' The number of deaths happening each week has also fallen to the lowest level for 16 weeks. This takes into account when the people actually died and not when their death was registered by officials, which makes it more accurate. ONS data revealed a total 381 deaths actually happened during the most recent seven-day spell, down from 561 the week before. One month ago, in the week to June 5, there were 1,289 deaths recorded. And during the height of the crisis, more than 8,000 people were dying every week. The statistics confirm that the Covid-19 outbreak in England and Wales is dramatically smaller than it was only five weeks ago. During that time lockdown rules have been lifted and testing surveys suggest that the speed at which the epidemic is shrinking has plateaued, according to several different sets of data. Millions flocked to pubs to celebrate 'Super Saturday' last weekend to celebrate the easing of the draconian measures despite warnings from top scientists that it would cause another spike in cases. Government figures yesterday suggested that Britain's coronavirus outbreak may be getting worse after the average number of new cases jumped six per cent in the first week-on-week rise since early May. BRITAIN'S COVID-19 OUTBREAK MAY BE GETTING WORSE, DATA SHOWS Britain's coronavirus outbreak may be getting worse as alarming government figures yesterday revealed the average number of new cases has jumped six per cent in the first week-on-week rise since early May but the daily death toll has dipped to a 17-week low. Department of Health data showed 530 more Britons tested positive for the life-threatening disease, meaning the rolling average of daily infections had increased for the third day in a row to 624 up from 590 last Monday, which was 34 per cent lower than the same day the week before. The last time the UK suffered an increase in its average number of daily cases was on May 7, when 5,600 Britons were diagnosed with Covid-19 and the spike was blamed on more people being swabbed for the infection after officials finally ramped up the mass-testing scheme. The data a little more than a week after Britain took the first steps back to normal life, after Number 10 finally relaxed strict lockdown rules in a desperate bid to kick-start the economy. Millions flocked to pubs to celebrate 'Super Saturday' despite warnings from top scientists that it would cause another spike in cases. Advertisement Today's ONS report also confirmed that at least 50,698 people had died of suspected or confirmed Covid-19 in England and Wales by July 3. The National Records of Scotland (NRS) recorded 4,173 deaths by July 5, while the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) added 835. This means at least 55,706 people in the UK had died of coronavirus 10 days ago a number that is significantly higher than the government's official tally. The Department of Health has so far only counted 44,830 of those because it has missed off thousands who were never able to get tested. Today's data comes after a release last week confirmed that England's coronavirus outbreak is still shrinking and the number of new cases each day had more than halved in a week. An ONS testing scheme estimated 1,700 people are getting infected with Covid-19 each day outside of hospitals and care homes down from 3,500 a week earlier. The estimate based on eight new cases out of 25,000 people who are swabbed regularly also claimed there are just 14,000 people who are currently infected. This is the equivalent of 0.03 per cent of the population of the whole country, or one in every 3,900 people. It is down from 0.04 per cent the week before and 0.09 per cent a week earlier. Separate figures, from King's College London, suggest the outbreak in England has stopped shrinking but its estimate is lower than the ONS's at around 1,200 new cases per day. Department of Health chiefs have announced an average of just 624 new positive test results per day for the past week but up to half of infected patients are thought to never show symptoms. A report by Public Health England and the University of Cambridge predicted last Monday that the true number of daily cases is more like 5,300 but could even be as high as 7,600. Ukraines ambassador in Yerevan was summoned to the Armenian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday after his government effectively blamed Armenia for the latest upsurge in tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry portrayed deadly fighting that broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on Sunday as Armenian shelling of the Tovuz district in western Azerbaijan. A ministry statement called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to de-escalate the situation and seek a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict. The Ukrainian side advocates a political settlement of the situation based on respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, the statement added, echoing the Azerbaijani position on the conflicts resolution. According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian presented Yerevans assessment of that statement when spoke with Ukrainian Ambassador Ivan Kuleba. Kocharian also briefed Kuleba on the situation created as a result of Azerbaijans aggressive actions and, in particular, shelling of Armenian villages and towns located close to the Azerbaijani border. Ukraines current and former governments have repeatedly voiced support for Azerbaijan in the Karabakh conflict. For its part, Armenia has consistently voted against UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Russias actions in Crimea and upholding Ukrainian sovereignty over the Black Sea peninsula. After a considerable postponement, voters are heading to the polls Tuesday. Today's elections will decide which Democratic candidate will face U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in November in the state's runoff election, as well as state and congressional contests. 'AN UNTENABLE SITUATION': Houstonians weigh in on Turner's proposed 2-week shutdown Former Air Force helicopter pilot MJ Hegar and state Sen. Royce West of Dallas are the Democratic candidates competing to face Cornyn. Several legislature elections are also on the ballot, including Texas districts 25, 26, 138, 142 and 148. Other races include the primaries for Harris County sheriff, the Railroad Commission of Texas and U.S. House District 10. The Houston Chronicle reported that more than 1 million Texans voted early between June 29 and July 10, including more than 652,000 Democrats. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today. Find your nearest polling place at harrisvotes.com/PollLocations. FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD: See the Houston Chronicle's recommendations for July's runoffs in Houston-area Democratic, GOP primaries Advertisement The best vineyards in the world for 2020 have been revealed and last year's winner has retaken the top spot. Argentina's Zuccardi Valle de Uco was crowned World's Best Vineyard by a prestigious global voting academy comprising nearly 500 leading wine aficionados, sommeliers and luxury travel correspondents. They put forward destinations based on the overall visitor experience including, but not limited to, ambience, cuisine, tours and the views. During an online Monday-night ceremony Bodega Garzon in Uruguay was named the second-best vineyard for a consecutive year - Domane Wachau in Austria jumped 16 places to take the third spot, Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa, California, snared fifth place and the top berth for America - and Rippon in New Zealand was crowned best in Australasia and ranked 13th overall. Argentina's Zuccardi Valle de Uco, pictured, was crowned World's Best Vineyard by a prestigious global voting academy The stylish tasting room at Mendoza-based Zuccardi Valle de Uco, which was founded in 1963 During an online Monday-night ceremony Bodega Garzon in Uruguay, pictured, was named the second-best vineyard A panoramic shot of this year's third-placed vineyard - Domane Wachau in Austria The 2020 Top 50 vineyards represented 18 countries and included first-time winners from India, Bulgaria and Japan but no vineyards in the UK impressed enough to make the cut. Last year East Sussex fizz-maker Ridgeview came 36th. An awards statement said: 'The World's Best Vineyards list seeks to raise the profile of wine tourism and despite the difficult circumstances that the travel industry has faced this year, the organiser William Reed and 2020 host partner Sonoma County Winegrowers wanted to recognise the efforts of wineries around the globe. 'The announcement of the Top 50 hopes to encourage travel to these outstanding destinations as doors begin to open again to visitors. ' The Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa, California, snared fifth place. In the foreground is sculptor Beniamino Bufano's statue of St Francis of Assisi, which has been on loan to the vineyard Pictured here is the world's fourth-best vineyard - Montes in Chile Corking: Myriad barrels of wine at the Montes vineyard. Last year it came sixth Rippon in New Zealand, pictured, was crowned best vineyard in Australasia and ranked 13th overall. It sits on the shore of Lake Wanaka on the South Island KRSMA Estates, pictured, in the Hampi Hills in India, gave the country its first-ever ranking in the top 50 The wacky Marques de Riscal vineyard (pictured) in Spain came sixth overall Weingut Dr. Loosen winery in Germany, which makes exceptional rieslings, came 15th globally In an opening speech during the virtual ceremony, founder Andrew Reed praised the wine industry for its quick adaptability to current restrictions on travel: 'It is testament to this amazing community of winemakers and wineries that your flexibility and speed of response has allowed you to adapt your business model to survive, and even thrive!' Reed also highlighted how as the world comes out of lockdown, vineyards must be ready to re-engage with customers. Karissa Kruse, President of Sonoma County Winegrowers, said: 'We were looking forward to welcoming guests to Sonoma County, the most sustainable winemaking region in the world, but we were thrilled to be able to carry on with the unveiling of the Top 50. 'This year's virtual announcement is a reflection of the ways in which wineries around the world, and not least our own here in Sonoma County, have so skilfully adapted to the current situation. Many wineries in Sonoma County are once again opening their doors to visitors and we look forward to another great season.' The highest-ranking vineyard in Sonoma County is the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, which features an extensive array of attractions from a landscaped park to restaurants, swimming pools with poolside cabanas, a cinema, a film gallery, bocce courts and a performing arts pavilion. There is no draft resolution yet. Ukraine's Health Ministry is discussing a further extension of the coronavirus-related quarantine in the country after July 31; it may be extended for another two weeks, until August 14. "The extension of the quarantine and the way it should be extended are now under discussion. It is more likely that the quarantine will be extended after July 31. Those quarantine measures that have been effective will continue. Those that were ineffective will be canceled," an official at the Health Ministry told the Segodnya newspaper. Read alsoSeven Ukrainian regions not ready for quarantine easing health ministry "There is no draft resolution yet, it is in the pipeline. But we're discussing that it is advisable to prolong the quarantine for two weeks since the incubation period of COVID-19 is that long," he said. According to the source, such measures as social distancing, curbs on transportation, deep cleaning of public transport turned out to be effective. These requirements are universal for all regions, regardless of the incidence rate. If the situation in a particular region worsens, first of all, stadiums and gyms will be closed again. As UNIAN reported earlier, 638 new cases of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 were reported in Ukraine in the past day, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 54,771 as of the morning of July 14. Congress lawmakers, led by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, on Tuesday asked the party to take action against Sachin Pilot and other rebel legislators who skipped the meeting of the legislature party. They reasoned that if the party does not act against the rebels, it would send a wrong signal and demoralise loyal party workers. Pilot and a group of his loyalists had absented themselves from Tuesdays meeting held at a luxury hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur where the legislators have been sequestered. This was the second party meeting that he has skipped in two days. It was also the second meeting that sought action against the rebels. At yesterdays meet, Gehlot flaunted his MLAs, said tobe over 100, and smiled and flashed the victory sign for the assembled press, sending a clear signal to his deputy, who made his revolt public and has been camping in Delhi since Saturday. The tension between the two top leaders in the Rajasthan unit has been on the slow burner since the 2018 assembly elections when Gehlot was handed the chief minister ship and Pilot was made his deputy. The breaking point came when Pilot received summons to appear before the Rajasthan police for questioning in over the alleged attempt to bribe MLAs ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls. Iran: JCPOA product of openness to engagement IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, July 13, IRNA -- Iran's Foreign Ministry in a message described nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) as a product of Iran's openness to engagement. "In Iran, today is the national day for 'Dialogue and Constructive Engagement with the World'," the Iranian Foreign Ministry wrote on its Twitter account on Monday. "Since its foundation, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been developing a cordial, balanced relationship with the world and settling challenges through dialogues based on mutual respect," it added. "The track record of dialogues on critical issues demonstrates Iran's seriousness, pragmatism on bringing peace & stability to the world." "#JCPOA is the product of Iran's openness to engagement, but US reckless exit from the Deal has wreaked havoc on this multilateral accomplishment," the ministry reiterated. Iranian Foreign ministry went on to say: "Despite the setback, Iran remains committed to diplomatic engagement, as it's been & will be a trusted partner to its neighbors & beyond." "Iran has long proposed several inclusive peace plans in MidEast; the latest one is #HOPE. Always believe in dialogue." Earlier, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a letter to the High Representative of the European Union Josep Borrell once again referred the cases of European countries' non-compliance to the Joint Commission for settlement in accordance with Article 36 of the JCPOA. Foreign Minister's letter warned that any interference in the ongoing cooperation between Iran and the IAEA would be contrary to the provisions of the JCPOA and could have negative impacts on the existing cooperation under the safeguards agreement, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi earlier said. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi stressed the need to maintain and fully implement the provisions of the JCPOA by all parties, especially the need for Iran to fully benefit from the economic effects of the sanctions lifting system as envisaged in the deal, saying that Iran will take appropriate and proportionate action against any excessive and irresponsible behavior. 9376**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), United Spinal Association recently launch its ADA Corporate Challenge campaign to raise awareness of the importance of making workplaces, products and services accessible and welcoming to people with disabilities. "COVID-19 has severely impacted people with disabilities who were already at-risk and underserved before the global pandemic. Now more than ever before, it is vital to support disability awareness and to ensure our community's independence and human rights are met with understanding, inclusion, and decisive action," said James Weisman, United Spinal president and CEO. As part of the ADA Corporate Challenge, United Spinal has developed a series of questions and answers that companies should consider in promoting an inclusive and accessible workplace for wheelchair users and all people with mobility disabilities, including: Is my company actively recruiting people with disabilities? Are my company's technology, products and services accessible to employees and customers with disabilities? Do my coworkers and I need disability etiquette training? Individuals taking the challenge are urged to submit feedback, along with photos and videos demonstrating their company's commitment to an inclusive workplace and how it is helping employees with disabilities grow and succeed. In return, United Spinal is spotlighting the submissions on their website and social media, showcasing how these companies are driving progress toward a more inclusive society. United Spinal's ADA Corporate Challenge is a part of Roll on 30!, a larger initiative to celebrate the 30th Anniversary (July 26th, 2020) of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. Roll on 30! brings together United Spinal members, partners, and the larger disability community to strengthen the ADA through education, advocacy and action. United Spinal has actively promoted disability rights and inclusion since its founding in 1946. It has used the ADA to advocate for greater access to public transportation, the built environment, public facilities, and employment. To participate in United Spinal's ADA Corporate Challenge, visit https://unitedspinal.org/corporate-challenge/. About United Spinal Association Formed in 1946 by paralyzed veterans, United Spinal is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for all Americans with spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D). Membership is free and open to all individuals with SCI/D, with over 53,000 members across 50 chapters nationwide. Known for its revolutionary advocacy efforts, United Spinal played a significant role in writing the Americans with Disabilities Act, provided important contributions to the Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Air Carrier Access Act, and was instrumental in attaining sidewalk curb ramps and accessible public transportation in New York City, which created the standard accessibility model used in many United States cities. SOURCE United Spinal Association Related Links http://www.unitedspinal.org Xi Jinping Thomas Peter/Getty China has announced plans to impose sanctions on US politicians including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. It comes in response to new US sanctions which take aim at Beijing's treatment of Uighur Muslims and other minorities. 'The US practice severely interferes in China's internal affairs, violates basic norms governing international relations and damages China-US relations,' said China's foreign affairs spokesperson on Monday. The politicians have been vocal critics of the Chinese Communist Party. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. China's government has announced that it will impose sanctions on a group of US politicians, including senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in response to US sanctions which take aim at Beijing's treatment of Uighur Muslims and other minorities. China's foreign affairs spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Monday that China would place unspecified sanctions on Rubio and Cruz, as well as Republican politicians Samuel Brownback and Chris Smith. All of those politicians have been vocal critics of the Chinese Communist Party and have urged President Trump to take a tougher line on Beijing, particularly against the mass detention camps of Uighur Muslims and other minorities which Beijing runs in Xinjiang province. "The US practice severely interferes in China's internal affairs, violates basic norms governing international relations and damages China-US relations. China firmly opposes and strongly condemns this," said Hua Chunying at a press conference. "It must be stressed that Xinjiang affairs are purely China's internal affairs. The US has no right and no cause to interfere in them," she added. The spokesperson did not specify what form the sanctions would take. Rubio and Cruz both reacted to the announcement with indifference. Cruz tweeted: "Bummer. I was going to take my family to Beijing for summer vacation, right after visiting Tehran. Story continues Rubio tweeted: "The Communist Party of #China has banned me from entering the country. I guess they don't like me?" China also announced sanctions against the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a group of senators and officials which monitors human rights in China. It comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over issues including trade and human rights which have seen both administrations engage in an escalating series tit-for-tat sanctions. The US on Friday announced sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials who it said were responsible for human rights violations against Muslim minorities in the Xinjiang province. The UN and other international monitoring agencies say that at least one million ethnic Uighurs in China are held in re-education camps which resemble a "massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy." Beijing has denied the allegations and says it holds some religious extremists in camps for the purposes of re-education. The sanctions targeted the US-related financial interests of Chinese communist party officials connected to the region. In June, President Trump admitted that he had held off imposing Treasury sanctions against Chinese officials involved with the Xinjiang detention camps because doing so would have interfered with his attempts to strike a trade deal with Beijing. Asked why he had not imposed sanctions, Trump told Axios: "Well, we were in the middle of a major trade deal. And I made a great deal, $250 billion potentially worth of purchases. And by the way, they're buying a lot, you probably have seen. Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton in June claimed that Trump told Chinese premier Xi Jinping that building concentration camps to "re-educate" Uighur Muslims was the right thing to do. "According to our interpreter," Bolton claimed in his tell-all book on his time in the White House, "Trump said that Xi should go ahead with building the camps, which Trump thought was exactly the right thing to do." Read the original article on Business Insider The explosive tell-all book Mary L. Trump has written about her famous uncle President Donald Trump and their family is set to publish Tuesday. The book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," alleges some big things, like Mary being a source behind The New York Times' series on Donald Trump's finances. But Mary's personal stories also reveal little things about her uncle's personality. For instance, in the book, Mary (who has a Ph.D. in psychology) tells an anecdote that illustrates how Donald Trump charms people. In 2017, when Mary went to visit her uncle at the White House for a family get together, Mary writes that "Donald stood in the doorway, greeting people as they entered." "[W]hen he saw me, he pointed at me with a surprised look on his face, then said, 'I specifically asked for you to be here.'" "That was the kind of thing he often said to charm people," Mary writes, "and he had a knack for tailoring his comment to the occasion, which was all the more impressive because I know it wasn't true." (She says her uncle then opened his arms and hugged her for the first time in her life.) That's "a tactic of persuasion," psychology professor Bob Cialdini, 75, who has spent his entire career studying the science of persuasion, says of such flattery. And it works, too. When someone receives a compliment, their automatic reaction is to feel more positive toward the complimenter, Cialdini says. And we tend "to trust people we like more, which opens us up to their persuasive attempts." Science backs this up, says Cialdini, professor emeritus of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University and author of "Influence: Science & Practice." He sites a seminal study from 1978 in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. For the study, called "The extra credit effect in interpersonal attraction," subjects received either positive, negative or a mix of positive and negative comments from another person who needed a favor from them. Researchers found that not only did positive compliments cause the subjects to like their praisers (called "return liking"), but the positive feelings held true even when the subjects realized that the flatterers stood to gain something from the compliments, plus the praise did not have to "be accurate to work." "Positive comments produced just as much liking for the flatterer when they were untrue as when they were true. That's how powerful praise and compliments and statements of liking [are] for us," Cialdini says. So when you have a compliment, "don't keep it in your head. If you give it, people will like you more," he says. However, keep your compliments authentic, Cialdini says, as fake compliments or ulterior motives can ultimately backfire. And in situations where someone with a motive or someone you hardly know praises you, be careful to make judgments and decisions based the merits rather than flattery, he says. The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC Make It's request for comment. Previously, White House deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews said in a statement that Mary's book "is clearly in the author's own financial self-interest." Mary, however, writes in the book that she did not do it to "cash in or out of a desire for revenge." Instead, with the events over the last three years that Donald Trump has been president, she could no longer remain silent, she writes. In June, Donald's younger brother Robert Trump unsuccessfully tried to block the publication of the book in court, saying that his niece, who is the daughter of his and Donald's late brother Fred Trump Jr., is subject to a nondisclosure agreement and "not allowed to write the book." Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years How this 1950s self-help guru shaped Donald Trump's attitude toward life and business Hillary Clinton says Bernie Sanders didn't get a real job until he was 41here's a copy of his actual resume from the '80s UB engineer to track how wildfires spread, help save lives Engineer Negar Elhami-Khorasani, second from the left, with members of her research group in Ketter Hall. Credit: Douglas Levere. Wildfires have always been part of the natural landscape for a healthy ecosystem, yet these fires are projected to become more frequent and intense. BUFFALO, N.Y. University at Buffalo engineer Negar Elhami-Khorasani is part of a multi-institutional group of researchers who are using science and technology to better understand and help prevent deadly wildfires. Wildfires have always been part of the natural landscape for a healthy ecosystem, yet these fires are projected to become more frequent and intense, says Elhami-Khorasani, PhD, assistant professor in civil engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The economic and social impacts of wildfires have risen in recent years, and now represent a global concern. The research group, led by the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), recently received a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundations Leading Engineering for Americas Prosperity, Health and Infrastructure program. Elhami-Khorasani will develop a data-driven urban fire spread model to evaluate wildfire risk in wildland urban interface (WUI) communities, which are areas where natural environments meet human-developed land. She will study temporal and spatial spread of fire, considering uncertainties in urban fuel, landscape, vegetation, and environmental factors. Along with the rest of the team, Elhami-Khorasani will establish a continuous fire risk assessment framework moving from the wildland to urban and suburban areas. She will also collaborate with the UNR to translate total burned area in a community to economic losses and its effects on community residents perception of life. The group was assembled Hamed Ebrahimian, an assistant professor at UNR, who began pursuing a better way to understand fire risk after the 2018 Camp Fire, which was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Some of the most tragic fatalities in the Camp Fire were due to unpredicted fire behavior, which surprised the victims and eliminated the proper reaction time, Ebrahimian says. University of California, Los Angeles, the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, the Desert Research Institute and other University of Nevada units will collaborate with researchers at UNR and UB. Elhami-Khorasanis research investigates performance of the built environment under extreme loading and multi-hazard scenarios, especially fire and fire following earthquakes. She is a member of several professional associations, including the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Fire Protection Committee, the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) Large Outdoor Fires and the Built Environment working group, the ASCE Task Group 2 on Reliability based Performance for Structural Systems, and the fib Task Group on Performance-Based Design. For more information on the project, visit UNRs website. Polish President Andrzej Duda squeezed past a europhile rival to win re-election, official results showed Monday, but the narrow victory put allies in the populist right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party on the back foot. Seeking close ties with US President Donald Trump, Duda has vowed to tighten already restrictive laws against abortion, and campaigned against LGBT rights. Trump on Monday congratulated Duda on his "historic re-election". "Looking forward to continuing our important work together," he wrote on Twitter. The incumbent won a new five-year term with 51.03 percent of Sunday's vote against 48.97 percent for Warsaw's liberal mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, according to final results from the country's electoral commission. Trzaskowski had vowed to mend ties with the European Union. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Duda on his win, tweeting that she looked "forward to working with him on the many challenges Europe and Poland have to face together". Experts said the result means the governing PiS party, which has been criticised at home and abroad for reforms of the judiciary seen as eroding democratic freedoms, will face a more confident opposition. "President Duda has won the election, but the real success is for Rafal Trzaskowski and the opposition which has gained ground," said Kazimierz Kik, a political expert from Kielce University. Anna Materska-Sosnowska, a Warsaw University political scientist, warned there was a "realistic" risk that Poland could begin to resemble Hungary, which has been accused of drifting towards authoritarianism under nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban. - 'Poland divided in two' - After congratulating Duda on Monday, Trzaskowski called on the president to "free himself from his political party", adding: "I hope the president will display more independence in his second term." Trzaskowski vowed to work hard "to sew Poland back together", a sentiment echoed by Duda, who asked supporters to "help me glue our Poland together". The government must now deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, which is pushing Poland into a recession -- the country's first since communism fell three decades ago. "Poland is split down the middle," remarked Witold Orlowski, a professor at Warsaw University of Technology Business School who forecast "a very difficult period" ahead. "On the one hand, even this slim victory is a PiS success and will allow it to continue to govern, at least technically," Orlowski said. "On the other hand, the social and economic situation will deteriorate and a large part of the electorate will blame the PiS." Internationally, experts said Duda's close ties with Trump could also spell trouble ahead if the US president fails to win re-election in November. Duda's support was particularly strong among older voters in rural areas and small towns and in the east of the country, while Trzaskowski did well with a younger electorate in larger cities and western regions on the border with Germany. "The result of these elections is a Poland divided in two with a not-so-rosy future, as it will be difficult to ease the division and to restore the relationship between the two sides," Kik told AFP. - White-red vs rainbow - The election was to take place in May but was delayed because of the virus. Four days before the first round, Duda became the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the pandemic struck, and was praised by Trump for doing an "excellent job". Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro characterised the second-round vote 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 widely used by the LGBT community. Duda has railed against "LGBT ideology", likening it to a new form of communist brainwashing, and has vowed to change the constitution to rule out adoptions by same-sex couples. When "The Painted Bird" was first shown at film festivals in the fall - way back when people could still sit in movie theaters - there were mass walkouts reported at Venice and Toronto, by viewers who were horrified by some of the action depicted in this black-and-white Holocaust drama (more or less faithfully adapted by Czech writer-director Vaclav Marhoul from Jerzy Kosinski's 1965 novel). Horrified I can understand. But surprised? Had none of the those people who walked out read - or even heard about - the book, which is included on Time magazine's list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923? I can hardly shake the memory - still indelible decades after I read it - of the book's young protagonist, a Jewish boy who wanders from village to village in unnamed parts of Eastern Europe during World War II, buried up to his neck by a medicine woman, and left outside to be pecked bloody by crows. That is hardly the worst thing that happens to the main character in this harrowing, gorgeous - yes, slightly sadistic - and ultimately deeply moving film. At nearly three hours long, and told with the book's peripatetic structure, moving from nightmare to nightmare, "The Painted Bird" is not for the faint of heart. Told in chapters titled with the names of the people he meets - "Marta," "Olga," "Lekh and Ludmila," "Hans" - the film tells the story of Joska (Petr Kotlar), whose name we only learn at the end of the movie, when he is reunited with his father. As the tale gets underway, Dad and Mom appear to have gone into hiding, leaving their son to be raised by an elderly woman (Nina Shunevych). That doesn't last long. Joska finds her dead one day, and accidentally sets fire to her house, and her. On to the next nightmare. There's no point in itemizing all the various atrocities witnessed and/or suffered by Joska, and, presumably, his parents. Suffice it to say that a Nazi soldier (Stellan Skarsgard) is the nicest person he meets. Taken in at one point by a Catholic priest (Harvey Keitel), Joska is "given" to a moonshiner (Julian Sands) in a form of indentured servitude. (The man also tortures him.) Later, he is taken under the wing of a Red Army sharpshooter (Barry Pepper), who teaches Joska the value of blind, violent vengeance - a "virtue" that the boy later practices in one of the film's more coldblooded episodes. (Other than that handful of actors with recognizable names, the film's cast is largely Eastern European.) The mistreatment that Joska endures isn't just physical, but psychological: a form of child abuse like no other you will see on film. Eventually, Joska becomes mute, but you may hardly notice. "Bird" is largely told without dialogue. The backdrop of a world war is also relegated to the periphery for much of the story. A full hour goes by before we even see our first Nazis: soldiers shooting at Jews who have managed to escape from a moving train. It's worth noting a controversy associated with the novel, which was originally billed as semiautobiographical - a claim that Kosinski ("Being There") backed away from after the book's publication. Shot in richly toned black-and-white, on 35 millimeter film, there is nothing documentarylike about "The Painted Bird." Rather, it has the surreal atmosphere of allegory. The film's title refers to Joska's time with a bird-catcher (Lech Dyblik), who releases a bird - whose wings he has painted - into the wild, only to watch, in perverse amusement, as the other members of its flock tear it to shreds, no longer able to recognize it. That unrecognizability is the central theme of a film that ends with a shot of a man's forearm tattooed with a number. It's a story of how war dehumanizes everyone - both its perpetrators and its victims - reducing us all to monsters whose names, ironically, don't matter. - - - Three stars. Unrated. Available on various streaming platforms. Contains crude language, nudity, sex, unrelenting violence and scenes of animal cruelty. In Czech, Interslavic, Russian and German with subtitles. 170 minutes. Ratings Guide: Four stars masterpiece, three stars very good, two stars OK, one star poor, no stars waste of time. For Immediate Release Chicago, IL July 13, 2020 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Teladoc Health, Inc. TDOC, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. ZM, Amazon AMZN, Costco Wholesale COST and Fiverr International FVRR. Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog: Investing in the "New Normal": 3 Major Trends That Are Here to Stay With the recent relaxation of lockdown guidelines followed by mass reopening of a number of states, the nations daily new case tally is on the rise again. The last three months data had shown a slowdown in new cases, bringing a glimmer of hope. However, the past seven days data shows a record increase in the number of new cases. The catastrophic impact of the pandemic on the financial market has already been widely compared with the great financial crisis of 2008. Though the full impact cannot be gauged at this stage, we can still conclude that the pandemic-led recession that the economy has experienced so far is much worse that the 2008 mayhem. The IMF recently expressed deep concern about rising debt in the United States as well as other developed and emerging countries. The excessive numbers of fiscal stimulus packages that have been announced since March has resulted in public debt rising to more than 100% of combined GDP of these nations. On Jul 8, in an online meeting, IMFs deputy managing director Mitsuhiro Furusawa called for post-pandemic worldwide economic reform stating, Once the economy gets back on track, (a) medium to long-term fiscal framework must be created to manage public finances accordingly. Transition to New Normal Whether or not an effective vaccine is launched soon, whether or not the outbreak proves to be the biggest economic disaster of modern-day history, this devastation has already started to alter the economy as a whole. Story continues Addressing this transformation as the new normal, economists are currently widely talking about the gradually changing consumption-spending pattern of a rational individual, as well as of the entire social paradigm. This transformation is approaching in the form of changing hygiene sense, eating habits, spending on luxury items, leisurely travel, religious inclination, and over and above notion of livelihood and lifestyle. For example, in this period, there has been a mass shift to careful shopping from extravagant spending earlier. One thing that is getting clearer by the day is that the changes are sweeping and happening fast. Time for Investors to Act Fast From an investor point of view, when equity volatility is ratcheting to an all-time high, the best strategy is to shuffle one's investment portfolio to suit the demands of this 'new normal.' At this point, investors can use selloffs within the portfolio to pick stocks based on the changes. Jim Cramer too recently noted this behavior-changing investment pattern to be incredibly lucrative and addressed these new normal themes as realistic and long lasting. Three New Normal Trends to Bet On Already a lot has been said on the growing prosperity of the digital health sector over the past few months as a major choice for contactless healthcare services. Despite the U.S. governments measures to make both telemedicine and remote patient monitoring mainstream for the past few years, primarily to minimize healthcare cost and increase access to care, the sector struggled to receive mass acceptance. Nevertheless, post the COVID-19 outbreak, the situation has changed drastically. Telemedicine stocks received an impressive response, when in February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked healthcare service communities to increase the use of telemedicine in broader ways. Further, the FDA has approved the expanded use of remote patient monitoring technologies with the aim of minimizing hospital visits, thereby reducing the risk of exposure to the virus. We believe, even when normalcy resumes, digital health stocks will keep gaining ground, banking on change in consumer spending toward more contactless services. Going by a Nielsen investigation report, the consumer spending pattern has already transformed to proactive health-minded buying with consumer interest growing toward products that support overall maintenance of health and wellness. Here we ask investors to add stocks like Teladoc Health, Inc. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). With consumers limiting their outdoor exposure, another thing that is changing from the core is the concept of education. Schools, universities as well as other learning institutes shutting down one after another for indefinite time periods is dragging the future of millions of children into uncertainty. This has led to the development of the learn-from-home concept. While e-learning can never substitute classroom teaching, many economists believe this virtual delivery of education, which has become a necessity now, will not fade away even after the mayhem disappears. According to Forbes (published in Fatbit Technologies article), the worldwide e-learning market is projected to be worth $325 billion in 2025. Here we ask investors to focus on Zoom Video Communications, Inc., carrying a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), with stellar growth prospects. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Another sector that has already started to gain significance amid current turbulence is e-commerce. When the mass lockdown began in April, consumers were seen fast shifting from offline to online shopping. Even when the brick-and-mortar stores started to open, a huge percentage of consumers stuck to online purchases. Amish Jani, a partner at venture capital firm FirstMark, believes that in the long term, online shopping will get a boost from the lifestyle changes currently being forced on consumers. And this change will be lasting. Zacks Rank #2 stock Amazon is, undoubtedly, leading e-commerce stocks at this moment, banking on its expanded supply chain. We also ask investors to keep a track of stocks like Costco Wholesale and Fiverr International, both carrying a Zacks Rank of 2. These Stocks Are Poised to Soar Past the Pandemic The COVID-19 outbreak has shifted consumer behavior dramatically, and a handful of high-tech companies have stepped up to keep America running. Right now, investors in these companies have a shot at serious profits. For example, Zoom jumped 108.5% in less than 4 months while most other stocks were sinking. Our research shows that 5 cutting-edge stocks could skyrocket from the exponential increase in demand for stay at home technologies. This could be one of the biggest buying opportunities of this decade, especially for those who get in early. See the 5 high-tech stocks now>> Media Contact Zacks Investment Research 800-767-3771 ext. 9339 support@zacks.com https://www.zacks.com Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release. Click to get this free report Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) : Free Stock Analysis Report Teladoc Health, Inc. (TDOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (ZM) : Free Stock Analysis Report Fiverr International Lt. (FVRR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research 1 Crow Scout Becomes A War Chief By Stealing Nazi Horses It's been said that war never changes. That's completely untrue. War changes all the time, and as we keep updating our methods for waging war, the old standards for what qualifies you as a badass soldier fall apart. You know there must be whole warrior cultures who had rules about honorable and dishonorable hand-to-hand combat, all of which were rendered meaningless the first time they saw a gun. And the old-fashioned glory of individual soldiers racking up huge body counts stopped making sense as soon as militaries got the power to wipe out entire cities instantly. Continue Reading Below Advertisement For the Crow people of Montana, becoming a war chief traditionally meant completing four tasks: leading a war party, stealing an enemy's weapon, a counting coup (striking an enemy non-fatally and then escaping unharmed), and stealing an enemy's horse. Which might have made sense in colonial times or whatever, but it's kind of impossible to do all that on the battlefield in the age of guns and planes, right? Except not for Joe Medicine Crow, who was born on the Crow reservation and was working on his doctorate when World War II broke out. He joined the 103rd Infantry Division and managed to do all four tasks fighting against the Germans in WWII. Pete Souza We're pretty sure this photo was taken a while after that. Continue Reading Below Advertisement He led a seven-man party easily enough. His squad carried explosives, and he led them to attack Germans on the Siegfried Line. Another time, he collided with a German soldier, fought him hand-to-hand, and got him to surrender and yell for his momma. He left the soldier and took the man's rifle as a trophy, so those were tasks two and three crossed off his quest log. Stealing an enemy's horse would seem to be the trickiest one since horses weren't quite the preferred mode of transport during the Second World War. But they were a mode of transport. So near the end of the war, Joe tailed a group of SS officers on horseback and waited till they camped for the night. And so he made off with fifty of the enemy's horses, leaving them stranded as he sang a victory song to himself. Joe was the last Crow to become a war chief, and there will presumably never be another, both because those tasks will be even harder to complete in the future and because America will never again formally declare war. Follow Ryan Menezes on Twitter for bits cut from this article and other stuff no one should see. Top Image: US Navy No matter what the year brings or how many times the due date is delayed, the old idiom holds true: the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. Military-connected businesses and families -- veterans, military members and spouses -- are no different. But we asked Jo Willetts, Jackson Hewitt's Director of Tax Resources if there's anything these businesses should know about filing taxes for 2020 -- especially now that COVID-19 and the CARES Act has made the 2020 filing year... interesting. Read Next: Free and Discounted Tax Preparation for Military Jackson Hewitt has some special recommendations for filing for 2020 when the due date comes in 2021. But Willetts has a big caveat: "It's always a good idea to involve a tax professional early on for personalized tips and suggestions to help save on taxes and jump start earnings." With that in mind, here are some things to prepare for tax time. 1. It's Always Better to File a Joint Return Filing a separate return often results in a greater tax liability, even if a spouse runs a side business separate from military income. Many credits and deductions are either not available or phased out much earlier than if the couple files a joint return. Military spouses also do not qualify for Head of Household status when the active duty member is deployed or on overseas duty. "In order to qualify for Head of Household, there has to be a change of address for the military member with no intention of coming back to the marital home," Willetts says. 2. Estimate Taxes Quarterly When a military spouse is running a business from the home, they must file an estimated tax payment every quarter. The Internal Revenue Service has a handy tax withholding estimator for anyone who needs estimating their net profits and submitting their W-4. Again, the plan should be to file taxes jointly because more credits and deductions will be available to the family than if taxes were filed separately. 3. Keep Your Home Office Physically Separate While many are working from home in 2020, home businesses separate from 9-5 jobs can claim a home office write-off on their taxes. This space has to be physically separate from other family members and guests to be considered tax-deductible. 4. Business Taxes Are More Than Federal Income Taxes In addition to income taxes on the income from a side business, a military spouse will also pay Social Security and Medicare Taxes, referred to as SE taxes, on their income. The spouse will also have to pay state and municipal taxes, if there are any to be paid (check your local area). "This is what bumps up the tax bill quickly," says Willetts. 5. Those Side Gigs Are Taxable Being a ride-share driver or selling goods on Etsy or other platforms is self-employment income. All business income, whether reported on a Miscellaneous Income form (Form 1099) or not, is considered taxable income and should be included on business forms. U.S. Marine Maj. Jimmy Lindemann poses with April Mitchell, the creator of the Right Height door hook. Mitchell, a military spouse, created Right Height in hopes of giving individuals with less mobility more independence. (U.S. Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Alison Dostie) 6. You Can Still Save for Retirement Taxpayers should set up a self-employed retirement plan and pay themselves as they go along; they may be working for themselves, but they can still save for retirement. Small business owners can set up tax-deductible retirement plans, even for themselves, and profit-sharing retirement plans for their employees. 7. The CARES Act Comes With Taxable Income While the 2020 stimulus checks won't be taxed next year, all unemployment income is taxable income -- including the $600 bumps. When asked, states can withhold taxes from unemployment checks, but can only withhold 10% of unemployment income. Extended unemployment can come back to haunt families as well. Some tax credits, including the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC) and Child Tax Credit required earned income -- that is, not unemployment income. To qualify for the EIC, taxpayers need some form of earned income. For the Child Tax Credit, taxpayers need to make at least $2,500 8. Consider an Estimated Payment Even if you aren't running a side business but depend on certain tax credits every year, Jo Willetts suggests making an estimated tax payment using the IRS' aforementioned tax withholding tool. It could help manage any tax surprises when filing for 2020. 9. Spouse-Run Business Owners Can File for Unemployment This is a new development with the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic. If the military member, or their spouse, has a small business that is no longer able to operate due to COVID-19, they may be eligible for unemployment. "This is a new idea and only eligible to self-employed taxpayers with a business unable to operate during the pandemic," Willetts says. 10. Gifting Money is Taxable Income If you or your family has been helping another individual or family out during the economic crisis to the tune of $15,000 or less, look out. When it's under that amount, the giver is responsible for any applicable federal gift taxes. The gift of money needs to be substantial and over $15,000 in order for it to be taxable to the recipient. "Money gifts aren't taxable if it's given to a husband or a wife who is a US citizen ... Or it's paid directly to an educational or medical institution for someone's medical bills or tuition expenses," Willetts says. As always, Jo Willets and Jackson Hewitt recommend consulting with a tax professional for any situation that puts you, your family or business in unfamiliar territory. -- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook. Want to Learn More About Military Life? Whether you're thinking of joining the military, looking for post-military careers or keeping up with military life and benefits, Military.com has you covered. Subscribe to Military.com to have military news, updates and resources delivered directly to your inbox. More than 80 millionaires calling themselves "Millionaires for Humanity" want governments to tax the wealthy and use the money towards coronavirus relief. The millionaires, including Ben and Jerrys ice cream co-founder Jerry Greenfield and Disney heir Abigail Disney, said they should be taxed more, "immediately, substantially and permanently". The letter, also signed by United States entrepreneur Sidney Topol and New Zealand retailer Stephen Tindall, read, "As COVID-19 strikes the world, millionaires like us have a critical role to play in healing our world." Track this LIVE blog for updates on the coronavirus outbreak "No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door. But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis," the letter said according to an AFP report. The signatories include Sir Stephen Tindall, the founder of the Warehouse Group and New Zealands second-richest man, British screenwriter and director Richard Curtis, and Irish venture capitalist John OFarrell. 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 "We owe a huge debt to the people working on the frontlines of this global battle. Most essential workers are grossly underpaid for the burden they carry," the letter read. The group released the letter ahead of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting. OTTAWAA new poll suggests Canadians are torn on whether the federal government should tighten the taps on COVID-19 spending to keep the deficit from flooding the nations future. The Liberals last week revealed this years projected deficit sits at $343 billion, driven by an estimated $231.9 billion in COVID-19 spending, so far, and a massive drop in government revenue. With the deficit at levels not seen since the Second World War, Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies asked 1,523 Canadians whether they felt the government ought to immediately and quickly begin to scale back pandemic support programs to Canadians and to business. Forty-one per cent said yes to that question, 44 per cent said no and 15 per cent said they didnt know or preferred not to answer. The survey was conducted between July 10 and 12, just after the Liberals released their projections. It cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random. This week, the Liberal government announced that one of the biggest benefit programs a federal wage subsidy will be extended until the end of this year. It covers 75 per cent of wages, up to a weekly maximum of $847, for eligible companies and non-profits that have lost at least 30 per cent of their revenues. Over the last three months you have seen me come out to talk with Canadians about what were doing to help you and your family, your employer, your local businesses deal with this pandemic, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday in announcing the extension. Were going to continue to do that vital work. As of July 6, the wage subsidy had paid out $18.01 billion to 252,370 companies. Last weeks fiscal and economic update from the Liberals increased the overall budget to $82.3 billion. The other marquee support program, the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit, is set to expire in the fall. The $500-a-week benefit had, as of July 5, paid out almost $54.8 billion to 8.25 million people. Of those surveyed, 78 per cent said they were worried about the size of the deficit and how it may affect things in Canada in the long term. In releasing the deficit projections, the Liberals didnt set out a plan for how or when they might get the books back to balance. The survey asked respondents which of two routes traditionally use to cut deficits they would support. In the survey, 60 per cent said the government ought to focus on cutting government spending, while 21 per cent said the focus should be on raising taxes. Philz Coffee will lay off over 180 workers, mostly in the Bay Area, due to the economic ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. The San Francisco coffee roaster will primarily cut ties with baristas and team leads across the region and the state, according to a notice filed with the states Employment Development Department. Some designer, analyst and content producer jobs will also be cut, the company said. Philz told The Chronicle that the cuts were directly related to the economic challenges posed by the pandemic and faltering demand. The company said it plans to assist employees who want to reapply for jobs when demand returns to pre-pandemic levels and noted it had paid employees for scheduled shifts after the initial closures in March and covered health insurance costs. The Chronicle reported the chain had begun pressing some furloughed workers to return to their jobs or quit, despite the ongoing risks of frontline work. Employees affected by the layoffs were informed by email Friday that their last day would be July 15. As the repercussions of this pandemic continue, we are able to gain a better understanding of what we can expect from sales, which is materially divergent from where we were pre-COVID-19, the company wrote to employees in the email, which was reviewed by The Chronicle. The company told employees Friday it was not comfortable opening cafes, which it operates in California and as far afield as the East Coast, to walk-in business. With the longevity of the pandemic, and its impact, uncertain, it is unrealistic that Philz will be able to bring all furloughed Team Members back, and that continuing furlough status would only hold individuals back from pursuing other opportunities, the company said. Philz made the announcement before Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered every county in California to close indoor restaurants, shutter bars and close other businesses including movie theaters, wineries, zoos and museums. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The chain closed stores on March 17 as a safety measure, even though as an essential food business it could have chosen to stay open. It reopened most locations on April 8 after shifting to a no-contact, pickup business model. Although Philz began to bring some employees back in recent months, the company told the EDD the severity and duration of the pandemic has been worse than Philz reasonably anticipated, and said the layoffs were unavoidable. Businesses like Philz can open for to-go orders, their business is highly dependent on customer routines that have been upended by the pandemic, according to Mike Cullom, national director of restaurant and hospitality consulting at Moss Adams LLP. These businesses are very dependent on habit, people stopping in for their morning cup of coffee, Cullom said. With the pandemic disrupting almost every aspect of daily life, people like you and me have to make an effort to leave our house and go to the coffee shop, driving down sales, he added. Chase DiFeliciantonio is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ChaseDiFelice California's Orange County Board of Education has called remote learning an 'utter failure' and voted in favor of guidelines to reopen schools in the fall without masks or social distancing measures. On Monday the board voted 4-to-1 to reopen district schools in time for classes that typically start in August. However, the county's 27 districts can decide for themselves if they ultimately want to reopen. The conservative-leaning Board stressed the importance of confronting fears surrounding the virus. 'Among our greatest responsibilities as adults is our responsibility to model courage and persistence in the face of uncertainty and fear, which is what many families are feeling with the mixed messages and confusion surrounding reopening of schools in the COVID-19 era,' a statement from the vote said, according to the Los Angeles Times. On Monday Orange County's Board of Education in California voted in favor of guidelines to reopen schools without masks or social distancing measures, while slamming remote online learning as an 'utter failure' Despite opposing masks and social distancing, the Board does call for temperature checks, the nightly disinfection of classrooms and the frequent handwashing and use of hand sanitizer. The vote came as the states two largest school districts Los Angeles and San Diego announced that campuses will not reopen next month as coronavirus cases surge in the country, meaning students will continue with online learning. Those districts have a combined K-12 student population of about 720,000, 'There's a public health imperative to keep schools from becoming a petri dish. The health and safety of all in the school community is not something we can compromise,' Austin Beutner, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said. The San Diego Unified School District said nothing was decided beyond the start of the school year starting online. An August 10 update will address the possibility of returning to in-person instruction later on. Oakland and San Bernardino districts are among those that already have have said they'll start off with distance learning. The vote sheds light on how split the nation is on reopening and returning to normal life despite the threat the pandemic poses. 'These are simply guidelines to be looked at and to follow according to whats best for your family take it for what it is and do what youre most comfortable with,' Mari Barke, the boards vice president said At a meeting last month, the board met with experts who said that requiring masks for students 'is not only difficult but may even be harmful over time.' 'These are simply guidelines to be looked at and to follow according to whats best for your family take it for what it is and do what youre most comfortable with,' Mari Barke, the boards vice president said. But the decision isnt going over well with all community members. 'Theyre putting every child, teacher at risk. Children are getting sick and I know a lot of my friends who are still teaching have elderly parents like I do. They can't be bringing things home,' Cynthia Blackwell, a retired teacher, said to NBC Los Angeles. Gov. Gavin Newsom said districts will decide for themselves whether opening up is safe. 'I would like to think that we have the capacity to make better decision in the next few weeks where we dont have to make the decision to delay the school year,' Newsom said. Gov. Gavin Newsom said districts will decide for themselves whether opening up is safe. He supported the Los Angeles and San Diego school districts' decision to not reopen in the fall Newsom said he approved more school reopning rules Friday on masks, sports, singing, busing and other school activities, but his administration did not immediately make them public. The governor has clashed with Orange County over coronavirus lockdowns and guidelines. In April thousands of people in the county crowded on beaches, disobeying his guidelines and closure of beaches. Theres also been opposition to mandatory mask rules in public places and the countys health director recently resigned after facing intense public criticism. President Donald Trump has voiced his opposition to keeping schools closed. He accused the Centers of Disease Control and Preventions school re-opening guidelines as 'asking schools to do very impractical things'. A petition demanding the Orange County Board of Education follow the states guidelines for reopening including mandatory masks and social distancing has racked up over 41,000 signatures as of Tuesday Those recommendations including spacing students' desks six feet apart, staggering start and arrival times, and teaching children hygiene measures to prevent infections. A petition demanding the Orange County Board of Education follow the states guidelines for reopening including mandatory masks and social distancing has racked up over 41,000 signatures as of Tuesday. 'These recommendations are not just for the safety of our teachers, staff, and students but for every single person they come in contact with,' the petition reads. Both the state Department of Education and Department of Public Health have released guidance for districts to follow when reopening, which include implementing temperature checks for students, remaking activities such as lunch and recess, and recommending cloth face coverings. A view of Anaheim Union High School, which falls under Orange County Schools, above The California Federation of Teachers, which represents 120,000 teachers and school employees, said Monday it sent a letter to Newsom and the Legislature asking state leaders to delay the physical reopening of schools. They also asked for stronger direction to counties that 'have been left on their own to make the difficult decision on whether it is safe to reopen schools.' 'We urge the Governor to take action and delay the reopening of schools until we can guarantee our schools are safe. The stakes are as high as it gets, and we have only one chance to get this right,' CFT President Jeff Freitas said in a statement. In the United States, public health experts were virtually unanimous that replicating European success required, first, maintaining the shutdown until we achieved a steep downward slope in cases; second, getting widespread compliance with public health advice; and third, creating a work force of at least 100,000 some experts felt 300,000 were needed to test, trace and isolate cases. Nationally we came nowhere near any of those goals, although some states did and are now reopening carefully and safely. Other states fell far short but reopened anyway. We now see the results. The pandemic is growing across 39 states. In Miami-Dade County in Florida, six hospitals have reached capacity. In Houston, where one of the countrys worst outbreaks rages, officials have called on the governor to issue a stay-at-home order. As if explosive growth in too many states isnt bad enough, we are also suffering the same shortages that haunted hospitals in March and April. In New Orleans, testing supplies are so limited that one site started testing at 8 a.m. but had only enough to handle the people lined up by 7:33 a.m. And testing by itself does little without an infrastructure to not only trace and contact potentially infected people but also manage and support those who test positive and are isolated along with those urged to quarantine. Too often this has not been done; in Miami, only 17 percent of those testing positive for the coronavirus had completed questionnaires to help with contact tracing, critical to slowing spread. Many states now have so many cases that contact tracing has become impossible anyway. Whats the answer? Social distancing, masks, hand washing and self-quarantine remain crucial. Too little emphasis has been placed on ventilation, which also matters. Ultraviolet lights can be installed in public areas. These things will reduce spread, and President Trump finally wore a mask publicly, which may somewhat depoliticize the issue. But at this point all these things together, even with widespread compliance, can only blunt dangerous trends where they are occurring. The virus is already too widely disseminated for these actions to quickly bend the curve downward. Elizabeth Chambers has filed for divorce from Armie Hammer, citing 'irreconcilable differences' and is seeking primary physical custody of their two children. The actor, 33, and his estranged wife, 37, announced on Friday that they were 'moving on' from their marriage after 10 years. On Monday, it emerged that Chambers had already filed a divorce petition before the couple shared the news of their split via their Instagram accounts. Over: Elizabeth Chambers has filed for divorce from Armie Hammer, citing 'irreconcilable differences' and is seeking primary physical custody of their two children (pictured March 2018) The legal documents show that Elizabeth signed the paperwork to end the union on Thursday July 9 and the petition was filed in the Superior Court in Los Angeles County on Friday July 10. Chambers who wed the actor in May 2010, cited 'irreconcilable differences' as the reason for the breakup. In the petition, she lists the date of separation as July 6 and is seeking primary physical custody of the couple's children, daughter Harper, five, and son Ford, three. She says she wants joint legal custody with Hammer of the kids and is requesting spousal support from the Call Me By Your Name star. Official: In the legal documents, Chambers states that she wants primary physical custody of the couple's children, daughter Harper, five, and son Ford, three Divorce: The legal documents show that the mother-of-two states the date of separation as July 6, signed the paperwork on July 9 and the petition was filed with the court on July 10 She says she wants joint legal custody with Hammer of the kids and is requesting spousal support from the Call Me By Your Name star Sighting: Hammer is now back in Los Angeles where he was spotted out and about on Monday, including having lunch at a restaurant's outdoor table with his dog for company The now former couple had been quarantining in the Cayman Islands during the coronavirus pandemic. But on Monday, Hammer was spotted out for a ride on his Vespa in Los Angeles and then having lunch at a restaurant's outdoor table with his dog for company. It's not clear if Chambers and the children are still in the Cayman Islands or have also returned home to LA. On Sunday, a source claimed to UsWeekly that the marriage breakup had been a long time coming. 'They have been having trouble in their marriage for quite a while and each doing their own thing,' the outlet's source shared. Happier times: The now former couple had been quarantining in the Cayman Islands during the coronavirus pandemic Growing apart: UsWeekly reported Sunday that Hammer and Chambers had 'been having trouble in their marriage for quite a while and each doing their own thing,' before their shock split (pictured February 2019) Another insider shared: 'Right now, their biggest concern is their children and how this change will impact them. Their children are their top priority and always will be.' The insider added: 'The split is amicable and they will work through this difficult time with love and respect.' Chambers had marked their 10th wedding anniversary in May with a wedding photo and gushing message to her husband. 'TEN years married, twelve together, thirteen years as best friends. Happy Anniversary, my love,' she posted on her Instagram. Hammer made no mention on social media of their anniversary. Alongside a throwback snap of himself and his wife on Friday, Hammer had shared the news of the split on his Instagram, explaining in the caption: 'Thirteen years as best friends, soulmates, partners and then parents. 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,' the actor added. '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.' Troubles: Chambers had marked their 10th wedding anniversary in May with a wedding photo and gushing message to her husband on Instagram. He did not reciprocate One of the few surviving market houses in Laois is to be taken over by Laois County Council and brought to new life. The Portarlington Market House is nearly 300 years old. In recent decades it was renovated and used as a car garage. Now it is to form a central part of a revitalisation of the Laois Offaly town's square. Cllr Tom Mulhall has confirmed this Tuesday July 14 that Laois County Council is poised to sign a "longterm lease" with its owner. "This building would have been known as Ryans Garage for years which would have given a great service to the area for people to get their vehicles repaired and serviced due to the increased volume of business more space would have been required," he said. "But due to increased volumes of traffic going through the town it was not possible to make more space available. In recent years Laois County Council have been looking at options to enhance the town particularly the square, so as a result they started to liaise and negotiate with the owners of the property," Cllr Mulhall said. He says the public can offer their suggestions as to a new use for the Georgian building. "This Progress will mean that the council will be open to ideas or submissions from the people of the area as to what are the best options for the Building and the whole area around the square. "There is a huge volume of traffic going through the town on a daily basis especially from Inter change 14 on the M7 en route to Tullamore or the West of Ireland. "I am looking forward to seeing a new look square in the near future and this progress will only add to the improvement to the rest of the Town. I would like to say well done to Laois County Council and the Ryan family for concluding their business very professionally," Cllr Mulhall said. "This is very good news for Portarlington and hopefully a sign of more progress to come," he added. Cllr Aidan Mullins from Portarlington welcomed the signing of a contract. "I have been working hard for the past few years to get the Council to upgrade the streetscape in Portarlington and they commissioned a Report on this. A major part of this upgrade would have to be the success of the Council in securing possession of Ryans garage in the Square. I am delighted to announce that the contract was signed today and the Council is now in a position to include this historic building in their plans to improve the public realm in the town. This will include upgrading the entire Square along with new footpaths along Main Street and undergrounding the overhead lines. Progress at last," he said. The Market House is listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. It was renovated in 1990 when many features removed however some remain including the original limestone-flagged floor. "Detached three-bay two-storey mid-Georgian former market house, built c.1740. Renovated, c.1990, to accommodate use as garage to ground floor having residential accommodation over. Double-pitched, M-profile, and hipped replacement fibre-cement slate roof, c.1990 with chimneystack. Replacement roughcast rendered walls, c.1990. painted. Square-headed window openings with stone sills and replacement timber and aluminium casement windows. Round-headed carriageways to ground floor. Ground floor renovated to accommodate use as workshop; original limestone-flagged floor; some original timber panelled internal doors; timber staircase to first floor; first floor extensively renovated and remodelled, c.1990, with original fittings removed. Located on an island site on The Square; tarmacadam carpark surrounds former Market House. Below: the building when it was a market house. Image by Archiseek.com What exactly is 5G? It is the next generation of mobile internet connection, promising much faster download and upload speeds and reducing lag times dramatically. It will allow a high definition film to be downloaded to a mobile device in less than a minute and for far more devices to access the internet at once. It is also crucial to new technologies such as driverless cars. 5G is the next generation of fast mobile internet connection, but Huawei has been ditched from the UK's 5G network due to security concerns What has happened? Ministers have told broadband operators to stop installing equipment from Huawei in their 5G networks by the end of this year. They have also been told to remove all existing kit by 2027. Huawei equipment already in the 3G and 4G networks will be allowed to stay. The firm will also be allowed to continue supplying new equipment for the rollout of fibre broadband for two years. Why is Huawei banned? Security officials have long had concerns about Huawei because of its links to Chinas communist rulers. In January, ministers announced that the firms involvement would be capped at 35 per cent of the 5G network. But the Government was forced to rethink after Donald Trump announced sanctions on Huawei in May as part of a trade war. The decision to ban Huawei from Britain's 5G network comes after Donald Trump announced sanctions on Huawei in May as part of a trade war What kind of sanctions? They ban Huawei from using microchips that use, or are produced using, US intellectual property. In effect, suppliers will be unable to continue making existing Huawei chips because these were produced using US knowhow. Huawei faces having to produce its own microchip designs from scratch. Why has the UK changed its policy? Ministers believe the sanctions will bite so hard on Huawei that the firm will be unable to supply the technology needed for 5G in the medium term. But there are also major security concerns. The National Cyber Security Centre has already designated Huawei a high risk vendor but was willing to allow it to continue supplying the UK because it understood how the firms microchips work. Security sources say officials will be unable to sign off any Chinese-designed alternative that Huawei might come up with. The National Cyber Security Centre has already designated Huawei and its products as a high risk vendor Is it just a technical issue? No. The UK has come under intense pressure from the Trump regime and other intelligence partners, such as Australia, to boot out Huawei. A growing number of Tory MPs were also demanding that the firm be banned from 5G because of the increasingly aggressive global stance adopted by Chinas leadership. In return, China has warned of consequences for the UK, with officials fearing Beijing could even mount a trade war or cyber-attack. What does this mean for consumers? Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden yesterday told MPs that the Huawei ban will delay the introduction of 5G into the UK by up to three years and add 2billion to costs, leading to higher bills for consumers. Most kit is in base stations and sources said removing it would not involve extensive work. Huaweis consumer devices like phones and laptops are not directly affected by the latest decision. But the NCSC pointed out that US sanctions mean its new devices will not be able to use Google applications, including YouTube. The Huawei ban will delay the introduction of 5G into the UK by up to three years and add 2billion to costs What about other Huawei equipment? Operators will be able to retain and maintain Huawei kit in 3G and 4G networks indefinitely. Security sources said this technology was well understood and warned that taking it out could lead to disruption of mobile phone networks. Huawei can continue supplying broadband for now, partly because of a lack of other suppliers and partly to keep alive Boris Johnsons pledge to roll out full fibre to every home by 2025. Huawei and its UK partners hope the Government will think again if Mr Trump fails to secure re-election in November Is this the final decision? Huawei and its UK partners hope the Government will think again if Mr Trump fails to secure re-election in November and the sanctions are dropped. But Conservative MPs are unlikely to allow backtracking. Several senior figures indicated they would push the Government to go further by demanding Huawei be kicked out of all parts of the UKs critical national infrastructure, including 3G and 4G. What does Huawei say? Huawei has always denied it poses a security risk and claims to be independent of the Chinese state. In a robust response yesterday, the firm said the UKs decision would leave the country in the digital slow lane. Chinas ambassador said the decision was disappointing and wrong. Two Democrats and two Republicans will face off in the Aug. 4 primary election to secure a spot on the November ballot for the 48th District House race. In the Democratic primary, incumbent Sheryl Y. Kennedy is facing challenger Andalib Odulate. In the Republican primary, Sherri J. Cross is facing challenger David W. Martin.Courtesy photos GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- Two Democrats and two Republicans will face off in the Aug. 4 primary election to secure a spot on the November ballot for the 48th District House race. In the Democratic primary, incumbent Sheryl Y. Kennedy is facing challenger Andalib Odulate. In the Republican primary, Sherri J. Cross is facing challenger David W. Martin. The candidates who win the Aug. 4 primary election will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. This is a two-year term for the seat that represents the following municipalities in Genesee County: Clio, Davison, Davison Township, Forest Township, Genesee Township, Montrose, Montrose Township, Richfield Township, Thetford Township and Vienna Township. 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. Kennedy has a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Administration from Oakland University. She is a first term state representative, has 30 years of experience as a public school educator and administrator, is current Lecturer at UM-Flint for Masters of Public Administration and is a published education researcher. Odulate is a Jimmy Johns delivery driver. He said he is qualified because he is a 99 percenter. I am a working man who knows the struggle of the people. I am not some well to do person looking for power. Cross is a radio show producer who also works in community service. She studied law enforcement at North Central Michigan College and Withlacoochee Technical College. She said she has served as a deputy sheriff, served in the Sumter County Sheriff Department, is a bird breeder and certified avian specialist, a radio producer and works in community service. Martin did not respond to the questionnaire. Each candidate was given a list of questions relevant to the office for which they are campaigning. The voter guide can be accessed at 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. 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. Here is how each candidate responded to the questions. What is your position on the role of public funding of education in Michigan? What measures do you support/propose to improve educational outcomes and accessibility for all Michigan students? Kennedy: We know from research completed in 2017 that public schools are currently underfunded by nearly $3000 per pupil, not counting the additional costs of special education, transportation, and buildings/infrastructure. In addition, Michigan currently under-funds special education costs by $760 million. To give public schools, teachers and students a fair shot, Michigan needs to make sure that every school receives $12,000 per pupil with additional money to schools with additional needs due to poverty, non-English speaking students, rural transportation and IT costs, and larger special education populations. Odulate: Make schools funded equally by using statewide 2% property tax and dividing it up per capita to all the schools. Funding by district disenfranchises poorer people and gives them a worse shot to be successful later in life. I also support school choice, free community college for all families making less than 100K a year and making sure free school lunch for poor children is year round so that every child has food to eat. Cross: Public schools have been underfunded since the passage of the Headley Amendment. State funding has been insufficient, and local districts are not willing to pass local millage. Public schools need to be audited. I support charter schools, but taking money away from public schools to fund them only makes the problem worse. I support putting more responsibility on local school boards, and possibly consolidating school districts to save money on administrative costs. We also need to address the overcrowding of classrooms. I also support more technical classes similar to the skill centers. What policies do you support to increase jobs and help Michigan residents improve their economic positions, in general and given the pandemic? Kennedy: I support the policies passed recently by voter ballot initiatives. I appreciate that the Secretary of State mailed ballot applications to all registered voters. Especially now, citizens should not have to choose between their health and their right to cast a ballot as an active participant of our great democracy. However we must address the unfair advantage that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision handed to the wealthy and connected when it comes to shaping public policy. I believe that the allowable cost of an election should be a set amount, and that ALL contributions should be limited and transparent. Odulate: Creating new jobs in sectors like infrastructure and clean energy, employ anyone willing to work to fix the water systems the roads, buildings, bridgers and replace carbon power with wind water and solar energy. Cross: It is a fact that the policies being forced on the public to curb Corbid-19 cases is destroying our economy. Restaurants and small business say they cant survive. Millions of jobs are at stake, and its unlikely that the government will be able to bail them out. Michigan has a $4 Billion hole in the budget. To cover that, we will have to cut non-essential services and raise taxes. If elected, I will work closely with our labor groups and business leaders to find solutions to these problems. We need to lift restrictions on business so they can keep their stores open. What state policies do you support regarding Michigan elections, voting and campaign funding? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters? Kennedy: I support the policies passed recently by voter ballot initiatives. I appreciate that the Secretary of State mailed ballot applications to all registered voters. Especially now, citizens should not have to choose between their health and their right to cast a ballot as an active participant of our great democracy. However we must address the unfair advantage that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision handed to the wealthy and connected when it comes to shaping public policy. I believe that the allowable cost of an election should be a set amount, and that ALL contributions should be limited and transparent. Odulate: I support universal mail in voting and automatic voter registration. I want to have proportional representation in the state house, and Rank choice voting in the state senate. I also want to have each district drawn by a non partisan independent commission to end gerrymandering. For campaign finance I want to limit each individual donation to $1,000 and ban corporations from donating to candidates. I would also like to shorten the election season to 60 days with weekly debates to keep it short and honest and cheaper for those who have less money to run. Cross: I have witnessed voter fraud myself and know it exists. I support the use of paper ballots, banning internet voting, and audits on election results. The current push for mail in voting is ripe for fraud. We have already seen examples of this with absentee voting. I support purging of voter registration rolls. When you have more people registered to vote then the population of that district, you have problems. I support voter ID checks to ensure non-citizens are not voting. County clerks need to be better trained on reporting results. The current campaign funding laws are sufficient in my opinion. What actions or policies do you support to protect Michigans water, air and land for current and future generations? What is your position on energy efficiency and renewable energy? Kennedy: I believe that the governors restructuring of the Department of EGLE was a good first step in protecting our water, land and energy resources. I support any investment that we can make as a society to increase the amount of renewable energy access. I am proud that in my first term I was able to acquire $1.1 million to cap a leaky landfill and PFAS site in Richfield Twp. This landfill would have potentially leaked PFAS into the groundwater for the next 80 years. This is just one example of how local, state and federal government can work together to save our resources and our planet. Odulate: As representative I will fight for starting the transition to a fully green Michigan. I think we should create Jobs by investing into wind, solar and water power. Not only is it better for the environment, but it offers new job opportunities for Michiganders. We should be transitioning from coal and helping those who work in the industry transition to healthier, safer and more sustainable work in the new green energy industry.The process will be long, and we wont abandon fossil fuel this year, next year, probably for several years. However, now is a great time to start preparing! Cross: Energy from solar sources topped 1% of total U.S. energy production, while energy from wind reached nearly 3% (2.71%) (EIAs Monthly Energy Review). We can not supply enough energy from these sources without huge investments. Germany is learning this, as warnings of threats to their nations economy and energy supply are being reported. We need a gradual transition to renewable, not a massive change. I support the Engridge tunnel to replace the Line 5 pipeline. Shutting down this pipeline without a reasonable alternative will have massive implications to our state. How would you address the racial, economic, health, education, etc. inequities, including Michigans 20% of children and 17% of seniors living in poverty? Kennedy: I believe that by addressing educational and skill inequities we are also addressing economic, and health inequities. The best thing we can do for children is to give them homes that are food secure with access to healthcare. To do this we need to make sure that we are funding schools on a waited model that provides wrap-around services for the children and families of poverty. Seniors who are living in poverty need quality, safe housing, medical care and transportation resources that are based on their income levels. This can only happen if we invest in these resources for our seniors. Odulate: Universal healthcare for the state, Universal housing and to try universal basic income. I also want to completely reform the Police and justice system to vet police much more vigorously as well as give them training in de-escalation and race training. I also want to have an independent review board that will investigate police removing the ability for police and prosecutors to investigate themselves similarly to military court. Cross: These problems can be resolved with a strong economy. We saw massive improvements in our economy and unemployment for all sectors in the past few years. We face a major challenge with trying to recover from the Covid-19 shut-down. Senior programs need to be properly funded, and we need to protect our social security funding. Funds for unemployment benefits will soon run out and we need to find new funding. Increasing unemployment taxes will hurt businesses trying to recover, but may be necessary to fund the program. Do you believe that Michigan has a gun violence problem? If so, what measures would you support to alleviate this problem? Kennedy: The issue with guns is the same across the country. We have shifted as a society from being responsible gun-owners with common-sense gun laws to a false choice of pro-gun, or anti-gun. We can keep firearms in the hands of responsible gun owners by some simple actions like closing the gun-show and boyfriend loopholes. Supporting red-flag laws allows law enforcement to temporarily separate the firearm from a gun-owner who may be at risk to himself or others. A quick, universal background check system would assure that only individuals who should have a gun can legally buy a gun. This protects everyone. Odulate: Assault weapons ban. Require guns to be locked in the home and in the car Conceal carry No guns for minors Mag size limits Banning the use to replaceable parts on guns Universal background, and mental health checks Requirement of safety training to get a license. Cross: I do not believe we have a serious gun violence problem. I do not know of any new laws that will eliminate gun violence. We already have background checks, but needs to be improved. I support red flag laws as long as there is sufficient protections for due process and not an easy method of depriving someone of their rights. I support laws that allow arming teachers, as long as the teacher is properly trained. I do not support raising the age to buy guns. Keeping guns out of criminals hands is the responsibility of gun owners. Only 2% of criminals purchased their guns from a store. Most were stolen. More on MLive: Two veteran incumbents get primary challenges for Genesee County offices Voters have primary election decisions to make in four Genesee County board districts MLive partners with League of Women Voters for 2020 voter guide The Caribbean country-Barbados is considering to implement a 12-month 'Welcome Stamp' for visitors, to let them stay and work remotely on the island. This move went viral after the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley noted that short-term travel had become more difficult since it required testing. 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, said Mottley last week. She further stated that people who are visiting from overseas would have the option to work digitally. According to CNN reports, Barbados will allow visitors onto the island from July 12. Part of this also includes making sure what the country offers is world-class, as per Mottley. As tourism is essential to this Caribbean country-Barbados; it directly accounts for 12 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP), and 40 percent of the country's economic activity, which the data from Barbados's Hotel and Tourism Association states. Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Barbados has relaxed certain restrictions and lifted curfews which includes introducing physical distancing of three feet. The country has also allowed for social events with up to 500 spectators at any sporting events. Meanwhile, a press release from Barbados Tourism Marketing, Inc. stated that "on arrival in Barbados, travelers will be required to present evidence of a negative result of a PCR Covid-19 test and bar code to clear immigration." Looking into the John Hopkins University data, Barbados so far has registered 98 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and seven deaths due to the virus. CONVERSE, Ind., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- First Farmers Financial Corp. (OTCQX:FFMR), announced that at its July 14, 2020 board meeting, the Board of Directors approved a plan to repurchase up to $1 million in the Corporation's outstanding common stock on the open market during the third quarter. The timing, price, and quantity of purchases under the stock repurchase plan will be at the discretion of management and may be discontinued, suspended or restarted at any time. The program will be funded from current available working capital. The board feels the stock repurchase plan will provide capital management opportunities and add value for the Company's shareholders depending upon market and business conditions. First Farmers Financial Corp. is a $2.1 billion financial holding company headquartered in Converse, Indiana. First Farmers Bank & Trust has 29 offices throughout Carroll, Cass, Clay, Grant, Hamilton, Howard, Huntington, Madison, Marshall, Miami, Starke, Sullivan, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vigo and Wabash counties in Indiana and 6 offices in Coles, Edgar and Vermilion counties in Illinois. As of June 30, 2020, the Corporation had 7,099,551 common shares outstanding. SOURCE First Farmers Financial Corp. Related Links http://www.ffbt.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:50:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CANBERRA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government's coronavirus tracing smartphone application has been labelled a "failure" by the opposition. Health authorities in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), the two states hit hardest by COVID-19, have revealed that no close contacts of an infected person had been identified solely through the COVIDSafe app. In Queensland and South Australia (SA) no one who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 had downloaded the app. It has prompted the opposition Labor Party to label the app, which cost about 2 million Australian dollars (1.4 million U.S. dollars) to develop, a "failure." "It's played no role in effectively finding anybody who's been exposed to COVID-19," Chris Bowen, Labor's health spokesperson, told Nine News. The app was launched in April to help authorities find close contacts of coronavirus cases as restrictions began to ease, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison describing it as a "ticket to a COVID-safe Australia." The app works by collecting data that can identify when users have been within 1.5 meters of other users for about 15 minutes. Greg Hunt, the minister for health, on Monday said that the app was working and described a coronavirus outbreak linked to a hotel in Casula, about 34 km southwest of the Sydney central business district, as an ideal situation for it to work as intended. "If, for example, there were large numbers of people at the Crossroads Hotel who were in close proximity to one another, who weren't known to each other, that's where we'll assist," he told reporters. Enditem Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced Monday that Connecticut will join other states in suing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over a policy targeting international college students choosing to stay in the U.S. to take online classes. Connecticut joined a coalition of 17 other states that will sue the Trump administration in federal court in Massachusetts. Connecticuts lawsuit advocates on behalf of the state colleges and universities. It is nothing less than an attack on Connecticut and our institutions of higher education and on students, teachers and staff and administrators, Tong said. We are talking about thousands of students across Connecticut. This lawsuit will run parallel to the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT last week that represents private universities. The Trump administration announced on July 6 that international students may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States. As of 2019, 14,832 international students lived in Connecticut, over 4,000 of which attend the University of Connecticut. Gov. Ned Lamont, who spoke at a news conference Monday with Tong, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and international students from Connecticut universities, called the policy insane. As a governor and a former business guy, it is just insane what we are doing right now, Lamont said. In the middle of this COVID crisis, I see the nurses, I see the doctors, I see the scientists I see the role immigrants have played in pushing back on COVID. Lamont said that forcing international students to leave the state isnt smart business. He said the state should be considering ways to incentivize them to stay. When you graduate, Id like to give you a Connecticut visa attached to your diploma saying we are proud to have you here in Connecticut, stick around it is a place of great opportunity, Lamont said. Due to the pandemic, many international college students have remained in the U.S. on their college campuses due to travel bans and stay-at-home orders. Trumps announcement is now forcing them to return home as the school year is beginning and the pandemic shows no signs of slowing. The fact that the administration took this action during the middle of a pandemic, using a national health emergency to further alienate people they define as other is an abhorrent betrayal of the role of government, said Mark Ojakian, president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System, which is represented in the lawsuit. Several leaders labeled the policy as racist. Tong said that the policy is not about trying to encourage universities to provide in-person classes. While that is a goal of the Trump administration, Tong said this policy is about anti-immigration sentiment. It is so disruptive, it goes beyond political pressure, Tong said. Like so many things this administration has done with respect to foreign-born individuals, immigrants, international students, I think this is part of a larger war on immigrants and international students and what I can tell an attempt to do as much damage to the immigration system as possible in the few months they have left in office. International students who spoke at the press conference said they felt frustrated and scared by the new policy. If they were forced to return home, they would be taking online classes in a different time zone, some with unstable internet connection. Even if the university intends to start classes in-person, if an outbreak occurs and the coursework is converted to 100% online, the international students would be forced to fly out of the country during a dangerous time for travel. Its not even known whether international flights would be available at that time, said Justin Fang, a graduate international student at UConn. If international students would be forced to leave, this would have a detrimental effect on their academic progress as students and the overall mission of the university. Tong said that the Trump administration round-ups of international students could start as soon as July 15 so the coalition of states is taking action now. We are running in to federal court tomorrow to protect them, Tong said. The state of Connecticut is there for them. At the injunction hearing Tuesday, Tong believes they will have a strong argument against the policy because of previous immigration cases. We feel very confident about our chances tomorrow, Tong said. If it doesnt go our way, we will quickly regroup and bring states together and pursue our appellate rights or whatever action is necessary to protect this state and our colleges and our universities and our students. Ever since Meghan, Duchess of Sussex joined the royal family in 2018, she and Prince Harry have been criticized for practically everything they do. In particular, they can never seem to escape from criticism concerning their environmental decisions. The couple is known to be advocates for sustainable living, but onlookers often point out that they do not always practice what they preach. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry | Dominic Lipinski Pool/Getty Images Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were criticized last year for using private jets In August 2019, Meghan and Harry took their son Archie to different cities. First, the family visited Queen Elizabeth at her summer home in Scotland. Then, they went to Ibizia, Spain, before heading to nice, France, for a short vacation at Elton Johns home. Meghan and Harry ended up flying on private jets a total of four times in just 11 days. As a result, the environmentally-conscious couple was criticized left and right for their alleged hypocrisy. Ken Wharfe, a former bodyguard for Princess Diana and her sons, even told Vanity Fair there was no reason for Meghan and Harry to fly private even if they were worried about the press. I never had a problem with Diana, William and Harry on the numerous holidays we took to the Caribbean, Wharfe said. We always flew commercial; in fact I dont remember flying private. Meghan and Harry were also criticized for using a Range Rover on their tour of Africa Meghan Markle and Prince Harry face new green row over Range Rovers shipped from UK to southern Africa for their 10-day tour via https://t.co/1EAkejioZW https://t.co/krzpGthkJU Robert Jobson (@theroyaleditor) October 1, 2019 RELATED: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Will Probably Never Return to the Royal Family After Making These Comments A few months later, Meghan and Harry found themselves as the subject of criticism again on their tour of Africa. The couple traveled around in Range Rovers, which were shipped 10,000 miles from the U.K. to South Africa. The British royal family has been using Range Rovers for many years now as they are known to be safe and secure vehicles. However, some critics saw Meghan and Harry as being unnecessary wasteful since there were many other cars they could have rented in African countries for their tour. Meghan and Harry were recently slammed for riding a Cadillac in LA EXCLUSIVE: Meghan and Harry don hats and face masks as they step out for appointment in scorching Beverly Hills https://t.co/tqROb30tZc pic.twitter.com/WKqsCig1Xr Daily Mail U.K. (@DailyMailUK) July 12, 2020 RELATED: Meghan Markle Reportedly Married Prince Harry With No Intention of Living in the U.K., Royal Source Claims More recently, Meghan and Harrys transportation choices came under fire again after they were spotted riding a Cadillac SUV in Los Angeles. Many social media could not help but point out the hypocrisy in Meghan and Harrys actions. One person wrote, Do as I say, not as I do. Silly you for thinking [Harry] was going to lead by example. Meanwhile, another person joked, seemingly referencing Meghan and Harrys video about colonialism, This will get uncomfortable. We need to talk about the environment & how you plebs are destroying it with your once a year holiday. We need to talk about equality while we live in our borrowed $18m mansion & exploit our privilege every day. Harry once defended his use of gas-guzzling transportation RELATED: Was Prince Harry Looking to Replace His Mother Figure With Meghan Markle? Harry has spoken out once in defense of his familys use of gas-guzzling transportation. In 2019, he explained his familys decision to fly private at an event for his initiative Travelyst. I spend 99% of my life traveling the world by commercial, Harry said, as reported by Page Six. Occasionally there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my family are safe. He also noted he has always offset my CO2, though he did not go into details about how he achieves this. The Project's Waleed Aly, Peter Helliar and Tommy Little joined forces with host Carrie Bickmore on Tuesday night, all donning Beanies 4 Brain Cancer headwear. The panelists all cut cosy figures in the snug accessories: Waleed, Peter and Tommy wore the minimalist black version, while Carrie wore a pastel pink, knitted bobble hat. 'Welcome to a very special edition of The Project. Like many Australians, my family has felt the devastating loss caused by cancer,' Carrie said at the start of the show. On Tuesday, The Project's Waleed Aly (left), Peter Helliar (right) and Tommy Little supported Carrie Bickmore's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer foundation in a show of solidarity 'Five years ago, with your support, we joined a movement to try and stop this killer once and for all. Carrie created Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, after she dedicated her Gold Logie to her first husband Greg Lange, who died of brain cancer in 2010. Last week, Australian media personalities - including Lisa Wilkinson, Sam Armytage and Amanda Keller - came together on Instagram to support the foundation, ahead of their new beanie line launch on July 14. Lisa, 60, posed with her dog Maggie, who sniffed the pastel pink knitted beanie, while sharing her heartfelt congratulations to her 'beautiful buddy' Carrie. Very cool: Waleed, Peter and Tommy wore the minimalist black version, while Carrie wore a pastel pink, knitted bobble hat Emotional journey: Carrie created Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, after she dedicated her Gold Logie to her first husband Greg Lange, who died of brain cancer in 2010 'Carrie has done so much in this area to raise funds over the last five years ($12M to date), and this is where we all get the chance to do our bit,' Lisa said in her lengthy post. Amanda, 58, covered her short locks with the warm winter hat, telling fans: 'My mate Carrie is an absolute legend. 'We can all share her warm head and big heart with her new beanies! All proceeds go to brain cancer research.' 'This is where we all get the chance to do our bit': Lisa Wilkinson posed with her dog Maggie, who sniffed the pastel pink knitted beanie, while sharing her heartfelt congratulations to her 'beautiful buddy' Carri Studio 10 co-host Angela Bishop, 52, told her followers the beanie was 'perfect for bushwalking' and 'perfect for saving lives'. 'It's a double duty beanie,' Angela wrote, posing in her hat after a hike. Radio presenter Fifi Box, 43, was part of a matching trio alongside her two daughters Trixie Belle and Daisy Belle, all donning the stylish beanie. 'We can all share her warm head and big heart with her new beanies': Amanda Keller covered her short locks with the warm winter hat 'It's a double duty beanie!' Studio 10 co-host Angela Bishop told her followers the beanie was 'perfect for bushwalking' and 'perfect for saving lives'. 'It's time to put an end to brain cancer! These gorgeous beanies are on sale July 14 online. So proud of @BickmoreCarrie never giving up,' she said. Fifi also shared an adorable video as she playing peekaboo with the beanie, alongside her her one-year-old daughter Daisy. Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage, 43, also shared a picture of herself donning the beanie on her Instagram stories. Cute! Radio presenter Fifi Box was part of a matching trio alongside her two daughters Trixie Belle and Daisy Belle, all donning the stylish beanie The foundation is special to Carrie, after her first husband, Greg Lange died of brain cancer in 2010. In June last year, the 39-year-old told The Australian Women's Weekly that she still feels Greg's presence every day. 'Anyone who has ever lost someone will tell you that they may not physically be there but they'll stay in your life forever,' she explained. Support: Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage also shared a picture of herself donning the beanie on her Instagram stories 'And Ollie [their son Oliver] is so like him in so many ways. I often think, "God, I wish Greg was here so I could ask him how the hell to parent. Surely he'd have some insight".' The couple had their first child together, Oliver, now 12, in 2005 - with Carrie admitting it was 'probably the greatest thing we ever did together'. Carrie also shares two children, Evie and Adelaide, with her partner Chris Walker. A U.S. Air Force pilot takes off in his Air Force F-35A aircraft from the 388th and 428th Fighter Wings to participate in a combat power exercise, after he formed up in an "elephant walk" exercise at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, U.S. Jan. 6, 2020. (Reuters/George Frey) Beijing Sanctions US Defense Manufacturer Lockheed Martin Over Taiwan Arms Sale Beijing will place unspecified sanctions on Lockheed Martin for its involvement in the latest U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the second time this week that the regime announced punitive measures against individuals and entities in the United States. The U.S. state department last week approved a request by Taiwan to update its Patriot surface-to-air missiles at an estimated cost of $620 million. U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin is the main contractor for this deal. The Chinese regime, which considers self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, has vowed to unify the island by force, if necessary, and has consistently opposed American arms sales to Taiwan. The United States is bound by law to provide the democratic island with the means to defend itself. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called on the United States to stop selling weapons to Taiwan to avoid further harming Sino-U.S. ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. In order to safeguard the countrys interests, China has decided to take necessary steps, and put sanctions on the main contractor for this sale, Lockheed Martin, Zhao told reporters on July 14, without giving details. Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The United States has long had an arms embargo on China. It is unclear how any sanctions would impact the U.S. weapons maker. Last year, Sky News reported that a Chinese-owned company made circuit boards for Lockheed Martins F-35 fighter jets. The company said at the time that it was not aware of any other Chinese suppliers for the manufacturing of the jets. Beijing has previously announced similar sanctions on U.S. companies for Taiwan arms sales, but no details were provided on what form they took. Earlier this week, the Chinese regime imposed sanctions on four American officials and one U.S. entity, days after the Trump administration announced sanctions on Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in the region of Xinjiang. Beijings sanctions were slapped on Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), and Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China also was included. The government in Taiwan has welcomed the missile upgrade. It is bolstering its defenses for what it sees as increasingly threatening moves by Beijing, such as its regular air force intrusions into Taiwan airspace and naval exercises held near Taiwan. Taiwan Defense Minister Yen Teh-fa, while visiting troops during the annual Han Kuang military exercise on Tuesday, said they needed to be strong in the face of all sorts of threats and provocations from China. This tells our people and the Communists that we have the confidence and ability to protect our people and homeland, and defend the countrys security, his ministry cited him as saying. Reuters contributed to this report. The property where Ghislaine Maxwell, former associate of late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation: (Reuters) Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly posed as a British journalist to secretly buy the luxury mansion where she was arrested earlier this month. The 58-year-old is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn facing charges of trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse of minors, following her arrest on 2 July. The British socialite has been accused of luring and grooming underage girls, so her former boyfriend and business associate, Jeffrey Epstein, could abuse them. Maxwell was arrested at a property called Tuckedaway, in Bradford, New Hampshire, after she had reportedly spent the last year moving three times a month to avoid detection, following Epsteins arrest and subsequent death in prison on 10 August 2019. Prosecutor Alison Moe of the Southern District of New York (SNDY), told the court on Tuesday that Maxwell bought the property while pretending to be a British journalist called Janet Marshall, according to Metro. Ms Moe added that she viewed the property with a British man, who called himself Scott Marshall and claimed to be an ex-soldier working on a book, according to the New York Post. While at the property, the couple told the estate agent that they wanted to purchase it quickly with a wire transfer and said that they were setting up a limited liability company (LLC) to do it. Ms Moe said that Maxwell bought the property for $1.07m (852,276) with a carefully anonymized LLC, and added that the estate agent realised who Maxwell was when they saw her on the news shortly after. It has been widely reported that the 58-year-old went to great lengths to avoid being found, and prosecutors revealed on Monday that she even wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil to evade detection. In a bail request, that was heard and denied in court on Tuesday, Maxwells lawyers proposed a bond of $5m (4m) alongside home detention with electronic monitoring, and argued that she was not a flight risk. Ms Moe told the court on Tuesday that Maxwell should be denied bail because of her alleged lies to buy the house and attempts to evade detection from the authorities. Story continues These facts make clear to the court that the defendant is willing to live in hiding, that shes good at it...even if it compromises her relationship with other people. There can really be no question that the defendant can lie about who she is, and that she has the means to do so. Ms Moe said. She added that Maxwell has the willingness and ability to live off the grid indefinitely, and highlighted that a year is an extremely long time to live undetected by the public. Maxwell pleaded not guilty to the alleged charges earlier in the day on Tuesday. Read more Ghislaine Maxwell wrapped phone in tin foil to evade detection Pranab Mondal By Express News Service KOLKATA: When Sanjoy Parui (21) returned home from Andhra Pradesh some months back, he was so weak that when he spoke, he had to pause between words. His family had only boiled rice to offer. We got free rice and wheat from the local ration shop. Now we have no money to buy vegetables and mustard oil to cook food. I couldnt even afford a packet of salt, says an emaciated Sanjoy. Three months ago, he couldnt imagine things would come to such a pass. It is a nightmare, mutters Sanjoy, as he vacuously looks at the wetland that brimmed with fish a year ago, providing jobs to daily wagers. Sanjoy is one of 17 migrants who returned from Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra to Moulipota village, a remote pocket in North 24-Pargana districts Deganga block, during the lockdown. As the migrant families had no savings, they had to depend on rice distributed through PDS. They are now desperate to return to their workplace. The average wages in Andhra Pradesh are better. I earned Rs 9,500 a month and sent Rs 5,000 for my family here. Since we returned home, I havent earned a single rupee. Our daily meal means a plate of boiled rice and salt. In the last one month, we havent tasted properly cooked food, said Bijay, the only earning member in his family of six people. Moulipota village is surrounded by wetlands where fish are reared. These wetlands are lying abandoned this year. The owners suffered huge losses following lockdown as they were unable to sell their produce in the absence of transport. They have no money to re-start the business, said Ratan Parui, a resident of the area. Polio survivor Sukanta Parui returned home in May from Zaveri Bazar in Mumbai along with seven others. He worked with a goldsmith and earned Rs 12,500 a month. My left leg became dysfunctional when I was 10. I learnt how to design gold jewellery and left for Mumbai three years ago. Now, we have no vegetables and cooking oil at home. We survive on boiled rice and salt, said Sukanta. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria will introduce an unparalleled residential lifestyle to the heart of Midtown Manhattan, offering residents a world of exclusive private amenities, along with access to best-in-class services and a glamorous lifestyle found only at the globally renowned Waldorf Astoria New York. Waldorf Astoria New York has been a beacon of timeless glamour for nearly a centuryhome to Hollywood's elite, host to countless world leaders, and the site of famed cultural events and galas. The property is undergoing an unprecedented restoration, undertaken with care by developer Dajia Insurance Group and renowned architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The sophisticated residential interiors and amenities by internationally renowned designer Jean-Louis Deniot create a truly modern experience within the building's historic framework. The residences range from gracious studios to opulent four-bedrooms and penthouses, many with unique floorplans and private outdoor spaces. Privacy and security are paramount, with a discrete residential experience separate from the hotel, two fully staffed entry lobbies, a porte cochere with 24-hour valet service, and concierge closet at the entryway of every residenceallowing for secure delivery of packages and room service. Residents will have access to over 50,000 SF (4,645 SQM) of private residential amenities, ranging from health and wellness to entertaining and business spaces including a stunning 25-meter pool with skylight, state-of-the-art fitness center, opulent private spas for men and women, and numerous spaces to host private events. Waldorf Astoria New York will set the international standard for luxurious hotel service, and future residents will enjoy priority access to the unrivaled services of the 375-key hotel. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria will offer 375 condominium residences starting from USD $1,700,000. Douglas Elliman Development Marketing is the exclusive marketing and sales agent. Initial occupancy is projected for 2022. Please visit waldorftowers.nyc, follow the building's Instagram @WaldorfNYC, or call +1 212.872.1210 for a private appointment at the residential gallery. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria International Website Languages: English Spanish / Espanol French / Francais Russian / Traditional Chinese / Simplified Chinese / Korean / Portuguese / Portugues Japanese / Arabic / Hindi / SOURCE The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria Related Links https://www.waldorftowers.nyc President Akufo-Addo has urged members of the communication team of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) to focus their messages to the electorate on the achievements of the government and not on gender-based issues, particularly attacks on any female politician. The President said the quality of achievements of his government in various areas, whether in health, education and infrastructure across the country, has positively affected virtually everyone in the country. The President gave the advice in his first public engagement with key members of his communication advisory team on Sunday after coming out of his self-imposed 14-day isolation following reports on one of his office staff members contracting Covid-19. There is no part of Ghana that can say that somehow rather that they have been left out in the programmes of development of this government. That has to be a critical aspect of our outreach, he told the communicators According to the President, focusing mainly on the government's numerous achievements within its first four years will be the best way to market the NPP in the run-up to 2020 general election. Knowing very well that the 2020 general election in December will be a contest between him and ex-President John Mahama of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), the President stressed the need for the party's communicators to always compare and contrast records and achievements between them, especially what Ghanaians directly or indirectly gained during the time each of them managed the economy. It is very critical because, without that difference, it is very difficult to measure the quality of the achievements, he said. He reiterated his call for strict adherence to the Covid-19 safety protocols to help curb the spread of the virus which has become a major source of worry for the government and many Ghanaians. We are a government and it is very important that aspect of our concern about the need for our people to be safe comes out constantly in virtually everything that we say. People have to take the protocols seriously, President Akufo-Addo said. Besides, he took the opportunity to urge the members of the party's communication team to help educate Ghanaians on the need to register and vote which forms part of their civic responsibility. He said he was not encouraged by the turnout so far as reported by the Electoral Commission, hence the need for the communication team to encourage more and more people to register and vote. We want everybody who is eligible to register to have the opportunity to do so within time, and we have to keep that as part of our narrative, he stressed. Daily Guide The unmanned probe named Al-AmalArabic for Hopeis to take off from a Japanese space centre, marking the next step in the United Arab Emirates' ambitious space programme The first Arab space mission to Mars is scheduled to blast off from Japan Friday on a mission to unravel from above the weather dynamics in the Red Planet's atmosphere. The unmanned probe named Al-AmalArabic for Hopeis to take off after a two-day weather delay, marking the next step in the United Arab Emirates' ambitious space programme. Here are some facts and figures about the oil-rich nation's project, which draws inspiration from the Middle East's golden age of cultural and scientific achievements. Outsize plans The UAE, made up of seven emirates including the capital Abu Dhabi and freewheeling Dubai, has nine functioning satellites in orbit with plans to launch another eight in coming years. In September, it sent the first Emirati into spaceHazza al-Mansouri, who was part of a three-member crew. They blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, returning home after an eight-day mission in which he became the first Arab to visit the International Space Station. But the UAE's ambitions go well beyond that, with a goal of building a human settlement on Mars by 2117. In the meantime, it plans to create a white-domed "Science City" in the deserts outside Dubai, to simulate Martian conditions and develop the technology needed to colonise the planet. Under a national space strategy launched last year, the UAE is also eyeing future mining projects beyond Earth and space tourism, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic. Hope's journey The next milestone is the launch of the "Hope" probe, which officials say is designed to inspire the region's youth and pave the way for scientific breakthroughs. The 1,350-kilogramme (2,970-pound) probeabout the size of an SUVwas due to blast off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center Tuesday at 2051 GMT but poor weather delayed lift-off until later in the launch window, which runs until August 13. The UAE government said the new launch date was set for 5:43 am Japan time on Friday (2043 GMT Thursday). The probe is expected to detach from the launch rocket about an hour after blast-off. Unlike the other two Mars ventures scheduled for this year, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, the UAE's probe will not land on the Red Planet but orbit it for a whole Martian year687 days. Hope will take seven months to travel the 493 million kilometres (307 million miles) to Mars, in time to mark the 50th anniversary of the emirates' union in 2021. Once in orbit, one loop will take 55 hours at an average speed of 121,000 kph, while contact with the UAE command and control centre will be limited to six to eight hours twice a week. Study and inspire Three instruments mounted on the probe will provide a picture of the Mars atmosphere throughout the Martian year. The first is an infrared spectrometer to measure the lower atmosphere and analyse the temperature structure. The second is a high-resolution imager that will provide information about ozone levels. And the third, an ultraviolet spectrometer, is set to measure oxygen and hydrogen levels from a distance of up to 43,000 kilometres from the surface. Understanding the atmospheres of other planets will allow for a better understanding of the Earth's climate, officials say. But the project is also designed to inspire a region too often beset by turmoil, and recall the heyday of scientific advances during the Middle Ages. "The UAE wanted to send a strong message to the Arab youth and to remind them of the past, that we used to be generators of knowledge," Omran Sharaf, the mission's project manager, told AFP. Explore further First Arab mission to Mars designed to inspire youth 2020 AFP FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida Florida surpassed its daily record for coronavirus deaths Tuesday amid rising global worries of a resurgence, even as researchers announced that the first vaccine tested in the U.S. had worked to boost patients immune systems. Floridas 132 additional deaths topped a state mark set just last week. The figure likely includes deaths from the past weekend that had not been previously reported. The new deaths raised the states seven-day average to 81 per day, more than double the figure of two weeks ago and now the second-highest in the United States behind Texas. The worrisome figures were released just hours before the news about the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. No matter how you slice this, this is good news, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press. Key final testing of the vaccine will start around July 27, tracking 30,000 people to prove if the shots really work in preventing infection. Tuesdays announcement focused on findings since March in 45 volunteers. With the virus spreading quickly in the southern and western U.S., one of the countrys top public health officials offered conflicting theories about what is driving the outbreak. We tried to give states guidance on how to reopen safely. If you look critically, few states actually followed that guidance, Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a livestream interview with the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Redfield said people in many states did not adopt social distancing and other measures because they hadnt previously experienced an outbreak. But he went on to say, without explanation, that he didnt believe the way those states handled reopening was necessarily behind the explosive rise in virus cases. He offered a theory that infected travelers from elsewhere in the country might have brought the virus with them around Memorial Day. CDC officials said that there are various possible explanations, and that Redfield was offering just one. Doctors in Florida have predicted more deaths as daily reported cases have surged from about 2,000 a day a month ago to a daily average of about 11,000, including a record 15,000 on Sunday. The state recorded 9,194 new cases Tuesday. Marlyn Hoilette, a nurse who spent four months working in the COVID-19 unit of her Florida hospital until testing positive recently, said hospitals are so desperate for staff to return to work they are not following guidelines that call for two negative tests first. Nurses are getting sick, nursing assistants are getting sick and my biggest fear is that it seems we want to return folks to work even without a negative test, said Hoilette, who works at Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee. Florida. Its just a matter of time before you wipe the other staff out if youre contagious, so that is a big problem. Word of the rising toll in Florida came as Arizona officials tallied 4,273 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state, which became a virus hot spot after Gov. Doug Ducey relaxed stay-at-home orders and other restrictions in May, reported 3,517 patients hospitalized because of the disease, a record high. Arizonas death toll from COVID-19 rose to 2,337, with 92 additional deaths reported Tuesday. Redfield urged Americans to wear masks to help contain the virus. At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide, he and two colleagues wrote, in an editorial published online Tuesday by the journal of the American Medical Association. In Britain, officials announced they will require people to wear face masks starting July 24, after weeks of dismissing their value. We are not out of the woods yet, so let us all do our utmost to keep this virus cornered and enjoy summer safely, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told lawmakers in the House of Commons. French President Emmanuel Macron said masks will be required by Aug. 1, after recent rave parties and widespread backsliding on social distancing raised concerns the virus may be starting to rebound. Even Melania Trump, whose husband President Donald Trump resisted wearing a mask or urging anyone else to do so, called on people to step up precautions. Even in the summer months, please remember to wear face coverings & practice social distancing, she said Tuesday in a posting on her Twitter account. The more precaution we take now can mean a healthier & safer country in the Fall. Meanwhile, officials in the Australian state of Queensland said those breaking quarantine rules could face up to six months in jail. With higher fines and the threat of jail time, I hope that will demonstrate to the public just how serious we are about enforcing these measures, Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. Queensland shut its state borders to successfully contain the coronavirus outbreak, but reopened to all but residents of Victoria, Australias worst affected region, two weeks ago. The city of Melbourne in Victoria recorded 270 new coronavirus infections overnight, with more than 4,000 cases now active across the state. Melbourne is one week into a six-week lockdown. Disney officials announced that Hong Kong Disneyland Park is closing Wednesday until further notice following the citys decision to ban public gatherings of more than four people to combat newly spreading infections. In Thailand, where there have been no reports of locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, authorities have revised rules governing visitors from abroad after a breakdown in screening led to two infected foreigners posing a possible risk to public health. The government said Tuesday that diplomats will be asked to stay in state-supervised quarantine for 14 days, instead of self-isolating. And it is postponing the recently allowed entry of some foreign visitors so procedures can be changed. India, which has the third-most cases after the U.S. and Brazil, was rapidly nearing 1 million cases with a jump of more than 28,000 reported Tuesday. It now has more than 906,000 and accumulated more than 100,000 in just four days. ___ Geller reported from New York. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed. An Indonesian politician reportedly came under intense public criticism for mandating all female employees and civil servants to wear veils (niqab) 'at least once a week', in what she defended as a bid to lower the risk of Coronavirus spread. Mohammad Suhaili Fadhil Thohir, the head of Central Lombak regency, an island located next to popular tourist destination Bali, spoke to a local news daily in the country and stated that he made the decision after govt employees complained about wearing masks while participating in a routine callisthenics event held outside the office every Friday. Thohir, however, denied all accusations about his orders being religiously motivated, he defended his position saying the veil, although not worn by most women in Indonesia, it is fairly common in the Gulf nations and that 'it is purely for COVID-19 prevention.' Read | WATCH: Stunning electric-blue Lava erupts from volcano at night in Indonesia Indonesia's veil policy 'This is not based on any radical teachings of religious fanaticism,' he said, adding that there were no regulatory sanctions attached for ignoring the rule. The callisthenics event is a weekly held event which promotes the benefits of exercising regularly. Since the pandemic is in full swing, the local politician argued that as an added safety measure, civil servants were asked to wear veils if they couldn't cover their nose and mouth with masks while working out. However, some employees believe that there is a more sinister reason for it considering the policy was announced last month and male employees got away with just masks and the rule to regulate women wearing veils in government offices, with particular emphasis on Fridays, was mandated without prior consultation. Read | Burial traditions clash with coronavirus safety in Indonesia Notably, according to news agency AP, around 90% of the 4000-strong working women population in the Central Lombak region are Muslim and many believe this is just the first measure in many to follow and that soon Central Lombok's policy would mandate women wore veils during all work hours. Veils not effective against COVID Activists and women's rights groups are visibly on the edge over the policy as they argued that preventive masks need to meet certain medical standards but a veil does not. Further, vying for a policy reversal, groups stated that the rule should be reviewed again as it could not only threaten people's health but also chip away at women's rights and freedom. It may be interesting to note that although Indonesia is a majority Muslim nation, it has long upheld the reputation for being relatively liberal in the region this coupled with a series of other recent decisions such as incorporating sharia law in some places in the archipelago has raised several eyebrows of the country's long-standing validity as a liberal democracy. Many are prone to believe that the nation is slowly but surely turning to harbour more hardline Islamic views. Read | Indonesia min in row over claims that eucalyptus necklace can prevent spread of COVID-19 Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono said the veil order was "obviously an extension" of a mandatory hijab regulation for Muslim girls in almost 300,000 public schools across the sprawling archipelago. He concluded by saying 'everyone should protect themselves from Coronavirus, but a veil is a not a mask.' (With agency inputs) Read | Face masks become a fashion trend in Indonesia and Malaysia amid COVID-19 crisis Arrest Chandigarh: Further tightening the noose around gangsters in the state, the Punjab Police have busted a gang of international arms smugglers and highway robbers, with the arrest of two dreaded gangsters, including proclaimed offender Gurpreet Singh @ Gora and Germanjeet Singh. A bullet-proof jacket, along with a major haul of arms and ammunition smuggled, has been seized by the police from the gangsters, who were allegedly also involved in smuggling of weapons from across the border into India. Advertisement arrestThe duo were arrested by the Jalandhar (Rural) Police from Bhogpur and recovered a bullet proof jacket, and a .455 bore Pistol provided by gangster Gopi Ghanshampuriya, two Glock 09 mm Pistols with four live cartridges, one pump action 12 bore Rifle, one .32 bore Revolver, one .30 bore Pistol and live cartridges were recovered from the gangsters, DGP Dinkar Gupta disclosed, adding that the Verna car they were travelling was also seized. Gora is already facing criminal charges in 14 cases in various districts of Punjab for attempt to murder, assault, snatching, dacoity, gang war and others, and is a PO in 13 of these cases, said Gupta. Giving details of the operation, Navjot Mahal, SSP Jalandhar Rural said that police had got a tip-off that Gurpreet Singh @ Gora S/O Chamkaur Singh R/O Vill Bariar PS Ghumaan, and his aide German Jeet Singh S/O Harbhajan Singh R/O Vill Jawandpur PS Vairowal, were going towards Behram in a Verna car no. PB 46 Q 49512 and were planning to commit some heinous crime, such as snatching vehicles from highway at gunpoint. Advertisement A special surveillance was quickly organised at check posts in the entire area, and a team of special staff of Jalandhar Rural Police was able to apprehend the car-borne assailants. DGP Dinkar GuptaThe team recovered from the duo foreign and country made weapons, including one Pistol .30 Bore with four live rounds, one revolver .32 Bore with six live rounds, a bulletproof jacket and the Verna car used by them in various crimes from the spot. Gupta said the disclosure statement made before police by Gurpreet Singh further led to the recovery of 12 Bore Pump Action Rifle with five live cartridges, two 9mm Glock Pistols (Made in Austria) with two live rounds (etched with Pakistan Ordinance Factory markings), one revolver .455 bore with five live rounds, 19 rounds of .32 bore revolver and eight rounds of .32 bore special revolver. All these weapons were packed in a plastic pipe and buried in earth on canal bank near Rayyia (Amritsar). Advertisement Gupta said during preliminary interrogations, Gora revealed that he was in close contact with Baljinder Singh Billa Mandiala, who was well connected with Pakistan based drug and arms smugglers, Mirza and Ahmdeen, and had received many consignments of weapons and drugs from them in the Ferozpur area. Gupta said Pakistani Drug/Arms smuggler Mirza has been working as courier on Indo-Pak border for Khalistan Libration Force and had smuggled many weapon consignments to Indian territory. It has also been learned that a part of 05 AK-47 weapon consignment recovered from the Indo-Pak border on September 24, 2019 by STF Punjab, was also meant for this apprehended criminal Billa Mandiala. Advertisement Punjab PoliceMoreover, most of the weapons recovered from Billa Mandiala also came from Indo-Pak border and police is also investigating the role of militants in the supply chain of illegal weapons which is still a part of investigation as police is suspecting his involvement with Pakistan based militant groups. The DGP said Gurpreet Singh @ Gora was a member of Billa gang run by another notorious gangster Baljinder Singh @ Billa, currently lodged in jail. Through his mentor, Gora was in touch with Pakistan-based illegal arms smugglers and was regularly dealing with them to smuggle in foreign-made weapons to the Indian side. The gang was involved in many cases of Highway Car Robberies, Ransom and Extortion, said Gupta, adding that after getting bail in cases registered against him, Gora used to live in a Gurudwara at Nanded, Pune and Himachal Pradesh in a clandestine manner. Gupta said that the Verna car recovered from spot by Police belongs to Germanjeet Singh, who was instrumental in protecting Gurpreet from the Police glare and used to provide vehicle to him for crime. A case under section 392, 212, 216 A, 506, and 120-B of IPC and 25, 27 Arms Act has been registered against gangsters at Bhogpur Police Station and further investigations in the case were on, he added. Millionaires warning as virus crisis reaches boiling point. Source: Getty Disney heiress Abigail Disney and Ben & Jerrys co-founder Jerry Greenfield are among a growing list of millionaires signing a petition for higher taxes. Today, we, the undersigned millionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently, the petition states. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door. But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis. The signatories urged government leaders to raise the funds the nation needs and spend them fairly, but it came with a hefty warning. Our interconnectedness has never been more clear. We must rebalance our world before it is too late. There will not be another chance to get this right. The petition follows the Billionaire Bonanza report by the Institute for Policy Studies, which found while tens of millions of Americans were losing their jobs during the pandemic, US billionaires wealth grew a whopping 10 per cent in April. In fact, eight billionaires saw their net worth surge by over US$1 billion, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla chief Elon Musk and Zoom founder Eric Yuan. Co-author of the report Chuck Collins said billionaires tax obligations were to blame. If this inequality isnt treated with both short and long-term tax reforms and oversight, Americas pre-existing condition of extreme inequality could overwhelm not only our economy, but our democracy itself, he said. The Millionaires for Humanity petition comes nearly six months after more than 100 billionaires and millionaires penned an open letter asking to pay more in taxes. The letter, which was published ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, sounded the same alarm: We urge you to step forward now before its too late to demand higher and fairer taxes on millionaires and billionaires within your own countries and to help prevent individual and corporate tax avoidance and evasion through international tax reform efforts. Story continues That letter followed a previous call in 2019, where 19 of Americas richest co-signed an open letter that was published in the New York Times asking the 2020 US presidential candidates to support a wealth tax. Last year, billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates suggested increasing the capital gains tax would be one way of taxing the rich more. But not every rich-lister is keen on the idea: according to billionaire entrepreneur Michael Rubin, wealth taxes would have the opposite effect of what you want to happen. I'm not saying that because I'm a successful guy, Rubin, who is worth $2.9 billion, said in an interview earlier this year. I'm saying that because to me, what makes America great is this is a true land for the entrepreneur. You can come here and you can build your business. Rubin shot down former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warrens wealth tax plans, saying it could discourage entrepreneurs from choosing America as their start-up base. I think the effect of having a net worth tax would take people that are starting companies and say, I'm not going to start them in America, but go somewhere else, because it's such a negative impact, he said. Catch up on the Yahoo Finance Breakfast Club. Are you a millennial or Gen Z-er interested in joining a community where you can learn how to take control of your money? Join us at The Broke Millennials Club on Facebook! A doctor performs an ultrasound scan on a pregnant woman at a hospital in Chicago in a file photo. (Teresa Crawford, AP Photo/File) Federal Judges Block Strict Abortion Laws in Tennessee, Georgia Federal judges in Georgia and Tennessee on Monday blocked two of the countrys strictest laws on abortion. In Georgia, U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled against the state in a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group and abortion providers. His ruling permanently enjoins the state from ever enforcing House Bill 481, also known as the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act. The LIFE Act banned physicians from performing an abortion once a fetuss heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound, typically around the 6-week mark of a pregnancy. Blocking of the heartbeat law means women in Georgia can continue to get abortions during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. It is in the public interest, and is this courts duty, to ensure constitutional rights are protected. Because the constitutional liberty of the woman to have some freedom to terminate her pregnancy is implicated here, the court finds that a permanent injunction of H.B. 481 would not disserve the public interest, Jones wrote in the order. In Tennessee, U.S. District Judge William Campbell Jr. granted a temporary restraining order regarding a law that Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed hours earlier banning abortions as early as 6 weeks into pregnancy and prohibiting abortions based on race, sex, or diagnosis of Down syndrome. In his ruling, Campbell wrote that hes bound by the Supreme Court holdings prohibiting undue burdens on the availability of pre-viability abortions. When the bill cleared the Senate in June, Lee applauded its passage, calling it the strongest pro-life law in the states history. One of the most important things we can do to be pro-family is to protect the rights of the most vulnerable in our state, and there is none more vulnerable than the unborn, he said in a Twitter announcement of the bill. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Center for Reproductive Rights, and womens health provider Planned Parenthood filed a joint lawsuit in federal court challenging the bill. The Tennessee General Assemblys passage of this dangerous, flatly unconstitutional bill is unacceptable, Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU-Tennessee, said in a statement. Politicians should not be deciding what is best for women and certainly not making reproductive health care decisions for them. The Susan B. Anthony List, one of the United States largest pro-life groups, had previously praised the Tennessee heartbeat bill. Tennessees landmark new law includes some of the strongest protections in the nation for unborn children and their mothers, Marjorie Dannenfelser, the groups president, said in a statement. This law recognizes the humanity of the unborn child by stopping abortion as soon as a heartbeat can be detected, protecting them from lethal discrimination in the womb, and ending late-term abortions after five months, when unborn babies can feel excruciating pain, Dannenfelser added. Many supporters of heartbeat abortion bills hope lawsuits over them head to the Supreme Court for a fresh legal challenge to the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that effectively made access to abortion a constitutional right. At least eight states passed so-called heartbeat bills or other sweeping bans in 2019, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. All of the new bans joined the fate of earlier heartbeat abortion bans from Arkansas, North Dakota, and Iowa in being at least temporarily blocked by judges. Mimi Nguyen Ly and The Associated Press contributed to this report. SCHENECTADY Carol Eto gets angry when talking about the emotional and financial toll her longstanding dispute with her next-door neighbor, Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud, has had on her. "I am not moving, I will die in here," she vowed at one point during Tuesday's conversation about her dispute over a concrete driveway and fence with Gaindarpersaud, the man seen struggling on video last week with a city police officer after accusations he slashed two tires on Eto's son's car. Parbattie Datt, 51, lives on the other side of Gaindarpersaud, and doesnt get along with him either. Datt said she has a video of maggots around her fence and property resulting from Gaindarpersaud dumping his garbage right next to her fence, which is close to her kitchen. She has called the city code enforcement office and is waiting for it to look into the claims. "I had my land surveyed and the surveyor put a pole and he took it out, and I caught him on my video camera," she said. Gaindarpersaud is Guyanese as are the two women, and both said Tuesday they've called police on him multiple times and wont let him make their life miserable. The two neighbors say after seeing videos of Patrolman Brian Pommer chase, struggle, punch and knee Gaindarpersaud on or near his neck and head area, that the officer acted appropriately. "I personally feel that they did the right thing," Eto said, adding that Gaindarpersaud is just taking advantage of the global protest for racial equity and for police reforms following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd, who died at the hands of Minneapolis cop who kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Steve Ram, who is also Guyanese and has in the past helped organize Guyana Heritage Day, said earlier this week that the police response only made an already tense situation worse. "The police should have de-escalated the situation and that is my main concern that he (Officer Pommer) did not," said Ram, adding that Pommer shouldn't have run after Gaindarpersaud and that Police Chief Eric Clifford "compounded it by agreeing with whatever happened." The July 7 encounter in Schenectady that began as a call that Gaindarpersaud had slashed a neighbors tires has sparked protests in Schenectady. It also led to calls for bans on police control holds to a persons head or neck, as well as other demands, which the department outlawed in the days after the incident. Pommer, a seven-year veteran, remains on desk duty as the police and the Schenectady County District Attorneys Office conduct an internal review into his actions. Gaindarpersaud, 31, is charged with resisting arrest and criminal mischief. He is scheduled to be arraigned on those misdemeanors on July 21. He did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment and his attorney, Derek Andrews, declined comment when asked about the problems his client had with neighbors. Clifford has said Pommer didnt violate any law but will likely face some sort of discipline. The chief and Mayor Gary McCarthy have been making the rounds over the past few days, meeting with neighborhood groups, including a gathering Sunday at the Guyanese Community Center in Mont Pleasant where Eto and Datt told their stories. City Council President John Mootooveren said he and County Legislator Philip Fields,who is also Guyanese, set up the meeting that attracted about 60 people to the center. "It is not a racist incident, it's a neighbor problem for 2 1/2 years and boils down to this unfortunate incident," he said. "When they heard those stories then people get to understand exactly what's going on here so I wouldn't say they were divided, I think people weren't hearing the true stories until Sunday." Mootoveren said he has been aware of issues among the neighbors, encouraged them to call police and code enforcement, but said the altercation has not divided Schenectady' s Guyanese population. Citing the ongoing internal probe by the department's Office of Professional Standards and the DA's Office, Mootooveren declined comment. "I am concerned just like my colleagues on the City Council, even the mayor and the police chief have it made it very clear, but let's wait and see the outcome of the investigation," added Mootooveren, adding that some leaders at the center plan to reach out to the Gaindarpersaud. Eto, 65, said that her problems began in 2017 with the previous homeowner, who began the process of building the concrete driveway, before selling to Gaindarpersaud. She soon realized that the city erred in allowing Gaindarpersaud to encroach on her property, and informed him of her plans to erect a 6-foot wood fence. I dont care which way you twist and turn it, my 6-foot fence is going up there, she said. Eto said the intimidation and scare tactics began, including one instance where a group of about eight men stared her down. She started putting up the fence but had to stop to allow Gaindarpersaud to survey the land. She paid for a survey of her own and then later finished building the fence, which extends from her front to just beyond her back porch. When I put that fence down, I could have insisted that City Hall break up the concrete on their side because theyre not supposed to have any concrete on the side there, she said, adding that a $500 job ended up costing her $3,500 because of all the complications. Eto said she is in the process now of putting up a fence all around her property and a security system. FP Trending The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) periodically shares images of celestial bodies along with information on astronomical events. The latest in that has recently put out image of the NEOWISE comet. The picture was captured by NASAs Parker Solar Probe using WISPR instrument, used to take images of the sun's outer atmosphere and solar wind in visible light, FoxNews reported. The Probe captured the twin tails of NEOWISE, also known as C/2020 F3, when it became active just after its closest approach to the Sun. Many comets have two tails a dust tail and another made of electrically-charged particles. However, in the case of NEOWISE, it was predicted that it has two ion tails, which intrigued researchers. NASAs NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) space telescope, the comet's namesake, discovered the comet on 27 March 2020. According to NASA, the lower tail is the dust tail of NEOWISE and it is created when dust lifts off the surface of the comets nucleus and trails behind it in its orbit. "The upper tail is the ion tail, which is made up of gases that have been ionized by losing electrons in the Suns intense light," the space agency said in the release. These ionised gases are battered repeatedly by the solar wind. As a result of this, the ion tail is created that extends directly away from the Sun. Scientists speculate that NEOWISE has two ion tails, in addition to its dust tail, but they need more data and analysis to confirm this. Last month, NASA came up with some simulations showing how the sunset would look on other planets of the solar system. It was created by Geronimo Villanueva, a planetary scientist from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The simulations showed at the time of sunset on Uranus a bright blue colour in the sky fades into royal blue with hints of turquoise. The blue green colour appeared due to the interaction of sunlight with the atmosphere of the planet. A bright yellow sky turns into orange, brown, and finally black during the sunset on Venus. Mars sky becomes a mix of muddy brown and bright yellow as the Sun disappears. Also read: NASA's planetary scientist create a simulation to show how the different sunsets look like on various planets The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says that on average 16 civilians have been killed or wounded every day across the country in the first half of 2020. A total of 1,213 civilians have been killed and 1,744 others wounded in 880 separate security incidents during the first six months of the year, according to the AIHRCs report on civilian casualties published on July 14. The report said civilian casualties have dropped by 11 percent compared to the same period last year. The AIHRC said Taliban attacks were responsible for 48.5 percent of the recorded civilian casualties. Government forces are behind 15.5 percent of the casualties, the Islamic State (IS) extremist group 6.3 percent, and international forces 2.3 percent. Attacks by unknown perpetrators accounted for 26.7 percent of the casualties. Most of the casualties were from targeted killings, home-made bomb blasts such as roadside bombs or sticky bombs, rocket attacks, suicide attacks, ground battles, airstrikes and night raids, the AIHRC said. Casualties from suicide attacks have increased by 109 percent compared to the first six months of 2019, most of them claimed by the IS group. On July 14, a roadside bomb in eastern Kabul killed at least four civilians and wounded four others, including children, officials said. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the victims were riding in a car in the district of Surobi when their vehicle hit the bomb, setting it off. District Governor Gohar Khan Baburi gave a higher casualty toll, saying five civilians were killed and 11 wounded. No group or individual immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the district official claimed the Taliban had placed the roadside bomb to target a military convoy. The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan in recent weeks, targeting Afghan security forces. The surge comes despite the militant group's signing of a peace deal with the United States in February aimed at paving the way for an end to the war in Afghanistan. The channels consist of 23 from A+E Networks UK, based in London and seven from A+E Networks Italia based in Rome. The complete bouquet of the 30 channels across EMEA will now be delivered and managed by Amagi.In the project, Amagi deployed the Cloudport platform built on AWS cloud infrastructure to support end-to-end broadcast workflows and managed playout services. Initially set up as a business continuity playout option, the operation is said to have been transitioned to be the primary facility in a matter of weeks. Over 50,000 hours of content was ingested on to the cloud, and playout and delivery of 30 channels were managed over IP, satellite and fibre infrastructure. The service is equipped with an SLA-driven 24x7 monitoring using advanced technology tools, and L1, L2 and L3 support personnel.This partnership is an important milestone in our goal to create an effective, scalable and future-facing operations in the cloud that is well positioned in our supply chain, said Matt Westrup, vice president of technology and operations, A+E Networks EMEA. It allows us greater flexibility to manage our evolving EMEA portfolio. With the level of visibility, agility and control that the cloud offers, we can now manage our broadcast operations in EMEA remotely and this has been a huge advantage for us especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.Amagi already manages over 350 channels with deployments in more than 40 countries for countries such as NBCUniversal, Warner Media, Vice TV, Discovery, Fox Networks, IMG, MGM, Tastemade, PeopleTV, ShortsTV, PBS America and Tegna. A+E Networks UK has been at the forefront of delivering exciting and original programming to viewers across EMEA, said Amagi CEO Baskar Subramanian commenting on the deal. Our partnership with a renowned brand such as A+E Networks UK is yet another testament to the broadcast-grade reliability and operational maturity that Amagis cloud managed services on AWS is delivering on a global scale. MINNEAPOLIS - Minnesota health officials are questioning why the state was added to New Yorks quarantine list. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo added Minnesota and three other states New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin on Tuesday as he tries to contain the spread of the coronavirus from regions of the country where infection rates are growing. Minnesota health officials are surprised by the addition because the state appears to be below New Yorks announced threshold for travel restrictions. We are looking into this as it does not jibe with our data, Minnesotas infectious disease director Kris Ehresmann told the Star Tribune in an email Tuesday morning. The addition of Minnesota and the other three states means that travellers from 22 states will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon entering New York. New Yorks criteria is to restrict travellers from any states in which the daily number of new COVID-19 cases is at least 10 per 100,000 people, or in which the positivity rate of coronavirus tests is above 10%. Minnesotas updated COVID-19 dashboard on Tuesday morning showed a daily COVID-19 new case rate of 6 per 100,000 people and a testing positivity rate of only 3%. The David Weekley Homes team celebrated the Bokelmans being the companys 100,000th closing. David Weekley Homes, one of the nations largest privately-held home builders, has achieved another incredible milestone in the companys history with its 100,000th home closing since the companys inception in 1976. We are honored to have had 100,000 families choose us to help fulfill their dream of homeownership, said David Weekley, chairman of David Weekley Homes. It is also a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team members to have accomplished such an amazing feat. Weekleys 100,000th home was purchased by the Bokelman family in the master-planned community of Viridian, located in the Dallas/Ft. Worth suburb of Arlington. The Bokelman family, including Katie, Zachary and their three children, relocated from Pensacola, Florida, to Arlington for Zacharys new job. While building their new home from the ground up from afar, the David Weekley Homes team kept them up-to-date on the homes progress. Throughout the building process, the David Weekley Homes team ensured we were always in the loop by regularly giving us updates since we couldnt just stop by the home to see how the build was going, Katie Bokelman said. They always kept us well-informed. To commemorate the companys memorable closing, David Weekleys Dallas/Ft. Worth division surprised the Bokelmans with a patio furniture set for their covered porch in their new home. We were surprised and very excited to find out we were the 100,000th David Weekley Homeowner, Katie Bokelman said. David Weekley Homes was not building where we used to live, so we had no idea the company had sold so many homes! Were very happy with the service weve received from the whole David Weekley Homes team and love our new home, Bokelman said. About David Weekley Homes David Weekley Homes, founded in 1976, is headquartered in Houston and operates in 20 cities across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes Americas Best Builder, National Housing Quality Award and National Builder of the Year. Weekley has also appeared 14 times on FORTUNE magazines 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Since inception, David Weekley Homes has closed more than 100,000 homes. For more information about David Weekley Homes, visit the companys website at http://www.davidweekleyhomes.com. Hauliers fear 7bn+ Brexit bureaucracy bill, admin delays risk serious trade friction in January Publication of the governments border controls proposals has created renewed fears over increased costs and border friction. Fears over the economic impact will tend to sap underlying Sterling support. From January, exporters will soon need to obtain a so-called Economic Operators Registration and Identification number, work out the commodity code for their goods and calculate their value. HMRC has previously estimated that, after Brexit, firms will need to file 400 million extra customs declarations annually at an annual cost of at least 7.0bn with estimates ranging up to around 13.0bn. Blick Rothenberg partner and Brexit advisor Altmann stated that; UK exporters must be aware that there wont be a flexible EU border from 1 January 2021. Thousands of UK businesses will find themselves locked out from importing into the EU if they cant comply with the EU customs code going forward. There are also major concerns that infrastructure will not be in place in time for the start of next year. In particular, there is an important lack of information over Northern Ireland customs arrangements. House of Commons Northern Ireland affairs select committee Chairman Hoare stated; The governing administration may possibly be capable to hold out till the wire for clarity on customs arrangements, but business enterprise cannot. Road Haulage Association head Richard Burnett warned of a serious shortage of customs agents and expressed concern about a proposed new Smart Freight app that lorry drivers will have to complete in advance before travelling to ports. Hauliers have been promised it will be ready by the end of the year, but Mr Burnett expressed concern: Thats not that much use to say its ready by the end of the year. We need to be able to touch, feel and train people on the functionality for it to be working from Jan 1. Managing director of policy and public affairs Rod McKenzie added; we needed 18 months to prepare, not five. Some progress on financial equivalence The UK has now completed all the questionnaires sent by the EU to help determine whether the UK will be granted equivalence and access to the EU financial services sector. The original deadline for completing the surveys was the end of June, but this was missed with the UK claiming that the extensive questionnaires were late being delivered. The 29 documents will now be assessed by the EU to determine whether the UK will be granted access. A senior EU aide said the European Commission would now assess it and have further discussions on it, before revealing any decisions on equivalence. There have been concerns that the EU will use the issue as a bargaining chip in on-going trade talks. As time pressures intensify, Sterling markets will become increasingly fractious. Sterling has been under pressure on Tuesday with EUR/GBP near 0.9100 after disappointing GDP data earlier. According to Commerzbank; a rise above the 0.9056/69 May and July 6 highs would put the five-month resistance line at 0.9129 back on the cards. Markets were on the back foot today as investors remain concerned over the increasing number of coronavirus cases and tensions between the US and China heat up. However, the Footsie managed to recoup its earlier losses to close 3 points higher at 6,179, helped by a weaker pound, which came under pressure on the back of underwhelming UK GDP data. But the UK-focused FTSE 250 did feel the pain of grim economic news, closing down 210 points, or 1.2 per cent, at 17,174. It comes as official data showed GDP grew by 1.8 per cent in May, well below expectations, while the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that unemployment could hit 3.5milion next year under its 'central' case scenario. The news hit the pound, which fell below $1.25 and hit a two-week low against the euro, although it had rebounded a little by the market close. Meanwhile, retailers saw the biggest monthly sales jump in more than two years in June after many high street stores reopened. In company news, Ocado said grocery sales soared 27 per cent in its first half to the end of May, boosted by the country being on lockdown for all of its second quarter. We're going to race for the third weekend in a row. This time in Hungary. Team boss of Red Bull Racing Christian Horner is looking forward to the weekend and is happy with the useful data they have collected on the updates of the last two races. Work at hand for Red Bull The conclusion after two races is pretty clear for Red Bull: we have to work hard to catch up with Mercedes as fast as possible. According to Horner that starts with analyzing the data as he shows from his column on the Red Bull website: "The results and feedback from the opening two races have allowed us to target specific areas and tailor the updates accordingly" The English team boss continues: "We're going to Budepast to race and our focus will be on the track." Because of Covid-19 there are strict rules for Formula 1 employees regarding their freedom of movement. That will be from the hotel to the track and back again, nothing more. Last year pole for Red Bull Horner is hopeful for the weekend although he knows very well that Mercedes is the team to beat. Not only because of the recent results but also because of the results in the last five years at the Hungaroring. "I am looking forward to Hungary. It's a different circuit, a bit more technical than the Red Bull Ring and that gives us chances. Mercedes has shown that they have performed well here in recent years but Max took pole last year with the Honda engine. It will be an interesting weekend. In any case, we are hungry." Pressure mounts on banks The main agenda at all AGMs this year is to increase charter capital in all Commercial Banks, both big and small. The biggest four banks are targeting this agenda aggressively. VietinBank proposes keeping all profits, or paying dividends with shares, in order to increase charter capital. Vietcombank has also presented a plan to increase charter capital to its shareholders, and paying 18% of the 2018 dividends. This plan will be implemented in the second half of 2020, and the Board of Directors will decide further after their plan is approved by the SBV. Vietcombank expects to raise VND 6,575 bn to add to its total capital of VND 43,764 bn. At all Joint Stock Commercial Banks (JSCB), several plans have been approved on ways to increase capital. MB aims to increase its charter capital from VND 24,370 bn to VND 27,987 bn in 2020, an increase of VND 3,617 bn. This amount will help place MB among the top group of banks with the largest capital amounts, at close level with BIDV, Vietcombank, VietinBank, Techcombank and Agribank. HDBank plans to raise its charter capital from VND 9,810 bn to more than VND 16,088 bn; SHB is targeting an increase of VND 19,313 bn; TPBank wants to increase its existing VND 8,566 bn to VND 10,199 bn; VIB aims to increase VND 9,245 bn to VND 11,094 bn; and NamABank wants to add VND 3,000 bn to its charter capital, while NCB has said it will put in another VND 3,000 bn to reach a total of around VND 10,000 bn. Compared to state-owned commercial banks, private commercial banks find it easier to increase their capital because they already have high liquidity, which has enabled these banks to distribute dividends at high percentage or keep dividends to raise capital. TPBank and VIB have approved to pay 20% dividends with shares and HDBank has issued bonus shares and distributed dividends totaling 65%. ACB will pay 30% dividends with shares; MB will pay 15% dividends; SHB has planned to distribute 10% dividends with shares from the 2019 profits; and OCB will pay for 25% to 27% dividends, and has already successfully issued separate shares to Japanese investor Aozora. OCB bank is also expected to increase its charter capital to more than VND 11,275 bn. ABBank and Techcombank have proposed to keep all net profits to strengthen business capital sources. Banks try to hold balance Banks have made their efforts clear that they are all moving towards increasing capital. Although banks made huge profits last year, this year the Covid-19 pandemic badly impacted any smooth functioning in operations which is why at AGMs of several banks efforts are being directed towards increasing capital and paying off their 2019 dividends with shares at rather high percentage. This year banks are not expecting to earn huge profits, and it will be extremely hard to increase capital, either by distributing dividends or keeping profits. Capital increase plans of banks presented in their 2020 AGMs makes it clear that they will first meet with SBV requirements for strengthening their financial status and capacity, expand credit market shares and business scale, and diversify banking services. Second, they will ensure they can meet all safe requirements in banking services and improve risk management capacity as stipulated in Basel II. Third, they will add significant amounts to medium and long-term capital in the process of reducing short-term capital for medium and long-term loans to 30% this year. Fourth, they will invest in infrastructure and facilities for modern information technology to boost daily business performance. Financial experts believe that compared to the 2008 global financial crisis, the equity and total assets of the banking system have remained rather stable over the last few years. As required by SBV, ten Commercial Banks must meet Basel II Pillars 1 to 3 for 2019, and all Commercial Banks must comply with these requirements by 2020. Therefore, pressure continues to mount for increase of capital in all banks. Moves by Commercial Banks indicate that they are bending over backwards to meet Basel II requirements, though such steps are now far behind schedule, having been hit severely by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even those banks that were once confident in meeting Basel II requirements are now having to strive to gather in large amounts of capital in a shorter space of time. Banks must now increase their Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), because they have far lower CAR to meet Basel II requirements. Moreover, the sudden impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused the bad debt ratio to go up and asset ratio to fall, resulting in changes to CAR. Substantial increase in capital is a significant measure for the banking system to take for possible future complicated scenarios. Nonetheless, it appears that plans for increasing capital are just positive signs for the sector, but things have not been as satisfactory as expected for shareholders who always want dividends in cash. Although banks cannot satisfy all shareholders just by providing cash dividends, banks still hope that their shareholders will sympathize with them and support their current best efforts and strategies in reviving the banking system. Thien Minh A lower total dose of radiotherapy delivered in fewer but larger doses is as safe in the long term as breast cancer radiotherapy courses giving multiple small doses, according to the final results of a 10-year study. The findings show that five larger radiotherapy doses after surgery - once-a-week sessions for five weeks instead of daily radiotherapy over the same time, totalling 25 doses - cause similarly low rates of side-effects in women with early-stage breast cancer in the long run. Fewer treatment sessions particularly benefit patients at low risk of relapse who cannot tolerate daily radiation over long periods of time because of frailty or other chronic conditions. The 10-year study offers reassurance to these women over the long-term safety of the approach. The 10-year results of the FAST trial, led by The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and funded by Cancer Research UK, are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The FAST trial, launched in 2004, compared radiotherapy schedules consisting of fewer but larger fractions overall, while decreasing the total dose of radiation, in order to see which course was best at reducing side-effects. The three-year results of the FAST trial were published in 2011 and showed that reducing the number of radiotherapy fractions to five was feasible and safe in the short term. Since then, FAST has informed the design of the FAST-Forward trial, also led by The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), which looks at delivering the five fractions of radiotherapy in a single week. This has also been found to be safe and effective. The 10-year results from the FAST trial now confirm that a treatment strategy involving fewer doses and fewer visits to hospital is as safe in the long term, since side-effects remain low a decade later. Radiotherapy uses X-rays to destroy cancer cells that may be left behind after breast cancer surgery. As a consequence, having radiotherapy after surgery lowers the risk of the cancer coming back - but the radiation can affect healthy tissue around the site of the surgery and on rare occasions can result in serious side effects. Some 915 women from 19 centres across the UK who had early-stage breast cancer participated in the FAST trial. Researchers assigned women to one of three different courses of radiotherapy following breast cancer surgery - a regimen of daily doses and two courses delivering five larger doses once weekly, all over the same time period of five weeks. After completing the radiotherapy regimens, women were assessed annually for up to 10 years by researchers for side effects to healthy breast tissue - including hardening of the breast, swelling, skin reactions and changes in breast size. The standard radiotherapy regimen consisted of the now outdated international standard of 50 Gray (Gy) of radiation, divided into 25 daily doses of 2 Gy, delivered every day over five weeks. The trial treatments consisted of 30 or 28.5 Gy delivered once a week for five weeks in fractions of 6 or 5.7 Gy. Moderate or severe long-term effects were low across the three treatment groups and the most common effect was breast shrinkage. The researchers observed no changes or minor changes in healthy breast tissue in 86 per cent of all women in the trial at the 10-year time point. Moderate or marked effects were two thirds more likely in women on the 30 Gy regimen than with 50 Gy - but the women on the 28.5 Gy and 50 Gy regimens had a similar risk of moderate or marked effects. Delivering 28.5 Gy in five fractions as a once-weekly schedule is therefore safe in the long-term for certain patients, especially those who are frailer. Study co-leader Professor Judith Bliss, Professor of Clinical Trials at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Director of its Cancer Research UK-funded Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit, said: "After undergoing surgery to remove breast cancer, patients usually undergo weeks of radiotherapy. The aim of the FAST trial was to figure out if using fewer fractions overall, with careful consideration of the total dose, would reduce the side effects observed. "Our initial results showed that when the total dose is adjusted appropriately it is safe to deliver radiotherapy in fewer doses and now we can confirm that this is still the case 10 years down the line. "These findings have supported a change in clinical practice that is already helping relieve pressures on the NHS - and it is great to see that after so many years, side effects from fewer but larger doses of radiation are still low." Professor John Yarnold, Professor of Clinical Oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Honorary Consultant at The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust is chief investigator of the FAST trial. He said: "Our findings support treatment options that are more convenient for patients who cannot tolerate long courses of daily radiation, without increasing the risk of long-term side effects. "The FAST trial confirms the safety of a radiotherapy course consisting of a lower total dose of radiotherapy delivered in five fractions of radiation. FAST has also laid the groundwork for the FAST-Forward trial, testing an even shorter treatment course of five fractions of breast radiotherapy delivered in a single week, which is likely to become a UK standard for patients with early breast cancer. "People are increasingly living longer with their cancer thanks to smarter, kinder treatments - so establishing long-lasting safety of treatments is of utmost importance in order to help them live well with the condition." Professor Murray Brunt, Professor of Clinical Oncology at the University Hospitals of North Midlands and University of Keele, who is joint first author of the study, said: "The FAST trial identifies a five-fraction once-a-week regimen that is equivalent to daily treatment over the same time period. The follow-up to 10 years is important in establishing the principle of a five-treatment option. "For patients unable to attend daily this offers an alternative much more convenient once-a-week treatment option that is attractive to both patients and their carers." Joyce Charlton volunteered to be part of the FAST trial while being treated for breast cancer at the University Hospitals of North Midlands in Stoke-on-Trent. She commented: "I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005, when I was approaching my 66th birthday. My oncologist, Professor Murray Brunt, encouraged me to join the FAST trial. I was scared and nervous at the time but, looking back, I can confidently say joining the trial was the best decision I could have made. "After undergoing surgery, I received one of the shorter radiotherapy courses and went into hospital once a week for five weeks. I felt tired, but didn't experience any notable discomfort immediately after treatment. A few months later, my scans came back clear and I have remained cancer-free ever since." Professor Arnie Purushotham, Cancer Research UK's senior clinical adviser, said: "Sparing women unnecessary treatment is always good news. And this study in women with early stage breast cancer, shows that a lower dose given weekly should be just as effective for some patients as a higher weekly dose. "Daily visits to hospital can be difficult for some patients who may be frail, have other illnesses, or live far from hospital. Ultimately, it's important that we keep doing research which can give patients a better quality of life." ### For more information please contact Diana Cano Bordajandi in the ICR press office on 020 7153 5021 or diana.cano@icr.ac.uk. For enquiries out of hours, please call 07595 963 613. The FAST trial was sponsored by The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and coordinated by the Clinical Trials and Statistics Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR-CTSU). ICR-CTSU receives core programme support from Cancer Research UK and is accredited by the UKCRC and the NCRI. Further information on the trial can be found here: https://www.icr.ac.uk/our-research/centres-and-collaborations/centres-at-the-icr/clinical-trials-and-statistics-unit/clinical-trials/fast The Institute of Cancer Research, London, is one of the world's most influential cancer research organisations. Scientists and clinicians at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) are working every day to make a real impact on cancer patients' lives. Through its unique partnership with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and 'bench-to-bedside' approach, the ICR is able to create and deliver results in a way that other institutions cannot. Together the two organisations are rated in the top four centres for cancer research and treatment globally. The ICR has an outstanding record of achievement dating back more than 100 years. It provided the first convincing evidence that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer, laying the foundation for the now universally accepted idea that cancer is a genetic disease. Today it is a world leader at identifying cancer-related genes and discovering new targeted drugs for personalised cancer treatment. The ICR is a charity and relies on support from partner organisations, funders and the general public. A college of the University of London, it is the UK's top-ranked academic institution for research quality, and provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction. The ICR's mission is to make the discoveries that defeat cancer. For more information visit ICR.ac.uk Hollyoaks has resumed filming after it was forced to suspend production for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bosses confirmed that stars have returned to the soap's Liverpool set, with temperature checks and social distancing measures in place. It was also confirmed that the show will temporarily go off-air from Tuesday 21st July until September, when it will air four episodes a week. We're back! Hollyoaks has resumed filming after it was forced to suspend production for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Imran Adams pictured) Stars including Imran Adams (who plays Mitchell Deveraux) and Nick Pickard (Tony Hutchinson) returned to the set of the Channel 4 soap this week, with strict measures in place to ensure cast members were safe. Bosses confirmed that the soap will take a two month break from screens from July 21st, with a first look trailer set to air straight after, teasing what fans can expect this autumn. Hollyoaks will then return to screens in September and will air four episodes a week ahead of the soap's 25th Anniversary later this year. Back to work! Bosses confirmed that stars have returned to the soap's Liverpool set, with temperature checks and social distancing measures in place (Nick Pickard pictured) During Tuesday's This Morning, star Imran also spoke about the soap's return to filming, saying: 'We've got our one way system, reminding us to keep apart, and no physical touching. 'So it'll be interesting how Scott and Mitchell will find other ways to show their affection for each other. but it feels good to give fans some more Hollyoaks!' Currently Hollyoaks is airing two episodes a week, in a bid to ration shows that had been pre-filmed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been re-airing classic episodes to fill gaps in the time schedule. The soap suspended filming on 22 March due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, with the UK's other top soaps quickly following suit. In recent weeks the show has been hit by controversy after Rachel Adedeji's accusations of behind-the-scenes racism and claims that co-star Lysette Anthony is 'actual trash' for allegedly deeming co-stars who defended her 'traitors'. Scandals: In recent weeks the show has been hit by controversy, reportedly leading to a string of meetings with cast members before filming could resume Sources claimed last month that cast members were summoned for 'one on one' meetings with show bosses before filming could resume. Also, Hollyoaks star Malique Thompson-Dwyer faced backlash for attending an illegal rave in Daisy Nook Park, Failsworth, while Stephanie Davis revealed she had quit the show following a decade-long run. Bosses are now reportedly having a 'string of meetings' as there is a 'real divide' between the cast. 'At war': The cast is said to be 'at war' following Rachel's (pictured in 2019) recent accusations of on-set racism and claims that co-star Lysette Anthony is 'actual trash' A source told The Sun: 'They're having a string of meetings as it's one thing after another. The cast is at war, there is a lot of tension over Lysette's recent comments. Some cast have threatened to quit if something isn't done about it. 'And with Stephanie and Rachel quitting bosses are worried others will follow them out of the door. It's utter chaos - every week it's some new issue.' The source added that the cast has 'freedom' over their social media channels but breaking lockdown rules and laws is 'not OK'. Chaos: Malique Thompson-Dwyer (pictured) faced backlash for attending an illegal rave in Daisy Nook Park, Failsworth, while Stephanie revealed she had quit the show While the stars are said to be 'dreading' returning to filming as some members aren't aware they've 'done wrong' or 'upset' others. Earlier this month, Lysette Anthony quit Twitter after facing backlash amid the show's racism row, accused by Rachel of being 'actual trash' for claiming those who supported her were 'traitors. Rachel accused the show of behind-the-scenes racism after criticising their response to the Black Lives Matter movement, leading soap bosses to apologise and announce a plan to 'stamp out discrimination.' Hollyoaks continues on Monday at 6:30pm on Channel 4. It airs a First Look episode at 7pm on E4. European Union Vice President Josep Borrell speaks during a press conference following an EU Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on July 13, 2020. (Francois Lenoir/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) EU, Turkey Clash Over Hagia Sophia, Mediterranean Drilling BRUSSELSTurkey and the European Union clashed on July 13 over Ankaras decision to change the status of Hagia Sophia to a mosque from a museum and its continued energy exploration in disputed Mediterranean waters. After their first face-to-face meeting in months, the 27 EU foreign ministers said that they condemned the Turkish decision to convert such an emblematic monument as the Hagia Sophia, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said. This decision will inevitably fuel the mistrust, promote renewed division between religious communities and undermine our efforts at dialog and cooperation, he said after the meeting of EU foreign ministers. He said there was broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently consider and reverse this decision. Hagia Sophia was originally built in Istanbul as a Christian cathedral, and the pope and others have expressed their sadness and criticism of the move by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas said July 13 that the EU was faced with a challenge and insult meted out by Erdogan. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu hit back and rejected international intervention concerning its decision to convert Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. Hagia Sophia was left as a legacy as a mosque and must be used as a mosque, Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT. We strongly reject comments that amount to an intervention in Turkeys sovereign rights. Borrell was in Turkey last week where he also discussed Ankaras disputes with Greece and Cyprus over energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean region. Turkey has dispatched warship-escorted vessels to drill for gas in an area where Cyprus insists it has exclusive rights. The Turkish government has said its acting to protect its interests in the areas natural resources and those of Turkish Cypriots. Petsas said that Turkish drilling was blatantly contrary to international obligations and international law and said that Greece would be looking to prepare a list for possible political, diplomatic and financial sanctions. Again, Cavusoglu stood firm. If Greece were to turn away from its maximalist ways and agree to a fair sharing (of rights), and if it were to convince Cyprus to a fair sharing of revenues (from the exploration of natural resources), then 80 percent of our problems would be solved, Cavusoglu said. Borrell said there were no immediate decisions at the July 13 meeting but that the ministers would revisit the issue at their next meeting in Berlin in August. Even as the rift between both sides was deepening, the 27 EU ministers couldnt get that close among themselves either. It was their first in-person meeting since the coronavirus lockdown set in, but because of social distancing rules, there was only room for lots of elbow bumping for a greeting and little reading of lips, since ministers were wearing masks around the meeting table. By Raf Casert Theres been a lot of leaks and rumors about the upcoming Pixel 4a as well as the Pixel 5, and theres plenty of confusing information out there. And now thanks to OnLeaks, we can see the size of the Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 devices that Google is planning to unveil this year. Now with OnLeaks tweet, he seems to confuse us even more, which could be Googles aim this year, to combat the leaks, just confuse everyone. But he is showing a Pixel 4a, Pixel 5, Pixel 5 XL and Pixel 5 XL 5G. The three pixel 5s are confusing, because we learned last week that there was just one, and that there was a Pixel 4a 5G which OnLeaks does not mention in this tweet. On top of that, doing a Pixel 5 XL and Pixel 5 XL 5G would be confusing since they both are set to run the same chipset Snapdragon 765G. So unless theres a big price difference between the two, it doesnt make a whole lot of sense. Advertisement Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 will be almost the same size The Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 are set to be very similar in size. With the Pixel 4a being 69.5mm x 144.2mm and the Pixel 5 being 70.25mm x 144.6mm. Very minor changes in both width and height there. Interestingly, the Pixel 5 XL and Pixel 5 XL 5G are going to be slightly different sizes. With the Pixel 5 XL being 73.96mm x 153.94mm and the Pixel 5 XL 5G being 74mm x 153.90mm. So the Pixel 5 XL 5G is a tad wider and a bit shorter. But you likely wouldnt notice a different in .04mm when holding them side-by-side. What we can also see from these renders is that the fingerprint sensor is coming back! Advertisement So, whats Google really doing with the Pixel this year? Who really knows, besides Google? Though, I do believe that Google might be doing this to confuse everyone with the leaks. Making people think there are four or five Pixels coming this year, and then there only ends up being two or three (including Pixel 4a). But one thing is for sure, there will be a 5G model. And that is because of the carriers. Google is now selling the Pixel at all four carrier stores. Which means they have to play ball with the US carriers. And that means adding 5G into their phones. Its possible that Google could get away with offering a 4G-only model and a 5G model to make carriers happy. Which would also make customers happy, as its not like we can use 5G right now anyways. New Delhi: TV actress Pooja Banerjee, who plays Parth Samthaan's sister in 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay', has tested negative for coronavirus. She posted about her report on social media and thanked her fans for all the wishes for the team. Pooja took the COVID-19 test after Parth contracted the infection on Sunday. Team 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' had resumed the shooting last week. "I truly appreciate everyone's concern towards our team's well-being. For all my well-wishers, my COVID-19 test is negative," Pooja posted. Meanwhile, actress Shubhaavi Choksey has also got herself tested. Her report is awaited. Shubaavi stars as Parth's mother in 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay'. Parth opened up about his coronavirus diagnosis via an Instagram post. He wrote, "Hi, everyone, I have been tested positive for COVID-19. Although, I have mild symptoms.. I would urge and request everyone whose been with me in close proximity over the last few days please go and get yourself tested. The BMC has regularly been in touch and with the doctor's guidance I am in self-quarantine and I am grateful to them for all their support. Please be safe and take care." 'Kasautii Zindagii Kay' is one of the top-rated shows of television. It is headlined by Parth and Erica Fernandez. Just recently, actor Karan Patel has also joined the cast. 1 of 2 Rajasthan political crisis: Sachin Pilot removed as deputy CM and PCC chief Sachin Pilot was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and removed as state party chief after he skipped a second meeting of MLAs today. Two ministers who have joined him in his revolt have also been dropped. Sachin Pilot was "ensnared" by the BJP to bring down the Congress government in Rajasthan, said the party. Pilots two loyalists Vishvendra Singh, Ramesh Meena have also been dropped from the Cabinet. Govind Singh Dotasra made Congress state president and will replace Pilot. Hem Singh Shekhawat made Sewa Dal state president. Addressing media after the CLP meeting, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the BJP of misleading Sachin Pilot and other Congress leaders. We spoke to Pilot multiple times and told him that all his concerns will be addressed. No other young neta has grown as much as Pilot. We have given him due recognition in the short-term that he was in politics. Read More... Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 13, 2020) - iCo Therapeutics (TSXV: ICO) (OTCQB: ICOTF) ("iCo" or the "Company"), today reported financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. Amounts, unless specified otherwise, are expressed in Canadian dollars and presented under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"). Stated William Jarosz, CEO of iCo Therapeutics Inc., "We were pleased with the positive outcome from our Phase 1b study of our oral amphotericin B asset during the quarter and that we were able to complete the study with encouraging results and minimal disruption given the current Covid-19 pandemic. On iCo-008, we continue to work closely with our partner Alexion in advancing the program." Q1 2020 Operational and Financial Highlights In January 2020, the assignment of the IMMUNE sublicense to Alexion was completed. Under the terms of the assignment, Alexion was required to pay US$6 million into the Court in the settlement of IMMUNE's creditor claims in exchange for IMMUNE's rights under the IMMUNE License Agreement. On February 25, 2020 we announced the successful completion of our Phase 1b study with no serious adverse events. On April 15, 2020, we announced the pharmacokinetic data from this study which showed a doubling in the AUC (0-inf), a measure of drug accumulation, after 10 days dosing compared to day 1 dosing. On March 9, 2020 Andrew Rae, MBA, resigned from his roles as both President & CEO and Director. Ms. Susan Koppy, a member of iCo's board of directors since 2015, assumed the role of President and Mr William Jarosz, a member of iCo's board of directors since 2006, assumed the role of CEO. Financial results for Quarter ended March 31, 2020 We incurred a total comprehensive loss of $ 645,570 for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 compared to a total comprehensive loss of $353,680 for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, representing an increased loss of $291,890. The increase in the loss is primarily the result of higher research and development expenses offset by lower general and administrative expenses and higher research and development tax credits recognized in Q1 2020. Research and development expenses were $670,690 for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 compared to $85,095 for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, representing an increase of $585,595. The increase related to higher contract research expenses for clinical trials conducted on the Oral Amp B program in the quarter ended March 31, 2020. The Phase 1b study was conducted in Australia, which provides refundable tax credits for qualifying research and development activities conducted there. The refundable tax credit is calculated at 43.5% of the qualifying expenditures and the Company recognized $238,258 in other income as its estimate of the tax refund related to qualifying expenditures for the quarter ended March 31, 2020. For the quarter ended March 31, 2020 general and administrative expenses were $216,436 compared to $278,767 for the quarter ended March 31, 2019, representing a decrease of $62,331. The decrease reflects lower professional fees during the period. The Company's participation in the IMMUNE bankruptcy process last year caused an increase in professional fees in the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Liquidity and Outstanding Share Capital As at March 31, 2020, we had cash and cash equivalents of $479,005 compared to $989,937 as at December 31, 2019. As at July 13th, 2020, we had an unlimited number of authorized common shares with 153,747,713 common shares issued and outstanding. For complete financial results, please see our filings at www.sedar.com. About iCo Therapeutics Inc. iCo Therapeutics identifies existing development stage assets for use in underserved ocular and infectious diseases. Such assets may exhibit utility in non-ophthalmic conditions outside the Company's core focus areas and if so the Company will seek to capture further value via partnerships. iCo shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ICO" and on the OTCQB under the symbol "ICOTF". For more information, visit the Company website at: www.icotherapeutics.com. No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the content of this press release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulatory Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release. Forward Looking Statements Certain statements included in this press release may be considered forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "goal," "seek," "believe," "project," "estimate," "expect," "strategy," "future," "likely," "may," "should," "will," and similar references to future periods. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on iCo's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to iCo and relate to, among other things, anticipated financial performance, business prospects, strategies, regulatory developments, market acceptance and future commitments, including statements relating to reporting further data regarding studies for Oral Amp Delivery System, the timing of receipt of the statistical analysis for clinical data, the timing, receipt and amount of Australian refundable tax credits, any decrease in research and development expenditures and the completion of additional funding and commencement of additional clinical studies. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based only on information currently available to iCo and speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by iCo in its public securities filings and on its website, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. In evaluating forward-looking statements, readers should consider the risk factors set out herein and in the Company's Annual Information Form dated April 29, 2019, a copy of which is available under iCo's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and as otherwise disclosed in the Company's filings under its profile on SEDAR from time to time. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and iCo disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. iCo Therapeutics Inc. 1 604 800 9860 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59685 A DePaul University student who arrived from South Korea was denied entry into the country last week because he could not show that he was in compliance with a controversial visa rule for international students, a consortium of universities say in a new court filing. The rule, announced July 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, requires international students to take some level of in-person classes in order to enter or remain in the country even though many colleges are moving the bulk of courses online this fall because of the coronavirus pandemic. ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) will release its second quarter 2020 earnings after the market closes on Thursday, July 30, 2020. A printer-friendly format will be available on the company's website shortly thereafter. In conjunction with this release, J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO, will host a conference call on July 30 at 5:15 pm ET/4:15 pm CT. The conference call will be broadcast live through Gallagher's website at www.ajg.com and a conference call replay will be available on the company's website approximately one hour after the broadcast. The replay can be accessed by going to Investor Relations and clicking on Archived Presentations. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company has operations in 49 countries and offers client service capabilities in more than 150 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants. Contact: Ray Iardella VP - Investor Relations (630) 285-3661 [email protected] SOURCE Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Related Links http://www.ajg.com RADNOR While most live music events such as the Delaware County Summer Music Festival at Rose Tree Park have been curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one group managed to safely hold a physically distanced concert Sunday. Willows Park Preserve and Winding Way Records hosted an evening of music at Willows Park Preserve. The show featured performers Lauren Mendelsohn, the band Under the Oak and Cookie Rabinowitz in a two-hour concert in the shade next to the parks mansion. The free concert offered spacious grass seating as families and couples brought picnic baskets or purchased boxed dinners at the event. Each family was given a designated section to sit in and performers took necessary precautions such as using personal microphones and staying spaced apart. Under the Oak, comprised of Adam Monaco, Maggie Pope, Chris Peace, and Peter Oswald, according to a press release, has crafted a sound rich in harmonies, emotional swells, and intimate lyrics. They deliver songs that play like an ocean awash with both contentment and longing. On Sunday, Monaco admitted that this was the first time the group had played together in four months. Money from donations and concessions at the event will go to the Willows Preserve, which was founded in 2017 to revitalize the Willows Mansion as an opportunity to create a public space for increased community health. In the future, officials hope to open the mansion for community oriented programs for people of all ages including nature and wellness programs, art, music and theater classes and lectures. The mansion is presently having its roof repaired and organizers have recently embarked on their next project, a 80-by 40-foot slate terrace expansion. Donors can buy a slate on the terrace as a fundraiser. Three more concerts are planned at the Willows Park on Aug. 9, Sept. 12. and Oct. 11. All shows will require attendees to reserve a spot in order to limit capacity to a maximum of 200 attendees. For information on those events go to: https://willowsparkpreserve.org/events-at-mansion. People have done a really good job of keeping socially distant and following the rules, so were super happy about that, said organizer John Fisher, a former Radnor commissioner and now president of Winding Way Records. Its been perfect. Fisher said his new music label, based in Newtown, is focused on supporting and advocating for artists. Fisher and his organization, as well as the musicians, donated their time. Were trying events like this, more listening events, creating safe environments to hear music, said Fisher. Theyre more enjoyable than in a bar environment. School of Theology and Ministry Professor of Theology and Religious Education Thomas Groome received a first place CPA Book Award for his book, Faith for the Heart: A Catholic Spirituality (Paulist Press). The volume, honored in the category of Popular Presentation of the Catholic Faith, was cited for its succinct presentation of theological issues critical for a well-informed understanding of both the Catholic faith in particular and the Christian faith at large. In Faith for the Heart, Groome invites the reader, whether a practicing Catholic or one who has left the Church, to enter more deeply into the rich treasury of the spiritual resources of the Churchs faith, practice, and traditions. Vice Provost for Global Engagement James F. Keenan, S.J., who also is the Canisius Professor in the Theology Department, received a second place CPA Book Award for Street Homelessness and Catholic Theological Ethics (Orbis Books), which he co-edited with Mark McGreevy. The volume, which the judges called provocative and well researched, was honored in the category of Catholic Social Teaching. Street Homelessness and Catholic Theological Ethics is part of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church book series. The volumes essays are written by theologians, practitioners, and social scientists, who addresson a global scaleaccompanying the homeless and working to end homelessness, including actual strategies in Cameroon, India, and Jamaica. Fr. Keenan also contributed to the volume, along with BC alumni Meghan J. Clark and M.T. Davila. STM Associate Professor of Hispanic Ministry and Religious Education Hosffman Ospino was awarded second place honors for his Catholic News Service column, Caminando Juntos. The recognition was in the category of Best Regular Column-General Commentary (Spanish-language). The judges deemed Ospinos column a nice demonstration of examples in our everyday lives, but through our Catholic faith. The Catholic Press Association is an organization of Catholic journalists and media professionals created more than a century ago. For a complete list of winners, visit the CPA's Catholic Journalist. Kathleen Sullivan, University Communications | July 2020 Jaipur, July 14 : Minutes after the Congress party sacked senior party leader Sachin Pilot from all posts including that of Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and party state unit chief, he said that truth can be disturbed but cannot be defeated. "Truth can be disturbed, but not defeated," Pilot said in a tweet in Hindi. His remark came soon after Congress media in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala announced that Pilot has been sacked as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and has also been relieved from his duties as chief of Congress' Rajasthan unit. Surjewala also said that the Congress made Pilot a Union minister in his 30s, a deputy chief minister in his 40s. "We have given Pilot many opportunities. He has been an MP, MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP... This is unacceptable," Surjewala said at a press briefing. The crisis in Rajasthan started on Saturday after Pilot along with his loyal MLAs went incommunicado. Pilot, son of former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader Rajesh Pilot, has not attended the two crucial Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings on Monday and Tuesday. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Doctors have long known that Black people suffer disproportionately. Before the renewed cries of "Black Lives Matter," they knew racism has very real, physical effects. They knew about socio-economic challenges that contribute to poor health. And they treated diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases that hit their Black patients harder than their white ones. Then came the coronavirus and George Floyd, a crushing double blow to Black people's well-being. Doctors and their patients are reeling from the impact. "We are exhausted and we are not OK," says Dr. Patrice Harris, who just ended a yearlong term as president of the American Medical Association only the second Black to head the group. She was speaking not so much for herself as for her community. Police violence is always an injustice, "but its harm is elevated amid the remarkable stress people are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic," Harris and AMA Trustee Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld said in a recent online opinion article. Floyd's death is the most extreme example of over-policing that has been linked with elevated stress, high blood pressure and other chronic illness that contribute to the high coronavirus death rates in Black people. As their offices start reopening for regular appointments, doctors are bracing for the fallout: a wave of sicker, shell-shocked patients. Dr. Brittani James is a primary-care doctor. Her clinic's mostly Black neighborhood was one of the last in Chicago to get a COVID-19 testing site. They opened first in wealthier, whiter areas. She said it's heartbreaking to see many patients hit hard by the virus, while others grow sicker from chronic disease. "As a Black doctor, I feel like I'm failing my patients every day," she said. While her clinic has remained open, many patients are too terrified of COVID-19 to come in. That means trying to treat complaints without physical exams or blood tests. She has tried sending patients prescriptions for blood pressure cuffs but some can't afford the cost. The options are "have their blood pressure uncontrolled or adjust their medications blind." For every patient who has called for an appointment, there are 10 others she hasn't heard from in months. "There is no way that all of a sudden overnight there's no more heart attacks, no more strokes, no more patients having poorly controlled diabetes," she said. "We have all seen our patients' visits stop. Which is scaring me a lot." It's not just happening in Chicago. James fears a "second wave" of worsening chronic illness and non-COVID-19 deaths is coming. There are signs it is already happening. Government statistics from late January through May 30 suggest an increase in U.S. deaths from chronic diseases compared with historical trends. They include 7,000 excess deaths from hypertension, about 4,000 from diabetes and 3,000 from strokes all conditions that disproportionately affect Blacks, although the data don't include race. James says Floyd's brutal death has added psychological trauma to the mix, and mental health care in many communities is scarce. "There is an overwhelming need that we do not have the resources to address," she said. "It's devastating." Royanna Williams, 45, is a Black woman in Asheville, North Carolina, who suffers with persistent pain from autoimmune illnesses, which disproportionately affect Blacks. Living with chronic illness had already left her anxious and depressed feelings that have multiplied with the pandemic, Floyd's death and the unrest that has followed. "This right here is a whole 'nother ballgame," she said. Williams has started mental health televisits. They've helped. She says white doctors have often discounted her pain and it has worsened as the pandemic has postponed her physical therapy sessions. Research has shown than Blacks are often under-treated for pain, partly because of false beliefs about supposed biological differences. Now there's evidence that Blacks with fever and cough are less likely than whites to be referred for COVID-19 testing, said Dr. Malika Fair, a health equity director at the Association of American Medical Colleges. This even though Blacks are more likely to die from the disease. As of early June, an AP analysis found that roughly 26 percent of COVID-19 deaths were in Black patients, while Black people represented 13 percent of the population in the 40 states that provided detailed demographic data. Rosetta Watson is only 38 but she has heart failure and needs valve replacement surgery. When COVID-19 hit Chicago in March, doctors postponed the operation indefinitely. The virus has killed four of her relatives. She knows it could kill her too because of her poor health. "I don't know if I'm angry or am just numb to it," Watson said. Her doctor thinks her increasing fatigue may be from the leaky valve. She understands that COVID-19 cases are more urgent but the delays are frustrating. Meantime, she has seen the protests on TV and supports the cause but not the property damage. She's been racially targeted, not by police but by strangers who disparage her white boyfriend with racist terms and by elderly neighbors in her apartment building who deride "you people" and won't ride with her in the elevator. "Seriously, it's 2020. When we gonna grow up?" Watson said. Egypt rejected on Friday an Ethiopian proposal to postpone tackling controversial points on the rules of filling and operating the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) until after an agreement is reached. Ethiopia demanded to refer these issues to a technical committee that will be formed to follow up the implementation of the terms of the agreement, the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement. However, the ministry said it has totally rejected the proposal, noting that such major technical issues cannot be referred to the technical committee to be decided later after signing an agreement. For the eighth day in a row, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia have been engaged in talks which are sponsored by the African Union. The talks, which are meant to bridge the gaps between the three countries, are also attended by experts from the United States and the European Union. The ministry said Egypt has put forward some alternative formulations in an attempt to bring views closer regarding times of drought or extended drought, in addition to the annual filling and operation rules. The ministry said that it has been agreed that Ethiopia would study the alternatives proposed by Egypt, adding that the Egyptian proposals would be tackled during a tripartite ministerial meeting that will be held on July 12. It added that discussions of the legal committee made no progress on controversial points. Over the past few years, tripartite talks on the rules of filling and operating Ethiopias grand hydropower dam have been fruitless, including those hosted by Washington, amid Egyptian concerns that the GERD would affect Egypts annual share of the Nile water. Ethiopia has recently said that it would soon start filling the reservoir, while Egypt has repeatedly warned against any unilateral action without a prior tripartite agreement. The 4-billion-dollar GERD is expected to produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity and become Africas largest hydropower dam upon completion. Filling the reservoir, whose total capacity is 74 billion cubic meters, may take several years. Egypt seeks to prolong the period of filling process to avoid the possible impacts of water shortage, which is a main point of their talks. Source: Xinhua 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 "On one hand, what do you do if the Chinese government comes to us with a request for data that will lead to an arrest?" Sacks said. "And on the other hand, what is the cost if we pull out entirely and suddenly these platforms are no longer available in an environment where free speech really matters?" LONDON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, July 16th, prestigious Dubai newspaper Khaleej Times will host a webinar, titled "St Kitts and Nevis: Strength and Recovery through Citizenship by Investment." Special guests from the Caribbean twin-island nation, where the concept originates from, will share how its Citizenship by Investment (CBI) Programme remains so successful. The event starts with a conversation with Prime Minister Dr the Hon. Timothy Harris. He will share the country's experience in responding to COVID-19 efficiently, and what it means for investor immigration. Mr Les Khan, the CEO of the country's Citizenship by Investment Unit (CIU), joins the following panel discussion. Ms Natasha Jones, Legal Assistant at CS Global Partners' government advisory practice will share application-related advice. "Immigrant investor programs have long been seen as a tool to offer an opportunity to deserving people from across the globe to settle in a country which otherwise wouldn't be possible," writes Khaleej Times. Citizenship by Investment programmes also help countries "attract the private investors from all parts of the world looking for a better standard of living and a safer environment. With COVID-19 bringing the world to a standstill, private investors [] are realigning the[ir] life goals and strategies and focusing more on a better, safe and a prosperous future for their families." On July 3rd, 2020, the CIU announced a new time-limited offer that suits Middle Eastern families applying together to St Kitts and Nevis' CBI Programme. Now, a family of up to four can contribute US$150,000 to the Sustainable Growth Fund, instead of the usual US$195,000. This applies only to the fund option, which remains the fastest route to second citizenship. Adding the Accelerated Application Process feature means that investors can receive their citizenship within 60 days or less. All applicants must first pass the Programme's due diligence checks. In return, new economic citizens can live, work and study in the country, and enjoy all the social, economic and business opportunities St Kitts and Nevis presents. They can also usually travel visa-free or with a visa-on-arrival to over 150 countries and territories. Foreign Minister Mark Brantley ensures that more visa waiver agreements are signed regularly. Register here to take part in the webinar. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1213930/Khaleej_Times_St_Kitts_Nevis_CBI.jpg Contact: pr@csglobalpartners.com www.csglobalpartners.com vSAN 7.0 Technical Overview. VMwares modern application platform built upon VMware Cloud Foundation offers levels of flexibility needed for todays rapidly changing applications. A key part of this foundation is vSAN. With the introduction of vSAN 7, VMware once again modernizes hyperconverged infrastructure by providing exciting new capabilities for administrators offering a unified storage control plane for both block and file protocols, and providing significant enhancements that make it a great solution for traditional virtual machines as well cloud-native applications. Join key VMware expert, Duncan Epping, as he discusses the new capabilities brought to you with vSAN 7.0. Hyundai Motor India expects its July sales to bounce back to the last year's level with the reopening of sales network and robust demand for various models, especially the recently launched new Creta. The company, which on Tuesday introduced all new version of its premium SUV Tucson priced between Rs 22.3-27.03 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), also remains committed to keep offering diesel cars despite reduction in price gap between petrol and diesel. "In terms of sales in June we reached 75 per cent of the retails as compared with last year level and in July we are hoping to reach 90-100 per cent of last year level. I think it shows a very positive sign, it shows resilience of Indian auto industry," Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Director (Sales, Marketing and Service) Tarun Garg told PTI in an interview. He said few setbacks were there in the market due to lockdowns in some pockets but those were being negated by strong pull for the company's products especially the new Creta. Garg said diesel cars continued to do well despite the gap between petrol and diesel reducing across several regions in the country. "Success of diesel in the Creta, Verna and Venue has very clearly showcased that Hyundai was right in continuing with diesel technology in the BS VI era," Garg noted. He further said: "Price gap between petrol and diesel is reducing in some markets, at the same time I think a customer buys diesel vehicle for fun to drive component and for better fuel efficiency." He noted that the robust demand for Hyundai diesel cars is also linked with the overall quality of the products. "The entire product like Creta is so good, so it is not only about the diesel engine but it is like a diesel engine in a great product, that's why customers are buying," Garg said. He added that the company is focussing on petrol cars as well and the introduction of turbo petrol engine is the proof of that approach. He said sales of diesel trims of Creta continue to grow. "It (share of diesel Creta) started with 50-55 per cent and now we are cumulatively at 56 per cent. In last few months we are adding more diesel bookings. In June, of the total Creta bookings, 59 per cent were for diesel trims," Garg said. So, very clearly customers are there for diesel and they are coming to Hyundai, he noted. Garg said that even in Verna, one third of the customers were picking up diesel trims. "So a good diesel engine will be preferred even by sedan customers. Of course, in SUVs the penetration is much higher, it always has been the case. So I can say there is strong diesel pull in sedans as well," he noted. When asked about increased competition in the mid sized sedan segment with the launch of all new City, Garg said Verna continued to do well with its range of engines and features. He said customers were preferring automatic transmissions and with Verna having such technology in both petrol and diesel, its share in the segment is set to increase further. In June, 42 per cent of the total bookings for Verna were for automatic variants, Garg noted without sharing the exact number of bookings for the model so far. For Creta, the company has already received over 45,000 bookings, with 30 per cent for automatics, he said. Commenting on the new Tucson, Garg said the model has done very well in the international markets with cumulative sales of over 65 lakh units and it was time that it received same kind of appreciation in India as well. "It is the right time to launch the new Tucson in the country. There are over five lakh Creta buyers in the country who are looking to upgrade to a premium SUV, this is where Tucson comes in the picture," he said. The new Tucson comes with BSVI compliant petrol and diesel powertrains. The SUV now comes with 2 litre diesel engine mated to a 8 speed automatic transmission. The 2 litre petrol trims feature six speed automatic transmission. The petrol trims are priced at Rs 22.3 lakh and Rs 23.52 lakh while the diesel variants are tagged at Rs 25.56 lakh, Rs 25.56 lakh and Rs 27.03 lakh (Ex-showroom Delhi). Besides a range of safety equipment, the new Tucson comes with features like power adjustable front seats, panoramic sunroof, wireless charger and a range of connected features. Director Anubhav Sinha dialled up nostalgia as his film Tum Bin completed 19 years since its release. Sharing a poster, he mentioned how first films are always special. He wrote: Some films run and some dont. Very few live a very long life. Im so grateful that my first film has been loved for 19 years and counting. This date 2001 it changed everything for me. Forever. Thank you Team. #TumBin. The post received a lot of love from his colleagues and fans of the film. His Thappad heroine Taapsee Pannu wrote: Pata hai tumhe sahaare ki zaroorat nahi hai, main bas saath dene aaya hu . Haye (You dont need any kind of a support, I have simply come to give you company). Kriti Kharbanda wrote the lines of a popular song from the film: Tum bin Jiya jaye kaise, kaise jiya jaye tum bin. Actor RaQesh Bapat, who starred in the film, thanked him for casting newcomers: Big thank u sir for casting us newcomers in this film. Always a special one. This must sound good as it was decades before nepotism would become a raging debate. Special Ops, Secret Superstar and Bajrrangi Bhaijaan actor Meher Vij said, @anubhavsinhaa love this film sir. Clearly nostalgia around the film is huge and a fan wrote in: I was in school then and we used to love the songs from this movies. Tum bin jiya jaaye kaise and dekhte hi dekhte dil kho gaya. Another user said: One of the most beautiful films. The film starred relatively lesser-known actors and newcomers - Priyanshu Chatterjee, Himanshu Malik, Sandali Sinha and Raqesh Vashisth - in leading roles. The songs from the film are still very popular. Since Tum Bin, Anubhav went on to make films like Dus and Ra.One before making critically acclaimed films like Mulk, Article 15 and Thappad. In mid March, when all work in film and television industries came to grinding halt, Anubhav along with directors like Sudhir Mishra was among the first the flag the issue of the plight of daily wage earners in the film industry. Speaking to Mid Day, Anubhav had said then: I will lend support to those with whom I have worked till my last film. If every director and producer takes the initiative, we will cover [most of] the work force. Also read: Baby Tiger Shroff plays in Jackies arms, teen Hrithik Roshan tags along with dad in video from 90s award ceremony. Watch Nearly three months after, as film and TV industries begin the process of shoots again, Anubhav has little faith in shoots happening, keeping social distancing norms in place. Talking to Mumbai Mirror, he had said: Im not bullish about shooting soon. For the next year-and-a-half, shoots will become slower and at least 20 per cent more expensive since a lot of money will be spent on protecting the people who work with you. Social distancing on a film set is an oxymoron. It cant happen, it wont happen. We can keep lying to ourselves though. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two years ago, one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosis top lieutenants suffered a shocking election loss to a challenger who ran to his left. Last month, another longtime top House Democrat suffered the same fate. In November, for the first time in her 33-year congressional career, Pelosi will be challenged for her San Francisco seat in a general election by a fellow Democrat, who calls her insufficiently progressive. If shes worried, she doesnt show it she wont even respond to his calls for a debate. Pelosi has not debated an opponent since her first race for Congress in 1987, and she has demonstrated no interest in sharing a stage with Shahid Buttar, the child of Pakistani immigrants, attorney and democratic socialist who is running against her in November. Shes not impressed that Buttar believes he could be another Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Bronx democratic socialist who unseated one of Pelosis lieutenants in 2018. Buttar, 45, has been frustrated in trying to get Pelosis attention and went so far Saturday as to hold a debate with an empty chair. An online petition, Tell Nancy Pelosi: Stop Dodging Debates, had attracted 6,200 supporters by Monday. Pelosis lack of interest in Buttar is nothing personal. Over her career, she has declined to debate Republicans and independents, too. In 2006, Pelosis Green Party challenger, Krissy Keefer, said, Shes been there 20 years and never had a debate. She needs to come home and do a debate. Pelosi didnt, and as has been the case in every re-election race shes run, voters didnt seem to care. She won the general election that year with 80% of the vote. Pelosi is more visible to her constituents than most members of Congress, holding weekly news conferences and frequently showing up in other media appearances. Buttar dismisses those as grandstanding and theater. The kind of questions you get from a reporter are not the kind you get from an opponent. He added, I do think its revealing that she hasnt defended her record. It behooves her to defend her record, even though its indefensible. Pelosis representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Her refusal to debate Buttar is no deal-breaker to local Democratic leaders. Its up to her to make that decision. I believe that as a candidate, debates are important and useful, said former Supervisor David Campos, chair of the San Francisco Democratic Party. He endorsed independent Sen. Bernie Sanders this year and in 2016 for president, and said he agrees with Buttar on just about everything. But hes backing Pelosi. I dont believe that (Buttar) has really presented a strong justification to remove Nancy Pelosi from being speaker of the House, Campos said. Shell do more to advance the progressive agenda forward than he would. Molly Ball, author of the new biography Pelosi, said the 80-year-old Democrat has long faced pressure from the left back home from (former San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt) her major opponent in 1987, a democratic socialist who accused her of buying the election on behalf of corporations and special interests, to the Iraq War protesters who camped out in her yard during her first term as speaker, to today. There is little sign that Pelosi is in the same predicament as former New York Rep. Joe Crowley, who was the fourth-ranking House Democrat when Ocasio-Cortez upset him two years ago. Crowley debated Ocasio-Cortez once. On another occasion he sent a surrogate, former New York City Councilwoman Annabel Palma, in his place. The New York Times editorial board chided Crowley for skipping that and another debate, saying that as a longtime incumbent with a powerful role as a party leader, he should relish, not shirk, a chance to make his case to voters. In several ways, Buttar is in a better position than many of Pelosis opponents have been over the years. His campaign said he raised more than $1 million through June, a milestone few Pelosi challengers have reached. Still, thats far less than the $8 million that Pelosi, one of the partys most prolific fundraisers, had pulled in through March. She raised $87 million for Democratic candidates in 2019, holding 181 events in 54 cities, according to her campaign. And theres little sign Buttar is pulling in top progressive backing outside San Francisco. While Buttar frequently mentions Ocasio-Cortez and the three other first-term House members known as the Squad as kindred progressive spirits, none has endorsed him. Buttar has been endorsed by some organizations that backed Sanders, but the senator himself has stayed neutral. Sanders did endorse Jamaal Bowman, a 44-year-old progressive who, like Buttar, supports a Medicare for All health program and a Green New Deal environmental plan. Last month, Bowman defeated 73-year-old Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, in another titanic election upset. Its quite telling that people like AOC (Ocasio-Cortez) have not endorsed him, Campos said of Buttar. Pelosi has really been there for the left in San Francisco the last couple of years. And while Crowley was criticized for raising his family out of his district and not spending enough time at home, Ball said inattention to San Francisco has not been an issue for Pelosi. Things can always change, and we are certainly in a moment of rising energy on the left, but the results over the years indicate that San Francisco voters see (Pelosis) combination of progressivism and clout as a better fit for her constituents, Ball said. She also spends a lot of time attending to her constituents, so they are less likely to feel shes neglected their concerns to focus on Washington. Pelosi isnt alone among Bay Area House members in not scheduling election debates. Only one, Palo Alto Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, has committed to a forum shes set to debate Saratoga City Councilman Rishi Kumar, a fellow Democrat, on Sept. 26. Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicles senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli Oil-rich Libya has been torn by violence since the 2011 toppling and killing of longtime dictator Moamer Khadafi in an uprising backed by a NATO bombing campaign. The North African country has since become a battle ground for tribal militias, jihadists and mercenaries and a major gateway for desperate migrants bound for Europe. Multiple foreign powers have sent fighters and weapons, fuelling a bloody proxy war that reflects wider geopolitical rifts and divisions in the Middle East and within NATO. Since 2015, the UN-recognised, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) has battled against strongman Khalifa Haftar, based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Map showing the positions of forces fighting in Libya. By (AFP/File) Turkey's military support for the GNA has recently tipped the balance and allowed its forces in June to repel Haftar's 14-month advance on Tripoli and launch a counteroffensive. The frontline has since moved east to the coastal city of Sirte, Kadhafi's home city. While the GNA under Fayez al-Sarraj has also been backed by Turkey's Gulf ally Qatar, the renegade general Haftar has received covert support from the United Arab Emirates and Russia and backing from France. Here are the main outside players and their motivations. TURKEY Under authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has projected its influence over former Ottoman territories from the Balkans to the Middle East. In Libya, Turkey has since late last year stepped up open support for the GNA with military advisors, pro-Ankara Syrian militia, drones and air defence systems, tipping the battlefield balance. Ankara and the GNA in November signed military cooperation and maritime jurisdiction agreements under which Turkey claimed extensive areas of the eastern Mediterranean where it eyes disputed oil and gas reserves. Erdogan and Russia's President Vladimir Putin have in recent years formed a partnership, brought together by a shared distrust of the West, even as they back rival sides in the Syria and Libya wars. QATAR Turkey's gas-rich partner in the Gulf, Qatar, which hosts a key Turkish military base, has also backed the GNA. Qatar has been isolated in the Gulf since Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain along with Egypt over three years ago abruptly cut diplomatic, economic and travel ties with Doha. They insist, among other charges, that Qatar is funding radical Islamist movements, which Doha strongly denies. RUSSIA Under Putin, Russia has expanded its global influence with military operations from Ukraine to Syria. In Libya, Haftar has received support from Russia's Wagner Group, a shadowy private security firm reportedly close to Putin which Washington has labelled "an instrument of the Kremlin's policy". A UN experts' report says Wagner has backed Haftar with "combat and influence operations", sniper teams and technical support. The US military has accused Moscow of also supporting the mercenaries with fighter jets. Moscow has denied backing Haftar or being responsible for deploying the group. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES The super-rich UAE has for years covertly backed Haftar forces with fighter jets, Chinese-made Wing Loong drones and other sophisticated weapons. The Emirates accuses Ankara and Doha of supporting Islamist groups, and the GNA of being close to the Muslim Brotherhood. The UAE and other Gulf countries have been said to be financing pro-Haftar fighters. The UN report also said Haftar was receiving help from pro-Damascus Syrian fighters and mercenaries from Sudan and other countries. EGYPT Egypt, worried about security along its long desert border with Libya, has long backed Haftar who is based in adjoining eastern Libya. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in June, after the GNA's gains, proposed a ceasefire and then warned that Cairo could intervene militarily to halt a further eastward march by the unity government forces. Cairo-Ankara ties have deteriorated dramatically since Sisi led the army's 2013 ouster of his predecessor, Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was supported by Turkey. FRANCE France has been suspected of favouring Haftar while insisting it is neutral in the conflict. Paris has always been eager to have influence in Libya due to its own colonial heritage in North Africa and also worries any surge in jihadist militancy there could imperil its anti-terror operations in the Sahel region to the south. President Emmanuel Macron has bitterly attacked NATO ally Turkey's intervention in Libya. Europe has been split in its Libya policy, despite being under strain from the arrival of thousands of irregular migrants in recent years. Former colonial power Italy backs the GNA while Germany has attempted to broker a ceasefire and peace talks, so far without success. UNITED STATES The United States recognises the UN-backed government, but President Donald Trump caused confusion last year by praising Haftar after a telephone conversation with him. Trump has close ties with the UAE and Saudi Arabia, who both favour Haftar, a former Kadhafi-era general who defected decades ago to go to the US where he was rumoured to be working for the CIA. burs-fz/dr International mediators on Monday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to avoid further ceasefire violations and resume peace talks as soon as possible following deadly skirmishes on the border between the two warring nations. In a joint statement, the U.S., Russian and French diplomats co-heading the OSCE Minsk Group condemned the serious breach of the ceasefire but did not explicitly put the blame on Yerevan or Baku. They said they and the head of an OSCE mission monitoring the ceasefire regime in the Karabakh conflict zone have been in direct contact with Armenian and Azerbaijani officials since the outbreak of fierce fighting at a western section of the border on Sunday. The Minsk Group CoChairs condemn the recent ceasefire violations and call upon the sides to take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation, including by use of the existing direct communication channels between them, read the statement. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs also call on the sides to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and emphasize the importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances allow, it said. The European Unions foreign policy spokesman, Peter Stano, issued a similar statement on the escalation. The EU calls on the sides to strictly respect the ceasefire, devote energy and resources to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, meaningfully re-engage in substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and prepare their populations for peace, he said. The co-chairs already urged the conflicting parties to strengthen the ceasefire regime during a June 30 video conference with the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers. They insisted that there is no military solution to the conflict. The mediators also said after those talks that the ministers agreed to hold another video conference in July and meet in person as soon as possible. Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said he has gone into self-quarantine, after Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief, who had accompanied him to an official tour, tested positive for coronavirus. "Have gone into self-quarantine with immediate effect from 4 PM today, after receiving the news about #Corona positive test of J&K BJP President Sh Ravinder Raina who had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July," the minister tweeted. Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, had visited the house of his party colleague Waseem Bari, who along with his father and brother were shot dead by terrorist in North Kashmir's Bandipora last week. Singh, who is also a doctor, was accompanied by Raina, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and other leaders during the visit to Bari's residence. Raina said,"I have tested positive for COVID-19. I had gone to Bandipora area of north Kashmir to take part in the last rites of slain BJP leader, his father and brother. I was was there for the past five days", Raina told PTI on phone. 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 At Bandipora, Raina had also led Bari's funeral procession along with party's general secretary (Organisation) Ashok Kaul on July 11. The UK approves the phased removal of the Chinese telecoms giant from its 5G network despite warnings from Beijing. The United Kingdom has bowed to US pressure and approved the phased removal of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from its 5G network despite warnings of retaliation from Beijing. Tuesdays policy reversal handed a significant victory to US President Donald Trumps administration in its geopolitical and trade battle with China. But it threatens to further damage the UKs relations with the Asian power and carries a big cost for UK mobile providers that have relied on Huawei equipment for nearly 20 years. Oliver Dowden, the UKs digital secretary, announced the move in Parliament on Tuesday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired meetings with his Cabinet and the National Security Council. From the end of this year, telecoms providers must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei, he told MPs. The new guidelines also require all existing Huawei gear to be stripped out by the end of 2026. Huawei had been reportedly pushing for the full ban to be delayed till after the UKs next general election, scheduled to take place in 2024, that could potentially bring a new government to power with a more sympathetic approach. Huaweis reaction This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of levelling up the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider, Huawei said after the announcement of the ban. Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security. Johnson angered Trump and upset some members of his own Conservative party by allowing the Chinese 5G leader to help roll out the UKs speedy new data network in January. The UK was then completing its departure from the European Union and looking to establish strong ties with powerful Asian economies that could fulfil Johnsons vision of a global Britain. But the Trump administration told the UK government that its decision imperilled intelligence sharing and could even result in the relocation of some US fighter jets from England. US stance Washington believes the private Chinese company could either spy for Beijing or shut down rival countries 5G networks in times of war. Huawei has always denied this and pointed to 20 years of cooperation with British security agencies that checked on the safety of its existing 3G and 4G networks. The British review was triggered by new US sanctions in May that blocked Huaweis access to US chips and semiconductors at the heart of 5G networks. The restriction raised the possibility of Huawei having to switch from trusted US suppliers to alternatives whose safety could not be guaranteed by UK security agencies. The PPP was part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package enacted in March to help stem the economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. The Trump administration, which recently released data on roughly $520 billion in loans that were doled out, has said the program has supported more than 50 million jobs. Still, anomalies in the information thats publicly available has made it difficult to track the impact. The Republican runoff to replace retiring Rep. Will Hurd (R) in a Texas district Democrats believe is within reach was still too close to call. Before Hurd, who is considered a moderate in todays Republican Party, stepped aside, he was being challenged from the right by retired Air Force Col. Raul Reyes. Hurd endorsed as his successor former Navy officer Tony Gonzales, as did Trump and other GOP congressional leaders. But Reyes secured a last-minute endorsement from Cruz, who ran ads for him that called Reyes a conservative warrior. Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), is expected to make some major announcements on Wednesday in his address at the company's 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM). Several key announcements, including plans for Jio Platforms listing, Jio Fiber trajectory, the launch of 5G and details of JioMeet, are expected at the AGM. Millions of RIL shareholders are expected to tune in to the event which will be held virtually amid the ongoing crisis coronavirus pandemic. The meeting is scheduled at 2 PM on July 15 via video conferencing or other audio-visual means in accordance with the relevant circulars issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), RIL said in an exchange filing. The company had fixed July 8 as the "Cut-off Date" for determining the members eligible to vote on the resolutions set out in the notice of the AGM or to attend the AGM. It had also fixed July 3 as the "Record Date" for determining the members eligible to receive dividend for FY20. "The dividend, if declared at the AGM, will be paid within a week from the conclusion of the AGM," RIL had said in the filing. Also Read: Google in advanced talks to invest $4 billion in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms: report Ahead of this year's AGM, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate has achieved net-debt free status on the back of stake sale in Jio Platforms, RIL's digital arm, and mega rights issue. RIL has become zero net-debt company eight months before the deadline (March 2021) set by Chairman Mukesh Ambani in the last AGM. At the 42nd AGM of the company, Ambani had announced plans to make RIL debt-free by March 31, 2021. Also Read: Jio, Reliance Retail gain in enterprise values, RIL's refining, chemical businesses lag behind RIL has raised over Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the last three months by selling stake in Jio Platforms and rights issues. The country's most valued firm has raised Rs 53,124.20 crore through the mega rights issues and over Rs 1.18 lakh crore from global tech investors by selling stake in Jio Platforms. The digital arm of the Reliance Industries has so far received thirteen investments in last three months from marquee global companies and investors that include Facebook, Silver Lake Partners (two investments), Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, PIF, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures. Also Read: Mukesh Ambani surpasses Google co-founder Larry Page to become world's 6th richest Meanwhile, RIL has become the first Indian company to touch a market capitalisation of $150 billion buoyed by strong rally in its share price following a series of investments in its digital arm. According to Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley Research report, RIL with a market capitalisation of $169 billion (as on July 13) has overtaken the likes of Unilever, Bank of China, Nike, Abbott Labs, Sanofi and Softbank Group C, to become the 51st most-valued firm in the world. Also Read: RIL to hold 43rd Annual General Meeting on July 15 Ahead of AGM, shares of Reliance Industries closed at Rs 1,916.65, down 0.91 per cent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange as investors resorted to profit booking after the recent rally. By Chitranjan Kumar Kolkata: Internet and tech giant Google has tied up with Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) for 360 degree virtual tour of 280-odd monuments across the country, an official of the company said. "We have a tie-up with ASI for 360 degrees virtual tour of 280 monuments across the country of which 30 are in West Bengal," Sanket Gupta, programme manager of Google Maps told reporters here. He said ASI had given the permission to Google for creating the virtual tour, which would be available in the maps. Some of the major monuments are Taj Mahal, Victoria Memorial and the ruins of Hampi, he said, adding eight were from Kolkata. He said Google has launched an array of products in India like offline view of maps, live traffic alerts and inclusion of unknown places on the maps by local guides. Asked about Google Street View, Gupta said that authorities at the central and state levels were denying permission. "In India we are trying to work with the state and central levels for allowing Street View," he said, adding neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had allowed the same. Gupta said one billion people across the globe were using Google maps and India was among the top five. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Digital billboards, with their ever-changing displays, generally advertise car dealerships and the latest fast food novelty. But for two weeks last month, one of the several dozen signs that dots the Hill City promoted a movement, not a product. In large white letters against a crisp black background, the billboard simply read Black Lives Matter. The sign was paid for by Brooke Linville, a former Sweet Briar College student who rented the billboard with the help of donations from friends and fellow former students at the Amherst County school. I felt that it was my responsibility to stand up and make sure that the larger community knows that people stood on their side, Linville said. Recognizing people who may have felt invisible has always been important to me. Its honestly the least I can do. Standing several dozen feet tall, the billboard chosen to broadcast the message is wedged between the campuses of Central Virginia Community College and Liberty University and towers over the busy commercial section of Wards Road. The owner of the sign a company known as Lamar Advertising tells customers the billboard is seen by nearly 100,000 motorists and pedestrians every week. Linville was inspired by a similar initiative undertaken by Nathan Barry, who rented a pair of billboards in Boise, Idaho Linvilles current place of residence in the days after the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the nationwide uprising that quickly followed. Barry, the CEO of a digital marketing company, encouraged others to join his effort to buy up billboards. He recommended that friends pool money together and buy advertising space in rural parts of the country so the message can reach those who dont use social media. Depending on where one lives and how long the message stays up, billboards can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000. To win real policy change we need to reach the average voter. Not just in big cities, but in small towns across the US, Barry wrote on Twitter. In addition to the Lynchburg sign, Linville also purchased a billboard in the Lewiston, Idaho area, where armed counter-protesters confronted Black Lives Matter demonstrators, and in Boone, North Carolina a region where she has long- standing family ties. Dubbed the Black Lives Matter Billboard Project, Linville hopes to rent more billboards in other areas of the country and raise enough funds to rent the Lynchburg sign again sometime in the near future. Linville said it costs about $3,000 to display a message for four weeks on the Wards Road sign. She helped pay for the billboard with about two dozen donations, largely from former Sweet Briar students. The Lynchburg billboard, which stands on Wards Roads northbound lane, is located just a third of a mile from a major entrance to Liberty Universitys sprawling campus on the southern edge of the Hill City. That was by design, according to Linville. In early June, more than two dozen Black Lives Matter supporters demonstrated at the same spot to protest comments made by Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. Falwell had invoked Gov. Ralph Northams blackface scandal to attack the states new coronavirus prevention measures, including a mask requirement, setting off a controversial episode that roiled the city. Falwell later apologized for his comments, saying he understood that he had refreshed racial trauma. But Linville thought a billboard adjacent to Libertys campus might offer a concrete reminder that Black lives do in fact matter in Lynchburg. I have purposely chosen areas where I think that the billboards can give some people pause and ask them to reflect but also make people who may feel marginalized or oppressed in those areas feel seen, Linville said. Still, Linville said she understands a billboard will not solve the nations problems on its own. Systematic inequality still exists in every community across the country and hopefully, she said, a highly-visible message might spur some to take action. I recognize that putting up a billboard is not the work that needs to be done, she said. I think that its a fantastic way to show support. But the work that really needs to be done involves looking at the ways that our system has marginalized people and taking direct actions to make sure things are more equitable and that diverse voices are being heard. Richard Chumney covers Liberty University for The News & Advance. Reach him at (434) 385-5547. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sydney can avoid the city-wide shutdown re-imposed on greater Melbourne with localised lockdowns to prevent a second wave of COVID-19 cases. Sydneysiders have so far avoided the explosion in cases experienced in Victoria- despite 21 cases now being linked to an outbreak of the virus at a pub in Casula in the city's south-west. But University of New South Wales epidemiologist Professor Mary-Louise McLaws said the spike in NSW was very different to how Melbourne's outbreak spread. 'What happened in Melbourne was incredibly unique,' she said. Scroll down for video Police question a pedestrian in the Melbourne CBD on Monday as the city endures a six-week COVID-19 lockdown. A leading epidemiologist has said the cirumstances around the city's outbreak were 'incredibly unique' 'We had highly interconnected family clustering. And that clustering was very big, with many people living in high density with close social and family connections.' She told ABC News health authorities still had to act quickly with the outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel - adding the virus could have spread to anywhere in the state from the popular truck stop. Australian National University infectious diseases expert Peter Collignon said the pub outbreak in Sydney's western fringe was concerning. He added health authorities could stem the outbreak with rigorous 'ring-fencing' in infected suburbs. Such a strategy would mean certain areas of the city may be put into lockdown without having to impose stage three restrictions on the entirety of greater Sydney. 'If you have an outbreak in Bondi, I am not sure Penrith necessarily has to be shut down,' he said. People queue up in their vehicles for a COVID-19 test at a testing station at the Crossroads Hotel in south-western Sydney - linked to at least 21 infections of the virus - on Monday. Another expert said localised lockdowns in hotspot suburbs could stem the spread of the virus in New South Wales Professor McLaws had earlier said the point at which authorities could no longer effectively use contact tracing to suppress an outbreak was 100 cases over the course of two incubation periods. COVID-19's incubation period - the time between exposure to the virus and the first appearance of symptoms - is between one and 14 days, according to the federal government's Department of Health. The Casula outbreak has been linked to five other venues in Sydney, including a local gym, Canterbury Leagues Club and Sydney's famous Star City Casino. A health worker in protective equipment administering COVID-19 tests to people in their cars at the Crossroads Hotel testing centre in Sydney on July 13 Growing concern about the spike in cases has led South Australia Premier Stephen Marshall to say he will be extensively reviewing his state's scheduled reopening to NSW and SA. SA is due to lift restrictions from July 20 but Premier Steven Marshall says there's a question mark over the existing timetable. 'We've got to have a very close look at what's happening with that cluster [Casula outbreak], that's raising some real queries,' he said. Pictured: The Sydney venues feared to be at the centre of COVID-19 outbreaks 'We've just got to see if there is a significant escalation between now and the 20th of July. 'But if it's not safe to lift our border restrictions then we will not be doing so.' SA has previously lifted the quarantine restrictions for people coming from Queensland, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Australian National University Professor Peter Collignon But it has imposed a hard border closure with Victoria, only allowing locals to return and essential travellers through, because of the surge of infections in Melbourne. Victorian authorities are meanwhile scrambling to suppress a second wave of the coronavirus as new outbreaks pop up across Melbourne. Of 177 new COVID-19 cases reported on Monday, 151 remain under investigation, a trend that has become a constant in the last week as health authorities work hard to establish links between cases. Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the latest infection tally followed three consecutive days of case numbers exceeding 200. 'I'm not going to be complacent about today's number, it is great that it is lower than our peak, but we may not have reached our peak yet,' he told reporters. 'I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I say I have greater confidence about the direction we're going in.' SAN DIEGO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Genalyte , the company empowering physicians and patients with real-time diagnostics and healthcare analytics, today announced its SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen Serology Panel, is now available in Houston. Genalyte's antibody testing site will be located at Houston's Toyota Center (1510 Polk St.), with appointments available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. "With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise in Houston, we feel it's imperative to help meet the demand and crucial need for high-quality, extensive antibody testing in the community," said Genalyte CEO Cary Gunn. "Determining a person or a population's level of exposure is not only essential to facilitate research to continue to develop a better understanding of the virus, but also to arm Houstonians with the understanding of current or past exposure to COVID-19. " Genalyte's SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen Serology Panel is designed to test for SARS-CoV-2 specific antibodies. The serology test is able to detect the type of antibodies present in a person's blood. Based on the type of antibodies present, the test may indicate the presence of an active or past infection. Genalyte maintains a College of American Pathologists (CAP)-accredited and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-certified laboratory, which ensures test results meet and exceed industry standards for clinical laboratory testing. The Genalyte SARS-CoV-2 serology panel goes through rigorous validation efforts to ensure clinical effectiveness and is processed on the company's U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Cleared Maverick Diagnostic System. The Genalyte serology test also has a very low false-positive ratewith accuracy exceeding 99 percent. Genalyte's antibody testing service is meant for people who are no longer experiencing any symptoms and have been symptom-free for at least 14 days. Once a blood sample is drawn, it will be sent to the lab for processing, and results will be available to participants within 24-48 hours. People with active symptoms should contact their doctor to discuss diagnostic testing options. Those interested in being tested for antibodies to the virus can register and book appointments at www.genalytecovid19.com. About Genalyte: Genalyte is a healthcare analytics and diagnostics company that improves patient outcomes and lowers cost with real-time results for physicians and patients. Genalyte delivers rapid, actionable results to doctors through decentralized laboratory testing, backed by remote telehealth oversight and monitoring. For more information, please visit www.genalyte.com . SOURCE Genalyte Related Links http://www.genalyte.com In a major relief to rebel Congress MLAs Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh, Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit on Monday rejected the Congress petition seeking their disqualification from UP assembly. The speaker dismissed the petitions against both the lawmakers saying they did not attract provisions of 10th schedule of Constitution of India and thus lacked substance. After scrutinizing all the documents in the light of Supreme Courts orders, I am of the view that Rae Bareli (Sadar) MLA Aditi Singh does not attract provisions of 10th schedule of the Constitution of India and hence cannot be disqualified for defection. The petition seeking her disqualification is therefore rejected for lacking force, said Speaker in his 45-page order dated July 13, 2020. The Congress has seven members in the state assembly and much signification was being attached to the petitions seeking disqualification of two MLAs as they represented assembly segments of Congress president Sonia Gandhis Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat. Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra had filed a petition on November 26, 2020 seeking Singhs disqualification for attending special session of the state legislature convened on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi to discuss the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on October 2, 2019. Singh while attending the special session in defiance of the whip had allegedly praised chief minister Yogi Adityanath in the house. In his order, speaker did not accept the Congress contention that by attending the special session, the Congress MLA had voluntarily given up her membership and said public representative was expected to put up point about development of the constituency and restriction of freedom expression of public representatives was not in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. He quoted the Supreme Courts orders to make his point that only such issues could be brought under provisions of the 10th schedule of the Constitution that may be related to policies of a political party or that may decide the confidence in a government. Any observations about SDGs or Mahatama Gandhis birth anniversary did not attract the provisions of 10th schedule, he said. Speaker further observed that the whip issued by the then Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu on October 2, 2019 was not in accordance with the conditions laid down by the Supreme Court of India in Kihota Hollohan case (AIR 1993 SCC111). SCs order quoted by the speaker reads it would be appropriate that the direction or whip which results in such disqualification under paragraph 2(1)(b) is so worded as to clearly indicate that voting or abstaining from voting contrary to the said direction would result incurring the disqualification under paragraph 2 (1) (b) of the Tenth Schedule of so that the member concerned has knowledge of the consequences flowing from his conduct in voting or abstaining from voting contrary to such a direction. Speaker said analysis of the facts mentioned in the SC verdict make it clear that the opponent (Aditi) could not be disqualified for attending special session of the house. He, however, rejected Aditis contention that the petition has been filed by the Indian National Congress that was a political party and not a person and thus was not in accordance with rules of the house. He quoted budget session and Covid-19 as valid reasons for turning down the petitioners plea that Aditis reply should not be placed on record in view of the delay. Speaker observed that the petition should have been filed under provisions of para 2 (1) (b) of the 10th schedule instead of para 2 (1) (A) of the 10th scheduled of the Constitution of India. On the other hand, the petition seeking disqualification of Rakesh Singh was filed alleging that the legislator worked for the BJP by attending BJP rallies and worked for the saffron party before and after filing of nomination for Lok Sabha election by his brother Dinesh Singh as a BJP candidate on April 15, 2019. Rejecting petition seeking disqualification of Rakesh Singh he observed that the points made by petitioner did not support the contention that the Congress MLA had voluntarily given up membership of the house. Dikshit said photographs given by the petitioner did not establish that the MLAs vehicle was being used for BJPs campaigning. He said photographs also did not prove that the MLA was working for the BJP on the day of polling for 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Congress to file appeal Lucknow: The Congress has decided to file an appeal against Speaker Hridaya Narain Dishits order rejecting partys petitions seeking disqualification of two Rae Bareli MLAs Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh. Yes, we will file an appeal against the Speakers order that was undemocratic. Speaker is a member of the BJP and has apparently given his order under governments pressure, said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu. We are exploring all options and an appeal will be filed soon, said Lallu. Congress to file appeal in HC The Congress has decided to file an appeal against Speaker Hridaya Narain Dishits order rejecting partys petitions seeking disqualification of two Rae Bareli MLAs Aditi Singh and Rakesh Singh in Allahabad High Court. Yes, we will file an appeal against the Speakers order that was undemocratic. Speaker is a member of the BJP and has apparently given his order under governments pressure, said Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu. We are exploring all options and an appeal at Allahabad HC will be filed soon, said Lallu. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Ill be working with NSW Government agencies and their employees that have had a claims experience with icare to learn more about how their feedback can enhance existing processes and improve the claims experience, noted Wright. In accordance with NSW Workers Compensation and Injury Management legislation, icare provides workers compensation insurance for 329,000 employees and 82,000 volunteers across the states 202 public sector agencies. Commenting on the planned review, icare chief executive John Nagle stated: Our customer advocate, former ReturnToWorkSA director Darrin Wright, has overseen both the review of the Home Building Compensation Fund and the Nominal Insurer scheme in recent months. Were aiming to build on these learnings from icares related schemes and ask our customer advocate to undertake a review of the experience our customers are having in the TMF fund. A final report is slated to be released by the end of June 2021. Kathmandu has issued a clarification over Nepal prime minister KP Sharma Olis controversial claim that Hindu deity Ram was born in the Himalayan country and the real Ayodhya, believed to be his birthplace, was not located in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh but was in Nepal. His claims have been widely condemned both in Nepal and India. A statement from Nepals foreign ministry said Olis remarks were not political and not meant to disrespect Ayodhya and its significance. Remarks made by the prime minister are not linked to any political subject and have no intention to hurt the feelings and sentiments of anyone, the Nepal foreign ministrys statement said and added that the remarks were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears. Relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu have recently worsened due to a territorial claim pressed by Oli, which he got endorsed by the countrys parliament through a constitutional amendment. India has rejected Nepals claim as untenable and as without any historical evidence or basis. While Olis unexpected territorial claim followed by allegations that India was behind moves to have him dethroned have been rejected by New Delhi, some have looked at it with suspicion even in Nepal, accusing Oli of playing the India card to hide his own governments alleged failures. Olis recent claim about Lord Rama, too, has drawn sharp reactions from both inside India and Nepal. Former Nepal PM Baburam Bhattarai had tweeted yesterday to suggest that Olis claim was outlandish. Lets listen to the new Ramayana of the half-poet Olikrit Kali Yugin! Lets travel directly to Baikunthadham! he had said questioning Olis credentials on the subject. He was also slammed by Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who on Tuesday, said that such a statement shows Olis mental bankruptcy. Oli Ji should know that Nepal has also been a part of Aryavarta (India) in the past, he added. Also Read: Angry saints in Ayodhya tell Nepal PM to keep Lord Ram out of politics Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Oli was parroting lines scripted by the desperate Chinese. He was referring to Olis strong backing by China. The Nepal foreign ministrys clarification further tried to contain the damage by claiming that Oli was simply trying to highlight the importance of further studies and research to understand the vastness of Ramayana. As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the PM was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents, to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization, it said. Oli had not only questioned the geographical references in Ramayana but had also blamed India of alleged cultural encroachment by creating a fake Ayodhya. Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, a city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Rama was born there. Due to these continuous claims even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Rama of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj, Oli had said. Going further, he wanted to know if it was even possible for Lord Rama to travel to Janakpur to marry Sita when there were no means of communication. From seers in Ayodhya to politicians in Lucknow and New Delhi, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli was roasted on Tuesday for his claim that the real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India and that Lord Ram was born in Thori in southern Nepal. PM Olis controversial comment came at a time he has been under intense pressure from party leaders to quit the top post in Kathmandu. One of the first responses to PM Oli came from Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, who heads the trust set up on the Supreme Courts orders to build a temple. Mahant Nritya Gopal Das asked PM Oli to keep Lord Ram out of his politics. PM Oli must know that Lord Ram was a chakravarti emperor and Nepal was also a part of his kingdom. Ties between India and Nepal are even older than history, he said. Sharad Sharma, the spokesperson of Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Ayodhya, suspected that communist China appeared to be prompting PM Oli to make the absurd claim. All religious scriptures prove that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya in India, he said. PM Olis comment did appear to have achieved the rare feat of bringing two Congress and BJP leaders on the same. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi tweeted a sharp attack at PM Oli, saying he seems to have lost his mental balance or is a puppet and parrot-like mouthing lines scripted by #desperate Chinese. Singhvi underlined that PM Oli had first claimed territories never earlier claimed by Nepal, a reference to the boundary dispute created by PM Oli. Now he relocates #Ram #Sita #Ayodhya & #RamRajya a few hundred miles from Ayodhya inside Nepal! he said. BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya appeared to share Singhvis assessment. Statement by Communist Prime Minister of Nepal Shri KP Sharma Oli regarding the birthplace of Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram Ji shows his mental bankruptcy Oli Ji should know that Nepal has also been a part of Aryavarta (India) in the past, the UP deputy chief minister added. PM Olis comments on Lord Ram are seen as part of his continuing effort to slight New Delhi. PM Oli, who has been criticised back home for muddling up his governments response to the coronavirus pandemic, had earlier tried to direct the public anger over his inadequate Covid response, telling lawmakers in Parliament that the virus strain that came from India was far more potent and dangerous than the ones that had come from Italy. Back home in Kathmandu, former PM Baburam Bhattarai also took a swipe at PM Oli. Lets listen to the new Ramayana of the half-poet Olikrit Kali Yugin! Lets travel directly to Baikunthadham! New Delhi, July 14 : In a setback for Vodafone Idea, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has refused to stay TRAI's directive blocking the telco's premium plan 'RedX'. Citing violation of norms and likely impact on the quality of services for other subscribers out of the plans, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), through a letter to both the telcos, blocked Bharti Airtel's 'Platinum' and Vodafone Idea Ltd's 'RedX' premium plans that offer faster data speeds and priority services to high-paying postpaid customers. The tribunal has, however, given a notice to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), to which the regulator has to reply by Thursday. The matter will be next heard on Thursday, July 16. Shares of Vodafone Idea plunged post the hearing. On the BSE its shares ended the day's trade at Rs 9.32, lower by 4.51 per cent from its previous close. On the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, tribal officials arent taking any chances with COVID-19. In late June, the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes ordered the closure of their headquarters for the second time along with all other tribal community buildings. The 10-day closure was prompted by the discovery through contact tracing that a person from Carbon County who had tested positive for COVID-19 had entered the headquarters building. The building was cleaned and fumigated and all staff members were tested for the virus. In Indian Country, the Indian Health Service reports that as of July 9 just over 23,600 Indigenous people have tested positive. The IHS branch in Billings, which operates facilities for every tribe and nation in Eastern Montana, said 464 people as testing positive. Jestin Dupree, a Fort Peck tribal council member, is all too familiar with the initial breakdowns in communication that crippled health care in Indian country at the start of the pandemic. After falling ill with the flu, Dupree waited more than 20 anxious days to get his test results, which were negative. On the reservation, the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes are strongly suggesting residents who leave their homes wear a mask. The request is just short of a mandate, said Dupree. Its hard getting people to care...When I leave home, I see a lot of unmasked faces, he said. Financial aid has reached the Sioux and Assiniboine in the form of CARES Act funds, which began trickling down to members in June. The $7 million in aid set aside for relief checks came after a handful of staff members sorted thousands of applications. The last time we checked, about 30% of enrollment here have been given their checks, Dupree told The Gazette July 1. Although the official submission deadline for CARES Act relief funds was set for June 30, tribal authorities are still accepting and reviewing applications. The two tribes, coordinated by their seven-member Tribal Health Board, planned two drive-through testing stations, both in Poplar. The second will be on July 15. The Fort Peck IHS will also be offering testing throughout the week. In Wolf Point, the seat of Roosevelt County and the largest town on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, the annual Wild Horse Stampede rodeo was held July 9-11. The towns Chamber of Commerce announced on June 1 the rodeo would proceed as scheduled. Another announcement came from the Tribal Executive Board June 24. Chairman Floyd Azure signed a memorandum in which both tribes proclaimed their opposition to the rodeo, and ordered enrolled members not to attend in the interest of safety for the entire reservation. Outside of the mayor of Wolf Point directing all questions to the Chamber of Commerce, there had been no communication with anyone from the two tribes, according to Dupree. The Wolf Point Chamber of Commerce had not responded to several phone calls from The Gazette for comment by the time of print. On July 2, the Tribal Executive Council held a conference call to address the silence on the part of Wolf Point officials. Attorneys for the tribe, Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede Committee members, county commissioners, the sheriff and others joined in on the discussion. It was decided that the carnival, parade and street dance would be canceled. Tribal police, according to a Facebook post from Dupree, were told to stay clear of the rodeo and patrol their normal assignments. The rodeo, according to the Wolf Point Chamber of Commerce website, had more than 500 people competing in PRCA events over three days. PRCA contestants were to be informed of the organizations COVID-19 guidelines and those attending were encouraged to practice social distancing, and hand sanitizer was to be provided. A big crowd was expected "because so many other rodeos have been cancelled, said Wolf Point resident, enrolled Assiniboine member and attorney Melissa Buckles. A nephew of Buckles' was diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. Health complications put him in a hospital where he lives in Hawaii for more than a month. Although recovered, she said he has lingering respiratory and blood issues. When tribal leadership shuttered all government and public buildings on the reservation, it established two stations for tribal employees to receive free testing. Buckles was one of those employees, and it was her first test since the outbreak began. She said the rodeo, and the tension that arose from it, is only a small part of leaders, both on and off the reservation, failing citizens in both informing and protecting them. For the first three months of the outbreak, she said health care workers had only three respirators to serve the residents of both Poplar and Wolf Point. A fourth was added in June. Fort Belknap With the current number of active cases at more than 935 statewide, and the total number of cases confirmed since March creeping over 1,800, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes at Fort Belknap have not reported a single case. Four days after Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency in Montana, the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council issued its own declaration. Along with requesting that the governor recognize the declaration and send federal and state aid, the councils decision set in motion a system of rapid and stringent responses to what its leadership saw as a threat to every member of the tribes. In all of the decisions that we've made, since the beginning, its been a reciprocal relationship between tribal members and their leadership, said Fort Belknap President Andrew Werk Jr. Another resolution from the FBIC Council followed two weeks later, where it joined many other tribes in establishing a curfew, closing all administrative buildings and halting travel off the reservation. It also amended tribal law to allow tribal officers to enforce both the curfew and the new ordinance stopping those traveling from off the reservation from lingering within its borders. Two major highways cut through Fort Belknap: U.S. 66 running north and south, and Highway 2 at its northern border. Although the halt on outside travelers to Fort Belknap has been in place since March, the FBIC has not installed any checkpoints on these roadways. Were not restricting people from coming through the reservation. We just dont want any outsiders to stop and linger in any of our stores or community buildings. If they plan on coming here and staying, weve got a process where they can check in with the Incident Command Team, Werk said. "I don't have to explain the reasons why we need to do this." A screening form has been distributed to tribal directors and employees, a checklist for visitors listing the symptoms of COVID-19. The course for Fort Belknap has not deviated too far from the restrictions and responses set in March and April. Testing, however, has been prioritized. In May, a drive-through snapshot session was held that saw over 1,000 asymptomatic tests issued over a weekend. Our council has been very strict, and our community has taken this very serious, and I think those are determining factors in why we havent seen any cases. Its frustrating and its stressful, but the most important thing for us is that we protect our people, especially our elders, said the Marine veteran, who was serving as the president of the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes when they issued a state of emergency due to a rise in suicides among teens on the reservation. KALAMAZOO, MI -- Democrats Jon Hoadley and Jen Richardson will compete for their partys nomination in the upcoming August primary election in the race for the District 6 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The winner will go on to face the winner of Augusts Republican primary in the Nov. 3 general election. The seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, who is running for reelection and faces a challenge from fellow Republican Elena Oelke in Augusts primary. Hoadley is currently serving his final term in the state House representing District 60, which encompasses the entire city of Kalamazoo and the majority of Kalamazoo Township. He was first elected in 2014, and reelected in 2016 and 2018. Hoadley serves as minority vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee. He is also a member of the National LGBTQ Task Force, National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, the American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention. For more about his experience and campaign, visit www.jonhoadley.com. Richardson is the research director and a science teacher at the Kalamazoo Area Math and Science Center. She has a bachelors degree in biology from Western Illinois University and a masters in education from California Coast University. For more about her experience and campaign, visit jenrichardson.com. Michigans 6th Congressional District covers much of Southwest Michigan, including the counties of Kalamazoo, Van Buren, Cass, St. Joseph, Berrien and Allegan. MLive Media Group has again partnered with the League of Women Voters of Michigan Education Fund to provide candidate information and other voting resources to our readers. Each candidate was asked to answer a series of questions about their policy stances. Information on all state and federal races and many of Michigans county and local races will be available at Vote411.org. HEALTH CARE: What do you see as the federal governments role in health care? Given the Covid19 pandemic, what are your concerns and plans regarding U.S. health coverage, policies and programs, including Medicare and Medicaid? JON HOADLEY Our healthcare system is broken, and its going to take a lot to fix it. I want to make sure every Michigander has access to high-quality affordable health care, regardless of where they live or what their personal financial situation is. While we work through important questions and details on any specific plan, its clear that moving to a system where every American is covered will continue to bring the cost of healthcare down while helping more people live healthier lives. We need to ensure everyone can get access to the care they need, and lower prescription drug costs. JEN RICHARDSON It is time to accept healthcare as a human right and the governments obligation to ensure this right for all Americans. The Covid 19 pandemic has highlighted our interdependence on each other and that healthy communities rely on all individuals having access to high-quality healthcare. I support immediately addressing the need for healthcare relief with Medicare/Medicaid expansion and an ACA public option. I also support moving to a single payer system, as research shows it is the cheapest and most equitable way to provide quality personal and community healthcare outcomes for all Americans. ECONOMY: What federal policies do you support for a healthy economy and to help the broader American public improve their economic positions? JON HOADLEY As our economy becomes more unpredictable, financial security and stability is out of reach for Michiganders from all walks of life. The middle class of yesterday feels like it has been replaced with side hustles, benefit cuts, and outsourcing. In order to truly reinvigorate the middle-class jobs, we must work to find new solutions to the questions of the twenty-first century. We must create an American economy that invests in American workers through a living wage, new training programs, and reinvigorated unions. America has tried tax cuts and special giveaways to the biggest corporations, and they havent worked. JEN RICHARDSON I will fight for an economy that, like our constitution, is by and for the people, and faithfully revive the ideals of the American Dream: that no matter your zip code, race, or gender, our institutions promise to faithfully provide the opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This includes providing extra economic opportunities and infrastructure investment in BIPOC and underserved communities, ensuring equal pay, holding corporations accountable to providing a living wage, ending reckless trade wars, and increasing broadband access so that all have access to the information economy. ELECTIONS: What federal policies do you advocate regarding elections, campaign funding and voting rights? Do you support mailing ballots to all eligible voters? JON HOADLEY Big money in our politics is standing in the way of progress being made on the issues that matter most to Michigans working families. Whether its skyrocketing prescription drug costs, addressing the impacts of climate change, or investing in our nations crumbling infrastructure, our country is facing massive threats to our economic security and the future of our families. Instead of producing results, the politics and partisanship of Washington are making matters worse. We need to get big money out of politics, end the legislator-to-lobbyist pipeline, end partisan gerrymandering, & protect everyones right to vote. JEN RICHARDSON I support removing barriers to voting including a national vote by mail policy, restoration of voting rights to those with convictions, and voting eligibility for DACA recipients. I also support ending Citizens United and creating a system for publicly funded elections to create a level playing field that is inclusive of women, BIPOC, LGTBQ+, and other citizens that have been marginalized and kept out of our current political system that caters to wealthy, well-connected incumbents. Lastly, I support term limits for Congress to disrupt the power of the incumbency and ensure accurate representation of the people. SOCIAL INJUSTICE: Do you believe there is systemic racism, economic disparity, and other social injustices which should be addressed by Congress? If so, what policies do you support? JON HOADLEY All people should have the guarantee of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Its past time to expand our nondiscrimination laws to ensure regardless of someones religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, height, weight, familial status, or marital status, everyone has the same opportunity to work hard and succeed. We need to make sure were looking at the ways people have access to justice. We need to fight for a free and open internet. We need to resist new forms of censorship and protect our rights as technology advances. JEN RICHARDSON Yes. I propose the implementation of an antiracist agenda at the federal level that addresses racism in: policing and the criminal justice system, education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. The policing and criminal justice system requires an overhaul including banning private prisons, ending cash bail, and demilitarizing the police. Education reform requires ending euro-centric curriculum, the school-to-prison pipeline, and severing ties between standardized tests and funding. I support significant investment in healthcare and economic opportunities in BIPOC communities also, more specifics are on our website. ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY: What policies do you support to meet U.S. energy needs while protecting our water, air and land for current and future generations? JON HOADLEY Climate change is already resulting in intense and unpredictable natural disasters, changes in the health of our food crops, drought and water problems, and more. We must take urgent and bold action to address the climate crisis and invest in sustainable infrastructure to meet the energy demands of the 21st century. We need to pass a Green New Deal, invest in renewable energy and transition our nation off fossil fuels, and ensure clean water for everyone. JEN RICHARDSON I support policies that hold businesses/corporations accountable for destruction to the environment they cause and also policies that incentivize research, planning and implementation of processes that will allow companies to be carbon neutral. I also support policies that address our crumbling infrastructure sustainably while providing good jobs to local communities, with special focus on BIPOC communities as they are more likely to suffer from the affects of the climate crisis. I believe safeguards are needed that protect clean air and water, so that local governments are unable to cut corners and put lives at risk. IMMIGRATION: What policies do you support relative to immigration into the U.S.? JON HOADLEY It is past time to fix a broken immigration system. We need comprehensive immigration reform. DACA and other enforcement reprioritization efforts have provided a much-needed safety net for children and young adults who were brought to the United States through no choice of their own. We must protect DREAMERs and grant them a pathway to citizenship. We can end warrantless ICE holds, stop separating families, and build strong communities. JEN RICHARDSON We can maintain strong borders without treating people seeking refuge like criminals as they currently are. No human being is illegal. We must end family separation, holding people in detention centers, and dehumanizing those seeking asylum. I support policies that invest in and fix the system so our borders are secure yet immigrants are treated with dignity and have a reasonable path to citizenship. I do not support ICE raids, deportations of DACA recipients, or racist travel bans of Muslim countries. I support immigration policy that is fair and equal without country prioritization. In years past, post-secondary students may have taken a marker into a bathroom stall to vent about issues on campus. Now, students across the country have taken the forum digital. Seemingly overnight, waves of Instagram accounts have appeared with links for students to make anonymous submissions of their experiences with racism and sexual assault on campus. Vanessa Patterson, 22, runs the account @UWOMinorityStory and graduated from Londons Western University in 2019. The first story she posted, she said, was one of her own. In her first year of residence, she and a friend found a racist message written on a whiteboard: KILL ALL N***ERS. She said when they brought it to her residence advisors attention, she was scolded for making her look bad in front of her boss and floormates said what was written was so ridiculous it was funny. The other stories on the feed have been submitted by students, past and present. Patterson and her twin sister Elise have been sifting through stories and adding to the feed. Patterson said these issues dont just happen outside of school in the social scene. There needs to be an acknowledgment that this happens in residence, in the classroom, on campus in clubs, as well as in the social scene. On Monday, the group Black at Western Alumni also released an open letter that members wrote at the end of June to the universitys president Alan Shepard. It was sparked in response to the school addressing John Philippe Rushton, a professor who between 1977 until his death in 2012 published racist work that BWA said is still misused by white supremacists and eugenicists to justify racist acts. The school acknowledged the hurt caused, but the BWA said more needed to be done. In the letter, BWA outlined 13 action items for the school to take, including hiring more faculty from the Black community and from other underrpresented communities and developing workshops for faculty on how to challenge the ways anti-Black racism operates within classrooms. The group has since had an initial meeting with Shepard and anticipate more. UWOMinorityStory is one of several similar Instagram accounts that have cropped up in the last week or so for students at other schools in Canada including McGill, York, Ottawa, Concordia, another two from Western (by the Black at Western Alumni and the Ivey Business School), Dalhousie, University of British Columbia and Appleby College, a boarding school in Oakville. Nearly all of them have credited inspiration to the original Harvard Law and Cornell accounts in the U.S., as well as the account that brought the conversation to Canada at the start of July, @StolenbySmith about the Smith School of Business at Queens University. Kelly Weiling Zou, who is going into her fourth year at Smith, started the account where students and alumni have been sharing harrowing stories of racism, discrimination and sexual violence. In about 10 days, the account has amassed over 10,000 followers, shared over 200 posts and has 400 and counting to go through. I only have one year left and I desperately want to leave this school a better place than when I came in, Zou said. This isnt the first time Queens has been at the centre of racist controversy. In 2016, students at Queens hosted a party where the theme seemed to be offensive costumes. Im a disabled woman of colour. Im queer, Zou said. A lot of these identities, even though they seem to be accepted on the front page of the Smith School of Business magazine, are not accepted in the actual space itself. Brenda Brouwer, the dean of Smith, said in a statement, The experiences being shared on @StolenbySmith have exposed issues of inequity, exclusion and systemic racism in the school of business that cannot and will not be ignored. The dean goes on to say all staff and students will receive Equity, Diversity, Inclusivity and Indigeneity training going into the fall term and during the year. (Photo : REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo) FILE PHOTO: Lab technicians work on investigational coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment drug "Remdesivir" at Eva Pharma Facility in Cairo, Egypt June 25, 2020. Remdesivir has lowered the risk of death in critically ill COVID-19 patients by 62 percent, preliminary data released by the drugmaker Gilead suggests. The additional research on Remdesivir presented at last week's Virtual COVID-19 Conference provides updated SIMPLE-Serious Phase 3 comparative study and a real-world retrospective cohort of COVID-19 severe patients. ALSO READ: Coronavirus Cure: Here Are Six Other Drugs Beyond Hydroxychloroquine That Could Possibly Treat COVID-19 Here's what happened During this study, remdesivir demonstrated an increase during clinical recovery and a remarkable 62 percent decrease in death risk and helped speed up patient's recovery. The latest results came from two studies: a Phase III trial of 312 patients, evaluating the drug 's efficacy, and a report that analyzed the drug's effect in 818 people with COVID-19 retrospectively. The organization also found that 74.4% of people taking remdesivir were recovered by day 14, compared to 59% of those seeking standard treatment. Analysis from various subgroups studied in the study also evaluated the safety and efficacy of remdesivir across specific racial and ethnic subgroups of patients. Comes from these analyzes showed that "traditionally disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups" treated with remdesivir reported comparable outcomes to the general population of patients. Gilead also announced new analyzes from its compassionate use plan. The results showing that 83% of pediatric patients and 92% of pregnant and postpartum women with a broad range of disease severity improved by day 28 of therapy. ALSO READ: Coronavirus: Experimental Drug Treatment Remdesivir Improves Two-Thirds of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients, Study Says What's the catch? Some analysts have addressed the validity of the data, given that the source of the analysis is not from a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial, but instead compares clinical trial data to non-clinical trial data. However, drug developers are releasing any data which may show a benefit against the disease as the need for treatments grows increasingly critical. Gilead acknowledged this fact; its chief medical officer Merdad Parsey commented on the release of this data last week. "To address the urgency of the continuing pandemic, we are sharing data with the research community as quickly as possible with the goal of providing transparent and timely updates on new developments with remdesivir," Parsey said in a statement. He noted that the Virtual COVID-19 Conference shed additional light on the use of remdesivir in specific patient populations. The patients include those who are susceptible to higher rates of COVID-19 infection, children, and pregnant and postpartum women. Former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said robust evidence is required to validate the results further. In his official Twitter account, he said new results are auspicious but must be verified in a prospective trial. "It appears to be a retrospective analysis of the phase 3 data using historical matched controls, suggesting a survival benefit in severe COVID-19 patients," he added. Remdesivir is currently intravenously administered to individuals diagnosed with COVID-19. But other researchers believe it would be even safer to give the medication earlier in an infection. Gilead revealed on July 8 that a clinical trial will begin to test the efficacy of an inhaled version of the drug. If the inhaled form is safe and effective it may be used to treat individuals at home. The company also announced that testing of the intravenous drug in children would begin. 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. - Travellers are enjoying themselves in one of the most amazing hotels in the world, Manta Resort - The resort is on Pemba Island, off the coast of Zanzibar in Tanzania, and it has an underwater room - The room is the most luxurious way to spend time under the ocean PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed! Manta Resort on Pemba Island off the coast of Zanzibar in Tanzania has an underwater room which is regarded as first of its kind. The Manta resort underwater rooms landing deck is the most luxurious way to spend time under the ocean. It has an exquisite lounge area and bathroom facility. Briefly.co.za learnt that there is a step ladder that leads up to the roof which has a lounging area where people can enjoy the stars at night or sunlight during the day. The hotel, which is located four metres below sea level, is one of the most amazing hotels in the world, How Africa reports. Manta Resort. Photo credit: How Africa Source: UGC The resort is on Pemba Island, off the coast of Zanzibar in Tanzania, and it has an underwater room. Photo credit: How Africa Source: UGC It was noted that the hotel provides three levels which can only be accessed by going down a step ladder. Manta Resort. Photo credit: How Africa Source: UGC In other news, Chefchaouen, Morocco, is regarded as the bluest city in the world. The city is a popular tourist destination because of its proximity to Tangier and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. It is this beautiful atmosphere of the town that makes Chefchaouen very attractive to visitors. Meanwhile, it was previously reported that a Nigerian man who arrived in Canada as a student five years ago took to Twitter to share his success story. The man identified as Tunde Omotoye said he arrived Canada five years ago as a student who was unsure of what the future had for him in the North American country. Despite the uncertainty, he revealed that he has launched his own company five years after leaving the shores of Nigeria. According to Omotoye, his company's aim is to help immigrants like him navigate their immigration and career journeys confidently and swiftly. He tweeted: "5 years ago, I arrived Canada. A student, unsure of what the future had for me in Canada. "Today, I launched a Canadian company that will help immigrants like me navigate their immigration and career journeys confidently and swiftly. "Pay close attention to my journey." Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news! Source: Briefly News A man charged with murdering a woman in her home in the moments after she was on a Skype call to her brother overseas, has pleaded not guilty by way of mental impairment. Xochil Quetzal O'Neill, 29, appeared before Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday on a video link from prison and pleaded not guilty to a charge of murdering Maud Steenbeek in her Heidelberg West home on January 28. Maud Steenbeck who was found dead in her Heidelberg West home following an alleged home invasion. Defence counsel David Grace, QC, told the court Mr O'Neill was pleading not guilty because there was an "issue concerning mental impairment" at the time of the incident. Ms Steenbeek, a 61-year-old yoga and pilates instructor, was on a Skype call to her brother in the Netherlands at 8pm, when police allege Mr O'Neill entered a rear door and armed himself with a Samoan wooden paddle from inside the house. Food Lion Expanding Instacart Delivery Service to More Than 300 Stores Food Lion grocery delivery service Food Lion grocery delivery service expands to 302 new stores. Food Lion grocery delivery service expands to 302 new stores. SALISBURY, N.C., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Food Lion, in partnership with Instacart, is making fresh and affordable shopping as easy as opening an app. The availability of its grocery delivery service is expanding to 302 stores in Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia beginning today. Customers in these delivery areas can use Food Lion's To-Go website or the Food Lion To-Go app to confirm availability and place orders. Expanding this convenient service to 302 stores in the Food Lion footprint is more important than ever, said Evan Harding, director of digital and e-commerce marketing at Food Lion. We want to give local neighbors the option to shop through the channel they prefer, in-store or online, while still ensuring they have access to the freshest groceries at affordable prices. The company continues to expand this new service with Instacart across its local towns and cities, highlighting their commitment to making grocery shopping easy, affordable and personable. With the click of a button, Food Lion grocery delivery allows customers to experience the same low prices and fresh food items without having to ever enter a store. The online service allows customers to place an order and have their groceries delivered right to their front door in as fast as an hour. Additionally, by linking their personal MVP card to their account, Food Lion customers can use digital coupons and redeem their Shop & Earn MVP rewards program savings. Customers can also see their accumulated Shop & Earn rewards on their checkout screen and view which clipped digital coupons will be applied to their order. This is in addition to their MVP discounts, in-store promotions and weekly savings specials. How Food Lion Grocery Delivery Works: Story continues Visit shop.foodlion.com or open the Food Lion To-Go app. Enter your zip code and select delivery. Add fresh groceries and everyday essentials to your virtual cart. Choose a delivery window (within one hour or up to two weeks in advance) and check out. An Instacart shopper picks, packs and delivers the order to your door within the designated timeframe. Food Lion grocery delivery via Instacart is available seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. About Food Lion Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., since 1957, has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 77,000 associates. By leveraging its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations, Food Lion is working to own the easiest full shop grocery experience in the Southeast, anchored by a strong commitment to affordability, freshness and the communities it serves. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has donated more than 500 million meals to individuals and families since 2014, and has committed to donate 1 billion more meals by 2025. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com . About Instacart Instacart is the North American leader in online groceries and one of the fastest-growing companies in ecommerce. Instacart shoppers offer same-day delivery and pickup services to bring fresh groceries and everyday essentials to busy people and families across the U.S. and Canada. Instacart has partnered with more than 400 beloved national, regional and local retailers to deliver from more than 30,000 stores across more than 5,500 cities in North America. Instacarts delivery service is available to more than 85% of U.S. households and 70% of Canadian households. The company's cutting-edge enterprise technology also powers the ecommerce platforms of some of the world's biggest retail players, supporting their white-label websites, applications and delivery solutions. Instacart offers an Instacart Express membership for unlimited free delivery on orders over $35. For more information, visit www.instacart.com . For anyone interested in becoming an Instacart shopper, visit https://shoppers.instacart.com/ . CONTACTS: Kelly Powell 704-310-3886 Kelly.Powell@foodlion.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2661efa7-f7d1-4200-8ccb-f13c83983677 00:10 | Cusco (Cusco region), Jul. 14. According to the government official, Cusco's regional and local authorities also participate in these arrangements. "The approval of the entry and movement protocol for tourists in Machu Picchu is missing. There is no set date (for the reopening of the archaeological site), and further coordination is needed between Culture and Mincetur sectors, as well as regional and local authorities, before allowing visits," he said. An analysis is being carried out to determine the health protocols to be applied when arriving in Machu Picchu Town , moving into the llaqta (Inca citadel), and visiting the ruins. The minister warned that while the above-mentioned activities would take place outdoors, the number of people will be limited "Social distancing and the use of face masks shall be adhered to. Besides, water, soap and hand sanitizer will be provided, among other measures that will be taken in coordination with the population to prevent health problems from arising as tourist activities resume," he expressed. Neyra stressed the importance of Machu Picchu as symbol of national pride and source of budgetary revenues for the Culture sector. "However, what matters now is the situation of the coronavirus pandemic and the preservation of people's health," he added. (END) MAO/RMB/MVB The Ministries of Culture and Foreign Trade-Tourism (Mincetur) are working on a rapid reopening of Machu Picchu , Peru's iconic tourist attraction, Culture Minister Alejandro Neyra has announced.Published: 7/14/2020 Weir Solutions continues to develop its relationships and demonstrate its commitment to national oil companies across the Asia Pacific with a new agency agreement in Brunei Darussalam. The agreement is the culmination of several months of collaboration with PTAS, based in Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam, to develop a strategy to leverage the strengths of the two companies to deliver world class engineering solutions for rotating equipment in the country. For 30 years, PTAS has provided many different service solutions to its end users and partners in Brunei. The agreement with Weir Solutions will enable both companies to develop in- country solutions while being able to leverage the existing support and services available from Weirs Centers of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence in Dubai, UAE. I am excited by the new opportunities open to both companies in Brunei, said Chris Payne, Weir Solutions FZEs Rotating Equipment Business Manager. The partnership between our two companies will enable us to provide a viable alternative to OEMs when it comes to support, spare parts supply and services for all types of rotating equipment. Matteo Benincasa, Director, Sales and Marketing - Eastern Hemisphere for Weir Oil & Gas added, The oil majors are important clients for Weir across the globe. To be able to more closely work with and engage our customers is an important advancement in providing Weirs world class solutions in this region. From North America to the Eastern Hemisphere region, Weir Oil & Gas solves customers engineering challenges and improves oil and gas operators efficiencies with a global product offering and localised service capabilities that meet the needs of each operating environment. Weir Edge Services, Weirs global service offering, provides service and training centers not only in every US basin but every part of the globe. Weir Edge Services supports operators with a three-pronged approach that includes global access to local engineering experts, engineered repairs with highly skilled aftermarket support, and industry-leading digital empowerment tools for Weir and other OEM equipment. Weir Oil & Gas provides superior products and service solutions to make our customers more efficient and lower total cost of ownership. More customers choose our pressure pumping solutions than any other. We provide well service and stimulation pumps, flow control products, replacement expendable parts and supporting engineered repair services. Weirs Pressure Control solutions include wellheads, API valves and frac trees, managed pressure drilling equipment including chokes, separators and containment equipment. Globally we deliver engineered oilfield and drilling equipment repair and certification mechanical and rotating equipment repairs and upgrades, rapid prototyping of spare parts, robust asset management, Operation & Maintenance and field engineering services. Tradearabia News Service Kharafi National, a leading infrastructure project developer in the water, wastewater treatment, reclamation and district cooling sector, said it has completed the construction of a 500 kV substation, located in East Suhag region of Upper Egypt. With this new plant, Kharafi National has successfully added a new challenging achievement to its history. The government considers East Suhag 500/220/66/22 kV substation as one of the strategic projects that will contribute to reducing the interruptions that Upper Egypt has been experiencing for all these years. The project was successfully completed while following all Covid-19 precautionary measures for the safety of the company staff. The substation, located in the parallel axis plan of the 500 kV grid, is considered to be the largest constructed plant in Suhag on a land of 27 acres. It will be catering to more than 6 million citizens in the city.-TradeArabia News Service In a courtyard a few blocks from Rio de Janeiros Copacabana beach, a dozen people get settled on broken couches beneath a banner reading Cure Your Prejudice. They face the makeshift stage where a transgender woman appears in a short, tight dress and performs to a song about transgender visibility. Its a standard Saturday night in coronavirus times at the squat known as Casa Nem. The six-floor building is home to about 50 LGBTQ people riding out the pandemic behind closed doors. They receive food donations and are barred from leaving unless facing medical emergency or other exceptional circumstances. Self-imposed lockdown is one of few ways this traditionally marginalized group has found to minimize COVID-19 risks, while others remain vulnerable on the streets. Indianara Siqueira poses for a photo in her room at the squat known as Casa Nem, occupied by members of the LGBTQ community who are in self-quarantine as a protective measure against the new coronavirus, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, May 22, 2020. "Based on the experience we had during the AIDS epidemic, when we were accused of being the vector of the virus and were left to die, we are now protecting the community," said Siqueira, a transgender sex worker and activist who leads Casa Nem. (AP) Based on the experience we had during the AIDS epidemic, when we were accused of being the vector of the virus and were left to die, we are now protecting the community, said Indianara Siqueira, 49, a transgender sex worker and activist who leads Casa Nem. In 2016, her organization took over the balconied building with small bedrooms, shared bathrooms and a big common kitchen. The residents found it dirty and abandoned, including one room with artwork, bronze busts and taxidermied animals. Casa Nem became a shelter for LGBTQ victims of violence and those who, rejected by their families, have nowhere to live. New residents during the pandemic have to isolate on one of the buildings floors for 15 days to ensure they dont develop symptoms before fully joining the community. Indianara Siqueira, wearing a rainbow colored shirt, sits with fellow residents to watch their weekly presentations performed on a makeshift stage at the squat known as Casa Nem, occupied by members of the LGBTQ community who are in self-quarantine as a protective measure against the new coronavirus, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, May 23, 2020. Siqueira, 49, a transgender sex worker and activist leads Casa Nem. (AP) While some found refuge at Casa Nem, others like transgender prostitute Alice Larubia, 25, are stuck on the streets, hustling to earn enough to get by as the economy tanks. Normally quick to smile and joke, Larubia grows serious when discussing her future after the pandemic. She wants out of prostitution, and likes the idea of working in a beauty salon. Data from Brazils National Cross-dresser and Transgender Association show about 90 percent of the people it represents are sex workers due to lacking opportunities and discrimination in the job market. After a month quarantining at home with some financial support from family, Larubia resumed work in Niteroi, a city across the bay from Rio. Also read| Brazil is a beautiful country, but violence against trans community is highest in the world: Valentina Sampaio, first trans model to feature in Sports Illustrated Necessity spoke louder (than the pandemic) and I had to come back to the street, Larubia said while waiting for clients with a small group of colleagues. A transgender sex worker poses for a photo in Niteroi, Brazil, Sunday, June 28, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Data from Brazils National Cross-dresser and Transgender Association show about 90 percent of the people it represents are sex workers due to lacking opportunities and discrimination in the job market. (AP) She keeps hand sanitizer in her purse and wears a mask on public transport, but said she cant while working. She earns around $15 per night, less than half her payday before the onset of the outbreak. Im scared, she said. I know Im at risk. Transgender sex worker Alice Larubia waits for customers in Niteroi, Brazil, Saturday, June 27, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. She keeps hand sanitizer in her purse and wears a mask on public transport, but said she cant while working. She earns around $15 per night, less than half her payday before the onset of the outbreak. Im scared, she said. I know Im at risk. (AP) Back at Casa Nem, residents spend their days cooking and chatting, playing games and organizing workshops. Theyre eager to leave the building, once its safe. We have increased our activities to help our psychological state, said Micaelo Lopes, a 22-year-old transgender man. Its a very tense moment where we are waiting to see whats going to happen afterward, without really knowing. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / International Millennium Mining Corp. (TSXV:IMI) (the "Company" or "IMMC") is pleased to announce that it has made the final option payment on twenty-five (25) unpatented lode mineral claims optioned from Silver Saddle Resources LLC in 2017. As a result, IMMC now owns a 100% interest in the entire claim group representing the Silver Peak property, subject only to net smelter return ("NSR") royalty agreements on certain claims, as described in its 2019, National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 Technical Report. The Silver Peak property consists of approximately 4,000 contiguous acres, which hosts fourteen (14) well mineralized fault/vein structures, of which two structures have historically produced 9.8 million ounces of silver (Ag) and 52.9 thousand ounces of gold (Au). The Company also announces a private placement of up to $1,220,000 composed of up to 61,000,000 units at $0.02 per unit. Each unit is comprised of one (1) common share and one (1) non-transferable share purchase warrant entitling the holder to purchase an additional share at $0.05 per share for a period of thirty-six (36) months from the date of issuance (the "Private Placement"). The Company will pay up to a 6% finder's fee and issue broker share purchase warrants, up to 8% of the Private Placement units, with respect to $602,500 of the Private Placement. Each broker warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share at $0.05 for a period of thirty-six (36) months from the closing of the placement. The Private Placement is subject to regulatory acceptance. The Private Placement proceeds will be used to payout debenture loans and debenture loan interest incurred by the Company in 2019 and 2020; to initiate a drilling program on the Silver Peak property, pursuant to the Company's 2019 NI 43-101 Technical Report; and for working capital. As it is anticipated that certain insiders will participate in the Private Placement as it is considered to be a "related party transaction" under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the valuation and the minority approval requirements of MI 61-101 provided for in subsections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, as the fair market value of the transaction, and the consideration paid in the Private Placement, in each case, in relation to the interested parties, will not represent more than 25% of the Company's market capitalization, as determined in accordance with MI 61-101. Stock Option Grant The Company also announces the issuance of 3,200,000 stock options with an exercise price of $0.05 cents per share for the purchase of up to 3,200,000 shares of the Company, expiring July 7, 2025. The stock options are being issued to directors, officers and employees of the Company and are subject to approval by regulatory authorities. Director Retirement The Company announces that Alex Caldwell has retired as a director of the Company. Mr. Caldwell started with IMMC as Corporate Secretary in 2001, where he worked until his retirement as an officer in 2011. Mr. Caldwell has been a valuable member of the Board since 2003 and the Company wishes to thank him for his time and commitment as a director of the Company. Robert Drago, Michael Prinsloo, Sebastien Vermeire and John Versfelt were re-elected to the Board of Directors at the Company's June 30, 2020, Annual General Meeting. Further to the Company's June 12, 2020, press release, as certain insiders participated in the Company's debenture financing (the "Transaction"), it is considered a "related party transaction" under MI 61-101. The Company relied on the exemption from the formal valuation requirement of MI 61-101 as set out in Section 5.5(a) of MI 61-101 and the exemption from the minority approval requirement of MI 61-101 as set out 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 for the Transaction. International Millennium Mining Corp. (TSX-V: IMI) is focused on the exploration and development of its Silver Peak silver-gold project in southwest Nevada. The Company's common shares trade on the Exchange under the symbol: IMI. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "John A. Versfelt" John A. Versfelt President and CEO Further information about the Company can be found on SEDAR (www.sedar.com), the Company's website (www.immc.ca) or by contacting Mr. John Versfelt, President & CEO of the Company at 604-527-8135. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs and other business transactions timing. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements. SOURCE: International Millennium Mining Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597402/International-Millennium-Mining-Corp-Completes-100-Ownership-of-Silver-Peak-Property-and-Announces-122-Million-Private-Placement Southern, sun-kissed Szekszard is famous for its great value red wines but in recent years it has become much more than a cheap and cheerful (if less polished) alternative to the previously more coveted Villany region, further to the south. Szekszards winemakers have confidently set sail on their own course with increasingly sophisticated and complex reds. Long loved by consumers for their excellent value for money, Szekszards vintners are now also succeeding in making more varietally-pure Kekfrankos and Kadarka, which also play a key role in the regions flagship Bikaver blend. Critics have often dismissed Szekszard as solely a source of simple, uniformly fruity wines due to the loess soils that dominate the region, but the truth is that truly lovely vintages can come from loess; indeed, elsewhere loess, which accounts for up to 10% of the planets topsoil, is strongly associated with quality wine. Places where loess is loved and not loathed include Wagram and parts of Wachau and Kremstal in Austria (where it is prized for its ability to make fuller Gruner Veltliner), many top German vineyards; and even across the Atlantic in eastern Washington. Indeed, some of Tokajs most elegant wine comes from loess-dominated vineyards. Szekszard is in any case about more than loess, since there are other soil and rock types lurking under and alongside it, with lots of iron-rich red clay and chunks of limestone in the mix (the latter providing acidity to counterbalance the regions ripeness). The clay, which is also known as terra rossa, is clearly visible and regularly pokes through the surface as you drive around this undulating region. The terra rossa of Australias Coonawarra region, for example, is prized for the rich and structured red wines that it yields. As you approach Szekszard from Budapest, the Transdanubian hills spread out before you and announce the end of the Great Plain; in these hills there are lots of intriguing nooks and crannies that are home to a patchwork of vineyards with various exposures and their own distinctive mesoclimates. Add in the varying composition of the soils and Szekszard isnt simple or uniform at all. These individual vineyards are coming increasingly snapping into focus with wineries like Heimann, Sebestyen and Takler bringing out exciting single-vineyard wines that ooze their place of growth. Savvy Szekszardian Savvy Szekszardian vintners are focusing on a three-pronged approach of single varietal Kadarka (including exploring different clones) and Kekfrankos, and the Bikaver blend, which come in their own Burgundy-style bottles. The way the word Szekszard is embossed under the neck of the bottle, a la Chateauneuf-du-Pape, is a nice reference to the spice of the Rhone, which is also a feature of Szekszard reds. Szekszard is the Hungarian epicenter of Kadarka, the same grape as Bulgarias Gamza, and it is believed to have been brought to Hungary from the Balkans by Serbs fleeing Ottoman invaders. For so long its wine has all too often either been watery and insipid, or overdone and covered in an oaky, overripe and tannic cloak and trying to be something its not. Now, plenty of Kadarka wines with light tannins and playful acidity are coming through, exuding a distinctive rose hip note and delicious spiciness. This is a fragile and tricky grape to cultivate and prone to uneven ripening, while this thin-skinned grape (hence the light tannins) is also a late-ripener, and susceptible to rot. The Heimann winery recently launched a new brand called Heimann es fiai (sons), which Zoltan Heimann Jr. sees as an opportunity to develop stylistically with the Kadarka and Kekfrankos grape varieties. Three of the four Kekfrankos hail from a single vineyard and really capture the nuances of the different terroirs. Meanwhile, the new range also features two Kadarkas: one that is a blend across a number of vineyards and simply called Szekszard; and one which is from a single vineyard, the Porkolab-volgy (volgy means valley). This latter wine is made from the three most promising of the five new clones in the Porkolab vineyard, which were developed in tandem with the Pecs Research Institute. Altogether, the Heimann winery has eight clones of Kadarka now planted in its vineyards. The Heimann es fiai Szekszard Kadarka 2018 (HUF 3,290 from Bortarsasag) is raspberry colored with pale intensity and aromas of the same fruit, as well as rosehip and red pepper. Its light and airy on the palate with feather-light tannins and a spicy twist on the finish. It is the ideal summer red wine; very tasty yet also quite complex. Complex Aromas The Porkolab-volgy Kadarka 2018 (HUF 5,650 from Bortarsasag) is more floral and has more red pepper, with complex aromas of anise, lace and red berries, and with more weight. Both nicely capture the essence of the variety. Bikaver is based on a Kekfrankos backbone and is fleshed out with international varieties, especially the Bordeaux grapes, that play an important role without stealing the locals limelight. The finishing touch is the spice and aromatics added by a few percent of Kadarka. Any more and Kadarkas pronounced aromas can start to take over, something not desired in a wine in which the aim is that no grape dominates. In 2017, Sebestyen (a family winery run by the brother and sister team of Csaba and Csilla, who blend sophisticated wines with a strong sense of place), released three Bikavers from that years vintage: one a generic Szekszard, and two single vineyards from the Gorogszo and Ivan-volgy vineyards (both HUF 6,600 from Bortarsasag). Szekszard and Eger lock horns over which region was first to coin the term Bikaver (the English name of Bulls Blood is less used these days due its not entirely former association with the bottom shelf of supermarkets). While the northern Hungarian region of Eger battles with different levels of quality, Szekszard tends to a higher end wine and always includes some Kadarka. The dome of the Hagia Sophia was erected by Emperor Justinian in the sixth century as the central cathedral of Byzantium, or the Eastern Roman Empire. In 1453, the Ottomans launched a spectacular siege on the capital city of Constantinople and consummated their victory by converting the Hagia Sophia, its main cathedral, into a mosque, as was customary at the time. It was this moment of reversal from Christian to Muslim that fired imaginations across Europe and the Middle East. Many dreamed of a day of reckoning as the Ottoman Empire unraveled in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the World War I, Istanbul was occupied by British, French, Italian and Greek forces, but even then, Muslims did not give up the Hagia Sophia. When a group of Greeks wanted to enter the building and install a cathedral bell, Ottoman soldiers drove them away by threatening to blow up the entire structure. Turkish forces fought off the allied invaders under the leadership of a rebellious Ottoman field marshal, Mustafa Kemal (later Ataturk), who went on to rebuild modern Turkey. During his single-party rule, Ataturk abolished the sultanate and set up a secular republic, enacting reforms to westernize the country by decree. There are various myths about the reasons behind Ataturks decision to convert the Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934. What is certain is that he decided after convening with Thomas Whittemore, a visiting American scholar of Byzantium, and was interested in restoring the structures mosaics. Ataturk seemed to have wanted to move the country past the medieval concepts of myth and holy conquest. When Mr. Kisakurek, the powerful Islamist poet, raised the rallying cry for the reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque in 1965, it is likely that Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an 11-year-old boy in the working-class, religious neighborhood of Kasimpasa near the Golden Horn in Istanbul, would have heard the poets call. He would also have heard how even Nihal Atsiz, a writer who advocated a pan-Turkic identity over that of the Islamists, revered the Hagia Sophia and thought its status a humiliation. And the young Erdogan might even have heard how Nazim Hikmet, the great poet of the socialists, devoted stanzas to the Hagia Sophias spirit in his youth. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:54:16|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CHANGSHA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Jiang Birou, 19, still remembers the excitement she had experienced when attending her first tea ceremony class as a sixth-grade student. "That was my first extra-curricular class," Jiang said, adding that tea ceremony had brightened her childhood. Located in the midst of mountains at a high altitude, Jiang's hometown in Weishan Township, central China's Hunan Province, has favorable conditions for tea plantation but is marred with less arable land and inconvenient transportation. As a result, a large number of youths migrate to cities for better job opportunities, leaving behind their children and parents. Jiang was once such a left-behind child. "When I was a little girl, I used to help my grandparents pick tea leaves, and I didn't have much communication with my parents." The change came in 2012 when Jiang's school organized a slew of extra-curricular activities and Jiang was the first to sign up for the tea ceremony class. "In Weishan, almost every household grows tea, but we know little about the traditional tea culture," Jiang said. "Through the tea class, however, I learned a lot." "In retrospect, I feel the tea art classes helped me calm my mind, manage my emotions and I began to communicate more with my parents because of the interesting classes," she said. Jiang is now a freshman at Wuhan Conservatory of Music. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the commencement of her new semester got delayed, and she stayed in Weishan for a protracted Spring Festival holiday. During this time, she often visited her alma mater. Jiang said the sight of primary school girls learning tea art in a clean and bright classroom, makes her proud. "I hope they can enjoy the tea ceremony, as it will bring more harvests than they could imagine." Eleven-year-old Gao Yingxin has been attending tea art classes for a year. Once a shy and reserved girl, she can now open her heart and make many good friends. "The gestures and movements we learn in the class are very interesting, so is the costume we wear," Gao said. A blissful smile blooms over Gao's face at the mention of the tea ceremony. She said tea-related activities such as plucking leaves and discussing tea-making, enriched her extra-curricular life. When talking to her father who works in India by phone, she would share stories about her tea art classes. Gao is among the 27 students currently taking the tea art class in the school, and about 85 percent of her classmates are left-behind children. According to Principal Yang Jinpeng, the school has offered tea art classes to students in grades three to six since 2012, with more than 30 students signing up each year. "Many children become more optimistic and confident after joining the tea art classes," Yang said. "We hope that through tea art and other extra-curricular classes, children can forge companionship with their classmates and teachers and learn something meaningful." Enditem Months before Australia would be plunged into its greatest constitutional crisis, the Queen's private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, could afford some light banter with the monarch's representative. "Whatever else a Governor-General of Australia's life may or may not be, it is certainly not dull," he wrote in a short letter to Sir John Kerr on July 30, 1975. That letter, released on Tuesday as part of the previously secret Palace letters between Sir John and Sir Martin, is just one that goes to issues beyond the dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11 that year. Sir John, a prolific writer who canvassed everything from natural disasters to political intrigue in his missives, and Sir Martin reveal across 211 letters and numerous telegrams the extent of royal duties performed by the governor-general. An inmate who made a rare escape from a maximum security prison in Raleigh Friday managed to break out after donning a janitors uniform and following another employee out the door, according to an internal prison report. Chad Lee Houser, who was in prison awaiting trial on murder charges, escaped from Central Prison about 5 p.m. and fled Raleigh in a stolen pickup truck, authorities say. He was caught later that night in Cumberland County, about 50 miles to the south. Houser, 37, was wearing a mask and a janitors uniform when he followed a pharmacy specialist into a prison sally port a part of the prison designed for controlled entries and exits, according to a Department of Public Safety incident report obtained by the Charlotte Observer. The report spells out what happened next: Houser entered the sally port carrying a bag of trash and motioned for an officer to let him through so he could dispose of it. The officer asked to see his I.D. card but he refused to provide one and kept motioning for the officer to open the outer sally port door. The officer then became suspicious of his behavior and instructed him to step back out of the sally port, the report states. Houser initially complied and stepped out of the sally port. The officer then turned her attention to the pharmacy worker who was attempting to leave, according to the incident report. As the sally port door was closing (Houser) suddenly ducked below the Control Station window and re-entered the sally port, the report states. While Houser was out of view of an officer in a control station window, the outer sally port door was opened to allow the pharmacy worker to leave the prison, according to the report. Thats when Houser left the prison, carrying both a trash bag and a wet floor sign, the report states. He handed the sign to a prison sergeant and began casually walking through the parking lot, according to the report. Then he started running and scaled the prisons outer perimeter fence. Story continues About 15 minutes later, Raleigh police received a report of a white man stealing a pickup truck from a construction site. Houser was later caught by police in the Cumberland County town of Spring Lake. Houser is from the nearby town of Hope Mills, according to a Facebook post from Cumberland County sheriff Ennis Wright. Chad Houser Houser has been charged in the death of his 2-month-old son, a watch commander with the Cumberland County Sheriffs Office told the Raleigh News & Observer. He is awaiting trial on charges of first-degree murder, child abuse and fleeing to elude arrest, according to court records. He was being held in Central Prison as a safekeeper at the request of Cumberland County authorities, according to DPS spokesman John Bull. Counties sometimes ship inmates from a local jail to a state prison if the person needs better health care, if their safety has been threatened or if co-defendants need to be separated. Houser needed to receive medical care for chest pain at Central Prisons facilities, according to ABC11. Bull said DPS is investigating the escape and has put initial safeguards in place to prevent a recurrence. This was a very serious incident, Bull wrote in an email to the Observer. Procedures are being reviewed to ensure this doesnt happen again. If disciplinary actions against any prison employees are deemed to be warranted, they would likely be taken after the completion of the DPS investigation, Bull said. Escapes from Central Prison are rare. The last one, Bull said, was in 1994. Editor's Note: Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news stories and expert opinions that moved the precious metals and financial markets. Sign up here! (Kitco News) Gold's latest trading pattern of returning back above $1,800 an ounce after some usual profit-taking points to more gains in the future, according to Commerzbank. Gold has regained the $1,800 mark this morning. This is evidence once again that price slides are viewed as buying opportunities and are thus only short-lived. This also suggests that prices will tend to continue rising, writes Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch. Overnight, gold price fell below $1,800 an ounce, but not significantly due to the increased risk-aversion in the marketplace, adds Fritsch. Any more pronounced price slide was precluded by the increased risk aversion amid falling stock markets and renewed lockdown measures in response to rising numbers of new corona cases in some US states (California and Florida) and in Hong Kong. In addition, there are new tensions between the U.S. and China, says Fritsch. Much depends on the speed and aggressiveness with which the new law is applied. Its possible that Big Tech could decide that complying is simply not worth it in terms of political and legal risks to the company as well as to its customers and employees. If Beijing takes a slower approach to putting the law into action, U.S. firms might try to hang in there for as long as they can. While changes to how the internet operates in Hong Kong are likely to proceed slowly, some services could indeed be blocked at some point, particularly those that are perceived by the Chinese government to have facilitated protests, said Ian Betts, director of risk intelligence with consulting firm Hill & Associates. The teaser trailer has dropped for Channel 5's new mystery thriller series, The Deceived, starring Irish actor and Normal People star Paul Mescal. The four-part series, written by Lisa McGee (Derry Girls, Being Human, The White Queen) and Tobias Beer, was filmed in Belfast and will be broadcast in Ireland on Virgin Media when it airs later this year. Some secrets wont die. A brand new 4-part drama, #TheDeceived, is coming soon to @Channel5_tv. pic.twitter.com/CUdnNzGZe2 Channel 5 (@channel5_tv) July 13, 2020 Mescal, who shot to overnight fame for his portrayal of Connell in the TV adaption of Sally Rooney's novel Normal People, will follow up on his success with a lead role Channel 5's new series described as "a compelling, sinister narrative of lust, manipulation and betrayal". The central character in The Deceived is English student Ophelia (Emily Reid), who falls in love with her married lecturer, seeing in him all the answers to her needs. When their affair results in a shocking and tragic death, Ophelia finds herself trapped in a world where she can no longer trust her own mind. The plot sees the love affair interrupted by a shocking and tragic death, with Ophelia confiding in Mescal's character McKeough - a local builder. Emmett J. Scanlan (Krypton, Peaky Blinders, The Fall) plays the timelessly attractive and charismatic English lecturer Dr Michael Callaghan, while Catherine Walker (Shetland, Versailles) plays his wife Roisin, a successful, award-winning fiction writer. Eleanor Methven (Little Women) plays Roisins devoted and sometimes overbearing mother Mary Mulvery; Ian McElhinney (Game of Thrones, Derry Girls) is Michaels father Hugh fighting the oncoming tide of dementia; Shelley Conn (Liar) plays Roisins best friend Ruth, intelligent and loyal, and Dempsey Bovell (Patrick Melrose) is Michaels confidante and biggest admirer, Matthew. Writers Lisa McGee and Tobias Beer say: We always had a dream cast in mind when we began working on the show, but never imagined we would end up with them actually on board. With the brilliant Chloe Thomas directing, we are thrilled to have the story in such gifted hands. No official release date has been provided, but The Deceived is expected to debut later this year. Although carrion crows and hooded crows are almost indistinguishable genetically, they avoid mating with each other. Researchers from Ludwig-Maximlian-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now identified a mutation that appears to contribute to this instance of reproductive isolation. The carrion crow and the hooded crow are genetically closely related, but they are distinguishable on the basis of the color of their plumage. The carrion crow's feathers are soot-black, while the hooded crow's plumage presents a particolored combination of black and light gray. Although crosses between the two forms can produce fertile offspring, the region of overlap between their geographical distributions in Europe is strikingly narrow. For this reason, the two forms have become a popular model for the elucidation of the processes that lead to species divergence. LMU evolutionary biologist Jochen Wolf and his team are studying the factors that contribute to the divergence of the two populations at the molecular level. Genetic analyses have already suggested that differences in the color of the plumage play an important role in limiting the frequency of hybridization between carrion and hooded crows. The scientists have now identified a crucial mutation that affects this character. Their findings appear in the online journal Nature Communications, and imply that all corvid species were originally uniformly black in color. The ancestral population of crows in Europe began to diverge during the Late Pleistocene, at a time when the onset of glaciation in Central Europe forced the birds to retreat to refuge zones in Iberia and the Balkans. When the climate improved at the end of the last glacial maximum, they were able to recolonize their original habitats. However, during the period of their isolation, the populations in Southwestern and Southeastern Europe had diverged from each other to such an extent that they no longer interbred at the same rate, i.e. became reproductively isolated. In evolutionary terms, the two populations thereafter went their separate ways. The Western European population became the carrion crow, while their counterparts in Eastern Europe gave rise to the hooded crow. The zone in which the two now come into contact (the 'hybrid zone') is only 20 to 50 km wide, and in Germany it essentially follows the course of the Elbe River. "Within this narrow zone, there is a low incidence of interbreeding. The progeny of such crosses have plumage of an intermediate color," Wolf explains. "The fact that this zone is so clearly defined implies that hybrid progeny are subjected to negative selection." Wolf wants to understand the genetic basis of this instance of reproductive isolation. In previous work, he and his group had demonstrated that the two populations differ genetically from each other only in segments of their genomes that determine plumage color. Moreover, population genetic studies have strongly suggested that mate selection is indeed based on this very character -- the two forms preferentially choose mating partners that closely resemble themselves. These earlier studies were based on the investigation of single-base variation, i.e. differences between individuals at single sites (base-pairs) within the genomic DNA. "However, we have never been able to directly determine the functional effects of such single-base variations on plumage color," says Matthias Weissensteiner, the lead author of the study. "Even when we find an association between a single-base variant and plumage color, the mutation actually responsible for the color change might be located thousands of base-pairs away." To tackle this problem, the researchers have used a technically demanding method to search for interspecific differences that affect longer stretches of DNA. These 'structural' variations include deletions, insertions or inversions of sequence blocks. "Up until recently, high-throughput sequencing technologies could only sequence segments of DNA on the order of 100 bp in length, which is not long enough to capture large-scale structural mutations," says Wolf. "Thanks to the new methods, we can now examine very long stretches of DNA comprising up to 150,000 base pairs." The team applied this technology to DNA obtained from about two dozen birds, and searched for structural variations that differentiate carrion crows from hooded crows. The data not only confirmed the results of the single-base analyses, they also uncovered an insertion mutation in a gene which is known to determine plumage color by interacting with a second gene elsewhere in the genome. In addition, phylogenetic analysis of DNA from related species revealed that their common ancestor carried the black variant of the first of these genes. The variant found in the hooded crow represents a new mutation, which first appeared about half a million years ago. "The new color variant seems to be quite attractive, because it was able to establish itself very quickly, and therefore must have been positively selected," says Wolf. How the variant accomplished this feat is not yet clear. The evidence suggests that it first appeared in the region which now encompasses Iran and Iraq, and there are some indications that the lighter plumage confers a selective advantage in hot regions, because it effectively reflects sunlight. This supports the idea that the mutation might have initially been favored by natural selection. "Once it had reached a certain frequency within the local population, it would have been able to spread because parental imprinting, which enables nestlings to recognize their parents, also causes mature birds to choose mates that resemble their parents in appearance," Wolf explains. However, other possible scenarios, such as random genetic drift in small populations or the involvement of selfish genes (which promote their own propagation), are also conceivable and have yet to be ruled out. 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. WASHINGTON (July 14, 2020)--Smartphone owners who unlock their devices with knock codes aren't as safe as they think, according to researchers from New Jersey Institute of Technology, the George Washington University and Ruhr University Bochum. Knock codes work by letting people select patterns to tap on a phone's locked screen. LG popularized the method in 2014, and now there are approximately 700,000 people using this method in the U.S. alone, along with one million downloads worldwide of clone applications for Google Android devices generally, the researchers said. Raina Samuel, a doctoral student in computer science at NJIT's Ying Wu College of Computing, said she had the idea for this research while attending a security conference in 2017. "During that conference I heard our co-author Adam Aviv give a presentation. He was talking about passwords, PINs, shoulder surfing and how these mobile methods of authentication can be manipulated and insecure sometimes," she said. "At the time, I had an LG phone and I was using the knock codes. It was a bit of a personal interest for me." Knock codes typically present users with a 2-by-2 grid, which must be tapped in the correct sequence to unlock their phone. The sequence is between six and ten taps. The researchers analyzed how easily an attacker could guess a tapping pattern. In an online study, 351 participants picked codes. The researchers found that 65% of users started their codes in the top left corner, often proceeding to the top right corner next, which could be attributed to Western reading habits. They also found that increasing the size of the grid didn't help, instead making the users more likely to pick shorter codes. "Knock codes really intrigued me as I have spent a lot of time working on other mobile authentication options, such as PINs or Android patterns, and had never heard of these," Aviv, an associate professor of computer science at GW, said. "Turns out, while less popular than PINs or patterns, there are still a surprising number of people using knock codes, so it's important to understand the security and usability properties of them." The researchers also tested a blocklist of common codes, so that survey participants would pick something harder to guess. The list contained the 30 most popular codes. The first three were: Top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right, top left, top right (Hourglass shape) Top left, top right, bottom right, bottom left, top left, top right (Square shape) Top left, top left, top right, top right, bottom left, bottom left. (Number 7 shape) The researchers said there should be a feature that blocks codes which are too easy to guess and advises users to pick stronger ones, similar to how some websites respond when users create password-protected accounts. The study showed that knock codes are difficult to memorize. Approximately one in ten participants forgot their code by the end of the study, even though it lasted only five minutes. In addition, entering such a code to unlock the display took 5 seconds on average, compared to entering a PIN which typically takes 4.5 seconds and an Android unlock pattern needing only 3 seconds. The research team also included Ruhr University's Philipp Markert. Aviv asked Markert to join their project when peer reviewers said the study of knock code patterns should be done on phones, not on computer simulations. Markert adapted the study's programming for this change. "I'm always interested in new authentication schemes, and I worked with Adam on a similar project about PINs, so when he asked me to join the team, I didn't think twice." Markert said. The paper will be presented at the 16th Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, held concurrently with the prestigious USENIX Security Symposium August 9-11. Funding was supplied by the Army Research Laboratory, National Science Foundation and Germany's North Rhine-Westphalian Experts on Research in Digitalization. ### A floor test is on the cards in the Rajasthan Assembly with an indication from the senior BJP leadership that the party is likely to push for one amid the political crisis in the state. Gulab Chand Kataria, Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan, on Tuesday said with a "vertical division in the Congress", Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot needs to prove his majority in the House before expanding his Cabinet. A lot could depend on whether the Governor gives his go-ahead to Gehlot to expand his Cabinet and also on the next move of Sachin Pilot who was removed from the post of deputy chief minister and state party chief. Gehlot is likely to announce his new ministers on the evening of July 16. Among the portfolios that will be allocated in the scheduled ceremony are likely to be food and civil supplies and tourism, the two ministries held by Pilot loyalists Ramesh Meena and Vishvendra Singh who were sacked from the party along with him. Pilot was replaced by education minister Govind Singh Dotasra. The announcements were made at the end of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held in the state capital of Jaipur earlier on Tuesday. Some of the MLAs belonging to the Pilot camp have demanded a floor test in the state assembly to know the number of legislators backing Gehlot. The Gehlot camp has been saying that they enjoyed the support of 109 MLAs, a claim contested by the Pilot loyalists. In the run-up to the CLP meeting on Tuesday, Meena said, "A floor test should be conducted in the assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs." Senior party leader and Sardarshahr MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma also claimed that the figure of 109 being projected in Gehlot's support is incorrect. The MLA said he will not join the BJP but wants a change in the leadership. "The figure of 109 figure being project is completely fake. The Congress has 107 MLAs. We are 22 together and six more will join us. Not more than 81 MLAs are on the other side, otherwise, what was the need to show the strength before the media and camp the legislators in a hotel," Sharma said, adding the situation will become clear once the floor test is conducted. Another Congress MLA, Deependra Singh Shekhawat, too had raised the same demanded on Monday. "We want a floor test at the earliest, which will make the situation crystal clear. We are with the Congress and Congress (state) president Sachin Pilot," he had said. Congress sources say it is well above the majority mark of 101, with 107 MLAs of its own, 13 Independents, one MLA each from CPI(M) and RJD, and two MLAs of Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP). However, the latter in a statement has distanced itself from both the Congress and the BJP. On the other hand, the BJP has 72 MLAs and its political ally RLP has three. Sources said the Congress is likely to force MLAs who are camping with Pilot to return to the fold, failing which they are likely to be disqualified by the party. This would bring down the halfway mark to around 92-94, a number that Gehlot would be quite confident of clearing. The Congress also sacked Mukesh Bhakar and Rakesh Pareek as presidents of its youth wing and Sewa Dal, replacing them with Ganesh Ghoghra, an MLA from Dungarpur, and Hem Singh Shekhawat. Pilot is likely to share his plans on Tuesday evening. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Olivier Chambard (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 09:55 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066617cfe 3 Opinion France,bilateral-relations,investment,foreign-aid,Emanuelle-Macron,COVID-19 Free This year, for the first time since the end of World War II, the avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris will not host a military parade on the occasion of July 14. Given the exceptional situation, President Emmanuel Macron wanted instead to pay tribute to those who are engaged in the fight against COVID-19 around the world. By this choice, France wants to show its solidarity with European and international partners affected by the health crisis. Indonesia is a major partner for France in Southeast Asia. Our countries are united by bonds of friendship and since 2011, by a strategic partnership based on common values such as democracy, human rights, tolerance and pluralism within society, and the conception of a secure, law-based international order that we are engaging to strengthen today. Facing the growing challenges of globalization, peace and security, be it climate change, the fight against terrorism, radicalism and extremism, disarmament, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction or health, our two countries recognize the leading role played by the United Nations and other multilateral international organizations. In the Indo-Pacific region, France and Indonesia promote the same vision of an inclusive and open space, in which France intends to contribute to regional stability and growth by strengthening its partnerships in three sectors: maritime cooperation, connectivity and sustainable development (Sustainable Development Goals), fully in line with the priorities of Indonesia and ASEAN, a central player in regional architecture. Unpredictable, deadly and long-lasting, the COVID-19 crisis makes us realize that to face a pandemic, only a collective response is effective. There is a need to strengthen multilateralism and international cooperation, France and Indonesia are fully committing in order to better prevent and overcome future crises. It is an ambitious and demanding project that must be driven by common values. In this regard, the spirit of July 14, which we celebrate in France, can be instilled in this momentum. In 1789, our ancestors were convinced that freedom, equality and fraternity should guide all of humanity and that these ideals would achieve full meaning if they were applied to all, beyond borders. Republican universalism was on the move and history has shown that these values unite us, especially during harsh times. As President Macron pointed out, the current situation leads us to reinvent ourselves, to be bold and creative, without which decline is looming. This is why France is undertaking reconstruction, be it economic, ecological or social. It is supported by the European Union, which has also taken unprecedented measures with a plan of 540 billion euro (US$609.92 billion). We are working with our European partners on a targeted stimulus fund to support the recovery, which is expected to amount to 750 billion euro. In addition, there is a debt buyback plan by the European Central Bank for 1.45 trillion euro. France has thus taken ambitious measures to face the crisis, with a rescue plan representing 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 315 billion euro in guarantees for businesses. Furthermore, there are sector plans for aeronautics, automotive industry and tourism and a recovery plan to be presented in the fall by the new government. The challenge is above all to preserve the productive apparatus to allow a rebound once the crisis has been overcome. As members of the Group of 20, France and Indonesia are working together to find a coordinated response to revive economy, trade and investment already damaged by the trade war between the two largest economies in the world. The 200 subsidiaries of French companies present in Indonesia remained during the crisis and will resume their investments. They have a lot to offer in the new sectors after COVID-19, especially in healthcare and digital. In order to facilitate recovery, it is more necessary than ever to continue negotiations between the EU and Indonesia for a free trade agreement (EU-CEPA). France is Indonesias third-largest donor of bilateral public aid. Our development bank, the French Development Agency (AFD), has already proposed to commit $110 million to support the Indonesian budgetary effort in the fight against COVID-19, and we are ready to do more by using the diversity of our financial tools. Here again, adaptation will be the keyword, in all sectors. France, like Indonesia, can boast of a strong cultural industry and a dynamic artistic scene. Despite the health crisis and the closure to the public of the four French Institutes and the two Alliances Francaises in Indonesia, hundreds of Indonesian students have benefited from new online courses and from cultural events like La Fete de la Musique (Festival of Music) through digital media. Besides, between Nov. 2 and Nov. 15, as part of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and France, the vIDeo // heritage.fr project will offer an exciting simultaneous multimedia exhibition in six emblematic monuments from six Indonesian cities (Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Medan in North Sumatra and Ubud in Bali). In terms of education, the first bilingual class in Indonesia welcomed its students to the Labschool Cibubur high school in West Java on Saturday. In addition to the Indonesian school curriculum, students will take French lessons as well as a scientific discipline taught in French. France has also committed to actively supporting the new Kampus Merdeka program launched by the Education and Culture Ministry, which provides Indonesian students with innovative education geared toward new technologies, thereby contributing to President Joko Jokowi Widodos human capital reform. This year, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Indonesia and France and the new impetus given to our strategic partnership, our two countries are closely linked to meet the challenges of our collective destiny, animated by common values and by the universal spirit of July 14. I am confident that the mutual benefits will live up to our expectations. *** The writer is French ambassador to Indonesia. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. The hunt is on for a missing father and his three young children after they vanished a month ago. Franklin Nkasu, 42, and his daughters - Neika, 12, Neisha, eight, and Nia, 11 months - were last seen at their Edmondson Park home in Sydneys southwest on June 11. An investigation into their whereabouts was launched by Liverpool City Police Area Command. Neika, 12, and her 11-month-old sister, Nia, (pictured) were last seen with their father, Franklin Nkasu, and other sister, Neisha, at their Edmondson Park home on June 11 NSW Police urged the public to help in their search for the missing family and said they had concerns for the children's welfare because of their age. The family are described as being of African appearance. The two older girls, Neika and Neisa, have dark, curly hair. Mr Nkasu is described of having a medium build and being about 165cm to 170cm tall, with dark brown hair. NSW Police believe they are travelling in a bronze Nissan Murana, with ACT registration YNT80R. Anybody with information is urged to contact Liverpool Police on (02) 9765 9499 or via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Information can also be submitted in strict confidence via Crime Stoppers' website at https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. CASTLETON, N.Y. Yet another private-run nursing home facility regulated by the state is experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases. This past spring saw the Diamond Hill Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Schaghticoke saw 58 residents and 27 employees test positive for COVID-19, with ultimately 16 residents dying. The latest outbreak comes at The Riverside Center for Rehabilitation in Castleton, which has seen a recent surge in cases with 30 residents and nine esmployees testing positive for COVID-19. Thats a sharp contrast to the county-run Van Rensselaer Manor facility, which has seen one resident test positive for COVID-19 and zero deaths since the pandemic numbers started being counted back in March. The startling numbers have Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin concerned and demanding answers from state and facility operators as to how such an outbreak in cases is happening again. According to Gary Holmes, New York State Department of Health spokesperson, [New York State Department of Health] Commissioner [Dr. Howard] Zucker spoke directly to the facilitys administrator [Monday] morning to offer PPE, staffing and any support the facility may need. The administrator assured the commissioner they had sufficient levels of all supplies, and the two agreed to speak again on Tuesday as we continue to monitor the situation. Our epidemiology team had also previously been in contact with the facility, offering support where needed, and visited facility Sunday night to ensure proper cohorting practices were being implemented, Holmes continued. The state is actively working with the county to conduct contact tracing within the facility. DOH was also at the facility last week for a COVID focus inspection to ensure strong infection control practices were in place. We found no deficiencies and there were sufficient levels of PPE. For context, weve conducted more than 1,200 of these inspections statewide since March, Holmes added. In addition to Riverside and Diamond Hill, there have been other outbreaks in the Capital Region, including the Barnwell and Teresian House facilities in Columbia and Albany counties respectively. I have first a great deal of concern about what is happening at Riverside and want these residents protected and cared for. How we are now seeing a significant surge in cases at a private facility like Riverside after having months to prepare, seeing implementation of expanded testing and other measures is a major issue that needs to be addressed, McLaughlin remarked on the surge in cases. As he has previously called on statewide nursing home deaths to be investigated, McLaughlin reiterated the need to look at why these outbreaks are happening again. New York state needs to immediately investigate how this outbreak occurred at Riverside and how so many residents and employees become exposed and then confirmed for COVID-19. This is yet another example of a private care facility overseen by the state have dozens of cases and exposures, McLaughlin noted. Between Riverside and Diamond Hill alone, two state-supervised, private care facilities, we have seen 124 cases involving residents and employees. When you consider our entire county has 667 total confirmed cases, you see that there is a significant issue occurring at private nursing homes that needs to be addressed, McLaughlin continued on the number of cases. There needs to be an investigation, there needs to be a remedy for this problem and a plan of action for how to avoid this happening in the future. For a significant outbreak like this to be occurring several months into the pandemic raises very real and troubling questions, McLaughlin emphasized on the need for a solution to stop nursing home infections. We have worked hard in our county to stop the spread and our residents and businesses have been careful to adhere to social distancing and stay at-home recommendations. It would be unfair if the outbreaks at state-supervised, private nursing homes are counted against the county, McLaughlin added. Meanwhile, there were no new cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus) confirmed today to the Rensselaer County Health Department, it was announced on Monday. Along with no new cases, the county also announced eight cases as cleared for recovery. There are now 667 confirmed cases, with 55 active cases. There are now six residents in the hospital with COVID-19, and none in the ICU. There are 232 residents in monitor quarantine, with 114 of those quarantines relating to travel. There have been 24,672 tests administered, including 354 recorded yesterday. There have been 31 deaths of residents from COVID-19. The county also announced eight cases as cleared for recovery. There have been 581 cases cleared to date. The Delhi high court on Tuesday asked an army officer to either abide by his organisations mandate or resign while declining his plea seeking a stay on the armys directive to soldiers to delete 89 apps from their smartphones. The court said the stay cannot be granted as the matter related to the countrys security and safety. The officer, Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary, moved the court after he was directed to remove the applications and also delete his Facebook and Instagram profiles. You please delete... You can always create a new one. It cannot work like this. You are part of an organisation. You have to abide by its mandate, a bench of justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon said. If you are so dear to FB [Facebook], then put in your papers. See you have to make a choice, what do you want to do. You have other choices which are also irreversible. Choudhary, who is posted in Jammu & Kashmir, sought a direction to withdraw the Centres June 6 policy to ensure that the fundamental rights of armed forces personnel are not abrogated amended or modified by arbitrary executive action. It added the order is not backed by the mandate of law, offends the provisions of the Army Act and Rules made thereunder and is unconstitutional. In his plea, he called himself an active Facebook user, who used the platform to connect with his friends and family as most of them are settled abroad, including his daughter. Choudharys lawyer, Shivank Pratap Singh, contended the order will compromise the right to privacy and data. He said if the interim relief is not granted, his clients valuable data will be lost due to the deletion of the accounts. He said it is an irreversible process and the account once deleted cannot be retrieved. Additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, who appeared for the Centre, opposed the plea and said the decision was taken as the government found Facebook had a bug. It was infiltrating as cyber warfare and there were so many instances of personnel being targeted. Sharma cited the petitioner argument that he needed Facebook to communicate with his family and added there are other modes of communication like WhatsApp, Twitter and Skype available to him. The court will hear the matter next on July 21. MIP Diagnostics, a Bedfordshire, UK-based nanotechnology business, completed a 5.1m funding round. The round was led by Downing Ventures, with participation from BGF, Mercia and Calculus VCT. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its global expansion. The company intends to use the funds to build its in-house R&D team as well as invest in commercial resource and scaling-up of manufacturing capacity. Originally founded in 2015 as a spin out from the University of Leicester Chemistry Department, MIP Diagnostics has developed a proprietary process for the manufacture of synthetic polymer alternatives to antibodies, known as Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) and nanoMIPs. The company develops and manufactures synthetic affinity reagents small molecules that are designed to bind to specific target molecules for detection, purification or extraction purposes. The nature of the MIPs allows for a range of applications including point-of-care diagnostics, clinical and non-clinical in-vitro diagnostics (IVD), healthcare and bioprocessing. MIPs are also suited to enhance sensor detection in a wide range of applications. Given their synthetic nature, MIPs can withstand harsh chemical environments such as extremes of pH, seawater, or high concentrations of organic solvents. In addition, MIPs are temperature resistant and have a very long shelf life at room temperature, making them ideal when the cold chain cannot be guaranteed. FinSMEs 14/07/2020 KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Hundreds of demonstrators have renewed their peaceful protest in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, demanding the release of the region's governor, Sergei Furgal, who was arrested last week on charges of attempted murder and ordering the killings of two businessmen in 2004-2005. The fifth unsanctioned mass rally since last weekend was held on the central Lenin Square in front of the regional government's building on July 14. Two protesters joined the demonstrators with posters challenging President Vladimir Putin, saying "Putin-thief, Furgal-ours!" The demonstrators called the two men "provocateurs," saying that their demands are about Furgal, not the president. Police said they detained one of the anti-Putin poster-holders for "insulting the president." From the square, the protesters marched across the city holding posters of support for the governor that said "I am/We are Sergei Furgal," and "Return Furgal back to us." Others joined the march as it wound through the streets, with drivers honked their horns to express support for the demonstrators. The protesters chanted "Free Furgal!" and demanded Khabarovsk Mayor Sergei Kravchuk, who publicly criticized the protests earlier in the day, to meet "for a fair talk." The protesters also demanded Furgal's case be investigated locally and any possible trial be held in Khabarovsk, and not Moscow. Tens of thousands gathered in support of Furgal in Khabarovsk over the weekend, a surprisingly strong showing given how far Khabarovsk is from the Russian capital and 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. Smaller rallies were also held in the military industrial city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and other towns in the region. Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on July 14 that the Kremlin "understands the emotions of Khabarovsks residents," but stressed that the accusations put forward against Furgal were "very serious." "Everyone needs patience in this situation. Investigators must prove the accusations in court and only a court will decide if anyone is guilty or not in the case,' Peskov said, warning that ongoing mass protests in Khabarovsk may cause a spike in coronavirus cases in the region. On July 10, a Moscow court ordered Furgal to be held in pretrial detention for two months. The 50-year-old member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) led by nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of businessman Aleksandr Smolsky and ordering the murders of two businessmen, Yevgeny Zorya and Oleg Bulatov in 2004-2005. Furgal won a surprise victory over Kremlin favorite Vyacheslav Shport in 2018 in a major upset for the ruling United Russia party. The Ministry of Public Securitys Police Investigation Authority completed its investigation relating to the land plot at 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street in HCM City on July 13 and transferred the case to the Supreme Peoples Procuracy. Former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang The case involves former Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang and former Director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT)s Light Industry Department Phan Chi Dung, who have been charged with violating regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness. Former Vice Chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee Nguyen Huu Tin and seven accomplices were accused of violating regulations on land management. Former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa, who has fled, is now wanted for her involvement in the case. According to investigators, Hoang knew that the land plot of 6,000 square metres at 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street in downtown District 1 was to be assigned to Vietnams largest brewery, Sabeco, under MoIT, for the construction of a six-star hotel and trade and convention centre. While Hoang knew that Sabeco was not permitted to establish a new entity to use the land allotted to it, he still instructed the State Capital Management Board at Sabeco to establish the Sabeco Pearl Company. Based on Hoangs approval and Thoas direction, Phan Dang Tuat, Chairman and Head of the State Capital Management Board at Sabeco, signed a document submitted to the HCM City Peoples Committee requesting approval for Sabeco Pearl to be the owner of the project. He also asked city authorities to let Sabeco transfer its land use rights to the newly-formed joint venture. Based on this, departments and agencies under the HCM City Peoples Committee recommended Nguyen Huu Tin to sign a decision allowing Sabeco Pearl to lease the land in violation of regulations. Hoang himself also directed Sabeco to speed up divestment of capital in Sabeco Pearl and approved the auction price for Sabecos stake at 13,247 VND per share. These illegal actions resulted in the land becoming private property, causing especially big losses to the State budget. As Thoa has fled and the investigations timeframe has expired, police have decided to suspend the investigation against her until she is arrested./.VNA A Lebanese soldier was killed Monday after some gunmen opened fire on an army patrol and army positions in several areas across the Baalbek region, reports say. The military command neither revealed the identity of the attackers nor apprehended them but said number of armed (men) fired at a patrol belonging to the army and military centers which led to the martyrdom of one of the soldiers. Killed soldier is Ali al-Afi, was a Baalbeck native and a father of one child. In a separate report, The Daily Star also said wanted Lebanese citizen Abbas Al-Masry fired shots into the air while attempting to force his way through a checkpoint in Baalbek City, hours before the Baalbek region incident. Soldiers at the checkpoint retaliated injuring Al-Masry and his companion. Both were admitted to hospital for treatment. The Western Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (Western-GJA) has condemned the assault of the Western Regional cameraman of Metro TV Alhaji Mustapha Ashley. The journalist was assaulted by the bodyguard of the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Jomoro Gwira Constituency and Minister of State at the Presidency. The Western-GJA is also unhappy with the deletion of video footage from Alhaji Ashley's camera without his permission, describing it as an attack on press freedom. The Western - GJA in a statement signed by the Secretary, Mr Zambaga Rufai Saminu, and copied to the GNA called for the immediate arrest of the said bodyguard who is identified as Appiah. The statement explained that the Cameraman, Alhaji Ashley was among other Journalists covering a court case involving Mr Seth Afeku, the husband of the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira MP, and one Angate Borzar who was arrested on the orders of Mr Afeku. The statement said after the unfortunate incident, the regional GJA received an official complaint from the Metro TV Cameraman indicating that his camera was seized and video deleted under the supervision of the police without his permission. Preliminary investigations conducted by the regional GJA revealed that, before the commencement of the court proceedings, the Metro TV Cameraman, Alhaji Ashley was taking video footage outside the court premises to support his story since recordings or pictures/video inside the courtroom is not allowed. This was after Alhaji Ashley had sought permission from the court clerk. The statement noted that without any provocation, the said bodyguard who arrived in the company of the MP & Minister of State, Mrs Catherine Afeku and the husband as well as the Municipal Chief Executive, Frank Okpenyan, upon seeing the cameraman with his camera, the bodyguard rushed, interrupted him and ordered him to hand over the Metro TV branded video camera to him. The statement further indicated that the refusal of Alhaji Ashley to handover his official camera to the bodyguard resulted in a fierce confrontation and heckling, which attracted the intervention of a policeman. The statement explained that another senior police officer who also arrived at the scene asked the cameraman to hand over the camera to the junior police officer which he did. However, surprisingly, the Member of Parliament for Evalue-Jomoro Gwira Constituency and Minister State and MCE looked on unconcerned and gracefully walked to take their positions in the courtroom. The statement said after the camera was handed back to Alhaji Ashley after the court proceedings it was detected that all visuals on the camera were deleted under the supervision of officers of the Ghana Police Service without any explanation. The statement reminded the police and the Minister of State that "we are in a democratic era and therefore the era of tyranny and political Khakistocracy belong to the past". "We are shocked that after recent adaptation of a framework on Police Media Relations and safety of Journalists in the country, the Axim Police supervised the seizure and deletion of reporters professional work and could not be anything less than an attack on press freedom". The statement in this regard called on the Regional Commander to investigate the said senior officer, why he ordered the reporter to hand his camera to the junior officer, and the deletion of the video footage from the Camera. "Again we want the identity of the said bodyguard established, arrested and made to face the law for abuse of power and ensure that such perpetrators of violations against Journalists are punished". 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 Portland has seen a jump in shootings this month along, with a slight uptick in homicides after a rash of killings in the last two weeks. Less than two weeks into July, police have responded to 42 shootings, which can include any incident in which gunshots are fired, not just those that result in injuries or damage. Last year, the average month in Portland saw about 32 shootings, and none more than 40. Each of these numbers represents a human being, Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said during a virtual press conference Monday, and we must not lose sight of that. This comes after the Portland Police Bureau dissolved its 34-member Gun Violence Reduction Team, which investigated shootings, after public criticism that the team formerly the Gang Enforcement Team disproportionately targeted Black residents. The Portland City Council took the $5.7 million from the specialty team formerly the gang enforcement team and redirected it toward Portland Street Response and the citys general fund. The teams officers have returned to patrol work. Lovell said it was too early to assess the impact of reassigning the team. I want to assure you that these cases are still important and being investigated, Lovell said. For us, its really just figuring out the most efficient system under the current structures that were putting together to make up for the loss of the intelligence, follow-up piece that GVRT had given us in the past. The first 12 days of July also saw an uptick in homicides after five people died of homicidal violence in Portland within two days this month. The sudden rash of homicides does not yet push the citys homicides for this year out of range from previous years. So far this year, Portland has seen 16 homicides; it had seen 17 at the same time last year. In 2020, more shootings have occurred almost every month when compared to 2019. That year, about 30 to 40 shootings occurred each month. (Last July, when just 11 shootings occurred, was an exception.) So far this year, that has climbed to 40 to 50 each month. This is the city we live in, Wheeler said at the news conference. Portlanders, our neighbors, are being hurt by this violence. Portland typically sees between 20 to 36 homicides a year. The city had 36 homicides in 2019, 33 in 2018, 27 in 2017, 20 in 2016 and 34 in 2015. Five people died of homicidal violence within two days, beginning the evening of July 9: Dominique Dunn Dominique Dunn, 28, died in a shooting outside a Southwest Portland strip club at 8:15 p.m. on July 9. Family and friends said on social media that race was a factor in his death, but police said that they had interviewed multiple witnesses and found no evidence to support that assertion, calling it misinformation in a statement. Police arrested 25-year-old Jordan Clark on suspicion of second-degree murder. Nadezhda Volobuev During a welfare check near the 16300 block of Southeast Foster Road at about 9 a.m. on July 10, Portland police found 61-year-old Nadezhda Volobuev had died after being stabbed. Police arrested her daughter, 29-year-old Angelina M. Volobuev, on suspicion of second-degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon. Shai-India Harris A few hours later, at 12:44 p.m., police responded to a shooting in the 7400 block of 84th Avenue. Police said 18-year-old Shai-India Harris was dead at the scene. Julian Heredia That night, around 9 p.m., police responded to another shooting near the 13600 block of Southeast Powell Boulevard and found 19-year-old Julian Heredia dead at the scene. Cody Nicholas Vickers At 3:46 p.m. on July 8, police responded to a report of a stabbing in the 1300 block of Southeast Water Avenue. Cody Nicholas Vickers was taken to a hospital. Police said the morning of July 10 that Vickers had died. Stephen Bache, 52, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Joe Biden unveiled a proposal Tuesday to transform the nation's energy industry, pledging to eliminate carbon pollution from power plants by 2035 and spend $2 trillion to turbocharge the clean energy economy. The plan would significantly reduce the country's reliance on fossil fuels, and the 15-year timeline for a 100 percent clean electricity standard is far more ambitious than anything Biden has previously proposed. It was Biden's latest attempt to channel the liberal energy in his party, as well as a response to calls for sweeping plans to lift a struggling economy. The blueprint was quickly hailed by environmentalists and liberals as a big step forward in the climate fight, and just as quickly denounced by Republicans as an unwieldy plan that would raise energy costs. "We're not just going to tinker around the edges," Biden said in a speech in Wilmington, Del. "We're going to make historic investments and seize the opportunity and meet this moment in history." The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee proposed upgrading 4 million buildings and weatherizing 2 million homes over four years, which his campaign estimates would create 1 million jobs. Homeowners would be given cash rebates to upgrade home appliances and install more efficient windows. Car owners would receive rebates to swap their old, less efficient cars for newer ones that release fewer pollutants. Biden also said he would create a new "Environmental and Climate Justice Division" within the Justice Department to prosecute anti-pollution cases. "These aren't pie-in-the-sky dreams," he said. "These are actionable policies that we can get to work on right away." Many of Biden's proposals build on the recommendations of a task force made up jointly of allies of Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Those recommendations include plans to dramatically expand solar and wind energy, including the installation of 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines. Biden's plan is likely to trigger a vigorous debate with President Donald Trump, who has a much different approach to the country's energy sector and climate policy. Trump, a strong backer of fossil fuels, has sought to roll back Obama-era policies aimed at decreasing carbon dioxide emissions and setting new standards for household items such as lightbulbs. He has also downplayed the science behind climate change, and in 2017 he pledged to pull the United States out of the Paris climate pact. Trump's embrace of the coal industry was one of his signature issues in 2016, part of his portrait of Hillary Clinton as disdainful of the country's industrial workers. It's not clear whether Trump can successfully level similar attacks against Biden, or whether the political landscape has shifted to make that difficult. In 2016, Republicans attacked Clinton for her comment that "we're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business," though Clinton was suggesting this would happen because of market forces, not as part of her plan. Trump, meanwhile, pledged to revive the ailing coal industry, telling miners in West Virginia that "we are going to get those mines open" if he were elected. But the coal industry has continued to struggle under Trump, largely because of competition from natural gas and renewable energy. The Trump campaign was quick to go after Biden's proposal Tuesday. "His plan is more like a socialist manifesto that promises to massively raise taxes, eliminate jobs in the coal, oil or natural gas industries, and crush the middle class," said Hogan Gidley, the campaign's national press secretary."He's pushing extreme policies that would smother the economy just when it's showing signs of roaring back." Biden, in pledging Tuesday to achieve 100 percent clean electricity by 2035, embraced a more direct approach than President Barack Obama, his boss at the time, took a decade ago during his own efforts to rein in emissions from the power sector. During his first year in office, Obama worked with congressional Democrats on a cap-and-trade system, in which companies buy and sell credits permitting them to release carbon into the atmosphere. But the measure proved politically toxic. It passed the House but was never given a vote in the Senate. Instead, Biden wants to require electric utilities to get more of their power from carbon-free sources - including wind, solar, nuclear and hydroelectric - and to improve the energy efficiency of their systems or face penalties. While some changes could be made through executive actions, a sweeping plan like Biden's could face resistance in Congress - one reason the campaign is framing it as an economic package and not solely an environmental initiative. If Biden wins, its fate may depend on whether Democrats retake the Senate, but the plan's supporters say it has more appeal than a cap-and-trade system. "It's built on a smart approach that's already been tested in the states," said Dan Reicher, a former Energy Department official who co-founded Clean Energy for Biden, which is fundraising for the campaign. "It will be less controversial than a national cap-and-trade system or carbon tax, with real prospects for bipartisan support." Similar standards have proved to be politically viable at the state level. A majority of states - including several conservative ones such as Montana, Iowa and Texas - have imposed their own renewable energy requirements on local utilities. But no standard exists at the federal level. The ratcheted-up targets came after Biden faced pressure from young left-leaning activists and major environmental groups to do more to address what they see as a generational crisis. Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, praised the Biden campaign's announcement for going "further than the strong plan he put out last summer," saying public polling shows voters have an appetite for action. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the federal government should act more aggressively against climate change, according to a recent poll from the Pew Research Center. The big-spending League of Conservation Voters, which pumped more than $80 million into the 2018 election, endorsed Biden in April only after he promised to toughen his climate plan. Biden said Tuesday that the proposal was aimed at twin goals of rebuilding the economy and fighting climate change. Much of the spending, he said, would go toward repairing bridges and roads and improving public transportation systems. He claimed that his proposal was doing what Trump has not, in what became a running joke as the White House week after week said the president would focus on repairing the country's infrastructure, only to digress into other subjects. "It seems like every few weeks when he needs a distraction from the latest charges of corruption . . . the White House announces, quote, it's infrastructure week," Biden said. "But he's never delivered. He's never even really tried." Biden's proposal says all American-built buses should emit zero greenhouse gases by 2030, and it would also aim to convert the country's 500,000 school buses, including those running on diesel fuel, to zero emissions. As Biden has promised previously, he would also aim to build 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations. To tackle climate-warming pollution from the transportation sector, the nation's biggest greenhouse gas source, Biden is endorsing a bill from Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., that would pay people to trade in gas-guzzling cars for electric and other low-emissions vehicles - essentially a "cash for clunkers" program on steroids. While comparing his proposals to what the Obama administration did during the 2009 stimulus, Biden said, "We'll do it again. But this time bigger and faster and smarter." Biden also said he would use the government's purchasing power to convert 3 million vehicles in the federal fleet to clean cars, giving the auto industry an incentive to produce more environmentally friendly cars, trucks and postal vehicles. Biden's campaign declined to describe exactly how he would pay for the new spending. Some of it, advisers said, would be through stimulus funding, which could add to the ballooning federal deficit. It could also be offset by rescinding the tax cuts pushed by Trump and approved by a Republican-controlled Congress in 2017, or by "asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share," the advisers said. The campaign intends to more fully describe how its plans would be funded in the coming weeks, after Biden outlines more of his spending plans, aides said. The climate proposal does not go into detail about what would happen to areas of the country that are heavily reliant on the fossil fuel industry, although one part of Biden's plan aims to create 250,000 jobs plugging abandoned oil and natural gas wells and reclaiming abandoned coal, hard-rock and uranium mines. Biden is also calling for the creation of a "civilian climate corps," an idea that was promoted during the Democratic primary by Gov. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., and modeled after the Civilian Conservation Corps established by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Biden has spoken with Inslee, who ran against him in the Democratic primary with a campaign focused sharply on climate change, and former Inslee advisers have been working with Biden's campaign to craft his energy policy. "This is the single most comprehensive and ambitious climate plan ever advanced by a major presidential nominee," said Sam Ricketts, who co-authored Inslee's climate plan and co-founded Evergreen Action, a group pushing to implement the Inslee plan. Biden is also calling for several environmental justice provisions, including a proposal that some 40 percent of the money he wants to spend on clean energy would go to historically disadvantaged communities. Biden held a fundraiser Monday with about 140 executives where he spoke about his focus on clean energy. "I don't have to be Pollyannaish about this: Donald Trump has ignored the warning, refused to prepare," he said of the climate crisis. The former vice president also said he would take swift action and set a more urgent timeline than his earlier proposal, which would have sought to eliminate carbon emissions from power plants by 2050. That 2050 deadline, he said, "is a million years from now [for] most people. My plan is focused on taking action - now. God willing I win and even if I serve eight years, I want to make sure we put down such a marker that it's impossible for the next president to turn it around." Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Lisa Barrington (Reuters) Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tue, July 14, 2020 16:00 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663789e 2 World UAE,United-Arab-Emirates,Mars-mission Free The United Arab Emirates has postponed to July 17 the launch of its mission to Mars due to weather conditions at the launch site in Japan, the UAE government communications office said on Tuesday. The UAE's Hope Probe was due to set off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center at 12:51am UAE time on Wednesday (2051 GMT Tuesday) for a seven-month journey to the red planet where it was due to orbit and send back data about the atmosphere. "The UAEs space mission, the Arab world's first interplanetary mission, will launch on Friday July 17, 2020 at 12:43am UAE time (July 16, 2020 at 8:43pm GMT) from Tanegashima Space Center," the government communications office tweeted. There are currently eight active missions exploring Mars; some orbit the planet and some land on its surface. China and the United States will send another two this year. The UAE, an oil-exporting nation, first announced plans for the mission in 2014 as part of efforts to diversify away from hydrocarbons and develop a knowledge economy, aiming to reach the planet by 2021. With a population of 9.4 million, most of whom are foreign workers, the UAE lacks the scientific and industrial base of the big space-faring nations. It launched a National Space Program in 2017 to develop expertise in space science among Emiratis. Emirati Hazza al-Mansouri became the first Arab in space in September 2019 in a flight to the International Space Station. To develop and build the Hope Probe, Emiratis and Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) worked with US educational institutions with space science expertise. The UAE government has announced an ambitious goal of a Mars settlement by 2117. Cho Nam-joo's feminist novel "Kim Ji-young, Born 1982" has been longlisted for France's Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature. The prize is awarded by the Guimet Museum of Asian Art to works of literature every year. In 2018 it was won by fellow Korean Hwang Sok-yong for "At Dusk." "Kim JI-young" became a bestseller here in 2016 and has sold more than a million copies in Korea alone. The rights have been sold to 16 countries including China and Japan. Meanwhile, the Korean novels "On the Origin of Species" by Jeong Yu-jeong and "The Hole" by Pyun Hye-young were shortlisted for Germany's LiBeraturpreis award given to female authors from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Arab world. But some tenant advocates say the new version still doesnt go far enough. The Housing Justice League wants 90 days notice for all tenants with less than three years in an apartment, and for larger landlords to pay at least $2,500 in relocation fees to help tenants cover costs of moving. By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 07/14/2020 ADVERTISEMENT BRITTANY AND YAZAN ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT ARIELA AND BINIYAM ADVERTISEMENT KENNETH AND ARMANDO ADVERTISEMENT DEAVAN AND JIHOON ADVERTISEMENT JENNY AND SUMIT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. : The Other Way featured Yazan Abo Horira's mother screaming at Brittany Banks over cultural differences and making her cry, Deavan Clegg threatening to dump Jihoon Lee over lying about his finances, and Ariela's mother Janice totally disapproving of her daughter's new living conditions in Ethiopia during Monday night's Season 2 episode on TLC.: The Other Way follows American citizens moving to foreign countries for the sake of love and their future spouses, and they must marry within 90 days in order to stay.: The Other Way's second season features a total of six couples, including Season 1 returnees Jenny Slatten and fiance Sumit as well as Deavan and husband Jihoon.Jenny, a 61-year-old from Palm Springs, CA, is moving back to India for Sumit, a 32-year-old from New Delhi, India, once and for all after previously uprooting her life only to discover Sumit was married to another woman.And Deavan, a 23-year-old from Salt Lake City, UT, is officially moving to South Korea along with her two children to start a life with Jihoon, a 29-year-old from Seoul, South Korea.The four new couples starring on Season 2 of : The Other Way are Yazan, a 24-year-old from Amman, Jordan, and Brittany, a 26-year-old from Palm Beach, FL; Ariela, a 28-year-old from Princeton, NJ, and Biniyam, a 29-year-old from Ethiopia; Kenneth Niedermeier, a 57-year-old from St. Petersburg, FL, and Armando Rubio, a 31-year-old from Mexico; and Tim, a 34-year-old from Dallas, TX, and Melyza, a 29-year-old from Colombia.Below is what was shown on Episode 6 of : The Other Way's second season.Brittany was hoping to get back to the way things were with Yazan because she said she still loved him but just didn't like his bad attitude and sudden controlling ways.Brittany and Yazan needed to reconcile after fighting at the airport over Brittany hugging a crew member and having a container of tequila on her.Yazan brought Brittany flowers and explained that he got jealous just because he loved her and a woman having physical contact with another man when she's in a relationship with a religious Muslim man is forbidden.Yazan told Brittany she was "acting crazy," but Brittany said her boyfriend needed to "recognize [his] own crazy."Brittany thought Yazan was crawling back with his tail between his legs, so she decided to let the fight go for now but revisit the issue later.Yazan told Brittany they were going apartment hunting but would visit his parents first, and then he gave Brittany a hijab to wear. Brittany, however, didn't feel like putting it on.Brittany met Yazan's parents before while wearing a hijab out of respect, and so she agreed to put it on in the car right before pulling up to Yazan's parents' place.Brittany knew Yazan's parents wanted her to marry Yazan right away because it's customary, but little did Yazan's parents know that she was still married to her ex.Brittany told Yazan on the drive over to his parents that she had every right to hug other Americans because it's her custom to do that, but Yazan called that behavior "wrong" and said it's unacceptable in his culture and in Jordan."You're not going to talk to me like that, like I'm a kid, like you control everything that I do... I am a person, I am a human being. You don't respect me how I thought you did. You don't love me," Brittany said."No, you don't love me because you don't change yourself," Yazan replied.Yazan thought the situation was funny but upsetting at the same time, and Brittany went on to say that if Yazan respected her, he never would have flipped out on her at the airport the way that she did.Brittany said she was starting to hate Yazan and his parents because they were trying to change her and control her. Brittany told Yazan that she wasn't going to become an Arabic person and maybe he should go and marry one of his own cousins.Brittany put on a hijab but said it was going to be the last time. She snapped at Yazan that he owed her $900 because he was covering up a very expensive wig.Brittany wasn't in a good mood when she was about to meet Yazan's parents, but she said she wasn't about to be disrespectful. She also didn't want to discuss her marriage timeline with Yazan.Yazan's mother chose not to appear on camera due to her cultural beliefs, and Yazan's father told Brittany that her head scarf was beautiful.Yazan's father asked the couple to get married right away and sign the marriage paperwork, but Brittany said, "I don't even want to visit that topic right now. I want to be clear: I want to wait for my family to come for the wedding. It's going to take some time for my family to get the plans together and their plane tickets."Brittany made it seem like she was pushing back her nuptials because she really wanted her family to be in Jordan for the event, but she was lying and postponing the wedding because she was still married -- and Yazan and his family had no idea.Brittany said she wanted to wait until January, which surprised Yazan's parents. He also pushed for Brittany to convert to Islam or learn more about the religion.Brittany told Yazan she didn't want Islam to be forced upon her because then she wouldn't appreciate it.Yazan called Brittany "a baby," and Brittany said, "No," which upset Yazan's mother, who suddenly came on-camera to voice her opinion on how Brittany talking back to her husband and not respecting him was inappropriate."When he tells her she's a baby, you say, 'Yes, I'm a baby.' Not, 'No.' She doesn't say 'no' to him," Yazan's mother said.Brittany argued that Yazan had been rude to her all day long, which his parents didn't witness. Yazan's father said he wouldn't approve of his son's romantic relationship unless Brittany canceled her social media and stopped living her usual American life.Brittany said they needed to compromise and combine their cultures, but Yazan's family believed Brittany didn't respect Yazan."We respected you. Where is our respect?!" Yazan's mother yelled.Brittany argued that she had been very respectful and didn't understand why his parents were upset with her. Yazan's mother said Brittany should "forget" her other family because she was going to become a member of their own family.Yazan's mother yelled about Brittany making Yazan wait to wed at 26 years old for her family, claiming it wasn't a good enough reason."We want to see him married with kids!" Yazan's mother screamed, adding that Brittany was full of excuses and would seemingly make Yazan wait five or 10 years to marry.As Brittany sat there and cried because she didn't even speak the language, Yazan's father added, "And she'd stay on social media and they'll say that your son's fiancee is a prostitute!"Brittany got so upset and left the room and apologized for not speaking the language and not wanting to be Muslim and "not being good enough" for Yazan. Meanwhile, Yazan's mother was yelling about how Brittany didn't allow Yazan to call her a baby.Ariela's mother Janice came over to her new apartment for the first time, and Ariela was nervous her mom was going to hate it and be disgusted by the trash in the streets."Walking into Ariela's apartment, I'm having chest pain, and I hope she changes her mind about living [in Ethiopia]," Janice said.Biniyam asked Ariela to be patient for one week because he could paint the inside of the apartment and make it look better, but that didn't make Ariela's mom feel better.Janice called the place "appalling" because the apartment was filled with dirt, mold and bacteria. Biniyam also didn't own a refrigerator, and Janice believed it was "the worst kitchen" she had ever seen.Janice also worried when she found out Biniyam would clean his water supply with leaves rather than soap. She worked all of her life to give her kids so much more, so she wanted Biniyam to fix the situation and provide better for her daughter.Biniyam promised Ariela their apartment was only temporary and so he showed her a bigger place with more potential, but it had to be totally renovated and was empty with paint chips all over the floor and exposed wires on the walls.Biniyam said he wanted to surprise Ariela with the nicer apartment, but the place needed so much work that Ariela actually considered it worse than the first one.Biniyam admitted he had limited financial means but would do everything he could to make Ariela and his future child happy."This apartment is a mess. The first one was bad enough, and this one is just a disaster," Janice told the cameras."It would be months before they could get it together to live in it and Ari doesn't really have that time. She needs something good right now."Biniyam insisted he could have the apartment live-in ready in two weeks, but Ariela and Janice weren't buying it. Janice said it would take an army of guys and about a month to get the job done.Ariela told Biniyam that she loved his sweetness and thoughtfulness, but at the same time, she was disappointed in her man for not getting a place ready for her arrival. Ariela said she needed running water and electricity.Armando set up the new place where he was going to live with Kenneth. He decided to make a framed picture for Kenny that showed him leaving the United States and coming from Florida to Mexico.The message said, "Love has no borders. Welcome home."Kenneth apparently liked how crafty Armando is and appreciated gifts Armando made with his own two hands. Armando said Kenny never desired gifts from the store and never expected Armando to spend money on him.Kenneth was going to cover the rent for their new apartment.Kenneth was so excited to see Armando after nine months of being apart. Kenneth had been listening to music the whole ride and talking to Truffles, and he was only hours away from touching down in Mexico.The fact Kenneth left his family and kids still weighed on his heart, but he couldn't wait to be reunited with the love of his life.He always put his children first but said they're all adults now and it was time for him to make himself happy."We both gave up so much to be together, but there's a lot we have to worry about. We have to learn to live together, to co-parent Hannah, his family not accept us, and being gay in Mexico is not widely accepted," Kenneth acknowledged.Jihoon admitted he was not financially ready for his family to arrive in South Korea, and she said it wasn't okay that he had lied to her again.Jihoon apologized to Deavan for being selfish, saying he loved her but was going through very stressful times with the debt he owed and having a new baby. Jihoon said he was working as a delivery driver part-time so he could rest when he wanted to rest.He said he earned around $2,000-3,000 a month, but Deavan had been working 17 hours a day while raising two kids. She thought Jihoon working a part-time job so he could "take more naps" was "ridiculous."Jihoon's mother apparently managed his money so he couldn't spend it on himself, and so he told Deavan that he was saving for a new house."It sounds like you didn't want to spend your money so you let me spend all my money, and now we're here and I don't have anything. I don't have money, I don't have a car," Deavan told Jihoon."I gave up everything for you, but you couldn't give up some time to work harder to help. My life is not a game. I have sacrificed a lot and you've sacrificed nothing, and I at this point, have lost all trust. If you loved me and the kids, you would've helped."Jihoon replied, "You're right, I am so sorry. But I do love you.""I don't think I want to be together anymore after this," Deavan noted. "I am going to get a hotel tonight with just my mom so I can be alone with the kids and think."Jihoon said he had paid off his debt and so he thought he could start saving for his family but that was the wrong way to think and it was "stupid and selfish.""I feel like [it's] game over," Jihoon said.Deavan felt it was really sh-tty Jihoon had "tricked" her, and she didn't know what to do other than leaving the apartment and taking her children to a safe area. Deavan said she needed to figure out whether she was going to stay with Jihoon or go back to America and leave him.Jenny and Sumit were shown meeting up with one of Sumit's friends, and Jenny wished her fiance was more on top of things and had been taking care of business. Jenny, however, didn't want to fight with Sumit, so she tried to maintain her cool.Sumit's friend Neeraj was apparently one of several people who had made an attempt to get to know her in India.Neeraj said he never meant to hurt Jenny by lying about Sumit having been married. Neeraj said he was well aware Sumit was in love with Jenny and so he didn't want to ruin their relationship even though it was hard for him to keep such a big secret.Neeraj insisted there were times when he wanted to come clean to Jenny about Sumit's wife but he never did.Jenny said she could understand Neeraj was just supporting his friend given Sumit and Neeraj are very close. Neeraj said he just wanted to see Jenny and Sumit together, and Jenny noted she planned on getting married as soon as possible.Neeraj was going through a divorce at the time, and he said four years had passed and things still weren't resolved because she was asking for money and the pair was fighting in court.Jenny feared this meant Sumit's divorce could take that long as well, but Sumit assured Jenny that he was "ready to pay" and was going through "a mutual divorce.""So his is not going to take four years?" Jenny asked."No, of course not," Neeraj replied, "as long as he can pay."Jenny grew very worried and wanted to see the divorce paperwork, but Sumit pushed back a little bit and said he'd show her proof once they get some time.Jenny, however, was aggressive about her stance on this and demanded they talk with Sumit's lawyer the very next day. Jenny was desperate for peace of mind because she didn't want to look like "an idiot" again.Want more spoilers or couples updates? Click here to visit our homepage! McClatchy, hobbled by debt and pension obligations, filed for Chapter 11 protection in February. Under a restructuring plan submitted to a bankruptcy court in New York, Chatham its largest investor outside of the McClatchy family and biggest debt-holder will emerge as the sole owner and take the company private. The companies did not put a price on the deal announced Sunday, but in an earlier filing, Chatham offered roughly $300 million in a combination of restructured debt and at least $30 million in cash. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:03:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A citizen runs in front of the Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, on Oct. 1, 2019. (Xinhua/Chen Bin) BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Tuesday voiced firm opposition to U.S. arms sales to China's Taiwan region, as well as any other form of military contact between them. Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks when responding to a question about the U.S. State Department's approval of a plan selling weapons worth 620 million U.S. dollars to China's Taiwan region. Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority will never succeed in its attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" by military means, she said. The DPP's attempts will only undermine the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and bring a greater disaster to people in Taiwan, Zhu added. The chairman of the governing council of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Wale Babalakin, has approved the postponement of the council meeting earlier scheduled to hold between July 15 and 17, PREMIUM TIMES can confirm. A notice of postponement, which was contained in a letter by the universitys registrar, Oladejo Azeez, was addressed to the council members. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by this newspaper, reads in part; I have been directed by the pro-chancellor and chairman of the governing council, Dr. Bolanle Olawale Babalakin, SAN, to inform council members that the special meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 15 to Friday, July 17, 2020, has been postponed. Please, find attached the letter from the pro-chancellor which you were earlier copied. All inconveniences are highly regretted. This is as the federal government has announced the suspension of physical meetings of more than four people, advising government officials to also suspend all unnecessary travels for meetings. The secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, said this on Monday during the briefing of the presidential task force on coronavirus disease. Mr Mustapha, who doubles as the chairman of the taskforce directed that government or board meetings should be conducted virtually until further notice, even as he advised Nigerians to remain vigilant, noting that the pandemic would not go away by a wish, neither would it go away if people refuse to keep safe. He said; Please let us all resolve to play our part, while the Government does its best to save lives and livelihood. To this end, all government offices shall continue to hold virtual meetings in their offices especially where participants exceed four persons and suspend all unnecessary travels for meetings. For corporate organisations, board members, among others, the reopening of the domestic flights should not be misconstrued. The PTF strongly encourages virtual meetings as well; we still urge places of worship to cautiously follow the guidelines on public gatherings, and we urge members of the political class to exercise utmost circumspection in their gathering for whatever reasons. According to him, the decision was part of the outcome of the PTF mid-term review of the national response strategy. How VC canvassed for virtual council meeting PREMIUM TIMESs investigations have revealed that the universitys vice-chancellor, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, on Monday, wrote a comprehensive letter to the pro-chancellor making the case for a virtual meeting, instead of the physical one being advocated by the council chairman. According to the letter, Mr Ogundipe cited relevant positions of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the novel coronavirus disease and its management protocols, suggesting that it would amount to taking avoidable risk if physical meeting is hosted on the campus. Apart from citing the virtual council meetings held by the University of Ibadan and the Obafemi Awolowo University, the vice-chancellor also cited what he described as the unfortunate incidence at the Benue State University, where the institutions governing council chairman, vice-chancellor, among others, have reportedly been confirmed of the virus, after holding a physical meeting of the council on the campus. He also disclosed that a staffer of the university, who reportedly had interactions with some council members recently, is currently on admission for the coronavirus disease at an isolation in Lagos. READ ALSO: The letter reads in part; My call for a virtual meeting is further reinforced by the fact that a professor in the university has tested positive to covid-19 and he is currently being treated at the LUTH isolation centre. I have it in good authority that before he was admitted at the isolation centre, he was in contact with some council members who may be attending this special council meeting. It would be a high risk to convene a physical council meeting at this time, given the NCDC protocol and guidelines which prohibit any large gathering and also advises that anyone in contact with a covid-19 patient should immediately self-isolate for a minimum of 14 days. Mr Ogundipe also wrote that the procedure for calling the special meeting was improper, and that he had only called for an emergency council meeting instead. Recall Sir, that in my earlier letter of June 29, I had made a plea for an emergency council meeting for the purpose of discussing and approving the 2020 budget estimate of the university. I am, however, shocked that the secretary to council made a release stating that this special council meeting was requisitioned by the vice-chancellor. For the avoidance of doubt a special meeting under section 7(9) of the university Act is one that is requisitioned by three members of council. Thus, only the vice-chancellor singlehandedly requests a special council meeting, the vice-chancellor added. Babalakin announces postponement Meanwhile, in his immediate response to the vice-chancellor, the council-chairman assured that whatever time and place the meeting is going to hold, it will comply with the rules stated by the government for holding such a meeting. The pro-chancellor, however, added that; Certain issues have arisen that require consideration that will make it impossible to hold the meeting on the suggested. For this reason, the meeting of 15-17 July, 2020, will be postponed to a more suitable time. Council members will be given appropriate notice in accordance with the standing rules about council meetings. As a follow-up to the council chairmans pledge, the universitys registrar issued the notice informing the council members of the postponement. ASUU insists on congress But the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has insisted that it would go ahead with its scheduled congress in spite of the postponement of the governing council meeting. Advertisements Speaking on the phone with our reporter, the chairman of the union, Dele Ashiru, said the congress would go on as scheduled. Yes, we are aware of the postponement of the council meeting but our congress would still hold as earlier scheduled, Mr Ashiru said. Molly-Mae Hague was left less than impressed after she booked a last minute holiday to Ibiza with her boyfriend Tommy Fury only to be met with pouring rain. The Love Island stars were hoping to soak up the sun during their trip but Molly-Mae admitted they were tucked in bed to escape the cold. However, the beauty, 21, did manage to go for a dip anyway as she shared a stunning snap of herself in a black swimsuit while strolling through her hotel. Wow: Molly-Mae Hague, 21, looked sensational as she shared a snap of herself in a black swimsuit while strolling through her hotel in Ibiza on a last minute holiday The reality star displayed her incredible figure in the snap where she also donned a pair of oversized sunglasses. Styling her platinum blonde locks into an updo, Molly-Mae carried a black handbag and sported a silver bracelet. She captioned the snap: 'Living in the moment a little more', while Tommy, 21, commented: 'Too much' with a fire emoji. Speaking about the terrible weather, Molly-Mae shared a picture of herself closing her eyes in frustration and wrote: 'You couldn't actually write this. Tucked up in bed in my tracksuit sheltering from the cold and pouring rain.' Bad luck: Molly-Mae was left less than impressed after she booked the holiday with her boyfriend Tommy Fury, 21, only to be met with pouring rain She shared another photo of herself alongside Tommy lying on the beach with a cloudy sky above them and wrote: 'Patiently waiting for the sun to appear...' Things were looking up for the couple when they first landed on Monday evening, with the social media influencer sharing a snap of a picturesque sunset. The reality stars also enjoyed an outdoor dinner, with Molly-Mae noting the temperature was a toasty 27 degrees. However, things took a turn for the worst on Tuesday as the couple awoke to pouring rain outside the Nobu Hotel Ibiza Bay. Gloomy: She shared another photo of herself alongside Tommy lying on the beach with a cloudy sky above them and wrote: 'Patiently waiting for the sun to appear...' It was an impromptu trip for the pair, with Molly-Mae admitting: 'Booked a little holiday with my boy last night. Decided whilst sat on the sofa watching a film'. Molly-Mae told how she also plans on getting back into her fitness routine on the holiday, with gyms in the UK closed since the coronavirus lockdown in March. The beauty shared a snap of a row of weight machines and wrote: 'First time in a gym in like four months... could be interesting'. Disappointed: The couple woke up in their hotel on Tuesday to be met with pouring rain Idyllic: Things were looking up for the couple when they first landed on Monday evening, with Molly-Mae sharing a snap of a picturesque sunset The trip comes after the couple celebrated their one-year anniversary with a romantic meal at The Ivy in Manchester. Tommy and Molly-Mae are the only couple still together from the summer 2019 series of Love Island. It was recently claimed that Tommy has reportedly earned 150,000 in six months after leaving Love Island despite missing out on the 50,000 prize money. Sumptuous: The reality stars also enjoyed an outdoor dinner, with Molly noting the temperature was a toasty 27 degrees Stunning: The couple enjoyed incredible viewers at their luxurious hotel on the island Workout: Molly-Mae told how she also plans on getting back into her fitness routine on the holiday, with gyms in the UK closed since the coronavirus lockdown in March Cheers: Molly-Mae shared a snap of a delicious looking drink as she relaxed at the beach According to reports, the boxer's company Tommy Fury TNT, created before his stint in the ITV2 villa, made a 151,294 profit in January. The Sun claims that Tommy's second firm, Fury TNT, is set to document its earnings for the year. MailOnline contacted Tommy's representative for comment at the time. Meanwhile, Molly-Mae, who was already a successful influencer before Love Island, has also secured several huge deals since the reality series, including one with PrettyLittleThing, which reportedly earned her 500,000. In May, Molly-Mae revealed that she has six-figures in her bank account during a YouTube video, teasing: 'Yeah... We will just leave it at that. Six figures, yeah... yep.' Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. Virginia Tech researchers have proven that a single gene can convert female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into fertile male mosquitoes and identified a gene needed for male mosquito flight. Male mosquitoes do not bite and are unable to transmit pathogens to humans. Female mosquitoes, on the other hand, are able to bite. Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes require blood to produce eggs, making them the prime carriers of the pathogens that cause Zika and dengue fever in humans. "The presence of a male-determining locus (M locus) establishes the male sex in Aedes aegypti and the M locus is only inherited by the male offspring, much like the human Y chromosome," said Zhijian Tu, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "By inserting Nix, a previously discovered male-determining gene in the M locus of Aedes aegypti, into a chromosomal region that can be inherited by females, we showed that Nix alone was sufficient to convert females to fertile males. This may have implications for developing future mosquito control techniques." These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We also discovered that a second gene, named myo-sex, was needed for male flight. This work sheds light into the molecular basis of the function of the M locus, which contains at least 30 genes," said Azadeh Aryan, a research scientist in Tu's lab and the first author on the paper. Aryan and colleagues generated and characterized multiple transgenic mosquito lines that expressed an extra copy of the Nix gene under the control of its own promoter. Maria Sharakhova, an assistant professor of entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Anastasia Naumencko, a former graduate research assistant, mapped the chromosomal insertion site of the extra copy of Nix. The Virginia Tech team, in collaboration with Zach Adelman's lab in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University and Chunhong Mao of the Biocomplexity Institute & Initiative at the University of Virginia, found that the Nix transgene alone, even without the M locus, was sufficient to convert females into males with male-specific sexually dimorphic features and male-like gene expression. "Nix-mediated sex conversion was found to be highly penetrant and stable over many generations in the laboratory, meaning that these characteristics will be inherited for generations to come," said Michelle Anderson, a former member of the Adelman and Tu labs and currently a senior research scientist at the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom. Although the Nix gene was able to convert the females into males, the converted males could not fly as they did not inherit the myo-sex gene, which is also located in the M locus. Knocking out myo-sex in wild-type males confirmed that the lack of myo-sex in the sex-converted males is the reason why they could not fly. Although flight is needed for mating, the sex-converted males were still able to father viable sex-converted progeny when presented with cold-anesthetized wild-type females. "Nix has great potential for developing mosquito control strategies to reduce vector populations through female-to-male sex conversion, or to aid in the Sterile Insect Technique, which requires releasing only nonbiting males," said James Biedler, a research scientist in the Tu lab. Genetic methods that rely on mating to control mosquitoes target only one specific species. In this case, the Tu team is targeting Aedes aegypti, a species that invaded the Americas a few hundred years ago and poses a threat to humans. However, more research is needed before potentially useful transgenic lines can be generated for initial testing in laboratory cages. "One of the challenges is to produce transgenic lines that convert females into fertile, flying male mosquitoes by inserting both the Nix and myo-sex genes into their genome together," said Adelman. As the Tu team looks to the near future, they wish to explore the mechanism by which the Nix gene activates the male developmental pathway. The team is also interested in learning about how it evolves within mosquito species of the same genus. "We have found that the Nix gene is present in other Aedes mosquitoes. The question is: how did this gene and the sex-determining locus evolve in mosquitoes?" said Tu, who is also an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. In addition to diving into the depths of the Nix gene in mosquitoes, researchers hope that these findings will inform future investigations into homomorphic sex chromosomes that are found in other insects, vertebrates, and plants. ### Yumin Qi, a research scientist at Virginia Tech, and Justin Overcash, a former graduate student at both Virginia Tech and Texas A&M University, also contributed to this research. Written by Kristin Rose Jutras and Kendall Daniels The boss of the Post Office has given his full backing to the Great British September Clean. Chief executive Nick Read, who oversees the running of more than 11,500 branches, said the company will be proudly championing the litter picking campaign. Head office staff and area managers will be encouraged to speak to local postmasters up and down the country to get as many as possible involved. Chief executive Nick Read, who oversees the running of more than 11,500 branches, said the company will be proudly championing the litter picking campaign The endorsement follows that of the Prime Minister, the National Trust and some of the UKs biggest businesses. The campaign, organised by Keep Britain Tidy and backed by the Daily Mail, will run from September 11 to September 27 and we are encouraging as many people as possible to roll up their sleeves and help tidy up Britain. It had to be postponed from earlier in the year, when we had successfully collected more than 680,000 pledges from people planning to take part. This time around we are encouraging groups of no larger than six to go litter picking together and the Post Office is keen to help out. Head office staff and area managers will be encouraged to speak to local postmasters up and down the country to get as many as possible involved [File photo] Mr Read said: Post Offices are essential parts of our communities and we will be proudly championing the Great British September Clean by encouraging all of our colleagues up and down the country to do their bit by caring for their local environment. Our postmasters regularly go above and beyond for their customers and we want to continue to help improve our cities, towns and villages and make a real difference to peoples lives. Beachgoer's sea of tears Daily Mail Reporter A legal assistant made redundant at the start of the pandemic has been left heartbroken by the state of her local beach. Anna Taylor said the easing of lockdown and a June heatwave caused unprecedented amounts of litter at Durdle Door, in Dorset. The 31-year-old would go out alone to tidy the coast after losing her job, but then joined forces with her local litter picking group Clean Jurassic Coast. The majority of members have either been furloughed or faced work disruption. Anna Taylor said the easing of lockdown and a June heatwave caused unprecedented amounts of litter at Durdle Door, in Dorset Miss Taylor said: Litter picking has always been a passion of mine but when I got made redundant I had a lot more time so I started going out every day. The mess on the beach has been absolutely horrific, I have never seen anything like it. The mess was so bad one evening she left a clean-up operation in tears, prompting her to post an impassioned plea to local residents online. She wrote: It feels like we are in a horror movie reliving this awful experience each time. I cried all the way home, my heart is broken. I feel completely helpless. Do you live near a litter black spot? Email us your pictures plus a brief description of the problem to litter@dailymail.co.uk Advertisement Information will be sent to the those who run Britains post offices explaining how to get involved whether it be picking up rubbish on the way to work or organising their own litter picking events. The company will instruct area managers to promote the campaign with staff and hand out posters, pushing the campaign into every corner of the country. It was also confirmed Mr Read himself would take part. The Post Offices support follows that of former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, who said the litter epidemic during the coronavirus crisis showed the worst of human beings. Lord Sugar, Alan Titchmarsh and journalist John Sergeant have also added their backing to the campaign. From left: the Industrial Bank of Korea headquarters in Seoul, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, and the Woori Bank headquarters in Seoul / Korea Times file Woori, IBK silent on Iranian government's threats By Park Jae-hyuk The Iranian government's attempt to regain access to its oil export revenue, which was seized in Korea amid Washington's economic sanctions, is leading to concerns that the situation could develop into a legal battle for Woori Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK), both of which have taken charge of the Middle Eastern country's frozen accounts here. But the Korean banks have remained silent about possible threats from Tehran, apparently being cautious about possible involvement in a diplomatic tussle with both Iran and the United States. Sources familiar with the issue blame Iran, claiming Tehran was making "unreasonable demands and false claims" as the pandemic is increasingly weighing on its economy amid the intensifying U.S. sanctions. The Tehran Times was the first to report that the Iranian government is considering filing lawsuits against the Korean banks to regain access to its frozen accounts. The reports came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said South Korea's seizure of Iranian assets "was by no means acceptable and we expect Seoul to lift the restrictions as soon as possible." Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati also said his country could launch legal action to gain access to the funds, according to the English language daily. The CBI has already filed lawsuits in Europe against financial firms that have withheld its money. "If South Korea continues to block the Iranian frozen funds then it is a clear indication that Seoul is continuing to put U.S. interests first, and with that South Korea is forfeiting its sovereignty and its relations with other nations," the Iranian newspaper reported. "By doing so South Korea will sacrifice the Iranian nation's trust in that country's products and technology which was gained in recent decades, and in the long run Seoul will sacrifice its interests in the Iranian market." Both Woori and IBK said they have yet to take any measures, because they are not being sued. "We've not faced any lawsuit, so we've just kept a close watch on this issue," an IBK spokesman said by telephone. With the approval of the U.S. government in 2010, Korea and Iran could trade with each other using Korean won-based settlement accounts that the CBI had opened at Woori and IBK. However, the banks stopped providing their won-denominated settlement services in May last year after the U.S. ended sanctions waivers given to Korea and seven other countries. The resumption of the services has become more difficult, since Washington tightened its sanctions against the CBI in September last year, following Iran's alleged drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's Aramco oil refinery. Iran-South Korea Joint Chamber of Commerce Chairman Hossein Tanhaee claimed the amount of Iran's blocked assets in South Korea was somewhere between $6.5 billion and $9 billion. He also alleged Woori has demanded Iran pay a maintenance fee and that the Korean government is using the money. But a banking industry insider disputed these claims. "Woori has continued to pay interest on Iran's deposits without demanding any maintenance fee. If the U.S. lifts its sanctions against Iran, the CBI will be able to get its principal back with interest," the source said. "Iran must be aware of that the sanctions have barred the Korean banks from paying them back, but the country seems to be making such demands because its economic condition has deteriorated further." The government has also resumed the won-based trade of certain products with Iran starting this month, so that the Middle Eastern country could import face masks and protective equipment to further prevent the spread of COVID-19. Launching a taskforce in June to increase humanitarian trade with Iran, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently held a presentation for companies interested in exporting medicine, medical appliances, agricultural products and groceries to Iran. "Supporting Korean companies to expand humanitarian trade with Iran, we will continue negotiations with relevant countries, such as the U.S. and Iran," a foreign ministry official said in a statement. It will be difficult for the Korean banks to give back Iran's oil export revenue in cash for a while because the government has conducted "enhanced due diligence" on products exported to Iran, so that the products are not used for money laundering. A 50-year-old man consumed some poisonous substance after hacking his wife and daughter-in-law to death at Bhiwanis Paluwas village on Tuesday, police said. A former Border Security Force (BSF) employee, the man had taken up farming some years ago. Bhiwani deputy superintendent of police (DSP) (headquarters) Virender Singh said he killed his wife and daughter-in-law, aged 50 and 32, and later committed suicide. His neighbours rushed him to the Bhiwani civil hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. Later, we visited the crime scene and found the bodies of his wife and daughter-in-law. It appears to be the outcome of a family dispute, the DSP added. As per villagers, the incident took place around 11am when the mans son had gone out. He raised an alarm after he found his wife and mother dead on his return. His father was seen sitting near the bodies and sobbing before he consumed poison. The 80-year-old mother of the accused had locked herself with her two minor grandsons in a room when the incident took place, one of the villagers said. The DSP said they have registered a case of murder against the farmer. The Trump administration's calls to ban the video-streaming app TikTok are intensifying. There's little precedent for the U.S. government to ban a popular consumer app, and it's unclear how President Donald Trump plans to move forward. The most stringent Internet bans, like those imposed by China's Great Firewall or India's recent actions against Chinese apps, block all communications between a targeted company's servers and users in a given country. But it's unclear how such a blunt method would be implemented under U.S. law, and such a move probably would raise censorship concerns and First Amendment challenges. Yet the administration has a variety of tools at its disposal that could spell trouble for Generation Z's favorite social network, which is owned by China's ByteDance. And the White House has shown its willing to impose tough measures to limit other Chinese companies it views as a security threat, including Huawei. Trump's options range from leveraging a recent executive order expanding government's powers to protect communications networks to exerting pressure through a powerful national security review agency. The app known for viral videos has become a flash point as Trump ramps up his criticism of Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as the number of U.S. infections climbs. The attacks on TikTok could escalate as Election Day approaches and the president makes that criticism central to his reelection pitch. "Jobs and China, that's what this campaign is about," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on "Fox News Sunday." Navarro said to expect "strong action" against TikTok, and he called the company's new American chief executive Kevin Mayer a "puppet." He accused TikTok, without providing evidence, of sharing Americans' data with the Chinese Communist Party. "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 and seem so convenient, it goes right to servers in China, right to the Chinese military, the Chinese Communist Party, and the agencies which want to steal our intellectual property," Navarro said. Trump suggested in an interview last week that a TikTok ban is one of many options he's considering to punish China for its handling of the coronavirus. A senior administration official said the administration's concerns also include "well-documented censorship within Chinese-owned apps." Yet TikTok insists that it has never shared user data with the Chinese government and wouldn't do so if asked. "Protecting the privacy of our users' data is a critical priority for TikTok," company spokeswoman Ashley Nash-Hahn said in a statement. "User data is stored in the U.S. and Singapore, with minimal access across regions, and our American Chief Information Security Officer has decades of U.S. law enforcement and security experience. The Trump administration could target TikTok through a 2019 executive order aimed at Chinese companies. The order empowers the Commerce secretary to effectively ban any communications tool that is a national security threat to the United States by strictly applying the International Economic Emergency Powers Act. If the government said TikTok posed a national security threat under that law, Stewart Baker, who was general counsel of the National Security Agency, said Americans would effectively be barred from doing business with the company. "Americans can't work for it, Americans can't advertise on it, Americans can't put it in their app store," Baker said. "You can't give them a nickel or take a nickel." Baker said teenagers who already downloaded the app could continue using it. "But it wouldn't be maintained, there wouldn't be ads, there would be no American staff working for the company," he said. Baker currently works for law firm Steptoe & Johnson, which counts TikTok rival Facebook as a client. Baker added he was unaware of a time where this executive order has previously been used. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States could force changes at the company. The cross-government group that reviews foreign transactions involving American firms last year opened an investigation into the 2017 deal in which the Beijing-based ByteDance bought a popular karaoke app, Musical.ly, for up to $1 billion, The Washington Post's Drew Harwell and Tony Romm reported. Such a review can result in retroactively terminating deals, fines or corporate changes. There is precedent for the U.S. government quashing deals involving social apps they say pose national security threats. Last year the U.S. government demanded that the Chinese owners of Grindr, the gay dating app, give up their control of the company. They could push for a similar outcome with TikTok, said James Andrew Lewis, the senior vice president and director of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Lewis said there may be a way to structure an agreement so owner Bytedance maintains a stake as an investor but no operational control. "And so that way they get the money and none of the headache," Lewis explained. TikTok has been considering changes to its corporate structure as national security concerns mount. "As we consider the best path forward, ByteDance is evaluating changes to the corporate structure of its TikTok business," Nash-Hahn said. The uncertainty about what the administration means when it says it would ban TikTok and how it would carry out such an order is vexing advocates for a free and open Internet. "There is a point where it is just it ultimately is the responsibility of the government who is saying they're going to do a ban to explain what that ban is, what are the authorities that support that ban, how is it lawful and constitutional," said Kurt Opsahl, deputy executive director and general counsel at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "I think that would be something they really should do when they first mentioned a ban to avoid a little bit of this time period where they talk about something and then it's unclear what they mean by it. " - - - The Washington Post's Tonya Riley contributed to this report. A woman who lost her brother in the Omagh bombing is to contact the Local Government Commissioner over a council vote to oppose the extradition of the alleged bomber. Liam Campbell was found civilly liable for the 1998 atrocity, which claimed the lives of 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins, and injured 220 others. Last week a committee at Omagh and Fermanagh council voted to oppose Campbell's extradition to Lithuania, over allegations he was part of an operation to buy guns and bombs for the Real IRA. Claire Monteith, whose brother Alan Radford was among the dead, was among those who spoke of her anger at the vote. She now plans to make a complaint to the Local Government Commissioner for Standards over the content of the motion, the manner in which it was dealt with in the chamber, and the fall-out it caused. She is reporting independent councillor Bernice Swift, who proposed the motion, and committee chair, Sinn Fein councillor Stephen McCann, to the commissioner. She alleges they are in breach of the Nolan Principles of Public Life. After a 12-year legal battle, the High Court in Dublin ordered Campbell's extradition to Lithuania where a European Arrest Warrant was issued in 2016. This states he allegedly organised the smuggling of weapons in support of "terrorist grouping" the Real IRA between 2006 and 2007. Last week a proposal was rapidly put through Fermanagh and Omagh District Council's Policy and Resources Committee meeting. Chaired by Mr McCann, who permitted the last-minute notice of the proposal, there was no open debate. When some members tried, Mr McCann moved into confidential business - supported by party colleagues - ordering the recording to be stopped. Ms Swift asked the council to oppose Campbell's extradition under human rights. She said: "He is an Irish citizen and we all know the track record of the Lithuanian prison regime. Previous High Courts have contended that the judgment is a breach of his human rights. We wouldn't want to see anyone from this country being treated in such inhumane conditions. "As an elected representative, I wish to protect the fundamental human and civil rights of anybody against abuses. I ask for support to stop that extradition and (council) write to the departments on behalf of Liam and his family." A vote came in 23 in favour, 14 against and one abstention. It was opposed by unionists but passed with support from the SDLP, Sinn Fein and others. The SDLP later apologised and said it will oppose the motion when it comes before the full council for ratification next week. Explaining her decision to contact the commissioner, Ms Monteith said: "I've taken time to deliberate and make sure I haven't misheard or misinterpreted commentary. I wasn't going to be accused of a knee-jerk, spur-of-the-moment decision - a tactic deployed by others in this upsetting matter. "Having studied the Nolan Principles of Public Life, I am reporting Councillor Swift as proposer and Councillor McCann, as committee chair, to the Local Government Commissioner. "It is my view, they are in breach, particularly the principles of accountability and openness. Holders of public offices should act solely in terms of public interest. "They must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions, and accordingly must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this." Claire concluded: "This is not going to be simply swept under the carpet or conveniently hidden away. Omagh victims, like all innocents and those left behind toiling with heartache and injustice, are entitled to respect. "It's time more people - particularly those involved in this deeply insensitive matter - realised that, and if they care so much about human rights, perhaps they'd take time to fight for ours." Both councillors were contacted for comment. TOKYO - China is pushing harder to make territorial claims in the regional seas and even using the coronavirus pandemic to expand its influence and take strategic superiority, posing a greater threat to Japan and the region, Japans government said. The report highlighting the governments defence priorities was adopted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abes Cabinet on Tuesday, less than a day after the Trump administration rejected outright nearly all of Beijings significant maritime claims in the South China Sea in a statement likely to deepen the U.S.-China rift. The Abe governments Defence White Paper 2020 highlights what are potential Chinese and North Korean threats as Japan tries to further increase its defence capability. Under Abe, Japan has steadily increased its defence budget and capability and purchased costly American arsenals. Defence Minister Taro Kono recently scrapped the deployment of a pair of costly U.S. land-based missile intercepting systems due to technical issues, and Abe quickly announced his intention to revise Japans defence guidelines, possibly allowing Japan to go beyond its conventional defence-only role under the Japan-U.S. security alliance, including discussing a possibility of acquiring a preemptive strike capability. The White Paper accused China of using propaganda, including spreading disinformation, about the spread of the coronavirus. The COVID-19 pandemic may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries intending to create international and regional orders more preferable to themselves and to expand their influence, the report said. We need to closely watch their move with serious concern affecting the national security. As evidence, a Japanese Defence Ministry official noted that a Chinese Foreign Ministry official had posted on Twitter in March an accusation that the U.S. military had spread the coronavirus in Wuhan and that Chinese media have touted herbal medicine as effective COVID-19 treatments. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing department rules. The annual report said China has relentlessly pushed to change the status quo in the Asian seas, including sending 3,000-ton class government vessels into Japanese waters around Japan-controlled disputed East China Sea islands called Senkaku in Japanese. Beijing also claim the islands and call them Diaoyu. China is also pursuing its unilateral attempt in the South China Sea even more aggressively and even expanding its area of activity into more distant seas, a concern shared by the international community, the report said. The South China Sea problem directly affects peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. As China now boasts its capability and makes attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in many places, we must closely grasp what Chinas intentions are, Kono told a news conference Tuesday. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that Japans defence paper is full of prejudice and false information against China, and that it tried its best to hype the so-called China threat. China has always firmly maintained its sovereignty, security and development interests. All attack or discredit on China are futile, Zhao said. He urged Japan to stop deliberately intensifying tensions and get along with China. The report also cited North Koreas continued development of its nuclear and other weapons programs. The North is relentlessly pursuing increasingly complex and diverse modes of attack and is steadily strengthening and improving its attack capabilities, the report said. It said North Korea since May 2019 has launched three types of new short-range ballistic missiles that use solid fuel and fly at lower altitudes than their conventional missiles that can breach Japanese missile defence system. As Japans relations with South Korea have plunged to their lowest levels recently over wartime history, export control and territorial issues, the report prompted Seoul to protest Japans claims over a set of small South Korea-controlled islets between the countries. The report mentions the islands as part of Japanese territories that remain unresolved. Foreign ministry spokesman Kim In-chul issued a statement urging Tokyo to immediately remove such claims from the report, saying that the islets called Dokdo in the Koreas and Takeshima in Japan are South Korean territory by international law. ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and researcher Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that the U.S. embassies and consulates around the world will soon resume their visa services. U.S. President Donald Trump has recently signed an executive order (EO) that restricts certain work visas for overseas hires until the end of this year to give more opportunities for Americans in the country to get the jobs first. The EO was both welcomed and criticized. On Monday, the State Department only announced that U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide will soon resume their visa services. It did not provide details on where or when. A State Department spokesperson told ABC News that the resumption of routine visa services will occur on a post-by-post basis. This is in coordination with the department's "Diplomacy Strong" framework to ensure that the workforce is going back to work safely. However, the department spokesperson cannot provide a specific date for when each mission will resume specific visa services. He said the public could visit each individual embassy or consulate's website for more details. So far, no embassy or consulate has announced plans to resume visa services. Suspension of the immigration process and the travel ban has been among the Trump's administration's ways to control the spread of the coronavirus. But the action of the government to restrict work and student visas for foreign applicants has been very controversial in the past days. To recall, the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a directive that would prevent international students with F-1 or M-1 visas from studying in the United States in the fall if their school only offers online classes. Several universities move to online-only coursework due to the global pandemic, but the directive would bar foreign students from taking the classes fully online. The decision of the federal government has been challenged by over a dozen of states and more than 200 universities. That includes Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), who filed a lawsuit, challenging the Department of Homeland Security and ICE over the directive. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo allowed the diplomats and their families to return to the United States, but many posts are still facing staffing shortages and they are still figuring out how to restart services in crowded waiting rooms by practicing social distancing. Meanwhile, even if the visa services resume, travel ban from over a dozen countries are still in effect. Under Trump's presidential proclamations, travel from over two dozen countries to the U.S. is still barred for any foreigner who has traveled in the prior two weeks through China, Iran, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil and Europe's Schengen Area, a 26-country bloc that includes France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Additionally, even if the State Department announced that they will resume their services, the U.S. consulate in Cusco, Peru is closing its doors on Monday until mid-November. The U.S. consulate said on Monday that U.S. citizens in the area should seek assistance at the U.S. Embassy in Lima. Restrictions for certain visas and non-essential travels are just part of the country's action to control and prevent the spread of coronavirus, while waiting for vaccines. Check these out! A Chinese city has attempted to replicate London's famed Tower Bridge so the locals wouldn't need to travel across the world to see the landmark. Although the copycat structure has turned out to be different from what one might have expected, Chinese people apparently loved it. Swarms of tourists have flocked to visit the 'Cannes Bay Stylish Bridge', billed by Chinese media as the 'copycat of Tower Bridge', in south-western Chinese city Chengdu. People in China no longer need to travel across the world to see London's famed Tower Bridge after a Chinese city attempted to build a duplicated version (pictured) of the British landmark The cloned structure, painted in bright red, looking nothing like the original bridge with Victorian Gothic style bricks and distinctive pointy turrets. This file picture taken on June 25 shows people relaxing on the bank of the River Thames next to the Tower Bridge in London Pictures and footage show the Chinese bridge painted in bright red - a far cry from the original which has Victorian Gothic style bricks and distinctive pointy turrets. The duplicated version was built in 2012 by a local real estate developer, according to Chinese media. It was intended to be part of a European-style housing development and used by the residents to travel across the Jin river surrounding the compound. The structure consists of eight six-storey towers, all painted in red and connected by a pedestrian pavement. The towers are topped with small turrets that are reminiscent of the world-famous Eiffel Tower in Paris. The suspension bridge, modelled after London's renowned landmark, was built in 2012 by a local real estate developer in Chinese south-western city Chengdu, reported Chinese media Swarms of tourists have flocked to visit the 'Cannes Bay Stylish Bridge', billed by Chinese media as 'copycat of Tower Bridge', in southwestern Chinese city Chengdu. The picture shows three visitors sitting on the bridge as they pose for a photo with the copy of Tower Bridge The structure consists of eight six-storey towers, all painted in red and connected by a pedestrian pavement. The towers are topped with small turrets that look like Eiffel Tower This is not the first time China has tried to clone the British landmark. It comes after another copy of London's iconic Tower Bridge in east China has drawn ridicule after it was left unrecognisable from an expensive makeover. The Tower Bridge replica, which is double the size of the British version with four turrets, was built in the tourist city of Suzhou, Jiangsu province in 2012. Government officials invested 20 million yuan (2.2 million) in renovation works to 'make it more Chinese' and 'more coherent with the surrounding architectural style' in 2018, Chinese media reported. After: A copy of London's iconic Tower Bridge in east China's Suzhou city has drawn ridicule after it was left unrecognisable from an expensive makeover. The local government spent about 20 million yuan (2.2 million) in to 'make it more Chinese' Before: The Tower Bridge replica, which is double the size of the British version with four turrets, was built in 2012 Some users even said it looks like a military Pillbox - a concrete guard post dating back to World War Two The renovated landmark was recently unveiled following six months of construction, according to Beijing News. Photos and video footage released show the entire structure painted over with grey paint, its distinctive pointed turrets mowed flat and its ornate mullions replaced with rectangular panes - much to the horror of surrounding residents and net users. The structure, which has been a hit location for 'European-style' wedding photography, now looks like a prison, net users said in protest. Twin towers: The old version of the replica has been a hit location for 'European-style' wedding photography Photos released on Saturday show the entire structure painted over with grey paint, its distinctive pointed turrets mowed flat and its ornate mullions replaced with rectangular panes - much to the horror of surrounding residents and net users 'Who ever re-designed this has absolutely no sense of aesthetic,' one user said on Weibo. 'Ugly beyond belief!' Some users even said it looks like a military Pillbox - a concrete guard post dating back to World War Two. 'Who decided to remove the pointed turrets? It's so ugly I can't look at it,' one user commented on Chinese microblogging site Weibo. 'Who ever re-designed this has absolutely no sense of aesthetic,' another comment read. 'Ugly beyond belief!' 'To be honest, it looked quite magnificent before as it was a pretty good replica, now it just looks ridiculous,' another person said. Unlike the real span in the UK capital (pictured), which was opened in 1894, Suzhou's model is not cantilevered and cannot open to let tall boats pass Each of the five-storey towers of the Chinese version is 131 feet tall and are connected by a pair of suspended walkways The bridge, located above the river Yuanhetang, is 45.9 metres (150 feet) wide and includes fast and slow lanes and a pedestrian pavement. Each of the five-storey towers is 40 metres (131 feet) tall and are connected by a pair of suspended walkways. There are also elevators taking visitors to the top for a bird's-eye view of the city. Unlike the real span in the UK capital, which was opened in 1894, Suzhou's model is not cantilevered and cannot open to let tall boats pass. An official of the Xiangcheng district government said the renovations are necessary to repair wear-and-tear damage 'Who decided to remove the pointed turrets? It's so ugly I can't look at it,' one user said on Chinese microblogging site Weibo An official of the Xiangcheng district government told Beijing News in January last year that the renovations were necessary to repair wear-and-tear damage following years of traffic. 'Considering the area's future urban development, we also re-designed the structure to make it more coherent with the overall surrounding architectural style,' the official added. Sitting about 200 miles north-west of Shanghai, Suzhou has become well known for cloning other world-famous landmarks. In 2008, the Suzhou government announced they would build the copies of 56 landmark bridges from around the world on its rivers. A replica of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris has also been built in a theme park in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province East meets West: A structure that is half Temple of Heaven in Beijing, half Capitol Building in Washington was build in Hebei So far, the city has its own Sydney Harbour Bridge, as well as a copycat Pont Alexandre III bridge straight out of Paris, the French capital. On top of that, the area boasts a Dutch town complete with windmill and Dutch-style housing. The city with 6.6 million residents is often dubbed the 'Venice of the East' and has been an important hub of China's silk industry for around a thousand years. Elsewhere in China, replicas of world-famous landmarks can be found, including a Thames Town near Shanghai, a replica of Austria's Hallstatt resort in Luoyang, Henan and copycats of the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysee square in Hangzhou. Last June, a full-size replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza has reappeared in a theme park in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province The life-size replica of the Sphinx belongs to the Hebei Great Wall Film Studios in north China In June of 2018, a full-size replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza has reappeared in a theme park in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, reigniting fury from the Egypt government. The Sphinx copy measures almost the same size as the original, with its appearance resembling closely to the world-famous limestone statue currently standing on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile. The model belongs to Hebei Great Wall Film Studios. Chinese media previously reported that the statue had been built as a film set in the theme park. But it unlike the original - which was carved from limestone - the Chinese version appears to have been built using reinforced concrete. Nearly three of every four hospital beds earmarked for the treatment of patients with coronavirus disease (Covid-19) are lying unused in the city, according to the governments Delhi Corona app, which stakeholders say is adding to the financial burden of private hospitals. As on Tuesday, Delhi had 15,330 beds earmarked for Covid-19, including 125 operation beds at the field hospital set up by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, of which 11,236 are vacant, according to the app. Almost all big hospitals in the city have dedicated Covid-19 beds. With the number of cases going down and the government strengthening its own facilitiessuch as setting up a new 1,000-bed hospital in Dhaula Kuanmaybe it is time to start rolling back these Covid-19 beds in smaller hospitals. These hospitals can then start focussing on non-Covid treatment. Once that happens, the bigger hospitals with more critical care Covid-19 beds will receive more patients, helping them financially as well, Dr Harsh Mahajan, co-chair, FICCI health services committee and the founder of Mahajan Imaging, said. Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today At the same time, Dr Mahajan cautioned, We cannot roll back everything at once, there need to be buffer beds to ensure patients can receive treatment in case there is a surge in cases again. Most hospitals now have isolation facilities that can be quickly earmarked for Covid-19 again, in case the need arises. Hospitals say a price cap by the Delhi government on 60% of beds in the third week of June is adding to the problem. The Delhi government had capped Covid-19 treatment rates at Rs8,000 (non-NABH-accredited hospitals) and Rs10,000 (NABH-accredited hospitals, including entry-level facilities) per day for an isolation bed, and Rs13,000-15,000 per day for a bed at an intensive care unit (ICU), and Rs15,000-18,000 per day for an ICU bed with a ventilator. For private sector hospitals, patient load reduced to about 20% of their usual numbers during the lockdown, which ate away into their revenues. Treating Covid-19 patients was a fresh revenue channel for them. In fact, some hospitals managed to generate a positive EBITDA (Earnings Before Interests, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation is a measure of a companys current profitability). Then, the government capped the prices. This will again impact the revenue that hospitals can generate. For patients in need of minimal monitoring, the rates are okay, but for ICU patients, the cap price should have been at least Rs25,000 because hospitals have to bear a cost of two or three times more than the number of usual staff (as quarantine norms have to be followed), not to mention the additional cost of PPE kits, etc., said Girdhar Gyani, director-general of Association of Healthcare Providers (India) or AHPI, which has at least 10,000 hospitals as its member across 33 states and Union Territories. Treating the insured Insurance associations have also started arm-twisting smaller hospitals into accepting the same capped prices that the government negotiated for cash-paying patients. This should not be done as their rates are pre-negotiated. We have reached out to the government regarding the same because it defeats the whole purpose of cross-subsidy and will further strain the private hospitals, Gyani said. Click here for complete coronavirus coverage The Delhi government spokesperson refused to comment despite repeated calls and messages. A doctor from the private sector, who did not want to be named, said, The central government committee had suggested capping the prices for 60% of Covid-19 beds. However, the Delhi government order caps the prices for 60% of the total beds in a hospital. This means the lower prices apply to almost all patientsthis includes those paying cash as well as those insured. Insurance companies have pre-negotiated rates with hospitals, and with the government capping in place, even the companies have declared they want to follow the same prices. The hospitals will have to then stop honouring the insurance and promise of cashless treatment. The insurance companies are anyway making profits, with very few people going to hospitals at the moment, but hospitals are actually cash-strapped. Treating a Covid-19 patient is costing hospitals more than they are making, the doctor said. Also read: 86% of Indias Covid-19 cases confined to 10 states, says govt assessment Subhash Khuntia, Chairperson, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, countered, When a government gives an order that a certain rate has to be followed across the state, it is applicable to all patients whether they are paying by cash or through insurance. However, we suggested that the insurance companies negotiate prices with the hospital for Covid-19 management as a group. Initially, doctors and hospitals were unaware about how to manage Covid-19 patients, leading to difficulties in fixing rates. Now, I think everyone is in a better position to do so. I think, the hospitals should agree to a fair price so that they remain sustainable and but do not overcharge either. Bigger hospitals such as Sir Ganga Ram are better off. The number of patients dipped significantly during the lockdown; now it is slowly increasing with people becoming less scared of the infection. With interstate travel resuming, I think the numbers will go up further. The hospital needs an occupancy of about 70% to break even; we are currently at 60% probably. But even with prices capped, Covid-19 patients are bringing in some revenue. And, it is our national duty to serve. Hopefully, the situation will get better in the next few months, Dr DS Rana, chairman, board of management, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, said. Beds needed Another committee set up by the Delhi government in early June had estimated that there would be about 100,000 cases by the end of June, of which about 60,000 would be active (people living with the infection). Assuming the rate of hospitalisation would be 25%, the committee had estimated Delhi would need 15,000 hospitals bedsmost equipped with oxygen and ventilatorsby the end of June. But the number of hospitalisations in Delhi has remained between 20% and 25% of the active cases in Delhi. It is a very good thing that we did not need as many hospital beds as were anticipated by the committee based on the trends of early June. Delhi is currently in a comfortable position. However, unused beds are definitely a financial burden for private hospitals. At the time when these beds were being converted to isolation facilities, the government had anticipated that all of them would be used and the private sector would earn from them too. But the lack of patients is a problem for them, Dr Arun Gupta, president of Delhi Medical Council and one of the members of the committee that had estimated the infrastructure need for managing Covid-19 patients at the beginning of June, said. Having said that, we cannot start going back on the preparations that have been made immediately, as there is a possibility the cases might go up again, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON African country creates zone in response to last months killing of 14 soldiers on its border with Burkina Faso. Ivory Coast has created a special military zone in the north of the country, the government said, less than a month after a deadly attack on a frontier post. The pre-dawn killing of 14 army personnel on June 11 at Kafolo, along the countrys border with Burkina Faso, was the first assault by hardline fighters on Ivorian soil since March 2016 when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead. Given the persistent insecurity at the borders between Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso due to the presence of armed terrorist groups in these neighbouring countries and following the attack, the government has authorised the creation of an operational zone, a statement made at the end of a cabinet meeting on Monday said. The zone will have a single central command for military operations. This northern operational zone will make it possible to move from the phase of border surveillance to a defensive posture in order to prevent any infiltration of these armed groups onto national territory, the statement said. 200611143031833 The attack at Kafolo has not been claimed, but authorities believe it was carried out by the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an organisation linked to al-Qaeda. Dozens of people, including the leader of the group who led the June 11 assault, were arrested before and after last months attack. It took place in the same area where Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso launched a groundbreaking joint operation to flush out fighters in May. Ivory Coast shares a 550-km (340-mile) border with Burkina Faso, where violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and forced 860,000 people from their homes over the past five years. A 2012 separatist movement in Mali sparked a multilayered conflict that has spilled across the borders of Niger and Burkina Faso in recent years. The escalating violence involves an amorphous array of al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS)-affiliated groups and ethnic armed groups, as well as state, regional and international forces. Security analysts have long worried the violence would also spread into the coastal states on the Gulf of Guinea, with fighters using Burkina Faso as a launching point to attack neighbours Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and Ghana. The Nigerian man held in the United States for alleged multi-million dollar fraud has hired the services of a top rated Chicago lawyer, Michael Nash, to defend him in court. Olalekan Ponle, popularly known as Woodberry, alongside Ramoni Igbalode, also known as Hushpuppi, was arrested in the United Arab Emirate on June 10 for multiple fraud charges after a raid by operatives of the Dubai crime unit. The duo were then extradited to the United States on July 2. Mr Ponle, 29, is currently facing charges bordering on wire fraud Conspiracy at a United States District Court sitting in Illinois. The court had since June 25 issued an arrest warrant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding Mr Ponles case after a criminal complaint was filed. His first appearance in court was on July 3, after which the preliminary hearing was set for July 16 before Judge Jeffrey T Gilbert. However, as provided by a section of the U.S. laws on the release or detention of a defendant pending trial, Mr Ponle will be remanded in the custody of the U.S. Marshal until further order of the Court. Michael Nash Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed that Mr Nash signed the Attorney Appearance Form for Mr Ponle on July 8. Mr Nash whose area of specialisation is Criminal Defense, has been practising for the past 55 years. He was admitted to practice law in 1965 after graduating from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. As profiled by Super Lawyers, a platform that provides details of top U.S. lawyers, he also assists clients regarding Appellate issues. One of the notable cases handled by Mr Nash was Illinois versus Abbott & Associates, Inc. in 1983. He represented the defendants at the Appeal Court. On Thursday, Mr Nash is saddled with the task securing Mr Ponles bail. If found guilty, the alleged might be liable to a jail term ranging from 20-30 years. Coronavirus could still be killing as many as 85 people per day by the end of July, Public Health England scientists have warned. A team working with Cambridge University has predicted the numbers of deaths each day will level off or only decline slowly over the next fortnight. Over the past seven days an average of 83 UK deaths have been announced each day by the Department of Health, with most in England. One top scientist had predicted in June that Covid-19 deaths could hit zero by this month but Britain's outbreak has rumbled on and people are still dying. The report by PHE and Cambridge also predicts there are still around 3,300 people catching the virus every day in England. It predicts it will take another month for the number of people dying to fall by half in England but it may take even longer in the East, North East and South East. The researchers did not explain why the deaths will not fall to zero faster, but separate data suggests the numbers of new cases are plateauing after lockdown rules were lifted on 'Super Saturday' on July 4, with the outbreak stabilising at around 14,000 people infected at a time. The report by PHE and Cambridge University predicts that the number of people dying is levelling off and will continue to be somewhere between 45 and 85 beyond the end of July (Red dots represent past data while the black line is a projected average. The vertical blue lines mark the start of lockdown on March 23, and the relaxation of the strictest rules on May 11) The forecast, which is updated regularly, yesterday said: 'We predict the number of deaths each day is likely to be between 45 and 85 by the end of July.' The true number of deaths is difficult to calculate because daily announcements are of backdated fatalities, not ones that have happened that day. In the week from July 2 to July 8, an average of 22 people per day died of Covid-19 in NHS hospitals in England. And data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests hospital deaths make up 63.5 per cent of all fatalities, suggesting the true figure may be 35 in all settings. However, PHE and Cambridge's report counts more than 67 deaths per day in the first week of July using data sent to PHE from hospitals and local health teams. The halving times of the outbreak's fatalities which represent how long it takes for the number of new deaths to fall by 50 per cent vary widely across the different regions. ENGLAND'S CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK IS SHRINKING, DATA SHOWS England's coronavirus outbreak is still shrinking and the number of new cases each day more than halved in a week, according to the results of a government surveillance testing scheme. The Office for National Statistics, which tracks the spread of the virus, estimated last week that 1,700 people are getting infected with Covid-19 each day outside of hospitals and care homes down from 3,500 the week before. The estimate based on eight new cases out of 25,000 people who are swabbed regularly also claimed there are just 14,000 people who are currently infected. This is the equivalent of 0.03 per cent of the population of the whole country, or one in every 3,900 people. It is down from 0.04 per cent the week before and 0.09 per cent before that. Separate figures, from King's College London, suggest the outbreak in England has stopped shrinking but its estimate is lower than the ONS's at around 1,200 new cases per day. Advertisement Deaths are falling slowest in the East of England. The data suggests it could take another 43 days for the number of daily deaths to drop by half. The Department of Health is currently announcing an average of 83 deaths per day. It is also higher than the English average (30 days), as well as rates in the North East and Yorkshire (37 days) and the South East (30 days). The outbreak appears to be shrinking fastest in the North West, meanwhile, where the halving time for the death count is an estimated 19 days. By the end of July there could be just five deaths per day in the North West, with a possible range of 0 to 18, the report said. Researchers predicted the halving time was 28 days in London, 23 in the South West and 21 in the Midlands. The rate of decline, however, has not been as fast as some had projected. Professor Carl Heneghan, an Oxford University epidemiologist, said at the start of June that he thought Covid-19 deaths could hit zero in July. He said he expected the number of people dying of all causes to drop back to average or below average levels in June, which has now been proved true. There have been three weeks in a row up to July 3 where fewer people than average have died of any cause in both England and Wales. However, Professor Heneghan's prediction of Covid-19 deaths dropping off has not come good. He said in a briefing at the end of June that ongoing outbreaks in care homes were propping up the death toll when it was declining elsewhere. It was 'disappointing' that care home outbreaks were still being recorded, Professor Heneghan said, and that every outbreak was likely to cause more deaths because elderly people are the most vulnerable to Covid-19. 'I still think this is an incredibly important number [care home outbreaks] for us to manage,' he said on June 23. 'If we're going to eradicate this infection we've got to get this number down to zero. 'If we continue with the inability to control the infection in those settings we could see it linger on right to the end of July. 'I think we're not far off having a window where zero deaths will happen... I think we're just slipping slightly.' The forecasting report also estimated the number of new Covid-19 cases appearing each day to be 3,300 across England, with a possible range of 1,900 - 5,700. This is a rise from the team's estimate on July 1, when it was 2,900, which may be due to the loosening of lockdown restrictions or localised outbreaks like the one in Leicester. The Department of Health's testing programme has detected an average of 624 new cases over the past seven days, with 530 people diagnosed yesterday. The PHE estimate of new cases is falling - it was 5,300 last week, later adjusted to 3,600 - but remains higher than estimates from the ONS and an ongoing project by King's College London. The Office for National Statistics, which tracks the spread of the virus, estimates 1,700 people are getting infected with Covid-19 each day outside of hospitals and care homes. The estimate based on eight new cases out of 25,000 people who are swabbed regularly also claimed there are just 14,000 people who are currently infected. This is the equivalent of 0.03 per cent of the population of the whole country, or one in every 3,900 people. It is down from 0.04 per cent a week earlier and 0.09 per cent the week before. Separate figures, from King's College London, suggest the outbreak in England has stopped shrinking but its estimate is lower than the ONS's at around 1,200 new cases per day. The historic headquarters of German pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG is pictured in Leverkusen (Reuters) - Elanco Animal Health Inc has decided against acquiring Bayer AG's Canadian distribution rights to several poultry insecticides, Canada's Competition Bureau said on Tuesday, as it looks to complete a $7.6-billion deal. The U.S.-based company will also divest its canine ear infection treatment product Osurnia and Bayer's feline dewormer Profender to address competition concerns about its acquisition of the German firm's veterinary drugs unit. The Competition Bureau said Elanco and Bayer's animal health unit were each other's closest rivals in several Canadian markets and a potential combination would result in a substantial decrease in competition. It added that Elanco could not buy Bayer's other poultry insecticides with darkling beetle coverage for 10 years and significant interest in any such product for two years without providing an advance notice to the Bureau. Bayer's CropScience unit has the Canadian distribution rights to its poultry insecticides Tempo, Credo, QuickBayt and Annihilator Polyzone. Elanco last month secured European Union antitrust clearance to buy Bayer's veterinary drugs unit after pledging to sell some products to address competition concerns regarding the deal. (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni) Cruising in any meaningful way in North America for the major brands will not resume until at least the second quarter of next year, according to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey sources. Analyst C. Patrick Scholes called this a material setback from the expected October starting dates that his industry contacts were telling him just two months ago. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions current No Sail Order is set to expire July 24, after having been extended for 100 days on April 9. The industry group Cruise Lines International Association, or CLIA, said last month that its ocean-going cruise line members will voluntarily extend the suspension of cruise operations from U.S. ports until September 15. Scholes expects the CDC will again extend its order. The agency has become a political entity controlled by the executive office, he said, citing commentary from large travel agencies that hes spoken to. The executive office wants to avoid anything that could raise COVID case numbers ahead of the November election. Scholes believes another reason the CDC and executive office are not aggressively pushing for the major cruise companies to resume voyages is because these operators are not U.S. companies. There is less sense of urgency to help an industry that is technically not American. These contacts see the the absolute best, but not most realistic, scenario is the CDC approving cruises after the election. Even then, Scholes said it would take a minimum of six weeks for sailings to begin. We believe there will be continued investor disappointment as further starting date delays are announced, Scholes wrote in a note Tuesday. Following the 100 per cent to 130 per cent surge in the cruise operators stocks since their March and April lows, the analyst downgraded his ratings on Carnival Corp. to sell from hold, and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. to hold from buy. Macquarie Researchs Paul Golding sees a similar scenario emerging, telling clients that a return to normal operations is likely to be pushed out beyond the start of fiscal 2021, with a resumption of sailings dependent on the increased spread of COVID-19 infection and the nearing of a viable vaccine. The analyst downgraded Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise to neutral from outperform. The stocks fell ahead of the bell on Tuesday. Carnival was lower by 1.6 per cent and Royal dropped 0.8 per cent as of 8:10 a.m. Norwegian shares were indicated lower. A nomadic woman who lived in makeshift campsites in the Australia bush is still missing after vanishing nine months ago A nomadic woman who lived in makeshift campsites in the Australian bush is still missing after vanishing eight months ago. Thea Liddle, 42, disappeared on October 31 last year from Mooball in northern New South Wales. Her last known address was a rural property where she was living with a 46-year-old man. While she was known to lead a transient lifestyle, her disappearance has prompted a major search amid fears for her safety. Police brought in sniffer dogs and rescue specialists to scour Byron Bay bushland on Tuesday. Officers have searched homeless camps where she was known to reside in the months before her disappearance. Thea Liddle, 42, disappeared on Halloween last year from Mooball in Northern New South Wales Police brought in sniffer dogs and rescue specialists to scour the bush around Byron Bay on Tuesday Byron Police District Commander, Superintendent Dave Roptell, said the search area is relatively wide because of her nomadic lifestyle. 'Thea lived a very transient lifestyle shifting from place to place, changing campsites often and would opt for places in remote bushland away from the public,' Superintendent Roptell said. One of those sites was a section of bushland around the Youth Activity Centre near Byron Bay's town centre. This was the same site police searched as part of investigations into the disappearance of Belgian Backpacker Theo Hayez. The 18-year-old backpacker was never seen again after leaving a nightclub on May 31 2019. Officers have been searching homeless camps in the bush where she was known to reside in the month's before her disappearance Police are hoping to uncover new evidence which may assist with investigations Officers have cast a wide net over Thea's possible whereabouts including sections of bushland around Byron Bay and Northern New South Wales Police will be searching a number of other locations on Wednesday However there is no indication the two missing persons cases are connected. He said they are hoping to uncover new evidence which may assist with investigations. 'We are conducting thorough searches throughout these locations for any indication of Thea's presence there,' he said. 'It wasn't uncommon for Thea to travel throughout the Far North Coast, however, is it unusual for her to go this length of time without speaking to family members.' Police will be searching a number of other locations on Wednesday. Thea was reported missing by her family in January 2020. Thea (pictured) was reported missing by her family in January 2020 She is known to frequent several areas around the New South Wales Far North Coast including Mooball, Nimbin and Byron Bay She is known to frequent several areas around the New South Wales Far North Coast including Mooball, Nimbin and Byron Bay. When she was reported missing officers launched Strike Force Holby to investigate her disappearance. Officers conducted a widespread search of a 200 hectare property at Tweed where she had was staying at Mooball with a 46-year-old man. However they failed to find any trace of her. A 23-year-old man has completed a 45-day long walk across the country, raising a total of VND127 million to assist deprived children from the northern province of Lai Chau. Lets take a closer look at his exciting journey. Bui Ngoc Quy, 23, from the Central Highland province of Gia Lai, began his journey by departing from Ho Chi Minh City on May 25. At first he intended to spend a total of 50 days walking to Hanoi, although he successfully completed his mission five days ahead of schedule. Ahead of departing on his amazing trip, Quy was working at a flower shop in District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City and earning a monthly income of VND8 million. Quy (R) snaps a photo alongside a motorbike driver in Dong Nai province. The young man had travelled the length of breadth of the country to raise funds for deprived children. Pictured is Quy in Ghenh Da Dia, also known as the Cliff of Stone Plates, in Phu Yen province. Quy pictured at Phan Thiet childrens house. Each day he started to walk at around 3am, receiving plenty of support from local people he encountered across the country. He notes that his longest day included a 80km long road that took him roughly 22 hours to complete. Quy enjoys having dinner alongside a family in Thanh Hoa province. He even worked for a restaurant in Phan Rang to earn a living during his epic journey. Throughout much of his adventure, the man was forced to endure harsh weather, especially a heat wave that hit the sand dunes around Phan Thiet. In Vinh, Nghe An province, Quy met up with Quang Anh who was walking in the opposite direction, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, for charity. He received a lot of sympathy and support from many people he came across on his journey. Photographed is Tai, a hairdresser based in Vinh who accompanied Quy for 50km of his walk from the central city to Dien Chau district, Nghe An province. Quy (C) met an acquaintance in Hoi An city of Quang Nam province. A total amount of VND127 million has been collected following his charity work, aiming to build a boarding school for minority children in Mu Ca commune of Muong Te district in Lai Chau province. Throughout the journey, Quy has the chance to enjoy beautiful sightseeing spots across the country. Bui Ngoc Quy (VOV) Nearly a year after Jeffrey Epstein had his bail request rejected, the disgraced billionaire paedophiles ex-girlfriend and alleged madame will appear in court to make that same plea following her controversial arrest earlier this month. Before Ghislaine Maxwell can demand her release from prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, however, the British-socialite-turned-recluse will hear statements from alleged victims of Epstein calling for her to remain in custody. US federal prosecutors described Maxwell as posing an extreme flight risk while citing her numerous passports, massive wealth and known ability to live in hiding as she has been ever since Epstein was arrested last year. But attorneys for Maxwell have meanwhile argued the coronavirus pandemic could pose a serious risk to her health while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York. The court will hear arguments on Tuesday via video streaming. Maxwells lawyers are asking she be released as part of a bail agreement that would require her to surrender her US, UK and French passports and remain under GPS surveillance within a New York property. Maxwell was charged in a six-count indictment with recruiting, grooming and in some cases even participating in sexual abuse with young women she procured for Epstein as part of an international trafficking ring. If convicted, she faces up to 35 years in prison. She has also been charged with lying under oath to investigators during a deposition in 2016. Maxwell has denied any wrongdoing and previously said she was unaware of Epsteins alleged crimes. Prosecutors said Maxwell attempted to avoid the FBI as they came to arrest her on 2 July at a 156-acre property in New Hampshire where she had been hiding out. They said a cellphone wrapped in tinfoil was also discovered at the scene an apparently misguided attempt to avoid detection. Epstein, who was denied a release on bail, killed himself in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan. LAV a necessity for police regardless of who donated it, Kevin Elson, July 11 Your contributor fails in an attempt to convince me that the examples he uses to back up his argument have any validity. His examples of incidents where guns have been used are all from the United States, whose gun culture is justified by an ancient military Constitutional amendment. The only Canadian occurrence in New Brunswick recently took place in rural locations far from a police presence. He also claims that an anonymous donation in this case should be allowed. He cites donations to the Canadian Canoe Museum, Ecology Park, and the Mount Community Centre, all of which were socially valuable and of no personal benefit to the donors. If this armoured vehicle had been donated to a war museum then anonymity would not have been a problem. In this case we have been left to wonder why our city was chosen as a society where such a gift was needed. Do we have a record where such gifts are needed for our police? Are the members of our police board willing to accept gifts that come with costs for staff training, maintenance and spare parts, and garage space? Is this "gift" merely a promotion to test a potential market for outdated war toys in the smaller cities of our country? BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13 By Rufiz Hafizoglu Trend: As many as 17,333 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan in the first half of 2020, which is five percent more than in the same period in 2019, Trend reports referring to Turkeys International Freight Forwarders Association (UND). "Azerbaijan accounted for 3.1 percent of the total volume of cargo transportation from Turkey by trucks for the reporting period," the association said. According to UND, in June 2020, 3,154 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan, which is 16 percent more than in June last year. In total, 558,903 Turkish trucks transported cargo abroad from January through June 2020, having decreased by 8 percent compared to the same period in 2019. As many as 99,165 Turkish trucks transported cargo abroad in June 2020, which is 6 percent more compared to June 2019. From January through May this year, 14,179 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan. In May 2020, 3,221 Turkish trucks transported cargo from Turkey to Azerbaijan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu The ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan intensfied on Tuesday (July 14) with the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) passing a resolution to take action against rebel Sachin Pilot and other MLAs who decided to skip the CLP meeting for the second time in as many days. The Congress MLAs present in the meeting passed resolution to issue show-cause notice against Pilot and other party MLAs who remained absent from CLP meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday. It is expected that the party would issue disciplinary notice against the rebel MLAs soon. During the CLP meet, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande agreed to take action against Pilot and his loyalist MLAs by raising the hands of the legislators. Sources claimed that the Congress high command is likely to take strict action against Pilot and may sack him from the party for revolting against the party. Pilot is likely to be removed as Rajasthan Pradesh Congress chief too. Pilot loyalist MLAs, who did not attend the last two CLP meetings, are also expected to face action and it is likely that they would be suspended from the party. Sources said that Govind Singh Dotasra is likely to replace Pilot as the next Congress chief in Rajasthan. Notably, Pilot and 16 other MLAs who are considered close to him had skipped the first CLP meeting on Monday too. Senior Congress leader Pande and Randeep Singh Surjewala are scheduled to address a press conference after the CLP meeting and the two leaders will provide details of the resolutions passed during the CLP meet in the press conference. The political crisis in Rajasthan started on Sunday (July 12) after Pilot raised the banner of revolt against CM Gehlot and sent a message to the party that he may quit the party with this loyalist MLAs. Pilot claimed in some interviews that he has the support of over 30 MLAs. ANI quoted sources as saying several senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram and KC Venugopal have talked to Pilot several times in order to defuse the crisis but he remained adamant on his stand. Congress sources claimed on Tuesday that Pilot was unwilling to accept anything less than the chief minister's post and he put forward his demand during his conversation with some senior leaders of the Congress. Meanwhile, CM Gehlot proved his strength once again on Tuesday as 102 MLAs attended the CLP meeting at Hotel Fairmount in Jaipur. In 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, 101 MLAs are needed to save the government. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Paris, France Tue, July 14, 2020 07:37 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406660ca97 2 News France,China,flight-frequency,travel-restriction,aviation Free France's government on Monday started restricting Chinese airlines to one passenger flight to France per week, saying it was acting in response to restrictions imposed by Beijing on French carriers flying to China. "From July 13, Chinese companies will only be authorized to make one weekly trip," the French embassy in Beijing said on its website. "Discussions are underway between the two governments with a view to reaching a satisfactory solution." China's state aviation regulator, CAAC, could not immediately be reached for comment. The French embassy said that three Chinese carriers, Air China, China Eastern Airlines Corp, and China Southern Airlines Co, were each authorized to make weekly flights from Chinese cities to Paris. It said that, under a June 12 reciprocal arrangement, Air France had been authorized by Beijing to carry out three flights a week to China. But the embassy said that, in practice, Chinese authorities had only allowed one Air France flight per week to go ahead. It said France was applying intense diplomatic pressure to get the go-ahead from Beijing for the extra flights. In the meantime, it advised travellers to be prepared for disruption to air links between the two countries. Passenger flights between France and China were suspended earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Deep Longevity Inc to collaborate with and provide an extensive range of deep biomarkers of aging to Human Longevity Inc Tuesday, 14th of July, 2020, San Diego, CA (9:00AM) -- Today, Deep Longevity Inc, a developer of deep biomarkers of human aging, and Human Longevity Inc announce a collaboration to deploy an extensive range of AI-powered aging clocks. Deep Longevity is to develop and provide the customized predictors of human biological age to the network of Human Longevity Inc concierge longevity clinicians. Deep Longevity is a longevity-focused artificial intelligence spin-off from Insilico Medicine, Inc, one of the global leaders in deep learning for drug discovery and biomarker development. Deep Longevity exclusively licensed a portfolio of granted and pending patents on aging clocks developed using the latest advances in artificial intelligence. Deep Longevity aging clocks are supported by a number of academic publications covering summarized in a recent review titled "Biohorology and biomarkers of aging: Current state-of-the-art, challenges and opportunities." Human Longevity Inc recently published a research paper on a large cohort of healthy patients in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) titled "Precision medicine integrating whole-genome sequencing, comprehensive metabolomics, and advanced imaging." Deep Longevity and Human Longevity will engage in research to validate the deep aging clocks on this cohort. ### About Deep Longevity, Inc Deep Longevity is a global leader in deep learning for aging research specializing in the development of deep biomarkers of aging using clinical blood tests, transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenetic, microbiome, behavioral, wearable, imaging, and multiple other data types. The company holds exclusive licenses to a comprehensive IP portfolio including both granted and pending patents. The company provides a broad range of deep aging clocks to some of the world's most advanced longevity clinics and physicians and is developing a range of simple consumer applications to track the rate of aging at the individual level. The company is developing a comprehensive decision support system for physicians to enable the development of personalized longevity protocols utilizing the latest advances in longevity biotechnology. Website: http://www.DeepLongevity.com About Human Longevity, Inc. Human Longevity, Inc. is a genomics-based, health intelligence company empowering proactive healthcare and enabling a life better lived. HLI's business focus includes the Health Nucleus, a genomic-powered, precision medicine center which uses whole-genome sequencing analysis, advanced imaging, and blood analytics, to deliver the most complete picture of individual health. For more information, visit http://www.humanlongevity.com. About Health Nucleus Health Nucleus clinics combine leading edge science with physicians who are experts in large data sets to interpret patients' data and guide them toward longer, healthier lives. Headquartered in San Diego, CA, Health Nucleus is revolutionizing precision health care with proprietary programs like 100+, a suite of annual tests, services and care that help preempt disease before symptoms arise. Health Nucleus uses whole genome sequencing analysis and advanced digital imaging along with personal biomarkers to deliver a complete picture of individual health. By harnessing 150 gigabytes of health data on each patient, Health Nucleus are able to pinpoint pre-symptomatic risks of cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurological disease and degradation, metabolic health status, and more. Health Nucleus is a subsidiary of Human Longevity, LLC A judge has dismissed a proposed $19m (14.8m) settlement for women who allege Harvey Weinstein subjected them to misconduct. US District Judge Alvin K Hellerstein said on Tuesday that Weinsteins accusers in the proposed class-action settlement were too varied to be grouped together. He also criticised a plan to set aside money to help Weinstein and the board of his former studio pay defence costs. The idea that Harvey Weinstein could get a defence fund ahead of the plaintiffs is obnoxious, Mr Hellerstein said at a hearing. Lawyers for several women who had opposed the deal praised what they described as Mr Hellersteins swift rejection of a one-sided proposal. Elizabeth Fegan, a lawyer representing nine Weinstein accusers, has argued that all of the women were in the zone of danger created by Weinstein, justifying class-action treatment. Some of the women who have come forward against Weinstein have defended the proposed settlement on social media. But the settlement also drew objections from women who said it would leave Weinsteins alleged victims with typical awards of just $10,000 to $20,000, while setting aside $15.2m for defence costs. A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who announced the tentative agreement on 30 June, said her office is reviewing the decision and determining its next steps. Our office has been fighting tirelessly to provide these brave women with the justice they are owed and will continue to do so, Morgan Rubin said in a written statement. The deal to settle lawsuits brought by James and a Chicago lawyer on behalf of multiple women would have provided between $7,500 and $750,000 to some women who accused Weinstein of sexually abusing them. The 68-year-old former Hollywood producer was convicted earlier this year of third-degree rape and a criminal sex act. His lawyers have said they intend to appeal the conviction. Weinstein is facing more charges in Los Angeles. Accusations by dozens of women in 2017 led to the downfall of his career and gave rise to #MeToo, the global movement to hold powerful men accountable for their misconduct. Weinstein was diagnosed with the coronavirus in March, just days after he was moved to New York States maximum security Wende Correctional Facility near Buffalo to begin serving his 23-year prison sentence. A representative for Weinstein contacted by The Independent declined to comment. Additional reporting by agencies Fauci has been sidelined as he sounds alarms about the virus, while Trump is focused on pushing an economic rebound. With virus cases spiking in the United States and the death toll mounting, the nations top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci is warning the US needs to step back from reopening even as Trump White House aides have begun working to undercut his credibility. Here it is, it has happened, your worst nightmare, the perfect storm, Fauci said in a video conference with the dean of Stanfords medical school on Monday in which Fauci called for a step back in US reopenings. This is a really serious problem. It is truly historic. We havent even begun to see the end of it yet. Until you get it completely under control it is still going to be a threat, Fauci said. The US has become a cautionary tale across the globe, with once-falling cases now spiralling and the American death toll surpassing 136,000 among more than three million infected. President Donald Trump is pushing to get the economy moving and argues the severity of the pandemic is being overstated by critics to damage his re-election chances in November. Fauci has been increasingly sidelined by the White House as he sounds alarms about the virus, an unwelcome message at a time when Trump is focused on pushing an economic rebound. At the same time, the president and top White House aides now are ramping up attacks against Fauci. On Monday, Trump retweeted a post by a former television game show host, Chuck Woolery, claiming that Everyone is lying about COVID-19. Woolerys tweet attacked not just the media and Democrats but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and most doctors. The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most ,that we are told to trust. I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it. Chuck Woolery (@chuckwoolery) July 13, 2020 Last week, Fauci contradicted Trump about the severity of the virus during a podcast by FiveThirtyEight, a US news outlet. While Trump contends repeatedly that he has done a great job against the pandemic, Fauci said: As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I dont think you can say were doing great. I mean, were just not. Trump responded, saying Fauci had made a lot of mistakes. He pointed to Faucis early disagreement with him over a ban on travellers from China and to the evolving guidance over the use of masks as scientists understanding of the virus improved points the White House expanded on in statements to media outlets over the weekend. Asked whether the president still had confidence in Fauci, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Monday Trump did but weighed Faucis views against the opinions of other experts on the White House coronavirus taskforce. I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci, Trump told reporters on Monday, calling him a very nice person. But the president added, I dont always agree with him. That supportive message was not echoed by Peter Navarro, a top White House trade adviser who has been working on the coronavirus effort. In an email, Navarro continued to criticise Fauci to The Associated Press news agency on Monday, saying the doctor has a good bedside manner with the public but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on. That includes, he said, downplaying the early risk of the virus and expressing scepticism over the use of hydroxychloroquine, which Navarro has aggressively championed despite contradictory evidence on its efficacy and safety. The presidents team has made clear they have no intention of trying to remove Fauci, knowing the uproar that would create. Instead, they appear content to diminish his reach while encouraging Republican legislators, administration officials and other allies to highlight Faucis missteps. It is part of a White House effort to counterpunch on behalf of Trump, who believes all slights must have a forceful response, said one official, who, like others, spoke to AP news agency on condition of anonymity to describe internal White House thinking. Meanwhile, supporters are flocking to Faucis defence. The Association of American Medical Colleges president issued a statement saying the organisation was extremely concerned and alarmed by efforts to discredit Fauci. Fauci, who has not appeared at recent White House task force briefings and has been largely absent from US television, told the Financial Times last week that he last saw Trump in person at the White House on June 2 and had not briefed him in at least two months. He blamed the Trump administrations failure to approve many of his media requests on the fact that he has refused to toe the line for reopening. Dr Anthony Fauci, speaking about COVID-19 in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC [File: AP Photo/Evan Vucci] I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things. And that may be one of the reasons why I havent been on television very much lately, Fauci said. In the early days of the virus, as Trump bristled at the attention Fauci was receiving, the White House took control of the doctors media schedule, significantly cutting his TV appearances though he continued to find alternative outlets including podcasts and social media. The presidents disgusting attempt to pass the buck by blaming the top infectious disease expert in the country whose advice he repeatedly ignored and Joe Biden consistently implored him to take is yet another horrible and revealing failure of leadership as the tragic death toll continues to needlessly grow, said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden. We cannot allow Donald Trump to silence Dr Fauci or any other government scientists, said Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat who introduced legislation in April to protect Fauci and other leaders of the National Institutes of Health from being fired for political reasons. The funeral took place yesterday of a young father from Ballycarney whose death in an industrial accident on Thursday has left an entire community numb with grief and shock. MJ Malone, from Ballyduff, Ballycarney, died following the accident which local gardai said occurred at around 9 a.m. on Thursday morning in Tomgarrow. People throughout Enniscorthy are this week coming to terms with his passing and the sudden and unexpected nature of his death has compounded the grief felt within the community. Mr Malone, who was in his 30s, was working on the construction of a grain store when the accident occurred. A devoted father, he was very highly regarded within his local community and that fact was highlighted by the large amount of condolence tributes expressed to his family following the tragedy. People from all over County Wexford offered sympathies to his family in addition to condolences coming from other areas of Ireland and as far away as New York. One person described Mr Malone as an 'absolute gentleman, a laugh, [and] a hard worker who knew his trade' while another couple said he was 'a gentleman with a big heart and time for everyone, young and old'. Those sentiments were shared by Cllr Kathleen Codd-Nolan, from Enniscorthy Municipal District Council, who is a neighbour of the Malone family. 'He really was a decent, honest, hard-working young gentleman and he'd always have a smile when you would meet him,' she said. Cllr Codd-Nolan said the entire community in Castledockrell is 'devastated' by the tragedy. 'It's just devastating for his family and for the wider community which is very close-knit,' she said. 'He was outgoing and was a friend to people of all ages,' she added. Cllr Codd-Nolan expressed sympathies to Mr Malone's parents, siblings and to his partner and his children on their sad loss. Her sentiments were echoed by Cllr Barbara-Anne Murphy who also offered her condolences to Mr Malone's family. 'I would offer my deepest condolences to the family,' she said. 'It's heartbreaking for his family,' she added. Mr Malone was working on the construction of a grain store when the accident that claimed his life occurred. The gardai and the Health and Safety Authority launched investigations into the accident and a spokesperson for Enniscorthy gardai said both investigations are ongoing. The spokesperson said the gardai received a report of an accident at Tomgarrow, Ballycarney, at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. Describing the incident as an industrial accident, the garda spokesperson said HSA inspectors visited the scene, which remained sealed off until around 5 p.m. on Thursday evening, and the two investigations into the accident were launched immediately. Mr Malone, who was a pillar of the community and held in very high esteem, was a dearly loved son of Eddie and Stella Malone and came from one of the most highly respected families in the community. He is survived by his parents, his children, Evie and Pippa, their mother - Mr Malone's partner, Linda - and her son, Nathan. He is also survived by his brothers, Ray and Eamonn, his sister, Eilish, and by his loving family, grandmother, Anna, aunt, Ann, uncle, Tim, brother-in-law, John, sister-in-law, Oonagh, nephews, nieces, relatives and large circle of friends. The Noone family were supposed to be on the trip of a lifetime these school holidays: a family wedding in Ireland, a week in Malta, a side trip to Paris. Thanks to COVID-19, theyve had to spend the holidays at home. My son was gutted, says Katy Noone from Sydneys north-west. My daughter just went on and on: When are we going for our trip? When are we going for our trip? Kevin and Katy Noone with their children Zara and Finn and their new puppy Georgia. Credit:Dean Sewell For the third school holidays in a row, many families have had travel plans disrupted after the summer's catastrophic bushfires and now, the coronavirus pandemic particularly in Victoria, with its recent surge in cases. Thats meant a lot of upset kids and frustrated parents stuck at home. Erin Mackenzie, lecturer in education at Western Sydney University, says if kids have missed out on a long-awaited trip or event, theres going to be disappointment. Help.org, a trusted online resource for individuals who struggle with addiction and their loved ones, has announced the Best Rehab Facilities in Naples, Florida for 2020. The informational guide recognizes the top 3 rehab facilities based on cost, treatment options, location, accompanying services and more. According to recent studies, drug overdose is the leading cause of death among people under age 50. In Naples, deaths related to opioid abuse increased significantly from 2011 to 2015. Substance abuse among adolescents is also escalating in Naples with 55 percent of high school students reported using alcohol, 38 percent reported using marijuana, 8 percent reported using prescription drugs without a valid prescription, and 2 percent reported using heroin. With the growing need for accessible and high-quality rehab programs, Help.org has developed a unique ranking process to help connect individuals with treatment providers that meet their needs. The Help.org research team analyzed thousands of facilities across the country and then identified the most cost-effective and highest rated programs in larger cities like Naples. Each facility was evaluated based on rehabilitation services, treatment approaches, cost, special programs for unique demographics and ancillary services. The website also provides information about drug use and side effects as well as educational articles. For a detailed listing of the Best Rehab Facilities in Naples, Florida please visit https://www.help.org/drug-and-alcohol-rehab-centers-in-naples-fl/ 2020 Best Rehab Facilities in Naples, Florida (in alphabetical order) David Lawrence Center: Horseshoe Drive Satellite Services 2806 South Horseshoe Drive Naples, FL 34104 239-263-4013 David Lawrence Center: Immokalee Satellite Services 425 North First Street Immokalee, FL 34142 239-657-4434 SalusCare: Ortiz Campus 2789 Ortiz Avenue Fort Myers, FL 33905 239-275-3222 ABOUT HELP.ORG Help.org is an online resource for individuals who struggle with addiction and their loved ones. The website provides the latest research through scientifically proven methods, community recovery resources as well as information about local financial assistance. Help.orgs team of researchers, activists and writers work together with addiction counselors and other professionals to offer useful and accurate resources to help individuals seeking recovery. To learn more, visit https://www.help.org/. Paris Jackson revealed on Tuesday how her father Michael encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a musician before he died when she was just 11. Now 22, Paris is in a band called The Soundflowers with her boyfriend, Gabriel Glenn. In a rare interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, she appeared with her older brother Prince to tell how she started writing music to 'purge', and how their late father encouraged them as kids. 'No matter what it was we were interested in, I remember at one point I wanted to be an astronaut, he was like "do it. do it. Educate yourself as much as possible then go with it" with every aspect of life,' Paris said. Paris was 11 and Prince was 12 when their famous father died. Their mother, Debbie Rowe, has always resisted the limelight. Scroll down for video Paris and Prince Jackson on Good Morning America on Tuesday morning talking about her music and how their father encouraged them to pursue their interests before he died in 2009 Paris, now 22, said she went through years of pain and hurt after her father's death Prince, now 23, said he felt like he should protect 'the group' because he is the oldest They have one other half-sibling, Michael Jackson's youngest child Prince Michael Jackson II, known as Blanket, who is 18 years old. His mother's identity remains a mystery. Now that she is pursuing her own music career, Prince - who produced his sister's music video and spends much of his time working for charities - said he feels protective of his younger sister. 'The way we were raised, me being the oldest... I feel like I should be the one that's protecting the group,' he said. Paris said that she originally started writing music 'to get things out'. 'It feels good to get it out. It feels like not butterflies in your stomach but in your heart. It's cool,' she said. The pair with their father at one of Paris's birthdays when they were children In a clip that is part of Paris's new documentary on Facebook watch, she is seen as a child telling her father she wants to do what he does Paris's struggles with mental health and depression are well documented. She has attempted suicide several times and she recently revealed that after father's death, she became addicted to food and self-harming. In her interview on Tuesday, Paris said she pushed much of the 'pain' she felt in those years of mourning into her music. 'Kids can be mean, your body's going through changes, your emotions are everywhere. Just all the place. A lot of kids that age also suffer from depression and hardcore mental illnesses. 'Part of it was a good portion of it was just being that age and going through the trials and tribulation of a 15 year old girl, also just drama. 'Drama is the seed to any kind of unhealthy coping skill that you choose. Paris, Prince and Blanket - their half-sibling - with their father at one of Blanket's birthdays Paris, Prince and Blanket at their father's funeral at the Staples Center in 2009 Paris and Prince have one other sibling, Michael Jackson's youngest child Prince Michael Jackson II, known as Blanket, who is now 18 years old; seen in 2012 'I do wear my heart on my sleeve or so I've been told. People can usually tell when something's wrong,' she said. Prince pointed out one of her songs that he said revealed her 'emotion and pain'. 'I remember when my sister first played Geronimo for me, I can hear and feel all the emotion and pain and hurt that went into that song and I remember thinking this was a song that other people both could relate to but other people needed to hear,' he said. Paris is featured in a new Facebook Watch show, Unfiltered, which follows her and Gabriel as they make music. In the documentary, she admits that she 'never thought' she'd 'end up' in a relationship with a man, having dated women in the past, and said her father picked up that she was attracted to the same sex when she was a child. 'I think he felt the energy and he would tease me the same way he'd tease my brothers, like, "You got yourself a girlfriend!" if I were staring at a magazine of a woman too hard. 'I'm very lucky to have that, especially so young, eight or nine. Not many children have that experience.' 'The first time I came out to a family member, they didn't believe me. [Prince] said he just wants to learn more about it, have a better understanding of it. 'I'm lucky to have that as well.' MONTREAL - Quebec has become the first Canadian province to make mask-wearing mandatory in all indoor public places for people aged 12 years and older. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. People wait to be tested for COVID-19 at a testing clinic in Montreal, Sunday, July 12, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues in Canada and around the world. Quebec plans to make masks mandatory in all public indoor spaces across the province this week, several media outlets are reporting. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes MONTREAL - Quebec has become the first Canadian province to make mask-wearing mandatory in all indoor public places for people aged 12 years and older. Premier Francois Legault said the new directive enters into effect Saturday just in time for the province's annual construction holiday. Businesses will be expected to enforce the new rules and are subject to fines of between $400 and $6,000 if their customers are caught violating the health directive, Legault told reporters Monday in Montreal. He said the government is considering imposing fines on individuals beginning in August. People who for medical reasons cannot wear masks are exempt from the new rule, Legault added. "It's easier to wear a mask than to return to being confined." Premier Francois Legault The premier said his government held off making mask-wearing indoors mandatory until now because it wanted to impose restrictions on Quebecers gradually. The new rules enter into effect July 18, at the beginning of the two-week construction holiday, during which Quebecers are expected to travel around the province with their families. "It's easier to wear a mask than to return to being confined," Legault said, adding the province has seen a slight increase in the number of daily new COVID-19 cases. "I know it's summer," he said. "It's holidays. It's not fun to wear a mask, but it's essential to avoid going backwards." Quebec reported 100 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, as well as one additional death. That brings the province's total deaths to 5,628, while infections reached 56,621. Hospitalizations declined by one to 305, with 21 people in intensive care. Legault said the new rule applies in all indoor settings across the province, including restaurants but only when patrons are moving around. "When we are sitting down, when we are at a table, we can take it off," he said. "But when we get up to use the bathroom or to leave, we put it back on." Groups representing business owners raised concerns about the responsibility of enforcing the measure, suggesting it places an additional burden on retailers who are already struggling. In a statement, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said that while business owners respect the need to limit a second wave of the pandemic, "public health is a shared responsibility." "To ask a small business to be entirely responsible for consumer actions, which are beyond its reasonable control, and to impose fines doesn't seem very equitable," said Gopinath Jeyabalaratnam, a policy analyst for the group. The Conseil du Patronat du Quebec, which represents employers, said responsibility should be shared between clients and business owners, and called on the government to emphasize education rather than fines. Legault said it was necessary to rely on businesses because "police cannot be in all the shops at the same time." He said enforcement would likely begin with warnings and progress to fines. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. As for retail or restaurant workers who are confronted with recalcitrant customers, Legault said they should call police. On Monday, mask-wearing also became mandatory inside public transit across the province. At the entrance to Montreal's St-Laurent subway station, however, there was little evidence anything had changed. Around noon, there were no employees or prominent signs indicating the new rules as transit users, some wearing masks and some not, came in and out through the turnstiles. Masks were more in evidence as rush hour began, and an announcement could be heard over the loudspeaker informing transit users of the measure. The province has granted transit users a two-week grace period before people can be denied boarding for failing to wear a face covering. Legault said he expected a similar period would also be granted to allow the public to get used to the wider rule before fines are imposed. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2020. A 'bubble' of children at one of Britain's smallest primary schools have been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days after one of them tested positive for Covid-19. Aldeburgh Primary School in Suffolk, which is run by the Avocet Academy Trust, has just 99 pupils aged four to eleven. The school in Park Road has closed the Reception and Year 1 bubble following the confirmed case of coronavirus over the weekend. All children in the bubble have been asked to self-isolate for two weeks following the positive result, with a deep clean taking place in the required areas. In early July ministers issued guidance stating that 30-strong classes can form 'bubbles' in primary schools, and whole year groups in secondaries, in a bid to have all schools reopening by September. Aldeburgh Primary School in Suffolk, which is run by the Avocet Academy Trust, has just 99 pupils aged four to eleven Social distancing rules can be dropped within bubbles to ensure there is capacity, and parents who refuse to send their children face fines. Whole classes or year groups could be ordered to self-isolate - along with their families - if just two pupils test positive in a fortnight. Entire schools could be shut, although the guidance suggests it will not 'generally be necessary'. Whole year groups of entire schools may be told to stay at home and self-isolate - along with their families - as a precautionary measure. If the situation is serious, the guidance does not rule out shutting schools altogether. Cheryl Singleton, CEO of Avocet Academy Trust, said: 'I can confirm we have been informed that a child was tested at the weekend for coronavirus and the result was confirmed as positive. 'In line with school procedures and in consultation with Public Health England, we have closed the group or ''bubble'' the child was part of and deep cleaned the required areas. All children in the bubble have been asked to self-isolate for two weeks following the positive result, with a deep clean taking place in the required areas (file image) 'All parents and staff have been informed and we have passed on the information from PHE to the pupils in the bubble concerned. 'We wish the child a speedy recovery and very best wishes to the family.' An email was sent to parents about the positive test result, and the school said it would keep them 'up to date as and when' it receives further instruction from PHE. A few weeks ago Exning Primary School in Newmarket, Suffolk, sent a class home to self-isolate for two weeks after a child tested positive for the virus. Across the county burder in Essex, Hamford Primary Academy in Walton-on-the-Naze was forced to close entirely in May after two children who were siblings tested positive for Covid-19. They had been attending the school in Elm Tree Avenue, which is run by Academies Enterprise Trust, but showed no symptoms of the disease. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has delayed its history-making mission to Mars by two days due to poor weather conditions. A Japanese H-2A rocket built by Mitsubishi was scheduled to propel the Hope orbiter into outer space on Tuesday (Wednesday local time), but pouring rain forced launch officials in Japan to reschedule. The spacecraft is now on track to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on Thursday at 4:43 p.m. EDT, the mission announced on Twitter Tuesday. The $200 million Emirates Mars Mission, also known as Hope, will spend seven months traveling to Mars before reaching the Red Planet in February 2021. The unmanned spacecraft will then orbit over the planet for an entire Martian year 687 days and send atmospheric data back to Earth. Plans for the spaceflight, which marks the Arab worlds first interplanetary mission, were announced by the Emirati government in 2014. Three years later, the Persian Gulf country unveiled plans to build the first human settlement on Mars within the next century. Architects are currently designing a prototype Martian city in the Emirati desert. Last year, the UAE sent its first astronaut, Hazza al-Mansouri, to the International Space Station as part of a three-member crew that blasted off from Kazakhstan in a Soyuz space capsule. The UAE isnt the only country launching a mission to Mars this month. The United States will send its fifth rover, Perseverance, to collect the first set of rock samples to be flown back to Earth. Next week, China will send its own orbiter and rover, Tianwen-1, in its first such mission to Mars. Does this remind you of another election a year later? It was 29th November 2015, election results day in Bihar, one of the most populous states in India. Almost every poll, including exit polls, had predicted a landslide victory for the challenger the National Democratic Alliance, i.e. NDA. For weeks, news channels had panels of experts vehemently expounding the reasons for these poll results. The incumbent state government was blamed for cozying up with activists instead of governing, and was also branded as arrogant and incompetent. The leaders of the NDA were lauded for their prodigious campaigning skills, their impeccable ground game, and their strategy. When the vote count commenced, the early trends had the NDA leading. The experts replicated their previous proclamations; they lambasted the incumbent while they lavished blandishments on the challenger. They even began advising the incumbent on remedial measures after their humiliating defeat. As the pompous pontifications continued the tide began to gradually turn. The NDA lead began to wane, in an hour then the current government had a slim lead. The lead grew bigger and bigger, by mid-day, it was clear that they were re-elected. Some news personnel offered perfunctory apologies, others blamed the people for lying to the pollsters, and some refrained from talking about the polls and proceeded as if nothing had happened. This isnt the first time and it most certainly wont be the last time that polls got it so appallingly wrong. The big question is why do these polling agencies that consistently committed calamitous mistakes continue to be treated with the utmost reverence and reverence by news organizations? We focus on the polling process. The first step is the actual sampling. Most agencies have demographic-based sampling on parameters such as age, race, gender, religion, income groups, region, political affiliation, etc. In some cases, it is a combination of parameters. The next step is the actual interview. The resulting information is compiled and extrapolated. All of the above-mentioned stages are replete with elements of randomness that present challenges and huge risks. First, it is almost impossible to define the optimum size and decide the proportion of diversity for any given sample such that it is an appropriate reflection of the entire voter base. The sample size and variety are probably based on the time, budget, and instinct of the polling agency. Secondly, the composition of the sample into demographic groups is deeply flawed. Just because individuals are from the same income group, age group, religious group, and race group does not mean that their life experiences and outlook on life are identical. There are several cases of deep ideological and political differences among the same age group of people within a family. This means voting choice will never identical. Polling five thousand African American men in their early thirties with college degrees cannot possibly capture the voting choices of five hundred thousand African American men in their early thirties with a college degree who run small businesses. The conducting of the interview has its own inherent shortcomings. To question strangers about their voting the choice may either yield evasive answers or out of sheer politeness, an answer that they think the interviewer wants to hear though in some situations the truth will present itself. For exit polls, the politically charged atmosphere outside the polling booths presents another challenge. Also, to understand any individual and his voting choices, the interviewer will have to spend a considerable amount of time with the interviewee, perhaps ask specific questions related to key issues, observe their lives, their social and financial situation. Most pollsters do not have the time and budget for that sort of focus. Not conducting an interview mano a mano, perhaps doing it over the phone or online or a paper form presents its own risks. In addition to the fear that the opinions may be leaked, people may just falsify and there is no way to verify. Thus the core of the problem is the lack of statistical guidelines, methodological protocols, interviewing techniques, and transparency. The fact that we have millions voting across deeply diverse states exacerbates the already existing challenges. This is probably why we can see starkly contradicting results from various polls for the same election. Now for the experts. These are usually adept wordsmiths and have covered politics for so long that conjuring up a narrative is almost second nature. You want ten strong reasons why any given political party will certainly be back in power, they can give it to you. You want ten strong reasons why the same political party will receive an emphatic drubbing at the polls, they can give it to you, too. Even if they do interact with voters, they will have identical challenges that pollsters do. In the end, the opinion of the expert maybe backed by years of experience, education, and research, but their opinion may be no different from anybody else with some basic understanding of politics. The expert opinions are mere conjecture after looking at the polls. If polls were to be believed, Brexit was never supposed to occur and Donald J. Trump was had no chance of becoming President of The United States In what seems like a repetition of 2016, the polls show Biden beating Trump comfortably. There are many reasons not to trust these polls. First, we are three months away from the elections and there is a lot to occur in between. Second, the fast-growing cancel culture, where an actress was targeted merely because her boyfriend was thought to be Trump supporter or the President of Goya Foods faces backlash for praising Trump. It is difficult to expect individual to be truthful when the consequences could be dire? The general narrative, in addition to usual baseless allegations of Russian collusion, sexism, racism, homophobia and other varieties of bigotry, is that the people disapprove of Trumps handling of Covid-19 and this will translate into them voting against Trump. Even if one were to accept this premise, the same individuals may support Trump because he is tough on immigration, strong on national security and still believes in the greatness of his country while the other side is busying attempting to dismantle the nation. They have seen Trump build a strong economy and is sure Trump will rebuild it while Biden would return them back to the Obama days of economic turmoil. Like a broken clock that is right twice a day, there will always be a group of pollsters who get it right and earn overnight credibility. This temporarily earned credibility will come crashing down after they commit some monumental but inevitable errors during the next elections. Despite all the uncertainties and risks, polls are always broadcasted with great fanfare. This is no surprise for 24-7 new channels desperately seeking to fill news space. Another could be to psychologically influence them into thinking that the results are caste in stone and that their vote is inconsequential. In the end the only polls that matter is the actual votes in the ballot box. An elderly friend of mine known for his humor, would pose this question to his doctor whenever he felt the treatment or tests prescribed seemed gratuitous: Is this for me or for you? As consumers of news, we should also be asking this question news organisations who dedicate reams of news space to polls that are almost always wrong. Grpahic credit: Blue Diamond Gallery New Delhi: Focusing on 'situation in Pangong Tso and Depsang Plains', the fourth round of Corps Commanders took place between India and China on Tuesday. The meetings came in the backdrop of recent Galwan clashes that led to killing of 20 Indian soldiers in the valley. According to a report in Indian Express, XIV Corps Commander Lt General Harinder Singh held talks with South Xinjiang Military Region Commander Major General Liu Lin on the next phase of disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. The report stated that the meeting was said to take place at the Chushul border point with Moldo the first two meetings took place at Moldo on the Chinese side on June 6 and June 22 while the third meeting was at Chushul. The last two meetings lasted over 12 hours each. In the second stage of disengagement, the situation at Pangong Tso, IE quoted their sources as saying, will also be discussed where Chinese troops continue to be present on the Indian side of the LAC they had come in 8 km west of Finger 8 which India says marks the LAC. Another source was quoted as saying that the situation at Depsang Plains will also likely to be taken up. Chinese troops, the source said, are "preventing Indian troops to patrol till the traditional patrolling points in the area". The tension between the two sides escalated after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead. According to a report by news agency PTI, the Chinese soldiers used stones, nail-studded sticks, iron rods and clubs in carrying out brutal attacks on Indian soldiers after they protested the erection of a surveillance post by China on the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Galwan. After the clashes, the two sides held at least three rounds of Major-General level talks to explore ways to bring down tension between the two sides. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] Donald Trumps administration has abandoned its plan to rescind certain visas for foreign college students whose universities would be moving to online-only courses. Several universities and attorneys general in 18 states as well as Washington DC had sued the administration over the policy, announced earlier this month. Dozens of other universities and tech giants signed court briefs in support. Under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) guidelines, which have been scrapped, for now, foreign students whose courses were moved online amid the coronavirus pandemic would have to leave the country. It instructed students on F-1 and M-1 visas to depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. The administration reached a settlement on Tuesday, a week after the guidance was issued, that reinstates a March policy allowing foreign students to legally remain in the country while their universities make course adjustments. Critics condemned the administrations move as another attempt to railroad anti-immigration policies under the auspices of combatting Covid-19. Days after ICE had announced the rule change, Harvard University and MIT filed the first of a series of lawsuits urging the administration to drop the plans. In court filings, the administration argued that a solely online programme of study provides a nonimmigrant student with enormous flexibility to be present anywhere in the United States for up to an entire academic term, whether that location has been reported to the government, which raises significant national security concerns. Universities in response alleged that their students face irreparable injury under that policy, as well as under the administrations current immigration orders. The government is enforcing the directive at airports and consulates across the world, turning students away because they attend universities that have made the considered decision to offer instruction online this fall, universities argued. Within minutes of the hearings start, the Department of Homeland Security agreed to walk back its policy. The ruling in US District Court in Massachusetts will bring some relief to thousands of students who were likely to be impacted by rule changes across the US, where fall semesters are set to begin in within weeks. International students comprise roughly 5.5 per cent of US university campuses, or roughly 1 million students. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who also filed a lawsuit on Monday, said the ruling is welcome news for more than 100,000 international students in New York. Its time for the president to stop treating immigrants like nothing more than scapegoats and for him to start leading our nation through this national pandemic, she said. In a statement celebrating the ruling, the ACLU said that the administrations exploitation of the Covid-19 pandemic in pursuit of its anti-immigrant agenda knows no bounds. Turkey asks over 100 countries to extradite Gulen network members Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 4:09 PM The Turkish Justice Ministry has asked 105 countries, including the US and Germany, to extradite more than 800 people affiliated with a movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom the Ankara government accuses of having masterminded the July 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey's official Anadolu news agency reported on Monday that Ankara has already sent out a total of 856 extradition files to various world states, and has so far demanded the extradition of 156 Gulenists from the US, and 257 others from European Union member states. The report added that the highest number of extradition requests was made to Germany for 77 people, followed by Greece for 64 and Belgium for 36 others. Following the requests, 116 Gulenists in 27 countries have been handed over to Turkish authorities. The report noted that Turkey has requested from US officials the extradition of Cevdet Turkyolu, Gulen's close aide, his private doctor Kudret Unal as well as high-profile Gulenists Ekrem Dumanli, Emrullah Uslu, Hakan Sukur and Ihsan Kalkavan. Turkey issues arrest warrants for 24 people over Gulen link Also on Monday, Turkish authorities issued arrest warrants for 24 suspects over their alleged links to the Gulen movement, which is regarded by Ankara as a terror organization and has been branded as the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). At least 18 suspects were arrested in Turkey after the warrants were issued. Security sources said the people were arrested after provincial anti-smuggling and organized crime teams had carried out simultaneous raids in the provinces of Adana, Karaman, Ankara, Yozgat, Mersin, Kocaeli and Istanbul early in the morning. The sources, requesting not to be named, said the suspects were found to be using encrypted messaging application ByLock, which the Turkish government claims to be the top communication tool among members of the Gulen movement. Former police officers as well as nurses on active duty were among those arrested in the raids. During the 2016 botched putsch, a faction of the Turkish military declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of Erdogan was no more in charge. The attempt was, however, suppressed a few hours later. Ankara has since accused Gulen of having orchestrated the coup. The opposition figure is also accused of being behind a long-running campaign to topple the government via infiltrating the country's institutions, particularly the army, police and the judiciary. The 79-year-old cleric has denounced the "despicable putsch" and reiterated that he had no role in it. Gulen has also called on Ankara to end its "witch hunt" of his followers, a move he says is aimed at "weeding out anyone it deems disloyal to President Erdogan and his regime." Turkish officials have frequently called on their US counterparts to extradite the FETO leader, but their demands have not been taken heed of. Moreover, tens of thousands of people have been arrested in Turkey on suspicion of having links to Gulen and the failed coup. Many more, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations. The international community and rights groups have been highly critical of the Turkish president over the massive dismissals and the crackdown. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Seeking to downplay the row over Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis remarks concerning the birthplace of Lord Rama and real Ayodhya, the Nepal Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and the remarks were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears. The remarks made by the Prime Minister are not linked to any political subject and have no intention at all to hurt the feeling and sentiment of anyone, the ministry said. As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilisation, it added. The remarks were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears, the statement said. Also Read: Abhishek Manu Singhvi slams PM Oli on Ayodhya remarks The ministry further said, It may be underlined that the tradition of celebrating Bibaha Panchami where a marriage procession coming from Ayodhya, India to Janakpur, Nepal takes place every year. The Prime Ministers of Nepal and India launched the Ramayana Circuit in May 2018, of which Janakpur-Ayodhya Passenger Bus Service is an important component. These facts signify the bond of time-honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples. Earlier on Monday, Oli said, Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Rama was born there. Due to these continuous claims even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Rama of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj. He was speaking at an event organised at the Prime Ministers residence in Kathmandu. Oli also blamed India for cultural encroachment by creating a fake Ayodhya. Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi. Dashraths son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal, he claimed. In an attempt to save self from criticism, Oli questioned how Lord Rama could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there was no means of communication. He further said that it to be impossible for Lord Rama to come to Janakpur from present Ayodhya that lies in India. Janakpur lies here and Ayodhya there and there is talk of marriage. There was neither telephone nor mobile then how could he know about Janakpur, the Prime Minister said. For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Kathmandu on Tuesday said Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis remarks that the real Ayodhya is in Nepal and Lord Ram was Nepalese reflected the many myths about the Hindu god and highlighted the need for further research on the vast cultural geography of the Ramayana. The Nepal government outlined its position in a statement issued by the foreign ministry after Olis remarks, carried extensively by the Indian media, stoked a controversy. Indian priests called on Oli to keep religion out of regional politics, and groups affiliated to the ruling BJP condemned the remarks. The controversy came against the backdrop of a border row between India and Nepal, which erupted after New Delhi opened a new road to Lipulekh on the Tibet border and Kathmandu published a new map showing Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura as part of Nepalese territory. The Nepal foreign ministrys statement referred to various interpretations of the remarks made by Oli on Monday during a celebration to mark the birth anniversary of Bhanu Bhakta Acharya, the author who translated Valmikis Ramayana into Nepali. The statement clarified Olis remarks are not linked to any political subject and there was no intention at all to hurt the feeling and sentiment of anyone. As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilisation, the statement said. The remarks, it added, werent meant to debase the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears. The statement noted there is the annual tradition of celebrating Bibaha Panchami, or a symbolic marriage procession going from Ayodhya in India to Janakpur in Nepal to mark the wedding of Lord Ram and Sita. Janakpur is believed to be the birthplace of Sita. The statement added the prime ministers of Nepal and India had launched the Ramayana tourism circuit in May 2018, of which the Janakpur-Ayodhya bus service is an important component. These facts signify the bond of time honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples, it said. During Mondays event, Oli had said Nepal had become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history was manipulated. Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram, Oli was quoted as saying by the media. The place called Thori...is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is a great dispute on Ayodhya. But there is no dispute in our Ayodhya, he added. As Dasharath was the ruler of Nepal, it was natural that his son Ram was also born in Nepal, Oli contended. The BJP condemned Olis remarks, with spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri saying Nepals ruling communist party would be rejected by the people in the same way they had been in India since these parties played with peoples faith. The prime minister of Nepal must keep Lord Ram out of regional politics. His comments are unwarranted. He must know that Lord Ram was a chakravarti emperor and Nepal was also a part of his kingdom. Ties between India and Nepal are older than history, said Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of Sri Ram Jamabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and priests in Ayodhya also condemned Olis remarks. Dr Martin Scurr, Good Health columnist, believes that online consultations can not replace in person appointments Can online GP appointments replace a face to face meeting? NO, says Dr Martin Scurr, Good Health columnist: My 93-year-old neighbour has congestive heart disease and hasn't seen her GP for two years. Recently, she has experienced a deterioration in her condition she is showing signs of heart failure and I believe she needs referral for treatment. She is too frail and tires too swiftly to speak for long on the phone, so I called the surgery on her behalf. I sat on the phone ('Thank you for your patience. You are tenth in the queue and your call will be answered as soon as possible') for 20 minutes, only to be told that I was not authorised to speak on my neighbour's behalf. Eventually, I was able to book a phone call from a nurse at the surgery to my neighbour's home. But when the call came through, I wasn't around to pick up the receiver. The nurse let it ring 15 times and then cut it off. I had tried to warn them that my neighbour's condition means that, even in her small bungalow, she is not able to get to the phone in less than 20 rings. There will be millions of people in similar circumstances people who, like my nonagenarian neighbour, need medical assessment provided in person. By insisting on initial assessment via phone or website, the RCGP is effectively excluding millions of people, says Dr Scurr Yet last week the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) announced there is a 'compelling case' to continue the emergency measure of 'total triage' where patients are assessed either online or over the phone before a decision is made on whether to book an appointment with a GP in the surgery. Total triage was established during lockdown to minimise the spread of coronavirus. It was never meant to be a permanent change to the way GPs work. Nor was it ever claimed to be a satisfactory replacement for face-to-face consultations. But the system has been judged a success partly because it reduced the number of appointments hard-pressed GPs have, so freeing them to tackle the endless form-filling, risk assessments and appraisals generated by the modern NHS. It means red tape taking precedence over real people. It also means many more 'silent' illnesses and injuries being missed, especially among the most vulnerable members of society the elderly, victims of physical and mental abuse and those on low incomes. I don't blame GPs for this. Many are under the cosh, buried beneath a bureaucratic workload that should not be their priority. But it means people like my neighbour, with no way to access healthcare, will now effectively be abandoned. I believe the scheme will cost lives. Not long ago I saw a 54-year-old woman complaining of a nagging cough. She had spoken twice to other doctors, but shied away from a proper examination. At first she didn't want me to look at her chest, either; she just wanted a prescription to make the cough go away. I was able to persuade her to let me check her over. She removed her top and then, with real reluctance, her bra and I saw an ulcerating breast cancer, meaning her tumour had broken through the skin. She wanted me to find the wound, yet she could not bring herself to speak about it. And it's a good job I did get to examine her the cough she initially called about was due to the fact that the cancer had spread to her lungs. A phone consultation would never have uncovered her condition. By insisting on initial assessment via phone or website, the RCGP is effectively excluding millions of people. The calls for 'total triage' to replace one-on-one GP consultations is the latest in a series of death blows to what was, at its best, the jewel in the crown of the NHS: the primary care system. The first blow, implemented almost in secrecy under Tony Blair, was an end to home calls for the elderly by health visitors. Then came the withdrawal of provision of 24-hour care night-calls followed by the disappearance of your right to treatment from a named GP. All of these have been nails in the coffin of primary care. The RCGP has seriously underestimated how few people are prepared to talk out loud about their medical worries. Any obstacle, even something as everyday as a phone call, will deter them. They need face-to-face contact with a professional who can draw them out. The most important moment in a consultation often comes as a patient stands up to go. Indeed, I've lost count of the thousands of times when I've seen someone hesitate at the door just before leaving and say: 'Actually, doctor, while I'm here . . .' That's often when the real medical problems are uncovered when they mention a lump, a pain, a crisis in the family, perhaps a bruise that is evidence of a beating or sexual assault in the home. And those are the kind of problems that get missed during consultations over the phone or via video-link. There is a real risk of letting healthcare in Britain decline to Third World standards, and we will look back on 2020 as the point at which the GP system became unfit for purpose. Former chair of the Royal College of GPs doctor Clare Gerada believes the online consultations could replace an in person meeting YES, says Dr Clare Gerada, Former chair of the Royal College of GPs: Recently I examined a woman who had what she feared was a cancerous lump in her breast. Nothing exceptional in that I am, after all, a GP of almost 30 years' standing in a busy Central London surgery of nearly 22,000 patients. But this appointment was unusual in that it was my first face-to-face consultation in weeks. Covid-19 has caused what would normally take ten years of transformation to occur in little more than ten weeks. Before the pandemic, about 90 per cent of GP consultations were face-to-face; only a tiny proportion were done remotely: online via email or by video-call or telephone. But at the height of the pandemic this reversed, and now around 70 per cent of consultations are done remotely. Hence the woman with the lump which didn't need further investigation was the first patient I had physically examined in weeks. I can't see things ever going back to how they were. Nor do I think they should, because it gives the GP more time, and that can only be good for patients. Don't get me wrong, I miss seeing patients in person and enjoy their company. But consider this: how much time does the average GP spend walking to their surgery waiting room, calling their next patient, waiting for the person to respond and walking back to their consulting room? Then there is the time the patient completely reasonably takes settling down and removing their coat. I believe it totals days each year. Surely there are better ways to use that time, such as helping patients. And let's not forget that, pre-pandemic, people had to wait more than two weeks on average for a GP appointment. Fewer faceto-face consultations means we can now see you more quickly when you really need it. In our practice we start most of our appointments online via an electronic consultation, similar to an email. The patient fills in a specially designed questionnaire on our practice website, answering questions a GP would normally ask if they were sat in front of them; the patient explaining in their own words what's concerning them. That comes into an online 'hub', which we monitor during surgery hours. If any answer generates a red flag a possible medical emergency the system directs the patient to ring 111 or 999, or to seek urgent medical advice. For others, the GP decides if an email reply is appropriate, or if a prescription needs to be sent to the pharmacist. Or, indeed, if calling the patient or suggesting they come in is needed. It is not a system that will suit everyone perhaps not the elderly, and those without a computer or a smartphone (around 26 per cent of over-75s don't have one) and some doctors might be reluctant to adopt this new way of working. But as well as saving time, think of how much less embarrassing it is to start off a consultation for a mental health or sexual health problem this way. It is much less intimidating to fill in a form than squirm in a chair in front of a doctor. The system has proved safe and effective, but even video-calls don't tell the whole story. As a GP you build a picture of a patient from their posture, even the time it takes them to walk from the waiting room. And it's hard to pick up on emotion digitally, so we must never lose face-to-face consultations altogether. But there are plenty of positives to making the most of modern technology. This change has not only taken place in general practice; surgeons and hospital doctors are increasingly using video-calls and say it helps them see more patients. Before the pandemic, the NHS was notoriously slow to change. But suddenly, needs must. Healthcare will never be the same again. A rtworks by Ai Weiwei, Tracey Emin and Anish Kapoor are among those to be featured in a Sothebys auction to be held next week to back the Evening Standards Food For London Now campaign. The sale, part of the Sothebys contemporary art day auction that runs from July 20 to 30, includes leading artists Bridget Riley, Mark Wallinger and Bob and Roberta Smith. All money raised from the auction will go to the Standards appeal partner, The Felix Project, Londons largest food surplus distribution charity. Our campaign has so far raised 7.5 million towards our 10 million goal, which includes a pledge to open Londons largest community kitchen to tackle food poverty. Highlights from the Sothebys Help The Hungry auction include a drawing by Emin, a series of three etchings by Kapoor, Wallingers Ghost, and Bob and Roberta Smiths We Have Only Got Each Other placard. British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare also joins the catalogue with his Unstructured Icons Aristocrat I alongside a pair of polished steel reliefs by Sir Michael Craig-Martin and a floral plate by Chinese artist Ai. Ai Weiwei / Getty Images Sothebys senior director Oliver Barker said: We are grateful to the artists who have generously contributed their works and were looking forward to channelling part of the excitement of our major sales in London this month into a cause which will provide food and comfort to the capitals most vulnerable. Evgeny Lebedev, proprietor of the Evening Standard, said: We are delighted to be raising money with Sothebys and some of the worlds leading contemporary artists to help create Londons biggest community kitchen that will continue to feed those in need for years to come. Yinka Shonibare / Getty Images The Felix Project distributes nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste to 350 frontline charities, schools and holiday programmes in London. Founder Justin Byam Shaw said: Although our food is surplus and donated to us and we have over 1,500 volunteers, our costs are still spiralling. The coming unemployment crisis means we are in this for the long term. Bridget Riley / Dave Benett This new community kitchen will provide a high-quality meal for homeless Londoners, cooked by great chefs. Turner Prize-winning artist Wallinger said: I am delighted to help raise funds for The Felix Project, which does such vital work in providing food for vulnerable people in London, work that is ever more necessary. Sothebys Help The Hungry Auction will go live on July 20 and will run until July 30. A group of Liberal MPs is asking its government to invest up to $400 million to combat the health crisis of lead-contaminated drinking water, which was exposed in communities across the country by a national investigation by 10 media outlets including the Toronto Star. An open letter written by Hamilton MP Bob Bratina says the government can and must direct a portion of infrastructure spending designed to revitalize the post-COVID-19 economy into the national public health crisis we face in the form of lead-contaminated drinking water. The letter recommends the money be shared with provinces for: corrosion control equipment and installation so that chemicals can be added to water supplies to reduce lead risks; the creation of a $50-million program accessible to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities so communities can identify lead service lines; the creation of a personal tax credit to subsidize Canadians who replace lead pipes on their properties. By Tuesday morning, the letter had attracted about 20 signatures of support from Liberal and Conservative MPs and senators, and two cabinet members: Public Services and Procurement Minister Anita Anand and International Development Minister Karina Gould. Bratina is contacting other federal politicians as well as mayors across the country. Here we have something that is a significant issue that we can pretty much eradicate within a couple of years with infrastructure money, he said. When I read the (investigative) series, that was the trigger. I had the solid journalism that gave me the courage to bring it forward. The yearlong investigation published last November was a collaboration of 120 journalists and researchers from 10 media outlets and nine universities in partnership with Concordia Universitys Institute for Investigative Journalism. Drinking water in 11 cities was tested and data collected on 12,000 tap water tests across the country. A third of municipalities had levels of lead contamination exceeding Health Canada guidelines. Some cities including Prince Rupert, B.C., Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Montreal showed levels of contamination in older homes comparable to those found in Flint, Michigan. Following publication, many cities introduced subsidy programs to help homeowners with the costs of removing lead pipes and also invested in swifter removal of lead pipes on city property. The MPs open letter says contaminated drinking water is not a localized problem; for this reason the federal government must act in the national interest and fund solutions to this public health crisis across Canada. Lead is a neurotoxin that has been shown to impact cognitive development and lower IQs in children and to trigger cardiovascular and kidney problems in adults. Experts agree there is no safe level of lead in drinking water. A developed and flourishing nation such as Canada cannot justify turning a blind eye to the health of our people, the letter reads. We have a once in a generation opportunity to address an age-old problem and a duty to follow through. Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal MP for Davenport in Toronto, has signed the letter and is calling for federal involvement in improving transparency and standards in water quality. I worry about this increase in disease and what is in our water and food, she said in an interview. There should be testing every day and I think that should be public knowledge, posted on a website. That would be a game changer for clean drinking water in our country. The investigation discovered a patchwork of water testing policies across the country, some of which experts called deceptive. Bruce Lanphear, a leading Canadian drinking water researcher at Simon Fraser University who consulted with Bratina, said the federal lead guideline which sits at five parts per billion is undermined by a lack of enforced standards governing how municipalities and provinces test for lead in water. If you don't provide a method to sample water thats science-based, then in some ways having guidance on acceptable lead levels is silly, he said. If you flush the taps for a half-hour before taking a sample, the results are going to be worthless. Michele Prevost, a Montreal-based engineering professor specializing in drinking water quality, also consulted with Bratina. She calls federal involvement a positive step forward. Theyve gotten creative, Prevost said Monday. This is a way of saying, we are aware the numbers are too high so were pushing it, but in a very flexible way, leaving it to the Federal of Canadian Municipalities and provinces to put it in. In her city of Montreal, Prevost has seen lead pipe identification and replacement accelerate dramatically since the investigation was published last fall. Within weeks, the city earmarked $557 million to replace 48,000 water pipes leading into Montreal homes by 2030. In Halifax, where the investigation showed a third of tap water tests exceeded the federal lead limit, city council unanimously approved a proposal to pay replacement costs for every lead service line on customer property at a cost of $14 million. Regina city council also voted unanimously to replace all lead pipes in the city within five years through a cost-sharing program with homeowners and to add corrosion control chemicals to the citys water system to reduce lead levels in drinking water. Across Ontario, the investigation found more than a third of schools and daycares that tested for lead in the past three years had at least one exceedance of Health Canadas lead guideline. Prevost says municipalities across Canada continue to ramp up testing in schools, public libraries and fountains. Theyre finding the same numbers. This is not going away. Municipalities are taking it seriously (The investigation) really pushed the issue to where the best solution can happen. And its moving. Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal MP for the riding of Saint Laurent in north Montreal, says constituents in her riding have been receiving letters from the city warning of potential lead exceedances in their tap water. Its important to me for my community to be as safe as possible, said Lambropoulos, who is supporting the letter. We know there are many health risks related to lead-contaminated water. Its a priority. Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal MP for Montreals Lac-Saint-Louis riding, says he is supporting the letter to sway his government towards action. It's to signal to the finance minister and to the government generally that this could be included in an upcoming budget. Its about showing the ministers and prime minister that lead in pipes is a priority to a large number of MPs. St. Catharines has become the first Niagara municipality to enact a mandatory mask bylaw for indoor public spaces from elevators to bingo halls in an effort to curb COVID-19. Councillors questioned Niagaras acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji at length about the effectiveness of masks before voting unanimously Monday night to adopt a draft bylaw that affects most people over the age of 10. The bylaw will come into effect this Friday. Mayor Walter Sendzik said the city doesnt want to be a community that has to go backward into lockdown because COVID-19 complacency set in. If this keeps us moving forward and not having to step back into Stage 2 or 1 when we get out of Stage 2, I think that will be for the benefit of everybody, said Sendzik, adding he understands the frustrations of those opposed to the bylaw. These are difficult decisions. Weve all got the influx of emails and text messages and phone calls and everything else associated with it, but at the end of the day we all want to do whats best for our community long term. The start date of the bylaw was announced Tuesday and determined by the citys chief administrative officer and mayor in consultation with the acting medical officer of health. The citys communications staff and senior managers will work on a public education campaign and signage to support businesses and operators. CAO Shelley Chemnitz told council the goal is not that we have to come down hard on people for not doing things, but rather that were working together with them to all be successful. Sendzik said realistically, the bylaw could be put into effect immediately, but the education piece might take two or three weeks to fully implement in the community. The bylaw requires owners and operators of enclosed public spaces to post signage stating masks are required for entry, develop policies for implementation and provide hand sanitizer at entrances and exits. But the bylaw adopted isnt relying on mask police. City solicitor Heather Salter said the enforcement is effectively through education and voluntary compliance. Business operators are required to have a policy in place, but they are not required to enforce the policy or to prohibit entry. They are empowered by the bylaw to do so. This is the least restrictive type of bylaw. It doesnt require the business operator to have somebody at the door whos going to challenge people coming in without a mask, she said. It really is a voluntary compliance situation with respect to the individuals. Other areas that have the same type of bylaw or rules directed at operators include Toronto, York, Ottawa and Simcoe-Muskoka. Places like Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph and Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington have a similar rule but require operators to prohibit people from entering without masks. The St. Catharines bylaw exempts people with medical conditions that inhibit their ability to wear a mask, people unable to apply or remove a mask without assistance, people who have protections under the human rights code that would prevent them from wearing a mask and people accommodating someone with a hearing disability. Children 10 and under will be exempt, after a request by Merritton Coun. Lori Littleton that the age be raised from the draft bylaws age of two. Individuals who claim an exemption are not required to provide proof of the exemption to protect their privacy. The rules affect any indoor place where the public gathers, including grocery stores, shopping malls, places of worship, libraries, bingo halls, hotel common areas and city-owned facilities, among others. It does not include daycares, schools, public transportation, hospitals and health facilities and provincial and federal government buildings. The bylaw states anyone who contravenes any provision of the bylaw is guilty of an offence and upon conviction is liable to a fine, and other penalties in the provincial offences act. St. Catharines held a special meeting of council July 6 and directed staff to draft the temporary bylaw and request Hirji attend Mondays meeting. Hirji has not issued a region-wide order to wear masks like some other Ontario public health heads have done, instead saying it is up to the politicians to make those types of rules. He told councillors Monday the research up until March suggested masks didnt work, but that was based on influenza-like illnesses, not on COVID-19. Over the last three months or so, he said, there has been research indicating that unlike other respiratory viruses, face coverings may have an impact with COVID-19. Hirji said most public health expert bodies are now recommending people wear face coverings when physical distancing is not possible. Asked why council should introduce a bylaw now Niagara is only seeing about two new cases of COVID-19 a day Hirji said the province is starting to lift the restrictions in society that forced people to have distance from each other. The impetus for keeping ourselves safe from COVID-19 is more and more falling in our own personal responsibility, he said, adding people need to be more vigilant than ever about keeping physical distance, washing hands, wearing face coverings when distance cant be kept and getting tested if they have symptoms. How long St. Catharines will keep a mask bylaw in place isnt known. Hirji said the only logical time to back off wearing face coverings is if theres new research showing its not as effective as previously thought or there comes a point where theres an effective vaccine. What were really trying to do is set a new social norm here that were going to live with for a year or two years, perhaps longer, hopefully not. Editors note: This story was updated Tuesday to include the bylaw implementation date and more details. Fresh capital will help Flipkart further grow its e-commerce marketplace in India as the world's second-largest internet market begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, Flipkart said. (Photo | Facebook - Flipkart) New Delhi: US retail giant Walmart will lead a USD 1.2 billion (about Rs 9,045 crore) investment in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart to give it extra firepower to compete with Amazon and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's JioMart. The fresh equity round values Flipkart, where Walmart acquired a majority stake for USD 16 billion two years ago, at USD 24.9 billion post-money, the two companies said in a statement. Flipkart was valued at USD 20.8 billion two years ago. The investment is led by Walmart along with a group of existing shareholders, the statement said. The other shareholders investing in Flipkart were not identified by the company. Fresh capital will help Flipkart further grow its e-commerce marketplace in India as the world's second-largest internet market begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, Flipkart said. "The investment is led by Walmart, Flipkart Group's majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders and values the company at USD 24.9 billion (about Rs 1.87 lakh crore) post-money. It will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year," it added. In 2018, Walmart Inc had invested USD 16 billion for acquiring 77 per cent stake in the group. Flipkart's other investors include Tiger Global, Accel, Tencent, Microsoft and others. "Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. "Today, we lead in electronics and fashion, and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery, all while providing increasingly seamless payment and delivery options for our customers," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. The company will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online, he added. Both Amazon and Flipkart have pumped in billions of dollars over the past few years - ramping up warehousing and delivery logistics - as they aggressively expanded their footprint in India, a market where brick-and-mortar stores still account for a lion's share of the retail sector. The fresh infusion also comes at a time when billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is making deeper inroads into the e-commerce segment with JioMart. Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion specialty site Myntra and logistics and delivery services provider eKart. Flipkart offers 150 million products across more than 80 categories and has recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month. It had reported 45 per cent growth in monthly active customers and 30 per cent growth in transactions per customer for FY20. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. The Senate overcame a difficult rollout and several false starts to pass a far-reaching reform of policing in Massachusetts on Tuesday that would ban chokeholds, limit the use of tear gas, license all law enforcement officers and train them in the history of racism. The vote in the upper chamber now shifts the focus of the debate over racism and policing to the House with just weeks left to finalize a bill that has vaulted to the top of the Legislature's end-of-session agenda. The Senate bill, which was developed after weeks of public protest around the country in response to the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, would impose a new level of oversight on police that has been proposed for years on Beacon Hill, but has failed to gain traction until now. It would also controversially scale back a legal protection for police and other public employees that currently shields them from civil lawsuits unless there was a clearly established violation of law. Democratic leaders, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, weighed in to support the effort of Senate leaders to limit qualified immunity, while the state's largest police union singled out that provision as one that would leave police officers second-guessing themselves on the job. The Senate passed the bill 30-7 just after 4 a.m. on Tuesday after a long day of debate and an overnight session that spanned more than 17 hours. Voting against the bill were Democratic Sens. Nick Collins of Boston, Anne Gobi of Spencer, Michael Rush of Boston, John Velis of Westfield and Michael Moore of Millbury. They were joined in opposition by Republican Sens. Ryan Fattman of Sutton and Dean Tran of Fitchburg. Senate Minority Leaders Bruce Tarr, Sen. Patrick O'Connor, a Weymouth Republican, and Sen. Diana DiZoglio, a Methuen Democrat, voted present. Some senators offered sharp criticism of the process used to develop the bill, while others engaged in a spirited back-and-forth over the legal principles of qualified immunity and the need the act "urgently" to protect Black and other minority residents from discrimination. "No one is saying that we don't support our cops," said Sen. Cindy Friedman, responding to critics who said the bill sought to punish police. But she pleaded with her fellow senators to show the same level of concern for everyone "shot, beaten or kicked" by police because of the color of their skin.The thrust of the bill is to create a new independent commission - the Police Officer Standards and Accreditation Committee - that would certify all law enforcement officers and give the independent agency the power to renew, revoke or otherwise modify their licenses. The new committee could also conduct investigations into allegations of misconduct, including the excessive use of force. Police would need to be recertified every three years, and the state would maintain a searchable database for police departments hiring new officers to review an applicant's history. The Massachusetts Coalition of Police, which represents 4,300 officers in 157 communities, supported the new licensing requirements, but raised objections to how quickly the bill was pushed through without a public hearing. Other groups representing minority law enforcement officers said they were excluded from the development of the bill. "Not only am I a police officer, I am a black man and I am probably better able to speak to concerns of people of color than Senator (William) Brownsberger," said Eddy Chrispin, president of Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers. The police union and other law enforcement groups called on the Senate to suspend its debate until a public hearing could be held, but that did not slow down lawmakers who continued to work their way through the dozens of amendments after days of setbacks. Despite little disagreement over many of the core elements of the bill, the issue of qualified immunity for police became one of the central points of contention. Senate leaders proposed new limits on qualified immunity, which if approved would make Massachusetts the second state after Colorado to increase the exposure of police officers to civil lawsuits to ensure they can be held accountable for their action on duty. A Suffolk University poll in late June conducted for WGBH News, the News Service and other outlets found that 75 percent of Massachusetts residents think people should be able to sue police officers individually for misconduct, compared to just 18.2 percent who said they shouldn't be able to sue. Only 5.4 percent of people said they were undecided, according to the poll. Sen. Brownsberger, a Belmont Democrat, told members that the proposed change would prevent cases where no clear violation of state law occurs from being thrown out of court based on qualified immunity. Instead, it would allow for lawsuits to proceed if a police officer should have reasonably known their behavior violated someone's civil rights, but it does not stop municipalities from indemnifying police or other public officials, thereby assuming the financial risk. Several senators, including Sens. John Keenan and Marc Pacheco, said they still found the issue "confusing," and not worth risking unintended consequences. "I know I owe them something more than, 'I don't know,'" Keenan said about what he would tell his constituents. Opponents tried to rally behind a Sen. John Velis amendment that would have created a special commission to study and make recommendations on qualified immunity within 180 days, but that failed 16-24. "This legislation does not eliminate qualified immunity, it rebalances it," said Sen. Jo Comerford. The final qualified immunity reform was approved on a 26-14 vote. In the course of debate, Sen. Eric Lesser and Brownsberger both read from the recent Justice Department investigation documented alarming instances of police misconduct within the Springfield Police Department's narcotic unit to remind their colleagues that Massachusetts is not immune from police misconduct. "This report makes clear that serious reforms are not only essential, they are urgent," Lesser said. "Violations are happening in our midst, in our commonwealth. There is practically a request by the Bill Barr Justice Department to to address these issues. We must act." House Speaker Robert DeLeo, in a statement early Monday evening, said he hoped to have a virtual hearing on the Senate bill this week. In a departure from the typical committee process, the House Ways and Means Committee and members of the House Judiciary Committee will jointly solicit feedback from lawmakers and other interested parties. DeLeo said the unusual process was the result of the limited amount of time left in the formal legislative year, which is scheduled to end on July 31. The speaker's emphasis on soliciting public feedback drew a clear contrast with the Senate's process that had been criticized for days leading up to Monday's vote. Despite a changed timetable, House leadership remains committed to working with the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and House colleagues to take decisive action through omnibus legislation. We look forward to reviewing the Senates engrossed bill and the work ahead, DeLeo said. That the debate took place at all on Monday was a breakthrough for the Senate. Sen. Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican, had postponed consideration of the bill during three consecutive sessions, including a rare Saturday session, to give senators more time to review the bill. While some senators said they still felt rushed given the lack of a public hearing, Fattman and other critics of the bill allowed the debate to proceed. Tran kicked off the Senate's debate by delivering a scathing indictment of the process used to develop the bill, which he said was crafted by Democratic leaders without input from the public or key interest groups, including minority law enforcement officers. The Fitchburg Republican, who is Vietnamese, said he has experienced "the kind of hatred and discrimination that one can only imagine or experience in their nightmares." He called the bill "ill conceived and politically driven" and asked his mostly white colleagues, "What do you know about racial injustice and inequality?" "The bill's main goal and objective is to attack and discredit law enforcement," Tran said. But he wasn't the only one to express concerns. Taunton Democrat Sen. Marc Pacheco stood up for Fattman and his right to use of parliamentary tactics to delay debate if he felt uncomfortable proceeding. And while Pacheco said he agreed with 80 percent to 90 percent of what was in the bill, he and others raised concerns that changes to qualified immunity and limits on disciplinary appeals would circumvent the collective bargaining process and undermine a labor movement that had done much to protect the rights of Black and other minority workers. "So it's quarter past two in the morning and this is when we chose to take away collective bargaining rights. I don't think I want to do that. No way," Pacheco said, arguing in favor of Sen. Nick Collins amendment to restore some appeal options. It failed 16-24. Pacheco also worried that the restrictions the bill would put on qualified immunity would apply to all public officials, not just police, exposing nurses, firefighters and other public officials to expensive and "frivolous" lawsuits, and adding to the legal costs for municipalities. Tarr said the Senate might have done better to focus on common interests, like police licensing. "If we can focus on what unites us rather than divides us, we can move forward in the next 18 days and get a bill to governor's desk that he will sign," Tarr said. Baker last month filed his own legislation to create a system for licensing police and holding them accountable to a set of professional standards, but that bill is before the Committee on Public Safety and has not yet had a public hearing. The debate did yield some changes to the bill, including a clarification filed by Tarr to make it clear that only law enforcement should have a duty to intervene if they witness police misconduct, not all bystanders. Senate President Emerita Harriette Chandler successfully amended the bill to ask the new standards committee to create rules for police to respond to large gatherings and protests, with an emphasis on deescalation and minimal use of force. And a Sen. Joan Lovely plan would require police departments to report purchases of military-grade equipment to the House and Senate for informational purposes. Sen. Patricia Jehlen's amendment blocking schools from sharing with law enforcement any information about a student's immigration status, nation of origin, ethnicity, religion and known or suspected gang affiliations passed on a 27-12 vote. Jehlen said it was intended to prevent students from being profiled. Black and Latinx students are more likely to be suspected of having gang involvement, she said, and that has been shown to have consequences in other proceedings, such as deportation hearings. Jehlen and supporters said the amendment would not apply if an incident occurred or if there was an imminent threat, but Sen. James Welch said he worried the it would allow gangs to flourish in schools. A man who was attacked by a bear in Colorado has been speaking out about the harrowing encounter which left him with lacerations across his face and neck. Dave Chernosky, 54, heard a noise coming from the downstairs of the Aspen home he and his family were staying at, early on Friday morning. 'I was asleep and heard something in the kitchen. And I just kind of laid there thinking, "Okay, something's wrong,"' Chernosky told Good Morning America. Dave Chernosky, 54, came face-to-face with a bear which struck him in the head and neck Chernosky was woken up on Friday morning after hearing a bear had broken into the home Cuts to Chernosky's ear and face are clearly visible after being attacked by a black bear 'I literally thought I might be dead,' Chernosky said as he described the moment after being hit 'So I went to the kitchen, saw the bear there. He was already in the fridge and cupboards and stuff like that.' 'My kids were in the basement, so I wanted to make sure he stayed upstairs,' he said. Chernosky described the bear as being dark brown in color but close to 450lbs in weight. Fearing for his family's safety, the dad-of-two tried coaxing the black bear into the garage. Chernosky, 54, and his children were staying at a friends house near Aspen, Colorado Officials with Colorado Parks and Wildlife later tracked the 450lb bear and euthanized it (file photo) However, when he hit the garage door opener to let it out, the bear panicked and ran back inside the home and began attacking him. 'I literally thought I might be dead,' he said to ABC11. 'It felt like a brick hit me in the head.' 'As soon as we looked at each other, he just smacked me with his paw one time and after I got out of the way and started yelling, he left,' said Chernosky. He was left with severe cuts on his face and neck after the attack. 'Luckily, the bear wasn't really after me,' he said with some relief. Chernosky quickly called 911. 'A bear came in here and he hit me with his paw so I'm bleeding,' he told operators. Chernosky ended up being taken to Aspen Valley Hospital and then transferred by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction. He had to have stitches placed along his cheek, jaw, ear and back. Overall, he is expected to make a full recovery. Colorado Parks and Wildlife area manager Matt Yamashita said officers responded to the incident at about 3am and are investigating how the bear managed to get in. Officials with the department say they were able to find the bear and euthanize it. It's the second bear attack in the last couple of days. A Colorado woman suffered scratch marks after she was attacked by a bear in her residential neighborhood in Manitou Springs on Thursday On Saturday morning, a woman was attacked by one near Manitou Springs, which lies about 80 miles south of Denver. The wildlife officers caught the bear near the scene of the attack using trained hounds. It was 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. 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 the woman was very lucky to have only suffered minor injuries. By PTI JAIPUR: The Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), which has two MLAs in the Rajasthan assembly, has asked its legislators to remain neutral and not align either with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot or his deputy Sachin Pilot. The development comes hours after a Congress legislature party meeting, where Congress MLAs expressed support for Gehlot and only indirectly referred to Pilot, whose rebellion threatens his government. The BTP has also asked its MLAs neither to align with the Congress nor the BJP during the ongoing political crisis in the state. The Gehlot camp has considered BTP MLAs as supporters of the government. One of the BTP's MLAs has maintained that the support to the government will continue. BTP president Maheshbhai Vasava issued a whip to both the MLAs directing them not to vote for the Congress or the BJP or in support of Gehlot or Pilot in case a floor test is held in the assembly. Disciplinary action will be taken if the MLAs ignore the whip, BTP state in-charge Rameshbhai Vasava said. "It is for the party and not for the MLAs to decide whom to vote and support," he said. Both the MLAs were present in the Congress legislature party meeting held at chief minister's residence. "Our support to the government continues," BTP MLA Ramprasad said. The BTP MLAs were also present in the hotel to where Congress MLAs left for after the legislature party meeting. Meanwhile, the CPI (M) said, "Democracy, Constitution and secularism are being attacked ever since BJP has formed the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi". "They toppled elected governments in states like Madhya Pradesh and misusing CBI, ED, Income tax department has become a routine for BJP," CPI (M) leader Amra Ram said. While Congress leaders consider CPI (M) MLAs also as their supporters, a leader of the Left party said that the decision to support the Gehlot government, if required, will be taken and declared later. The duo was part of a cell which was planning an attack with explosives in Barcelona, according to the Catalan police. Two Algerian citizens have been arrested in an anti-terrorism operation in Spains second-largest city Barcelona, according to the regional Catalan police force. The duo was part of a cell, under investigation since 2017, which was planning an attack with explosives in Barcelona, the police said in a statement on Tuesday. It also said the cell had been fully disbanded. The investigation has allowed us to identify the areas in which the terrorist cell had planned to act, as well as determine that the group had already begun to gain capacity on how to make explosive devices and how to obtain the war weapons they needed to carry out their attack, police said. Police said the duo was planning a bomb attack [Nacho Doce/Reuters] In May, police had arrested a Moroccan man in Barcelona with suspected links to the ISIL (ISIS) armed group who they believed was planning an attack. A total of 16 suspected ISIL fighters have been arrested in Spain from the beginning of the year up to July 5, according to data from the interior ministry. An ISIL supporter used a van to kill pedestrians in Barcelonas Las Ramblas boulevard in August 2017 and carried out a follow-up attack in another Catalan municipality, killing 16 people in total. Probe needed over alleged sexual harassment People bade farewell to Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, Monday. His sudden death, an apparent suicide, marked the end of a life that had earned him an exceptional reputation as a human rights lawyer, civic activist and top municipal administrator. However, it has triggered a controversy over sexual harassment allegations brought against him. Now it appears inevitable for the police and the municipal authorities to conduct an investigation into the allegations because his shocking death is closely related to the alleged sexual misconduct. Park was found dead on Mount Bugak in central Seoul, Friday, two days after one of his former secretaries filed a criminal complaint accusing him of sexual harassment. Against this backdrop, it is disappointing that the police decided to conclude the case without any investigation because of the death of the accused. In legal terms, law enforcement cannot bring any charges against the dead, making it meaningless to conduct any further investigation. But the Park case is raising a set of questions about why he abruptly committed suicide and why so many people, especially women, are calling for an investigation. The Moon Jae-in administration and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) do not want to get to the bottom of the case. They certainly fear that if the truth were to be revealed, it could deal a setback to their integrity and the moral high ground they claim to hold. Mayor Park was not the first head of a local government to face sexual harassment allegations. Park became the third following former South Chungcheong Province Gov. An Hee-jung and former Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don. An resigned in 2018 after his female secretary exposed his sexual abuse, which became one of the biggest #MeToo cases in Korea. He is now serving a prison term of three-and-a-half years. In April this year, Oh stepped down as mayor of the country's second-largest city after admitting that he sexually exploited a female employee. All the three figures are members of the governing DPK, which explains why the Moon administration and his party are reluctant to dig up the Park case. But it would be wrong to try and cover up the case just because the Seoul mayor is dead. They should take responsibility for the continuing allegations involving local government heads. Right after Park's funeral ended Monday afternoon, the alleged harassment victim's lawyer held a press conference together with the representatives of two women's rights groups. The lawyer and the civic group heads detailed how the former secretary suffered sexual harassment from the mayor over four years. They read out her written statement full of pain, frustration and anger about what Park had done to her. They described the case as a typical power-based sexual abuse case, calling for a "proper investigation." We do not want to denigrate the late Park's lifetime achievements for advocating human rights and women's rights, protecting the underprivileged, and enhancing the welfare of Seoul citizens. Park deserves the benefit of the doubt. But remaining silent and doing nothing on the case is dereliction of duty on the part of the police, City Hall, and the Moon government. They should conduct a thorough and fair investigation to lay bare the truth behind the emerging #MeToo case and prevent a recurrence of sexual harassment. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 14:40:52|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Lu Hui BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhuanet) -- At a critical moment with the COVID-19 pandemic spreading apace, the U.S. decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) undermines the global combat against the disease, threatening global health security. The United States formally submitted its withdrawal notification to United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres on July 6. The move came after U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration had repeatedly assailed the WHO and threatened to cut ties with the organization. Earlier, in mid-April, Trump already announced that his country would halt funding to the WHO. Unfortunately, the United States is the worlds hardest-hit by the virus, with 3,346,246 cases and 135,477 fatalities as of Monday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. At the moment when international coordination is badly needed, the U.S. withdrawal decision is irresponsible, unconscionable and short-sighted. At home, the decision has drawn a lot of concerns since it will impair the country's anti-COVID-19 efforts and put Americans at a greater risk in this unprecedented health crisis. The decision is "an act of true senselessness," U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday. The decision was made at a time when "the WHO coordinates the global fight against COVID-19," Pelosi said, adding, "With millions of lives at risk, the President is crippling the international effort to defeat the virus." Democratic Senator Bob Menendez, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, also opposed the decision. "To call Trump's response to COVID chaotic & incoherent doesn't do it justice. This won't protect American lives or interests -- it leaves Americans sick & America alone," Menendez said. Since the current outbreak, the WHO, as the most authoritative and professional institution in global public health, has played a leading role in guiding and coordinating response, and is irreplaceable in helping developing countries, especially African nations, to combat health crises. WHO's contributions have been highly recognized by the international community and support for its role should certainly be further strengthened. The U.S. decision has drawn well warranted criticism from across the world. Dr. Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, considered the decision "an extraordinarily bad decision that will both harm global public health and harm the health of the American people." It's an exemplification of narrow nationalism with little regard to the greater national interest or humanity's wellness, echoed Cavince Adhere, an international relations researcher specializing on China-Africa relations. A comment by The Lancet's website stressed that the U.S. departure from the WHO would have dire consequences for U.S. security, diplomacy, and influence. "The USA cannot cut ties with WHO without incurring major disruption and damage, making Americans far less safe," the comment warned. Today, we live in a globalized world. In this world, interests and destinies of all countries are increasingly intertwined. When facing challenges such as economic recession, public health crises and environment problems; multilateralism and international cooperation should be emphasized. But the fact is that from the outset, the Trump administration has departed from a series of multilateral mechanisms, thus obstructing the international cooperation. Critics said this kind of habitual quitting evidences increasing unilateralism on the part of the United States, which as the world's largest developed country, needs to be living up to its international obligations. So, behind the withdrawal decision, many see Trump's attempt to deflect blame from his mishandling of the coronavirus and manipulation for the November presidential election. It is important that saving lives is always placed above political motivations. In short, the U.S. decision to withdraw from WHO undermines the global anti-COVID-19 fight, without benefiting the United States and its people. Prayagraj : , July 14 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Civil Aviation Minister Nand Gopal Gupta has found a new way to popularise his party and its ideology. He has got an entire block of houses painted saffron in Bahadurganj area. The thing though has not gone down well with two residents of the area, who have lodged a complaints with the police. They have stated that a person close to the government has forcibly got their houses painted saffron. The state minister, sources said though born in April, celebrates his 'second birthday' in July after he survived a bomb attack in July 2010. The Minister said that the complaints were at the behest of the Samajwadi Party leaders that people were complaining. One of the complainant Ravi Gupta, a retired official, said that some unidentified people started painting the houses saffron and when he objected to it, they simply ignored his protests. The minister said: "There are some people who do not like development and beautification drive that I have started. Some of the house have idols of Gods painted on them and the non-believers are objecting." C Shivakumar By Express News Service CHENNAI: Is the government planning to reopen the Koyambedu wholesale market which has been shut for more than two months? After rains regularly playing spoilsport by inundating the temporary market in Thirumazhisai, traders have approached the deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam who promised to form a committee of officials and traders to discuss the feasibility of reopening the wholesale market in Koyambedu. Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaippu state president AM Vikramaraja said he and other office bearers called on Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and submitted a representation urging that the temporary market in Thirumazhisai be shifted back to Koyambedu. "We had submitted a representation to Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam who promised to look into the issue," said Vikaramaraja. He said the deputy Chief Minister had also promised to form a committee which will look into reopening of the Koyambedu market. "The deputy chief minister said that after having discussions with officials, a final decision on traders moving back to Koyambedu wholesale market will be taken," said Vikramaraja. The CMDA member secretary was also present in the meeting. The Koyambedu wholesale market was closed on May 5 and a temporary market in Thirumazhisai was opened on May 11 where 200 wholesale traders were allowed to function. Meanwhile, after the meeting with the deputy chief minister, Tamil Nadu Vanikar Sangangalin Peramaippu and Koyambedu vegetable, fruit and flower traders postponed a crucial meeting on July 16 which was to discuss the re-opening of the Koyambedu wholesale market. It is learnt that the traders have assured the government that they will follow social distancing norms as well as wearing masks and other norms to ensure enough care is taken to contain the spread of pandemic. It is learnt the regular rains and inundation of the temporary market in Thirumazhisai has resulted in officials from the revenue department and public works department conducting a study of Thirumazhisai area so that unplugged drainage systems are blocked and the water is diverted back into the canal. Official sources said that the state government is working out a strategy so that the temporary market doesn't get impacted. Sources told The New Indian Express that officials never anticipated that the pandemic would last this long and there was no plan for the monsoons or rains. It is learnt that the land, which lies between two water canals (one adjacent to the market and another one further away), is low-lying and prone to flooding. The farmers who have been tilling the land nearby usually drain out the excess water by diverting it which could cause flooding. The revenue department has been asked to study the entire drainage network in the area and ensure the water flows into the canal rather than entering the market. Interestingly, the same site has been selected for the Thirumazhisai Bus Terminus, which could also be vulnerable in case of heavy monsoon rains. Responding to the issue, official sources said once the site is elevated, the problem could be resolved. Iraqs Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have rehabilitated a hospital, buried victims, sprayed public places with disinfectant and delivered oxygen in recent weeks as part of the nationwide efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic. From a few dozen recorded deaths per day on June 11 to almost 100 per day a month later, COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the country amid worsening poverty, unemployment and financial hardship. On July 2, the International Rescue Committee noted, With the number of confirmed cases standing at 53,708 on July 1 up from 6,868 on June 1 the Ministry of Health has announced that hospitals are almost at full capacity and schools and universities will be converted into isolation units. Dr. Jawad al-Musawi, a parliamentarian from Baghdads impoverished Sadr City, told Al-Monitor in a July 12 Whatsapp message that Muqtada Sadrs PMU faction Saraya Salam had given their largest headquarters in Iraq to the Ministry of Health to be used to fight COVID-19, rehabilitated a 317-bed hospital and taken part in campaigns to reduce the spread of the virus among the poor. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Musawi attended the handover of the hospital on July 5. Musawi, who was previously the director of the Imam Ali hospital in Sadr City and was elected with Sadrs Sairoon Alliance in May 2018, noted that the Ministry of Finance is struggling to finance the Ministry of Health sufficiently to be able to deal with the crisis. He added that no new hospital had been built in Sadr City in the past 40 years despite massive population growth. Haji Qusay al-Rubaye, head of the Baghdad office of the PMU Kataib al-Imam Ali (called KIA or Brigade 40), told Al-Monitor in a July 11 interview via Whatsapp that KIA had started providing humanitarian aid to the population at the very beginning of the crisis in February. He said the faction had given about 150,000 aid packages to the poor, produced masks and gloves and disinfected streets and public places. Now, he said, the group is providing oxygen to several hospitals as well as delivering oxygen tanks to those quarantined in their homes. He noted that all the funding for the KIA's help during the crisis has come from private donations. Unfortunately, many of the [fighters] have fallen ill 25, I think. I bring them food and oxygen and whatever they need, Rubaye told Al-Monitor, his voice slightly shaking. After a photo of the enormously muscular and well-known KIA fighter known as Abu Ezrael lying on the floor hooked up to oxygen appeared on social media, the PMU issued a statement noting that many among its ranks had been affected. Meanwhile, another PMU faction, the Imam Ali Combat Division (IACD), is busy digging graves in a new section of Iraqs Wadi al-Salam cemetery. Spokesperson Taher al-Musawi noted in July 12 Whatsapp messages to Al-Monitor about the new Wadi al-Salam is located on land granted by the local Najaf government after the old Wadi al-Salam became full. One section of this cemetery, said to be the largest in the world, is now set aside for COVID-19 victims, he said, with graves paid for by the IACD. The IACD, also known as the 2nd Brigade, is led by Sheikh Taher Al-Khaqani and is one of the "shrine unit" PMUs. Musawi noted that on the initiative of Khaqani and after an invitation to do so by Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani," the IACD had "begun preparing the dead and burying them, ensuring that all religious obligations are fulfilled including the ritual washing and shrouding of the bodies as well as praying over them. Rubaye stressed that some functions of the KIA had always been focused on helping civilians and that he, for example, has nothing to do with fighting. He noted, however, that the KIA continues to fight terrorism in the north near Mosul. Federal police officers often stopped at PMU medical facilities along the road between Baghdad and Mosul for medical care and treatment of old wounds when this journalist rode with them in 2017 to the front lines in the final weeks of the battle for Mosul. The PMU also provided aid to the civilian population in some areas at that time. During the operations to liberate Iraqi territory from the Islamic State from mid-2014 until late 2017, when victory against the group was declared in the country, some PMU factions were accused of major human rights violations. They are nevertheless widely acknowledged to have played a key role in liberating territory from IS. According to a July report by Iraq Security and Humanitarian Monitor published by Enabling Peace, A new study by Iraqs Planning Ministry indicates that 4.5 million Iraqis are at risk of experiencing poverty as a result of the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. The International Rescue Committee noted that a recent survey it had conducted found that 87% of respondents had lost their jobs. The PMU are helping to deal with the COVID-19 crisis mainly in southern and central Iraq, areas hit by major anti-government protests that started last autumn and resulted in the fall of the previous government in late 2019. Some PMU factions have been accused of killing protesters, while others openly declared their support for them, providing food and other assistance. Created as they were by a religious fatwa, many among the PMU forces say they consider helping those suffering a duty. Anyone who calls us and is sick, we wont say no, KIAs Rubaye claimed. This is our duty. Healthcare workers with coronavirus symptoms have admitted they are turning up to shifts because they cannot afford to take time off work to be tested. Fears are mounting an outbreak similar to the one in Sydney's Newmarch aged care facility early this year, which infected 71 people and claimed 19 lives, could unfold if employees are not offered financial assistance. The deadly Sydney outbreak began after a member of staff came to work despite suffering coronavirus symptoms. A number of casual staff in aged care and disability have told the ABC they worked with COVID-19 symptoms because they were not entitled to sick leave or annual leave and could not withstand the financial blow of mandatory isolation. A Melbourne aged care worker, who did not want to be named, said he knew of cases where staff worked because they felt like they had 'no choice'. A staff member at the Menarock Life aged care facility (pictured), which has been linked to 31 new COVID-19 cases, is pictured sanitising her hands outside. There is no indication staff at the centre have been going to work while unwell People wearing face masks are seen at the entrance of the Menarock Life aged care facility (pictured on Tuesday) where a cluster of new cases have been reported this week. There is no indication staff at the centre have been going to work while unwell As of Tuesday, four aged care homes in Victoria have been hit by coronavirus infections, with older people particularly vulnerable to the disease. 'I know people who have gone to work feeling sick and they've been told if you have any symptoms at all, you should not go to work, but if they have no leave they feel like they don't have a choice,' he said. 'This industry has a lot of casual workers and they are desperate for work so if they feel a bit ill, they come to work.' The revelation comes as the state's deputy chief medical officer warned more vulnerable people would die if staff went to work sick. More Victorians would die if aged care workers did the wrong thing and continued working when they were sick, according to Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd. A staff member at the Menarock Life aged care was seen carrying a delivery into the facility on Tuesday (pictured). There is no indication staff at the centre have been going to work while unwell 'We all remain very concerned about the outbreaks that were seeing in residential aged care facilities in Melbourne, Professor Michael Kidd said on Tuesday. 'We recommend that all staff working in residential aged care facilities or providing home care support in Victoria in the areas under restriction when community transmission is occurring must be wearing a surgical mask, when at work.' 'Most importantly, no worker in aged care or home care should be going to work, if they have any symptoms, no matter how mild. 'To do so is putting lives at risk.' Queensland and Victoria are currently the only two states offering a $1,500 hardship payment to assist those ordered by health authorities to undergo 14 days of home quarantine if they contract the virus outside of their workplace. A healthcare worker prepares a patient for a COVID-19 test at the Rozelle drive-through clinic on July 4 (pictured) amid fears some aren't getting tested as they can't afford to not go to work 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 However, those who get tested on their own accord are not eligible for the benefit while they await results - leaving some feeling forced to keep going to work. The second wave in Victoria took a frightening turn this week as fresh coronavirus clusters have emerged in aged care homes. There have been 31 cases at Menarock Life in Essendon, 13 cases at nearby Estia Health in Ardeer, 13 at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee and two infections at Japara Central Park in Windsor. State health officials said they are heeding advice based on the horror April outbreak at Newmarch, in Penrith, which saw 37 residents and 34 staff test positive, with 19 cases resulting in death. In recent weeks, the Fair Work Commission has been bombarded with complaints about the issue from a series of unions representing aged care, disability care, hospital, pharmacy, pathology, and ambulance staff. Health Workers Union State Secretary Diana Asmar said she was fearful of seeing outbreaks across aged care facilities in Victoria, like in Menarock and Newmarch, where ill-workers infected elderly patients. However, despite submissions alerting the FWC about cases of frontline staff working ill, the commission ruled the it did not consider the pandemic to be at a stage in which healthcare workers required paid leave. Workers and unions are now afraid more people will continue to work with coronavirus symptoms, jeopardising the health of vulnerable patients. Aged care and disability workers are among the lowest-paid employees within the welfare sector (pictured, a Menarock Life worker sanistising her hands outside the facility on Tuesday) While the commissioners agreed healthcare workers may continue to work with symptoms, they ruled the uptick in cases seen in Victoria was due to community transmission - not from infections spreading through health and aged care facilities. The FWC also noted enforcing paid pandemic leave could cause 'significant financial difficulty for some employers'. The application has been adjourned by the commission until the virus is deemed out of control in healthcare settings. Although employees who catch coronavirus at work can apply for workers' compensation, health care unions said staff face the difficult task of proving they picked up the illness on duty before they are awarded the payment. Australian Institute of Welfare data shows the majority of the nation's disability care workforce is casually employed. Healthcare workers are afraid more staff will continue to attend work with coronavirus symptoms (pictured, staff taking supplies into a public housing tower in Melbourne on July 8) Disability and aged care workers are also among the lowest-paid employees in the welfare sector. The Victorian aged care worker said many feared to ask bosses for time off out of fear they could have their shifts cut. 'They are usually on low incomes and a lot of them are on temporary visas and have to work a certain number of hours under their visa,' he said. Doherty Institute infectious diseases epidemiologist Benjamin Cowie said it was 'absolutely the case' that lower income earners were filling essential roles, and they are often completing tasks in which physical distancing is difficult and PPE is limited. As a result, Professor Cowie said these groups were at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 but also more likely to push through shifts while sick. Victorian Premier Dan Andrews rolled out the $1,500 testing incentive earlier this month after fearing the reason almost 1,000 residents refused to get tested was because they could not afford the financial loss of being home sick. 'I think there might be some people that don't have access to pay, whether it be sick pay or holiday pay,' he claimed. 'Their economic circumstances might be very uncertain and the notion of having two days away from work while you wait for your test result may be a big challenge.' Standardbred horseman and racing official Richard B. Karp, 75, passed away on Monday, July 13, 2020, at home with his family by his side. After graduating from Michigan State and deciding after a year in law school to pursue another career, Karp began his harness career in the Les Pullen Stable which evolved to him training and driving his own stable with his father under the Rugby Stable of Yardley, Pennsylvania. He then became an official at Brandywine Raceway where he held the position of paddock judge until the track closed in 1989. He moved on to associate judge on the Harrington and Dover Downs circuit and substituted at others like Ocean Downs and the Red Mile until 1993 when a health event brought on early retirement. Karp was preceded in death by his parents, Emil and Freda. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Diane (Davis); son, Gary; and brothers, Neil and Jay. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. on Thursday (July 16) at Lombardy Cemetery, 401 Foulk Rd., Wilmington, DE 19803. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Delaware Hospice, 16 Polly Drummond Rd., 2nd Floor, Polly Drummond Shopping Center, Newark, DE 19711. Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the family and friends of Richard Karp. (USTA) Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Butch Eley on Monday announced that revenues for June were $1.5 billion, which is $12.5 million less than the budgeted monthly revenue estimate. State tax revenues were $29.8 million less than June 2019 and overall collections for the month represented a negative growth rate of 1.91 percent. Tennesseans are cautiously increasing business and consumer activities as we move forward in an unprecedented environment, Commissioner Eley said. We anticipated a slow recovery from April, when everyone was staying at home, but its too early to identify any patterns in revenue collections. It should be noted that a sizable percentage of June revenue receipts are supported by a shift in tax burden from business, privilege and motor vehicle registration tax payments which were delayed to help provide support during the early phases of the pandemic. The state will not know the full impact of the pandemic on fiscal year 2020 until the close of the fiscal year next month when corporate tax and Hall income tax filings are due. Regardless of economic conditions, we will ensure that the state continues to plan for the worst while hoping for the best, while making sure Tennesseans continue to receive the services they need. The Tennessee Department of Revenue extension of tax due dates can be found on their website at https://www.tn.gov/revenue/news/2020/3/31/tennessee-extends-certain-tax-deadlines-due-to-covid-19.html. General fund revenues were greater than the budgeted estimates in the amount of $6.3 million, while the four other funds that share in state tax revenues were $18.8 million less than the estimates. Sales tax revenues were $13.7 million less than the estimate for June and they were 1.27 percent less than June 2019. June sales tax revenues reflect retail business activity that occurred in May. For 11 months, revenues are $56.4 million higher than estimated. The year-to-date growth rate for 11 months is 2.57 percent. Franchise and excise tax revenues combined were $40.5 million lower than the June budget estimate and the growth rate was negative 12.72 percent. For 11 months, revenues are $292 million less than the estimate and the year-to-date growth rate is negative 15.69 percent. Gasoline and motor fuel revenues for June decreased by 10.24 percent compared to June 2019, and they were $16.3 million less than the budgeted estimate of $109 million. For 11 months, revenues have fallen behind estimates by $15.8 million. Motor vehicle registration revenues $0.1 million more than the June estimate, and on a year-to-date basis, revenues are $10.8 million less than the estimate. Tobacco tax revenues were $0.1 million more than the June budgeted estimate of $21.6 million. For 11 months, they are $0.4 million less than the budgeted estimate. Hall income tax revenues for June were $5.7 million more than the budgeted estimate. For 11 months, revenues are $47.2 million less than the budgeted estimate. Privilege tax revenues were $10 million more than the June estimate, and on a year-to-date basis, August through June, revenues are $15.2 million more than the estimate. Business tax revenues were $49.8 million more than the June estimate. For 11 months, revenues are $7.4 million more than the budgeted estimate. Mixed drink, or Liquor-by-the-drink, taxes were $8.1 million less than the June estimate, and on a year-to-date basis, revenues are $16.8 million less than the estimate. All other tax revenues exceeded estimates by a net of $0.4 million. Year-to-date revenues for 11 months are $298 million less than the budget estimate. The general fund recorded $301.9 million less than estimate and the four other funds are $3.9 million more than estimated. The budgeted revenue estimates for 2019-2020 are based on the State Funding Boards consensus recommendation of Nov. 26, 2018, and adopted by the second session of the 111th General Assembly in April 2019. Also incorporated in the estimates are any changes in revenue enacted during the 2019 session of the General Assembly. These estimates are available on the states website at https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/finance/fa/fa-budget-information/fa-budget-rev.html. On Nov. 19, 2019, the State Funding Board met to hear updated revenue projections from various state economists. Following this meeting, on Nov. 26, 2019, the board decided to adopt revised revenue growth ranges for the current fiscal year. The recurring growth ranges adopted include a low of 3.10 percent to a high of 3.60 percent for total taxes and a recurring range low of 3.20 percent to a high of 3.75 percent for general fund taxes. On March 19, 2020 in the second session of the 111th General Assembly, the Legislature passed the 2019-2020 budget, which included the Funding Boards current year revised ranges and also the administrations amendment to the proposed budget. The administrations amendment, in an effort to recognize the economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, included a reduction of $153.8 million of previously projected revenue to acknowledge potential shortfalls. The governor signed the appropriations bill on April 2, 2020. With the passage of the appropriations act, Public Chapter 651, the General Assembly recognized in the current fiscal year an additional $396.1 million in total revenue and a corresponding increase in general fund revenue in the amount of $345.9 million. However, in June, the general assembly reconvened again and elected to lower revenues estimates further for the current fiscal year thereby reducing general fund estimates by $500 million. Public Chapter 760 was signed on June 30. Some of the pharmaceutical companies, who are developing coronavirus vaccine 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines, pledged not to make a profit. However, U.S. Congress doubts the "no profit" pledge. Pharmaceutical companies are on the race of developing the COVID-19 vaccine that will end the global pandemic. This will also keep people protected against the infectious-and-deadly-virus. However, the question is how much this vaccine will cost once it is available in the market? Some pharmaceutical companies pledged not to make a profit in their COVID-19 vaccines. However, this pledge stirs doubts among the members of the US Congress and are skeptical about how long will the "no profit" commitment will last. Some lawmakers want to make the pharmaceutical companies develop the vaccine to live up in their "no profit" promise or at least guarantee that its price will not be too excessive and is within the budget of ordinary people in the country. Rep. Brett Guthrie, serves on a House oversight panel that will hear from five vaccine makers next week. He sent an email to the Politico news outlet. He wrote that the federal government is taking a significant financial risk to ensure that a vaccine is ready to be free for Americans once it is proven to be safe and effective. The federal government has already poured out $4 billion to accelerate vaccine development and make it available by December this year or by January next year. Lawmakers do not also want the vaccine's cost to be an obstacle to people in availing of the vaccine. Moreover, lawmakers do not know how the vaccine will be priced and how much money the federal government and other countries will spend to purchase either millions or billions of vaccines. This is on top of the money spent on research and production. Meanwhile, several Democrats have outlined a new framework that ensures profits for COVID-19 are modest, government costs, and are manageable. The outline also aims that Americans won't have to pay out of their pockets for vaccines whether or not they have healthcare insurance. Senate HELP ranking member Patty Murray, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and other Senate Democrats wrote in a white paper. They said if the federal government does not directly purchase enough vaccines for the country's total population, Congress must ensure that everyone will have access to the vaccine free of charge once it is available. Republican Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander called members of the Democrats and Republicans to accelerate the development and distribution of vaccines. However, his statement did not directly address the nonprofit claim. Many questions are surrounding the "no profit" claim of pharmaceutical companies who are developing the vaccine. Pfizer, one of the firms not financed by the federal government, has already said that they expect to make money on their vaccines. The country will know how much the vaccine would cost and who would pay it once it becomes available. Today, there could still be many questions about the vaccines' safety, effectiveness, and, most of all, its cost. Check these out! This Real Housewife celebrated her birthday over the weekend in her trademark attention-getting way. And Lisa Rinna looked happy and carefree on a hike on Monday, as she smiled while walking along in Los Angeles, California. The reality star, who turned 57 on Saturday, sported a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt with a colorful illustration on the front, along with cropped black leggings. It was her birthday on Saturday: Lisa Rinna looked happy and carefree on a hike on Monday in Los Angeles She pulled down her face mask to flash her famous smile, wearing a large safari-style beige sunhat. Lisa also wore aviator sunglasses, ankle socks and grey sneakers. To mark the occasion of her most recent trip around the sun, the mother-of-two posted a scintillating all-nude throwback photo on Saturday, Peace to all: The reality star, who turned 57, sported a black Led Zeppelin t-shirt with a colorful illustration on the front, along with cropped black leggings Protected: Lisa wore a face mask to cover her famous smile, also sporting a large safari-style beige sunhat 'Birthday Suit,' she cheekily captioned the post, which was from an old Playboy shoot. Lisa has been married to L.A. Law actor Harry Hamlin since 1997, and they are parents to daughters Delilah Belle, 22, and Amelia Gray, 19. Delilah took to Instagram over the weekend to celebrate her dear mother, sending her love with quotes and photos of the birthday girl on her Stories. Birthday mom: Lisa's eldest daughters Delilah took to Instagram over the weekend to celebrate her dear mother Well wishes: The young model sent her mother love with quotes and photos of the birthday girl on her Stories Lisa's eldest daughter also shared a tribute for the star in a photo post, jokingly calling her a 'crazy woman' next to a heartwarming snap of herself as a baby, curiously gazing towards the camera while in the arms of her adoring mother. She captioned it: 'I feel like (sorry everyone else) but I really feel like I got so lucky if not the luckiest to have you as my mama. you are the BEST mom in the world. 'I mean clearly you are a crazy woman but underneath all the glam and sass you are so kind and have taught me the best lessons I've learned in life. I wouldn't ask for anyone else to raise me into the woman I am today.' Other birthday tributes came in from fellow Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills stars Kyle Richards and Garcelle Beauvais, along with many other famous friends. Love: Rinna's eldest also shared a tribute for the star in a photo post, jokingly calling her a 'crazy woman' next to a heartwarming snap of herself as a baby in the arms of her adoring mom STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Schools statewide can reopen in the fall as long as their COVID-19 infection rate is 5% or lower, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday. The region must also be in Phase 4 of the states reopening plan. Cuomo said common sense and intelligence must still dictate plans; the governor has been critical of other states for failing to use science and data to dictate reopening and have since seen surges in coronavirus cases. Were not going to use our children as the litmus test, Cuomo said. Were not going to put our children in a place where their health is endangered; its that simple. The 5% infection rate must be over a 14-day rolling average. Last week, Cuomo said schools statewide must submit a plan which would either be accepted, denied, or need to altered at the states discretion. Then the decision would be made as to whether the school district could reopen. A final decision would come by August 7, Cuomo said. Monday, when asked, Cuomo said that if a schools infection rate goes above 5% on a two-week average after given the OK to open on August 7, the school would still be allowed to open as long as the infection rate is below 9%. After reopening, a school must close if the infection rate goes above 9%, he said. Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza outlined a plan last week that included a mix of in-person either two or three days per week depending on class size and schedule and remote learning. New York State Education Department (NYSED) presented its framework of statewide guidance for reopening schools on Monday, making a point to say there will be no one size fits all model. The guidance, called Recovering, Rebuilding, and Renewing the Spirit of New Yorks Schools: Reopening Guidance, was developed by gathering information from five virtual regional educator and student forums last month, which were attended by more than 1,000 parents, students, teachers, administrators and stakeholders. FOLLOW KRISTIN F. DALTON ON TWITTER. The United States has the biggest COVID-19 testing programme in the world, better than big countries like Russia, China, India and Brazil, President Donald Trump said on Monday, asserting that America has "just about the lowest mortality rate" due to the disease in the world. "We have one of the lowest mortality rates anywhere," Trump said at a White House roundtable. More than 34 lakh Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 so far and over 1,37,000 have died due to the disease, both of which are the largest numbers among all the countries. The huge number of positive cases, the president said, is due to the massive testing efforts undertaken by his administration, more extensive than any other country. "We test more than anybody by far. And when you test, you create cases. So we have created cases. I can tell you that some countries, they test when somebody walks into a hospital sick or walks into maybe a doctor's office, but usually a hospital. That is the testing they do, so they do not have cases, whereas we have all these cases. So, it is a double-edged sword," he said. At the same time, the United States has the lowest mortality rate or just about the lowest mortality rate due to the disease in the world, Trump added. "We are doing a great job. We are doing very well with vaccines and we are doing very, very well with therapeutics. I think we are going to have some very good information coming out soon," he said in response to a question. "But we have the best and certainly, by far, the biggest testing programme anywhere in the world. If you tested China or Russia or any of the larger countries, if you just tested India, as an example, the way we test, you would see numbers that would be very surprising. Brazil too. You know, Brazil is going through a big problem, but they do not do testing like we do," Trump said. "So we do the testing and by doing the testing, we have tremendous numbers of cases. As an example, we have done 45 million tests. If we did half that number, you would have half the cases probably -- around that number. If we did another half of that, you would have half the numbers. Everyone would be saying, 'Oh, we are doing so well on cases'," he added. Responding to a question, Trump said what China did to the world should not be forgotten. "I think what China has done to the world with what took place -- the China plague -- you can call it the China virus, you can call it whatever you want to call it. It has about 20 different names. What they did to the world should not be forgotten," he said. The trade deal with China that was signed early this year remains intact, the president said. "It is intact, they (China) are buying. Whether they buy or not, that is up to them. They are buying," he said. Also read: Coronavirus impact: Indian IT firms' revenues may contract up to 3% in FY21, says ICRA Also read: Coronavirus crisis: Tech Mahindra brings back 210 employees, family members from US Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park, closed because of the coronavirus. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Driving down Interstate 15, with miles of windswept Mojave Desert flashing by, a traveler could be forgiven for not paying the Southern California expanse much attention. But with its diverse wildlife, scenic vistas and cultural significance be it Native American petroglyphs or abandoned gold mines the region has been increasingly recognized as a very important resource," conservationist Geary Hund says. Now Congress is on the verge of passing a bill providing billions of dollars to invest in that resource and others in California and nationwide. The measure, the Great American Outdoors Act , would increase the money available from federal energy fees both to purchase property and to tackle a maintenance backlog at existing public lands after years of budget cuts. The Senate passed the bill 73-25 in mid-June; the House voted a month later. President Trump had said hell sign it into law. The prospects for passage the result of an unusual election-year alignment of political interests mark a major victory for environmental advocates and a sharp contrast with the general stalemate on legislation in Washington. The cash that the bill would provide would benefit public spaces of every size not just the vast expanses of Californias deserts, but also parks and green spaces in the heart of Los Angeles. The Mojave Desert Land Trust, a conservation nonprofit where Hund is executive director, is already anticipating how its operations could benefit and offers a prism through which the proposed law and, more broadly, its effect on the great American outdoors can be viewed. The trust buys up the private land parcels pockmarking Californias Mojave and Colorado deserts and resells them to federal agencies including the National Park Service. Hund said the parcels may once have been bought sight unseen, perhaps by individuals enticed by newspaper ads offering the chance to own a piece of California. Generations later, some lie forgotten within the boundaries of public lands. Story continues They might just sit there forever and not be an issue, Hund said. But someone could come in and develop them, or mine them or do some sort of land use that could be very deleterious. As a private entity, the trust can move to acquire these properties faster than federal agencies can, he added. But when it eventually comes time to nationalize them, the government has to pay up. Its main tool for doing so is the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The fund is entitled to receive up to $900 million a year from fees the federal government collects, primarily from companies doing offshore oil and gas drilling if Congress and the president agree to appropriate the money. It's been rare, however, that they approve that much. In a report last year, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service noted that less than half of the $40.9 billion in total revenues that have accrued [over the programs lifetime] have been appropriated. The Great American Outdoors Act would change that: By default, all $900 million would go to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for its projects including, perhaps, the purchases of Mojave parcels no further appropriation needed. "The status quo will be that itll be appropriated, said Holly Doremus, an environmental regulation professor at UC Berkeley. Critics of the bill, including the Wall Street Journal editorial board and a cohort of about 20 of the House's most conservative Republicans, have decried the proposed change in law as putting the appropriations process on autopilot. "Some Republicans like that the fund improves local and state recreation areas," the Journal editorial board wrote. "Others claim the federal purchase of private land helps agencies maintain existing parks and forests. Fair enough, but then approve it each year instead of putting more federal spending on automatic." In addition to land acquisition, the federal fund also provides matching grants to state and local governments for outdoor recreation projects. Anyone who has swum at Lincoln Park, jogged Runyon Canyon or picnicked at Griffith Park has likely used facilities supported in part by the federal fund. Such grants have created or improved more than one thousand parks throughout California, according to a statement from the California Department of Parks and Recreation. If the bill becomes law, support for states and local entities likely would increase, including for urban parkland in areas where low-income people have little access to outdoor getaways. Close to 40% of L.A. residents, and half in the county, dont have easy access to natural spaces, said Jon Christensen of the Los Angeles River State Park Partners. And according to Tori Kjer, executive director of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, having a federal grant program that supports park design, development, open space, and helping to either acquire properties or develop properties, is really critical to making sure that we can reverse park inequity . Conservatives often argue that the government shouldnt be acquiring new properties when it doesnt adequately maintain those it has. National parks have more than $11 billion in work on roads, buildings, utilities and facilities that has been delayed by over a year because of budget constraints, the National Park Service reported . The legislation would address this problem. It would dedicate up to $1.9 billion a year, for fiscal years 2021 through 2025, to reduce the maintenance backlog. The park service would share the money with the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Education and the Fish and Wildlife Service. Theres just a lot of stuff that has not been taken care of over the years by the federal budget, Will Shafroth, president and CEO of the National Park Foundation, said. Its not just mundane housekeeping. Theres a water line in Grand Canyon [National Park] that basically provides all of the water for where most people visit. Its about a $100-million, maybe $120-million, improvement," Shafroth said, adding, "If it goes, theres no water. Deferred maintenance is a concern in the Southern California deserts where Hund works, too. According to National Park Service data , at the end of fiscal year 2018, Death Valley needed an estimated $129 million in deferred maintenance work; Mojave National Preserve, $118 million; and Joshua Tree, $66 million. In a hyper-partisan era, supporters are quick to note the park bill's bipartisan support. That backing partly reflects the fact that the money almost entirely comes from fees from energy development on federal lands and waters. Also, according to the Outdoor Industry Assn., outdoor recreation generates 7.6 million jobs nationally, including 691,000 in California. Despite the broad popularity of these policies in California and nationally , getting the legislation to this point took a chance alignment of the political stars, as Doremus put it. Prominent in that constellation were Sens. Cory Gardner of Colorado and Steve Daines of Montana, Republicans from outdoors-friendly states who are considered vulnerable in their reelection bids. Party leaders, including Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), have gone out of their way to give credit to the two senators for shepherding the measure through Congress, even as some critics call their effort an aberration from otherwise less-than-green politics . Its like any other legislation in Washington sometimes something just breaks loose, and the time is right, said Willis Yarberry, director of government affairs for the Western Rivers Conservancy. It helps if youre prepared. The Mojave Desert Land Trust says it's ready. Trust officials estimate that 221,032 acres of private land exist within the parks and wilderness areas where it operates; at the current pace, full acquisition would take another 34 years. Hund anticipates that the Great American Outdoors Act, if it becomes law, will bring in a huge infusion of money and accelerate the process. Were saving the Mojave, he said. One acquisition one acre at a time. Iranian state TV is reporting that authorities have executed two men convicted of a 2010 bombing at a military parade in northwestern Iran that killed 12 spectators. State TV reported Tuesday the two, who were hanged, were members of a bombing network that was dismantled in 2013. It said some of the victims' families attended the execution in Urmia prison in northwest Iran. In September 2010, a blast at a military parade in the city of Mahabad close to Iran's borders with Iraq and Turkey, killed 12 and wounded 75. Officials at the time blamed Kurdish separatists for the attack, though it was not clear if the executed men were Kurds. Iranian forces in the border zone have clashed for years with Kurdish rebels from the Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party, which also has fighters based in Turkey and Iraq. The group in Iran has generally not targeted civilians in its campaign for greater rights for the Kurdish minority, raising the prospect that the bomb might have gone off prematurely. Kurdish resentments have grown in recent years, buoyed by Kurdish control of areas in northern Iraq. In one incident, the death of a Kurdish maid at a hotel in the northwestern city of Mahabad in May 2015 sparked unrest by local Kurds as opposition groups alleged Iranian security forces somehow had a hand in it. Google is in "advanced talks" to invest $4 billion in Indian telecommunications firm Jio Platforms, according to a report from Bloomberg on Tuesday. The announcement could come in the next few weeks, sources familiar with the matter reportedly told Bloomberg. However, it could be delayed or canceled altogether, and the details are still being ironed out. Google and Reliance Industries did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. If the deal were to go ahead, then Google would become the latest U.S. tech giant to back Jio Platforms, which is owned by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries. Facebook announced a $5.7 billion investment in the company in April and Intel invested $250 million earlier this month. Last month, UAE sovereign wealth fund Mubadala revealed it was investing $1.2 billion in the company, while Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund put in $1.5 billion. Jio Platforms operates the Jio Infocomm telecom network, which has amassed over 388 million 4G subscribers since launching in 2016. Today it is India's top telco, and also has several apps and other services in e-commerce and broadband. Read more on Bloomberg's website here. By PTI RAYONG: Authorities in Thailand have revised rules governing visitors from abroad after a breakdown in screening led to two infected foreigners posing a risk to public health. The government said Tuesday that diplomats will be asked to stay in state-supervised quarantine for 14 days, instead of self-isolating. And it is postponing the recently allowed entry of three categories of foreign visitors so the procedures for them can be changed. The categories are VIP guests of the government; diplomats or representatives of international organisations; and businessmen and investors and others with approved missions. The cases that caused concern involved a member of an Egyptian military group whose plane made two stopovers in the eastern province of Rayong last week, and the 9-year-old daughter of a foreign diplomat whose family returned from Sudan. Thai authorities are revoking landing permission for eight Egyptian flights due to lack of cooperation from last week's visiting military team. Officials in Rayong also closed some schools and a mall, sealed off part of the hotel where the Egyptian had stayed and gave coronavirus tests to his potential contacts. Thailand has not had any locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, with the only people testing positive being travellers coming from abroad. Shoppers not wearing face masks are likely to be refused service under new Government rules. Ministers are drawing up guidance for shop managers on how to enforce the compulsory wearing of face coverings, which comes into force next week. It is expected to make clear they have the right to refuse customers service just as they can turn them away if they were being rude or aggressive. Although shoppers who do not wear a mask can be fined up to 100, police chiefs say they will struggle to enforce the rules which apply from Friday, July 24. Shoppers not wearing face masks are likely to be refused service under new Government rules. Above, shoppers wearing face coverings exit a shop on Oxford Street, London, on Tuesday John Apter, of the Police Federation, said yesterday that officers 'simply don't have the resources' and should only be called upon 'as a last resort'. Martin Hewitt, of the National Police Chiefs Council, revealed ministers had failed to consult chief constables before announcing the new rules on Monday night. The guidance on the compulsory wearing of face masks due in the next few days will also spell out that it will be up to individual shops to decide how strict they want to be with customers. Ministers are drawing up guidance for shop managers on how to enforce the compulsory wearing of face coverings, which comes into force next week. Above, a woman wearing a face mask walks along a steeet of closed shop in Leicester Outlining the rules in the Commons yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock explained that compulsory face masks would help restore customer confidence Outlining the rules in the Commons yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock explained that compulsory face masks would help restore customer confidence. He said: 'In recent weeks we have reopened retail [areas] and footfall is rising. We want to give people more confidence to shop safely and enhance protection for those who work in shops. 'Sadly, sales assistants, cashiers and security guards have suffered disproportionately in this crisis. 'The death rate of sales and retail assistants is 75 per cent higher amongst men and 60 per cent higher amongst women than in the general population.' Mr Hancock added that children under 11 and Britons with certain disabilities would be exempt from the rules and the 'liability' for wearing a mask would lie with individual shoppers. Not all Cabinet ministers got the memo... The Cabinet appeared to be more divided than ever over the compulsory wearing of face masks yesterday. While Michael Gove was seen walking into a Pret a Manger without one, Liz Truss was pictured entering the exact same branch wearing a blue face mask only minutes later. Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, claimed on Sunday it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops. Bare-faced cheek: Mr Gove leaves Pret on Tuesday, left, without a mask. Right, a masked Liz Truss exits the same branch Yesterday morning however he went against his own advice while buying his breakfast. Shortly afterwards, Miss Truss, the International Trade Secretary, entered the same Pret in Westminster wearing a similar blue mask to the one Boris Johnson wore last Friday as he visited a shop in his constituency. Some Conservative Party members have been cutting up their membership cards in protest at the Prime Minister's decision to make the coverings mandatory. Several posted messages and pictures on social media claiming the new rules were incompatible with the party's libertarian ethos. Advertisement He stressed: 'Should an individual without an exemption refuse to wear a face covering, a shop can refuse them entry and can call the police if people refuse to comply. 'The police have formal enforcement powers and can issue a fine.' However, Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne challenged Mr Hancock in the Commons, branding the masks a 'monstrous imposition', Downing Street announced the rules on face masks on Monday night only a day after Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove implied they would not be compulsory in shops. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he did not think coverings would be 'mandatory' and the Government would be better off trusting the public. Labour's health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth yesterday criticised ministers for 'muddle', pointing out that even US President Donald Trump is now wearing a mask. He said: 'After days of ministerial muddle, we finally have a decision. 'I've long warned that this virus exploits ambiguity and that mixed messaging in a pandemic is so damaging. It didn't have to be this way. We didn't have to have this confusion. The Royal Society and the World Health Organisation has long recommended wearing face masks.' Mr Ashworth questioned why the Government was not introducing the rules immediately. The measures will not apply to shop workers on the grounds that tills are often behind plastic screens and they will be allowed to protect themselves with adequate social distancing. Meanwhile, the retail industry claimed it should not be responsible for enforcing the rules in case customers become violent or abusive. Helen Dickinson, of the British Retail Consortium, said: 'While retailers will play their part in communicating the new rules on face coverings, they must not be the ones enforcing these rules. 'With hundreds of incidents of violence and abuse directed at retail staff every day, we welcome the announcement that enforcement will be left to the authorities, rather than potentially putting hard-working retail colleagues in harm's way.' Customers will be allowed to wear any form of face covering and the rules will bring England in line with Scotland, France, Spain and Italy. The French government yesterday extended requirements for masks, announcing they would be compulsory in all public spaces from August 1, including offices, pubs, restaurants and cinemas. Environment Secretary George Eustice did not rule out the mandatory use of face coverings being extended to UK workplaces in future. Sources stressed the evidence is constantly under review. Private hospitals and clinics in Indonesia are charging patients up to $1450 for a coronavirus test, more than three times the monthly minimum wage. Indonesia President Joko Widodo on Monday demanded testing rates increase to 30,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests a day, a 50 per cent increase, and for more labs to be opened in hard-hit provinces including Jakarta, East and West Java. Students line up on the first day back for state high schools in Bekasi on the outskirts of Jakarta on Monday. Credit:AP Coronavirus testing is free in Indonesia but only if a patient presents with symptoms at a government hospital. Access to PCR testing can be difficult to obtain and involve delays of up to a couple of weeks. The World Health Organisation has called on Indonesia to step up its PCR testing rates. The shortage of widely-available testing has seen private hospitals and clinics step into the breach to sell services, typically to wealthier residents, to people who need a test to be able to board a plane, for example, or because they desired a test but had no symptoms. Ayodhya is getting its glory back with new grand Ram Mandir: PM Modi 'Not meant to debase Ayodhya's significance': Nepal after backlash over PM KP Oli's remarks International oi-Deepika S New Delhi, July 14: A day after Nepal PM K P Oli claimed that the real Ayodhya was in Nepal, the country's foreign ministry has issued a statement saying that they are not meant to debase the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears. "The remarks not linked to any political subject and have no intention to hurt anyone's feelings, they are not meant to debase the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears," said the ministry in a statement. "As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization. The remarks were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears," the statement said. Real Ayodhya in Nepal, Lord Ram not Indian: Oli Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Oli on Monday stoke a controversy claiming that Lord Rama belongs to Nepal, not India. "Real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India. Lord Ram is Nepali, not Indian". Oli said that Nepal "has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated." Bhanubhakta was born in 1814 in Tanhu of western Nepal and is credited for translating Valmiki's Ramayan into Nepali language. He died in 1868." "Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram," Oli said. He was speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the prime minister's residence in Kathmandu. In a remarkably statesman-like move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to a request to allow Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to retain the 35, Lodhi Estate Bungalow for some time. Just when people thought there is a witch hunt against the erstwhile first family of Indian politics, the PM's move once again validated his large heartedness. After the government directive to vacate the prime Lutyens real estate property in Lodi Estate, the Centre was approached to allow Priyanka Gandhi to stay there for some more time. Sources close to developments revealed that when the matter was brought to Modi's notice, he said that her request most certainly be accepted. Those who know Modi say that this is not the first time that he has gone out of the way and shown large heartedness towards a family that has left no opportunity to bad mouth him, demean him and use every trick out of the book to nail him. The general impression being that both sides have a visceral hatred for one another. It was in 2011 when Sonia Gandhi had to travel abroad for health related treatment. That time, it was Modi who sent a bouquet of flowers to 10, Janpath. The Congress, which was keen to keep Sonia Gandhi's travel plans a secret, was not only surprised but was also compelled to share details about Sonia Gandhi's illness with the entire nation. Back in August 2013, when the Congress-led UPA was in power and Modi was merely the campaign committee chief, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi fell ill. The nation saw a visibly unwell Sonia Gandhi being escorted out of the Parliament House, driven to the hospital. Later on, she was taken home from hospital. That is when Modi Tweeted, "Glad to know that Soniaji's health is fine. Wishing her the best of health in future." He had also tweeted, "Concerned that basic medical emergency procedures were not used. Would have been better if wheel-chair or stretcher was used in the Parliament," adding, "Considering her health, Soniaji should have been taken to hospital in a well-equipped ambulance. Still, doctors are best judges." Old timers recall another incident from the past when a chopper ferrying Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel developed a snag at Daman. Modi dialled Sonia Gandhi and offered all possible help to her. When the NDA government came to power, Modi would make it a point to greet Sonia Gandhi at the start and end of every Parliament session. Such a practice continues even now. This is a basic courtesy that was never given to the NDA when the UPA was in power. In August 2016, when Sonia Gandhi fell ill during a roadshow in Varanasi, Modi immediately enquired about her health. He also offered to arrange for a plane to bring her back to Delhi. The fact that Modi reached out to Sonia Gandhi, who was campaigning in his parliamentary constituency and using acerbic language, was not missed by people. During the peak of the Karnataka election campaign, Rahul Gandhi's aircraft developed a technical snag on the way to Hubballi. The Congress used this as an opportunity to taunt the BJP-led Central government for being inconsiderate towards the Gandhi family. In the midst of such slander, and slap-bang in the middle of a tough and bruising election campaign, Modi called Rahul Gandhi and enquired about his well-being. He also ensured a proper DGCA probe was held on the issue. The Gandhi family has considered Narendra Modi as an usurper of sorts -- someone who has denied them a set of privileges they deserved. In contrast, Modi has always shown a larger heart when it comes to dealing with the Nehru-Gandhi family. Egypts Chamber of Tourism Establishment demanded the government reconsider its guidelines for restaurants and cafeterias after the lifting of the coronavirus shutdowns and curfew. In a letter to the tourism ministry, the chamber demanded the reconsideration of the operation capacity limits and working hours in the guidelines issued by the government for restaurants and cafeterias that have reopened. They must work at 25 percent of dine-in capacity and close at 10pm in the summer season under the new guidelines. Restaurants are also required to ensure social distancing is maintained during dining. The chamber stated that delivery services could not compensate financially for the loss of dining in revenues at the 25 percent capacity, and also said that the 10pm closure time was unfair. It also warned that some restaurant owners may violate the guidelines. The government, on issuing the new guidelines, said the new closing hours, also applicable to cafes and shops, will not be changed even after the pandemic, in an attempt to regulate work of restaurants, cafes and shops and to conserve energy. Prior to a nightly curfew put in place in March due to the pandemic, some restaurants and cafes were open 24 hours, while many others would remain open until at least midnight. Shops were also commonly open until late at night. Search Keywords: Short link: It may be August before Dublin's hospitality hub of Temple Bar reopens fully amid "huge uncertainty" in the industry post-Covid. Only a handful of venues in the Latin Quarter have opened their doors in recent weeks and most will be waiting until next month before they resume business as the sector's reopening meets with a mixed reaction. There are mounting fears that phase four of the country's reopening roadmap on July 20 may be postponed amid concerns about the renewed spread of Covid-19. About six venues in Temple Bar have reopened out of around 30 and most of those are attached to local hotels. Despite all pubs being scheduled for reopening next week without having to serve food, publicans are opting to wait and see how much demand there is before pulling up the shutters for the first time since last March. Temple Bar Company chief executive Martin Harte said many of its members will be holding off on reopening until around August. Tumbleweed "There's a huge degree of uncertainty in the industry and people are erring on the side of caution," he said. "There was practically tumbleweed going through Temple Bar on Saturday night. "I'm not sure if there's an appetite for reopening in the city. There's a lot of mixed messages out there and I think business owners want to wait and see what the Government say. There's going to be caution because if there is a big spike, everything will be delayed." Scenes depicting large crowds of people gathering on the street drinking alcohol in places like Dame Lane only compounded the level of unease among bar owners. "Any of the publicans I spoke to were very annoyed with seeing those images as it damages the entire industry," he said. "They were really appalled with what was going on in Dame Lane, but it was a complex thing. "People were drinking, takeaways as well as taking pints out of pubs and it was going on for weeks but suddenly it becomes a big thing. "So there's a sense of nervousness around scenes like that. Everyone's concerned." Huge challenges are now facing the industry, given the impact of Covid on the hospitality business, previously worth around 2bn to the Irish economy. Tourist numbers have been decimated and hotel occupancy in Dublin city is only around 20 to 25pc, compared with 85 to 90pc on previous summers. Huge numbers of people are also continuing to work from home, which means the footfall around the city centre has been significantly reduced and there is only a fraction of the usual numbers of people in the bars. AccuWeather forecasters are warning chances of snow and other wintry weather to break out across portions of the eastern United States, just after a winter storm spent the weekend making a mess of places from the Tennessee Valley through the Southeast and up the Eastern Seaboard into New England. According to reports, the warplanes that rained bombs at al-Watiya airbase in western Libya were Rafale jets, which means that the attack was carried out either by France or Egypt as they are the only two countries within the range of the base that possess this type of aircraft. Pakistan must be following this development closely as India is also getting the Rafale fighter jets and the bombings on Turkish airbase reveal that Pakistan Air Force's F-16s are no match for the French fighter jets. The PAF's F-16s, which are supplied by United States of America are the most sophisticated fighter jets of PAF but with Indian Air Force getting Rafale, the PAF will not be able to carry out any aggressive move against India. Notably, the first batch of six Rafale fighter jets is most likely to arrive in India on July 27. The delivery of aircraft was earlier supposed to have been done by May end, but this got delayed due to the COVID-19 crisis. On June 2, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with his French counterpart Florence Parly during which she conveyed that the Rafale jets will be delivered to India as scheduled notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic in France. The first squadron of the aircraft will be stationed at Ambala air force station, considered one of the most strategically located bases of the IAF. India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore. Here is a comparative study of the features between Rafale and the US-made F-16 in possession of Pakistan. (With inputs from quora.com) Rafale: - Rafale can fly up to 2,000 nautical miles at a stretch. - Rafale's maximum cruise altitude is 50,000 feet. - The rate of climb is 60,000 feet per minute. - Cruise speed long range is 1,032 knots. - Cruise speed normal range 750 knots. - Max speed winner is Rafale 579 knots. The Rafale reaches a maximum speed that is 410 knots faster than the F-16. - Maximum thrust is 34,000 (lbf / pound-force). Rafale produces 5,000 more pound-forces of thrust than the F-16. - Take-off Weight for Rafale is 54,000 (lbs) - Exterior Dimensions: Height 17.52 feet., wingspan 35.43 feet, total length 50.10 feet. Rafale is 0.79 feet longer than the F-16. Rafale has a 2.62 foot wider wingspan than the F-16. Rafale is 0.82 feet taller than the F-16. Armament: Guns: 1 30 mm (1.18 in) GIAT 30/M791 autocannon with 125 rounds Missiles: Air-to-air: MBDA MICA IR or EM or Magic II and MBDA Meteor in the future Air-to-ground: MBDA Apache or MBDA Storm Shadow-SCALP EG or AASM-Hammer or GBU-12 Paveway II, GBU-22 Paveway III or GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II GBU-24 Paveway III AS-30L Air-to-surface: MBDA AM 39-Exocet anti-ship missile MBDA CVS401-Perseus in the future Deterrence: ASMP-A nuclear missile Pakistan's F-16: - F-16 can fly 2,280 nautical miles. - The maximum cruise altitude is 50,000 feet. - The rate of climb is 60,000 feet per minute. - Cruise speed long range is 1,303 knots. - Cruise speed normal range is 330 knots. - Maximum thrust is 29,000 (lbf / pound-force) - Take-off Weight for F-16 is 54,000 (lbs) - The F-16 weights 6,000 pounds less than the Rafale. Armament: Guns: 1 20 mm (0.787 in) M61A1 Vulcan 6-barrel Gatling cannon, 511 rounds Rockets: 4 LAU-61/LAU-68 rocket pods (each with 19/7 Hydra 70 mm rockets, respectively) 4 LAU-5003 rocket pods (each with 19 CRV7 70 mm rockets) 4 LAU-10 rocket pods (each with 4 Zuni 127 mm rockets) Missiles: Air-to-air missiles: 2 AIM-7 Sparrow 6 AIM-9 Sidewinder 6 AIM-120 AMRAAM 6 IRIS-T 6 Python-4 Air-to-ground missiles: 6 AGM-65 Maverick 4 AGM-88 HARM AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) Anti-ship missiles: 2 AGM-84 Harpoon 4 AGM-119 Penguin India and China are scheduled to hold the fourth round of Corps commander-level talks at Chushul at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on Tuesday (July 14). The talks will focus mainly on the second phase of disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), said the Indian Army officials. The talks are significant because this will be the first meeting between senior officials of Indian and Chinese troops after the first phase of disengagement. On July 5, the Special Representatives of India and China on the Boundary Question National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi - had a frank and in-depth exchange during a telephone conversation during which they agreed that both sides should complete the ongoing disengagement process along the LAC expeditiously. As part of the first phase of disengagement, Chinese troops have moved back from Finger 4 to Finger 5 in the Finger area. They have already moved back by around two kilometres in the other friction points including Galway valley, Hot Springs and Patrolling Point-15, top government sources told ANI. On July 6, the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) moved back by at least 1.5 kilometres from three friction sites in Galwan Valley. Rearward movement of vehicles of the PLA was seen at General area Galwan, Hot Springs-Gogra Post. They have also reduced their presence on the ridgeline of Finger 4 in the recent time as demanded by India. The Indian side has also moved back as per the mutual disengagement agreed upon during the Corps Commander-level talks, the sources added. The vacant spaces will be treated as temporary non-patrolling zones by both sides and their troops will not come there. In the first phase of the disengagement process, the PLA was seen removing its tents, vehicles and structures almost 1.5 kilometres back at three friction points along the LAC. The development came after the third round of Corps Commander meet between two countries during which the Chinese side agreed to focus on carrying out the de-escalation process at the LAC. A firefighter in China has been left with extremely pale and wrinkly feet after tirelessly searching for survivors in a landslide. A striking picture released by the provincial fire brigade shows the rescuer's swollen feet shrivelling up like old prunes after being soaked in wet mud while he worked non-stop for over 30 hours. The unnamed fireman was called to rescue after a landslip caused by heavy rain buried nine people in Hubei province on Wednesday, the authorities said. A striking picture released by the fire brigade captures the rescuer's swollen feet shrivelling up like old prunes after being soaked in wet mud while he worked non-stop for over 30 hours It comes as multiple Chinese provinces have entered 'wartime mode' to fight what state media called a 'flood catastrophe' as torrential downpours batter the country. The landslide occurred in the early hours of July 8 in Hubei's Huangmei county after being hit by severe flooding. A total of 69 firefighters were called to search for the nine residents buried under the debris of the landslip. After over 30 hours of rescue, all nine citizens were found. Eight of them had died while one elderly woman survived the accident and is said to be in stable condition, according to Hubei Fire and Rescue. The landslide occurred in the early hours of July 8 in Hubei's Huangmei county after being hit by severe flooding. The picture shows debris at the scene of the landslide in Huangmei county A total of 69 firefighters were called to search for the nine residents being buried under the debris of the landslip. This photo taken on July 8 shows rescuers carrying an injured person who was rescued in the landslide occurred in Huangmei county, Hubei province, central China A picture uploaded by the fire brigade yesterday shows a rescuer's feet looking extremely swollen and wrinkly after working tirelessly for over 30 hours. Thousands of web users have been touched by the incredible image after it was shared on Chinese social media. One commenter wrote: 'This is heart-breaking. You are a true fighter. Thank you so much for your dedicated service!' Another one said: 'Oh my god, so much respect to you! Please stay safe.' After over 30 hours of rescue, all nine citizens were found. Eight of them died while one elderly woman survived the accident and is said to be in stable condition. Firefighters are pictured at the scene of the landslide that occurred in Huangmei county of China's central province Hubei Inundated: This aerial view shows a bridge leading to the inundated Tianxingzhou island, which is set to be a flood flowing zone to relieve pressure from the high level of water in Yangtze River in Wuhan, China's central Hubei province, on July 13 The news comes Chinese authorities have activated emergency response to severe flooding in provinces including Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou. By Sunday, an early rain season and 'extraordinarily' heavy rainfalls had already left 141 people dead or missing and 2.2million people evacuated, reported state-run newspaper The Global Times. The coronavirus ground zero of Wuhan, through which the mighty Yangtze River winds, is on an expanding list of areas warily watching the rising waters. Local officials warned that the Yangtze could hit its third-highest levels in history in the city of 11million on Thursday. At a flood-fighting meeting on Sunday, Wuhan leaders described the situation as 'extremely severe'. By Kong Xiangpeng and Luo Guojin BEIJING, July 13 -- Its learned from the Peoples liberation Army General Hospital(PLAGH) that Professor Chen Jiying and Associate Professor Chai Wei, together with their team under the hospitals department of orthopedics, have successfully completed a case of robot-assisted total knee replacement (TKR) surgery with China's homegrown robot, marking an innovative breakthrough in the field of domestic robot-assisted surgery. Robot-assisted artificial joint replacement surgery is a frontier topic of medical research both at home and abroad. In this operation, a type of orthopedic surgical robot developed by China was used for the first time. Experts from the PLAGHs department of orthopedics have participated in the whole process of the robots development. More than 500 preliminary tests were carried out to ensure its stability, safety, and accuracy in clinical applications. As one of the earliest hospitals in China to carry out robot-assisted joint replacement surgery, the PLAGHs department of orthopedics has successfully completed the world's first 5G technology-guided robot-assisted total hip replacement surgery. So far, they have completed nearly 400 robot-assisted joint replacement surgeries, accounting for more than one-third of the total number of similar surgeries in China. A shark documentary filmmaker enjoying a day off has suffered severe leg injuries during an attack by the very creatures she had been filming off the far north Queensland coast. Despite suffering blood loss, a potentially broken left ankle and cuts, 29-year-old Anika Craney yelled as she was wheeled into Cairns Hospital on Tuesday: "I still love sharks! Sharks are beautiful!" Paramedics were called to Fitzroy Island, 45 minutes by boat from Cairns and about five kilometres off the Cairns coastline, just after midday. Queensland Ambulance Service critical care flight paramedic Terry Cumming said Ms Craney was swimming about 100 metres offshore when she was bitten on her lower left leg. The Hope Probe, the UAE's first mission to Mars from the Tanegashima Island in Japan, is now ready for its seven-month long journey to the red planet covering 493,500,000 km, according to Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is designed to orbit Mars and study the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere on a global scale, and on both diurnal and seasonal timescales, reported state-run news agency Wam. Using three scientific instruments on board of the spacecraft, EMM will provide a set of measurements fundamental to an improved understanding of circulation and weather in the Martian lower and middle atmosphere. Combining such data with the monitoring of the upper layers of the atmosphere, EMM measurements will reveal the mechanisms behind the upward transport of energy and particles, and the subsequent escape of atmospheric particles from the gravity of Mars. Launch EMM will begin its journey to Mars from the Tanegashima Island in Japan. On the launch day, July 15, the Hope Probe will take-off on a Mitsubishi H-IIA rocket toward the east, on a trajectory that takes it over the Pacific Ocean. As the rocket accelerates away from the Earth, the solid rocket boosters are expended, followed by jettisoning the fairing once it is no longer needed to protect the Hope Probe from the Earths atmosphere. Once the first stage is completed, the rocket is jettisoned and put into the Earths orbit. It stays in the Earths orbit until the exact alignment with Mars is achieved after which it is reignited to push it on a trajectory towards Mars. With the right direction and velocity of 11km/s, the upper stage gently deploys the Hope Probe. Early Operation Once the Hope Probe separates from the upper stage, an automated sequence will begin to awaken the probe. The central computer will boot up and turn on the heaters to prevent the fuel from freezing. It will then deploy the solar array panels and use the sun sensors to find the sun and manoeuvre in such a way that the solar arrays begin to charge the onboard battery. With the power switched on, the Hope Probe will start transmitting to Earth, with the NASA Deep Space Network ground station in Madrid ready to pick up on the signals. Once the signal is received on the ground station, the EMM Operations Team will begin their checks on the spacecraft. After the communications system is checked out, the control system will ensure that the spacecraft is pointed in the right direction. The propulsion system onboard will ensure detailed manoeuvres to refine the Hope Probes trajectory towards Mars. Cruise Phase -- The Hope Probe is constantly monitored by the Operations Team back on Earth, as it makes its way to Mars. The trajectory to Mars is further refined by the team by performing a series of Trajectory Correction Maneuvers (TCM) over the next several months. During this period, the instruments are turned on and checked out to ensure that they are operating correctly. The instruments are calibrated using stars to ensure they are ready to operate once they arrive in Mars orbit. The Hope Probe approaches Mars with such a velocity that it will slingshot around it and continue into deep space if it isnt slowed down to the level that it can be captured by Mars gravity. MOI (Mars Orbit Insertion) During the Mars Orbit Insertion phase, the Ground and Space Segments are kept to a minimum while the team focuses on safely entering a capture orbit at Mars. Nearly half of the fuel is spent to slow the Hope Probe down enough to capture Mars orbit. The fuel burn (firing the Delta V thrusters) will last approximately 30 minutes and reduces the speed of the spacecraft from over 121,000 km/h to approximately 18,000 km/h. As radio signals from Mars take 13 to 26 minutes to travel to Earth, the team will not be able to intervene with the Hope Probe. The whole operation is completed 100 percent autonomously. Once the Mars Orbit Insertion is completed, the Hope Probe will go dark eclipsed by Mars. Only when the spacecraft emerges from the dark side of Mars will communication be re-established, and the team will only then be certain that the manoeuvre has succeeded. The first contact with the observatory after MOI will likely come from the ground station in Spain. Over the next few months, the instruments onboard the Hope Probe are tested, and manoeuvres are performed to get the Probe into the correct position for the science observations. Transition Phase -- The next stage in the Hope Probes journey is the transition from the Capture Orbit to an acceptable Science Orbit in preparation for its primary science operations. The Capture Orbit an elliptical orbit lasting 40 hours - will take the Hope Probe as close as 1,000 km above Mars surface and as far as 49,380 km away from it. In the Capture Orbit, the first image of Mars will be taken and transmitted to the Mars Orbiter Camera, MOC. Daily contact is then scheduled with the team back on Earth, enabling a quick turn-around of command sequence uploads and telemetry receipt. After a period of testing and validation, spanning nearly 6 weeks from the Mars Orbit Insertion phase, the Hope Probe will move into the Science Orbit. The Hope Probe will have an elliptical Science Orbit ranging between 20,00043,000 km, with one complete orbit taking 55 hours. The missions highly innovative orbit is unique and will allow the Hope Probe to complete the first ever planet-wide, 24x7 pictures of Mars atmospheric dynamics and weather. The contact period with the MOC is limited to 6-8 hours, twice a week. During this time, it is expected that Hope Probe will transfer over 1 TB of novel data on Mars atmosphere and its dynamics. The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division sent out a press release Monday reminding taxpayers of the July 15 filing and payment deadline while warning against an increase in tax and COVID-19 scams. Due to COVID-19, the original filing deadline and tax payment due date for 2019 was postponed from April 15 to July 15. Taxpayers filing Form 1040 series returns must file Form 4868 by July 15 to obtain the automatic extension to Oct. 15, the release said. Although the extension provides additional time to file the tax return, it is not an extension to pay any taxes due. Willful failure to pay any taxes due could result in interests, penalties, and more, said Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation division in Pennsylvania. For people facing hardships who cannot pay in full, including those affected by COVID-19, the IRS has several options available to help. The IRS encourages taxpayers to visit IRS.gov as soon as possible to explore these options and avoid accruing interest and penalties after the July 15 deadline. In the last few months, the IRS Criminal Investigation division (CI) has continued to see a big increase in a variety of Economic Impact Payment scams and other financial schemes, according to the release. The division continues to work with its law enforcement partners to put a stop to these schemes and bring criminals to justice. Taxpayers can report COVID-19 scams to the National Center for Disaster Fraud, according to the release. Taxpayers can also report fraud or theft of their Economic Impact Payments to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). Unsolicited (phishing) e-mails that appear to be from the IRS should be forwarded to phishing@irs.gov, the release said. For the most up-to-date information about the tax filing deadline and IRS impersonation scams, taxpayers can visit IRS.gov. Icon Savings Plan, a San Francisco, CA-based provider of employee retirement savings plans, raised $3.2m in seed funding. The round was led by Tom Blaisdell with participation from Rethink Impact, TASC Ventures, Kelly Innovation Fund, Portland Seed Fund, and Alumni Ventures. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. Led by Laurie Rowley, founder and CEO, Icon Savings Plan offers retirement savings plans for businesses and individuals. It enables companies of all sizes to offer a plan to their entire workforce. Employers pay no administration fees while participants pay a low flat monthly fee. Portfolios are comprised of low cost funds from asset managers like BlackRock and Vanguard. FinSMEs 14/07/2020 New Delhi, July 14 : The Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday that 86 per cent of the total number of coronavirus cases in the country are confined to 10 states, adding that the fatality rate has come down, while the recovery rate has improved. India is currently the third-worst affected country in the world with 906,752 coronavirus cases as on Tuesday. "Eighty-six per cent of the total cases are confined to 10 states. Two of these account for 50 per cent of the cases -- Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu -- while eight other states have 36 per cent cases," said Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Highlighting another important aspect, Bhushan said that the national fatality rate is 2.6 per cent, which is significantly lower than the global average. He said that assistance is being given to the states with high fatality rate through teleconsultation. "We have started a special intervention. On Tuesday and Friday, a group of doctors from AIIMS engage with the ICU doctors of treating hospitals in other states through teleconsultation and try to resolve the problems that they are facing in saving critically ill patients," he said. The official said that there are 20 states whose recovery rate is more than the national average of 63 per cent. Of these, Tripura, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Ladakh have a recovery rate of more than 70 per cent. "From May 2 to May 30, there were more active cases. Now, the recovered cases are 1.8 times more than the active ones," Bhushan said, building further on his argument. The Health Ministry official claimed that the country is conducting enough tests. "WHO says if you are testing 140 people per day, per 10 lakh, it would be indicative of comprehensive testing. There are 22 states which are doing this," he said. Bhushan further said that the number of labs has increased. At the start of the pandemic, the country had 101 labs, but now it has 1,206 labs and 280 stations for rapid antigen tests. Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has given clearance to two indigenous vaccine candidates for human trials. Study is being done on 1,000 volunteers each at different sites. "The vaccines have undergone successful toxicity studies in rats, mice and rabbits. Data was submitted to DCGI following which both these got clearance to start early phase human trials this month," said ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, the capitals first low-cost carrier, marked the inauguration of its operations with its first flight to Alexandria in Egypt on July 14. A second Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flight will operate from the UAEs capital to the Nile city of Sohag on July 15. The launch ceremony was attended by senior leadership teams of Etihad Aviation Group, Abu Dhabi Airports Company, Air Arabia, Department of Transport in Abu Dhabi among other guests. Tony Douglas, Group Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Aviation Group, said: We are proud to launch Air Arabia Abu Dhabi operations today with the first flight to Alexandria. This joint venture between Etihad and Air Arabia will offer the nations citizens and residents a great new option for air travel from the UAEs vibrant capital city. We look forward to expanding our codeshare partnership to provide more connections to and from Etihads global network onto Air Arabia Abu Dhabis growing list of destinations Shareef Hashim Al Hashmi, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: We are pleased to witness Air Arabia Abu Dhabis first flight and commencement of operations as the UAE capitals first low-cost carrier. Abu Dhabi International Airport, with its innovative health and safety technology, is well positioned to cater to the emirates growing aviation and tourism industries including the increasingly popular low-cost air travel sector. We are looking forward to introducing passengers travelling aboard Air Arabia Abu Dhabi to our own unique brand of Arabian hospitality and a seamless travel experience. Adel Al Ali, Group Chief Executive Officer, Air Arabia, said: We are delighted for the launch of Air Arabia Abu Dhabis first flight and we thank all partners who supported us in achieving todays milestone. We look forward to expanding Air Arabia Abu Dhabis destination network as more airports open up while providing our customers with a new value-for-money option to travel from and into the capital. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi has started its operations with two Airbus A320 aircraft based at Abu Dhabi International Airport, offering the same value-for-money product and services provided by Sharjah-based Air Arabia. Customers can now book their direct flights between Abu Dhabi and Egypt by visiting Air Arabias website, by calling the call centre or through travel agencies. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi was formed following an agreement by Etihad Airways and Air Arabia to establish an independent joint venture company that will operate as a low-cost passenger airline with Abu Dhabi International Airport as its hub. The capitals first low-cost carrier follows the business model of Air Arabia and complements the services of Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi thereby catering to the growing low-cost travel market segment in the region. - TradeArabia News Service One of our greatest challenges has been to recruit students into engineering programs that are essential to Utahs continued economic development. Salt Lake Community Colleges (SLCC) School of Math, Science and Engineering and the Jordan School Districts (JSD) Pre-Engineering Program (PREP) received a $589,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that will be used to extend and enhance the current PREP program and then create a direct connection between JSDs PREP program and SLCCs Engineering Technology (ET) Program. The multi-year grant will also increase access and success for SLCC ET students, improve graduation rates for students of color and women, and engage JSD middle school students in intensive, year-round experiences in engineering technology. This will allow a completely new approach for how SLCC delivers college credits in the ET program while creating a career pipeline in ET for younger students. One of our greatest challenges has been to recruit students into engineering programs that are essential to Utahs continued economic development, said Craig Caldwell, dean of SLCCs School of Science, Mathematics and Engineering. This new grant from the National Science Foundation will directly contribute to our ability to connect these students to high quality educational programs at SLCC and provide an accelerated pathway that places students in high wage jobs in engineering fields. The modified PREP program consists of two parts. For students in the 7th through 9th grades, the program offers consistent contact, encouragement, and experiences to foster their interest in engineering through bridge activities at SLCCs Westpointe campus. The second part of the program, under the grant known as PREP Plus, adds a completely new fourth year to the program for students in the 10th grade with enhanced contact and activity within SLCC engineering. The culmination of the grant is to allow these students as 11th and 12th graders to dual enroll at SLCC to earn a newly created SLCC ET certificate of completion as they complete high school. A number of these courses will be in a Competency Based Education (CBE) format, allowing students to progress at their own pace and accomplish academic goals consistent with the traditional ET courses. Students will also receive focused career and academic advising. Upon graduation, students will have a clear choice forward into jobs within the manufacturing workforce, to complete their two-year degree in ET at SLCC, or to jump with a significant head start into other engineering pathways. This NSF grant will allow the college to retool curriculum in our ET program and deliver this content to students as they finish up the extended PREP program also made possible by this funding, said Jonathan Barnes, associate dean for the Division of Natural Sciences and Engineering at SLCC. As PREP allows students to act on their interests in engineering early, we can deepen SLCCs reach and provide more ways for our students to fill critical local needs in fabrication and manufacturing. Salt Lake Community College is Utahs largest open-access college, educating and training the states most diverse student body in 8 areas of study at 12 locations and online. The majority of SLCC graduates transfer to four-year institutions, and thousands contribute to Utahs vibrant economy by moving directly into the workforce. The Prep Plus program is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2000862 through the Advanced Technological Education funding opportunity. After successfully containing the pandemic locally, foreign workers are slowly being allowed into Vietnam, Photo: Duc Thanh Vietnam sent 270 LG Electronics engineers into quarantine for 14 days on July 2 after they arrived from South Korea at Cat Bi Airport in the northern city of Haiphong. The experts entered on a special Vietnam Airlines flight from Incheon International Airport with certificates issued by South Korean authorities, accepted by the Vietnamese government, saying they are coronavirus-negative, Haiphong authorities said. They have since been housed in hotels. The flight was the fifth bringing LG engineers to the companys plant in Haiphong since the pandemic struck. On June 25, Japan and Vietnam hailed the first commercial flight in what was seen as a step towards resuming travel in the region. The plane, mostly carrying businessmen, headed to Vietnam and involved a COVID-19 test on arrival and 14 days quarantine for the passengers. Masataka Sam Yoshida, CEO of Vietnam RECOF Corporation said, I cannot stop applauding the great job achieved with the first trip for Japanese people to an outside country since the pandemic broke out. I believe this could not have happened without the longstanding friendship between the two countries governments and the sleepless efforts of the people sending and welcoming the passengers on each side. Vietnam has been engaged in discussions to ease the entry of citizens from China, South Korea, and Japan into the country, but the government is resolute that resumption of travel must be based on strict disease prevention measures. At the moment, the Vietnam Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security is considering allowing 437 foreign labourers including 16 investors, 304 engineering technicians, 37 highly-skilled labourers, 51 managers, and their families to enter the country. They are working for 100 companies, organisations, and agencies in Ho Chi Minh City. Since June 8, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) has permitted some foreign labourers to enter the country, with most coming from China, South Korea, the United States, the UK, France, and Germany. At the moment, there are 7,258 foreign workers who are allowed to enter Vietnam, according to MoLISA. In late June 2020, the MoLISA cited reports of 63 departments of labour, invalids and social affairs saying that as of early this month, the number of foreign workers stuck outside of Vietnam reaches 21,641, out of 93,425 foreign workers in Vietnam in total. They are mainly experts, skilled workers, and managers. The number of foreign labourers has decreased by 23.16 per cent in the first six months of the year compared to last years period. Meanwhile, other nations such as China, Japan, and South Korea have asked Vietnam to allow over 7,000 labourers, who chiefly serve international institutions high-tech projects or national key plans, to enter the country. Le Bich Loan, deputy head of the management department at Saigon Hi-tech Park, told VIR that the park is lacking about 30 highly skilled labourers to extend its manufacturing activities. We have had about 500 operational experts in so far. In the whole high-tech park, the number of those who are stuck outside the country is not remarkable. Therefore, the manufacturing operation of the whole park appears to be back to normality. She added that businesses with experts coming into Vietnam need to provide their names and other information to the MoLISA. Every Wednesday, the ministry approves those entering the city. Nguyen Van Lam, deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, said that the ministry is reviewing the list of foreign labourers on its website, which recently became overloaded due to spikes in site traffic. People who are accredited will receive their visa at the Embassy of Vietnam in their own country. Countermeasures for preventing COVID-19 and 14 days of quarantine will be mandatory, he added. In the context of a potential second wave of pandemic infections, domestic airlines Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet, and Bamboo Airways are adding more flights to shuttle Vietnamese people from abroad. It is estimated that about 14,000 Vietnamese citizens living abroad will return to the country in due course. According to a representative of Vietnam Airlines, passengers will be able to buy tickets at the Embassy of Vietnam in their countries, and the price will not be higher than usual. The move to ease entry restrictions on foreign workers can soon help foreign businesses resume operation and recover from the coronavirus crisis. Yoshida from RECOF pointed out the next hurdle to overcome to create activation and vitalisation of the economy for both Japan and Vietnam would be further increasing traffic between both countries by altering the 14-day quarantine rules. A total of 28 days of quarantine on both sides of the border remains by far the highest obstacle for short-time business trip travellers who usually spend two or three nights to attend crucial meetings or site visits. Yoshida explained that comprehensive activation and promotion of Japanese business activities will be increased if regulations can be loosened soon. One day in the near future, if new arrangements were to come up, I will have no doubt that there will be a rush of negotiations for investments which will finally contribute to the growth of the economy, he stated. The House of Representatives has called on the Federal Government to reverse the decision of the Federal Ministry of Education withdrawing Nigerian students from the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination and other similar examinations. The lawmakers made the call on Tuesday while adopting a motion brought under matters of urgent national importance by Nnolim Nnaji during plenary. The federal government recently reversed its earlier announcement on the resumption of schools, saying no Nigerian school will participate in the regional examinations earlier scheduled for August 5 to September 5. This years examination administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) was postponed indefinitely in April after it was earlier scheduled to commence in May. The postponement was due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the globe for months. Nigeria has so far recorded over 33,000 infections and over 600 deaths. Sudden policy reversal Moving the motion which was unanimously adopted without debate, Mr Nnaji stated that exempting Nigerian students from the exams could bring psychological, socio-economic and health effects on them. He expressed worries that the negative and culminating effects of the governments action in seeking to withdraw Nigerian students from the examinations will be devastating on Nigerias educational system and the economy at large. Also worried that this sudden policy reversal is and will be detrimental and create further confusion and uncertainty in the educational sector as well as frustrate the students lifelong ambitions and send wrong signals to stakeholders and investors. He said the government could also apply the same safety measures in schools just as it did while reopening markets, places of worship and other sectors. He said he was convinced that the government could apply the same safety measures towards schools resumption to enable Nigeria participate in the examinations. He said he was encouraged with the successes recorded from the gradual reopening of the economy, adding that its application in the educational sector in screening, decontamination, additional centres and supervisors, as well as strict compliance with NCDC guidelines on social distancing, hand washing, use of facemasks and sanitizers will contain the spread of the virus The adoption of comprehensive and adequate NCDC preventive guidelines in the school and exam centres coupled with pre-attendance testing of the students at least two weeks to the exams in adherence to the WHO and NCDC guidelines will no doubt guarantee that the pandemic will be of no effect m the method and process ot the examinations. While adopting the motion, the house also urged the Minister of Education to immediately implement the health safety measures outlined by the Federal Executive Council for the conduct of the examinations as well as provide soap, hand sanitizers and all other requirements stipulated by NCDC. It also mandated the House Committees on Basic Education, Healthcare Services, Water Resources and Legislative Compliance to ensure compliance and report back to the house within two weeks. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Elchin Mehdiyev Trend: Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova appealed to Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Turkic-speaking countries (TURKPA) Altynbek Mamayusupov, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko, the Azerbaijani parliament told Trend on July 14. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery and tried to capture Azerbaijan's positions. "In response to Armenias attempts, the Azerbaijani side took urgent and adequate measures and as a result, further advance of the Armenian armed forces was prevented, the appeal reads. Having additionally militarized the border areas between the two countries, the Armenian side purposefully and systematically targets the civilian population." Armenias such an irresponsible military policy is caused by Armenia's ntention to involve the military-political organizations, in which it is a member, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as to avoid responsibility for the aggressive policy which is carried out against Azerbaijan, the appeal reads. In her appeals, Gafarova emphasizes that the UN Security Councils resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. However, the latest provocative acts committed by the Armenian side on the border again show that Yerevan is categorically not interested in the peaceful settlement of the conflict. "Another important point is that Armenia committed these provocative actions during the period when the entire international community is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the message said. Consequently, the continued violation of the ceasefire by Armenia shows that the support for the global call for ceasefire in connection with COVID-19 of the UN secretary general is mere hypocrisy, the message said. Therefore, as MPs, we ask the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to ensure the process of sending a letter addressed by the speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament to all member-states. At the same time, we urge the organizations members to condemn Armenias aggressive actions, the ongoing policy of aggression against Azerbaijan and this recent provocation in the border region, the appeal reads. Gafarova said that the Armenian leadership is fully responsible for the consequences of the attacks on the positions of the Azerbaijani State Border Service along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and the losses. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. The opposition Member of Parliament for the Ashaiman Constituency, Ernest Norgbey has dismissed the Majority side of Parliament's justification for procuring GHS64 million worth of Scientific Mathematical Instruments under Single sourced procurement. Parliament on Monday approved a tax waiver of $3.2 million for the procurement of the scientific Mathematical Instruments. The Ashaiman MP told Citi News governments decision to procure the mathematical sets under a single source initiative breaches the Public Procurement Act 663. That is totally against the Public Procurement Act 663. If at this time, we should be buying mathematical sets as an urgent procedure using single-source procurement, assuming without admitting that the children are going to write exams in August, we all knew very well that these children were in form three and we knew very well, they will be writing exams a year after so what prevented the Ministry from going through the competitive process for them to choose the best competitive price and then at the tail end, you rush and dilatorily, purchasing mathematical sets to the tune of 64 million. We always ridicule ourselves to the international community because there is no way that you rush to buy mathematical sets under single-sourced procurements when you have so many competitors and vendors in the market that could produce these mathematical sets at a competitive price. Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of Parliament's Finance Committee has dismissed claims that the approved $3.2 million tax waiver on the importation of the mathematical sets is a loss of income to the State, despite concerns raised by Minority Members of Parliament. According to the New Juaben South lawmaker, the tax waiver is rather to reduce the cost of the items since the supplier would add the tax amount to the final purchase cost. The Scientific Mathematical Instruments (SMI) is to be procured and supplied by Messrs Bluegrass Group Limited for use in examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ghana. According to the chairman of the finance committee, the instruments are to help eliminate examination malpractices which had been aided especially by use of mathematical sets and calculators in examination halls by candidates in all WAEC examinations. The agreement between Education Ministry and Messrs Bluegrass Group Limited will see the company supplying 853,009 units of the Kapek Scientific Mathematical Instruments. citinewsroom Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Market Reports on India Provides the Trending Market Research Report Robotics Manufacturing and Start-ups in India 2020under Manufacturing Category. The report offers a collection of superior market research, market analysis, competitive intelligence and Market reports. The Robotics Market In India has gained momentum as a result of industrial expansion, digital revolution and adoption of automation at a large scale. In terms of annual installation, the industrial robotics market in India stood at 5,000 units in 2019 and is estimated to reach 11,760 units by 2025, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.41% during the 2020-2025 period. Industrial robots can be automatically controlled, programmed and manipulated in three or more axes. Based on mechanical configuration and level of autonomy, industrial robots are classified as stand-alonerobots, cobots and mobile robots. Request a free sample copy of India Robotics Manufacturing and Start-ups Market Report http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/sample/reports/2111398 Industrial applications of robotics: The automotive, healthcare, pharmaceutical, plastic, metal, electrical and electronics sectors are the major end users of industrial robotics in India. The automotive industry has been the leading end user of industrial robots, accounting for ~48% of annual installations in 2019. Automotive manufacturers have been keen to adopt automation solutions in their production plants to improve productivity. The strong presence of various international and domestic automotive manufacturers has fueled the demand for industrial robotics in the country. Various automotive manufacturers like Tata Motors Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., and Maruti Suzuki Ltd. have strengthened on indigenous production of robots. The demand for industrial robotics from general manufacturing industries including plastic, metal, electrical, electronics, food and pharmaceutical is anticipated to pick up at a healthy rate over the forecast period. The fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0 is expected to play a pivotal role in propelling the demand for industrial robotics in India. The healthcare industry has also emerged as one of the prominent users of robotics, especially in the areas of hospital applications, surgery, diagnostics and rehabilitation. Market influencers: Technological evolution has helped in dealing with complexities of industrial operations and thus led to a spurring demand for automated robotic solutions across the different industrial sectors. Robotics offers an array of advantages such as cost-efficiency, enhanced quality and flexibility in production, as well as improved safety and solution for labor shortage, which has stimulated the adoption of robotics. Indias emergence as the global automotive production hub has attributed to the healthy growth of the Indian robotics market. Industrial robots played an instrumental role in enhancing flexibility and precision in automotive manufacturing processes. Furthermore, smart manufacturing through robotics has driven the demand for robotics in various sub-sectors of the manufacturing industry including electronics, pharmaceutical, food, machinery and equipment, and metals. India has embraced robotics at a slower pace as compared to countries like the U.S., China, South Korea and Japan. The high cost of ownership owing to the exorbitant cost of hardware components, maintenance, support, and research and development is a major roadblock. Furthermore, India lacks in terms of trained resources for the implementation, integration and maintenance of industrial robots. Moreover, the lack of a standard programing platform and user interface poses substantial challenges. Impact of COVID-19: The robotics market has immense opportunities to demonstrate unique use cases for various industries. Robots enable industries to function impeccably with reduced human intervention. In the wake of the pandemic, the adoption of industrial robots has expedited since they offer a safe interface between patients and frontline healthcare workers. Industrial robot manufacturers including Asimov Robots Pvt Ltd, Milagrow HumanTech, Invento Robotics and Persapien Innovations came up with unique robotics solutions for applications such as disinfection and sanitization, patient screening, remote treatment and delivery of food and medicines. Furthermore, the unavailability of human workers owing to the lockdown has encouraged players in automotive and logistics sectors to implement robotics in their daily operations. Companies covered: DiFACTO Robotics and Automation Gridbots Technologies Pvt. Ltd Hi-tech Robotic Systemz Ltd Pari Robotics Systemantics India Pvt. Ltd Start-ups ASIMOV Robotics Pvt. Ltd. Bharati Robotic Systems CynLr Grey Orange India Pvt. Ltd. Invento Robotics Miko Nocca Robotics Planys Technologies Sastra Robotics India Pvt. Ltd. Unbox Robotics Browse our full report with Table of Content : http://www.marketreportsonindia.com/marketreports/robotics-manufacturing-and-start-ups-in-india-2020/2111398 About Market Reports on India: Market Reports on India is an excellent source to obtain top quality market research reports that helps you to understand the business in the Indian market. We cover various industries, identifying and understanding key macro and micro-economic trends, insights and futuristic growth opportunities. To help achieve all this and more, Market Reports on India is the answer to all your business needs. Contact us at: Market Reports on India Tel: +91 22 27810772 / 27810773 Email: info@marketreportsonindia.com Website: www.marketreportsonindia.com Follow us on: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn The residents of Yogidham Complex in Kalyan (West), on Tuesday complained of Waldhuni river water turning red due to untreated industrial effluents. The residents of the society, near the banks of Waldhuni river took to social media and posted pictures of the polluted river water. Vinod Shirwadkar, 45, member of Waldhuni Swachhta Samiti, said, Some industries in the area are discharging untreated effluents. The pollution control board should inspect take action. Earlier in March, we had decided to stage a protest against such industries, but due to lockdown, we called it off. If this continues to happen, we will be forced to protest in the coming days. This is the second time the river water colour has changed during the lockdown period. Earlier on May 13, the river had turned red, followed by which Ulhasnagar Citizens Forum, a residents body complained to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). In May, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had issued notice to the Badlapur Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) directing them to respond within 48 hours about the source of the pollution, and that the CETP had failed in curtailing effluents. Pushpa Ratnaparkhi, president of the Waldhuni Swachhta Samiti said, We have been fighting against the pollution of Waldhuni river since the past seven years. Although the authorities took action after the complaint, there has not been any remarkable change. The pollution control board should figure out what is causing the red colour of the water. The activists have claimed that the Waldhuni river meets the Ulhas river, which provides drinking water to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). However, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) have refuted the claims. The Waldhuni river is a tributary of Ulhas river and it meets the river at Ambivli, Kalyan. The river has been a victim to pollution for almost 20 years. Industries across Kalyan, Ambernath and Badlapur have been discharging untreated effluents into the river, and the authority has failed to take major steps to control it, said Shashikant Dayma, founder of Waldhuni Biradari, an NGO that has been fighting against the pollution in Waldhuni river, since the past four years. MPCB, regional officer, Shankar Waghmare, said, We have received a complaint about the Waldhuni river water turning red. Our team will check on this and take necessary action. Earlier, we had warned a CETP and had sent a notice. We will find out the cause of the change in colour. However, the Waldhuni river does not meet the drinking water zone of Ulhas river at all, so there is no chance of pollution in the drinking water. It meets the Ulhas creek directly. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After K P Sharma Oli claimed that the birthplace of Lord Rama, is in Nepal and that Lord Rama was Nepali, priests in Ayodhya lashed out at Nepal's Prime Minister, who they said had made the statements under pressure from China. "Lord Rama was born here. He was born here in Ayodhya near Sarayu river. It is a popular belief that he belongs to Ayodhya. It is true that Sita Ji (Lord Rama's wife) was from Nepal, but to claim that Lord Rama was Nepali is wrong. I condemn Oli's statement," Mahant Dinendra Das, Ram Temple Trust member told ANI. Kalki Ram Das Maharaj, president, Rama Dal Trust said that Oli was working on behalf of Nepal and Pakistan. "I condemn his comment. They used to be a Hindu Rashtra but now they are working on the behalf of China and Pakistan" he said. "There is a line in our religious books, "Jiske Uttar Disha me Saryu pravahit hoti hai, vo Ayodhya hai'" (The place from where Saryu river flows in the east is Ayodhya) and there is no Saryu river in Nepal, how can he claim that Ram belongs to Nepal. I am challenging him that he will be dethroned in one month," he added. Meanwhile, another priest Mahant Paramhansh Acharya said, "Oli is not Nepali, he is not aware of his country's history. He is betraying Nepal. China had captured over two dozen Nepali villages and to conceal that he is using Lord Rama's name." "Lord Rama belongs to the whole universe. He was born here in Ayodhya. Oli is betraying his people and people of Nepal should protest against him otherwise they have to face the ill fate. It does not make a difference whatever he said. Oli is insane," Acharya added. Nepal's prime minister, at an event organised at Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu on Monday claimed that Lord Rama was not an Indian and blamed India of cultural encroachment by "creating a fake Ayodhya." Oli's contentious claims come as the relations between the New Delhi and Kathmandu has worsened lately. Tensions between the two-nation rose after Kathmandu issued a new map incorporating some portions of Indian territories in May. New Delhi has said that the updated map is "not based on historical facts and evidence" and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement. (ANI) Also Read: Coronavirus: Indore reports 5,403 cases; death toll at 273 Absolute Antibody Ltd., an industry-leading provider of recombinant antibody products and services, today announced a partnership with University of Zurich to offer synthetic nanobodies against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Under the partnership, the original nanobodies and newly engineered formats are now available to the global research community for use as serological controls and in COVID-19 therapeutic development. The synthetic nanobodies possess particular promise for the development of inhalable drugs, which could offer a convenient treatment option for the COVID-19 pandemic. Nanobodies are small antibody fragments that can reach previously inaccessible parts of the body due to their compact size. Researchers are exploring their potential as inhalable COVID-19 drugs, which would be easier to administer and reach patients lungs faster than other treatment formulations. The laboratory of Markus Seeger at University of Zurich developed a rapid in vitro selection platform to generate synthetic nanobodies, known as sybodies, against the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2. Within a two-week timeframe, the lab had identified more than 60 unique anti-RBD sybodies from combinatorial display libraries. Further research showed that six of the sybodies bound SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with very high affinity, while five of those also inhibited ACE2, the host cell receptor to which SARS-CoV-2 binds to initiate the COVID-19 infection. Moreover, two of the sybodies can simultaneously bind the RBD, which could enable the construction of a polyvalent antiviral drug. The SARS-CoV-2 sybodies are therefore valuable tools for coronavirus research, diagnostics and therapeutic development, and the panel is now available to researchers worldwide via Absolute Antibodys online catalog. Absolute Antibody recombinantly produces the SARS-CoV-2 synthetic nanobodies for ensured batch-to-batch reproducibility, high purity and low endotoxin levels. In addition, Absolute Antibody has used antibody engineering to fuse the nanobodies to Fc domains in different species, isotypes and subtypes. For example, the anti-RBD binders are now available with human IgG1, IgG3, IgM and IgA domains for use as serological controls. These recombinant engineered antibodies extend the applications of the sybodies by varying effector function and permitting increased half-life in in-vivo studies. We are excited to partner with the Seeger lab to make their novel synthetic nanobodies more widely available to the research community. Combined with Absolute Antibodys unique antibody engineering approach, we can harness even more potential from the nanobodies and help scientists worldwide fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Michael Fiebig, Vice President Product Portfolio & Innovation at Absolute Antibody The global research community has been working at unprecedented speeds to fight COVID-19. By partnering with Absolute Antibody, we have extended the reach and applications of our new synthetic nanobodies, furthering their potential in the race to develop urgently required therapeutics. Dr. Markus Seeger, Professor at the Institute of Medical Microbiology of the University of Zurich In addition to the new synthetic antibodies, Absolute Antibody offers a variety of other engineered reagents for coronavirus research, including SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein and nucleoprotein antibodies, ACE2 Fc fusion proteins, and anti-human immunoglobulin antibodies for use in diagnostic tests. Absolute Antibody is also supporting coronavirus research by providing antibody engineering and manufacturing services, such as the production of gram quantities of human antibodies sequenced from recovering COVID-19 patients. Justin Trudeau made a bold bid to break up with the ethics controversy consuming his government on Monday with a new twist on an old classic: Its not WE. Its me. There was nothing vague about the prime ministers apology for how he and WE Charity have become tangled in an ethics storm over pandemic relief. In fact, Trudeau approached near-mathematical precision on Monday with his very personal regrets for what he had failed to do in the whole mess. The mistake we made was on me and I take responsibility for it, he said. Trudeau said he was sorry he didnt excuse himself from cabinet discussions about WE Charity, and also sorry he didnt know more about the extent to which his family was involved with it. What his apology didnt cover was how this ended up in front of his cabinet in the first place, and the absence of red flags for him or his government the crucial what were you thinking question that hangs over the entire story. So while Trudeaus words on Monday may have slightly cooled the ethics uproar thats erupted in the midst of this pandemic, they wont make it go away. Significantly, his apology also offered no assurances for the future, and thats important this being his third brush with ethics investigations in his career as prime minister. What has he learned about why this failed to set off ethical alarms from the outset? Mondays me-not-WE apology didnt quite cover that. Trudeaus regrets, for now, are intensely personal maybe intentionally so. A larger, more expansive apology may not come until after the ethics commissioners inquiry. Its worth looking closely at how precise the prime minister was when he laid out on Monday where hed gone wrong with WE and the proposal to have the charity handle nearly $1 billion in pandemic relief for students. Trudeau did not say he was sorry about the idea, which he again said came from the public service, only that he didnt officially bow out of the discussions about it. I made a mistake in not recusing myself immediately from the discussions, given our familys history. I am sincerely sorry about not having done that, Trudeau said, going on to cite all the ways the government had been working with other charities on pandemic relief. But when it came to this organization and this program, the involvement Id had in the past and my family has should have had me remove myself from those discussions. Note: Trudeau is not saying that the proposal shouldnt have come to cabinet, only that he shouldnt have been there. The prime minister also didnt mention Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who has been found to have his own family conflicts with WE, including a daughter employed by the charity. It was left to Morneau to issue his own personal apology later in the day, in a separate statement, which followed the same general lines as those of his boss: not a bad idea, just unfortunately handled at cabinet. Significantly, the finance minister hasnt even ruled out the prospect of WE being the subject of cabinet discussions in future. I will recuse myself from any future discussions related to WE, Morneaus statement said. The most sincere, genuine part of Trudeaus apology came when he was talking about how all of this has affected his mother, who has been very public including at WE events about her lifelong battles with mental illness. Obviously I knew she worked with WE, Trudeau said. I didnt know the details of how much she was getting paid by various organizations but I should have and I deeply regret that. What I also deeply regret is the fact that I have brought my mother into this situation in a way that is really unfair to her. Margaret Trudeaus involvement with WE was definitely obvious. She and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau were together in London at a WE event in March, which is where the prime ministers wife was believed to have contracted the COVID-19 virus that put the PM into isolation early in the pandemic. Long before WE was picked as the favoured charity to hand out aid to students during the pandemic, in other words, it had already played a role that was a little too close to home. Trudeau may be saving the larger, more expansive explanations for his discussions with the ethics commissioner, who will most certainly want to know more than just why the prime minister failed to absent himself from cabinet discussions about WE Charity. Its not WE, its me, may work as a break in the heat of this controversy, but those wont be the last words in this fraught relationship. Tickets to the first AFL game to be played in WA without a local team go on sale from 9am Tuesday. The historic Geelong versus Collingwood match at Optus Stadium on Thursday night is the first major event to take place at the venue since Queen and Adam Lamberts Rhapsody Tour in late February. Collingwood v Geelong at the MCG last year. Credit:Eddie Jim The game will be the largest Australian sports crowd since the coronavirus pandemic began, with nearly 20,000 tickets sold to 2pm Tuesday. The previous largest crowd was 10,161 at The Gabba on July 4 when Brisbane took on Port Adelaide. 14.07.2020 LISTEN Each year, on Nelsons Mandelas birthday, we pay tribute to an extraordinary global advocate for equality, dignity and solidarity. Madiba was a moral giant of the 20th century, whose timeless legacy continues to guide us today. The theme of Nelson Mandela International Day is Take action, inspire change. It highlights the importance of working together, from governments to citizens, to build a peaceful, sustainable and equitable world. We mark this day at a time when the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic endangers everyone, everywhere, and especially the most vulnerable. In the face of these challenges, world leaders need to recognize the vital importance of unity and solidarity. COVID-19 is exposing deep inequalities. We need to fight this pandemic of inequality through a new social contract for a new era. Only together can we fend off the common threat of COVID and recover better. As the United Nations marks its 75th anniversary in this fragile time, we reflect on the life and work of Nelson Mandela, who embodied the highest values of the United Nations and who took action and inspired change. Despite many years as a prisoner of conscience, Madiba retained his dignity and commitment to his ideals. Let his example propel any governments that keep such prisoners to release them. There should be no prisoners of conscience in the 21st century. Nelson Mandela reminded us that: As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. On this Mandela Day, let us recall that we can, and must, be part of the quest for a better future of dignity, opportunity and prosperity for all people on a healthy planet. Customs preventive officers have seized narcotics, worth around Rs 8.5 lakh, which were being smuggled into the country from the United States at the Delhi airport's new courier terminal, officials said on Tuesday. The seizure was made from parcels that had come from the US and were declared to have been carrying N-95 face masks and headphones among others, they said. In a late evening operation on Monday, the officers seized 650 gms of greenish-brown dried flowers of cannabis/marijuana, five pieces of premium cannabis oil extract, 25 pieces of cannabis oil of different brands, 11 pieces of cannabis concentrates, one aromamizer along with a small amount of exotic indoor flower. The recoveries were made from three consignments that had come from the US and bound for Mumbai, the officials said, adding that the estimated market value of the contraband is about Rs 8.5 lakh. Cannabis extracts are a growing segment in the cannabis market. These extracts contain high levels of cannabinoids like CBD and THC, much higher by weight than the dry cannabis flowers, leaves, or stems, said customs preventive officials said "Because of the various forms they can take, cannabis extracts are versatile enough to be used in ways like vaping, dabbing, making edibles, and boosting the potency of cannabis flower in joints or pipes," an official said. (Representative image: PTI) Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario is once again calling on the Duterte administration to raise the South China Sea arbitral ruling, this time before the United Nations General Assembly in September. This will be an opportune moment because the theme of the upcoming UNGA session is the commitment to multilateralism, Del Rosario said Tuesday in a virtual conference organized by Stratbase ADR Institute to mark the fourth anniversary of the arbitration ruling. The landmark decision in 2016 by an international tribunal in The Hague favored the Philippines case against China and invalidated the East Asian giants sweeping claims to almost the entire South China Sea. China recently made it clear it continues to reject the ruling, calling it illegal and invalid in response to Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Teddy Boy Locsin, Jr. who said it is non-negotiable. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a fresh statement also asked China to comply with the ruling. However, President Rodrigo Duterte in nurturing friendship with China agreed to set the ruling aside to make way for a joint oil and gas exploration. Del Rosario stressed that the ruling must be taken off the shelf. In the remaining years of his term, we believe that President Duterte may still have the opportunity to fulfill his promise to the Filipino people to raise the Award: this time, not before Chinese President Xi Jinping, but before the world, he said. Del Rosario believes the move would enjoy multilateral support since it would benefit not just the Philippines but other claimant countries and other states that affirm freedom of navigation and overflight in contested waters, such as the US, Japan, and the European Union. READ: US declares 'most' of China's maritime claims in South China Sea illegal Del Rosario, along with former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, also filed a complaint in March last year against Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Beijing officials at the International Criminal Court. They said China caused significant problems in the West Philippine Sea, including the building and militarization of artificial islands, damage to marine environment, and harassment of Filipino fishermen. The ICC in December 2019 said it is not within its jurisdiction to decide on the complaint, but Del Rosario said Tuesday that they are working on a response to the concerns raised by the tribunal. He also urged citizens of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei to submit similar communications to the ICC, since they too have been affected by Chinas systematic and wanton environmental destruction. Del Rosario cited a University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute study that the country is losing at least 33 billion yearly following the destruction of reefs due to Chinas reclamation and illegal fishing in the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese Embassy in Manila earlier rejected similar calls for reparation. Director Yeon Sang-ho, third from right, poses with the cast of "Peninsula" at the press conference held in Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times file By Kwak Yeon-soo Following the success of "Train to Busan," "Peninsula" is another Korean zombie film that casts a commentary on people's desire to live and find hope in the worst situation. Set four years after the hit "Train to Busan," the upcoming blockbuster tells the story of the survivors and a world taken over by zombies. Gang Dong-won plays Jung-seok, a former soldier who goes back to the zombie-packed peninsula on a mission, while Lee Jung-hyun plays Min-jung, a mother of two daughters and an uninfected survivor of the zombie apocalypse. Lee saves the lives of Jung-seok and his mission crew from a massive zombie attack and they join forces to escape the devastated land. Director Yeon Sang-ho said he wanted to go with a different ending compared with "Train to Busan," carrying a message of hope and positivity. "In the movie, all the characters have the desire to escape the peninsula, but the world is not greener outside," Yeon said during a press conference for the film, Thursday. "I wanted the audience to feel that who you are with is more important than where you are." At the beginning of the film, Jung-seok is portrayed as a poorly-treated refugee in Hong Kong after fleeing South Korea. Actor Gang Dong-won in a scene from the film "Peninsula" / Courtesy of NEW Concerned at high costs of treatment deterring Covid-19 patients from getting admitted at private hospitals across the country, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Centre to use its vast powers under the Disaster Management Act (DMA) to direct States to regulate this cost. The courts direction cane while hearing a PIL filed by a lawyer Sachin Jain who flagged the exorbitant costs charged for treatment of Covid-19 at private hospitals. He stated that in such a situation where the country was battling a pandemic, even the private hospitals are duty-bound to provide treatment at subsidized rates. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde which heard the PIL said, These are matters having far-reaching implications. To what extent cost becomes a prohibiting factor for access to medical care is an issue we are concerned about. The CJI-led bench directed the Union Health Ministry officials to meet representatives of hospital federations along with the petitioner Sachin Jain on July 16. The bench, also comprising Justices R Subhash Reddy and AS Bopanna said, At the meeting, the Union government may consider what directions are necessary to be passed to States using its power under the DMA. An appropriate decision shall be taken within a week and be placed before this Court for approval. The issue of subsidized treatment for Covid-19 patients at private hospitals has been engaging the attention of the top court for over two months. Initially, the Court had asked the Centre if private hospitals that got land at cheap rates should be made liable to treat Covid-19 patients for free. The Centre informed the Court that such a direction from the top court is being implemented by reserving beds for economically weak patients in out-patient and in-patient wards. The Court even suggested if private hospitals could charge the same fees from Covid-19 patients as prescribed by the Government under Ayushman Bharat scheme. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre explained that health is a state subject and states can ask private hospitals to regulate cost based on local conditions and availability of resources. As of now, nobody knows how long the pandemic will last and whether hospitals can maintain enough resources till then, Mehta said. Senior advocate Harish Salve representing Healthcare Federation of India said, Its not that hospitals are making great money. People are scared to visit hospitals so footfall has dropped. We have signed agreements with state governments for reserving beds for Covid-19 treatment. In Maharashtra 80 per cent beds are taken by the Government. In addition there are several central government health schemes under which private hospitals are providing free or subsidized treatment. Hospital system is reeling under tremendous financial burden. The petitioner pointed out that some private hospitals charged 30-40 lakh for treating the pandemic which is excessive. Salve said that people who can afford should not mind as insurance companies will foot their bills. The Court asked Salve, Are you assuming that most people in the country have health insurance policy? The Court was convinced that a blanket order cannot serve the intended purpose. It was then that the Court felt that a solution should be devised by the Centre after taking a look at the prevailing models of treatment in every state. The bench is expected to take up the matter for hearing next week. Duleshwar Tandi aka 'Rapper Dule Rocker' is a tribal migrant worker who has become the talk of the town with his rap songs portraying the plight of itinerant labourers during the COVID-19 lockdown. The 27-year-old tuition teacher and an occasional migrant worker hails from Odisha's Kalahandi district. Tandi is a science graduate and rose to fame after his 'Rap Song' on migrants went viral on social media. He is seen narrating the ordeal of migrant workers, walking home during the coronavirus lockdown, in the song. The song has touched a chord with listeners. The tribal youth is also being likened to the character portrayed by Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh in the 2019 Hindi film Gully Boy. Also Read: Coronavirus crisis: Only 20 lakh out of 8 crore migrants got free food grains so far With no musical instrument, no background score, nor any decorated stage behind him, Tandi sings and records videos on his mobile phone from his mudhouse at Borda village. He lives there with his mother. Tandi worked as a waiter at a hotel in Raipur, Chhattisgarh for a living and had come back to his village on March 23. This was a day before PM Modi announced a nationwide lockdown. Tandi moved to the city in 2013 as a migrant worker after completing his BSc degree (Chemistry) from a government college in Kalahandi. "As I saw news reports of coronavirus cases growing in China, US and European countries, I sensed that the situation may get worse here if such lockdown is announced and after the state government announced lockdown in major districts, I made up my mind and I decided to come back," Tandi told India Today over the phone. Disturbed watching news reports on the plight of other migrants like him who could not make it back home in time, he made a 2.45-minute rap video called "Telling the Truth". Also Read: Coronavirus crisis: Feeding India's 8 crore migrant workers to cost Rs 3,500 crore, 0.18% of stimulus package Tandi vents his anger on politicians in the song after seeing migrants walking home barefoot with small kids on their shoulders.In another song titled "Sun Sarkar, Sat Katha" (Listen Government, True Fact), he describes how coronavirus had destroyed migrant workers' lives.Tandi also performed in Chandigarh after he got a call from an organiser who had seen his video on Facebook. He has also received a few offers from the Odia film industry. "We told the conveners that we will not be part of that meeting. They invited the Khupe party and the issue is we can't be equalised with the renegades who are stealing our party. We would rather negotiate with Mnangagwa rather than his conduits," the senior MDC Alliance official said. Any significant harm caused to Egypts water security by the disputed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would constitute a red line, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said, after the latest AU-brokered talks between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan failed to reach a breakthrough. Shoukry told Alghad TV on Sunday that causing significant harm is illegitimate under international law, stressing that Egyptian authorities cannot stand by without dealing with matter firmly. The FM affirmed the necessity of reaching an agreement, adding that failure to reach a deal would further increase tensions, which Cairo is trying to avoid. He said any agreement should be binding, referring to Ethiopias refusal to agree to binding terms, and stressed that there must be a willingness to reach an agreement. The Egyptian foreign minister made the statements after the 11th day of virtual talks saw the persistence of differences on major issues regarding the rules of filling and operating the dam. The Egyptian announcement came following a meeting on Monday between the legal and technical committees of the three countries and another meeting between the countries' irrigation ministers to discuss the points of contention on both aspects. The points of difference pressed by Egypt were mainly Ethiopia's failure to agree on rules for regulating the filling and operation of the GERD during drought, prolonged drought, and dry years. The differences also include the rules for re-filling following a prolonged drought as well as the annual operation of the giant dam, the construction on which started near the Sudanese border in 2011. The three countries' irrigation ministers agreed to submit on Tuesday to South Africa, the current president of the AU, their final reports concerning the path of negotiations in preparation for holding a mini-African summit. Meanwhile, Ethiopia confirmed that no breakthrough deal was made in the latest round of talks, despite progresses, Ethiopian Water, Irrigation and Energy Minister Seleshi Bekele said on Twitter on Monday. Bekele said that the negotiations are expected to continue after a review by the President of the AU, AU Bureau members and the leaders of the three countries. The latest talks come as Ethiopia remains adamant to start filling the GERD reservoir this month to take advantage of the current heavy rain season, regardless of whether or not an agreement is reached with Egypt and Sudan. The two downstream countries have repeatedly called on Ethiopia not to take any unilateral action concerning the filling of the dam. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for 95 percent of its fresh water, fears the dam will significantly reduce the rivers flow, especially during the filling stages through periods of drought, extended drought and dry years. Ethiopia, on the other hand, says the project is key to its development. Search Keywords: Short link: It will be "nigh-on impossible" to enforce the government's plan to require the wearing of face masks in shops, police officers have said. Ken Marsh, chair of Metropolitan Police Federation, said forces should not be charged with overseeing more pandemic rules and that shopkeepers needed to "take some responsibility" for their customers. "If a shopkeeper calls the police because someone's not got a mask on they have no power to detain them so that person can just walk away. We'll be driving round and round London looking for people who weren't wearing masks, it's absolutely absurd," he said on Tuesday morning. But some retailers have expressed discomfort at the idea that shop workers could be made to confront shoppers not wearing masks, with a new rule set to come in in England from 24 July. "I think it's our intention to offer a face mask to those people who are not wearing one. Of course, if they refuse to wear one I think the actual enforcement is not for the store colleagues," said Peter Cowgill, chairman of national clothing chain JD sports. "I think it's a very difficult situation and I'm surprised by the inconsistencies of the messaging. I'm not sure that it applies to bars or restaurants, there's obviously been a long period where supermarkets have had throngs on people." James Daunt, boss of bookseller Barnes and Noble said on Monday ahead of the announcement: "I definitely do not think shop workers should be the police of it that would not be right. Because there are a tiny, tiny minority of people who will be confrontational over it and it is not the position of shop workers to enter into that situation." JD Sports' Mr Cowgill told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government's "inconsistencies and the indecisiveness" in announcing the policy "at the back end of the pandemic" made the situation more difficult and that many customers could be put off from shopping. On Sunday Boris Johnson's deputy Michael Gove said emphatically that masks would not be made mandatory, but on Monday night the government announced that they in fact would be but with a 10 day delay. Ministers were telling the public not to wear masks as recently as April, claiming they were ineffective and could create shortages for health workers leaving Britain as an international outlier with low mask uptake. The latest evidence suggests they are effective at stopping the spread of Covid-19. Mr Cowgill added: "It's come as a surprise, the lateness, a bit like quarantine it seems to have come at the back end rather than the front end of the pandemic. And it's been delayed until July 24 which is very difficult to work out and seems quite indecisive." He added that he was "not sure about the rationale for the delay". 120 countries around the world either require or strongly recommend the wearing of masks in enclosed public space. But how such a rule will be enforced in Britain remain to be seen. The Met police federation's Mr Marsh told the BBC: "This cannot all be laid on the shoulders of the police yet again. It will be nigh on impossible for enforcement Ken Marsh, Met Police Federation chair "It will be nigh on impossible for enforcement because you won't have a police officer on every shop door because there isn't enough of it. He added: "It's more than a difficult position, it becomes a position where it is them and us yet again. We've seen this throughout this Covid pandemic - it has always become the police's problem to deal with this." John Apter, National Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the move "will, without doubt, add pressure to police officers who are already being stretched to the limit". I would call on Government to ensure there is an obligation on all shops to make the wearing of face coverings a condition of entry. If not, individuals should not be allowed entry. Where possible retail outlets could provide face coverings for those who need them to help encourage compliance," he said. Enforcement must be the very last resort and involve only those few individuals who blatantly ignore guidelines and are a clear health risk to others." He added that police should get involved "only as a last resort". "To expect my colleagues to be policing the supermarket aisles, looking for those shoppers not wearing a face covering, is unrealistic and unfair," he said. We simply dont have the resources, and this would fundamentally undermine the model of policing which is to police by consent. Of course, there will be occasions where police will have to get involved, and that shouldnt be a surprise to anybody. However, this should be the exception as police officers have more than enough to deal with by policing the pandemic and responding to the many other calls they receive. George Eustice, the Environment Secretary said there was a role to play for both the police and retailers but that ultimately only police could issue fines. Coronavirus: The global gap in education Show all 12 1 /12 Coronavirus: The global gap in education Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Paddy Dowling/EAA Coronavirus: The global gap in education Photos Paddy Dowling/EAA "With all of our laws there is an element of policing by consent and so we need the public to play their part and to abide by these restrictions," he said. "In some ways this isn't new we've had to do some pretty extraordinary things throughout this coronavirus pandemic." He added: "I think when it comes to levying fines and actually having that sanctions and issuing a fixed penalty notice of 100 then obviously the police do have to do that. "But then there's a separate question which is will retailers play a part in this and I think obviously they will ... they will have a role to play in helping ensure there's compliance. They may in some cases hand masks out to people if they don't have one, I'm sure that they will tell people that they should be wearing one, but if it comes to that final sanction of issuing a penalty then that's something only the police can do." Mr Eustice also defended accusation that the government had botched the policy with mixed messages and late introduction. "I think if you go right back to May we gave guidance at that point that people should wear a mask when in enclosed spaces ... I don't think it's very bothered about who said what when," he said. Nepal PM says Ayodhya as Lord Rams birthplace is a recent creation, as he accuses New Delhi of cultural encroachment. Nepali Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli has said that Hindu deity Ram was born in the Himalayan nation and not India, as he accused New Delhi of encroaching on cultural facts amid frayed diplomatic relations between the two South Asian neighbours. We have been oppressed a bit culturally. Facts have been encroached, Oli said at a function at his residence in the capital, Kathmandu, on Monday, according to Nepali news website setopati.com. According to Hindu mythology, Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya town located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and married to Sita from Janakpur located in present-day Nepal. But the 68-year-old leader claimed Ayodhya is a village to the west of the Nepali border town of Birgunj. He added that Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, about 135km from state capital Lucknow, is a more recent creation of Indias. A demonstrator shouts slogans after being arrested in Kathmandu during a protest against Indias newly inaugurated link road [Prakash Mathema/AFP] We still believe that we gave Sita to Indian Prince Ram. But we gave to the prince from Ayodhya, not India. Ayodhya is a village a little west to Birgunj, not the Ayodhya created now, he was quoted as saying by setopati.com. Indias Hindu far-right believe Ram was born at the site of a medieval-era mosque. The Babri mosque was demolished by a Hindu mob in 1992. Last year Indias Supreme Court gave the disputed land to Hindus to build a Ram Temple, asking Muslims to build a mosque far from the site. On Tuesday, Nepals foreign ministry sought to clarify Olis comments. As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the prime minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization, the ministry said in a statement. The remarks were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears. Border dispute The Nepali prime minister has attacked India several times since a diplomatic row erupted on May 8 when New Delhi inaugurated a Himalayan road link passing through the disputed territory of Kalapani. Nepal opposes a controversial Indian map published last November that showed Kalapani in India. Last month, Nepals parliament approved a new political map, showing Kalapani, Lipulekh and Limpiyadhura within its borders, drawing strong reactions from India. Oli has in the past accused New Delhi of conspiring to topple his government, and last week banned private Indian channels for character assassination and airing false propaganda. Analysts say Olis tirade against India likely aims to divert attention from domestic political troubles. Senior leaders from his ruling National Communist Party (NCP) have been seeking his resignation over his leadership style and governance failure. He has also faced the ire of the people for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. The Nepali prime minister has also accused India of spreading the coronavirus pandemic into his country. Senior NCP leaders have also criticised Olis anti-India remarks that were deemed neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate. A spokesman from Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has criticised Oli and accused the left parties of playing with peoples faith. Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody, be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this, Bizay Sonkar Shastri told the Times of India newspaper. courtesy Office of KP George Fort Bend County advanced to Level 1 or Code Red, the highest possible COVID-19 threat level, following a recent surge that saw the number of new COVID-19 cases double over the last month, Judge KP George said Tuesday during a press conference. On Monday, Fort Bend County officials reported 216 new cases, signaling the second-highest single-day increase in new cases. Judge George called the trend alarming. At this point, if our citizens are not participating in the process in a positive way, through frequent hand washing and wearing a face mask and following the CDC guidelines, its possible we are headed toward a shutdown and thats the last thing I want to do, Judge George said and urged resident to practice social distancing, frequent hand-washing and wearing a face masks when in public. We cannot afford at this point to increase these numbers. We want to avoid a shutdown in Fort Bend County or in Texas because that could have a devastating effects on our economy. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Forget about the deadline. This was the suggestion of Vietnamese official Nguyen Vu Tung on the negotiations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China for a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. The regional bloc earlier adopted the three-year timeline proposed by China, eyeing 2022 for the completion of the Code of Conduct which will determine the only allowable actions parties can take in the contested waters. Vietnam is this years ASEAN chair while the Philippines is the country coordinator for the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations. Nguyen, President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam and ambassador-designate to South Korea, said Tuesday that ASEAN operations have been taking a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, disrupting its meetings and activities. ASEAN states recently conducted their first online summit, but Nguyen said it would be more prudent to wait until face-to-face discussions can be held for a more substantive, more effective, and more law-enforcing Code of Conduct. Carl Thayer, a Southeast Asia regional specialist and Emeritus Professor at The University of New South Wales, said ASEAN states and China are still on a stalemate on the geographic scope of the code, among other contentious issues. That is unclear from the very beginning, he said during a virtual conference organized by Stratbase ADR Institute, adding that he is not very optimistic a Code of Conduct can be inked by 2022. But for former Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawa, the long-delayed code can actually be concluded overnight, if only ASEAN and China would just agree to easily convert the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea by adding some legally-binding provisions. The negotiation has been taking so much time and no prospects of a conclusion, he said in a recorded video message. Critics have pointed out little progress in the talks for a Code of Conduct due to resistance from China. In September 2019, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. announced that a draft has been reached as Beijing "softened its insistence on controversial provisions." But there was actually "very little 'agreed' upon," with salient provisions left unresolved, said Gregory Poling, director of Washington-based think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, in an earlier interview with CNN Philippines. In his speech at the ASEAN Summit in June, President Rodrigo Duterte said they are facing "real constraints in dealing with the deliverables" amid the coronavirus crisis, but stressed that negotiations for a Code of Conduct are underway. "We remain committed to work closely with the member states and China towards the early conclusion of an effective and substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea," Duterte said. Seebo, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based Predictive Quality and Yield solution for manufacturers, completed a $9M funding round. The round was led by Ofek Ventures, with participation from Vertex Ventures, together with existing investors Viola Ventures and TPY Capital. The company, which has has raised $31m to date, intends to use the funds to further expand its global reach and continue enhancing its Process-Based Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution. Led by CEO and Co-Founder Lior Akavia, Seebo provides a solution that enables manufacturers to predict and prevent production losses and manage complex production processes. With the system, production teams know why process inefficiencies happen, using Automated Root Cause Analysis; how to prevent process inefficiencies, using Predictive Recommendations; and when to act, using Proactive Alerts. Current customers include industry leaders like manufacturers across multiple industries, including Barilla, Nestle, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Allnex and ICL. FinSMEs 14/07/2020 The Missile Defense Agency has given Boeing a $150 million order for new missiles in a program to defend America against foreign missile attacks. Boeing manages the program in Huntsville, and the MDA is also located in the city on Redstone Arsenal. The contract is to produce four additional boost vehicles used to maintain the fleet and flight test programs for the large, multiyear defense program. Boeing is the prime contractor. The program is called the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. It is designed to protect all the United States from long-range missile attacks including Alaska and Hawaii. As prime contractor, Boeing designs, produces, tests and maintains all GMD work across 15 time zones. The company also provides training, equipment production and operations support. The Verkhovna Rada has adopted the law "On the State Regulation of Activities Related to the Organization and Conduct of Gambling." A total of 248 MPs voted for the adoption of the respective bill, No. 2285-d, at second reading and in its entirety at a parliament meeting on Tuesday, July 14, according to an Ukrinform correspondent. The law criminalizes the organization of unlicensed gambling and allows slot machine halls to be located only in three-, four- and five-star hotels. The law also provides for the regulation of "classic" lotteries. The document introduces age restrictions and allows people over 21 to gamble. In addition, restrictions are imposed on the advertising of gambling establishments. In particular, it is prohibited to advertise gambling as a way of easy enrichment. According to the document, residents of the aggressor state will be banned from having a gambling business in Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada adopted a government bill on the legalization of gambling at first reading on January 16, 2020. op A documentary calling for a rethink of Captain James Cook's role in the history of Australia is one of the centrepieces of this year's digital-only version of the Melbourne International Film Festival, MIFF 68. Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, directed and co-written by Steven McGregor (writer of Sweet Country and director of the TV sketch series Black Comedy) and co-written and presented by Black Comedy's Steven Oliver, urges viewers to look at the story of Cook's "discovery" of Australia in 1770 through fresh eyes. Indigenous poet-performer Steven Oliver urges us to consider Australian history through fresh eyes in the documentary Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky. Credit:Paul Harris But Oliver, who is also one of 14 MIFF ambassadors appointed this year, is not among those calling for statues of the great British explorer to be removed. "I don't think we should tear them down. I think we just need to look for a deeper understanding of the truth," said Oliver from his home in Brisbane. Israeli Court Blocks Amnesty International Attempt to Curb Spyware Firm NSO Sputnik News 22:17 GMT 13.07.2020 In January, Amnesty International filed a lawsuit against Israeli cyber-intelligence firm NSO Group, urging the court to revoke the company's export license and restrict it from selling technology allegedly used to violate human rights across the globe. The Tel Aviv District Court has rejected a petition filed by Amnesty International to suspend Israeli spyware firm NSO Group's export license over allegations that the company's technology is used to target journalists, lawmakers and activists around the world, including one of the NGO's employees, according to The Times of Israel. The court ruling, issued on Sunday and published on Monday, stated that lawyers for the human rights watchdog had failed to provide sufficient evidence "to prove the claim that an attempt was made to track a human rights activist by trying to hack his cellphone" or that the hacking was conducted by the NSO Group. "Granting a license is done after the most rigorous process and also after granting the permit, the authority conducts oversight and close inspection, as necessary," the court said, cited by the outlet. The court added, however, that NSO's export license could be suspended or canceled if it was proved that human rights had been violated. In a Monday statement, the NSO Group welcomed the court's decision, saying, "We are a global leader in commitment to the proper use of technology and respect for human rights". "The judgment is irrefutable evidence that the regulatory framework in which we operate in [sic] is of the highest international standard," the spyware firm reportedly said. "Now that the court's decision has shown that our industry is sufficiently regulated, the focus should turn to what answer those who seek to criticise NSO have to the abuse of encryption by nefarious groups". The company said that it would continue to provide technology to governments and intelligence agencies around the world, claiming that its purpose "is to save human lives", according to The Times of Israel. A spokesperson for Amnesty International, Israel Gil Naveh, said that the group was disappointed by the court's rejection of the petition but not surprised. "It's been a longstanding tradition for the Israeli courts to be a rubber stamp for the Israeli Ministry of Defense," Naveh said in a statement, cited by Courthouse News Service. Naveh added that the human rights watchdog does not know what evidence NSO or the Israeli Defence Ministry presented to the court, as the hearings were closed, adding, "Even if we knew, we were not able to talk about it". In 2018, Amnesty International claimed that one of its personnel was targeted by NSO malware, insisting that a hacker had tried to gain access to the activist's smartphone using a WhatsApp message as bait. The organization claimed that the company's Pegasus software, a tool capable of gaining access to a smartphone camera and microphone turning the device into a 'pocket spy', has been repeatedly used to target activists, journalists, and lawmakers in countries such as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rajasthan Police has beefed up security in the Gurjar-dominated areas in the desert state after Sachin Pilot was sacked as the state Congress president and deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday following his revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in a wake of protracted differences of opinion. Pilot belongs to the Gurjar caste. Security has been intensified in the following parts of the state: Neem Ka Thana in Sikar district; Bansur town (Alwar). Kotputli and Viratnagar (Jaipur); Udaipurwati (Jhunjhunu); Mahua, Sikandara, Bandikui town (Dausa), and some regions of Karauli, Bharatpur and Sawai Madhopur districts, said a police official. The removal of Pilot may disturb law and order situation in some parts of the state, especially in eastern Rajasthan. Security has been increased in select areas of the state, he added. Meanwhile Pilot put out a tell-tale tweet shortly after he was sacked. Truth can be harassed, not defeated, he tweeted in an oblique reference to the prevailing political drama surrounding the Gehlot-led governments fate. (Newser) At the moment, Oregon is a blue state, with a Democratic governor and both houses of its Legislature led by a Democratic majority. But in the southwestern part of the state, rural conservatives are standing up for their stances on everything from religious freedom to gun ownership, and some of them want to take a drastic measure to ensure their values are upheld: They hope nearly two dozen Oregon counties can become part of neighboring Idaho. McClatchy reports that, due to the pandemic, septuagenarian Mike McCarter, the president of the "Move Oregon's Border for a Greater Idaho" group, has filed a federal lawsuit asking for a reduction in the number of signatures required to get a referendum added to November's county ballots on the border shift. "Rural Oregon is outnumbered and our voices are now ignored," McCarter says in a release. "This is our last resort." story continues below If the group is able to get a referendum going for November, and Oregonians then vote in support of the change in their respective counties, their push to become part of Idaho would still also require the OK of both states' legislatures, as well as that of the US Congress. The hard sell may be to conservative Idahoans, who the Washington Post notes haven't been keen on their liberal neighbors infiltrating. And McCarter has acknowledged the entire process would likely take years even if everything goes the way he's hoping, per CNN. Still, he's looking ahead to the future, with his eye on another state as well: He says the second phase of his plan would be to pull parts of Northern California into "Greater Idaho." "Rural people and rural counties no longer have a voice," a supporter says, per the Post. "If this turns out to be the shortest route to liberty and representation, I'll give it a go." (Read more Oregon stories.) The value of Russian gold exports has exceeded the countrys proceeds from natural gas exports for the first time in Russias modern history, due to low demand and prices for natural gas and surging gold exports, estimates from Russias central bank and customs showed. Russias exports of gold reached US$3.58 billion in April and May, according to customs data reported by business outlet RBC. To compare, in those two months, Russias gas giant Gazprom, which has the monopoly in natural gas exports via pipeline, sold US$2.4 billion worth of natural gas outside Russia. According to preliminary estimates of Russias central bank, Russias pipeline natural gas exports stood at US$3.5 billion for the entire second quarter, less than the value of gold exports in just two of the three months in the same quarter. For the first time in modern Russian history, the value of gold exports has exceeded the value of natural gas exports natural gas exports had brought more revenues to Russia than gold since at least 1994, Maxim Khudalov, Head of the Sustainable Development Risk Assessment Group at ACRA, told RBC. Exports of gold surged in part due to the central banks decision not to buy gold, according to Khudalov. In natural gas exports, Gazproms natural gas exports of US$3.5 billion in Q2 2020 were half the exports for the first quarter, and were 2.6 times lower than for the second quarter of 2019. The volumes of gas exports also significantly dropped by 21 percent in April and May 2020 compared to the same period of 2019. Related: Saudi Arabia Has No Plans To Increase Oil Exports Just Yet Due to the low demand because of the pandemic, the high storage levels around Europe, and the warmer weather, the export price of Russian gas in May nearly halved compared to the price in May 2019. Gazproms natural gas exports are set to drop this year to the levels last seen in 2015, Dmitry Marinchenko, Senior Director and lead analyst on EMEA Oil & Gas at Fitch Ratings, told RBC. According to recent estimates from Reuters and Refinitiv, Gazproms share of the European market has dropped from 38 percent a year ago to 34 percent now, due to the record stockpile of natural gas in northwest Europe and Italy. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Milan, 14 July 2020 - "ENHANCE - European Universities of Technology Alliance" will receive funding from the European Commission to strategically develop its cooperation. The alliance, of which TU Berlin is the speaker, is one of the universities in the second call of the European University Initiative to be awarded 5 million euros over the coming three years. The seven partner universities of technology of "ENHANCE - European Universities of Technology Alliance" are Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), RWTH Aachen University and Technische Universitat Berlin (Germany), Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), and Warsaw University of Technology (Poland). The networks formed through the initiative are intended to enhance the quality and attractiveness of European higher education and boost cooperation between institutions, their students and staff. The proposal of the seven ENHANCE universities pursues a joint strategy and promotes European values and identity. The initiative is designed to significantly strengthen mobility of students and staff and foster the inclusiveness of higher education in Europe. More flexible study and research offers and fewer bureaucratic hurdles will make it easier for students, doctoral candidates, researchers, and staff to pursue their educational and career paths. The current health crisis, in particular, has shown how important cooperation and coordinated action are and what a great difference sharing innovative and creative ideas and solutions can make. "We have had a dream for many years: sharing people, competences, resources and infrastructures with our key partners in Europe overcoming national borders. ENHANCE will make this dream true. Even more, not expected before, joining forces with other technical universities in this crucial period will contribute to sustain the European recovery after Covid-19", says Professor Stefano Ronchi, Rector's delegate for international affairs at Politecnico di Milano. Overall, the seven partners have approximately 245.000 students and have exchanged more than 4.400 students and staff over the last five years. With a vision to "drive responsible societal transformation by enhancing a strong alliance of European Universities of Technology, empowering people to develop and use science and technology responsibly and turn global challenges into opportunities", the ENHANCE partner universities aim to use the three-year funding period to lay the foundation for structures which enable the seamless mobility of students, researchers, and employees of the universities. The envisioned instruments will first be tested in selected bachelor's and master's programs. The implementation of innovative teaching and learning formats will enable all students to profit from international ENHANCE offerings, such as online courses, virtual student communities, or projects, workshops and summer schools. Value-based teaching offered in collaboration with societal stakeholders will ensure that students learn to think critically and develop and apply knowledge and technologies for the benefit of society. As an alliance of universities of technology, an important focus of ENHANCE is also on sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship. The second round of the European Universities initiative attracted applications from 62 university alliances. ENHANCE is one of 24 university networks comprising on average seven higher education institutions that was selected in the second call for creating a European Education Area by 2025. ### More about ENHANCE: https://enhanceuniversity.eu/ More about the initiative: https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/european-education-area/european-universities-initiative_en This year's World's Best Awards survey closed on March 2, just before widespread stay-at-home orders were implemented as a result of COVID-19. "The results reflect our readers' experiences before the pandemic, but we hope that this year's honorees will inspire your trips to come whenever they may be," reads the publication. Additionally, it said that while several countries are represented on this year's South American resort list, one country and specifically one region has the largest representation. "Peru's Sacred Valley a perennial favorite for its Andean villages and Incan ruins claims four of the 10 spots, including three out of the top four," Travel + Leisure stated. According to the magazine, the resorts on this list prove that top-notch service, authentic cultural experiences, and superior amenities make the difference in attracting guests. "Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, Travel + Leisure asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more," it said. Hotels were rated on their facilities, location, service, food, and overall value. Properties were classified as city or resort based on their locations and amenities. Peruvian brands in The Top 100 Hotels in the World included Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa (12th); Explora Valle Sagrado (30th); Sol y Luna (49th); and Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba (99th). In The Top 10 Resort Hotels in South America list, four Peruvian properties are among the 10 most preferred by tourists: Tambo del Inka, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa (2nd); Explora Valle Sagrado (3rd); Sol y Luna Relais & Chateaux (4th); and Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba (9th). Peru appears 5 times in The Top 10 City Hotels in Central and South America category: JW Marriott El Convento Cusco (2nd); Palacio del Inka, a Luxury Collection Hotel (3rd); Belmond Hotel Monasterio (4th); Hotel B (6th); and Belmond Palacio Nazarenas (9th). (END) MDV/RMB Nine Peruvian hotels stand out in various categories of The World's Best Awards 2020 issue of Travel + Leisure magazine.Published: 7/13/2020 WASHINGTON - In another sign of the financial havoc the covid-19 crisis is wreaking on arts groups, Shakespeare Theatre Company has laid off a third of its full-time employees and cut its budget by 44 percent. Some 38 members of the Tony-winning organization's 116-person staff were notified of their termination over the past 10 days or so, company officials said. The reductions across multiple departments came as STC slashed its fiscal 2020-21 budget from $18.5 million to $10.5 million, according to Managing Director Chris Jennings. "This is all very tragic, and for no other reason than the pandemic," said Simon Godwin, Shakespeare Theatre's artistic director. Added Jennings: "This is devastating for all of us. These are people who have been with us for decades." With the dim short-term prospects for sufficient revenue from stage productions, performing arts groups of all stripes are wiping clean their 2020 calendars and making sometimes drastic cuts. In Washington, D.C., both the Kennedy Center and Arena Stage have had to furlough a majority of their employees and cut spending. Outright layoffs of the sort Shakespeare Theatre has made are also occurring at other major institutions across the country: In May, Minneapolis's highly regarded Guthrie Theater eliminated 79 percent of its 262-member staff while reducing its budget from $31 million to $12.6 million. Godwin said that Shakespeare Theatre was able to hold off staff cuts for several months with loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, and a recent company fundraising effort, the Phoenix Fund, that raised more than $1 million from 1,700 donors. Rotating furloughs of the remaining staff account for additional savings. The company is also working, Godwin added, on what STC will look like when authorities deem it acceptable for theaters to fully reopen. The District of Columbia is in Phase 2 of its reopening plan, allowing gatherings of up to 50 people. Phase 3 is expected to allow gatherings of up to 250 people. Shakespeare Theatre officials say that the limitations of social distancing guidelines would realistically permit the filling of only about 25 percent of its seats in its flagship space, 774-seat Sidney Harman Hall, and a similar percentage in the 451-seat Michael R. Klein Theatre. A restart date has not been set and the company is still formulating its roster of future offerings. Godwin did disclose that the first in-person production will be a return of its winter hit, a sterling revival of James Baldwin's gospel-infused play from the 1950s, "The Amen Corner." The show, directed by Whitney White and featuring Mia Ellis and E. Faye Butler, had its run interrupted when the novel coronavirus shuttered theaters in the capital and beyond. How a classical theater adjusts to a new set of financial and public-health realities is one of the urgent matters being contemplated by Godwin, who was in the midst of his first full producing season when the pandemic struck. "I'm trying to see it as an opportunity to get back to our roots," he said, explaining that he is looking to history, and how William Shakespeare himself approached the practicalities of stagecraft. "Maybe the answer is in an Elizabethan model," Godwin said, as he listed some of the streamlining notions of Shakespeare's era that might be used in a leaner, modern theater world. "Shakespeare had shorter rehearsal periods, bare stages, an intensity around character and relationships," he noted. Regardless of how the company and others like it tailor their operations, there will be a need for additional outside assistance. Pointing to the $2 billion in aid that the British government has earmarked for the arts, Jennings observed that a financial rescue is just as crucial in this country. "I really hope that Congress will see the value of the arts, and to find some support for our industry," he said. "And I hope the donors will stand by us." A University of Technology Sydney academic accused of orchestrating a fake harassment campaign against herself alleged she had been poisoned, possibly by the unknown people who stalked and threatened her, a court has heard. Dianne Jolley, 50, an environmental chemist and toxicologist, was arrested last year and charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, making a false representation resulting in a police investigation, and two counts of giving false information that a person or property is in danger. UTS professor Dianne Jolley holds a hand to her face as she leaves court on Tuesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley Police allege she sent threatening letters to herself over a period of several months, prompting police to investigate and the university to pay for expenses including security upgrades. Her lawyer has said Ms Jolley intends to plead not guilty to the "wild" charges. A court previously heard three of the letters purported to contain "biological hazards". W ith its fierce 40-megapixel camera, Huaweis 900 flagship P30 is a big beast on the mobile market. But while these handsets will remain safely on sale in Britain, our path to nationwide super-speed mobile 5G was today dealt a major blow after the government announced it was ditching the Chinese telecoms hardware giant. Now begins the engineering headache of extracting Huaweis infrastructural kit inside our fledgling 5G network by 2027. But BT boss Philip Jansen warned stripping it out of the digital infrastructure could take up to a decade. While equipment is also available from Nokia and Ericsson, ditching Huawei will mean Britains rollout of 5G, launched last summer, is also delayed by up to three years. Vodafone UK CEO Nick Jeffrey and Lewis Hamilton at the company's official 5G launch / Matthew Alexander/PA Wire/PA Images The government U-turn, sparked by US sanctions, comes with a current bill estimate of up to 2 billion. However, the seven-year removal period will likely please BT, Vodafone and Three, who feared being told to remove their Huawei kit much faster. After New Years Eve, it will also be illegal for operators to buy any 5G equipment from the company in a move described by some as Cold War-style tit-for-tat, and marking a deep freeze in the Cameron governments golden era of economic ties with China. Boris Johnson defied repeated warnings from Donald Trump to rule that Huawei could play a role in the UKs 5G network / REUTERS Although not Huawei was not allowed into the core of UKs early 5G networks - which deal with data traffic, billing and subscriber information - or near to nuclear and military sites, removal of the equipment will be a labour-intensive task, including ripping out tens of thousands of roadside cabinets, plus transmitter masts and equipment in local exchanges connected by spaghettis of cables. Home and office internet providers such as BTs Openreach division have also been advised to transition away from using Huawei in fixed-line fibre broadband within two years. Furthermore, questions will now be raised over Huaweis involvement in UK university campuses, notably Imperial College, which in May announced a 5 million deal to provide on-campus 5G. The ban will add to Beijing's anger with Britain, already furious over Downing Street's decision to accept three million Hong Kong refugees, but play well with President Trump as the UK seeks post-Brexit trade. The government chose Huawei to supercharge our mobile networks in readiness for innovations such as driverless cars and smart cities, but amid all the spying fears and political horse-trading, Britain has been left buffering and with a hefty bill. VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. (CSE:MYCO) (OTC: NLBIF) (FSE:0NF) ("Mydecine" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce the establishment of a research division agreement with Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation ("API"), a translational commercial drug development institute hosted in the University of Alberta's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. The agreement with API provides exceptional capacity for Mydecine and the ability to significantly speed their product development with leading experts in the pharmaceutical sciences and established drug development facilities. The Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is consistently ranked in the top 15 globally for the citations of research by international QS rankings in pharmacy and pharmacology and includes a wide range of experts from discovery, pharmaceutical analysis, drug action, disposition, formulation and clinical development. [1] Mydecine is also able to access broader expertise through the agreement such as API's collaborating institute the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) - ranked among the top 5 institutes in the world for AI/ML[2] as well as experts in mycology, pharmacometrics, neuropharmacology and much more at universities throughout the API network. Through the agreement, Mydecine has the ability to immediately commence fungal discovery investigations with varietal mushrooms and their extracts, including scheduled substances. With access to GMP capacity and Health Canada licenses that include the ability to move to import and export, conduct R&D, and clinical trials Mydecine is able to begin work that will take other companies years to establish the capability for. Research and development is commencing with a significant program to extract, analyze, and determine the effects of various compounds from fungi and their pharmacokinetic disposition and development of dosage forms for specific indications, providing Mydecine with an extensive assets and capacity to become a leader in the space. The end goal is developing products with clinical applications over a period of three years. In exchange for these services, MYCO entered into a two-year commitment and will be paying API a total $1,099,345 in year one and $1,136,249 in year two ending February 1, 2022. Year three and beyond will be a right of first refusal to either party. "We see this agreement as a core component of our work as a company," says Mydedine CEO Josh Bartch "the API team at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences gives us the ability to rocket our product development ahead by years, providing the know-how, facilities, and licenses to quickly establish Mydecine as a leader in naturally sourced therapies for a wide variety of indications. The research division also provides a phenomenal synergy with our other recent acquisitions, giving us a dedicated team to explore myco-inspired treatments particularly for areas of high need such as mental health." "Our partnership with the University of Alberta will unlock brand new avenues for the study of medical uses of mushrooms," Robert Roscow, CSO of Mydecine. "This partnership is a fundamental aspect of Mydecine's expanding unique research network. We are investigating the potential of mushrooms and their compounds to improve human health and wellness. This research partnership opens up, not only investigation of single molecules from mushrooms but also more complex formulations. The breadth of research resources at the University of Alberta, from world class AI to cultivation and pharmacology, as well as their possession of Health Canada License allows an unprecedented level of study." "Back to the fungal future," Dr. Neal Davies, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences "Pharmaceutical activity of fungal metabolites have been known for at least 15 centuries and contemporary research has discovered some novel molecule leads for unique mycological medications for nature inspired treatments in the new millennium. This bodes very well for the program developing promising treatments." "We're thrilled to be working with Mydecine," says API CEO, Andrew MacIsaac, "we see their focus as one of growing importance and high potential that will serve them well. By developing a world class R&D program that discovers potential new lead compounds, synergistic effects, and increased therapeutic indications for mushroom-derived products, Mydecine will stand out in this bourgeoning sector. [1] http://csrankings.org/#/fromyear/1990/toyear/2020/index?ai&mlmining&world https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/pharmacy-pharmacology (Sort by ranking indicator citations per paper) [2] https://investalberta.ca/industry-profiles/artificial-intelligence/ About Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation API is a not-for-profit commercial drug development institute that works in collaboration with the University of Alberta's Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences as well as research and post-secondary institutions across Canada. API draws on an interdisciplinary network of over 30 pharmaceutical scientists, clinicians, regulatory, patent, and market experts in a variety of fields and disease areas to bring life-saving research to the real world. About Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. is the parent company operating innovative product divisions in the Naturally Sourced Therapies (NST) space. While controlling a variety of Psilocybin and hemp-derived CBD brands that design, manufacture, and distribute cutting edge products, Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. further enhances its portfolio with numerous cultivation properties, retail locations, and other land assets. Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. is the progressive and innovative Naturally Sourced Therapies (NST) lifestyle group known around the globe. Focusing on the rapidly emerging psilocybin and psychedelic medicines market, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary 1220611 B.C. Ltd. (operating as Mydecine Group) ("Mydecine") is a vertically integrated company engaged to utilize the vast medicinal, health and wellness capabilities of the various compounds found in mycology as a whole. Established to parallel the early emergence of the industry, Mydecine aims to be a pioneer in the cultivation, processing, product development, and research and development of mycology's exciting compounds through its three divisions, "Mydecine Farms," "Mydecine Wellness" and "Mydecine Labs." Furthermore, the Company's wholly owned subsidiaries in the hemp-derived CBD space, We are Kured LLC, Drink Fresh Water LLC, Relyfe Brand LLC, Fresh Water CBD LLC and TeaLief Brand LLC have quickly developed into market leaders and maintain extensive retail and cultivation land investments in the United States. For further information about Mydecine Innovations Group Inc., please consult the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or visit the Company's website at http://mydecine.com/ . For further information about We Are Kured, please visit their website at www.wearekured.com. The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to completion of planned improvements at both the Canadian and US sites on schedule and on budget, the availability of financing needed to complete the Company's planned improvements on commercially reasonable terms, planned occupancy by the tenant-growers, commencement of operations, differences in yield on expected harvests, delays in obtaining statutory approval for marijuana production plans, issues that may arise throughout the grow period, outdoor crops affected by weather, the ability to mitigate the risk of loss through appropriate insurance policies, and the risks presented by federal statutes that may contradict local and state legislation respecting legalized marijuana. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the Company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. This news release does not constitute an offer of securities for sale in the United States. These securities have not and will not be registered under United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to a U.S. Person unless so registered, or an exemption from registration is relied upon. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Joshua Bartch Chief Executive Officer For Further Information Contact Corporate Communications +1-250-488-6728 SOURCE Mydecine Innovations Group Inc. news Dr. Myra Ann Houser Ouachita Baptist Universitys Dr. Myra Ann Houser, assistant professor of history, has authored Bureaucrats of Liberation: Southern African and American Lawyers and Clients During the Apartheid Era, to be released in September 2020. The book is published by Leiden University Press as well as University of Chicago Press. Built on research from Housers doctoral dissertation, Bureaucrats of Liberation details the history of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Right Under Law, an organization of lawyers founded at the request of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 to fight for public policy changes regarding civil rights in America. The book also covers the organizations Southern Africa Project, an effort spanning three decades to provide support to Namibian and South African lawyers in their struggle against illegal occupation and apartheid. According to Amazon.com, Housers documentation of the Lawyers Committee and the Southern Africa Project provides a lens into 20th century geopolitics tied to anti-apartheid, decolonization, Cold War and movements agitating against white supremacy. In doing so, it pays careful attention to the Projects different eras, beginning with U.S. Executive Branch officials helming the effort and evolving into a space where more activist-oriented attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic drove its mission and politics. Housers research on the Southern Africa Project and global anti-apartheid movement spans a total of 13 years, as well as three countries on three continents. She studied the American Committee on Africa papers, which are housed in New Orleans; the Lawyers Committee papers, housed in New York; the British Anti-Apartheid Papers, housed in Oxford, England; and South African Liberation Movement papers, housed in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Fort Hare, South Africa. Houser also interviewed former staff of the Southern Africa Project. Any type of trans-national history is going to span several historiographies, and this project was no exception, she said. In order for this book to work, it needed to speak to not just the Projects story but also its context within U.S., South African and Namibian histories, as well as within studies of social change, anti-racism, decolonization and the Cold War, among other phenomena. Having personally spent her childhood in southern Africa and later transitioning to life in America as a high school student, Housers interests in the apartheid and colonialism that had transpired in the country of her childhood, as well as in U.S. politics and society also gave her insight to see themes that connect them, especially the parallels in thinking about race, law and society, she said. In terms of personal growth, I think this work taught me a lot about social change and how difficult but fulfilling that is, Houser said. I also think I had the opportunity to learn a lot about the U.S., where I hold a passport but did not live for my early life, and southern Africa, where I did live and go to school but did not hold a passport. Were in this moment in the U.S. that I think we really will look at as a watershed, where many Americans and particularly many white Americans are grappling for the first time with the inequities of our society and our own complicities within it, she continued. In part, I think that is because of this unique moment where weve all been in our houses for three months and had time to reflect on society and want to connect with something bigger than ourselves. But in part, its also because of the groundwork of many, many individuals and groups like the Project. I hope that folks will either learn or have re-iterated that social change is difficult and complicated and takes a long time, but is ultimately worth it, Houser said. Folks working for or with the Project toiled for decades, and they followed centuries worth of struggle, working beyond the more performative elements of protest. That they kept moving is something I hope folks who are newer to these types of conversations can learn from. A 2007 Ouachita graduate, Houser received her M.A. from College of William & Mary in 2009 and her Ph.D. from Howard University in 2014. Dr. Houser joined the Ouachita faculty in 2014 as assistant professor of history and also coordinates Ouachitas social justice studies program. In addition to Bureaucrats of Liberation, Houser has published works in Atlantic Studies, Critical Arts, History in Africa and Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies, as well as within edited volumes. For more information, contact Dr. Myra Houser at houserm@obu.edu or (870) 245-5547. The Republic of Koreas new ambassador Hong Jin-wook, appointed by President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in last June, arrived in Egypt on 3 July upon the reopening of Cairo international airport. He will assume his full responsibilities as Chief of Mission in earnest after a two-week home quarantine period in accordance with the Egyptian governments COVID-19 precautionary measures. Having led the African and Middle Eastern Bureau of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Director General and Director General in succession for three years, Mr. Hong recognises the importance of Egypt as Koreas comprehensive cooperative partner. He has witnessed the most recent developments in the two countries bilateral relations, such as the successful holding of the summit meeting between President Moon and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in 2018 and the tele-summit meeting on 5 March this year. Korean people have deep affection and respect for ancient Egyptian civilisation, well represented by the pyramids and Sphinx, and I am no exception. Moreover, Egypt, with its strategic geography as a hub country between Africa, Asia and Europe, is playing an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the region. I am so proud of being appointed as the Korean ambassador to this glorious country of great significance, especially this year marking the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Korea and Egypt. As an old Korean saying goes After the rain, earth gets solid, my sincere wish is that people of both countries will overcome the current pandemic crisis through joint efforts as early as possible so that we can continue to further deepen our relationships in various fields. I will also do my best to step up efforts to boost people-to-people exchanges between our great countries, Mr. Hong said. Born on 26 June 1966, Hong is married with one son and one daughter. In 1988, he received his B.A. in Economics from Seoul National University, and in 1990, he obtained his M.A. in Economics from Yonsei University. In 1998, he obtained a Masters of Pacific International Affairs, University of California. The highlights of his diplomatic career include occupying the post of Second Secretary at the Korean Embassy in the Republic of Kenya in 2000, as well as first Secretary in the Kingdom of Belgium and Korean Mission to the European Union. In 2007, he was a counsellor at the Korean Embassy in New Zealand and Assistant Secretary in the office of the president in 2011. Search Keywords: Short link: Four others wounded in the blast which occurred after a packed car hit a roadside bomb, Kabul police spokesman said. At least four civilians have been killed and four wounded by a roadside bomb in the Afghanistan capital, Kabul, officials said. All eight were in a car when the vehicle hit the roadside bomb in the district of Surobi on Tuesday, said Ferdaws Faramarz, Kabul police spokesman. The local governor, Gohar Khan Baburi, said five people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed and 11 wounded. No group has claimed responsibility for the bombing but the district official blamed the Taliban, claiming it had placed the bomb to target a military convoy. Also on Tuesday, three civilians and an intelligence officer were wounded in southern Kandahar province when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. The Taliban has stepped up attacks across Afghanistan, including in Kabul, targeting Afghan forces. The surge comes despite the groups signing of a peace deal with the US in February in Qatar. That deal was intended to pave the way for an end to decades of war in the country. On Monday, the Taliban launched a complex attack on an intelligence compound in northern Afghanistan that began with a suicide bombing and was followed by hours-long clashes. At least 11 members of the intelligence agency were killed and 63 people were wounded, including civilians. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 08:30:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Video: Firefighting teams continue to work for the second day in a row on July 13, 2020 to quell the blaze on U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego in California, the United States. (Credit: Naval Surface Forces) The fire ravaging the amphibious assault ship has reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees, and it is still burning in various portions of the ship. LOS ANGELES, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of sailors and civilians were injured as firefighting teams continue to work for the second day in a row to quell the blaze on U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard at Naval Base San Diego in California, authorities said Monday. A total of 59 personnel, including 36 sailors and 23 civilians, have been treated for minor injuries including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation as of Monday afternoon, according to the Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet. "Currently, there are no personnel hospitalized," the Naval Surface Forces tweeted. "Responders will continue to monitor and assess potential environmental concerns and adjust response actions to ensure the safety and security of the maritime public and the marine environment," said the tweets. Undated photo posted on Twitter on July 13, 2020 shows firefighting teams putting out the fire on U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard. (Photo credit: Naval Surface Forces) Navy officials were quoted as saying by a major local news outlet in San Diego that the fire ravaging the amphibious assault ship had reached temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees, and it is still burning in various portions of the ship. Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told the media that the fire is in the superstructure of the ship and its upper decks and that the ship's forward mast has collapsed, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Pictures from the scene showed plumes of smoke continue to pour out of the hull of the ship as water-dropping helicopters were hovering in the sky. Undated photo posted on Twitter on July 13, 2020 shows sailors assisting in firefighting efforts onboard U.S. Navy ship USS Bonhomme Richard. (Photo credit: Naval Surface Forces) Around 160 sailors were aboard the ship when the fire was called away at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. 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 Sunday. The cause of the fire is still unclear. Sobeck was quoted as saying by the San Diego Union-Tribune that the fire may have begun in a cargo area known as the deep V storage area. There are large storage boxes, called triwall boxes, that are the size of pallets that burned. USS Bonhomme Richard is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship home-ported in San Diego. Federal Department of Finance Bern, 14.07.2020 - The Federal Department of Finance (FDF) is extending the period for the tax-free exportation of goods purchased by tourists in Switzerland from 30 days to 90 days. The change will come into force on 1 August 2020. By amending the FDF Ordinance of 24 March 2011 on the Tax Exemption of Domestic Supplies of Goods for the Purpose of Exportation in Tourist Traffic, Switzerland is aligning its rules with the customary international standards. This will make the service more customer friendly. The requirements for proof of tax-exempt sales in tourist traffic will not change. The new time limit will apply to goods purchased on or after 1 August 2020. In future, more tourists will benefit from tax-exempt purchases. As they rarely stay in Switzerland for more than 30 days, the reduction in VAT receipts should be minimal. The new rule will have a minor positive effect on the watch, jewellery, tourism and the retail sector in general. The amendment to the ordinance meets one of the demands in the Vitali motion (17.3298) "Reducing bureaucracy. Into the future with electronic export validation". Electronic export validation, which is also called for in the motion, requires a legislative amendment. The consultation on this was initiated on 19 June 2020. Address for enquiries Joel Weibel, Communications Specialist Federal Tax Administration FTA Tel. 058 464 90 00, media@estv.admin.ch Publisher Federal Department of Finance https://www.efd.admin.ch/efd/en/home.html If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here "Carrier Alliance is going to be a win-win-win for our customers, our suppliers and our shareowners," said Dave Gitlin, President & CEO, Carrier. "Longer and broader supplier engagements are expected to provide greater confidence in uncertain times while delivering cost savings to drive investment in R&D, services and digital to benefit our customers and ultimately grow the business." The Carrier Alliance program directly supports Carrier's previously announced Carrier 600 program, which targets $600 million in cost savings over three years to fund strategic initiatives such as strengthening and growing Carrier's core businesses, expanding into targeted product and geographical adjacencies, and enhancing Carrier's services and digital solutions. Carrier, working with its business advisor, Deloitte Consulting, will assess and implement supply chain improvement opportunities including material cost productivity, supply base optimization, alternative sources and new supplier partnerships. The goal is to help develop mutually beneficial business opportunities that will enable Carrier to be more competitive in the marketplace and deliver greater value to its customers. "With this program, we will be able to offer our suppliers the opportunity for more strategic, meaningful, long-term relationships," said Rishi Grover, Senior Vice President, Operations, Carrier. "The program will facilitate a reduction in the overall number of suppliers and tactical relationships while providing the opportunity for our strategic suppliers to grow with Carrier. We will achieve this objective while minimizing any single point of failure in the supply chain." For more information, visit corporate.carrier.com/suppliers or follow Carrier on social media at @Carrier. About Carrier Carrier Global Corporation is a leading global provider of innovative HVAC, refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies. Supported by the iconic Carrier name, the company's portfolio includes industry-leading brands such as Carrier, Kidde, Edwards, LenelS2 and Automated Logic. For more information, visit corporate.carrier.com or follow Carrier on social media at @Carrier. This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning future business opportunities, cost reduction efforts and savings. Actual results may differ materially from those projected as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those detailed from time to time in Carrier Global Corporation's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. SOURCE Carrier Global Corporation Related Links https://www.corporate.carrier.com Yemeni forces strike strategic positions in Saudi Arabia with drones, missiles Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 9:49 AM Yemeni forces have carried out a major military operation against military and strategic positions in southwestern Saudi Arabia, a military spokesman says. Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for Yemen's Armed Forces, said in a statement on Monday that many drones and high-precision ballistic missiles were used in the operation. He said the operation targeted "military aircraft, pilot accommodation and Patriot systems" in the city of Khamis Mushait in the southwestern region of Asir. Military targets at Abha, Jizan and Najran airports were also hit in the reprisal attacks, according to the statement. The "giant oil facility in the Jizan industrial zone" was also targeted, Saree said, adding the strike war accurate. Saudi Arabia's state-run oil company Aramco operates a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Jizan, which lies nearly 60 km (40 miles) from the Yemeni border. Elsewhere in his statement, Saree said Yemeni forces targeted Tadawin military camp in Yemen's Ma'rib Province where senior Saudi military commanders and mercenaries were meeting, leaving dozens of them dead and injured. The spokesman stressed that the attacks were conducted in retaliation for the Saudi airstrikes that hit Yemen's northwestern province of Hajjah on Sunday. Saudi fighter jets carried out an airstrike on a neighborhood in the Washhah district of Hajjah on Sunday afternoon, killing nearly a dozen civilians, mostly women and children. Saree warned that Yemeni forces would continue to conduct retaliatory attacks against the kingdom until the end of the Saudi aggression and blockade on Yemen. Earlier, Saudi Arabia claimed that it had intercepted and destroyed four missiles and six explosive drones that were launched from Sana'a, without giving details on where they were intercepted or whether any target was hit. Late last month, Yemeni missiles reached the capital Riyadh. On June 23, Saree said Yemeni Armed Forces had conducted large-scale attacks on the headquarters of the Saudi Defense Ministry, general intelligence agency and King Salman Air Base in the capital Riyadh, Najran and Jizan. Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to subdue an uprising that toppled a regime friendly to Riyadh. 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, the US and other Western countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Fake News & Democracy In The Philippines A journalist Maria Ressa has been found guilty of libel in the Philippines' in a case seen as a test of the country's media freedom. The prosecution came under a "cyber-libel" law which came into force in September 2012. Ironically, preventing fake news is what Ressa, the executive editor of Rappler, a Philippines-based digital news site, fights for every day. The former CNN journalist is the head of a news site that's critical of President Rodrigo Duterte. When misinformation and disinformation run rampant and journalists are blocked from speaking truth to power, democracy will die a death by a thousand cuts, says journalist Maria Ressa. Launched on Facebook in 2012, before emerging as a fully-fledged news website with a monthly audience of 12 million, Rappler was among the first publications anywhere in the world to shine a light on how leaders can harness social media to win power. Ressa, who previously worked at CNN, put herself in the crosshairs as a vocal critic of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs. Dutertes drug war and the investigative reporting in Rappler provides the backdrop to Ramona Diazs new documentary, A Thousand Cuts which is releassed in the US next month. When Duterte came to power in May 2016, it wasnt the first time Ressa interacted with the new president. She had interviewed him when he was the mayor of Davao in 2015, during the run-up to the presidenThe Philippines is among the deadliest nations for journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. tial election, when he admitted to have killed people in the past. In 2016, Rappler began covering Dutertes drug war. That uncovered and ignited the disinformation campaigns against those who have criticized and spoken out against the administration, including Ressa and Rappler reporters. The film follows Ressa as she responds to charges of cyber libel from prosecutors in the Philippines Department of Justice. The charges related to a May 29, 2012, Rappler report on wealthy businessman Wilfredo Kengs ties to drug dealing and human trafficking. Earlier this month, a Manila court found Ressa and another Rappler reporter guilty. Ressa was sentenced to up to six years in prison and is currently on bail as she looks at her legal options. She says the verdict is significant because it codifies the kind of abuses that we have lived through in the last four years. Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, called the law a human rights disaster in the making that will open the door to arbitrary arrests and long prison sentences for the presidents critics. Defending Democracy Ressa was educated grew up in the US and only returned to the country in the 1980s after the fall of authoritarian leader Ferdinand Marcos. A former CNN journalist, she founded Rappler in 2012. It is one of the few local sites to openly criticise the Duterte administration and its brutal war on drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives. The media organisation is among the country's most popular news sites, in part because of its focus on a younger audience and embracing social media. As news organisations struggle to adapt to rapid technological change in the face of difficult economic circumstances, there is growing interest in identifying successful strategies for managing change in the news industry in productive and sustainable ways. Defending press freedom and demanding accountability from the platforms are now at the core of Rapplers mission. You cant be independent if you cant survive, Maria Ressa. Rappler: Yahoo: Guardian: BBC: Reuters Institute: Knowledia: You Might Also Read: Fake News Promotes Extremism: Police are appealing for information after three flags were ripped down from Killyglen Orange Hall, outside Larne, on Sunday, July 12. Guttering at the rural premises was also damaged while the flags were being removed. The incident has been condemned by Lodge Secretary and Larne Lough DUP Councillor Gregg McKeen as a hate crime against the Orange community and a ploy to try to raise tensions with the community. The incident at the Ballymullock Road building is believed to have occurred during the early hours of the morning. Lodge Master Roy Yendall said: This is an attack on our culture and heritage in the dead of night. Read More councillor McKeen believes that it is linked to another incident at Cairncastle Orange Hall. He said: I believe both are linked and are someones attempt to increase tension and cause offence in this area. They are both local rural lodges providing a service within the community. Police are appealing to anyone with information to contact the PSNI by calling 101, quoting reference 1382 12/07/20. Alternatively, a report can also be made using the online reporting form or by calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org Nigerias former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a special envoy to lead the sub-regional bodys mediation mission in Mali. As a Special Envoy, Jonathan is to facilitate dialogue with all principal stakeholders in Mali, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, opposition leaders, civil society as well as religious organisations, towards resolving the worsening socio-political situation in the West African country. Speaking ahead of his scheduled departure for Bamako on Wednesday, Jonathan promised to do his best to ensure that the mission achieves the desired result. He also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the support of the Nigerian Government, including providing an aircraft and other logistics needed to make the assignment successful. Jonathan, who had led peace missions to many crises-ridden nations in the past, is expected to deploy his enormous goodwill within the continent to facilitate the process of restoring peace in the troubled nation. The West African nation has been hit by protests, sparked by the outcome of parliamentary elections in March and April, perceived discontent over the governments handling of Malis jihadist insurgency and worsening economic situation. The former Presidents appointment was communicated to him in a letter signed by Mr. Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission. It said: Given your position as the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the great role and contributions your tenure offered to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in our region, I have the honour, in consultation with the Chair of the Authority, H.E. Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger, to communicate to you, the decision to appoint you as ECOWAS Special Envoy for the sociopolitical crisis in Mali. Jonathan is to engage in consultations with all relevant stakeholders involved in the ongoing dispute in Mali to ensure that a common ground is found in the search for peace. Related A doctor who recently worked at hospitals in Bendigo and Ballarat has been charged over grooming, sexual assault and sexual penetration of a 13-year-old girl, but his registration has not been suspended by the Medical Board of Australia. Dr Obiyo Chigozie Nwigwe, 43, was charged by detectives from the Ballarat sexual offences and child abuse investigation team with 12 offences over his alleged misconduct between January and April 2020. At the time of the alleged offending, Dr Nwigwe was employed as a trauma specialist at Bendigo Hospital, after completing a stint at Ballarat Base Hospital in 2019. The alleged victim is not believed to have been a patient at either hospital. Obiyo Chigozie Nwigwe is facing charges at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court. Dr Nwigwe had previously worked at several hospitals in Britain after studying a bachelor of medicine in 2001 at Abia State University in Nigeria. He is understood to have migrated to Australia in 2017, when he first registered with the Medical Board of Australia before joining the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine in 2018. CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- oneZero Financial Systems, a global leader in multi-asset enterprise financial services technology solutions, today announced that Jamie Rose has joined the company as Director of Relationship Management. Jamie will be responsible for developing and managing key client relationships across the UK and Western Europe to support the expansion of oneZero's presence in these markets. Jamie brings extensive institutional experience and industry knowledge from his background as head of eFX at Xenfin and Marex Spectron, in addition to previous roles at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein and FXall. "Jamie is a strong addition to our team to build our presence in the UK and European markets. We believe his solid business knowledge will be an asset to our current and future clients and partners as they look to leverage our capabilities more fully," said Andrew Ralich, CEO and co-founder of oneZero. "We value these markets and are continuing to invest in delivering superior client service to support evolving needs and interest in our solutions." oneZero's powerful technology empowers institutions to grow their business through a robust solution set that integrates connectivity, distribution and access to multiple asset classes and partners, data insights and risk management. "I am delighted to join oneZero, as we expand our solutions into the institutional market," noted Jamie Rose. "I look forward to partnering with our clients to ensure they continue to experience oneZero's commitment to quality, reliability and client focus." About oneZero Financial Systems: oneZero Financial Systems has been a leading innovator in multi-asset class trading technology for over a decade. Its powerful software encompasses Liquidity Hub, EcoSystem and Data Source - three components that separately solve specific organizational challenges and together provide a complete solution for technology, distribution and analytics. Through reliable connectivity, technology, infrastructure and market access, oneZero empowers financial institutions and brokers to compete effectively in the global financial markets through a globally compliant, liquidity-neutral solution. SOURCE oneZero Financial Systems Rows of school buses are parked at their terminal in Zelienople, Pa. Pennsylvania schools are working on how they will safely transport students this fall, but one idea that won't be part of the plan is to install plastic barriers around school bus drivers. The state Transportation Department rejected that idea recently, saying there wasn't evidence it'll make anyone safer. Read more The city teachers union on Tuesday questioned the Philadelphia School Districts ability to safely resume in-person learning this fall, laying out conditions it says must be met before in-person instruction can safely resume for the 2020-21 term. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers called for measures from robust contact tracing and COVID-19 testing to stringent cleaning and sanitizing standards. There are lots and lots of concerns, said Jerry Jordan, PFT president. People are absolutely frightened of the danger that this virus has its unlike anything that weve ever had to deal with. My members just keep asking, How are we going to make this happen? The unions plan comes as district administrators prepare to reveal their plans for the 125,000-student district on Wednesday and as school systems around the region and across the country begin to articulate what the 2020-21 school year will look like. There is wide divergence among already-announced plans, from full face-to-face instruction, which the Ridley School District is aiming for, to 100% virtual, announced this week by Los Angeles Unified School District, the second-largest in the country. Even if they plan to bring students back to class, most districts, including Ridley, are offering a fully remote option for families with health concerns. Of Pennsylvanias more than 700 school districts, charter schools, and regional intermediate units, about 100 have submitted fall plans to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. New Jersey school districts must submit plans to the state at least four weeks before classes begin. READ MORE: A lose-lose situation: Schools try to plan their reopening amid conflicting coronavirus guidelines The plans coming out now arent necessarily final, and are being built with guidance that doesnt always agree. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies have called for social distancing of six feet inside classrooms; agencies including the World Health Organization and the Bucks County Health Department say three feet is sufficient. President Donald Trump and federal Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have urged schools to reopen fully for the new school term. Given the recent national surges and local plateauing of cases, this calls into question the feasibility and safety of a return to in-person learning, the PFTs plan said. As such, the virus mitigation must be carefully monitored and considered in conjunction with funding availability and local, state and national conditions and concerns. Meanwhile, city officials on Tuesday announced that all large public gatherings are prohibited through Feb. 28, meaning the cancellation of the Mummers Parade, Broad Street Run, and other city staples. That directive does not pertain to school plans. Phoenixvilles back-to-school plan includes different options depending on whether the district implements 6-foot or 3-foot social distancing. (At the greater distance, schools could offer in-person instruction on alternating schedules, while the lesser spacing would allow for in-person instruction for all students every day.) Some districts are continuing to survey parents and preparing to release plans later this month or in early August. In Delaware County, Ridley is planning to bring all students back five days a week under a plan approved by the school board last week. Our number-one priority is resocializing everybody, said Superintendent Lee Ann Wentzel. She said the district was aiming to space students six feet apart to the extent possible; on Monday, she and staff were setting up elementary school classrooms, using measuring tape while arranging desks and tables. To achieve six feet of distance, the district is looking at holding some classes in nontraditional spaces. One of the elementary school cafeterias, for instance, could hold 80 students spaced six feet apart, Wentzel said. Were going to be sacrificing some good instructional techniques, Wentzel said. How do you teach a kindergarten child to share, when technically, theyre not allowed to share? Wentzel isnt sure how many families will choose Ridleys fully virtual instruction option. Its one of those chicken-or-the-egg things: Its hard for parents to make a decision on the plan until they see the plan and hard for the district to plan without knowing what families will decide, Wentzel said. She said the district decided to pull the Band-Aid off and move forward with its plan. Still, Ridley must be flexible, she said. We fully expect that were going to need to make adjustments, Wentzel said including in light of what happens in other states where the school year begins earlier. Cherry Hill School Superintendent Joseph Meloche on Tuesday night released a preliminary plan that calls for a hybrid of in-person instruction two days a week and three days remote learning for most of the districts 11,000 students. The board is expected to vote on the plan later this month. Parents concerned about the health of their children inside schools may choose remote learning, only, he said. They must commit to that model through Feb. 1. Meloche said ESL and special education self-contained classes will meet in person. Cherry Hill will continue to provide courtesy busing; the driver and students must wear masks, Meloche said. Parents must check their childrens temperature before sending them to school, he said. READ MORE: Philly teacher union president: Teacher safety matters as Philly plans to reopen schools | Opinion Meloche said some details are still be worked out and urged parents to begin talking with their children about changes to expect when schools reopen and practice wearing masks. Some students will stay in their classrooms and teachers may rotate, he said. Education will never look like it did before March 16, Meloche said. Elsewhere in South Jersey, the Collingswood School District told parents this week that children will have the opportunity for face-to-face instruction two days a week, with remote instruction for the remaining days. Teachers will have one all-remote day for planning. As we settle into the new school year, we will constantly balance safety concerns with student needs and will likely add additional in-person opportunities for students with special needs, those learning English, and those who require additional academic support, Superintendent Scott Oswald wrote in a letter to parents. We understand that remote learning worked well for some of our students and not so well for others. We will address each unique situation to the best of our abilities and will move as quickly as possible to provide additional services to students who need them, while maintaining safe, social distancing for all students and staff. Collingswood said it would shorten its instructional day to eliminate the challenges associated with offering lunch and recess. These challenges are simply not manageable in our schools and we believe this is where the greatest risk to students may occur. Oswald also prepped parents for further child-care complications: Because of social distancing requirements, Collingswood will not be able to offer enough spots in before- and aftercare programs for those who need them. Staff writer Melanie Burney contributed to this article. READ MORE: Philly mom in Hong Kong: What returning to school after COVID-19 was really like | Perspective Advertisement Amber Heard claimed Johnny Depp gave her 'two black eyes' the day before she appeared on The Late, Late Show with James Corden - but the stylist who did her make-up told a court today that she had 'no visible' injuries. Samantha McMillen said she spent 'much of the afternoon and early evening' with Heard on December 16, 2015 as she prepared to appear on James Corden's show - and could 'see clearly' that Heard had no marks, cuts or bruises. Depp is alleged to have been violent towards Heard in an argument at their Los Angeles penthouse the day before, which he denies. The Hollywood star is suing The Sun over an April 2018 article which labelled him a 'wife beater'. Ms McMillen said she saw Heard 'in good light, at close range, wearing no makeup' on December 16, and that she 'could see clearly that Ms Heard did not have any visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries' to any part of her body. In a witness statement to the High Court in London revealed today, Ms McMillen claimed that after the actress's appearance on the US programme, Heard said to her: 'Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?' The stylist, who has worked for Depp since 2002 and was Heard's stylist during the couple's relationship, said: 'Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.' Ms McMillen, who has also styled Brie Larson and Ryan Gosling, added: 'I later learned that Ms Heard had accused Mr Depp, in court filings and the media, of violently abusing her the previous night, December 15, 2015.' As Ms McMillen was leaving Heard's company on December 16 she claimed to have overheard her say to her friend Raquel Pennington, who came to the show with her, 'make sure to get those pictures onto my computer'. But the stylist added that she 'did not know to what photos she was referring'. Photographs were later issued by Heard's legal team of her with injuries to her face around the time of the alleged attack, but they are undated. On another day of bombshell evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London today, further claims included: Depp alleged Heard 'acquired him for fame' but 'hammered him' for 'being a sad old man' in explosive texts; Depp claimed Heard had put a cigarette out on his face while in Australia, a month into their marriage in 2015; The actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed, according to his bodyguard; Heard took off her wedding ring and threw it during another row with Depp in 2015, but it was later found; Heard's stylist said she had 'no visible' injuries the day after the actress alleges Depp was violent towards her; Depp's head of security Jerry Judge previously warned the actor was 'not well' and 'we need to help him out'. Meanwhile, in a separate alleged incident the following year in May 2016, Ms McMillen also claimed Heard did not have any injuries on her face despite the actress claiming Depp had attacked her three days before. Amber Heard claimed that Johnny Depp physically abused her one day before she was on The Late, Late Show with James Corden on on December 16, 2015 (above) - and said after her appearance that she 'just did that show with two black eyes' Heard is pictured while appearing on the US chat programme The Late, Late Show on December 16, 2015 Heard poses with guests Luke Bracey and Wanda Skyes on the Late, Late Show with James Corden on December 16, 2015 Heard is pictured in a publicity photograph for the Late, Late Show on December 16, 2015, issued as part of legal proceedings Ms McMillen said she met a tearful Heard at Depp's house in West Hollywood on May 24, 2016 but could not see any 'marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries' to any part of her body. Three days later Ms McMillen read in the media that Heard had gone to court with 'prominent injuries visible on her face', claiming that Depp had inflicted them on her. But the stylist said Depp had left Los Angeles on May 22 and therefore 'could not have caused those marks that Ms Heard appeared with in court on May 27, 2016'. Ms McMillen was called to give evidence from the US by videolink in Depp's libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a 'wife beater'. Sasha Wass, for the The Sun's publishers News Group Newspapers (NGN), said Ms McMillen had been asked to give evidence about two dates - December 16, 2015 and May 24, 2016 - when she saw Ms Heard. The barrister showed Ms McMillen a number of photos from around the time of December 16, 2015 which are said to show Ms Heard with marks and 'bruising' on her face. After being shown a photo taken on December 15, which apparently shows Heard with a mark on her face, Ms McMillen said: 'That's not how I remember her looking on that day.' Photographs were issued by Heard's legal team of her with injuries to her face around the time of the alleged attack on December 15, 2015, showing bruising across the bridge of her nose and under her eyes after Depp allegedly headbutted her. Depp is believed to have been shown these pictures in court last week while he was giving evidence Photographs after the alleged incident in December 2015 show bruising to Heard's face after Depp is claimed to have headbutted her. These two pictures above were also released by Heard's legal team Samantha McMillen (left) and Amber Heard (right) pose together at an event in Los Angeles on December 10, 2015 Ms Wass asked: 'Would you agree that shows that she has got bruising coming up underneath both eyes?' Ms McMillen replied: 'It's not a clear picture, but it does look like there is dark around her eyes.' Johnny Depp's housekeeper was left 'disgusted' to find faeces in the bed the actor shared with Amber Heard Johnny Depp's housekeeper has said she was 'horrified and disgusted' to find 'a large pile of faeces' in the bed the actor shared with ex-wife Amber Heard. In a witness statement submitted to the High Court in the Hollywood actor's libel action against The Sun newspaper, Hilda Vargas claimed it was 'clear' that the excrement was human, saying she knew they could not have come from the couple's two small dogs. The court has previously heard that faeces were found in the bed at the couple's Los Angeles penthouse at the Eastern Columbia Building the day after Ms Heard's 30th birthday party in April 2016. Heard, 34, claims that one of the two small Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, were responsible. A picture taken from the witness statement of Hilda Vargas, housekeeper for Depp at his LA properties, which contains an image of faeces on his and Heard's marital bed from April 2016 Depp, 57, has told the court it was 'a mystery' who defecated in the bed, adding he was 'convinced' Ms Heard 'or one of her cohort' was involved in the so-called 'defecation incident'. In her written statement, Ms Vargas, who has worked for Mr Depp for more than 30 years, said she arrived at the apartment at around 3pm on April 22, 2016, and had just finishing washing dishes and vacuuming when she heard another cleaning lady call out and she joined her in the master bedroom. 'She was pointing to the bed and told me that she couldn't believe what she had found,' Ms Vargas said. 'I pulled back the top sheet on the bed and saw a large pile of faeces. I was horrified and disgusted. It was clear to me that this was human faeces. I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Mr Depp's or Ms Heard's two small dogs. 'I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller. Further, I have never known those dogs to defecate in the bed.' Ms Vargas said in her statement that she took photos of the faeces in the bed, before washing and changing the sheets. She later told Mr Depp's estate manager, Kevin Murphy what she had found because she was 'so angry'. Ms Vargas said that on May 24, 2016, she was working at Depp's West Hollywood home when Heard arrived with her friend Raquel Pennington. The housekeeper claimed Heard called her over and told her the photos she had taken of the faeces in the bed 'had destroyed her marriage'. Ms Vargas said: 'I was very nervous and so I apologised, even I did not believe that their marital problems were my fault or that I had done anything wrong. 'I also told Ms Heard that the faeces were there, that there was nothing I could do. Ms Heard argued with me saying that there were no faeces in the bed. 'I, again, said that the faeces were there, that they were large and smelled awful. Ms Heard continued to disagree with me, but I wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.' In her statement, Ms Vargas also said she had 'often' heard Ms Heard 'yell at Mr Depp and at other people'. She alleged: 'She has a bad temper in my opinion, and I did not want her to yell at me. 'On the contrary, in the over 30 years I have worked for Mr Depp, I have never seen Mr Depp be physical with or yell at anyone.' A spokesman for Ms Heard issued a statement in relation to Depp's contention that she or one of her friends was responsible for defecating in the couple's bed, saying: 'This accusation is completely untrue and has been designed purely to humiliate Ms Heard. 'As the evidence in court showed, Mr Depp discussed committing such a prank for years beforehand and it plays to his lavatorial and abusive sense of humour. 'Mr Depp's team is trying to grab headlines - at the expense of the truth - and distract from the serious, central issue of this case: the perpetration of domestic violence.' Advertisement Ms Wass said: 'Your evidence is that you never saw any of these injuries on the afternoon or the night of December 16 when you were with Ms Heard.' Ms McMillen said: 'That's correct.' Ms Wass continued: 'Ms Heard told a number of people on the 15th and 16th about these injuries. How close would you say you were to Ms Heard?' Ms McMillen replied: 'We had a good working relationship.' Asked if Heard would 'confide' in her, Ms McMillen said: 'I wouldn't say so, no. I wouldn't be on her speed dial.' Ms Wass referred to a message sent by Heard in December 2015, which read: 'Johnny did a number on me tonight.' The barrister asked: 'Did Ms Heard ever say to you that Johnny 'did a number on her'?' Ms McMillen said: 'She never said anything about that to me.' Ms Wass then asked: 'Do you consider that your loyalties are more with Mr Depp than with Ms Heard? You have a long-standing relationship with Mr Depp ... he's a big figure in Hollywood. 'If there was a conflict of loyalties between Mr Depp, your loyalties to Mr Depp on the one hand, and any loyalty you might have to Ms Heard ... who would take priority?' Ms McMillen said: 'I was close with her at the time. I don't know what you are insinuating but I would not perjure myself for anyone. I'm obviously loyal because he's kind and loyal back, but without any other reason than that.' Ms Wass asked why Ms Heard would make allegations of domestic violence against Mr Depp 'unless it was true'. Ms McMillen replied: 'I don't know the answer to that.' Ms McMillen told the court that Ms Heard said to her after taping the James Corden show on December 16 2015: 'Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?' The witness was asked: 'As far as you could see, did Ms Heard have two black eyes?' Ms McMillen replied: 'I never noticed anything like that when I saw her. I never noticed her having two black eyes.' Ms Wass asked: 'If you didn't see any black eyes, did you not ask her what on earth she was talking about?' Ms McMillen said: 'I didn't. We were leaving at the end of the show and we were going our separate ways. We were saying goodbye. 'I was confused by it and I think I said something like, 'I don't know what to say'. 'I didn't see the black eyes, but also I don't want to, you know, raise any sort of - I just wanted to go home.' Ms McMillen was then asked about an email sent by Ms Heard to her publicist, Jodi Gottlieb, in the early hours of December 16 which said: 'I'm really bruised or might have a black eye or two tomorrow ... I might not be fit for tomorrow but I won't know how bad the bruise is until the morning.' Ms Wass asked if there was 'any reason' Ms Heard would send that email 'unless she actually had what she thought might develop into two black eyes'. Ms McMillen replied: 'I can't think of why she would do that.' Ms Wass asked: 'After she said to you, 'can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?', did not you not think to offer her some sort of support or make some sort of inquiry rather than just quickly leave?' Ms McMillen said: 'I gave her a hug.' Ms Wass suggested Ms Heard's make-up artist, Melanie Inglessis, said she was 'going to put a really bright red lipstick on Ms Heard to try and cover the mark on her lip'. Ms McMillen said: 'I don't remember that conversation.' Ms Wass asked: 'Do you remember Ms Inglessis putting particularly heavy make-up on Ms Heard that night to cover the injuries?' Ms McMillen replied: 'I didn't notice it being any heavier than usual.' Ms Wass asked Ms McMillen if, having seen photos of Heard apparently with marks, 'do you still maintain that there is nothing on her face on the 24th?' Ms McMillen replied: 'When I saw her on the 24th (of May 2016) I noticed nothing but her beautiful skin.' Ms Wass suggested: 'You are being less than frank with the court ... and you have come to this court to help Johnny Depp, who is a person who is very important to your career.' Ms McMillen said: 'I'm telling the truth.' Mr Depp's barrister David Sherborne referred Ms McMillen to what she said in her witness statement about when she saw Ms Heard on December 16 2015, asking: 'If you had seen Ms Heard's face looking like it did in the photos you were shown, would you have given the evidence that you gave?' Ms McMillen replied: 'No, I would not.' Mr Sherborne referred to a visit to Ms Heard by her nurse Erin Boerum, who later noted: 'The client also states her head is bruised and she lost clumps of hair in the altercation. The registered nurse (Ms Boerum) briefly looked at Ms Heard's scalp but was unable to visualise the hematomas (bruises) that the client had described.' He asked Ms McMillen: 'Can you think of any reason why Nurse Boerum, who says she didn't see these bruises, would lie about not seeing those bruises?' She replied: 'I can't think of any reason why she would do that.' Mr Sherborne then asked about when Ms McMillen saw Ms Heard at Mr Depp's house in LA on May 24, 2016. Ms McMillen said she met her 'by chance' and had been at the house before Ms Heard arrived. Mr Sherborne said: 'You are in Mr Depp's house in West Hollywood and Ms Heard turns up. She doesn't know you are going to be there ... and you say that when she turned up, not knowing you were going to be there, she was not wearing make-up.' Ms McMillen said: 'That's correct.' Amber Heard leaves Los Angeles Superior Court on May 27, 2016 with visible facial injuries Heard leaves the court in Los Angeles on May 27, 2016, with an apparent bruise on her cheek Heard claimed at the court in LA on May 27, 2016 that Depp had inflicted the injuries on her Mr Sherborne asked: 'And, without the benefit of make-up, you said that she had her usual beautiful skin?' Ms McMillen said: 'That's correct.' Mr Sherborne asked: 'Did she (Ms Heard) tell you that she had been beaten up by Mr Depp?' Ms McMillen replied: 'She said nothing like that.' Ms McMillen was asked by Mr Mr Sherborne how Ms Heard's face appeared in a photograph taken shortly before the filming of the James Corden show. The stylist said Ms Heard's skin looked 'beautiful', adding: 'That is how I remember her looking once her make-up had been done.' Mr Sherborne said: 'You were asked (by Ms Wass)... if you had a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp or your loyalty to Ms Heard, which would win. But can I ask you a different question? 'Where there was a conflict between your loyalty to Mr Depp and you having to lie to this court, which would win?' Ms McMillen replied: 'I would not commit perjury for any reason, for anyone - friends or family or anyone.' Also today, the court heard Depp said Heard was 'as full of s**t as a Christmas goose' and blasted her 'constant insults' after claiming his wife smashed his hand with a vodka bottle and 'cut my f***ing finger off'. Ms McMillen in New York on September 24, 2015 (left) and Hollywood on April 2, 2017 (right) Depp, 57, and Heard, 34, met on the set of the 2011 comedy 'The Rum Diary' and married in Los Angeles in February 2015. They are pictured at the film's premiere in London in November 2011 The Pirates of the Caribbean star sent a series of texts slamming Heard to his doctor after his finger was severed in Australia in March 2015, and accused her of marrying him because she was 'so desperate for success and fame'. He told Dr David Kipper that Heard had said he was a 'sad old man' and 'has been' and blasted her 'hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddamn shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love'. The actor's libel trial also heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his 'career is over', he would die a lonely man' and called him 'fat'. In the texts to Dr Kipper, Depp wrote: 'I just cannot live like this... She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I'm done. NO MORE...!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what... ?? 'FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless 'educational' ranting...??? Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all... 'Here's the real deal, mate... Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important... She is SO F***IN' AMBITIOUS!!! She's so desperate for success and fame... That's probably why I was acquired, mate...!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am... 'Cowan (Dr Connell Cowan, another doctor) has done me the most cruel of favors... I'm so very sad... I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... I'm so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her...' A mock-up of the text messages sent by Depp to his private doctor Dr David Kipper after the Australia incident in 2015 Johnny Depp (left) and Amber Heard (right) arrive separately at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning Heard leaves Ham Yard Hotel in London's Soho this morning ahead of legal proceedings continuing at the High Court Tara Roberts, Depp's estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, was also called to give evidence in the libel case against The Sun newspaper today. Sasha Wass QC, for the Sun owner's News Group Newspapers, suggested Ms Roberts was 'totally dependent on Mr Depp for your livelihood', to which she replied: 'No... I have other sources of income.' The barrister asked about a passage in her witness statement in which Ms Roberts said: 'I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.' 'You're fat and you'll die a lonely man': Amber Heard screamed abuse at Johnny Depp after confronting him at his estate manager's office in the Bahamas - where she asked for help finding her wedding ring after taking it of and throwing it away Amber Heard told Johnny Depp that his 'career is over' and he will 'die a lonely man' during a blazing row, according to the property manager at Depp's Bahamas home. Tara Roberts said she overheard Heard 'insulting' the star, calling him names including 'fat' and saying 'no one is going to hire you' and 'you're washed up'. Ms Roberts said the incident happened on December 29, 2015 when Depp drove to her office alone and said he 'just needed to get away from Amber', before the actress then showed up. She said Heard was pleading with Depp to return to their home, but he started his car and she started screaming at him while stood in front of it. Ms Roberts said Heard was 'apparently not letting him get away by blocking his path', and she called Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski because she was 'unsure how far this would go'. Ms Roberts wrote in her court statement: While I could not hear what caused the fight, Amber repeatedly berated him with increasing ferocity. 'She was insulting him, calling him names, and in the middle of this onslaught I heard her say specifically 'your career is over,' 'no one is going to hire you,' 'you're washed up,' 'fat,' 'you will die a lonely man,' and also screaming things that were incomprehensible.' Depp responded to the abuse by telling Heard to 'go away' and 'just leave me alone', but Heard's rage 'continued to escalate', according to Ms Roberts. She continued: 'I saw Amber lunge at Johnny, clawing, tugging and aggressively pulling him. He continued to stand there yelling at her to stop and leave him alone. 'When he stepped back to leave, her onslaught would start again. During this entire incident, I never saw Johnny hit Amber, or push her back, nor did he physically react to the attacks. 'She would calm down and hug and apologize. Then he would say he needs to leave and it would start again. 'Finally, I stepped between them. She continued to reach for him but maybe my presence stopped it.' Ms Roberts added that Heard had 'removed her wedding ring and thrown it and had asked for help finding it as they were leaving that afternoon'. The ring was found and returned to her. Advertisement Depp is seen pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet Ms Wass then played a video of Depp, which has previously been played to the court, which shows the actor pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet. The barrister asked Ms Roberts: 'Would you agree it shows a different side of his character from the one you speak of in your witness statement?' To which Ms Roberts replied: 'No'. Responding to questions from Ms Wass about a detox trip to Depp's private island in the Bahamas in August 2014, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had spoken to the actor's doctor Dr Kipper and nurse Debbie Lloyd. She told the court that neither of them had a discussion with her about the actor's medical affairs. Ms Wass then read out part of the actor's medical records from September 2014, which said Depp was 'sitting in the kitchen with scraped and bloodied knuckles' and said he had punched a whiteboard in the kitchen after a fight. The barrister said: 'It would appear that Dr Kipper saw a different aspect of Mr Depp than you did, would you agree?' Ms Roberts replied: 'Yes.' Ms Wass then asked Ms Roberts about the former couple's stay in the Bahamas for Christmas 2015, and the estate manager confirmed that she was not aware Depp and Heard's relationship was very difficult at that point. Heard was 'the most violent' in their relationship, says Depp's estate manager The barrister said: 'As far as you were concerned, you have suggested that it was Ms Heard who was the most violent, is that right?' Ms Roberts replied: 'Correct.' She then described seeing Depp with a 'gash' on the bridge of his nose, which she said wasn't bleeding, and confirmed the actor had never suggested that she should photograph it. Ms Wass then put it to Ms Roberts that Heard had the remains of a bruise or a mark on her right cheek, to which Roberts responded: 'It wasn't visible to me.' The estate manager confirmed the fight between the couple took place on December 29 and she was then shown a photograph from around that time of Heard with bruising on her face. However, she again said she had not seen this bruising when she saw the couple after the argument. During an exchange with Depp's barrister David Sherborne, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had never seen the video clip before it was played in court and that she did not see the actor be violent to Heard in that clip. She also said that she 'never saw' Mr Depp being violent or aggressive towards Ms Heard on the island, and never saw him hit her. Mr Sherborne then said Ms Roberts explained in her witness statement that Ms Heard wasn't wearing make-up on the island, which the estate manager said was 'correct'. The barrister asked: 'Did you ever see that bruising on her when she was on the island?' To which Ms Roberts replied: 'No.' He then asked if Ms Roberts would have seen if Ms Heard had bruising to her face at that time, to which she answered: 'If she had then I would have seen it.' Mr Sherborne said it was suggested by Ms Wass that Ms Roberts depended on Depp for her livelihood, and she told the court her additional income came from a family business in the Bahamas, which includes a law firm and a car dealership. The barrister said: 'Ms Wass is suggesting to you that you are not telling the truth because you are scared of losing a job that you love, livelihood, you need your home on the island. Depp's former bodyguard Malcolm Connolly (pictured today), who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed in Australia 'Are you lying because you are worried about those things Ms Roberts?' The estate manager replied: 'No I'm not lying. I'm not lying.' 'I'm done. No more!': Texts sent by Johnny Depp to private doctor Texts sent by Johnny Depp to his private doctor, Dr David Kipper, after he claimed Amber Heard cut off part of his finger in Australia in March 2015: 'F***ed, man... Had another one... I just cannot live like this... She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I'm done. NO MORE...!!! 'The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what... ?? FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless 'educational' ranting...??? 'Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all... Here's the real deal, mate... Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important... 'She is SO F***IN' AMBITIOUS!!! She's so desperate for success and fame... That's probably why I was acquired, mate...!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am... 'Cowan has done me the most cruel of favors... I'm so very sad... I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... I'm so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her...' Advertisement Calls for Depp's accountant to give more evidence about actor's accounts amid claims Heard was a 'gold digger' Shortly before lunch, the court heard legal argument about whether Depp's accountant, Edward White - who gave evidence by video link from the US on Monday - could be asked to provide further information about Depp's accounts during the period of his marriage to Heard. Ms Wass QC, said that 'one of the criticisms that has been made of Ms Heard... is that she is a gold digger'. Ms Wass said it had been suggested that that was the 'motivation' for her 'elaborate hoax in order to trick, somehow trick Mr Depp'. She added: 'The position is that Ms Heard was given a settlement of $7million (5.5million) when the divorce came through on August 15 2016.' Ms Wass continued that if it was true that Heard was 'entitled to half the income accrued by Mr Depp during the course of their marriage... and the settlement was considerably less than what she was entitled to, which we say is the position, it considerably emasculates the claimant's case.' She told the court that Depp's income between February 2015 and May 2016 was 'quite considerable' and that the information NGN wanted Mr White to give 'strikes at the heart of the claimant's case'. Depp's barrister David Sherborne said that 'it was not suggested by Mr Depp that it had anything to do with being a gold digger'. But Ms Wass referred to Depp's witness statement in which he said that he eventually believed that Ms Heard had 'an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially'. She also referred to a text sent by Depp shortly after the couple split which referred to Heard as 'gold-digging, low-level (and) dime-a-dozen', adding: 'Gold-digging is top of the list.' Ms Wass said she was 'asking Mr White to confirm the accounts for the relevant year, the year of the marriage, which he is in a position to do.' Heard arrives wearing a face covering at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning as legal proceedings continue Heard (left) arrives at the High Court today for her ex-husband Depp's (right, also today) libel case to continue Mr Justice Nicol said: 'I'm not inclined to ask Mr White to give us further information about the income that Mr Depp earned during the course of the marriage and their relationship.' But the judge added: 'Mr White should be asked to give whatever information he is able to give about the settlement that was reach with Ms Heard as part of the divorce agreement.' Depp was 'in emotional distress' after his finger was severed in Australia and allegedly had a cigarette stubbed on his face Earlier, Depp's former bodyguard claimed in court today that Depp said Heard had 'cut my f***ing finger off' after smashing his hand with a vodka bottle and stubbing a cigarette on his face during a blazing row. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed in Australia. The incident is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper being heard at the High Court in London. Mr Connolly said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Depp told him: 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.' Following the Australia incident, Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. It took place just one month after Heard and Depp had married in Las Vegas in February 2015. The security officer said Heard's account of the incident bore 'no resemblance' to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress 'did not have any marks on her face or arms'. He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp's security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: 'Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.' Mr Connolly said: 'I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. He and Amber were screaming at each other. 'She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of 'Come with me, you are coming with me'. 'I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of 'Johnny, come with me'. It wasn't easy but I did get him outside. 'I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. I saw his finger and it was a mess.' Mr Connolly's statement continued: 'Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of 'Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?' 'Then she was saying 'I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?'. She was not making a lot of sense - one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away. 'She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before. 'For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny's general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.' Depp's bodyguard claims Heard 'did not have any marks on her face or arms' Mr Connolly said he could see Heard's face 'very clearly', adding: 'She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn't look in any physical distress. 'I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn't that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.' The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Depp's injury would 'create extremely bad publicity' and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. Mr Connolly said: 'I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn't believe us for one second.' He said Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly's apartment with him instead. Frantic response saw Depp's security team say they 'have got to get over to his house urgently' Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers, asked Mr Connolly about the incident in Australia. She said Mr Connolly was told by Jerry Judge, then Depp's head of security, that they 'have got to get over to Mr Depp's house urgently'. Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the house 'there was an argument ongoing'. Ms Wass asked if Mr Connolly could 'understand what Mr Depp was saying during the course of that argument'. He replied: 'No, because I was outside... I could hear a ruckus, but I couldn't understand the actual words being said.' Ms Wass asked: 'Was there a time when you did get inside the house?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Yes.' Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp is pictured outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning Depp has claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard (pictured today) 'mirrored' her abuse towards him= Ms Wass asked 'what sort of state' Depp was in, to which Mr Connolly said the actor was 'distraught'. She then asked if Depp was 'coherent' or if he 'appeared as if he had been drinking'. Johnny Depp's security guard recalls actor's 'distress' after his finger was severed One of Johnny Depp's security team has told the High Court the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia. The episode, in March 2015, is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Amber Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Mr Depp and his family for about 16 years, said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, the Hollywood star told him: 'Look at my finger. 'She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.' Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Ms Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. The security officer said Ms Heard's account of the incident bore 'no resemblance' to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress 'did not have any marks on her face or arms'. He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp's security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: 'Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.' Mr Connolly said: 'I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. 'He and Amber were screaming at each other. She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. 'I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of 'Come with me, you are coming with me'. 'I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of 'Johnny, come with me'. It wasn't easy but I did get him outside. 'I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. I saw his finger and it was a mess.' Mr Connolly's statement continued: 'Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of 'Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?' 'Then she was saying 'I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?'. 'She was not making a lot of sense - one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away. 'She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before. 'For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny's general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. 'I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.' Mr Connolly said he could see Ms Heard's face 'very clearly', adding: 'She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn't look in any physical distress. 'I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn't that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.' The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Mr Depp's injury would 'create extremely bad publicity' and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. Mr Connolly said: 'I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. 'However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn't believe us for one second.' He said Mr Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly's apartment with him instead. Advertisement Mr Connolly said: 'It's hard to tell with Johnny because it takes some amount of volume of alcohol.' He added: 'He didn't appear that drunk to me.' Mr Connolly said that after he arrived at the house in Australia in March 2015, Depp was 'having a conversation with me, straight as a die'. Ms Wass asked if Depp appeared to be rational, to which the personal security guard said: 'I don't know about rational because he was in shock.' The barrister then asked if Depp appeared to have taken drugs, and whether Mr Connolly was 'familiar with what he was like when he took drugs'. Mr Connolly said: 'I'm never privy to that sort of behaviour... I have never seen it.' Bodyguard denies claims that Depp was 'covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled' Ms Wass suggested: 'He was absolutely filthy, wasn't he? Untidy... covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled and didn't appear as if he had washed. He was properly filthy?' Mr Connolly said that was not the case. Ms Wass suggested to Mr Connolly that his evidence in his witness statement - that Mr Depp told him, 'she's cut my f****** finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle' - was not true. Mr Connolly replied: 'I can only say I was there, I witnessed it.' Ms Wass said Depp had 'come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged'. Mr Connolly said that those explanations were 'only to protect Amber'. He added that the story that Depp had trapped the finger in the 'accordion doors' in the house was 'my story'. Ms Wass asked: 'You cooked up that lie, did you?' Mr Connolly said: 'Yes.' Ms Wass then took Mr Connolly to a text sent by Depp to his private doctor, David Kipper, shortly after he lost the tip of his finger which read: 'F*****, man. Had another one. I just cannot live like this. She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose!!! 'I'm done. NO MORE!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c***!!!!!' The message added: 'I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital...' Ms Wass asked: 'Would you agree it appears that Mr Depp was accepting that he cut the top of his finger off in that text?' Mr Connolly said: 'Yes, it's how it's worded.' Depp asked his assistant for 'more whitey stuff' Ms Wass then read out a text sent by Depp to his assistant Nathan Holmes, just five minutes later, which read: 'Need more whitey stuff ASAP, brotherman. And the E business.' Mr Connolly said the reference to 'whitey stuff' was 'probably cocaine' and that 'E business' was a reference to ecstasy. Ms Wass then suggested that the house was 'completely wrecked', but Mr Connolly said: 'I never saw the house completely wrecked. I only got as far as the front foyer.' The barrister asked: 'You couldn't see paint that had been graffitied all over the house? You couldn't see damage?' Mr Connolly said: 'No.' He also said he did not see any broken windows at the property. Ms Wass then said: 'As far as you were concerned, Ms Heard was uninjured.' Mr Connolly replied: 'That's correct, yes.' Ms Wass asked: 'What opportunity did you have to look at Ms Heard to say that?' Mr Connolly said that when he was 'trying to get Johnny in the car, Amber came to the front door screaming and shouting'. Ms Wass asked if he was 'absolutely sure' he did not see any scratches on Heard's arms, to which Mr Connolly said he was. She also asked if Mr Connolly saw a 'bruise on her (Heard's) face', to which he said he had not. Ms Wass asked Mr Connolly about an audio recording, part of which was played to the court, which was made during the incident in Australia in March 2015. The court heard a male voice, which Mr Connolly said he recognised as Depp's voice, shouting unintelligibly, and the security guard said the actor was 'in shock' at that point. Ms Wass said the recording was made over five hours and included various conversations, with Depp, his doctor and Mr Judge, all heard on the full audio. Johnny Depp being taken to hospital with a severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015 Johnny Depp's severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015, which was released in court proceedings Mr Connolly told the court: 'It appeared to me at the time that Amber was completely unharmed.' Ms Wass asked if it was possible, given the circumstances of the situation, that he must have missed something, to which Mr Connolly responded 'no'. The 14 times Johnny Depp is accused of attacking Amber Heard 1. Early 2013 Heard says Depp was completely sober until early 2013, and around that time he allegedly hit her for the first time when they were in Los Angeles. She claims Depp later cried and apologised, telling her that he sometimes turns into 'the monster' when he snaps. Depp has 'expressly denied' hitting Heard and said that, around early 2013, he had 'confined himself to drinking wine and using marijuana, having been sober from around December 2011 to August 2012'. 2. March 8, 2013 Heard claims Depp was angry she had hung up a painting by her ex-partner Tasya Van Ree by her bed in her LA home, then tried to set the painting on fire and hit her 'so hard that blood from her lip ended up on the wall'. Depp, however, says he simply asked Heard to move the painting from the bedroom 'as a courtesy' and that she had an 'extreme reaction'. He also says a text he later sent describing the evening as a 'disco bloodbath' was to 'placate Ms Heard' and not an apology for alleged violence. 3. June 2013 Heard and Depp were in Hicksville, US with a group of people including Heard's sister Whitney and Depp's assistant Nathan Holmes. Heard says Depp, who was 'taking drugs', became 'enraged' and 'jealous' when one of her friends touched her, and he then threw glasses at her, ripped her dress and damaged the cabin they were staying in. Depp says he drank and took magic mushrooms, as did Heard and her friends who also took MDMA. He claims Heard's friend touched Heard in an 'extremely sexual manner' and he spoke to her to ask her to stop. 4. May 24, 2014 The pair took a private plan from Boston to LA: Heard says that during the flight Depp, who had been drinking heavily, threw objects at her, pushed a chair at her, slapped her and kicked her in the back before passing out in the toilet. Depp says Heard 'began to harangue him' as he was sketching in a notebook, he then tried to 'playfully tap her on the bottom with his foot', at which Heard took 'great offence' and 'continued to verbally berate' him. 5. August 17, 2014 The couple went to the Bahamas, Depp says to 'cure his dependence on painkillers', although Heard claims he was trying to give up other drugs too. Heard says Depp had 'several manic episodes' and his private doctor had to be flown over to help. She alleges that he slapped, kicked and grabbed by the hair during an attack. Depp alleges Heard stopped a nurse from giving him treatment while he was going through withdrawal. 6. December 17, 2014 Heard says Depp was 'violent towards' her in LA, and later texted calling himself a 'f****** savage' and a 'lunatic'. Depp denies any allegation of violence and says NGN has 'failed to provide any particulars of the alleged violence'. 7. January 25, 2015 While the couple were in Tokyo, Japan, Heard claims Depp shoved and slapped her and grabbed her by the hair, before standing over her and shouting while she was on the floor - which Mr Depp denies. 8. Around March 3-5, 2015 Depp is said to have repeatedly assaulted Heard after an argument over his alleged use of MDMA during a three-day trip to Australia. She says he stayed up all night, taking pills and drinking, and then attacked her again the next morning. Heard says, the following night, Depp pushed her into a table tennis table, tore off her nightgown and attacked her, before smashing a telephone into a wall and severing the top of his middle finger. She also claims he had written messages to her around the house in a mixture of paint and blood from his finger, which Depp admits doing while 'in shock', as well as having 'urinated all over the house in an attempt to write messages', which he denies. Depp says Heard was in 'a prolonged and extreme rage' following an argument over a post-nuptial agreement. He says he then 'broke my sobriety' with several glass of vodka, before Heard threw a bottle at him, severing the top of his finger, and stubbed a cigarette out on his cheek. 9. March 2015 Heard says Depp became 'enraged' when they were in LA with her sister and began destroying things in the house before hitting her 'hard and repeatedly'. She also claims he tried to push her sister down the stairs before hitting Heard again. Depp, however, says Heard was 'berating him in a rage' as he tried to leave, threw a can of Red Bull at him and punched him in the face before he finally left. 10. August 2015 While they were on the Eastern and Oriental Express in south east Asia, Heard alleges Depp 'picked a fight' with her, hit her and pushed her against a wall by the throat, 'causing her to fear for her life' - which is denied by Depp. 11. November 26, 2015 In LA, Depp is alleged to have ripped Heard's shirt and 'threw her around the room', also throwing a wine glass and a 'heavy glass decanter' at her, as well as pushing her over a chair which caused her to bang her head against a wall. Depp says they were in LA for Thanksgiving, but denies any allegation of abuse. 12. December 15, 2015 Heard claims Depp threw a decanter at her in their penthouse in LA, then slapped her and dragged her through the apartment by her hair, allegedly pulling 'large chunks of hair' from Heard's scalp. She says he then followed her upstairs and pushed her to the floor while shouting 'you think you're a f****** tough guy' before headbutting her. Heard says that when she told Depp she wanted to leave him he grabbed her and screamed: 'I f****** will kill you - I'll f****** kill you, you hear me?' Depp, though, says 'Ms Heard fabricated the alleged violence', falsely claiming that 'blonde hair on the floor was her hair'. He also claims that 'the only violence committed on that date was by Ms Heard', who allegedly 'violently attacked' him. 13. April 21, 2016 Heard says Depp arrived at her birthday party at their LA home late, 'drunk and high on drugs' and they had an argument after the guests had left. She claims he threw a bottle of champagne at her and shoved her to the floor several times before leaving a note reading: 'Happy F****** Birthday.' Depp says he arrived at the party around two hours late following a meeting with his new business manager and accountants, and that he was not on drugs but 'shocked from what he had learnt at the meeting about his business affairs'. He claims Heard had been 'drinking heavily' and attacked him while he was reading in bed, punching him in the face four times before he grabbed her arms to stop her. Depp says the next day Heard or one of her friends 'defecated in Mr Depp's and Ms Heard's bed', and that Heard later told the building manager Kevin Murphy that it was 'just a harmless prank' - at which he point he 'then resolved to divorce Ms Heard'. 14. May 21, 2016 Depp arrived at their LA apartment, allegedly 'drunk and high' while Heard was there with friends. Heard said Depp became 'very angry', throwing her phone at her and hitting her in the eye before smashing 'everything he could' with a magnum of champagne. He says he went to the apartment with two security guards to collect his belongings after Heard and her sister 'repeatedly' tried to contact him. Depp claims his two security guards entered the room when they heard Heard shouting, and saw her 'repeatedly screaming, 'stop hitting me, Johnny'' while he was 20 feet away in the kitchen. He also says that two police officers who attended the apartment after the incident 'saw no injuries or bruising or swelling'. Advertisement She said: 'And you are trying to be fair to both parties - it's not a question of you simply coming here to support your boss?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Not at all, no.' Security team told how Depp was 'not well' and needed help Ms Wass said that, during part of the recorded conversation, Mr Judge could be heard to say: 'He is not well, we need to help him out in every way we possibly can.' Mr Connolly confirmed he agreed with Mr Judge's remark that the actor was not well. Ms Wass said Mr Judge could also be heard to say: 'He basically completely cut the top of his finger off on a broken bottle and we found the piece and we had to put it on ice.' Mr Connolly said he didn't remember that and his recollection was Depp telling him that Heard had cut his finger off with a broken bottle. Ms Wass then asked Mr Connolly about a train trip in South East Asia, which was Depp and Heard's honeymoon in July 2015. She read out a diary note written by Heard which said: 'We finally fell asleep with one another smashed together in desperate, childlike anger, fear and love.' Heard recounted 'terrible' fight in a diary note The note continued: 'Our fight was terrible. Johnny... at one point found himself with his shirt wrapped around my neck. Amazing to think about (the) precision, co-ordination that required considering the close circumstances... 'I don't even know how I wound up with this huge, rather annoying knot on the back of my head. F***, I hate that.' The note concluded: 'Where are my lines, do I have any left?' Ms Wass asked where Mr Connolly was on the train, and he said he was 'about three or four doors down' from the couple. The barrister asked: 'So, if a fight had taken place at 3.30 in the morning, do you think you would necessarily have known about it?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I would never have known about it.' David Sherborne, representing Depp, then asked Mr Connolly: 'Did you ever see any injuries to Ms Heard on the trip on the South East Asia train?' The security guard said, 'no, never', before confirming that Ms Heard had not told him she had received any injuries, nor that Mr Depp had hit her. Mr Sherborne then asked: 'If she had suffered injuries, would you or would you not have seen them?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I would have seen them.' Depp was 'in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock' after the finger incident Mr Sherborne then asked about the incident in Australia in March 2015, and referred to the recording Mr Connolly had been played which the barrister said was taped by Heard. Mr Connolly said Depp was 'in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock'. He said the first thing Depp said to him when he tried to remove him from the house was 'give me a f****** minute'. Mr Connolly said the actor then 'stood in the driveway holding his hand and he said 'she just cut my f****** finger off''. Mr Sherborne said Mr Connolly was 'dealing with a difficult situation', and asked what experience he had of similar situations. Mr Connolly said: 'I'm an ex-prison officer for HMP Pentonville.' He explained that he was 'trained in extraction, I'm trained in pacifying... spotting bruising patterns'. Mr Connolly added that he was trained 'by the establishment, by the Home Office'. Mr Sherborne referred to the 'other explanations' for how Depp lost the top of his finger and asked Mr Connolly why they were devised. Mr Connolly said they were 'to protect the production' Depp was involved in at the time, as well as Heard. He added that he had 'seen it in prison' that 'the usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason, you know the psychological bullying... they fit the same criteria, they never come forward with the information'. Mr Sherborne asked about the 'cigarette burn' on Depp's cheek after the incident, which Mr Connolly said he saw on the actor's face. The barrister then turned to the transcript of the recording Heard apparently made, on which Mr Judge can be heard to say 'she hit him, she slapped him yesterday'. Mr Sherborne asked: 'Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp, is that something you have heard before?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I've heard it before, yes.' Mr Sherborne asked if it was a 'one-off', to which Mr Connolly said it had happened 'in Australia and in Los Angeles'. He also asked Mr Connolly about a text message, which was sent on an unknown date, sent to him by Mr Depp which read: 'Please get me out of this room now, she struck me about 10 times. Can't take anymore.' Mr Sherborne asked: 'In your experience, Mr Connolly, of dealing with Ms Heard and Mr Depp over a number of years, was this a one-off type of text or conversation with Mr Depp?' Mr Connolly said: 'No.' Mr Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: 'Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?' Mr Connolly said: 'No - and I wouldn't tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn't tolerate that.' Mr Sherborne asked: 'Not even if it was your boss?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Not even if he's my boss. I don't care if he's the Pope.' Mr Sherborne then asked: 'Not even if your livelihood depended on it?' Mr Connolly said: 'I work for Johnny ... only three days ago, I was offered a job in Peru. I don't depend on Johnny for my income.' Mr Sherborne asked him about the suggestion that 'you had been pressured to lie and come on Johnny's side', and whether that was true. Mr Connolly said: 'Absolutely untrue.' Mr Connolly's evidence came on day six of the trial of the actor's libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a 'wife beater'. Today's evidence comes one day after Depp finally finished giving evidence and claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard, 34, 'mirrored' her abuse towards him. On the final day of his evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday during his libel case against The Sun, Depp said: 'It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me.' The actor also accused Heard of throwing a 'haymaker' punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, just hours after he had learned during a 'bad' business meeting that he had lost $650million (514million). Yesterday, the High Court also heard that Depp has a 'remarkable' ability to not get drunk despite drinking 'a lot of alcohol', that cocaine simply 'brought him to a normal level which normal people might operate at'. Depp is suing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an article in April 2018 which labelled him a 'wife beater'. His barrister David Sherborne referred yesterday to a 'secret recording' of the former couple in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor. In the recording, Heard can be heard to say it was 'unbelievable to imagine' that she had either been 'in a secret fight club' or 'plotting to do this for three years ... just saving it up for the right time' when she was not asking for any money, adding 'no-one is going to believe that'. Depp described Heard's words as 'a reverse confession', adding: 'It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure.' Mr Sherborne said Depp can also be heard to say 'you f****** haymakered me, man' in the recording - which is said to refer to an incident after Heard's 30th birthday party at the couple's LA penthouse on April 21 2016. The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Depp denies the allegations. The actor said that, at a business meeting on the day of Heard's party, he was 'in the early stages' of finding out from a new business manager that 'the former business managers had (taken) quite a lot of my money'. Amber Heard photographed Johnny Depp with ice cream spilled on his legs during a private flight from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014 before showing it to him the next day and saying: 'Look at what you've become', the court heard yesterday Depp is alleged to have trashed a penthouse in Los Angeles, California, which Heard used as a colossal closet Depp admitted to leaving graffiti on a bathroom mirror after the fight with Heard, which resulted in his finger being severed Depp's island in the Bahamas is pictured. Depp's trial heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his 'career is over', he would die a lonely man' and called him 'fat' Asked how much had been taken, Depp said: 'It was put to me this way, because I had no idea about money or amounts of money. Johnny Depp v The Sun: Key issues in libel trial Hollywood star Johnny Depp's libel claim against The Sun enters its second week on Monday. These are the key issues the trial judge, Mr Justice Nicol, has to determine. - Whether the April 2018 article by the tabloid's executive editor Dan Wootton was defamatory of Depp. Under the Defamation Act 2013, a statement is not defamatory unless its publication causes 'serious harm to the reputation of the claimant'. - The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), is defending the claim and relying on a defence of truth. It is for the publisher to prove that the allegations made in the article are 'substantially true'. - The meaning of the article, which is defined as what it would mean to the 'reasonable reader', will have to be determined by the judge. But NGN's lawyers say the differences between the rival meanings contended by each side are 'not significant' and the outcome of the case will therefore not turn on meaning. - Depp's case is that the article bore the meaning that he was 'guilty, on overwhelming evidence, of serious domestic violence against his then wife, causing significant injury and leading to her fearing for her life, for which he was constrained to pay no less than 5 million to compensate her, and which resulted in him being subjected to a continuing court restraining order; and for that reason is not fit to work in the film industry'. He strenuously denies the allegations and claims he 'has never hit or committed any acts of physical violence against Ms Heard'. - The meaning which NGN will seek to prove is true is that the Claimant beat his wife Amber Heard, causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading her to fearing for her life. They rely on 14 separate allegations of violence and allege more generally that Depp was 'controlling and verbally and physically abusive' towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and or drugs, throughout their relationship. NGN's lawyers say an important issue for the judge to decide will be what substances Depp was using during the relationship. They contend that he frequently lost control of himself, partly because of his heavy drug and alcohol use, and also that his memory has been impaired by his heavy use of drugs. - If Depp wins his case, the judge will have to decide what level of compensation he should receive for the harm to his reputation and for the 'distress, hurt and humiliation caused'. There is an upper limit on general damages for libel of 300,000 to 325,000. However, if he succeeds, Depp may also be entitled to aggravated damages. The actor is also asking for a final injunction against NGN, who his legal team say 'have retained the article on their website and maintained their allegation to the bitter end'. Advertisement 'Since Pirates (Of The Caribbean) 2 and 3, I had - and this is ludicrous to have to state, it's quite embarrassing - apparently I had made $650million and when I sacked them, for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650million, but I was $100million (79 million) in the hole because they (the previous business managers) had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years.' Depp was also shown a photograph, apparently taken by his ex-wife, which showed him in August 2014 with 'ice cream spilled all over my leg' shortly before he was due to go to the Bahamas for a detox. The actor said the picture was taken at a time when he had been working 17-hour days and was 'very tired, falling asleep'. The court also heard evidence from Depp's former personal assistant, Stephen Deuters, who alleged Heard 'was the abuser in the relationship'. Mr Deuters, who is now European president of Depp's production company, Infinitum Nihil, said that during the period in which Depp is alleged to have been abusive towards Heard, he saw her 'on many occasions' and 'at no point' did she 'ever mention any physical abuse'. He told that court that he was 'extremely surprised and outraged' when it became public that Heard had filed for a restraining order. Mr Deuters described the couple's tempestuous relationship as 'not great', saying: 'I think they were two people that were in love with each other that shouldn't have been together.' The front desk supervisor at Depp's LA penthouse building also gave evidence that she saw 'no visible injuries whatsoever to Heard's face' three days after Mr Depp allegedly hit his ex-wife in the face with her own mobile phone on May 21 2016. Trinity Esparza said the first time she saw any marks on Heard's face that week was on May 27, the day the Aquaman actress appeared in court to obtain a restraining order against Depp, which 'disturbed' Ms Esparza. Ms Esparza, who owns the company that provided concierge services at the Eastern Columbia building where Depp previously owned five apartments, said in her witness statement that she 'saw and interacted with Heard on May 23, May 24 and May 25 with a clear and unmarked face'. Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said to Ms Esparza: 'Isn't it more accurate to say you saw her earlier in the week and you didn't notice it?' Ms Esparza replied: 'That is not accurate, I saw her very clearly.' Ms Esparza also told the court that she saw 'a number of marks on Ms Heard's body' - including bruises on her neck, plasters on her arm and a mark below her left eye - on a day in June or July 2016, shortly after Tesla founder Elon Musk left the building at around 9am looking 'like he had just woken up with messy hair'. Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: 'Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?'NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was 'controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs'. A safety consultant says newcomers to Canada are still not being educated about the proper use of child car seats a year after a five-year-old girl was killed in a collision involving her Yazidi family. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A safety consultant says newcomers to Canada are still not being educated about the proper use of child car seats a year after a five-year-old girl was killed in a collision involving her Yazidi family. Jen Shepka, a car seat expert with Greybird Consulting and a child passenger safety technician trainer with the Child Passenger Safety Association of Canada, said while new parents here receive some information about car seat use when their child is born in hospital, families who come here as immigrants or refugees miss that step. "To us growing up here, you put on a seatbelt and you buckle your child in a car seat that's what you do," Shepka said on Tuesday. "But if you have no familiarity about that, you don't. But we know properly used car seats and booster seat use reduce deaths and injury by up to 71 per cent. That's important." "I truly feel we are failing newcomers at every opportunity at car seat safety." Jen Shepka Binsaa Ahmed died after the van she was in collided head-on with an eastbound SUV on Dalhousie Drive on June 19, 2019, at about 1:40 p.m. Police said at the time she was not restrained in a child car seat at the time of the collision. The girl's two younger siblings, aged four and one, who were both in car seats, were taken to hospital in stable condition while their mother, the driver, was not injured. The Free Press reported at the time of the collision that Ahmed's family had survived the terror of the so-called Islamic State group and refugee camp perils and had arrived in Winnipeg in 2017. Earlier this week, Winnipeg police announced they had arrested the 27-year-old mother who now faces charges of careless driving causing death, driving while in the learner's stage without a supervisor causing death, and driving a vehicle where a child is not properly restrained. Police allege the driver was attempting to pass a vehicle in the opposite lane when she lost control and struck an eastbound vehicle. Binsaa Ahmed, 5, was killed after a two-vehicle collision on Dalhousie Drive. (Facebook photo) A friend of the family, Hadji Hesso, said he could not comment on the charges the woman now faces, but last year he said "the family was trying to be part of the community, to integrate and contribute." "Tragically, this pushes us back and it pushes the family back. What happened to them after they came to Canada, because it's a safe country to live in, was unfortunately an accident," Hesso said. "The thing we do know is the girl has lost her life." Shepka said while police usually say whether a collision victim used a seatbelt or not, it is rare for police to say in the wake of a collision whether a child was buckled in a car seat or not. "By the time the collision happens that parent is already suffering forever and nobody wants to be the one to point there," she said. "It's hard for people, who may have come from wars, to get their head around that the car is the riskiest place for kids in Canada." Jen Shepka "But how are newcomers ever going to acquire this information? It's not readily available and it's hard for people, who may have come from wars, to get their head around that the car is the riskiest place for kids in Canada." Shepka said while there is information about car seats on the Manitoba Public Insurance website, there needs to be more done to educate newcomers. "I truly feel we are failing newcomers at every opportunity at car seat safety." Child restraints: Quick reference guide Click to Expand Manitoba Public Insurance provides the following advice on choosing the correct child restraint: Rear-facing child car seat: Use a rear-facing car seat from birth until your child reaches the maximum weight or height limit listed on their car seat. Some seats are made for children up to 20 kg (45 lb.). Keep your child rear-facing as long as possible. Dont switch too soon as your childs head and neck are still developing. Forward-facing child car seat: Use a forward-facing car seat until your child reaches the maximum weight or height limit listed on their car seat. Some seats are made for children up to 30 kg (65 lb.). Booster seat: Use a booster seat once your child reaches the maximum weight or height limit listed on their car seat. Provincial law requires placing children in the appropriate car seat until theyre at least 145 cm (4 9), 36 kg (80 lb.) or nine years old. Seatbelt: Use a seatbelt only when your child is more than 145 cm (4 9), 36 kg (80 lb.) or nine years old. Children should sit in the back seat until they are at least 13 years of age. -Source: Manitoba Public Insurance MPI spokesman Brian Smiley said it is the law for children of a certain age and size to be restrained in car seats or booster seats. 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. The MPI website says children have to put in a rear-facing seat until they reach the limit of the seat, while a forward-facing or booster seat has to be used until they are nine years of age, weigh 36 kilograms, or are 145 centimetres tall. Smiley said a driver who has a Class 5 learner's permit has shown MPI they are a Manitoba resident and have successfully passed a Class 5 knowledge test and an in-car road test. He said the driver also would face a number of restrictions, as part of the province's Graduated Driver Licensing program, including having a supervising licensed driver with a minimum of three years behind the wheel as the only front seat passenger, limiting the number of passengers in the back seats to the number of functioning seatbelts, and not having drugs or alcohol in their system. As well, Smiley said while Manitoba does have reciprocal licence agreements with some countries including the United States and United Kingdom MPI says if there is no reciprocal agreement with the country an immigrant or refugee is from, and they have a driver's licence from that country, they will still have to pass a road test here before they are given a Manitoba licence. MPI says if they don't pass the road test right away, they can still drive, but only with a supervising driver. kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca Update: NEW CANAAN The dog that bit a 12-year-old boy near Kiwanis Park on Monday, July 13, 2020, has been located. New Canaan Police Public Information Officer Jason Ferraro credited assistance from the public and a continued investigative effort by Animal Control Officer [Allyson] Halm, as the reason for it being found. Police put out a notice Tuesday afternoon, July 14, 2020, seeking a medium size black mix, one of two being walked on leash, that bit the boy around 6:30 p.m. Monday. Original story: NEW CANAAN A dog that bit a 12-year-old boy in Kiwanis Park on Monday, July 13, must be found to spare the boy rabies shots. The dog, one of two being walked on leash, bit the boy around 6:30 p.m. Animal Control described the dog as a medium size black mix, and the second a medium gray and black dog of unknown breed. The dog walker was described as a middle-aged white female with light hair. Animal Control is requesting that the owner of the dogs come forward, and asks anyone who has further information regarding this time-sensitive situation to call 203-594-3510. That is the number for Animal Control. AKRON, Ohio -- Akron City Council on Monday voted to approve legislation requiring people to wear a mask or face covering in public under most circumstances to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The mask mandate, details of which are available at www.akronohio.gov/masks, was passed 11 to 2, with Ward 9 Councilman Mike Freeman abstaining and Ward 7 Councilman Donnie Kammer absent. If signed by Mayor Dan Horrigan, who sponsored the legislation, the mandate would go into effect immediately. We have to be able to get ahold of the spread, and mask-wearing in public is one of the most effective ways, Horrigan said before the council vote. COVID-19 is going to be with us for a while - hopefully not forever - but as we do this, we can stop that spread by mandating a mask in public. Masks are already mandatory - for now - in Akron and Summit County, since the county was declared to be at Level 3 in Ohios county-by-county ranking system for the recent spread of COVID-19. But Akrons new law would remain in effect even if Summit County is reclassified to a lower Level 2. Akrons law carries no criminal penalties, and would not be enforced by Akron police, the city said. The legislation calls for the mask mandate to be enforced by Summit County Public Health, which could impose civil penalties of up to $50 per violation for an individual, and up to $250 per violation for a business owner. But the city has said its goal isnt to punish people, but to have them cover their nose and mouth to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Summit County Public Health Commissioner Donna Skoda told council Monday that the city and county plan to help provide masks for companies or event organizers. The public health departments sanitarians - about 30 or 40 of whom work each day, usually visiting restaurants - will visit businesses and other places that draw complaints about enforcing the mask mandate to provide educational resources, Skoda said. The mask mandate would be in place until City Council reverses it. Akrons ordinance would require face coverings be worn in the following places: Inside public areas of a place of business or city of Akron facility, and when entering, exiting, or waiting in line to enter those places of business or city facilities. In any outdoor space where physical distancing of at least six feet is not maintained from others who are not members of the same household. In any public transportation such as a bus, taxi or ride sharing service. In common areas of a multi-unit housing building, including, but not limited to, hallways, stairways, elevators, and lobbies. In businesses, which shall require face coverings for paying customers and for employees that interact with the public. Exceptions would include: Bangui The Central African Republic (CAR) is seeing a surge in gender-based violence (GBV) since the COVID-19 virus pandemic and measures to control it began, with reported injuries to women and children spiking by 69 percent, a new UNDP-led study finds. Although a national strategy aims to reduce GBV, child marriage, and female genital mutilation, statistics even before the pandemic began were grimwith 11,777 cases identified in 2019, up 174 percent from 2014. Landlocked and impoverished, CAR also ranked second-highest in gender inequality globally, according to UNDPs 2019 Gender Inequality Index (GIN). Especially in rural areas, women tend to be poorer than men 81 percent, compared with 69 percent menand has the second highest maternal mortality ratio in the world. Despite its vast natural resources, CAR is consistently ranked among the worlds least healthy countries, with one of the lowest levels of human development, reflecting indices such as access to education, opportunities, jobs, essential services, health care, and technology. Some 2.6 million people, or more than half the population, require humanitarian aid and protection, UN officials say, while a partial closure of borders with Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo is driving up the cost of imported goods, including basic food items. Measures to mitigate COVID-19, such as school and business closures, have meanwhile increased the domestic burdens borne by women and girls and sharply reduced their earnings, increasingly the existing vulnerabilities, confining them to homes they often share with their abusers, and limiting access to support and health services. Since April, GBV has increased by an estimated 10 percent, while reported injuries to women and children have increased 69 percent, rape by 27 percent, and other assaults by 45 percent, according to a June report by crime analysts with the UN stabilization mission in CAR (MINUSCA). Since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in the country, 97 percent of GBV victims have been female and 76 percent underage. Even before the pandemic, women in CRA faced major gender-based inequalities, such as to access education and opportunity and the chance to participate in economic and political life, Natalie Boucly, UNDP Resident Representative in CAR, said. We know crises can exacerbate violence in home as well as other violence against women and girls. This is a critical time to prioritize support sytems and access to justice. Cyber-violence is also on the rise, the report said, with more people confined at home and spending more time online. It called for scaled-up efforts to protect women and girls in this area as well. UNDP recommendations to address GBV include: Scaling up awareness campaigns to promote gender equality and fight GBV. Raising awareness of police and legal services to address GBV. Boosting capacity among civil society organizations to support survivors and monitor cases. Educating women and girls to protect themselves from online violence and harassment. Scaling up government capacity to process and prosecute cases. Launching an emergency fund to increase social protections, notably targeting informal workers hit hard by the pandemic and measures to address it. Using economic and financial measures to support businesses, micro-enterprises, and individuals suffering economically as a result of the crisis. UNDP activities on the ground In June, UNDP launched an effort with civil society organizations and the Government to educate the public on the increased risk of violence resulting from the pandemic. It created billboards, community radio messages, and social media posts on recognizing, preventing, and responding to GBV. UNDP is also advocating for greater womens participation in managing the pandemic and ensuring that data collection and analysis on COVID-19s impact include its gender dimensionsand that social and economic support programs target young people, women, and other vulnerable people. Remember that you do not have to serve a patron who is not wearing a face covering, Northam said, adding that those customers can be cited for a misdemeanor violation under a previous order requiring masks in congregate settings. You can tell them to leave. And if they dont, theyre trespassing and you can, in turn, call the police. Rome returned a stolen Banksy artwork to France on Tuesday after the famed street artist's homage to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks was found in Italy. The image of a young girl in mourning was painted with stencil and white paint on an emergency door of the Bataclan concert hall in Paris where Islamic State gunmen killed 90 people nearly five years ago. It was found in the attic of an abandoned farmhouse in the central Italian region of Abruzzo last month. The chief prosecutor of L'Aquila, the capital of Abruzzo, and the head of Italy's police in charge of cultural heritage handed over the work to France's ambassador Christian Masset at a Bastille Day ceremony. The artwork was then displayed inside the French embassy in Rome's Farnese Palace. Masset said at the handover ceremony that it was through the emergency door "by which numerous people escaped and are alive today." "It has a dual significance because it reminds us of the 90 victims... and it was a witness to the massacre" at the Bataclan, he added. The date of the artwork's return to France has not yet been disclosed. Italian news agency AGI reported that it could be exhibited at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, a claim not immediately confirmed by the UN cultural agency. Works by Banksy, known for their distinctive style, irreverent humour and thought-provoking themes, have been found on walls, buildings and bridges from the West Bank to post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. At auction, works by the artist -- who keeps his identity secret -- have sold for more than $1 million. - Theft captured on video - In January last year, hooded thieves managed to nab the Bataclan work by cutting through the metal door of the club, a scene captured on video by surveillance cameras. Last month, six people were arrested in France over the theft. Two were charged with robbery in an organised gang and the other four with receiving stolen goods. However Italy's AGI has reported that a total of eight people have been arrested, including two French-born Italian suspects, and that a suspected accomplice remains on the run. Banksy, one of the world's most highly regarded contemporary artists, blitzed Paris during a whirlwind trip in 2018. The Bataclan door is not the only of his works to have been stolen in the French capital, some of which have since been recovered. Others include a mural of a businessman in a suit offering a dog a bone, having just sawn the animal's leg off, and an image of a masked rat wielding a box cutter, which disappeared from outside the Pompidou Centre. Fans have covered some of his Paris street art with Plexiglass to protect them. The artist is known to shine a spotlight on social issues such as migration and racism. In recent weeks, he has posted on his Instagram account a drawing showing a lit candle setting fire to the American flag above a picture of a black man, in homage to George Floyd, the US man whose death in police custody ignited protests across the country. Banksy has also posted a drawing of people pulling down a statue, a reference to attacks on monuments or statues of historical figures linked to slavery or colonisation. U.S. film and TV producers are starting to resume rolling in Canada even with travel restrictions. Hollywood can resume filming in Canada U.S. film and TV producers are starting to resume rolling in Canada even with travel restrictions. Hollywood can resume filming in Canada U.S. film and TV producers are starting to resume rolling in Canada even with travel restrictions. Hollywood can resume filming in Canada U.S. film and TV producers are starting to resume rolling in Canada even with travel restrictions. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A U.S. film and TV productions are coming back to Canada. Coronavirus caused film productions to shut down in March, and now major centres like Toronto are once again distributing film permits. Travel restrictions might even boost Hollywoods interest in producing films in Canada, according to The Hollywood Reporter. With limited flights and travel restrictions blocking other markets, Canada might be a viable option. The relative strength of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian currency also helps cut costs for American producers. Need assistance with the Temporary Work Permit application process for film and TV? Contact wp@canadavisa.com However, if film and TV production workers want to get past Canadas travel restrictions, they cannot have any symptoms of coronavirus and they must be able to quarantine for 14-days. They will also have to demonstrate to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer why they need to be in Canada to carry out their employment. Travellers should also consult the respective provincial/territorial websites to ensure that they [can abide by their] quarantine and public health requirements CBSA wrote to CIC News in an email, In all port of entry cases, the final decision is made by a Canada Border Services Agency officer, based on the information available to them at time of processing. Canadian work permits for film and TV Foreign film and TV personnel are exempt from the Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which is required of many work permit holders. LMIAs help determine the need for foreign workers in a specific sector or occupation. They are also meant to ensure that a foreign worker is not taking an open position that a Canadian worker could fill. Film and TV crewmembers, actors, and other workers are eligible for the Significant Benefit Work Permit. LMIAs are not needed for this permit because film crews in Canada have a significant cultural and economic benefit to the country. As a result, the positive effects of issuing the work permit to film and TV workers outweigh the potential negative consequences that could result from not doing an LMIA. Producers may be eligible to apply as business investors. To be eligible for this category, producers must submit their CV, proving their credentials as a film producer. Their production must also be considered a commercial shoot. If the purpose of the shoot is to advertise a certain product or promote a particular service, it will most likely be eligible. Canada and U.S. film industries have a long history of mutual support. Many Hollywood films have been shot in Canada such as Fantastic Four (2015), Interstellar (2013), and Titanic (1997) to name of few. Guillermo del Toro was in Toronto when shooting of his new feature, Nightmare Alley, was interrupted by coronavirus. He is now expecting to resume filming in the fall, according to IndieWire. Need assistance with the Temporary Work Permit application process for film and TV? Contact wp@canadavisa.com By Alexander Winning JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Airways (SAA) creditors approved a rescue plan for the struggling airline on Tuesday that requires at least 10 billion rand ($596 million) in new funding, throwing the ball into the government's court to come up with the cash. State-owned SAA, which last made a profit in 2011, entered bankruptcy protection in December and suspended commercial passenger flights in March when the government imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns to contain the new coronavirus By Alexander Winning JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African Airways (SAA) creditors approved a rescue plan for the struggling airline on Tuesday that requires at least 10 billion rand ($596 million) in new funding, throwing the ball into the government's court to come up with the cash. State-owned SAA, which last made a profit in 2011, entered bankruptcy protection in December and suspended commercial passenger flights in March when the government imposed one of the world's strictest lockdowns to contain the new coronavirus. Fierce wrangling between the airline's administrators, the government and trade unions has complicated rescue efforts, which delayed the publication of a restructuring plan until last month. That plan envisages scaling back the airline's fleet and shedding jobs before gradually ramping up operations as the disruption caused by COVID-19 eases. Administrator Siviwe Dongwana told a creditor meeting the plan had been approved by 86% of voting interests. "It is an important step forward for the airline and provides much-needed certainty towards a restructured SAA," he added in a statement. Dongwana said the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), the ministry responsible for SAA, had said it would give the administrators a letter with a funding commitment on Wednesday, in time for a deadline stipulated in the rescue plan. The DPE told Reuters last week it was on track to make the funding commitment. It is not yet clear where funding will come from, after the finance minister allocated no new money to SAA in an emergency budget. The government says it has been talking to investors and potential partners, but has given few details. The DPE's acting director-general, Kgathatso Tlhakudi, told the creditor meeting the government should announce preferred strategic equity partners soon for SAA Group and its business units. He added an interim board of directors for the new SAA would be revealed soon. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Mark Potter) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. OAKVILLE, Ontario, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (Saint Jean or the Company) (TSX-V: SJL) (OTCQB: TORVF), a carbon science company engaged in the design and build of green energy storage, green energy creation and green re-creation through the use of carbon materials. With reference to the News Release dated July 9th, 2019, the Company wishes to announce that it is not proceeding with the previously announced acquisition of Process Research Ortech (Ortech). As of the date of this announcement, the Company has not received documentation that is both required and customary for a fundamental acquisition of this nature. In addition, the Company believes that the market would not support the proposed transaction during these trying times. The Company and Ortech are committed to continue working together on their ongoing projects. The Company looks forward to providing an update with respect to the ongoing projects in the coming weeks. Corporate Update On January 23rd, 2019 the company announced that it was building graphene gel salt water batteries with a goal of having production ready batteries by the spring of 2020. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Company now expects to be production ready in late 2020 through to the first quarter 2021. On January 31st, 2019 the Company announced, that it expands mill and starts new division. The new division to build both anode and cathode materials have been working hard pitching companies and quoting on projects. The expansions to the mill have not been completed due to funding issues. With reference to the News Release dated June 27th, 2019, the Company wishes to provide an update and clarification with respect to the intention to spin off five companies over the next 12 to 18 months. The Companys intention was and continues to be to enter into five strategic joint ventures or partnerships with industry participants and depending upon the success of each new venture determine if or when it will spin-off the new venture. The first of the five new ventures has been incorporated, SJC Wiretech Inc. (Wiretech), and has started operations www.sjcwiretech.com. The Company owns 50% of the issued and outstanding shares of Wiretech and subject to regulatory approval, intends to transfer certain of its intellectual property to Wiretech at a future date. Certain personnel of the Company are providing approximately 20% of their time to Wiretech to get the company up and running, with a goal that a new team will step-in shortly. Wiretech does not require funding from SJC. Depending on market conditions the Company will attempt to set up the next new venture over the next six months. On December 20th, 2019 the company announced that it has been awarded two graphene related projects. One of these projects, production of the superconducting wire, has been delayed by a change in specifications, while the other project, rewiring the motors on a drone, has been put on hold due to covid-19. On December 22nd, 2015 the company announced a provisional patent application for superconducting wire, the Company is pleased to update that United States Provisional Patent Application No. 62/950,387 has been refiled with the United States Patent Office and covers subject matter related to a novel Superconductive Cable Conductor And Method Of Manufacture Thereof. More specifically, the subject matter deals with superconducting cables contain multiple wires made of superconductors. When cooled below its transition temperature, the wire has zero electrical resistance. Presently known superconducting cables are not cost effective, and are easily damaged, among other problems. The invention disclosed in the provisional patent application uses graphene in more than one manner to produce a superconductor wire. The method of manufacture employed is also novel. On November 13th, 2018 the company a provisional patent application for plant based watering system, the Company is pleased to update that United States Provisional Patent Application No. 63/042,462 has been refiled with the United States Patent Office and covers subject matter related to a novel Plant Watering System With Mineral Control. More specifically, the subject matter deals with a system that is designed to control the amount and type of mineral(s) that are contained in water from a base water supply to feed growing plants through the growth cycle. The need for control at the source of the water is imperative to the control of the vital makeup of the growing plants and the ability to create the same plant to 100% accuracy, or at least nearly, 100% accuracy, during every production run. This level of control of minerals is particularly important for particular plants. With reference to the News Release dated November 9, 2018, the Company confirms that it completed its work and satisfied its obligations under the agreement with Curtiss Motorcycles in 2019. As of yet, the Company, its partners and suppliers have not received the agreed upon Five Million 5,000,000 unvested shares of Curtiss Motorcycles. The Company is hoping to reach an amicable resolution to this situation. In the meantime, the Company is assessing its legal rights and carefully considering its next steps given the Companys need for working capital. The company has requested resumption to trade with the TSX Venture Exchange. Trading will be resumed once the review by the Exchange is concluded. Annual General Meeting The company is pleased to announce that it will be holding its annual general meeting of shareholders (the "AGM") on Monday September 28th, 2020 at 11:00am EST 1-768 Westgate Rd. Oakville, ON L6L 5N2. About Saint Jean Carbon Saint Jean is a publicly traded carbon science company, with specific interests in energy storage and green energy creation and green re-creation, with holdings in graphite mining claims in the province of Quebec in Canada. For the latest information on Saint Jeans properties and news please refer to the website: http://www.saintjeancarbon.com/. On behalf of the Board of Directors Saint Jean Carbon Inc. Paul Ogilvie, CEO and Director Information Contact: Email: info@saintjeancarbon.com Tel: (905) 844-1200 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, concerning Saint Jeans business and affairs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, expects or does not expect, intends budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements include those with respect to: (i) the belief that the market would not support the acquisition at this time; (ii) the expectation that the Company will have production ready batteries ready in late 2020 through to the first quarter 2021; (iii) the Companys intention to enter into five strategic joint ventures or partnerships with industry participants and to spin-off the new ventures; (iv) the hope that the graphene related projects will re-start as the country begins reopening after the first wave of Covid-19; and (v) the date when the shares of the Company will commence trading. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances that may cause actual results to differ materially. Although Saint Jean believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that these expectations will prove to be correct. There are risks which could affect Saint Jeans future results and could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements including closing failure or delay, the impact of general economic conditions in Canada and globally and the risk that they will deteriorate, industry conditions, including fluctuations in the price of supplies and the risk that they will increase, that required consents and approvals from regulatory authorities will not be obtained and the liabilities and risks inherent in Saint Jeans operations. Statements of past performance should not be construed as an indication of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors, including those discussed above, could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release, and Saint Jean assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. The huge protests breaking out all across Israel do not bode well for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The same thing happened nine years ago, in the summer of 2011, with the social justice movement. Back then, Netanyahu failed to foresee the enormous wave of protests that swept across the country. Inspired by the Arab Spring, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets in 2011 to protest the high cost of living, the real estate bubble and the collapse of the middle class, believed to have been brought about in large part by excessive taxes and interest fees. At the height of the demonstrations, a million Israelis were in the streets protesting. It all happened at the start of Netanyahus second term. Sensing the precariousness of his position, the prime minister promised to fix the countrys deep social and economic disparities. He went on to form a number of committees to investigate the problems being raised and even implemented some of their suggestions. In the end, he survived the crisis. Thus it seemed like deja vu when large numbers of desperate, angry Israelis took to the streets the night of July 11. Those protesting were largely made up of the self-employed and unemployed who have been struggling to make a living since the coronavirus crisis began four months ago. They have used up their savings, and their business are paralyzed and collapsing; the government, rather than extend a hand to pull them out of the mire, instead just let them sink. About 10,000 people participated the largest protest, in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Nevertheless, it was obvious to everyone that many thousands more would have come were it not for social distancing guidelines to prevent the virus spread. While these demonstrators protested in Tel Aviv, many more gathered on bridges across the country to vent their outrage at the government. They did this even though it meant leaving the safety of their homes and family at the peak of the pandemics second wave. A long line of victims of the economic pandemic waited to address the crowds in Tel Aviv. They all led creative lives as recently as a few months ago. Many of them owned successful businesses. Now they have no idea how they will pay next months rent. One of these speakers was Chaim Hirschberg, an owner of the Mondo 2000 club in Tel Aviv. He spoke about how helpless he felt: I opened my business two years ago, with the goal of creating jobs for dozens of people, while highlighting how wonderful Israeli nightlife is. It is what brings people back to the country year after year. My partners and I are now facing a very difficult decision. Should we shut down a business after working so hard to get it off the ground, when it means giving up on our dream? We followed the governments instruction all throughout the crisis. I pay property tax, rent and taxes. We are now witnessing the most bloated government of all times standing silent while so many of us are suffocating. Where did you go, now that youve shut down our lives? In hindsight, the problems that led to the 2011 protests seem like an afternoon stroll in the park when compared with the serious economic problems facing hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Back then, unemployment stood at 5%, and people could still pay rent and buy food. Today, unemployment hovers around 20%. This puts the COVID-19 protests in a league of their own. Efforts by a few members of the Likud to argue that this was actually a demonstration by leftists opposed to Netanyahu not only failed to help the prime minister, but appeared to actually swell the ranks of people opposed to his rule. The negative impact of the economic coronavirus is not limited to supporters of the left. It has struck everyone, with an emphasis on the middle class. Among the people affected are countless Netanyahu supporters. This is not some temporary crisis, either. It is an economic megacrisis of historic proportions. Even when it is finally over, it will take years for Israel to dig itself out. The overall impression is that Netanyahu only realized the scope of the outrage sometime last week, when the second wave of the coronavirus hit Israel. Once again, the government was forced to announce that businesses such as event halls and gyms would have to shut down. Until then, many people believed that once they were able to go back to work, they would be able to rebuild their businesses. That turned out to be a pipe dream. It was also when the self-employed began planning their demonstration for July 11. On the evening of July 8, Netanyahu held an urgent press conference with Finance Minister Israel Katz to present their plan to offer emergency aid to the self-employed and the unemployed. This includes immediate grants of up to 7,500 shekels [$2,200] to the self-employed, and eligibility for additional grants lasting up to June 2021. It also involves a comprehensive extension of unemployment payments for hundreds of thousands of Israelis, as well as providing assistance in obtaining business loans. In an attempt to lower the flames and reduce tensions, Netanyahu and Katz met July 10 with representatives of the self-employed. At this meeting, which lasted almost until the Sabbath [Friday evening], they listened to the problems and reservations that the self-employed had with the emergency plan. Netanyahu may have thought that this would be enough to cancel the demonstration the next day or at least reduce the number of participants, but he was proven wrong. It turned out to be the largest protest since the start of the pandemic. What set it apart was the overwhelming sense of desperation and sadness, rather than outrage. On July 12, the government approved its aid package, but as time goes by, more and more holes have been found in it. Many of the self-employed the main victims of this crisis will end up receiving very small grants, often amounting to no more than a few hundred shekels. Netanyahu and Katz have already promised to be more attentive to these problems and to fix them once the plan is implemented, but it is not at all certain that they will be able to stop the wave of protests planned this week including one outside the prime minister's official residence in Jerusalem on July 14. On July 14, Israelis awakened to chilling news on the coronavirus front 1,681 new cases registered the day before. Also, the number of seriously ill patients and patients on ventilators is rising, the Health Ministry failed to take advantage of a lull to prepare for the second wave and no one has yet been named coronavirus affairs director to coordinate the nation's response to the crisis, as new Health Minister Yuli Edelstein promised. On the economic front, there is a growing feeling of distrust in the current coronavirus government and the person at its helm. Not only is the largest government in Israels history costing taxpayers a fortune, it is not serving the peoples interests, either. There is good reason why Netanyahu is taking a dive in all the polls and even losing the trust of voters on the right. The mood set by the protests is even spreading among Netanyahus allies in the ultra-Orthodox community, who claim that the authorities have it out for them. They complain that the government has been acting too impulsively to impose closures on ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and to enforce the use of masks. To express their rage, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox protesters gathered in Jerusalems Romema neighborhood July 13 and threw eggs at the police. At first glance, these ultra-Orthodox protesters have nothing in common with the self-employed in Tel Aviv, demonstrators on the bridges and people protesting Netanyahus corruption. They come from very different cultural and political backgrounds. But there are some things that they have in common, among them a sense of helplessness, anger and a loss of trust in the current government. One of Illinois top Republican officials said Tuesday hes skipping the GOPs national convention celebration in Jacksonville, Florida, next month over concerns about the coronavirus. Its not going to be a safe environment, Illinois House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said during a videoconference with reporters. Durkin is not a delegate to the convention, but high-ranking party officials often attend anyway. Durkin attended one day of the 2016 convention in Cleveland but was not a delegate, his spokeswoman said. Durkin said hes focused on trying to cut into the Democrats supermajority in the Illinois House in the November general election. At the behest of President Donald Trump, Republicans moved most of the high-profile portions of their quadrennial gathering from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Jacksonville after Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper refused to let the convention go on without having social distancing measures in place. Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Trump has been insistent on an in-person convention, even as COVID-19 cases surge in Florida and several other states. Republican officials will meet in Charlotte to conduct party business, but Trumps nomination acceptance speech and other large-scale events will take place in Jacksonville. The other Republican leader in the state legislature, Senate GOP leader Bill Brady of Bloomington, is a delegate to the convention. Brady is planning to attend the Jacksonville gathering but is continuing to monitor the situation, a spokesman said. Durkin and other House Republican lawmakers and candidates held an online news conference Tuesday to call attention to the lack of action on changing the states government ethics laws amid an ongoing federal corruption probe that has stretched from Chicagos City Hall to the Illinois Capitol in Springfield. 10 ways Illinois schools could look different this fall Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 TCN News Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum has condemned the UP-state government for keeping Dr Kafeel Khan in arbitrary arrest for over three months. Support TwoCircles In the latest statement, the Forum has called for the support of doctor and healthcare workers to extend support towards Dr Kafeel as a way to save democracy. It has reminded that he had gone out of the way to save patients during the Gorakhpur medical crisis which killed 70 children, highlighting that he put his life in danger to save others several times. The Doctors Forum has praised Dr Kafeels efforts in his humanitarian work in organizing free healthcare and providing services free of cost. The Forum has even accused the UP-state government to have been very vindictive towards him for his benevolence. As a show of solidarity, the letter urged netizens to storm Twitter by the hashtag #FreeDrKafeel, and upload one-minute videos demanding his immediate release. The hashtag campaign has seen hundreds of doctors from around the country express their concerns for Dr Kafeel who was recently in news for writing about the unhygienic conditions inside Indian jails increasing the risks of COVID infection. BRIDGEPORT Samuel Moore assured a judge Monday he had a good understanding of what was going on around him but he certainly didnt understand when the judge decided to revoke Moores bond following his third arrest. But whats my bond, whats my bond? Moore yelled as he was handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom by judicial marshals. His fiancee began screaming from the back of the courtroom that she didnt get a chance to read from her written statement as she clutched the couples young daughter. Her screaming continued as she was escorted out of the Fairfield County Courthouse to the sidewalk. During the hearing, Superior Court Judge Alex Hernandez mused that he didnt understand how the 36-year-old Moore managed to post bonds totaling $750,000 on his landscaper salary. Moore, who is on probation for an attempted murder conviction, is awaiting trial for allegedly trying to run down a Cromwell police officer in March after his probation officer allegedly found a cache of weapons in Moores apartment. Supervisory Assistant States Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr. urged the judge to revoke Moores bond, calling Moore a danger to society. Moore ignored warnings from Public Defender Thomas Paoletta and decided to defend himself. All my life I have been addicted, I take ecstasy, I have been shot at, I have a terrible record, Moore told the judge. But I take this very seriously. The judge ordered the bond revoked. Moore was convicted in 2007 on charges of attempted murder, first-degree robbery and carrying a pistol without a permit. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, suspended after 15 years served with five years probation, which began in August 2019. One of the conditions of his release was that he have no weapons. But on March 7, police said a probation office received an anonymous telephone call that Moore possessed three handguns. The probation officer called Moore at his home to advise him that the officer would be stopping by his residence for a home visit, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. The probation officer asked two Cromwell police officers to join him for the visit. When they arrived, the probation officer called Moore and asked him to step outside. Moore went out onto the front steps, according to police. But when he was asked to come down off the steps so he could be searched, the affidavit said, he instead ran back into the residence, slamming the door behind him. According to the affidavit, the officers withdrew to their respective vehicles, and Moore then ran out of the residence, climbed into a car and began fleeing in an erratic manner. As he did so, Moore traveled in the direction of Cromwell police Sgt. Ryan Parsons, the affidavit said. Multiple witnesses said they saw Moores vehicle almost strike Parson, according to the affidavit. Parsons fired once at the car with his department-issued weapon, police said. The officers shot struck Moores car, and Moore then drove over a curb as he fled, the affidavit said. He then collided with another vehicle at the intersection of Shunpike and Evergreen roads, it said. He fled from his damaged car on foot into a nearby wooded area. The two people in the other car were not seriously injured, according to police. As officers from multiple law enforcement agencies descended on the scene, Moore was located hiding off Route 9 and taken into custody without further incident, according to police. Police said they found guns with extended magazines in Moores apartment. SAGINAW, MI A Saginaw woman has been charged with murder stemming from the recent shooting death of a teenage girl. Sierra M. Washington, 29, on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, appeared via Zoom from the jail before Saginaw County District Judge Terry L. Clark for arraignment on single counts of open murder and felony firearm. Open murder contains both first- and second-degree murder, both of which are life offenses, with a first-degree conviction coming with a mandatory sentence of life without parole. A felony firearm conviction comes with a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison, to be served consecutively with any related stint. Attorney Eldor Herrmann, appearing on Washingtons behalf at her arraignment, said she has mental health issues. She tells me she doesnt know what the diagnosis is, she does take medication, Herrmann said. Again, she doesnt know what the medication is. Clark referred Washingtons case to the office of assigned counsel. He denied Washington bond. The charges stem from prosecutors alleging Washington on the afternoon of Friday, July 10, fatally shot 18-year-old Shavonne C. Barnes outside Washingtons house in the 400 block of South 10th Street between Cherry and Burt streets on Saginaws East Side. Washington shot Barnes following a fight that stemmed from a traffic crash involving Washington and Barnes, prosecutors said. Police and prosecutors have declined to say when this traffic crash occurred, though police confirmed Barnes and Washington did know each other. Responding police arrested Washington immediately after the shooting. Barnes died of her wounds around 3 a.m. on Saturday, July 11, at Ascension St. Marys Hospital. Court records indicate Washington was free on bond at the time of the shooting, having been arraigned in early April on a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence. That case involved a male victim and was investigated by the Saginaw Police Department. A condition of Washingtons bond was that she not possess or purchase a gun or other dangerous weapon. Barnes graduated from Saginaw High School in June 2019. She would have turned 19 later this month on July 24. Barnes death marked the citys 10th homicide of 2020. The 11th occurred the day after Barnes shooting, when Emmauel Bent-Gray, 38, was fatally shot around 3:30 p.m. while helping family members sell items from clothing stand in the area of East Genesee Avenue and Perkins Street on Saginaws East Side. Police are looking for two unknown male suspects in the Bent-Gray case. Bent-Gray was visiting the area from Hampton, Georgia. Washingtons next court date is pending. Related: Police release name of Georgia man shot, killed in Saginaw 1 dead, 2 suspects sought in shooting at Saginaw clothing stand Police release name of girl, 18, shot and killed on Saginaws East Side Teenager shot in Saginaw dies of wounds Police investigate shooting of 18-year-old female in Saginaw Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2020) -Palladium One Mining Inc. (TSXV: PDM) (FSE: 7N11) (OTC Pink: NKORF) (the "Company" or "Palladium One") is pleased to report that it is preparing to resume its drill program, in August, at the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") PGE-Cu-Ni Project, located in north central Finland. Initial drilling will be focused on expanding known mineralization to the east of existing drill intercepts in the Kaukua South zone, which hosts a greater than four (4) kilometer long Induced Polarization chargeability anomaly. (Figure 1) In March 2020, the Phase 1 exploration program was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see news release - March 24, 2020). Initiated in January 2020, the Phase 1 program completed several tasks prior to being suspended, including: 85 kilometers of high-resolution 3D Induced Polarization (IP) survey, covering 12 kilometers (5-survey grid areas) of the 38-kilometer favourable basal contact, 385 kilometers of high-resolution drone-based Magnetic (Mag) survey, covering 17 kilometers of the favourable basal contact, 1,920 meters of a 5,000-meter planned diamond drilling program. At the LK project, IP has proven very reliable in identifying PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization. During the winter program, multiple new and significant IP chargeability anomalies were outlined - see below for highlights. The high-resolution magnetic survey, which was also undertaken earlier this year, proved invaluable for structural interpretation and in outlining prospective peridotitic rocks, which commonly host PGE-Cu-Ni mineralization. Integration and 3D modelling of this data has produced numerous high-quality drill targets for testing. President and CEO, Derrick Weyrauch commented "To date our exploration program has been very successful. We identified an abundance of large, high-quality drill targets throughout the LK project. With the large number of excellent drill targets at hand, we are taking a very disciplined approach to drilling prioritization.A prime example is Kaukua South (Figure 1.), when we began the winter program this was an interesting but poorly understood zone. As multiple IP results demonstrated, we learned that Kaukua South extends for over 4 kilometers of strike length, of which 3.5 kilometers has never been drill tested. Considering that Kaukua South has known PGE-rich mineralization similar to the Kaukua deposit, it will be a primary focus of our resumed drill program". Figure 1. Plan view of the 2008 and 2020 (current) IP survey in the Kaukua Area. The 2008 IP survey area is outlined in blue, while the 2020 survey is outlined in green. The Kaukua deposit's optimised open pit is outlined by a dashed black line. The Kaukua deposit hosts 635,600 Pd_Eq ounces of Indicated Resources grading 1.80 g/t Pd_Eq* ("palladium equivalent"), and 525,800 Pd_Eq ounces of Inferred Resources grading 1.50 g/t Pd_Eq (see press release September 9, 2019). The newly expanded Kaukua South Zone is outlined by a dashed orange line. The 2008 IP survey was instrumental in identifying the Kaukua Deposit. Note that the 2008 survey used different equipment, consisting of a 3-line 3D system, whereas the 2020 survey used a 5-line 3D system, as a result the two surveys are not exactly comparable. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/59661_402812ef04ee28d8_001full.jpg Highlights of Phase 1 Exploration Program Results, Before Suspension Due to COVID IP Survey Grid #1 @ Kaukua South (~400 meters south of the Kaukua deposit) Discovered a chargeability anomaly over 4,000 meters long, including 3,500 meters which has never been drill tested ( Figure 1 ), (see news release -April 14, 2020). Extending the known PGE-rich mineralization is a top priority when drilling resumes (e.g. 32.95m @ 1.05g/t PGE (0.74g/t Pd, 0.24g/t Pt, 0.07g/t Au), and 0.17% Cu, 0.13% Ni ) in hole KAU08-035). (~400 meters south of the Kaukua deposit) IP Survey Grid #2 @ Murtolampi (~2,000 meters northeast of the Kaukua deposit) Discovered a 750-meter long chargeability anomaly the core of which has never been drill tested. This anomaly is associated with high PGE prospecting samples collected in 2019 (e.g. prospecting sample NP-LK-003 which returned 3.11g/t PGE (1.86g/t Pd, 1.11 g/t Pt, 0.14 g/t Au), and 0.78% Cu, 0.13% Ni ) (see news release August 12, 2019). The anomaly is proximal to limited, shallow (~40-meter deep), historic drill holes having high PGE values from the 1990's, that were never followed up with more drilling, (see news release - March 10, 2020). (~2,000 meters northeast of the Kaukua deposit) IP Survey Grid #3 @ Haukiaho (~12,000 meters south of the Kaukua deposit and host to the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered three new chargeability anomalies (see news release - May 7, 2020). The western anomaly corresponds with the 2013 historic Haukiaho resource. The central anomaly occurs underneath the bulk of the historic drilling in this area, suggesting the best mineralization has not been tested. The eastern anomaly is associated with sparse shallow historic drilling and occurs underneath 2019 prospecting sample NP-LK-002 which returned 0.96 g/t PGE (0.18 g/t Pt, 0.56 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Au) 0.51% Cu, 0.33% Ni (see news release August 12, 2019) (~12,000 meters south of the Kaukua deposit and host to the historic Haukiaho resource) IP Survey Grid #4 @ Haukiaho East (~7,500 meters east of the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered a 1,600-meter long chargeability anomaly (see news release - May 26, 2020) The anomaly is coincident with a strong magnetic high suggesting peridotitic rocks, which are characteristic of Haukiaho-style PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization. (~7,500 meters east of the historic Haukiaho resource) IP Survey Grid #5 @ Tilsa (~6,000 meters west of the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered a new 1,000-meter long chargeability anomaly (see news release - June 11, 2020). The strongest part of the newly identified chargeability anomaly has never been drill tested. The survey also identified two other parallel chargeability and magnetic anomalies possibly representing fault repetitions of the favourable basal phase of the Koillismaa complex. (~6,000 meters west of the historic Haukiaho resource) Diamond Drilling The Company completed twelve (12) drill holes (1,920 meters), prior to the suspension of drilling in March 2020, located in the following zones: Kaukua Deposit Area, 6 holes. Kaukua South Extension, 1 hole. Murtolampi, 2 holes. Haukiaho, 3 holes All assay results are pending. Qualified Person The technical information in this release has been reviewed and verified by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration and a director of the Company and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Palladium One Palladium One Mining Inc. is a palladium dominant, PGE, nickel, copper exploration and development company. Its assets consist of the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") and Kostonjarvi ("KS") PGE-Cu-Ni projects, located in north-central Finland and the Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE and Disraeli PGE-Ni-Cu properties in Ontario, Canada. All projects are 100% owned and are of a district scale. LK is an advanced project targeting disseminated sulphide along 38 kilometers of favorable basal contact. The KS project is targeting massive sulphide within a 20,000-hectare land package covering a regional scale gravity and magnetic geophysical anomaly. Tyko is a 13,000-hectare project targeting disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly metamorphosed Archean terrain. Disraeli is a 3,100-hectare project targeting PGE-rich disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly productive Proterozoic mid-continent rift. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Derrick Weyrauch" President & CEO, Director For further information contact: Derrick Weyrauch, President & CEO Email: info@palladiumoneinc.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The common shares of Palladium One Mining Inc. have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. Information set forth in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with project development; the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in palladium and other commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume; and tax consequences to Canadian and U.S. Shareholders. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59661 Patient 91 successfully cured in Vietnam (Photo: Zing) The cost of treating patient 91 was up to USD150,000 before he was well enough to be discharged from the hospital and board a flight back to the UK with 3 Vietnamese doctors accompanying to care for him. On July 12th, the flight of Vietnam Airlines brought this patient to Heathrow Airport in London. Right after the plane landed, British and American media simultaneously reported the event. In the article British pilot returns home from Vietnam after COVID-19 ordeal, the Guardian said Stephen Cameron spent 10 weeks on a ventilator and was warned he might need a double lung transplant. According to the article, Cameron, spent more than two months on life support in Vietnam after contracting COVID-19 is on his way home, astounding doctors who gave him a 10% chance of survival. Stephen Cameron, 42, was the sickest patient medics have treated during the coronavirus outbreak in the country, which has recorded no official deaths, following a fast and proactive response to the pandemic, the article added. On July 11th, the Guardian also delivered an article reviewing the treatment of the patient, posting his gratitude to Vietnam saying as he left Cho Ray hospital that Im overwhelmed by the generosity of the Vietnamese people, the dedication and professionalism of the doctors and nurses ... the odds say that I shouldnt be here so I can only thank everybody here for what theyve done. The Sky News channel on the same day also reported on the fact that patient 91 returned to the UK, adding that, for nearly 3 months, Vietnam has not recorded new cases of infection in the community, every case of recent infection being imported. It praises Vietnam keeps its perfect score when British pilot, 42, who was critical with coronavirus for 65 days finally leaves hospital as the country that borders China keeps its death toll at ZERO with just over 300 cases. In the US, many major media agencies simultaneously reported on the event. USA Today highly appreciated measures to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, considering this as a factor that helps Vietnam maintain the number of positive cases with SARS-CoV-2 to 370 and no deaths. According to the article, the great efforts of the medical staff in treating patient 91 have become a symbol of Vietnam's success in the fight against COVID-19. AP news quoted Dr. Tran Thanh Linh, the deputy head of the intensive care unit (ICU) ward at Cho Ray Hospital, saying during a meeting between hospital officials, the British Consulate and Vietnam Airlines representatives just before the discharge that The patient's recovery has been like a very long flight, but he made it. All of the health workers are overwhelmed with joy to see him fully recovered and being discharged from the hospital today. Military Medicine Joining Forces to Fight COVID-19 All Around the World Navy News Service Story Number: NNS200713-03 Release Date: 7/13/2020 9:14:00 AM By Denise Alford, Naval Medical Research Center Public Affairs SILVER SPRING, Md. (NNS) -- From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the efforts of Navy Medicine's research and development enterprise (NMR&D) to support everything from outbreak response to laboratory detection and warships to floating hospitals highlights the speed and relevance of military medical and scientific capabilities that help make the U.S. armed forces so strong. From staffing aboard the Navy's hospital ships and aircraft carriers to clinical studies at hospitals and in the field, many of Naval Medical Research Center's (NMRC) staff members were out helping to quash COVID-19 during quarantine. Capt. Charmagne Beckett, senior clinical research medical officer at NMRC's Infectious Diseases Directorate, deployed within three days of receiving the order to the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) where she is now the Assistant Officer in Charge. The USFJ Surgeon, dual hatted as the U.S. Air Force 374th Medical Group (MDG) Commander, submitted several requests for forces to support the COVID-19 mission. The additional forces allowed the standing up of the Surgeon Cell with the mission "to monitor, prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 disease through direct action and collaborative efforts to preserve Warfighter readiness by keeping our service members, civilian employees, family members, and our neighboring community healthy, resilient and safe." Multiple commands from the Navy and Air Force responded to the request with personnel from all over the country, including Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, Wright Patterson, Randolph Air Force Base (AFB), Randolph AFB, Davis-Monthan AFB, Scott AFB and Naval Medical Center San Diego. Beckett and the 14-member team are providing knowledge, skill sets and capabilities from a variety of disciplines: preventive medicine, infectious diseases, advanced care nursing, medical planning, public health analytics and medical surveillance. Beckett and the Surgeon Cell team are providing direct support and advisement of all COVID-19 related activities. "We are hopeful that the USFJ Surgeon Cell provides strength to the overall COVID-19 response across Japan's sub-unified commands. Specifically, at the 374th MDG, clinical research activities were limited prior to COVID-19 but the need to establish access to potential life-saving therapeutics was great thus paving the way for speedy processing of protocol approvals and training," Beckett said. The 374th MDG located at Yokota AB, Japan, ensures medical readiness of the 374th Airlift Wing, 5th Air Force, the U.S. Forces Japan Headquarters staff and provides health care, including occupational health, preventive medicine and environmental protection to more than 11,000 personnel. Working in a new environment even temporarily requires adjustments to professional routines as well as personal. The additional COVID-19 restrictions and requirements do not hinder the work efforts but they can sometimes add to the challenges and no deployment is without challenges. "The major challenge is the requirement to gather and synthesize the rapidly evolving information regarding COVID-19. We are cautious to avoid missing important information that would threaten to impact operational missions," Beckett said. "This mission demands learning and adapting to a joint environment," she added. "After 26 years on active duty, staying flexible is a personal, life-long lesson that I've continued for this mission. Things change swiftly and constantly especially with COVID-19." Beckett and the Surgeon Cell team are expected to remain in Japan for roughly 170 days and they are already planning redeployments. A new rotation will replace the current team in order to maintain the critical functions. NMR&D has deployed over 30 people to the COVID-19 fight to date. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has expressed optimism that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will reclaim its mandate in the September 19 governorship election in Edo. Mr Sylva said this on Tuesday shortly after the inauguration of the contact and mobilisation committee of the APC National Campaign Council for Edo Governorship Election at the partys national secretariat in Abuja. The minister, who chaired the committee, said the partys South/South stakeholders had agreed to reclaim the state in the upcoming poll. He said that Edo was taken from the party through the back door and would be recovered. All of us in the South-South believe that this election must be won, he said. It is our stronghold in the region, and therefore we are all geared up, we will all go to Edo State. We want to assure you that you should not entertain any doubt that Edo will be an APC State very soon, come the election in September. Election is not all about finance. First, if you say the power of incumbency, it is an APC incumbency that has been stolen by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). So, that kind of incumbency has comma, and that is why we believe that such incumbency will not work. READ ALSO: The Edo people know that the state is for APC and I want to assure you that we are in touch with our people in Edo. We know that we are the dominant party in Edo and we are going to win this election, Mr Sylva added. Godwin Obaseki [PHOT: Edo Govt. house]] Governor Godwin Obaseki, who was elected under the banner of the APC, has since defected to the opposition PDP after he was denied the partys ticket during his re-election bid. (NAN) During this time of pandemic, have we created a safe school environment for our children? Can our kids return to school without fear of infection from this virus? Unfortunately, no, not yet. Children need adults to teach them, to assist them to reach their highest potential. They need safe spaces to socialize with peers, access nutrition as well as physical and mental health professionals. Schools serve as safe community spaces that meet the needs of children. These safe, nurturing environments offer parents the peace of mind to concentrate on their own work. In New Mexico, decisions about how best to battle this virus have been based on science. The governor has made it clear that scientists have informed her decision-making process. This has proven to be a very smart way to manage this invisible killer. To provide for our children, we need teams of qualified people to gather together, identify needs and solve this complex problem. Solutions will require resources. Including educators, parents, students and scientists in the decision-making process for safe reopening is critical. An informed decision-making process will help to create an enriched and safe learning environment during a time of pandemic. What are the needs of educators, students and parents, and how can we meet those needs? We, the entire New Mexican community, will be asked to provide resources, including additional funding, to provide for the educational needs of our children. Additional staff will be necessary. That staff will require additional equipment and training. School buildings must be updated. Children will need new tools while at school as well as tools to continue learning while not at school. Parents will require additional support as well. Government must provide the funding. This is a time to meet the needs of children who are counting on adults to make reasoned, safe decisions on their behalf. Our children are shining stars, our hope for the future. It is our responsibility to care for them. As soon as a safe plan is developed, kids should be in school. Until its safe, kids need to stay home. Press Release July 14, 2020 Poe: We expect connectivity to improve, expand Sen. Grace Poe is doubling down on her challenge to pertinent government agencies and telecommunications companies to get the country's internet connectivity at least on par with its regional neighbors at a lower cost. The chairperson of the Senate committee on public services reiterated that this is especially crucial today when being online has become the new normal for most students, employees, and just about anyone in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have so far received the progress reports of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Globe Telecom only, and expect others also to submit ASAP," said Poe who issued the July 13 deadline for detailed plans on how to improve internet service and coverage across the country. In a television interview Monday, Poe said she also expected the telcos to inform her committee of how they intend to assist the DepEd in implementing distance learning, "Anong gagawin nila para magkaroon ng tulong sa DepEd ngayong may distance learning?" The senator said she was also waiting for the guidance and initiatives of the Department of Information and Communications Technology "so that acquiring permits to build a cell tower will take a shorter time," as mandated by the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA). Poe emphasized that had the ARTA been properly implemented in this regard, it would have helped in boosting the country's overall internet speed. "Improving the country's internet connectivity is a pressing challenge and it is only fitting that we work hand in hand to make this happen," the senator said. Poe noted that while there are at last count around 73 million internet users in the Philippines, 30 percent of Filipinos have no access to the internet using a cell phone, compared to the 12-percent average among ASEAN countries. The numbers are even lower for fixed broadband, as a measly four percent of Filipinos are able to subscribe to the service while the regional average stands at 10 percent. The most recent Speedtest Global Index report had the Philippines sliding down further to 114th place (out of 138 countries) when it comes to mobile connection speed, as it can only average 16.17 mbps compared to the 110.10 mbps of South Korea that sits at number one. It is even worse for fixed broadband, with an average speed of only 23.74 mbps, good for 108th place (out of 174 countries). This lags way behind first-placed Singapore, which averages 208.16 mbps. Many Filipinos cannot also afford such a service: PLDT's lowest fiber service plan of 10 mbps is priced at P1,299 monthly, Globe offers 5 mbps at P999 per month while its highest plan of 200 mbps is priced at P4,449. Converge has the cheapest plan at P1,500 for a top speed of 25 mbps, but this is because it has no landline service that comes with the package, unlike its competitors. "Lubhang nakakalungkot ang mga numerong ito lalo na sa panahon ngayon na kailangang-kailangan ng mga Pinoy ang internet connection para sa mga nagwo-work from home at sa mga estudyante na sasabak na sa distance learning dulot ng pandemya (These numbers are really lamentable especially today when internet connection is crucial for Filipinos working from home or students who will be undergoing distance learning because of the pandemic)," Poe said. Our teams breadth of Medicaid and PMO experience, along with CSGs project management discipline, will assist IDHW in achieving the projects goals and objectives," says Robin Dufresne, Director of CSGs Health and Human Services practice. CSG Government Solutions, a national leader in government program modernization, today announced it has been selected by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) to provide Project Management Office (PMO) services for its Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) project. CSG is supporting IDHW with proven project management processes, methodologies, and tools for the procurement and implementation of MMIS modules and services. CSG is also assisting in procurement strategy, and providing quality assurance, risk management, schedule and resource management, and CMS certification support. IDHW looks forward to developing a strong partnership with an industry leader in providing technical and managerial expertise in MMIS modernization projects. We are excited to leverage CSGs experience as we plan and execute the next MMIS modernization project, says Joe Groesbeck, Senior Project Manager overseeing the MMIS modernization project. CSG is excited to partner with IDHW on this important project, says Robin Dufresne, Director of CSGs Health and Human Services practice. Our teams breadth of Medicaid and PMO experience, along with CSGs project management discipline, will assist IDHW in achieving the projects goals and objectives. CSG Government Solutions deploys highly experienced teams and innovative methods, knowledge, and tools to help governments modernize complex program enterprises. CSG clients include 44 state governments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Labor, and large municipal governments. CONTACT: Robin Dufresne Director, Health and Human Services Practice CSG Government Solutions 180 N. Stetson Ave Suite 3200 Chicago, IL 60601 312.444.2760 Fax: 312.938.2191 rdufresne@csgdelivers.com About CSG Government Solutions: CSG Government Solutions is a leading government operations consulting firm helping states modernize critical program enterprises. We help governments leverage innovative technology and processes to meet the challenges of administering complex programs. Founded in 1997, CSG has established itself as a trusted adviser to government agencies across the U.S. For more information, visit http://www.csgdelivers.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. THE PRO-VICE Chancellor (Pro-VC) of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), Professor Charles Barnor, has dismissed allegations of corruption fire at the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the university, Professor Abednego Feehi Okoe Amartey. His reaction comes in the wake of a publication in some media outlets accusing the VC of mismanagement of the tertiary institution and misappropriation of funds. Besides, the letter accused him of flooding the place with his church members, families, friends and NPP apparatchiks. The Pro-VC of the university has refuted the allegations, adding that they sound strange to him. In an interview with DAILY GUIDE, the Pro-VC stressed that there was the need for those making the allegations to place issues in their right contexts to enable people to ascertain their veracity or otherwise. He enumerated some achievements and innovations of the VC since assuming office in January 2017. According to him, through some of the foreign trips the VC embarked on, the university was privileged to help some of its students receive lucrative scholarship opportunities to study abroad for about six weeks. He added that a lot of developmental projects are currently ongoing in and out of the university, such as the acquisition of lands, construction of ultramodern hostel facilities, among others. Brilliant students pursuing their postgraduate education are also given the opportunity to receive training as tutors to augment the efforts of the official teaching staff of the university. Professor Barnor intimidated that being a man who demands a lot from the people he works with, the VC challenges staff of the university to be on top of their game to achieve set goals. It has turned out that there is an orchestrated plot against not only the VC but also Education Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh. The 2020 U-Multirank global universities rankings have listed UPSA as one of the top universities in the world. Daily Guide GOLDEN, CO / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Vitro Diagnostics, Inc. (OTC PINK:VODG), dba Vitro Biopharma, jointly with GIOSTAR - a San Diego, California-based institution headed by Dr. Anand Srivastava, a pioneer in stem cell science - announced the results of treatment of a critically ill COVID-19 patient with its lead clinical product AlloRx Stem Cells. This patient was admitted to an emergency room with classic COVID-19 symptoms in late April and had several comorbidities prior to admission. While intubated in the intensive care unit (ICU), the patient's condition worsened using the standard of care and treatment with convalescent plasma. The patient's kidney and liver function began to fail, requiring dialysis. Additionally, the patient experienced sepsis and a stroke while in the ICU and was comatose for almost 7 weeks. Following the treatment with AlloRx Stem Cells, the patient experienced resolution of multiple organ failure, recovery from coma, and restoration of neurological, pulmonary, liver and renal function. The patient was removed from assisted respiration and dialysis. The patient now eats, drinks, speaks, and has regained motor function. Measures of inflammation that were elevated at admission and rose during ICU treatment, returned to normal levels. The patient has recently been discharged from ICU and is currently undergoing physical therapy to recover from the stroke suffered while in the ICU. This study was authorized by the FDA through an Investigational Drug Application (eIND) for emergency use under expanded access granted to GIOSTAR, Vitro Biopharma's partner in stem cell therapy for COVID-19 using AlloRx Stem Cells as the therapeutic agent. GIOSTAR Medical Director Dr. Prabhat Soni oversaw the clinical management of the patient and all related clinical/regulatory issues. Vitro Biopharma is pleased to partner with GIOSTAR to provide expanded offerings of AlloRx Stem Cell COVID-19 therapy to its expanding global clientele, while at the same time expanding treatment to US COVID-19 patients through eIND and pending INDs. Story continues Dr. Anand Srivastava, MS, PhD, GIOSTAR's Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer said "COVID-19 infection triggers the spectrum of inflammatory cytokines, which results in severe COVID-19 induced pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), followed by multiple organ failure. Utilizing the natural immunomodulatory character of AlloRx Stem Cell (Mesenchymal Stem Cells or MSCs) may be one of the best ways to neutralize COVID-19 induced inflammatory cytokines actions on lung and other organs to rescue the patients suffering from COVID-19 infection." Dr Jack Zamora, MD, Vitro Biopharma's Chief Medical Advisor said, "The miraculous recovery of our first critically ill COVID-19 patient using AlloRx Stem Cells bring great hope in these troubling times. We continue with our FDA IND application with even greater hope of delivering a promising treatment to US patients, and through GIOSTAR, we have reached out to various Ministries of Health worldwide with this promising news." "We are pleased to have achieved this milestone that was based on thorough understanding of the science of stem cell biology," said Dr Jim Musick, CEO of Vitro Biopharma. "While regeneration of destroyed cells is a common effect of stem cell therapy, stem cells also regenerate damaged cells by various regenerative processes that restore normal organ function. The results of this case support the further study of AlloRx Stem Cell Therapy for COVID-19 patients and other conditions characterized by acute respiratory distress that are ultimately related to the inflammatory cytokine cascade that is neutralized by AlloRx Stem Cells. Our therapy appears to have significant therapeutic application in treatment of multi-organ failure related to COVID-19 infections." "The results with this patient are quite remarkable," stated Dr. Soni, Chief Medical Officer, Giostar, Inc. "It is highly likely that the patient would have died without stem cell therapy, because the combination of organ failure and comorbidities yielded a very poor prognosis. We are pleased to partner with Vitro Biopharma and look forward to providing this therapeutic option for slowing the pandemic on a global scale." About Vitro Biopharma: Out of years of research, we developed our patent-pending and proprietary line of umbilical cord derived stem cells AlloRx Stem Cells now being used in offshore regenerative medicine clinical trials. Our stem cells are used in regenerative medicine clinical trials with our partner in the Cayman Islands www.DVCStem.com. We have a recently approved clinical trial using our AlloRx Stem Cells to treat musculoskeletal conditions at The Medical Pavilion of the Bahamas www.tmp-bahamas.com in Nassau. Vitro Biopharma has a proprietary and scalable manufacturing platform to provide stem cell therapies to critically ill Coronavirus patients and other conditions including multiple sclerosis, OA, Chrohn's disease and numerous medical conditions that are under-treated by the current standard of care. Our cGMP manufacturing is CLIA, ISO9001, ISO13485 certified and we are FDA registered. Our stem cells have been shown to be safe and effective in Phase I clinical trials. CONTACT: Dr. James Musick Chief Executive Officer Vitro Biopharma (303) 550-2778 E-mail: jim@vitrobiopharma.com Forward-Looking Statements Statements herein regarding financial performance have not yet been reported to the SEC nor reviewed by the Company's auditors. Certain statements contained herein and subsequent statements made by and on behalf of the Company, whether oral or written may contain "forward-looking statements". Such forward looking statements are identified by words such as "intends," "anticipates," "believes," "expects" and "hopes" and include, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's plan of business operations, product research and development activities, potential contractual arrangements, receipt of working capital, anticipated revenues and related expenditures. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others, acceptability of the Company's products in the market place, general economic conditions, receipt of additional working capital, the overall state of the biotechnology industry and other factors set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Most of these factors are outside the control of the Company. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulations, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE: Vitro Diagnostics, Inc. View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/597400/Critically-ill-COVID-19-Patient-Successfully-Treated-with-Vitro-Biopharmas-AlloRx-Stem-CellsR There is no formal discussion underway about another shutdown similar to the county stay-at-home order that expired in late April, Diorio added, but she said Mecklenburgs municipalities may enact tougher rules if they choose. The way to really combat this virus is to wear a face covering, wash your hands and practice social distancing, Diorio said. If we could get that right, we wouldnt really need to be talking about the potential of another shutdown. Diorio and Public Health Director Gibbie Harris briefed reporters Monday afternoon after meeting with Redfield. He endorsed ending late-night alcohol sales, telling reporters that its critical that we recognize certain businesses that tend to facilitate irresponsible behavior, Redfield said. Redfield said he came to Mecklenburg County to discuss the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on the Hispanic community. More than one-third of Mecklenburgs cases are among Hispanic residents. Mecklenburg gained 295 new coronavirus cases on Monday, state health officials said, after it had recorded 400 or more cases three days in a row for a total of more than 15,000 cases since mid-March. As of Monday afternoon, 168 people had died, county officials said. While its difficult to trace where COVID-19 patients were infected, Harris said social media images show that crowded restaurants and bars are one place where it is definitely transmitted. Bars are closed under North Carolinas shutdown but are classified as restaurants if food sales account for 30% or more of their revenue. Fifty-year-old Sharon Cummings had asthma and recently had surgery. Usually, she tried to stay home in southwest Houston not wanting to risk getting infected with the novel coronavirus. But on Tuesday, Cummings pulled a blue Dallas Cowboys mask across her face, tugged a glove over her hand and cast her ballot in the primary runoff election. Like Cummings, tens of thousands of voters across the region Tuesday had to weigh civic duty against health concerns and they decided that voting in person was worth it even as COVID-19 cases had increased sharply. Court decisions blocked efforts to make mail-in ballots available to all Texans. And the runoff itself was delayed while a new Harris County clerk drew up safety plans after the former clerk resigned with health concerns. Cummings voted in the 77045 ZIP code, which has one of the countys highest per capita rates of COVID-19. But for her, she said it was important that her two boys know they have to fight for their rights. The Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center polling site that Cummings chose anchors neighborhoods where Black residents moved in the 1970s, seeking upwardly mobile lives. Residents there typically voted in high numbers, said 53-year-old Keith Taylor, who steers the Hiram Clarke Civic Club. Taylor was taught growing up there that voting was an important way to strengthen the community, he said. That continues to this day, he added. Taylor and his wife live down the street from his mother, Margie V. Taylor, 86. The pandemic had kept her from going to water aerobics and Bible study, but she was among the more than 2,300 voters who cast early ballots at the multi-service center as the pandemic raged. I always vote, she said. Thats the only way change is made. Among City Councilwoman Martha Castex-Tatums constituents in the area are her 10th-grade science teacher, her eighth-grade basketball coach and her parents, who have spent time sitting in the backyard and celebrated her dads birthday in the driveway. Castex-Tatum called to tell them voting early at the multi-service center felt safe. The vice mayor pro tem felt confident others in the neighborhood would be voting, too. Voting is important to people, she said. They will show up, take the precautions, go home, make sure they wash their hands and get it done. Indeed, on Tuesday, voters arrived as the multi-service center doors opened to voters at 7 a.m. Red, white and blue signs pointed the way. American and Texas flags waved in front of the building. Poll clerks who were required to wear masks received training over Zoom to offer voters masks, finger covers and a wipe to clean their IDs after scanning them on the machines. After every person voted, clerks also planned to sanitize the machines, which were placed at least 6 feet apart. We have set in place every necessary action to make sure that everyone is protected, said Devoun Rushing, elections director for the Harris County Democratic Party. There will be social distancing. There will be masks. There will be gloves available. Applications to vote by mail had increased significantly, said Chris Hollins, the interim county clerk. His office had also encouraged voters to go during early voting, when lines would likely be shorter and more than 153,000 people did. We put a number of measures in place to keep people safe at the polls, Hollins said. So seeing those numbers, seeing that turnout leads us to believe that people are hearing that message and that they do feel safe. The Hiram Clarke area today is predominantly Black and Hispanic. Many work in the service industry, Castex-Tatum said, and cant work from home perhaps one explanation for the high amount of COVID-19 in the ZIP code. Its also a short drive from Butler Stadium, which has served for months as a COVID-19 test site, where the capacity of 650 samples is routinely collected by early afternoon each day. Harris County added 1,658 new cases Tuesday, a 3.5 percent increase, and is now at 49,027 cases total. At the multi-service center, the usual community meetings and senior gatherings had been canceled, but Ed Kelly, a legislative aide for Democratic state Rep. Alma Allen, said he still comes to the center to organize food deliveries to seniors. You worry about it all the time, Kelly, 64, said of possibly contracting COVID-19. But you do what you need to do. You wear your mask his slipped under his nose as he spoke and hope for the best. On Tuesday, voters wore all kinds of masks. Mike Graves, from the Fresno area, wore a bulky one with round, pink filters on either side that made his voice sound distant, as if he were underwater. Graves, 32, said he has a weakened immune system. His hours working at a brewery had been cut back. He felt it ridiculous that it wasnt easier to get a mail-in ballot so he could vote a right he fought for in the Air Force. For me, Im out here just taking all the precautions that I can because voting is a right, Graves said. At the end of the day, if this is what Im stuck with, and this is what I have to do to express my right to vote, I really dont have much of a choice. Zina Garrison, a Houston native and former professional tennis player who now runs a tennis academy, drove her sister and brother-in-law, both in their 70s, to vote at the Hiram Clarke Multi-Service Center, too. They have two children at home, one with brain cancer and another who receives dialysis. On the way over, Garrisons sister told her how important it is to vote. She felt energized by what Garrison, 56, referred to as the younger generations recent social justice movement. Garrison, too, felt it was important to participate and to not be afraid. And she knew the scope of the virus; she had worked for a time as a COVID-19 contact tracer before the work became too overwhelming. We talk about having a voice, she said, and this is one way to have a voice. And its time that we get involved and stop complaining and actually do something about it. Jordan Rubio and Taylor Goldenstein contributed to this report emily.foxhall@chron.com Measures to strengthen market's role, promote what experts call a solid rally China's A-share market may have started what some are calling a "new bull run" that is more sustainable and rational than before, backed by deepened market-oriented reforms, experts said on Monday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rallied by 1.77 percent to close at 3443.29 points on Monday, giving the index a rise of more than 15 percent since the beginning of the month. The ChiNext index, which tracks the innovative, startup-heavy board in Shenzhen, rose for the eighth consecutive session by 3.99 percent to close at 2889.43 points, the highest level in more than four years and a half. Also on Monday, the ChiNext's listing committee held its first meeting to review initial public offering applications on the board, the latest landmark in its market-oriented reform that aims to abolish regulatory IPO approvals and give the market a greater say. Other measures to empower market forces are also on the way. A meeting of the country's top body guiding financial regulation has urged comprehensive efforts to intensify the crackdown on capital market violations and reiterated the nation's "zero tolerance" for such activities. According to a statement published after a meeting of the State Council's financial stability and development committee on Saturday, the country has substantially raised the cost of capital market violations via legislation, while regulators must strengthen the enforcement of laws to ensure a healthy market environment. Cheng Shi, chief economist at Hong Kong-based corporate financing platform ICBC International, said the statement reflected the policy stance of enhancing compliance with market rules to improve information transparency, boosting the market's role in resource allocation. Respect for the market's role will help pave the way for the long-term prosperity of China's capital market, Cheng said. "The quality of listed firms will improve as market-oriented reforms accelerate the growth of companies with solid fundamentals while driving out loss-making ones." "The greater say of the market presents the biggest difference in the new bull run from the previous ones," said Wang Haoyu, managing director of Beijing-based CreditEase Wealth Management. The difference may make the emerging trend more fundamental-driven and less sentiment-driven, holding down dramatic market surges and meltdowns, Wang said. Market-oriented reform effortsranging from IPO reform on the ChiNext and Shanghai Stock Exchange's sci-tech innovation board to the deepened capital market opening-uphave helped usher in more long-term institutional investors who put emphasis on fundamentals, he said. Wang said he expects the A-share market to offer some of the strongest upside potential across worldwide capital markets over the rest of year, underpinned by abundant liquidity, a fast economic recovery by global standards and reasonable valuations. As market sentiment rose recently, however, regulators detected that funds began to flow into the market via illegal channels. They have stepped up efforts to halt the violations to avoid asset price bubbles. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, the top banking and insurance regulator, will intensify its crackdown on illegal lending by banking and insurance institutions that finances leveraged stock investments, a commission spokesperson said on Saturday. Analysts said the moves are in line with Xi Jinping thought on socialist economy with Chinese characteristics, which upholds the market's decisive role in resource allocation and calls for better performance from the government in its role. Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said the moves underscored the regulators' intention to promote compliance with the law and maintain market order instead of imposing administrative controls. Dong also called on investors to remain rational and refrain from excessive speculative trading. The known timeline of the Aboriginal occupation of South Australia's Riverland region has been vastly extended by new research led by Flinders University in collaboration with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC). Radiocarbon dating of shell middens - remnants of meals eaten long ago - capture a record of Aboriginal occupation that extends to around 29,000 years, confirming the location as one of the oldest sites along the 2500km river to become the oldest River Murray Indigenous site in South Australia. In the first comprehensive survey of the region, one of the oldest Indigenous sites along Australia's longest river system has been discovered. The results, published in Australian Archaeology, used radiocarbon dating methods to analyse river mussel shells from a midden site overlooking the Pike River floodplain downstream of Renmark. "These results include the first pre-Last Glacial Maximum ages returned on the River Murray in South Australia and extend the known Aboriginal occupation of the Riverland by approximately 22,000 years," says Flinders University archaeologist and PhD candidate Craig Westell. More than 30 additional radiocarbon dates were collected in the region, spanning the period from 15,000 years ago to the recent present. Together, the results relate Aboriginal people to an ever-changing river landscape, and provide deeper insights into how they responded to these challenges. The period represented by the radiocarbon results brackets the Last Glacial Maximum (commonly known as the last Ice Age) when climatic conditions were colder and drier and when the arid zone extended over much of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river and lake systems of the basin were under stress during this time. In the Riverland, dunes were advancing into the Murray floodplains, river flows were unpredictable, and salt was accumulating in the valley. The ecological impacts witnessed during one of the worst droughts on record, the so-called Millennium Drought (from late 1996 extending to mid-2010), provides an idea of the challenges Aboriginal people may have faced along the river during the Last Glacial Maximum, and other periods of climate stress, researchers conclude. "These studies show how our ancestors have lived over many thousands of years in the Riverland region and how they managed to survive during times of hardship and plenty," says RMMAC spokesperson Fiona Giles. "This new research, published in Australian Archaeology, fills in a significant geographic gap in our understanding of the Aboriginal occupation chronologies for the Murray-Darling Basin," adds co-author Associate Professor Amy Roberts. The dating, which was undertaken at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Waikato University, forms part of a much larger and ongoing research program led by Associate Professor Amy Roberts which is undertaking a broad-ranging investigation of past and contemporary Aboriginal connections to the Riverland region. The paper, 'Initial results and observations on a radiocarbon dating program in the Riverland region of South Australia' (2020) by C Westell, A Roberts, M Morrison, G Jacobsen and the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation has been published in Australian Archaeology DOI: 10.1080/03122417.2020.1787928 The Last Glacial Maximum is the most significant climatic event to face modern humans since their arrival in Australia some 40,000-50,000 years ago. Recent studies have demonstrated that the LGM in Australia was a period of significant cooling and increased aridity beginning ?30 ka and peaking between ?23 and 18 ka. ### Some basic and second-cycle educational institutions in the Kumasi metropolis, have been provided with sanitary and COVID-19 preventive items. The items, including 65 set of Veronica-buckets, hand-washing basins, tissue towels, soap, hand gloves, and nose masks, hand sanitizers and detergents, were donated by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA). Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), addressing a presentation ceremony at the Anyaano M/A Basic Cluster of Schools, at Moshie-Zongo, in Kumasi, said the gesture was to reinforce the campaign to stem the spread of the pandemic. The Assembly has made it possible for some 2, 534 pupils, students and teaching staff in the beneficiary schools to have access to what they need, in terms of sanitary and COVID-19-preventive items for their safety, he noted. The beneficiary schools included St. Cyprians, Bantama M/A Basic School, Amankwatia M/A Basic School, Kumasi Senior High and Technical School, as well as Asanteman Senior High School. Mr. Assibey-Antwi said to promote environmental and public health, the KMA had stepped up efforts to provide more sanitary and toilet facilities for schools, using proceeds from the money awarded to the Assembly after it won the recent Sanitation Challenge for Ghana competition. He asked the people to show seriousness in the campaign against the pandemic. Ghanaians, he said, were required to observe strictly all the protocols including the mandatory wearing of nose masks, hand-washing, social distancing, and use of hand sanitizers. 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 Iran-China ties to enter new phase by correct track laying: Mousavi ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency Mon / 13 July 2020 / 13:25 Tehran (ISNA) Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Seyyed Abbas Mousavi stressed that Iran- China relations will enter a new phase by the correct track laying. Speaking at a weekly press conference on Monday, Mousavi said, "Criticism offered to the 25-year draft document for comprehensive cooperation between Tehran and Beijing has foreign roots. The other parties believe that via this roadmap Iran would be able to make the US economic pressure campaign and sanctions futile, which is of course true". "After the travel of Chinese president to Iran, the two were determined to draw a roadmap for strategic cooperation. The latest draft for the 25-year comprehensive cooperation plan was brought by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to China," he added. "Iran has prepared a draft document, it should be sent to the other side to be finalized, then an agreement will be signed according to the drafts and we will inform the public opinion about the issue and the document," the spokesman noted. He stressed that the prepared draft of the roadmap by Iran will end in the endorsement of contracts in various sectors with China. "Iran-China relations will enter a new phase by the correct track laying." Mousavi reiterated that Iran is ready to have such agreement on cooperation with other friendly countries as well. Regarding the incident that happened in Natanz nuclear facility, Mousavi said that the incident has no effects on Iran's nuclear activities and that the job in Natanz in being done and the place is being reconstructed. "When the studies over the exact cause of the event finalized, Supreme National Security Council or the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran will inform public about the issue and the Islamic Republic will react in accordance with the results," he said. About the 7-billion-dollar debt of South Korea to Iran, Mousavi said that the talks are in progress at the level of foreign ministries and central banks of the countries. "Iran has already told the Koreans that their pretext not to pay the debt of the Iranian people is by no means acceptable," he noted. Mousavi said that Iran is not under UN sanctions; a rebel and bully country has sanctioned Iran, and South Korea as independent country has no duty to follow the sanctions. Hoping that South Korea will pay its debts, he said the pretext of Seoul is accepted in no court. About the latest situation of the case of death of former Judge Gholam-Reza Mansouri in Romania, the spokesman said there were some lack of cooperation on the part of Romanian Government in the beginning, but the relevant officials of the Iranian Embassy in Romania had meetings with the Romanian Coroner's Office and the file was sent to the court to be investigated. After that, the dead body will be permitted to be taken to Iran after coronavirus-related examinations and removal of restrictions. About the recent border conflicts between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Mousavi called on the two countries to exercise self-restraint and resolve their dispute over Karabakh through political ways, expressing sorrow over the incident in which Azeri forces were killed. Iran has repeatedly expressed readiness for helping the two neighboring countries to solve the issue peacefully, he said. End Item NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Immediate actions are needed by the international community against Armenias provocations, Peter M. Tase, the US expert on European and Latin American Politics, told Trend. On July 12, the fascist government of Armenia has once again committed horrendous crimes against humanity and grossly violated the UN Security Council resolutions. These acts of violence must be condemned urgently by the United States government, European Union and NATO leadership. The European continent is ever more insecure and unsafe due to the brutal armed attacks that Armenian soldiers have undertaken every twenty four hours against the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan and against the innocent civilian population of Azerbaijan, said the US expert. He pointed out that the incommensurable damage caused to the regional economy and security in the South Caucasus is a profound challenge that must be urgently addressed by the European Union officials and US Department of State. Attacking the civilian population of Azerbaijan is a war crime and Armenia should be condemned with economic sanctions and political support from its European and OSCE partners must urgently be withdrawn and retracted, otherwise the main European institutions will be exposed to double standards and will show to the world that the leadership in Brussels is not willing to defend the peace loving nation of Azerbaijan, that has invested so much for the preservation of regional stability and economic progress in Western Europe, noted Tase. He pointed out that Azerbaijan is indeed the only country in Europe that has sustained for over thirty years a bloody and terrible occupation led by the fascist Armenian armed forces, in over twenty percent of its sovereign territory. Meanwhile international and OSCE actors continue to be unassertive and passive when it comes to solving the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.Immediate actions are needed by the international community. The OSCE has done a lousy work and under its awful leadership there are not accomplished any real results from the so called 'dialogue and negotiations' between Azerbaijan and Armenia, said the US expert. He noted that the OSCE and its Chairman in Office, must show to the world that it has a solid international mandate, it is not simply a Paper Tiger, but is in fact a true multilateral organization that is able to inflict political sanctions when fascist regimes - like the one in Yerevan - are constantly committing crimes against humanity and executing innocent civilians. Freezing all international bank accounts and assets of all Armenian officials is another immediate action that ought to be taken by some of the world leaders, Tase believes. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun speaks during a televised announcement of Moon Jae-in government's Korean New Deal investment initiative. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group By Nam Hyun-woo Hyundai Motor Group and portal service firm Naver will play leading roles in President Moon Jae-in's Korean New Deal plan, as the government slates carbon neutral mobility and digital economy as the two main pillars of the investment initiative. The leaders of the two industrial giants introduced their current technologies in the digital economy and eco-friendly mobility businesses during Moon's announcement of the Korean New Deal, pledging to contribute to the country's economic revitalization efforts. "The hydrogen fuel cell and electric mobility businesses will be core items for the future, and the government's initiative to nurture eco-friendly industries will be an important step toward that," Hyundai Motor Group Executive Vice Chairman Chung Euisun said during his televised presentation to Moon. "By 2025, Hyundai Motor Group brands will roll out 23 electric vehicles and sell 1 million of them to occupy 10 percent of the global market. Also, we will focus on expanding hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in the U.S., European and Chinese markets." Chung's remark came after President Moon Jae-in announced the Korean New Deal, a set of initiatives under which the country will spend a combined 160 trillion won ($132.7 billion) by 2025 to nurture carbon neutral industries through its Green New Deal and the digital economy through its Digital New Deal. Under the presidential plan, the country will invest 73.4 trillion won in eco-friendly industries' growth, 42.7 trillion won of which will come from the state coffer. By Aisha Jabbarova Armenias impunity for its aggressive actions encourages Yerevan for further military adventures and military provocation, Azerbaijans presidential aide Hikmat Hajiyev said in an interview with TRT World on July 13. Hajiyev urged the international community, in particularly OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs countries to redouble their actions and be seriously engaged in the resolution of the conflict. The official made the remarks while commenting on the killing of four Azerbaijani soldiers during the attack on Azerbaijani positions in the direction of Tovuz on the border on July 12. Along with the occupation, Armenia now tries to create another source of conflict in the region, on the border of two countries and it is yet another irresponsible action by Armenia to undermine already fragile regional peace and security. Therefore, serious measures should be taken for resolution of the conflict, said Hajiyev. Hajiyev reiterated President Ilham Aliyevs earlier statement that the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group that mediates the conflict is fruitless. Real actions are expected from co-chairs that it shouldnt be only carrying messages between the two parties and it should be implementing the core fundamental frameworks of the negotiations process. Minsk Group conducts different sorts of meetings but its enough to have meetings just for the sake of meetings. Azerbaijan is disappointed and frustrated to have negotiations just for the sake of negotiations. Its a facade for Armenia. Its a facade and comfort zone for Armenia to hide themselves behind under the framework of negotiations and then continue occupation of Azerbaijani territories and also consolidate and maintain status quo for occupation and also conduct such kind of irresponsible behavior and provocations. Co-chairs should seriously engage. Azerbaijans expectation is first of all that co-chairing countries and also all international community should take actions and all other members of the Minsk Group process that involves 11 countries should seriously be engaged in negotiations process. Azerbaijan and Armenia are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region, which along with seven adjacent regions was occupied by Armenian forces in a war in the early 1990s. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and around one million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. The OSCE Minsk Group co-chaired by the United States, Russia and France has been mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict since the signing of the volatile cease-fire agreement in 1994. The Minsk Groups efforts have resulted in no progress and to this date, Armenia has failed to abide by the UN Security Council resolutions (822, 853, 874 and 884) that demand the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. __ Follow us on Twitter @AzerNews The Centre has given in-principle approval to construct a strategic tunnel under the Brahmaputra river, Hindustan Times sister publication Hindustan reported. The four-lane tunnel will link Gohpur and Numaligarh towns in Assam. This is the first time that India will be constructing an under-river tunnel, Hindustan reported and it will close to the Chinese border. It will be longer than the under water tunnel being built by China below the Taihu Lake in Jiangsu province, it further reported. The proposed tunnel in India is going to be very important strategically as it will provide year-long connectivity between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. It will also help in transporting military supplies and ammunition as vehicles will be able to zoom past the tunnel at 80 kmph, Hindustan reported. The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHAIDCL) has roped in Americas Louis Berger company; in fact, the central government had approved its detailed project report in March, reported Hindustan. It quoted a senior official of NHAIDCL to say that the construction of the 14.85 km long tunnel will begin in December. It will be built in three phases, Hindustan further reported. The official further told Hindustan that the tunnel in Chinas Jiangsu province will be 10.79 km long. He also said that various strong safety measures have been put in place in the design to stop water from entering the tunnel. It will also have ventilation system, fire-fighting mechanism, footpath, drainage system, emergency exit etc, according to Hindustan. It will also be equipped with crash barriers. The Army had asked the government to consider building tunnels akin to the English Channel under the Brahmaputra because bridges can be targeted by enemy forces. This comes amid the tension between India and China along with Line of Actual Control (LAC) after a face-off between the soldiers of the two countries in Ladakhs Galwan Valley. India had lost 20 soldiers in the skirmish; China officially did not announce the number of casualties. Efforts have been on by both the countries since the June 15 clash to ease tensions. A fourth round of meeting between the Lieutenant Generals of the two countries is scheduled to take place today. LINDSAY A sexual abuse survivor has been awarded more than $700,000 in damages after a judge ruled a former Lindsay teacher, and the school board that employed him, are liable for historical sexual abuse of the teen by him. According to Justice David Salmers 43-page decision, the woman, now in her 50s, was raped several times by her music teacher and band leader at I.E. Weldon Secondary School when she was 16. Royce Williamson, the former teacher, was found liable for the torts of sexual assault and sexual battery, assault and battery while Williamson and Trillium Lakelands District School Board were both found in breach of their fiduciary duties. Further, Salmers ordered Williamson to pay more than $150,000 in punitive damages. Williamson, who has not been charged criminally, did not show up or have representation at the civil trial, which was held over several days in the fall of 2019. The decision was delivered on June 30. The burden of proof for a finding of liability in a civil action is lower than in a criminal trial. This decision is very important to other survivors of teacher sexual abuse, said Elizabeth Grace, parent of Lerners LLP, who represented the survivor in the civil case. Grace said that until now, courts have been divided on whether school authorities should be vicariously liable for the sexual misconduct by teachers against students. I believe Justice Salmers analysis will help bring clarity to this contentious area of the law. It certainly moves the pendulum closer to the now well-settled law that churches are vicariously responsible for the sexual misconduct of their clergy. In his decision, Salmers wrote that Williamson groomed the young, vulnerable student. The plaintiff was confused that this man, who she liked and trusted so much, was doing these things and forcing her to do these things, Salmers wrote in his decision. According to the ruling, Williamson abused the teen on several occasions over a four-month period. During the trial, the survivor testified there were about 10 separate incidents. Mr. Williamsons sexual abuse upon the plaintiff was extremely intrusive and he increasingly seemed to enjoy the risk of being caught in the act, Salmers said, adding that the survivor felt powerless to resist and too embarrassed to tell anybody what was happening. According to the decision, the sexual assaults stopped because the school year ended. The following year, the teen took steps to avoid contact with Williamson by dropping out of music and band. The same year, teachers started to notice that the once happy popular, involved student, had become withdrawn. She was referred to the guidance department where she confided with a co-op college student. The plaintiff became upset, emotional, and teary as she began disclosing about what had occurred with Mr. Williamson, Salmers wrote in his decision. The survivor eventually provided the co-op student with a lengthy handwritten note that detailed the sexual assaults. The head guidance counsellor, vice-principal and principal eventually became involved. The survivor asked that the sexual assaults remain confidential and that her parents and police not be contacted. The letter, along with notes from an interview between administration and Williamson about the allegations, were kept in a file in the principals office until 2017 when it was found by school board officials. Williamson continued in his roles at the school for three months. At the request of the school, he resigned at the end of the year. In his decision, Salmers said the principal took steps that led to Williamson tendering his resignation and leaving I.E. Weldon, but nothing else was done by anybody at the school to help the victim and assist her with emotional damage, including possible depression, shame, guilt, self-blame, and embarrassment. Their actions were directed at protecting the Victoria Board (now known as Trillium Lakelands District School Board) or School Board, he wrote in his decision. It was known or ought to have been known by Victoria Board officials that the plaintiff was likely suffering emotional difficulties as a result of Mr. Williams sexual misconduct. The survivors lawyers says her client hopes the decision shines a light on the schools many failures in her case. She would like the Trillium Lakelands District School Board, and indeed all school boards, to take a hard look at Justice Salmers decision with a view not only to improving policies to prevent other students from going through the traumatizing experiences she went through, but also ensuring that no student who has been sexually abused by a staff member is ever left alone and unsupported in a the way she was. The school board was contacted but wished not to comment. The Hopecam Board of Directors congratulates Lauren and Brett on their new roles, said Len Forkas, the nonprofits Chairman and Founder. While the rebranding will enhance Hopecams visibility, the staff realignment will improve its efficiency and strengthen its ability to meet a growing, nationwi Hopecam, a Reston, Virginia-based nonprofit that helps pediatric cancer patients overcome social isolation by virtually connecting them with their classmates, today announced two new developments to further its mission. One is a rebranding whose components include a new tagline Connecting Children with Cancer to Their Classmates and a fresh, contemporary logo. The new logo features an image of a child using current technology while retaining the blue-and-orange color scheme that is familiar to Hopecams families and supporters. Hopecam also announced a realignment of its staff, a move that results in two promotions. Lauren Priestas, previously Hopecams Development Director, becomes its Executive Director. In her new position, Priestas will oversee day-to-day activities, work with the nonprofits 15-member board of directors and lead the Hopecam team. Prior to joining Hopecam in 2016, Priestas worked at the Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland for over 12 years. Brett Fox moves up from Development Coordinator to Development Director. As Hopecams primary contact for fundraising, her responsibilities include building sponsor relationships and coordinating fundraising events. Fox joined the staff in 2018 after serving as a volunteer. The Hopecam Board of Directors congratulates Lauren and Brett on their new roles, said Len Forkas, the nonprofits Chairman and Founder. While the rebranding will enhance Hopecams visibility, the staff realignment will improve its efficiency and strengthen its ability to meet a growing, nationwide demand for services. Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Hopecam is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides laptops, tablets and other technology to reduce the loneliness felt by pediatric cancer patients as they undergo treatment. To date, Hopecam has partnered with over 130+ hospitals and virtually connected more than 2,500 children to over 45,000 classmates throughout the U.S and abroad. Over 70% of the students helped by Hopecam attend Title 1 schools. ### PENSACOLA, Fla.The wheels of justice are moving forward for Shesleah, the Florida clips and cam performer who was charged earlier this year on numerous criminal counts after an anonymous tip of what she does on camera led to her arrest. Shesleah, 27, is docketed to offer her plea to the court on nine felony counts lewd and lascivious behavior, possession of child pornography, aggravated assault and resisting arrest, as well as human trafficking on Wednesday, Aug. 12. Depending on the plea, a jury trial could begin as early as Monday, Aug. 24. Her attorney, Thomas McGuire, told AVN today that for Shesleah next month, "all pleas will be not guilty." Earlier this year, a tipster called the Florida Abuse Hotline to anonymously report that Shesleah masturbated in public areas. That tip led to a full-blown investigation in March by local authorities after a judge signed off on a search warrant. Shesleah, during the search, told authorities that she is an actress who does taboo videos in a pornographic manner. Shesleah, at the time, stated in order to fulfill the taboo fantasy, the voices of her children are pre-recorded and that she only plays them during the filming her videos without them present, according to an arrest record. After searching her home and seizing computers, the Escambia County Sheriffs Office charged her with two counts of child pornography and four counts of lewd behavior with a victim under 16. Sheriffs Det. Jeremy Horn said the agency uncovered videos of the adult performer, along with children heard in the videos. At a bond hearing for Shesleah in May, Horn testified that his investigative team did a thorough search of her computers to collect names and payment information. During the forensic examination of a laptop, we were able to extract all of the Skype messages that were saved onto the computer, Horn said in court transcripts obtained by AVN. Going through the Skype messages between 2018 up until March of 2020 it was evident that she was using her children to sexually exploit them and then financially benefit from the sexual exploitation of the children. Horn in his testimony offered his own speculative analysis at the bond hearing to build his case against Shesleah. It seemed that she was doing a few different services with multiple different clients involving the children, Horn testified. She would have different rates for the service that she provided, such as dirty talk involving the children, an hourly rate for live Skype calls with the children either being in the frame or out. Horn in his testimony said that he used search warrants on Shesleahs Google Wallet payment account to corroborate payment for some of the platforms she used for her work. Horn said that Shesleah charged between $150-$200 for Skype sessions. Shesleah, currently out on bond, has asked the court for her to allow out-of-state travel. The court earlier issued a no contact order relative to her children until a family judge can determine conditions. Just last week, McGuire asked the court for her to temporarily live with her father in Kentucky. McGuire told the court that Shesleah has received many threatening messages and has had to move from her home due to these threats of violence because the case has received much publicity in the region. Shesleah is being vilified on social media and the gossip press, McGuire said in a motion that would allow her to travel while keeping her GPS monitor working. Photo courtesy of Escambia County Sheriffs Office The Boris Johnson government on Tuesday announced the removal of existing equipment of Chinese Huawei by 2027 and a ban on buying new equipment from the company from December 31 this year, reflecting an escalation of tensions with Beijing. China has warned the UK of consequences if it were to ban Huawei. The decision follows pressure from the United States government, which has also banned the company as part of its sanction, and a technical review by the UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NSC) in response to US sanctions. Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said in a statement to the House of Commons: By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks. Officials said the decision was taken on Wednesday in a meeting of the NSC chaired by Johnson, in response to new US sanctions. These were imposed on Huawei in May, after the UKs initial decision on high risk vendors, and are the first of their kind removing the firms access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. Technical experts at the NCSC reviewed the consequences of the sanctions and concluded the company will need to do a major reconfiguration of its supply chain as it will no longer have access to the technology on which it currently relies. They found the new restrictions make it impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future, the officials added. There will be a ban on the purchase of new Huawei kit for 5G from next year and it will be completely removed from 5G networks by the end of 2027. The decision takes into account our specific national circumstances and how the risks from these sanctions are manifested in the UK. The existing restrictions on Huawei in sensitive and critical parts of the network remain in place. The US action also affects Huawei products used in the UKs full fibre broadband networks. However, officials said the UK has managed Huaweis presence in the UKs fixed access networks since 2005, along with the need to avoid a situation where broadband operators are reliant on a single supplier for their equipment. Dowden said: 5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon. Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks. No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK. The government will now seek to legislate at the earliest opportunity with a new Telecoms Security Bill to put in place the powers necessary to implement this tough new telecoms security framework. Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. STERLING, Va., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As responses to the COVID-19 pandemic evolve, Avitecture provided a smart, simple, and safe solution to help manage the return of employees and visitors to one of America's largest corporations at its McLean, Virginia headquarters. Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia are entering new phases of reopening and people want protection against a second wave of the coronavirus. Contactless facial scanners, placed at entry ways, that scan temperatures within a +/- 0.9 Fahrenheit of accuracy can help any public space reopen with greater safety. These devices can be placed on a desk, mounted directly to a wall, and can operate from a stand-alone pole mount. An employee, student, or patron stands within one and a half to three feet from the scanner, and in less than a second, the scanner will issue admittance or sound an alert for anyone entering a facility with a fever. As an added measure of safety, these scanners can deny entry to anyone not wearing a mask. "These scanners are a great help to businesses and are a major benefit to reopening schools, restaurants, government facilities, gyms, and event spaces," said Bruce Pittman, Avitecture's vice-president of Sales and Marketing. Avitecture provided these scanners to this employer of thousands which placed the scanners at various security stations to monitor the inflow of both visitors and employees as the first line of defense. If someone is flagged with a high temperature, a secondary scan will be performed by security person. If the fever is confirmed, that person will be either denied entry or sent to a wellness center. The company is using these devices simply as a pass or fail for high temperature and mandatory mask detection. These devices can be integrated with a facility's network and using AI, incorporate facial recognition. A priority is getting these scanners in place as soon as possible. With contactless facial scanners, Avitecture helped the company reopen with greater safety. Contactless facial scanners provide additional protection for people entering and working in a facility. To learn more about Avitecture, visit www.avitecture.com, or find us on Facebook and on LinkedIn. Avitecture is a registered trademark of Avitecture, Inc. SOURCE Avitecture Related Links www.avitecture.com As Canada contemplates the post-Covid-19 world and citizens everywhere are considering the issue of defunding militarized police, we must also focus on Canadas military budgets, which have increased from $18.9 billion in 2016-17, to $32.7 billion in 2019-20. Under Canadas 2017 defence policy, the federal government will be spending $553 billion on national defence over the next 20 years. Major procurement costs are for: 88 F-35 combat jets; the Canadian Surface Combatant Project and Joint Support Ship Project; two supply ships, now under design review; and missiles and associated costs for its CF-118 fighter jets. These estimates do not include military missions for example, the more than $18B spent in the futile combat mission in Afghanistan, where we did not even move the dial toward removing the Taliban. It should be noted that the new naval frigate design includes the ability to participate in ballistic missile defence, which begins to commit Canada to this endlessly costly unproven strategy. In June 2019, the Parliamentary Budget Office compiled a revised cost estimate for the new ships, predicting the program will cost close to $70 billion over the next quarter-century $8 billion more than its previous estimate. Internal government documents, in 2016, estimated the total operating costs, over the life of the program, at more than $104 billion. All of these investments are for high-end war fighting. We have to ask: who is the enemy we are aggressively arming against with these massive costs? On June 11, The Canadian Press reported that Defence Department Deputy Minister Jody Thomas stated that she has received no indication from the federal government that it intends to reduce its much-increased military spending, despite the soaring federal deficit and the critical need to prepare for the post-COVID-19 recovery in Canada. In fact, she indicated that: ... officials are continuing to work on the planned purchase of new warships, fighter jets and other equipment. Contrast this with the nearly flat-lined government investment in climate change mitigation and environment, at around $1.8 billion annually. This is pitiably small, when we consider the crises we face, assuming there will be only one wave of the current pandemic. Canada needs a conversion to a green economy, away from fossil fuel production, to include a fair transition and retraining of displaced workers. There is a need for extraordinary investment in the new economy to enable a move toward climate change mitigation, environmental sustainability and social justice, which will benefit all Canadians. We do not need increased investment in things that have no redeeming social value by endlessly preparing for war. Where will the funds for that investment come from? By converting the militarys vast projected expenditures to these essential tasks. Canadas military should be reduced to a level sufficient to protect our sovereignty, but incapable of acting as a belligerent abroad, such as questionable NATO missions around the world. Rather, Canada should lead in support of the proposed UN Emergency Peace Service (UNEPS), a standing UN formation of 14,000-15,000 dedicated personnel designed to prevent armed conflict and protect civilians. The Canadian Forces should also considerably increase its participation in UN peace operations that has dwindled close to zero personnel. UNEPS could radically reduce our need for a national force beyond self-defence. Rather, our role should be as a nonbelligerent middle power seeking negotiated nonviolent resolution of conflict. We can have either a bloated military with an increased combat-ready stance against undetermined enemies, or a successful post-COVID-19 recovery that enhances the quality of life and sustainable practices for our people. We cannot afford both. The Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, has approved new postings and appointments of 37 generals and five colonels to different formations and units. The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. Mr Musa said that the posting, which was approved by Mr Buratai, was a routine/normal exercise intended to reinvigorate the system for greater professional effectiveness and efficiency. The major highlights of the postings include the postings and appointments of Maj.-Gen. Lucky Irabor from Defence Headquarters Department of Training and Operations to Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), Minna as Commander. Maj.-Gen. FO Agugo was redeployed from 6 Division NA Port Harcourt to Headquarters NA Signal Corps Apapa Lagos as Corps Commander Signals, while Maj.-Gen. M Mohammed was moved from Signal Corps Apapa Lagos to Office of the COAS as Special Adviser NA University Biu. Also, Maj.-Gen. AM Dikko was moved from Administrative Staff College of Nigerian Badagry to NA Training Centre Kontagora as Commander, while Maj.-Gen. US Yakubu moves from Corps of Artillery Kontagora to Army Headquarters Abuja (AHQ) as Chief of Administration (Army). Maj.-Gen. BO Sawyer moves from AHQ Department of Policy and Plans to NA Armour School Bauchi as Commandant, Maj.-Gen. IO Uzamere was redeployed from NA College of Logistics Lagos to AHQ as Chief of Logistics (Army). Also, Maj.-Gen. JO Irefin has been redeployed from Headquarters 81 Division Lagos to Headquarters 6 Division Port Harcourt and appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC), while Maj.Gen. JO Akomolafe moves from Headquarters NA Armour Corps Bauchi to DHQ Abuja as Chief of Defence Standards and (Evaluation.) Others, according to Mr Musa are Maj.-Gen. CO Ude from NA Resource Centre Abuja to DHQ as Chief of Defence Training and Operations, while Maj -Gen HR Momoh moves from Defence Space Administration Abuja to AHQ as Deputy Chief of Policy and Plans/ Director Special Duties, Policy and Plans. Maj.-Gen. AT Hamman has been moved from DHQ to AHQ Garrison as Commander, Maj.- Gen. OA Akinyemi moves from Administrative Staff College of Nigeria to Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre Oshodi Lagos as Deputy Commandant. Maj.-Gen. MH Magaji was redeployed from NA Amour School to Headquarters NA Armour Corps as Commander, while Maj.-Gen. MA Masanawa moves from DHQ to NA Ordinance School Lagos as Commandant. Maj.-Gen. JI Unuigbe has been redeployed from AHQ Department of Logistics to DHQ Chief of Defence Logistics, Maj.-Gen JGK Myam the erstwhile Commander AHQ Garrison Abuja is now the Commander NA Corps of Artillery. READ ALSO: Also, Maj.-Gen. GA Umelo has been redeployed from AHQ Department of Training and Operations to Headquarters 81 Division as GOC, while Maj.-Gen. SE Udounwa moves from AHQ Department of Policy and Plans to Army War College Abuja as Commandant. Maj.-Gen. MO Enendu from Nigerian Armed Forces Resettlement Centre moves to NA College of Logistics as Commandant, while Maj.-Gen. GS Abdullahi moves from DHQ to Land Forces Simulation Centre Nigeria as Director General. Maj.-Gen. BN Salami has been redeployed from NA School of Supply and Transport to Headquarters NA Corps of Supply and Transport as Commander. Others affected are Maj.-Gen. FO Omoigui from AHQ Department of Training and Operations to Headquarters Theatre Command Operation LAFIYA DOLE Maiduguri as Deputy Theater Commander, while Maj.-Gen. IO Ehiorobo moves from NA School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering to Headquarters NA as Commander, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. Maj.-Gen. KI Mukhtar moves from AHQ Department of Administration to the Depot NA Zaria as Commandant, the erstwhile Commandant Army War College Nigeria, Maj.-Gen. C Ofoche has been redeployed to AHQ Department of Policy and Plans as Director Plans. Maj.-Gen. AB Ibrahim was moved from AHQ Department of Training and Operations to Defence Space Administration as Director Support Services, while Brig.-Gen. IO Adewa was appointed as Acting Managing Director at NA Properties Limited. Similarly, Brig.-Gen. KA Kazir has been posted from Headquarters NA Engineers to Headquarters 43 Engineers Brigade as Commander, while Brig.-Gen. MU Abdullahi moves from NA Intelligence and Cyber Warfare School to 58 Signal Brigade as Commander. Brig.-Gen. MB Dala moves from Army Resource Centre to Headquarters Training and Doctrine Command Minna as Director Exams, Brig.-Gen. BR Sinjen moves from Headquarters NA Corps of Artillery to AHQ Department of Training and Operations as Acting Director of Operations. Also, Brig.-Gen. SI Igbinomwanhia was redeployed from 7 Division Garrison Maiduguri to AHQ Department of Training and Operations as Acting Director Campaign Plan, while Brig.-Gen. HG Tafida moves from AHQ Department of Logistics to NA School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering as Acting Commandant. Brig.-Gen. AO Arogbofa moves from 102 Division Equipment Support to AHQ Department of Logistics as Acting Director Equipment Maintenance, Brig.-Gen. EC Lot from Land Forces Simulation Centre to Headquarters 52 Signal Brigade as Commander. Advertisements Others appointments according to Army spokesperson are, Col. B Sarki from Defence Intelligence College to 6 Military Intelligence Brigade as Acting Commander, while Col. KO Ogunsoya moves from DHQ to Headquarters Directorate of Army Public Relations as Chief of Staff. While the erstwhile spokesperson for Multinational Joint Task Force Ndjamena, Col. Timothy Antigha moves to Defence Headquarters as Acting Executive Director Armed Forces Radio, Col. Mohammed Dole moves from Headquarters Directorate of Army Public Relations to Headquarters Multinational Joint Task Force Ndjamena as Military Public Information Officer. Also, Col. AF Maimagani remains in Headquarters Directorate of Chaplain Services (Roman Catholic) as Acting Director Chaplain. According Mr Musa, all the postings and appointments take effect from July 20, 2020. While wishing all the officers well in their respective appointments, the Chief of Army Staff enjoins them to take their new responsibilities/appointments seriously and discharge all duties professionally with utmost loyalty to the Nation and the Service, he said. (NAN) The meeting will take place at Chushul in Ladakh sector which is on the Indian side of line of actual control New Delhi: Indian and Chinese Corps Commanders will be holding 4th round of military level talks on Tuesday to discuss further disengagement and re-location of troops in the areas of contesting claims. The meeting will take place at Chushul in Ladakh sector which is on the Indian side of line of actual control (LAC) and is likely to start at 11:30 am in the morning, said sources. The meeting on Tuesday will discuss the modalities of further disengaging Chinese troops from the Pangong Tso and other face-off points. It will also focus on how heavy build-up of troops on the both sides of the LAC could be brought down, said sources. In the last meeting on June 30, 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military Region, commander Maj Gen Liu Lin had agreed to mutually move back their troops in flash points by upto 2 kilometers in the Ladakh sector to bring down chances of a confrontation. Last week Indian and Chinese troops completed their initial phase of disengagement from flashpoints by mutually moving back from Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Gogra Post and finger 4 area of Pangong Tso. Chinese troops have moved back from finger 4 area to finger 5 in Pangong Tso but are still occupying ridges in that area. Indian troops too have moved back and are not holding finger 4. Chinese troops still have to vacate area between finger 5 and finger 8, which India claims is its territory. In May 2020, Chinese troops in an aggressive move occupied the area between Finger 4 to Finger 8 and prevented Indian troops from patrolling the area. As per the agreement, a buffer zone of atleast 1.5 kilometers on both sides of the LAC has to be created in the areas of stand-off. There will be restriction on patrolling in these buffer areas for some time and these zones will be monitored through drones and satellites. While Indian and Chinese troops have moved slightly away from flashpoints, the bigger concern is presence of large number of troops from both sides with heavy weapons including artillery and tanks in the forward areas, along the line of actual control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector. China is reported to have deployed around 20,000 troops at the LAC on the Ladakh sector with another 12,000 in the reserves ready to be deployed at short notice. India too has done similar deployment to counter any Chinese aggression. Till these troops dont move from the LAC to their peace time locations tensions between India and China will remain high. Nigeria, the largest oil exporter in Africa, got revenue valued at $206.06billion from petroleum export from 2015 to 2019, the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries has said. The breakdown is contained in the organisations 2020 Annual Statistical Bulletin published on its site. According to the publication, the countrys oil export revenue fell in 2016 to $27.29billion from $41.17billion in 2015, tipping Nigeria into recession. Oil revenue later improved in 2017 to $37.98 billion and by the time Nigerias economy came out of recession in 2018, the revenue jumped to $54.51billion. Although the revenue fell to $45.11billion last year, Nigeria was the fifth biggest revenue-earner in OPEC for the same year. The four bigger earners ahead of Nigeria are Saudi Arabia ($202.37billion), Iraq ($80.03billion), Kuwait ($52.43billin) and the United Arab Emirates ($49.64billion). The country also imported $265 billion worth of petroleum products. Nigeria exports its crude oil to Europe, North America, Asia and Pacific, Latin America, Africa and Middle-East. Last year, its export to Europe plunged to 680,600 barrels per day from 1.06 million bpd in 2018. Also export to North America fell to 27,500 bpd from 172,000 bpd. However, export to Asia and the Pacific rose from 387.200bpd in 2018 to 664.900bpd in 2019. Also, Nigerian oil export to Latin America increased from 52.300 bpd in 2018 to 252.200 bpd last year. Exports to Africa fell from 309.500 in 2018 to 260.700 in 2019. No export was recorded for Middle East in 2018 but 122.300bpd was exported in 2019. The total volume of oil exported to North America slumped by 84 per cent to 27,500 bpd in 2019, while exports to Africa fell by 15.77 per cent to 260,700bpd. The government will spend 170million to kick-start 22 'shovel ready' flood defence projects in England as part of a 5.2billion package - with victims now able to claim insurance to protect their homes from future water damage. The funding comes on top of a long term 5.2 billion package being set out by the Government, to construct around 2,000 new flood and coastal defences that will better protect 336,000 properties from flooding by 2027. The 5.2 billion, which will protect thousands of key sites such as schools and hospitals and ensure existing defences are well maintained, will avoid 32 billion of wider economic damage from flooding, the Government said. Ironbridgde in Shropshire was rocked by flooding in February as Storm Dennis and Ciara caused the River Severn to burst its banks The government has announced 5. 4million in natural solutions to try and protect homes and businesses around the Severn Valley, such as Ironbridge, following floods earlier this year And an extra 200 million will be provided for innovative projects, such as creating sustainable urban drainage schemes or wetlands to store water and boost wildlife at the same time, which will be tested out in 25 at-risk areas. There are also proposed changes to the joint Government and insurance industry Flood Re scheme, as part of the plans being unveiled by ministers. These include offering discounted premiums to households who have fitted protection measures such as air brick covers, and allowing payment of claims to include additional amounts to rebuild properties so they are better protected from future floods. Snaith in East Yorkshire was also hit by flooding in March, around 21million will be spent on improving flood defences in nearby Leeds Boris Johnson faced fury in Bewdley, Worcestershire in March after arriving some 22 days after extreme weather rocked the Severn Valley The Government also said it would review the policy for building in areas at risk of floods to protect future development, amid concerns over homes being built in the flood plain, and expand flood warning systems. And the plans include a commitment to doubling the number of Government-funded projects which include natural solutions such as planting trees, restoring peatland and wetlands and looking after soils, which also have benefits for wildlife and tackling climate change. What is the Flood Re insurance initiative? Flood Re is a joint scheme between the Government and insurers aimed at making the cost of flood cover on household insurance cheaper. The Flood Re website reads: 'Every insurer that offers home insurance in the UK must pay into the Flood Re Scheme. This Levy raises 180m every year that we use to cover the flood risks in home insurance policies. 'Flood Re works with insurers behind the scenes. When you buy home insurance cover, your insurer can choose to pass the flood risk element of your policy to us for a fixed price. 'If you make a valid claim for flooding, your insurer will pay the claim. Later on, well reimburse that insurer from the Flood Re fund. 'In short, you buy home insurance in the usual way. We cover the flood risk and that helps to keep your premiums down.' Advertisement The 5.2 billion investment, announced in the Budget in March, is for schemes from 2021. But the 170 million cash injection will help boost the economy as areas recover from the pandemic by starting work from this year on 22 projects, which are ready to go with help to reach required levels of funding. As well as protecting homes, the projects will defend more than 10,000 local businesses and safeguard around 100,000 jobs that rely on those firms, the Government said. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: 'Last winter I saw for myself the misery and upheaval that flooding can bring to lives and livelihoods and I said we would do more to help people. 'This long-term plan will help push back the flood waters and protect hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and livelihoods. 'Our record investment will also stimulate economic growth across the UK as we build back better.' Mr Johnson visited flood-hit communities during the 2019 general election campaign but faced criticism for not doing so during floods earlier this year. By the time he visited Bewdley on the banks of the River Severn, Worcestershire, where some homes had been left underneath 2ft of water, the PM was met with cries of 'traitor'. Homes and businesses around the River Severn and in Yorkshire were rocked by flooding during Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis in the first few months of 2020. Parts of Wales, including Newport were also left underwater during heavy rainfall. Professor Hannah Cloke, from the University of Reading, told the BBC: 'A commitment to review policies on developments on flood plains does not sound in tune with cutting red tape to build houses more quickly. 'A fortnight ago, Boris was attacking 'newt counting', and bemoaning the pace of progress in the UK. Review into building in flood hit areas Government officials are set to review planning rules around building in flood hit areas. This mornings announcement promised a: 'Review of policy for building in areas at flood risk, ensuring future developments are safe from floods.' It also plans to investigate the current approach to designing against flooding, to better protect home from floodwaters. Professor Hannah Cloke told the BBC changes could slow the government's plan to build homes more quickly. She said today's claims were 'not in tune with cutting red tape to build houses more quickly.' Advertisement 'Sometimes being better and greener requires building more slowly and carefully, or we risk long-term economic and social costs that we cannot afford.' Environment Secretary George Eustice said: 'The devastating impacts of last winter's flooding were an important reminder of the need to continue to invest and accelerate action to reduce the impact of flooding on our communities. 'Our record investment and ambitious policies will better protect homes, schools, hospitals and businesses, but we also recognise that we cannot prevent flooding entirely, which is why we will ensure that communities at high risk are more resilient.' Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency, said: 'For every 1 spent improving protection from flooding and coastal erosion, we avoid around 5 of property damages. 'The long-term commitments announced today will make homes, businesses and infrastructure more resilient to the accelerating impacts of the climate crisis. 'Many communities are all too familiar with flooding, and now the risk is increasing for others too. 'The Environment Agency is champing at the bit to deliver on the Governments investment with better, and greener, flood schemes.' Tracy AwinoTwo men and two teens have been charged in the murder of Brooklyn rapper Pop Smoke, who was fatally shot during a home invasion in February. Today, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office announced that adult males Corey Walker, 20, and Keandre Rodgers, 18, were each charged with murder with the special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery and a burglary. The DA's office says the two also face gang and gun allegations. If convicted as charged, both suspects are facing the death penalty or life in prison, without the possibility of parole. Two male juveniles, ages 15 and 17, were each charged with one count of murder and robbery in juvenile court. Pop, born Bashar Barakah Jackson, died from a gunshot wound on February 19, during the home invasion at the house where he was staying in Hollywood Hills. The case is still actively under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. The DA's office is expected to make a decision on whether to seek capital punishment at a later date. If Pop Smoke were still living, he'd be happy to celebrate his debut album Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon, which hit #1 on Billboard 200 chart over the weekend, with all 19 tracks landing on Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. By Rachel George Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Glees co-creators have paid a moving tribute to Naya Rivera, pledging to create a college fund for her son. Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan shared a joint statement honouring Riveras memory with The Hollywood Reporter. Naya could act, she could dance, and she could sing (could she ever sing!) She could nail a joke as well as she could crush you with an emotional scene, they wrote. She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct and a joy to be around. Authorities announced on Monday that the body of Rivera, 33, had been found at Lake Piru, California, where she had gone missing several days prior. Rivera played cheerleader Santana Lopez on Glee, which ran from 2009 to 2015 on Fox. Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan remembered Riveras numerous iconic performances on the show, including renditions of Valerie and Songbird and her participation in an Adele mash-up. Her greatest Glee legacy is probably the humour and humanity that she brought to Santanas relationship with her best friend and eventual girlfriend/wife Brittany (played by Heather Morris), the co-creators added. It was one of the first times an openly lesbian, high school relationship was seen on network television and Naya understood what Brittana meant to the many young women who were seeing themselves represented on television for the first time. Naya always made sure that Santanas love for Brittany was expressed with dignity, strength and with pure intentions. Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime Video Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up They described the actor as a real pro who was always on time and always knew her lines, even when faced with giant mouthfuls of dialogue. She was warm and caring and fiercely protective of the rest of the cast, they added. She was tough and demanding. She was fun. She was kind. She was generous. Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennan extended their support to Riveras family and said they were in the process of creating a college fund for her four-year-old son, whom Rivera loved most of all. Rivera went missing on 8 July after renting a pontoon boat with her son. He was later found on the vessel, alive and wearing a life jacket. Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a news conference on Monday that Rivera must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself. It all culminates with Mercado prepping for a show about his career at the HistoryMiami Museum in Florida. Unable to walk because of a recent fall, he is wheeled into the opening atop a golden throne. (It is perhaps the most dramatic artist entrance since Frida Kahlo was carried into her Mexico City exhibition on a four-poster bed in 1953.) Fans approach him like supplicants in search of selfies and blessings. It was one of his last public appearances. But Mercado, as a subject, nonetheless remains elusive. From a young age, he states in the documentary, he was determined to create a famous person in me. This can make it hard to divine where the persona ends and the real man begins. Partly its because there is only so much he was willing to reveal of himself. Throughout his career, Mercado punted questions about his sexuality and in the film, he does much the same. I have sex with life, he says, seconds after a camera has panned to a photo of him opposite a portrait of Oscar Wilde. I have sex with everything. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) addresses her weekly news conference with Capitol Hill reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 18, 2020. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would delay or cancel her chamber's August recess to pass another coronavirus relief bill as financial lifelines are poised to expire in the coming days, she said Tuesday. "We absolutely have to. We also have to come to an agreement," the California Democrat told CNN when asked if she would forgo or postpone representatives' monthlong return to their districts. Congress would need to rush to craft pandemic relief legislation that could pass both the Democratic-held House and GOP-controlled Senate before the end of July. The chambers have not found consensus yet on how to address an ongoing economic and health crisis as coronavirus cases surge in Southern and Western states. Democrats have pushed for a sprawling aid package to build on previous bills, calling to extend the enhanced federal unemployment insurance provision, send more direct payments to individuals, offer assistance to renters and homeowners and send relief to state and local governments. Republicans have outlined a more narrow approach: they aim to change rather than extend the jobless benefit, protect businesses and doctors from certain lawsuits, and potentially send stimulus checks to fewer people than Democrats would want. If Congress cannot act, millions of Americans will face a sudden and sharp drop in income when the $600 per week federal unemployment benefit expires at the end of the month. States will only pay the benefit through July 25 or July 26. Pelosi also brought up the need to pass aid to help people stay in their homes as moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures expire in parts of the country. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pushed to end the $600 per week benefit. He has called it a "mistake" because it left many people making more at home than they did at their jobs. Late last month, the Kentucky Republican said that "to have the basic protections of [standard] unemployment insurance is extremely important and should be continued." Speaking to CNBC last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House wanted to overhaul the jobless benefit plan but did not give details on how it aimed to address the coming income gulf. He said, "you can assume" individuals will get "no more than 100%" of their normal pay. The Trump administration has previously backed the possibility of offering Americans a "return to work" bonus. The push to pass another relief bill comes as the pandemic rampages through the United States in a way that it has not hit any other country. Coronavirus cases continue to spike in California, Florida and Texas. The U.S. has now reported more than 3.3 million cases and more than 135,000 deaths from the disease, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. California, the most populous U.S. state, on Monday rolled back its reopening plans. After two strong months of U.S. jobs growth as states restarted their economies, President Donald Trump has publicly projected little concern about the ongoing crisis. He has pushed for swift reopening of both businesses and schools. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. When protesters in Madison tore down two statues outside the state Capitol on June 23, it renewed interest in the two works of art and spurred debate about what should be done next. Read on for a history lesson on the both the "Forward" statue that had come to symbolize women's rights and the figure of Union Army Capt. Hans Heg, a noted abolitionist. On June 23, protesters in Madison wrapped chains around Forward, the bronze statue of a woman located at the State Street corner of Capitol Square, and pulled it down while another statue, one of Col. Hans Christian Heg, was torn down from its spot at the top of King Street and dragged into Lake Monona. The "Forward" statue is a replica of a Jean Pond Miner sculpture cast in 1893 and installed in the Capitol in 1895 that was designed as an allegory for devotion and progress, the embodiment of her home state. Below is a look back at the history of the "Forward" statue, from the creation and then replacement of the original to the downing of the replica. The statue of Col. Hans Christian Heg, torn down by protesters at the state Capitol on Tuesday night, honors a Norwegian immigrant from Wisconsin who died fighting for the Union Army in the Civil War. The State has sent no braver soldier, and no truer patriot to aid in this mighty struggle for national unity, than Hans Christian Heg, the State Journal wrote Sept. 29, 1863, reporting word of his death. The valorous blood of the old Vikings ran in his veins, united with the gentler virtues of a Christian and a gentlemen. Heg was mortally wounded in the bloody Battle of Chickamauga on Sept. 19 of that year and died the next day. The highest-ranked Wisconsin officer killed in combat during the Civil War, Heg commanded a regiment largely composed of other Scandinavian immigrants. He was 33 years old. Heg settled in the Racine area with his parents in 1840 and lived in Wisconsin for all but one year, when he mined for Gold in the West before moving home to take over his family's farm. In 1859, he was elected to the statewide office of prison commander, "earning a reputation as a pragmatic reformer," according to the state Historical Society. Heg found an outlet for his anti-slavery views when he was tapped to lead his Union brigade. The monument to Heg was unveiled on Capitol Square in October 1926 before a crowd of about 2,000 people. On Tuesday, a group of protesters tore it down, along with Wisconsin's "Forward" statue. Here's a look at coverage of Heg and the statue over the years. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Bangkok, July 14 : Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said that he plans to reshuffle his Cabinet team after the annual budget debate concludes in September. Prayut on Monday told the media that some ministerial posts wouldn't take too long to pick, quoting "there are many skilled economists outside the coalition parties but many have already turned down the suggestion as they are reluctant to enter politics", Xinhua news agency reported. The Thai prime minister also flatly denied any unrest within the ruling Palang Pracharath Party after four of its key members resigned from the party last week, and with the Finance and Energy ministries in the spotlight. "The key qualification I am looking for in the Cabinet post is someone who can help reboot the Thai economy during and post COVID-19 pandemic," said Prayut. "The focus here is to rehabilitate and help the Thais who had been hit hard by the pandemic to stand up again." Prayut suggests that since inbound travel is still banned to stem the outbreak, one way to boost domestic economy and tourism, is to "encourage Thais to spend and travel within Thailand. There are lots of new destinations in the country which many Thais have not explored." Thailand recorded no foreign tourist arrivals or receipts for a second straight month in May as the pandemic forced border closing. Annual tourist arrivals are forecast to drop to 8 million, just one-fifth of last year's total. The Bank of Thailand (BoT) forecasted Thailand's GDP to contract a further 8.1 percent this year, exacerbated by the fallout of COVID-19. Following an executive session, the board voted 8-1 to accept Coxs budget recommendations. After that meeting, Kircher and Jensen met with reporters and disputed Kopkes assertion about the State Fair going bankrupt within a year. Jensen said the board made some tough decisions concerning the budget. But as far as the future goes, everybody should check back with us in a year and see if we have been able to uphold our end of the bargain, he said. Kircher, when asked about Kopkes financial assessment about the State Fair, said, We absolutely disagree with his assessment. He is certainly able to have his own opinion, but I think he is wrong. The fact that we passed a budget today that we feel good about and that our executive director feels good about and will accomplish the very thing against what he feels might happen. It might have been nice if he had stuck around and seen the budget and had a feel for what we had in mind before making remarks like he did. Kircher said he and the board expect Cox to live up to the budget she proposed. Snapchat is looking to capitalize on the possible ban on TikTok in the United States with a new navigation gesture for content discovery thats very similar to the latter. The company is testing a new experience that will allow users to navigate through the public content in the Discover tab of the app by swiping vertically. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it is experimenting with this new gesture to help deliver its users a way to explore new content in a more immersive format. The vertical swipe gesture is limited to Snapchats Discover tab and not ones private Stories section. A horizontal swipe in the Discover section will exit it instead of going to the next story. There is a video of the update (sorry for the bad quality I record it with my phone) pic.twitter.com/gFZXlMFBBJ Arthur (@artb2668) July 13, 2020 The company is still in the early stages of testing this gesture and has only rolled out to a small percentage of its user base. Were always experimenting with new ways to bring immersive and engaging content to our mobile-first Snapchat community, a spokesperson told TechCrunch. Its clear that Snapchat is testing this new gesture in a bid to get users over from TikTok to its platform. The Chinese social media app was recently banned in India along with 58 other apps and it is also under heavy scrutiny in the United States. It was recently discovered that TikTok was snooping on users clipboard data thanks to a change made by Apple in iOS 14. ByteDance, TikToks parent company, was quick to update the app to remove the feature, though this was not the first time it was caught doing this. Since TikToks ban, a number of apps have jumped in on the bandwagon to offer a similar experience to get more users onboard their platform. Instagram has rolled out its Reels feature in India to a number of creators, with YouTube also testing a TikTok-like short video service. [Via TechCrunch A national commission on Tuesday set next year's minimum hourly wage at 8,720 won ($7.25), a level representing the smallest-ever annual increase of 1.5 percent. The decision came in the early hours of the day during the ninth plenary meeting of the Minimum Wage Commission, which is comprised of nine members each from all three sides employers, employees and those representing social interests. The increase is the smallest since the minimum wage was first introduced in 1988. The next smallest was 2.7 percent during the financial crisis in 1998. This year's negotiations were particularly tough due to the economic difficulties stemming from the coronavirus pandemic. While labor unions stressed the importance of ensuring that low-income workers meet their basic needs, employers called for easing the financial burden on businesses. Tuesday's decision appeared to be in favor of small- and medium-sized businesses as well as mom-and-pop stores. The new minimum wage was proposed by those commissioners representing social interests after employers and employees failed to bridge their gap. Employees had initially sought a 16.4 percent increase to 10,000 won, while employers had sought a 2.1 percent cut to 8,410 won. The proposal passed by a vote of 9-7. The vote was attended by seven employer commissioners and nine public interest commissioners. Seven other panel members at the meeting, including all five recommended by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, left the session in protest of the proposal. The four remaining members, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, did not attend the meeting. By law, the commission is required to present the new minimum wage to the labor minister, who is then required to announce it publicly by Aug. 5. The new wage would then take effect on Jan. 1. Both labor and management can object to the agreed minimum wage, and subject to the minister's approval, request a reevaluation by the commission. A reevaluation has never occurred since the minimum wage was introduced. (Yonhap) Christians continue to trickle out of Iraq at an alarming rate, with many still fearing the return of ISIS, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has warned. In a new report, 'Life after ISIS: New challenges to Christianity in Iraq', the Catholic charity warns that the threat to Christians from the Islamic State has only shifted to Shia militias backed by Iran. ACN said that the number of Christians living in areas formerly under the control of ISIS has dropped by tens of thousands from 102,000 in 2014 to just 36,000 today. According to the report, more Christians actually left Iraq than returned home last year. "In the summer of 2019, the Christian population of this region reached an inflection point, with more families leaving their hometown than returning. In Baghdeda alone, 3,000 Syriac Catholics left over the course of just three months in 2019 a drop of 12% in the number of Syriac Catholics in the town," it said. Without "urgent" intervention from the international community, the number of Christians in Iraq could fall to 23,000, ACN warned. In a survey of Iraqi Christians, ACN found that over half (57%) had contemplated emigrating, with over half of this number saying that if they did leave Iraq, it would be by 2024. When asked what they were most concerned about, the majority of respondents cited concerns over the safety of their family, with 87% saying they felt either unsafe or absolutely unsafe. But many are also fearful of the return of ISIS, with over two thirds (67%) believing that it is "likely or very likely" that the militant group will return "in the next five years". Fr Andrzej Halemba, head of ACN's Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, fears that the exodus of Christians from the region will only put more strain on the ones who remain. "Christians who have returned to their homes still feel unsafe, and substantially more insecure than other groups in the region mostly because of the violent activity of local militias," he said in a foreward to the report. "Although economic concerns, especially employment, are paramount in some areas, it is impossible to decouple these from security considerations. "These key factors need to be addressed to tackle the physical and economic insecurity that forces populations to move. "If the tendency to emigrate is not stemmed, it will place, in turn, even greater pressure on Christians remaining in Iraq by reducing their critical mass and thus creating a less hospitable environment." ACN said the response to the challenges needed to be wideranging. "The findings ... make clear that restoring the stability of the Christian community in this post-conflict region is only possible with a concerted effort focusing on security, education, long-term economic opportunities, and reconstruction," it said. Please enable cookies on your web browser in order to continue. The new European data protection law requires us to inform you of the following before you use our website: We use cookies and other technologies to customize your experience, perform analytics and deliver personalized advertising on our sites, apps and newsletters and across the Internet based on your interests. By clicking I agree below, you consent to the use by us and our third-party partners of cookies and data gathered from your use of our platforms. See our Privacy Policy and Third Party Partners to learn more about the use of data and your rights. You also agree to our Terms of Service. Rapid follow-up of the optical afterglow from one of the most distant confirmed short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB), thought to be the merger of two neutron stars, is casting new light on these enigmatic objects. The observations, made by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, confirmed the object's distance and placed it squarely in the epoch of cosmic high noon, when the Universe was in its "teenage years" and rapidly forming stars. The appearance of an SGRB so early in the history of the Universe could alter theories about their origin, in particular how long it takes two neutron stars to merge to produce these powerful events. Precisely-localized SGRBs are rare, typically only 7-8 are detected per year, and this is the most distant high-confidence SGRB with an optical afterglow detection. Researchers have used the 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope to measure the optical afterglow of one of the most distant short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB) ever studied. Thought to result from the merger of two neutron stars, SGRBs are cataclysmic events that are almost unfathomable in terms of their basic properties, emitting huge amounts of energy in about one second [1]. Gemini observations of a new, distant SGRB now suggest that this process could occur surprisingly quickly for some systems -- with massive binary star systems surviving supernova explosions to become neutron star binaries, and the binaries then spiraling together in less than a billion years to create an SGRB. The research will be published in he Astrophysical Journal Letters. This object, named GRB181123B because it was the second burst discovered on 23 November 2018 -- Thanksgiving night -- was initially detected by NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. When the alert of an event from the Swift satellite was broadcast around the world, several telescopes trained their view on it. Within hours, a team from Northwestern University used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), which is also an imager, on the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea in Hawai'i to record the very faint afterglow of the object. "We took advantage of the unique rapid-response capabilities and exquisite sensitivity of Gemini North and its GMOS imager to obtain deep observations of the burst mere hours after its discovery," said Kerry Paterson of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University, USA, who led the research team. "The Gemini images were very sharp, and allowed us to pinpoint the location to a specific galaxy." "This is a wonderful example of time-domain astronomy, involving extremely rapid follow-up of a quickly evolving event," said Hans Krimm of the US National Science Foundation. "Gemini's rapid response was critical to catching this event swiftly, and the optical and infrared data add to the excitement of multi-messenger astronomy -- where observations of light, gravitational waves, neutrinos and cosmic rays come together to tell a compelling story." Along with the Gemini observations, the team made follow-up observations using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawai'i and the Multi-Mirror Telescope (MMT), located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins in Arizona. The researchers then utilized the Gemini South infrared camera and spectrograph, FLAMINGOS-2, in Chile to obtain a spectrum of the host galaxy to pin down the SGRB's distance. The object was found to be some 10 billion light-years away, making it the second most distant confirmed SGRB, and the most distant high-confidence SGRB with an optical afterglow detection [2]. Compared to the detections of gravitational waves from merging neutron stars in the very nearby Universe, SGRBs are distant analogs. "The identification of certain patterns in the spectrum, together with the colors of the galaxy from the three observatories, allowed us to precisely constrain the distance and solidify it as one of the most distant SGRBs to date in 16 years of Swift operations," said Paterson. Rapid follow-up of the burst discovery from Swift was essential. Many SGRBs cannot be observed with a telescope in time to catch the optical light. The light from the afterglow fades quickly and it can take a correspondingly long time for a large, sensitive telescope to interrupt its normal observing plan and move to the new target to begin its follow-up observations. Once the optical detection of the SGRB was made with Gemini, and its host galaxy was identified, the team was able to determine key properties of the parent stellar population within the galaxy that produced the SGRB. "Performing 'forensics' to understand the local environment of SGRBs and what their home galaxies look like can tell us a lot about the underlying physics of these systems, such as how SGRB progenitors form and how long it takes for them to merge," said Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University and co-author on the study. "We certainly did not expect to discover an extremely distant SGRB, as they are very rare and faint, but we were pleasantly surprised! This motivates us to go after every one that we possibly can." The majority of the 43 high-confidence SGRBs used in the study that have had their distances measured to date have been found closer to home. Distant SGRBs offer a unique way to study the same types of events when the Universe was much younger -- a busy period in the Universe when stars were rapidly forming and galaxies were growing fast [3]. The addition of another very distant SGRB to the population could change astronomers' understanding of these events -- in particular, how long it takes two neutron stars to merge, and the rate of neutron star mergers during this epoch of the Universe's history. "Finding an SGRB so early in the Universe's history suggests that at least some neutron star pairs might need to come together relatively rapidly," according to Fong. "With the proper telescopic resources and dedicated follow-up facilities, such as the Gemini Observatory, we can open a new era of discovery of distant SGRBs, motivating further follow-up studies of past events and similarly intense follow-up of future ones," said Paterson. ### Notes [1] Despite their spectacular nature, the formation pathway to a SGRB is unknown. Astronomers believe they are likely formed from a pair of massive stars that were born together and "die" together as neutron stars before merging. [2] The measured redshift is z=1.754. [3] This era is analogous to the Universe's teenage years -- a lot is happening, everything is kind of messy, and galaxies are growing fast and haven't settled down into the maturity of their later years. More information This research was presented in a paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team is composed of K. Paterson (Northwestern University), W. Fong (Northwestern University), A. Nugent (Northwestern University), A. Rouco Escorial (Northwestern University), J. Leja (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), T. Laskar (University of Bath), R. Chornock (Ohio University), A. A. Miller (Northwestern University and The Adler Planetarium), J. Scharwachter (Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab), S. B. Cenko (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and University of Maryland), D. Perley (Liverpool John Moores University), N. R. Tanvir (University of Leicester), A. Levan (Radboud University and University of Warwick), A. Cucchiara (College of Marin and the University of the Virgin Islands), B. E. Cobb (The George Washington University), K. De (California Institute of Technology), E. Berger (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), G. Terreran (Northwestern University), K. D. Alexander (Northwestern University), M. Nicholl (University of Birmingham and University of Edinburgh), P. K. Blanchard (Northwestern University), and D. Cornish (Northwestern University). NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai?i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively. Contacts: Kerry Paterson Northwestern University Cell: +1 224-714-0900 Email: kerry.paterson@northwestern.edu Wen-fai Fong Northwestern University Cell: +1 617-372-6237 Email: wfong@northwestern.edu Peter Michaud NewsTeam Manager NSF's NOIRLab Gemini Observatory, Hilo HI Cell: +1 808-936-6643 Email: pmichaud@gemini.edu Amanda Kocz Press and Internal Communications Officer NSF's NOIRLab Gemini Observatory, Hilo HI Cell: +1 626 524 5884 Email: akocz@aura-astronomy.org The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting began in Rajasthan capital Jaipur shortly before noon on Tuesday. This is the second CLP meeting in two days to discuss the crisis in the state as the political face-off between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot intensified. Pilot, who has been leading rebellion against Gehlot, did not attend the meeting ignoring calls from various leaders. Pilot and 16 other MLAs had skipped the first CLP meeting on Monday too. Tuesdays meeting is being held at a resort where Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had announced the second CLP meeting as the top leadership expressed the desire to woo back dissidents led by Pilot, who is also the state unit chief. I appeal to @SachinPilot and all his fellow MLAs to join todays Legislature Party meeting. While expressing your faith in the ideology and values of the Congress, please make your presence felt and strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, party general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan Avinash Pande had tweeted just before the meeting began. Mondays meeting, held at Gehlots official residence, saw the presence of 102 MLAs, according to multiple Congress leaders present there. These included 88 Congress MLAs, 10 independents, two Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) MLAs, and one legislator each of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. The national leadership of BTP, based in Gujarat, later asked its legislators not to take sides in the battle - but the MLAs have said they will stick to the government. The legislators were then taken to a private resort, Fairmont Jaipur. The Congress has 107 MLAs in the house, out of whom 105 could attend Mondays meeting in principle (barring the speaker and an ailing minister). This meant that 17 legislators from the party, including Pilot, did not attend the meeting. Three other independents were reported to have joined the legislators who pledged their support to the government, on the way to the hotel. This, along with an additional CPI(M) legislators support, appeared to take Gehlots count to 106 on Monday. Pilots camp, however, dismissed the numbers. The majority mark in the 200-member assembly in Rajasthan is 101. Facing widespread pushback, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos doubled down Sunday on her call to fully reopen schools and have children return to "learning full-time" in person by the fall - an effort that has also been championed by President Trump. But while DeVos stressed the importance of getting students back in classrooms, she repeatedly dodged questions during Sunday morning interviews on CNN and Fox News about how that could be done safely amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, prompting fierce criticism from congressional Democrats. "[Betsy DeVos,] you have no plan," tweeted Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., on Sunday afternoon. "I wouldn't trust you to care for a house plant let alone my child." Pressley was one of several Democratic lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who publicly blasted DeVos following her Sunday TV appearances. During both interviews, DeVos appeared to dance around questions about how the Education Department planned to ensure the safety of children and teachers and their families as the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths continued surging in a majority of states over the weekend. Instead, she stuck to a handful of talking points that revolved around the same central message: "The key is that kids have to get back to school, and we know there are going to be hot spots and those need to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall," she told CNN's Dana Bash. Angela Morabito, a spokeswoman for the Education Department, echoed DeVos's comments in a statement to The Washington Post on Monday evening. "The science is clear: Schools can reopen safely in the fall," Morabito said. "This might not look the same in every place - in fact, we hope that state and local education leaders take this opportunity to provide families with options based on their personal situations and the local health realities." "Students are at the center of everything we do, and Secretary DeVos would not be calling for a return to school if it were unsafe," she added. DeVos's remarks on Sunday came as she and Trump have struggled to get school systems nationwide to commit to fully reopening, despite pressuring education leaders and threatening to cut federal funding from schools that do not open. As The Post's Laura Meckler reported Friday, a number of school districts have announced hybrid reopening plans, meaning students will be in classrooms some days and learning remotely on others. But on Sunday, DeVos defended her position that all schools need to be fully open this fall and prepared to provide students with full-time, in-person education. Supporters of the effort have noted that some parents cannot return to work if children are at home, and that although there was some success in the spring with remote education, attempts to shift to online learning largely failed in many districts. "They've been missing months of learning," DeVos said at the start of a roughly 20-minute interview on CNN. "Many of them are going to be so far behind, difficult to catch up, and we know that this is a matter of their health in a multitude of factors. . . . Particularly for kids from low-income and vulnerable populations, this is devastating to be out of school and not learning for months on end." Bash repeatedly pressed DeVos on whether the return could happen safely. "We know that children get the virus at a far lower rate than any other part of the population," DeVos responded. "And again, there is nothing in the data that would suggest that kids being back in school is dangerous to them." The recommendation to reopen schools has been backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which cites the academic and social-emotional damage done when children miss school. Still, the AAP, in a joint statement with teachers unions and superintendents, stressed last week that schools in areas with high rates of coronavirus cases should not be compelled to reopen against the advice of local experts. On Sunday, Bash cited recent reports of novel coronavirus outbreaks at a Missouri summer camp and child-care facilities in Texas. She also highlighted guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which states, "If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass this virus onto others who have an increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19." DeVos avoided answering questions about whether schools should adhere to the CDC's guidelines on reopening, which have been criticized by Trump for being "very tough & expensive." "As the secretary of education, should schools in the United States follow the CDC recommendations or not?" Bash asked. "Dr. Redfield has clearly said these are recommendations and every situation is going to look slightly different," said DeVos, referring to CDC Director Robert Redfield. "And the key for education leaders, and these are smart people who can figure things out, they can figure out what is going to be right for their specific situation, because every school building is different. Every school population is different." DeVos later added that the CDC's guidelines are "meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation." She gave an equally noncommittal answer when Bash asked what schools should do if an outbreak occurs. "I can't, as a non-physician or nonmedical expert, tell you precisely what to do in the case of one child in a classroom or five children in a classroom," DeVos said. "But the key is every school should have plans for that situation to be able to pivot and ensure that kids can continue learning at a distance if they have to for a year." DeVos noted that school leaders could look to examples set by the private sector as well as front-line workers and hospitals. "OK, but I'm not hearing a plan from the Department of Education," Bash interjected. "Do you have a plan, for what students and what schools should do?" DeVos replied: "Schools should do what's right on the ground at that time for their students and for their situation." Bash asked whether DeVos stood by threats made to withhold funding, prompting the education official to stress, "There's no desire to take money away." "So yes or no: Is the threat to withhold funding still alive or not?" Bash asked. "We are committed to ensuring that students are in school and learning," DeVos responded. Those threats also came up during DeVos's appearance on "Fox News Sunday" when host Chris Wallace asked what authority she and Trump have to cut funding that has already been approved by Congress and why they would want to do so at a time when schools need the money to make their facilities safer. "American investment and education is a promise to students and their families," DeVos said. "If schools aren't going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn't get the funds. Then give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise." "Well, you can't do that," Wallace said, interrupting DeVos. "You can't do that unilaterally. You have to do that through Congress." The reaction to DeVos's comments on CNN and Fox News was swift. "What we heard from the secretary was malfeasance and dereliction of duty," Pelosi said on CNN, shortly after Bash spoke with DeVos. "This is appalling" Pelosi accused Trump and his administration of "messing with the health of our children," noting, "Going back to school presents the biggest risk for the spread of the coronavirus." "They ignore science and they ignore governance in order to make this happen," she said. Later Sunday, the White House hit back at Pelosi, tweeting from its recently launched rapid response account, "Speaker Pelosi is playing political games with the health of American children, ignoring the serious health implications of keeping schools shut down." By Sunday night, DeVos was still trending on Twitter as politicians and other critics dissected her interviews. "Betsy DeVos' lack of leadership on how to safely resume schools is dangerous to our students, our teachers, and our staff," Harris, a former presidential candidate, tweeted. "She has no plan." Meanwhile, Schumer urged Trump and DeVos to stop threatening to cut funding from schools and instead "get to work helping them!" But despite DeVos's insistence, at least one GOP leader, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, reaffirmed Sunday that his state would fully reopen its schools when officials there see fit. "Everybody would like to get our kids back to school as quickly as we can, but we also want to do it and make sure our kids are going to be as safe as possible," Hogan said on "Meet The Press" Sunday. "So, we're not going to be rushed into this." In a work-from-home world, hitting the local cafe for a daily caffeine fix has become a ritual of the now-forgotten past. And no matter how much kitchen brewing consumers take up, that just cant seem to make up for the demand blow. Global coffee consumption is set to fall this year for the first time since 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts. Thats even with a huge surge in bean buying at the grocery store amid pantry loading. Shutdowns for cafes and restaurants which typically account for about 25 per cent of demand were overwhelming, and it could be a while before things pick up again. The disappearance of cafe culture is happening in every major region. Researcher Marex Spectron estimates globally more than 95 per cent of the out-of-home market was shuttered at some point during the pandemic. Its the latest cruel twist of the coronavirus, which has ripped so much away from people that not even the simple pleasure of lingering over a latte is safe. For Notes, a coffee-shop chain in London, restrictions are easing in the city, but most of its 10 cafes that cater to office workers remain closed. It will be a slow and staggered comeback for us as a lot of the offices in London are not coming back on until after summer, and some may even open only next year, said co-founder Robert Robinson. Consumers have shown theyre hesitant to dine out in droves again as economies reopen. Coffee shops, which often depend on morning commuters and afternoon breakers, have been especially hard hit. Dunkin Brands Group Inc. has lost much of its breakfast crowd during the coronavirus pandemic, while Starbucks Corp. is retooling its model, rolling out a pickup store format that doesnt have any of the tables and chairs that traditionally made its cafes a popular hangout spot. If you feel like having a cappuccino, ordering it online doesnt really work as coffee is all about the social aspect, said Robinson. A hobbled recovery for coffee demand could be devastating for the roughly 125 million globally that depend on the crop for their livelihood. Growers were already struggling through financial crisis after years of bumper harvests sparked a prolonged bear market. Citigroup Inc. predicts that futures for arabica beans could drop roughly 10 per cent in the second half of the year to about 90 cents a pound, hovering near break-even costs. Meanwhile the International Coffee Organization has warned of the dangers of child labour in producing regions as poverty increases for farmers. Brazils Suplicy Cafes Especiais, one of the countrys largest cafe chains, was forced to postpone payments to farmers for cargoes that had already been delivered. Meanwhile, orders for new supplies will resume only gradually, chief executive officer Felipe Braga said in a telephone interview. Suplicy operates 25 stores, the vast majority of which have been closed by COVID-19 restrictions since mid-March. A handful reopened recently amid easing lockdown restrictions, but then they were shuttered once again because not enough customers were coming through. Some of our franchising partners already warned us that they will close permanently, Braga said. Still, some shop operators are taking steps to change their business model, which could help spark some rebound. Max Crowleys two Bandit coffee shops in New Yorks Midtown and Chelsea neighbourhoods remain on pause, hobbled by the closure of local offices. Meanwhile, hes just opened up a new Hamptons location in the Town of Southampton, an enclave where many New York City dwellers fled to at the peak of the pandemic and where well-to-do residents spend summers. Manhattan traffic is still very light. The Hamptons is very busy. It makes sense for us. Its where many of our customers go, Crowley said. Theres also some optimism the worst is over. In Asia, the fastest-growing market for coffee, consumption at restaurants and cafes is expected to recover in the second half of the year as many countries emerge from lockdowns, according to Tan Heng Hong, APAC food and drink analyst at market research company Mintel. And the USDA also predicts a rebound in global demand next year. Still, a global second wave of infections could halt reopening plans. McDonalds Corp. has said its pausing the resumption of all dine-in services in its U.S. restaurants as the virus flares up in areas across the country. And even if stores open, fears of contagion could continue to keep customers away. Starbucks is operating about 95 per cent of the companys U.S. stores, but comparable sales were down 43 per cent in May. Plus theres the economic downturn, which generally spurs consumers to trim their dining out expenses. The Dalgona coffee sensation a fluffy, whipped beverage made from instant coffee that was popularized on social media shows that consumers are trying to recreate the fun cafe experience at home instead. That could end up helping to rescue prices of robusta beans, used in instant varieties, to the detriment of pricier arabicas. Robusta futures are down 13 per cent this year in London, while arabica beans slumped 25 per cent in New York. We believe that consumers will move down price points, and turn more to cheaper, instant coffee, as they tighten their belts amidst the gloomy economic outlook, Taohai Lin, a consumer and retail analyst at Fitch Solutions. Consumers will continue to embrace home brew and instant coffee, both because they will still avoid heading out to cafes, and also because it is generally a cheaper alternative. Taiwan's financial regulator held an emergency meeting last week with major banks to discuss the soaring Taiwan dollar due to concern from exporters and the highest levels of government, three sources with direct knowledge said. The Taiwan dollar has strengthened 2.1 percent against the US dollar this year, with the central bank intervening daily to try and prevent it rising further, according to bankers. Jean Chiu, deputy head of the Financial Supervisory Commission, called the emergency meeting on Friday, the three sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. The meeting was to discuss an "exchange rate risk mutual assistance mechanism" for small and medium-sized companies' exports, the sources said, demand for which has already been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting was also held due to concerns about the strength of the Taiwan dollar at the highest levels of government, the sources said. However, the meeting ended with no conclusion, as such a mechanism needs more research and the central bank already provides hedging tools for exporters, the sources added. The central bank declined to comment. The financial regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A strong Taiwan dollar hurts the competitiveness of the island's small and medium-sized companies, which are a pillar of the export-reliant economy. The central bank - popularly called "the big boss" by Taiwanese bankers - was intervening in the markets much more than many people imagined, a senior banker told Reuters. "At a conservative estimate the big boss every day is buying several hundred batches," the banker said, referring to a system where each batch is worth $1 million. Taiwan faces a political risk too, not wanting to be named by the United States - the Chinese-claimed island's most important supporter on the world stage - as a currency manipulator. "The Taiwan dollar keeps appreciating, manufacturers keep howling about it, and then there's the US currency manipulation report which keeps being read," another banker said. Taiwan was last labelled a currency manipulator by the United States in December 1992 and was later put on the US Treasury monitoring list in 2016 and 2017. The Senate has passed a bill amending the criminal code, changing the jail term for kidnapping from 10 years to life imprisonment. The bill, read for the third time on Tuesday, also seeks to remove gender restrictions in the issue of rape, and recognise males as rape victims too. Another provision of the bill is to remove the statute of limitation, which means there would be no time limit for when a rape matter can be decided. It seeks to eliminate a time frame for prosecuting cases of sexual abuse by increasing the period from two months to as many years as the victim decides to seek action. The bill titled, A bill for an Act to amend the Criminal Code Act CAP C.38 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004 is sponsored by Oluremi Tinubu. Passage of the bill was sequel to the presentation of the report of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matter by the chairman, Opeyemi Bamidele. In his presentation, Mr Bamidele said Nigerians at the public hearing expressed divergent views as regards the proposed amendments in the bill. The Ekiti senator also said life imprisonment has been prescribed for kidnappers. The bill will address lingering issues starting with statute of limitation in the prosecution of rape and as well as defilement cases and it will curb the menance which has been on the rise. That the statute of limitation has been omitted from the violence against persons act 2015 which is the prevailing law of the subject matter. The bill seeks to amend the criminal code act of 1916 and not that of the states. The bill when enacted will apply to the federal high court The Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters to which this bill was referred, having considered same, recommends as follows; that the senate pass the criminal code act CAP C38 LFN 2004 (amendment) bill 2020, he said. Amended sections of the Act Some sections of the of the principal Act that have been amended include: * Section 218 which states that prosecution for either of the offences defined in this section of this Code shall begin within two months after the offence is committed. It now reads, Prosecution for either of the offences defined in this section shall be commenced within two months from the date the offence is committed. * Section 357 (Definition of rape) which states that any person who has unlawful carnal knowledge of a woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, if the consent is obtained by force or by means of threats or intimidation of any kind, or by fear of harm, or be means of false and fraudulent representation as to the nature of the act, or, in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape. It is amended in line 1 by substituting for the words, woman or girl, without her consent, or with her consent, the words, any person, without consent, or with consent, And in line 3, by substituting for the words in the case of a married woman, by personating her husband, is guilty of an offence which is called rape The clause has been amended to maintain gender neutrality of the provision as the offence can be committed by both gender. * Section 364(2) (Kidnapping) of the Principal Act is amended in line 5 by substituting for the words is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for ten years, the words is guilty of a felony and is liable to imprisonment for life. This clause is amended in order to make the punishment of the offence of kidnapping stringent in order to deter perpetrators of the crimes. The Senate, thereafter, resolved into the Committee of the Whole to consider clauses of the bill and pass it. The passage of the bill comes about a week after the lawmakers passed the anti-sexual harassment bill. The bill will be sent to the House of Representatives for concurrence after which it will be transmitted to the president for assent. Disgruntled Khabarovsk residents saw the arrest as a transparent attempt to rob them of their democratic choice, and they rallied by the tens of thousands on Saturday, the biggest protests that the region had seen since the early 1990s. He was the only governor who, after many years, started to bring the region up from its knees, Olesya Usoltseva-Zimina, a 41-year-old census specialist who plans to demonstrate for Mr. Furgal again this coming Saturday, said by phone from Khabarovsk. He clearly wasnt acceptable to the Kremlin. In a leaked recording of a phone call last year, Mr. Putins representative to Russias Far East could be heard complaining to Mr. Furgal that the governors approval rating in his region was rising while the presidents was falling. Mr. Furgals supporters say the last straw came earlier this month, when Khabarovsk recorded only 44 percent turnout in the nationwide vote on constitutional amendments that allow Mr. Putin to serve until 2036. I think many people would allow that he may have been involved in some not-so-honest things, another protester, Sergei Mamayev, a 33-year-old event organizer, said of the governor. But despite all this, we want our choice to be respected. The outpouring of anger has put Mr. Zhirinovsky in a bind: stirring the pot too much would irk Mr. Putin and threaten the financial spoils of his political perch. So far he has split the difference: He delivered a rousing defense of Mr. Furgal in Parliament, accusing Mr. Putin of creeping, Stalin-like repressions; but he also warned supporters that participating in unsanctioned street protests would have only negative consequences. Its a situation in which he cant not be in the opposition, but being in the opposition is dangerous, Mr. Korgunyuk, the political scientist, said. Zhirinovsky sees his party first and foremost as a business, so it is hard for him to break with the authorities. You may not be able to borrow as much If you need to borrow to pay for college, there are annual and overall limits for federal loans for undergraduates. Parent or graduate PLUS loans and private loans limit borrowing to the total cost of attendance minus other financial aid. You can use student loans to help pay for tuition and fees, as well as living expenses, which are factored into the official cost of attendance. Your school determines the cost of attendance, and it is confirmed by your lender. Call to double-check what the new total cost of attendance is if your college goes remote since its website might not have the most up-to-date information. Be ready to adapt to changing circumstances If you need more money for college due to a change in your familys financial situation, you can appeal your financial aid award with your schools financial aid office. You should also update the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, you submitted to apply for aid. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:36:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China's civil aviation regulator said Tuesday that China Eastern Airlines is allowed to increase the number of international flights because of its effective COVID-19 control. Flight MU2574 from Vientiane, capital of Laos, to Kunming and MU524 from Tokyo, capital of Japan, to Shanghai, are the first batch of "rewarded flights" following the introduction of a reward-and-suspension system by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on June 4. From June 15 to July 5, both flights saw all inbound passengers test negative for the novel coronavirus, said the CAAC. As a reward, the airline can increase the number of flights between Vientiane and Kunming from one to two per week until October 24, the end of this flight season. Meanwhile, as the number of inbound flights to Shanghai is close to the maximum the city can receive, the reward for flight MU524 has been transferred to a new flight MU593/4 between Tokyo and Xi'an, which can be operated once a week. According to the CAAC policy, if all inbound passengers test negative for novel coronavirus for three weeks in a row, the airline will be allowed to increase the number of flights to two per week. If the number of passengers testing positive reaches five, the airline's flights will be suspended for a week. The suspension will last four weeks if the number of passengers testing positive reaches 10. The measure to resume some international passenger flights aims to balance epidemic control with economic and social development, said the CAAC. Enditem A F-16 fighter jet takes off during a military drill at Zhi-Hang Air Base in Taitung, Taiwan, on Jan. 30, 2018. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) US Air Force F-16 Crashes During Landing at New Mexico Base, Pilot Injured An F-16C Viper crashed during a landing at Holloman Air Force Base, leaving at least one pilot injured, officials confirmed on Monday night. The Air Forces 49th Wing wrote that the Viper, which belongs to the 49th Wing, crashed during landing at the New Mexico base at around 6 p.m. local time. The sole pilot on board successfully ejected and is currently being treated for minor injuries, it said. The Air Force said (pdf) that emergency response teams are on scene, and an investigation conducted by a board of qualified officers is ongoing to determine the cause of the incident. Other details about the crash were not immediately available. On July 1, an Air Force pilot was killed during an F-16 crash in South Carolina. Days before that, an Air Force F-15C Eagle crashed into the North Sea near northern England during a training exercise, which also killed the pilot. David Schmitz was identified as the pilot who crashed in South Carolina by Air Force officials. Dave loved a lot of things. He loved his family, he loved his country, and he loved to fly, 20th Fighter Wing Commander Col. Larry Sullivan said via Facebook Live. In England, officials said that the pilot of the downed F-15C Eagle from the 48th Fighter Wing has been located, and confirmed deceased. A USAF F-16 Viper from the 49 WG crashed during landing at Holloman AFB at approximately 1800 MDT today. The sole pilot on board successfully ejected and is currently being treated for minor injuries. Emergency responders are on scene. https://t.co/XT4ecjbgy6 49th Wing (@HollomanAFB) July 14, 2020 This is a tragic loss for the 48th Fighter Wing community, and our deepest condolences go out to the pilots family and the 493rd Fighter Squadron. The aircraft was from RAF Lakenheath, the largest U.S. Air Force-operated base in England and the only U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) F-15 fighter wing. It is located about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Cambridge. In 2014, a U.S. military helicopter crashed on the coast of eastern England, killing all four crew on board. In May, a fifth-generation F-22 Raptor crashed at Floridas Eglin Air Force Base. After that, an F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter crashed at the same base. Both took place during training flights and both pilots ejected successfully. Officials previously stated that separate investigations have been launched into both incidents. Last October, an F-16 crashed at Holloman Air Force Base in a night training exercise. The pilot survived. Reuters contributed to this report. The United Arab Emirates is planning to send a spacecraft to Mars and the reins of the Arab worlds first interplanetary mission is in the hands of a woman. In an interview with the BBC, scientist Sarah Al-Amiri who is in charge of the mission said that the probe took over six years to build. Amiri, who is UAEs minister of State for Advanced Technology, expressed her nervousness and said that team has invested more than six years into the mission that primarily aims to find out more about the Red Planet. The mission will try and unearth the reason behind Mars barren, dusty atmosphere and environment by closely studying its weather and climate. The Red Planet once contained oceans just like Earth, what turned it into a dry and dusty planet remains a mystery yet to be solved. In the interview, Amiri said the vastness of the universe and complexities of the space has always excited and mesmerised her, thereby igniting her curiosity. Also read: UAE to make history with launch of Mars probe The Mars mission comes as a huge leap for the UAE, which by far has only launched satellites into the Earths orbit. The countrys spacecraft, named Hope or "al-Amal" in Arabic, has been built with the help of US scientists. Hope will be launched on a Japanese rocket and is likely to take around seven months to reach the Red Planet. Once there, it will loop the planet for a whole Martian year -- 687 days. The spacecraft was set to be launched on July 15, 12:51:27 am (UAE time) from Japans remote Tanegashima Space Center. The launch has been postponed due to adverse weather conditions. In my heart of hearts, Im looking forward to the initial 24 hours after separation, and thats where we see the results of our work, said Amiri as reported by news agency AFP. The UN's top court will rule Tuesday in a bitter feud between Qatar and four rival neighbours which imposed an air blockade against Doha after accusing it of backing radical Islamists and Iran. The decision covers a key part of the acrimonious standoff that erupted three years ago between Qatar and Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The four other states are asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to quash a decision by the world civil aviation body in favour of Qatar over sovereign airspace. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in 2018 ruled it had the jurisdiction to handle a dispute brought by Qatar, which accused its neighbours of violating a convention that regulates the free passage of its passenger planes through foreign airspace. But the four allies disagreed, saying the ICAO was not the right body to judge in the dispute and that its decision to do so was "manifestly flawed and in violation of fundamental principles of due process and the right to be heard." They are now asking the Hague-based ICJ's judges to declare the ICAO ruling "null and void and without effect." Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and other allies severed ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing the gas and oil-rich country of backing radical Islamists and Iran. They imposed wide-ranging punitive measures including banning Qatari planes from their airspace, closing Qatar's only land border with Saudi Arabia and expelling Qatari citizens. Doha strongly denies the allegations. The countries justified the moves against the Gulf peninsula state saying it was their sovereign right to protect their national security. Qatar fiercely rejected the claims that it had violated a series of agreements inked with its neighbours in 2013 and 2014 aimed at settling years of diplomatic rancour. Last year the ICJ -- set up in 1946 to rule in disputes between UN member states -- rejected a request by the UAE to take special measures against Qatar, after Doha won a case at the ICJ in 2018 over alleged discrimination against its citizens. Doha in June again accused the Saudi-led alliance of refusing to engage with efforts to resolve the crisis that it said were backed by the United States. Search Keywords: Short link: I nodded my head quietly. This was the woman who had prided herself on working as a cleaning lady well into her eighth month of pregnancy. Whenever one of my three sisters complained about the slightest ache, she was quick to remind them that she had juggled mops, brooms and cleaning carts, all while carrying a belly the size of a watermelon. On this night, she said little. Instead she focused on slowly inhaling and exhaling the dwindling air moving through her lungs. Less than an hour after a nurse administered a coronavirus test, he announced that she was positive. No surprise there, Ama said. Two attendants arrived with a stretcher to transport her into a Covid wing at another location, where she would not be allowed to have visitors, I knew. My throat tightened. The beeping sound of the monitors echoed around the small room. The two attendants asked her to place her arms on her stomach and they wrapped her in a white blanket. Were going to make a senora burrito, one of them said, and we laughed. Suddenly I panicked. Our family, while close, has never been overly emotional. Growing up, Ama used to remind us that she might not say I love you often, but that she and Apa worked hard to provide us with food and a roof over our heads. And thats what matters, she would say. Actions, not words. I fought the urge to reach for her and say something profound. Should I say I love you? Was it time for a heartfelt farewell? What if this was the last time I would see her alive? I decided that if I said something poignant, she might interpret it as a final goodbye and give up. Instead, I decided to act as casual as possible. The Iranian government has decided to move ahead with the construction of rail line from Chabahar port to Zahedan, along the border with Afghanistan, on its own as it cited delays from the Indian side in funding and starting the project four years after an agreement was signed. The entire project would be completed by March 2022, and the Iranian Railways will proceed without assistance from India and will use approximately $400 million from the Iranian National Development Fund, The Hindu reported. Irans move to drop the partnership with India comes as it finalises a sweeping 25-year economic and security partnership with China worth $400 billion. The partnership would vastly expand Chinese presence in banking, telecommunications, ports, railways and dozens of other projects. In exchange, China would receive a regular and, according to an Iranian official and an oil trader, heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil over the next 25 years. An 18-page document detailing the proposed agreement also describes deepening military cooperation, potentially giving China a foothold in the region. The agreement could hurt Indias prospects in the region. The railway line was finalised in May 2016 during Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to Tehran to sign the Chabahar agreement with Iranian President Rouhani and Afghanistan President Ghani. It was part of Indias commitment to the trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan to build an alternate trade route to Afghanistan and Central Asia. Government-owned Indian Railways Construction Ltd (IRCON) had promised to provide all services, superstructure work and financing for the project (around $1.6 billion). However, with US imposing sanctions on Iran, India never started the work on the railway line despite several site visits by IRCON engineers. While the US had given a sanctions waiver for the Chabahar port and the rail line, India found it difficult to find equipment suppliers due to worries they could be penalised by the US, the Hindu reported. The Ministry of External Affairs and IRCON have declined to comment on the issue. New Delhi, July 14 : A BJP delegation led by party general secretary and West Bengal in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday to press for a CBI inquiry into the mysterious death of Bengal BJP MLA Debabarata Nath Roy. In a letter to Shah, the BJP has also raised serious questions about the law and order situation in West Bengal, calling it "Jungle Raaj". Coming out of the meeting, Vijayvargiya told reporters that they don't trust any investigation done by the state police. "We condemn the gruesome incident of death of Shri Debabarata Nath Roy of BJP in mysterious circumstances, and we strongly demand CBI investigation into the entire matter. The state police cannot be trusted towards an impartial investigation to apprehend the culprits. The records of earlier sham investigations by state police in hundreds of political killings have established this obvious conclusion," wrote the BJP leaders to Shah. The three-page letter was signed by Union minister Babul Supriyo, co-observer Arvind Menon, MPs Swapan Dasgupta and Raju Bista apart from Vijayvargiya himself. The BJP alleged "There is no protection of common people by established law and a 'jungle raaj' is prevailing in the state. Common people are helpless in this scenario, when even an elected representative of people is not safe." Earlier in the day, a BJP delegation also met President Ram Nath Kovind to make a similar demand. After the meeting with the President, Vijayvargiya told reporters: "Jungle Raaj is prevailing in West Bengal. We do not trust any agency of West Bengal. So, the entire case should be investigated by the CBI." The body of the BJP MLA was found hanging in West Bengal on Monday. The state BJP accused the ruling TMC for the death of Roy, who represents the Hematabad reserved seat in North Dinajpur. State police had recovered a suicide note from the pocket of the BJP MLA and dubbed it a case of suicide. However, the BJP calls it a "murder". The saffron party observed a 12-hour 'bandh' across north Bengal on Tuesday to protest against the "mysterious" death of its MLA, which has become the latest BJP-TMC flashpoint in the state. The Perspective Atlanta, Georgia July 14, 2020 For any society to prosper, it needs to have a government to run its affairs. The government helps to sustain the social contract that binds every member of the state. Thus, the price that is paid for a state to be prosperous is for it to have an established government that enforces the social contract. Members of an ordered society, called a state, must pay taxes sufficient to carry out the functions assigned to the state. In Liberia, costs associated with the running of government have increased dramatically over the years such that an increasingly reduced proportion of public revenue is available to support and implement the primary functions of government. Consequently, the discharge of beneficial government functions has been hampered. Its no news. The curse of leadership plagues Africa, and Liberia is chief amongst its sufferers. The discussion of Liberian politics has long focused on the role of the executive (President), or on the party, and less commonly on the role of the legislature. Big men (and now a few women) dominated national politics, either as democrats. They and their close associates were salient and largely determinative of political machinations and outcomes. Thus the President was for many decades omnipotent in the majority of Liberian politics. According to the Liberian 1986 constitution, the key function of the Liberian national legislature is to constrain the arbitrary or capricious acts of the executive on behalf of the citizens whom legislators are meant to represent. Oversight is essential to any democracy because it ensures both the vertical accountability of rulers to the ruled as well as the horizontal accountability of all other government agencies to the one branch the legislature whose primary function is to represent the citizens. In the past year, I made a clear determination to steer clear talking about government without being able to do anything. However, I am forced to write in clear terms in this article about the arrogances of 3rd term Representative of District #5, Montserrado County, Representative Thomas Fallah of the Congress for Democratic Change, and presumptive senatorial candidate Montserrado County in the ensuring 2020 bi-senatorial elections and Representative Rustonlyn Dennis of the Liberia Transformation Party (LTP) representing District #5, Montserrado County Rep Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis (L) and Rep Thomas Fallah Last week, we were served another national comedy when Representative Thomas Fallah wrote on his official Facebook page 18 years ago, I was denied from entering a university because I couldnt afford by September 2021, the T. Five University will open to the poorest of the poor. Never give up, remember that nothing is more powerful than the resilience of the human spirit. The question is, Da your pa f-cking money? For her part Rep. Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis (District #4, Montserrado) said she will not seek treatment at the John F Kennedy Memorial Medical Center under its current administration for fear of her life after the recent passing of Representative Jay Nagbe Sloh of District #2, Sinoe County at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia. On July 8, 2020, we got the unfortunate news of the passing of Rep. Munah Pelham-Youngblood (CDC, District No. 9 Montserrado) a short while ago in Accra, Ghana. One of the unintended consequences of the legislatures unilateral pending action brings to the front-burner questions about the size of government, the excessive cost of governance, and the fraud and corruption in Liberia. An examination of the operational style of successive Liberian legislatures since 2006 would reveal an array of demagogue politicians who always pretend to mean well in the kind of policies they have pursued in the running of government, but a perusal of their factual performance records would disclose only deliberate and systematic pillage of our national wealth, reckless misappropriation of scarce resources and brazen disregard for the needs of the people. These pretentious politicians, who always claim to have people-oriented and focused leadership qualities, are in fact, the least endowed with the virtues of transparency, probity, and accountability in the running of government business. The result of all these debaucheries is the emergence of a powerful privileged class that has suddenly supplanted the yearnings and aspirations of teeming Liberians with its bloated appetite for opulent and ostentatious lifestyles. Meanwhile, despite our bloated and behemoth government bureaucracies, the pre-occupation of our lawmakers has ceased from being servants of the Liberian people to maintaining and protecting themselves and their numerous cronies. While corruption and cronyism continue to fester in government circles, the people continue to wallow in inexplicable squalor and denial. Liberians generally observed and agreed that Liberia is a nation blessed beyond belief but, as at today, a nation in abject poverty, with confused leadership, and obscurity. Many articles, opinions, suggestions, etc. have been written about Liberia in the recent past. More of these critical, but constructive viewpoints have been adjudged by the very objective minded as poignant, relevant, and indeed requisite for all those leaders who wish Liberia well. It is depressing that several years of huge democratic investment in Liberia have yielded no fruitful gain, rather, a downturn in development and growth. The national legislature is made up of unserious elements, and self-centered individuals. Our lawmakers are not justifying their monthly pays, vis-a-vis the number of days and hours they sit in a week, and the number of times they go on vacation every legislative calendar. How can Rep. Fallah who was once poor, but after being elected to the legislature, now, boast of building a multi-million university? Why are our lawmakers playing on the sensibility of our poverty-stricken people? Is Liberia under a curse of Leadership? Is leadership Liberias greatest challenge? Is it corruption? What will we do about it? Will there ever be an end? Are we at a tipping point? Is there hope? Is there a way out? I would like for you to take a little glimpse of the present crop of leaders who govern our affairs, starting with the lawmakers and others in subsequent articles. These are the leaders we have elected in the past elections to serve our interests. Most of these leaders collect huge funds from the Liberian government and not only spend them lavishly, but keep increasing their expenditures at the expense of capital expenditure. They are part and puzzle of why Liberia is spending 90% of her entire budget on recurrent expenditure. The Lawmakers Budget in Post Conflict Liberia Fiscal Year (FY) 2006-2007: US $ 9,456,230 FY 2007-2008: US $16M FY 2008-2009: US $18M FY 2009-2010: US $19M FY 2010-2011: US $23M FY 2011-2012: US $26M FY2012-2013: US $39M FY 2013-2014: US $39M FY 2014-2015: US$41M FY 2015-2016: US$54M FY2016-2017: US$47M FY2017-2018: US$49M FY2018-2019: US$49.2M Office of the Speaker of the House FY 2009-2010: US $605,412 FY 2010-2011: US $ 619,952 FY 2011-2012: US $631,167 FY 2012-2013: US $911,793 FY 2013-2014: US$1.3M FY 2014-2015: US$1.5M FY 2015-2016: US$1M FY2016-2017: US$1M OFICE OF THE DEPUTY SPEAKER FY 2009-2010: US$334,088 FY 2010-2011: US$387,928 FY 2011-2012: US$545,204 FY 2012-2013: US $508,724 FY 2013-2014: US$521,746 FY2014-2013: US$1.2M FY2014-2015: UU$1M FY2015-2016: US$1.4M FY 2016-2017: US$930,132 OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE FY 2009-2010: US $ 634,900 FY 2010-2011: US $ 517,904 FY 2011-2012: US $ 911,227 FY 2012-2013: US $906,979 FY 2013-2014: US$1.6M FY 2014-2015: US$2.3M FY 2015-2016: US$9.5 FY 2016-2017: US$1.3M PLEASE NOTE: FOr some strange reasons, the speaker, Deputy speAKer, and president pro TEMPORE OFFICESXSPENDINGS are no more captured in the budget since cdc led government assumed office. Liberian "lawmakers" Look at the statics in the last decade, the average income of each of our legislators has gone up every budgetary cycle at the expense of the entire working force in Liberia. Now, this kind of inequality -- a level that we havent seen since the formation of the Liberian states -- hurts us all. When average Liberia families can no longer afford to buy the goods and services that businesses are selling, when people are slipping deep into abject poverty, it drags down the entire economy from top to bottom. Recent studies have shown that countries with less inequality tend to have stronger and steadier economic growth over the long run. Inequality also distorts our democracy. It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford to participate in politics, and it runs the risk of selling out our democracy to the highest bidder. Our representatives and senators earn so much; do you expect them to defend the hapless & helpless majority against a cruel government or its policies? It leaves the Liberian people else rightly suspicious that the system is rigged against them that our elected representatives arent looking out for the interests of most Liberians. You know why! Its why they ignored all the waste in the budget but jerked up their budget every fiscal year. Our lawmakers have been looting public funds through budgetary allocation and generally being a nuisance since 2006. Amidst the pervading abject poverty across the land, our lawmakers allocated to themselves US$49 million in the FY2018-2019. This is part of the reason why 90% of the nations budget is allocated to mainly recurrent expenditures. This means the CDC led government is spending less on capital investment projects the contributing fact can arguably be traced to the waste in government including the US49 million, a huge chunk of the nations resources to service less than 103 legislators and their staff in a country of over 4.6 million people. Where is the opposition in the legislature? Collaborating Political Parties, National Democratic Coalition, National Union for Democratic Progress, etc.? Birds of a feather flock together! The reality is Liberia has never worked, and may never work if we dont rise and confront the system of socioeconomic marginalization. The combined salaries and incentives of the representatives and senators in the Fiscal year 2018-2019 were US49.2 M and in the Fiscal year, 2017-2018 was US$49M. What do the Liberian legislators contribute to earning so much when the majority of our people are living in abject poverty and unemployment is soaring. This is why members of the legislature are so boastful and arrogant instead of being humble and servants of the people. What kind of country allocated in the 2018/2019 budget to the national legislature allocated US$49.2M while the educational sector was allocated US$25M, and the agriculture $37M (6.2% of the budget)? Why is Rep. Rustonlyn Suacoco Dennis feared for her life if she is admitted to the government-owned John F. Kennedy medical center? Does she know the paltry amounts allocated to health care by the legislature branch exemplified the misplaced priorities of the Liberian budgets? Not only have Liberia neglected the economic sector but also the social sector. It is generally acknowledged that investment in healthcare is necessary to maintain a healthy and quality population. Similarly, investment in education and agriculture are important for human resource development. In effect, education, health & agriculture sectors are necessary for social and economic development. An educated and healthy population that feeds itself enhances the competitiveness of a nation. Unfortunately, these three sub-sectors are neglected by the Liberian government. Given the contribution of education to development, the United Nations recommends that countries allocate 26 percent of their resources on education. In the 2018/2019 budget, the Liberia government never meets this budgetary target. The government allocated only 4.2% of its budget to the education sector (US$25M), which is lower than comparable African countries such as South Africa (26%), Cote dIvoire (30%), Ghana (31%), and Uganda (27%). Budgeting for education is one thing, getting commensurate outcomes is quite another thing. The Liberian government and legislators like Representative Thomas Fallah and Senator Prince Johnson invest in building schools and classrooms instead of the improvement of teacher quality and welfare, providing books and materials, and ensuring that children remain in school. Teachers' training and incentive packages for teachers improve academic performance far more than spending on lucrative building contracts for political party apparatchiks. In education as in everything in public finance, the quality of spending is as important as the amount and proportion of the total budget. The health sector across Liberia reveals an area of national life that is in dire need of rescue through new policies, regulations, and strengthened institutions. That is why I am surprised why one legislator recently died and many have died seeking medical treatment in Europe, America, Ghana, India, etc. Across the country, treatable diseases like malaria and cholera are still killers, infant and maternal mortality rates are amongst the worst in the world, while our life expectancy seems to be dropping. The government has greater responsibility for healthcare than any other tier, being in charge of primary and secondary healthcare. We had hoped that our governments budgets would be more effective, and higher in both quantity and quality. Sadly, that is not the reality the 2018/2919 as well as previous budgets revealed. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that 15% of national budgets be allocated to healthcare. The 2018/2019 budget of US$79 million is just about 13.4%. With the widespread dysfunctions in governance that we are experiencing as a country, the under-budgeting for the sector is worsened by the fact that actual releases are usually far less than the amounts allocated. Additionally, effective utilization of the little that gets released is hindered by the corruption and incompetence that exist in the public sector agencies. Liberia on the other hand, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 2016 statistics, has a total land area of 9,362 Hectares with an agricultural area of 2710 Hectares. In simple terms, about 47% of the land in Liberia is arable, out of which less than half is currently under cultivation. Not only do we have vast amounts of arable land, but we also have favorable weather for year-round cultivation of crops. Despite the foregoing, Liberia does not produce enough food for internal consumption. In fact, according to the FAO 2020 statistic. Rice for human consumption accounts for over 80% of imports in Liberia, while wheat and maize account for about 13% and 6%, respectively. Sadly, these are all products that can be grown locally and if managed properly, can be exported in the near future. For a country blessed with so much with the potential of food production endowments, the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI) scored Liberia at 112 out of 117 qualifying countries. This index assesses all available data on hunger, undernourishment, and the pattern of food consumption within countries, and the higher the score, the more serious the nations hunger challenges. According to the ranking, the score of 34.9 for Liberia, therefore, indicates a serious hunger problem in the country. Ironically, nations like Botswana, Namibia. Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, and Oman which are substantially desert nations scored less than 5 on the GHI, indicating the near absence of hunger and malnutrition. We cant go on like this. It will take a fight. The slavery our children will be subjected to will know no bounds. We are enslaved by our very own, our blood, our kinsmen! They ridicule us with their plunder, getting audacious with every unchecked loot they take from the system. Once we can ensure frugality at the legislative, they will exert pressure on other branches of government. We have allowed those meant to keep a check on the system become loose. Insanity! I can never entrust a primary school to any of these looters, they will ruin it! We are close to a tipping point, a point where we are being reminded daily of why we should save our nation from their destructive hands. We are at a point where we must make strategic efforts to sacrifice now so we can gain tomorrow, for Liberia, amongst other issues, is living up to delivery services to our people. How did we end up putting these guys at the helm of national affairs? Why are re-electing folks who keep pushing waste and spending more on our national budget? Most of these lawmakers are personal failures in their system, hence the need to amass wealth by all means possible. The wastes from Liberian legislature, when put together, will build schools; equip hospitals, clinics, community road, et al. Is this why we were told to sacrifice a little? What do we do? We must demand a cut down of these wasteful salaries, allowances, and incentives accruing to the national legislature, at least 50% cut. Protest against any increase from the savages at the national legislature. We must demand the Liberian government adhere to the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation that 15% of national budgets be allocated to healthcare, the United Nations recommendation that countries allocate 26% of their resources on education. For the agricultural sector to be restored as the mainstay of our economy, the spending priorities of the government must genuinely reflect a national commitment to the sector. Allocating in 6.2% of the budget to agriculture is insufficient to enable us to attain the food sufficiency we direly need, much less position us to be a major exporter of cash crops. Agriculture must be made a priority bearing in mind that our other resources are a non-renewable, finite resource that will be exhausted sometime in the future, or replaced by greener or cheaper alternatives. The budgetary allocation figures also need to be tilted sharply in favor of capital expenditure. Allocating 96% of the entire budget on recurrent expenditure is ludicrous! Agriculture is a practical and ground-based profession. The enormous personnel costs incurred on redundant government employees including our legislators add little or nothing to the development of our agricultural sector. Those monies budgeted for the research institutes need to be invested in the real or pilot production sites (farms) and the acquisition of the seedlings, fertilizers, chemicals, and equipment required to make them boost crop output. Better coordination with infrastructural Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), aggressive investment in storage capacities, low-interest loans, and greater extension and support services should command the attention of agricultural policymakers at states and federal levels. Studies indicate that every US dollar spent on agricultural research produces nine dollars worth of added food in developing countries. Agricultural research which successfully drove the first Green Revolution in Asia can also do the same in Liberia. Obviously, this does not refer to wasteful expenditure on personnel cost, engaging in excessive domestic and international travel, purchase of un-needed SUVs, and other pea-brained budget heads that constitute the bulk of typical MDA recurrent expenditures. A worthwhile investment in biotechnological hardware, software, and attracting the best and brightest minds to agricultural research will pay off in the medium to long term. Liberia must attain food sufficiency so that the paradox of hunger in the midst of plenty will no longer apply to us. In closing, we must occupy Liberia, by rejecting members of the current legislators up for re-elections in the senate in December of 2020. To achieve this, our ideology and strategy must be error-proof, must be near-perfect! The enlightened man must get to the poorest/not enlightened person and educate him/her to vote wisely and there is power in their votes. When we enlighten and empower the common man, he would need no coercion when the elastic limit is reached! The streets, the grassroots; thats where the power lies! Leadership failures! Leadership curse! Leadership collapse! This is Liberia, at present, the land of the living dead. We need a re-awakening! About the Author: Karweaye is a Liberian residing in the United States of America and can be contacted at s.karweaye1668@student.tsu.edu Previously announced productions of Violet, The Gospel at Colonus, Fen, and Antigone have all been cancelled, although Court said it hoped to produce all of them in future seasons. The theater also said that it planned to make available streaming versions of its 2021 productions for those who did not care to attend in person. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:27:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DOHA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's health ministry on Tuesday announced 517 new infections of COVID-19, increasing the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 104,533. "Some 533 people recovered, bringing the total number of recoveries to 101,160, while only one died, raising the fatalities to 150," the official Qatar News Agency reported, quoting a statement by the ministry. It revealed that infections had been soaring due to people's gatherings and visits, and ignoring of preventive measures recommended by the government, the most important of which are staying at home and maintaining social distancing. A total of 420,649 persons 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 Too many nations are mismanaging their coronavirus response, placing a return to normality a long way off, the World Health Organization warned Monday as Latin America recorded the worlds second-highest death toll. With new infections spreading like wildfire, many countries were reimposing restrictions on Monday, locking down towns and cities and reintroducing measures to halt the spread of the sickness. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that too many countries were headed in the wrong direction with governments giving out mixed messages that were undermining trust. There will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future, he said, warning that without governments adopting a comprehensive strategy, the situation would get worse and worse and worse. Since the start of July, nearly 2.5 million new infections have been detected across the globe, with the number of cases doubling over the past six weeks, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. In Spain, regional officials were in a standoff with courts after a judge suspended a lockdown just hours after it was imposed on 160,000 people in the Catalonia city of Lerida following a sharp rise in cases. Despite calls to respect the closure, many people were on the streets by mid-afternoon, with shops and bars still open, an AFP correspondent said. It was the first such order given since Spains lockdown ended on June 21 and the situation in the northeastern city was the most worrying among 120 outbreaks across a country where the virus has killed more than 28,400 people. Reimposing lockdowns South Africa has also reimposed a nationwide curfew to prevent a coronavirus storm from ravaging the continents hardest-hit nation, where new infections have topped 12,000 per day. Morocco followed suit on Monday, locking down Tangiers, with public transport suspended, cafes and public spaces closed and movement restricted in the northern port city of a million inhabitants. In Asia, the Philippines imposed a two-week lockdown on 250,000 people in the capital Manila as new infections soared, and Hong Kong stepped up precautions to combat a sudden spike in infections. Restaurants there can only serve takeaway food after 6 pm, gyms, nightclubs, karaoke bars and beauty salons were shuttered and public gatherings were restricted to four people. And two US Marine bases on Japans Okinawa island have been locked down after a spike in cases with dozens infected and local officials expressing serious doubts about the US militarys containment efforts. Across the globe, the pandemic has infected nearly 13 million people, killed more than 566,000 and triggered massive economic damage in the seven months since it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan. With cases surging in Latin America, the region on Monday declared a total of 144,758 deaths, passing the 144,023 recorded in the United States and Canada. It now stands second only to Europe, where 202,505 people have died. At the weekend, US President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public for the first time, in the worlds worst-hit country where 135,171 people have died. Mexico has become the country with the fourth-highest number of COVID-19 fatalities in the world, climbing to a total of 35,006 deaths and surpassing Italy. And Iran, the worst-hit country in the Middle East, counted more than 200 new deaths on Monday, pushing its toll over 13,000. The latest high-profile personality to test positive for COVID-19 was Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai. Millionaires initiative: Tax us more With eyes keenly focused on the economic fallout, the IMF warned Monday that the Middle East and North Africa region was facing its worst downturn in 50 years, citing the twin shock of the virus and low oil prices. The regions economy will contract by 5.7 percent this year and by up to 13 percent in conflict-hit nations, it said, warning of soaring poverty and unemployment, social unrest and spiralling debt. Meanwhile more than 80 millionaires on Monday urged governments around the world to hike taxes on the super-wealthy to help fund the recovery. In an open letter, Millionaires for Humanity said they should be taxed higher, immediately, substantially, permanently. No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards, we are not driving the ambulances, wrote the signatories, among them Ben and Jerrys ice cream co-founder Jerry Greenfield and screenwriter Richard Curtis. But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis. Scientists have urged people take social distancing more seriously, with a French expert warning that a fully effective vaccine was highly unlikely by 2021. And in what may prove a blow to those who have recovered, researchers at Kings College London said COVID-19 survivors could lose their immunity, leaving them vulnerable to reinfection within months. SOURCE> AFP He graduated from Munster High School in 1988, received a bachelor's degree from Wabash College in Crawfordsville where he was selected as an Eli Lilly Fellow in 1992 and a law degree from Indiana University in 1995. As a past secretary of state, Rokita began his career as a modernizer, helping the Indiana secretary of states office turn its paper records into electronic ones available to the public online. Having worked his way up that offices administrative ladder in 2002, he won election, at age 32, as Indiana secretary of state, the youngest such state official in the nation at the time. He won that office again in 2006. Term limits prompted him to run successfully as U.S. representative for the 4th Congressional District, and he served in that post from 2011 to 2019. After falling short in bids for governor and U.S. senator, Rokita has earned a shot at becoming the states top legal adviser. EDWARDSVILLE Two nonbinding referendums one dealing with the fallout from the sheriffs department contracting with a recently-retired captain for administrative work and a question on whether Illinois General Assembly members should receive automatic salary increases are expected to be considered by the Madison County Board at Wednesdays meeting. Both resolutions were set to be discussed at a Government Relations Committee meeting Monday afternoon. If approved they would join a binding referendum on lowering the maximum tax rate for the countys general fund. Copies of the two resolutions were not available Monday morning because they were undergoing revision. The Government Relations Committee noted them as Resolution to Present an Advisory Public Question Via a Countywide Referendum on Whether Retired Employees and Officials Should be Permitted to Double Dip, and Resolution to Present an Advisory Public Question Via a Countywide Referendum on Whether Members of the Illinois General Assembly Should Receive Automatic Salary Increases. If approved by the county board, they would appear on the Nov. 3 ballot. The double dipping resolution is in response to the awarding of a $114,000 contract to retired Madison County Sheriffs Department captain Eric Decker to provide administrative support to the department. Decker, who had been commander of administrative services for the department, retired June 19 after 28 years of service. On July 1 his Godfrey business, Decker Analytics, was hired by the sheriffs department to perform some of the administrative duties that had been part of Deckers job. The contract was on the agenda for several committees last month, but was pulled because of questions. Recently the sheriffs department announced it had OKd the contract without board approval, which officials said it did not need. Last week several members of the Finance Committee and other county board members objected to it. The county has limited control over elected constitutional offices such as the sheriff and county clerk. The primary means of control by the county board is through the departments budget. If Wednesdays resolutions are approved, they will join a recently-approved binding referendum on property tax caps. There is a limit to how many referenda may be placed by the county on the ballot. The tax rate resolution calls for the inclusion of a county-wide referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot to decrease the maximum tax rate for the countys general fund, which pays for many of the day-to-day expenses, to .18 percent of equalized assessed value, or EAV, from the current .20 percent of EAV. It would not result in any real savings for taxpayers next year, because the actual rate this year is .163, which is below the .18 rate called for in the referendum. County taxes also make up a very small percentage of property tax revenue, with education taking up more than half. Buckingham Palace feared the monarchy would collapse in Australia because of an influx of postwar 'non-British' immigrants, newly released correspondence reveals. Letters exchanged between Governor-General Sir John Kerr and the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris were finally released today after four decades. Along with providing bombshell revelations on Sir John's decision to dismiss Gough Whitlam's government in 1975, they reveal how the Palace saw Australia. Sir Martin believed that without more frequent visits from The Queen and other royals, a more multicultural country would ditch the monarchy. Read Daily Mail Australia's entire coverage of the palace letters Buckingham Palace feared the monarchy would collapse in Australia because of an influx of postwar 'non-British' immigrants, correspondence from 1976 reveals. Pictured is the Royal Family in 1972 A ship carrying 1,500 immigrants to Australia leaves Trieste in Italy in the 1950s A year after the dismissal, Sir John wrote to Sir Martin - by then his frequent pen pal - to voice his concerns about the monarchy's future in Australia. 'I have been musing about the monarchy as an institution in our part of the world', he wrote on December 19, 1976. 'In 1947, 98 per cent [of Australians] were of British stock. By the 1971 census only 88 per cent were so derived.' Sir John noted that most of these non-British immigrants were Italians, Greeks, Yugoslavs and Germans - but there were many other nationalities. 'Our immigrants come from over one hundred countries including, for example, Egypt and Turkey, Lebanon and other Arab countries. 'Increasingly, but not yet significantly, we have Asians. Most of these, and most who have come from Europe are from republics and are not directly acquainted with monarchy.' A year after the dismissal, Sir John wrote to Sir Martin - by now his frequent penpal - with concerns about the monarchy's future in Australia Sir Martin replied that the 'increasing non-British element in Australias ethnic make up' had 'significant ramifications for the monarchy Sir Martin replied that the 'increasing non-British element in Australias ethnic make up' had 'significant' ramifications for the monarchy. 'It is one of the reasons why the monarchy in Australia could not, I believe, long remain a reality without more frequent visits by the Sovereign than was customary in the first half of this century,' he wrote. 'The days when The Sovereign of Australia could remain in London, and still remain acceptable are, I think, long past; new immigrants, changing values... would all make this impossible, as well, of course as being wholly undesirable.' In other letters, the pair discussed movements campaigning for an Australian republic but believed they were formed by a small number of 'left-wing' rabble rousers. Australia held a referendum in November 1999 on whether the country should become a republic, but it was comfortably defeated. The 211 letters, thousands of pages in all, contain many revelations about the lead-up to and aftermath of the dismissal as Sir John wrestled with what to do. Also revealed is Mr Whitlam's 'rage' at being ousted and the extent of the backlash against Sir John. Sir John Kerr (pictured) sacked Whitlam while he was Governor-General and documented his decision making in letters to Buckingham Palace A ship docks in Sydney Harbour bringing hundreds of Italian immigrants to start new lives in Australia on August 21, 1956 The letters finally showed that the Queen did not order Sir John to dismiss Mr Whitlam. It has long been speculated that Her Majesty may have undermined Australia's independence by trying to influence Sir John's decision. The letters appear to indicate that the Queen and Sir John did not communicate, at least not directly, and Kerr's correspondence was only with Sir Martin. Palace allies battled for decades to keep the documents - which also include correspondence from Her Majesty's then-private secretary, Martin Charteris - secret, with the National Archives of Australia refusing to release them to the public. The letters had been deemed personal communication by both the National Archives of Australia and the Federal Court, which meant the earliest they could be released was 2027, and only then with the Queen's permission. But the High Court bench earlier this year ruled the letters were property of the Commonwealth and part of the public record, and so must be released. Queensland has banned residents from two Sydney hotspots and South Australia will not reopen its border with NSW and the ACT as the Crossroads Hotel outbreak grows. But NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the government was not considering a lockdown of the two local government areas where cases linked to the south-west Sydney pub have been detected. Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic outside the Crossroads Hotel. Credit:Getty Images The Crossroads Hotel outbreak grew to at least 28 cases, with 20 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in NSW on Tuesday morning. Thirteen cases were recorded up to 8pm last night, and the seven additional cases in the Crossroads cluster were not included in that number. "We are in a stage of high alert," Ms Berejiklian said. Few people will have heard of Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), which is soon to become the sixth neo-Nazi group banned in the UK. Allegedly started by a 13-year-old Estonian boy in 2018, its members span more than a dozen countries and few have ever met in person. Like other emerging neo-Nazi groups, it exists primarily online, with members sharing their ideology, propaganda, terror manuals and attack plots under pseudonyms in encrypted chats. Membership estimates range between 50 and 80 worldwide, and many of those are believed to be teenagers. Announcing her intention to proscribe FKD as a terrorist group on Monday, Priti Patel said: This vile white supremacist group advocates violence and seeks to sow division, targeting young and vulnerable people online. The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center was one of the residential schools that got help from the Baker administration. Announced Monday, $16.1 million in relief went to 32 special education residential school providers to support costs related to the coronavirus pandemic. The Canton-based Judge Rotenberg Educational Center will receive $1,763,017 of that. As many students were sent home from schools in March due to the pandemic, these residential schools, including the New England Center for Children and The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, were unable to do that. For these schools, closing down isnt always an option. [they] have no alternative, Vinnie Strully, CEO of the New England Center for Children, told WBUR. They cannot live safely at home, and some do not have a home. But many advocates have long been against the methods used at The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton often calling on the state to intervene. In March, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) used for self-injurious or aggressive behavior. The devices are used at one facility in the country the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center. But advocates looked to the state for more. A ban will do nothing to undo the decades of torture that people confined to JRC have had to suffer through until now, said Lydia Brown, Associate for Disability Rights and Algorithmic Fairness at Georgetown Laws Institute for Tech Law and Policy. And Massachusetts has a responsibility to make reparations to the survivors. The facility introduced these types of devices in the 1980s, Mother Jones reported. Since then many advocates have spent decades speaking out against their use. The facility has had numerous news articles written about their practices, including stories from MassLive, a number of court cases and a 2012 viral video that shows a student screaming and asking for them to stop. That hurts. That hurts, the student can be heard saying in a panicked voice. Stop. Stop for real. Prior to the ban, JRC reported to the FDA it shocked students less than once a week on average. The FDA ruled the devices cause a number of significant psychological and physical risks, including worsening of underlying symptoms, depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, pain, burns and tissue damage. Since this ruling, Disability Justice attorney Shain Neumeier wanted Massachusetts to work with patients and their caregivers to find community-based options outside of JRC. They should be finding people places in the community where they can live independently, Neumeier said. Where they can get past this and receive services with their families and friends. JRC has not released how many students the school still uses ESDs on, and the FDA ban allowed for a transition time for all students involved. The JRC Parents Association and JRC also said they will fight the FDAs decision. Gov. Charlie Baker toured a different residential school, the New England Center for Children in Southborough, on Monday. It teaches, houses and supports more than 120 students with special needs. The commonwealths special education residential schools do tremendous work educating and supporting students with special needs, Baker said, according to State House News Service. The ability this community has shown to adapt to maintain a safe environment for students in their care and for their 24/7 staff has been a godsend. The schools incurred unanticipated costs related to the purchase of personal protective equipment, infection control measures, increased staffing costs and enhanced cleaning protocols over that period. We know this is difficult work, and we know that so many people, time and time again, found a way to simply get it done. Related Content: ABC NewsBY: AARON KATERSKY and MEREDITH DELISO (NEW YORK) -- A New York judge has rejected the Trump family's attempt to stop the release of Mary Trump's book, "Too Much and Never Enough," scheduled to come out Tuesday. The Dutchess County judge denied an application for a preliminary injunction Monday, saying the nondisclosure agreement signed by Mary Trump, President Donald Trump's niece, when the estate of her grandfather was settled should have had "more clarity." The court got it right in rejecting the Trump familys effort to squelch Mary Trumps core political speech on important issues of public concern," Ted Boutrous, Mary Trumps attorney, said in a statement. "The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Marys important words for themselves." In a statement, Chris Bastardi, spokesperson for Mary Trump, said, Now that the unconstitutional gag order has finally been lifted, we are sure the White House and America are looking forward to finally hearing what Mary has to say. Simon & Schuster, the publisher of the much-anticipated memoir, said it was "delighted" by the court's decision. "The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions," the publisher said in a statement. "'Too Much and Never Enough' is a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse, and we look forward to bringing it to a public that is clearly eager to read it." Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Earlier this year workers went on strike at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Amazon is being sued by six Staten Island warehouse workers who claim the company didn't do enough to protect them against the coronavirus. Amazon says it takes the health of its workers seriously, and as part of its defence it claims it told workers they could take time to go wash their hands without fearing reprisal. Amazon also on Monday sent an email to workers at the Staten Island warehouse telling them hand-washing wouldn't count as idle "time off task," and they wouldn't be penalized for not hitting their quotas. Its lawyer said this has been a policy since March. The employees bringing the lawsuit claim they were never informed of this. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Amazon is arguing with warehouse workers in court over whether it told them they could step away from their stations and wash their hands without being penalized. Three workers from Amazon's JFK8 Staten Island warehouse filed a lawsuit against the company in June, alleging that lax safety measures around the coronavirus endangered their health. One of the plaintiffs said she became infected with COVID-19 in March. Within a month her cousin died from COVID-19, according to the complaint. There are now six workers suing the company as part of the suit, which broadly alleges the company didn't do enough to protect workers from the spread of the virus inside the warehouse. As part of its defence, Amazon claims that it relaxed rules about how much time workers could take away from their stations to wash their hands. Bloomberg was first to report that Amazon is fighting over whether it communicated to workers that taking time to wash their hands would count as "time off task." "Time off task" (TOT) is Amazon's term for when employees are away from their workstations outside of their allotted breaks. If workers spend too much TOT managers can ask why they're away from their stations and they can be reprimanded, a UK-based Amazon worker told Business Insider. It's part of Amazon's machinery to keep worker productivity high and make sure they hit their quotas, known as "rates." Story continues According to a letter submitted to the judge by Amazon's lawyer Jason Schwarz, Amazon sent an email to workers at the Staten Island warehouse on Monday saying time spent hand-washing and performing other safety measures wouldn't be counted as TOT, and that workers wouldn't be penalized for not hitting their quotas. It also put up posters in the bathrooms. Amazon's lawyer said the policy had been in place since March but that it had re-sent the message "in an abundance of caution." The workers bringing the suit say this is the first they're hearing of hand-washing being exempt The warehouse employees bringing the suit claim they were never informed of this policy. "To date, no managers or supervisors at Amazon have notified me that Amazon has changed its rate and TOT productivity standards," said Derrick Palmer, one of the plaintiffs who still works at JFK8, in a declaration filed Monday. "I have continued to work as fast as I did before the outbreak of COVID-19, and I have continued to do things like rush back to my workstation following breaks or skip trips to the bathroom to wash my hands, in order to keep my rate up and to limit my TOT," he said. Palmer said part of his job entails keeping track of how other workers are using their TOT. He said he was not told by his supervisor that hand-washing has any sort of special dispensation. Palmer's "rate" refers to how many items he's expected to process in an hour. "Amazon managers are still writing rates on the whiteboards in the stand-up areas, just like they did before the pandemic," Palmer added. A UK-based Amazon worker who spoke to Business Insider, who recently underwent orientation at their warehouse, said they have received no communication about hand-washing being exempt from TOT. Amazon was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Business Insider. JFK8 Staten Island is the same warehouse which fired worker Christian Smalls after he organized an employee protest against working conditions. Amazon claims it fired Smalls for breaking quarantine measures, although lawmakers have questioned this version of events. Read the original article on Business Insider Devers had appealed his convictions for first-degree murder and use of a firearm to commit a felony, challenging the admission of evidence at his trial and claiming that his lawyer was ineffective. But the Supreme Court rejected his claims, saying the evidence was sufficient to support a guilty verdict. The Reign Lounge is currently fighting to keep its liquor license. The Omaha City Council has recommended that the bars license be revoked after complaints from neighbors. The Nebraska Liquor Control Commission held a hearing on the future of the Reign Lounge on Tuesday, then took the case under advisement. A decision is expected at the commissions August meeting. In March, bar owner James Overton said he was looking at changing the focus of the urban, hip-hop establishment to avoid disturbances. I really want to provide a service, he said. Theres really not many places that cater to the North Omaha community. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- FB Financial Corporation ("FB Financial" or "the Company") (NYSE: FBK) announced today that it will release its 2020 second quarter results of operations on Monday, July 20, 2020, after the close of the market. The Company will host a conference call at 8:00 a.m. CT on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, to discuss its second quarter results of operations, and the conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet at https://www.webcaster4.com/Webcast/Page/1631/35639. For investors or analysts who want to attend the call, the listen only dial-in number is 888-317-6003, confirmation code 9320001. For those unable to listen live, a 12 month online replay of the webcast will be available approximately an hour following the conclusion of the live broadcast. A link to these events can be found on the Company's website at investors.firstbankonline.com. About FB Financial Corporation FB Financial Corporation (NYSE: FBK) is a bank holding company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. FB Financial Corporation operates through its wholly owned banking subsidiary, FirstBank, the third largest Tennessee-headquartered community bank, with 73 full-service bank branches across Tennessee, Kentucky, North Alabama and North Georgia, and mortgage offices across the Southeast. FirstBank serves five of the largest metropolitan markets in Tennessee and has approximately $6.7 billion in total assets. SOURCE FB Financial Corporation Polands incumbent president, Andrzej Duda, has been elected for another five-year term. He narrowly defeated Rafa Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and friend of the EU. With nearly all votes counted, the split was 51.2 to 48.8. Duda is an ally of President Trump. Duda visited Trump at the White House shortly before the first round of presidential voting, in which he also came out on top. Duda is a social conservative. His stated goal is to maintain the inviolable and sacred tradition of Poland. LGBT rights arent part of that tradition. His economic policy is designed to reduce inequality, in part by expanding social benefits. This makes him very popular with poor voters in rural areas. However, the Polish economy has slumped due to the Wuhan coronavirus. This probably explains why the election was as close as it was. The EU hates Duda, of course. In fact, the European parliaments civil liberties committee will vote tomorrow on whether the EU should broaden its continued disciplinary procedure against Poland. The lefts main stated beef with Duda is with his actions to limit the power of Polands judges. One can argue about how much say the judiciary should have over government policy in Poland, the U.S., and elsewhere. But Dudas critics treat agreement with Polands post 1989 arrangement, which gave holdover judges significant power as a means of placating communists who stood in way of democracy, as if it were a necessary condition for true democracy. It is not. Theres nothing inherently democratic about vesting power with unelected judges. In fact, as John Fonte has argued persuasively, Polands entrenched judiciary has not been a force for democracy. Polands democracy remains robust. This is clear from the just-completed Polish election itself. Pawel Zerka, a policy fellow at the liberal European Council on Foreign Relations, stated that the election shows that [Polish] democracy is vibrant. Apparently democracy hasnt died in darkness in Poland. If he had defeated Duda, Trzaskowski could have used the presidential veto to stymie much of the legislative agenda of Dudas party. Now, with the next parliamentary elections not until 2023, Duda and his party will have free rein for at least the next three years. That sound you may be hearing is heads exploding in Brussels and a few at mainstream media outlets here in the U.S. NEW YORK - Mary Trump can talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, President Donald Trump, over the objections of the president's brother, a judge ruled Monday as he lifted an order that had blocked her from publicizing or distributing her work. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. This combination photo shows the cover art for "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the WorldAos Most Dangerous Man", left, and a portrait of author Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. The book, written by the niece of President Donald J. Trump, was originally set for release on July 28, but will now arrive on July 14. (Simon & Schuster, left, and Peter Serling/Simon & Schuster via AP) NEW YORK - Mary Trump can talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, President Donald Trump, over the objections of the president's brother, a judge ruled Monday as he lifted an order that had blocked her from publicizing or distributing her work. Judge Hal B. Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, rejected arguments by the brother, Robert Trump, that Mary Trump is blocked from talking about family members publicly by an agreement relatives made to settle the estate of her father after his death. The judge said the confidentiality clauses in the 2001 agreement, viewed in the context of the current Trump family circumstances in 2020, would offend public policy as a prior restraint on protected speech'" Notwithstanding that the Book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot," the judge wrote. Greenwald said the confidentiality agreement that settled multiple lawsuits mainly concerned the financial aspect of the deal, which isn't as interesting now as it might have been two decades ago. On the other hand the non-confidential part of the Agreement, the Trump family relationships may be more interesting now in 2020 with a Presidential election on the horizon," the judge said. He also wrote that Robert Trump had not shown any damages that the book's publication would cause himself or the public. Robert Trump is not frequently mentioned in the book that seeks to trace how family members were affected by the president's father, a successful real estate owner, and how the president may have developed some of the traits that have been most apparent at the White House. Mary Trump, a trained psychologist and Donald Trump's only niece, wrote in the book that she had no problem calling Donald a narcissist he meets all nine criteria as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." The judge reversed orders he had issued temporarily blocking Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing or distributing a tell-all book about the president. An appeals judge had already lifted the order blocking Simon & Schuster. The book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man, was originally to be published at the end of July. The publisher announced last week it would be published Tuesday. 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. Mary Trump's lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said the judge got it right in rejecting the Trump familys effort to squelch Mary Trumps core political speech on important issues of public concern." The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Marys important words for themselves, he said in a statement. In a statement, Simon & Schuster said it was delighted that the Court has denied the plaintiffs request for preliminary injunction, and vacated the Temporary Restraining Order against our author, Mary L. Trump." It added: The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions," it added. 'TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH' is a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse, and we look forward to bringing it to a public that is clearly eager to read it." Messages seeking comment were left with an attorney for Robert Trump. On the eve of its publication, Mary Trump's book was ranked No. 1 on the Amazon.com list of bestselling books. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 07:45 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406660d97c 1 Business food-estate,North-Sumatra,food-supply,Agriculture-Ministry Free The government is planning to develop 30,000 hectares (ha) of farmland in Humbang Hasundutan district, North Sumatra, next year in an effort to secure the countrys food supply, a senior official has said. A variety of crops will be grown on the land, including garlic, shallots and potatoes, according to the soils potential, Agriculture Minister Syahrul Yasin said. The plan seeks to address the governments concerns about a looming food crisis as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, heeding an earlier warning from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The global supply chain is threatened by export restrictions. The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting food distribution at home and is hitting peoples purchasing power, Syahrul said in a virtual briefing on Monday. We need the right strategy so that this country can survive and come out of this pandemic. To develop the land, the ministry will provide farmers with tractors, tillers and hybrid corn seeds, among other forms of assistance. The COVID-19 crisis has aggravated Indonesias food security issues. In late April, a month after the countrys first outbreak, President Joko Jokowi Widodo reported that key commodities, such as garlic, sugar, chili and chicken eggs, were in short supply in more than 20 provinces, while rice, a staple food for Indonesians, was lacking in seven provinces. Making matters worse, the dry season looms on the horizon and may impact the overall output of the agricultural sector, which employs more than a quarter of the nations workforce. The Indonesia office of the World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that that the country experienced a decline in rice production of 13.2 percent year-on-year to 16.1 million tons in the first half of 2020. Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that the countrys rice production had already fallen by 7.75 percent to 31.31 million tons in 2019, compared to 2018. In the same year, the land area used to cultivate rice fell by 6.15 percent year-on-year to 10.68 million hectares. To ensure food availability in the country, the agriculture minister previously revealed a plan to develop 164,598 ha of farmland, including scrubland, in Pulau Pisang Regency, Central Kalimantan. About half of the land already serves as farmland. The development is expected to be completed in 2022 and is expected to raise rice and corn production, with an expected yield of 2 tons of rice per hectare. The Jokowi administration has also brought the rice-planting season forward this year, to May and June, so that the harvest season will be in August and September. It estimates a harvest of 12.5 million to 15 million tons of rice by December. Although the farmland being developed may help offset declining productivity, the government should ensure the development does not come at the expense of the environment by, among other things, banning the use of harmful pesticides, said Galuh Octania, a researcher focusing on food security at the Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS), a Jakarta-based think tank. The use of pesticides harmful to the environment may cause damage to the soil, Galuh told The Jakarta Post by text message on Monday. The Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha will take place at Croke Park stadium this month, the GAA announced. Under Government advice, places of worship closed at the beginning of the pandemic on March 12. However, public health advice will allow a maximum of 100 in an indoor setting from July 20. GAA president John Horan welcomed confirmation of the event, saying that the GAA was "delighted" to welcome members of the Muslim community. "I believe the staging of this celebration fully supports our commitment to inclusion and a GAA welcome linked to our belief that it's 'Where We All Belong'," he said. Because the festival is based on moonsighting, Eid is currently scheduled to take place on July 31 or August 1, with the exact date to be confirmed on July 21. Speaking to the Irish Independent, Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri said 500 people would attend the festival. "There is no other venue that could accommodate 500 Muslims while social distancing is being implemented that is as iconic and as symbolic as Croke Park," he said. "It's an iconic venue." The festival will take place on the pitch, with measures put in place for markings to aid social distancing. Dr Al-Qadri added that Croke Park would be "symbolic" to the Irish Muslim community. "The choice of Croke Park as a venue for Eid al-Adha celebration will be symbolic to Irish Muslims in their dual identity as being both Irish and Muslim and the significance that Croke Park and the GAA have in Irish history." Asserting that the "Chinese predatory world view" has no place in the 21st century, the Trump administration, in a major policy decision on Monday, categorically rejected the territorial claims made by Beijing in South China Sea, stating that it has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a major policy announcement. The United States, he said, stands with the international community in the defence of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and rejects any push to impose "might makes right" in the South China Sea or the wider region. Pompeo said China cannot lawfully assert a maritime claim -- including any exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims derived from Scarborough Reef and the Spratly Islands -- vis-a-vis the Philippines in areas that a tribunal found to be in the Philippines' EEZ or on its continental shelf. The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands). Also, China has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to (or derived from) James Shoal, an entirely submerged feature only 50 nautical miles from Malaysia and some 1,000 nautical miles from China's coast, Pompeo said. "We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," he said. In the South China Sea, the US seeks to preserve peace and stability, uphold the freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintain the unimpeded flow of commerce and oppose any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes, Pompeo said. He alleged that Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal nations in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion and replace international law with "might makes right". Beijing's approach has been clear for years, Pompeo said. In 2010, then Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi told his ASEAN counterparts that "China is a big country and other countries are small and that is just a fact", he said, adding that the Chinese predatory world view has no place in the 21st century. China "has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region", the secretary of state said. Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its "Nine-Dashed Line" claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009, he added. In a unanimous decision on July 12, 2016, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 law of the sea convention -- to which China is a state party -- rejected the country's maritime claims as having no basis in international law. The tribunal sided squarely with the Philippines, which brought the arbitration case, "on almost all claims", Pompeo said. The announcement by the Trump administration was welcomed by several top American lawmakers. The announcement makes clear that the US will support its regional allies in the defence of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, said Senator Marco Rubio. The People's Republic of China (PRC) cannot be allowed to illegally assert control over maritime territory in the region and the US has rightly rejected all of Beijing's spurious claims, he said. "China's unlawful actions will not be tolerated and I urge my colleagues in Congress to swiftly pass my bipartisan South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act (S.1634) to impose costs on Chinese individuals and entities for their flagrant violations of international law," Rubio said. President Donald Trump once again countered Chinese aggression by rejecting its absurd claims in the South China Sea, said Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. "The US must continue to oppose PRC bullying, deception, IP theft and human rights abuses," he said. This is a "smart move", said Senator Jim Inhofe. "The PRC's claims in the South China Sea are unlawful, plain and simple. The U.S. stands against Beijing's bullying, and with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region," he said in a tweet. Google Maps A two-car crash Saturday in New Braunfels killed a San Antonio man and sent a family of six to the hospital. Officers were called to the 600 block of North Business 35, near the Marketplace Shopping Center, just before 11 p.m. for a collision between a Ford Transit 350 van and a Ford Focus. When police arrived at the scene, they found the driver of the Focus, 26-year-old Michael John Maraist, dead at the scene. Just like other actors, Allu Arjun too is spending time with his family amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Though the state governments (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) have granted permission to the makers of Telugu films, the current spike in Coronavirus cases has yet again halted shoots of movies, including Stylish Star's Pushpa. Well now, rumours are rife that the actor is gearing up to resume shoot as soon as the lockdown ends, and while at home he is hearing narrations from various directors. As per Telugu media reports, Yatra director Mahi V Raghav has approached Allu Arjun for his next. It is said that the actor has nodded a yes for the project, which is touted to be a political thriller. Going by the reports, the actor who has always maintained a distance from political subjects, was impressed with the screenplay. According to rumours, the movie will have the subject of corruption and swindling in politics. Prasad V Potluri will bankroll the highly-anticipated film. For the unversed, Mahi V Raghav's last outing Yatra, a biographical film on late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy received tremendous response from the audiences. The movie starred Malayalam actor Mammootty in the lead role. Coming back to Allu Arjun, his firm Pushpa helmed by Sukumar will start rolling from mid-August or September, after the team analyses the condition to shoot. There are reports that the makers have called off the shoot in Kerala, and now it will be completely shot at Hyderabad's Annapurna studio. Bankrolled by Mythri Movie Makers in association with Muttamsetty Media, the movie will also feature Rashmika Mandanna Prakash Raj, Jagapati Babu, Harish Uthaman, and Vennela Kishore in key roles. Allu Arjun's Remuneration For Sukumar's Film Pushpa Will Leave You Surprised Allu Arjun-Pooja Hegde's Butta Bomma Becomes The Most Viewed Song Of Telugu Film Industry After 83 continuous years of business, a San Francisco institution near Ocean Beach is closing its doors permanently due to the coronavirus pandemic. Louis' Restaurant posted in an emotional message on Facebook Monday that the decision came "after much deliberation and a lot of tears." "This decision was very difficult to make but with everything we have seen and heard regarding reopening for indoor dining we felt it was an unsafe environment for us and our employees," the message read. "To wait out this pandemic was financially unreasonable. We are especially sad to not have been able to say goodbye to our many wonderful and loyal customers. You made the difficult job of running a small business enjoyable." Yelp / Tiffany Q Sitting on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the former site of the Sutro Baths, Louis' opened as a humble diner with some of the best views in the city in 1937. Original owners Louis and Helen Hontalas "approached the nephew of Adolph Sutro, who owned all the land on Point Lobos Avenue, and asked if they could rent a small piece of property, originally an indoor walkway that connected the streetcar barn to the Sutro Baths entrance," according to the history posted on the restaurant website. The Greek immigrants started with just a couple of tables and a few counter seats and made about $20 on their first day in business on Feb. 14, 1937. Over the years, the restaurant has survived multiple fires and a transfer of the land to the National Park Service. The couple had three sons who have helped run the business. Two of them, Bill and Tom Hontalas, remain in charge, according to the restaurant website. In the Facebook message, Bill and Tom thanked staff and customers. "We are especially sad to not have been able to say goodbye to our many wonderful and loyal customers," the message read. "You made the difficult job of running a small business enjoyable. To all of our staff past and present we saw many of you start as high school teenagers and blossom into hard working adults. We are continually amazed at the hard work of the young people that passed through our doors and helped us run our family business." MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Cases in California are surging: When will the spike end? How often should I wash my cloth mask? What about surgical, N95 masks? The COVID-19 graph that keeps SF's health director 'up at night' COVID-19-positive Bay Area nurse sues Kaiser for racial discrimination How to protect yourself when caring for a child who is sick with COVID-19 Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com. NASHVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Tuesday that he will do whatever it takes in court to defend one of the strictest abortion bans in the country currently blocked from being implemented. Its very important that we defend and protect the lives of every Tennessean, one portion of the most vulnerable being the unborn, Lee said during a news briefing. Thats why we would make that decision to defend it. We will defend it. Whatever it takes in court, well defend it, the Republican added when asked how much he was willing to spend on the looming legal battle as the state grapples with revenue hits caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Lee had signed the abortion measure into law the day before. However, a federal judge quickly granted a temporary restraining order because he was bound by the Supreme Court holdings prohibiting undue burdens on the availability of pre-viability abortions. Under the law, abortions are banned once a fetal heartbeat is detected about six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know theyre pregnant. Similar legislation has been enacted in other states, such as Mississippi and Georgia, but has been blocked by legal challenges. The bill was passed by Tennessees GOP-dominant Statehouse during the final hours of the annual legislative session back in June. Most of the public was asleep when lawmakers advanced the bill. Just hours after its passage, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights had filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the measure. U.S. District Judge William Campbell in Nashville chose to wait until the bill had been signed into law by Lee before blocking it from implementation. Democratic lawmakers have warned that the law could cost taxpayers millions to defend in court in a state where the pandemic has wrecked Tennessees budget. Lee has described the abortion ban as arguably the most conservative, pro-life piece of legislation in the country. When he first unveiled the proposal in January, Lee stood with dozens of Republican lawmakers inside the Capitol touting the bill was a top priority for his administration. Later, as COVID-19 first began sweeping across Tennessee earlier this year, Lee attempted to block abortions under an executive order banning nonessential medical procedures that was issued to slow the spread of COVID-19. A federal judge later ruled that Tennessee had to continue allowing abortions, arguing the state did not show any appreciable amount of personal protective equipment would be saved if the ban was applied to abortions. The plaintiffs in that legal case are now seeking to have the state cover nearly $100,000 in legal fees. The abortion ban battle is expected to be much more lengthy and complicated. ___ Reporter Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report from Nashville, Tennessee. By Luke Baker and John Chalmers LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain's decision to ban China's Huawei from its 5G network increases further pressure on EU countries to impose stricter limits on the world's largest telecoms equipment maker just as the company expands its footprint across Europe. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the Huawei ban on Tuesday, frustrating Beijing but pleasing Washington, which had pushed Britain to reverse a January decision to grant Huawei a limited role in its 5G rollout. The about-face follows anger in London at China's crackdown on Hong Kong and the view that Beijing has not told the full truth over coronavirus. It also reflects the impact of new U.S. sanctions on chip technology, which London says affects Huawei's ability to remain a reliable supplier. Europe now finds itself front and centre of the U.S. drive to uproot Huawei from next-generation mobile networks. Robert O'Brien, the U.S. national security adviser, arrived in Paris on Monday for three days of talks with his counterparts from France, Germany, Italy and Britain. Washington has made clear that 5G networks are on the agenda. EU 'TOOLBOX' NEEDS OVERHAUL In January, the European Union published a "toolbox" of recommendations for its 27 member states, saying they could either "restrict or exclude" so-called high-risk 5G vendors, such as Huawei, from core parts of their telecoms network. The recommendations fell short of the ban sought by the United States; in several EU countries Huawei remains closely involved in both existing 4G networks and the planned rollout of 5G, including in Sweden, Spain, Austria and Hungary. The head of France's cybersecurity authority has ruled out a total ban on Huawei, and Germany's Deutsche Telekom, Huawei's largest customer in Europe, has argued firmly against any blanket ban on individual vendors. But since the European Commission published its toolbox there have been significant geopolitical developments, including the spread of COVID from China, hardnosed diplomacy by Beijing that has angered some EU governments, the imposition of China's new security law in Hong Kong and the U.S. chip-tech sanctions. Story continues A senior EU diplomat said some countries were now worried the Commission guidelines did not go far enough to limit dependence on Huawei, and the distinction between 'core', meaning critical parts of 5G networks that Huawei should be excluded from, and 'non-core' was "not as robust as we thought". "EU member states do seem to be increasingly doubtful about Huawei," the official said. "The standard view is heading towards giving maybe just a very small role to Huawei [for 5G]." A lot is likely to depend on the view Germany takes. If Berlin decides to give the go-ahead for Huawei to play a significant role in its 5G network, even if only in 'non-core' areas, it would provide cover for smaller, less influential countries to adopt a similar approach. The German government is not expected to make a decision on its 5G rules until September. While Deutsche Telekom backs Huawei, Germany's head of foreign intelligence has said the Chinese firm cannot be trusted and should not play a major role. Chancellor Angela Merkel has long advocated "change through trade", arguing that China can become a more trusted partner through engagement. But she is finding it harder to make that case as China takes a steadily tougher line on Hong Kong and broader geopolitics across Asia and the Middle East. China did not immediately respond to Britain's decision on Huawei, or send any wider signals to the European Union, but the company itself said it was "bad news" and would be damaging to British mobile customers. "It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane," a spokesman for Huawei UK said. "We remain confident that the new U.S. restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK." (Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke in Berlin and Guy Faulconbridge in London; Editing by Peter Graff) Sixty-eight MPs and senators have added their names to a letter to the prime minister demanding that Canada levy sanctions on top Chinese officials in response to human rights abuses perpetrated against Uighur Muslims and pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong. The letter, signed by 64 MPs, four senators and various community leaders, is the latest attempt by some parliamentarians to put pressure on the government to take a tougher stand against China. The letter has been signed by two Liberal backbenchers Judy Sgro and John McKay and MPs from all of the other parties, including Green Party parliamentary leader Elizabeth May and a substantial portion of the Conservative caucus. Two of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's appointments to the Senate, Marilou McPhedran and Pierre Dalphond, also have signed their names to the list of Canadian lawmakers pushing for some sort of punitive action against the regime in Beijing. McKay told CBC News he can't stay silent as China persecutes the Uighur minority through the "virtual enslavement and imprisonment of an entire population" and dismantles the hard-won democratic rights of Hong Kongers. "There's no accommodation that you can make with China," he said, adding that Beijing's violations of human rights should be countered by financial manoeuvres that hit its officials where it hurts. He said he was a "little slow" in coming around to the belief that China's abuses and its arbitrary detention on Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor must be met with some sort of response beyond diplomacy. "It's a colossal bully play by an emergent power and there's only one way to deal with a bully," McKay said of China's move to charge the two Canadians. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press While China will be angered by any sanctions China's ambassador to Canada has promised "very firm countermeasures" if Ottawa goes that route McKay said Canada must take a stand in the face of "warrior diplomacy nonsense." Story continues "I think you have to anticipate blowback. We have our vulnerabilities," he said. "But you either start drawing lines in the sand or you just keep getting trampled. "I think the sooner that we recognize that we are in a form of asymmetrical conflict, warfare, with the government of China, the more we're able to strategically deal with it." He said Canada and its Western allies should present a united front against China and adopt a NATO-like approach so that aggressive posturing by Beijing is met with a policy of "an attack on one is an attack on all." 'Blatant human rights atrocities' The letter-writing campaign calling for sanctions was organized by the Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK), a group of pro-democracy Hong Kongers in Canada. The letter writers say Ottawa should deploy the Sergei Magnitsky Act to target Chinese officials. The law allows the government to impose financial and other restrictions on foreign nationals responsible for, or complicit in, violating internationally recognized human rights. The letter quotes Foreign Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who said earlier this month that "sanctions are an important tool to hold perpetrators of gross human rights violations to account." "As a leader on the international human rights discussion, to invoke Magnitsky sanctions against these officials is a strong and symbolic action that is consistent with how Canada has applied this act in the past," the letter reads. "Canada needs to take a strong stance against blatant human rights atrocities and coordinate a multilateral effort amongst countries with shared values to reclaim our leadership on the global stage." The law also allows the government to freeze assets owned by foreign nationals and prohibit financial transactions by known human rights abusers. The law is named after Russian tax adviser Sergei Magnitsky, who was tortured and died in a Moscow prison after documenting fraud in Russia. Canada has used the legislation to sanction human rights abusers from Russia and Venezuela, preventing them from using the Canadian banking system. Tyrone Siu/Reuters China's detention of Uighur Muslims, its attack on democratic rights in Hong Kong, its decades-long repression of Tibet and its imprisonment of two Michaels have been cited as reasons for the federal government to employ the Magnitsky Act, which was passed into law in Canada in 2017. Last fall, a leak of internal Chinese government documents to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) painted a stark picture of Uighur concentration camps, which have been built across the Xinjiang region over the past three years. The Muslim minority is routinely subjected to intrusive government surveillance, intimidating phone calls and even death threats, according to Amnesty International. A recent report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that thousands of Muslims have been used as forced labour in factories that supply companies like BMW, Nike and Huawei, among others. China's ambassador to Canada has called these camps where as many as one million ethnic Muslims are subjected to compulsory ideological lessons under the watchful eye of party officials "vocational training centres." The National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp Communist-controlled parliament, has introduced a national security and anti-sedition law in Hong Kong. The law essentially does away with the city's independent legal system and allows Beijing to override local laws. Advocates say China's Hong Kong policy is a clear violation of its international obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which guaranteed a "one country, two systems" framework following the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. French President Emmanuel Macron pledged an additional 100 billion euros in coronavirus recovery funds and promised a referendum to write the fight against climate change into the Constitution during a televised interview on Frances national Bastille Day holiday on Tuesday. The country has been deeply shaken and traumatised and I believe this 14 July has a particular tone, Macron said at the beginning of the interview on Frances national holiday, the first time he has directly responded to journalists since April 2019. In an interview lasting more than an hour, Macron sought to outline his vision for the remaining two years of his presidency based on what he believed had worked and not worked during the first three. His early years in office were marked by reforms to liberalise the economy, which honoured campaign promises but also fueled deep resentment expressed most clearly in the Yellow Vest movement. Without a doubt, I let something appear that I dont believe to be the case, Macron told the two journalists in his office at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris. I gave the French people the impression that I was determined to reform, whether it was for them or against them. The head of state sought to strike a balance between noting accomplishments and showing willingness to change, saying he replaced his prime minister and government because we cannot say we are changing our approach and method and keep the same team. Also on the new government, Macron defending the appointment of new Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, currently under investigation on allegations of rape, on the grounds of the presumption of innocence. Coronavirus recovery In addition to pledge to make face masks mandatory indoors, Macron said Frances experience with the coronavirus epidemic made it prepared for future waves of infection. Everything is being done to avoid a second wave and to be prepared for one if it comes, he said, assuring France was now equipped with the necessary masks, tests and intensive care beds. All that has happened so far has enabled us to get organised. Story continues Macron also sought to play down concerns that French citizens would not get priority access to a vaccine if one were developed in US-funded labs of French company Sanofi. The president also discouraged the use of hydroxychloroquine, championed as a Covid-19 treatment by controversial French doctor Didier Raoult, until researchers resolved uncertainties around its effectiveness and potential side effects. Economic recovery Turning towards the economic recovery after a nearly eight-week lockdown earlier this year, Macron warned as many as a million new people risked being out of work by spring of 2021. With the government already pledging 500 billion euros in recovery funds in the form of furloughs, grants, tax deferrals and state-backed loans, Macron promised an additional 100 billion euros to fund a range of measures. Many related to helping young job seekers, including aid for 300,000 first-time job contracts, 100,000 new publicly-funded civic service jobs and waivers on paying social charges for low-earning young workers. Macron said recovery would not be funded by new taxes but by investment in projects to relocalise industry and upgrade buildings and infrastructure to meet updated environmental standards. Climate change in the constitution One ambition for the remaining years of his presidency was to organise a referendum to write the fight against climate change into the French Constitution as soon as possible, Macron said. Such a change was a proposal from the recently concluded Citizens Climate Convention, a post-Yellow Vests participatory democracy initiative. Environmental plans going forward would involve developing national and regional rail networks, including bringing back night trains, which have waned with the development of low-cost but highly polluting air travel. However, Macron pushed back against pressure to reduce domestic air travel in a meaningful way, saying that domestic flights were justified for destinations reachable by train in four hours. Macron said another priority was rebuilding trust between civilians and the police, and promised to equip police officers with cameras that moniter how they interact with people they search and detain. The president said it was too early to consider whether to run for a second term in spring 2022 and that he will let you know when the come is right. Tehran has repeatedly dismissed a series of mysterious explosions as nothing more than unfortunate accidents. Just last week, Iranian media wheeled out a former mayor to dismiss Friday's blast in western Tehran as nothing more than an 'explosion at a factory making gas cylinders'. But they were embarrassingly caught out not long after - when other media outlets discovered the mayor of Garmdareh had been dead for over a year. Other reports said the explosion actually occurred at a missile and chemical warehouse and the blast injured 11. A string of explosions have swept across Iran over the past two weeks, amid suspicions that Israel or the US may have been behind at least one of them A fire broke out on July 4 at the Zergan power plant (pictured) in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran The fire in Ahvaz affected one of the station's transformers and caused partial electricity outages before it was put out and electricity was restored On July 2, a fire and an explosion occurred at Natanz uranium enrichment plant (pictured) which develops centrifuges. These are needed to make uranium - and other nuclear weapons The Natanz complex is mostly underground and is among the sites now monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency after Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers The blunder adds fuel to the wide-spread belief that Iranian officials are furiously trying to hide the real reasons why explosions keep occurring - and sparks questions about whether Israel and the US could be behind the attacks. Other reports have suggested that an anti-government group that call themselves the Homeland Cheetahs have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks. The country has seen a series of explosions in recent weeks. The first happened on June 26. A factory making cruise missiles and another producing ammunition were hit in Khojir, Tehran, local media reported. A gas leak at a medical clinic caused an explosion killing 19 and injuring six on June 30 Pictured: First responders carry away an injured person on a stretcher at the scene of an explosion at the Sina At'har health centre in Tehran Tehran Deputy Governor Hamid Reza Goudarzi told state television that blast at the centre (pictured) was triggered by a gas leak. The fire department said gas canisters caught fire in the clinic's basement This was then followed by a gas leak at a medical clinic which caused an explosion killing 19 and injuring six on June 30. Tehran Deputy Governor Hamid Reza Goudarzi told state television that blast was triggered by a gas leak. The fire department said gas canisters caught fire in the clinic's basement. Then on July 2, a fire and an explosion occurred at Natanz uranium enrichment plant which develops centrifuges. These are needed to make uranium - and other nuclear weapons. Power outages then occurred when a fire broke out at a power plant in Shiraz A fire then broke out on July 4 at the Zergan power plant in the city of Ahvaz in southwestern Iran. The blaze caused a transformer in the station to explode and ignite the plant - which in turn caused partial electricity outages before it was put out. Another fire was reported on Sunday at a facility belonging to the Shahid Tondgooyan Petrochemical Company in southwest Iran - but was quickly contained. The fire was caused by an oil leak but did not lead to any casualties, Mohsen Beyranvand, the governor of Mahshahr county said, according to IRNA. This fire occurred shortly after the explosion in the basement of a home in Iran, injuring one person. The Tehran Fire Department quickly jumped in to say the explosion - which caused power outages - occurred in two-storey house's basement which contained around 30 gas cylinders, The Jerusalem Post reports. They implied that the injured person worked with the cylinders and this caused the blast to occur. Policy Director of United Against Nuclear Iran Jason Brodsky told Fox News: 'There is evidence of a concerted campaign underway to thwart Iran's nuclear program.' Cyber-intelligence expert and CEO of TrustedSec David Kennedy added: 'Although many are asking the question, was this a cyber-attack or physical sabotage, the answer could be "both." 'The most likely suspects are the U.S. and Israel working in tandem.' Cecily Aguilar, charged with helping dispose of the body of murder victim Vanessa Guillen, was held without bond in a federal detention hearing Tuesday afternoon in Waco. Aguilar, 22, is accused of helping her boyfriend Aaron Robinson a Fort Hood soldier authorities say killed fellow soldier Guillen dismember Guillens body and bury her along the Leon River. The FBI said in court documents that Robinson bludgeoned Army Specialist Guillen to death with a hammer on April 22. There were extensive searches for the 20-year-old Houston native after she went missing that day. Robinson shot and killed himself as law enforcement officers confronted him along a Killeen road after the discovery of the remains later determined to be those of Guillen, a member of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment. Aguilar appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey C. Manske in Waco via video from the McClennan County Jail. The judge also appeared via video. Dressed in a gray-and-white jail uniform, Aguilar was seated, with her hair pulled back, and was subdued during the hearing, only saying Yes, sir and Yes, maam to affirm that she could hear the proceedings and understood the charges. Guillen family members and lawyers sat in the front row of the courtroom jury box in the historic courthouse on Franklin Avenue. Lawyers for both sides were present in the courtroom, as well as about 30 supporters and members of the media. Everyone was masked. A number of supporters of Guillen had gathered on the courthouse steps before the hearing and continued to call for justice for Vanessa after the hearing. Aguilar is charged with one count of conspiring to tamper with evidence and two counts of tampering with evidence. She is facing a maximum of 60 years in prison and a $750,000 fine if convicted. The prosecutor offered evidence from the FBI affidavit filed in the case. Investigators said they used cellphone data to track Robinsons movements to the area where remains were later found; Aguilar initially told them that she and Robinson went to a Belton-area park to stargaze on the night of April 22. Aguilar later admitted helping Robinson dismember Guillens body with a bladed weapon, such as a hatchet or ax and a machete type knife, according to investigators. The couple tried unsuccessfully to burn the body. They buried the remains, then returned to put cement on them and rebury them, according to court documents. The prosecution also submitted more evidence to the judge, indicating that while in custody in Bell County Aguilar tried to get associates to delete her email and Facebook accounts. Aguilars lawyer, federal public defender Lewis Berray Gainor, argued that she should be released on bond. He said that her estranged husband was in the courtroom and had agreed to take her in. He pleaded vigorously on her behalf, saying that she was pleading not guilty to all the counts and unequivocally denied all charges. Magistrate Judge Manske, however, found that Aguilar was a flight risk and had the means to leave the country, that the crime shes accused of was connected to a crime of violence and that she was a danger to the community. The death of Robinson and charging of Aguilar followed months of calls by family members for answers as to what happened to Guillen, whom they believe had been sexually harassed at Fort Hood. The case has drawn national attention and criticism of the Army post for its handling of the case. A lawyer for Guillens family, Natalie Khawam, has said that she provided Robinsons name to authorities after learning he may have harassed Guillen before her disappearance. Khawam told reporters in Washington, D.C. earlier this month that Robinson walked in on Guillen as she showered in a locker room and watched her. Investigators said they were unable to corroborate that report. After the hearing, Khawam had harsh words regarding Aguilar and what she is accused of doing: Shes barbaric theres not another word for it. A savage that does that to any human being and I dont care if they say she was just trying to bury evidence. That is a human being. Thats someones sister. Thats someones daughter. She likened what Aguilar and Robinson are accused of doing to Guillens body to what Isis fighters did to Americans and said it should be prosecuted with as much rigor. Aguilar will remain in custody pending resolution of the case. gabrielle.banks@chron.com Nicole Hensley contributed. Hillary Clinton has said the United States needs to 'be ready' for the possibility that Donald Trump will refuse to leave the White House if he loses in November's election. Speaking to Trevor Noah on Monday night's episode of The Daily Show, Clinton said she could not rule out voter suppression and foreign interference in this year's vote. Noah asked whether Trump may attempt, if he loses, to claim that the election was illegitimate and blame mail-in voting. 'Well, I think it is a fair point to raise as to whether or not, if he loses, he's going to go quietly or not,' she said. 'And we have to be ready for that.' Hillary Clinton on Monday night spoke to Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show Clinton said that Trump's repeated warnings of mass voting fraud, if mail-in ballots are in widespread use in November, did not stand up to scrutiny. 'There have been so many academic studies and other analyses, which point out that it's just an inaccurate, fraudulent claim,' she said. 'There isn't that problem. All the games that are played ... to try and keep the vote down - that's the real danger to the integrity of our election, that combined with disinformation and misinformation and all the online shenanigans we saw in 2016.' She continued: 'Republicans have two prongs to their strategy to try to win. 'The first is: try to prevent many people who they think won't vote for them from voting. So, make the lines really long, where young people vote of African Americans vote, or Hispanics vote. 'Try to make vote by mail as difficult as possible, when in fact that is how Donald Trump votes, and everyone who knows vote by mail understands that.' She said she works with Democracy Docket to support lawsuits 'to make the vote available'. Clinton said there remained however 'real danger' of an election rigged to lower the turnout, or meddled with from abroad. 'Look, I want a fair election,' she said. 'If people get to vote and they, for whatever reason, vote for Donald Trump, OK, we'll accept it. Not happily. 'But I don't think that's what will happen, because I think the more people who can actually get to the polls, whether by mail or in person, and get their votes counted, then we are going to have the kind of election we should have. 'And then it will be a win both in the popular vote and the Electoral College.' Clinton was asked about the November election and the possibility of Trump calling fraud. She said it was 'a fair point to raise as to whether or not, if he loses, he's going to go quietly or not' Donald Trump, pictured on Monday, may not 'go quietly' if he loses in November, she warned It comes after former President Barack Obama chimed into the debate on mail-in voting Monday, knocking down Trump's claim that it would lead to widespread fraud. 'Voting by mail shouldn't be a partisan issue especially during a pandemic,' the ex-president wrote. 'Everybody should be able to request an absentee ballot, and make their voice heard in every election.' Obama then linked to a National Public Radio article that said the possibility for fraud was 'such a miniscule amount it's not statistically meaningful.' As the coronavirus pandemic continues, so do the calls from Democrats to allow for as much mail-in voting as possible in November to cut down on Americans standing in long lines to vote. Poll workers tend to be older Americans, who are also at the most risk if they contract the virus. Clinton challenged Trump for the presidency in 2016, and is pictured at an October debate Clinton, who remains a divisive figure, is yet to campaign for this year's presumptive Democrat nominee, Joe Biden. Noah, who returned on Monday from a two week July 4th break, asked Clinton how she had been spending her time during lockdown. 'Because I know if I was in your position, I would spend most of my time tweeting "I told you so" and I would walk around the street just looking at people saying, "It could have been me, it could have been me,"' he said. 'Well, you know, before the lockdown I was doing all of that,' Clinton joked in response. 'I mean there's probably video.' Trump, pictured on Monday, has frequently expressed concern about mail-in voting Clinton also attacked Trump for commuting his friend Roger Stone's prison sentence - a decision the White House announced on Friday night. Noah asked Clinton whether presidents should have the power to commute sentences - particularly when the person in question is related to them in a case - and what precedent Trump could be setting to America by pardoning anybody who protects a president by 'not snitching'. In response, Clinton said 'I think you just summed up why Roger Stone was pardoned. 'He basically threatened Trump. He basically said "I sure don't want to go to jail, I sure have a lot more to say, and boy I just wish there'd be somebody who could stop me from having to go to jail" and guess what, Trump intervened,' she said. Pictured: Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, reacts after Trump commuted his federal prison sentence, seen outside his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on July 10, 2020 wearing a 'Free Roger Stone' face mask 'This is an extension to the total disregard for the rule of law. The pardon power is supposed to be used for compassionate purposes. To try to right wrongs, to try to make sure people are not being punished or unfairly, or have been punished enough. 'In this case, it's a continuation of the cover-up,' she said. 'Because the one thing that Trump is fearful of, when it comes to his being president, is that finally we will see how illegitimate his victory actually was. 'And how he was involved in the seeking of foreign help and the utilization of it, and how Roger Stone was critical to that. She said that Stone's commutation was yet one more reason to vote Trump out of office in November, so the full scale of his behavior could be brought to light with a new president in power. 'But, you know, unless Trump is defeated at the polls in November, we will never really know everything there is to know about this really deep, ongoing dismantling of institutions and undermining the rule of law and the original sin of the way that he actually won the election,' she said. 'So Roger Stone was in the middle of it all. And that's why Trump had to cover it up.' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 17:50 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663ed6d 1 National COVID-19,COVID-19-West-Java,COVID-19-in-Indonesia Free The West Java administration has decided to impose stricter measures against residents who do not comply with COVID-19 protocols in public. West Java COVID-19 task force chief Ridwan Kamil, who is also the province's governor, said in a written statement received by The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that those who did not wear face masks in public places would be slapped with a fine of Rp 100,000 (US$6.95) to Rp 150,000 or forced to do community service. We will discipline them. Since we have already educated the people and reprimanded those who violated the health protocols, we have already entered the third phase of our commitment, which is to discipline those who break the rules with fines, Ridwan said. The fine will come into effect on July 27. As of now, Ridwan said that his administration was working on a gubernatorial decree that outlined the new policy. We will finish the introduction process in 14 days. Therefore, during that time period, we will give an opportunity for offices and other institutions to instruct their workers to wear face masks, he said. Read also: Cases surge by record 2,657 after West Java military academy outbreak Ridwan added that he issued the new policy to raise awareness about health protocols in public spaces, as public compliance was important in preventing COVID-19 from spreading. There wont be any need to fine people as long as theyre disciplined. However, since reports from the regional police and our daily observations show that many people are still not wearing face masks in public places, this is the route that we have chosen, Ridwan said. As of Tuesday, West Java recorded 84 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total to 5,235. With zero new deaths, COVID-19 fatalities remain at 186. Separately, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said that the government was currently preparing a policy to punish people who failed to meet health protocols to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. There will be a punishment since what we are facing right now is people who dont comply with the health protocols to prevent COVID-19, he said. Jokowi explained that the punishment could be implemented in various forms, such as fines or social service. We are still in the discussion process. I believe that things will be different if we start implementing punishments [for those who disobey protocols], he said. Symbols of hate such as Confederate battle flags and swastikas will be banned on city property in Peterborough, city council decided Monday night. Council unanimously passed a motion that all actions, speech and symbols of hate and racism, including, but not limited to, the Confederate battle flag and swastikas be banned from all City of Peterborough property. We all understand that we live in a new age where there is no acceptance or tolerance of racism, said Coun. Dean Pappas, who introduced the motion. Theres no way we should accept any racism or intolerance. Theres no room for that in todays world. Secessionist states that wanted to preserve slavery flew the Confederate flag during the Civil War in the U.S. in the 1860s. There was a resurgence in the use of the flag, also known as the Southern Cross flag, starting in 1948 by opponents of the civil rights movement in the U.S., Pappas explained. Last month, NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from stock car races while Mississippi moved to remove the Confederate emblem from its state flag. As we look around the world, these symbols of hate are no longer acceptable in our society. We all know the origins of the swastika and what happened (in Nazi Germany during the Second World War), Pappas told council. Coun. Don Vassiliadis, city councils diversity chair, said the ban has been under consideration for some time. This is something that we do together. Its not about the chair of diversity making a motion, its about all of us working together and dealing with the issues when it comes to dealing with the Confederate flag and symbols of hate, Vassiliadis said. Coun. Stephen Wright, one of two Black councillors on the 11-person city council, thanked Pappas for bringing the ban forward. Ive been in Peterborough for 20 years and in the 20 years that I have lived here for the most part of it I would have to go to Toronto just to see some diversity, Wright said. But now we are starting to see the diversity growing in this community. Its council actions like this that make people feel more welcome to a community, Wright said, also citing city councils decision last November to have the city join the national Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities. Council also agreed to send a letter to the prime ministers office, the federal attorney-generals office and Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsefs office seeking federal support for the citys anti-racism ban. Increasing the countrys agricultural exports is one of the key targets of those responsible for economic policies in Egypt. The future depends on achieving a leap in exports, since these are a fundamental source of the foreign currency necessary for development. The agricultural sector has the most potential to utilise Egypts natural and human resources to supply the local market with its needs, generate job opportunities, and attract more domestic and foreign investment. Egypts agricultural strategy is also based on expanding and diversifying the production of crops, particularly fruit and vegetables, for export, since in these areas Egypt has a competitive edge in international markets. The countrys agricultural exports were valued at $821 million during the first quarter of 2019, up from $812 million during the same period of 2018. Egypts agricultural exports also saw increasing international demand despite the Covid-19 outbreak. Egypt exported 2.23 million tons of fruit and vegetables during the first quarter of 2020, rising to the first spot globally of countries exporting citrus fruit. Oranges topped the list of exports at 1.2 million tons to a value of $107 million, followed by 550,000 tons of potatoes in the first quarter of 2020 to a value of $14 million. In 2018-19, citrus fruit made up 31 per cent of Egypts agricultural exports, followed by potatoes at 11 per cent, grapes at 10 per cent, and onions at nine per cent. During the same fiscal year, Russia and Saudi Arabia came top of the list of countries importing agricultural produce from Egypt, at 12 per cent and 11 per cent, respectively. Following them came the Netherlands, the UK, each approximately at seven per cent, and China and Turkey, at five per cent each. The crops that were hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis were those that were harvested during the peak of the pandemic, such as potatoes, the price of which dropped locally to LE1,200 per ton, while the cost per ton reached LE4,000. Meanwhile, the price of exported potatoes plummeted from $120 to $10 per ton. Exports of fruit, regarded as non-essential items during times of crisis, were also affected, except for oranges due to the rising foreign demand for a fruit known as an immunity booster, especially against viruses. The faster Egyptian exporters are able to access the money they are owed by the countrys Export Support Fund, the better Egyptian exporters will be able to direct their produce for export. Exporters have already collected 30 per cent of the money owed to them, helping companies to resume work and opening the door to more Egyptian exports. There is a host of policies and measures that could be adopted to alleviate the impact of the coronavirus crisis on agricultural exports. The ministry of agriculture should play a greater role in informing farmers of international export standards through agricultural extension services and the media, for example. Another measure could be to increase supervision by technical committees overseeing agricultural quarantining at border outlets, sea and land ports, and packaging stations in order to facilitate the monitoring process. It would also be helpful to introduce a tracking system for crops planned for export during cultivation, packaging, and exporting in order to ensure the quality of products. It is key to give farmers adequate economic incentives, bearing in mind that they base their production and marketing decisions on costs and profits. Maintaining the good reputation of Egyptian products is essential for exports to grow. Therefore, it would also be wise to apply punitive measures against exporting companies that do not abide by the standards Egypt has identified to ensure the quality of its exports. All these policies will be effective if the government works on removing the obstacles that exporting companies may encounter, provides air transport of products to Arab and European countries at reasonable cost, and does not close packing facilities for agricultural products. Another step would be to increase investment in small and medium-sized agricultural processing projects. Processing agricultural products increases their value-added, provides more job opportunities, and prolongs shelf life. It is also important to increase communication with the Arab and western countries and sign protocols that ensure that in cases of litigation countries punish only the exporting company concerned and not all exporters. This measure would prevent the enforcement of bans on a wider scale and help to maintain the reputation of Egyptian products. The writer is an associate professor of plant resources at Cairo University. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Oman will begin allowing its citizens and residents to fly outside of the country as long as they quarantine upon their return, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. Oman is also returning ex-pats to their home countries in 17 repatriation flights this week to India, Pakistan, Egypt, Germany and Greece, according to the Times of Oman newspaper. With the exception of repatriation flights, all international flights out of Oman were halted on March 29. Officials did not specify when the flights for citizens would resume, according to Oman TV, as quoted by Reuters. The small Gulf state has gradually eased coronavirus-related restrictions, including lifting a lockdown on the capital of Muscat in late May. But on Tuesday, the governments coronavirus task force announced it would be extending a lockdown on the two tourist-friendly regions of Dhofar and Masirah. The committee said it was concerned about the noticeable increase in the number of deaths and infected cases, especially among families who had been in close contact with each other. The sultanate of some 4.7 million people has confirmed more than 59,000 cases of the virus and 273 deaths. On Monday, Oman saw its highest single-day tally, with 2,164 new cases. Health officials on Sunday started a 10-week nationwide survey, which includes drawing blood samples to detect antibodies that can determine the immunity percentages in parts of Oman. Earlier this month, Oman announced it would be expanding its number of intensive care units following a "scary" spike in cases. Iran has reportedly executed a former defense official found guilty of spying for the United States. Reza Asgari, a retired employee of Irans Ministry of Defense, spied for the CIA, Iranian judicial authorities said. A judicial spokesman said today that Asgari was hanged for the crime last week, Irans state-run Tasnim News Agency reported. Tasnim reported that Asgari sold information on the production of Iranian missiles to the US intelligence agency after his retirement in 2012, citing the judicial spokesman. The CIA has not commented on the claims. Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world and has put others to death based on espionage charges. Last month, a court sentenced a man to death after he was convicted of spying on the late commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani for the United States and Israel. The United States killed Soleimani, who led Irans elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), via an airstrike in Iraq in January. The news comes as a series of mysterious explosions are hitting Iran. Since late June, nuclear facilities, industrial areas and hospitals have been subject to multiple fires and blasts. Iranian officials have attributed many of them to accidental gas explosions and the like. Nobody has taken credit for causing the incidents, but a Middle Eastern intelligence official told The New York Times that Israel was behind the fire at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility on July 2. BEIJING China is further easing restrictions on domestic tourism after reporting no new local cases of COVID-19 in nine days. A directive from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism dated Tuesday said that tourist sites should allow 50 percent of their daily visitor capacity, up from 30 percent, and that interprovince group tours should be resumed. The National Health Commission said that six new cases were recorded Tuesday, all in people who had arrived from overseas. It has not reported any domestic cases since an outbreak in Beijing that infected more than 330 people before it faded early this month. China has reported 83,611 confirmed cases and 4,634 deaths since the outbreak began. It does not include people who test positive but show no symptoms in its case count. ___ HERES WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK: France aims to open schools by new academic year South Africa exceeds UK in number of confirmed coronavirus cases Arizona reports all-time high in coronavirus hospitalizations France, England make masks mandatory in most places No Olympics, no awards shows, no weddings, no summer camp, no graduations. The coronavirus pandemic has brought change to almost every part of life. A Montana memory care facility didnt carry out free coronavirus testing on its residents. Now its reeling from an outbreak that's infected nearly all the residents. ___ Follow all of APs pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak ___ HERES WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING: MELBOURNE, Australia -- The leader of Australias worst-hit state says police were cracking down on a coronavirus lockdown in the nations second-largest city. Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday warned that restrictions would be increased unless the spread was contained in Melbourne. If ... people do not do the right thing, then we will have to move to additional restrictions being put in place and we will have to prolong the period that those restrictions are in place, Andrews said. Story continues The Australian military is bolstering police numbers at checkpoints. Police were scanning license plates to determine drivers addresses and whether they were subjected to stay-at-home orders. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said 238 new cases detected in the latest 24-hour period could be the start of a stabilization in the spread since Melbourne and part of its surrounds were last week locked down for a second time for six weeks. Sutton did not know whether new restrictions would likely entail spreading existing rules beyond Melbourne or tightening existing restrictions in Melbourne. WELLINGTON, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Wednesday outlined her government plans to contain future community outbreaks in New Zealand. The South Pacific nation has not recorded a community spread virus case in 75 days. Its two new cases recorded Wednesday and all 27 of its active cases are people quarantined after foreign travel. Ardern said a system of local or regional lockdowns would be used if community spread occurs and a national lockdown would only be considered as a last resort. Local lockdowns might involve buildings, suburbs or a city. Our priority will be to control any cases with the least intrusive measures and over the smallest area we can, Ardern said. No one wants to go backwards but the reality is our fight against the virus is not over and we must have a plan at the ready to protect our current position if it comes back. Since New Zealand stopped community spread and lifted its lockdown, life has returned largely to normal with schools, bars and restaurants all open and with packed stadiums at sports events. ___ SANTA FE, N.M. -- New Mexico health officials are reporting an additional 227 COVID-19 cases, bringing the statewide total to more than 15,500 since the coronavirus outbreak began. The latest figures released Tuesday show Bernalillo County, which includes the states most populous metro area, added another 65 confirmed cases. Health officials also reported three additional deaths, bringing that total to 551. Those deaths include a McKinley County man and San Juan County woman, both in the their 30s, who had underlying conditions. New Mexico has been added to New York, New Jersey and Connecticuts quarantine list because its among those states with growing infection rates. ___ AUSTIN, Texas Texas voters have returned to the polls as the state reports a record number of confirmed new coronavirus cases in a single day. The short ballot of primary runoff elections Tuesday included a big race to determine Texas Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. In San Antonio, elections officials say they were unable to staff a handful of polling locations because some poll workers feared getting the virus. Texas reported nearly 10,800 new cases and 87 new deaths. The rate of positive cases also climbed to nearly 17%, which was also a new high. Primary runoff elections are typically low turnout in Texas. Election officials in many of the states big cities reported short lines, and some equipped polling places with social distancing measures and disposable gloves for voters to use. The primary runoff in Texas was originally set for May but pushed back because of concerns over the virus. ___ CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan officials say new coronavirus cases have surpassed 10,000 nationwide, with an alarming number of recent illnesses found in the capital of Caracas. President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday ordered strict enforcement of quarantine measures in Caracas where most of the 303 new daily cases were diagnosed. Venezuela has been in a nationwide quarantine for 121 days starting shortly after the first cases were diagnosed in mid-March. Officials report fewer than 100 deaths. The South American nation hasnt been overrun by the virus like neighboring Brazil and Ecuador, which experts attribute to the Venezuelas isolation after years of economic and social crisis. Maduro doesnt consider Caracas a focal point, but he says the recent surge in the capital and neighboring state of Miranda has set off an alarm. ___ SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah tallied 10 more confirmed deaths from the coronavirus Tuesday, the latest sign showing the severity of a surge of case that began after businesses reopened in May. The Utah Health Department reported that six of the deaths came in rural San Juan County in the southeast corner of the state, including three at an assisted living facility. Utah has now recorded 226 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and nearly 30,500 confirmed cases. Case counts have more than doubled since mid-May when state leaders allowed some businesses to reopen, with an average of 636 per day over the last seven days. ___ LAS VEGAS -- Nevada officials say a record high in the daily number of positive COVID-19 tests in the state may be the result of people failing to wear masks and keep distances apart during the Independence Day holiday. State coronavirus response chief Caleb Cage said Tuesday a resurgence in hospitalizations continues less than a week after Gov. Steve Sisolak cited a spike in cases and again closed bars and restaurants in the Las Vegas and Reno areas. The more than 1,100 new cases reported statewide on Tuesday brings the total to nearly 30,000. Cage blamed the Fourth of July weekend. ___ PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland Public Schools has set a tentative Sept. 14 start date for the 2020-21 academic year, but the states largest district will only have students attend in-person classes two days per week, if at all. Students and families should be ready to go online beginning Sept. 2, as teachers will offer individual consultations and technology checks, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. Under the proposed reopening plan, educators will spend two weeks training in how to use online learning tools and helping students and their families adjust to long-term distance learning. Portland Public Schools is also developing a full-time distance learning program for families who opt to keep their children home. District officials say all students may need to move back to digital learning if coronavirus cases spike. ___ WASHINGTON-- Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious disease expert, offered encouragement--tinged by firsthand experience--to young people on doing their part in separating politics from science as they navigate life in the age of coronavirus. Do your thing, and dont get involved in any of the political nonsense, thats a waste of time, and a distraction, Fauci advised students during a virtual forum Tuesday, hosted by Georgetown Universitys Global Health Initiative, Fauci has been increasingly sidelined by the White House as he sounds alarms about the virus, a message that White House officials have become hostile to as President Donald Trump focuses on pushing an economic rebound. Fauci, asked by a students how to separate politics from the science, said its very tough for young people to have an impact on depoliticization of the virus except by not being part of the politicization. He added it was important that young people remind each other that in protecting oneself from the virus that it doesnt matter who you are, what you are--youre Republican, Democrat, anybody else. BATON ROUGE, La. The Trump administration has announced plans to provide point of care coronavirus testing in nursing homes across the country to help ease the burden on overwhelmed testing sites and avoid backlogged results. Vice President Mike Pence announced the new testing initiative Tuesday during a visit to Louisiana. U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma says the rapid response tests will be used for nursing home employees on a weekly basis as well as for some patient testing. The administration estimated the effort would provide 4 million to 5 million tests per month. Officials said the tests will start rolling out next week at 2,000 nursing homes, including 17 located in Baton Rouge. ___ LAS VEGAS Nevadas Clark County School District has received approval from the state Department of Education to delay the start of the school year until Aug. 24. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that district Superintendent Jesus Jara announced the scheduling change during a town hall event. The remainder of the reopening strategy awaits approval by the state, which must review plans to restart classes using updated health regulations following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The reopening plan was conditionally approved by the Clark County School Board last week and will return to the board for further discussion if approved by the state. Clark County is the nations fifth-largest school district, serving 320,000 students in Las Vegas and neighboring communities. ___ CHICAGO People traveling from Iowa and Oklahoma to Chicago will have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival or face possible fines starting Friday. Chicago first issued a quarantine order this month for 15 other states based on increasing numbers of confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The city updated the order Tuesday, bringing the total number of affected states to 17. States are included based on the rate of new confirmed cases per 100,000 residents. ___ JOHANNESBURG South Africa has surpassed the UK in its number of confirmed coronavirus cases. Thats according to a health ministry statement and data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. South Africa now has the worlds eighth highest number of confirmed cases with 298,292. President Cyril Ramaphosa this week said the country is now confronted by the gravest crisis in the history of our democracy. He said many more infections have gone undetected despite South Africa conducting more than 2.2 million tests, by far the most of any African country. A strict lockdown delayed the surge in cases but it has been loosened under economic pressure. South Africa grapples with the pandemic in the dead of winter, with temperatures in the epicenter, Gauteng province and Johannesburg, to drop below freezing overnight. That makes ventilation a challenge especially in small, crowded homes for the poor. ___ RALEIGH Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has announced guidelines that will allow North Carolina K-12 schools to reopen at reduced in-classroom capacity but give parents and school districts the choice to have classes entirely online. The guidelines from Cooper and the Department of Health and Human Services outlined on Tuesday allow in-person instruction if students and teachers wear face coverings and people remain six feet apart at school. Districts were previously directed to prepare for three plans: entirely in-person classes, a hybrid of online and in-person learning and fully remote instruction. Cooper decided to go with the hybrid approach statewide, though districts could elect to implement fully remote instruction. In many cases, students are expected to rotate between in-person and online instruction in a given week. ___ BOISE, Idaho Healthcare leaders from the five biggest medical providers in southwestern Idaho are pleading for mask mandates across the state, saying its the best way to slow a rapid increase in coronavirus cases that will otherwise overwhelm hospitals. The officials from St. Lukes Health System, Saint Alphonsus Health System, Saltzer Health, Primary Health Medical Group and West Valley Medical Center also urged Idaho residents on Tuesday to push for mask mandates by calling government leaders. Idaho Gov. Brad Little has so far been unswayed, though he has encouraged Idaho residents to wear masks. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Idaho has nearly doubled in the past two weeks, with more than 11,400 cases statewide on Tuesday according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. ___ PHOENIX Arizona reported 4,273 confirmed coronavirus cases Tuesday and an all-time high in hospitalizations. The state Department of Health Services says the statewide infection total is 128,097. On Monday, 3,517 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized, with record numbers using ICU beds and ventilators. There were 92 deaths reported Tuesday, increasing Arizonas confirmed death total to 2,337. Only eight deaths were reported Monday, a day when generally few deaths are reported due to weekend reporting lags. Arizona became a national coronavirus hotspot after Gov. Doug Ducey in May relaxed stay-at-home orders and other restrictions. Ducey since has closed gyms and bars and limited restaurant capacity. Many local governments have imposed mask requirements. ___ ROME Italys health minister has confirmed schools will reopen in September, with antibody tests for teachers, sample testing of students and a decision on masks before classes resume. Minister Roberto Speranza says schools will reopen Sept. 14, adding Italy couldnt consider its lockdown over until then. Unlike other European countries that sent children back to school in late spring, Italy has kept its schools closed since early March. On Tuesday, Italy confirmed 114 more coronavirus cases and 13 deaths. Recently, Italy blocked flights from 13 countries, including Bangladesh, where infections are surging. ___ ATHENS, Greece The Greece government has ruled out a new lockdown after a rise in reported coronavirus infections since opening its borders. Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias says there are no plans for a lockdown, but local restrictions could be implemented. On Tuesday, health authorities reported 58 new infections, with 34 from international visitors, and no new deaths. That brings the countrys overall number of confirmed infections to just under 3,900, and 193 deaths in a country of about 10 million. Starting Wednesday, visitors from Britain can enter Greece. People arriving by road through the northern borders with other Balkan countries will need to provide negative coronavirus tests. ___ ACCRA, Ghana Officials say 55 high school students and staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at a boarding school in Ghanas capital. The Accra Girls Senior High School campus has been quarantined and angry parents have gathered outside to protest not seeing their children. Classes resumed June 22 for senior high school students and state media has confirmed cases at 10 schools, including the Accra Girls campus. Education officials say the infection rates at the high schools are comparable to those for the general population. Ghana has 139 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and testing has confirmed more than 25,000 cases since the start of the pandemic. They also come amid a deepening debate over Confederate symbols. Some demonstrators have toppled statues of Confederate figures, arguing that their removal is long overdue. Democrats on Capitol Hill have pushed forward with a proposal to remove the names of Confederate generals from military installations, and NASCAR last month banned displays of the Confederate flag at all of its events and properties. SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Countrys largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) expects to save Rs 1,000 crore by instituting Work from Anywhere, chairman Rajnish Kumar said in his speech at the 65th Annual General Meeting of the bank. The Bank will institute Work from Anywhere (WFA) infrastructure to facilitate work from any location, while taking care of the social aspects of work-life balance. The measure is expected to save Rs 1,000 crore through cost optimisation and will be a key component of our business continuity during the times of COVID-19, Rajnish Kumar said. In the 2019-20 annual report, Kumar had said: With global acceptability of Work-from-Home (WFH) arrangements, the bank is in the process of upgrading its existing WFH policy to WFA. Productivity tools and technology are already in place to perform administrative work remotely. Kumars logic was that WFA would reduce commute time, and, hence, ensure better services and better work-life balance. This is expected to drive down the operational cost for the bank, besides ensuring better motivation and productivity for staff members, the SBI Chairman said. SBI has about 2.5 lakh employees and 24,000 branches across different states, including far-flung rural areas where people are still taking baby steps into the world of formal banking. The focus, going ahead, will be on cost reduction, rationalisation and re-skilling of workforce, improving staff productivity and redeployment of workforce from admin offices to sales roles. Bank will maintain a constant vigil on the emerging stress and take proactive action, to help our borrower customers and maintain asset quality, Kumar said. An elaborate business continuity plan is already in place. The Bank has stepped up its monitoring of all the projects under implementation and expects to tide over COVID impact in the short to medium term, Kumar said. Banks performance Despite the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic towards the end, SBIs total deposits grew at a faster rate of 11.34 percent in 2019-20, compared to industry growth of 7.9 percent, to Rs 32.42 lakh crore from the previous years level of Rs 29.11 lakh crore. The foreign offices deposits grew by 20.45 percent to Rs 1.17 lakh crore, while domestic deposits grew by 11.03 percent to Rs 31.25 lakh crore, Kumar said. SBIs domestic advances grew by 3.75 percent to Rs 20.65 lakh crore, while the foreign offices advances grew at 18.05 percent to Rs 3.57 lakh crore. Therefore, the gross advances of SBI grew by 5.64 percent to the level of Rs 24.23 lakh crore in FY20 from the previous year level of Rs 22.93 lakh crore. Much of the growth in domestic advances came from personal segment including Home Loans, Kumar said. However, the corporate Loan book has declined marginally by 0.87 percent to Rs 8.44 lakh crore in FY20, in line with the Banking industrys growth trend. Major share of the credit went into sectors such as Infrastructure (Power, Roads & Ports) and Services especially Commercial Real Estate and NBFCs. The Corporate Loan book accounts for 38.9 per cent share of PSUs/Govt. sector or the GoI undertakings, Kumar said. CITY, Calif., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Passengers aboard the Carnival Cruise ship headed to Mexico filed a class action lawsuit in Federal Court today against Carnival and Princess Cruise Lines. The lawsuit alleges gross negligence in the handling of passenger health and safety which led to numerous passengers being exposed to or infected by COVID-19. According to the complaint, on February 11, 2020, roughly 2,000 passengers boarded the Grand Princess for a roundtrip voyage from San Francisco to Mexico. The boarding process did not require any effective medical screenings for passengers or requiring of any medical information to mitigate or prevent the spread of COVID-19. There had already been a serious outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise which was docked in Yokohama, Japan where 10 cases turned into 700 cases (or 20% of the passengers aboard that ship). In spite of the earlier outbreak, the complaint alleges that Carnival and Princess acted negligently by not changing any of their boarding protocols aboard the Grand Princess. This led to the crew being unaware of any previously infected passengers boarding or of the spreading of the disease throughout the cruise. "Carnival and Princess couldn't be bothered to provide basic medical screening and allowed a wildfire of infection to spread throughout the Grand Princess," said co-counsel Mary Alexander of Mary Alexander & Associates. "Two people died, roughly 100 became infected and who knows who else was exposed on the mainland due to the negligence of just these two cruise lines." The suit further alleges that because nothing was done aboard the Grand Princess' Mexico trip, the infected passenger exposed other passengers and crew members to the coronavirus and at least 100 passengers who traveled aboard the Grand Princess have tested positive for COVID-19. In addition, at least two passengers died after disembarking, one of which was the first-reported death caused by COVID-19 in California. "Carnival and Princess were aware of the problems aboard the Diamond Princess and cannot plead ignorance," said co-counsel Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP. "These cruise lines knew they had a problem on their hands, yet they did nothing to protect their passengers." It was not until a separate cruise on March 5 that any operational changes were made on the cruse, such as cabin/state room quarantine, meal service within the cabins/state rooms, and ending of daily turndown service and communal activities. The case is Cynthia Lynn Ford et al. v. Carnival Corporation, Princess Cruise Lines, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, Case No. 2:20-CV-06226. To read the release go to: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HtbtzOaZZPbyi3yjKm01UfQKpL9Be5pT/view?usp=sharing Source/Contact Mary E. Alexander Mary Alexander & Associates, P.C. 44 Montgomery Street, Suite 1303 San Francisco, CA 94104 Telephone: (415) 433-4440 Email: [email protected] Elizabeth J. Cabraser Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP 275 Battery Street, Suite 2900 San Francisco, CA 94111 Telephone: (415) 956-1000 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Mary Alexander & Associates We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. On July 13, the armed formations of the Russian Federation violated ceasefire in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) area in Donbas 18 times. The enemy used 120mm and 82mm mortars banned under the Minsk agreements, grenade launchers of different systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms to shell Ukrainian positions, the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports. Over the past day, three servicemen of the Joint Forces were killed, one was wounded and another one injured in the enemy shelling. The Joint Forces command extended deep condolences to the relatives and friends of the fallen Ukrainian heroes. The Ukrainian military gave a decent response to the enemy attacks and thwarted hostile armed activity with authorized weapons. According to intelligence reports, on July 13, one Russian invader was killed and two more were wounded. Today, the Russian armed formations have already violated ceasefire once. No casualties among Ukrainian troops have been reported. The situation in the JFO area remains controlled by the Joint Forces, the Headquarters added. ish Citizenship has become an issue in the country today for two-edged reasons. For the purpose of registering those who are citizens with a view to compiling a clean voters' register, which is what is going on now, it is good. But when some persons exploit the subject to stoke ethnocentric flames in the country which is what some individuals, including a chief, are doing we can only condemn them and ask the rest of the country to ignore them. One of the reasons for the ongoing voter registration exercise is the fact that the previous roll was not clean because it contained names of persons who did not qualify to lay claim to our citizenship. As a result, we were confronted with a situation where foreigners were taking part in elections to choose our political leadership. That cannot be responsible and acceptable. For those now angry that only Ghanaians are being registered not so foreigners, they have always had the latter claiming the citizenship of this country and voting in our elections, crossing over the border to their countries of origin and finding residence almost immediately. That inured to the interest of those supportive of foreigners voting in our polls and although they knew it was wrong they turned their backs on the anomalies. This quest for power 'by all means' attitude, including allowing foreigners to flout our laws, is unfortunate, especially when those facilitating it are men laying claim to integrity. Hypocrisy is a word we would have loved not to use under the circumstance but considering the gravity of the subject, we are constrained to use it to those subtly calling for civil war because foreigners are being disallowed from registering to take part in our electoral process. Is there any country which allows everybody who comes into its territory automatic citizenship? Of course, there is none. The NDC led by its flagbearer is 'concerned' that people are being questioned about their citizenship in recent times. Of course, he should be concerned when his party's Togolese voters are being denied access to our voter cards as they used to in previous times for the first time since the appearance of the NDC in local politics. Is the former President asking that the requirement about citizenship be relaxed or even eliminated for voter identification card applicants? That would have been irresponsible on the part of those bestowed with the task of protecting the territorial integrity of this country and generally managing it. We would not have been where we are today had those at the helm in previous times not allowed unqualified persons to have access to our passports, voter identification cards and others reserved for only citizens of this country. The issue of citizenship of the country is so critical that there is no constitution which does not have a chapter on the subject. Who qualifies to be a citizen, how is it acquired by those whose parents do not originate from here and other salient footnotes? These are all dealt with in the Citizenship chapter of the Constitution. The former President and a chief who are making so much noise about the subject and even claiming that soldiers are searching houses for foreigners are sulking because of selfishness. No longer will our elections be open to ECOWAS citizens because it is meant for Ghanaians only. If ensuring the foregone requires questioning the citizenship of individuals who turn up to register so be it. Daily Guide FORKSVILLE State troopers fired the shots that killed a Sullivan County man Friday during an attempt to serve a bench warrant. The two unidentified troopers who fired the shots have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the results of an investigation, a state police spokesman said Monday. Kevin Michael Norton, 60, died from multiple gunshots an autopsy determined, Coroner Wendy Hastings said. Until toxicology test results are received it will not be known if he had consumed drugs or alcohol, she said. Sheriff Bobby Montgomery, Chief Deputy Daniel Strailey and the two troopers went to Nortons home along Cotts Road in the Forksville area about 10:30 a.m. Friday. A bench warrant had been issued Tuesday because he failed to report to the Columbia County Prison to begin serving a sentence of 6 to 23 months for theft and defiant trespass. He had pleaded guilty in February in five cases. Authorities are not at this time releasing details of what occurred but Nortons attorney Kyle W. Rude said he was told his client greeted them with a shotgun. Whether he discharged the weapon has not been disclosed. Norton was appealing his sentence and, according to Rude, he was concerned if he went to prison he would contract COVID-19 and die. Norton had been granted bail pending his appeal but that decision was reversed and he had to begin serving his sentence. Rude said he tried to convince him to report. Attempts to reach Sullivan County District Attorney Leonard Simpson were unsuccessful. He will make the determination if the shooting was justified. Other John Beauge stories that recently appeared on PennLive Talking about Flight 800 still difficult 24 years later for two retired Montoursville teachers Man stalked woman before killing her and friend on date night: police Pa. man shot to death by law enforcement serving a warrant Man, woman killed in shooting outside Pa. restaurant; suspect wounded by customer: police Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Television actor Erica Fernandes has slammed news stories that she has tested positive for Covid-19 and clarified that she is yet to receive her report. She got tested after her Kasautii Zindagii Kay co-star Parth Samthaan tested positive for the virus on Sunday. In one of her Instagram stories, Erica hit out at the false news stories and said that she will share her report herself, as soon as she gets it. It was brought to my notice that false claims to my test results have been doing the rounds on social media. Although we are all hoping that it turns out negative, I have yet not received my results, she wrote. My special request to online portals, PLEASE DO NOT spread false news before confirming I will for sure let you guys know the end result when I learn about it. MUCH LOVE. STAY POSITIVE, STAY SAFE, she added. Erica Fernandes clarified that news of her diagnosis was false. Also see: Step inside Gauri Khans sea-view workspace at Mannat. Watch video The shoot of Kasautii Zindagii Kay has been temporarily halted after Parth tested positive on Sunday. Cast and crew members who came in contact with him were tested. So far, actors Karan Patel, Aamna Sharif, Pooja Banerjee and Shubhaavi Choksey have tested negative. Parth said in an Instagram post on Sunday that he had mild symptoms and was self-quarantining. He also urged those who came in contact with him in the last few days to get themselves tested. Hi everyone , I have been tested Postive for covid 19 .although I have mild symptoms.. I would urge and request everyone whose been with me in close promitixy over the last few days please go and get yourself tested . The Bmc has regularly been in touch and with the doctors guidance I am in self quarantine and I am grateful to them for all their support . Please be safe and take care, he wrote. Meanwhile, producer Ekta Kapoor and Balaji Telefilms have said that the necessary guidelines are being followed and that the safety of the team was of utmost importance. Follow @htshowbiz for more Rating Action: Moody's affirms Braskem's Ba1 ratings; changes outlook to negative Global Credit Research - 13 Jul 2020 New York, July 13, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") affirmed Braskem S.A. ("Braskem")'s Ba1 corporate family rating and the Ba1 ratings on the foreign and local currency debt issuances of Braskem Finance Ltd and Braskem America Finance Company, respectively, fully guaranteed by Braskem S.A. The outlook for the ratings was changed to negative from stable. Ratings Affirmed: ..Issuer: : Braskem S.A. LT Corporate Family Rating, Affirmed Ba1 ..Issuer: Braskem America Finance Company USD 750 mm GTD Global Senior Unsecured notes due 2041, Affirmed Ba1 ..Issuer: Braskem Finance Ltd USD 289 mm GTD Global Senior Unsecured notes due 2022, Affirmed Ba1 USD 750 mm GTD Global Senior Unsecured notes due 2024, Affirmed Ba1 USD 500 mm GTD Global Senior Unsecured notes (perpetual), Affirmed Ba1 Outlook Actions: .. Issuer:: Braskem S.A: ....Outlook, Changed To Negative from Stable ..Issuer: Braskem America Finance Company: ....Outlook, Changed To Negative from Stable ..Issuer: Braskem Finance Ltd ....Outlook, Changed To Negative from Stable RATINGS RATIONALE The change in Braskem's ratings outlook to negative follows the company's announcement on July 9th of an additional BRL1.6 billion ($300 million) provision related to a geological event in Alagoas. The new provision include BRL850 million in possible assistance measures for residents and BRL750 million in additional expenses to fund the definitive shutdown of the salt mining activities in Maceio, the operation management and the relocation of properties, among others. The additional provision reduces the visibility over potential future liabilities coming from the agreement Braskem ratified with authorities on January 6th until a definitive agreement covering all social and environmental aspects of the incident is reached. Story continues While Braskem's robust financial position provides a good cushion against the financial impact of the new provision, the additional call on the company's liquidity comes at a time of strained credit metrics due to the petrochemical downcycle, supply issues in Mexico and uncertainties surrounding the full impact of coronavirus on the company's operations and on the industry's downcycle in 2020-21. The new provision adds to the existing BRL3.4 billion, bringing total liabilities related to this incident to BRL5 billion. The provisions do not immediately jeopardize Braskem's sound liquidity since the payments will likely be made in installments in the coming years, but reduce the company's cushion to ride through the downcycle. At the end of March 2020, Braskem had total cash of BRL12.3 billion, plus a $1 billion (BRL5.2 billion) committed credit facility that was fully drawn in April, and only BRL5.2 billion in debt coming due until the end of 2021, including Mexico's debt. Braskem's credit quality remains mainly supported by its large cash position, lack of financial covenants that could threaten the company's short-term liquidity amid a rising leverage, and track record of positive free cash flow generation even under adverse market conditions. Moreover, the company announced measures to reduce costs and cash outflows during the pandemic -- namely a 10% reduction in fixed costs, the reduction of capital spending to $600 million from $721 million and suspension of dividend payments for 2020. Still, with the resurgence of the uncertainties related to the liabilities of Alagoas, continued supply issues in Mexico and Pemex' rising delinquency on the liquidated damages payments (currently at $40 million), Braskem's cushion to withstand the industry's weakness in the next few years is diminishing. Low used capacity levels in Mexico are preventing the formal physical and financial completion of the project-finance and led to the issuance of a letter of credit to cover an equity call of $200 million for Braskem. Braskem's adjusted gross leverage peaked at close to 9.0x at the end of March 2020 (including Mexico's project finance debt) as a consequence of the translation of Brazilian real's depreciation to debt and weaker downcycle EBITDA. Gross debt will rise further during 2020 with the withdrawal of Braskem's committed facility in April 2020. But adjusted gross leverage will decline to around 5.0-6.0x by early-2021 as the company repays the facility, and while EBITDA catches up with the depreciated currency and improves with current petrochemical spreads, and additional volumes coming from the new polypropylene plant in the US and the fast track solution to increase capacity utilization in Mexico. Low oil prices have flattened the industry's ethylene cost curve, supporting low feedstock costs and higher spreads for Braskem's mostly naphtha-based Brazilian operations in 2020 and helping offset lower short-term demand. But, long-term industry fundamentals still point to an oversupply and downcycle that will strain prices for polyethylene, polypropylene and basic chemicals. As such, if the depth of the strain on global demand and prices for Braskem's key products make current naphtha-based spreads less sustainable, Braskem's leverage ratios would remain under stress without an asset sale or another external liquidity event. We will assess the evolution of Braskem's current operating environment, particularly the trend of oil prices, resin prices and foreign exchange rate, and the company's ability to increase its financial flexibility and generate positive free cash flow during 2020. A reversal in the current deleverage and positive free cash flow generation trend would lead to additional negative rating actions in the next few quarters. Braskem's Ba1 rating continues to be supported by its size as the largest petrochemical company in Brazil and in the Americas in terms of production capacity of resins, with historically above-industry-average operating margins because of high capacity utilization rates, long-term client relationships and product customization. The rating also reflects the company's dominant market position in Brazil and its geographic diversification, with operations in the US, Mexico and Europe. Finally, the company's sizable cash position, track record of positive free cash flow generation even under adverse market conditions and liability management initiatives support its adequate liquidity and are additional positive credit considerations. The rating is constrained by the sharp deterioration in credit metrics since late 2019, weak industry conditions globally stemming from the coronavirus outbreak and global overcapacity as well as the company's high exposure to the volatility of petrochemical spreads. The rating also considers the dependence on Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. - PETROBRAS (PETROBRAS, Ba2 stable) and Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX, Ba2 negative) for the supply of naphtha and ethane in Brazil and Mexico, respectively. Additional credit concerns include the current supply issues with Pemex in Mexico, potential additional liabilities related to Alagoas and Braskem's shareholders intention to divest the business. The negative outlook reflects the significant overhangs on Braskem's credit quality coming from the incident in Alagoas and the supply issues in Mexico at a time of weakened operations and credit metrics. The outlook also reflects our expectations that Braskem's credit metrics will remain weak for its rating category in the next 12-18 months, but that the company will continue to prudently manage liquidity to preserve its credit profile through the downcycle. FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS The rating could be downgraded if Braskem's liquidity profile deteriorates because of additional material liabilities from litigations and class actions, weaker than anticipated sales volumes or petrochemical spreads that results in higher leverage or cash burn, or more aggressive financial policies, including dividend payout consistently above the minimum level established by the law. Furthermore, negative rating pressure could result from weaker operating results on a sustained basis or persistently high leverage through the cycle, with total adjusted debt/EBITDA of 3.5x or above and retained cash flow/total debt lower than 15% (3.4% for the 12 months ended March 2020) on a sustained basis. An upgrade of Braskem's rating is unlikely in the short-term, but the rating outlook could be stabilized if the company resolves the current overhangs related to Alagoas and Mexico, while improving its liquidity, financial flexibility and credit metrics. Longer term, the rating could be upgraded if Braskem shows a continued track record of a conservative financial policy, maintaining sound liquidity and positive free cash flow generation. Quantitatively, an upgrade would also require leverage (as measured by total adjusted debt/EBITDA) sustained below 3.0x. The principal methodology used in these ratings was Chemical Industry published in March 2019 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1152388. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology. Braskem is the largest producer of thermoplastic resins (polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride) in the Americas, with an annual production capacity of 8.9 million tons. Braskem also has a production capacity of 10.5 million tons of basic petrochemicals such as ethylene, propylene and gasoline, among others; and about 500 thousand tons of caustic soda, EDC and chlorine. For the 12 months ended March 2020, the company reported consolidated net revenue of BRL52 billion ($12.6 billion), with EBITDA margin of 11%. 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. Carolina Chimenti Asst Vice President - Analyst Corporate Finance 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 Marianna Waltz, CFA MD - Corporate Finance Corporate Finance Group JOURNALISTS: 0 800 891 2518 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 2020 Moody's Corporation, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Moody's Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, "MOODY'S"). All rights reserved. CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE, INC. AND/OR ITS CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE MOODY'S CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S (COLLECTIVELY, "PUBLICATIONS") MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE MOODY'S RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS ("ASSESSMENTS"), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODY'S ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER. ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODY'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK. All information contained herein is obtained by MOODY'S from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODY'S is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODY'S. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information. NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODY'S IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER. Moody's Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Corporation ("MCO"), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moody's Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $2,700,000. MCO and Moody's investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moody's Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading "Investor Relations Corporate Governance Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy." Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODY'S affiliate, Moody's Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moody's Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to "wholesale clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODY'S that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a "wholesale client" and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to "retail clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODY'S credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors. Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. ("MJKK") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moody's Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moody's SF Japan K.K. ("MSFJ") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO"). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively. MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY125,000 to approximately JPY250,000,000. MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused government of endangering the lives of Ghanaians by reviewing the COVID-19 recovery and discharge policy of the country. According to the NDC, the country is fast losing the fight against the virus because of the failure of the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government to put in place the right measures to safeguard the lives of Ghanaians. The new WHO discharge policy announced about a month ago among other things indicated that persons with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic will be discharged without another test, 10 days after the initial positive test. Ghana has since adopted the policy but has put the number of days until discharge at 14 days. However, while addressing the press in Accra today, Monday, National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi said the adoption of the new discharge policy is part of the reasons the country is losing the COVID-19 fight. Government's review of our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory tests to zero (0) as a result of the lack of test kits, isolation facilities, among others, is partly responsible for our ever-worsening situation. We hold the view, that the new recovery and discharge policy under which persons who have tested positive for the virus are declared as recovered and discharged when they become asymptomatic without any confirmatory tests, is very dangerous, and has the potential to further jeopardize our already-failing COVID-19 fight. The NDC also accused government of providing better healthcare to members of its party while ignoring the ordinary Ghanaian. According to Sammy Gyamfi, despite the fact that government told the public that they had reviewed the recovery and discharge policies, Carlos Ahenkora, an appointee of President Akufo-Addo, was tested twice before being declared recovered. Even more bizarre, ladies and gentlemen is the conflicting signals government is communicating to the public on this matter. Whereas the government has told the public that we have reviewed our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory and confirmatory tests to zero, the same government a few days ago informed us that one of the appointees of President Akufo-Addo who contracted the virus, Carlos Ahenkora, has recovered, after testing negative in two consecutive confirmatory tests. The question we would want to ask is that, if the new recovery and discharge policy under which asymptomatic persons are discharged without any confirmatory tests is good, then why was Carlos Ahenkora made to undertake two (2) confirmatory tests before he was declared as having recovered? What is the government hiding from the nation? Don't they believe in their own recovery and discharge policy? On what basis are they determining who deserves confirmatory tests and who doesn't? Why does Carlos Ahenkora deserve two confirmatory tests, but the ordinary Ghanaian who has contracted the virus doesn't deserve same? Is it because the Akufo Addo government values the lives of their officials over the lives of ordinary Ghanaians? Sammy Gyamfi quizzed. ---citinewsroom This is the heartwarming moment a Covid-19 survivor was welcomed home by friends and family after a prolonged battle in hospital. Jayesh Patel spent 69 days in hospital - 56 of them on a ventilator in an induced coma. For 19 days, an artificial lung machine oxygenated his blood to rest of his organs. His wife was told on several occasions he had a 'one per cent' chance of surviving. She was allowed a visit usually reserved for patients at the end of their life. But these were the joyous scenes as Jayesh, a previously fit and healthy 34-year-old, finally returned home. This is the heartwarming moment Jayesh Patel was welcomed home by friends and family after spending 69 days in hospital with Covid-19 His body fought - and won - its battle for life against Covid-19. Jeyesh's wife, Kamini, said medics who saved him at Wythenshawe Hospital and the Royal Bolton Hospital told her it was a 'miracle' he recovered. The family now want to share their story to give hope to others with loved ones in the same desperate situation - and say a huge thanks to the NHS. 'There is hope and miracles do happen,' said Kamini, 38, a nurse and sister at the Royal Bolton Hospital. 'I want others to know that.' For 19 days, an artificial lung machine oxygenated Jayesh's blood to the rest of his organs. Above, a screenshot of a FaceTime call taken by his wife Jayesh has given permission to use an image of him as he lay in a bed at an intensive case unit at Wythenshawe Hospital. It's a screenshot of a FaceTime call taken by his wife. They said they wanted the public to see how serious Covid-19 can be. Kamini said nurses would hold Jayesh's mobile phone to his ear as she spoke to him. The jubilant homecoming video shows friends and neighbours cheering and clapping as company director Jeyesh returns home to Chorley New Road, Bolton. Drums sounded and blue flares were let off to welcome him. Even his consultant, Dr Gareth Hughes, was present at the homecoming. The couple describe him as their 'hero'. Jayesh and Kamini were married in January, 2019, but they only returned from their honeymoon to Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives two months before Jayesh fell ill. Kamini said: 'We went from the happiest days of our lives to the worst, very quickly.' Now at home, she said her husband faces a long road back to recovery and needs to walk with crutches alongside rehabilitation. He was admitted to hospital on April 6. Kamini said: 'Jayesh had been unwell for a few days with flu- like symptoms and respiratory discomfort. 'As the symptoms worsened, he made the decision to go to hospital. When he arrived at Bolton, he was instantly admitted. 'Almost as soon as he was in the hospital his condition deteriorated rapidly.' Just two days later he was moved to the hospital's intensive care unit, put into an induced coma and placed on a ventilator. 'In this short time his lungs and kidneys had become so compromised that his condition was now very serious and potentially life-threatening,' said Kamini. Jayesh pictured with his wife Kamini on their wedding day. The family now want to share their story to give hope to others with loved ones in the same desperate situation - and say a huge thanks to the NHS 'The medical staff must have had a very difficult time deciding what the next stage of treatment should be.' Jayesh was moved to Wythenshawe Hospital and put on an ECMO machine - which effectively replaces a person's lungs. 'Jay was referred for ECMO by consultant Gareth Hughes, who we look at as our hero as we believe his referral saved Jay's life,' Kamini said. 'For this, we will be forever grateful.' He remained on the machine for more than two weeks - before he was struck with further medical complications. 'During Jay's time in hospital, all his family and friends have been on an emotional roller coaster. 'It seemed like from the moment he was admitted we had started on a journey - one which no one would ever want to take,' Kamini added. 'During this journey Jay had so many battles to endure. 'He was so poorly that the doctors on numerous occasions were giving him only a one per cent chance of survival. 'We all refused to accept the odds given by the doctors and prayed that he would prove them to be wrong. Around this time, I recall telling the doctors that Jay was very strong-minded, be it in his home or work life. 'He never gives up. 'One of Jay's favourite sayings is "nothing is impossible". 'Jay's sister, Kalpana, said to one of the doctors that miracles do happen, and Jayesh can be the one out of the 100 that survives. 'We all remained positive praying that our positivity would help him through this terrible illness.' 'Everyday Jay was on the ECMO machine was both a blessing and the worst thing ever. 'A blessing as without it he surely would have lost his battle already, but whilst on it he was at a very high risk of dying or suffering serious long term side effects. 'One of our most difficult times was when the decision was made for Jayesh to have a DNAR placed on him. 'We heard the words 'do not attempt resuscitation' and the true severity of the situation Jay found himself in hit home to all of us. 'We continued to remain positive and believe that he could prove strong enough to pull through and beat the odds. 'During Jay's time at Wythenshawe there was high blood pressure, low blood pressure, kidney failure, sepsis and all manner of complications. 'But each time he deteriorated, within one or two days something positive was happening and he was improving again. 'During Jay's time as a DNAR patient, his mum and I were able to visit him once. 'This was purely down to his declining condition. This again was very hard for us both as we realised that the doctors were only allowing visits for patients who are at the end of their life. 'But the day after our visit, Jay started to respond. 'A lot of people have said it was because he heard our voices and felt the touch of both his mum and me.' Eventually, Jayesh was stable enough to be taken off the machine. Kamini said that slowly, his lungs began to work and he was weaned off dialysis. 'To the amazement of everyone it was not long before Jay was alert and responsive,' said Kamini. 'Jay has been home now for four weeks. 'He is still recovering but making very good progress.' Friends told how they feared the worst. Paul Whalley, his friend and business partner, said: 'In sheer disbelief, I had the pleasure of watching our friend Jay slowly walk back into his family home after the most prolonged and traumatic time for him, his family and friends. 'I watched with enormous admiration - a man who's sheer determination must have played a massive part in what most people would describe as a miracle. 'The doctors and nurses and indeed the NHS in its entirety have carried out the most amazing work for many people throughout these unprecedented times, but what they have done for our friend Jay is truly remarkable. With a smirk and smile our friend is home and we wish him and his family the very best luck possible for the future.' Kamini added: 'We wanted to tell Jay's story just to maybe give some hope to families of those who are still suffering from this terrible virus. 'Unfortunately, not everyone will be as lucky as Jay, but hopefully his story can help in some way. 'We would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff at Wythenshawe and Bolton for all their continued hard work and dedication. They all have done an amazing job in getting Jay home. 'The NHS have saved my husband's life, they have saved a mother's son, a sister's brother, and a friend to many. We are all so grateful. 'As a sister working for the NHS myself, I could not be prouder of this national institution and upon my return to work I will take even more pleasure serving in every way I can.' Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen: Referral of A Targeting Operation Result to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) to Assess The Possibility of An Incident Saudi Press Agency Monday 1441/11/22 - 2020/07/13 Riyadh, Jul 13, 2020, SPA -- Statement by the Official Spokesman of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen COL Turki Al-Malki: "The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition has referred one of the targeting operations results in the area of operations to the Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) to assess the possibility of an incident. The Joint Forces Command has completed a comprehensive study of the after action review of conducted operations in the area of operations for (Sunday, 12 July 2020), and according to the comprehensive review and operational vetting, and what was clarified by Coalition forces on the ground, there is a possibility of losses among civilians as a result of a targeting operation of (a gathering of terrorist Houthi commanders and armed militants) in (Washahah district, Hajjah governorate). All documents relating to this incident have been referred to the Joint Incident Assessment Team (JIAT) for further assessment and announcement of results. The Joint Forces Command underscores its commitment to applying the highest standards of targeting and implementing the customary International Humanitarian Law in its military operations. We will take all necessary procedures pertaining to incidents, god forbid, to achieve the highest levels of accountability and transparency." --SPA 16:43 LOCAL TIME 13:43 GMT 0013 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Panels of the OPEC+ groups begin their monthly meetings on Tuesday to discuss the state of oil market and how to proceed with the record production cuts, with analysts widely expecting that the group will ease the cuts by 2 million barrels per day as of August 1. The Joint Technical Committee (JTC) will hold a meeting on Tuesday, followed by a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) on Wednesday. The volatile oil market and the highly uncertain trajectory of global demand recovery has forced the OPEC+ group to have the JMMC hold meetings every month until the end of 2020, instead of ahead of every full OPEC+ meeting only. The panel cannot decide OPEC+ groups production policy, it can only make recommendations for consideration at the full OPEC and non-OPEC meetings. OPEC+, led by Russia and OPECs top producer Saudi Arabia, agreed in June to extend the record production cuts of 9.7 million bpd by one month through the end of July. According to the original agreement from April, OPEC+ was to cut 9.7 million bpd in combined production for two monthsMay and Juneand then ease these to 7.7 million bpd, to stay in effect until the end of the year. Then, from January 2021, the production cuts would be further eased to 5.8 million bpd, to remain in effect until end-April 2022. The group is not discussing any changes to the parameters of the deal for after July, Russias Energy Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this month, noting that the producers would thus start to ease the record cuts of 9.7 million bpd to 7.7 million bpd. Saudi Arabia and most of the members of OPEC+ are in favor of relaxing the cuts as of August, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend. If OPEC clings to restraining production to keep up prices, I think its suicidal, one unnamed source told the Wall Street Journal. Theres going to be a scramble for market share, and the trick is how the low cost producers assert themselves without crashing the oil price. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Hong Kong: CE visits elderly care home Chief Executive Carrie Lam today visited a residential care home for the elderly in Tsz Wan Shan to inspect COVID-19 testing arranged by the Government. Mrs Lam was briefed on the arrangements and procedures for collecting throat swab samples for COVID-19 tests for about 80 staff members of the elderly care home. The Government, together with a testing institution, started the virus testing today for staff members of residential care homes for the elderly, residential care homes for the disabled and nursing homes. The tests will be extended to all care institutions in Hong Kong as soon as possible. Noting that the epidemic in Hong Kong has become more severe at the beginning of this month, Mrs Lam said the Government has rolled out various measures to curb the disease in the past few days. Among them, the Government will conduct virus tests for four high-risk groups, including staff at residential care homes for the elderly, care homes for the disabled and nursing homes, staff members of restaurants, taxi drivers and property management employees. The goal is to strengthen detection in the community to achieve early identification, isolation and treatment of the infected to reduce the risk of the virus spread in society. Mrs Lam added that the Government has been striving to enhance its testing capabilities. With the increase in equipment and manpower, the public sector may increase the number of tests to 8,000 next month, and if necessary, procure testing services directly from local private laboratories to cope with the needs of the Centre for Health Protection for epidemic management. Nevertheless, in order to enhance the testing capabilities in the community, while taking into account the demand for virus tests by cross-boundary travellers with the implementation of the health code system in the future, we have to extend the scale of private testing services in Hong Kong. This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Actors Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty, in coordination with Aslam Shaikh, cabinet minister for Textiles, Port, Fisheries & & Guardian Minister-Mumbai City, have come forward to help Mumbais famous dabbawalas, who have been hit hard by coronavirus. According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, the actors and the minister are providing food to affected families. Its an initiative started by Aslam Bhai and Sanju, I had no hesitation in joining hands with them. Prema Cha Dabba becomes even more beautiful when everyone gets together, Suniel said. Suniel told the publication that food trucks have already been sent to Pune, where a bulk of these dabbawalas have camped themselves. The report adds that so far 800 kits of rice, dal, sugar, atta and oil have been delivered to Khed and Malval. An NGO named Save The Children India has been active in the area. The NGO has staff on ground to look into everything. We have a three-month plan in place, said Suniel, adding that they intend to reach 5000 families. Also read: Amit Sadh: Abhishek Bachchan and I never dubbed together, we obliged for pictures Through the lockdown period, Sanjay has been largely in a throwback mode, remembering his famous parents whose birth (Sunil Dutt) and death (both Sunil and Nargis) anniversaries fell in this period. The actor also recalled his film Dus as it completed 15 years on July 8. The film also starred Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel, Dia Mirza, Bipasha Basu and Zaayed Khan. He had written: #15YearsOfDus. Working on this film was an absolute delight. Reminiscing those days when we used to have so much fun on the sets that it never felt like work. Had a great time with all the people who were a part of this film. Sanjay will be seen next in Mahesh Bhatts directorial comeback Sadak 2 , alongwith Pooja Bhatt, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur. He will also feature in Ajay Devgns war drama Bhuj: The Pride of India. He had unveiled a poster from the film, featuring him, in June end and had written: Checkout my first look from Bhuj: The Pride of India! Taiyaar raho doston, aa raha hai Bhuj: The Pride of India jald hi. First Day First Show Ki Home Delivery on @DisneyPlusHotstarVIP Suniel, meanwhile, was last seen in Kannada film Pailwaan last year. He has a couple of Telugu and Malayalam films. He will also be seen in John Abrahams Mumbai Saga. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Vishvendra Singh, who was sacked from Rajasthan cabinet along with deputy chief minister Sachin pilot over allegations of being part of an alleged plot to topple Ashok Gehlot led Congress government in the state, has claimed that Pilot and his supporters have been punished for attempting to draw attention to unfulfilled promises made in the election manifesto two years ago. Vishvendra Singh, was the tourism minister in the Gehlot cabinet till this afternoon, before the CM decided to sack him along with Pilot and Ramesh Meena, the states food and civil supplies minister, from his team for alleged anti-party activities. Singh suggested he was not satisfied with the explanation. What anti-party statement did we make? We only wanted to get the (party) high commands attention to promises in our manifesto as we havent been able to deliver them in close to 2 years of being in power. For what fault was action taken? Vishvendra Singh was reported as asking by ANI. Earlier, Pilot in a terse one line tweet had indicated that he was not going to back out from the stand taken along with his supporters, said to be 16 in number, against the Gehlot government. Truth can be frustrated, not defeated, he had tweeted. The developments on Tuesday are being seen in the light of the long-brewing discontent between the two factions after a very public show of disagreement over who should lead the state in the aftermath of a Congress victory in the assembly elections in 2018. Pilot decided it was enough after he was served notice in a case of alleged horse-trading and attempt to topple the state government, by a special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan police that reports to Gehlot. Pilots followers said it was a direct affront to their leader and sought action against those responsible for the notice. However, the party high command stood by Gehlot. Following the incident, Sachin moved out of the state with his supporters and refused to attend legislative party meetings called by the CMs group. The legislative party under Gehlot then passed a resolution seeking tough disciplinary action against Pilot and his followers, before they were formally removed from the cabinet. Gehlot has accused the BJP of ensnaring Pilot in its alleged grand design to destabilize the state government; however, the saffron party has not made any move so far, except for taking potshots at the internal rift within the Congress. Partys Rajasthan unit president Satish Poonia said the Gehlot government should go away in the interest of the people. Another party leader in Delhi added the party would not seek a floor test unless it is confident that both Gehlot and Pilot factions are falling short of numbers. Senior BJP functionaries also declined to comment if Pilot was in touch with the party. BJP leaders have also rejected Gehlots charge of having a hand in the rebellion in the state Congress. Following the hectic developments today, Rajasthan Police has beefed up security in the Gurjar-dominated areas, considered to be more sympathetic towards Sachin Pilot, anticipating trouble. Chicago-based telecommunications service provider, Coeo Solutions announces major UCaaS product enhancements including secure video meetings. quote-phone-1 After rigorous implementation and testing, we are delighted to launch major enhancements to our service portfolio, said Kevin Orofino, Vice President, Voice Operations at Coeo Solutions After rigorous implementation and testing, we are delighted to launch major enhancements to our service portfolio, said Kevin Orofino, Vice President, Voice Operations at Coeo Solutions Chicago, IL, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- quote-phone-1 Chicago-based telecommunications service provider, Coeo Solutions has announced major enhancements to its UCaaS service , adding unified communications and collaboration features to enhance enterprise productivity and collaboration to its already robust offering. The new enhancements are powered by Metaswitch, a leader in the development of ultra high performance, cloud native communications software. Its MaX UC platform adds features like presence, messaging, and video meetings with a highly integrated and user-friendly experience. These new features make it possible for companies, large and small, to effectively communicate and collaborate no matter their location, leveraging Coeos secure and resilient network. After rigorous implementation and testing, we are delighted to launch major enhancements to our service portfolio, said Kevin Orofino, Vice President, Voice Operations at Coeo Solutions. Our new UCaaS platform rivals the latest and best technologies offered worldwide and is optimized for usability while maximizing security from our extensive, geo-redundant network backed by our exceptional service. UCaaS is a fully managed, enterprise-grade phone system that utilizes the latest cloud-based technology to connect businesses without the high cost of traditional premise-based phone systems. UCaaS provides a broad range of local and cloud-based features and services that work with IP phones, desktop and laptop computers and mobile smart phones. All features and services are designed to help businesses communicate reliably without large capital investments or the worry of long-term maintenance fees. For more information on Coeos UCaaS product, features and pricing, visit their site at www.coeosolutions.com . Story continues About Coeo Solutions Founded in 2014, Coeo Solutions a leader in IP voice and data services. In addition to UCaaS, Coeo also offers world class SIP Trunking, SD-WAN & Network Access services. Thanks to its exceptional customer service, Coeo has become one of the leading telecom and connectivity companies in Chicagoland and the Midwest with offices in Illinois, Ohio and Texas. For more information about Coeos services, visit www.coeosolutions.com . ### For more information, press only: Steve Braverman 312.940.7824 News Via KISS Brand Story https://story.kisspr.com Attachment CONTACT: smb@coeosolutions.com ANN ARBOR, MI -- An annual technology and innovation event will go on this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. Ann Arbor SPARKs a2Tech360 program will be available virtually between Sept. 18-26. The event will be an opportunity for entrepreneurs, researchers, investors, businesses, educational institutions, nonprofit leaders and job seekers to establish connections and generate new opportunities, according to a news release. In light of public health guidelines around COVID-19, Ann Arbor SPARK and its partners determined the safest way to achieve the mission of a2Tech360 was to deliver the events virtually this year, said Paul Krutko, president and chief executive officer of Ann Arbor SPARK, in a statement. We know that now, more than ever, its important to bring the community together to talk about, evaluate and brainstorm around our future economic success. Ann Arbor SPARK to give $8.5M grants to Washtenaw-area businesses Ann Arbor SPARK released the following schedule: Friday, September 18 FastTrack Awards The program will recognize public or private companies with headquarters based in Washtenaw or Livingston counties for high business growth. The award applications will be reviewed by accounting partner, Rehmann. Monday, September 21 Michigan Angel Summit This statewide summit will give attendees the opportunity to learn about angel investing and to connect with others growing and diversifying Michigans economy on top of developing their personal investment portfolios. Invest360 The event brings a curated group of early stage companies and top investors from southeastern Michigan. Invest360 leverages regional strengths in IT, mobility and healthcare, while providing companies the exposure to the greater investor community. During each of the three Invest360 healthcare, mobility and IT sessions, a panel of judges will choose one company to receive a $50,000 check. The three chosen companies will then make a virtual pitch on Friday, Sept. 25 for an additional $50,000. Tuesday, Sept. 22 Ann Arbor SPARK Annual Meeting Business, government and academic leaders will have the opportunity to hear about successes in the region from the past year. The meeting will also feature the annual board chair awards and a preview of new projects and initiatives for the upcoming year. 2030: What the Future Holds Global thought leaders will discuss trends and revolutionary products in healthcare, IoT, AR/VR, mobility and other driving industries. This event is co-presented by Ann Arbor SPARK and the University of Michigan Office of Tech Transfer. University of Michigans Celebrate Invention This event will honor University of Michigan inventors and recognize the accomplishments of the innovation ecosystem. Wednesday, Sept. 23 Mobility Summit Industry, government, academics and other leaders will discuss the future of mobility, focusing on autonomous mobility and smart city technologies. The summit aims to grow the mobility ecosystem in Ann Arbor by fostering participation and collaboration among attendees. Local and national presenters will highlight mobility trends. A2:AI, Ann Arbors Applied Artificial Intelligence Conference A2.AI is focusing on how machine learning and applied artificial intelligence enable businesses to make informed and actionable decisions with their data. Women in Tech In its second year, Women in Tech speakers will discuss their experiences navigating the tech industry and propelling their careers into thought leaders in the field. Speakers will discuss how to build career experience and discover personal success stories. The program positions women in the tech field to create effective and warranted disruption by addressing gender bias, pay inequality and overcoming adversity. Thursday, Sept. 24 Tech on the Edge Presented by MI-HQ, this virtual life sciences expo showcases the growing biotech businesses in the region. MI-HQ is a 160,000 sq ft wet lab incubator and cooperative entrepreneurial community. Ann Arbor Entrepreneurs Fund Social Impact Pitch Competition Startups will pitch their social impact business ideas for a chance to win seed funding, co-working space and mentoring. The event, scheduled to be held in-person at Censys in downtown Ann Arbor, is presented by the Ann Arbor Entrepreneurs Fund, which enables local entrepreneurs to turn business success into positive community impact. University Musical Society Special Performance Celebrating its 141st season, the University Musical Societys mission is to inspire individuals and enrich communities by connecting audiences and artists in uncommon and engaging experiences. A special event will be planned during convention. Friday, Sept. 25 Tech Talk Leaders of innovative companies across the region will share origin stories to behind-the-scenes accounts of the technologies being developed in Michigan. The event features TED-style talks by innovators. Tech Talk will conclude with the Invest360 finale. During the event, a Peoples Choice vote will select the company to receive an additional $50,000 prize. Tech Trek Tech Trek will virtually connect the community to innovation-based businesses in the region. From college students to seasoned professionals, the event offers something for everyone looking to learn from and engage with the regions world-class tech ecosystem. Mobility Row will return this year with a virtual look at the trends and companies driving in mobility innovation. Saturday, Sept. 26 Hero Nation Comic Con Ypsilantis free Hero Nation Comic Con is back this year, virtually. The Hero Nation Comic Con provides attendees the ultimate community-centered, nerd and pop culture experience. For more information about a2Tech360, visit www.a2Tech360.com. More on MLive: Ann Arbor SPARK to give $8.5M grants to Washtenaw-area businesses Frita Batidos in Ann Arbor to expand into former Logan Restaurant space Divided Ann Arbor council approves plan to reconfigure streets during pandemic A man was shot and a shop worker was injured during a violent chase down a busy north London street. A group with a gun pursued three men along Wood High Road at around 9.45pm on Monday, police said. One of the three men, aged 27, was shot in the shoulder before he and his two companions rushed into a nearby shop. Shots were also fired into the shop, leaving member of staff with minor injuries. The suspects then fled the scene in what is believed to be a silver saloon car. Police were alerted and a crime scene, which has now been closed, was put in place. The 27-year-old victim was treated at hospital and subsequently discharged. No motive has yet been established for the attack and no arrests have been made, Scotland Yard said. Investigating officer, DS Mark Attridge, said: This incident took place on a main road that was busy with traffic and pedestrians. "It was extremely lucky that other members of the public were not harmed. I am appealing for any witnesses or anyone with information to make contact with police or Crimestoppers anonymously. "As I have mentioned, the area was busy, so drivers may have dashcam footage showing the group of suspects before or after the incident. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or via @MetCC quoting CAD 8264/13JULY. New Delhi: Superstar Aamir Khan's daughter Ira Khan has moved into a new home just recently and she has treated us to some pictures from her new abode. She first shared a glimpse of her work station inside her room. The pictures show Ira sitting on a table and working. The wall around the table is decked up with paintings and there is a small bookshelf beside it. "Look at my new home," she wrote, adding hashtags like, 'moving out', 'my space', 'first time', 'new beginnings', 'milestone', 'let the adulting begin' and 'man vs house'. Take a look at the pictures here: Meanwhile, she also shared a picture of her "favourite spot" in the house. Can you guess what is it? Let's take you to that place now. "Everyone should have a favourite spot," Ira wrote and take a look at it here. Ira is Aamir Khan's daughter with his first wife Reena Dutta. She also has an elder brother named Junaid. Ira has already made her directorial debut. She directed a play featuring Hazel Keech in the titular role in December 2019. Aamir is now married to filmmaker Kiran Rao and the couple is parents to Azad. On the work front, Aamir Khan's next project is 'Laal Singh Chaddha', also starring Kareena Kapoor Khan. ALISO VIEJO, California, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberProof Inc., a UST Global company, has become an official member of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association an organization of cyber security industry leaders and will be partnering with Microsoft in providing cloud-based security services to joint customers. Microsoft customers will now be able to access CyberProof services through the Microsoft Azure Marketplace to take advantage of our cloud-native, next-generation managed security services in order to accelerate their visibility of new threats and reduce costs. This latest initiative follows an announcement in 2019 regarding CyberProof's integration of Azure Sentinel, a Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) solution, and the Microsoft Graph Security API, a solution for connecting with security solutions from Microsoft and partners. "We're delighted to join the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA), which will further accelerate adoption of cloud-native security solutions," said Tony Velleca, CEO of CyberProof. "Our membership in MISA helps us lower the barriers for organizations seeking to move their workloads into the cloud. As their critical assets are becoming more exposed to cyber threats, the need for a smarter, cloud-native approach to security operations that is able to scale at the speed of digital has never been greater," he added. Yuval Wollman, President of CyberProof added, "By integrating the CyberProof Defense Center with Microsoft Azure, security teams can use their existing investments in security and cloud applications at scale while lowering costs. Membership in MISA Association provides CyberProof with new ways to address the burgeoning demand for managed security services that use Azure." Mandana Javaheri, Global Director, Cybersecurity Solutions Group at Microsoft Corp. said, "I am pleased to welcome CyberProof to the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). By including our strategic Managed Security Services Providers (MSSPs) in MISA, we hope to further enable collaboration between leading security technology companies, so together we can better secure and protect our joint customers. MISA members are the cybersecurity industry leaders, unified by the common goal of helping secure our customers by offering their own valuable expertise and making the association more effective as it expands." MISA began as an ecosystem of independent software vendors that integrated their security products with Microsoft's solutions to better defend against a world of increasing threats. Due to increased demand for a closely interwoven security ecosystem, the association is growing, and is launching an invitation-only pilot program in July of 2020 for select managed security service providers. By including MSSPs in MISA, Microsoft hopes to further enable collaboration between leading security technology companies, so together, Microsoft and MISA members can deliver better protection to joint customers. About CyberProof CyberProof is a security services company that helps organizations intelligently manage their incident detection and response. Our advanced cyber defense platform enables operational efficiency with complete transparency to dramatically reduce the time needed to respond to security threats and minimize business impact. SeeMo, our virtual analyst, automates and accelerates cyber operations by learning and adapting from endless sources of data and responds to requests by providing context and actionable information. This allows our nation-state cyber experts and your team to prioritize the most urgent incidents and proactively identify and respond to potential threats. We collaborate with our global clients, academia and the technology ecosystem to continuously advance the art of cyber defense. CyberProof is part of the UST Global family, a Microsoft Gold Partner. Some of the world's largest enterprises trust us to create and maintain secure digital ecosystems using our comprehensive cyber security platform and mitigation services. For more information, see: www.cyberproof.com. About UST Global UST Global is a technology partner dedicated to transforming businesses, communities, and the people who live within them. Operating in 25 countries, we deliver future-ready digital transformation strategy services, products, and platforms that create new possibilities and help you imagine what's next in banking and finance, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, semiconductor, technology and media. But what matters most is the deep partnership we forge with you to solve the unique challenges you face today, while preparing you for tomorrow. That's us together. That's UST Global. Visit us at www.UST-Global.com Media Contact, CyberProof: Howard Silverman [email protected] Media Contacts, UST Global: Tinu Cherian Abraham +1-(949) 415-9857 Neha Misri +91-9972631264 [email protected] Media Contacts, US: Suzanne Dawson, S&C PR +1-646-941-9140 [email protected] Cecile Fradkin, S&C PR +1-646-941-9139 [email protected] SOURCE UST Global WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump bristled at a reporters question about police killing African Americans and defended the right to display the Confederate flag as he continued to play into racial divisions in a pair of interviews Tuesday. In one interview, Trump seemed taken aback when asked why African Americans are still dying at the hands of police. And so are white people. So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people, Trump told CBSs Catherine Herridge. More white people, by the way. More white people. There is no national database tracking police-involved shootings. But studies have shown that Black Americans are much more likely to be killed by police, even though more whites who make up a larger portion of the population are killed. One study that examined the use of lethal force by law enforcement from 2009 to 2012, for instance, found that while victims were a majority white (52%), they were disproportionately Black (32%) with a fatality rate 2.8 times higher among Blacks than whites. Trumps comments drew criticism from the American Civil Liberties Unions Jeffery Robinson, who issued a harshly worded statement saying Trumps answer not only ignores the fact that per capita Black and Brown people are disproportionately killed by police, it provides the foundation for the dangerous and unconstitutional police practices that result in the deaths of Black people with regularity. Trumps racism is so absolute that he continues to refuse to give even a tacit acknowledgment to the epidemic of police violence against Black people in America, Robinson alleged, accusing Trump of using the violence and suffering perpetrated against Black communities as a white-supremacist dog whistle ahead of the coming election. In the interview, Trump also defended the use of the Confederate flag, despite saying in 2015 that he believed the flag belongs in a museum. All I say is freedom of speech. Its very simple. My attitude is freedom of speech, Trump responded. Very simple. Like it, dont like it, its freedom of speech. Asked whether he understood the flag is a painful symbol to many because it is a reminder of slavery, Trump told CBS that some people love it, adding: And I know people that like the Confederate flag and theyre not thinking about slavery. Trump has been under fire for his response to the mass anti-racism protests that broke out across the across the nation following the killing of George Floyd in police custody. In the face of demands for racial justice and equality, Trump has instead leaned in on a law-and-order message, painting mostly peaceful protesters as domestic terrorists and continuing to stoke divisions. In a second interview with the conservative Townhall Media, Trump defended the white St. Louis couple captured on video brandishing guns as they defended their home during one racial injustice protest. Trump claimed that Mark and Patricia McCloskey were going to be beat up badly, if they were lucky and said their house would have been totally ransacked and probably burned down had they not been out there. And now I understand somebody local, they want to prosecute these people. Its a disgrace, he said. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson told reporters that he spoke with Trump and U.S. Attorney General William Barr by phone earlier Tuesday and that the president expressed concern that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, may file charges against the couple. I think the president didnt like what he was seeing, and the way people are being treated, Parson said, adding, I think youll see some sort of actions. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for conspiring and resorting to horse-trading in Rajasthan which led to the current crisis. He also said that there is nothing in Sachin Pilots hands, its the BJP which is running the show. The high command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading. We knew it was a huge conspiracy; now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi, Gehlot said after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra and dropping Pilot and two other ministers from his cabinet. There is nothing in Sachin Pilots hands, it is the BJP which is running the show. BJP has arranged that resort and they are managing everything. The same team which worked in Madhya Pradesh is at work here, he added. ALSO WATCH | Rajasthan resort race: Hotel videos from Gehlot & Pilot camps to show strength The crisis in Rajasthan came to the fore after the state polices Special Operations Group (SOG) sent notices to Pilot and other leaders in connection with an alleged plot to topple the Congress government in the state. Pilots supporters called the move humiliating and the young Congress leader left the state along with his 16 MLAs. He further claimed that the Gehlot government is in minority and sought a floor test in the Assembly. Gehlot too gathered his supporters and took them to a resort near Jaipur. The Congress deputed two leaders from Delhi to pacify the rebels and keep the flock together. Those leaders urged Pilot and his supporters to come back, but those appeals went unanswered. The Congress party also held two meetings of the legislature party (CLP) in two days and various leaders sent public messages to Pilot to attend. But the 42-year-old skipped both the meetings. At Tuesdays meeting, party leaders asked for action against the rebels to send a tough message. Immediately after the meeting, Pilot was removed as state unit chief. Pilot, meanwhile, changed his profile on Twitter deleting all references to his position as deputy CM and Rajasthan Congress chief. He only described himself as MLA of Tonk and a former Minister of IT, Telecom & Corporate affairs, Government of India. Truth can be rattled, not defeated, he said in a tweet in Hindi. The spokesman of Libyas Government of National Accord has said its troops will move forward towards establishing control over Sirte and Jufra, which hosts Libya's largest air base. "The time has come for oil to flow once again and to beat the hands messing with the Libyans' troops," Mohamed Kanono said on Tuesday, stressing that "we will move forward towards our kidnapped cities, to extend state authority over the entire soil." This announcement came after a resolution was passed on Monday by the Libyan parliament in the eastern city of Tobruk which authorises an Egyptian military intervention if needed. The aim of this step is to protect Libya's "national security" amid the ongoing "Turkish occupation," read the resolution. On Twitter, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash warned against the "dangerous political and humanitarian implications" of the "war drums being beaten in Sirte." Gargash called for an immediate ceasefire, "reliance on wisdom" and "involvement in a dialogue among the Libyan parties within clear international references." Vladimir Gubarev, deputy head of the international affairs committee at the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's Federal Assembly, said the Egyptian military's intervention in the Libyan conflict could help in "restoring the Libyan state." "Of course there is a need for holding negotiations to settle the conflict, but if the Egyptian military helped in restoring the Libyan state, this will be a good thing," Russia Today quoted Gubarev as saying on Tuesday. He noted that Egypt is "clearly concerned about the destabilised situation in Libya." In June, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on Libyan parties to respect the current lines and start negotiations. El-Sisi said that Sirte and Jufra are "considered a red line for Egyptian national security." He also said that Egypt has called for a comprehensive settlement in Libya that involves the elimination of terrorist militias and has participated in Libya-related international conferences and supported crisis-resolution efforts. A Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman told Sky News Arabia last week that he expects a "Turkish attack at any time." Ahmed Al-Mesmari stated that the LNA "will do everything needed to deter any aggression." "We have evidence that Turkey is moving towards a decisive battle, which is the Sirte-Jufra battle. There are no indicators on the other side that [Turkey] will accept a ceasefire and go into negotiations," Al-Mesmari asserted. He said that the Libyan army is only conducting "defensive operations to prevent manoeuvres and advancement by the enemy towards our (the LNA) positions." Al-Mesmari explained that the LNA will declare a ceasefire if other parties to the conflict show commitment to peace, stop sending terrorists to Libya and end the presence of invaders," referring to Turkey. He emphasised that the LNA wants a peaceful settlement to the conflict. The Tripoli-based GNA is backed by Turkish troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries in its war against the LNA and its leader Khalifa Haftar. Haftar is backed by Egypt, the UAE and Russia. The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel-Rahman, told Sky News Arabia on Monday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had begun transferring non-Syrian mercenaries, in addition to Syrians, to Libya, despite international condemnations and warnings. Abdel-Rahman said that those mercenaries were located in areas under Turkish occupation in Syria. Turkey informed its mercenaries that their next battle will be in Sirte, said Abdel-Rahman, adding that they had been transferred to Libya by air. Turkish warships transferred other groups of mercenaries to Libya, revealed Abdel-Rahman. According to Sky News Arabia report, the number of Syrian mercenaries in Libya had reached 16,000, although about 5,600 of them returned to Syria. Search Keywords: Short link: New ScholarShare 529 research reveals Californians views of college savings amid todays economic challenges SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- California families remain committed to college savings despite COVID19 challenges, according to new research from ScholarShare 529, Californias official college savings plan. ScholarShare 529s 2020 529 Market Study asked 1,000 California families with children under 18 who plan to save for college about their views. Findings reveal that California families remain passionate about college savings and committed to it, yet concerned about affording college: More than three-quarters (79 percent) of families surveyed said that helping their children afford college is one of the most important things they can do as a parent. 82 percent say it is their job as a parent to help their kids pay for college. ScholarShare 529 data mirrors these sentiments, as account contributions through mid-May are up 17 percent over 2019, while the number of gross new accounts opened is up 24 percent for the same timeframe. Higher education cost concerns are top of mind: 49 percent are worried their kids wont be able to afford college. 65 percent are worried their kids college choice will be limited by cost. 70 percent are worried their kids will be overwhelmed by debt. Funding higher education remains a top financial priority, and we encourage all California families that are still able to save for college despite todays economic challenges to continue to do so, said State Treasurer Fiona Ma, chair of the ScholarShare Investment Board. ScholarShare 529 is a great option for California families, and our team is committed to helping college savers navigate todays new higher education realities and understand their savings options. Visit www.ScholarShare529.com to learn more. About ScholarShare 529 ScholarShare 529, a Gold-rated college savings plan by Morningstar, serves as Californias official college savings plan. Administered by the ScholarShare Investment Board, ScholarShare 529 provides families with a valuable tool that offers a diverse set of investment options, tax-deferred growth, and withdrawals free from state and federal taxes when used for qualified higher education expenses, such as tuition and fees, books, certain room and board costs, computer equipment, and other required supplies. ScholarShare 529 manages over $9.8 billion in plan assets across more than 340,000 accounts as of 5/31/20. To open a ScholarShare 529 account or get more information about the plan, visit www.ScholarShare529.com . For information about the ScholarShare Investment Board, visit www.treasurer.ca.gov/scholarshare , like ScholarShare 529 on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scholarshare529 , and follow them on Twitter at @ScholarShare529 . Media Contact Ryan Hoffman rhoffman@wearecsg.com Workforce Readiness Microsoft Aims to Train 25 Million Job Strugglers by End of Year Manual jobs are more at risk due to the worldwide digital transformation. Source: Global skills initiative coverage by Microsoft Microsoft intends to provide free online job training through its company, LinkedIn, to 25 million people by the end of this year. The goal: to help those who have been hit by unemployment, furloughs and reduced paychecks to acquire new digital skills as part of accelerating the economic recovery. According to analysis by the company and by the Congressional Budget Office, worldwide unemployment in 2020 could reach 250 million people with 21 million of them in the United States alone. The details, which appeared in a Microsoft blog article, referenced: The use of data from LinkedIn's Economic Graph to identify in-demand jobs and the skills needed to fill them; Free access to learning content in LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn and the GitHub Learning Lab, coupled with discounted Microsoft certifications and LinkedIn job-seeking tools; and $20 million in cash grants to help nonprofits around the world help the people who need help the most; at least a quarter of that will be dedicated to local organizations that are run by and serve communities of color. What jobs appear to have the greatest potential for job openings, pay a "livable wage" and require skills that can be picked up online? Microsoft identified 10 of them, all of which have learning pathways that can be pursued through the various programs: Software developer; Sales representative; Project manager; IT administrator; Customer service specialist; IT support/help desk; Data analyst; Financial analyst; and Graphic designer. The resources and information are being housed at a new website on LinkedIn. Simultaneously, the company said it was creating a new learning app for its web conferencing and collaboration application, Microsoft Teams, to help employers train new and current employees as people return to work and as the economy adds jobs. The app is expected to be done this year and will "bring learning into the natural flow of work." Employers will be able to integrate content from their own sources as well as LinkedIn Learning and others. "The biggest brunt of the current downturn is being borne by those who can afford it the least," said Microsoft President Brad Smith, in a statement "Unemployment rates are spiking for people of color and women, as well as younger workers, people with disabilities and individuals with less formal education. Our goal is to combine the best in technology with stronger partnerships with governments and nonprofits to help people develop the skills needed to secure a new job." Tulane University, which has long been ranked as one of the best party schools in the nation, is threatening expulsion for students attending big bashes after "truly shameful" partying drew negative attention to the campus over the Fourth of July. "Do you really want to be the reason that Tulane and New Orleans have to shut down again?" Dean of Students Erica Woodley asked students in a July 7 email that scolded students who partied over the holiday weekend. Tulane is banning all parties or gatherings of more than 15 people as the private New Orleans college tries to protect students and staff against spreading the coronavirus. Violators will risk suspension or expulsion, Woodley said. "These events were disruptive to our neighbors and drew a lot of very negative attention to Tulane," Woodley said. "The behaviors of the student hosts and those who chose to attend these parties was disrespectful, selfish and dangerous and not in line with Tulane values. This type of behavior is indefensible and truly shameful." Woodley reminded students of the risk associated with restarting in-person instruction at the university, where tuition for a freshman next year is $58,850. The private school, while boasting an 11% acceptance rate for the incoming freshman class, is the fifth top party school in the U.S., according to the Princeton Review. She said the enforcement plan is still in progress, but there is already an online form for students to report "problematic" behavior. All gatherings must adhere to social distancing and attendees should wear masks, she said. On Saturday, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a mandatory mask requirement for anyone in public places and ordered bars to close after cases skyrocketed. "Cases in Louisiana continue to increase, including setting a record-high number of new cases reported in one day, today and yesterday," Edwards said. "We continue to go in the wrong direction in our work to control COVID-19 in our state," he said after the state confirmed more than 2,000 new Covid-19 infections each of those days and hospitalizations rose. New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell also announced restrictions after the Fourth of July weekend, including prohibiting bar seating and placing a 25-person cap on indoor events. Tulane's announcement comes as colleges try to balance holding in-person classes in the fall against the public health risks. Cornell University leadership, notably, cited school researchers who found the virus would be more likely to spread with classes solely online than a hybrid model, since students living off-campus would return to campus and not have to partake in mandated testing required for learning on campus if only taking online courses. The university's reopening plan requires students starting class Aug. 19, five days earlier than originally planned, and ending the semester Nov. 24, with most exams happening online after Thanksgiving. Tulane plans to test all students upon arrival, provide frequent testing throughout the semester, and put fewer people than normal in housing and classrooms. While Woodley said the pandemic will require students to think about and approach life differently, she is confident students are mature enough to follow the expectations set by the school and city of New Orleans. And if school leadership didn't think students were mature enough, she said, Tulane would not be reopening. "There is no room for error here," Woodley said. "People's lives depend on your adherence to these rules. They aren't just nameless, faceless people they are our people." The OBR said the 9bn furlough scheme 'is likely to be claimed for employees who would have been retained anyway' The budget watchdog has warned that the Government's 9billion bonus scheme for employers that bring staff back from furlough is 'largely deadweight'. As FTSE 100 firm Bunzl became the latest company to turn down the 1,000 per worker bonus, the Office for Budget Responsibility said the scheme 'is likely to be claimed for employees who would have been retained anyway'. The OBR said it was likely to cost less than 9.4billion amid warnings that 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the 9.4m workers on furlough would not keep their jobs. It put the cost of the scheme at 6.1billion. Bunzl, the 7billion disposable cutlery and plastic bag specialist, has followed firms such as Primark, John Lewis and William Hill in not taking cash. Builders Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Redrow will not claim payouts, after politicians called for cash to be handed back if possible. Tata Steel, part of an empire controlled by one of India's richest families, intends to apply. Food outlet Pret a Manger, said it was 'reviewing the generous funding' while Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn, travel firm Tui, Betfred and WH Smith said they had not yet made a decision whether to accept the money. She also wants to further expand Medicaid, a desire she attributes to her experiences as the mother of a son on the autism spectrum who, shortly after he was born 22 years ago, relied on Medicaid reimbursements, or waivers, while she worked at a gas station without health insurance. A monument to British mining magnate Cecil Rhodes has been decapitated in South Africa. Rhodes, who was a 19th century businessman who founded the De Beers diamond company and gave his name to Northern and Southern Rhodesia - now Zambia and Zimbabwe - has been a target of anti-colonialist campaigners in Britain and South Africa. The statue, which is on Cape Town's Table Mountain, was damaged over the weekend, although nobody has taken responsibility for the attack. The statue of Cecil Rhodes is located on Table Mountain in Cape Town at the top of these steps Slide me The statue of Cecil Rhodes on Table Mountain in Cape Town has been vandalised, local park rangers have confirmed The statue is at a memorial at the top of the iconic mountain which has been attacked in the past The controversy over Rhodes' legacy has been reignited following the brutal death of George Floyd and the worldwide Black Lives Matter movement. Park rangers said the statue, which is at the top of a flight of steps at the Rhodes Memorial, was damaged. Lauren Clayton, a spokeswoman for South African National Parks in the Western Cape, said rangers patrolling Table Mountain came across the disfigured bust during regular patrols on Monday. The incident likely occurred on Sunday night or Monday morning, she added. She said no one had claimed responsibility. Thousands of protesters have marched across the United States and Europe calling for the removal of monuments seen as glorifying the imperialist nature of countries such as Britain. Rhodes, who made his fortune in South African diamond mining, has become a lightning rod for anti-colonial anger since students forced the University of Cape Town in 2015 to remove his statue from its campus. The memorial was completed in 1912 and has been targeted by vandals several times Completed in 1912, Rhodes Memorial consists of massive granite steps, flanked by bronze lions, and a rider astride a bronze horse at the beginning of the steps which leads to the top where the bust is situated, with an inscription beneath. 'It has been vandalised before, multiple times ... At this stage we are still unclear about the reasoning behind the vandalism,' Clayton said. Last month students at Britain's Oxford University called for a Rhodes statue to be removed, triggered in part by protesters in the port city of Bristol tearing down a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and throwing it into the harbour. However, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said he is opposed to removing the colonialist's statue. He compared it with 'trying to bowlderise or edit our history... like some politician sneakily trying to change his Wikipedia entry'. He added: 'Im pro-heritage, Im pro-history, and Im in favour of people understanding our past with all its imperfections.' Campaigners claim Rhodes made his fortune by exploiting black miners while promoting racial segregation and financed colonial wars. Rhodes left Oriel college a significant legacy on his death and endowed the Rhodes Scholarship which brought more than 8,000 students from around the world to Oxford over the past century. Rhodes must fall: A timeline March 2015: Students at University of Cape Town begin protest to remove statue. April 2015: After a vote by the university's council, the statue is removed May 2015: A vote is held at Rhodes University, South Africa, to change the name of the university. The vote is defeated. January 2016: Vote held by Oxford students in Oxford Union, not affiliate to Oxford University, vote to remove the statue. January 2016: Leaked report reveals the university faces huge funding loss if it removes the statue. June 2020: The Rhodes Must Fall campaign is thrown into the spotlight among growing anti-racism protests by the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of American George Floyd. It gains particular attention following the toppling of a statue to slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Advertisement Oriel college said it was now considering the future of the statue. Oriel College said the commission will be chaired by Carole Souter, the current master of St Cross College and former chief executive of the National Lottery Heritage Fund. A report for the governing body will be produced by the end of the year. On Wednesday, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign said the group is 'optimistic' following the decision but urged the college to commit to removing the statue. 'However, we have been down this route before, where Oriel College has committed to taking a certain action, but has not followed through: notably, in 2015, when the college committed to engaging in a six-month-long democratic listening exercise,' a statement by the campaign said. 'Therefore, while we remain hopeful, our optimism is cautious. 'While the governing body of Oriel College have 'expressed their wish' to take down the statue, we continue to demand their commitment.' Alan Rusbridger, principal of the university's Lady Margaret Hall and former editor-in-chief of the Guardian newspaper, said it is the 'right decision' and the start of a 'longer conversation' at Oxford. Susan Brown, the leader of Oxford City Council, also welcomed the move and said the Rhodes Must Fall campaign is a 'big step closer' to achieving its aim. She said the council would welcome the early submission of a planning application from Oriel College to accompany the review process. Universities minister Michelle Donelan called campaigns to remove the statue 'short-sighted'. Demonstrations have taken place outside Oriel College, calling for the statue to be removed from the High Street entrance of the building, as well as anti-racism protests following the death of George Floyd in the US. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK should be careful not to 'airbrush' its history, but should 'update' it. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think we should be very careful not to airbrush our history but to use statues and monuments as a point of debate. 'But one thing I do accept is that people will think that we ought to keep updating our history, and make sure the symbols reflect the spirit and the values of the age.' By PTI NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Tuesday issued notice to the Centre on Jharkhand government's pleas challenging its decision to auction coal blocks for commercial mining. A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R Subhash Reddy and A S Bopanna gave the Centre four weeks to reply to the writ petition and an original suit filed by the Jharkhand government questioning the decision to auction coal blocks for commercial mining. The state government has alleged that the announcement was made by the Centre "unilaterally" without consulting it. During the hearing, the bench told senior advocates Fali S Nariman and Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Jharkhand government, that it is inclined to issue notice in this matter and hear it on injunction, listing it as early as possible. Nariman said it would be appropriate if the matter is listed before August 18, as the bids will take place then. The Chief Justice then said that there will be no problem, as the dates can be extended and the Attorney General will look into it. On July 6, the top court had said it would hear this week the plea challenging the Centre's decision for virtual auction process of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining. It had also said the plea would be heard along with the original suit filed by the state questioning the Centre's coal block auction decision alleging that the announcement was made "unilaterally". The original suit under Article 131 of the Constitution provides for state to move directly to the Supreme Court in matters of dispute with the Centre. Counsel appearing for Jharkhand has informed the top court that the state has also filed a suit on the issue and both the matters should be heard together. Soon after the state had filed the plea challenging the virtual auction process for 41 coal blocks, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led Hemant Soren government also separately filed an original suit. In its suit, the state has claimed that it is "highly inappropriate" for the Centre to conduct auction at this time of COVID-19 pandemic as all the machinery of the state and the Centre are to be enjoined to "alleviate the problems of citizen" caused due to the deadly virus. It claimed that the suit has been filed to "assail the unilateral, highhanded, arbitrary and illegal action" of the Centre in launching the auction of commercial coal mining for nine coal blocks situated within the territory of Jharkhand. "The defendant (Centre) has announced the impugned auction unilaterally without consultation with the plaintiff (Jharkhand). The plaintiff state is the owner of the mines and minerals situated within the territory of the plaintiff," said the suit. "The meetings of February 2020 are meaningless as they do not take into account the materially changed circumstance arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Renewed consultation with the plaintiff state was indeed required due to COVID-19 pandemic which has brought the nation and the entire globe to a standstill, in a manner never seen before," it said. Referring to the purported meetings or consultations held on February 5 and February 23, the suit has claimed that the Centre did not consider the objections raised by the state. Referring to the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution, which deals with administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes, it said that six of the nine coal blocks in Jharkhand Chakla, Chitarpur, North Dhadu, Rajhara North, Seregarha and Urma Paharitola -- which have been put up for auction fall within the Schedule Fifth areas. It said out of the total population of 3,29,88,134 in Jharkhand, a total of 1,60,10,448 resides in the Schedule Areas. "The impugned action impinges the rights of the indigenous people of the plaintiff state and will lead to large scale displacement and consequential rehabilitation and re-settlement issues," it said. It alleged that the Centre's action is in violation of the environmental norms and will "cause irreparable damage" to the environment, forests and land area of the state. "The present situation, thus, is not conducive for conducting the auction which is bound to get affected by the falling growth rate and weak economic conditions," it said, adding that the Centre's action of commencing tendering process from June 18 onwards without "proper consultation, coordination" with the state is "unjustified". A quantum computer, encased in a refrigerator that keeps the temperature close to absolute zero in the quantum computing lab at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. on Feb. 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) Canadas Quantum Capabilities Central to US Competition With China Experts say democratic allies have to be proactive to maintain leadership position News Analysis Quantum supremacy. It sounds like science fiction, but the quest to attain it is very real. It represents the point at which a quantum computer overtakes the fastest traditional supercomputer. And the United States and China are competing over it. Quantum computers are not restricted by zeros and onesthe states that the most basic building blocks of typical computers use. The quantum bit, or qubit, can represent multiple combinations of zeros and ones all at once and can thus crunch through a vast number of potential outcomes simultaneously. This exponentially faster computing power has numerous applications, including in the military, from ultra accurate weather prediction to weapons-guidance systems. Canada and the democratic alliance must not be complacent and allow leadership in quantum to slip through their fingers, said Michele Mosca, co-founder of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo. Mosca and three other experts were participating in a webinar on quantum supremacy hosted by the Ottawa-based Conference of Defence Associations Institute on July 10. He said a use it or lose it mentality is what is needed; Canada has to be proactiveit cant wait until a potential catastrophe is knocking on the door. Cybersecurity expert James Lewis praised Canadas contribution to quantum and said the thrust should be to forge research partnerships between democratic countries for military purposes. The senior vice-president and director in the technology policy program at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. recounted a chat he had with a Chinese firm at an internet conference in China. Their attitude, he said, is not to worry about the potential problems of a technology, but instead to make the most of its opportunities. Quantum is the latest in a series of developments on using computers to gain military and strategic advantage, Lewis said. China aims to be a technology superpower. It took a big step toward ultra-secure global communications in 2016 with the launching of the first quantum satellite. Then in 2017, the satellite was used for the first quantum-encrypted virtual teleconference between Beijing and Vienna, Austria. Seeking Military Advantage History has shown that technology can drive the military and military needs can spur technological advances. Quantum computing is one example of that next innovation with military applications, like gunpowder and bronze once were. A major threat arises from quantum computings ability to break the standard data encryption that protects communication today. The ease with which quantum computers could decrypt puts our privacy, military operations, critical infrastructure, etc. at risk. What follows is that quantum computing would be the key to truly unhackable communication. Much of geopolitical competition between the United States and China is taking place in this information domain, and these critical emerging technologies which include quantum computing and quantum information science are fundamentally about our ability to process, access, and harness information for national power, said Lindsay Gorman, fellow for Emerging Technology at the Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund of the United States. Disabling another countrys communication system would be an act of war but it would not be in Chinas best interest to do that right now, Gorman said. What is in their interest and what weve seen over the last two decades, is this more subtle drip, drip, grab of intellectual property that degrades our innovation potential in a way that is much more subtle and more reflective of the new ways of war, she said. China is using the U.N. Sustainable Development Agenda to advance its own technology agenda, Gorman said. By doing this, it can provide advanced technologies to the developing world. But with it comes a framework of surveillance and the information environment and control that may help push those countries in a direction of authoritarianism, she said. Joint Effort The experts at the webinar argued that commercializing the investments made in quantum is needed to keep China at bay. Very often, China has been extraordinarily strong at forming research partnerships and commercializing the technology that comes out of that, Gorman said. China has made up a lot of ground and may soon pass the United States and so the onus falls back on Canada and the alliance of democracies to guide the development of quantum technologies for commercial gain, Mosca said. Focus on proactively aligning our future procurement needs with economic development strategies. The United States is very good at this. We need to get better at it in Canada, and if we do it its a double-win for us because our government and industry will be more productive, he said. I think the weakest link is our lack of a real strategy for developing these technologies and tools. I have great confidence that we can be great leaders in the positive of applications of quantum computing, but I do think we need to step up our game and acknowledge this isnt another nice-to-have. We dont want a quantum Avro Arrow, Mosca added, referring to the unrealized potential of Canadian ingenuity with the supersonic jet built in the 1950s. Canada benefits from being part of democratic alliances like NATO and the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, whose missions are gaining in importance given the rising geopolitical tensions with China and Russia. I think the Five Eyes Alliance is actually a particularly great starting point for some allied cooperation on the commercialization side, Gorman said. Not only Canada is extremely strong in quantum information science but Australia, as well, has some of the most developed universities and actually startup ecosystems around quantum technologies. Interdependence is necessary as no one nation is going to be able to build a quantum system on its own, Mosca said. Canada is punching way above its weight, he said about the exploratory or undirected work on quantum, but to be better at commercializationthis is where Canada can learn from the United States. Canadian company D-Wave, from Burnaby, British Columbia, is the worlds first commercial supplier of quantum computers. Dont Wait for a Crisis If the current encryption scheme was broken tomorrow, the digital economy would be in serious jeopardy. Mosca said COVID-19 has shown that policy-makers are not proactive against emerging threatsonly in the presence of a crisis do they react. He adds that now is the time to become agile and more resilient. Complacency is another thing we need to acknowledge. Its just baked into human nature, so we need to proactively find ways to uproot it and build a better future, he said. Part of that objective involves creating a stronger encryption framework. As with any landmark technology, whether it be artificial intelligence or quantum computing, practitioners in the field admit there is a need to balance further development with an obligation to mitigate any risks of untoward uses. Quantum computing wont be deployable for some time as it requires extremely low temperatures to operate. But quantum computing via the cloud appears to have some promise. Its a bit like the Wild West now as the world is just scratching the surface of what quantum can do, but grand designs are already being made. The United States with its democratic allies are in competition with China, and Canada is a vital player in this contest. The cartoonist who mocked Dr. Anthony Fauci as 'Dr. Faucet' has a history of controversial drawings that showed support for conspiracy theories and invoked charges of anti-Semitism. Ben Garrison's cartoons became so controversial that he was banned from attending the White House's summit on social media in July of last year. Garrison's drawing of Fauci as a leaking sink was shared on Facebook Monday by White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, who is the director of social media for the administration, amid a war of words the White House was waging on the infectious disease expert. Ben Garrison's cartoon on Dr. Anthony Fauci was shared by one of President Donald Trump's top advisers but the cartoonist is so controversial he was disinvited from White House summit on social media last year Garrison's cartoon on then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster was accused of being anti-semitic Ben Garrison, a far-right political cartoonist, self-identifies as Libertarian and denies charges of racism and anti-Semitism The cartoonist, based in Montana, self-identifies as Libertarian but he's become a favorite of the alt-right and groups like Q-Anon, which promote conspiracy theories about the 'deep state' working against President Donald Trump. The group also promotes the baseless theories that Jews control the government, the coronavirus if overstated and scientists are looking to control and track people through vaccines. Its theories thrive online and on social media as tech companies come under pressure to police the content on their platforms. Garrison's cartoons reflect many of these themes but he denies being a racist. His cartoons - many of which lionize President Trump as a buff, super-hero type figure - have drawn fans and detractors alike. Scavino shared Garrison's Fauci cartoon with his more than 457,000 followers on Facebook, writing: 'Sorry, Dr. Faucet! At least you know if I'm going to disagree with a colleague, such as yourself, its done publicly and not cowardly, behind journalists with leaks.' A recent cartoon from Garrison shows Elijah Cummings, the late Democratic congressman who was one of the most prominent black lawmakers in Congress, and John McCain, the late Republican senator who frustrated conservatives, in hell. The drawing shows a 'tweet' from Cummings saying: 'Damn it's hot down here.' McCain is shown replying: 'Yeah but it's a dry heat.' White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, who is the director of social media for the administration, posted on his official Facebook page a cartoon showing Dr. Anthony Fauci as a leaking sink A recent cartoon from Garrison shows Elijah Cummings, the late Democratic congressman who was one of the most prominent black lawmakers in Congress, and John McCain, the late Republican senator who frustrated conservatives, in hell But it was an August 2017 drawing that attacked David Petraeus and H.R. McMaster as puppets being controlled by prominent Jews that resulted in his being disinvited from the White House social media summit. The cartoon shows the Rothschilds - a prominent and wealthy Jewish family - controlling George Soros, a prominent Jewish businessman, on puppet string. Soros, in return, has Petraeus and McMaster, wearing their military uniforms, on puppet strings. The Anti-Defamation League slammed Garrison for the drawing. McMaster was Trump's National Security Adviser at the time. Jews controlling the government is an old anti-semitic meme. It was originally shared by conservative radio host Mike Cernovich, who was waging a war of words on McMaster. Later, a different version of the drawing appeared with the Rothchilds portion cropped out. Garrison, on his website, denies the charges of racism, sexism, and anti-semitism. 'Ben Garrison has been the target of an ongoing smear campaign to ruin his online reputation and his career as a commercial artist. Internet trolls have defaced his work into racist and anti-semitic propaganda. Ben Garrison is neither racist nor anti-Semitic,' the website says. Ben Garrison's cartoons have promoted a conspiracy theory that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is looking to microchip the population via a vaccine for the coronavirus He also solicits donations, saying the money will go toward re-electing Trump by 'helping us reach more Americans.' 'Support us and help save our country from the Deep State, who is trying to everything they can to stop Donald Trump from winning the election. Your donation goes toward the production of our cartoons and will help Donald Trump win the election in 2020 by helping us reach more Americans,' his website says. His drawings also have promoted a conspiracy theory that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, is looking to microchip the population via a vaccine for the coronavirus. As an industry we need to find creative new ways to conduct business. Render's Digital Network Construction approach is the right solution at the right time for increasing efficiency, reducing cost and transitioning to paperless deployment of FTTH, middle mile and wireless 5G networks. Render Networks, an innovative network management construction platform, today announced the appointment of broadband market and solutions executive Lori Sherwood as Director, Commercial & Market Development, effective immediately and based in Boulder, Colorado. In response to the unprecedented demand for fiber broadband access networks, this new role will support current market momentum and accelerate the successful delivery of the company's best-in-class deployment technology. Sam Pratt, CEO, said, "Lori's extensive telecommunications industry experience, focusing on statewide, county, and community broadband solutions add to our US capabilities at a pivotal time for the industry. Lori's expertise in network planning, project delivery, local government liaison, and engineering is exactly what Render and our growing portfolio of Communications Service Provider partners need as the industry approaches peak-fiber deployment from 2021. "We are in the middle of a disruptive global event, and as an industry we need to find creative new ways to conduct business, said Lori. It's incredibly exciting to be joining an innovative technology company that has developed a digital platform enabling remote management of construction projects. Render's Digital Network Construction approach is the right solution at the right time for increasing efficiency, reducing cost and transitioning to paperless deployment of Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH), middle mile, and wireless 5G networks." Sherwood is excited about leveraging her experience with federal broadband funding and regulatory compliance to expedite fiber deployment in critically under-served communities in the coming months. "Network providers have an enormous opportunity with the RDOF (Rural Digital Opportunity Fund) auction coming up this fall. While the focus right now is primarily on the application process, applicants should start thinking about delivery models and partners. Having directed a large-scale fiber deployment grant initiative, I know that proper planning includes developing strategies for executing network designs that meet all the RDOF requirements, including reporting and compliance requirements. Render's digital platform will significantly increase transparency and enable real-time visibility for RDOF awardees into all aspects of their network deployment." Most recently with Vantage Point Solutions, Lori is an attorney specializing in contract development for community broadband networks. She has tackled challenges related to rights of way, permitting, wireless siting, and cable franchising. Her experience also includes serving as Broadband Program Director for the nationally recognized One Maryland Inter-County Broadband Network (ICBN) in Howard County, Maryland, including co-ordination of their successful $115 million stimulus grant and constructing over 800 miles of fiber optic cable connecting over 650 anchor institutions. Lori serves on the board of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA). She has an undergraduate degree in anthropology from American University and is an honors graduate of the University of Baltimore School of Law. About Render Networks Founded in 2013 with a mission to build networks better, Render has a successful history of streamlining large-scale network construction for network operators, ISPs and construction teams across Australia and the United States. Utilizing GIS, mobile and automation technologies, Renders Digital Network Construction approach solves the complexities associated with network deployment by digitizing design and construction workflows and eliminating manual hand-offs. Render converts a complex network design directly into simple tasks, defined on a map-based interface and sequenced for optimal delivery, resulting in cost and time efficiencies of up to 50 percent. Real-time, geospatial data provides a single, integrated view of progress to all stakeholders, improving project visibility and control across network rollouts. Some of Daniel Santos fellow teachers are planning for the upcoming school year by drafting wills and shopping for life insurance. Fernando Castro is wrestling with whether to risk his already fragile health by returning to the classroom or retire from a job he has loved for 28 years. Santos, who has taught social studies at Navarro Middle School campus since 2006, worries about going back to a building with overcrowded classrooms, poor ventilation and windows that are sealed shut the perfect breeding ground for the coronavirus to spread. Its a question being asked by thousands of teachers across Texas: Is it safe to go back to the classroom? So far, the answer for teachers seems to be no. And state officials are not giving local school leaders the power to do what is needed to protect staff and students. Instead, the Texas Education Agency has told all school districts they must provide on-campus classes five days a week within three weeks of the day schools reopen for the 2020-21 academic year. That flies against common sense and good public health. What is right for a small district in a community where COVID-19 cases are low would not be right for Houston, where coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are reaching record levels. Instead of mandating a one-size-fits-all approach, state education officials must listen to local leaders and teachers unions who are pleading for more autonomy as they plan for the next school year. The Texas School Alliance and the Texas Urban Council of Superintendents, both of which include Houston ISD, are urging Abbott to allow districts more flexibility to design instruction that considers public health conditions and the needs of staff and students, including offering online-only learning for at least the first six- or nine-week grading period. In other states, districts such as Miami-Dade have postponed school reopening until coronavirus outbreaks are brought under control. Others, including Los Angeles, San Diego and Nashville have opted to start with online-only learning. TEA is allowing Texas districts to offer 100 percent virtual learning only for the first three weeks of the school year, provided all students in the district have access to technology. After that, local education leaders would need to twist themselves into knots to find ways around state guidelines. In El Paso County and the city of Laredo, for example, health officials stepped in to order schools to delay face-to-face instruction until at least Sept. 5. Elsewhere, teachers unions have rejected reopening plans, saying they put educators at risk. The Association of Texas Professional Educators and the Texas State Teachers Association are urging Texas officials to delay in-person instruction until the coronavirus curve is flattened. A nine-page TEA guidance mandates masks for everyone 10 and older as long as Gov. Greg Abbotts order remains in effect, but outlines only vague recommendations for social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention measures. There is a lot of pressure on schools to reopen, and thats understandable. But President Trump is certainly not helping by acting the bully, threatening to withhold federal funds for districts that dont offer in-person classes. The virus is not under control and returning to campus too soon will put lives in danger. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics which at first recommended that students be physically present in school, now says safety must come first and, Science should drive decision-making on safely reopening schools. Teachers bear disproportionate risks if districts require them to be on campus before its safe. That will mean thrusting teachers into roles similar to those of front-line hospital workers without comparable training or protective equipment. That may force many veteran teachers like Castro, who teaches second grade at Poe Elementary in Houston ISD, into leaving the profession. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis estimates that nearly 1.5 million teachers in the United States are at high risk of serious illness from coronavirus. Teachers must not be treated as inconsequential or, even worse, expendable. Whatever the math involved in reopening, one thing is certain. The health of everyone involved, especially those most vulnerable, including teachers and staff, must not be left out of the equation. St Jarlath's Credit Union in Galway said its board had agreed to link up with Glenamaddy. Stock image ANOTHER merger is on the cards for what is set to become the largest credit union in the country. St Jarlath's Credit Union in Galway said its board had agreed to link up with Glenamaddy. St Jarlath's is already in the process of a tie-up with St Anthony's & Claddagh, a merger that will create the largest credit union in the State. The boards of Glenamaddy and St Jarlath's said they will amalgamate their operations from next month. Both boards said that they were satisfied that the merger is in the best interests of the members of both bodies. Plans are already in train for St Jarlath's to link up with nearby St Anthony's and Claddagh. Together, the three credit unions will have almost 500m in assets. Up to now the next largest credit union, by assets, was St Raphael's Garda Credit Union, followed by St Canice's in Kilkenny, according to both the Irish League of Credit Unions and the Credit Union Development Association, two representative bodies. The completion of the larger merger between St Jarlath's and St Anthony's and Claddagh is not expected to be finalised for another nine months. St Jarlath's has eight branches across North County Galway with 50,000 members. It employs 55 people and has 233m in assets. Glenamaddy Credit Union has three branches at present, with 5,000 members. Its assets stand at 27m and it employs eight staff. The merger of St Jarlath's and Glenamaddy will allow them to offer a wider suite of products and services across an expanded branch network, they said. The merged entity will have assets of almost 260m and a combined membership base of 55,000. John Doyle, the chief executive of St Jarlath's said that Covid-19 restrictions meant that special general meetings could not be held, so both boards have taken the decision to progress the tie up via a board resolution. In a separate development, deposits have been returned to 4,600 members of Drumcondra and District Credit Union. It comes weeks after provisional liquidators were appointed to the Dublin credit union. The Central Bank said members should start receiving their payments shortly. The credit union had struggled for a while to build up its capital level to satisfy regulatory rules. Stephen Tennant and Nicholas O'Dwyer of Grant Thornton were appointed joint provisional liquidators of Drumcondra. After Trumps failure to tackle the Serbia-Kosovo issue, the EU has taken back the lead. But it cannot do it alone. It would not be a stretch to say that Europe has now given up on US President Donald Trump. Not that long ago, leaders across the pond held some hope that they could work with the US on issues of common interest. No more. German Chancellor Angela Merkels refusal to attend a G7 summit at Camp David, originally scheduled for June 10-12, speaks volumes of the poor state of transatlantic relations. The get-together was postponed until September, ostensibly because of the coronavirus pandemic. But with a presidential election due in short order, it is highly unlikely that Merkel or French President Emmanuel Macron would be going there with high expectations. Though they are understandably keeping quiet, in private they may well be rooting for a Trump defeat in November. Meanwhile, the gap between Europeans and the current administration in Washington is becoming conspicuous in an unlikeliest of places: Kosovo. For decades, the US and the EU have stood side by side in former Yugoslavia, pushing the same set of policies predicated on conflict resolution and integration into the West. Then, starting with the Bush administration, the US essentially passed the lead to Europe. The promise of EU membership with all the attendant benefits from freedom of movement to billions in funding motivated Serbia and Kosovo to sit at the negotiating table and even produce an interim deal in 2013. Though falling short of securing Belgrades recognition of what it still considers its own province, the 2013 Brussels Agreement mapped the way forward to normalising ties. The US lent political support to the EU-mediated talks, aiming to close the last chapter in Yugoslavias bloody unravelling. This close US-EU cooperation, however, seemingly ended with the advent of Trump. His administration bypassed the EU on Kosovo, taking matters into its own hands. With the EU normalisation talks effectively stalled in late 2018, then-US Ambassador to Germany and current Special Envoy Richard Grenell and then-National Security Advisor John Bolton seized the opportunity to put the US in the driving seat. In January this year, Grenell brokered a deal to resume flights between Belgrade and Prishtina. Then, on June 6, the Kosovo government agreed to scrap all restrictions on imports of Serbian goods, a step Grenell was pushing for. The decision was taken by a new cabinet headed by Avdullah Hoti, replacing Prime Minister Albin Kurti whose hardline stance towards Belgrade had put him at odds with US diplomacy. All the stars appeared to be aligned for a summit between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and his Kosovan counterpart, Hashim Thaci, at the White House on June 27. Though Grenell sought to temper expectations, stressing that the meeting would be all about economic issues, it was clear that he was hopeful, in due course, of a major breakthrough which would score points for Trump, burnishing his lacklustre foreign policy reputation. The EU was welcome as a support act. But the planned summit proved a flop. Thaci decided to pull out after a prosecutor at the special court on Kosovo at The Hague issued a preliminary indictment accusing him of war crimes during the 1998-1999 conflict. The unexpected twist has put Kosovo off the White Houses agenda, at least for the time being. A US-hosted meeting may not be out of the question, but it does not seem to be a priority for an administration known for its short attention span. The ball is now in the EUs court. President Vucic and Prime Minister Hoti are to hold talks on July 16 in Brussels chaired by Josep Borrell, the EUs high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. On July 10, prior to the new round of negotiations, the first since November 2018, the trio touched base with Macron and Merkel over a video link. Hoti and Vucic both visited Paris before that too. However, this pre-round did not score much progress. Having already appointed Miroslav Lajcak as a special envoy, The EU is shifting gears and preparing to re-engage in Kosovo. Europes comeback is welcome, but process cannot compensate for substance. At the end of the day, the EU or at least 22 of its members who recognise Kosovos statehood expects that Serbia will accept independence in return for vaguely defined gains. Accession to the Union is the ultimate prize, but it is not forthcoming for Belgrade, even under the best of circumstances. The slow pace of negotiations, the new methodology allowing for the reopening of chapters and, not least, the enlargement-scepticism in Western Europe, do not augur well for a swift conclusion. The EUs stock in Prishtina is in decline as well because of the reluctance to grant Kosovars visa-free travel to the Schengen area, in contrast to the rest of the Western Balkans and a number of post-Soviet states. Merkel, Macron and Josep Borrell, the EUs foreign affairs chief, should put incentives on the table to make Vucic and Hoti, a proxy for Thaci, trade some concessions and truly bring normalisation talks back to life. To get things moving in the decade-long Balkan dispute, the EU will still need the US. Americans carry substantial diplomatic leverage, especially in Kosovo, where frustration with Brussels led Thaci to turn to Washington. It will be ill-advised to stonewall Grenell, much less the US State Department where transatlanticism and multilateralism are still rated highly. The Americans and the Europeans need to be on the same page in order to ensure that Russia, a partner for Serbia, does not undercut conflict resolution efforts. Given the acrimony between the current administration and allies in Europe, cooperation cannot be taken for granted. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. After backing India on Ladakh, Trump govt slams Beijing over South China Sea Donald Trump's govt has toughened its stand on another issue concerning China. US called Beijing's extensive claims to South China Sea 'completely unlawful'. China is engaged in maritime territory disputes with many countries in the region. Days earlier, the Trump govt had backed India over face-off with China in Ladakh. US minister Pompeo had referred to China's various disputes on that occasion. Watch the full video for more. ...read more Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE:DAL) tumbled over 3% on Tuesday on the back of reporting a second-quarter net loss close to its highest quarterly net loss in a decade. For the quarter ending June 30, the Atlanta-based airline reported a net loss of $5.717 billion, or $9.01 in diluted loss per share, compared with net income of $1.443 billion, or $2.21 in diluted earnings per share, in the prior-year quarter. c7f049d4bc7073882456acc6201c5956.png Company updates business position as coronavirus cases continue surging Delta reported an adjusted pretax loss of $3.9 billion, excluding the $3.2 billion of items directly related to the coronavirus pandemic. CEO Ed Bastian added that a revenue decline of over 91% further illustrates the "staggering" impact of the virus outbreak on the airline's business. 463cc6d2ebf7258499dca3a1f20ac706.png Delta announced that demand for air travel declined dramatically during the June quarter, with emplaned passengers down 93% year over year. The airline blocked middle seats and capped the load factor at 60%. Bastian further said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that increasing virus cases in the South, coupled with quarantine measures in the Northern states, contributed most to the decline in passenger demand. CNBC further reported that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has increased the number of states on New York's travel advisory list to 22, up from the previous number of 18. db25faf53eb4aa5073aefa8779036be4.png According to Johns Hopkins University statistics, global Covid-19 cases have surpassed 13.1 million, with over 3.3 million cases in the U.S. Further, the seven-day average of daily new coronavirus cases in the U.S. surpassed 60,000 for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Stock falls on net loss and CEO warning of lengthy recovery Shares of Delta plunged to an intraday low of $25.46, down 5.07% from Monday's close of $26.82. 66c8b66cb1634edb2a3e3206448e6678.png Bastian warned that given the combined effects of the pandemic and associated financial impacts, management expects it will take at least two years before the company sees a sustainable recovery. Despite this, GuruFocus still ranks Delta's profitability 7 out of 10 on the back of operating margins that have increased approximately 4.9% per year over the past five years and are outperforming over 69% of global competitors. Story continues 1ac88ba657773e5ecd397b99f5c4a13f.png Gurus with holdings in Delta include PRIMECAP Management (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio). d2ddeee920f30988cfa1c1f2b1c6f8f3.png See also CNBC also reported on Tuesday that Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. (ASX:QAN) is removing nearly all international flights until March 2021 as global coronavirus cases continue surging. Disclosure: No positions. Read more here: 4 High-Quality Stocks With High Dividend Yields 4 Stocks Trading Near Historical Low Price-Book Ratios 5 Undervalued Companies With High Piotroski F-Scores Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Since leaving the paper in 2016, Ms. Sullivan has kept watch over the news industry as The Washington Posts media columnist. She spoke from her cottage in Evans, N.Y., near Lake Erie and not far from her hometown, Lackawanna. This interview has been edited and condensed. When were you first bitten by the journalism bug? When I was in early high school, the Watergate hearings were taking place, and my family was gathered around the TV in the living room and we were mesmerized. How did your time in Buffalo inform your outlook on the local news crisis? The newsroom that I came to was thriving, vibrant. It had newspaper competition down the street. And, fairly quickly, the competition went out of business. We had a number of very profitable years, and then structural changes came about, starting in 2008 or 2009, and I was the editor at that time. We were doing round after round of buyouts throughout the company, including the newsroom. We could no longer cover things the way we used to. I could see firsthand that these changes were hurting the community. Theres a lot in your book about the importance of community. Why is that function of newspapers important to you? I was the features editor for several years. We had a pop music critic, a classical music critic, a drama critic, an art critic, plus reporters who wrote about other elements of the community that had nothing to do with watchdog journalism. There was a section that, with the help of staff, I founded, Life & Arts. That section, which was in the paper Monday through Friday, no longer exists. When I stay at my cottage near Lake Erie in the summer, and I get the print edition, I always feel like somethings missing. A Maldives court Tuesday cleared former vice president Ahmed Adeeb of embezzling $128 million to lease islets for tourism development, officially ending the high-profile legal saga Mal, Maldives, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Jul, 2020 ) :A Maldives court Tuesday cleared former vice president Ahmed Adeeb of embezzling $128 million to lease islets for tourism development, officially ending the high-profile legal saga. The main criminal court dismissed seven charges including embezzlement, money laundering and abuse of his position as tourism minister between 2014 and 2015. "The court refused to accept a confession he allegedly made about his role in leasing nearly 60 islets to private companies," a court official said. A police officer who shared a post declaring'I need a holiday so much I'd be willing to go away with the McCanns' has been let off by force bosses PC Paula Manos, 48, escaped punishment over the Facebook share and will instead be encouraged to 'reflect and learn from the issue' during a review process. The controversy relates to a comment which appeared on an account linked to the officer, a beat manager in Thornbury, Glos. It said: 'I need a holiday so much I'd be willing to go away with the McCanns at this point'. PC Paula Manos, an officer for Avon and Somerset Police in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, near Bristol, was let off over a sick post on Facebook which mocked Madeleine McCann's parents It was shared on the day Britain's lockdown was announced (March 23). Madeleine - widely known as Maddie - was a young girl who vanished while on holiday in Portugal with her parents in 2007. Avon and Somerset Constabulary said it had investigated but that the post did not 'meet the threshold of misconduct'. A spokesperson said: 'However it does fall short of standards of behaviour expected by the public and police and will be dealt with under the 'practice requires improvement' process. 'The officer is expected to engage with a review process in which they are encouraged to reflect and learn from the issue.' At the time other social media users responded to the post with a laughing or shocked emoji, while others just 'liked' it. The post read: 'Need a holiday so much I'd be willing to go away with the McCanns at this point' One of the PC Manos's friends replied: 'That would be a Renault Megane, yes?'. The comment was in apparent reference to the Renault Scenic car Kate and Gerry McCann rented after their daughter disappeared. PC Manos then reportedly responded with a GIF of comedy character Mr Bean dropping a glass, as well as one of a cat with a shocked expression. At the time an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman said: 'We have a clear policy on what's expected of all our officers and staff in relation to responsible professional and personal use of social media. Madeleine disappeared from her holiday apartment in Praia De Luz, Portugal, in 2007 after parents Kate and Gerry left her and her twin siblings sleeping while they had dinner 'This policy is guided by the shared values which are expressed in the Code of Ethics and the standards which reflect public expectation on how those in policing should behave. 'Our Professional Standards Department have been made aware of the post and will be looking into them further. 'While we're not able to comment further at this stage, we would like to make clear that we do not condone in any way the sentiments expressed in the posts.' Madeleine vanished in 2007 and has never been found, despite a near-constant police probe The news of the post came after German prosecutors announced a major breakthrough in the search for Madeleine, with their investigation of 43-year-old paedophile Christian Brueckner. He was living in Praia Da Luz at the time of Madeleine's disappearance. He is currently serving time in prison in Germany for drugs offences and was previously convicted in Germany of sexually abusing two girls. The sex offender also raped a 72-year-old American woman in Praia da Luz just 18 months before Madeleine disappeared. Nevada Copper (TSX: NCU) announced a financing on a bought deal basis 643,713,553 units at 15 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $97 million. Funds will be used to restart its mine and pay down indebtedness. Concentrate production was suspended at the underground project due to COVID-19. The company expects mill restart in August, subject to revision based on impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and other factors. Nevada Copper is not seeking shareholder approval for the financing. "Nevada Copper intends to apply to the TSX, pursuant to the provisions of Section 604(e) of the TSX Company Manual, for a 'financial hardship' exemption from the requirements to obtain shareholder approval of the Offering, on the basis that absent the Offering the Company is in serious financial difficulty due to the lack of available cash and funding resources. The Offering is designed to improve the Companys financial situation. The application will be made upon the recommendation of the Special Committee and will be based on the determination that the transactions are reasonable for Nevada Copper in the circumstances," writes Nevada Copper. Nevada Copper (TSX: NCU) is a copper producer and owner of the Pumpkin Hollow copper project. In what can be termed bizarre yet controversial news, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli found himself in hot waters on Monday after he claimed that the real Ayodhya lied in his country (Nepal) and not in India. "Lord Ram is Nepali, not Indian," news agency ANI quoted Nepali media as saying. Ram's birthplace of Ayodhya is not located in Uttar Pradesh but near the Balmiki Ashram in Thori in southern Nepal, Oli said. Speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu, Oli said that Nepal "has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated". #Nepal PM K P Sharma #Oli says #LordRam is not from India but Ayodhya which is a village in #Nepal and #India is "encroached on our cultural facts" by setting up fake #Ayodhya. India has done cultural encroachment by setting up fake #Ayodhya. #RamMandir #ayodhyarammandir pic.twitter.com/2syHB2faTx ZAHID ABBAS (@abbaszahid24) July 13, 2020 Bhanubhakta was born in 1814 in Tanhu of western Nepal and is credited for translating Valmiki's Ramayan into the Nepali language. He died in 1868. "Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram," Oli said. "We also believe that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj," he said, adding that the marriage between the bride and the bridegroom at such a distance was not possible at the time when there was no communication and transportation system. He went on to say that Thori, located near Birgunj, was the "real" Ayodhya were Lord Ram was born. "The place called Thori, near Birgunj is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is great dispute on Ayodhya. But, there is no dispute in our Ayodhya," Oli was quoted as saying by his press advisor Surya Thapa. Instead of outraging at his comments, Twitterati in India took the meme route and imagined what Oli's future claims would be. Brace yourself @realDonaldTrump The most powerful country with its dynamic and vibrant leader will conquer the entire universe very soon! World domination ka baap#Nepal #Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/xFhr2gXoL5 Aditya (@adi_aithal) July 13, 2020 When I listen that #LordRam belong to Nepal and #Ayodhya is in Nepal not is India.#Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/oYTcXAqo8R Shristi Tiwari (@_shristi_tiwari) July 14, 2020 PM Oli's next claims:- Ravan was from China!!! Gautam Buddha was from Russia Mahavir was from North Pole He himself came from Luna as he is turning lunatic! #Nepal #oli #ram #ayodhya The Indian Thing O (@TheIndianThingO) July 13, 2020 Abiral Tamang was a brilliant Nepali Scientist who gave Theory of Nepalivity but Capitalist America stole the theory and renamed it Theory of Relativity and changed name of Abiral Tamang to Albert Einstein pic.twitter.com/yEYO1kqKzt K.P. Oli (@_KPOli) July 14, 2020 #Ayodhya Everyones reaction on hearing the news of Shree Ram being nepali#Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/wCS6OqpWgr Akshay Pratap singh (@ak6official) July 13, 2020 If this wasn't all, Oli also said: "Valmiki Ashram is also in Nepal and the holy place where King Dasharath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi, which is in Nepal," he said. As Dasharath was the ruler of Nepal, it is natural that his son Ram was also born in Nepal, Oli argued. Therefore, real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, he claimed. Condemning Oli for his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri said that the Left parties even in India played with people's faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here. "Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody, be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this," he said in New Delhi. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:50:36|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HOUSTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A shooting in the southern U.S. city of New Orleans Monday afternoon killed a 10-year-old boy and injured other two teenagers, local media reported. Shaun Ferguson, superintendent from the New Orleans Police Department, told reporters that the 10-year-old boy died from a gunshot wound to the head, according to WVUE-DT, a Fox-affiliated television station. The incident happened in the 2100 block of Pauger Street around 5 p.m. local time (2200 GMT). Reports from the police department said the two injured were a 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy, both of whom were sent to hospital and listed in stable conditions. The motivation behind the shooting remains unclear and investigation is under way, WVUE-DT TV quoted Ferguson as saying. Ferguson called on the public to contact police if they had any information. New Orleans is a Louisiana city on the Mississippi River, near the Gulf of Mexico. Enditem Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. Truth can be harassed, but not defeated: Sachin Pilot after being sacked as Rajasthan deputy CM Sachin Pilot on Tuesday changed his profile on Twitter minutes after he was dropped as the chief of Congress Rajasthan unit and removed from the state cabinet. Truth can be harassed, cannot be defeated, Sachin Pilot also tweeted in Hindi. Read More Huge conspiracy: CM Gehlot after Cong axes Sachin Pilot from cabinet Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for conspiring and resorting to horse-trading in Rajasthan which led to the current crisis. He also said that there is nothing in Sachin Pilots hands, its the BJP which is running the show. Read More When Shah Rukh Khan tried to woo Jackie Chan into starring in Ra.One, but failed Did you know that Shah Rukh Khan wanted Jackie Chan to be a part of Ra.One? On Jonathan Ross talk show in 2010, while promoting My Name is Khan, the actor spoke about wooing Jackie, but said that he was expensive. Read More Would back Williamson ahead of Kohli in tougher batting conditions: Ex-NZ player Glenn Turner Former New Zealand captain and batting great Glenn Turner has said that he backs Kiwi captain Williamson over Kohli when it comes to batting on challenging surfaces. Turner explained that Kohli was brought up on pitches that did not seam a lot, while it was the opposite for Williamson. Read More Airtel BlueJeans video conferencing app is here, set to take on Reliances JioMeet, Zoom Airtel on Tuesday announced a partnership with US-based telecom giant Verizon. As a part of this partnership Verizon is bringing its BlueJeans video-conferencing solution in India. Read More Little girl dances to Ghagra, mum calls her miniature Madhuri Dixit. One of the latest stories of The Humans of Bombay features a mother-daughter duo who loves dancing. In fact, the post not only details their love for dancing, it also comes with a video of the little girl showcasing her talent. Read More How China persecutes Uighur Muslims & why UN must recognise it as genocide Chinas persecution of Uighur Muslims has been an open secret for many years. Now Uighur activists are urging the United Nations to recognise Chinas actions as genocide. Hindustan Times senior editor Aditi Prasad spoke to Julie Millsap from Campaign for Uighurs to understand their demands. Watch the full video for all the details. US F-35 fighter jet. Photo: VCG China will impose sanctions on US-based arms producer Lockheed Martin, the main contractor of the recertification of its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) air defense missiles of the island of Taiwan. The sanctions will likely feature the cut-off of material supply including rare earths, which are crucial to advanced weapons production, and business restrictions on Lockheed Martin's suppliers that have business in the Chinese mainland, Chinese aviation industry experts said on Tuesday. The US on Thursday announced the approval of an arms deal to Taiwan involving the recertification of PAC-3 air defense missiles at an estimated cost of $620 million. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on Tuesday that China had decided to take necessary measures to impose sanctions on the US company. Zhao did not elaborate on the details of the sanctions. Lockheed Martin is an arms producer focused on advanced weapons and equipment, and China does not have many direct business with the company, Wang Ya'nan, a Chinese aviation industry expert and chief editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Tuesday. However, it is possible that China will restrict the supply chain of Lockheed Martin, as the company would inevitably import raw materials including non-metals, metals and minerals including rare earths from China, via its suppliers who do have businesses with China, Wang said. Other component manufacturers and system designers that are related to China could also be restricted from doing business with Lockheed Martin as part of the sanctions, Wang said. Many of Lockheed Martin's key products, including F-35 fighter jets and Patriot missiles, rely on components made with rare earths, analysts said. China is the world's largest rare-earth exporter, and the US imports about 80 percent of its rare-earth needs from China, reports said. Also, the UK's defense ministry revealed in 2019 that Exception PCB, a Chinese-owned company, was making circuit boards for F-35 fighter jets, the UK's Sky News reported at the time. The parts "control many of the F-35's core capabilities," the network reported. Though not large scale, Lockheed Martin has some business in China in new energy, civilian aviation and space industries, according to Weihutang, a program on military affairs affiliated with China Central Television. "Actual effects aside, this is a political statement. US wantonness won't be unchecked when it comes to China," He Weiwen, an executive council member of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday. Lockheed Martin has thus become the first US company since the start of the China-US trade war to be directly designated by Chinese authorities for sanctions, according to He. Previously, although China has said it would roll out an unreliable entity list as a response to foreign governments' and companies' crackdowns on Chinese companies, no actual foreign company had been named by a top Chinese government official, He noted. Wang said that the sanctions will deter other US arms firms from selling arms to the island of Taiwan, and unlike Lockheed Martin, companies like Boeing may get hit even harder in potential sanctions because they have more direct business ties with China. This is not the first time that China has imposed sanctions on US arms producers that are involved in weapons sales to the island of Taiwan. For instance, after the US government approved a plan to sell $2.22 billion of arms to Taiwan in July 2019, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China would impose sanctions on US enterprises participating in the sales. The companies included Raytheon, General Dynamics, and BAE and Oshkosh, according to media investigations. China is resolutely against US arms sales to the island of Taiwan and any form of military connection between the island and the US, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, China's cabinet, said on Tuesday. The attempts of the Democratic Progressive Party authority to seek "independence by force" will not succeed, and will only sabotage peace and stability and bring about a bigger catastrophe to Taiwan people, Zhu warned. Reacting sharply to Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis claim that Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram, is in Nepal and that he was Nepali, members of the saints community have urged him to keep religion out of regional politics. The PM of Nepal must keep Lord Ram out of regional politics. His comments are unwarranted. He must know that Lord Ram was a chakravarti emperor and Nepal was also a part of his kingdom. Ties between India and Nepal are even older than history, said Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, chairman of Sri Ram Jamabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Sri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirath Kshetra Trust and saints in Ayodhya have strongly condemned Olis statement. The prime minister of Nepal is making baseless and unwarranted statements at the behest of China. Nothing can be more absurd than this statement. All religious scriptures prove that Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya in India, said Sharad Sharma, regional spokesperson, VHP, who operates from Karsevakpuram, Ayodhya. Raju Das, priest of Hanuman Garhi, said Olis statement as a ploy to divert attention from increasing opposition he is facing in Nepal. At present, the Nepalese PM is under immense pressure from the opposition to resign from his post. With no option left, he has given this absurd statement just to divert attention of people from ongoing political turmoil in the country, said Das. In recently concluded Ram Janmabhoomi case in Supreme Court all historical facts were presented before the court and it was proven without doubt that Ram Janmabhoomi in Ayodhya is the birthplace of Lord Ram, said Das. Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Ram was born there. Due to these continuous claims even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj, Prime Minister Oli claimed at an event at his residence in Kathmandu. Oli also accused India of cultural encroachment by creating a fake Ayodhya. Oli questioned how Lord Ram could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there were no means of communication. He further said that it would have been impossible for Lord Rama to come to Janakpur from present Ayodhya that lies in India. Every year Ram Barat (wedding procession of lord Ram) from Ayodhya leaves for Janakpur in Nepal with much fanfare. A large number of saints accompany Ram Barat. Olis contentious claims came amid worsening relations between New Delhi and Kathmandu. Tensions between the two countries rose after Kathmandu issued a new map incorporating some portions of Indian territories in May. New Delhi has said that the updated map is not based on historical facts and evidence and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement. Cortlandville, N.Y. A Cortland County man was driving drunk early Monday when he led police on a high-speed chase, Cortland County sheriffs deputies said. Deputies tried to stop a vehicle 29-year-old Edward E. White was driving at about 2:30 a.m. Monday on Starr Road, in the Town of Cortlandville, but White refused to stop, deputies said in a news release. White began to drive away at a high rate of speed, but officers say they were able to stop the vehicle on McLean Road. Deputies accused White of driving drunk, although he refused to take a Breathalyzer test. He was charged with felony DWI; first-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a felony; unlawfully fleeing a police officer, a misdemeanor; unlawful possession of marijuana, a violation; and the following traffic violations: passing a red light, unsafe start, unapproved sticker, improper plates, unregistered motor vehicle, driving left of the curb and refusal to take a Breathalyzer test, according to the sheriffs office. White, of 3918 state Route 13, Truxton, was arrested and arraigned on the charges Monday morning. Have a tip or a story idea? Contact Catie OToole: cotoole@syracuse.com | text/call 315-470-2134 | Twitter | Facebook The Daily Mails 2020 Health Hero Awards, launched in partnership with eBay and NHS Charities Together, are your chance to say thank you to the unsung heroes of the NHS, whatever their role, who go the extra mile. This year were launching two extra awards the Mental Health Hero award, and the eBay Smile award in recognition of NHS volunteers. Seven finalists will get an all-expenses-paid trip to London for the ceremony. The winner will also receive a 5,000 holiday. Here, SHERON BOYLE tells the story of one nominee who really does go beyond the call of duty... After several days of torrential rain last summer, the small Derbyshire town of Whaley Bridge was on the verge of being wiped out. The Toddbrook Reservoir dam behind it had started crumbling, threatening to send 300 million gallons of water crashing on to schools, businesses and homes. More than 500 body bags were brought in to prepare for mass casualties and, on Thursday, August 1, the military and police evacuated more than 1,500 residents and traders. Among them was chemist Raj Modi. Initially, Raj was reluctant to leave, realising that many of his loyal patients could be left without vital, often life-saving medication when the store he manages Well Pharmacy, the only chemist in the town was forced to close. Health Hero nominee Raj Modi Pharmacist Raj Modi at Well Pharmacy, with staff members Sue Locke (left) and Helen Wallace (right) Sue Locke and Helen Wallace, the two pharmacy assistants who were working the day they were told to evacuate, had to almost march him out. Raj wanted us to go home, but we said: No, we are not going without you, recalls Sue, 55. We knew if we had left him there, he would not have gone. They prepared dozens of prescriptions which Raj then personally delivered to patients homes early the next day in terrible weather conditions, before going to the pop-up pharmacy he had arranged in another branch 12 miles away in Disley. For the rest of the week, thats what he did, says Sue. We set up a pharmacy in the Disley shop back rooms, but Raj would go to our Whaley Bridge shop at 7am every morning for a week, risking serious injury from flooding to get all the medications he needed. Wed make up the scripts [prescriptions] then Raj would do the deliveries, often with a police escort to help get to the customers worst affected by flooding, adds Helen, 57. He always puts his customers first. But during the floods, he went over and above his duties. When the village dam was nearing breaking point in last August's floods, Raj refused to leave the chemists until he had made people's prescriptions up and the staff stayed with him Married father-of-two Raj had spent 22 years working in Whaley Bridge when the storms hit the High Peak town. His plans to visit his son Shilen, 22, in Australia, were washed away with the rain. We are used to bad weather here weve had two winters when the snow has been above my car and I walked to customers homes, delivering medicines from a backpack but that was nothing compared to last years floods, says Raj, 50. Between Monday, July 29, and Wednesday, July 31, the rain was so heavy water was trickling over the dam walls. We collect and deliver from six GP practices to three nursing homes and have at least 200 vulnerable patients out of the 10,000 we serve, spread across the valley. On the Thursday, our temporary driver came into the shop and told us he was going home as the town was being evacuated. At 2pm, head office called to say everyone had to go home immediately. But I knew I still had many prescriptions that needed to be done. I told the staff to go home but they wouldnt, so we did as many as possible then arranged to make the rest up at the Disley shop. Soon, the whole village was cordoned off. As I shut up shop at 3pm, I looked at the dam about half a mile from our shop. I knew if the dam wall broke, the whole area would be decimated. Raj drove 15 miles to another store at Reddish to plan for the week ahead. He also put a message on social media and local radio stations, giving his mobile number for anyone worried about regular prescriptions. The next morning he drove to the police cordon, then hopped into a police van to be taken to the shop to collect all the necessary medicines. He was returned to his car and then joined colleagues in making up the scripts, answering calls from worried patients and serving in the Disley branch. After they closed for the day, hed drive more than 50 miles around the valley, delivering up to 120 prescriptions each day for the week the evacuation lasted. He arrived at Cromford Court, a sheltered housing complex, on Sunday morning just before the residents were evacuated. We have 32 of them on our books, and we managed to deliver everyone their medicine before they were moved to a hotel in Buxton, says Raj. I was so pleased, as I knew that would help the home staff and stop anxiety among the residents. He worked right through the weekend. The weather on the Sunday was appalling. I had to get deliveries done before 3pm, when it was forecast to worsen, Raj says. I delivered medicines around the 12-mile radius for a full week. My family were worried as I hardly saw them. The police would also ring every hour when I was on deliveries, to check I was safe. Explaining what drove him, he says: I could not let these people down, they are like friends to me. A friend is exactly how retired audiology professor Dr Andreas Markides, 82, and his wife, Dorothy, 77, see Raj. Their daughter, Dr Maria Markides, said her mother, who has had two strokes and heart issues, was anxious she would not get her life-saving medication. Mum was on the phone to me that Sunday saying how worried she was when I heard someone knock on their front door. It was Raj he brought all the medication they needed to get them through the week, says Maria. I live 58 miles away in Southport and was so grateful to him. Maria says after her mothers strokes in 2018, Raj had come to their house after work and showed her brain exercises to boost her recovery. My parents think of him as a friend, says Maria, who has nominated Raj as her Health Hero. He is a hero, a lifeline to many. Ironically, it was the weather that brought Raj and his parents to live in the North-West in 1972. When his father, Asvin, now 73, left Kenya for England to find work, he was due to land in London but was diverted to Manchester because of the poor weather and then set up home in Cheadle, Stockport. He came with nothing, says Raj. Then, two years later, my mum Pushpa [now 71], his parents, two aunts and I joined him. He ran a corner shop and built that into a successful wholesaler. After my day studying at university, I would help deliver goods at night. Raj trained at Manchester University as his parents could not afford for him to live away from home. Having qualified in pharmacy in 1992, he started working in Whaley Bridge in 2002. I was one of the first Asian people here, but I was welcomed immediately and Ive always wanted to pay the locals back for that, he says. What happened last summer was far from the first time Raj has helped his community. Over the years, he has given talks to local organisations such as hospices, WI meetings and charities, and donating to their designated good cause. He buys tins of biscuits for local older people, and has served at and funded up to 60 pensioners to enjoy a Christmas lunch and theyre not even customers, laughs Sue. Even on weekends off, Raj still thinks of others: I spent one night a weekend for eight months in 2018 cleaning, cooking and serving food at a homeless shelter in Manchester. He also volunteered on Friday evenings at a local youth club. He says: I know I am fortunate and it is important for me to put something back into society. Now, due to coronavirus, Raj is going the extra mile again and, with the help of the branchs driver, delivers 50 prescriptions a day to vulnerable and elderly people. Many of Rajs ten-strong team have been with him since he moved to the area. Hes is such a caring boss, says Helen. During the floods, hed ring us all every evening to check if we were OK and if we needed food. No job is too grand for him he will do whatever he asks the staff to do, whether its mopping floors, cleaning windows or shelf-stacking. Raj says he treats staff and customers as though they were a second family. Id like to think if my parents or sister were in trouble, others would help them. Weeks after the 2019 storms had calmed, the village held a thanksgiving service at which Raj spoke. He told the audience about an old African tribal proverb: If you want to go fast, you go alone. But if you want to go far, you go together. How much longer can this go on? How much longer can the worlds longest undefended border remain largely sealed? Its an increasingly urgent question facing Canadian governments. Even with the U.S. border open for commercial business, and exceptions being made to allow families to reunite, our joint border is mostly closed. And the impact is huge. This discussion is relevant this week for a couple of reasons. First, the current emergency border-crossing restriction package is set to expire July 21. Second, the government is facing mounting pressure from commercial interests. The Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable, a coalition of 120-odd travel and tourism companies including Canadas major airlines, last month sent an open letter to the government calling for the loosening of travel restrictions. A second open letter was sent by Canadas airlines and many of Canadas biggest companies including banks and telecoms. On one hand it is hard to blame the tourism sector, which has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic, for putting its economic interests first. But it is also more than a little troubling that airlines were quick to do away with social distancing minimums when we know they are crucial in slowing the spread of COVID-19. Fortunately, its not up to the tourism/travel sector to make public policy. Thats up to the government, and based on what top officials such as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland are saying, protecting public health is still the top priority. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said: We are going to be very, very careful about when and how we start reopening international borders. Something most people do not recognize is that cross-border traffic is already increasing thanks to loosening of some restrictions. The volume of traffic crossing land borders has increased from about 115,000 a week from late April to early May to 175,000 a week in late June. Officials say those figures include commercial and non-commercial traffic. The number of non-commercial highway travellers entering Canada has nearly doubled over that period, going from about 3,300 a week to about 6,500. At the same time as Canada is allowing more cross-border traffic, the situation in the U.S. is deteriorating. As recently as the weekend states like Florida were announcing record new infections and deaths. Florida alone reported more than 15,000 new cases. American leadership is polarized, with the Trump administration basically in denial. Some states are rolling back reopening, others seem unwilling to do so despite exploding infection rates. Worst of all, America has no apparent unified strategy to regain control. Even if Trump loses the November election, its predicted to take months to change direction and get COVID under control. Under these circumstances, how on earth could Canada even consider significantly loosening border controls? Doing so would literally put at risk everything this country has done right to flatten the pandemic curve. All the work and sacrifice Canadians have endured would be at risk. It is said that governing in these times is an ongoing struggle to balance safety with renewed prosperity. Fair enough. But on some fronts there can be no overall compromise. The U.S. is not a safe place to be, and Canada should not face further exposure until things change. That could easily keep the border closed until the end of this year, at least, say infectious disease experts. Its a sad reality with a great cost to Canadians and our economy. But we have no choice. Experts Criticize the Chinese Regimes Economic Policies During a tour at a factory in Tongren city, Guizhou Province, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that he saw many idle factories along his route and that the local government could support businesses by utilizing these factories to further expand production and by recruiting more brothers and sisters of local farmworkers. According to the Tongren governments official website, the company that Li inspected on July 6 was Beiyitong Technology. The company is a leading intelligent terminal enterprise introduced from Shenzhen. Almost 30,000 Australians wanting to come to Western Australia are having their applications examined under the tougher borders regime brought in last week. WA's Health Minister Roger Cook said domestic arrivals from Victoria allowed into the state would now be tested as thoroughly as international arrivals. WA Health Minister Roger Cook. Credit:Lauren Pilat Mr Cook said people travelling from Victoria were to be masked and tested on arrival, and then re-tested 11 days later. "This means we are doubling down on limiting any potential spread of the virus from Victoria," he said. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, embroiled for years in a complicated legal fight to save its reservation, has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury to hand over financial records, sources told MassLive. The news was shared with tribe members during a Zoom call on June 23 by attorneys from Todd & Weld LLP, the sources said. The grand jury has requested all records and documents related to the tribes finances, they said. It is unclear if individual tribe members were subpoenaed as part of the federal probe. Federal prosecutors told tribe members at the meeting that the tribe is not the target of the investigation, the sources said. A copy of the letter from federal prosecutors to the tribe obtained by MassLive said: Pursuant to an official investigation conducted by a federal Grand Jury in the District of Massachusetts of suspected violations of federal criminal law, you are directed to furnish to the Grand Jury the documents described in the attached subpoena. The letter, dated June 5, was signed by U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Wichers. Grand jury proceedings are largely secret. Roughly two dozen citizens serve as jurors on a grand jury, and are empowered to examine documents and hear testimony usually presented only by government attorneys to determine whether there is probable cause that someone committed a crime. The news comes roughly a year after a federal grand jury issued subpoenas for the tribes sitting treasurer, Gordon Harris, and his predecessor, Robert Hendricks. It is unclear whether the subpoenas, issued in 2019, are related to the request for financial information shared with tribe members on June 23. When asked about a potential investigation last year, the U.S. Attorneys Office in the District of Massachusetts could neither confirm nor deny investigations. The tribe has been embroiled in a legal fight to secure its reservation since 2016, after the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered that the tribes Taunton casino be halted. The court order was the result of a legal challenge from neighbors of the proposed casino, who argued that the tribe didnt qualify for land-in-trust because it didnt satisfy a definition of Indian under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Tribal Chairman Cedric Cromwell has more recently come under fire for his handling of the tribes finances. Sources tell MassLive that the 2,600-member Mashpee tribe has accumulated a debt burden that has spiraled to more than $500 million money that is owed chiefly to its financier, Genting Malaysia. That scrutiny reached a boiling point last year when a group of tribe members attempted to oust Cromwell, his vice chairman and treasurer, through a recall process written into the tribes constitution, citing, among other things, the out-of-control debt and the secrecy surrounding tribal finances. Ultimately, the effort was stymied after the tribes Election Committee abruptly canceled the planned recall election in September. The grand jury subpoena comes several months after the U.S. Department of the Interior told the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that its reservation will be disestablished and the land taken out of trust in what felt like a death blow to a tribe locked in a prolonged legal battle over 321 acres of land in Taunton and a proposal to build a casino there. In what seemed to be the only good news for the tribe in recent memory, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in a separate lawsuit in early June that the Interiors decision to take the land out of the trust was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law, and remanded the matter back to the federal agency. Cromwells predecessor Glenn Marshall spent several years in federal prison in connection with a wide-reaching corruption probe. He was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison in 2009 for embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the tribe to pay his own bills, making illegal campaign contributions, filing false tax returns and fraudulently receiving Social Security benefits while holding a full-time job. Representatives from Cromwells administration and attorneys for the tribe were not immediately available for comment. Related Content: Auburn, IN (46706) Today Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 35F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low around 35F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Filmmakers Wong Kar-wai, Peter Chan Ho-sun and Derek Yee are among the top directors who have pledged to collaborate with young directors under the revival plan Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai will lead a group of renowned directors to collaborate with young talent and produce films for a period of five years. This will be part of a government-funded $12.9 million initiative to boost the countrys faltering film industry. Wong Kar-wai will be joined by directors Peter Chan Ho-sun, Derek Yee, Gordon Chan and duo Mabel Cheung and Alex Law under the recently announced Directors Succession Scheme funded by the governments film development fund. Under this scheme, the directors will pair up with it one or two promising filmmakers and make a movie from a budget of $1.2 million. Around 10 to 12 movies are expected to be released this way, reports Variety. This initiative will be part of the five measures taken by the commerce department of Hong Kong, with a total investment of $33.5 million. These initiatives were announced by the Commerce secretary Edward Yau on Monday, who also recounted the losses the film industry has suffered in the past year. According to Indie Wire, the other initiatives include a screenwriting program worth $1.05 million that will be used to produce about 40 good quality scripts. The scheme also aims at encouraging investors to put their money into Hong Kong films. The revival plan is initiated in the wake of the theatres closing down following the renewed coronavirus threat in China. This happened after cinema halls were closed for six weeks from March to mid-May. This saw a massive hit to the industry with the revenue facing a loss of over 70 per cent. (Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) Earlier, Wong Kar-wai had to halt the production of his upcoming feature film Blossoms due to the increase of COVID-19 cases in China. The production and churning of cinema in Hong Kong had seen a major setback last year as well but that was due to the political unrest prevalent from June of 2019. Lucknow, July 14 : In a bizarre order, the Uttar Pradesh Minister for Jal Shakti Mahendra Singh, has directed the field staff of the irrigation department to hold regular 'puja' at the rivers where water levels have started rising due to rains. The minister issued these directives on Sunday during a video conference with field staff to review works to check the flood menace. A press release issued later by the Jal Shakti ministry specifically mentioned the directives for performing 'puja' at swelling rivers. The minister has advised the field staff to hold prayers at rivers and offer flowers as has been done by villagers living near rivers. "It is not a new tradition. Hindus consider rivers as goddesses and worship them. The field staff should also do the same to contain floods," said the spokesman of the minister. Just before the onset of monsoon the Jal Shakti minister had toured the state and inspected dams and rivers. The minister has also asked the field staff to maintain a round the clock vigil at vulnerable points and keep the state headquarters informed updated. This is the first time that government employees have been asked to hold 'puja' in an official order. "It is almost bizarre that we are being asked to hold 'puja' to contain the flood situation. I have never even heard of such an order being issued in my entire career," said a senior IAS officer. The minister, meanwhile, could not be contacted despite several attempts. Police wielding tear gas dispersed thousands of protestors in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa on Monday, four days after five people were killed in banned demonstrations over the choice of a new election chief. Protestors gathered in Boulevard Lumumba, one of the citys main avenues, marching around a vehicle carrying former warlord and opposition chief Jean-Pierre Bemba, an AFP reporter saw. The police broke up the gathering using tear gas, while men in civilian clothes threw stones at the demonstrators. Some protestors were badly hurt falling from vehicles escorting Bemba. Security forces using tear gas also dispersed other protests in the eastern city of Bukavu and in the central city of Kananga, AFP journalists there said. The marches were triggered by a decision by the National Assembly dominated by supporters of former president Joseph Kabila to appoint Ronsard Malonda as chairman of the independent national electoral commission, CENI. Pro-democracy campaigners say Malonda, currently CENIs secretary-general, has played a historic role in rigging elections in favour of Kabila, who was succeeded in January last year by Felix Tshisekedi, son of a historic opposition leader. Mondays rally was called by the main alliance of opposition parties, Lamuka, which says that its candidate, Martin Fayulu, was denied victory in the December 2018 elections because of CENIs fraud. Bemba, whose car was escorted to his home by the police, said he had been told by the security forces that there were no deaths, no wounded, no pillaging. Anger over irregularities Protests last Thursday, staged by Tshisekedis own party, the Union for Democracy and Progress (UDPS), sparked a crackdown that led to the death of two protestors in Kinshasa and three in Lubumbashi in the southeast of the country, according to interior ministry figures. Twenty police were injured in Kinshasa, two of them seriously, the ministry said. The protests are unfolding while Tshisekedi has yet to announce whether he will approve Malonda as CENI chief. Tshisekedi told a cabinet meeting that he could understand anger over irregularities in the choice of the new CENI boss, but that he also condemned violence. The authorities have banned rallies under emergency measures to combat coronavirus. A third round of marches has been scheduled for July 19 by Catholic and citizens groups. Meanwhile, a police officer was sentenced by a military court on Monday to life imprisonment for the killing of a pro-democracy activist during a May demonstration in the eastern city of Beni. The DR Congo government has been ordered to pay the equivalent of $100,000 (88,000 euros) in damages for its role in the shooting death of Marcus-Freddy Kambale, according to pro-democracy Lucha movement and a civil party lawyer in the case. SOURCE> AFP The first COVID-19 vaccine tested in the U.S. revved up peoples immune systems just the way scientists had hoped, researchers reported Tuesday as the shots are poised to begin key final testing. No matter how you slice this, this is good news, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press. The experimental vaccine, developed by Faucis colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., will start its most important step around July 27: A 30,000-person study to prove if the shots really are strong enough to protect against the coronavirus. But Tuesday, researchers reported anxiously awaited findings from the first 45 volunteers who rolled up their sleeves back in March. Sure enough, the vaccine provided a hoped-for immune boost. Those early volunteers developed what are called neutralizing antibodies in their bloodstream molecules key to blocking infection at levels comparable to those found in people who survived COVID-19, the research team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. This is an essential building block that is needed to move forward with the trials that could actually determine whether the vaccine does protect against infection, said Dr. Lisa Jackson of the Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute in Seattle, who led the study. Theres no guarantee but the government hopes to have results around the end of the year record-setting speed for developing a vaccine. In other developments: Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Vice President Mike Pence insisted schools should reopen to in-person instruction for students, making the point in Louisiana as the state has reemerged as one of the nation's hot spots for the coronavirus only months after signs pointed to a successful outbreak response. Florida surpassed its daily record for coronavirus deaths Tuesday and Britain and France announced a requirement for people to wear masks in public indoor spaces, amid rising global worries about a resurgence of the pandemic. A Michigan sheriffs deputy on Tuesday fatally shot a man suspected of stabbing another man who had challenged him about not wearing a mask at a convenience store, police said. While Montana's rates of confirmed infections and deaths are much lower than other parts of the country, the outbreak at Canyon Creek Memory Care illustrates that even the most simple and common-sense preventive measures have sometimes gone unused during the pandemic, allowing the virus to sweep through elderly care facilities with devastating results. Virus by the numbers The senior Abdullah filed habeas corpus petition for seven leaders, while his son Omar Abdullah filed a similar plea for the remaining nine Farooq Abdullah filed the habeas corpus petition for seven leaders, while his son Omar Abdullah filed a similar plea for the remaining nine. (PTI Photo) Srinagar: A bunch of habeas corpus petitions seeking the release of 16 senior leaders of the National Conference (NC) from detention at their residences have been filed by the party's president Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah, who have contended that they were being held in "brazen violation" of the constitutional guarantee of right to liberty. According to the writ petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, NC general secretary Ali Mohammed Sagar, provincial president Nasir Aslam Wani, senior leader Aga Syed Mehmood, party's chief spokesman Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, among others, were being detained at their residences illegally and wrongfully without serving them with the grounds for such action. The leaders have been forcibly restricted to their homes by police personnel stationed outside for the past 11 months. Other leaders for whose release the petitions have been filed are Abdul Rahim Rather, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Irfan Shah, Sahmeema Firdous, Mohammad Shafi Uri, Chaudhary Mohammad Ramzaan, Mubarak Gul, Dr Bashir Veeri, Abdul Majeed Larmi, Basharat Bukhari, Saifudin Bhat Shutru and Mohammad Shafi. The senior Abdullah has filed the habeas corpus petition for seven leaders, while his son Omar Abdullah has filed a similar plea for the remaining nine. The Abdullahs, who were taken into preventive custody on the intervening night of August 4 and 5 hours before Jammu and Kashmir's special status was revoked by the Centre and then detained under the stringent Public Safety Act for several months, have pleaded that the detainees be set at liberty. The petitions were filed before the registrar of the high court by advocate Shariq Reyaz. The party leadership moved the high court after the petitions of these detained leaders to the Home Secretary of Union Territory on June 30 seeking removal of restrictions on their movement and set them at "absolute liberty" remained unanswered. The party on Monday issued a statement saying the habeas corpus petitions were filed in the high court, challenging "the unconstitutional and illegal house detention" of senior leaders and functionaries. Party spokesperson Imran Nabi Dar said the decision to approach the high court has been taken as a resort to provide relief to various party members who have continuously been under house arrest or were kept under house detention after being released from custody under the stringent Public Safety Act. "Shifting of the detainees from detention centres to their homes only characterised revolving-door detention practice. Quashing of the PSA on the party general secretary underscored the indefensible nature of all detentions in the court of law, leading us to believe that the administration will release all the detainees in the absence of any convincing reason behind it. "Unfortunately that was not to be. The house detentions without any administrative orders are unlawful, undermining due respect to human rights and individual liberty," he said. The spokesperson expressed hope that the judiciary will come to the rescue of their colleagues, who have been suffering for no fault ever since the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcation of the state into union territories on August 5, 2019. "This was the only recourse left to us. We are hopeful that the court will uphold the civil liberties of our colleagues most of whom have not been keeping well," the spokesman said. The National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), last Friday engaged all stakeholders in the transport sector in the Eastern Region to solicit their views and inputs on the drafting of a new Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate and promote road safety in the country. The engagement was the last part of a nationwide stakeholder consultative workshop organised by the NRSA in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport to educate the stakeholders on the drafted LI, which would enable the NRSA to coordinate and regulate activities, procedures and standards related to road safety issues. It brought together stakeholders from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) and National Ambulance Service, among others. The Executive Director of the NRSA, Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, revealed that in 2019, the Commission was converted into an Authority after Parliament passed the National Road Safety bill into an Act. She added that the Act allowed for the establishment of the NRSA and to provide it with adequate powers to discharge its mandate. To operationalise the National Road Safety Act, which established the Authority, and to be able to give it legislative framework and its regulatory functions, an LI has to be drafted, he said, adding that there was the need to solicit the views of all stakeholders to make it a feasible document. She noted that the new LI being drafted, unlike the first, would give the NRSA a legal backing to enforce and demand compliance to all the regulations slated in the Act That, she said, would help promote and coordinate road safety-related policies as well as implement and enforce standards for road safety. The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Eric Kwakye Darfour, speaking at the meeting, called on the Authority and other stakeholders to strictly enforce the new Legislative Instrument after it has successfully passed through parliament to become law to ensure discipline and safety on all roads in the country. According to the regional minister, even though road transport remained the main mode of transportation in the country, it had been saddled with many safety challenges, making roads unsafe and susceptible to preventable road traffic fatalities and injuries. It is against this compelling background that, road traffic laws and regulations being drafted to guide the behaviour of road users have become even more paramount, he said, adding that the impact of road traffic crashes and their corresponding casualties posed developmental and public health issues with mitigating effects against the socio-economic development of the country. He, however, called on stakeholders not to lose sight of the fact that, regulations for road transport users were needed to provide applicable and acceptable standards to guide road service delivery, operations and management in the sector, and urged all stakeholders to collectively harmonise their strategies into the LI being drafted. The stakeholders tasked the NRSA to consider the sale of spare parts, construction of roads, and regulation of motorcycles, among others, in the new LI. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The utilization of multi-cell tumor spheroids as an oncology research model has quickly increased because of a greater understanding of the effects of the tumor microenvironment, along with the spatial interactions between cells. 3D organoids and microtissues may offer more physiologically appropriate observations in comparison with 2D monolayer cell models, where cells are developed on non-biological surfaces in environments that are hyper-nourished which could disrupt metabolic studies or drug efficacy.1, 2 As the accessibility of 3D spheroid protocols rises, the experimental models are becoming more complicated with greater translational potential, frequently including further components that better simulate the heterogeneity of the cellular microenvironment. The inclusion of the extracellular matrices (ECM) and different cell types observed inside the microenvironment is of significant importance for enhanced physiological relevance. Extracellular matrix (ECM) components can be deposited by multi-cell spheroids, the same as a tumor in vivo, and the introduction of ECM scaffolds (for example Matrigel) allows the cell-ECM interface to be explored in closer detail. Spheroid models additionally have a higher degree of cell-to-cell contact to reflect structures better and to investigate the influence of cellular interactions on drug treatment3. Similar to tumors, the spheroids start to exhibit internal layered structures as they grow, such as nutrient gradients and growth kinetics which could affect drug resistance.4 They also create gene expression profiles of a greater physiological relevance.1 Despite these advantages, contemporary techniques for evaluating the shrinkage and growth of 3D tumor spheroids cultured with ECM are restricted by one or more of the following: (1) assay workflows that are laborious, time-consuming, or expensive, needing trained users to perform the analysis; (2) a need to use fluorescent probes to label cells which can disturb biological responses and may not be appropriate for primary tissue; (3) single time point readouts that do not provide kinetic visualization of spheroid morphology or monitor the complete duration of growth; (4) the extraction of cells from physiological conditions for image acquisition; (5) indirect readouts (such as ATP) which can miss important morphological data and/or inaccurately report the growth of cells. There is a demand for easily accessible, higher-throughput analysis and monitoring techniques that do not significantly disrupt cells. The techniques should be carried out in real time and for a long duration to provide temporal analysis of cellular growth, and additionally in the presence of ECM components to offer information that is more physiological relevant. Assay principle This white paper demonstrates the use of the Incucyte 3D Multi-Tumor Spheroid Assays and the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System to evaluate the development of 3D spheroids either label-free or with non-invasive reagents in real time, recording information that may be overlooked by single time point techniques. The optimized depth of focus Brightfield (DF Brightfield) image acquisition allows for the long term imaging of several tumor spheroids developed on a bed of extracellular matrix (Matrigel). This optimized acquisition of images produces Brightfield images with high contrast, which can be easily masked utilizing built-in Incucyte processing parameters. Brightfield eccentricity, object size, and count are instantly plotted over time and provide a breadth of information on the formation of spheroids, along with their growth and health rates. Along with cells expressing fluorescent proteins and Incucyte Cell Health reagents, the ability to measure fluorescence inside the Brightfield mask delivers objective information on spheroid death, viability, and the amount of apoptosis. The capability to multiplex reagents with cell lines labeled with fluorescence offers additional knowledge about cellular mechanisms of action. Thousands of images can be taken, evaluated, and plotted, with the ability to run up to six 96-well plates in parallel for enhanced throughput. Materials and methods Figure 1: Assay Workflow. Image Credit: Sartorius A 96-well, flat-bottom plate is covered with a layer of Matrigel (Corning) (40 L per well, diluted in serum-free media to a 4.5 mg/mL minimum concentration). This is then polymerized for 30 minutes at 37C. Cells of interest are counted, harvested and seeded onto plates at intended densities (100 or 150 L per well). If necessary, cell health reagents are included in 50 L per well. At this stage, the total media volume should be 150 L per well. The development of spheroids is tracked for 72 hours with HD phase-contrast and DF-Brightfield image acquisition every 6 hours at 10x magnification employing Incucyte. Compounds are included (50 L per well at 4x final assay concentration- FAC; or, if utilizing Cell Health reagents, 15 L per well at 11x FAC). The spheroid shrinkage and growth assay is started and observed in the Incucyte (6 hours of repetitive scanning, for up to 2 weeks). The size of the tumor is presented in real time using DF-Brightfield image analysis. Life Technologies was the source of all cell culture reagents unless stated otherwise. SKOV3 (EACC) and MDA-MB-231 (ATCC) cultures were stably transfected with IncuCyte NucLight Red Lentivirus Reagent (EF1 Alpha Promoter, Cat # 4625, Puromycin selection, prepared in line with Essen BioScience standards). Incucyte NucLight Red cell lines (A549-NR, Essen BioScience Cat # 4491; MCF-7-NR, Essen BioScience Cat # 4524) along with the prepared MDA-MB-231-NR and SKOV3-NR were developed to confluence in 75 cm2 tissue culture treated flasks. They were then seeded into 96-well plates (Corning #3595) and covered with a base layer of 40 L per well Matrigel so that spheroids developed with the intended size after 72 hours. Each of the cells were cultured in F-12K medium supplemented with 0.5 g/mL puromycin, 1% Glutamax, 1% Pen/ Strep, and 10% FBS. The development of spheroids was evaluated in an Incucyte during a 72-hour period at intervals of 6 hours. Cell viability of MDA-MB-231 cells was established utilizing Incucyte Cytotox Green (Essen BioScience Cat # 4633). Apoptosis of A549 spheroids was assessed by the measurement of phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization (IncuCyteAnnexin V Green, Essen BioScience Cat # 4642). Cell-type dependent label-free kinetic spheroid growth profiles Tumor spheroid size was quantified over time by employing an automated software algorithm that shielded the Brightfield object in the field of view. Modifications to the size of MCF-7, MDAMB-231, and A549 tumor spheroids were tracked over time, in the presence and absence of the cytotoxic compound camptothecin (CMP; Figure 2). Kinetic growth profiles related to each cell type were determined for the evaluated cells. For each kind of cell, the control spheroids significantly increased during the 7-day period (2.4 to 3.7-fold) with the biggest increase in size found with MCF-7 spheroids. Figure 2. Quantification of cell-type dependent kinetic growth profiles of A549, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 spheroids using real time analysis. Cells were seeded in flat bottom 96-well plates (2,000 cells/well) on a bed of Matrigel and spheroids allowed to form (72 h). Spheroids were treated with either vehicle (0.1% DMSO) or CMP (1 M). Segmented (yellow outline) DF-Brightfield images compare vehicle or CMP treated conditions at 168 h. Morphological differences are shown between round (A549, MCF-7) and stellate (MDA-MB-231) spheroids. Time courses show the individual well Total Brightfield Object Area (m2) (y-axis) over 168 h and illustrate cell type specific kinetic growth profiles. Data were collected over 168 h period at 6 h intervals. All images captured at 10x magnification. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=6 wells. Image Credit: Sartorius 96-well spheroid growth and shrinkage assay for pharmacological analysis To demonstrate the efficacy of this technique for use in drug toxicity research, a pharmacological investigation was carried out in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Spheroids were developed during 72 hours in flat bottom 96-well plate covered with a layer of Matrigel before treatment with camptothecin (CMP), the chemotherapeutic drug oxaliplatin (OXA), or cycloheximide (CHX) (Figure 3). Each of the compounds generated an inhibition of spheroid growth depending on its concentration, showing how the potencies of compounds can be simply contrasted within the same assay. Figure 3. Incucyte enables comparison testing of drug toxicities on growth of MCF-7 cells over time in a single microplate 3D spheroid assay. MCF-7 cells were seeded in flat bottom 96-well plates (1,000 cells/well) on a bed of Matrigel and spheroids allowed to form (72 h). Cells were then treated with serial dilutions of CMP, CHX, or OXA and spheroid growth kinetics obtained. The plate view shows the individual well Total Brightfield Object Area (m2) (y-axis) over time (6 days) (x-axis). Concentration response curves (CRCs) represent the area under curve (AUC) of the Total Brightfield Area time course (m2) from 0 168 h post-treatment. Data were collected over 168 h period at 6 h intervals. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=3 wells. Image Credit: Sartorius Spheroid cell health characterization and drug response testing Cell death assay The inclusion of Incucyte Cell Health reagents to this assay allows cell death to be traced. Cell death can be identified utilizing Incucyte Cytotox reagents that bind to DNA and become fluorescent when they come into contact with a vulnerable cell membrane (Incucyte Cytotox Green/Red Reagent, Essen BioScience Cat # 4633/# 4632). Apoptosis can be assessed through the activation of Caspase 3/7 (Incucyte Caspase 3/7 Green Reagent, Essen BioScience Cat # 4440) or the measurement of phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization (Incucyte Annexin V Green/ Red Reagent, Essen BioScience Cat # 4642/#4 641). MDA-MB-231 cells, seeded in either the presence or absence of Incucyte Cytotox Green reagent (250 nM), produced spheroids of comparative morphology and size (data not included). Within the Brightfield boundary of the vehicle controls, fluorescence analysis showed little to no increase in fluorescence until 192 hours, upon which a small incline was noted. This indicates partial cell death at later points in time. CMP generated a significant time-dependent incline in the intensity of fluorescence suggesting the loss of spheroid viability (Figure 4). Figure 4. CMP induces loss of viability in MDA-MB-231 in 3D spheroid assay, as reported by Incucyte Cytotox Green reagent. MDA-MB-231 cells were seeded in the presence of Incucyte Cytotox Green reagent (250 nM) in flat bottom 96-well plates (1,000 cells/well, on a bed of Matrigel) and spheroids allowed to form (72h). Spheroids were treated with CMP (10 M) or vehicle (0.1% DMSO). Fluorescent images compare vehicle or CMP treated conditions at 240 h (Brightfield outline mask shown in yellow). Time course shows loss of viability (increase in Incucyte Cytotox Green fluorescence intensity). Image Credit: Sartorius Determining mechanism of drug action using spheroid growth and viability Critical information regarding a compounds mechanism of action can be produced by combining the levels and size of apoptosis or cytotoxicity in spheroids. While powerful as it does not utilize labeling, the Brightfield analysis does not entirely differentiate between cytostatic and cytotoxic agents because of the significant Brightfield signature of non-viable spheroids. In contrast, establishing spheroid viability has the potential to distinguish between cytostatic and cytotoxic agents, with the former predicted to generate significant influence on spheroid size while facilitating little cell death. The degree of spheroid apoptosis can be found by employing the Incucyte Annexin V Apoptosis reagent (a probe for phosphatidylserine externalization) and can be measured utilizing the mean fluorescence inside the Brightfield boundary. The influences of the cytostatic agent cycloheximide (CHX) and the cytotoxic agent camptothecin (CMP) were assessed on A549 spheroids produced in the vicinity of Incucyte Annexin V Green (Figure 5). Each of the agents exhibited concentration-dependent attenuation of spheroid growth, with CMP decreasing the size of the spheroid to smaller than what was seen at the time of treatment. Evaluation of Brightfield size provided IC50 values of 0.22 M for CHX and 42 nM for CMP. CMP interestingly triggered a significant increase in the mean fluorescence, indicating a cytotoxic mechanism. For apoptosis induction, the CMP EC50 value was 0.30 M, similar to the value acquired from the size evaluation. In contrast, CHX did not promote an increase in mean fluorescence which did not allow an EC50 to be established. The distinct separation between the cytotoxicity and size readouts assists the cytostatic mechanism of CHX. Consistent, long-term live-cell analysis, performed in physiologically appropriate environments, enables the evaluation of concentration response curves with the least disruption to cellular biology, assisting in the calculation of significant EC50 values. Figure 5. Cytotoxic and cytostatic mechanisms of action can be differentiated by measuring spheroid size and apoptosis over time. A549 cells were seeded in the presence of Incucyte Annexin V Green reagent (1 %) in flat bottom 96-well plates (2,000 cells/well, on a bed of Matrigel) and spheroids allowed to form (96 h). Spheroids were then treated with increasing concentrations of CMP (left column, 4 nM 10 M) or CHX (right column, 4 nM 10 M). Time courses show change in size (Brightfield Area) or apoptosis (Incucyte Annexin V fluorescence intensity) over time. CRCs show the different profiles of cytotoxic and cytostatic mechanisms. Image Credit: Sartorius Monitoring spheroid response to cytotoxic challenge over time with fluorescent proteins Within the cells of a spheroid, the expression of fluorescent proteins provide a readout of cell viability, where cytotoxic challenge will result in a loss of fluorescence signal, and spheroid growth results in an increase in fluorescence. Covering the Brightfield channel allows the objects of interest to be identified. The use of the fluorescence within the Brightfield boundary feature in the Incucyte S3 Spheroid Analysis software module enables the identification of fluorescence intensity of the pixels included inside the object of interest. Utilizing the integrated fluorescence intensity inside the Brightfield boundary offers a relevant assessment for identifying both the death and growth of labeled spheroids from one readout. MCF-7 cells stably expressing a red fluorescent protein (Incucyte NucLight Red) produced dense spheroids with equivalent features to the wild-type cells established on Brightfield analysis (data not presented). Fluorescent calculations (integrated intensity within the Brightfield boundary) were performed after the formation stage of three days (Figure 6). The fluorescence intensity increased corresponding to the increase in spheroid size in vehicle-treated spheroids. The inclusion of CMP (0.4 nM to 1 M) yielded a significant decrease in fluorescence, reaching background levels after 144 hours. As outlined before, the fluorescence inside a Brightfield boundary evaluation removes the requirement to apply a fluorescence mask which negates the influence of threshold settings. Figure 6. Analysis of spheroids expressing fluorescent proteins enables determination of concentration-dependent spheroid viability over time. MCF-7 cells were seeded in flat bottom 96-well plates (1,000 cells/well) on a bed of Matrigel and spheroids allowed to form (72h). Representative images taken at 144 h show a strong red fluorescent signal in a vehicle (0.1% DMSO) treated spheroids and a marked loss of red fluorescence in CMP treated spheroids. The yellow boundary in the images represents the Brightfield mask outline. Monitoring the integrated intensity from within the Brightfield boundary highlights increasing fluorescence under vehicle control conditions corresponding to the growth of the spheroid. Upon treatment with CMP (0.4 nM 1 M), a concentration dependent reduction in integrated fluorescence is observed, with abolishment of fluorescence with the highest concentration tested after 144 h. Image Credit: Sartorius Conclusions This white paper outlined how the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System, along with validated Incucyte Cell Health Reagents and the Incucyte Spheroid Software Module, facilitates the investigation of 3D multi-spheroids over time and is suitable for drug testing. The following has been demonstrated: Live-cell imaging uncovered morphological variations between MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, and A549 cells (stellate vs. round). The system produced kinetic growth profiles dependent on cell type for a range of cells. Comparison evaluations of drug toxicities of oxaliplatin (OXA), cycloheximide (CHX), and camptothecin (CMP) were simply carried out within a single assay. The temporal loss of cell viability in reaction to treatment with CMP was recorded utilizing the Cytotox Green reagent. This assay could differentiate between cytostatic and cytotoxic functions of drug action in the reaction to cycloheximide (CHX) and camptothecin (CMP) respectively. Concentration dependent variations in spheroid viability were observed across time with the fluorescent protein, Incucyte NucLight Red, in reaction to the cytotoxic challenge of CMP. Multiple capabilities of the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System are especially beneficial for objectively quantifying and monitoring 3D spheroid kinetics and profiling growth rates for various types of spheroid. The DF-Brightfield imaging enables the label-free investigation of 3D spheroid growth, shrinkage, and morphology in 96-well assay formats for optimized throughput. There is no requirement to choose predetermined end points. The system generates a constant Brightfield segmentation with well-to-well kinetic data that is reproducible. The automated image acquisition of this system, in harmony with laboratory-tested protocols and user-friendly analysis tools, helps non-expert users to efficiently gather reproducible information, carry out investigations, and produce graphics that are publication-ready. Combined together, the reagents, Spheroid Software Module, and the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System facilitates an efficient and unique technical platform that can be included into existing workflows. This system offers non-invasive, kinetic physiological identification of spheroid viability and growth, and is applicable to pharmacological development and discovery. References and further reading Verjans ET. Three-dimensional cell culture models for anticancer drug screening: Worth the effort? Cell Physiol. Apr; 233(4):2993-3003 (2018) Ravi M, Ramesh A, and Pattabhi A. Contributions of 3D Cell Cultures for Cancer Research. J Cell Physiol. Oct; 232(10):2679- 2697 (2017) Costa EC et al. 3D tumor spheroids: an overview on the tools and techniques used for their analysis. Biotechnol Adv. Dec; 34(8); 1427-1441 (2016) Thoma CR, et al. 3D cell culture systems modelling tumor growth determinants in cancer target discovery. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. Apr; 69-70:29-41 (2014) URL: http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/content/78/13_Supplement/5030.short Recent publications with Incucyte Tumorsphere growth kinetics and cell number Cazet AS, et al. Targeting stromal remodeling and cancer stem cell plasticity to overcome chemoresistance in triple negative breast cancer. Nat Commun. Jul 24; 9(1):2897 (2018) Tumor microenvironment Salo T., et al. Organotypic three-dimensional assays based on human leiomyoma-derived matrices. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. Jan 5; 373(1737) (2018) Stroma and 3D culture Bohovic R et al. 3D multicellular models reflect the efficiency of MSC-directed enzyme/prodrug treatment. Neoplasma. 62(4):521-30 (2015) Posters AACR 2018 Discover more information on the Publications and Webinars pages. Further information is available online from www.essenbioscience.com More information on Incucyte multi-spheroid Assays and software Incucyte S3 Multi-Spheroid Assays Incucyte S3 Spheroid Software Module Watch Video of Real Time Spheroid Kinetic Analysis inside the Incubator IncuCyte multi-spheroid protocol Incucyte S3 Multi-Spheroid Assay Protocol Related applications Incucyte S3 Single Spheroid Assays S3 Single Spheroid Assays Incucyte Proliferation Assays for Live-Cell Analysis Proliferation Assays for Live-Cell Analysis Cytotoxicity Assays for Live-Cell Analysis Apoptosis Assays for Live-Cell Analysis Incucyte Immune Cell Killing Assays for Live-Cell Analysis Product inquiry Online Product Inquiry Reagent ordering information Source: Sartorius Product Cat No. Size Incucyte S3 Spheroid Software Module 9600-0019 1 module Incucyte Nuclight Green Lentivirus (EF-1a Promoter, Puro selection) Nuclear Labeling Reagent 4624 1 vial (0.2 mL) Incucyte Nuclight Red Lentivirus (EF-1a Promoter, Puro selection) Nuclear Labeling Reagent 4625 1 vial (0.2 mL) Incucyte CytoLight Green Lentivirus (EF-1a Promoter, Puro selection) Cytoplasmic Labeling Reagent 4481 1 vial (0.6 mL) Incucyte CytoLight Red Lentivirus (EF-1a Promoter, Puro selection) Cytoplasmic Labeling Reagent 4482 1 vial (0.6 mL) Incucyte Caspase-3/7 Green Apoptosis Reagent 4440 One vial (20 L) Incucyte Annexin V Red Reagent 4641 One vial (100 tests) Incucyte Annexin V Green Reagent 4642 One vial (100 tests) Incucyte Cytotox Red Reagent 4632 Five vials (5 L) Incucyte Cytotox Green Reagent 4633 Five vials (5 L) Acknowledgments Produced from materials originally authored by Miniver Oliver1, Kalpana Patel1, Gillian Lovell1, Nicholas Dana2, Tim Jackson2, Nevine Holtz2, Eric Endsley2, Jill Granger2, Tim Dale1, and Del Trezise1 from: 1. Essen BioScience, Ltd., United Kingdom 2. Essen BioScience, Inc., USA About Sartorius Sartorius is a leading international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier. With our innovative products and services, we are helping our customers across the entire globe to implement their complex and quality-critical biomanufacturing and laboratory processes reliably and economically. The Group companies are united under the roof of Sartorius AG, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and holds the majority stake in Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. Quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange, this subgroup is comprised mainly of the Bioprocess Solutions Division. Innovative Technologies Enable Medical Progress A growing number of medications are biopharmaceuticals. These are produced using living cells in complex, lengthy and expensive procedures. The Bioprocess Solutions Division provides the essential products and technologies to accomplish this. In fact, Sartorius has been pioneering and setting the standards for single-use products that are currently used throughout all biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Making Lab Life Easier Lab work is complex and demanding: Despite repetitive analytical routines, lab staff must perform each step in a highly concentrated and careful way for accurate results. The Lab Products and Services Division helps lab personnel excel because its products, such as laboratory balances, pipettes and lab consumables, minimize human error, simplify workflows and reduce physical workloads Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. MANISTEE COUNTY Manistee County has seen 26 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of the Monday afternoon update from the state. Manistee County has recorded no COVID-19 deaths. The county also shows 11 cases as recovered as of the latest information from District Health Department #10. Here are some quick facts from the latest Michigan Department of Health and Human Services report. There were 69,772 cases and 6,075 deaths statewide during the pandemic. This is an increase of 384 cases and 7 deaths since the previous update. Case counts are cumulative and are not reduced due to recoveries. Most cases in the northern Lower Peninsula could be found in Alpena County where the county has seen 111 cases and 12 deaths. Contact tracing is being conducted in the state. In the case of a confirmed or suspected infection, public health staff reach out and ask about close contacts a person has had during the time they may have been infectious. The calls are considered confidential and tracers are expected to protect the privacy of patients and contacts. Manistees neighboring Grand Traverse County reported 88 cases and five deaths. Wexford County reported 44 cases and four deaths. Benzie County has seen 12 cases. Lake County has seen 11 cases. Mason County has seen 69 cases. All counties in the state have reported cases of COVID-19. DHD#10 reports 902 positive COVID-19 cases in its jurisdiction with 19 deaths and 380 recovered. According to the latest data from the states tracking of personal protective equipment and hospital beds, the Munson Health System, which Munson Healthcare Manistee Hospital is a part of, lists four COVID-19 patients in the intensive care unit and a 54% bed occupancy as of Monday. According to Munson Healthcares COVID-19 data as of press time Monday, the Manistee hospital has tested 905 people with 18 showing positive. Its important to note that positive cases are reported for the county that a person resides in. There were 58 pending tests. Manistee County is considered part of region 7 for tracking by the state. Region 7 includes: Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Benzie, Leelanau, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Crawford, Oscoda, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Emmet and Charlevoix counties. The region has eight COVID-19 patients in critical care and one on a ventilator. The region is the only in the state to not have any elastomeric respirators or the accompanying filters. According to the Michigan State Police COVID-19 Summary dashboard online, there have been 52,841 recoveries from COVID-19. This information was published by the state July 10. State recovery numbers are updated every Saturday. The average age of people who died is 75.4 years of age, according to the state police COVID-19 dashboard. According to the dashboard, a steady 43% of all COVID-19 deaths were attributed to people older than 80 years of age and the next highest age group was the range from 70 to 79 years of age, which was listed as 27% of COVID-19 deaths in the state. The highest percentage group of cases by age, at 18%, was shown for people aged 60 to 69. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the first confirmed case in the U.S. was reported Jan. 22. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. leads the globe by far in number of cases total and deaths. The latest numbers from the CDC as of press time Monday show the U.S. reported 3.22 million cases and 134,392 deaths from COVID-19. The U.S. is followed by Brazil for the number of cases and deaths for the highest counts globally. According to reporting by the Associated Press, most people with COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are among those particularly susceptible to more severe illness, including pneumonia. Departing Federal CIO Suzette Kent leaves behind a durable legacy for federal IT modernization that addresses the financial challenges as well as the technical ones, said those who have worked with her in the federal IT community. Kent's work on key federal IT policies such as Cloud Smart, Trusted Internet Connection, Federal Data strategy, workforce and data issues, as well as her keen understanding the financial challenges associated with them, will leave a lasting impression on the job and federal IT, said Dave Powner, who directs strategic engagement and partnerships at The MITRE Corporation and is the former director of IT issues at the Government Accountability Office Kent announced June 25 that she would depart government service in July, and has now decamped for Texas, where she lived before entering government service. She was appointed federal CIO in early 2018, and spearheaded a wide range of Trump administration technology and workforce initiatives. Her tenure was devoted to setting governmentwide standards while also giving agencies the freedom to tailor efforts in mission-appropriate ways. She won FCWs 2020 Eagle Award for her work. The Trump administration picked Kent from the financial services industry to replace outgoing Federal CIO Tony Scott. She was a principal with Ernst & Young and had been a managing partner at Accenture and worked in other capacities at JP Morgan and the Carreker Corp. That experience, said Powner, served her well in her new CIO role. She immediately saw the challenges in federal IT budgeting and funding alignment, especially when it comes to funding IT modernization, he said. Once in place, Kent went to work building partnerships on Capitol Hill to set up the Technology Modernization Fund and endorse Technology Business Management practices that would help agencies navigate modernization. That performance wasnt a given when she was named to the role, as few in the federal IT community didnt know her name or what to expect from her. When Suzette Kent's name surfaced as the likely federal CIO two and a half years ago, many of us scrambled to find out as much we could about her, Bill Zielinsky, the former assistant commissioner of the General Services Administrations Office of IT Category, told FCW. Zielinski is now CIO for the City of Dallas. She was completely unknown to the Federal IT community and came to us from the banking and financial services industry, so there was very little that gave us any clues as to how she might approach the Federal CIO role. But Kent quickly erased those trepidations, Zielinski said, as she worked to build consensus across the federal IT community to address common problems. She was approachable, and willing to roll up her sleeves to ensure things got done, he said, and now the community will miss her tremendously. David Wennergren, CEO at the American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council, said Kent did an admirable job of learning and then managing complex programs and issues. She refocused the governments cloud efforts through her moving from cloud first to cloud smart policy, he said. Kent recognized cloud priorities had to embrace more than just shifting IT to the cloud, but also include new security strategies like Zero Trust while accounting for thousands of legacy systems still operating on-prem at agencies. Wennergren said Kent also was instrumental in helping emerging technologies like robotic process automation find fertile ground in federal IT. Looking ahead, Wennergren said, Kent has also insured a smooth transition for the next federal CIO, hiring Small Business Administration CIO Maria Roat to replace Margie Graves in the deputy federal CIO position. That successor, said Wennergren, will find a lot of forward momentum from Kents work, backed by key legislation including FITARA, Modernizing Government Technology (MGT) act, Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, and the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience (IDEA) Act. The next federal CIO, he said, will have to keep up the pace of rapid IT modernization, continue the progress Kent made on improving cybersecurity, and adapt new approaches to speed up an increasingly digital, mobile and app-based world As we survive the pandemic and recognize the new normal that we will all confront, it will be a much more virtual world, with even stronger expectations on being able to work from anywhere, anytime, on any device, said Wennergren. The next CIO has a great set of initiatives to go work on, and wont need to reinvent the agenda, but rather be extremely focused on successfully executing, he said. Amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, some of the MLAs belonging to the Sachin Pilot camp demanded a floor test in the state assembly to know the number of legislators backing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. IMAGE: Sachin Pilot. Photograph: PTI Photo The Ashok Gehlot camp has been saying that they enjoyed the support of 109 MLAs, a claim contested by the Pilot loyalists. In the run-up to the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday, Pilot loyalist Ramesh Meena said, "A floor test should be conducted in the assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs." Meena is among the MLAs who skipped the Congress Legislature Party meetings on Monday and Tuesday. He, along with Sachin Pilot and Vishvendra Singh, was removed from the state cabinet later in the day. The Congress has also sacked Pilot from the post of the party's state unit chief. Senior party leader and Sardarshahr MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma too claimed that the figure of 109 being projected in the support of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is incorrect. The MLA said he will not join the Bharatiya Janata Party but wants a change in the leadership. "The figure of 109 figure being project is completely fake. The Congress has 107 MLAs. We are 22 together and six more will join us. "Not more than 81 MLAs are on the other side, otherwise, what was the need to show the strength before the media and camp the legislators in a hotel," Sharma said. He said the situation will become clear once the floor test is conducted. The seven-time MLA also 'blamed' Congress general secretary Avinash Pande for the mess, accusing him of being 'one-sided'. He said the government is not in a position to save itself. Another Congress MLA, Deependra Singh Shekhawat, too had raised the same demanded on Monday. "We want a floor test at the earliest, which will make the situation crystal clear. We are with the Congress and Congress (state) president Sachin Pilot," Singh had told reporters on Monday. Congress MLA Murari Lal Meena, who is close to Sachin Pilot, alleged that Chief Minister Gehlot neglected party leaders and workers who worked hard for five years. In a tweet, he said, 'Improvement is necessary to save the Congress. Otherwise, the party will get only 11 seats in 2023 (assembly elections).' Meanwhile, Ramesh Meena along with Vishvendra Singh and party MLA Deepender Singh Shekhawat, issued a statement, saying they were taking a stand at a time when their leader was 'threatened with notices from the SOG under charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy'. 'We have for years worked with dedication, devotion and service towards the party. And we are taking a stand to protect our dignity and self-respect,' they said. The statement further said, 'This is unprecedented in the Indian democracy and the Congress Party, for whom we have toiled with sweat and blood. 'Under the leadership of Sachin Pilot, we have made every effort in the past six years to strengthen the party and bring it to power in Rajasthan at a time when it had been reduced to an insignificant number in the state assembly.' Public humiliation of Sachin Pilot is something that is totally unacceptable and those responsible for meeting out this treatment need to be made accountable, it said. The MLAs said they want that their self-respect be restored as they are not 'clamouring' for any post or position, contrary to reports in the media. We have been senior members of the Congress for many years and have held many positions within the party and the government and are not lured by inducements, they said in the statement. Gehlot should take floor test, demands BJP The BJP too demanded that Gehlot take a floor test to prove his government's majority in the assembly. The party also alleged that the residences of MLAs were being kept under police surveillance and the legislators of Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) 'had been threatened'. The BTP, which has two MLAs in the Rajasthan assembly, has asked its legislators to remain neutral. It was earlier supporting the Gehlot government. "Prove majority in a floor test first and then go for a cabinet reshuffle. The result of the political fight is out," Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria told reporters. Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore claimed that Ashok Gehlot government will not be able to prove its majority in a floor test. BJP state president Satish Poonia said that the state government has lost the confidence of the people and it was time for its departure. "The government has failed to deliver on its promises and failed to perform. We are keeping a watch on the situation and will follow the direction of the party leadership," he said. The party held a meeting of senior leaders to discuss the situation. Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal and convenor of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, which is BJP's ally, was also present. COULD everyone turn their video back on? rasps a disembodied voice. The words accelerate to double time as you struggle to decipher a meaning with no body language to guide you. Its been hours, youre exhausted, and the worst part is youre just getting started. Sound like a Zoom conference from hell? Welcome to the new jury trial. Take a seat, juror. A man testifies that his ex-wife beat him with a toaster. Look at her hand, he says, you can see burn marks where she gripped the inside. A hand appears on screen. You think you see some lines, but youre not sure. She was on drugs, the man says, and the prosecutor asks if shes ever been charged before. Yes, he replies, but the defense attorney is yelling objection, and after a period of silence the judge tells you to forget that. Hours later, the defendant speaks. She tells you they have a daughter and her ex made up these accusations to get custody of their kid. Now she says hes the drug user, but grating electronic feedback overtakes your audio before the prosecutors objection yields more silence. Another juror is petting a cat. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 13:18:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo taken in July, 2016 shows Chinese H-6K bomber patrolling islands and reefs including Huangyan Island in the South China Sea. (Xinhua/Liu Rui) "Under the pretext of endorsing rules, it (the United States) is using United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) to attack China while refusing to ratify the Convention itself. Under the pretext of upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, it is recklessly infringing on other countries' territorial sea and airspace and throwing its weight around in every sea of the world." WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. accusation against China on the South China Sea issue is "completely unjustified," and the Chinese side is "firmly opposed to it," a spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in the United States said on Monday. The statement that the U.S. Department of State issued earlier in the day disregards the efforts of China and ASEAN countries for peace and stability in the South China Sea, deliberately distorts the facts and international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), exaggerates the situation in the region and attempts to sow discord between China and other littoral countries, the spokesperson said. "China's position on the South China Sea issue has been consistent and clear-cut. While firmly safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, China has been committed to resolving disputes through negotiation and consultation with countries directly involved, managing differences through rules and mechanisms, and achieving win-win results through mutually beneficial cooperation," said the spokesperson. The spokesperson noted that the situation of the South China Sea has remained peaceful and stable and is still improving. China and other littoral countries have maintained dialogue and communication through consultation mechanisms on maritime affairs, and worked to promote cooperation over the South China Sea. Within the framework of fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, China and ASEAN countries are advancing the consultation on a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea and are making visible progress, the spokesperson said. File photo shows the 15th Senior Officials' Meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea is being held in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, June 27, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaoyu) "The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue," the spokesperson said, adding that under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region. "Under the pretext of endorsing rules, it is using UNCLOS to attack China while refusing to ratify the Convention itself. Under the pretext of upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, it is recklessly infringing on other countries' territorial sea and airspace and throwing its weight around in every sea of the world," the spokesperson added. "We advise the U.S. side to earnestly honor its commitment of not taking sides on the issue of territorial sovereignty, respect regional countries' efforts for a peaceful and stable South China Sea and stop its attempts to disrupt and sabotage regional peace and stability," the spokesperson said. NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, announced that Arctic Securities LLC, an independent financial services provider with offices in Oslo, Stockholm, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Houston, has been designated as an OTCQX sponsor in the Nordic region. Arctic Securities LLC is approved by OTC Markets Group to act as a sponsor for companies to be quoted on the OTCQX and OTCQB markets and the first FINRA-licensed investment bank to represent the Nordic region in this capacity. "OTC Markets Group welcomes Arctic Securities LLC to our community of OTCQX sponsors," said Joe Coveney, VP, International Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "As Nordic issuers look to improve the marketability of their securities in the U.S., qualified advisors continue to play a vital role in navigating the guidelines set forth in our OTCQX and OTCQB rules." Audun Hoen, Head of Arctic Securities' U.S. business added; "Offering Nordic listed corporations a way to access the U.S. investor market complements the full range of other investment banking services that the Arctic Group is a leading provider of in its home market." To qualify for the OTCQX market, all U.S. and International companies must engage an OTCQX Sponsor. To learn more about the OTCQX Market, contact Joe Coveney at jcoveney@otcmarkets.com. About Arctic Securities LLC The Arctic Group is a leading, independent provider of financial services which opened its doors for business operations in August 2007. Since 2007, Arctic Securities LLC has expanded its international footprint with offices in Oslo, Stockholm, New York, Rio de Janeiro, and Houston-always with a strong Norwegian heritage at the core. The company aims to bring value and be a preferred discussion partner for its clients with an absolute commitment to integrity, quality, and long-term relationships, providing excellence in execution every step of the way. About OTC Markets Group Inc. OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors. To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com . OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are SEC regulated ATSs, operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed Media Contact: OTC Markets Group Inc. +1 (212) 896-4428 media@otcmarkets.com Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1063619/OTC_Markets_News_Update_Logo.jpg A top Florida doctor has said the state's surging number of Covid-19 cases is turning Miami into the world's epicenter of the pandemic. Dr Lilian Abbo, the chief for infection prevention at Jackson Health System, said on Monday that Floridians need to work together to contain the crisis. Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic. What we were seeing in Wuhan (China) six months ago. Now, we are there, Dr Abbo said during an online press conference with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez. Dr. Aileen Marty, an epidemiologist at Florida International University, added that the state's situation is extremely grave. They have not adhered to guidelines, she said. They have been in those closed spaces without taking the appropriate precautions, and thats the main reason we are where we are. On Monday Florida more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases. This after a record-setting weekend, with a national record of more than 15,000 cases reported on Sunday in the state. Florida has registered more than 282,435 cases overall, and 4,381 people have died in the state from the coronavirus since March 1. South Florida has seen the bulk of these cases. Its three counties Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, make up about a quarter of the state's population but have recorded about half of all new cases. While Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged the virus is spreading rapidly in the state, he urged the public to keep calm. We have to address the virus with steady resolve. We cant get swept away in fear, we have to understand what is going on, understand that we have a long road ahead but we also have to understand that within the context of the moment, he said. Mayor Gimenez has said he's waiting to see whether current restaurant restrictions, 10pm curfew and countywide mask order help stabilize the numbers before forcing more businesses to close. If we simply follow the rules, and keep our masks on and keep our distance, wash our hands, that weve opened can be done in a relatively safe way. ... Right now, I dont have any intention of going further," Gimenez said, as reported by the Miami Herald. Florida Democrats also met on Monday to discuss Miami's response to the pandemic. I hope that the governor and mayor will come to their senses and work with all of us to act quickly, said Miami-Dade Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Despite the concerning surge in coronavirus cases, the state's Disney World parks in Orlando opened their doors again over the weekend. Screenshots from a surveillance video show a bus plunging into the Hongshan Reservoir in Anshun city, Guizhou Province, China on July 7, 2020. Sources claim the bus driver intentionally caused the accident. Bus Driver in China Plunges Loaded Bus Into Reservoir in Apparent Revenge Suicide A bus plummeted into the Hongshan Reservoir in southwest China on July 7 in what is suspected to have been a revenge suicide attack by the driver, killing 21 and injuring another 16. Chinese media has been forbidden to freely report the incident. Many of the victims are said to be students who were on their way to take the annual college entrance exam. By 10 p.m. on July 7, rescuers had found at least 37 people, among them 12 students, five of whom were dead. The Hongshan Reservoir is located in Anshun City, Guizhou Province. Chinese authorities have been tightly controlling all media coverage of the event. Chinese media outlet Caixin did an exclusive report on July 10, but it was taken down soon after. Forced Demolition The driver, 52-year-old Zhang Baogang, had been a city bus driver since 1997. According to Caixin, Zhangs old home had just been demolished at 10 a.m. on that day. A local resident directed the Caixin reporter to the house. All that was left was a sofa, bed, TV, and other personal belongings, buried under piles of bricks. Apparently, Zhang had rushed to the house when he heard that the demolition team had arrived, but he was not allowed to go near it. According to a July 8 report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), Anshun city authorities issued an emergency notice to disciplinary committees at all levels, prohibiting any media interviews and saying, all information must be reported according to the official release, and individuals will be held accountable for any release not following the rule. Mr. Cheng, a person familiar with the situation, told RFA that he received the surveillance video of the bus plunging into the reservoir an hour after the incident. His analysis of the video is that the drivers intention was clearly a mass revenge killing and suicide. Cheng mentioned that the authorities were aware that the driver had ingested pesticide, although it wasnt made public. As for the type of pesticide he had taken, they werent sure. A local journalist said the driver was a veteran and a petitioner over an unresolved house demolition. All local Chinese media and journalists were warned not to discuss the case, the RFA report said. In recent years, Anshun city has engaged in large-scale urban expansion, including demolition and renovation, around the Hongshan Reservoir area. This has caused sharp conflicts between the government and the local people. According to Chinese search engine Baidu, the project also included the rerouting of Qianfeng river into Hongshan lake through a new tunnel. However, local media has been prohibited from publishing any information related to the conflict. An online screenshot revealed the bus drivers name and the demolition events that took place earlier in the day, both of which had not been made public by officials. Zhang had tried to lodge complaints with the government about the demolition, but to no avail. Withholding Zhangs name from media reports is believed to be a tactic to maintain social stability as it would prevent acquaintances from revealing any facts about the incident. In addition to his grievances about the forced demolition, Zhangs daughter had committed suicide by jumping into the reservoir last year because she had received poor marks on her college entrance exam. A surveillance video posted online shows the bus moving slowly at first, seemingly to avoid traffic, then, suddenly, making a left turn, crossing over six expressway lanes and breaking through a safety barrier before plummeting into the reservoir. One netizen commented: Forced demolition is violent, and the victims have no place to seek justice. This is the direct cause of this tragedy. In hardship, a person will ignore his own life and others and even disregard the life of the innocent. This wrong mentality is directly caused by brainwashing from atheist communism. Therefore, the driver himself and the other victims have all died at the hands of the communists. Another netizen wrote, Death is the most tragic way to fight against dictatorship. Residents of a London care home have recreated a number of classic album covers to keep themselves busy during the coronavirus lockdown. Sydmar Lodge Care Home in Edgware has been in lockdown for four months to keep residents safe from the virus, and activities co-ordinator Robert Speker, 41, wanted to find new ways to keep residents active. The group recreated classic covers including Adeles 21, Bruce Springsteens Born In The USA and David Bowies Aladdin Sane. Sydmar Lodge Care Home residents and carers have been recreating classic album covers. The home has now been in lockdown for 4 months. pic.twitter.com/XS5YQ4f1Sw (@robertspeker) July 10, 2020 His sister, Sarah Greenfield, told the PA news agency: Lockdown meant a huge change for everyone but for care home residents it really meant they could feel so isolated from their families. Robert as the activities co-ordinator was always there to entertain them but in lockdown had to turn things on their head and come up with new ideas for how to achieve this. He realised that one positive that lockdown had given him was the gift of time, and he mooted the idea to the residents. They are a lovely group of people and a group of them really got on board with this and together with Robert they chose albums they identified with or in some cases they felt there was a likeness or resemblance to the original artist. Mr Speker set up the shoots and sourced the costumes, and the care home manager and other staff assisted with hair styling and makeup. One resident, Sheila, recreated RagNBone Mans Human album. Ms Greenfield said: Sheila told Robert back in 2018 that one of her greatest wishes was to go and see Rag N Bone Man live in concert. Robert arranged this and made it happen and took Sheila to see him at the Blackheath festival in 2019. He also arranged for her to meet him before the concert, where he presented her with a signed album, the same signed album which is the original album in the Rag N Bone Man image in this project. She said the home is now considering turning the images into a calendar. Kabul, July 14 : A US official in Kabul said on Tuesday that five American bases have closed in Afghanistan in compliance with the peace agreement it signed with the Taliban in February. According to the unidentified official, the bases were in Helmand, Uruzgan, Paktika and Laghman provinces, reports TOLO News. US troops in the country have been reduced to 8,600. NATO has around 12,000 troops under the Resolute Support mission, which includes a portion of the 8,600 total US troops, according to the Resolute Support mission. The US continues "our counter terror fight against groups like IS and Al Qaeda while also providing training, funding and supplies to ANDSF through the NATO RS mission", said US troops spokesman in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The US-Taliban deal signed on February 29 in Doha has remained unimplemented in some parts of the agreement, such as a reduction in violence and intra-Afghan negotiations, which should have happened 135 days after the accord. The intra-Afghan talks have not started and violence has not been reduced, TOLO News reported. Monday was the 136th day after the peace deal was signed, which raises hopes among the Afghan people and political elites who believed it would lead the country towards negotiations. The Afghan government has blamed the Taliban for not implementing their commitments, saying the movements by the group should be scrutinized after the peace deal. The prisoner exchange between the Afghan government and the Taliban is another complicated process that has delayed the intra-Afghan negotiations. The process should have happened 10 days after the peace deal, according to the agreement. "Their (Taliban's) key responsibility was a significant reduction in violence and an 'unofficial' ceasefire. Another responsibility of theirs was to cut their ties with all terrorist groups, but you saw in recent reports by the UN and US that this has not happened so far," presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said. "A big role in the peace process is on the Taliban's shoulders." A lot of this is about, also, raising awareness that if youre coming from one of these areas where youre seeing case rates explode or youre seeing hospitalizations and ICU beds, see an increase in positivity rates, the percentage of people testing positive, it is, I think, an important thing to raise the consciousness of people that are living in or coming from those locations about what their obligations are if they want to travel, she said. DOH still recommends everyone be tested, whether they are showing symptoms or not, because we recognize that there are lots of people who test positive who are asymptomatic and unknowingly can transmit the virus to someone who could suffer severe symptoms. DOH spokesman David Morgan Hundreds of people who waited in their vehicles for hours last week to get tested for COVID-19 at Balloon Fiesta Park and Lovelace Medical Center were turned away when the sites reached their daily capacities. The drive-through clinics do not require pre-registration or health insurance and have been besieged with people heeding the states call to get tested, with lines forming hours before sites open and sites shutting down hours early because they hit capacity. DOH spokesman David Morgan told Journal reporter Rick Nathanson last week the state still encourages everyone to be tested and there is no shortage of supplies. He acknowledged testing is at capacity yet also said the state has no plans to open more sites. How does this make any sense? DOH has dozens of sites statewide, but only one in Bernalillo County at Expo New Mexico. Instead, it relies on private providers like Presbyterian, Lovelace, CVS pharmacies and others to handle most testing. The surge of New Mexicans wanting to be tested started about 10 days ago and the long lines when the surge first appeared is understandable. But that was 10 days ago and there do not appear to be any attempts to relieve the crush. On Monday the wait at Balloon Fiesta Park was seven hours and that was for those who arrived before the 7 a.m. start. Who knows how many were turned away? Its time for DOH to either step up and increase the capacity of its sites what about extending its testing site at Expo New Mexico to more than two hours a day, or opening up more than one site on the spacious grounds? or walk back its position that everyone, regardless of symptoms, should get tested. While state officials are at it, DOH should provide at least one site of its own for walk-ins. Almost all of the sites managed by DOH and private providers are drive-throughs, serving only those who have a vehicle (and hopefully air conditioning). What about folks without a car or hours and gas money to burn? The few walk-in clinics in Albuquerque typically require appointments that must be submitted online, cutting out those without internet access. And those sites screen to limit those who get tested. Making matters worse, while some folks get their results in a day, there are reports of results taking up to two weeks, making contact tracing difficult if not impossible. One Journal reader tested at Walmart said his son waited nine days, he waited 11 for results. CVS, which last week canceled scheduled testing appointments in Albuquerque when supplies ran short, warns of results taking five to seven days. It makes no sense to urge all to get a test while failing to provide a reasonable way to do so. While asymptomatic spread is a serious concern, if the state cant deliver tests to all comers, it needs to consider scaling back to symptomatic and known-exposure cases. There are New Mexicans for whom a test is crucial if they are exhibiting symptoms, for example, or if they need a negative test to return to work or have a medical procedure done. They should not be forced to wait five, six or seven hours in line, or make an appointment at a CVS only to have it canceled because supplies ran out. The governor has called the explosion of new cases an untenable situation. Also untenable is the current system for getting tested. 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. Mr. Stones second option is to refuse to comply with the subpoena, but that could lead to his being held immediately in civil and criminal contempt. Contempt is simply the act of refusing to comply with an order to testify. Civil contempt is a legal tool that courts wield to coerce compliance with their orders and, notably, would not be subject to the presidents clemency power. Criminal contempt is a penalty for the crime of willfully refusing to comply with such an order. Civil and criminal contempt can result in years of jail time. And if Mr. Stone were to refuse to testify based on a valid Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself, the prosecution can obtain an immunity order from the court. That would require him to speak if Mr. Stone lies then, he can be prosecuted for perjury, because testifying pursuant to an immunity order does not protect a witness from a perjury charge. Finally, Mr. Stones third choice the one that does not carry with it the risk of criminal charges and jail is simply to tell the truth. Does this ever happen? Yes. In the Enron investigation, after the companys treasurer, Ben Glisan Jr., pleaded guilty but refused to cooperate, we put him before the grand jury. Instead of facing additional jail time, he came clean and became one of the governments most compelling witnesses. In a Genovese mob case, a foot soldier who had pleaded guilty and then was served with a grand jury subpoena to learn who his conspirators were chose to cooperate, explaining to us, I was willing to do my time, but I was unwilling to do the time for my conspirators. Mr. Stone may well choose one of the first two options, but that would expose him to criminal liability precisely the result that he has sought to avoid. This Department of Justice may not authorize pursuing the truth about the unanswered question: Why did Roger Stone lie to Congress? But that does not mean future federal prosecutors must make the same decision or that a state prosecutor cannot now seek Mr. Stones testimony. The tools to get at the truth are there and should be used. If Mr. Barr does not support their use, we should all ask ourselves why not. Andrew Weissmann, a senior prosecutor in Robert Muellers special counsel investigation, is a senior fellow at N.Y.U. School of Law and the author of the forthcoming book Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation. The World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on July 15, every year. This United Nations invented this day which is aimed at spreading awareness about the importance of technical and vocational education, training, and the development of new skills holds in our lives and is relevant to both local and global economies. Here are some of the World Youth Skills Day posters that can be used in order to spread awareness about the day. Read ahead to know- Also Read | Housefull 4 Is Rana Dagubatti's First Comedy Film In Bollywood World Youth Skills Day Posters World Youth Skills Day 2020 will be taking place in a very challenging context. The lockdown measures taken due to the global pandemic have led to the worldwide shut down of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, that has threatened the continuity of development of skills in children. Reportedly, it is said that almost 70% of the worlds learners are getting really affected by the closure of educational institutions all across education levels currently. Respondents to a survey of TVET institutions, jointly collected by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, have recently reported that distance training and online sessions have become the most common way of teaching skills to children, but with considerable difficulties regarding, among others, curricula adaptation, trainee and trainer preparedness, connectivity, or assessment and certification processes. Also Read | Rafael Nadal Interacts With Fans On Instagram After US Open Win On December 18, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution, by consensus that was earlier spearheaded by Sri Lanka, and declared July 15 as the World Youth Skills Day. Sri Lanka initiated this resolution, with the assistance of the G77 & China, in order to highlight the importance of youth skills development at a global level. The goal behind celebrating this day is to achieve better socio-economic conditions for todays youth, including as a means of addressing the challenges of unemployment and underemployment. The UN Secretary - Generals Special Envoy for Youth, Mr Ahmed Alhendawi, and his office supported this initiative from its very early days, while the UN system in New York and Colombo were solidly behind it. Since the World Youth Skills Day was first suggested in the Strategy Committee, World Skills International has been pursued as the World Skills Day but, once connections were made with the United Nations in New York, World Skills International Day fully supported the proposal of Sri Lanka for a World Skills Youth Day. Also Read | "Salman Khan Has A Bad Habit," Says Director Ali Abbas Zafar Also Read | Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship Release Date And First Look Out Now Images source: SHUTTERSTOCK Zarif Dismisses Criticism Of China Pact As 'Rumors' By Ill-Wishers Radio Farda July 13, 2020 A top lawmaker in Iran has said that foreign minister Javad Zarif defended the Iran-China cooperation pact proposed document and told parliament today that talk about selling an island and cheap oil to China are mere rumors. The spokesman of parliament's national security commission, Abolfazl Amuee quoted Zarif as saying that "national interests" have been considered in drafting the document and opposition to it "stems from the prejudice of enemies who are against the expansion of Sino-Iranian relations". The lawmaker told state-run ISNA news agency that also quoted Zarif as saying, "Drafting of this document began with the visit of Xi Jinping to Tehran in [January] 2016 and the two countries decided during the visit to create a long-term roadmap." Zarif also said that the document is still being discussed. Reports about Iran preparing a document to sign a 25-year strategic cooperation pact with China began circulating in June and immediately were met by criticism of many Iranians both inside the country and abroad. Initially, the government refused to make the draft document public, but it was leaked last week. Overall, the document appears to be a general wish list from the Iranian side, rather than a compilation of concrete plans with details. Critics say that a long-term and comprehensive cooperation plan with China would simply cede Iran's resources and economy to a much powerful country and would make the country fully subservient to China. China has so far observed the U.S. sanctions reimposed on Iran in 2018 and would be reluctant to expand trade with Tehran as long as the U.S. is opposed to it. China's trade with Iran has substantially decreased since mid-2019. The U.S. State Department has already criticized the plan to expand cooperation with China, calling a capitulation by Iran. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/zarif- dismisses-criticism-of-china-pact-as -rumors-by-ill-wishers-/30722320.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address A second wave of coronavirus infections this winter could be more serious than the first, with 120,000 hospital deaths in a "reasonable worst-case scenario," scientists have warned. A new report from the Academy of Medical Sciences, commissioned by the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, says mitigating action must be taken immediately. It argues that hospitals could potentially see 120,000 Covid-19 deaths in between September and next June at the same time as battling a surge in demand due to usual winter pressures like flu. The report, from 37 scientists and academics, acknowledges there is a high degree of uncertainty about how the Covid-19 epidemic will evolve in the UK over the coming months. However, it sets out a "reasonable worst-case scenario" that would see the R rate rise to 1.7 from September. The R refers to the number of people an infected person can be expected to pass the virus on to. The academic modelling suggests there could be a peak in hospital admissions and deaths in January and February 2021, similar to or worse than the first wave in spring 2020. It does not include deaths in the community or care homes. The figures do not take account of Government intervention to reduce the transmission rate, or the use of the drug dexamethasone in intensive care units, which has been shown to cut deaths. Professor Stephen Holgate, a Medical Research Council clinical professor of immunopharmacology who led the study, said: "This is not a prediction, but it is a possibility. "The modelling suggests that deaths could be higher with a new wave of Covid-19 this winter, but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately. "With relatively low numbers of Covid-19 cases at the moment, this is a critical window of opportunity to help us prepare for the worst that winter can throw at us." Loading.... He said action that was needed before winter sets in included flu vaccination for the vulnerable and health and social care workers. NHS Test and Trace must be "upscaled in the winter", he added, saying more people will need to be tested as winter illnesses can often have similar symptoms to Covid-19. He also called for a "rapid system of monitoring" in the UK to stop local outbreaks when they occur. The team also looked at less serious scenarios of what may happen, with an R rate of 1.1 leading to 1,300 hospital deaths between September and June. They also modelled an R of 1.5, which would lead to 74,800 hospital deaths. Prof Azra Ghani, chairwoman in infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London - who worked on the study, said many things could push the R up to 1.7. She told the PA news agency: "We are looking at what would be the worst that would happen, such as if there was a further relaxing of interventions, more contacts taking place, schools may be a factor, people going back to work and that sort of thing. "Those things create more contacts, plus people will be indoors more and more people will want to meet up indoors." She said the virus was known to spread more easily indoors "and, of course, during the winter, we spend far more time indoors than we do during the summer". She added: "In addition, we're less likely to have our windows open, doors tend to be closed to keep out the cold, and that will again enhance transmission. "It's also possible that the virus itself could survive for longer in colder conditions." Dame Anne Johnson, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London and vice president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said there was a need for a "powerful public information campaign" in the run up to winter. "Everybody needs to realise that Covid-19 hasn't gone away, and therefore everybody can help reduce transmission by social distancing, by the wearing of face coverings as a social norm, by good respiratory and hand hygiene and the right level of heating and ventilation in our homes," she said. Dame Anne also said it was important people got tested if they had symptoms, and that they self-isolated along with their households. "Every winter we see an increase in the number of people admitted to hospital and in the number of people dying in the UK," she added. "This is due to a combination of seasonal infections such as flu, and the effects of colder weather, for example, on heart and lung conditions. "This winter we have to factor in the likelihood of another wave of coronavirus infections and the ongoing impacts of the first wave. "We have to be prepared that we might also experience a flu epidemic this year. "Faced with these potential challenges, and after an already tough year, it would be easy to feel hopeless and powerless. "But this report shows that we can act now to change things for the better. "We need to minimise coronavirus and flu transmission everywhere, and especially in hospitals and care homes. "We need to get our health and social care, and the track, trace and isolate programme ready for winter. This can be done, but it must be done now." The report said NHS and social care facilities must continue with Covid-19 and Covid-19-free zones, and ensure there is adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff, alongside testing and infection control measures. It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the National Pharmacy Association's conference on Monday that the Government had procured enough flu vaccine to roll out the "biggest flu vaccine programme in history". A government spokesman said: "The modelling in this report represents a worst-case scenario based on no government action, and makes clear this isn't a prediction. "Thanks to the nation's collective efforts, the virus is being brought under control. However we remain vigilant and the Government will ensure the necessary resources are in place to avoid a second peak that would overwhelm our NHS. "This includes extensive winter planning to protect the NHS and care sector, further expanding our large-scale testing capacity, contacting thousands through NHS Test and Trace, working intensively on new treatments, and delivering billions of items of PPE to protect our health and social care workers." Labour markets in the Atlantic provinces fared particularly well, while increases in unemployment rates due to COVID-19 are highest in Canada's major cities, according to the BMO's June quarterly report on labour market trends. Atlantic Canada lost fewest jobs due to coronavirus Labour markets in the Atlantic provinces fared particularly well, while increases in unemployment rates due to COVID-19 are highest in Canada's major cities, according to the BMO's June quarterly report on labour market trends. Atlantic Canada lost fewest jobs due to coronavirus Labour markets in the Atlantic provinces fared particularly well, while increases in unemployment rates due to COVID-19 are highest in Canada's major cities, according to the BMO's June quarterly report on labour market trends. Atlantic Canada lost fewest jobs due to coronavirus Labour markets in the Atlantic provinces fared particularly well, while increases in unemployment rates due to COVID-19 are highest in Canada's major cities, according to the BMO's June quarterly report on labour market trends. Alexandra Miekus Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A The closure of non-essential services to slow the spread of COVID-19 was devastating for the Canadian labour market, but the countrys employment rate rebounded in June. Recent figures provided in the June issue of BMOs Labour Market Card suggest that Canada has now recovered 41 per cent of the jobs lost due to the coronavirus pandemic. Current unemployment rates in Canada were at 12.3 per cent in June, up 6.7 per cent since last year. New Brunswick (NB) fared the best, with unemployment up only 2 per cent since last year to 9.9 per cent. It is the only province with a current unemployment rate below 10 per cent. The city of Moncton, for example, one of New Brunswicks three largest urban centres, lost only 2.7 per cent of the jobs it had a year earlier and has an unemployment rate of 9.1 per cent, well below the national average of 12.3 per cent. While Nova Scotia (NS), Prince Edward Island (PEI) and Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) generally experience higher unemployment rates, these provinces are seeing year-over-year increases below the Canadian average. Two other cities in the Atlantic provinces, namely St. Johns (NL) and Halifax (NS), were among the top ten cities in terms of labour market performance. The Atlantic provinces have so far been the least negatively impacted by the pandemic. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs While Quebec experienced the largest decline in employment due to COVID-19, at 18.7 per cent, it also experienced the fastest recovery of all provinces in June, with a decline of only 7.8 per cent from pre-Covidian levels. Ontarios current unemployment rate, its employment decline from COVID-19, and its employment recovery are on par with overall Canadian levels. In June, Ontario recorded an unemployment rate of 12.2 per cent. Manitoba and Saskatchewan also experienced smaller declines in unemployment than other provinces, as well as the second and third smallest provincial declines in percentage points from pre-crisis levels (respectively 7.2 per cent and 7.3 percent). These two Prairie provinces, along with New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario, are among the five Canadian provinces with unemployment rates below the national average. Albertas reliance on oil compounded the economic difficulties due to COVID-19 and the province was still at 10.3 per cent below pre-covid employment levels. British Columbia had an unemployment rate of 13 per cent in June, up 8.4 percentage points from its pre-crisis levels. Labour markets in major Canadian cities, such as Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary were hit the hardest by the coronavirus pandemic. Canada added 953, 000 jobs in June The Canadian economy began to recover from the 3 million jobs lost between February and April when restrictions on coronaviruses started to be lifted across the country. The countrys economic recovery began quite moderately in May, with 290,000 people returning to work. However, the trend continued at an accelerated pace and the number of people returning to work rose sharply to 953,000 in June. Over the last two months, the labour market has recovered by 40% and more than 1.24 million people have found employment. Canadian wage subsidy to help businesses retain and rehire employees extended Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that the federal government will extend the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program until December of this year. The CEWS program was created to help businesses keep their employees on the payroll and to encourage employers affected by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic to rehire laid-off workers. The program covers 75 per cent of wages, to a maximum of $847 per week, for workers at eligible businesses and non-profit organizations. The federal government hopes that this program will give workers the certainty that they will receive the support they need during this time of crisis and that it will also contribute to reducing the rate of unemployment in the country. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs 2020 CIC News All Rights Reserved Basically, we know nothing about whats going to motivate the new Type R yet a rumor from Japan takes the cake in terms of outrageousness. Those familiar with whats been written and predicted about the new generation Honda Type R know that the hot hatch has been touted with every possible powertrain: a hybrid one, an all-electric setup, and a pure-ICE configuration. The redesigned 2020 Honda Type R is still a fresh addition to the Japanese brands lineup but rumors about the next-gen Type R have been swirling on the interwebs for quite some time now. As good as this sounds, were still waiting for official word from Honda LISTEN 02:09 Is Honda aiming at the Mercedes-AMG A45? Should it? A wild rumor coming from Japans BestCarWeb via Motor1 suggests that the incoming Type R is set to debut in hybrid guise, but it will be no Prius. The publication says the hot hatch will churn out 400 horsepower sent to all four wheels by an all-wheel-drive setup with torque vectoring, which would be an absolute first for the Type R nameplate. The outlet goes on to specify that the setup were looking at is made out of two e-motors and a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder (also turbocharged) gasoline unit. If thats true, then the system will somewhat mimic the NSXs, except for the fact that the ICE would spin the front wheels as before, while the two electric motors would be in charge of sending grunt to the rear axle. Coming back to the 400-horsepower output, it would account for a hefty 25-percent increase compared to the outgoing Type R, which makes do with 306 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque from a turbo-four mill thats also intercooled. Granted, 400 horsepower would graduate the Type R into a whole new league, one thats led by the 416-horsepower Mercedes-AMG A45 S, but were not sure the typical Type R customer would adapt to the shift, if it ever happens. For now, lets take the rumor with a pinch of salt. Be sure, though, that well keep you updated on the topic as soon as more info gets out. 2020 Honda Civic Type R specifications Engine Type In-Line 4-Cylinder with Turbocharger Boost Pressure 23.2 psi Displacement 1996 cc Horsepower (SAE net)1 306 @ 6500 rpm Torque (SAE net)2 295 lb-ft @ 2500-4500 rpm Source: Best Car Web FP Trending After the comets Swan and Atlas that were discovered in early 2020 fizzled out, the brightest comet to grace the sky in decades, the Comet Neowise, or C/20202 F3, is now here for a large part of the northern hemisphere to see. The comet will be visible in the northwest sky in India from 14 July onwards. "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," said Subhendu Pattnaik, deputy director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Bhubaneswar told ANI. In the evenings to follow, the comet will rapidly climb higher in the sky and will be visible for a longer period, he added. Comet Neowise swept within Mercurys orbit a week ago. Its close proximity to the sun caused dust and gas to burn off its surface and create an even bigger debris tail. According to a report by CNET, Neowise passed a critical point when it survived its closest brush with the sun without cracking up from the heat last week. NASAs Neowise infrared space telescope discovered the comet on 27 March. Scientists involved in the mission said the comet is about five kilometres across and its nucleus is covered with sooty material dating back to the origin of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago. Soon after, numerous amateur photographers began sharing stunning images of the comet just above the horizon during predawn hours. Twitter user Jeremy Perez shared the image shot from close to the Wupatki National Monument showcasing the bright celestial body. Last night I scoured Google Earth lining up roads that would matched the bearing of where the comet would rise this morning. Finally found a spot along my favorite road in Wupatki National Monument and narrowed to this creviced bend to work with. #neowise #cometneowise 1/ pic.twitter.com/zI3TkVlv1H Jeremy Perez (@jperez1690) July 9, 2020 Another Twitter user shared images of the comet as seen from Paris. NEOWISE this mornig from #Paris. Last time I saw a comet that bright it was 23 years ago. #NEOWISE is easy to see with the naked eye even from Paris, and with my 12x36 binoculars it is similar to these pictures. pic.twitter.com/csHIx30Ndl Skywalker (@JLucDauvergne) July 8, 2020 A number of other users and astronomy enthusiasts shared images of the comet as well. A castle, a church and a comet - #Neowise over #Rapperswil #Switzerland, Taken on 09.07.20 with Canon EOS 6D Mark II, Mike Beganyi 2020 pic.twitter.com/z5VZyf0vZm Mike Beganyi (@mikebeganyi) July 9, 2020 According to the CNET report, as the comet moves farther away from the sun and closer to Earth, it will be visible in the evening sky and not before dawn. As per NASA solar system ambassador Eddie Irizarry, Neowise should be visible just before and around the time of first light till 11 July. It will again start to be visible in the evening between 15 and 16 July. While its visible with the naked eye in dark skies with little or no light pollution, binoculars are needed to see the long tail, according to NASA. It will be about 7,000 years before the comet returns, so I wouldnt suggest waiting for the next pass, said the telescopes deputy principal investigator Joe Masiero of NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Recently, astronauts from the International Space Station managed to get a stunning glimpse of a natural light show from a comet this weekend. NASA astronaut Bob Behnken shared a tweet highlighting Neowise. He captioned the post, "Last night's fireworks, for real. Because Science." With inputs from wires BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Leman Zeynalova - Trend: The EU urges both sides to stop the armed confrontation, refrain from action and rhetoric that provoke tension, and undertake immediate measures to prevent further escalation, Trend reports referring to the EUs statement. On 12-13 July 2020, both Armenia and Azerbaijan reported a serious incident at their bilateral border, involving the use of heavy weapons. It has sadly led to the loss of lives. In this context, both sides should make use of their mechanism for direct communication, the established format led by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. This serious ceasefire violation highlights the urgency of resuming the OSCE monitoring on the ground, as soon as conditions allow, the statement said. The statement also said that the EU calls on the sides to strictly respect the ceasefire, devote energy and resources to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, meaningfully re-engage in substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and prepare their populations for peace. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. 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. GREENWICH The Bruce Museum is adding to its already expansive minerals collection with a gift of exceptional and exceptionally large specimens from a local collector. The significant new gift of museum-quality specimens comes from the private collection of Robert R. Wiener. This donation follows the gift of nearly 100 world-class minerals Wiener pledged to the Bruce Museum in 2018. Robert Wiener has been collecting minerals for over five decades from sites across the globe, from Peru to Tasmania to Madagascar, and from intricately connected cubes of pyrite, to dazzlingly clear crystals of selenite, to fiery red hexagons of vanadinite, said Daniel Ksepka, the museums curator of science. Wiener is the chairman of MAXX Properties, a family-owned real estate company based in Harrison, N.Y., and is an honorary trustee of the Bruce Museum. He has also made a $500,000 contribution to the Campaign for the New Bruce the museums transformative renovation and expansion project. Contributed photo The minerals will be permanently highlighted, along with selections from the Bruce Museums existing collection of gems and minerals, in the new Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery when the new Bruce Museum opens in 2022. The Bruce team is creating a new state-of-the-art gallery to showcase these world treasures and thanks to Mr. Wieners foresight and generosity, our museum and its soon-to-be Robert R. Wiener Mineral Gallery will be among the nations preeminent destinations for enjoying and learning from, these scientifically fascinating and aesthetically beautiful objects, Ksepka said. We were shocked and thrilled when Mr. Wiener announced during the exhibition that he would donate all of the minerals on display to our permanent collection along with some more even exceptional pieces. This extraordinary new donation has inspired us to envision a bigger and better permanent exhibition with state-of-the-art lighting and customized displays to highlight the collection, he said. Wieners interest in the world of minerals stemmed from a museum visit he made with his grandmother as a 7-year-old. Over the years, Wiener has assembled one of the worlds premier mineral collections, featuring more than 3,000 specimens. Im delighted to be able to share my collection and my passion, Wiener said. Its a happy experience to spread knowledge and open the eyes of the uninitiated to a world with an allure that lasts forever. I hope the minerals will sparkle in childrens eyes and create an enthusiasm for learning more about geology and all the other wonderful things that will come to them as they did to me by getting into the science of the earth. In November 2017, the Bruce Museum opened a temporary exhibition titled, Treasures of the Earth: Mineral Masterpieces from the Robert R. Wiener Collection, which proved to be popular with visitors. The new gallery will be placed at the intersection of three other major spaces in the New Bruce: the Cycles permanent science exhibition, the new changing science exhibition gallery, and the William L. Richter Art Wing. Words can hardly express my gratitude to Robert Wiener for this amazing donation; this transformational gift will put the Bruce at the forefront in collecting and exhibiting minerals, said Robert Wolterstorff, executive director and CEO of the Bruce. These rare and gorgeous specimens exemplify the seemingly endless variety of forms and colors found in the world of minerals. The New Bruce project - the first since a $4.3 million expansion in 1992 - is under way and will expand the museum from 30,000 to more than 70,000 square feet. An anecdote from the 2014 Lok Sabha elections involving Punjabs Captain Amarinder Singh held perhaps the template for striking an equitable balance between the competing ambitions of Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot. The story goes that Singh was talked into playing a more proactive role in the elections in a direct phone call from Sonia Gandhi. She struck a personal note with the reluctant Punjab leader, saying itll help if he does so, and the Captain agreed to contest. Cut to 2020. The Congress president has to take a call, Pilot told this writer shortly before he was removed as deputy chief minister and president of the partys state unit. He said he conveyed to the central leadership his grievances against chief minister Gehlot, who sidelined and humiliated him and his supporters in the legislature party. With the party high command choosing to back the incumbent chief minister who, at 69, is elder by 27 years to Pilot, the Congress has lost another young and promising leader after Jyotiraditya Scindia. Gehlot might pass a trust vote in the assembly. But winning the perception war will be an exacting task for his fractured regime. Only a party united can deliver governance in a divided polity. Organisational power is centralised in the Congress even when it is out of power. That apart, Sonia Gandhis regard in the rank and file is intact despite the partys falling graph. A personal appeal by her to Pilot or his mother, Rama Pilot, who has been a Congress legislator, could have set the stage for an honourable truce. For that to happen, Pilot shouldve have grabbed the olive leaf the party publicly extended through emissaries dispatched to Jaipur. That he received a lot in too short a time in the Congress was accepted by Pilot in an interview when Gehlot became CM against his claims after the 2018 polls: Todays the payback time ....Congress has given me a lot. At age 26, I became an MP, at 30 a minister and at 35 the party chief.... What changed then in the span of 19 months? It is understood that Rahul Gandhi, who then was the Congress president, invoked their friendship to make Pilot wait his turn for the CMs office: Do it for the sake of our friendship.... But the euphoria of the assembly poll victory died fast. Five months down the line, the 2019 Lok Sabha elections saw the Congress losing all the 25 seats, including Jodhpur, where Gehlots son Vaibhav was the candidate. He was defeated by the sitting MP and the BJPs emerging face, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, believed to be groomed by the PM as a latter-day Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The late vice-president of India and three-time CM of Rajasthan was from the Shekhawati region from where Gajendra Singhs family migrated to Jodhpur (Marwar). In that sense, he fits the Shekhawat 2 tag perfectly. The parliamentary debacle provided the early sparks that today gutted the Congresss facade of unity. Gehlot and Pilot blamed each other for the humiliating outcome. Their distrust of each other that got shrouded by government-formation in Rajasthan was as much the cause of the partys below-par victory. The original Congress tally was 99 in the House of 200. Ironically, the partys tenuous numbers tilted the scales in Gehlots favour. He seemed better qualified to helm the government in a touch-and-go legislative arithmetic. He consolidated his position by delivering fast on that front, winning over the Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs and marshalling the support of Independents -- among whom some were his men who were denied tickets in the tussle with Pilot. Gehlot was also helped by other factors: proximity to influential Congress apparatchiks; bigger support in the legislature party and a social identity that was a threat to none. Rightly or wrongly, in the tug-of-war for the CMs office, Pilot was projected as a leader of his Gujjar community, and viewed with circumspection by other social groups. To be sure, Rajasthan hasnt had any Gujjar CM since Independence. The office mostly went to Brahmins, Baniyas, Kayasthas and Rajputs barring the exception of Barkatullah Khan, a Muslim, and Jagannath Pahadia, a Dalit. The talk in the Congress circles at that time was that Pilots ascendance as CM could antagonise the Meena community that has been with the party since the days of the freedom struggle. The end of Rahuls party presidency, which was a collateral casualty of the Congresss poor show in the Lok Sabha elections, was another setback for Pilot. It was on his assurance that he agreed to Gehlot as an interregnum CM. At the Congress Working Committee meeting, where he announced his resignation, Rahul lashed out against three senior colleagues for focusing more on the prospects of their sons than the party. Gehlot was one among them. Even that wasnt a cause for Gehlot to lose favour. He said he put up his son to create a semblance of a fight rather than giving the BJP a walkover in his home town. That brings one to the question whether the BJP can offer Pilot the CMs slot he seeks. This writers reading is that Gajendra Singh will be its choice if Vasundhara cedes ground, or is bypassed in the eventuality of the party assembling the numbers required. But as the leader of a regional outfit with numbers touching 30 (after by-elections), the 75-member BJP combine could see value in Pilots bid. The identity question will remain a nagging worry which only the wholesome support of the Prime Minister can negate in the peoples arena. For the present, it is future uncertain for both Gehlot and Pilot. Because many of the Ubisoft allegations focus on Canada, it may leave the French company more financially exposed too. It currently receives more than 100 million euros ($113 million) in subsidies and tax breaks there, thanks in part to a Quebecois tax credit that can top 37% of labor expenses. Its a measure that has been the subject of vociferous criticism, not least from other tech executives, for benefiting foreign companies at the expense of the regions homegrown firms. The harassment allegations might prompt politicians to think again. Ending the Canadian subsidies would have severe financial implications for Ubisoft, since they alone reduce global payroll costs by 11%. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in the United States last winter, Laasya Yenduri, 17, knew her youth-led nonprofit CyberBORN had another calling. Yenduri, of Beaverton, and about 18 of her teenage friends started making reusable masks earlier this year. The group has been able to donate more than 200 masks so far and have made a goal of 1,000 masks by September. The group has also been providing meals to homeless shelters during the pandemic, providing 140 meals so far to the Laurelwood Center. Cubic Global Defense to continue supporting British Army with Synthetic Wrap capability Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB) today announced Cubic Defence U.K., which operates within its Cubic Global Defense (CGD) business division was awarded a contract worth more than $16 million to continue the support of British Army training. The four-year contract called SCOPIC 2, is for a fully managed service where Cubic will provide its Synthetic Wrap capability to enhance collective training at Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) in the United Kingdom; British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) in Alberta, Canada; and British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005305/en/ Cubic awarded contract to deliver live, virtual and constructive training for British Army. (Photo: Business Wire) "We are proud to continue supporting the British Army in achieving mission readiness by delivering expeditionary and complex tactical training at all levels," said Mike Knowles, president of Cubic Global Defense. "This contract award builds on the work we have accomplished with both the existing SCOPIC contract and our recent AWES award to deliver a world-class training experience." The SCOPIC 2 system replaces battlefield capabilities that are difficult to replicate in live collective training with simulation. These may be complex systems such as unmanned air systems (UAS) feeds or additional force elements providing context, including flanking or depth activity. Examples of SCOPIC 2 capabilities include UAS and targeting pod downlinks from Close Air Support platforms; hand-held observation device emulations that allow visualization of fall of shot from guns, missiles, mortars and air-delivered weapons; emulated radar and electronic warfare (EW) terminals that allow soldiers to locate the enemy; and ground based air defense emulations. SCOPIC 2 captures and recreates these activities for post-mission analysis. Cubic first provided this capability under the MicroSCOPIC contract awarded in 2016 and has deployed the system globally in support of the British Army. About Cubic Corporation Cubic is a technology-driven, market-leading provider of integrated solutions that increase situational understanding for transportation, defense C4ISR and training customers worldwide to decrease urban congestion and improve the militaries' effectiveness and operational readiness. Our teams innovate to make a positive difference in people's lives. We simplify their daily journeys. We promote mission success and safety for those who serve their nation. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005305/en/ Contacts: Crystal Nguyen Corporate Communications Cubic Corporation PH: 858-505-2593 Crystal.Nguyen@cubic.com By Trend Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) made a statement calling on Armenia and Azerbaijan for immediate ceasefire, Trend reports citing the Russian Mk.ru news website. The CSTO Secretariat expressed serious concern over the aggravation of the situation between the two countries. "The current situation does not contribute to the normalization of the situation on the border of two neighboring states," the statement said. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, non-commissioned officer, sergeant Vugar Sadigov and senior soldier Elshad Mammadov died in holding off an Armenian attack. Despite the efforts of Azerbaijani doctors, a badly wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, soldier Khayyam Dashdamirov also died. On the night of July 12-13, tensions continued on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the Tovuz districts direction. In the night battles involving artillery, mortars and tanks, Azerbaijani military divisions destroyed the stronghold, artillery installations, automotive equipment and manpower of the Armenian military unit. During the battles, the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army Rashid Mahmudov was killed. --- The family of a suspected Indonesian militant who was fatally shot by police while allegedly resisting arrest on Monday urged the National Commission on Human Rights to investigate the events that led to his death. Police said they used deadly force against the suspect, Ikhsan Abdullah, because he resisted arrest and attacked officers with a sharp weapon. The 22-year-old, whom police said was a member of the Islamic State-affiliated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) militant group, was shot by anti-terrorism officers in the Sukoharjo regency of Central Java province on Friday. Ikhsan was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries a day later, said Inspector Gen. Argo Yuwono, national police spokesman. Argo said police took decisive and measured action after Ikhsan tried to stab them with a knife. Endro Sudarsono, the secretary of the Islamic Study and Action Center (ISAC) Muslim advocacy group, said Ikhsans family had not been notified formally by police about his arrest. We will ask Komnas HAM (the National Human Rights Commission) to investigate the circumstances that led to Ikhsans death, said Endro, a lawyer representing the family. Endro said police had told Ikhsans family that he was shot in his right thigh and abdomen. The lawyer cast doubt on police claims that Ikhsan was wielding a knife, saying he was riding a bicycle at the time. The shot to the stomach cannot be called measured because it was deadly. If they had taken measured action, they could have shot him in the legs, Endro said. Komnas HAM member Beka Ulung Hapsara said the commission planned to look into the complaint. Komnas HAM is ready to follow up on complaints from families by investigating this case and asking for information from the parties, Beka told BenarNews while urging police to respect human rights even as they pursue suspected terrorists. Argo said Ikhsans arrest was tied to an investigation into the June 21 knife attack that wounded Karanganyar deputy police chief Busroni and his aide. A former convict identified as Karyono Widodo was shot and killed by police. Argo said Ikhsan, Karyono and three other suspects - whom police identified only by their initials, IS, Y and W - belonged to the JAD network and participated in a plot to attack a police station in Lampung province on Sumatra island. The other three suspects were arrested this month. Karyono had been released last year after serving a three-year sentence for his role in the January 2016 gun and bomb attack in central Jakartas business district that killed eight people, including the attackers. The attack was the first claimed by IS in Indonesia. Tinombala probe Police and Komnas HAM in Central Sulawesi province, meanwhile, are investigating the deaths of three young people who were shot and killed in two separate incidents in April and June in Poso regency, allegedly by police taking part in Operation Tinombala. Police withdrew 12 members of the Tinombala task force to Jakarta to be questioned as part of the investigation, the state-run Antara news agency reported last week. National police spokesman Awi Setiyono told the news agency that the officers had followed procedure. Previously, officials said 41 Tinombala members had been questioned about the shootings, but no suspects had been named. A joint task force established in 2016, Tinombalas mission is to hunt down, capture or kill members of the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), a pro-IS militant group. National police chief Idham Azis announced he was extending Tinombala, which was to expire at the end of June, through Sept. 30. Government forces killed MITs leader, Santoso, in 2016, but about a dozen members remain. Meanwhile, Komnas HAM reported more than 110 suspected militants were shot and killed by police as of 2017. While it did not release figures on killings since then, security analyst Zachary Abuza reported more than 280 suspected militants were arrested in 2019. In addition, more than 200 were arrested in the second half of 2018 after bombings at churches and police headquarters in Surabaya in May of that year. A Tunisian court has sentenced blogger Emna Chargui to six months in prison and a $700 fine for reposting a Facebook joke about the coronavirus written as if it was a Koranic verse. "This is unfair and unjust ... this proves that there is no freedom here," Chargui, 27, told Reuters from home where she had been waiting for the ruling. She plans to appeal as allowed within 10 days. Chargui's sharing of the post in May angered some conservative social media users who demanded punishment in a nation periodically polarised between secular and Islamist political wings since a revolution that introduced democracy nine years ago. Court spokesman Mohsen Dali said the sentence was on charges of inciting hate between religions and races. The case has brought criticism from rights groups. Saying she was a victim of a "repressive law" that curtailed free speech, Amnesty International said the prosecution did not allow Chargui's lawyer to accompany her to court, where she was asked about her religious beliefs and mental condition. Chargui blogs on freedom and women's issues. Search Keywords: Short link: This morning, the Justice Department carried out the execution by lethal injection of a white supremacist convicted of brutally murdering a husband, wife, and their eight-year-old daughter in 1996. The death sentence of Daniel Lee Lewis was carried out at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. It was the first execution of a federal capital sentence in 17 years. In the wee hours this morning, as NRs Brittany Bernstein reports, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the injunction against the Justice Departments execution of Lee, who had been on death row for more than two decades. The High Courts ruling permitted the DOJ to press ahead with a lethal injection that was originally scheduled to occur Monday afternoon. The Courts 54 ruling also authorizes the DOJ to proceed with executions of three other defendants, scheduled to occur in the next few weeks. In a column yesterday, I recounted the grisly facts of Lees prosecution. He was convicted of capital murder in aid of a racketeering enterprise specifically, a white-supremacist organization, for which he and an accomplice murdered a firearms dealer, along with the dealers wife and child, in robbing their home to steal guns and money. After shooting them with stun guns and asphyxiating them, Lee and his partner weighted the corpses down with stones and tossed them into the bayou. The bodies washed up in a lake six months later. Last year, Attorney General Bill Barr announced plans to proceed with the executions of death-penalty convicts, some of whom have languished on death row for a quarter-century. There are about five dozen prisoners in the federal system who have been sentenced to death for capital murder, but there have been only three federal executions since 1988, and none since 2003. As noted in the column, and in this follow-up post, Obama-appointed judges have been conjuring up roadblocks for this lawful Trump-administration initiative just as they have imperiously done in connection with various other Trump policies. In the case of Lees scheduled execution, Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson, an Obama appointee to the federal district court in Indiana, theorized that the lethal-injection procedure should be delayed so that relatives of the family Lee murdered could attend. There is no federal legal right of victims families to attend executions, which it should go without saying are not public proceedings. The relatives in question oppose the death penalty and were hoping to convert an invitation to the execution into an interminable delay, on the ground that they could not travel safely until the coronavirus pandemic eased. Story continues The Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected that scheme in an unusual Sunday ruling. That seemingly green-lighted the execution scheduled for Monday afternoon. At the eleventh hour, however, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, an Obama appointee to the federal district court in the District of Columbia, issued an injunction to block the executions of Lee and three other capital convicts. Although the Seventh Circuit, a higher authority than Judge Chutkan (albeit in another circuit), had already permitted the execution to proceed, Chutkan was able to issue her order because it involved a separate challenge, directed at the Justice Department in Washington. She objected to the protocol for lethal injections that the DOJ adopted last year, homing in on its use of pentobarbital as a sedative. Chutkan relied on new expert testimony for the proposition that pentobarbital could result in flash pulmonary edema, a condition that could cause extreme pain, terror, and panic in the about-to-be-executed defendant by producing sensations of drowning and asphyxiation. The Supreme Court rejected this contention in its early morning ruling. The case had been presented to Chief Justice John Roberts, who referred it to the full court. The majority issued a per curiam (unsigned) opinion, in which Roberts was joined by the Courts more conservative justices (Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh). The majority explained that it is farfetched to suggest that pentobarbitals use violates the Eighth Amendments prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments. As the opinion elaborates, the Supreme Court has never held that any states method of execution is cruel and unusual. Far from seeking to add to the pain and terror of execution, lethal injection by pentobarbital is thought to be less painful and more humane than traditional methods, like hanging, that have been uniformly regarded as constitutional for centuries. Moreover, the pentobarbital protocol has been adopted by five of the small number of states that currently implement the death penalty; has been used to carry out over 100 executions, without incident; is repeatedly argued by prisoners as a less painful alternative in their challenges to other lethal-injection protocols; and has been upheld by both the Supreme Court and numerous federal appellate courts. The Courts four left-wing members dissented. Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor filed dissents, with Ruth Bader Ginsburg joining both, and Elena Kagan joining Sotomayors. The dissents mainly accuse the Justice Department and the majority of a rush-to-justice that unnecessarily created emergency conditions for hurried judicial review . . . as if we should ignore the unremitting objections to capital punishment among progressive jurists and pretend there would be no emergency applications if the Justice Department scheduled the executions for a month from now, a year from now, or a decade from now. In laying out the pros and cons of capital punishment in yesterdays column, I posited that the death penalty whose legitimacy is referred to repeatedly in the Constitution itself is unquestionably constitutional. If the American people want to be rid of it, they have the means of doing so democratically it should not be done by judicial ukase, under the fiction that, as times and progressive pieties change, the Constitutions words morph into whatever left-leaning jurists which them to mean. Quite appropriately, todays Supreme Court majority concluded its brief opinion by observing: It is our responsibility to ensure that method-of-execution challenges to lawfully issued sentences are resolved fairly and expeditiously, so that the question of capital punishment can remain with the people and their representatives, not the courts, to resolve. . . . In keeping with that responsibility, we vacate the District Courts preliminary injunction so that the plaintiffs executions may proceed as planned. [Internal quotation marks omitted.] More from National Review AS the number of confirmed cases went to 1 034 yesterday, tougher action to stop truck drivers smuggling people across borders and between cities, more community surveillance and more testing in the vicinity of clusters of Covid-19 cases to isolate hotspots are among the measures the Ad Hoc Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Covid-19 has recommended. Last night, the Ministry of Health and Child Care announced 49 new infections, 21 of them local within communities and the rest among returnees. Another death, arising from routine testing in a post-mortem, brought the total to 19, with 343 recoveries. Yesterdays taskforce meeting comes in the wake of a growing number of people being infected inside Zimbabwe within their communities, rather than having almost all cases among people infected outside and being found during tests in quarantine centres. Health services are being continually upgraded, with the latest move being the appointment of 13 Zimbabwean doctors and other professionals who have come home. Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last night after the meeting that the taskforce studied reports from its subcommittees and discussed the further action needed to contain the spread of the pandemic. Chief Coordinator of the National Response to the Covid-19 pandemic Dr Agnes Mahomva presented her report, which was guided by the six criteria set by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on understanding the epidemiology of Covid-19. While the taskforce noted the progress made so far in responding to the threat posed by Covid-19, it recommended a number of actions to strengthen the response and action plan, which include the mapping and testing of areas around clusters of cases, a need to increase community surveillance, the erection of temporary structures at ports of entry to house the rising number of returnees into the country, and the strengthening of cross border security checks. Minister Mutsvangwa said the taskforce resolved to build on the progress already achieved and cautioned citizens against suffering from lockdown fatigue at a time when cases are racing towards the 1 000 mark. Our vigilance should be the same level as it was on Day 1. Let us not run out of steam, said Minister Mutsvangwa. She said as new information surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic was coming out, the Government was adjusting its response and action plans to ensure Zimbabwe takes the correct preventative and protective precautions to combat the virus. In light of the increased positive cases that are being recorded, efforts are being channelled to resource medical facilities that will deal with Covid-19 cases. As such, 13 foreign trained Zimbabwean doctors and members have been appointed and they are to assume duty starting from today, July 13 2020, said Minister Mutsvangwa. The logistics subcommittee reported that enforcement had been intensified to penalise truck drivers and unauthorised passengers who are failing to adhere to regulations regulating restricted goods and cross border vehicles transiting through Zimbabwe. Minister Mutsvangwa said Covid-19 was real and it was critical to ensure no one engaged in actions that put the nation at a greater risk of infection. The use of cross-border vehicles as a means of transportation is taking the nation back in its fight against the pandemic, she said. The minister said as the infection numbers are rising, together with the death rate, health facilities would be stretched and the nation cannot afford the complacency being witnessed. She said WHO health experts were cautioning nations on the threat posed by local transmissions in the fight against Covid-19, adding that while Government can tell citizens to wear masks, wash and sanitise their hands, travel when it is absolutely necessary and maintain social distancing, it was up to every Zimbabwean to practise the preventive measures. Minister Mutsvangwa rallied the nation to adapt to the new normal, which will minimise risk of being infected, in line with President Mnangagwas call that the economy can be resurrected, but not the dead. Meanwhile, the repatriation of Zimbabweans from across the world continues, with 11 889 returnees having been processed through quarantine facilities. The taskforce was informed that an Air Zimbabwe flight expected to repatriate Zimbabweans from Guangzhou and Wuhan Provinces in China, developed a technical problem recently and is stuck in Bangkok. The replacement engine was airlifted to Thailand yesterday. The food and water sustainability subcommittee updated the taskforce on the children and adults living and working on the streets who have been placed in halfway homes and rehabilitation centres since the start of the lockdown in March 2020. In Harare Province, 29 adults are being housed, of which seven are yet to be reunited with their families while in the Midlands Province, 13 adults are being housed and their families are being traced. In Manicaland Province, six children are being housed as their families are also being traced. Dr Mahomva said in tandem with six criterion set by WHO, it was important to ensure the disease transmission is under control, to manage the risk of importing new cases, and for the health system look at suspected cases, detect, test, identify, isolate and then treat them. Further, hotspots need to be contained while preventative measures are put in place at workplaces and schools, while communities are fully empowered, and educated to be able to change their behaviours to embrace preventative social measures recommended. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Novan Iman Santosa (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 Indonesias bid to modernize its militarys primary weapons system (alutsista), both to replace aging weaponry and keep up with regional dynamics, took a new turn last week. Early on Tuesday, the United States Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) made a surprise announcement that the US State Department had approved the sale of eight MV-22 Block C Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to Indonesia, as well as the corresponding systems, spare parts and training. The deal is worth approximately US$2 billion. The DSCAs announcement means that Indonesia had formally sent a request sometime in the past, although it is unclear when or for which service or unit. Egyptian government is set to build a total of 765,000 housing units over the next three years across the country at a total investment of of E165 billion ($10.3 billion) under the One Million Housing Initiative, reported Amwal Al Ghad. Of this, nearly 100,000 homes will be completed during 2020/2021 fiscal year, while around 210,000 units will be completed during the fiscal year 2022/2023, stated the report, citing the Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait. The Sisi government is planning to build a total of 310,000 social housing units during the period including 60,000 middle-income housing units, noted Maat. Meanwhile, top Egyptian construction firm Al Abd said it expects to complete the final handover of 1,440 housing units at the sixth residential district in the countrys new capital by next December. These residential units are being built at a cost of E750 million ($47 million), said the company's managing director Said Fattouh. We are current developing 36 fully-fledged buildings in the new capitals sixth residential district, Fattouh said, adding that these buildings are to be handed over next December. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra on Tuesday said that she would vacate her government bungalow at 35 Lodhi Estate in Lutyens Delhi within the stipulated one-month deadline and rubbished claims that she requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an extension of the tenure beyond August 1. On July 1, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had cancelled the government accommodation allocated to Gandhi on the ground that she is ineligible for the entitlement, as she no longer enjoys the security cover of the Special Protection Group (SPG). On Tuesday, she reacted to reports claiming she had requested PM Modi seeking to stay on at her official accommodation beyond August 1. This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on July 1, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by August 1, she tweeted. Gandhis husband Robert Vadra also reiterated that the family had not asked for an extension and would vacate the bungalow a week before the deadline expires amid the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak. This is completely incorrect!! We have not asked for any extension of stay. We were sent a notice on July 1 to leave in 30 days. We at a time of Covid-19 have packed our entire household, and will leave a week before time, he tweeted. However, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri has punctured holes in Gandhis claims a while after she tweeted to set the record straight. Puri referred to facts such as a powerful Congress leaders move to let her stay on at 35 Lodhi Estate on July 4, three days after the eviction notice was served on her. Facts speak for themselves! A powerful Congress leader with much clout in the party called me on July 4 at 12.05pm to request that 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another Congress MP so that Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra can stay on. Lets not sensationalise everything please, Puri tweeted shortly after Gandhi took to social media to clarify her stand. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra promptly responded, distancing herself from the request. If someone called you Mr Puri, I thank them for their concern, and thank you for your consideration as well but it still does not change the facts: I have made no such request, and I am making no such request, she said. The ministry has already allotted her bungalow to Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Rajya Sabha member and party spokesperson, Anil Baluni. Officials familiar with the development told HT that the ministry has allotted the type 6B bungalow to Baluni. The allotment of central government bungalows is done through the General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) Rules, 2017, of the directorate of estates. She was allotted the Lodhi Estate bungalow on February 21, 1997, as an SPG protectee. Hours after the notice was served to her on July 1, she paid off all her pending dues, amounting to 3,46,677, until June 30, the ministry had said. She is planning to move to the house of late Sheila Kaul, her grand-mother Indira Gandhis maternal aunt, in Lucknow. The Congress said that the house was renovated a few months ago. Gandhis relocation to Lucknow is being seen as a bid to enthuse party workers ahead of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly polls slated to be held in 2022 amid the partys dwindling electoral fortunes in the countrys most populous state for over three decades. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Communication Officer for the Savannah Region Mr Malik Basintale has said that his party in the Region will resist busing of strangers into Damongothe DamongoConstituency with their blood. Addressing a press conference at Damongoon 13th July 2020 covered live by Bole based Nkilgi FM, Mr Basintale said the busing of strangers into the Damongoconstituency has become a daily norm yet the security services are unable to intervene as a result of so-called Power from above. He alleged that recently a full bus of people from the Kintampo North constituency was stopped on the way by indigenes of the region and upon questioning it was revealed that they were being brought by the NPP to register in the Damongoconstituency, Vote for Akufo-Addo and the parliamentary candidate Samuel Abu Jinapor. Mr Basintale said the bus was taken to the police station and asked to return to wherever it came from. The bus drove straight to a Polling station, dropped the people and they were registered in full presence of the same security personnel and electoral commission which was challenged with its forms. Upon confrontations, a scuffle broke out and some got injured in the process; he said. Malik Basintale also alleged that on the 30th of June, 2020, at Kurabaso polling station, their constituency Communication officer and members in Damomgo one Kiyoyo, Zambache and Kalacuta were attacked by one Nsorwura who is the leader of the NPP invisible forces here in Damongo. On 1st, July one Atabia who is the secretary of the invisible forces assaulted one Waliu, a brother to the MP for Damongo, Hon Mutawakilu Galus. That same Thursday, the same Atabia and his team assaulted one Abraham who is a journalist of pad FM and suppressed the freedom of the media in capturing exactly what has been going on here in Damongo; he alleged. The Savannah Region NDC Communication Officer also said some invincible forces brought from Accra and acting as national security persons have been intimidating their agents especially at the Busunu zone including an ambush of their constituency Chairman called Trouble at Tailope, a suburb of Damongo. These thugs, criminals and social misfits have been Moving with four new pickups suspected to be filled with weapons of destruction all in support of the NPP candidate, Lawyer Samuel Abu Jinapor. Just last week, additional Four warriors and known gang leaders were brought from tamale, paid and asked to attack anybody they see against the NPP in Damongo; he further alleged. Malik Basintale also said; It has been revealed that all these thugs meet at a special location which is under investigation at Abingakura to share monies given to them and then plan towards the next days' attacks on NDC persons and media persons suspected to be against them. The Savannah Region NDC Communication Officer Basintale also asked a series of questions such; Why will the people of the Damongoconstituency suddenly have to sleep with one eye opened? Why has Damongosuddenly become a place of fear? Why will Registration zones become so fearful that indigenes cannot go out to register? Why has the ambition of Akufo-Addo and Samuel Abu Jinapor become a do and die affair to the extent of using self-created security to intimidate people who have deep love for H.E John Mahama and Hon. Mutawakilu?. Mr Basintale said they we sympathize with the police and legitimate security services on their power taken from them and wish to encourage them to take their autonomy into high esteem and not to allow themselves be used by the already losing Akufo-Addo led government. This government has already exhibited gross failure and super incompetence and nothing at all can save them from the anger, hunger and frustrations of the Ghanaian people deliberately caused by President Akufo-Addo, he said. Mr Basintale also serves notice that they no longer going to allow for such intimidating acts in the Damongoconstituency and beyond. We are hence going to exhibit the full realms of the boot for boot analogy as declared by our party the NDC. We will face the NPP all round and nothing, absolutely nothing can stop us from safeguarding the interest and will of the good people of the Savannah region he said. He added; We are sending a strong caution to the NPP to be mindful of their actions and not to take our tolerance for granted. Mr Basintale also said the NDC in the Savannah region has been monitoring the ongoing voter registration exercise that commenced on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, and have made some observations and wish to bring it to the attention of the Electoral Commission, the general public and other stakeholders as we have already tolerated enough from the actions and inactions of both the electoral commission and the government. On lack of Logistics and Poor human resource by the electoral commission Mr Basintale said all Electoral commission officials across the centers in the Bole-Bamboi Constituency claimed they had no paper to do end of day print out for agents and they leave data in the system and agents had to rely on what they had recorded personally at the centers. He said some polling stations did not make provision for a generator and as such found it difficult to power their systems since their batteries couldnt last any long and an example is the Gbenfu polling station in Bole and other polling stations that had power did not have a common extension cord to get electricity from a short distance. He said on Sunday 12th July 2020 in the Sawla-tuna-kalba constituency the EC halted the entire exercise for about three (3) hours at Goyiri No.2 community centre due to a faulty machine. On the matter of Rejecting Fulanis he said there was an ugly scene at Butei in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency where members of the NPP were preventing residents of the Fulani extraction from registering in the ongoing voter registration exercise and that they are very much surprised that members of the NPP will partake in such an illegal tribalistic discrimination when they have a whole second lady, Samira Bawumia, the wife of the Vice President being a Fulani and votes here in Ghana. These Fulanis had their parents born here in Ghana before 1957, were born here themselves, some married to Ghanaians and as such have every legal right to be registered to vote as they are Ghanaians so far as the laws of the land are concerned. On matters of the phase 3 registration,Mr Basintale said there has been a deliberate dispatch of new registration machines into the Savannah region that are 10 times slower than what was used in the past. He said the issue of busing and Security intimidation In Daboya and at Polling station (L/A primary school Daboya) on day 3 of the second phase, one of our agents by name Ewuntomah Luman was beaten mercilessly when he challenged some persons bused by the NPP and brought to register. He was attacked by one of the NPP thugs in Daboya popularly known as Red Bawa, dirty boys; he said. He further alleged that these thugs go about the constituency with pepper spray, electric police shockers and other arms of human destruction just to deter NDC supporters from registering to vote for former President John Mahama and MP Hon. Shaibu Obei Explainer: Anger Among Iranians Over Long-Term Deal With China By Golnaz Esfandiari July 13, 2020 Iran is negotiating a controversial 25-year agreement with China that has led to accusations that parts of Iran are being sold to Beijing. Some critics -- including the U.S. State Department -- are comparing the proposed deal to the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay between Persia and tsarist Russia, under which the Persians ceded control of territory in the South Caucasus. Iranian officials have dismissed the criticism as baseless while promising to make the text of the agreement public once it is finalized. What Do We Know About The Agreement? The pact was proposed in a January 2016 trip to Iran by Chinese President Xi Jinping during which the two sides agreed to establish their ties based on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, while announcing discussions would begin aimed at concluding a 25-year bilateral pact. The announcement received the support of Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was quoted by Iranian media as saying that the agreement reached between the two sides was "wise." The text of the agreement, which will need to be approved by parliament, has not been released. But in recent days an 18-page document has been making the rounds on social media that outlines future cooperation between the countries, including Chinese investment in Iran's energy sector as well as in the country's free-trade zones. RFE/RL cannot verify the authenticity of the document, which has been cited by some Iranian and Western media as a leaked version of the planned pact between Iran and China. Analysts note the agreement being circulated is very light on details and appears to be the framework of a potential deal. According to the text, which is labeled "final edit" on its front page and dated the Iranian month of Khordad -- which starts May 21 and ends June 19 -- the two sides will also increase military and security cooperation while working on joint-projects in third countries. Iran has in recent months increasingly reached out to China in the face of growing U.S. pressure to isolate Tehran. China remains Iran's main trading partner but trade between the two sides has dropped due to U.S. pressure in recent years. Analysts say China is not ready to give Tehran the support it seeks while also suggesting that some of the cooperation envisaged in the pact may never materialize. Ariane Tabatabai, a Middle East fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said, given its importance, the U.S. will always trump Iran for China. "Iran is a small, risky market, sanctions have severely impeded business [there], and the regime is isolated," she told RFE/RL. "Meanwhile, China has major economic interests in the U.S. and the trade war is still an important concern for China, which will inevitably shape its relationship with Iran." "If we look into what we know about the document and make some educated guesses, we see that the agreement is little more than a comprehensive road map based on the 2016 framework, which does not resolve the main issue of the China-Iran partnership -- its implementation," Jacopo Scita, an Al-Sabah doctoral fellow at Durham University, told RFE/RL. Why Is The Treaty Controversial? The pact is being discussed at a time when Iran is under intense pressure due to harsh U.S. sanctions that have crippled the economy and a deadly coronavirus pandemic that has worsened the economic situation. The timing as well as the scope and duration of the agreement has led to increased concerns that Tehran is negotiating with China from a position of weakness while giving Beijing access to Iran's natural resources for many years to come. A distrust in the Iranian authorities that intensified after a deadly November crackdown on antiestablishment protests and the downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet -- which was initially seen as a coverup -- has also contributed to the criticism of the proposed deal. A lack of trust in China, as well as rising anti-China sentiments due to the coronavirus pandemic, has also contributed to the controversy surrounding the pact. Tabatabai, the co-author of a book on Iranian ties with Russia and China, says the relationship between Tehran and Beijing has long been perceived as benefiting China far more than Iran. "The perception isn't fully inaccurate," she said. "From the elite's perspective, China makes big promises and delivers little. And from the population's perspective, China has been benefiting from the sanctions on Iran, it's flooded the Iranian market, pushed out Iranian businesses, and has delivered products that are subpar." She added: "Many Iranians feel like this deal will cement this unbalanced relationship." What Are The Critics Saying? Criticism of the planned pact appears to have increased following comments by former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, who warned in a speech in late June that a 25-year agreement with "a foreign country" was being discussed "away from the eyes of the Iranian nation." Others have since joined the criticism, including former conservative lawmaker Ali Motahari, who appeared to suggest on Twitter that before signing the pact Iran should raise the fate of Muslims who are reportedly being persecuted in China. Scita, who closely follows Iranian-Chinese relations, says some of the hype and anger surrounding the agreement were boosted by public figures with political agendas, including Ahmadinejad, who is said to be eying the 2021 presidential election. The exiled son of the shah of Iran, the country's last monarch who was ousted following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has also criticized the pact. Reza Pahlavi, who's taken an increasingly active role against the Islamic republic, blasted the "shameful, 25-year treaty with China that plunders our natural resources and places foreign soldiers on our soil." He also called on his supporters to oppose the treaty. The Persian account of the U.S. State Department referred to the planned agreement as a "second Turkmenchay" and said that Tehran is afraid to share the details of the pact because "no part of it is beneficial to the Iranian people." What Are Iranian Officials Saying? Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed that Tehran was negotiating an agreement with China "with confidence and conviction," while insisting there was nothing secret about it. Since then, officials have defended the deal while dismissing claims that Iran will sell discounted oil to China or give Kish Island to Beijing. President Hassan Rohani's chief of staff, Mahmud Vaezi, said over the weekend that the framework of the agreement has been defined, adding that the negotiations are likely to be finalized by March 21. Vaezi also said the agreement does not include foreign control over any Iranian islands or the deployment of Chinese military forces in the country. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/explainer- iranian-china-deal-anger-among- iranians/30724344.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Sea Isle is like many other municipalities in Cape May County, where 87.5% of firefighters are volunteer, with a total of 764 volunteer firefighters across 21 departments, according to the state Department of Community Affairs. Theres only one full career department in the county, and thats Ocean City. The Ocean City Fire Department took up a short residency in Sea Isle the first weekend in June for an unspecified cost, Business Administrator George Savastano said at a recent council meeting. Four firefighters and one firetruck from Ocean City were stationed there while the city worked with the department and the state to sort out necessary certification paperwork. During those 72 hours, there was not one call for service. However, when a call does come in for a working structure fire in the city, Strathmere, Ocean City, Ocean View and Avalon fire departments all respond, in addition to the citys volunteer department. Cause of Sea Isle City fire still under investigation SEA ISLE CITY Investigators continue to probe the fire that destroyed four residential uni Volunteer firefighters who are generally unpaid or work for a stipend and are called at any time of the day or night to respond to a blaze are in decline, so much so that Wildwood fire Chief Daniel Speigel called it a national epidemic. Turkey 'will not accept interference' on Hagia Sophia Remains open to all and no more entrance fees as mosque (ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, 14 LUG - The Turkish government noted that it would not accept any interference into its sovereignty after Pope Francis said he was ''pained'' by the reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The building had in the past served as the largest church in Christianity for almost a millenium prior to becoming a mosque and then a museum. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that it is a domestic issue and that foreign countries and authorities had no right to interfere in such matters. Turkey plans to reopen Hagia Sophia - which had been a museum for 85 years - as a mosque for worship on July 24. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart in a phone call that access to the monument would remain open to all, including foreign nationals, and that Christian relics would be safe. Entrance will become free of charge, as is the case for all mosques. (ANSAmed). The Egyptian deputy speaker described the Libyan parliament motion authorising Egypt to defend Libyans against Turkish aggression as historic Egypt's deputy parliament speaker said in a statement on Tuesday that Egyptian MPs value the Libyan parliament's decision to authorise Cairo to intervene militarily if needed to safeguard "the national security" of both countries in the face of what it termed a Turkish "occupation." "This is a historic decision aimed at allowing the Egyptian armed forces to stand up to Turkish aggression, and we MPs pledge that the Egyptian leadership and people are ready to defend Libya and will never let their Libyan brothers down," said Soliman Wahdan, who is also chairman of the Wafd party. Wahdan argued that the objective of the Libyan motion is to preserve the national security of both countries and to safeguard Libyan wealth from exploitation by terrorist groups sent by Turkey to plunder Libya. "I would also like to raise attention to the important role of the Libyan tribes in supporting their national army and standing up to any foreign aggression," said Wahdan, arguing that "the freely elected and internationally recognised Libyan parliament's decision provides a legitimate reason for Egypt to help the Libyan people." Wahdan also noted that Egypt's President Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi warned on 20 June that Egypt would not let the terrorist Turkey-supported militias, recruited from Syria, to cross a red line by attacking the cities of Sirte and Jufra. "President El-Sisi affirmed that there will be a strong and decisive response from Egypt in such a scenario," said Wahdan. "In the name of all Egyptian MPs, we support the Egyptian armed forces taking all the measures necessary to preserve the national security of Egypt and neighbouring Libya from any aggression," he added. Egypt last week concluded the main stage of the Hasm 2020" military drills. Land, maritime and air defence forces took part in the strategic manoeuvres in cooperation with the formations and units of the Western military region. The exercises aim at eradicating mercenaries, their gathering points, command centres and logistics. The Libyan parliament, led by speaker Aguila Saleh, backs military commander Khalifa Haftar, who fought a year-long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to seize the capital Tripoli from the Government of National Accord (GNA). Haftar is supported by Egypt and the UAE, while the GNA in Tripoli has the backing of their regional rivals Turkey and Qatar. In a resolution passed late Monday, the Tobruk-based parliament authorised the Egyptian armed forces to intervene to protect the national security of Libya and Egypt, if they see an imminent danger to both our countries." It also said that "Libya and Egypt should work together to guarantee the occupier's defeat and preserve our shared national security in the face of the dangers posed by the Turkish occupation." El-Sisi warned last month that Egypt could send troops into Libya, after the unity government pushed back Haftar's forces from around Tripoli following months of stalemate. El-Sisi said that any intervention in Libya by Egyptian forces "would be led by the Libyan tribes," and stressed that "we only aspire for stability in Libya." He said that Egypt has no ambitions in Libya, and only wishes to restore security and stability in the country. "We will not be invaders we only want a stable, safe and developed Libya," he said. Libya has seen years of violence since the ouster of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed 2011 uprising, with the GNA and the parliament in the east, elected in 2014, vying for power. Haftar launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital, but the GNA took advantage of Turkish military support to re-impose its control over Libya's northwest. Search Keywords: Short link: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:49:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Governor of the U.S. state of Washington sent a letter on Monday to the federal administration requesting funding to employ the Washington National Guard to support COVID-19 pandemic emergency response operations through December 31, 2020. Governor Jay Inslee wrote in the letter to Mark Esper, the Secretary of U.S. Department of Defense that the action is important "as the number of positive COVID-19 cases continues to climb." According to Inslee, more than 1,000 Citizen-Soldiers and Airmen are currently assisting with critical missions. "They are critical to our efforts to slow the spread of the virus by supporting COVID-mapping missions, assembling test kits, and operating community-based test sites. Additionally, uniquely skilled National Guard planners are assisting my COVID-19 food security team and other state agencies to ensure that we meet the health and welfare needs of Washingtonians through our phased re-opening plan," he said. Inslee sent a letter on May 20 to request the extension through the end of July. To date, the Washington National Guard has delivered more than 1.3 million meals or 33.5 million pounds of food to struggling families at food banks across the state, tested over 14,000 people at community-based testing sites, and built more than 150,000 test kits. Enditem (CNN) - France will give health care workers across the nation $9 billion in pay raises in recognition of their work during the pandemic, the country's Prime Minister Jean Castex has said. Castex, the Health Minister Olivier Veran and trade union representatives signed the agreement on Monday in Paris. In April, the French government said it would pay medical health care workers a bonus of up to $1,634 for treating Covid-19 patients. Hospital staff will receive $544 and those working directly in coronavirus-impacted areas will get $1,634. Under the new measures, non-medical health care workers will also receive a pay rise of $208 per month. This will be implemented across two stages -- the group will receive a $102 pay rise from September 2020 and a further additional $106 from March 2021. French health care workers held protests in June demanding better working conditions. Their demonstrations triggered a nationwide debate about their treatment. Activists from left-wing group Attac and Inter-Urgences, an association of paramedical staff, sprayed red paint on France's Health Ministry building in Paris on June 20 as part of the protests. "No one can doubt that this is a historic moment for our healthcare system," Castex said in a speech Monday. He added that the pay package recognized workers on "the frontline of the fight against the unprecedented, enduring and strong epidemic." "It's way of catching up for the years of delay where each and every one of us, including maybe even myself, has their part of the responsibility" he said. The Prime Minister added that the French government had a "clear objective" in providing "better working conditions in all health establishments," in a post on Twitter. Veran also took to Twiiter on Monday to pay tribute to workers who had "fought to save lives without ever losing heart." "Beyond recognition they expected acts: this is the objective of the [agreement] with a historic revaluation of salaries," he wrote. The package for health workers follows the French government's $16.9 billion funding pledge to support the country's aviation industry and an $8.8 billion bailout for its embattled car companies. In June, France's $3 trillion economy grew for the first time since February, as coronavirus restrictions were eased. This story was first published on CNN.com, "France to give $9 billion in pay raises to health care workers" NASA has unveiled a new rover design that could be used to help explore the surface of Venus. Nicknamed the 'Venus Feelers,' the rover was developed by an Egyptian architect and designer named Youssef Ghali. Ghali submitted his design as part of NASA's 'Exploring Hell' contest, which was an open call for experimental new rover designs capable of surviving hellish conditions on the surface of Venus. Scroll down for video NASA has unveiled a new experimental Venus rover design, called Venus Feelers, which was selected as the winner of it's 'Exploring Hell' design contest Ghali's design focused on a tri-wheel 'feeler' structure attached to the front of the rover, which help detect large rocks or deep holes to help keep the rover from becoming stuck in rocky or uneven terrain. Ghali will be awarded $15,000 for his submission, while NASA engineers will take his design and look at ways to integrate it into a future iteration of their own designs for a Venus rover, according to a report in Engadget. The feelers are shaped like overgrown fidget spinners and will roll across environmental obstacles that are 14 inches (35cm) or smaller. When they sense something taller than 14 inches, they'll automatically trigger the rover to stop and look for an alternate route. The feelers will also be able to measure the depth of holes using the same 14-inch threshold to stop the rover and keep it from becoming stuck. Venus Feelers was designed by Egyptian architect and designer Youssef Ghali, featuring a 'feeler' housing that attached to the front of the rover to detect potential obstacles The feelers can cross rocks and other obstacles 14 inches (35cm) or less without issue but rocks or other obstacles larger than 14 inches will cause the rover to stop and search for a new path The rover's wheel width will allow it to cross gaps narrower than 20 inches (50cm), and the feelers will also sound the alarm if they detect a gap larger than 20 inches and deeper than 14 inches. The Venus Feelers will also come with a ceramic spring suspension system built with a weighted pendulum attachment that will help it maintain balance on slopes with uneven terrain. The surface of Venus is one of the most challenging environments NASA will have targeted for exploration. Venus Feelers can also detect holes and will stop the rover if it detects a hole deeper than 14 inches. If the hole is narrower than 20 inches (50cm), however, the rover's wheels will be able to cross without falling in The rover also has a ceramic spring suspension system with a built-in pendulum that will help the rover navigate inclines while the feelers will keep it away from cliffs that are too steep Surface temperatures typically exceed 850 degrees Fahrenheit while air pressure is 92 times higher than on Earth. In 1982, the Soviet Academy of Sciences set the record for longest surviving rover on the planet surface, which remained active for 127 minutes before breaking down. The next longest lasting Venus rover, part of the Soviet Vega 2 mission in 1985, lasted just 52 minutes before going radio silent. SIG Combibloc Obeikan, one of the worlds leading systems and solutions provider for aseptic packaging and filling machines for food and beverages, and Zaki Group, one of the leading food dairy and beverage companies in Iraq, launched the first locally produced UHT liquid dairy product filled in SIGs 1 litre combidome carton pack in the Middle East and Africa region. The new premium family size pack under the Qirat Iraq brand will cater for three product categories: full fat, low fat and fat free white milk. This announcement represents a continuation of the groups strategy after recently launching the first locally produced single serve dairy product in Iraq. Bahaa Zeidan, General Manager, Zaki Group: "With our new packs, we are presenting UHT milk products that are unique and premium and shifting our strategy to cater to a rising demand in family size products in the market. SIGs carton pack combidome is an innovative pack that looks and handles like a bottle, while at the same time offering all the benefits of a carton pack as far as environmental and logistical advantages are concerned. The aseptic process ensures that consumers can rely on high-quality, tasty beverages with all their natural nutrients, vitamins, flavour and colours. The carton structure blocks light and air, ensuring that products can be stored for a long time without refrigeration or preservatives. With this new market launch of milk beverages in combidome for the first time, we are marking a milestone in the Iraqi market with locally produced products. We are confident that by choosing combidome, we are setting ourselves up for clear differentiation in the dairy segment with high quality products specially localized for our customers. Zaki Groups partnership with SIG Combibloc Obeikan has been growing over the years. The group benefits from the full flexibility of its existing lines with a vast and varied portfolio that includes 13 single serve sizes (from 80ml-350ml), and 3 family size packs (500,750, 1,000ml). Abdelghany Eladib, Chief Operating Officer, SIG Combibloc Obeikan, said: Zaki Group is a partner that continues to grow and expand while launching new products that should be accompanied with the best innovative solutions. We have witnessed an increase in demand for family size shelf stable milk since the pandemic has started accompanied with an increased global demand. As families are staying safe at home, purchases have been focused on shelve stocking for milk products. He added: We firmly believe combidome is an excellent fit for the companys ideas. For the UHT filling of products, the packs must meet the highest requirements for sterile use, because germs can reproduce much more readily in a low-acid environment such as milk than they can in a product like juice. The filling machines for combidome and the corresponding carton packs take this into account, so manufacturers can flexibly fill all kinds of beverages. Combidome, the carton bottle from SIG, combines the best features of a carton pack with the best features of a bottle, making it different from anything that has ever been seen before in food packaging. In 2014, the exceptional design of combidome has been recognised with one of the worlds most important design accolades: the iF Design Award. The carton packs remarkable design also creates numerous logistical advantages with which substantial savings can be achieved in total system costs. TradeArabia News Service A little more than a year ago, Kano unveiled a colorful build-it-yourself tablet running Windows 10. But then the company went quiet and, well, we never knew if the product actually came out. The Kano PC was sold, it turns out, but only to a small group of fans that were happy to act as unofficial beta testers. Clearly, the design team wasnt happy with its first attempt at a Surface-style convertible. Thats why we didnt hear much about it, and why today the company is back with a next-generation Kano PC thats ready for store shelves and post-lockdown classrooms. The basic concept is unaltered. The Kano PC is a chunky tablet that you have to assemble with components wrapped in colourful plastic. They snap together like Lego and can be viewed afterwards through a transparent rear panel. Like the original, it will ship with an 11.6-inch touchscreen that lets you tap and swipe around Microsofts desktop operating system. While not indestructible, Kano says the panel can withstand a steel ball dropped from six feet. The new version also has the same 4GB of RAM, 64GB of internal storage and microSD card slot. Kano Kano has made a number of changes, though, for the second-gen model. Every aspect of the physical and electronic design has been improved, a company spokesperson told Engadget. The biggest upgrade is arguably the dual-core Intel Celeron processor, which replaces the more modest Atom x5-Z8350 chip. The internal battery is now charged over USB-C and both USB-A ports will be 3.0, rather than 3.0 and 2.0. Battery life has been increased to 10 hours, according to Kano, and the heatsink has been extended to improve the devices thermal performance. Theres also physical volume buttons on the right-hand edge of the tablet and Bluetooth 5.0 support, which trumps the Bluetooth 4.2 offered before. The specs arent high end, but neither is the price. Kanos PC costs $299 and, unlike Microsofts $399.99 Surface Go 2, includes a wrap-around keyboard cover. Instead, the device is competing with low-end Windows 10 hardware, Chromebooks and Apples entry-level iPad. Kano claims its two-in-one performs better than many more expensive laptops, including the Acer Spin 11 and an unspecified HP ProBook, in various Novabench tests. The Lego-like design means it should also be easier to repair and upgrade. Both will be largely dependent, though, on Kano making and distributing the parts, which need to fit in designated slots. Kano Kanos PC will ship with Kano Software Studio, a collection of apps filled with programming challenges. Its compatible with Kano World, a platform for sharing and downloading user-made creations, and will dovetail with Kano Club, a subscription offering that includes exclusive apps and bi-weekly video and content drops. Kano has also developed a 40-lesson Creative Computing Curriculum and a Microsoft Teams integration that should help teachers run virtual classes and track student projects. Finally, Kano is working on a slew of peripherals that include a webcam, mouse and headphones. The webcam is attached to a bendable cable so it can theoretically double as a front and rear-facing camera and has multiple lenses so students can learn how to shoot macro photographs. Kano The Kano PC launches today and is available to order through the companys website, as well as Best Buy and Microsofts online stores. The two-in-one will also be available in Best Buy outlets across the US and Canada later this month. Kano will be chasing lucrative school contracts, too, and other educational bulk buys around the world. In a press release, the company said it was already in discussions to distribute the device through the UAEs Private Office of Sheikh Saeed Bin Ahmed Al Maktoum. The Kano PC follows a wealth of Raspberry Pi-powered machines and a Kickstarter campaign that promised standalone Camera, Speaker and lightboard Pixel kits. To date, only the lightboard has shipped. In a backer update posted last December, Kano said it was working on a new Speaker kit that would be announced sometime in 2020. The Camera, however, was a privacy minefield that had to be abandoned. Today, Kano said anyone who backed the Camera, Speaker or Pixel kit will receive a free webcam, headphones and mouse. "They're a more than $100 value," the company said on Kickstarter. "Transparent, modular, and full of content." Since the campaigns launch in 2016, Kano has released a tiny motion sensor kit and multiple products that leverage the Harry Potter, Star Wars and Frozen licenses. Update 7/14/20 10:03AM ET: Added information about the free webcam, headphones and mouse for Kickstarter backers. New York, NY, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a leading global, independent infrastructure investor, announced today that its credit fund, GIP Spectrum Fund, L.P., along with its affiliates (together GIP Spectrum, Spectrum or the Fund), previously closed on a $67.5 million participation in an aggregate $75.0 million Second Lien Term Loan investment (the Term Loan) in Grupo Via Central S.A. (GVC). GVC was established by Sacyr, NGE, Saceem, and Berkes (collectively the Sponsors), to design, construct, rehabilitate and maintain a 273 kilometer freight railroad connecting central Uruguay to the capital port city of Montevideo (Ferrocarril Central or the Project). The Project is underpinned by availability payments via a Public Private Partnership contract (the PPP Contract) between GVC and the Government of Uruguay (GoU) through the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Proceeds from the Term Loan, together with a first lien senior bank term loan, advance payments from the GoU and common equity from the Sponsors will fund the construction of the ~$1.1 billion Project. Ferrocarril Central is expected to reach operations in the third quarter of 2022. The Project will allow movement of various cargo (forestry, agriculture, containers, fuel) and pulp from a greenfield 2.1 Mtpa eucalyptus pulp mill under construction in Paso de los Toros. The Project was awarded to GVC in June 2019 under an availability-based concession backed by the GoU (Baa2 / BBB) for a period of 18 years, out of which approximately 3.25 years will be the construction and rehabilitation of the railroad line and 14.75 years will be maintenance of the Project. The Ferrocarril Central transaction represents GIP Credits third capital commitment to Latin America and the second investment by GIP Spectrum. Spectrum invests in customized credit financings in GIPs core sectors of midstream energy, power, renewables and transport, leveraging GIPs significant operating expertise. We are very pleased to have entered into this transaction with GVC and its Sponsors, Sacyr, NGE, Saceem and Berkers said Jennifer Powers, GIP Partner and Chair of GIP Credit. As the only direct railroad connecting central Uruguay with the Port of Montevideo, Uruguays primary point of import / export, the Project represents a highly strategic infrastructure investment for the GoU. The Project is expected to have significant economic impact, adding an anticipated $1bn per year to Uruguays GDP and creating 3,000 new jobs. This investment exemplifies GIP Spectrums ability to provide unique credit solutions for high quality, essential infrastructure projects, and be a reliable and flexible partner. Story continues Working with GIP has been a tremendous experience. They are a trusted partner who provide solutions to problems as they arise. GIP has the ability to listen to and adapt their requirements to extraordinary needs and situations, such as COVID-19. We are looking forward to repeating this experience in the near future, said Rodrigo Jimenez-Alfaro, Chief Financial Officer of Sacyr Concesiones S.A. For Saceem, a company with headquarters in Uruguay focused in the engineering & construction sector in Latin America, it has been a superb experience working with GIP. We look forward to hopefully working again with GIP in other initiatives in the region, said Daniel Temesio, Chief Financial Officer of Saceem. About Global Infrastructure Partners Global Infrastructure Partners ("GIP") is an independent infrastructure fund manager that makes equity and debt investments in infrastructure assets and businesses. GIP targets investments in the energy, transport and water/waste sectors in both OECD and select emerging market countries. GIPs teams are located in 10 offices: London, New York, Stamford (Connecticut), Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Mumbai, Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong. GIP Spectrum is part of GIPs credit platform (GIP Credit) which provides financing solutions and makes debt and non-common equity investments in infrastructure assets and companies. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com. CONTACT: Media Inquiries Team Global Infrastructure Partners 646 282 1545 mediainquiries@global-infra.com Kath Sansom had hoped now would be the time she could finally 'step away from all of this and wind it down' by 'all of this', the 52-year-old means the long fight for victims of faulty vaginal mesh. Since 2011, Good Health has been telling the stories of women whose lives had been devastated by problems with the plastic tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) inserted to treat incontinence and prolapse. When the women tried to talk to their doctors about their symptoms, including crippling pain and incontinence, they were often dismissed. When Kath had the procedure for mild incontinence, like so many other victims, she experienced problems immediately afterwards. Ten weeks later, in June 2015, the single mother of two set up Sling The Mesh, a support group for those affected (it now has more than 8,000 members). Kath Sansom, 52, had hoped now would be the time she could finally 'step away from all of this and wind it down' by 'all of this' she means the fight for victims of faulty vaginal mesh She convinced doctors to remove her mesh six months later, but by then the damage had been done and she's in constant pain from nerve damage caused by the mesh cutting through tissue. In association with Good Health, Kath has led a relentless effort to demand a government inquiry. Last week saw the publication of a report from a two-year investigation led by former Conservative health minister Baroness Julia Cumberlege into the devastating problems caused to women by the mesh, as well as the anti-epilepsy drug sodium valproate and the pregnancy test Primodos (which can both harm developing foetuses). The damning report from The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review described the 'shocking and truly heart-rending experience' of hearing about intense suffering that was endured for decades, and a culture where doctors were oblivious to the risk of harm and unwilling to hear evidence they had caused it. But while the report vindicated the women's complaints, observers are questioning how much parliamentary effort will be invested in implementing its proposals as the Government wrestles with Brexit and the Covid crisis, and there are concerns it will be quietly shelved. The Mesh of a surgical mesh kit. Thousands of women could have been spared complications from mesh surgery, a damning review concluded As Kath, a communications consultant from March, Cambridgeshire, explains: 'It's clear to me and other mesh victims that without someone working to move forward the recommendations, nothing will happen. 'I have thousands of people behind me and I feel I owe it to them to keep going with this.' The 277-page report contains nine recommendations, including setting up a register of patients who have received a medical device of any kind in case they go wrong (this will also enable doctors to see how widespread issues may be); the establishment of a patient safety commissioner to give people a route to complain; and a compensation scheme to cover the healthcare costs of those crippled by the three interventions investigated in the report. Much of the report's ire is aimed at the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is meant to protect the public. It has been under the spotlight for a series of safety failures, including breast implants made of mattress silicone (the PIP scandal); disintegrating artificial metal hip joints; and defective pacemakers. Funding for the MHRA comes from the drugs industry, and staff often move backwards and forwards between jobs with drug and device manufacturers. Medical mesh is cut by a surgeon. In association with Good Health, Kath has led a relentless effort to demand a government inquiry The Cumberlege report says the MHRA is too close to the industry it regulates and is 'open to both perceived and actual influences'. 'Approval' for medical devices, as Good Health has previously reported, is deeply flawed. Unlike the stringent requirements for drug testing, which can delay the introduction of new treatments for up to a decade, the only requirement for a medical device is that it has a CE mark, to say it conforms to EU safety standards. In 2014, Carl Heneghan, a professor of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University and a long-term critic of the medical devices industry, led an undercover operation to prove regulation is so lax it was possible to get the plastic mesh used to sell oranges approved as an implantable medical device on the basis it was similar to other mesh products on the market. Yet nothing changed. When it comes to monitoring devices, the MHRA has no register of different brands of any of the products it is meant to regulate, nor does it know how many problems there have been. Its budget for device regulation is just 10.3 million a year, compared with the 450 million given to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the same task. The Cumberlege report also says people asked to serve on MHRA expert advisory groups often have conflicts of interest (because they had received financial rewards from manufacturers in the past); it identified the same issue with doctors, demanding the setting up of a register obliging doctors to reveal all payments. Linda Millband of Thomson's solicitors Linda Millband of Thomson's solicitors, who represents 250 women taking legal action against doctors and hospitals who caused their mesh injuries. 'When vaginal meshes were introduced, doctors were offered trips to five-star hotels in Vienna and Budapest to have two-hour sessions showing them how to put the devices in,' she says. But while the report addresses these and other concerns, some, like Kath, fear it will be quietly buried. Baroness Cumberlege made clear her fury that the launch of her report was over-shadowed by the announcement of Chancellor Rishi Sunak's 30 billion economic rescue plan. 'If this Government ignores our review and another medication or medical device damages people, they should not be forgiven,' she said. Professor Heneghan believes Kath and the Baroness are right to be concerned about the likely response to recommendations. 'In 2003, NICE recommended that data on the effectiveness of surgical devices should be collected for ten years, but it didn't happen,' he told Good Health. 'In 2005, the Government's health select committee called for a register of doctors' conflicts of interest. The General Medical Council asked doctors what they thought and said there wasn't a majority in favour, so that was the end of that. It takes money and willpower.' The idea of improving the complaints procedure 'has been around for decades,' adds Peter Walsh, chief executive of the charity Action Against Medical Accidents. He is not optimistic that the report's recommendations will ever be implemented. 'The worry is that the combination of Brexit and the costs of recovery from Covid-19 will get in the way of any meaningful change,' he says. After the PIP scandal of 2012, when 47,000 women were given defective breast implants, a drive began to tighten the law, and there is a new medicines and medical devices bill the legislation came originally from the EU due to come into effect next year. This is meant to improve information sharing about defective products and prevent manufacturers launching untested new devices by claiming they are identical to other products on the market. The new law is also meant to increase funding for device regulation by imposing a levy on manufacturers for approval of their products, but it has still not become law and is scheduled to be enacted only next year. 'If we want safer medical devices, we should be doing much more,' says Dr Michael Kipping, a former senior MHRA manager who now works in health and life sciences at Innovate UK (a government agency that supports businesses developing new ideas). 'We should help innovators navigate the regulatory environment, which would reduce development time and enable testing to be tailored appropriately from the outset, probably reducing costs.' He adds: 'Instead of relying on 'expert opinion' [in approving devices] we should be using data-driven approaches to regulate safety and performance. 'That is the only way to move things forward.' Century Plaza Mall closed for good in 2009, a once 100-tenant mall left empty and deteriorating. Birmingham City Council rezoned the site for industrial use Tuesday, allowing way for an unnamed company -- likely Amazon -- to raze the old structures and remake it into a 200,000 square foot final mile package distribution center. Councilor Hunter Williams said the center will bring 300 full-time jobs and more than 1,000 part-time jobs. Packages destined to be delivered will arrive boxed and ready for van delivery to addresses across the Birmingham area. It will operate around the clock and will be fenced and require credentials to gain access. Williams referred to our friends in Seattle in discussing the project, a reference believed to be to Amazons headquarters in Washington. The buildings will be razed, with more than $1 million spent to mitigate asbestos used in construction, said Martin Evans, who represents the developer. The mall opened in 1975. The facility could open by mid-2021. Since the closure, real estate developers have discussed multiple options for the site, including a car dealership, a call center, large office or assembly facility. The Eastwood Neighborhood Association voted against the project. A neighborhood officer said the vote reflected worries that the zoning change to industrial is permanent and any other future use would not require approval from the neighborhood or the city. All of the directors and senior officers of the company have tendered their shares to the offer Pro Asian Gold, China George Hu Gexin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gold, said, "When we entered into our agreement with the top mining company, we carefully examined the opportunity that it represents. We continue to believe that our offer remains competitive with other development opportunities available to us, while providing full and fair value to its shareholders." George Hu Gexin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gold, said, "When we entered into our agreement with the top mining company, we carefully examined the opportunity that it represents. We continue to believe that our offer remains competitive with other development opportunities available to us, while providing full and fair value to its shareholders." Zhengzhou, China, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pro Asian Gold, a leading, growth-focussed gold mining company that is consistently generating superior returns, dedicated to delivering on its values and promises, and always focused on improving its environmental, social and governance performance, today announced that a top Mining Corporation announced today that Pro Asian Gold has extended the period for acceptance of its offer to purchase its common shares. Pro Asian Gold expects to mail a formal notice of extension to all shareholders. The name of the top Mining Corporation will be released after all the regulatory approvals. The offer is being extended to accommodate a condition of the offer requiring approval of the acquisition under the Chinese Investment Rules that has not yet been satisfied. The initial review period under the Chinese Investment Rules will expire at the end of the year. Separately, an advance ruling certificate was received from the Competition Committee Board which permits Pro Asian Gold to proceed with the transaction under the Chinese Investment Rules and Competition Board. The board of directors of the mining company continues its unanimous determination that the offer is fair, from a financial point of view, to the mining company shareholders and continues to unanimously recommend that the mining company shareholders accept the price offered, all cash offer and tender all of their shares. George Hu Gexin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gold, said, "When we entered into our agreement with the top mining company, we carefully examined the opportunity that it represents. We continue to believe that our offer remains competitive with other development opportunities available to us, while providing full and fair value to its shareholders." Story continues About Pro Asian Gold Pro Asian Gold is a leading, growth-focussed gold mining company that has a reputation for consistency and reliability. The companys operations deliver superior operational execution by managing safety risks to reach zero harm, continually improving operational performance and meeting commitments without fail. Pro Asian Gold is sustaining a global portfolio of long-life assets by executing profitable expansions and investing in early stage prospects with a goal to grow margins, reserves and resources. The companys business model is a leading one in the industry, delivering profitability and responsibility through consistently generating superior returns, dedicated to delivering on its values and promises, and always focused on improving its environmental, social and governance performance. George Hu Gexin +86 377 6391 9470 http://proasiangold.com/ Pro Asian Gold, China Attachment CONTACT: george.gexin@proasiangold.com WINNEMUCCA, Nev., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE American: PZG) ("Paramount or the Company) announced today that the Oregon Water Resource Department (OWRD) has reviewed and approved the plans and specifications for the tailings dam proposed for the Grassy Mountain mine and stated that from a safety perspective, the plans are construction-ready. The OWRD reviewed the data within the Consolidated Permit Application which Paramount submitted in November 2019 and which included all tailings design drawings, safety analysis, field data collected and laboratory testing. The OWRD and its engineering team are required to review and evaluate the data and design, classify the hazard level (high, significant, or low hazard rating) and evaluate readiness for construction from a dam safety perspective. Considering the projects remote geographic location, low population density, arid nature with no rivers or permanent streams in close proximity, seismic analysis and all other data compiled, OWRD has rated the dam as low hazard, its lowest risk level. The approval for construction is valid for 5 years with extensions possible on request. Paramount President and COO, Glen Van Treek commented, This is an important achievement which shows confidence by the OWRD in the quality of the work completed by Golder Associates, Inc, Paramounts consultants on the Tailings Storage Facility design. Approval of the design of the dam is a critical component of the overall permitting process. Paramount continues to work with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI) and all of the coordinating and permitting State agencies to advance the Consolidated Permit Application process for the proposed Grassy Mountain Gold Mine. To stay informed of future press releases, subscribe to our E-Alerts Program and to learn more about our projects visit the projects section of our website. About Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. is a U.S. based precious metals exploration and development company. Paramounts strategy is to create shareholder value through exploring and developing its mineral properties and to realize this value for its shareholders in three ways: by selling its assets to established producers; entering into joint ventures with producers for construction and operation; or constructing and operating mines for its own account. Story continues Paramount owns 100% of the Grassy Mountain Gold Project which consists of approximately 11,000 acres located on private and BLM land in Malheur County, Oregon. The Grassy Mountain Gold Project contains a gold-silver deposit (100% located on private land) for which results of a positive Pre-Feasibility Study have been released and key permitting milestones accomplished. Paramount owns a 100% interest in the Sleeper Gold Project located in Northern Nevada, the worlds premier mining jurisdiction. The Sleeper Gold Project, which includes the former producing Sleeper mine, totals 2,322 unpatented mining claims (approximately 60 square miles or 15,500 hectares). The Sleeper gold project is host to a large gold deposit (over 4 million ounces of mineralized material) and the Company has completed and released a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements This release and related documents may include "forward-looking statements" and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) pursuant to applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. Paramounts future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable securities laws. Words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although these words may not be present in all forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements included in this news release include, without limitation, statements with respect to the use of proceeds from the Offerings. Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analyses and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Management believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conclusions made in the preliminary feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project (the PFS); the quantity and grade of resources included in resource estimates; the accuracy and achievability of projections included in the PFS; Paramounts ability to carry on exploration and development activities, including construction; the timely receipt of required approvals and permits; the price of silver, gold and other metals; prices for key mining supplies, including labor costs and consumables, remaining consistent with current expectations; work meeting expectations and being consistent with estimates and plant, equipment and processes operating as anticipated. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: uncertainties involving interpretation of drilling results; environmental matters; the ability to obtain required permitting; equipment breakdown or disruptions; additional financing requirements; the completion of a definitive feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs and between estimated and actual production; the global epidemics, pandemics, or other public health crises, including the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global health pandemic, and the spread of other viruses or pathogens and the other factors described in Paramounts disclosures as filed with the SEC and the Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta Securities Commissions. Except as required by applicable law, Paramount disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Rachel Goldman, Chief Executive Officer Christos Theodossiou, Director of Corporate Communications 866-481-2233 Twitter: @ParamountNV Here are todays leading news stories: Society -- A 53-year-old Vietnamese man who returned to Vietnam from Russia on July 9 was confirmed to have been infected with novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Tuesday morning. The countrys tally is now at 373, with 352 having recovered. -- A Taiwanese firm based in the southern province of Dong Nai was caught illegally burning more than three metric tons of garbage on Monday, according to environmental officers under the provincial Department of Police. -- About 20 men from two gangs engaged in a violent confrontation in the emergency facility of Gia Dinh Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City after two patients were admitted to the infirmary at midnight on Sunday. Police arrived after only five minutes to break up the incident. -- A 34-year-old man was attacked by four strangers at a coffee shop in Da Lat, a popular tourist destination in the Central Highlands, last weekend after posting negative comments about a new attraction in the resort city on his Facebook account. -- Police in the Mekong Delta province of Tien Giang arrested 44 men and five women for illegal street racing early on Monday morning. About 36 motorcycles and two machetes were also confiscated. -- More than 340 Vietnamese citizens were repatriated on Sunday and Monday after being stranded in the UK due to the COVID-19 pandemic. -- A 34-year-old man in Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City was arrested for assault on Monday after being caught on camera beating a four-year-old girl who is his girlfriends daughter. Education -- The prime minister has approved a plan to build the 300-hectare Da Nang University on the border between Da Nang and Quang Nam Province in central Vietnam, which will provide education for up to 60,000 students yearly. World news -- More than 13.2 million people have gone down with COVID-19 and over 574,900 have lost their lives to the disease around the world, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Health's statistics. Over 7.6 million people have recovered from the disease. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:25:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TIRANA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Albanian Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu said on Tuesday that health authorities have decided to make it mandatory for people to wear masks indoors. During a visit to a health center in the capital city Tirana, Manastirliu said the decision to make the use of masks mandatory is a necessary measure, which will enter into force to protect the health of citizens and limit the spread of COVID-19. "With the decision of the Technical Committee of Experts we have decided that the use of protective masks or barriers to be mandatory in public transport or high-risk activities, and from now to be used indoors as well," she said. All those individuals who will not use a protective mask or barrier, according to the instructions of the Health Ministry, will be penalized, the minister said. Manastirliu appealed to all those people who are skeptical about the coronavirus, saying that, in order to be convinced, they must take into account the suffering of the patients hospitalized at the Infectious Diseases Hospital, where currently there are 90 people under treatment. "We can fight this disease by using simple weapons, such as the use of a mask. Scientific communities have admitted that protective masks or barriers reduce the spread of infection indoors," the minister noted. The obligation to put on masks indoors will be determined by a Normative Act from the government, which will also determine the penalties for non-compliance with this obligation. On Tuesday, health authorities in Albania reported 96 new coronavirus cases and two COVID-19 related deaths over the last 24 hours. Since March 9 when the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Albania, the total number of confirmed cases has reached 3,667, with 2,062 recoveries and 97 fatalities. Enditem Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87, has taken frequent trips to the hospital in recent years for various ailments. United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to a hospital on Tuesday morning for treatment of a possible infection, a court spokeswoman said. The Justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment, spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement. Ginsburg, 87, was initially seen at a hospital in Washington, DC, on Monday night after experiencing fever and chills. She underwent a procedure at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday afternoon to clean a bile duct stent that was placed last August. Ginsburg, the courts oldest justice, has had a series of health scares in recent years. Last May, she underwent nonsurgical treatment for a gallstone that had caused an infection. The US high court has recently come under calls for increased transparency regarding the health of the justices. In June, Chief Justice John Roberts fell and hit his head while at a club in Maryland, causing bleeding so severe he spent the night in a hospital. The news came not from the court, but from a report by the Washington Post, which was then confirmed. It was also made public that Roberts recovered. Fix The Court (FTC), a New York-based watchdog group that advocates for increased transparency, expressed happiness at Robertss recovery, but said the lack of public disclosure could jeopardise the courts standing. The Court is increasingly being drawn into the politics of the day, so anything it does, or doesnt do, that may erode the publics trust is concerning, FTCs executive director Gabe Roth said in a statement in early July. Given this dynamic, the Chief Justice shouldnt hide the fact he cracked his head open. Ginsburg and Justice Sonia Sotomayor have generally been the most forthcoming about their health, given their cancer and diabetes diagnoses, respectively, the statement noted, though relevant updates are often delayed by days or weeks. Mailed in ballots sit in U.S. Postal Service bins inside the office of the Stanislaus County Clerk in Modesto, Calif. on Nov. 6, 2018. (Alex Edelman/Getty Images) New York, New Jersey Mail-in Voting Problems May Foreshadow Difficulties in Upcoming Presidential Vote The unique problems posed by voting-by-mail are being blamed for election fraud in New Jersey and for a now-three-week delay in counting ballots for New York Citys primary elections, with many races yet to be decided. These difficulties may foreshadow larger problems to come in the November presidential elections. The processing backlog in the Big Apple wouldnt necessarily be a big concern normally, but with voters worried about contracting the CCP virus from casting ballots in-person, voting-by-mail was reportedly unusually heavy in the citys electoral contests. Officials cant keep up. In Manhattan in 2016, there were approximately 7,000 presidential primary absentee voters, ABC News quoted Sarah Steiner, who used to chair the New York City Bars Election Law Committee. And you had Hillary [Clinton] and Bernie [Sanders]. That was a competitive [Democratic Party] primary. But in 2020, absentee primary votes in Manhattan increased to more than 121,000. And in New Jersey, Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal, a Democrat, charged four men with voter fraud in connection with a municipal election in Paterson, the states third-largest city, RealClearPolitics reported. Citing concerns about the ongoing pandemic, the election was conducted entirely by mail-in balloting. In the election for city council, 16,747 vote-by-mail ballots were received by officials, although only 13,557 votes were counted. Upwards of 3,190 votes, or 19 percent of all ballots cast, were disqualified. The local NAACP chapter wants the entire election redone. Problems Experts say voting-by-mail is fraught with problems. That method of voting gives wrongdoers greater opportunities for fraud, compared to in-person balloting, they say. Christian Adams, president of the Indianapolis-based Public Interest Legal Foundation and a former U.S. Department of Justice civil rights attorney, is wary of mass voting-by-mail. Mail ballots are uniquely subject to fraud and undue influence, Adams previously told The Epoch Times. Elections should occur in public with election observers from each side watching the process. Elections should not be conducted behind closed doors. The bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, chaired by former President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, found in 2005 that absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud and that vote-buying schemes are far more difficult to detect when citizens vote by mail. In fact, it was concern about vote-buying, a practice that had been pervasive, that helped drive the move to the secret ballot, which U.S. states adopted between 1888 and 1950, John R. Lott Jr. wrote in The Wall Street Journal. Secret ballots made it harder for vote buyers to monitor which candidates sellers actually voted for. Unreliable University of South Alabama Dean Dr. Alec Yasinsac authored a 2012 research paper, Did Your Mailed Ballot Count: The Unrecognized Unreliability of Voting by Mail. While voting fraud is the most commonly cited problem with vote-by-mail, it is only one aspect of the issues plaguing the integrity of elections nationwide, Alabama Today reported. Yasinsacs research breaks down some of the most frequent problems. Among them, common procedural errors such as those that contributed to an estimated 4.2% percent of invalid ballots in the Minnesota 2008 elections. Yasinsac describes these as, Common errors include failure to sign, signing in the wrong place, and improper packaging (e.g., husband and wife bundling two absentee ballots in the same envelope). Mail-in voting programs also consistently experience ballots arriving late to elections offices because of postal processing delays, as well as election fraud, lost ballots, and under- or over-counted ballots because of mishandling by election officials, according to the paper. Yasinsac, a computer science professor, writes in his paper that voting-by-mail, or VBM, is inherently unreliable. Worse yet, it disenfranchises discernable constituencies that can influence electoral results, causing other than the voters choice to determine winners. He states it is fundamentally more difficult to ensure the validity of VBM ballots (one person-one vote) than for those cast in person, both because it is more difficult to strongly authenticate the voter (Voter Authentication) and to bind a ballot to the identified voter (Ballot Attribution). Voter privacy can also suffer during the VBM process. Well beyond the commonly heard practice of voting for an ill spouse or parent, VBM is inherently susceptible to violations of even this minimal privacy interpretation, since each VBM ballot must be bound to the identity of the voter in order to ensure one person-one vote, Yasinsac writes. Elections officials institute procedures to protect voter privacy, but the inherent vulnerability still exists for every VBM ballot. Advocating for Voting by Mail But politicians, especially Democrats, are now pushing hard to make universal voting by mail the norm throughout the country. They claim its needed to prevent exposing voters to the COVID-19 virus, as could happen when casting ballots in person. Democrats determined to make mail-in balloting the sole means of voting for all Americans in Novembers election are attacking electoral integrity laws across the United States in the courts, in an attempt to overturn restrictions on voting-by-mail. Democrats and other voting-by-mail advocates claim that in the era of the CCP virus, voters shouldnt have to risk their physical well-being to vote and argue that mail-in voting preserves the health of both the electoral process and the electorate. Democrats are suing in at least 13 states to overturn restrictions on mail-in votingand more lawsuits are promised. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told MSNBC on May 20 that voting-by-mail will now be called voting at home. Voting in person is a health issue in the era of the pandemic, she said. Republicans say widespread mail-in voting is a terrible idea. President Donald Trump tweeted on the subject April 8: Republicans should fight very hard when it comes to state wide mail-in voting. Democrats are clamoring for it. Tremendous potential for voter fraud, and for whatever reason, doesnt work out well for Republicans. States Adopting Mail-in Ballots Elections systems across the country offer vote-by-mail as an option or mandate it. Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington carry out their elections wholly by mail. Officials send ballots by post to all eligible voters. In California, some counties are allowed to run all-mail elections. As of 2020, more than 50 percent of the states voting population live in counties that do it this way. On May 8, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed an executive order, which has come under legal challenge, to require each countys election officials to send vote-by-mail ballots for the November election to all registered voters. Certain states allow some elections to be carried out by mail, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). They are Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming. At least 17 states allow specific kinds of elections to be done wholly by mail. In these cases, all registered voters are mailed ballots. In such cases, the voter marks the ballot, inserts it into a secrecy envelope, signs an affidavit on the outside portion of the mailing envelope, and sends off the package through the mail or drops it off in person. Five statesIdaho, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, and New Mexicoallow jurisdictions or units within a jurisdiction to be designated as all-mail based on population figures. California, Nebraska, and North Dakota allow counties to decide if an election should be carried out entirely by mail. Those in favor of voting-by-mail say voters like the convenience because it allows them to review their ballots at home, rather than under pressure with many people waiting in line behind them, according to an NCSL fact sheet. The process also saves money because the governments administering the election dont need the same level of staffing that in-person balloting requires. They add that some studies say it increases voter turnout. Critics counter that voting-by-mail imposes costly burdens on those administering it. It increases postage expenses if the jurisdiction pays for return postage. It increases voter errors that are less likely to happen with in-person voting and drags out the reporting of election results. It also increases opportunities for voters to be coerced, deprives citizens of the shared civic experience of voting with neighbors, and disenfranchises voters who lack street addresses and have difficulty receiving mail. OTTAWAThe federal government is trying to block Huawei executive Meng Wanzhous access to some documents in her extradition case, arguing in affidavits that disclosing sensitive information would harm national security. In an affidavit filed in Federal Court, Global Affairs Canadas director general in South Asia says if sensitive information were released to Mengs legal team, it could undermine Canadas diplomatic strategy and may risk harm to Canadian lives. David Hartman says China regularly blames foreign governments for the consequences of its actions and its in Canadas interest to ensure the management of that relationship isnt harmed by the disclosure of sensitive information. Generally speaking, such disclosure would inflame tensions between the governments of Canada and China, and would, necessarily, provoke a response harmful to bilateral relations and Canadian interests, says Hartmans affidavit dated June 26. Redacted documents between Canadas spy agency and the FBI over Mengs arrest in December 2018 have been released, but the Canadian attorney general is arguing against the further release of information at a hearing scheduled for July 27. The United States wants Meng extradited to face fraud charges over allegations she broke American sanctions against Iran, which she denies. Hartmans affidavit points out that after Mengs arrest two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were detained, and there was a retrial and death sentence for Canadian Robert Schellenberg. He also mentions that the Chinese government has suspended imports of Canadian canola seed. China regularly seeks to blame foreign governments for the consequences of its actions, rather than examining how its own behaviour affects international public opinion, Hartmans affidavit says. Thats why its in Canadas best interests to ensure the complex relationship between the two countries isnt further damaged by the public disclosure of sensitive information, the document says. China charged both Kovrig and Spavor with spying last month, accusations U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called groundless. Another affidavit filed by Michel Guay, an officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, says if the information is released it could identify informants or relationships with other intelligence agencies, injuring national security. Guays affidavit says he doesnt know whats in the redacted portions of the documents and didnt prepare the information given to Mengs lawyers, but secrecy is essential in security intelligence matters. The requirement for secrecy is to protect the integrity of past, present and future investigations, as well as to protect the integrity of the methodologies or capabilities of the service. Meng remains out on bail, living in her Vancouver home, while her extradition case continues before a B.C. Supreme Court judge. Read more about: Vietnams Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced a new COVID-19 patient who had returned from Russia and been quarantined upon arrival. The patient is 53 years old and has a registered address in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, the health ministry said. On July 9, the male patient landed at Can Tho International Airport in the eponymous city, located in the Mekong Delta, aboard flight VN5062 from Russia. He was sent to a centralized quarantine center in Ca Mau, Vietnams southernmost province, upon landing. His sample was taken for a COVID-19 test on Sunday and the result then returned positive. He is being isolated for treatment at Ca Mau General Hospital. Vietnam has logged 373 COVID-19 cases, with 352 having recovered from the disease and zero deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. Out of the 21 patients in treatment, 15 are still coronavirus-positive while six have tested negative at least once. At the time of writing, authorities in the Southeast Asian country are quarantining 13,300 people coming from outbreak-hit regions, including 72 at hospitals, over 400 at home, and the rest at collective facilities. Vietnam has not documented a single case of local transmission over the last 89 days but the virus has been detected among those entering the country from abroad. Vietnam has denied entry to all foreigners since March 22 and suspended international flights from March 25 to stall COVID-19 spread. But the government has approved the entry of foreign experts and skilled workers, all subject to quarantine upon arrival, and arranged for flights to bring overseas Vietnamese back home. The Ministry of Transport said on Monday that the country had decided to resume commercial flights to and from China where the virus first surfaced in December last year but it stopped short of mentioning a date. Vietnam and China would work on when flights would be restored, the ministry said in a statement. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! New Delhi: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday detained for the third time in two days. Delhi Police picked him up from Jantar Mantar to prevent him from leading a protest march over the suicide of an ex-serviceman, allegedly due to his grievances in implementation of OROP. Around 7 PM, Rahul was whisked away by police, first to 5 Firoz Shah Road and later to Tughlak Road Police Station where he was kept for over one hour. The police action triggered sharp reactions from the Congress leadership which accused the Narendra Modi government of making a mockery of democracy and likened the situation to an undeclared Emergency. Speaking to reporters after his release, Rahul claimed police refused to lodge his complaint over his detention. If police refuses to accept the complaint of an MP, imagine the plight of the common man. How will they accept their complaints? Yeh Modi ji ka naya Hindustan hai (This is the new India of Modi, Rahul said. HIGHLIGHTS | Rahul Gandhi released after being detained during protest march Police sources claimed that Rahul wanted to lodge a complaint of kidnapping against it, however, he later changed his mind. Police also claimed that Rahul refused to get off the police vehicle at Firoz Shah Road, forcing them to take him to Tughlak Road Police Station. Rahul Gandhi was detained at Tolstoy Marg when he continued his candle march towards India Gate in spite of repeated requests not to proceed. He along with other leaders was brought to police station, Tuglak Road, and were released, police said in a statement. The police action enraged Congress leadership, prompting former Union minister Salman Khurshid, former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala and DPCC chief Ajay Maken to hit out at the Centre, under which the Delhi police functions. Earlier, confusion prevailed on whether Rahul was detained or not as police kept on claiming that the Congress leader was not detained but merely taken away from the protest site keeping his security in mind. Rahul, however, claimed in a tweet: Was detained by Delhi police and taken away from Jantar Mantar. Police vehicle was stopped at 5, Feroze Shah Road, enroute to Tughlak Road PS, he tweeted. At Firoz Shah Road, Rahul told reporters, I have only one thing to say that the way the family was treated was wrong and it may affect the morale of the army. The police should at least apologise to the family. Prime Minister should apologise to the family, accept what he did was wrong and deliver OROP. The Prime Minister should act on 7th pay commission. He lied that OROP has been implemented. Thats why the gentleman killed himself. His family was disrespected and humiliated, he said. A police official said the action was taken keeping Rahuls security in mind as the crowd at Jantar Mantar was swelling by the minute. On Wednesday, Rahul was detained twice when he went to meet the family of Ram Kishan Grewal, who committed suicide over the non-implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP). It is a chaotic disruption for civil liberties. Delhi Police is behaving like a headless chicken, unclear about its duty, unclear about its authority. This whole episode is a mockery of democracy, Surjewala said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema (Reuters) Manila, Philippines Tue, July 14, 2020 10:20 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066619661 2 SE Asia Philippines,coronavirus,COVID-19,COVID-19-infection,COVID-19-death-toll,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free The Philippines reported Southeast Asia's biggest daily jump in COVID-19 deaths on Monday and warned of more fatalities ahead, as authorities scrambled to verify thousands of suspected cases and pressure grows on hospitals after the easing of a lockdown. The government and several large hospitals in the capital Manila said critical care capacity had been reached, adding to fears of its over-stretched health sector being deluged by the contagion. The health ministry reported 162 new deaths that were confirmed on Sunday plus another 65 on Monday, with 2,960 additional infections. The Philippines over the past week has reported higher daily infections than Indonesia, which has Southeast Asia's highest number of deaths and cases. Philippine COVID-19 infections have more than tripled to 57,006 since June 1 when restrictions started to ease to allow some public transport, restaurants and malls to reopen, in a bid to restart an economy decimated by some of the world's strictest and longest curbs on movement and commerce. Although the Philippines has ramped up testing lately, the 926,252 recorded represents less than 1% of the 107 million population. The health ministry said there were nearly 12,000 suspected positive cases yet to be verified and the death toll of 1,599 would almost certainly rise. "As part of ongoing data harmonization, we cannot avoid seeing cases not yet included in our official death count," Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference, adding that efforts to speed up data collection would mean greater numbers being reported in the coming days. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the outbreak as an "intensifying challenge" and said hospital occupancy in Manila had jumped to 70% from 48% a week ago due to a spike in cases. Two of Manila's biggest private hospitals declared on Monday they were at full capacity. "Right now, the critical bed capacity especially for the intensive care units is already in the danger zone," Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega told reporters. Manila remains the center of the outbreak, but Cebu city is becoming a new hotspot with a 10th of the country's infections. It has since June 16 been under the highest level of restriction. A resurgence in infections was to be expected with lockdown easing, former health minister Esperanza Cabral, told Reuters, but "the degree of increase" will depend on people's compliance with social distancing rules. Hyundai Creta | Rs 9.81 lakh | The Hyundai Creta is by far the best performing SUV in the market today. It is big and spacious and has ample space for luggage on long drives. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More At a time when the car industry is struggling to push production to the pre-COVID-19 levels, Korean carmaker Hyundai will start the third and final shift at its factories in Chennai later this week. The countrys second-largest carmaker has seen demand shoot up for its cars substantially in June, led by the all-new Creta SUV. It was launched just a week before the nationwide lockdown in March. About 40 percent of Junes total volumes (which the company did not disclose) were made up of Creta, a senior executive of Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) told Moneycontrol. Ganesh Mani, director, manufacturing operations, HMIL, said: We are preparing ourselves for the third shift. We are preparing our vendors and manufacturing lines as well. Once things are lined up, we will operationalise it. We expect it to happen within a week. We can operate the plants at 80 percent capacity from the 40 percent level in June. That is a 100 percent jump. Operating the third shift translates to being in the process of hitting peak capacity. The existing manufacturing lines of Hyundai have an installed capacity of 750,000 units a year. Hyundai commenced with the second shift in June. The company is now stepping up production for all its 11 models. Dispatches of cars and SUVs to dealers more than doubled during June compared to May though they were still less than half compared to their usual monthly levels. Without divulging absolute numbers, auto companies claimed to have clocked higher retail (dealers to customers) sales than wholesale (companies to dealers) sales. This clean-up of inventory at dealerships has made some companies to scale up production. Manufacturing + WFM According to Mani, Hyundai was able to scale up production quickly because of thousands of changes on the shop floor and hundreds of changes in the manufacturing processes. Five months ago, I would have laughed at the idea of combining manufacturing and work from home (WFM). But it was happening; work was still going on using video interface technologies. We are able to bring in the entire shop floor, vehicle assembly, pre-assembly and simulation onto the computer. We were able to make close to 7,200 changes on the shop floor and revive the mechanisms. While starting is easy, restarting is much more struggle. Hyundai rolled out 200 cars on the first day (May 8) after being allowed to recommence production, and was the first from the industry to do so. Market leader Maruti Suzuki followed suit on May 12 from Haryana. At the plant level, as many as 640 different processes had to be readjusted, so that social distancing doesnt affect the throughput of the manufacturing line. The company will now redesign the processes and remove bottlenecks to take care of the subsequent shutdowns. Manpower movement Even as factories were allowed to function once again, the possibilities of yet another lockdown always loomed large as new cases of COVID-19 were emerging in Tamil Nadu. The state announced a 12-day lockdown in three industrial areas, including Chennai and Kancheepuram, starting June 19. Several other companies having plants in close vicinity like Ceat, Renault-Nissan, and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles were also affected. Though moving equipment was in our hands, moving people (manpower) posed a challenge. For example, you need a passport and visa to move across different countries in Europe. Now, we need clearances down from the district level (one district to another) to mobilise our people within India. We had to accommodate them in universities and other places when there was another round of intense lockdown, added Mani. A $600 weekly boost to unemployment benefits appears unlikely to be a part of the US next coronavirus relief package, amid Republican concerns that Americans are being discouraged from looking for work. Extra unemployment benefits scheme runs out at end of July Implemented as part of the CARES Act, a $2.2tn stimulus bill signed into law in March, the $600 initiative - which is officially known as the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) scheme - finishes at the end of July. A six-month extension of the FPUC was proposed in the HEROES Act, a $3tn bill passed by the House in mid-May, but the stimulus package has met with resistance from Republicans in the GOP-controlled Senate. Benefits mustn't exceed worker's usual salary, says Mnuchin In an interview with CNBC last Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin suggested that some form of expanded benefits may be included in a new stimulus bill, but that they are likely to be less generous. You can assume it will be no more than 100% [of a worker's usual salary]," Mnuchin said, in remarks that reflect Republican worries that the FPUC deters some from seeking re-employment by paying them more than they normally earn. "We want to incentivize people to go back to work," he said. McConnell: $600 weekly extra has "made it harder actually to get people back to work" Speaking in a similar vein, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell last week declared that the $600 CARES Act benefits boost had been a "mistake". "Unemployment is extremely important, the Republican senator from Kentucky said, and we need to make sure, for those who are not able to recover their jobs, unemployment is adequate. "That is a different issue from whether we ought to pay people a bonus not to go back to work. And so I think that was a mistake. And we're hearing it all over the country that it's made it harder actually to get people back to work." Unemployment at 11.1% amid coronavirus crisis Having fallen to record-low levels in early 2020, unemployment has rocketed in America as a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The US jobless rate rose to 14.7% in April and, although it has since gone down, it remains at 11.1% - almost 8% higher than February, when it was just 3.5%. US lawmakers are set to debate a new stimulus bill when Congress returns from a two-week recess on 17 July. Live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic As of 15:30 ET on Tuesday, the coronavirus crisis had led to 3,397,069 cases and 136,117 deaths in the United States, which has by a distance been the worst-affected country in the world. You can follow US-focused coverage of the pandemic with our dedicated rolling feed. Niagara may or may not arrive at the third stage of Ontarios pandemic economic reopening in about two weeks, but the reasons why and how the provincial government is making decisions impacting the health and economic life of citizens remain murky. Ontarios health minister Christine Elliott said Monday the government wants to see at least four weeks of data before determining if a region moves forward through reopening stages. However, she did not disclose what data the government is looking at, nor how it is weighing that information. Since June, The Standard has asked the health ministry for the data it purports to use in determining if a region moves to the next phase. On Monday, the ministry again declined to release that information but provided links to its COVID-19 webpages that include overviews of province-wide pandemic statistics. Those pages do not show the data attached to four key public health measures the province says it uses to make key decisions hospital capacity, public health capacity, virus spread, and incident tracking. Nor do they answer questions put to the ministry about how that information is used when decisions are made. We are not informed about what data they are using, said Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagaras acting medical officer of health. That said, if they are using the kind of data we are, I would say Niagara is in a good position to move to stage three. The provincial government announced Monday several regions would move into stage three, which will allow more businesses to reopen including gyms, movie theatres and indoor dining at restaurants. In all those cases, infection control measures and limits on the number of people who can be indoors will apply. In the case of some businesses, like cinemas, a formal plan will have to be presented to public health authorities for approval. Hirji said it is not clear if those proposals have to be approved by his department or Ontarios medical officer of health. If it does fall to local public health authorities, he said, it would be a significant strain on staff. Niagara, Toronto, Hamilton and other regions were not included in the first round of the stage two reopenings last month, and the reasons why were not entirely explained by the provincial government then either. Hirji said Niagara was a week behind other regions for stage two. If the government follows the same approach, a stage three announcement could come Monday, July 20 and likely start July 24. But for some businesses, it is already too late. When the pandemic first hit Niagara in March, Dolores Fabiano, executive director of south Niagaras Chambers of Commerce, said many area business owners were confident theyd be able to weather the storm. They felt they had enough of a nest egg to get through a couple of months, she said. That was many months ago. Since then, she said, many have already made the difficult decision to close their doors permanently, realizing they could not continue to cover ongoing costs despite upper-tier government assistance. Although Mondays announcement was not unexpected, Fabiano she said it was still met with disappointment by many area business people. I think people were anticipating this, and hopefully next week we get the call and were able to move on to stage three, but its very tough. We have businesses that are so anxious to open, and thats really all they want, Fabiano said. They want to be able to reopen and carry on with the business. Its frustrating, but were almost there. Fingers crossed that next Monday our announcement comes. Until then, she is urging residents to do their best to protect themselves to ensure the number of new cases in the region remains low. We cant mess it up now. I am just as frustrated, but were almost there. Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce policy and government relations director Hugo Chesshire, too, expects Niagara will be permitted to enter stage three next week. Chesshire said many GNCC members businesses are really hurting. Despite government assistance programs, he said, its not enough to cover the losses. Theyre all partial replacements. You still do have operating costs and fixed costs. In the meantime, he said, chamber members would also like to know the criteria on which the decision was reached. A bit more transparency, I think, would be appreciated, especially by the business community that needs some restoration of predictability, he said. Thats the most important thing for businesses, to know whats going to happen. Right now, its a mystery. It could be very suddenly announced with just two days notice. It would be good to have a little forewarning and an idea of where Niagara is in relation to stage three. Are we almost there, or some distance away? Were not sure. CALGARY, Alberta, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ARROW Exploration Corp. (Arrow or the Company) (TSXV: AXL) is pleased to announce the filing of its unaudited Financial Statements and MD&A for the quarter-ended March 31st, 2020, which are available on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). FINANCIAL AND OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS (in United States dollars, except as otherwise noted) Three months ended March 31, 2020 Three months ended March 31, 2019 Total natural gas and crude oil revenues, net of royalties 3,848,480 6,008,640 Funds flow from (used in) operations (1) (30,325 ) 980,952 Per share basic ($) and diluted ($) (0.00 ) 0.02 Net income (loss) (26,058,265 ) (1,704,180 ) Per share basic ($) and diluted ($) (0.38 ) (0.02 ) Adjusted EBITDA (1) 344,520 1,387,235 Weighted average shares outstanding basic and diluted 68,674,602 68,674,602 Common shares end of period 68,674,602 68,674,602 Capital expenditures 473,351 3,401,365 Cash and cash equivalents 117,794 1,434,648 Current Assets 6,953,756 10,553,677 Current liabilities 9,665,512 18,353,525 Working capital (deficit) (1) (2,711,756 ) (7,799,848 ) Long-term portion of restricted cash (2) 421,186 3,245,624 Total assets 43,775,967 77,066,582 Operating Natural gas and crude oil production, before royalties Natural gas (Mcf/d) 501 696 Natural gas liquids (bbl/d) 5 6 Crude oil (bbl/d) 1,070 1,588 Total (boe/d) 1,159 1,710 Operating netbacks ($/boe) (1) Natural gas ($/Mcf) $ 0.05 $ 0.10 Crude oil ($/bbl) $ 17.28 $ 18.43 Total ($/boe) $ 19.00 $ 17.29 (1)Non-IFRS measures see Non-IFRS Measures section within the MD&A (2)Long term restricted cash not included in working capital Marshall Abbott, CEO of Arrow commented, The first quarter of 2020 marked the return of significant challenges for the international oil & gas industry, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arrow faces many of these same challenges, including lower crude oil prices as a result of reduced global oil demand. Story continues Mr. Abbott continued, On our LLA-23 block, production rates over the past several months have been negatively impacted by lower oil prices, in addition to well-specific issues. As a result of these and other factors, following the second quarter ended June 30th, 2020, we made the difficult decision to temporarily shut-in production on the LLA-23 block. We believe this decision will preserve the Companys limited capital resources, and will allow us to resume production if oil prices return to levels that make it profitable to produce oil at LLA-23. Production from the Tapir Block has also been shut-in, and management is evaluating the steps necessary to re-start production from that asset. Production at Ombu (Arrow holds 10%) remains shut-in pending the recovery of oil prices. Mr. Abbott concluded, The Company once again wishes to extend its gratitude to all of our stakeholders for their continued support of Arrow during these challenging times for our industry. Arrows management and Board, including myself, remain committed to creating value from the Companys significant asset base. Strategic Alternatives Process On November 28th, 2019, Arrow announced it had initiated a strategic alternatives process to be overseen by a Special Committee of the Board of Directors. Subsequently, the Company engaged Stifel Nicolaus Canada Inc. as financial advisor to explore a comprehensive range of strategic and transaction alternatives, including a sale, merger or other business combination; a disposition of all or certain assets of the Company; recapitalization and refinancing opportunities; sourcing new financing and equity capital; and other alternatives to improve the Companys financial position and maximize value. Management renewed the strategic alternatives process with its financial advisor in April 2020 and remains committed to the strategic alternatives process, and intends to provide updates as determined to be appropriate by the Board of Directors. There can be no guarantees as to whether the strategic alternatives process will result in a transaction or the terms or timing of any resulting transaction. Currently, while various parties have accessed data made available by the Company, there have been no material events, offers or proposals that would merit disclosure at this time. Private Placement Further to the Companys press release of June 12th, 2020, the proposed non-brokered private placement of 13,000,000 common shares of the Company at an issue price of $0.025 per share has been conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange, subject to participants who receive financial assistance from the Company to participate in the private placement agreeing that any shares issued will be escrowed and released to the subscriber only upon disinterested shareholder approval. If shareholder approval is not received within 12 months the share issuance will be cancelled and any subscription proceeds returned to the subscriber. Option Grant Further to the Companys press releases dated May 23rd, 2020 and June 12th, 2020, the Company confirms that the Board of Directors has approved the issuance of 5,627,460 stock options to officers, directors and a consultant of the Company. Other than 375,000 stock options which will vest on the one year anniversary of their issuance, the remaining options will vest over three years in equal installments of 1/3rd per year. The stock options will be issued pursuant to the Companys stock option plan. In accordance with the TSX Venture Exchange policy, the stock options have been repriced to be issued with a strike price of $0.05. Issuance of the stock options is conditional on receiving necessary regulatory approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange. About ARROW Exploration Arrow Exploration Corp. (operating in Colombia via a branch of its 100% owned subsidiary Carrao Energy S.A.) is a publicly-traded company with a portfolio of premier Colombian oil assets that are under-exploited, under-explored and offer high potential growth. The Companys business plan is to expand oil production from some of Colombias most active basins, including the Llanos, Middle Magdalena Valley (MMV) and Putumayo Basin. The asset base is predominantly operated with high working interests, and the Brent-linked light oil pricing exposure combines with low royalties to yield attractive potential operating margins. Arrows 50% interest in the Tapir Block is contingent on the assignment by Ecopetrol SA of such interest to Arrow. Arrows seasoned team is led by a hands-on executive team supported by an experienced board. Arrow is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol AXL. For further information contact: Marshall Abbott Chief Executive Officer mabbott@arrowexploration.ca (403) 651-5995 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-looking Statements This news release contains certain statements or disclosures relating to Arrow that are based on the expectations of its management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Arrow which may constitute forward-looking statements or information (forward-looking statements) under applicable securities laws. All such statements and disclosures, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results or developments that Arrow anticipates or expects may, could or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of the words continue, expect, opportunity, plan, potential and will and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release reflect several material factors and expectations and assumptions of Arrow, including without limitation, Arrows evaluation of the impacts of COVID-19, the potential of Arrows Colombian assets to resume production, and Arrows business plan to expand oil production and achieve attractive potential operating margins. Arrow believes the expectations and assumptions reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable at this time but no assurance can be given that these factors, expectations and assumptions will prove to be correct. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are not guarantees of future performance and should not be unduly relied upon. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligations to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws. Japan's government is considering allowing corporate executives from the United States and European countries to enter the country on certain conditions. The government plans to allow in businesspeople from countries where coronavirus outbreaks have been largely contained. Tokyo has already reached an agreement with Vietnam and aims to start negotiation with about 10 countries and territories, including China, South Korea and Taiwan. Japan is also studying a plan to welcome corporate executives from the United States and European countries, where new cases are still appearing. If allowed, it will likely be in small numbers and short periods of stay, after undergoing PCR tests for the coronavirus. Some government officials are calling for the executives to come to Japan by private jet. Japan plans to beef up its testing capacities at airports to the point where around 10,000 people can be tested daily by September. The government is also studying ways to ease entry restrictions on athletes and officials for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which has been rescheduled for 2021. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was seen on a flight Sunday without wearing a mask, a photo shows, on the same day he attended a rally with around 200 people. Hosseh Enad, who works for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, posted a photo of Cruz not wearing a mask while on an American Airlines flight, writing that the photo was taken at 10:45 a.m. Sunday. For those trying to argue that he was drinking, its not hard to have a mask on and undo one side to take a sip then put it back on. Most people take their time drinking coffee, Enad wrote in another tweet of a photo of Cruz not wearing a mask. Also, heres a photo of him sitting outside the gate. Captured today at 10:45am @TedCruz on a commercial flight, refusing to wear a mask. pic.twitter.com/h8DM7J4CMi Hosseh (@hossehenad) July 13, 2020 Cruz, a Republican, attended a rally for Jon Francis, state representative candidate, on Sunday, according to Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The event had around 200 to 250 people, with reportedly only about five people there wearing a face covering. American Airlines responded after the photo of Cruz not wearing a mask on the flight spread online. For the well-being of our customers and team members, we require face coverings to be worn onboard, and we expect our customers to comply with our policies when they choose to travel with us, American Airlines told McClatchy News in a statement. As we do in all instances like these, we reviewed the details of the matter, and while our policy does not apply while eating or drinking, we have reached out to Sen. Cruz to affirm the importance of this policy as part of our commitment to protecting the health and safety of the traveling public. Cruz flew on one of the airlines regional partners, the airline told McClatchy News. Story continues To help promote safety, Senator Cruz wears a mask when traveling, and practices social distancing where possible, a spokesperson for Cruz told McClatchy News. Consistent with airline policy, he temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking. Yesterday during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward. We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus. American Airlines requires passengers to wear face coverings on flights and will deny boarding to those who dont adhere to the policy, the airline said. The policy doesnt apply to young children, those with a medical reason or disability to not wear masks, and while eating or drinking. The World Health Organization, which previously didnt tell people to wear face masks in public, said in June that masks should be worn in light of evolving evidence, according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO. The CDC started recommending people wear face masks in public in early April. More than 3 million people have been confirmed infected with COVID-19 in the United States, with another 135,000 confirmed dead nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 3,000 people have died from the virus in Texas as of July 13. MasterChef favourite Callum Hann has been eliminated from the series, just shy of the 2020 semi-final. Battling Reynold & Laura last night, he cooked up snapper but the judges decided it had a mushy texture. It was another emotional farewell for the South Australian who was runner-up in 2010 and previously won an All-Stars edition in 2012. Melissa Leong said his name was synonymous with the Masterchef kitchen, paying tribute to his talent and humility. Ive loved coming back, Callum said. Ive loved every part of spending time with these guys, Ive loved getting to meet and know all three of you (judges) a little bit better and (to) be part of something really special. I would have loved to have gone a little bit further, but even without taking away the trophy, I still feel like Ive come a long way. I feel like Ive learned a lot and Im definitely taking that back to Adelaide with me. I just want to say a big thank-you to you guys. On Sunday, Reynold Poernomo, Emelia Jackson and Laura Sharrad will battle for the Top 2 places up for grabs in the grand final, set for Monday. 7:30pm Sunday on 10. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Naimul Karim (Reuters) Dhaka, Bangladesh Tue, July 14, 2020 15:30 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666315fd 2 SE Asia Bangladesh,Sex-trafficking,human-trafficking,Dubai Free Bangladesh police said on Monday they have arrested three men over the trafficking of hundreds of young women taken to Dubai on the promise of jobs in hotels and then forced into sex work. The victims were paid a month's salary up front and told they would work as housekeepers or dancers. But when they got to Dubai, many were forced to have sex for money and beaten if they refused, police said. Among the three arrested was a man suspected to be the group's leader, who had been in hiding in Bangladesh since being deported from Dubai earlier this year. He was arrested on trafficking charges while trying to leave the country earlier this month, said police, who described the other two men as "brokers" and said they were still looking for others. "We have arrested the leader of the syndicate. But there are other members who are continuing this business. We will arrest them as soon as possible. Only 20 percent of the job has been done," said Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy inspector general of the Criminal Investigation Department. "The girls they targeted were aged between 18 to 25. Some of them were garment workers, some were on the hunt for jobs. The traffickers have been working for at least eight years and we estimate that they sent hundreds of women," he added. Bangladesh has ramped up its efforts against traffickers after 24 citizens were killed in Libya in May. Last month at least 50 people were arrested in a single operation. But experts have warned that the country needs to increase its trafficking conviction rate if it is to curb the crime. More than 4,000 trafficking cases were still awaiting investigation or prosecution at the end of last year and the conviction rate stood at just 1.7% in 2019, according to the latest United States Trafficking in Persons report. "Because of poor investigation and lack of evidence, many of those who are arrested are not punished under the law," said Shakirul Islam, head of migrant rights group Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program. "There needs to be more examples of traffickers being punished." At least six Bangladeshis were jailed in Dubai last year for trafficking women, including minors. Ahmed said the cross-border nature of the crime made it difficult to contain. "We are demotivating the local traffickers by arresting them. But there's not much that we can do about those who live abroad," he said. Idris Elba says he does not agree with censoring old sitcoms because of modern sensibilities about race. Sitcoms including Little Britain, which came under fire because of the use of blackface make-up in some sketches, have been recently dropped from Netflix, BBC iPlayer and BritBox following backlash from viewers. But Idris, 47, told the Radio Times. 'I'm very much a believer in freedom of speech.' Speaking out: Idris Elba has revealed that he does not agree with censoring old sitcoms with offensive content, because of modern sensibilities about race 'Instead, there should be a ratings system warning viewers that a film or show has outdated, insulting viewpoints,' he said. While not referring to a specific programme, Elba said: 'To mock the truth, you have to know the truth. But to censor racist themes within a show, to pull it... I think viewers should know that people made shows like this. 'Commissioners and archive-holders pulling things they think are exceptionally tone-deaf at this time - fair enough and good for you. Criticised: Little Britain has been removed from streaming sites because of scenes involving blackface, leading to a mixed reaction from viewers 'But I think, moving forward, people should know that freedom of speech is accepted, but the audience should know what they're getting into.' 'I don't believe in censorship,' Elba added. 'I believe that we should be allowed to say what we want to say. Because, after all, we're story-makers.' The In The Long Run actor said boosting diversity needs a change in attitude. 'Money helps,' he said, but added: 'It's a shift in attitude, in perspective, in tolerance. And you can't put an amount on that.' Recovered: Idris said that broadcasters should use a rating system to warn viewers about historic content that could be offensive (pictured in February 2018) In an apparent reaction to the Black Lives Matter protests, Netflix pulled Little Britain from streaming services last month, along with Matt Lucas and David Walliams' other comedy Come Fly With Me. Then the BBC and BritBox both confirmed they had also decided to remove Little Britain saying 'times have changed' since the show first aired. Similarly, Bo' Selecta, which impersonated black stars such as Craig David, Trisha Goddard and Michael Jackson has been removed from All 4 after creator Leigh Francis recently issued a tearful apology. It is, however, still available on Prime Video. It suggested an uncertain future for other popular comedy series which feature similar techniques, though many are still available to watch on streaming sites. The decision by Netflix to remove Lucas and Walliams' two series sparked anger from subscribers to the service, who were annoyed when they discovered the two shows had been dropped. The move is likely to lead to calls for more outdated shows that may be seen as racist to be removed. Could the axe swing on more of Britain's favourite comedies? League of Gentlemen Papa Lazarou features in League of Gentlemen, which is still available to watch on Neflix and iPlayer Steve Pemberton and Mark Gattis' BBC comedy features a character called Papa Lazarou - a blacked-up ringmaster who calls everybody Dave. He collects spouses by forcing his way into women's homes posing as a humble peg-seller, then talks gibberish at them until they hand over their wedding rings, at which point he says: 'You're my wife now!' League of Gentlemen is still available to watch on both Netflix and BBC iPlayer. Bo' Selecta Leigh Francis said he was 'deeply sorry' for the way he impersonated stars such as Trisha Goddard Comedian Leigh Francis tearfully apologised for impersonating black stars such as Craig David, Trisha Goddard and Michael Jackson on his programme. Talk show host Trisha said it 'emboldoned a lot of casual racism' while popstar David insists it ruined his life. Bo' Selecta is no longer on All 4 but remains on Prime Video. The Simpsons Apu has come under fire for perpetuating racial stereotypes Hank Azaria announced earlier this year he will no longer voice Indian immigrant and Kwik-E-Mart owner Apu on The Simpsons after 30 years. The South Asian character has come under fire for perpetuating racial stereotypes. The Simpsons is broadcast regularly on Channel 4 and can be streamed on Disney+. Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul Nelson Mandela was parodied in Harry and Paul's sketch show Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse faced criticism in their sketch series for their depiction of Nelson Mandela appearing on adverts selling various narcotics and promoting shoplifting. Rising Damp The character of Rupert Rigsby has also been criticised, but creator Eric Chappell defended him by saying he 'was not a racist or a bigot, but he was prejudiced and suspicious of strangers'. There were also jokes about Leonard Rossiter's character having a black medical student as a tenant. Rising Damp is still available to watch via Prime and ITV Hub. Facejacker The prank call show often featured accents Channel 4's show about prank calling often featured accents from ethnic minorities. Star Kayvan Novak previously said: 'There's a weird thing going on at the moment where the more extreme politics and people's opinions get, the more it seems that comedy on TV is all about playing safe and not offending anyone, when it needs to hold up a mirror and go 'this is what's going on now'.' Only Fools and Horses Even perhaps Britain's most beloved sitcom of all time has had to edit old episodes to remove politically incorrect dialogue, such as an episode where Del told a child to 'pop down to the P**i shop' - a line no longer broadcast in repeats. The Two Ronnies Another one of the nation's all-time favourites. Many have felt uncomfortable about a sketch titled 'The Sheikh in the Grocery Store', which features Ronnie Corbett wearing dark makeup and an Arabic keffiyeh, mispronouncing the names of items on his shopping list. The Archway School in Gloucestershire had to apologise for showing the clip to parents after complaints were made. Fantasy Football League David Baddiel as Jason Lee Ex-Nottingham Forest star Jason Lee, who was often a target of ridicule on the 90s show, said David Baddiel's depiction of him was 'a form of bullying'. The Mighty Boosh Noel Fielding as 'The Spirit of Jazz' Noel Fielding portrays 'The Spirit of Jazz' - a black, dreadlocked character in the BBC series, sparking much discussion over racism. Fielding has also been in hot water after a picture emerged of him painted black while dressed as tennis star Bjorn Borg. Advertisement In Little Britain, David Walliams wore make up to play health-spa guest Desiree DeVere. In Come Fly With Me, he played 'passenger liaison officer' Moses Beacon and airline boss Omar Baba, while Lucas' characters included coffee shop worker Precious Little. Last month both Matt and David took to Twitter to apologise for Little Britain's use of blackface, with David writing: 'Matt & I have both spoken publicly in recent years of our regret that we played characters of other races. Once again we want to make it clear that it was wrong & we are very sorry.' The Mighty Boosh and The League Of Gentlemen were also removed from streaming services, along with a 1975 episode of Fawlty Towers, due to fears it would cause offence with its use of racial slurs. Fans have also called for the beloved comedy series Gavin and Stacey to be removed from BBC iPlayer. We're sorry! Little Britain stars David Walliams and Matt Lucas apologised for their use of blackface after the series was removed from streaming (pictured in 2019) Stereotypes: Lucas played coffee shop worker Precious Little in Come Fly With Me, which has faced backlash from viewers due to the show's use of blackface Critics called for the popular show, written by James Corden and Ruth Jones, to be pulled in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, but BBC have confirmed they are no plans for the series to be pulled. The main bone of contention stems from characters described in the show as 'Chinese Alan' and 'Seth, the black fella'. In the US, the classic 1939 epic Gone With The Wind was temporarily removed from streaming service HBO Max due to its depiction of African Americans and slavery. It has since been reinstated with a disclaimer warning viewers of the historic content. Matt Lucas previously said if he could go back and remake the previous series of Little Britain he would not play black characters. Shocking: A 1975 episode of Fawlty Towers has also been removed from streaming due to its use of racial slurs In 2017 he told Big Issue: 'If I could go back and do Little Britain again, I wouldn't make those jokes about transvestites. I wouldn't play black characters. 'Basically, I wouldn't make that show now. It would upset people. We made a more cruel kind of comedy than I'd do now.' He added there had not been 'bad intent there' and they had simply been showing off about 'what a diverse bunch of people we could play.' In the interview Lucas said it was 'lazy' for white people to 'get a laugh just by playing black characters'. Iconic role: During the interview, Idris also hinted that a movie adaptation of his crime series Luther is in the works David Walliams also said that the show would definitely make a comeback but acknowledged he would change things. He said: 'I would say there will definitely be some more Little Britain coming. I can't say when exactly but at the right time and place. It was fun coming back for radio because that's where we started.' He added that he would 'definitely do it differently' in today's cultural landscape. The decision comes as Netflix was earlier this year said to have been in discussions with Lucas and Walliams about making a new series of Little Britain for the streaming giant, in a lucrative deal. Huge demonstrations, many organised by the Black Lives Matter Group, have helped spark renewed debate on racism in recent weeks. The protests intensified after George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25 for nine minutes. Get your copy: Read the full interview in this week's Radio Times In the Radio Times interview, Idris also discussed how it felt being one of the first high-profile names to contract coronavirus, saying he is not fully recovered but the experience had a 'traumatic' effect on him. The Wire actor said: 'Mentally, it hit me very bad, because a lot was unknown about it. 'I felt very compelled to speak about it, just because it was such an unknown. So the mental impact of that on both myself and my wife was pretty traumatic.' It comes after Elba hinted that there could be a film version of his hit detective series Luther. He said: 'I've made it very clear that I'd like to see Luther come back as a film. And I can tell you this, that we are this close to making a film of Luther.' The news that a feature version of the series may definitely be on the cards was first reported by London's Sky News. Luther premiered in 2010 and garnered rave reviews and a loyal following. It also made a star of Ruth Wilson who played narcissistic murderer Alice Morgan and went on to star in Showtime's The Affair and the film Saving Mr. Banks. The fifth season of Luther was broadcast in January 2019 and ended on a cliffhanger with plenty of loose ends that could be explored in a movie version. Read the full interview in this week's Radio Times. An international team of genetic researchers has found conclusive evidence for a single contact between Polynesian individuals and a Native American group most closely related to the indigenous inhabitants of present-day Colombia around 1200 CE. The possibility of voyaging contact between prehistoric Polynesian and Native American populations has long intrigued researchers, said lead author Dr. Alexander Ioannidis, a scientist in the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University and Mexicos National Laboratory of Genomics for Biodiversity and his colleagues from Chile, Mexico, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States. Proponents have pointed to the existence of New World crops, such as the sweet potato and the bottle gourd, in the Polynesian archaeological record, but nowhere else outside the pre-Columbian Americas. The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl controversially suggested that prehistoric South American populations had an important role in the settlement of east Polynesia and particularly of Easter Island. Several genetic studies have reached opposing conclusions, and the possibility continues to be as hotly contested today as it was when first suggested. For the study, the researchers collected saliva samples from 807 individuals on 17 Polynesian islands and 15 Native American groups along the Pacific coast of the Americas from Mexico to Chile. They then conducted genetic analyses to look for snippets of DNA that are characteristic of each population and for segments that are identical by descent, meaning they are inherited from the same ancestor many generations ago. We found identical-by-descent segments of Native American ancestry across several Polynesian islands, Dr. Ioannidis said. It was conclusive evidence that there was a single shared contact event. In other words, Polynesians and Native Americans met at one point in history, and during that time people from the two cultures produced children with both Native American and Polynesian DNA. Statistical analyses confirmed the event occurred around 1200 CE, which is around the time that these islands were originally being settled by native Polynesians, Dr. Ioannidis said. Using computational methods, the authors then localized the source of the Native American DNA to modern-day Colombia. If you think about how history is told for this time period, its almost always a story of European conquest, and you never really hear about everybody else, Dr. Ioannidis said. I think this work helps piece together those untold stories and the fact that it can be brought to light through genetics is very exciting to me. A paper on the findings was published June 8, 2020 in the journal Nature. _____ A.G. Ioannidis et al. Native American gene flow into Polynesia predating Easter Island settlement. Nature, published online June 8, 2020; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2487-2 Residents in Hanoi (R) apply for unemployment support at the Hanoi Center for Employee Service, June 11, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Ngoc Thanh. Australia will provide a further AUD9.7 million ($6.76 million) for the Vietnam Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index research program in 2021-25. An agreement for the purpose was signed between Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Hanoi Monday. PAPI is a governance program initiated by UNDP in Vietnam in 2009 to measure and benchmark citizens experiences and perception about the performance and quality of policy implementation and services delivery of provincial governments to advocate for effective and responsive governance. Australias ambassador to Vietnam, Robyn Mudie, said that she was impressed to see PAPI continually renewing itself as Vietnam changes, and that her country strongly supports efficiency in provincial governance and public administration, especially amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, said Australias contribution would help PAPI further promote public administration in Vietnam. Since its launch, PAPI has garnered opinions from over 131,500 citizens, with around 14,000 being interviewed each year since 2011. The 2019 survey, announced in May, said corruption in public administration had decreased the most in nine years, with improvements seen in all aspects that make up the corruption indicator: limits on public sector corruption, limits on corruption in public services, equity in employment, and willingness to fight corruption. Australia has been the main sponsor of PAPI since 2018. By Imani Moise and Anna Irrera NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sylvia's, a soul food restaurant on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem, New York, saw a welcome bump in donations and revenue from new customers in early June following calls to "buy Black" after the death of George Floyd. But the increase didn't help the 58-year-old landmark restaurant turn a profit. The coronavirus pandemic has limited its operations, forcing the Harlem staple to lay off most of its staff and slash revenues. Owner Tren'ness Woods-Black welcomed the publicity but said she is more concerned about her core clientele, a devoted group of mostly Black patrons who used to dine at the restaurant every day. While the restaurant industry is expected to take two to three years to return to pre-COVID-19 revenue levels, Woods-Black said it would take even longer for spending among Black Americans to bounce back. "I'm expecting that from the Black perspective Harlem is going to come back very different," she said. "When the nation bleeds, Harlem hemorrhages." Woods-Black is one of many Black business owners in New York who fear that the disproportionate economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on their communities might be long lasting. Many are worried the number of black business owners in the city will shrink even further. Though Black Americans make up 22% of New York City residents, they account for only 2.1% of business owners, according to city data. Harlem Skin and Laser Clinic and nail salon Junie Bee Nails are just a few of the local Black-owned businesses in the neighborhood that have decided to shutter their locations permanently. THE RACIAL DIVIDE Black buying power grew to $1.3 trillion in 2018 up from $320 billion in 1990, according to the latest data by consumer research firm Nielsen. But spending power and consumption are expected to decline, as Black Americans bear the brunt of the crisis due to a longstanding wealth gap and lower access to financing, education, healthcare and home ownership. (For a graphic on the U.S. economic racial divide and pandemic's impact on the Black community click https://tmsnrt.rs/2Zf1jB5) Story continues In Harlem, where 56% percent of the population is Black, lines for food pantries have wrapped around blocks. "The consumption and spending power of black communities was most highly hit because of high unemployment," said Belinda Archibong, an assistant professor of economics at Barnard College. "It's a big challenge in terms of thinking of how we will address these issues to ensure that the racial wealth gap doesn't worsen." Other cities with large black populations have been disproportionately hit. Detroit, which was nearly 80% Black as of the last census data, had an unemployment rate of 23% in May compared to the national average of 13%. New Orleans, with a Black population of 60%, had an unemployment rate of 16% in May. A few blocks away from Sylvia's, Mark and Katrina Parris are planning to pivot their lifestyle store NiLu to be more online. "If the local economy is shrinking, if I make myself available through e-commerce, hopefully, you know, I can survive," Mark Parris said. The economic hit to the neighborhood is already visible. Seeing increased need, Sylvia's converted its restaurant into a food pantry on Sundays, when other pantries were closed. Concern among Black business owners in Harlem often stems from past experiences. Karl Franz Williams, owner of cocktail bar 67 Orange Street on Frederick Douglass Blvd, had to close his first venture during the 2008 financial crisis. During the pandemic, Williams secured a loan for his business through the Paycheck Protection Program. But he is concerned about what will happen after the programs run out. "There are issues for Black and brown entrepreneurs that were there before," said Williams. "They are considered less bankable with equal credit scores and resumes, that is all part of the problem." Just 6% of Black business owners surveyed this year by the Association for Enterprise Opportunity said their primary source of credit came from banks, versus 23% for all businesses. When approved, the median loan amount for Black business owners was less than half of the loan amounts extended to white peers, according to the survey. Connie Evans, AEO's president and chief executive, said availability of capital to Black-owned businesses has improved since 2008, but she urged lenders to do more. "These local businesses in the community, just because they don't have a strong balance sheet like a large corporation doesn't mean they are high risk," Evans said. "They are essential in the community." Many U.S. financial companies have pledged funds in support of the Black community amid protests that erupted since Floyd died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes. Bank of America Corp recently pledged $1 billion to address racial and economic inequality. Still, some Black business owners voiced skepticism that support for the community would be sustained. Tiffany Bowen, owner of Harlem Hookah on Malcom X Blvd, who secured a PPP loan in the second round of funding to settle rent and salaries when her business closed, said, "I've heard these stories before, but yet we still have such poor numbers for Black businesses." "When has the financial industry ever come through for people of color?" Bowen said. (Reporting by Imani Moise and Anna Irrera in New York; editing by Heather Timmons and Diane Craft) US diplomatic troubleshooter Bill Richardson - Jason Lee/Reuters A retired US diplomat is heading to Venezuela on a private mercy mission for two US mercenaries arrested for attempting to overthrow President Nicholas Maduro. Former US Green Beret soldiers Luke Denman and Airan Berry were detained in Venezuela in May, during a botched operation to try to kidnap Mr Maduro and bring him to the US for trial. Both have been charged with terrorism and weapons trafficking offences, and face up to 30 years in prison. On Tuesday, Mr Denman's relatives said that Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN and ex-Democrat politician, was en route to Venezuela to try to help the men after the US government failed to offer them any assistance. Luke Denman is one of two Americans currently held in Venezuela after a botched attempt to kidnap President Maduro - Universal News And Sport (Scotland)/UNPIXS (Europe) It is not yet clear whether Mr Richardson will seek the release of the men outright, or merely ask for lenient treatment. However, he has a track record of involvement in talks to secure the release of US citizens detained around the world, including in Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Richardson is not a government official, hes a private individual right now and so Im glad he agreed to help us out, Mark Denman told The Grayzone news website. Mr Richardson runs his own non-profit organisation, the Richardson Centre, which Tweeted on Monday night that he would be meeting Mr Maduro on a "private humanitarian mission". It is understood that he travelled to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Monday. The two US soldiers were arrested along with a number of Venezuelan ex-soldiers as they attempted to land a boat on the Venezuelan coast. The ringleader of the attempted coup, fellow ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, claims to have had backing from Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader now recognised as the country's legitimate leader by both the US and Britain. Image of bullets and guns which were seized from the men according to the Venezuelan special forces - Universal News And Sport (Scotland)/ Universal News And Sport However, Mr Guaido's supporters claim he pulled out of any involvement after it became clear that the coup planners had not the slightest chance of success. Mr Goudreau, who was in the US at the time, is now facing a weapons trafficking probe by the US government, which has denied claims that he had tacit US backing for the coup. Story continues Mark Denman said that so far, his family had had no political assistance from Washington on his brothers case. The only contact that they had had with US officials, he said, was from FBI agents conducting what "sounded like" a criminal inquiry about Mr Goudreau's activities. Mr Richardson first conducted prisoner negotiations in 1996, when President Bill Clinton sent him to Iraq to seek the release of US aerospace workers captured by Saddam Hussein's forces after straying over the Kuwaiti border. That same year he also helped free Evan Hunziker, a US citizen arrested in North Korea on espionage charges. More recently, he was involved in talks to free Michael White, a US Navy veteran released in a prisoner exchange with Iran last month after nearly two years' detention. It is unclear what his chances are of seeking clemency for the two mercenaries, given the hostility between Mr Maduro and Washington. Many believe the Venezuelan leader will seek a high diplomatic price in return for their release. By Tim Kelly TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) - Japan's annual defence review accuses China of pushing its territorial claims amid the coronavirus pandemic and suspects Beijing of spreading propaganda and disinformation as it provides medical aid to nations fighting COVID-19. China "is continuing to attempt to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea," Japan said in the defence white paper approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on Tuesday. The white paper described "relentless" intrusions in waters around a group of islets claimed by both nations in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. In the South China Sea, it said Beijing was asserting territorial claims by establishing administrative districts around disputed islands, that forced countries distracted by the coronavirus outbreak to respond. Japan's criticism of China echoes similar comments made by the United States, and comes as tension in the region increases as Beijing and Washington conduct separate military drills in the resource-rich South China Sea and as relations between the world's two largest economies deteriorated. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, saying they were "completely unlawful". Beijing insists its intentions in the waterway, through which around $3 trillion of global trade passes each year, are peaceful. Japan sees China as a longer-term and more serious threat than nuclear-armed North Korea. Beijing now spends four times as much as Tokyo on defence as it builds a large modern military. Japan's defence review also claimed China appeared to be responsible for "propaganda" and "disinformation" amid "social uncertainties and confusion" caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Such disinformation included online claims that the coronavirus was brought to China by a U.S. military member, or that Chinese herbal remedies could treat COVID-19, a defence ministry official said at a briefing. Other threats faced by Japan include North Korea's ongoing development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as well as a resurgence of military activity by Russia in the skies and waters in Japan, at times in joint drills with China, the defence review said. (Reporting by Tim Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry) New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (July 14) asked the Central government to file a copy of the policy in a closed envelope under which Indian Army personnel, officers were directed to delete their accounts from social networking platforms. The court will hear the case on July 21. The petition, filed by retired Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary through his advocates, challenged the Indian Army's instructions to its soldiers, officers against using social media platforms, like Facebook. The plea said the policy is unconstitutional and sought the courts direction to the Director-General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) for withdrawal of the order. Earlier, the DGMI ordered the army personnel to delete their accounts from social networking platforms and also put a ban on the use of 89 apps and websites by all army personnel, citing security concerns and risks of the data breach as the basis of the restrictions. The plea, however, said that the soldiers rely on social networking platforms, like Facebook, to address issues related to their families while being posted in remote locations. They use the virtual connection to compensate for the physical distance between them and their families, the plea added. Retired Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary further submitted that with the advent of the internet, soldiers found an effective way to come closer to their friends, family, and loved ones in the virtual world. It added that the act of banning usage and directing deletion of accounts of soldiers from social networking platforms was a clear violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. Police are trying to trace three workers who escaped from quarantine at the Herefordshire farm hit by a coronavirus outbreak. One of the missing people had tested positive for Covid-19 before leaving the site without permission, health officials said. The three were part of the 200-strong workforce which was locked down at vegetable producer AS Green and Co in the village of Mathon, near Malvern, after at least 74 cases were confirmed. West Mercia Police said it was working with Public Health England to find the missing worker with coronavirus. Superintendent Sue Thomas, the forces Herefordshire commander, said: Within the constraints of the current legislation, we continue to support our partners in Public Health England and Herefordshire county council as they work with the farm owner and those working there to keep them all safe and to provide reassurance to the local community. In relation to an individual who has left the site after testing positive with the virus, we are assisting our colleagues at Public Health England, as required, in order to trace them. Herefordshire Council said on Sunday that workers at the farm had been told to stay there during the quarantine period. However on Monday the councils director of public health, Karen Wright, confirmed that three had left. Workers who have left the premises have been asked to self-isolate, she added. We are working with West Mercia Police to ensure they are safe and well, and taking the appropriate public health advice. Ms Wright also said that the number of coronavirus cases in Herefordshire otherwise remains very low and added: I would like to remind everybody that it is important to wash your hands, maintain social distancing and to wear a face covering to help protect others. Officials are treating the workforce as one extended bubble because they live in mobile homes on the farm during the harvesting season. AS Green and Co, which supplies its produce to major UK supermarkets, said in a statement that shoppers can remain confident buying British fruit and veg despite the outbreak. By Ayya Lmahamad Some 1,310 citizens were fined during the past 24 hours across the country for violating the strict quarantine regime, the main traffic police department under the Ministry of Interior reported on July 14. All 1,310 were fined according to Article 211.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Of them 1,178 were drivers who failed to follow the quarantine regime requirements and 129 were citizens not using facial masks in the public transport. Three citizens were subjected to administrative liability. In the meantime, 385 cars, which had sought to leave these territories were stopped, and returned back during the reporting period. Earlier, it was reported that 31,959 citizens were fined in the period of June 21 and July 12 for violating the quarantine regime, 635 drivers were fined during June 14-16 lockdown, while 2,524 drivers were fined during June 6-7 lockdown. Azerbaijan first introduced quarantine regime on March 24, and on June 18 decision was taken to extend special quarantine regime until August 1. On July 2, Cabinet of Ministers announced decision to prolong a strict quarantine regime till July 20. The new lockdown imposed on July 5-20 in capital Baku, as well as in Jalilabad, Ganja, Lankaran, Masalli, Sumgayit, Yevlakh cities and Absheron district, and Goranboy, Goygol, Mingachevir, Barda, Khachmaz, Samukh, Siyazan and Sheki regions. Under the lockdown rule, citizens are allowed to leave their place of residence only after obtaining SMS permissions. Baku metro will be suspended from July 4 midnight till July 20, and the entire public transport will not operate on weekends in cities and districts in which the special quarantine regime has been toughened Moreover, operation of shopping centers, restaurants, cafes, beauty salons, as well as museums, exhibition halls, sport and beaches was also suspended until July 20. Azerbaijan mandated wearing face masks on May 31. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz After a year and a half of bringing the best value in the entry level and midrange smartphone segments, realme Philippines is finally launching its first flagship smartphone in the country the realme X3 SuperZoom. The availability of the flagship star-shooter was announced today in a unique livestream of a short film starred personally by the realme Philippines team, and local influencers like athlete Japoy Lazardo, and streamers AkosiDogie, Chixxmiss and Suzzysaur. realme Philippines also shared the availability of the realme watch, the latest addition to its AIoT line. realme Philippines launches the flagship star-shooter realme X3 SuperZoom in a unique short film headlined by the realme team. (From left) realme Philippines Community Leader Anthony So, VP for Marketing Austine Huang and Marketing Lead Eason de Guzman The flagship star-shooter realme X3 SuperZoom is the only smartphone in its price point to tout a 120Hz ultra-smooth display, which is twice the speed of the standard 60Hz smartphone displays and is comparable to the display of premium TVs. The realme X3 SuperZoom is also the first in the sub-25k price segment to have a 64MP quad-camera setup with a 5x periscope telephoto lens. The devices hallmark feature, however, is its Starry Mode, which allows users to take a clear snap of the celestial landscape. We at realme Philippines unceasingly continue to aim high not just for our growth but also for the type of experience we give our users. Bringing real smartphone value for Filipinos has always been our battle cry and we are glad to offer that now in the flagship segment. The realme X3 SuperZoom and the realme Watch are reliable tools that young photographers, aspiring gamers, students and corporate dreamers must have as they continue to aim for the stars despite challenging times, shares realme Philippines VP for Marketing Austine Huang. Astronomical Photography Capabilities and Display The realme X3 SuperZoom is a trailblazer in the camera department as it gives users features that are previously unseen in its price segment: the Starry Night Mode and the 60x digital superzoom. These allow both budding and professional photographers to explore more of their craft without the need for a DSLR camera. This flagship star-shooter is the only one in its price point that has a 64MP main camera supported by an 8MP periscope-style lens setup capable of a 5x optical zoom and a 60x digital zoom. This is the most powerful zoom feature in the sub-25k price segment, allowing users to take a snap of subjects from miles away. Landscape photography is also not a challenge for the realme X3 SuperZoom with its 8MP ultrawide-angle lens. The devices 2MP macro lens also produces astounding macrophotography output. Taking selfies and groufies with friends is also as easy as a breeze with the equally powerful dual front in-display cameras of the device, composed of a 32MP Sony 80wide-angle lens and an IMX616 + 8MP 105super wide-angle lens. The main feature that sets the realme X3 SuperZoom apart is the Starry Mode, a unique camera capability first to be seen only in a realme smartphone. This feature utilizes an AI algorithm combined with ultra-long exposure and multi-frame synthesis to allow users to capture heavenly bodies in the evening sky. The flagship star-shooter is indeed a night photographers delight for it also has the Super Nightscape 4.0, a feature which gives users the chance to take photos even in 1 Lux Low light conditions, automatically switching between the Super and Ultra Nightscape Modes to capture astounding photo quality. To aid in capturing an excellent night shot, the device also has a Tripod Mode that supports super long exposure settings. In the display department, immersive barely describes the experience with the realme X3 SuperZooms 120Hz ultra-smooth refresh rate capability. An ultra-smooth display spells a convenient and favorable viewing experience for users, especially now that the new normal is reliant on virtual interactions. Users can expect optimum visuals during online classes, webinars, video streaming and gaming. The display is also covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for better protection. It also comes with features like the punch hole light effect, eye protection, customer color mode, and Object and Semantic Images and Eye-tracking (OSIE) Artificial Intelligence. Stellar flagship performance realme brings a true flagship slayer that is ready to take multiple wins with Filipino gamers. The realme X3 SuperZoom is powered by a Snapdragon 855+ processor, a mobile platform built specifically for gaming, which delivers cutting edge performance, improved graphics and CPU efficiency, and a robust 4G connectivity. It is complemented by a 2.96Hz octa-core processor and UFS 3.0 high-speed flash memory that provides top computing performance, smooth multitasking capabilities, ultra-high download speeds and ultra-low latency. The devices 4200mAh battery and 30W Dart Flash Charge feature provide users many hours of uninterrupted game play. Complementing these is a Liquid Cooling System that ensures 100 percent effective coverage of internal heat sources to avoid overheating even under heavy performance. The realme X3 SuperZoom also supports Dolby Atmos and hi-res sound quality which unveil a new frontier in audio for an elevated listening experience. Lastly, the realme X3 SuperZoom reigns supreme in the storage department by being the only device in its price segment to have a 12GB RAM + 256GB storage, a configuration most favorable for those who download apps and online materials regularly. realme X3 SuperZoom Specs: 6.6-inch FHD+ (2400 x 1080) 120Hz display, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ octa-core CPU Adreno 640 GPU 12GB LPDDR4x RAM 256GB internal storage UFS 3.0 Quad-rear cameras: 64MP Samsung GW1 F1.8 (main) + 8MP F3.4 (periscope) with 60x SuperZoom + 8MP F2.3 (ultra-wide) + 2MP F2.4 (macro) 32MP F2.5 Sony IMX616 (main) + 8 MP (ultra-wide) F2.2 front cameras Supports up to 4K @ 60fps video recording and UIS Max Video Stabilization Realme UI (Android 10) Dual-SIM / 4G LTE WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac / Bluetooth 5.0 GPS, GLONSS, BEIDOU, GALILEO, QZSS USB Type-C / Fingerprint scanner (side-mounted) 1216 Super Linear Speakers powered by Dolby Atmos 4,200mAh battery w/ 30W Dart Charge 163.8 x 75.8 x 8.9mm (dimension) 202 g (weight) Colors: Arctic White and Glacier Blue Price and Availability The realme X3 SuperZoom in the Philippines comes solely in the 12GB+256GB storage variant. It will be available in two colors: Artic White and Glacier Blue. The realme X3 SuperZoom is priced at Php24,990. Pre-order starts on July 9 to July 17 in realme concept stores, kiosks and select stores nationwide. During the pre-order period, customers will also receive exclusive realme Buds Air Black worth Php3,990. A special early bird offer will also be available in realmes official flagship store on Lazada on July 9 where purchasers will get free realme Buds Air worth Php3,990. This aerial photograph taken from a military aircraft shows alleged on-going reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea, west of Palawan, May 11, 2015. The United States may level sanctions against Chinese state-owned enterprises that are involved in land reclamation, dredging, and illegal oil exploration in the South China Sea, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday. David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, was speaking after the Trump administration on Monday declared most of Chinas sweeping territorial claims to those disputed waters to be illegal. That drew an angry reaction from Beijing, which bristled at Secretary of State Mike Pompeos assertion that China was treating the South China Sea like its maritime empire. China accused Washington of being a destroyer of regional peace and stability. Stillwell on Tuesday expanded on the U.S. decision to align its policy with a 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that undermined the legal basis of Chinas claims to virtually all of the South China Sea, where five other governments also have claims. Speaking at an online forum organized by a Washington D.C.-based think tank, Stilwell also called out Chinas state-owned enterprises (SOEs), describing them as battering rams used to enforce Chinas sweeping maritime claims. Beijing has used state-owned enterprises as tools of economic coercion and international abuse, he told a conference on the South China Sea organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They have been used to dredge, construct, and militarize the P.R.Cs artificial island fortresses in the Spratlys, from which Beijing now violates the exclusive economic zones of Southeast Asian states. P.R.C. stands for the Peoples Republic of China as the communist-ruled country is formally known. He explicitly cited China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), a major infrastructure conglomerate responsible for dredging sand from the South China Sea to construct Chinas artificial islands, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), which notably deployed a mobile oil platform in waters claimed by Vietnam back in 2014, sparking a major standoff between the two countries in the South China Sea. Both companies are managed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Chinas State Council. Stilwell suggested later on that these companies could be sanctioned for their active role in pushing Chinas claims and violating the resource rights of Southeast Asian nations. Nothings off the table, he said in response to a question concerning the possibility of U.S. sanctions on those entities. I would point out that the CCCC is responsible for untold environmental damage, and being an SOE its actions are directed by the Chinese Communist Party. Absolutely, there is room for that. In a massive land reclamation campaign between 2014 and 2017, China built disputed rocks and reefs in the South China Sea into artificial islands with human settlements and military facilities, including runways, radar and deep water harbors. Those changes came at a steep environmental cost, with vast destruction of coral on the sea bed. Researchers from Australias James Cook University published a scientific paper in February alleging that the ecosystem of the Spratly Islands, where China has dredged sand and created huge complexes on features such as Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, would never recover due to Chinas construction and illegal fishing. In Mondays statement from Pompeo, the U.S. invoked the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on which the 2016 arbitral ruling in a case between the Philippines and China was based although the U.S. is not a signatory to the convention. Stilwell gave no indication that position was set to change although he said the U.S. abides by the convention. The U.S., historically, does not take sides on territorial disputes, and the statement does not mean a total rejection of all Chinas claims in the South China Sea. But it does declare illegal many claims that range far from Chinas own coastline. For example, it states that Chinas claims to features that are only visible in low-tide conditions, like Second Thomas Reef, Mischief Reef, and James Shoal which are all much closer to the Philippines than China -- are unlawful. Furthermore, while the U.S. still does not take a position on sovereignty disputes over land features like rocks and islands, the U.S. states that Chinas claims to the waters off the coast of Brunei, and around features like Luconia Shoals off Malaysia, and Natuna Island off Indonesia, are similarly illegal. US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell (L) arrives after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (not pictured) at the foreign ministry in Seoul, July 17, 2019. Credit: AFP Economic rights violated Stilwell contended that Chinas insistence to economic rights in those waters violated the economic rights of Southeast Asian nations. These resources are the birthright of Southeast Asian nations, the lifeblood of their coastal communities, and the livelihood of millions of their citizens. They are the inheritance of each nations children and grandchildren and Beijings behavior is an assault on the people of Southeast Asia today from generation to generation, Stilwell said. He referenced an estimated $2.6 trillion in offshore oil and gas in the South China Sea, as well as the richness of its fishing grounds that employ an estimated 3.7 million people in Southeast Asia. Mondays announcement compounds the current deterioration in U.S.-China relations on a range of issues, such as trade, the status of Hong Kong and treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang that last week prompted U.S. sanctions over several senior Chinese officials. China reacted sternly on Tuesday, and accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for accusing China of not abiding by UNCLOS when the U.S., itself, has not ratified the treaty. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian also defended Chinas conduct in relation to its neighbors. China never seeks to build a maritime empire in the South China Sea. We always treat our South China Sea neighbors as equals and exercise maximum restraint when it comes to safeguarding our sovereignty, rights and interests in the South China Sea, Zhao told a press conference in Beijing. But there was bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress for the U.S. policy announcement from the top-ranking Republican and Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. China has failed to abide by the Permanent Court of Arbitration's legally binding ruling from 2016, or provide any credible legal justification for its claims, Sens. Jim Risch and Bob Menendez, and Reps. Eliot Engel and Michael McCaul said in a joint statement. Continued ambiguity with respect to our policy on Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea no longer serves the shared interests of the Indo-Pacific region, given Chinas aggressive actions and refusal to abide by international law, they said. Visitors to prisons in Portlaoise and other places in Ireland will have to bring their umbrellas and may be ejected if they do not follow mask-wearing Covid-19 rules under new restrictions to visits which come into force next week as prison visits recommence. The Irish Prison Service (IPS) has published a detailed guided for families and others preparing to pay inmates a visit from Monday, July 20. Visits were stopped in March under the lockdown. There are on average 4,500 visits to Irish prisons but the IPS has said that capacity as visiting resumes has had to be reduced due to Covid-19. The question and answer style guide sets out the measures in place at jails around the country. It warns that visitors must plan for delayed entry to jails. "Unfortunately, there will be delays accessing the prison and the visiting room. Please expect them. Temperature checking, and health screening, combined with social distancing is likely to lead to delays in entering the prison, which may mean you to have to queue outdoors for a short period. Please arrive in plenty of time to reduce the risk of a delay interfering with your scheduled visit time. "Please bring a rain jacket and umbrella to protect yourself from the weather," says the guide. The IPS provides visitors with advice on what they need to know before a physical visit. "Visitors to prison are not permitted to wear their own personal face mask in the visiting room. All visitors will be provided with a new face-covering on entry to the prison and will be required to wear it for the duration of the visit. Failure to comply may result in your visit being suspended and you will be asked to leave the prison. "Hand sanitizer stations will be available when you enter the prison and before you enter the visiting room. In order to prevent the potential spread of infection all visits will be behind clear screens and visitors will be required to wear a face masks at all times. "No physical contact between you and the person in custody will be permitted. Given the risks of human contact spreading the coronavirus, all of our visits will be screened. This means that there will no human contact during your visit. Failure to follow this instruction you will be asked to leave the prison and your visit will be terminated," said the IPS. IPS says there will be security screening. "Yes, security screening will be in full operation for visitors entering our closed prisons. Airport-style walk-through detectors and X-ray scanners are installed in each closed prison. The Canine Unit may also be there with sniffer or drug dogs. "The Irish Prison Service has enhanced the fight against drug-trafficking by the introduction of airport-style swabbing for drug residues. Drug-swabbing machines will be present and all visitors will be tested before they may enter the visiting room.," it says. Read also: HUGE RISK OF PRISON OVERDOSE The IPS says visitors will not will not be allowed to enter prisons if you are carrying: mobile phones and/or chargers, any item which could be used as a weapon, particularly sharp items, Proscribed or prescription drugs. The service outlines measures to speed up the security screening process and reduce the amount of contact with our security staff. It suggests that jewellery, belts, watches, possessions that contain metal and prescription drugs should be left outside prison. Visitors will also need to have a health screen check before entering. Everyone must be health screened and temperature checked before entry. Visitors will be asked to answer a number of health-related questions to identify potential risk factors for Covid-19 infection. If your temperature is 37.5 degrees Celsius or above when measured, you will not be allowed to enter the prison and you will be advised to seek medical advice. "Please do not argue the result of the test. We screen every person who enters and it is a critical factor in identifying people who may be at risk of carrying the virus. If you fail the temperature check or health screening process, you may also need to consult your doctor. This is done with the best interest of people in our care and staff in mind," it says. IPS says information from screening directly is protected under data protection legislation. However, staff performing the screening may be interviewed as part of a contact tracing activity and may share information about visitors that they recall as required under public health requirements. Prison management says the operation and frequency of visits will be kept under review guided both by public health advice and our desire to support as much contact as possible between people in custody and their relatives and friends. It adds that detailed information for relatives/friends in relation to the operation of visits will be published on the Irish Prison Service website www.irishprisons.ie in the coming weeks. Phase 2 of visiting restriction relaxation starts on Monday, August 17. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning Americans to stop using certain hand sanitizers because they may be toxic. Regulators expanded their list of potentially dangerous hand sanitizers to 59, manufactured by 13 companies. Last month, the FDA cautioned that nine products manufactured by Mexico-based Eskbiochem SA de CV and contain varying amounts of methanol. It now warns against hand sanitizers made companies including AAA Cosmetica, 4E Global, and DDI Multinacional. Methanol is a type of alcohol that can be poisonous if it is absorbed through the skin or ingested. The FDA says that exposure to methanol-based hand sanitizer can cause side effects such as nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or even death. The FDA warned Americans not to use 59 hand sanitizers made by 13 companies, including 4E Global's Blumen hand sanitizers (left). The warning expands on the FDA's letter to Eskbiochem, a Mexican company that makes several hand sanitizers, including All Clean (right) 'FDA is warning consumers and health care providers that the agency has seen a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products that are labeled to contain ethanol (also known as ethyl alcohol) but that have tested positive for methanol contamination,' officials wrote in their update letter earlier this month. Ethanol is sugarry, starchy grains and crops like corn and barley, while methanol is made from wood. Methanol poisonings are more commonly a consequence of people drinking illicit, homemade alcohol, but amid the coronavirus pandemic, there has been an uptick in people - especially children - ingesting harmful cleaning products, including hand sanitizer. 'The agency is aware of adults and children ingesting hand sanitizer products contaminated with methanol that has led to recent adverse events including blindness, hospitalizations and death,' the FDA regulators wrote. This year has brought a nearly 50 percent increase in calls to poison control centers, many of which are for children licking their hands after using hand sanitizer, and accidentally ingesting it as a result. Even ethanol sanitizer can pose risks, but improperly made hand sanitizers are potentially deadly. 'Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and should not be used due to its toxic effects,' the FDA said in a letter published earlier this month. 'Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol should seek immediate treatment, which is critical for potential reversal of toxic effects of methanol poisoning.' In its warning, the FDA listed the following 59 products, made by the following companies: 19 of 4E Global's Blumen hand sanitizers FIve of 4E Global's Assured Instant Hand Sanitizers 4E Global's Klar and Danver, Modesta, The Honeykeeper and Hello Kitty by Sanrio hand sanitizers Four of AAA Cosmetica's hand sanitizers Three of DDI Multinacional hand sanitizers Eight of Eskbiochem's hand sanitizers Five of Limpo QUimicos' hand sanitizers Liqesa Exportacion or Liq-E-S.A.'s Optimus Lubricants Instant Hand Sanitizer Two of Maquiladora Miniara's hand sanitizers Mystic International's Mystic Shield Protection hand sanitizer Three of Soluciones Cosmeticas' hand sanitizers Tropicosmeticos' Britz Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 70% Yara Elena De La Garza Perez Nieto's Daesi hand sanitizer 'Although all persons using these products on their hands are at risk, young children who accidentally ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute, are most at risk for methanol poisoning,' the federal health agency said. Methanol poisonings are not common, but they do occur. In 2013, more than 1,700 cases occurred in the US. In January 2016, two Tennessee high school students died after ingesting a mixture of Mountain Dew and methanol, believed to have come from racing fuel. Additionally, in April 2018, a Massachusetts man died after consuming alcohol that was contaminated with methanol. The FDA recommended recalls or stops to the importation of all the products this month. It also warned against pouring the products down the drain or toilet, as the chemicals could contaminate water and advised instead disposing of them in hazardous waste containers. Warnings against these products follow the FDA's decision to relax certain regulations on hand sanitizer in March, when store shelves were empty of the disinfectant products and the risk of shortages loomed. Regulators recommend that the general public wash their hands with soap and warm or hot water for at least 20 seconds whenever possible. If soap and water isn't available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests using hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol, and to watch for any of the contaminated products. Grab Philippines, together with the Quezon City Government, has announced its partnership, which aims to leverage on Grabs platform and provide livelihood opportunities to the city residents in helping them recover from the impacts of the pandemic. (L-R) Ms. Mona Yap- OIC, Small Business Cooperatives Devt; Mr. Michael Alimurung, City Administrator; Mr. Brian Cu, Grab Philippines President; Mr. Leo Gonzales, Grab Philippines Public Affairs Head At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grab has launched its GrabBayanihan program to help Filipinos respond and recover from the pandemic. While GrabBayanihan has delivered protection and support to Filipinos during the early stages of the pandemic, Grab is again calling on the spirit of bayanihan this time through local government partners across Metro Manila. With responsible use of technology as well as our enduring partnership with the Quezon City Government, we hope to continue helping our kababayans in Quezon City who have been greatly affected by the pandemic, get back on their feet through the many livelihood opportunities available on our Grab platform, said Brian Cu, Grab Philippines President. We are thankful for the trust and confidence that the city government has placed on us, as its partner in helping this great city through its residents, recover from the pandemic and navigate the new normal. As we transition to the new normal, one of our priorities is to address the needs of our residents whose sources of income were badly affected. Through GrabBayanihan, we will be able to provide jobs for our residents, and in return, they can continue to provide for their families, QC Mayor Joy Belmonte said. Small Business and Cooperatives Development and Promotions Office (SBCDPO) Head Mona Yap explained that 500 displaced workers and tricycle drivers would be trained and onboarded as GrabFood and GrabExpress delivery-partners. At the same time, 500 small businesses will be provided with market access through the Grab app. Aside from displaced workers, it is important also to expose small businesses to a wider market through online applications such as Grab. As they start their businesses or continue their operations after three months of hiatus, they will need a platform to launch and introduce their products, Yap said. Under the GrabBayanihan Socio-economic recovery program, individuals who are interested in being part of Grabs Food or Express Delivery Fleet must be: A resident of Quezon City; At least twenty one (21) years up to fifty (50) years of age; Owns and knows how to operate a smartphone Owns and/or operates either of the following which can be used for delivery: a tricycle, a motorcycle, or a bicycle; In possession of a Drivers License issued by the Land Transportation Office, and is valid for at least 21 days before the expiration date. For motorcycle owners, they must present their registration documents such as: Official Receipt and Certificate of Registration; If the vehicle registration is not owned by the user, they must present any supporting documents as follows: Authorization Letter of the owner with Xerox Copy of valid ID with three (3) specimen signatures, Notarized Deed of Sale and Reposition Certificate Meanwhile, small business owners who wish to be part of the program must have the necessary business permits and other requirements issued by the Government of Quezon City. Interested parties are highly encouraged to prepare their documents and to visit their Public Employment Service Office (PESO) for an initial assessment. A detente has resumed across the fraught capital territory literary landscape, which fractured this week when the Canberra Writers Festival was attacked over its lack of diversity. Christopher Pyne. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: The ACT Writers Centre issued a stinging open letter, telling the organisers that the time for excuses has passed. They were apparently incensed at the festivals announcement that this years headliner would be Christopher Pyne flogging his book in a Wine with Pyne session - (following last years headliner, Pynes former cabinet colleague, Barnaby Joyce). For years, the festival and the centre have co-existed in a state of mutual low-level enmity, similar to how Canberra locals judge each other for living on the wrong side of Lake Burley Griffin. The festival, co-founded by Newgate spinner turned thriller writer Steve Lewis, boasts literary agent Jeanne Ryckmans as its artistic director and former chief scientist Ian Chubb as its chair. Ticket revenue has swelled to a healthy $200,000, up from $70,000 four years ago. (Bloomberg) -- Skyscanner Ltd., the travel-booking service owned by Chinas Trip.com Group Ltd., is preparing to cut as much as a fifth of its workforce and close several offices after revenues collapsed following the Covid-19 lockdown. The company, dealing with the fallout of the global coronavirus pandemic, intends to consolidate its operations in the U.K., close its Sofia and Budapest offices and reduce its presence in Singapore and Miami, according to an internal email from Chief Executive Officer Moshe Rafiah seen by Bloomberg News. Overall, it anticipates that of our 1,500 Skyscanner employees around 20% may leave us, Rafiah wrote. In an emailed statement, a Skyscanner spokesperson said it plans to create 60 new jobs as part of its restructuring. Rafiah hosted a conference call with 1,200 of the companys employees on Tuesday before sending out the message detailing the plans, said people who attended the call but asked not to be named as it wasnt public. Skyscanners revenues have been hit significantly and the company is having to adapt to a radically different travel industry where a full recovery to our previous scale before COVID-19 looks to be several quarters or possibly years away, wrote the CEO. While were confident of Skyscanners recovery in the long-term and were seeing early signs of growth in the sector, we now know it will take longer than originally anticipated for travel to return to normal, said the spokesperson. The Edinburgh Evening News originally reported news of the potential job cuts. Trip.com, formerly known as Ctrip, is a dominant force in Chinas domestic travel market and acquired Edinburgh-based Skyscanner in 2016 for $1.7 billion in order to boost its global ambitions. Before the coronavirus disrupted global travel, the company touted that more than 100 million people relied on its app and website to help them with their travel plans. With its main offices in the Scottish capital and London, Skyscanner will now centralize marketing operations in the U.K. and will look for a new office for its reduced Miami operations while its employees there continue working from home. Story continues (Updates with details of 60 new roles in third paragraph) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Protesters chant slogans during a rally against the Beijing-imposed new national security law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. (Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images) 60 MPs Urge Sanctions Against Chinese Officials Over Human Rights Atrocities A joint letter signed by 62 MPs, four senators, a former House of Commons speaker, and more than 20 community groups is calling on Canada to impose Magnitsky sanctions against Beijing and Hong Kong officials over human rights atrocities. Initiated by Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK), the letter asks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his deputy Chrystia Freeland, and Global Affairs Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne to sanction Chinese and Hong Kong officials directly responsible for the human rights atrocities happening in Tibet, occupied East Turkestan (Xinjiang), and Hong Kong. Canada needs to take a strong stance against blatant human rights atrocities and coordinate a multilateral effort amongst countries with shared values to reclaim our leadership on the Global stage, the letter says. The letter quotes one of Champagnes tweets from earlier this month: Sanctions are an important tool to hold perpetrators of gross human rights violations to account. ACHK provided a list to the government of six Chinese Communist Party officials they want sanctioned for human right abuses and state violence in China and Hong Kong. Almost half the Conservative caucus signed the letter, including Leona Alleslev, who resigned as deputy leader on July 13, as well as three MPs from the Green Party and two from Bloc Quebecois. Liberal MP Judy Sgro and NDP MP Jenny Kwan also signed, along with Conservative senators Leo Housakos and Linda Frum; Independent senator Marilou McPhedran; Progressive senator Pierre Dalphond; former House of Commons speaker Peter Milliken; and former Liberal finance minister John McKay. Brad West from Port Coquitlam is the only mayor among the signatories. On June 23, more than a dozen senators sent a similar letter to Trudeau calling on the federal government to take a stand against Beijing and impose sanctions on Chinese officials for gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Citing Chinas crackdown on democratic rights in Hong Kong, detention of Uighur Muslims, decades-long repression of Tibet, and its imprisonment of Canadians, the senators describe the Chinese communist regime as the biggest threat to mankind and a danger to international security. Sen. Leo Housakos and fellow Conservative Sen. Thanh Hai Ngo are also seeking Magnitsky sanctions. In December 2019 they tabled a motion calling for Ottawa to use the Magnitsky law to sanction Chinese officials involved in human rights abuses in Hong Kong and mainland China. Housakos criticized Ottawas performance on China, saying the government has been slapped around but has not taken appropriate action in response. They seem to be appeasing and kowtowing to Chinas brutal behaviour, he said in an interview at the time. Falun Gong adherents are among the groups that have been persecuted most brutally by the Chinese communist regime in the last 20 years, according to Li Xun, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Canada. In Canada, Falun Gong practitioners have been the first to urge the Canadian government to sanction Chinese officials accountable for the persecution, he told The Epoch Times. Li submitted a list of 14-names of Chinese officials responsible for gross human rights abuses to then-Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland on Dec 12, 2018, accompanied by a letter calling on the government to sanction these human rights violators under the Magnitksy law. The fact that Canada has a Magnitsky law is thanks to Conservative MP James Bezan, who had long championed Canada having its own version of the law. His efforts finally came to fruition in late 2017 when Parliament passed the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act into law. The legislation imposes sanctions on individuals who perpetrate human rights violations in other countries, such as banning their entry into Canada or engaging in financial transactions with Canadians. Bezan says the Magnitsky law should be used to hold those who persecute Falun Gong adherents to account. We stand in solidarity with [Falun Gong adherents] that are still in China, he said in a previous interview. For those who have been able to escape the communist regime in Beijing [but] have family and friends and loved ones back in mainland China, we stand with [them] as well and we will stand in the battle against oppression. On July 9, four Chinese officials in Xinjiang were sanctioned for human rights abuses by the U.S. administration under the Global Magnitsky Act. The sanctions bar the officials, as well as their immediate family members, from entering the United States. The sanctions also block U.S. properties that are under the individuals names and prohibit U.S. transactions with them, the U.S. Treasury Department said. Three days earlier, Britain announced economic sanctions against individuals and organizations from Russia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, and North Korea under new U.K. powers to punish human rights offenders. Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic, perform tests on drivers in the Sydney suburb of Casula, Australia on July 11, 2020. (David Gray/Getty Images) NSW Likely Exposed to Victoria Outbreak Suburbs near a COVID-19 cluster at a Sydney pub will not be locked down while the NSW premier concedes Victorias COVID-19 outbreak has no doubt impacted the state. The number of COVID-19 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydneys southwest hit 30 on the evening of July 14. Of these cases, 14 are people who attended the pub. While the source of the outbreak has yet to be identified, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the investigation demonstrates there is no doubt the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW. Its highly likely that given the evolving situation in Victoria that NSW was exposed to underlying community transmission from that state, she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday. Berejiklian was asked if she would consider locking down the suburbs near the Casula pub after the Queensland government declared Sydneys Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas as COVID-19 hotspots. The NSW premier said the measure wasnt being considered at this stage. Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home. Berejiklian also announced a tightening of restrictions in response to the Casula outbreak with a limit of 300 people at pubs and hotels, and group bookings to be capped at 10 people. It will be mandatory for pubs and hotels to download and register the COVID-19 safe plan and take down contact details of all patrons. Venues with a capacity of more than 250 people will be required to have a full-time marshal on site to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines. The changes dont apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino and will come into effect from 12.01am on Friday. Chant said other venues across Sydney may have been exposed to the virus between June 27 and July 10 after visits from people linked to the outbreak. These include The Star casino in Sydney, Picton Hotel, the Planet Fitness gym, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood. The NSW Australian Hotels Association supports the stricter COVID-19 measures, and chief executive John Whelan said the industry had to do its part in halting the spread of the virus. Police are also ramping up compliance checks with officers making about 300 home visits in the past 24 hours to ensure people who returned from Victoria are self-isolating for 14 days. Meanwhile, South Australia will delay its border opening with NSW, which was set down for July 20. Dominica Sanda and Angelo Risso in Sydney It is 10 years since Gary Brown put down the first star plaque on Orewa Boulevard commemorating Kiwi entertainers and, for the past six years, he has been trying to get some of them moved. Initially, this was in response to opposition from the landowner where some of the stars are located, but currently, the chief reason is because some of the stars now sit under the chairs and tables of cafes and restaurants, and the granite surfaces are being damaged. Moving eight of the star plaques out from under those chairs and tables will place all 12 in a straight line down the pavement. The goal is to add further stars to that line in due course. Mr Brown, who is now the Hibiscus & Bays Local Board chair, raised around $5500 last year with a fundraising concert so he could uplift and move the eight stars. He says it is frustrating the amount of time the process of shifting the stars is taking. Since the fundraising concert, he says he has obtained verbal permission from the landowner, Jonathan Rigg, and support from the businesses alongside the planned new location for the stars. He has also spoken with Auckland Transport (AT), which is responsible for the pavement. Mr Brown says Covid-19 has put AT behind in its work programme, but he is optimistic that the stars can be moved later this month. The work will be done by a private contractor and any costs of uplifting and relocating the stars, and reinstating the pavement (above that raised from the NZ Walk of Fame concert) is at Mr Browns expense. He says the process will have to be done carefully so that there is as little disruption for passers-by and businesses as possible. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Adrian Wail Akhlas (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 16:41 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663a7f5 1 Business Tourism-Ministry,tourism-industry,Hotel,restaurant,PHRI,COVID-19,pandemic,stimulus-package Free The COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out around Rp 85 trillion (US$5.87 billion) of Indonesias tourism revenue so far this year, forcing business associations to call on the government to provide a greater stimulus for the virus-battered industry. The hotel and restaurant industry has lost nearly Rp 70 trillion in revenue as leisure travel has come to a complete halt, while aviation and tour operators have lost Rp 15 trillion in revenue, according to data from the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI). More than 95 percent of workers in the tourist sector are being furloughed without pay, PHRI chairman Hariyadi Sukamdani told lawmakers during a hearing on Tuesday, adding that 2,000 hotels and 8,000 restaurants closed during the first three months of the outbreak, which started in March in Indonesia. Hariyadi told lawmakers that the governments tax incentives were not an effective measure to stop the bleeding, adding that many workers in the tourist sector could not access the governments pre-employment card program, resulting in a further blow to the industry. Banks will need to extend the debt-restructuring program and they will need to provide working capital loans to rescue businesses in the tourist sector, he went on to say. Indonesias foreign visitor arrivals plunged 86.9 percent year-on-year (yoy) in May to 163,646, according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data. From January to May, Indonesia recorded just 2.9 million foreign tourist visits, a 53.56 percent drop from the same period last year. Tourism has been one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak as countries around the world imposed travel restrictions while Indonesia implemented a partial lockdown to curb the spread of the virus, leaving tourist destinations empty since March. The government has allocated Rp 695.2 trillion from the state budget as a stimulus to strengthen the healthcare system and bolster the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, business associations and economists have openly criticized the slow stimulus disbursement, which they say will risk recovery in Southeast Asias biggest economy. The tourist sector was being abandoned by the government as the stimulus aimed at rescuing businesses had not yet arrived after three months of pandemic, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman for tourism Kosmian Pudjiadi said. We have yet to receive direct help until now from the government, Kosmian told lawmakers during the same hearing, adding that tourism-related businesses would go bankrupt by the end of year if the government and banks were unable to provide the much-needed cash injections. The government, he went on to say, will need to provide cash injections to businesses and stimulate consumer demand for businesses to survive throughout the pandemic, which he expects will only fully recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. The government can, for example, increase domestic business trips to save the tourist sector, Kosmian said. The Health Ministry has issued health protocols for businesses and public facilities, such as hotels, restaurants and shopping malls, as the government gears up to reopen tourist destinations during the so-called new normal period. Destinations in the resort island of Bali, Semarang in Central Java and Medan in North Sumatra, for instance, have started to reopen for local visitors despite a rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. We must demonstrate our confidence to domestic and international consumers that health protocols here have been implemented seriously and in detail so that we can soon restore the tourist sector, which has been affected the most by COVID-19, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Wishnutama Kusubandio said earlier this month. In his novel Blindness, Portuguese author Jose Saramago presents the violence that takes place in a city that has lost its humanity during an epidemic. The only woman unaffected by the disease, which causes blindness, accompanies her physician husband into quarantine, making her a symbol of solidarity with others until they have recovered their sight. This message of fellow feeling is not merely applicable to literary fiction, but is also an exploration of reality. There is a disparity in human behaviour towards epidemics. Since these threaten human life without discrimination, they can help to reshape the ways of thinking and calculation of individuals and groups whether regarding themselves or others. They may also hold cooperative or conflictual implications. European colonists in Africa and Asia who provided medical assistance to fight epidemics and infectious diseases set up relationships of power, domination, and imperialist expansion, for example. The impacts of epidemics are also evident in domestic armed conflicts since they can either motivate rivals to put aside their differences and de-escalate clashes in the face of a joint humanitarian threat, or they can increase the chasm between them and allow conflicts to continue to rage. Which is the most likely scenario in a conflict situation? While the Covid-19 pandemic prompted some armed groups around the globe to accept the ceasefire called for by the UN on 23 March in order to help to fight the pandemic, the truce did not last for very long, and the violence erupted once again when fighters ignored warnings about the seriousness of the coronavirus. The Norwegian Refugee Council, an NGO, has estimated that 660,000 people fled their homes in conflict zones between the UN call in March and 15 May, mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The dual relationship that may emerge during a pandemic could pave the way to peace or fuel further fighting depending on three key factors that are rooted in the premise that conflict or peaceful interactions are determined by material and non-material factors. The first is the epidemics impact on the combat capacity of the warring parties, because it will lead them to make a rational choice when deciding to fight or to make peace by calculating costs and benefits. The second is the psychological impact of epidemics on rival groups, since ideas and understandings about them could change minds and thus behaviour. The third is whether outside parties decide to be involved or use the conditions of the epidemic to promote peace and transform the conflict. EPIDEMICS AND RIVAL CAPACITIES These refer to the capacities and tools, whether political, human, military, economic, social, or other, that rivals have to express their disagreements through behaviour calculated to achieve their different goals and interests. Without these, a conflict would be latent and non-explicit, and such capacities are usually impacted by variables present in conflict environments. For example, one side may suffer from political or military rifts, or shortages of economic resources, or fragile social bonds. An epidemic will become an added variable that impacts the capabilities of the warring parties since it can hamper the mobilisation of human resources in combat zones due to the need to take safety measures and implement social quarantining. It also limits military spending in favour of civilian, and foreign assistance can also be impacted if foreign sponsors are also dealing with a pandemic. Such factors can become even more important because epidemics can further undermine the fragility of conflict states and zones due to weak infrastructure and healthcare provision, as well as the existence of other crises such as those caused by refugees and displaced populations. This has been seen in several countries in the Middle East, among them Libya, Syria, and Yemen, where almost half of the healthcare system is out of service. History shows that serious damage to combat capabilities due to epidemics can also lead to defeat or hinder adversaries. Leprosy and malaria hindered Alexander the Greats campaign in India in the fourth century BC by killing many soldiers. Yellow Fever blocked Napoleon Bonapartes expansionism in the early 19th century when his army was infected in the Caribbean. As a result, an epidemic can lead to adversaries reassessing their management of a conflict, cutting their losses and increasing their gains through three main options. There can be a temporary truce due to an epidemic through a ceasefire and the suspension of military operations for humanitarian reasons, this then allowing relief groups to provide medical services. This was seen in several war zones in the 1990s and early 2000s, for example in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, the DRC, Bosnia, and elsewhere. Some armed groups also responded to the UN call for a ceasefire at least at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, including in Yemen, Cameroon, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Colombia and other countries. Even more radical and violent groups such as the Taliban in Afghanistan were responsive. The reason why such adversaries agree to a temporary truce during an epidemic is due to several factors, including protecting their human, military, and economic resources from attrition. They may need to redirect military resources towards civilian duties during an outbreak so they do not lose their legitimacy among supporters. Some armed groups may even use the opportunities an epidemic presents to bolster their resources by transferring civilian duties to humanitarian organisations, sometimes pilfering medical supplies to support their combat capabilities. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has begun an investigation into accusations that the Houthi rebels in Yemen stole Covid-19-related medical supplies, for example. Moreover, adversaries may go beyond a pragmatic truce during an epidemic and negotiate a peace deal, or international mediators may work towards transforming a truce into a better peace deal. As a result, major disasters whether natural or otherwise, can constitute propitious moments for negotiations through what is known as crisis diplomacy. For example, the damage caused by the tsunami in Aceh in Indonesia in 2004 paved the way for the government to begin talks with the separatist movement that concluded in a peace agreement in Helsinki in 2005. The absence of international pressures or interventions can prevent a truce evolving into a peace opportunity, however. One of the reasons why many armed groups reneged on the UN call for a Covid-19 ceasefire was the failure of the UN Security Council to pass a resolution on the matter owing to quarrels with the United States, which refused to see the WHO mentioned in the text of any UN resolution. Washington also threatened to veto any such resolution because of its quarrels with China. The work of international mediators, especially Chinas work in Myanmar, was suspended because of the focus on combating the pandemic back home, which meant that ceasefire opportunities were lost and the fighting began to escalate. The third possibility is that the fighting maximises benefits for armed groups if their combat capacities are not impacted by an epidemic, or if an outbreak is in specific areas, or if safety measures are taken to prevent infections among fighters. One side might find that the threat of an epidemic is an ideal opportunity for a military victory that would not have been possible otherwise. This has been the case in Libya, where the fighting did not stop but in fact escalated in the first half of 2020, including for reasons related to the Covid-19 pandemic. The impacts of this in Libya have been limited when compared to the West, and the foreign sponsors of the Libyan conflict took advantage of the fact that the international community was largely distracted with combating the pandemic to change the balance of power on the ground in favour of their proxies. Turkey supplied militias working for the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli with weapons and mercenaries, for example. Terrorist groups can benefit from a governments preoccupation with a pandemic by intensifying the fighting and recruiting new members to their ranks by taking advantage of the economic repercussions of epidemics. Some believe that the isolation of these groups also gives them an advantage because they are less likely to be exposed to infection, which means the combat capabilities of the different adversaries can be thrown off balance. This has been most obvious among the terrorist groups in Africas Sahel region. Abu Bakr Al-Sheikawi, the leader of the Boko Haram terrorist group in West Africa, mocked the coronavirus outbreak in a recording made in April, for example, claiming that it was divine punishment for governments in the region. The virus had not infected his men, he said, because they pray, cut the hands off thieves, and punish adultery. The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in more terrorist attacks, including the Boko Haram attack in March on a military base in Chad, one of the worst in the history of the country, which killed 92 people. There have also been similar attacks in Niger and Nigeria. PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS Epidemics have psychological impacts that are mostly triggered by the fear of infection, and these can make societies more prone to rumours, urban legends, and conspiracy theories. They can, however, also bridge the gap between the individual and society to create a greater sense of collective solidarity. Overall, the fear of epidemics tends to be more prevalent in areas of conflict. Although both epidemics and armed conflicts pose existential threats, there is a difference between fighting a visible enemy and knowing that death is always a possibility as a result of an invisible one. Epidemics are unknown enemies that can lead to deaths because of a lack of knowledge or poor handling. The difference between a visible enemy and an invisible one can affect the ways in which fears are experienced, because one can control and predict the first scenario but not the second. According to US psychologist Jennifer Lerner, fears in epidemics tend to be related to uncertainties, anticipations, and expected risks, which explains why there was more of a panic about the Covid-19 pandemic than there has been about the risks of civil wars, since there is no cure or vaccine that can control the virus. The psychological impacts of epidemics on the mindsets, perceptions, and feelings of combatants about the possibility of peace or further conflict can differ in degrees of pessimism or optimism, as follows. First, there may be a tendency towards pessimism and a renewed motivation towards peace. Amid an atmosphere of fear in an epidemic, the parties to the conflict may feel pessimistic about the future, often because of a large number of possible deaths among soldiers due to disease, fewer resources, the inability of the health sector to respond to the epidemic, possible cuts in military spending, or economic impacts. This pessimistic outlook can be reinforced by looking at contemporary contexts, such as are suggested by asking the question of if the coronavirus killed more than 100,000 within three months from March to May this year in the US, the most powerful country in the world with an advanced healthcare sector, how can countries and societies suffering ferocious conflicts with fragile healthcare systems survive it? A pessimistic mindset could lead adversaries to look for a truce or negotiations. Perhaps some armed groups welcomed the UN call for a ceasefire at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic because they expected the worst, especially at the start of the outbreak. Second, there may be optimism and continued fighting. This occurs when there are factors to offset any pessimism and perhaps make fighters optimistic about the outcome of the epidemic. For example, armed groups may find that it does not damage their ability to continue the fighting, or that the outbreak is spreading in some areas but not others, or that the age groups most affected are not members of fighting ranks. A combination of these factors could be the reason why adversaries in the Middle East and the African Sahel have continued fighting, and global ceasefire efforts there have failed. The number of deaths and infections as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic remain low in some war zones, according to published figures. By 12 June, Libya had recorded 393 infects and five deaths, Syria had recorded 164 infections and six deaths, and Yemen had recorded 591 infections and 136 deaths. Other factors could also feed the fearlessness some adversaries feel when it comes to Covid-19, since its health impacts have been more severe in the developed North than the developing South. The virus also afflicts older people rather than younger ones, who ironically form the majority in the war zones in Africa and the Middle East. Peoples ignorance in conflict zones can make it easier to spread conspiracy theories during an epidemic, which could mean armed groups may not be rational in dealing with outbreaks. They may continue fighting or exploit conspiracy theories by claiming that their rivals are responsible for an epidemic, for example. Abdel-Malik Al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthi Movement in Yemen, has blamed Saudi Arabia and the US for spreading Covid-19, claiming it is a biological conspiracy and that dying on the battlefield is better than dying from the virus. His narrative is similar to other conspiracy theories around the world, since even the US and China are at loggerheads about the pandemic. US President Donald Trump has described Covid-19 as a Chinese virus, while Beijing has accused Washington of bio-engineering the virus. This conspiratorial emphasis may help the parties obscure the impacts of the epidemic in a way similar to what happened during the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918 when European governments were not transparent about the pandemic out of concerns that information could be manipulated in the chaos after World War I. FOREIGN RESPONSES While the capabilities and mindsets of armed rivals in epidemics galvanise them towards peace or further conflict, the response of outside players can also play a critical role in making peace a more viable option. This stems from a shift in the conflict-resolution literature towards linking health and peace-building. For example, the concept of conflict transformation views crises as opportunities to rebuild peaceful relations. When rivals cooperate in mutually dependent activities, this can lead to changes in their perceptions and ideas, which can then address the structural reasons for the armed conflict to begin with. The WHO and various NGOs can play a key role in boosting cooperation in the healthcare sector among rival groups to motivate them towards finding peace. Enemies can agree to cooperate on health issues because these serve their interests, for example, since their enemys problems can also infect them. Cooperating on healthcare can also change the perceptions of the parties because it can create the room for trust that can pave the way to peace. Addressing the fragility of infrastructure, including in healthcare, can be a starting point to addressing the structural roots of conflicts. Such concepts are embodied in the Health as a Bridge for Peace (HBP) initiative launched by the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) in 1984 to help reduce conflicts in Central America and Panama. The PAHO worked to bring about days of tranquility between the government of El Salvador and rebel groups between 1985 and 1991, for example, and to provide polio and other vaccinations to residents in rebel areas. Although it is difficult to make a direct link between these initiatives and the arrival of peace in this country in the early 1990s, they did at least create an atmosphere of trust and cooperation, especially since medical teams from the rebel groups participated in health campaigns. Since then, it has been impossible to separate humanitarian aid from peace-building efforts, and in the 1990s the WHO adopted HBP methods in countries including Mozambique, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, and Angola. But foreign responses to transforming epidemics into an opportunity for peace are not always possible, since, as mentioned above, humanitarian truces for medical reasons can be used to fuel fighting later. Global pressure can be ineffective, and medical relief teams can be targeted if they become witnesses to violations. The international NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) came under attack and was forced to withdraw from Yemen and Afghanistan, for example. Some communities in conflict zones also refuse to cooperate with medical missions because in their minds disease means weakness and the enemy is using it to weaken them. This happened in the Ebola virus outbreak in the DRC some years ago. There may also be concerns about discrimination during an epidemic, such as when Spanish Flu ingrained apartheid in South Africa after black soldiers returned there after World War I, and the Natives (Urban Areas) Act was issued in 1923 segregating South African Blacks, Whites, and Coloureds. Even today, Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat have been rumoured by anti-Muslim elements in India to be responsible for the spread of Covid-19. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Gough Whitlam was so enraged at being dismissed by the Governor-General that he waged a bitter months-long 'smear campaign'. Sir John Kerr sacked the Labor PM on November 11, 1975, after protracted in-fighting between him and Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser. Mr Whitlam did not take it well and almost immediately went on the offensive, also trying to get The Queen to reinstate him. The saga is revealed in 211 letters between Sir John and the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris in the leadup and aftermath, released for the first time today. Read Daily Mail Australia's entire coverage of the palace letters Gough Whitlam was dismissed as Australian Prime Minister on November 11, 1975. He is pictured above addressing reporters after his dismissal Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him. 'Mr Whitlam's reaction after leaving Yarralumla turned out to be in fact, one of very great rage which came through in many of his public utterances, the earliest of which were made on the steps of (old) Parliament House at the time (of the proclamation of dismissal being read),' he wrote. Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation with one most famous lines in Australian political history. 'You may say God save the Queen, but nothing will save the Governor-General.' Sir John also noted that Mr Whitlam referred to Mr Fraser as 'Kerr's Cur' and that the ousted PM was whipping up anger for his election campaign. 'The rage seems to be to some extent subsiding and could be, throughout the country, counter-productive,' he wrote. 'However, Mr Whitlam appears to believe the opposite and will, I think, try to keep the issue as the main one till the end.' Sir John Kerr sacked the Labor PM on November 11, 1975, after protracted in-fighting between him and Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him This was in direct contrast to the cordial way Sir John claims he treated Mr Whitlam at the moment he dismissed him. 'When I dismissed Mr Whitlam, I said to him: "The polls are going well in your favour. I have held up my decision to the last possible moment,' he wrote on November 17. '"You have campaigned well in the meantime. I think you could well win the election. Good luck." I proffered him my hand and he took it.' The November 24 letter also explained the personal fallout for Sir John as battle lines were drawn among his social circles over his decision. 'Some people are asserting, including a very old friend of mine who has now, of course, broken off relations with me so far as I am concerned forever,' he wrote. Sir John said he was referring to Senator James McClelland, whom he said believed 'I have been in conspiracy with Mr Fraser from the beginning'. Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation (pictured) with one most famous lines in Australian political history Why was Whitlam dismissed? Gough Whitlam's Labor Government was elected in December 1972 after 23 years of Coalition rule, but only had a slim majority. The Senate, which in those days had separate elections, was still controlled by the Opposition, which held his government to ransom. Growing tired of the Opposition threatening to block supply, Whitlam called a double dissolution election in 1974. Labor lost two seats in the House and the balance of power in the Senate was held by two independents after dirty tricks by Liberal Party premiers. A series of scandals further weakened the government and it lost a by-election for a seat Labor had held for 60 years. By October 1975, Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser had Whitlam by the throat and demanded a new election or he would block supply in the Senate This would mean the budget wouldn't be passed and the government wouldn't have access to funds required to pay public servants, social security, or government programs. Whitlam refused to call yet another election and the two sides remained at an impasse before Governor-General John Kerr involved himself. After weeks of failed negotiations, Whitlam arranged to meet with Kerr on November 11 and call a half-Senate election for December, which Fraser opposed. Whitlam met with Kerr at Yarralumla House, the Governor-General's residence, and tried to hand him documents calling the election. However, Kerr instead informed him he was dismissed and handed him a statement outlining his reasons. Kerr said the pair would just have to live with the situation, to which Whitlam replied 'You certainly will'. Advertisement He asserted this was 'false' because Senator McCellend was himself involved in failed attempts at a compromise Sir John made. 'However, I knew there would be a certain amount of execration and had to warn my wife about this in advance,' he admitted. Six months after the dismissal, Sir John wrote that Mr Whitlam was still pushing a smear campaign against him, and he was often accosted in public. 'I have not spoken to Mr Whitlam since 11 November. He has conducted quite a nasty campaign against me, both publicly and privately,' he wrote. 'This may be understandable from his point of view but I have been unable to reply. 'The campaign, though I have not mentioned this to you, includes a serious smearing by gossip and innuendo and much of this gossip, which could only have come from him and those around him, is reflected, indeed stated as fact, in the "quickie" books so far written by Labor-oriented journalists.' Sir John wrote that he was less of a target of abuse than at the height of the fallout from the dismissal, but still encountered 'small and scruffy' protests. 'My tactic is to appear regularly, carry out my programme, put up with the demonstrations, which so far have been rather small and scruffy, as can be seen on television, and to wait. The next six months will tell,' he wrote. Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were bunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters. 'The security people are not anxious for me to leave Yarralumla, which they feel able to protect, and certainly do not want us to go into residence at Admiralty House which is more difficult from the security point of view,' he wrote. 'I do not think violence is feared so much as demonstrations or indignities which would not be good for the Vice-Regal office or the monarchy.' Mr Fraser was so concerned about protests, still going on more than six months later, against Sir John that he got Australia's security services to disrupt them. Sir John wrote on June 10, 1976, of a 'pretty nasty' scene where his car was attacked for about 400 demonstrators. 'The front side of the Rolls was broken with a brick and the flying glass cut the face of my Aide, Flight Lieutenant Fox, who had to have medical attention,' he wrote. Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were hunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters Mr Fraser called him when he returned to the hotel and assured him he had ordered a detailed report on the protest efforts by ASIO. 'I am to see him tonight at 6.00pm after the despatch bag goes, so further comments on his attitude must await a later letter,' he wrote. Sir Martin wrote that within hours of being dismissed, Mr Whitlam called him 'as a private citizen' and asked for the Queen to reinstate him as PM. Mr Whitlam claimed that since Labor senators, who were unaware of the dismissal, had managed to finally pass supply bills that day (while the Coalition didn't feel the need to oppose them as Mr Fraser had been appointed) he should be recalled. 'Mr Whitlam telephoned to me at 4.15am (our time) on 11th November,' he wrote. 'Mr Whitlam prefaced his remarks by saying that he was speaking as a "private citizen"... and said that now supply had been passed he should be re-commissioned as prime minister so that he could choose his own time to call an election. 'He spoke calmly and did not ask me to make any approach to the Queen, or indeed to do anything other than the suggestion that I should speak to you to find out what was going on.' This gambit obviously did not work. Protesters rally outside old Parliament House in the days after Mr Whitlam was dismissed. Police were so worried about protests they wouldn't let Sir John and his wife leave the house Gough Whitlam holds up the original copy of his dismissal letter he received (pictured above at a Sydney book launch in 2005) The letters finally showed that the Queen did not order Sir John to dismiss Mr Whitlam, and she wasn't even aware of his decision until days later. It has long been speculated whether Her Majesty tried to influence Sir John's decision, and thus undermined Australia's independence. The letters appear to indicate that the Queen and Sir John did not communicate, at least not directly, and correspondence was only with Sir Martin. Palace allies battled for decades to keep the documents - which also include correspondence from her then-private secretary, Martin Charteris - secret, with the National Archives of Australia refusing to release them to the public. The letters had been deemed personal communication by both the National Archives of Australia and the Federal Court which meant the earliest they could be released was 2027, and only then with the Queen's permission. But the High Court bench earlier this year ruled the letters were property of the Commonwealth and part of the public record, and so must be released. TICKERS: GOLD; GLDG Source: Streetwise Reports (7/14/20) H.C. Wainwright & Co. raises GoldMining's target price after increasing its long-term gold price forecast. In a July 13 research note, analyst Heiko Ihle reported that H.C. Wainwright & Co. increased its target price on GoldMining Inc. (GOLD:TSX; GLDLF:OTCQX) to CA$7 per share from CA$6.50 after upwardly revising its precious metals price forecasts. GoldMining's current share price is about CA$2.26. Based on macroeconomic improvements in the market, H.C. Wainwright increased its long-term gold price projection to $1,700 per ounce ($1,700/oz) from $1,575/oz and its silver price forecast to $18/oz from $17.50/oz. These estimates are below the current spot prices for gold at $1,800/oz and silver at $18.70/oz, Ihle pointed out, "as we acknowledge the possibility for short and midterm metal price fluctuations." Also, Ihle highlighted that GoldMining is "boosting [its] global resource base through meaningful acquisitions." Most recently, the junior resource company purchased the Almaden gold project in Idaho and quickly thereafter, in June, announced a resource estimate for it. It "outlined Almaden's near surface characteristics, which could facilitate favorable economics given the reduced need for resource conversion infill drilling programs," Ihle noted. Before preparing a preliminary economic assessment of Almaden, however, the Vancouver mining firm intends to conduct metallurgical and other work assessing various processing scenarios. Ihle noted, "Following the recent creation of its new gold streaming and royalty subsidiary, GoldMIning could benefit from a re-rating as royalty companies tend to trade at a premium to producing or exploration firms." H.C. Wainwright rates GoldMining a Buy. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Doresa Banning compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an independent contractor. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: GoldMining. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. Disclosures from H.C. Wainwright & Co., GoldMining Inc., Company Update, July 13, 2020 I, Heiko F. Ihle, CFA, Tyler Bisset and Marcus Giannini, certify that 1) all of the views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about any and all subject securities or issuers discussed; and 2) no part of my compensation was, is, or will be directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendation or views expressed in this research report; and 3) neither myself nor any members of my household is an officer, director or advisory board member of these companies. None of the research analysts or the research analysts household has a financial interest in the securities of GoldMining, Inc. (including, without limitation, any option, right, warrant, future, long or short position). As of June 30, 2020, neither the Firm nor its affiliates beneficially own 1% or more of any class of common equity securities of GoldMining, Inc. Neither the research analyst nor the Firm has any material conflict of interest in of which the research analyst knows or has reason to know at the time of publication of this research report. The research analyst principally responsible for preparation of the report does not receive compensation that is based upon any specific investment banking services or transaction but is compensated based on factors including total revenue and profitability of the Firm, a substantial portion of which is derived from investment banking services. The firm or its affiliates received compensation from GoldMining, Inc. for non-investment banking services in the previous 12 months. The Firm or its affiliates did not receive compensation from GoldMining, Inc. for investment banking services within twelve months before, but will seek compensation from the companies mentioned in this report for investment banking services within three months following publication of the research report. The Firm does not make a market in GoldMining, Inc. as of the date of this research report. H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC and its affiliates, officers, directors, and employees, excluding its analysts, will from time to time have long or short positions in, act as principal in, and buy or sell, the securities or derivatives (including options and warrants) thereof of covered companies referred to in this research report. (Newser) A top prosecutor for special counsel Robert Mueller has a book coming out this fall about the two-year investigation into possible ties between Russia and the 2016 campaign of President Trump. Random House announced Monday that Andrew Weissmann's Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation will be published Sept. 29, the AP reports. Weissmann, often the target of criticism from Trump supporters, calls the book a meticulous account of the Mueller team's probe and its battles with the Trump administration. "I felt it was necessary to record this episode in our history, as seen and experienced by an insider," he said in a statement. "This is the story of our investigation into how our democracy was attacked by Russia and how those who condoned and ignored that assault undermined our ability to uncover the truth." story continues below Weissmann said he was proud of the team's work and the convictions that resulted. "But the hard truth is that we made mistakes," he said. "We could have done more." Weissmann, who worked as an FBI general counsel under Mueller, gained prominence investigating organized crime and leading a task force on the Enron scandal. Under Mueller, Weissmann led the case against former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges. The Mueller Report found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to tip the 2016 election in Trumps favor. But it did not reach a conclusion on whether the president had obstructed justice. The investigation led to more than 30 indictments, including those of Manafort, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. (Mueller weighed in on Roger Stone's commutation.) Movie director Oliver Stone has criticized modern Hollywood for being 'politically correct' and and feels the industry has gone 'mad'. Stone, 73, who won Academy Awards for his 1986 movie Platoon, feels 'worn out' after making 20 motion pictures with major studios, and the current industry standards amid the coronavirus pandemic have put him off projects that are not on his terms. 'The problem is in Hollywood. It's just so expensive the marketing. Everything has become too fragile, too sensitive,' Stone told the New York Times Magazine in an interview. 'Hollywood now you can't make a film without a Covid adviser. You can't make a film without a sensitivity counselor. It's ridiculous. 'The Academy changes its mind every five, 10, two months about what it's trying to keep up with. It's politically correct [expletive], and it's not a world I'm anxious to run out into. I've never seen it quite mad like this. It's like an "Alice in Wonderland" tea party.' Oliver Stone said 'everything has become too fragile and sensitive,' in Hollywood. 'You can't make a film without a Covid adviser. You can't make a film without a sensitivity counselor. It's ridiculous,' he said in a new interview Stone is pictured at the Academy Awards 1990 where he won trophies for Born on the Fourth of July. Stone said in a new interview: 'The Academy changes its mind every five, 10, two months about what it's trying to keep up with. It's politically correct' Stone is pictured on set of his 1991 film J.F.K with Kevin Costner. He said in the new interview that 'there's been quite a bit of new material revealed that people have basically ignored' in the last three decades since his film came out Stone also pointed to increased costs that are expected to come with production due to the coronavirus pandemic as he clarified the complications he was referring to. 'I just read something about how films are going to be very expensive to make now, because you need to take all these precautions, and a 50-day shoot becomes a 60-day shoot, and social distancing for actors,' he explained. 'That's what I'm talking about.' In recent years Stone has released 2016's Snowden starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and 2012's Savages starring Blake Lively. In his memoir Chasing the Light, out July 21, he details his life from the Vietnam war zone to the Oscar stage. Stone - whose 1991 movie, JFK, starred Kevin Costner - said in the new interview that he's not afraid to make films that aren't necessarily going to be popular. That includes the upcoming working title J.F.K.: Destiny Betrayed, which he says he is making because 'there's been quite a bit of new material revealed that people have basically ignored' in the last three decades since his film where he was accused of fear-mongering. Stone's novel Chasing the Light, which depicts his life from the Vietnam war zone to the Oscar stage, comes out July 21 'I'm not scared of that,' Stone continued about a possible repeat of accusations. 'I'm past that age. I don't need to make a Hollywood movie. I don't need to get the approval of the bosses.' Stone's documentary will explore how there's 'no chain of custody' to the single bullet fired by Lee Harvey Oswald that caused multiple wounds to Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally who was riding in the same car. It also delves into how the autopsy from Bethesda, Maryland 'was completely fraudulent'. 'And there's Vietnam. No historian can now honestly say that the Vietnam War was Kennedy's child. That's crucial,' Stone continued. 'The last thing is the C.I.A. connection to Oswald. We have a stronger case, not only for post-Russia but also for pre-Russia. In other words, he was working with the C.I.A. before he went and when he came back. Those are the main points. 'Those who are interested will find it's pretty clear that J.F.K. was murdered by forces that were powerful in our government.' Stone added that while he 'would have no problem doing another' Hollywood film, he doesn't 'feel it right now'. 'Frankly, I did 20, and I got worn out,' he admitted. He says the J.F.K film points the finger at a 'couple of individuals' and whether or not the mainstream accepts it 'it will be out'. 'Even if it's on YouTube,' Stone added. 'Or in Transylvania.' Stone said his forthcoming film will show that J.F.K. was murdered by powerful government forces and he may release it on 'YouTube or in Transylvania'. Pictured: President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy smile at the crowds lining their motorcade route in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Minutes later the President was assassinated as his car passed through Dealey Plaza Olivia Newton-John and Russell Crowe have paid tribute to the late Kelly Preston following her tragic death over the weekend. Kelly, who was married to John Travolta, passed away on July 12 following a two-year battle with breast cancer. Olivia, who has also faced her own battle with breast cancer, shared a moving tribute to the 57-year-old actress on Tuesday. Tragic: Olivia Newton-John (right) and Russell Crowe have paid tribute to the late Kelly Preston (left) following her tragic death over the weekend. (Pictured in 2002) Sharing an old photo of the two of them together, the Grease star wrote: 'Kelly Preston was a radiant, warm and gentle spirit - a loving, devoted wife, mother and sweet friend. 'My heart breaks for John, Ella and Ben. No words can express my sorrow for her family. Kelly's light shines on in her beautiful children. Xox.' Russell posted his condolences on Twitter on Monday, writing: 'Kelly Preston. Can't remember where, but, met first in late '92 I think. 'No words can express my sorrow for her family,' Olivia wrote on Instagram. (Olivia pictured with Kelly and John Travolta in 2006) 'Kelly Preston was a radiant, warm and gentle spirit - a loving, devoted wife, mother and sweet friend,' wrote Olivia 'Such a lovely person. In 1995 we auditioned together for Breaking Up, Salma Hayek got that gig. I haven't seen her much, but when I did, she was always the same sparkly eyed gem. Love to her family. R.I.P.' John revealed that Kelly had died from breast cancer on Sunday. 'It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,' he wrote on Instagram. 'She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.' 'Such a lovely person': Russell Crowe (pictured) also shared his condolences on Twitter 'I haven't seen her much, but when I did, she was always the same sparkly eyed gem. Love to her family. R.I.P,' he tweeted A family representative also confirmed the news to People magazine. 'Choosing to keep her fight private, she had been undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends,' People quoted the representative as saying. Born October 13, 1962, in Hawaii, Kelly studied drama and theater at the University of Southern California. She was best known for her roles in Twins and Jerry Maguire. The Disney fanatics livestreamed their visit to the park, which included a health scare. That Crazy Disney Lady/YouTube A YouTuber and her friend are facing backlash after posting footage of a health scare at the newly reopened Disney World. The YouTuber known as That Crazy Disney Lady streamed her Disney visit with a friend who she says experienced an allergic reaction. In the stream, the woman experienced shortness of breath, elevated blood pressure, and "severe vomiting," ultimately ignoring a medic's advice to go to the hospital. Commenters immediately wondered whether her symptoms were consistent with COVID-19, and several critics called the pair's behavior "irresponsible." The YouTuber fired back at commenters, insisting that the incident was caused by an allergic reaction. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Video: 6 minutes of the coronavirus pandemic reviewed in 6 minutes Two Disney World fanatics who livestreamed their trip to the Orlando, Florida, theme park's reopening over the weekend are receiving intense backlash for continuing to explore the park after one fell ill. The YouTuber Tonya Blakey, known as That Crazy Disney Lady to her 9,500 subscribers, streamed over 10 hours of footage of her trip to the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Saturday. In the videos, she and a friend, Robin, wandered the grounds, rode Splash Mountain, and experienced a brief health scare. At one point during the day, Blakey said Robin suffered an allergic reaction (previously, when Robin noted she was having trouble breathing, she inquired whether a brownie contained cashews) and visited a medic station. Ultimately, Robin decided against using an EpiPen to alleviate her symptoms and opted to take Benadryl instead. Her condition, however, soon worsened and she returned to the medic. In the stream, Blakey added that Robin's blood pressure was elevated and she was "violently vomiting" but was "being stubborn" and refused to go to the hospital. Commenters swiftly questioned whether Robin's condition was something other than an allergic reaction, with some wondering whether she was experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. Blakey quickly shot back at her viewers and denied Robin was ill. Story continues "If anybody else asks about Robin having COVID-19, you're going to be not in the group anymore," Blakey said, possibly referring to her private Facebook group that fellow Disney fans can request to join. "I've already clearly stated what was wrong with Robin. Robin would not be in this park if she had COVID-19." Among the concerned viewers was the gamer Jenny Nicholson, who shared a clip of the women with her 157,000 followers on Twitter. Nicholson listed Robin's apparent symptoms "cough, shortness of breath, and severe vomiting" and added that the two women returned to the park despite complaining of sore throats. The original video was eventually removed after the tweet faced a copyright claim. In a series of follow-up tweets, Nicholson went on to emphasize that Robin did not seek further medical attention, ignoring a medic's advice. While she said she had no desire to subject the women to harassment, she thought their judgment was concerning. "I'm sure they're nice ladies who think they're invincible and everything's good," she wrote. "But this is why theme parks shouldn't be open in a pandemic." Disney's reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic has been controversial In just two days, the video was viewed over 1 million times on Twitter. Thousands of Twitter users also retweeted the clip, calling the women's decision to continue visiting the park "entitled" and "selfish." Comments on Blakey's YouTube channel have since been turned off. Nicholson told Insider she decided to post the clip because the women ignored medical advice. "Obviously, there's no way of knowing what their symptoms actually indicate," she said. "Since they were told to go to the hospital, they should have seen about a test or maybe stayed back at the hotel." Ultimately, Nicholson says she wanted to make a point about what visitors are risking when traveling to public attractions. "I just wanted to point out: 'Hey, when the park is open, it's always going to be operating on the honor system. And this is part of why it's not safe to be there right now,'" she said. Blakey, who caught wind of Nicholson's posts, urged her viewers to report the tweets. She also said she and Robin had sore throats only because they had been screaming on various rides (screaming on rides has been discouraged at some theme parks during the pandemic). Despite Blakey's insistence that Robin had an allergic reaction and not a contagious illness, some commenters felt the women should have stayed away anyway. "Even IF she isn't Covid sick, I don't want that ish. Stay the heck away from people when you're sick," one commenter wrote. "This is the behavior that keeps pandemics going." Another added: "The commonly decent thing to do is 'stay away if you feel sick' NOT 'stay away if you wholeheartedly believe you don't have coronavirus.' She is not a doctor, she has no test, she is being irresponsible." The park's reopening follows a surge in COVID-19 cases in Florida. On Saturday, the state's Department of Health reported 10,383 new positive cases among residents. Blakey could not be reached for comment. Read the original article on Insider WORCESTER, Mass., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (NYSE: THG) today announced it expects its second quarter catastrophe losses to be approximately $148 million, before taxes, or $117 million after taxes, driven primarily by hail and wind storms in the Midwest in April and, to a lesser extent, property losses from civil unrest across the United States. The estimate also includes approximately $7 million of favorable prior-year development on several events from recent accident years. The estimate does not include COVID-19-related exposures or favorable overall loss frequency, which will continue to be reported in the ex-cat current accident year loss and loss adjustment expense line. The company's updated view of COVID-19-related losses, which has been expanded to include workers' compensation, is not expected to be material to its second quarter results. The company also expects to report lower than expected current accident year losses, excluding catastrophes, due to lower frequency, while still reflecting prudent reserves. This favorability will offset to a large degree the higher than expected catastrophe losses in the quarter. The Hanover expects to issue its second quarter financial results after the market closes on Tuesday, July 28. Forward-Looking Statements The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc.'s ("the company") estimates of catastrophe losses, current accident year losses excluding catastrophes, favorable overall loss frequency, reserve position and COVID-19-related losses and exposures are based on estimates and projections that are subject to revision and uncertainty. Such estimates are forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The company cautions investors that such forward-looking statements are estimates and/or projections which involve significant judgment and uncertainty, and actual results could differ materially. Investors should consider the risks and uncertainties in the company's business that may affect such estimates, including (i) the inherent difficulties in arriving at such estimates; (ii) variation in the company's current estimates that may change as the company finalizes its financial results; (iii) the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent global pandemic and related economic conditions on the company's financial and operating results; (iv) legislative and regulatory actions, as well as litigation and the possibility of adverse judicial decisions; and (v) other risks and uncertainties that are discussed in readily available documents, including the company's latest annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are also available at hanover.com under "Investors Financials." About The Hanover The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. is the holding company for several property and casualty insurance companies, which together constitute one of the largest insurance businesses in the United States. The company provides exceptional insurance solutions through a select group of independent agents and brokers. Together with its agents, The Hanover offers standard and specialized insurance protection for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as for homes, automobiles, and other personal items. For more information, please visit hanover.com. SOURCE The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. Related Links www.hanover.com Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal New Mexico restaurant workers and owners took to their parking lots and social media pages Monday in a virtual protest against a new public health order that once again bars indoor dining at restaurants and breweries. The New Mexico Restaurant Association, which organized the protest, asked restaurants to gather staff to stand outside their establishments with signs asking Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to reverse course and allow indoor dining in restaurants. The organization has indicated it will request a court order Tuesday morning allowing restaurants to continue offering dine-in services. The ban on indoor dining took effect Monday. The governor announced the measure Thursday in response to a rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state. Patio dining is still allowed in limited numbers. Photos on the associations social media sites show participants from a wide range of restaurants participating in the event across the state, including in Albuquerque, Las Cruces, Gallup and Clovis. Several restaurant owners said that they felt the new restrictions were unwarranted. I feel like this order singles out small local businesses and allows chains to continue to exist, Broken Trail Distillery and Brewery owner Matt Simonds said. This isnt some faceless company. This is me and my family, the family of my bartenders, the family of my brewers. Simonds said the uncertainty surrounding closures has added to the stress he and his employees face. Theyre upset that theres no clue from one day to the next, he said. Aside from the uncertainty of the closures, Simonds said he and other restaurant owners feel that the governor has not provided sufficient data to justify the ban on indoor dining. Carol Wight, CEO of the restaurant association, echoed this sentiment and said there is no evidence that restaurants are causing the spread of coronavirus. The Governors Office said the newly reinstated ban on indoor dining at restaurants is about safety, not punishment. Were not placing blame on all restaurants, office spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett wrote in an email. The blame falls on the virus itself and any New Mexicans who are not taking every precaution to limit the spread of it, because as the virus continues to spread, prolonged exposure without face-coverings like in high-contact indoor settings, i.e. restaurants becomes an even more significant risk factor. The Governors Office didnt cite any specific studies in response to questions raised by restaurateurs. On Thursday, the World Health Organization said there have been reports of outbreaks linked to indoor crowded spaces from airborne transmission in restaurants and gyms. This virus does not discriminate, Lujan Grisham said in a Monday statement. But we know prolonged exposure without face-coverings as is the case in high-contact indoor settings is a significant risk factor. Hundreds of eateries On Monday, the NMRA posted dozens of photos of restaurants participating in the protest. NMRA spokeswoman Toni Balzano said shes heard of hundreds of restaurants participating across the state. They just want to have their voices heard, she said. Theyre busy running their businesses and trying to take care of their employees. Staffers at Albuquerques 66 Diner on Central were among the protesters. Owner Tom Willis said the latest change to the public health order is disappointing at best. Willis said that it was difficult to weather the initial closure and that moving to takeout brought in only a fraction of usual business. The 66 Diner will be abiding by the latest order, and Willis said he has hopes that takeout will be more lucrative this time around. In Uptown, Fork and Fig owner Josh Kennon was supporting the protest despite being closed Monday. I believe that the whole closing down the restaurants to in-person dining is basically targeting restaurants, and I feel that thats unfair, he said. Kennon said that the restaurant lost nearly all its business during the first closure and that takeout does little to recoup the sales that come from in-person dining. It was awful we were down 97% in sales, he said. Several restaurants in the state took the protest a step further and openly flouted the public health order by welcoming customers into dining rooms Monday. Michael Dennis, licensed owner of the Santa Fe and Farmington locations of Wecks, was one of the business owners who welcomed diners Monday morning. The Facebook page associated with the Albuquerque Wecks posted what appeared to be a message from Dennis encouraging other restaurant owners to band together and stay open Monday but the Albuquerque location sought to distance itself from the move, noting that Dennis decisions are independent from all other Wecks locations. ALL Wecks ABQ, Rio Rancho, Los Lunas and Las Cruces locations are NOT affiliated with the decisions he is making for his restaurants, the post said. Dennis did not return calls for an interview Monday. The Trinity Hotel in Carlsbad said it would remain open and encouraged customers to come in as a protest. Participants in the protest will be buying food and sitting in the restaurant as act of protest against a health order, and to exercise their right to free speech, the restaurant said in a Facebook post Sunday. In Hobbs, the Pizza Inn also chose to open to dine-in customers, and said customers would be protesting the current health order. Balzano said she had heard of around a dozen restaurants in the southern half of the state that planned to stay open Monday. Health officials confirmed the Montgomery Countys 42nd death Monday along with 105 new cases. The death was a Conroe man in his 80s who was hospitalized at the time of his death and had other health conditions as well. The countys total number of cases is now 3,112 with 1,059 of those active an increase of 19 from Friday. Total hospitalizations, including both county and noncounty residents, dropped 46 from Friday to 174. Of those 174 patients, 41 are Montgomery County residents. Montgomery County Hospital District PIO Misti Willingham urged residents to take steps to slow the spread of the virus. Avoid groups of people, she said. Wear a mask (if it is necessary to be in public), wash your hands or use hand sanitizer frequently, disinfect surfaces in your car and around your home and practice social distancing. 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. Call 936-523-5040. cdominguez@hcnonline.com Evan Spiegel admires the way that wife Miranda Kerr is able to co-parent son Flynn with his actor dad Orlando Bloom. The Snapchat CEO, 30, spoke a bit about Kerr's dedication to motherhood in a talk for WSJ Magazine's Marriage Of Mindfulness issue. Spiegel, a child of divorce, said he was surprised by how 'different' Miranda, 37, and Orlando's relationship is from what he witnessed while younger. In awe: Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel said he admires the 'different' way wife Miranda Kerr and ex Orlando Bloom are able to happily co-parent in an interview for WSJ Magazine 'What I saw from Miranda and Orlando was very different from what I experienced,' said Spiegel, who shares his two sons Hart, two, and Myles, nine-months with Kerr. Their modern co-parenting means that raising the kids is a team effort. 'I am in no way a replacement for Flynn's dad,' Evan explained. 'I feel like [I'm part of] Team Flynn.' Bloom is a 'welcome' visitor, according to Spiegel who went on: 'This is one of the things I love about Miranda. Everyone is welcome. It's the Aussie way.' And the extended group is growing as Orlanda and fiance Katy Perry expect their first child. Different: 'What I saw from Miranda and Orlando was very different from what I experienced,' said Spiegel, who shares his two sons Hart, two, and Myles, nine-months with Kerr Team Flynn! 'I am in no way a replacement for Flynn's dad,' Evan explained. 'I feel like [I'm part of] Team Flynn' Way to her heart: The tech exec said he first won Miranda's heart when he gave her a gingerbread house with her and Flynn's names iced on it at their first date The tech exec said he realized that Flynn was the center of the model-turned-beauty mogul's life from almost the moment they met. Knowing that was one way to her heart, Spiegel recalls how he gave the beauty a gingerbread house with her and Flynn's names on it during their very first date. It seemed to work for the couple, who wed in 2017. During quarantine Miranda and Evan are focusing on the practical pieces of life. Partners: 'Theres nothing more helpful than having someone who loves you, and knows you really well, point out a different perspective' Follow the rules! '[Flynn's] screen-time restrictions are out the window,' Spiegel shrugged, before Kerr chimed in to correct the record '[Flynn's] screen-time restrictions are out the window,' Spiegel shrugged, before Kerr chimed in to correct the record. 'We do limit screen time around here,' she said. And Spiegel said that difference in perspective is a 'huge strength' for the couple. 'Theres nothing more helpful than having someone who loves you, and knows you really well, point out a different perspective.' PEPPER PIKE, Ohio Lynn Campbell, superintendent of Orange City Schools, recommended two options for students for the 2020-21 school year when the Orange Board of Education met Monday (July 13). In the first option, which Campbell called blended learning, students would attend school daily, but for only half of a day in person. The rest of the school day for this group would be devoted to remote learning at home. The second option is what Campbell referred to as full remote learning. This plan would be the same as what students were forced to do from mid-March until the end of the 2019-20 school year after Gov. Mike DeWine closed all K-12 schools in Ohio due to the coronavirus pandemic. I know we did full remote learning to close the year; its far from ideal, Campbell said. Orange teachers would engage students remotely and keep pace with students. Its an option for those not comfortable with or not capable of attending in person. The first option would also include what Campbell called a.m. and p.m. cohorts. This would require one group of students to come to school in the morning and another group in the afternoon, with the exact times to be determined. This would get kids back in school every day, providing daily face-to-face instruction and services and a blended model as were preparing instruction for students who are learning in real time (in person) as well as at home, Campbell said. Campbell said he arrived at these recommendations with the new normal in mind. By that, he meant considering a full return to school while maintaining six feet of distance between students in classrooms the recommended distance for social distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is not possible. Our standard classrooms can accommodate about 12 students, and thats being creative, using corners of the room, he said. The blended learning option would require school buildings to maintain six-feet distancing protocols in classrooms and anywhere else whenever possible, he said. In late May, Campbell said, guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics cited the need for children to be in school. A clear takeaway was that the social isolation that is being caused (by the lack of) socialization is damaging, he said. But with the reality of the pandemic still ongoing, Campbell said the district needs to prepare for the inevitability of a possible return to full remote learning at some point. Parents would be asked to complete a registration form in which they would indicate which of these options they prefer, Campbell said. On the same form, parents would be asked to either elect or opt out for a given time on busing for their children. That way we can get a true count of students to expect face to face and a true count of students to educate fully remote, and we can get accurate counts of what to expect on the buses, he said. Campbell said how the students will be selected for either the a.m. or p.m. cohorts has not been determined yet. Board member Deborah Kamat said it would be helpful for parents to know the a.m. and p.m. shifts as soon as possible so people can tell their employers. As soon as we have that information, well be sharing it, Campbell said. Board Vice President Rebecca Boyle added, Parents need to be able to get child care, and we need to do everything in our power to put siblings in the same cohort. I think thats important. Parents survey conducted Campbell said the district conducted a survey of parents in June seeking feedback about their preferences for a return to school in August. He said 1,221 responses were received. One question was, Would you send your child to school when it reopens in the fall, or would you prefer remote learning? Campbell said 67 percent of parents said they would send their children back, while 8 percent said they would prefer remote learning and 25 percent were undecided. Another question was related to having students take a bus to school. Campbell said just over 50 percent said they would have their children ride the bus, while 22 percent said they definitely would not, and 28 percent were undecided. My takeaway (from the survey) is there is a definite number of parents who want remote learning, he said. We expected that. Undecided parents is a sign of needing more information, not just about schools but also about how the pandemic is unfolding. Proposed calendar changes Also at Mondays meeting, Campbell spoke about the boards special meeting Friday (July 10), when a public hearing was held with Campbells recommendations for changes to the 2020-21 school calendar. The proposed calendar would change the first day of instruction for students from Aug. 20 to Aug. 27. The first day would be for remote learning only, and that would also be the case for the second day, Aug. 28. The first day for in-person classes would be Aug. 31, for students whose families choose that option. On Aug. 27, kids would log in and spend time on Aug. 27 and 28 looking at videos, Campbell said. There will also be virtual tours of the buildings, with the signage up and how it looks differently, and some welcome-back videos before they walk into the school physically. Teacher work days would be held Aug. 17 through Aug. 21, as well as Aug. 24-26. Staff members were originally scheduled to report back Aug. 17, so that date has not changed. The additional five staff work days will give staff a chance to acclimate to the new building protocols, to receive professional development and plan for a soft start for our students, Campbell said. The public hearing on the proposed calendar was held in accordance with Ohio Revised Code, board President Beth Wilson-Fish said. The public has 30 says from the date of the hearing to comment on the calendar. Adoption of the calendar is expected to take place at the boards next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Aug. 10. Message to community Before Campbells presentation on back-to-school planning Monday (July 13), Boyle issued a statement to the community. Please know this, she said. We have all worked so hard. We have read and researched; we have really done nothing much else over these last few weeks. Weve consulted with doctors, weve read your emails, talked to you on the phone and on the street, and weve heard your thoughts. Taking all this information in and coming up with a plan that meets the educational needs and the safety needs of our students and staff is a daunting task. Were in a rapidly changing world that looks a lot different than when schools ended in June. We cant return to normal yet, so school is going to look different. The safety of our children, staff and our families is not something we want to jeopardize. We have such amazing parents in this district. Im blown away by your knowledge and by your engagement. Focusing on the positive and being there to support your children will make this transition easier for them. Nearly 200 people appeared online as participants in the meeting, live-streamed via video conferencing on Zoom. Many offered comments via the chat feature, but Wilson-Fish said the board was unable to monitor those comments and encouraged people to email board members with comments or questions. Seth Meyers returned with a new episode of Late Night Monday after taking the last two weeks off, and he brought with him a fresh 14-minute edition of A Closer Look. In it, he railed against Republicans for their unyielding quest to force the countrys children to risk their lives by attending school in person next month while coronavirus continues to rage. Many countries have also reopened their schools thanks to their success in suppressing the virus. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., the president wants to force teachers and students back in the classrooms as the outbreak worsens, without sufficient health and safety protocols in place, because he thinks itll help the economy and thus his reelection, Meyers said. Then Late Night played a clip of Trump declaring: We have to open our schools. Open our schools. Stop this nonsense. We open our schools. Germany, Norway, so many countries right now, theyre open. The schools are open. And theyre doing just fine. Also Read: Billy Eichner Replaces Kimmel to 'Put a Comedic Spin on Some Devastating News' (Video) Yeah, thats because they suppressed their outbreaks, you sadistic sack of laundry, Meyers continued after the clip. You rushed everyone back to work too soon against the advice of your own scientists just to please the Dow, and now we have 60,000 new cases every day and were banned from traveling to Europe. Do you know what that means? If Americans cant go to Europe, whos gonna wear shorts and Mickey ears to the Louvre? Then Meyers circled back to the point. Look, everyone wants schools to reopen, believe me. I desperately want my kids to go back to school in the fall. I mean, to keep them busy during this, Ive had to put them on the show, and now theyre demanding to know when their next gig is. They have agents now. I walked by the little ones room the other day and heard him on the phone demanding points on the gross, Meyers said. Also Read: Seth Meyers: Republicans 'Want to Be Ruled by a Dictator so Badly' (Video) Story continues Meyers then went into detail about what specifically is wrong with this whole idea of forcing in-person schooling while the Republican government has so dramatically failed to contain the coronavirus pandemic. We cant just decouple schools from the community theyre in. If there are outbreaks everywhere, then schools are gonna have outbreaks, too, Meyers said. Even in the best of times, schools are a breeding ground for viruses. An elementary school is like you took a Five Points tenement building and put it on the lido deck of a cruise ship. Every parent knows if you have a child in school, you basically have to put DayQuil in your coffee until they leave for college. And if youre gonna force students and teachers to go back amid a deadly pandemic, you should at least, at the very least, have an idea for how youre going to protect them. Instead, education secretary Betsy DeVos says its up to you to figure out how youre gonna keep your kids safe. And if you dont, theyre going to unilaterally strip funding from your school, which they dont even have the power to do anyway. Also Read: Seth Meyers Says Our 'Worst-Case Scenario' With Trump is Here: 'This Is a Horrifying Moment' (Video) Next up, we got a series of clips of DeVos being questioned on TV news, being asked why she wants to force schools to open with the pandemic spreading and no government safety plan. In one clip from Sunday, CNNs Dana Bash noted, You are compelling schools to reopen regardless of whats happening. To which DeVos replied, No, what were saying is that kids need to be back in school. In the clip Bash also asked, Why do you not have guidance on what a school should do just weeks before you want those schools to reopen and what happens if it faces an outbreak? You know, theres really good examples that have been utilized in the private sector and in elsewhere, also with frontline workers and hospitals, DeVos replied in the video. We cant even get protective equipment for doctors and nurses, but you want schools to operate like hospitals? Meyers noted after the clip finished. Why not go even further and say schools should operate like astronauts. Theres really good examples that have been utilized on the international space station. If we launch all of our schools into orbit, then they cant get coronavirus.' Meyers continued, When youre talking about forcing children and teachers to go back to schools amid a deadly pandemic you failed to stop, without even putting a plan in place to protect them, thats how you know you belong to a sociopathic political movement. Were at the mercy of a sadistic oaf whos being shielded by a political party that cares more about statues than people. You can watch the entire new A Closer Look segment from Mondays Late Night With Seth Meyers in the video embedded up at the top of this article, or on YouTube right here. Read original story Seth Meyers: Its Sociopathic for Republicans to Force Schools to Reopen (Video) At TheWrap Scientists have predicted a surge in HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria deaths in low- and middle-income countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but add that this toll can be reduced by prioritising the most critical services, such as timely diagnosis and treatment for these diseases. According to the modelling study, published in the journal The Lancet Global Health, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) could see HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria deaths increase by as much as 10, 20, and 36 percents respectively over the next five years due to the disruption of health services caused by the pandemic. However, the researchers, including those from Imperial College London in the UK, said maintaining core services for HIV, TB, and malaria could largely mitigate the broader health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They explained that these services specifically include maintaining access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV, timely TB diagnosis and treatment, and early resumption of the distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated nets (LLINs) for preventing mosquito-borne malaria spread. The scientists also cautioned that their study aimed to quantify the potential scale of the impact of COVID-19, and to guide how it could be minimised, rather than provide precise estimates. 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 COVID-19 pandemic and actions taken in response to it could undo the some of the advances made against major diseases such as HIV, TB, and malaria over the past two decades, compounding the burden caused by the pandemic directly," said study co-author Timothy Hallett from Imperial College London. "In countries with a high malaria burden and large HIV and TB epidemics, even short-term disruptions could have devastating consequences for the millions of people who depend on programmes to control and treat these diseases," Hallett said. However, he added that the knock-on impact of the pandemic could be largely avoided by maintaining core services and continuing preventative measures. Based on the results, the researchers said well managed, long-term suppression measures could avert the most COVID-19 deaths. But if these interventions are not well managed, they could cause people to stay away from hospitals and clinics and force public health programmes to be cancelled, leading to a large spike in deaths from other major infectious diseases that had been coming under control, the scientists explained. In the research, Hallett and his team assumed a basic reproductive number R0 -- which is the average number of people each individual with the coronavirus is likely to infect -- as 3 to develop four different policy response scenarios to the pandemic. These, according to the scientists, are 'no action', 'mitigation' -- which represents a 45 percent reduction in R0 for 6 months using interventions such as physical distancing-- 'suppression-lift' with a 75 percent reduction in R0 for 2 months, or 'suppression' which is a 75 percent reduction in R0 for 1 year. Then using models simulating the spread of HIV, TB, and malaria they estimated the additional impact on health that could be caused in different settings, either by COVID-19 interventions limiting routine programme activities, or due to pandemic overburdening the health system. The findings, according to the researchers, suggest that the impact of the pandemic varies according to the extent to which interventions against COVID-19 cause long disruptions to activities. They said it also depends on how successfully those measures reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and avoid the health system being overwhelmed. In the case of HIV, the scientists said the greatest impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely from interruption to the supply and administering of ART, which may occur during times of high health system demand. In the worst case scenario, assuming no action or suppression-lift, they said countries with high rates of HIV typical in parts of southern Africa may see up to 10 percent more deaths due to HIV over the next 5 years than would occur without COVID disruptions. According to the study, this is equivalent to 612 additional HIV deaths per million population in 2020-2024. The researchers suggested that offering individuals receiving ART multi-month prescriptions or home delivery could ensure they can access treatment even in periods of highest health system demand. For TB, they said the greatest impact could be from reductions in timely diagnosis and treatment of new cases. Based on the model, the scientists said in southern African countries, TB deaths could rise by as much as 20 percent over the next 5 years compared with when services are functioning normally. For malaria, the model predicted that in the worst case the COVID-19 pandemic may disrupt planned LLIN distribution, leading to malaria deaths increasing by 36 percent over the next 5 years. According to the scientists, this is equivalent to 474 additional malaria deaths per million population in 2020-2024. "Routine preventative measures must be prioritised, ensuring mosquito net distribution campaigns and prophylactic treatments, such as mass drug distribution and seasonal malaria chemoprevention, are maintained," said Alexandra Hogan from Imperial College London, a co-author of the study. Follow our full coverage of the coronavirus pandemic here PORTLAND, Maine, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intersolar North America (ISNA) and Energy Storage North America (ESNA), the newly combined flagship solar + storage events, today announced that registration is now open for the two conferences and expos taking place January 12-14, 2021, in Long Beach, CA. We invite professionals from all sectors of the industry to join us next January and be a part of the first major solar + storage event of the year, said Wes Doane, Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America Event Director. The narrative of the 2021 event is that we are stronger when we come together. Putting this into action, these two events will be integrated across the boardfrom conference programming to the expo hall and networking activitiesto foster learning and meaningful partnerships. A key benefit to uniting ISNA and ESNA is that conference attendees now gain access to both events outstanding educational sessions through a combined registration pass. Top-notch programming will be carefully curated by a newly-formed advisory board , and conference attendees will be able to select from 28 sessions focusing on the latest developments in solar, energy storage, and clean energy systems integration. In the shared ISNA and ESNA expo hall, all attendees will experience industry-leading products, solutions, and service providers, attend innovative show-floor presentations, and enjoy networking events. At its core, this event will remind us all of the great impact we can have on advancing clean energy when we come together, said Doane. The pandemic undoubtedly complicates this, but as we plan for 2021, the health and safety of our attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and staff remains our top priority. As experienced international event organizers, we are confident we will be able to present a safe, informative, and enjoyable show next Januaryand we hope you join us for it. Register Today To learn more and register for the combined Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America 2021 conferences and expos, please click here . Visitors are encouraged to stay up-to-date on health and safety measures . Story continues About Intersolar North America and Energy Storage North America Intersolar North America (ISNA) and Energy Storage North America (ESNA), North Americas premier solar + storage conferences and exhibitions, Come Together for the first time in January 2021 in Long Beach, California to advance the clean energy future. The combined events will connect installers, developers, utilities, technology providers, policy makers, and key stakeholders from around the world through innovative programs, networking events, and exhibits that maximize learning and deal-making. Join 6,000+ energy leaders and 200+ exhibitors January 12-14, 2021, and help shape the next phase of our clean energy transformation. Learn more online at intersolar.us and esnaexpo.com . About Diversified Communications Diversified Communications is a leading international media company with a portfolio of face-to-face exhibitions and conferences, online communities, and digital and print publications. As producers of these market-leading products, Diversified Communications connects, educates, and strengthens business communities in over 15 industries including: renewable energy, healthcare, natural and organic, food and beverage, and technology. Established in 1949 and headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA, with divisions and offices around the world, Diversified Communications remains a privately held, third-generation, family-owned business. For more information, visit: https://www.divcom.com . Media Contact: Gene Hunt Trevi Communications, Inc. Gene@trevicomm.com 978-750-0333 x101 A smartphone with the Huawei and 5G network logo is seen on a PC motherboard in this illustration picture taken on Jan. 29, 2020. (Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters) UK to Remove Huawei From 5G Network by 2027 UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has banned Huawei from further input into the UKs telecoms infrastructure by the end of 2020, and set a deadline of 2027 for the stripping out of existing kit from the countrys 5G network, it was announced in Parliament today. The reversal has come amid fears of the potential for spying and sabotage on the part of the Chinese telecoms giant, who are alleged to be linked to the Chinese state. The governments proposal to remove Huawei from the UK network was delivered by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden in a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon. The statement outlined how, after the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Huawei in May preventing the company from using U.S. technology and software in manufacturing its equipment, the UK government was following new security advice to discontinue the use of Huawei equipment in the 5G network. Dowden said that because of the sanctions, the government can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment. Telecommunications companies will be banned from buying Huawei equipment at the end of the year, and will need to remove Huawei equipment from existing systems by the end 2027. Full-fibre broadband operators were also advised to move away from purchasing Huawei equipment. The legislation will be set out in a Telecoms Security Bill that will be presented to the House of Commons in the autumn. By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks, Dowden said in a statement to Parliament. In a statement, Ed Brewster, a spokesperson for Huawei UK, said: This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. He urged the UK to reconsider, saying the issue had become politicised, and that the new U.S. restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK. Johnson, who chaired a meeting of the National Security Council this morning, had faced calls from a 60-strong lobby of his own backbench MPs to remove the controversial company from the 5G infrastructure. He has also been under increasing pressure from the United States to cut ties with Huawei. Reports that Huaweis UK chairman, John Browne, the former head of BP, is stepping down months before the end of his contract, preceded the government announcement only by hours. The important announcement comes whilst UKs top security official Sir Mark Sedwill is set to meet U.S. President Donald Trumps national security adviser Robert OBrien in Paris for talks on Huawei. by Nirmala Carvalho Bishop Alwyn Barreto of Sindhudurg on Friday handed out aid to the poor tribal people of Beradki, 34 families in all, mainly landless farm workers. Two or three families live per mud house, Bishop Barreto said. I went into one house. It's all dark because there are no windows. Mumbai (AsiaNews) Bishop Alwyn Barreto of Sindhudurg last Friday brought aid to the poor tribal residents of Beradki, a village in the state of Maharashtra, through the Sindhudurg Diocesan Development Society (SDDS), the dioceses social wing, with help from the St Joseph's Community, Foymount (Canada). The Berad are a forest dwelling community whose living conditions are precarious, Bishop Alwyn Barreto told AsiaNews. The lockdown has pushed the tribe into deeper poverty, he explained. They have no means of sustenance and are struggling for their very existence. Through SDDS relief, we are not only trying to alleviate their poverty, but are affirming their human dignity, showing them that the Church gives hope and compassionately accompanies them in their hardship. Some 34 families or 80 people call this village home, living in 20 houses, SDDS director Fr Melwin Pais explained to AsiaNews. There are 34 women, 22 men, 24 children, 12 of whom go to school. They are mainly landless farm labourers and daily wage workers. The men are paid Rs. 300 (about US$ 4) and women Rs. 150-200 (about US-2.65) per day if they are lucky to find work in the fields. Literacy is very low: only one girl has completed her higher secondary education. Two or three families live in each house, Bishop Alwyn Barreto noted. I went into one house. It's all dark because there are no windows. The Berad tribal community is living in inhuman and cruel conditions with absolutely no facilities. Their hamlet has no proper access road, no water connection nor wells. They get drinking water from a flowing stream, which also floods their village during the monsoon season. They live in makeshift houses built of hay, bamboo and mud. They face a constant threat from wild animals such as wild boars, bears, leopards, bisons and wild cats. BJP West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday said that the party was not in favour of imposition of Article 356 in the state and it would fight and defeat the ruling Trinamool Congress democratically. He told reporters that party leaders have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the death of MLA Debendra Nath Roy and apprised him about the danger the saffron party workers were facing under the ruling dispensation in the state. "We are ethically not in favour of Article 356, BJP has never taken away the democratic or constitutional rights of any state government by using this provision," he said when asked whether the party was thinking of seeking promulgation of Article 356 in West Bengal. A BJP delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind in the national capital during the day, demanding dismissal of the TMC government in West Bengal and a CBI probe into the Hemtabad MLA's death. Ghosh said that protests will be held across the state in democratic manner against the "murder" of the party MLA. The party will hold protests in front of all police stations in the state on Wednesday, he said. Alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress was trying to silence opposition voices, Ghosh alleged "Roy was a popular leader among the Rajbangshi community and that is why he has been murdered." He said that around 400 party workers were arrested on Tuesday during the 12-hour bandh called by BJP to protest the death. "We want a CBI investigation.If the government feels that it was not a murder, why is it not keen on asking for a probe by the central agency?" he asked. Ghosh said that his party will contemplate moving the court of law for a CBI probe if the state government does not ask for it. He alleged that BJP workers have been killed by hanging in similar manner in several earlier cases in the state following which the party had moved court in such matters. Alleging that it was a pre-planned killing, he questioned, "how could the post-mortem report be delivered within a day of the death on Monday morning, while generally it takes much longer?" Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay had told a press conference on Tuesday that as per the post-mortem report, the West Bengal Police feels that it was apparently a case of suicide. Amid the ongoing political tussle between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande on Tuesday (July 14) said that the party has decided to give a second chance to Pilot by asking him to attend Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday. Pande expressed hope that all Congress MLAs would attend the CLP meeting and give solidarity to leadership and for which people of the state voted. Pandey said that the Congress party was committed to work for the development of Rajasthan. The political crisis in Rajasthan started on Sunday (July 12) after Pilot raised the banner of revolt against CM Gehlot and sent a message to the party that he may quit the party with this loyalist MLAs. Pilot claimed in some interviews that he has the support of over 30 MLAs.The Congress swung into action immediately to defuse the tension between the two leaders and a CLP meeting was called on Mondayu (July 13) but Pilot and some of his loyalist MLAs decided to skip the meeting. Sources said that the Congress decided to hold another CLP on Tuesday in order to send message to Pilot that still there's time for him to come and sort out his differnces with Gehlot. The party also wants to assure Pilot that the high command still has flexibility for him. It is learnt that the Congress has decided to take a final call on Pilot's fate only after today's CLP meeting. ANI quoted sources as saying several senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram and KC Venugopal have talked to Pilot several times in the last two days but it seems that he would not give in and may skip the CLP meeting on Tuesday too. Pilot is currently in Delhi-NCR with his loyalist MLAs and some reports claimed that he may join BJP like Jyotiraditya Scindia, but so far it has been denied by him and sources close to him. In a related development, Rajasthan CM Gehlot showed his strength in Jaipur on Monday (July 13) at the Congress Legislature Party meeting, where around 106 MLAs reportedly attended. Ashok Gehlot, however, took his MLAs in the bus at a resort. This simply shows that Gehlot is not confident in his number game. However, those close to Pilot him disputed Gehlot's claim that his government had a majority and said this is proven in the assembly and not at the CM's house. So far, the Gehlot government had the support of 123 MLAs, including 107 Congress MLAs, 2 MLAs of Bharatiya Tribal Party, one RLD MLA, and 13 Independents, but of these 123 MLAs, he is now left with only 101 MLAs. Out of the 22 rebel MLAs, Sachin Pilot has claimed the support of 19 Congress MLAs and 3 Independents. In Rajasthan's total 200 assembly seats, 101 MLAs are needed to save the government, but two MLAs of the Indian Tribal Party have also pulled out of the Gehlot government, which currently has the support of merely 99 legislators. But what is more worrying for Ashok Gehlot is that among the remaining 99 MLAs, several are claimed to be of Sachin Pilot's camp. Australians severely ill with COVID-19 have recovered at an extraordinary rate throughout the pandemic, with 85 per cent of patients admitted into intensive care units surviving the deadly virus. The latest data provided to the federal and Victorian governments on Tuesday suggests that, so long as the second wave of infections does not overwhelm the intensive care capacity of hospitals, Australia is unlikely to face a catastrophic loss of life. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says that the current caseload of more than 1000 infections will result in at least 200 more patients in COVID-19 wards by the end of the month. Credit:Justin McManus As NSW health authorities work to contain its border outbreak, Victoria is bracing for a surge in hospital admissions, with the states Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton predicting that the current caseload of more than 1000 infections would result in at least 200 more patients in COVID-19 wards by the end of the month. Data gathered and shared by Australias leading intensive medicine experts shows that even the sickest of these patients those requiring mechanical ventilation and specialist nursing in an intensive care unit have very good survival rates compared with other countries. Is middle age really the "golden age" when people are the most optimistic in life? Researchers from Michigan State University led the largest study of its kind to determine how optimistic people are in life and when, as well as how major life events affect how optimistic they are about the future. We found that optimism continued to increase throughout young adulthood, seemed to steadily plateau and then decline into older adulthood. Even people with fairly bad circumstances, who have had tough things happen in their lives, look to their futures and life ahead and felt optimistic." William Chopik, MSU assistant professor of psychology at MSU and lead author The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, surveyed 75,000 American, German and Dutch people between the ages of 16 and 101 to measure optimism and their outlook about the future. Chopik said the researchers looked at life events such as: marriage, divorce, a new job, retirement, changes in health and loss of a partner, a parent or a child. "Counterintuitively -- and most surprising -- we found that really hard things like deaths and divorce really didn't change a person's outlook to the future," Chopik said. "This shows that a lot of people likely subscribe to the 'life is short' mantra and realize they should focus on things that make them happy and maintain emotional balance." Chopik explained that regardless of life's good and bad circumstances, from the time people are 15 to almost 60 or 70, they become more and more optimistic. "There's a massive stretch of life during which you keep consistently looking forward to things and the future," Chopik said. "Part of that has to do with experiencing success both in work and life. You find a job, you meet your significant other, you achieve your goals and so on. You become more autonomous and you are somewhat in control of your future; so, you tend to expect things to turn out well." As people age into the elderly phase of life, the study showed a shift to declines in optimism, likely driven by health-related concerns and knowing that the bulk of life is behind you. While the elderly aren't full-fledge pessimists, Chopik said, there is still a noticeable change. "Retirement age is when people can stop working, have time to travel and to pursue their hobbies," Chopik said. "But very surprisingly, people didn't really think that it would change the outlook of their lives for the better." Chopik said one of the most profound conclusions in the study was showing how resilient people are in life. "We oftentimes think that the really sad or tragic things that happen in life completely alter us as people, but that's not really the case," Chopik said. "You don't fundamentally change as a result of terrible things; people diagnosed with an illness or those who go through another crisis still felt positive about the future and what life had ahead for them on the other side." VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- eDNA, defined as any trace or fragment of DNA released from an organism into the environment, is proving to be an attractive tool in exploring and studying Earths biodiversity due to its noninvasive approach and relatively lower cost for sample collection and species monitoring. Genome BC has funded two projects to apply eDNA technologies to address challenges in salmon farming practices through improved environmental detection of problematic microbes, and to assess Pacific Salmon stocks. Kudoa thyrsites (Kudoa) is an endemic parasite that can have appreciable economic impacts on the BC fisheries and aquaculture industry by decimating flesh quality. Due to the nature of the parasite and the enzymatic liquefying of fillets, the parasite lies undetected until production endpoint resulting in the costly wastage of farmed Atlantic salmon and some wild caught species, such as hake. Led by Dr. Wyth Marshall from the BC Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences and Tiffany MacWilliam from Mowi Canada West, researchers are looking to the novel application of Digital PCR (dPCR) to measure eDNA in aquatic microbes. In a project entitled Application of digital PCR to measure eDNA from waterborne spores of an endemic fish parasite affecting farmed Atlantic salmon, researchers will enhance the likelihood of earlier detection of these parasites and reduce the damage from Kudoa infections, thus improving management of aquatic resources and increasing the adoption of this novel technology within the industry. We are really excited for this opportunity to add digital PCR technology as a new tool to reduce the impacts of Kudoa infections on the production of salmon," said Dr. Marshall, Research Scientist. The strength of this technology is its capability to provide numerical abundance data which we can use to understand the ecology of very tiny or microscopic organisms that affect farming efficiency. The platform is broadly applicable and will improve understanding of the distributions and drivers of abundances of parasites like Kudoa, as well as other microbes that are detrimental to fish health, such as harmful plankton and jellyfish. The second project is led by researchers from Simon Fraser University and Gitanyow Fisheries Authority, Dr. Vicki Marlatt and Mark C. Cleveland respectively, and their project Monitoring Pacific Salmon Stocks Using Environmental DNA aims to create an efficient method of quantifying salmonids returning from the ocean to spawn. This analysis will produce a more accurate understanding of salmonids surviving upriver migration in five species of Pacific salmon. Researchers will quantify the number of fish passing a specific fish fence based on the eDNA samples collected from the Kitwanga River and compare this information with traditional salmon counting methods at the facility. Advancing the tools used for monitoring of Pacific salmon populations is critical in understanding the health and abundance of these species and studying their role in ecosystems, as well as their cultural and economic value to humans. We hope that this project will demonstrate the potential of eDNA for quantifying salmonids in the Kitwanga River, said Dr. Marlatt an Assistant Professor in Environmental Toxicology. We believe that we can also apply these methods to the many rivers currently not assessed due to the economic and logistical challenges associated with installing fish fences spanning entire salmonid rivers. The application of novel technologies, like eDNA, is a significant step in moving research to commercial use. Genome BCs investment in the BC fisheries and aquaculture sector can propel our provincial understanding of the issues surrounding the sector. In addition, coupling Genome BCs research and funding capabilities with influential end users will ensure innovative environmental and genomic solutions. eDNA has unique applications and we are only just beginning to realize the potential of this novel approach to analysis and sampling, says Dr. Lisey Mascarenhas, Sector Director, Agrifood and Natural Resources at Genome BC. We are also very pleased to support applied research that enhances the awareness, adoption, and operationalization of genomic solutions for the benefit of key economic sectors in BC. This project was funded through Genome BCs Sector Innovation Program which aims to support projects that will address the needs of each key sector and have the potential to generate social, environmental and economic benefits for British Columbia in the future. About Genome British Columbia: Genome British Columbia leads genomics innovation on Canadas West Coast and facilitates the integration of genomics into society. A recognized catalyst for government and industry, Genome BC invests in research, entrepreneurship and commercialization in life sciences to address challenges in key sectors such as health, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, agrifood, energy, mining and environment. Genome BC partners with many national and international public and private funding organizations to drive BCs bioeconomy. www.genomebc.ca Contact: Jennifer Boon Communications Manager, Sectors Genome BC Mobile: 778.327.8374 Email: jboon@genomebc.ca @genomebc #genomebc A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/22685a67-5a25-45e1-9b04-9dcd7db7ddc9 The Director of the Health Alerts & Emergencies Coordination Centre, has warned that the 120 active outbreaks in Spain are evidence that coronavirus is still circulating. Dr Fernando Simon said that 70% of new cases are asymptomatic and that the virus is affecting people younger than those who tested positive at the peak of the pandemic, which he believes shows that those currently being infected in Spain are contracting a milder version of Covid-19. The average age of men diagnosed with Covid-19 is 46.3 and in women its 50.5. "The largest increases we are seeing affect those under the age of 50, including those under zero to four. These groups are also usually the ones who suffer the least from the disease, so the epidemic is different than before, stressed Dr Simon, who warned that this implies that the virus also affects the most vulnerable groups. He appealed to young people to be aware that the so-called new normal does not mean going back to the way things were before. "You have to be careful about socialising with an excessive number of different groups, and learn to better value your closest friends," he said. Dr Simon has also pointed out that the 'new normal' includes the need to control coronavirus outbreaks before widespread transmission occurs and that means that movement may be restricted at specific times, in specific areas. Right now, theres an increase in Covid-19 infections in 15 Provinces in Spain, but they are in relatively small populations. "These communities are detecting, acting and controlling outbreaks much more thoroughly than before, which has an impact on the rate of infection," said Dr Simon. The current surge in coronavirus cases across the American South may have been caused by Northerners who traveled South for vacation around Memorial Day, said Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "If you look at the South, everything happened around June 12 to June 16. It all simultaneously kind of popped," he said in an interview Tuesday with Dr. Howard Bauchner of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Independent of state reopening plans, "we're of the view that there was something else that was the driver. Maybe the Memorial Day, not weekend, but the Memorial Day week, where a lot of Northerners decided to go South for vacations." Because the South hadn't yet experienced large outbreaks like the Northeast, many Southern states and cities reopened bars and gyms early and didn't require people to wear masks or to practice social distancing "that seriously," Redfield said. Once the virus was introduced in those areas, that could have allowed it to spread quickly. Redfield did not provide any data to back up his theory that Northerners travelling South are to blame for the surge in cases. And as states prepared to reopen gradually, some officials previously warned that regional coordination was necessary so that some states reopening would not attract travelers from areas where the virus is more prevalent. "Something happened in mid-June that we're now confronting right now," Redfield added. "And it's not as simple as just saying it was related to timing of reopening or not reopening." New cases have been steadily rising across the so-called Sun Belt, driven by Florida, Texas and California, which collectively have made up nearly half of all new cases in the U.S. in some recent days. Led by the so-called hot-spot states, the country is now averaging more than 60,000 new cases per day, based on a seven-day average calculated by CNBC using data collected by Johns Hopkins University. Over the past week or so, Covid-19 deaths have begun to increase as well. State officials had pointed to the fact that the virus appeared to be mostly infecting younger people, who are failing to adhere to public health guidance across the South, as reason to hope that deaths would continue to drop even as cases increased. But on Monday, Arizona, South Carolina and Texas all hit record high average daily deaths, based on a seven-day average using data from Johns Hopkins. Redfield defended the U.S. coronavirus response, saying that initial projections estimated that the virus could have killed up to 2.4 million people in the U.S. He added that "while not perfect," the U.S. response has "really made an impact." Specifically, he praised President Donald Trump's decision to suspend travel to and from China, even though the virus was also beginning to spread to the U.S. from parts of Europe by then. An analysis of the virus strains found in New York City and elsewhere later showed that the outbreak was seeded primarily by travelers from Europe, not China. "We tried to give states guidance on how to reopen safely. I think the guidance we put out was really sound," he said. "I think if you look critically, few states actually followed that guidance, although I don't think the reopening's actually what's driving the current Southern expansion right now." White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has previously said some states reopened without meeting federal guidance for doing so. Such guidelines included, for example, adequate contact tracing infrastructure and 15 consecutive days of declining new cases. Redfield's comments appear to contradict remarks by Fauci, who said in an interview Monday that the United States is seeing a surge in new Covid-19 infections because the country never shut down entirely. Early in the outbreak, U.S. coronavirus cases peaked at around 30,000 new cases a day before falling and plateauing at roughly 20,000 new cases per day in mid-May, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. As some states began to reopen in late April through June, new cases started to surge, Fauci told Stanford Medicine Dean Dr. Lloyd Minor during an interview. The U.S. is now averaging roughly 60,000 new cases a day, according to a seven-day average of cases tracked by Johns Hopkins. "We did not shut down entirely," Fauci said. "We need to draw back a few yards and say, 'OK, we can't stay shut down forever.' ...You've got to shut down but then you've got to gradually open." The CDC and individual health officials have increasingly been facing pressure from Trump and other members of his administration. During an interview Thursday with Fox News' Sean Hannity, the president said, "Dr. Fauci's a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes. "They've been wrong about a lot of things, including face masks," he said. "Maybe they're wrong, maybe not. A lot of them said don't wear a mask, don't wear a mask. Now they're saying wear a mask. A lot of mistakes were made, a lot of mistakes." And last week, Trump slammed the CDC's guidance on how schools should consider reopening as "tough," "expensive" and "impractical." Vice President Mike Pence later said at a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing that the CDC would be issuing new guidance to supplement its previously published documents. "If you decide to define yourself by external criticism, I would tell you, this isn't a job for you," Redfield said Tuesday. "I do think if we could just unite as a country, realizing that we do have tools. We're not defenseless." Earlier on Tuesday, four former CDC directors wrote in an op-ed published in The Washington Post that the U.S. faces "two opponents" in its efforts to reopen the country: Covid-19 and politicians and others attempting to undermine the CDC. "It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release," wrote the former CDC directors: Tom Frieden, who served under former President Barack Obama; Jeffrey Koplan, who served under former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; David Satcher, who served under Clinton; and Richard Besser, who served under Obama. "Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency's recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation's pandemic response," they said. WASHINGTON - Senior Trump administration officials have begun signaling their willingness to approve a narrow extension of the enhanced unemployment benefits helping tens of millions of jobless Americans hurt by the coronavirus pandemic. In less than two weeks, the federal program that provides a $600-per-week increase to unemployment benefits will expire. Many economists warn the disappearance of this enormous federal stimulus, created in March, could hinder the economic recovery and deprive millions of Americans of a vital financial lifeline. More than 30 million people are collecting what many recipients say is a crucial pillar of financial support right now. "We'd basically have to choose between paying bills and eating," Erin Walker, 48, who was furloughed from her job as a dining manager at a college campus near Summerville, S.C., at the end of April, said about the looming expiration of the benefits. "I honestly don't know what I would do." For months, President Donald Trump and White House officials have argued the $600-per-week unemployment bonus provides a disincentive to work and should be scrapped so that more Americans return to work as part of the economic recovery. But with the benefits soon set to expire and the economy showing new signs of strain, Trump administration officials have begun opening the door to accepting a narrower version of what Congress previously approved. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on CNBC last week that the administration's priority was ensuring that future benefits amount to "no more" than 100% of a worker's prior wages. Mnuchin's comments surprised some congressional Republicans who thought he shared their strong opposition to extending the benefits, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal dynamics. Larry Kudlow, the president's top economic adviser, told Fox Business on Monday that the administration is seeking "some unemployment reforms." Kudlow had in previous weeks more aggressively bashed the $600-per-week increase. Kudlow also pushed a "return to work" bonus that could supplement a reduction in unemployment benefits. That idea has been viewed as administratively difficult to implement and its path to passage is unclear, according to three lobbyists and congressional aides aware of internal conversations. One potential compromise discussed by Republican lawmakers would involve cutting the unemployment benefit from $600 per week to between $200 and $400 per week and making up at least part of the difference by sending another round of $1,200 stimulus payments, these people said. White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that the administration is opposed to the $600-per-week increase but would not rule out the administration agreeing to a more limited expansion of the benefit. Maintaining unemployment insurance benefits at current levels "does not incentivize returning to work," Deere said in an email. "UI reform is a priority for this White House in any phase four package and we are in ongoing discussions with the Hill." The emergency, temporary federal benefits come on top of the payments appropriated by state governments, though those benefits vary. Democrats have largely called for the benefits to be extended. Lawmakers will have little time to resolve the competing positions. Republicans have discussed the issue internally but have not reached a caucus position on the matter. There are no serious bipartisan discussions underway to resolve the impasse. The Senate comes back in session on July 20, five days before the enhanced unemployment benefit expires in 49 states. They expire in New York state on July 26. "They don't have time, which is what is very scary about all this," said Bill Hoagland, senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and former Republican staff director for the Senate Budget Committee. "It's very irresponsible." Trump has offered little clarity on his preferred outcome, saying on Fox Business last month about the benefits: "We had something where they wanted where it gave you a disincentive to work last time. And it was still money going to people and helping people, so I was all for that. But we want to create a very great incentive to work. So we're working on that, and I'm sure we'll all come together." Compounding the potential for economic disaster is that the labor market shows continued signs of severe stress. More than 1 million Americans continue to apply for jobless benefits every week, and the rise of coronavirus cases across the country threatens to prompt a new wave of shutdowns. There are still 1.6 million fewer job openings than there were in February - although they rose slightly in May - raising the question of whether many Americans have a job to return to. June's jobs numbers showed the United States has recovered about a third of the jobs it lost during the worst of the coronavirus crisis. But the economy appears to have worsened in the weeks since, and there are few signs it will improve before expanded unemployment benefits expire. From March through June, the United States saw a steady decrease in the share of households that expected their income to fall within the next month - from 39% to 31%, a weekly census survey showed. But by the end of the June, 34% of Americans - more than 1 in 3 - reported that they expected to see their income fall in the coming month. The unemployment benefits helped stabilize the economic turbulence as the unemployment rate rose to roughly 15 percent in April before falling slightly to 11% in June. Americans made $70 billion less in wages and salaries in May compared with February, reflecting lost jobs and cuts to hours and wages. Emergency unemployment benefits filled that gap, funneling $70 billion per month into the economy, according to Ernie Tedeschi, who worked as an economist in the Obama administration's Treasury Department. Tyler Kemp, an unemployed 38-year-old who lives with his mother in subsidized housing in the Las Vegas area, said the benefits allowed him, for the first time in a long time, to feel as if he has a financial cushion, should he or his mother have any unforeseen medical expenses, for example. "If that stuff expires, it means that I won't have any money for emergency things," he said. "It's like a security blanket that hasn't been there for so long." Removing that lifeline could spell hardship for millions of Americans. More than 30 million Americans would see an income cut of between 50% and 75% if the benefits go away, Tedeschi said. Darrick Hamilton, an economist at Ohio State University, said letting the benefits expire "would make the recession deeper, longer and more entrenched. You will get into a downward spiral as people lose their income to pay their bills, which will affect the people who collect income on those bills as well." "The way to prevent depression and recession is to keep aggregate demand up," Hamilton said. "We also need to stop people's suffering and pain." A recent analysis of daily data by economists at the University of Illinois, University of Chicago and University of California at Berkeley found no relationship between the generosity of a state's benefits and the rate at which its citizens are returning to work during the coronavirus crisis. Conservatives have argued the unemployment benefit makes it more lucrative for workers to stay at home than return to their jobs. In most states, the size of the unemployment benefit is equal to or greater than the minimum wage. Even some Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee have privately expressed concern about the potential for the benefit to disincentivize work, The Washington Post previously reported. "From numerous conversations with people at the White House - they do understand redoing this $600-per-week benefit would be really bad for the economy and really bad in the fall, when you need the recovery," said Stephen Moore, a conservative analyst and White House ally. "The stakes are really enormous here." Moore, citing conversations with multiple small-business owners, described talk of taking the benefit down to $200 per week as "very objectionable." "We should just go back to the old unemployment program, and if you want to help people financially just do the payments that go to everyone," Moore said. But with the pandemic still raging in many parts of the country, it is not clear whether it is safe to return to work in some places. In interviews, many workers said that the money provided a different incentive - for those living with sick or at-risk family members or with health conditions themselves to prioritize health concerns instead of being pushed to look for more risky work for a paycheck. Addie Peterson, 21, was working part time at a PetSmart near her home in Eugene, Ore., before she was let go at the end of March. She has cystic fibrosis; her lungs work at only 44% capacity, she said. "It's a very personal decision. I can't risk my lungs by going back to work," she said. She added of the unemployment benefits, "While it might for some people make them feel like they can just stay at home, there are a lot of people who genuinely need to stay home right now, to keep themselves and their families safe." Adding further danger to the expiring benefits is the simultaneous expiration of eviction moratoriums in many parts of the country. About 26% of Americans have missed a rent or mortgage check or expect to miss the next one - the highest figure reported since the Census Bureau began keeping track in late April. In hard-hit Houston and Miami, more than 40% of households now struggle to pay the rent or mortgage. In another weekly survey, this one sent to small businesses, the bureau found that the share of businesses that have cut employees in the past seven days has risen for two straight weeks - and as with the other trends, this worrying rise came after months of steady improvement. The rise in job cuts was sharpest in low-wage service industries that are most exposed to the resurgent pandemic. In late June, more businesses also reported that they expect the economy will not recover for at least ix months. By the end of the month, 53% of U.S. small businesses reported that the economy would take longer than six months to recover - if it recovered at all. Amid the gloomy outlook, investment bank Goldman Sachs lowered its estimate for the economy's third-quarter recovery and predicted the economy would shrink more in 2020 than it had previously estimated. Many workers are left in a state of unparalleled uncertainty. Walker, the former dining manager, said that supplemental insurance was all that was keeping her rent and expenses paid. She and her partner, who also lost his job recently, pay about $2,400 a month for rent, cellphones, a car payment and utilities - a sum that is going to be hard to match on the $260 week he would make, after taxes, on South Carolina's unemployment benefits alone. "That's not including groceries," she said. "There's absolutely no way to make that math work." Walker said she found it hard to even think about the choices she would have to make if the benefits were allowed to expire should she remain on furlough. "It's very, very scary to think about," she said. "It's not that we don't want to go back to work - it's that we're not able." Almost four million people have been hit by monsoon floods in South Asia, officials said Tuesday, with a third of Bangladesh already underwater from some of the heaviest rains in a decade. The monsoon -- which usually falls from June to September -- is crucial to the economy of the Indian sub-continent, but also causes widespread death and destruction across the region each year. "This is going to be the worst flood in a decade," Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre chief Arifuzzaman Bhuiyan told AFP. The heavy rains have swollen two main Himalayan river systems -- the Brahmaputra and the Ganges -- that flow through India and Bangladesh. Bhuiyan said about a third of flood-prone Bangladesh -- a delta-nation crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers -- was underwater, and at least 1.5 million people were affected, with village homes and roads flooded. In north-central Bangladesh, the Brahmaputra river was almost 40 centimetres (16 inches) higher than normal and threatening to burst its banks, district administrator Farook Ahmed told AFP. Most villagers were trying to stay near their flood-damaged homes, but some 15,000 had fled severely affected areas, officials said. With a 10-day forecast pointing to rising waters, Bhuiyan said if more rivers burst their banks some 40 percent of the nation could be flooded "in a worst-case scenario". In the northern town of Biswambharpur, villagers said most of the houses were partly underwater after the Surma, a major river in northeast Bangladesh, burst its banks. Farmer Abdur Rashid, 35, said he sent his wife and three children to a multi-storied village school that has been turned into a government shelter. "My whole house has gone underwater. I have sent the rest of the family to the school, but I stayed behind to guard my properties," Rashid told AFP. - Twin challenges - In Assam, northeast India, more than 2.1 million people have been affected since mid-May. At least 50 people have died so far -- 12 in the past week as floodwaters surged -- with tens of thousands of mostly rural residents evacuated to relief camps, officials said. Emergency services personnel wore head-to-toe bright-orange suits to protect themselves from the floods and coronavirus -- which has infected almost 17,000 people in Assam -- as they used boats to reach stranded villagers. "We have two challenges here, one is COVID-19 and another is (the) flood," the head of a local rescue team, Abhijeet Kumar Verma, told AFP. In Nepal, at least 50 people have died in landslides and floods triggered by the monsoon rains, with homes swept away and roads and bridges damaged. "We are distributing food and relief goods from helicopters to about 300 displaced families after the roads were blocked by floods and landslides," district official Gyan Nath Dahal told AFP. burs-grk-stu/fox A man wades through a flooded village in in Bangladesh, where a third of the country is underwater Almost a third of Bangladesh was underwater, officials said The heavy monsoon flooding comes as Bangladesh is also grappling with the coronavirus Yesterday, David and Victoria Beckham's eldest son, Brooklyn Beckham, rocked the Instagram world after announcing his engagement to girlfriend Nicola Peltz. The 21-year-old model shared the good news by gushing over his now-fiance, whom he referred to as his "soulmate." "Two weeks ago I asked my soulmate to marry me, and she said yes," Brooklyn wrote. "I am the luckiest man in the world. I promise to be the best husband and the best daddy one day (heart emoji) I love you, baby." According to reports, Brooklyn proposed to her 25-year-old fiance with a $316,000 engagement ring, which he personally designed. Brooklyn met the billionaire heiress in a Halloween party in October 2018, and their relationship became Instagram official earlier this year. But before going head-over-heels with Peltz, Brooklyn also had his fair share of fun time with equally gorgeous women. As a young and dashing man, Brooklyn did not waste his time and dated around before finally settling down. Let us take a trip down memory lane and remember all the girls that first captured Brooklyn's heart. Chloe Grace Moretz As a teenager, the amateur photographer dated "Kick-Ass" actress Chloe Grace Moretz. It all started in August 2014 when the couple walked the "Teen Choice Awards" red-carpet. They had a two-year on-and-off relationship before officially calling it quits in 2016. A year after, Brooklyn and Chloe started getting flirty on Instagram again in September 2017. But eventually, they went on separate ways after spending Valentine's Day in 2018. Sofia Richie Brooklyn and Sofia Richie were romantically linked after they were spotted having a late-night stroll through Beverly Hills with friends in 2016. They were seen hanging out again in London's Bloomsbury Bowling Alley in January 2017, but the duo never confirmed or denied any romantic relationship between them. Five months later, the 21-year-old model was seen getting cosy with Scott Disick. Sonia Ben Ammar During one of Brooklyn's "breaks" with Chloe, he reportedly dated French actress Sonia Ben Ammar. But they only dated for five months and eventually called it quits in March 2016. Lexi Wood Brooklyn loves to fool around with hot girls. In 2018, he was spotted kissing Playboy model Lexi Wood in a tattoo parlor in Los Angeles. The duo left Hideaway at Suite X tattoo shop with Brooklyn's one arm freshly inked. Hana Cross Shortly after officially breaking up with Chloe, Brooklyn was spotted with model Hanna Cross. They were seen holding hands leaving the Fashion Awards afterparty in London in December 2018. Hana was also one of the lucky girls who were able to meet Brooklyn's high-profile parents and got the chance to spend time with the Beckhams. She is almost like a family member and even referred to Brooklyn's brother Cruz her "'Lil bro." Brooklyn and Hana had a drama-filled relationship and were often an item in tabloids discussing their massive public display of affection, arguments, and even public scandals. One of their most talked-about public rows was when securities had to step in and separate the couple while attending the Cannes Film Festival together. The couple eventually broke up in August 2019. READ MORE: Jennifer Aniston Shock: How Katy Perry Made Jen Cry Fort Lauderdale, Florida -- A retired Syracuse school district educator is serving an 8-year federal prison sentence after admitting to keeping hundreds of photos and videos of child pornography. Frank Richard Beyer Jr., 75, who goes by Rick, was arrested in November 2019 at his retirement home in Fort Lauderdale after authorities found the 548 images and 813 videos of illegal content stored in numerous locations on the internet. Beyer started working for the Syracuse city schools in 1967 and continued until his retirement in the early 2000s, district officials said at the time of his arrest. He worked as a teacher and administrator during that time, according to a district spokesman. Post-Standard archives show Beyer worked in the district offices as well as several elementary schools including Seymour and Lincoln. To those who defended him in court papers, Beyer was considered a top-notch educator, rising to become a district principal and getting rave reviews from staff and former students. There were no recorded complaints against him involving children, and he had no criminal record before his arrest last year. But his actions behind closed doors warranted a long prison sentence, federal prosecutors in Florida said. In addition to collecting child porn, Beyer also used an encrypted chat program to meet others with similar dysfunction. He was eventually caught in Florida after Google flagged an image of child pornography that had been loaded on one of its servers, authorities said. Beyer immediately accepted responsibility and agreed to plead guilty before indictment. His lawyers had argued for only a 2-year prison sentence, noting Beyers spotless record as educator and his immediate acceptance of responsibility. A psychologist opined that he was emotionally needy, psychologically fragile, and isolated, but not a threat to physically abuse children himself. After retiring from Syracuses school district in 2001, Beyer moved to Ft. Lauderdale which he knew as a gay-friendly community and where he thought that he might meet a partner or at least some friends, his lawyers wrote. Instead, due to his debilitating fear and anxiety, he did not establish any significant relationships, made no local friends and never invited anyone to his apartment. He spent every day alone with his computer U.S. District Judge Judge Rodolfo A Ruiz sentenced Beyer to 97 months in jail (just over eight years), which was the minimum punishment under federal sentencing guidelines. The judge had discretion to go lower if he chose, a fact noted by defense lawyers who sought only 24 months for Beyer. Beyers case moved quickly after he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced in May and is currently serving his sentence at a minimum-security federal prison and hospital in Massachusetts. Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070. Sajjan Kumar By Politics and leadership are about action, not holding a position. The new wave of politics that has emerged in the last six years requires three things: a perpetual necessity of populist rhetoric, winning the war of perception and a strong trait of decisionism. With these traits, a leader and their party has a reasonable chance to increase the winnability quotient on the plank of both material or cultural politics. For instance, the BJP has maintained its hegemony at the national level primarily on the plank of cultural politics; the material factors have been the sub-text. On the other hand, many regional parties or the regional satraps of the Congress have scored electoral wins against the BJP by riding high on the wave of material politics. Thus, contemporary India presents a political scenario where the national political stage is witnessing the preponderance of the BJP and cultural politics, while the regional scenario presents a heterogenous and split scenario. However, even at the regional level, one distinct trend that everyone witnesses is the political paralysis afflicting the Congress party/governments. This paralytic state emanates from their being captive to an outmoded conservative and lazy outlook that arises from a false sense of entitlement. Therein one assumes the political field would remain still till they assess the situation and make their first move. A cursory glance at some recent events at state levels would suffice. Last month in Manipur, the BJP-led NEDA government faced a decisive blow on account of withdrawal of support by its allies. The regional Congress veteran and ex-CM Okram Ibobi Singh showed his political acumen to cash upon the crisis and brought the dissidents into his partys fold, thereby ensuring the incumbent government was in a minority for the time being. However, ultimately he lost the plot as the national leadership of the BJP, from Amit Shah to Ram Madhav and Himanta Biswa Sarma, quickly resolved the crisis. Here, the national Congress leadership failed to act decisively and ultimately the regional leader felt abandoned. This is equally true of many other small states in the Northeast like Meghalaya, where the BJP denied the Congress the corridors of power despite the latter emerging as the single largest party. Hence, the central leadership of the grand old party is not only a failure at the national level, but also acts as a dead weight against its own regional leaders. One hasnt forgotten the 2017 episode in Goa wherein the Congress lost the plot in spite of getting 17 seats out of 40 while the BJP, with just 13 seats, formed the government. This was primarily on account of the sluggish and royal approach of the then state-in-charge Digvijaya Singh who wasted precious time, while the BJPs central leadership clinched the deal. This approach poses an existential threat to the Congress at a time when every regional political fortune is deeply tied to the interest and ability of the national leadership. Behind these political inactions lies the continuance of the old guards patronising attitude without having a corresponding mass base. Nevertheless, they acquire their prominence in the party by their unquestioned loyalty to the Gandhis, who themselves are a captive of the plot that they weave. This then necessarily pits them against the non-pliable and relatively young Congress leaders, who are laden with spirit and command a credible mass base. The more the electoral prospect of the party dwindles, the worse has been the record of the inner circle and the Gandhis in consistently alienating and humiliating the charismatic and capable younger leaders. The list is long. On account of the misplaced arrogance of the Gandhis and the inner circle, the party lost Andhra Pradesh beyond redemption when the self-entitled Gandhis rejected the entitlement of Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the name of inner-party democracy. Today, Jagan rules Andhra Pradesh. In the same way, they made Himanta Biswa Sarma join the BJP, leading to the Congress losing the plot in the entire Northeast. Recently, it happened in MP with Jyotiraditya Scindia, the only leader who has a pan-state appeal and under whose name the party fought and won the 2018 state election, leaving the party. Now, it is Sachin Pilot who is the latest manifestation. Given the arithmetic, the Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot would survive the crisis, but the malaise it points to is an indication of something deeper. Today, the Congress central leadership behaves like an agent of Twitterati democracy. Therein they share a moral but not political outrage, as if both are one and the same. Forget about ameliorating the moribund state of the party in the Hindi heartland of UP and Bihar. The party believes that Priyanka Gandhi could wrest the state from the BJP merely on account of her resemblance to Indira Gandhi and by infesting the rank and file of the party with left-wing cadre, who are experts at making noise but are proven illiterates in the art of reading the ground scenario. The majority of them belong to the category who arent interested in ousting the Modi regime from power. Rather, they cherish beholding the platform that gives them endless opportunity to vent their ideological anger against the ascendency of the Right. In opposing Modi, they find spiritual satiation. Defeating the BJP electorally isnt as gratifying. Politics is about the ability to manage contradictions. In passively purging the party of the capable and non-pliable regional leadership, the Congress has forgotten its own past of being an umbrella party. Why? Because the central leadership and inner circle are more interested in controlling the dwindling power and resources of the party than doing politics. At a time when the majority of the electorate doesnt want the Gandhis to be their leader, insisting on the same and offering the argument that without them, the party would collapse, signifies the clownish wisdom of decadent feudalswho believed that the march of democracy had threatened social stability and without their enlightened leadership, society would collapse. It is high time the party adapts to the new wave of politics that demands spirited and permanent investment on the ground and offers leaders with capability and a connect to the people. However, for that, the Gandhis and the partys inner circle need to take a backseat as they symbolise the death of politics. Political Analyst associated with Peoples Pulse (sajjanjnu@gmail.com) Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! As an investor its worth striving to ensure your overall portfolio beats the market average. But if you try your hand at stock picking, your risk returning less than the market. We regret to report that long term Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE:BOH) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 30% in three years, versus a market return of about 35%. And over the last year the share price fell 29%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. Even worse, it's down 8.0% in about a month, which isn't fun at all. Check out our latest analysis for Bank of Hawaii While markets are a powerful pricing mechanism, share prices reflect investor sentiment, not just underlying business performance. One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a company's share price and its earnings per share (EPS). Although the share price is down over three years, Bank of Hawaii actually managed to grow EPS by 5.5% per year in that time. This is quite a puzzle, and suggests there might be something temporarily buoying the share price. Or else the company was over-hyped in the past, and so its growth has disappointed. It's worth taking a look at other metrics, because the EPS growth doesn't seem to match with the falling share price. Given the healthiness of the dividend payments, we doubt that they've concerned the market. Revenue has been pretty flat over three years, so that isn't an obvious reason shareholders would sell. So it might be worth looking at how revenue growth over time, in greater detail. The company's revenue and earnings (over time) are depicted in the image below (click to see the exact numbers). It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. If you are thinking of buying or selling Bank of Hawaii stock, you should check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts. Story continues What About Dividends? When looking at investment returns, it is important to consider the difference between total shareholder return (TSR) and share price return. Whereas the share price return only reflects the change in the share price, the TSR includes the value of dividends (assuming they were reinvested) and the benefit of any discounted capital raising or spin-off. Arguably, the TSR gives a more comprehensive picture of the return generated by a stock. In the case of Bank of Hawaii, it has a TSR of -23% for the last 3 years. That exceeds its share price return that we previously mentioned. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! A Different Perspective While the broader market gained around 7.6% in the last year, Bank of Hawaii shareholders lost 27% (even including dividends) . Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 0.4% over the last half decade. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. It's always interesting to track share price performance over the longer term. But to understand Bank of Hawaii better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 1 warning sign for Bank of Hawaii that you should be aware of before investing here. If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them). Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges. 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. DORAL, Fla., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Landmark South held a topping out ceremony in Doral, Miami on Friday to recognize the final phase of its apartment development construction. Targeting a Summer 2021 opening, this second and final phase will add 213 residential units to the existing 418 units which were constructed in 2017 and are currently leasing. The eight-story development will be adjacent to lifestyle and retail options in Doral, including Orange Theory Fitness and Aldi, as well as Bank of America and Banfield Pet Hospital. Located at 6055 NW 105th Ct in Doral, FL, the project's contemporary living spaces will offer amenities to support a variety of tenants, including families. To ensure proper social distancing measures, property management has introduced new interim policies which will limit crowding of common spaces within the apartment development. The second residential phase of The Landmark South is being developed by AECOM-Canyon Partners with Pacific Western Bank as lender, Lincoln Property Company Commercial as fee-developer, General Contractor Moss and Associates and architect Cohen Freedman Encinosa & Associates. About AECOM-Canyon Partners AECOM-Canyon Partners is a joint venture between AECOM Capital, the real estate investment management arm of global infrastructure firm AECOM, and Canyon Partners, LLC, a global alternative asset management firm with approximately $23 billion in assets under management. AECOM-Canyon Partners was established to develop large-scale, institutional quality commercial real estate projects in top U.S. markets. In addition to capital, AECOM-Canyon Partners provides best-in-class design, construction management and engineering expertise as well as credit support for its development partners. For more information, visit https://www.aecomcanyon.com/. About Pacific Western Bank Pacific Western Bank is a commercial bank with over $26 billion in assets headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with executive offices in Denver, Colorado. The Bank has 74 full-service branches primarily located in California, with one branch located in Durham, North Carolina, and one branch located in Denver, Colorado. We offer national lending products including asset-based, equipment, and real estate loans and treasury management services to established middle-market businesses. Learn about Pacific Western Bank, visit www.pacwest.com. About Lincoln Property Company Lincoln Property Company was founded in 1965 as a builder and operator of high-quality residential communities. Headquartered in Dallas, TX, Lincoln focuses on real estate investment, construction and development, in addition to property management. Their national reputation has enabled Lincoln to attract a large client base of owners and investors who count on their ability to deliver quality results and continually serve as a market leader. For more information about Lincoln Property Company, please visit https://www.lincolnapts.com/about/client-services or visit https://www.lincolnapts.com/communities for apartment listings in your area. Media Contacts: AECOM Capital: Brendan Ranson-Walsh Vice President, Global Communications 213-996-2367 [email protected] Canyon Partners Real Estate: Kris Cole Prosek Partners 310-652-1411 [email protected] Pacific Western Bank: Kristen D. Mboijana SVP, Director of Marketing, Corporate Marketing 301-634-6905 [email protected] Lincoln Property Company: Sheri Sandefur Killingsworth Vice President, Marketing & Communications 214-740-3300 [email protected] SOURCE AECOM-Canyon Partners Related Links https://www.aecomcanyon.com In todays increasingly complex and confusing healthcare environment, you need more than just a one-size-fits-all marketing and PR firm, said Tim Busche, CEO and co-founder of Envision Health. We live and breathe healthcare. Its a core part of our DNA. Envision Health, an international full-service healthcare marketing and PR consulting firm, is being recognized as one of the 2020 awardees for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch award, presented by Michigan Celebrates Small Business. Envision Health will be honored at an awards ceremony during the 16th annual Michigan Celebrates Small Business virtual gala event, to be held on July 28. Envision Health is a clinically informed marketing, PR and consulting firm that thrives on the convergence of deep clinical expertise and marketing acumen. The company culture embodies collaboration, creativity, innovation, and a partnership mindset. The organization has grown by 400% in the last four years and it continues to expand its staff and client base, with clients across the globe, from Boston to Philadelphia to San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. In todays increasingly complex and confusing healthcare environment, you need more than just a one-size-fits-all marketing and PR firm, said Tim Busche, CEO and co-founder of Envision Health. "We live and breathe healthcare. Its a core part of our DNA. This expertise helps our customers consistently see results and grow their businesses. We are proud of our teams hard work over the past six years, and we look forward to our companys continued growth. Organizations nominated for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch award must be at least second-stage, defined as having six to 99 full-time-equivalent employees and generating $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue or working capital from investors or grants. Additionally, the companies must be privately held and headquartered in Michigan. The judges evaluated the nominees demonstration of intent and capacity to grow based on employee or sales growth, exceptional entrepreneurial leadership, sustainable competitive advantage, and other notable factors that showcase the companys success. Michigan Celebrates Small Business received 575 nominations for the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch award this year. Michigans small businesses are the lifeblood of our local economies and play a vital role in making our communities attractive places to live, work, visit and play, said Josh Hundt, Chief Business Development Officer for the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. As the state continues to recover from the COVID-19 outbreak, we are honored to recognize and celebrate these small businesses, which demonstrate the resilience, innovation and grit that sets Michigan apart. As a nurse, my passion for helping people drives me every day, said Kelley Smith, RN, MPH, Chief Clinical Officer and co-founder of Envision Health. What better way to do that than to help the companies who are making a real difference in healthcare tell their stories? I am so proud of everything our company has achieved over the past six years, and Im excited to build on our success and continue to innovate with our customers and partners. About Envision Health Envision Health is a marketing, public relations and consulting partner for businesses in healthcare and healthcare technology. We are clinically informed -- this means that everything we do is backed by deep healthcare expertise and first-hand knowledge of the landscape our customers operate in. Our services encompass everything from marketing strategies and tactics, to company rebrands, to media relations. We are results-focused while maintaining the highest integrity. We are service-oriented while acting with confidence. We are committed to delivering creativity while remaining open to new ways of thinking. We work with passion while maintaining a commitment to personal health. We value experience and challenge ourselves to continuously learn. We are responsible and conscientious, yet committed to having fun. To discover more, visit http://www.envisionmarketingpr.com/. Michigan Celebrates Small Business (MCSB) is a collaboration of trusted statewide founding organizations that offer resources for small businesses. Since 2005, Michigan Celebrates Small Business awards gala has placed a spotlight on how small businesses positively impact our communities and state. The MCSB organization is focused on supporting, promoting and celebrating small businesses in Michigan. The Manufacturing Growth Alliance is the Managing Partner of Michigan Celebrates Small Business. Founding sponsors are the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, PNC Bank, AF Group, and Dynamic Edge, Inc. Information about Michigan Celebrates Small Business can be found at http://www.MichiganCelebrates.org. Despite soaring temperatures and a resurgent pandemic, Bexar County voters turned out Tuesday for the primary runoffs that had been delayed by almost two months. Most wore face masks, a stubborn few didnt. Some leaned left, others right. All came to exercise their responsibility as citizens of a democracy. One day after the mercury recorded 107 degrees in San Antonio, they came to more than 200 voting centers, showing appropriate social distancing and voting with a pencil eraser tip. Jerry Lara, Staff / San Antonio Express-News As of 4 p.m., more than 20,000 people had voted, which Elections Administrator Jacque Callanen said was fantastic. Combined with early voting and mail-in voting, the total surpassed 100,000. Total turnout hovered around 9 percent. We dont know why, was it because we had an extra week? Maybe, Callanen said. Because were seeing double the numbers we expected. With COVID, with the heat, with the postponed election. Its almost the perfect storm. There were 29 polling places with fewer than 25 voters each on Tuesday, including Glendale Elementary and Wright Elementary, which only saw 6 voters. But many of the city libraries saw large turnout, some surpassing 300 voters. Weve got two ends of the spectrum, she said. We want those smaller sites to get some activity here. Jerry Lara, Staff / San Antonio Express-News Election judges implemented numerous safety precautions, including gloves, face masks and shields, plexiglass screens at qualifying tables and limiting the number of voters inside polling places. We are strongly recommending face masks for the voters, but we cannot mandate them, Callanen said. As always, there are issues that arise at individual polling sites, but our teams are at the ready to remedy any problems. At Lions Field on Broadway, where during the early voting period the lines wound through the parking lot, on Election Day there was hardly any wait at all. Thank you for coming out to vote, sir! said Cassandra Pearson, 57, from her folding chair seat under a tree in front of the building. She had set up signs urging voters to cast a ballot for her friend Precinct 4 Constable Kathryn Brown. While she cant approach people near the voting site, she can make her support known. Basically a visual. And I thank people for coming out to vote. And whether you vote for my candidate or not, its good that you at least vote, Pearson said. Candidate signs of various sizes and colors dotted the lawn. From the large blue-and-red Trish DeBerry sign for Precinct 3 commissioner to a smaller Mike Chief Ramirez blue-and-yellow sign for the constable candidate. Pearson has been voting since she turned 18. She understands why some people come out to vote, but she wishes they thought differently. Theyre frustrated with everything thats going on, and they feel like their one little voice doesnt matter, she said. But all the little voices together make one big voice. At the Claude Black Multi Service Center on the East Side, Josie Flowers was all dressed up to vote. Her shirt quoted Rosa Parks in 1955 with one word: Nah. Her black mask had Faith over fear written on it in silver sequins. My people bled and died for us to have that right. I will vote over a dogfight if I have to, said Flowers, 75, standing in front of the center on East Commerce. I teach my grandchildren to vote. You have no voice if you dont vote, she added. People were trickling in at the center late Tuesday morning. Others had gotten there early, including Georgia Edwards, president of the San Antonio alumni chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Edwards and other chapter members set up a tent in the parking lot and were handing out census material to voters and thanking them for voting. The census determines new highways, new parks - so much thatll impact the community, Edwards said. She said they also encourage people to vote, though they would prefer to do it in different conditions. Wed rather not have to do it in-person, but since thats the only way the state allows us to, were encouraging everybody we can to come out and take the precautions, Edwards said. The election did not come off without some hitches. After about 50 election site workers decided not to work because of concerns about the coronavirus, the number of voting centers was reduced from 226 to 214. A list of open polling locations is available at bexar.org/elections. The elections department headquarters at 1103 S. Frio is also open for voting. Polls close at 7 p.m. Voters are no longer tied to a specific polling place, and can vote at any one they choose. John MacCormack is a staff writer in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. To read more from John, become a subscriber. JMacCormack@express-news.net | Twitter: @JohnMacCormack Government Announces Gibraltar Disruption Guarantee Scheme The Government has announced that the Gibraltar Business Loan Disruption Guarantee Scheme has now been implemented following the European Commissions approval of Gibraltars economic support measures in conformity with State Aid rules. This scheme will be available through Gibraltar International Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited, Gibraltar Branch and Trusted Novus Bank Limited. With each bank having up to 10 million, the scheme could potentially release a total of up to 30 million to local businesses. Each individual business is capped at a maximum borrowing of 500,000 under the scheme. The scheme has been designed to provide finance to qualifying borrowers whose business has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises as defined by the European Union. Businesses whose income is at least 75% funded by the Government, supermarkets, property development companies, the banking industry itself and e-money institutions are excluded. Businesses who can borrow from banks in the normal way, are not permitted to participate in the scheme as they should make use of the conventional financial products that are available. Equally, businesses are not allowed to use this scheme in order to refinance existing debt. Under this scheme, any lending is guaranteed by the Government up to 80% of the amount borrowed with the balance of risk being borne by the relevant lending bank. This ensures that the banks have an interest in the recovery of the loan. Any borrower who defaults on their repayments would still be liable to the bank for the full amount. The scheme closely follows similar schemes that have been implemented in the Channel Islands and Guernsey. It is underpinned by a Government guarantee and it received unanimous support in Parliament on 28 May 2020 when the Chief Minister moved a motion in favour of the scheme and its terms. The loan guarantee scheme will allow viable businesses to tap into loans that would otherwise not have been available to them. The facilities provided under the Scheme can be for a maximum period of six years. The lending banks will determine the commercial rates that each client warrants, up to a maximum margin of 4.5% above base rate. Lending banks will be able to take security but they are not allowed to seek collateral in the form of the borrowers principal private residence. Under EU state aid rules, the Government is required to charge a minimum amount for the provision of the guarantee to avoid falling foul of state aid rules. Businesses that wish to access these loans will be required to self-certify that they have met any obligations to all taxes, social insurance and rates that were due as at 31st December 2019 before the lender is able to lend. Government says it encourages any business seeking to participate in the scheme to contact their local bank for further information. The Chief Minister stated, I am proud to have delivered on yet another mechanism that will assist local businesses. As a community, we have been fortunate in how we have weathered the pandemic. Our business community has not been as fortunate. The individuals who stand behind these businesses have been hardest hit. As a Government, we have provided numerous mechanisms to assist them and this loan scheme is a further tool that they will have at their disposal. In line with the less-interventionist approach that we have sought to take across all our business support schemes, we have launched this scheme with the private sector banks so that the loans can be paid out as quickly and fairly as possible. I would also take the opportunity to thank Mr Gordon Patterson, who initially approached the Government and set the wheels in motion for this local scheme. I would also extend our thanks to the Lars Aarup Jensen from Trusted Novus Bank and Lawrence Podesta from Gibraltar International Bank, and the legal teams involved. These banks will now bear the brunt of the real work as they take the commercial decisions that will be required for these loans to become reality. I am also grateful to James Roberts from the Government of Jersey, who assisted us with their experience; Christian Hernandez, as counsel for the Gibraltar banks, Isaac Levy, as counsel for Government, and the Financial Secretary, Albert Mena, for co-ordinating the negotiations for Government and Terence Rocca, Senior Crown Counsel from the Income Tax Office who assisted him in obtaining the state aid clearance. Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will be distributing complimentary hygiene kits to its passengers on all flights as part of its Fly Confidently campaign, which was launched in a bid to safeguard the health of its passengers and crew. According to MAS, each kit will include a face mask, a sachet of hand sanitiser, and a hand sanitising wipe all packed in a sealed zip-lock bag for hygiene and convenience. The airline also reminded passengers to bring and wear their own protective masks before boarding, and to ensure that they have a sufficient supply of masks for their trip. Aside from the complimentary hygiene kits, MAS Fly Confidently campaign also encompasses a list of hygiene procedures that begin from the pre-flight stage, right up to the travellers arrival at their destinations. Under this campaign, we produced a series of communication resources such as infographics, travel checklist, and advisories, which are available on our website. Passengers can also refer to these materials to understand the steps they can take to help prevent the spread of Covid-19, said the chief executive officer of Malaysia Airlines Group, Captain Izham Ismail. Safety measures highlighted by the campaign include using contactless check-in facilities through MAS mobile app or website, imposing social distancing wherever possible, and practising frequent hand sanitisation. They also comply with the guidelines set by international and local regulatory bodies, such as the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), World Health Organisation (WHO), International Air Transport Association (IATA), and Ministry of Health (MOH). Airlines have been allowed to resume domestic flights at 100% capacity following the implementation of the recovery movement control order (RMCO). However, all parties must continue to adhere to the various SOPs and hygiene measures throughout the duration of flights to help curb the spread of the pandemic. For more information about MAS Fly Confidently campaign, you can head on over to its website. (Source: Malay Mail, Simple Flying) 0 0 votes Article Rating SHARE McDonald's restaurant workers in locked down areas of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will be required to wear face masks. McDonald's CEO Andrew Gregory told 3AW 190 stores in the affected Melbourne suburbs and Mitchell Shire would remain open during the stage-three coronavirus lockdown. He said the fast food chain was implementing a string of restrictions including supplying 20,000 workers with masks. Up to 20,000 McDonald's staff are now required to wear masks as 190 restaurants in locked down areas of Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire continue trading (a Melbourne McDonald's pictured) 'When the premier made that strong recommendation across the Melbourne metro and Mitchell Shire areas we immediately worked with our suppliers,' Mr Gregory said. 'It's obviously not an easy thing to achieve but we were prepared and we're really pleased to say now we've implemented that at every one of the 190 restaurants that remaining trading in that area.' To remain in accordance with the level-three lockdown new masks will be distributed to the restaurants daily. A McDonald's spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia the health and safety of staff and customers was the company's main priority. 'At these restaurants, in accordance with level three lock down requirements, we are currently only offering contactless takeaway, drive-thru and McDelivery services,' the spokeswoman said. 'This is in addition to the strict health, safety, cleaning and sanitisation practices that we continue to implement across all restaurants.' A McDonald's spokeswoman said under level three lock down requirements the restaurants will only offer contactless takeaway, drive-thru and McDelivery services (McDonald's drive-thru pictured) The announcement came as Melbourne recorded an eighth consecutive day of triple-figure coronavirus infections on Monday. Victorian authorities reported 177 new cases which was a decrease from last week's high of 288. In response to the surge in cases Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews locked down the Mitchell Shire, Yarra Ranges, Wyndham, Hume, Cardinia and the Mornington Peninsula. A total of 32 local government areas are being affected by the stage three coronavirus lockdown. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he hoped people across every state took heed of the uptick in cases. 'We don't want to have to go back, but that requires everybody to keep showing that discipline,' he told 2GB radio. Jerry Murphy, of the Two Street Strutters in the Comic Division, decided to strut down Broad Street shirtless during an unusually cold Mummers Parade, on January 1, 2018. The upcoming version of this event will be canceled due to the coronavirus, dealing another blow to businesses. Read more A mass cancellation of large events could be a harbinger of future business shutdowns in Philadelphia, business owners fear. On Tuesday, Philadelphia officials announced that all large public events, including the Broad Street Run and the Mummers parade, will not be held through the end of February. News of the cancellations comes amid surging COVID-19 cases across the country. The loss of events is a new blow to struggling businesses across the city, many of which reopened only two weeks ago when Philadelphia entered a modified version of Gov. Wolfs green phase, easing many restrictions. The cancellations present another threat to the survival of the citys restaurants and retailers, said Larry Steinberg, a retail broker at commercial real estate firm Colliers International. Many shops and restaurants are barely scraping by after losing business that once came from workers in commercial districts, business travelers, and tourists, said Steinberg, who also serves as president of Rittenhouse Row, a merchants association in western Center City. Any time that you cancel events that are going to draw pedestrian traffic to the streets that in turn service the retailers and the restaurants, youre putting a hurting on them, he said. Its another nail in the coffin. READ MORE: No large events in Philly through February: Were going to have to live with this virus for a long time But Jacob Cooper, of brokerage MSC Retail, said most shop and restaurant operators hes spoken with had already assumed that there would be few large events over the next year or so and had adjusted their expectations. I cant imagine that the retail and restaurant tenants in Center City were expecting and banking on these as large generators of business, he said. My sense is that everyone is focused on reduced capacity and reduced revenue streams well into next spring. The cancellations shouldnt have a major impact on Philadelphias trajectory as a home for businesses, maintained Bill Luff, who leads commercial property consultancy CRE Visions in Philadelphia. Although local office landlords benefit from the buzz thats partly fed by Philadelphias major events, cities that they compete with are also taking similar measures to limit spread of the virus. If youre measuring the impact on Philly, you have to ask, where else can you do that? he said. And who can rotate on a dime and say, Philadelphia doesnt give me that today so Im going to pack up and move to Chicago. The cancellations will hurt the hotel industry, too. Ed Grose, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association, said that although hotels dont normally rely on large public events for big revenue increases, other losses this year made those events more important. The business travel has pretty much stopped, all of our conventions have been canceled, and this was all we had left. READ MORE: Philadelphia hotels are slowly seeing more guests. But workers say conditions arent safe. Several area hotels suspended operations after seeing occupancy levels plummet to 22% in April. Some of those hotels, such as the Four Seasons and the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, plan to resume operations by the end of July. Theres a good chance that this will delay a lot of hotels resuming operations, Grose said. Since the start of business shutdowns in March, several area hotels have laid off hundreds of employees, according to notices from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. The number of permanent layoffs might worsen with these event cancellations, Grose said. This is definitely a gut punch for our employees. The longer that hotels struggle to fully resume operations, the worse Grose thinks the impact will be on the local economy. The hotel industry is a very viable economic engine for the city of Philadelphia, he said. Loss of revenue for hotels also means loss of revenue for restaurants and museums, as well as for the city and state, which make money off the 15.5% hotel tax. Authorities will also miss sales taxes on drinks, food, and parking. Ben Frank, executive director of the Center City Proprietors Association, agrees that hospitality and service companies will continue to suffer. Theyve all been devastated anyway, in terms of canceled events, he said. This continues the damage. Frank notes that the various law and accounting firms he works with likely wont be affected, because most are already working remotely. But he thinks the announcement will push other businesses to shift more permanently toward remote work. That could lead to a prioritization of co-working spaces over long-term leases in office buildings, and a lower volume of foot traffic in Center City. The cancellations could also have negative implications down the line, Frank added. Having everybody come and see how great Philadelphia is, and now having that not happen, is something that might prevent people from booking conventions here. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. Still, Frank agrees with the citys efforts to keep everyone safe. Obviously, it makes sense that those events would be canceled. Jeff Guaracino, president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, is also glad the city made an early decision on these events. By giving notice now to visitors and residents and producers, it gives them time to make a change in their plans, he said. Guaracino said that losing the events this year is an opportunity to prioritize making them safe for next year. Still, he worries that should these event losses become more permanent, the loss of the businesses that support them will become permanent, too. If we have a critical mass of events that dont return, then thats when well really truly have a loss. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA The anti-Trumpers are at it again only this time, theyre Republicans. Kevin, a lifelong Republican voter and pastor from Arizona, says he voted for Trump in 2016 with high hopes for the future. He knew that Trump didnt have the same political experience as the other contenders, but he was optimistic he could grow into his new role. Now he says: Ive seen how he has tried to divide our country and that is not something I want, nor what our country should have This man is an absolute danger to our country. Kevins experience of voting for Trump and then quickly realizing hed made a mistake is one of many being used by Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), which wants to boot Trump out of office later this year. The group is seeking testimony from former Trump voters through its website, which displays the best quotes so far with pride. (Id vote for a tuna fish sandwich before I vote for Donald Trump again, reads one.) Kevin is a pastor from AZ who voted Trump in 2016 - here is his case against four more years: "And when you put all that together, I think this is a man who must, must be removed by voters in November from governing our country." pic.twitter.com/W8FOgVTkc4 Republican Voters Against Trump (@RVAT2020) July 14, 2020 Sarah Longwell, a Republican consultant who co-founded RVAT, said they have received hundreds of testimonies in recent months. The group is funded by millionaire neoconservative pundit Bill Kristol, who was formerly chief of staff to the vice-president under George HW Bush, but uses testimony from distinctly non-political voices to make an impact. One of the reasons they are so compelling is because you can tell how authentic they are, how deeply they feel this a lot of them want to get something off their chest, says Longwell. The testimonies are not scripted or paid for, but they are the result of a lot of workshopping. Story continues Jeffrey Farmer, from Massachussetts, certainly fits the bill of a non-polished but frustrated voice: he is immunocompromised and angered by Trumps response to the pandemic. And he is certainly not the voice of a media-trained, focus-group prepped politico just a person who formerly backed Trump. I dont even know why Im doing this stupid thing, because this is not what I do. I dont do social media or anything. But I cant take this any more, he says. Farmer voted for Trump in 2016 because of how much he disliked Hillary Clinton, but describes him as being Like a Tasmanian devil, who spends all day complaining on Twitter instead of doing his job. This guy couldnt lead his way out of a wet frickin paper bag, says Farmer. Jeffrey voted Trump in 2016, and it's safe to say he won't be doing so again. He takes you on a ride....You gotta watch the whole thing. (Warnings: 1. NSFW 2. Wicked "Good Will Hunting" Energy) pic.twitter.com/foIo4lmaDA Republican Voters Against Trump (@RVAT2020) July 13, 2020 Longwell, herself a disgruntled Republican, says she initially started looking for answers after Trump won the presidency. I have been alarmed by him from the beginning, she says and so, around 2017, she began to search for answers. I wanted to know how the party got taken over by Donald Trump, she says. She ran focus groups with soft Trump voters who voted for him in 2016 but rated him as doing somewhat badly or very badly and tried to understand how to persuade them against him. The key thing, she found, was for them to hear from people like themselves. One thing we found is that the cultural aspect played a big role in [the 2016 election], she says. Youd get women whod say I voted for him and I cried, or, I voted for him and then I had to take a shower afterwards. But they were surrounded by people who talk about how all Democrats are socialists or whatever, she says. But as a lifelong supporter of the Republican party, does she really want Biden to win? Longwell says she absolutely, unequivocally does. Donald Trump has a negative impact on the future of the Republican party, says Longwell. He has sort of hijacked it, and really poisoned the country, and has turned it into a nationalist populist party. Theres a section of Republicans who do not find that attractive, and Im one of them. The best thing for the party long term is for him to get defeated soundly, and for the party to rethink its direction. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:04:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Tuesday published an article, laying bare the harsh reality of the serious division between the rich and the poor in the United States under the cover of its overall prosperity. The growing division between the rich and the poor in the United States has further highlighted and exacerbated the existing social and economic inequality within the U.S. society, reducing people at the bottom to a more difficult situation, said the article titled "The Growing Division Between the Rich and the Poor Leading to Increasingly Severe Human Rights Issues in the United States." The United States has a high level of income polarization, the article said, noting that the size of its middle class continues to shrink, while its poverty rates remain high. The wealth of the top 0.1 percent U.S. households equaled the wealth of the bottom 90 percent of the U.S. households, according to a report quoted by the article. The United States has the widest gap between the rich and the poor among all Western countries, with tens of millions of U.S. citizens living in poverty, the article quoted a United Nations special rapporteur report as saying, noting the rapid transformation of the American Dream into the "American Illusion." The article noted that nearly half of U.S. households are unable to maintain an adequate standard of living, low-income groups are faced with the threat of hunger and cannot enjoy equal opportunities for education, the homeless are living in poor conditions, and poor children and single mothers have a hard time in the United States. The poverty-induced stress makes Americans suffer from deterioration in their overall health, and those who have lost their medical insurance due to poverty cannot afford medical expenses. The division between the rich and the poor has led to a decline in the average life expectancy and increasing suicide rates in the country, said the article. "The so-called U.S. democratic system deprives its citizens of economic, social, and cultural rights, leading to a growing gap between the rich and the poor," it said. The U.S. government lacks the political will to change the structural roots that lead to the division between the rich and the poor. Instead, it has adopted a series of policies and measures that further widen the gap, the article noted. This is closely related to the U.S. political system and the capital interests represented by the U.S. government, it added. The vigorous development of money politics has turned the U.S. government into a spokesperson for the rich. The persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power, the article said. It noted that the division between the rich and the poor in the United States will be a stable, long-term trend, and the severe negative impact it has brought on the enjoyment and realization of the human rights of the U.S. people will continue to worsen. Enditem NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913398/?utm_source=PRN The Global Automotive Foam Market is expected to grow from USD 38,779.70 Million in 2019 to USD 51,419.74 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 4.81%. Market Segmentation & Coverage: This research report categorizes the Automotive Foam to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: On the basis of Type, the Automotive Foam Market is studied across Polyolefin (PO) Foam and Polyurethane (PU) Foam. On the basis of End-User, the Automotive Foam Market is studied across HCVS, LCVS, and Passenger Cars. On the basis of Application, the Automotive Foam Market is studied across Exterior Application and Interior Application. The Interior Application further studied across Door Panels & Watershields, Headliners, Instrument Panels, Seals, Gaskets & Nvh, and Seating. On the basis of Geography, the Automotive Foam Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. Company Usability Profiles: The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Foam Market including Armacell, BASF SE, Bridgestone Corporation, Johnson Controls, Lear Corporation, Recticel, Rogers Corporation, Saint-Gobain, The DOW Chemical Company, Vitafoam, and Woodbridge Foam Corporation. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Foam Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Foam Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Foam Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Foam Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Foam Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Foam Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Foam Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913398/?utm_source=PRN About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links www.reportlinker.com RESTON, Va., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Information Sciences (AIS) today announced it has been awarded the Business Applications Power Apps and Power Automate 2020 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award. The company was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of cloud solutions using Microsoft technology, with industry-leading cloud solutions, IP, and expertise. The Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions during the past year. Awards were classified in several categories, with honorees chosen from a set of more than 3,300 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide. AIS was recognized for providing outstanding solutions and services in Business Applications by providing innovative and unique IP built on top of Microsoft Power Apps and Power Automate. Entrants for this award must demonstrate success on a global scale by providing industry-specific solutions that help customers transform their business, have a proven track record of cloud business growth, and create solutions for other Microsoft cloud technologies, including Microsoft 365, Power Virtual Agents, Power BI, and Azure. "It is an honor to recognize the winners and finalists of the 2020 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards," said Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft. "These partners go above and beyond, delivering timely solutions that solve the complex challenges that businesses around the world face from communicating and collaborating virtually to helping customers realize their full potential with Azure cloud services, and beyond. I am proud to honor and congratulate each winner and finalist." Early in 2018, AIS invested heavily in Power Platform. As a Microsoft Partner since 1994, they've supported Microsoft technologies from the early stages of ideation to participation in product maturity and updates via close relationships with product teams and leadership. The Microsoft Power Platform is a robust tool that completes the trifecta of Microsoft cloud platform solutions. Together, Azure, Power Platform, and Microsoft 365 provide enterprise organizations with an unmatched suite of IaaS, SaaS, and PaaS products that AIS is proud to support, implement, and enable for enterprises seeking transformative cloud solutions. "At AIS, we think of Power Platform as an integral part of our enterprise app modernization toolset. Power Platform enterprise features, combined with seamless integration with Azure, make it an ideal target for moving apps to the cloud," said Vishwas Lele, Chief Technology Officer, AIS. "Our people are lifelong learners, pioneers, and innovators. Our team is often the first to take new ideas to market. We've been doing low code/no code in the enterprise for two decades and have used our experience across various software development and modernization approaches to bring together the best that the public cloud has to offer to further our customers' missions," adds Larry Katzman, President, AIS. The company invests in both their people and innovative technologies, sending business applications experts to industry events and supporting their participation in community-driven efforts. In 2019, AIS authored and published the initial Power Platform Adoption Framework. Since its publication, the framework has been globally accepted and improved upon through ownership by the Power Platform community via GitHub at www.PowerPlatform.af. AIS owes a great deal of gratitude to members of the Power Platform Community experts from Microsoft, business applications MVPs, and other Microsoft partners across the globe for this award. This past year has been a demonstration of Microsoft's sustained commitment to meeting the wide-ranging requirements of the US Department of Defense (DoD), offering solutions that benefit other regulated industries that require secure and scalable public cloud solutions. For example, in October of 2019, the DoD awarded Microsoft the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract for cloud computing services to support an effort crucial to the Pentagon's goals to modernize core technology and improve networking capabilities. AIS is a proud Microsoft partner and stands alongside the products, technology investments, and values of the organization. The team is humbled by another successful year of working together and excited for the many prosperous years ahead. SOURCE AIS (Applied Information Sciences) Related Links https://www.appliedis.com Due to virus precautions, John Patterson Loy, Jr. and I did not meet personally to talk about his World War II service. Thats too bad it would be an honor to meet him and thank him for his service. When its safe to do so, I look forward to visiting him at his Snow Camp homeplace which has been in the Loy family for over five generations. Soon to be 99, the former U.S. Army Air Forces technical sergeant has been kind to share meticulous notes about his time as a B-17 flight engineer. His 19th combat mission did not start well. I did not like the way our B-17 sounded during early-morning rev-up. We went back to the hanger and moved our guns into a brand-new B-17 that had never been flown in combat before, according to Loys notes. That made us late reaching our group, which was already in flight, but we eventually took our position as lead aircraft in the flight. Loys B-17 was equipped with a pathfinder radar system code-named Mickey. The Mickey operator in each flight signaled the other B-17s when to drop their bombs. FORT GORDON, Ga., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels announce the opening of the new Candlewood Suites hotel on Fort Gordon the largest Candlewood Suites in the world. The hotel is the latest example of the successful collaboration between the U.S. Army, Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels, which has grown to a portfolio of hotels located in 40 U.S. military installations. Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels Announce the Opening of the Candlewood Suites on Fort Gordon With the unique needs of today's military traveler top of mind, the 311-room hotel includes a variety of rooms with kitchenettes and amenities to include complimentary breakfast, laundry facilities, business center, fitness center, a pool and BBQ area. Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels have worked tirelessly to finish construction of the newest hotel developed under the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) program. "This new Candlewood Suites is a welcomed replacement of a hotel at Fort Gordon that was past its prime and exemplifies the vast benefits of privatization by continual improvement of facilities," said Gretchen Turpen, SVP, Head of Lodging for Lendlease. "We are proud to continue providing quality, cost-effective accommodations without government funding. The entire Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels teams worked diligently to deliver this impressive hotel and we look forward to continuing to provide hotels that improve the quality of life of service members and their families in the years to come." The Candlewood Suites on Fort Gordon offers guests the same experience and hallmark amenities they have come to expect from this well-loved brand, including the Candlewood Cupboard, where guests can purchase items, and the Lending Locker, which makes it easy to borrow household items and small appliances. "The Candlewood Suites on Fort Gordon is an excellent addition to the IHG Army Hotels portfolio under the successful PAL program. Whether military travelers are with us for a single night, or an extended stay, this hotel provides space to settle in and rest during their journey, supported by hotel colleagues who understand the needs of military travelers. We are honored to support the base's mission and deliver IHG's signature hospitality and amenities to travelers through Fort Gordon," said Chuck Sourbeer, Head of Operations, IHG Army Hotels. Fort Gordon Garrison Commander, COL. James Clifford added, "The opening of the Candlewood Suites is a concrete example of the investment going into Fort Gordon and is in direct support of the incredible Cyber growth of the installation. As ARCYBER [U.S. Army Cyber Command] continues to expand their footprint, this Candlewood Suites hotel is the cornerstone of our ability to house our service members, whether they need temporary lodging as they move to the area, or for our service members here in a temporary training status. We're proud to have this world-class hotel on our installation." Lendlease and IHG Army Hotels took over operations of Fort Gordon's lodging in 2011. Lendlease is the owner, developer, design-builder and asset manager, and the exclusive developer for the Department of Defense's only lodging privatization program. IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) is the hotel operator and manager of IHG Army Hotels. IHG understands that cleanliness is top of mind for today's traveler. Guests can be reassured that their room will meet IHG's high standards of cleanliness. Learn more about IHG's new cleanliness initiatives and guest programs here. SOURCE Lendlease Dr. Gordon Eck was elected chairman of the Chester County Republican Committee on Monday, July 13, 2020. Read more President Donald Trump has made clear he has little use for Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nations top infectious-disease expert, as Trump seeks reelection amid the coronavirus pandemic. But as Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs look to regroup, some think a doctor is just what they need. Like many Republican organizations in suburban areas across the United States, the Chester County GOP has suffered historic losses since Trumps election helped fuel a political realignment. Democrats also gained a narrow voter registration edge in the county this year. So on Monday, 324 members of the Chester County Republican Committee unanimously voted in an online gathering to elect Dr. Gordon Eck as chairman, the party said. The Chester County GOP is hoping that Eck, who served as the elected county coroner from 2014 to 2018, can help turn things around. READ MORE: Democrats win across the Philadelphia region as Republicans are fading even on friendly turf I am extremely honored and humbled to have the support of this committee and look forward to serving the fine people of our county, Eck, 67, of Honey Brook, said in a statement Tuesday. The Republican Party was founded on the principle of human dignity, he said. This dignity, as the Founding Fathers recognized and recorded in the Declaration of Independence, is endowed by our Creator and cannot legitimately be conferred or restricted by human government. Eck said fundamental rights such as the sanctity of life, equal justice and opportunity, and personal freedom should guide our approach to issues such as educational choice, access to affordable, quality healthcare, criminal justice reform, racial reconciliation, ending the exploitation of women, and coming alongside those in need. Eck, a retired family doctor who serves as medical director for a juvenile detention center, succeeds Rick Loughery, a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Young Republicans and current chairman of the Young Republican National Federation. Democrats swept to power in the former Republican stronghold last year, taking control of Chester Countys Board of Commissioners for the first time and winning races for district attorney, sheriff, and other county-level offices. The local wins followed the 2018 election of Democratic U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan. She won an open seat after the GOP incumbent, Ryan Costello, decided not to seek reelection after the Democratic-led state Supreme Courts decision that the congressional map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander drawn to benefit Republicans. The high court imposed a new map, and the new 6th District was less favorable to the GOP. The Philadelphia suburbs arent big on Trump, but the Chester County GOP still supports the president. The party urged GOP primary voters last month to vote for the Trump campaigns endorsed slate of delegates to the Republican National Convention, and in May encouraged supporters to participate in a Second Amendment Virtual Trump Victory MAGA Meet-Up for Southeastern Pennsylvania. BRANDON Remaining Westman flood evacuees are being allowed to return home, after tests showed there was no substantial amount of damage at the dam at Lake Wahtopanah, the province says. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. BRANDON Remaining Westman flood evacuees are being allowed to return home, after tests showed there was "no substantial amount of damage" at the dam at Lake Wahtopanah, the province says. As a result of these tests, the province said Monday it had "restored confidence" in the structure. Probing work on the dam at Rivers, 30 kilometres north of Brandon, was completed Saturday. "Were cautiously optimistic," Manitoba Infrastructure Minister Ron Schuler told the Sun via phone. "The current level (of water) are such that theyre within its designed operating level." He said engineers are still waiting for the water flow through the dam to recede enough that it is no longer going down the spillway so that a more complete inspection can be carried out. Until that happens, the province wont issue a complete bill of health. "Well probably need to spend some money and look at what needs to be done going forward, but I think whats important is to focus on the here and now," Schuler said. "Now weve gotten restored confidence in the dam." Part of the inspection work on the dam will also include taking a look at the pipe that carries water from the top of the spillway to the river below when the water level is below the lip of the spillway. Divers will be required for that work and to take a look at the dam on the side that touches the lake, the province said. The news means evacuees downstream will now be allowed to return home. As of July 10, there were 53 people evacuated from Riverdale Municipality and 17 from the Rural Municipality of Whitehead. The Sun was unable to reach the mayor of Riverdale nor the reeve of Whitehead for comment. There is no longer a set period of time when motorists can use the bridge that crosses the Little Saskatchewan River along Highway 25 in Rivers. However, motorists are asked not to stop along the road anywhere between Road 119 West and Road 120 West. 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. Schuler said it is still too early to put a dollar value on the damage done to area infrastructure in recent rainstorms. The latest online hydrologic data from the federal government shows the water level in Lake Wahtopanah at 469.189 metres above sea level as of 8:10 p.m. Sunday. Thats down from the peak of 471.022 the lake swelled to on Canada Day. Meanwhile, the City of Brandon is being cautious when it comes to its flood preparedness plans. In a release Monday afternoon, the city said after consultation with the Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization and out of an abundance of caution, it will be keeping the clay dike plug along 18th Street North at Grand Valley Road in place until further notice while the water in Lake Wahtopanah is still in a flood stage. For the same reason, businesses and residents given evacuation preparation notices close to the Assiniboine River are asked to stay ready to evacuate at a moments notice. Brandon Sun The Department of Homeland Security says the policy is backed by existing law and still provides leniency. Seventeen US states and more than 200 universities are taking legal action to challenge the Trump administrations new restrictions on international students, arguing that the policy jeopardises students safety and forces institutions to reconsider new plans for the coming semester that they have spent months preparing. The universities have signed court briefs supporting Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as they sue US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in federal court in Boston. The lawsuit challenges a recently announced directive saying international students cannot stay in the United States if they take all their classes online in the coming academic year. On Monday, 17 states and the District of Columbia filed their own lawsuits, arguing the rule is politically motivated and an attempt by the Trump administration to force universities to hold in-person classes when classes resume in the autumn. The Trump administration didnt even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses, Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general, said in a statement announcing the suit. Other suits have come from Johns Hopkins University and the state of California. The University of California system has said it will sue. A student wearing a mask while walking through the Yard at Harvard University, after the school asked its students not to return to campus after spring break and said it would move to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US [Brian Snyder/Reuters] A judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Tuesday in the case brought by Harvard and MIT. If the judge does not suspend the rule, colleges across the US will have until Wednesday to notify ICE if they plan to be fully online when classes start in August or September. Legal questions The Department of Homeland Security and ICE said the new policy is backed by existing law forbidding foreign students from taking all of their classes online. ICE suspended the rule in March in response to the pandemic, but the agency told universities it was subject to change, according to a Monday court filing from the Trump administration. The agencies said their updated guidance still provides leniency by allowing foreign students to maintain their visas even if they study online from abroad in the coming fall semester. Rather than completely rescinding the March guidance and reverting to business as usual with respect to schools and foreign students, ICE announced a measured transition to begin a move toward reopening schools and allowing students to return to classrooms, the brief said. A brief filed on Monday by 59 universities, however, said the rule throws their plans into disarray with some due to start the new academic year in less than a month. They challenged the policys legal grounds and said it forces institutions across the nation to choose between opening their campuses regardless of the public health risks, or forcing their international students to leave the country. The group includes all the so-called Ivy League universities as well as other prestigious universities like Stanford and Duke, which together have more than 213,000 international students. Students walking through the Yard at Harvard University, after the school asked its students not to return to campus after spring break and said it would move to virtual instruction for graduate and undergraduate classes, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US [Brian Snyder/Reuters] These students are core members of our institutions, they wrote. They make valuable contributions to our classrooms, campuses and communities contributions that have helped make American higher education the envy of the world. The colleges are asking the court to block the rule as quickly as possible, saying it is already being used to turn students away. Last Wednesday, a DePaul University student was prevented from entering the country after arriving in San Francisco, according to the filing. Harvard previously said one of its students from Belarus was turned away from a flight at an airport in Minsk last week. If the policy is upheld, universities could be forced to reconsider their new term plans. Princeton last week said first-year students and juniors could live on campus during the first semester, while more senior students would replace them in the following term. But that plan was based on the understanding that foreign students could continue remote learning from the US, the filing said. Princeton now may be forced to reassess its plan, with just weeks to go before the fall semester, lest sophomore and senior international students be forced to leave the country and potentially be unable to return for the spring, according to the brief. A separate coalition of 180 colleges filed a brief saying that colleges were blindsided by the policy. The group, known as the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said it was a reversal of a March 13 directive from ICE that waived limitations around online education for foreign students for the duration of the emergency. They point to data suggesting the number of new coronavirus cases in the US is higher now than it was in March. All seem to agree the emergency remains ongoing, but ICEs policy has inexplicably changed, the group wrote. The directive also stands to hurt colleges financially, the group wrote. International students typically pay the highest tuition rates and rarely are eligible for scholarships. The alliance said many colleges risk losing millions of dollars over the policy, including Northern Virginia Community College, which estimated it could lose nearly $10m in tuition from foreign students. Crippling consequences A separate brief filed by the Princeton Theological Seminary said the policy would bring crippling consequences from a funding perspective. The seminary said its international ties include many foreign donors who would find the guidance such a shocking affront that PTS relationships with those donors may never recover. A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer standing during an operation in Escondido, California [File: Gregory Bull/AP Photo] The suit has also been backed by 26 cities and counties that said the policy would damage their economies. Those range from New York City, which said international students contribute three billion dollars a year to its economy, to Iowa City, Iowa, which said its 2,500 resident international students contribute millions of dollars a year. Briefs of support have also been filed by scientific associations, student governments, education unions and 71 higher education associations. Under the new rule, international students would be forced to leave the US or transfer to another college if their schools operate entirely online for the fall semester. New visas will not be issued to students at those schools, ICE said, and others at schools offering a mix of online and in-person courses will be barred from taking all of their classes online. It would apply even if an outbreak forces schools to shift classes entirely online mid-term, according to the guidance. The policy was issued the same day Harvard announced that its first-years would be invited to campus but that all undergraduate classes will be held online. The suit from Harvard and MIT argued that ICE issued the policy without offering any justification and without allowing the public to respond. It also said the agency is breaking from its March 13 promise to provide flexibility during the pandemic. Plus, Bill's Message of the Day, who are the most admired people in America? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Button, the leading mobile commerce technology company, today announced the launch of Reach, the company's newest product that offers its deep linking and app-tracking technology as a service to affiliate network traffic. Awin, the leading global affiliate network with 205,000 contributing publishers and 14,600 brands, is the first network to integrate with Button through Reach to unlock app installs and drive incremental growth for their brand partners. Affiliate marketing spend is rapidly growing and is due to surpass $8 billion by 2022, according to Statista. Through the pandemic, affiliate budgets could prove resilient as brands are increasingly focused on the strong return on investment and guaranteed sales the channel offers, according to Awin. With the launch of Reach and the continuation of the partnership between Button and Awin, Awin's brand partners now have their mobile traffic optimized through the higher-converting app channel. Reach enables brands to capture higher-value users through installs and improve the accuracy of affiliate tracking in their app, publishers to benefit from higher payouts through purchases made by app shoppers, Awin to track app installs and sales for its partners, and consumers to get a more seamless shopping journey on mobile. Early Reach tests revealed that a major brand on Awin's affiliate network was able to outperform standard mobile web affiliate traffic by 50%. Furthermore, it was proven that 10% of shoppers who made a purchase had installed that brand's app and that 60% of shoppers who installed that brand's app made a purchase within 30 days. As a result of Reach, Awin is able to unlock app installs and sales, enhance the mobile shopping experience for their partners, and get accurate app trackingdriving incremental growth by tapping into the full potential of mobile affiliate traffic. "Awin strives to be at the forefront of performance marketing, both through our own innovation and working with cutting-edge partners. We're excited to further drive forward the channel by partnering with Button to provide more value to our brand partners in-app," said Paul Stewart, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships and Innovation at Awin, "With Reach enabling Awin to be a first mover in the affiliate app space, we look forward to sustaining our growth as a global network trusted by our partners to deliver unparalleled performance." "The only reliable channels of app acquisition for retailers are Facebook and Google. We hear from all our biggest retail partners that affiliate marketing represents 15% of their marketing spend, and is also the most profitable channel for them. Yet, it has historically accounted for zero app installs," said Michael Jaconi, Co-Founder and CEO of Button. "Through Button's partnership with Awin via Reach, we are unlocking the true potential of the affiliate channel for app acquisition." For more information on ReachTM, visit usebutton.com/reach. About Button Button (usebutton.com) is the mobile commerce optimization platform that enables companies to drive revenue through commerce in their mobile apps and websites. Through higher-converting technology, Button embeds commerce actions inside publisher apps so that brands can grow their mobile business, publishers can increase their mobile revenue, and consumers can enjoy a better buying experience on mobile. Intent is changing. By closing the gap between browsing and buying, Button has driven over $3 billion in spending to date. Founded in 2014, Button has raised over $64 million in venture capital and has consistently been recognized as one of the best places to work by Fortune, Inc., Entrepreneur, and Crain's. About Awin With twenty years of experience, our network offers a global community of people, technology and business intelligence insights. No matter what type of partner, level of service, or tools your business needs, Awin provides solutions to drive sustainable growth. Part of the Axel Springer and United Internet Groups, with ShareASale, Awin's global affiliate network is powered by 15 offices worldwide, over 1,000 employees, 205,000 contributing publishers and 14,600 advertisers. Connecting businesses with customers around the world across the retail, telecommunications, travel and finance verticals, Awin generated $12.2 billion in revenue for its advertisers and $901 million for its publishers in the last financial year. SOURCE Button Related Links http://usebutton.com Roger Stone, former adviser to President Donald Trump, leaves the Federal Court after a sentencing hearing in Washington, on Feb. 20, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/Epoch Times) Roger Stone: Wasnt Willing to Lie About Trump for Leniency Former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone said he did not trade his silence for the grant of clemency he received from the president. One of the prosecutors on Robert Muellers team told Stone that if he could re-remember certain phone conversations with Trump, then she would recommend leniency to the judge, Stone told Fox Newss Hannity on Monday night. I didnt have to think about it very long. I said absolutely not, Stone, 67, said. There was no circumstance under which I would bear false witness against the president. I was just not willing to lie. The prosecutor in question was Jeannie Rhee, according to Stone. Now, in the last two days when I said that, people said, oh, you see, Stone had the goods on Trump and he traded his silence for a commutation. That is patently false. I never said that. I never implied that, he continued. What I said has been consistent, that I would not lie against my friend of 40 years so they could use it for impeachment. Roger Stone, a longtime friend and adviser of President Donald Trump, reacts after Trump commuted his federal prison sentence, outside his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 10, 2020. (Joe Skipper/Reuters) Commutations reduce prison sentences or completely erase them. Stone was convicted last year of seven counts, including obstruction, witness tampering, and making false statements to Congress. He had been scheduled to report to prison on July 14 until Trump on Friday commuted the sentence. Stone told ABC News Trump was very kind, describing the phone call between them during which Stone learned of the commutation as a normal conversation. He asked how my wife was doing, he told me he signed an act of clemency which was a full commutation. He also said that it was a commutation rather than a pardon because Trump believes I did not get a fair trial, and he believes I have a good chance of being exonerated in an appealin other words, vacate my conviction, then its up to Justice Department if they want to retry the case, Stone said. I am grateful for the commutation of my sentence and that the president, in an act of both justice and mercy, has recognized that I did not receive a fair trial as well as recognizing the imminent danger of sending me, at age 67 and with a history of asthma, to a correctional facility that now has 60 confirmed cases of COVID-19 virus. The Florida resident was sentenced to 40 months in prison. The commutation order, published on Monday, said Trump commuted the entirety of the prison sentence, the term of supervised release, and the unpaid remainder of the imposed fine. The commutation came as an enormous relief but Stone said he knew beforehand because he prayed about it. Stones prosecution stemmed from special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into alleged collusion between Trumps campaign and Russian actors. Muellers team could not establish collusion. Roger Stone Commutation Order (PDF) Roger Stone Commutation Order (Text) Investigators said Stone lied to a congressional committee that was probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, and tried persuading a witness to give false testimony to lawmakers. Trump told reporters over the weekend that he commuted Stones sentence because his former adviser was treated horribly. Roger Stone was brought into this witch hunt, this whole political witch hunt and the Mueller scamits a scam, because its been proven false. And he was treated very unfairly, the Republican said. Trump pointed to the forewoman of Stones jury making anti-Trump posts on social media. The revelation prompted Stone to request a new trial. The request was denied by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama-appointee. Stone told ABC that he plans to pursue his appeal and write a book zeroing in on Andrew Weissmann, a former member of Muellers team who was close to Hillary Clinton. He also plans on helping Trump get reelected. Stone has an on-air interview with Fox Newss Sean Hannity on Tuesday. Five policemen arrested over the death of a father-son duo after being allegedly thrashed at a police station in Tuticorin district in Tamil Nadu were sent to the CBI custody for two days by a court here on Tuesday. Principal District and Sessions Judge Hemant Kumar passed the order remanding an inspector, two sub-inspectors and as many constables of Sathankulam police station to the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has taken over the case from the state CB-CID police. While the premier investigating agency in its application filed on Monday sought seven days custody, the counsel for the accused policemen, booked by the CB-CID on murder charges, opposed the plea. The five, including Inspector Sridhar and sub-inspectors Raghu Ganesh and Balakrishnan, lodged in the Central Prison here, were produced in the court on Tuesday, complying with the order of the judge. A CBI team led by an Additional Superintendent of Police is investigating the death of P Jeyaraj and his son Bennicks days after they were allegedly beaten up brutally in the Sathankulam police station last month, an incident that led to a nationwide outrage. Bennicks and Jeyaraj died on June 22 and 23 respectively at a government hospital after being rushed from prison in Kovilpatti town following complaints of health issues. The two were arrested on June 19 for "violating" lockdown norms over the business hours of their cell phone shop and lodged in the prison after a court remanded them to judicial custody a day later. A total of 10 policemen have been arrested by the CB-CID, which was directed by the Madras High Court to probe the case till the CBI took it over after the Tamil Nadu government transferred the investigation to the central agency. His leeriness to speak with me reflects a broader aspect of our country as we struggle to find a common ground of dialogue. Instead of seeing what we actually view in others, we tend to view what we want to see in them. Its easier for us to see a stereotype or caricature of other people rather than their subtle nuances and deeper complexities. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:35:34|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH/GAZA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Sheikh Abdul-Azim Salhab, head of the Muslim Waqf (Endowment) Council in Jerusalem, warned on Tuesday that Israel's order to close a gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque may ignite "a religious war" in the region. Salhab told the Voice of Palestine radio that the council received this week an Israeli court's verdict that orders the closure of the Bab al-Rahma gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem. "Such an Israeli action is an attempt to control Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and this action may ignite a religious war in the region," said Salhab, who stressed that his council rejects "the illegal Israeli court's verdict." The Bab al-Rahma gate is the eastern gate that directly leads to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is a holy site for Muslims around the world. For their part, the Jews refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," which was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times. Israel occupied East Jerusalem, in which the Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israel War. In 1980, Israel annexed the Arab eastern part of the city, but the international community has refused to recognize it. "We affirm that no power can close Bab a-Rahma, we warn against attacking the worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque because it will be a serious issue and will ignite a religious war in the region," Salhab said. He noted that Al-Aqsa Mosque and all its yards are Islamic and all Muslims have the right to pray in every part of it free from interference by Israeli decisions and Israeli courts' verdicts. In Gaza, the Islamic Hamas movement said in an emailed press statement that the closure of the Bab al-Rahma gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque "is a stupid decision that aims at stealing the Muslim gate and turn it into a synagogue." Hamas called on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to move as fast as possible to stop the Israeli threat to the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Enditem China said it would impose sanctions on Lockheed Martin Corp. in response to U.S. approval of a possible deal for Taiwan to buy parts to refurbish defensive missiles built by the company. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the announcement at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. should cut military ties with Taiwan in order to avoid further hurting relations. The State Department last week approved a possible $620 million foreign military deal for the island to buy parts to refurbish previously sold Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles so that they can last 30 years. This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Never miss a story! Stay connected and informed with Mint. Download our App Now!! Topics Those traveling for work. Canada loosened its restrictions slightly last month, saying close family members could visit relatives in Canada so long as they agreed to quarantine for 14 days. But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has given no indication that the restrictions will be further loosened anytime soon. Were going to continue to work hard to keep Canadians safe and to keep our economies flowing and we will have more to say later this week," he told reporters Monday. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:42:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MAPUTO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The first ship transporting cargo along the Mozambican coast left Maputo on Tuesday for a 12-day voyage to the northern Port of Pemba, marking the official resumption of the coastal shipping service after a 30-year hiatus in the country. The Minister of Transports and Communications Janfar Abdulai who witnessed the process in Maputo said that the service is expected to dynamize Mozambique's agriculture sector, considered as fundamental to help alleviate and reduce poverty. "We will continue promoting the coastal shipping also for the transport of passengers. We are expecting to acquire three new vessels that will reinforce regions where transport remains a concern, particularly in the north, center and some parts of the south region," said the minister. The ship, with the capacity to transport 260 containers, will stop halfway at the ports of Beira and Nacala, before it arrives in Pemba with some 900 tons of goods. Managers will also use the first trip to evaluate the ports' capacity to handle this type of service, before it is advanced to the second phase with specific dates for operations. Enditem Unhinged Trump tweets in three, two, one A judge on Monday released Mary L. Trump, PhD from a gag order. This means the president's niece may speak freely about Donald and the rest of the family, and promote her book about the Trump she calls 'The Most Dangerous Man In The World." Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster won the lawsuit that sought to stop publication of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," which hits bookshelves tomorrow. Said Mary Trump's attorney Ted Boutrous: "The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family's effort to squelch Mary Trump's core political speech on important issues of public concern. The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary's important words for themselves." Justice Greenwald has denied the Trump family's effort to block Mary Trump's book. Link to decision here. https://t.co/OpJE4ihEqM. 1/3 Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) July 13, 2020 My statement: "The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family's effort to squelch Mary Trump's core political speech on important issues of public concern. The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to . . . 2/3 Ted Boutrous (@BoutrousTed) July 13, 2020 BREAKING: Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster WIN the lawsuit seeking to block publication of "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," which hits bookshelves tomorrow. ICYMI: My early write-up, @CourthouseNewshttps://t.co/h8gw4GkIuN pic.twitter.com/LBDJxUbPrV Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) July 13, 2020 A NY judge has lifted the restraining order that barred Mary Trump from speaking publicly about her new book, per her attorney @BoutrousTed. He says the First Amendment "forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy." Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 13, 2020 Man, dog pronounced dead after early morning explosion, structure fire near Harbor Springs A man and a dog have both died as the result of an explosion and structure fire early Tuesday morning in West Traverse Township near Harbor Springs. BATON ROUGE, La. - The trial for a man accused of killing his wife in Louisiana nearly a decade ago has been delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic. Oscar Lozada, 45, was set to stand trial Monday in Baton Rouge on a second-degree murder charge in the slaying of Sylviane Finck Lozada, The Advocate reported. But his attorney and Assistant District Attorney Dana Cummings requested a delay, citing the ongoing pandemic. Investigators alleged Oscar Lozada killed his wife and disposed of her body after the 51-year-old high school teacher went missing in 2011. Her remains have not been found. Oscar Lozada and the couples then 4-year-old daughter fled to his home country of Venezuela around the time of his wifes disappearance, authorities said. He was arrested in 2018 after authorities located him in Mexico. Oscar Lozada turned down an offer in March to plead guilty to manslaughter and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 50-year sentence, The Advocate reported at the time. The deal would have prevented the case from going to trial. A judge set a status hearing for Aug. 13, but a new date for the trial was not immediately scheduled. To the Editor: So students, parents, teachers and staff are worried about going back to school before its safe (Week of Fear and Anger as Teachers Feel Pressure to Return to Class, news article, July 12)? Lets tell the president well go back when we can do the same testing, tracing and quarantining at our schoolhouses as they do at the White House. Our kids lives are worth as much as our leaders lives, arent they? William Hoelzel Weatogue, Conn. To the Editor: It is with difficulty but with firmness that I support the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that we should move toward physical reopening of schools this fall. While no decision during this pandemic is an easy one, over the last few months our experience and data have taught us that school closures are harming more than benefiting our children. Furthermore, this is disproportionately affecting our children of color and of low socioeconomic status, further widening the lifelong disadvantage gap. Outspoken Chinese professor Xu Zhangrun has been fired from his post at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University after being released from police detention, RFA has learned. Authorities in the Chinese capital detained Xu on the morning of July 6 after he called online for political reforms, on allegations of "seeking out prostitutes." He was released on Sunday, but later told the media that he had been fired from his teaching post and subjected to public sanctions for "moral corruption" by Tsinghua University's law school. Outspoken political journalist Gao Yu confirmed the media reports in an interview with RFA on Tuesday. "Tsinghua dismissed Xu Zhangrun from his official job and his teaching position," Gao said. But she said there had been scant transparency surrounding Xu's firing. "What exactly are their firing procedures? If there is a legal basis, then make it public and let everyone take a look," she said. Charges of "seeking out prostitutes" have been used before by the Chinese authorities to target peaceful critics and activists, or anyone who runs afoul of local officials and powerful vested interests. An employee who answered the phone at Tsinghua University on Tuesday said they had no details about Xu's firing and referred inquiries to the university's propaganda office. Calls to the propaganda office rang unanswered on Tuesday. Gao said the charges against Xu were likely trumped up in response to his public criticism of Xi. "I don't believe for one minute that Xu Zhangrun visited prostitutes," Gao told RFA. "This is him getting the consequences for his criticism [of the government]." "It's so easy for them to detain someone and release them when there's no paperwork," she said. "It was all done by phone ... there was no legal basis for it; it's just casual disregard for the law." Stepped-up purge Political commentator Wu Qiang, who was also dismissed by Tsinghua for showing public support for the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, said that since Xi began an indefinite term in office in March 2018, the ruling party has stepped up a purge of liberal intellectuals from higher education institutions. "It's not in the authorities' interest to allow a public trial around Xu Zhangrun's remarks and his critical writings, so they are using this humiliating tactic to retaliate against him," Wu said. "This retaliation comes along with a strong message of warning, not just to Xu, but to all Chinese intellectuals," he said. "We are being warned that the authorities could impose various punishments on us in future if we voice similar criticisms." Friends said at the time of Xu's detention that it could be linked to the publication of one of his books in New York last month, a collection of some of his most controversial essays and articles. Xu's detention was the latest in a string of actions targeting dissenting voices in China's higher education sector, according to a fellow academic. Xu recently also criticized the Beijing municipal authorities for demolishing an artists' village, and said that the administration of ruling Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping is taking China into "a dead end." Xu was notified by Tsinghua in April 2019 that he should cease performing any duties, and that he was banned from teaching and counseling students. Article criticized ruling party The move came after he published an article last July hitting out at the return of totalitarianism under the ruling Chinese Communist Party, including the abolition of presidential term limits and a cult of personality around Xi. Xu called for amendments nodded through by China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), in 2018 to be revoked and for an end to massive international expenditure to boost China's influence overseas, as well as for legislation requiring officials to publish details of their assets and financial interests. He had also published articles hitting out at "red" imperialism and calling for an upgrade to China's political system. Reported by Gao Feng for RFA's Mandarin Cantonese Service, and by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. The director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention says COVID-19 cases could be brought under control in the United States within weeks if everyone immediately begins to wear a face mask. Dr. Robert Redfield made the surprising statement during an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, despite the skyrocketing number of coronavirus cases across the country. 'I think if we can get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four to six, eight weeks, we can bring this epidemic under control,' he stated. Redfield claimed mask-wearing was one of three essential practices - alongside social distancing and frequent hand-washing - that could drastically help reduce the number of COVID-19 infections. 'If we all rigorously did this, we could really bring this outbreak back to where it needs to be,' he stated. The doctor's declaration is surprising given that, as of Tuesday afternoon, almost 3.4 million Americans have tested positive to the virus, and more than 136,000 have died. The U.S. has seen a record level of COVID-19 infections in recent days, with infection rates increasing in most states. CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield says COVID-19 pandemic could be brought under control in the United States within two months if everyone immediately begins to wear a face mask Many Americans have been reluctant to don face masks, saying there is little scientific evidence that they help to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. President Trump famously refused to wear a face covering until this past Saturday. Redfield says he is thankful that the Commander-in-chief has now altered his behavior. 'I'm glad to see the president wear a mask this week, and the vice president. Clearly, in their situation they could easily justify they don't need to... but we need for them to set the example,' Redfield stated. 'Masking is not a political issue, it is a public health issue'. President Trump famously refused to wear a face covering until this past Saturday. He is pictured visiting the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland New cases also continue to rise with the US reporting over 400,000 infections for the week ending July 12, which was up 21 percent from the previous seven days New cases continue to rise rapidly, with the US reporting over 400,000 infections for the week ending July 12. That number is up 21 percent from the previous seven days, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. Nationally, new COVID-19 cases have risen every week for six straight weeks. Forty-six states reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, the analysis found. Cases are only falling on a weekly basis in New York, Tennessee, New Jersey and Delaware. While Southern and Western states are seeing the biggest increase in cases, infections are also rising in the Midwest with Minnesota cases up 60 percent, Missouri up 40 percent and Iowa up 30 percent. Daily infections across the US have broken records several times in recent days. Forty-six states reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, the analysis found Meanwhile, health officials have been warning for weeks that deaths would surge again because the fatality rate lags several weeks behind infections. A coronavirus death, when it occurs, typically comes several weeks after a person is first infected. Data shows their dire predictions to be correct, with more than 5,000 people dying from the disease between July 6 and July 12, which is an increase of 46 percent compared to the previous week, About a dozen states have reported increases in deaths for at least two straight weeks, including California, Florida and Texas. In Texas, news deaths surged by 127 percent last week when it added 555 new deaths, bringing the total to just over 3,100. Arizona's deaths increased by 94 percent after adding 428 deaths. The hardhit state's death toll was at 2,237 the week ending July 12. Mississippi's deaths spike by 92 percent last week compared to the previous week. The state added 138 deaths, bringing the total to just over 1,200. In California and Florida - two of the other hot spot states - deaths surged by more than 60 percent last week. Florida recorded 514 deaths in the week ending July 12, bringing total to over 4,300; and California reported 686 deaths, bringing the total to 7,000. Florida on Monday added a record 132 fatalities to its death toll. Nichelle Jones of Jones Health and Benefits, LLC Jones Health and Benefits is celebrating a unique milestone for a small business. Nichelle Jones, owner, president and managing broker, announced that the Atlanta-based agency is celebrating its 10th anniversary. As a small business owner, I am excited to be celebrating my agencys 10th anniversary, said Jones. I have enjoyed helping and advising my clients with affordable and creative health-related benefits and services over the years. Providing healthcare options to employer groups, retirees, and the self-employed has been rewarding to me professionally and personally. I look forward to many more years to come. Jones specializes in consulting services, providing companies and individuals with the critical information needed to adequately plan for their current and future insurance needs. In-person or phone consultations are available to understand each clients situation and goals for a completely personalized approach. Jones Health and Benefits is cognizant of the many insurance carriers and the plans they offer. Services are available for a myriad of circumstances encompassing emerging businesses, alternative healthcare programs, and ineligibility due to citizen status. The agency can help with coverage for disability, life, long-term care, and final expenses. Employer groups and the self-employed encounter special challenges for locating affordable health insurance benefits and group plans. The agency can assist with services ranging from human resources consulting and employee benefit packages to maintaining compliance regulations and managing retiree benefits for enterprises of any size. Medical insurance for international travel is particularly confusing for individuals. Many policies will only reimburse medical expenses after theyve already been paid by the policy holder, while others wont cover injuries or illness outside the U.S. at all. Jones provides guidance for student exchange participants, expatriates and business executives, church and missionary groups, and travelers on extended stays. Medicare can be one of the most confusing medical coverage plans in existence. The agency helps employers fulfill their obligation to employees in ways that are cost effective. Individuals can also receive guidance about health insurance policies that integrate with Medicare for more comprehensive coverage. The 10th anniversary of Jones Health and Benefits marks a major milestone for the agency. Its a tribute to the agencys commitment to clients as a comprehensive resource for healthcare benefits and insurance in all sectors for employer groups, the self-employed, small businesses, and individuals planning for the future. ### About Nichelle Jones Nichelle Jones is a healthcare benefits expert and licensed agent with over 20 years of benefits administration and design experience with insurance carriers, benefits brokerages, and human resource departments. She holds an industry designation as a Registered Health Underwriter, a Masters of Arts in Organizational Management, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. Shes a member of the Georgia Association of Healthcare Executives, SHRM Atlanta, Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce, and is a former board member of ProWIN. Her expertise as an industry expert has been featured in print and broadcast media. Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Media Contact Nichelle Jones Phone: 770-668-0797 Email: info@joneshealthandbenefits.com Website: http://www.joneshealthandbenefits.com Karnataka PUC-II (Pre-University Course) board exams results or class 12 board exams will be declared on Tuesday (July 14) at 11.30 am on council official website. Students will first get and alert on their mobile phones and receive their Karnataka PUC II results via SMS at 11:30 am and on the Suvidya portal at result.bspucpa.com. According to Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar, the students who appeared for all the papers in the First PU Examination but had failed in some subjects will be given general promotion. Kumar added that the students will get information about the results on their mobile phones at 11:30 amresults will be first released on mobile phones and after 12 noon, the results will be uploaded on the website karresults.nic.in. Here's how to check Karnataka PUC-II (Pre-University Course) board exams result online: Step 1: Visit the official site link at karresults.nic.in. Step 2: On the home page click on Karnataka 2nd PUC result link. Step 3: A new page will open where candidates will have to enter the details. Step 4: Click on submit. Step 5: Your result will be available on the screen. Step 6: Download the result and keep a hard copy for further need. The PUC exam was conducted from March 4-21 but the last paper, which was to be conducted on March 23, was postponed due to coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown imposed to curb the spread of deadly virus in the country. The pending paper was later held on June 18. "Our state is the first in south India to announce the PUC result. The results of 6.75 lakh students will be announced on Tuesday," the minister said, adding that the supplementary examination has been cancelled. It was supposed to take place from July 16 to July 27 in the colleges itself and the results were to be announced on July 30 Tunisian Navy stops migrant boat heading for Italy 10 locals on board, intercepted near Sfax (ANSAmed) - TUNISI, 14 LUG - A Tunisian Navy unit on Tuesday stopped a recreational boat Tuesday some 32 kilometres east of Sfax. The boat was carrying 10 Tunisians trying to reach the Italian coast illegally, the Tunisian defense ministry said in a statement. The ministry noted that, during the questioning, those arrested - all between the ages of 17 and 46 - said that they had left from Gabes to get to Italy. The ten were handed over to the National Guard. (ANSAmed). Just 1.4 percent of employer plans discontinued matches altogether, but plans with 25 or fewer participants stopped contributions at five times the rate of those with 100-plus participants. Workers are still trying to put aside money for retirement, and companies are trying to help them. Almost all 93.1 percent of employees who hang on to their jobs continue to contribute to their retirement plans at the same rate, and only 11.8 percent of employers were in such financial difficulty that they had to decrease or stop their matches. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act gives employer-sponsored savings plans the option of making penalty-free early distributions to workers who've become ill or suffered adverse financial effects from the pandemic; it also allows plans to offer more time for workers to repay loans from their retirement savings. The study found that 35.1 percent of plans sponsored by companies with 100 or more employees are offering those CARES Act breaks, but just 3.8 percent of plans with 25 or fewer participants are doing it. The Right needs an apparently potent and dangerous foe to keep its followers in line. If they lower their guard, the insidious enemy may creep in, argues Amulya Ganguli. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com The unity of right-wing elements is admirable. While Nigel Farage in Old Blighty damned 'cultural Marxism' for all the ills of the world, Donald J Trump in the New World warned against the rise of the 'new far left fascism' against America's Confederate heroes and other slave-owning stalwarts of the past. Trump availed of the opportunity of addressing the nation on July 4, America's independence day, to rail against 'a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children'. Across the 'pond', as Britishers and Americans lovingly call the Atlantic, Farage, the nativist Brexiter, had also held forth agaist 'cultural Marxism' which, according to him, was a conspiracy hatched by 'unelected globalists shaping the public's lives based on secret recommentations from the big banks'. As he said, the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of an African-American by a white policeman in the US was an attempt by radical socialists to destroy nationalism, 'oftentimes funded by globalists'. The ostensible link between 'globalists' on one hand and 'far left fascism/cultural Marxism' on the other could have been proletarian internationalism, a core Leftist concept. But this connection is ruled out by the reference to the 'big banks', the treasuries of the rich and famous. An allusion of this nature recalls the diatribes of the Nazis against Jewish financial clout. Little wonder that Farage has been accused of anti-semiticism. While the Jewish angle has a Western background, what is relevant in India is how the Left is still seen as the ogre threatening 'nationalism'. Instead of 'far left fascism'; and 'cultural Marxism', the term that is used by the Indian Right is urban Naxalites. But the idea is the same -- it is the seemingly considerable power of the Left to undermine nationalism. Yet, in real life, the Left is a minuscule force, whether in America or in Europe or in India. Instead, it is the Right which is on the ascendant. Why then is the Left so vehemently targeted? The reason is, first, that the Right needs an apparently potent and dangerous foe to keep its own followers in line. If they lower their guard, the insidious enemy may creep in. Secondly, the Right requires an ideological opponent which is its exact opposite to boost its hate quotient. Moreover, the doctrinal approach obviates the need for constantly targeting a physical adversary in the shape of Muslims or black/brown immigrants. Since a focus on the latter tends to encourage violent attacks on them, thereby giving the Right a bad name, as in the case of the lynching of Muslims in India, giving a ideological veneer to the Right's offensive can be a convenient and even an intellectually respectable way out while serving the same purpose of promoting ill-will against a targeted group. Strangely, the Right's lambasting of the Left does not seem to help the latter to recover lost ground. It's like beating a dead horse. The Left has such a dismal history of evil deeds -- Stalin's gulags, Mao's killing of 50 million people in famines after his great leaps forward, the atrocities of Brothers No 1 and No 2 in Cambodia -- that the Communists can hardly present themselves as the great white hopes of the future. They can only function creditably in a democratic system, as In Kerala, in order to retain a foothold in the political field. But, in such cases, they are pale copies of their real Stalinist/Maoist selves. It has to be the non-communists, therefore, who have to lead the charge against the Right. But they, too, prefer to have a Leftist orientation in keeping with the general belief that the Left stands for the poor and the Right for the rich. In India, it is the 135-year-old Congress which is playing this role. But its age is showing. The Right, therefore, faces no worthwhile challengers in India. Even then, the Right's fear of 'globalists' is not unreal. For instance, Trump's electoral discomfort in the US will dishearten the Right not only in the US, but all over the world. In India, the non-Communists will hail Joe Biden's success. The shrillness of Trump and Farage appears to suggest, therefore, a realisation that they are on the wrong side of history. Amulya Ganguli is a writer on current affairs. Feature Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com Hundreds of Harvard students will have to log on to classes from their childhood homes across the U.S. this fall. Others fear they'll soon be sent back to countries where the internet is policed or war is being waged. That strange split screen is the result of a visa rule announced by the Trump administration last week requiring international students in the U.S. to take at least one class in person -- or return to their homelands -- even as colleges scramble to set up virtual instruction amid a resurgence of the pandemic. Harvard University, which is conducting almost all its classes online in the fall semester, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which has a hybrid model, sued the government over the restrictions last Wednesday and will face off against it in a virtual hearing in federal court on Tuesday afternoon. Missing from the formal legal wrangling, but at the center of the dispute, are the students themselves. Now their voices have emerged in anonymous declarations that Harvard and MIT filed with the court. In one, a second-year Harvard medical student from Ethiopia, working at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, said going home would mean having to defer their education. "Ethiopia is currently experiencing significant civil unrest, and I am concerned for my safety if I were to return at this time," the student wrote, adding that the government recently shut down the internet in response to the conflict. Even those who can connect to Wi-Fi will have to hop on Zoom at all hours of the morning -- 12:30 a.m. for a student from Kashmir taking a course that classmates would take at 3 p.m. in Massachusetts. A Harvard student from Australia said she would be separated from her child if she were forced to go home. The baby was born in March and doesn't have a passport yet. "Given the ongoing uncertainty around passport processing times, I do not know how long we would be separated," the student wrote. She said it's "something I cannot imagine." A graduate student due to return to MIT from South Africa told the court the outcome of the lawsuit could mean life or death. "Just this past week, seven armed men invaded my home and robbed my family and I at gunpoint," the student said, explaining that home invasions "are unfortunately not uncommon" there. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston, who ruled for Harvard last year in a case alleging it discriminates against Asian-Americans in admissions, is considering a request by the two schools to put a freeze on the new policy. Before the pandemic, international students on F-1 visas were required to take most of their classes in person, allowed only a single online course per semester. After the virus appeared and some universities stopped offering in-person classes, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement adjusted its rules "for the remainder of the emergency," allowing fully online coursework. Last week's new order ratcheted that back. Students at colleges that have announced online models, including Harvard and the California State University system, must transfer or go back to their home countries. ICE says it weighed the impact on students in revising its policy, choosing not to simply go back to its pre-pandemic strictures, for example. It contends that a full slate of virtual coursework compromises national security by giving foreign students free rein within the U.S., and says a freeze would undermine "the deference afforded administrative agencies in complex and interrelated fields like immigration enforcement." Time is tight. Schools that want to accommodate international students must submit contingency plans to the government by Wednesday. That gave Harvard, which just announced its online model, a little more than a week to come up with a system to handle some 5,000 international students. ICE says Harvard and MIT don't have "third-party standing" to file complaints on behalf of the students, but "merely allege a variety of potential burdens" some "may or may not experience" if required to leave the U.S. Burroughs has given the schools until noon on Tuesday to file a response to that claim and others by the U.S. In addition to the student declarations, 13 consolidated "friend of the court" briefs have been filed in support of the lawsuit, representing over 100 universities and some of the biggest tech companies in the U.S. A handful of separate suits have been filed against the policy, including one by Massachusetts representing 17 states and the District of Columbia. The case is President and Fellows of Harvard College v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 20-cv-11283, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston). Your browser does not support the video tag. COVID infected Egyptian soldier triggers Rayong inquiry THAILAND: The Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) has been taking urgent measures after an Egyptian soldier confirmed to be infected with COVID-19 was found to have visited shopping malls in Rayong province. CoronavirusCOVID-19healthimmigrationSafetytourism By Bangkok Post Tuesday 14 July 2020, 08:57AM Workers clean roads and places in the Rayong Municipality yesterday (July 13) after an Egyptian soldier infected with the coronavirus stayed at a hotel and went to shopping malls in Muang district. Photo: Rayong Municipality Facebook account. Meanwhile, the family of a nine-year-old Thai girl infected with COVID-19 is being investigated after its members were found to not be in embassy accommodation, having stayed in a condominium. Deputy Public Health Minister Sathit Pitutecha will visit Rayong today (July 14) while a deputy director-general of the Department of Disease Control will visit a condominium in Bangkok. The visitors from Egypt stayed in Rayong en route to a one-day trip to China, where they had military business, then returned to the province on their way home. All were allowed to enter the country, says the CCSA, as they were defined as air crew under the conditions set by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand. They were not asked to quarantine because they were coming for less than 14 days but they were required to undergo virus tests. The general manager of U-Tapao airport, Vice Adm Kitchpol Rienglekjamnong, said only one member of the group, a soldier, sneaked out to visit shopping centres. Echoing many social media users who spread the hashtag #Covid19 (in Thai), the Drama-addict Facebook page, which has more than 2 million followers, urged authorities to reveal exactly which locations had been visited by the infected man. The page said people had the right to know in order to protect themselves. The centre had at that stage only published the vaguest information, by identifying Rayong as the province visited. Mr Sathit said later on Monday he would visit Rayong and check locations including Central department store, Laem Thong shopping mall and D Varee Diva Central Rayong Hotel. Central yesterday announced it had checked and no COVID-19-infected patients visited the mall while the hotel said it had been informed by the Egyptian embassy that the group had passed COVID screening. CCSA spokesman Taweesilp Visanuyothin said officials from Bangkok would join local staff in the province to check for coronavirus contagion at every place visited by members of the delegation, as well as everyone they came into contact with. The health scare follows a positive result returned from the lab on Sunday after tests on a swab taken from the 43-year-old soldier. He was one of three new confirmed cases announced by the CCSA yesterday. The other two were Thais returning from working in Kuwait and Bahrain. The soldier and 30 others, including crew of their aircraft, departed Egypt on July 6 and went to the United Arab Emirates. They then travelled to Pakistan the next day, Tuesday, and arrived at U-tapao airport in Rayong on Wednesday. The UAE, Pakistan and Egypt are all hot spots for COVID-19 infections found in Thais returning home from overseas. The information posted on the CCSA Facebook page said the group stayed at a hotel in the province. The team left U-tapao for Chengdu, China, last Thursday and returned shortly before midnight the same day, staying at the same hotel. Dr Taweesilp said health officials tested them on Friday and there were unconfirmed signs that the soldier might have caught the virus. The group returned to Egypt on Saturday, the day before the lab confirmed the positive result. The spokesman said the hotel where the soldier and other members of the delegation stayed was being cleaned. The group visited other places during their stay in the province, including a shopping centre, he said, but he would not name the locations. We will examine all the places they visited, said the CCSA spokesman. Authorities would also improve the scanning at the airport in Rayong, which was not as strictly enforced as it was at Suvarnabhumi airport. We will reconsider all practices, he said. Officials from the Disease Control Department would be sent to conduct tests on everyone who visited the two premises, Mr Sathit said. On Saturday, the CCSA also reported that a nine-year-old Thai girl who returned home from Sudan with her family had tested positive. Dr Taweesilp said yesterday she had been hospitalised but the other four family members had not been quarantined because they were the family of a diplomat. They has reportedly self-isolated at a condominium in Bangkok, which the CCSA did not name. The mother took everyone to get tested in Sudan last Tuesday before they left home, said Dr Taweesilp, and all tested negative. Three days later, they were tested on arrival and the results were negative but more comprehensive tests showed the girl was infected. Officials were continuing to investigate the case. By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Pakistan's air safety rating after the agency raised concerns about pilot certifications. The decision, disclosed on an FAA spreadsheet dated July 15 that was posted on an agency website and confirmed by an agency official, means the U.S. air safety agency determined Pakistan does not achieve international standards and now has a Category 2 rating. Pakistan last month grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have falsified their qualifications. The Pakistani embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new rating means Pakistan airlines could be subject to additional inspections at U.S. airports and could not add additional flights. A company spokesman told Reuters last week 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. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it has revoked permission for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to conduct charter flights to the United States. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has suspended PIA's authorization to fly to the bloc for six months in a blow to the carrier's operations. Pakistan's grounding of pilots with dubious credentials followed the crash of a PIA jet in May that killed 97 people. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Tom Brown) NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Tyson Foods, Inc. ("Tyson" or the "Company") (NYSE: TSN). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Tyson and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On June 23, 2020, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker announced the opening of an investigation into meat packing companies, including Tyson, related to their handling of pork exports and worker safety issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement followed reports that meatpacking companies were exporting a record amount of pork to China while warning of impending meat shortages and rising prices in the United States. On this news, Tyson's stock price fell $1.72 per share, or 2.81%, to close at $59.44 on June 24, 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 [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com KOLKATA: Hundreds of BJP workers and supporters observed a bandh on Tuesday in protest against partys Hemtabad BJP MLA Debendra Naths suspicious death on Monday. According to reports, the bandh supporters forcibly stopped and vandalised a government bus belonging to North Bengal Surface Transport Corporation in the Coochbehar district of West Bengal. The party workers are observing a 12-hour-bandh in the wake of Hemtabad BJP MLAssuspicious death. The MLA was found hanging in Bindal village near his home on Monday morning. The bandh supporters pelted stones at the bus, vandalised, flattened the tyre of the bus to prevent it from plying. The police, however, reached the spot soon and resorted to a lathicharge to disperse the agitators. Yesterday, BJP MLA from Hemtabad in North Dinajpur district, Debendra Nath Roy was found hanging from a shop near his house. His family alleged that he was killed and then hanged. The Bharatiya Janata Party had on Monday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death of Debendra Nath Roy. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh called it a 'cold-blooded murder' which 'is shocking and unfortunate'. He asked for a CBI investigation as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) 'will not do fair enquiry.' "The cold blooded murder of Hemtabad BJP MLA is shocking and unfortunate. We demand a CBI investigation as State Government will not do fair enquiry. We will do protests all across the state...," he tweeted along with a video. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has taken over the investigation of the death of Roy. The family members of the MLA have claimed that he has been killed and hanged later. People of the area also claimed that the BJP MLA was murdered and then hanged. However, police said the cause of death will be ascertained after post mortem. His body was sent to Raigunj hospital for post mortem. Police have also found a suicide note from the pocket of BJP MLA. The note mentions the names of two persons and reads, these two people are responsible for my death. The names are not being shared by the police as their role need to be investigated. Conrad Burke had a temporary filling placed in a back tooth in January 2018 while being held at the Sussex I State Prison. Before it could be replaced with a permanent one, he was transferred to the Lawrenceville Correctional Center. In April 2018, after arriving at Lawrenceville, the states only privately run prison, the temporary filling fell out. He sought help but was told in writing that the prison did not have a dentist as was required under its contract with the state of Virginia. For six months, he sought help as the pain grew. It was unbearable, excruciating pain to the point where it felt like my head was about to fall off, Burke said Tuesday. I couldnt even sleep. ... Eventually I would doze off but when I woke up, it would still hurt. It was hurting around the clock. Burkes lawyer, Victor Glasberg of Alexandria, and Burkes family contacted state officials attempting to win dental treatment, but nothing was done until Burke was transferred back to a state-run prison where the tooth had to be pulled that October. NEW DELHI - Indias number of coronavirus cases jumped by another 28,000 on Tuesday and are fast approaching 1 million. The 28,498 cases reported in the past 24 hours took the national total to 906,752. Cases have jumped by 100,000 in four days. The Health Ministry also reported another 553 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 23,727. India has largely lifted its nationwide lockdown, and the virus has been spreading at a significant rate, prompting several big cities to impose partial lockdowns. The southern city of Pune started a 10-day lockdown Tuesday in an attempt to break the chain of infections. Only essentials including milk shops, pharmacies, doctors clinics and emergency services will be allowed open. Eight of Indias 28 states, including the worst-hit Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and New Delhi, account for nearly 90% of cases. India is the third worst-affected country in terms of infections, only behind the United States and Brazil. In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region: Authorities in Thailand are urging nearly 1,900 people to quarantine themselves and get tested for the coronavirus after a breakdown in screening allowed two foreigners with the disease to pose a risk to public health. The agency co-ordinating Thailands coronavirus response also announced it is tightening regulations that had allowed the entry of some foreign visitors. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said a contract tracing app showed that 1,882 people may have crossed paths with an infected member of a visiting Egyptian military team. He asked them to self-isolate for 14 days and get tested as soon as possible. Seven people already known to have had direct contact with the Egyptian have already been quarantined. Officials in the eastern province of Rayong closed several schools and a mall, sealed off part of the hotel where the Egyptians stayed and gave free coronavirus tests to people who feared they had contact with the infected man. The second case involves the infected 9-year-old daughter of a foreign diplomat whose family returned from Sudan and stayed in their condominium in Bangkok. Australias Queensland state is toughening the punishment for those who break coronavirus quarantine rules. Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the current fines for breaking a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine for some visitors or lying about their whereabouts may not be a sufficient penalty. The maximum penalty will now be a higher fine or up to six months imprisonment. Queensland reopened its borders to all but Victoria state residents two weeks ago. Victoria is the centre of Australias recent outbreak, adding 270 new infections overnight to its more than 4,000 active cases. The Victorian city of Melbourne is under a six-week lockdown to try to contain the outbreak. South Korea reported 33 new cases of COVID-19 as its prime minister called for vigilance ahead of the summer holiday season. The figures announced by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought the caseload to 13,512 cases, including 289 deaths. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun urged people to avoid crowded areas, maintain distance with others and wear masks as they travel to beaches and other areas during the holiday season. China said the number of people in treatment for COVID-19 in the country has fallen to just 297, with only three new cases of coronarvirus reported, all brought from outside the country. No new deaths were announced, leaving the total at 4,634 out of 83,605 cases of the disease. A pair of experts from the World Health Organization were in China on Monday to make arrangements for an investigation into how the pandemic may have spread after the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. ECR, one of the leading events in the field of radiology, will be joined by industry experts, medical & healthcare professionals, modality manufacturers and solutions developers, etc. In the light of the COVID 19 epidemic, the congress organizers have decided to opt for an online-only event. With about 2,100 leading industry representatives onboard, the exhibition of ECR 2020 can be accessed from 08:00 a.m. July 15 to 21, until 11:55 p.m. CEST. Free registration & participation is available on the ECR 2020 Virtual Exhibition website. ( https://ecr2020.expo-ip.com/ ). VUNO's exhibition at the event will include VUNO MedLungCT AI that detects, locates, and quantifies pulmonary lung nodules on CT images, VUNO Med-Chest X-Ray that assists in the chest X-ray readings of common thoracic abnormalities on chest radiographs. VUNO Med-DeepBrain is a diagnostic supporting tool for degenerative brain diseases through brain parcellation & quantification on brain MR images. On top of the three solutions to be showcased at this event, VUNO has two other solutions that have gained CE certifications recently - VUNO Med-BoneAge and VUNO Med Fundus AI. All these five products are now available to be marketed in countries where CE marking is acceptable. VUNO Med solutions are designed to be agnostic to any devices and any environments offering seamless integration with any PACS and/or EMR systems. They are offered via cloud servers allowing users to analyze images anytime, anywhere with access to the Internet. They are also available through on-premise installations as well. VUNO has the highest number of clients with more than 120 medical institutions in Korea alone. With its huge successes under its belt rooted in the proven effectiveness and safety through clinical trials and practices, the company is embarking on a new endeavor to proclaim its technical prowess in overseas markets now by signing partnerships with global healthcare giants like M3, a SONY subsidiary and Japan's largest data platform company. For more detailed information on VUNO, visit https://www.vuno.co/. SOURCE VUNO lnc. Related Links https://www.vuno.co Srinagar: Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar is scheduled to visit Kashmir on Thursday to pay homage to the countrys first Param Vir Chakra recipient Major Somnath on his 69th death anniversary. The Defence Minister will join senior army officers and other ranks in paying tribute to Major Somnath near the Srinagar Airport in Budgam district, an army official said. He said Parikkar is likely to be briefed by army officials on the situation along the Line of Control arising due to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan in the wake of last months surgical strikes and the anti-militancy operations in the hinterland. Major Somnath was the first recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, the highest military honour. He was awarded the medal posthumously for his bravery in the Kashmir operations in November 1947. He laid down his life while evicting Pakistani raiders from Srinagar Airport during the war with Pakistan in 1947-48 in Kashmir. He belonged to the 4th Kumaon Regiment. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: On the night of July 13-14 and in the morning, fierce fighting continued on the site of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, Trend reports citing the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan. Armenia's military and combat equipment for various purposes, command post, reserves in the depths of defense, and its forces were destroyed as a result of punitive measures undertaken to suppress Armenia's activity, reads the message. Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung By Kim Se-jeong The Supreme Court's ruling on incumbent Gyeonggi Governor Lee Jae-myung's appeal against the verdicts finding him guilty of abuse of power and violating the Election Law will be livestreamed on YouTube and aired on television Thursday, court officials said Tuesday. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. The officials cited the public interest surrounding Lee and his trial for its decision to make the final court session public. Lee is one of the most popular politicians in Korea and was considered a leading liberal candidate for the 2022 presidential election. Before being elected governor, he served for two terms as mayor of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. During Wednesday's session, all 14 Supreme Court justices, instead of the usual four, will decide whether they agree with the high court's decision that fined him 3 million won for violating the Election Law. Lee needs the high court verdict overturned to retain his position as governor and to run for the presidency. To overturn the verdict, he needs votes from at least eight of the Supreme Court judges. It's unusual for all of them to hear a case, but it does happen when four judges fail to reach an agreement. The governor was indicted last December for having his older brother forcibly committed to a psychiatric care facility in 2012. He was found guilty of abuse of power and lying about it in a nationally televised debate with other election candidates in 2018, which violated the Election Law. A lower court found him not guilty on both charges, but the high court overturned these verdicts and fined him 3 million won for violating the Election Law. The law strips an elected public official of their position and bans them from political office for five years if a court fines them over 1 million won or sentences them to more than a year in prison. By Amit Kumar, TwoCircles.net Jalgaon: Mohammed Anees, a resident of Jalgaon, picked up his phone, only to apologize. Can I call you after Namaz? he asked. Support TwoCircles It has been an interesting day, said Anees when he called back. We are thankful to Allah for today, he added. Mohammed Anees is a cousin of Asif Bashir Khan, one of the five people who received death sentence in the July 7 terror blasts case in Mumbai, which killed over 180 people and injured over 800. Asif, then a 32-year-old civil engineer, was picked from his Mira Road residence. In 2015, Asif was convicted of housing and harbouring Pakistani terrorists at his Mira Road residence; procuring rexine bags, utensils, ammonium nitrate, detonators and helping assemble bombs in Mohammed Alis (another accused) house, along with planting the bomb which exploded in Borivali station. But why are we talking about a judgment from 2015? Anees explains, Before 2006, there were two cases against Asif. One was under Section 153-A of the Indian Penal Code from 1999 for a Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI, then not banned) poster on Babri Masjid, while the other case was under Section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code from 2001 over his alleged involvement with some Jalgaon youth joining militancy in Kashmir in the late 90s. He was acquitted from the SIMI case in 2014 by a sessions court and today on July 13, 2020, the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court, he was acquitted from the other case under Section 120-B, he adds. It is important to add here that in the case related to Section 120-B, Asif was sentenced to 10 years prison by the sessions court in 2017, which he had served anyway due to the 7/11 case so technically, he had paid for his crime. But according to Anees, that was not the point. We wanted to show that he was not guilty, to begin with, and today the court agreed, he added. Today, the HC vindicated our stand, he said. The larger ramifications of this case are huge, said Wahid Shaikh, a former accused in the 7/11 case who has since gone on to become a legal expert after he was acquitted of all charges from the 7/11 case. Speaking with TwoCircles.net, Shaikh, who has also authored a book called Begunah Qaidi (The Innocent Prisoner), said, To apply MCOCA in any case, there should be at least two charge sheets against one of the accused in the past 10 years prior to the commission of the crime for which s/he has been arrested. Asif had two aforementioned cases. While there were cases against other members too, the state of Maharashtra used the cases against Asif to bring the matter in a MCOCA court, which in 2015 sentenced five people to death and a further seven to life imprisonment. In its order (page 1,831 of the judgment), the MCOCA court had said that the five accused were convicted under section 235(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for having committed: (i) the offence punishable under section 302 read with section 120B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860They shall be hanged by their necks till they are dead. But now, with the case under Section 120b set aside by Bombay HC, Shaikh says there is hope for the accused. In our appeal to the Bombay HC, we will attach the copies of the acquittal and ask them to review the death sentence in light of the same. As far as I know, the 2014 acquittal from the SIMI case was never challenged by the State of Maharashtra. Todays order again shows that the two previous cases were just used by the police for their advantage, he added. Anees might be happy at todays judgment but is aware that little will change in the lives of Asif and his family. He has been in jail for 14 years and I havent seen him since 2015. His appeal against the death sentence has been pending for more than three years but it has not been picked up. We hope that in light of the recent turn of events, the matter comes up for hearing and we get justice as soon as possible. The case has been further delayed because of lockdown and a few other administrative issues, he added. Asifs wife and three children continue to live in Jalgaon, where they moved back after his arrest in Mumbai. Shaikh says he has always found the case against Asif sketchy. What kind of a person, who is alleged to shelter terrorists, stays in a house and submits original documents? he asks. I hope that the Bombay HC pays attention to this case and delivers justice. These people have already suffered a lot in their lives, he adds. Though Angelina Jolie experienced the worst in her past relationships, she has been blessed with six wonderful children -- three of whom were adopted. Angelina's family is surely one of Hollywood's best since her mansion truly feels like home with her six children -- Maddox, Pax, Sahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne -- living with her Meanwhile, though three of the kids are not really biologically hers, the actress loves them like they came from her -- like any mother would. During her interview with Vogue India, the "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" star said that she is blessed to be their mother. "With my adopted children, I can't speak of pregnancy, but I speak with much detail and love about the journey to find them and what it was like to look in their eyes for the first time," Jolie went on. With that said, here are the Angelina Jolie kids: Maddox Caught Angelina's Heart Maddox, who was originally named as Rath Vibol, was born on August 5, 2001. The actress adopted him on March 10, 2002 when she visited Cambodia to learn more about refugees. "In 2001, I was in a school programme in Samlout playing blocks on the floor with a little kid and as clear as day I thought: 'My son is here,'" Jolie recalled. "A few months later I met baby Mad at an orphanage. I can't explain it and am not one to believe in messages or superstition. But it was just real and clear." Though the actress was married to Billy Bob Thornton at that time, she chose to declare herself as Maddox's only parent. Angelina Welcomed Zahara Nearly three years after she adopted Maddox, Angelina decided to adopt her second child. The then 6-month-old Ethiopian baby girl named Zahara caught the actress' eyes. On July 6, 2005, the "Maleficent" star adopted Zahara after meeting her at the Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, Angelina faced a slight setback when she brought her home to the U.S. since her birth mother, whom they thought died during childbirth, appeared and tried to reclaim the baby. According to the mother, she only put Zahara in the orphanage because she was too poor to take care of her. After a few negotiations, she later withdrew her claims and gave her blessing to Angelina for the adoption. Like Maddox, Zahara only has Angelina's name on her certificates, although Brad Pitt went with her during the paper signing. In January 2006 though, Brad officially adopted Maddox and Zahara and their surnames were changed to Jolie-Pitt since then. Brad, Angelina Adopted Pax Together On March 15, 2007, Brad and Angelina added more joy to their family as they welcomed the 3-year-old Vietnamese boy, Pax Thien. The child was born in November 2003, but he was left in the Tam Binh orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. His original birth name was Pham Quang Sang, but Angelina changed it to Pax Thien -- Pax means "peace" in Latin, and Thien means "sky" in Vietnamese. It is also believed that Angelina's mother suggested the name "Pax" before she passed away. READ MORE: Angelina Jolie Heartbreak: Shiloh Jolie Pitt Leaves Home For Dad Brad Pitt? [RUMOR] We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:55:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A man wearing a face mask jogs at a plaza beside Manila Bay in Manila, the Philippines on July 14, 2020. The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 57,545 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 634 new infections on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali) MANILA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 57,545 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 634 new infections on Tuesday. The DOH said that the number of recoveries rose to 20,459 after 88 more patients survived the disease. The death toll also increased to 1,603 after six more patients died, the DOH said. "Ninety-five duplicates were removed from the total case count, of these, two duplicates previously reported as a death have been removed from the case count after final verification," the DOH added. The Philippine government is now discouraging home-based quarantine for those who tested positive for COVID-19 to minimize the risk of transmission within households, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said over the weekend. Policemen and local government personnel will be going house to house to search for COVID-19 cases with no or mild symptoms who are under home quarantine and send them to quarantine facilities managed by the government, Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano said on Tuesday. CLEVELAND, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Evergreen Podcasts is proud to announce that Crazy and the King will join the Evergreen Podcasts network. This show is the fifth to join Evergreen's Human Resources channel. Hosts Julie Sowash and Torin Ellis discuss the key debates going on in Corporate America on diversity, inclusion and the freedom of ambition and personal exploration. The podcast comes out every week with a bold narrative that demands to be heard. Crazy & The King can be heard on all major podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and iHeart. "Torin and I are joining THE strongest line up of Talent Acquisition podcasts out there. We are huge fans of the on-air talent at Evergreen Podcasts and are eager to join Chad and Cheese, James Ellis, Matt Alder and Jim Stroud," said Julie Sowash, Co-host of the podcast. "We will be filling the need for more access to diversity and Inclusion conversations and driving home the need for change in our work world and our humanity. Evergreen listeners Prepare yourself for Crazy and The King." "Evergreen continues to bring our listeners some of the best discussions and provocative debates in the podcast industry," offered Michael DeAloia, CEO of Evergreen Podcasts. "Crazy and The King is an amazing, full-force podcast that illuminates the experience of the American employee." The hosts of Crazy & the King, Julie Sowash and Torn Ellis, are both available for interviews on all media platforms including TV, radio, online media and newspapers. Contact information is below. About Evergreen Podcasts Evergreen features a growing catalog of entertaining and informative podcasts, rooted in high creative values and production quality. We are a community where people think big, capturing the color and diversity of modern thinkers. From entrepreneurs and musicians to philosophers and artists, Evergreen is in the business of uniting audiences with boots-on-the-ground storytellers. Evergreen's talented creative team works with top brands and thought leaders to publish inspiring stories through branded content, original shows, and partner podcasts. Evergreen Podcasts was founded by Joan Dolan Andrews in January of 2017. During its first year of operation, Evergreen launched four podcasts with nearly 18,000 podcast downloads. The company now has 40 podcast programs and is on pace to deliver more than 5 million podcast downloads in 2020. Podcasts published by Evergreen include The Chad & Cheese Podcast, Burn the Boats, The Talent Cast, This American President, Professional Book Nerds, Banking Transformed, Your Teen, Up2, and Wake Up Call. All podcasts produced and distributed by Evergreen Podcasts can be streamed globally on iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and other major podcast platforms. Where to Listen: Apple Podcasts Spotify Website Press Contact: Name: David Allen Moss Email: [email protected] Related Images evergreen-podcasts.jpg Evergreen Podcasts Logo for Evergreen Podcasts Related Links Evergreen Podcasts Crazy & The King SOURCE Evergreen Podcasts This aerial view shows submerged streets and inundated buildings after a dam was breached due to flooding in Jiujiang, China on July 13, 2020. (STR/AFP via Getty Images) Chinese Villagers Plea for Help as Flooding Worsens, Authorities Let Rivers Breach Banks Flooding caused by heavy rain has impacted at least 27 of 31 of Chinas provinces and regions. On July 14, Chinas National Meteorological Center alerted that more heavy rain is forecasted for the area of the Yangtze river basin in the next 24 hours. The center estimated that the overall rainfall in southern Chinas Yangtze river basin would be 100 millimeters (3.94 inches) to 180 millimeters (7.09 inches) from July 14 to 16. In some regions, the rainfall would reach 300 millimeters (11.81 inches). The center also alerted that the northern Chinese regions of Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang would experience heavy rain on July 15 and 16. Chinese vice minister of water resources Ye Jianchun said during a July 13 press conference in Beijing that the Yellow river, Hai river, and Songhua river in northern China would experience flooding in the coming months, but locals lack the experience to face this disaster. We should pay more attention to northern China, Ye said. Ye explained that the rainfall this summer in the Yangtze river basin and Tai Lake basin is 1.5 times to 2.6 times the rainfall in previous years, and that authorities will evacuate impacted people in advance. However, people in the flooded provinces of Anhui, Hubei, and Jiangxi told The Epoch Times in phone interviews that their hometowns were submerged recently after authorities discharged floodwaters at the lakes or rivers or due to embankment breaches. However, authorities did not offer proper assistance, they said. Discharging Floodwaters Wang Min (pseudonym) lives in Yiguan village, located in eastern Chinas Tongling city, Anhui Province. The Yangtze river passes through the village. He told the Chinese-language Epoch Times on July 13 that he and his fellow villagers were forced to leave their hometown, located near a small dike, that day. They [authorities] gave up on the smaller dikes to protect the bigger ones, Wang said. Either by not strengthening the embankment to allow it to collapse naturally, or by manually breaking the bank, they allow the floodwaters from the Yangtze river to be released into the dikes, he added. That day, over 12,000 people left their homes in Tongling, Wang said. Most of them have nowhere to go and are now waiting out the flooding at temporary shelters. Wang said the shelters lacked drinking water, mosquito coils to repel insects, raincoats, flashlights, and tents. Authorities did not give the villagers enough food, Wang added. Many are worried that their property would be swept away by the floods. The Yus live at the Hudong village in Poyang county, located in eastern Chinas Jiangxi Province. Three generations of the family live under the same roof. Hudong and dozens of other villages in the county were inundated by floodwaters on July 8 after several embankment breaches. Authorities claimed that they evacuated impacted people, but Yus family was still stuck in their house on July 12. Floodwaters had not yet receded. The flooding is everywhere. We cant go out and we really need food, the father told the Chinese-language Epoch Times. The grandfather explained that in Hudong, floodwaters reached the second floor. Mr. Zhang is from Dixi village, about 30 miles from Hudong. He and his fellow villagers were in the same situation as the Yus. Many people lost their houses in my village, Zhang said. The floodwaters are still increasing authorities are discharging floodwaters from the Poyang lake, he added. Wuhan A peak of floodwater reached Wuhan, the capital of central Chinas Hubei Province, at 11 p.m. on July 12, according to the city government. Moreover, a resident at Gangzhou village in the citys Caidian district shared a video with the Chinese-language Epoch Times on July 14, in which he said that all villagers were forced to evacuate at 5 a.m. that day because authorities would release floodwaters from the Yangtze river into his village. Chen Guiya, deputy chief engineer at the Yangtze river water resources commission of the countrys water resources ministry, said during a segment on state-run broadcaster CCTV on July 13 that the Yangtze river could reach dangerous water levels in Hubei in the next 10 days. The Wuhan-government-operated news site Changjiang Net reported on July 14 that flooding in the Yangtze river would cause a duplex peak, which means a new peak will arrive before the old peak passes. Dr. Huang Guanhong, son of famous hydrologist Huang Wanli, told The Epoch Times sister TV media NTD on July 12: If the Three Gorges Dam doesnt release its waters, Chongqing city [on the upper stream] will be submerged. If the dam discharges water, Wuhan [on the downstream] would be inundated. The latter is the current situation. Not only Wuhan, but other cities downstream of the Three Gorges Dam are also suffering. Nanjing in eastern Chinas Jiangsu Province reported that the local water level of the Yangtze river was 4.4 feet above the alert level. Warning From WHO Worried about the potential spread of contagious diseases after the flood, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning on its official account on Weiboone of Chinas largest social media platformson July 14. The WHO urged flooding victims to drink boiled or chlorinated water. Also, they should not eat food that they found in floodwaters, nor any food items that had contact with floodwaters. It also advised against using clothes or other materials that had contact with floodwaters but have not been washed with bleach. A former violent gang member turned anti-knife crime campaigner has revealed how he turned his life around, after being stabbed nine times in a brawl. Father-of-two Callum Hutchison, 29, featured in the BBC Panorama documentary: How Scotland Cut Violent Crime, which aired on Monday evening, telling young prisoners about his former life of crime, in which he says he was 'running about the east end of Glasgow like a cut-throat pirate.' Former alcoholic Hutchison revealed he was once stabbed nine times in one night and carried a lockback knife daily from the age of 11 - saying he had a 'pure lethal absence of hope' in his life. Callum Hutchison, 29, from Glasgow, spent teenage years in and out of prison. Now a campaigner against gang crime, Hutchison appeared in the BBC Panorama documentary: How Scotland Cut Violent Crime on Monday, telling young offenders he had a 'lethal absence of hope' as a teenager Callum pictured ten years ago; he told the programme that he'd carried 'a lockback knife daily from 11 years of age and was drinking alcoholically from about 12 years of age' One of the viewers tuning into the documentary, presented by BBC News anchor Kate Silverton, was a nurse who treated him after his brush with death. Posting the message he received on his Twitter account, Callum wrote: 'Over the past few days, I have had many tweets and direct messages, I appreciate them all. For me this one is the best. Thank you to everyone who has got me to where I am but it all started with the amazing NHS nurses and doctors who kept me alive.' The unnamed nurse had written 'Just wanted to say how proud I am of what you've achieved and how you've transformed your life'. The BBC programme saw Silverton interview officers from Police Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit; the country has seen a significant reduction in knife crime over a 15 year period since the unit was introduced. Speaking to young offenders, Callum, who now campaigns against gang life, told them: 'I was carrying a lockback knife daily from 11 years of age and drinking alcoholically from about 12 years of age. I spent my 16th birthday, my 18th birthday and my 21st birthday in jail.' 'All I done was just violence with violence with violence, running about the east end of Glasgow like a cut-throat pirate and just a pure lethal absence of hope in my life man.' The programme saw young offenders in Scotland hear about the Violence Reduction Unit, which has helped reduce knife crime rates north of the border Journalist Kate Silverton reported from Scotland on measures to tackle youth crime that are 'radical' but helping the current generation escape 'the cycle of violence their parents lived through' Callum, third from right, seen speaking to young offenders; he told them he had a 'season ticket' to A&E during his most violent period He added that he had a 'season ticket' for A&E and was stabbed after someone got into his path while he walked home one night. Callum revealed his life changed after he was approached in A&E by an employee of the Violence Reduction Unit and began discussing getting sober. He told viewers: 'He said: "How you doing mate? I work for the Navigator programme for the Violence Reduction Unit. Its one of the first times I can ever remember somebody saying; "can I help you with anything?".' Viewers praised Callum for the work he's done in crime prevention. @Trishfish60 wrote: 'Loved your story on #Panorama tonight Callum - keep doing what youre doing to help those at risk of further reoffending and violence.' @HodgySharon added: 'The part where Callum describes "just a pure lethal absence of hope in my life" could be applauded as street poetry, but is actually the gritty truth about how it feels for so many young people. We need to do better by our youngsters.' Another viewer, @zimbitas said: 'One of the first times I can remember anybody saying to me can I help you with something?". That got me. Sometimes that big breakthrough in life comes from having just one person that genuinely wants to see you do better.' Anyone living in the Sydney suburbs of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be banned from entering Queensland from midday on Tuesday. Queensland declared suburbs within the two local government areas (LGAs) as 'COVID-19 hot spots', Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Tuesday morning. The rule applies not only to residents of the LGAs - comprised of 77 individual suburbs - but to anyone who has travelled through them in the past two weeks. Pictured: New South Wales health workers dressed in personal protective equipment prepare to administer COVID-19 tests to people in their cars at the Crossroads Hotel testing centre in Casula, western Sydney. Queensland has banned travellers from the local government areas of Campbelltown and Liverpool - which includes Casula - to stop the spread of COVID-19 A cleaner dressed in Personal Protective Equipment is seen leaving the Crossroads Hotel on July 11 'Travellers who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days can't quarantine in Queensland and will be turned away at our borders,' she said. 'Queenslanders who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days are required to hotel quarantine at their own expense.' The move comes as the NSW government introduces stricter operating rules for pubs after 21 COVID-19 cases were linked to an outbreak at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula - which falls under the Liverpool local government area. The new rules for pubs and hotels will be announced on Tuesday, including a limit of 300 people regardless of size, and group bookings capped at 10 people. The measures are also expected to include stricter punishments for venues who do not to take contact details of patrons and tougher regulations on pub cleaning. The changes - decided during a meeting of senior government ministers on Monday night - will not apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star Casino. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is pictured addressing the media on Monday NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reiterated life would not return to 'normal' until a vaccine was secured and refused to rule out tightening restrictions further. 'In a pandemic, many people indoors is a much higher risk than many people outdoors in a seated venue,' Ms Berejiklian told 2GB radio on Tuesday. 'It's not necessarily the numbers - it's what they're doing and how they're doing it. Even five or six people mingling around the bar at a hotel is a huge no-no.' SYDNEY SUBURBS DECLARED 'COVID-19 HOTSPOTS' BY QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT Campbelltown LGA Airds, Ambarvale Bardia, Blair Athol, Blairmont, Bow Bowing, Bradbury Campbelltown, Claymore Denham Court Eagle Vale, Englorie Park, Eschol Park Gilead, Glen Alpine, Glenfield Holsworthy Ingleburn Kearns, Kentlyn Leumeah, Long Point Macquarie Fields, Macquarie Links, Menangle Park, Minto, Minto Heights Raby, Rosemeadow, Ruse St Andrews, St Helens Park Varroville Wedderburn and Woodbine Liverpool LGA Ashcroft, Austral, Badgerys Creek, Bringelly, Busby Carnes Hill, Cartwright, Casula, Cecil Hills, Cecil Park, Chipping Norton Denham Court Edmondson Park, Elizabeth Hills Greendale, Green Valley Hammondville, Heckenberg, Hinchinbrook, Holsworthy, Horningsea Park, Hoxton Park Kemps Creek Len Waters Estate, Leppington, Liverpool, Luddenham, Lurnea Middleton Grange, Miller, Moorebank, Mount Pritchard Pleasure Point, Prestons, Rossmore Sadleir, Silverdale Voyager Point, Wallacia, Warwick Farm, Wattle Grove and West Hoxton Advertisement Eighteen people in Queensland have meanwhile been instructed to self isolate after they visited the Crossroads Hotel. Any patrons who visited the hotel between July 3 and July 10 have been urged to get tested. Since the cluster was announced, 18 people in Queensland have presented for testing. Pictured: The Casula Mall - where a case connected to the Crossroads Hotel cluster has been confirmed Pictured: The Sydney venues feared to be at the centre of COVID-19 outbreaks They are all awaiting their results in quarantine. The coronavirus cluster at the pub grew by 10 on Tuesday, taking the total number of infections linked to the venue to 28. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced an additional 13 new cases of COVID-19 had been identified overnight. A temperature test is carried out near the Crossroads Hotel on Monday as mass testing is carried out in the south-west Sydney suburb of Casula to minimise the outbreak The state has now recorded a total of 3,316 cases. Of the new infections, just two were from returned travellers completing their mandatory hotel quarantine, while another one was a contact of an overseas case. All 10 other diagnoses were linked to the cluster at the hotel in Casula, which first broke out on July 3. Any patrons who visited the hotel between July 3 and July 10 have been urged to self isolate immediately and seek out coronavirus testing. Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center Ranked #1 Eye Care Center in 2020 Our patients represent the focal point of our practice. We are honored to be recognized by the people and communities we serve every day, said Shane Armstrong, Co-President of American Vision Partners. Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, an affiliate of American Vision Partners, is happy to announce that they have once again been voted #1 Eye Care Center in Arizona by Ranking Arizona. This represents the 8th consecutive year that they have won this prestigious award. Ranking Arizona allows people to submit nominations and votes for the best businesses in Arizona. Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center has been named #1 Eye Center in Arizona since 2013. Dr. Scott A. Perkins, a leading physician at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center and throughout the country, says, It is a great honor to continue to be recognized every year by patients throughout the state. We pride ourselves in being able to provide people with compassionate expert care. For more than 35 years, doctors at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center have been focused on offering best-in-class service to their patients through leading-edge technology, experienced providers, and a genuine desire to help people see the world better. Our patients represent the focal point of our practice. We are honored to be recognized by the people and communities we serve every day, said Shane Armstrong, Co-President of American Vision Partners. To schedule an appointment, please call 602-955-1000. Additional information can also be found online at http://www.GoodEyes.com About Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center The doctors at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center are recognized leaders in providing state-of-the-art medical and surgical eye care in Arizona for more than 35 years. Doctors at Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center use the most advanced technologies and techniques to treat patients at all stages of life. Comprehensive eye health services are provided by nationally renowned specialists in multiple fields of ophthalmology, including cataract surgery, vision correction, cornea, retina, glaucoma, and oculoplastics. Patients can expect compassionate and convenient care from the doctors of any of the Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center clinics. For more information, please visit http://www.GoodEyes.com. About American Vision Partners American Vision Partners (AVP) is one of the nations largest and fastest-growing eye care physician services organizations. AVP serves communities throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada with more than 125 nationally recognized doctors and 105 locations, including 58 full-time clinics, 28 satellite clinics, and 19 ambulatory surgical centers. We partner with the most respected ophthalmology practices in the country and share a best-in-class management system, infrastructure, and technology to provide the highest-quality patient care. Our partner practices, including Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center, Southwestern Eye Center, M&M Eye Institute, Abrams Eye Institute, Retinal Consultants of Arizona and Havasu Eye Center have on average been in practice for more than 35 years. For more information, please visit http://www.AmericanVisionPartners.com Long queues at gas stations around the country underscore Venezuela's continuing fuel shortages, despite Iran stepping in to help its Latin American ally with a major fuel shipment last month. "Iranian petrol is an illusion that has lasted a month," driver Nestor Hernandez told AFP in Maracaibo, the country's second-largest city. He said he still had to queue for hours at petrol stations in the city that once was Venezuela's booming oil capital, where long lines, sleepless nights and anxiety have now become the norm for those seeking fuel. Despite enormous reserves, oil-producing Venezuela is experiencing a serious fuel shortage, exacerbated by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. "The gasoline never arrived," says Pedro Perales, a resident of Puerto Ordaz in the eastern state of Bolivar, which borders Brazil. He said he spent two days straight, including the night, in his car waiting his turn to fill up with gas. Even then, he could only get half a tank, the quota per vehicle. Up until 2018, Venezuela was sending 500,000 barrels per day to the United States alone, and received in return 120,000 bpd of light oil, diluents and fuel-producing supplies. Sanctions, however, have forced Venezuela -- which used to refine enough oil for its own needs -- to turn to allies such as Iran to alleviate a desperate gasoline shortage. Tehran duly sent five tankers in May, laden with 1.5 million barrels of fuel, additives, spare parts and other materials. The situation improved initially at gas stations with dollarized prices in several regions, but it did not take long for kilometer-long (half a mile-long) queues to form again. The exception is Caracas: service stations in the capital are functioning normally again after running dry in March, during the first weeks of the coronavirus lockdown. - Price hike - The socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro increased fuel prices on June 1. In a country where fuel has been practically free, a liter of high-octane gasoline rose to 50 cents, though subsidies have been maintained within strict consumption and registration limits. The country is almost entirely dependent on oil exports for revenues, but production has fallen to roughly a quarter of its 2008 level as Venezuela enters its sixth year in recession. Maduro's government blames the loss in production on US sanctions, including those levied against the state oil company PDVSA, but many analysts say the regime has failed to invest in or maintain infrastructure. Venezuela's oil production, which reached 3.2 million barrels a day 12 years ago, is collapsing. Analysts expect the monthly report of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), due on Tuesday, to reflect a further drop after Venezuelan output fell below 600,000 bpd last month. Its refining system has disintegrated along with production. With capacity to process 1.3 mpd, it was barely ticking over at 12 percent of its potential in the first quarter of 2020, according to industry sources. - 'A death foretold' - Ezio Angelini, head of the Maracaibo Chamber of Commerce, said what's happening at the gas stations in his city "is the chronicle of a death foretold." "We are going back to the queues," said Angelini. "We knew this would happen, because Venezuela is not producing gasoline or is producing very little." The United States -- which maintains sanctions against Venezuela and its oil in an attempt to displace Maduro -- has challenged Iran's shipments, but Caracas and Tehran have said that they will continue. The US Justice Department issued a warrant on July 2 to seize the cargoes of four tankers on their way to Venezuela, tying the shipments to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which Washington calls a terror group. Sustaining gasoline imports will be complicated, says economist Jose Manuel Puente, a professor at the Public Policy Center at the Institute of Higher Studies in Administration. "There is no cash flow," he told AFP, because of the drop in vital oil exports, and at the same time, the pressure for sanctions will increase. Drivers queue at a gas station in Maracaibo, Venezuela, amid the coronavirus epidemic in July 2020 A man fills his car with gasoline purchased on the streets of Maracaibo, Venezuela in July 2020 People offer gasoline for sale on the streets of Maracaibo, Venezuela in July 2020 Dozens of MPs, community leaders and organizations from across the political spectrum have joined the latest call on Ottawa to sanction Chinese Community Party officials. Whether the federal government will heed that call is the subject of much debate and speculation, even within the ranks of the 67 members of Parliament who signed Tuesdays letter urging action. The letter calls for Magnitsky legislation to be brought against Chinas officials complicit in human rights atrocities in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. As a leader on the international human rights discussion, to invoke Magnitsky sanctions against these officials is a strong and symbolic action that is consistent with how Canada has applied this act in the past, reads the letter. So-called Magnitsky legislation allows for Canada to impose sanctions, economic or otherwise, against specific people or organizations known to be responsible for human rights violations or corruption in other countries. Liberal MP John McKay pointed to recent actions Canada has taken by Ottawa over the new national security law in China, which include suspending an extradition treaty with Hong Kong and restrictions on certain sensitive exports to the region, as examples of a different attitude in Ottawa. I think its an increasing possibility, he said of sanctions. I think the progress has been quite rapid in terms of a changing attitude. McKay said he thinks speaking out on the China issue has been welcomed by many in his party. But a fellow signatory, Conservative MP Kenny Chiu, is much less optimistic, arguing Ottawas stance on the issue has been weak. I have seen to date just a bunch of lip service, posturing and I have not seen much of any action, he said. While he agrees with actions taken regarding Hong Kong after the national security law was brought in, the measures are defensive in nature and dont go far enough, he said. Chiu said sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials could affect those with ties to Canada, and prevent them from freely coming to the country or doing business here could have an impact. The governments previous action on the issue doesnt give him much hope sanctions are coming, Chiu said. Last week, Canadas minister of global affairs, Francois-Philippe Champagne, suggested Canada was considering such sanctions against some mainland China officials in response to human rights abuses in the country, particularly in Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Autonomous Region. Yes, we are considering all the options when it comes to standing up for human rights, Champagne told the House of Commons in response to questions about whether the government would consider such sanctions. Later in the week, a Reuters story quoted a government source as saying Ottawa was not actually considering the sanctions. The new calls for human rights sanctions increased recently after paper by academic Adrian Zenz released via the Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation using Chinese government documents reported forced sterilization was being practised in Xinjiang against its ethnic Uighur population. Such acts are considered genocide according to the United Nations convention addressing such crimes. Meanwhile, critics also say Canada hasnt taken enough action to support pro-democracy efforts in Hong Kong, which was recently brought further under Beijings control with the imposition of a new national security law that opponents say breaches the British-Chinese joint declaration. The declaration is the document laying out the conditions of Hong Kongs takeover by China, which occurred in 1997; part of it stipulated Hong Kong would enjoy relative autonomy until 2047. Cherie Wong of the pro-democracy group Alliance Canada Hong Kong, which is a signatory to the letter, said the inaction by Ottawa amounts to flip-flopping. We at Alliance Canada Hong Kong (ACHK) are frustrated with the deliberate inaction, Wong said in an email. International human rights lawyer David Matas told the Star such sanctions pressure those involved personally in human rights abuses rather than just make a widespread condemnation of a government. What Magnitsky legislation does is it puts a name and a face to violations, Matas said. Its an attribution of responsibility. Such sanctions could include freezing assets, barring those sanctioned from coming to Canada or even opening them up to prosecution should they arrive here, he said. Last week, the United States named several people and one organization related to human rights abuses in China for sanctions. Meanwhile, regardless of the likelihood of Canada imposing such sanctions, Chiu and McKay both want to see them introduced. The question after that is whats the reaction of the government of China to the naming of individual human rights abusers, McKay said. Well see. Read more about: Leading UAE-based technology and sustainability-driven facilities management (FM) company Farnek has implemented a new contactless face recognition system to measure the temperature and monitor the attendance of its employees. The technology has been implemented at all of Farneks offices in the UAE as well as client sites, including The Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, and Dubai Airport, said the company in its statement. In line with Dubai Municipality regulations, the system allows Farnek to check the temperature of all employees when entering and leaving their offices, or when entering and leaving external workplaces, where the technology has been implemented, reducing the threat of Covid-19 spreading. If there is an alert, the employee is denied access, isolated and Farnek management is informed instantly, it added. CEO Markus Oberlin said: "Contactless technology is more important now than ever before as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. The leading cause of transmission is through contact or proximity to people carrying the virus, some of whom may not show any symptoms. This system alleviates those risks." The system works by scanning the employees face and palm using HD thermal camera technology to give a 100 per cent accurate temperature reading, explained Oberlin. "Connected to a central system, attendance can also be monitored, and payroll updated in real-time. The system also recognises when someone is wearing a mask, therefore allowing them to be worn at all times," he added. According to him, this state-of-the-art technology not only mitigates health and safety risk, but also monitors staff arriving and leaving. "That also has an added benefit for our customers because this data can then be aligned with customer work orders, supporting subsequent invoicing. It also reassures them that all staff entering have left the building as well," he noted. "The technology has been implemented at all of Farneks offices in the UAE as well as client sites, including The Dubai Mall, Burj Khalifa, and Dubai Airport," he added. Oberlin pointed out that this system underscored its commitment to the safety and well-being of employees and customers during these unprecedented times. "The implementation of this innovative technology is just one of many measures we have implemented to support the UAE business community and the wider public, in containing the spread of the coronavirus," he stated. Since Covid-19 outbreak, Farnek has implemented several measures to minimise the threat of the virus spreading. Sanitisation gateways, which disinfect all staff before leaving and returning, are being installed across all staff accommodation centres in the UAE. The disinfectant system works via a Fog Gate, or disinfection tunnel, which sprays staff with a highly efficient, non-toxic, pH-neutral, and durable disinfectant. The mist is completely harmless and dries in seconds after employees pass through. The gateway is regularly sterilised and cleaned by a team of highly trained specialists from Farnek. According to him, Farnek is also employing a Dubai Municipality-approved environmentally friendly and non-toxic disinfectant solution, which kills over 99.99% of all bacteria, viruses, fungi, and spores. Through the adoption of innovative technology, our customers can rest assured that our staff are healthy, motivated and together we are ready to face the challenge of the new normal once this crisis is over, he added.-TradeArabia News Service Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday greeted French President Emmanuel Macron on Bastille Day, saying India is committed to further strengthen its strategic partnership with France. "Felicitations to my dear friend Emmanuel Macron and the friendly people of France on the occasion of Bastille Day," the prime minister tweeted. He said New Delhi is committed to further strengthening its important strategic partnership with France, and expanding cooperation. The day marks the anniversary of the storming of a fortress where political prisoners were held during the French Revolution in Paris in 1789, according to write ups available on the internet. As more Americans have returned to the air in recent weeks, many have confronted a disturbing reality: nearly full planes with passengers seated shoulder to shoulder. Once just an unwanted nuisance, this long-standing feature of airline travel is perilous and potentially fatal in the age of COVID-19. While experts recommend distancing on airplanes as much as possibleurging high-risk individuals to be especially cautiousmany airlines have nonetheless eschewed basic measures to ensure social distancing, and rightfully received widespread condemnation. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon lambasted airlines that book flights to full capacity and announced he will introduce legislation to temporarily ban the booking of middle seats. Top health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Robert Redfield expressed dismay and urged consumers to be cautious. And several airlines are voluntarily limiting booking, likely in hopes of prying fearful customers from competitors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But a battle-tested mechanism to protect safety for airline passengers already exists and could be applied immediately to reduce passenger capacityif only the Trump administration were willing to do it. The Federal Aviation Administration is charged with promoting safety in the airline industry, and for more than six decades it has used that authority by issuing binding regulations to protect passengers, providing a margin of safety that the airline industry would not provide if left to its own devices. Because of the FAA, planes are properly manufactured and maintained, pilots are adequately trained and rested, and aircraft are stocked with necessary lifesaving equipment in case of emergency. While the Trump administrations anti-regulatory agenda is deadly in normal times, the dire consequences are now all the more pronounced. Taking a page from this playbook, the FAA can and should move immediately to limit passenger capacity to better ensure safety during the pandemic. Though hardly a panacea for a contagious virus, measures such as banning sales that cause passengers to sit immediately adjacent to one another would go a long way toward protecting the public. This includes banning middle seats or other seats based on aircraft configuration, such as every other seat in airplanes with two-by-two seating arrangements. (Exceptions could be allowed for families who book together.) Additional mandates such as cleaning and onboarding procedures may also be beneficial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why hasnt the FAA already taken this common-sense step? After all, the agency has acknowledged that COVID-19 can spread when passengers and crew do not maintain appropriate distance on board an aircraft, echoing similar guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the FAA has taken other urgent actions in response to the pandemic, such as suspending training and qualification requirements that could not be met and doling out billions of dollars of relief to affected companies. The answer lies largely in the fact that the FAA is an executive agency whose administrator was appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed in a party-line Senate vote. An arm of the Department of Transportation that takes cues from the White House and high-level executive branch officials, the FAA has unsurprisingly shown itself to be eager to assist the airline industry, just as it has been reluctant to protect passengers and crew members. After all, this lopsided regulatory approach is par for the course in this administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While many companies are facing economic hardship resulting from the pandemic, federal agencies have responded by suspending enforcement of key safety and environmental regulations that the public relies upon for long-term health and safety. Yet the administration has generally been hands-off when it comes to protecting the public from this dire health emergency. Numerous agencies have released guidance with suggestions for protecting consumers and employees but generally declined to issue enforceable or legally binding rules to that effect. Advertisement Advertisement This approach fits within the Trump administrations broader playbook. Starting from day one, the administration has dismantled regulations that were put in place to ensure public health and well-being. This has hurt the public far more than it has benefited industry, sometimes causing thousands of preventable long-term deaths with a single pen stroke. While the administrations anti-regulatory agenda is deadly in normal times, the dire consequences are now all the more pronounced. Advertisement Advertisement There are some potential downsides to the FAA forcing airlines to book fewer passengers, though none should stop the agency from acting immediately. For one, limiting capacity could exacerbate the economic hardships facing the airline industrythough, as noted above, some airlines are already voluntarily undertaking restrictions and thus apparently determining that any hit is manageable for them. The FAA can continually evaluate the impacts of any regulation and modify it as more information comes to light. Particularly since taxpayers have provided the airline industry with extraordinary aid in recent months (with more potentially to come), sensible controls on the industry to protect passengers are hardly unreasonable. Another genuine concern is that limiting passenger capacity could mean more flights in the air, increasing planet-warming greenhouse gases that the industry already emits at an alarming rate. But lets be honest: This administration has demonstrated a dangerous antipathy toward controlling greenhouse gas emissions, so this legitimate concern is not whats motivating the FAAs inaction here. Once again, the FAA should study the impacts of a capacity ruleweighing the public health benefits against the harm from additional emissionsand modify it as necessary. The existence of this trade-off also underscores the urgency for the government to require dramatic reductions in airline pollution through technology-forcing regulations. Advertisement Advertisement Finally, the FAA would need to bypass normal regulatory procedures for a rule to take immediate effect, which is permissible only in narrow circumstances such as a public health or safety emergency. A once-in-a-century pandemic surely qualifies. Ironically, the Trump administration has previously sought to bypass these procedures simply to avoid welfare-enhancing regulations that it did not want to enforcea tactic courts widely rebuked. While the nation reels from the COVID-19 pandemic, federal agencies seem far more interested in boosting affected industries than protecting the public. These options are not mutually exclusive. While the government is taking extraordinary steps to assist the airline industry, the FAA should protect passengers and crew members by immediately limiting in-flight capacity. Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. The Office of ex-President Jerry John Rawlings Monday described as fake some flyers purported to have originated from him, which are being circulated on social media. The office had noted with concern virtual audio flyers with the images of the former President Rawlings, making the rounds on social media, commenting on the relationship of France and its former colonies as well as the ECOWAS currency, Eco, a statement issued from the Office said. A statement from the Office of the former President said: The voice on the flyer is not former President Rawlings' and those opinions have not be voiced by the former President on any platform. We urge all who have come into contact with the flyer and its impersonation of the voice of the former President to totally disregard any connection to him. The statement said it was the fabrication of a faceless, mischievous and devious character. Daily Guide The white couple who were photographed pointing guns at protesters in St Louis, have been revealed to have had several conflicts over their property in recent years, from a number of lawsuits to the smashing of childrens beehives. Personal-injury attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey were seen standing outside their home holding a handgun and a rifle at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters who were walking down their street on 28 June. Since then, a lengthy investigation by The St Louis Post-Dispatch has revealed that the couple is almost always embroiled in conflict with others, namely over their property. According to the report, the couple filed a lawsuit in 1988 to obtain their house, have sued neighbours for making changes to a gravel road, and have twice evicted tenants from a modular home on their property in just over two years. The newspaper reported that court documents showed how Mr McCloskey had also previously pointed a gun at a neighbour who was walking through the same patch of land as the BLM protesters. Additionally, the outlet claimed that in 2013 Mr McCloskey destroyed beehives outside of his mansions wall that belonged to the local Jewish Central Reform Congregation, leaving a note to demand the congregation clear the remains. The children were crying in school, Rabbi Susan Talve told The Dispatch of the incident. It was part of our curriculum. The report also detailed that Mr McCloskey filed a lawsuit against a previous employer for wrongful termination. A lawyer representing the couple, Albert Watkins, declined to provide comment on the matter or allow a reporter to conduct a recorded interview with the couple when contacted by The Dispatch, after questioning the relevance of the couples litigation. Speaking of the incident on 28 June, the couple previously said they were threatened as crowds marched down their street, saying that they supported the Black Lives Matter message. The most important thing for them is that their images (holding the guns) dont become the basis for a rallying cry for people who oppose the Black Lives Matter message. They want to make it really clear that they believe the Black Lives Matter message is important, Mr Watkins said at the time. Ms McCloskey was reportedly impeached as a neighbourhood trustee in 1992 when she was accused by other members of being homophobic after the couple moved to enforce a rule preventing unmarried couples from moving into the neighbourhood. Mr McCloskey maintained that they were seeking to enforce the rules in regards to any unmarried couple, regardless of sexuality. Theyve always been part of the problem, never part of the solution, one neighbour, Robert Dolgin, told The Dispatch. Proposed changes to the American issuance of international student visas threaten to force thousands to leave the U.S. unless they are enrolled in a course or program that involves face-to-face, in person teaching. If enacted, such a rule would result in serious financial losses and negatively impact the higher education sector, the American economy as a whole, and U.S. relations with other countries. It would leave many international students with unfulfilled career dreams and burdened with large debts. Understandably, almost 200 U.S. colleges and universities are supporting legal action first initiated by Harvard and MIT in opposing the new rules. The attorney-general of some states, as well as international students themselves, have also filed lawsuits against the federal government. This action by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is in stark contrast to actions adopted by other countries, such as Australia, which is working closely with the education sector in devising strategies to support existing international students and offer future residence and work possibilities in Australia. The American move is being applied even for those students now stranded overseas and only able to study online as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Currently international students comprise almost 6% of all students enrolled at higher education institutions in the U.S. Learning from the generosity of other countries, rather than rushing through one-sided, ill-thought out regulations, the Trump administration should be engaging with all stakeholders to examine the impact of the move on online education. In doing so, it is important for all sides to refrain from polarized "either-or" thinking which reduces the debate to "risk disease or depart" alternatives. Indeed, such discussions hopefully will lead to the development of improved educational and economic models benefiting students, higher education institutions and the general economy. If American universities are to retain their international standing as leading research institutions and the U.S. to continue to attract top talent, the former need to have flexibility to seek the cream of the crop on a global basis. While governments need to consult and not be unduly influenced by election politics, educational institutions also need to guard against over-reaction and be more proactive in coming up with new models of facility and instructional design and learning community interaction that meet educational goals while providing enhanced protection to those who study in traditional face-to-face modes. This includes, for example, a redesign of facilities to enable social distancing, promote hygiene and provide increased testing to identify those who are asymptomatic and track and isolate all those who have been exposed to COVID-19. While higher education communities are generally younger and less vulnerable to the virus, protection also needs to be provided to elderly faculty members and administrators and those with medical conditions making them more vulnerable. For both face-to-face and online teaching, new and improved technologies are being developed to enhance the degree of teacher and learner engagement, reduce costs and ensure, among other things, academic integrity of courses and assessment. It is also hoped that science will shortly come to the rescue as we get closer to the development of a vaccine, and as herd-immunity increases and treatment modalities continue to improve and lower hospitalization and death rates. Finally, it is also important at this time for all parties and the higher education community in all countries to re-emphasize the great value that international students bring to all countries. International students are central to the academic mission of every university seeking to provide an education that prepares all students for success in a global economy and our currently inter-connected world. As people learn from one another and develop lifelong friendships, peace, future economic growth, mutual respect and understanding are promoted and enhanced. As American writer Wendell Berry wrote: "Nobody can discover the world for somebody else. Only when we discover it for ourselves does it become common ground and a common bond and we cease to be alone." Eugene Clark is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/eugeneclark.htm 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. Toronto police are searching for the driver of a vehicle that struck a motorcyclist overnight, causing life-threatening injuries. Police received a report of a collision at around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday on the Gardiner Expressway near the Lake Shore Boulevard West ramp. They said a 34-year-old man was westbound on the Gardiner, possibly with other motorcyclists, and came into contact with another westbound vehicle. The man was knocked off his bike and sustained life-threatening injuries. Police are looking for a 2006-11 Nissan Armada or Infiniti QX56 with damage to the rear passenger side corner and passenger side mirror, and have a released a photo of a similar looking vehicle. Police are asking witnesses or drivers with dash-cam footage to contact investigators. With files from Jacob Lorinc Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:58:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Kremlin is deeply concerned about the deadly clashes on the Azerbaijan-Armenia border, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. "We urge both sides to exercise restraint and comply with their obligations under the ceasefire," Peskov told reporters at a daily briefing. Russia is ready to mediate between the two sides to resolve the conflict, he said, adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had held phone conversations with his counterparts in Baku and Yerevan. The armed clashes reportedly erupted on Sunday in the Tavush region between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with both sides trading accusations over which started the fighting and violated the ceasefire. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes along the borders. Enditem On Sunday, there were 44 insurgent attacks or bombs in 21 provinces, including Nangahar in the east, Paktika in the south and Daikundi in the center of the country. A total of 21 security troops were killed. Many incidents were checkpoint attacks with few or no casualties, but in the northern province of Baghlan, an ambush killed five soldiers and wounded four police officers. The reports do not specify whether attackers are from the Taliban or other groups. Another soldier was wounded as a result of enemy shelling near the village of Vodiane. Russia's hybrid military forces on July 14 used the Fagot anti-tank missile system to fire at the positions of Ukraine's Joint Forces near the village of Novomykhailivka; as a result, six Ukrainian soldiers suffered shrapnel wounds. Read alsoU.S. Embassy in Kyiv condemns killing of Ukrainian military medic in enemy shelling in Donbas "Another soldier was wounded as a result of shelling from hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms near the village of Vodiane. In total, seven Ukrainian defenders have been wounded since Tuesday midnight. They were rushed to a hospital and provided with medical assistance," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook on July 14. Russian invaders are once again deliberately open fire first on the positions of the Ukrainian military in confirmation of their unwillingness to abide by the peace agreements, the report said. The Joint Forces returned fire. Enemy losses are being verified. As UNIAN reported, on July 13, a Ukrainian military medic was killed as Russia-led forces fired on an evacuation team of Ukraine's Joint Forces near the village of Zaitseve in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. The team wearing white helmets with identification marks was just a few meters from the body of the earlier killed soldier when the enemy opened fire from small arms, then from grenade launchers of various systems and large-caliber machine guns. As a result, the military medic was killed, one serviceman was wounded, while another one sustained a combat-related injury. Googles pledge to invest $10 billion in Indias digital ecosystem over 5-7 years is a welcome bright spot amid the economic gloom caused by COVID-19. To understand just how big it is, consider these. Since it opened its ecommerce operations in India, Amazons investment pledges over seven years is less than $7 billion. On the other hand, Walmart pumped $16 billion to buy a majority stake in Flipkart, and weeks ago Facebook put down $5.7 billion for a stake in Reliance Industries Jio Platforms. Clearly, all these affirm the huge digital potential of India, but also underscore different approaches towards cracking a cluttered and noisy market. Most or all of these initiatives may not have occurred had China not shut out the American companies. Just over the past year or so, Google was thwarted by a backhanded attempt to launch a censored search engine in China, and most recently dumped a plan for a cloud service. To that extent, Chinas policy has accelerated Indias digital push and India would do well to make the most of it. The timing of Googles pledge is significant in other ways too. It comes weeks after Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Industries announced a partnership with Facebook in its quest to drive e-commerce via the WhatsApp messaging platform, rather than picking Googles search smarts. That deal threatened to leave Google behind arch-rival Facebook, perhaps even isolating it in India, and also raised prospects of a telecom-led digital push similar to Jios. Since then, Google has been rumoured to eye a stake in embattled Vodafone-Idea. Financial Times, which in May reported the talks, suggested Google was considering buying a 5 percent stake but that might be considerably less ambitious. The third leading telecom player, Bharti Airtel, is believed to be negotiating a $2 billion stake sale to Amazon, though buzz around the companys shares suggest the rumour and perhaps the prospect itself has cooled. Regardless, it seems more likely than not that Airtel will find a partner for a digital push to rival Jio. So what can Google do in India to, say, stay in the race with global rivals such as Amazon and Facebook? In his web presentation announcing the investment, Googles India-born chief executive Sundar Pichai said he plans to pump in $10 billion through a mix of equity investment, partnership, and operational, infrastructure and ecosystem investments. Google is to focus on four areas affordable Internet access in Indian languages, development of unique products and services for the Indian market, enable digital transformation for businesses, and leverage technologies including AI for social good in areas such as education, healthcare and agriculture. Pichais agenda does not suggest a big bang initiative but it is tempting to see a hidden one for multiple reasons. Indias digital advertising is tiny. By one estimate, it is expected to be less than $1 billion, growing at less than 20 percent annually. Last year, Googles India revenue barely accounted for 1 percent of its global advertising revenue of $135 billion. So it is tempting to see Google eyeing something bigger with its new war chest, rather than simply targeting a modest advertising pie. Payments is a promising area of growth. Google Pay is already a leader in this segment, with a nearly two-thirds share, but the market itself is tipped to reach a humungous $1 trillion by 2023, affording more ambitious growth opportunities. Google has dabbled with shopping, without much success, but India is still an untapped market for e-commerce. A deal with Flipkart may not be unimaginable. While the looming digital battle ahead looks exciting for Indian consumers, it also brings multiple challenges. Google enjoys a monopoly in multiple areas, notably in the Android mobile operating system powering nearly all of Indias smartphones, and in search-based advertising. Amazon and Flipkart threaten to subsume ecommerce, and all the digital companies threaten personal and social data. Indias regulators and ministers have made a lot of noise about regulating digital giants, but have yet to translate them into meaningful action except for its so-called Google tax on digital products targeting Indian users. India has yet to meaningfully address any of the monopolies, or create a true level playing field. It has also yet to craft laws to protect data. If leaked details about a law to protect personal data, or a panels recommendation on non-personal data, are anything to go by, India has a lot of work ahead to tame the global digital giants. Bala Murali Krishna works for a New York-based startup. Views are personal Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd. The parameters of Egyptian involvement in the Libyan crisis have been clear since President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisis address to the armed forces in the Western Military Zone on 20 June. Underlining that these parameters are informed by the need to defend Egypts national security, he identified a red line from Sirte to Al-Jafra as the boundaries of Egypts vital sphere. He instructed Egypts troops to be prepared for military action abroad in the event of a hostile action intended to breach that sphere. In keeping with this outlook, the Jarbub Airbase was inaugurated in the Western Zone, qualitative military drills were held to focus on potential threats emanating from the West and, just last week, the Hasm (Resolve) 2020 land and maritime manoeuvres were carried out near the Libyan border to demonstrate Egypts readiness to take on a potential advance of the Turkish-backed terrorist and mercenary militias in Libya into Egypts vital sphere. Egypts concept of calibrated involvement in Libya reflects its awareness of the magnitude of the threat in Libya and the intricate dynamics of that crisis which has been exacerbated by attempts on the part of regional powers such as Turkey to exploit it. Turkeys tactical aim in Libya is to engineer a shift in the balances of power on the ground and to restructure Libyan political/military dynamics in a manner overtly hostile to Egypt. If Turkey instructs its mercenaries and militias to breach the red line, Egypt will be forced to act and its actions will unquestionably fall within the exercise of its right to self-defence which is a primary tenet of Egypts defence creed and strategy. Despite the multiple lines of engagement in the Libyan conflict, Egypt has remained determined from the outset to propel the stakeholders towards a political process leading to a transitional phase that would enable the restoration of stability to our neighbour. This is why Egypt sponsored the Cairo Declaration, an initiative to promote a return to the negotiating table, welcomed by a majority of the international community as an important contribution to the Berlin Process. Unfortunately, certain regional powers are working to sabotage the prospects of negotiations. Turkey, in particular, is bent on reproducing the current Government of National Accord (GNA) entity, which is a mutation from the consensual transitional body intended by the Skhirat Agreement, into an Ankara puppet. Not only is Cairo disinclined to offensive strategies and military options, it continues to work to strike a balance between the need to take necessary precautions against precipitous belligerent powers working to complicate the Libyan situation and the need to focus on advancing the agreed upon political process despite all counterproductive parties. Egypts military preparations still remain within its own borders, even if it has had to address certain targets abroad in the framework of a limited strike that did not constitute a military offensive in the proper sense and that clearly fell under the heading of self-defence. Egypt will not intervene militarily in Libya outside this framework, as President Al-Sisi stressed when discussing Egyptian military creed in his speech in the Western Zone. Egypts army is a sensible army, Al-Sisi said. Ankaras behaviour, on the other hand, remains inexplicably contradictory. On the one hand, it calls for an end to mercenaries in Libya and commits to this principle in Berlin. On the other, it trains mercenaries from Syria and sends them into Libya by the plane load. The number of mercenaries in Libya on the Turkish payroll now exceed 15,000 and they together with GNA militias have been transformed into the Libyan equivalent of the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (now Ankaras proxy Syrian National Army) which is advancing Turkeys territorial and political aims in Syria. Turkey, itself, now operates out of three military bases in western Libya (Watiya, Matiga and Misrata) and it has set its sights on occupying Ghardabiya and Al-Jafra bases and the petroleum facilities in Sirte. Contrary to its pledge in Berlin, Turkey continues its flagrant violation of the UN arms embargo to Libya and its justification could not rest on a flimsier pretext. It claims to be supporting the internationally recognised GNA whereas the House of Representatives is the only popularly elected governing body and the only body authorised to ratify agreements with foreign powers. But Ankara has an agenda and, in Libya, it is to secure control over Libyan oil behind a GNA facade in order to revive the Turkish economy and to fund the Libyan militias in order to advance Ankaras hegemonic aims abroad. Unlike Turkey, Egypt will not embark on an offensive war that would further aggravate the situation in Libya. This is consistent with its long-held policy of avoiding involvement in similar regional conflicts that have caused the collapse of states and killed and displaced millions. Therefore, Egypt will continue to work with other peace-seeking nations towards the realisation of political solutions. At the same time, it reserves its right to intervene in Libya in the defence of Egypts national security. Egypts national security is non-negotiable and Egypt will never compromise it in backroom deals or sacrifice it to material and megalomaniac ambitions, unlike certain other parties. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:21:24|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A flag-raising ceremony is held by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland at the Golden Bauhinia Square in Hong Kong, south China, July 1, 2020. (Xinhua/Li Gang) BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said Tuesday that it will never allow any illegal manipulation in the Legislative Council (LegCo) election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The spokesperson condemned the so-called "primaries" recently organized by the opposition camp in Hong Kong, saying that such acts have constituted illegal manipulation of the LegCo election and posed a blatant challenge to the HKSAR Basic Law and the national security law for the HKSAR. The spokesperson expressed resolute support for punishing such illegal acts in accordance with the law. It's tax season in July. Given that the Internal Revenue Service has been dealing with a backlog of unprocessed paper tax returns, it may be even wiser at this point to e-file your 1040 by July 15, especially if you want to collect a tax refund as quickly as possible and use direct deposit to a bank account. The tax filing deadline, which was extended because of the coronavirus crisis, is fast approaching for millions of taxpayers who have yet to file their 2019 federal income tax returns. Save better, spend better: Money tips and advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here Oddly enough, some people may have little choice but to file a paper return for 2019 because of a computer headache triggered by the use of an online IRS stimulus tool for "non-filers." It's not a glitch that will hit everyone, but it's certainly odd enough to worth noting. The rollout of the stimulus payments, officially called the Economic Impact Payment, included two online tools at IRS.gov that were designed to help in the process. One tool for non-filers was supposed to help some lower-income people who typically don't make enough money to be required to file a tax return but would qualify for the Economic Impact Payment. They're unlikely to be filing 2019 tax returns because they don't have to do so. If non-filers haven't yet received an Economic Impact Payment, they should look into using this tool at IRS.gov to provide information online. "The only way they can get this payment is to register with the IRS by using this free tool," according to the IRS. The registration deadline is Oct. 15. Unfortunately, some people who are regular tax filers used the non-filers tool in the spring and they're running into problems now as they try to meet the July 15 deadline for filing their tax returns. Some people may have been confused about when to use the non-filers tool; others may have been impatient about getting their stimulus check money and opted to use the non-filer tool when they ran into glitches elsewhere on the IRS platform. Story continues Staggered hours, automatic doors: How offices might look different amid the pandemic Tax deadline 2020: July 15 is around the corner. What to know A reader in Albany, New York, alerted me to the problem. Mike Rubenstein typically files a tax return so he would not be considered a non-filer. But he rationalized that he and his wife had not yet filed his 2019 tax return as of late May. They did file a 2018 income tax return. Why did they use a tool for non-filers? Well, several glitches had people pulling their hair in the spring trying to figure out how to use another "Get My Payment" tool also at IRS.gov to figure out how to give the IRS bank account information for direct deposit of stimulus checks or how to track their Economic Impact Payment. The upstate New York couple ran into some trouble trying to use "Get My Payment" to determine when they would receive their stimulus payment. The "Get My Payment" tool at IRS.gov kept telling them they didn't qualify or their information was not available. They knew that wasn't true. After being unclear on how what to do, the 63-year-old state retiree decided to enter information in the "Non Filers: Enter Payment Info Here" section. He's not the only person to try this trick, and said he read about it somewhere. Unfortunately, the IRS treated his information as if a 2019 return were already filed and rejecting an e-file return. He said he confirmed that no one filed a return in his name using a stolen identity. Many people ran into trouble once they tried to eventually e-file their 2019 income tax return using TurboTax or other tax software. H&R Block posted an alert Friday on its web site relating to those rejected returns. Some people used that non-filer tool but others filed a much abbreviated 1040 in the spring, say claiming $1 or $2 in income. If they need to file a return now, they may need to file an amended return or a paper return, depending on what they filed earlier. The IRS considers a stimulus registration via its non-filer tool as a federal tax filing, according to tax experts. As a result, tax filers who typically file a return but registered their information with the IRS for a stimulus payment through the non-filers tool before filing a 2019 return, essentially are being treated as if they already filed a federal tax return when they really didn't. "A tax return that is filed after a stimulus registration is seen by the IRS as a duplicate, because there is already a tax return with that Social Security Number on file, and will be rejected," according to Ashley McMahon, a spokeswoman for Intuit, maker of TurboTax. What do you do? "According to the IRS, tax filers in this situation will need to print and mail their tax return with the words 'Amended EIP Return' written at the top of their 1040/1040-SR," McMahon said. "Tax returns must be mailed by the July 15 deadline." H&R Block noted online: "If you used the IRS non-filer tool or filed a return with $0 or $1 of income, then you need to file a new tax return by U.S. mail instead of electronically with Amended EIP Return written or printed at the top." "If you filed your 2019 return with $2 or more of income, you should file your 2019 taxes using Form 1040-X to amend your return." July 15 is a deadline you don't want to overlook. Can you wait even longer? It is possible to file a Form 4868 by July 15 to receive a three-month automatic extension to file, until Oct. 15. See IRS.gov. Taxpayers still must estimate their tax bill on this form and pay any amount due. If you don't pay the taxes due, penalties and interest may build. You could face a failure to file penalty if you don't file a return or request an extension by July 15. Can I still make a contribution to my IRA? Yes, you can still make a contribution for the 2019 tax year to individual retirement accounts, Roth IRAs and Health Savings Accounts if you do so by July 15. Eligible taxpayers can usually contribute up to $6,000 to an IRA for 2019. Or if you were age 50 or older by the end of 2019, you could contribute up to $7,000. The rules regarding what might qualify for a tax deduction get complicated very quickly. Be aware of the income limits, especially if you or your spouse are covered by a workplace retirement plan. Deductions made to Roth IRAs are not tax deductible but income limits still apply for making those contributions. What if I owe money? Well, you have options. See IRS.gov/payments for some how-to-pay programs offered through the IRS. Options include Direct Pay, which allows taxpayers to pay online directly from a checking or savings account for free, and to schedule payments up to 365 days in advance. They will receive an email confirmation of their payments. The IRS notes: "Those who owe a 2019 income tax liability, as well as estimated tax for 2020, must make two separate payments on or by July 15, 2020. One for their 2019 income tax liability and one for their 2020 estimated tax payments. The two estimated tax payments can be combined into a single payment." Contact Susan Tompor at stompor@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @tompor. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: July 15 tax deadline: Some late tax filers could face stimulus glitch Co-workers and friends of the men's rights attorney who was shot dead in front of his California home this weekend say his killing could be related to his court cases. Marc Angelucci, 52, a board member of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Coalition for Men (NCFM), was killed at his front door in Crestline on Saturday around 4pm. The San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department says motive behind the deadly shooting is not known and the investigation is ongoing. Congressional candidate and attorney Ronda Kennedy revealed Angelucci was her co-counsel on two cases and they had been in court together on Friday. She speculated his death could be related to his legal work. 'My co-counsel on two cases Marc Angelucci, was murdered last night. Just did an interview with detectives. If you have any information please contact the San Bernardino detectives,' she tweeted Sunday. Co-workers and friends of the men's rights attorney Marc Angelucci, 52, who was shot dead in front of his California home on Saturday say his killing could be related to his court cases Congressional candidate and attorney Ronda Kennedy (above) revealed Angelucci was her co-counsel on two cases and they had been in court together on Friday. She speculated his death could be related to his legal work She tweeted Sunday that Angelucci's killing 'may be related to our cases', slamming his assailants as 'cowards' 'It maybe related to our cases, I am sure the cowards that murdered my friend in cold blood wont be stupid enough to come after a pro #2A Congressional candidate,' she added. Kennedy said she and Angelucci gave 'a devastating blow to our opposition' on Friday. 'We talked laughed hugged each other and planned to meet this week to go over next steps. We wee such a good legal team,' she said. His friend and former Congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine tweeted claiming his death was a 'hit', noting he was about to win a 'huge case' in Mariposa County. 'It was a homocide. Most likely a hit. He was just about to win a huge case in Mariposa County that had been going on for years. Cant say much more beyond that at this time. Incredible man though and did a lot of great work for the community, fathers and men. Im in shock,' she tweeted. On Tuesday the San Bernardino Sheriff's Office told DailyMail.com there are no updates in the case. They're yet to comment on any connection to his work. Former Congressional candidate DeAnne Lorraine shared this tribute to Angelucci on Sunday She also believed his death was a targeted 'hit', noting he was about to win a 'huge case' in Mariposa County. He was representing Jerry Cox and JDC Land company in the case against the county, arguing that county officials unfairly took Cox's land Angelucci was representing a man falsely accused of rape who claimed Mariposa County unfairly seized his land as he was fighting the allegations at the time of his death The case he was working on was County of Mariposa v. JDC Land Company LLC, where he was representing JDC Land Company and owner Jerry Cox pro bono. Cox, who had been falsely accused of rape in 2015 and had those charges dropped in 2017, sued the county, accusing officials of conspiring to seize his sprawling 400-acre Bison Creek Ranch property, according to the Merced Sun Star. In the case Angelucci was working on an appeal with Ronda Kennedy before the California Supreme Court arguing for the rights of landowners 'against government sanctioned theft of private property by way of underregulated receivership laws'. In a news release for the case in June Angeluci said: 'This case is one of an overreaching government with no accountability.' Cox spent years fighting the rape accusation and claimed he lost his business and ranch to receivership after Mariposa County officials issued several zoning, building and permit code violations on his property. Angelucci, 52, a board member of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Coalition for Men and served as the group's president for several years. He joined the group as a law student in 1997 afer seeing a friend physically abused for years by his wife and denied domestic violence services because he is male Authorities received a call around 4pm about the shooting on the 22400 block of Glenwood Drive where Angelucci was later pronounced dead, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Department What is the National Coalition for Men? The group, founded in 1977, describes itself as a 'gender inclusive, nonpartisan, ethnically diverse organization committed to ending harmful discrimination and stereotypes against boys, men, their families and the women who love them.' The group seeks reform through advocacy, education, outreach, services and litigation. The group fights against anti-male bias in media, paternity fraud, fights for the rights of male domestic violence victims and against male-only military conscription. The Southern Poverty Law Center says male rights groups like this 'distort or cherry-pick statistics to indicate female privilege, blame women, or create false equivalences between the oppression of men and women, rather than simply seek to advance the cause of men and fathers.' Advertisement Angelucci had argued that the county 'ejected Mr. Cox and placed his ranch in receivership, without allowing him to present expert testimony and video evidence that the violations were ether fixed or non-existent.' After getting kicked off his ranch, Cox was left homeless and on food stamps, Angelucci said. 'This appeal will determine whether California counties can continue using receivership law to seize private property and sell the property even after all repairs are made, circumventing Constitutional rights to due process. If so, that means no Californian property owner is safe,' Angelucci said on the case. The National Coalition For Men, which Angelucci was heavily involved in, engaged in Cox's case due to the false rape allegation that led to his arrest. NCFM describes itself as a 'gender inclusive, nonpartisan, ethnically diverse organization committed to ending harmful discrimination and stereotypes against boys, men, their families and the women who love them.' The group, founded in 1977, sought reform through litigation and Angelucci was a star lawyer for the organization. In court he helped fight against male-only military conscription, drafted and enacted legislation to fight paternity fraud, and fought to include men in domestic violence victim programs organized by the state. Anyone with more information about the incident was asked to call Det. Simon Demuri at (909) 387-3589. Callers can also remain anonymous by calling WeTip at 800-78CRIME or http://www.wetip.com. WATERBURY The victim of Mondays homicide was shot following a domestic disturbance with his girlfriend as well as a confrontation involving another man, police said on Tuesday. At 3:51 p.m. Monday, Waterbury police responded to 20 John St. for a report of gunfire and that someone mightve been shot. Patrol officers found the victim whose identity has not yet been released by police dead in the driveway. The victim appeared to have a gunshot wound to the head, Lt. David Silverio said in a news release Monday. A handgun was recovered at the scene. Police are asking for the publics help to locate a man they say is responsible for Mondays homicide, stressing that the man should be considered armed and dangerous. Waterbury police say they have secured an arrest warrant for 35-year-old Ramon Ocasio, charging him with murder, criminal use of a weapon and illegal discharge of a firearm. Contributed Photo / Waterbury Police Department Additional details about what led up to the fatal shooting were also released Tuesday. Silverio said the gunshot victim was involved in a domestic disturbance with his girlfriend in a second-floor apartment at 20 John St. It was during that disturbance that police said Ocasio showed up at the apartment confronted the other man. Silverio said Ocasio is the brother of the homicide victims girlfriend. Ocasio has been residing intermittently at this apartment, Silverio said. During the incident, the homicide victim left the apartment and went outside. Ocasio allegedly went onto the second-floor rear porch and argued with the man, who was standing in the driveway. At one point, Ocasio shot several gunshots at the victim, ran down the rear porch stairs and departed, Silverio said. He said Ocasio allegedly got into a red Ford F150 pickup with Florida registration Z64DXC. He was last seen headed east on Green Street. The homicide victim had suspected gunshot wounds to the head, right arm and back, Silverio said. Detectives and the Crime Scene Unit of the Forensic Division responded to investigate. Several cartridge casings were located in the driveway, Silverio said. These cartridge casings were a different caliber than the handgun recovered at the scene by the Crime Scene Technicians. Detectives continue to investigate and are looking to find and apprehend Ocasio. Do not approach or make contact with Roman Ocasio, Silverio said. Ocasio should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone with information on Ocasios whereabouts is asked to call Waterbury detectives at 203-574-6941 or 911. A Cyber Attack On The UK From China Can Now Be Expected Five years ago, then British Prime Minister David Cameron was celebrating a "golden era" in UK-China relations, bonding with President Xi Jinping and signing off on trade deals worth billions, but now Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government are concerned about the effects of their decision to cancel Huawei's access to the UK national 5G network.. Discussions between Beijing and London over Hong Kong have become more acrimonious. Britains National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is about has finally recommended the removal of Huawei equipment from the national telecoms network. Shockwaves over the Chinese origins of the coronavirus are spreading around the world. There is now a real concern this may result in China launching a full-fledged hacking attack on the UK. In the worst-case scenario of a cyber attack, hackers may damage the UK's computer networks, which would lead to phone and power blackouts and bring hospitals and businesses to a standstill, according to the sources. These events in Hong Kong have significant consequences for international relations. China has been flexing its muscles for a long time, but the West has been slow to realise it. China is the new imperial power in Africa. It has in large parts taken over the continent, raping it for its natural resources and embedding itself in all sorts of different countries. It has only one aim; the furtherance of Chinese power and influence on the continent. Consider how China is behaving towards India over the disputed border region. It continues to threaten Taiwan. It treats its minority Uighur Muslim population in a manner reminiscent of how the Jews were treated in Nazi Germany and now it has imposed a new security law on Hong Kong in defiance of the terms of the 1985 Joint Declaration. Laughably, China justifies it on the basis that it was a declaration and not a Treaty. There will be consequences of the U turn over Huawei and one of them will be that UK universities will be targeted by the Chinese government. Many university courses are now totally reliant on Chinese students and their fees for their existence. China will probably stop its students from coming to the UK and that gap in funding for UK universities will be impossible to fill. In 2014-15 there were 89,500 Chinese students at UK universities. Since then, the number has got up by a third to 120,000. There are numerous danger signs of China's malicious intent to engage in cyberwar against its opponents, not least Australia which has suffered a wave of 'unattributed attacks' only a few weeks ago. In February, the government had announced that the UK would, with conditions, allow Huawei to assist in building the 5G network in Britain, now all that is changing. Iain Dale: Nation: Economic Times: You Might Also Read: US Ban On Semiconductor Exports To China Hits Huawei: At 12.30pm/1.30pm on Tuesday afternoon Oliver Dowden/Matt Hancock stood at the despatch box of the House of Commons and announced that, yes, letting Huawei provide the UKs 5G network/not making face coverings mandatory in shops had been an absolutely terrible idea all along, just like everybody said it was. That everyone else was right and that they were wrong, and that the policy would now be reversed with (almost) immediate effect. Some people have chosen to call these identical announcements a double U-turn, or an embarrassment but I think that is unfair. Its best to think of the spectacle not as a double public self-shaming but a training exercise. No one even bothers to pretend anymore that the coronavirus pandemic found anything other than a government not entirely capable of finding its backside with both hands. So really, respect is due to any government minister whos worked out that its really not very long until 2021, and really shouldnt be passing up the chance to practise standing up in public and admitting that that thing the whole world could see was a terrible idea, that you all said was a terrible idea, was indeed a terrible idea. The only difference being itll be too late to get out of that one. Depressing though it is to have to waste keystrokes, we must pause for a moment to enter the culture war on mask-wearing. It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that the circles that form the Venn diagram of People Who Wont Wear A Mask To Go To The Shops and People Who Think Brexit Is A Good Idea overlap with such perfect exactitude to become what Bonnie Tyler might have called a total eclipse of the brain. Douglas Carswell has taken the trouble to tell the world that he wont be going to the shops anymore. Desmond Swayne MP stood up in the House of Commons to announce that it was a monstrous imposition. It is not clear when Swayne in particular became so opposed to face coverings, having only recently boasted on his blog about covering his face in boot polish to attend a fancy dress party as James Brown, an unlikely turn of events that took several days to make its way into the news, by unfortunate virtue of the fact that the knowledge of the existence of said blog had hitherto not extended beyond its author. It was a kind of public service, in its way. In getting so wildly angry about the microscopic imposition of wearing a face mask to prevent the spread of a lethal illness, the mask slipped. These people are simply idiots, and there is no more to be said on the subject. Still, none of us should be surprised. For some months now, the stubborn refusal to make any personal sacrifices whatsoever in the face of a virus that has already killed more British civilians than the Blitz has been coupled, in the usual dullard quarters, as an invocation of that Blitz spirit. Ah, the Blitz. And not even just the Blitz, the entire war. When food was rationed, when every single night for six long years you had to stick ugly blackout curtains up in all your windows, and the moment you didnt an officious volunteer would turn up at your door and fine you. A gentle smattering of especially selfish imbeciles objected to the imposition of all that, too. They will be pleased to see their spirit living on. In both cases, the specifics are somewhat tricky. In particular Oliver Dowden whose very gentle rise to extremely low-level fame has at least had the upside of making him, from the right angle, just about distinguishable from the prime ministers little brother had some excruciating explaining to do. It had been concluded, in so many words, that Huawei couldnt be trusted. So much so in fact, that the company would be completely removed from UK infrastructure within seven years. He was asked at one point, quite why it was that, if China couldnt be trusted to install mobile telephone infrastructure, are we completely sure it could still be trusted to build us a nuclear power plant? The answer that came was more of a noise than anything actually worth transcribing. And in announcing that face coverings should now be worn in shops, Matt Hancock found himself, not for the first time, clinging to the broken twig of Answer in the wild sea of Question. How come in March the deputy chief medical officer said that wearing face masks would do more harm than good? Why has Spain, Italy and Germany and indeed Scotland been doing this for weeks but England hasnt? Why are you telling people to wear face coverings in shops but also bribing them with government-backed 10 vouchers to take them off and eat in restaurants? Why, in short, did you think that the whole world was wrong except you and you have now changed your mind? Somehow, some day, the pandemic will go away. That question, on the other hand, will be lingering for decades. And no amount of practising the answer will be enough. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has called on President Akufo-Addo to immediately ensure that fuel prices at the pumps are reduced immediately. The party say the declining prices of crude oil on the international market, amongst other factors, should have led to a drastic reduction of fuel but the government has refused to do so. According to the opposition, the call for reduction is to help commercial drivers as they have been compelled to reduce the number of passengers that board their vehicles in order to adhere to social distancing. Speaking to the media in Accra today, July 13, 2020, National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, described the increase in fuel prices as unacceptable and demanded that prices be reduced immediately. Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot end by urging government to reduce fuel prices, instead of the recent consistent increments at a time crude prices have plummeted on the world market. The need to reduce fuel prices comes at a time government has directed all commercial drivers to reduce the number of passengers they take in line with social distancing protocols. This has drastically reduced the incomes of transport owners who are still being asked to pay more for fuel. This is unacceptable, and prices must go down immediately. Attendant increase in transport fares Commercial transport operators over the weekend increased transport fares by 15%. This was after the transport operators made a proposal for the government to allow them to revert to carrying their usual full seating capacity or for the fares to be adjusted upwards by 30%. After considering both proposals, government subsequently approved a 15% increase. ---citinewsroom Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have urged that costs related to public health measures aimed at mitigating the spread of communicable diseases should be borne by governments. The Covid-19 pandemics effect on the industry and broader economy has halted aviation at global level, leading to multi-billion losses in revenue and traffic. As the industry begins to restart and plan for a long-term, sustained recovery, the health and safety of passengers and staff remains the foremost priority for airports and airlines. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), through the Council Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART), has resolved to partner with its Member States, international and regional organizations, and industry to address the challenges and to provide global guidance for a safe, secure and sustainable restart and recovery of the aviation sector. ICAOs TakeOff guidance outlines a number of new measures for safeguarding public health, which are already being introduced by airports and airlines around the world. To ensure their efficacy, these measures - which include health checks, sanitisation and social distancing - will require implementation by the appropriate national authorities. ACI and IATA believe that existing roles and responsibilities of governments, airlines, airports and other operational stakeholders should be respected in implementing the response to the Covid-19 outbreak. Airlines and airport operators should be included in national discussions to assess the practicalities of implementing the solutions proposed by ICAO aimed at harmonization across jurisdictions. There is a recognition that a patchwork of different frameworks risks confusing travellers, introducing inefficiencies and unnecessary additional compliance costs on passengers, airports and airlines. Indeed, the World Health Organizations International Health Regulations require governments to pay the costs of health measures. As airport and airline operations begin to slowly recover, the health and safety of passengers and staff is paramount and many new health measures are being considered by governments for implantation at airports, ACI World Director Luis Felipe de Oliveira said. As the industry navigates the complexities of restarting operations, ACI believes the cost of any health measures that are required should be borne by governments. ACI and IATA are aligned on this issue, as set out in the Safely Restarting Aviation ACI and IATA Joint Approach which was our input to ICAOs TakeOff guidance. This laid out that public funding of health measures should be ensured, including but not limited to infrastructure or operational changes needed for their implementation. IATAs Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said: The aviation industry wants to get the world moving again. We have successfully worked with ICAO and many governments worldwide to put in place standardised protocols that safeguard public health and give travellers the confidence to return to the skies. But the industry is still on the edge of a financial precipice. The extra costs of health measures mandated by governments mustas the WHO recommendsbe borne by governments. That will enable the industry to focus scarce resources on reconnecting the world and boosting economic recovery. - TradeArabia News Service Professor Eva Man , Director of AF said, "The Academy of Film strives to nurture talents with thorough academic knowledge and professional skills in the creation and production of films and TV programmes. Based on our rich teaching experience, the new programme will groom more rising stars with a global perspective for the industry." Professor Michael Bray, Professor of Practice of AF and Director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Acting for Global Screen programme, said, "The integration of interdisciplinary knowledge is one of the highlights of this unique programme. In addition to acting training and performance studies, our curriculum also puts emphasis on understanding technology and contemporary cultural reflection." Professor Bray, who joined HKBU recently, is an experienced acting educator, veteran actor, and stage and film director. Before joining AF, he was the course leader of postgraduate screen acting course at the Drama Centre, Central Saint Martins, at the University of Arts London. The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Acting for Global Screen is a four-year programme. Its core subjects include Introduction to Performing Arts, Voice and Speech, Movement, Fundamentals of Directing, Script Analysis and Acting, Acting on Stage, Acting on Screen and with Technology, Individual Enhancement Workshop and so forth. The programme offers an intake quota of 16 places each year targeting local and non-local students. The programme emphasises both theory and practice, and encourages students to go global for exchange experiences. The programme will connect with local and overseas performing art organisations to provide internship opportunities for students. The programme has special English proficiency requirements for applicants. They need to obtain level 5 or above in English Language of the Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination, or an overall band score of 7.0 or above in IELTS. Applicants also have to submit a portfolio of their background in acting training, performing experience and prize received. Shortlisted applicants will be invited to attend an audition/interview. The performance of applicants in the audition/interview will be taken into consideration as part of the application process. To support potential talents, scholarships will be provided to the selected applicants who demonstrate an overall excellent performance in the admission exercise. Scholarships for local, non-local and ethnic minority students will be available. About the Academy of Film AF is dedicated to the provision of cinematic-arts and creative media education to cultivate talented professionals capable of contributing to Hong Kong's arts and cultural industries. For the past decades, AF has been the chief provider of cinema, television and media education in Hong Kong. It is currently Hong Kong's flagship film school in terms of its size, breadth of programmes, the distinguished alumni it has nurtured, and its strong industry connections. Apart from the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Acting for Global Screen programme, AF currently offers four full-time programmes to more than 750 students at higher diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree levels. To find out more about the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) in Acting for Global Screen programme, please go to http://af.hkbu.edu.hk/tc/bfa-introduction. For more information about AF, please visit the website at http://af.hkbu.edu.hk/ Media enquiries: Wong Suk-ling of the Communication and Public Relations Office (Tel: 3411-2119, email: [email protected]). SOURCE Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) Lady Gaga and Cory Booker reportedly attended Eric Schmidt's secretive summit. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images; Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has run an ultrasecretive summit in Montana for a handful of executives, politicians, and celebrities since at least 2012, the Tech Transparency Project reported Monday. The event has been hosted every summer at the Yellowstone Club and included guests such as Lady Gaga, Sen. Cory Booker, and journalist Ronan Farrow, according to the organization. While private retreats aren't uncommon, the under-the-radar nature of the Yellowstone event raises questions about whether it has been used to quietly curry favor for Google or Schmidt's personal projects. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Every summer since at least 2012, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has invited a handful of executives, politicians, celebrities, and at least one journalist to a secretive summit in rural Montana, the Tech Transparency Project reported Monday. The event is hosted at the Yellowstone Club a swanky private club where members like Schmidt pay north of $40,000 per year in membership dues and has included high-profile guests such as Lady Gaga, Sen. Cory Booker, and journalist Ronan Farrow, according to the tech watchdog. An analysis by the Tech Transparency Project of flight records, media accounts, and social-media posts showed that Google's private jets have flown attendees, including Google staff, to the event, where they engaged in recreational activities as well as discussions on a variety of topics around technology. It isn't uncommon for the ultrawealthy to host similar "ideas summits" the investment bank Allen & Co. holds a famous one in Sun Valley, Idaho, and Sen. Mitt Romney hosts one in Park City, Utah. However, the Tech Transparency Project reported that Schmidt's event has kept an extremely low profile, with attendees being told not to disclose details. That secrecy and the likely attendee list raise questions about what influence the event and conversations held there might have had over people's relationships with Schmidt or Google especially for those in positions of power. Story continues The watchdog reported that recent invitees included Austria's chancellor, who was pushing for a new tax on tech companies and eventually abandoned it; Ronan Farrow, who wrote a story after his attendance event that the Tech Transparency Project viewed as too soft on Google; and the founder of a think tank that had been critical of Google's approach to combating extremist content. Since Schmidt stepped down as Google CEO in 2011, he has played an active role in trying to grow the tech industry's influence on government. ProPublica reported last year that he has gained unprecedented access within the Pentagon despite whistleblower concerns that he could use it to steer business toward Google (in which he still owns a substantial amount of stock). Earlier this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tapped Schmidt as a tech adviser for the state's post-pandemic reopening. Schmidt, Lady Gaga, Booker, and Farrow did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story. Read the original article on Business Insider Body of man swept off rocks found near Freedom Beach PHUKET: Search teams this afternoon located and recovered the body of the Myanmar man who was swept off rocks by a large wave at Paradise beach on Sunday (July 12). marineSafetydeathMyanmar By The Phuket News Tuesday 14 July 2020, 04:34PM Search and rescue workers bring the body ashore earlier today (July 14). Photo: Patong Municipality Fire Dept The body of Ar So Toy, 32, was discovered near Freedom Beach, on the southern side of the headland separating Karon from Patong, at about 2:35pm, an officer from the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation office at Patong Municipality (DDPM-Patong) told The Phuket News. Mr Ar So Toy was swept into the sea by a large wave while he was standing on rocks fishing with his friend, Way Yam U, also a Myanmar national, near Paradise Beach on the northern side of the headland late Sunday afternoon. Rescue services were alerted and pulled Mr Way Yam U from the sea after about three hours of searching, but further search efforts failed to find Mr Ar So Toy. The search continued late into Sunday night, and all day yesterday, and resumed this morning. Joining the search efforts with DDPM-Patong officers.were Patong lifeguards, Phuket Marine Policeand Kusoldharm rescue workers. Mr Ar So Toys body is being taken back to Patong Hospital, the DDPM-Patong officer said. MECOSTA COUNTY, MI - A driver clipped an Amish buggy and collided into another car on Monday evening in Deerfield Township, south of Big Rapids. The driver of the car that was hit was transported to Spectrum Hospital Big Rapids for non-life threatening injuries, according to a release from the Mecosta County Sheriffs Office. According to that release, a 39-year-old man attempted to pass a horse-drawn carriage while traveling west on 5 Mile Road at 165th Avenue. He clipped the buggy, and hit an eastbound car, driven by an 18-year-old man. At about 7:13 p.m., officers with the Mecosta County sheriff department arrived on the scene, along with county emergency services and Morley Area Fire and Rescue. There was some damage to the Amish buggy. Mecosta County is home to an Amish community of about 80 families, according to the county website, and its members do not drive motorized vehicles. Read more on MLive: Grand Havens canceled Coast Guard Festival moves to front porches Muskegon exploring public-private partnership to build 100 new rentals Police ID woman, boy who died in Grand Rapids house fire where 2019 homicide occurred Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Istanbul Tue, July 14, 2020 10:38 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406661b765 2 Art & Culture Hagia-Sophia,mosque,Museum Free Mosaics in Istanbul's ancient Hagia Sophia will be covered by curtains or lasers during times of Muslim prayer, the spokesman for Turkey's ruling AK Party said on Monday, after President Tayyip Erdogan converted the museum into a mosque. The Christian icons would be uncovered and be open to all visitors at other times, and admission would be free of charge, the AKP's Omer Celik said. It was not immediately clear how the lasers would work. On Friday, a Turkish court ruled that the building's conversion to a museum in 1934 was unlawful and Erdogan, declaring it a mosque, said the first prayers would be held there within two weeks. The move drew international criticism and concern, including from Greece, the United States and Russia, as well as UNESCO and Pope Francis, who said he was hurt by the decision. Celik told a news conference in Ankara that the biggest disrespect to Hagia Sophia in history was done by the papacy. He said Orthodox Christians and Hagia Sophia had suffered for years during a "Latin invasion" led by the papacy in the 13th century, when Crusaders pillaged the cathedral. Greece condemned the decision on Friday, saying it would have repercussions on relations between the two countries and on Turkey's ties with the European Union. The US State Department said it was "disappointed" by the move. The leader of Italy's far-right League party, Matteo Salvini, led a demonstration outside the Turkish consulate in Milan to protest against the decision. "I would stop every kind of financial aid to the Turkish regime and I would terminate once and for all any hypothesis of Turkey entering the European Union because we have given more than 10 billion euros to a regime that transforms churches into mosques and I think they have gone over the limit," he said. UNESCO said on Friday it would review the status of the monument as a World Heritage Site following Erdogan's announcement. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was surprised by UNESCO's reaction and would let it know of further steps that will be taken regarding Hagia Sophia, which was a Byzantine church for nine centuries before the Ottomans converted it to a mosque. Turkey is sensitive about protecting its historical character, he said. "We have to protect our ancestors' heritage. The function can be this way or that way - it does not matter," Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT Haber. Ukraine does not agree with Iran's theory of human error being the cause of the downing of a Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) flight near Tehran and is waiting for the results of the investigation and the established legal facts, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said. "It is too early to claim that the plane was shot down due to human error, as the Iranian side claims. We have many questions, and we need many authoritative, impartial and maximally objective answers to what had happened. As of now, Ukraine cannot agree with the fact that the plane was shot down due to human error. We are convinced that this issue should be resolved as part of a criminal investigation with the establishment of all the facts," he said at a briefing on Tuesday, July 14. According to him, only then will it be possible to state definitively that a certain theory was behind the downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane. Kuleba said today that "the imposition of interpretations is wrong" and that everyone should focus on establishing legal facts. "In any case, the downing of a civilian plane is an illegal act, and Iran will answer for this act in accordance with international law. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is fully prepared for this legal and diplomatic struggle, and we will do all we can so that Iran pays the highest price for what had happened," Kuleba said. He said that according to the Ukrainian Embassy in Iran, the Iranian side has expressed its readiness to arrive for talks on compensation to Ukraine between July 20 and 30. The minister also noted that the next important step was to examine the plane's black box flight recorders and added that this should happen next week in France with the participation of leading experts from the United States, Canada, France, Britain, and Ukraine. Iran's Civil Aviation Organization said on July 11 that the misalignment of the missile guidance system and a decision to fire without authorization had led to the accidental downing of the Ukrainian passenger plane in January. The Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) plane (flight PS752) heading from Tehran to Kyiv crashed shortly after it took off from the Imam Khomeini International Airport at about 06:00 Tehran time (04:30 Kyiv time) on January 8. There were 176 people on board nine crew members (all Ukrainians) and 167 passengers (citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, Germany, and the UK). They all died. On January 11, Iran admitted that its military had accidentally shot down the Ukrainian passenger jet. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accepted full responsibility for the downing of the Ukrainian airliner. It emerged later that the UIA plane had been shot down by two missiles of the Tor-M1 air defense system, which Iran received from Russia. Photo credit: AA Hyderabad, July 14 : A special chartered flight of Tech Mahindra from the US landed here on Tuesday with 210 employees and dependents. The flight from Dallas landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here at 3.45 a.m., a company spokesperson told IANS. The employees and their dependents were stranded in the US following the Covid-19-induced lockdown. There were 108 employees and their 102 family members. The special chartered flight had taken off from Fort Worth International Airport in Dallas on Monday. The spokesperson said 53 of the employees were from Telangana, and the rest who belonged to other states will go to their respective cities. "Ensuring the well-being and safety of our entire employee, customer and partner ecosystem is critical in the collective fight against this global pandemic. Bringing our US-based associates and their dependents back home conveys our commitment towards our core values of ensuring employees' safety first, and reiterates Tech Mahindra's ability to be adaptable and agile in keeping mission-critical systems on for global clients from anywhere in the world, even during times of crisis," CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra, said. With the recent Covid-19 outbreak, Tech Mahindra has taken necessary preventive measures to ensure the wellness and well-being of its associates, the company said. A week ago, on July 7, another leading Indian IT player Infosys had also flown its employees and families from the US to Bengaluru. "At The Fineshriber Family Foundation, we are committed to meeting the needs of children and families in our community, and during these unprecedented times, we felt it was our responsibility to help our neighbors in need," said Beth Tigay, Executive Director of the Fineshriber Family Foundation. "It is our honor to work to provide support to the Food Bank, who is serving so many in need in our community." Food distribution from the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank's two distribution centers has increased by 70% compared to the first two months of 2020, and this time last year. The Food Bank provided over 27.5 million meals since the crisis started in March. The Fineshriber Family Foundation's financial support will be provided to those in the Los Angeles community. "With the pandemic's economic impact, we have seen the need for food assistance increase markedly. The generous support of The Fineshriber Family Foundation makes it possible for us to increase our distributions and provide more nutritious food to those in need in LA County," said Michael Flood, the Food Bank's President and CEO. "We are sincerely grateful for The Fineshriber Family Foundation's loyal support at such an important time." As millions of our neighbors are falling into poverty and many more are food insecure, The Fineshriber Family Foundation's match will help ensure that those in LA County can access nutritious food for themselves and their families, especially their children. To learn more about how the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has been fighting hunger in the local community for over four decades and opportunities for additional support, please visit lafoodbank.org . About The Fineshriber Family Foundation The Fineshriber Family Foundation is a private foundation based in Los Angeles, CA, founded in 2005, whose mission is to support agencies that meet the critical needs of children and families through innovative solutions with a focus on equity and social justice. About Los Angeles Regional Food Bank The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has been mobilizing resources to fight hunger in Los Angeles County since 1973. To support the Food Bank's vision that no one goes hungry in Los Angeles County, food and grocery products are distributed through a network of 600 partner agencies and directly to families, seniors and children through direct distribution programs. The Food Bank has distributed more than 1.5 billion pounds of food, the equivalent of 1.2 billion meals since 1973. In response to the Coronavirus crisis, the Food Bank has increased food distribution by more than 70 percent, reaching more than 200,000 people every week. The Food Bank is a 4-star rated charity by Charity Navigator. For more information, visit LAFoodBank.org . Media Contact David May Director of Marketing and Communications [email protected] SOURCE Los Angeles Regional Food Bank Related Links http://www.lafoodbank.org By Jung Min-ho Visitors to some of Busan's most popular beaches will have to wear masks or face hefty fines. Starting July 25, the city's health officials will impose fines of up to 3 million won ($2,500) for those not wearing masks at five beaches Haeundae, Songjeong, Gwangalli, Dadaepo and Songdo as part of the efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. With the Haeundae District Office's own rule already in place, visitors to Haeundae could be fined from July 20. Also, eating and drinking on the beaches will be prohibited. Violators could face a fine of up to 3 million won. If anyone causes significant financial damage by violating the rules, the city government said it will demand reparation. Smaller beaches have been excluded from the measures. However, if the number of visitors increases significantly, they may also be included, the city government said. "We made the decision for the safety of everyone," a city official said. "We urge everyone to comply with the new rule." The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented international restrictions. Health officials in popular travel destinations, such as Busan and Jeju, worry that domestic visitors may bring the virus to their regions. Last year, more than 3.6 million people visited Haeundae Beach in June and July. The Jeju government announced last week that it will file a damage suit against a man who traveled around the island from June 15-18 despite having obvious symptoms of the disease. The government is seeking 130 million won after he visited more than 10 attractions and restaurants possibly exposing 57 people to the virus. The move comes about three months after the Jeju government filed a damage suit against two women who traveled around the island while the daughter had COVID-19 symptoms. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:53:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday lauded parties to the South Sudan peace process for the security progress achieved in recent months despite the health and economic difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kenyatta said it was encouraging that the permanent ceasefire is holding but cautioned against an increase in communal violence, saying the insecurity risks worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in the country. "If the situation remains unchecked, these seasonal and perennial conflicts could have wider repercussions on the larger security environment," he said during a virtual meeting of the 36th Assembly of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government. A statement issued by the presidency said Kenyatta appealed to South Sudanese leaders to work towards strengthening institutions of governance so as to attain sustainable peace and stability in their country. He commended the setting up of the executive arm of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), the agreement on responsibility-sharing at the state level as well as the appointments of state governors as key success indicators in the peace process. "I wish to note that in the last five months, we have witnessed a positive political momentum in the South Sudan peace process. Through significant compromises made by the parties, a number of important milestones and breakthroughs have been achieved," Kenyatta said. The summit was convened by the Prime Minister of Sudan Abdalla Hamdok who is also the current Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government to among other matters assess the South Sudan peace process and review regional COVID-19 response measures. Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD executive secretary, applauded the steady progress achieved by South Sudan despite the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gebeyehu said the region's socioeconomic stability has been strained by several current challenges, including the desert locust invasion, floods and the COVID-19 crisis. He said the multilateral approaches adopted by IGAD member states were helping alleviate adverse effects of these challenges on regional economies. During the meeting, Kenyatta commended joint response measures adopted by IGAD member states for helping slow down the spread of the virus in the region. The meeting was also attended by leaders including Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni and South Sudan's President Salva Kiir. Hamdok urged all IGAD member states including regional and international partners to continue supporting the South Sudan peace process. "The process continues to yield positive responses since the signing of the revitalization peace agreement. I wish to call upon all partners to participate fully in the process," he said. President Kiir told the meeting that after successfully instituting an inclusive cabinet, the country has moved focus to promoting good governance. Uganda's Yoweri Museveni told the summit that the ultimate solution for the political crisis in South Sudan is free and fair elections. "I congratulate all the parties in South Sudan for signing the Peace Agreement. The real ultimate medicine for stability is elections," Museveni said. Enditem Chron.com is following the latest headlines on the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the Houston area. The continued rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations is creating a harsh new reality for Houston's healthcare system: some Houston hospitals are stocking up on refrigerated trailers for temporary storage as their morgues fill up while other hospitals are forced to leave crowds of people waiting for upwards of 24 hours in emergency rooms due to lack of space from COVID-19 patients. The troubling trend of cases has Houston leaders - who are at the mercy of Gov. Greg Abbott and cannot issue a stay-home order like the one issued at the beginning of the pandemic - to call for another shutdown. "I do believe that we need a two-week shutdown, at the minimum of two weeks, and I have proposed this to the Governor so we can help blunt #COVID19 progression," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a Monday Twitter post. "If we can not have a shutdown, then at least step back to states Phase I. This will allow us to reset and reassess." Abbott has extended federal support at community testing sites in Houston and Dallas through July 31, according to a news release, and medical personnel from the Department of Defense are currently in Houston to help with the outbreak. "Our continued collaboration with our federal partners is essential to our efforts. The extension of this program in Dallas and Houston will help secure more testing for Texans in these communities," Abbott said in the release. "There are over 900 testing sites across the state of Texas, and I urge Texans in need of a test to find a site nearest them." A specialty unit of 85 doctors, nurses and other personnel from the U.S. Army are working to open a new COVID-19 care unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Acres Homes, a community that has been signficantly impacted by the virus. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said during previous press conferences that pushing Houston's hospital capacity to the brink is a bet on human lives and is urging the public, alongside Turner, to stay home. "We have to stop pretending that filling up our hospitals is an appropriate approach to the #COVID19 pandemic, morally, economically, or from a public health standpoint," Hidalgo said in a Monday Twitter post. Here are the latest numbers from the Houston Chronicle's data team: From Sunday to Monday, Texas' confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 2.84 percent, or 7,473 cases, to a total of 270,226 cases, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. The state reported 61 new deaths and is now at 3,274 total. Monday marked the tenth-highest day for new cases and sixth-highest day for new deaths since the pandemic began. Harris County accounted for more than a quarter of the total reported cases in the state on Monday. In the last two weeks, there have been 100,000-plus newly reported cases in Texas. As of Monday evening, there were 10,405 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas hospitals. There are 12,066 beds, 984 in ICU, and 5,245 ventilators available in the state. Monday marked the fifth straight day with fewer than 1,000 ICU beds available in Texas. In the Houston region, cases had risen by 4.32 percent, or 2,758 cases, to a total of 66,622. The region reported 12 new deaths and is now at 658 deaths total. Harris County reported a 4.41 percent increase in cases, or 2,001 cases, and is at 47,369 cases total. NOTE: The numbers included in this report represent a one-day change in confirmed cases from Sunday, July 12 through Monday, July 13. It is still unclear how many of the state's new cases can be attributed to jail inmates from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. rebecca.hennes@chron.com Parents of Texas schoolchildren who receive free and reduced school lunches cannot afford to leave $300 million in food money on the table. The federally funded Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program, or P-EBT, is providing a one-time payment of $285 for each Texas student who was eligible for free or reduced school lunch during the spring semester. Eligible families who have not received their students payment need to apply. In some high-poverty school districts, such as San Antonio Independent School District, all students qualify, regardless of family income. About 3.3 million students participated in free or reduced-price school meal plans across the state last semester, but so far only about 2 million have benefited from the extra food money. The deadline to apply is July 31. The application deadline was extended a month after only about $700 million of the $1 billion available to Texas students was distributed during the initial time frame, which closed in June. About 40 percent of the families of students who participate in the free and reduced-lunch program are on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly referred to as food stamps. Families on SNAP had the additional food payment allotment added to their state-issued electronic benefit transfer cards May 22. These cards can be used like a debit card at the grocery store. The other 60 percent of the families had to submit a request for the benefit. That has been bumpy for those parents who are not accustomed to dealing with the states bureaucracy. We understand the frustration. Parents have to leave callback numbers in case additional information is needed. However, those calls from the state need to be picked up or parents lose their opportunity to complete the process. There is no callback number from the state. Surely we can come up with a better system that accommodates the schedules of working parents who are also taking care of children and unaccustomed to navigating bureaucracies. Children should not have to go hungry because parents are having a difficult time navigating a system that is not user-friendly. Food insecurity is endemic in our community during the best times and alarmingly prevalent in this COVID-19 moment. The San Antonio Food Bank is serving 120,000 people each week. Many school districts started providing food for students to pick up after campuses closed in March. Some have continued some of this service through the summer, but there has been a significant drop in participation compared with previous years. It is estimated only 25 percent of students who were eligible for free and reduced-priced school meals took advantage of the food available to them once in-person classes ceased. Eric Cooper, San Antonio Food Bank director, said youth food programs are also operating at a lower scale. Most summers, the Food Bank provides food to 200 gathering sites for youth. But this summer food is going to only 60 to 70 sites. School-age children are not congregating at park and recreation centers or other youth clubs this summer. Most of the youth Food Bank workers are seeing, Cooper said, are in the vehicles in distribution lines, pop-up food activities and local pantries. The need isnt going to let up anytime soon as the number of COVID-19 cases soar, business reopenings slow and schools potentially have to resume distance learning. For this reason, state officials should seek continued funding of the P-EBT program through the fall semester. Students should not have to go hungry because a pandemic is keeping them off campus. We urge parents to access all the resources available to them. Information on applying for the program is available at hhs.texas.gov/pebt or by contacting the P-EBT Call Center at 833-613-6220, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Newser) California hit the reverse button on reopening statewide on Monday, with Gov. Gavin Newsom ordering the closure of all bars and a stop to dining inside restaurants. The governor also ordered an end to indoor activities at movie theaters, museums, and wineries statewide, NBC Los Angeles reports. In 30 of the state's 58 counties, where coronavirus cases are rising, the governor also said indoor operations must end at houses of worship, barbers, nail salons. malls, and "offices for non-critical sectors." "We're seeing an an increase in the spread of the virus," the governor said. "That's why it's incumbent upon all us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon." story continues below Over the past two weeks, coronavirus infections in the state have surged 47% and hospitalizations are up 28%, Newsom said. "The data suggests not everybody is practicing common sense," he said. The Democratic governor has compared his strategy of opening and closing businesses to a "dimmer switch" to control the spread of the virus, the AP reports. Coronavirus cases are rising in more than 30 other states, including Florida, which recorded 15,299 new infections Sunday, by far the highest single-day total for any state since the pandemic began. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told CNN Monday that the numbers are "out of control," and they won't improve unless people follow the rules on social distancing and wearing masks. (Public schools in Los Angeles and San Diego will not reopen on schedule this fall.) A former Alberta environment minister who was photographed then surveilled as a pair of Lethbridge police officers acted without authorization is calling the incident the stuff of police states. And the provinces Opposition NDP is asking for an out-of-province investigation into the actions of the two officers who are employed by the city of Lethbridge, about two hours south of Calgary. Sgt. Jason Carrier and Const. Keon Woronuk have been temporarily demoted after a disciplinary hearing found each of them guilty of multiple counts of misconduct. The 2017 incident reported on by Chat News Today on Monday apparently stemmed from the officers opposition to the ministers bid to protect more local land. The disciplinary decision said the two men were upset because Shannon Phillips, who was then the environment minister, was pushing to turn swaths of the nearby Castle Wilderness area into a park that would not allow ATV use. Sgt. Carrier did not agree with the plan Minister Phillips was outlining as he, and others he knew, enjoyed outdoor activities in the Castle area and opposed potential restrictions, according to the agreed statement of facts. According to the statement, Carrier recognized Phillips when she arrived at the Chef Stella Diner on the morning of April 14, 2017. He was already there with two other on-duty and uniformed officers, both junior in rank, when Phillips sat down at the next table. He said he overheard Phillips discussing her plans for the Castle Wilderness area, though, speaking to media Monday, the MLA disputed this, and said she was actually discussing the reintroduction of bison to Banff National Park. Carrier took a photo of the meeting and texted it to Woronuk, and invited him to attend. The agreed statement of facts notes that the two were friends and both liked to camp and fish in the Castle, a range of wilderness on the eastern slopes of the Rockies. When he arrived, Woronuk also took a photo of the group, the report said. While he was paying, Carrier took a selfie of himself with the minister in the background. Outside the diner, the report quotes Woronuk as having said he would hate to see Phillips drive away from the restaurant and there was a reason to stop her. Carrier replied that she should receive the same treatment as anyone else such as a soccer mom speeding through a playground, according to the report, and that politicians shouldnt get special treatment. With that, both officers went to their vehicles. Carrier drove to a parkade to do reports and monitor activity because it was known for prostitution-related activities, according to the agreed-upon facts. From inside his vehicle, he noticed Phillips leave the diner and walk away before noon. Woronuk, meanwhile, had set up to surveil the diner, and watched one of the diners the report doesnt specify who leave, then followed the vehicle for five blocks before losing it at a red light. He drove a few more blocks but couldnt find the vehicle again. Woronuk also ran the licence plate through the central police database despite being motivated by personal and political views, as opposed to concerns for public safety, the decision said. Carrier has maintained that he was not involved in the official surveillance or traffic enforcement of Phillips or the other diners, the decision says. Phillips said she believes she was tailed by a police officer that day. Phillips, whod previously reported the photos to police, called the whole incident very disturbing. If officers in this town are going to place someone under surveillance, because they don't agree with them, what does that mean for overall community safety? On Twitter on Monday evening, Alberta Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer said hed learned of the events that night, and shared in the outrage being expressed. To say it is completely unacceptable that members of the police would conduct unauthorized surveillance of any Albertan in particular an elected official is an understatement, he posted. He said that the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, the provinces police watchdog, had been ordered to conduct a review to determine if there are grounds for a criminal investigation. He added that hed instructed his department to arrange for an out-of-province prosecutor should ASIRT require legal advice. The events came to light after Phillips filed a complaint in 2017 under the Police Act after learning that photos of her at the diner had been posted to Facebook. This sparked an investigation by the Calgary Police Service. According to a notice posted to the Lethbridge police website, Woronuk admitted five counts of misconduct, including using his position to his personal advantage and discrediting the reputation of the police service. He is being demoted two grades to a Constable level 1 for two years. Carrier was found guilty of two counts, including neglecting his duties as a police officer, and is being demoted one grade to Senior Constable, Level 2, for one year. Read more about: What should you do in case of a fire during a tornado? Leave the building or stay inside? Public safety drills generally prepare people for one disaster, not for two simultaneous ones that require opposing responses. But this is what Ecuadors Indigenous people are facing today. As the country is struggling with a COVID-19 pandemic spiralling out of control, the Amazon region has been hit by one of the worst oil spills in decades. The overlap of two crises in one of the worlds most biodiverse hotspots has made a bad situation even worse. Amazonian peoples, whose social-distancing skills have been cruelly honed by centuries of Old World epidemics, have suddenly found that the water, fish, game and crops that would allow them to self-isolate in the forest, are contaminated by oil. The COVID-19 pandemic hit Ecuador extremely hard with a death toll among the highest in the world. But across the globe, no ethnic group has been more affected by COVID-19 than Indigenous peoples. The UN has called on countries to address the disproportionate impact of COVID on racialised groups. Amazonia rang early alarm bells for COVID-19. Members of the Kichwa people, one of the Indigenous groups most affected by COVID-19 in Ecuador, were self-isolating in their territories when crude oil started flowing down the river. On April 7, 2020, a landslide ruptured three pipelines along the Coca River, spilling at least 15,800 barrel of crude oil in a region long affected by a history of toxic dumping by the Chevron-Texaco Oil Company. The oil spread downriver, first along the Coca River, then along the Napo, a tributary of the Amazon, eventually even reaching Peru, contaminating water, soils, plants and wildlife along the way. One morning, children came home from the river covered in oil, by the next, the fish caught in the river tasted of oil. This is Ecuadors largest oil spill in 15 years, affecting 120,000 people during the pandemics peak. The rupture was foreseeable. The pipelines pass by the foot of the active Reventador Volcano in an area of great seismic activity where in 1987, an earthquake destroyed more than 40km of pipelines. But the government made the already unstable terrain even more dangerous when it built the Coca-Codo Sinclair hydroelectric dam in 2016. A pipedream from the 1970s, the dam was rejected outright as unfeasible because of the high volcanic activity in the region. But President Rafael Correa rekindled interest in the dam and eventually built an even bigger version of it. It was financed by China through loans to be repaid mostly in the form of oil and was mired in corruption scandals from the beginning. As predicted by environmental scientists, the dam unleashed a process of river fragmentation that aggravated soil instability by retaining sediments and provoking headward erosion. In a disaster foretold, erosion has quickly moved upriver. The first serious warning came in February when the Cascada San Rafael, Ecuadors tallest waterfall, suddenly disappeared after a massive landslide. But neither Ecuadors national oil company Petroecuador, nor the public corporations that manage the pipelines reacted. When the pipelines ruptured, these entities failed to inform Indigenous communities. Nor did they offer meaningful medical care or environmental repair. What is more, the pipeline corporation reports providing the equivalent of only a glass of water per person per day, an insignificant amount compared with the recommended four gallons in times of COVID-19. We are hungry is a common refrain in affected communities. With isolation in the forest now impossible and with inadequate relief supplies being brought in by people who might contaminate them, Indigenous peoples have become even more vulnerable to the coronavirus. In response, a diverse set of nearly 40 actors is suing Ecuadors government. Individuals, Indigenous organisations and NGOs are demanding protective legal action that includes immediate environmental and social reparations. In an unholy alliance, the state-owned oil and pipeline companies share the bench of the accused with the Ministries of Health and the Environment. The defendants deny any responsibility for the spill, claiming it was an unpredictable natural disaster. The trial started in late May, given the COVID-19 situation, via Zoom. Wearing a mask and full protective gown, the judge heard demandants lay out their case for three full days over sometimes unstable internet connections. But he suddenly suspended the trial once it was the turn of government entities to present evidence, invoking suspected COVID-19 symptoms. Although the trial is on hold, erosion continues unabated. In June, more massive landslides took place meters away from the pipelines; this time the government shut down the flow to prevent another spill. Alicia Salazar, a Siona leader who directs the Indigenous-led organisation Alianza Ceibo, told the judge Its been 40 years of oil spills. This is not the first oil spill, and it certainly will not be the last; there are thousands of oil wells in the region that spill the equivalent to 4,000 gallons (15,000 litres) per day according to Amazon Frontlines. An ongoing ecocide perpetuated by the state is unfolding in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Oil spills are also killing the relations that the Kichwas have to their ecosystem, given that people can no longer hunt, fish or find shelter in their rainforest home. They remind us that social justice and environmental justice are deeply intertwined, that the Black Lives Matter and climate justice movements are complementary. These spills are as much a threat to their physical health as it is to their spiritual wellbeing, which, as the Interamerican Court of Human Rights has found, is based on an intimate connection to the beings that make up the greatest collection of life-forms on this planet. To knowingly destroy the ecosystem upon which a people depends is more than ecocide, it is also potentially genocide. Oil representatives may not care whether oil kills nature or the people who live with it, but the International Criminal Court does. It now prosecutes individuals for committing environmental crimes that result in genocide. The global spread of coronavirus was not fully predictable, but this oil spill certainly was. Accountability matters. Those responsible must help the victims, take the necessary steps to avoid the next spill and clean up the contaminated rivers and forests upon which we all depend. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance. The first prayer inside the former Byzantine basilica scheduled for July 24. During the rites Christian mosaics will be covered, including the icons of the Virgin and the archangel Gabriel. The Greek premier speaks of "a bad" choice. Criticism from the USA and the EU. Praise from Muslim scientists for whome the building returns "to its original nature". Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Regardless of the reactions of the international community and religious leaders, including Pope Francis who said he was "greatly saddened" for the decision, the Turkish leadership claims the legitimacy of the decision to transform Ayasofya into a mosque. In response to the controversy and attacks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated that the conversion of Hagia Sophia is definitive: "It is an "internal question" and "other countries are required to respect" the decision. The first Islamic prayer inside what was born as a Christian basilica should be held on July 24th. To cover the original traces of the structure, among which some mosaics of immense artistic and cultural value, the Turkish authorities report that screens will be placed or unspecified laser beams will be used. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ankara explains that the covers will be placed in front of the icons of the Virgin Mary and the archangel Gabriel. The Christian remains of what was born as a Byzantine temple, transformed into a mosque after the capture of Constantinople in 1453 and then made a museum in 1934 by Ataturk, father of modern and secular Turkey, will be uncovered during visiting hours and access to tourists it will be free. Among the most critical of the move is Greece, which threatens in retaliation to transform the Ataturk museum (the house where the statesman was born) in Thessaloniki into a museum of the Pontine genocide, or Hellenic genocide. The proposal made by the Greek Minister of Agriculture Makis Voridis could find broad consensus among the various political sides of the country. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis spoke of Ankara's "bad" decision regarding a "world heritage site"; he then expressed solidarity with the ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I during a telephone conversation that took place yesterday afternoon. Unesco has threatened to review the status of the world heritage site of Hagia Sophia, due to a change of intended use of which the international body has not been warned. The United States, through the State Department, expressed deep "disappointment" over Turkey's choice. The High Representative of the European Union's foreign policy, Joseph Borrell, speaks of Ankara's and Erdogan's "deplorable" choice, because Hagia Sophia is a "historical" place and an example of coexistence. The World Council of Churches, which brings together 350 different realities around the world has sent a letter to the Turkish president asking him to annul the decision taken. Ioan Sauca, vice-president of the body, speaks of a change of course in the "positive signs regarding the opening of Turkey to the world", now transformed into "signs of division, separation and exclusion". Praise and satisfaction are instead expressed by the World Association of Muslim Scientists, according to which "the opening of Saint Sophia to [Islamic] worship is functional to devotion" as well as the return "to its original nature". Finally, the Turkish deputy minister for culture and tourism, Ozgul Ozkan Yavuz, added that "the use of Hagia Sophia as a mosque" does not violate the contract stipulated with UNESCO and "does not undermine its universal value". One British grandmother pulled a scheme to earn money from welfare by pretending serious blindness. She was able to pull it off undetected and collect the benefits, which even her husband was not aware of. He did learn of the wife malfeasance but only when she was caught by the law, reported in New York Post. The felon is Christina Pomfrey, 65, who got more than $16,000 per month. To get that much in benefits, she was faking a blinding malady and multiple sclerosis. Husband finds out she scammed! When a police officer went to their home and showed the husband evidence of his wife's illegal activities, he was asked to look at a copy of his wife's driver's license which surprised him. He could not believe that she ran a scam without him knowing about it. But before everything sank in, the officer had to show the finer details of what was getting pointed out. It struck him when the officer mentioned his wife was blind, which erased his initial reaction. He's been married for 15 years to her and never thought that she could do such a thing. Scam is busted In court, Pomfrey answered a guilty plea for charges of fraud against her. Immediately she got three to eight-year sentences for defrauding the government. Also read: New York Cops Will Get $1 Billion Cut From Their Budget, Warns De Blasio According to Judge Sophie McKone, the defendant defrauded the government of 1 million that included the taxpayer's money as well. She added that all money that was taken and spent should be given to those who needed it most, stressing on schools and hospitals that need sources of support for their operation, mentioned Webs Favourites. Scamming gran since 2002 She has been defrauding the government since 2002 and was not detected until three years back. One the Britain's Department for Work and Pensions were already doubtful where the money went, so they tagged and surveillied her.She is supposed to be blind and having sclerosi. But there were evidencetcollected that negated that. One tim, they captured the suspect getting grandkids and reading a paper. Her husband said that he never knew of her deceit, and what she did. All he said is that he was in the dark all the time. He added that she has ruined everything and cannot forgive her. She is the craftiest woman according to him, confirmed Report Door. More action is needed to protect taxpayers that include identifyING valid recipients and claims that are not legit. Those who need support during the pandemic will benefit the most and feel less impact on lockdowns. Claims were sped up and done online not face to face, with trust that all data given would be true and accurat, reports Daily Mail. There are instances that claims were given as advanced payouts, even when the application is done on the same day. More fraud was detected as more entities were taking advantage of relief packages given to citizens. The case of Christina Pomfrey is just one of the many who defrauded the government that will be avoided with better systems. Related article: Joe Biden's Family Record Show Drug Usage, Drunk Driving, and Other Charges But No One Was Jailed @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A former Barclays boss has apologised for calling a high-flying city financier 'the tart' - as their 1.6billion High Court legal battle rumbles on. Roger Jenkins and another former Barclays boss, Richard Boath, discussed Amanda Staveley during a telephone call in October 2008, a judge has been told. Mr Jenkins referred to Ms Staveley as 'the tart' and Mr Boath referred to her as 'that dolly bird'. Ms Staveley, 47, has made complaints about the behaviour of Barclays bosses when negotiating investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis. Roger Jenkins (left) and another former Barclays boss, Richard Boath, (right) discussed Amanda Staveley during a telephone call in October 2008, a judge has been told She says Barclays agreed to provide an unsecured 2 billion loan to Qatari investors, but the loan was 'concealed' from the market, shareholders and PCP Capital Partners, a private equity firm she runs. PCP is suing the bank and wants 1.6 billion in damages. Mr Justice Waksman is overseeing a trial at the High Court in London. On Tuesday, Mr Jenkins was asked about his use of the word 'tart' by a lawyer representing PCP. He told the judge: 'I apologise for that.' Ms Staveley was in court to hear his apology. He indicated that he had apologised to Ms Staveley before. A recording of the call was played at the trial on Monday. Amanda Staveley claims Barclays agreed to provide an unsecured 2 billion loan to Qatari investors, but the loan was 'concealed' from the market, shareholders and PCP Capital Partners, a private equity firm she runs During the October 2008 call, the transcript showed, Mr Boath had said: 'Yes. Now, that dolly bird that represents - is it - what's her name?' Mr Jenkins had replied: 'Amanda Staveley.' Later in the call, Mr Jenkins had said: 'Well I am - you know, I'm going to call the tart; I was going to call the tart.' Mr Boath had asked: 'Who's the tart?' Mr Jenkins had replied: 'Amanda.' Ms Staveley says PCP introduced Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour to Barclays and he 'subscribed' to invest 3.25 billion. She says PCP is owed money for the work it did. Barclays disputes PCP's claim and says it is made 'of sand'. Ms Staveley has said that Mr Jenkins 'lied' to her about the terms on which Qatar was investing in Barclays. Mr Jenkins has told the judge that he is an 'honest man'. FARMINGTON The bill to authorize the Navajo Nation to purchase the Remington Arms Co. has lost its sponsor. Delegate Jamie Henio told members of the Budget and Finance Committee on July 13 that he will end his sponsorship of the legislation, but the review process into the purchase will continue. The Wall Street Journal was first to report last month that Remington was moving toward its second bankruptcy filing and the tribe was preparing to serve as the lead bidder to buy the company. A search of federal court filings on July 13 did not return any filing by Remington, which has been designing, manufacturing and marketing firearms, ammunition and other related products since 1816. Henios announcement came after the Budget and Finance Committee talked about the bill in executive session for more than three hours on July 13. He reiterated his decision to the committee during a special meeting on July 14, where the bill was on the proposed agenda for consideration after being tabled last month. The matter is not dead though, and the tribe will continue the due diligence process since questions arose about liabilities and financing. Delegate Daniel E. Tso was among the delegates who attended the executive session. In attendance were Budget and Finance Committee members, staff from the tribes Department of Justice, Controller Pearline Kirk, Vice President Myron Lizer and President Jonathan Nez, who did not respond to a request for comment. I think the biggest question was, we dont have a license to be an arms dealer, arms manufacturer (or) owner, Tso said in a telephone interview. He added there were questions about the cost for environmental compliance at the facility in Huntsville, Alabama, specifically whether current financing would continue if the tribe took over ownership. Theres too many unanswered questions, he said. Tso said there are other pressing matters officials need to address, like disbursing the $713 million the tribe received from the federal coronavirus relief bill. Delegate Carl Slater attended the executive session as well and said investments need to have the broadest possible impact for the Navajo people. We shouldnt view them purely as just a financial return. Thats an important component of any investment but they need to have impacts to our society, our cultural revitalization and perpetuation of our traditions, Slater said in a telephone interview. While he understands the advisors overseeing the due diligence did their best, there needs to be a higher level of diligence done related to some of the liabilities and the full picture of the company and how it would fit into Navajo, he said. Tso and Slater are not members of the Budget and Finance Committee. Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636 or by email at nsmith@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to The Daily Times. This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Navajo Nation pauses Remington purchase pursuit after delegate withdraws sponsorship 2020 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at www.daily-times.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. William Forrester has 11 more months to come out of prison but fears he wont. I have less than a year left before I go home, Ive waited 12 years to say that, he wrote in a July 7 email shared with the Miami Herald. Six days later, he tested positive for COVID-19. Since April, he had twice appealed to the Florida Department of Corrections to furlough his sentence and put him in home confinement but to no avail. I am 64 years old, COVID could easily kill me. ... Please have mercy on me, he wrote in his furlough application to the FDC. Bay Correctional Facility has experienced a recent outbreak of COVID-19. Forrester had been sentenced to the minimum mandatory term of 15 years for a false opioid prescription. Florida requires all convicted individuals to serve 85 percent of their sentence, meaning Forrester could rejoin society after serving for a few more months and completing roughly twelve-and-a-half years. He had three surgeries fighting lung cancer before he was convicted, has only one lung now and suffers from a chronic lung inflammation that obstructs airflow. He also has heart disease and sleep apnea and had pneumonia five times since hes been imprisoned all underlying health conditions that make him extremely vulnerable to the virus. Bay Correctional Facility in Panama City, where Forrester is held, reported its first COVID case on July 8. As of Monday, the number stands at 67 positive cases with 58 tests pending. Four staffers at the prison have also tested positive. The facility is run by Boca Raton-based Geo Group, a private prison contracting firm with deep pockets and tremendous political influence both in Tallahassee and Washington. As of Monday, 2,591 inmates and 827 staffers across the states prison system have tested positive for the virus. Tests for 3,825 more inmates are pending. Twenty-nine have died of COVID-19 all of them inmates. The Florida Department of Management Services, the state body that oversees the operation of private prisons, declined to comment. Trapped Story continues Data compiled and analyzed by The Marshall Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative nonprofit that focuses on criminal justice issues, show inmates in Floridas prison system are roughly three times more likely to contract COVID-19 than if they were in the general population. After the outbreak of the virus, as cases across the country surged, medical experts and prison reform advocates called for the release of low-level offenders and elderly inmates. Some states did release some inmates. Florida did not. Florida does not have release options that many other states can exercise it abolished parole in 1983 and under its conditional medical release statute, inmates must either be facing imminent death or be permanently incapacitated before they can be considered for release. FDC cannot release anyone permanently and the state does not have any release mechanism for the chronically ill or the elderly. Forrester is like the roughly 8,300 Florida other inmates 60 and over especially vulnerable to the virus. But the states Clemency Board does have the power to commute sentences, meaning inmates could go home and never come back. Gov. Ron DeSantis also has the power to grant a reprieve inmates could leave and return to finish the rest of their sentences when it was deemed safe to do so. Forrester applied for his sentence to be reduced in May. He attached a letter of support from the judge who had tried him. At the time of sentencing and even today I believe the sentence was excessive, wrote Senior Circuit Judge Roger McDonald in the letter to the Executive Clemency Board. The judge wrote that if it hadnt been for the mandatory sentencing, he would have kept Forrester in confinement for only three years and that given the pandemic and his health conditions, he recommended that his sentence be reduced to time served and that he be placed on Drug Offender Probation. If I thought Mr. Forrester was a danger to society, I would not recommend early release from DOC. The judge also noted in his letter that at $5.52 a day, the cost of supervising an offender on probation was a tenth of the cost of housing an inmate inside a prison. But Forrester was not granted relief. Judge Roger McDonalds letter of support to the Clemency Board recommending William Forresters sentence be commuted in light of the pandemic, time served and his old age. He is currently on minimum custody and has served enough time to qualify for work-release, meaning he would be allowed to work off prison premises and his confinement requirement would be just five hours a day. But due to COVID and because he has only one lung, he is considered disabled, not able to work and has to stay in minimum custody. On May 28, Forrester applied for a furlough with the FDC a temporary release that the FDC can grant on its own authority. Forrester would remain in the custody of the state, but serve his sentence under home confinement. In his application he noted that he listed a specific end date for his furlough, secured a sponsor and noted that he was willing to pay for electronic monitoring during his period of home confinement. The forms were returned to him on grounds that he had filled out the wrong ones. He reapplied along with a copy of the rules on June 18. A week later, they were again returned stating that since his request was medically related he needed to apply for a medical furlough, which was only available to inmates on work-release and not minimum custody. Living on a prayer In the first week of July, inmates at Bay started showing symptoms. The inevitable has just happened. Please keep me in your prayers, Forrester wrote in a July 4 email. In another email five days later, he wrote that prison authorities posted a bulletin saying that due to the pandemic all inmates were going to be given four free stamps and one free phone call to communicate with their loved ones but at the same time, they were not being allowed to use the telephones or the charging station for their tables to prevent cross-contamination. They also have stopped all distribution of Tylenol and ibuprofen compound-wide; medical says it masks a fever, he wrote. This is really wrong for myself because they stopped giving it to me ... and told me to start getting it from the officers station for the many chronic pain issues I have, which makes it miserable for me. In that same email, Forrester said that there was some other bug going around this facility that lasts a few days. Symptoms are headaches, bad body aches, bad stomach cramps, cough, runny nose, slight diarrhea, but no fever. Greg Newburn, state policy director of the Florida chapter of the prison reform advocacy group, FAMM, said that the release of vulnerable inmates should be part of the states COVID response and that there has got to be some number of people inside who would have been safe to release. We should be doing what the federal government and other states are doing and finding and releasing low-risk people who dont need to be incarcerated anymore, he said. Theres just no reason to keep somebody like Forrester in prison. Miami Herald staff writer Samantha J. Gross contributed to this report. Inmates in Marion County Jail will have an opportunity to go through a reentry program before being released. Indiana Reentry will offer wrap-around services such as financial literacy, legal support, case management and voter education. The organizations president, Antonio Lipscomb, said he hopes to have 300-400 people in the program, which is scheduled to go through early December. The program was funded through a Workforce Ready Grant from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education and will be based at the CoreCivic-operated Marion County Jail II. Lipscomb is also president of Minority Contractors Collaboration (MCC), which provides construction training for inmates. Indiana Reentry and MCC are both targeted toward Black and Latino men, though anyone can enroll. When you look at the disproportionate number of Black and brown men in prison and jail, its very obvious that that needs to be said and addressed, Lipscomb said. Along with giving inmates resources to be successful as they go through reentry, Lipscomb said he hopes the assistance also leads to reduced recidivism. Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick. Reentry Indiana Eli Vago and his sister were only teenagers when they were forced to leave home and live in the woods. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba, well-known fugitives from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, were not the only ones to have spent weeks on their feet,running from the Nazis. Registration for the memorial is open until July 15 online (in Slovak). Eli Vago has a similar story. He and his sister, while they were small children, hid for months in the Slovak mountains, to escape transport to a concentration camp. The two children were separated from their parents, not knowing where they were hiding. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The Post Bellum civic association, dedicated to gathering stories of people who were oppressed under totalitarian regimes, took their story and turned it into a memorial in honour of Eli Vago. At the end of August, the memorial's participants will follow a path around Slovakia, in the steps of Vago's and his sister's journey. Applications for the memorial close on July 15. Route of the upcoming memorial (Source: Post Bellum) As a kid, he experienced something we cannot even imagine today, said Marian Jaslovsky of Post Bellum. Eli Vago was 12-years-old back then. Today, he is 90 and lives in Israel. Pavel Eli Vago was born in northern Slovakia, in the village of Bytcica in 1930. Six years later, he started school in the town of Vrutky, where he and his parents had moved. However, the atmosphere in the school was not friendly, partly because of the teachers, Vago recalled when telling his story for pametnaroda.cz. Early memories of tension and hate OMJASVIN M D By Express News Service CHENNAI: Continuing with the steady decline in the number of COVID-19 positives, Chennai on Tuesday recorded 1078 cases and 18 deaths. The city has so far recorded 79,662 cases and 1295 deaths. On Tuesday, a total of 1858 people were discharged taking the total discharge rate to 62,552 which is way higher than the 15,814 active cases in the city. Testing, however, has slightly decreased in the city, from 10,048 tests conducted on Sunday to 8,601 on Monday, according to data released by Corporation. Experts have said that the city needs to be testing at 10,000-mark daily to bring down the positivity rate to 5 per cent. The daily positivity rate in the city currently is at 13.57 per cent. Even as the cases dropped in Chennai, the containment zones remained at a high of 272 as Tondiarpet still battles with 50 containment zones and Kodambakkam has 134 containment zones. Corporation officials with the Tondiarpet zone said that the high containment zone number does not indicate there are as many active cases. Close to 75 per cent of people have recovered here. The containment zones are still there because as per protocols, a street must not record even a single case for 14 days to be declassified from a containment zone, said an official, adding that most of the streets would be removed from the list in the coming week if cases dont come up. As per the Chennai Corporations data, about 77 per cent people have recovered from COVID while the active cases are just 21 per cent. Zone wise data indicates that Royapuram just has 13 per cent active cases while other erstwhile hotspots, Thiruvika Nagar and Tondiarpet have just 19 and 16 per cent active cases respectively. However, some of the zones in southern Chennai are now having more active cases, Kodambakkam has 29 per cent active cases, Alandur has 28 and Sholinganallur has 27. The civic body has been holding fever camps to bring down the positivity rate. So far, 1.03 lakh people have attended the 16,609 camps held. In that, swabs were taken from 48,369 people and 12,107 have turned positive, which is a positivity rate of 24.68 per cent. Officials said that the high positivity rate in these camps is due to adequate testing of severely symptomatic people. Meanwhile, Corporation Commissioner G Prakash on Tuesday gave Rs 1000 worth groceries to the 510 office assistants at the Ripon Buildings and Zonal offices. PennLive has launched a special project to focus on the challenges Black-owned businesses face even outside of the devastating impact of a pandemic shutdown. Black-owned Businesses: Stories of Struggle and Success will feature stories of Black entrepreneurs who are overcoming significant odds to succeed. On todays Facebook Live with Joyce Davis, at 2 p.m., Shariah Brown and David Dix, both leaders of the African-American Chamber of Commerce of Central PA, discuss the impact of racism as well as the coronavirus on African Americans who step into the world of business. The special Facebook Live series is sponsored by Centric Bank, to help inform our region about the unique challenges of Black-owned businesses and their contributions to the overall economic vitality of our region. Brown will share her experiences as owner of Personal Touch Professional Cleaning Service, as well as chair of the board of the African American Chamber. David Dix will offer his unique perspectives as owner of Luminous Strategies, a government relations, public affairs and campaign management firm based in Harrisburg. Both Brown and Dix have overcome their share of challenges and will offer both insights and guidance for those struggling to survive in these difficult economic times. Join us at 2 p.m. today for Live On with Joyce Davis, to talk about Black businesses as part of PennLives special project: Black-owned Businesses: Stories of Struggle and Success Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. And please subscribe to Battleground PA to stay abreast of the issues in the 2020 elections! RYANAIR has announced its to cut its schedules between Ireland and the UK during August and September by up to 1,000 flights, with the loss of over 200,000 passengers. The low-fares airline says the Government requirement for EU visitors to self-isolate for 14 days when they arrive into Ireland has led to the decision Last week when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short haul flights to and rom the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14 day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland, said a spokesperson for the airline. While the Government has indicated that a so called, Green List, is to be published in the coming days, public health officials have indicated that visitors from most countries will still be required to self-isolate. Ryanair says this makes no sense will have a major impact on tourism. When Governments all over Europe have opened up EU flights since June 1 and removed travel restrictions on intra-EU travel, that the Irish Government continues to treat countries like Germany, Denmark and Greece as if they were suffering similar levels of Covid as the USA, Brazil and India. Irish citizens are being advised by their Government that they should not travel to and from EU countries yet citizens of Northern Ireland can travel freely to and from the EU via Dublin Airport without any quarantine restrictions whatsoever, said the spokesperson. Air travel between Ireland and the UK is being badly damaged by this ineffective 14 day quarantine. Ryanair will significantly reduce its flights between Ireland and the UK in August and September, to reflect this suppressed demand. This means 100,000 fewer visitors from the UK travelling to regional airports in Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry during the peak months of the tourism season, they added. The airline is calling on the Government to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland and the EU as a matter of urgency, so that hotels, guest houses, restaurants and other tourism providers can recover their business and minimise job losses. If Micheal Martin does not quarantine for 14 days after visiting Brussels this week, then why should any other Irish or EU citizen be treated differently, said the spokesperson. Specific details of the services which will be cut in the coming weeks have yet to be confirmed. LONDON and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard Chartered Bank and Universities Space Research Association (USRA) have signed a Collaborative Research Agreement to partner on quantum computing research and developing quantum computing applications. In finance, the most promising use cases with real-world applications include quantum machine learning models (generating synthetic data and data anonymisation) and discriminative models (building strong classifiers and predictors) with multiple potential uses such as credit scoring and generating trading signals. As quantum computing technology matures, clients should benefit from higher quality services such as faster execution, better risk management and the development of new financial products. Kahina Van Dyke, Global Head of Digital Channels and Client Data Analytics at Standard Chartered, said: "Similar to other major technological advancements, quantum computing is set to bring widespread benefits as well as disrupt many existing business processes. This is why it's important for companies to future-proof themselves by adopting this new technology from an early stage. The partnership with USRA gives us access to world-class academic researchers and provides us with a unique opportunity to explore a wide range of models and algorithms with the potential to establish quantum advantage for the real-world use cases." Bernie Seery, Senior VP of Technology at USRA noted that "This partnership with the private sector enables a diversity of research through a competitively selected portfolio of quantum computing research projects involving academic institutions and non-profits, growing an ecosystem for quantum artificial intelligence that has already involved over 150 researchers from more than 40 organizations that produced over 50 peer-reviewed publications over the last seven years." Alex Manson, Global Head of SC Ventures, Standard Chartered's innovation, fintech investment and ventures arm, stated: "The world is currently in the process of identifying commercial use cases where quantum computer capabilities will surpass classical computers. We have a conviction that some of these use cases will transform the way we manage risks in financial services, for example by simulating portfolios and exponentially speeding up the generation of market data. We will work with USRA to identify such use cases in financial services, with a view to implementing them within our bank, as well as potentially offering this service to other market participants over time." Mark Johnson, Vice President, Processor Design, Development and Quantum Products at D-Wave said: "Quantum computing research and development are poised to have a profound impact on the industries responsible for solving today's most complex problems. That's why researchers and businesses alike are looking to quantum computing today to start demonstrating tangible value. We're proud to work with USRA and Standard Chartered Bank as they improve global access to quantum systems and undertake essential research and development." At USRA's Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science, Dr. Davide Venturelli, Associate Director for Quantum Computing, notes that quantum annealing is implementing a powerful approach to computing, featuring unique advantages with respect to other traditional and novel approaches, that should be studied, theoretically and experimentally, to advance the state of art of computing technologies for the benefit of nearly all disciplines. Standard Chartered's team, led by Dr. Alexei Kondratyev, Global Head of Data Science and Innovation, and USRA have collaborated in quantum computing research since 2017. An earlier success in investigating the quantum annealing approach to computational problems in portfolio optimisation use cases led to this strategic partnership, where USRA will continue to support fundamental academic research in quantum physics and artificial intelligence and Standard Chartered will focus on future commercial applications. In 2012, USRA partnered with NASA to found the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL): the space agency's hub to evaluate the near-term impact of quantum technologies. With QuAIL, the USRA team has investigated the physics, the engineering and the performance of multiple generations of quantum annealing processors built by D-Wave Systems. It has also participated in U.S. government research programs that looked into application of quantum annealing for combinatorial optimization, aviation, earth science and machine learning. NASA Ames Research Center is currently hosting a D-Wave 2000Q annealing system, thanks to the support of this partnership. Standard Chartered and USRA intend to develop this initial collaboration beyond quantum annealing to all unconventional computing systems that could provide an advantage to applications of interest, such as gate-model noisy-intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) processors and Coherent Ising machines. For more information, contact: Standard Chartered: Group Media Relations Contact: Shaun Gamble, [email protected] Tel: +44 2078855934 USRA: PR Contact: Suraiya Farukhi, [email protected] Technical Contact: David Bell, [email protected] About USRA Founded in 1969, under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences at the request of the U.S. Government, the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) is a nonprofit corporation chartered to advance space-related science, technology and engineering. USRA operates scientific institutes and facilities, and conducts other major research and educational programs, under Federal funding. USRA engages the university community and employs in-house scientific leadership, innovative research and development, and project management expertise. RIACS is a USRA department for research in fundamental and applied information sciences, leading projects on quantum computing funded by NASA, DARPA, the US Airforce and NSF. More info at: https://riacs.usra.edu/quantum/ and www.usra.edu. About Standard Chartered We are a leading international banking group, with a presence in 59 of the world's most dynamic markets, and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, and our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good. Standard Chartered PLC is listed on the London and Hong Kong Stock Exchanges as well as the Bombay and National Stock Exchanges in India. For more stories and expert opinions please visit Insights at sc.com. Follow Standard Chartered on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. SOURCE Universities Space Research Association Related Links http://www.usra.edu As the federal and provincial governments race to ramp up testing for COVID-19, a Richmond Hill company is breaking ground on a rapid, cheap and easy-to-use device to detect infection. LooK SPOT, a portable rapid point-of-care antigen test device, is the brainchild of Laipac Technology Inc., a leading GPS electrical engineering company based in Richmond Hill. The test, which is expected to roll out in September, will be able to detect proteins of the new coronavirus from a nasal swab sample in less than five minutes with 95 per cent accuracy, according to Laipac. It will be the start of something big, Diego Lai, founder and CEO of Laipac Technology, said on July 8. We have a lot of faith in this and hope it would become something that would help a lot of people. With no prior training required, the test is based on a technique called lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) commonly used for home pregnancy tests which only takes a few minutes to produce a result after a sample comes in contact with the LFIA strip, according to the companys website. LooK SPOT returns the test result on a smartphone, using artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology, when the strip is inserted into the device that is clamped onto the phone. Currently, nucleic acid-based testing PCR, or molecular testing is the gold standard used in hospitals and assessment centres in Canada and abroad to determine active COVID-19 infection, according to Health Canada. However, PCR testing that requires lab work may take hours, even days, to produce a result. More than 106,000 Canadians have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak in the country as of July 9, but the actual case count is believed to be higher, as a significant number of asymptomatic people may not have been tested. In York Region, the three assessment centres tested around 9,000 people on average every week in June and early July, according to public health statistics. Between March and June, when the crisis was at its highest, less than half of those who tested positive for COVID-19 in the region were able to get results within 24 hours, and some of them had to wait for more than two days, according to the turnaround time for positive tests provided by public health. LooK SPOT would offer a new type of diagnostic test that is much faster and more accessible, Lai said, noting the estimated cost was only $10 per test. The company is currently in the process of obtaining approval from Health Canada for the new testing kit, he said. Laipac like many other local businesses has taken a hit from the pandemic since its onset, the CEO said. The company started developing LooK SPOT in April as a creative solution to the challenges that businesses have experienced amid the pandemic, said Lai. Once launched, the medical device will be the latest addition to a long list of innovations that Laipac has developed over the past decades. In 2018, the firm won the Innovator of the Year Award in Richmond Hill for its innovative contribution to the local economy. Lai said LooK SPOT would provide an ideal solution for services and businesses such as clinics, medical offices, factories and farms to pre-screen people for COVID-19 in order to resume operations. Lai has also been in talks with major airliners in Canada about the possibility of using LooK SPOT to screen passengers for COVID-19 before boarding the airplanes, he added. We wanted to help. Everything has been shut down, and with this device, they can reopen, Lai said. Lai said the Richmond Hill business is one of the first Canadian companies that is developing an antigen test device for COVID-19. The up-and-coming method of testing has been used for rapid COVID-19 detection in other countries such as the United States and India. Earlier in July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the second rapid antigen test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigens. FDA commissioner Stephen M. Hahn, M.D., applauded the decision, noting antigen tests played an important role in the overall response against COVID-19 and a point-of-care test could potentially scale up to test millions of Americans quickly. SW Sheila Wang covers municipal politics and general news in Richmond Hill and King Township. Read more about: Stoking a potential controversy, embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Monday claimed that the "real" Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India and that Lord Ram was born in Thori in southern Nepal. Condemning Oli for his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri said that the Left parties even in India played with people's faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here. "Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody, be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this," he said in New Delhi. Speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu, Oli said that Nepal "has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated." Bhanubhakta was born in 1814 in Tanhu of western Nepal and is credited for translating Valmiki's Ramayan into Nepali language. He died in 1868. "Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram, Oli said. We also believe that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj, he said, adding that the marriage between bride and bridegroom at such a distance was not possible at the time when there was no communication and transportation system. "The place called Thori, near Birgunj is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is great dispute on Ayodhya. But, there is no dispute in our Ayodhya," Prime Minister Oli was quoted as saying by his press advisor Surya Thapa. Valmiki Ashram is also in Nepal and the holy place where King Dasharath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi, which is in Nepal, he said. As Dasharath was the ruler of Nepal, it is natural that his son Ram was also born in Nepal, Oli argued. Therefore, real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, he claimed. Many scientific inventions and knowledge originated in Nepal, but unfortunately such a rich tradition could not continue later, Oli said. Prime Minister Oli, under growing pressure to resign amidst a rift in the ruling Nepal Communist Party over his style of functioning, has alleged 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 of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. His allegations have been criticised by senior NCP leaders, including former prime minister 'Prachanda', who demanded Prime Minister Oli's resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were "neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate." The India-Nepal bilateral ties came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8. Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory. Later, Nepal updated the country's political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas. India termed as "untenable" the "artificial enlargement" of the territorial claims by Nepal. India has handed over a diplomatic note to Nepal over the map issue, Nepalese media reports said. New York: A US judge has denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's longtime associate charged with luring young girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them, after she pleaded not guilty at a hearing in which two women decried her actions as heinous. US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan rejected Maxwell's bid for bail, agreeing with prosecutors that the wealthy socialite posed a flight risk. Maxwell, the judge said during a hearing lasting more than two hours, has "demonstrated sophistication in hiding her resources and herself". Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in New York in 2005. Credit:Getty Images Prosecutors have accused Maxwell, 58, of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls as young as 14 from 1994 to 1997 and lying about her role in depositions in 2016. Nathan set a trial date for July 12, 2021. Maxwell, 58, appeared by video from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held. She appeared tired, with her hair pulled back, and was wearing a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses. Heres a look at whats new or notable in home video. Movies and TV series are available on streaming sites such as iTunes, Amazon and Vudu unless otherwise noted. New Rent it now Guest of Honor: To prepare the eulogy of a man he didnt know, a priest asks his daughter what he was like. She thinks, then says he was good to her pet rabbit. The father (David Thewlis) a fastidious health inspector who appears in flashbacks and the priest (Luke Wilson) both had secrets and made choices they can neither fully explain nor defend. Directer Atom Egoyan has made a compassionate portrait of miserable people that recalls his great 1997 movie The Sweet Hereafter. Available to rent via kinomarquee.com. Also: Two recent psychological thrillers by Egoyan are available on subscriber services: The Captive, with Ryan Reynolds, is on Amazon Prime; and Chloe, starring Amanda Seyfried, is on Netflix. More Information Also streaming New movies "Psych 2: Lassie Come Home": A new chapter of the USA Network series about a fake psychic (S.A. native James Roday) who really solves crimes. (Wednesday, Peacock) "Fatal Affair": Nia Long and Omar Epps star in thriller about a married woman who regrets reconnecting with an old friend. (Thursday, Netflix) "Into the Dark: Current Occupant": Holiday-themed horror anthology returns with a movie about an asylum inmate who also may be the president of the United States. (Friday, Hulu) "We Are Freestyle Love Supreme": Documentary about New York hip-hop group that included future "Hamilton" creator Lin Manuel-Miranda and director Thomas Kail. (Friday, Hulu) Vintage movies "Vertigo": Classic Hitchcock mindbender about a detective (Jimmy Stewart) with an obsession. (Wednesday, Peacock) "Pride & Prejudice": Keira Knightley stars in the 2005 adaptation of the Jane Austen novel. (Thursday, Netflix) "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul": The Heffleys take a road trip in the most recent movie in the "Wimpy Kid" franchise. (Friday, Disney+) "The Notebook": Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams give this old-fashioned romance youthful verve. (Saturday, Netflix) TV series "Brave New World": Sleek adaptation of the Aldous Huxley novel about a future society that's too perfect for its own good. (Wednesday, Peacock) "Intelligence": David Schwimmer is an officious American overseeing eccentric British cybercrime agents in this workplace comedy. (Wednesday, Peacock) "Absentia": Season three of crime drama about an FBI agent who reappears years after she was presumed to have died at the hands of a serial killer. (Friday, Amazon) "Cursed": Katherine Langford ("Thirteen Reasons Why") stars in big-budget fantasy series based on Arthurian legend. (Friday, Netflix) See More Collapse Related: Watch at Home: My Spy on Amazon Prime Notable Rewatch I Am Love: Before A Bigger Splash and Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino made this domestic drama about an affluent Italian family. Its an upscale soap opera with a dash of food porn: Tilda Swinton stars as a mom who becomes entangled with her grown sons friend, a passionate chef. As if anticipating our current need to escape, Guadagnino occasionally sets his characters aside to poke around a gorgeous villa or sightsee the dazzling Milan Cathedral, accompanied only by John Adams mesmerizing score. Available to stream for free with ads on Tubi. Also: Swinton also stars in Guadagninos remake of the horror movie Suspiria, which is streaming on Amazon Prime. Notable Binge watch The Detroiters: Between a writing stint on Saturday Night Live and his acclaimed sketch-comedy show I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson made two seasons of this one-of-a-kind sitcom for Comedy Central. Its about best friends (Robinson and Veeps Sam Richardson) who run the worst ad agency in Detroit or maybe anywhere. Theyre crass nitwits whose low-budget, late-night commercials fail in a surprising number of very funny ways. Seasons one and two streaming on Comedy Central Now. Also: Season one of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is streaming on Netflix Liberal MP and former diplomat Dave Sharma has raised the alarm about Australia's diplomacy budget, saying the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has failed to sell its value and cultivate champions around the cabinet table. Warning the United States was giving up its role as security guarantor in the face of China's growing assertiveness around the globe, Mr Sharma called for more money to be spent on diplomacy to match the nation's step-up in defence. Liberal MP Dave Sharma says DFAT needs more resources. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Morrison government this month released a major update to its 2016 defence white paper, promising to spend more than 2 per cent of GDP on the nation's defences and warning China's actions had "deeply unsettled" the Indo-Pacific region. Since 2013, as Australia's spending on defence has been increasing, the diplomatic budget has fallen to its lowest levels in history. Australia now spends just 1.3 per cent of the federal budget on diplomacy and foreign aid, well below comparable countries. It outlays about $28 billion a year on defence compared with $1 billion on diplomacy. A PROJECT to refurbish heritage signs on buildings throughout Henley is now complete. The Henley Society installed the final one at Caxton Terrace in Station Road on Tuesday last week with help from Southern Plant Hire. It supplied a cherry picker to lift signwriter Brian Allum, of Woodcote, so he was able to attach it to the wall. A total of 19 signs have been refurbished across Henley despite the society initially targeting 17. As more were completed, residents approached the society to ask if it could mend theirs as well. Just three that were identified have not been repaired because the owners of the properties did not give their permission. These are located in Greys Hill, Reading Road and Greys Road. The project began in June last year when Geoff Luckett, who is the societys vice-chairman, read a comment on social media, asking why the signs had been allowed to disappear. They were all either damaged or the names had faded and Mr Luckett suggested to the societys executive committee that it should organise the repairs and it agreed. The society paid for the first three signs, costing about 1,300, and the rest of the work was paid for by donors. Members of South Oxfordshire District Council, including the Mayor of Henley Ken Arlett and councillors Stefan Gawrysiak and Kellie Hinton and businesses also made donations. The total cost of mending all 19 signs was about 8,800. Mr Allum, of Allum Signs, only had to remove two from the walls to carry out repairs because the rest had just been painted on to the walls. Mr Allum took down the signs, reconditioned and repainted them. The final sign cost 440 to repair and Mr Luckett was pleased with the feedback. He said: Its absolutely fantastic and the support Ive had from everyone, from the town council down, has been tremendous. The signs were originally painted when the buildings were built in the late 1800s and early 20th century. Mr Luckett said he was satisfied the Henley Society had been able to fulfill its function as a conservation organisation. He said: Were all about improving the best of Henley and trying to maintain the rest. The full list of signs repaired by Mr Allum are as follows: Cromwell Cottages and Trinity Cottages in Greys Hill; Manitoba Terrace in Harpsden Road (two); Stanley Terrace, Canadian Terrace, Gladstone Terrace, South Place, New York Terrace, Montreal Terrace, Chester Terrace and Columbia Terrace, all in Reading Road; Brooklyn Terrace in Boston Road; Toronto Terrace (two) and Cleveland Terrace in Harpsden Road; Prospect Cottages and Hamilton Terrace in Greys Road and Caxton Terrace in Station Road. The Syrian National Army and the regime have conducted a prisoner swap in Aleppo, after months of negotiations writes Sham Network. The third legion of the Syrian National Army (SNA) announced a prisoner exchange between them and the Assad regime on Sunday in the northern countryside of Aleppo. The exchange process took place near the village of Maraanaz, south of Azaz in the countryside of Aleppo, where the prisoner, Shaaban Muhammad Othman from Menagh, was freed, after a months long negotiation process, according to an official written statement published by the SNA. The statement explained that Othman was arrested by the Kurdish separatist militias while he was entering the city of Afrin four years ago, and he was handed over to the Assad regime with all the detainees captured by the militias back then, immediately after its withdrawal from the city at the beginning of 2018, as part of Operation Olive Branch, which resulted in the liberation of the Afrin region and its surroundings. On May 18, 2020, the National Liberation Front (NLF) conducted a prisoner swap with the regimes militias, where three prisoners were freed in exchange for handing over a man and a woman who cooperated with the regime and the bodies of two fighters from of the Iranian militia in the town of Taftanaz in the Idleb countryside. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and the factions of the SNA had announced a prisoner exchange between them, Hezbollah, and the regime in the Aleppo countryside. The exchange deal included the release of members and civilians detained in the regimes prisons. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, having edged out his rebel deputy out of cabinet, drove back from the resort where he was camping with his MLAs to his official residence to preside over a cabinet meet at his residence. After the cabinet meeting, another meeting of the entire council of ministers, including the ministers of state, took place at the chief ministers residence, reported PTI. The Congress after having sent enough feelers over two days to Sachin Pilot to sit with the party and resolve issues, decided to crack the whip. After the leader skipped the second party meet called today, the party passed a resolution urging action against the rebel leaders. Shortly after that chief Congress spokesperson announced that Sachin Pilot was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and also removed from state party chief post. The development came three days after Pilot mounted a rebellion against his chief minister and boss Ashok Gehlot. Surjewala said Sachin Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy, he added. He also said that the decision was made with a heavy heart. Two cabinet ministers -- Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena -- who are supporting Pilot were also sacked for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to topple the Congress government in the state. Pilots next move is not immediately clear. However during the run-up to Tuesdays Congress legislature party meeting, the second in as many days which he again skipped, his supporters insisted that he had no plans to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. They said their aim was a leadership change in Rajasthan. Truth can be rattled, not defeated, Pilot tweeted in Hindi soon after he was sacked. He also changed his profile on Twitter, deleting all references to his positions as deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress chief. Gehlot accused his former deputy of playing into the hands of the BJP. I am very sad that horse trading was going on, he said. However, the mood within the party was sombre with most party leaders describing the turn of events as unfortunate and sad. Tarun Gogoi, a former Assam chief minister, compared Pilots situation as one he faced too and urged him to be patient. Former party MP Priya Dutt said she did not believe that being ambitious is wrong. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the development was disappointing for the party workers who have reposed faith in the Congress party. The tension between the CM and his deputy, which has been on a slow burner since the 2018 state polls, reached a breaking point when 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. People are sick of experts, but not me: I love an expert. Without experts, where would celebrity culture be? There's only so far we can go with our own theories, ultimately we need the experts to flesh out the stories, to fill in the blanks to make a whole news story - hand writing experts, royal protocol experts, body language experts. Last week, Harry and Meghan took part in a conference call about racism with several young leaders from the Commonwealth as part of their roles as president and vice-president of the queen's Commonwealth Trust, which nobody has ever heard of. Body language experts (my favourite tabloid content creators) said that Harry looked like an 'awkward' 'captive' taken 'hostage' by his controlling wife; "while she speaks Harry's eye movements suggest he has a lot of thoughts running through his head, making him appear distracted", said the body language expert, "his eyes go to the right and then at one point he looks down at the floor, rather than looking visually focused and 'on-message'. Looking down is usually a cut-off gesture that suggests a lack of confidence or a desire to hide momentarily". This lack of confidence in the message (racism is bad and Britain did some) was attributed to Prince Harry's discomfort at stabbing his grandmother the queen in the back. "When you look across the Commonwealth, there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past," said Harry, which is a fairly uncontroversial thing to say about something that literally came out of a violent empire. But, as far as the British press were concerned, Harry might as well have placed a flaming turd on the doorstep of Windsor Castle. Just ask the body language expert: Harry knew what he was doing. But then, if you were a rich cis white man born into the most unimaginable privilege, with relatives famously complicit in various oppressions and systemic racism, you would probably feel a bit awkward in a call with several young black people from Commonwealth countries with things to say about racism too. You would probably let your wife, who's black and knows what she's talking about, take the lead on this one. You might look sheepish - after all, this is the first time you've been on the back foot, and (now, especially) you know you were a bit clueless in the past. It's a little embarrassing. The British press were more hung up on semantics, and the differences between the Commonwealth, empire and colonialism; failing to understand that the fact that no one knows the difference is kind of the whole point. Acknowledging your country's blemished history isn't treacherous, or a red flag for a hostage situation. It's inevitable for progress. That's the entire storyline of Frozen 2; if toddlers can understand it, so can Piers Morgan. Video of the Day The fact that Britain had an empire isn't news, but god bless the body language experts for giving us a story. ******* And last week, to reward themselves for all the unlearning of racist history they've been doing lately, millennials sat down to enjoy their very own Frozen - Hamilton. Disney+ dropped the musical on July 4, a confusing day for the millennials: damning Trump's speech about defending the legacy of the founding fathers and the birth of America at the same time as raving about the exact same story except with dancing and black people. Hamilton is a personality trait for many millennials, even outside the US. The musical by noted Gen-X nerd and enthusiastic weirdo Lin-Manuel Miranda represents a kind of millennial wish fulfilment: a disadvantaged person who no one understands, finally finding their people and starting a revolution - writing 52 papers that stand the test of time. Millennials will settle for one tweet. But now we're realising that we're not the 'young, scrappy and hungry' ones anymore, we'll never be wunderkinds: we're hurtling towards middle age and Gen Z think we're politically ineffectual and pathetic. Watching Hamilton repeatedly won't solve anything, but don't tell us millennials that. ******* Talk about 'cancel culture' is reaching fever-pitch after last week's open letter in Harper's Bazaar signed by JK Rowling and others. The letter wasn't about normal people losing their jobs, family, friends and life as the result of one bad tweet from five years ago - it was influential people worried about having their influence questioned. Like Momo, cancel culture would undoubtedly be a bad thing - if it was actually real. The conversation about cancel culture is about celebrities, like JK Rowling, being criticised. Because JK Rowling has not been cancelled - she has been defended in the pages of nearly every single national newspaper in the western world and her views are the mainstream, dominant narrative. She's not a dissident, she's bathed in the warm glow of the status quo. She's still a billionaire, still writing books, with legions of supporters. She has not been censored, but has been given every platform imaginable. JK Rowling had fans because they liked what she said and wrote, now some of them don't like what she's saying and writing so they aren't fans anymore. That's not cancel culture, that's capitalism. That's rich writers angry at the world and changing norms. These people are not underdogs. The Times in the UK tried to look at the 'victims' of cancel culture, sombrely listing the 'cancelled' and in doing so proving that cancel culture is not a thing. There was Woody Allen, still a successful millionaire who did say this year that it might be time he stopped making movies - because cinemas are dying, the pandemic has wrecked his film plans this summer and he's old; Louis CK, who relaunched his comedy career to a standing ovation after a short time out for relentless and undenied sexual misconduct; Scarlett Johansson, who was briefly criticised a couple of years ago in a way that had no negative impact on her career. She was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar this year. Timothee Chalamet was on the list too, which was confusing as he's literally the most bankable male star in Hollywood at the moment. If cancel culture existed, Mel Gibson and Mark Wahlberg would not still be making moves. Cancel culture is a boomer-rumour. Cancel culture is realising that people can see what you say on the internet. Cancel culture is the realisation that actions have consequences (like some people not liking you) and your jokes aren't funny anymore. Cancel culture is celebrities thinking they are entitled to fame and universal admiration. Cancel culture isn't lives being ruined and careers devastated: because that just isn't happening. It's another moral panic based on a fear of losing control. In her bid to salvage her career, Jessica Mulroney is said to be doing extreme measures to patch things up with her royal bestie Meghan Markle. The longtime BFFs had a fallout last month when the 40-year-old socialite got embroiled in an Instagram drama with influencer Sasha Exeter. The African American influencer said that Mulroney had been hitting her with racist and abusive messages behind closed doors. Exeter also revealed that Mulroney threatened to ruin her career after taking offense on a social media post calling out white colleagues to support the "Black Lives Matter" movement. This Instagram drama led the Duchess of Sussex to distance herself from Mulroney to save her image. Their once solid friendship has hit rock bottom, with reports saying that Meghan is planning to cut ties with the Canadian TV presenter completely. Desperate For Meghan's Forgiveness As Mulroney tries to save her career, the fashion stylist is said to be desperate for her best friend's forgiveness. She is said to be doing her best to make amends with Meghan Markle. A source revealed that Mulroney has been reaching out to the Duchess and calling her non-stop so they could patch things up. "Jessica has been calling Meghan non-stop and also calling up mutual friends to try and patch up their friendship," the source told the Daily Mail. "She's devastated Meghan has turned her back on her at a time when she needs her most. But their friends have told her not to expect to hear back from Meghan because when she cuts someone off, she's done for good - just like with her family." Meanwhile, another source told The Sun that Mulroney was particularly devastated that Meghan did not even do something to defend her and protect their friendship. However, it looks like Mulroney is almost losing her patience trying to woo the Duchess and reportedly wants to take her revenge by dropping a bombshell tell-all book. Another source said that Mulroney is now "at her wits' end" and is thinking of sharing the details of their friendship, as she believes she has nothing to lose if she throws Meghan under the bus. Cut Off Other Friends Meanwhile, insiders revealed that Mulroney is not the only one being treated by the "Suits" actress with a cold shoulder. Other friends of the Duchess claimed that they are having a hard time getting in touch with Meghan in the fears that her old circle in Los Angeles cannot be trusted. The insider said Meghan has been ghosting her old acquaintances as part of her plan to reinvent herself as a public speaker. "Meghan has cut off most of her old friends in LA. They were so excited to see her when she came back home and were expecting to hear from her," the source revealed. "But she hasn't reached out to anyone. Friends have tried to connect with her through Doria, but she doesn't answer her phone, and the old numbers they have for Meghan don't work anymore." Because of this, most of her friends now believe that they will never hear from the actress-turned royal-turned-diva ever again. READ MORE: Prince Harry Getting U.S. Citizenship? The TRUTH! PIGGS PEAK The number of teachers who have tested positive for COVID-19 continues to rise. Three more teachers have tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number to five as of yesterday. One of them is from Somnjalose High School and the two others are from Ekudvwaleni High School. This publication established that a male and female teacher tested positive after they exhibited flu-like symptoms at Ekudvwaleni High. Several teachers are now said to be in panic-mode after concerns that their colleagues had tested positive as they were in contact with them. Despite the reports that the teachers had tested positive, they had not yet been taken into isolation as per the COVID-19 guidelines. It was gathered that the teachers are still at their respective locations. Isolation One of the teachers who was reached for comment, confirmed that she had not yet been taken into isolation. She also confirmed that she received her results on Saturday. The teacher also revealed that she was in constant communication with officials from the Ministry of Health and that they had also delivered some medication to her. Though the teacher said she had not been to the school after pupils had returned, she had been mingling with many other teachers during the preparations for schools reopening. More teachers are said to have been listed during contact tracing. The male teacher who also tested positive is said to reside outside the school premises and was no longer conducting lessons. He had been conducting lessons until he received his results confirming that he was positive for COVID-19 last week. Yesterday, the school remained opened despite the positive cases. This resulted in anger among some of the parents, who said their children were being put at high risk of contracting the virus. Some of the teachers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated that they were still waiting to be tested. They said they would also go to the hospital voluntarily for testing. Attempts were made to reach the schools Head teacher, Nelson Gule, but his cellphone rang unanswered. However, the chairperson of the school committee, when called for comment, said he had not yet been updated by the head teacher on the matter. The chairman said he would later contact the head teacher to get more information. It is the first time I am hearing this, said the chairman. The regional education officer (REO) could not be reached for comment on the matter. Last week, a teacher from Makhosini High and another from Mndzimba High School tested positive for COVID-19. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Los Angeles and San Diego school districts, the two largest in California with a combined K-12 student population of about 720,000, announced Monday they wont bring students back to classrooms next month because of rising coronavirus hospitalizations and infection rates. School leaders said there is too much uncertainty surrounding the safety of students and staff to try to return pupils to classrooms right away so they will continue the distance learning that was employed for the final months of the spring semester. Theres a public health imperative to keep schools from becoming a petri dish, said Austin Beutner, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District the second-largest public school district in the country. The health and safety of all in the school community is not something we can compromise. In a letter to parents, Cindy Marten, superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, said nothing was decided beyond beginning the academic year online. An Aug. 10 update will address the possibility of returning to in-person instruction later on. We will get back there, but we just cant start there, she wrote. LA and San Diego are the latest in a growing number of California school districts choosing to start the new term with digital learning amid strong concerns from teachers unions and as local leaders push Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration for clearer guidelines on what classroom learning should look like. Oakland and San Bernardino districts are among those that already have have said theyll start off with distance learning. Some districts are considering a mix of distance learning and classroom instruction with few students in the room.. Newsom, a Democrat, applauded Los Angeles and San Diego but stressed that each district has unique needs. The power on whether to reopen rests with local districts and boards, but his administration has issued recommendations for schools. Newsom said he approved more rules Friday on masks, sports, singing, busing and other school activities, but his administration did not immediately make them public. A few things are non-negotiable: Our childrens health and the absolute essential importance of educating our children, Newsom said Monday. Schools across California closed in March as the state was ramping up virus-related restrictions. The move to distance learning was rocky for teachers, parents and students, particularly those who lacked the right technology or internet access. Newsom noted the state budget includes more than $5 billion to help students suffering from learning losses due to not physically being at school. Both the state Department of Education and Department of Public Health have released guidance for districts to follow when reopening, which include implementing temperature checks for students, remaking activities such as lunch and recess, and recommending cloth face coverings. Still, teachers are calling on the state to put clearer guidelines and rules in place for reopening. On Friday, leaders of the Los Angeles teachers union called for campuses to remain closed and for distance learning to continue due to the surging numbers of cases in Los Angeles County. We all want to physically open schools and be back with our students, but lives hang in the balance. Safety has to be the priority. We need to get this right for our communities United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement last week. The states two largest teachers unions have expressed similar concerns. The California Federation of Teachers, which represents 120,000 teachers and school employees, said Monday it sent a letter to Newsom and the Legislature asking state leaders to delay the physical reopening of schools and provide stronger direction to counties that have been left on their own to make the difficult decision on whether it is safe to reopen schools. We urge the Governor to take action and delay the reopening of schools until we can guarantee our schools are safe. The stakes are as high as it gets, and we have only one chance to get this right, CFT President Jeff Freitas said in a statement. The California Teachers Association, which represents 310,000 members, said pointedly on Friday: We cannot reopen schools until it is safe. CTA President E. Tony Boyd listed some of the needs for schools to stay safe: increased testing for students and staff, rapid notification of tests and contact tracing, all of which requires more funding at a time of budget cuts. In San Diego and Los Angeles, the districts said guidelines that have come out have been vague and contradictory and that Californias skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control. Virtual classes for the roughly 600,000 K-12 students in Los Angeles begin Aug. 18 and the approximately 120,000 students in San Diego return to remote learning Aug. 31. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. __ Gecker reported from San Francisco. The music never stopped. But four months ago, as analog venues shuttered in the face of COVID-19, musicians stepped back and went virtual performing at a digital remove for audiences on YouTube, Facebook and other platforms. For music fans, its been a gift and a stopgap. God bless them. Thank you so much. And much of it was free and widely available, and there was this generosity of spirit, said Joseph Thompson, director of Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass. But such online sessions were both necessary and insufficient, he said, adding, Its not what I crave when I crave live music. Next week, Mass MoCA will be among the venues and organizations gradually, hesitantly, experimentally returning to live, in-person concerts when it hosts multi-instrumentalist Treya Lam for an outdoor performance on Saturday, July 18. We thought it important to try it, Thompson said. Concerts are popping up elsewhere, too: Troy's Rockin' on the River starts on July 22, but it's now limited to 50 people. Clermont State Historic Site is reimagining its Harmonies on the Hudson as a drive-in concert series set to kick off in August and a similar vehicular approach, already in operation at the Jericho Drive-In, will also allow audiences to gather in their cars for the Lake George Music Festival Sept. 15 and 16. According to Thompson, a dual sense of mission drives the move to in-person performances. One aim: to help performing artists who lost income during the shutdown. Another: to bring the joys of music to audiences starved for community and aching to gather for the live performing arts. Its part of human nature. Were doing it. Its going to be truncated. And he knows it won't feel normal. No mosh pit, no dancing in the aisles. . . . Its going to be odd. Some of the energy we love about going to performances thats not going to happen. Its a bit of an experiment, he said. The Lam concert will be staged in Courtyard D MoCAs largest outdoor space, which can accommodate 4,000 people. On July 18, it will host 100 attendees max, or one-fortieth of the usual capacity. Audience members will remain in six-by-six, mapped-out boxes in groups of four maximum. And the performers? Theyll be up in the air, literally, raised above concertgoers on a specially built stage. The museum is adhering meticulously to Massachusetts phase three reopening guidelines, Thompson said. Well be following those to a T. As for the audience, I have a feeling that folks coming to these performances will mask, will be distancing, and make the most of it. The museum has uploaded a COVID courtesy code that it asks attendees to follow. Music at MoCA will remain alfresco for now. We have learned the coronavirus hates the outdoors. Fresh air is its worst enemy, so weve got a little bit of time to work with before we get closed in again for the winter, he said. Indoor events a relatively small number of micro-performances may return with colder weather. But its summer now. We have outdoor space. . . . We had a lot of the things in place that one would need to do a very small, light-footprint performance and even though the economics are not very compelling, wed also made commitments to artists. Initially MoCA was in talks with a couple of big bands interested in playing back-to-back concerts, but with so few ticket buyers, the numbers didnt make any sense. But of Lam, he said, Its kind of beautiful that shes the first one. She had been slated to perform in mid-March, and that was the first act that we had to cancel. So its kind of nice. Below are links and resources, including a handful of upcoming, in-person concerts. (Absent from the list is Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs; on Friday, executive director Sarah Craig said the folk venue had stepped away from earlier plans to reopen for live, indoor audiences after factoring in the influx of summer visitors from outside the Capital Region.) Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and some area history with our afternoon newsletter. Mass MoCA: Treya Lam, 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18. $25 in advance, $35 day of. 1040 Mass MoCA Way, North Adams, Mass. massmoca.org. Rockin' on the River: 5 p.m. Wednesdays July 22 through Sept. 9, Sage Park, Troy. Socially distanced; limited to 50; must sign up to attend. downtowntroy.org/rockin-on-the-river. Lake George Music Festival: Sept. 15-16, lakegeorgemusicfestival.com. Concert series at the Jericho Drive-In, partnered with Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and WEXT: The Wheel, Grateful Dead Tribute Band, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 21. $50 per carload. 21 Jericho Road, Glenmont. troymusichall.org/events Berkshire Theatre Group: Naughton Family in concert, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, July 24-25. Outside under the tent at the The Colonial Theatre parking lot, 111 South St., Pittsfield, Mass. $100 general admission. BerkshireTheatreGroup.org. Village Concert Series at the Delanson Gazebo: 6:30 p.m. Thursdays. Upcoming concerts include Mike Short on July 16 and Jeff and Dan on July 23. Free. delanson.net. Capital Area Whos Gigging: Facebook page tracking live gigs at various locales, including pubs. Facebook.com/CapitalAreaWhosGigging. LIMERICK writer Peter Delaney has been selected by Words Ireland to receive professional literary mentoring over the next eight months from an acclaimed Irish writer of their choice. After a national call out, a total of 24 writers including Peter Delaney were selected from 250 applicants. Limerick City and County Arts and Culture Office funded the literary mentorship along with the Arts Council of Ireland to guarantee that the best applicant from the county would be selected. Their support will ensure that the chosen mentee receives this potentially life-changing support for free. It is also an investment in the long-term literary reputation of the region. Having achieved some success as a solo musician and filmmaker, Peter returned to his early love of writing after he started a family. He has produced a handful of short stories that are just beginning to get out in the world. The mentoring process involves four two-hour meetings between the selected mentee and their chosen professional writer. The mentor reads up to 10,000 words of the awarded mentees writing in advance of each, then shares their hard-earned critical feedback and advice. The hope is that the chosen mentees will go on to write great works of literature to match or beat the quality of their mentors. Its a form of peer-to-peer teaching that is increasingly popular across all sectors of Irish life in industry as well as the arts. Dr Pippa Little, Arts and Culture Officer with Limerick City and County Council said: Limerick Culture and Arts Office is delighted to be supporting Peter Delaney through this Words Ireland National Mentoring Award, which is a key creative support. It allows for significant professional development, as Peter will receive one-to-one mentoring from a professional writer-mentor over the coming year, in order to progress his novel. The results of the Karnataka PUC-II (Pre-University Course) board exams or class 12 board exams will be declared on Tuesday (July 14) at 11.30 am. According to Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar the students who appeared for all the papers in the First PU Examination but had failed in some subjects will be given general promotion. Kumar added that the students will get information about the results on their mobile phones at 11:30 amresults will be first released on mobile phones and after 12 noon, the results will be uploaded on the website karresults.nic.in. Here's how to check Karnataka PUC-II (Pre-University Course) board exams result online: Step 1: Visit the official site link at karresults.nic.in. Step 2: On the home page click on Karnataka 2nd PUC result link. Step 3: A new page will open where candidates will have to enter the details. Step 4: Click on submit. Step 5: Your result will be available on the screen. Step 6: Download the result and keep a hard copy for further need. The PUC exam was conducted from March 4-21 but the last paper, which was to be conducted on March 23, was postponed due to coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown imposed to curb the spread of deadly virus in the country. The pending paper was later held on June 18. "Our state is the first in south India to announce the PUC result. The results of 6.75 lakh students will be announced on Tuesday," the minister said, adding that the supplementary examination has been cancelled. It was supposed to take place from July 16 to July 27 in the colleges itself and the results were to be announced on July 30. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Dongfeng Motor Corporation is going to launch on July 17 the "h" brand focusing on premium new energy PVs, the automaker announced last week. It is said that the "h" brand has planned on rolling out nine models that include SUVs and MPVs, among which the first one is set to hit the market on 2021. Dongfeng's "h" business unit is founded in April 2019 for the development of "h" brand. According to earlier reports, the new brand will work as an independent PV unit, while it will be affiliated to Dongfeng's Hong Kong-list subsidiary, Dongfeng Motor Group Company Limited. Reportedly, the "h" brand will inherit Dongfeng Renault's Wuhan plant, which will be renovated later. The plant to-day features annual capacities of 150,000 complete vehicles and 50,000 engines. The state-owned automaker is operating four self-owned PV brandsFengshen, Fengguang, Fengxing and Venucia, most of which are priced below 150,000 yuan ($21,423). With the consumption upgrading in China's automotive marketing, the share of mid-/high-end vehicles priced between 200,000 yuan ($28,564) and 350,000 yuan ($49,986) is growing rapidly, and this is the only market where Dongfeng's electrification and intelligent connectivity technologies can be developed with a proper cost effectiveness, said You Zheng, deputy general manager of Dongfeng Motor Corporation. Dongfeng Motor Corporation and CATL agreed in mid-June to step up their strategic collaboration on NEV development, which is expected to help promote the building and perfection of China's NEV industrial ecosystem. Under the newly cemented partnership, two companies are expected to develop more technologies and products for the NEV ecosystem, gain a head start over rivals in NEV, battery recycle and intelligent data areas, and join forces in order to develop new technologies befitting the future trend. Ryan Specialty Group Europe has expanded the underwriting capabilities of RSG Transactional Risks Europe (RSG TRE) with the hiring of Will Gay. RSG TRE is a specialized managing general underwriter focused exclusively on providing transactional insurance to the mergers and acquisitions sector. Gay will focus on commercial tax liability insurance together with Kerry Westwell, head of tax at RSG TRE. Gay is a senior tax lawyer, and joins RSG TRE from private practice. He has advised clients on a full range of tax matters, including complex cross-border M&A deals, private equity advisory work, and large commercial UK and European real estate transactions. Environment Secretary George Eustice also did not rule out the possibility that mandatory face coverings would become compulsory in offices and other workplaces in the future. He told the BBC on Tuesday that the government was taking one step at a time and weve taken the view in this next step that we should make it mandatory in retail environments. Chinese soldiers erect a sandbag barrier along the shore of Poyang lake after heavy seasonal rains in Jiujiang, in China's central Jiangxi province Soldiers erected sandbag flood barriers in a city near China's largest freshwater lake after the heaviest rainfall in nearly six decades drenched the swollen Yangtze River basin. The vast Yangtze drainage area has been lashed by torrential rains since last month, leaving 141 people dead or missing and forcing the evacuation of millions more across several provinces. Flooding along the riverthe world's third longesthas been an annual summer scourge since ancient times, but this year's inundation has been especially severe. The downpours have intensified since last week, causing dozens of Yangtze-basin waterways to post record-high water levels, while more than 400 had exceeded warning levels, Vice Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang said on Monday. "Since June, average precipitation in the Yangtze river basin has been the highest since 1961," he told a news briefing in Beijing. Authorities had been monitoring a flood crest as it neared Wuhan, the metropolis of 11 million that the Yangtze winds through and which had already suffered the vast number of China's deaths and cases in the coronavirus pandemic, which first emerged in the city. They said river levels were decreasing after the crest passed Wuhan on Monday with no reports of major new flooding there. Map showing provinces worst hit by flooding in China that has left more than 140 people dead as of July 13, 2020 Record rainfall Concern was now shifting downstream to Poyang Lake, which drains into the Yangtze in hard-hit Jiangxi province and is the largest freshwater lake fully within China's borders. State-run Xinhua news agency said water levels at a key hydrological station on the lake broke a record set in 1998, when more than 4,000 people were killed in China's worst flooding in recent decades. State media reported that more than 100,000 peopleincluding rescue personnel, soldiers, and ordinary citizenshad been thrown into flood-control efforts in Jiangxi. Around half of those were deployed at Poyang Lake, where many dikes and levees had collapsed, state television reported. In the city of Jiujiang, near where the lake drains into the Yangtze, soldiers wearing orange life vests fortified the river bank with a wall of sandbags piled as high as a man. State media reported that more than 100,000 peopleincluding rescue personnel, soldiers, and ordinary citizenshad been thrown into flood-control efforts in Jiangxi The Yangtze's length is exceeded only by the Nile and the Amazon, and its drainage basin is home to around 400 million people. Summer rains and seasonal glacial melt in the river's Tibetan plateau headwaters cause routine annual flooding. But environmentalists say the threat has worsened over the decades due in part to rampant construction of dams and levees that have cut connections between the river and adjacent lakes and floodplains that for centuries had helped absorb the summer surge. Conservationists also warn that the rapid melting of Himalayan glaciers due to climate change may lead to more dangerous summer flooding. Explore further Chinese rivers and lakes swell perilously as summer flood season crests 2020 AFP Bengaluru, July 14 : Trade and industry bodies in Karnataka are miffed at the unilateral lockdown government has imposed from July 14 to 22 without taking them into confidence, said an official on Tuesday. "Enforcement of lockdown of industries is likely to paralyse the state economy and severely impact industrial production and hamper attempts to restore normalcy," said Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) president C. R. Janardhan. He said the industrial sector contributes 26 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) which now will be affected by the lockdown as industries will be closed, impacting production, state GST collections and hitting jobs. According to Janardhan, Bengaluru alone contributes 70 per cent of the GSDP which is put under complete lockdown with minimal exceptions from Tuesday 8 p.m. to July 22. "Many industries in Bengaluru especially in the manufacturing sector have slowly started operating second shift in the last few days to fulfill orders. At this stage, another lockdown will destroy the morale of the management and workers," he said. Comparing Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Janardhan said Covid is more rampant in those states than here and no lockdown was imposed in those states. "In Pune, Chennai and Delhi social lockdown was imposed but industries were permitted to operate by adhering to norms prescribed as per the ministry of home affairs guidelines," he said. Similarly, MSME, Kassia, hotel and Peenya Industry association members have also expressed their unhappiness over the lockdown. An official from the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) said the sector has barely recovered from the lockdown and another lockdown will put it in great disadvantage. "While it is certainly necessary for the government to take hard and effective measures to tackle the worsening pandemic in the city, what worries us is the inevitable consequences of all this on the wholly beleaguered small industry sector which may end up completely shattered as a result," he said. According to the official, nearly 20 per cent of all the small and medium enterprise have shutdown operations in the state due to the earlier lockdown. "Bangalore has nearly 2.4 lakh registered units with an employment of 25 lakh and investment in the range of Rs 40,000 crores. This is excluding the unorganized sector which is close to the organised numbers. The economic and social impact will, therefore, be disastrous," said the official. The SME sector has appealed to the state government to allow at least one shift to function in the larger interest. Alarmed by the surging Covid-19 cases daily since July 1, the Karnataka government has decided to reimpose a total lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from July 14 till July 22. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which manages the countrys richest temple of Lord Venkateshwara in Andhra Pradeshs Tirumala, wants an exchange of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 worth nearly Rs 51 crore more than three-and-a-half years after the Centre had demonetised them. TTD trust board chairperson YV Subba Reddy, who met Union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman in New Delhi on Monday, put forth the request of monetising the old currency notes offered by devotees over a period of time. Reddy said he had made a representation to the Union finance minister in this regard and requested her to look into the issue in view of the precarious financial situation of the TTD on account of the coronavirus pandemic. I told her that pilgrims consider extending offerings to the hundi (cash chest associated with the temple where devotees drop money) very sacred and a great deal of sentiments are attached with it and the TTD cannot reject the offerings, the chairperson said while speaking to HT. Reddy said following the central governments decision on demonetisation on November 8, 2016, the TTD, too, had stopped collecting the banned currency in the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 at all its sale counters across the country as per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines. However, the TTD has no say when it comes to the offerings made by the devotees in the temple hundi. They continued to make cash offerings in the demonetised currency of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, even after the closure of window period announced by the RBI for exchange of demonetised currency notes, he said. The finance minister assured Reddy that she would talk to the central bank authorities and see what best she could do in this regard. 14th of July, 2020, Hong Kong -- Today, Insilico Medicine announced a spin-off of its aging biomarker and deep aging clock business. On the 4th of July, the new company called Deep Longevity, Inc successfully completed a round of funding led by the reputable biotechnology and longevity investors. The company will focus on the development and commercialization of novel artificial intelligence methods and tools to track the rate of aging using a broad range of biological, medical, and behavioral data types. In 2016 Insilico Medicine published its first peer-reviewed paper demonstrating the utility of deep neural networks trained on anonymized clinical blood tests for prediction of human biological age. Since then the company published a broad range of deep aging clocks trained on laboratory tests, transcriptomic, microbiome, imaging, and other data types. "In 2014 Insilico Medicine started as an innovation hub for the applications of artificial intelligence to a broad range of biology and chemistry problems to accelerate every aspect of drug discovery. We also actively engaged in aging research. However, as the company matured, we decided to focus our efforts on AI for novel target discovery, generative chemistry, prediction of clinical trials, and development of our own therapeutic programs. This spin-off demonstrates our commitment to becoming a leading AI-powered biotechnology company", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, CEO of Insilico Medicine ### About Insilico Medicine Since 2014 Insilico Medicine is focusing on generative models, reinforcement learning (RL), and other modern machine learning techniques for the generation of new molecular structures with the specified parameters, generation of synthetic biological data, target identification, and prediction of clinical trials outcomes. Since its inception, Insilico Medicine, raised over $52 million, published over 100 peer-reviewed papers, applied for over 25 patents, and received multiple industry awards. Website http://insilico.com/ By Kazeem Ugbodaga Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday described the strike embarked upon by doctors under its employ as unfair and unfortunate. He said the strike was an opportunistic one by the doctors in view of the raging Coronavirus pandemic in the state. Sanwo-Olu, who spoke with newsmen at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba where he commemorated 2020 Tree Planting Day and commissioned a 36 chamber Morgue donated by IHS Towers to the state government, said he was displeased by the action of the doctors. It is rather unfortunate that my workers whom I love so dearly would take this very unexpected line to appeal their grievances. It is rather unfair and unfortunate that any of us, especially them at this time would want to take an opportunistic approach because of the pandemic crisis we are going through, I think it is rather unfortunate and I think it is utterly condemnable, he lamented. And I think I owe the system as the Chief Incident Commander to express and to say to you that come back to work, I am still your governor, resume back to work and whatever the issues are, we will sort it out, he told the doctors. He, however, said the major issue that led to doctors strike in the state had been resolved, saying it was all due to inadequate communication and understanding. According to the governor, the major issue at stake was the yet to be paid May and June additional COVID-19 allowance which has now been paid, saying that the allowance was his initiative because he wanted to show leadership at the outbreak of the pandemic. Sanwo-Olu said the cause of the delay in payment was because the government had to do enumeration to ensure that only those who were supposed to receive it got it. The governor stated that the COVID-19 additional allowance, which is different from hazard allowance that the government had earlier increased by 400 percent, adding that the COVID-19 additional allowance was for only frontline workers at the isolation centres, but that it became an all comers affair which was becoming a drain on the states purse, hence the enumeration. The enumeration was to ensure that only those entitled to it, that is those working in Isolation centres and not all medical staff in the state hospitals and health centres, receive the allowance, he said. Sanwo-Olu stated that other issues that led to the strike like taxes, residential quarters for doctors, shortage of doctors, dismissal of health workers, among others, were being addressed and that the doctors were aware of it. On the issue of dismissal of doctors, Sanwo-Olu said they were not dismissed but were only redeployed to their primary duty post after spending about three to four months at the Isolation centre. He said while the issue of taxation had to do with the law guiding taxation, he could not unilaterally change it and that the government was already engaging some private developers to build residential quarters for medical workers, especially doctors. Related Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. According to a new study published by Polaris Market Research the global fog computing market is anticipated to reach USD 934 million by 2026. Fog computing helps in enhancing the efficiency as well as data computing competencies for cloud computing. The major use of fog computing is to enhance efficiency however, the use of fog computing can also be done for security and compliance reasons. Fog computing is used in several applications including, smart city, smart buildings, smart grid, vehicle networks and software- defined networks. Browse for full research summary: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/fog-computing-market On the basis of components, the market is segmented into hardware and software. The software market is growing at a highest CAGR and has accounted for the largest share attributed to low cost, increasing functionality, as well as advancements in features & designs. Furthermore, the constantly decreasing costs of sensors, storage devices, and semiconductor devices is one of the factor which is fueling the market growth of hardware in fog computing. Another factor responsible for the market growth of fog computing is the developments in network technology resulting in reduction of OPEX across business organizations. Currently, the market for fog computing is dominated by North America with countries including, US and Canada taking initiatives to promote the adoption of IoT in the region. Also, Europe is the second largest market after North America, which is also experiencing growth in the adopting of fog computing and IoT. However, APAC is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period attributed to the increasing awareness of fog computing in these regions. Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/fog-computing-market/request-for-sample Major companies profiled in the report include Cradlepoint, Inc., PrismTech, FogHorn Systems, Cisco Systems, Inc., Crosser Technologies, Nebbiolo Technologies, Microsoft Corporation, Intel Corporation, Fujitsu, Arm Holding Plc., and ADLINK Technology Inc. Key Findings from the study suggest North America is expected to command the market over the forecast years. APAC is presumed to be the fastest growing market, with highest CAGRover the forecast period. The fog computing market is presumed to develop at a CAGR of over 62.6% from 2018 to 2026. The fog computing technology is used in applications such as building & automation, smart energy, transportation & logistics, smart manufacturing, connected health, and others. Among the application segment, smart manufacturing is expected to hold the largest share. This is due to the several number of sensors required for varied functions in manufacturing facilities, that generates enormous amount data. Fog computing helps manufacturing companies to reduce operating cost by making use of real-time data to take efficient decisions. Check for discount: https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/fog-computing-market/request-for-discount-pricing Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Hardware Routers/Gateways Switches Controllers Sensors Others Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Software Fog Computing Platforms Custom Application Software Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Service Professional Service Training Service Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Application Smart Homes/Smart Cities Smart Energy Smart Manufacturing Connected Healthcare Smart Transport Others Fog Computing Market Size And Forecast By Regions North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany UK Asia Pacific China Japan Latin America Brazil Mexico Middle East & Africa Make Inquiry about this report @ https://www.polarismarketresearch.com/industry-analysis/fog-computing-market/inquire-before-buying About Polaris Market Research Polaris Market Research is a global market research and consulting company. We provide unmatched quality of offerings to our clients present globally. The company specializes in providing exceptional market intelligence and in-depth business research services for our clientele spread across different enterprises. We at Polaris are obliged to serve our diverse customer base present across the industries of healthcare, technology, semi-conductors and chemicals among various other industries present around the world. Contact us- Polaris Market Research Phone: 1-646-568-9980 Email: sales@polarismarketresearch.com Web: www.polarismarketresearch.com By Yang Kunfu Recently, the US has increasingly meddled in the Taiwan question as the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on July 9that the US State Department has decided to approve a new round of arms sales to Taiwan. The arms sales, which values at US$620 million, is comprised of Patriot Advanced Capability-3(PAC-3). As this is the second round of arms sales to Taiwan by the Trump administration this year and the seventh time since Trump took office as US president, some commentators believe that the United States is implementing the so-called normalization of arms sales to Taiwan. Within the US, the presidential and congressional elections to be held in early November this year have entered a fierce stage. Trump desperately needs to whip up support by creating topics, therefore, launching an aggressive attack on the Chinese mainland, which has been regarded by the US as a strategic competitor, has become one of the useful strategies he uses. According to the latest survey released on July 6 by Gallup, Trumps approval rating has fallen from a peak of 49% in May this year to 38% now, approaching to his lowest record of 35% in 2017. Gallup pointed out that the number of Trump's loyal supporters is diving in an all-round way. As Trump seeks to win the Novembers US presidential election, the poll surely raises alarm bells. As the anti-China force in the US is rising, it seems natural that Trump has made more troubles to China. In recent days, the United States has defied China several times. For example, in early July, the US military sent two aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz, to conduct exercises in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, the US military aircraft have repeatedly approached mainlands coastal Guangdong province for surveillance, which is a sure indicator of provocation. At the same time, the United States has continuously hyped up issues involving Hong Kong SAR, Tibet, and Xinjiang of China, unceasingly discredited and attacked the Chinese mainland, and even made significant moves to impose sanctions on Chinese officials. Against such background, the US playing the so-called "Taiwan card" is actually an indispensable part of its move of comprehensive containment of the Chinese mainland. The US has taken a series of actions, which are actually some tricks to achieve its goals, including the arms sales to Taiwan this time, the Taiwan defense act that has been hyped up recently, with the claim to deal with the so-called "increasing military threat to Taiwan" from the mainland, and prevent the mainland from "taking strategies against Taiwan that lead to fait accompli ". In addition, former US National Security Adviser John Bolton even threatened on July 2 that the United States should give Taiwan the so-called diplomatic recognition, and suggested that the United States should use a variety of means to apply 'asymmetric pressure' on China. As can be seen from the above, the approaching elections have made American politicians restless and, therefore, hyped up China-related issues franticly. On the other hand, the DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) authorities in Taiwan have misjudged the situation and, consequently, taken the initiative to cooperate with the United States against the Chinese mainland. As a result, the United States has intervened and meddled in the Taiwan question through various means such as formulating domestic laws from time to time. At the same time, it creates a scene of supporting Taiwan in the forms of lip service and arms sales. It is foreseeable that before the US elections, the US side will take more actions, and might play the "Taiwan card" more crazily and extremely, while the DPP authorities will watch its chance to resort to the US. The anti-China forces outside are colluding with the Taiwan separatists, making trouble for the Chinese mainland. As the DPP authorities help the devil do the evil and tries to gain profit at risk, the power struggle among parties involved is likely to scale up. However, any actions running against the dominant trend will inevitably encounter setbacks, because the determination and will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity will never be shaken. (The author Yang Kunfu is a member under Xiamen Association of Taiwan Studies.) La Paz (AFP) - Bolivia's interim President Jeanine Anez on Thursday accused former leader Evo Morales and his supporters of fomenting violence to try to force a return to power. Socialist Morales, who currently lives in exile in Argentina, fired back, accusing the government of training its military to suppress social movements. Conservative Anez assumed the presidency in November after Morales fled the country following three weeks of protests over his controversial re-election to an unconstitutional fourth term. But she is under pressure to ratify a bill to set a new date for elections postponed over the coronavirus pandemic, which Congress passed despite her party abstaining. "Evo and his coca growers are trying to return to power," said Anez, adding that Morales's Movement for Socialism party (MAS) is putting forward "the path of division and violence between Bolivians like they did during 14 years" of his rule. The right-wing government has accused MAS of being behind the vandalism of telecommunications masts in rural areas by locals who believe a conspiracy theory that coronavirus can be spread through 5G. Morales responded with a tweet claiming that two weeks ago a military document was circulating "with instructions to practice shooting and anti-terrorist preparation." The former trade union leader described it as a "return to the US National Security Doctrine that views social movements as the 'enemy'." Last week, both chambers of Congress approved a new date of September 6 for elections originally due to take place in May. But on Tuesday, Anez proposed "postponing probably for a month or two months," citing an expected peak in coronavirus infections that is yet to be reached as reason to do so. On Wednesday, Senate President Eva Copa, a member of MAS, urged Anez to "comply with the only mandate entrusted to" her by ratifying the election date. When she came to power, Anez herself said her only role was to guide the South American country to new elections. In the latest polls, Anez was sitting third behind former president Carlos Mesa and MAS candidate Luis Arce. PHILIPSBURG:--- Gracita Arrindell states:it was just a matter of time before PM Mark Ruttes government presented a secret entity' for the countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A proposal that given our Kingdoms constitutional history spanning four hundred years should not be a surprise to anyone. The 57-page document was not written out of the blue! A document rightfully rejected by our Parliament. Lets be brutally honest with each other. Yes, we have failed our people miserably in too many ways. We have failed our people for far too long in terms of providing a quality of life and services necessary in modern civic society. We barely managed our public affairs in relatively prosperous economic times. During less affluent periods or following natural disasters, we muddled through. Our governments liquidity position and financial future have been severely compromised by our completely irresponsible actions in the past. It doesnt have to be bleak but our continuing approach to governance all but ensure a repeat of past mistakes. One of the textbook definitions of madness is repeating the same mistakes over and over again and expecting a different outcome. We have been stuck in this reel for far too long. The Dutch government knows and can predict our behavior. We come unprepared to the negotiation table with their representatives and we repeat the same mistakes. The CFT structure established and accepted without a counter-proposal in 2007 proved ineffective as an instrument to guarantee sound financial management for St. Maarten and Curacao, post 101010. Arrindell continues; the manner in which the Dutch government seizes the moment under the WORLD COVID 19 Pandemic to strategically impose more conditions in return for yet another financial shot in the arm is nothing short of a renewed attempt to bring the former Netherlands Antilles back under one administrative rule in the Hague. We must reject that. Future generations of public administrators acting in good faith and with integrity who are educated, able, and capable, should never be robbed of their future right to govern this island. Are we destined to choose from two choices as recently suggested by one of our own, drinking champagne or a soda. We must reject the notion that our only choices are between steak and chicken leg. How can the current Dutch government IMPOSE a reduction of 12.5 % on the total package of employment benefits until further notice? By unconditionally accepting all of the above and more, we as a people give up our right to have aspirations, to do better, and to lead by example. Arrindell further states; if indeed we have fallen before and failed ten times, dont we have a right to succeed after the eleventh or the twelfth or umpteenth time and rise to the occasion as many nations have done before us? We firmly believe that there is a great future ahead of us. Many political leaders around the globe made terrible, horrific transgressions against their own citizens. In modern times, these transgressors are held accountable for their actions. We should hold our leaders accountable as well. Their administrations however were not taken over directly or indirectly, neither where they annexed nor have they accepted an outside entity to be imposed over their democratically elected Parliament. The narrative by some local and Dutch entities of the past ten years states we are incapable of governing ourselves. This story-line culminated in the current stalemate between the countries of the former Netherlands Antilles that are again in dire need of financial assistance. While theres a great deal of truth to that story, it gives the Dutch administration no right to blanket us all as being incapable under the guise of stepping in for the poor people and resort via a backdoor policy of substitution of our representatives. Our democratic institutions including the High Councils of States, our General Audit Chamber, the Ombudsman office will be relegated to substations for the entities in the Hague. These institutions have proven in the past ten years that they can do the job. We have nothing more than high praise and respect for those women and men who were appointed to manage these institutions with integrity and professional aptitude since 101010. It is time our citizens demand the same of our elected and appointed representatives. Give us that breathing space. Gracita further states; we can rise to the occasion by taking a more professional approach especially in the case of bilateral meetings with the Dutch government. Bear in mind that PM Mark Rutte faced six ( 6) St. Maarten governments and 3 Parliaments in 10 years. He has been a constant and consistent factor as PM in the on-going constitutional- financial deliberations facing our local governments. In the meantime, St. Maarten continues to be under-prepared or unprepared for these important meetings. For instance, one of our ministers recently lamented he was party to a testy video conference between our PM and State Secretary Knopps and it was Not RECORDED! Furthermore, when both our Prime Minister and President of Parliament traveled to the Hague to look Rutte squarely in the eyes in the aftermath of receiving the new and controversial proposal, they allegedly arrived in the Hague and went straight into these critical meetings together with the Min-Plenipotentiary. Having a mixed team comprising of local and Dutch advisors would go a long way to assist our representatives during these difficult meetings. Arrindell continued; the current government faces three battles simultaneously on three fronts: 1. post-hurricane Irma, ongoing reconstruction, and allocation of the Trust fund monies provided by the Dutch taxpayers. 2. Current COVID 19 pandemic forced lock-down and as a result thereof social-economic fall-out. 3. Constitutional frictions between the Kingdom partners due to the Dutch government conditions for more financial aid resulting in serious social unrest for the citizens of the smaller entities Curacao, Aruba and St. Maarten. After their whirlwind trip, what is next? What is St. Maartens Plan B, C, or D? A few suggestions; a. propose and thoroughly prepare a Round-Table Conference ( RTC) to evaluate the current constitutional structure. This was never done as agreed-upon after the deliberations following the November 2006 Agreement. Most bottlenecks are identified in the new Dutch proposal. Why create an entirely new entity for six years, while adding Aruba to the mix. A camel with three humps, remains a camel. b. CFT was destined to fail in its objective to guide us through sound financial management and balanced budgets. Because St. Maarten never started with a clean financial slate as promised by our local and Dutch political establishment at the time. CFT should be dismantled and its tasks incorporated into the regular government finance administration. This bottom-up approach can be more effective and less costly to operate than the current top-down structure. c. Appoint a junior minister of Constitutional Affairs to deal with the ongoing discussions since 101010. The government including the PM can refocus its attention on the going concern- the daily management of our country. You have four years to do so. Use the Dutch proposal and execute the tasks as outlined in partnership as a legitimate government, and held accountable by the recently elected Parliament. Finally; we have failed ourselves if we insist and continue to appoint friends, family, or persons whom we know are incompetent or incapable of doing their job paid for by the local or Dutch taxpayers. Nepotism and the like must stop at once. The footprints of our ancestors are covered by a pile of garbage in our city center. Parliament is still located in an expensive rented building. Constitutional history in our school curriculum keeps our students ignorant of current affairs. Our unfinished airport, our gateway to economic recovery is just a fistful of the proverbial rocks that are waiting to be transformed into diamonds. Until our citizens become better informed and responsible and demand proper and accountable representation, the gap between the wealthy and those who live on the margins of society will become wider with all consequences thereof. We cannot always point fingers at Holland for that outcome and continue to suffer fools gladly at our own expense, concluded Gracita. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's remarkable ability to recover from missteps faces yet another test. The Canadian leader, who finds himself under investigation for a third time by the country's ethics watchdog, is relying on an approach he's used in the past to get himself out of tight spots: eating humble pie. At a press conference on Monday, Trudeau offered up a "should have known better" public apology, this time for his involvement in awarding a CA$20 million ($14.7 million) government contract to a charity that has close ties to his family. While pollsters say they have no reason to believe the apology won't work again this time, Trudeau's ability to mire himself in controversy continues to be one of the defining aspects of his leadership -- limiting his ability to make sustained gains in popularity outside Liberal Party loyalists. "We're starting to see fault lines appearing in terms of how divided Canadians could get over questions of Mr. Trudeau and his leadership," Shachi Kurl, executive director at the Angus Reid Institute, said by phone Monday. "The Liberal base largely sticks with him, but those who voted for other parties in the past, we start to see their approval of him begin to soften." The latest crisis comes with support for the prime minister riding high, driven by a government response to Covid-19 that's been widely lauded. Trudeau's handling of the crisis has helped him recover positive rankings among Canadians of all stripes to levels he hasn't enjoyed since early in his first mandate. Angus Reid's polling shows Trudeau's approval rating jumped to as high 55%, from 33% in February. That's already beginning to come down, though, in the face of the scandal. This isn't the first time Trudeau has courted controversy. He was accused of groping a reporter before entering politics. He was reprimanded by the ethics watchdog for a secret vacation in 2016 at the private island of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims. There was an embarrassing state visit to India, where he was criticized for over-the-top attire and rubbing elbows with Sikh separatists. Ahead of last year's election, Trudeau was dogged by accusations he sought to intervene in a criminal case on behalf of well-connected Montreal construction giant SNC-Lavalin, leading to another reprimand from the ethics watchdog weeks before the campaign began. Perhaps the most devastating of all were revelations in the middle of the election that he wore blackface at least three times when he was younger. While the prime minister apologized for that too, and eventually won the election, the result was disappointing for the Canadian leader. He lost his parliamentary majority and returned to power with the lowest share of the vote for any government in the nation's history. Controversy erupted again when Trudeau's government appointed the WE Charity to administer the Canada Student Service Grant, a CA$900-million Covid-19 aid program that provides grants of as much as CA$5,000 to postsecondary students who volunteer over the summer. The prime minister and his wife have regularly spoken at the charity's events, and revelations have emerged that the for-profit arm of the organization paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to Trudeau's mother and brother. Addressing the furor for the first time Monday, Trudeau acknowledged he shouldn't have taken part in the decision and apologized for his role in approving the contract. "I made a mistake not recusing myself immediately from the discussions given our family's history and I am sincerely sorry at not having done that," he told reporters in Ottawa. Finance Minister Bill Morneau has also been drawn in, due to his daughter's employment by the charity. He tweeted an apology for his involvement later in the evening. Even with the mea culpas, the scandal could continue to dog the prime minister. Opposition parties have called on Trudeau to resign and for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to look into the matter. The optics are bad. The prime minister's wife, brother and mother received more than $350,000 in speaking fees from WE, according to a report by the Canadaland podcast. Trudeau acknowledged Monday that while he was aware that his relatives work as professional public speakers, he "did not know the details" of their arrangements with the charity. Only time will tell if the prime minister's knack for dodging political bullets will get him through again. He'll need to muster all the good will he can get, as his minority government embarks on the biggest program of fiscal support in the modern era. "The longer something sticks around, the higher the risk to Trudeau's leadership, his approval rating and what Canadians think of him," Kurl said. "I wouldn't say he is out of the woods yet." Almost bullet-proof By Keith My wife and I recently backpacked around Malaysia for 3 weeks. I needed a bag for daily use for the camera as well as for valuable items, such has passport, phone, money, airline tickets, water bottle, snacks etc. The weather was uncomfortable: 28 celsius every night and 36 celsius every day. The humidity was constantly between 90 and 100 percent. We travelled in buses, boats, trains, cars, aeroplanes and walked the crowded streets and alleys. I took 1400 pictures and the camera almost melted.... Hence, this bag got a real workout. I wanted to be sure that nothing was stolen on the street or on crowded public transport. But, the Malaysians are beautiful people and I doubt whether they would steal anything. This bag would survive a war zone. With the large velcro pads to seal it up, anyone trying to get into it would be heard a mile away. The velcro is far, far better than zips. The impenetrability of the Retrospective 10 is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. Getting a DSLR out in a hurry wasn't always done quickly. And for that I am thankful because I still have my camera and my memories. Everything about the bag is toughly made and, importantly, it is an anonymous looking object. The strap cannot be cut through. You cannot pull this bag apart. It cannot be pulled off your body. It is absolutely theft-proof and the attachable rain cover really does work. All the compartments are well sealed and hidden. It has 2 zippered pockets, one deep inside and one outside between the bag and your body. Both were unnoticeable. People carry on about the weight of this style of camera bag. Empty it is considerably light. It is the camera and everything else you stuff into it which makes it heavy. The strap is fantastic, but your shoulder really feels it after a few hours. Again, this is not the bag's problem. Yes, the Retrospective 10 is a biggish item and might be out of proportion for a small person to wear. I am big. I had no problems. I have only one suggestion to make. If it is not packed to full capacity, when you pull down the large outside flap, the matching velcro pads almost miss each other and they become about 5 percent effective. At the very least, the pads need to be extended to the bottom of the front of the bag. Some redesigning would be helpful. The inside material is strong, smooth and slippery. Nothing tore or wore through or got punctured. Rain did not get in. And, oddly enough, in the extreme humidity, it remained remarkably clean. This is a stunning item. I have been travelling and taking pictures for decades and I have seen nothing like it. Thank you Think Tank. TORONTO, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSX: LABS) (OTCQX: MEDIF) (FSE: MLZ) (MediPharm Labs or the Company) a global leader in specialized, research-driven pharmaceutical-quality cannabis extraction, distillation and derivative products, is delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Taves Chief Operating Officer (COO) of BMO Capital Markets to its Board of Directors effective July 13, 2020. This key appointment follows an extensive planning and search process. As COO of BMO Capital Markets (BMOCM), a leading full-service financial services provider and member of BMO Financial Group, one of the largest banks in North America, Mr. Taves is responsible for setting and overseeing implementation of BMOCMs strategies and for all balance sheet and risk taking activity as well as regulatory, compliance and operational functions. He also serves as a Board Member of BMO China Co. and BMO Capital Markets Corp. Prior to assuming his current role in 2018, he served as Head of Global Markets responsible for BMOs global trading businesses and in various other roles over an 11-year career at BMO. "Chris substantial experience as a senior business strategist, advisor and entrepreneur and distinguished track record in the capital markets both at home and abroad make him exceedingly well qualified to provide meaningful value to the governance of our business as we expand our global leadership, said Pat McCutcheon, Chief Executive Officer, MediPharm Labs. As an independent Director with deep roots in finance and risk management, Chris will lead the Boards Audit Committee. We are delighted to welcome Chris, and we look forward to his contributions as we advance our strategic priorities. Mr. Taves began his career at KPMG in 1989 and joined Citigroup in 1997 where he became Head of Corporate Canada Team, Derivatives & Structured Product before moving to BMOCM. He has an MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University, and a Bachelor of Mathematics from the University of Waterloo. He is a CA CPA and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Story continues MediPharm Labs is entering an exciting phase of global growth and it is very clear to me that its senior management team and Board are committed to taking all the steps necessary to manage risk while deploying capital for maximum value creation, said Mr. Taves. I am excited to have the opportunity to serve as a member of the Board and to work closely with what I consider one of the best leadership teams in the cannabis industry. With Mr. Taves appointment, MediPharm Labs Board of Directors will consist of eight members, five of whom are independent. In connection with his appointment, the Company granted 300,000 options to Mr. Taves at an exercise price set at the close of business on July 13 , 2020. Each grant has a five-year term expiring July 13, 2025. About MediPharm Labs Corp. Founded in 2015, MediPharm Labs specializes in the production of purified, pharmaceutical quality cannabis oil and concentrates and advanced derivative products utilizing a Good Manufacturing Practices certified facility with ISO standard built clean rooms. MediPharm Labs has invested in an expert, research-driven team, state-of-the-art technology, downstream purification methodologies and purpose-built facilities with five primary extraction lines for delivery of pure, trusted and precision-dosed cannabis products for its customers. Through its wholesale and white label platforms, they formulate, consumer-test, process, package and distribute cannabis extracts and advanced cannabinoid-based products to domestic and international markets. As a global leader, MediPharm Labs has completed commercial exports to Australia and is nearing commercialization of its Australian Extraction facility. MediPharm Labs Australia was established in 2017. For further information, please contact: Laura Lepore, VP, Investor Relations Telephone: 416-913-7425 ext. 1525 Email: investors@medipharmlabs.com Website: www.medipharmlabs.com CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release contains forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, forward-looking statements) within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as expects, or does not expect, is expected, anticipates or does not anticipate, plans, budget, scheduled, forecasts, estimates, believes or intends or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results may or could, would, might or will be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the inability of MediPharm Labs to obtain adequate financing; the delay or failure to receive regulatory approvals; and other factors discussed in MediPharm Labs filings, available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. Except as required by law, MediPharm Labs assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change. Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria Harvard Business School Dean Nitin Nohria was the highest-paid dean at Harvard University, earning $904,506 in fiscal 2019, according to a recent university tax filing with the government. That sum, which includes the value of his residence on campus and some deferred compensation, reflected a 7.8% jump in pay over the $839,954 Nohria earned a year earlier. By the time Nohria leaves the job at the end of this year, he will have made roughly $9 million since he took over the top leadership job at Harvard Business School in July of 2010. Nohria announced last November that he would step down at the end of the last academic year on June 30th, but agreed to stay until the end of this year due to the pandemic (see Due To COVID-19, HBS Dean Nitin Nohria To Stay Until Year End). In the latest just-ended fiscal year, Nohrias total compensation would most likely have risen to $962,394, based on an average of the increases in pay he has received in the past three years. If he stayed one more year, he would almost certainly have become the first HBS dean to earn $1 million or more in a year. For the extended six months of his deanship, his pay has been subject to a university-wide salary freeze and possibly a pay cut due to pandemic constraints on budgets at Harvard. In April, for example, University President Lawrence S. Bacow said that senior school administrators were expected to reduce their salaries or contribute to a support fund for employees experiencing hardship. KELLOGGS SALLY BLOUNT LIKELY THE FIRST B-SCHOOL DEAN TO MAKE MORE THAN $1 MILLION Nonetheless, Nohrias compensation is among the highest received by a business school dean but still does not break records. Sally Blount, who stepped down as dean of Northwestern Universitys Kellogg School of Management, earned $1,131,226 in her final year, making Blount in all likelihood the first business school dean to earn more than a million in a single year. Matthew Slaughter, dean of Dartmouth Colleges Tuck School of Business, earned $870,205 in fiscal 2018, the latest year for which records are publicly available. Story continues The latest compensation for Nohria was initially reported by The Harvard Crimson, the universitys student newspaper from a Form 990 government filing. The documents require a university to list up to 20 current employees who satisfy the definition of a key employee and have reportable compensation greater than $150,000 from the organization and related organizations). Often times, that means the pay of many of Nohrias peers goes unreported at such schools as the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School, Stanford Universitys Graduate School of Business, and Columbia Business School. Though there are times when individual business school professors pop up on the list, even ahead of their deans. At Yale School of Management, for example, Ravi Dhar earned $1,267,461 in the fiscal year ending in June of 2018. A professor of management and marketing, Dhar also is the director of SOMs Center for Customer Insights. At MITs Sloan School of Management, Robert Gibbons earned total compensation of $1,167,145. A professor of applied economics at Sloan, Gibbons also holds a joint appointment in MITs Department of Economics and is the co-principal investigator for Sloans Program on Innovation in Markets and Organizations. FOUR HIGHEST PAID FACULTY MEMBERS AT HARVARD WERE ALL HBS PROFESSORS The latest filing by Harvard University also shows revealed that the top four highest-compensated faculty members at the University were all business school professors: Michael L. Tushman, Carliss Y. Baldwin, Francesca Gino, and Stuart Gilson, according to the Crimson report. Tushman and Baldwin both received tenure buyouts from the Harvard Business Schools voluntary retirement incentive plan, according to university spokesperson Jason A. Newton. Their compensation was not disclosed and the Form 990 was not readily available. At Harvard University in the year ending in June of 2018, no dean was more highly compensation than Nohria. His closest competitor in pay was Dean of Harvard Medical School George Daley who earned $858,969, some $45,537 less than Nohria who estimated that his job required an average 61 hours a week of work. Total compensation typically includes the value of perks, benefits, and deferred pay. For Nohria in the fiscal year ending in June of 2018, when his total compensation was $839,358, the value of his on-campus residence was estimated at $88,275 and termed a nontaxable benefit. All told, his nontaxable benefits came to $114,264 that year along with an additional $34,140 in deferred compensation of $671,406. In every year that Nohria has been dean, the university has given him boosts in annual pay, the largest of which was a 10.6% increase between fiscal 2018 and 2019 when his compensation rose to $904,506 from $839,358. In his first full year as dean, Nohrias income from Harvard totaled $520,034 (see table below). DONT MISS: HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL DEAN TO CALL IT QUITS or FIVE REASONS WHY YOUNGME MOON SHOULD BE THE NEXT DEAN OF THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL The post Harvard Business School Deans Pay Approaches $1 Million A Year appeared first on Poets&Quants. WASHINGTON (AP) A federal judge on Monday demanded more information about President Donald Trump's decision to commute the prison sentence of longtime ally Roger Stone. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered that the parties provide her by Tuesday with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stone's sentence. She also asked for clarity about the scope of the clemency, including whether it covers just his prison sentence or also the two-year period of supervised release that was part of his sentence. Hours after the judge's directive, the Justice Department submitted to the court a two-page order making clear that the clemency extended to both Stone's prison sentence and his supervised release. In the order, also posted on the website of the Justice Department's pardon attorney office, Trump wrote that justice would not be served were Stone to remain confined to his home or serve the said sentence, and the safety of the community will not be compromised if he is released from home confinement and clemency is granted. Trump commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence on Friday evening, just days before he was to report to prison. Stone was convicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation of making false statements, tampering with a witness and obstructing lawmakers who were examining Russian interference in the 2016 election. The president told reporters on Monday that he was getting rave reviews for his action on Stone and restated his position that the Russia investigation should have never taken place." Democrats lambasted Trumps action on behalf of Stone as having undermined the rule of law, and Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the only Republican to vote to convict the president during his impeachment trial, called the clemency decision unprecedented, historic corruption. Mueller himself defended the Stone prosecution in a Washington Post opinion piece in which he said Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. Story continues In an interview Monday evening on Fox News, Stone, 67, described the criminal investigation and prosecution as the most horrible experience you can have." Stone said that while he knew Trump might take some shots" for the commutation, I think most people, most fair-minded people, understand he saved my life and, at least on paper, he gave me a chance to fight for vindication. Although presidents have broad authority to commute prison sentences and issue pardons, the brief order from Jackson who presided over Stone's trial last year made clear that the judge nonetheless sought additional information and clarity about the clemency, including the actual executive order from the White House. In a separate case, a federal judge has resisted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss its criminal case against Michael Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, even though Flynn pleaded guilty during Mueller's investigation to lying to the FBI. That request from the government has been tied up in the courts. ___ Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. The form is Gov. Andrew M. Cuomos latest effort to better trace travelers who may have the virus, and to fend off a possible second wave of infections in New York. (On Monday, he illustrated just how far the state has come by showing this quirky poster.) Since late June, travelers from several states, including Texas and Florida, have been required to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in New York. But its still unclear how officials can enforce the isolation period. Heres what else you need to know: The details Travelers from the 19 states must provide their contact information and planned whereabouts to the authorities upon arrival at airports across New York State. If passengers dont complete the form, they can be given a summons and fined up to $2,000. They can also be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete the quarantine. In New York City, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will enforce the new rule, Mr. Cuomo said. 5 Earthquakes Hit China; Chinese Gov Sanctions US Lawmakers The series of disasters is continuing in China, with ongoing floods and five earthquakes on July 12 and 13. On July 12, this included a 5.1 magnitude earthquake about 19 miles from the city of Tangshan in Hebei, raising concerns of a repeat of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake in 1976 that killed over 240,000 people. The same day there was a 4.4 magnitude earthquake about 34 miles from Honghe Hani and the Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan. A 4.7 magnitude earthquake hit about 35 miles from the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu. A 4.1 magnitude earthquake hit about 84 miles from Hotan Prefecture in Xinjiang. And the following day on July 13, a 5 magnitude earthquake hit about 22 miles from I-Li in Xinjiang. And, the Chinese leadership has placed sanctions on three US lawmakers, and one ambassador. This was openly done in retaliation for their work to sanction CCP officials involved in human rights abuses of Muslims in Xinjiang. Under the sanctions on US officials, Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Rep. Chris Smith, and Ambassador for Religious freedom Sam Brownback, will be unable to travel to China, and while the CCP has not given complete details, its foreign ministry spokesperson says the sanctions will mirror those placed on Chinese officials. These stories and more in this episode of Crossroads. Crossroads is an Epoch Times show available on Facebook and YouTube. Join Patreon to Support Crossroads: https://www.patreon.com/Crossroads_Josh BOSTON - Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and return to the status quo. A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said only that the judges characterization was correct. The announcement brings relief to thousands of foreign students who had been at risk of being deported from the country, along with hundreds of universities that were scrambling to reassess their plans for the fall in light of the policy. With the policy rescinded, ICE will revert to a directive from March that suspended typical limits around online education for foreign students. ICE did not immediately comment on the decision. Harvard President Lawrence Bacow called it a significant victory. While the government may attempt to issue a new directive, our legal arguments remain strong and the Court has retained jurisdiction, which would allow us to seek judicial relief immediately to protect our international students should the government again act unlawfully, Bacow said in a statement. MITs president said his institution also stands ready to protect our students from any further arbitrary policies. This case also made abundantly clear that real lives are at stake in these matters, with the potential for real harm, President L. Rafael Reif said in a statement. We need to approach policy making, especially now, with more humanity, more decency not less. Under the policy, international students in the U.S. would have been forbidden from taking all their courses online this fall. New visas would not have been issued to students at schools planning to provide all classes online, which includes Harvard. Students already in the U.S. would have faced deportation if they didnt transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily. Even if an outbreak had forced colleges to move all their classes online during the semester, international students would have been forced to transfer to a school with campus instruction or leave the country. Immigration officials issued the policy last week, reversing the earlier guidance from March 13 telling colleges that limits around online education would be suspended during the pandemic. University leaders believed the rule was part of President Donald Trumps effort to pressure the nations schools and colleges to reopen this fall even as new virus cases rise. The policy drew sharp backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the challenge by Harvard and MIT. Colleges said the policy would put students safety at risk and hurt schools financially. Many schools rely on tuition from international students, and some stood to lose millions of dollars in revenue if the rule had taken hold. Harvard and MIT were the first to contest the policy, but at least seven other federal suits had been filed by universities and states. The unexpected decision was welcome news to students across the nation who had been on edge. I feel relief, said Andrea Calderon, a 29-year-old biology graduate student from Ecuador. It would have been a very big problem if I had to leave the country right now. The City College of New York student said returning home would have made it much harder to finish her thesis and pursue a Ph.D. Internet access at home in Ecuador is spotty, she said, and going through the process to come back to the U.S. in the future would be too expensive. Rahul Lobo, 19, from Goa on the west coast of India, said he feels an immeasurable amount of relief. As it is, were living in very uncertain times, and the recent ICE policy just made things even more uncertain, said Lobo, a rising junior at the University of Notre Dame. Suddenly I wasnt worrying about whether I could get back to campus, but more whether I would even be able to finish my degree in four years. The American Council on Education, which represents university presidents, applauded ICEs pullback of the rule. The group called the policy wrongheaded and said it drew unprecedented opposition from colleges. There has never been a case where so many institutions sued the federal government, said Terry Hartle, the groups senior vice-president. In this case, the government didnt even try to defend its policymaking. Many opponents, however, were hesitant to call it a closed case. Massachusetts Democratic attorney general, who is leading a separate lawsuit against the policy, warned that the Trump administration may attempt again to impose limits on international students. This is why we sue. The rule was illegal and the Trump Administration knew they didnt have a chance, Maura Healey said on Twitter. They may try this again. We will be ready. Harvard and MIT argued that immigration officials violated procedural rules by issuing the guidance without justification and without allowing the public to respond. They also argued that the policy contradicted ICEs March 13 directive telling schools that existing limits on online education would be suspended for the duration of the emergency. The suit noted that Trumps national emergency declaration has not been rescinded and that virus cases are spiking in some regions. Immigration officials, however, argued that they told colleges all along that any guidance prompted by the pandemic was subject to change. They said the rule was consistent with existing law barring international students from taking classes entirely online. Federal officials said they were providing leniency by allowing students to keep their visas even if they study online from abroad. ___ AP reporters Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report. NEW YORK - Jeffrey Epsteins former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, will remain behind bars until trial after she was denied bail Tuesday as a risk to flee rather than face charges she recruited girls for the financier to sexually abuse more than two decades ago. Two Epstein accusers implored the judge to keep the British socialite detained after she pleaded not guilty to the charges during a video court hearing in Manhattan. U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan said even the most restrictive form of release would be insufficient to ensure Maxwell would not flee, particularly now that she knows a conviction could result in up to 35 years in prison. As the judge explained her reasoning for denying bail, Maxwell dropped her head repeatedly, appearing dejected. At one point, she appeared to wipe a tear from underneath one eye as she sat alone in a room at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she has been housed since last week. Maxwell, 58, has been held without bail since her July 2 arrest at her million-dollar New Hampshire estate, where prosecutors say she refused to open the door for FBI agents, who busted through to find her in an interior room. Her lawyer, Mark S. Cohen, told the judge that Maxwell was in her pyjamas and had followed security protocol calling for her to retreat to her room if any disturbance occurred outside. The judge rejected Cohens claim that Maxwell was hiding from the public and the media after getting threats rather than investigators when she bought a $1 million mansion late last year. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe said Maxwell posed as a journalist, Jen Marshall, when she purchased the New Hampshire estate. She has the ability to live off the grid indefinitely, Moe said, citing Maxwells wealth and extensive international ties, along with citizenship in the U.S., the United Kingdom and France. She said Maxwell was vague about her finances after her arrest because she cannot remember off the top of her head how many millions of dollars she has. And she rejected Cohens contention that prosecutors were engaging in spin by twisting facts to portray his client in the worst light. It is not dirt. It is not spin, Moe said. Prosecutors, she said, planned to hold Maxwell accountable for chilling conduct when Maxwell recruited at least three girls, one as young as 14, for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997. As part of the governments presentation, Moe read aloud a statement by one female accuser while another, Annie Farmer, by phone urged the court to detain Maxwell. Farmer said Maxwell was a sexual predator who groomed and abused me. She said Maxwell lied under oath and tormented her survivors. An indictment alleged that Maxwell groomed the victims to endure sexual abuse and was sometimes there when Epstein abused them. It also alleged she lied during a 2016 deposition in a civil case. Epstein killed himself in August 2019, several weeks after he was also confronted by two accusers, including Farmer, at a bail hearing. They insisted he remain in jail while awaiting sex trafficking charges that alleged he abused girls at his Manhattan and Florida mansions in the early 2000s. In court papers, Maxwells lawyers argued that Epsteins death left the media wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein even though shed had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade, had never been charged with a crime or been found liable in any civil litigation, and has always denied any allegations of claimed misconduct. Maxwells lawyers pushed to have her released on $5 million bail. They said she vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. The judge set a trial date for July 2021. Afterward, some accusers praised the decision to keep Maxwell detained. In a statement, Virginia Roberts Giuffre said she was thrilled. Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey Epstein would not have been able to fulfil his sick desires, Giuffre said. Ghislaine preyed on me when I was a child. As with every other of her and Jeffrey Epsteins victims, I will have to live with what she did to me for the rest of my life. The rest of her life should be spent behind bars. Jennifer Araoz, who says Epstein raped her when she was 15, said in a statement that she was once again able to take another breath as Ghislaine Maxwell will be in jail until at least her trial date next July. She added: Knowing that she is incarcerated for the foreseeable future allows me, and my fellow survivors, to have faith that we are on the right path. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force training ships conduct a passing exercise with Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the South China Sea - Reuters China has attacked a US State Department statement rejecting Beijing's disputed claims in the South China Sea and called Washington's accusations of China bullying its neighbours "completely unjustified". The comment came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, saying they were "completely unlawful". "The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue," the Chinese Embassy in the United States said in statement published on its website. "Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region." Beijing insists its intentions in the waterway, through which around $3 trillion of global trade passes each year, are peaceful. But Japan's annual defence review accuses China of pushing its territorial claims amid the coronavirus pandemic and suspects Beijing of spreading propaganda and disinformation as it provides medical aid to nations fighting Covid-19. China "is continuing to attempt to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea," Japan said in the defence white paper approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government on Tuesday. The white paper described "relentless" intrusions in waters around a group of islets claimed by both nations in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. In the South China Sea, it said Beijing was asserting territorial claims by establishing administrative districts around disputed islands, that forced countries distracted by the coronavirus outbreak to respond. Japan sees China as a longer-term and more serious threat than nuclear-armed North Korea. Beijing now spends four times as much as Tokyo on defence as it builds a large modern military. Story continues Japan's defence review also claimed China appeared to be responsible for "propaganda" and "disinformation" amid "social uncertainties and confusion" caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Such disinformation included online claims that the coronavirus was brought to China by a US military member, or that Chinese herbal remedies could treat Covid-19, a defence ministry official said at a briefing. Other threats faced by Japan include North Korea's ongoing development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as well as a resurgence of military activity by Russia in the skies and waters in Japan, at times in joint drills with China, the defence review said Chineta Goodjoin, Pastor The power of video is essential in conveying the essence of our history, our hope and our mission in the community. Susan Sherman captured the heartbeat of the church, and our continued advocacy as a place of faith, praise, shelter and justice. I am thrilled about this video and I love sharing it. Community-based organizations are more important than ever in meeting critical needs, yet many grass roots organizations are overwhelmed by the demand for their services. They need help in creating the awareness that inspires action. We are passionate about helping grass roots organizations grow their donor and volunteer base, by developing compelling videos and media campaigns that help them achieve their goals, states Susan Sherman, CEO, SVC International. Social good is driven by visionaries who are the voice of change in our world. They need the resources to continue their work. The power of video is essential in conveying the essence of our history, our hope and our mission in the community, says New Hope Presbyterian Church Pastor Chineta Goodjoin. I am thankful for SVC and their professional work. Susan Sherman captured the heartbeat of the church, and our continued advocacy as a place of faith, praise, shelter and justice. I am thrilled about this video and I love sharing it far and wide. SVC International produces award-winning multi-media programs for non-profit and for-profit organizations, to amplify their voices and reach targeted audiences with high-impact communications. Recent projects include videos for Off the Streets Huntington Beach, Tumaini International in Kenya and New Hope Presbyterian Church in Orange County, California. About SVC International: For over three decades, SVC International has been a pioneer in the production of analog and digital documentary and educational programs for domestic and global audiences. Our clients include for-profit and non-profit organizations and professional associations. For more information, contact Annemarie Osborne, 949.237.2906, annemarieosborne7@gmail.com or Susan Sherman at 714.336.5318, susan@svcinternational.net or visit http://www.svcinternational.net. Pradyumn Singh, a former three-term legislator, an old-time associate of Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot may have been the key in the latters success in wooing back four rebel Congress MLAs from the Sachin Pilot camp. Singhs son Rohit Bohra was one of them. He arrived in Delhi on Friday with three other Congress legislators Danish Abrar, Prashant Bairwa, and Chetan Dudi. All were considered Pilot loyalists. On Saturday evening Gehlot managed to get through to Bohra on phone. And then, through Bohra, he was able to speak to the other three. Also read: Congress ejects Pilot from power; CM Gehlot still in Rajasthan cockpit A Rajasthan Congress functionary said on condition of anonymity that Gehlot was able to convince the four that they would have no future with Pilot, who was then rumoured to be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gehlot promised to address all their grievances and dangled the carrot of important responsibilities. Soon after the call, the functionary said, the four left Delhi and reached Jaipur at 4 am on Sunday, where they had separate meetings with Gehlot. One of the MLAs [members of legislative assembly] sought forgiveness, said a second Congress functionary, who was present at Gehlots residence when the four returned. With their return, Gehlot was able to break Pilots camp and convince party leaders in Delhi that more rebel legislators would return to the fold, the first functionary said. The four held a press conference on Sunday and said they were with Gehlot. We are Congress soldiers for generations and are with the party, said Abrar. The others echoed the sentiment. Their return also seemed to enthuse others in the Gehlot camp. Also read: As Congress picks old guard over new, future tense for both Gehlot, Pilot According to the first functionary, Gehlot called almost all the legislators himself and assured them that he would take care of them. Once he was convinced he had the numbers, he called a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Monday. Legislators belonging to the Congress allies in the state were also invited to the meeting. The CLP is a forum where party MLAs can raise their issues in front of Central observers, who then submit a report to the party high command, said a third party functionary who asked not to be named. The central observers have given specific instances of how Pilot and his supporters were trying to undermine the chief ministers authority and were hobnobbing with the opposition, a fourth functionary said on condition of anonymity. The CLP passed a resolution on Monday, seeking strict action against any member of the legislative party indulging in anti-party activities even as central leaders appealed to Pilot and rebel legislators to return. Hours before the CLP met again on Tuesday morning, party leaders again reached out to Pilot to resolve the crisis. According to a fifth Congress functionary who did not wish to be identified, Pilot was told that if he does not want to attend the CLP meeting, he should address the media in Delhi and clarify that he is a loyal soldier of the party. Also read| Was a 20-20. Test match next: Team Sachin Pilot tweets to Ashok Gehlot But Pilot turned this offer as well and insisted on his demand for immediate removal of Gehlot as the chief minister, this person added. HT learns that Jitin Prasada and Dinesh Gundu Rao, Pilots friends, were asked to contact him. But they, too, failed to persuade him, said another leader involved in the crisis management. His refusal was like the final nail in the coffin. It was finally decided to remove him as the deputy chief minister and the state Congress president, this person added on condition of anonymity. Former BP chief John Browne is stepping down as chairman of Huawei's UK operation ahead of the British government banning the Chinese company from the country's 5G networks later on Tuesday. "When Lord Browne became chairman of Huawei UK's board of directors in 2015, he brought with him a wealth of experience which has proved vital in ensuring Huawei's commitment to corporate governance in the UK," a Huawei spokesperson said. "He has been central to our commitment here dating back 20 years, and we thank him for his valuable contribution." Sky News, which first reported the news, said Browne had given notice in the last few days that he would step down from the board of Huawei UK in September, six months earlier than his tenure was due to end. Search Keywords: Short link: Governments of all shades and colours came and went, with lengthy debates and legal challenges on fundamental rights-based issues thrashed out by the Supreme Court judgements on matters ranging from individual rights of citizens to the interpretation of the Constitution. None could deliver on promises to uplift the plight of the people, other than peripheral changes. by Victor Cherubim Sri Lanka is where our home lies. Home is where our heart is, is a adage for the many,not the few. We have had a raw deal in our recent history, with one calamity after another putting our people on the threshold of endurance, if not tolerance. A sequence of events has kept Sri Lanka on the boil. We had the tsunami on 26 December 2004 with 30,000 confirmed deaths, the 30 years war with over 90,000 killed, ended on 9 March 2009 and with a mountain of accumulated debt on international borrowing for infrastructure projects which were generally considered as misadventure. Then we had the massacre of the innocents on 21 April 2019 on Easter Sunday.Three Churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital,Colombo, were the scene of suicide bombings claimed by jihadist terrorists. 259 people died including at least 45 foreign nationals and three Police officers and at least 500 more injured. Governments of all shades and colours came and went, with lengthy debates and legal challenges on fundamental rights-based issues thrashed out by the Supreme Court judgements on matters ranging from individual rights of citizens to the interpretation of the Constitution. None could deliver on promises to uplift the plight of the people, other than peripheral changes. Following the landslide victory of President Gothabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential elections on 17 November 2019, Parliament was dissolved on 2 March 2020 with the 16th Parliamentary elections to be held on 25 April 2020, which was further postponed to 20 June and still further put off till 5 August 2020, due the lockdown of the Corona virus pandemic. The people of Sri Lanka are eagerly waiting with excitement to exercise their democratic right to elect the legislature as the national budget has not been presented during the past financial year with a Caretaker Government in office. The power of the franchise Sri Lanka's ruling Podujana Party on Sunday 12 July 2020 have called off their election rallies and delayed the reopening of the international Bandaranaike Colombo airport over a surge in the Coronavirus cases. In a multi-ethnic,multi-lingual, and multi-religious society in Sri Lanka, with Buddhism as the foremost religion and Sinhala as the main language, there appear to be several issues at stake at this election,among which constructive power to the people is paramount. Drowning under the weight of issues At the recent UN Geneva Conference, Sri Lanka's Representative Dayani Mendis has stated as follows: "A key challenge for democratic, rules-based societies lies in their ability to strike an equitable balance between competing human rights. Therefore, just as the rights to peaceful assembly and association are vital, it is equally important that they are exercised responsibly, in a manner that does not violate the rights of other persons or groups. It is this key consideration, which, in our view, underpins the restrictions on assembly/association in Articles 21 and 22 of the ICCPR, namely, "in the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public), the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others". It is this same consideration that forms the basis for limitations to these rights under the Sri Lankan Constitution, including in the interests of racial or religious harmony and national economy, particularly as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious developing nation". A strong democratic system, not an autocratic system that would deliver a fairer future,peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka is the wish of the majority of the people of the country. Unbridled power of either the Executive, or Parliament or even the Judiciary together with control of bribery and corruption,drug dealing, self censoring of free speech or of the media, legislative interference of the judiciary functions,unfair persecution of minority communities,freedom of religion should never be allowed to rear its head in Sri Lanka. This is a prerogative to prevent Sri Lanka not only drowning in responsibility, but also in overseas debt in the foreseeable future". This assurance by the Government has to be taken as a guarantee and be monitored by all at the Parliamentary Election. Can Sri Lanka be given a life raft? There is without doubt a lifeline which Sri Lanka already has at the forthcoming Parliamentary election from preventing it drowning. The hope of the people of Sri Lanka is this historic duty to exercise their vote in a manner to keep the long term best interests of the country at heart. This will fundamentally shape our society,our economy, our future and the future of generations to follow, for years to come. We cannot allow this opportunity to pass by without the exercise of the vote and many, if not all know it. It would be folly on our part to miss is opportunity of a lifetime to give the life-raft that Sri Lanka so urgently needs today. New Delhi India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement on the eve of a virtual summit, while Europol and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are negotiating a working arrangement to combat organised crime and terrorism. The agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community or Euratom and Indian authorities will focus on cooperation between EUs research programmes on new ways of using nuclear energy and similar activities on the Indian side, EU officials said during a briefing for journalists. The agreement is on research and development cooperation for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which was negotiated for 13 years and finally can be cemented by the summit, said one of the EU officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The India-EU Summit, to be co-chaired on Wednesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to focus on strengthening multilateralism and global institutions in the face of the rise of an increasingly assertive China. The leadership of both sides are expected to reiterate their strong commitment to combat terrorism in all forms during the summit, the EU officials said. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation or Europol and CBI are negotiating a working arrangement that will support law enforcement authorities of EU member states and India to prevent and combat organised crime and terror, they said. Asked specifically about the India-China border standoff, the EU officials described the recent incidents on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as a matter of considerable concern. We are pleased to see that since these very deadly clashes took place on the LAC, both sides have committed to show restraint, to engage in military de-escalation and to engage in dialogue, one of the officials said. Reports showed there has been a withdrawal of troops by both sides in key areas, and diplomatic and military efforts are having a de-escalatory effect and we trust that both sides will continue dialogue to find a peaceful solution to their differences, the official added. However, the EU officials said two sides are quite far apart on the issue of a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), negotiations for which were suspended in 2017. They were also critical of what they described as protectionist measures adopted by India and the termination of bilateral investment treaties with 25 EU member states. The trade relationship was far below the potential, with India accounting for less than 3% of EUs total trade, they said. They added EU wants an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement that brings in strong rules, removes barriers to trade in goods and services and investments and opens up human markets. India maintains a quite protectionist stance when it comes to negotiations on tariffs and on opening up its services sector, it goes backward in many areas, [such as] reducing access to the Indian procurement market for European companies, one of the EU officials said. At the moment, we are quite far apart in agreeing on joint operations we want to see in such an exercise. EU is looking forward to the launch of a high-level trade dialogue between the EU trade commissioner and Indias comer minister to address these issues, they said. Besides the trade dialogue and a cooperation roadmap for the period till 2025, other deliverables expected from the summit are a joint declaration on circular economy and resource efficiency, the renewal of a science and technology cooperation agreement, the launch of a new maritime security dialogue, and the development of security and defence consultations and military contacts, the officials said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Effectively Communicating with Older Adults Who Have Hearing Loss During COVID-19 Media Contact: Waun'Shae Blount, wblount1@jhmi.edu The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a variety of challenges for older adults with hearing trouble across different health care settings, including the inpatient hospital setting and nursing homes, assisted living facilities and home environments. Research from Johns Hopkins suggests that nearly half of adults over age 60 have hearing loss, which indicates a significant portion of the population may be experiencing these challenges as a result of COVID-19. During the COVID-19 pandemic, those with hearing difficulties who are accustomed to reading lips may face challenges because they cannot read the lips of people wearing a face mask. Additionally, following the 6 foot physical distancing recommendation can make communicating by sign language more difficult. To address these communication barriers, Johns Hopkins researchers have developed a checklist for clinicians to use while treating patients with hearing loss. Published online in the June 17, 2020, issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the checklist provides recommendations for both inpatient and telehealth visits, such as using hand-held devices and telephones that enable the older adult to see and hear the provider clearly. The checklist also includes tips for the patient's environment, including decreasing background noise, improving lighting, and ensuring providers effectively communicate via verbal and nonverbal ways such as speaking slowly or wearing a clear mask when permissible. Nicholas Reed, Au.D., assistant professor of audiology in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is available for comment. Universal Testing May Help Reduce COVID-19 Infections, Deaths in Long-Term Care Facilities Media Contact: Michael E. Newman, mnewma25@jhmi.edu Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, residents in long-term care facilities -- including nursing homes and assisted living centers -- have been at particularly high risk of infection by and spread of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), and with a disproportionally tragic outcome. According to estimates in an article in The New York Times, although only 10% of COVID-19 cases in the United States have occurred in long-term care facilities, they are responsible for 42% of deaths from the disease. However, a team of infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins Medicine believes the actual number of COVID-19 infections nationally in long-term care facilities may be much higher because health care providers are missing asymptomatic cases. This discrepancy, they warn in a new study published July 14 in JAMA Internal Medicine, may make it more difficult to reduce or prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the very susceptible population living in these centers. In their study, the researchers performed "universal testing" for SARS-CoV-2 among all 893 men and women living at 11 long-term care facilities in Maryland. Previously, only residents who showed symptoms of COVID-19 had been "target tested" by local health departments. Among the 893 universally tested, 354 people -- nearly 40% --were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA, compared with 153 (17%) identified in earlier target testing based on symptoms. The universal screening, therefore, raised the number of COVID-19 cases among the residents in the state's long-term care facilities from 153 to 507 (57%), a 231% increase. Of those who tested positive, the researchers report that 281 (55%) were asymptomatic. "These results underscore the importance of universal testing, as symptom-based approaches may miss a substantial number of cases in long-term care facilities," says Benjamin Bigelow, a fourth-year medical student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study's lead author. "Unrecognized asymptomatic cases among residents can severely hinder preventive strategies and increase the risk of the virus dangerously spreading." "More testing resources are urgently needed to identify the true burden of COVID-19 in long-term care facilities, so that we can be more successful in curbing infection and mortality in one of the disease's major hot spots," adds Morgan Katz, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and senior author of the study. Study Says Twitter Effectively Communicates Pediatric Critical Care Info during a Pandemic Media Contact: Michael E. Newman, mnewma25@jhmi.edu Ever since the microblogging and social networking platform Twitter emerged in 2006, it has consistently ranked among the top ways that people around the world communicate with one another, with some 500 million tweets sent per day. According to the Twitter monitoring company, Tweet Binder, the COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the Twitterverse with about 600 million tweets alone using the hashtag #COVID19, #coronavirus or something similar between February and May of this year. Among the massive volume of COVID-19 tweets posted during that time were ones teamed with a second hashtag, #PedsICU -- a social media designation created long before the pandemic to foster international collaboration, rapidly disseminate information and keep the lines of professional communication flowing among members of the pediatric critical care community. How effectively this hashtag twinning actually "spreads the word" about COVID-19 to those serving in pediatric intensive care units (PICUs) worldwide is the subject of a recent study posted online May 27 in the journal Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. "We wanted to determine if leveraging social media, specifically Twitter, was a solid strategy for keeping PICUs across the globe connected and informed on the most current information during a pandemic," says Sapna Kudchadkar, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and co-investigator for the study. To conduct their study, Kudchadkar and co-investigator Christopher Carroll, M.D., M.S., research director of pediatric critical care at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, collected data on all tweets posted worldwide from Feb. 1 to May 2 that contained the hashtag #PedsICU, along with those containing both #PedsICU and a recognizable COVID-19 hashtag. During that span, there were 49,865 #PedsICU tweets, with 21,538 (43%) of them also including a COVID-19 hashtag. Of the latter, #COVID19 was the most commonly used pandemic-related tag (69%). Geographic distribution for tweeters using the tandem hashtags spanned six continents, with the majority of tweets coming from North America and Australia. There was a sharp rise in tweets with both hashtags around mid-March, which coincided with the World Health Organization raising COVID-19 to pandemic status. Since then, more than two-thirds of #PedsICU tweets were about the disease. About a third of the tweeters were physicians, but the researchers note there also was "robust engagement" from other PICU team members, including nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists and pharmacists. One example of social media quickly disseminating COVID-19 news globally occurred April 26, when clinicians in the United Kingdom first recognized multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) was potentially related to COVID-19. Tweets on this announcement with the hashtags #PedsICU and #COVID19 received some 3,500 shares within a few hours of the initial post. The most popular tweets during the study period, the researchers say, were links to medical literature, reviews, educational videos and other open-access resources. "Our study demonstrates that during a pandemic such as COVID-19, targeted use of #PedsICU combined with a specific disease-related hashtag significantly helps combat misinformation, quickly spreads useful data and news, and optimizes the reach of pediatric critical care stakeholders to others around the world," says Kudchadkar, who is available for interviews. ### The Iranian Foreign Ministry has hailed a recent deal signed by Syria and Iran, highlighting the strong political and military ties between the two countries writes Al-Masdar. The Iranian Foreign Ministry commented on the visit of the Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Mohammad Bagheri to Syria, and the signing of an agreement on military cooperation between the two countries. Our military cooperation with Syria is not a new matter, and we have had for a long time, both during the period of the late President Hafez al-Assad and President Bashar al-Assad, bilateral relations in various political, economic, security and military fields, said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi at a press conference on Monday. Military cooperation with Syria has been steadily increasing since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Mousavi as saying. This cooperation has become extremely important during the latest stage, in which the government and the Syrian people face external aggressions and terrorism directed by regional and international powers. He added that, the Islamic Republic of Iran is present in Syria at the invitation of its government and people, and that these agreements come in this context. These agreements and the broad political, military and economic cooperation with the government and the Syrian people will continue until they defeat the terrorist groups and recover the lands they occupy. The Syrian Minister of Defense, Ali Abdullah Ayoub, signed a military cooperation agreement with Bagheri last Wednesday. The agreement provides for, strengthening military and security cooperation in the areas of the armed forces work and continuing coordination, and deals with, the situation in Syria and the necessity of the withdrawal of foreign forces that entered illegally. Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed his satisfaction with the results of the meetings of the Syrian and Iranian sides and the signing of the agreement on military and technical cooperation between the two countries. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. People in wealthier neighborhoods drink alcohol twice as frequently as people in poorer areas, suggests a new study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and the Prevention Research Center of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Studying neighborhoods in the East Bay of California, researchers compared 72 clusters of 200 residents living in areas of high and low household income and stores selling alcohol for consumption elsewhere (such as liquor stores and other retailers). Residents of each cluster were asked how often and how much they drink and questions to assess alcohol dependence. Data were also gathered by the study team to measure levels of physical decay in each neighborhood. The study revealed that, in contrast with previous research, living in areas with more off-premise outlets was not linked to heavier drinking or more problem drinking. People in more affluent neighborhoods reported drinking twice as frequently as respondents in low-income areas. The influence of social context was notable. People with higher incomes reported more frequent drinking -- even when they lived in lower-income areas. But people with lower incomes who lived in affluent neighborhoods drank far more alcohol than people with similar incomes in poorer neighborhoods. Heavy drinking was also more commonly found in neighborhoods with more physical decay. This study reports on the independent effects of social context and individual resources on drinking patterns. The effects of individual income is moderated by the local economic environment." Dr. Christina Mair, Lead Author HOUSTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- KBR (NYSE: KBR) announced today that it has been awarded a catalyst supply contract for a Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM) project by Shenghong Refining Petrochemical (Lianyungang) Co. Ltd., China. Under the terms of the agreement, KBR will provide proprietary catalyst for Shenghong's grassroot 300 KTA VAM unit. The unit represents the first commercial VAM technology license and engineering contract under an alliance agreement between KBR and Showa Denko K.K.(SDK). The KBR-SDK VAM technology is backed by more than 40 years of know-how accumulated through the safe and stable operation of SDK's ethylene based VAM unit at the Oita Petrochemical Complex in Japan. VAM is a key intermediate for the production of polymers and resins for adhesives, coatings, paints, films, textiles and other products. "This award underscores KBR's emerging leadership in the VAM market and strengthens our successful partnership with Shenghong," said Doug Kelly, KBR President, Technology Solutions. KBR has more than 50 years of experience in providing technologies, flexible solutions and expertise that petrochemical manufacturers rely on to produce ethylene, propylene, acetyls, phenolics, vinyls and other specialty products from a variety of feedstocks, safely and efficiently. About KBR, Inc. KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program life cycle within the Government Services and Energy sectors. KBR employs approximately 37,000 people worldwide (including our joint ventures), with customers in more than 80 countries and operations in 40 countries, across three synergistic global businesses: Government Solutions, serving government customers globally, including capabilities that cover the full life cycle of defense, space, aviation, and other government programs and missions from research and development, through systems engineering, test and evaluation, and program management, to operations, maintenance, and field logistics Technology Solutions, featuring proprietary technology, equipment, catalysts, digital solutions and related technical services focused on providing sustainable and value-add solutions for a broad base of industrial, ammonia, and specialty chemicals and inorganics customers Energy Solutions, providing services across the asset life cycle to customers globally, including energy transition and efficiency, onshore and offshore oil and gas, LNG/GTL, refining, petrochemicals, chemicals, and fertilizers KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, and long-term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver. Visit www.kbr.com Forward Looking Statement The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; the scope and enforceability of the company's indemnities from its former parent; changes in capital spending by the company's customers; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company. KBR's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that KBR has identified that may affect the business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, KBR undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. SOURCE KBR, Inc. Related Links http://www.kbr.com Government should step in at signs of supply shortage The government ended the rationing of face masks Sunday, shifting to a market supply scheme. However, some people are concerned about what they view as a "hasty end" to the public supply system, which played a vital role in maintaining the so-called "K-Quarantine." That was mainly because the rationing system was a model case of efficient market control by the state in the course of supplying more than 700 million protective masks in a quasi-state of war. In introducing the rationing system in March, the government allowed people to buy two masks a week on one of the five weekdays dependent on the year of their birth, triggering complaints about "socialistic practices." The government raised the weekly purchasing limit to three masks about 50 days later and to 10, June 18. The rationing system's end could prove somewhat hasty, because infection clusters continue in the greater Seoul area and some other cities, including Gwangju and Daejeon. There are stockpiles now, but one cannot completely rule out further supply bottlenecks or price surges. This means the government should not entirely take its hands off stabilizing the mask supply. Officials should check market trends, such as quality, daily output, distribution procedures and selling prices, and respond with zero tolerance to unfair trade practices, such as cornering and hoarding. The government should also prevent the export quota, which has lifted to 50 percent of monthly production, from destabilizing the domestic supply. No consumers would want the recurrence of the confusion and inconvenience they experienced before the rationing system was introduced. Before there are signs of an unstable supply, related agencies should take steps, including increased production, export restraint, and the release of state stockpiles. In summer, the government should also make sure there is no shortage of lighter masks. Whenever necessary, officials must be ready to step in to prevent a "second mask crisis." Officials should always bear in mind that most people want the public supply system to remain until they see the light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. Today there is one new case of COVID-19 to report in managed isolation in New Zealand. It has been 74 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source. Todays case is a woman in her 60s who arrived in New Zealand on June 30 from Pakistan via Doha and Sydney. She has been in managed isolation at the Novotel in Christchurch, and tested negative at her first test around day 3 of her stay, then tested positive around day 12 of her stay in isolation, says a Ministry of Health spokesperson. "Todays case emphasises why we test people twice during their time in managed isolation. "The second test around day 12 is needed because the infection may take longer to develop in some people, and is one of the checks used to find out if a person can leave managed isolation." This case brings our total number of confirmed cases to 1195, which is the number we report to the World Health Organization. One previously reported case is now considered to have recovered from COVID-19, so the total number of active cases in New Zealand remains at 25. There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for COVID-19. Yesterday our laboratories completed 1,620 tests, which brings the total number of tests completed to date to 431,263. NZ COVID Tracer NZ COVID Tracer has now recorded 595,400 registrations. The number of posters created is 77,714 and the number of poster scans is 1,418,362. The next update to the app will be released at the end of this month to make it a more comprehensive contact tracing tool and increase the number of people who can use it, says the Ministry. "The main new feature will be the ability to manually add entries to your digital diary, either at the time or retrospectively. "This will allow app users to record visits to locations that dont have a QR code on display, such as visits to friends and whanau, which means people will be able to keep track of everywhere they go." This does not remove the need for all businesses and organisation to get and display their QR codes, says the Ministry. "The update will also improve the apps compatibility, particularly with Android 6 and iOS 11. "We want as many people as possible to be able to use the app and are very aware that many people with older devices are likely to be from our most vulnerable communities. "The update wont in any way affect privacy or security of information stored on the app. The locations entered into the digital diary whether scanned or added manually will be stored securely on each persons phone unless they choose to share their digital diary with us. "It remains important for everyone to be recording their movements so that if needed, our contact tracing team can quickly identify and isolate anyone who may have been exposed to the virus." Ruling Paves Way for Foreclosure of Kashagan Field Shares NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Amsterdam Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Anatolie Statiet alv Republic of Kazakhstan, affirming recognition on Dutch soil of a US$543 million arbitral award issued by a Stockholm seated arbitral tribunal in December 2013. Kazakhstan has brought multiple challenges to the recognition of the award arguing that it was contrary to Dutch public policy, among other things, on the ground that the Stati parties had allegedly fraudulently inflated the value of an LPG Plant near Borankol in western Kazakhstan, compensation for which formed part of the overall damages awarded to the Stati parties under the award. Following almost three years of proceedings, the Dutch court in its detailed and well-reasoned ruling handed down on July 14, 2020 conclusively and comprehensively rejected all of Kazakhstan's objections. In particular, the court found that the Stati parties had not misled the arbitral tribunal regarding the valuation of the LPG Plant and that the alleged fraud did not have a material impact on the outcome of the underlying arbitration proceedings. Noting that Kazakhstan never contested the construction costs claimed by the Stati parties during the arbitration proceedings, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal held that the LPG construction costs had not been fraudulently inflated by the Stati parties, and that Kazakhstan's arguments in this regard were contradicted by its own expert evidence. In this context, the Court further noted that Kazakhstan was already in control of the LPG Plant and its operating entity at the time of the arbitration proceedings and thus had an insight into the actual state of affairs including by way of carrying out an inspection of the plant at the time. This decision comes in the wake of another ruling by the same Amsterdam Court of Appeal rendered on May 7, 2019, whereby it fully upheld an attachment secured by the Stati parties in September 2017 on the shares held by the Kazakh sovereign wealth fund JSC Samruk-Kazyna in the Dutch entity KMG Kashagan B.V. with a nominal value of US$5.2 billion, through which the Republic of Kazakhstan participates in the international consortium for the exploration of the major Kashagan oil and gas field in the Caspian Sea. Anatolie Stati, CEO and sole shareholder of Ascom Group S.A., one of the award creditors, said: "We welcome this ruling of the Amsterdam Court of Appeal, which confirms the pro-arbitration stance of the Dutch courts and represents a total and resounding victory for the award creditors. The judgment also paves the way for the foreclosure of the attached shares in KMG Kashagan B.V. In the meantime, the award creditors will continue unabatedly with their efforts to collect any and all amounts due under the award and related legal costs in all available jurisdictions." In addition to the Kashagan shares attachment, the Stati parties have successfully secured and maintain the benefit of various other attachments of Kazakh state property in Sweden, Luxembourg and Belgium, with the combined total value of all attachments worldwide exceeding US$6.25 billion. The Dutch court ruling is the latest development in the Stati parties' long-running battle to enforce the award for Kazakhstan's violations of the investor protection provisions of the Energy Charter Treaty. In December 2013, a Sweden based arbitration tribunal found that Kazakhstan had violated international law by failing to treat the Stati parties' investments in Kazakhstan fairly and equitably, and awarded the Stati parties more than US$500 million in damages, legal costs, and interest. The award has since been fully upheld by two tiers of the Swedish judiciary, including the Swedish Supreme Court. The claims originally arose out of Kazakhstan's seizure of the Stati parties' petroleum operations in 2010. The Stati parties acquired two companies in 1999 that held idle licenses in the Borankol and Tolkyn fields in Kazakhstan. They invested more than US$1 billion over the ensuing decade to turn the companies into successful exploration and production businesses. By late 2008, the businesses had become profitable and had yielded considerable revenues for the Kazakh state. Just as the Stati parties expected to start receiving dividends, more than half a dozen government agencies carried out multiple burdensome inspections and audits of the companies' businesses that resulted in false accusations of illegal conduct directed at the Stati parties and their Kazakh companies, including criminal prosecutions of their general managers on false pretenses. Kazakhstan's actions challenged the Stati parties' title to their investments, subjected them to hundreds of millions of dollars in unwarranted tax assessments and criminal penalties, and ultimately led to the seizure and nationalization of their investments by Kazakh authorities in July 2010. MEDIA CONTACTS Kimberly Macleod (917) 587-0069 kim@kmacconnect.com Chris Winans (908) 309-3959 chris@kmacconnect.com Bengaluru: Amid deepening political crisis in Rajasthan, Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Monday expressed confidence that Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot will not quit the party and called him a "sincere Congressman". He accused the BJP of trying to destabilise the Congress as part of their agenda. "No, he (Pilot) will not leave. I have full confidence that he will not leave. He is a very sincere Congressman like his father (Rajesh Pilot). He has built the party for the past six-seven years. He is the President (Rajasthan state unit), he has done his best for the party," Shivakumar said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "there may be some issues, I'm not saying no, but everything will be sorted out." A crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) will be held at Jaipur on Monday, amid deepening political crisis in Rajasthan, and the party has issued a whip to all party legislators mandating their presence. However, Pilot, who has openly displayed rebellion against the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has made it clear that he was not going to attend the meeting. In a statement issued on Sunday night, Pilot had claimed that the Gehlot government was in minority and more than 30 Congress and some independent legislators have pledged support to him. Stating that BJP wants to misguide Congressmen and people, Shivakumar said they want to destabilise us, it is their agenda and they are always trying for it. "I'm very confident, people have given us (Congress) a mandate to work (in Rajasthan). This is Corona time, we all have to work, power is next. I think good sense will prevail on all legislators and leaders," he said. Our national leaders are there, they will sort out the issue, he said, adding that "as a Congressman I feel that we should all stand united." BISMARCK, N.D. North Dakota is urging a federal appeals court to block a judges order to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline. North Dakota Solicitor General Matt Sagsveen filed a document Monday supporting operator Energy Transfers efforts to keep the oil line open while the Texas-based company appeals. Sagsveen argued a shutdown will devastate the oil industry and cost North Dakota billions of dollars in tax revenue, hurting programs and residents. These definite consequences vastly outweigh the entirely speculative potential harm of a spill or leak while the (study) proceeds, Sagsveen wrote. Last week U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ordered the pipeline shut down by Aug. 5 for an additional environmental assessment more than three years after it began pumping oil. Boasberg later rejected a request by Energy Transfer to halt his order to shut down the pipeline during the lengthy environmental review. Federal officials who approved the pipelines permit to cross the Missouri River notified the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they also plan to oppose the judges order, The Bismarck Tribune reported. Boasberg previously ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct an environmental review that is expected to take more than a year. Department of Justice attorneys representing the Corps notified Boasberg on Monday that the government also plans to appeal his orders. Energy Transfer plans to appeal. In the meantime, the company is asking the appeals court to allow the pipeline to continue operating. Energy Transfer estimates it would take three months to empty the pipeline of oil and complete steps to preserve it for future use. The line was the subject of months of protests in 2016 and 2017, sometimes violent, during its construction near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border. The tribe took legal action against the pipeline even after it began carrying oil from North Dakota across South Dakota and Iowa and to a shipping point in Illinois in June 2017. The $3.8 billion, 1,172-mile (1,886 kilometer) pipeline crosses beneath the Missouri River, just north of the reservation. The tribe draws its water from the river and has concerns about pollution. The company maintains the line is safe. Fiscal 2020 (February 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020): Revenue of $37.7 million (a year-over-year increase of 1400%) (a year-over-year increase of 1400%) Gross Profit of $16.1 million (before fair value adjustments) (before fair value adjustments) Adjusted EBITDA[1] of $5.8 million Cash Flow from Operations of $5.5 million 638,115 customer transactions Q4 (November 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020): Revenue of $9.5 million (a year-over-year increase of 365%) (a year-over-year increase of 365%) Gross Profit of $4.0 million (before fair value adjustments) (before fair value adjustments) Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $2.7 million of Cash Flow from Operations of $2.3 million Income from Operations of $1.1 million (before fair value adjustments) (before fair value adjustments) Total Liabilities reduced by $10 million from Q3 from Q3 $23.9 million one-time adjustment for goodwill impairment of Oregon assets 1 Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS financial measure, in which IFRS does not prescribe any standard definitions. As a result, the Company's Adjusted EBITDA included herein is not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Management Commentary: During Fiscal 2020, C21 reported strong revenue growth, largely attributed to record results from its Nevada operations with the ramp-up of its second Silver State Relief dispensary, located in Fernley. At the same time, the Company was focused on streamlining its Oregon operations to achieve greater efficiencies. Combined, these efforts resulted in improved operating cash flows in the second half of the fiscal year. Company President and CEO, Sonny Newman said, "C21 was intent on right-sizing its operations to be self-sustaining in difficult market conditions. With our Nevada dispensaries currently operating at record run rates, and the improvement of Oregon's bottom line, management is excited about the foundation we have built, and we are actively pursuing growth opportunities. C21's ability to remain viable during this prolonged period of headwinds in our industry, especially given the high cost of capital, highlights the operational expertise of our dedicated team." Revenue for the Fiscal Year was $37.7 million, up significantly from 2019. Other highlights include Gross Profit of $16.1 million, with a Gross Margin of 43%, both before fair value adjustments. C21 had a one-time, non-cash fair value adjustment of $4.0 million applied to inventory included in the Silver State Relief acquisition, thereby impacting Cost of Goods Sold in Q1 and Q2 (see Note 11 in the Financial Statements). This increase is due to the transition from U.S. GAAP to IFRS accounting and does not affect the Company's Adjusted EBITDA ($5.8 million) or Cash Flow from Operations ($5.5 million). During Q4, C21's cash position increased by $1 million and Total Liabilities were reduced by $10 million. Also in the quarter, C21 realized a one-time, non-cash impairment of $23.9 million for goodwill associated with its Oregon assets. This charge reflects the market repricing of assets in the cannabis sector over the last 12 months. The Net Loss per Share for Fiscal 2020 is ($0.42). Excluding this one-time, non-cash charge, Net Loss per Share is ($0.04). C21's Nevada operations continued to excel as one of the most profitable in the cannabis sector, with the segment delivering over $12 million in Adjusted EBITDA and $7.7M in Net Income Before Tax for the year. In Q4, operations were slightly affected by seasonality in its markets, and health concerns regarding vaping products. Subsequent to year end, C21 has further strengthened its balance sheet by acquiring key Phantom Farms real estate assets, thereby reducing long-term lease liabilities. In addition, the Company has continued to service its debt through operating cash flows reducing the principal amount of its notes payable by an additional $3.6 million. Silver State Relief has successfully navigated the challenges of operating under COVID-19 restrictions in Nevada and is now reporting record run rate sales. The launch of Oregon brands into Nevada continues to be highly successful, with Hood Oil and Phantom Farms flower both top selling products. C21 believes its profitable dispensary model and scalable cultivation and extraction facilities in Nevada will generate strong future growth for the Company. There have been no other material business developments in the Company's operations which have not previously been disclosed. Quarterly Adjusted Operating Earnings: The above table presents quarterly adjusted operating earnings excluding FV adjustments, depreciation and share based compensation expense. This also excludes all items below the "Income (loss) before undernoted items" on the Income Statement. About C21 Investments Inc. C21 Investments is a vertically integrated cannabis company that cultivates, processes, and distributes quality cannabis and hemp-derived consumer products in the United States. The Company is focused on value creation through the disciplined acquisition and integration of core retail, manufacturing, and distribution assets in strategic markets, leveraging industry-leading retail revenues with high-growth potential multi-market branded consumer packaged goods. The Company owns Silver State Relief and Silver State Cultivation in Nevada, and Phantom Farms, Swell Companies, Eco Firma Farms, and Pure Green in Oregon. These brands produce and distribute a broad range of THC and CBD products from cannabis flowers, pre-rolls, cannabis oil, vaporizer cartridges and edibles. Based in Vancouver, Canada, additional information on C21 Investments can be found at www.sedar.com and www.cxxi.ca. Cautionary Statement: Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements in this news release include the ability of the Company's Nevada retail locations to operate at record run rates, the performance of the Company's Nevada operations generally and during the pendency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability of the Company to efficiently operate in Oregon, the Company's ability to pursue growth opportunities, the quality of the Company's Phantom Farms real estate assets, the Company's progress in resolving its short-term debt obligations, the performance of the Company's brands and the continued demand for cannabis products, and the nature and extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company, including the ability of the Company to restructure its secured debt and to service its restructured debt. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. These include, but are not limited to, the consequences of not restructuring its secured debt, the ability to service its debt, if restructured, risks and uncertainties arising from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations, and other factors, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's expectations as of the date hereof, and are subject to change after such date. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities regulations. SOURCE C21 Investments Inc. Related Links https://www.cxxi.ca/ Hong Kong, July 14 : One of Hong Kong's most prominent young pro-democracy activists said that he is in London after fleeing the city following the controversial security law imposed by China. "I boarded my night flight... My destination: London," Nathan Law wrote on Twitter on Monday, a week and a half after saying he had left Hong Kong, the BBC reported. Law said that he faced "many uncertainties", but had made the decision to leave Hong Kong "in the face of political upheaval". "We don't even know if our next protest, next court hearing, will be followed by imprisonment," he said, adding that he had put himself in "danger". "I've kept a low profile on my whereabouts in order to mitigate the risks." In one post, which appeared to include a aerial photo of London from the window of a passenger plane, he said he had a message for Hong Kongers: "We aren't fractured. On the contrary, we're well-equipped to face the next difficult battle." Law added that said he had spoken with reporters and was living in a "little apartment". Law is a one-time student leader who rose to prominence during mass protests in 2014. He was also a local legislator who co-founded the Demosisto Party with another well-known activist, Joshua Wong. The party disbanded when China imposed the new law earlier this month. It is not clear from Law's social media posts on Monday when he arrived in the UK. Earlier this month, Law told the BBC that he would continue his advocacy work from abroad, and that the people of Hong Kong would not give up their fight. On July 1, the 27-year-old spoke via video link to a US Congressional hearing on Hong Kong, saying that he was worried about returning to the territory, for fear of being imprisoned by Beijing. Beijing drafted and passed the legislation last late month that targets acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison for the most serious offences. It came into effect on July 2. Under the new rules, Hong Kong police can also raid premises without a court warrant, order internet firms to remove content or seize relevant devices, and demand information from political groups operating outside the city. Authorities have warned of the possibility of major floods in China's northern areas as inundations continue to cause serious damage in many parts of the southern half of the country, especially along the Yangtze River's middle and lower reaches. Since June, high-water alerts have been triggered along 433 rain-swollen rivers. Only 11 are in the Yellow River Basin in the north, while all others are in southern areas, said Ye Jianchun, vice-minister of water resources, at a news conference organized by the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Monday. While high water levels linger in the Yangtze and Taihu Lake, more rain than normal is expected in some northern areas as the region prepares to enter its rainy season, usually from late July to early August, he said. Major floods may occur in the Songhua, Liaohe, Haihe and Huaihe river basins and the middle reaches of the Yellow River, Ye added. "There has been no flooding in these river basins for years. People are not very knowledgeable about flood control there, and local flood control capabilities are comparatively weak," Ye said. The ministry will guide northern regions in rolling out precautionary measures as it continues to contribute to efforts in the south, he said. "The current flood control situation in Yangtze and Taihu remains grim," he said. Most of the Yangtze's middle and lower reaches have seen water swell above their warning levels. Meanwhile, the water level in Taihu Lake in the lower Yangtze area is forecast to keep rising and may exceed 4.65 meters, the maximum level that its dikes are designed to hold, Ye said. On Monday, however, southern areas had a rare rain-free day, according to the National Meteorological Center. Before that, the center had issued new alerts for torrential rains for 40 consecutive days starting June 2. Rain will return to the region, however, from Tuesday to Thursday. At 8 am on Monday, the level of Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake, reached 22.6 meters. On Sunday, it had surpassed its historic high of 22.52 meters, recorded during the devastating floods of 1998, Jiangxi provincial authorities said. The lake is connected to the Yangtze River water system. "Though some hydrological stations in Poyang reported higher water levels compared with records in 1998, water levels in major hydrological stations in middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze are currently below those of that year," Ye said. Vice-Minister of Emergency Management Zheng Guoguang said that even though rainfall in the Yangtze Basin has been 51 percent above normal this year, "the likelihood is not great" that the type of prolonged, concentrated precipitation that happened in 1998 will occur. Also, with construction of more water conservancy projects and an improved system to handle floodwaters, "we have had much stronger flood control capability", he said. By Chris Prentice WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Small Business Administration's internal watchdog has launched an inquiry into a technical glitch that led many small businesses to receive duplicate loans through a high-profile federal coronavirus aid program. A spokesman for the SBA Office of the Inspector General confirmed that the office has begun a review of the issue, which Reuters reported last month may have led to hundreds of millions of dollars in duplicate loans being approved under the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The review comes after U.S. Representative James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat who is chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, pressed the SBA watchdog in a letter to investigate the issue, citing the Reuters report. The duplicate loan issue may have created "significant opportunities" for fraud and potentially wasted more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars, Clyburn said in the June 23 letter addressed to SBA Inspector General Hannibal "Mike" Ware. He said it was "critical" to probe the issue as soon as possible. Representatives of the SBA did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Tuesday. The SBA launched the program on April 3 to help keep workers at struggling businesses employed. In the race to get funds out the door, the program encountered paperwork, technology and fairness issues. In the case of the duplicate loan approvals, a blind spot in SBA's loan processing system failed to catch when some borrowers submitted applications multiple times, typically through different lenders, Reuters reported. Lenders are still grappling with unwinding duplicate loans across several banks and retrieving the cash where those loans have been deposited, according to one person with direct knowledge of the matter. The government has said it will only guarantee one loan per borrower, which means lenders, rather than the taxpayer, are likely to be on the hook for the error. (Reporting by Chris Prentice in Washington Additional reporting by Pete Schroeder in Washington Editing by Michelle Price and Matthew Lewis) Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:46:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOGADISHU, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A civilian plane from Djibouti carrying food aid crashed on Tuesday during landing at Ugaas Khalif Airport in Beledweyne town in Hiiraan region of central Somalia. Abdirahman Riyale, Sector 4 Commander of Djibouti Army under the African Union peacekeeping troops, told reporters at the airport that three crew members had been rescued while the food aid had burnt down. "It was unfortunate that a civilian plane carrying food crashed and burnt down, we rescued people who were among the crew, but the food was completely burnt down," said Riyale. He said that the food aid from the Djibouti government was meant for civilians affected by the recent flooding in central Somalia. Ali Jeyte Osman, Governor of Hiraan region, said the absence of firefighters derailed rescue of food donations meant for flood victims. Charles Imbiakha, the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) spokesperson said that investigations to establish the cause of the plane crash will be launched soon. Sources said the aircraft, registered as 5Y-VVU, operated by Kenya's Bluebird Aviation was carrying humanitarian aid and supplies for the AMISOM members based at Beledweyne airport. The airline's Dash 8-400 freighter aircraft are operated on charter flights for governments and international aid agencies operating in East Africa. The latest incident is the second after a Kenyan plane carrying health supplies was mistakenly shot down by Ethiopian troops on May 4, killing six people on board. Enditem The University of North Georgia (UNG) reaped a boost in funding in June 2020 to help expand its science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) lab. The John and Mary Franklin Foundation awarded a $30,000 grant to UNG's College of Science and Mathematics. For the next three years, the foundation will distribute $10,000 each year to the school. It will fund the professors' stipends and learning assistants' pay to teach the three-hour STEM lab course. The Franklin Foundation advances healthy regional development through charitable grants that promote scientific research and knowledge-based technology, prepare underserved populations for participation in the economy or enrich humanity by strengthening and empowering children and families in need. Dr. John Leyba, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, said the grant arrived at an opportune moment due to anticipated budget cuts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I was relived to receive the letter that the foundation was committed to giving UNG the grant," he said. "In light of potential budget cuts, this will relieve pressure on us and let us move forward with the STEM lab." Originally funded by the Complete College Georgia initiative, the STEM lab features a trio of faculty members teaching freshmen and sophomores about biology, chemistry and physics. Students also collaborate on real-world issues, conduct research projects and compare their work to professional scientists. "The STEM lab has multiple benefits for students," Leyba said. "It introduces students to undergraduate research early in their college careers. If they get involved in the high-impact practice of research, then they will continue as a STEM major." The dean said the holistic and real-world approach in class teaches students how to deal with multiple facets of different projects or problems. "It also enhances their critical thinking skills," Leyba said. Based on the program's success, the University System of Georgia's (USG) STEM IV initiative awarded $150,000 to UNG in fall 2019 to expand the STEM lab. For five years, the STEM lab was only offered in the spring semesters on UNG's Dahlonega Campus. Now, the three-hour-credit lab will be available to freshmen and sophomores in the fall, too. While the USG STEM IV initiative supplies money for the three-year expansion, UNG will share the cost. "We will have to fund 25% for the first year, 30% for the second year and 40% for the third year," Leyba said. "It amounts to $47,500 in total cost sharing. The Franklin Foundation's grant will help pay for a portion of UNG's share." Leyba credited UNG Board of Trustee Shelton Prince, '65, for connecting the school with the foundation. "Shelton was aware from his work in the banking world of the John and Mary Franklin Foundation," Leyba said. "He got us the meeting, went with us and broke the ice for us. Had it not been for him, I don't think we could have had that meeting." Lily Damtew had resolved to permanently shutter her Ethiopian coffee shop after a maskless man spat at her feet and hurled chicken and rice at her window when she asked him to cover his face. How could she brew coffee and cut quiche, she thought, in fear that he would return with a vengeance? But on Saturday, just before 7:30 a.m., six days after the incident at Abyssinia Market and Coffee House, she flipped her wooden door sign to "Open" and stood armed with a mask, a face shield and three neighborhood friends. "I see you're open. That takes a lot of courage," said Mark Lewis, the first customer of the day, who ordered an almond croissant that filled the room with an aroma of butter and sugar. "It was this neighborhood that changed my mind," Damtew replied. She gestured to the rows of Post-it notes with well-wishes that covered her storefront in Old Town Alexandria, Va. "But I was scared." Damtew's experience, part of the coronavirus culture war over face coverings, reflects a growing problem for retail and service workers across the country who are yelled at and sometimes assaulted after asking patrons to wear masks. They have become the primary enforcers for social distancing guidelines inside restaurants and shops, often drawing the ire of people who think mask requirements infringe on their rights. In Florida, a maskless man was recorded on video shoving a Walmart employee who tried to block him from entering the store. At a Family Dollar store in Michigan, a security guard was killed after trying to enforce mask requirements. A Starbucks customer in California launched an expletive-laden tirade and social media blast against a barista who asked that she wear a mask. More for you Auto dealers navigate coronavirus curves In the Washington region, retail workers are similarly confronting aggressive anti-maskers. Days after the incident at Abyssinia Market and Coffee House, the owner of the Greek Spot restaurant in Washington reported on Facebook that a customer had thrown plexiglass at an employee who tried to enforce social distancing guidelines. About a week earlier, at Ted's Bulletin in Fairfax County, Va., a customer threatened to use a fraudulent "mask exemption card" to enter the restaurant barefaced, a restaurant manager said. Local business owners say the majority of patrons gladly adhere to public health guidelines, but the minority who refuse are leaving retail and service workers frustrated and scared as coronavirus cases show signs of rebounding in the region. "A lot of us are nervous to come back to work, and then we finally do and this is the treatment we get?" said Andrew Ceacatura, a bartender at a Ted's Bulletin in Washington. "It is soul-crushing, to be honest." Ceacatura wore a mask with a smile on it for his bartending shift Thursday night. But beneath the artificial grin, he braced himself for customers to walk in with a mask dangling from their chins, as they had every few days since indoor dining in the District of Columbia reopened June 23. During a brunch shift last week, he said, he asked an older woman three times to "make sure she had her mask on." She walked out. On Saturday, he and a manager pleaded with a young woman ordering a boozy milkshake to pull her mask over her nose. She stared them down as she put it on and stormed out of the building. Ceacatura said he refused to work the Sunday brunch shift recently, for the first time in 3 1/2 years, because "whenever it is busy and stressful, that is when things tend to boil over." On Thursday night, as Ceacatura kept one eye on the door and another on the glasses of water he filled and refilled, manager Edel McAloon discussed tactics to keep maskless customers out of her restaurant without provoking a fight. "They tell me it is not a federal law to wear masks. I have learned to say back that it is a restaurant law," she said, leaning against a table full of hand sanitizer and cleaning spray. "It is hard to describe how I feel when I see them without masks. It's rage." Like McAloon, restaurateurs across the region are discussing how to stay safe when customers refuse to wear masks. Leah Frelinghuysen, a spokeswoman for Ted's Bulletin, said employees "received extensive training prior to our reopening on both keeping themselves safe and also in working safely with patrons." They learned to cite guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Restaurant Association - which call for patrons to wear masks when entering and traveling through establishments - as a de-escalation strategy. Blair Beach, the general manager at Woodmont Grill in Bethesda, Md., said she has told her staff to "politely approach" people in the lobby and "remind them" that a Montgomery County ordinance requires masks in most public places. Many clashes over masks end with a customer leaving or covering their face. But some escalate, and police are called. Since June 23, Maryland State Police have reported at least 17 calls in D.C. suburbs related to face-covering disputes. Officers attempt to handle the situation through public education and voluntary compliance, State Police spokesman Greg Shipley said. Only in the most extreme cases would a Maryland officer cite an anti-masker for trespassing or failing to obey a lawful order, Shipley said. In Alexandria, where police have responded to about five calls related to face coverings in the past two weeks, officers similarly prioritize de-escalation through education. "We don't want to be in the business of criminally charging someone for not wearing a mask," said Lt. Courtney Ballantine of the Alexandria police. "We would encourage them to play by the rules." The incidents at Abyssinia and the Greek Spot this month have underscored the risk for local business owners who have chosen to reopen their doors. A local news site, ARXnow, first publicized Damtew's experience, and owners of the Greek Spot shared theirs on social media. The incidents invoked a flood of anger and support from their neighborhoods. "Our team member was assaulted and threatened while the customer destructed property and threw everything on the counter as well as the plexiglass screen at her," the Greek Spot wrote on its Facebook page. "This is not what we come to work for, or what anyone should have to endure while working to provide for themselves and their families." The Greek Spot declined to discuss the incident further, citing respect for the employee involved. "There is a concern - a valid concern, obviously - because of these two recent incidents in our area," said Charlotte Hall, managing director of the Old Town Business association. "But this is when a manager or an owner needs to step up to the plate and defend their employees." Some business owners, however, have decided to opt out of phased reopenings that allow indoor dining, determining that the health and safety risks remain far too high. Sara Polon, co-founder and chief executive of meal delivery service Soupergirl, has not expanded beyond curbside pickup and delivery, over fear that customers - especially those who refuse to wear masks - could infect vulnerable employees with the virus. "The responsibility of an owner when they ask people to leave their homes is agonizing," she said. Polon said the only way she feels comfortable asking her employees to come to work is if she commits to testing them for the coronavirus at frequent intervals. Every Tuesday morning for the past six weeks, Polon has paid upward of $700 for a doctor to come into her shop and test her employees. "I am doubling down on my decision to not make any changes," she said of the stories she has heard about customers refusing to wear masks. "There is no timetable to open my doors." Other business owners feel they have no choice but to reopen. Toast, a restaurant management platform, found that as of July 2, restaurants in D.C. had seen revenue drop 45% from the previous year, the most drastic loss of all cities nationwide, according to a spokeswoman for the company. That leaves many restaurants with mountains of bills to pay and an urgent need for employees to show up to work and help draw customers to make ends meet. Damtew's 13-year-old son wanted her to keep her restaurant closed after he overheard his mom on a phone call explaining that she had been assaulted while alone at work. But if she had kept her restaurant closed for much longer, Damtew told her son, she might not have been able to afford to open it again. The United States was grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world on Monday, as Florida shattered the national record for a state's largest single-day increase in new confirmed cases. Meanwhile, two World Health Organization experts went to China for a mission to trace the origin of the pandemic. The virus was first detected in central China's city of Wuhan late last year. Beijing had been reluctant to allow a probe but relented after dozens of countries called on the WHO to conduct a thorough investigation. Deaths from the virus have been rising in the US, especially in the South and West, though they are still well below the numbers reached in April, according to a recent Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. "I really do think we could control this, and it's the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we're in a crisis, and we're definitely not doing it," said University of Florida epidemiologist Dr Cindy Prins. Admiral Brett Giroir, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, called mask-wearing in public, which has been met with resistance in some US states, "absolutely essential". Giroir, the assistant secretary at the Health and Human Services Department, told ABC's This Week on Sunday that "if we don't have that, we will not get control of the virus". Trump has harshly criticised the WHO over its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused it of bowing to Chinese influence. The Trump administration formally notified the UN last week of its withdrawal from the WHO, although the pullout will not take effect until July 6, 2021. "We have a basic consensus with the WHO that virus tracing is a scientific issue, and that requires international scientific research and cooperation of scientists across the world," ministry spokesperson Hua said at a daily briefing. "WHO also believes that the virus tracing is an issue in progress, which may involve multiple countries and regions, and WHO will also conduct similar inspections in other countries and regions as needed." The WHO has confirmed the visit by an epidemiologist and an animal diseases specialist but has not given out information on their agendas while in China. The virus causing the deadly illness COVID-19 is believed to have originated in bats and then jumped to humans via an intermediary species, possibly the anteater-like pangolin that is prized in China for its scales used in Chinese medicine as well as its meat. In Japan, more than 30 marines tested positive at the Futenma US air station on Okinawa, where infections among American service members have rapidly risen to more than 90 since last week. Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Source: Aljazeera 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 BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The pound lost ground against its major rivals in the European session on Tuesday, as the U.K. economy grew at a slower pace than expected in May as the easing of restrictions had a limited impact. Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that gross domestic product grew 1.8 percent in May from April, when it was down 20.3 percent. However, this was weaker than the expected growth of 5.5 percent. The dominant service sector grew 0.9 percent after contracting 18.9 percent. The largest positive contributor to the increase was the wholesale, retail and repair of motor vehicles. Industrial production logged a notable growth of 6 percent, following a 20.2 percent fall. At the same time, manufacturing was up 8.4 percent versus a 24.4 percent drop in the previous month. Nonetheless, industrial output was 19.1 percent lower than the pre Covid-19 level in February. In three months to May, the economy shrank 19.1 percent, following a 10.8 percent fall in April. Another report from ONS showed that the visible trade deficit narrowed to GBP 2.81 billion from GBP 4.8 billion in April. Exports of goods grew 6.6 percent, while imports fell 1.7 percent. The surplus on trade in services was largely unchanged at GBP 7.1 billion. Consequently, the total trade surplus surged to GBP 4.3 billion from GBP 2.3 billion in April. Rising Sino-U.S. tensions and worries about the state of California shutting down dented investors' appetite for riskier assets. U.S.-China tensions intensified after the Trump administration rejected China's expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, a move that Beijing criticized as inciting tensions in the region. California on Monday banned indoor dining and shuttered movie theaters and bars as coronavirus infection spread beyond the Sun Belt. The pound declined to a 2-week low of 0.9085 against the euro, after climbing to 0.9021 at 5:00 pm ET. On the downside, 0.92 is possibly seen as the next support level for the pound. Data from Eurostat showed that Eurozone industrial production rebounded in May as most of the factories reopened in member countries after the easing of coronavirus containment measures. Industrial production grew 12.4 percent on month, in contrast to an 18.2 percent decrease in April. Nonetheless, this was slower than the expected growth of 15 percent. The pound slipped to 1.2506 against the greenback, setting a 1-week low. The pound is likely test support around the 1.22 area. The pound dropped to a 1-week low of 134.18 against the yen, compared to 134.70 hit late New York Monday. Should the pound falls further, it may find support around the 132.00 level. Data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry showed that Japan industrial production declined more than estimated in May. Industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 8.9 percent month-on-month in May. According to initial estimate, production was down 8.4 percent. The pound depreciated to 1.1746 against the franc, its lowest level since July 6. The pound is seen facing support around the 1.14 level. Looking ahead, U.S. CPI for June is set for release in the New York session. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Kalu Ojah, University of the Witwatersrand Independence is a cardinal pillar for organisations that are set up to deliver a public good. Their success depends on it. This is particularly true of development banks such as African Development Bank, AfDB and Inter-American Development Bank. Independence is even more important in these instances because these institutions are owned by and are meant to cater for numerous regional member states. In my view their ability to deliver on the objective of assisting member states attain economic growth and sustainable development is inexorably dependent on their independence. By this I mean their capacity to focus productively on their goals and missions without external sway. There are two aspects to this independence. The first is objective independence. This talks to how the institution is set up, who has shares in it and the like. Regional development banks typically get shareholder contributions of capital (which determines country shareholdings). They then go to capital markets to borrow multiples of their capital base (money from shareholders). Objective independence depends on shareholder contributions. The second aspect of independence is implicit independence. This talks to the ability of the bank to borrow from capital markets. The reputation of the bank is key to its ability to mobilise capital to pursue bold development plans. The AfDB is one of four main regional banks of the world. The other three are the Asia Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and European Bank for Construction and Development. Objective indepedence Objective independence is conventionally reflected in the distribution of capital contribution (ownership share subscription) of member states. This speaks to voting rights and associated board of governors and directors compositions. This aspect of the bank independence gives details of the governance architecture around decision making and the day-to-day running of the bank. The bank president and board of directors appointed by a board of governors are mandated to implement decisions and run the daily affairs of the bank. It is in this aspect of bank independence that non-regional member states are typically invited to foster transparency of governance, inject diversity, and enrich board decisions with global best practice. These are often governments or organisations invited from developed, well-performing or geographically representative countries. Screen Shot at AM. All four of the worlds biggest regional development banks have explored the benefit of non-regional member states. But the AfDB falls short on this score. This is because non-regional members dominate the top capital contributors of the banks capital base. This league table ranking typically reflects the voting rights accorded member states. And unlike the other regional banks, three of the top five capital contributors in AfDB are non-African states. And 50% or more of the top 10 contributors are also non-African states. One, therefore, has to ask where are Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, Ethiopia, Cote-dIvoire, Tunisia, Senegal, Angola and others in response to the vital imperative of ensuring their regional banks independence? This list is of countries that could be, but are not, among the top capital contributors to AfDBs ownership and capital base. These kinds of skewed voting rights put a dangerously destabilising power in the hands of a non-regional member who at any time may get the itch for autocracy. This was demonstrated recently when the US brashly attempted to veto a corporate governance guided decision of the banks board, mainly by virtue of its relative voting right. READ ALSO: This kind of possibility clearly compromises the independence of the bank. Sensibly, this should have been anticipated. A carefully nuanced structuring of board powers should have been put in place, with checks against such a likelihood. Such a balancing act would also have endeavoured to imbue regional member states with some power of insistence on determining their collective goals and mission. That said, regional member states contribution heft, still remains the best path to ensuring robustness of this aspect of bank independence. Implicit independence Implicit independence is reflected in the capacity (reputation) of the bank to mobilise substantial capital, usually in multiples of its capital base, for prosecuting grand development agendas of the region that need huge capital outlay. Until recently, this had evidently not been explored by the African Development Bank. This capacity is usually flagged by two factors. Firstly, conceiving and articulating a well-thought out development agenda. Secondly, the extent of the bonding role provided by non-regional developed country member states, whose capital markets or partnering development organisations may be sources of this primary capital raising. The record on this source of bank independence has been significantly brightened under the current leadership of the bank headed by Dr Akinwunmi Adesina. Starting in 2018, the bank set itself the ambitious goal of mobilising substantial capital to support development projects of its regional member states. The bank embarked on a host of roadshows, securing for the first time, commitments of between $30 billion $60 billion. This kind of substantial capital mobilisation is vital for the effectiveness of any development bank. Particularly, in light of the fledgling nature of Africas organised capital markets with the exception of South Africa it is an enormously important capacity for AfDB to build. Advertisements For instance, as Africas only premier development bank, AfDB was the first and only African development organisation to offer any meaningful support to regional member countries effort at managing the devastating consequences of Covid-19. Under Adesinas leadership, a coherent and clearly articulated (and encouragingly ambitious) continental development agenda has been set down. Under the rubric of High Fives it covers power, food, industrialisation, integration and improving the quality of life in and for Africa. Vital role The upside potentials of these projects are evidently great and promising. But, for this promise to become a reality, the AfDB needs to be effective at its mission, via robust bank independence. The banks leadership needs its hands strengthened by the cooperation and support of African countries. For a start, African countries must increase their ownership subscriptions in their only regional bank. Kalu Ojah, Professor of Finance & Deputy Head of School, Wits Business School, University of the Witwatersrand This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The conversation Thousands protest against governments handling of coronavirus pandemic, Netanyahus indictment for corruption. Thousands of Israelis have protested in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus residence in Jerusalem, demanding his resignation as the government comes under fire over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Some placards carried by demonstrators on Tuesday read Netanyahus corruption makes us sick and Netanyahu, resign. The most deadly virus is not COVID-19, but corruption, protester Laurent Cige, who came from Tel Aviv to take part, told AFP news agency. Netanyahu was indicted in January for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three cases. In May, he forged a new unity government after more than a year of political turmoil and insisted the charges were trumped up to drive him from office. The next trial date at Jerusalem district court is set for July 19. Under Israeli law, a sitting prime minister is only required to resign if convicted of a criminal offence with all appeals exhausted, which in Netanyahus case, could take several years. A protester is detained by Israeli police during a demonstration in Jerusalem [Menahem Kahana/AFP] Growing discontent Protesters criticised Israels handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, as the health ministry announced more than 1,400 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. On Monday, police dispersed a group of activists who set up tents outside Netanyahus official residence. Thousands also protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday to voice frustration at the prime minister and his economic policies. Netanyahu is also facing a growing wave of discontent over his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Israel is now experiencing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases and the economy is struggling as unemployment remains above 20 percent. The country of some nine million people has recorded more than 41,200 coronavirus cases, including 368 deaths. After receiving widespread praise for quickly sealing Israels borders in March and imposing other restrictions, Netanyahu acknowledged last week that he reopened the economy too quickly. The government lifted some restrictions at the end of May, but announced new ones last week, including closing bars, nightclubs and gyms. Israels unemployment has jumped from 3.4 percent in February to 27 percent in April, before falling slightly in May to 23.5 percent. The letter, organized by the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and published Thursday, highlights that in the wake of the crisis, both authoritarian and democratically-elected governments the world over have used emergency powers to arrest protestors and sidestep democratic norms. The letter warns: "Authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the crisis to silence critics and tighten their political grip. But even some democratically-elected governments are fighting the pandemic by amassing emergency powers that restrict human rights and enhance state surveillance without regard to legal constraints, parliamentary oversight, or timeframes for the restoration of constitutional order. "Parliaments are being sidelined, journalists are being arrested and harassed, minorities are being scapegoated, and the most vulnerable sectors of the population face alarming new dangers as the economic lockdowns ravage the very fabric of societies everywhere." Since the pandemic began, dozens of countries have introduced emergency declarations and more than 100 have brought in measures that affect public assembly, such as protests against the state, according to the International Center for Non-Profit Law's Covid-19 Civic Freedom Tracker. Their cited examples range from restricting access of public information to arresting citizens for "provocative" posts on social media. The letter takes aim at China, noting that it is "not a coincidence that the current pandemic began in a country where the free flow of information is stifled and where the government punished those warning about the dangers of the virus -- warnings that were seen as spreading rumors harmful to the prestige of the state." However, the letter's chief warning is that countries with strong democratic traditions could use the pandemic to introduce extraordinary measures that in the long run become ordinary, doing permanent damage to global democracy. "Authoritarians around the world see the Covid-19 crisis as a new political battleground in their fight to stigmatize democracy as feeble and reverse its dramatic gains of the past few decades." "Now is the time when all of us must stand up for democracy. We need to make it clear to everyone what is at stake and that we will not allow leaders with authoritarian tendencies to use this or other crises to increase their power and decrease our rights," said Kevin Casas-Zamora, Secretary-General of IDEA and former Second Vice-President of Costa Rica. The letter says that "Repression will not help to control the pandemic," and that "Silencing free speech, jailing peaceful dissenters, suppressing legislative oversight, and indefinitely canceling elections all do nothing to protect public health." "Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere." Among the letter's signatories are Stephen Harper, the former Prime Minister of Canada, and Malcolm Rifkind, the UK's former Foreign Secretary, Klara Dobrev, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Cecilia Malmstrom, the former European Commissioner for trade, as well as institutions attached to former world leaders, including The George W. Bush Institute and The Carter Center. Manitoba Hydro has served notice it intends to boost First Nations on-reserve residential electricity rates by 6.6 per cent, effective Aug. 1, but the Crown corporation's regulator says: not so fast. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Manitoba Hydro has served notice it intends to boost First Nations on-reserve residential electricity rates by 6.6 per cent, effective Aug. 1, but the Crown corporation's regulator says: not so fast. Hydro wrote to the Public Utilities Board on June 23, saying it would eliminate the First Nation on-reserve residential (FNORR) customer class, after the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled the PUB had "exceeded its jurisdiction" by creating it in 2018. While First Nations customers had their rates frozen at 2017 levels, most residential Manitoba customers in 2018 saw a 4.04 per cent increase instead of what would have been a 3.92 per cent hike without the FNORR freeze. It was estimated at the time the new rate class would save First Nations residents about $2 million a year. In its letter, Hydro told the PUB it would not seek to retroactively recover the estimated $5.5 million in forgone revenues from FNORR customers for the 2018-19 to 2020-21 fiscal years, "As doing so would increase the financial impacts experienced by these customers." It said FNORR customers would now pay the same rates as other residential users. Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the new rate schedule proposed by Hydro "is not reasonable, as it unjustly impacts First Nations customers." (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) In a five-page response Monday, the PUB directed Manitoba Hydro to answer a series of questions including how the increase to FNORR customers would affect the Crown corporation's overall revenues before it granted its request. The PUB noted the law requires it to review rates for services provided by Hydro, and prohibits the corporation from implementing any changes in rates for services or any new rates without its approval. 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. It asked Hydro to respond to its questions by July 20, to permit groups granted intervener status in past rate-setting hearings to respond by July 27. On Monday, Hydro spokesman Bruce Owen said the Crown corporation was still assessing the PUB request and had no comment at this time. Grand Chief Arlen Dumas of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the new rate schedule proposed by Hydro "is not reasonable, as it unjustly impacts First Nations customers." "Manitoba Hydro's proposed rate increase to First Nations on-reserve customers will add revenue to Manitoba Hydro over and above what was approved by the PUB at the last rate hearing on the backs of First Nations customers," Dumas said in a statement to the Free Press. He also noted the recent Manitoba Court of Appeal decision "does not simply allow Manitoba Hydro to automatically apply rate schedules at their whim." larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Nii Odartey Lamptey 14.07.2020 LISTEN The Appeals Court has dismissed an appeal against Nii Odartey Lamptey filed by his ex-wife Gloria Appiah. Gloria Appiah's petition to the Appeals Court to be given Odartey Lamptey's seven-bedroom East Legon mansion as part of her alimony was thrown out. In June 2017, the Accra High Court Justice, Cecilia Don-Chebe Agbevey, who put finality to the winding legal battle, ordered the estranged wife to vacate Odartey's seven-bedroom mansion in East Legon but must settle her with alimony of GH 200,000, a car and Odartey's four-bedroom house located in Dome. The ex-wife, who struggled to come to terms with the ruling, appealed for a review of the verdict with the aim of getting Odartey's mansion as part of her entitlements, but unfortunately her appeal to own that large imposing residence has been thrown out by the Appeals Court. All three judges who sat on the appeal ruled in favour of the ex-Black Star player and have asked Gloria to move out as soon as possible. Speaking to Kasapa FM's Alexander Anyankwaa after the ruling, Odartey Lamptey said, I feel happy now because it's been over seven years of legal battle but I thank God that finally her appeal against me has been thrown out and the court has ordered her to evacuate from my mansion. It has not been easy at all but I thank The Lord Almighty for a battle well fought. I thank my lawyers, Kizito Beyuo & Iris K. Aggrey-Orleans for a great job. He added, It's my prayer that nobody experience this kind of situation because it can easily ruin your life. The ex-Black Star player now has three beautiful children two girls and a boywith movie star Ruweida Yakubu. Background In 2013, reports emerged that DNA tests had uncovered the fact that the couple's three children were not indeed fathered by the former world's best juvenile player. The impasse emanated when Gloria wanted Nii Odartey Lamptey to send 'their' first daughter abroad to further her studies at a cost of 26,000 a year for three years. Nii Odartey Lamptey then objected, citing the fact that the expense was too much and recommending that his daughter schools in Ghana for her university education. Gloria was reportedly incensed by her husband's stance and filed for divorce. Nii Lamptey initially agreed to the divorce but delayed in his response because he reportedly suspected his wife of alleged infidelity. The former midfielder who represented Ghana at 1992, 1994 and 1996 African Nations Cup tournaments secretly took samples from the three children and did a DNA test, which reportedly revealed that none of three girls were fathered by him. Gloria demanded 50 per cent of Nii Odartey Lamptey's estate and other properties, which he hotly disputed by asking the High Court to allow the DNA results to be entered in evidence. Kasapafmonline Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:42:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KUWAIT CITY, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Kuwait on Tuesday reported 666 new COVID-19 cases and three more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 56,174 and the death toll to 396, the Health Ministry said in a statement. Currently, 9,617 patients are receiving treatment, including 156 in ICU, the statement added. The ministry also announced the recovery of 805 more patients, raising the total recoveries in the country to 46,161. 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 WONDER POTIONs action-platformer has new content to test in this limited-time preview version of the next side-scrolling hit from NEOWIZ Leaders in the black community are calling on the New York Police Department to bring back the plainclothes Anti-Crime Unit that was eliminated last month as shootings and murders spike across the city. About 600 undercover officers from the unit were set to be transferred to other assignments including detective work and policing neighborhoods, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said a month ago. The anti-crime unit, which was responsible for getting guns off the streets, had been criticized as stoking distrust in law enforcement in minority communities. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, one of the African-American voices calling for action on gun violence, criticized the police forces decision to completely disband the unit. He deplored the recent deadly shooting of a one-year-old, one of the victims of New York Citys recent spike in gun violence. I think that a total elimination is something we need to reevaluate, Adams said, CBS New York reported. Right now, bad guys are saying if you dont see a blue and white you can do whatever you want. Tony Herbert, an activist in New Yorks black community, agreed and lamented the rise in violence, criticizing New York officials for their failure to address the situation. The guns keep going off and now we have a 1-year-old and the blood is on the hands of the mayor and the state Legislature, Herbert said. The decision to disband the anti-crime unit was also panned by Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who warned that consequences would follow if city leaders refused to deal with increased gun violence. Anti-Crimes mission was to protect New Yorkers by proactively preventing crime, especially gun violence, Lynch said in a statement. Shooting and murders are both climbing steadily upward, but our city leaders have decided that proactive policing isnt a priority anymore. They chose this strategy. They will have to reckon with the consequences. The citys murder rate for the month ending June 7 has more than doubled from the same period last year, and shooting victims have increased by 45 percent. Meanwhile, arrests for illegal gun possession have dropped dramatically, with only 29 people arrested during the week that ended July 5, down from 70 during the same week last year, according to NYPD data. Story continues In recent weeks, the NYPD has experienced a surge of over 400 percent in retirement applications from officers amid tensions with city officials and after the citys police budget was slashed by $1 billion. More from National Review Jazzoo 2020 canceled over COVID-19 concerns by: Brian Dulle Posted: / Updated: KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Zoo's biggest fundraiser event has been canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Friends of the Zoo Board of Directors said after much deliberation over the past few weeks, they have decided to cancel Jazzoo 2020. The upscale Summer shindig is now a thing of the past and the pandemic worries the local elite and ruins another local drinking party. Take a peek: Deepak Sathish By Express News Service COIMBATORE: Like most of western Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore district appears to be minimally touched by Covid-19 pandemic. Even while northern and southern districts reported a surge in cases, Coimbatore only crossed the 1,000-case mark on July 9. As low as this may appear, the district has still seen 73 per cent of its 1,071 (as of July 10) cases since June 22 when it only had 280 cases. Officials attribute the rise to travellers from outside the district and a series of clusters. Travel into the district Domestic flight services resumed on May 25, while the international flights started arriving in the city airport from June 2. According to officials, the spike in is mainly because of people coming from other states and districts. Coimbatore is one of the few cities that has been collecting samples from every passenger arriving at the airport. As a result, it has been testing an average of 2,000 samples a day since May 25.Even though this was not required as per guidelines, we are collecting samples from all air travellers, said Deputy Director of Health Services G Ramesh Kumar.Although the district attributed the spike to persons from outside, this is not reflected in the daily State bulletins which till July 10 categories only 32 cases as imported. District officials claimed this categorisation did not reflect the local records. Cluster conundrum In just the past month, the district has seen at least five clusters erupt, causing a rise in case load. While the authorities have been quick to act once the cases are reported, proactive door-to-door surveillance as being done in Chennai and Madurai are still only restricted to containment areas and hotspots. The first sign of trouble was when three out of 48 staff of GRT Jewellers, brought by bus from Chennai without e-passes, tested positive on June 21. The shop on Cross Cut Road was declared a hotspot and samples were collected from all staff members. GRT was only the tip of the iceberg. As many as 27 people linked to a clothes store in Masakalipalayam near Peelamedu had tested positive by July 1. The store had been shut by the revenue department on June 24 for violating social distancing norms. Subsequently, a senior staff of the shop with travel history tested positive but the owner is alleged to have reopened the shop the very next day. Coimbatore Corporation officials again shut the outlet on June 26, but the damage was done. The third major cluster was in Ayyappa Nagar in Selvapuram, a densely populated area, housing many small scale jewellery outlets, gold manufacturing units. While the district has officially reported 38 people in the locality tested as of July 6 and 7, unofficially authorities have admitted the cluster may have more than a 100 cases.In each of these instances, the health department has conducted a door-to-door survey after the first cases were reported.Public movement has also been restricted in such areas. However, the district does not appear to have plans to embark on more proactive surveillance. Few deaths The district is witnessing a slow rise in the number of Covid deaths. However, not all are being recorded in the State bulletins. As on Friday, only six deaths from Coimbatore have been included in the bulletin, while at least six more mortalities have been reported by district authorities. Surge to continue Officials said that the district might surpass 2,000 positive cases by July 20 and touch a new high of 4,000 cases by August.Ramesh Kumar said the prediction is based on the present doubling rate of 10.8 days. He, however, said the district was prepared to handle such a surge, with sufficient beds available. The department currently has close to 4,478 beds at the covid care centres, government and private hospitals and primary health centres across the district. At least 450 beds are at the nodal ESI hospital in Coimbatore. Officials said only 1,000 beds are currently occupied but bed capacity would be increased by 500. Renowned virologist T Jacob John said any containment strategy must be designed keeping elderly people in the mind. "People in houses which also have elderly people must wear a mask indoors. Doctors must be deputed to speak with the elderly person by telephone to understand whether he or she is facing breathing difficulties," he said. With Coimbatore witnessing a rise in positive cases, John said behaviour modification must be the focus. "An order on wearing a mask would achieve its goal only when the district administration or civic body starts educating the public about why they have to wear one," he said. The mummified corpse of Rascar Capac thrilled and terrified generations of young fans of the Tintin comic book story "The Seven Crystal Balls". Now, Herge's fictional Inca has sparked a row between rival Belgian tourist attractions, each of which displays a mummy they say inspired Tintin's creator. The very serious Art and History Museum is in Brussels' Jubilee Park, near where Herge used to live, and he was known to frequent its collections. The museum's Andean mummy, squatting upright with knees bent, appears similar to the haunting effigy in the author's illustrated tale of the be-quiffed reporter Tintin's adventure. Curators thought they had established the link beyond doubt 10 years ago, but the Pairi Daiza safari park in southern Belgium is touting a rival mummy. Last week, the popular zoo began marketing an exhibit of the "authentic mummy nicknamed Rascar Capac". The royal museum is not taking this well, and has all but accused the zoo park of false advertising. "We don't attract visitors by promising them pandas," sniffed museum director general Alexandra de Poorter. The zoo has expressed regret over an "argument started by the royal museums" but admits that "no one can say for sure which mummy inspired Herge." If there is confusion, it dates back until at least 1979, when the 2,000-year-old preserved corpse now on display at the zoo appeared in Brussels at an exhibit titled "Tintin's museum of the imagination". The collection was assembled to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1929 release of the boy reporter's first book-length adventure, "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets". Author and illustrator Georges Remi -- better known under his pen name Herge -- attended the show, adding some credibility to the mummy's significance. But this, according to the Art and History Museum's curator of Latin American relics, Serge Lemaitre, was a mistake. The mummy in question had been bought by a Belgian collector in the 1960s, long after Herge published the "Seven Crystal Balls" book in 1948. - French connection? - "And in the first frames serialised in 1941 in the newspaper Le Soir, Rascar Capac was hairless and had very bent knees, just like our mummy," Lemaitre says. Herge lived near the Jubilee Park -- still a popular spot in Brussels' European quarter -- and knew the museum and its curator Jean Capart well. Capart even seems to have been fictionalised as Professeur Bergamotte -- or Professor Hercules Tarragon in the English-language version of "The Seven Crystal Balls". Not only that, but items drawn from other pieces in the museum's ethnographic collections have appeared in the Tintin tales, notably a Peruvian figurine that inspired its eponymous twin in "The Broken Ear". The museum is thus confident in its claim, but -- as is often the case in a Tintin mystery -- the plot may have a further twist, according to independent expert Philippe Goddin. "We should stop arguing. Herge looked at lots of Inca mummies, but his first sketches of Rascar Capac are essentially based on a drawing in the Larousse dictionary," he said. This is an explanation that will not suit anyone in Belgium, where tourist attractions have seized upon any Tintin link to exploit as a key draw. The drawing in the Larousse was based on a mummy brought back from Peru by the 19th-century French explorer Charles Wiener and is today in the Quai Branly Museum ... in Paris. An Inca mummy at the Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium (Newser) President Trump's clemency order doesn't just mean Roger Stone is free to campaign for him. It also means Trump's longtime ally will escape two years of probation in addition to a $20,000 fine, reports USA Today. That was clarified Monday as the Justice Department released Trump's executive order granting clemency to the 67-year-old Republican operative, who'd been sentenced to 40 months in prison and two years of supervised release for lying to Congress, obstruction, and witness tampering as part of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. A judge had requested a copy of the order following questions from the US Probation Office, per CNBC. story continues below "I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said ROGER JASON STONE, JR. to expire immediately; I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised release with all its conditions; and finally, I remit any unpaid remainder of the $20,000 fine imposed," reads the order signed by Trump and issued days before Stone was to report to a federal prison in Georgia. In a New York Times op-ed, a senior prosecutor in the Mueller investigation notes Stone could still be forced to testify with a grand jury or congressional subpoena. If he refuses or lies, it would mean "the risk of criminal charges and jail," Andrew Weissmann writes. (Here's what Robert Mueller has to say.) KEY HIGHLIGHTS Industry body FISME has identified over 600 items which could be produced locally to reduce import dependence from China By building local capability to produce these items, India can cut its trade deficit with China by about $10 billion a year Commerce Ministry is considering various levers to tighten screws around China - they include both tariff and non-tariff measures A section of the industry is, however, against knee-jerk reaction which would hurt Indian consumers and manufacturers As many as 666 items such as electric lamps, wooden furniture, tricycles and ski-boots imported from China could be produced locally and hence cut trade deficit with the neighbouring country by about $10 billion a year, industry body Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises (FISME) has found. FISME carried out the analysis following a directive from the Commerce Ministry to ascertain products where import dependence could be substantially reduced. "We have identified over 600 items which are imported by MSMEs primarily from China. We are in the process of assessing the impact of higher duty on these items. In some cases, for instance low-value items, local capability can be easily built and import substitution can happen. We are studying it in detail and send our recommendations to the government," said FISME Secretary General Anil Bhardwaj. Most of these products are those which do not require much technical skill to manufacture locally. They would also not result in any significant cost escalation for local firms. The industry body, however, wants thorough study and examination before higher duty is slapped on these products or trade barriers erected. The Commerce Ministry had last month asked several industry bodies including CII, FICCI, and Assocham to give their inputs on a number of goods imported from China. The move was aimed at tightening the screw on China by raising import duty on various items while restricting the flow of a slew of other items. "We are looking at strengthening Indian manufacturing. Manufacturing is strengthened by incentives, by cutting down on unnecessary imports. There are non-competitive imports where Indian industry is not strong. We are looking into these issues and trying to take action. There are tariff measures, non-tariff measures and many other measures to promote local industry," a senior Commerce Ministry official said. Following the tensions on Line of Actual Control (LAC), popular sentiment against China has grown strong and industry view has largely been in line with it. Large corporates such as JSW Group have announced their plans to cut imports from China to zero. But many companies, especially MSME manufacturers, favour a gradual plan to substitute imports from China and want the government to first provide alternative competitive sources for raw materials and other key inputs. They fear that sudden restriction on import of raw materials could make sourcing costlier by 10-40% and hence lead to increase in prices of final products. This will hurt both consumers and demand. "Chorus of protests to stop import from China as a retaliation to their misdeeds on the border and from other countries by way of raising tariffs or through NTBs (non-tariff barriers) to achieve the dream of Atma Nirbhar Bharat, is music to Corporate and also fun for the downstream manufacturers of intermediate and final goods meant for end users," says VK Aggarwal, Managing Director of Shashi Cables, a Lucknow-based medium enterprise. "Competition is one aspect of business that everyone hates. Its absence is like breathing in fresh or living in peace for any manufacturer!" he added. Longtime Trump political advisor Roger Stone leaves after his sentencing hearing at the Federal District Court in Washington on Feb. 20, 2020. (Erik S. Lesser / EPA/Shutterstock) To the editor: Last week I signed a petition asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to use his pardoning authority to empty prisons and jails of all but the most dangerous inmates. Though it might sometimes be just to put a man in a cage for his crimes, unless his crime merits death, he should not be imprisoned with others during the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 10, President Trump commuted the prison sentence of a 67-year-old nonviolent felon who was scheduled to be locked up for 40 months. Roger Stone, the president's longtime political advisor, was not pardoned; he remains a convicted felon. I would sooner be maimed with a chain saw than vote for Trump. But keeping old guys out of cages in a time of plague is the right thing to do. It does not lay waste to the values I embrace. Trump has done many things that shame America; commutation of a possible death sentence by virtue of being locked up during a pandemic is not one of them. I hope the president and all state governors are looking for opportunities to do it again and again. Mark Janssen, Yorba Linda .. To the editor: With all of the scandals that have occurred related to Trump's 2016 campaign and his presidency, it is difficult to focus on the seriousness of the crimes committed by Stone, the president's old crony. Stone was convicted on seven felony counts. To call his investigation and conviction a hoax is typical of Trump and his loyalists when the subject of Russian involvement in the 2016 election arises. Stone lied to Congress to hide evidence pertaining to Trump's involvement in the campaign events surrounding Russia, WikiLeaks and the stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee. Stone's commutation is one more travesty by Trump and a clear indicator we need to rein in the use of the presidential pardon. Linda Randolph, Los Angeles .. To the editor: Trump's commutation of Stone's sentence is his latest act in overthrowing the rule of law. There is one set of laws for the president's friends and scoundrels, and there is another set for the rest of us. Story continues The president continues to violate his oath of office, and members of Congress let him get away with it. Where is the outrage? Carol Karas, Camarillo .. To the editor: Recently, the Supreme Court told Trump that he's not above the law. His response seems to be: "Want to bet? I can still control the law." How tragic. Betty Rome, Culver City Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal TIERRA AMARILLA Prosecutors in the 1st Judicial District Attorneys Office had feared COVID-19 could derail the trial of Mark Hice, which was set to start Monday with the selection of the jury. It took about seven hours for those fears to be realized. Sheri Raphaelson, who is representing Hice as he stands trial in the 2018 death of 18-year-old Cameron Martinez, told Chief Deputy District Attorney Blake Nichols that she had recently been in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, after having been in the small District Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla for several hours. Raphaelson said she had worked 11 days prior around COVID-positive patients quarantined at Buffalo Thunder Casino in Pojoaque and that she wore personal protective equipment the entire time. I was not exposed in the medical sense, in that my PPE was never breached, Raphaelson told the Journal. Mondays jury selection was supposed to kickstart the 1st Districts return to jury trials amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Under procedures approved by the New Mexico Supreme Court, all those entering the courthouse are screened for COVID-19 symptoms and possible exposure to anyone with the disease. Raphaelson said she told Rio Arriba County Sheriffs (RASO) deputies stationed at the courthouse about the exposure, but they proceeded to let her in the building. She also said she did not tell prosecutors and court officials about the exposure because she thought the deputy would inform the judge. As a result, Judge Maria Sanchez-Gagne held Raphaelson in contempt of court, fined her $1,000 and issued a continuance for the trial, meaning the jury selection process will have to start again. District Attorney Marco Serna had previously raised concerns about holding a jury trial in the small Tierra Amarilla courthouse, especially given the gravity of the case. Considering the amount of attention to this case from the community and from family members of the victim, no we do not believe this was the proper location for this trial, Serna said before Raphaelson admitted to her exposure. Prospective jurors had left the building by the time word of the exposure reached Sanchez-Gagne and it is unclear if they have been contacted by the court. Serna, a member of the prosecution team against Hice, did not attend Mondays hearing due to cold-like symptoms he was having, he said. I have been under the weather, and considering the COVID pandemic and the uptick, the decision was made not to go, he said. Serna said he had no plans to get tested for COVID-19, because his symptoms were getting much better. Issues with having juries in the courtroom became clear even before Raphaelson revealed her possible exposure. The first few hours of the jury selection moved slowly after the start was delayed as courtroom officials had to rearrange prospective jurors to maintain social distancing. At least five potential jurors voiced concerns about serving on a jury during a pandemic, including Claudia Page of La Madera, whose husband is at-risk for COVID-19. Were just reinventing our world entirely, Page said. The whole idea of a jury trial sort of doesnt make sense. Burma Shan Groups Demand Myanmar Military Punish Troops Over Civilian Killing U Sai Maung, who says he was forced to serve as guide and beaten by the Myanmar military. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy YANGONDozens of Shan civil society organizations (CSOs) have called for punitive action against Myanmar military personnel who allegedly killed a civilian and injured two others in Kyaukme Township in northern Shan State in late June. Thirty-six Shan CSOs, including the Shan Human Rights Foundation, Shan Farmers Network and Shan Youth Network, released a joint statement Monday demanding that the case against the soldiers be tried in a civilian court rather than a court martial. U Sai Lin, a spokesman for the CSOs, told The Irrawaddy, What they did was wrong in the Kyaukme case. Action must be taken against them and in this case, they should be tried publicly in civilian court, and not court martial. Government troops forced local resident U Sai Maung to serve as a guide for them to Pan Kin Village during fighting with the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) in Kyaukme Township on June 29, said the joint statement. He said the soldiers beat him. Arriving in Pan Kin, the troops then fired at villagers houses, killing a 60-year-old man and injuring a 55-year-old woman, the statement said. Light Infantry Battalions 23, 22 and 147 were responsible for shooting the civilians, according to the CSOs. Local residents also said they witnessed the Myanmar military shooting in Pan Kin. The military is doing as it pleases, but the current government has not spoken up for the people and has turned a blind eye to it, said U Sai Lin. But when ethnic people have protested about it, the military has filed lawsuits against them. It is not fair. The National League for Democracy (NLD) government, I think, only cares to flatter the military. He also asked the government to speak up for the civilians who are bearing the brunt of armed conflicts. The four parliamentarians representing Kyaukme Township in the Shan State and Union parliaments also filed complaints with the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission, the Presidents Office and the National Reconciliation and Peace Center, asking them to investigate the killing. When asked by The Irrawaddy, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission confirmed that it received the complaint, but declined to answer in detail. We want transparency. The truth must be revealed, and when the truth is revealed, punitive action must be taken as necessary, Shan State lawmaker U Sai Tun Win of Kyaukme Township told The Irrawaddy. The Myanmar military, also known as the Tatmadaw, contacted local authorities in Kyaukme on Sunday and said it will investigate the case. We heard the Tatmadaw would form an investigation commission. The township General Administration Department informed us on Sunday that they would arrive in Kyaukme today, U Sai Tun Win told The Irrawaddy on Monday. Last Friday, hundreds of local Kyaukme residents organized a protest in response to the civilian killing and injuries, holding placards in Shan, Burmese and English that read No to the Tatmadaw that kills innocent civilians. The same day, the Myanmar military-run Tatmadaw True News Information Team said that it would open cases against three organizers of the protest for organizing the protest without permission. Military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said that the military filed complaints against them not because of they were protesting, but because they gathered without seeking prior approval from authorities, in defiance of the governments COVID-19 ban on public gatherings. Regarding complaints, the Defense Ministry will handle them according to procedures. The Tatmadaw does not ignore any complaint. We only act in line with procedures under military rules. The evidence will be collected as necessary and justice will be administered, he said. The Irrawaddy was unable to contact the Kyaukme Township Police Force to ask what laws were used to charge the three protest organizers. The civilian killing and the violence in northern Shan comes despite the fact that the militarys unilateral ceasefire over COVID-19 is still in effect. On May 10, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral ceasefire which it said aimed to facilitate the prevention, control and treatment of COVID-19. The ceasefire is in effect until August 30. There have been sporadic clashes between the Myanmar military and the RCSS despite the fact that the two signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, the Union-level ceasefire between ethnic armed organizations and the government, in 2015. Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko. You may also like these stories: Locals Claim Myanmar Military Kills Civilian, Injures Two as Fighting Intensifies in Shan State Three Killed as Bus Plunges Off Mountain Road in Myanmars Shan State Christopher Mercado, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Strategist said he was delighted to welcome both Huff and Miller aboard. Were excited to add this dynamic team to our Network of advisors, he said. The Financial Services Network is excited to announce that Jeff Huff and Robin Miller, CFP from Jeff Huff & Associates have joined The Networks group of advisors. Jeff Huff & Associates is an independent financial planning firm based in Tacoma, Washington. Founder Jeff Huff has been a part of LPL Financial for three years but started in financial services three decades ago. With a degree in Economics and business, Huff said it was an easy evolutionbut hed first had his eyes trained on getting into a different industry: My dad was a pilot for a major airline, and I loved flying around the world for free, Huff said. At first I thought I could become an aircraft salesman to the airlines. He chuckled. I realized quickly that you needed an engineering degree to sell aircrafts, so I landed a job selling 403b plans to teachers. It was a much better fit. Thirty years later, many of those retired teachers are still his clients. You develop relationships with people, he says. As a testament to their trust, he notes that during the COVID crisis he didnt receive a single panicked phone call. My clients know if they need something, Im here for them. Robin Miller met Huff seven years ago when she was still in operations for a different office at LPL. Their circles kept overlapping, and finally, Miller joined Huffs team at the beginning of 2019. Though she started in an administrative support role, her contribution to the firm and impact to clients clearly chartered a course towards a future in wealth management. It just was announced that my new role and title of LPL Financial Planner was approved, she shared. When asked if there is a certain clientele base she gravitates towards, Miller said, Younger womenI like to educate and work with busy moms like me. Ultimately, though, she says she enjoys working with all their clients and is excited to help their practice continue to grow. Both Huff and Miller said they were excited to work with The Network because of the feeling of connection and community. We like the fact that we have an ear we can bendweve got someone looking out for us, Huff said. Miller added, It makes your circle smaller. Christopher Mercado, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Strategist said he was delighted to welcome both Huff and Miller aboard. Were excited to add this dynamic team to our Network of advisors, he said. With Robins new role within the firm, we are proud to help support the next generation of female CFP Practitioners in the industry. And coupled with Jeffs leadership and guidance, the possibilities for the continued success of the firm are inspiring. The Financial Services Network (The Network) http://www.fsnweb.com, is a national enterprise office (OSJ) and multi-custodial hybrid RIA with over $17B under advisement across the organization. Assets are custodied at their affiliated broker/dealer LPL Financial, and/or their custodial partners, including LPL Financial, Schwab, Fidelity, and TD Ameritrade. The consultants of The Financial Services Network are registered representatives with, and securities are offered through, LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC. Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA / SIPC. Jeff Huff & Associates, The Financial Services Network and LPL Financial are separate entities. *Based on prior business and represents assets that would have been custodied at LPL Financial, rather than third-party custodians. Reported assets and client numbers have not been independently and fully verified by LPL Financial. (Natural News) A fat molecule found in Mycobacterium vaccae, a soil-dwelling bacterium, is behind its potent anti-stress effects, according to a recent study. Published in Psychopharmacology, it revealed that a lipid called 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid in M. vaccae inhibits inflammation in the brain. The researchers behind the study also reported that cells became more resistant to inflammation upon exposure to the said lipid. The hygiene hypothesis In 1989, British scientist David Strachan first proposed the hygiene hypothesis. He speculated that the lack of exposure to microorganisms in childhood led to poor immune health and a higher risk of certain conditions, such as asthma and allergies. Researchers have since refined Strachans hygiene hypothesis. One accepted revision states that it is the lack of exposure to beneficial microbes in the soil, not to disease-causing microorganisms, that contributes to poor immune health. According to Christopher Lowry, an associate professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado Boulder, the move from agricultural landscapes to urban spaces resulted in humans missing out on the necessary exposure to beneficial microorganisms in nature that help regulate the immune system and suppress inflammation. As a consequence, humans became more at risk of inflammatory diseases and stress-related psychiatric disorders. Numerous studies have demonstrated the link between exposure to bacteria from soil and the environment and stronger immune function, as well as improved resistance to mental disorders. A review published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology reported that adults who moved to farming areas were exposed to a wider range of beneficial bacteria, which significantly reduced their risk of allergic diseases, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis. Another study led by Lowry reported that children raised in a rural environment surrounded by bacteria-laden animals and dust grew up with more stress-resilient immune systems than children raised in a pet-free, urban environment. Meanwhile, in an earlier study, Lowry and his team revealed that injecting mice with M. vaccae prevented stress-induced spontaneous colitis. They noted that immune-regulating soil bacterium exerted anxiety-reducing effects similar to antidepressants. The anti-stress and antidepressant-like effects of Mycobacterium vaccae Lowry and his teams earlier discovery led them to speculate that M. vaccae may harbor certain compounds that can reduce stress and inhibit inflammation in the brain. (Related: Prolonged intense stress can SHRINK your brain.) To test their hypothesis, Lowry and his colleagues used gene-sequencing technology to isolate a novel lipid later identified as 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid and examine its effects on immune cells. The team found that inside immune cells, the lipid binds to a particular receptor to inhibit pathways that drive inflammation. Rodent cells pre-treated with the lipid also exhibited a stronger resistance to inflammation when exposed to pro-inflammatory stimuli. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that 10(Z)-hexadecenoic acid from M. vaccae has the potential to be used as a safe and natural stress vaccine. According to Lowry, this stress vaccine may prove beneficial to first responders, soldiers and other professionals who work in highly stressful environments, as it could help protect them from the harmful effects of stress. Lowry also believes that since M. vaccae is just one of the millions of bacterial strains found in soil, there might be several other beneficial strains to discover. Mental.news has more stories about stress-related disorders and natural ways to deal with them. Sources include: ScienceDaily.com 1 ScienceDaily.com PNAS.org 1 PNAS.org 2 Link.Springer.com Face coverings will be compulsory in all shops in England from July 24 as part of attempts to stop the spread of coronavirus, Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce Tuesday. The move, which will be enforced by fines, comes after pressure from labor unions, business lobbyists and opposition politicians, who accused Prime Minister Boris Johnsons government of lacking clarity in its guidance for defeating the pandemic. There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus, Johnsons office said in a statement. The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24. @10DowningStreet Cover your nose and mouth when using a face covering to ensure its effective at controlling the spread of coronavirus. gov.uk/government/pub Sent via Twitter Media Studio. View original tweet. Johnson said Friday he wanted to be stricter about face coverings, but Michael Gove, one of the prime ministers most senior ministers, said Sunday he favored trusting peoples common sense instead of using the law. By Monday, Justice Secretary Robert Buckland told the BBC he would perhaps support legal enforcement. This is just really an evolution as we move to the next steps, Environment Secretary George Eustice said on TalkRadio on Tuesday. Weve put in mandatory requirements as we loosen other parts of the lockdown. Indecision USDAW, the retail union, demanded clarity from ministers and protection for shopworkers after a weekend of mixed messaging and indecision. Jonathan Ashworth, health spokesman for the opposition Labour Party, said the confusion was hampering attempts to defeat coronavirus, which has so far claimed 44,830 lives in the UK. Conflicting advice and conflicting statements from the Government only hinder our fight against the virus, Ashworth wrote in a letter to Hancock Monday. Publishing clear and consistent advice on face coverings is vital in maintaining public confidence and keeping people safe. The World Health Organization recommends face coverings in confined and crowded spaces where social distancing is difficult, including shops, public transport and some workplaces. Face coverings have been compulsory on public transport in England since June 15, but shoppers were given the choice. They were only advised to cover their faces in enclosed spaces where they might come into contact with those they wouldnt usually meet and many chose not to. Extra Insurance As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again, Johnson said in a pooled TV interview Monday. I do think that face coverings do have a real value in confined spaces, and I do think the public understand that. Regulations will be introduced to enforce the new rules after July 24 with fines of 100 pounds ($125) for non compliance, Johnsons office said. It will be enforced by the police and is in line with the penalty for going bare faced on public transport. Scotland has already made face coverings in shops compulsory, as have Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Washington (AFP) - NASA's most advanced Mars rover, Perseverance, launches from Earth on July 30, on a mission to seek out signs of ancient microbial life on what was once a river delta three-and-a-half billion years ago. The interplanetary voyage will last six months. Should the SUV-sized vehicle touch down unscathed, it will start collecting and storing rock and soil samples, to be retrieved by a future mission and brought back to Earth in 2031. Perseverance follows in the tire tracks of four rovers before it, all American, which first launched in the late 1990s. Together with satellite and surface probes, they have transformed our understanding of Mars, showing that the Red Planet wasn't always a cold and barren place. Instead, it had the ingredients for life as we know it: water, organic compounds and a favorable climate. Scientists will examine the samples obtained by Perseverance to look for fossilized bacteria and other microbes to try to confirm if aliens did once live on our neighboring planet. NASA has been teleworking for months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the launch calendar for this $2.7 billion mission hasn't been affected. "This mission was one of two missions that we protected to make sure that we were going to be able to launch in July," said NASA chief Jim Bridestine. Earth and Mars are on the same side of the Sun every 26 months, a window that can't be missed. The United States is the only country on the planet to have successfully landed robots on Mars: four landers, which aren't mobile, and the rovers Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity. Of the rovers, only Curiosity is still active, with the others left on the surface after their machinery failed or contact was lost. It's only in the past two decades that it's been confirmed Mars once had oceans, rivers and lakes. Curiosity confirmed the presence of complex organic molecules -- but its instruments aren't capable of concluding that they were created by biological processes. Story continues The first two landers, Viking 1 and 2, both looked for signs of life as far back as 1976, but haphazardly. "At the time the experiment for life detection was considered to be a complete failure," said G. Scott Hubbard, who launched the current Mars exploration program in the 2000s. NASA then decided to proceed in stages. By studying the soil, analyzing the molecular composition of rocks, and carrying out satellite observations, geologists and astrobiologists gradually understood where water had flowed, and what areas could have been conducive to life. "Understanding where Mars would have been habitable in the past, and what kind of fingerprints of life you're looking for, was a necessary precursor to then going, at significant expense, to this very well selected spot that would produce these samples," said Hubbard. - Fossil remains - On February 18 2021, Perseverance should land in the Jezero Crater, home to an ancient river that fanned out into a lake between three and four billion years ago, depositing mud, sand and sediment. "Jezero is host to one of the best preserved deltas on the surface of Mars," said Katie Stack Morgan, a member of the science team. On our planet, scientists have found the fossilized remains of bacteria billions of years old in similar ancient deltas. The six-wheeled rover is three meters long, weighs a ton, has 19 cameras, two microphones and a two-meter-long robotic arm. Its most important instruments are two lasers and an X-ray which, when projected on rocks, can analyze their chemical composition and identify possible organic compounds. Also on board is the experimental mini-helicopter Ingenuity, which weighs 1.8 kilograms. NASA hopes it will be the first chopper to take flight on another planet. Perseverance probably won't be able to determine whether a rock has ancient microbes. To know for sure, the samples will have to be brought back to Earth where they can be cut into ultra-thin slices. "Getting true scientific consensus... that life once existed on Mars, I think that would still require a sample return," Ken Williford, deputy head of the science project told AFP. One thing we shouldn't expect are the fossilized shells that people find on Earth, he added. If life once did exist on Mars, it probably didn't have time to evolve into more complex organisms before the planet dried up completely. The Nigerian House of Representatives has endorsed a former minister of finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to clinch the post of Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The lawmakers took the decision while adopting a motion to back the ex-managing director of the World Bank during Tuesday plenary. The motion was sponsored by Minority Leader of the House, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP-Delta), and was titled In Support for Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The Economic Community of West African Countries (ECOWAS) had also endorsed the candidacy Mrs Iweala for the position. The endorsement by the 15-member-state regional group is a boost to Mrs Okonjo-Iweala candidature in the race following a decision by the African Union (AU) to reject her nomination. In presenting his motion, Mr Elumelu stated that if the former minister emerges as Director General of the WTO for the period of 2021-2025, she will be the first female and first African to have occupied the office. He acknowledged that President Muhammadu Buhari having put into consideration her outstanding academic and professional background, as well as, her long years of managerial experience at the top echelons of multilateral institutions, her reputation as a fearless reformer and excellent negotiator graciously endorsed her as the nations candidate for the WTO job. With the COVID-19 pandemic at hand and many countries faced with difficult choices and critical moments, the WTO has a vital role to play in hunting for trade solutions and building trust amongst member states, hence the need for a capable hand that can make the WTO fit to thrive for the 21st century. There is no gainsaying that Dr Ngozi Okonjo-lweolo has the requisite capacity and experience to handle the challenges of WTO at this critical moment. This is the perfect time for Africa to assume leadership at the WTO and all concerned stakeholders, must unanimously commit to achieving this. He expressed concern that two other candidates from Egypt and Kenya will split the African votes. He said the emergence of these candidates will cripple the prospect of an African assuming the WTO position. He called on the House, to urgently reach out to the governments of Egypt and Kenya on the need to rally round a single candidate for the continent. In the past, Nigeria has staunchly supported the candidatures of other Africans to leadership position at multilaterals, including the candidacy of late Boutros Boutros Ghali, an Egyptian national to become the Secretary-General of the United Nations. A good turn deserves another and we must now unite the African continent and ensure cooperation amongst our countries to put the continent first. Having a Nigerian as the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, will further enhance the image of the country amongst the comity of nations, hence the need to massively support this bid. The house also urged President Buhari to further rally other African leaders to support her bid. The house also urged the Pan African parliament to follow suit in the spirit of African oneness and reciprocity. Mrs Okonjo-Iweala is an economist and international development professional with over 30 years experience, having worked in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America. She is currently the Chair of the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; a member of the Boards of Standard Chartered PLC and Twitter Inc. She was recently appointed as African Union (AU) Special Envoy to mobilise International Financial Support in the fight against COVID-19, as well as Special Envoy for the World Health Organisations Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator. Twice Nigerias finance minister, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala also served briefly as Nigerias foreign minister in 2006, the first Nigerian woman to hold both positions. Maseru (Lesotho) (AFP) - Lesotho's former first lady, who has been charged over the murder of her husband's estranged wife, was granted bail on Monday after spending three weeks in prison. Maesaiah Thabane, 43, was charged in February after police quizzed her over the 2017 slaying of former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane's wife two days before his inauguration. She was controversially freed on bail of 1,000 maloti ($57 / 50 euros), but that decision was revoked and she returned to jail on June 3. On Monday High Court judge Thamsanqa approved bail. She "is trapped in jail, she asked me to release her on bail, and nothing has really been said against the petitioners' words," Nomngcongo said. "Therefore I grant (the) petitioner bail on conditions as prayed," he said, ordering her to pay a bond of 10,000 maloti. Maesaiah Thabane has been charged with orchestrating the shooting of Lipolelo Thabane, who was brutally gunned down outside her home in Maseru. Police have also charged her for the attempted murder of Lipolelo Thabane's friend Thato Sibolla, who was wounded during the attack. Lipolelo and Thomas Thabane, now 81, had been embroiled in bitter divorce proceedings when the 58-year-old was killed. The murder created a political crisis in the mountain kingdom. Police have questioned Thabane over the murder and accused him paying assassins a down payment of $24,000 to kill his wife. Thabane, who has not been charged, came under increasing pressure to step down over the murder, and eventually quit last month. Both the former premier and his current wife -- whom he married two months after Lipolelo was killed -- have denied any involvement in the murder. Maesaiah will go home on Tuesday as she could not post her bail money on Monday. The office of the clerk of court had already closed by the time judgement was handed down. The judge cautioned her against interfering with witnesses and instructed her to report to her local police station fortnightly. Ryanair today announced that it would cut Ireland-UK schedules for the months of August and September by up to 1,000 flights, with the loss of over 200,000 passengers, as Ireland maintains a quarantine restriction on EU visitors even as the UK and Northern Ireland last week opened up air bridges to most EU countries. Europes largest airline says Ireland (which accounts for less than 8% of Ryanairs traffic), its tourism industry and connectivity for Irish workers commuting particularly to/from the UK is now suffering unrecoverable losses, as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains wide open with no such quarantines. Speaking this week, a Spokesperson for Ryanair said, "This unique policy by Ireland, insisting on blanket quarantines with our European neighbours (most of whom have lower Covid case rates than Ireland) is damaging the recovery of Irelands economy and our tourism industry, causing long-term damage to jobs in Irelands largest employment sector, with business travellers in particular being told that Ireland is closed for business." They added, "We call on the Irish Govt to remove all travel restrictions between Ireland and the EU (almost all of whom have lower Covid case rates than Ireland) as a matter of urgency, so that Irelands hotels, guest houses, restaurants and other tourism providers can recover their business and minimise job losses before we reach the downturn winter period. If Micheal Martin does not quarantine for 14 days after visiting Brussels this week, then why should any other Irish or EU citizen be treated differently." Source: www.businessworld.ie Stocks in Asia Pacific fell on Tuesday, as China's trade data for June came in above expectations. Mainland Chinese stocks declined on the day, with the Shanghai composite down 0.83% to around 3,414.62 while the Shenzhen component dropped 1.079% to about 13,996.46. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1.24%, as of its final hour of trading. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.87% to close at 22,587.01 while the Topix index declined 0.5% to finish its trading day at 1,565.15. South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.11% to close at 2,183.61. Shares in Australia also saw losses on the day, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.61% to 5,941.10. Over in Southeast Asia, the Straits Times Index in Singapore dipped 0.29% in afternoon trade. Singapore's economy entered a technical recession after shrinking 41.2% in the second quarter as compared to the previous quarter, according to advance estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry released Tuesday. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of quarter-on-quarter contraction. "Even with a widely expected bottoming in Q2, the worry is about a long hard slog back, with the path to recovery littered with uncertainty," Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank, wrote in a note. Still, he said: ""A knee-jerk ramp-up on policy stimulus is not our base case, despite how grim the data appear." Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index slipped 0.93%. China's dollar-denominated trade data for June released on Tuesday came in above expectations. Exports rose 0.5% year-on-year while imports increased 2.7% as compared to a year earlier, according to customs data. A Reuters poll had estimated that June exports contracted 1.5% from a year earlier, while imports were expected to fall 10.0% from last year. On the coronavirus front, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday warned that "too many countries are headed in the wrong direction." "In several countries across the world, we are now seeing dangerous increases in Covid-19 cases, and hospital wards filling up again," Tedros said. "It would appear that many countries are losing gains made as proven measures to reduce risk are not implemented or followed." The founder of the World Economic Forum has warned that a failure to tackle the deep-rooted ills of our society in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic could exacerbate the risk of "violent shocks," such as conflicts and revolutions. Professor Klaus Schwab and French author Thierry Malleret's book, "Covid-19: The Great Reset," looks ahead to what the post-coronavirus world could look like barely four months after the outbreak was first declared a pandemic. They argue that the global health crisis has "magnified the fault lines that already beset our economies and societies," noting a multitude of surveys have shown many "collectively desire change." The outrage following the police killing of George Floyd and the broader Black Lives Matter movement reflect the "urgent necessity" to embark on the so-called "Great Reset," the authors said. "George Floyd's death was the spark that lit the fire of social unrest, but the underlying conditions created by the pandemic, in particular the racial inequalities that it laid bare and the rising levels of unemployment, were the fuel that amplified the protests and kept them going," Schwab and Malleret added. To date, nearly 13 million people have tested positive for Covid-19 around the world, and there have been 569,128 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The International Monetary Fund has previously warned that the world is heading towards the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, while the International Labour Organization has said nearly half of the global workforce could see their livelihoods destroyed due to the coronavirus outbreak. GHOne TV acting general manager, Nana Aba Anamoah, recently revealed that she had banned George Lutterodt from her station. Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Ghana! Counsellor Lutterodt recently received backlash after making what many people thought was an unsavoury remark about victims of defilement. During a discussion on AdomTV, George Lutterodt claimed that "every rape victim enjoys the act. The comment attracted outrage from Ama K. Abebrese, Juliet Ibrahim, and rapper EL among others who condemned him as a 'rape apologist.' Photo source: Instagram/Various Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Obaapa Christy flaunts her rasta-haired son in beautiful photos on his birthday In a tweet, Nana Aba also condemned Counsellor Lutterodt, revealing that she had banned him from coming on her station. She further called out TV and radio stations who still use the controversial man for their shows just to get ratings. Her tweet said: Theres a reason I have banned any producer from featuring him on any show on @GHOneTV. This crass and baloney will not happen under my watch. It has gone on for so long. Shame on radio and TV stations who continue to feature him for ratings. Senseless ratings." Following Nana Aba's post, a section of Ghanaians have been reacting to her ban on Counsellor Lutterodt and what the man said. While there was unanimous condemnation of Lutterodt's comments from Ghanaian celebrities, the reactions from some ordinary Ghanaians are mixed. READ ALSO: Beautiful videos drop as McBrown and her daughter twin in Jordan sneakers for a party Meanwhile, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection of Ghana has weighed in with respect to comments made by Lutterodt. In their statement, the Ministry condemned his statement and indicated that there is no justification for such a statement. It added that it has called on the Ghana Media Commission to ban him from television shows and the Ghana Psychological Council to take the necessary steps with respect to the situation. The statement also called on all well-meaning Ghanaians to condemn the act and called on him to retract the comment and render an apology. 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 The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry has reported fierce fighting in the direction of Tovuz region of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on the night leading to July 14 and in the morning, the ministry reported in its official website today. The ministry said that Armenia's military and combat equipment for various purposes, command post, reserves in the depths of defense, and its forces were destroyed as a result of punitive measures undertaken to suppress Armenia's activity. WASHINGTON, July 13 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will begin debate next week on a fifth coronavirus-response bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Monday, as he forecast tough negotiations with Democrats who are seeking broader aid than Republicans. "Next week, we'll be beginning a new bill," McConnell said during an interview with WRVK radio in his home state of Kentucky. McConnell added the legislation, which has not yet been unveiled, will likely be more contentious than the previous four coronavirus aid bills. Those pumped more than $3 trillion into the hobbled economy with a combination of business loans, expanded unemployment benefits for workers and direct payments to families. "I do think we'll get there and do something that needs to be done" before Congress begins an August recess, the Republican senator predicted. But there are also divisions among Republicans - in the White House and in Congress - over the precise direction of the upcoming bill, including whether there should be another round of direct payments to individuals and families. McConnell has talked about a bill costing no more than $1 trillion, while Democrats in the House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion measure in mid-May that McConnell has so far ignored. McConnell wants to focus on liability protections for business, schools and other entities as they reopen their operations even as coronavirus cases surge in many parts of the United States, including Kentucky. California on Monday imposed new restrictions on businesses as coronavirus hospitalizations soared in the country's most-populous state. Coronavirus infections have risen rapidly in about 40 of the 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Democrats are pushing for new federal aid to state and local governments affected by the coronavirus, which Republicans have resisted. Lawmakers also have been arguing over extending special unemployment benefits that are due to expire at the end of July, as well as a massive small business-loan program that runs through early August. Boris Johnson's father is set to make 17,000 from his Greek villa this summer as it is fully booked until the end of September. Holidaymakers have snapped up Stanley's Villa Irene in Pelion for the next two and a half months as Britons look to get away after months in lockdown. The 79-year-old's pad by the Aegean Sea is occupied from July 18 until September 19 but should be available for the week of September 19. Mr Johnson's property agent Real Holidays said the house is 'definitely available' for the week beginning September 26. Holidaymakers have snapped up Stanley's Villa Irene in Pelion for the next two and a half months as Britons get away after months in lockdown The former I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here star's villa by the Aegean sea (pictured) is booked from July 18 until September 19 A holidaymaker should have the option to book the resort (pictured) for the week of September 19, according to Mr Johnson's property agent Real Holidays A Real Holidays worker said the Villa Irene is 'definitely available' for the week of September 26 The I'm A Celebrity star caused a furore when he dodged restrictions on UK tourists flying into Greece by entering the country via Bulgaria at the start of the month. The Government advises against all but essential travel but Mr Johnson claimed he needed to 'Covid proof' his villa before the pandemic-blighted tourist season starts. The retired Tory MEP told local and international press: 'There is no question of my breaking the law. The minister of tourism here has my papers.' 'It was always absolutely clear from the Greek government that the only thing they were banning were people coming in from direct flights from Britain.' Mr Johnson landed at Athens International Airport after flying via Bulgaria due to a current ban on direct flights from the UK, before visiting his villa in central Greece. Local claimed 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 he posted on social media accounts, tracking his journey. Stanley Johnson laughed off claims he broke lockdown rules by offering to wear his swimming shorts on his head as he emerged from his holiday retreat '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.' He 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.' He refused to divulge details of conversations he had about his trip with his son, Boris Johnson. He's absolutely right' Mr Johnson said, taking a long and awkward pause. 'I'm not going to talk about private conversations between family members. I'm not going to talk about that. Not going to say if my actions are correct or not.' The Prime Minister's father was seen checking his phone at a tavern in Horto village the next day A view of Villa Irene which belongs to Stanley Johnson in Horto village, Mount Pelion, central Greece Greek authorities say his surprise visit was being handled by 'the top echelons of the government in Athens.' Michalis Mitzikos, the mayor of southern Pilio, said: 'As far as we are concerned there is no violation to report and there is no way that the particular individual would have set foot here without having received clearance from the related health authorities and the top ranks of government.' The PM refused to condemn his father's trip, saying: 'I am not going to get into details of family conversations.' The Greek government lifted a ban on UK tourists flying directly to the country from Wednesday. Britons can jet to its Mediterranean shores without quarantine when they arrive back home thanks to the 'air bridge'. The Real Holidays worker said: 'The price for the villa at that time of year is 1,750 per week. I have been at the end of September and the sea is definitely still lovely and warm so great for swimming.' Mr Johnson reportedly rents the property for 2,100 per week during the peak summer season. If he charges top wack in July and August and then the reduced rate in September, the Prime Minister's father is set to bank some 17,500 over the next three months. Pitching the villa, the Real Holidays worker said: 'One thing to note about Villa Irene is that the main master bedroom is upstairs with lovely views to the sea, and the other three bedrooms are downstairs and are a bit simpler. 'There is also only an external staircase to the downstairs bedrooms. The main living room and kitchen are upstairs and there is a lovely balcony which makes most of the view and is a great spot for breakfast. 'There is also a table downstairs which has an awning so is a good place to have a shaded lunch.' Stanley Johnson has been approached for comment. The lament that good help is hard to find is a common refrain. But that expression could not be applied to one George Spaulding of the Syracuse YMCA hotel on Montgomery Street in July 1920. His tireless work in rescuing two guests from a potentially embarrassing situation would earn him their thankful gratitude and also the pleas of another who had misplaced their clothes. *** On the evening of Wednesday, July 7, 1920, H.B. Tulpin and his brother, from nowhere in particular, arrived at the hotel at the Syracuse YMCA and asked for a room. They were given room 302 and headed upstairs for the night. Between the hour of their registration and Thursday afternoon they passed one year in Syracuse, the Herald reported. It was the year of the great trouserlessness. For it seemed that before going to bed, one of the brothers called over to the hotels night elevator man to their room and asked the employee to have their pants sent out to be pressed for the next day. The elevator man agreed and took the pants. The brothers went to sleep expecting to hear that their trousers would be delivered to their room the next morning. But they were in for a surprise. The Herald reprinted what it believed to be the brothers conversation they had the next morning: Hello, Bro? exclaimed H.B. Tulpin. Hello yourself, replied Bro. Looks kind of dark smorning. We must be in Pittsburgh. No, Syracuse. Say its about time that boy showed up with our pants. Telephone to the office, why dont you? Humph, there isnt a phone? Well, whatll we do? Why, well have to wait. The nervous Tulpin brothers ask an elevator man if he knows anything about their missing trousers. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm So that is what they did. They waited and waited, hour after hour. No news about their pants. Meanwhile, the smells of breakfast being cooked in the hotels restaurant downstairs mixed with smells of coffee, eggs and muffins from the Onondaga Hotel, the Yates, the Mizpah, the Kirk, the Krebs and from Barnums, began to drive them mad from hunger. The situation was getting dire, according to the Herald: Bulletins from their bedside at 10 a.m. reported Bros tongue hanging and H.B. in a high fever. Being young Christians, they could not breakfast in their union suitsand they had no kimonos. Folks, it was war. (Union suits were the long underwear often seen in slapstick vaudeville shows of the time. They had long sleeves and had the buttoned derriere flap. The brothers, wrapped in blankets, asked the day elevator man if he knew anything about their missing trousers, but he did not. Finally, George Spaulding, the hotels secretary, arrived for work and heard about the guests plight. He called every laundry in the 14th Ward asking if the shops had two pair of unclaimed pants which were pressed last night. With a halo over his head, YMCA secretary George Spaulding searches for the missing trousers in a humorous story from the July 9, 1920 Syracuse Herald. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm By sunset, he had located them. When the brothers came down the elevator in their neatly pressed pants, they bowed at Spaulding in thanks. The story appeared in the July 9 edition of the Herald and, the next day, was brought to the attention of Henri Gencel, a sailor from France who had made his way to Syracuse from New Orleans a month before. He, too, had lost his laundry. Gencel had sent it out a week before but it had not come back, and, being new to the city, he did not know where his clothes had been sent. He told his coworkers at the Brown-Lipe-Chapins gear plant and they pointed at the drawing of George Spaulding in the newspaper and told him, Let George do it. Gencel went to the YMCA and waited for Spaulding. When the secretary arrived for his 12-hour shift, a desperate Gencel pleaded for help. Je veux demander que vous trouverez ma blanchisserie, he asked, in his native French. (I want to ask that you will find my laundry is the English translation.) Whats that? Spaulding asked. Gencel, according to the Herald, encored and encored 21 different times to get his point across. Still, Spaulding could not compree, pas de tout, pas de tout. The always understanding Spaulding called up an interpreter and was finally filled in on what Gencel was looking for. Spaulding said he would see what he could do and reached out to the newspapers who pleaded with laundryman, all and sundry, he asks, and send Henri Gencel his laundry. Spauldings run of finding folks their missing laundry may have ended abruptly. There was no indication that Gencels laundry was ever found. READ MORE 1918 Flu Pandemic: How Syracuse editorial cartoons gave readers a unique perspective July 1936: CNY roasts in a week-long heatwave that saw 3 straight days over 100 1942: NY cancels state fair for first time to use fairgrounds as military base during World War II 1910: The time an SU student tried to light a cigar with his diploma and brawled with a dean and professor Looking for a true-crime podcast to check out? An invention from Upstate NY soon became the preferred method of execution across the United States -- the electric chair. In The Condemned, we trace the history of the chair through the stories of five men who were sentenced to death for their crimes. Explore our series here. This feature is a part of CNY Nostalgia, a section on syracuse.com. Send your ideas and curiosities to Johnathan Croyle at jcroyle@syracuse.com or call 315-427-3958. Thanks for visiting syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. A homeless woman who was fined $400 on a charge of trespassing at Redcliffe Hospital and obstructing a police officer outside has won an appeal. The woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital on June 5 last year while she was believed to be suffering mental health issues. She refused medical treatment and was discharged. Police officers arrested the woman after making inquiries in the hospital. Credit:Queensland Police Service The then 33-year-old was found in the hospital the following morning and was asked to leave. However, she was seen in a hospital bed two hours later. Me Christopher NDONG NVEH et sa famille ont recu la visite d'hommes armes qui font peser des menaces de mort sur eux. Cameroun24 publie la reaction du leader du MRC. ADS J'ai ete informe de l'intrusion musclee des elements armes non identifies dont certains arboraient la tenue de l'Armee, dans le domicile du Secretaire general du MRC, Me Christopher NDONG NVEH, a Buea le 9 juillet 2020, et des menaces graves dont lui et sa famille sont l'objet. Je condamne fermement ces derives intolerables et demande aux autorites militaires competentes l'ouverture d'une enquete pour dire qui sont ces assaillants armes. Je rappelle que la position constante du MRC dans la guerre civile en cours dans les Regions du Nord-Ouest et le Sud -Ouest est la recherche de la fin des hostilites et de la negociation d'une solution durable a la crise qui ravage ces deux Regions. En consequence, le Secretaire general du MRC et sa famille ne sauraient etre la cible de l'une ou de l'autre partie en conflit. Cette situation preoccupante, qui vient s'ajouter aux nombreuses denonciations des violations des droits des populations civiles dans les deux Regions anglophones en guerre civile et dans la Region de l'Extreme-Nord, ou l'armee est aux prises avec la secte Boko Haram, doit rapidement etre tiree au clair. Car, elle aggrave l'anxiete des populations et n'est pas de nature a encourager les etrangers a sejourner dans notre pays. I have been informed that unidentifed armed men dressed in military attire, intruded into the residence of the Secretary General of CRM's house, Barrister Christopher Ndong Nveh in Buea on the 9th of July 2020 at 9pm, threatening his family present that evening. I fervently condemn such intolerable act and call on the competente military authorities to open an investigation to bring to book the armed assailants. I wish to reiterate the CRM position as concerns the civil war going on in the northwest and southwest, for government to seek a solution to this crisis ravaging the two anglophone regions. Consequently, the Secretary General of CRM and his family cannot be considered as a party, to be targeted in one way or the other in the said conflict. The situation is very preoccupying, it adds to the already numerous denunciations on the violations of Human Rights, of the civilian population, carried out in the two anglophone regions by this civil war and also in the Far North region, where the Cameroon military is in confrontation with the Boko Haram sects. All these have to be rapidly brought to an end. These situations aggravates the bitterness of the population, for it is not good to encourage foreign incursion in the country. Maurice Kamto WILMINGTON, Del., July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chemours Company (Chemours) (NYSE: CC), a global chemistry company with leading market positions in fluoroproducts, titanium technologies, and chemical solutions, today awarded scholarships to five Delaware students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). In partnership with the City of Wilmington and HBCU Week, these scholarships are part of a 13-year commitmentthrough 2030to support increased numbers of Black students from the Wilmington area who are pursuing STEM fields of study. This year Chemours took that commitment even further by expanding the scholarship program to all its US sites. Consistent with the company's broader Corporate Responsibility Commitments which includes goals on increased diversity, the Future of Chemistry Scholarship program exists to increase access and opportunities for students from underrepresented populations to pursue STEM and technical careers. Over the next decade, Chemours has committed to awarding more than $2 million in scholarships to students attending HBCUs. "Now more than ever, it's critical that we not only financially support, but truly uplift and encourage talented students from historically underrepresented populations to flourish in STEM careers. These scholarships reflect that commitment and our bedrock belief that diversity is not only the right thing to pursue, it ensures access top talent, creates a competitive advantage and is integral to driving innovation in our company, industry and the world," said Mark Vergnano, president and chief executive officer of Chemours. "We're proud to invest in these passionate and driven students who are a critical part of STEM in the future. We invite all of them to intern with us during the summers, with the goal of hiring them once they're ready to begin their careers." For 2020, three students have been awarded scholarships valued at $40,000 with funds distributed in equal increments over four years: Chloe Barrow , who plans to attend North Carolina A&T State University to study mechanical engineering , who plans to attend to study mechanical engineering Braxton Hill , who plans to attend North Carolina A&T State University to study civil engineering , who plans to attend to study civil engineering Langston Hill , who plans to attend North Carolina A&T State University to study bioengineering Two students have been awarded one-time scholarships of $2,500: Elijah Atley , who plans to attend Delaware State University and study environmental science , who plans to attend and study environmental science Ashanti Bradley , who plans to attend Delaware State University and study forensic biology This year's recipients join over 10 previous awardees of the program pursuing STEM at HBCUs across the country, including five other $40,000 scholarship recipients. Learn more about our 2020 recipients here. About The Chemours Company The Chemours Company (NYSE: CC) is a global leader in titanium technologies, fluoroproducts, and chemical solutions, providing its customers with solutions in a wide range of industries with market-defining products, application expertise and chemistry-based innovations. Chemours ingredients are found in plastics and coatings, refrigeration and air conditioning, mining, and general industrial manufacturing. Our flagship products include prominent brands such as Teflon, Ti-Pure, Krytox, Viton, Opteon, Freon and Nafion. Chemours published its first corporate responsibility commitment report in 2018, which highlights goals aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The company has approximately 7,000 employees and 28 manufacturing sites serving approximately 3,700 customers in over 120 countries. Chemours is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol CC. For more information, we invite you to visit chemours.com or follow us on Twitter @Chemours or LinkedIn. CONTACT: INVESTORS Jonathan Lock VP, Corporate Development and Investor Relations +1.302.773.2263 [email protected] NEWS MEDIA Alvenia Scarborough Sr. Director of Corporate Communications and Brand Marketing +1.302.773.4507 [email protected] SOURCE The Chemours Company Related Links www.chemours.com CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - AutoNation Inc. (AN) said Tuesday that its chief executive officer Cheryl Miller has decided not to return from her leave of absence, and has resigned as of July 14, 2020. She has also resigned from the Board of Directors. The company said in April that Cheryl Miller took a leave of absence for health reasons. But, the automotive retailer did not provide more details. The company then said it appointed Mike Jackson, Executive Chairman, to serve in the additional positions of Chief Executive Officer and President until Miller returns. Meanwhile, the company today noted that it has entered into a contract with Mike Jackson as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, through April 12, 2022. The company plans to name a successor in early 2022. Jackson will retire from AutoNation upon the appointment of the new Chief Executive Officer. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Washington The Trump administration escalated its actions against China on Monday by stepping squarely into one of the most sensitive regional issues dividing them and rejecting outright nearly all of Beijing's significant maritime claims in the South China Sea. The administration presented the decision as an attempt to curb China's increasing assertiveness in the region with a commitment to recognizing international law. But it will almost certainly have the more immediate effect of further infuriating the Chinese, who are already retaliating against numerous U.S. sanctions and other penalties on other matters. It also comes as President Donald Trump has come under growing fire for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, stepped up criticism of China ahead of the 2020 election and sought to paint his expected Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, as weak on China. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's executive order granting clemency for his longtime ally Roger Stone wiped away not only Stone's prison sentence, but also the two years he was supposed to spend on probation and the $20,000 fine he was ordered to pay. The Justice Department on Monday released the president's executive order after U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson sought more information about the scope of the clemency. Jackson sentenced Stone to a little over three years in prison and two years of supervised release. Jackson said her inquiry was in response questions from the U.S. Probation Office. Stone gets clemency: Trump grants clemency to ally Roger Stone after railing against 'unfair' conviction, sentencing Trump commuted Stone's sentence late Friday, just days before Stone, a longtime GOP consultant, was set to report to prison. Democrats condemned the move, the latest in a series of instances in which Trump has wielded his broad clemency powers in highly political criminal cases. Roger Stone, former political adviser to President Donald Trump, arrives for his sentencing hearing at the Federal District Court in Washington on Feb. 20, 2020. The president has granted pardons and commutations to several conservative allies and controversial figures, including Joe Arpaio, a former sheriff in Arizona, and commentator Dinesh D'Souza. His decision to commute Stone's sentence represents the first time Trump has circumvented the justice system in a case directly tied to himself. Stone was convicted in November of lying to Congress and obstructing its investigation on Russian election interference in order to protect Trump. The 67-year-old was one of several Trump associates to be convicted in cases stemming from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. Contributing: John Fritze and Kevin Johnson This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Roger Stone: Trump clemency on ally wipes away probation, fine Seven Azerbaijani servicemen, including an army general, and four Armenian soldiers were reported killed on July 14 in the third day of border clashes involving heavy artillery amid international calls for an immediate de-escalation. The two neighbors in the South Caucasus region that fought a war in 1988-1994 over the Nagorno-Karabakh region have blamed each other for starting the latest flare-up along their volatile border. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said on July 14 that Major General Polad Hasimov and Colonel Ilqar Mirzayev were among those killed on the Azerbaijani side in the fresh fighting. Armenia's Defense Ministry also said four of its servicemen, including a major and a captain, had been killed in the July 14 skirmishes. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalian said the city of Berd had been shelled near the border but Armenian forces had "destroyed the Azeri bases" that fired on it. Overall, at least 16 people have been reported killed from both sides since Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border on July 12. In the evening of July 14, hundreds of people gathered in Baku for a march in support of the Azerbaijani military and President Ilham Aliyev. However, some of the participants called for the resignation of Najmaddin Sadikhov, the chief of general staff of the armed forces. At one point late in the protest, a group entered the parliament building but were quickly removed by police, who then used water cannons, tear gas, and batons to disperse those gathered in front. Separately, hundreds of residents of Bakus Khatai district went to the streets to meet dead body of Colonel Mirzayev. Armenia and Azerbaijan have exchanged mutual accusations over which side is responsible for the flare-up. "Armenia's political and military leadership will bear the entire responsibility for the provocation," Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev said on July 13. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian accused Azerbaijan of "provocations" that would "not go unanswered." The two neighbors have been locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh for years. But the latest clashes have been far from Nagorno-Karabakh and directly between the two nations, which occurs rarely. The European Union, United States, and Russia urged restraint in a series of statements on July 13. Calls For Calm Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held phone conversations with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts, urging de-escalation between the two countries with which it has close relations. Russias Foreign Ministry expressed "serious concerns" over the clashes, which it said "endanger the region's stability," urging the countries to "show restraint." The U.S. State Department urged both sides to adhere to a cease-fire and resume negotiations in a bid to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. In a statement, the EU urged both sides to stop the armed confrontation, refrain from action and rhetoric that provoke tension, and undertake immediate measures to prevent further escalation. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned" and "urges an immediate end to the fighting and calls on all involved to take immediate steps to deescalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric," according to his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric. The clashes came days after Azerbaijani President 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. Mainly ethnic 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 RFE/RL's Azerbaijani and Armenian Services, AFP, AP, Reuters, TASS, and dpa SOUTHLAKE, Texas, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- With news of the coronavirus' airborne droplets being able to be neutralized via advanced filtration, Berkeys Plumbing, A/C and Electrical is responding by affording Dallas-Fort Worth homeowners state-of-the-art HVAC and Next-Gen products to help combat the pandemic. As the virus re-surges throughout Texas and parts of America, infectious disease experts are learning that COVID-19 can be contracted by inhaling tiny, invisible particles that hang in stagnant air for hours. A recent investigation by ABC's Good Morning America revealed that a combination of HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters and UV light are homeowners' best defense against the virus droplets. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said recently that large malls should be required to install HEPA systems before re-opening. Delta Airlines is also equipping its fleet of aircraft with HEPA filters, while American Airlines said its planes have been using the systems since the 1990s. The licensed HVAC professionals at Berkeys can inspect current systems and suggest a solution from their extensive line of HEPA and UV products. "Obviously cleaning surfaces is still important but cleaning the air that recirculates through homes and buildings is now a huge focus," industrial hygiene specialist Nancy McClellan told GMA. HEPA systems when properly installed by Berkeys technicians can remove 99.7% of particles as small as .3 microns. Says Dr. Rajat Mittal, a professor studying the dynamics of COVID-19 particles, "That is potentially good news, because almost all the droplets that are going to be carrying viruses are all within that range." With COVID-19 finding new ways to harm Metroplex residents, Berkeys is ready to help homeowners protect the health and safety of their family by installing the best defense available. "We're certainly seeing a rise in the demand for increased safety measures in DFW homes," says Berkeys president Jeff Cox. "Our commitment is to meet those needs, while keeping both our customers and employees safe during this trying time. We're honored to provide the best home defenses available for our DFW family." ABOUT BERKEYS Berkeys Plumbing, Air Conditioning and Electrical was founded in 1975, and is headquartered in Southlake, TX. BERKEYS serves the greater Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex; is licensed & insured; and offers 24/7 emergency service. Berkeys is a member of the Better Business Bureau of Dallas and Fort Worth, TX. Berkeys can be reached at http://www.BERKEYS.com or 817-481-5869. Licenses: TACLB84522E | Stephen M Harris - M-37968 | TECL30739 Media Contact: Michelle J. Lamont C. (214)228-9135 [email protected] SOURCE BERKEYS Related Links http://www.BERKEYS.com 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. If the king is naked but those around him keep telling him he is wearing 'a nice transparent garment', then Ghana is doomed as a nation, the Presiding Bishop of Perez Chapel International has said. According to Bishop Agyinasare, The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good people to do nothing, he quoted during a virtual sermon on Sunday, 12 July 2020, pointing out: We need people that can tell the unpleasant truth. He expressed the fear that: If we build a nation of yes-people, then we are doomed, observing: We have too many sycophants who only tell leaders that: You were making a mistake after their fall. I knew things would go wrong, they say. So, why did you not say it then?. Politicians and leaders, it is time you appreciated those who would show you your sins but not those who would sing your praise, he said, urging: Leaders on all fronts need people who would not fear your office but respectfully tell you that: The king is naked but not say: Oh king, you have a nice transparent garment on. He also noted that politicians have made it so difficult to criticise their wrongs. When you do, they release their attack dogs who pounce on you through the media and social media and they insult you, threaten you and label you, saying: We cannot raise issues in this country anymore; when you do, then you are branded NDC or NPP, depending on whose ox is gored. The Man of God expressed the sentiments after he called on politicians to stop dividing the nation by branding a particular ethnic group as Togolese. Our politics must stop dividing us. Politicians must stop polarising our country, he condemned. We used to be one country, he observed, reminiscing: In our boarding houses, we were bonded together: the Christian and the Muslim; the Ewe and Ashanti; the Ga and Dagbani or Frafra; the Dagaba and Nzema etc. We all stayed in one dormitory or hostel, so, we saw ourselves as one people. It is not right for us to see some Ghanaians as foreigners, he emphasised. The founder of Perez Chapel International regretted that: Today, our politicians see some Ghanaians as foreigners and so a 70-year-old blind man, Mr Christian Agbeviade, who had worked with the Ministry of Defence at Burma Camp for 30 years and now retired to his village, can be harassed by security forces to prove he is a Ghanaian because he is branded Togolese. Bishop Agyinasare said: When I saw the video, my stomach churned as to what our country is coming to, since, he said, apparently, this old man was the in-law of the Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church (Right Reverend Dr Kwadzo Setorwu Ofori). You would say: Bishop, is one person worth your talking? Yes, he said. He explained his concern as follows: I left Tamale during the Konkomba-Nanumba war. It spilt over into Tamale because the Nanumbas, Dagombas and Mamprusis come from one father, so, if you touch one, you touch all. Bishop Agyinasare continued: Some people rumoured in Tamale that Rawlings was supporting the Konkombas and, so, in Tamale, they went attacking Ewes because they believed the Ewes were supporting the Konkombas. He recalled: They killed two Ewes cut their heads and put them on poles parading the cities. At the time, he narrated that: Rev Steve Mensah, General Overseer of the Charismatics Evangelistic Minister was holding a revival for me and was in my house. Some irate youth holding cutlasses and cudgels came to my gate arguing whether to come in or not. My little kids began to ask me: are they going to come and kill mummy since shes an Ewe? Upon counsel, I had to leave Tamale to Accra. So, for me, these things matter. Our politics must stop dividing us and we must stop this attitude of you are a foreigner because it does not build a nation but destroys a nation, Bishop Agyinasare warned. Drawing some similarities with the ethnic tensions that sparked the Rwandan genocide, the founder of Perez Chapel Internationals said: It did not start immediately, noting: Tension had been building because some people were considering other people foreigners. We dont need to be piling ethnic or tribal explosive powder under our national carpet. When we do, it will explode in our faces one day, he warned. Justifying his calling out the development, Bishop Agyinasare said: It could be you tomorrow. The Nations Pastor, as Bishop Agyinasare is popularly known, said the famous words spoken by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemoller, regarding the silence of good people during the rise of the Nazis in his country, must serve as a lesson to all Ghanaians. Speaking on the cowardice of German intellectuals and certain clergy including himself, following the Nazis' rise to power and subsequent incremental purging of their chosen targets, group after group, Pastor Niemoller said: They came first for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up. As people, we must not allow our institutions to be used as tools for the persecution and unjust prosecution of fellow citizens, Bishop Agyinasare warned. Source: classfmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Matanat Nasibova - Trend: The Armenian provocation was aimed at involving Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries in the conflict, Russian expert and TV presenter Yevgeny Mikhailov told Trend commenting on the attack of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. According to the expert, it is no coincidence that the Armenian lobby in the media spoke of an alleged attack from Azerbaijan and necessity to do something in this connection. "It's an obvious fact that recently, Pashinyans regime has been making all efforts to switch the attention of the [Armenian] population becoming poor during his reign from internal problems to external ones. I associate the firing at the Azerbaijani military positions by the Armenian armed forces namely with this, he said. Again, in my opinion, in this provocation, there is a trace of foreign centers that need confrontation in the region. I think that Moscow adequately assesses the situation, especially amid the changeable Armenian policy and the growing anti-Russian rhetoric from Yerevan. Armenia is now a country that is trying by any means to arouse pity among the allies for alleged attack against it. This provocation is also aimed to veil the country's militaristic aspirations towards Nagorno-Karabakh, which must be returned to Azerbaijan, Mikhailov noted. It is worth recalling the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the phased settlement of the Karabakh conflict with the start of the transfer of the occupied districts [around Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan]," he noted adding that latest actions and statements of the Armenian side are links of one chain, but Moscow and Baku cannot be fooled. The newest COVID-19 recoveries reported to the Plainview/Hale County Health Department over the weekend far outnumbered the new confirmed cases. A total of 112 recoveries were reported between the report released Saturday and the one released Monday, which reflect activity between 5 p.m. Friday and Sunday afternoon. During that time, there were 44 new cases reported. The number of recoveries in Hale County is tallied at 511 since the first case of COVID-19 was reported back in April. Many of the new recoveries 104 of them are reflected in Plainviews numbers. Six of the new recoveries were reported in Hale Center, two in Abernathy and one in Petersburg. The new reported cases are also reflected in numbers for those communities. Since March, Plainview has had a total of 687 confirmed cases of COVID-19 39 of which were reported over the weekend. Abernathy has had 10 cases (one more since Thursday), Petersburg has had 11 cases (up by one since Thursday) and Hale Center has had 28 cases (up by three since Thursday). The numbers bring Hale Countys overall total to 776 since March 24. As of Sunday afternoon, 5,353 COVID-19 tests had been conducted across the county, 282 more than what was reported Thursday. Of those tests, 4,707 have returned negative results and there were eight results pending by Sunday. There were also a total of 238 people under monitoring. The age group most affected by this virus locally continues to be those between 23 and 40 years old. The report shows there have been 305 cases reported in that age group. There have been 208 confirmed cases among those between 41 and 60 years old, 135 among those 20 years old or younger and 128 cases among those who are 61 years or older. Of the confirmed cases, 742 of them have been results of local transmissions, 32 were results of out-of-county transmissions and two remain listed as indeterminate. Local leaders and health professionals continue to encourage the public to practice social distancing, wash your hands and wear a mask in public, which is now legally required. The latest report also shows there are currently 254 active cases of COVID-19 in Hale County. Of those individuals with currently active cases, 242 are in isolation at home and 12 are in a medical facility. Wearing a face mask is one of the simplest ways to do your part during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the CDC has said this time and time again. You can protect yourself and others by wearing a mask. But, we get that it's hot as hell out right now in most of America. We've covered where you can buy face masks a few times already, with face masks for sports and exercise resonating with our readers. If you're not looking to run a marathon any time soon, but need a breathable face mask for summer, here are 10 good options to sort through. 1. Kitsch Leopard Cotton Face Mask If you're looking for a face mask made with breathable material, these cotton Kitsch face masks should fit the bill. This pack comes with three fun color schemes: light leopard, black, and dark leopard. They are machine washable and reusable, so they'll last you much longer than a disposable mask. 2. NxTSTOP TRAVLEISURE ADJUSTABLE, REUSABLE, WASHABLE, BREATHABLE FACE MASK This is a dual-layer bamboo mask made with breathability in mind. It feels ultra soft against the face and has a wire nose fitting to ensure a tight seal. 3. Adidas Face Covers Adidas knows a thing or two about creating breathable products, so this three-pack of face masks will help you breathe easy, whether you're on a run or running errands. 4. 12-in-1 Cooling Neck Wrap/Gaiter Not everyone is comfortable with a face mask that has loops behind their ears. If you want something that is easy to pull on and off your face that won't bother your ears, a gaiter is probably more your speed. This already has become a best seller on Amazon in 2020 and has more than 700 reviews. 5. The 100% Human Face Mask 100% Human is part of Everlane's fight for human rights, which was launched in 2017. These face masks are made with 100% cotton, meaning they're machine washable and breathable. Plus, 10% of the sales on these masks will be donated to the ACLU. 6. MISSION Cooling Neck Gaiter Neck gaiters are great because they can be worn 12 ways (though if you're wearing this for COVID-19 purposes, we imagine that number is fewer). This is made with a soft, stretchy fabric that will stay cool for up to two hours. 7. Reebok Face Covers The Reebok mask looks identical to the Adidas mask, since they are owned by the same company, so if you prefer the Reebok logo to the Adidas logo, here you go. 8. Netz Face Mask Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Using its antimicrobial performance fabrics, the Netz face mask is designed for people going on a run or out and about on a hot summer day. These masks are fast-drying, made with tight-knit UV Protection, and have a soft lycra stretch for a secure fit. 9. MINDFUL MASKS If you're looking to support a brand that is doing its part during this pandemic, Onezie has already donated thousands of these masks to California hospitals. These masks are made with up-cycled material used by the brand for its yoga clothing. They're made of multi-layer, full-flex spandex, so they're quick drying and breathable. 10. Athleta Girl Everyday Non-Medical Masks These Athleta masks come with five colors in a pack. They're made with three layers of fabric: A lightweight outer layer and two inner layers of soft, breathable cotton. Athleta is another company helping in the fight against COVID-19, as it's donating 100,000 of these non-medical masks to a major healthcare organization in support of our heroes on the front line. Please Note: If you're wearing a reusable face mask and not a disposable face mask, they need to be washed. You most likely knew that and have been washing diligently, but we also felt inclined to remind you that it is suggested to wash your mask after every use. Hearst Newspapers participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Ana Suarez is the senior commerce editor for Hearst Newspapers. Email her at ana.suarez@hearst.com. I bet it is not often you get a freebie from your favorite casino but that's about to change. We will let you in on the secrets on how you can play for free at some of the best online casinos in Japan. As you probably know, the casinos in Las Vegas, Macao, Monaco, or anywhere else in the world, don't give out freebies and why would they? And this is exactly why online casinos are more exciting for modern gamblers because they are being spoiled by lucrative and fascinating bonuses. The problem is to find a reliable casino in your language that will let you play for free and still win some real money. There are many new online casinos on the Japanese market this year and it can be a daunting task to understand what they really offer, especially if you don't understand the terminology the operators use. But we are here to help! We asked Keita Maruyama at CasinosNavi what are the 5 most important types of bonuses Japanese casino players should know about if they don't want to miss out on any freebies. After reading this article you will be able to recognize a good offer and know what to expect from foreign operators that are open to Japanese players. We won't link to specific casino sites as the actual money value of these types of bonuses are constantly being updated and shown on sites like Casinosnavi. 1. Signing Up & Welcome Bonuses These are commonly offered by almost every online platform as an incentive to create personal profiles. Very often you get completely free credits you can play for and if you win, you can even withdraw part of your winnings. However, as a general rule, all bonuses called "sign-up bonus" or "welcome bonus" can only be claimed once, per household. Trying to open one account for each member of your family will only have all of the accounts blacklisted for bonus fraud! The reason is that these bonuses are very good for you but bad for the operator. The amount you can get varies greatly both between operators and between countries. The best online casinos however always stand out by giving their new customers considerable cash rewards to kick start their gambling experience from a high note. The bonus can be a reward on your single first deposit or apply in various % to several deposits within a certain time period. The best online casinos will match your deposit to a tune of 200% depending on the cash value deposited of course. As mentioned earlier, many online casinos have gone even a step further to offer bonuses that let you play completely for free, without asking for anything in return. These "free spins" or "flat bonuses" can be part of the welcome bonus and require at least a minimum deposit from your side, but these types of bonuses can also be real freebies! It happens, especially when a new casino opens, that the operator decides to give totally free credits ("no deposit bonus") to everyone who registers for the first time as a way to try a few games, without asking for anything in return. For obvious reasons, the money value is less than what is offered as a bonus matching your own deposit, but remember it's completely free, with no obligations. It's a great way to get you acquainted with the different online games on the platform. 2. Loyalty Bonuses Loyalty is key when you find an online casino that preserves your best gambling interest. After fixed durations, you start earning loyalty bonuses that add up to your stake for huge winnings. Loyal customers also benefit from different seasonal promotions offered round the year. Well-established online casinos also monitor how regularly you bet and give cash bonuses to their most avid gamblers. Consistency will also earn you VIP points, which convert to huge bonuses whenever you need a bailout. Overall the loyalty reward programs offered by online casinos are based on the same principle as used by hotel chains, frequent flyer programs like JMB, and e-commerce shops. According to research, customers prefer websites with a reward program and when it comes to online casinos, you can expect every operator to have a loyalty program just waiting to reward you! 3. High Roller Bonus There is no one more deserving of bonuses than serious gamers willing to stake large deposits for a huge profit margin. Famous gamblers all over the world have recorded some of the biggest wins in the history of online casinos. Some even earn their living from placing smart bets throughout the month, which is a convenient way to generate income. While most of us prefer to make one small deposit after the other, some gamblers prefer to make one large deposit and get the maximum bonus amount in return from the casino. Some well-established operators that can afford to take the risk associated with giving out high bonuses offer "high roller bonuses" or "VIP bonuses". The minimum deposit to trigger the bonus is often very high but in return, so is the bonus you get back. Moreover, casinos with these types of bonuses also have a dedicated VIP department with luxury giveaways, tournaments and exclusive events. These types of promotions are exclusive, usually by invitation only, so keep an eye out for operators with these types of bonuses if this is your kind of gambling. In general, high rollers have greater chances of winning prizes in exclusive online casino promotions. Such do not necessarily have to be cash bonuses. Big online casinos collaborate with other companies to offer free holidays, the latest digital gadgets, and so much more! 4. Game Bonuses What is your favorite online slot game that holds your gambling luck? Online gamblers always have that one game that they continually record a winning streak most time they play. Hopping from one slot game to the other might deny you the chance to get game-specific bonuses like free spins, bonus insider. There are many different casino games but when it comes to free credits, most of them are related to online slots. The reason is that the developer of the slot game gives free rounds to the casino for them to distribute among its players. Understandably, the casino prefers to reward the customers that play a lot on the specific game. Bonuses related specifically to Poker or Blackjack can not be expected from every online casino so if this is what you are looking for, then you should definitely use websites of the type we linked to at the beginning of this article. Trying to find these operators on your own is not easy. Another tip is to keep an eye out for new games being introduced on the platform. They usually feature extra play money for a short period to attract players. Other rewards offered by specific games include free spins and VIP points. Accumulate points to get substantial bonuses that can materialize to huge cash rewards after an online gambling session. Game-specific bonuses give you a chance to broaden your gambling skills as well as your overall bankroll. Knowing the strategic time to try out a certain game lets you take advantage of offers attached to such games at different periods. 5. Bonuses on Devices The best online betting platforms can deduce the type of smart device you use to sign up or play different games on their website. Some of these offer rewards to tablet, computer, or smartphone users. Certain casino games are compatible with specific devices hence their developers offer rewards to attract players. Every download on Android or iOS devices comes with fixed bonuses to let you have a perfect gaming experience after signing up. Modern casinos are diversifying their level of operation, especially in the digital scope to guarantee easy accessibility of casino games that we all love. Having a casino game app is not necessary to benefit from dedicated "mobile bonuses". With these five types of casino bonuses as part of your online gaming vocabulary, you can feel confident you won't miss out on any good offers - Good Luck with your gaming! TUNIS - The Tobruk-based government in eastern Libya issued a statement Monday evening on its website saying that the Egyptian military could intervene militarily in Libya in the case of imminent danger in order to protect the national security of both countries. ''The Chamber of Representatives, the only legitimate, elected representatives of the Libyan population and representative of its free will, welcomes favourably the speech by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi before the representatives of Libyan tribes,'' the statement notes. ''In light of the flagrant Turkish intervention in our country and the violation of Libyan sovereignty aided by the armed militias controlling the western part of the country, since the Arab Republic of Egypt is a strategic ally for Libya at all levels - security, economic and social - and the dangers of the Turkish occupation constitute a direct threat to our country and neighbouring ones, especially for Egypt, we are calling for Egypt and Libya to join forces to kick out the invader and preserve our shared national security,'' the statement said. NEW YORKFive people were shot in Brooklyn on Monday in what the police described as three drive-by attacks within 20 minutes and about a mile of each other, continuing a wave of gun violence that has gripped New York this summer. All the victims were the intended targets of the shootings, and all were expected to survive, said Rodney Harrison, the Police Departments chief of detectives. The common element in the shootings, Harrison said, was a white, four-door sedan. Although the shootings did not add to the citys gun-related death toll for the year, they occurred after another weekend of violence that was capped Sunday night with the killing of a one-year-old boy who was shot while he was at a cookout with his family at a Brooklyn playground. Citing the boys death, Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, the recently installed leader of the Police Departments Community Affairs Bureau, wrote on Twitter early Monday that we as a community, we as a police department denounce this disgusting violence. This. Must. STOP! he added. The number of shootings in the city is up sharply in June and July compared with the same period last year, and the spike has helped push up the overall number of shootings for the year. As of July 12, there had been 634 shootings in 2020, compared with 394 in 2019. At that pace, the city was on track to top 800 shootings this year, which would be the first time that has happened in three years. Twenty-eight people died of gunshot wounds in June, the police said; 20 more were fatally shot in July as of the 12th. The increase of gunfire has coincided with a fierce debate over the future of policing, a discussion touched off by the large-scale protests over police brutality and institutional racism that followed the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. In New York, state lawmakers banned police chokeholds last month and repealed a law that had kept police disciplinary files secret. City officials agreed in principle to shift roughly $1 billion (U.S.) from the Police Departments budget to other agencies. Senior police officials and leaders of the citys police unions have balked at the moves, saying they will hobble officers ability to deter violent crime, especially as shootings climb. Police and union leaders have sought to link the uptick to, among other things, recent changes in the criminal justice system, including a new bail law, and to an effort to reduce the jail population amid the coronavirus pandemic. Critics of the department, saying there is little evidence to support such claims, have pointed to another possible explanation for the continued wave of gun violence: that the police do not solve most shootings, leaving the assailants free to fire again. The victims in the three drive-by shootings in Brooklyn ranged in age from 18-23, Harrison said. At around 6:19 p.m., he said, a 23-year-old woman was shot four times in the chest on Remsen Avenue in the Canarsie section. About 10 minutes later and about a mile way, on Rockaway Boulevard, three men, all 19, were each shot once, Harrison said: one in the elbow, one in the leg and one in the back. Two minutes after that, he said, an 18-year-old male driver of a scooter at Flatlands Fourth Street and East 108th Street was shot once in the back. A woman who was riding with him was not hit by gunfire. All the victims, none of whom the police identified, were taken to Brookdale Medical Center, Harrison said. Several hours after the last shooting, on a block opposite the Fresh Creek Nature Preserve, a half-dozen residents stood near a length of police tape blocking traffic at East 108th Street and Flatlands Third Street. One woman who declined to provide her name described the group as longtime proud Canarsians who felt safe in their surroundings. But she and several others who had gathered said there was a younger gang element that sometimes made its presence felt. A lot of those forces come from out of the neighbourhood into the neighbourhood, Michael Stewart, 52, said. Seeing this, he added, this is a real aberration. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:03:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China stands ready to work with Thailand to cement solidarity and cooperation among regional countries and safeguard the sound momentum of development and prosperity in the region. Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Enditem A Deputy Minister for Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye believes closing down schools over rising cases of COVID-19 recorded in some second cycle institutions is not advisable. He made the remark on Eyewitness News following calls from the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations of Ghana for government to allow the Senior High School students to go home. The association in a statement on Monday, July 13, 2020, called for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to be postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19 in schools. According to the association, the call is to avert further spread of the coronavirus among our children and staff. The association also said, not enough health personnel are either stationed in or attached to many of the schools for routine surveillance due to the pandemic. More worrying is the fact that despite good counsel and encouragement, most parents insist their children should be brought home. But Dr Okoe Boye responding to the demands on Eyewitness News said everyone is exposed to the virus and people can only protect themselves from contracting the disease by adhering to the laid down preventive protocols. I have to check with the Ghana Education Service on their protocols and on their statutes on letting students go home but the advice I can give as a public health person is that when you pick your child from school and say you are taking your child home, remember the virus is at home, the virus is at the workplace and the virus is on the street. The best bet is to take care of yourself because your child might actually be exposed more. Imagine if you have a parent who is a taxi driver who comes across 200 people before he goes home or imagine a parent who sells at Makola or myself who moves from one hospital to the other, the virus is around. We all can expose our kids. Thats why all of us must take care of ourselves so we dont carry the virus home, he said. NDC COVID-19 team proposes mass testing of students, closure of schools The National Democratic Congress (NDC) had earlier renewed its calls for the closure of schools across the country as the cases of COVID-19 being recorded within the school environment continue to rise. A statement from the party's COVID-19 Technical Team on Monday, July 13, 2020, said a reversal of the reopening of schools is the only indicator to express the government's commitment of not endangering the lives of students and staff as promised. The lives of Ghanaian students, teachers, and non-teaching staff should be valued equally and the government must take immediate steps to reverse its decision and to begin the process of returning students to their homes. This will necessarily include mass testing of students to ascertain their COVID-19 status before they are released to their parents to minimize the risk of exporting cases from campuses to communities. 55 students, staff test positive for COVID-19 at Accra Girls SHS In a related development, 55 people including students and staff at the Accra Girls' Senior High School have tested positive for COVID-19. This was disclosed by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) after it commenced a testing exercise at the school. According to a joint statement by the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service (GES), 55 people tested positive out of 314 total tests done. As at 13th July, 2020, a total of 314 persons (student and staff) from the School have been tested. Out of these, 55 have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 while 259 persons tested negative, the statement said. The statement further indicated that all those who have tested positive have been sent to treatment centres. The school confirmed six positive cases amongst students last week and it was later discovered that a teacher and his spouse had also tested positive for the disease. This sparked protest among the student populace who insisted on going home. citinewsroom New Delhi: Addressing a seminar titled Nepal and India: Exploring New Vistas organised by India Foundation and Neeti Anusandhan Pratishthan Nepal, the President, who is on a three-day State visit, said India and Nepal have enjoyed a long tradition of academic and student exchanges. So, students from Nepal will be able to write entrance examinations of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) from next year to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses, President Pranab Mukherjee announced on Thursday. India is happy to help Nepal with its human resource development. Our commitment is reflected in the grant of around 3,000 scholarships to Nepalese students every year, providing opportunities to study in Nepal and in India. We offer more than 250 scholarships annually for Government and non-Government employees of Nepal for training in technical institutes in India, he said. Mukherjee also said that India recognizes the importance of water resources in the accelerated development in Nepal for which post-graduate scholarships for courses in hydel power and water resources management at IIT, Roorkee have been offered to Nepali engineers and experts this year. I am also very happy to announce that from 2017 onwards, Nepali students will have the opportunity to pursue graduate and post-graduate courses in Indian Institutes of Technology on a regular basis. For this, our Institutes of Technology will open their entrance examinations to Nepali students. Aspirants would have the option to write these examinations in Kathmandu, he said. The President said the region is blessed with the young people known for their strong spirit of enterprise, dynamism and entrepreneurship. To channelize this energy in the right direction, we must invest in health, education, technology and employment generation. We cannot remain hostage to the political baggage of history and prejudice, nor can we continue to follow policies that have failed to lift our people out of poverty, he said. Highlighting the age-old relations between the two countries, Mukherjee said in a partnership so rich and diverse in its scope and content, there are bound to be, occasionally, some differences in perceptions. This is absolutely normal. With enlightened leadership in both countries, regular consultations, open dialogue, mutual trust and goodwill, we have managed to overcome such eventualities. I would underscore that it would be crucial, in our common interest, to stay focused on our shared objective of peace, stability and development for our peoples and our region, he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong, Carlson said Monday on his program, reading from a statement. We dont endorse those words, they have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. We often say that because we mean it. Well continue to defend that principle often alone among national news programs because it is essential Blake fell short of that standard and he has paid a very heavy price for it. The founder of a charity that donates Lego to children in hospital has said he is in a pretty dark place after burglars stole around 18,000 sets of the building bricks from his warehouse. Kevin Gascoigne, who founded Fairy Bricks in 2014, said he had been in tears since the break-in at its headquarters in Moldgreen, Huddersfield, on Sunday night. And he urged anyone who spots any of the stolen sets for sale to contact police. We are saddened to report that we have suffered a devastating robbery at Fairy HQ over the weekend. We still have to Posted by Fairy Bricks on Monday, July 13, 2020 Mr Gascoigne, 44, said he was informed about the burglary, which he believes involved at least seven people, by his neighbour at Shaw Business Park on Monday morning. He said: I came down and that was it really. I witnessed the devastation and saw what theyd taken. Weve been in bits. Its been more difficult for me today. Ive spent today crying a lot and Im a 44-year-old fat bloke with a beard, Im not used to crying. He continued: Were in a pretty dark place but we wont be here for long because the kids still need our help. Well bounce back. We have put pictures of some of our stolen sets on Facebook so if anyone was to see those in unusually large volumes, please give West Yorkshire Police a call. Here are some pictures of the sets taken. There are others but these ones were taken in very large volumes. Posted by Fairy Bricks on Tuesday, July 14, 2020 Mr Gascoigne said he had been overwhelmed by the comments he had received after he put out an appeal for positive noise on Facebook. More than 100 people from around the world, including France and Australia, had commented on the post on Tuesday afternoon about their experiences of Fairy Bricks donations. Mr Gascoigne said: The positive comments mean more to us than money, moneys not always the answer. I know its kind of the modern way and people have been making donations on our website but we havent discussed setting a page up or anything. Story continues He added: I just needed to hear those comments this afternoon. And even reading those had been making me cry but in a different way. Mr Gascoigne set up the charity after donating some of his own unused Lego sets to the Calderdale Royal Hospital, in Halifax, and seeing the impact they had. The charity gave away 50,000 Lego sets to 185 UK hospitals over the last 12 months and donated 32,400 kits to the children of NHS workers at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. He said: We cant make them better but we work with the play specialists and happy children get better faster. So sad to see this happened! Fairy Bricks help so many patients. We send lots of love and support to Kevin and his team. @Leeds_Cares @fairybricks @Leeds_Childrens @LeedsHospitals https://t.co/AAtorg5cqI Children's Day Care And CSAL (@ChildrenLounge) July 14, 2020 West Yorkshire Police appealed for anyone with information about the burglary to contact them. A force spokeswoman said: Police are appealing for information following a burglary at a business premise on Shaw Business Park, Moldgreen, overnight on 12/13 July. The suspects gained entry to the building and took a large number of Lego sets from inside, before loading them into a vehicle and making off. The suspects then returned a short time later, taking more Lego sets. They also took a van belonging to the business, which has since been recovered. Anyone who has any information is asked to contact police using the online chat service or by calling 101, quoting crime reference 13200349738. To find out more about Fairy Bricks, or to make a donation to the charity, visit fairybricks.org Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! Travelers Companies' (NYSE:TRV) stock is up by 5.8% over the past three months. Given that the stock prices usually follow long-term business performance, we wonder if the company's mixed financials could have any adverse effect on its current price price movement Particularly, we will be paying attention to Travelers Companies' ROE today. ROE or return on equity is a useful tool to assess how effectively a company can generate returns on the investment it received from its shareholders. Put another way, it reveals the company's success at turning shareholder investments into profits. Check out our latest analysis for Travelers Companies How Is ROE Calculated? The formula for ROE is: Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) Shareholders' Equity So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Travelers Companies is: 9.6% = US$2.4b US$25b (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2020). The 'return' is the yearly profit. One way to conceptualize this is that for each $1 of shareholders' capital it has, the company made $0.10 in profit. What Is The Relationship Between ROE And Earnings Growth? So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. We now need to evaluate how much profit the company reinvests or "retains" for future growth which then gives us an idea about the growth potential of the company. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics. Travelers Companies' Earnings Growth And 9.6% ROE When you first look at it, Travelers Companies' ROE doesn't look that attractive. However, its ROE is similar to the industry average of 8.9%, so we won't completely dismiss the company. But Travelers Companies saw a five year net income decline of 9.1% over the past five years. Bear in mind, the company does have a slightly low ROE. Therefore, the decline in earnings could also be the result of this. Story continues However, when we compared Travelers Companies' growth with the industry we found that while the company's earnings have been shrinking, the industry has seen an earnings growth of 8.3% in the same period. This is quite worrisome. The basis for attaching value to a company is, to a great extent, tied to its earnings growth. The investor should try to establish if the expected growth or decline in earnings, whichever the case may be, is priced in. Doing so will help them establish if the stock's future looks promising or ominous. What is TRV worth today? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether TRV is currently mispriced by the market. Is Travelers Companies Efficiently Re-investing Its Profits? In spite of a normal three-year median payout ratio of 32% (that is, a retention ratio of 68%), the fact that Travelers Companies' earnings have shrunk is quite puzzling. So there might be other factors at play here which could potentially be hampering growth. For example, the business has faced some headwinds. In addition, Travelers Companies has been paying dividends over a period of at least ten years suggesting that keeping up dividend payments is way more important to the management even if it comes at the cost of business growth. Our latest analyst data shows that the future payout ratio of the company over the next three years is expected to be approximately 34%. Therefore, the company's future ROE is also not expected to change by much with analysts predicting an ROE of 10%. Conclusion Overall, we have mixed feelings about Travelers Companies. While the company does have a high rate of profit retention, its low rate of return is probably hampering its earnings growth. With that said, we studied the latest analyst forecasts and found that while the company has shrunk its earnings in the past, analysts expect its earnings to grow in the future. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more. 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. A grant fund has been set up in honor of the late Humpday filmmaker Lynn Shelton that will provide a $25,000 unrestricted cash grant to U.S. based women and nonbinary filmmakers, age 39 or older, who have yet to direct a narrative feature. The Of a Certain Age grant was established by Seattles Northwest Film Forum alongside Duplass Brothers Productions, and the prize will be awarded each year. This grant seeks to reinforce that great filmmakers can emerge at any age, and to elevate the voices of a segment of the filmmaking community who have precious few resources dedicated to supporting them yet plenty of stories to tell, Megan Griffiths, Sheltons longtime friend and collaborator who is working in her capacity as a member of the board of Northwest Film Forum to help establish the grant, said in a statement. Lynn was 39 when I met her on her first feature, and I watched her grow as an artist and become more certain in her path with every passing year. She wore her late bloomer status as a badge of honor and we know she would be thrilled that this grant exists in her name. Also Read: Director Lynn Shelton's Death Stuns Hollywood: 'I Can't Believe I'll Never Hear Her Laugh Again' Shelton, the indie director of films like Humpday, Your Sisters Sister and Sword of Trust, as well as episodes of GLOW and Mad Men, died suddenly of a previously undisclosed blood disorder back in May at the age of 54. The idea for the grant was imagined because Shelton often spoke of feeling inspired after seeing filmmaker Claire Denis speak at Northwest Film Forum and learning that Denis did not make her first feature until age 40. Shelton went on to make her own first feature film (We Go Way Back) at the age of 39. The grant fund was spearheaded by Duplass Brothers Productions, which includes Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass and Mel Eslyn, and has since been bolstered by many others, including Washington-based production company COLOR, Tracy Rector, Eliza Flug, Marc Maron, Joshua Leonard and Alison Pill, Michaela Watkins and Fred Kramer, CB Shamah, Chris and Philip Wohlstetter, and Jennessa and Robert West. It will be stewarded by Northwest Film Forum, one of Sheltons favorite non-profit organizations and a community film center that supported her throughout her career. Story continues Also Read: Marc Maron Says Tearful Goodbye to Partner Lynn Shelton on 'WTF' Podcast: 'I Loved Her' In an industry where women, non-binary, and trans individuals have historically had less success and visibility, hearing Lynn Sheltons story of coming into film at an older age has been extremely inspiring, Vivian Hua, executive director of Northwest Film Forum, said in a statement. The scope of this grant will ensure a positive impact on the lives of future recipients for years to come. There was an appreciation and an immediacy to the way Lynn approached her film and TV career, which she openly credited to her late start. Now finding myself approaching the same age Lynn got started, I find it comical to think we call 39 a late start. But the reality is there is just not enough representation of women over a certain age in media, in front of, but even more so, behind the camera. We hope that this grant can be a meaningful step towards helping to change that, Eslyn, president of Duplass Brothers Productions, said in a statement. Nominations for the Lynn Shelton Of a Certain Age Grant are being sought from a national Advisory Committee made up of film programmers, filmmakers, and arts leaders, demonstrating expertise on the current filmmaking landscape and knowledge of emerging filmmakers from around the country. Some of these names are: Beth Barrett (Seattle International Film Festival), Emily Best (Seed & Spark), Effie Brown (Gamechanger Films), Kat Candler (filmmaker), Amy Dotson (Northwest Film Center), Miranda July (filmmaker), Mynette Louie (producer), Leah Meyerhoff (Film Fatales), Lucy Mukerjee (Tribeca Film Festival), Janet Pierson (SXSW Film Festival), Mike Plante (Sundance Film Festival), Rishi Rajani (Hillman Grad), and Tracy Rector (filmmaker/activist), among others. An Award Selection Committee will determine the recipient of the grant. Northwest Film Forum will award the inaugural grant in 2020. For those looking to give in Sheltons honor, donations to the Shelton/Seal Family Fund for the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, or Seattles Northwest Film Forum are encouraged. Read original story Filmmaking Grant Honors Lynn Shelton, Offers Aid for Women and Nonbinary Directors Getting Late Start At TheWrap Click here to read the full article. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital on Tuesday for the treatment of a possible infection, according to the Supreme Court. Ginsburg, 87, experienced fever and chills and was initially evaluated at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. on Monday night, the court said. More from Deadline She underwent an endoscopic procedure at Johns Hopkins this afternoon to clean out a bile duct stent that was placed last August, the court said. The Justice is resting comfortably and will stay in the hospital for a few days to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment. In May, Ginsburg was hospitalized for treatment of a benign gallbladder condition, but she still participated in oral arguments, which were by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last summer, Ginsburg was treated for a tumor on her pancreas, and went through a three-week course of stereotactic ablative radiation therapy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. The tumor was treated definitively and there is no evidence of disease elsewhere in the body, the court said at the time. Ginsburg was nominated to the court in 1993 and is the second longest-serving justice currently on the court, after Clarence Thomas. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. A 10-year-old boy faces arson charges after a garage fire near Union Mills Thursday, the Office of the State Fire Marshal said. Firefighters responded to the garage fire in the 3500 block of Littlestown Pike in Westminster at about 5:10 p.m. Thursday, the Carroll County Times reported, citing a news release. Deputy state fire marshals determined the fire was set intentionally and, during the investigation, identified the 10-year-old boy as being responsible. The news release said the boy was released to his guardian and will be referred to the Department of Juvenile Services. The fire caused approximately $14,000 in damage to the one-story, detached garage, according to the release. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Abuse Molestation Numbers Maryland Arson The American Health Care Association, which represents long-term care centers, estimated that testing every nursing home and independent living resident and employee in the United States, just one time, would require 4.4 million coronavirus tests and cost upward of $672 million, at $150 per test. Until a vaccine is available, Boddy said he hopes rapid-testing technology becomes more widespread and more accurate, so facilities can test and almost immediately receive results for residents, workers and all visitors before they come inside. Theres also the risk of more workers catching the virus now that more restrictions on gatherings and businesses have been eased across the state. There are definitely concerns that as we are opening up our communities, our nursing homes are going to be at increased risk, Ashraf said. Janicki said Hillcrest has seen the number of staff members testing positive slowly ticking up. It doesnt appear that those workers have been partying at the bar or the beach their cases seem to be tied to sick family members or second jobs but that remains a risk going forward. Political historian Professor Jenny Hocking has won a decade-long fight to access hundreds of letters between Buckingham Palace and former governor-general, Sir John Kerr, before the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975. This morning, the letters were revealed to the Australian public after the High Court ruled they were public records. In this episode, senior culture journalist Nathanael Cooper is joined by senior economics correspondent Shane Wright to discuss the revelations in the letters and why it's taken so long for Australians to access them. Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage. (Newser) French doctors have recorded what they say is the first known case of a baby contracting the novel coronavirus in the womb. The child, born to a mother who'd tested positive for COVID-19, had brain inflammation linked to the virus, which passed into the infant's bloodstream through placenta, according to a case study published Tuesday in Nature Communications. Earlier studies indicated placental or cervical transmission could indeed occur, per Business Insider. But this was the first case in which doctors definitely ruled out the possibility that the baby was infected during or after birth. "You need the maternal blood, the newborn blood, the cord blood, the placenta, the amniotic fluid, and it's extremely difficult to get all these samples in a pandemic," lead author Daniele De Luca tells the Guardian. That's exactly what doctors at Paris' Antoine Beclere hospital did. story continues below They maintain this is an extremely rare case. And "pregnant women should be reassured" because "it can be controlled" and "in most cases there will be no damage to the baby," De Luca says. The baby boy in this case experienced muscle spasms but recovered without specific medication and was discharged from the hospital after 18 days. He was delivered via C-section, and immediately isolated in an intensive care unit, after his 23-year-old mother, more than 35 weeks pregnant, showed up at the hospital with a fever and cough on March 24. Doctors determined the highest levels of the virus were in the placenta. But though MRI scans on the infant showed evidence of a neurological injury, a recent scan appeared "almost normal," De Luca tells the Guardian. The long-term effects are still unknown. (Read more coronavirus stories.) Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Aviation Ministry dismisses reports of sale of Kotoka Intl Airport The Ministry of Aviation has denied reports of a sale of the Kotoka International Airport. It explained that the airport continues to remain a Ghanaian facility and therefore urged Ghanaians to dismiss such rumours. The sector minister, Joseph Kofi Adda, however, explained that plans are in place to improve delivery of service and expand facilities there. He added that the decisions are being deliberated upon in consultation with stakeholders such as the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL). READ ALSO: COVID-19: Experts predicts possible rise in output of crude oil COVID-19: Legons Professor Peter Quartey calls for slowly opened borders The Director of the Institute of Social, Statistical and Economic Research at the University of Ghana, Professor Peter Quartey, has called for a careful reopening of Ghanas borders. According to him, the process must be done slowly and cautiously so that the coronavirus does not pose a threat to health and life. He added that he agrees it is necessary to reopen the borders in order to revive economic activities, but it is essential that safety protocols are adhered to. SEC hints of plans of introducing crowdfunding in Ghana The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Ghana has hinted of plans for introducing crowdfunding in Ghana. YEN.com.gh understands that it is possible the regulator of Ghanas capital market would establish a framework for the start of the programme. Information available shows that despite setbacks present due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, everything could be ready by 2021. Per a report by thebftonline.com, the plan is to make the package attractive to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the country. COVID-19: Manufacturing sector to lead economic revival - Govt The Ministry of Trade and Industry has selected the manufacturing sector through which Ghana would experience an economic revival. Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, a deputy minister, noted that the outbreak of the coronavirus gives Ghana a unique opportunity to pursue an industrialization agenda. He explained that measures are in place to propel innovative strategies in the sector. He added that there is an urgent need to ensure that Ghana exports less raw materials and imports less of finished goods. OVER THE WEEKEND: 200 horticulture exporters lose $1.6 m to COVID-19 Ghanaian vegetable and fruit exporters are unable to send consignments to their buyers in Europe and other international markets due to lack of demand arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation has led to the exporters losing their produce estimated at $1.6 million along the value chain. The produce ranges from okro, pepper (chillies), pineapple, banana, citrus to mangoes. According to the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana (VEPEAG) about 200 vegetable and fruit exporters had so far lost a minimum of $1.6 million to post-harvest losses (PHL) from March this year when most foreign countries implemented restrictions on human movement (lockdown). READ ALSO: Registrar-General drops new dates for filing of annual returns by companies Enjoyed reading our story? Download YEN's news app on Google Playstore now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Faces of Ghana: 21-year-old female boxer's dream of becoming a world champion | #Yencomgh Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Send us a message on our Facebook page or on Instagram with your stories, photos or videos Source: YEN.com.gh Radiyah Chowdhury Winner, Dalton Camp Award 2020 Winner, Dalton Camp Award 2020 It feels like Canadian journalism asks something almost impossible of people of colour. Watch the Announcement Video with Winners Statements here TORONTO, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Scarboroughs Radiyah Chowdhury has won the 2020 Dalton Camp Award for her essay The Forever Battle of a Journalist of Colour, a powerful first-hand account of the systematic barriers faced by racialized journalists in Canada. The Dalton Camp Award is a $10,000 prize for the best essay on the link between media and democracy, presented annually by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. Radiyah is a writer, producer and poet from Scarborough, Ontario with a bachelors degree in journalism from Carleton University who currently works as Assistant Editor at Chatelaine. The Forever Battle of a Journalist of Colour confronts how principles of objectivity place Black, Indigenous and people of colour in newsrooms in an impossible position. It feels like Canadian journalism asks something almost impossible of people of colour. It asks them to set aside the traumas they face on a daily basis for the sake of an industry largely created by white people. To legitimize viewpoints that denounce their very existence in the name of balance. To be less human in the most important ways they know how. And I dont know how to do that. An excerpt from The Forever Battle of a Journalist of Colour. The Toronto Star has published the winning essay in its print edition Saturday. It is available in full here . Im honoured to accept this years Dalton Camp Award, says Chowdhury. When I first submitted this essay in early March, I had no idea what was to come. As Canadian media has reported on systemic racism in this country, its also been called to account for its role in both perpetuating it and being complicit. This essay is my experience, but I am not alone. This year, FRIENDS introduced a second prize of $2,500 for best essay by a student in a post-secondary journalism programme. Story continues The winner of the first Dalton Camp Award for Best Student Journalist essay is Victoria, BCs Fiona OFlynn, a student at Ryerson University, for her essay A Generation Without Wonder, a reflection on social media, accountability and youth participation in our democratic culture. The Dalton Camp Award was created in 2002 to honour the memory of Dalton Camp, a distinguished commentator on Canadian public affairs. Winners were chosen from amongst 200 entries, by a six-member jury: Gene Allen; Michael Barclay, Kathy English, Jane Hilderman, Stephen Kimber, and Hannah Sung. Critical thinking, and especially professional journalism, are key ingredients in maintaining a healthy democracy," says FRIENDS Executive Director Daniel Bernhard. It is our pleasure to be awarding this prize to two exceptional writers for their reflections on the future of journalism in Canada. The Toronto Star is the official media partner for the 2020 Dalton Camp Award. Friends of Canadian Broadcasting is a watchdog group advocating for Canadian public broadcasting, journalism and storytelling on air, and online. Friends enjoys the support of 364,000 Canadians and is not affiliated with any broadcaster or political party. Radiyah Chowdhury and Fiona OFlynn are available for interviews. High resolution images: https://friends.ca/dalton-camp-award/media-downloads/ To schedule an interview or for more information, contact Jim Thompson jim@friends.ca 613-447-9592 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/bfe2ff69-65e7-42e1-bc83-0ac56ad3e0b7 WASHINGTON, NEW YORK and NASHVILLE, Tenn., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ACA Compliance Group (ACA), a leading provider of governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisory services and technology solutions, today announced that it has secured $40 million in new funding from its existing investor group. The group, led by Starr Investment Holdings ("SIH"), acquired a controlling interest in ACA in 2018. Founded in 2002, ACA is now the premier provider of regulatory compliance, performance, and cybersecurity consulting services and technology solutions to the world's top-tier hedge fund, private equity and asset management firms. ACA's 600 employees work with more than 3,300 clients to build compliance and risk programs, enhance existing operations and improve operational resilience across their organizations. This includes developing and enhancing compliance programs, verifying and certifying performance and assessing and improving cybersecurity programs. In the first half of 2020, ACA focused on continuing to build its operational infrastructure, streamlining its offerings, and further strengthening its leadership team, including by hiring Shvetank Shah as CEO, Dave Metzger as CFO, and Carrie Yonenson as CHRO. ACA continues to see strong adoption of its regulatory technology platform, which includes functionality for employee compliance monitoring, compliance program management, marketing reviews and trade surveillance. "At ACA, we are committed to helping our clients protect their businesses, mitigate risks and build a strong culture of compliance," said Mr. Shah. "This financing is a testament to the continued confidence our investors have in the future of ACA, and it highlights the resilience of our business, our team and our client relationships. We look forward to accelerating our investment in our people and technology to successfully position ACA and our clients as we all adjust to the new normal, which we expect will include an even greater focus on risk management." ACA's best practices and market leading technology, such as holistic surveillance and operational resilience -- including integrated business continuity planning, cybersecurity and third-party risk management -- have proven critical as its clients manage through the COVID-19 pandemic and global business models become more distributed. On behalf of the investor group, Jordan Lee, Managing Director at Starr Investment Holdings, said: "We are excited about what lies ahead for ACA as the firm continues to grow and address its clients' mission critical governance, risk and compliance requirements. We believe the next evolution of GRC solutions will require a flexible approach that allows organizations to better understand and mitigate regulatory compliance related risks, and we are confident that ACA is ideally positioned to capitalize on this opportunity." About ACA Compliance Group ACA Compliance Group is a leading provider of governance, risk, and compliance advisory services and technology solutions. We partner with our clients to help them mitigate the regulatory, operational, and reputational risks associated with their business functions. Our clients include leading investment advisers, private fund managers, commodity trading advisors, investment companies, broker-dealers, and domestic and international banks. ACA is based in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area, and has offices in London and other U.S. cities. For more information on our solutions please visit www.acacompliancegroup.com. About Starr Investment Holdings, LLC Starr Investment Holdings, LLC ("SIH") is a multi-billion dollar New York and Nashville-based investment adviser that manages capital on behalf of the Starr Companies together with that of select institutions and family offices. SIH invests in privately-held technology-enabled services businesses with a particular focus on information and healthcare services. SIH partners with world-class management teams, supporting them with flexible long-term capital and strategic resources. For more information, please visit www.starrholdings.com. Press Contact For ACA Compliance : Krissy Kennedy Managing Director of Marketing ACA Compliance Group [email protected] 857-214-1740 SOURCE ACA Compliance Group Donald Trump issued a last-minute appeal Monday night endorsing Alabama Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville (pictured). 'He's going to have a cold direct line into my office,' the president said Donald Trump made an eleventh hour appeal to Republican Alabama voters Monday night to cast their ballots in the Senate primary runoff election Tuesday against his former attorney general claiming they had already experienced Jeff Sessions' 'bad' leadership. Trump assured in a 30-second robocall that Tommy Tuberville, the Republican running against Sessions for the primary nomination, would have a direct line to his Oval Office phone. 'He's going to have a cold direct line into my office,' Trump said in his endorsement of the candidate in the recording. 'We had the Jeff Sessions thing, we gave it a shot, I had no idea it could be as bad as it was,' the president said of his first attorney general, who served from February 2017 November 2018. 'But he had no clue,' Trump continued. 'He just let it get away from him. It's really a shame.' Trump also asserted Alabamians should not want Sessions 'back in Washington' and endorsed Tuberville as a 'winner.' 'Big Senate Race in Alabama on Tuesday. Vote for @TTuberville, he is a winner who will never let you down,' the president tweeted Saturday. 'Jeff Sessions is a disaster who has let us all down,' he continued. 'We don't want him back in Washington!' Tuberville is facing former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (pictured) in Alabama's Republican Senate runoff election Tuesday, but Trump asserted in a robocall to Alabama voters Monday night that he 'had no idea it could be as bad as it was' when he put Sessions in his cabinet Trump also endorsed Tuberville on Saturday, claiming he is a 'winner who will never let you down' and snubbing Sessions as a 'disaster' that he doesn't 'want back in Washington!' Before becoming Trump's attorney general in 2017, Sessions, for 10 years, served as a U.S. senator from Alabama since 1997 he is now trying to win back his old seat. Prior to that he was the state's attorney general for two years. In Alabama's primary election in March, Sessions earned 1.8 per cent less than Tuberville who came in first among the six candidates with 33.4 per cent of the vote. The margin was not enough, however, for Tuberville to outright win and forced a runoff between him and Sessions. On Tuesday, Ronny Jackson, who served as physician to the president from 2013-2018, will also face a runoff election to make the general election ballot for a House seat for Texas' 13th district. Jackson only earned 19.9 per cent of the Republican vote in the March 3 primary election to Josh Winegarner 28.8 per cent, but it was enough to trigger a runoff between the two. Trump endorsed earlier this year his former physician, who during his tenure defended the president's health amid questions over his lifestyle and mental stability. In May Trump tweeted: 'Admiral Ronny Jackson (@RonnyJackson4TX) is a very successful doctor and Navy Veteran running for Congress in #TX13. Strong on Crime, the Border and Agriculture and he loves our Vets! Ronny has my Complete and Total Endorsement! Vote for Ronny!' Trump retweeted that endorsement on Monday night. The president also made last-minute appeals for Jackson and Tony Gonzales, another Texas Republican who is running in the states 23 district. Trump made the late night push Monday night for both Jackson and Gonzales just hours before polls opened by joining tele-town halls for the Republican candidates. Gonzales is a former Navy cryptologist who came in first place in his primary with 28.1 per cent. But his runoff opponent, Raul Reyes Jr., has Texas Senator Ted Cruzs endorsement. Trump also endorsed his former presidential physician, Ronny Jackson, in his runoff race for a House seat in Texas' 13th district. The president retweeted a May 22 tweet on Monday in support of Jackson Here the president deplanes Air Force One last month in Dallas, Texas with his preferred candidates Jackson (center left) and Tuberville (center fight) along with Session's replacement current Attorney General Bill Barr (right) Gonzales is looking to replace retiring Representative Will Hurd in a district Democrats have picked for a potential switch in the House as Gina Ortiz Jones won the primary with a big enough margin to not need a runoff. Jackson is also vying for the nomination to replace retiring Congressman Mac Thornberry and the 13th district is deep red and unlikely to switch blue. Sessions could lose out on winning back his Senate seat as the president continues to rail against him. The former attorney general left the White House on awful terms with the president. He resigned upon Trump's request in November 2018, after serving for almost a full two years of the president's first term. The feud between Trump and Sessions stemmed from the then-attorney general deciding to recuse himself from any investigations related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections. Trump asserted, and still laments, that Sessions should have not recused himself and should have testified on his behalf. Journalist and author Bob Woodward also revealed in his book Fear: Trump in the White House, which came out just a few months before the resignation, that the president called Sessions 'mentally retarded' and a 'dumb southerner.' Trump continues to deny ever using 'these terms on anyone.' Sacked Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday evening thanked all those who supported him amid the ongoing crisis in the Congress party in the state. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today, he posted on Twitter. My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today. ! Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 This was the second tweet posted by the former Rajasthan state Congress president after being sacked by chief minister Ashok Gehlot along with two other ministers from the state cabinet earlier in the day. Pilot changed Twitter bio in the afternoon and posted a tweet in Hindi. Truth can be rattled, not defeated, he tweeted in Hindi after his removal from the dual posts. Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 Justifying his decision, chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the party was compelled to take the decision because the BJP was conspiring. The high command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading. We knew it was a huge conspiracy; now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi, Gehlot said after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra and dropping Pilot and two other ministers from his cabinet. The CM has accused his former deputy of playing into the hands of the BJP. I am very sad that horse trading was going on, he said. Any new coronavirus unemployment benefit passed by Congress should be tied to the health of the economy, New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said. The second-term Democrat said the amount of the benefit should be adjusted as the economy improves. When the benefit ends should also be tied to where the economy is, not an arbitrary drop off date, he said. The ideal outcome would be an extension with sort of a glide path where the benefits come down as the unemployment rate drops, Heinrich said during a tour of a business in Corrales on Tuesday. When you give people a glide path, youre not dropping them into uncertainty tomorrow, but youre also creating more urgency to get back into the workforce. As many as 156,000 New Mexico residents are facing uncertainty at the end of the month, according to New Mexico Workforce Solutions statistics. Thats because the $600 a week unemployment insurance benefit passed by Congress in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act will expire July 31. Most state residents will receive their last payment July 25. Weve had a number of conversations about that, but theres some pretty challenging politics there, including some who just dont think we should extend them at all, Heinrich said. He believes the gliding path is an answer to criticism by some Republican senators who believe the current benefit encourages many people not to work because some are making more than what they would be paid on the job. Thats part of why Im saying dropping the benefit over time as the economy comes back up and the pandemic is managed better is one way to transition people better than where we just drop benefits overnight, he said. The 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 gotten traction in the Senate, which returns from recess next week. U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., have sponsored a bill to extend the benefits for the duration of the pandemic. And Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is proposing a back-to-work bonus of $450 a week that has support from the Trump administration. I would be open to something like that, Heinrich said. I think the key is that we should be managing things as smoothly as possible and not have big cliffs where things change overnight. The next COVID-19 aid package could also include a second round of stimulus payments. The HEROES Act would provide $1,200 for individuals making less than $75,000. Republicans, with Trump administration backing, are proposing $1,200 checks for those making less than $40,000. I dont know if that is the right answer, but were going to need additional stimulus to keep us from slipping into structural recession, Heinrich said. He called stimulus checks an immediate response, and said Congress needed to be looking more long term. The top prosecutor of Porter County, Indiana, said he had doubts 30 years ago when called upon as a public defender to represent one of three men accused of abducting, raping and murdering a 19-year-old convenience store clerk. "Honestly, I didn't want to do the case," Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said. But he took it on. Despite the hate mail and calls, Germann sought out the necessary training to become one of only a small number of defense attorneys around the state qualified to handle death penalty cases. His last capital case was seven or eight years ago, and the issue of the death penalty has largely been on the back burner until just recently when the federal government began a push that resulted Tuesday morning in the first federal execution in 17 years. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Oklahoma, was executed by lethal injection at 8:07 a.m. EDT at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The issue has awakened memories for Germann, who now is on the other end of the judicial scale as the elected criminal prosecutor for a county whose home seat is in Valparaiso. Germann, who had represented defendants in three federal capital punishment cases, said the issue has become a "political hot button now." While prepared to carry out his role as a prosecutor by pursuing a death penalty case if warranted, Germann said he feels society is not as supportive as it once was of this ultimate form of punishment. He pointed out the number of states that have eliminated it as an option in the past several years, including neighboring Illinois. Capital punishment is authorized in 28 states, and the federal government and the military, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Indiana is among those 28 states, though it has not carried out an execution since Dec. 11, 2009, according to statistics kept by the Indiana Department of Correction. There are 10 people on death row in Indiana nine men and one woman. Of the 61 federal inmates currently on death row, Michigan City resident Odell Corley is the only one from Indiana, according to the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Corley, who goes by the name Nasih Ra'id, was convicted in 2004 of fatally shooting two Porter County bank clerks during a botched robbery two years earlier. One of Germann's nearby criminal justice colleagues believes the death penalty still has a place in our justice system. "The death penalty still serves a purpose," Lake County Prosecutor Bernie Carter said this week. Carter's jurisdiction includes the urban core of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana. The death penalty option must be retained for the "worst of the worst" offenses, including qualified offenses against children and police officers, Carter said. "We have to protect our police men and women," he said. Carter, who has been Lake County's elected prosecutor since 1993, said his office has pursued about 10 death penalty cases, five of which he was involved in directly. The last of these was the 2013 conviction of Gary resident Kevin Isom for the murders in 2007 of Isom's wife and two stepchildren. He was sentenced to death three days after that conviction. Isom, 54, is currently being held at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City awaiting his fate, according to the DOC online offender search tool. Germann said prosecutors seem to be pursuing fewer death penalty cases, in part, because of the enormous costs of preparing for trial and decades of appeals. "This is all at the public's expense," he said. Germann said he let his own death penalty defense certification lapse following his last case. "After that case, I couldn't do it anymore," he said. Carter said his decision process in pursuing the death penalty includes meeting with the families of victims to see "what their sense of justice is." He serves on a statewide panel that reviews potential death penalty cases brought to it by prosecutors. The move to resume federal executions in Terre Haute triggered opposition last fall from Indiana Catholic Bishops, who called the move, "regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified." Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, of Oklahoma City, who serves as chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, issued a June 30 statement saying, "As Pope Francis articulated through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the death penalty is unacceptable as an affront to the Gospel and to respect for human life." "To oppose the death penalty is not to be 'soft on crime,'" he said. "Rather, it is to be strong on the dignity of life." Coakley made a failed plea last month for Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump to abandon their push to preside over the first federal executions in 17 years. Two other federal executions are scheduled for later this week. Carter said he opposes states eliminating the option of the death penalty and would like to see uniformity across the country on the issue. "It's what the people want," he said. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 DETROITManuel Matty Moroun, a billionaire businessman who owned a critical bridge that connects Ontario to Michigan, has died in his suburban Detroit home. He was 93. Moroun died of congestive heart failure Sunday in Grosse Pointe Shores. Employees of the various Moroun companies were told Monday of his death in a message from Morouns son, Matthew. My dad loved his family and that extended to his work family, Matthew Moroun wrote. He poured his heart into his work and for over seven decades spent his time leading and protecting us. As a great mentor to many, my father was so proud of the companies that he leaves behind and all the innovation that is yet to come. His fights with the Canadian government, largely over the building of a publicly owned commuter bridge across the Detroit River, were legendary and ferocious. Moroun bought the Ambassador Bridge a main trade corridor in 1979, according to the Detroit Historical Society. The span connects Detroit to Windsor, Ont. He acquired the bridge while he was the owner of a fledgling Detroit trucking firm, taking control of the valuable piece of infrastructure before Ottawa realized its worth. The link between Windsor and Detroit now accounts for a quarter of all trade between Canada and the U.S. As of 2010, the bridge was earning the Moroun family $60 million (U.S.) a year in toll revenue. In a rare interview in 2010, Moroun told the Star he was open to co-operating with Ottawa. All the talk so far has been at a lower level, and it starts with the Canadians saying, No matter what, were going to build a new bridge and kill you. Now what did you want to talk about? Its a pretty tough way to start off. It puts us in a position of saying, No matter what, were going to stop you, he said. The Gordie Howe International Bridge is expected to open in 2024. The family also owns and operates Central Transport International, a trucking and logistics company, and Crown Enterprises. Forbes estimates Morouns net worth at $1.6 billion. The Moroun family once owned the massive and vacant Michigan Central train station, which came to symbolize Detroits blight as it stood blank, dark and deteriorating just outside the citys downtown for decades. The family sold the building in 2018 to Ford Motor Co. For me to own land in Detroit, it was a badge of honour, and it was support for the city, Moroun told the Detroit Free Press in 2010. Our fortunes are linked to the city. If the city doesnt have any prosperity, we dont have any value in the land, right? Moroun attended the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and majored in chemistry and biology at the University of Notre Dame, according to The Detroit News. Born of immigrant parents in Detroit, he rose from a young man working at a neighbourhood gas station to graduating from the University of Notre Dame and creating a billion-dollar company, said Sandy Baruah, chief executive of the Detroit Regional Chamber. With files from Jacob Lorinc About 52,257 hectares of degraded land has been recovered in Northern Ghana for agriculture activities through the implementation of the Sustainable Land and Water Management Project (SLWMP). Mr Asher Nkegbe, the Upper East Regional Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who is also the Head of the Technical Coordination Office (TCO) of the project, said this at the second 2020 Local Steering Committee Meeting of the SLWMP held in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region. The Regional Director explained that the 10-year project being implemented in the Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper East and Upper West Regions was making significant gains as it reversed degraded lands and improved agriculture production in the beneficiary areas. The project is being implemented in 12 districts of the five regions of the north including; Mamprugu Moaduri, West Mamprusi, West Gonja and Sawla Tuna-Kalba Districts in the Northern Region, Talensi, Bawku West, Builsa South and Kassena Nankana West districts in the Upper East Region and Wa East, Daffiama-Bussie Issa, Sissala East and Sissala West Districts in the Upper West Region. The Project, funded by Global Environmental Facility (GEF)) through the World Bank begun implementation in 2010 and is expected to end in 2020. It has supported 39,600 farmers in 247 communities in the project regions to adopt sustainable land and water management practices. It has also put in place eight environmental management plans to provide management to 72,716 hectares of forest reserves in the project area. Mr Nkegbe said apart from the project ensuring that 1,060 hectares of land were reforested in the Kulpawn and Ambalara forest reserves in the Upper West Region, six Community Resource Management Areas (CREMA) had also been established and ten dugouts constructed. The project has also ensured that Spatial Development Frameworks for the North Savannah zone is developed to guide future planning, the Regional Director indicated. He commended the Technical Coordination Team of the project for working hard and said the establishment of buffer zones along river banks through the cultivation of Bamboo plantation and riparian grass and the establishment of rangelands needed to be celebrated. Mr Frank Fuseine Adongo, the Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, mentioned that one of the major challenges confronting the five regions of the north was land degradation associated with indiscriminate bush burning, felling of trees for charcoal production and overgrazing and expressed optimism that such problems could be addressed through the project interventions. He commended the GEF and the World Bank including; the implementing agencies for the support and recommended for the up-scaling of the project to other communities in the country particularly the northern parts of the country. The forum was aimed at briefing the members of the committee on the progress of the implementation of the project and to solicit for their inputs for the sustainability of the project. It attracted Municipal and District Planners, Regional and District Agriculture Directors and Municipal and District Coordinating Directors and Planners from the implementing Regions. 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 100% Website okapkuchenny.pl uses latest and advanced technologies. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 3449 bytes (3.37 kb uncompressed). This CoolSocial report was updated on 2020-12-14, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want. President Rouhani: Iran to emerge victorious in economic war with US IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, July 14, IRNA -- President Hassan Rouhani called for cooperation and solidarity among three branches of government at a time when the people face difficult economic conditions in the wake of sanctions and coronavirus pandemic, and said that victory is near in the economic war that the US has started against Iran. President Rouhani made the remarks in a Monday meeting of High Economic Coordination Council of the Heads of Three Branches of Government - a body comprising heads of the three branches of government formed upon an order by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to address major economic issues. The council was formed following US withdrawal from the JCPOA and reinstatement of sanctions against Iran, the chief executive said, noting that Supreme Leader in a session stressed the need for readiness and coordination among all pillars of the country in the face of the enemy's economic war. JCPOA clinched with P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) became effective on January 16 to give Iran sanctions relief in return for temporary curbs on its nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency had been tasked to investigate Iran's nuclear past. In May 2018, US President Donald Trump officially withdrew from the nuclear agreement with Iran, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was negotiated and signed by former US President Barack Obama. 8072**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address ATLANTA, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Georgia Power is offering a special payment plan to help customers with past-due account balances accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Customers who enroll will be able to pay past-due balances over a six-month timeframe between October 2020 and March 2021, with no late fees. The suspension of disconnections remains in place until tomorrow, July 15, and customers with a past-due account balance are encouraged to establish a payment plan or consider the additional options Georgia Power is offering customers: For customers enrolled in PrePay: Georgia Power customers who are currently enrolled in this plan and have past-due account balances can make payments for current energy usage with 25 percent of their payments going toward their outstanding balance. No late fees will be charged if outstanding balances are paid before April 2021 . Georgia Power customers who are currently enrolled in this plan and have past-due account balances can make payments for current energy usage with 25 percent of their payments going toward their outstanding balance. No late fees will be charged if outstanding balances are paid before . For customers not enrolled in PrePay: Georgia Power customers with past-due account balances may be eligible to switch to the PrePay rate plan. Customers can take advantage of its special provision for paying outstanding balances with no late fees if paid before April 2021 . Customers on PrePay are not charged a deposit. Georgia Power customers can sign up for a special payment plan at www.georgiapower.com/paymentplan, or by logging into the "My Account" section on www.georgiapower.com . They can also enroll using the company's automated system by calling customer service at 1-888-660-5890. Relief on summer bills On May 28, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) approved Georgia Power's plan to reduce its fuel rates by 17.2 percent and total billings by approximately $740 million over a two-year period. The implementation of a special interim reduction will provide customers additional relief during the COVID-19 pandemic through even lower fuel rates over the summer months. The lower fuel rate and special interim reduction will lower the total bill of a typical residential customer using an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours by a total of $10.26 per month from June through September 2020. Georgia Power also announced last month that the typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours would receive an $11.29 credit on their June Georgia Power bill. This reflected implementation of a one-time $51.5 million credit for customers, also approved by the PSC. Energy Assistance Programs Georgia Power partners with nonprofit, community and faith-based organizations to offer assistance programs to those in need. These programs include: Georgia Power's Senior Citizen Discount Georgia Power customers 65 years of age or older who meet the income requirements for eligibility can receive up to $24 a month off their bill. Georgia Power customers 65 years of age or older who meet the income requirements for eligibility can receive up to a month off their bill. Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Georgia Power supports the Division of Family & Children Services to help qualifying, low-income households pay their home energy bills. Georgia Power supports the Division of Family & Children Services to help qualifying, low-income households pay their home energy bills. The Salvation Army's Project SHARE Established in partnership with The Salvation Army, Georgia Power customers can provide assistance to residents in the same community for expenses, such as utility bills, housing, food and medical necessities. Visit www.GeorgiaPower.com/EnergyAssistance for more information. Tips, Tools & Resources Georgia Power encourages its customers to use online tools to help manage their energy use such as the My Power Usage program, a free service connected to many Georgia Power online accounts. My Power Usage allows customers to track their daily energy use, project their monthly bill, and set daily or monthly usage alerts. Customers can take advantage of the company's free Online Energy Checkup. The 15-minute quick and easy service provides a customized report to help customers understand their energy use and find ways to save money where you can use your actual power bills to generate a customized report. You will enter information about your home and family to measure how you use energy. Whether customers own a home or rent, tailored tips are available at www.GeorgiaPower.com/Save. This site also includes access to a variety of rebates and incentives for both homes and businesses. Energy efficiency measures for customers include continued development and implementation of new plans and programs approved in the 2019 Integrated Resource Plan. About Georgia Power Georgia Power is the largest electric subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), America's premier energy company. Value, Reliability, Customer Service and Stewardship are the cornerstones of the company's promise to 2.6 million customers in all but four of Georgia's 159 counties. Committed to delivering clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy at rates below the national average, Georgia Power maintains a diverse, innovative generation mix that includes nuclear, coal and natural gas, as well as renewables such as solar, hydroelectric and wind. Georgia Power focuses on delivering world-class service to its customers every day and the company is consistently recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as an industry leader in customer satisfaction. For more information, visit www.GeorgiaPower.com and connect with the company on Facebook (Facebook.com/GeorgiaPower [facebook.com]), Twitter (Twitter.com/GeorgiaPower [twitter.com]) and Instagram (Instagram.com/ga_power [instagram.com]). SOURCE Georgia Power Related Links http://www.georgiapower.com Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Adityastha Rai Wratsangka (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 15:54 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066636a66 4 Art & Culture Teater-Koma,wayang,Galeri-Indonesia-Kaya,theater,theater-performance,Streaming,arts-and-culture Free Teater Koma, arguably one of Indonesias biggest and most prominent theatrical groups, recently livestreamed a "rerun" of a play from its repertoire for theater aficionados stuck at home under COVID-19 restrictions. The health crisis has made it almost impossible for performing arts groups like Teater Koma to create and deliver new productions. The group recently announced that it was rescheduling its 160th production, Sampek Engtay, from its original premiere in March this year to premiere on Jan. 30-31, 2020 at Ciputra Artpreneur Theater in South Jakarta. Creativity is critical to survival in this trying time, and Teater Koma, like many other major theatrical groups, is finding new ways to stay relevant by reproducing their earlier works through streaming technology. On July 4 and 5, Teater Koma livestreamed a recording of Sie Jin Kwie through IndonesiaKaya.com's YouTube channel. The play premiered on Feb. 5, 2010 and was the first play in a quadrilogy, with the concluding installment premiering in November 2017 at the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts complex. Changing the stars: Teater Koma's 'Sie Jin Kwie' features the star-crossed lovers Sie Jin Kwie, a humble construction worker, and Lee Kim Hua, the daughter of a nobleman. (Image Dynamics/-) Sie Jin Kwie is adapted from a medieval Chinese folktale written by Tio Keng Jian and Lo Koan Chung. Set during the Tang dynasty in 7th century China, the play tells the story of Sie Jin Kwie (Rangga Riantiarno), who appears in a dream to Emperor Li Si Bin (Prijo S. Winardi). In the dream, Sie saves the emperor from peril, and on waking, the emperor is curious about his savior and determined to do whatever it takes to meet him. At the time, the kingdom of Kolekok had declared war against the Tang dynasty under its new ruler, General Kae So Bun (Paulus Simangunsong). Sie signs up with the imperial army in hopes of fighting to protect the empire. Thio Su Kwie (Alex Fatahillah), a corrupt commander, knows about the emperor's dream and becomes afraid that the emperor might favor Sie over him. So Thio manipulates Sie, telling him that Emperor Li wants him dead and assigns him to the kitchen. The play is performed as a wayang orang (human puppet) piece and is narrated by Budi Ros as the dalang (puppet master). Dressed in traditional Chinese clothing, Budis performance blends both Chinese and Javanese culture. As always, Teater Koma uses its distinctive dark humor to incorporate modern cultural references in its delivery of Sie Jin Kwie. Breaking the fourth wall: 'Dalang' (puppet master) Budi Ros (right) scolds actor Rangga Riantiarno for missing his stage cue and appearing on stage alongside his character's 'wayang potehi' (glove puppet). (Image Dynamics/-) For example, when Sie defeats his first enemy, Budi steps in and stops the play, so the audience has a chance to take pictures. At other points in the play, the joking plays on the absurd, like when Sie is talking to a rather feminine tiger that calls itself macan banci (transvestite tiger). The play's vocal performances also shine in emotional scenes presented in song accompanied by light-footed dances, with the troupe's actor and actresses showcasing their vocal talents through harmonization in each number. The play of Sie Jin Kwie is a story of heroism, manliness, patriotism and sincerity in fighting for a nation, [the protagonist] often intercepted by corrupt individuals, said director Nino Riantiarno. With the mix of pretty costumes and choreography, along with music and unique singing, we want to present an entertaining show that still retains its [moral] values. I hope that the positive messages in this play will be accepted by connoisseurs of art. The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post. Four teenage girls were trapped inside a burning barn during an incident in Dunmurry on Monday, police have said. It was reported shortly after 8.15pm that four 13-year-old girls gained access to a disused barn in the Mount Eagles Avenue area. When they were inside, police said several male youths set blocks of polystyrene on fire and threw them into the barn, as well as wood and stones, which trapped the girls inside. One of the girls contacted the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service who arrived on the scene and rescued the teenagers. Detective Sergeant Hollie McCartan said: Thankfully there were no reports of any serious injuries and only minor damage was caused to the barn. One of the males involved was described as having blonde hair which was shaved at the sides and wearing a black top and navy bottoms. Another was described as wearing a green and white coloured top, with a third described as wearing a grey tracksuit with the hood covering his face. It is extremely fortunate that we are not dealing with more tragic circumstances following this incident. This was a terrifying ordeal for the girls trapped inside and if they had not managed to contact the authorities, the consequences could have been devastating. The persons responsible showed a complete disregard for the safety and well-being of those inside." SDLP Councillor Brian Heading has urged those responsible to hand themselves over to the police. The Collin representative added: However innocent they may thought this was in terms of just messing about and teasing a few girls, it could have ended with some very serious consequences. The site should have been secured and the developer concerned needs to take responsibility for allowing access. Alliance representative Donnamarie Higgins said: I am in utter shock over this incident and find it hard to believe someone, much less young people, could do something which could have easily led to serious tragedy. This can only be seen as an attempt to at least injure these girls, if not more They are extremely lucky to have escaped with no serious injuries. My thoughts are with them after what must have been a completely distressing time. I urge anyone who knows the young males involved or who has any information whatsoever on this incident to contact police with it immediately. Police have urged anyone with any information regarding the incident to contact them on 101, quoting reference number 1819 13/07/20. A report can also be submitted online here. Information can also be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. NEW DELHI (dpa-AFX) - Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (RDY) announced the launch of Over-the-Counter Nicotine Polacrilex Lozenges, 2 mg and 4 mg, the store brand version of Nicorette Lozenges in the U.S. market. The Nicotine Lozenges brands and store brand markets had total U.S. retail sales of approximately $200 million for the most recent 52 weeks ending in May 17, 2020 according to IRI. According to Marc Kikuchi, CEO, North America Generics, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, 'The launch of Nicotine Polacrilex Lozenges represents our continuing commitment to the OTC category of Smoking Cessation. Nicotine Polacrilex Lozenges are an important addition to our current offering of Nicotine Replacement Therapy including Nicotine Transdermal System Patches, sold as Habitrol brand and various store brands...' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. When it has come to the task of trying to capitalise on Chelseas slip-ups since the turn of the year, Manchester United have resembled something of a timid teenager struggling to find the right way to ask a girl on the date he longs for. The will has been there but not the conviction and so closing the deal has remained a frustratingly elusive exercise. St Stephens Day had been the last time United had won after watching Chelsea drop points in the Premier League, since when they had failed on five occasions to take advantage of their rivals floundering. So this was very much a test of Uniteds mettle, a chance to make the most of Chelsea and Leicesters defeats at the weekend to move up to third and demonstrate that this really is a team on the march after all those missed opportunities. As the clock hit 96 minutes, United looked like they had finally crossed that hurdle, grateful a little earlier to a stupendous save by David De Gea, to deny Nathan Redmond, on his 400th appearance for United and goals from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. But then Southampton won a corner that James Ward-Prowse swung in, Jan Bednarek flicked on and Michael Obafemi, a substitute, managed to steal ahead of Victor Lindelof to poke in. A crushing blow for Solskjaer, joy for Ralph Hassenhuttl, whose side simply refused to give in. It kept United fifth on goal difference from Leicester. The news earlier in the day that Manchester City had successfully overturned their two-year European ban may have come as a surprise to some, and means fifth place will not bring with it a Champions League spot this term, but Solskjaer has been telling his players for weeks to forget about favours from anyone, or anything. The United manager has also set his sights a lot higher than fifth, although when Stuart Armstrong fired Southampton into an early lead, the thought of a Champions League safety net being taken away must have been a little unsettling. Paul Pogba had been spared against Aston Villa last week when he lost the ball cheaply to Trezeguet and was relieved to see the Egyptian hit a post. There was no such luck for the Frenchman here. Pogba was pickpocketed by the live-wire Danny Ings after being caught unawares and could only watch as the Southampton forward worked the ball to Nathan Redmond, who crossed to the far side where an unmarked Armstrong did the rest. You had to wonder what was going on with Pogba in those opening stages. It was not as if Southampton, in form themselves after beating City and with 10 points from a possible 15 since the restart and Ings in the zone, were going to make life easy. Pogba was dispossessed in similar fashion soon after by Che Adams and this time was relieved the Southampton players through ball for Ings was overhit. But, thereafter, both Pogba and United woke up. This is the difference with United now they can turn it on in an instant. Two goals in three minutes and Southampton did not know what had hit them. In truth, they should have been in front before Southampton took the lead but Anthony Martial, denied then by the strong outstretched right hand of Alex McCarthy, was eager to make amends. Pogba drilled in a cross and, while Martial fell to ground after Jack Stephens bundled into the back of him, he still had the composure to poke the ball through to Marcus Rashford to finish coolly. Martial showcased the other side of his game soon after. United worked the ball from left to right to Martial via Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Pogba and Bruno Fernandes and, once he picked up possession, the France striker only had one thing in mind. A sudden burst of pace left Kyle Walker-Peters for dead before Martial rifled his shot into the top corner. This Southampton do not lie down, though, or least they havent since that 9-0 capitulation at the hands of Leicester. It was a fast-paced, full bloodied game, and United never got the third goal they craved. Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - The Federal Government Monday announced the suspension of all unnecessary travels for meetings by government official until further notice, an official source said here Minister Byrne speaks to European colleagues and prepares for General Affairs Council Press release Minister Byrne speaks to European colleagues and prepares for General Affairs Council Minister of State for European Affairs, Thomas Byrne, T.D., has spoken individually with his counterparts from a number of EU Member States, via telephone and videoconference calls in preparation for an EU General Affairs Council this week. Reflecting on the discussions, Minister Byrne said: It has been very useful to have an opportunity to introduce myself to my colleagues across the EU and to explain the key priorities of the new Government, particularly our unwavering commitment to the European Union and its ideals. We are fortunate to have relationships with fellow Member States built on strong foundations of mutual trust. The informal discussions touched on the next EU budget (Multiannual Financial Framework or MFF); Brexit and the negotiation of the EU-UK future relationship; rule of law in the EU; and the planned Conference on the Future of Europe. Minister Byrne also took the opportunity to thank colleagues for their solidarity and support during the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in assisting citizens to return home to Ireland. On Wednesday 15 July, Minister Byrne will join his EU Ministerial colleagues by videoconference, for a meeting of Ministers for European Affairs where the German Presidency will present its priorities for the coming six-month term. Ministers will also prepare for the in-person meeting of the European Council on 17/18 July where the agenda features the next EU budget (MFF), and the proposed European recovery instrument of 750bn - Next Generation EU. Speaking ahead of the General Affairs meeting, Minister Byrne said: Im very much looking forward to beginning work with my European colleagues. On the negotiations for the new EU budget, I will be highlighting Irish priorities, including the importance of maintaining and safeguarding the CAP, and ensuring that the impact of COVID-19 on the economies of Member States be fully taken into consideration when looking at our individual resilience needs. I will also make the point that we expect Brexit to pose a further huge challenge to the Irish economy, which will add to the difficulties we face in supporting struggling sectors. We greatly appreciate the EUs strong support and solidarity, including the crisis response package of economic and financial assistance of more than 540 billion already agreed by the European Council. The Next Generation EU Recovery Fund will be another essential part of the EU path to recovery. ENDS Previous Item | Next Item New Delhi, July 14 : The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Tuesday hit back at Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli for his statement on Ayodhya, saying that there is only one Ayodhya and that is in India. This assertion came closely on the heels of Oli's controversial claim that "real" Ayodhya is in Nepal. The VHP also hinted at "pressure" from foreign powers as the reason behind this statement that has created a row. VHP's Working President Alok Kumar said on Tuesday: "The present Ayodhya is the only birthplace of Bhagwan Shri Ram. Shri Ram Baraat proceeds to Janakpuri from Ayodhya every year. It's impossible to misguide on the issue." He added that Hindu scriptures, janshruti, customs, traditions and history have no different view about Ram Janmabhoomi (birth place) Ayodhya. "His (Oli's) statement probably can't be relied upon by anybody except himself." Without naming China, he alleged that Oli's statement were made "under the pressure of a foreign power". However, stressing on the long tradition of India-Nepal ties, the VHP leader asserted that Lord Ram & Lord Pashupati Nath are the "binding force" of their religious, cultural & spiritual relations. "It's an unsuccessful attempt to break the unbreakable ties between the religious Hindu communities of both the countries." Oli controversially claimed that "real Ayodhya" lies in Nepal and not in India. He also claimed that "Lord Ram is Nepali, not Indian". Ayodhya is situated in Uttar Pradesh, around 135 km from state capital Lucknow. New Delhi: A head constable, posted at the PCR unit of Delhi police, was allegedly stabbed by a drunken man who was creating nuisance with his friends in southeast Delhi's Molarband area, police said on Thursday, adding that five persons were arrested in connection with the incident. The incident was reported on the intervening night of November 1 and 2 when head constable Sanjay Meena and constable Tara Chand had gone to Molarband's Mohan Baba Nagar following a PCR call regarding a quarrel, police said. When the PCR vehicle reached there, they found a car parked near Cosmos School with a few men sitting inside. Meena got off the vehicle and asked them if anyone had made a PCR call. One of them got out of the car and allegedly told Meena, "I am Amit Pali, a baddie of the area." Pali's accomplices joined him and allegedly started abusing and even roughing up Meena. Meanwhile, Tara Chand too joined Meena and was beaten up by the men. One of the men allegedly took out a knife and stabbed Meena in the stomach and thigh. All of them tried to flee from the spot but Pali was apprehended by the two policemen. The cops alerted Badarpur police station and more personnel arrived at the spot. Meena was rushed to a hospital where he was still undergoing treatment. Police said he was out of danger and will be discharged from the hospital soon. Pali told the police about his other accomplices -- Jitu, Aadil, Atul and Ravi, police said, adding that it was Jitu who had stabbed Meena. All the arrested men had criminal records, police said. Independence Day celebrations are expected to be muted this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic and fewer VIPs are likely to attend the annual August 15 event at Delhis Red Fort while schoolchildren will skip it altogether, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. Corona winners, or people who have recovered from the disease, will be the highlight at the celebrations. Around 1,500 such people are expected to attend the function and listen to Prime Minister Narendra Modis speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, said one of the persons cited above. The corona winners will include around 500 local policemen. The remaining will travel to Delhi from other parts of the country. The defence ministry, which plays a key role in organising the event, has asked the Union home ministry to implement the plan for inviting corona winners for the function. Schoolchildren have traditionally been a part of the Independence Day celebrations. Thousands of them show up to hear the Prime Ministers speech at the Red Fort. This time they will be missing at the event because of Covid-19, said a second official. Modi mingled with over 8,000 children, who attended the Independence Day function at Red Fort last year, after his speech. The children enthusiastically crowded around him hoping to shake hands with him or speak to him. Defence secretary Ajay Kumar, who visited the Red Fort last week to inspect the preparations for the function, gave clear directions that social distancing norms have to be strictly adhered to, said a third official. While schoolchildren will not attend the celebrations, cadets from the National Cadet Corps are expected to be a part of the function. Fewer dignitaries will attend the event because of the social distancing norms, said the third official. Only 150 to 200 of them will be seated in the VIP enclosure compared to almost 1,000 in previous years. Last year, 10,000 people attended the Independence Day function. In his sixth Independence Day speech from Red Fort last year, Modi highlighted the nullification of the Constitutions Articles 370 and 35A to divest Jammu & Kashmir of its special status in August last year. He also spoke about the legislation that criminalised the practice of instant divorce among a section of Muslims, strengthening of anti-terror laws. Modi said the country was moving towards one nation, one Constitution while highlighting key accomplishments of his government in less than 70 days after it was voted back to power in May last year. Modi also announced the creation of Chief of Defence Staffs post for more effective coordination between the three services. This came after the proposal for the post remained in limbo for decades. He also outlined Indias journey from 2014 to 2019 as one from disappointment to hope and urged citizen participation in environmental initiatives, water conservation, end of single-use plastic. He flagged the population explosion as a key concern. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! Many investors define successful investing as beating the market average over the long term. But its virtually certain that sometimes you will buy stocks that fall short of the market average returns. We regret to report that long term Ambac Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:AMBC) shareholders have had that experience, with the share price dropping 26% in three years, versus a market return of about 35%. And over the last year the share price fell 24%, so we doubt many shareholders are delighted. The falls have accelerated recently, with the share price down 14% in the last three months. View our latest analysis for Ambac Financial Group Ambac Financial Group isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Generally speaking, companies without profits are expected to grow revenue every year, and at a good clip. That's because it's hard to be confident a company will be sustainable if revenue growth is negligible, and it never makes a profit. In the last three years Ambac Financial Group saw its revenue shrink by 20% per year. That means its revenue trend is very weak compared to other loss making companies. On the face of it we'd posit the share price fall of 8.1% compound, over three years is well justified by the fundamental deterioration. The key question now is whether the company has the capacity to fund itself to profitability, without more cash. Of course, it is possible for businesses to bounce back from a revenue drop - but we'd want to see that before getting interested. The image below shows how earnings and revenue have tracked over time (if you click on the image you can see greater detail). If you are thinking of buying or selling Ambac Financial Group stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet. Story continues A Different Perspective While the broader market gained around 7.6% in the last year, Ambac Financial Group shareholders lost 24%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Unfortunately, last year's performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 4.1% over the last half decade. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. While it is well worth considering the different impacts that market conditions can have on the share price, there are other factors that are even more important. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Ambac Financial Group (1 is a bit concerning) that you should be aware of. If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of companies that have proven they can grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges. 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. Bottom line: China is currently able to produce 20 percent of the chips it needs for the local tech industry, with plans to cover 70 percent of its needs by 2025. If anything, it looks like both the Chinese government and private investors are willing to pay as much as it takes to make it happen, contributing to SMIC's meteoric rise. With the trade war between the US and China raging on, the latter country is working hard to reduce its dependence on American chips and intellectual property related to semiconductors. Last year, the Chinese government poured no less than $29 billion into local tech companies to accelerate the development of CPUs, GPUs, network chipsets, and modems, among other things. This is, of course, part of the now-famous "3-5-2" policy to replace all hardware and software solutions used in public institutions with homegrown alternatives -- a measure designed to sever supply chains between the two countries that will severely impact big American suppliers like Microsoft, Dell, and HP. At the heart of China's ambitious plan to become technologically self-sufficient is the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Company (SMIC). Despite having offices in several countries and being the largest semiconductor foundry in China, SMIC has been a relatively low-profile entity -- that is until June this year when it decided to delist from the New York Stock exchange and make a public offering on Shanghai's STAR Market. According to Bloomberg analysts, the company looks set to raise as much as $7.6 billion -- over two times its total revenue from 2019. This, along with a generous $2 billion cash injection from China's National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund would go towards an expansion in manufacturing capacity, as well as achieving the more advanced capabilities needed for making 7nm and 5nm chips. The Chinese government has high hopes that SMIC will help achieve its "Made in China 2025" plan of producing 70 percent of the semiconductors used by the country by 2025. To put things in context, China in 2019 imported $306 billion worth of chips for its local tech industry. SMIC may be the country's largest chipmaker but it still trails competitors like TSMC and Samsung in several departments. For one, SMIC is only able to produce 14nm chips as of writing, with plans to start 7nm chips by the end of the year -- provided there are no more lockdown-related delays. That's a far cry from the advanced capabilities of other foundries -- TSMC has been making 7nm chips since 2018 and is on track to start production of 5nm chips later this year. Samsung, too, has been honoring 7nm orders for the past two years and is confident it can get a head start on 5nm chip production by the end of summer. To put things in perspective, it could take 5 to 10 years for SMIC to catch up with its rivals. According to Professor Zhou Zhiping from the Peking University of Beijing -- a man with decades of experience in the local semiconductor industry -- China will have to contend with the rising costs of developing and manufacturing chips on smaller process nodes. The problems don't even stop there, as Huawei recently found after a new set of US sanctions severed its ties with TSMC, who is using American hardware and software in its manufacturing. This forced the Chinese tech giant to enter new partnerships with Shanghai Microelectronics, MediaTek, and SMIC, on top of spending billions on a two-year stockpile of American chips. Huawei is easily one of SMIC's biggest clients, accounting for one fifth of the foundry's chip sales in 2019. However, SMIC is currently only able to manufacture lower-end chips like the Kirin 710A, which are based on a 14nm FinFET process, while using American software tools at every stage of the supply chain. The Chinese foundry has been exploring domestic alternatives, but it's not clear if that obstacle will be completely overcome in the near future. SMIC will most likely be required to obtain a US export license, or else it risks losing access to essential equipment and software from American suppliers. One thing is clear -- the Chinese government and private investors are flocking to buy as much SMIC stock as they can to help it close the technological gap between it and the competition. Furthermore, the company made a sensible decision and hired Bai Nong, who is the former general manager of GlobalFoundries, the world's third-largest semiconductor foundry after TSMC and Samsung. A US police officer fatally shot a man after a dispute with another man over not wearing a face mask. Michigan's sheriff's deputy shot the man dead on Tuesday in Eaton County, southwest of Lansing, state police lieutenant Brian Olesky said. The man was suspected of having stabbed a pensioner who had challenged him about not wearing a face mask at a convenience store, police said. The shooting happened about 30 minutes after the stabbing at a Quality Dairy store in Dimondale. A sheriff's deputy spotted the man's vehicle in a residential neighbourhood and shot him when he tried to attack her with a knife, Mr Oleksyk said. Sean Ruis, 43, of Grand Ledge, who worked at the Michigan Department of Transportation, died at a hospital. He was suspected of stabbing a 77-year-old man inside the store when he was confronted about not wearing a mask, Mr Oleksyk said. The stabbing victim was in stable condition at a hospital. Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered people to wear masks in stores to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. The decision about whether to wear a mask in public for some has become a political statement, and there have been other instances of violent encounters over masks. In May, a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint was fatally shot after denying entry to a customer without a mask. The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature. Latin America Mexican auto parts workers strike over nonpayment of bonus, working conditions Workers at the Nakamura Engineering Works Mexico auto parts plant located in an industrial park north of the city of Zacatecas, Zacatecas walked off the job July 7. The workers, who number over 500, downed their tools to demand the payment of a profit-sharing bonus owed them from May. Nakamura management has kept the factory running all through the COVID-19 pandemic, yet claims that, because of it, there were losses that made payment of the bonus impossible. Workers have demanded that Nakamura open the books; the company has refused to do so. In fact, for over five years Nakamura has had a system of a conditional bonus, by which workers are subject to fines as punishment for absences and yellow reports that deduct money from the promised 3,000-peso (US$134) bonus, sometimes leaving the worker in debt to the company at the end of the year. That is not the only complaint, however. Nakamura provides company buses to bring workers to the plant from surrounding communities at 7:00 AM, but does not provide the buses at the conclusion of the legally determined workday, 4:30 PM. Instead, workers either have to stay at the plantusually under pressure to work a 12-hour dayuntil the company bus leaves at 7:00 PM, or he or she has to walk to a public bus stop and pay for public transport. Those who work the 12-hour days earn barely 1,500 pesos (US$67) a week. Lastly, the workers are demanding that they be provided with adequate personal protective equipment, especially maskssince not only is there the risk of COVID-19, but furnaces emit toxic fumesa safe and hygienic workplace and equipment like back braces for carrying heavy loads. When asked by a La Jornada reporter about what their union has done to help them, one worker replied, We have a charro [company] union, the union is practically not with us; its with the company. Belizean port workers union announce strike over pay cut Workers at the Port of Belize Limited (PBL) took part in a go slow on July 8 as part of protests against PBL managements unilateral imposition of a 10 percent pay cut. PBL claimed that the cut was necessary because of the COVID-19 pandemics effect on business. The port workers, members of the Christian Workers Union (CWU), began holding protest actions July 1 and demanded that PBL open its books for inspection. PBL refused. On the same day as the go slow the CWU submitted a notice of strike action. However, as CWU president Evan Hyde, told reporters, The staff are not essential service except for the security personnel, so we had to declare the twenty-one-day notice for the security personnel. Hyde did not say when the non-security workers would be called out. So far, PBL has not responded to the protests and threat of a strike. Neither has the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB); Hyde admitted that the NTUCB has shown no interest in the CWU workers struggle. Health care workers in El Salvador protest to demand emergency measures against pandemic Workers belonging to several health care unions gathered outside El Salvadors Legislative Assembly building in the capital San Salvador July 6 to demand that measures be taken in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The main demand was for a state of exception regimen to bring down the rapidly rising rate of infections. Protests took place in other major cities as well, including San Miguel, Santa Ana, Ahuachapan and Sonsonate. Union representatives appealed to the legislature to approve of such measures as a strict quarantine, a bonus already promised to health care workers by the government, and payments to families of medical workers who have perished from the virus. The protesters voiced their intention to carry out a strike if the Assembly fails to pass the emergency measures. Guyana: protests over lockdowns without provision of aid One week after a complete lockdown of Guyanas northern Moruca sub district, residents took to the streets to protest the governments policies and demand aid. Following a June 29 report that Moruca accounted for 58 percent of the nations cases of COVID-19, the government imposed a suspension of all activities and services. Despite promises to provide aid to local businesses and working-class households, delivery has been inadequate. Protesters, observing social distancing and mask requirements, carried signs saying, No lockdown without relief and Moruca matters. With farmers unable to work their fields, businesses on restricted hours and cargo boats denied entry, many residents are unable to obtain food and supplies. There have also been complaints of improper protocols for testing and limited access to hospitals. The residents demand that either the government let them loosen some restrictions in order to get food and supplies or provide relief in a consistent and adequate manner, while hewing to protocols. Peruvian doctors announce national 48-hour strike to demand back pay, testing supplies, PPE Perus Medical Federation called for a two-day national strike on July 15 and 16 to press for months of back pay for some of its members, testing supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE). According to Federation president Godofredo Talavera, these provisions were signed in an agreement with government in 2017, including a raise that was never realized. Testing has been sporadic and inconsistent, with some regions giving them every 15 days, others every month and still others almost never, according to Talavera. To make matters worse, some doctors have gone without pay for more than three months. The doctors will be joined in the strike by other personnel in the health care sector, all of whom have been impacted by the pandemic. Although Peru was one of the earliest South American nations to respond to the coronavirus outbreak with quarantine measures, due to the shabby state of the health care system and shortages of critical supplies and PPE, it was unable to halt its rapid spread. As of July 12, Peru had over 326,300 cases and was heading towards 12,000 deaths. Chilean food processing workers strike over pay and benefits Workers at the Unilever Chile mayonnaise, dressing and sauce processing plant in Santiago, Chile voted July 9 to go on strike. The vote, according to the workers Syndicate No. 2, was 99.32 percent in favor. In a communique, the union noted that Unilevers profits have continued to grow during the pandemic, but that instead of sharing them with those who do la pega, (the hit, or the job) Unilevers refuses to negotiate in good faith. It claimed that the company takes advantage of the world context as an argument to diminish our benefits and salaries, and that owing to the sanitary restrictions, the power to demonstrate freely to visualize our situation is unthinkable, which puts us at a disadvantage. Negotiations have dragged on for several weeks without an agreement. The union statement lamented that the walkout had to occur in the midst of current conditions but said that the walkout was necessary. Chilean copper miners vote to strike as pandemic rages Workers at the Zaldivar copper mine in Chiles Antofagasta region voted overwhelmingly99 percent, according to their unionon July 10 to strike after rejecting managements final pay offer. The strike is set to begin July 15, but the company said that it would appeal for mediation by the right-wing governments labor ministry. The union voiced regret for the need for a strike, but said it will comply with the mediation decree. Demands also include safety and sanitation measures. Mineworkers have been hit disproportionately by COVID-19, with around 3,000 cases out of 300,000 nationwide reported. Mining companies have not been forthcoming with figures on mineworkers deaths, and despite some dips in output and measures to supposedly limit the viruss spread, have maintained production throughout the crisis. United States Oregon utility workers strike against substandard contract Utility workers at National Pipeline Company in Medford, Oregon walked off the job July 6 after months of negotiations broke down without an agreement over wages, benefits and safety issues. The company offered workers a 6 percent wage increase in the first year and 2.5 percent increases in the following two years, but workers complain that National Pipelines starting wage of $15 an hour is nearly half of what other companies pay. Besides wages, workers receive no vacation days, holidays or pension. The Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA), Local 609, revealed that National Pipeline had more than 25 serious injuries in 2018. Robert Laidlaw, a striking pipe fuser told Jefferson Public Radio, We have a high turnover rate here sometimes 40 percent in a year, which could mean half of our employees have less than a year of experience. We need higher wages so people could afford to stay here and work. In a separate statement to the Mail Tribune, he explained that digging up pipeline to repair leaks can be dangerous work, and complained, All your training to fit pipe is done in an afternoon, involving a video, a limited amount of hands-on work and a computer test. National Pipeline serves as a subcontractor for Avista in the region covered by UWUA Local 609 workers. The contract expired back on February 15. The company is currently advertising for replacement workers. Lockout of performers at Walt Disneys Florida theme park The union representing some 750 park employees at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, charged the company with locking out members of Actors Equity for demanding testing for coronavirus. The union alleges Walt Disney backed out of a pledge to provide testing as a condition for returning to work ahead of the theme parks July 11 reopening. Disney justified its retaliation against Actors Equity workers by trumpeting the fact that seven other unions agreed to its safety protocols concerning the virus. The company stated, We are exercising our right to open without Equity performers. Actors Equity cited recent data last week revealing that Florida had just registered more than 114,000 new COVID-19 cases. The union has insisted on testing given that social distancing for many of the workers who perform as actors is not practical. Canada Low wage Quebec caregivers strike Five hundred caregivers in Quebec City and Saguenay have gone on strike at seven seniors residences. The residences are owned by the Chartwell Group, the largest private provider of retirement homes in Canada. The workers, affiliated to the Federation de Travailleurs du Quebec (FTQ) have been without a new contract for 18 months. Workers currently earn between $13.50 and $14 per hour. The provincial minimum wage is $13.10. Workers are demanding an immediate wage increase to $15 an hour with a further $1 per hour raise in the second and third year of the contract. The caregivers entered a legal strike position only after the provincial labour board designated a percentage of the workforce as essential. Presently, the Quebec City region has seen a significant decline in COVID-19 infections. The union has undertaken to suspend its strike should infections return to the picketed facilities. Last March and April, particularly at the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in Montreal, low wage caregivers at seniors residences owned by several other privately owned companies began absenting themselves from their jobs due to a lack of personal protective equipment, safety protocols and lax infection rate reporting from the managements involved. Conditions inside the affected homes became untenable, forcing the provincial government to institute a temporary $4 per hour wage increase. Armed policemen move sand bags for dyke reinforcement in Poyang county, East China's Jiangxi province, July 12, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua] Over 7,000 army soldiers have been deployed to the eastern part of China for flood control and emergency rescue operations, according to the Chinese military. Among them, over 3,800 soldiers were sent to Jiujiang city and Poyang county in Jiangxi province, where they were tasked with patrolling, reinforcing embankments and transferring residents affected by floods, among others. In the flood-stricken Tongling city in Anhui province, over 1,000 army soldiers have been working around the clock to strengthen dikes and help evacuate affected residents to safety. Union activists and supporters rally against the Supreme Court's ruling in the Janus v. AFSCME case, in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan, in New York City on June 27, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images) Supreme Court Petitioned to Decide if Forced Union Dues Must Be Refunded Following Landmark 2018 Janus Decision A Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) worker is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the union dues he was forced to pay must be returned, thanks to the 2018 Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) decision. Benito Casanova was forced to pay dues to the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) that represents CTA workers. Hes represented by attorneys for the National Right to Work Legal Foundation (NRTWLF). The court held in Janus that public-sector employees who dont wish to join a union cant be forced to pay dues to a labor organization that represents a workforce in a validly negotiated agreement with government authorities. Such forced dues payments violate the individual employees First Amendment rights, the court said. Public-sector unions such as AFSCME stopped assessing membership dues of individuals who declined to join after the Janus decision was announced, although the Court didnt decide if past dues must be reimbursed. Hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be at stake. In Janus, this Court recognized that unions have been on notice for years regarding this Courts misgiving about Abood, and that, since at least 2012, any public-sector union seeking an agency-fee provision in a collective-bargaining agreement must have understood that the constitutionality of such a provision was uncertain, Casanova argued in his Writ of Certiorari. Abood v. Detroit Board of Education is the 1977 Supreme Court decision upholding the right of public-sector unions to charge dues to individuals who declined to join. The Janus decision overturned Abood. Casanova further noted, The Court also lamented the considerable windfall that unions wrongfully received from employees during prior decades: it is hard to estimate how many billions of dollars have been taken from nonmembers and transferred to public-sector unions in violation of the First Amendment. Shortly after Janus was decided, Casanova filed suit and sought damages from IAM for agency fees it unconstitutionally seized from him and a class of similarly situated employees. Casanova did so under Section 1983, which provides that [e]very person who, under color of any statute deprives citizens of their constitutional rights shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law. 42 U.S.C. Section 1983. If the Court accepts Casanovas petition, it will have to decide if there is a good faith defense to 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 that shields a defendant from damages-liability for depriving citizens of their constitutional rights if the defendant acted under color of a law before it was held unconstitutional, according to Casanovas petition. Since the Janus decision, unions have argued that they arent required to reimburse past union dues because they assessed those fees in the good faith belief that doing so was legal under the Abood decision. An IAM spokesman didnt immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment on Casanovas petition. For decades, union officials violated public employees rights by forcing them to pay union fees just to keep their jobs, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens told The Epoch Times on July 10. In the 2018 Janus decision, the Supreme Court finally recognized that this was a First Amendment violation and observed that it was hard to estimate how many billions of dollars have been taken from nonmembers and transferred to public-sector unions in violation of the Constitution. Mr. Casanovas case is one of many at the High Court or making their way to the High Court seeking that, within the statute of limitations, illegally seized forced dues be returned to the victims whose rights were violated. It is critical that the Supreme Court take up this issue, either in this case or the already fully briefed Janus v. AFSCME cert petition. Former Illinois state government worker Mark Janus also has filed a petition with the high court on the same issue. Jacob Comiello, a spokesman for the NRTWLF, told The Epoch Times on July 14 that Janus is seeking about $3,000 that was extracted unconstitutionally from his paycheck since March 2013, as permitted by the statute of limitations. Casanova is a class-action case, so we wont actually know until class discovery how many people would be eligible for refunds or how much money the union would be on the hook for, though for him personally the refund could be up to thousands of dollars. Contact Mark Tapscott at Mark.Tapscott@epochtimes.nyc. SAN DIEGO - A rabbi who had part of his hand shot off in a deadly attack at his Southern California synagogue pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges of tax and wire fraud, according to a newspaper report. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, 58, acknowledged his role in a scheme in which donors made large contributions to Chabad of Poway but then secretly got most of the money back, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. Typically the synagogue would keep a portion of the contribution perhaps 10% then funnel the remaining 90% back to the donor, the newspaper said. Authorities said the donor could then claim a large charitable contribution on their taxes, despite having only put out a fraction of the claimed amount. Neither Goldstein nor his attorneys made any comments to a Union-Tribune reporter after the hearing in U.S. District Court in San Diego. At least five other people are expected to plead guilty in connection with the case. The investigation into Chabad of Poway started more than 18 months ago. The newspaper said authorities served a search warrant on the synagogue on Oct. 17, 2018 almost six months before a gunman burst into a Passover service and opened fire. One congregant, Lori Gilbert-Kaye, was killed and three others were injured. Among them was Goldstein, who lost his right index finger The rabbi received an outpouring of support that included meeting President Donald Trump at the White House. John Earnest, 20, has been charged in the attack both in state and federal court. He has pleaded not guilty to hate crime-related murder, attempted murder and other charges. In November, citing exhaustion, Goldstein retired from the leadership of Chabad of Poway. One of his sons now leads the congregation. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has disputed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 's claim that a surge in crime is because people can't afford to pay their rent or feed their families, saying her theory is 'factually impossible'. The Democratic congresswoman, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, last week tried to pin the blame for the skyrocketing bloodshed in the Big Apple on people not being able to afford their rent and resorting to 'stealing bread to feed their children'. But Cuomo brushed off the idea in a press conference in Manhattan Monday pointing out New Yorkers cannot be evicted from their homes amid the pandemic due to his eviction freeze and that the spike in crime is mainly shootings and other violent offenses. The debate comes as recent research revealed a quarter of New York City tenants haven't paid rent in four months. Meanwhile, the city is being rocked by a worrying spate of violent crime, with fears growing that it could be headed back to the high crime levels seen in the 70s and 80s. Police data shows shootings are up 185 percent and murders 50 percent compared to the same week last year. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (left) has disputed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 's (right) claim that a surge in crime is because of rent struggles saying her theory is 'factually impossible' 'It is factually impossible that somebody committed a crime so they could pay their rent,' Cuomo said at Monday's press conference when asked about AOC's claims. 'If you can't pay your rent, you cannot be evicted right now.' Cuomo issued an executive order back in March banning landlords from evicting tenants for not paying their rent due to financial hardship during the coronavirus crisis. The eviction moratorium was extended in May until August 20 and on June 30 Cuomo signed a bill extending it through the end of New York's state of emergency. 'People have theories but an incorrect theory doesn't wind up being correct because there's a void,' Cuomo said. 'I don't think there is one answer. There are a number of contributing factors [to the rise in crime] and you put all those factors together and that's what you're seeing going on. 'There's no one factor.' The governor pointed to data that shows the rise in crime has come from violent crimes and murder rather than robberies. Protesters have called for rent to be canceled in light of unemployment amid COVID-19 Demonstrators in Bushwick, Brooklyn, called for more help during the pandemic on July 5 NYC VIOLENCE IN THE LAST WEEK COMPARED TO THE SAME WEEK IN 2019: Shooting victims +206% Shooting incidents +185% Murders +50% Burglary +29% Grand larceny auto +68% Rape -15% Robbery -27% Felony assault -8% Advertisement 'You have violent crime, murder etc. more than robbery - the violent crimes have been more drug-related etc. on the facts,' he said. Cuomo's comments come in response to AOC's claims during a virtual town hall last Thursday about plans to defund the police. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the rise in crime is not related to police budget cuts but because 'desperate' people are 'stealing bread to feed their children'. 'Do we think this has to do with the fact that theres record unemployment in the United States right now?' she asked. 'Maybe this has to do with the fact that people aren't paying their rent and are scared to pay their rent,' said AOC, who has repeatedly called on Cuomo to go further in reducing the burden on renters, including scrapping rent in New York altogether during the pandemic. 'And so they go out, and they need to feed their child and they don't have money so they feel like they either need to shoplift some bread or go hungry,' she added. Doubts have been cast on AOC's comments after research last week revealed that a staggering one in four NYC tenants haven't paid rent at all in the four months since the coronavirus pandemic began. Data from the Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) found that around 25 percent of the 5.4 million people renting in the city have not made a payment since March. The Big Apple has been rocked by a surge in violence in recent weeks, with the latest NYPD data showing the number of shooting victims is up a staggering 206 percent in the last week, compared to the same week in 2019. In total, the NYPD recorded 101 people were shot in the week from June 29 to July 5 - up from 33 in the same week last year. Shooting incidents were also up 185 percent and murders up 50 percent compared to the same time last year, according to the NYPD CompStat 2.0. Burglaries are also on the rise - though to a lesser extent - up by 29 percent compared to the same week last year. Fears are mounting over where New York City's violent streak is headed, after yet another weekend of bloodshed which left a one-year-old boy dead following a shooting near a Brooklyn playground Sunday. The spike in crime comes as the City Council voted to scrap $1 billion from the NYPD's annual $6 billion budget, after weeks of protests calling for the force to be defunded in the wake of the Memorial Day death of black man George Floyd. Fears are mounting over where New York City's violent streak is headed, after yet another weekend of bloodshed which left a one-year-old boy dead following a shooting near a Brooklyn playground Sunday. A stroller was left at the scene as well as several chairs on the sidewalk Cops were pictured on the scene at the Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Madison Street cross-section following the shooting New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio on Friday asked the NYPD to place more cops at violent hotspots despite having just cut the department's budget by $1 billion. The mayor unveiled his new 'Take Back the Block' initiative to curb gun violence in the Big Apple saying: 'We will take back our streets in Harlem and all over our city but we're going to do it from the ground up. 'We are going to break the cycle of violence.' NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea accused de Blasio of 'bowing to mob rule' by cutting the department's budget and said the subsequent violence over the Fourth of July weekend was 'predictable'. Members of the NYPD investigate the fatal shooting of a 23-year-old man in Harlem on July 5 NYPD Chief Terence Monahan also weighed in on the weekend violence on Monday, calling it 'unacceptable'. He said the surge was due to 'a combination of things', including the pandemic, new reforms and heightened tensions between police and citizens. 'The animosity toward police out there is tremendous,' Monahan said. 'Just about everyone we deal with is looking to fight a police officer when we make an arrest, so it is vital that we get communities together supporting and speaking up for police.' The mayor acknowledged that the city saw 'too much violence' between Friday and Sunday. 'We have a lot of work to do to address it,' he said. But he argued that 'there is not one cause for something like this', citing failures by the court system, economic uncertainty and the fact that residents are restless after months in coronavirus lockdown. Joe Biden doesnt seem like an obvious candidate to be a transformational president. He is not a great public speaker, and he doesnt have a strong ideology. Over his long career, Biden has mostly tried to stay near the center of the Democratic Party, even when that center has moved. But history suggests that transformational presidents usually dont look the part before taking office. Franklin D. Roosevelts critics called him an aristocrat without a coherent theory of how to end the Depression. Ronald Reagan was dismissed as an intellectual lightweight from Hollywood. And yet Roosevelt and Reagan each ushered in an era of dominance for their preferred policies. They did so because of their political skills and because each was taking office during a national crisis, when a transformation of the government suddenly seemed reasonable to many Americans. If Biden wins, he may be taking office at a similar moment, in the midst of a deadly pandemic, a deep recession and a reckoning with racism. Quinton Dunbar will be represented by new legal counsel as he fights armed robbery charges. The Seattle Seahawks safety hired new lawyers Monday after his previous attorneys withdrew from the case following allegations of bribery and payoffs that were published by the New York Daily News on Friday. According to the report, the payoffs to some of the victims of the robbery occurred at the office of Michael Grieco, one of Dunbars previous attorneys. A search warrant indicated that a witness in the alleged robbery, Dominica Johnson, oversaw a cash payout to the victims at Griecos office. The Daily News report also claims there is video evidence of the transaction and more that shows witnesses being paid off. Grieco has denied his involvement in any bribe attempt and claim the victims are trying to extort Dunbar, but said he withdrew from the case to allow Dunbar to focus on the charges without distractions, according to a report. Statement from Michael Grieco, attorney for Quinton Dunbar, on withdrawing from the case: "We agreed that new counsel would allow for continued advocacy of Mr. Dunbar's innocence without any collateral distractions.'' Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) July 13, 2020 Andrew Rier and Jonathan Jordan of Rier Jordan now represent Dunbar as he faces four counts of armed robbery from a May 13 incident in Miramar, Florida. JUST IN: Quinton Dunbars criminal defense attorneys withdraw from the case and are replaced by new counsel who immediately serves discovery requests on the Broward State Attorneys Office. One of the attorneys (Michael Grieco) had been implicated in a scheme to bribe witnesses. pic.twitter.com/RIiUT9t8aa Daniel Wallach (@WALLACHLEGAL) July 13, 2020 New York Giants cornerback Deandre Baker was also allegedly involved in the robbery and he faces four counts of armed robbery and four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm from the incident. -- Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold The universities said in their court challenge to the latest policy that by all appearances, the governments attempt to force international students to study on campus had also been a political move, calculated to advance the Trump administrations agenda to force universities to reopen their gates with in-person classes. They said forcing students to return to their home countries would in many cases separate them from families in the United States, returning them to places where they no longer had a home. In some cases, they would be living under the thumb of repressive regimes, which policed or restricted internet access. Many international students from Asian countries would have to contend with a time difference that would mean taking classes between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m., if they had internet access. Foreign students attending elementary, middle and high schools on visas would have also had to depart the country if their classes went 100 percent online. In court filings, universities said that some arriving students already had been barred from entering the country by immigration officials at airports who told them that their institutions were going online. After the announcement on Tuesday that the policy had been rescinded, university officials praised the decision and warned that they would be prepared to go back to court should the administration make any further moves to restrict the ability of international students to study online when necessary. This is a significant victory, Harvards president, Lawrence S. Bacow, said in a statement. The directive had disrupted all of American higher education. I have heard from countless international students who said that the July 6 directive had put them at serious risk. These students our students can now rest easier and focus on their education, which is all they ever wanted to do. Her reality show follows her journey balancing her busy career and single motherhood to toddler daughter, Sunday. And Ferne McCann excitedly revealed she was back shooting a new series of First Time Mum on Tuesday in a fun Instagram video. The former TOWIE star, 29, has been keeping followers in the loop around a secret project she has been working on, and revealed the cameras had returned to document her latest career venture. Coming soon: Ferne McCann excitedly revealed she was back shooting a new series of First Time Mum on Tuesday in a fun Instagram video Clad in a white top and a face mask, she said: 'Guess what darlings, the girls are back! Day one of filming for First Time Mum which is very exciting, yes!' The star later showcased her incredible gym-honed frame in a dove grey halterneck crop-top paired with hotpants as she posed in a sultry clip. The top revealed her washboard abs while the shorts teased a glimpse of her lithe legs. Her blonde tresses were styled in space buns while a rich palette of make-up enhanced her pretty features. Wow: The star later showcased her incredible gym-honed frame in a dove grey halterneck crop-top paired with hotpants as she posed in a sultry clip Surprise! Clad in a white top and a face mask, she said: 'Guess what darlings, the girls are back! Day one of filming for First Time Mum which is very exciting, yes!' It comes after Ferne unveiled the results of her three week fitness challenge by sharing comparative before and after snaps alongside each other. The mum-of-one assured fans she used 'no editing and no filters' to enhance her gym honed physique. It was no mean feat for the star, as she has been locked down at her home with her two-year-old daughter, Sunday. The reality star revealed in May that she had split from Albie Gibbs, 25, following a short-lived romance. Ferne confirmed she was single again on her hit ITVBe reality series First Time Mum as she tried to make their long-distance relationship work. He has moved to New York for the year and she lives in Essex with her daughter. Project: The top revealed her washboard abs while the shorts teased a glimpse of her lithe legs Mum life: First Time Mum follows Ferne's journey as a single mum to daughter Sunday, two After the split, the reality star penned a lengthy caption insisting she'd learned to embrace her figure and felt the fittest she's ever been. She wrote: 'There is only 1 YOU & that is your power. I've realised recently that as I'm approaching 30 I feel so much better than I did at 20. 'So much of the last decade was worrying about how I looked, but mainly how other people thought I looked. It was a lot about surface. 'Recent years I have learnt to nurture my body to be at my healthiest & happiest. It's important to feel comfortable in your own skin. 'Believe me this hasn't always been easy & is an ongoing battle.' 'America's Safe Return Initiative' (ASRI) and launch of 'Protectant Safety' brand provide a much-needed path for organizational reopening, leveraging Chagrin Safety Supply's expertise and leadership in crisis management CLEVELAND, OH / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Innovest Global Inc. (OTC PINK:IVST), a diversified industrials company has launched the ASRI program (click here for video) and corresponding 'Protectant Safety' brand (click here for the ASRI website). Schools and businesses should contact Shawn Nadolski at 440-644-1027 ext. 104 for information on utilizing the ASRI 'one-stop-shop' to safely and effectively reopen in accordance with local guidelines. Utilizing the policies, services, and products deployed in this new, standardized program, Innovest itself reopened its offices on the first day permitted by the governor of Ohio. In the three months since reopening, the program has been seamless - including one employee contracting Covid-19, but no other cases, and that person since recovered and returned to work. This program was birthed as a response to management's frustration that even as safety experts, there was no clarity of tactical support for recommended protocol. Damon Mintz, Innovest's President, said, "Much has been learned about Covid-19, and while the cornerstone of prevention is for high-risk individuals to avoid unnecessary interaction and for social distancing to be observed, schools and businesses can get back to functioning with this thorough program that mitigates risk, administers rapid tests for Covid-19, and provides support for both healthy and compromised environments." Chagrin Safety Supply was acquired by Innovest in October 2017. It marked Innovest's first acquisition, and was noted as a beachhead entry with a 35-year history, including having been awarded the master contract post-911 from the US Postal Service to supply nitrile safety gloves to the nations 44,000 post offices. This history, the expertise of the team, and their innovative approach to solving safety issues have resulted in a powerful solution for schools and middle-market businesses who do not have the internal resources or expertise to generate reliable, appropriate and safe protocols for reopening. Bill Oler, Founder of Chagrin Safety Supply and Innovest's safety expert, said, "In the three years since the acquisition, we've continued to improve operations in every respect. This program was the result of an incredible team effort where the best minds at Innovest rallied together to create a commercial solution to the most challenging health crisis of our lifetimes. I couldn't be more proud of our team, and thankful to have such a strong pool of resources focusing on Chagrin Safety's contribution to safe working environments nationwide." About Innovest Global, Inc. Innovest Global, Inc. (OTC PINK:IVST) is a diversified industrial company applying technology and innovation to provide value-added solutions across multiple business markets. Innovest Global builds long-term shareholder value by acquiring established industrial businesses on favorable terms, realizing synergies and achieving organic growth through investments in innovative technology and business systems. For more information, please click here. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to the Company's future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could impact the Company and the forward-looking statements contained herein are included in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Business Contact: Shawn Nadolski Vice President of Sales & Marketing Innovest Global, Inc. 440-644-1027 ext. 104 info@protectantsafety.com protectantsafety.com Investor Contact: Chris Tyson Managing Director MZ Group - MZ North America 949-491-8235 IVST@mzgroup.us www.mzgroup.us SOURCE: Innovest Global Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597360/Innovest-Global-Launches-Safety-Program-for-Safe-and-Effective-Return-to-Schools-and-Workplaces-Nationwide Looking to the south from I-27, it appears almost as if the Jolly Green Giant dropped an ice cream cone north of Six Point. And, as luck would have it, the sweet treat landed almost midway between Plainview and Hale Center with the cone pointing skyward. Rather than a behemoths discarded dessert, the unusual structure is a VOR station short for VHF omnidirectional radio range. Its a type of short-range radio navigation system, enabling aircraft to determine their position and stay on course by receiving radio signals transmitted by a network of fixed ground radio beacons. Since being erected in 1962, that particular station has been guiding pilots through the area for the past 50 years. Gary McCormick of Rocket Aviation said that VOR stations remain a vital resource for both commercial and private aviators, even though an increasing number of pilots now rely on GPS systems for navigation. It is now maintained and serviced by the FAA out of Lubbock, but for many years until he retired James Hale took care of it, McCormick said. He was the maintenance chief at the airport control tower, so he maintained the radio equipment there as well as at the VOR station. The local airport control tower was deactivated in 1981 during a round of federal budget cuts and amid a nationwide strike by the aircraft controllers union. Our controllers didnt go on strike, but the FAA pulled them out of here and reassigned them to some of the bigger airports so they could keep them open, remembered Hale. A couple of our guys ended up going to New Mexico. Hale, who retired in 1983, said he had to visit the local VOR station as many as three times a week to keep the sensitive equipment accurately tuned. Everything had to be extremely precise because the pilots were relying on those signals to determine exactly where they were. And if it was off more than 1 percent, it would automatically shut down. The cone is filled with various antennas, Hale explained, with radio and navigation equipment filling the main structure. It originally relied on vacuum tubes until 1980 when it was switched over to computerized equipment, he said. I was involved in that conversion. One of the hazards of routinely servicing the VOR station, Hale said, was badgers. I never confronted a badger face-to-face out there, but it seems like I was always falling into the tunnels. I guess there always were one or two badgers out there around the station, digging tunnels and burrowing about. But I never did see a rattlesnake or anything like that. Plans to construct this specific VOR station were announced by local airport control tower chief Dale Irwin on April 20, 1962. Designated as the airport terminal VOR unit, Irwin explained at the time that it would be six miles southwest of the airport on the Ethel Williams property, Section 21, east of Six Point Gin on the Lubbock Highway. A lease agreement has been signed for the 200 by 200 (feet) plot of land with right-of-way to the public road pending flight check of a portable VOR, the Herald reported at the time. That check was scheduled for May 1 by the district FAA office in Albuquerque, N.M. R.B. Crabtree, construction representative of the engineering section of the regional FAA office, has been for the past week seeking the location. Stuck in a field off of County Road 160 east of Sun Road, the white structure may not get much attention from the motoring public, but it has a prominent presence on aviation charts. Those charts reveal that the broadcast frequency for this particular VOR station is 112.9 MHz. According to Wikipedia, there are about 3,000 VOR stations in place around the world. Developed in the United States beginning in 1937, VOR is the standard air navigational system in the world and is used by both commercial and general aviation. A VOR ground station sends out a master signal and a highly-directional second signal that a pilot can use to determine their position when compared with signals from other VOR stations. The intersection of two radials from different VOR stations on a chart provides the position of the aircraft. The next closest VOR station to Plainview is Lubbocks, broadcasting on 109.2 MHz. VOR stations are fairly short range, according to Wikipedia. The signals have a range of about 200 miles. They broadcast a VHF radio composite signal including the stations identifier and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code. A worldwide land-based network of air highways, known in the United States as Victor airways and jetways, was set up linking VORs. An aircraft can follow a specific path from station to station by tuning the successive stations on the VOR receiver. Two intersecting Victor airways cross over the local VOR station, McCormick said. V278, which travels roughly west to east, ties in with the Texico VOR to the west and the Guthrie VOR to the east. V81, a north-south airway, is vectored through the Plainview VOR from Amarillo and Lubbock. Plainviews station is a dual unit, designated as a VOR-DME station. That means that in addition to the VOR signal it also has distance measuring equipment, which can tell the pilot how far way they are from the signals source. Hale said the upgrade from VOR to VOR-DME coincided with the conversion to solid-state computerized equipment in 1980. To comment: dmcdonough@hearstnp.com 806.296.1350 A student murdered his chemistry professor and dumped his dismembered body parts in containers of perchloric acid and hydrochloric acid in Russia, police revealed. Postgraduate student Dmitry Bykovsky, 33, was allegedly inspired by hit TV crime series Breaking Bad to carry out the brutal murder of Professor Vladislav Kuznetsov, 58, in Voronezh earlier this year. Police detained Bykovsky and his alleged accomplice IT specialist Alexander Kharlamov, 30. The pair raided the professor's bank accounts after using a chloroform soaked cloth to make him fall unconscious. The men stole a sum equivalent to almost 17,000. Postgraduate student Dmitry Bykovsky, 33, (right) murdered his chemistry professor Vladislav Kuznetsov, 58, (left) and stuck his dismembered body parts in containers of perchloric acid and hydrochloric acid in Russia, police revealed Bykovsky (pictured behind bars) was allegedly inspired by hit TV crime series Breaking Bad to carry out the brutal murder When they realised Professor Kuznetsov was no longer breathing, they took his body back to a flat rented by Kharlamov. There they dismembered the academic and put his body parts in the containers of acid. They stashed the containers on the flat's balcony for three months. Police say the professor - who went missing on March 5 - was close to Bykovsky and opened his door to him when the student came to his flat with his friend Kharlamov. Police detained Bykovsky and his alleged accomplice IT specialist Alexander Kharlamov, 30 (pictured behind bars) The pair raided the professor's (pictured) bank accounts after using a chloroform soaked cloth to make him fall unconscious. The men stole a sum equivalent to almost 17,000 Police say the professor - who went missing on March 5 - was close to Bykovsky (right) and opened his door to him when the student came to his flat with his friend Kharlamov (left) Bykovsky used an image of White (pictured) as his user picture on a social media account Detectives say it was Kharlamov who confessed to the scheme. Kharlamov said: 'I committed evil, so must be punished,' he told journalists in a court custody hearing. 'I actually thought for a long time about everything that happened. We should not have done that. It was very hard. 'I really wanted to give my child the best after my divorce. But somehow, sorry, but it turned out this way.' Bykovsky has refused to speak about the alleged murder or claims that he modelled himself on the star of the Breaking Bad TV series Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston. But he said the state investigator has the relevant evidence. White was a high school chemistry teacher who embarked on a life of crime. In the show, White - along with Jesse Pinkman and other characters - uses acid to dispose of corpses. Bykovsky used an image of White as his user picture on a social media account. Detectives say it was Kharlamov (pictured in a cell) who confessed to the brutal scheme A deeply polarized city council was unable to reach a compromise Monday night on picking a number between 2 and 3 per cent as a guideline for the citys 2021 all-inclusive tax increase. Six motions for tax hike guidelines of 2, 2.25, 2.4, 2.5, 2.75 and 3 per cent were all defeated in council finance committee votes, with a flustered Mayor Diane Therrien at one point saying, This is just getting ridiculous. Council eventually opted to not set a guideline at all, instead directing city staff to look at cost savings in all city departments and come up with budget recommendations that take into account concerns about the ability of taxpayers to be able to pay city staffs original proposal for a 3 per cent guideline. Council also voted to have an additional 0.5 per cent tax hike for 2021 to allow the city room to be able to provide a local funding share for federal and provincial stimulus funding expected to be offered for municipal projects as part of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan. Council also voted on a 2.18 per cent increase guideline suggestion for the Peterborough Police Services Board for the 2021 city police budget after city staff had recommended 2.43 per cent as a maximum. Coun. Andrew Beamer wanted to reduce the all-inclusive operating budget increase guideline to 2 per cent, but that was narrowly defeated in a 6-5 vote, with budget committee chair Dean Pappas joined by councillors Stephen Wright, Lesley Parnell and Don Vassiliadis in supporting him. I dont think this is the right time to increase property taxes, Beamer argued in light of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local households. We all know the situation. People are hurting out there and this is not the time to add more hardship or stress to people who are out of jobs or working less. Therrien was joined by councillors Henry Clarke, Keith Riel, Gary Baldwin, Kemi Akapo and Kim Zippel in voting against the proposed 2 per cent guideline. Baldwin warned that limiting the tax hike to 2 per cent would mean city staff layoffs and cuts to services. Were trying to find the sweet spot but I dont believe its 2 per cent, Baldwin argued. Therrien, Riel, Baldwin and Zippel had all wanted to stick to the staff-proposed 3 per cent guideline, but the other seven councillors voted that down too. Compromise suggestions of a 2.5 per cent increase made by Akapo, a 2.25 per cent increase proposed by Parnell, a 2.75 per cent hike offered by Therrien and a 2.4 per cent hike proposed by Parnell all failed to get enough support either. Therrien argued that past councils had approved 3 per cent tax hikes in past years. She challenged opponents of the 3 per cent guideline to say what would they would cut from the 2021 budget to lower the hike. Beamer said the community will not support a 3 per cent tax increase and offered six suggestions to reduce the hike. A social services review by KPMG has identified $4.9 million to $5.3 million in annual cost savings by eliminating services that other communities dont provide, he said, although some of that would be savings to the county as well. Beamer called for freezes to city funding to agencies including Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development, the Downtown Business Improvement Area, the Peterborough Humane Society, the Peterborough Family Health Teams and the Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster. He also called for freezes to city funding to community groups and no 2021 capital funding for the stalled new Canadian Canoe Museum project. Beamer also wants no new positions or programs created in 2021 unless they are self-sustaining. He also called for $400,000 in cuts to the Peterborough Transit budget. With Akapo abstaining because she works for an agency funded by the city, council voted unanimously to have city staff bring back reports on Beamers six recommendations. Council also unanimously agree to have staff report back on the impact of a suggestion by Wright that all city user fees be increased by 5 to 10 per cent. Council also ordered another staff report on the pros and cons of zero-based budgeting suggested by Clarke. Except for two years, city council has normally set a budget hike guideline before city staff prepare the draft budget. The 2021 draft budget is expected to be presented to city council in November and the final increase will be decided after those budget talks. We have heard you loud and clear that the taxpayer is unable to pay 3 per cent, corporate and legislative services commissioner Richard Freymond told council, pledging that the draft budget will come in at less than 3 per cent. Beamer noted that the final tax rate can differ from the guideline, noting the tax hike guideline for the 2020 budget was 2.3 per cent but council ultimately passed an increase of about 2.8 per cent. Clarke, councils former longtime budget chair, said its the toughest budget year he has seen in 23 years. But Therrien argued every budget year is tough. Pappas, the new finance chair, said hes not comfortable with a hike of more than 2.5 per cent. With the effects of the recession brought on by the pandemic, Pappas said there are times that we have to show some restraint and help out our citizens. See for yourself how and where vaccinations are ramping up, plus how COVID-19 infections and deaths still persist in most states. A limestone double bowl with spray from bronze turtles and ducks. Commissioned in 1926 by Eugenia Gage to honour her parents Hannah Jane and Robert Russell Gage, the family for whom Gage Park is named. The first Monday of August normally sees a local commemoration of two people George Hamilton, the founder of our city and a posthumous famous Hamiltonian named each year. Previous honourees on the civic holiday have included Lincoln Alexander, Dr. Elizabeth Bagshaw, Stan Rogers, Nora Frances Henderson, Rapid Ray Lewis and T.B. McQuesten. But this year, because of COVID-19, there will be no George Hamilton Day public gathering on Aug. 3 to acknowledge 2020 recipient, architect John Lyle (1872-1945). Its unfortunate because Lyle had an enormous positive influence in Hamilton, and is not nearly as well known in the city as he should be. He grew up in Hamilton and was a gifted student at the Hamilton Art School. As a young adult he went off to the Yale School of Fine Arts in New Haven, Connecticut, and the prestigious Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After he returned to Canada, he established himself as one of the most important Canadian architects of the early 20th century, practicing in the Beaux arts (fine arts) style that uses ancient architectural forms with modern flourishes. He is especially known for designing Union Station and the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, but he also left an important legacy in Hamilton that includes the Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge entrance to the city, Gage Park fountain and Central Presbyterian Church. Lyle was a brilliant illustrator and his architectural drawings, such as the ones he drew of the high level bridge, are recognized as works of art. He was known for designing banks across Canada but Hamilton was a place where Lyle expanded his range of usual work with the bridge, fountain and church. He was part of what was known as the City Beautiful movement of the 1920s, an effort to create an aesthetic counterbalance to heavy industry. So, this past week I set out to learn as much as I could about Lyle, touring around to check out his work, doing some reading and reaching out to some local experts. Architectural historian and heritage consultant Megan Hobson says Hamilton was fortunate that Lyle kept a soft spot for his hometown after leaving the city and finding fame. We benefitted from his personal connection to Hamilton because he was somebody who probably wouldnt have worked here otherwise, she says. Lyle was the Ireland-born son of clergyman Samuel Lyle, who was the minister of Central Presbyterian in Hamilton. One of the young architects first commissions in 1908 was designing a new church for his dad, at Charlton and Caroline, after the original structure burned down. Through the 1920s, he worked in an era of re-imagining Hamilton, not as an industrial town, but as a town that was at the forefront of the best kind of architecture and landscape and urban planning. They were really trying to rebrand the city, says Hobson. Rob Hamilton, an archivist with a passion for local architecture, says there was a group of civic leaders in government and industry led by T.B. McQuesten who were interested in lifting the city up ... They wanted to raise the city to a higher standard. Lyle was key in helping them achieve their aspirations. And a century later, his legacy lives on as someone who helped find beauty in the beast of an industrial city that forever changed Hamilton. Lyles Legacy in Hamilton Gateside House Hendrie estate (1905-06) 135 Aberdeen Ave. Tudor-revival. Built for William Hendrie Jr. on land that was once part of the Ravenscliffe estate. The British considered the house suitable for visiting royalty. Central Presbyterian Church (1907) Caroline at Charlton Beaux Arts Classicism. The only church he designed in his career. The best way to look at the church is from the north-east corner looking back in the morning light with the sunrise ... The church really pops. With all the stained glass inside, it just wakes up in the first half of the day, says local architecture expert Rob Hamilton. Samuel Lyle Residence (1908) 45 Glenfern Ave. British Arts and Crafts. A retirement gift to Lyles father Samuel Lyle from his parishioners after decades as minister at Central Presbyterian. It has an ornamental round ball on one of the gables ...The home is utterly different from any other house on the street, says Hamilton. Wynnstay F.F. Dalley Residence (1925) 437 Wilson St. E., Ancaster Canadian Arts & Crafts. 100-acre estate on the Niagara Escarpment with grounds designed by Dunington-Grubb. It is now the Mount Mary Retreat Centre and one of 31 Ancaster properties going through a heritage review process by the City of Hamilton. Gage Park Memorial Fountain (1927) Part of City Beautiful 1000 Main St. E. A limestone double bowl, above the base, with spray from bronze turtles, built as an east-end homage to the Gore Park fountain. Commissioned by Eugenia Gage to honour her parents Hannah Jane and Robert Russell Gage, the family for whom Gage Park is named. Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge (1932) Part of City Beautiful York Boulevard. A showpiece entrance to the city over the Desjardins Canal that was somewhat altered from Lyles original design because of financial constraints caused by the Great Depression. But the bridge is still regarded as a masterpiece of design. A police notice at first and then the big rift in Rajasthan India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Jaipur, July 14: The long-standing rift between Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot is out in the open. It began with police notice to Pilot over a probe concerning an alleged attempt to topple the Gehlot government. On July 10, a notice of the Special Operations Group of the state police's anti-terror squad was sent to Pilot. It asked him and others to appear for questioning in connection with the case registered by the ATS stating that there was a plot to bring down the Gehlot government. The SOG said that on Saturday, it had arrested BJP members Bharat Malani and Ashok Singh for allegedly trying to topple the government by offering Rs 20 crore bribe each to unspecified legislators. An FIR was also filed under the Indian Penal Code for sedition and criminal conspiracy. Take floor test, BJP tells Gehlot Sachin Pilot skips CLP meet again, sources says in talks with BJP | Oneindia News It may be recalled that Gehlot had on Saturday accused the BJP to trying to buy legislators like goats and said that the BJP's brazen attempt was thwarted by the Congress. On Saturday, Pilot arrived in Delhi and met with senior Congress leader, Ahmed Patel to discuss the issue. He told Patel about his differences with Gehlot and also that matters had gone too far. There were 19 Congress legislators with him, who have been lodged in different resorts. On Sunday, several legislators met with Gehlot and expressed their support for him. Later on, Congress rushed two central observers to Jaipur to sort out the issue. Following the meeting, state-in-charge, Avinash Pandey said that the 109 MLAs have signed their letters of support related to Ashok Gehlot. Following this, Gehlot called for a meeting of Congress legislators on Monday morning. In a late-night statement, Pilot's team said that he had the backing of 30 legislators. Pilot then turned down an offer by the central observer, Randeep Singh Surjewala to discuss the issue with an open mind. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot, his loyalists likely to skip second CLP meeting today, say Reports Gehlot, later came before the cameras and flashed a victory sign. The legislators were then packed off to a resort. Later, Pilot released a video of his supporters at a hotel located in the outskirts of Delhi. He once turned down a request for a meeting of the Congress legislature party. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Effissimo Capital Management, which wants to install three directors on Toshiba Corp's board, told the Japanese conglomerate's directors that shareholders make good board members because they are invested in the company's future. "A major shareholder is incentivized to exercise judgments to maximize interest for the company," Effissimo, which owns 15% of Toshiba, wrote in a letter to the directors that was seen by Reuters. "A major shareholder is in a superior position to tackle the 'collective action problem,'" it said in the letter, which was dated July 13. Effissimo, which is Toshiba's top shareholder, is pushing back privately at Toshiba's public message that shareholders should be disqualified from sitting on boards because they would be riddled with conflicts of interest. The standoff between one of Japan's most storied companies and the Singapore-based investment fund, which is run by Japanese nationals, is playing out as more investors, including U.S. activists, are pushing for changes at Japan's biggest corporations. Effissimo is proposing its chief executive, Yoichiro Imai, and two others be elected as outside directors, arguing that more progress on corporate governance is needed after an accounting scandal in 2015. Toshiba's annual meeting is planned for July 31. A Toshiba representative was not immediately available to comment. Last week Toshiba board member Junji Ota, who chairs the nominating committee, dismissed Imai's candidacy in several media outlets. "Imai as a candidate is out of the question ... there is the issue of conflicts of interest," he told Nikkei Business. "It wouldn't be acceptable to have someone recusing himself from each resolution," Ota added. Toshiba acknowledged its more international ownership last year when it added seven independent directors, including George Zage, a former executive at U.S. hedge fund Farallon Capital Management. Toshiba declined to nominate Brian Higgins, a co-founder of U.S. hedge fund King Street, after the investment firm mounted a campaign against the company last year. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Leslie Adler) A woman whose father and step-mother were murdered by the Golden State killer 40 years ago has revealed that she cannot celebrate finally getting her day in court. 'Everyone thinks you're celebrating, but I didnt celebrate.' Jennifer Carole, 58, told The Sun. 'He's so old, so even when they found the guy, they couldn't do to him what he deserves that's just not even human or legal.' Two weeks ago Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., 74, pleaded guilty to 13 counts of murder, 13 counts of kidnapping, and confessed to 161 uncharged crimes - many of which were rapes - which go back beyond the statute of limitations. Between 1974 and 1986, the former police over rampaged throughout various California counties and was dubbed the 'Golden State Killer', 'East Area Rapist', 'Original Night Stalker' and 'Diamond Knot Killer'. His crimes were so vast that for years they were attributed to various people before he was eventually caught by DNA evidence in 2018. Scroll down for video. Jennifer Carole, 58, daughter of Lyman Smith who was murdered aged 43 along with Carole's step-mother Charlene, 33, in March, 1980, in Ventura, California Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. speaks during a hearing on crimes attributed to the Golden State Killer at the Sacramento County courtroom, in Sacramento, California, U.S., June 29, 2020 Jennifer Carole's father Lyman Smith, 43, and his second wife Charlene, 33, who were bludgeoned to death with a log by the depraved killer But for Carole this 'opened up an old wound,' as she was again faced with the horrific bludgeoning to death of her father Lyman Smith, 43, and his second wife Charlene, 33, in March, 1980. Carole's 12-year-old brother Gary had left his mother's house on a Sunday to go and mow the lawn at his father's home in Ventura. Gary was surprised to find that neither of the adults were awake yet and he could hear the loud ringing of the couple's alarm clock. He entered the bedroom to find Lyman and Charlene on the bed, battered to death with a log from the fireplace. DeAngelo as a police officer for Exeter Police Department, in the early 70s It was later confirmed that Charlene had been raped by the killer. Carole, who was 18-years-old at the time, told The Sun: 'I remember thinking, "Oh my god, a log? Are you freaking kidding me?" 'They were killed with a log? No ones killed with a log.' DeAngelo's modus operandi in this case was similar to many others - he would surprise couple's in their bedroom, force the woman to tie up the man and then take the woman to another room to rape her. In his first spree, he went after lone women and girls before moving onto couples. But after two couples escaped during his assaults, DeAngelo started to kill the victims. Police would not connect the deaths of Lyman and Charlene as related to the serial killer for many years. That meant that for a time, Carole herself was a suspect and was questioned by detectives and even submitted to a lie detector test. 'It made me feel ashamed for a very long time,' she told The Sun. Twenty years later, in 2000, Carole was told that her father and step-mother had been killed by a serial killer. She said the revelation made her jaw drop. But it took another 18 years for DeAngelo to be tracked down by officers. Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said that a huge step in bringing the killer to justice came with a revolutionary new DNA tool. DeAngelo's semen was found at the scene of some of the crimes and matched to an ancestor's sample in GEDMatch.com. Using this ancestor, detectives were able to construct a complex family tree which eventually led them to DeAngelo. Carole said she was delighted by last month's plea by the Golden State Killer and that it had helped many members of her family and her survivor friends to overcome their devastation. DeAngelo's sentencing is expected to last for several days beginning on August 17. During that time victims will share impact statements and the judge will not impose a time limit. In his plea deal, DeAngelo agreed to plead guilty to all charges and to admit to uncharged attacks to avoid the death penalty. Jane Carson-Sandler, a 1976 rape victim of the Golden State Killer flashed a thumbs up to agree with a prosecutor's statement about a part of DeAngelo's anatomy during June 29's court hearing Journalists and victims were among the 160 people who attended the hearing on Monday He faces 11 consecutive terms of life without parole and 15 concurrent life sentences and additional time for weapons charges. However Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman said that the sentence is only a recommendation. Now, DeAngelo will likely die in prison. 'Mr. DeAngelo is acknowledging his guilt for the heinous crimes he has committed,' Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton said. 'There is really nothing that could give full justice because he has committed horrendous acts and murder up and down the state of California. But at least we can now begin the process - after decades - to bring some closure to families.' Texas reported a small drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Monday, the first decline in two weeks as health officials work to slow the spread of the disease. The state said 10,405 people were hospitalized with lab-confirmed infections, down from a high of 10,410 on Sunday. While the decline itself was minimal, the overall growth of hospitalizations has been slowing for several days now, a possible early sign that the states surge is beginning to weaken. It will take several more days to see whether the trend holds, and a single days worth of the data can be skewed by delays in reporting, especially right after a weekend. We need to see if this first day will be the first of many, Gov. Greg Abbott cautioned in an interview on KXAS in Dallas. SCHOOL IN AUGUST?: Some Texas schools may not reopen for in-person classes in August. Heres how. Also Monday, the state reported a drop in the number of deaths, with 61, and 7,473 new cases, according to a data analysis and reporting by Hearst Newspapers. The seven-day averages for all three indicators remain high. The state is now reporting more than 80 deaths per day, on average, and more than 9,000 average new daily cases. Its averaging more than 9,000 hospitalizations. Abbott declined again Monday to allow local officials to enact temporary stay-home orders in hard hit parts of the state. That comes after Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo pushed over the weekend for a temporary shutdown to slow their regions spread. The governor said he was skeptical people would comply with another lockdown, or that counties would try to enforce it. We are still not seeing adequate enforcement of the current orders in place, he said, referring to recent orders closing bars once again and mandating masks in most counties. Authorities in some conservative counties have refused to enforce the governor's mask order, which he imposed earlier this month, after months of pressure from Democrats. The governor has also delayed elective medical procedures at hospitals in much of the state. On Monday, hundreds of medical personnel from the Department of Defense were expected to be dispatched to Texas to help staff strained facilities. Its not going to solve the problem, but it will start alleviating some of the crunch, Lori Upton, vice president for the SouthEast Texas Regional Advisory Councils disaster preparedness and response, told Hearst over the weekend. 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. OTC Markets Listing and DTC Electronic Clearance Eligibility MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQB: MBXBF, Microbix), an award-winning life sciences innovator and exporter, announces that it has completed two processes to make its common shares available for U.S. investors to buy and sell; (i) the listing of its common shares on the OTCQB platform under the ticker symbol MBXBF, and (ii) approval for electronic clearance and settlements of trades by way of DTC Eligibility. The OTCQX Best Market, OTCQB Venture Market, and Pink Open Market provide forums for the trading of 10,000 U.S. and global securities, operated by NY, NY based OTC Markets. OTCQB enables investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empowers companies to make the required disclosures available for U.S. investors. Real-time OTCQB quote and market information is available at www.otcmarkets.com/stock/mbxbf/overview . DTC is the Depository Trust Company, a member of the Federal Reserve System, a limited-purpose trust company under New York State banking law, and a registered clearing agency with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. DTC provides for the shares of eligible international and U.S. companies to be electronically cleared and settled through its systems (DTC Eligibility). Jim Currie, CFO of Microbix, commented, Almost all our sales are recorded from customers outside of Canada, with a large proportion from the United States. It therefore makes sense to enable U.S. investors to consider ownership of shares in Microbix, particularly given their higher level of interest in life sciences companies and our ongoing work to increase the scale of our revenues and level of profitability. Trading on the OTCQB should increase the companys investor support base into the United States, by providing new and existing shareholders in the U.S. with an efficient and transparent trading platform. Story continues Microbix common shares continue to trade on the Toronto exchange under the stock symbol MBX, with real-time TSX market information available at https://web.tmxmoney.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=MBX . About Microbix Biosystems Microbix develops proprietary biological and technology solutions for human health and well-being, with approximately 80 skilled employees and sales now exceeding $1 million per month on average. Microbix makes a wide range of critical biological materials for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure quality control of clinical diagnostic tests. Microbix antigens enable the antibody tests of over 100 international diagnostics companies, while its QAPs are sold to clinical laboratory accreditation organizations, diagnostics companies, and clinical laboratories. Microbix QAPs, including those supporting COVID-19 testing, are now available in 22 countries, distributed by Alpha-Tec Systems, Inc., Diagnostic International Distribution S.p.A., Labquality Oy, The Medical Supply Company of Ireland, and R-Biopharm AG. Microbix is ISO 9001 and 13485 accredited, FDA and Health Canada establishment licensed, and provides CE marked products. Microbix also applies its biological expertise and infrastructure to develop other proprietary products and technologies, most notably Kinlytic urokinase, a biologic thrombolytic drug used to treat blood clots. Microbix is a publicly-traded company, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and the U.S. OTCQB Market, and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Forward-Looking Information This news release includes forward-looking information, as such term is defined in applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, discussion of, the DTC Eligibility or DTC, the OTCQB listing or OTC Markets, Microbixs business and business results, goals or outlook, risks associated with financial results and stability, development projects such as those referenced in its corporate presentation, regulatory compliance and approvals, sales to foreign jurisdictions, engineering and construction, production (including control over costs, quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery), foreign currency and exchange rates, maintaining adequate working capital and raising further capital on acceptable terms or at all, and other similar statements concerning anticipated future events, conditions or results that are not historical facts. These statements reflect managements current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking information is inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Accordingly, actual future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and represent the Companys judgement as of the date of this new release, and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking information. Please visit www.microbix.com or www.sedar.com for recent Microbix news and filings. For further information, please contact Microbix at: Cameron Groome, CEO (905) 361-8910 Jim Currie, CFO (905) 361-8910 Deborah Honig, Investor Relations Adelaide Capital Markets (647) 203-8793 ir@microbix.com Copyright 2020 Microbix Biosystems Inc. Microbix, Kinlytic, and QAPs are trademarks of Microbix Biosystems Inc. OTCQX Best Market, OTCQB Venture Market, and Pink Open Market are trademarks of OTC Markets Tuesday, July 14th, 2020 (12:59 pm) - Score 4,603 The UK Government has today confirmed a dramatic U-turn, which means that new core and non-core 5G kit from Chinese tech giant Huawei will be banned from use in mobile networks from 31st December 2020. But existing kit will get until 2027 for removal and a decision on FTTP broadband ISPs will come later. The move represents a significant shift from the UKs adopted position in January 2020 (here), which only banned operators from installing Huaweis kit in the sensitive core part of their networks, but allowed its continued use in non-core parts (e.g. 5G antennas, FTTC cabinets, FTTP ONTs in homes etc.). A cap of 35% was also placed on the companys kit to ensure that operators made use of other suppliers (BT alone forecast a 500m hit from this). Part of the reason for Januarys decision was because completely banning Huawei could have made the roll-out of new 5G mobile, and also some fixed broadband ISP networks, both much slower and more expensive to achieve. Such a ban would have thus impacted PM Boris Johnsons recent 5bn pledge to ensure that every UK home can access gigabit (1Gbps) speed broadband networks by the end of 2025. Since then several further events have conspired to damage the perception of China within the UK, not least their questionable response to the early outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) and the countrys new security law for Hong Kong. The imposition of even stricter sanctions against Huawei by the USA (i.e. perhaps forcing it to rely on less trustworthy components) is another big issue. Meanwhile the looming trade deal between the UK and USA (as well as between the USA and China) is also a consideration. In short, whatever the realities or falsehoods of the original security concerns directed toward Huawei (major security vulnerabilities can crop up anywhere, just ask Cisco etc.), wider politics and pressures may now be starting to weigh on the Government and hence todays significant change of strategy. Recap of Security Concerns At this point its worth remembering that the original decision in January followed a 2019 report from the oversight board of the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC), which warned that further significant technical issues had been identified in Huaweis engineering processes, leading to new risks in the UK telecommunications networks (full summary). At the same time it also said that no material progress has been made by Huawei in the remediation of the issues. The board said it could only provide limited assurance that all risks to national security from Huaweis involvement in the UKs critical networks could be sufficiently mitigated long-term. Naturally Huawei has always denied accusations that they are a security threat and in a public letter said, Huawei has never and will never use UK-based hardware, software, or information gathered in the UK or anywhere else globally, to assist other countries in gathering intelligence. We would not do this in any country. However, critics of the company often point toward Chinas new National Intelligence Law, which was passed in 2017 and demands that organisations support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work. The absence of true democracy in China might thus, they argue, make it very difficult for any company to refuse such a request. Googles former CEO, Eric Schmidt, has also claimed theres no question that information from Huawei routers has ultimately ended up in hands that would appear to be the state However that happened, were sure it happened. Schmidt, who now chairs the Pentagons Defence Innovation Board, says its better to think of the company as doing signals intelligence work, much like a spy agency. Meanwhile Donald Trump has taken a strict line and effectively banned companies around the world from working with Huawei, with some limited exceptions. The move has stunted the firms Smartphone and other consumer products, such as by removing access to Googles popular Apps, although that aspect is less relevant to their mobile and broadband infrastructure business. Sadly, we cant examine the substance of the security fears that surround Huawei because such issues are a matter for national security and intelligence agencies (i.e. theyre secret), which is impossible for ordinary folk to judge. We wouldnt be so bold as to assume we know better. However, it seems unlikely that so many countries would be creating such a fuss if there wasnt a serious concern, which has been going on since long before Donald Trump came to power. The New Strategy A few weeks ago there was talk of imposing a total ban by 2023, except a significant amount of Huaweis kit currently exists across various fixed broadband and mobile networks (including inside homes, on masts and in street cabinets etc.). Ripping all of that out in such a short space of time would have been both practically and economically unworkable, particularly given the COVID-19 situation. Last week BT and Vodafone warned that they would need at least 5-7 years to wean themselves off Huawei (here) and the costs involved could be in the high hundreds of millions or even single digital billions of pounds per operator. But those comments were largely made in reference to 4G and 5G mobile networks, which didnt consider fixed line broadband. Since then BTs CEO, Philip Jansen, has further suggested that it would be impossible to totally remove Huaweis kit from everywhere in under 10 years. Failure to factor for this could thus result in service blackouts, warned both operators. Lest we forget the need to continue support for existing Huawei kit until such time as it can be removed or replaced (operators are thus stockpiling kit to cover network faults etc.). Suffice to say that the Governments final strategy has sought to strike a degree of balance between the demands for a BAN and what is actually workable. The idea being to prevent new deployments, while allowing support to continue for existing kit until a more natural (end-of-life) progression can be adopted for the removal or replacement work. Todays Key Decisions * From 31st December 2020 telecommunications providers must not buy any 5G equipment from high risk vendors like Huawei or ZTE (legal requirement). * Removal of existing 5G equipment must take place by the end of 2027. * Existing ban on Huawei from most sensitive core parts of 5G network remains in place during this period. * A different approach is to be taken for full fibre (FTTP) and older fixed broadband networks. The Government are advising FTTP operators to transition away from purchasing new Huawei equipment and a technical consultation will be launched to determine the transition timetable, but we expect this period to last no longer than two years. The above requirements will be set out in law by the Telecoms Security Bill (due to be introduced into parliament this autumn 2020). However the UK Digital Secretary, Oliver Dowden, noted that the earlier January 2020 decision (partial ban) had already set back [the 5G] rollout by a year and cost up to a billion pounds, before adding that the new change would add another year to that delay (2 years) and will add up to half a billion to the costs. But it gets worse. Requiring operators, in addition, to remove Huawei equipment from their 5G networks by 2027 will add hundreds of millions to the cost and further delay roll out. This means a cumulative delay to 5G rollout of two to three years and costs of up to two billion pounds, added Dowden. In other words, the quicker the removal, the bigger the cost and delay. Naturally providers that dont make much (or any) use of telecoms kit from the Chinese firm, such as O2, will have a better time of things. Meanwhile those that do harness a lot of kit from Huawei, such as BT (EE and Openreach) and Vodafone, are likely to face a much bigger challenge in adapting to the Governments new strategy. Nevertheless, mobile and broadband providers now face the stark reality of a significant shift in the national relationship with one of the markets key suppliers, which is not only going to be extremely costly to tackle but will inevitably cause some delay and disruption. Crucially though they seem to have left the decision on fixed broadband and related Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) networks until a later date, pending the outcome of another technical consultation. Oliver Dowden MP, UK Digital Secretary, said: 5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon. Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks. No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK. By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks. The big question now will be whether or not the Governments harder stance will be enough to placate the 60 or so rebels MPs who have advocated for a ban that can be implemented sooner. The MPs had recently adjusted their position and sought to prevent the purchase of new kit in the next 12 months, while allowing until 2025 or 2026 for it to be completely eliminated. At the time of writing we havent yet had a chance to read the latest report from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which has provided much of the fuel for todays announcement. However, as above, we already have a reasonable idea of the line it will tow. One final point to make is that the Government have pledged to bring new scale vendors into the UK market by removing barriers to entry, providing commercial incentives and creating large scale opportunities for new vendors to enter the UK market. No details of this were provided. UPDATE 1:32pom Few will be surprised to see that one of the first reactions has come from Huaweis arch rival, Ericsson. Arun Bansal, Ericssons President of Europe and Latin America, said: Todays decision removes the uncertainty that was slowing down investment decisions around the deployment of 5G in the UK. It is now time for the industry to come together and start delivering on the promise of creating a world-leading 5G network for the people, businesses and economy of the UK. Ericsson has the technology, experience and supply chain capacity to help accomplish this, and we stand ready to work with the UK operators to meet their timetable, with no disruption to customers. UPDATE 2:33pm Now its the turn of the UK Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA). Andrew Glover, ISPA Chair, said: The Governments 5G announcement today provides some welcome clarity to our members who are rolling out networks and providing broadband to consumers and businesses across the UK. We look forward to further consultation with Government to determine the policy for fixed networks with a clear focus on ensuring that our members can roll out new gigabit-capable networks at pace. As the Secretary of State emphasised today, supply chain interventions have a direct impact on the speed at which networks can be rolled out, so any new restrictions need to be counter-balanced with an appropriate level of support for the sector. The Government has rightly made upgrading our digital communications infrastructure a priority, we now need to see a clear, ambitious plan from policymakers to help the companies that are leading this charge. UPDATE 15th July 2020 BT has estimated that the cost impact from todays decision can be absorbed within BTs initial estimated implementation cost of 500m, as announced by BT on 30th January 2020 in order to comply with the previous proposal by the National Cyber Security Centre, but this only considers the impact on 5G and not any future measures against fixed line broadband. WARSAW, Poland - The leader of Polands right-wing ruling party said Tuesday that some news media are misrepresenting the countrys image and vowed that steps would be taken to make them see things in a more realistic way. Jaroslaw Kaczynski spoke a day after election officials confirmed that Polish President Andrzej Duda narrowly won a second five-year term. Dudas victory strengthens the hold on power of Kaczynskis Law and Justice party, which backed the presidents reelection. During Dudas runoff campaign against Warsaws liberal mayor, the ruling camp accused non-state and foreign media of hostility toward Duda and the party. In an interview with the state-owned PAP news agency Kaczynski said there was a powerful media front inspired from the outside during the presidential campaign. He named a TV station in Poland that is owned by an American corporation. The media in Poland should be Polish, Kaczynski said. Kaczynski said he wants to see balance in the media among the different options, calling it a condition of democracy. He said there are policies the government could promote to accomplish that goal but vowed that we will not do anything that would threaten media freedom. We cannot ban them from taking part, I believe, in campaigns that are inspired from the outside, from destroying some and ignoring others, from painting a totally false picture of Poland and of the world, he said. But we can take steps to have a situation in which there will be more of the media which sees the reality in a more realistic way than we have now. It was meant to be a last line of defense to protect the most vulnerable as the coronavirus spread across the United States: Montana officials offered free testing in May for staff and residents at assisted living and long-term care facilities. But not all of them followed through, according to state data, including a facility in Billings, Montana's largest city, that cares for people with dementia and other memory problems. The virus has infected almost every resident there and killed eight, accounting for almost a quarter of Montana's 34 confirmed deaths. Thirty-six employees also have tested positive. While Montana's rates of confirmed infections and deaths are much lower than other parts of the country, the outbreak at Canyon Creek Memory Care illustrates that even the most simple and common-sense preventive measures have sometimes gone unused during the pandemic, allowing the virus to sweep through elderly care facilities with devastating results. "I don't see that there's good justification for just not testing. You're operating in the dark," said Chris Laxton, executive director of the Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, which represents more than 50,000 long-term care professionals. Nursing homes became the first places with fatal outbreaks in the U.S. Six of Montana's earliest deaths were tied to infections acquired at another nursing home, but the state initially avoided the widespread early outbreaks seen elsewhere in the nation. Canyon Creek was among 45 of 289 assisted living and long-term care facilities that initially declined Montana's call for testing. "My impression is that the facilities believed they had all protocols in place to keep their residents safe, were doing everything possible, and there was no need (to test) because of so few cases in their area," said Rose Hughes, executive director of the Montana Health Care Association, which represents long-term care facilities. Canyon Creek's operator, Koelsch Communities of Olympia, Washington, hasn't directly said why it turned down free testing at the facility, which has seen 55 positive cases among the 59 people who lived there when the deaths began. The company says it declined to test residents after three with symptoms in April and May were put in quarantine but tested negative. The first positive cases a staff member and a resident were discovered in late June, just days after Gov. Steve Bullock lifted some restrictions on care facilities. As the outbreak escalated, the Democrat issued a statewide emergency rule that made testing of staff and residents a condition for facilities to receive visitors. Koelsch Communities, which operates in eight states, has confirmed cases in at least 13 of its 39 facilities and had reported 11 deaths in other places prior to the Montana outbreak. Five of the deaths happened in late June at El Rio Memory Care in Modesto, California. The elderly and those with preexisting conditions are more vulnerable to the respiratory virus. According to a tally by The Associated Press, more than 58,000 COVID-19 deaths have involved nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. That is over 40% of the nation's more than 135,000 deaths. There are no federal testing requirements, and rules differ widely among states. To be effective, testing needs to occur before an outbreak, include residents and staff, and be repeated periodically because staff come and go, said Albert Munanga, an affiliate faculty member at the University of Washington's nursing school and regional health director for Era Living retirement communities. Pam Donovan, whose father is a Canyon Creek resident, said "the jury's still out" on whether the facility should have done testing earlier and whether it would have helped. Richard Donovan, a retired sheriff's deputy and coroner, initially tested negative in early July when the outbreak began but developed symptoms days later and was taken to a hospital Thursday, Pam Donovan said. His test came back positive Friday, she said. Donovan said the only plausible reason to decline free testing would be the difficulty swabbing residents with dementia. "That's the only thing I can think of, putting myself in their shoes," she said. "I don't know if they'll ever say what their reason was." Administrators at some Montana facilities that declined the testing in May and June said the invasive nasal procedure would frighten dementia patients or make them uncomfortable. They noted their communities had few cases at that point, and they were disinfecting surfaces, washing hands and wearing masks. Some weren't allowing visitors. Ashley Samples, administrator at Bee Hive Homes in Columbia Falls, said a concern was false positives. "I think if there was a more sure way to do it, I think we absolutely would have," she said. Bee Hive's facilities are still on lockdown, staff have their temperatures taken and wear masks, and visits happen through open windows, Samples said. Hyalite Country Care Assisted Living in Bozeman initially decided not to test residents, partly based on the state's low infection numbers. Owner LeAnn Bunn said she's now reconsidering. More than a dozen other facilities have agreed to test residents and staff following the Canyon Creek outbreak and the governor's directive, health officials said. The testing that began in mid-May started with nursing homes, then turned to assisted living facilities, Hughes said. Not all of the facilities who have agreed to testing have completed it, health officials said. For Pam Donovan, it was through a window in a hospital emergency room last week that she saw her father for the first time since visits to care facilities were suspended in March. Richard Donovan turned 88 on Monday. A nurse put on protective equipment and entered his room to hold a phone to his ear when his daughter called. Pam Donovan said it was heartbreaking and that she couldn't understand what he was saying. "It's so difficult when you can't see them yourself," she said. Prime Minister KP Oli's remark on Lord Ram and Ayodhya was not meant to debase the significance of the city and the cultural value it bears and has no intention at all to hurt the feeling and sentiment of anyone, Nepal's Foreign Ministry said in a note of clarification on Tuesday. This, after Oli's bizarre 'Ayodhya is in Nepal' claim caused a stir in India and drew widespread condemnation from Hindu religious groups and commentators. In a statement, Nepal clarified that PM Oli's remarks are not linked to any "political subject", in an apparent signal to India where many raised concerns that such statements are being made under pressure from China. "As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization," the Foreign Ministry said. To cool nerves in India, the statement also highlighted that leaders of the two countries had launched the Ramayana Circuit in May 2018, of which Janakpur-Ayodhya Passenger Bus Service is an important component. "These facts signify the bond of time honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples," the statement said. READ | Nepal PM's 'Lord Ram Isn't Indian' Claim Sparks Memes, Netizens Say 'best Joke In History' READ | VHP Rubbishes 'Ayodhya In Nepal' Claim; Accuses Oli Of Acting At Anti-India Forces' Behest Bizarre claim Addressing the media on Monday evening, KP Oli claimed that the birthplace of Lord Ram Ayodhya is in Nepal. According to him, Lord Ram is Nepali and India had encroached upon the country's cultural heritage by setting up a "fake Ayodhya". On the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti, he alleged that the real Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal. Elaborating on his hypothesis, he reportedly questioned why Lord Ram would travel as far as Janakpur to marry Sita if Ayodhya was in India. As per the Nepali media, he said, "Both Lord Ram and Sita would have married nearby if the place claimed by India is real Ayodhya." The Nepal PM was speaking during the 207th birth anniversary celebration of Adikavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya, the author of the Ramayana in the Nepali language. The spat comes amid tensions between New Delhi and Kathmandu over a host of issues from Nepal releasing a new political map that incorporates Indian territories to increasing Chinese influence in the bilateral relationship. READ | Unbalanced Or A Puppet-parrot: Cong's Singhvi Incredulous At Nepal PM Oli's Ayodhya Claim READ | 'May Lord Ram Give You Wisdom': Sena's Chaturvedi Unsurprised By Nepal PM's Ayodhya Claim Now, with Tesla Inc.s stock on a seemingly unstoppable rise, Elon Musk is poised to collect the second tranche of his pay award, worth $2.4 billion. Barring a sudden drop in the electric-car makers shares, the final performance threshold tied to market value should be met in a matter of days. That would unlock 1.69 million stock options, yielding Musk the 10-figure sum if he were to exercise and immediately sell the shares. The remarkable payout follows an equally remarkable ride for Tesla, whose shares have more than quadrupled this year and ballooned Musks net worth to $70.5 billion, making him the seventh-richest person on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The automaker is currently worth more than Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and Hyundai Motor Co. combined. The rally has left Wall Street analysts struggling to make sense of the firms valuation, which topped $300 billion on Monday. Some have focused on the companys work to improve batteries or the prospect that it may soon start selling cars in India. Tesla is scheduled to release second-quarter results July 22. If it reports a profit, it would be the fourth consecutive such quarter a milestone needed to be considered for inclusion in the S&P 500 Index. Ambitious Targets Musk, 49, has never accepted a salary, with his pay instead consisting of option awards that he can collect only if the California-based company meets ambitious targets. The most recent iteration, unveiled in early 2018, was the largest-ever corporate pay deal struck between a companys board and its chief executive officer. It includes 20.3 million options, split into 12 tranches, that could yield Musk more than $50 billion if all goals are met, according to Teslas estimates. Getting all of it, however, is far from certain. Each tranche is tied to specific targets for revenue, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, as well as Teslas average trailing market capitalization over 30 days and six months. The first market-value threshold was set at $100 billion, with the others following in $50 billion increments. Tesla reached its first milestones for sales and Ebitda $20 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively last year. And its 30-day market value average has been well above the $150 billion threshold for some time. Once the six-month average exceeds that level, Musk will claim the 1.69 million options and can exercise them at will. Musk said on Twitter last week that he could cash in on some of his stock eventually to further the mission of his other most high-profile company, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Essentially. Long-term purpose of my Tesla stock is to help make life multiplanetary to ensure its continuance. The massive capital needs are in 10 to 20 years. By then, if were fortunate, Teslas goal of accelerating sustainable energy & autonomy will be mostly accomplished. Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 7, 2020 Now read: South African electric cars need help from government An Aboriginal teenager has taken his own life behind bars just weeks after another indigenous man died at the same facility. The 19-year-old was found unresponsive in his cell at Acacia Prison, 55km east of Perth, on Saturday. He was taken by an ambulance to hospital, where he died on Monday. The teenager had just recently transferred to the jail and was reportedly struggling with life in prison. A 19-year-old has died at Acacia Prison (pictured), in WA, just weeks after another Indigenous man, 40, died at the same facility Protesters are pictured at the Black Lives Matter rally at Langley Park, Perth, on June 13 (pictured) - days after the 40-year-old man's death It is believed he was receiving psychological support after it became clear he was finding it hard to adjust. Due to a backlog of cases in the State Coroner's office, it could take up to two years before the circumstances leading up to the teenager's death are made clear. The incident follows the death of a 40-year-old Aboriginal man who died after collapsing at the prison on June 5 . The medium-security prison is privately-run by government services contractor Serco Australia. The company said an investigation will be launched into the death. 'Staff at Acacia prison have remained in contact with the mans family through this period and Serco acting prison director Craig Moody has offered his condolences to the family on behalf of all prison staff,' Serco said in a statement, The West reports. 'The prisoners death will be subject to a coronial inquest, which will examine the circumstances surrounding his death. 'Serco will also assist a Department of Justice review into the prisoners death.' The medium-security prison (pictured) is privately-run by government services contractor Serco Australia Police said the death did not appear to be suspicious and investigations are still underway. The investigation will be presented to the state coroner and the Department of Justice will also conduct an internal review. The man's death came as thousands of protesters stepped out onto the streets across Australia to join the global Black Lives Matter protests and call for an end to Aboriginal deaths in custody. Last month, thousands attended rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart on Saturday to show solidarity with the global movement, fuelled by the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis policeman. In June, an investigation by the Western Australian found a hotline to prevent deaths in custody in WA was receiving more than 500 notifications every week. The service was rolled out in October last year to provide legal advice and welfare checks to all Indigenous people arrested. More than 430 Indigenous people have died in Australian prisons since 1991, when the royal commission into Indigenous deaths in custody released its report. The commission was established following the death of Indigenous 28-year-old Lloyd Boney who died in police custody in NSW in 1987. The Commission found that Aboriginal people died in custody at the same rate as non-Aboriginal prisoners, but they were far more likely to be in prison than non-Aboriginal people. The Royal Commission identified child removal as a significant precursor to these high rates of imprisonment. For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on: 13 11 14 Here in the South, when cooks talk about pimento cheese and macaroni salad and similar mayonnaise-based foods, the discussion invariably comes around to everyones favorite brand of mayonnaise. And the chances are good that the answer will be Dukes, created in South Carolina by Eugenia Thomas Duke in 1917. Well, now a cookbook celebrates that favorite Southern creation and the many ways it can be used in dishes from breakfast through dinner and dessert. The Dukes Mayonnaise Cookbook: 75 Recipes Celebrating the Perfect Condiment (Grand Central Publishing, $28) is by Ashley Strickland Freeman, a food writer and recipe developer based in Charleston who has contributed to more than 45 cookbooks as well as such magazines as Southern Living and Cooking Light. In the books foreword, cookbook author Nathalie Dupree says, Of course, Im a Dukes lover, too, like anyone who grew up in the South. In fact most of us dont think of Dukes as just mayonnaise; we think of it as a unique spread that can enhance any sandwich. In fact, if youre a Southerner and not a Dukes fan, you may just want to keep that to yourself. President Emmanuel Macron will host Tuesday a Bastille Day ceremony scaled-down because of the coronavirus pandemic and also address the French in a rare television interview as fears grow over a potential second wave of infections. For the first time since 1945, authorities have called off the annual military parade along the Champs-Elysees in Paris that marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille fortress that launched the French Revolution. Just 2,000 soldiers -- half the usual number -- will gather at the Place de la Concorde. However Macron is renewing another tradition, the July 14 presidents interview, to detail his plans for surmounting the devastating social and economic crisis wrought by the Covid-19 outbreak. SEE PHOTOS: Bastille Day 2020 in Paris, France amid the coronavirus pandemic He abandoned the ritual after taking office three years ago with a pledge to shake up politics as usual, but his new government is under pressure to prove it will rise to the unprecedented challenges. Prominent doctors urged this week that face masks be mandatory indoors, while authorities have warned the virus appears to spreading faster in several areas as people let down their guard during summer holidays. And despite billions of euros pledged to minimise the economic damage, questions remain over how the government will foster recovery from a recession expected to destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs. Elysee officials said the president, who this month replaced his prime minister with a hands-on technocrat, would address the health crisis as well as several measures to revive economic growth. - De Gaulle and Resilience - Macrons live TV interview at the Elysee Palace will air at around 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), after the military review and his speech to honour the countrys armed forces as well its doctors, nurses and others fighting the coronavirus pandemic. No crowds will be allowed anywhere near the Concorde square to avoid contagion risks, and just 2,500 guests will be spread out on viewing benches, with only a handful of tanks and other military equipment on display. The French air force will still carry out its traditional flyovers of the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees, including an A400M transport plane used to evacuate Covid-19 patients from overwhelmed hospitals at the height of the crisis. The flights were part of Operation Resilience that Macron launched in March, which also saw a military field hospital set up in hard-hit eastern regions of the country. Representatives of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Luxembourg have been invited, to thank the countries for taking in a total of 161 French patients in critical condition. Macrons aides have said he will also seize the occasion to honour Charles de Gaulle on the 50th anniversary of the generals death, and the 80th of his famous call of June 18, 1940, to resist the Nazi occupation. The ceremony will close with a rendition of the national anthem La Marseillaise and a flyover of the Patrouille de France acrobatics jets trailing blue, white and red smoke in honour of frontline health workers. Later Tuesday, parks near the Eiffel Tower will be closed to avoid crowds for the Bastille Day fireworks in Paris, and most other cities have called off their shows altogether. - Eye on election - Macrons critics have accused him of initially underestimating and then mishandling a crisis that has now caused more than 30,000 deaths in France. He has limited himself to a few televised addresses since March, while his previous premier Edouard Philippe enjoyed a popularity boost over his perceived steady hand. New Prime Minister Jean Castex has riled unions by saying he will move quickly to finalise a controversial pensions overhaul suspended by the crisis. Macron pushed ahead on the signature reform despite massive strikes over the winter, which drew in part on the anti-government anger laid bare in the yellow vest protests of 2018 and 2019. His interview Tuesday is expected to set his other priorities for the less than two years that remain before he comes up for re-election in 2022. Jeff Sessions leaving a Cracker Barrel in Mobile, Ala., yesterday, before his Senate runoff election on Tuesday against Tommy Tuberville, who has been endorsed by President Trump. What role will the Green Party candidate, Howie Hawkins, play in November? Bernie Sanders may not have won the Democratic presidential nomination, but there will still be at least one democratic socialist on the ballot in November. His name is Howie Hawkins, the longtime activist and frequent (though never successful yet) candidate for political office in his native New York. Hawkins, who is this years Green Party nominee for president, actually campaigned for Sanders in 1972, when Sanders was running for governor of Vermont on the Liberty Union Party ticket. Sanders won 1.1 percent of the vote in that election the exact share that Jill Stein won in 2016 as the Green Partys candidate for president. Initially, Tower Behavioral Health will offer acute inpatient care for adults age 18 and older. Care will be provided in a general psychiatric unit, with a mood disorders unit for adults scheduled to be added after the facility has opened. Additional expansion plans include age-appropriate units for children and adolescents in 2021. When fully operational, Tower Behavioral Health will include 144 inpatient beds and will offer the following services: Inpatient psychiatric care for children, adolescents, adults, and seniors Partial hospitalization program (PHP) Intensive outpatient program (IOP) Dual diagnosis services Outpatient counseling Physician services and consultations "Tower Health is committed to serving communities throughout this region, and we are proud to be partnering with Acadia Healthcare to increase access to this much-needed service while fulfilling our promise of advancing health and transforming lives," said Tower Health President and CEO Clint Matthews. Tower Behavioral Health will serve individuals who have been experiencing mental health concerns such as anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), self-harm, and suicidal ideation. The treatment center will also accept patients who have a primary mental health diagnosis and a co-occurring substance use disorder. "Acadia is pleased to be partnering with a leading health system like Tower Health to provide these critically needed services in southeastern Pennsylvania. Working together, we will be able to integrate physical and mental healthcare to improve the overall health of patients," said Acadia Healthcare CEO Debbie Osteen. "This new facility will play a vital role in the local community and have a significant positive impact on individuals and families throughout the area for many years to come." The new behavioral health facility will expand the number of inpatient beds available to the community, and it will enable providers to effectively engage with patients, families, and other members of each patient's support team. "Patients and families who turn to us in times of need can expect to receive superior services provided by a team of experienced and compassionate professionals," said Tower Behavioral Health CEO Stephanie Lee. "We are honored to serve Berks County and the surrounding communities, and we look forward to establishing ourselves as a valued and trusted resource for the families who live here." For additional information about Tower Behavioral Health, visit TowerBehavioralHealth.com . Click here for a photo of Clint Matthews and Debbie Osteen from the ribbon cutting event. About Tower Health Tower Health is a strong, regional, integrated healthcare provider/payer system that offers leading-edge, compassionate healthcare and wellness services to a population of 2.5 million people. With approximately 14,000 team members, Tower Health consists of Reading Hospital in West Reading; Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville; Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philadelphia; Jennersville Hospital in West Grove; Phoenixville Hospital in Phoenixville; Pottstown Hospital in Pottstown; and St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, a partnership of Tower Health and Drexel University in Philadelphia. It also includes Reading Hospital Rehabilitation at Wyomissing; Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences in West Reading; home healthcare services provided by Tower Health at Home; and a network of 22 urgent care facilities across the Tower Health service area. Tower Health offers a connected network of 2,200 physicians, specialists, and providers across more than 230 convenient locations. For more information, visit towerhealth.org . About Acadia Healthcare Acadia Healthcare is a leading provider of behavioral healthcare services. As of March 31, 2020, Acadia operated a network of 588 behavioral healthcare facilities with approximately 18,200 beds in 40 states, the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico. Acadia provides behavioral health and addiction treatment services to its patients in a variety of settings, including inpatient psychiatric hospitals, specialty treatment facilities, residential treatment centers, and outpatient clinics. For more information about Acadia Healthcare, please visit www.acadiahealthcare.com . SOURCE Tower Health Related Links http://towerhealth.org Advertisement Johnny Depp said Amber Heard was 'as full of s**t as a Christmas goose' and blasted her 'constant insults' after claiming his wife smashed his hand with a vodka bottle and 'cut my f***ing finger off', a court heard today. The Pirates of the Caribbean star sent a series of texts slamming Heard to his doctor after his finger was severed in Australia in March 2015, and accused her of marrying him because she was 'so desperate for success and fame'. He told Dr David Kipper that Heard had said he was a 'sad old man' and 'has been' and blasted her 'hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddamn shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love'. The actor's libel trial also heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his 'career is over', he would die a lonely man' and called him 'fat'. On another day of bombshell evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London today, further claims included: Depp claimed Heard had put a cigarette out on his face while in Australia, a month into their marriage in 2015; The actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed, according to his bodyguard; Heard took off her wedding ring and threw it during another row with Depp in 2015, but it was later found; Heard's stylist said she had 'no visible' injuries the day after the actress alleges Depp was violent towards her; Depp's head of security Jerry Judge previously warned the actor was 'not well' and 'we need to help him out'. In the texts to Dr Kipper, Depp wrote: 'I just cannot live like this... She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I'm done. NO MORE...!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what... ?? 'FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless 'educational' ranting...??? Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all... 'Here's the real deal, mate... Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important... She is SO F***IN' AMBITIOUS!!! She's so desperate for success and fame... That's probably why I was acquired, mate...!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am... 'Cowan (Dr Connell Cowan, another doctor) has done me the most cruel of favors... I'm so very sad... I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... I'm so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her...' Johnny Depp (left) and Amber Heard (right) arrive separately at the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning Heard leaves Ham Yard Hotel in London's Soho this morning ahead of legal proceedings continuing at the High Court A mock-up of the text messages sent by Depp to his private doctor Dr David Kipper after the Australia incident in 2015 Tara Roberts, Depp's estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, was also called to give evidence in the libel case against The Sun newspaper today. Sasha Wass QC, for the Sun owner's News Group Newspapers, suggested Ms Roberts was 'totally dependent on Mr Depp for your livelihood', to which she replied: 'No... I have other sources of income.' The barrister asked about a passage in her witness statement in which Ms Roberts said: 'I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else.' 'You're fat and you'll die a lonely man': Amber Heard screamed abuse at Johnny Depp after confronting him at his estate manager's office in the Bahamas - where she asked for help finding her wedding ring after taking it of and throwing it away Amber Heard told Johnny Depp that his 'career is over' and he will 'die a lonely man' during a blazing row, according to the property manager at Depp's Bahamas home. Tara Roberts said she overheard Heard 'insulting' the star, calling him names including 'fat' and saying 'no one is going to hire you' and 'you're washed up'. Ms Roberts said the incident happened on December 29, 2015 when Depp drove to her office alone and said he 'just needed to get away from Amber', before the actress then showed up. She said Heard was pleading with Depp to return to their home, but he started his car and she started screaming at him while stood in front of it. Ms Roberts said Heard was 'apparently not letting him get away by blocking his path', and she called Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski because she was 'unsure how far this would go'. Ms Roberts wrote in her court statement: While I could not hear what caused the fight, Amber repeatedly berated him with increasing ferocity. 'She was insulting him, calling him names, and in the middle of this onslaught I heard her say specifically 'your career is over,' 'no one is going to hire you,' 'you're washed up,' 'fat,' 'you will die a lonely man,' and also screaming things that were incomprehensible.' Depp responded to the abuse by telling Heard to 'go away' and 'just leave me alone', but Heard's rage 'continued to escalate', according to Ms Roberts. She continued: 'I saw Amber lunge at Johnny, clawing, tugging and aggressively pulling him. He continued to stand there yelling at her to stop and leave him alone. 'When he stepped back to leave, her onslaught would start again. During this entire incident, I never saw Johnny hit Amber, or push her back, nor did he physically react to the attacks. 'She would calm down and hug and apologize. Then he would say he needs to leave and it would start again. 'Finally, I stepped between them. She continued to reach for him but maybe my presence stopped it.' Ms Roberts added that Heard had 'removed her wedding ring and thrown it and had asked for help finding it as they were leaving that afternoon'. The ring was found and returned to her. Advertisement Depp is seen pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet Ms Wass then played a video of Depp, which has previously been played to the court, which shows the actor pacing around a room, swearing and kicking a cabinet. The barrister asked Ms Roberts: 'Would you agree it shows a different side of his character from the one you speak of in your witness statement?' To which Ms Roberts replied: 'No'. Responding to questions from Ms Wass about a detox trip to Depp's private island in the Bahamas in August 2014, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had spoken to the actor's doctor Dr Kipper and nurse Debbie Lloyd. She told the court that neither of them had a discussion with her about the actor's medical affairs. Ms Wass then read out part of the actor's medical records from September 2014, which said Depp was 'sitting in the kitchen with scraped and bloodied knuckles' and said he had punched a whiteboard in the kitchen after a fight. The barrister said: 'It would appear that Dr Kipper saw a different aspect of Mr Depp than you did, would you agree?' Ms Roberts replied: 'Yes.' Ms Wass then asked Ms Roberts about the former couple's stay in the Bahamas for Christmas 2015, and the estate manager confirmed that she was not aware Depp and Heard's relationship was very difficult at that point. Heard was 'the most violent' in their relationship, says Depp's estate manager The barrister said: 'As far as you were concerned, you have suggested that it was Ms Heard who was the most violent, is that right?' Ms Roberts replied: 'Correct.' She then described seeing Depp with a 'gash' on the bridge of his nose, which she said wasn't bleeding, and confirmed the actor had never suggested that she should photograph it. Ms Wass then put it to Ms Roberts that Heard had the remains of a bruise or a mark on her right cheek, to which Roberts responded: 'It wasn't visible to me.' The estate manager confirmed the fight between the couple took place on December 29 and she was then shown a photograph from around that time of Heard with bruising on her face. However, she again said she had not seen this bruising when she saw the couple after the argument. During an exchange with Depp's barrister David Sherborne, Ms Roberts confirmed that she had never seen the video clip before it was played in court and that she did not see the actor be violent to Heard in that clip. She also said that she 'never saw' Mr Depp being violent or aggressive towards Ms Heard on the island, and never saw him hit her. Mr Sherborne then said Ms Roberts explained in her witness statement that Ms Heard wasn't wearing make-up on the island, which the estate manager said was 'correct'. The barrister asked: 'Did you ever see that bruising on her when she was on the island?' To which Ms Roberts replied: 'No.' He then asked if Ms Roberts would have seen if Ms Heard had bruising to her face at that time, to which she answered: 'If she had then I would have seen it.' Mr Sherborne said it was suggested by Ms Wass that Ms Roberts depended on Depp for her livelihood, and she told the court her additional income came from a family business in the Bahamas, which includes a law firm and a car dealership. The barrister said: 'Ms Wass is suggesting to you that you are not telling the truth because you are scared of losing a job that you love, livelihood, you need your home on the island. Depp's former bodyguard Malcolm Connolly (pictured today), who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed in Australia 'Are you lying because you are worried about those things Ms Roberts?' The estate manager replied: 'No I'm not lying. I'm not lying.' 'I'm done. No more!': Texts sent by Johnny Depp to private doctor Texts sent by Johnny Depp to his private doctor, Dr David Kipper, after he claimed Amber Heard cut off part of his finger in Australia in March 2015: 'F***ed, man... Had another one... I just cannot live like this... She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose. I'm done. NO MORE...!!! 'The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c**t!!!!! But, you know what... ?? FAR MORE hurtful than her venomous and degrading, endless 'educational' ranting...??? 'Is her hideously and purposely hurtful tirades and her goddam shocking treatment of the man she was meant to love, above all... Here's the real deal, mate... Her obsession with herself..?? Is far more important... 'She is SO F***IN' AMBITIOUS!!! She's so desperate for success and fame... That's probably why I was acquired, mate...!! Although, she has hammered me with what a sad old man, has been I am... 'Cowan has done me the most cruel of favors... I'm so very sad... I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... I'm so embarrassed for jumping into anything with her...' Advertisement Calls for Depp's accountant to give more evidence about actor's accounts amid claims Heard was a 'gold digger' Shortly before lunch, the court heard legal argument about whether Depp's accountant, Edward White - who gave evidence by video link from the US on Monday - could be asked to provide further information about Depp's accounts during the period of his marriage to Heard. Ms Wass QC, said that 'one of the criticisms that has been made of Ms Heard... is that she is a gold digger'. Ms Wass said it had been suggested that that was the 'motivation' for her 'elaborate hoax in order to trick, somehow trick Mr Depp'. She added: 'The position is that Ms Heard was given a settlement of $7million (5.5million) when the divorce came through on August 15 2016.' Ms Wass continued that if it was true that Heard was 'entitled to half the income accrued by Mr Depp during the course of their marriage... and the settlement was considerably less than what she was entitled to, which we say is the position, it considerably emasculates the claimant's case.' She told the court that Depp's income between February 2015 and May 2016 was 'quite considerable' and that the information NGN wanted Mr White to give 'strikes at the heart of the claimant's case'. Depp's barrister David Sherborne said that 'it was not suggested by Mr Depp that it had anything to do with being a gold digger'. But Ms Wass referred to Depp's witness statement in which he said that he eventually believed that Ms Heard had 'an agenda, namely to get married to me in order to progress her own career and/or to benefit financially'. She also referred to a text sent by Depp shortly after the couple split which referred to Heard as 'gold-digging, low-level (and) dime-a-dozen', adding: 'Gold-digging is top of the list.' Ms Wass said she was 'asking Mr White to confirm the accounts for the relevant year, the year of the marriage, which he is in a position to do.' Heard arrives wearing a face covering at the Royal Courts of Justice this morning as legal proceedings continue Heard (left) arrives at the High Court today for her ex-husband Depp's (right, also today) libel case to continue Mr Justice Nicol said: 'I'm not inclined to ask Mr White to give us further information about the income that Mr Depp earned during the course of the marriage and their relationship.' But the judge added: 'Mr White should be asked to give whatever information he is able to give about the settlement that was reach with Ms Heard as part of the divorce agreement.' Depp's housekeeper 'horrified and disgusted by 'faeces' in bed he shared with Heard Hilda Vargas claimed it was 'clear' that the excrement was human, saying she knew they could not have come from the couple's two small dogs. The court has previously heard that faeces were found in the bed at the couple's Los Angeles penthouse at the Eastern Columbia Building the day after Ms Heard's 30th birthday party in April 2016. Ms Heard, 34, claims that one of the two small Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, were responsible. Mr Depp, 57, has told the court it was 'a mystery' who defecated in the bed, adding he was 'convinced' Ms Heard 'or one of her cohort' was involved in the so-called 'defecation incident'. In her written statement, Ms Vargas, who has worked for Mr Depp for more than 30 years, said she arrived at the apartment at around 3pm on April 22, 2016, and had just finishing washing dishes and vacuuming when she heard another cleaning lady call out and she joined her in the master bedroom. 'She was pointing to the bed and told me that she couldn't believe what she had found,' Ms Vargas said. Amber Heard has rubbished accusations that she defecated in Johnny Depp's bed, as bombshell photographs of faeces at the centre of their bitter court row were made public for the first time 'I pulled back the top sheet on the bed and saw a large pile of faeces. 'I was horrified and disgusted. It was clear to me that this was human faeces. 'I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Mr Depp's or Ms Heard's two small dogs. 'I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller. Further, I have never known those dogs to defecate in the bed.' Ms Vargas said in her statement that she took photos of the faeces in the bed, before washing and changing the sheets. She later told Mr Depp's estate manager, Kevin Murphy what she had found because she was 'so angry'. Ms Vargas said that on May 24, 2016, she was working at Mr Depp's West Hollywood home when Ms Heard arrived with her friend Raquel Pennington. The housekeeper claimed Ms Heard called her over and told her the photos she had taken of the faeces in the bed 'had destroyed her marriage'. Ms Vargas said: 'I was very nervous and so I apologised, even I did not believe that their marital problems were my fault or that I had done anything wrong. 'I also told Ms Heard that the faeces were there, that there was nothing I could do. Ms Heard argued with me saying that there were no faeces in the bed. 'I, again, said that the faeces were there, that they were large and smelled awful. Ms Heard continued to disagree with me, but I wanted to end the conversation as quickly as possible.' In her statement, Ms Vargas also said she had 'often' heard Ms Heard 'yell at Mr Depp and at other people'. She alleged: 'She has a bad temper in my opinion, and I did not want her to yell at me. 'On the contrary, in the over 30 years I have worked for Mr Depp, I have never seen Mr Depp be physical with or yell at anyone.' Stylist claims Amber Heard had 'no visible' injuries on the day after alleged attack by Depp Samantha McMillen (left) and Heard (right) at an event in Los Angeles on December 10, 2015 A Hollywood stylist has told the High Court Amber Heard had 'no visible' injuries the day after the actress alleges Johnny Depp was violent towards her during a heated row. Samantha McMillen said she spent 'much of the afternoon and early evening' with Ms Heard, 34, on December 16 2015 as the star prepared to appear on James Corden's The Late Late Show and she could 'see clearly' that Ms Heard had no marks, cuts or bruises. Mr Depp, 57, is alleged to have been violent towards Ms Heard in an argument at their Los Angeles penthouse on December 15, which he denies. The Hollywood star is suing The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a 'wife beater'. In a witness statement, Ms McMillen said that she saw Ms Heard 'in good light, at close range, wearing no makeup' the following day, adding: 'I could see clearly that Ms Heard did not have any visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body.' Ms McMillen claimed that after her appearance on the programme, Ms Heard said to her 'can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?' The stylist said: 'Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment.' In her written statement, Ms McMillen also claimed she 'interacted closely' with Ms Heard five months later, on May 24 2016, at Mr Depp's house in west Hollywood. This was shortly after another episode in which Ms Heard alleges the Pirates Of The Caribbean star threw a mobile phone at her, hitting her in the eye, and smashed items with a wine bottle. Mr Depp denies the allegations. Ms McMillen's statement says: 'I went to the house in the afternoon, and encountered Ms Heard. Ms Heard was not wearing makeup. 'There were no visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body. I saw her by the kitchen door during daylight in Mr Depp's house. 'She gave me a hug, crying. After hugging me, she began to have an intense conversation in Spanish with Mr Depp's housekeeper, Hilda Vargas.' Ms McMillen also said that three days after her encounter with Ms Heard, on May 27, she saw in the media that 'Ms Heard had gone to court with prominent injuries visible on her face'. She claimed she 'knew that she (Ms Heard) did not have those marks on her face on May 24 2016 when I was with her'. Advertisement Depp was 'in emotional distress' after his finger was severed in Australia and allegedly had a cigarette stubbed on his face Earlier, Depp's former bodyguard claimed in court today that Depp said Heard had 'cut my f***ing finger off' after smashing his hand with a vodka bottle and stubbing a cigarette on his face during a blazing row. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed in Australia. The incident is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper being heard at the High Court in London. Mr Connolly said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Depp told him: 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.' Following the Australia incident, Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. It took place just one month after Heard and Depp had married in Las Vegas in February 2015. The security officer said Heard's account of the incident bore 'no resemblance' to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress 'did not have any marks on her face or arms'. He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp's security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: 'Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.' Mr Connolly said: 'I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. He and Amber were screaming at each other. 'She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of 'Come with me, you are coming with me'. 'I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of 'Johnny, come with me'. It wasn't easy but I did get him outside. 'I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. I saw his finger and it was a mess.' Mr Connolly's statement continued: 'Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of 'Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?' 'Then she was saying 'I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?'. She was not making a lot of sense - one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away. 'She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before. 'For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny's general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.' Depp's bodyguard claims Heard 'did not have any marks on her face or arms' Mr Connolly said he could see Heard's face 'very clearly', adding: 'She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn't look in any physical distress. 'I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn't that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.' The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Depp's injury would 'create extremely bad publicity' and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. Mr Connolly said: 'I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn't believe us for one second.' He said Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly's apartment with him instead. Frantic response saw Depp's security team say they 'have got to get over to his house urgently' Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers, asked Mr Connolly about the incident in Australia. She said Mr Connolly was told by Jerry Judge, then Depp's head of security, that they 'have got to get over to Mr Depp's house urgently'. Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the house 'there was an argument ongoing'. Ms Wass asked if Mr Connolly could 'understand what Mr Depp was saying during the course of that argument'. He replied: 'No, because I was outside... I could hear a ruckus, but I couldn't understand the actual words being said.' Ms Wass asked: 'Was there a time when you did get inside the house?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Yes.' Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp is pictured outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London this morning Depp has claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard (pictured today) 'mirrored' her abuse towards him= Ms Wass asked 'what sort of state' Depp was in, to which Mr Connolly said the actor was 'distraught'. She then asked if Depp was 'coherent' or if he 'appeared as if he had been drinking'. Johnny Depp's security guard recalls actor's 'distress' after his finger was severed One of Johnny Depp's security team has told the High Court the actor was 'in emotional distress and panicking' after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia. The episode, in March 2015, is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Amber Heard has made against her former husband which are at the centre of his libel claim against The Sun newspaper. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Mr Depp and his family for about 16 years, said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, the Hollywood star told him: 'Look at my finger. 'She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle.' Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Ms Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and he saw a mark. The security officer said Ms Heard's account of the incident bore 'no resemblance' to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress 'did not have any marks on her face or arms'. He said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Mr Depp's security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: 'Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation.' Mr Connolly said: 'I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. 'He and Amber were screaming at each other. She was wearing a sort of green silk night thing, you might call it a slip. 'I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of 'Come with me, you are coming with me'. 'I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of 'Johnny, come with me'. It wasn't easy but I did get him outside. 'I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. I saw his finger and it was a mess.' Mr Connolly's statement continued: 'Amber appeared at the door and then came close to the car, screaming and crying, calling out words along the lines of 'Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?' 'Then she was saying 'I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?'. 'She was not making a lot of sense - one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away. 'She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before. 'For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny's general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him, another time a can of coke. 'I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible.' Mr Connolly said he could see Ms Heard's face 'very clearly', adding: 'She did not have any marks on her face or arms. She didn't look in any physical distress. 'I was much more concerned about Johnny. He was obviously in emotional distress and panicking. He wasn't that drunk or out of it though and was easily standing on his own and having a conversation.' The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Mr Depp's injury would 'create extremely bad publicity' and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. Mr Connolly said: 'I thought it was fairly obvious that this was not true given the severity of the injury and suggested we say he jammed it into a car door. 'However we went with the onion cover story. The specialist didn't believe us for one second.' He said Mr Depp did not go back to the house over the next few days and stayed at Mr Connolly's apartment with him instead. Advertisement Mr Connolly said: 'It's hard to tell with Johnny because it takes some amount of volume of alcohol.' He added: 'He didn't appear that drunk to me.' Mr Connolly said that after he arrived at the house in Australia in March 2015, Depp was 'having a conversation with me, straight as a die'. Ms Wass asked if Depp appeared to be rational, to which the personal security guard said: 'I don't know about rational because he was in shock.' The barrister then asked if Depp appeared to have taken drugs, and whether Mr Connolly was 'familiar with what he was like when he took drugs'. Mr Connolly said: 'I'm never privy to that sort of behaviour... I have never seen it.' Bodyguard denies claims that Depp was 'covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled' Ms Wass suggested: 'He was absolutely filthy, wasn't he? Untidy... covered in blood and paint and dirt and he was dishevelled and didn't appear as if he had washed. He was properly filthy?' Mr Connolly said that was not the case. Ms Wass suggested to Mr Connolly that his evidence in his witness statement - that Mr Depp told him, 'she's cut my f****** finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle' - was not true. Mr Connolly replied: 'I can only say I was there, I witnessed it.' Ms Wass said Depp had 'come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged'. Mr Connolly said that those explanations were 'only to protect Amber'. He added that the story that Depp had trapped the finger in the 'accordion doors' in the house was 'my story'. Ms Wass asked: 'You cooked up that lie, did you?' Mr Connolly said: 'Yes.' Ms Wass then took Mr Connolly to a text sent by Depp to his private doctor, David Kipper, shortly after he lost the tip of his finger which read: 'F*****, man. Had another one. I just cannot live like this. She is as full of s**t as a Christmas goose!!! 'I'm done. NO MORE!!! The constant insults, the demeaning, belittling, most heartbreaking spew that is only released from a malicious, evil and vindictive c***!!!!!' The message added: 'I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital...' Ms Wass asked: 'Would you agree it appears that Mr Depp was accepting that he cut the top of his finger off in that text?' Mr Connolly said: 'Yes, it's how it's worded.' Depp asked his assistant for 'more whitey stuff' Ms Wass then read out a text sent by Depp to his assistant Nathan Holmes, just five minutes later, which read: 'Need more whitey stuff ASAP, brotherman. And the E business.' Mr Connolly said the reference to 'whitey stuff' was 'probably cocaine' and that 'E business' was a reference to ecstasy. Ms Wass then suggested that the house was 'completely wrecked', but Mr Connolly said: 'I never saw the house completely wrecked. I only got as far as the front foyer.' The barrister asked: 'You couldn't see paint that had been graffitied all over the house? You couldn't see damage?' Mr Connolly said: 'No.' He also said he did not see any broken windows at the property. Ms Wass then said: 'As far as you were concerned, Ms Heard was uninjured.' Mr Connolly replied: 'That's correct, yes.' Ms Wass asked: 'What opportunity did you have to look at Ms Heard to say that?' Mr Connolly said that when he was 'trying to get Johnny in the car, Amber came to the front door screaming and shouting'. Ms Wass asked if he was 'absolutely sure' he did not see any scratches on Heard's arms, to which Mr Connolly said he was. She also asked if Mr Connolly saw a 'bruise on her (Heard's) face', to which he said he had not. Ms Wass asked Mr Connolly about an audio recording, part of which was played to the court, which was made during the incident in Australia in March 2015. The court heard a male voice, which Mr Connolly said he recognised as Depp's voice, shouting unintelligibly, and the security guard said the actor was 'in shock' at that point. Ms Wass said the recording was made over five hours and included various conversations, with Depp, his doctor and Mr Judge, all heard on the full audio. Johnny Depp being taken to hospital with a severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015 Johnny Depp's severed finger, following the incident in Australia in March 2015, which was released in court proceedings Mr Connolly told the court: 'It appeared to me at the time that Amber was completely unharmed.' Ms Wass asked if it was possible, given the circumstances of the situation, that he must have missed something, to which Mr Connolly responded 'no'. The 14 times Johnny Depp is accused of attacking Amber Heard 1. Early 2013 Heard says Depp was completely sober until early 2013, and around that time he allegedly hit her for the first time when they were in Los Angeles. She claims Depp later cried and apologised, telling her that he sometimes turns into 'the monster' when he snaps. Depp has 'expressly denied' hitting Heard and said that, around early 2013, he had 'confined himself to drinking wine and using marijuana, having been sober from around December 2011 to August 2012'. 2. March 8, 2013 Heard claims Depp was angry she had hung up a painting by her ex-partner Tasya Van Ree by her bed in her LA home, then tried to set the painting on fire and hit her 'so hard that blood from her lip ended up on the wall'. Depp, however, says he simply asked Heard to move the painting from the bedroom 'as a courtesy' and that she had an 'extreme reaction'. He also says a text he later sent describing the evening as a 'disco bloodbath' was to 'placate Ms Heard' and not an apology for alleged violence. 3. June 2013 Heard and Depp were in Hicksville, US with a group of people including Heard's sister Whitney and Depp's assistant Nathan Holmes. Heard says Depp, who was 'taking drugs', became 'enraged' and 'jealous' when one of her friends touched her, and he then threw glasses at her, ripped her dress and damaged the cabin they were staying in. Depp says he drank and took magic mushrooms, as did Heard and her friends who also took MDMA. He claims Heard's friend touched Heard in an 'extremely sexual manner' and he spoke to her to ask her to stop. 4. May 24, 2014 The pair took a private plan from Boston to LA: Heard says that during the flight Depp, who had been drinking heavily, threw objects at her, pushed a chair at her, slapped her and kicked her in the back before passing out in the toilet. Depp says Heard 'began to harangue him' as he was sketching in a notebook, he then tried to 'playfully tap her on the bottom with his foot', at which Heard took 'great offence' and 'continued to verbally berate' him. 5. August 17, 2014 The couple went to the Bahamas, Depp says to 'cure his dependence on painkillers', although Heard claims he was trying to give up other drugs too. Heard says Depp had 'several manic episodes' and his private doctor had to be flown over to help. She alleges that he slapped, kicked and grabbed by the hair during an attack. Depp alleges Heard stopped a nurse from giving him treatment while he was going through withdrawal. 6. December 17, 2014 Heard says Depp was 'violent towards' her in LA, and later texted calling himself a 'f****** savage' and a 'lunatic'. Depp denies any allegation of violence and says NGN has 'failed to provide any particulars of the alleged violence'. 7. January 25, 2015 While the couple were in Tokyo, Japan, Heard claims Depp shoved and slapped her and grabbed her by the hair, before standing over her and shouting while she was on the floor - which Mr Depp denies. 8. Around March 3-5, 2015 Depp is said to have repeatedly assaulted Heard after an argument over his alleged use of MDMA during a three-day trip to Australia. She says he stayed up all night, taking pills and drinking, and then attacked her again the next morning. Heard says, the following night, Depp pushed her into a table tennis table, tore off her nightgown and attacked her, before smashing a telephone into a wall and severing the top of his middle finger. She also claims he had written messages to her around the house in a mixture of paint and blood from his finger, which Depp admits doing while 'in shock', as well as having 'urinated all over the house in an attempt to write messages', which he denies. Depp says Heard was in 'a prolonged and extreme rage' following an argument over a post-nuptial agreement. He says he then 'broke my sobriety' with several glass of vodka, before Heard threw a bottle at him, severing the top of his finger, and stubbed a cigarette out on his cheek. 9. March 2015 Heard says Depp became 'enraged' when they were in LA with her sister and began destroying things in the house before hitting her 'hard and repeatedly'. She also claims he tried to push her sister down the stairs before hitting Heard again. Depp, however, says Heard was 'berating him in a rage' as he tried to leave, threw a can of Red Bull at him and punched him in the face before he finally left. 10. August 2015 While they were on the Eastern and Oriental Express in south east Asia, Heard alleges Depp 'picked a fight' with her, hit her and pushed her against a wall by the throat, 'causing her to fear for her life' - which is denied by Depp. 11. November 26, 2015 In LA, Depp is alleged to have ripped Heard's shirt and 'threw her around the room', also throwing a wine glass and a 'heavy glass decanter' at her, as well as pushing her over a chair which caused her to bang her head against a wall. Depp says they were in LA for Thanksgiving, but denies any allegation of abuse. 12. December 15, 2015 Heard claims Depp threw a decanter at her in their penthouse in LA, then slapped her and dragged her through the apartment by her hair, allegedly pulling 'large chunks of hair' from Heard's scalp. She says he then followed her upstairs and pushed her to the floor while shouting 'you think you're a f****** tough guy' before headbutting her. Heard says that when she told Depp she wanted to leave him he grabbed her and screamed: 'I f****** will kill you - I'll f****** kill you, you hear me?' Depp, though, says 'Ms Heard fabricated the alleged violence', falsely claiming that 'blonde hair on the floor was her hair'. He also claims that 'the only violence committed on that date was by Ms Heard', who allegedly 'violently attacked' him. 13. April 21, 2016 Heard says Depp arrived at her birthday party at their LA home late, 'drunk and high on drugs' and they had an argument after the guests had left. She claims he threw a bottle of champagne at her and shoved her to the floor several times before leaving a note reading: 'Happy F****** Birthday.' Depp says he arrived at the party around two hours late following a meeting with his new business manager and accountants, and that he was not on drugs but 'shocked from what he had learnt at the meeting about his business affairs'. He claims Heard had been 'drinking heavily' and attacked him while he was reading in bed, punching him in the face four times before he grabbed her arms to stop her. Depp says the next day Heard or one of her friends 'defecated in Mr Depp's and Ms Heard's bed', and that Heard later told the building manager Kevin Murphy that it was 'just a harmless prank' - at which he point he 'then resolved to divorce Ms Heard'. 14. May 21, 2016 Depp arrived at their LA apartment, allegedly 'drunk and high' while Heard was there with friends. Heard said Depp became 'very angry', throwing her phone at her and hitting her in the eye before smashing 'everything he could' with a magnum of champagne. He says he went to the apartment with two security guards to collect his belongings after Heard and her sister 'repeatedly' tried to contact him. Depp claims his two security guards entered the room when they heard Heard shouting, and saw her 'repeatedly screaming, 'stop hitting me, Johnny'' while he was 20 feet away in the kitchen. He also says that two police officers who attended the apartment after the incident 'saw no injuries or bruising or swelling'. Advertisement She said: 'And you are trying to be fair to both parties - it's not a question of you simply coming here to support your boss?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Not at all, no.' Security team told how Depp was 'not well' and needed help Ms Wass said that, during part of the recorded conversation, Mr Judge could be heard to say: 'He is not well, we need to help him out in every way we possibly can.' Mr Connolly confirmed he agreed with Mr Judge's remark that the actor was not well. Ms Wass said Mr Judge could also be heard to say: 'He basically completely cut the top of his finger off on a broken bottle and we found the piece and we had to put it on ice.' Mr Connolly said he didn't remember that and his recollection was Depp telling him that Heard had cut his finger off with a broken bottle. Ms Wass then asked Mr Connolly about a train trip in South East Asia, which was Depp and Heard's honeymoon in July 2015. She read out a diary note written by Heard which said: 'We finally fell asleep with one another smashed together in desperate, childlike anger, fear and love.' Heard recounted 'terrible' fight in a diary note The note continued: 'Our fight was terrible. Johnny... at one point found himself with his shirt wrapped around my neck. Amazing to think about (the) precision, co-ordination that required considering the close circumstances... 'I don't even know how I wound up with this huge, rather annoying knot on the back of my head. F***, I hate that.' The note concluded: 'Where are my lines, do I have any left?' Ms Wass asked where Mr Connolly was on the train, and he said he was 'about three or four doors down' from the couple. The barrister asked: 'So, if a fight had taken place at 3.30 in the morning, do you think you would necessarily have known about it?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I would never have known about it.' David Sherborne, representing Depp, then asked Mr Connolly: 'Did you ever see any injuries to Ms Heard on the trip on the South East Asia train?' The security guard said, 'no, never', before confirming that Ms Heard had not told him she had received any injuries, nor that Mr Depp had hit her. Mr Sherborne then asked: 'If she had suffered injuries, would you or would you not have seen them?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I would have seen them.' Depp was 'in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock' after the finger incident Mr Sherborne then asked about the incident in Australia in March 2015, and referred to the recording Mr Connolly had been played which the barrister said was taped by Heard. Mr Connolly said Depp was 'in a lot of pain, a lot of distress and shock'. He said the first thing Depp said to him when he tried to remove him from the house was 'give me a f****** minute'. Mr Connolly said the actor then 'stood in the driveway holding his hand and he said 'she just cut my f****** finger off''. Mr Sherborne said Mr Connolly was 'dealing with a difficult situation', and asked what experience he had of similar situations. Mr Connolly said: 'I'm an ex-prison officer for HMP Pentonville.' He explained that he was 'trained in extraction, I'm trained in pacifying... spotting bruising patterns'. Mr Connolly added that he was trained 'by the establishment, by the Home Office'. Mr Sherborne referred to the 'other explanations' for how Depp lost the top of his finger and asked Mr Connolly why they were devised. Mr Connolly said they were 'to protect the production' Depp was involved in at the time, as well as Heard. He added that he had 'seen it in prison' that 'the usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason, you know the psychological bullying... they fit the same criteria, they never come forward with the information'. Mr Sherborne asked about the 'cigarette burn' on Depp's cheek after the incident, which Mr Connolly said he saw on the actor's face. The barrister then turned to the transcript of the recording Heard apparently made, on which Mr Judge can be heard to say 'she hit him, she slapped him yesterday'. Mr Sherborne asked: 'Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp, is that something you have heard before?' Mr Connolly replied: 'I've heard it before, yes.' Mr Sherborne asked if it was a 'one-off', to which Mr Connolly said it had happened 'in Australia and in Los Angeles'. He also asked Mr Connolly about a text message, which was sent on an unknown date, sent to him by Mr Depp which read: 'Please get me out of this room now, she struck me about 10 times. Can't take anymore.' Mr Sherborne asked: 'In your experience, Mr Connolly, of dealing with Ms Heard and Mr Depp over a number of years, was this a one-off type of text or conversation with Mr Depp?' Mr Connolly said: 'No.' Mr Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: 'Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time?' Mr Connolly said: 'No - and I wouldn't tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldn't tolerate that.' Mr Sherborne asked: 'Not even if it was your boss?' Mr Connolly replied: 'Not even if he's my boss. I don't care if he's the Pope.' Mr Sherborne then asked: 'Not even if your livelihood depended on it?' Mr Connolly said: 'I work for Johnny ... only three days ago, I was offered a job in Peru. I don't depend on Johnny for my income.' Mr Sherborne asked him about the suggestion that 'you had been pressured to lie and come on Johnny's side', and whether that was true. Mr Connolly said: 'Absolutely untrue.' Mr Connolly's evidence came on day six of the trial of the actor's libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a 'wife beater'. The court is also due to hear evidence today from Hilda Vargas, Depp's housekeeper at his Los Angeles properties, as his high-profile libel case over allegations of domestic violence by Heard continues. Heard's assistant Savannah McMillan is also due to appear, one day after Depp finally finished giving evidence and claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by Heard, 34, 'mirrored' her abuse towards him. On the final day of his evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday during his libel case against The Sun, Depp said: 'It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me.' The actor also accused Heard of throwing a 'haymaker' punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, just hours after he had learned during a 'bad' business meeting that he had lost $650million (514million). Yesterday, the High Court also heard that Depp has a 'remarkable' ability to not get drunk despite drinking 'a lot of alcohol', that cocaine simply 'brought him to a normal level which normal people might operate at'. Depp is suing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an article in April 2018 which labelled him a 'wife beater'. His barrister David Sherborne referred yesterday to a 'secret recording' of the former couple in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor. In the recording, Heard can be heard to say it was 'unbelievable to imagine' that she had either been 'in a secret fight club' or 'plotting to do this for three years ... just saving it up for the right time' when she was not asking for any money, adding 'no-one is going to believe that'. Depp described Heard's words as 'a reverse confession', adding: 'It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure.' Mr Sherborne said Depp can also be heard to say 'you f****** haymakered me, man' in the recording - which is said to refer to an incident after Heard's 30th birthday party at the couple's LA penthouse on April 21 2016. The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Depp denies the allegations. Depp and Heard met on the set of 2011 film The Rum Diary. They are pictured at the London premiere in November that year Amber Heard photographed Johnny Depp with ice cream spilled on his legs during a private flight from Boston to Los Angeles in May 2014 before showing it to him the next day and saying: 'Look at what you've become', the court heard yesterday Photographs show bruising across the bridge of Heard's nose and under her eyes after Depp allegedly headbutted her in 2015 Photos after the incident in December 2015 show bruising to Heard's face after Depp allegedly headbutted her Depp is alleged to have trashed a penthouse in Los Angeles, California, which Heard used as a colossal closet Depp admitted to leaving graffiti on a bathroom mirror after the fight with Heard, which resulted in his finger being severed Depp's island in the Bahamas is pictured. Depp's trial heard today from the property manager at his Bahamas home, who said Heard had told Depp during a row in December 2015 that his 'career is over', he would die a lonely man' and called him 'fat' The actor said that, at a business meeting on the day of Heard's party, he was 'in the early stages' of finding out from a new business manager that 'the former business managers had (taken) quite a lot of my money'. Johnny Depp v The Sun: Key issues in libel trial Hollywood star Johnny Depp's libel claim against The Sun enters its second week on Monday. These are the key issues the trial judge, Mr Justice Nicol, has to determine. - Whether the April 2018 article by the tabloid's executive editor Dan Wootton was defamatory of Depp. Under the Defamation Act 2013, a statement is not defamatory unless its publication causes 'serious harm to the reputation of the claimant'. - The Sun's publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), is defending the claim and relying on a defence of truth. It is for the publisher to prove that the allegations made in the article are 'substantially true'. - The meaning of the article, which is defined as what it would mean to the 'reasonable reader', will have to be determined by the judge. But NGN's lawyers say the differences between the rival meanings contended by each side are 'not significant' and the outcome of the case will therefore not turn on meaning. - Depp's case is that the article bore the meaning that he was 'guilty, on overwhelming evidence, of serious domestic violence against his then wife, causing significant injury and leading to her fearing for her life, for which he was constrained to pay no less than 5 million to compensate her, and which resulted in him being subjected to a continuing court restraining order; and for that reason is not fit to work in the film industry'. He strenuously denies the allegations and claims he 'has never hit or committed any acts of physical violence against Ms Heard'. - The meaning which NGN will seek to prove is true is that the Claimant beat his wife Amber Heard, causing her to suffer significant injury and on occasion leading her to fearing for her life. They rely on 14 separate allegations of violence and allege more generally that Depp was 'controlling and verbally and physically abusive' towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and or drugs, throughout their relationship. NGN's lawyers say an important issue for the judge to decide will be what substances Depp was using during the relationship. They contend that he frequently lost control of himself, partly because of his heavy drug and alcohol use, and also that his memory has been impaired by his heavy use of drugs. - If Depp wins his case, the judge will have to decide what level of compensation he should receive for the harm to his reputation and for the 'distress, hurt and humiliation caused'. There is an upper limit on general damages for libel of 300,000 to 325,000. However, if he succeeds, Depp may also be entitled to aggravated damages. The actor is also asking for a final injunction against NGN, who his legal team say 'have retained the article on their website and maintained their allegation to the bitter end'. Advertisement Asked how much had been taken, Depp said: 'It was put to me this way, because I had no idea about money or amounts of money. 'Since Pirates (Of The Caribbean) 2 and 3, I had - and this is ludicrous to have to state, it's quite embarrassing - apparently I had made $650million and when I sacked them, for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650million, but I was $100million (79 million) in the hole because they (the previous business managers) had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years.' Depp was also shown a photograph, apparently taken by his ex-wife, which showed him in August 2014 with 'ice cream spilled all over my leg' shortly before he was due to go to the Bahamas for a detox. The actor said the picture was taken at a time when he had been working 17-hour days and was 'very tired, falling asleep'. The court also heard evidence from Depp's former personal assistant, Stephen Deuters, who alleged Heard 'was the abuser in the relationship'. Mr Deuters, who is now European president of Depp's production company, Infinitum Nihil, said that during the period in which Depp is alleged to have been abusive towards Heard, he saw her 'on many occasions' and 'at no point' did she 'ever mention any physical abuse'. He told that court that he was 'extremely surprised and outraged' when it became public that Heard had filed for a restraining order. Mr Deuters described the couple's tempestuous relationship as 'not great', saying: 'I think they were two people that were in love with each other that shouldn't have been together.' The front desk supervisor at Depp's LA penthouse building also gave evidence that she saw 'no visible injuries whatsoever to Heard's face' three days after Mr Depp allegedly hit his ex-wife in the face with her own mobile phone on May 21 2016. Trinity Esparza said the first time she saw any marks on Heard's face that week was on May 27, the day the Aquaman actress appeared in court to obtain a restraining order against Depp, which 'disturbed' Ms Esparza. Ms Esparza, who owns the company that provided concierge services at the Eastern Columbia building where Depp previously owned five apartments, said in her witness statement that she 'saw and interacted with Heard on May 23, May 24 and May 25 with a clear and unmarked face'. Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said to Ms Esparza: 'Isn't it more accurate to say you saw her earlier in the week and you didn't notice it?' Ms Esparza replied: 'That is not accurate, I saw her very clearly.' Ms Esparza also told the court that she saw 'a number of marks on Ms Heard's body' - including bruises on her neck, plasters on her arm and a mark below her left eye - on a day in June or July 2016, shortly after Tesla founder Elon Musk left the building at around 9am looking 'like he had just woken up with messy hair'. Depp is suing NGN and Mr Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: 'Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?' NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was 'controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs'. A request by the Associated Press for a list of fund donors and payments from the PM office was denied. Bejon Misra responded quickly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis appeal in March for donations to a new fund to strengthen the countrys fight against the coronavirus. The next day, the 69-year-old retired management professor made a donation. It was a generous contribution because Modi is the face of it, Misra said. Such trust in Modi is common in India, the prime minister enjoying a very high approval rating, despite coronavirus infections spiking in recent weeks. India on Tuesday recorded more than 28,000 cases for the second consecutive day, taking the tally to 906,752, according to the countrys health ministry. More than 23,000 people have died from COVID-19. So when the Prime Ministers Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, or PM CARES, was launched days after India started a countrywide virus lockdown in March, donations began pouring in and have not stopped. Retirees like Misra, industrialists, Bollywood stars and foreign companies have all pitched in. But the fund, now valued at more than $1bn, has run into controversy over issues of transparency and accountability. PM office denies fund information The Associated Press requested a list of donors and payments from Modis office under the Right to Information Law, which entitles citizens to access information from Indias often opaque bureaucracy. The request was denied. Modis office, which manages PM CARES, has refused to disclose the information [File: Narendramodi.in via AP] Modis office, which manages PM CARES, has refused to disclose the information, arguing that even though it is administered by the Indian government, the fund is not a public authority and therefore is not subject to right-to-information laws. As a result, there is little transparency about the money the fund is receiving and spending in the middle of Indias still-raging virus outbreak. Its not a state secret, and the government must answer the questions that are being raised, said Saket Gokhale, an independent activist who was one of the first to question the fund. They are stonewalling. Legal experts are challenging the response by Modis office. Surender Singh Hooda, a lawyer at Indias top court, filed a petition on June 5, arguing that the funds website must display details of the money received and how it is used. The Delhi high court told Hooda to withdraw his petition and contact Modis office first, as required by law. Modis office denied Hoodas request for information. The money has been collected under the name of the prime minister, and millions of ordinary citizens have donated to it. The least we expect is some transparency, Hooda said. Modi is the funds chairman, while the powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, as well as the ministers of defence and finance sit on its board. The ventilators scam But unlike other government-administered funds, this is not audited by Indias Comptroller and Auditor General. Instead, Modi appointed a private business consulting firm, SARC & Associates, to audit the fund 12 days after it donated $212,665 to it. Sunil Kumar Gupta, head of SARC & Associates, has been a vocal supporter of Modis Bharatiya Janata Party, appearing in photographs with Modi and top party leaders at various events. Gupta also wrote a book in 2018 about Make in India, Modis project to increase manufacturing and domestic consumption of Indian-made products. On what merit was this private company, which is so close to Modis party, given the job to audit the fund? asked Gokhale. Its shady, and the activities are very suspect. Gupta declined requests for comment. Modis party colleagues have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by the fund. Party spokesperson Nalin Kohli said it was transparent and was helping India fight the virus. PM CARES has also run into other controversies. Activists argue that the funds website must display details of the money received and how it is used [File: Rajanish Kakade/AP Photo] After Modis office said it had spent $26m from the fund to buy 50,000 ventilators, two top hospitals in Mumbai and New Delhi described shortcomings in the products and concluded they were prone to failure. The company that made the ventilators rejected the findings. The main opposition Congress party called the ventilator purchase a scam. About $13m from the fund was allocated for impoverished migrant workers, millions of whom were stranded without work or transportation home during the two-month countrywide lockdown. Many say the allocation came too late. Modis party said the $13m was given to state governments to provide food, shelter, medical treatment and transportation for the migrants. Former Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, a Congress party member, was critical that the money did not directly go to the hands of the migrant workers. Others see the fund as a thinly veiled marketing device for the prime minister. It looks like Modi wants to put a stamp of his own on everything, said Aseem Katyal, an independent activist who has been demanding transparency from Modis office. - Gabin Ndayizigiye was involved in a road accident which left him nearly paralysed and unable to walk since June 30 - The couple had planned to formalise their union on July 4 but the accident put them at a crossroad whether to proceed or not - The bride approached her church and discussed the possibility of proceeding with the wedding plans and the priest agreed to her request A Burundian woman in her late 20s has stunned her village when she refused to postpone her wedding ceremony that fell on a day her lover was admitted to the hospital. Charlotte Mukantwari could not wait nor reschedule her beautiful day as she looked forward to say "I do" which she eventually did but within Kirundo health facility. READ ALSO: Nicole Thea: YouTuber who took fans through pregnancy journey dies one month to delivery Newly wedded couple. The groom Gabin could not hide his joy. Photo: BBC News. Source: UGC READ ALSO: UK to offer jobs for highly skilled Kenyans without university degrees The groom, Gabin Ndayizigiye, was involved in a road accident on June 30, which left him nearly paralysed and unable to walk, BBC News reported on Monday, July 13. Following the near-death experience, Gabin said he was rushed to the hospital for emergency services and was admitted and remained on the bed for about two weeks now. The couple had planned to formalise their union on July 4 and both families were at crossroads on whether the ceremony would go on as scheduled. READ ALSO: Maurice Mangoli: Bungoma professor dies of COVID-19 day after county buried doctor Gabin being wheeled out of his ward. Photo: BBC News. Source: UGC READ ALSO: 41 more workers at Pumwani Hospital test positive for coronavirus While the two families were deliberating on the next course of action with the reality that had hit them, Charlotte was fixing what needed to be fixed for her big day, unperturbed. "Ive been waiting for that date, facing that challenge was like facing the devils' temptation, I couldnt imagine my life after missing it," she said. READ ALSO: Eden Hazard: Real Madrid superstar buys 500k Lamborghini Aventador SVJ He, however, lost chronology of events preceding the accident as he was unconscious. "When I regained consciousness, I found myself lying in a poor of dirty water. My leg was seriously hurting and had a huge swelling. The good Samaritans who rescuesd me were even afraid to inform my fiancee but they later on did after which she came to the hospital," he recounted. During their conversations when Charlotte visited him at the hospital, he said they never discussed their wedding but the gracious lady dropped a hint. "She could stare at me in the eye and check my leg which broke during the accident and asked me to be strong. At one point, she asked if we would ever continue with the plans if God healed me. She asked when we were the two of us. It was refreshing because most women would rather stay away from someone crippled like me," he said. The bride approached her church and discussed the possibility of proceeding with the wedding plans and fortunately, the priest agreed to her request. On the big day, friends and relatives turned up at the hospital situated in the Northern city of Kirundo with gifts to witness the union. Charlote's friends helped her wheel Gabin out of his ward before and after taking the vows. The ceremony was brief but sweet according to guests who attended it. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. Babies with babies : The sad life of single teenage mothers in Kenya | Tuko TV. Source: TUKO.co.ke China has donated nearly 300,000 face masks to Sri Lankan schools, universities and the country's Election Commission, as the island nation prepared for school reopening and the Aug. 5 parliamentary election, a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said here Tuesday. The embassy handed over 189,000 face masks to 26 schools and five universities across the country with the coordination of the ministries of education and higher education, according to the statement. Upon the suggestion of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the embassy also donated 100,000 face masks to the Election Commission ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election. "China and Sri Lanka are true friends sharing weal and woe," the embassy said in a statement. The Chinese side will always remember the strongest solidarity and support extended by people from all walks of life in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 outbreak, it said. As a reciprocal response, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka till June, the central and local governments, enterprises, organizations and individuals from China have donated more than 73,000 test kits, over 3 million disposable masks, 210,000 KN95 masks, 54,000 PPE gowns, 41,000 eye goggles and 145,000 medical gloves, among others, to Sri Lanka to fight against the pandemic, the embassy said. It is strongly believed that these donations from China will contribute to the health and well-being of the Sri Lankan people, and enhance the historical friendship between the two countries, the statement said. (CGTN) An alleged victim of Ghislaine Maxwell delivered an emotional statement in court Tuesday, calling Jeffrey Epsteins longtime associate a sexual predator who has never shown remorse for devastating the lives of young girls. Annie Farmer spoke in a steady voice via an audio feed piped into the courtroom at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan before the judge ordered Maxwell to remain behind bars until her trial. I met Ghislaine Maxwell when I was 16 years old, Farmer said. She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women. She has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes or the devastating, lasting effects her actions caused. Annie Farmer leaves the courthouse after a bail hearing in U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking case in New York City (Lucas Jackson / Reuters file) Farmer said the number of people victimized by Maxwell may never be known. "But those of us who survived implore this court to detain her until shes forced to stand trial and answer for her crimes, said Farmer, who filed a federal lawsuit in November alleging that she was sexually abused by Epstein and Maxwell at his New Mexico ranch when she was 16. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan denied bail for Maxwell and said she posed a flight risk. "Crucially, the defendant not only has significant financial resources, but has demonstrated sophistication in hiding those resources and herself, Nathan said. Nathan also cited the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the strength of the governments case and the length of the possible prison sentence 35 years if Maxwell were to be convicted. A trial date has been set for July 12, 2021. Jennifer Araoz, who has said she was raped by Epstein at the age of 15, cheered the judge's decision to deny Maxwell bail. "Knowing that she is incarcerated for the foreseeable future allows me, and my fellow survivors, to have faith that we are on the right path," Araoz said in a statement. I would like to thank both the prosecutors and the judge for taking us one step closer to seeing that justice is served. Story continues Other Epstein accusers, including one who also has sexual misconduct claims against Maxwell, celebrated the judge's decision. "We breathed a sigh of relief today," attorney Lisa Bloom, who represents six accusers, said in a statement Tuesday. "This is the first step toward restoring my clients' faith in the criminal justice system. They've been let down many times." Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents more than a dozen women, said her clients were relieved. "One of my clients who was an underaged victim of sexual abuse by Jeffrey Epstein ... stated that she cried tears of joy when she heard the courts decision," Allred said in a statement. Maxwell appeared via videoconference from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn due to concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic. Before the hearing got underway, she sipped from a Styrofoam cup and rubbed her eyes. Maxwell was wearing a brown top with a dark shirt underneath, her hair pulled back behind her head. She spoke sparingly at the start of the hearing. Not guilty, your honor, she said when asked how she wished to plead to the charges. Maxwell, 58, was arrested July 2 at a remote New Hampshire mansion. She had not been seen in public since Epstein, her longtime associate, was arrested on sex trafficking charges last year. Maxwell was charged in a six-count indictment that alleges she recruited and groomed underage girls, some as young as 14, who were sexually abused by Epstein in the mid-1990s. Her lawyers have argued that shes the target of overzealous prosecutors and that she hasnt had any contact with Epstein for more than a decade. They asked the judge to release her on a $5 million bond to home confinement as she awaits trial. But prosecutors have described her as an extreme flight risk, saying she has access to millions of dollars, extensive international contacts and citizenship in France, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Prosecutors have said Maxwell has proven to be skilled at living in hiding, pointing to her purchase of a $1 million New Hampshire estate through a limited liability corporation that shielded the buyers identity. She tried to hide when the FBI came to arrest her and had in her home a cellphone wrapped in tin foil in what prosecutors described as a misguided effort to evade detection, government court filings say. In court Tuesday, her lawyer, Mark Cohen, pushed back against the government's claims that she poses a flight risk and argued that she should be released on bail. He said she was hiding from the media, not the government, and moved into a different room in the house when the FBI showed up because of all the commotion. "Our client is not Epstein, is not the monster portrayed by the media and now the government," he said. Cohen noted that she's part of a large family and has remained in the country after charges were filed. "They're trying to spin the facts to make my client look sinister, your honor," he said. Prosecutor Alison Moe told the judge that Maxwell pretended she was someone else when purchasing the New Hampshire property where she was arrested. Citing an FBI agent who interviewed the real estate broker, Moe said Maxwell posed as a woman named Jen Marshall and described herself as a journalist who was seeking privacy. She was accompanied by a man who said his name was Scott Marshal and described himself as a former British military member who was writing a book. It was only after Maxwell's arrest that the real estate agent realized Jen Marshall was Epstein's longtime associate, Moe said. "The defendant has used an alias to hide herself and her identity," Moe said. "That raises real concerns." Maxwell, who for years and perhaps decades was thought to have been single, is married, according to federal prosecutors. The marriage was disclosed in a glancing comment from Assistant U.S. Attorney Alison Moe, one of three prosecutors on the case, at Tuesday's detention hearing. Moe spoke for several minutes about the lack of transparency in Maxwell's filings as to who would co-sign her bond if she was given bail. "In addition to failing to describe in any way the absence of proposed cosigners of a bond, the defendant also makes no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse whose identity she declined to provide to Pretrial Services," Moe said. She did not say who she believed Maxwell's spouse was or give any indication as to how long they had been married. Epstein died by suicide in jail last summer while awaiting trial. Following his death, federal prosecutors vowed to continue the investigation and prosecute his enablers. Industrial relations reform could enable agriculture to lead Australia's coronavirus economic recovery, the farm lobby says as it calls for government help to reduce labour costs, but political leaders and experts say new technology will drive growth instead. National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson on Tuesday told the National Press Club in Canberra policy reform can "genuinely stimulate new activity and employment". She presented the Get Australia Growing report, which says the coronavirus pandemic created "an opportunity we must not squander". National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson speaking to the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer. "The cost of labour for Australian farmers was among the highest in the world," Ms Simson said, claiming wages accounted for more than 60 per cent of total production costs. National Farmers was not advocating to reduce wages, Ms Simson said, but she called for "streamlined regulations". Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, Judge me by the enemies I have made. The oft-misquoted maxim has a straightforward meaning: The character of the people who oppose you says a lot about the values you hold dear. And while New Yorks journey through the coronavirus pandemic garnered Cuomo national acclaim, the governors shutdown orders have also made him a whole slew of new enemies. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in response to one legal action, Weve lost track of the frivolous lawsuits filed against us during this pandemic. Allow City & State to help, with this roundup of some of Cuomos most notable lockdown foes. Religious leaders Orthodox Jews and Catholic priests may disagree on a lot, but nothing brings religious leaders together like a common enemy. Two upstate Catholic priests and three Orthodox Jews from Brooklyn joined forces to sue Cuomo for closing houses of worship while supporting public protests after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. The suit also named state Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for enforcing the shutdown order, saying lockdown orders clearly discriminate against houses of worship. Thats not the only recent beef between Cuomo and religious leaders. The Association of Jewish Camp Operators, along with a group of parents, sued the governor over the states decision to close sleepaway camps this summer. Deaf New Yorkers While Cuomos star power rose over his handling of the pandemic, de Blasios plummeted. But even de Blasio got one thing right that landed Cuomo in hot water: having an American Sign Language interpreter on hand for press briefings. Initially, Cuomo didnt have one, prompting advocates including Disability Rights New York to request one be added. Even when he did, advocates for the deaf community pointed out that ASL interpretation was only available to those watching the web stream, and not on the television broadcast. It wasnt until after a lawsuit from Disability Rights New York and an order by a federal judge that the ASL interpreter was actually added to the TV broadcast. By that point, New York was the last state to add ASL interpretation of coronavirus briefings on a television feed. Gym rats Although experts are still wary about the health risks of reopening gyms, some of those who frequent group weight rooms or workout classes not to mention the people who run them are fed up with getting flabby.With gyms still shuttered in phase 4 of reopening, hundreds of gym owners have filed a class-action suit against Cuomo and Attorney General James arguing that keeping fitness facilities closed causes irreparable harm to their livelihood, seeking $500 million in damages. Who knows what will come of the lawsuit, but in the meantime, Cuomo might want to steer clear of mentioning his home gym in the governors Executive Mansion. Strip club owner Strip clubs and social distancing might seem like a bad match, but that didnt stop one Long Island club owner from suing Cuomo for closing nonessential businesses a move the suit alleges violated the state constitution. That suit was later dropped, though its likely Cuomo wont be invited to the Blush Gentlemens Club in Commack anytime soon. Gun rights advocates While far from a new enemy, gun owners are pissed off at Cuomo again, but this time its personal. The National Rifle Association sued Cuomo in his capacity as both the governor and as a private citizen, arguing that the closure of gun stores deemed nonessential was a pointless and arbitrary attack on New Yorkers constitutional rights. Another suit, filed by two men looking to purchase guns and a retailer, made similar arguments, though a federal judge tossed the complaint. I wish you could become immune to this virus the way I've become immune to NRA lawsuits, Cuomo said back in April. Civil liberties advocates Its rare though not unheard of for civil liberties groups and gun rights advocates to agree on something. But if the enemy of your enemy is your friend, then groups like the New York Civil Liberties Union and the NRA might be closer pals than we thought. The NYCLU sued Cuomo in late May after he issued an executive order allowing people to congregate in groups up to 10 for religious gatherings or to celebrate Memorial Day weekend, arguing that easing of those restrictions should apply not just to religious gatherings, but other First Amendment-protected activities like protests, too. Soon after the lawsuit, Cuomo amended the order to reflect that any type of gathering of up to 10 people would be allowed. Niagara Regional Police and the Ontario Fire Marshals office are investigating, after a fire caused extensive damage to a home in rural Thorold, Sunday morning. Thorold fire Chief Terry Dixon said firefighters quickly extinguished the blaze at a home on Hurricane Road, after a fire was reported at about 8:30 am. There was significant damage. The garage was fully involved, and it got into the attic, Dixon said. There was significant smoke and water damage throughout the house. Its been boarded up now. Although he said one resident was home at the time, the individual safely made it outside and no injuries were reported. It was believed to have been arson, so they (Ontario Fire Marshals office) are working with the Niagara Regional Police, Dixon said, adding he has not been updated on the status of the investigation. Thorold firefighters did an excellent job extinguishing the fire, he said. We had lots of water. We never had any issues that way whatsoever. Dixon said he remained on scene for most of the day, assisting in the investigation. He said water was brought in to fight the fire at the very rural location. Police spokesman Jesse Vujasic said the investigation into the blaze is ongoing. The Ontario Fire Marshal has attended and completed their Origin and Cause investigation, the results of which are pending, he said. Affected by the recent heavy rainfall across the country, the water levels of 433 rivers in China have surpassed danger level since early June, 33 of which hit historical highs, said the Ministry of Water Resources on Monday. From early warning systems to rescue missions, various forms of sophisticated technology have been used to save lives and property in the fight against floods. China's BDS warns of geological disasters The recently completed BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has played an integral role as an early warning system for geological disasters caused by floods. Several rounds of heavy rainfall have hit Shimen County in south China's Hunan Province since the start of this year's flood season. A massive landslide occurred there on July 6, after heavy rains caused 3 million cubic meters of a mountainside to collapse. The area was evacuated before the incident occurred, and no one was injured. On June 24, Shimen County officials were notified of a potential geological disaster based on BDS' findings. The satellite detected anomalies in the monitoring data of hidden geological hazard points, CCTV reported. The local authorities immediately relocated residents in nearby villages. Right before the landslide on July 6, another batch of villagers near suspected danger zones was evacuated. Wang Dunlei, who is in charge of flood and drought prevention in Changde City, told CCTV that with high-tech means like BDS, the city can identify danger zones in advance and avoid casualty. Fighting floods smartly In Anqing City in east China's Anhui Province, a local telecom operator uses 5G technology and virtual reality (VR) to observe water levels in real-time. With the low-latency 5G signal, monitoring personnel can quickly receive footage shot by 360-degree cameras and observe even subtle changes in water levels through VR goggles, thus increasing the efficiency of inspection during the flood season. The intense rainfall has caused severe flooding and waterlogged the soil in many cities in the country. In cities such as Fuzhou in southwest China's Fujian Province and Guiyang in southwest China's Guizhou Province, areas that easily accumulate water are marked on a map so that when it rains heavily, monitoring personnel can check the real-time status of each catchment area without the need to go out into the field. High-tech hardware like drones and rescue robots have also made significant contributions to saving lives during the flood season. Doctors concerned about the risk to hospital staff of the coronavirus are calling on the NSW and Victorian governments to commit to a target of zero healthcare worker deaths from COVID-19, as the number of infected workers continues to climb. Health ministers of the nation's two most populous states, which are home to an escalating number of COVID-19 infections, are refusing to commit to the target. Doctors are calling on NSW and Victoria to commit to a target of zero healthcare worker deaths from COVID-19. More than 4500 healthcare workers signed a letter sent to all state, territory and federal leaders in May asking for a target of zero healthcare worker deaths in the hope this would lead to increased efforts at improving infection control and access to masks. Tasmania, Western Australia, South Australia, the ACT and the Commonwealth government have agreed to the target, and Queensland is expected to, but NSW and Victoria have declined. July 13, 2020 Comm100 Omnichannel Recognized for Exceptional Innovation Vancouver, B.C., 7/13/2020 Comm100 announced today that TMC, a global, integrated media company, has awarded its Omnichannel Customer Engagement platform with a 2020 Communications Solutions Products of the Year Award. Comm100 omnichannel customer engagement empowers brands to connect at every key digital channel through a single, unified console. The platform provides live chat, email, social media, and SMS, strengthened with a knowledge base and AI-powered, 24/7 chatbots to create the perfect balance between self-serve, agent assistance, and chatbot automation. From marketing and sales to service and support, Comm100 Omnichannel closes the gap between question and answer, wherever and whenever your customers want. Over 6500 organizations worldwide including Rackspace (News - Alert), Stanford University, and Canadian Blood Services use Comm100 to scale service capacity while reducing cost per engagement and improving customer satisfaction. Congratulations to Comm100 for being honored with a Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award, said Rich Tehrani, CEO, TMC (News - Alert). Comm100s Omnichannel platform is truly an innovative product and is amongst the best communications products and services available on the market today. I look forward to continued excellence from Comm100 in 2020 and beyond. About Comm100 Comm100 is a global provider of digital omnichannel customer engagement solutions that help brands orchestrate their unique blend of human agent, bot, and self-serve interactions. Organizations like Rackspace, HomeTrust Bank, and Canadian Blood Services use Comm100 to exceed customer expectations with service that closes the gap between question and answer. About TMC Through education, industry news, live events and social influence, global buyers rely on TMCs content-driven marketplaces to make purchase decisions and navigate markets. As a result, leading technology vendors turn to TMC for unparalleled branding, thought leadership and lead generation opportunities. Our in-person and online events deliver unmatched visibility and sales prospects for all percipients. Through our custom lead generation programs, we provide clients with an ongoing stream of leads that turn into sales opportunities and build databases. Additionally, we bolster brand reputations with the millions of impressions from display advertising on our news sites and newsletters. Making TMC a 360 degree marketing solution, we offer comprehensive event and road show management services and custom content creation with expertly ghost-crafted blogs, press releases, articles and marketing collateral to help with SEO, branding, and overall marketing efforts. For more information about TMC and to learn how we can help you reach your marketing goals, please visit www.tmcnet.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, @tmcnet. For more information about TMC, visit www.tmcnet.com. Comm100 Contact: Jeff Epstein VP Marketing, Comm100 [email protected] 1-778-785-0464 TMC Contact: Michelle Connolly Marketing Manager 203-852-6800 [email protected] Edited by Maurice Nagle The man accused of the Adrian Donohoe murder has said he is the victim in the case and blamed the gardai and media for "ganging up" on him, the Central Criminal Court has heard. Aaron Brady (29), who denies capital murder, was this morning being cross-examined having yesterday been called by his defence team to give evidence. Mr Brady repeatedly denied involvement in the murder and said that he was moving laundered diesel cubes in a south Armagh yard at the time of the robbery. Beginning his cross-examination, prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC put it to the accused: "You're the victim in all of this, is that right?" Expand Close Aaron Brady / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Aaron Brady Aaron Brady said "I would suggest I am" while also agreeing that his family and wife were victims as well. Asked if anyone could vouch for where he was at the time of Lordship Credit Union robbery and murder, Mr Brady said: "There's people who know where I was, I was alone in the yard." He agreed that he had no alibi for the time of the robbery, but said "I'm sure people know I was in the yard." The court previously heard from two key prosecution witnesses, Molly Staunton and Daniel Cahill, who gave evidence that while living in New York they overheard Mr Brady admit to shooting a guard. Aaron Brady said Ms Staunton was "mistaken" and that Mr Cahill is a "psychopathic pathological liar", and agreed that the media and gardai "ganged up" on him. Asked by Mr Grehan what lies he had told, Aaron Brady said he lied about working at the diesel laundering yard, his driving ban and the curfew, adding: "I'm here under oath, I'm not lying now." Counsel put it to the accused that, not only was he an admitted liar, but a compulsive liar who lies about "lots of things, big things and small things". It was also put to him that the first time any account of what Mr Brady said he was doing at the time of the murder was when a notice of alibi was sent to the DPP's office on December 20 last year, saying he was at a yard on Concession Road moving laundered cubes. The accused said he told his "solicitor long before that" when they had a discussion. Mr Grehan said he could not ask Aaron Brady about conversations he had with his solicitor because they are privileged. Aaron Brady told the jury that he believed he half loaded the trailer with diesel cubes and left because he wanted to visit his girlfriend Jessica King having had a fight with her the previous night. He agreed asking Ms King, his then girlfriend, to lie for him about when he arrived at her home in Cullaville that night, but said this was only because he was involved in the diesel yard. He agreed calling another man alleged to have been involved, Suspect B, after the murder having had seven missed calls from him before the robbery. Mr Brady told the jury that he could not remember what they spoke about but added: "There was no conversation about Lordship Credit Union." The accused was asked what date he started going out with Jessica King. Mr Brady said he did not know the precise date before telling the court 12 September, 2012. Aaron Brady knew the date, he said, because he had it tattooed on his back. When counsel accused him of telling "another little lie", Mr Brady denied this and said it is "just embarrassing because me wife is sitting in the courtroom." Asked when he met his wife Danielle Healy in the US, he said it was late 2016 but could not remember the date, before addressing his wife and saying: "Sorry Danielle." Mr Brady also agreed that, when giving gardai a voluntary statement 10 days after the fatal shooting, he told a "cock and bull story" about where he was at the time of the robbery. Mr Brady said he travelled to the US in April 2013, adding that he wanted to get away from gardai and the media "blaming me". He agreed that he was not the only person who left Ireland in the aftermath of the Lordship Credit Union Robbery. The accused said that two other suspects, his best friend Suspect A and another alleged diesel launderer, travelled to the US and Australia respectively. The court heard he earned $65 an hour while working in the US but denied he made "a fortune". The trial continues before the jury of six men and seven women this afternoon. Aaron Brady has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Adrian Donohoe (41), who was then a member of An Garda Siochana acting in the course of his duty, at Lordship Credit Union in Bellurgan, Dundalk, Co Louth, on January 25, 2013. The accused, of New Road in Crossmaglen, Co Armagh, also denies robbery of approximately 7,000 in cash and assorted cheques from Pat Bellew at the same location on the same date. Utica, NY -- A fight at a Central New York funeral home has left the owner seriously injured, according to a new report. Attorney Mark Wolber told WKTV on Monday that Monica Revels, owner of T. Revels Gibson Funeral Services in Utica, suffered broken bones and vision loss in a large altercation during a funeral service last month. Wolber, who represents Revels and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Yeomans, said a dispute began over a closed casket when the deceaseds family asked to see the body. The mother of the deceased allegedly had requested not to have her daughter embalmed. Revels and Yeomans told the family that a waiver needed to be signed in order to see the body, according to Wolber, because you are going to be viewing a decomposing body, it could be gruesome, it could have an impact on you, and youre willing to waive any claim against the funeral home for allowing you to see the body. The family allegedly refused to sign the waiver and a relative opened the casket anyway, sparking a large fight at the funeral home on June 12. According to WIBX, Utica Police said it was withholding some details of the incident, including the identities of those involved, out of respect for the deceased and her family. Police did say some people were injured and sent to the hospital; its unclear how many. More than a month later, Wolber told WKTV that Revels has no vision in her right eye, double vision in her left eye, and three separate broken bones. Shes been unable to drive or work, Wolber said. One man has been arrested for assault, and may face criminal charges, according to Wolber. Catholic Bishops of the Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province have urged Nigerians to cooperate with authorities if the dreaded coronavirus pandemic is to be defeated. English Africa Service Vatican City Catholic Bishops of Nigerias Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province, comprising Ibadan Archdiocese, Ilorin, Ondo, Ekiti, Oyo and Osogbo Dioceses have issued a statement urging adherence to guidelines dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Adherence is the way to go The Coronavirus is real, but available evidence shows that if we all cooperate in fighting it by our adherence to the wearing of face masks, maintaining social/physical distance and constant sanitising and washing of hands, we can drastically reduce its effects and conquer it, said the Bishops. The Pastoral Statement of the Bishops comes at the end of their plenary assembly held at Nigerias M&M centre, Ilorin, Kwara State which concluded Tuesday. The statement released on behalf of other Bishops was signed by the Archbishop of Ibadan, Gabriel Leke Abegunrin. The Bishop of Osogbo Diocese, John Oyejola, co-signed in his capacity as Secretary. Appreciation especially for medical personnel The Bishops express empathy with the suffering of Nigerians due to measures put in place by authorities. They, however, praise various frontline workers for their selflessness during the ongoing health emergency. We commend and thank all those who have acted to bring succour (assistance, support) and comfort to our people, be this in the form of services, palliatives, counselling and even prayers. These include the effort of governments, institutions, professionals, especially doctors and other medical personnel and other kind-hearted individuals. We urge Nigerians to continue to adhere strictly to all guidelines and instructions aimed at preventing the spread of the virus, said the Bishops. Collaboration between authorities and religious leaders As Nigeria inches towards the re-opening-up of more social space, the Bishops urge caution where places of worship are still closed. They recommend closer collaboration between local governments and religious leaders in view of re-opening them. Tragic increase in the crime of Rape The Bishops, in their statement, also turn their attention to issues that concern the dignity of women and the crime of Rape. Nigeria has, in recent months, seen an increase in the crime of Rape against women and the girl child. The upsurge of rape in our country is tragic, say the Bishops. They continue, Since all are born of women, Rape does not only hurt women, it is also the greatest form of self-degradation by the very perpetrators. It is a crime deserving of the strictest corrective punishment and is a sin against God, the Creator of all. A call for more Collaborative Ministry in the Nigerian Church On a specifically pastoral note, the Bishops urge more space and scope for collaborative Ministry in the Church. Collaborative Ministry in the Church seeks to enhance the collaboration between Consecrated Persons and the Diocesan Clergy wherever they work. It shows the face of the Church as family of God on mission. Such synergy and harmony surely bring a lot of benefit to the Church and her mission. We urge that the concept and substance of collaborative Ministry be maximally exploited to enhance the work of mission and evangelisation by different segments of the Church, namely, Clergy, Religious, Women Organisations, Men Organisations, Youth and Children, emphasised the Bishops. Los Angeles, July 14 : The legendary Tina Turner, who had retired from singing, has a surprise for fans. She has teamed up with Norwegian producer Kygo to release a remix of her 1984 hit, "What's love got to do with it?" "Can't believe I'm releasing a collab with @LoveTinaTurner this Friday! What's Love Got To Do With It' is one of my all time favorite songs, and it feels surreal to get the opportunity to work with such a legendary artist! Can't wait for you all to hear it," ," Kygo tweeted. Tina's original song had won three Grammys for Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2008, on her Tina! 50th Anniversary Tour, she had announced it would be her final tour, and mostly retired except for the rare appearances and recordings. First, we lose the kind of personal drive that built this country: the life force of brilliant young people with the courage and ambition to leave everything familiar in search of a better future. Whats more, most students who come here to earn a Ph.D. stay to build their families and careers, and often companies that create thousands of jobs. Many become citizens. The latest data show, for example, that 83 percent of Ph.D. students from China, the kind of highly trained scientists and engineers who drive American innovation, were still in the United States five years after completing their degrees. The percentage would be higher if longstanding U.S. policies did not require many students to return home after finishing their education a system as counterproductive as training a great player and then insisting that she go play for a rival team. Recently, the percentage of doctoral graduates remaining here has begun to decline, in part because our national message is that they are not welcome. As some in Washington have sought to limit foreign students, especially those from China, that hostile message has grown louder. Of course the United States must screen students seeking visas and keep out those with dubious backgrounds. But even the fiercest China hawks acknowledge that when foreign interests engage in espionage or intellectual theft, they seek to recruit senior scientists; only a small number of Chinese students have been implicated in such cases. The vast majority we should welcome, not discourage with the blunt hostility apparent in recent policies. I believe profoundly that we must increase the number of Americans pursuing training in science and engineering. But we must also understand that Americas strength in science and engineering is central to Americas strength, period and that a core element of that strength, for decades, has been our ability to lure the worlds finest talent. This country derives many intangible advantages from being a beacon of hope for people around the world; I first came to America in 1974 from Venezuela, where my parents finally settled as refugees from Hitlers Europe. I came to improve my own prospects through a graduate degree. But I found a culture of openness, boldness, ingenuity and meritocracy a culture which taught me that in coming to America, I had truly come home. The Jordanian government is gearing up to reopen the kingdom to foreign tourists, starting with the medical tourism sector, amid uncertainty over when the international airport will be open, health protocols regarding arriving tourists and countries whose citizens will be allowed to enter. Prime Minister Omar Razzaz announced July 5 that the kingdoms airports will reopen by the end of the month for international flights but in a limited way for countries whose coronavirus situations are no more dangerous than that of Jordan. On July 1, government Spokesperson and Minister of State for Media Affairs Amjad Adaileh told Arabic CNN the kingdom was in touch with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) to declare Jordan a safe country for travel. The kingdom has seen a sharp decrease in local coronavirus infections in the first two weeks of July, with no more than 1,500 cases recorded since March and only 10 fatalities. On July 5, the government announced it had received the Safe Travels stamp from the WTTC in appreciation of the kingdoms successful measures in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Tourism Minister Majd Shweikeh was quoted as saying by The Jordan Times. A day later, the government released a list of countries whose citizens can apply via an online platform to visit the kingdom to receive medical treatment, adding their applications will be processed within 24 hours. The initial list includes citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Sudan, Yemen and Cyprus. But local tour operators were critical of the conditions set by the government for travelers to enter the kingdom. They include a coronavirus test certificate 72 hours prior to entering Jordan, to be repeated once the visitor arrives and again on the 7th and 14th days consecutively. In addition, visitors will agree to self-isolate for 14 days, which could be extended. Among other conditions, visitors may be required to wear electronic bracelets while they observe home or hotel quarantine. These tough measures reflect the governments weariness of reopening the country at a time when the World Health Organization is warning of a new spike or even a second wave of the pandemic. Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories have seen a new surge in daily infections, while the number of daily cases remains high for most GCC countries and Iraq. The tourism sector has been particularly hit by the pandemic since Jordan enforced a nationwide lockdown last March. Shweikeh declined a request for an interview, but on June 2 the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) announced that tourism revenues decreased by 10.7% to 784 million Jordanian dinars ($1.105 billion) in the first quarter of 2020 after achieving a growth rate of 13.6% during the first two months of the year. In March alone, tourism revenues dropped by 56.5%, according to CBJ data. The CBJ expected the situation of the tourism sector, which contributes no less than 13% to the GDP, to worsen in the following months. Revenues from the tourism sector increased in 2019 to reach around 4.11 billion Jordanian dinars ($5.7 billion), marking a 10.2% growth compared with 2018, the CBJ said. Jordan received more than 5 million tourists last year. On June 23, King Abdullah II told heads of divisions at the Royal Department for Environment Protection and Tourism that Jordan is among the countries best equipped to reopen the tourism sector thanks to early precautionary and public health measures taken to deal with the coronavirus, adding that jobs in the tourism sector are vital to the economy, according to The Jordan Times. He also stressed the importance of investing in the tourism sector, noting efforts are underway to attract investors to establish tourist-related projects in Jordan. In statements to the press on June 12, Shweikeh said that since the onset of the crisis, the ministry has implemented a number of measures to help alleviate the damage to the sector, totaling more than 30 million Jordanian dinars ($42 million). She added, Theres no doubt the tourism sector was the most affected sector of the economy due to this global crisis. It will also be the last to recover. President of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce Nael al-Kabariti praised government efforts but said it should focus on helping those most affected by the closure of the tourism sector through incentives such as lower taxes and licensing fees, while focusing for now on encouraging domestic tourism. He told Al-Monitor the government must listen to the grievances of tour operators. But head of the Travel and Tourism Agents Society in Jordan Mohammad Samih told Al-Monitor that all government measures to reopen tourism are empty talk and on the ground, nothing real is happening. Samih said the government had abandoned this vital sector and left tour operators to take sole responsibility for paying 50% of employees salaries for three months while businesses were closed. He said tour operators were unable to access bank facilities because of government measures. The situation will not improve until airports are open and tourists are allowed to return, Samih said. He also rebuffed government efforts to reopen medical tourism, saying tour operators will not benefit from it. Medical expert and epidemiologist Montaser Al-Balbisi told Roya TV on July 8 that he disagreed with opening medical tourism just for a few dollars," adding it is too early to welcome medical tourists as not all hospitals have the resources to deal with quarantine areas. Teslas plans to steal buyers from German luxury automakers suffered a setback Tuesday after a court in Munich ruled that the California maker of electric cars made exaggerated promises about its autonomous driving technology. Teslas use of the brand name Autopilot for its software, as well as claims the company made on its German website about the softwares function, create the false impression that the car can drive itself, a Bavarian state court ruled. In fact, the court said, Autopilot is a driver-assistance system that requires human intervention. In any event, the court said in response to a suit by a German business group, the countrys laws do not allow vehicles to operate autonomously on the highway. Tesla can appeal the decision, which bans the company from making the claims but does not take effect for a month. The ruling may foreshadow the resistance Tesla, which is building a factory in Berlin, is likely to face as it tries to market its vehicles abroad. The ruling also illustrates the hurdles Tesla faces as it tries to bring autonomous driving to the road. Today Atlantic Therapeutics, a Galway-based MedTech and Femtech innovator, announces a transition in leadership to fulfill the potential of the INNOVO brand in the large and under-served US Stress Urinary Incontinence market. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005893/en/ Susan Trent, CEO of Atlantic Therapeutics. (Photo: Business Wire) Atlantic Therapeutics CEO Steve Atkinson will hand over the CEO role to Susan Trent. Susan joined Atlantic Therapeutics in November 2019 as SVP and GM, US. Based in Atlantic Therapeutics' Boston, MA office, Susan has launched the company's INNOVO brand in the US and demonstrated its potential as a Category-disrupting direct-to-consumer solution for stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Susan's 20+ year career with GlaxoSmithKline makes her ideally suited to lead Atlantic Therapeutics in this exciting new growth phase. As an experienced senior Healthcare Executive, Susan has a strong track record leading teams to deliver large-scale, high-growth healthcare brands globally. Since the launch of INNOVO into the US market in March this year, sales have exceeded initial expectations, gaining momentum and market-traction across the US month-by-month. The company closed an internal financing round in June and is planning a Series C raise early in 2021 to further accelerate sales growth in the US market as well as bring product innovation into the US market and elsewhere. Speaking on behalf of the Board, Daniel O'Mahony, Partner with Seroba Life Sciences, said "we are delighted with the appointment of Susan as CEO. Susan's wealth of experience and track-record in launching global consumer healthcare brands and brand building is a hugely positive addition for the Company. In addition, the board would very much like to thank Steve Atkinson for the leadership, vision and inspiration he has provided to Atlantic Therapeutics. Since its initial spin-out in 2017 through to new product launch of INNOVO in Europe and USA, Atlantic Therapeutics has grown rapidly and now offers a permanent solution to women all over the world who are suffering from stress urinary incontinence. The board would also like to thank Gordie Nye for his guidance and support to the board throughout his chairmanship, as Gordie elects to step down as Chairman." About INNOVO INNOVO is a revolutionary device that offers women a safe, clinically effective and truly non-invasive choice to treat the root cause of bladder leaks rather than just the symptoms. Simple to use and wearable, INNOVO fits into a busy lifestyle. In the privacy of their own home, women can simply pull on what looks to be a pair of exercise shorts for a 30-minute pelvic floor workout. Innovative NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation) technology embedded in the shorts does the work to strengthen and re-educate their pelvic floor muscles, giving them the opportunity to live a leak-free life in as little as three months. With an estimated 1 in 3 women suffering from SUI, the potential for INNOVO to make a positive difference to women's lives is huge. Underpinned by compelling peer-reviewed science, INNOVO has received numerous prestigious awards for innovation and technology, including 2019 European MedTech Company of the Year, the Irish Times Innovation Awards 2019 and the 2020 US Edison Award Gold Medal. Results of a clinical study demonstrated that 80% of INNOVO users experienced significant improvements after four weeks, and 87%2 were considered "dry" or "near dry" after three months. INNOVO has an excellent safety record to date, with more than 4 million therapy sessions delivered worldwide, and no reported device-related complications. About Atlantic Therapeutics. Galway-headquartered Atlantic Therapeutics develops professional and consumer medical devices, related software, apps and connected health technologies to treat all types of incontinence, sexual health dysfunctions, and other associated disorders by strengthening muscles and modulating nerves of the pelvic floor. For more information, visit www.myinnovo.com Atlantic Therapeutics has attracted both international VC investment and enterprise grant funding and is now poised to begin this exciting new phase of growth and establish itself as the leading Femtech solution provider to treat SUI as well as other forms of incontinence. Soeder S, et al, A randomised, controlled, double-blind, clinical study to compare two neuromuscular stimulator devices in female stress urinary incontinence: Effects on symptoms and quality of life. IUGA Conference 2018 Dmochowski R, Lynch CM, Efros M, Cardozo L. External electrical stimulation compared with intravaginal electrical stimulation for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women: A randomized controlled noninferiority trial. Neurourol Urodyn. 2019 Sep;38(7):1834-1843. doi: 10.1002/nau.24066. Epub 2019 Jul 3 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005893/en/ Contacts: For further information, please contact: Wissem Menad Atlantic Therapeutics Wmenad@myinnovo.com +44 2039342397 In spite of 90-plus degree heat and a pandemic that shows no signs of stopping, the 2020 primary runoff elections have already drawn record-high turnout across Texas during the longer-than-normal early voting period. Gov. Greg Abbott months ago delayed the May runoffs to July in response to the coronavirus and later added an extra week of early voting. But as the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations has risen more than ever before, turnout has still soared especially among Democrats whose ballots include a heated battle for the partys U.S. Senate nomination. More than 1 million Texans cast a ballot between June 29 and July 10, including more than 652,000 Democrats and more than 411,000 Republicans, according to data from the Secretary of States office. With only early votes in, the election is set to surpass overall turnout in 2012 the last time more than 1 million voters cast ballots in a runoff when former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz were on the GOP primary ballot. More Information ELECTION DAY VOTING INFORMATION Texas voters in Harris and Bexar counties may cast ballots at any polling location in the county. In Harris, a list of polling sites can be found at harrisvotes.com, where voters also may search for the closest site to any address and access sample ballots for the Democratic and Republican primaries. In Bexar, visit bexar.org/1568/Elections-Department for a list of polling locations and sample ballots. Those who did not vote in either primary may still cast a ballot in the runoff. Those who voted in the primary may not cast a ballot in the opposite party's runoff. Texas law requires one of the following forms of identification to vote in person: Texas driver license Election ID certificate Texas personal ID card Texas handgun license U.S. military ID card containing your photo U.S. citizenship certificate containing your photo U.S. passport (book or card) Those who cannot obtain one of these forms of ID may present a "supporting form" of ID, including a bank statement, paycheck or current utility bill. A full list of supporting ID types can be found at votetexas.gov. See More Collapse Who knew that an election in the middle of July for a primary runoff would spur this much involvement? said Renee Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. The heightened voter enthusiasm can be attributed to a number of factors: A reinvigorated Texas Democratic Party ready to vote against President Donald Trump; voters fired up over racial inequality issues highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement; and a Senate race at the top of the ballot thats picked up steam in recent weeks. In addition to the Democratic contest between former Air Force helicopter pilot MJ Hegar and state Sen. Royce West of Dallas over who will take on U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in November, other notable races include the Republican runoff in the 22nd Congressional District between Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls and GOP donor Kathaleen Wall; and the 10th District race between Democratic lawyer Mike Siegel and Austin physician Pritesh Gandhi. Election day is Tuesday; polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. RUNOFF ELECTIONS: Houston Chronicle voter guide, San Antonio Express-News voter guide Already on the Democratic side, more votes have been cast than in the 2018 runoffs, including Election Day, and the 2006, 2008 and 2012 runoffs, according to Texas Election Source's analysis of Texas State Historical Association data. The party is also on track to beat its highest runoff turnout in the past 20 years the record is 747,000 in 1994. Harris County leads state in mail-in voting In Harris County, more than 153,000 voted early with about 41 percent of the more than 111,000 Democratic voters and 59 percent of more than 43,000 Republican voters doing so by mail versus in-person. With more than 70,000 ballots cast by mail, Harris received more mail-in ballots than any other Texas county. The high numbers of mail-in voting came weeks after interim County Clerk Chris Hollins sent mail ballot applications to every voter who is 65 and older in an effort to protect the health of seniors who are more vulnerable to the effects of the virus. Hollins said the county saw an increase of over 110 percent in applications to vote-by-mail since March, which he said is unheard of. The share of the vote thats cast by mail will probably go up and go up significantly it might even double, said Bob Stein, a Rice University political science professor who studies elections. Its generally a very low turnout election, but it portends for what happens in November because many, if not all, that did apply for a mail ballot in the July election most certainly checked off to get one in November. TEXAS TAKE: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox In the first five days alone the normal length of the early voting period Democratic turnout in Harris County at more than 54,000 had already more than doubled that of the 2016 primary runoff and far exceeded turnout in 2014 and 2012. Hollins said the county strongly encouraged people to vote by mail or vote early, when polling places are less busy, for their safety when it came to the virus. The high amount of early voting turnout confirmed to him that people heeded that advice. On top of that, Hollins said were also in a time when communities across America are yearning to be heard, and the primary way to have your voice heard in this country is to have your say at the polls. If voters continue to come out on Tuesday like they did during early voting, he said he wouldnt be surprised if turnout in Harris, already at about 6 percent of registered voters, hits 7 or 8 percent. In Bexar County, more than 80,000 voted early including 51,107 Democratic runoff voters and more than 29,000 Republican primary voters. Thats more than double the early voting turnout in each of the last three runoff elections. Vote-by-mail was not as much of a factor in the San Antonio area, making up about 38 percent of all Democratic runoff votes and 22 percent of all Republican votes. Uncertainty over mail-in voting in Texas has abounded as the Texas Democratic Party waged a still-ongoing, back-and-forth legal battle with the state in the months leading up to the election as it pushed to expand access to the option during the pandemic. Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to fast-track a federal lawsuit seeking to allow all Texans to vote by mail during the pandemic. A federal judge sided with Democrats in May, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the ruling during the appeal. The Texas Supreme Court in late May, however, concluded that lack of immunity alone is not enough to qualify a person to vote by mail. But the court also said voters can consider their health history and decide on their own what qualifies as a disability exemption that allows those under 65 to cast mail ballots in Texas. Summer protests energized voters The higher turnout on the Democratic side most likely has something to do with a Senate race thats heated up in the last month. The Republican ballot did not contain any such high-profile races. But political experts said that alone doesnt explain it. Cross, senior director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs, said she hasnt seen any polling that would indicate the Senate race had energized voters. A February poll by the Hobby School, for example, showed just weeks before the March primary more than half of respondents had no opinion of either candidate. Im sure part of it has to do with Black Lives Matter movement and attention being paid to making political change, Cross said. People are saying now is the time to get involved to try to address those inequalities. Cross and Stein agreed that the presidents sinking approval ratings are also stoking anti-Trump sentiment and likely turning out more voters for Democratic candidates. Texas Democratic Party executive director Manny Garcia said the early voting numbers bode well for the party in the November general election. Democrats are voting in record numbers, proving that we are fired up and ready to win up and down the ballot in November, Garcia said. We are turning out in record numbers despite Greg Abbotts reckless decisions to force most Texans to vote in person. This isnt just an election, this is a movement. by Melani Manel Perera "Students and staff must be able to go to school with confidence. That's why the government has decided to close schools," said the statement from the Ministry of Education. The concern of the population grew after hundreds of detainees and staff from a drug rehabilitation center in the north central province tested positive for the virus in the past few days. Colombo (Asia News) - The Sri Lankan government has decided to close all schools for a week from today, 13 July. Classes, private schools and Catholic schools have been invited to consider the government's decision and to close schools during this period. A statement from the Ministry of Education says that parents, schoolchildren, principals and officials "have become fearful" due to some false social media information about COVID-19. The concern of the population grew after hundreds of detainees and staff from a drug rehabilitation center in the north central province tested positive for the virus in the past few days. And several thousand detainees, their family members from various parts of the country and even staff were sent to quarantine after a detainee was found positive on July 7th. Subsequent tests found that more than 300 of the 1,140 inmates and staff at the center are infected. Although the government insists that there is no community transmission of the virus, health authorities have not yet offered an explanation as to how an inmate in the camp was infected. "Students and staff must be able to go to school with peace of mind. That's why the government has decided to close schools," said the statement from the Ministry of Education issued by the additional secretary Ranjith Chandrasekara. According to the director of Catholic schools, Father Ivan Perera, "In line with the government's decision to close schools, all Catholic schools will also be closed from July 13 to 17". The Ministry of Education has also set up an information center with the provincial directors of education and health promotion staff at the Ministry's headquarters for information on all the places where the schools are located. The center can be contacted via the 1988 hotline or fax 011-2-78 58 18 and by email info@moe.gov.lk Meanwhile, the ruling party, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, temporarily suspended the rallies yesterday. of the election campaign planned with President and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa until further notice. August 5 is the day scheduled for the parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka. Stone Unsure About Appealing Conviction Due to Judge Assignment Veteran political strategist Roger Stone said in an interview that he hasnt decided whether he will appeal his criminal conviction after receiving executive clemency from President Donald Trump. Stone told The Epoch Times on July 14 that hes hesitant about going forward with an appeal because a victory would mean the same federal judge, Amy Berman Jackson, would preside over the new case. Trump commuted Stones sentence, including the fine and probation, on July 10, days before he was scheduled to start serving a 40-month prison term. Stone, who had previously said that he would fight the conviction if his sentence is commuted, is no longer sure he will do so because he doesnt believe Jackson would give him a fair trial. I didnt understand until yesterday that if my trial is overturned by the appeals court my new file would be heard by Judge Jackson. I dont believe Judge Jackson can give me a fair trial, Stone told The Epoch Times in an interview. Stone pointed to Jacksons most recent ruling as an example. The judge denied an unopposed motion to delay the start of his prison term by two months due to the outbreak of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. Stone argued that he has an underlying condition and the prison he was headed to had confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus. Jackson denied the motion and a circuit court denied Stones appeal. At the actual prison, where they wanted to send me, which was in Jessup, Georgia, in the last few weeks, they have released a violent sex offender who is a pedophile and a child pornographer for fear that he would be infected by the coronavirus. They have released a second violent sex offender who was a rapist, and they have released a bank robber. So none of this makes any sense, almost like the trial, Stone said. After a trial fraught with controversy, a jury convicted Stone in November 2019 on seven felony counts, including lying to investigators, tampering with a witness, and obstructing a congressional inquiry. Four Department of Justice prosecutors subsequently resigned from the case after Attorney General William Barr withdrew their sentencing recommendation in favor of a lighter one. The judge settled on a sentence recommended by Barr. Then-special counsel Robert Mueller brought the charges against Stone as part of an investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Stone briefly served on the Trump campaign in 2015 before he was fired, or resigned, as he maintains. Mueller completed his 22-month investigation finding no evidence of collusion. When Trump called to convey the news of the clemency on July 10, the president said he hopes Stone will appeal the conviction and fight for exoneration. He said, I want you to know that I have decided in an act of clemency to commute your sentence. I understand this allows you to go forward with your appeal and fight for exoneration, Stone said, relaying the content of the call. He said, I really think you should do that because I think you got a raw deal. I think you got screwed. And I think that you can prove your innocence. Stone was one of several Trump campaign associates to be prosecuted by Mueller. Like the others, he was charged with process crimes rather than the central alleged crime, conspiring with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election. The FBIs scandal-ridden investigation of the Trump campaign, codenamed Crossfire Hurricane, was the progenitor of the Mueller inquiry. An investigation of the FBIs conduct in the case by the Department of Justice inspector general (IG) revealed that key FBI personnel on the case harbored intense anti-Trump biases. The IG found that the bureau relied on a dossier composed by a former foreign spy and paid for by the Clinton campaign to obtain a warrant to spy on a Trump campaign associate. The FBIs applications for the warrant contained 17 serious errors or omissions. The IG concluded that it was inexplicable how separate handpicked teams working the most sensitive case on the bureaus roster could commit so many errors. Stone, who as a young man had his name briefly featured in the Watergate hearings due to his work on the Nixon campaign, believes the investigation of the Trump campaign in 2016, sometimes referred to as Spygate, is a much bigger scandal. Theres no comparison because the Obama administration at the highest possible levels, including the president, used the full authority of the United States government and the extraordinary surveillance capability of our intelligence agencies to spy on the Republican candidate for president and to defraud the FISA courts, Stone said. Stone noted that the two of the three pillars of Muellers investigationthe Steele dossier and the charges against alleged Russian social media influence operationhave collapsed. The Department of Justice dismissed the charges against the Russian social media operation in March. The Mueller investigation didnt corroborate any of the damaging allegations in the Steele dossier about Trump. Emerging evidence also suggests that the dossier was tainted with Russian disinformation. He only had one thing left and they continue to stick to itthe Russians hacked the DNC and gave the information to the Russians, which they cannot prove. But they talk about it as if it is a fact, Stone said. The charges against the Russians in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee remain alleged. Prior to his conviction, Stone had claimed that the FBI relied solely on cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to determine that Russians were behind the hack. The prosecutors in the case replied to that assertion by claiming the government had more evidence than what is in the public realm. Significant questions remain unanswered about CrowdStrikes role in the investigation. The DNC emails released by WikiLeaks were stolen in a separate breach in late May 2016, three weeks after the DNC engaged CrowdStrike to address the hack. A CrowdStrike spokeswoman previously told The Epoch Times that there is no indication that there was ever a breach on any DNC server or computer protected by CrowdStrikes technology. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar on Tuesday targeted the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government over corruption allegations in renting of beds for Covid-19 patients. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa was forced to interfere after he found that BBMP officials had not taken his approval for renting bed sets at Covid Care Centres, for which the government had to pay Rs 800 per day. Yediyurappa has asked officials to purchase them instead. They wanted to make money out of beds and pillows, too. Imagine the loot of public money that must have taken place in the procurement of medical equipment. Will this corruption be possible without the consent of your ministers and officials? Shivakumar asked Yediyurappa at a news conference, adding that the Congress would expose the government in stages. According to sources, Yediyurappa lambasted officials on Monday for keeping him in the dark on the decision to rent bed sets despite being the Bengaluru Development Minister. Shivakumar also accused the government of creating a fearful atmosphere for private hospitals and doctors. Instead of threatening them, you should take them into confidence, he said. The Congress leader said he would visit the Victoria Hospital to expose the way patients are being treated there. They are being given food like dogs. Theres no one to look after them, he said. And no one - CM, ministers, deputy commissioners - have visited Covid hospitals. You should go there first and enquire about patients. That will instill confidence in them and the doctors working there, he said. The resumption of crude oil imports from Iraq by Jordan announced last week by the Kingdoms Energy Minister, Hala Zawati, will give Baghdads (and Tehrans) beleaguered finances a much-needed boost and Jordans energy plans as well. It will also serve to consolidate the Shia crescent of power falling across the region by dint of Iran, and its prime backers, China and Russia. According to Zawatis comments, Jordan will resume imports of at least 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Iraq crude oil via tankers at a discount of US$16 to the Brent price, reflecting transport costs and quality differentials. These supplies which had been suspended earlier this year due to the oil price crash will come from Baiji in Iraq to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company (JPRC), constituting around seven per cent of Jordans daily demand. The original deal that had been struck in 2006 mandated a discount to Brent of US$18 pb, on the basis that Jordan bore the transport costs between Kirkuk in northern Iraq and Zarqa in Jordan and presaged a broader build-out of energy ties between the two countries. Discussions had long been running to build a pipeline between the two countries, with the original idea being for a Basra-Aqaba route spanning around 1,700 km, including traversing the ever-volatile Anbar province. The agreement to proceed had been made in 2013 but was delayed both by the paucity of domestic and/or international investment required for the build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) contract and by the activities of Islamic State from 2014. A revised route via Najaf was then proposed in 2016 but again failed due to lack of investment, as did subsequent reiterations of the idea until December last year saw an announcement from Iraqs Oil Ministry that it had completed the prequalifying process for companies interested in the pipeline project. At that point, from the Iraq side, the first phase of the project included the installation of a 700-kilometre-long pipeline with a capacity of 2.250 million barrels within the Iraqi territories. The second phase included installing a 900-kilometre pipeline in Jordan between Haditha and Aqaba with a capacity of one million barrels. The then-Iraq Oil Minister, Thamir Ghadhban, set May this year as the final date to receive offers for the project from the qualified companies. Given the oil price war and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the final consideration date has been pushed out, although a decision is likely to occur before the end of this year, OilPrice.com understands from sources close to Iraqs Oil Ministry. Related: OPEC+ To Discuss Oil Production Cuts This Week Ghadhban had added that whilst the Jordan contract would be the BOOT model, Iraq would operate the engineering, procurement, construction and financing contract (EPCF) model. Under the deal, Jordan will initially have the right to buy 150,000 bpd of oil transferred through the pipeline, which is estimated will cost at least US$5 billion, with incremental increases in volume if required to follow. For a period, it will run alongside the 10,000+ barrels coming from Baiji to the JPRC, although it is envisaged that all crude oil supplies from Iraq to Jordan will eventually be migrated to the pipeline delivery system. From Jordans perspective, the oil it receives from Iraq will be vital in alleviating the pressure on its chronically-stretched energy supplies. A key turning point in the Kingdoms energy security came in 2011 when Egypt ended its sale of cheap gas to the country, although it did later resume supplies sufficient to cover around half of Jordans electricity needs. This said, problems with supply have sparked frequent social unrest, most notably in 2018s widespread demonstrations across Jordan against new price hikes on fuel and electricity. With proved oil reserves of just 1 million barrels and proved natural gas reserves at slightly more than 200 billion cubic feet, Jordan historically has had no choice but to import an average of at least 90 per cent of its energy needs each year (currently 96 per cent). Not only has this led to crippling energy import bills (at the time of the demonstrations, nearly US$3 billion) and heavily contributed to spiralling government debt levels (currently over 92 per cent of its gross domestic product) but has also meant repeated price rises for the public. At the same time, Jordans efforts to develop its potentially abundant shale oil reserves appear a long-term proposition, although they could be game-changing. These oil shale reserves, according to various domestic and foreign studies, underlie at least 70 per cent of Jordans entire territory, translating into around 31 billion tons (227 billion barrels) of oil, putting Jordan among the top 10 largest oil shale holders in the world. Its most significant deposits thus far have been located in 26 different locations around the country, with the nine most important of these situated in the west-central region of the Kingdom (Sultani, Attarat Umm Ghudran, Wadi Maghar, Khan Az Zabib, Jurf Ed Darawish, Siwaqa, El Hasa, El Lajjun, and Eth Hamad). According to Jordans National Energy Strategy, covering the Kingdoms energy requirements from 2007 to 2020 which clearly could not account for the impact of the oil price war or the COVID-19 pandemic - the country aimed to increase the contribution of local energy sources to 39 per cent by the end of this year while reducing foreign sources from their current level of 96 per cent to 61 per cent. An adjunct to this are plans announced last week by Zawati for 21 per cent of electricity to be generated from renewable sources with the twin aims of reducing Jordans reliance on imported energy and reducing energy costs for domestic consumers. As part of this drive, she added, smart metres would be adopted by the end of 2022, and that her ministry will work on the renovation of the Hamzeh oil field over the next six months. Related: Chinese Oil Imports Surged In H1 2020 Despite COVID-19 For Iraq and Iran the Jordan pipeline offers three key advantages. First, it allows another alternate Iraq/Iran oil export line to the historically vulnerable Strait of Hormuz route. This would augment the current plans for the Guriyeh-Jask pipeline and adjunct plans to roll out a pipeline to Syria as well. Second, it provides another cover route for Iranian oil disguised as Iraqi oil, which can then be shipped easily both West and East. And third, it will provide a much-needed boost for Iraqs appalling finances. Only very recently, Iraqs economic parliamentary committee suggested that international oil companies (IOCs) be paid with crude oil rather than cash or cash-equivalents as a means to reduce near-term state expenditure. It also proposed delaying payments of foreign debt, introducing salary cuts of 60 per cent for various state sector employees, and reducing all non-essential spending. This financial straitening poses severe danger to Baghdad, with new Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, requiring IQD12 trillion (US$10 billion) just to pay the next two months salaries of more than four million employees, retirees, state beneficiaries, and food relief for low-income families, which together constitutes the majority of households in Iraq. It is believed in Iraqi government circles that any failure to pay any of these obligations could result in the sort of widespread protests that occurred at the end of last year. As an adjunct to these factors, Jordan is not only strategically important for Iran in increasing its influence over the Shia crescent countries (stretching from Yemen in the south, eastwards up through Bahrain, Iran and Iraq, and then westwards into Syria and Lebanon) as it borders Syria and has strong links to Palestine, which houses key Iranian military proxies in the region but also is part of Chinas One Belt, One Road initiative. Last year, a sizeable delegation from China visited Jordan with the aim of increasing cooperation, according to Xie Yuan, vice president of the Chinese Peoples Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. This followed the signing in September 2015 of a number of investment deals by China in Jordan, worth over US$7 billion. These included US$1.7 billion to build Jordans first oil shale-fired power plant in the Attarat area, a US$2.8 billion investment to construct the national railway network, and a major investment agreement signed by the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority with Chinas Shenzhen Chamber of Investment to develop an industrial and logistics estate in the port city on an area of about one-million square metres. By Simon Watkins for Oilrpice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Judicial Official Says Several 'Spies' Convicted In Iran Radio Farda July 13, 2020 A judicial official in Iran has announced Monday that "several people" working for foreign intelligence organizations and opposition groups have been tried and their verdicts have been issued in the city of Kerman. The head of the Revolutionary Court in the city said these cases were "examined", presumably by the same court but did not mention the number of people convicted or their sentences, state-controlled ISNA news website reported. On October 3, 2019 Fars news agency affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard reported that a plot was discovered in Kerman to assassinate former Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani. Citing the head of IRGC's fearsome intelligence organization, Hossein Taeb, the report said three people working for "Hebrew-Arab" intelligence organizations were arrested. Apparently, by using the term "Hebrew-Arab," the mid-ranking cleric meant Israel and Saudi Arabia. The unidentified three were taken to "neighboring countries," for training and being prepared to assassinate Soleimani before the Fatemiyyeh Days, (January 20-February 9, 2019), Taeb claimed. It is not certain that what the head of Kerman's court announced today is the case of the same people arrested last year, but there have been no other important cases of people working as "elements of foreign intelligence organizations", since last October. "The mercenary terrorist team was to return to the country and blow up a place where Soleimani was supposed to be present for mourning ceremonies, using 300-500 kg of explosives," Taeb maintained. Soleimani was born in a village near Kerman, eastern Iran and was buried there after he was killed by a U.S. drone strike in January. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/judicial- official-says-several-spies-convicted -in-iran-/30723751.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The coronavirus pandemic has claimed another business. Le Peep, a long-time breakfast and lunch spot in Albuquerques Uptown, closed its doors for the last time Monday. The location at 2125 Louisiana NE was the last of several Le Peep locations around the city. Early last year, locations at 4921 Jefferson NE and 11004 Montgomery NE closed and were converted into Wecks Select restaurants. The closure came the same day that the new public health order barring indoor service at restaurants went into effect. A post on the restaurants website announcing the closure also thanked its patrons for the support over 34 years in operation. As a cold front moves into Massachusetts on Tuesday, multiple communities in the Pioneer Valley are expected to see intense thunderstorms. The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for northern Hampshire County and much of Franklin County. Amherst, Greenfield, Hadley, Shelburne Falls and several other communities in the area are at risk of seeing 60-mile-per-hour winds and quarter-sized hail until roughly 12:30 p.m. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for parts of Western Massachusetts on Tuesday. (National Weather Service) Another severe thunderstorm warning was issued for parts of Hampden County as well, including in Chicopee, Holyoke and Springfield. More than 546,000 residents in the area will see stormy weather through 1 p.m. The stormy weather was moving into Franklin County from southern Windham County in Vermont shortly before 11:30 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. A strong thunderstorm was barreling southeast at 15 miles per hour over Leyden, a Massachusetts town located roughly 8 miles north of Greenfield. Brief downpours, penny-sized hail, wind gusts greater than 40 miles per hour and cloud-to-ground lightning are expected to accompany the storm. Get indoors when this storm approaches. Winds may be strong enough to produce minor damage, such as a few downed branches, the National Weather Service said. These storms may intensify and become capable of producing damage. Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms were forecast throughout the state from mid-morning through the evening. Timing on model simulation is approximate, the National Weather Service tweeted. Main hazards are damaging straight-line winds, small hail & heavy rain leading to localized urban poor drainage flooding. Related Content: More thunderstorms, strong winds and hail in forecast for Massachusetts Tuesday as cooler weather moves in The selection of fashionable lingerie in Grand Island has been reduced. The Victorias Secret store in the Conestoga Mall has closed. In May, the retailers parent company, L Brands, announced plans to close about 250 stores this year in the U.S. and Canada. L Brands said it also plans to permanently close 50 Bath & Body Works stores in the U.S. and one in Canada. The Bath & Body Works at the Conestoga Mall still is open. L Brands total company sales declined 37% in the quarter that ended May 2. Almost all the companys stores closed March 17 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One person at the mall said she didnt think the Grand Island store ever reopened after the coronavirus hit. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:41:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Helicopters fly over the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel during the Bastille Day celebration at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, France, July 14, 2020. Without the traditional military parade down the famous avenue of the Champs Elysees and public celebration, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday presided over the Bastille Day ceremony overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis. For this year's celebration, the military parade, which traditionally attracted huge crowds, was cancelled for the first time since 1945 and replaced by a downsized defile in the Place de la Concorde square in central Paris. (Xinhua/Gao Jing) PARIS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Without the traditional military parade down the famous avenue of the Champs Elysees and public celebration, French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday presided over the Bastille Day ceremony overshadowed by the coronavirus crisis. For this year's celebration, the military parade, which traditionally attracted huge crowds, was cancelled for the first time since 1945 and replaced by a downsized defile in the Place de la Concorde square in central Paris. Following a government ban on public gatherings with more than 5,000 people due to the coronavirus pandemic, nearly 2,500 men and women from France's army, navy and air force -- half of the usual number -- took part in the ceremony. Without mask but respecting physical distance, about 2,000 participants, including 1,400 medical staff and representatives of civil society, joined the gathering. Accompanied by army chief Francois Lecointre, Macron kicked off the festivities by reviewing troops on board of an open-roof military vehicle, before attending a tribute to Charles de Gaulle on the 50th anniversary of the general's death. For his fourth July 14 celebration, held in the shadow of the coronavirus, the president paid tribute to Operation Resilience, which he launched in March to help fight the coronavirus and saluted sacrifices of frontline health workers. "I wish, with all the French, with the armies themselves, to pay a vibrant tribute to health workers and those who, in all sectors, have enabled public, social and economic life to continue," Macron said in message released ahead of the celebration. By nightfall, fireworks will light the sky over the Eiffel Tower as usual, but without the public. Many French cities had called off fireworks and other festivities over fears of the COVID-19 spread. The Bastille Day marks the anniversary of July 14, 1789, when French citizens stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, sparking the French Revolution. HOLYOKE The victim of Monday nights homicide in the downtown area has been identified as a 43-year-old city man. Police responding to reports of a shooting at about 9:45 p.m. found a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound near 56 Suffolk Street, which next to the School Department offices and near the intersection of High Street, said James Leydon, spokesman for Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni. The victim, identified as Jose Bonilla, of Holyoke, was immediately rushed to Baystate Medical Center where he passed away a short time later, Leydon said in writing. The homicide is being investigated by the Holyoke Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorneys Office, and the Hampden District Attorneys Offices Murder Unit, Leydon said. Gulluni and Holyoke Police Chief Manny Febo extend their sympathies to Bonillas family. Mayor Alex B. Morse said he was notified about the homicide early Tuesday and also extended his sympathy to Bonillas family members. Anyone with information about the shooting or who may have taken video of any suspicious activity around the time of his death is asked to call police at 413-322-6900. This is the third homicide in Holyoke this year. The first two occurred within days of each other in early January. On Jan 9 Jesus Otero Marrero, 21, of Holyoke, was killed and his body was found the next day in an alleyway off South Bridge Street. Jean Carlos Rivera, 30, of Holyoke, has been charged with murder in his death and Merkin Andrade, 30, of Holyoke was charges as an accessory. On Jan. 11 Racquese Wright, 21, of Springfield was killed on Sargeant Street. Police continue to investigate his homicide. The homicide comes shortly after six people were shot and killed in less than four weeks in Springfield in what community activists and residents have said is a gang war that has been continuing since mid-April. Related content Holyoke man killed in downtown shooting Springfield Police continue to investigate six homicides that occurred since April Lawyer of suspect in Holyoke homicide says shooting is connected to La Familia gang: My clients life is in danger' On July 14, 2020, Wedgewood Partners released its Q2 2020 Investor Letter, a copy of which you can download here. The Fund returned 27.13% for the second quarter of 2020. Meanwhile, the benchmark Russell 1000 Growth Index and the Russell 1000 Value Index gained 27.84% and 14.29%, respectively. You should check out Wedgewood Partners' top 5 stock picks for investors to buy right now, which could be the biggest winners of the stock market crash. In the said letter, Wedgewood Partners highlighted a few stocks and FleetCor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) is one of them. FleetCor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) provides fuel cards and workforce payment products and services. Year-to-date, FleetCor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) stock lost 14.1% and on July 13th it had a closing price of $248.30. Here is what Wedgewood Partners said: "During the quarter we sold Fleetcor and rolled the proceeds into Bristol-Myers Squibb. We initiated Fleetcor two quarters ago at a very small weighting, as our payment industry exposure already included overweights in Visa and PayPal. While Fleetcor has a few attractive assets in the electronic payments space, particularly in corporate payments and tolls, we think the majority of the Companys assets will be pressured in the new macroenvironment. In contrast, we believe both Visa and PayPal possess significant value propositions that should benefit long-term from the social, cultural and economic changes brought on by the pandemic. As such, we would prefer to add to Visa and PayPal on potential future weakness and sold Fleetcor in order to make room relative to our self-imposed 15% industry maximum weighting. We used the proceeds to add to Bristol-Myers, which was one of our smallest weightings. Bristol-Myers Squibb is less macro-sensitive, has an attractive pipeline due to its recently closed acquisition of Celgene, and a historically depressed multiple despite purchasing Celgene at a single-digit earnings multiple." Story continues [caption id="attachment_523685" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Fuel Cards, Payment Via Credit Card Copyright: sifotography / 123RF Stock Photo[/caption] In Q1 2020, the number of bullish hedge fund positions on FleetCor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) stock increased by about 16% from the previous quarter (see the chart here), so a number of other hedge fund managers don't seem to agree with FleetCor's downside potential. Our calculations showed that FleetCor Technologies Inc (NYSE:FLT) isn't ranked among the 30 most popular stocks among hedge funds. The top 10 stocks among hedge funds returned 185% since the end of 2014 and outperformed the S&P 500 Index ETFs by more than 109 percentage points. We know it sounds unbelievable. You have been dismissing our articles about top hedge fund stocks mostly because you were fed biased information by other media outlets about hedge funds' poor performance. You could have doubled the size of your nest egg by investing in the top hedge fund stocks instead of dumb S&P 500 ETFs. Below you can watch our video about the top 5 hedge fund stocks right now. All of these stocks had positive returns in 2020. Video: Top 5 Stocks Among Hedge Funds At Insider Monkey we scour multiple sources to uncover the next great investment idea. There is a lot of volatility in the markets and this presents amazing investment opportunities from time to time. For example, this trader claims to deliver juiced up returns with one trade a week, so we are checking out his highest conviction idea. A second trader claims to score lucrative profits by utilizing a "weekend trading strategy", so we look into his strategy's picks. We read hedge fund investor letters and listen to stock pitches at hedge fund conferences. We recently recommended several stocks partly inspired by legendary Bill Miller's investor letter. Our best call in 2020 was shorting the market when the S&P 500 was trading at 3150 in February after realizing the coronavirus pandemics significance before most investors. You can subscribe to our free enewsletter below to receive our stories in your inbox: Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. (UPDATE: Missing Grand Blanc Township man found safe in Ohio) GRAND BLANC TWP, MI -- Law enforcement officials in Grand Blanc Township are looking for an 86-year-old man whose gone missing. Clarence Shepard was last seen leaving his house during the morning hours of Monday, July 13 on his way to the Secretary of State Office at Hill and Fenton roads in Mundy Township. Hes not been seen or heard from since, police said. ****UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE**** Mr. Shepard has been found safe, in Oregon, Ohio, just outside of Toledo! He stopped... Posted by Grand Blanc Township Police Department on Monday, July 13, 2020 Shepard was driving a silver 2013 Buick LaCrosse with Michigan license plate number A60VB. He was previously diagnosed with early onset dementia. Anyone with information on his whereabouts or if theyve spotted the vehicle is asked to call 911. School children returning to school (file photo) The Federal Government has released guidelines ahead of the planned resumption of schools at every level in the country, even as it failed to disclose dates. According to Punch, the guidelines outlined actions, measures and requirements needed for the safe reopening of schools after the COVID 19 pandemic. According to the guidelines released by the Federal Ministry of Education in Abuja on Monday, the safe distancing measures in the new guidelines required that in schools and other learning facilities, learners should be supported to stay two meters apart. The guidelines which was signed by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu and Minister of State (Education), Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba was developed in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Federal Ministry of Health and health safety experts in the country. The document reads, However, there are exceptions where the two-meter rule cannot be reasonably applied and other risk mitigation strategies may be adopted. Examples include early years, younger primary school children, and those with additional needs. In these circumstances, risk assessments must be undertaken with the best interests of the learners, teachers, and other education personnel in mind. The scenarios require organizing learners and children into small groups with consistent membership and compliance with the risk mitigation strategies. The membership of these groups should not change unless the NCDC public health guideline suggests otherwise. With the release of the document, the government would conduct a rapid assessment and determine funding requirement for upgrading infrastructure and facilities (such as classrooms, furniture, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene-WASH and ICT facilities) to meet and sustain prescribed safe school reopening requirements. The government said it was time for it to plan and address the eventual safe reopening of schools and learning facilities. Recall that schools and all learning facilities were closed due to Coronavirus pandemic in order to safeguard the health and general wellbeing of children, youths, teachers and educational personnel. The guidelines included a review of existing policies, practices, and risk mitigation strategies in the use of schools for other purposes, such as distance learn-ing centres, temporary shelters, isolation, quarantine and treatment centres, markets, voting centres, among others. COVID 19 pandemic poses an enormous risk to the health and safety of learners, teachers, parents, school administrators, education practitioners, and the wider communityMore than 1.5 billion children and young people globally have been affected by school and university closures. As a responsible government, it is also our duty to provide comprehensive guidelines for a safe and hitch-free reopening of schools and learning facilities. We do so knowing that the health, safety, and security of learners, teachers, education personnel, and families are priorities, it stressed. The guidelines dealt extensively on equitable plans for school reopening and operations, focusing on attendance, social distancing, hygiene, cleaning, and non-pharmaceutical interventions for safe and healthy school activities and programmes. Adamu explained that the need to develop the guidelines became imperative, given that COVID 19 may be with us for a while. He said the guidelines also highlight the urgent need to maintain and improve upon distance-learning programs. The Minister said, Our aim is to identify and strengthen programmes that will guarantee the recovery of learning gaps resulting from the pandemic. The guidelines were drafted in close coordination with health, environmental, education, and school safety experts who were tasked with the responsibility of charting a pathway for safely reopening our schools and learning facilities for quality teaching and learning. The approach, according to him, ensured that stakeholders provided regular feedback throughout the process. Adamu expressed gratitude to the Presidential Taskforce on COVID 19, FMoH, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Education in Emergencies Working Group in Nigeria for their support and contribution in the development of the guidelines. Employers of EU farm workers have been reminded of the deadline for the settled status scheme which will give them the right to remain in the UK indefinitely. Farmers who employ seasonal and permanent workers from the EU have been told to encourage their staff who wish to work in the UK to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme. EU citizens - and their families - living in the UK before 31 December 2020 will need to apply to obtain their new UK immigration status should they wish to continue living and working in the UK after June 2021. The scheme entitles 'settled status' to EU nationals who have already been in the country for five years or more, and 'pre-settled status' to EU nationals who have been in the country for under five years. NFU Scotland has reminded farming businesses that the pre-settled status category can be accessed by any seasonal worker in the country this year, who wishes to return in future years. The union said that for this reason, both status categories were 'vital' for employers of workers from the EU in permanent and seasonal capacities. Andrew McCornick, NFU Scotland president, said: For decades the Scottish agricultural sector has benefited from the contribution the many workers from other EU countries have made. "It is therefore important we encourage members to remind any permanent or seasonal workers they employ to apply to the scheme which can secure their future employment opportunities in the UK. For EU nationals whove been living and working in Scotland/UK continuously for five years, settled status will give them indefinite leave to remain this is vital for any workers from outside the UK who are working here in a permanent capacity." Any EU nationals who have taken up employment in the UK by 31 December 2020 can apply for pre-settled status which ensures they can work in the UK for a further five years from the date pre-settled status is achieved. Importantly, seasonal staff from the EU are entitled to apply for pre-settled status as there is no threshold for time spent living and working in the UK in order to make an application. Mr McCornick said this was 'vital' for any existing seasonal workers who wished to return to work in Scotland or the UK in the next five years. It comes as the government is set to introduce a new points based system of immigration for the UK on 1 January 2021 following the end of free movement of citizens from the EU. The former girlfriend of the in custody deceased American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, met the allegations has been rejected. At a court hearing in New York via video conference, the 58-Year-old pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to not guilty. The Federal government accuses the German bar in Manhattan, Maxwell, to have underage girls for Epstein recruited, the needs of the investment bankers and friends and then sexually abused. The daughter of the late British media Mogul Robert Maxwell was involved in the abuse at. The latest victim was, according to the Prosecutor, 14 years old. Against Maxwell, a total of six charges have been levied, including perjury in two cases. In the case of a conviction of a woman up to 35 years in prison threaten the Business. The long-standing Epstein-Familiar had been taken at the beginning of July in the state of New Hampshire fixed. She is currently in New York in custody and is due to alleged risk of suicide under observation. Their lawyers have offered five million Dollar bail, so Maxwell comes on your own recognizance. The public Prosecutor rejected this and justified this with a large risk of flight. access to all the exclusive F+articles. You will remain fully informed, for only 2.95 per week. Now 30 days free of charge Maxwell's arrest was a spectacular development in the case of Epstein. The multi-millionaire to for years, is in need of minor girls and young women for sexual abuse and Prostitution have been donated. The well-connected investment banker, was arrested in July 2019 and August dead in his jail cell in Manhattan found. According to the American Ministry of justice, the 66 took-Year-old life. Epstein was convicted in 2008 of sexual abuse of minors to 13 months in prison, and since then as a sexual predator has been led. Updated Date: 14 July 2020, 15:19 Massachusetts health officials announced another 10 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, bringing the statewide total to 8,125. Officials also confirmed another 203 cases of the virus, for a total of at least 105,986. Thats based on 11,971 new molecular tests reported Tuesday, according to the Department of Public Health. Coronavirus hospitalizations continue to drop, down to 10 more to 560 Tuesday. Officials reported another 100 probable cases of the virus, for a total of 6,144. Patients with a positive serology from an antibody test and are showing symptoms of the virus, or were likely exposed to it, are counted as probable cases. Patients who did not have a laboratory test, but were exhibiting coronavirus-like symptoms, and were likely exposed to COVID-19, are also counted as probable cases. On Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker unveiled a new website for residents to report businesses not complying with the states health and safety guidelines during the pandemic. The website, mass.gov/covidcompliance, instructs anyone wishing to file a report of non-compliance to contact their local Board of Health. They can also contact the Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards, by email or by phone, with any issues. If the Department of Labor Standards believes an investigation is warranted, the agency will call or email the complainant within 72 hours, the website says. At which point, the agency will open an investigation into the business in question in partnership with local health officials. Baker also announced $16.1 million in coronavirus relief for 32 special education residential schools. The funding adds to the $3 million the Department of Early Education and Care made available in April to support the residential education school system, officials said. The third phase of states reopening plan, called the vigilant phase, began last week, and will last significantly longer than the other phases so officials can monitor the impact the third phase will have on the public health data. Phase 3 includes the reopening of large-scale, indoor establishments, including gyms. Boston began Phase 3 on Monday. Baker said the state wont move forward with Phase 4 until a vaccine is available. Here are the cases listed by county: Barnstable County: 1,586 Berkshire County: 615 Bristol County: 8,527 Dukes County: 57 Essex County: 16,530 Franklin County: 384 Hampden County: 7,039 Hampshire County: 1,012 Middlesex County: 24,600 Nantucket County: 23 Norfolk County: 9,530 Plymouth County: 8,830 Suffolk County: 20,386 Worcester County: 12,710 Unknown location: 301 Related Content: Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Mike Defensor on Tuesday shot down claims he voted against granting a fresh franchise to media giant ABS-CBN due to personal resentment. Speaking to CNN Philippines, Defensor said the late Environment Secretary Gina Lopez, the sister of the networks chairman emeritus Eugenio Gabby Lopez III, was not behind the closure of Pax Libera Mining, where he serves as chairman. Some netizens have suggested that the mining companys shutdown may have had something to do with the lawmakers stand on the issue. Secretary Gina Lopez did not suspend any mining corporation in Tawi-Tawi, Defensor told The Source when asked to respond to claims that he had harbored resentment against ABS-CBN. We have our own Department of Environment and Natural Resources in ARMM (the then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) that is not covered by the authority of DENR-Central. There was not even an investigation or an audit of the mines there by Secretary Lopez. It was in fact DENR-ARMM which conducted an audit and which they continue to do so. In fairness to our company and many other companies in Tawi-Tawi, those things never happened in our area during her time, he added. In 2016, the DENR-ARMM suspended mining operations in the area, in light of an audit order from authorities. Lopez, during her tenure as Environment chief, had stuck to the mission of closing down mining operations which have violated environmental laws. Defensor was among the 70 lawmakers who voted to junk ABS-CBNs application for a fresh franchise, a move widely criticized by netizens and rights groups in the country and abroad. The solon defended the House Committee on Legislative Franchises decision on the case, citing various issues and controversies pointed out during panel deliberations. READ: Defensor on ABS-CBN franchise vote: Lawmakers job is to study application, not to be popular The media company, which has previously refuted allegations hurled against them, said it will continue to deliver news through the limited platforms available. President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed a question about the number of black Americans who have been killed by police, saying that law enforcement officers kill "more white people." During an interview with CBS News, the president also said he views the flying of the Confederate flag as an issue of freedom of speech, without offering his own feelings about a symbol that for many represents the country's racist past and history of slavery. "All I say is, freedom of speech," Trump said when asked about the flag. "It's very simple. . . . Well, people love it and I don't view - I know people that like the Confederate flag, and they're not thinking about slavery." Trump's remarks come after weeks of nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of the killing in May of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, in Minneapolis police custody. They also come amid a deepening debate over Confederate symbols. Some demonstrators have toppled monuments to Confederate figures, arguing that their removal is long overdue. Democrats on Capitol Hill have pushed forward with a proposal to remove the names of Confederate generals from military installations, and NASCAR last month announced that it is banning displays of the Confederate flag at all its events and properties. In the interview with CBS News's Catherine Herridge, Trump called Floyd's death "terrible." But he appeared to dismiss the notion that systemic racism is a problem in U.S. law enforcement. "Why are African Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country?" Herridge asked Trump. "And so are white people," he replied. "So are white people. What a terrible question to ask. So are white people - more white people, by the way. More white people." In terms of absolute numbers, more white people than black people are killed by police in the country. According to a Washington Post analysis last month, 45 percent of those shot and killed by police since 2015 were white, while 23 percent were black. But white people comprise 60 percent of the U.S. population, while black people make up only 13 percent. Thus, black people are shot and killed by police at a disproportionately higher rate than white people. - - - The Washington Post's Mark Berman contributed to this report. Mary Trump can talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, President Donald Trump, over the objections of the president's brother, a judge has ruled. Judge Hal B. Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, on Monday lifted an order that had blocked her from publicizing or distributing her work. He rejected arguments by her other uncle, Robert Trump, that Mary Trump is blocked from talking about family members publicly by an agreement family members made to settle the estate of her father after his death. The judge said the confidentiality clauses in the 2001 agreement, 'viewed in the context of the current Trump family circumstances in 2020, would offend public policy as a prior restraint on protected speech.' Mary Trump's book about her famous family is published on Tuesday, despite family concerns 'Notwithstanding that the Book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot,' the judge wrote. Greenwald said the confidentiality agreement that settled multiple lawsuits mainly concerned the financial aspect of the deal, which is not as interesting now as it might have been two decades ago. Donald Trump's father Fred Sr had a huge influence on the family. Pictured: Trump at graduating from Wharton in 1968 'On the other hand the non-confidential part of the Agreement, the Trump family relationships, may be more interesting now in 2020 with a Presidential election on the horizon,' the judge said. He also wrote that Robert Trump had not shown any damages that the book's publication would cause himself or the public. Robert Trump is not frequently mentioned in the book that seeks to trace how family members were affected by the president's father, Fred Trump Sr. He was a successful real estate owner with huge influence over his five children. Mary Trump in her book seeks to explore how the president may have developed from his father some of the traits that have been most apparent at the White House. Mary Trump, a trained psychologist and Donald Trump's only niece, wrote in the book that she had 'no problem calling Donald a narcissist - he meets all nine criteria as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.' The judge reversed orders he had issued temporarily blocking Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing or distributing a tell-all book about the president. Mary portrays the Trump family as deeply damaged people, starting with Fred Sr and his wife Mary Ann and filtering down to their five children. Pictured from left to right Robert, Elizabeth, Fred Jr, Donald and Maryanne Trump An appeals judge had already lifted the order blocking Simon & Schuster. The book, 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man,' was originally to be published at the end of July. The publisher announced last week it would be published Tuesday. Mary Trump's lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said the judge 'got it right in rejecting the Trump family's effort to squelch Mary Trump's core political speech on important issues of public concern.' 'The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy,' he said. 'Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary's important words for themselves.' In a statement, Simon & Schuster said it was 'delighted that the Court has denied the plaintiff's request for preliminary injunction, and vacated the Temporary Restraining Order against our author, Mary L. Trump.' It added: 'The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions. 'TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH' is a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse, and we look forward to bringing it to a public that is clearly eager to read it.' Messages seeking comment were left with an attorney for Robert Trump. On the eve of its publication, Mary Trump's book was ranked No. 1 on the Amazon.com list of best-selling books. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Robin Emmott (Reuters) Brussels, Belgium Tue, July 14, 2020 13:15 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666275bc 2 World Sweden,France,Germany,China,Hong-Kong,Hong-Kong-security-law,Hong-Kong-protests Free Sweden said on Monday it supported Franco-German efforts for a robust response to China's new security law on Hong Kong, joining Denmark and the Netherlands in pushing the European Union to consider countermeasures on Beijing. Like much of the West, the European Union has denounced the decision by China's parliament to pass national security legislation for the former British colony of Hong Kong despite an international outcry. But its threat of reprisals is vague. "There is a proposal of measures especially proposed by Germany and France that I will support because we need to react to what is happening in Hong Kong," said Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde said before a rare meeting in person with her EU counterparts in Brussels. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month warned of "very negative consequences" for Beijing if it curtailed guarantees of freedom in Hong Kong that are not enjoyed on the mainland. EU officials declined to go into details about the measures, but two EU diplomats said they did not amount to formal sanctions on China, the bloc's second-largest trading partner. Instead, they entail extending the EU's export ban on equipment that could be used for torture or repressive policing, such as spiked batons or rubber bullets, giving Hong Kong activists long-term refugee status in the bloc and supporting more opportunities for Hong Kong students to study in Europe. Sweden is seeking the release of its citizen Gui Minhai, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail in February, accused by Beijing of illegally providing intelligence overseas. Gui, a bookseller previously based in Hong Kong who sold books critical of China's political leadership, was detained by mainland police in 2018. He was seized while with Swedish diplomats on a Beijing-bound train. Noida, July 14 : Six months after the Police Commissionerate system was introduced in Uttar Pradesh's Gautambuddh Nagar, crime data shows significant improvement in almost all parameters, be it dacoity, loot, theft, kidnapping or women's safety. In the last 180 days, the new system has achieved 65 per cent success in controlling crime in the district. Data shows that the new system has managed to reduce dacoity cases by half, while the cases of loot, vehicle theft, ransom, and rape have also come down significantly. The police also introduced the Gangster Act and seized properties of notorious criminals to the tune of Rs 13 crore. Strict action resulted in instilling the fear of law in the minds of criminals such as Sundar Bhati, Satbir Bansal, Sumit Nagar, Chandrapal Pradhan and others. Police Commissioner Alok Singh also emphasised on building trust among the people as the police also increased patrolling and people connect. Women safety being a crucial area, the police also conducted awareness campaigns - 'Chaupal' - in slums, schools, colleges and societies to make women aware of their rights and encouraged them to raise their voice against crimes. Also during the Covid pandemic, Gautambuddh Nagar police designed a plan to help the the poor, elderly, and others in need, be it delivering food, other essential items, and medicines to making ambulances available to expecting mothers, elderly and others. The police created a food bank, while vans were being used to deliver food, essential items, and medicines to the needy. The police distributed 1,500 food packets to the needy every day. The department recently started a system of virtual meetings between complainants and officials to ensure cases are resolved quickly. There is a provision of uploading the documents online for smooth processing of the case. The police also activated its cyber cell to identify and nab criminals who were cheating people in the name of jobs, or fake challans during the pandemic. On account of the ongoing novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, pandemic, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) on July 14 provided relief by extending the time for payment of additional floor area ratio (FAR) and use of conversion charges on reduced rates up to December 31, DDA officials said. The decision was taken during DDAs meeting held through video conferencing under the chairmanship by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. It was attended by Anurag Jain, Vice Chairman, DDA, and other members of the authority. "To incentivise in-situ rehabilitation projects, DDA proposes flexibility in use of land with higher FAR. As a relief measure and in view of ongoing pandemic, DDA has extended the time period for payment of additional FAR charges and usage of conversion charges on reduced rates up to December 31," officials said. DDA has extended the time period for payment of additional FAR charges and usage of conversion charges for residential properties or cooperative group housing properties on mixed use/commercial streets and commercial properties (excluding hotel and parking plots) and conversion charges for mixed use or commercial use of premises and shop-cum-residence plots or complexes up to December 12, which was previously up to June 28, officials said. DDA has also decided that sale of 50 percent of economically weaker sections (EWS) flats in DDA quota in group housing projects should be simplified to avoid double stamp duty. At present, the process of allotment of the EWS flats to the beneficiary involves levying of stamp duties at two levels: one when the developer entity sells to DDA and other when DDA allots to the beneficiary. The burden of the dual stamp is getting transferred to the beneficiary and in the process the cost of flat is increased, thereby defeating the sole purpose of affordable housing/housing for all. In order to streamline the process of allotment and reduce the cost of apartments, relevant clauses in MPD-21 are suitably modified to avoid double stamp duty, DDA officials said. These clauses would now include 50 percent of developed units will be sold to eligible beneficiaries identified by DDA/local bodies as per DDA policy. Parking also added to the facilities which shall be provided by the developer entity (DE) for the separate housing pocket. Now the DE shall be allowed to undertake actual transfer/transaction of saleable component under its share/ownership to the prospective buyers only after the prescribed land and EWS housing component is sold/transferred to the eligible beneficiaries identified by DDA/local bodies at the rates prescribed by DDA, a DDA statement said. The proposals above will be forwarded to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs for final notification under section 57 of the Delhi Development Act, 1957. The authority also approved the proposal for issuance of public notices for inviting objections and suggestions regarding increase in FAR under warehouse/warehousing schemes in MPD-2021. Various requests from concerned local bodies were received regarding warehouses, warehousing schemes along with other related issues. Also due to changing times and introduction of numerous online shopping sites the demand for warehouse to home model of business has increased the need for warehouses for various commodities. It is proposed to increase maximum ground coverage for premises (integrated freight complex/wholesale market/warehousing schemes) use to 40 percent from 30 percent and maximum FAR to 100 percent from 80 percent. The additional FAR charge will be payable as decided by the government, a DDA statement said. To incentivise in-situ rehabilitation projects DDA has proposed flexibility in use of land with higher FAR. The policy provides for minimum residential component of the land area for rehabilitation of the squatters to be 60 percent and maximum area for remunerative use to be 40 percent. The authority has now approved a proposal for issuance of public notice regarding proposed amendments/modifications that provide that the scheme should be designed in a composite manner with an overall maximum FAR of 400 on the residential component of the land, DDA officials said. The maximum FAR of 300 on the remunerative component of the land shall be applicable irrespective of the landuse. Any use/mix of uses shall be permitted as proposed by the developer entity within the overall FAR of 300, in the remunerative component as per MPD provisions. In case the developer entity proposes mix of uses, parking and other development control norms will be applicable on a pro-rata basis on the FAR utilised for the particular use. The proposal for change of land use of DDA land measuring 14.6 hectares located at Mukarba Chowk from commercial to residential was also approved in principle and influence zone plan to be prepared prior to issuance of public notice. Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has revealed she rotated two suits for a year-and-a-half after giving birth because she struggled to shift her baby weight. The politician, 41, from Edinburgh, welcomed son Finn with her partner Jen Wilson in October 2018. Speaking on Susannah Constantine's My Wardrobe Malfunction podcast, mother-of-one Ruth said she refused to buy a size up. 'When I got pregnant and then when I had my child and couldn't shift the baby weight, I only had two suits that fitted me,' she explained. Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson has revealed she rotated two suits for a year-and-a-half after giving birth because she struggled to shift her baby weight. Pictured in May 2019 - seven months after giving birth 'So there is like, basically a year-and-a-half's period where I was refusing to throw out any suits that I couldn't fit anymore or buy any more in the next size up. 'So I literally just did wear the only ones that were roomy enough for me.' She added that she wasn't keen to draw attention to herself because she was 'heavy'. 'I know exactly which suits are at the tighter end of the size that they are and which ones are the wider end,' Ruth explained. 'When you're in the really fat end of your wardrobe, that's a difficulty and you don't want to be looked at.' Speaking on Susannah Constantine's My Wardrobe Malfunction podcast, mother-of-one Ruth said she refused to buy a size up. Pictured while pregnant in October 2018 Ruth and her partner Jen Wilson, pictured together, welcomed their son Finn in October 2018 Ruth told how her weight tends to 'barometer up and down', admitting she finds it very easy to put it on but much harder to shift it. She recalled an awkward incident when she was a bridesmaid for a good friend at her wedding in Australia where, after 'three weeks on the lash', her dress no longer fit. Ruth told how her pal sent over a bolt of fabric from which to have a dress made in a style of her choice, so that all her wedding party would match. 'Because she'd been living in Scotland before she got engaged and because there were lots of people flying over from Scotland and other countries to Australia, rather than have them turn out for the wedding, speak to the bride and groom for five minutes as they go round and then they jump off on their honeymoon, and all these people that have flown in three-and-a-half thousand miles don't actually see them, what they chose to do, which was lovely, was they had us all over three weeks before the wedding,' she explained. Ruth told how her weight tends to 'barometer up and down', admitting she finds it very easy to put weight on but much harder to shift it. Pictured in May 2019 'The wedding is all sorted. We all went on a road trip, all the Brits, with them for three weeks around the country. 'We went to the wine valley, we went red snapper fishing in Coffin Bay, we had this lovely, lovely time of three weeks on holiday. 'And then we got to the morning of the wedding and I put the dress on, except I couldn't. It didn't fit! I'd had three weeks on the lash and when I'd measured... Too much Dark & Stormies and Fosters.' She added that it's 'not hard to put on half a stone in three weeks', admitting: 'If it's a sheath dress it's not gonna look pretty. 'So the morning of my friend's wedding, I still feel guilty about this, I'd also got like a wrap, a kind of stole to wear over my arms. 'We took a set of shears and we went straight up the back of the dress. And the bride's mother and the bride's aunty sewed the stole in as a panel in the back. 'So they should have been looking forward to their daughter's wedding, they are sewing a panel into a dress for one of the Scottish bridesmaids that couldn't turn down a sausage sandwich! Isn't that the worst dress story you've ever heard?' Ruth previously revealed that she suffered from suicidal thoughts as a teenager, and that she would not risk her mental health by running for Prime Minister. She discussed her battle with depression on the podcast, which she said was triggered at university following a friend's suicide, after which she was plagued by 'survivor's guilt'. Ruth (left) discussed her battle with depression on Susannah's (right) podcast, which she said was triggered at university following a friend's suicide, after which she was plagued by 'survivor's guilt' 'The way in which university health centres at that time [23 years ago] dealt with [depression] was they just threw some pills at you, basically,' she recalled. 'And I had a really bad reaction to the pills, but I didn't know that that's what it was. So I kept going back going, you know, "Things are worse, not better." So they just kept going "Right, we'll just double your dose" until I got onto the maximum you could be on. 'And I have to be really careful about how I say this because the company that makes the particular brand that I was on is quite litigious. But there has been a number of class actions around the world regarding side effects for this particular brand of antidepressants, which, particularly in adolescence, and young adults, one of its side effects is increased suicidal thoughts and tendencies, which I would suggest is not brilliant for an antidepressant. 'And so, yes, so I had two or three years that were pretty, pretty dark and pretty bad. And then sort of graduated and started putting myself back together again.' Ruth added that her mother was severely bipolar and a manic depressive, so she is very conscious of it and is 'always looking out for it' in her children because it can skip a generation. To listen to the whole podcast visit https://mywardmal.com. Two to three hundred new jobs will be created in Welland over the next two years as Edmonton-based CNTNR opens a 125,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the former Welland Tubes plant on Rusholme Road. The company, which turns shipping containers into state-of-the-art technology-forward homes, has hired 30 employees and will hire another 80 as it gets ready to open. We anticipate hiring another 100 workers over the next two years, said CNTNR Modular Building Solutions chief executive officer Adam Morris. He said the company was aware many Wellanders travel out of town to work and was looking to entice them to CNTNR with wages comparable to what they are making now. The company had been looking to move east to service not only Ontario, Quebec and beyond but also the American northeast. Strategically, it made a lot of sense, he said. Morris said what drew the company to Welland was its industrial lease rates, access to the border and highway system, a skilled workforce with manufacturing experience and a city that welcomed them with open arms. Thats what made the area particularly attractive to us, he said. Sealing the deal was having post-secondary institutions Niagara College and Brock University nearby. Niagara College welcomed us with open arms. Morris said CNTNR felt incredibly welcomed and supported by Mayor Frank Campion, general manager of economic development, recreation and culture Dan Degazio, and economic development officer Lina DeChellis. They were fantastic. They said whatever they could do to help us, they would, he said, adding the company looked at locations in Brantford, Hamilton and the Kitchener-Waterloo area as well. CNTNR will initially use 125,000 square feet of the Rusholme Road plant, last home to the Senvion wind turbine blade plant. We intend to take another 110,000 square feet within the next six to nine months. The company formed three years ago and has been officially named CNTNR for about a year. It currently works out of a 25,000-square-foot facility in Edmonton. Office modules will be outside the plant, and Morris said there is a loading area and 1.2 hectares of storage space on site. The facility also has the height and width needed to pick up, move and stack containers for conversion. It fits our needs, said Morris. CNTNR uses patent-pending technology to take apart shipping containers and put them back together with any interior/exterior cladding or finishing material a customer wants. They have the look and feel of conventional homes, he said, adding the benefits of the shipping container homes appeal to millennials and beyond. With five million shipping containers a year abandoned and left to rust and rot, CNTNR can give them a new life, said Morris. He said as the homes are environmentally friendly, energy-efficient and built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane It takes 2 1/2 to three months to build them, much shorter than traditional construction. When the Welland facility opens, Morris said, the company will complete a 150-unit housing project destined for Indianapolis, Ind., with 95 of them being affordable housing units. Morris said people interested in working at the Welland facility can send a resume to recruitment@cntnr.ca. Facing the double-barreled threat of wildfire danger and the coronavirus pandemic, public land managers overseeing some of Californias most popular parks are moving to ban campfires outside of designated fire rings in some cases, through the end of the summer. The National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and California State Parks, which oversee more than 100 wilderness areas in the state, are working separately but on parallel courses to cut back on campfires that may pose a threat to the states dry natural landscape. The agencies have issued new restrictions at various parks and outdoor areas over the past month, some of which will extend to the end of summer and possibly into fall. Everybody needs to be really cautious. Its a really trying year, said Amy Head, a Cal Fire battalion chief. A similar campfire ban was ordered two years ago by public land managers in the state. The most wide-reaching restriction to take effect is on national forest lands across the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Shasta-Siskiyou ranges, where all campfires are banned in wilderness and outside of designated fire rings at developed campgrounds. The ban will extend through the summer and may eventually be extended to all campfires even ones in designated fire pits according to Forest Service regional headquarters. We understand these fire restrictions change the visitor experience in the short-term, said Randy Moore, regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region of the U.S. Forest Service. (We) appreciate the publics understanding of the need to protect communities and firefighters during the upcoming fire season and this unprecedented pandemic. At national parks, bans on campfires outside of fire rings have been ordered this summer at Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon, each park reported. At Point Reyes National Seashore, campfires are banned year-round. For cooking, campers instead use small, portable, gas-powered stoves. At California state parks, campfires are usually allowed in fire rings located at each campsite. However, during extreme fire conditions, such as Red Flag Warnings, when the chance of fire danger is most extreme, park rangers can ban all campfires at their respective parks. Individual state parks tend to operate independently of each other with a degree of autonomy. This week, for instance, campfires were still allowed in campsite fire rings at D.L. Bliss State Park at Emerald Bay near South Lake Tahoe, said Carol Korn at the park. For up-to-date information on campfire allowances, visitors should contact parks indvidually. Our status is clear now meaning campfires are permitted in designated fire rings but that can change, Korn said. The National Weather Service is forecasting hot, dry weather this week in the far north and across the Sierra. That has many campers and firefighters alike walking on the dry pine needles as if they were eggshells. According to numbers released Monday, Cal Fire has engaged with 3,932 fires this year since Jan. 1 ahead of the five-year average of 2,821 fires for the same date and 2,300 fires at this time a year ago, Head said. Our No. 1 tactic is to hit the fires hard and heavy, right out the gate, and try to keep them 10 acres or less, Head said. Cal Fire statistics bear that out: a total of 40,623 acres has burned so far this year, far less than the five-year average of 70,719 acres. 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. But that could change quickly, Head said. On the flank of central Sierra, an estimated 147 million dead trees mostly pines killed from drought and invasive beetles from 2010 to 2018 present a cataclysmic fire risk, according to aerial surveys and a map analysis by the California Department of Forest and Fire Protection and the U.S. Forest Service. Two years ago, with similar dry, hot conditions entering mid-July, wildfires devoured 1.8 million acres in California, the worst fire season on record in the state. Last year, however, a wet spring and a late melt-off of snow in the high country delayed the fire season, and 259,823 acres burned, according to Cal Fire and the Interagency Fire Center. After a dry February, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for wildfire risk for the remainder of this year. The region with the highest threat from dead pines is on the west flank of the central Sierra Nevada, especially at elevations from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, according to aerial mapping by Cal Fire. Tree mortality is a big concern for us, said Head. All those dead trees arent just going to go away. There are mass acres and acres of dead trees, dry fuel just sitting there, waiting. Tom Stienstra is The Chronicles outdoor writer. Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @StienstraTom. 2nd PUC Result 2020 Karnataka DECLARED Updates: The official websites of Karnataka board - karresults.nic.in and kseeb.kar.nic.in - are currently down due to heavy traffic. But students can log in to the alternative websites to check their scores. Auto refresh feeds The Department of Pre-University Examination, Karnataka, will declare the results of Class 12 board exam today (Tuesday, 14 July) at around 11.30 am. Students can check their results at Karnataka board's official website at karresults.nic.in. Step 1: Go to the official website - karresults.nic.in Step 2: On the home page, click the link that says '2nd PUC Result 2020 Karnataka' Step 3: The online KAR PUC result 2020 window will appear on the screen Step 4: Enter your registration number in the appropriate field Step 5: Hit on the 'Submit' button and your 2nd PUC result Karnataka 2020 will be displayed on the screen To pass the PUC exam, students need to secure 35 percent aggregate marks. Students will need to score a minimum of 70 marks in the language papers, while 30 marks each in individual subjects for a total of 210 out of 600 marks. Due to heavy traffic, students might be unable to check their scores on the official website. In such case, follow the given steps to access your PUC score using SMS service. Last year, the overall pass percentage was recorded at 61.73 percent. Among streams, Science students had recorded 66.58 pass percentage, Commerce had 66.39 and Arts had 50.53. The next session for these students is expected to begin by August while, fresh admissions and sessions will begin from September, 2020. Earlier, the sessions would usually be started by July. The press conference on 2nd PUC result will begin at 11.30 am. The result will be available at the official websites karresults.nic.in and kseeb.kar.nic.in after 12 pm. Students who have appeared in Karnataka 2nd PUC, will be able to check their Class 12 scores online at the official websites: karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, and pue.kar.nic.in. Step 4: Download and take its print out for future reference. Step 1: On the homepage, click on the link for Karnataka 2020 PUC result The results of Karnataka Pre-University Education (PUE) or Class 12 exam has been declared on Tuesday (14 July). A total of 5.95 lakh students who had appeared in the Class 12 exams can check their results through the website- karresults.nic.in. Due to heavy traffic, students might be unable to check their scores on the official website. In such case, follow the given steps to access your PUC score using SMS service. The result will be available at the official websites karresults.nic.in and kseeb.kar.nic.in after 12 pm. A total of 6,75,277 students appeared for the Karnataka 2nd PUC exams, the results of which were announced by the education minister at the press conference on Tuesday at 11.30 pm According to media reports, Science students have recorded 76.2 pass percentage in the Karnataka 2nd PUC 2020 exam. While, in Commerce, 65.52 percent students cleared the board exam. This year, students have performed better in the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam than last year by recording an overall pass percentage of 69.2. Whereas, the Class 12 students recorded 61.73 percent in 2019. The official websites of Karnataka board - karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, and pue.kar.nic.in - are currently unresponsive due to heavy traffic. But students can log in to the alternative websites to check their scores. This year, girls have performed than boys in the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam, according to NDTV . The pass percentage among girls is 68.73 percent compared to 54.73 percent scored by boys. Karnataka colleges will not display the results of 2nd PUC exam on the notice boards due to coronavirus crisis. When the 1st PUC result was released, colleges were asked not to display the result on their notice boards to avoid crowding during the outbreak. Students can check their Karnataka 2nd PUC results on the board's official website karresults.nic.in . The candidates can also check the result via Umang app. Of the 5.95 lakh students who appeared for the Class 12 exams, 69.2 percent passed this year in the board examination conducted by the Department of Pre-University Examination, Karnataka. Among districts, Udupi emerged the best-performing region, where the pass percentage among students was at 90.71 percent, according to News18. Of the total 5.95 lakh students who appeared for the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam, a total of 20,958 students have scored 100 percent marks in all subjects, according to careers 360. This implies that over 20,000 students have scored full marks in all subjects. Students are advised to download the scorecard for future reference after checking their Karnataka 2nd PUC exam result online at karresults.nic.in as all schools are closed due to coronavirus outbreak. The overall pass percentage recorded by Kannada medium schools was at 47.56 percent, while English medium schools recorded 72.45 percent. According to media reports, Science students have recorded 76.2 pass percentage in the Karnataka 2nd PUC 2020 exam. While, in Commerce, 65.52 percent students cleared the board exam. This year, students have performed better in the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam than last year by recording an overall pass percentage of 69.2. Whereas, the Class 12 students recorded 61.73 percent in 2019. The official websites of Karnataka board - karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, and pue.kar.nic.in - are currently unresponsive due to heavy traffic. But students can log in to the alternative websites to check their scores. This year, girls have performed than boys in the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam, according to NDTV . The pass percentage among girls is 68.73 percent compared to 54.73 percent scored by boys. Karnataka colleges will not display the results of 2nd PUC exam on the notice boards due to coronavirus crisis. When the 1st PUC result was released, colleges were asked not to display the result on their notice boards to avoid crowding during the outbreak. Students can check their Karnataka 2nd PUC results on the board's official website karresults.nic.in . The candidates can also check the result via Umang app. Of the 5.95 lakh students who appeared for the Class 12 exams, 69.2 percent passed this year in the board examination conducted by the Department of Pre-University Examination, Karnataka. Among districts, Udupi emerged the best-performing region, where the pass percentage among students was at 90.71 percent, according to News18. Of the total 5.95 lakh students who appeared for the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam, a total of 20,958 students have scored 100 percent marks in all subjects, according to careers 360. This implies that over 20,000 students have scored full marks in all subjects. Students are advised to download the scorecard for future reference after checking their Karnataka 2nd PUC exam result online at karresults.nic.in as all schools are closed due to coronavirus outbreak. The overall pass percentage recorded by Kannada medium schools was at 47.56 percent, while English medium schools recorded 72.45 percent. 2nd PUC Result 2020 Karnataka DECLARED LATEST Updates| The official websites of Karnataka board - karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, and pue.kar.nic.in - are currently unresponsive due to heavy traffic. But students can log in to the alternative websites to check their scores. Of the 5.95 lakh students who appeared for the Class 12 exams, 69.2 percent passed in the board examination conducted by the Department of Pre-University Examination, Karnataka. A total of 6.75 lakh students appeared for the Karnataka 2nd PUC exams, the results of which were announced by the education minister at the press conference on Tuesday at 11.30 pm To pass the PUC exam, students need to secure 35 percent aggregate marks. A minimum of 70 marks in the language papers and 30 marks each in individual subjects is required. Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020 will be announced today (Tuesday, 14 July). The results will be uploaded on karresults.nic.in at around 11.30 am. According to reports, students will also receive their results via SMS at 11.30 am. Over 5.95 lakh students had registered for the Karnataka PUC exams. Earlier, the state education minister S Suresh had said that the results of the Karnataka 2nd PUC 2020 is expected to be released around 20 July or the last week of July 2020. The minister clarified the change in date on his Twitter account. He wrote, "Many students are calling me to know whether Second PUC results will be announced today. I once again inform all that Second PUC results will come out around 20 July." Many students are calling me to know whether Second PUC results will be announced Today. I once again inform all that Second PUC results will come out around 20th July. S.Suresh Kumar, Minister - Govt of Karnataka (@nimmasuresh) July 9, 2020 According to a report in The Times of India, the Karnataka Board had earlier announced that results of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate Exam (SSLC) will be released by the first week of August and the results of the second pre-university (2ndn PUC) will be declared by July last week. As per a report in Times Now, the Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar had announced on 29 June, "We are trying to get the SSLC results out by the first week of August. The PUC results will be out in the last week of July." The report added that Karnataka was one of the states which conducted the Board exams despite the opposition and protests due to health risks the exams posed. The minister for education himself carried out the inspection of many centres, but news of students getting infected with coronavirus did emerge twice. This year, the 2nd PUC results were delayed as the English exam was postponed due to the nationwide lockdown in March. Exams were rescheduled for 18 June. Laredo City Council will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the citys COVID-19 emergency ordinance, possibly buttressing the health authoritys order to keep local schools closed until Sept. 5, conducting virtual learning up to that date. READ MORE: Where to cast your ballot on Election Day in Webb County This stands in opposition to the Texas Education Agencys announcement last week that requires school districts to provide in-person classes at the start of the fall semester in August. Mayor Pete Saenz told reporters on Monday that he will propose that council send a resolution to Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agency asking that they not jeopardize any funding that the school districts are due to receive in light of Health Authority Dr. Victor Trevinos order. The TEA sent a statement to KGNS stating the agency would support state and local decisions pursuant to applicable law. If schools are ordered closed, the agency will provide funding for remote instruction, reads the statement. Saenz said this is helpful information, but the school districts still want to hear it directly from the horses mouth. As of Monday evening, United ISD was still waiting to hear from the TEA on this subject, according to Deputy Superintendent for Administration & Operations Gloria Rendon. On Friday, they asked the agency for clear guidance on this matter. We will abide by whatever our local health official says, unless we hear the news that we dont want to hear, Rendon said. City Manager Robert Eads said the city is basing their decisions on what they believe is best for the community. Do we have every answer with how were addressing schools? Do we have every answer on how businesses should open? No, but we have the best intentions going forward. Weve got some really smart people in this room and out in our community making these decisions, Eads said. He noted that the city has also sent a letter to Gov. Abbott reminding him of their local authority. READ MORE: Laredo passes 3,000 coronavirus cases, confirms three deaths We will be seeing the effects of July 4 celebrations next week, Eads said, so theyre planning for a big rush in cases and hospitalizations. Local hospitals are already at capacity. Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com C reative industries in London and across the country should celebrate Mondays Home Office announcement of the new Graduate Route visa. The timing could hardly be better. These are crucial days in the university admissions cycle: anxious international students holding offers at London's engines of creativity - whether coding at Imperial, fashion textiles at UAL or graphic design at the RCA - are making final decisions on whether to come this academic year. The confirmation of a massive boost to our post-study work offer should encourage many waverers to enrol this September. International students completing a degree here from summer 2021 onwards will be able to stay on for two years (three years for PhDs) and work at any skill level. They will also be eligible to switch into work routes and stay on longer if they find a suitable job. And there will be no limit on the number of international students who can come to the UK each year. The impact this will have in countries like India, where the duration of post-study work is a critical factor, could be sensational. It will help defend the UKs competitive position, which has suffered gravely from Theresa Mays abolition of the post-study work visa in 2012 (following the mistaken inclusion of students in the now abandoned 100,000 net migration target). The UKs market share has fallen from 12% in 2012 to below 8 per cent, with countries such as Canada gaining at our expense. Coming days after Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden announced a 1.6bn rescue package for Britains arts and heritage sectors, this is encouraging evidence of joined-up policy in support of the creative industries. And rightly so. Up until the Coronavirus struck, they were growing at five times the rate of the economy and generating around 15 per cent of national gross value-added. Enabling historic palaces, museums, galleries, live music and independent cinema to access emergency grants and loans while their doors are closed is a no-brainer. For policy to be fully joined up, however, the Department for Education must take care over how it operates recently re-imposed domestic student number controls. This risks turning into a crude process to allocate places - and therefore funding - on the basis of flawed measures of graduate earnings. This would unfairly penalise creative arts courses already in the cross-hairs of higher education sceptics in Parliament fired up by Gavin Williamsons denunciation of the Blair-era target for 50 per cent of young people to go to university. If we have learnt anything lately, it is to value socially useful but lower-earning professions. It would be incoherent to open the door to international talent to work across our economy, while restricting opportunities for domestic students to prepare themselves for careers in the arts. An economic nonsense too: the creative industries were generating 13 million for the economy every hour before Covid-19 enough to repay the subsidy to arts courses in the student loan book many times over. Our creative industries will only recover if we supply them with the skills and talent vital for their success. Jo Johnson, former Universities Minister, is Chairman of Tes Global Meeting of EU Foreign Ministers at the European Council building in Brussels (Reuters) - Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Monday the Nordic country's extradition treaty with Hong Kong should not be applied as Beijing's new security law means people could be transferred to mainland China. "The situation has changed from the time when the treaty was signed," Haavisto told a news conference. "It should not be applied." China's imposition of a new security law has seen countries such as Britain and Canada caution citizens of an increased risk of arbitrary detention in Hong Kong and possible extradition to mainland China. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki in Tallinn; Editing by Toby Chopra) The police reforms that are currently stalled in the U.S. Senate are so basic, so necessary and so modest that its embarrassing they are not already law. Much of whats in the House-passed George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has been adopted by police in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Much of the rest has been stuck in the discussion phase for decades, having been proposed long ago by various commissions pulled together to study why Black people, especially, are so angry at police tactics that leave so many of them dead. The answers are self-explanatory. Should police use deadly force only as a last option? Of course. Should police be banned from intentionally cutting off the blood flow to a persons brain or oxygen to the lungs in a chokehold that can be permanently disabling or fatal? Most certainly. Should people abused by police, or the survivors of people killed by them, be able to sue officers for their excessive use of force? Yes. These and the other items in the bill proposed by the Congressional Black Caucus and adopted on June 25 by the House express essential American values of equal justice and freedom from unreasonable government intrusion or force. If the GOP-controlled Senate were true to the Republican Partys principles, it would have passed the measure instead of shelving it. Caucus Chairwoman Karen Bass, a Los Angeles Democrat, told The Times editorial board on Wednesday that the bill was narrowly tailored to save lives and achieve justice. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who joined her, boiled the situation down succinctly: We are a loving country with a vicious and cruel criminal justice system. The Senate has its own bill, authored by Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Its reforms are slight, limited mostly to fact-finding and promises to withhold federal funding from noncompliant police departments. It would keep in place the qualified immunity from liability that virtually exempts police from consequences for bad acts. Both bills are powered by the national outpouring of emotion and resolve in the wake of Floyds killing on May 25 under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, who was later fired and charged with murder. Floyds death was followed by weeks of protest that brought attention to other outrageous police killings, such as the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in her own home in Louisville, Kentucky, in March. Police broke in without warning while exercising a no-knock warrant in a search for illegal drugs. None were found. The Taylor killing represents not so much an escalation of deadly police tactics as an increasing public awareness of them. Its well-known among the American public that Black people are more likely than others to be stopped, questioned or killed by police on the street, whether while on foot or in a car. But even staying home appears to offer little protection. The House bill would sharply limit no-knock warrants. The Senates would merely require departments to report when they employ them. The same national attention that makes worthy but stalled police reforms politically viable may also serve as an impediment to their passage. Two years ago, President Trump helped lead a rare bipartisan effort to reform the nations sentencing and imprisonment policies. But a similar accord on policing is far less likely given the looming election and the jockeying for advantage over a campaign issue. Meanwhile, many police opponents now openly reject calls for the types of modest reforms proposed in the House bill in favor of a more sweeping shift away from policing. Some call for abolition of police altogether. Critics argue that reforms merely perpetuate an unwarranted police presence in their communities. For example, the Los Angeles Police Departments leadership went from defending chokeholds Chief Daryl Gates infamously asserted in 1982 that young Black men were injured by them because their veins or arteries do not open as fast as they do on normal people to virtually eliminating them, while also updating their training and policies to guard against racial discrimination. And California last year adopted a law that permits police to shoot only when necessary. But excessive force and preventable police killings continue. Bass, characteristically and to her credit, sees room for both transformation and reform. The defund the police movement, Bass told the editorial board, is a refund movement, to return resources better housing, jobs and education to communities that have suffered decades of disinvestment. That kind of reinvestment is essential and the need is great too great to be filled solely by a transfer of law enforcement budgets to social services. Pending broader change, though, its certainly time for higher standards of police conduct, better measurement of compliance and surer consequences for failure. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 An American woman lured to Nigeria by a promise of marriage from a man she met on Facebook has been rescued after being held captive for more than a year, police say. The 46-year-old was held against her will in a hotel room in Lagos. The suspect Chukwuebuka Obiaku, 34, "took control" of the unnamed victim's credit and debit cards, and retirement benefits, according to the police. Over a period of 15 months she was forced to part with $48,000 (38,000). The victim is a retired Civil Servant from Washington DC. Police say Mr Obiaku "also used the victim as a front to defraud her associates and other foreign personalities and companies". CYBERCRIME: INTERPOL ABUJA ARREST 3 As IRT Operatives Rescue American Lady Confined In Lagos Hotel For 16 Months Operatives of the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja have arrested three (3) suspects; pic.twitter.com/UiueHAX6rE Nigeria Police Force (@PoliceNG) July 12, 2020 Source: BBC 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 Jaipur, July 14 : With Rajasthan deputy Chief Minister and PCC chief Sachin Pilot opening a direct front against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, history seems to be repeating itself after 68 years when Mohanlal Sukhadiya had openly rebelled against the then Chief Minister Jainarayan Vyas in 1952 to dethrone him and take his chair. At that time, chief minister Jainarayan Vyas had to fight a tough battle against his own cabinet minister Mohanlal Sukhadiya who opened a strong rebellion against his government. Gehlot, at present, is facing a similar battle 68 years later to save his chair as Pilot has rebelled, claiming that Rajasthan government is in minority. The Rajasthan Chief Minister has taken all his MLAs from his camp to a plush hotel to stake claim that his government is safe. In those times, Vyas was a favourite of the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, just the same way as Gehlot enjoys the backing of the Congress high command today. However, the rebel force in 1952 was so strong that Nehru had to put his favouritism aside to change the power equations. In 1952, Vyas was announced the chief minister of Rajasthan even after facing defeat in assembly elections. Thereafter, factions started appearing in the Congress party. Then 38-year-old sukhadiya opened a rebellion against the then CM Vyas. Nehru tried his best to save the government, but when all his efforts failed, he sent Congress general secretary Balwant Rai Mehta to Jaipur. The party MLAs then were given the option of voting in which Sukhadiya was declared the winner by 8 votes. Later on, he was appointed as the CM and he became the youngest CM of the country then. Soon after the results were announced, Sukhadiya got into a Tonga and went to the CM residence straight from the Congress office, got the house vacuated and went in to stay there with the luggage. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text San Antonio author Shea Serrano is not shy about expressing his distaste for the president on social media and has found a way to troll Donald Trump supporters who purchase his short story. In a "secret" email to those who purchased his latest literary work and audiobook, the three-time New York Times bestselling author said those who back the president have now unknowingly donated to organizations not in line with their beliefs. After buying Serrano's work, the author said some of the Trump supporters have sent him messages like "go back to Mexico" or that they "don't support abortion" but wish Serrano's mom had gotten one. Serrano, however, found a way to get back at his detractors. RELATED: Tweet by San Antonio native Shea Serrano kicks off avalanche of donations to Food Bank Serrano searched his customer database to find out how much money the vocal Trump supporters had spent on his materials and then donated half of it to RAICES an organization that fights against Trump's policies at the border and the other half went to Planned Parenthood. If that wasn't enough, he made the donation under their names and included them on the organizations' emailing lists. "Thanks for supporting immigrant rights and pro choice rights, lol. Viva Mexico," he wrote in his email. "Donald Trump is a blatant racist and wholly evil," Serrano said in an email to MySA. "Supporting him is stupid and bad." Many fans applauded the author's actions and some even donated to the organizations themselves. Serrano is known to help individuals and organizations in need, often sharing on his social media accounts the donations he makes to followers and a wide variety of non-profit organizations. He was recently recognized by former President Barack Obama for his efforts to help out the community during the coronavirus pandemic. You can preorder his latest work, an untitled short story that will be available as a PDF and an audiobook. Taylor Pettaway is a breaking news and general assignment reporter for MySA.com | taylor.pettaway@express-news.net | @TaylorPettaway MIAMI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GA Telesis (the "Company"), the pioneering leader in integrated aviation services, announces its MRO Services Group has entered into an agreement with Liebherr-Aerospace for Material Support and Maintenance Services for the E-Jet Family of aircraft. Under this agreement, the Company receives technical support and original OEM materials to repair and overhaul landing gears for operators in the Americas. Landing gear repairs and overhauls for this aircraft type will be carried out in the MRO Services Miami facility located across from Miami International Airport. The Company has an experienced team of technicians that have previously worked on the E-Jet Family landing gears. MRO Services Group began landing gear overhauls in 2019 and has entered into several contracts to perform overhaul and repairs. "This agreement is another step in the evolution of GA Telesis's strategic alignment with OEMs to provide superb quality at a sensible cost to our customers," said Pastor Lopez, President MRO Services. "It is now more important than ever to continue to support the aviation industry with diversified products and services that meet their new cost reality," added Lopez. "We are looking forward to partner with GA Telesis to provide true OEM value to operators of our products in the region," said Alex Vlielander, Chief Services Officer, Liebherr-Aerospace & Transportation SAS. "In addition to Liebherr-Aerospace's in-country overhaul capability, we support a very select group of independent providers to ensure sufficient capacity and choice. After a recent review and realignment of the network, we decided it was opportune to add GA Telesis." The MRO Services Group has a strong focus on performance by deploying lean operations and eliminating inefficiencies, which leads to direct cost savings for its customers. The "OEM Parts Only Philosophy" and the Company's multiple OEM material service agreements provide a great benefit to GA Telesis' customers and its OEM partners. The Company plans to continue its OEM alignment strategy with other OEMs that want to provide the best in competitively priced aftermarket services through OEM approved repairs while using genuine OEM approved materials. GA Telesis delivers OEM quality material at the most competitive prices to its customers while enhancing the OEM's market channels. About GA Telesis GA Telesis is a global leader providing integrated solutions to the aviation and aerospace industries. Built on the premise of "Customer Success" being the goal, GA Telesis serves over 3,000 customers, including airlines, OEMs, MROs, and suppliers worldwide, with 31 leasing, sales, distribution, and MRO operations in 19 countries. At GA Telesis , the Company's core business is integrated aviation solutions and their mission is customer success. For further information: please contact: [email protected] SOURCE GA Telesis, LLC Related Links www.gatelesis.com As I walked into the Oval Office July 8, President Donald Trump was going over new polls, some internal, some not, showing him tied or leading Joe Biden in key swing states. Pennsylvania tied. Florida, up one. Wisconsin, up one. Texas, up five. Arizona, Trump 49, Biden 45; North Carolina, Trump up three. And then Montana: Trump up a lot 52-38, he said. While some in the Republican Party may be panicking over other polls showing an uphill climb for reelection, the president remains confident. I havent really even started to campaign yet, he said, adding: Now, campaignings a little bit tough because of the coronavirus. This thing, what China did to us, is just unbelievable. We were sailing, it was unstoppable. And then, this happened. And its (a) shame, but now (weve) got to go back to work. But I think were doing really well. Our conversation turned to negative media coverage of his speech at Mount Rushmore on July 3. The speech, he said, was actually not dark, it was the opposite of dark. Whats dark is the other side. Theyre trying to take everything down. And I think theyre crazy, but I also think theyre evil. And I cant believe that theres not more pushback. During his speech, Trump praised Abraham Lincoln for winning the Civil War and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and called slavery an evil institution. So why is Trump so adamant about defending Confederate memorials? Oh, Im not, he says. But I am adamant about defending the past. Its part of our history. Theyre taking down everything, and they call it cancel culture. I dont think its a beautiful term, but its actually very descriptive. They want to cancel everything. They want to cancel the good and the bad. They started off by canceling things that were controversial, and I actually said years ago. Well, does that mean George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are next? And it turns out that they are. Critics conflate his criticism of mobs tearing down statues with criticism of the racial justice movement. So, I asked: Do you support the peaceful protests? Peaceful protests for racial justice? Absolutely. Peaceful protests, period. (But) you had people that were far-left radical maniacs, they were anarchists, and they were agitators, and you also had other people that were there and they didnt know what they were doing. They got caught up. He believes his tough response has tamped down the violence. In Minneapolis, after a number of days of watching that fiasco, I demanded that the National Guard be sent in, he said. And as soon as they were in they showed up, they lined up in the street, they walked through like butter being cut by a knife, and it all ended. It was over. Trump also contends the Black Lives Matter movement preaches violence against the police. You take a look at the people running it, theyre Marxists, theyre people you dont want, he said. And yet, they become almost like this wonderful group of people. And you look at what happened with the riots, and you look at all of the things that have happened, I think its a very, very divisive group. I pointed out millions of Americans have marched peacefully since the killing of George Floyd on Memorial Day, and that most are not for the cancel culture or violence against police, but they want racial justice. I do too, Trump interrupted. Trump also says he has no love for the Confederacy. Im against it. It was my opponent. I was born in New York, Im against it. I am a Yankee. But I also believe in free speech, and I believe in history. You cant erase history. If you erase it, youre going to repeat it. The presidents concern, he said, is if you give in to the cancel culture, where does it end? You take out the Confederate? Okay, good. Then theyre going to take out all opposition to the Confederates. Ive seen them rip down statues [of] abolitionists. It will never stop. What about the military posts and bases named for Confederate generals? I consider that a very different thing, he said. The interesting thing, the bases were named after, long after the war. And they were named as a reconciliation to bring our country together. And then, all of a sudden, they cancel them out. Now, Im not defending or judging any of the names because most of the names you know Fort Bragg, but nobody knows who General Bragg is. But we won two world wars from these forts. Is anyone just a little superstitious? And who are we going to name them after? Trump is absolutely right to fight back against the cancel culture. And his message will resonate more than many in Washington realize. I could say Im against everything, Im totally in favor of all of the hate. The real hate is not the hate from me. The real hate is the hate from the other side on many of the things that we talk about. Maybe Im a voice in the wilderness, he said, but most people agree with me. And many wont say it, and they might not even say it in a poll, but I think theyll say it in an election. (This column has been trimmed for space.) Washington: China has sanctioned a group of prominent US senators and officials in retaliation for Washington stepping up its attack over human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang. But the US immediately returned fire, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issuing a statement rejecting almost all of China's claims in the South China Sea, exacerbating tensions over one of Asia's most contentious foreign policy issues. On Monday, US time, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both high-profile critics of China, were officially sanctioned by Beijing, along with two other key officials: State Department ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, and Republican member of the Congressional Executive Commission on China, Chris Smith. The announcement was made by the Chinese Foreign Ministry - days after the US imposed its own sanctions against a number of Beijing officials - but was devoid of detail. CABINET yesterday deferred the reopening of schools to a later date as President Mnangagwa will soon announce tightened lockdown regulations in view of a spike in local transmissions with Bulawayo among the hotspots. The countrys confirmed Covid-19 cases reached 1 034 on Monday including 343 recoveries and 19 deaths since March. Bulawayo has been identified as one of the local transmissions hotspots with Cabinet resolving that more community testing be conducted in the city. Of the confirmed cases, 725 were imported from countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America. Returnees from South Africa and Botswana contribute most of the foreign cases while local transmissions cases stand at 309. Addressing the 24th post-Cabinet briefing yesterday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said schools will not open on July 28 as was earlier stated. She said Government will penalise private schools that had already reopened in defiance of lockdown regulations. Cabinet is disturbed by the spike in Covid-19 locally transmitted cases and the number of deaths recorded. To curb the increase in transmissions as well as deaths from Covid-19, the following measures were adopted: (a) that the current lockdown restrictions will be tightened, while localised lockdowns are introduced in hotspot areas and further opening up of the economy is halted; (b) that testing in communities with high cases of local transmission such as Bulawayo will be increased, she said. (c) that the re-opening of schools shall be deferred pending a review of the situation, while the writing of public examinations continues; (d) that private schools that have already opened without permission will be penalised. In the past week, the country has recorded increased local transmissions as opposed to what was happening before when confirmed cases were largely imported ones. Minister Mutsvangwa said Government will be the sole provider for transport for necessary inter-city travellers such as those travelling for medical treatment. She said Government will avail two buses to transport those that test positive from Beitbridge to their respective provincial isolation centres. By PTI LONDON: A pub landlord in Cornwall in south-western England has hit the headlines in the UK for his unique method of ensuring COVID-19 secure social distancing guidelines by installing an electric fence around the bar area. Jonny McFadden, who runs the popular Star Inn in Saint Just town of Cornwall, said there is limited space at the bar where drinks are served and therefore he resorted to what he says is 'just a normal electric fence' found in many field perimeters to control cattle and sheep around England. Speaking to the local Cornwall Live' newspaper, McFadden said the fence is for everybody's benefit due to the space constraints. "It's there for social-distancing. Before the fence, people were not following social distancing and were doing as they pleased, but now people take heed to the guidance around social distancing. It's for everybody's benefit," he said. "Everybody enters my bar, they try to get served here, which is right in the doorway, and so to keep people away from here, I didn't know what to do. So, I put in an electric fence," he explained. Asked during a BBC interview if it was switched on, McFadden said: "Come and find out there is a fear factor and it works." McFadden said he came up with the idea after he had struggled to enforce the social distancing message among some customers, who returned to the pub as the coronavirus lockdown restrictions were eased across England earlier this month. Under the government guidance, all establishments must follow COVID-secure rules of highlighting social distancing messages and also hygiene and cleanliness to prevent the transmission of the deadly virus. McFadden, who is also a farmer, resorted to the fence because he feels it will keep people away because "people are like sheep". "They know it is a fence and don't want to touch it to find out whether it is on or not," he said. His customers are said to be happy with the fencing, which has generated a lot of laughs, though his insurance broker is not entirely happy. "He was a bit worried but then that is what he is there for. He rang a nephew of mine and said 'I hope he is not electrocuting people'. Well come and find out if I am," he said, in a light-hearted vein. The Star Inn, which only serves drinks and no food, is one of the oldest pubs in St Just and has featured in several television shows and films. Representative image Indian and Chinese military commanders on Tuesday began a crucial round of negotiations to finalise a framework for a time-bound disengagement process from friction points like Pangong Tso and Depsang as well as to pull back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh, government sources said. The fourth round of Lt General-level talks began around 11.30 am at a designated meeting point in Chushul on the Indian side of the LAC, the de-facto border between the two countries, the sources said. The Indian delegation is led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, while Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region, was scheduled to lead the Chinese side. The key focus of the high level meeting is expected to be to a roll out of the phase two of the disengagement process including in Pangong Tso and Depsang, besides withdrawal of forces and weapons from the rear bases in a time-bound manner, the sources said. The Indian side is expected to insist on "total restoration" of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to May 5 when the standoff began following a clash between the troops of the two countries in Pangong Tso, they said. The sources said the two sides are also expected to finalise a roadmap for overall restoration of peace and tranquility in the high-altitude region that witnessed an eight-week bitter standoff between the troops of the two countries. The talks are talking place days after the implementation of the first phase of the disengagement process from the friction points. 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, according to people familiar with the developments. In line with a mutually agreed decision, the two sides created a minimum buffer zone of three kilometres in most of the friction points where they were locked in a standoff. The formal process of disengagement of troops began on June 6, a day after a nearly two-hour telephonic conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to bring down tension in the area. The two countries have already held three rounds of Lt General-level talks 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 on June 15 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 were locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5. The tension escalated manifold after the violent clashes 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. Following the Galwan Valley incident, the government has given the armed forces "full freedom" to give a "befitting" response to any Chinese misadventure along the LAC. The Army has sent thousands of additional troops to forward locations along the border following the deadly clashes. The IAF has also moved air defence systems as well as a sizeable number of its frontline combat jets and attack helicopters to several key air bases. Sara Ali Khan's driver tests COVID-19 positive India pti-PTI Mumbai, July 14: Actor Sara Ali Khan on Tuesday said her driver has tested positive for COVID-19 while she and her family members were coronavirus negative. Sara, who lives with actor-mother Amrita Singh and brother Ibrahim, took to Instagram and said her family and the domestic staff are taking necessary precautions. "I would like to inform you that our driver has tested positive for COVID-19. The BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) was promptly alerted about it and he has been moved to a quarantine centre. Amitabh, Abhishek Bachchan stable, don't require aggressive treatment: Hospital "My family, the other staff at home and I have all been tested negative and will take the necessary precautions. A sincere thank you to the BMC from me and my family for all their help and guidance. Stay safe everyone," the 24 year-old actor said. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Recently, both Sara and Ibrahim were spotted visiting actor-father Saif Ali Khan's house. The news comes days after four members of the Bachchan family, including megastar Amitabh, actor-son Abhishek, daughter-in-law, actor Aishwarya and granddaughter Aaradhya tested positive for the novel coronavirus. While Amitabh, 77, and Abhishek, 44, are currently at Nanavati Hospital, Aishwarya, 46, and eight-year-old Aaradhya are quarantined at home. On Monday, Mumbai's COVID-19 cases rose by 1,174 to 93,894 while the death toll went up by 47 to 5,332, the BMC said. The Congress decision to sack Sachin Pilot from both deputy chief ministership and state unit presidency of the party in Rajasthan and Pilots open rebellion over the past few days has thrown up comparisons with Madhya Pradesh. In MP, Jyotiraditya Scindia the partys young and popular face walked out in March, along with legislators loyal to him, and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), leading to the ouster of the Kamal Nath government, and the subsequent installation of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. But there are significant differences between the two states. Here are three such variations: 1 Ashok Gehlot versus Kamal Nath Rajasthans CM Ashok Gehlot is a political veteran, who is serving as CM for the third time. In contrast, Kamal Nath while being a senior leader was a newcomer to state politics, having been almost entirely in national politics. MP, for him, for much of his political career, was largely limited to his Lok Sabha constituency of Chindwara. He was resourceful, but lacked the ground experience, control over all regions of the state, and skills of political management. Also read: Congress ejects Pilot from power; CM Gehlot still in Rajasthan cockpit Gehlot as reflected in his current legislative strength appears to have a firmer grasp over the party organisation. He has grown up in Rajasthan politics, from ground-up. His network in each constituency is formidable. Gehlots caste identity he is a Mali, belonging to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category is seen as relatively neutral in the otherwise bitter caste-driven politics of the state; the scattered nature of his community across the state also gives him an edge. Gehlot also has good links with both the old guard and the younger leadership of the Congress in Delhi, which explains the prompt and unequivocal support he has got in this current battle. 2 The arithmetic question The MP assembly election results of 2018 was fragmented. In the house of 230 members, Congress won 114 seats and the BJP trailed behind, just narrowly, 109 seats. The Congress won the support of smaller parties and independents to form the government under Kamal Nath. Also read: How Ashok Gehlot retained support, made inroads into Sachin Pilot camp But the narrow difference in seats left the BJP smelling an opportunity. This presented itself when Scindia unhappy at how the party leadership has failed in ensuring what he saw as a just distribution of power in the state, and Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singhs attitude towards his group decided to walk out with 22 legislators loyal to him. This reduced the size of the assembly, ensured the Nath government slid into a minority, and enabled the BJP to stake claim to form the government and prove its majority. In Rajasthan, by contrast, while the Congress had just about reached the half-way mark in the assembly of 200 members, it won 100 seats it was able to secure the support of other parties and independents and bolster its strength. The BJP, by comparison, won 73 seats. This leaves the gap wider and makes it more challenging for the BJP to oust the Gehlot government. It also means that Pilot will need to muster up greater strength to be able to effect a change in government. Also read: As Congress picks old guard over new, future tense for both Gehlot, Pilot 3 Differing ambitions of the young Turks While Scindia is invested in the politics of MP and has a mass base in the state, his immediate aspirations did not revolve around seeking leadership in the state. The BJP, which already had Chouhan as a prominent leader and former CM, too, found it politically easier to get him back in the saddle. Scindias loyalists were accommodated in the state cabinet, but Scindia himself was elected to the Rajya Sabha. There is speculation that a greater national role is planned for him. Also read: Numbers behind Rajasthan story In contrast, Pilots ambition appears state-centric at the moment. He was keen to become CM while he was leading the Congress in the elections; he fought hard to ensure that it was him, rather than Gehlot, who got the seat; his camps demand over the past week has revolved around ensuring that he becomes CM. This, then, complicates the situation on two counts. One, it is not clear that Pilot has the numbers. But two, it is also not clear if the BJP will be willing to accommodate this ambition given that it has a set of its own leaders in the state. It is instructive that the party has not made a single leader who has shifted from another party a CM in any state where it is in power. The closest example is Manipur, where N Biren Singh, a former Congressman is CM but he had joined the party before the elections. At the same time, there is a remarkable similarity in the two episodes particularly with the regard to the inability of the Congress leadership in retaining its top talent. Whether Pilot goes the Scindia way, and whether Rajasthan goes the MP way, remains to be seen. More colleges and state officials are taking legal action against the Trump administrations new restrictions on international students. They say the new policy harms students safety and forces schools to reconsider their plans for the fall. Sixteen states and Washington, D.C. joined Massachusetts in a legal action brought last week in federal court in Boston against the rule. Lawsuits were also brought by Johns Hopkins University and the state of California. The University of California system has said it also plans to take legal action. The efforts support Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the legal case against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). More than 200 universities have signed legal briefs supporting the case against ICE. Under the new ICE rule, international students must take at least some of their college classes in person, transfer to U.S-based schools with in-person classes or leave the country. They will have to leave the U.S. even if a health emergency forces their classes online later in the school year. And the government will reject visa requests from international students at colleges or universities that only offer classes online. A judge is set to begin hearing arguments in the case Tuesday. If the judge does not suspend the rule, colleges across the U.S. will have until Wednesday to notify ICE if they plan to be fully online this fall. What does ICE say? The Department of Homeland Security and ICE say the policy is backed by existing law. The law bans foreign students from taking all of their classes online while in the U.S. In a court brief filed on Monday, the agencies said ICE suspended the rule in March because of the coronavirus crisis. But it told universities that the temporary rule was subject to change. ICE says the rule is a measured transition to begin a move toward reopening schools and allowing students to return to classrooms. A group of 59 universities submitted their own legal brief in the case. They say the new rule forces schools across the nation to choose between opening their campuses regardless of the public health risks, or forcing their international students to leave the country. The group includes other Ivy League universities and schools like Stanford and Duke. Those schools have more than 213,000 international students. These students are core members of our institutions, the schools wrote. They make valuable contributions to our classrooms, campuses and communities contributions that have helped make American higher education the envy of the world. The colleges are asking the court to block the rule as quickly as possible. They say it has been used to turn students away. A DePaul University student was prevented from entering the U.S. after arriving in San Francisco last week. And Harvard previously said one of its students from Belarus was turned away from a flight at an airport in the capital Minsk. A different group of 180 colleges told the federal court in Boston that they were blindsided by the policy. The group, known as the Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said the March 13 guidance from ICE had permitted online education for foreign students for the duration of the emergency. They point to information suggesting the number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. is higher now than it was in March. All seem to agree the emergency remains ongoing, but ICEs policy has inexplicably changed, the group wrote. The alliance also says colleges and communities risk losing millions of dollars over the new visa policy. Northern Virginia Community College, for example, estimates it could lose nearly $10 million in tuition from foreign students. And New York City says international students bring in more than $3 billion per year. I'm Jonathan Evans. The Associated Press reported this story. Hai Do adapted it for Learning English. Bryan Lynn was the editor. ___________________________________________ Words in This Story transfer v. to move from one school to another transition n. the change from one condition to another allow v. permit contribution n. the act of giving something envy n. something that cause desire blindside v. to surprise or shock duration n. the length of time that something lasts or exists inexplicably adv. not able to understand LEMON GROVE, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lemon Perfect, an innovative cold-pressed lemon water brand that has exploded onto the scene in the enhanced water category, announced today that its line of beverages is now available at Publix, Ralphs, and Stew Leonard's. The brand also announced that it has entered into DSD agreements with highly regarded beverage distributors Classic Beverage and John Lenore that will further enhance the brand's footprint in Southern California. Lemon Perfect "Publix, Ralphs, and Stew Leonard's are among America's most iconic retailers, and the early velocity data we're seeing in each account is very exciting," said Yanni Hufnagel, Lemon Perfect's Founder and CEO. "We're absolutely thrilled." Regarding the company's new DSD distribution news, Hufnagel notes, "Given our early turns, we're fully committed to building Lemon Perfect through a best-in-class DSD network that will eventually span across America, so that we can best service both our retailers and our consumers. The Classic Beverage and John Lenore signings are key wins for the company, especially on the heels of an almost implausibly successful launch in Big Geyser's system amidst the dislocation caused by COVID-19 in the New York metropolitan area." "Lemon Perfect checks all the boxes, which you rarely see. It's a great tasting, zero sugar, and good-for-you refreshment beverage! That certainly makes for a big addressable market. We're excited to be partnering with Lemon Perfect and believe the sky is the limit for this brand," said Sean Nichols, Vice President of Sales at John Lenore. Lemon Perfect retails starting at $1.99 per bottle and is available in four naturally refreshing flavors, including Just Lemon, Blueberry Acai, Dragon Fruit Mango, and Peach Raspberry. A new 12-count variety pack will also be coming soon on Amazon.com and will retail for $27.48. For more information on Lemon Perfect and to find a retailer near you, please visit www.lemonperfect.com . About Lemon Perfect Lemon Perfect is a naturally refreshing, zero sugar cold-pressed lemon water with hydrating electrolytes and essential antioxidants. Certified organic and full of lemonade-like flavor, Lemon Perfect named "Best New Product" at BevNET's Best of 2019 Awards is widely considered by industry insiders to be one of the most scalable, exciting, and innovative emerging beverage concepts in the marketplace. Founded by Yanni Hufnagel in 2017, the company's mission is to democratize drinkable wellness by making Lemon Perfect accessible for anyone, anytime, anywhere. The Lemon Perfect Company is headquartered in Lemon Grove, CA. For more information please visit www.lemonperfect.com . MEDIA CONTACT: April Donelson | Mia Kain 213-317-3448 [email protected] www.startrco.com SOURCE Lemon Perfect Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict over a region of the former country under the control of ethnic Armenian forces. Yerevan (Armenia): Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces escalated Tuesday, with Azerbaijan reporting seven more troops killed, including a general, and Armenia saying it has lost two servicemen. Skirmishes on the volatile border between the two South Caucasus nations began Sunday. The new losses bring the number of Azerbaijani troops killed to 11. Armenia previously reported five of its troops wounded. An Azerbaijani civilian also died from Armenian shelling Tuesday, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry said, bringing total casualties from the fighting to 14. The two neighbors in the South Caucasus have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current skirmishes appear to mark the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting. The latest incident began Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said two senior officers, Maj. Gen. Polad Hashimov and Col. Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed in fighting Tuesday along with five other servicemen. Armenian officials claimed that Azerbaijani drones launched an attack on the Tuvush province town of Berd, targeting civilian infrastructure. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said that one of Azerbaijani drones was downed. As hostilities continued, Armenia also accused Azerbaijan of launching cyberattacks on Armenian government websites. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would "bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences." Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev denounced what he described as "another provocation of Armenia" and vowed to protect Azerbaijan's national territory. Turkey, which has close ethnic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support to Baku in the conflict. The United States and Russia, which co-chair the Minsk group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have condemned the violence and called for restraint. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had separate calls with his counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to call for an immediate ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday that Moscow was "deeply worried" about the fighting and stands ready to play mediator. Engaged in a boundary dispute with China in eastern Ladakh, India is planning to enhance its surveillance capabilities and firepower by placing orders for Heron surveillance drones and Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel under the emergency financial powers granted by the government. The Heron unmanned aerial vehicles are already in the Air Force, Navy, and the Army and are being used extensively at the moment by both Army surveillance and Target acquisition batteries and Air Force in the Ladakh sector. "There is a need for acquisition of Heron UAVs to add to the existing fleet of these drones for meeting the requirements of our Air Force fleet. We are planning to place orders for these UAVs," government sources told ANI in New Delhi without specifying the numbers to be procured. The Heron has been in service with the three defence wings for several years now and can fly continuously for more than two days at a stretch providing reconnaissance from an altitude of more than 10 kilometres. The forces are also working towards inducting an armed version of the UAV, as well as upgrading the existing fleet into combat UAVs under the ambitious 'Project Cheetah' spearheaded by the Indian Air Force. On the other hand, the Army is planning to place orders for more Spike anti-tank guided missiles which were received by it last year from Israel under the emergency financial powers granted to the services in the Post-Balakot air strikes scenario. Last time, the Army had gone in for 12 launchers and 200 Spike missiles. "We are planning to acquire more of these anti-tank missiles for tackling any threat from the enemy armoured regiments," the sources said. In the meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation is working towards developing the indigenous Man-Portable Anti Tank Guided Missile (MP-ATGM) which will meet the bulk requirement of over 50,000 of these missiles needed by the infantry units. The defence forces have also initiated requirements for acquiring Spice-2000 bombs, assault rifles, ammunition and missiles, and some platforms for meeting the requirements in case the situation escalates further on the Line of Actual Control. China has done massive build up along the LAC with the deployment of 20,000 troops and its heavy weaponry and fighter aircraft since May 5 and India has also responded in equal measure to the Chinese force mobilisation. Second-quarter economic drop was driven by a fall in overseas and domestic demand, but analysts say slump will be short. Singapores economy slipped into recession in the second quarter, contracting by a record 41.2 percent from the previous three months, and is facing its biggest slump ever this year as measures to contain the coronavirus hammered the trade-reliant country. Economists polled by the Reuters news agency had expected a 37.4-percent slump, but the pandemic took a heavy toll on the construction sector, which plunged 95.6 percent. On a year-on-year basis, gross domestic product (GDP) plummeted 12.6 percent, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday. Economists had forecast a 10.5-percent contraction. The plunge in demand for goods around the world due to the virus has dealt Singapore a heavy blow. According to World Bank data, the value of its exports and imports amounts to more than four times the size of its GDP, making it the worlds fourth-most trade-dependent economy. The GDP slump marked the second consecutive quarter of contractions for the wealthy city-state having declined a revised 0.3 percent year-on-year in the first quarter and 3.3 percent quarter-on-quarter meeting the definition for a technical recession. Analysts had expected the Southeast Asian economy to see a deep contraction in the second quarter due to a lockdown between April and June, dubbed a circuit breaker by authorities, in which most workplaces closed to curb the spread of the virus. Singapore expects its full-year GDP to contract in the range of -7 percent to -4 percent, the biggest downturn in its history. Singapores economy slipped into recession in the second quarter, contracting by a record 41.2 percent from the previous three months [Wallace Woon/EPA] With the reopening of the Singapore economy, we should see a modest uptick in terms of economic activity in third quarter. We think third quarter will show some improvement, but will still be in contraction territory, said Selena Ling, OCBC Banks head of treasury research and strategy. But other analysts are slightly less bearish, betting that the governments rescue package and stimulus measures would result in better times ahead. The government has pumped in nearly 100 billion Singapore dollars ($72bn) worth of stimulus to blunt the impact of the pandemic. The key reason for optimism is the huge size of the governments stimulus package, which is equivalent to around 20 percent of GDP. This has supported businesses and households through the crisis, which should allow output to bounce back now that the economy is reopening, Alex Holmes, Asia economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note sent to Al Jazeera. Support measures, including tax deferrals, wage subsidies and working capital loans, has kept afloat many viable businesses that might otherwise have gone under. April data show that corporate insolvency filings fell after government support kicked in. Much of this support has been conditional on businesses retaining staff. And where jobs have been lost, the government has been proactive in providing retraining, which should help to minimise the scarring effects of the crisis on the labour market, said the Capital Economics note, adding that the research firm expects the economy to rebound by 10 percent in 2021. The Peoples Action Party, which extended its unbroken rule in last weeks election held in the midst of the pandemic, has said protecting Singaporean jobs is its biggest priority. People walk through The Shoppes at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore [Wallace Woon/EPA] A silver lining Manufacturing was the one bright spot in the latest economic picture, according to some analysts. Strength in pharmaceutical production continued to offset weakness in oil-related manufacturing sectors. Moreover, the ongoing rebound in the electronics sector has been encouraging, HSBC economist Yun Liu wrote in a research note sent to Al Jazeera. Liu said she expects the recession to be a short one as the government could now build on its earlier experience of containing the pandemic. [The economy] will embark upon gradual recovery from [the third quarter]. While there is a very real risk of another wave of virus transmission, and we realize that some discretionary consumer activity will remain subdued until a vaccine is available, effective tracing and containment efforts in Singapore should prevent the type of outbreak seen in [the second quarter]. Bursting with fresh produce and advertising comida gratis, a refrigerator in Oakland sitting in a front lawn states two simple, handwritten rules on a cardboard sign: Take what you want, leave what you dont. This fridge is for the community, by the community. The fridges, which are popping up in the Downtown, West Oakland, and Northgate areas of the city are part of the Town Fridge network, a grassroots-led organization combating food insecurity in Oakland through mutual aid efforts. The network aims to provide fresh produce and food to the Oakland community, prioritizing BIPOC and houseless individuals. The fridges often provide more than just food, though. Instagram users have posted photos of fridges with essentials like masks and tampons, and in response to recent Fentanyl overdoses, fridges on West and 16th and 30th and Linden were stocked with Narcan. In addition to contributing goods, volunteers can request to become a fridge host, someone who maintains a fridge on their property. With 12.2% of the Alameda County population suffering from food insecurity, mutual aid efforts to provide Oakland residents with food are engrained in the city's history. In 1969, at the St. Augustines Church on 29th and Broadway, the Black Panther Party spearheaded the Free Breakfast for School Children Program, which fed impoverished Black and brown children. By the end of that year, multiple kitchens were set up across the U.S. and fed thousands of children. So far, the response to contribute to the Town Fridge network has been overwhelming, the group said on social media. The organization has even inspired a San Francisco-based network of free fridges, called SF Free Food Fridge, which is also receiving an overwhelming response. Ariana Bindman Town Fridge volunteers arent just confined to Oakland. Daniela Duendas, whos based in Hayward, plans on routinely donating hygiene kits to fridges. When I saw Town Fridge pop up, I thought that was awesome, she said. Since then, shes been selling tie-dye shirts to fund and distribute the kits. Meant to serve houseless individuals, kits contain socks, body soap, nail clippers, Q-tips, bandaids, water, snacks, toothbrushes, toothpaste and mouthwash. Similarly, burgeoning free fridge networks are popping up across the country. Just last week, the New York Times covered friendly fridges, a growing network of fridges in the boroughs of New York. Developed by an anarchist group called A New World In Our Hearts, the organization is rooted in the belief that mutual aid the voluntary, reciprocal exchange of resources will uplift and heal the community. While the Town Fridge network is expanding, it has also experienced growing pains. Upon visiting a fridge advertised outside Pro Arts Gallery, we found it was gone only a pile of withered greens and duct tape remained in the space. Organizers have also had to set up some ground rules no raw meat, no meal kit boxes, and no large quantities of the same item (volunteers are advised to spread them to other fridges). Volunteers are also advised to leave dry goods in the boxes next to the fridges. Please dont take up valuable cold storage space with some unopened Cheerios, it said alongside a cry-laugh emoji on social media. Glenda, a West Oakland resident who preferred to only be identified by her first name, said her mother Emma was able to take fruits and vegetables from the fridge on 30th and Linden. I forwarded her a screenshot and asked her to share with any friends or neighbors so theyd know about this wonderful community resource, Glenda told SFGATE. Translated with the help of her daughter, Emma said she was thrilled to see the fridges. Its exciting and heartwarming to see our neighbors working hard to ensure all of our community is fed and has easy access to fresh items, she said. This will hopefully motivate more people to think of our unhoused neighbors when creating resources. Inspiring Bay Area residents far and wide, Town Fridge plans on installing more fridges at Lake Merritt and in East Oakland as well as starting its own San Francisco contingent. Oakland, it seems, is just the beginning. Want to contribute to Town Fridges? Stop by West and 16th Street, 30th and Linden, and 59th and Marshall. For privacy purposes, fridge hosts prefer not to disclose exact addresses. Ariana Bindman is a freelance writer in the Bay Area, find her on Instagram at @ariana.bindman. Chandigarh, July 14 : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 11 national highway projects worth over Rs 20,027 crore in Haryana. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar thanked Gadkari and sought his intervention in resolving the long-pending issue with neighbouring Punjab regarding the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal so that his state could get its legitimate share of river water. Khattar was speaking after Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 11 highway projects through a web-based function. He urged Gadkari to intervene and raise the SYL issue before the Central government for early resolution of the long-pending issue in the interest of Haryana. While Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal and Member of Parliament Dharambir Singh were present on the occasion here, Health Minister Anil Vij and other ministers joined the function through web link. Earlier, Gadkari inaugurated three road projects of Rs 2,240 crore. These included the 35.45 km four-lane from Rohna to Jhajjar of the national highway 334-B costing Rs 1,183 crore; the 70 km four-laning of Punjab-Haryana border to Jind of the national highway 71 costing Rs 857 crore; and the 85.36 km two-lane of the Jind-Karnal highway costing Rs 200 crore. Gadkari also laid the foundation stones of eight road projects, costing Rs 17,787 crore. These included 227 km six-lane access controlled greenfield expressway from Ismailpur to Narnaul, the 46.11 km four-lane of Gurugram Pataudi-Rewari section, the 14.4 km four-lane Rewari bypass, the 30.45 km four-lane Rewari-Ateli Mandi section and the 40.8 km six-lane Narnaul bypass. Gadkari said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would spend Rs 2 lakh crore on the construction of new roads in Haryana in two years. He said the highway projects of Rs 20,027 crore would open new vistas of development in the state and provide better road connectivity to the western part of the country and also neighbouring states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. Apart from these road projects, the 687 km long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway passing through Jind would also benefit Haryana in a big way and also give a major boost to the state economy. He said out of Rs 1 lakh crore being spent on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Rs 55,000 crore is being incurred in Haryana. While underlining the need for strong political will to bring revolutionary changes in the country through adopting the latest technology, Gadkari said there was no dearth of funds with the Centre for development. Gadkari urged Khattar to make separate schemes of agro micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). He assured all necessary support and cooperation to Haryana in the formulation of these schemes which would not only ensure industrial development of villages but also provide employment to local youth. Gadkari said the Centre was also mulling ethanol economy of Rs 1 lakh crore in the country in which Haryana had an important role to play. The Union minister also urged Khattar to develop new industrial clusters on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor and said the Centre was ready to give all support to Haryana. Australians who eat 'flake' may be consuming school shark instead as many stores and restaurants sell the meat under a false label. The school shark is regularly caught alongside the gummy shark - which is the real flake - at many Australian fisheries. The species was listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature last week. The school shark's population has declined by a staggering 90 per cent over recent years due to overfishing. Australians who enjoy 'flake' (pictured) may be consuming school shark instead as many stores and restaurants sell their meat under a false label. Shark expert, Leonardo Guida, urged consumers to be more informed about the fish they are buying and recommend the GoodFish app which lists each species based on factors such as overfishing and if they are endangered. Dr Guida, who is also an Australian Marine Conservation Society spokesperson and shark scientist, said shark meat is commonly sold as flake in Australia, but especially in Victoria. The name 'flake' only refers to two species of gummy shark - one from Australia and another from New Zealand - according to the Australian Fish Name Standard. 'There's currently no law that says you have to call shark meat what it is by its species,' Dr Guida told 3AW. But a significant threat to school sharks comes from New Zealand where 523t of meat from the endangered species is imported into Australia. 'What needs to be done is make the school shark fully protected so that it can't be commercially harvested,' Dr Guida said. It was listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature last week after its population declined by 90 per cent over recent years due to overfishing (pictured: School shark) Dr Guida claimed our national laws prioritise commercial exploitation and economic drivers over environmental ones. 'We stopped harvesting whales for that very reason. Why is it different for a shark? Why is it different for a fish?' he told The Guardian. 'There is no reason why any animal that has had a 90 per cent decline in modern times should still continue to be harvested.' He said there are numerous other sustainable alternatives to eating flake and the GoodFish app is a way for consumers to determine which fish to eat instead. Shark expert, Leonardo Guida, urged consumers to be more informed about the fish they are buying and recommend the GoodFish app (pictured) which lists each species based on factors such as overfishing and if they are endangered The GoodFish app was developed in response to public concern about overfishing and its impact on Australian oceans and their wildlife. It provides the user with an independent guide to the sustainability of seafood found at fishmongers, supermarkets, fish and chip shops and restaurants in the country. The fish are then broken up into green, amber and red light categories. A green light is a species that are not currently overfished and are resilient to the current levels of fishing pressure. An amber light is a fish that might be heavily caught by methods that can damage ocean habitats and the app suggests these species should be eaten less. If a species is listed under the red light, the app states they should not be eaten as they are most likely overfished or are an endangered or protected species. The school shark falls under the red light category. Russian aluminum giant Rusal has asked the board of Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) , in which it has a major stake, to change its management and overhaul its environmental policies after a fuel spill in Siberia. Russias environmental watchdog demanded Nornickel pay damages of about 148 billion roubles ($2.1 billion) after 21,000 tonnes of diesel leaked into rivers and subsoil on May 29 in the remote Arctic city of Norilsk. Rusals demand for management changes is the latest exchange in a series of disputes between the aluminum giant and Nornickel, which is run by Vladimir Potanin, who is also the palladium and nickel producers biggest shareholder with 34.6%. We have presented the board of directors of Nornickel with a proposal to accept a resolution demanding that Vladimir Potanin, as the managing partner, changes the management team, relocates the company headquarters to Norilsk and overhauls corporate policies towards the environment and safety, Rusal said in a statement published on Tuesday. Rusal, which owns 27.8% of Nornickel, said developments at the mining firm raised questions about the competence of the companys management. Nornickel declined to comment. The environmental watchdog published photographs on Tuesday showing what it said was a spill at another Nornickel site. They showed pools of red liquid released over part of the plant site. A spokeswoman for Nornickel said in a statement that the water had leaked from a pipe at its subsidiary, the Nadezhdinski metallurgical plant, but said the leak had now been fixed. Rusal, the worlds largest aluminum producer outside China, relies on Nornickels dividend payments in tough years and has been involved in shareholder disputes on the issue with Potanin. Potanin has previously sought to cut Nornickels dividend to boost investment and, after the fuel spill, proposed capping Nornickels 2020 dividends. Rusal, whose aluminum market has been hit by the coronavirus crisis, has not rejected or accepted the proposal to cap dividends. Over time, he has learned to navigate the collisions between politics and health. That has never been more difficult than in this administration, but Dr. Fauci has recognized that to remain effective, he must navigate Mr. Trumps mercurial moods and contempt for expertise. The two once enjoyed an occasionally bantering relationship, and the president several times followed Dr. Faucis advice to extend national stay-at-home guidance. But that was as far as it went; Mr. Trump calls Dr. Fauci Anthony, a name that few use for someone who prefers the more casual moniker Tony. Dr. Faucis international reputation has not spared him from the White House attacks, which first appeared in The Washington Post and later in other news outlets. The criticism, which was distributed anonymously to reporters, detailed what the White House believed was a series of premature or contradictory recommendations that Dr. Fauci has made over the past several months as the virus bore down on the United States. For example, White House officials pointed to a statement by Dr. Fauci 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 he 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. In the same interview, Dr. Fauci also warned that the coronavirus could become a major outbreak. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, took ownership on Monday of the opposition research-style effort, saying that her office merely provided a direct answer to what was a direct question from The Post about whether Dr. Fauci had made mistakes during the course of the response. Even some of Dr. Faucis senior colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services have begun to echo the White House. Adm. Brett P. Giroir, the assistant secretary for health and a fellow member of the coronavirus task force, said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press that Dr. Fauci is not 100 percent right, and he also doesnt necessarily and he admits that have the whole national interest in mind. Admiral Giroir added that Dr. Fauci looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view. Dr. Fauci spent the early days of the pandemic as the leading scientific voice in the federal governments response before falling out of favor with Mr. Trump and his top aides over blunt comments inconsistent with the presidents message of economic resurgence. In task force meetings, Dr. Fauci has often styled himself as a solitary pessimist in a room where some officials have been eager to wave away the alarming trajectory of the coronavirus. Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Monday ascribed the surge in US coronavirus cases to the countrys failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to snuff out the disease. He stressed basic protections including physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and washing hands. Those things, as simple as they are, can turn it around. I think we can do that and thats what weve got to do, he said. Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today Fauci, who has issued firm warnings during the coronavirus surge, encouraged states to follow specific guidelines put forth by White House coronavirus health experts laying out distinct phases for easing restrictions. We did not shut down entirely and thats the reason why when we went up, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with Stanford Medicine. We started to come down and then we plateaued at a level that was really quite high - about 20,000 infections a day. Then as we started to reopen, were seeing the surges that were seeing today as we speak in California, your own state, in Arizona, in Texas, in Florida and several other states. Click here for complete coronavirus coverage Many US states began reopening their economies without meeting the criteria in the guidelines. Unfortunately, it did not work very well for us, Fauci said, citing well publicized incidents of people crowding into bars or not wearing masks at close quarters. Fauci said he was confident the United States would get a handle on the virus if we step back, you dont necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit, and then proceed in a very prudent way of observing the guidelines, of going from step to step. Tucker Carlson's blatant, recurring embrace of racial divisiveness has made some GOP strategists eager to recruit him to run for president in 2024. (For the Los Angeles Times) I'll admit it. I thought there was a good chance that Fox News host Tucker Carlson would apologize for the racist, sexist, homophobic online rants posted by his head writer Blake Neff, who resigned Friday after CNN exposed him. So I turned on Carlson's show Monday night to see how he would handle himself. For the last five years, as we learned in a report from CNNs Oliver Darcy, Neff had secretly been posting garbage on AutoAdmit, an online forum where lawyers and law students gather virtually, and where, as Darcy put it, racism and sexism run rampant. Some examples of Neffs recents posts: Honestly, given how tired Black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep. "Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down." This may be a lot of things, this moment were living through, but it is definitely not about Black lives. Remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will. OK, so that last example wasn't something Neff posted. That was actually something Carlson said on his program, shortly after George Floyd was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis in May, back when Neff was still his head writer. Floyds horrific death inspired people around the world to take to the streets to protest racism. Carlson used the moment to stoke white fear. Last week, Carlson insulted U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), who said she was open to the national debate over removing statues of historical figures such as George Washington, who owned enslaved people. Carlson called her a coward, a moron and a fraud, and said she hates the country. Duckworth is, in fact, a former helicopter pilot who was awarded the Purple Heart medal after losing both her legs in combat in Iraq in 2004. Her father served in World War II and Vietnam. Men in her family have served in every major conflict since the Revolutionary War. She is also reportedly on Joe Biden's short list of potential vice presidents. Story continues How did Carlson describe Duckworths service? She was once injured while serving in the Army Illinois National Guard, he said. No wonder some GOP strategists are thrilled at the prospect of drafting him for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Hes Donald Trump in a younger, better-looking package. Carlsons blatant, recurring displays of racism and really, there is no other way to describe them have prompted sponsors to flee his show. Yet he has remained not just the No. 1 host in cable news, but the highest-rated cable host in history. (This, at one time, was also true of disgraced Fox host Bill OReilly, who was fired after the New York Times reported that he had paid some $13 million to women hed sexually harassed. Ratings, as it turns out, arent everything.) The neat trick by advertisers who have publicly renounced Carlson is that they get to have it both ways. They can announce on Twitter, as T-Mobile Chief Executive Mike Sievert did, Bye-Bye Tucker Carlson! even as they continue to advertise on other Fox News programs. In fact, Variety reported last month that Fox News ad revenue in the most recent fiscal quarter had grown by 15%, and that the network said that all national ads and revenue from Carlsons show have moved to other programs. On Monday, I was eager to hear what Carlson would have to say in the wake of the CNN expose. Surely, he would apologize for the awful things Neff has written, for the cowardly nature of his secret posts, which included a sustained, yearslong attack on one woman who was a Facebook friend and another who had posted about her fertility. (That thread, reported CNN, was called Disaster: WuFlu outbreak endangers aging shrews quest to freeze eggs.) Neff, 29, recently told the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine that anything Carlson reads off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me. Would Carlson accept responsibility, or throw Neff under a bus? Neither, it turns out. There was no real apology. Instead, there was a naked attempt to distance the show from its head writer, the very person who puts words in Carlsons mouth each weekday evening. What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We dont endorse those words, Carlson said. They have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. (Is that a specious way of saying that racism, sexism and homophobia are bad?) There was also a bizarre attack on Neffs critics. We should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man, that self-righteousness also has its costs, Carlson said. We are all human. When we pretend that we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all. And we will be punished for it. After predicting that the wrath of God will come down upon those who exposed Neff, Carlson made an important announcement. He would spend the rest of the week fishing. @AbcarianLAT A gastropub in Connecticut has halted sales of a rare 'anti-racist' beer that is designed to resemble the white hood of the Ku Klux Klan, after a black customer expressed his horror on seeing the bottle. The unidentified black man was dining with a white friend at World of Beer in West Hartford on Friday when a server recommended the $40 bottle of Yellow Belly imperial stout, according to a post on social media. The beer, brewed in a collaboration between Buxton Brewery in the UK and Sweden's Omnipollo, is intended to denounced racists as cowards, or 'yellow bellies', according to the breweries. However, the black customer's wife said that the server did not inform him about the intent behind the packaging, a hood of white paper with black dots resembling eye holes in a KKK hood. Yellow Belly, brewed in a collaboration between Buxton Brewery in the UK and Sweden's Omnipollo, is intended to denounce racists as cowards, or 'yellow bellies' A black customer was dining at World of Beer in West Hartford (above) on Friday when a server recommended the $40 bottle of Yellow Belly imperial stout 'This KKK bottle was brought over without warning about its appearance,' the wife wrote in a private Facebook post that was later shared publicly with her name redacted. 'At best, the server was ignorant, insensitive and tone deaf. At worst...?' World of Beer on Monday said that it would no longer sell the beer, according to the Hartford Courant. 'We have pulled this beer from further sale. Please accept our apologies for the lapse in judgment in serving,' the restaurant said in a response to a negative review on social media. 'While we can't speak for the intent of the brewer, the visual representation does not have a place at our establishment. We appreciate you bringing it to our attention and welcome the opportunity for discussion.' Yellow Belly was brewed in Europe from 2014 to 2018, but the powerful 11% imperial stout was discontinued after a trademark dispute with another brewery in the UK. The customer's wife shared his outrage in a private Facebook post (left) which was shared publicly with her name removed Yellow Belly was brewed in Europe from 2014 to 2018, but the powerful 11% imperial stout was discontinued after a trademark dispute with another brewery in the UK. The brewers of the beer have said the intention was to denounce racism, noting that a yellow belly is someone 'who is without courage, fortitude, or nerve; a coward.' Omnipollo, in its description of the beer, said: 'To us, one of the most cowardly deeds is to act anonymously, hiding behind a group. A signifying trait of institutionalized racism.' It is the latest race scandal to rock the beer world, after Heineken in March was forced to pull a light beer advertisement over racism accusations about the slogan sometimes, lighter is better. The television commercial showed a bartender spotting a woman at a bar and sliding a beer to her, past a black woman and black man, followed by the tagline sometimes, lighter is better. Victoria has about 660 intensive care beds and capacity to open up hundreds more within a short period if required. However, specialists say a relatively small number of new coronavirus admissions each day could have a big impact, because patients typically take a long time to recover enough to be discharged. The average ICU stay for Australian coronavirus patients receiving invasive ventilation during March was 17 days. Associate Professor Forbes McGain, an intensive care specialist at Western Health, said if there were five new coronavirus patients entering intensive care every day, the total could climb to up to 70 patients within two weeks, depending on how many recovered or died. Dont forgot everyone spends two weeks in intensive care on average, he said. Everyone is watching the numbers really closely. Data released by DHHS has shed light on the scale of coronavirus outbreaks in Victorias nursing homes, where 86 cases have been identified in 20 facilities. At Menarock Life aged care facility in Essendon, which has the largest nursing home cluster, 15 staff and 13 residents have been infected. A number of other homes are dealing with significant outbreaks, including Estia Ardeer (13 residents and three staff) and Glendale Aged Care in Werribee, where two residents, 10 staff and one household contact of an employee have been infected. Professor Sutton has warned the state's surge of coronavirus cases would result in at least 200 people requiring hospital care within the next fortnight. "We have over 1800 active cases in Victoria," he said. "That's a really significant number of people with coronavirus, and it does mean that in the next fortnight we're going to see a number of people who will require hospital." With nine days of triple-digit growth in new infections, there has been much speculation and questions about the possibility of the government introducing harsher rules for Victorians. Professor Sutton said elevating Melbourne and Mitchell Shire to stage four restrictions stricter than those Victoria has experienced so far in the pandemic remained an option if case numbers didn't decrease, though he refused to specify what measures that might include. "[Tuesday] is not as high as our biggest single day [of 288 last Friday], but we haven't turned the corner yet," Professor Sutton said. "I hope to see that this week, but there are no guarantees. Again, we have to rely on everyone doing the right thing in order to drive numbers down." A Victorian government spokeswoman said on Tuesday afternoon health advice remained that stage four restrictions were not necessary at this point and restrictions would not be escalated on Wednesday. When asked about implementing further restrictions, Premier Daniel Andrews said there were "options available", but would not provide further detail about what they might be. "I wouldn't want to be alarming people ... I won't speculate on all of those but there are other options available to us," he said. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews at a media conference on Tuesday. Credit: Joe Armao Professor Catherine Bennett, the chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, said any evidence that flaws in the stage-three rules were contributing to the spread would probably trigger harsher restrictions. Professor Bennett said this might include closures of businesses that were still allowed to operate, such as department stores, if they were implicated in outbreaks. But she said if the virus was spreading it was because people were flouting current public health advice. It doesnt matter if you are on stage three or stage four, Professor Bennett said. Stage three should be enough if people are doing the right thing. It's really how you reinforce, rather than [bringing in tougher rules] and hoping that its going to magically trickle down. Professor Bennett said hotspot areas could also be targeted again with stricter restrictions, or new rules or greater testing could be applied to places known to be particularly dangerous for coronavirus spread, including meatworks and nursing homes. Nghi Son 2 thermal power plant is more than 70 per cent complete The first is Hai Duong coal-fired thermal power plant invested by JAKS Hai Duong Power Co., Ltd. According to the commitment in the BOT contract, the first turbine is expected to go into operation on December 1, 2020 and the second one on June 1, 2021. As of now, the construction is 93 per cent complete. The total mobilised capital reached $1.40 billion, $1.05 billion of which comes from bank loans while investors equity is $350.5 million. The project has been waiting for a license for its slag waste area. Originally, Hai Duong Peoples Committee sent a proposal over the license to the prime minister for approval, however, it has been passed on to other ministries which have yet to arrive at a conclusion, delaying the project. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic also prevented foreign experts and labourers from entering Vietnam and suspended construction activities, putting the project behind schedule and forcing it to miss its pilot and even commercial operation deadline. At Duyen Hai 2 thermal power plant invested by Malaysian company Teknik Janakuasa, a subsidiary of MMC Corporation Bhd., the first turbine is expected to start commercial operation in June 2021 and the second one in September 2021. At the moment, the construction has been 79.58 per cent completed. The disbursed capital was $968.2 million, $208.2 of which is contributed by investors and $760 million from loans. The construction was impacted by the pandemic. In May and June, the investor sent Tra Vinh Peoples Committee a proposal to let 599 experts and labourers enter the country and resume their work at the project. The investor expected the authorities to support these people to return to Vietnam, however, the proposal has yet to be approved. Regarding Nghi Son 2 thermal coal-fired power project in Thanh Hoa province, led by Marubeni Corporation and Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO), the new plant would have a total generation capacity of 1,330MW and would help to drive Vietnam's economic growth and enhance its global competitiveness. The plant is due to be completed and commence operations in 2022. The construction of segments has reached 73.7 per cent and the investors disbursed approximately $956.9 million. Along with the impact of the pandemic, the project is facing numerous difficulties, including import tax, construction to the national power grid, as well as the need to construct segments that are outside the scope of the original investment plan, according to Decree No.40/2019/ND-CP. Van Phong 1 Coal-Fired Power Plant developed by Van Phong Power Co., Ltd., a Vietnamese company invested by Sumitomo Corporation, was expected to start operations in 2023 with the generation capacity of 1,320MW. To date, the $374.55 million loan was disbursed. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:53:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Travel agencies in China have been given permission to resume group tours that cross provincial borders, following a period of suspension due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a circular on Tuesday. However, group tours are still prohibited in those areas with middle and high COVID-19 risk levels, said the circular. Overseas group tours are still banned. The limit on the number of visitors allowed in tourist attractions will be set at 50 percent of the maximum capacity, according to the circular, an increase on the previous limit of 30 percent. The circular also required travel agencies to provide sufficient protective materials, including masks, body-temperature testing equipment, and disposable gloves, for drivers, tour guides and tourists. Tourists should show their health QR codes to travel agencies when signing up for group tours, and have the codes checked again before starting their travels, according to the circular, stressing that tourists with abnormal temperatures are not allowed to join tours. Tourist attractions should improve cleaning and disinfection measures, and prevent visitors gathering in groups, said the circular. Enditem SALES Melbourne A business owner wanting to occupy a shop and office at 526 La Trobe Street has paid $3.55 million on a tight 3.56 per cent yield for the privilege. The property gets net rental of $126,473 per annum, said Savills Australia's Nick Peden and Tim Carr, who negotiated the unconditional sale. Hampton An investor has paid $745,000 on a 5.4 per cent yield for a strata shop at 515 Hampton Street leased to Branon Real Estate that provides income of $40,365 per annum net. Teska Carson's George Takis said the auction attracted a strong contingent of local and off-shore investors, with competition from several bidders in a lively crowd. A good student doesnt necessarily equate to a good researcher, says Eugenio Schuster, a professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics in Lehigh Universitys P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science. Every now and then, however, Schuster has a doctoral student like Vincent Graber, whom he deems exceptional in both roles. Grabers research skills will be put to the test in September, when he is scheduled to begin work on a project related to burn control in fusion reactors, done with support from the U.S. Department of Energy. Graber was notified by email in April that his research project was chosen to receive a highly competitive award from the DOEs Office of Science Graduate Student Research program. The SCGSR program supports select U.S. graduate students as they pursue part of their graduate thesis research at a DOE laboratory/facility in areas that address scientific challenges central to the Office of Science mission, according to its website. He recalls being en route to an auto-repair shop in his hometown of Williamstown, New Jersey, when the good news arrived in his inbox. I had nervous excitement about it, says Graber, who is in his third year of PhD studies in mechanical engineering. Upon receiving the SCGSR email, Grabers immediate actions were informing his father, who was with him for the trip to the auto shop, and forwarding the message to Schuster, who promptly called to offer his congratulations. Grabers measured response to the news about the DOE award, which will cover his incremental costs associated with travel and living expenses, seems to fall in line with Schusters image of him. Vincent is a student of few words; hes shy in that sense, says Schuster, who joined the Rossin College faculty in 2004. But Graber isnt reserved when it comes to research. The professor adds, Vincent has the quality that I look for in my PhD students, which is the capability of working independently, the capability of looking for the actions of research without asking me every step they need to take. A strong Lehigh connection Graber says his interest in active control of the nuclear-fusion plasma, the ionized gas at around 100 million degree where the reactions take place, was piqued through conversations with Dan Boyer, a former student in Schusters Plasma Control Group, and reading Boyers papers on the subject. Boyer is now a staff research physicist at New Jerseys Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), where Graber will work on his research project. In his research proposal, titled Towards a More Realistic Assessment of Zero-dimensional Burn-control Techniques in ITER via One-dimensional Simulations Based on TRANSP, Graber explains that one of the greatest challenges in operating fusion power reactors is regulating fusion power, aka burn control. The regulation of plasmas kinetics is essential to the 35-nation energy project under construction in southern France called ITER (pronounced ee-ter, which in Latin means the way). There is a lot at stake with ITER, which aims to become the first fusion device to produce net energy and the first to maintain fusion for extended periods. ITER will be the worlds largest atom-fusing tokamak machine, with 10 times the plasma chamber volume of the tokamak at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego. Designed to produce 500 megawatts of fusion power from 50 megawatts of input heating powera ten-fold return on energyITER is expected to be operational by 2025. As the first tokamak designed to operate burning plasmas, ITER requires numerical testing, Graber writes in his proposal. As such, he will work with PPPL research physicists Boyer and Francesca Poli using the firms TRANSP, a one-dimensional predictive simulation code, to conduct a series of tasks, among them developing burn-control functionality. The end goal of this project is to get a better sense of the validity of how effective burn controllers are, says Graber. In ITER, we will not have time for control design or tuning controllers, adds Schuster. The controllers, when you turn them on for the first time, will need to workthats it. The only way of doing this that we know is to try to get more and more sophisticated models of whats going on in ITER and try to run simulations to test that the controller will work. Throughout the course of Grabers research project, which is expected to be completed within seven months, Schuster will continue to serve as his advisor, reviewing reports and participating in regular meetings via videoconference and in person. Schusters counseling of Graber on this project is all part of a long-term connection: I want my students to have successful futures. I always tell them, Seeing you do your best is the best for me because youre going to be my students forever. ### Related Links: A fire erupted at a crude oil pipeline by the Cairo-Ismailiya highway on Tuesday afternoon, lasting for several hours and injuring 17 people, according to the Egyptian health ministry. The fire erupted due to a break in the Shokeir-Mostorod oil pipeline, which passes close to the Cairo-Ismailiya highway. According to a statement by the petroleum ministry, a spark set alight crude oil that was leaking from the pipeline. The authorities closed the highway and police have asked people to avoid the highway. Videos showing huge plumes of black smoke went viral on social media networks. According to Cairos Governor Khaled Abdallah, 20 fire engines from civil protection in Cairo and Ismailiya governorates, eight fire engines from the Egyptian armed forces and six other fire engines participated in putting out the fire. Fifteen ambulances were dispatched to the scene to transport the injured, who were suffering from burns and breathing difficulties, to nearby hospitals. The governor said that the fire had destroyed 31 cars and a car dealership located by the highway. The prosecution has opened an investigation into the incident. The head of the oil pipelines company Emad Abdel-Qader told a Salet El-Tahrir TV programme on Sada El-Balad channel that there were initial indications that an external party had caused the damage, but that that had not been confirmed. Search Keywords: Short link: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:06:42|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin via videolink, on July 14, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Bin) BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday called on China and the Philippines to cherish the hard-won friendly situation, consolidate the political foundation for improvement of bilateral relations, and safeguard important achievements of cooperation between the two countries. The remarks came when Wang, also State Councilor, held talks with his Philippine counterpart Teodoro Locsin via video link. Wang said since taking office, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made an important political decision and reached important consensus with Chinese leaders on putting aside maritime differences, controlling situations through bilateral consultations, and enhancing dialogue and cooperation. Wang said China is willing to continue working with the Philippines to launch a fast lane to facilitate people-to-people exchanges as soon as possible, and build "green corridors" for the flow of goods to contribute to the resumption of work and production. Expounding China's principles on the South China Sea issues, Wang said with the joint efforts of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the situation in the South China Sea remains stable in general. However, the United States, out of its geopolitical needs, keeps making waves and promoting militarization in the South China Sea, said Wang, adding that the so-called statement recently made by the United States blatantly violated its commitment of holding a neutral position on South China Sea disputes, and is intentionally sowing discord between China and ASEAN countries in an attempt to provoke conflicts and damage regional stability. The United States' flip-flopping practice will only damage its own reputation, he said. Wang said China will continue working with regional countries, including the Philippines, to resolve maritime issues through dialogue and consultations, uphold the principles of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) and reach a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) as soon as possible. Locsin voiced the Philippines' support of the joint construction of the Belt and Road. Maritime disputes are not the whole of bilateral relations, Locsin said, adding that such disputes should not and will not undermine friendly relations between the two countries. He said the Philippines is willing to work with China to resolve disputes in the South China Sea through friendly bilateral consultations, actively promote maritime cooperation, and jointly safeguard peace and stability of the South China Sea. Enditem Twin sisters from the Himalayas who were joined at the torso before undergoing life-changing surgery in Australia two years ago have celebrated their third birthday. Nima and Dawa Pelden were flown from their home in Bhutan to Melbourne by the Children First Foundation in October 2018 when they were just 15 months old. The foundation is a charity that funds emergency surgery for children without access to medical care. They were separated in November that year by paediatric surgeon Dr Joe Crameri in a six-hour operation at the Royal Children's Hospital. Nima and Dawa Pelden celebrated their third birthday on Tuesday with matching dresses and a number 3 balloon As the toddlers celebrated their birthday on Tuesday, their mother Bhumchu Zangmo said they are thriving. 'Nothing makes me happier than to see my girls coming this far when a few years ago, I wasn't even sure that they would reach this milestone,' she said, according to the Herald Sun. 'I am in debt to all the people in Australia for showering us with love and care throughout. It warms my heart and brings tears, remembering the love we received in Australia.' Foundation chief Elizabeth Lodge the girls' lives were changed by the generosity of Australians who donated money to cover the costs. Their mother Bhumchu Zangmo is grateful that her girls had life-changing surgery and said they are thriving After the surgery to separate their liver and bowel, Dr Crameri said the Dawa and Nima (pictured before surgery) began wriggling around independently relatively quickly 'Together we contributed to saving these little girls lives and giving them hope for a brighter future.' The organisation shared a video of the twins celebrating at home in Bhutan in matching dresses with a number 3 balloon. After the surgery to separate their liver and bowel, Dr Crameri said the girls began wriggling around independently relatively quickly. He said the staff had seen the 'two remarkable girls' transform since becoming independent. The pair were joined at the the lower chest above the pelvis before they were separated in 2018 Eighteen surgeons worked on the twins in a six-hour procedure, but doctors said the operation went smoothly 'Girls who started off really attached and bonded to another, but ultimately frustrated with one another.' 'We saw them became incredibly anxious after the surgery once they knew their other twin was not immediately in front of them.' In the weeks following, he said the infants gained confidence, independence and strength. Pictured: Nima and Dawa Pelden with mother Bhumchu Zangmo before they were admitted to Melbourne 's Royal Children's Hospital in 2018 Pictured: Nima and Dawa after they were discharged from hospital two years ago Dr Crameri also said they had mastered The Wiggles' signature finger move. 'When they are comfortable in their own space, they are very cheeky. They like to replicate The Wiggles.' The former king of Bhutan wrote a letter to hospital chief executive Joe Stanway, thanking staff for changing the girls' lives. Jigme Singye Wangchuck wrote: 'The successful surgery has made it possible for Nima and Dawa to enjoy a happy and meaningful life in Bhutan'. Shortly after being removed as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot took to Twitter and said, "Truth can be disturbed, but cannot be defeated." Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 He was also removed as the chief of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee earlier today. Pilot has also changed his Twitter bio to that effect. It now reads, "MLA from Tonk, Former Minister of IT, Telecom and Corporate Affairs, GoI | Commissioned Officer Territorial Army." He has dropped the posts, "Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan | President Rajasthan Congress" from his Twitter bio. For LIVE updates on the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan, click here Sachin Pilot had, on Sunday, declared open rebellion against the Congress government in Rajasthan. He had claimed that the Ashok Gehlot government is in minority now as over 30 Congress MLAs are supporting him. The Congress held two legislative party meets following this development. In the Congress Legislative Party meet held today, a resolution was passed to sack Pilot and two other ministers Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena. Following this, Rajasthan Chief Minister met with state Governor Kalraj Mishra, who has accepted the proposal to remove Pilot and the two ministers. General Polad Gashimov and Colonel Ilgar Mirzaev were killed during the clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in Tovuz region, Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Defense Kerim Veliyev announced during a live RealTV broadcast. "This morning, during a fierce battle, Major General Polad Hashimov heroically died, Colonel Ilgar Mirzaev also became a martyr. This shows that our high-ranking officers do not hide behind the backs of ordinary soldiers and carry out combat missions with honor," Kerim Veliyev said. The defense minister, who is in the combat zone, also noted that fierce fighting has continued for several days. "During the clashes, manpower of up to 100 people, as well as many military equipment and vehicles, were destroyed," he said. New coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in almost every region in Spain, with large spikes in infections in the provinces of Huesca (369 cases), Lleida (around 800 cases in several areas), Lugo (165) and Malaga (109). All of Spains 17 regions except for Asturias have recorded new coronavirus hotspots over the last few weeks. Although Asturias was one of the first regions to detect a coronavirus outbreak, with cases reported at a senior residence in Gijon at the end of May, this situation is now under control and no new outbreaks have been reported. Since the beginning of the coronavirus deescalation process on May 11, regional authorities have reported at least 95 new outbreaks. Of this figure, 36 (i.e. 40%) originated at family gatherings, such as the wedding in Tudela, the celebration for San Juan in Castellon and a friends lunch in Alcanar. And most remain active, meaning there has been transmission within the past two weeks. In the map above, EL PAIS has provided a snapshot of coronavirus outbreaks in Spain, based on the public information available from regional health authorities, local media and official sources such as regional press offices. Last week, Health Minister Salvador Illa said in an interview with Catalunya Radio that 118 new outbreaks had been detected since the government began easing the lockdown rules, which were among strictest in the world. A public square in the Basque town of Ordizia. Javier Etxezarreta (EFE) But the Health Ministry is not responsible for reporting the number of coronavirus outbreaks or how many cases are involved in each one. Regional authorities are in charge of providing transparent data on the current coronavirus situation, but very few are sharing figures on the number of outbreaks, and almost none are doing so in a systematic and ongoing fashion. This means it has been impossible to locate the 118 outbreaks mentioned by Illa. The Health Ministry defines an outbreak as any group of three or more confirmed or probable cases with an active infection in which an epidemiological link has been established. An outbreak is no longer considered active if 14 days have passed since the last transmission. Just as some regional authorities try to avoid the work outbreak and talk of clusters or groups of cases, they also maintain that these situations are under control. But this does not necessarily mean that they are inactive. The source of many outbreaks is defined as family because transmission happened in the home, but it could have been spread anywhere Many outbreaks occur within family settings, but it is difficult to know where the first person contracted the virus, explains Jesus Molina Cabrillana, a member of the Spanish Association of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene (Sempsph). We almost never know the origin of the index case, he explains. What is known is that contagion does not just happen in the family. Infections are also spread in the workplace and outside the home, at social gatherings for example. The source of many outbreaks is defined as family because transmission happened in the home, but it could have been spread anywhere. Molina Cabrillana lists some examples: Offices, closed spaces, spending many hours together, material in the office is shared, measures are relaxed... Ildefonso Hernandez, the spokesperson for the Spanish Association of Public Health and Health Administration (Sespas), maintains that many family outbreaks come in fact from the workplace. For example, when epidemiologists followed the trail of a family transmission in Rafelbunyol in Valencia they traced it back to the workforce. Whats important, says Hernandez, is knowing where both the outbreak and each new detected case are coming from. But this requires a huge level of resources that Spain does not have right now, adds the epidemiologist. There is not the capacity to do an exhaustive analysis, he says. Contact tracing tends to be limited to the contacts of the person infected, but a more in-depth probe, which includes, for example, investigating all the places the person has been in the seven or 10 days before noticing symptoms, is more complicated. The public health experts are working on the ground, but Hernandez says that there is a need for professionals in the rearguard analyzing data. He gives the example of an outbreak that was recently detected in Menorca. It was a family from Murcia who had been on the island for a week. That outbreak obviously had to be linked with something there, he says, and required detailed analysis. The Health Ministrys Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES) centralizes all of the data about all of the outbreaks that are detected, but, as far as is known, it does not carry out this analysis. The Carlos III Health Institute usually produces reports based on cases communicated to the National Network of Epidemiological Monitoring (and of the surveys that each patient fills out) and offers demographic, clinical and epidemiological characteristics of thousands of cases, but is no longer publishing them. The last one is dated May 29. English version by Melissa Kitson. Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Subscriber content preview NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) Cyprus said it plans to transition to cleaner and cheaper natural gas for energy generation in two years as work officially began last Thursday to build the east Mediterranean island nations first gas import terminal. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the terminal, which with a budget of 289 million euros ($327.5 million) is expected to be the countrys costliest energy project. . . . Most medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies reported high revenue and profit growth rates in Q1 in comparison with the same period last year. They are expected to continue to have good business results in the time to come as demand in Vietnam has been increasing and products made by Vietnam can meet international standards. Doanh Nhan Sai Gon cited a report as showing that the US market needs to import 500 million N95 face masks, 200 million face masks of different kinds, 1,000 ventilators, 1 billion pairs of gloves and 100 million sets of medical gowns from Vietnam. Vietnams enterprises have joined forces to improve product quality, and re-organize the distribution network to connect with the world market. A survey showed that only 7 percent of enterprises said in March that they sought new markets, while the figure rose to 16 percent in a recent survey. The latest report by Nielsen Vietnam shows that health continues to be the top concern of Vietnamese consumers in 2020, which was above job stability, life balance and domestic economic situation. Vietnamese consumers are concerned about their heath more than ever. Aiir pollution and the living environment have become the top issue for people, said Louise Hawley, Nielsen Vietnam CEO. Most medical equipment and pharmaceutical companies reported high revenue and profit growth rates in Q1 in comparison with the same period last year. Meanwhile, a recent report by Aon insurance broker, global healthcare costs increased by 7.8 percent in 2019 and 8 percent in 2020. In Vietnam, the increase is expected to reach 11 percent in 2020. According to the Ministry of Health, 40,000 Vietnamese go abroad each year for healthcare services and spend more than $2 billion on these services. Medical equipment manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies see great opportunities from the increasingly high demand for equipment and drugs to cope with COVID-19. Vietnams face masks, protective clothing for medical workers, and low-cost SARS-CoV-2 test kits have been accepted in the world. The batch of 450,000 protective clothing suits for medical workers exported to the US during Covid-19 can be seen as an affirmation of Vietnams production capability. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), Vietnams output can satisfy domestic demand and export. Regarding the production of face masks, enterprises can make 40 million products a day, or 1.2 billion products a month. According to the Vietnam-Pharmed & Healthcare 2020 Organization Board, many enterprises in health and pharmaceuticals, both domestic and foreign, need more information exchanges and are seeking new technologies to serve their plans to change production and business. More than 400 businesses from 25 countries and territories have registered to attend the exhibition, slated for the year end. Mai Lan HCM City warns about illegal entry for medical treatment HCM City's Centre for Disease Control warned hospitals and health centres, including small clinics, private clinics, and the community to be alert to those illegally entering the city for medical treatment. A greatly-expanded Australian War Memorial displaying decommissioned military aircraft and weapons risks glorifying war instead of honouring the dead, a parliamentary hearing has been told. But the museum's chairman Kerry Stokes has urged MPs to accept the $498 million redevelopment project as in the "national interest". The new look proposed for the Australian War Memorial. At a public hearing held on Tuesday to scrutinise the proposal, war widow Kellie Merritt joined former directors of the War Memorial and the Australian Institute of Architects in expressing reservations over the demolition of Anzac Hall and its replacement with a new building twice the size. Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched the nine-year Memorial Development Project last November, foreshadowing a new underground southern entrance and glazed atrium leading to a reconstructed parade ground. Ken Holsgrove isnt sure how he will pay his bills after July. A $600 weekly federal unemployment benefit is set to expire while he remains unemployed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Excited to watch the upcoming biopic of mathematics genius Shakuntala Devi? As we eagerly wait for its global premiere on Amazon Prime Video, here are some of the films starring the versatile Indian actor Jisshu Sengupta till date. The Bengali superstar will be seen essaying the role of Paritosh Banerji, Shakuntala Devis ex-husband in the highly-anticipated biographical drama. Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi (2019): Jisshu Sengupta does his best as Rani Lakshmibais husband Maharaja Gangadhar Rao in Manikarnika. It is a story of Rani Lakshmibai, one of the leading figures of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and her resistance to the British Rule. Watch Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi on Amazon Prime Video. Mardaani 2 (2019): Jisshu Sengupta has an integral presence as Dr. Bikram Roy playing top-cop Shivanis supportive husband. Sequel to the 2014 original, Mardaani 2 is about female police superintendent Shivani Shivaji Roy who locks horns with a 21-year old boy Sunny known to have a penchant for sexually assaulting and killing girls. Watch Mardaani 2 on Amazon Prime Video. Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015): Jisshu Sengupta portrays the character of Bakshi in this Bengali detective thriller. The story is based on investigating the disappearance of a chemist and a detective uncovering a larger conspiracy to unsettled Calcutta. Piku (2015): Piku is a quirky comedy about the relationship between a daughter and her aging father, whose eccentricities drive everyone crazy. Jisshu Sengupta stars opposite Deepika in the film. Barfi! (2012): Jisshu made his Bollywood debut with this movie starring opposite Ileana D'Cruz. His extra-ordinary performance in this cameo helped him bag major Bollywood films. Barfi is about three young people who learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society's definition of normal and abnormal. Dont forget to watch the eagerly awaited Biopic Shakuntala Devi, across 200 countries and territories exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Featuring Jishhu Sengupta and Vidya Balan in the lead, Shakuntala Devi a biographical drama on the life of Shakuntala Devi, a writer and mathematician who was popularly known as the human computer. A judge has demanded more information about US president Donald Trumps decision to commute the prison sentence of ally and friend Roger Stone. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the parties provide her with a copy of the executive order that commuted Stones sentence and clarity on the scope of the order. Stone was convicted as part of special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation of making false statements, tampering with a witness and obstructing lawmakers who were examining Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr Trump commuted the 40-month sentence handed to Stone on Friday evening, just days before he was to report to prison. Hours after the judges directive, the Justice Department submitted to the court a two-page order making clear that the clemency extended to both Stones prison sentence and his supervised release. In the order, also posted on the website of the Justice Departments pardon attorney office, Mr Trump wrote that justice would not be served were Stone to remain confined to his home or serve the said sentence, and the safety of the community will not be compromised if he is released from home confinement and clemency is granted. The president told reporters on Monday that he was getting rave reviews for his action on Stone and restated his position that the Russia investigation should have never taken place. Democrats were highly critical of Mr Trumps action on behalf of Stone as having undermined the rule of law, and Senator Mitt Romney, the only Republican to vote to convict the president during his impeachment trial, called the clemency decision unprecedented, historic corruption. Expand Close President Donald Trump was criticised for the decision (Evan Vucci/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp President Donald Trump was criticised for the decision (Evan Vucci/AP) Mr Mueller himself defended the Stone prosecution in a Washington Post opinion piece in which he said Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so. In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Stone, 67, described the criminal investigation and prosecution as the most horrible experience you can have. Stone said that he knew Mr Trump might take some shots for the commutation, but added: I think most people, most fair-minded people, understand he saved my life and, at least on paper, he gave me a chance to fight for vindication. Four new schools are going to be built in the fastest-growing regions of south-east Queensland, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told state parliament on Tuesday morning. The new schools will be built in Logan, Caloundra South, on the Gold Coast, and between Indooroopilly and Kenmore in Brisbanes western suburbs. Education Minister Grace Grace (left) and Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (right) have announced four new schools will be built at Coomera, Caloundra South, Logan and in Brisbane's inner west. Credit:Jack Tran My government has allocated $346 million on an education package which includes $245 million to build four brand-new schools, Ms Palaszczuk said. Primary schools will be built at North Maclean in Logan and at Caloundra South, while a special school will be built on the Gold Coast, she said. Reach key decision makers with sales-ready leads that shorten your sales process. Move the needle by delivering funnel qualified leads to your sales team. Learn more During the pandemic, increasing numbers of people have pulled out their sewing machines and knitting needles and gotten to work. Since the stay-at-home orders were issued and people were stuck at home, many who had sewn before pulled out their machines and started sewing again, Blaine Austin, CEO of SewingMachinesPlus.com, told the E-Commerce Times. At the same time, the CDC announced that everyone should be wearing masks. Since there was a shortage in N95 masks, they asked people to make their own, [and] this caused a massive rush on sewing machines nationwide, he added. There has been a massive resurgence in sewing and crafts, as makers around the world including groups like DesignLabGive (pictured above) and NJ Masks have been sewing masks and creating other much-needed items for themselves and others. Health and Wellness Benefits Weve seen an influx of inquiries to our customer service and website about sewing questions for many people who are getting back into sewing to help with the PPE shortage, Junichi Horie, vice president of Brother International Corporations home appliance division, told the E-Commerce Times. Our network of Brother Dealers also experienced a big uptick in new purchase inquiries and service and repair for existing machines. Some individuals who were negatively impacted with furloughs have also started to look for ways to support themselves, Jorie continued. The maker community is getting larger, with many people using their sewing and crafting hobbies to start a small business.The practical need to make masks has been supplemented by the psychological benefits of making things during a stressful time. Studies have shown that yarn crafts in particular also have numerous health and wellness benefits, Jenny Bessonette, executive director of the Craft Yarn Council, explained to the E-Commerce Times. Through a survey that now has over 3,500 responses, weve found that 63 percent of respondents said current events are causing them stress. Eighty-five percent of the respondents said theyre currently creating with yarn to relieve stress. Ninety-four percent also said that knitting, crochet and other fiber crafts help them slow down from their daily routine and the things that are stressing them out, she added. Digital Resources and Communities The Internet has done much to facilitate the recent growth of interest in home crafting with digital forums serving as a way for crafters to connect with each other, buy supplies, and sell their wares. The Internet offers anyone wanting to learn a new sewing or crafting technique instant access to videos, tutorials, and online classes, Angela Wolf, ambassador for Brother International Corporation, told the E-Commerce Times. Even more importantly, people are gathering in online communities, connecting, sharing their projects, and making friends. Information about sewing and crafts is readily available on the Internet, making it relatively easy to learn new skills and find supplies with which to work. The Internet makes information available like never before, said Austin. With so many classes and DYI videos [available] online people can be more creative than ever and get help with just a click of the mouse. They are also able to see all the different type of equipment and related accessories that are available, [as opposed to being] limited to what the local retail store might have had in stock. The Internet also offers a sense of community and connection via social media for crafters who might otherwise be stuck at home. Many people are engaging with each other on social media to talk about news related to the pandemic and to talk about what theyre doing with their time, explained Bessonette. Weve found in our Stitch Away Stress survey this year that over half of knitters and crocheters are connecting to fellow crafters through social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Theyre also overwhelmingly using online and social media platforms to stay plugged into the yarn community to find inspiration and ideas for projects. Business Opportunities The Internet also offers a variety of possibilities for crafters to make some money which can be particularly important during this time of widespread layoffs. What was once primarily a hobby for yourself or gifts has evolved into a maker movement that is helping individuals to become entrepreneurs and business owners, said Horie. From women to men of all ages, sewing, crafting and even quilting are inclusive. Whether you are doing it just because you love it and share it with your family, or are turning embroidery into a small business, the communities are so supportive and strong, especially on social media. For clothing designers and makers, in particular, digital forums allow customers to find and purchase their wares, creating an ever-growing market for independent fashion creators. I believe consumers love more than ever unique designs, Javier Bello, marketing expert for Ueni, told the E-Commerce Times. Of course, consumers will continue buying big brands. However, exclusivity and innovation are two key aspects that are deeply attached to independent fashion designers. Not Your Grandmas Sewing Machine Because of new technologies and products, crafting and sewing in the 21st century offer unique opportunities for expanding ones creative reach. Currently, some of the new machines out in the marketplace are far more advanced than any time in history, said SewingMachinesPlus.coms Austin. We have sewing machines that not only sew; they also quilt and embroidery. They actually scan, digitize and resize designs right in the machine. There is WiFi and Bluetooth built right into some machines. This makes it easy to download and save designs right to the cloud and your home PC without the use of cables or USB sticks. Theres also a growth in trends like repurposing old clothing, Austin explained. A D V E R T I S E M E N T Repurposing old clothing and other fabrics has also become a significant trend thats likely to continue gaining traction in the future. A lot of people, instead of throwing out old clothes or giving them away, are using them to create all kinds of things they can wear or use, explained Austin. The future of sewing is unlimited. With so many advancements each year, its opening up endless possibilities to the home sewist. These sewing and crafting trends are likely to continue throughout the pandemic and beyond. Sewing masks for medical and fashion purposes will be forefront for the next few months, said Brother Internationals Wolf. Zero waste, sustainable fashion, and repurposing have been trends for some time, and I see that only gaining momentum with this new creative boom. With a low-cost entry point, sewing and crafting can be used for a purpose or self-expression. Adding a slogan to a T-shirt, customizing home decor with embroidery, designing a face mask to coordinate with your next outfit, altering garments to fit, or simply creating a custom card for a friend. The creative possibilities are endless. Berkshire County Arc Elects New Board Chair PITTSFIELD, Mass. Michael Ferry has been elected Berkshire County Arc's chairman of the Board of Directors. He has been serving as the board's treasurer for 16 years. Ferry brings to the position more than 30 years with Berkshire Bank, most recently as senior vice president, commercial regional president, for Berkshire County and Vermont regions. "I look forward to working with the board and BCArc's staff to ensure the continued delivery of services to our individuals and families, while maintaining the financial stability of the agency into the future," Ferry saud. "There will always be new challenges, new regulations, a changing economy, and leadership. Our duty as a board is to insure delivery of services for those we care so much for." Ferry said the diverse expertise of the board members help provide needed vision for the future. Board members include professionals in the areas of disabilities, law, education, finance, health care and private business. "I believe it's important we continue to widen the expertise of the board in terms of experience, diversity, and community relations," he said. Ferry holds a bachelor's degree from Saint Michaels College in Colchester, Vt. He has served on numerous boards in the community, including board president of the Berkshire Housing Development Corporation & Berkshire Housing Services Inc., board member of "EforAll" Berkshire County, and a former board member and current member of the finance committee for Berkshire United Way, committee member for the Dalton Development and Industrial Commission, and a volunteer coach with the Special Olympics Massachusetts. The Defense Department wants to collect 8,000 units of plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19 -- part of a nationwide effort to study the effectiveness of convalescent plasma as a treatment for the potentially fatal illness. DoD officials have pledged to collect the amount by Sept. 30, 2020, to boost research on therapies against the virus and treat those with the illness. Read Next: Two Decks Separate Bonhomme Richard Fire From 1M Gallons of Fuel "We may want to ask you to stick your arm out and donate blood," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley said in a virtual town hall in late May. "What that can then do is help others who are severely ill, and if we can do that, then we'll be on a good path toward getting some really powerful therapeutics." The Food and Drug Administration approved convalescent plasma as an investigational therapy in March for those hospitalized with the illness, and more than 35,000 patients in the U.S. have received it. But there is no data that proves "definitively" that convalescent plasma works. More study is needed to determine what role it can play in treating the coronavirus, according to Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA. Still, she added, "there have been encouraging reports and a lot of mechanistic reasoning that in fact convalescent plasma may be helpful." "These studies are being done as we speak ... we need donors. Blood drives are ongoing, and the U.S. government will be trying to accelerate these drives for convalescent plasma," Woodcock said in a call with reporters Monday. The DoD has started training medical personnel and administrative staff at 15 locations in the U.S. and Germany to conduct the COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Collection Program. Those eligible to donate plasma include active-duty personnel, dependents, retirees and non-DoD civilians who have recovered from COVID-19 and have access to an installation where collections are being taken. According to the DoD, military health providers are asking their COVID-19 patients to consider donating after they recover and are encouraging those who were treated elsewhere or who tested positive and self-isolated to consider participating. "Our goal as a lifesaving program is to always provide a safe and ample supply of blood products. The need is now," said Army Col. Audra Taylor, chief of the Armed Services Blood Program, in a release. "We are calling for all who are healthy, able and eligible to donate today to help us all stand mission ready and save lives." Research on COVID-19 antibodies continues to develop, but studies show that they appear to diminish in the blood within months of contracting the coronavirus. A new "pre-print" paper published last week suggested that antibody response dropped precipitously a month after symptoms developed. Woodcock said the research shows there is a "fairly narrow window" of opportunity for collecting plasma containing a significant level of antibodies. "Six to eight weeks after recovery is the optimal collection for plasma," she said. When a person becomes infected with SARS-CoV-2 -- the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 -- their immune system produces antibodies that attack the pathogen. Some antibodies are able to neutralize the virus, preventing it from entering cells. It is thought that convalescent plasma helps fight the virus in patients whose immune systems have not generated a response to the invading pathogen. It has been used for more than a century to treat illnesses including scarlet fever, pertussis, the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2015, albeit with mixed results. Patients have differing levels of neutralizing antibodies. Part of the research involving the plasma is to determine the best time to collect it after recovery, test it for neutralizing antibodies, and when to provide it to sick patients for maximum effectiveness, according to Woodcock. The antibodies found in convalescent plasma also serve as a source for another potential treatment for COVID-19: monoclonal antibodies. These are clones of isolated neutralizing antibodies -- either human or artificially created -- which are being developed and are currently in safety testing as an "antibody cocktail" to treat the coronavirus for patients both in and out of hospitals, she said. The U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command are working with companies on monoclonal antibody treatments. The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority awarded a $450 million contract last week to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals to develop its monoclonal antibody therapy, which is about to enter large-scale human testing. Plasma taken at DoD locations will be used for such research and to give to severely ill patients. The following locations are collecting convalescent plasma for the DoD: Donating plasma is similar to donating blood and takes "just slightly longer" than giving a pint of blood, according to Air Force Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Dorothy Hogg. Given the limited options the world has for treating the coronavirus, it could help save lives. "We are counting on you to spread the word about this vital program by telling your friends, family and others in our Air Force community about the need for donors," Hogg said in a release. -- Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Monster.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime. Related: Military Medical Teams Deploying Again to Battle COVID-19 Courtesy of Diana Berrent Sausalito nurse Alicia Gaffney tested positive for COVID-19 in February. As a long hauler she had experienced everything from pneumonia to clumps of hair falling out, but when her veins darkened and bulged 12 weeks later, she turned to multiple specialists and no one could identify the cause. After sharing her symptoms in the Facebook group Survivor Corps, she learned she wasnt alone. Its comforting to know youre not the only one, she said. We know more than the doctors, because were experiencing it. Kim Cromack, a 57-year-old Alameda resident who is now on Week 17 of symptoms, sounds hoarse when speaking about her illness over the phone. Its because shes experiencing intense jaw pain and distorted speech, symptoms she hadnt heard about in the media. It was so helpful to have the group, to know youre not the only one whove had this symptom thats lasted for four months, she said. Survivor Corps offers a glimmer of hope in an otherwise depressing social media landscape, in which Bay Area companies like Facebook and Twitter have been criticized for allowing politically driven misinformation to spread across their platforms. Although the group stresses that theres no substitute for professional medical advice and removes any posts with unverified sources, the 70,000-member community serves as an invaluable resource for those suffering from a disease that has infected more than 35,000 people across the nine Bay Area counties. Like other similar communities on Slack or Reddit, Survivor Corps offers an emotional outlet, a sounding board for symptoms and a mobilizing force for research studies. RELATED: COVID-19-positive Bay Area nurse sues Kaiser for racial discrimination The group formed shortly after Long Island-based photographer Diana Berrent contracted the coronavirus in mid-March. She quarantined for 18 days while chronicling her experience in a column and video blog for the New York Post. Survivor Corps has since expanded into a non-profit with a core volunteer staff of eight, plus thirty additional people who help out with varying tasks like moderating posts. The content of the group ranges from inspirational recovery stories to devastating symptom reports. People post home remedies like using Epsom salt for joint pain, ask what to include in care kits for loved ones, share photos of themselves in the hospital. Berrent pins announcements to the top of the page when journalists reach out for sources, helping people share their stories. The primary mission statement has remained the same from day one, says Berrent. Its to connect the survivor community with the opportunity to donate plasma and support every scientific and academic study related to COVID, because the answers to so many of the questions about the virus are in our bodies as survivors. Many longhaulers cant yet donate plasma due to continued symptoms, but for those who can, its one of the best ways to fight back. Each plasma donation has the potential to save three to four lives, and with a maximum of eight donations per patient, one persons blood can make a dramatic difference. Survivor Corps has built partnerships with several Bay Area tech companies fighting the virus, like diagnostic startup Enable Biosciences. Developed by UC Berkeley PhD students and the Stanford Start X program, theyve created a mail-in antibody blood test with a reportedly unprecedented level of accuracy in a field that has been plagued by false results. David Seftel, CEO of Enable, sees Survivor Corps playing a pivotal role in fighting the pandemic. The impact of the Survivor Corps is going to be absolutely central to the activities of plasma collectors, and ultimately to our ability to assist the results of the efficacy of vaccines, says Seftel. The group serves as a powerful informal resource for doctors, who have posted polls receiving 1,700 responses, but also offers a sample pool for structured studies by companies like Enable. Dianas ability to reach and teach the importance of participation in research, and their compliance with the structured research process is very gratifying, he says. All the individuals referred to us through her group have been absolutely wonderful research subjects. Beyond the groups scientific potential, it is also an invaluable emotional resource. Elizabeth Curran, an East Bay resident who contracted COVID-19 in March, experienced all the common symptoms, but her afflictions didnt stop there. She lists a heartbreaking array of issues ranging from feeling like her legs were being stung by bees to full-body nightmares every time she slept. The longevity of it, that wasnt what Id read about over and over. I didnt understand what was wrong with me, says Curran. Enter Survivor Corps. I read so many posts from so many different people going through the exact same things I was. Instantly, I went from feeling the most alienated Ive ever felt to feeling like I found my people. Dr. Lauri Pasch of UCSFs Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences studies discharged patients to document the emotional consequences of hospitalization. The toll is heavier than with some other illnesses because no visitors are allowed in the room and staff wears full PPE, so patients cant see their doctors faces. It results in higher degrees of delirium, which makes community even more important during recovery. Theres a long-term mental health component when someone experiences this type of delirium. They say theyve had moments of feeling paranoid, thinking the hospital was going to kill them," Pasch said. Ainsley Lacey of Midland was named to The University of Alabama's dean's list, and Lauren Woods of Midland was name to the university's president's list. A total of 16,470 students enrolled during the 2020 spring semester at The University of Alabama were named to the dean's list with an academic record of 3.5 or above or the president's list with an academic record of 4.0 (all A's). By Trend The EU urges both sides to stop the armed confrontation, refrain from action and rhetoric that provoke tension, and undertake immediate measures to prevent further escalation, Trend reports referring to the EUs statement. On 12-13 July 2020, both Armenia and Azerbaijan reported a serious incident at their bilateral border, involving the use of heavy weapons. It has sadly led to the loss of lives. In this context, both sides should make use of their mechanism for direct communication, the established format led by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. This serious ceasefire violation highlights the urgency of resuming the OSCE monitoring on the ground, as soon as conditions allow, the statement said. The statement also said that the EU calls on the sides to strictly respect the ceasefire, devote energy and resources to fighting the coronavirus pandemic, meaningfully re-engage in substantive negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and prepare their populations for peace. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions. Sacked from the Rajasthan Cabinet for backing dissident leader Sachin Pilot, Congress MLAs Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena insisted Tuesday that they had done nothing wrong. IMAGE: A poster of Sachin Pilot at Rajasthan Congress headquarters in Jaipur. Photograph: PTI Photo They, along with Pilot, were removed as cabinet ministers for their alleged involvement in the 'conspiracy to topple' the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in the state. Vishvendra Singh, who is an MLA from Deeg-Kumher, was the state tourism minister while Meena held the portfolio of the food and civil supplies minister. "Where did we make any statement against the party? We wanted to draw the attention of the party high-command to the fact that we were not able to deliver on things promised in the manifesto for which the public elected us," Vishvendra Singh said in a video message. He asked what mistake they three committed that they were sacked from the Cabinet. "I have no concern for being sacked as a minister. Rather, I will be able to serve people better but what reply the chief minister has for people who elected us and the party," he said. Ramesh Meena claimed he worked with honesty as a minister and his department led in performance. "Our department was top in performance. Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and the prime minister appreciated that. I worked with honesty and the result is that I am sacked," he said in a video message. "What irregularity did I do," he said. Meena said he had some resentment and issues related to the SC/ST community which he had raised on the party forum. Two other MLAs loyal to Pilot--Mukesh Bhakar and Ramniwas Gawriya--also reacted sharply to the development. Bhakar, who was removed from the post of the state Youth Congress president, said he became the chief of the body after winning its elections. 'Who is Ashok Gehlot to remove me,' he said in a tweet. Gawriya tweeted that the youth led by 'Rajasthan's Pilot' will end the 'suppression of Jadugar'. Gehlot, whose father was a magician, is referred to as 'Jadugar'. (Adds medical goods, computers as drivers of exports in June) * June exports +0.5% yr/yr vs -1.5% forecast in Reuters poll * June imports +2.7% yr/yr vs -10% forecast * June trade balance $46.42 bln vs $62.93 bln in May By Stella Qiu and Gabriel Crossley BEIJING, July 14 (Reuters) - China's imports in June rose for the first time since the coronavirus crisis paralysed the economy, as government stimulus stoked demand for commodities, while exports, fuelled by medical goods, also rose in a sign the recovery is gaining traction. Beijing has doled out aggressive stimulus to support domestic demand even as a resurgence in coronavirus infections around the world has raised questions about the strength of a rebound in global economic activity. China's imports in June rose 2.7% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Tuesday, confounding market expectations for a 10% drop. They had fallen 16.7% the previous month. Exports also rose unexpectedly, up 0.5%, suggesting global demand is starting to pick up again as many countries begin to ease tough anti-virus measures that have pushed the world's economy into its biggest slump in almost 90 years. Analyst had estimated a 1.5% drop following a 3.3% decline in May. "The significant improvement in China's imports is an indication of the country's accelerating economic recovery, which has been mainly driven by substantial increases in investments in sectors such as real estate and infrastructure," said Boyang Xue, a China analyst at consultancy firm DuckerFrontier. Indeed, iron ore imports jumped to the highest in 33 months in June, the trade data showed, fuelled by rising shipments from miners and robust demand. Crude oil imports also hit an all-time high amid bargain hunting by Chinese refiners as oil prices collapsed. Martin Rasmussen, China economist at Capital Economics, expects China's imports will continue to improve as a ramp-up in fiscal stimulus boosts domestic demand. Story continues China's imports from the United States rose 11.3% in June, reversing a double digit declining trend seen after the coronavirus outbreak. "Faced with difficulties presented by the sudden epidemic, we're still honouring our commitments and implementing the (trade) agreement," customs spokesman Liu Kuiwen told reporters on Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he was not thinking about negotiating a "Phase 2" trade deal with China as relations between Washington and Beijing have been "severely damaged" due to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues. China's trade surplus with the United States widened to $29.41 billion in June from $27.89 billion in May. EXPORTS RISE China's economy is recovering from a sharp 6.8% contraction in the first quarter, but the recovery remains fragile as global demand falters due to social restrictions and still rising coronavirus cases. Chinese consumption is also subdued amid job losses and concerns about a second wave of infections. The country's export performance however has not been as severely affected by the global slowdown as some analysts had feared, supported by shipments of face masks, personal protective equipment and computers. "The reopening of major western economies and elevated overseas demand for PPEs and masks supported Chinese exports in June," said Xue from DuckerFrontier. "In addition, production disruptions in China's trade competitors also helped to shift some orders to Chinese exporters." Despite the partial reopening of Western economies in the past few weeks, some countries are reimposing various lockdown measures to battle a resurgence in coronavirus cases. "Looking ahead, the boost from shipments of masks, medical products and work-from-home equipment, which are still growing at over 30% y/y, will continue to fade and weigh on exports," said Rasmussen from Capital Economics, adding that exports would start to contract again before long. Worsening U.S.-China relations, shrinking global demand and disruptions in supply chains are also likely to pressure the trade outlook over the long run, Institute of Advanced Research at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics said in a report on Saturday. The country's trade surplus for June stood at $46.42 billion, compared with a surplus of $62.93 billion in May. (Additional reporting by Lusha Zhang; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) She recently revealed she prefers exercising outdoors rather than in a gym. And Isla Fisher was spotted embracing the outdoors as she enjoyed a bike ride near her home in the Hollywood Hills, California, on Monday. The actress, 44, made sure to protect herself amid the coronavirus crisis by wearing a face mask as she got her daily exercise. Daily exercise: Isla Fisher protected herself amid the coronavirus crisis by wearing a face mask as she enjoyed a bike ride in the Hollywood Hills on Monday Isla kept things casual for the outing as she paired a white top with blue leggings that accentuated her slender legs. She completed her look by wearing a pair of white trainers, while she shielded her eyes with a pair of chic shades and wore a white bicycle helmet. Her flame-haired locks were styled into a sleek side-swept plait and she used a light palette of make-up for the occasion. Relaxed look: Isla kept things casual for the outing as she paired a white top with blue leggings that accentuated her slender legs In a recent interview, the talented star told Fitness Magazine that she prefers to exercise outdoors, rather than in a gym. 'I'm an outdoor girl,' Isla said. 'I'm always moving. I do yoga, and I love to hike. And I swim every day with my kids.' Isla is based in Los Angeles with her husband, British actor Sacha Baron Cohen, and their three children, and she has been isolating with them during the pandemic. Before California went into lockdown in March, Isla was in the middle of shooting the Disney+ comedy Godmothered in Boston. The film follows an unskilled fairy godmother, played by Jillian Bell, who sets out to help a woman, played by Isla, whose wish was ignored as a child. Isla also wrapped production on a new big screen adaptation of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit with Dan Stevens, Judie Dench and Leslie Mann. It's scheduled for release in September, but that may change due to the COVID-19 crisis. Chandigarh Perturbed over violation of orders, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday warned district and sessions judge and deputy commissioner, Ludhiana, of contempt of court and asked them to visit areas on the banks of Sutlej river and submit a report whether illegal mining is taking place. The order was passed by the high court bench of justices SN Satyanarayana and Archana Puri as it transpired in the court that the duo as directed did not visit the spots affected by illegal mining as mentioned in a petition. It was on June 25 that high court had disposed of a plea of one Balvir Singh of Ludhiana, who alleged illegal mining and misuse of Sutlej embankment from burji numbers 52/53 till burji number 148 near villages Mattewara, Jhugian, Mangli, Ror, Boothgarh and Gadisheru in Ludhiana. A report was sought from both officers by July 15 after undertaking a visit to the spot. On Tuesday, the petitioner had alleged that there is concerted effort on the part of the government agencies to remove the evidence of illegal mining at the site. He had produced a video recording of events on various occasions between the last date of hearing and July 14. The Punjab government counsel had told the court that the deputy commissioner had personal inconvenience in visiting the spot and he would seek modification in the order to depute someone else. We are not willing to accept that, more particularly, in the background of the accusation and allegations made against officials of the state in supporting the illegal miners for removal of the evidence available at the place. We feel that it is appropriate that the order dated June 25, 2020, shall be implemented in letter and spirit, the court said, adding that the officers will visit the spot within four days and submit a report by July 22 and any failure in this will be viewed as contempt of the courts order. CINCINNATI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IVX Health, a national provider of infusion and injection therapy for patients with Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other complex chronic conditions, today announced the opening of two new centers in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. Conveniently located in Hyde Park and Colerain Township, IVX Health offers patients an alternative to hospital-based infusions with the same high-quality standards and safety protocols. IVX Health reimagines the traditional experience for infusion patients with amenities such as evening and weekend appointments and guaranteed private suites that allow for proper social distancing a meaningful benefit when considering the often hours-long infusion procedures. IVX Health is currently accepting new patients in both of its Cincinnati infusion centers (by appointment only). From its inception, IVX Health's mission is to redefine the care experience for patients with complex chronic conditions. According to a new study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, the number of people with these types of autoimmune diseases is on the rise in the United States, with tens of millions of Americans at riskmany of whom are young and active members of their community. Creating a safe, convenient option to receive the care they need is paramount to their ongoing health and well-being, especially amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Stand-alone centers, no waiting rooms, private suites, and visits by appointment only are just a few of the ways IVX Health aspires to provide the safest possible experience for its patients. Each IVX Health center is staffed with a nurse practitioner and a team of registered nurses which never exceeds a 1:3 nurse-to-patient ratio, ensuring every patient receives the personal attention they deserve. In addition, IVX Health offers patients a superior level of servicewith flat screen TVs, high-speed Wi-Fi, complimentary snacks, and flexible appointment times that include evenings and Saturdays. "We are excited to begin serving the Cincinnati health care community," said Doug Ghertner, CEO of IVX Health. "Even amidst the backdrop of COVID-19, our patients need to remain persistent on therapy to stay healthy, which is why we aim to always provide a superior level of comfort, convenience, and safety in all of our centers. We are honored to be chosen by specialists across the country as the preferred destination for their patients. As a 100% referral-based organization, we work closely with referring providers and their staff to ensure we quickly facilitate the prior authorization and benefits eligibility process so they can refocus on what matters most patient care." IVX Health currently has 25 centers operating across 10 metros in the United States. The Colerain and Hyde Park centers will expand IVX Health's presence in Ohio, joining the two IVX Health centers in Columbus that opened in October of 2019. For more information on IVX Health's Ohio locations or to schedule an appointment, please visit www.ivxhealth.com. Cincinnati Market Presence IVX Health Colerain is located in the Stone Creek Towne Center near the Starbucks and La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries. IVX Health Hyde Park is located in the Hyde Park Plaza retail center on Paxton Avenue. The clinical team for both Cincinnati centers is comprised of nurse practitioners and infusion nurses with deep expertise in the infusion space. About IVX Health IVX Health is a national provider of infusion and injection therapy for those with complex chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis and other conditions. IVX Health's national footprint of outpatient infusion centers are conveniently located in the communities where patients live and work. IVX Health's experience-first model includes amenities such as flexible appointment scheduling with evening and weekend availability, guaranteed private suites, high-speed Wi-Fi, flat screen TVs with streaming TV and movies, and comfortable recliners with room for guests. SOURCE IVX Health Related Links ivxhealth.com JLLs latest Global Real Estate Transparency Index shows Asia Pacific real estate transparency makes largest gains globally Asia Pacifics emerging markets have made the most significant gains in improving real estate transparency, led by a greater emphasis on corporate social responsibility and wider adoption of new technologies. According to JLLs biennial Global Real Estate Transparency Index, Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia are among the global top 10 improvers, while Singapore continues to feature prominently as a transparent market. The 2020 Index is launched at a time of massive economic and societal disruption where the need for transparent processes, accurate and timely data and high ethical standards are in closer focus. The backdrop of COVID-19 is also ensuring that transparency within Asia Pacifics real estate legal and regulatory systems is more important than ever to global investors, as they look to deploy approximately $40 billion* in dry powder capital into the region. Asia Pacific real estate transparency improves as investors look for class assets Asia Pacific real estate transparency JLLs latest Global Real Estate Transparency Index shows Asia Pacific real estate transparency makes largest gains globally According to JLL, pressure exists from investors, businesses and consumers to further improve real estate transparency to compete with other asset classes and meet heightened expectations about the industrys role in providing a sustainable and resilient built environment in the age of COVID-19. Furthermore, innovative new property technology (proptech) is changing how real estate data is gathered and analyzed and influencing industry transparency at a regulatory level. While investment into commercial real estate has inevitably paused during the pandemic, the overarching trend toward rising allocations to this asset class will continue. As investors look to allocate more capital into real estate in this region, transparency becomes even more important, as will the enforcement of robust regulatory frameworks, says Regina Lim, Head of Capital Markets Research, Asia Pacific, JLL. Story continues Emerging markets have once again shown the greatest advancement in the Index, with six Asia Pacific markets Mainland China (32nd), Thailand (33rd), India (34th), Indonesia (40th), Philippines (44th) and Vietnam (56th) among the top 10 biggest improvers globally. Progress in Thailands and Vietnams main cities, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City, has pushed each into a higher tier Transparent and Semi-Transparent respectively. Singapore (14th) sits near the cusp of the Highly Transparent tier as it has risen one spot from number 15 in 2018. Singapore among top ten in Asia Pacific real estate transparency Singapore has come in within the top 10 for the quality and depth of its market data, reflecting the maturity of its real estate sector, says Chris Fossick, CEO, JLL Southeast Asia. Singapore has consistently ranked well on the transparency tier among Asias mature economies and it has made great progress over the past couple of years due to its strengths as a regional hub for proptech companies and government leadership on sustainability initiatives. In both Asia Pacific and outside of the region, JLLs research concludes that sustainability commitments have become the biggest single driver of real estate transparency globally since 2018. An increased focus on corporate social responsibility and acknowledgement of the need to create sustainable buildings bring environment, social and governance (ESG) considerations into the mainstream. Additionally, green building certification systems and energy efficiency standards are widespread in the regions most transparent markets and the most improved national real estate sectors. Another key driver of transparency is the volume of real estate market data now available due to the growing adoption of Proptech platforms, digital tools and big data techniques. Although real estate markets have historically faced challenges when implementing new technology, the COVID-19 pandemic is leading to an acceleration in new types of non-standard and high-frequency data especially relating to health, mobility and space usage being collected and disseminated in near-real-time. As the adoption of proptech and sustainability commitments continue to garner steam, greater transparency gains will be driven by both an evolving regulatory landscape and the collective actions by national real estate industries. With the outbreak of COVID-19, it will become even more crucial for the real estate industry to work collaboratively with local governments to achieve greater transparency and meet the changing expectations of investors as their appetites shift in accordance to the investment outlook over the next 12 to 18 months, adds Fossick. JLL and LaSalle have been tracking real estate transparency and championing higher standards since 1999. This 11th edition of the Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) covers 99 countries and territories, and 163 city regions. This latest survey has been extended to quantify 210 separate elements of transparency, with additional coverage on sustainability and resilience, health and wellness, proptech and alternatives sectors. Methodology for determining Asia Pacific real estate transparency The 2020 Global Real Estate Transparency Index covers 99 countries and territories and 163 cities. The latest Index is based on 210 indicators, having been extended to include additional data on sustainability and resilience, health and wellness, proptech and alternatives. These variables are divided into six areas performance measurement, market fundamentals, governance of listed vehicles, regulatory & legal frameworks, transaction process and environmental sustainability. The Global Real Estate Transparency Index is based on a combination of quantitative market data and survey results across 99 countries and territories. 210 individual measures are divided into 14 topic areas, which are then grouped and weighted into six broad sub-indices: Performance Measurement 25% Market Fundamentals 16.5% Governance of Listed Vehicles 10% Regulatory and Legal 23.5% Transaction Process 15% Sustainability 10% The Index scores markets on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1.00 being the highest possible score). Depending on their overall performance, markets are assigned to one of five transparency tiers. Highly Transparent Transparent Semi-Transparent Low Transparency Opaque The post Asia Pacific real estate transparency makes largest gains globally appeared first on iCompareLoan Resources. An online inter-sectoral discussion on building a comprehensive recovery framework for ASEAN was held on July 14 under the chair of Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung, head of the SOM ASEAN Vietnam. Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Dung at the event (Photo: VNA) Attending the event were ASEAN senior officials and three Deputy Secretary Generals in charge of the ASEAN Political-Security, Economic and Socio-Cultural Communities. Speaking at the event, Dung said the recovery plan should ensure benefiting the public, businesses, localities and governments as all of them have been hit by COVID-19. He called for the greatest efforts to help the people overcome difficulties in the spirit of a people-oriented and people-centred ASEAN Community. Dung suggested that countries should enhance policy and measure coordination to support workers and ensure jobs, as well as offer social assistance to the unemployed and the elderly, facilitate childrens access to education and protect immigrant workers. The Deputy FM urged listening to businesses aspirations, particularly those of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in hard-hit sectors such as tourism, aviation, services and garment. He proposed providing national and regional relief packages to boost intra-bloc trade and investment and ensure the supply chain. For localities, he suggested improving their capacity of supplying medical and key public services to switch to new normal situation. He also recommended ensuring the ASEAN Communitys common approach to recovery, increasing the sharing of experience and information about orientations to recovery, while maintaining epidemic control. Participants pledged to work closely with the ASEAN Chair in 2020, ASEAN bodies and the Secretariat to complete the framework in an inclusive, scientific and effective manner. The draft comprehensive recovery framework for ASEAN is scheduled to be submitted to regional leaders at the 37th ASEAN Summit in November 2020./.VNA As Mexico celebrated a new trade deal with the United States and Canada on July 1, a group of Canadian energy investors warned their government that Mexico could already be violating the agreement for failing to respect contracts. In a letter to Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and other officials, four companies voiced concern their Mexican investments were under threat and urged the government to press Mexico on the matter. The letter, seen by Reuters, adds to evidence of frustration among investors over energy policy under the administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador just as Mexico is trying to revive its battered economy from the impact of coronavirus. Canada, a longstanding ally of Mexico and one of the country's main sources of foreign direct investment (FDI), has already raised concerns about Lopez Obrador's energy policy. Arguing that Mexico must carve out a bigger role for the state on energy policy and become more self-sufficient, Lopez Obrador says previous Mexican governments skewed the market in favor of private investors, pushing up prices for the public. The president has sought to renegotiate billions of dollars worth of contracts to get better terms for taxpayers. Foreign companies, which were granted more scope to invest in Mexico under a 2013-14 energy reform enacted by Lopez Obrador's predecessor, deny they have raised costs for the public. They say the government is not honoring existing deals. In the letter, Canadian Solar Inc, Atco Ltd , Northland Power Inc and JCM Power cited decisions to suspend testing of new renewable energy plants and to limit development and operation of power stations as steps that could put their projects in Mexico in jeopardy. Mexican tribunals have temporarily suspended some of the measures, pending a Supreme Court decision. However, disputes over a range of policy decisions on energy extend back well into last year and have fanned uncertainty among investors. Northland Power spokesman David Timm confirmed the company signed the letter but declined further comment, saying discussions are ongoing with both governments. Ryan Nearing, spokesman for International Trade Minister Mary Ng, who was also sent the letter, said Canadian companies have indicated they are concerned with recent measures taken by the Mexican government which affect their energy investments. "Canada shares these concerns, as Canadian companies have invested close to $9 billion in the energy sector, including over $3.1 billion in renewable energy," Nearing said. Ng raised this issue on May 29 with Mexican Economy Minister Graciela Marquez and two agreed to keep up dialogue on it, Nearing added. Canada's embassy in Mexico has also been actively engaged with Mexico's government on the matter, he said. The other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Mexico's energy ministry. The four companies have various investments in Mexico, including solar and hydroelectric power projects. The letter, which was also addressed to Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'Regan and Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, was dated July 1, the same day on which the trade accord known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) came into force. Mexico's actions risked breaching commitments under USMCA and other trade deals it had signed, the firms argued. Six weeks previously, Canada and the European Union sent letters to the Mexican government to warn that its changes on energy policy could negatively affect billions of dollars in renewable power generation projects. In their missive, the energy companies proposed discussing what diplomatic channels could be opened to ensure that the Mexican government upheld commitments to Canadian investors. Over the past two decades, Canada has been the third-biggest source of foreign investment in Mexico, after the United States and Spain, according to Mexican government data. Last year, total Canadian investment was worth more than $2.9 billion, or some 8.7% of the total, the figures show. Mexico does not play around when it comes to their local libraries. It's just not all food, the tropical climate, and beaches in this beautiful country. Skip the crowd and enjoy your downtime surrounded by books. Who knew you could find these beautiful bookstores and libraries in Mexico? Bring back a book as a souvenir. Drop the Pina colada and search the perfect book to take home. Here are some of the most widely known bookstores and libraries to visit: Libreria Porrua Libreria Porrua was founded by Indalecio Porrua, Francisco Porrua, Jose Porrua. This is also one of the longest operating business in the Mexican book industry. This bookstore is perfect for books and scenery while drinking your coffee of choice. Biblioteca Vasconcelos Biblioteca Vasconcelos is considered as the most architecturally well-known library. It opened in 2006 and houses around 106,000 book titles. Unfortunately for English book readers, this might not have an English language section. But don't worry. The beautifully structured library can compensate in other ways. Centro Cultural Elena Garro If you're in Mexico for your love for Frida Kahlo, include this to your itinerary. Centro Cultural Elena Garro is located in the town of Coyoacan, which is Frida Kahlo's hometown. Rosario Castellanos Bookstore This bookstore is located in Mexico's hippest neighborhood, La Condesa.This does not only cater to the booklovers but also serves as a movie theater. Mexican architect Teodoro Gonzalez de Leon managed the renovation after it was abandoned for years. Biblioteca Central UNAM Biblioteca Central is covered with Juan O'Gorman mosaics, which tells the history of Mexico. O'Gorman's mural was called the Historical Representation of Culture. Considered as the queen of all libraries with its seven-stories. You can never go wrong whether you choose to stay inside the library or admire the huge mural outside. Biblioteca de Mexico Biblioteca de Mexico was first launched in 1946. It is located behind the Ciudadela in Mexico City. The library has over 250,000 volumes, with displays representing the five individual libraries named after known Mexican writers. Biblioteca de Mexico also offers a braille library for the visually impaired. Anglo Library Anglo library suits you just fine if you don't speak Spanish or are trying to learn English. Anglo Library focuses on English language books, which can help patrons who are not speaking Spanish. This was established in 1983 and is considered as the country's English-language library. The library has around 3,500 members. National Library of Mexico The National Library of Mexico was opened in 1867 by Benito Juarez. This holds over 1,250, 000 books and documents, including some of the oldest and rarest. This also houses the original copy of Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo and manuscripts from Benito Juarez and Doctor Atl Let these bookstores and libraries be part of your itinerary. Bookworm or not, it is always a delightful experience to experience a country's culture through its literature. Bonus the architectural beauty of these buildings. Ditch the magnet and grab the book! Want to read more? The U.S. Supreme Court has set the stage for new battles about government funding for private religious schools. By ruling that state governments choosing to subsidize private education must offer equal treatment to religious and secular schools, at least in the context of vouchers and tax credits, the court has put in place new obstacles for advocates who say taxpayer money should never fund religious education even indirectly. On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue that a no-aid clause of the Montana Constitution which bars even indirect government aid to a school controlled in whole or in part by any church, sect, or denomination violates the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution. According to the court, the no-aid clause of the Montana Constitution cannot prohibit indirect state funding for religious schools (e.g. through vouchers or tax credits) purely because of the schools religious status. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, explained: A state need not subsidize private education. But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious. The court based its opinion in Espinoza on a 2017 case, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer. In that case, a church-owned preschool in Missouri was barred from a state-funded grant program that helped non-profits resurface playgrounds. The court ruled that Missouri discriminated against the church-owned preschool simply because of what it is a church. Such status-based discrimination did not stand up to strict scrutiny. Importantly, the majority in Trinity Lutheran and in Espinoza referred to court precedent in yet another case, Locke v. Davey (2003), which upheld limitations on certain religious uses for state funds. In Locke, Joshua Davey was denied a state-funded scholarship because he wanted to use the funds to support his ministerial training. The court reasoned that Washington State excluded Davey because of how he intended to use the money, not just because of his status as a religious person. Given the courts decisions in Espinoza, Trinity Lutheran and Locke, those who oppose even indirect government funding for religious schools might adopt one or more of three legal and legislative strategies all of which face serious obstacles. First, state lawmakers could stop subsidizing all private schools, religious or not. Public school supporters including some religious freedom advocates, like the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Libertys Amanda Tyler would likely welcome challenges to vouchers and tax subsidy programs, which indirectly support private education. Religious conservatives and school choice advocates, including U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, would vehemently oppose such a move. Second, legislators might propose laws or constitutional amendments that prohibit the use of state funds for devotional religious instruction. Such laws and amendments might pass the muster of previous court decisions by limiting how religious institutions use government funds rather than limiting access to state funds purely on the basis of religious status. However, it is not yet clear whether such strategies will succeed before this court. In his concurring opinion in Espinoza, Justice Neil Gorsuch questions the distinction between denials of funds based on religious status versus religious use. He writes: [I]t is not as if the First Amendment cares. Justice Sonia Sotomayor might reply, as in her Espinoza dissent, that such an interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause risks reading the Establishment Clause out of the Constitution. Third, policymakers might try to limit state funding to schools that do not abide by neutral antidiscrimination laws. For example, by denying federal funding to any schools that discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age, policymakers might try to block the flow of funds to private religious schools that bar LGBTQ or special needs students. Perhaps foreshadowing future challenges to government-subsidized religious education, groups opposing the Espinoza decision like Americans United for Separation of Church and State have already released statements pointing out discriminatory policies among some religious schools. There is some evidence to think this last strategy might be successful. In a case decided in February 2020, a state advisory committee in Maryland barred a private Christian school, Bethel Christian Academy, from a voucher program because the school violated the programs antidiscrimination policies. A federal judge in February sided with the Maryland state officials. But in its July 8 decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the court interpreted the ministerial exception to mean that antidiscrimination laws do not protect members of the school staff who were entrusted most directly with the responsibility of educating their students in the faith and who guide their students, by word and deed, toward the goal of living their lives in accordance with the faith. In his dissent in the Espinoza decision, Justice Stephen Breyer explicitly argues that the subsidy in question in Espinoza will pay for the salaries of teachers and administrators who are classified as ministers and therefore exempt religious schools from antidiscrimination laws that prohibit hiring or firing based on factors including age or disability. How and whether the decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School relates to enforcement of antidiscrimination laws in the context of school funding remains to be seen. For that, and many other reasons, it is not yet clear which strategies lawyers and legislators will use to fight upcoming battles against government funding of religious schools. But one thing is certain: the war over government funding of private religious education will continue. Benjamin P. Marcus is religious literacy specialist at the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum. His email address is: bmarcus@freedomforum.org. For over a month, protesters with the Black Lives Matter movement have advocated for law enforcement reform across the country following the death of George Floyd, a Black man, at the hands of police. To interrogate and upend institutional racism is generally a controversial and unwieldy process. A much more immediate recourse has been the removal of Confederate monuments scattered around the country, which many mayors, city councils and even protesters themselves have accomplished in recent weeks. In Laredo, there are no statues of Robert E. Lee or Jefferson Davis, but there is an elementary school named after Col. Santos Benavides, the highest ranking Tejano in the Confederate Army, a slave catcher, former mayor of Laredo, county judge of Webb County and state legislator for the area. In a statement to LMT, United ISD said the schools namesake was honored for his accolades as a public servant of Laredo and Webb County. Certainly, the district is cognizant of the military service of Col. Benavides and is sensitive to community concerns, reads the statement. To be clear, it is and always has been the policy of the district to prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind, including racism. Most UISD board members did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether the schools name should change. Board member Aliza Flores Oliveros, however, said she is open to changing the name if people find it offensive and that its a good discussion to have. Board member Rick Rodriguez said he has no issue with the name and respects the reason it was chosen years ago. Neither said they have heard complaints from parents or members of the public about honoring a Confederate colonel in this way. Several teachers at Col. Santos Benavides Elementary School said they are proud of the schools name and do not believe it needs to be changed, especially at a time when students have been thrown into such uncertainty during the coronavirus crisis. Yvonne Casso, a third grade teacher at the school, cited Benavides lengthy career in public service and argued that he was the most important individual in the long and often violent history of Laredo. To change the name of the school that honors his achievements is to dishonor our heritage, she said. Besides, Col. Santos Benavides is a well known elementary school that everyone knows. Trying to rewrite or sanitize our history is wrong. School principal Adriana Vela said we need to open the conversations to acknowledge and learn from our countrys mistakes so that history does not repeat itself. I would say why change the name? fourth grade teacher Sara Valdez said. It is part of our history. His name comes out in our social studies book. ... We can use this history to teach our students that we have the ability to make change and make our world a better place for everyone. Only one teacher polled, Annette Avila, expressed an openness to change. I think if schools are going to be named after historical figures, it should be named after a historical figure that fought for liberty and human rights rather than one that fought to oppress them, she said. As described in the book written about Benavides by TAMIU professor Jerry Thompson called Tejano Tiger, the author notes that while Benavides was not a slave owner, he was a known slave catcher during the Civil War. Benavides once gathered 10 armed men to cross into Nuevo Laredo and capture a runaway slave who was then transported to the Webb County Jail. This was one of two instances of Benavides apprehending slaves across the border and returning them to Texas. These are the kind of actions the public is analyzing in the historical figures their communities have put on a pedestal. However, Thompson does not believe the schools name should change and said a community can go too far in trying to erase history. Santos Benavides was the highest-ranking Tejano in the Confederate Army, but thats only a small part of his life, Thompson said. He had a long, very distinguished career as a public servant. And when he was serving in the House of Representatives in 1879, he was the only person of Mexican ancestry who was in the Legislature. The historian also notes that there are entire counties in Texas named after Confederate leaders; and the Davis Mountains are named after Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. In Laredo, this elementary school is not the only instance of misplaced honor, Thompson argues. There are multiple Laredo schools and streets that are named after Confederates, womanizers and drunkards, he said. Worst of all is a south Laredo street named after Francisco Franco, one of the most evil dictators in world history, Thompson said. While Laredo was not a slave-holding region of the country and is not culturally southern today, the Confederate flag has long been a part of the citys identity, which celebrates its life under seven flags rather than the standard six that fly over the rest of Texas. The seventh is the short-lived independent Republic of the Rio Grande of which Laredo was the capital. Recently, Laredo City Council voted to replace the rebel flag that existed in some city logos, uniforms, vehicles and most prominently on the floor of the airport, with the Confederates first flag, which is not as recognizable of a symbol of racism and violence. Thompson said this is long overdue. Thats going to cost some money at the airport, but it should be done. I dont know of any other places in the South even the state of Mississippi decided to take that off of their state flag. And I think had Laredo had a large Black population, that probably would have happened a long time ago, he said. In a June 17 LMT article, Councilwoman Nelly Vielma said she does not want to erase Laredos history under the Confederacy but to show this history accurately. The first flag of the Confederacy, sometimes called the stars and bars, looks similar to the first flag of the United States. This is what would have flown over Laredo during the Civil War, Vielma said, rather than the rebel flag, which is now widely regarded as a hate symbol. The original intention for this item was not to remove the confederate flag, rather I wanted to make sure we were abiding by the decision made by a previous council back in 2011 to replace the confederate battle flag with the historically-correct stars and bars flag, Vielma said. The full implementation of this order was never fully carried out by previous administrations, but I am hopeful that now we will finally do just that. We have to own up to our history by acknowledging it, but that doesnt mean we have to honor a symbol that has been overtaken by hate groups. Benavides was born in Laredo in 1823 and was a descendant of its founder, Tomas Sanchez de la Barrera y Garza. He served three times in the Texas House of Representatives from 1879 to 1884, the only Tejano in the legislature at time, and twice served as alderman in Laredo. He died at his home in Laredo in 1891. According to the Texas State Historical Association, Benavides opposed the annexation of Laredo by the U.S. as he felt it would compromise the independence of northern Mexico. Once it was annexed, he supported the Confederacy as their states rights principles matched his regionalism. Benavides was assigned to the Rio Grande Military District and fought Juan Cortina into Mexico at the battle of Carrizo in May 1861. As a leader of his own regiment, he drove back more than 200 Union Soldiers from the Texas Union Cavalry on March 19, 1864. He is also noted by the TSHA to have contributed to the confederate a safe passage of Texas cotton along the Rio Grande to Matamoros during the Union Occupation of Brownsville in 1864. Thompson also wrote that Benavides had also had a never-ending feud with Native Americans, but that the importance of Benavides was to create peace on the Texas-Mexico Border. Julia Wallace and Jorge A. Vela contributed to this report. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says no fewer than 8,000 health workers have been infected with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Africa Region. WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, disclosed this on its official Twitter account @WHOAFRO on Tuesday. This is why Infection Prevention Control (IPC) awareness is vital for all. WHO and partners have trained more than 50,000 health workers to protect themselves and patients. The organisation aims to reach over 200,000 in 2020, it said. South Africa is the hardest-hit country by COVID-19 with 287,796 confirmed cases and 4,172 deaths, followed by Nigeria with 33,153 cases and 774 deaths while Ghana reported 24,988 cases with 139 deaths. Meanwhile, the WHO Africa weekly bulletin on outbreaks and other emergencies for week 28, which cover July 6 to July 12 and focused on COVID-19, stated the rising cases of the virus in Ghana. It said Ghana had the third-highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region in the period, but still fewer deaths. However, as with many other countries in the region, lockdown regulations started to be relaxed in mid-June 2020, allowing schools and universities to re-open, and gatherings of up to 100 people for funerals and weddings. At the same time, there is a rise in numbers of confirmed cases, including at senior high schools. Community engagement and risk communication around physical distancing, the use of cloth masks in public and hand hygiene is now vital in order to stem this rise in transmission, WHO said. According to the report, the first two cases of COVID-19 in Ghana were confirmed on March 12, 2020 in two people, who had returned to Accra from Norway and Turkey. It stated that Greater Accra, Ashanti and Upper West regions all recorded cases in March 2020 and remained the most affected areas in the country. The number of new cases has been increasing rapidly in recent weeks. As of July 12, there was a cumulative total of 24,518 confirmed cases, with 139 deaths (case fatality ratio 0.6 per cent). Of the new daily cases, 65 per cent are reported from Greater Accra, 10 per cent from Ashanti and 10 per cent from Western regions. Routine surveillance accounts for 35 per cent of new cases, while enhanced surveillance through contact tracing and quarantined travellers accounts for 65 per cent of new cases. As of July 12, a total of 421 (17 per cent) confirmed cases had been reported among health workers. As of July 3, a total of 316,798 tests had been carried out, with a positivity rate of 6.3 per cent and laboratory testing rate at 107 per 10,000 population per capita, it stated. WHO said the attack rate nationally was 70 per 100,000 population, but higher in Greater Accra Region at 239 per 100,000 population. The rate at Western Region was put at 87.2 per 100,000 population and Ashanti Region at 78.1 per 100,000 population. All 16 regions of the country have recorded cases and the median attack rate for the regions is 16 per 100,000 population. To date, a total of 20,187 (82 per cent) cases have been recorded as recovered in Ghana, the organisation said. (NAN) Advertisements Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:02:19|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Thai army officer was on Tuesday killed in a bomb blast in Thailand's restive southern province of Pattani, said Maj-General Piyapong Wongchan, Commander of Pattani Special Task Force. Piyapong also ordered road blocks and passages sealed to prevent another incident. An explosives ordnance disposal team, which was dispatched to secure the area after the blast, found the shrapnel-ridden body of the Thai army officer on the ground two meters away from the explosion. Piyapong said that an investigation revealed that six soldiers were on patrol in the area to make it safe for school teachers to travel through when a group of insurgents triggered a detonator. The five-kilogram bomb that was hidden in the ground exploded, instantly killing the officer. The Thai military on July 8 warned all residents and Buddhist communities in Thailand's deep south to exercise extra caution and watch out for strangers, as security authorities are bracing for possible attacks by southern insurgents. More than 7,000 people have died in violence across the various provinces and districts that make up Thailand's mainly Muslim and Malay-speaking southern border region since the separatist insurgency reignited in 2004. Enditem BAD AXE The Huron County Board of Commissioners will hold its meeting this week at the Huron County Expo Center at 9 a.m. on Thursday July 16 on Soper Road in Bad Axe. The Commissioners previously held a meeting at that location in March, when the coronavirus pandemic first hit Huron County. Executive Assistant Jodi Essenmacher said the meeting is at the Expo Center so commissioners and everyone attending could spread out more. The Expo Center was taken today, Essenmacher said about the meeting being on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday. During the last commissioners meeting, the first fully in-person meeting since March, a member of the public was unhappy with how the commissioners were holding their meeting in the County buildings conference room where there were no social distancing measures in place, how there were no remote access capabilities, and how none of the commissioners were wearing face coverings during the meeting. This meeting also will not have remote access capabilities, with Chairman Sami Khoury having previously made known his dislike of the Zoom conferencing application. Some of the actions to be discussed and voted on this week include electing and appointing members to the Land Bank Authority Board, Mental Health Services Board, and the Jury Commission, whether to grant hazard pay stipends to Sheriffs Office employees, and whether to sign an agreement with the Michigan Statewide Authoritative Imagery and LiDAR Program agreement with the state. Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Bern, 13.07.2020 - At a meeting on Friday 10 July, representatives of participating states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) decided not to reappoint four officials currently holding senior positions within the OSCE, including Swiss Secretary General Thomas Greminger. Switzerland regrets this decision and calls for a speedy resolution of the issue. The 57 OSCE participating states could not reach consensus on the reappointment of four senior officials last Friday. In addition to Secretary General Thomas Greminger, the officials concerned are Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir, Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the High Commissioner on National Minorities Lamberto Zannier and the Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir. Switzerland calls for a speedy resolution The decision can be attributed to the interplay of various factors relating to the posts and specific concerns raised by some participating states. At a meeting on Monday 13 July the participating states also failed to agree on the temporary reappointment of incumbents until December 2020. Their current terms are therefore due to expire on 18 July. Switzerland regrets this decision and, in particular, the circumstances that produced this outcome. The OSCE is facing an institutional crisis and it is essential that it shows a strong united front by rapidly clarifying these leadership roles. Switzerland will therefore continue to work towards a rapid resolution of these important personnel matters. Switzerland supports Thomas Greminger Before the selection procedure commenced, Switzerland advocated at various political levels the reappointment of the four officials. A number of bilateral meetings have been held and several demarches issued both within and outside Switzerland, for example by President of the Swiss Confederation Simonetta Sommaruga, Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, State Secretary Krystyna Marty Lang and State Secretary Roberto Balzaretti. Despite the difficult circumstances, Switzerland has therefore acted constructively in support of all four officials. Swiss Secretary General Thomas Greminger has done an excellent job over the last three years and has enjoyed the active support of Switzerland throughout his term of office. The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has been liaising closely with him and other OSCE participating states to determine how to proceed. The four posts will now be advertised by Albanias OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. The OSCE is now at the start of a long process to appoint new officials or, if possible, reappoint the officials already in post. Participating states can nominate candidates for the four posts by mid-September. The relevant decisions will be made at the OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in December. Address for enquiries FDFA Communication Federal Palace West Wing CH-3003 Bern, Switzerland Tel. Communication service: +41 58 462 31 53 Tel. Press service: +41 58 460 55 55 E-mail: kommunikation@eda.admin.ch Twitter: @SwissMFA Publisher Federal Department of Foreign Affairs https://www.eda.admin.ch/eda/en/home.html After surviving a Nazi assassination attempt, a horror plane crash and breast cancer an 'indestructible' 99-year-old has cheated death again - this time over coronavirus. Dementia sufferer Joy Andrew contracted Covid-19 at her care home Minster Grange with nurses placing her on end of life care - after others perished. But days after daughter Michele Andrew, 57, visited to say her 'final farewell', Joy began to rally, Care home staff watched on in disbelief over the subsequent weeks and months as she recalled the wartime spirit to 'miraculously defeat' the bug. Joy Andrew, left, with niece Toni Harrison, centre, and daughter Michele Andrew, right Now she is continuing her recovery as friends and family look forward to a big celebration on November 22, when she turns 100. Michele said: 'My mum has always been a very feisty woman. 'She takes things in her stride, like a lot of people from her generation who lived through the war tend to do. 'She carries those characteristics with her to this day and I think it is those which saw her through the last few months. 'She certainly wasn't going to let coronavirus defeat her. 'Unfortunately my mother's dementia prevents her from recognising her achievement. Joy Andrew with her husband Squadron Leader David Andrew MBE AFC pictured in the 1950s 'However, her family join me in celebrating her recovery.' Joy was born and raised in north London in the 1920s before joining the Women's Auxiliary Air Force as a sergeant during the war, where she served in the Operations' Room at Bomber Command. RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. It's most well remembered for the central role it played in the strategic bombing of Germany in World War II. After the war Joy joined the British Army of The Rhine, an occupation force in Germany created after both the first and second world wars. She was posted to Dusseldorf where she lodged with an elderly couple who she became very friendly with, but who had a daughter who was a Nazi. Joy Andrew in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force pictured in the 1940s in York According to Michele, while in Germany, Joy, who was from a German Jewish family, was allocated a driver to take her wherever she wanted to go. Michele said: 'This included a trip to Berlin, where she wandered alone in the remains of the Reichstag. 'She also went to the Nuremberg Trials... this was obviously important to her.' She added: 'One day the driver picked her up and, en route to the destination, deliberately crashed the car in an attempt to kill her. 'She still bears the scar on her face from the assassination attempt. The driver was arrested and turned out to be a Nazi.' After the war Joy joined the British Overseas Airways Corporation as one of the first air hostesses, which saw her travel internationally, especially in Africa. Joy Andrews celebrating her 99th birthday last year with her family in the care home Michele said: 'One day the pilot made a dreadful mistake and flew off course, running out of fuel. 'The plane, a comet, crashed in Libya and broke upon impact. 'The crew survived but one passenger died. They were all stranded in the desert and rescued by Bedouins - a nomadic Arab of the desert.' Soon after that, in the 1950s, Joy married husband David Andrew, a Squadron Leader in the RAF, and in 1963 the couple adopted Michele. In the 1970s Joy defeated breast cancer and she spent the subsequent decades as a housewife before David sadly succumbed to cancer himself in 2013. Michele then moved her mum up from St Albans to North Yorkshire. Despite suffering from dementia, Joy had lived at Minster Grange happily until she tested positive for Covid-19 on May 16, two weeks before Michele was told her mum was on end of life care. She said: 'She wasn't speaking, eating or drinking. Her oxygen levels were fluctuating wildly. I went in to bid my mother a final farewell. 'This was not the first death-bed speech I'd been called in to make, but I was sure it would be the last. 'For the next two days her life hung in the balance as she was nursed by a team. 'One of Joy's carers courageously returned to work after contracting coronavirus... I admire her bravery.' Michele added: 'My mother survived an assassination attempt in post war Germany by her chauffeur, later identified as a Nazi, she survived a crash landing in the desert as one of BOAC's first air hostesses, and was rescued by Bedouins, and she survived breast cancer. She certainly wasn't going to let coronavirus defeat her.' Joy doesn't have any grandchildren but is beloved by her two nieces, four great nephews and nieces and thirteen great, great nephews and nieces. Michele plans to bring the family together for a celebration of Joy's 100th birthday later this year. REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In its ongoing mission to make video conferencing ubiquitous, Highfive today announced it has signed a new distribution agreement with Polaris Communications, a North Melbourne, Australia-based company that designs, manufactures and distributes business communications and collaboration products and services. As more knowledge workers are working remotely and from home, the new agreement will help provide business continuity with video conferencing solutions that greatly improve the ease, quality, and security of video conferencing for business customers in the APAC (Asia-Pacific) region. As part of the distribution agreement, Polaris will serve as the distributor of choice for Highfive's web conferencing and meeting room solutions in Australia and New Zealand. Highfive's web conferencing plans include Starter, Advanced and Premier: Highfive Starter is ideal for smaller remote teams so they can easily connect and collaborate; Highfive Advanced is perfect for businesses requiring more robust features to connect with colleagues, partners and customers; and Highfive Premier is designed to enhance productivity for larger groups of remote teams, providing a full suite of collaboration tools. Highfive's meeting room solutions, Select, Plus and Premium, include everything a business needs to convert their meeting rooms into smart spaces, providing seamless experiences for end users regardless of their location or device. "More businesses are allowing their employees to work from home or remote and we believe this trend will continue for the foreseeable future," said Matthew Borchert, Strategic Sales Director at Polaris Communications. "We're thrilled that we can enhance our business portfolio by offering Highfive's cloud-based web conferencing software and meeting room solutions to our valued business customers across the APAC region. Together with Highfive, we've got our customers covered from their living rooms to their meeting rooms." Running on AWS and the Google Cloud Platform, Highfive was born in the cloud. The company's WebRTC-based native cloud video platform was specifically built for easy, reliable, and secure business communications and collaboration. As a result, Highfive provides end users with simple, one-tap connections from any device, while its partnership with Dolby delivers "like you're there" experiences. Additionally, all Highfive data is fully encrypted, providing secure business continuity and keeping meetings safe and secure. Polaris business customers can trust Highfive's domain-based security and privacy approach to keep unwanted visitors from "bombing" their meetings, and Highfive never shares customer data with any third parties. "We're delighted to be partnering with Polaris to provide Highfive, the highest quality, most easy to use, and affordable video conferencing solutions ideally suited for small- to medium-size businesses," said Richard Borenstein, Chief Revenue Officer at Highfive. "This partnership gives Highfive greater reach across the globe, while providing our products, services and customer support to a region starving for high-quality video conferencing that's simple to use, highly secure, and provides the necessary collaboration tools and workflows workers need to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently." About Polaris Australian owned and operated for 35 years, Polaris is pioneering a path in business communications and collaboration for the APAC and European marketplaces. An innovative, forward-thinking company, Polaris always is striving to achieve the very best in all areas of our business. The company holds its position as a telecommunications market leader by building a reputation for consistent high quality and constant innovation, both in product design and service delivery. Headquartered in North Melbourne, Australia, Polaris has representatives in every Australian state, plus New Zealand and Europe. Visit www.polaris.com.au for more information. About Highfive Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Highfive has reimagined meetings for businesses worldwide. We've improved the ease and quality of business communications and collaboration so teams are empowered to focus on what's important and get their best work done. Using open-source Web-based communication platforms and protocols, integrating with enterprise-grade workflows, and delivering crystal-clear audio with high-definition video, we're providing our business customers with exceptional full-stack video conferencing solutions. From the living room to the meeting room, and all the way to the executive boardroom, we've got you covered. For more information, visit www.highfive.com. SOURCE Highfive Related Links https://highfive.com Karnataka 2nd PUC Result has been declared by the Pre University Education (PUE) department of Karnataka. The pass percentage of class 12 students is 69.20 per cent this year. Karnataka PUC result 2020 for class 12 has been released at puc.kar.nic.in and karresults.nic.in. 69.20 per cent of students have passed Karnataka 2nd PUC exams. 76.2% of students of Science stream have passed the exams, 65.52 per cent students of Commerce and 41.27 per cent students of Arts have passed the class 12 examination in Karnataka. The pass percentage of girls is 68.73 per cent while that of boys is 54.73 per cent. Students do not have to visit the school to collect their results, results will be directly sent through SMS. The Karnataka Pre-University Education Board officially announced on Sunday that it will release the results on July 14 i.e. today. Although before Monday, assumptions were being made that the result would be out on 20th July. Results got a little delayed this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Students who appeared in the Karnataka PUC Exam may check their result by following the given steps: 1. Go to the online portal of the Board karresults.nic.in. 2. On the landing page, open the Karnataka 2nd PUC Result link. 3. Fill in the necessary details and click/tap on Submit once done. 4. Your result will be displayed. Around 6.6 lakh students gave the Karnataka 2nd PUC Examination in 2019. The average pass percentage last year was 61.73%. This year, more than 6 lakh students gave the examination. Also read: Delhi University Admissions 2020: College cut-offs likely to be higher this year Also read: West Bengal HS result 2020 by July 31, distribution of certificates and marksheets on result day This year the result got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic otherwise the Karnataka 2nd PUC result is usually released in the month of April. This exam is organized by the higher secondary education department in Karnataka and the department is called Pre University Education (PUE) department. Also read: Maharashtra SSC, HSC Board Result 2020: Class 12 results likely by this week, Class 10 by July end For all the latest Education and Jobs News, download NewsX App NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. ("Oppenheimer") - a leading investment bank, wealth manager and a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings (NYSE: OPY) - today announced that Jarl Berntzen has joined the Firm's Global Technology Investment Banking Group as a Managing Director with a primary focus on providing strategic advisory services to companies in the vertical SaaS and data services markets. Berntzen will be based in San Francisco, reporting to Robin Graham, Head of Technology, Media, and Communications Investment Banking. Berntzen is another addition to an extensive list of experienced investment banking professionals recently hired to cover the software sector. "We're extremely pleased to welcome Jarl to our Global Technology franchise. His deep technical expertise and focus on providing software companies with sophisticated advice in maximizing shareholder value through exits to both strategic and private equity buyers is a valuable addition to our senior investment banking team. Having worked alongside Jarl for several years early in our careers I am only too aware of the breadth and depth of his advisory and operating experience and how Oppenheimer's clients will benefit as a result," said Graham in welcoming remarks. Berntzen joins Oppenheimer with almost thirty years of experience in strategic M&A advisory and corporate development across numerous technology verticals. He spent more than a decade in the mergers & acquisitions department at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and later led the M&A group at ThinkEquity Partners, a national full service technology focused investment bank where he advised a broad range of fast growing technology companies. In addition, he has extensive corporate development experience from both Rambus, Inc. and Dolby Laboratories, Inc., where he was Head of Corporate Development, executing and evaluating a range of public and private technology investment and acquisition opportunities. Immediately prior to joining Oppenheimer, Berntzen held the role of Managing Director at a boutique investment banking firm where he focused on vertical SaaS, data and other cloud- based services, mobile technology, and e-commerce platforms and marketplaces. "The disruptive impact of cloud based vertical SaaS applications as well as the exponentially growing applicability and usage of data, is driving massive strategic changes across most legacy industries, resulting in unprecedented strategic transformations and value creation. I am extremely excited about continuing working with exciting disruptive and fast growing companies by leveraging Oppenheimer's exceptional full-service platform and extensive range of capabilities in providing strategic M&A advice and capital raising services to our clients." Berntzen holds both a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. degree in Economics and Business Administration (Finance) from Copenhagen Business School and attended an international student exchange program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer), a principal subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (OPY on the New York Stock Exchange), and its affiliates provide a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage and investment banking services to high net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions. Media Contact: Michael Dugan or Mitch Manning [email protected] or [email protected] 424-317-4852 or 424-317-4858 SOURCE Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. After the United States government moved to sanction Chinese officials for alleged human rights violations against Uighurs in the province of Xinjiang, Beijing has responded by announcing their sanctions of top US Republicans. China's retaliation against the US According to BBC, included in the list of affected officials are Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, two outspoken critics of China who have previously expressed their disapproval of Beijing's actions. However, the exact nature of the sanctions remains unclear. The accusations against China state that the nation has been abusing and unjustly detaining its Muslim minorities residing in Xinjiang but Beijing has since denied the allegations stating it treated the Uighurs according to the law. Rubio is a senator in Florida while Cruz represents Texas and the pair have previously gone against United States President Donald Trump in 2016 for the Republication presidential nomination. Beijing also sanctioned Christ Smith, a Republican Congressman, Sam Brownback from International Religious Freedom, as well as the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China. China's foreign ministry announced that the sanctions were placed as retaliation for the US government's wrongdoing against the Chinese nationals. Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing is urging the US to immediately revert its sanctions on the Chinese officials and cease all criticisms and interference against China's domestic affairs that result in the deterioration of the country's reputation. Hua did not detail the nature of the sanctions but noted that Chinese officials would base their next actions depending on how the US will react and move regarding the situation. Also Read: Pressure Mounting on US as China, Iran Moves Closer to Trade and Military Partnership China's alleged human rights violations In response to China's actions, the US Treasury issued a statement on Friday saying the Chinese nationals that have been sanctioned are individuals who were found to have been involved in severe human rights violations against Uighurs in Xinjiang, as reported by The Guardian. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, previously reassured the US would not leave China to its devices in threatening the lives of its residents. The accusations state that China has detained more than one million Muslim Uighurs in re-education camps within the Xinjiang region. Beijing has said the camps were used as vocational training centers that aim to reduce terrorism. Families and investigators claim that individuals who are kept within the camps are forced to denounce their language and religion as well as have their children transferred to orphanages. German research last week revealed that Chinese authorities were forcing sterilization of Uighur women in an attempt to curb their population, as reported USA Today. The sanctioned Chinese officials include the Communist Party's Chen Quanguo, who is considered to be the maker of Beijing's anti-Uighur policies. Quanguo, along with other officials that have been punished, has had their visa banned and their US assets were frozen. In recent weeks, US-China tensions have been rising due to a number of incidents including trade deals, the coronavirus pandemic, and Beijing's passing of controversial new security law in Hong Kong that undermines the political freedom of the city's residents. Related Article: Coronavirus Cover-Up: Chinese Virologist Speaks Out About China Allegedly Hiding COVID-19 Intel @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. 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. Vote View Results Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:12:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said Tuesday that it will never allow any illegal manipulation in the Legislative Council (LegCo) election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The spokesperson condemned the so-called "primaries" recently organized by the opposition camp in Hong Kong, saying that such acts have constituted illegal manipulation of the LegCo election and posed a blatant challenge to the HKSAR Basic Law and the national security law for the HKSAR. The spokesperson expressed resolute support for punishing such illegal acts in accordance with the law. Enditem [July 14, 2020] Vyopta Accelerates Growth as Video and Unified Communications are now Critical AUSTIN, Texas, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vyopta, the leading provider of UC monitoring and analytics, today announced significant growth in revenue, customers, talent, and product innovation since it announced $7.5 million in funding from Elsewhere Partners in 2019. As enterprises around the world dramatically increased the use of UC as a Service (UCaaS), especially video conferencing, to collaborate, Vyopta's sales grew by over 60% year over year in Q2 2020. The company expanded its team in several key areas and added leading Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies to its customer base. Vyopta also rolled out many major product and platform enhancements, expanded coverage of major UC vendors, including Zoom, Microsoft, Cisco, BlueJeans by Verizon, Pexip, and more. "The coronavirus crisis has accelerated the adoption of remote work, telemedicine, and distance learning," said Alfredo Ramirez, CEO of Vyopta. "For the first time, CEOs and other C-Suite executives need to ensure that UC technology is being proactively monitored and managed in order to attain planned business outcomes." Customer and Team Growth Enterprises and large organizations gravitated to Vyopta to optimize UC across multiple platforms. In the past year, many of the world's largest organizations started using Vyopta and the company counts over 70 of the Global 2000 and over 30 of the Fortune 500 as customers. Some of Vyopta's key customer industries include finance, federal government, technology, healthcare, education, and pharmaceutical, including several enterprises pursuing a vaccine for Covid-19. Vyopta invested in strategic hiring growth over the past 12 months, with a focus on Customer Success, Sles, and Marketing. Dan Rourke, who previously held leadership positions at Spredfast (now Khoros) and HomeAway (now Expedia) joined the company as Vice President of Customer Success and tripled the size of that team. The company also hired Spiceworks (now Spiceworks Ziff Davis) veteran Jonathan Sass to lead the Product Management organization. Product Innovation Key product enhancements over the past 12 months include: Launched and significantly enhanced Vyopta's standalone Workspace Insights product (formerly known as Room Insights). Workspace Insights helps track room utilization, reduce inefficient usage, and optimize real estate and technology investments, including supporting social distance reporting and alerts in the office. product (formerly known as Room Insights). Workspace Insights helps track room utilization, reduce inefficient usage, and optimize real estate and technology investments, including supporting social distance reporting and alerts in the office. Expanded UC monitoring and analytics for Enterprise Voice , improving performance management and troubleshooting of voice services with added support of SIP and ISDN gateways (e.g., Session Border Controllers). , improving performance management and troubleshooting of voice services with added support of SIP and ISDN gateways (e.g., Session Border Controllers). Introduced the next generation of its Collaboration Performance Management (CPM) platform . The latest offering enables support for UC and IoT data, machine learning insights, Big Data processing across voice and video environments, and more. . The latest offering enables support for UC and IoT data, machine learning insights, Big Data processing across voice and video environments, and more. Increased coverage of our performance management platform by additional support for Lifesize, Dolby Voice, Poly endpoints and Pexip and Cisco Infrastructure. Added functionality to better support remote work including increased analytics and monitoring around UCaaS providers (including Microsoft and Zoom), and deeper monitoring capabilities around mobile and remote access. About Vyopta Incorporated Vyopta is a leading provider of Collaboration Performance Management and meeting room insights solutions. With coverage that spans video, voice, and messaging from Zoom, Microsoft, Cisco, Pexip, BlueJeans by Verizon, Slack, Google, Poly and more, Vyopta helps companies improve quality of experience, accelerate workplace transformation and optimize investments across UC and conference rooms. Vyopta monitors and analyzes over 10 billion meeting minutes annually across the largest enterprises in the world, including Workday, AstraZeneca, Stanford University, Shared Services Canada and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vyopta-accelerates-growth-as-video-and-unified-communications-are-now-critical-301092426.html SOURCE Vyopta Inc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] 14.07.2020 LISTEN The Chief Executive Officer of Leverage Microfinance Company Limited, (LMC) Mr. Gilbert K.N. Adamtey, has shared some insights into the continued existence and progress of their financial institution after operating for 9 years. The CEO of LMC has stated that after surviving the banking sector clean-up, LMC is still growing stronger through solid structures initiated and by involving its independent corporate governance board in some instances of make-or-break decisions. Experience has proven that corporate governance cannot be executed by an individual only but by people who are experts in diverse fields pertaining to the management of well-established businesses. That is why it is important to involve and blend people from the business sector, legal, accountants among others as your independent corporate governance board to help your business succeed, he said. "This is a group made up of very independent-minded banking and finance advisors who will tell you in plain language when you are taking a wrong step or path, unlike other instances where what the CEO says is final. This is what has contributed to the progress of our company as we don't do anything without the boards consent; we always involve them in our business," he said. The CEO of LMC made this known when he and his team appeared on Accra-based Kasapa FM breakfast show recently. "If you don't understand the operations of a particular business, you have no business financing it, and NOT all loans are suitable to be managed by every finance institution. You cant be situated in Accra and finance a Galamsey business in Tarkwa with the perception that the mining sector is a fat cash cow," LMC Boss diagnosed the problem. He indicated that the microfinance sector is one that is supporting a lot of businesses and livelihoods so people should be circumspect when setting up microfinance businesses by focusing on the core mandate. Before setting up such a financial service there is the need to put in place checks, controls, and competent independent corporate governance structure. It has been proven over time that we need to have localized businesses and truly speaking these localized indigenous businesses require most of us in the microfinance sector to help them progress and get to the top. The regulator has done its part with the financial sector cleanup, I would, therefore, like to assure customers that there is still hope in those of us left in the microfinance business he said. According to him, coming from a very familiar banking sector with richer experience gained, he was aware of most of the challenges so his outfit put in place a very competent Independent Corporate Governance Board from the onset which has helped to shape the affairs and direction of Leverage Microfinance. He went on to add that a lot of financial institutions in an attempt to satisfy the regulators requirements fix their friends and families on the business during the registration at the Registrar-General as Directors and they end up collapsing because they take their own decisions and do things in ways they deem fit. "Most of these financial institutions who were affected by the recent banking sector cleanup were as a result of these cronyism, family and friends business where people approved loans among others for themselves. Nobody is allowed to put the CEO in check and mostly these people do not involve their corporate governance board in what they do," Mr. Gilbert K.N. Adamtey lamented. Leverage Microfinance is assuring the general public of its readiness to assist individuals and other corporate bodies in acquiring loan facilities to meet their economic and other business or personal needs. About Leverage Microfinance Leverage Microfinance is a limited liability company legally registered under the Companies Act 1963 (Act 179) of Ghana, as a non bank financial institution. LMC has obtained its full operating license from the Central Bank of Ghana to operate as a tier II financial institution. Currently, its Head Office is located at Dansoman Sakaman, Ave Maria Junction, Poultry Farm Avenue in Accra providing financial solutions and services such as loans (business and personal), investments (student lever entrepreneurial investment plus) savings, among others. Leveragemake it happen!!! Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has held a phone call with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to congratulate him on the ruling party's victory in the parliamentary elections and invite him to Ukraine, the press service of the head of state has reported. "I would like to congratulate you on a convincing victory in the parliamentary elections to the Croatian Sabor," Zelensky said, wishing Plenkovic a speedy conclusion of coalition talks and the formation of a new government. Both sides discussed measures taken in Ukraine and Croatia to minimize the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on citizens, especially given the peak tourist season. Zelensky expressed support for Croatian citizens affected by the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and wished a speedy recovery to all those who are ill. Zelensky also called on Plenkovic to unite efforts for proper coordination and information about possible changes in the procedure for Ukrainian citizens crossing the border. In particular, there were recent changes that require Ukrainian tourists to undergo 14-day observation or take a PCR test two days before arriving in Croatia. "I am grateful for the understanding of the need to review the conditions for Ukrainian tourists introduced in connection with COVID-19. Croatia has become a tourist 'magnet' for our citizens," he said. He also congratulated Croatia on the completion of its first presidency of the Council of the European Union. In particular, he noted the holding of a video meeting of the Eastern Partnership during the Croatian presidency. "I believe that the next EU-Ukraine summit will turn over a new leaf in our cooperation. In particular, we expect Croatia to continue to support Ukraine's European integration aspirations," Zelensky said. Plenkovic, in turn, emphasized Croatia's strong support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations and the country progressing on the path of reforms. Zelensky also briefed Plenkovic on the security situation in Donbas and the implementation of the agreements reached at the Normandy Four summit in Paris in December 2019. Plenkovic also extended his condolences over the death of Ukrainian servicemen in Donbas. Zelensky thanked the Croatian side for its traditional support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. At the same time, Zelensky and Plenkovic agreed on the importance of maintaining the positive dynamics of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. "It is very important to ensure the regular work of the joint Ukrainian-Croatian commission on economic cooperation," Zelensky said. Both sides agreed to hold the commission's second meeting in Kyiv. According to the presidential press service, Plenkovic said he would be glad to visit Kyiv at the invitation of the president of Ukraine and invited Zelensky to pay a visit to Croatia. op BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Turkmenistan has introduced mandatory wearing of masks in public places, Trend reports with reference to the Arzuw NEWS information portal. It is also mandatory to wear masks for drivers of vehicles, regardless of the form of ownership of the vehicle and the number of passengers. The wearing of masks has become mandatory as a preventive measure against the spread of infectious diseases. It should be noted that currently Turkmenistan is hosting World Health Organization mission, which arrived on July 6, 2020. Turkmenistan presented its program to fight infectious diseases to experts of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe). The Turkmen side noted that the country follows the WHO recommendations and is currently implementing a program to ensure preparedness for countering and responding to infectious diseases, said the report. In addition, Turkmenistan is currently working with UN agencies to develop a third national plan that covers the humanitarian component of the country's measures to combat COVID-19. To the date, Turkmenistan has reported no coronavirus cases. The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019. The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva CANBERRA, Australia - Queen Elizabeth IIs office assured her representative in Australia he had the power to bring down the Australian government a week before he took the extraordinary move in 1975 and created a political crisis, according to letters released Tuesday. The National Archives of Australia released more than 1,200 pages of letters and press clippings between Buckingham Palace and Governor-General Sir John Kerr from August 1974 to December 1977 after a court ruled in May that they could not be kept secret indefinitely. Kerr dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlams reforming centre-left Labor Party government on Nov. 11, 1975, to resolve a deadlock in Parliament on the authority of the queen, who is Australias head of state. The queens private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, wrote to Kerr on Nov. 4, 1975, that the monarchs power to dissolve a parliament had not been used in years and some argued that the power no longer existed. I do not believe this to be true, Charteris wrote. Charteris also wrote that if Kerr did what the constitution dictates, you cannot possible (sic) do the Monarchy any avoidable harm. The chances are you will do it good, Charteris said. Kerr did not tell the queen he had decided to remove Whitlam and replace him with opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as caretaker prime minister until after he had done it. I was of the opinion that it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, Kerr wrote on Nov. 11, immediately after taking the unprecedented step. The palace said the letters proved that the decision to dismiss the Whitlam government was Kerrs alone. While the Royal Household believes in the longstanding convention that all conversations between prime ministers, governor generals and the queen are private, the release of the letters ... confirms that neither Her Majesty nor the Royal Household had any part to play in Kerrs decision to dismiss Whitlam, a palace statement said. Charteris congratulated Kerr for not warning Whitman that he was considering bringing down his government. That could have put the queen in an impossible position if Whitlam tried to get her to fire Kerr while Kerr was trying to fire Whitlam. Kerr died in 1991. Charteris also revealed that Whitlam had telephoned him at 4:15 a.m. London time on Nov. 11 as a private citizen and said he should be recommissioned as prime minister so that he could choose the date of the next election. He spoke calmly and did not ask me to make an approach to the queen or indeed do anything other than the suggestion that I should speak to you and find out what was going on, Charteris wrote to Kerr on Nov. 17 . Sydney University constitutional law expert Anne Twomey said the letters undermined the theory that Whitlam had been brought down by the British royal family. The letters show that Whitlam had sought British intervention to keep him in power, she said. The only smoking gun is Whitlam himself trying to get reinstated, Twomey said. The only dismissal of an elected Australian government on the authority of a British monarch triggered a political crisis that spurred many to call for Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain and create a republic with an Australian president. Suspicions of a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency conspiracy persist. The release of the letters is a victory for historian and Whitlam biographer Jenny Hocking who has been trying for years to get access to them. Hocking said the head of a constitutional monarchy must at all times remain politically neutral. But she said she was startled by the level of discussion that had occurred between Kerr and Buckingham Palace over matters that were intensely and profoundly political. She described Charteris advice to Kerr on his powers and how they should be used as scandalous. The nature of the letters, the fact that a dismissal of an elected government took place using what are largely seen as arcane reserve powers of the Crown, and the fact ... we can now see such a depth of discussion between the Palace and the governor-general of the time will inevitably make people think about where we want to go as an independent, autonomous nation, Hocking said. Labour leader Anthony Albanese, Australias opposition leader, said the 1975 crisis reinforced the need for an Australian head of state instead of the British monarch. It is, I think, a blight on our character as a nation that a democratically elected government was dismissed, Albanese said. The action of the governor-general on Nov. 11 to dismiss a government, to put himself above the Australian people, is one that reinforces the need for us to have an Australian head of state, reinforces the need for us to stand on our own two feet, he added. A squirrel in Colorado has tested positive for the bubonic plague, also known as the "Black Death," according to local health authorities. The squirrel was found in a town in Jefferson County, which is west of Denver, and is the first case in the region, health authorities said in a statement released Sunday. The case comes about a week after authorities in a city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia issued a warning after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague in a human. There were at least four reported cases of plague in people from Inner Mongolia late last year, according to The New York Times. Two of them were pneumonic plague, a deadlier variant of plague. The bubonic plague, infamous for killing millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages, is an often fatal disease caused by bacteria. Humans usually get plague after being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an animal infected with plague, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms may include high fever, chills, headache, nausea and extreme pain and swelling of lymph nodes. The disease can cause serious illness or death without proper treatment, according to the CDC. Antibiotics are effective in treating it. Plague is found on most continents but most human cases since the 1990s have occurred in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. Local authorities in Colorado are asking residents to take precautions, including avoiding contact with sick or dead wild animals and rodents and keeping pets from roaming freely outside. Cats are highly susceptible to plague and may die if not treated promptly with antibiotics, they said. The new case comes as the world continues to fight Covid-19, another serious disease that emerged six months ago. As of Tuesday, the virus has infected more than 13 million people worldwide and killed at least 573,200, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, has compared it to the 1918 pandemic flu, which killed around 50 million people, according to the CDC. The new sheriff in town, Nairobi Metropolitan Service director-general Mohammed Badi, lived up to his promise to reclaim grabbed public land in the city when he stopped construction of a private property along 3rd Parklands Avenue. Accompanied by area MCA Jayendra Malde, Westlands MP Timothy Wanyonyi and police officers, Badi, who was dressed in full military wear, stormed the site on Monday, forcing workers to flee for their lives. Addressing area residents, Badi said his office had reclaimed the piece of land from a private developer and construction of a public hospital will begin soon. He said the land will be given back to the ministry of health next week. Hapa sasa ni kwenu (this is now your place), Badi told the locals. The successful recovery of the land with an estimated value of Ksh2 billion comes after the area MCA had sent a letter to Badi on April 27, 2020, informing him of the ongoing construction of high-rise apartments on the grabbed High Ridge Dispensary land. MCA Malde said he had written several letters to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over the matter but no decisive action had been taken. Following Badis successful intervention, the elated MCA said: After all these fights, we have our Highridge Clinic back. Westlands MP added: We toured the place today and as we have said several times this land was grabbedwe are happy Director General has come and assured us that it will be taken back to the public and next week we shall be here again to witness the same. Let me warn them(land cartels) that this is just a start if you know you are a grabber then start packing it will be business unusual we have marked you. New Delhi, July 14 : After the removal of Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress chief, many party leaders sided with him, recalling his work to strengthen the party. Pilot was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and relieved from the post of state unit chief along with two other Rajasthan Cabinet ministers by the party on Tuesday afternoon. Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Jitin Prasada took to Twitter and wrote, "Sachin Pilot is not just a colleague but my friend. No one can take away the fact that all these years he has worked with dedication for the party. Sincerely hope the situation can still be salvaged. Sad it has come to this..." Prasada and Pilot were ministers in the Congress-led UPA-2 government. Party spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill also tweeted, "Unfortunate and sad turn of events." Meanwhile, former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi urged Pilot not to be emotional and be patient. "My advice to Sachin Pilot is to be patient, not to be emotional. Having bright future your turn will come. I also had similar hurdles but ultimately patience helped. Better not to run after power which will come automatically. Ashok Gehlot may also give due recognition to Pilot," Gogoi said in a tweet. Earlier in the day, in a direct fallout of the Congress' political crisis over the leadership issue in Rajasthan, Pilot was divested of both the posts. Two other Pilot loyalists and ministers -- Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena -- were also removed from the council of ministers. State Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara was appointed the new Pradesh Congress Committee chief. Congress leaders had called two meetings on Monday and Tuesday and appealed to Pilot to attend these in order to pacify him. However, as he remained absent, disciplinary action was taken against him. -- Syndicated from IANS Predictions on forthcoming developments in the Libyan crisis fluctuate between escalation and de-escalation. In Egypt, the intensive land and naval manoeuvres conducted along its western borders recently give the impression of preparations in advance of an impending storm. But Egypts political/diplomatic actions to advance a return to the political process have been no less dynamic and energetic. The last UN Security Council (UNSC) session on Libya vividly demonstrated Egypts preference for a political solution, its desire to defuse the military escalation in Libya by halting the weapons and mercenaries that Turkey has been shipping to Libya, and backing for the peace-making role of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). Among the greatest threats emanating from Libya is the attempt of regional parties such as Turkey to impose realities on the ground that not only alter the military balance but also restructure the Libyan situation in a manner that threatens Egypts national security and the vital sphere that Cairo has identified as crucial to its national defence. If Ankara moves its armies of mercenaries and militias beyond the red line that Cairo has drawn from Sirte to Jufra, Egypt will have every right to act in self-defence. Informed sources have told Al-Ahram Weekly that because Egypt prefers to avoid offensive operations it has adopted a defensive posture conditional on the continual evaluation of developments. They add that while Egypt needs to consider a variety of military eventualities due to the likelihood of impetuous actions on the part of belligerent forces, it is simultaneously sustaining a focus on promoting the internationally agreed on political process. So far, Egypts preparations have remained within its borders even though, in the past, it has undertaken limited missions within the framework of self-defence and the protection of its national interests. According to the sources, Egypt will not intervene with its military machine outside the parameters which President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi underscored when discussing the Egyptian armys creed during his recent address in the Western Military Zone. Turkey, unfortunately, inclines in the opposite direction. It demonstrates its preference for military escalation with every shipload of weapons and every airplane full of jihadist mercenaries it sends to Libya, and every intimation of its intent to push beyond the Sirte-Jufra line. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has rejected a ceasefire proposal on behalf of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). In an interview with Haberturk TV, he said that the GNA would not benefit from a ceasefire along the current lines of combat and that it should advance to seize control of Sirte on the coast and the Jufra air base to the south before agreeing to a ceasefire. Libyan observers told the Weekly that militias are advancing from Misrata and Tripoli towards the Gulf of Sirte and towards the Ghardabiya and Jufra air bases. The Libyan National Army (LNA) is reinforcing its positions on its side of the lines. Libyan sources note that under the contentious agreement it signed with the GNA Ankara backed the GNA call for a withdrawal of the LNA to the 4 April 2019 lines (the date the LNA launched its operation to retake Tripoli) but that now it is speaking in terms of the 2015 lines. The sources see this as a clear sign that Ankara wants to get its hands on Libyan oil and, most immediately, the reserves and facilities protected by the LNA and Libyan tribes. Both the LNA and the tribes have issued statements last week indicating their willingness to reopen the oil terminals in accordance with a clear set of rules for the equitable distribution of the revenues of Libyas oil wealth between the three Libyan provinces (Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan). Although the economic track of the UN-sponsored political process has endorsed the principle of equitable distribution of wealth, Tripoli-based politicians want to monopolise it and distribute the resources in three directions: to Turkish banks (as was revealed recently by Ramzi Al-Agha, head of the liquidity department of the Libyan Central Bank, Al-Bayda Branch); in military expenditures (the GNA militias, arms purchases primarily from Turkish defence manufacturers and the mercenaries), and to cover the GNAs bureaucratic operating expenses, with no oversight mechanisms. With so much money to gain, what is holding Ankara back from giving the mercenaries/militias the green light? It has intimated that one reason is the Russian presence in Sirte and Jufra. Although Moscow has claimed it has no military presence on the ground in Libya, Turkish and US reports make frequent mention of the Wagner Group, a private military company they say is associated with the Russian Defence Ministry. Ankara is apparently afraid that the bill for any escalation in Libya will be presented to it in Idlib or elsewhere in Syria. On the other hand, Ankara has indicated that it is ready to back a GNA offensive, as if it had nothing to do with Tripolis decision-making processes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has made it clear that Moscow knows where GNA decisions are made when he pointed out that the GNA, not the LNA, is the party that refuses to talk. Some observers believe Russia is holding its cards very close to its chest on the Libyan crisis. This has led them to predict a repetition of the Syrian situation: indirect escalation between Russian and Turkey using their proxies, after or during which Moscow and Ankara will work out arrangements and accommodations in the manner of the Sochi agreement. The US, which has grown increasingly ambivalent on the situation in Libya, also now appears willing to heighten tensions. On Sunday, the US Embassy in Libya released a statement claiming that it regrets that foreign-backed efforts against Libyas economic and financial sectors have impeded progress and heightened the risk of confrontation. It warned of isolation and the risk of sanctions against those who undermine Libyas economy and cling to military escalation, and denounced incursions by the Russian Wagner Group against the Libyan National Oil Company (NOC) facilities. It added that this, combined with mixed messages conceived in foreign capitals and conveyed by Haftars forces on 11 July, hurt all Libyans striving for a secure and prosperous future. Observers have interpreted this as a green light to the GNA to launch an offensive against Sirte if the oil facilities do not restart operations, and say it marks a reversal of the position the US adopted in a meeting with GNA military officials in Zuwara three weeks ago. According to a source familiar with that meeting, the US cautioned against a military operation that would target the Russians. The UAE stepped in to defuse the situation the day after the US embassy statement. On 13 July the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash underscored the importance of using oil revenues to benefit the Libyan people, and urged the reopening of the oil fields and facilities. On his Twitter account he stated, the UAE, alongside its partners, wants to see a return to oil production in Libya as soon as possible, with safeguards in place to prevent the proceeds fuelling further conflict. We continue to work for an immediate ceasefire and return to a political process. Despite this, escalation still appears to be winning over peace. Sirte is poised to be the threshold for the next round of warfare that will reshape the situation on the ground in Libya and the international power games and interplay surrounding the crisis. Sadly, it is the Libyan people who will continue to pay the price. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Recent photos of an old camel trekking to its old home after being sold over half a year earlier have pulled the heart strings of many herdsmen in north Chinas Inner Mongolia autonomous region. (Photo/People's Daily App) The camel was sold by its former owner in Qiandamen gacha (gacha is a village-level administrative area in Inner Mongolia), Huogeqi sumu (town), Wulatehou banner (county), Bayan Nur of Inner Mongolia to a herdsman who raises camels in Wugai sumu of Wulatehou banner last autumn. Unaccustomed to the new environment, the camel decided to embark on the journey back to its old owners home on June 27. (Photo/People's Daily App) The camel trekked across mountains and rivers, climbed over fences, and crossed expressways to get to its destination. After traveling more than 100 kilometers, the camel arrived at the house of a herdsman in Bayinwenduer gacha of Bayan Nur, scarred and wounded, on July 3. (Photo/People's Daily App) The kindhearted herdsman fed it grain and grass, dressed its wounds and let the camel live with the familys other camels before its owner came to collect it. The buyer in Wugai sumu soon found the camel and brought it back. (Photo/People's Daily App) (Photo/People's Daily App) The original owners of the old camel, Temuer and his wife Naren, were filled with sorrow and anxiety when they saw photos taken by a passerby showing the old camel walking home by itself. (Photo/People's Daily App) On June 8, the couple found the buyer and brought the old camel back to their home. They decided to take good care of it for the rest of its life. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Editorial Board (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 08:25 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666112ec 1 Editorial #Editorial,COVID-19,health-protocol,new-normal-in-Indonesia,crowd,social-distancing Free It is indeed a battle the country can hardly win. Even though the enforcement of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) has been far from consistent, the government and local administrations have marched into reopening public life to prevent further economic losses. And that is proving to be a failure, even for Jakarta, which had successfully curbed virus transmission for weeks. The capitals dense population and poor implementation of health protocol have become major hurdles for the reopening. Jakarta, which had been hardest hit by the outbreak, managed to slow the virus reproduction rate, leading to its decision last month to gradually reopen offices and business centers. But a surge in cases over the past week has shown that the capital has yet to get a grip on the virus, and crowds caused by the reopening may have contributed to the infection spike. As of Monday, Jakarta has recorded 14,797 cases with 697 deaths and 9,408 recoveries, making it the hardest-hit province after East Java. Governor Anies Baswedan said the share of people testing positive had doubled to 10.5 percent of the total number of people tested. The largest clusters come from hospitals, which accounted for about 45 percent of the cases, followed by local communities at 38 percent, while the rest came from traditional markets, migrant workers and offices. The significant rise in local communities has been discovered because public health centers (Puskesmas) have upped testing in residential areas, including the densely populated kampungs. Many of those who tested positive did not show any symptoms and would not have known about their status had the health officials not come to them. But mass testing does not adequately explain Jakartas drastic surge in infections. Unlike the central government, Anies said failure to practice physical distancing in public transportation and other public places was also to blame. He urged people to be cautious in public transportation and at traditional markets and to heed health protocol by wearing face masks, keeping a distance from others and frequently washing ones hands with soap. If virus transmission remains difficult to control, reinstatement of PSBB is a logical option. In the country with the fourth-largest population worldwide, crowds are a major problem in the transition to the so-called new normal. Several countries with large populations are failing to strictly implement health protocol. Records from Johns Hopkins University show that the United States, the third-most populous country, is now the nation most battered by the coronavirus, with 3.3 million cases and 135,000 deaths. Brazil, the seventh-most-populous country, has taken the second-hardest blow with 1.8 million cases and 72,000 deaths. India, the second-most populous nation, is in third spot with 878,000 cases and 23,000 deaths. It is very easy to blame people for not following health protocol, but it is best that governments, including in Indonesia, improve access to health and safety measures for people who may neglect the protocol. It is best to never take for granted that people can take care of themselves or the notion of herd immunity. This is going to be a long journey, and none of us know how it ends. Premier Brian Pallister seems to be struggling to understand what is meant by the term systemic racism (Premier coy on systemic racism stance, June 30). In this country, under our law, systemic discrimination, including systemic racism, has been recognized as a violation of our constitutional equality rights since 1989. It is the law of the land. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Opinion Premier Brian Pallister seems to be struggling to understand what is meant by the term "systemic racism" (Premier coy on systemic racism stance, June 30). In this country, under our law, systemic discrimination, including systemic racism, has been recognized as a violation of our constitutional equality rights since 1989. It is the law of the land. The premiers comments betray a narrow, moralizing understanding of how discrimination and racism persist, one that suggests that only deliberate bias toward racialized people or other disadvantaged groups counts as racism, and that only "a few bad apples" are responsible for the terrible inequalities in our province. But it is not just a few bad apples; we are all responsible for the systems and structures that perpetuate centuries of colonial violence. Systemic racism goes far beyond the intentional attitudes of white supremacy, to include the many ways we have structured our society that advantage some of us while leaving others behind. A couple of examples will illustrate how this works: Few, if any of us, would admit to wishing ill for our children or our grandparents; we are quick to affirm that we want the best for them. Sadly, the structures we have created to care for vulnerable kids and seniors have a harmful effect on many, and that effect is disproportionately felt by those who are already marginalized by gender, race, income and age. On July 3, the Royal Society of Canada released a report showing that 81 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in Canada have occurred in long-term care homes (Long-term care system failed elders, July 3) and stating that "systemic and deeply institutionalized implicit attitudes about age and gender" were at root of this failure. Both residents and staff in these homes are overwhelmingly women. The privatization and profit-seeking in many homes has led to chronic and severe understaffing. Workers, many of whom are racialized, are poorly paid, lack benefits and often have to work in several homes to accumulate full-time hours. This is systemic discrimination and racism. In Manitoba in 2014, the final report of the inquiry into the death of Phoenix Sinclair was published. Titled "The Legacy of Phoenix Sinclair: Achieving the Best for All Our Children," it documented extensive evidence of systemic racism within the systems that are intended to protect and promote the best interests of every child. Last month, a new study showed how these same systems have a disproportionately negative impact on Indigenous children, their families and their communities (Indigenous youth issues rooted in structural racism, June 9). Manitoba has one of the highest rates of children in the child welfare system in the world, and close to 90 per cent of those children are Indigenous. 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. The study shows that children who have been in the child-welfare system are more likely to end up charged with a crime than they are to finish high school. This not because anyone wants them to fail; it is because we have systems that, as noted by the TRC, destroy the family and community supports children need to thrive. This is systemic discrimination and racism. Our constitution should protect us all from actions of the state that are discriminatory. The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, recently reaffirmed this in his annual press conference on June 18 in Ottawa. He said, "Confronting injustice, wherever it shows itself, is a good and necessary thing to do The (Supreme]) Court in a decision last year noted that racialized communities have disproportionate levels of contact with police and the justice system, and they are more likely to have their rights violated or to be injured or killed in interactions with police. "These are hard facts, but they are facts. We also know that the Indigenous community has long suffered stereotyping, bias, and systemic discrimination." If we cannot recognize, and name, systemic racism and discrimination, we cannot begin to address the structural changes that are necessary to create a more just society. We need our leaders to understand this. It does not matter how well-intentioned we are if some of us are adversely impacted by our laws and institutions. We must look at how we provide care for our elders, and we must figure out how we can "achieve the best for all our children" and do better. Until we do, we will live in an unequal world that benefits some of us at the expense of the most vulnerable among us. Lorna Turnbull is a professor in the faculty of law at the University of Manitoba. Three Russian soldiers were injured after a roadside bomb exploded near their joint Turkish-Russian patrol in rebel-held northwest Syria, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday. The incident took place in southern Idlib province, where Russian and Turkish troops have been carrying out patrols along the strategic M4 highway connecting Aleppo and Latakia provinces. "On July 14, at about 8:50 Moscow time, an improvised explosive device detonated near the settlement of [Ariha], reported the Russian reconciliation center in Syria, as quoted by the TASS news agency. The Russian troops sustained light injuries and an unspecified number of Turkish troops were also injured in the blast. The wounded Russian soldiers were evacuated to the Khmeimim air base in Latakia for medical care, TASS reported. Following the incident, the joint patrolling was stopped [and] damaged vehicles are being evacuated, the ministry said. According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the explosion came despite the intensive sweeping operations by Turkish forces in the past 24 hours. The monitoring group reported that a new joint patrol set off from Trenbeh village in the eastern Idlib countryside. Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the war, established a jointly patrolled buffer region as part of a March cease-fire aimed at ending months of bloodshed in Syrias last rebel bastion. Prior to the truce, a Russia-backed air and ground campaign displaced roughly one million people in Idlib and sent scores fleeing to the closed Turkish border. Large parts of Idlib are controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which is an offshoot of al-Qaeda, a designated terrorist group by the United States and the United Nations Security Council and regularly cited for human rights violations in areas under its control. The Russian-backed Syrian offensive has left 500 civilians dead and pushed thousands deeper into poverty. MANISTEE -- After withdrawing his guilty plea last month, former funeral home manager Denis Johnson pleaded guilty again on Monday in Manistee County's 19th Circuit Court to different charges and now could see jail time. Johnson, 70, of Manistee, had previously pleaded guilty to four felony funeral contract conversion charges in January and then in return for the plea, he was expected to pay more than $200,000 in restitution and avoid a prison sentence in a tentative agreement between Johnson and the state's assistant attorney general Bryant Osikowicz. On Monday, during his second pre-trial conference, Johnson's attorney Patrick Dougherty and Osikowicz told Judge David Thompson that the two had reached a plea deal known as a Killebrew agreement. Johnson pleaded guilty to one count of funeral contracts conversion, which is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. In exchange, the prosecution agreed to dismiss identical counts 2, 3 and 4. "As part of that plea agreement the defendant has agreed to pay restitution to all victims of his activity that we could not charge due to statute of limitations issues. I'm working with defense council prior; we believe the amount outstanding is approximately $213,000," he said. "It's also my understanding that the defendant, the defense attorney has been holding that amount in escrow during these proceedings. So that amount will be payable upon sentencing date." As part of the plea agreement, sentencing recommendations include a maximum of 60 days in the Manistee County Jail, followed by probation, which may include electronic monitoring. Thompson pointed out to Johnson that the Michigan Supreme Court had previously determined "that in this instance, for example, if you were convicted of count 1 and the jury returned a not guilty verdict of counts 2, 3 and 4, I could not order restitution for counts 2, 3 and 4 or any of the other un-charged offenses that have been barred by the statute of limitations? Do you understand that? So that is something you are agreeing to do, believing it's the right thing to do?" Johnson responded that he understood. When Thompson asked Johnson to describe the events that are alleged to have occurred from May 1, 2014,to Aug. 31, 2014, in the City of Manistee, Johnson said, "I received funds from the individual to establish a funeral account, but the funds were placed into my business account with 30 days cancellation period, after which it was my intent to deposit into an escrow which did not happen. The funds ended up being used for business operations." Thompson pointed out that the crime of "conversion requires an element of intent" and asked Dougherty to assist his client. "At some point you made the decision to spend the money on business purposes and not to put it in escrow or put it in the proper fund? Is that correct?" Dougherty asked. To which Johnson agreed that was correct. Thompson said that the court recognizes that Johnson agrees "to pay restitution for alleged criminal behavior that the statute of limitations bars criminal prosecution for as well as dismissed conduct pursuant to the plea agreement and also the fact the state has entered into this Killebrew agreement in which there may be some jail imposed, it believes it proper to be bound by the sentence recommendation of the state. The court will at this time agree to the Kellebrew agreement reached by the state of Michigan and the defendant." Sentencing will be scheduled following the completion of a pre-sentencing report. SEE ALSO Former Manistee funeral manager plans to revoke guilty plea Judge grants motion to with draw guilty plea in Johnson case Former Manistee funeral manager to be sentenced Former funeral manager pleads guilty, agrees to more than $200,000 restitution US Judge Wants Clarity on Roger Stone Prison Commutation By Ken Bredemeier July 13, 2020 A U.S. judge in Washington on Monday ordered the government to explain the scope of President Donald Trump's commutation of the 40-month prison sentence she had imposed on his friend Roger Stone for political corruption. Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the parties in the case to produce Trump's executive order by Tuesday which he signed late last week to keep the 67-year-old Stone from being required to report to prison on Tuesday. Berman said she wants to see whether the commutation also covered a provision requiring Stone to report for two years of supervised probation after what would have been his term in prison. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters she did not "have the exact details" of Trump's commutation of Stone's sentence. But she called it "a very important moment for justice in this country" and served to correct what she called the "wrongdoing" of law enforcement officials who pursued prosecution of Stone. The commutation Trump granted Stone, a longtime political adviser, freed him from the prison term but did not wipe out his underlying convictions on seven charges, including witness tampering and lying to federal authorities linked to the lengthy investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election won by Trump. Trump, who long has dismissed allegations that Russia helped him win as "fake news," said he commuted Stone's sentence because Stone had been "treated very unfairly." The president blamed the jury forewoman and Jackson, saying Stone "should have had another trial." Prominent U.S. political figures have condemned Trump's commutation of Stone's prison sentence, saying it was a perversion of American justice. House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who oversaw impeachment proceedings against Trump late last year, said Trump's decision "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." Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, who lost the 2012 presidential election to former President Barack Obama, called Trump's commutation of Stone's sentence "unprecedented, historic corruption. An American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president." The clemency for Stone was only the 36th Trump has granted, with 180 denied. Many of those granted by Trump have been to his political supporters 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, Trump's six predecessors acted on hundreds or thousands of petitions for clemency. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Wayne Township schools will delay its reopening to Aug. 12 for the new school year. The original start date was July 29. The school board voted on the decision July 13. The move came the same day that Washington Township schools voted to continue with online learning for the start of the school year. All 11 Marion County school districts previously had a unified plan for reopening. The states largest district, Indianapolis Public Schools, still plans to reopen Aug. 3. Dr. Virgnia Caine, director of the county health department, said during an IPS town hall July 13 that its OK for schools to reopen. WASHINGTON (July 14, 2020)--Silver strands and graying hair is a sign of aging in humans, but things aren't so simple for our closest ape relatives--the chimpanzee. A new study published today in the journal PLOS ONE by researchers at the George Washington University found graying hair is not indicative of a chimpanzee's age. This research calls into question the significance of the graying phenotype in wild non-human species. While graying is among the most salient traits a chimpanzee has--the world's most famous chimpanzee was named David Greybeard--there is significant pigmentation variation among individuals. Graying occurs until a chimpanzee reaches midlife and then plateaus as they continue to age, according to Elizabeth Tapanes, a Ph.D. candidate in the GW Department of Anthropology and lead author of the study. "With humans, the pattern is pretty linear, and it's progressive. You gray more as you age. With chimps that's really not the pattern we found at all," Tapanes said. "Chimps reach this point where they're just a little salt and peppery, but they're never fully gray so you can't use it as a marker to age them." The researchers gathered photos of two subspecies of wild and captive chimpanzees from their collaborators in the field to test this observation. They visually examined photos of the primates, evaluated how much visible gray hair they had and rated them accordingly. The researchers then analyzed that data, comparing it to the age of the individual chimpanzees at the time the photos were taken. The researchers hypothesize there could be several reasons why chimpanzees did not evolve graying hair patterns similar to humans. Their signature dark pigmentation might be critical for thermoregulation or helping individuals identify one another. Dr. Brenda Bradley, an associate professor of anthropology, is the senior author on the paper. This research dates back to an observation Dr. Bradley made while visiting a field site in Uganda five years ago. As she was learning the names of various wild chimpanzees, she found herself making assumptions about how old they were based on their pigmentation. On-site researchers told her that chimps did not go gray the same way humans do. Dr. Bradley was curious to learn if that observation could be quantified. There has been little previous research on pigmentation loss in chimpanzees or any wild mammals, Dr. Bradley said. Most existing research on human graying is oriented around the cosmetic industry and clinical dermatology. "There's a lot of work done on trying to understand physiology and maybe how to override it," Dr. Bradley said. "But very little work done on an evolutionary framework for why is this something that seems to be so prevalent in humans." The researchers plan to build on their findings by looking at the pattern of gene expression in individual chimpanzee hairs. This will help determine whether changes are taking place at the genetic level that match changes the eye can see. This study comes ahead of World Chimpanzee Day on July 14. GW's faculty and student researchers make contributions to our global understanding of chimpanzees and primates as part of the GW Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology. Through various labs, investigators study the evolution of social behavior in the chimpanzees and bonobos, the evolution of primate brain structure, and lead on-the-ground projects at the Gombe Stream Research Center in Tanzania. Dr. Bradley's lab is also currently working on research about color vision and hair variation in lemurs. ### Euro-Med trading trends Published 14 July 2020 Since 2012 the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea have suffered from various challenges, including economic crises, increasing migration flows and Islamism, wars, political instability, oil price fluctuations and now the COVID-19 pandemic. This uncertainty has affected construction activity in most Mediterranean countries. With growing CO 2 concerns and stronger EU-related regulations, regional cement producers are not playing in international markets with the same cards: non-EU players are being favoured over European counterparts. At a time when the cement industry is facing some vital challenges, how has cement and clinker trade from Euro-Mediterranean countries evolved over the last two years and what can we expect in 2020? By DSG Consultants, France. Since the early 2010s, Mediterranean countries have experienced surplus cement supply, starting with southern Europe, then north Africa and Turkey. Due to unfavourable economic and political factors, private and public investment has decreased, affecting cement demand in these countries as well. Therefore, exports have become compulsory for cement players to survive and maintain a national industrial network. To continue reading this story and get access to all News, Articles and Video sections of the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login A man who the authorities say drove into a group of Black people at a Southern California hotel, injuring one person, has been accused of a hate crime, prosecutors said on Monday. The man, Dennis Wyman, 42, of Redondo Beach, struck an off-duty security guard after he yelled racial insults at the group last month, the Torrance Police Department said in a statement. Mr. Wyman faces two charges of assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of hit-and-run driving resulting in serious injury to another person, with the special allegation that the alleged crimes were hate crimes, the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Wyman had a lawyer. The police said that, not long before midnight on June 29, Mr. Wyman began hurling insults at a small group of Black people in a parking lot at the Staybridge Suites, a hotel that the group was visiting in Torrance, a coastal city in southwest Los Angeles County. UNODC strengthens business integrity in the healthcare industry across 11 countries UNODC Vienna (Austria), 13 July 2020 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has launched four projects to strengthen business integrity across 11 countries in Latin America, South East Asia, the Middle-East, North and East Africa. A key sector addressed by these projects is the healthcare industry, which, not least due to the current public health emergency, plays an important role in the project countries. In Kenya, Mexico and Pakistan, the Global Integrity Education (GIE) project of UNODC brings together business and academia to develop and implement an innovative integrity education programme in companies and universities. Academics and private sector practitioners work together to contextualize modules on anti-corruption, integrity and ethics that UNODC developed under the Education for Justice (E4J) initiative. The academics and practitioners are enriching the global modules with local case studies of actual integrity challenges and corruption risks in specific industries, including the healthcare industry. Lecturers are being trained by UNODC to teach the contextualized modules, which they will teach in final-year university courses during the following academic year. The ultimate goal of this project is to foster ethical decision-making in the target industries by equipping young graduates with ethical mindsets and skills necessary for overcoming ethical challenges in their future workplace. In Colombia, Myanmar and in the Middle-East and North Africa, UNODC implements country and regional projects that create spaces for policy-makers and business representatives to build trust, exchange perspectives, discuss public-private partnerships and joint actions to improve integrity and safeguard public procurement from corruption. Through sector specific and mixed task forces, laws and regulations are reviewed, company compliance systems analyzed and improved, and trustful relationships built among the different actors. Collective action strategies are employed to prevent corruption and the misuse of public funds, including in the healthcare industry, thus ensuring high quality health-care systems for the benefit of all. The GIE project and the projects in Colombia, Myanmar and Middle-East and North Africa are funded by Siemens as part of the third funding round of the Siemens Integrity Initiative. The projects were launched in late 2019/early 2020 and have a total budget of US$ 5.3 million. The projects promote the implementation of article 12 of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), which emphasizes the crucial role of the private sector in preventing and fighting corruption, as well as article 13, which underlines the importance of education programmes that contribute to non-tolerance of corruption. The projects are dynamic and grounded in the evolving realities and have thus been able to quickly adapt and respond to COVID-19 related challenges and demands. Through their strategic partnership, UNODC and Siemens join forces to help companies promote integrity and level the playing field for a fair and transparent economic environment. Further Information Siemens Integrity Initiative UNODC Myanmar project with Siemens funding: Private sector anti-corruption UNODC Regional project in the Middle East and North Africa with Siemens funding: Private sector anti-corruption UNODC Colombia project with Siemens funding: Private sector anti-corruption UNODC Global Integrity Education project with Siemens funding: Implemented in Pakistan, Kenya and Mexico, and celebrated at Special Event of the Eight Conference of the States Parties to UNCAC UNODCs Education for Justice (E4J) initiative UNODCs Corruption and Economic Crime Branch UNODC's Action against Corruption and Economic Crime UNODC Virtual Booth and Executive Directors participation in Business Leaders Summit of UN Global Compact Building Business Integrity in Kenya: Live Session During the UN Global Compact Summit Fifteen Years of UNODC Fighting Corruption with the Private Sector: Interview with Giovanni Gallo, Chief of Implementation Support Section of UNODCs Corruption and Economic Crime Branch NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP >> In the wake of several pedestrian fatalities, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors is moving forward with a multi-pronged plan to improve safety along Sycamore Street, the townships downtown commercial corridor. At its Jan. 13 meeting, the board voted unanimously to follow the short term and long term recommendations of its traffic engineer, Derek Kennedy, who was... Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey, vowed to liberate al-Aqsa mosque from Israel after converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque on Friday. Last week, a court in Turkey gave controversial judgment to convert ancient Hagia Sophia church into a mosque. The UNESCO World Heritage site was converted into a mosque for the first time in 1453. In 1934, it was transformed into a museum. The Turkish Presidency website issued a statement saying, The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the footsteps of the will of Muslims across the world to come the resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the reignition of the fire of hope of Muslims and all oppressed, wrong, downtrodden and exploited. The Arabic and English translation of the statement was different from the one that was published in Turkish. It is believed that the difference in the translation was an attempt to hide full views of Ankara on how it has connected transformation of Hagia Sophia to a bigger agenda. Palestinian support with Erdogan In Arabic, it described the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque as a part of return to freedom to al-Aska, which means Israel should be removed from Jerusalems Old City where al-Aqsa is located. Turkeys president has linked the decision to reviving Islam to Bukhara in Uzbekistan and Andalusia in Spain. By linking al-Aqsa in Jerusalem to Hagia Sophia and Spain, he has shown the coded terminology of a wider agenda on religious lines. Erdogan has drawn huge admiration among Palestinians for being a critic of Israel. Turkey had attempted to breach Israels blockade of Gaza by sending Gaza flotilla that led to 10 Turkish citizens death as Israel forces raided the Mavi Marmara ship on learning about the attempt. An attempt to become determiner of Islamic practices AK Party of Turkey has deep roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, and it is a close ally of Hamas in Gaza. Turkeys strategy is believed to be an attempt to seek more influence across the region among like-minded countries and groups, including Libya and Qatar. Turkey has been trying to replace countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan to become the main determiner of what is Islamic. Ankara seems to believe that the change in the status of Hagia Sophia is only a small part of the broader religious militarist agenda in the Middle East. The speech associated with Hagia Sophia has indicated that Turkeys future agenda may eye on Jerusalem as well. Google is taking important steps to secure customer data in the cloud when used by applications and prevent potentially unauthorized access to sensitive computing workloads run by government institutions and their contractors. To meet the strict security and compliance requirements of highly regulated industries and governments, the company unveiled two new Google Cloud offerings called Confidential VMs and Assured Workloads for Government. Confidential computing and in-use data encryption Many solutions are available to encrypt data at rest when stored in databases or in transit when it's transmitted over the internet between servers or clients. However, the biggest data security challenge is to protect information while being processed by applications in a computer's memory. This has historically been a hard problem to solve because applications need to decrypt data in memory before performing operations and it's difficult to prevent an unauthorized party who has control over the OS or another application from reading it at that stage. This is how RAM-scraping malware steals payment card information from point-of-sale systems. The answer to in-memory data encryption from CPU manufacturers has been to include secure dedicated processors in their chipsets that are independent from the main CPU and run their own mini operating systems. These are known as trusted execution environments (TEEs) and can be used as secure enclaves because their allocated memory is isolated from that of the main operating system. ARM CPUs come with TrustZone, Intel CPUs have Software Guard Extensions (SGX), and AMD processors have Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV) technology. Today, Google announced the beta release of Confidential VMs, the first product in its Confidential Computing portfolio, which is built on top of the SEV feature of second-generation AMD EPYC CPUs. This new technology provides customers with the ability to encrypt the entire memory of their cloud VMs with unique keys that are generated in the CPU and are not exportable. Google is not the first cloud provider to offer confidential computing. Microsoft added Intel SGX-based enclaves to Azure back in 2018, but there are some significant differences between how Intel SGX and AMD SEV work and what type of attack scenarios they address. Intel SGX was designed to allow an application's memory to be encrypted and remain protected even in the event of the operating system itself being compromised. It is therefore a per-application feature, where the application sets up an SGX enclave and switches to it every time it needs to decrypt and perform operations on data. The benefit is that data never leaves the enclave in an unencrypted state, but the downside is that applications need to be modified or re-engineered to be able to use this capability in the first place. AMD SEV focuses on encrypting the memory of entire virtual machines instead of applications. Its goal is to protect the security of customer data inside a VM in case the hypervisor or the host operating system itself is compromised. The downside is that data is not protected if an attacker gains access to the protected VM itself or the guest operating system and applications running inside. "The primary benefit of starting with SEV from AMD is that you don't have to recompile your application," Sunil Potti, vice president and general manager for Google Cloud, tells CSO. "When we canvased a lot of our customers, that was the single biggest feedback that we got to ensure the mass adoption of Confidential VMs: That you don't want to recompile and redesign your apps. So, with our technology, you just lift and shift your workloads over as VMs or otherwise, and over a period of time, as we introduce new security technologies, customers can also take advantage of those." Google does partially address the guest OS compromise scenario by using hardened VM images with cryptographic integrity verification to prevent kernel-level malware and privilege escalation. This has already been part of the Google Cloud offering under the name of Shielded VMs. "Weve built Confidential VMs on top of Shielded VMs to harden your OS image and verify the integrity of your firmware, kernel binaries, and drivers," Google said in a blog post. "Google-offered images include Ubuntu v18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Container Optimized OS (COS v81), and RHEL 8.2. Were working with CentOS, Debian, and other distributors to offer additional confidential OS images." Google has also worked closely with AMD to ensure that the performance metrics of Confidential VMs are as close as possible to non-confidential VMs. This effort included developing new performant open source drivers for high-throughput storage and network traffic. Confidential VMs run on Google Cloud's N2D series machine types that support up to 224 vCPUs with 8 GB of memory per vCPU. Improved compliance for sensitive workloads In addition to Confidential Computing, Google has launched a private beta for a new offering it calls Assured Workloads for Government, which aims to allow government institutions and their contractors to achieve the levels of security and compliance they need directly in the public cloud. Traditionally, cloud solutions for governments are built on top of separate datacenters and isolated environments that might not benefit from all the features and computing power of the public cloud offerings. To bridge that gap, Google's Assured Workloads for Government allows users to restrict the location of stored data and cloud resources to specific regions -- US only for now -- as well as prevent accidental misconfigurations by choosing from built-in and predefined security controls and organizational policies. Customers can also choose to restrict Google support personnel's access to their workloads based on the person's citizenship, their geographical location and background checks. The Assured Workloads for Government allows customers to be compliant with the standards set forth by the Department of Defense (i.e., IL4), the FBIs Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS) and the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), Google said in a blog post. Gov. Kevin Stitt stood steadfast by his stance Thursday that he wont mandate masks as a COVID-19 preventive measure, saying he will protect personal freedoms and not shame people who dont wear face coverings. Face mask orders are a hot topic as both Norman and Stillwater have implemented them and Tulsa officials are contemplating a similar action. Stitt told reporters at a news conference that he believes in local control and isnt comfortable requiring masks. The first question would be how to enforce such an order, he said. We just think that you cant go down that road, and so Im going to protect the freedoms in Oklahoma, the governor said. Were not going to mandate (masks) in the state of Oklahoma, and were not going to be mask-shamers either. Stitt said Oklahoma has 5,000 hospital beds designated for COVID-19 patients, with 487 of them filled as of Thursday. He said 1,000 of those beds are in intensive care units. He noted that the states peak for COVID-19 hospitalizations was 560 people on March 30, with the number dropping to 306 on April 24, when the he launched the states reopening. IOWA CITY, Iowa, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), Forward Latino, Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP), Dr. Mercola and U.S. Farmers & Ranchers for a Green New Deal, today launched the "Boycott Big Meat" national consumer education and lobbying campaign. The campaign is endorsed by 50+ groups, including Cedar Rapids, Iowa Sunrise Hub and Iowa Alliance for Responsible Agriculture. Join the virtual press conference July 14, 7 p.m. CDT. "Consumers must lead the just transition to a decentralized system of organic regenerative pasture-raised/grass-fed meat production, run by a diverse network of local/regional independent farmers, ranchers, processors and retailers who are committed to fair pay and safe working conditions, and environmental and climate justice," said Ronnie Cummins, OCA's international director. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who introduced the House version of the Farm Systems Reform Act, said: "Consumer demand and policy reform must go hand-in-hand to level the playing field for independent diversified producers so they can provide a dependable and sustainable food Consumers deserve to know where their meat comes from, and farmers deserve a fair shot in the marketplace." "From the growing number of meatpacking plant workers suffering from COVID-19, to families mourning the loss of loved ones, we are witnessing the human cost associated with the profits of our nation's largest meat processors," said Darryl Morin, Forward Latino president. "Predominantly people of color, these essential workers have the right to the same workplace protections most of us take for granted." "With price fixing, injustices to farmers and meatpacking plant workers, a lack of food security and infrastructure, and environmental and public health concerns that hurt us all, the industrial livestock system has long been rife with abuse," said Sherri Dugger, executive director of SRAP. "Our future depends on our taking action." Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a national grassroots nonprofit advocating on behalf of millions of consumers for safe, healthful food and a clean environment. Forward Latino is a non-profit, non-partisan advocacy and service organization dedicated to assisting Latinos pursuing the American Dream. Forward Latino fulfills its mission through advocacy, civic engagement, education and service delivery. Socially Responsible Agricultural Project (SRAP) helps rural communities replace industrial livestock production with ecologically sound, socially equitable, and economically viable animal agriculture. SOURCE Organic Consumers Association Related Links http://www.organicconsumers.org 66 Shares Share During clinical training, medical students worry about caring for patients, learning how to do procedures, memorizing drug interactions, and documenting their work in the electronic medical record they shouldnt be worried about paying medical bills at the same time. Shortages of personal protective equipment and the subsequent dangers of working in health care permeate the news and threaten our ability to overcome the COVID pandemic. However, there is another often-neglected safety conversation the need for adequate insurance coverage to ensure that anyone who needs to can be tested and treated without fear of debt. Among those with inadequate health insurance are the University of Washington medical students. In fact, there is no health insurance plan for the majority of students at the University of Washington. State legislation limits public universities from offering plans to students, except for some graduate students who are considered employees. Medical students are considered professional students and thus not eligible for those health insurance plans. The alternative is for students to sign up for Medicaid, which provides comprehensive coverage at no cost within Washington. However, outside our state borders, it immediately dwindles to emergency-only coverage. This is a problem for medical students because one of the advantages of attending the University of Washington School of Medicine is the unique privilege of training at clinical sites across Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho. This opportunity develops relationships with underserved communities and prepares us to work in a variety of clinical settings, including rural areas. Unfortunately, for students with chronic medical conditions, disabilities, or who require more than emergency-only coverage, this regional training presents serious challenges. Health insurance that functions across the five-state region can cost upwards of $400 per month. The majority of medical students rely on loans to cover their tuition and living expenses during their training. Insurance premiums that cost hundreds of dollars a month could add more than $20,000 in loans to the cost of training, before interest accrues. This exacerbates medical student debt and makes the regional training program less accessible to students with higher medical needs and fewer financial resources. As part of our training, we learn to ask patients about their insurance status because, although it shouldnt, the type of insurance you hold (or dont) affects the care you receive. An internal survey of current UW medical students found that 5% of students are uninsured, and over 50% are currently on Medicaid. As a result, our classmates have faced substantial hospital bills and been forced to go without their medication while learning as University of Washington medical students. A classmate with a chronic medical condition needed a friend to pick up and mail necessary medications twice a month from Washington to another state because their Medicaid plan would not mail prescriptions to addresses outside of Washington. Without a friend in the state of Washington willing to do this extra work, they would have needed to pay full price out of pocket for their medications. Another classmate with a chronic condition had a change in their family situation, which prevented them from qualifying for Medicaid, but left them still unable to afford unsubsidized insurance. As a result, they went three weeks without medication they needed. Another student paid more than $10,000 for an emergency room visit while training at a site outside of their home state. Everyone should have access to health care, but the irony of inadequately insured medical students is particularly poignant. The Association of American Medical Schools released a memo in 2005, which stated that all medical students should be insured, but while there has been much research into the attitudes of medical students towards private vs. public insurance, there has been little investigation into the insurance status of students in the last twenty years. The health insurance challenges medical students face are just a snapshot of a larger problem that plagues our country. We are not alone in the risks we face as uninsured or underinsured. While 64 million people have access to coverage through Medicaid, about 27 million people between the ages of 18-64 remain uninsured. Its hardly a new narrative. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the vulnerability of our systems and the gaps in our policies. The threat of on-the-job exposure is likely, and the risks that many people face, including medical students, are not abstract. We ask that the Washington State legislature amend the current legislation to offer an opt-out option for all students and explore additional strategies to improve insurance access for students across our state. We ask the Association of American Medical Colleges to reaffirm their commitment to health insurance access with a robust backing through LCME accreditation. We ask that our country moves towards comprehensive health insurance for all. We can no longer allow people, no matter their professions, to fall through the gaps of a crumbling safety net, whether there is a pandemic or not. Zannah Herridge-Meyer, Melanie Langa, and Kelly Stewart are medical students. Image credit: Shutterstock.com She has been keeping a low profile during the coronavirus lockdown. But Chloe Crowhurst made sure all eyes were on her as she headed to her local park in Chigwell, Essex, on Tuesday. The former Love Island star, 23, showcased her enviable physique in a bright orange crop top and a pair of very skimpy matching shorts which boasted tie-up detailing. Sizzling: Chloe Crowhurst made sure all eyes were on her as she headed to her local park in Chigwell, Essex, on Tuesday She paraded her sun-kissed legs and gave a glimpse of her toned midriff as she began a light workout in the park. Chloe wore her signature blonde locks in a high bun and opted for a slick of make-up to carry out the exercise routine. The star first limbered up by stretching against a tree before breaking out into a series of lunges. Flawless: The former Love Island star, 23, showcased her enviable physique in a bright orange crop top and a pair of very skimpy matching shorts which boasted tie-up detailing Exercise: She paraded her sun-kissed legs and gave a glimpse of her toned midriff as she began a light workout in the park Active: Chloe wore her signature blonde locks in a high bun and opted for a slick of make-up to carry out the exercise routine Chloe has built up her loyal empire of 314k followers following her brief stint on Love Island in 2017 alongside stars including Olivia Attwood and Amber Davies. The dumped Islander failed to find love on the show and she eventually returned to the arms of her ex-love, TOWIE star Jon Clark, 26, following her exit from series three. However, it wasn't meant to be as the former flames went their separate ways once again last November. Warm-up: The star first limbered up by stretching against a tree before breaking out into a series of lunges Keep it simple: Chloe finished the look with a pair of crisp white trainers that contrasted the rest of her bright outfit The model's journey on the show came to an end at the hand of her fellow Islanders, as she was booted off the series for being in the 'least compatible' couple, as voted by the others. At the time she was coupled with Sam Gowland - with the pair agreeing their relationship was purely platonic - who later returned to the villa and coupled up with Georgia Harrison. During her time on the show, scandal arose as season one Islander turned TOWIE star Jon claimed she had dumped him to appear on the series. Chloe is currently rumoured to be dating personal trainer Kieran Nicholls, with the busty blonde sharing a loved up snap of them on her Instagram during lockdown. Stardom: Chloe has built up her loyal empire of 314k followers following her brief stint on Love Island in 2017 alongside stars including Olivia Attwood and Amber Davies London, July 14 : Only a quarter of British businesses said they are fully ready when Brexit transition period expires on Dec. 31, a survey from the Institute of Directors revealed. Nearly half of the 978 company directors polled in late June said they weren't able to prepare right now, with one in seven distracted by coronavirus pandemic and almost a third saying they needed the details of any changes to be clear before adjusting, the survey found, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday. The survey said those in the financial sector were most likely to be ready while manufacturers in particular had more to do, and directors in services felt especially unable to prepare at present. It said the vast majority directors believe that reaching a deal is important for their organisation. The Institute of Directors called on Britain and the European Union (EU) to commit to a reciprocal, phased implementation wherever possible, and for the British government to provide greater clarity on its contingency plans in the event of a no deal. Jonathan Geldart, director general of the Institute of Directors, said: "With so much going on, many directors feel that preparing for Brexit proper is like trying to hit a moving target. Jumping immediately into whatever comes next would be a nightmare for many businesses." "Unilateral actions like staggering import controls would be a welcome step from government, but are by no means enough, we need to mitigate disruption across many different sectors on both sides," Geldart said. Britain ended its EU membership on January 31 but is still following EU rules during the transition period until Dec. 31 to enable a permanent future trade deal to be reached. Negotiation teams from Britain and the EU are intensifying talks in July by meeting face to face after rounds of video talks that produced no significant progress by June, due to huge differences in fisheries and so-called level playing field. Britain has formally ruled out the possibility of an extended post-Brexit transition period. The British government confirmed a new three-stage plan for border controls and procedures in 2021, pledging to take "flexible and pragmatic" approach to give industry extra time to make necessary arrangements. Rajasthan crisis: BJP to hold crucial meet today; Vasundhara Raje to join India oi-Deepika S Jaipur, July 14: Vasundhara Raje, the tallest leader of the BJP in Rajasthan is likely to attend a meeting of BJP MLAs at 11 am to take stock of the political situation in the state. Raje, who is considered as a key BJP leader in Rajasthan, was not in Jaipur for the last three days amid political slugfest in the state. The Congress on Tuesday sacked Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan''s deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Rajasthan Assembly numbers: Here is how it stands Cracking the whip on the rebel party leader, the party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. Earlier, Gehlot accused the BJP of hatching a 'big conspiracy' and that the Congress high command was compelled to take the decision (of sacking Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM). "The high command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading. We knew it was a big conspiracy; now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi," Gehlot said. Gehlot also said that he has been impartial to all MLAs, adding that no one is happy about the decision. Rajasthan crisis: BJP to hold crucial meet today; Vasundhara Raje to join "The attitude was similar to the saying 'aa bail mujhe maar' given the tweets and statements of the last few months... I've been impartial to all MLAs...no one is happy about the decisions and we tried to reach out but hobnobbing with BJP has taken place," he said. Hitting back at the Congress, BJP vice president Om Prakash Mathur said the political crisis in Rajasthan has been caused by "weakness" within the Congress. Chinese fishing boat supervisor Song Chuanyun (center), a suspect in the death of an Indonesian crew member, arrives at the Riau Islands provincial police office in Indonesia, July 10, 2020. The supervisor of a Chinese fishing boat has been arrested on charges of assault and human trafficking after the death of an Indonesian crew member whose corpse was discovered last week, police in Indonesias Riau Islands said. Indonesian authorities detained two Chinese boats as they sailed near Singapore on July 8 after police received a tip that the body of the Indonesian sailor later identified as Hasan Afriandi, 20 had been kept in cold storage on one of the boats for a week. A Chinese national, Song Chuanyun, 50, has been named a suspect in connection with Hasans death and was moved to a police detention cell on Friday night, according to Arie Dharmanto, the chief criminal investigator for police in Riau Islands province. The suspect is in police custody for further questioning, Arie told BenarNews on Tuesday, adding that other crew members were being questioned as well. Citing information from other sailors, Arie said Song and the boats captain allegedly assaulted other Indonesian crew members. The captain has not been named as a suspect but is being investigated by police. Brig. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, director of criminal investigations at the National Police, alleged that Song had frequently mistreated crew members, including Hasan. The supervisor assaulted the victim with his feet and hands, Ferdy told BenarNews. Arie said Song would be tried in Indonesia because the alleged assault occurred in Indonesian waters. If convicted, Song could face up to 20 years in prison. Last week, a Chinese government spokesman challenged the claim to prosecute the case, saying the two boats were in international waters. China asks the Indonesian side to take concrete, effective measures to protect the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese fishing vessel and crew members, and deal with the matter as properly and quickly as possible, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian in response to a question at his press briefing on July 10. Hasans case marked the latest incident where Indonesians linked to Chinese fishing boats have died. Officials reported at least eight deaths since November 2019 including some where the corpses were thrown overboard. Surviving crewmen have complained of harsh conditions. The boats involved in the most recent incident were sailing off Nipa Island near Singapore when they were stopped and their crews detained by Indonesian Coast Guard ships last week, police said. Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) Indonesia, an NGO, said an Indonesian working aboard the Lu Huang Yuan Yu 118 called its 24-hour hotline to report the death of a compatriot who allegedly had been physically abused. DFW passed the tip to a team of police, naval and coast guard personnel. Hasans body was discovered on the other boat, Lu Huang Yuan Yu 117. Apparently the body was moved from one ship to the other, which is owned by the same company, DFW coordinator Mohammad Abdi Suhufan told BenarNews last week. Muhammad Haris, chief physician for the Riau Islands police, said an examination of Hasans body found bruises, scars and a spinal injury. Organs such as the lungs, heart and the appendix showed signs of chronic disease, Haris told the Tribunnews website. The Chinese embassy in Jakarta did not immediately respond on Tuesday to a BenarNews request for comment. Previous deaths In May, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi condemned the alleged mistreatment of the Indonesian sailors and summoned Chinas ambassador to Jakarta to respond to her concerns. She asked the Chinese ambassador to explain why sailors corpses had been thrown overboard. Retno was reacting to a South Korean media report showing an Indonesian crew member who had said three bodies were thrown into the sea between December 2019 and March. The report alleged that Indonesian crew members were sometimes forced to work 30 straight hours while standing and were given only six hours to eat and sleep before resuming their duties. On June 5, two Indonesian sailors jumped from a Chinese-flagged fishing boat as it sailed in the Malacca Strait, according to officials. They were rescued off Karimun, an island in the Riau Islands, and taken there the next day after drifting for seven hours. Six days later, Retno urged the Chinese government to conduct transparent and fair investigations into the deaths of Indonesian crew members who allegedly were subjected to harsh treatment akin to forced labor. Last week, Central Java police spokesman Iskandar Fitriana Sutisna said two top executives at a labor recruitment agency had been formally charged with human trafficking and would stand trial. The pair and others allegedly recruited Indonesians to work on the Chinese fishing boats. In addition, investigators have named nine people as suspects in the case, according to the Riau Islands police. Arie said investigators are trying to track down a Singapore citizen who is suspected of being a broker as well. Indonesian police previously reported arresting five people from four labor agencies in connection with previous cases. Police did not release details about those arrested. SAN DIEGO, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Helix, the leading population genomics company, today announced a partnership with San Diego County to make COVID-19 testing accessible across the County to those who need it most. As part of this important public-private partnership, Helix will be providing San Diego County with up to 2,000 COVID-19 tests per day. "We're incredibly proud to partner with San Diego County to expand access to COVID-19 testing at a time of unprecedented need," said Marc Stapley, Helix President and CEO. "Given our years of experience in collecting and handling biological samples and reporting clinical results at significant scale, we're uniquely qualified to help our community during this public health crisis." "Communities across the country have been struggling to provide access to fast and reliable COVID-19 testing," said Greg Cox, Chairman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors. "Through this strategic partnership with Helix, we've made a major step forward in meeting the need for COVID-19 testing here in San Diego." "It is critical to public health that San Diego have access to reliable and rapid COVID-19 testing," said Nick Macchione, Director of San Diego County's Health and Human Services Agency. "We view Helix as a true partner in our fight against COVID-19." San Diego County will be using the Helix COVID-19 Test, a real-time RT-PCR test intended for the qualitative detection of nucleic acid from the SARS-CoV-2 in upper respiratory nasopharyngeal (NP), anterior nares (AN) and oropharyngeal (OP) swab specimens from individuals suspected of COVID-19 by their healthcare provider. Emergency use authorization is pending and Helix is working interactively with the FDA. The Helix COVID-19 Test is part of Helix's broader end-to-end test system, which is available nationally to health systems, employers, governments, and other organizations in need of sensitive, scalable, and fully kitted COVID-19 testing solutions. It includes: Full collection kit (non-invasive lower nasal swab, ambient temperature and transport stable media, barcoded tube) which lessens the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare professionals RT-qPCR assay with a limit of detection of 1,000 viral copies / mL Processing in Helix's high-complexity CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited clinical laboratory in San Diego Integration with healthcare professional ordering systems for order processing Return of results to ordering healthcare professional with an option to return to the tested individual directly Next-day turnaround time following sample receipt at the Helix Laboratory in San Diego, CA Reporting to public health agencies To support further expansion of its testing capabilities and capacity, Helix has also filed an additional EUA for a higher throughput and more sensitive COVID-19 test based on next-generation sequencing technology, which is currently under review by the FDA. The Helix COVID-19 test has not been FDA cleared or approved. This test has been validated in accordance with the FDA's Guidance Document (Policy for Diagnostics Testing in Laboratories Certified to Perform High Complexity Testing under CLIA prior to Emergency Use Authorization for Coronavirus Disease-2019 during the Public Health Emergency). FDA independent review of this validation and issuance of Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is pending. Additional information, including important test information and limitations, is available at helix.com/COVID. Organizations in need of a COVID-19 testing solution can contact Helix by emailing [email protected] . About Helix Helix is the leading population genomics company operating at the intersection of clinical care, research, and genomics. Its end-to-end platform enables health systems, life sciences companies, and payers to advance genomic research and accelerate the integration of genomic data into clinical care. Powered by one of the world's largest CLIA / CAP next-generation sequencing labs and its proprietary Exome+ assay, Helix supports all aspects of population genomics including recruitment and engagement, clinically actionable disease screening, return of results, and basic and translational research. In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Helix has launched a sensitive and scalable end-to-end COVID-19 test system to meet the needs of health systems, employers, governments, and other organizations across the country. Learn more at www.helix.com SOURCE Helix Related Links https://www.helix.com A Michigan man was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy this morning after he allegedly stabbed an elderly bystander who had challenged him about not wearing a mask at a convenience store. Gunfire erupted in Eaton County, about 30 minutes after the stabbing at a Quality Dairy store on Lansing Road in Windsor Township, state police Lt. Brian Oleksyk said. A female sheriff's deputy spotted the stabbing suspect's vehicle in a residential neighborhood and shot him when he tried to attack her with a knife, Oleksyk told reporters. The scene where a 77-year-old man was stabbed by 43-year-old Sean Ruis, who refused to wear a mask at Quality Dairy on Lansing Road in Windsor Township, Michigan Ruis was reportedly refused service at the grocery store and was confronted by the masked 77-year-old bystander for failing to cover his face Sean Ruis, 43, of Grand Ledge, who worked at the Michigan Department of Transportation, died at a hospital from gunshot wounds. Oleksyk said the incident began unfolding at around 6.45am, when Ruis entered the grocery store without a mask and was refused service. When a 77-year-old customer, who was masked, confronted Ruis about failing to wear a face covering, the suspect allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed the elderly man. The stabbing victim, who was not named, was listed in stable condition at a hospital. Following the violent confrontation, Ruis fled the scene in his car. About 30 minutes later, an Eaton County sheriff's deputy observed Ruis on Jerryson Drive, where he lives, and pulled him over. According to State Police, Ruis got out of the car brandishing his knife to attack the deputy. The deputy, identified as a 23-year veteran of the department, ordered Ruis to drop the knife and tried to back up to create distance between herself and the suspect, but he continued to advance on her. Oleksyk said the officer feared for her life and shot Ruis. She was uninjured. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died on the operating table. Ruis had worked at the Michigan Department of Transportation since 2008, reported Lansing State Journal. MDOT's site lists him as a transportation technician within the hot mix asphalt lab services. An Eaton County sheriff's deputy shot and killed Ruis near his home in Grand Ledge after the man allegedly threatened her with a knife The 43-year-old had no past criminal history in the county. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered people to wear masks in stores to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. The decision about whether to wear a mask in public for some has become a political statement, and there have been other instances of violent encounters over masks. In May, a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint was fatally shot after denying entry to a customer without a mask. In a preliminary look, The Travelers Companies said it expects to report a net loss for the second quarter, results that will reflect losses from storms, civil unrest and its non-fixed income investment portfolio. It also reports it has experienced only a modest effect from the pandemic and economic downturn thus far and that it expects PG&E subrogation recoveries to be recognized in the third quarter of 2020. For the second quarter of 2020, the company expects a net loss per diluted share of $0.16 and a core loss per diluted share of $0.20, resulting from a high level of catastrophe losses and, as expected, losses in the companys non-fixed income investment portfolio. The companys estimate for catastrophe losses is $854 million pre-tax, net of reinsurance. Catastrophe losses primarily resulted from severe storms in several regions of the United States, as well as events related to civil unrest. The company expects to report net investment income of $268 million pre-tax, which includes investment income from the fixed income portfolio of $511 million pre-tax and losses in the non-fixed income portfolio of $234 million pre-tax. As the company discussed in its first quarter 2020 earnings disclosure, its non-fixed income returns are generally reported on a one-quarter lagged basis and directionally follow the broader equity markets. Based on its composition, the companys non-fixed income investment portfolio declined less than the broader equity markets during the first quarter. In terms of underwriting results, the insurer said COVID-19 and related economic conditions had a modest net impact in the quarter. The company said that insurance losses directly attributed to the coronavirus pandemic of $114 million pre-tax and a $63 million pre-tax reduction in the estimate of ultimate audit premiums receivable were approximately offset by initial estimates of favorable frequency from the shelter-in-place environment, primarily in short-tail lines (net of premium refunds) and other items. Separately, regarding third quarter 2020 results, the company provided an estimate of its subrogation recoveries related to claims against PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. resulting from the 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California. In connection with PG&Es emergence from bankruptcy, which occurred on July 1, 2020, the company will recognize favorable prior year reserve development related to these claims of approximately $400 million, pre-tax and net of expenses and reinsurance, in its third quarter 2020 results. Travelers will release its full second quarter 2020 results on July 23. Topics COVID-19 Windstorm Profit Loss Some congratulatory and well-wishing messages have been poured on the former Minister of Interior, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor on his 80th Birthday which fell on Monday 13th July 2020. Dr. Addo Kufuor received messages from many quarters including the Ministry of the Interior and the Ghana Medical Association. The Interior Ministry said: We wish you more years and God's blessings, good health, and look forward to more good counsel. Opanyin Dr Addo Kufuor, Afihyia Paaoo. Nyame nka wo ho. The Medical Association said: Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, as you celebrate your 80th Birthday, the Ghana Medical Association wishes you good health and long life. God Bless you now and always as you continue to serve the medical fraternity and the nation at large. These were in separate statements signed by Mrs Adelaide Anno-Kumi, the Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, and Dr Frank Ankobia, the President of the Ghana Medical Association, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday. The following are the full texts of the statements: The Ministry of the Interior: Hon. Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor (MP) served as the Minister for the Interior under H.E, President John Agyekum Kufuor between 12th June, 2008 and 6th January, 2009 as the substantive Minister for the Interior. Prior to that appointment, he had also acted as the Minister for the Interior from 18th April, 2002 to 22nd April, 2003 whilst he was the substantive Minister of Defence. As the Minister of Defence and Acting Minister for the Interior, he set up the Special Joint Police/Military Highway Patrol Team to check armed robbery on the highways as well as check compliance to the highway codes in a bid to end fatalities on our roads. At the inauguration of this Special Joint Police and Military Highway Patrol Team, he had this to say. The team would check the unnecessary loss of lives on our roads and the unwarranted attack on innocent people along the country's highways. Dr Addo Kufuor pursued his vision assiduously and to a logical end. The affable and hardworking Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor's tenure as the Minister for the Interior, though brief, saw some remarkable initiatives which culminated into enthusiasm and commitment from staff and personnel within the Ministry and its Agencies. His vision was to see to the expansion of the Police Hospital, but his brief stint as the Minister for the Interior did not see this vision materializing. As Minister for the Interior, he represented the country at several security and migration fora, both at home and abroad were he distinguished himself in particular and the sector as a whole. He led a delegation to the E.U. Africa Dialogue on Migration, Paris France in 2008, where he delivered a powerful speech on migration management. His warm personality, high sense of discipline and time consciousness is positive traits that Dr Addo Kufuor possessed. His impeccable sense of dressing and open door approach to work endeared him to all and sundry. His smile was infectious. Those of us who worked directly with him during his tenure, speak with fondness of the good relations he had with us and were looking forward to more of such until he resigned in January 2009 as Minister for the Interior in his bid to seek a higher office. We recall his handing-over ceremony was a solemn occasion. On behalf of the Minister for the Interior, Management, Staff and supporting staff, and Heads and Staff of all Agencies under the Ministry of the Interior, we say AYEKOO as you celebrate your 80th Birthday. We wish you more years and God's blessings, good health and look forward to more good counsel. 'Opanyin Dr Addo Kufuor, Afihyia Paaoo. Nyame nka wo ho'. HAPPY BIRTHDAY The Citation of the Ghana Medical Association: Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Physician Specialist, was educated at Cambridge University and University College Medical School Hospital; United Kingdom, where he obtained MA MB BCHIR and MRCS (England). He did his post graduate training at the Middlesex Medical School Hospital, London, where he passed the MRCP (London) In 1975. He has worked in several hospitals in London and also at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Ghana. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London, a Fellow of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine, and a Fellow of the West African College of Physicians. For several years, he was a part time lecturer at the Medical School, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, where he worked at Kufuor Clinic, Kumasi. Aside the quality lectures he gave at KNUST, he supported Karle Bu Teaching Hospital as Member of the University of Ghana Medical School Council and Inspector of Examination: for the final year Bachelor of Medicine students. He was appointed by the Medical and Dental Council as a member of the board of examiners for foreign trained doctors applying to work in Ghana. It is commendable that most of these services were rendered free of charge, since he neither took salary nor any allowances from the University. Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor is a dedicated member of the Ghana Medical Association. His contributions to the Association and to medical practice in Ghana cannot be over-emphasised. In 1992, he was elected to serve at the highest office of the Association as President, a position he held for three years. He was the 13th President of the Association. He was subsequently conferred the highest honour of the Association as Fellow of the Ghana Medical Association. In October 2003, Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor, then as Minister of Defence of the Republic of Ghana, commissioned the new Ghana Medical Association building at Korle Bu. Dr. Kwame Addo Kufuor was a Representative for West Africa on the Confederation of African Medical Associations. He was awarded the Gold Medal for distinguished medical practice by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council. He was awarded the Order of the Volta (Companion) by the Government of Ghana in recognition of his sterling contribution to health care in the country. Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor continues to play a key role in the activities of the Association to date. He contributed immensely to the Association securing at a competitive rate some SSNIT Flats at Borteyman in Accra and Asokore Mampong in Kumasi for its members. Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, as you celebrate your 80th Birthday, the Ghana Medical Association wishes you good health and long life. God Bless you now and always as you continue to serve the medical fraternity and the nation at large. ---GNA Priests from Ayodhya lashed out at Nepal's PM KP Sharma Oli after Oli blamed India of cultural encroachment, existence of a "real Ayodhya" in Nepal's village, amid tensions with India on claims on territory. Nepals prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, at an event organised at Prime Ministers residence in Kathmandu on Monday claimed that Lord Rama was not an Indian and blamed India of cultural encroachment by creating a fake Ayodhya. Nepal PM Oli made the bizarre claim while addressing a program to mark the birth anniversary of Bhanubhakta Acharya. Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Rama was born there. Due to these continuous claims even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Rama of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj, he said. In reaction, priests in Ayodhya lashed out at Nepals Prime Minister, who they said had made the statements under pressure from China. Lord Rama was born here. He was born here in Ayodhya near Sarayu river. It is a popular belief that he belongs to Ayodhya. It is true that Sita Ji (Lord Ramas wife) was from Nepal, but to claim that Lord Rama was Nepali is wrong. I condemn Olis statement, Mahant Dinendra Das, Ram Temple Trust member told ANI. Also read: China announces reciprocal sanctions against US lawmakers Also read: China questions India on app ban Kalki Ram Das Maharaj, president, Rama Dal Trust said that Oli was working on behalf of Nepal and Pakistan. I condemn his comment. They used to be a Hindu Rashtra but now they are working on the behalf of China and Pakistan he said. There is a line in our religious books, Jiske Uttar Disha me Saryu pravahit hoti hai, vo Ayodhya hai (The place from where Saryu river flows in the east is Ayodhya) and there is no Saryu river in Nepal, how can he claim that Ram belongs to Nepal. I am challenging him that he will be dethroned in one month, he added. Meanwhile, another priest Mahant Paramhansh Acharya said, Oli is not Nepali, he is not aware of his countrys history. He is betraying Nepal. China had captured over two dozen Nepali villages and to conceal that he is using Lord Ramas name. Lord Rama belongs to the whole universe. He was born here in Ayodhya. Oli is betraying his people and people of Nepal should protest against him otherwise they have to face the ill fate. It does not make a difference whatever he said. Oli is insane, Acharya added. Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Tuesday slammed Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for claiming that Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, is in Nepal and Lord Rama was Nepali. #Oli #NepalPM seems 2hv lost his mental balance or is puppet &parrot like mouthing lines scripted by desperate #Chinese. 1st he claimed territories never earlier claimed by #Nepal. Now he relocates #Ram #Sita #Ayodhya & #RamRajya a few hundred miles from Ayodhya inside Nepal!, he tweeted. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has also slammed Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli for claiming that Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama, is in Nepal and Lord Rama was Nepali and said that such statement shows his mental bankruptcy. Maurya took to twitter and wrote in Hindi, Statement by Communist Prime Minister of Nepal Shri KP Sharma Oli regarding the birthplace of Maryada Purushottam Lord Shri Ram Ji shows his mental bankruptcy.Oli Ji should know that Nepal has also been a part of Aryavarta (India) in the past, he added. Olis contentious claims come as the relations between the New Delhi and Kathmandu has worsened lately. Tensions between the two-nation rose after Kathmandu issued a new map incorporating some portions of Indian territories in May. New Delhi has said that the updated map is not based on historical facts and evidence and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement. Also read: 60 dead, 41 missing in Nepal floods, landslides For all the latest World News, download NewsX App The Palace letters have proved to be every bit the bombshell they promised to be, and neither the Queen nor Sir John Kerr emerge unscathed. In his vast, increasingly frequent letters and telegrams to the Queen, the governor-general provides the most extraordinary vice-regal commentary on the decisions and actions of a prime minister and elected government imaginable. They provide a remarkable window onto Kerrs views of Gough Whitlam, his planning, his options, his fears, and his eventual decision to dismiss the government. Letter by letter, particularly from late August 1975, months before supply had even been blocked in the Senate, Kerr draws the Queen into his planning regarding the crisis unfolding in the Senate, including the possible use of the reserve powers. Kerr details options and strategies, which are then discussed with the Queen through her private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris. These include Kerrs concern that prime minister Whitlam might recall him as governor-general, which he discussed with Prince Charles in September 1975 in a profound breach of political and constitutional practice. Charteris writes: "Prince Charles told me a good deal of his conversation with you and in particular that you had spoken of the possibility of the Prime Minister advising The Queen to terminate your Commission with the object, presumably, of replacing you with someone more amenable to his wishes. If such an approach was made you may be sure that The Queen would take most unkindly to it." It is a defining feature of a constitutional monarchy that the monarch "has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters", that the Queen must remain above politics at all times. Hundreds of pages challenge that claimed political disinterest, as Kerr relays conversations, meetings, and events to Buckingham Palace in the context of the most intensely political situation unfolding in Australia. Online platforms such as Uber and Deliveroo have deliberately framed their arrangements with workers to avoid regulation while other businesses carry the cost of complying with workplace laws. That's one of the findings of a landmark report on the so-called gig economy, which employs almost 1 million Australians, including 236,800 Victorians. Natalie James conducted the review of Victoria's on-demand economy. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui Former Fair Work ombudsman Natalie James led a two-year investigation into Victoria's gig economy at the behest of the state government, after widespread concerns were raised about the treatment of on-demand workers. While some people appreciated the flexibility on-demand work provides, Ms James found the uncertain status of workers who are not classified as employees and therefore do not qualify for workplace entitlements, protections and obligations was at the heart of the system's failures of workers. michael barbaro Hey, its Michael. For the rest of the week, were revisiting people we met in the early weeks of the pandemic, listening back and hearing whats happened to them since our original conversations first ran. Today: Dr. Fabiano Di Marco of Bergamo, Italy. Its Tuesday, July 14. [music] dr. fabiano di marco Can you see me? No, I think. michael barbaro I cannot see you, but I can hear you. And I think I can hear you ah, now I can see you. dr. fabiano di marco OK. Sorry for my English. I dont know if my English will be adequate for a podcast. But then you will decide, OK? michael barbaro Its exceptional. And Im really grateful that youre making time for us. dr. fabiano di marco Thank you. Thank you. michael barbaro So, where are you right now? dr. fabiano di marco Now, Im at home. After three weeks, today, in the afternoon, I am at home, because I have a big family with three children. And I decide to come back at home one day. michael barbaro So you have not been home in three weeks? dr. fabiano di marco Three weeks, yes. I have been in my hospital every day, start of the crisis, Friday the 21st of February. And since then, it was a total mess. Its like a war, to be honest. michael barbaro From the New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. [music] archived recording This is how Italys cases have grown now for the last month slowly at first, but now more rapidly. Its a textbook epidemic curve. michael barbaro Italy has quickly become the new epicenter of the pandemic, with nearly 30,000 infections and more than 2,000 deaths, numbers that are soaring by the day, even after the government there took extreme measures to lock down much of the country. archived recording (dr. jerome adams) We are at a critical inflection point in this country. michael barbaro On Monday, the U.S. surgeon general warned that the United States is now on a strikingly similar path. archived recording (dr. jerome adams) People, we are where Italy was two weeks ago in terms of our numbers. And we have a choice to make as a nation. Do we want to go the direction of South Korea and really be aggressive and lower our mortality rates? Or do we want to go the direction of Italy? michael barbaro Today: A conversation with a doctor in Bergamo, north of Milan, one of Italys hardest hit areas. [music] Its Tuesday, March 17. michael barbaro Could I just ask you to just say your full name for me? dr. fabiano di marco OK. My name is Fabiano Di Marco. Im a professor of the University of Milan and the head of the respiratory unit of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII of Bergamo, which is a town close to Milan. michael barbaro Can you give me a sense, and maybe paint the picture, of what its like in the hospital right now, what youre dealing with? dr. fabiano di marco I have now my ward has been totally transformed. Nothing is as before. Ive been in my hospital every single day for 14 hours or 15 hours a day michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco to try to deal with the outbreak of coronavirus infection. michael barbaro What has been the story of what has happened in your hospital these past few weeks? Because I think people in the United States are desperate to understand what you have seen, and what people have said to you, and what it has looked like. You described it as a war. So we want to understand what you mean. dr. fabiano di marco OK. Every day we receive, on average, between 50 to 70 patients with severe respiratory failure due to coronavirus infection. Every single day. And to describe my reality, my hospital is, at least in Europe, a huge hospital with 1,000 beds. But to receive every day between 50 and 70 patients with severe pneumonia due to coronavirus, its impossible. You have to change your organization day by day. michael barbaro And tell me what you mean. How do you have to change your organization to deal with people who are in such severe respiratory condition? dr. fabiano di marco So we change it, the normal ward, mainly surgery wards, because the activity of surgery has been reduced off at least 80 percent. And we transform it, so far five wards of surgery for patients with coronavirus. Now we have, between the five wards and the emergency room, at least 350 patients with respiratory failure due to coronavirus infection. michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco Today is the first day in which we have more than 50 percent of the hospital dedicated to coronavirus patients. To organize these, we had to teach cardiologists, dermatologists, rheumatologists specialists of something very different from respiratory failure how to treat this patient. You try to find a solution. But day by day, its no longer enough. So I can tell you that my colleagues, both physicians and nurses, they cry every day. michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco Im 47. Im not so, so old to be the head of a ward, at least in Italy. But I have with me 20 colleagues who are respiratory physician, with many fellow. They are 27, 30. So for me, its a huge responsibility. And I was scared they can be sick. OK? But we cry every day. And now, we have today, 460 nurse at home because they are sick. And I think we have michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco Yes. Its a very huge number. michael barbaro You have 460 nurses who are in a hospital in the middle of this crisis who are home because theyre sick? dr. fabiano di marco Yeah, today. This is the outcome of today. michael barbaro And is that because they are sick with the coronavirus? dr. fabiano di marco There are some who are sick, some with a total burnout for the situation, and other who are contact of patients, so they stay in quarantine at home. michael barbaro Doctor, you said you are upset, that you maybe even cry every day. And I wonder if there is an experience, maybe one story or one patient, that made you upset? dr. fabiano di marco The main problem for us is to treat our colleagues. As doctor, we are used to treat patients. And for us its normal. There is not so emotional, luckily, because we are used to treat other people. But this is difficult when the patient is your colleague. And we have now admitted tens of colleagues or nurse, people who you will meet every day in your life. michael barbaro Your colleagues are now your patients because they have contracted the virus. dr. fabiano di marco Absolutely. For example, yesterday, the chief of my department come to the emergency room to be with a low level of oxygenation. He has a bilateral pneumonia due to coronavirus. michael barbaro Wow. Im sorry. dr. fabiano di marco Not very severe. But he was someone who tried to organize the hospital to deal with this infection three days ago. And we went to have a dinner with my wife and his wife one week ago. michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco I dont know. We are scared because on Friday, only in my hospital, we had 20 deaths. michael barbaro 20 deaths. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. For coronavirus. In one day. michael barbaro Thats extraordinary. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. So another important thing, we have not had the opportunity to allow the relative to come to the hospital for two reasons. First, its a danger for them and for other people, evidently, because in 80 percent of the cases, they are infected. The second reason, which is not easy to understand if you are not in this situation, is that we do not have enough personal protective equipment the mask in case of infection, something to cover the shoes, and the gown. Its impossible to find these now Europe, not only in Italy. michael barbaro So youre running out of those and you cant get them anywhere, in the region or anywhere in Europe. You just cant get them. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. Impossible to find. michael barbaro Wow. dr. fabiano di marco If I allow one or two relative to come to the hospital, I have to give them these. But we do not have this for us. michael barbaro Right. You need them for doctors. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. They cannot receive the relative in hospital. So the patients are alone. And they die alone. We this is difficult for us. We try to call, every day, the relative. But I have to tell you that sometimes, in the confusion of this new organization with a dermatologist who is trying to treat a patient with severe respiratory failure, and probably the doctors cry, and the no one remember to call the relative. So its happened that the relative call the hospital michael barbaro And the persons already dead. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. [music] michael barbaro Well be right back. Doctor, youve mentioned a lot of the choices that you and your staff have to make now that this is such a terrible situation. And I wonder how you make decisions about who gets which treatment, and who has the best chance to survive. How do you make those decisions? dr. fabiano di marco This is, for us, a crucial point, because we have hundreds of very sick patients. But we have tens of I.C.U. beds. michael barbaro Right. dr. fabiano di marco The problem is that you can find many scores of gravity. But these scores of gravity have been thought for another reason. OK? michael barbaro And when you say score of gravity, you mean, basically, kind of a calculation of who is in greatest need? dr. fabiano di marco Absolutely. So for instance, if you are 80, you have a severe respiratory failure, and I dont know, you have also renal failure, I have to admit you in the I.C.U. because you are very severe. And you have a probability to die very high. OK. I have to admit you in the I.C.U.. But now we need another score, which is a score which help us to understand your probability to benefit of the I.C.U. bed. And we do not have this score. OK? michael barbaro Because it has not been created. dr. fabiano di marco Absolutely. We are trying to do this now, because for example, the age, for all of the stage of severity, higher is the age, higher is the score. But when you have few beds for many people, the age is absolutely the opposite. If you are 85, I give the bed to another one who is 45. michael barbaro Because 45-year-old is more likely to benefit from the I.C.U. bed than the 80-year-old. So youre saying all the normal rules have to be thrown out the window. dr. fabiano di marco Absolutely. We need a new tool we do not have, because so far, the difference between the number of patients, number or bed, is something totally new for us. OK? And not only for us, all the country will have to deal with this. But its difficult to tell people that if you are 80, you will never have the I.C.U. bed. michael barbaro Of course. dr. fabiano di marco But so far, if you have not the opportunity to build a new hospital with 1,000 bed, such as in China, we need this terrible tool, because this is a tool of selection. michael barbaro Right of who lives and who dies. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. And this is why its important. If you do not reduce the number of patients who are sick, its impossible to deal with this disease. Impossible. You have to reduce the rate of infection. And the only way to reduce the rate of infection is to change totally the life of people. Now, in Italy, everyone is at home. This is a tragedy for economy. No one is working. No one is working. But its the only way. There is not something in between. michael barbaro It sounds like youre saying that once you are in a hospital as a doctor, looking at a room full of people with this virus, overwhelmed, its too late. That the role of countries who are not yet at the place Italy is in is to make sure they dont ever get to that place, dont ever get to the point that your hospital is at. And to do whatever it takes to not get there. dr. fabiano di marco Absolutely. You have two choices. You decide to not close all the activities, close the people in their home, and you will accept thousand of beds. Or, you have to close all the activity. There is not a choice in between. I know this is difficult to have this approach, because also in Italy, if you speak with my colleague in another town, its quite difficult to understand this. Because many people, including many physicians, have not this perception of this. Because in your reality, all is normal. Its difficult to be scared for something you have not the perception. OK? So I can understand that in other countries, its the same. But trust us, or, such as in Bergamo, each family will have a relative or a friend who dies. This is the situation in Bergamo. This is not a disease that you can discuss on TV, or you will have the perception of this in your family, in your relative, in your town. Its something very aggressive, very aggressive. michael barbaro I wonder, as a doctor, what advice you would give to doctors in the United States who may have to do what you have to do and make the kind of difficult decisions that you have to make now. dr. fabiano di marco I think that the best is to speak with us to analyze the situation of Italy. It could be something important. Because you have to be prepared for this. This is the only thing I would suggest to my colleague. Because also in Italy, I have some colleague in the other part of Italy who are not prepared. And I speak with them. They are doing the same thing we did three weeks ago. This is incredible. This new reality we are living started the 23rd of February, not three years ago. OK? Three weeks ago. After three weeks, we are living in another dimension. For me, its difficult to think to my life before this. No one can be prepared for this impossible. michael barbaro I wonder, just a final question here. At the beginning of our conversation, you said you were finally home after three weeks. And I wonder what it was like to come home to your family. What are you telling them? And how are you feeling? dr. fabiano di marco My children are at home now for three weeks. The schools are closed. Luckily there are three, so they can stay together. But we try to create a normal situation at home. For me, its difficult, because evidently, I have a risk of infection which is higher than compared to other people. So I had to decide what to do at home. If stay with a mask sorry. And I decide to stay normal, without the mask. michael barbaro It sounds like this was a tough decision. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah, because I have to find the solution between to protect the best, uh, my wife and do not scare my children. OK? The only good news is that children and young boys or girls are not affected. This is the only consolation for us. And I decide that I changed my approach to my children. OK? I pay attention to my hands. I pay attention to my towel. OK? But I decide to not wear a mask because it will be difficult for them to see the father who is a respiratory physician in Bergamo with those kind of cases, hundreds of that. So also for these, its really difficult to decide what is the best. And then I spoke with my wife. And we decided to do this. michael barbaro It sounds like on top of all the difficult decisions youve had to make, you had to go home and make one more difficult decision, which was this mask. dr. fabiano di marco Yeah. Absolutely. [music] michael barbaro Doctor, I really want to thank you so much for giving us your time. And I want to wish you the best of luck, you and all your colleagues, doctors and nurses at the hospital. Were going to be thinking about you a lot in the coming days. dr. fabiano di marco Thank you. Thank you. It has been a privilege. I hope, indeed, to be useful for some of my colleagues and for you. michael barbaro The crisis in Bergamo has begun to subside. Last week, Dr. Di Marcos hospital discharged its last I.C.U. patient with severe symptoms of Covid-19. It was the first time that the unit had no cases in 137 days. The staff there marked the milestone by observing a moment of silence for the hundreds of patients who have died from the virus, followed by round of applause for those who had recovered from it. Dr. Di Marco says hes encouraged by the regions progress, but on guard for a second wave of infections. A few weeks ago, in recognition of his work, Italys president awarded Dr. Di Marco the prestigious title of Cavaliere, making him a knight of the Italian Republic. Well be right back. [music] Heres what else you need to know today. archived recording (gavin newsom) Ill remind you, a week or so ago, I was reporting just six lives lost, and then a few days later, well an excess of 100 lives lost. And so this continues to be a deadly disease. This continues michael barbaro On Monday, as infections soar, California announced a sweeping rollback of its plans to reopen, saying it would close indoor operations for restaurants, wineries, movie theaters and zoos, and shut down bars entirely. archived recording (gavin newsom) One thing I just think is incredibly important to remind all of you is that this virus is not going away anytime soon. I hope all of us michael barbaro The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association (PENGASSAN) on Monday alleged that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) sacked 850 contract workers. The unions, in a joint statement made available to PREMIUM TIMES, said the workers were disengaged from their duty posts at the nations refineries. The statement was signed by the National President of NUPENG, Williams Akporeha; National President of PENGASSAN, Ndukaku Ohaeri; as well as Messrs Afolabi Olawale and Lumumba Okugbawa, general secretaries of NUPENG and PENGASSAN, respectively. Titled NUPENG and PENGASSAN strongly react to comments by Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on refineries and oil and gas workers, the unions faulted comments made by Mr Sylva about the fate of the workers. The unions said the ministers statements were laced with fabricated misinformation, misrepresentation of facts and falsehoods. They noted that the statements include claims that the refineries have not been working for three years and workers have been receiving salaries and promotion; that workers were responsible for the sorry state of the refineries; and that the union threatened to go on strike when the NNPC threatened to sack support staff. The Union/Association found the comments of the minister most uncharitable and appalling, the statement said. They added that the minister only attempted to place policy failure, maladministration, lack of foresight and mismanagement of the refineries on hapless workers. The statement reads in part: On the purported threat of the Group Managing Director of NNPC to sack workers, we wish to state here that it was actually no more a threat but that it had already been carried out with the sack of 850 support staff in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic, throwing almost a thousand workers into hard financial situation without an iota of empathy or consultation with the union, it said. The unions claimed that they never threatened to go on strike, but rather demanded to be engaged for a proper discussion on the commensurate terminal benefits of the workers, who already worked for 10 to 15 years. READ ALSO: We found it rather highly inhuman and unfair on the part of NNPC management to sack these workers with only their last pay cheques after 15 good years of their lives in NNPC, the unions said. If a Minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Group Managing Director of NNPC can dismiss contract workers that have served for more than 10 years continuously as if they are rodents, what more can we expect from lOCs. The monthly salaries of 25 of these contract staff put together cannot equal a typical management staff salary of the same organisation. But in his reaction on Monday, the NNPC spokesperson, Kennie Obateru, said the affected workers are not staff of the corporation, but of third party contracting firms, who were laid off because of redundancy. The USS Ronald Reagan, the USS Nimitz and other accompanying vessel perform drills on the South China Sea, July 6, 2020. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. has rejected China's claims to most of the South China Sea, including waters surrounding Vietnam's Vanguard Bank. "As Beijing has failed to put forth a lawful, coherent maritime claim in the South China Sea, the United States rejects any PRC (Peoples Republic of China) claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a press statement on Monday. "As such, the United States rejects any PRC maritime claim in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank (off Vietnam), Luconia Shoals (off Malaysia), waters in Bruneis EEZ, and Natuna Besar (off Indonesia)." Any PRC action to harass other states' fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters, or to carry out such activities unilaterally, is unlawful, it warned. Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them, it said. "Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal states in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion, and replace international law with might makes right." In this context, it recalled Yang Jiechi, the former Chinese foreign minister, telling his ASEAN counterparts in 2010 that "China is a big country and other countries are small countries and that is just a fact." Pompeo's statement explicitly sides with Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and Vietnam, after years of the U.S. saying it took no position on individual claims. He said: "America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law." The Chinese embassy in the U.S. responded on Tuesday saying the U.S. statement "disregards the efforts of China and ASEAN countries for peace and stability in the South China Sea, deliberately distorts the facts and international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), exaggerates the situation in the region, and attempts to sow discord between China and other littoral countries. "The accusation is completely unjustified. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it." Earlier this month the U.S. had also criticized Chinas military exercises near Vietnam's Paracel Islands, calling it a violation of China's commitments to maintain stability in the region. "Conducting military exercises over disputed territory in the South China Sea is counterproductive to efforts at easing tensions and maintaining stability," the U.S. Defense Department had said, adding that the exercises went against China's commitments under the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to avoid actions that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability. Vietnam calls the South China Sea the East Sea. China has taken a series of provocative actions in the waters since the start of this year as countries around the world were focused on battling the Covid-19 pandemic. It formed the so-called Xisha and Nansha districts in Vietnams Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands, sank Vietnamese fishing vessels off the Paracels, unilaterally issued a fishing ban and sent a ship to harass a Malaysian oil and gas exploration vessel. It recently announced a vegetable farming project on Woody (Phu Lam) Island in the Paracels to strengthen its illegal sovereignty claim, and sent two diplomatic notes to the U.N. to make the infamous Four Sha claim, which covers a broader swath of territory than the notorious, illegal nine-dash line. Vietnam has repeatedly protested Chinas provocative, illegal actions and urged it to desist. The newest airline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) completed its first flight today. Airlines in the Gulf country, which has two major transit hubs, are starting to show signs of recovery from the global travel crisis. The aptly named Air Arabia Abu Dhabi flew from its base in Abu Dhabi to Alexandria in Egypt on Tuesday. It will also fly to the Egyptian city Sohag on the Nile River tomorrow, the state-run Emirates News Agency reported. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and the budget carrier based in Sharjah Air Arabia. The airline received permission to fly from the Emirati government in April. Both Etihad and Air Arabia continue to operate independently as well. Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE are major international transit hubs, offering connecting flights around the world. Airlines in the country have experienced major losses during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent decrease in international travel. Etihad Airways announced it was cutting hundreds of jobs in May. Emirati authorities grounded most passenger flights in March amid the pandemic but allowed air travel to resume in May. The carriers are now starting to rebuild their flight networks. Etihad Airways added more destinations in June following the resumption of transit flights through the country. Air Arabia Abu Dhabis first flights to Egypt further indicate airlines in the Gulf country may continue to resume operations around the region and world. Air Arabia Abu Dhabi seeks to be a budget carrier like Air Arabia but based in the capital city of Abu Dhabi and not Sharjah. Additional flights to Egypt from Abu Dhabi are available via Air Arabias website. Around 40 higher education institutions filed declarations in support of the lawsuit, including Yale University, DePaul University, the University of Chicago, Tufts University, Rutgers University and state universities in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin A Donald Trump administration effort to force foreign college students to take in-person classes in the fall or lose their visas has prompted a high-stakes legal battle between the White House and some of Americas top universities, with 17 states and the District of Columbia joining the fray Monday in a lawsuit that calls the policy senseless and cruel. The visa guidelines, issued a week ago, would upend months of careful planning by colleges and universities and could force many students to return to their home countries during the pandemic, where their ability to study would be severely compromised. The confrontation comes as the White House is pushing colleges and K-12 schools to throw open their doors to students, even as a growing number decide that its not safe. Many universities have chosen to allow a limited number of students on campus but to teach most classes virtually a decision that Trump has derided as ridiculous. Late last week, as his annoyance with universities grew, Trump threatened their non-profit status. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both of which plan mostly online classes, were the first to challenge the new visa rules in court, saying they were hastily implemented in violation of federal procedures. Their lawsuit last week set up a high-stakes hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, a day before the government is requiring schools to certify that students are taking in-person classes to meet the visa requirements. Dozens of universities have weighed in with Harvard and MIT, and Californias attorney-general and several universities filed their own suits in federal court late last week seeking to block the directive. The president is using foreign students as pawns to keep all schools open, no matter the cost to the health and well-being of these students and their communities, said Mark Rosenbaum, a lawyer with Public Counsel, a legal aid organisation in Los Angeles representing foreign graduate students at three California universities. Its temper-tantrum policy-making. The administration responded in court filings Monday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has the discretion to set student visa guidance, and that just because universities dont like the requirements doesnt make them against the law. The government also pointed out that the directive allows foreign students to take more online classes than they could have a year ago, when only one virtual course was allowed. The agency had waived that requirement in March, as the pandemic swept across the country and forced college campuses to abruptly close. Universities have argued that the state of emergency declared by the president in March remains in effect, so the waived visa rules should, too. The Trump administration didnt even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses, Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney-general, said in a statement announcing the suit she filed Monday with 16 other states, which accuses the administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act. At stake is the fate of possibly tens of thousands of students from all over the world who are enrolled in American universities this fall, where they represent both a major source of academic brainpower and a vital revenue stream for institutions that face deep financial losses in the pandemic. The federal guidance issued on 6 July has sent students scrambling to enrol in in-person classes that are difficult to find, if they are available at all. Harvard Medical Schools plan to move instruction online would force students like Ayantu Temesgen of Ethiopia to return home. But the Ethiopian government last month shut down the countrys internet amid deadly civil unrest, and even if it returns, the time difference would be difficult to overcome. If Im back home, I wont be able to wake up at 3 am or 2 am to attend my classes, Temesgen said. In their lawsuits, universities and the state attorneys general suggest that the new guidance is part of a politically motivated attempt to force universities to reopen, against their better judgment of the health risks. The same day as the announcement of the administrations reversal, the president of the United States made repeated public statements expressing the view that schools must reopen in the fall, the lawsuit filed Monday by the states says, citing a tweet by the president saying, in all capital letters, SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!! The government said in its response that it had an interest in keeping close tabs on foreign students, and allowing them to study online and untethered from a university campus posed a security risk. A solely online program of study provides a nonimmigrant student with enormous flexibility to be present anywhere in the United States for up to an entire academic term, whether that location has been reported to the government, which raises significant national security concerns, it said. In a harbinger of how the case may fare, the Supreme Court ruled in June that the Trump administration may not immediately proceed with its plan to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, protecting about 700,000 young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the court did not decide whether rescinding the program was sound policy, only whether the agency complied with the procedural requirement that it provide a reasoned explanation for its action. The dispute illustrates the seismic shifts in how education is being delivered during the pandemic, and the consequences of that change. Online education has achieved new primacy even at prestigious institutions like Harvard that previously relegated it mainly to lower-status programs like extension courses. But the move to online learning has prompted immigration authorities to ask why, if classes can be attended from anywhere in the world, students need to be in the US to earn their degrees. You dont get a visa for taking online classes from, lets say, University of Phoenix. So why would you if you were just taking online classes, generally? White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a news conference last week. International students say this is a narrow view of what studying abroad is all about, and that being in the US may lead to research and job opportunities that ultimately enrich the country and its economic, cultural and intellectual life. Meeting the demands of the governments new guidance would be extremely difficult, universities say. Just weeks before school is scheduled to begin, they would have to rejigger classes to make sure that hundreds of thousands of international students would have an in-person option. The alternative is to lose significant numbers of students from their campuses, the suit filed by state attorneys general says. The area represented by the plaintiffs contains 1,124 colleges and universities, with some approximately 373,000 international students enrolled in 2019, who contributed an estimated $14 billion to the economy that year, according to the complaint. Around 40 higher education institutions filed declarations in support of the lawsuit, including Yale University, DePaul University, the University of Chicago, Tufts University, Rutgers University and state universities in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Anemona Hartocollis c.2020 The New York Times Company A white couple from Long Island have been arrested and now face assault and other charges after an alleged racist attack on a black hotel worker in Connecticut was caught on surveillance video. The NYPD and US Marshals Service took Philip Sarner, 39, and Emily Orbay, 29, of Long Island, into custody early Monday in Brooklyn, New York. The couple were arrested after allegedly attacking hotel worker Crystal Caldwell, 59, of Groton, Connecticut, while they stayed at the Quality Inn in Mystic, Connecticut, on June 26. Surveillance footage from the hotel showed suspects Philip Sarner, 39 (in green), and Emily Orbay, 29 (in shorts) as they approached victim Crystal Caldwell, 59 (in background) The video showed Sarner and Orbay attacking Caldwell (being thrown to the ground) and kicking her. Caldwell said they called her 'monkey' during the alleged assault Police arrested Sarner (left) and Orbay (right) on Monday. The couple had no permanent address and had to be tracked down in Brooklyn, New York Police said that Sarner will be charged with second degree assault and third degree assault, while Orbay will be charged with two counts of third degree assault. Both of them will also face a charge of intimidation based on bigotry and bias, according to NBC Connecticut. During the alleged attacks - which were caught on surveillance video - Caldwell, who is black, said that Sarner and Orbay repeatedly called her 'monkey.' Caldwell told The Day that the attack occurred after a man called the front desk at about 11am to complain that his hot water wasn't working. She said she told him that she could either send a repairman or move them to another room, at which point she claims the man got angry and swore at her, telling her that he was going to send his girlfriend to the lobby to 'kick her ass.' Caldwell said she hung up on the man. Minutes later, the man showed up at the front desk. She said she then told the hotel's general manager and executive housekeeper, who spoke with the man, while he threatened Caldwell. Caldwell said that when she responded to him, the man ran at her and tried to hit her. She said that as she fought back, she was punched in the head repeatedly, sustaining a concussion, swollen face and badly injured right eye. As he was punching her, Caldwell claimed the man called her an 'old monkey.' Caldwell then claimed that when police arrived, they told her to wait in the employee lounge and not to leave the room, while they reviewed surveillance footage. She said that she went out into the hallway to get some ice for her face because she didn't know that an ambulance was coming. However, once in the hallway, Caldwell said that the man's girlfriend shouted at her for scratching him and they ganged up on her, pushing her against the wall and then down onto the ground, kicking her in the back and injuring her ribs. Caldwell said the incidents occurred because Sarner had called the front desk, where she worked, to complain that his hot water wasn't working She said that she only managed to avoid being kicked in the face because she was able to push herself off the ground. In addition to allegedly calling Caldwell a 'monkey' during the second attack, which she said took place while police were on site, she claimed the couple also said: 'Black Lives Matter? Your life doesnt matter, you dont deserve to live on this earth.' Caldwell's family and other supporters have complained that police allowed the couple to flee the scene and didn't arrest them right away. 'There was no arrest. They took them to the hospital, still not arrested. They were allowed to come back to the [hotel] grab their belongings and leave, are you serious?' Caldwell's nephew, Wayne Rawls, told The Day. 'I know if it was me, Id be under the prison, Id be underneath this jail still.' Police presented a slightly different version of events following their investigation. Authorities said it was 'Completely false' that they were on the scene when the second attack took place. Surveillance video showed that the first attack took place at 11.33am and that one of the witnesses - another hotel employee - took Caldwell to her office before calling police. The second attack - also caught on video - occurred at 11.37am. The attacks occurred 'all prior to any police arrival at the Quality Inn,' authorities said, claiming that the timing is supported by surveillance video. Police also said that they have not been able to find any witnesses who heard or saw the suspects - Sarner and Orbay - say to Caldwell that 'Black lives matter, your life doesnt, you dont deserve to live on this earth.' Police also said that the the first attack occurred after Caldwell had left the lobby area, when she got into a 'verbal altercation' with the suspect in a hallway. She 'then walked away and was chased down and assaulted,' police said. Police said that after they arrived at the scene, Caldwell, Sarner and Orbay asked for medical attention. Police said that after viewing partial surveillance footage of the first incident, they had enough probable cause to arrest Sarner and Orbay, but due to coronavirus precautions, they were prevented from entering the ER to make the arrest. Police said they then advised Sarner by phone that he would need to call them to make arrangements to be escorted back to the Quality Inn to retrieve his belongings as they weren't 'welcome back at the hotel that day.' Police then planned to arrest the couple at that time. At about 3pm that day, however, Sarner called police claiming that he was being threatened and harassed by Caldwell's relatives on Facebook. The incidents took place at the Quality Inn in Mystic, Connecticut, on June 26 at about 11.30am At about 3.20pm, police said they called Sarner who told him he was still at the hospital, but police later discovered that he and Orbay had actually ordered a Lyft ride back to the hotel, picked up their car and - within one minute of arrival - drove away. The couple did not, as previously assumed by hotel employees, have any of their possessions left inside their room. It wasn't until three days later, on June 29, that police were able to get all video footage of the incident from the hotel, including video showing that in between attacks, the couple had put their luggage into their car. Arrest warrants were then obtained on July 1. Police told NBC Connecticut that neither Sarner nor Orbay have permanent addresses. They were eventually tracked down in Brooklyn on July 13. These are the photos a teacher accused of sex with a schoolboy didn't want you to see, after two failed court bids to keep her name a secret. Monica Elizabeth Young, 23, is in police custody accused of 'aggravated sexual intercourse' with a pupil, 14, during school hours in recent weeks. Former friends of Young revealed happy pictures of the teacher with her fiance - who she had met at high school and was soon to marry - on Tuesday. Sources described the teacher as having a 'goody goody' reputation and said many don't believe the charges against the former Big W worker. The exclusive pictures emerged as court documents revealed further detail about how and when the alleged offending occurred - including claims she had sex with the boy three times in the one day. Teacher Monica Young - accused of sexual assaulting a schoolboy - is seen at a wedding with her fiance in images obtained by Daily Mail Australia this week Young, left and right, was denied bail by a south-west Sydney magistrate on Monday after the court heard she allegedly contacted the boy's mother to 'explain away' the circumstances Ms Young with her fiance and boyfriend of about six years, who she was due to marry soon Documents tendered in Bankstown Local Court said Young is charged with twice having sexual intercourse with the boy between 9am and 4pm on June 24. She also stands accused of intentionally sexually touching the boy on that day. More than a week later, on July 3, the teacher is accused of intentionally sexually touching the boy, between 8am and 3.30pm. She allegedly had aggravated sexual intercourse with him three times that afternoon three times, between 2pm and 3pm, and 3pm and 3.30pm. Then between July 4 and July 6, she's accused of intentionally carrying out a sexual act with a child, and inciting a child to sexually touch a person. A source with knowledge of the police investigation said the incitement charges relate to an alleged video exchange via Snapchat. There, Young is accused of performing a sex act upon herself in a video message for the boy and seeking one from the alleged victim in return. Young has denied any 'sexual impropriety' through her lawyer and faces up to 12 years' imprisonment if found guilty of an aggravated sex assault charge. Ms Young in another selfie prior to the sensational allegations being levelled against her Ms Young's father and grandmother outside Bankstown Local Court on Monday morning as she was refused bail The teacher was arrested and charged about 7am on Friday (pictured) and is in her fourth day of custody at Silverwater Young is seen as she was marched into the police station to be charged TIMELINE OF CHARGES AGAINST MONICA YOUNG: * June 24: Police claim she allegedly twice had sexual intercourse with a boy, 14, in her care and sexually touched him * July 3: Young is accused of sexually touching the boy and having sexual intercourse with him three times * July 4 to July 6: Young is accused of doing a sexual act toward a child and inciting him to do it toward her. A well-placed source said this charge relates to her allegedly sending an explicit Snapchat video and asking for one in return * July 10: Young is arrested at home and charged * July 13: Young is refused bail Advertisement Young was arrested by Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad detectives about 7am on Friday morning. In further blows, she was both denied bail and a request to extend a non-publication order to her name at Bankstown Local Court on Monday. In refusing her bail, Magistrate Glenn Walsh said Young had allegedly 'tried to get around' the police investigation after learning of its existence. She allegedly did that by changing her Snapchat username and attempting to contact the boy's mother to ''explain away' the circumstances of conduct'. A police prosecutor had raised fears Young could attempt to interfere with witnesses in the investigation. The prosecutor, who gave her name only by Ms Gardiner, described it as an 'overwhelmingly strong' case - with Snapchat and CCTV evidence. But her barrister Geoff Harrison said she had now spent three days in custody and had 'strong incentive' to obey 'house arrest' bail conditions. She had no criminal record, could offer $50,000 surety and stay with her grandmother, he said. A non-publication order on Ms Young's name was refused after Mr Harrison argued identifying her could lead to the school where she worked being identified. He said a non-publication order would help ensure a fair trial with 'less publication'. But Mr Walsh said there was no evidence before him to 'support the necessity of making an order'. Young was remanded in custody to face court at a later date. Johnny Depp lied about how he lost the top of his middle finger only to protect his ex-wife Amber Heard, one of the actors security guards told the High Court on the sixth day of his blockbuster libel case against The Sun. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Mr Depp and his family for about 16 years, said the 57-year-old Hollywood star was in emotional distress and panicking after his finger was severed during an incident in Australia in March 2015. Giving evidence at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday, Mr Connolly said that when he and another security guard arrived at the property, Mr Depp told him: Shes cut my f****** finger off. Shes smashed my hand with a vodka bottle. The episode in Australia is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour Ms Heard, 34, has made against Mr Depp which The Sun relies on in its defence of the claim that he was a wife beater, made in an April 2018 article. Ms Heard claims that Mr Depp lost the top of his finger while slamming a telephone against a wall, but the actor says his ex-wife threw a vodka bottle at him which smashed and severed his finger. The security officer said Ms Heards account of the incident bore no resemblance to his recollection and that, when he arrived at the house, the actress did not have any marks on her face or arms. He also said that Ms Heard was absolutely hysterical and shouted at Mr Depp: Are you just going to leave it like this, you f****** coward? Sasha Wass QC, representing the tabloids publisher News Group Newspapers (NGN), said Mr Depp had come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged. Mr Connolly said that those explanations were only to protect Amber, adding: The usual victim pattern is to protect the abuser for some reason. Video of the Day The former prison officer also claimed that Ms Heard hitting or slapping Mr Depp was not a one-off, saying that it had happened in Australia and in Los Angeles. Mr Depps barrister David Sherborne asked Mr Connolly: Did you ever witness Mr Depp physically attack or hit Ms Heard at any time? Mr Connolly said: No and I wouldnt tolerate any man striking a woman. No matter who he was, I just wouldnt tolerate that. Mr Sherborne asked: Not even if it was your boss? Mr Connolly replied: Not even if hes my boss. I dont care if hes the pope. Expand Close Actress Amber Heard arrives at court (Yui Mok/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actress Amber Heard arrives at court (Yui Mok/PA) The court also heard evidence from Tara Roberts, Mr Depps estate manager on his island in the Bahamas, who said in her witness statement: I never saw Johnny, who is an unusually kind man, be violent or aggressive with Amber or anyone else. Ms Roberts said that it was Ms Heard who was the most violent and described seeing Mr Depp with a red, swelling gash on the bridge of his nose after Ms Heard had apparently thrown a can of lacquer thinner at his face. She also claimed that Ms Heard hurled insults at Mr Depp, calling him washed up and fat, and was aggressive towards the actor during a Christmas visit to the Bahamas in 2015. Samantha McMillen, Mr Depps stylist since 2002 who also worked for Ms Heard during the couples relationship, gave evidence that she saw no visible injuries the day after Mr Depp allegedly attacked Ms Heard in December 2015. She said Ms Heard said to her after taping James Cordens The Late Late Show on December 16 2015: Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes? Ms McMillen said in her witness statement: Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment. The stylist gave evidence of seeing Ms Heard in a chance encounter on May 24 2016, three days after the Pirates Of The Caribbean star is alleged to have thrown his ex-wifes own mobile phone at her and hit her in the eye. Expand Close Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court in London (Yui Mok/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court in London (Yui Mok/PA) She said that on that occasion: Ms Heard was not wearing make-up. There were no visible marks, bruises, cuts, or injuries to her face or any other part of her body. The court finally heard evidence from Hilda Vargas, Mr Depps housekeeper in Los Angeles for more than 30 years, who was asked about the defecation incident when she found faeces in Mr Depp and Ms Heards bed after the actress 30th birthday party on April 21 2016. Ms Heard claims that one of their two small Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo, were responsible, but Mr Depp has said he was convinced that it was Ms Heard or one of her cohort who defecated in the bed. Ms Vargas said that she was horrified and disgusted to find a large pile of faeces in the bed and that it was clear to me that it was human faeces because of the size. In her witness statement, Ms Vargas said: I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Mr Depps or Ms Heards two small dogs. I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller. Giving evidence through a Spanish interpreter from the US, Ms Vargas said she was angry and thought it showed a lack of respect, adding that she took photographs of the faeces and sent them to Mr Depps estate manager, Kevin Murphy. Ms Vargas said she also saw Ms Heard on May 24 2016 and that she did not see any bruise, any mark, any injury on her face. Mr Depp is suing NGN and The Suns executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on April 27 2018 with the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be genuinely happy casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film? His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was overwhelming evidence Mr Depp assaulted Ms Heard on a number of occasions and left her in fear for her life. Expand Close Mr Depp has gives evidence in court (Yui Mok/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Mr Depp has gives evidence in court (Yui Mok/PA) NGN is defending the article as true, and says Mr Depp was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. On Wednesday, the court is expected to hear from Ben King, Mr Depps former estate manager and Kevin Murphy, Mr Depps current estate manager. Mr Depps former partner Winona Ryder is due to give evidence from the US on Wednesday afternoon, as are actress and #MeToo advocate Katherine Kendall who claims Mr Wootton misquoted her in the April 2018 article and Kate James, Ms Heards former personal assistant. The Maharashtra government on Tuesday ordered an inquiry after marksheets of agriculture universities in the state were found to have the words promoted Covid-19 stamped on them. Agriculture minister Dada Bhuse ordered inquiry after BJP leader Ashish Shelar raised the issue. It has come to light that marksheets of agriculture universities have promoted Covid-19 stamps. This is wrong and unjust for students, tweeted Shelar, a former minister. Maharashtra has four agriculture universities. In a letter to the director general of Maharashtra Council of Agriculture Education and Research and vice- chancellors of agriculture universities, Bhuse said the government had not given any instruction that marksheets should mention that the student has been promoted (without holding examination) due to the pandemic. The minister ordered an inquiry into the matter and action will be taken against those found responsible, an official statement said. The epidemiological situation in Ukraine is the main criterion for other countries to re-open their borders for Ukrainians. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the number of countries that re-opened their borders for Ukrainians has increased to 25, including the Bahamas and Lebanon. "Now there are 25 such countries. The Bahamas has been included [in the list]. I agree it is a faraway destination, although attractive for tourists. And Lebanon is a less popular destination among Ukrainian tourists, yet the country is extremely interesting and beautiful," he said during an online briefing on Tuesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Read alsoFM Kuleba: No chance for Ukraine to be included in EU's "green list" from July 14 The minister reiterates the epidemiological situation in Ukraine is the main criterion for other countries to re-open their borders for Ukrainians. "That is, if our [epidemiological] situation is bad, the number of countries where Ukrainians may travel is limited. The better the situation in our country is, the more countries are available," Kuleba said. At the same time, he said, when making decisions on letting foreigners in, the countries are guided exclusively by the situation in the country from which they arrive. "We do not pose a migration risk to other countries, but amid the pandemic and because of the pandemic, when determining the rules of entry into their territory, the countries look into the situation in a country from which citizens arrive," Kuleba said. As UNIAN reported earlier, Kuleba said 23 countries were open for Ukrainian tourists as of July 7, such as Turkey, Serbia, Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Belarus, the United Kingdom, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, Tunisia, the Republic of Korea, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Seychelles. Poker Vlogger Ryan joeyisamush Depaulo Wins 2020 WSOP Online Big 500 ($159,563) July 14 2020 Chad Holloway On Sunday night, the 2020 World Series of Poker Online Event #12: $500 The Big 500 No-Limit Hold'em attracted 1,624 players who rebought 803 times. The 2,427-entry field resulted in a $1,092,150 prize pool and after 12.5 hours of play, it was Ryan joeyisamush Depaulo walking away with a $159,563 top prize and his first gold bracelet. Depaulo, who was literally playing from inside his car in a New Jersey Whole Foods parking lot, is a popular online poker personality, a self-described degenerate gambler who makes +EV Vlogs about my -EV poker play. It was a bit of redemption for him as last summer he finished third in the 2019 WSOP Event #61: $400 Colossus for $208,643, which comprises the vast majority of his $225,644 in live tournament earnings. Check out the video of that below. This time, Depaulo won in impressive fashion entering the final table with the chip lead and eliminating all but two competitors. It wasnt easy though as Depaulo had to overcome Jack EarlGrey Salter in heads-up play. The Brit, who has $8 million in lifetime earnings, was seeking his first bracelet as well, but despite claiming the chip lead at one point, Depaulo ultimately regained it and closed it out. 2020 WSOP Online Event #12 Final Table Results Place Player Prize 1 Ryan joeyisamush Depaulo $159,563 2 Jack EarlGrey Salter $98,621 3 Sean FilthyDiaper Ruane $72,410 4 Hayden Luckbox89 Fortini $53,625 5 Jessyboo $40,082 6 Terry mrterry007 Fleischer $30,143 7 Shannon Aulophobia Shorr $22,826 8 Dominic rgdoc Ricciardi $17,474 9 Givmeaction $13,543 Watch: Daniel Negreanu Blows Up after Connection Glitch! Everyone experiences tilt in this game we all love... even "KidPoker"! CHECK IT HERE After pill_ivey bubbled in 372nd place, the in-the-money eliminations mounted. Among those to cash but fall short of the final table were James meatsweats Carroll (221st - $982.93), Daniel DNegs Negreanu (205th - $1,092.15), Kevin ImaLuckSac MacPhee (144th - $1,310.58), Max MaxSparrow Pescatori (108th - $1,419.79), Katie kateline Lindsay (57th - $2,402.73), Nick duckflush Pupillo (19th - $5,242.32), James mig.com Mackey (15th - $8,300.34), and final table bubble boy Spencer PrideEgoBalz Christenson (10th - $10,593.85). Depaulo began the final table as chip leader while Giemeaction was the short stack. Not surprisingly, Givemeaction was the first to go after his ace-queen suited failed to win a race against the pocket sixes of Sean FilthyDiaper Ruane. What WSOP Final Tables look like in 2020 https://t.co/my9kQ4GbK8 Ryan Depaulo: Degenerate Gambler (@depaulo_ryan) Not long after, Dominic rgdoc Ricciardi ran ace-seven into Depaulos ace-queen to fall in eighth place, and then Shannon Aulophobia Shorr bowed out in seventh when his ace-nine failed to overcome Depaulos pocket kings. Shorr, on many people's shortlist as one of the best players without a bracelet, scored his 96th career WSOP cash and is closing in on 2.5M in lifetime WSOP winnings. Depaulo then scored two quick eliminations Terry mrterry007 Fleischer and Jessyboo to take a commanding chip lead into four-handed play; in fact, he had nearly 5:1 over his next closest competitor and approximately two-thirds of the chips in play. Depaulo soon got lucky with ace-eight to dispatch Hayden Luckbox89 Fortini, who saw his ace-king go down in flames when an eight hit the flop. At that point, Salter won a flip with pocket fours against the ace-queen of Ruane, who exited in third place. That gave Salter ammunition, roughly 21 million in chips, to go into heads-up play against Depaulo, who had 28 million. The two battled hard, but before too long Salter claimed the lead and began to apply pressure. It looked as if the Brit was going to win the title, but then Depaulo got lucky to double back into the lead. Soon after, Salter got it in with ace-jack and failed to get there against Depaulos pocket queens. Relive Phil Hellmuth's Last Bracelet Win 2020 Online WSOP Bracelet Winners Download WSOP.com in Nevada and New Jersey The first step in getting set up to play on WSOP.com is to download the client. You can do so for both mobile (Android and iOS) and desktop (Windows 7 or higher and Mac OS X 10.6.8). To get the correct version of the client, use the links below: NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / July 13, 2020 / Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP ("BFA") announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit for violations of the federal securities laws against Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") and certain of the Company's current and former senior executives (collectively, "Defendants"), on behalf of investors in Wells Fargo common stock between February 2, 2018 and March 10, 2020, inclusive (the "Class Period"). BFA filed this action on behalf of its client, Steamfitters Local 449 Pension & Retirement Security Funds, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The case is captioned Steamfitters Local 449 Pension & Retirement Security Funds v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 3:20-cv-4674. (N.D. Cal.). The complaint in this case is substantially similar to the complaint filed in Perry v. Wells Fargo & Co., No. 1:20-cv-04494 (S.D.N.Y.) ("Perry"), which is the first-filed securities class action in this matter. Pursuant to the notice published on June 15, 2020 and the corrected notice published on June 18, 2020 in connection with the filing of Perry pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"), investors wishing to serve as Lead Plaintiff must file a motion for appointment as Lead Plaintiff by no later than August 14, 2020. The filing of this complaint does not alter that deadline. The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Wells Fargo misrepresented and concealed its failure to comply with U.S. government consent orders that were intended to remediate and prevent Wells Fargo's consumer abuses. The Company continuously stated that it was in compliance with those consent orders and was working constructively with U.S. regulators to ensure compliance. These statements were materially false and misleading. In truth, Wells Fargo was not in compliance with the consent orders and regulators had repeatedly rejected the Company's proposals for compliance. On March 4, 2020, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee published a 113-page report detailing its year-long investigation into Wells Fargo revealing that the Company's plans to remediate consumer abuses were woefully inadequate and failed to comply with the consent orders. Then, on March 11, 2020, the Company's former Chairwoman testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee stating, in part, that the Board repeatedly expressed "regular concern" to Wells Fargo senior management concerning the Company's lack of compliance with the consent orders. The disclosures concerning Wells Fargo's misconduct caused the value of the Company's stock to decline dramatically, resulting in significant harm to investors. Story continues BFA issues this notice in accordance with the PSLRA and Northern District of California Civil Local Rule 23-1(a). BFA is a law firm based in New York City with additional offices in Oakland, California; Toronto, Canada; and White Plains, New York. The Firm focuses on securities class actions and other investment-related matters. BFA currently serves as lead counsel in multiple securities class actions and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. For more information about BFA, please visit https://www.bfalaw.com/. Javier Bleichmar, Esq., Peter E. Borkon, Esq., Nancy A. Kulesa, Esq., Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, LLP 7 Times Square, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10036, (212) 789-1340, info@bfalaw.com. SOURCE: Bleichmar, Fonti, & Auld LLP View source version on accesswire.com: https://www.accesswire.com/597381/Bleichmar-Fonti-Auld-LLP-Files-Securities-Class-Action-Lawsuit-Against-Wells-Fargo-Company NEW YORK, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Casper Sleep Inc. ("Casper" or the "Company") (NYSE: CSPR). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Casper and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On or around February 7, 2020, Casper conducted its initial public offering (the "IPO" or "Offering"), selling 8.35 million shares of common stock priced at $12.00 per share. In the lead-up to the IPO, Casper claimed to have significantly improved its profit margins, placing it on a path to profitability. Shortly after the IPO, however, Casper announced downward gross margin trends and substantially impaired operations as a result of an increasingly dire cash flow situation. On April 21, 2020, Casper announced that it was taking significant actions to improve its cash position and business model, notwithstanding the fact that the Company had raised more than $100 million in gross offering proceeds from the IPO less than three months previously. The Company stated that it was reducing the size of its global operations and sales team and completely winding down its European operations, leading to the loss of 21% of its entire corporate workforce globally. These drastic measures were necessitated by the Company's ballooning losses and deteriorating cash position. Casper also announced the resignation of Gregory Macfarlane, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. On May 12, 2020, Casper issued a release providing its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, disclosing that it had suffered a net loss of $34.5 million, representing a 98% increase year over year, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $22.9 million, representing a 60% increase year over year. In addition, Casper stated that its gross margin had actually fallen during the quarter by 190 basis points. Also on May 12, 2020, Casper filed its quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in which the Company disclosed that its cash and cash equivalents had only increased $48.5 million during the quarter, despite the fact that the Company received over $88 million in net cash proceeds from the IPO. The Form 10-Q stated that during the quarter Casper had suffered over $40 million in negative cash flows from operating and investing activities. On June 19, 2020, Casper's stock price closed at $8.78 per share, representing a decline of nearly 27% from the Offering price. 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 [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com The number of entrepreneurs from Alabama using Amazon.com over the past year has more than doubled, the online retailer says. Alabama is among the top 10 states for growth among small and medium-sized businesses selling there. The site also revealed its top 10 states with the most small and medium-sized businesses, or SMBs, selling on Amazon. Keri Cusick, head of small business empowerment at Amazon, said both lists demonstrate innovation in every corner of the country, with states like Iowa, Delaware, Wyoming, and Alabama coming out on top. Alabama placed third among the top 10 states with the fastest year-over-year growth by digital entrepreneurs, at 53 percent growth. Iowa was at the top with 57 percent growth, and was also No. 1 in most digital entrepreneurs per capita, with almost 10,000 sellers. In 2019, more than 15,000 American SMBs exceeded $1 million in sales in Amazons stores worldwide, and nearly 25,000 surpassed $500,000 in sales. Products from small and medium-sized businesses make up more than half of all items sold in Amazons stores worldwide, the company says. Last year, Amazon awarded its first Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year award to 1818 Farms, which began in Mooresville and has its offices in Huntsville, in the companys first-ever United States Small Business Spotlight Awards. By Azernews By Ayya Lmahamad Five Azerbaijani servicemen, including a major general and colonel, have been killed during the Armenian attack on the border on the night leading to July 14, Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Kerim Veliyev told local media on July 14. "On the night of July 13-14, fierce battles continued on the territory of Tovuz region. Within two days, crushing blows were made on the enemy. Up to 100 units of manpower, a large number of military equipment and important enemy facilities were destroyed, he said. The fallen Azerbaijan servicemen are Major General Polad Gashimov, Colonel Ilgar Mirzaev, Major Ahmedov Namig, Major Novruzov Anar, Ensign Zeynalli Ilgar, Ensign Babayev Yashar, Superintendent soldier Mustafazade Elchin. An Azerbaijani civilian in Tovuz regions Aghdam village, Aziz Azizov, was killed as a result of artillery shelling by the Armenian armed forces. The cross-border fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan started on July 12 with Armenia's firing artillery at Azerbaijan's positions in the direction of Tovuz region. The attack killed four Azerbaijani servicemen and injured four others. Azerbaijan responded by destroying a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit using artillery, mortars and tanks on the night leading to July 13. The ministry said Armenia was hiding its casualties. Earlier, today, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported that Armenia's military and combat equipment for various purposes, command post, reserves in the depths of defense, and its forces were destroyed as a result of punitive measures undertaken to suppress Armenia's activity. 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. However, final peace deal has not been reached yet. At some point, weve all played refrigerator roulette. You pull out some leftovers, peel back the plastic, give them a wary look and an anxious sniff followed by the inevitable Do you think this is still good? Researchers from McMaster University are getting closer to taking the guesswork out of food safety with the development of a plastic wrap that can detect harmful pathogens in food. Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc., a financing arm of the Toyota group, has announced it will contribute $300,000 US over the next two years to help commercialize the pathogen-detecting product. Pretty much every other day we have a food recall in Canada, said Tohid Didar, a McMaster professor in the department of mechanical engineering and the school of biomedical engineering. Everybody knows that its been a major problem with E. coli, salmonella and so on with meat and produce, said Didar, who is part of the development team. Its been a big challenge. McMasters product is a thin flexible plastic film coated with specialized fragments of DNA. When certain types of pathogens are present or the byproduct proteins they create are present they react with the DNA molecules on the film. Some of the DNA sequences attach to the pathogens and these new products will be visible at a certain wavelengths, such as those on the ultraviolet range of the spectrum. Hand-held scanners can then be used to check for a buildup of the harmful bacteria. It could even be possible soon to use a cellphone with a special filter to scan the package. The pathogen-detecting patch can be attached to the plastic film used to wrap food packages. Eventually, it could become part of the plastic wrap used at home or the detection patch could be printed onto stickers that could be applied to plastic wrap. The patch has applications throughout the food production and consumption chain. The McMaster researchers are going to start with a patch that will detect the presence of E. coli O157, a pathogen that can be found in meat and on some produce that causes severe gastrointestinal symptoms. Other major pathogens, such as salmonella, will then be added to the detection patch. Eventually, the McMaster researchers hope to develop a detection film that will recognize food spoilage, which is caused by other types of bacteria. This is going to be revolutionary, Didar said. Right now, he said, food comes with a static expiration date thats printed on a label when the food is packaged. If we can change this into more of a dynamic system, we could save a lot of food thats wasted, Didar added. Its estimated that over $30 billion of food is wasted every year in Canada, according to a 2015 University of Toronto report. We are eager to see how this technology can be applied to improve the safety of the food chain, stated Hidetoshi Tada, president of Toyota Tsusho Canada. We were intrigued by the initial findings and we are proud to have the opportunity to help bring this research into public use. Didar hopes that a working prototype of the detection film will be ready to start commercial production in two years and that it will be in use within four years. Detection film for food spoilage, he added, could be a decade down the road. Young Brothers said it needs to dramatically increase its shipping rates this summer if it is going to break even financially and keep its services operating through year's end. Hawaii's sole inter-island ocean carrier, which is regulated by the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC), said the coronavirus pandemic is already expected to leave it with a loss of $30 million by the end of 2020 at current rate levels. Even before the state implemented its COVID-19 travel restrictions earlier this year, Young Brothers lost money and the company asked the commission in 2019 to approve a rate increase valued at $13 million. Young Brothers said its latest rate increase request to the PUC, valued at $30 million, aims to recover a portion of the company's projected loss after operating and labor expenses are factored. The company asked state regulators to approve the rate increase from August through the end of the year. "I want to be clear that this proposed rate increase would only allow the company to break even in 2020 if the rates were in place for a full year," said Young Brothers President Jay Ana in a statement. "We are not seeking an allowed rate of return or any sort of profit as part of this request." The company, which in the spring unsuccessfully sought $25 million in federal government CARES Act relief funding, said since April its cargo volumes have dropped 30% due to Hawaii's stay-at-home orders and the decline in tourism. Young Brothers officials estimate the company is losing more than $3 million a month in revenue as the virus continues to plague the state's economy. In April, the company, which operates eight multipurpose barges and six tugs and has a staff of about 130, began cutting costs by reducing its weekly sailing schedules among Maui, Kahului and Hilo for a savings of $6 million. It has also reduced gate hours at its barge terminals, instituted a hiring freeze and reduced executive salaries. Story continues Young Brothers warned the PUC that its parent company, Saltchuk, which also owns U.S.-flag domestic ocean carriers TOTE Puerto Rico, TOTE Alaska and Foss Maritime, will no longer cover its losses as it has in years past due to its own "staggering" COVID-19-related financial losses. "We know our customers and small businesses across Hawaii are struggling to cope with the unprecedented challenges brought on by COVID-19," Ana added. "That's why we pursued all available avenues of relief before making the difficult decision to accelerate our request for higher rates. But this request is vital for Young Brothers to stay in business and continue connecting our island economies." Young Brothers started marine transport operations in Hawaii 120 years ago. Today, the Honolulu-based shipping company provides last-mile transport of vehicles and containers loaded with groceries and other consumer goods aboard ocean barges to the island communities of Hilo, Kawaihae, Kahului, Kaumalapau, Kaunakakai and Nawiliwili. Most of these goods are initially delivered from the U.S. mainland to the Port of Honolulu by U.S.-flag ocean carriers Matson Navigation and Pasha Group. In other news, Matson Inc (NYSE: MATX) reported on July 9 that it expects its ocean transportation services to generate a second quarter operating income of $40.5 to $42.5 million, compared to $19.7 million in the second quarter last year. Matson Chairman and CEO Matt Cox credited the company's overall success during the pandemic to its U.S.-China container transport service. The carrier's U.S.-China service attracted numerous shippers and non-vessel-operating common carriers when other container carriers canceled their trans-Pacific sailings. Related news COVID-19 threatens Hawaii's sole interisland ocean transportation provider COVID-19 puts most of Hawaiian Air on standby Matson's new container/ro-ro ship is biggest ever built in US Click for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Chris Gillis. See more from Benzinga 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Two huge ships were shown slamming into each other in shocking new footage of a brutal head-on collision captured on Saturday. Disaster struck as the two vessels approached each other in the Welland Canal, a key 26-mile shipping route that connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in Canada. In the video, the Alanis and the Florence Spirit can be seen on a collision course before they crash in a cacophony of twisted metal. In an agonizing build up, the boats are clearly on a collision course as they approach from opposite directions down the canal. An alarm can be heard as they get closer and closer, but nothing can be done, and a deafening crashing is heard and they hit one-another head-on. Disaster struck as the two vessels approached each other in the Welland Canal (pictured above) but were unable to maneuver around one-another The Florence Spirit, the black boat and smaller of the two, scrapes down the side of the larger Alanis, before the two come to a halt and slowly drift towards the bank of the canal where the video is being recorded from. Eye-witness Alex Stewart, 19, thought the cargo ships would pass safely at first, but then he heard the Alanis sound the alarm. 'We didn't think they were gonna crash but as soon as the red ship set off the panic alarm, we knew something was gonna happen,' he said. 'My thinking was like "oh c**p, are they actually gonna hit?'" Incredibly, nobody was hurt in the crash. Moment before the crash: The Florence Spirit (right) and the Alanis (left) seconds before the collision that sent both careering towards the banks of the canal The cause of the crash remains a mystery, with canal bosses saying that navigation conditions on the canal were normal at the time of the crash on Saturday. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is now investigating the collision. 'It's too early to tell what happened,' manager Line Laroche told local media. 'We will look at all of the data and do a deep investigation. Our mandate is not to find fault.' Photos from the aftermath of the crash show the Florence Spirit crashed into the bank of the canal with a huge chunk of its bow ripped away. The Alanis had a large gash at the front of the boat where the Florence Spirit had crashed into it. Above, workers at the front of the vessel inspect the damage The Florence Spirit had a huge chunk of its bow missing where it had collided with the Alanis Meanwhile the Alanis can be seen with a big black scar along its starboard side. 'After the impact the red one went down the canal to a dock and has remained there,' said Mr Stewart. 'The black one went to an old dock that hasn't been used in years to repair the damage.' The Florence Spirit was shipping coal destined for Quebec City, while the Alanis was carrying wind turbine components to Duluth, Minnesota. Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said those travelling to countries on the 'Green list' will be "no more likely" to get Covid-19 there than they would spending a weekend away in Dublin or Killarney. Mr Varadkar said that the pandemic could "go on for years" until an effective vaccine is found and that it is "not practical to cut ourselves off from travel for that long." He said the government is planning to publish a 'Green list' or 'A list' of countries determining where Irish holidaymakers can travel on Monday. He told Newstalk Breakfast: "If you're travelling between Ireland and a country on the A-list or the Green list there'll be no restrictions, and that's based on science, based on the fact that if you're traveling to one of those countries you're no more likely to get the virus there than a weekend in Dublin or weekend in Killarney." Mr Varadkar said "tighter controls" will be implemented on countries that are not on the green list. Read More "I think we need to focus on what actually can be done for people traveling to and from countries not on the green list and that really is putting the passenger locator form online. It also means potentially looking at testing." He added: "People will say the testing is inferior to mandatory quarantine but if we know the mandatory quarantine can't be done, maybe better to do something like that then nothing at all." Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has called on the government to give "greater clarity" on travel guidelines. "If the message is holiday at home, it should be unambiguously to holiday at home," she told Newstalk Breakfast. "I know from talking to people, people feel that there is an ambiguity, they feel that they're being told that if they're a good boys and girls they wouldn't travel, but that they still have can and I think that's a real problem for families." She added that the government needs to "look imaginatively" at supporting families who are out of pocket after their holiday plans collapsed due to the health crisis. "I'm conscious so that there's lots of families who started paying for their holidays months and months ago. "We need firmer advice and guidance from government. And then I think we need to look at every way that we can to support families. "I certainly think that we need to look imaginatively at how we can support families." Heading into Georgias primary June 9, McDuffie County Elections Director Phyllis Brooks had no choice but to assemble a last-minute crew to count votes. Two of her three staffers were out with COVID-19. She had more than 2,500 absentee ballots to tally by hand Brooks brought in a handful of county employees and hired teenagers to do the counting. Theres no money left in her election office budget. Not for poll workers. Not for extra hands to count what is likely to be a record number of mail-in ballots. Not even for stamps to send out the absentee ballots they expect to need. Sixteen weeks before the presidential election, Brooks and hundreds of other cash-strapped elections supervisors across the nation are waiting to see how much state and federal money will come their way. Experts said the coronavirus pandemic tacked on hundreds of millions of dollars in unexpected costs to this years election, and there are clear signs that an emergency federal infusion of $400 million made in March will fall far short of whats needed. Money buys the material to pull off a free and fair election, said Nathaniel Persily, an election law professor with Stanford Law School. This year, "local jurisdictions are literally relying on philanthropy to help pull off this election," he said, pointing to a Chicago nonprofit group that donated $6.3 million to five Wisconsin cities. "It's like we are holding a bake sale for our democracy." A poll worker wears a sign asking voters to observe social distancing outside the Schuetze Recreation Center on April 7 in Waukesha, Wis. Dozens of interviews with election clerks, state officials and advocates by USA TODAY Network, Columbia Journalism Investigations and the PBS series "Frontline" reveal the countrys patchwork election system is fraying. A proposal to provide states an additional $3.6 billion in federal money to support cratering election budgets has yet to be voted on by the U.S. Senate. Academics and experts said the $400 million allocated is too little and its distribution too slow. In swing states, cash and resources are only now trickling down to the locals responsible for running elections. Story continues As a result, expensive equipment that could speed tabulating votes, open absentee envelopes or check voter signatures remain out of reach for many. The mailing costs to deal with increased absentee voting are likely to add up to tens of millions of dollars, according to figures compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York think tank. An additional $140 million would be required to replace poll workers who dropped out citing COVID-19 risks and pay raises to keep workers who didnt. Then there will be staffing to count the extra ballots, extra training to replace poll workers who fall ill and gallons of hand sanitizer for polling stations. Election officials are too often "at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to resources," said former Michigan director of elections Christopher Thomas, a fellow with the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank. Expecting massive turnout in November, they will need every dollar. "Even in the best of times, the system would struggle to process this many votes on Election Day," he said. Can they get it done? Thats the big question." Not every state will need to offset the threat of COVID-19 with large-scale, multimillion-dollar purchases, but all face unexpected, budget-sapping costs. Paulding County, Georgia expects to receive $8,000 from the state, but that will not even cover the almost $10,000 the supervisor of elections shelled out for mail-in ballot drop boxes. In Greene County, Missouri, the bill for sneeze guards topped $46,000. Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, bought an $11,000, 245-pound high-speed letter opener to handle mail-in ballots. Lansing, Michigan, City Clerk Chris Swope warns voters that no one should expect to know who won three City Council seats or any other race on election night. Short of a landslide, its possible no one will know who won the White House on Nov. 4. If it is very close, the count could go to Thanksgiving or longer, predicted Greg Miller, co-founder and chief operations officer of the OSET Institute, a research firm developing open source technology for voting systems. Should the election system falter, even in a few states, the fallout could make the 2000 Gore-Bush election chaos "look like a spring ball," Miller said. "No one is going quietly into that night." Tonia Fernandez, 42, supervisor of elections in Erie County, Pa., sorts mail-in ballots inside a locked room at the courthouse on June 2. Bottlenecked Split among 50 states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories, the $400 million from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act missed the mark by more than $3 billion, the Brennan Center for Justice wrote in a report in April. "The funding is not sufficient for what is needed in this new world," said Dianna Moorman, director of elections for James City County, Virginia, at a hearing by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Three battleground states Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan would need more than a quarter of a billion dollars to meet safety and security goals outlined in a report published by a bipartisan group of academics and policy advocates. That includes millions for unbudgeted COVID-19-related costs, such as renting polling places large enough to accommodate social distancing and beefing up cybersecurity for election officials working from home. The sooner election directors get the money, the sooner they can prepare for November's turnout, said Liz Howard, counsel for the Brennan Center's Democracy Program. The Election Assistance Commission expedited release of the $400 million and predicted it would be distributed by April 10. However, 30 states did not even ask for the money until after that date. Florida, Nevada, Virginia and Oklahoma waited until May to make their requests. Oklahoma asked for half its share. Utah asked for less than half, saying it had a strong vote-by-mail structure in place. Multiple states did not begin allocating the money to county and local election offices until June, roughly four months before the election. That's cutting it close, said Forrest Lehman, elections director for Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. "Six months out, thats when you can turn the ship, that's when you can make changes." Different states have taken different approaches to using the money, and some have been more time-consuming than others. In Alabama, checks were cut to counties after a group of officials, not just the elections office, agreed upon what was needed. Florida Secretary of State Laurel Lee did not ask for $20.2 million in funding until mid-May, shortly after the state's association of county elections supervisors wrote in a widely publicized letter that "Florida is lagging behind nearly every other state in securing (federal) funding for elections." The Florida Supervisors of Elections wrote, "While we wait, the goods and services we need are becoming scarce." Only four states conducted all-mail elections before 2020, and it took them years to hone the systems, equipment and training to do it. November marks the first time any Michigan voter can cast a mail-in ballot in a presidential election, a herculean shift. But the Michigan secretary of states office had spent only about 30% of its $11.2 million in federal money by mid-June, on absentee ballot applications. It was months end before state officials tentatively decided how to spend the rest. "More funding is crucial, the funding and support we need, it's out there, its been talked about; we just dont have it yet," said Cynthia Bower, city clerk for Taylor, Michigan. In Arizona, the governor did not release the money to the secretary of state until July 2. By then, the Republican-led Legislature had pulled $500,000 from the overall state election budget. Congress built in its own delays. States must match 20% of the federal money within two years or risk paying back the entire amount. Californias $36.4 million award calls for it to spend $7.2 million of its own money. Mississippis $4.7 million requires a $945,608 match. Some state legislatures had adjourned when the coronavirus aid bill passed and could not appropriate the money. The same spiraling economy that prompted Congress to pass the act made it harder for states to commit to the deal. Maine's match translates to roughly $659,000 as tax revenue-producing industries are shuttered, according to Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap. "The next fiscal year is going to be pretty scary," he said. The required match is why Oklahoma asked for half of the $5.4 million it was entitled to. "We didn't have it," said Pam Slater, assistant secretary of the State Election Board. If the match had been 5%, Slater said, a request for the full amount might have been workable. "Would we have loved to be able to ask for the whole thing?" she said. "Sure, but we were lucky to be able to ask for a portion of it." Unmet needs The country's aging patchwork of election systems further complicates states' efforts to navigate November's election. High-speed scanners are the backbone of quickly and accurately counting large numbers of absentee or mail-in ballots. Aging machines are more likely to fail or be vulnerable to hacking. More than 1,200 jurisdictions including counties in Texas, Kentucky and Illinois plan to count absentee ballots using scanners so old they are no longer manufactured. Louisiana, which has some of the oldest election equipment in the country, arranged months ago to lease new systems. Michigan earmarked $1.5 million of its federal cash to help election offices buy ballot scanners and vote tabulators. It is not clear how many elections officials can replace aging equipment at this late date. Workers wearing face shields and masks sort mail-in primary election ballots June 1 at the Johnson County Health and Human Services building in Iowa City, Iowa. Hillsborough County, Florida, Supervisor of Elections Craig Latimer said that when he asked Elections Systems & Software, the nation's largest vendor of its kind, to lease a backup high-speed scanner, the answer was no. An ES&S spokeswoman did not directly respond when asked if demand had outstripped its supply of high-speed scanners to sell or lease, but said in an email that the company was working with customers to assess needs. In some cases, she said, officials are "reconfiguring" equipment to handle the expected surge of mail-in ballots. "The train has left the station for major changes," said Tammy Patrick, senior adviser for elections for the Democracy Fund, a nonpartisan Washington foundation. New computer equipment, new poll books and testing a new voting system take months, she said. Online systems can allow voters to update information or register for the first time without risking in-person visits to government offices. But it is too late to create online registration systems, Patrick and the Bipartisan Policy Center's Thomas said. In Maine, which requires in-person registration, "people were saying that we needed to develop an online voter registration system," said Dunlap, the secretary of state. "But we were lacking time, we were lacking money and we were lacking the people needed to build it." There is no guarantee more federal help will be forthcoming. A $3 trillion bill setting aside $3.6 billion in election funding is stalled in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dismissed it as an "ideological wish list." Even if the money were available, some states might not accept it. The bill would override states' voter ID laws in federal elections and broaden access to mail-in voting. Both are line-in-the-sand issues at the heart of hyper-partisan court battles and campaign strategies by Democrats and Republicans. "Receiving one-time funds at the expense of radically changing our election system is a trade-off we are not willing to make," Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said in June before a congressional subcommittee on elections. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who chairs the national Republican Secretaries of State Committee, said accepting money from the bill as written would put the federal government in the driver's seat. "We do not want them to tell us how to use those resources," he said. At the local level, this is not a political issue, said Jeff Greenburg, election director in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It is a crisis. "As a local election official, I would love to see Congress and other levels stay away from using funding to change election laws," Greenburg said. "They always try to tie in both issues, and that ends up stopping it in its tracks. "This is an emergency. Lets get the funding out there." This story was produced in partnership with Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School, and the PBS series "Frontline." Pat Beall is a reporter with GANNETT / USA TODAY Network. Contact Pat at pbeall@gatehousemedia.com, by phone or Signal at 561 670 0462 or Twitter, @beall1. Catharina Felke is a reporter with Columbia Journalism Investigations. Contact Catharina at cmf2201@columbia.edu or @catharinafelke. Elizabeth Mulvey, is a reporter with Columbia Journalism Investigations. Contact Elizabeth at em3045@columbia.edu or @E_Mulvey58, or by phone or Signal at 609-273-6601. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump or Biden? Counties say they are short money to pull off election Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's leading infectious disease expert, said the United States never shut down entirely. He released the statement after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in the country increased rapidly. During the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, COVID19 infections in the country have reached 30,000 daily. Then it dropped to 20,000 new cases a day and went up again, according to a data obtained from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Fauci told Standford Medicine Dean Dr. Lloyd Minor in an interview that the new cases began to surge as states began to reopen its economic activity from April to June. It can be remembered that Fauci, a member of the White House COVID-19 Task Force, warned that safety and health measures must be strictly followed during states reopening or else the country will experience an uncontrollable outbreak. "We did not shut down entirely," Fauci said. "We need to draw back a few yards and say, 'OK, we can't stay shut down forever.' You've got to shut down but then you've got to gradually open," he added. Currently, the United States remained to have the highest number of COVID-19 infections globally. Cases of the coronavirus in the U.S. have surpassed 3.4 million with more than 138,000 deaths, according to worldometers. A CNBC's analysis of data showed that an increase of five percent or more were recorded in 37 states. The analysis also revealed that the seven-day average of COVID-19 infections in the country is more than 59,000. In a previously published article by Latin Post, it was reported that Florida has recorded the highest COVID-19 infections in just a single day that reached more than 15,000. Health officials and experts further noted that the number of COVID-19 related hospitalizations remained high in some states. In fact, two counties in Texas have already said that their hospitals are already full and there are no beds available in their intensive care units. On Monday, Fauci said the outbreak in the country has not "even begun to see the end" of the pandemic yet as pharmaceutical firms and scientists continue to develop potential drugs and vaccines for COVID-19. Fauci also said that he is optimistic that at least one vaccine will be developed before the year ends or by early next year. It can be recounted that during a Senate hearing, Fauci said he cannot assure and guarantee a safe and effective vaccine. However, the country has the fund to manufacture a candidate vaccine. Moderna, the frontrunner in developing the vaccine that is working closely with the National Institutes of Health, is expected to begin the last phase of its human clinical trial by the end of this month. Johnson and Johnson will also do the same. Aside from Fauci, some scientists also said they cannot guarantee the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine that is developed early. They said it would be a "record-breaking" time frame for a process that usually takes about a decade for an effective and safe vaccine. Check these out! Here are todays top news, analysis and opinion. Know all about the latest news and other news updates from Hindustan Times. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra denies seeking more time to vacate Lutyens bungalow Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra on Tuesday said that she would vacate her government bungalow at 35 Lodhi Estate in Lutyens Delhi within the stipulated one-month deadline and rubbished claims that she requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an extension of the tenure beyond August 1. Read more Kejriwal launches Delhis second plasma bank for Covid-19 patients at LNJP Hospital Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated the national capitals second plasma bank for Covid-19 patients at government-run Lok Nayak Hospital. After huge success of our first plasma bank, we are launching Delhis 2nd plasma bank today at LNJP Hospital, Kejriwal tweeted. Read more Coming to Punjab for less than 72 hours? No quarantine, only undertaking needed Those coming to Punjab for less than 72 hours are now exempt from the mandatory home quarantine, and only need to submit a formal undertaking at the border check post. Read more Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot ignores appeals, skips key Congress meeting The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting began in Rajasthan capital Jaipur shortly before noon on Tuesday. This is the second CLP meeting in two days to discuss the crisis in the state as the political face-off between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot intensified. Read more Global coronavirus vaccine plan may allow rich countries to buy more Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. Read more La Liga: Barcelona strong enough to cope without Antoine Griezmann in final two games, says Luis Garcia Real Madrid have cemented themselves as the favourites to win the La Liga title this year. With a 2-1 win over Granada on Monday, the Zinedine Zidane led team has gone one step further in winning the tournament and need just one more win to do so. Read more Deer family crosses IAS officers road to work, leaves netizens mesmerized. Watch For most of us, the road to office is riddled with crowded streets, sweaty people and a lot of traffic jams. But the scenario is completely different for some. A video shared by IAS officer Supriya Sahu shows her route to work which may make you miss the sight of a lush, green forest. Read more Free Britney 2020: Heres why Britney Spears fans are petitioning to end her conservatorship Singer, musician and performer Britney Spears left her 24.9 million Instagram followers confused and concerned with her posts, many worried that the Toxic singer seemed out of sorts. Several wrote that she wasnt behaving normally and that someone should do a wellness check on her. Read more Watch| Covid-19: BCG vaccine can prevent deaths, severe infections New Delhi: China has struck a deal with America's enemy - Iran. It's a $400 billion economic and security strategic partnership deal. As always, China is using its chequebook to have its way. It has bought Iran over for $400 billion dollars. It is a 25-year strategic accord with an 18-page agreement that weds Iran to China for a quarter of a century. Once it is signed, Iran will open its doors for Chinese investment not just in one or two sectors but across the Iranian economy. The Chinese presence in Iran would expand in banking, telecommunications, ports, and railways, also more than a dozen projects will go to Chinese companies. Beijing hopes to get cheap oil in return. China will walk away with a steady supply of Iranian oil at a heavily discounted rate for 25 years and this is just one side of the story of the economic aspect. The deal also has a military dimension. There will be reportedly joint training and exercises, joint research and weapons development, even intelligence sharing as part of the agreement. The deal will fundamentally change Irans relationship with China. It will put Tehran in Beijings corner and India could see its influence diminish overtime. The biggest threat is to the Chabahar port. It was seen as Indias counter to the Gwadar port in Pakistan that is part of Chinas Belt and Road initiative(BRI), if China invests heavily in Iran the Chabahar port could lose its relevance. However, it is hypothetical as of today. The Iran-China agreement reportedly has not been submitted for Parliaments approval yet and hasnt been made public. China hasnt shared the details of the deal yet as well. The ministry of foreign affairs in Beijing was asked about it today and it didnt share any information. It is not yet clear if the top brass of the Communist Party has signed off on it but the details of the deal that have leaked are reportedly part of the final version. Iran is not hiding the fact that it is negotiating the agreement with China. On July 5, Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif indicated that the deal will happen and it will be presented before Iran's Parliament for approval. The potential agreement is a big threat to India. Historically, India and Iran have enjoyed a close relationship. India was one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil but New Delhi stopped buying oil from Iran in 2019 after the United States slapped sanctions against Iran and refused to grant any waivers to India. Now, Trumps maximum pressure policy against Tehran has failed. China went under the nose of the Americans and managed to negotiate a deal with Tehran that could create more flashpoints in West Asia and even cost India its relationship with Iran. By PTI KOLKATA: BJP West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday said that the party was not in favour of imposition of Article 356 in the state and it would fight and defeat the ruling Trinamool Congress democratically. He told newspersons that party leaders have met Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the death of MLA Debendra Nath Roy and apprised him about the danger the saffron party workers were facing under the ruling dispensation in the state. "We are ethically not in favour of Article 356, BJP has never taken away the democratic or constitutional rights of any state government by using this provision," he said when asked whether the party was thinking of seeking promulgation of Article 356 in West Bengal. A BJP delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind in the national capital during the day, demanding dismissal of the TMC government in West Bengal and a CBI probe into the Hemtabad MLA's death. Ghosh said that protests will be held across the state in democratic manner against the "murder" of the party MLA. The party will hold protests in front of all police stations in the state on Wednesday, he said. Alleging that the ruling Trinamool Congress was trying to silence opposition voices, Ghosh alleged "Roy was a popular leader among the Rajbangshi community and that is why he has been murdered." He said that around 400 party workers were arrested on Tuesday during the 12-hour bandh called by BJP to protest the death. "We want a CBI investigation. If the government feels that it was not a murder, why is it not keen on asking for a probe by the central agency?" he asked. Ghosh said that his party will contemplate moving the court of law for a CBI probe if the state government does not ask for it. He alleged that BJP workers have been killed by hanging in similar manner in several earlier cases in the state following which the party had moved court in such matters. Alleging that it was a pre-planned killing, he questioned, "how could the post-mortem report be delivered within a day of the death on Monday morning, while generally it takes much longer?" Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay had told a press conference on Tuesday that as per the post-mortem report, the West Bengal Police feels that it was apparently a case of suicide. An MP's cat made a hilarious appearance at his Zoom meeting today when he blocked the camera with his bushy tail. John Nicolson, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, had been taking part in the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee when Rojo sauntered past the screen with his striped tail on show. The committee had been hearing from Dame Carolyn McCall, chief executive of ITV, about the future of public service broadcasting in the wake of the coronavirus health crisis. Mr Nicolson was asking TV bosses why subtitles were not put on kids' TV by default as it was proven to increase literacy, when an orange tail appeared on screen. In a clip, the SNP politician, 59, continues to speak as Rojo's bushy tail crosses the camera, interrupting briefly to apologise for the distraction. John Nicolson, MP for Ochil and South Perthshire, had been taking part in the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee when Rojo sauntered past the screen 'I apologise for my cat's tail,' he says, provoking laughter from those present in the meeting, before launching back into his discussion. But the MP soon has to gently move Rojo's tail away from the screen as the cat refuses to budge, telling him: 'Rojo, put your tail down.' Those in attendance laugh at the scene as the cat disappears from view. The footage was posted to Twitter by Alain Tolhurst, who wrote: 'Another classic entry for the Parliamentary cats on Zoom folder, this time @MrJohnNicolson at DCMS committee.' Several viewers took to the comments of the clip, with one user writing: 'I've heard of cats doing 'zoomies' but this is a whole other level of brilliant feline fiendishness.' Another said: 'We need more [Rojos] in this world!' Rojo's unexpected appearance is one of several hilarious blunders to have taken place during live broadcasts since the majority of Britons began working from home in March. Trade expert Sally Jones was speaking to the EU Services Sub-Committee in June when her pet cat made its way into her office and onto her lap. In a clip, Mr Nicolson, 59, is speaking to committee members as the feline ventures close to the screen, his orange and white striped tail in view The MP soon has to gently move Rojo's tail away from the screen as the cat refuses to budge, telling him: 'Rojo, put your tail down' Several viewers took to the comments of the clip, with one user writing: 'I've heard of cats doing 'zoomies' but this is a whole other level of brilliant feline fiendishness' While Ms Jones apologised for the animal, the intruder was welcomed by the other members of the committee, with Lord Cavendish saying: 'Welcome cat.' And it is not just Parliament that has seen feline interruptions. Tiger the cat was broadcast stealing a vicar's milk during Canterbury Cathedral's online prayer service on Monday morning. Tiger is one of four cats at the Deanery, with another named Leo going viral a few weeks ago for disappearing into Dr Willis' vestments during a service. Viewers were also left in hysterics earlier this month when both Sky and BBC News had one of their interviews crashed by toddlers on the same day. Dr Clare Wenham, from South London, had appeared on BBC News on July 1 to discuss the coronavirus crisis when her daughter Scarlett began rearranging a unicorn picture behind her. She even struck up a conversation with the newsreader, asking 'Mummy, what's his name?' midway through the interview. 'My name is Christian,' replied the newsreader. Dr Clare Wenham, from South London , had appeared on BBC News on July 1 to discuss the coronavirus crisis when her daughter Scarlett began rearranging a unicorn picture behind her Sky New's Foreign Affairs editor Deborah apologised after her son entered the room in search of biscuits while she was being interviewed by presenter Mark Austin Scarlett went on: 'Christian, I'm just deciding where it can go and where mummy wants it to go.' 'I think just on that shelf is great, thank you,' said Dr Wenham, 'I'm so sorry'. The presenter remained in good spirits about the interview, joking that it was 'the most informative interview I've done all day'. Journalist Deborah Haynes, from Kent, was then interrupted on Sky News by her son, who paid her a visit to discuss how many biscuits he was allowed to eat. Ms Haynes stopped mid-sentence as her son opened the door and came in, saying: 'Hold on that's my son arriving, really embarrassing.' 'Can I have two biscuits', he asks, to which the journalist replied: 'Yes, you can have two biscuits, really sorry about that.' MPs have also shared telling behind-the-scenes images of the reality of working from home, with Andrew Gwynne, Labour MP for Denton & Reddish, pictured watching the first virtual Prime Minister's Questions with one-year-old grandson Lyle grasping his hand. An Australian woman has committed the ultimate 'epic fail' for dinner after forgetting to add meat into her slow cooker and heating nothing but a few bay leaves for eight hours. The lady shared her hilarious story on a dedicated Facebook page for those who love to slow cook meals, and it's being described as '2020 in a dish'. 'Kids will love dinner... it's eight-hour slow cooked bay leaf infused water. I completely forgot to put in the corned beef,' she said. 'I couldn't believe my epic fail when I opened the lid and didn't see the corned beef.' An Australian woman has committed the ultimate 'mum fail' for dinner after forgetting to add meat into her slow cooker and heating nothing but a few bay leaves for eight hours This year, which has seen Australians battle bushfires, floods and an ongoing global pandemic, is being described as the most disappointing and disheartening year of our generation - much like the beefless dish this mother served. 'This is legit the best thing ever. Thank you so so much for the laugh,' one woman responded. 'Looks delicious. Time for a wine I think,' said another. A third added: 'This is a bit like my husband making apple crumble without the crumble'. Others were quick to share their own cooking sins, which mainly consisted of forgetting to turn on the oven or stove in the first place. The woman had wanted her meal to be a scrumptious and tender corned beef (stock image) How to make a delicious slow cooker carbonara Fettuccine carbonara in a slow cooker INGREDIENTS 1kg of chicken thigh, diced 300 grams of bacon, diced 400 grams of mushroom, sliced One onion, diced Three teaspoons of garlic, minced Two cans of condensed Cream of Chicken soup Two x 600mL of thickened cream One chicken stock cube One packet of 500 grams of fettuccine METHOD 1. Add chicken, onion, bacon, garlic, mushrooms and stock cube into the slow cooker. 2. Pour over the soup mix. 3. Add cream and stir together. 4. Cook on low for four hours. 5. Put pasta in the slow cooker. 6. Gently combine all of the ingredients. 7. Cook on high for a further 1.5 hours in the six litre slow cooker. Advertisement 'Years ago I was cooking a roast in the oven... the works for my parents and mother-in-law. I had just about cooked it and the oven door shattered into the food. Sandwiches for lunch that day,' said one amateur chef. 'I remember a time many years ago we had people visiting and I didn't know them very well but I decided to make lasagna and salad as we had five children and four adults,' another said. 'Quick and easy - sure was, when I went to serve up I had forgotten to put the lasagna sheets in.' 'Reminds me of the time I made Italian bread in my bread maker. I spent 30 minutes chopping up herbs and garlic, added the ingredients and then waited. The bread would have been delicious if I'd added the water - I had hot, seasoned flour,' said a third. The former European Central Bank president graduated from the Massimiliano Massimo Institute and La Sapienza University (in economics) in Rome. He has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Vatican City (AsiaNews) Pope Francis has appointed Mario Draghi, former President of the European Central Bank, as ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Mario Draghi was born in Rome on 13 September 1947. He studied at the Jesuit-run Massimiliano Massimo Institute in Rome, and graduated from La Sapienza University, also in the Italian capital, in economics. After earning a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he became full professor of Economics and monetary policy in 1981 at the Cesare Alfieri Faculty of Political Science of the University of Florence. He served, among other posts, as the Italian executive director of the World Bank and the general manager of Italys Ministry of Treasury. He was Governor of the Bank of Italy from 2005 to 2011 and chaired the Financial Stability Forum from 2006 to 2011 when he took over as president of the European Central Bank until 2019. He is a trustee of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) and a member of the Group of Thirty (G30). He is the author of numerous publications, in fields ranging from macroeconomics to international economics and monetary policy. He has received many awards, including, on 11 October 2019, an honorary degree in economics from the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart) in Milan. A month later, the Rome-based Jesuit magazine La Civilta Cattolica, whose articles are reviewed in the Secretariat of State, wrote that Mario Draghi played a key role in the most complex phases of recent European history. As president of the European Central Bank, he was decisive in saving the economic and monetary union, and thanks to his contribution, we have the extraordinary opportunity to complete it today. 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 Namesilo Uniregistry NameCheap Google Domains Network Solutions Name.com Dynadot Amazon Route 53 123 Reg Gandi 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. 3. Transfer the name into your account As soon as we receive the name from the seller, we start the transfer into your account and guide you through the whole process. 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. Monks often travel through the same neighborhoods, forming a religious community. Credit: Thomas Borchert, CC BY Monks socially distancing as they go about their daily alms rounds while dressed in face masks as well as robes have become a common sight during the coronavirus pandemic in Thailand. Pictures in Thai media show the efforts monks and their lay supporters are making in maintaining social distance, as they carry on with the practice nonetheless. I lived in Bangkok for the first six months of 2014 conducting research on the response of Thai Buddhist monks to political issues. I saw that even on days when political protests would close major intersections, making notoriously bad traffic even worse, monks would rise before dawn and silently walk barefoot around the city to collect alms. The donations from lay Buddhists provide the primary source of daily food for the thousands of monks who live in Bangkok. While political upheaval did not disrupt or change this practice in a meaningful way, COVID-19 has affected these interactions, limiting and putting constraints on them. Daily rounds of monks This daily alms round is a central practice for Theravada Buddhist monks and novices in much of Southeast Asia. It comes from the disciplinary rules for monks that instruct monks not to engage in agricultural labor, keep only a few possessions and eat only what is offered in their bowls each morning on the alms rounds. There are exceptions to this, such as monks who are too old or ill to go on daily rounds. Yet a significant portion of Thailand's almost 300,000 monks receive their food from their morning rounds. Following the emergence of the coronavirus in Thailand, in mid-March 2020, senior abbots in Bangkok released guidance that temples be closed and that festivals as well as rituals be postponed. However, monks were allowed to leave the temple to go on alms rounds. Belief behind the practice There are many reasons why this practice was allowed despite the risks brought about through close contact between the monk and his lay donor. In religious terms, monks provide laypeople with an opportunity to make merit. Buddhist teachings generally highlight that an individual's social situation is the result of karma, the effect of actions performed earlier in this life or in a previous incarnation. Many Thai Buddhists believe that making meritgood karmathrough giving can help mitigate the effects of wicked acts. These are acts motivated by greed, hatred or delusion. Giving food to monks is not the only way that Thais make merit, but it is a common one, tied to daily life throughout the country. Merit making can also have political consequences. In 2007 monks in Myanmar took part in protests against the government that started with complaints against a spike in oil prices but quickly took on more overtly political overtones. This "Saffron Revolution," so-called because of the role played by the saffron-colored robes of the monks, was triggered when monks on their morning alms rounds turned over their bowls. This act, while not common, has a long history in Theravada Buddhism. The early 20th-century supreme patriarch of Thailand, Prince Wachirayan, wrote that this was a way that Theravada monks can rebuke laypeople for improper actions that threaten either the teachings of the Buddha or the monastic community. In effect, it meant that the military rulers and their families could not make merit. Economically, the daily alms round is important, providing an important regular source of food for many monks in Thailand. In normal conditions, temple economies in Thailand are based on annual festivals as well as individual donations tied to family events. Approximately 10% of monks receive financial support from the government, but this mainly pays utility bills. Individual monks also often receive money for conducting funerals, as well as other rites, such as blessing new homes or businesses, but these have been curtailed by social distancing rules in the pandemic. As a result of the restrictions, food shortages have emerged for monks, particularly in rural areas of Thailand, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Concerns that monks will not receive enough support during the pandemic caused the government to float a plan to provide relief for monks, but these plans have yet to result in actual support. In other words, Thai monks still depend on morning alms rounds. The ritual This goes beyond the economic, however. Monks do not solicit food on their alms rounds, but people come up to them freely. While temples do not have formal congregations, monks often have disciples who are regular patrons. The ritual of giving food each morning is highly formal, with neither monk nor layperson making eye contact with each other. The monk blesses the food, and the giver receives nothing save a karmic benefit. However, in practice, it can be more than this. While there is no formal assignment of alms routes, monks will often travel through neighborhoods in a regular pattern. Monks get to know the people who regularly provide them with food, and they make it possible for elderly or sick disciples to make merit by going to their homes and waiting for the disciple to step out. As Charles Carstens, a scholar of Buddhism in Myanmar, has shown, religious community is formed in the midst of this highly formalized donation. The coronavirus has brought significant challenges to people all over the world, religious communities included. In the last several months, Jews celebrated Passover Seders and Christians celebrated Easter virtually; Muslims were forced to break their Ramadan fasts at home, rather than in festive gatherings with friends and relatives. Pilgrimages and festivals around the world have been reduced in scale or canceled altogether. Some of these changes are easier than others to incorporate. But in Thailand, the morning alms round is such an integral part of the daily fabric of life, religiously and economically, that it cannot be simply postponed. Explore further Thai monks make virus masks from recycled plastic This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Hyderabad: COVID-19 has made its presence felt at the Telangana Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the governor, with a total of 48 individuals, either directly working at the Raj Bhavan or related to employees, testing positive for the coronavirus over the weekend. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan underwent a COVID-19 test and said on her official Twitter handle that her test result was negative. The Raj Bhavan said that among those who tested positive were 28 police personnel posted at the governors residence. Ten others were staff and the rest were relatives of the staff who live in the residential quarters next to Raj Bhavan. In all, 395 persons associated with Raj Bhavan were tested over Saturday and Sunday using Rapid Antigen Test kits, of whom 347 tested negative. The tests were initiated after the health department discovered that some personnel of the Special Police battalion had earlier tested positive through RT-PCR tests, had primary contacts among security staff at Raj Bhavan. All the police personnel who tested positive have been sent to isolation while the 10 Raj Bhavan staffers and 10 members of their families have been admitted to the Government Ayurveda Hospital, SR Nagar for further treatment. Dozens wounded in blast, gunfire near Afghan intel agency office Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 10:22 AM Dozens of people have been wounded in a car bomb blast followed by a shooting attack near an office of the Afghan intelligence agency in the northern province of Samangan. Clashes broke out between Afghan security forces and unknown gunmen on Monday following the bomb attack that targeted a government facility, located close to an office of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Samangan's provincial capital, Aybak. "It's a complex attack that started with a car bomb. Clashes with the attackers are still going on," said Mohammad Sediq Azizi, a spokesman for Samangan's provincial government. Khalil Musadeq, Samangan's health director, said 43 civilians and members of the security forces were wounded in the blast and the ensuing exchange of gunfire. Musadeq, however, predicted that the number of casualties would rise. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Violence has surged across the impoverished country despite a peace deal signed between the Taliban militant group and the United States, which was later endorsed by the Kabul government. The United Nations reported earlier this month that over 800 people had been killed or wounded in the first half of 2020, in attacks targeting civilians across war-torn country. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address by Mathias Hariyadi AsiaNews spoke to Sister Laurentina, of the congregation of Divine Providence in East Nusa Tenggara province where two underage victims of human trafficking were saved and cared for seven months. In the end, they went home refusing to pursue their studies. Charity is stronger than desolation and distress". Jakarta (AsiaNews) The battle against illegal trafficking in human lives, even more so in the case of minors, is one of the primary missions of the Catholic Church in Indonesia. Sister Laurentina, a member of the Congregation of Divine Providence (Penyelenggaraan Ilahi), is playing a leading role in this fight. She spoke to AsiaNews about her daily work, which sometimes comes with disappointments and failures. Recently for example, two teenage women were saved from their tormentors, cared for months by the nuns, who gave them a chance to study as well, only to see them run back to their native village. Despite such setbacks, we have no intention of abandoning our humanitarian mission, said Sister Laurentina. This is my pastoral task. For her, two factors shape the context of abuse and exploitation: "the system and the family". The first concerns the trafficking of migrant workers, even underage, which is very difficult to eradicate amid widespread poverty. The second is another critical element to be addressed, due to the widespread ignorance that makes victims and families easy prey to traffickers. Sister Laurentina is well aware of the situation. She works in Kupang, the capital of the province of East Nusa Tenggara. The two aforementioned teenagers found shelter with the Sisters in October 2019, at the disposal of local authorities after being rescued from unscrupulous traffickers, during a routine check at the local airport. Law enforcement find at least a hundred irregular migrants, adult and under age, every trimester. "When they informed me of the situation, I rushed to the airport and took the two young women, the Sister said. Often victims do not want to return to their villages of origin, fearing retaliation by "pimps and traffickers". But in this case, after living seven months with the nuns, the two young women suddenly left without explanation. "I was shocked when I learnt of their disappearance", she said, also because "I had found donors who would have paid for their studies. After some enquiries, the nun found that the two girls had returned to their native village of Amfoang, more than 10 hours away by car, through an impervious path that involves crossing dangerous bridges and fords during the rainy season. "There are at least 50 rivers to cross between Kupang and Amfoang, she explained. However, the nun did not lose heart and set off, finding a minivan that took her, not without risks and perils, to her destination, after spending a night in a parish (Naikliu) on the way. After reaching the village, she searched and finally found, with the help of the local chief, the home of one of the two young women. "I told the parents that their daughter had been secretly taken to Malaysia to work, despite being underage and without papers, she said. Despite pledges that they could finish their studies and have a better chance at building a better life, the young woman and her friend did not want to return to Kupang. I'm sorry for their decision, Sister Laurentina said. We had encouraged them to study, but we did not succeed and this saddens me. On this occasion, our mission has not been successful, but we must not let ourselves be overwhelmed by desolation and distress. At the least, the two young women "have returned to their parents" and survived the traffickers. A logo of 5G is seen at a Huawei authorised experience store on May 29, 2020 in Beijing, China. Qin Luyao | VCG | Getty Images Huawei reported a sharp slowdown in growth for the first half of 2020 as the company continued to see the impact of U.S. sanctions and the global coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the Chinese technology giant is also awaiting a decision, expected to be delivered on Tuesday, by the U.K. government on whether it will be allowed to participate in the country's 5G networks. The Shenzhen-headquartered company reported revenue of 454 billion yuan or $64.23 billion, according to the exchange rate on the company's earnings release. That represents 13.1% year-on-year rise and the slowest first half revenue growth since the first six months of 2013. Huawei has likely felt some impact from the coronavirus pandemic which has hurt the global economy. But it is also continuing to be hit by U.S. sanctions. Last year, Huawei was put on a U.S. blacklist known as the" Entity List," which restricted its access to American technology. It meant that Huawei could no longer use licensed Google Android software and services on its mobile phones, something it had relied on for success in international markets outside of China. While Huawei managed to maintain growth in its consumer division in the first half of 2020, its largest business by revenue, it did so by increasing its focus on the China market. CNBC recently reported that Huawei has seen market share in some key international markets fall this year. In May, Washington's introduced a new rule which requires foreign manufacturers using U.S. chip-making equipment to get a license before they are allowed to sell semiconductors to Huawei. There is no indication that the U.S. will grant licenses either. Chips that were in production when that rule came into effect could be shipped to Huawei as long as it was completed within 120 days from May 15. Huawei previously said that its business "will inevitably be affected," but has yet to give a clear outline of the exact financial impact. Analysts previously told CNBC that the move could be a big blow for Huawei as it relies heavily on Taiwan chipmaker TSMC for the majority of its semiconductors. This rule would, in theory, hurt its ability to obtain chips from TSMC. UK decision pending The illegal saiko trade continues unabated at Elmina, with an average of 11 landings a week since November 2019, when the government and the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association both announced they would crackdown on the trade. Saiko is a severely destructive form of illegal fishing , where industrial trawlers target the staple catch of small-scale canoe fishers and transfer it to specially adapted boats at sea for sale at local markets. Monitoring and footage from the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) shows the trade, which is threatening livelihoods and food security in Ghana, continuing in plain sight. In mid-November 2019 the government announced in the 2020 budget that it will stop saiko as part of efforts to save the fishing industry. A few days later the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association stated in a letter to the sector minister that they were suspending the saiko trans-shipment of fish at sea a welcome, if slightly confusing, statement, since trans-shipment has always been illegal in Ghanas waters . However, despite these assurances to small-scale canoe fishers who are suffering the first-hand effects of this destructive practice, saiko continues unchecked, EJF has revealed. In-person monitoring at Elmina port every day has shown that on average 11 boats land saiko fish every week, with as many as 13 landings in a single day. Footage taken by EJF has shown that the saiko boats are unloaded in broad daylight and in plain sight of any passer-by, suggesting perpetrators do not fear any repercussions. All industrial vessels have observers on board to monitor and report on illegal fishing. Yet every time a saiko boat makes port it means an industrial vessel has illegally transferred fish at sea. This is a stark warning that the governments observer programme is not effective, says EJF. In 2017 alone the saiko trade took around 100,000 tonnes of fish, worth over US$ 50 million when sold at the landing site. 80% of this was landed at Elmina, the Central Region hot spot for saiko activities. While canoe fishing offers direct employment for around 60 fishers for every 100 tonnes of fish, saiko means only 1.5 jobs per 100 tonnes 40 times fewer. Saiko is costing Ghanaians millions of dollars annually and threatening coastal livelihoods. Nana Jojo Solomon, executive member of the Ghana National Canoe Fishermen Council, said: Important management measures such as the closed season are being undermined by saiko, and it will destroy our fisheries if it is allowed to continue. We urge the president to turn his personal attention to this matter, to intensify enforcement action to halt this illegal activity which is destroying the livelihoods of local fishers in Ghana. Executive Director of EJF Steve Trent, said: The government said it would end saiko over seven months ago, but the saiko boats continue to stream into port loaded down with fish that should have been caught by the small-scale canoe fishers. Having exhausted all other options, we now appeal to President Nana Akufo-Addo to take personal control and act to protect his people. Ghanas laws are well designed and can tackle the problem, but only if they are properly enforced. Ghanas fisheries are on the brink of collapse, with the country now forced to import half its fish. The time for empty statements is over. Now is the time for leadership and action. Key facts A major fire broke out at Visakha Solvents' plant in Vizag pharma city in Vishakhapatnam at 10.45 pm on Monday night, leaving one dead and three injured. A senior government official, requesting anonymity, said there were four workers at the plant and all of them fled the site at the time of the incident. However, one of the workers, Srinivas, was reported dead on Tuesday morning. Another worker, Mallesh, also suffered injuries but has recovered, he adds. The official said the report given by the company management suggests the workers, instead of using fire extinguishers, opted to flee. He added a probe was on to find out the exact cause of the accident. He also said this might be a case of inadequate "worker training". "There was a fire spark in one of the four columns that led to a fire in the entire column. As soon as we received the information, we pressed fire tenders into service. Solvent, by its very nature, is highly inflammable items and, therefore, adequate precautions should have been taken while handling it," V Vinay Chand, Vizag district collector, told BusinessToday.In. The incident comes close on the heels of a gas leak at the LG Polymer plant on the outskirts of Vizag in May, which left 11 people dead and several hundreds injured. Government officials say these two incidents are not connected. However, they say there is a need to check the roles and responsibilities of regulatory bodies, particularly the factories department, to plug any loopholes. There are various bodies that regulate industrial units such as factories, boilers, etc. Officials say issues around worker training, including mock drills records, need to be addressed to avoid such incidents. Kanpur: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday arrested another close aide of slain gangster Vikas Dubey from the Mela Tiraha area in Kanpur. He has been identified as Shashikant alias Sonu and was carrying a reward of Rs 50,000 on his head. Addressing a press conference in Kanpur, Additional Director General (ADG) (Law and order) Prashant Kumar said that on the information provided by Shashikant, the police have recovered an INSAS rifle and 20 live cartridges from his house. ''Vikas Dubey had asked his gang members to hide the looted arms and ammunition at his residence at Bikru village. During a search at Vikas Dubey's residence, we recovered the looted arms," Prashant Kumar, UP ADG Law & Order, told reporters. This was looted by the miscreants from the police on the night of the incident. "We have also recovered an AK-47 and 17 cartridges from the house of Vikas Dubey in Bikru village," the ADG said. ''After killing the 8 policemen on July 3 at Bikru village, the accused had also looted the arms of our policemen,'' Prashant Kumar, UP ADG Law & Order, said. The house was demolished by the police on July 4. The ADG said that Shashikant had confessed to his involvement in the shootout in which eight policemen were killed on July 3 in Bikru village. The arrested criminal has also named the other accused in the crime. The ADG said that of the 21 accused, four had been arrested, namely Shyamu Bajpai, Jahaan Yadav, Daya Shankar Agnihotri and now Shashikant. He said that six of the accused, including Vikas Dubey, Amar Dubey, Prabhat Mishra, Bauan Dubey, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey had been killed in encounters. ''Shashikant is one of the four accused arrested till now. There are a total of 21 accused in the case, of which 4 have been arrested while 6 accused, including Vikas Dubey, killed during police proceedings in different incidents,'' UP ADG Law & Order said. "Eleven of the accused are at large and will be arrested soon," he said. The ADG refused to take any questions at the press conference and left abruptly. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to reporters at the State Department in Washington, July 1, 2020. The United States on Monday announced a tougher stance against Chinas sweeping claims in the South China Sea, declaring them illegal and accusing Beijing of treating the disputed waters as a maritime empire. In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there were no legal grounds for Chinas expansive maritime claims. He formally aligned the U.S. position with the legal outcome of a key 2016 international court ruling between the Philippines and China. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire, Pompeo said. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law. According to the State Department, the U.S. now regards Chinas claim over rocks and reefs in the Spratly Islands, in the southern part of the South China Sea, as unlawful, and its maritime claims based off alleged ownership of those features similarly in violation of international law. The statement specifically cited Beijings insistence on holding economic rights to waters around Scarborough Reef, Mischief Reef and Second Thomas Shoal, all of which are claimed by the Philippines. The U.S. also rejected Chinese claims to Vanguard Bank off Vietnams southern coast, the Luconia and James Shoals which sit in Malaysias exclusive economic zone, and the waters off the coast of Brunei and Indonesias Natuna islands, the statement said. This is a major departure from traditional U.S. policy in the South China Sea. Prior to todays announcement, Washington opposed Beijings excessive claims over wide swaths of the South China Sea, but officially did not take a position on the individual claims themselves, said Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst at RAND Corp., a U.S. think tank. Mixed reactions? Previously, the U.S. had avoided taking sides on territorial disputes in the South China Sea, although it repeatedly called for freedom of navigation and overflight in the strategic maritime region. While the U.S. never accepted the so-called nine-dash-line China set as its maritime boundary in 2009, Washington had not explicitly cited international law when it came to other types of claims, including Beijings interpretation of what counts as islands in the South China Sea and their ability to generate exclusive economic zones for the sake of resource rights. Greg Poling, senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the statement clearly aligned the U.S. with the outcome of the 2016 Permanent Court of Arbitration award that ultimately struck down many of Chinas claims to the South China Sea, after the Philippines brought the case to court. Washington backed the process of the 2016 arbitral award but never clearly endorsed its substance. Now it has, he said. And so that means that it will not just decry Chinese activities in Southeast Asian waters as escalatory or dangerous, but can clearly say theyre illegal. The announcement of the new U.S. position comes as China continues to pressure Southeast Asian nations out of exploring for resources within their waters, through deployment of coastguard vessels, including at the Vanguard Bank, where it was involved in a months-long standoff with Vietnam last year and appears to be gearing up for another this year. Protesters in Manila call on China to leave the West Philippines Sea (WPS), the Philippines' name for the South China Sea, in this file photo dated July 22, 2019. Credit: BenarNews Pompeos tough statement followed one by his Philippine counterpart to mark the fourth anniversary of the 2016 arbitral ruling that has never been acknowledged by China, which boycotted the proceedings. The arbitral tribunals award of 12 July 2016 represents a victory, not just for the Philippines, but for the entire community of consistently law-abiding nations, Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin said on Sunday, calling on China to comply with ruling. The Philippines, as law-abiding, peace-loving and responsible member of the international community, reaffirms on this occasion its adherence to the award and its enforcement without any possibility of compromise or change, Locsin said. The Philippine government has recently taken a more critical stance toward Beijing. But a Manila-based analyst called Locsins statement a calculated move to register the countrys interest in a ruling it has never moved to enforce under President Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippine government simply doesnt walk its talk, said Jose Antonio Custodio, a military historian and a political analyst at the Institute of Policy, Strategy and Development Studies. In other words, he is Beijings surrogate, he said of Duterte. The Philippines is not enforcing its maritime entitlements in the area and in fact is hesitant to even participate in multilateral maritime exercises there, Custodio told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news agency. That is because of the strong influence of China on the Duterte administration. Locsins predecessor, Albert del Rosario, said that Duterte had decided to shelve the award to pursue his full expectation of loans and investments from Beijing, which did not materialize. The U.S. decision to side with Southeast Asian nations on the South China Sea issue is likely to worsen U.S.-China relations, and get mixed responses from the countries involved, according to Grossman, the RAND analyst. Some countries, like Vietnam and the Philippines, are very likely to be happy with the U.S. move because they have been looking for support. But others, such as Malaysia and perhaps Indonesia may not be as pleased. Only time will tell, he said. Additional reporting by Basilio Sepe and Dennis Jay Santos in Manila and Davao, Philippines for BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service. Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob has been given notice by leader of The First Wave Movement, Umar Abdullah, that there will be two more peaceful marches this month. It comes on the heels of Abdullah being charged on Monday for leading a march around the Queens Park Savannah without permission from the acting police commissioner. Massachusetts is asking the court to rule that the drivers for Uber and Lyft are, in fact, employees under state law. It is also seeking an injunction to prevent the companies from denying drivers protections afforded to employees. An Uber spokesman, Matt Kallman, said in a statement: We will contest this action in court, as it flies in the face of what the vast majority of drivers want: to work independently. We stand ready to work with the state to modernize our laws, so that independent workers receive new protections while maintaining the flexibility they prefer. This lawsuit threatens to eliminate work for more than 50,000 people in Massachusetts at the worst possible time, said Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Lyft. Drivers dont want this most drive only a few hours a week, and they have chosen to drive using Lyft precisely because of the independence it gives them to make money in their spare time. Although the Massachusetts law was enacted in 2004, the state had not tried to enforce it against Uber and the other gig economy start-ups that have disrupted transportation, hospitality and food delivery over the last decade. Instead, Uber drivers in Massachusetts have sought employment status through individual lawsuits and class actions, but many of those cases have been pushed into arbitration or are still making their way through the court system. The state is suing now because of the coronavirus pandemic, officials in the attorney generals office said. Employment protections like paid sick leave, health insurance and guaranteed income are especially valuable during a global health crisis. Uber and Lyft have said they will provide drivers with financial assistance for up to 14 days if they test positive for the virus or are forced to stay home. Demand for rides has plunged during the crisis, however, curbing the ability of many drivers to earn an income. Japans annual defence review has accused China of pushing its territorial claims under the cover of the coronavirus pandemic and claims Beijing is spreading propaganda and disinformation as it provides medical aid to nations fighting COVID-19. China is continuing to attempt to alter the status quo in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, Japan said in the defence white paper approved by Prime Minister Shinzo Abes government on Tuesday. The white paper described relentless intrusions in waters around a group of islets claimed by both nations in the East China Sea, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. In the South China Sea, it said, Beijing was asserting territorial claims by establishing administrative districts around disputed islands that forced countries distracted by the coronavirus outbreak to respond. Japans criticism of China echoes similar comments made by the United States, and comes as tension in the region increases, as Beijing and Washington conduct separate military drills in the resource-rich South China Sea and as relations between the worlds two largest economies deteriorate. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday rejected Chinas disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, saying they were completely unlawful. Beijing insists its intentions in the waterway are peaceful. Longer-term threat Japan sees China as a longer-term and more serious threat than nuclear-armed North Korea. Beijing is now spending four times as much as Tokyo on defence as it expands and modernises its military. Japans defence review also claimed China appeared to be responsible for propaganda and disinformation amid social uncertainties and confusion caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Such disinformation included online claims that the coronavirus was brought to China by someone in the US military, or that Chinese herbal remedies could treat COVID-19, a defence ministry official said at a briefing. Other threats faced by Japan include North Koreas ongoing development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as well as a resurgence of military activity by Russia in the skies and waters in Japan, at times in joint drills with China, the defence review said. Kroger, America's largest grocer, has stopped giving coins as change You won't get any coins back with your change if you pay cash at one of the thousands of U.S. grocery stores operated by Kroger. America's largest supermarket chain says its cashiers are having trouble making change because of a national coin shortage related to the coronavirus pandemic. The company is rounding up cash purchases to the nearest dollar and is giving customers options for the coin change they're owed. Some shoppers are OK with it, but others are not happy. What Kroger is doing if you have change coming ToTo Label / Shutterstock Kroger says its stores don't have enough coins for the registers. Chances are, you've shopped at a supermarket owned by Kroger, which has nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states and the District of Columbia. They're not all called "Kroger"; the company also operates Fry's, Fred Meyer, Harris Teeter, King Soopers and Ralphs grocery stores, among others. Kroger has been telling customers on Twitter that its stores have been affected by a "significant coin shortage" at the Federal Reserve, America's central bank. "As a result, the company is implementing a new process for providing change to customers," Kroger says. In a June 11 news release, the Fed said its supply of coins had fallen below normal because of the COVID-19 crisis. "In the past few months, coin deposits from depository institutions to the Federal Reserve have declined significantly, and the U.S. Mint's production of coin also decreased due to measures put in place to protect its employees," the statement said. Because it doesn't have coins to give out to shoppers, Kroger says it can apply their pocket change to their loyalty cards, so the money can be used toward a future in-store, delivery or pickup purchase. "Alternately, we can round your transaction up to the nearest dollar and donate it to your local food bank," the company says in its tweets. How customers are reacting FamVeld / Shutterstock Some shoppers are taking the new coin policy in stride. Some Kroger shoppers reaching out to the company on Twitter say they have no problem with the no-coins policy. Story continues "I see cash coin change will be put in our rewards card for future use because of the coin shortage. I like it," writes one. But others are reacting in disbelief or are even ticked off. "What gives you all the right to withhold peoples money? Cant force everyone to pay with credit cards or have a #Kroger card," tweets @BBaum17. Kroger isn't the only retailer that's short on change. Wawa a convenience store chain with a cult following is asking customers to pay with exact change, or allow their purchases to be rounded up and have the change donated to charity. Retail giant Walmart says that while cash is still welcome in its stores, it's also dealing with the coin shortage. "Were asking customers to pay with card or use correct change when possible if they need to pay with cash," says Walmart spokeswoman Avani Dudhia, in a statement given to media outlets. What should a shopper do? samritk / Shutterstock You can avoid the 'no coins' policies by shopping with a credit or debit card. Using a credit card or debit card is the best way to totally avoid the issue if a store is experiencing a coin crunch. Just shop with your plastic and there'll never be an awkward moment at the checkout. If you're inspired by the way the retailers are helping customers donate their change, you can pick a debit card that will put your pennies to good use. One company offers a debit card that lets you round up your purchases and invest your spare change in an automated investment portfolio. You can watch your pocket money accumulate and grow. Or, you might choose a debit card that allows you to use your change to plant trees or support other Earth-friendly projects. Not only that, but this particular debit card pays up to 10% cash back. You may never use cash again. And that might be just fine with a growing number of stores. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:53:13|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ACCRA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) donated a consignment of medical supplies to African labor unions here on Tuesday to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus infections among African workers. The donation made to the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) also included office equipment to support the work of the union across the continent. The medical supplies included 20,000 masks, 1,000 bottles of hand sanitizers, office printers, and laptops to be distributed to the worker unions across the continent. In an interview, the Secretary-General of OATUU Arezki Mezhoud said the gesture from "our partners, the ACFTU, will help protect African workers against the pandemic." "This shows the solidarity which exists between Africa and China and the continuity of the cooperation between African workers and Chinese workers," Mezhoud said. He expressed gratitude to the government of China for its continued support for OATUU over the decades, including the support to acquire the building which houses the secretariat of the continental workers' union. "I stand, on behalf of OATUU, and the African workers to thank our comrades from ACFTU for their support. We also thank the government of China for this support and assistance, especially in this difficult time," the secretary-general added. Enditem Amid the COVID-19 surge in Houston, military medical reinforcements arrived in Houston late Monday, sending a critical message about the gravity of this deepening public health crisis. According to Texas Health and Human Services, there are now 10,405 COVID-19 hospitalizations across Texas. Houston Health Authority Dr. David Persse discussed the details at a press conference on Monday, explaining that the military medical task force had already begun to arrive in the area. "At this point, it looks like it's going to be UMMC (United Memorial Medical Center) that has an empty wing, and they are going to establish between a 30 and 50-bed hospital there," Persse said. 'UNTENABLE SITUATION': Houstonians weigh in on Turner's proposed 2-week shutdown Governor Greg Abbott requested the additional help of hundreds of military medical personnel to help combat the virus across Texas. Texans quickly responded the governor's request for federal help. "SHUT THE STATE DOWN. Are you just going to be happy until we surpass Florida and Arizona? Also, you might want to speak with your folks at TEA. NO WAY schools should open next month," tweeted Stephanie Pennell. "Instead of beer on ice in July, we have bodies on ice. Both Washington and your administration have failed. Not failing, failed. Too little, too late is all you will be known for. Lock it down and get this under control." HOUSTON CASES: Harris counties account for one-fourth of all Texas COVID-19 cases When we spoke to world-renowned infectious disease expert Dr. Peter Hotez, he underscored how serious the situation was, calling it "untenable." "Hospital admissions are rising," Hotez said. "Hospital staff are getting exhausted. The acceleration of the death rate could go up higher as hospital staff get overwhelmed. You have to figure out another path. Patients are flowing in. This is all a consequence of transmission out of control." Hotez said there is a more complex problem at play here. "The bigger issue is that there is no plan for the country," Hotez said. "The entire southern half of the country is in a health crisis. But the problem is that we're not getting any federal guidance or leadership. Without us having a national roadmap, it's hard to do the details. I point fingers at the lack of coherent federal response." Hotez added that it is absolutely crucial that Houston and Texas get this virus under control. "As we say, we have to figure out a way to halt community transmission," Hotez said. "If we don't do it, it would be mandatory stay-at-home order." alison.medley@chron.com With 28,498 fresh cases recorded in a day, India's COVID-19 tally went past nine lakh on Tuesday, just three days after it crossed the eight-lakh mark Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu remain the two worst-affected states in the country, accounting for 50 percent of the total active cases, even as India's COVID-19 tally went past nine lakh, just three days after it crossed eight lakh cases. As per the health ministry's figures, the two states account for 1,54,134 of the country's 3,11,565 active cases. The total number of confirmed cases rose to 9,06,752 on Tuesday and deaths climbed to 23,727, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. India reported a daily surge of 28,498 cases on Tuesday, the ministry said. Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat and Assam are the other affected states that contribute to 36 percent of the total active cases (1,11,068 cases), Rajesh Bhushan, the officer on special duty in the Health Ministry, told a press briefing. Bhushan further said that 22 states are doing more than 140 COVID-19 tests per day per million, in line with the comprehensive testing guidance note by the WHO. The official asked the remaining states and Union Territories to increase testing accordingly. More states impose restrictions amid rising cases The health ministry's revelations have come amid nearly a dozen states re-imposing lockdown in selected areas for varying periods to check the surge in COVID-19. In Maharashtra, which has the highest number of cases at 2,67,665, a 10-day strict lockdown came into force from Monday in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. A lockdown has been imposed in Osmanabad city till 19 July to break the chain of the viral spread. With some Haryana districts falling in the National Capital Region seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, home minister Anil Vij indicated that the state may also impose stricter curbs in its worst-affected areas. Of the over 22,000 cases in the state as of Tuesday, three districts alone Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, all of which fall in the NCR, contributed to nearly 15,000 of the cases and also to nearly 75 percent of the total fatalities. Assam had extended the two-week lockdown imposed from 28 June in Kamrup Metropolitan district, under which Guwahati falls, by a week till 19 July from 6 pm on Sunday. After Kashipur, a three-day lockdown has been imposed in Rudrapur and Bajpur in Udham Singh Nagar district of Uttarakhand with effect from midnight Monday due to a surge in COVID-19 cases, a senior state official said. Strict lockdown restrictions were reimposed in most parts of Kashmir, including in the city, on Monday after a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the valley over the past one week, officials said. The Uttar Pradesh government has 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. The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday issued detailed directives for the weekend lockdown. All urban and rural haats, markets, galla mandis and business establishments in Uttar Pradesh would remain closed during the period, it said. Tamil Nadu had earlier imposed lockdown for varying periods in Chennai, Madurai and nearby regions. Tamil Nadu has the second highest number of cases in the country. 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. The Meghalaya government had imposed a lockdown in Shillong from 6 AM on Monday till Wednesday 6 AM. The lockdown will not be extended further as contact-tracing in identified clusters has been completed, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said on Tuesday. Bihar recorded a single-day spike of 1,432 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, which pushed the total tally in the state to 18,853, the health department said. While Bihar on Tuesday extended the curbs to the whole of the state from 16 to 31 July, reports stated that the Karnataka government is planning to place the Bidar district in north Karnataka under lockdown for a week. Bidar has the highest mortality rate in the state, the report added. While a week-long lockdown began in Bengaluru, a seven day lockdown is set to come to effect in Yadgir and Dakshin Kannada districts from 8 pm tomorrow (15 July). Dharwad will be placed under lockdown for nine days. There was a huge rush of customers at grocery stores and liquor shops ahead of the lockdown. The state on Tuesday reported 2,496 new COVID-19 cases and 87 fatalities, taking the infection count to 44,077 and toll to 842, the state health department said. Against the forecast of 25,000 active coronavirus cases by 15 August by the state's COVID War Room, there were 25,839 active cases in the state today including 540 in the ICUs, a department bulletin said. Most of the deaths occurred in Bengaluru (56), a single-day highest for the city. In the meantime, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation on Tuesday said that around 80 "workers associated with the Metro Rail work" in the city have tested positive for the virus, News18 reported. "Most of those infected are migrant workers from different parts of the country," the report added. Besides Karnataka, states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have already announced area-wise lockdown for different durations. West Bengal on Tuesday extended the "total" lockdown in the state's containment zones till 19 July with directions to give "special attention" to enforcement of lockdown restriction in containment zones in Kolkata and five north Bengal urban hotspots". West Bengal had imposed strict lockdown in containment areas and nearby buffer zones from 9 July evening. These zones are located in and around Kolkata, besides Jalpaiguri, Malda, Cooch Behar, Raiganj and Siliguri. Sikkim also imposed total lockdown in Rongli and Pakyong sub-divisions from 6 AM on Wednesday. In Madhya Pradesh, the Gwalior administration imposed a week-long lockdown after the city reported 191 cases in a single day. The restrictions kicked in at 7 pm on Tuesday, according to a report in News18. However, state home minister Dr Narottam Mishra clarified that there was no proposal to impose total lockdown in the state and it was up to district crisis management committees to take the decision locally. India testing two indigenous vaccine candidates, says ICMR ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava on Tuesday said that there are two Indian indigenous candidate vaccines, and are expected to start early phase human trials this month. "They have undergone successful toxicity studies in rats, mice and rabbits. Data was submitted to DCGI following which both these got clearance to start early phase human trials early this month. These candidate have got their sites ready and they are doing their clinical study on approximately 1,000 human volunteers each at different sites," he added. 'India's per million deaths among lowest in the world' The health ministry also said Tuesday that the total recovered cases of COVID-19 are about 1.8 times the number of active cases. "In many states, the number of daily discharges from hospitals is more than the number of daily admission," Bhushan said. Responding to a question on the fatality rate, he said the national rate is 2.6 per cent and it is coming down rapidly. "Compared to the global case, fatality rate it is significantly lower," he added. "India's COVID-19 cases and deaths per million in India is amongst the lowest in the world," Bhushan said, noting that India has 657 cases per million population as against 1,638 globally and 17.2 deaths per million as against 73 globally. Asked how the government is calculating the recovery rate, Bhushan said it is done based on the total number of people who were hospitalised. For the term hospitalised, there are two categories -- those who came to formal COVID care centres or COVID care health facilities or dedicated COVID hospitals and secondly those who were advised home isolation. "So both are then covered by the discharge policy that the ministry issues from time to time and that is how we show the recovered cases," he explained. People who are in home isolation are monitored in two ways. There are groups of paramedical workers and volunteers who are given the responsibility to check physically on these people on a daily basis and based on a standard template a decision is taken whether the home isolation should continue or the patient be shifted to a COVID care facility, he said. The second way of monitoring such patients is through telephone calls. There are dedicated health homecare agencies which are also given the same standardised checklist and based on phone calls to the patient they do this tracking. Delhi sero-survey to take more time, says health ministry Asked when Delhi's sero-survey findings will be made public, Bhushan said these surveys are fairly complex exercises and therefore by definition take time. In the case of Delhi, it was initially decided that sero-surveillance will take 20,000 samples from 26 June till 5 July but the sero surveillance ended up taking 22,800 odd samples, these are blood samples which are then subjected to ELISA test. This was done till 5 July then testing was done now the testing has finished. Presently different kinds of stratification like gender specification, age stratification, district-wise stratification of data and analysis is being done. "The moment it is complete and reviewed internally and shared with ICMR and other domain experts, it will be shared," Bhushan said. With inputs from PTI The results of the Karnataka 2nd PUC(Pre-University Course) board exams or class 12 board exams has been declared on Tuesday (July 14) at 11.30 am via SMS. Students who had registered their mobile number will first get their result alert on their mobile phones and on the Suvidya portal at result.bspucpa.com. The Karnataka government will also release the result on the website karresults.nic.in after 12 noon. Here's how to check Karnataka PUC-II (Pre-University Course) board exams result online: Step 1: Visit the official site link at karresults.nic.in. Step 2: On the home page click on Karnataka 2nd PUC result link. Step 3: A new page will open where candidates will have to enter the details. Step 4: Click on submit. Step 5: Your result will be available on the screen. Step 6: Download the result and keep a hard copy for further need. To get the result via SMS service follow this simple steps: Step 1: Go to message or SMS application on your mobile phone Step 2: To get Karnataka 12th Results 2020, type KAR12 on a blank message Step 3: Send the typed message to 56263 Earlier, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar had announced that the students who appeared for all the papers in the First PU Examination but had failed in some subjects will be given general promotion. In 2019, Karnataka 2nd PUC result recorded an overall pass percentage of 61.73 per cent. Science students had recorded 66.58 passing percentage, commerce students had 66.39% while arts had 50.53%. NMD Pharma Receives Approval to Start a combined Phase I/IIa Clinical Trial of NMD670 for the Treatment of Symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis Aarhus, Denmark, 14 July 2020 NMD Pharma A/S, a biotech company leading in the development of novel therapeutics for neuromuscular disorders, today announces that it has received approval from the Dutch ethics committee and regulatory authorities to advance its development candidate, NMD670, into clinical trials as a novel treatment for the symptoms of myasthenia gravis (MG). NMD670 is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of the muscle specific chloride ion channel, the ClC-1 ion channel. NMD Pharma has demonstrated that ClC-1 inhibition can strengthen neuromuscular transmission and ultimately skeletal muscle function and this novel treatment approach has demonstrated compelling preclinical safety and efficacy data for MG. The combined Phase I/IIa clinical trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, single and multiple dose escalation study designed to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of NMD670 in male and female healthy subjects and patients with MG. The study will take place at the Centre for Human Drug Research (CHDR) in Leiden in the Netherlands and the first dosing is expected to take place over the next few months. Thomas Holm Pedersen, Chief Executive Office of NMD Pharma, said: We are very pleased to receive this approval to start our first clinical trial in humans with NMD670. MG is a rare autoimmune disease and there is a need for new, differentiated, treatment options for patients who are not adequately managed by standard of care therapies. Our pre-clinical work has already shown the potential benefit that CIC-1 inhibition can have, and so we are excited to start this trial over the next couple of months. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at NMD Pharma for all their hard work and dedication which has allowed the Company to reach this important milestone. Story continues Further information on the study can be found on the Netherlands Trial Register: https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/8692 About NMD Pharma NMD Pharma A/S, is a private biotech company leading in the development of novel first-in-class therapies for severe neuromuscular disorders. The Company was incorporated as a spin-off from Aarhus University, Denmark in 2015 and was founded on more than 15 years of muscle physiology research with a focus on regulation of skeletal muscle excitability under physical activity. NMD Pharma has built a world-leading muscle electrophysiology platform leveraging the in-depth know-how of muscle physiology and muscular disorders, small molecule modulators, enabling technologies and tools as well as in-vivo pharmacology models for discovering and developing proprietary modulators of neuromuscular function. NMD Pharma received seed financing from Novo Seeds, Lundbeckfonden Emerge and Capnova in 2016, and in 2018 raised a 38 million Series A financing, led by new investor INKEF Capital, together with new investor Roche Venture Fund and existing investors Novo Seeds and Lundbeckfonden Emerge. Find out more about us online at http://www.nmdpharma.com/ . About NMD670 NMD670 is NMD Pharmas lead development program. It is a first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of the muscle specific chloride ion channel, the ClC-1 ion channel. NMD Pharma has demonstrated that ClC-1 inhibition can strengthen neuromuscular transmission and ultimately skeletal muscle function and this novel treatment approach has demonstrated compelling preclinical safety and efficacy data for MG. About Myasthenia Gravis (MG) MG is a rare and chronic autoimmune disease where IgG antibodies disrupt communication between nerves and muscles causing debilitating and potentially life-threatening muscle weakness. It most commonly affects the muscles that control the eyes and eyelids, facial expressions, chewing, swallowing and speaking but it can affect most parts of the body. More than 85% of people with MG progress to generalized MG (gMG) within 18 months and in more life-threatening cases, MG can affect the muscles responsible for breathing. Patients with confirmed acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antibodies account for 80-90% of the total gMG population. There are approximately 100,000 people in the European Union, 65,000 people in the United States and 20,000 people in Japan living with the disease. Contacts NMD Pharma A/S Thomas Holm Pedersen, CEO E-mail: thp@nmdpharma.com Tel: +45 30739514 Consilium Strategic Communications Mary-Jane Elliott / Ashley Tapp E-mail: NMDPharma@consilium-comms.com Tel: +44 (0)20 3709 5700 WARSAW President Andrzej Duda narrowly won re-election this week, using the same playbook that brought his Law and Justice party to power five years ago: stoking fear and blaming an enemy. In 2015, it was an enemy at the gates: Migrants, who party leaders said carried all sorts of parasites, were threatening the nation. This time, it was an enemy within: Gay men and lesbians living in Poland, Mr. Duda said, were promoting an ideology more dangerous than communism. Mr. Duda won by a thin margin in the closest election in the country since the end of communist rule in 1989. But the bitter campaign against his opponent, Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw, exposed old rifts and created new divisions in Poland that are unlikely to go away any time soon. Origin Automotive Works, a leading indigenous technology firm, has unveiled a new tractor hailing app, Tractor on the Go as part of efforts to revolutionize agricultural and farming practice in Nigeria. The project, which has taken five years in development, training and local capacity building has now come of age. It required building a robust platform, infrastructure base across the 36 states; training operators and mechanics, and most importantly logistics of moving tractors around. Tractor on the Go is a mobile application platform that helps connect millions of farmers to modern agricultural facilities and equipment such as tractor, sprayers, planters and harvesters. The app is designed with simplicity, ease of use and functionality in mind with a guarantee that users will enjoy hassles-free experience while searching for reliable and efficient mechanization equipment for their farmland. Speaking at the launch of the mobile application platform held on Thursday, July 9, 2020, President, Origin Group, and Chief Innovation Officer, Prince Joseph Samuel explained that the launch of the mobile app is geared towards eliminating impediments on the way of expanding mechanization and delivering seamless mechanization services to farmers in remote villages with a singular objective of helping farmers optimize yield and maximize farmland productivity. He added that TOG is committed to shifting farmers orientation towards the opportunity to farm not only during the wet but also during the dry season via the adoption of irrigation technology provider as part of the companys numerous services. Prince Samuel noted that the mobile application which is beneficial to different category of users including agents, farmers and operators has been designed to assist users access tractors that would enable them to perform timely farming operations and achieve economies of scale in food production. He further stated that the application is the first of its kind because is a muti-stakehholder all-inclusive approach that enable banks to finance and recoup investment seamlessly, government to offer subsidy to farmer only for service rendered rather than invest in tractors annually. It also enables investment on agriculture mechanization as investors will have real-time information on their equipment productivity and to farmers, it is goodbye to endless wait in searching of tractors. According to him, with such mobile application, the challenge associated with self-sufficiency in food production may become a thing of the past as farming equipment such as tractor would become readily available through this platform. Speaking on the features of the application, Mr Olusegun Emmanuel, Product Development Manager, noted that the platform remains the biggest game-changer that would take agricultural practice to new heights noting that this would certainly attract interest from youths who are unemployed at the moment. He disclosed that the application offers users the opportunity to indicate necessary details while requesting tractors. READ ALSO: Some of the details include type Of Operation, Land Type, units among others. With Tractor on the Go, you are allowed to provide some details that can ensure effective use of the tractor you are requesting. For instance, if the land was tractorized at most 2 months ago or has never been tractorized at all, the application would allow farmers factor in this information in making a request. Besides, one can also indicate through the application, the number of activities you want to perform. With this application, you can easily target the right customers for your business with the help of patented segmentation technology. These and many more are what the platform offers to end-users to make farming operations easier, he said. We are very optimistic that the introduction of this application would improve farmers yield. With such smart farming technologies, we would be able to reduce costs, maximize yields and profits for farmers and other users and still be incredibly efficient in the process, Emmanuel said. To waste your life chasing delusions is bad enough. To sacrifice innocent lives without remorse as you pursue those fantasies is downright criminal. It defines you as a sociopath and a homicidal maniac. Abimael Guzman is all of that and worse. At age 85, he presently resides in a maximum-security prison at a Peruvian naval base near Lima. Unrepentant and unlamented but for a handful of radical sycophants, he is living testimony to the terrible power of socialist extremism. Thirty years ago, he was Perus most wanted man. Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it, economist Thomas Sowell once observed. The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive. Guzman came from one of those very institutions Sowell was describing. He was an academic. I started my career as a college professor, so I am quick to note that academia isnt monolithic, and its ranks arent universally rotten. Nonetheless, especially in the social sciences, its a world glutted with otherwise-unemployable, socially-dysfunctional pontificators. Often protected from reality by tenure and taxes and dripping with self-importance, the worst of them revel in gossip, nit-picking, and department politicsand thats in their spare time when theyre not poisoning idealistic young minds with discredited dogmas. Few of them could manage or market or strategically plan their way out of a soggy paper bag, which is why a smart hiring rule at productive businesses is to steer clear of academics. Many harbor a deep resentment of free enterprise; they hate that it rewards individuals not for the academic degrees theyve purchased but for the value they create in the marketplace. Today, they are a significant source of the ideas that are laying waste to parts of our inner cities and college campuses. Two years ago, faculty at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh held a bicentennial birthday bash for Karl Marx. As Grove City Colleges Paul Kengor noted, addressing the 100 million killed by Marxist regimes wasnt on the agenda. Maybe this is what British philosopher Bertrand Russell had in mind when he famously said, Men are born ignorant, not stupid; they are made stupid by education. In the 1960s and 70s, Guzman taught philosophy at a university in Ayacucho, Peru. From his earliest days in the classroom, he drenched his students in Marxism and became ever more radical as he did so. He was arrested more than once for participating in violent street protests. He enjoyed denouncing other faculty members and visiting speakers who didnt share his viewpoint (intellectual integrity and objectivity were not his strong points). He formed an underground terrorist organization called Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and in 1980, he and his merry band of senderistas declared war on Peruits government and any expendable peasants who stood in their way. The result was two decades of rampaging mayhem that claimed the lives of 70,000 Peruvians. This file photo from Sept. 24, 1992, shows Abimael Guzman, the captured leader of the terrorist group Shining Path, behind bars in Lima, Peru. (HECTOR MATA/AFP via Getty Images) Also dead was a 25-year-old American named Gus Gregory of Torrance, California. He was in Peru to teach poor campesinos techniques for raising superior sheep and alpaca. The jeep he and a Peruvian veterinarian friend were driving was ambushed by Comrade Guzmans men. Gregory was shot in the back of the head as a warning to anyone not yet signed up for the peoples revolution. Ironically, Gregory considered himself a leftist but he wasnt left enough for Shining Path. For his thoughts on Guzman, I asked my friend Edwar Escalante, a native of Peru and now a professor (a good one!) at Angelo State University in Texas. He wrote: Abimael Guzman became Perus number one enemy. Though his Marxist revolution promised a change to favor the poor, the Shining Paths repression was ruthless against the most impoverished communities. Guzman had a disdain for the peasantrys local arrangements. He believed the poor would adhere to his cause without question. However, it was the poorest of the poor who rejected his rules and initiated the massive self-defense movement that defeated him. Another Peruvian friend, Luna Vladimir of the Association for Economic Education in the Andes, advised me that the 2001 Truth and Reconciliation Commission charged Shining Path with deliberate mass murder against any people it regarded as enemies to their plan for power: This translated into slogans such as beat the land, which involved the murder of authorities, especially local ones: mayors, governors, judges. The diabolical characteristics of the Shining Path are described in its own political party documents, and in the directives to its militants, to pay the blood fee and induce genocide since they had calculated that the triumph of the revolution will cost a million dead people.' Guzmans trail of death and destruction included blowing up voting booths, bombing buildings and intersections, torturing for the sake of torture, and other vanguard of the proletariat amusements. Karl Marx was one of the former philosophy professors intellectual inspirations for these crimes but his god was Chinas Mao Zedong. Guzman visited China in 1965. He took the official sucker tour and departed with admiration for Maos brutal policies that killed 20 million people in the name of creating a socialist paradise. In 1988, during a rare interview amid the war, Guzman said this: With regard to violence, we start from the principle established by Chairman Mao Zedong: violence, that is the need for revolutionary violence, is a universal law with no exception. Revolutionary violence is what allows us to resolve fundamental contradictions by means of an army, through peoples war. Theodore Dalrymple is an English psychiatrist, former prison doctor, and a distinguished fellow at New York Citys Manhattan Institute. In a 2006 article for the New English Review, he wrote: The worst brutality I ever saw was that committed by Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in Peru, in the days when it seemed possible that it might come to power. If it had, I think its massacres would have dwarfed those of the Khmer Rouge. As a doctor, I am accustomed to unpleasant sights, but nothing prepared me for what I saw in Ayacucho, where Sendero first developed under the sway of a professor of philosophy, Abimael Guzman. I took photographs of what I saw, but the newspapers deemed them too disturbing to be printed. Where the means justify the end, as they do for most ideologies, mass murder becomes more likely, perhaps even inevitable in ideologized states. The capacity for cruelty, and the enjoyment of cruelty, that lies latent in almost every human heart, then allies itself to a supposedly higher, even transcendent purpose. Original sin meets social conditioning. A vicious circle is set up: and eventually, viciousness itself is taken to be a sign both of loyalty and of higher purpose. The greatness of a crime is thus a guarantee of the greatness of its motive: for who would order the deportation of whole nations, for example, cause famines, work millions to death, shoot untold numbers, unless he had some worthy higher purpose? And the more ruthlessly he did all these things, the higher his purpose must be to justify them. To participate in the worst of crimes is then to be the best of men. Guzmans ivory red tower collapsed when he was arrested in September 1992 in the house of a Lima dance teacher. That event is loosely told in a 1995 novel, The Dancer Upstairs, and in a 2002 film of the same title produced and directed by John Malkovich. Guzman was sentenced to life imprisonment for his murder spree; in 2018, he was retried and sentenced to a second life term. If youre interested in the details of the wasted, blood-soaked life of this nutty professor, you wont be disappointed in the 2019 book by Orin Starn and Miguel La Serna, The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes. It would make a great Christmas present for any Antifa friends you might have. A reader will see first-hand how bad ideas must inevitably produce bad results, even if the perpetrators think they have the common good as their motivation. I close with a paragraph from that book: Everything began with praiseworthy, even noble intentions. The great Communist longing to redeem humanity from misery and injustice motivated Shining Path to its war. When the gaunt Franciscan friars came ashore in Peru with the Spanish conquerors, they offered salvation in the next life. The senderistas and their Communist faith promised the more immediate earthly heaven of a new socialist order In the shiny new world, as Marx somewhat vaguely imagined it, a liberated humankind would renounce profits unhappy pursuit. The evolutionary destiny of our species lay in Communisms blessed state of mutual responsibility and the common good. If you take that last sentence with anything but a grain of salt, I have a bridge Id like to sell you. For additional information, see: The Realities of Evil by Theodore Dalrymple The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes by Oren Starn and Miguel La Serna Shining Path by InSight Crime The Shining Path: A Tragic Period in Perus History by Thomas Adams How Difficult It Is To Be God: Shining Paths Politics of War in Peru, 1980-1999 by Carlos Ivan Degregori From Benito Mussolini to Hugo Chavez: Intellectuals and a Century of Political Hero Worship by Paul Hollander Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception and the Dogmas by Thomas Sowell Delta Air Lines lost $5.7 billion during a brutal three-month stretch in which the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill, and any hoped-for recovery has been smothered by a resurgence of infected Americans. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. FILE - In this April 21, 2020, file photo, a lone person works at the Delta airlines check-in desk at McCarran International airport in Las Vegas. Delta Air Lines says it lost $5.7 billion in the second quarter, as the coronavirus pandemic caused air travel to collapse. The company reported financial results on Tuesday, July 14. A hoped-for travel recovery that began slowly in mid-April has been delayed by a resurgence in infections, especially in the South and West. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) Delta Air Lines lost $5.7 billion during a brutal three-month stretch in which the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill, and any hoped-for recovery has been smothered by a resurgence of infected Americans. Growth has stalled, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. It was growing at a pretty nice clip through June. The virus, unfortunately, was also growing. Bastian said it will take more than two years for the airline to make sustainable" recovery. Delta is the first U.S. airline to report financial results for the May-through-June quarter, and the numbers were ugly. Passengers boarding Delta planes tumbled 93% from a year earlier, revenue plummeted 88%, and the companys losses were worse than anticipated. Airlines are expected to furlough thousands of workers when federal aid to help cover payroll expenses runs out on Oct 1. Bastian held out hope that Delta might avoid those cuts because 17,000 of its 91,000 employees have accepted early retirement. Another 35,000 are taking unpaid leave in July. The most important financial measure in the airline business right now is cash burn, which determines how long carriers can keep flying while travel remains severely depressed. Delta has about 19 months worth of cash and short-term investments at its current burn rate of $27 million a day. Back in March, Delta was blazing through nearly $100 million a day. Whats missing now are enough passengers willing to buy a ticket. There is a lot of it that is out of our control, Bastian said in an interview. Air travel within the United States fell 95% from the start of March until mid-April, when fewer than 100,000 people boarded airline planes on some days, down from more than 2 million a day a year earlier. That rose to more than 700,000 on the best days, but it has hit a plateau in July, coinciding with increased COVID-19 cases across the Sun Belt. Delta, along with Southwest and JetBlue, has limited capacity to about 60% on domestic flights. United and American dont block seats. Airline customers have historically put a priority on fare prices, but Bastian thinks that could be changing. Customers are telling the airline they are uncomfortable boarding packed planes, and fully booking flights is not what Delta is going to do, he said. Delta has promised to cap seating through Sept. 30. Three passengers tested positive for COVID-19 the day after a July 6 Delta regional flight from Atlanta to Albany, New York, prompting New York officials to recommend that other passengers contact their local health authorities. Bastian said such events are rare," but didn't say how many times it's happened. All major U.S. airlines now require passengers to wear face coverings, which gained new attention this week when Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was photographed without a mask on board an American Airlines flight. Cruz was holding a coffee cup, and airlines let passengers remove masks to eat or drink, but American said it reached out to Cruz to remind him of its policy. Bastian said when people dont wear masks, they quickly get pointed out by other passengers. Delta depends on business travel for an outsized share of its revenue and profit. Bastian acknowledged that corporate travel will be slower to recover than leisure as in-person meetings are replaced by Zoom calls. Deltas second-quarter loss compared with a year-ago profit of $1.44 billion during what is normally a strong season for airlines. The loss included more than $2 billion in write-downs for Deltas investments in Latam Airlines, the biggest carrier in Latin America, and Aeromexico and Virgin Atlantic. All have filed for bankruptcy or the equivalent. 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. Excluding those items, Delta said its adjusted loss worked out to $3.9 billion, or $4.43 per share, wider than the $4.16 industry analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected. Revenue nosedived to $1.47 billion, down from $12.54 billion last year. Delta is getting $5.4 billion in federal aid to help pay workers through Sept. 30 and has been offered a $4.6 billion loan by the Treasury. It hasn't decided whether to take the money because it could find better terms on the private market. Delta shares fell 3% Tuesday. ___ David Koenig can be reached at www.twitter.com/airlinewriter A young Orewa artist is taking a giant leap of faith to raise money for NZ Red Cross this month. Robyn Kay Du Preez, 20, who is afraid heights and doesnt like to fly, is going to jump out of an aeroplane at 13,000-feet as part of the national Everyday Hero Jump event. She has to raise $250 in sponsorship to be able to participate, but has set herself a target of at least $1000. While we all stayed safely at home during the Covid-19 lockdown, Red Cross continued to deliver essential services, in NZ and around the world, Robyn says. This included Meals on Wheels and migration services, and the Family Links service supported those who had been separated from their loved ones. The disaster response volunteers have been on the forefront of the Covid-19 response, from delivering food and medication parcels to supporting evacuees from Wuhan in Whangaparaoa. They have been working non-stop and I just wanted to do something to give back. Robyn will do a tandem jump with members of Skydive Auckland. Ive never done anything like this before. I keep telling myself that it is for a good cause. I guess, on the day, I will just close my eyes and hope for the best. Sponsorship closes on the day of the jump, July 25. To support Robyn, go to: jumpinjuly.everydayhero.com/nz/red-cross-fundraiser. A LONG-forgotten hero and former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Peter Paul McSwiney, was honoured by the French Government today. To mark Frances national day in Dublin, popularly called Bastille Day, the French ambassador unveiled a simple plaque at Glasnevin Cemetery to honour McSwiney. He was awarded the Legion of Honour for his work helping France before and after the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71 and the Paris government is now also honouring the many Irish people who helped their country in times past. Read More It is long forgotten that Irish people showed huge solidarity with France during that fierce conflict with large sums of distress relief money being collected all across the country. A special Irish Ambulance Corps was sent to France in 1870 comprising 31 surgeons, 250 men, and large volumes of medical equipment. Peter Paul McSwiney, a nephew of Daniel OConnell, was a very successful Dublin businessman who founded the forerunner of Clerys department store, which was originally called McSwiney Delaney & Co. He was twice Lord Mayor of Dublin, in 1864 and 1875, and was the driving force behind the erection of monuments to the Liberator on the capitals main thoroughfare, and at Glasnevin Cemetery, which he also helped to develop. The French ambassador, Stephane Crouzat, said France had begun to honour all the Irish heroes who helped France during the centuries including in the two world wars. "Glasnevin is the resting place of many Irish heroes whose bravery on the battlefield was recognized by France and who are thus recipients of the Legion dHonneur," the ambassador said. France suffered a humiliating defeat in the conflict with the newly-united Germany in 1870 and the country was at a very low ebb in its wake. Irish peoples extraordinary popular response was based on links dating from the Wild Geese emigre Irish soldiers in the late 1600s and student priests, and others, going there to be educated at later stages. London at the time took a strictly neutral stance and the Irish solidarity was partly a rallying call by Irish nationalists keen to show independence of action by Ireland. The events were happening against the backdrop of the Land War and the rise of the Irish National Party under Parnell. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a software tool for enforcement of quarantine, which will be implemented in partnership with the Telangana Information Technology Association (TITA), an industry body of software professionals. Both the organisations on Monday signed an agreement to implement the automated management of the software. The pilot for the implementation is likely to begin soon. The DRDO has devised Smart Automated Management of Patients and Risks for Covid-19 (SAMPARC), an intelligent software for enforcement of quarantine or isolation. The software tool will be a handy tool for law enforcement and health officials, as it would enable intelligent automated tracking of those in quarantine or isolation. It will also generate alerts if there are violations or willful suppression of movement details. This is expected to reduce the tracking workload of law enforcement or health officials. The online pact was signed by Dr Rituraj Kumar, Scientist G, Centre for AI & Robotics (CAIR) of the DRDO and Sundeep Kumar Makthala, Global President, TITA. The SAMPARC solution can be deployed as a national service by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), or can be distributed as a state-wise or region-wise service. Relying on the information provided by the police and health officials, it allows geofencing, face recognition, display of data on map (with hotspot information, if available). The rollout of the solution involves no cost to the patient and local authority needs to position only a suitable computer and the software is based on a combination of open-source software. Details of the patient including name, cell phone number, IMEI of the phone, coordinates of the quarantine location, duration of quarantine, email id and optionally photographs of the patient for AI-based face detection. The app has to be installed on the patient's smartphone which would automatically send a protected message to the Covid server every 10 minutes. The app would run as a background service that would automatically restart even if the phone reboots. Based on the requirements of the authorities, the patient will be able to send selfies taken through the SAMPARC app to the server for automated AI-based face recognition. "The software would automatically generate an alarm if the patient violates the geofence of his quarantine location in four consecutive inputs received from the smartphone. It also sends out an alert if the selfie does not match the photo taken during registration. The software would display potential violations as a red symbol. Once the quarantine period is over, the patient would be removed from tracking and they can uninstall the SAMPARC app," explained Makthala "We chose TITA as an implementing partner as it has been working at the grass root level and has implemented many programmes like digital literacy, rural citizens connect with doctors through Tconsult, etc," said Dr Kumar. Hollywood movie icon Maureen OHara will be honoured on the centenary of her birth at a special once-off event being held at Foynes Flying Boat Museum on August 17. Just 50 tickets are being made available for the upcoming exclusive Fashion Show. Tickets will include a champagne reception, lunch by Executive Chef Tom Flavin, private viewing of Maureens Memorabilia and exhibition and a special memento to take home. The Holman-Lee Model Agency will present a selection of items from the actors personal collection in a special live Fashion Show from the museum. The Quiet Man star and Honorary Oscar winner had a long association with the County Limerick visitor attraction and the town of Foynes through her late husband Captain Charles Blair - a dashing Flying Boat Pilot and OHaras husband from 1968 to 1978. Blair, an immensely popular figure, was a pioneer of transatlantic aviation, a former brigadier general of the United States Air Force, a former chief pilot at Pan Am, and founder and head of the United States Virgin Islands airline Antilles Air Boats. Maureen officially opened the museum in July 1989 becoming its patron and visiting almost every year. O'Hara left Ireland in 2012 to live with her grandson, Conor Beau Fitzsimons, in Boise, Idaho. On 24 October 2015, aged 95, O'Hara died in her sleep from natural causes at her home in Boise. Her remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia next to her late husband, Charles Blair. In 2017, her grandson donated a vast collection of Maureens memorabilia to Foynes Flying Boat Museum with the intention of establishing a permanent exhibition in her honour. The collection holds more than 300 garments, shoes, hats, bags, costume jewellery, her Honorary Oscar, Horse trap from the Quiet Man Film, hundreds of personal items, awards, movie contracts, furniture, and a vast amount of papers and personal letters and diaries. Visit www.flyingboatmuseum.com or contact Foynes Flying Boat Museum at 069-65416 for further information. Bartley Towns is BAZIS latest Toronto real estate development launching sales on July 27, 2020. Toronto home buyers can now register for Bartley Towns townhomes and partake in one of the two webinars hosted on July 15 and 16 that will provide information on the project, sales process and offer the opportunity for questions and answers. Bartley Towns is a rare and unique opportunity for home buyers and investors in a real estate market that seldom has luxury townhomes for sale. Located at Eglinton Ave. and Victoria Park Ave., an established, sought-after residential neighbourhood in the midst of commercial and residential revitalization, Bartley Towns has everything a Toronto home buyer is looking for. Bartley Towns includes 84 freehold townhomes with 3, 4 and 5 bedroom layouts with 1,475 sq. ft. to over 1,700 sq. ft. of space. In line with BAZIS signature style and focus on designing luxurious urban living spaces with the utmost attention to detail, these luxury townhomes feature spacious gourmet kitchens, ground floor dens, expansive outdoor terraces, private garages, and impressive finishes. One of the greatest benefits of buying a new home is being able to customize features and finishes to suit personal preferences, lifestyles, wants, and needs. Bartley Towns luxury customization options include flooring upgrades, electrical and lighting upgrades, kitchen upgrades, bathroom upgrades, and more. Location, accessibility and amenities are vital factors for Toronto home buyers, and BAZIS new Eglinton and Victoria Park townhomes meets the diverse needs of both urban professionals and growing families. Travel to any corner of the city is a breeze with easy access to the Don Valley Parkway, public transit and the new Eglinton Crosstown LRT currently under construction. Neighbourhood amenities are abundant and continue to grow. Schools, libraries, community centers, fitness centers, grocery stores, restaurants, bars, movie theatres, shopping, and retail outlets are just steps away. Despite being so close to amenities, services and transportation options, Bartley Towns is nestled in a quiet oasis surrounding Bartley Park, removed from the hustle and bustle of the main streets. Register early to guarantee a spot in the upcoming webinars on Bartley Towns, meet the BAZIS team, and be ready to be amazed at the opportunities available. More About BAZIS Home Builders: Over the last 15 years, Toronto has experienced a transformation in its skyline, and BAZIS has played a significant role in that redesign, setting high standards of excellence in construction and design. BAZIS understands the complex role that architecture plays in life and focuses on designing luxurious living spaces with the utmost attention to detail; living spaces where expression through design meets human interaction. The new Bartley Towns are perfectly aligned to this vision. Designed with an eye on maximizing the utility of living spaces, using light and proportions to create spaciousness, these townhouses are unique in design and outstanding in quality. Kenmare Resources plc (Kenmare or the Company) 14 July 2020 Q2 and H1 2020 Production Report Kenmare Resources plc (LSE:KMR, ISE:KMR), one of the leading global producers of titanium minerals and zircon, which operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine (the "Mine" or "Moma") in northern Mozambique, is pleased to provide a trading update for the quarter and half year ending 30 June 2020 (Q2 2020 and H1 2020). Statement from Michael Carvill, Managing Director: I would like to thank our team at the Moma Mine for how they have risen to meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is through their exemplary organisation, hard work and commitment that Kenmare has continued to produce and ship our products. We have been working hard to mitigate COVID-19 related delays to the relocation of Wet Concentrator Plant B and we expect mining at Pilivili to begin in Q4. In recent days the Government of Mozambique has authorised the issuance of business visas to allow specialist contractors to mobilise to site. Taking into account the project timeline and the current risk profile, we now expect to produce 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of ilmenite in 2020. We remain financially well-resourced to complete the WCP B move and maintain a strong balance sheet, with close to US$100 million of cash at the end of June. All production metrics improved strongly in Q2 2020 compared to Q1 2020, in particular excavated ore volumes, which increased by 27%. This represents a quarterly record for excavated ore, benefitting from contribution from the new WCP C. Prices for ilmenite, our main product, increased for the fifth consecutive quarter in Q2 2020. We expect the market to be more subdued in the second half of the year, as the pandemic impacts both demand and supply of titanium feedstocks, but the long-term fundamentals for all of our products remain strong. Q2 2020 overview Strict access controls, hygiene protocols and social distancing measures have been in place at the Mine for several months, with production and shipments continuing Lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) of 0.32 per 200,000 man-hours worked for the 12 months to 30 June 2020 (30 June 2019: 0.12) safety review underway to strengthen safety culture Heavy Mineral Concentrate (HMC) production of 310,300 tonnes in Q2 2020, representing a 13% increase compared to Q2 2019 (274,700 tonnes) Ilmenite production of 209,900 tonnes in Q2 2020, representing a 5% decrease compared to Q2 2019 (220,100 tonnes) primarily as a result of the contribution of a significant spillage retreatment campaign in the prior period Primary zircon production of 11,600 tonnes, representing a 5% increase compared to Q2 2019 (11,000 tonnes) due to increased HMC consumption Total shipments of finished products of 219,100 tonnes, representing a 29% decrease compared to Q2 2019 (307,000 tonnes) but a 13% increase compared to Q1 2020 Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP) C delivered throughput of 500 tonnes per hour (tph) on a consistent basis in Q2 2020 Kenmare expects to produce 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes of ilmenite in 2020 taking into account the WCP B move timeline and the current risk profile full guidance is anticipated to be updated with the H1 2020 Results Strong ilmenite market conditions continued in Q2 2020 and Kenmare has secured offtake agreements for the majority of its ilmenite production in H2 2020 Oversupply in the zircon market continued in Q2 2020, however the medium term outlook continues to be positive due to reducing production from major zircon producers At the end of H1 2020, cash and cash equivalents were US$98.6 million and gross debt was US$151.3 million, resulting in net debt of US$52.7 million (31 December 2019: US$13.7 million net cash) due primarily to scheduled capital expenditure Story continues Production Production from the Moma Mine in Q2 and H1 2020 was as follows: Q2 2020 Q2 2019 Q1 2020 H1 2020 H1 2019 tonnes % variance % variance tonnes % variance Excavated ore1 10,317,000 4% 27% 18,471,000 -4% Grade1 3.29% 7% -3% 3.33% -28% Production HMC production 310,300 13% 25% 558,400 -12% HMC consumption 311,900 9% 26% 558,600 -11% Ilmenite 209,900 -5% 32% 368,900 -19% Primary zircon 11,600 5% 21% 21,200 -8% Rutile 1,500 -32% 7% 2,900 -34% Concentrates2 9,000 -4% 5% 17,600 -10% Shipments 219,100 -29% 13% 413,700 -14% Excavated ore and grade prior to any floor losses. Concentrates include secondary zircon and mineral sands concentrate. In Q2 2020 Kenmares rolling 12 month LTIFR was 0.32 per 200,000 man-hours worked (Q2 2019: 0.12) and four lost time injuries were recorded during the period. As a result, the Company is conducting a safety review and re-evaluating its strategies to reinforce its strong safety culture. HMC production was 310,300 tonnes in Q2 2020, representing a 13% increase compared to Q2 2019 (274,700 tonnes). This is as a result of a 7% increase in ore grades to 3.29% and a 4% increase in excavated ore volumes to 10.3 million tonnes, setting a new quarterly record. This increase in excavated ore volumes was due primarily to WCP Cs contribution to production in Q2 2020. Excavated ore volumes also increased by 27% when compared to Q1 2020. Ore grades decreased by 3% compared to Q1 2020, and will continue to be impacted until WCP B begins mining the high grade Pilivili ore zone, following relocation. However despite increased HMC production and the draw down of magnetic stockpiles in Q2 2020, ilmenite production was 209,900 tonnes, representing a 5% decrease compared to Q2 2019 (220,100 tonnes). This was primarily due to a significant spillage retreatment campaign in Q2 2019. Ilmenite recoveries in Q2 2020 were to plan. Primary zircon production increased by 5% to 11,600 tonnes in Q2 2020 (Q2 2019: 11,000 tonnes) as a result of increased HMC consumption. Rutile production was 1,500 tonnes, down 32% (Q2 2019: 2,200 tonnes) due to weaker recoveries, and concentrates production was 9,000 tonnes, down 4% (Q2 2019: 9,400 tonnes) due to changing the feed mix to the Mineral Separation Plant, as zircon rich retreatment stocks have been drawn down. Kenmare shipped 219,100 tonnes of finished products during the period (Q2 2019: 307,000 tonnes), which was comprised of 192,400 tonnes of ilmenite, 13,400 tonnes of primary zircon, 3,100 tonnes of rutile and 10,200 tonnes of concentrates. While total shipments in Q2 2020 increased by 13% compared to Q1 2020, they represented a 29% decrease compared to Q2 2019 primarily as a result of poor sea conditions. Kenmare expects shipping volumes to increase in H2 2020 due to seasonally calmer sea conditions and scheduled improvement works for both transhipment vessels to increase their loading capacity. Closing stock of HMC at the end of Q2 2020 was 6,800 tonnes, compared with 8,400 tonnes at the end of Q1 2020. Closing stock of finished products at the end of Q2 2020 was 157,000 tonnes, compared to 144,200 at the end of Q1 2020 (Q2 2019: 222,200 tonnes). COVID-19 update The safety and wellbeing of Kenmares employees and the Moma Mines host communities in Mozambique are the Companys highest priorities. Management continues to be focused on minimising the potential for COVID-19 to spread to the operations, with stringent mitigation measures having been in place for several months. These include heightened health protocols, social distancing measures and testing procedures. On 28 June 2020, an employee of a Kenmare contractor returned to the Moma Mine and began a 14 day self-isolation period, in line with Company policy. Kenmares clinical team suspected that the individual may have contracted COVID-19 and the Ministry of Health were contacted to undertake testing. Five people were tested and one returned a positive result, with the affected individual remaining in quarantine. Kenmare is committed to supporting the Mines host communities in the fight against COVID-19. During the quarter the Company donated hand sanitation kits and over 23,000 masks to local villages. Kenmare Moma Development Association (KMAD) volunteers also conducted door-to-door campaigns to raise awareness about how to prevent the spread of the virus. The Company donated 50 CPAP (non-invasive ventilation with oxygen) machines to the health authorities in Nampula, which is the nearest major town to the Moma Mine. Kenmare has also purchased 10 ventilators, eight of which are being donated to the Nampula health authorities and two will be retained by the camp health clinic. Additionally, Kenmare donated personal protective equipment and digital thermometers to local health facilities. The Government of Mozambique declared a state of emergency on 30 March 2020, which included a 14-day quarantine for anyone entering the country. The next review is scheduled for 29 July 2020. Capital projects update Kenmare has been progressing three development projects that together have the objective of increasing ilmenite production to 1.2 million tonnes (plus co-products) per annum on a sustainable basis. The first development project, a 20% expansion of WCP B, was commissioned successfully in late 2018. The second development project, the construction of WCP C, delivered throughput of 500 tph on a consistent basis during Q2 2020. Although the project is operating and expected to be completed within its US$45 million budget, project completion has been delayed due to travel restrictions. The relocation of WCP B, the third development project, has been impacted by global restrictions relating to COVID-19. The Company has been in active dialogue with its employees and contractors, and has implemented a series of initiatives to ensure that WCP B is moved safely, while minimising effects to the project schedule and capital costs. On 10 July 2020 Kenmare was informed that the Government of Mozambique had authorised the issuance of business visas required for specialist contractors. As a result of this development and with other mitigation plans underway, the Company continues to target the move of WCP B to Pilivili in Q3, with mining commencing in Q4 2020. Importantly, construction of the 23km, purpose-built road and infrastructure has continued uninterrupted and is progressing well. The relocation pond at Namalope is now complete and work is commencing on the starter pits at Pilivili. The first self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs), which will transport the WCP and dredge, have now arrived at the Moma Mine. The statcom, which forms part of the electrical infrastructure, has also arrived and is in storage in Nampula, and the electricity pylons for the overhead powerline are arriving on site. However, due to manufacturing delays and restrictions in South Africa relating to COVID-19, it is not expected that the overhead powerline will be installed on schedule, so initially power is anticipated to be provided at Pilivili by diesel generators. The positive displacement pumps are due to be shipped from Germany shortly. As delays were experienced with the fabrication of the HMC pipeline, Kenmare took the decision to move fabrications to Italy, Germany and Bahrain. Similarly to the overhead powerline, the installation of the positive displacement pumping system is expected to be delayed and therefore Kenmare will truck HMC from Pilivili to the Mineral Separation Plant initially. Although this will increase operating costs on a temporary basis, it reduces the commissioning risk of the project and ensures that mining can begin at Pilivili as soon as possible, allowing Kenmare to access higher grade ore. The water pipelines have now arrived at Moma and are being installed on schedule. The community-related elements of the project are also progressing well, with plans for new school blocks, an extension to the Pilivili health centre and new water systems submitted to the provincial government. While the original project scope remains within the expected budget of US$106 million, the additional initiatives required to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19-related delays are currently anticipated to increase overall project costs by approximately 10%. Some of these costs are likely to be categorised as operating costs (for example, the fuel to power the temporary diesel generators and the costs of hauling HMC by road until the pipeline is completed). Guidance update Kenmare expected Q4 2020 to be the strongest quarter of the year, following the relocation of WCP B to the high grade Pilivili ore zone. Consequently, in early April 2020 the Company suspended its 2020 guidance. As a result of more clarity regarding the timing of the WCP B move, following the approval of issuance of business visas for specialist contractors to enter Mozambique, Kenmare expects ilmenite production to be 700,000 to 800,000 tonnes in 2020, with full guidance to be provided with the H1 2020 Results. Once WCP B begins mining at Pilivili, it will be accessing significantly higher grade ore than it has been mining during H1 2020 at Namalope. WCP A is also expected to mine higher grade ore in H2 2020 than in the previous half. Additionally, following its ramp up in H1, WCP C is also anticipated to make a high grade contribution to production for the full second half. Market update The ilmenite market remained strong in Q2 2020, continuing the momentum of 2019 and early 2020. This led to a fifth consecutive quarter of higher average prices received and global inventories remained low at the start of April. Demand for Kenmares ilmenite products continues to be stable and Kenmare has secured offtake agreements for the majority of its ilmenite production in H2 2020. The effects of COVID-19 are uncertain for the ilmenite market. Downstream demand for titanium pigment has been negatively impacted by lower global economic activity as a result of the pandemic. Some pigment producers reduced production in Q2 2020, which was driven by lower sales, and although downstream market conditions improved as the quarter progressed, pigment production is expected to remain below 2019 levels in H2 2020. The domestic pigment market in China strengthened in Q2 as the country emerged from its lockdown, but pigment exports towards the end of the quarter were limited by restrictions relating to COVID-19 in other countries around the world. Global ilmenite supply remained constrained in Q2 2020. This was exacerbated by reduced feedstock supply from India and South Africa, as a result of lockdowns, although this was more than offset by reduced demand. Therefore ilmenite market conditions are expected to become more subdued in H2 2020. While the pricing outlook for 2021 is uncertain, Kenmare expects to be able to secure contracts for all of its increased production. The medium-term outlook for Kenmares ilmenite products remains solid, with demand expected to outstrip supply and additional sources of production required to balance the market in the coming years. The oversupply in the zircon market continued into Q2 2020. This resulted in lower achieved zircon prices compared to Q1 2020, although prices began to stabilise in June. As with the ilmenite market, downstream demand for zircon has been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, although this has been partly offset by the disruption to supply, particularly in South Africa. Kenmare expects challenging zircon market conditions to persist in the short term but to improve in the medium term, with global supply deficits emerging due to depleting production from the major mines. Finance update In line with our commitment to return a minimum of 20% of profit after tax to shareholders, on 19 May 2020 Kenmare paid its 2019 final dividend of USc5.52 per share. This was the balancing payment of a 2019 full year dividend of USc8.18 per share. As previously stated, following completion of the WCP B move, the Company expects to be able to make higher capital returns. In order to provide maximum liquidity and flexibility during this unprecedented period, Kenmare drew in full its US$40.0 million Revolving Credit Facility in early April 2020, as previously announced. This follows the drawing of the remaining US$42.7 million available under its US$110 million Term Loan Facility in March. Consequently, at 30 June 2020, cash and cash equivalents were US$98.6 million (31 December 2019: US$81.1 million) and gross bank loans, including accrued interest, were US$151.3 million (31 December 2019: US$67.4 million). Accordingly, as at 30 June 2020, Kenmare had net debt of US$52.7 million, compared to US$13.7 million net cash at 31 December 2019, which is mainly due to scheduled capital expenditure. Notwithstanding this increase in net debt, Kenmare is financially well-resourced to complete the WCP B move, while maintaining its healthy financial position. Kenmare will announce its results for the six months ended 30 June 2020 on 19 August 2020. For further information, please contact: Kenmare Resources plc Jeremy Dibb / Katharine Sutton Investor Relations ir@kenmareresources.com Tel: +353 1 671 0411 Mob: + 353 87 943 0367 / + 353 87 663 0875 Murray (PR advisor) Joe Heron Tel: +353 1 498 0300 Mob: +353 87 690 9735 About Kenmare Resources Kenmare Resources plc is one of the worlds largest producers of mineral sands products. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and the Euronext Dublin, Kenmare operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine in Mozambique. Momas production accounts for approximately 7% of global titanium feedstocks and the Company supplies to customers operating in more than 15 countries. Kenmare produces raw materials that are ultimately consumed in everyday quality-of life items such as paints, plastics and ceramic tiles. Forward Looking Statements This announcement contains some forward-looking statements that represent Kenmare's expectations for its business, based on current expectations about future events, which by their nature involve risks and uncertainties. Kenmare believes that its expectations and assumptions with respect to these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, because they involve risk and uncertainty, which are in some cases beyond Kenmare's control, actual results or performance may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. The presidency in reaction to the current probe of suspended acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC, said that the probe of the suspended EFCC boss shows that there is no sacred cow in the Buhari-led administrations fight against corruption. In a statement released on Saturday, July 11, Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said the current probe of Magus activities shows that the antigraft war is real and no respecter of persons. Shehu said the nature of the allegations leveled against Magu shows enough grounds for a detailed investigation to be conducted. The statement reads A series of documented allegations were made against the Ag. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Following a preliminary review of the allegations leveled against the Ag. Chairman 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. The EFCC does 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. What is 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. Lakhs of people mostly from the lower strata of the society have fled Bengaluru in the last three days. Even though there is no authentic data, conservative estimates put the number at five lakh. After repeatedly assuring the people of the state capital that there would no more lockdown, the chief minister BS Yediyurappa imposed a one-week-long stringent lockdown in Bengaluru starting July 15, triggering panic. His decision to go for a lockdown has come as a shock to the industries, businesses, migrant workers, poor and lower middle class people, causing people to flee in hordes. Yediyurappas efficient handling of the coronavirus crisis in the first three months had won him all-round praise and he was one of the strongest advocates of back to business at earliest idea. Compared to less than Rs.100 crore in April and May, the GST collection of Karnataka in June had crossed Rs.7,000 crore, signaling a huge improvement in business. The sudden decision to impose a second round of lockdown in Bengaluru to halt the march of dreaded virus has shocked the business establishments which were hoping for a slow recovery. The apex trade body of the state, Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FKCCI), has openly criticized the move, calling it unfortunate. FKCCI president CR Janardhan in a statement has taken on the Yediyurappa government warning an imminent collapse of the economy due to lockdown. He said that industries or businesses are not responsible for the spread of virus and over 20 per cent industries have already shut shops permanently. Lockdown might force remaining industries to close down. Already lakhs have lost jobs. Many thriving businesses have completely collapsed. The new lockdown will aggravate the situation, he said. The migrant workers who had stayed back on the assurances of the state government are also furious with the administration. Those who had returned in May and June are also fleeing once again swearing not to return again. The inconsistencies of the government have hit the infrastructure sector badly. With great difficulty, we managed to retain our workers. Because of the new lockdown, they are fleeing now. It will cause a huge damage to our sector. The loss is incalculable, said a leading builder in Bengaluru. The house helps, hawkers, cab and auto drivers, small eatery, salon owners etc. are also attacking the government for re-imposing the lockdown. Raveendra, who left for his village in Chitradurga district said, I have lost my job due to lockdown. Cant survive in Bengaluru. Government has betrayed our trust by re-imposing lockdown. We may or may not return even if the situation is back to normal. Only the poor always suffer. According to CM BSY, the current lockdown is aimed at ramping up Covid19 infrastructure in the city and there would be no extension of it. The inefficiency of the bureaucrats, squabbling among the top ministers and political calculations are said to be the real reason for the lockdown. The BBMP Commissioner is in a soup over lease or purchase of equipment and other things to fight coronavirus. There are serious charges of corruption against Health minister B Sriramulu and Medical education minister Dr. K Sudhakar. The main opposition Congress has already launched Lekka Kodi (Give Details of Expenses) campaign against the government. Top ministers from Bengaluru - R Ashoka, Dr.CN Ashwathnarayana and Dr. K Sudhakar - are openly fighting for the control over administration in the city, complicating the matters further. Unable to control them, Yediyurappa is pitting one against another, just to buy time and consolidate his hold. In their eagerness to be politically correct, the opposition Congress and JDS are supporting the lockdown in public and questioning the rationale behind it in private. Finally, Yediyurappas shaky chair is also said to be the reason for a sudden lockdown. Fearing that he might be unseated using surge in cases as a pretext, he has gone for the lockdown, claim some insiders. Advertisement China today accused the US of 'sailing through the world like a bully' amid an escalating row over the disputed South China Sea. Hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branded Beijing's claim over the waters as 'completely unlawful', China's embassy in Washington hit back by accusing Donald Trump's administration of 'flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation' with a 'completely unjustified' attack. Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the US a 'troublemaker and destroyer of regional peace and stability' after two aircraft carriers, the USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan, were recently dispatched to the region in a show of force. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea based on the 'nine-dash line', a vague delineation which dates back to the 1940s. China has spent years building military bases on artificial islands in the area, which is home to valuable oil and gas deposits and is a vital commercial waterway. The dispute is the latest flashpoint in the ever-growing feud between Washington and Beijing, who have sparred over Huawei, coronavirus and the security crackdown in Hong Kong. Britain has also been at loggerheads with China - announcing today that Huawei would be stripped out of its 5G network - and reports say that the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is set to join military drills in the region next year. This map shows China's territorial claim in the South China Sea (in red), which the US yesterday described as 'unlawful'. Marked in blue are US bases in Okinawa off Japan and in Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, and Sembawang wharf in Singapore where Britain's Royal Navy maintains a small presence. Marked in red are three naval bases in South China belonging to the People's Liberation Army The diagram on the right shows the carrier strike group of HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will reportedly be deployed to the region in 2021, and of the two US aircraft carriers which are currently in the region China today branded the US a 'troublemaker' and accused it of 'stirring up tension' over the disputed South China Sea (pictured, the US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz in the South China Sea earlier this month, with an FA-18E Super Hornet taking off from the flight deck) Beijing claims most of the South China Sea based on the so-called nine-dash line, a vague delineation which dates back to the 1940s, and has spent years building military bases on artificial islands in the area (pictured, Fiery Cross Reef where China has built missile shelters) Pompeo issued his statement yesterday to mark the fourth anniversary of a tribunal decision that sided with the Philippines against the nine-dash line. Citing the decision, Pompeo declared that China cannot make claims based on the Scarborough Reef or Spratly Islands, a vast uninhabited archipelago. The United States now rejects Beijing's claims in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, Lucania Shoals off Malaysia, waters considered in Brunei's exclusive economic zone and Natuna Besar off Indonesia, Pompeo said. Pompeo also rejected Beijing's southernmost claim of Malaysian-administered James Shoal, which 1,150 miles from the Chinese mainland. Previous US policy had been to insist that maritime disputes between China and its neighbours be resolved peacefully through UN-backed arbitration. Savaging China's policy as 'might makes right', Pompeo said the US would 'stand with the international community in defence of freedom of the seas'. 'We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them,' he said. 'Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009. 'The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law. ' The US recently sent two aircraft carriers - the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz - into the South China Sea for the first time since 2014. The two carrier strike groups include guided-missile cruisers USS Princeton and USS Antietam as well as three guided-missile destroyers and a fleet of F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter planes. The Pentagon said the deployment was 'bringing a flexibility and combat lethality unmatched anywhere in the world' and would 'increase our warfighting readiness'. The US military also has bases in Australia, Japan and South Korea, while Britain's Royal Navy maintains a small presence in Singapore. The UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia form the so-called Five Power Defence Arrangements. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) yesterday rejected China's sweeping claims to the South China Sea An F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet takes off from the flight deck of the USS Ronald Reagan in the South China Sea earlier this month China claims the man-made islands are mainly for civilian purposes and to boost safety for fishing and maritime trade (pictured, a fishing port in south China) In a strongly-worded rebuttal today, a Chinese embassy spokesman said Pompeo's statement 'exaggerates the situation in the region and attempts to sow discord'. 'The accusation is completely unjustified. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it,' the embassy said. 'The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue. 'Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region. 'Under the pretext of upholding freedom of navigation and overflight, it is invading other countries' territory at will and sailing through the world like a bully. 'We advise the US side to earnestly honor its commitment of not taking sides on the issue of territorial sovereignty, respect regional countries' efforts for a peaceful and stable South China Sea and stop its attempts to disrupt and sabotage regional peace and stability.' In a further rebuttal today, government spokeswoman Hua Chunying claimed that it was the US, not China, that believes in 'might makes right'. 'The Chinese people's activities in the South China Sea date back to over 2,000 years ago. China's sovereignty and relevant rights and interests in the South China Sea have been established in the long course of history, solidly grounded in history and law,' she said. 'The US,tens of thousands of miles away from the South China Sea sent advanced military airplanes to the region to flex its military muscles, which caused instability in the South China Sea. China, as an independent sovereign state,has the right to refuse bullying and injustice.' The US and others have long accused Beijing of militarising the region and altering geography to bolster its sweeping claims across the South China Sea. In 2017, Chinese state media said it had installed rocket launchers on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands to ward off Vietnamese military combat divers. China says the man-made islands in the Spratlys, which are equipped with airstrips, are for defensive purposes and to boost safety for fishing and maritime trade. Fiery Cross Reef is administered by China but also claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. The 2016 decision which the US cited yesterday was made by a tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Pompeo called legally binding. The United States, however, is one of the few countries that is not part of the convention. Zhu Feng, the director of a South China Sea studies centre at Nanjing University, said Pompeo's statement was a major change in South China Sea policy. 'The U.S. didn't used to comment on the sovereignty issue in the South China Sea, because it itself is not the claimant,' Zhu said. 'But this time it has made itself into a judge or arbiter. It will bring new instability and tension.' Reports say the US, Britain and Japan are set to take part in military drills in the Far East amid growing fears about China (pictured, a US Marine Corps Air Station in southern Japan) Taiwan welcomed Pompeo's statement. 'Our country opposes any attempt by a claimant state to use intimidation, coercion, or force to resolve disputes,' Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters. Meanwhile, Japan's government said today that China was pushing harder to make territorial claims in regional waters. A report adopted by prime minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet said China has 'relentlessly' pushed to 'change the status quo' in the Asian seas, including sending 3,000-ton vessels into waters around disputed Japan-controlled islands. The East China Sea islands are called Senkaku in Japanese, but Beijing also claims the islands and calls them the Diaoyu. The annual report also accused China of spreading propaganda and misinformation about the spread of the coronavirus. Abe recently announced his intention to revise Japan's defense guidelines, possibly allowing Japan to go beyond its conventional defence-only role. Chu Yin, a professor at the University of International Relations, dismissed the latest statement as a campaign move that does not deserve serious attention. 'I personally believe that Trump doesn't have the ability to introduce a medium to long-term strategy.' he said. 'If the two governments want to engage in strategic dialogue, we will have to wait until the completion of the US election.' Tension has been ramping up in recent months with Washington pressuring its allies to turn their backs on Chinese tech giant Huawei. The UK announced a major U-turn today by ordering Huawei purged from its 5G network by 2027, with no new purchases from 2021. In January, UK ministers had announced that Huawei could play a limited role in the network, despite fears that Beijing could use its technology for espionage. Huawei has always maintained that it would never assist in this, but critics say it could be ordered to co-operate by the ruling Communist Party. The class leading HMS Queen Elizabeth is expected to visit the Far East during its maiden grand voyage next year China has also clashed with the West over its security crackdown in Hong Kong (pictured, a protester is detained by a police officer in the city earlier this month) It is also expected to announce a so-called 'rip out' date by which all the existing Huawei equipment must be removed. Meanwhile, it has been reported that the first of the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers could be deployed to the Far East to counter growing Chinese assertiveness. The Times reported plans were being drawn up for HMS Queen Elizabeth to take part in exercises in the region with the US and Japan, on its maiden grand voyage next year. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: 'No decision has been made on HMS Queen Elizabeth's deployment.' Britain and America have also clashed with China over Hong Kong, where Beijing has imposed a sweeping new national security law in the wake of last year's protests. Critics say it strangles the freedoms that Hong Kong was guaranteed when it was handed over from British rule in 1997, but China denies this. The UK last month announced that up to three million people with British National (Overseas) status linked to Hong Kong could be given residency in Britain. China angrily rejected that move, warning that 'we firmly oppose this and reserve the right to take corresponding measures'. Trump and his administration have also been fiercely critical of China over coronavirus, while UK ministers have said that China faces a 'reckoning' over its handling of the pandemic which started in Wuhan late last year. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said in May that China has questions to answer about how the disease was allowed to spiral out of control, amid claims that China covered up the outbreak in its earliest days. Britain was among the countries to back Australia's calls for a WHO investigation into the pandemic. China has responded to Australia's pressure with a series of retaliatory measures. China's state-run Global Times stoked further tension in May by saying the UK's response to Covid-19 was 'flippant and ill-prepared' and saying the UK needed a 'miracle' to escape the 'mess' it was in. The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a controversial new policy that would have required international students to leave the country if they took only online courses this fall. The policy, announced last week, prompted California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to sue the administration Thursday on behalf of the California State University system and the states community colleges, alleging the move would unfairly target legal immigrants seeking an education in the United States. Harvard University and MIT also sued last week, and many universities and colleges quickly followed suit. During a hearing in Boston on that lawsuit Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the policy issued on July 6 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The policy, made at the direction of the Department of Homeland Security, would have affected thousands of international students whose U.S. colleges and universities have moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Those schools, faced with a mounting financial crisis fueled by the virus, feared losing even more money without international students, who typically pay higher tuition. They also count as some of the worlds brightest students, at a time when universities covet such brainpower more than ever. Tuesdays announcement marked one of the rare times in which the administration folding to mounting criticism from some of the countrys most powerful educational and business institutions walked back one of its controversial immigration policies. International students are an extraordinary benefit not just to American higher education but to our entire nation, resulting in a wealth of new ideas, cultural connections, cutting-edge technology and life-saving medical advances, including in the fight against COVID-19, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, in a statement. The economic benefit that comes with the roughly one million international students who come here is also immense, yielding about $41 billion and resulting in more than 450,000 U.S. jobs. Before Tuesdays abrupt reversal, students attending schools offering entirely online programs would have been prohibited from remaining in the U.S. and would have had to return to their home country. In addition, the State Department would have declined to issue visas to students enrolled in online programs. ICE did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Bay Area universities welcomed the news, saying the blow-back from professors, school officials, students and community members demonstrated a clear need and appreciation for international students, particularly in a region with a significant number of immigrant communities. Santa Clara University President Kevin OBrien, in a phone interview with The Chronicle Tuesday, said he was pleased by the news and called the original order harsh and unfair to our international students. In some cases, for those with compromised health, they would have had to choose between their own health and staying in the country. It also unnecessarily imposed a lot of financial burdens on them, because many had signed leases (for the new school year), he said. OBrien said he thinks the flurry of lawsuits filed in response to the new policy, including one involving Santa Clara on Monday, influenced the decision to rescind the order. It is a tremendous relief to the entire San Francisco State University community, said President Lynn Mahoney, noting that if anything good came of this unfortunate experience, it was the encouraging and inspiring reactions of our community in support of international students who enrich our campus in so many ways. 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. UC Berkeley spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said in an email that we are pleased with the decision. She also quoted Chancellor Carol Christ, who has noted the universitys long tradition of welcoming international students. Becerra also issued a statement saying: The Trump Administration appears to have seen the harm of its July 6 directive. The attorney general added that it should not have taken lawsuits to make that happen. In the midst of an economic and public health crisis, we dont need the federal government alarming Americans or wasting everyones time and resources with dangerous policy decisions, Becerra said. President Trumps arbitrary actions put the health and safety of our students and communities across the country at risk. Becerra filed a motion for a preliminary injunction earlier Tuesday, seeking to immediately block implementation of the Trump Administrations unlawful policy on student visas while litigation is ongoing. And late Monday, 20 western colleges and universities including Stanford, USF, Santa Clara and St. Marys College filed their own lawsuit against the federal government, in U.S. District Court in Eugene, Ore. These legal actions punctuated a frenzied, furious response to the new guidelines disclosed last week. University of California officials had said they also planned to sue. Tatiana Sanchez and Ron Kroichick are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com, rkroichick@sfchronicle.com . Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez, @ronkroichick. In Uttar Pradesh, the two-day lockdown on the weekends has further impacted the mango trade. Already there are hardly any takers of Dussehri this year due to coronavirus crisis and poor crop. The state government on last Friday had announced two days lockdown on Saturday and Sunday without any prior notice. Due to this, around 10,000 tons of Dussehri could not get buyers and were rotten. According to wholesale traders, it is already difficult to save Dussehri in the humid season and two days lockdown only added to the woes. Though the state government had allowed opening of fruits ... Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 15:36:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BISHKEK, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyzstan's economy continued to decline in June, the country's National Statistics Committee reported. According to preliminary estimates, the gross domestic product in the January to June period amounted to 2.9 billion U.S. dollars and decreased by 5.3 percent compared to the same period last year, the report said. The decrease in GDP growth through June was mainly due to decreases in such industries as construction by 9.1 percent, wholesale and retail trade by 14.9 percent, hotel and restaurant services by 32.2 percent, and the volume of freight traffic by 28.5 percent and manufacturing by 0.1 percent. At the same time, growth was seen in industrial production with 0.1 percent, mining with 9.8 percent and agriculture at 1.6 percent. The growth in industrial production was due to a 2.4-fold increase in the production of pharmaceutical products, chemical products by 10.9 percent, and basic metals and finished metal products by 9 percent. In addition, consumer prices and tariffs in the country increased by 3 percent, due to an increase in prices for food products and soft drinks by 6.4 percent and alcoholic beverages and tobacco products by 5.4 percent. Meanwhile, prices for non-food products decreased by 1 percent and tariffs for services by 0.1 percent. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 16:57:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close The Ganquan Island of Xisha Yongle Islands in south China's Hainan Province, April 23, 2017. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng) - Meddling in the South China Sea issue is Pompeo's latest move in his China-blaming campaign. - It aims to divert domestic attention from its disastrous handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. - The U.S., thousands of miles away from the region, is not a relevant party on this matter. - China has always tried to work with relevant parties in the region to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea. by Xinhua writer Jiang Li BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States rejected China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, the latest provocative act in his notorious campaign to undermine China. Pompeo's statement not only disregards the facts related to the South China Sea, but also gravely violates China's sovereignty and interferes with its internal affairs. The Chinese embassy in the United States slammed his remarks as "completely unjustified," and said the Chinese side is "firmly opposed to it." Washington is not a relevant party regarding territorial concerns in the South China Sea, yet it frequently -- and unwisely -- chooses to flex its military muscle and stir up tensions in the region. The reason? To contain China and pursue its own hegemonic ambitions in the Asia-Pacific. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a press briefing in Washington D.C., the United States, on March 5, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Don't be fooled. As the world continues to fight COVID-19 and with the United States itself deeply mired in the pandemic, sober minds worldwide can see right through the current U.S. administration's purely political scheme to divert domestic attention away from its poor handling of the outbreak, not to mention the country's systemic human rights abuses against its African American population. Islands in the South China Sea have been part of China's inherent territory since ancient times, and China has ample historical proof to underpin its sovereignty and legitimate maritime rights there. No one can deny such overwhelming evidence. Besides, China has long worked with all related parties in the South China Sea to maintain peace and stability in the region. Within the framework of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations continue to make visible progress in ensuring peace in the region. The golden principle of preserving stability in the South China Sea requires all parties to solve their differences through dialogue and respect each other's core interests. Yet by sending aircraft carriers to the region and launching ill-founded accusations against Beijing, Washington is attempting to undermine the peace. Undated photo shows a Chinese H-6K bomber patrolling islands and reefs in the South China Sea. (Xinhua/Liu Rui) Washington hardliners should not underestimate China's determination to safeguard its sovereign rights. History has shown that every time Washington tries to make waves in the region, China steadfastly responds, as it did with the South China Sea tribunal debacle in 2016. As of Monday, the United States has reported more than 3.36 million COVID-19 cases with over 135,000 deaths, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University tally. Both figures are far higher than those of any other country or region. A musician performs at Central Park in New York, the United States, on July 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying) Washington's energy would best be spent on containing the pandemic raging in its own backyard instead of interfering in China's domestic concerns. South Africa: DPE urges pilots to accept SAA severance packages The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has called on individual pilots to accept South African Airways Voluntary Severance Packages (VSPs) ahead of a crucial business rescue vote today. The DPE calls on individual pilots to accept South African Airways (SAAs) VSPs and reject their unions greedy demands, which appear to be magnanimous. [The] South African Airways Pilots Association has made proposals, including to the SAA Business Rescue Practitioners that create the optical illusion of financial savings for the airline, said the department in a statement on Monday. The DPE, which is the sole shareholder of SAA, expressed its dismay and concern at the South African Airways Pilots Associations (SAAPA) stance in the matter. As the shareholder on behalf of the government, the DPE is disappointed that it has not dawned on the pilots that SAA is financially depleted, that the airline is in business rescue and fighting for its survival. The DPE said the 600 SAA pilots makeup 13% of SAA staff and constitutes 45% of the wage bill. The lowest of SAAs 170 senior pilots earn R3.6 million a year, excluding perks and incentives. Of the R2.2 billion proposed budget for the VSPs, pilots will get more than R1 billion, it said. The department described SAAPAs proposals as misleading. Whilst it makes the VSPs look very attractive for some employees, it does not highlight the financial risks it creates for the remaining employees and the company. It said that the terms and conditions of employment on which SAAPA insists for pilots are still based on the premise that SAA is an internationally competitive and profitable company when in fact the airline is insolvent and in business rescue. The airline went into voluntary business rescue in December 2019 and introduced a radical restructuring process to ensure its financial and operational sustainability to reduce its ongoing impact on the fiscus. Details of VSPs According to DPE, the VSPs available to all employees include one week calculated per year of completed service, one-month notice pay, accumulated leave paid out, said the department. The package also includes severance criteria calculated on a backdated 5.9% wage increase that was agreed to in November last year, a 13th cheque and a skills development model. SAAPAs proposals are more lucrative and financially rewarding to themselves than any other class of employees at the airline, the department said. In reality, these proposals are motivated by greed, it transfers a financial burden to a new airline that must emerge from the business rescue process and it motivates for pilots to hold on to historic benefits at the cost of all other SAA employees. The chair of SAAPA, Captain Grant Back, told media on Monday that the union has committed to negotiating new terms and conditions "just like the DPE has committed to a new board and new executive leadership". SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Ndjamena, Chad (PANA) Staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the authorities in Chad have completed discussions for a second disbursement under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) to help the north-central Africa country address economic challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic "As you know, there continues to be concerns and questions related to how schools plan to reopen in August 2020. While we are in the business of educating, our priority is the safety of our students and staff," Hanson said. "We have gathered input from parents, staff, community stakeholders, administrators, state leaders, the Nebraska Department of Education and medical professionals via surveys, committee meetings and work sessions, and weekly West Center District Health Department Command Center meetings. Administrators have been planning for increased safety procedures that can be taken at every location." The concerts at the Heartland Events Center have been canceled, but the Raising Nebraska exhibits will be open and, if it is decided that a carnival can be set up and safely operated during the fair, arrangements will be made to do so. The board could have canceled the fair, as was done with Husker Harvest Days. But this plan is a much better alternative that recognizes how important the 4-H and FFA activities are to the Nebraska State Fair. Iowa, which holds its State Fair before Nebraskas, canceled this years event. Kansas, which had scheduled its fair in September, is going ahead with its plans for a full fair. Its yet to be seen whether that decision is changed, as Kansas has been experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases recently. Ogg emphasized another priority, along with protecting the safety of fairgoers, is ensuring that the Nebraska State Fair is here for the next 151 years and we dont squander our limited resources on trying to do something this year that makes us unsustainable to go forward. Tuckman made Mexico her home for the next two decades, reporting, mainly for The Guardian, on drug violence, the disappeared, the struggles of women and migrants, and the uneven transition to democracy. In one of her last articles, published Jan. 2, she wrote about a new imprint of Mexican writer Tita Valencias 1976 novel Minotaur Fighting and other works by Latin American women who were once feted but have fallen out of print. Three arrested for drug trafficking in Carlisle County The outbreak, which began with two nurses who tested positive a week ago, had grown to a level that made its operations "challenging", the hospital's interim chief operating officer, Chris MacIsaac, admitted on Tuesday. The Alfred has also restricted access to its COVID-19 ward after eight healthcare workers tested positive, sending hundreds of staff into isolation in the hospital's second outbreak since the pandemic began. Loading Two staff members at Warringal Private Hospital in Heidelberg, including one who works in oncology, have also tested positive to COVID-19, with patients identified as close contacts. The Brunswick Private Hospital cluster has grown to 12 people, including at least four patients. Of the medical staff who have signed up to work on the COVID-19 frontline, 21 per cent are allied health professionals including physiotherapists, 9 per cent are doctors, 28 per cent are nurses, 3 per cent are paramedics and 10 per cent are patient care assistants. A further 29 per cent are medical, pharmacy and dental university students braced to support hospitals and help with testing and contract tracing as the state recorded another 270 infections and two more deaths in the past day. Professor Wilson said the priority was using highly skilled doctors and nurses already working part-time or employed in quieter private hospitals who could easily shift into the public healthcare system. Surgeons and theatre nurses, whose workloads are set to dwindle as elective surgeries are wound back, may also be called upon. Retired doctors and nurses, who make up a small proportion of volunteers, will only be used in a worst-case scenario due to their heightened risk of severe disease if they contract the virus, Professor Wilson said. "The priority is targeting the under-utilised healthcare workers," he said. "Students and retired doctors are down the bottom of the list. We'd only use them if we got really desperate." Australian Medical Association Victorian president Julian Rait, who is becoming increasingly worried about how the state's healthcare system would cope with a surge in clusters in hospitals, lauded the move. We hope this will alleviate much of the anxiety among many frontline workers who are feeling concerned about potential workforce shortages and reassure the public there are measures there to support healthcare workers, Associate Professor Rait said. Premier Daniel Andrews put Melbourne in lockdown after a surge in coronavirus cases. Credit:Joe Armao Professor Wilson, who is leading a team investigating how healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19, said preliminary data suggested the vast majority were still being infected outside of their workplace. Infected medical staff are then going to work and unknowingly infecting their colleagues through shared environments. There has been no evidence so far that misuse of personal protective equipment, such as face masks or gowns, had led to infections. A smaller number, we think, got the infection at work so we are digging deeper to try to understand why it happened and understand some learnings for the whole sector to determine if there is some kind of pattern," the cardiologist said. "It is critical for our workers to know if they are doing the wrong thing, or if we as a system are doing the wrong thing we need to know about it. Professor Wilson conceded moving healthcare workers between hospitals posed a risk of transferring the virus from one hospital to another. We dont think the risk of that is very high at the moment, he said. "We are definitely aware of it and monitoring it closely. Weve got to balance that risk with the effects on the entire healthcare system. We know that a large number of nurses and doctors already do move around the system every day." Meanwhile, Premier Daniel Andrews said a team of 200 Ambulance Victoria staff was being assembled to help the state's public health team in the battle against COVID-19. About 1000 Australian Defence Force personnel would also be arriving over the next few weeks and staying "for the foreseeable future", Mr Andrews said. Their focus will include planning tasks in the State Control Centre, logistics and providing assistance in outbreaks at public housing estates. By Express News Service MADURAI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has been granted three days custody of five police personnel who were arrested in connection with the alleged custodial deaths of two Sathankulam traders Jeyaraj and Beniks. Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) TV Hemananda Kumar of Madurai passed the order on Tuesday by considering an application filed by the agency seeking five days custody of the accused -- inspector Sridhar, sub-inspectors Raghu Ganesh and Balakrishnan and head constables Muthuraj and Murugan. The accused would be returned to judicial custody on July 16 at 5.30 pm. A team of seven CBI officials, headed by Additional SP Vijay Kumar Shukla, began its investigation of the case on July 10. They applied for custody of the five accused before the CJM on Monday evening. The application was taken up today at around 11.30 am and the five accused, who were lodged in Madurai Central Prison, were produced before the CJM. After hearing the application, the CJM granted custody of the accused to CBI with directions that they should be produced back before the court on July 16 evening. During the hearing, Sridhar and Raghu Ganesh prayed to the CJM that their counsels should be permitted to visit them daily when they are in CBI custody. The same was allowed by the CJM. Tehran Rejected Washington's Demand for No Response to Soleimani's Assassination - Iranian Deputy FM Sputnik News 19:05 GMT 13.07.2020 Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohsen Baharvand alleges that Tehran immediately rejected Washington's attempt at preventing a retaliatory attack by Iranian forces, shortly after the January assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force commander Major General Qasem Soleimani. "The US had sent a message to Iran via the Swiss ambassador (whose mission also acts as Washington's interests section in Tehran) to demand Iran not to give a response, but it was rejected immediately," Baharvand said on Sunday, as reported by Iran's Fars News Agency. The January 3 assassination strike near Baghdad International Airport also killed Deputy Commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, four IRGC officers and four PMF troops. IRGC forces responded on January 7 with ballistic missile strikes on Al Asad Airbase and an airbase near Erbil, both facilities in Iraq which house US troops. The deputy foreign minister's allegations come shortly after the conclusion of a United Nations investigation into Soleimani's killing led by Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. According to the rapporteur, the US' strike was "directed not only at Iran but also Iraq." The report highlighted that because the attack took place on Iraqi soil and without Baghdad's permission, Washington "violated" the country's sovereignty. Furthermore, Callamard insisted that it would be "hard to imagine that a similar strike against a Western military leader would not be considered as an act of war, potentially leading to intense action, political, military and otherwise, against the State launching the strike." "Condemnation of the US act by Ms. Callamard as the UN Special Rapporteur, an expert and an unbiased lawyer is valuable and the report is now one of the UN documents and will remain for several decades in future," Baharvand noted on Sunday. Tehran has consistently alleged that the US committed an "act of war" with the strike on Soleimani. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in January that Tehran "did not think they [the US] would target another country's guest." He also slammed the killing as the "martyrdom" of "a great commander of fighting terrorism" after US President Donald Trump claimed the Iranian general was "plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel" - an allegation that was not confirmed by the recent UN investigation. Arrest warrants for a total of 36 officials connected to Soleimani's assassination were issued in late June by Tehran's Prosecutor-General Ali Alqasi-Mehr. The official detailed that the three dozen individuals included Trump and several other "political and military officials of the US and other governments." A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address At Valley Baptist Medical Centers in Brownsville and Harlingen which keep opening new units to care for critically ill patients there were people waiting in the emergency room hallways for treatment this week, said Dr. Jamil Madi, medical director of the ICU in Harlingen. The hospitals are nearly out of ventilators and are starting to consider older models and disaster ventilators that are less optimal for treating the virus, he said. Theres nothing else other than COVID. You treat COVID, you look at COVID, you see COVID, you smell COVID, you hear COVID. Everythings COVID, Madi said. There are two parallel worlds: The world inside the hospital and the world outside. We need people to understand that it is a dire situation going on inside the hospital. Ambulances are sometimes waiting hours to deliver patients to the emergency rooms, said Mack Gilbert, chief operating officer of Med-Care EMS, which services most of Hidalgo County. Normally, the wait is less than 30 minutes, he said. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 929 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, raising the statewide total to 96,671. The health department has reported an increase in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. State officials have expressed concern about the rise in cases, particularly among younger adults. Some of the new cases reported Tuesday, notably in Allegheny County, include results from the last several weeks. In a news conference Monday, Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said shes seeing a similar pattern now that occurred in the spring. In March and April, adults 19-49 were among the first to get sick, and then adults over 50 began to get infected. This pattern is now repeating, she said. Across Pennsylvania, 6,931 deaths have been tied to COVID-19, including 20 new fatalities reported Tuesday. More than two-thirds of the states coronavirus deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes. About 680 coronavirus patients are being treated in hospitals, well below the peak of about 2,800 in the spring. Levine said hospitals arent seeing a strain from the recent uptick in cases. But the number of patients in hospitals has risen in the past few weeks; it was slightly under 600 earlier this month. This marks the third time in a week the state has reported more than 900 cases in a single day. Prior to that stretch, the state hadnt reported more than 900 cases in a day since May 21. It is worth noting that the health department has said COVID-19 reports on Tuesdays sometimes reflect laboratories addressing a backlog in processing tests over the weekend. The health department said 850,612 people have tested negative. Levine said Monday the uptick in cases is partly a reflection of the states increased testing capacity. Over the past 30 days, the state has performed an average of 15,000 cases per day, Levine said. The states positive test rate remains below 5 percent, she said Monday. Health officials have been concerned about the increase in infections among younger adults, particularly among those 19 to 24 years old. The health department has also been monitoring the rise of cases in southwestern Pennsylvania. Still, Levine said no new statewide restrictions are planned at this point. The health department data show the increase in cases over the past three weeks. June 24-30: 3,910 new cases, an average of 558 per day July 1-7: 4,693 new cases, an average of 670 per day July 8-14: 5,372 new cases, an average of 767 per day Allegheny County reported 331 new cases Tuesday, noting that some of the results reflect tests from June 8 through July 13. The county health department is working to find out why there is a lag in test results. The median age of the new positive tests in Allegheny County is 30. About 76 percent of all those infected with the virus since the beginning of the pandemic have recovered, the state health department estimates. The department considers patients to be recovered 30 days after the infection or onset of symptoms. More from PennLive How do you deal with people who refuse to wear a mask? Experts weigh in with advice Pa. gives hospitals, universities $175 million to help nursing homes protect their residents from COVID-19 UPMCs claim of less severe coronavirus strain in Pa. is not supported by science Testing, screening and schedule changes: What can be done to make sure fall sports happen in 2020? Penn States James Franklin talks Big Tens schedule change, likelihood the 2020 season is played, and more Getting tested for coronavirus in Pa. is becoming more difficult amid wave of new infections Black-owned businesses: Stories of struggle and success | PennLive launches a vital two-week series In Harrisburg, a struggle to open Pa.s 1st Black-owned craft brewery: It shouldnt be this hard File image A senior officer of the Indian Army, on July 13, approached the Delhi High Court challenging a new policy banning armed forces officers from using social networking platforms such as Facebook. The petition, likely to come up for hearing on July 14, sought the court's direction to the Director General of Military Intelligence to withdraw the June 6 policy to the extent that it orders all the members of the Indian Army to delete their accounts from Facebook and Instagram and 87 other applications. Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary, who is currently posted in Jammu and Kashmir, said in his petition that he is an active user of Facebook and uses the social media platform to connect with his family and friends as most of them are settled abroad, including his elder daughter. In the petition, filed through advocates Shivank Pratap Singh and Sanandika Pratap Singh, the officer sought direction to the central government through Ministry of Defence to withdraw its June 6 policy to ensure that the fundamental rights of armed forces personnel are not abrogated amended or modified by arbitrary executive action which is not backed by the mandate of law, offends the provisions of the Army Act and Rules made thereunder and is unconstitutional. The plea said Choudhary got to know through a July 9 news report about the Army's order requiring him and other personnel to delete Facebook, Instagram and 87 other applications by July 15. On July 10, he received a letter titled Policy On Use Of Social Media Platforms And Mobile Phones In IA issued by the Director General of Military Intelligence, banning the use of 89 applications and websites and directed deletion the accounts, the plea said, adding that as the policy is classified as restricted, he is not reproducing any part of it here. The plea claimed that the provisions of the policy violate various fundamental rights of the petitioner under the Constitution including the right to freedom of speech and expression and right to privacy. It said soldiers serve in remote areas, extreme weather conditions, difficult terrain, with the lingering threat of an enemy attack at all times and the professional hazards are a direct cause of soldiers committing suicides and in some cases shooting at their fellow soldiers before taking their own lives. In a majority of cases the precursor to such incidents is denial of leave to the soldier. The soldiers rely on social networking platforms like Facebook to address various issues arising in their families while posted in remote locations and often use the virtual connect to compensate for the physical distance existing between themselves and their families. Soldiers can view pictures, videos etc. of events such as weddings, birthdays and other events of cultural significance in real time or even at a later date as per their convenience and need. This is the beauty of social network platforms like Facebook. Therefore, the respondents (authorities) must wake up to the benefits that these websites/applications enable the use of these websites and applications for Soldiers and put in place a mechanism to ensure its misuse, the petition said. It alleged that the policy which bans social media platforms is illegal, arbitrary, disproportionate, violates the fundamental rights of soldiers including but not limited to the freedom of speech and expression, the right to life and the right to privacy. It said the authorities have cited security concerns and risk of data breach as the basis of imposing the restrictions contained in the policy regarding usage of social media platforms but the act of banning it is a clear violation of Article 14 (Equality before law) of the Constitution. It is submitted that no other professional army serving in a constitutional democracy has put such unreasonable and mindless restrictions on its soldiers. The respondent no.2 has conveniently shifted its own burden and responsibility to regulate use of social networking platforms onto the soldiers, assuming that it has unfettered power to abrogate and restrict the fundamental rights of soldiers. It is noteworthy that the policy has an entire section dedicated to measures such as sensitisation and training of personnel to avoid breach of security and data. This gives rise to a glaring absurdity, the plea said. It also sought to declare that the Director General of Military Intelligence is not empowered under the Constitution or under any other law to modify, amend or abrogate the fundamental rights of the petitioner and other members of the armed forces. Besides, the Centre and Director General of Military Intelligence, the petition has also made Chief of the Army Staff, who is the professional head, commander and the highest-ranking military officer of the Indian Army, party to the petition. (With inputs from PTI) Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers at the University of Oxford, working with NHS Digital, in collaboration with experts from the University of Keele, the University of Leeds, Imperial College London, University College London, Barts Health NHS Trust and the Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, have published new research that shows that only two-thirds of the expected admissions with heart attacks took place at the end of March 2020. By the end of May, admission rates had partially recovered, but remained below expected levels. In total, by the end of May there had been about 5000 fewer admissions with heart attack in 2020 than would be expected, suggesting that many patients have missed out on lifesaving treatment. The study, published today in The Lancet, used data regularly collected by NHS Digital from NHS Hospital Trusts in England to get up-to-date information about admissions to hospital. Researchers documented a reduction in admissions with heart attack in England at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing weekly rates in 2020 with those observed in 2019. They are continuing to monitor these trends and will post updated results every month at www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/research/COV e-coronary-syndromes. Admissions with heart attacks caused by a complete blockage of an artery to part of the heartcalled "ST-elevation" heart attacks because of the typical changes seen on the electrocardiogram (ECG)fell by nearly a quarter (23%). People with this sort of heart attack are at the highest risk of suffering a cardiac arrest and usually need an urgent procedure (a percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI) to open the blocked artery to the heart, along with medications. Rates of admission for heart attacks caused by a partial blockage of blood supply to the heart ("non-ST elevation" heart attacks) fell by 42%. Patients with this type of heart attack need urgent assessment and treatment with medications, while many also benefit from an urgent procedure to open a narrowed artery to the heart. Dr. Marion Mafham, Clinical Research Fellow at the Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, and lead author of the study said, "Our study shows that far fewer people with heart attacks have attended hospital during this pandemic. It is important that anyone with chest pain calls an ambulance immediately, because every minute of delay increases the risk of dying or experiencing serious complications from a heart attack." There was a similar pattern of reduced admissions in different demographic groups. The study found that there was an increase in the proportion of patients receiving procedures to open blocked arteries on the day of admission, and a reduction in the length of stay. Senior author Professor Colin Baigent, Director of the Medical Research Council Population Health Research Unit at the University of Oxford, said, "Some people may still be worried about going to hospital because they fear encountering the coronavirus. But the truth is that, by delaying or not going to hospital, people with heart attacks are at much greater risk of dying from their heart attack than catching the virus, and the NHS is ready and able to provide excellent cardiological care." A similar pattern of reduction in the numbers of patients attending hospital with heart attacks, and in the numbers receiving PCI, has been observed in several other European countries, as well as in the United States, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, it has been reported that those presenting to hospital often do so beyond the optimal window for primary PCI. Senior author Barbara Casadei, British Heart Foundation Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, and President of the European Society of Cardiology, said, "These findings must be taken into serious consideration in the event that a second pandemic wave develops as lockdown restrictions are eased worldwide. Medical societies, heart foundations, and governments have a responsibility to not only inform patients of the importance of seeking appropriate care, but also to ensure that a safe environment is provided for patients who are admitted to hospital because of a cardiovascular emergency." This research highlights the value to the NHS of researchers being able to gain rapid access to routine healthcare data to address important clinical questions. Tom Denwood, Executive Director Data, Insights and Statistics, at NHS Digital said "It was a privilege to make this research possible, in partnership with our academic colleagues, through the provision of our platforms and data, our engineering and analytical expertise, and through our collaborative approach. "By making the data submitted by NHS providers more rapidly available for secure analysis, we were able to deliver together at pace, and to inform ongoing policy-making in response to COVID-19." TORONTO, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Northland Power Inc. ("Northland") (TSX: NPI) announces it will release its 2020 second quarter financial results after market close on Wednesday, August 12, 2020. Northland's management will hold an investor conference call and webcast at 10 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Thursday, August 13, 2020, followed by a question and answer period. Conference call details: Date: Thursday, August 13, 2020 Start Time: 10:00 a.m. ET Phone Number: Toll free (North America): (866) 864-6943 Toll free (International): (949) 877-3040 The call will also be broadcast live on the internet, in listen-only mode and may be accessed on northlandpower.com (http://www.northlandpower.com) . For those unable to attend the live call, an audio recording will be available on Northland's website at northlandpower.com (http://www.northlandpower.com) on August 14, 2020. ABOUT NORTHLAND POWER Northland is a global developer, owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure assets that deliver predictable cash flows. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Northland was founded in 1987 and has been publicly traded since 1997 on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: NPI). Northland owns or has an economic interest in 2,681 MW (net 2,266 MW) of operating generating capacity and 130 MW of generating capacity under construction, representing the La Lucha solar project in Mexico. Northland also owns a 60% equity stake in the 1,044 MW Hai Long projects under development in Taiwan and operates a regulated utility business in Colombia. Northland's common shares, Series 1, Series 2 and Series 3 preferred shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols NPI, NPI.PR.A, NPI.PR.B, and NPI.PR.C, respectively. For further information contact: Wassem Khalil, Senior Director, Investor Relations, (647) 288-1019 investorrelations@northlandpower.com northlandpower.com PUNE: A case of assault was registered against Shiv Sena leader Vinayak Nimhan and his son Chandrashekhar alias Sunny Nimhan at Chatuhshrungi police station. The complaint was lodged by a man named Sanjay Jagtap, a resident of Vitthalnagar in Pashan, who is booked in a case of trespassing and assault filed on a complaint lodged by Chandrashekhar. According to the complaint in the case against the father-son duo, they assaulted Jagtap and a construction site worker on July 6 at 6:30am. The incident took place on a piece of land covering plot numbers 62, 63 and 64 of survey number 39/5 of Baner in Pune. It is a wrong complaint. Sanjay Jagtap is a criminal. He has been arrested for attacking me in the past as well. There is a Mumbai-based builder who has hired these people to take control of our land. The watchman told us about these peoples arrival and Sunny reached the spot. I was not present there. If it is their land, they should present documents and take ownership of it in a legal way, said Vinayak. On the same day, Vinayak claims that Jagtap arrived at the spot with people holding flags of a political party and entered the private property without permission. Jagtap could not be reached for comment as his mobile phone was switched off. We received a complaint on July 6. There are cases registered against the complainant (Jagtap) as well, including that of trespassing on the same day. We registered a case after conducting an inquiry, said senior inspector Anil Shewale of Chatuhshrungi police station. A case under Sections 324, 504, 506 and 34 of Indian Penal Code was registered at Chatuhshrungi police station against Nimhan on Tuesday. A case under Sections 447, 427, 323, 504 and 506(2) of Indian Penal Code was registered against Jagtap on July 6. Virginia Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, announced her 2021 bid for lieutenant governor Tuesday, joining other Prince William County Democrats who helped their party win control of the General Assembly and now want to lead the state. Ayala was part of a historic wave of Democrats who swept into the House of Delegates in 2017 - momentum centered in fast-changing Prince William County. The blue wave continued last year, when Democrats won control of that chamber and the Senate. Now, Ayala wants to become the state's first female lieutenant governor, while Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, - another member of that 2017 class - is also seriously considering a bid for the Democratic Party's nomination for that post. Meanwhile, Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, D-Prince William, who also won her seat in 2017, is running for governor - so far against Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, but with former governor Terry McAuliffe, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, Attorney General Mark Herring and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney also potential candidates. Former delegate Timothy Hugo, R-Fairfax, has said he is "seriously considering" seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor. Ayala, 47, says she wants to be a "bridge builder" during a tumultuous period when protests over police brutality and racial injustice have led to the toppling of Confederate monuments and inflamed passions in a state already divided over President Donald Trump. A Department of Homeland Security cybersecurity specialist whose family roots lie in El Salvador, North Africa, Lebanon and Ireland, she said she embodies Virginia's increasing diversity. "This is what Virginia families want: someone who understands their experiences and can bring people together to make progress in their day-to-day lives," Ayala said in an interview. Ayala entered politics after helping to organize Virginians to participate in the 2017 Women's March. She defeated longtime Republican Del. Rich Anderson to win her seat, and won easily last year when the two faced off again. In Richmond, Ayala has focused on cybersecurity and health care. She sponsored a law earlier this year that requires state employees to be trained to detect information security threats. Last year, she helped push through the state's Medicaid expansion law, which made those health benefits available to another 400,000 low-income Virginians. Ayala said she would use the lieutenant governor's office to push for Virginia to become better prepared for health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that investments in digital broadband access are vital in lower-income communities with limited health care access and schools ill-equipped for online instruction. She also wants to further expand Medicaid, a desire she attributes to her experiences as the mother of a son on the autism spectrum who, shortly after he was born 22 years ago, relied on Medicaid reimbursements, or "waivers," while she workedat a gas station without health insurance. Guzman has been waging a soft campaign for the Democratic nomination without actually declaring her candidacy for the office. Last week, she laid out her qualifications for the job during an interview with the Blue Virginia political website. "I will make my case to voters . . . that I have worked really hard to earn this promotion," Guzman said, after criticizing Fairfax for not being a more active leader in the Senate. Ayala declined to comment on Fairfax, who was hampered by sexual assault allegations lodged against him by two women last year - part of a trio of controversies that included admissions by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam and Herring that they wore blackface as young adults. In the wake of those scandals, Ayala joined other Legislative Black Caucus leaders in calling for Northam and Fairfax to resign. They stayed in office, however, and the caucus leaders have continued to work with both men. Ayala said she prefers to focus on the future, though she acknowledged the controversies are likely to be raised during the general election. "We need to focus on what's in front of us," Ayala said, referring to the pandemic. "We've got bigger fish to fry." Of these 1,200 positive cases, the symptomatic cases are less than 200, so the BMC needs only 200 beds daily In a significant landmark, the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has achieved a doubling-rate of 50 days for COVID-19 cases, a top official said on Monday. This was possible because of the civic bodys open testing policy, implying tests without prescriptions, making it the only city in the country to implement it. After the open testing policy, our testing has gone up from 4,000 to 6,800, daily. But the total positive cases have come down from 1,400 to 1,200 now, said BMC Municipal Commissioner I.S. Chahal Of these 1,200 positive cases, the symptomatic cases are less than 200, so the BMC needs only 200 beds daily, the civic chief said. A doubling rate of 50 days means Mumbai can think of further reducing the lockdown rules, said a doctor. From 11 days in the first week of May to 50 days is a big achievement as far as public health departments containment measures are concerned, the doctor added. Dr Shashank Joshi, who is a member of the state task force on Covid-19, said, If the effective reproduction number R for Covid-19 reaches one, and the doubling rate crosses 45 days, it paves the way for a smarter unlocking for Mumbai. He said the city cannot go for complete relaxation as it could lead to a surge in cases. The BMCs discharge rate now stands at 70 per cent, and on Sunday, after allotting beds to all patients, there were still 7,000 Covid-19 beds plus 250 ICU beds lying vacant, said Mr Chahal. For this achievement, Mr Chahal gave the credit to the entire Team BMC where despite losing a little over 100 officials to the virus civic officials and other Corona warriors are engaged 24x7 in controlling the pandemic for over four months. Russia is currently investigating Valery Mitko, one of its senior scientists in the field of submarine detection. Mitko is the head of the Arctic Academy of Science, where he had been in charge of sonar research and new methods for detecting submerged submarines. Mitgo was arrested in February and placed under house arrest. In June, a court ruled that the investigation had made sufficient progress to keep Mitko confined until October. Mitko was initially accused of turning over secret information while on a trip to China. A search of his home and workplace found more evidence of working for China, perhaps as far back as 2017. Before undertaking an academic career, the 78 year old Mitko had been in the navy and served on Russian submarines from 1963 to 1994. Mitko was a trusted member of the Russian research community and had been a visiting professor at the Chinese Dalian Maritime University since 2016. If convicted, Mitko faces 20 years in prison for treason. Such an outcome would be a significant embarrassment for the Russian intelligence community as well as another setback for academic cooperation between China and Russia. This is not a new problem and has been going on since the 1990s as China took advantage of the economic collapse that triggered the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In many cases Russia was willing to sell military tech and the most advanced Russian equipment to China just to keep key defense industries in business. China was not content to just be a major customer; they wanted technical details as well as manufacturing technology so China could produce the Russian weapons themselves. After 2000 a new government in Russian, led by several former KGB officers, sought to halt the Chinese plundering of Russian military tech. Threats were made and compromises offered. Several times Russia thought it had made deals with the Chinese, but each time it was discovered that Chinese industrial espionage was continuing. By 2012 Russia was giving a lot of publicity to the prosecution of Russians caught spying for China. For example, in 2012, a Russian court sentenced two university teachers to 12 years in prison each for selling SLBM (Sea Launched Ballistic Missile) secrets to China. The crime was committed in 2009 and the two received $7,000 for the information on the Bulava missile they gave to the Chinese. This was not an isolated incident. Earlier in 2012 the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) arrested a Russian engineer who was also working on the Bulava SLBM. The accused engineer was charged with selling secrets to a foreign intelligence service. It wasnt just China, in 2012 a Russian court convicted a Russian space engineer for selling missile test data to the CIA. But it's the Chinese who appear to be most active in Russia. This was embarrassing because Russia was trying to portray NATO and the Americans as the main threat to Russia and China a trusted and valuable ally and customer for Russian weapons. The foreign spy situation has been bad but more arrests and prosecutions have either reduced espionage or forced spies to proceed more carefully. In 2008, 149 foreign spies were arrested. Of those, 48 were officials of foreign intelligence agencies. Strictly speaking, these are not spies, but the people who sought out locals suitable for recruiting as spies. Of these spies, 76 were non-Russians living in Russia and 25 were Russians. Six of those arrested for spying were working for Georgia and one was a Russian citizen from Syria who was working with Islamic radicals in the Caucasus. Even then, China had a major espionage effort going in Russia and a few Chinese operatives are caught every year. The foreign spy agencies tried to adapt because none demonstrated any interest in shutting down their espionage operations in Russia. This included China, which continues to insist that it has forbidden its foreign intelligence agencies to operate against Russia. By 2011 only 41 spies were arrested in Russia. Such arrests have continued to decline. China always blames cases like Mitko as the work of rogue elements or denies any official involvement at all. Some of the spies were simply people the Russian government wanted to shut up and take out of circulation. Charging them with espionage is an old trick from the Soviet period and even earlier, as the Czarist secret police used the same technique. In practice, Russia is doing much more spying on others and many more Russian spies were caught overseas each year. But Russia, using a proven Cold War era technique, attempts to deflect criticism of its own espionage activities by emphasizing the real or imagined spying activity in Russia. Unfortunately, the continued Chinese efforts are very real and Russia is treating such efforts involving Russians as treason by Russians who should know better. While Mitko was caught, counterintelligence agencies know of many Russian scientists who have retired and left Russia to live quite well elsewhere. Mitko seemed to be unlucky or just got greedy and sloppy. $42 million about (Shs155b) is the amount of money that was sank in the economies of Uganda and Burundi by Mr. Abu Mukasa and his partners. This money is reported to have originated from Abu Dhabi as investment fund. However, tracing the said amount on how it was utilised is becoming hard as owners claim for repayment of their money 12 years down the road. Troubled businessman Abu Mukasa and his associates are allegedly to have used the $42 million(about Shs155b) that they got from Al Shafi Investments Group to acquire shares in Hits Telecom Burundi ,secure a 99-year lease for over 42 Sq.mls of prime land in Mukono and also buy shares in the National Bank of Commerce(NBC). The shareholders in House of Integrated Technology and Systems Uganda limited that owned Hits Uganda had Ahmed Al Marar from Emirate-UAE, Farhad Bakhtiar an Iranian, Edwin Rowell a British, Abu Baker Muyunga Mukasa a Ugandan, Jean Boustany a Lebanese and Talal Khouri from Emirates UAE. Eagle Online understands that whereas money was channelled through Hits Telecom-Uganda, most of it was used to purchase the said properties. Stories Continues after ad Businessman Mukasa, who is set to face the full wrath of court auctioneers, also bought properties in the upscale suburb of Kololo and Makindye while also ensuring that the National Bank of Commerce (NBC) moved its offices into an office owned by his Abu Dhabi business confidants. DW2 in his witness statement confirmed that as an internal auditor of the plaintiff and during his auditing, he found that amounts of money had been transferred from the plaintiffs account to the account of International Investment House Co. LLC for investments outside the country in Uganda and Burundi to the tune of AED 152 million, and the said investments were in 2008 while the start of his auditing program began in 2010. He stated to the effect that the cheque in issue was pursued to window dress the plaintiffs balance sheet and to reassure its partners that there were enough investments for the plaintiff and that the said cheque was not meant to be presented anyway for payment This website understands that the Abu Dhabi investors attempted to come to uganda and have audience with the president but they were bounced at airport before reaching their booked hotels. It is alleged that their Ugandan counterpart used his connection then to block them with the help of the then two powerful senior ministers. The Ugandan investor has since fallen out with the two ministers. He is reportedly living in fear because he cheated on the two gentlemen in the same deal involving Hits Telecom. After falling out, he reported asked for a bullet proof vehicle due to fears that his life could be in danger. In the court documents detailing Mr Mukasas financial woes, it is stated that: upon payment of the said consideration, International Investment House Co.LLC proceeded to acquire the land in question in Mukono and made out titles in respect of the said land; but that in breach of the contract the defendant in his capacity as owner and chairman of the Board of Directors of International Investment House Co The court ruling issued by Justice Ann B. Mugyenyi further states that: LLC transferred all the titles created out of the land the subject of the lease agreements into various companies owned by him.Copies of the titles were attached to PW1s witness statement.PW1 stated that the defendant used the money paid by the plaintiff to purchase the land in question having made a commitment to the plaintiff that it would be of the said land as a lessee PW1 testified that on various dates in the year 2008 and on March 1, 2010 the plaintiff entered into lease agreement with International Investment House Co.LLC which was owned by the defendant (Abu Mukasa and others) in respect of land situated in Mukono district Pw1 stated that under the terms of the lease agreements, International Investment House Co LLC leased the land in question to the plaintiff in consideration of payment of rent for the full period of the lease to it and that the rent for the full period of the lease amounted to $38.6 million or Dirhams 152.3 million which the plaintiff paid into the account of International Investment House Co LLC According the pleadings in court, it is said that PW1 averred in his statement that the defendant admitted in proceedings in Abu Dhabi Court of Appeal that he had received the sum of Dirhams 152 million from the plaintiff in pursuance of the lease agreements in issue, and that he had also admitted in proceedings in the High Court of Uganda that the land in issue is being held by him in trust for International Investment House Co LLC. The claim by the respondent that he issued a cheque to serve as security or deposit but never intended that it should not be cashed is not a lawful defence to a suit instituted against him on a bounced cheque. Such a claim violates provisions of section 2(1) and Section 72(1) of the Bills of Exchange Act (supra) and Section 385(1) (b) PCA (supra), the court ruling adds. The power gap is closing, and the ideological gap is widening, said Rush Doshi, director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Brookings Institution in Washington, adding that China and the United States had entered a downward ideological spiral years in the making. Wheres the bottom? he asked. For years, officials and historians have dismissed the idea that a new Cold War was emerging between the United States and China. The contours of todays world, the argument went, are simply incomparable to the decades when the United States and the Soviet Union squared off in an existential struggle for supremacy. The world was said to be too interconnected to easily divide into ideological blocs. Now, lines are being drawn and relations are in free fall, laying the foundation for a confrontation that will have many of the characteristics of the Cold War and the dangers. As the two superpowers clash over technology, territory and clout, they face the same risk of small disputes escalating into military conflict. The relationship is increasingly imbued with deep distrust and animosity, as well as the fraught tensions that come with two powers jockeying for primacy, especially in areas where their interests collide: in cyberspace and outer space, in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and even in the Persian Gulf. The Congress on Tuesday issued yet another appeal to Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his supporters to attend the meeting of party legislators in Jaipur amid the turf war between the young leader and chief minister Ashok Gehlot. This time as well, the Congress invoked its president Sonia Gandhi, senior leader Rahul Gandhi and the ideology and values of the party to placate Sachin Pilot. Avinash Pande, the state in-charge of Rajasthan, tweeted his request to Sachin Pilot and the members of the legislative assembly (MLAs) who have sided with him in the political crisis. I appeal to @SachinPilot and to all his fellow MLAs to attend todays meeting of the legislature party. Please make your presence known and strengthen the position of Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Mr Rahul Gandhi expressing your faith in the ideology and values of the Congress, Pande posted in Hindi. Before this, senior Congress leaders Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ajay Maken had called on Pilot to come back and attend the second legislative party meeting on Tuesday multiple times throughout the day on Monday. Pilot, who is also the Rajasthan unit chief, turned down the invitation for the meeting at a resort late on Monday night. Both sides have claimed they have the numbers. There were 102 MLAs88 Congress MLAs, 10 independents, two Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) MLAs, and one legislator each of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Rashtriya Lok Dalpresent at the legislative party meeting held at the CMs official residence. The majority mark in the 200-member assembly in Rajasthan is 101. However, the BTP later asked its legislators not to take sides in the battle but the MLAs have said they will stick to the government. On their part, Pilot-led Rajasthan Congress camp released a video showing at least 16 MLAs sitting together late on Monday. The 10-second video was shared late at night on Pilots official WhatsApp group in what is being seen a show of strength. Darren Criss has joined the growing list of actors and costars paying tribute to the late actress Naya Rivera, whose body was recovered from Lake Piru in Ventura County, California on Monday. Rivera was 33 at the time of her untimely death. Darren, also 33, costarred with Naya on the musical TV series Glee, between 2010 and 2015. 'Rest in peace you wild, hilarious, beautiful angel': Darren Criss has joined the growing list of actors and costars paying tribute to the late actress Naya Rivera Taking to Instagram and Twitter on Monday afternoon, the American Crime Story actor posted a sweet picture of Naya smiling and seated at a microphone. 'She was bold. She was outrageous. She was a LOT of fun,' he began the touching and lengthy caption. 'Naya made me laugh like no one else on that set. I always said it while we were working together and Ive maintained it ever since. Her playful, wicked sense of humor never ceased to bring a smile to my face. Costars: Darren costarred with Naya on the musical TV series Glee, between 2010 and 2015 'She was bold. She was outrageous. She was a LOT of fun,' Criss began his touching and lengthy caption; seen here in his new show Royalties 'She played by her own rules and was in a class of her own,' Darren continued. 'She had a brashness about her that I couldnt help but be enchanted by. I also always loved her voice, and savored every chance I got to hear her sing. I think she had more talent than we would have ever been able to see. 'I was constantly moved by the degree to which she took care of her family, and how she looked out for her friends. She showed up for me on numerous occasions where she didnt have to, and I was always so grateful for her friendship then, as I certainly am now,' he went on. 'And even as I sit here, struggling to comprehend, gutted beyond description- the very thought of her cracks me up and still brings a smile to my face. That was Nayas gift. And it's a gift that will never go away,' Criss added. 'Rest in peace you wild, hilarious, beautiful angel.' 'Naya made me laugh like no one else on that set,' Darren said of his fallen costar, regarding their time shared making Glee Rivera disappeared from a boat on Lake Piru last week, on July 8th. She was with her four-year-old son Josey at the time, who was found sleeping alone in the pontoon boat they had rented. A massive search was undertaken by local authorities, and on Monday morning, the actress's family rushed to the lake along with some of Rivera's Glee castmates, including Heather Morris. Gone too soon: Rivera disappeared from a boat on Lake Piru last week, on July 8th, and her body was recovered on Monday; seen here on Instagram Upon police confirming that they had recovered Naya's body on Monday, tributes began pouring in, from other Glee castmates including Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Chris Colfer and Demi Lovato. Even disgraced costar Lea Michele, who deleted her Twitter days earlier, took to Instagram to pay tribute to Naya, along with Cory Monteith, who passed away from a drug overdose seven years ago to the day on Monday. Naya and Cory are not the only Glee cast members to have passed Mark Salling, who played Puck on the show, died by suicide in January of 2018 after being convicted of possession of child pornography. In remembrance: Upon police confirming that they had recovered Naya's body, tributes began pouring in, from other Glee castmates including Kevin McHale; the two seen here in 2013 Former Deputy minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa. VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI The Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security on Monday issued a wanted notice for former Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Ho Thi Kim Thoa for violating regulations on management and use of state assets, causing losses and waste. Criminal proceedings against Thoa, 60, were launched last Friday as she and other officials at the ministry and in HCM City including former minister Vu Huy Hoang and former director of the ministrys Light Industry Department Phan Chi Dung, were suspected of causing losses of millions of US dollars at Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) a state-owned company under the management of the ministry. The officials were suspected of involvement in the companys divestment in the real estate project at No 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street in HCM Citys District 1 a prime spot in the citys downtown area. According to investigators, the land plot of 6,000sq.m at No 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street was arranged for Sabeco to invest and build a 6-star hotel and convention centre. Although Thoa and Hoang knew Sabeco was not allowed to establish a new entity to use the land allotted to it, she got the former minister to permit the establishment of the Sabeco Pearl Company. Based on Hoangs approval and Thoas direction, Phan ang Tuat, board chairman and head of the State Capital Management Board at Sabeco, asked the HCM City People's Committee to approve Sabeco Pearl to be the owner of the project. Tuat also asked HCM City authorities to let Sabeco Pearl perform financial obligations and for Sabeco to transfer its land use rights to the newly-formed joint venture in June, 2015. Taking advantage of the Government's capital divestment policy and under Hoangs direction, in February, 2016, Thoa signed two documents for Sabeco to divest its 26 per cent stake at Sabeco Pearl and approved the starting auction price at VN13,247 ($0.5) a share. Hoang also asked for speeding up the divestment procedure and auction price approval. These actions led officials at departments of HCM City People's Committee to advise the city's former vice chairman Nguyen Huu Tin to approve leasing of the prime land to Sabeco Pearl in contravention of regulations, leading to the land becoming private property after some illegal transfers. The land plot now belongs to the Me Linh Square Investment Joint Stock Company, which used to be Sabeco Pearl, a wholly private company. Decisions and actions of former officials Hoang and Thoa and their accomplices caused serious consequences, loss and waste to the government, at over VN3.8 trillion ($165 million). On Monday, a wanted notice against the former deputy minister Thoa was issued as she reportedly fled overseas. In addition, according to investigators, the investigation time-frame has expired, so the police have decided to suspend the investigation until she is arrested. Meanwhile, also on Monday, the Investigation Agency under the Ministry of Public Security Ministry completed its investigation and transferred the case to Peoples Supreme Procuracy, asking for criminal charges against former minister Vu Huy Hoang and accomplices due to their violations relating to the project at No 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street in HCM City. Hoang and Thoas wrongdoings were unearthed in November 2018 when authorities were investigating former vice chairman of HCM City People's Committee Nguyen Huu Tin. VNS (Repeats to add more subscribers, no change to text) TAIPEI, July 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan's financial regulator held an emergency meeting last week with major banks to discuss the soaring Taiwan dollar due to concern from exporters and the highest levels of government, three sources with direct knowledge said. The Taiwan dollar has strengthened 2.1% against the U.S. dollar this year, with the central bank intervening daily to try and prevent it rising further, according to bankers. Jean Chiu, deputy head of the Financial Supervisory Commission, called the emergency meeting on Friday, the three sources told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. The meeting was to discuss an "exchange rate risk mutual assistance mechanism" for small and medium sized companies' exports, the sources said, demand for which has already been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting was also held due to concerns about the strength of the Taiwan dollar at the highest levels of government, the sources said. However, the meeting ended with no conclusion, as such a mechanism needs more research and the central bank already provides hedging tools for exporters, the sources added. The central bank declined to comment. The financial regulator did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A strong Taiwan dollar hurts the competitiveness of the island's small and medium sized companies, which are a pillar of the export-reliant economy. The central bank - popularly called "the big boss" by Taiwanese bankers - was intervening in the markets much more than many people imagined, a senior banker told Reuters. "At a conservative estimate the big boss every day is buying several hundred batches," the banker said, referring to a system where each batch is worth $1 million. Taiwan faces a political risk too, not wanting to be named by the United States - the Chinese-claimed island's most important supporter on the world stage - as a currency manipulator. "The Taiwan dollar keeps appreciating, manufacturers keep howling about it, and then there's the U.S. currency manipulation report which keeps being read," another banker said. Taiwan was last labelled a currency manipulator by the United States in December 1992 and was later put on the U.S. Treasury monitoring list in 2016 and 2017. (Reporting by Liang-sa Loh; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry) The United Nations at its general assembly got together in November 2014 and declared that July 15 will be celebrated as World Youth Skills Day. This day is celebrated for giving global recognition to youth and promoting skills among the youth. This day is celebrated as the World Youth Skills Day and usually, the UN sets up events and exhibitions at the United Nations High-level Political Forum which is at the headquarters in New York. This year the theme for this event is Skills for a Resilient Youth. According to the UN website, on July 15, there will be an online panel discussion organized by the Permanent Missions of Portugal and Sri Lanka to the United Nations, together with UNESCO, ILO, and the Office of the Secretary-Generals Envoy on Youth. Due to the pandemic, the youth will not be able to get together and exchange their skills. So here are some World Youth Skills Day quotes that you can send to your friend. Read Also | National French Fry Day: Know History, Origin, Significance And How It Is Celebrated World Youth Skills Day Quotes "Learning skills are undoubtedly helpful to us and we should keep learning as long as we live." You can only be young once. But you can always be immature. "The world will never run out of things that you can take an interest in and develop some skills related to that." "Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth, to some good angel leave the rest; For Time will teach thee soon the truth, there are no birds in last years nest! "Learning and living go hand in hand and the more you learn, the better you live." "There are new eras in ones life that are equivalent to youthare something better than youth. "Learning is not always easy but practices what you find difficult and you will see how easy the learning process becomes for you." "There is no comparison among skills as all skills are useful." Read Also | International Rock Day: History, Meaning, Significance And Ways To Celebrate It "We can help the United Nations General assembly to celebrate this day by uploading videos of us outlining how learning some skills have helped us." We were wild, we were crazy, we were mostly young. "A skill can be anything and everything and we can try learning whatever skill we find interesting." Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants." "This is a very interesting day to observe and I hope people are inspired to learn new skills by hearing the stories of others Learning new skills." Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art." "Do not ever compare your skills with anybody elses because all kinds of skills are useful in this world." The good thing about being young is that you are not experienced enough to know you cannot possibly do the things you are doing. Read Also | National Beans N Franks Day History: Know Its Origin, Meaning & How It Is Celebrated "A person is not judged by his or her looks but is judged by the skills he or she has." Youth is the pollen, That blows through the sky, And does not ask why. "With the population increasing at such a fast rate, it is of prime importance that the youths of todays world be skilled enough to get jobs." "Youth is such a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children. "What can be a better way to celebrate World youth skills day other than learning new skills?" "There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age. Age is foolish and forgetful when it underestimates youth. Read Also | Fool's Paradise Day History, Meaning, Significance, And Celebration University of Michigan public health experts Julia Wolfson and Cindy Leung argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has made glaringly apparent the structural conditions that underlie inequities in our nation's health. Race and ethnicity, housing, income, occupation and chronic health conditions are all key factors that influence one's ability to safely weather highly infectious disease pandemics like COVID-19. Unlike the novel coronavirus strain, these social, economic and structural factors are not new. The authors argue, "An opportunity exists to use the unfolding crisis to advocate for structural changes to a system that has long perpetuated disparities." Wolfson and Leung draw together four articles in the July-August 2020 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine that emphasize social determinants of health and highlight the calls to action for primary care. ### An Opportunity to Emphasize Equity, Social Determinants, and Prevention in Primary Care Julia A. Wolfson, PhD MPP, et al University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Departments of Health Management and Policy and Nutritional Sciences, Ann Arbor, Michigan https://www.annfammed.org/content/18/4/290 Croker will play host to around 500 Muslims for Eid al-Adha The Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha will take place at Croke Park stadium later this month, it has been confirmed. The stadium will host around 500 people on the pitch. Because the festival is based on moon-sighting, Eid is currently scheduled to take place on July 31 or August 1, with the exact date to be confirmed on July 21. Muslim leader Shaykh Dr Umar Al-Qadri said around 500 people are expected to attend. "There is no other venue that could accommodate 500 Muslims while social-distancing is being implemented that is as iconic and as symbolic as Croke Park," he said. "It's a venue that represents Irishness at its best." The festival will take place on the grass, with measures in place to ensure social-distancing. GAA president John Horan welcomed confirmation of the staging of the celebration at Croker. "We are delighted to welcome members of the Muslim Community to Croke Park to mark Eid al-Adha, an important date in the Muslim calendar," he said. "I believe the staging of this celebration fully supports our commitment to inclusion and a GAA welcome linked to our belief that it's 'Where We All Belong'. Symbolic "I wish everyone involved in the occasion an enjoyable visit to Croke Park, as it once again shows its suitability and versatility in welcoming visitors to the venue for a wide variety of different events." Speaking on behalf of the organisers, the Irish Muslim Peace and Integration Council, chairperson Dr Al-Qadri said Croke Park as a venue will be "symbolic" to the Irish Muslim community. "Many people living in Ireland who are members of the Muslim faith call Ireland home," he said. "Irish Muslims have contributed significantly in many sectors across our country, especially the health sector." He added that Croke Park is an icon of "Irishness", which made the hosting of the festival even more significant. "The choice of Croke Park as a venue for the Eid al-Adha celebration will be symbolic to Irish Muslims in their dual identity as being both Irish and Muslim, and the significance that Croke Park and the GAA have in Irish history," he said. Dr Al-Qadri added that the GAA is making "great strides" in embracing all communities. "The historic Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha at Croke Park this year will be a positive representation of Ireland's growing diversity of many different faiths and communities," he said. On top of the opioid overdose cases, the medical examiners office has had to contend with spikes in gun violence homicides this year as well as the surge of deaths from the novel coronavirus. The three crises are pushing the offices caseload to top 9,000 in the coming days compared with 6,274 cases in all of 2019, Arunkumar said. VANCOUVER, BC, July 14, 2020 /CNW/ - Canada's three oceans are an integral part of our national identity. They provide beauty and enjoyment to our citizens, serve as a refuge and ecosystem to millions of life forms and support a thriving ocean economy accounting for approximately $31.65 billion annually in GDP. From Pacific reefs that are over 9,000 years old, to important feeding grounds for fish stocks in the Atlantic, to critical habitats for beluga whales in the Arctic, Canada is taking action to protect our oceans and the life they sustain. The Government of Canada recognizes that, as our economy starts to open up, it will be more important than ever to chart a course to grow Canada's Blue Economy. The Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, speaking at the Vancouver Board of Trade today, outlined the Government's path forward to achieve healthy, sustainable oceans and economic prosperity here in Canada and around the world. This includes reaching our target of protecting 25% of our oceans by 2025, working toward 30% by 2030, and developing a national Blue Economy Strategy to ensure Canada is positioned to take advantage of new opportunities. The Government of Canada exceeded its 10 % marine conservation target ahead of the United Nations' 2020 deadline, reaching 13.81 % in 2019. Minister Jordan spoke about the Government's ongoing work to reach its next protections target, including a Pacific Area of Interest for marine protection off the coast of Vancouver Island. At the same time as the Government has increased ocean protections, the Blue Economy has continued to grow, employing approximately 300, 000 Canadians currently across various industries. The Minister underscored the importance of creating a Blue Economy Strategy that will guide the Government of Canada's actions and investments to grow Canada's ocean economy. Minister Jordan made clear that environmental protection must therefore continue to go hand-in-hand with economic growth. To that end, she announced that Fisheries and Oceans will be accepting new applications for funding from July 15 to September 15, 2020 for the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF). Funding is open to Indigenous communities, industry associations, environmental non-governmental organizations, commercial enterprises, and academic institutions. Investments through this program will help recover salmon habitat, benefit commercial and recreational fishing and aquaculture, as well as support science and research initiatives. Pacific wild salmon are integral to British Columbia's economy and cultural heritage, and restoring their populations is a shared, top priority. Today, the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard, the Honourable Bernadette Jordan, and the BC Minister of Agriculture, the Honourable Lana Popham, announced funding for eight projects under the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF). More than $10 million in funding will support research and monitoring activities, infrastructure upgrades to community hatcheries, and the development of strategies to enhance the sustainability of Pacific fisheries. Quotes "We cannot have a strong ocean economy without healthy oceans. With three oceans and the longest coastline in the world, Canada has a real opportunity to both grow our economy and become a global leader in ocean conservation. That's why our government will be moving forward to protect 25 per cent of Canada's oceans by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030 and will work to advance a blue economy strategy. We are also investing now through such programs as British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund in efforts that will protect and restore our oceans and coastlines. Together we will ensure that more Canadians can sustainably continue to make a living on, and from, the water for generations to come." The Honourable Bernadette Jordan, Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard "The BCSRIF projects will continue to increase our knowledge and understanding of wild salmon behaviour, and to improve the conditions of B.C.'s waterways and oceans so they can support wild fish populations in the years and generations ahead. The collective work underway by First Nations, scientists and community groups demonstrates how important wild fisheries are to British Columbians, and gives us all hope for sustainable wild fish populations in the future." The Honourable Lana Popham, BC Minister of Agriculture Quick Facts Canada's oceans economy accounts for about $31.65 billion annually in GDP. This includes marine transportation, ship building, energy, tourism and recreation. All of these sectors provide opportunities and jobs to our coastal communities. oceans economy accounts for about annually in GDP. This includes marine transportation, ship building, energy, tourism and recreation. All of these sectors provide opportunities and jobs to our coastal communities. Canada's aquaculture industry in general currently provides 30,000 good middle-class jobs on all three coasts, mostly in coastal, rural and Indigenous communities. aquaculture industry in general currently provides 30,000 good middle-class jobs on all three coasts, mostly in coastal, rural and Indigenous communities. The Government of Canada has begun work to introduce Canada's first-ever Aquaculture Act, with the aim of bringing more clarity and transparency to Canadians as to how aquaculture will be managed in order to achieve responsible and sustainable growth. has begun work to introduce first-ever Aquaculture Act, with the aim of bringing more clarity and transparency to Canadians as to how aquaculture will be managed in order to achieve responsible and sustainable growth. DFO is committed to working with the Province and Indigenous communities to create a responsible plan to transition open net-pen farming in British Columbia . We will move forward using the best available science, evidence, and input to develop a plan for aquaculture in B.C. and will be exploring all options throughout this process. . We will move forward using the best available science, evidence, and input to develop a plan for aquaculture in B.C. and will be exploring all options throughout this process. The BCSRIF is a 70 per cent federal, 30 per cent provincial cost-shared program. The Government of Canada is investing $100 million over five years for the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, and provided a one-time investment of $5 million for the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund. is investing over five years for the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund, and provided a one-time investment of for the Pacific Salmon Endowment Fund. The Government of British Columbia is investing $42.85 million over five years and has provided a one-time grant of $5 million for the Pacific Salmon Foundation. is investing over five years and has provided a one-time grant of for the Pacific Salmon Foundation. Indigenous communities, commercial organizations in the wild fisheries and aquaculture sectors, recreational fisheries, as well as non-commercial organizations such as universities and research institutions, industry associations and conservation groups, can apply. All applications are reviewed by Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Province of British Columbia . Associated Links Canada's Marine Protected Areas: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/mpa-zpm-aoi-si-eng.html Marine Protected Areas: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/mpa-zpm-aoi-si-eng.html Meeting Canada's Marine Conservation Targets: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/conservation/achievement-realisations/index-eng.html Marine Conservation Targets: https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans/conservation/achievement-realisations/index-eng.html British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/initiatives/fish-fund-bc-fonds-peche-cb/index-eng.html Backgrounder Eight new BCSRIF Projects Eight new projects are receiving approximately $10.5M in funding through the British Columbia Salmon Restoration and Innovation Fund (BCSRIF). This brings the total number of projects funded to 38, accounting for $66.9M of $142.85M in total funding allocated. The latest projects that are receiving funding through BCSRIF include: the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $410,000 over three years to integrate traditional and modern technologies to automate salmon counting and species identification from video and sonar data. Connecting these tools with community-run escapement monitoring programs around the North and Central coast to inform adaptive management of salmon fisheries; over three years to integrate traditional and modern technologies to automate salmon counting and species identification from video and sonar data. Connecting these tools with community-run escapement monitoring programs around the North and Central coast to inform adaptive management of salmon fisheries; the 'Namgis First Nation will receive approximately $1,977,000 over five years to support Phase 2 of a project to establish an independent British Columbia (BC) First Nations genomics laboratory. Project partners will equip the k cplk stim laboratory to analyze samples collected through the Indigenous Monitoring and Inspection Plan (IMIP), as well as providing services to other First Nations in BC with an interest in conducting independent fish health sampling; over five years to support Phase 2 of a project to establish an independent (BC) First Nations genomics laboratory. Project partners will equip the k cplk stim laboratory to analyze samples collected through the Indigenous Monitoring and Inspection Plan (IMIP), as well as providing services to other First Nations in BC with an interest in conducting independent fish health sampling; the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $336,000 over one year to support upgrades to the Percy Walkus Hatchery in Rivers Inlet, which provides local capacity to enhance three local Chinook salmon stocks of significant cultural and economic significance; over one year to support upgrades to the Percy Walkus Hatchery in Rivers Inlet, which provides local capacity to enhance three local Chinook salmon stocks of significant cultural and economic significance; the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council will receive approximately $390,000 over four years to undertake an evaluation of spatial and in-season management options for associated food, social, and ceremonial (FSC), and commercial herring fisheries to ensure the sustainability of these fisheries on the West coast of Vancouver Island; over four years to undertake an evaluation of spatial and in-season management options for associated food, social, and ceremonial (FSC), and commercial herring fisheries to ensure the sustainability of these fisheries on the West coast of Vancouver Island; the University of BC will receive approximately $1,829,000 over four years to provide a BC-based solution for growing larger, more physiologically robust Atlantic salmon smolts in freshwater recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This project will help to improve both the sustainability and productivity of BC's aquaculture industry by increasing the amount of time farmed salmon are reared in land-based RAS and reducing the amount of time farmed Atlantic salmon spend in marine net-pens; over four years to provide a BC-based solution for growing larger, more physiologically robust Atlantic salmon smolts in freshwater recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS). This project will help to improve both the sustainability and productivity of BC's aquaculture industry by increasing the amount of time farmed salmon are reared in land-based RAS and reducing the amount of time farmed Atlantic salmon spend in marine net-pens; the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance Society will receive approximately $679,000 over four years to contribute to an improved understanding of stock status and trends through the development of passive integrated transponder tag mark-recapture techniques for hatchery Coho salmon in the Chilliwack River during spawning migration. The infrastructure developed for this project will be used to inform future work on stock level studies of Fraser salmon; over four years to contribute to an improved understanding of stock status and trends through the development of passive integrated transponder tag mark-recapture techniques for hatchery Coho salmon in the Chilliwack River during spawning migration. The infrastructure developed for this project will be used to inform future work on stock level studies of Fraser salmon; the Pacific Salmon Foundation will receive approximately $4,619,000 over four years to develop the monitoring and evaluation framework to determine survival bottlenecks in freshwater and marine environments for hatchery and wild Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead; and, over four years to develop the monitoring and evaluation framework to determine survival bottlenecks in freshwater and marine environments for hatchery and wild Chinook, Coho, and Steelhead; and, the Spruce City Wildlife Association will receive approximately $240,000 over two years to support infrastructure upgrades to its conservation hatchery to improve biosecurity and enhance production at the facility to support the restoration and rebuilding of Upper and Middle Fraser Chinook stocks. BCSRIF will be accepting new applications for funding from July 15 to September 15, 2020. Funding is available for projects that meet the eligibility and assessment criteria in BC. Priorities for the fund in 2020 are: research to refine the scientific understanding of Fraser Steelhead, Chinook, and Coho through science collaborations and the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge; habitat restoration projects that target red status conservation units or COSEWIC-listed populations; innovative processes and technologies to increase the quality and value of BC fish and seafood products and optimize fishing operations; projects to advance selective fishing practices aimed at minimizing bycatch of species of concern; new aquaculture technologies and processes to improve environmental performance and increase supply chain transparency; and, infrastructure upgrades or improvements to existing hatcheries. Further information on the application process, timelines and program criteria are available on the BCSRIF website: www.bcsrif.ca Stay Connected Follow Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Follow the Canadian Coast Guard on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Subscribe to receive our news releases and more via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/media/rss-eng.htm SOURCE Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region For further information: Jane Deeks, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, 343-550-9594, [email protected]; Media Relations, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 613-990-7537, [email protected] Related Links www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders held out invites to Sachin Pilot, offering to welcome the Congress leader into the saffron fold after he was stripped off his status as chief of the party unit in Rajasthan and the deputy chief minister earlier in the day. If anybody with a mass base joins the BJP or any political party, everybody welcomes him. Expressing trust in our ideology, if anybody joins us we will welcome him with open arms. This is a normal procedure, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, according to news agency PTI soon after Pilot was dropped from the Ashok Gehlot cabinet on Tuesday afternoon. Former union minister of state PP Chaudhary said he expected more people from the Congress to join Pilot. So many people joining Sachin is a big thing, and I believe more will join him. BJPs doors are open for everybody if he believes in our ideology. If Sachin Pilot joins us, I dont think there will be any problem. Our national leadership, though, will take the final call, PTI quoted Chaudhary as saying. Chaudhary, however, added that the national leadership will ultimately decide if such a union was possible. A leader aware of developments said the senior BJP leaders including former chief minister Vasundhara Raje will hold discussions over the current political situation in the state tomorrow after the virtual split in the Congress legislature party following Pilots removal. The BJP has indicated that it is adopting a hands-off approach and keenly watching the unfolding of political situation in Rajasthan. The party believes that it is time for the Gehlot government to go after the rebellion led by Sachin Pilot who appears to have the support of nearly 16 MLAs. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has blamed the BJP for ensnaring Pilot to destabilise the government, a charge that the BJP has rejected. The BJP says the entire episode is a film that had been in planning for the last 6 months and was directed, produced, and acted in by Ashok Gehlot himself, who, it claimed, had successfully plotted Sachin Pilots ouster from the party. Earlier a BJP leader in Delhi, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had said that the party will not seek a floor test unless it is confident that both Gehlot and Pilot factions are falling short of numbers. BJP leaders have also claimed the party has neither formally contacted Pilot nor had been approached by him. Another BJP leader Baijayant Jay Panda tweeted about every experienced pilot being aware of an alternate air strip to land in the event of technical problems, triggering a fresh round of speculations. While it has been reported that Sachin has ruled out joining the BJP and could instead be considering floating a regional outfit, he has not made any formal announcement of his plans yet. Pilot is expected to address a Press conference tomorrow morning at 11 when he may outline his next steps. While the Congress currently appears to have enough numbers to save the government, the difference between winning and losing could be wafer thin. In a 200-member house, Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72, with Gehlot claiming support of several independent and other parties MLAs as well. However, Pilots camp has claimed that he enjoys support of around 30 MLAs and that if true, could prove to be a decisive factor. At least 11 troops and a civilian were killed on Tuesday in a third day of fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, despite international calls for restraint. The fighting between the arch-foes in the South Caucasus since Sunday is the heaviest in years, raising fears of a major flare-up in the volatile region. All-out war between the ex-Soviet republics could have wider implications and pit regional rivals Russia and Turkey against each other. Azerbaijan said seven of its troops ?- including a major general and a colonel -? and a civilian had died on Tuesday, and Armenia said four of its troops had been killed, its first reported fatalities in the clashes. Overall, 16 people have been killed from both sides since Sunday. The ex-Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Azerbaijan's southwestern separatist region of Nagorny Karabakh, which was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives. Fighting outside the region is rare, but since Sunday the two sides have reported clashes in northern areas along their shared border. The fighting hundreds of kilometres from Nagorny Karabakh has prompted calls for an immediate ceasefire from the United States, European Union and the regional power broker Russia. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenian forces had attacked its positions in the northern Tovuz region with artillery fire, mortars and large-calibre machine-guns on Tuesday. It said several villages in the area had also come under fire. Azerbaijani forces opened fire again on the northeastern section of the border in its Tavush province, the defence ministry spokesman, Sushan Stepanyan, said. - 'Baku will retaliate' - Azerbaijan's ally Turkey -- which competes with Russia for the influence in the strategic region -- expressed support for Baku. Turkish foreign ministry has accused Armenia of "aggressive nationalism" and vowed to "continue, with all its capacity, to stand by Azerbaijan in its struggle to protect its territorial integrity." Azerbaijani political analyst Elhan Shahinoglu said the probability of a full-scale war was now "very high". "An Azerbaijani general has been killed and Baku will retaliate," he said. "There is a widespread popular demand in Azerbaijan to shift military actions to Karabakh." But Armenian analyst Hakob Badalyan said an all-out war was very unlikely. "Baku and Yerevan, as well as the region's geopolitical powers (Russia and Turkey), don't want a big war which they know will lead to catastrophic consequences," he said, adding that neither side was in a clear position to win a protracted conflict. Four years ago, Azerbaijan had military superiority over its neighbour, but Armenia has since "restored the balance" with purchases of sophisticated Russian weapons, he said. - Stalled talks ? In April 2016, four days of fierce fighting in Karabakh -- the worst violence in decades -- claimed dozens of lives from both sides and nearly spiralled into full-scale war. Mediated by the "Minsk Group" of diplomats from France, Russia and the United States, talks on the Karabakh conflict have been largely stalled since a 1994 ceasefire deal. Armenia, which controls the disputed region, is happy with the status quo in Karabakh that also suits Russia's interests as the Kremlin uses its power-broker's role in asserting its influence in the ex-Soviet republics. Moscow has a military alliance with Armenia, where it maintains a base, but supplies both Yerevan and Baku with weapons worth billions of dollars. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to restore control over the territory by force. Armenia has vowed to crush any military offensive. Clashes on Armenia-Azerbaijan border Competition for jobs is fiercer than ever, with more than nine million furloughed employees likely to be concerned about their work security after the government scheme ends in October. With unemployment already hitting many, one innovation and creativity expert, based between Warwickshire and London, has revealed the nine skills you need to harness to make yourself invaluable at work. Greg Orme, author of The Human Edge: How Curiosity And Creativity Are Your Superpowers In The Digital Economy - named book of the year at the Business Book Awards - revealed to FEMAIL the steps staff should take to avoid redundancy. They include having a sense of humour and making the office a fun place to be, as well as having good networking skills and being skilled with technology. He explained: 'Right now it's a good idea to ensure your boss views you as indispensable. This means more than being reliable, trustworthy and hard-working. 'These are important qualities, but they won't necessarily keep you in a job in 2020. Instead, there are nine phrases you want your boss to think when he or she thinks of you.' Here, FEMAIL reveals the top tips given by the business writer... With unemployment already hitting many, one innovation and creativity expert, based between Warwickshire and London, has claimed boasting just nine skills could make you invaluable at work (stock photo of three employees during a meeting) GREAT WITH TECHNOLOGY Greg said: 'A good tactic is to master a new technology because software changes so quickly it's easier to become a thought leader in an emerging area. The pandemic has accelerated tech trends already in play. 'For example, we'll see an acceleration of AI automation. The humans that are left will need to become adept at partnering with machines. 'By 2025, it's hard to see how a person is going to make a living without some connection to technology. It is embedded in every step of our lives.' BEING FUN TO BE WITH 'One of the biggest challenges in times of disruptive change is anxiety. Be the person that let's some sunshine into the room,' insisted the business expert. 'Individuals with a sense of humour experience less stress than people who are more serious, even when facing the same challenge. 'Make a person smile and their brain releases the neurotransmitter oxytocin known as the 'cuddle hormone' which facilitates social bonding and trust. 'You'll also be seen as a leader. Research shows people view those who use their sense of humour at work as being more influential.' Greg Orme (above) explained: 'Right now it's a good idea to ensure your boss views you as indispensable. This means more than being reliable, trustworthy and hard working' GOOD NETWORKER 'This doesn't mean you shouldn't build alliances,' Greg explained. 'In particular, it's just organisational reality that knowing important people matters. 'Ensure you are known to the half dozen in your working world that makes the place 'tick', including your boss. Seek out a senior mentor to offer advice on your next career move. 'Don't forget, especially in large departments, a manager won't have the capacity to know everyone equally. It's in your interest to be more than just a staff number. 'Faceless employees are easy to let go. When push comes to shove you need to be well connected.' MAKE YOUR BOSS' LIFE EASIER Greg said: 'Psychologists have identified a powerful and universal human trait. It's called reciprocity. This means if you do someone a favour they feel a powerful urge to return it. 'The biggest professional gift you can deliver to your boss is to fight for his or her agenda. To find out what this is, ask: 'I realise times are tough right nowhow can I help you succeed?' 'Think about volunteering for projects that other employees don't want to do. Flexibility is highly valued in turbulent times. 'In extreme cases this might mean being open to changing your job type or even taking a temporary pay cut. 'One caveat: This only works with decent human beings. If you have a toxic boss, as sadly some do, better to focus on the team goals as you see them.' TEAM PLAYER The creative guru said: 'Emulate the secrets of social success in hunter-gatherer societies. 'In forty eight studies of tribes in different parts of the world anthropologists came up with a list of winning social qualities: generous, brave, wise, fair, impartial, reliable, tactful, strong and humble. 'Scientists found those who fail on many of these qualities get kicked out of the group. 'A work team is a tribe by another name. Instead of survival of the fittest, think survival of the friendliest.' BE PROACTIVE 'If you are able to listen to what's needed and take action without help you'll be known as a self-starter,' Greg said. 'For bosses this is gold dust. 'To achieve this, productivity is vital. Tricky if you're working remotely for the first time, where there's no visual cues about what you should be doing. 'At home it's even easier to get distracted by social media, news reports, household chores, partners, housemates or kids. 'In our distracted digital age, the ability to focus to pay conscious, absorbed attention - for extended periods of time is becoming more difficult to achieve. It's far more valuable as a result. 'To be more focused, organise your day with a clear 'to do' list and structure. Tackle emails in specific time slots, rather than responding as each one comes in. 'This avoids unproductive multi-tasking which is proven to be a myth - for both men and women. Take regular breaks and incorporate hydration, light exercise and rest into your schedule. 'If you feel better physically you'll be sharper mentally. This will help you to be truly present when required. 'When nearly everyone has their nose in their device, be the worker who looks everyone in the eyes. No one looks more replaceable than the person who's glued to their mobile phone.' BE AN EXPERT IN A SKILL WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE 'Cultivate one skill where you corner the market,' explained the business guru. 'If you want to be truly indispensable, you need to have knowledge or expertise your employer just can't afford to lose. 'And, don't be shy in sharing your knowledge around. Offer to deliver seminars to help others. In this way you're presenting personal value and helping to support wider learning and development.' 'Every email or interaction is a chance to make a better impact,' insisted Greg (stock photograph of a man calling his clients while at work) GREAT COMMUNICATOR 'Every email or interaction is a chance to make a better impact,' insisted Greg. 'COVID-19 has started the biggest remote working experiment in human history. 'Are you the person who's late for the Zoom start time, with the camera angled up your nose? Or, the sort of person who doesn't even turn on their camera and looks grumpy when they do? 'When it's time to look at who stays or goes, it's often how you made other people feel that'll decide your fate. If you were your own personal PR agent, what advice would you give yourself to tell the right story about your contribution to the team?' BE A PROBLEM SOLVER 'In times of change we desperately need new ideas,' the innovation guru revealed. 'Reframing the current situation trying to see opportunities as well as threats will mark you out. 'During meetings give yourself 10 seconds to think before contributing. As much as possible frame your thoughts as potential solutions. Creative-thinking the ability to generate valuable ideas - is one of the key superpowers to future-proof your career. 'To ignite your creative potential is initially a simple change of attitude. It's built on practical and attainable habits: 1. Learn something new every day 2. Get very curious about what problems need to be solved 3. Ask yourself and others great questions about these problems to transform them into opportunities.' Another four states has been added to New York's quarantine list, making 22 on the restricted list, as Gov Andrew Cuomo announces that travelers who leave airports without filling out a quarantine form will be issued a summons and fined $2,000. On Monday, the governor said the mandate was for 19 states, but that number increased by four on Tuesday with the addition of Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin. 'It's all across the country, and it's undeniable,' Cuomo said on Monday as he showed reporters a graphic highlighting the 39 states that are seeing an increase in the virus. He then pointed to states like Arizona, Florida and Texas which have all seen at least an 800 per cent increase in coronavirus cases within the past few weeks. 'We have done a quarantine for the highest risk infection states. We know there have been instances of non-compliance. Non-compliance can lead to outbreaks. We're seeing it in Rensselaer County,' the governor said. He was referring to a cluster of confirmed cases in Rensselaer County after two residents recently returned back from North Carolina and tested positive for the virus. There are currently 30 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among residents at Riverside Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Rensselaer County. Scroll down for video Gov Andrew Cuomo has announced that travelers to New York from 22 states who leave airports without filling out a quarantine form will be issued a summons and fined $2,000 Cuomo pointed to states like Arizona, Florida and Texas which have all seen at least an 800 per cent increase in coronavirus cases within the past few weeks Three residents also recently returned back to the county from Georgia and they have also tested positive for the virus. Cuomo said it's instances like these that have led New York to mandate quarantine forms for air travelers entering the state from the 22 listed states. 'You must give officials at the airport your form as to where you came from and where you're going before you leave the airport. It will be enforced in every airport in the state of New York. New York issues mandatory order for travelers from 22 coronavirus hotspot states Air travelers from the following states must fill out a quarantine form before leaving any airport in the state of New York: Alabama Arkansas Arizona California Florida Georgia Iowa Idaho Kansas Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi North Carolina New Mexico Nevada Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Wisconsin Advertisement 'If you leave the airport without providing the information, you will receive a summons immediately with a $2,000 fine,' Cuomo said. Cuomo said in addition to the fine, non-compliant travelers may be called to a hearing and 'ordered to complete mandatory quarantine'. 'We can't be in a situation where we have people coming from other states in the country bringing the virus again. It is that simple,' the governor added. On Sunday, New York recorded 10 deaths from the virus. There were also fewer than 800 people hospitalized statewide, which marked the lowest number since March 18. Mayor Bill de Blasio said that New York City also saw no deaths from the virus over 24 hours. During his briefing, Cuomo also talked about schools preparing to reopen in the fall. He said that students will be allowed to return to schools in areas where the coronavirus is under control. Each of the state's 700 school districts has until the end of this month to detail school-by-school reopening plans. Cuomo said they will be able to move forward with them in regions that are both in phase four of the state's overall reopening and have seen average daily infection rates of 5 per cent or less for two weeks. 'Common sense and intelligence can still determine what we do even in this crazy environment,' Cuomo said during a briefing. 'We're not going to use our children as guinea pigs.' President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy Devos have launched an all-out effort to pressure officials to fully reopen schools in the fall, threatening last week to hold back federal money from districts that dont bring their students back. 'He was wrong on the economic reopening. He's wrong on the schools' reopening,' Cuomo said. 'Everybody wants to reopen the schools. I want to reopen the schools. Everybody wants to reopen the schools. It's not do we reopen or not. You reopen if it is safe to reopen.' Students and teachers returning to buildings will be screened for illness, wear masks or face shields and keep six feet of distance when possible. 'It's all across the country, and it's undeniable,' Cuomo said as he showed reporters a graphic highlighting the 39 states that are seeing an increase in the virus Cuomo said New York is requiring the quarantine forms to be filled out by passengers before they leave the airport or they will be fined Cuomo said in addition to the fine, non-compliant travelers (file image) may be called to a hearing and 'ordered to complete mandatory quarantine' Officials confirm 30 cases of COVID-19 among residents at a nursing home in upstate New York About 30 residents at the Riverside Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Rensselaer County have tested positive for the virus. Nine employees have also tested positive for the virus. The cluster was reported on Monday just days after nursing homes and other long-term care facilities were allowed visitations on Friday. According to the Times-Union, Rensselaer County also has two residents who tested positive for the virus after returning from North Carolina. Three residents of the area recently returned from Georgia, but there were no additional cases reported in connection to those individuals. Advertisement Mandatory fire drills and lockdown drills will continue with social distancing and districts may have to stagger start times, install partitions or change hallway traffic patterns to reduce congestion. If students are learning from home, districts should do everything in their power to provide devices and internet connectivity to students and staff and have a plan to reach students who don't engage, education officials said, addressing some of the biggest problems that arose when schools were abruptly shut down in March. Cuomo said districts will learn the first week of August whether they can reopen for the fall, but a subsequent spike that sends the infection rate past 9% would halt the plans. The governor's office said the daily infection rate is the percentage of COVID-19 test results coming up positive each day on average. About 1 per cent of COVID tests have been positive each day since mid-June across the state. Deaths related to COVID-19 have increased across the US by 46 per cent in the past week with Texas, Arizona and Mississippi reporting the biggest weekly spikes. More than 5,000 people died from COVID-19 between July 6 and July 12, which is an increase of 46 per cent compared to the previous week, according to a Reuters analysis of data from The COVID Tracking Project. New cases also continue to rise with the US reporting over 400,000 infections for the week ending July 12, which was up 21 per cent from the previous seven days. Nationally, new COVID-19 cases have risen every week for six straight weeks. Forty-six states reported more new cases of COVID-19 last week compared to the previous week, the analysis found. On Sunday, New York recorded 10 deaths from the virus. There were also fewer than 800 people hospitalized statewide, which marked the lowest number since March 18 Cases are only falling on a weekly basis in New York, Tennessee, New Jersey and Delaware. While southern and western states are seeing the biggest increase in cases, infections are also rising in the Midwest. Minnesota's cases have gone up 60 per cent, Missouri is up 40 per cent and Iowa is up 30 per cent. More than 135,000 Americans have died from coronavirus and there have been more than 3.3 million infections. Dog owners educated to degree-level are more likely to have a misbehaving dog than people who didn't go to university, researchers claim. The findings comes from a scientific study which assessed why some dogs exhibit problematic behaviour, including barking, humping, and aggression. Scientists believe brainier owners are more likely to have bad pets because they work long hours and spend more time 'surfing the net' rather than lavishing attention on their four-legged friends. Other discoveries from the team of Iranian academics include small dogs being more likely to mount and hump than larger breeds. Scroll down for video Dogs belonging to those who had been educated up to degree level or more had a higher likelihood of humping and mounting objects or people's legs, said the research team from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Iran's University of Ahwaz (stock) The study found that 345 out of 401 dogs (86 percent) had at least one problematic behaviour. Big dogs tended to be more aggressive because they had often been trained to guard property while the owners were out, it claims. Another discovery was that dogs born in the autumn and winter were more likely to go to the toilet indoors. This, the researchers say, is due to bad weather when they were young stopping proper training as they did not go outdoors enough to relieve themselves. But the researchers, reporting in the Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, also found that some bad habits were worse in dogs with the brainiest owners. The study found that 345 out of 401 dogs (86 percent) had at least one problematic behaviour. Big dogs tended to be more aggressive because they had often been trained to guard property while the owners were out, it claims (stock) Dogs should NEVER be left alone in a car Leaving dogs in parked cars can be dangerous all year round, even in the winter when outside temperatures are relatively low, scientists warn. Dog welfare experts at Nottingham Trent University monitored internal temperatures of cars in the UK, without dogs inside them, every day for two years. They found temperatures exceeded 77F (25C) in every month of the year high enough to cause overheating in breeds with flat faces, such as bulldogs and pugs. Annual campaigns highlighting the risk of dogs dying in hot cars typically begin in May but need to start earlier in the year, they say. Between 2010 and 2019 the RSPCA received almost 70,000 calls about animals and heat exposure, most of which related to dogs in hot cars. Advertisement Dogs belonging to those who have a degree had a higher likelihood of humping and mounting objects or people's legs. Dogs that lived alone were worse for mounting than dogs who had a playmate because they were less likely to be taken out or socialise with other animals. But the biggest factor was not spending enough time with the pets, which is where the owner's level of education may be a factor, according to the research team from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Iran's University of Ahwaz. The report said: 'Educated owners were likely not to spend enough time training their dogs as they are usually away more than 10 hours a day and when at home they are often busy studying, doing housework and surfing the net.' Taking dogs to obedience training is not enough, they added. Owners needed to spend at least 20 minutes a day paying attention to their dogs. It added: 'The most likely reasons for a high rate of problematic behaviours in dogs can be the growing number of pet dogs and the insufficient training experience of dog owners as well as the lack of available resources for behaviour modification and education. 'Duration of ownership as well as the time spent with the dog are common reasons for inadequate home training. 'Adequate daily walking and social exposure for dogs should be considered by owners.' A heartbroken Canadian mother yesterday wept bitter tears as she clasped photos of her young daughters at a memorial service after the girls were found dead in a forest on Saturday. Amelie Lemieux was surrounded by friends and family as she thanked people for their support and paid tribute to Norah, 11, and Romy, six, who went missing with their father on Wednesday. Speaking at a park gazebo filled with messages, flowers and candles in Levis, Quebec, Lemieux said: 'My two beautiful, beloved princesses, I wanted you so much I could hardly wait for you to come into my life. 'From the time you took your first breath, I loved you unconditionally. You are my whole life, my reason for being. 'When I look up into the night sky you will be the stars that will guide me through my immeasurable pain. I love you madly. I love you forever.' The girls were last seen shopping with their father, Martin Carpentier, 44, on Wednesday, but one hour later his car was found wrecked and abandoned in the Saint-Apollinaire area, southwest of Quebec City. Amelie Lemieux, centre, is comforted by family members as she holds pictures of her two daughters, Romy and Norah Carpentier, at a memorial in Levis, Que Amelie Lemieux clasps photographs of her daughters as she is comforted by friends and family on Monday Authorities on Saturday discovered Norah, 11, and Romy Carpentier, six, dead in a wooded area in Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec, after three days missing Police said they have narrowed their search for the father to a wooded area off Rang Saint-Lazare, a country road in Saint-Apollinaire, CBC reported. Investigators said Carpentier's vehicle was driving east on Highway 20 in Saint-Apollinaire when it skidded into a central reservation, flipped over and landed on the shoulder of the opposite side of the highway. Authorities launched an Amber Alert on Thursday and continued the alert until Romy and Norah were found three days later. It was the longest Amber Alert in Quebec's history. It's unclear the specifics of the incident, but authorities said the they are not ruling any hypothesis out, including kidnapping. Autopsies are scheduled to determine the specific cause of the girls' deaths, The Canadian Press reports. Finding Carpentier is a top priority for authorities, but they said of the father that they 'don't know exactly what state of mind' he's in. 'We ask people not to take any chances. So if they have any information or if they see him, just call 911 and we will take charge of the situation,' authorities said. Speaking at a park gazebo filled with messages, flowers and candles in Levis, Quebec, Lemieux said: 'My two beautiful, beloved princesses, I wanted you so much I could hardly wait for you to come into my life. From the time you took your first breath, I loved you unconditionally. You are my whole life, my reason for being. When I look up into the night sky you will be the stars that will guide me through my immeasurable pain. I love you madly. I love you forever.' Amelie Lemieux, centre, is comforted by family members as she holds pictures of her two daughters, Romy and Norah Carpentier, at a memorial on Monday Objects found on Saturday during the police search may belong to Carpentier and the two girls, authorities told CTV. 'We found some objects yesterday, but we can find a lot of different objects in the woods, so what we have to do right now is to be sure that those objects could be related to Martin Carpentier and his two daughters,' said Sgt. Ann Mathieu. Carpentier's girlfriend, Cathy Gingras, had earlier made an appeal for his return in a recorded message shared to Twitter. 'Martin, we're worried. We haven't heard anything from you since the accident. We want to know if you're okay, and the girls, Romy, Norah,' said Gingras. 'We want to know if they're okay... if you're okay. Give us some news, let us know, call your parents, whatever it is. The important thing is that you're all alright. 'We just want to know you're alright.' Earlier last week their mother, Lemieux, shared photos of the girls and made a plea on Facebook asking for help. Authorities have deployed canine squads, drones, an equestrian squad and a helicopter in the hunt. A manhunt has been launched for the girls' father Martin Carpentier (pictured), 44, who vanished after the car crash on Wednesday Around 100 residents from the Saint-Agapit, Saint-Apollinaire sector on Saturday joined police in the search for the family, but it appeared to do more harm than good. The large amount of people overwhelmed the scene and made the K-9 squad ineffective. 'So that's why we ask the people, we appreciate the work you want to do for us, we appreciate your goodwill, but doing so is not a good idea to help us. Its not helping us,' said Matthieu. Instead, she asked residents to stay home and call authorities if they notice anything amiss. 'Stay home. Just look on your property. Youre the best person to know exactly if theres something wrong on your property. If so, call us were going to do the verification about it,' shes said. Pictured: Residents in the Saint-Agapit, Saint-Apollinaire sector joined together to help look for Carpentier and the two girls Quebec authorities have used several search methods, including anine squads, drones an equestrian squad and a helicopter (pictured) Meanwhile, the international attention of the tragic deaths and manhunt has shocked residents who live in the small Quebec town of just over 6,000 people. 'Seeing police everywhere, helicopters, you wouldn't have believed it,' said native Cedric Lambert, 23. 'Then to know that they found the little girls here is stressful.' His partner, Marie-Myriam Dion, added that she doesn't feel safe with Carpentier on the loose. 'I can't wait for them to find him,' said Dion, a mother-of-two. 'I lock my doors at home as soon as I am alone.' Gerald Rousseau, a resident of 40 years, lives about two miles from where police have started searching. He said there are a plethora of places to hide. 'There are plenty of small chalets around there, cabins, sugar shacks, trailers,' Rousseau told CTV. 'It's a good place to hide ... people come down on the weekends, but there aren't a lot of people coming down given what's happening, so there's often food left behind inside.' News that authorities found the deceased children sparked an outpouring of grief from both residents and public figures. On Saturday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau she he was 'devastated' by the turn of events. 'An incomprehensible tragedy for any parent. My heart breaks for the family and friends of Norah and Romy - Im sending you my deepest condolences. Know that all Canadians are keeping you in their thoughts tonight,' he wrote on Twitter. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was 'devastated' by news that the young girls' bodies had been found on Saturday Quebec Premier Francois Legault called Norah and Romy's deaths a 'national tragedy' on Twitter following the tragic news Legault: 'I have a special thought for Norah and Romy's mother. For all their loved ones too. Its the whole of Quebec crying with you today. Quebec Premier Francois Legault called Norah and Romy's deaths a 'national tragedy. 'I am overwhelmed, without words. Losing two children, the most expensive thing in life, is incomprehensible. Its a national tragedy,' he wrote on Twitter. He added: 'I have a special thought for Norah and Romy's mother. For all their loved ones too. Its the whole of Quebec crying with you today.' He even searched his own property, but didn't find any sign of Carpentier. Carpentier was last seen wearing a grey short sleeve sweater and jeans. He is listed as being 5'10" and weighing 130lbs. Anyone who sees Martin Carpentier is asked not to attempt to intervene and to communicate with 911. In addition, any information that may allow him to be traced can be communicated, confidentially, to the Central Criminal Intelligence Service of the Surete du Quebec at 1-800-659-4264. This year's National Holiday ceremony in France will be quite unlike any other. Many events that would usually draw crowds, such as firework displays and dances, have been cancelled in response to the threat caused by Covid-19. Those at the frontline of the pandemic are being honoured in place of the military. It should be a day where thousands of people, young and old, throng the Champs-Elysees to catch a glimpse of the military parade marching down the famed avenue as French flags flutter everywhere. Instead, a much-reduced ceremony, due to Covid-19, will take place Tuesday at Place de la Concorde, where the parade normally ends. Some 2,000 participants and 2,500 guests will gather at the square in strict accordance with social distancing rules. It is the first time since World War 2 that the annual parade marking the July 14, 1789 storming of the Bastille fortress during the French Revolution, will not be held at the Champs Elysees. This will also be the first year that the military parade is being replaced by a tribute to health workers. In a statement ahead of the national ceremony, President Emmanuel Macron said the day was an opportunity to shine a spotlight not only on the country's fallen soldiers but also on the many unsung heroes amid the Covid-19 outbreak. "This year, faced with the exceptional crisis that we know, it is the entire nation that has taken its destiny into its own hands. It is the people of France as a whole who stood up in the face of danger and showed their fighting spirit at its best," he said. Macron expressed his gratitude to health workers on the frontline fighting the pandemic, as well as his appreciation to every French citizen who had to make sacrifices, notably during the two-month lockdown period, commending a "united and supportive" nation. What's on, what's off? In Paris, a fireworks display will be fired at 11:00 pm from the Eiffel Tower as every year, however this time without members of the public, who have been asked to watch the show from home. Story continues Celebrations elsewhere have also been muted. The lights will stay off in Lyon, which has cancelled its traditional firework display. However, the city went ahead with its official military ceremony on Monday, but without the distinctive sound of helicopters and fighter planes overhead to avoid large crowds gathering. Static military ceremonies will go ahead Tuesday In Lille and Marseille to thank health workers and soldiers. While in Nice, a memorial ceremony will be held in tribute to the victims of a 2016 truck attack, which killed 86 people, gathered during a July 14 fireworks display on Nice's Promenade des Anglais. Since then, no more displays have been held. Firemen's ball As for the traditional firemen's ball, where fire stations usually open up their barracks to party revelers, enticing them with champagne, music, and dancing, many have been cancelled. "It was our responsibility not to provoke a gathering of up to 5,000 people, where respecting social distancing measures would have been a sweet illusion," the Fire Brigade (BSPP) said in a statement. Firefighters in Bordeaux also decided to avoid the risk. Although France is no longer in a state of health emergency, gatherings of more than 5,000 people are still not allowed, and nightclubs are closed. However in Lille, firefighters there have planned a "virtual ball" for Tuesday evening, which will be mixed by a DJ from one of their barracks and shared on social networks. Get the latest on coronavirus. Sign up to the Daily Brief for news, explainers, how-tos, opinion and more. Almost 120,000 people could die in hospital this winter in a second wave of coronavirus infections in a reasonable worst case scenario, scientists have warned. A report from the Academy of Medical Sciences which was commissioned by the governments chief medical advisor Sir Patrick Vallance said action must be taken now to avoid a second Covid-19 surge. The group of 37 experts said hospitals could see 119,900 Covid-19 deaths between September and next June, with a surge in cases coming amid annual winter pressures, including flu. In this scenario, the R rate which refers to the number of people an infected person passes the virus onto would rise to 1.7 from September. Related... The academic modelling suggests there could be a peak in hospital admissions and deaths in January and February 2021, similar to or worse than the first wave in spring 2020. The estimations do not include deaths in the community or care homes. The figures do not take account of potential measures by the government to try and control the rate of transmission such as lockdown or the use of drugs like dexamethasone, which has been shown to reduce coronavirus deaths, to treat patients. Professor Stephen Holgate, a Medical Research Council clinical professor of immunopharmacology who led the study, said the study was not a prediction, but it is a possibility. The modelling suggests that deaths could be higher with a new wave of Covid-19 this winter, but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately, he said. To date, 44,830 people have died in the UK after contracting coronavirus. Holgate said: With relatively low numbers of Covid-19 cases at the... Continue reading on HuffPost Khamenei's 'Islamic Kindness' Turned Into Threats, Torture And Death Penalty Reza Haqiqatnezhad July 13, 2020 Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's order to treat those jailed for protests in Iran in November 2019, may in fact have been a call for maximum pressure on inmates in security prisons. The Iranian Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on July 11 featured a letter by Hossein Reyhani, an Iranian who has been in jail since the November 2019 protests to rising gas prices. Reyhani, 33, is a carpenter. Before being jailed, he was a married man, but his wife divorced him in absentia while he was in jail. In the letter on HRANA's website, Reyhani says: "It might sound funny but I am in jail simply because I sent a text message to a friend and told him that "a bank was set on fire." A court in Tehran charged Reyhani with "fighting Allah," an accusation that can entail the death penalty, simply because he sent a text message. Reyhani says he has been denied access to a defense lawyer during the seven months he has spent in jail so far. Ironically, four days before Reyhani's arrest last autumn, Khamenei ordered his security chief Ali Shamkhani to treat those arrested in the protests with "Islamic kindness and affection." Seven months after Khamenei's order the accusation of "fighting Allah" is hanging over Reyhani's neck, and three young men Amir Hossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi and Mohammad Rajabi are given death sentences in Tehran and eight other inmates in Isfahan are charged with "corruption on earth," another conviction that can entail death sentence. It appears that Khamenei's reference to "Islamic kindness and affection" meant exerting maximum pressure on inmates and the accused. Even if he did not mean that, still the way the cases of prisoners charged for participation in the protests shows that officials investigating the cases have perceived Khamenei's order as harsh treatment such as intimidation, torture and issuing death sentences. In the seven months since the protests Khamenei had ample time and opportunity to intervene and reduce pressure on prisoners, if he really meant what he said about "Islamic kindness and affection". Instead more people have been arrested and many face the threat of the coronavirus in unsanitary jails. Reyhani wrote in his letter that he has been constantly tortured during the months he has spent in jail. Amir Hossein Moradi, Saeed Tamjidi and Mohammad Rajabi have also been subjected to torture and denied access to defense lawyers. It is likely that the same is true also about the cases of other prisoners jailed for taking part in the November protests. Iran has still not still announced the number of those jailed after the November 2019 unrest. Various reports put the number as high as 12,000. One member of the Iranian parliament at the time said some 8,000 protesters were arrested. There is every likelihood that torture and intimidation are part of the routine procedure for dealing with the inmates. The same applies to hundreds of protesters who were shot to death by security forces. There has been no official report about how many were killed. Reuters estimated that up to 1,500 lost their lives. Putting inmates under pressure to make self-incriminating confessions, denying access to hygienic facilities and medical treatment as well as exerting pressure on the inmates' families to remain silent and not talk to the media are among punishments mentioned in various reports by human rights watchdogs monitoring the situation of inmates in Iran. One aspect of Khamenei's order to security officials last November was about how to treat the family members of those killed in the protests. Khamenei ordered officials to pay attention to families and try to console them and even pay compensation. But what happened to the family of Pouya Bakhtiary, a young man shot dead during the protest in November is an eye-opening example. Pouya's family members, including both parents were arrested and interrogated several times during the past seven months. The authorities prevented the holding of a commemoration service and barred the family from news dissemination about the case. They also launched an online campaign to tarnish the family's image. Mr. Bakhtiary, later explained the dreadful situation in a letter to the UN High Commissionaire for Human Rights in late May and called for an international investigation committee to probe the case. Bakhtiary said the authorities refused to hand over his son's body to the family and buried the young man under tight security measures. More than 50 security officers broke into Bakhtiary's house and searched all the rooms and handcuffed and blindfolded and took seven family members including young children and imprisoned them for a month. Mr. Bakhtiary's letter reveals cooperation between political, judiciary and security officials who exerted pressure on the family. Arrests, solitary confinement, intimidation and mudslinging are parts of the way Khamenei's orders have been carried out about prisoners although his supporters might claim that he is not aware of such treatments, which include threats, accusations, imprisonment, torture and execution. This seems to be the formula for "Islamic kindness and affection." One has no idea how this article would have looked like if prisoners were to be treated brutally. Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/khamenei-s-islamic- kindness-turned-into-threats-torture -and-death-penalty/30724184.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address On July 1, the Christopher Columbus statue was removed from the park named after him in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The statue was sculpted in Italy and brought to Atlantic City in 1958 for $7,000. That money was raised from many years of spaghetti dinners, raffles, and other fundraising events by Italian-American volunteers. It was their way of showing both pride in their heritage and love for America. It was taken down within a month of other Columbus statues being torn down or vandalized in other cities. People who hate America have many reasons to hate Columbus. They hate him for bringing Europeans to America. They are angry that Europeans settled in America and created the United States. They refuse to recognize that the United States brought more wealth, freedom, opportunity, and justice to more people than any nation in history. They condemn America for enslaving blacks. They ignore the two million white American men who fought, and the 310,000 who died, to free them. They ignore the millions of Americans who fought and hundreds of thousands died in World War II to end mass murders in Europe and China. They also hate Columbus for being brutal conqueror. They do not understand that Columbus lived in a brutal age where those qualities were needed to survive. Columbus lived when Muslim Arabs and Turks were attacking, torturing, murdering, and enslaving Christians from Europe and blacks from Africa. Aztecs in Mexico were mass murdering men, women, and children from neighboring tribes as sacrifices to their gods. Native Americans in North America often had wars with each other. They usually began with unprovoked surprise attacks to first kill the strongest men. Weaker men, women, and children were killed or enslaved later. Many were put through cruel and painful torture before being allowed to die. Muslim Turks and Arabs were skilled sailors with seaworthy ships. So were the Chinese and Japanese. Would they have been kinder to Native Americans if they had gotten here first? Would they have "brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal"? Most people who hate America also hate Christians. That gives them another good reason to hate Columbus. By discovering America, Columbus also saved Christianity. Muhammad died in 632. During the next hundred years, his Arab followers wiped out more than half of the Christian world. This included what is now Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and Portugal. Christians eventually halted this with the Crusades. However, when Columbus was born seven hundred years later, Muslim Turks seemed about to finish the job. During the 1300s, the Turks drove most Greek Christians out of what is now Turkey. In 1453, the Turks crossed into Europe and conquered their capital of Constantinople. This, not Rome, had been the center of the Christian world. By the 1500s, the Turks occupied most of Eastern Europe, including Hungary, and were about to invade Austria, Poland, and southern Germany. Before Columbus, Muslim Turks dominated the Mediterranean and controlled all the profitable trade routes to India, China, and the East. They captured large numbers of slaves each year from Africa, India, and Europe to do their work. This let the Turks pay, feed, and supply enormous armies and buy the most modern ships and weapons. Columbus quickly changed that. He named the first island he found in America "San Salvador" or Holy Savior. Columbus knew that he had saved Christian Europe. His discoveries gave Spain shiploads of gold and silver and its own profitable trade routes to China and the East. Spain gave much of this wealth to the pope and the Catholic Church. Pope Pius V used it form a "Holy League" of Catholic nations against the Turks in 1571. A few months later, a Holy League fleet destroyed the Turkish fleet near Lepanto in Greece. It also freed 12,000 Christian slaves. Christian armies fought and won many other battles against the Turks during the next hundred years. In 1673, the Turks were driven out of Poland. On September 12, 1683, a Turkish army was destroyed outside Vienna, Austria. Three years later, the Turks were driven out of Hungary. From that point until just a few years ago, most Christians in Europe were safe from Muslim attacks. All thanks to Columbus! WHO chief says no return to the 'old normal' for foreseeable future as Covid-19 cases globally going past the 13 million figure. "Let me be blunt, too many countries are headed in the wrong direction; the virus remains public enemy number one. If the basics aren't followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has alleged that nobody is more corrupt than Ibrahim Magu, the suspend... Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, has alleged that nobody is more corrupt than Ibrahim Magu, the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. Kanu alleged that Magu helped Abba Kyari, the late Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari hide money he looted. Speaking on Radio Biafra, the IPOB leader said: Abba Kyari died on the 2nd day of April, we announced it, they were busy running around to get a mask for Abba Kyari instead of telling the people the truth. Abba Kyari embezzled #13.5 billion naira meant for Aso Rock Clinic. Himself and his family took over NNPC as their family business. There is nobody more corrupt than Magu the EFCC Chairman. He keeps money for Abba Kyari. A presidential panel headed by Justice Ayo Salami is currently investigating the activities of Magu as Czar of EFCC. The ongoing probe followed allegations of insubordination and corruption levelled against Magu by the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. In view of the ongoing probe, Magu was suspended by the presidency and Mohammed Umar was picked to head the commission, pending the appointment of a substantive chairman. President Donald Trump on Monday pledged to bring down shooting numbers in Chicago and other American cities even if we have to go in and take over. Trump was speaking at a law enforcement round table at the White House, where he touted his record as pro-safety, pro-police and anti-crime. During the event, he turned his attention to Chicago, one of his favorite targets, and again compared the city with Afghanistan, which he has done repeatedly in the past. The president cited erroneous numbers, saying there were I guess 20 people killed and many, many shootings in the city over the weekend. Ten people were killed in shootings over the weekend. Fifty other people were injured in shootings across Chicago. Southern Illinois University 'closely monitoring' ICE rules for international students studying in US amid pandemic Southern Illinois University Carbondale Chancellor Austin Lane said international students are concerned about a federal directive issued last week mandating that they take at least one in-person class or leave the country. Numbers are going to be coming down even if we have to go in and take over cities because we cant let that happen. When you have 20 people killed, 22 people killed in one weekend in Chicago. When you have 88 shootings, its not even conceivable, Trump said. Thats worse than Afghanistan, I hate to say it. Thats worse than any war zone that were in by a lot. It makes them look like tame places by comparison. So were not going to let it go on, he added. Were not supposed to uh supposed to wait for them to call, but they dont call. Weve asked Chicago, Would you like us to go in and help? and they dont want to say anything. And weve called many of the cities, Would you like us to go and help? Mayor Lori Lightfoot has relished attacking Trump, frequently ripping him as a divisive leader who demonizes Democratic cities like Chicago solely for political gain. But she did not immediately respond Monday to the presidents latest remarks. After another weekend of children shot in Chicago, top cop asks for more time for his community policing on steroids Claire Hao and Paige Fry Chicago Tribune CHICAGO After another weekend when children were among dozens of shooting victims in Chicago, police Superintendent David Brown repeatedly asked for more time Monday to deploy his strategy of community policing on steroids to bring down the nearly unprecedented level of violence. Unlike at past Monday news conferences, Brown did not hurl insults at gunmen or complain that not enough people are being locked up. Instead, he once again insisted that the drug trade is the pipeline to the criminal justice system and doubled down on his belief that community outreach is a solution. Brown noted that a specialized unit he announced last week would both respond to flare-ups and perform service work in neighborhoods. He also wants cops on tactical and gun teams doing community service every day, and said he believes in street outreach and violence-interruption efforts. But he said these programs take time to produce results. Dont judge it on the short term. Its just the beginnings of it, Brown said. As it matures and grows to a larger capacity, not just geographic capacity but more people doing it. I think well likely see great results. Brown announced the special unit after an especially violent July Fourth weekend that saw about 90 people shot, at least 17 of them fatally, including 7-year-old Natalia Wallace on the West Side and 14-year-old Vernado Jones Jr. on the South Side. This past weekend, at least 64 people were shot and 11 of them died. The youngest victim was a 15-year-old boy on the Far South Side, blocks from where his older brother was fatally shot in April. As Sunday drew to a close, a 15-year-old girl was shot while standing on a West Side street, just half an hour after two teenage boys were wounded while sitting in a car at a South Side gas station. The level of violence was similar to the same weekends in 2016 and 2017, the worst years for shootings in Chicago since the 1990s. More than 1,900 people have been shot in Chicago this year, 550 more than at this point last year, according to data kept by the Tribune. The superintendent did not say when the unit would begin its work, saying officers were still being recruited to reach the full deployment of more than 200 cops. An internal memo obtained by the Tribune indicates it will be called the Community Safety Team and will operate out of the Englewood police district on the South Side and the training academy on the West Side. When it is created, we want it to be a community-oriented, policing-first citywide unit, and thats different, thats not your fathers citywide unit, Brown promised, referring to similar attempts in the past. Thats not something thats been done with a citywide unit, from what I understand. Theyll still be getting guns off the street, arresting violent offenders, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Brown was asked why he thinks the unit will work this time. He chided the reporter, telling her not to be so jaded and to have some optimism. But he acknowledged that police cannot do the job alone a message both he and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have driven home over the last several weeks. This is a complex, nuanced problem that will take more than just the police, Brown said. This is about a lack of opportunity, thats not a policing issue. This is about social inequality, thats not police. This is about education opportunities, job opportunities, job training opportunities. Thats not the police, and yet, you only ask me the questions. Brown urged a deeper understanding of the trauma and violent conditions many Chicagoans living in these areas experience. He talked about a conversation he had with a 25-year-old on the West Side who claimed to have seen 54 of his friends killed. He discussed systemic issues in the community leading to crime, especially the lack of job opportunities for young people on the South and West sides. Brown said the lack of investment has led people to see the drug market as the only way to make a livelihood. They need an opportunity to have a job, participate in the American Dream, see a future, he said. And not just this menial job that really doesnt provide a living wage. They need a real opportunity to learn a trade, to be a part of the capitalist market. Also last week, Brown announced a new program requiring summer patrol units to engage in community service projects every week. One alderman dismissed the initiative as fluff, but Brown said his plans have been well received by community residents hes talked with. People were on the porch of their homes, out excited about this interaction with the police, he said. I think there is a healthy appetite for collaboration with the police in these challenging neighborhoods. Shameka Turner, who lives in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side and is the founder of the Resident Association of the Westside, listened to the press briefing and told the Tribune she was not impressed with Browns comments. She said she doesnt trust the department to pull off a community-oriented approach. Im here in the community, every time I show up to a community meeting, they always bring a Black police officer to say, Oh, community policing, Turner said. As an Austin person, when I call the police or when Ive been pulled over, guess what, theyll never look like me on the West Side. Its staged, so that youre like, Oh community policing, they have Black police officers. They have two, and theyre too busy going to meetings, she said. Its the other ones that dont look like us pulling us over and doing all other kinds of stuff that the people dont trust. Get to know Illinois: 15 state symbols Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Medrio has always been a wonderful partner to Avance Clinical. Were always impressed by not only their speed and flexibility but also their support. I look forward to the continued success and growth of our partnership, said Yvonne Lungerhausen, CEO, Avance Clinical. Medrio, Inc., the leading provider of eClinical technology to pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, diagnostics, and animal health markets, and Avance Clinical, the leading Australian CRO for biotechs have reached a milestone of supporting 150 clinical trials together. Medrio and Avance Clinicals successful partnership began in 2012 on a Phase I study with 103 patients and 14 sites, with Avance Clinical being Medrios first partner in Australia. Avance Clinical has utilized Medrios electronic data capture (EDC) solution successfully for the past eight years supporting 158 Phase I studies, 6,047 patients, and 236 sites. The HRECs usual review cycle in Australia, which takes only 4 to 8 weeks, coupled with Medrios ability to achieve FPI in less than three weeks is a perfect combination for accelerating study starts, a critical component to Phase I trials. Medrio has always been a wonderful partner to Avance Clinical. In addition to their EDC, weve used their ePRO and Direct Capture solutions, and were always impressed by not only their speed and flexibility but also their support. We know that if we have a question or need assistance that it will be addressed immediately and resolved quickly. Our partnership continues to flourish through ongoing clinical trials. We also recently had a great conversation with Medrio on their podcast, Trial Talks, about Australias unique position in the midst of COVID-19. I look forward to the continued success and growth of our partnership, said Yvonne Lungerhausen, CEO, Avance Clinical. In July 2020 Medrio will launch Trial Talks, a clinical trials podcast series. Hosted by Medrio thought leaders, Trial Talks season one will focus on industry trends and challenges, unique solutions, and the perseverance of the industry through one of our toughest challenges, COVID-19. Trial Talks season 1, episode 1 Why Clinical Trials are Thriving in Australia will focus on how Avance Clinical prepared for the pandemic, what tools they leveraged that allowed trial continuation, and why clinical trials are currently thriving in the region. Ive always been data-driven, and reaching the 150 trials milestone speaks volumes about Medrio and Avances relationship. Trust is earned, and Id like to think that weve shown that we offer not only sophisticated clinical trial technology but also pride in our work. Our support team is available 24/7 and I am always proud to hear our customers speak so highly of them. At Medrio we always have the patients in mind, and the faster we can get a trial up and running or provide support, the faster the patients in need will have the drugs, therapies, or devices that they need. I enjoyed interviewing Yvonne Lungerhausen (CEO) and Sandrien Louwaars (Director of Business Development Operations) for the first Trial Talks podcast episode. It was fascinating to hear how Australia and New Zealand are operating in the midst of a global pandemic, and it highlights the perseverance of the industry and the Golden Age of pharma, explained Mike Novotny, CEO, Medrio. About Medrio Medrio is the leading provider of eClinical technology for pharma, device, and diagnostics clinical trials. Founded in 2005, the companys cloud-based EDC, Direct Data Capture, eConsent, and ePRO solutions deliver fast, flexible, and easy-to-use tools for the collection and management of clinical data and patient-reported outcome responses. Study sponsors and Contract Research Organizations have used Medrio extensively in clinical trials across a wide array of therapeutic areas, with notable success in oncology, infectious disease, and more. Medrio has extensive experience in all study phases and leads the market in early-phase trials. The company serves over 600 customers globally, with headquarters in San Francisco and offices in numerous domestic and international locations. For more information, please visit http://www.medrio.com. About Avance Clinical Australias Avance Clinical has more than 20-years of experience and is now one of Australias leading Contract Research Organizations. Avance Clinical facilitates quality drug development by aligning people, skills, and expertise in the pursuit of drug development for a healthier world. Avance Clinical is committed to providing high-quality clinical research services with its highly-experienced team. The collective pool of knowledge and experience at Avance Clinical continually grows through the careful selection of experts who also demonstrate passion in their chosen field. Avance Clinical offers high-quality services in an established clinical trial ecosystem, that includes world-class Investigators and Sites able to access specialized patient groups. Visit http://www.avancecro.com for more information. Other benefits include: 1. The Government R&D grant means up to 43.5% rebate on clinical trial spend 2. Telehealth pivot during COVID-19 pandemic speed and continuity 3. Site Initiation Visit (SIV) and Study Start achieved in 5 6 weeks 4. No IND required for clinical trials 5. Full GMP material is not mandated for Phase I clinical trials 6. Established clinical trial environment with world-class Investigators and sites 7. Established healthy subject databases and specialized patient populations 8. Five independent Phase 1 facilities across Australia including hospital-based units for critical care 9. Major hospitals with world-class infrastructures and dedicated Clinical Trial Units with a long track-record in FDA compliant research 10. Seasonal studies: Northern hemisphere Sponsors can conduct their studies year-round by taking advantage of Australias counter-flu and allergy seasons Experts fear a second wave of coronavirus could bring twice as many deaths as the first, a report commissioned by the UK's chief scientific adviser reveals. A group of 37 scientists, from the Academy of Medical Sciences, were asked by Patrick Vallance to model a reasonable worst-case scenario for the forthcoming winter, and advise the British government on how to prevent it. The experts warned that 119,000 people may die in hospital if a second wave hits while the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is dealing with a bad winter flu season. Under such a doomsday scenario, the reproduction "R" rate would rise to 1.7 by September, with infections peaking in January and February. The overall number of deaths could be even higher, as the report does not factor in deaths in care homes. The authors said it was critical to reorganise the NHS and social care so that coronavirus patients were kept away from others. Widespread testing, ramped up contact tracing and nationwide surveillance were also vital to stay on top of the disease, the experts said, and they called for a wider uptake of the flu vaccine to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed. "The window for action is now," said report author Anne Johnson, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London. "Infection rates are low and we've got time to think, breathe, and get on top of things." The report warned that a new wave, combined with the NHS treatment backlog and the possibility of a flu epidemic, could pose a serious risk to health in the UK. The worst-case scenario assumes that the British government will not respond to rising cases with another widespread lockdown. Stephen Holgate, professor of immunopharmacology and honorary consultant physician at the University of Southampton, said: "We need to have a rapid system of monitoring in the UK so we can spot outbreaks when they occur." Report author Professor Azra Ghani, chair in infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London, said: "Everybody needs to realise that Covid-19 hasn't gone away." Separate data seen by The Guardian suggests that there are large regional variations in the death rates of patients in intensive care. The death rate for ICU patients in England and Wales is 39pc but at one unnamed trust in south-east England, eight in 10 patients had died. Meanwhile, face coverings will become mandatory in shops and supermarkets with fines of up to 100 for anyone who fails to obey, the British government will announce today. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will confirm that guidance is being updated to make the wearing of face coverings in stores in England compulsory from July 24. The announcement came after days of confusion in which Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister, and Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, made apparently contradictory statements about whether face coverings should be mandatory in shops. The rules will mean that current guidance requiring masks to be worn on public transport in England will be extended to cover shops and supermarkets. Government sources said that ministers would monitor the situation and could introduce similar guidance for other settings in future. The changes bring retailers in England into line with those in Scotland, where face coverings have been mandatory in shops since last week. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Visit our Covid-19 vaccine dashboard for updates on the roll out of the vaccination program and the rate of Coronavirus cases Ireland Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] The Congress on Tuesday sacked from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief, appointing Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra in his place. Cracking the whip on the rebel party leader, the party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced the decision after a Congress Legislature Party meeting held here amid a tussle for power between Pilot and Chief Minister Why Congress is facing a crisis The ruling party in Rajasthan is facing a crisis after the rebellion by Deputy Chief Minister and dissident MLAs. Pilot has been upset about the fact he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. The camp has claimed that 109 MLAs, both Congress and others, are in support of the government. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP, 72. And today 102 MLAs present at the CLP meeting at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur have unanimously demanded Sachin Pilot's removal from the party. Listen to the podcast for more Racism and discrimination against the Travelling Community is still seen as as acceptable in Irish society, according to Senator Eileen Flynn. The first Traveller Woman to take a seat in the Seanad made the comments at the launch of Traveller Pride Week. July 13, 2020 News By David Vergun , DOD News Defense.gov COVID-19 Sharpened Focus on Trans-Atlantic Security Gaps, Defense Official Says The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a range of security issues that previously hadn't made it into NATO's discussions, a senior Defense Department official said. Michael C. Ryan, performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, spoke on NATO and trans-Atlantic security at the Brookings Institution's European Union Defense Washington Forum July 9, participating in the discussion via video from the Pentagon. Ryan also serves as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy. Russia and China already were conducting disinformation campaigns, but the pandemic only accelerated it, Ryan said, noting disinformation in the areas of medicine and diplomacy that were designed to "sway our populations away from commitments to security, commitments to the alliance and commitments to trans-Atlantic cooperation." Harmful foreign investment from authoritarian regimes that don't share democratic values has also been exposed, he said. Ownership of critical infrastructure by authoritarian regimes can result in that infrastructure becoming unavailable in a crisis, he added. Also, dependencies on supply chains that are unreliable have clear security ramifications are "very much on our mind in the Pentagon," Ryan said. Military readiness and resilience in NATO, while very important, aren't enough nations also need political, economic and information readiness and resilience, he said. One other area that needs to be improved, he said, is finding a way to merge law enforcement intelligence with military intelligence. Instead of confronting NATO's military directly, adversaries are conducting criminal activities that diminish trans-Atlantic security, he explained. At a meeting of NATO heads of state and government held in London in December, leaders reiterated their declaration that NATO is the indispensable forum for trans-Atlantic consultations on security and defense, Ryan said. "Those consultations drive decisions in specific areas [that] are absolutely critical for bringing Washington together with allies and partners, and even European Union members who are not NATO members, to move in an effective direction so we can defend consensus, sustain deterrence and be prepared to act in our own defense when necessary," he said. North America and Europe working together cooperatively can deal effectively with any malign influence coming from Russia or China, he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address According to the lawsuit, Mr. Iyer, one of the Brahmin engineers at Cisco, revealed to his other higher-caste colleagues that the complainant had joined a top engineering school in India through affirmative action. When the Dalit engineer, the lawsuit says, confronted Mr. Iyer and contacted Ciscos human resources to file a complaint, Mr. Iyer retaliated by taking away the Dalit engineers role as lead on two technologies. For two years, the lawsuit says, Mr. Iyer isolated the Dalit engineer, denied him bonuses and raises and stonewalled his promotions. Ciscos human resources department responded by telling the Dalit engineer that caste discrimination was not unlawful and took no immediate corrective action. Mr. Kompella, the other Brahmin manager named in the lawsuit, replaced Mr. Iyer as the Dalit engineers manager, and according to the suit, continued to discriminate, harass, and retaliate against him. In 2019, Cisco was ranked No. 2 on Fortunes 100 Best Workplaces for Diversity. The technology giant got away with ignoring the persistent caste discrimination because American laws dont yet recognize Hindu caste discrimination as a valid form of exclusion. Caste does not feature in Ciscos diversity practices in its operations in India either. It reveals how the Indian information technology sector often operates in willful ignorance of the terrifying realities of caste. In The Other One Percent: Indians in America, a 2016 study of people of Indian descent in the United States, the authors Sanjoy Chakravorty, Devesh Kapur and Nirvikar Singh estimated that over 90 percent of migrants came from high castes or dominant castes. According to a 2018 survey by Equality Labs, a Dalit-American led civil rights organization, 67 percent of Dalits in the Indian diaspora admitted to facing caste-based harassment at the workplace. In the backdrop of caste supremacy in the Indian diaspora in the United States, when higher-caste Hindus often describe and demonize Dalits as inherently lazy/ opportunistic/ not talented, even apparently innocuous practices like peer reviews for promotions (Cisco and several other tech companies operate on this model), can turn into minefields, ending in job losses and visa rejections for Dalits. Almost every Dalit person I spoke to in the United States, after California filed the lawsuit against Cisco, requested to remain anonymous and feared that revealing their identity as a Dalit working in the American tech industry filled with higher-caste Indians would ruin their career. Those words also governed my life until 2016, when I decided to publicly reveal my caste identity and come out as Dalit. Growing up passing as a dominant-caste person in India while hiding my untouchable, caste I lived in the same fear that stops most Dalits from articulating their harassment and asserting their identity in India and the United States. Germany's policy towards Ukraine and Russia will be a priority for the country during its six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said. He presented Berlin's priorities during the presidency of the EU Council, which began on July 1 and will last until the end of the year, at a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, July 13, Deutsche Welle reported. Maas recalled that within the European Union there is a "minimal consensus" in the policy towards Russia and it concerns the regular extension of sanctions. "I think we need more. [] That is why we want to prepare for a time when we can talk more intensively about strategic relations with Russia again. I think that needs to be prepared. That is why this is a topic we will address as part of our presidency of the Council of the EU," Maas said, adding that "a solution in Ukraine is needed" to change or restore the EU's strategic relations with Russia. He said that Normandy format negotiations on the implementation of the Minsk agreements and the Normandy Four summit agreements reached in Paris were progressing slowly. "Negotiations are not easy, progress is limited, but a solution in eastern Ukraine will be a prerequisite to talking about Russia within the EU," Maas said. In particular, he recalled that a complete ceasefire had not been reached. The Paris summit agreements on the disengagement of troops had also not been fulfilled. op A United States district court has ordered the Nigerian government and British Virgin Island engineering firm, P&ID, to hold a telephonic conference to determine whether a lingering document dispute can be resolved without court intervention. District Judge Lorna Schofield said that the parties should file a joint letter advising the court on the results of the meet and confer process. The new development is in relation to an alleged bribery scheme and subsequent $9.6 billion arbitral claim which the Nigerian government seeks to overturn. Last week, PREMIUM TIMES exclusively reported that Nigeria is locked in a fresh legal battle with the controversial British Virgin Island engineering firm, over the use of bank records obtained by the Nigerian authorities. Documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES showed the company requested a pre-motion discovery conference with the court in its bid to stop the Nigerian government from using certain information obtained from banks in the United States. In May, this newspaper reported how the Nigerian government demanded records of 60 companies and individuals from 10 banks in the United States, including Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., as part of its efforts to overturn the controversial $9.6 billion P&ID fine. Among the individuals whose bank records were being sought are a former Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan; his wife, Patience Jonathan; among others. Nigeria asked a federal court in New York for permission to subpoena information about transactions involving government officials who were in office when the state signed a contract with Process & Industrial Developments Ltd., and later became involved in a costly dispute with the company. P&ID in its claim said that Nigeria obtained a significant amount of discovery that is outside the scope of the subpoenas authorised by the Court. It requested a protective order requiring that Nigeria destroy and stop using or distributing this information, which it should never have obtained in the first place. It also requested an order that limits Nigerias use of any discovery obtained to the foreign proceedings for which Nigeria insisted that it was seeking discovery in certain criminal investigations and prosecutions in Nigeria. But Nigeria in its counter-application, among other requests, urged the court to reject P&IDs baseless application. Backstory The P&ID case became a full-blown crisis for Nigeria last August when a London judge ruled P&ID could enforce an arbitration tribunals 2017 ruling, now totaling $9.6 billion including interest, which found the country breached the agreement. Nigerias chances of annulling the giant penalty lie on proving the 2010 gas supply arrangement was a sham designed to fail by P&ID and government officials. An investigation by PREMIUM TIMES also revealed that the gas supply arrangement was designed to fail partly because the company had neither the expertise nor did the government put in place necessary mechanisms for its success. Fresh Order In its latest order, the court noted that if any disputes remain after the parties meet and confer, the parties shall file simultaneous letter briefs to the court. They are also expected to state their respective positions on how the court should dispose of the remaining document disputes. The letter briefs may be no greater than four pages, single spaced, court documents seen by PREMIUM TIMES said. The court also noted that Nigeria described a proposed protective order that is pending before the Court, adding that it must provide the docket number of the proposed order. In his response, Christopher Major, attorney to the Nigerian government disclosed that the docket number for the Proposed Stipulated Protective Order Between Applicants and Respondent JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., is ECF 21. In the letter directed to the court dated July 9, also seen by this newspaper, Nigerias attorney added that counsels for JPMorgan Chase Bank and Process and Industrial Developments Limited, were copied to the letter. The parties are expected to file simultaneous letter briefs detailing the outcome of their telephone conference on July 21, the judge said. Herge's fictional Inca has sparked a row between rival Belgian tourist attractions, each of which displays a mummy they say inspired Tintin's creator. The mummified corpse of Rascar Capac thrilled and terrified generations of young fans of the Tintin comic book story 'The Seven Crystal Balls'. The very serious Art and History Museum is in Brussels' Jubilee Park, near where Herge used to live, and he was known to frequent its collections. The museum's Andean mummy, squatting upright with knees bent, appears similar to the haunting effigy in the author's illustrated tale of the be-quiffed reporter Tintin's adventure. Curators thought they had established the link beyond doubt 10 years ago, but the Pairi Daiza safari park in southern Belgium is touting a rival mummy. The Art and History Museum's Andean mummy, squatting upright with knees bent, left, and the rival Inca mummy on display at the Pairi Daiza safari park in southern Belgium, right. Herge's fictional Inca has sparked a row between the rival Belgian tourist attractions, each of which displays a mummy they say inspired Tintin's creator The mummified corpse of Rascar Capac thrilled and terrified generations of young fans of the Tintin comic book story 'The Seven Crystal Balls' (pictured) Last week, the popular zoo began marketing an exhibit of the 'authentic mummy nicknamed Rascar Capac'. The royal museum is not taking this well, and has all but accused the zoo park of false advertising. 'We don't attract visitors by promising them pandas,' sniffed museum director general Alexandra de Poorter. The zoo has expressed regret over an 'argument started by the royal museums' but admits that 'no one can say for sure which mummy inspired Herge.' A visitor looks at an Inca mummy at the Pairi Daiza animal park in Brugelette, Belgium, on July 13, which the zoo claims it allegedly inspired Belgian cartoonist Herge for his character Rascar Capac, hero of the Tintin album 'The Seven Crystal Balls' If there is confusion, it dates back until at least 1979, when the 2,000-year-old preserved corpse now on display at the zoo appeared in Brussels at an exhibit titled 'Tintin's museum of the imagination'. The collection was assembled to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1929 release of the boy reporter's first book-length adventure, 'Tintin in the Land of the Soviets'. Author and illustrator Georges Remi - better known under his pen name Herge - attended the show, adding some credibility to the mummy's significance. But this, according to the Art and History Museum's curator of Latin American relics, Serge Lemaitre, was a mistake. The mummy in question had been bought by a Belgian collector in the 1960s, long after Herge published the 'Seven Crystal Balls' book in 1948. 'And in the first frames serialised in 1941 in the newspaper Le Soir, Rascar Capac was hairless and had very bent knees, just like our mummy,' Lemaitre says. Herge lived near the Jubilee Park - still a popular spot in Brussels' European quarter - and knew the museum and its curator Jean Capart well. Capart even seems to have been fictionalised as Professeur Bergamotte - or Professor Hercules Tarragon in the English-language version of 'The Seven Crystal Balls'. Serge Lemaitre, archaeologist and curator of the Americas collections at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels poses on July 13 during a interview about the Inca mummy that allegedly inspired Herge Not only that, but items drawn from other pieces in the museum's ethnographic collections have appeared in the Tintin tales, notably a Peruvian figurine that inspired its eponymous twin in 'The Broken Ear'. The museum is thus confident in its claim, but - as is often the case in a Tintin mystery - the plot may have a further twist, according to independent expert Philippe Goddin. 'We should stop arguing. Herge looked at lots of Inca mummies, but his first sketches of Rascar Capac are essentially based on a drawing in the Larousse dictionary,' he said. This is an explanation that will not suit anyone in Belgium, where tourist attractions have seized upon any Tintin link to exploit as a key draw. The drawing in the Larousse was based on a mummy brought back from Peru by the 19th-century French explorer Charles Wiener and is today in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release SubCategory Select Sub-Category The National Democratic Congress in the Savannah Region has observed that a majority of electoral officials selected by the Electoral Commission for the ongoing voter registration exercise are members of the New Patriotic Party. According to its Regional Communications Officer Malik Basintale, this criterion of selection has affected the output of the officers and should be checked by the EC: "More than 90% of persons recruited by the electoral commission in the Savannah region are NPP persons and have no skills in basic registration procedures. They keep goofing and are very slow in typing affecting once again the number of persons who register in a day." Mr. Malik disclosed this at a press conference organised by the NDC at Damongo the Savannah Regional Capital to brief the media about their observations on the ongoing voter registration exercise on Monday. He also alleged that some EC officials intentionally report late to the polling stations in some constituencies: "There has been a deliberate late arrival of Electoral commission officials to centers and an example was 3 days ago at Nyantan in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency, as at 11am the EC officials were yet to arrive at the center." Touching on the safety of the registrants, he noted that the EC has failed to apply the mandatory safety protocols at the registration centers across the region: "I am sure we already know in general the poor compliance to Covid-19 protocols at registration centers, Poor public education on registration exercise especially in the thick villages, poor public education on registration schedules among others are very common fallouts in this whole new register brouhaha amidst the huge sums of money taken by the Akufo-Addo led government for this exercise." Mr Malik further blasted the EC for the malfunctioning of some equipment used for the exercise. "All Electoral commission officials across the centers in the Bole-bamboi Constituency claimed they had no paper to do end of day print out for agents. They left data in the system and agents had to rely on what they had recorded personally at the centers. He also observed that some centres did not have standby power for their machines in the event of a power cut: "Some polling stations did not make provision for a generator and as such found it difficult to power their systems since their batteries couldn't last any long and an example is the Gbenfu polling station in Bole and other polling stations that had power did not have a common extension cord to get electricity from a short distance." Meanwhile he blamed the lack of adequate logistics by the EC for the low issuance of the new voters ID cards in the region indicating that officials were not able to reach the 100 or more target for a day of the exercise. "Due to that a total number of just 32 were registered at the end of the day." "Mandari EA Primarythey had only 56 people registered meaning they couldn't meet the daily target of 100 or more people." The NDC Savannah regional communications officer also took the Electoral Commission's officials on citing a lack of good work ethics. "At Nyantan in the Yapei-Kusawgu constituency, EC officials didn't report to work yesterday at all and for whatever reasons we don't know." He also alleged that some officials had to travel far to the registration centres wasting maximum amounts of time: "In the Salaga North constituency for example. Registration officials live in Tamale and have to travel every day for about 2 hours before getting to some polling stations making them extremely late to the various centers and as such reduces the number of persons who register in a day. However, he bemoaned that the impediments might undermine the entire process in the Savannah region: "These challenges if not addressed portends far-reaching implications for our electoral process and our democracy." CLEVELAND, Ohio -- As school districts across the state are advocate for money to establish a permanent solution to lack of student internet access, the Cleveland Indians and the Ohio 529 Plan, a tax-free college savings plan, donated $86,000 to narrow the gap. When schools abruptly closed in the spring, Clevelands digital divide became deeper as students without devices or internet access could not participate in online learning. The $64,000 donation by the Indians and the $22,000 donation by Ohio 529 provided more than 300 hotspots. The Indians also donated 50 used laptops from its front office. A lack of access to reliable high-speed Internet has been one of the biggest challenges our students have faced during this pandemic, said Cleveland schools CEO Eric Gordon in a press release. Without reliable access, students options for remote learning are limited. With support from the Cleveland Indians and Ohio 529, we can move closer to our goal of eliminating this barrier for them. Gordon recently said 40% of CMSD families do not have an internet connection, and the district is working with nonprofit partner DigitalC to provide internet access like a public utility. More education news: -- Cleveland Metropolitan School District releases basics for reopening, will finalize plan July 24 -- How are Cuyahoga County districts handling back to school amid coronavirus surge? See the list -- What to know about e-schools, as pandemic prompts more traditional schools to offer online programs -- Notre Dame College among six NEO schools approved for PPP loans Some Australians returning home from overseas have been left with little option but to book business class tickets, the ABC reports. During last nights 7.30 report, returning Australians claimed The National Cabinets decision to cut international arrivals from 6,500 per week to 4,000 per week, which came into effect yesterday, has caused panic among those about to come home. The new limit, designed to ease pressure on hotel quarantine, has allegedly led some airlines to cancel economy passengers bookings. Returning Australians like Jim Collins and his family, who have been trying to get home to Tasmania from the UK since March, have been affected by this. As Mr Collins told the ABC, Weve repeatedly tried to get flights And every time weve been able to do that, the flights have been cancelled. Mr Collins said his family were rebooked to fly to Sydney last week but their seats were cancelled. We were told that the flight had been cancelled But the flight actually went ahead. As best as I know, all economy passengers were cleared off the flight to make room, with a 50-person limit [for flights arriving at] Sydney Airport, for premium passengers only first class and business class, Mr Collins told the ABC. Mr Collins flew to the UK with his wife Cathy and their children in early March to visit family. Weve done everything we could within our financial means to get home, he said. Now it appears that its only if you can afford a first class ticket or a business class upgrade that youre being allowed in. Its not just visiting relatives either: Rebecca Halligan, a doctor from Adelaide who has been living in the UK for the past two years (and working in hospitals), told the ABC she had found herself in a similar dilemma. Dr Halligan told 7.30 she was unable to return any sooner because at the height of the crisis she was redeployed to treat COVID-19 patients in ICU. Initially I had booked a trip to Melbourne however that was cancelled with the increase in cases there. I was rebooked to Sydney and then a cap was introduced with only 50 passengers allowed per flight. I was called by the airline and told that they were prioritising business class passengers, Dr Halligan added. I couldnt afford to upgrade to business class so I was bumped off that flight. The airline then, Dr Halligan told the ABC, rebooked her on a flight to Perth, and offered her the chance to upgrade to The Pointy End. I had an offer to upgrade to a business class seat I thought, Ill just put this on my credit card so I can guarantee a spot which I know not everyone is in a position to do. The ABC did not name the airlines Dr Halligan and Mr Collins booked with. On Twitter, however, two members of the public one on the 3rd of July Hello, we apologize for the late reply. Allow us to check this further. Please DM your booking code or ticket number. Well be looking forward to your message. Qatar Airways Support (@qrsupport) July 5, 2020 and one from the 9th Just heard from a friend en route to Australia from U.S. that with flights limited to Sydney, Qatar Airways is only placing those who upgraded/paid for business class on those flights. Must be nice to be rich! Can you confirm this is your policy @qatarairways? Mike Kalenderian (@ItsMikeKay) July 8, 2020 question Qatar Airways (one of the few carriers still helping travellers get home on a significant international scale) over what appears to be the same phenomenon. DMARGE reached out to Qatar Airways to seek clarification. Qatar Airways responded: Due to the limitations on passengers travelling to Australian destinations, Qatar Airways analyses each flight on a case by case basis to ensure we facilitate onward travel to the final destination for as many passengers as possible. The passenger list is continually assessed and based on a range of criteria, including compassionate and medical requests, connecting flights, booking class, party size etc. We continue to work closely with our passengers to find alternative flights if they are unable to travel on their original intended flight. The ABC also interviewed Australian filmmaker Katy-May Hudson, who said if her flight later this week from the US to Australia is canned, her only option when getting another flight might be to book business class. The last time we checked, those [business class] flights were at $US24,000 ($34,500). Of the (overall) situation, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham has reportedly said, I know that [this] puts people in tough, tough circumstances right now, but equally the warning has been there for months now encouraging people to come home. If you wanted to come back you should have already come back in most circumstances. He also pointed out that the airlines are doing it tough right now. Some werent happy with the Ministers comments. Total bullshit from Simon Birmingham @Birmo Anyone that waited to come home did us a favour by not overloading the system in March/April. Journalists need to start challenging this plainly idiotic line pic.twitter.com/vhwEBGSiie Ben (@Ben_Mc1) July 13, 2020 Others quibbled over who had a reasonable complaint I think those who lived and worked overseas have a reasonable complaint. Far too many people that hopped on a cheap flight in mid March and are now stuck. Those are the whingers. Brian Beattie (@wineguybkk) July 13, 2020 and who didnt. Yeah, its all a mess. I can understand imposing the various restrictions, but then to turn around and try to blame it on the people stuck overseas is pretty shitty. By Any Other Name (@avalidreason) July 13, 2020 This all comes as the Morrison government is trying to reduce the number of arrivals, as Australia teeters with a potential second wave, by making returnees pay, in some cases $3,000, for their compulsory 14 day hotel quarantine (this will vary state by state). @JoshFrydenberg Thanks for nothin. As an Australian stuck overseas, who has religiously payed tax for 47 years, now faced with possibly losing everything, the government now intends to charge me if I can get home. Never asked for a handout so I dont qualify even as a veteran. piratesoul (@piratesoul3) July 13, 2020 It also comes after the Morrison government has suggested borders may remain closed until May 2021. News.com.au reports that since Australias international borders were closed in mid-March, more than 357,000 Australian citizens and permanent residents have returned amid the global coronavirus pandemic. If it wants to make sure those who need to can keep coming safely home, the Australian government must take a hard look at the airlines operating (and how those airlines are reacting to new Australian arrival rules), and how it can support them in bringing home passengers of all economic situations. Read Next The first Arab mission to Mars was due to launch on a Japanese rocket today, but has been delayed until Thursday due to adverse weather at the launch site. The probe, named Al-Amal, has been designed over the past six years as a way to stimulate the science and technology sector in the United Arab Emirates. It was due to leave from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 21:51 BST but will now leave on Thursday, July 16, at 21:43 BST, after adverse weather delayed the launch. The 2,970lb probe will take seven months to reach the Red Planet. When it gets there it will stay in orbit for a whole Martian year - 687 days. The mission has to launch by the middle of August, as after that date Mars and Earth will no longer be in alignment and the next opportunity will be in 2024. The 3,000lb (1,350kg) craft (pictured) will complete one orbit every 55 hours for a total of one Martian year 687 Earth days Three instruments mounted on the probe will provide a picture of Mars's atmosphere throughout the year and all of the data gathered will be made widely available. Also known as the Hope probe, the mission is one of three launching for the Red Planet this year - the others are from NASA and the Chinese space agency. The US and Chinese missions will see a rover land on the planet in a bid to search for signs of ancient or present Martian life and the UAE probe will study the atmosphere. The Hope probe has been developed almost entirely in-house by scientists in the UAE, with learning and partnership support from various international institutions. There are a number of instruments on the spacecraft that will give scientists a clearer picture of the Martian atmosphere and even how it lost most of its air. This includes an infrared spectrometer to measure the lower atmosphere and temperature, a high-resolution imager to study the ozone and another to look at levels of hydrogen and oxygen up to 27,000 miles from the surface. Understanding the atmospheres of other planets will allow for a better understanding of the Earth's climate, UAE Space Agency officials say. Sarah Amiri, deputy project manager of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Mars Mission talking about the voyage due to launch on Friday 17 UAE's Amal orbiter will have three sensors on-board to help astronomers learn more about Mars's climate Most Mars missions assess the geology of the planet, to try and understand its history and what made the world so barren, but this mission is different. Sensors which will help reveal the secrets of Mars's climate UAE's Amal orbiter will have three sensors on-board to help astronomers learn more about Mars's climate. One will be a high-resolution camera dedicated to tracking dust movements and the ozone of Mars. This will scan a range of light frequencies. Another device will specifically focus on infrared and was built by scientists at Arizona State University. This IR camera will measure both the upper and lower atmosphere. The third sensor will be an ultraviolet spectrometer for measuring oxygen and hydrogen levels. Advertisement Deputy project manager and minister for advanced sciences, Sarah al-Amiri, said Mars appears similar to Earth but has undergone major climate changes. He said this has happened to the point where it can no longer have water, one of the major building blocks of life, and understanding that could help the Earth. 'For instance, if there is a major dust storm on Mars does that increase the rates of escape of hydrogen and oxygen?' Officials hope that this mission, and ones that will follow, will open up opportunities for the youth of the UAE and cement its place as a globally influential country. There are currently only eight active Mars missions, and the UAE is hoping to join this exclusive club. NASA is sending its Mars 2020 mission to the Red Planet either later this month or early next month after a number of setbacks delayed the original launch. The mission, which includes the Perseverance rover, was due to leave for the Red Planet on July 17 but a number of issues meant this was delayed until 'no earlier than July 30'. However, due to the need to launch within a specific window, Mars 2020 has to launch no later than August 15 or it won't reach Mars, as it will no longer be in alignment with the Earth. Last week NASA packed up Perseverance and the other elements of the Mars 2020 mission into the nose cone that will get it out of Earth's atmosphere. It is launching on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in the coming weeks. No matter what day Perseverance lifts off during its July 30 to August 15 launch period, it will land in Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, according to officials. NASA says that by targeting landing for one specific date and time helps mission planners better understand lighting and temperature at the landing site. It also helps the location of Mars-orbiting satellites tasked with recording and relaying spacecraft data during its descent and landing. 'I have seen my fair share of spacecraft being lifted onto rockets,' said John McNamee, project manager for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission. 'But this one is special because there are so many people who contributed to this moment. To each one of them I want to say, we got here together, and we'll make it to Mars the same way.' NASA is sending its Mars 2020 mission to the Red Planet either later this month or early next month after a number of setbacks delayed the original launch. It has been loaded into the nose cone of the Atlas V rocket The mission, which includes the Perseverance rover, was due to leave for the Red Planet on July 17 but a number of issues meant this was eventually delayed to 'no earlier than July 30 No matter what day Perseverance lifts off during its July 30 to August 15 launch period, it will land in Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, according to officials NASA says that by targeting landing for one specific date and time helps mission planners better understand lighting and temperature at the landing site Like the Chinese mission, which is also due to launch this month for the Red Planet, Mars 2020 is tasked with studying the planet's geology and look for signs of life. China's mission to Mars, named Tianwen-1 (Questions to Heaven), will launch between July 20 and July 25 from Hainan. The probe will reach Mars around the same time as the NASA and UAE missions - February 2021 and will first enter Martian orbit before deploying a small rover. China made global headlines when it succeeded in landing a rover on the far side of the moon last year and says that was a 'practice mission' for Mars. The UAE has also had some space success before, having launched four earth observation satellites and sent its own astronaut, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, to the ISS. The next opportunity to head to the Red Planet after it goes out of alignment with the Earth in the middle of August will be 2024 For the mission to Mars the UAE said they wanted to make their data open and accessible in real time to the global scientific community. 'What is unique about this mission is that for the first time the scientific community around the world will have an holistic view of the Martian atmosphere at different times of the day at different seasons,' the mission's project manager Omran Sharaf. 'We have a strategy to contribute to the global effort in developing technologies and science work that will help one day if humanity decides to put a human on Mars.' The next opportunity to send missions to the Red Planet will be in 2024 when the European Space Agency will launch the Rosalind Franklin Rover as part of their ExoMars mission to search for signs of life. The ESA mission was due to launch this year but had to be postponed due to coronavirus lockdown measures in Europe making final tests difficult. T his year's Frieze London and Frieze Masters will not take place this year, it has been announced. The annual fairs, which take place in Regent's Park at the beginning of October, are among the most important events in the art world calendar and signal a blow to its recovery. The great and good from major institutions to commercial galleries come together from around the world at the fairs, which are seen by many as one of the best opportunities to the take the temperature of the contemporary art market. A spokesperson for Frieze said that the decision to cancel this years fair was made in light of continued unprecedented challenges regarding COVID-19, following an extended period of consultation. In lieu of the festival, an online viewing room will run in October. The spokesperson said they are looking forward to celebrating Frieze Week throughout London. Beyond the two fairs, Frieze has also come to refer to the range of arts events and exhibition openings that take place across the city in the same week. Galleries and museums see the first week of October as crucial, knowing that influential art figures will be travelling to London from across the globe. Frieze was forced to go digital earlier in the year when its New York edition was cancelled in May, replaced with online viewing rooms, talks and 200 galleries taking part. Last years Frieze London brought 160 galleries together from 35 countries to exhibit, making it the most wide-reaching edition to date. Sales on individual pieces were made up to $5 million, with artworks entering both important private and international museum collections. Works by Philip Guston, William Kentridge, Kerry James Marshall and joint-Turner Prize winner Oscar Murillo were among the sales. Torontos projected $1.9-billion COVID-19 deficit has been reduced by $513.7 million in savings on wages, fuel, and services like crossing guards for school children, but unless other governments step up with emergency funding, cuts to programs and services will have to begin within weeks, Mayor John Tory said Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference at city hall, Tory pointed out that he and mayors in other cities have been lobbying for emergency funding from other levels of government since April. He called on the federal government to launch a national program for cities hard hit by costs incurred fighting the pandemic. Toronto has experienced both a surge in costs for things like procuring additional shelter space for the homeless, supplying personal protective equipment to staff on the front lines, and overtime. Meanwhile, it has experienced a drop in revenue from services like the TTC. We are working to find savings wherever we can, said Tory. Without funding from the provincial and the federal governments, Toronto will have to make deep cuts to programming or significantly raise taxes, Tory has said. On Tuesday, he said cuts will have to start by the end of summer if they are to have the required impact on the city budget. We dont have the luxury of time, the time is now, said Tory. At Queens Park, Premier Doug Ford said he agrees a national strategy is required and he and other premiers are in talks with the federal government. Were working very well with the federal government and talking to the deputy prime minister every day almost, Ford said, of Chrystia Freeland. Were very, very close, by the way, to getting this deal. Hopefully, by the end of this week, myself and all the other premiers will agree with the deal. The interim report on Torontos finances, released on Tuesday, details how much the pandemic has cost the city to May 31 and estimates what it is likely to cost by the end of the year. It also outlines where money has been saved. In all, $513.7 million in cost savings were realized, including reduced spending on wages after 9,980 staff were placed on emergency leave and planned hiring including summer hiring was reduced. It also helped that before the pandemic hit, the money flowing into city coffers from the municipal land transfer tax was higher than anticipated $34.1 million higher. However, the income from that tax is expected to be lower in subsequent quarters as a result of a reduction in home sales during the pandemic. Revenue losses will contribute to significant shortfalls at agencies in 2020, including at the TTC ($700 million) and Exhibition Place ($15.4 million). Revenues at the Toronto Parking Authority are expected to drop a total of $96.4 million. A drop in revenue from tickets and partial suspension of collection activities due to COVID-19, will result in a $14.7-million expense in court services. The city expects to save $30.1 million on Wheel Trans services and lose $5.8 million in revenue from licences and permits, after offsetting for savings in employee salaries and benefits. The report is predicting cost overruns in shelter, support and housing of $185.2 million in 2020 as the city strives to maintain physical distancing measures throughout the shelter system; $17.6 million in cost overruns in seniors services and long-term care related to COVID-19 prevention and containment measures; and additional costs of $11.4 million in technology services, related to enabling city-wide staff to telework. The Toronto Zoo is expected to lose $14.6 million. The report further notes that the federal government has not yet responded to a pre-pandemic request for $77 million to cover the citys response to incoming refugees in 2020, which is needed to balance the 2020 budget. Municipal budgets are required by law to balance and not run deficits. The new pandemic-related shortfall in Toronto for 2020 is now estimated at $1.35 billion or 11.6 per cent of the 2020 operating budget. While the number of new COVID-19 infections in Toronto has recently dropped to about 40 a day, Tory cautioned that the deficit could be greater if there is a second wave of infections. The city manager will report to council later this month and again in September on what cuts will have to be made if other governments dont follow through with funding. With files from Jennifer Pagliaro and Robert Benzie Francine Kopun is a Toronto-based reporter covering city hall and municipal politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @KopunF On Saturday, July 18, the Islamic Center of Midland will be providing a free lunch to volunteer workers and those who suffered flood damage in Sanford. All salads and desserts will be prepared by members of the Center. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in front of Red Oak restaurant at 322 W. Saginaw Road, Sanford. For this all-American outdoor picnic, drive up to the location, place your order, and food will be delivered to your car. Those who will be walking up rather than driving to the serving area, are asked to wear a mask. The menu will include hot dogs, baked beans, taco salad, macaroni salad and a choice of mini-cheesecakes or truffles for dessert. Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Dr. Brandi Jackson, a psychiatrist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said the COVID-19 pandemic has been her most difficult period as a psychiatrist. With an uptick in anxiety and depression in her primarily Black clientele, she's seeing patients who have been clean for years relapsing on drugsand citing the coronavirus as pushing them over the line. Health disparities were prevalent in the Black community before COVID-19. Life expectancy for residents on the North Shore was 30 years longer, on average, than that for residents of Englewood. Suicide attempts that were self-reported by Black teens have spiked since 1991, even as their peers in other groups have experienced a downward trend or remained unchanged, according to a study by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Another study found that Black teens experience several forms of racial discrimination each day, which can lead to short-term depression. All this research was conducted before the pandemic. Now with COVID-19 hitting Black communities extra hard and the added stressor of social injustice (George Floyd, police brutality, et al.), Jackson believes we're only seeing a small fraction of what the real mental health fallout will be, especially in the Black community. "I know there's resilience in the Black community, but this is something new for us," she said. "We were already at a breaking point, but the recent police violence is just an extra reminder of what we always knew to be present and has never gone away. That's hit me really hard." Jackson, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Rush who teaches health equity and social justice, and is director of Rush's community psychiatry fellowship, spends half of her week at the hospital and the other half at Heartland Alliance Health in Englewood. Before COVID-19, she said, when she was seeing patients in person, the no-show rate was about 40% to 50%, but now clients rarely, if ever, miss appointments. Dr. Olusola Ajilore, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a researcher with UIC's Center on Depression and Resilience, and licensed clinical professional counselor TeraKesha Hammond, say they, too, have seen an increase in clients calling, and even friends calling for resources. Hammond, a Chatham-based mental health professional (Ascend Counseling & Wellness, Inc.), said more Black men are seeking her help in finding a Black therapist. For clients wanting a practitioner who looks like them, Ajilore recommends going to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)'s website. It has a section dedicated to resources for the Black community. With such a small number of Black mental health professionals, he said, looking on a national scale may yield better results than having to stay local. "I think, in Chicago, we've always been under-resourced for mental health access," Hammond said. "I think the disadvantage for Black people is that our mental health had already been compromised. You think about systemic racism and unemployment before COVID-19 happened, and now we're compounded by the pandemic." The workload has led Jackson to take up cooking as a hobby, to maintain her own mental health. She said she's cried more than ever before, seeing her people decimated by the pandemic and what she considers a lack of the proper response from the larger medical community. Jackson said the Trump administration was pressuring states to reopen after statistics showed that minorities were disproportionately affected by the coronavirus. "The feeling is: 'They know that it's us who are dying, and they're going to start reopening.'" she said. "I don't have a counterargument for that ... treating some lives as disposable and treating the economy as more important." According to Jackson, now is the time for mental health to become more mainstreama change in policies with real money backing those policies could bring real change in mental health strategy that encompasses the most vulnerable. "The fact is racism was baked into systems and policies, so I think that which has been done intentionally must be undone intentionally at the right level of policy," Jackson said. "This is basic 101 critical race theory: how to dismantle health inequities." Jackson and her twin sister, Dr. Brittani James, a family medicine practitioner on the city's South Side, are being vocal about systemic racism found in the medical field with their new site, The Institute for Antiracism in Medicine, a space where they write essays about their views of racism. Years ago, the pair created Medlikeme.com, a free online community that supports and inspires those who are traditionally underrepresented in the field of health care. "There's a rich literature showing that Black patients who come for mental health services cannot receive the same level of care as nonminority groups," Jackson said. "In a nutshell, African Americans who come in complaining of textbook symptoms of mood disorders are less likely to get that diagnosis when they walk out. If they're lucky to get any diagnosis, they get some kind of minor treatment. If not, they get sent home and told to go to church. "There's also a higher incidence of Black people getting diagnosed with things like schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, and they'll get these diagnoses that almost have a violent undertone to them. If you take that as the state of affairs before COVID-19 and you put them in a system that doesn't even see them and diagnose them properly, it's a recipe of injustice and a recipe for disaster. To me, it all ties togetherthe police brutality, all this stuffbecause the nut of it is you have all these people that are treated as less than human, and that changes the way you diagnose them; it changes the medicines that you choose for them." Ajilore said one way to prioritize mental health and improve accessibility is through telemedicine. He's been a proponent, even before the pandemic hit. And now that some boundaries have been relaxed, he's advising patients to use it. (At least one local endeavor has been put in place with Call 4 Calm, a free emotional support text line that lets you speak to a mental health professional during these uncertain times. There's also a Black Mental Health Directory for those in the Chicago area. ) "Telepsychiatry is an approach to bridging that gap," he said. "I know of a company based in California, Ayana Therapy, and it's designed to provide online mental health therapy for minority populations with therapists from the same background as the clients that they serve. I think you'll see more and more of those as the ability to treat people across state lines becomes more available through teletherapy." Hammond believes telehealth has broadened mental health opportunities for those who might not easily access therapy. "People will go to the doctor, take medication for diabetes or high blood pressure or cholesterol, but as soon as you start talking about mental health, you're crazy," she said. "But we should not be separating our mental health from our physical health. It's all a part of our health." Explore further Religion may offer protective role for black adolescent boys who experience police abuse 2020 Chicago Tribune Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Denton said it was his idea to target the ProPublica reporter who had exposed him and others as part of Atomwaffen, calling in threats to the organizations New York office and the journalists California home. The office had to be evacuated, and the reporter and his wife were both detained by police in front of their young child. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 23:48:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on March 21, 2019 shows Isimba hydro-dam, a hydropower project on the Victoria Nile in Kayunga, Uganda. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) China is playing a major role in the energy infrastructure development in Uganda as the country strives to fast-track economic development, a new report issued here on Monday showed. KAMPALA, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China is playing a major role in the energy infrastructure development in Uganda as the country strives to fast-track economic development, a new report issued here on Monday showed. An annual report by Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA), a state owned agency, showed that China is financing construction of hydropower plants and power evacuation lines in the East African country. During the year under review 2018/19, construction of Chinese financed 183 MW-Isimba Hydropower Plant was completed and commissioned. The commissioning of the 566-million-U.S. dollar power plant largely contributed to the increase of the total power generated in the country to 1,176.6MW from 953.8 MW, according to the report. "Perhaps the greatest milestone this financial year (2018/19) was the commissioning of the 183 MW Isimba Hydropower Plant at the border of Kayunga and Kamuli districts," Ziria Tibalwa Waako, chief executive of ERA said in the report. "The Isimba plant is truly testimony that public-private-partnerships are a crucial building block towards sustainable electricity supply," she added. The power plant was financed by the Export-Import Bank of China (85 percent) and Ugandan government (15 percent). Photo taken on March 21, 2019 shows Isimba hydro-dam, a hydropower project on the Victoria Nile in Kayunga, Uganda. (Xinhua/Zhang Gaiping) According to the report, power generated by Isimba will be sold at U.S. cents 4.16/kWh (from year 1 to year 15) and cents 1.01/ kWh (after year 15), making it the cheapest in the country, with the exception of the power from the 380 megawatts Nalubaale-Kiira Generation Complex. China is also financing the construction of the 600MW Karuma Hydropower Plant. The project, which is in its final stages, will substantially increase the power generated in the country, according to the report. The report showed that the Export-Import Bank of China is also financing the 248km, 400kV power evacuation lines from the Karuma power plant to Kawanda, near the capital Kampala. Chinese construction company, Sino Hydro was contracted to construct the transmission line. China is also financing a feasibility study of the construction of the 10km, 400kV Ayago-Karuma Interconnection Project. The line is expected to evacuate power from the proposed 680MW Ayago Hydropower Project. BARCELONA (Reuters) - Two Algerian men were detained in an anti-terrorism raid in Spain's second largest city Barcelona on Tuesday morning, police said. The two Algerians were part of a cell, under investigation since 2017, which was planning an attack with explosives in Barcelona, the regional Catalan police said in a statement, adding that the cell had now been fully disbanded. "The investigation has allowed us to identify the areas in which the terrorist cell had planned to act, as well as determine that the group had already begun to gain capacity on how to make explosive devices and how to obtain the war weapons they needed to carry out their attack," police said. The activities of jihadist groups remain a top priority for police in Spain after Islamist militants used a van to hit pedestrians in Barcelona's Las Ramblas boulevard in August 2017 and carried out a follow-up attack in another municipality, killing 16 people in total. In May, police arrested a Moroccan man in Barcelona with suspected links to Islamic State who they believed was planning a militant attack. A total of 16 suspected jihadist fighters have been arrested in Spain from the start of the year until July 5th, according to data from the interior ministry. (Reporting by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo and Joan Faus; Editing by Ingrid Melander, William Maclean) FLORENCE, S.C. First Bank Foundation has awarded $34,500 to area nonprofits this month as part of its commitment to Pee Dee communities. John Long, the executive vice president of First Bank, said that the bank is very proud to give back to the Pee Dee. The donations are part of the banks Service Excellence and service to local communities. For over 20 years, the First Bank Foundation has given back to the communities we serve, Long said. The money we are able to donate to these charities to support their missions is a direct reflection of the increased value of our stock. Thank you to our loyal customers who have supported us over the years, which has allowed us to give back and support these programs that make such a huge impact locally. It is truly an honor to be able to do so. Night Curfew in Maharashtra: Check guidelines, rules; what is allowed, what is not allowed Varavara Rao taken to JJ Hospital in Mumbai India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Mumbai, July 14: Poet and activist Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has been taken to the state-run J J Hospital here after he complained of dizziness, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Rao, 80, has been behind bars for almost two years and lodged at the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai. The activist and his family members have claimed he is unwell since sometime, and sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care. Group of 2,000 citizens urge for release of Varavara Rao "Rao was taken to the J J Hospital on Monday night after he felt dizzy. The hospital is conducting a few tests on him, the activist's advocate R Satyanarayan Iyer said. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News On Monday, Rao filed two petitions in the Bombay High Court, seeking temporary bail owing to his deteriorating health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital. Raos family members on Sunday sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care and claimed that when the veteran activist, who hails from Telangana, contacted them last week he was in a "delirious state and hallucinating". Rao has been in jail for about 22 months and had earlier approached the special NIA court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation. On June 26, the NIA court rejected his plea on the ground that he has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), following which he moved the high court. Rao and nine other activists have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, which was initially probed by the Pune Police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January this year. The case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial. The police have also claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. Two former private school teachers have been accused of working together to groom young girls more than 30 years ago. The men, now aged 68 and 72, allegedly assaulted two girls, who were then aged between 14 and 16, at a school in Perth's metropolitan area. Some of the assaults happened on school grounds, police allege. The men, who are married with their own children, were teaching at the school during the alleged offences which police say took place between 1982 and 1986. Two former Perth private school teachers have been accused of sexually assaulting two female students (stock image) Detective Sergeant Roberta Richardson of the Child Abuse Squad said one victim came forward in March and others have since made complaints. 'They didn't abuse the same girl. But they did work in conjunction with each other as far as grooming the girls,' she said. 'Some of the offences did occur on the school grounds, and some offences occurred in the Perth metropolitan area. 'We believe they did work in conjunction with each other, but they didn't abuse the same girl at the same time.' The men left the school in 1988 with one going on to teach at another private school and the other working in private enterprise. The men were hit with a string of charges after police raided their homes and seized items that were 'quite significant' to the investigation. The 72-year-old living in White Gum Valley was charged with three counts of indecent assault and one count of carnal knowledge of a female under 17 by a guardian. The 68-year-old man from Mosman Park was charged with one count of rape. Both former teachers are due to face court on July 28. Regulatory News: Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) ("PSH") today announced that it has purchased, through PSH's agent, Jefferies International Limited ("Jefferies"), the following number of PSH's Public Shares of no par value (ISIN Code: GG00BPFJTF46) (the "Shares"): Trading Venue: London Stock Exchange Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 14 July 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 38,117 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 1,934 pence 24.25 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 1,904 pence 23.87 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 1,926 pence 24.15 USD Trading Venue: Euronext Amsterdam Ticker: PSH Date of Purchase: 14 July 2020 Number of Public Shares purchased: 9,804 Shares Highest Price Paid Per Share: 24.25 USD Lowest Price Paid Per Share: 23.90 USD Average Price Paid Per Share: 24.12 USD PSH will hold these Public Shares in Treasury. The net asset value per Public Share related to this buyback is 34.64 USD 27.63 GBP which was calculated as of 7 July 2020 (the "Relevant NAV"). After giving effect to the above buyback, PSH has 195,047,936 Public Shares outstanding, or 200,984,260 Public Shares calculated on a fully diluted basis (assuming that all Management Shares had been converted into Public Shares at the Relevant NAV). Excluded from the shares outstanding are 15,908,814 Public Shares held in Treasury. The prices per Public Share were calculated by Jefferies. The number of PSH Management Shares and the one special voting share (held by PS Holdings Independent Voting Company Limited) have not been affected. About Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. (LN:PSH) (LN:PSHD) (NA:PSH) is an investment holding company structured as a closed-ended fund that makes concentrated investments principally in North American companies. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714006006/en/ Contacts: Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees Hazel Stevenson +44 020 3757 4989, media-pershingsquareholdings@camarco.co.uk Parking is at a premium on Perths northern shores, it seems. And it is parking or rather, a lack of it which ultimately led a Joint Development Assessment Panel to refuse plans for a four-storey apartment block where popular Trigg cafe Yelo currently sits, on the corner of West Coast Drive and Bennion Street. Plans for the site of Trigg's popular Yelo cafe have been knocked back by a Joint Development Assessment Panel. Credit:Momentum Wealth The panel handed down its verdict on Monday after hearing more than a dozen presentations over the contentious patch of beachfront land. The plans, from developer Momentum Wealth, had already come before the panel in May and were recommended for refusal, but a decision was bumped back another six weeks for several issues to be addressed parking shortfalls chief among them. Rating Action: Moody's places the ratings of NCL on review for downgrade Global Credit Research - 14 Jul 2020 New York, July 14, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") placed the ratings of NCL Corporation Ltd. ("NCL") on review for downgrade including the company's Ba2 Corporate Family Rating, Ba2-PD Probability of Default Rating, Ba2 senior secured rating and B1 senior unsecured rating. The company's Speculative Grade Liquidity rating of SGL-3 is unchanged. "The review for downgrade will focus on NCL's recovery prospects in 2021 given the recent resurgence in coronavirus cases in certain states increasing the uncertainty around the reopening of the US and the company's plans for the eventual return to service of its US operations, including what precautions will be put in place when sailings do resume and the associated incremental costs," stated Pete Trombetta, Moody's lodging and cruise analyst. On Review for Downgrade: ..Issuer: NCL Corporation Ltd. .... Probability of Default Rating, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba2-PD .... Corporate Family Rating, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba2 ....Senior Secured Bank Credit Facility, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba2 (LGD3) ....Senior Secured Regular Bond/Debenture, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba2 (LGD3) ....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently B1 (LGD6) Outlook Actions: ..Issuer: NCL Corporation Ltd. ....Outlook, Changed To Rating Under Review From Negative RATINGS RATIONALE / FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS NCL's credit profile is supported by its market position as the third largest ocean cruise operator worldwide, as well as its well-known brand names -- Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, as well as the strong performance of its new ships in terms of pricing and bookings relative to its other ships which enables the company to compete against larger rivals across all its price points. Moody's view that over the long run, the value proposition of a cruise vacation relative to land-based destinations as well as a group of loyal cruise customers supports a base level of demand once health safety concerns have been effectively addressed. In the short run, NCL's credit profile will be dominated by the length of time that cruise operations continue to be highly disrupted and the resulting impacts on the company's cash consumption and its liquidity profile. The normal ongoing credit risks include its high leverage, the highly seasonal and capital intensive nature of cruise companies and the cruise industry's exposure to economic and industry cycles, weather incidents and geopolitical events. Story continues The rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak, deteriorating global economic outlook, and asset price declines are creating a severe and extensive credit shock across many sectors, regions and markets. The combined credit effects of these developments are unprecedented. The cruise sector has been one of the sectors most significantly affected by the shock given its sensitivity to consumer demand and sentiment. More specifically, the weaknesses in NCL's credit profile, including its exposure to ongoing travel restrictions and consumer's health safety concerns have left it vulnerable to shifts in market sentiment in these unprecedented operating conditions and the company remains vulnerable to the outbreak continuing to spread. We regard the coronavirus outbreak as a social risk under our ESG framework, given the substantial implications for public health and safety. Prior to the ratings being placed on review for downgraade the factors that could lead to a downgrade include; operations being suspended for longer than our base case assumption or updated expectations for a weaker recovery, that results in debt/EBITDA remaining above 4.0x or EBITA/interest is below 4.5x over the next two years. Any deterioration in liquidity could also cause negative rating pressure. Given the review for downgrade an upgrade is unlikely in the short term, however longer term ratings could be upgraded if debt/EBITDA and EBITA/interest expense improved to below 3.75x and above 4.5x, respectively. NCL Corporation Ltd., headquartered in Miami, FL, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Ltd. Norwegian operates 28 cruise ships with approximately 59,150 berths under three brand names; Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises. Net revenues were about $5.0 billion for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019. The principal methodology used in these ratings was Business and Consumer Service Industry published in October 2016 and available at https://www.moodys.com/research/Business-and-Consumer-Service-Industry--PBC_1037985. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology. 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. Peter Trombetta Asst Vice President - Analyst Corporate Finance Group 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 Margaret Taylor Associate Managing Director Corporate Finance 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 2020 Moody's Corporation, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Moody's Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, "MOODY'S"). All rights reserved. CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE, INC. AND/OR ITS CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE MOODY'S CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S (COLLECTIVELY, "PUBLICATIONS") MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE MOODY'S RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS ("ASSESSMENTS"), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODY'S ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER. ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODY'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK. All information contained herein is obtained by MOODY'S from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODY'S is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODY'S. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information. NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODY'S IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER. Moody's Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Corporation ("MCO"), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moody's Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $2,700,000. MCO and Moody's investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moody's Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading "Investor Relations Corporate Governance Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy." Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODY'S affiliate, Moody's Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moody's Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to "wholesale clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODY'S that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a "wholesale client" and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to "retail clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODY'S credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors. Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. ("MJKK") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moody's Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moody's SF Japan K.K. ("MSFJ") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO"). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively. MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY125,000 to approximately JPY250,000,000. MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. HOLYOKE A man was shot to death in the downtown area late Monday night. Police were called to the area of 56 Suffolk St., which is across from the School Department offices, at about 10 p.m. to find a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound, Mayor Alex B. Morse said. The man, whose name has not been released, was brought to a local hospital by ambulance and died later, he said. Morse said he was notified about the homicide early Tuesday by Police Chief Manuel Febo and had limited information about the death. Police have referred all questions to Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gullunis Office. Officials there did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The homicide is being investigated by Holyoke Police with Massachusetts State Police detectives assigned to Gullunis office. Anyone with information about the shooting or who may have taken video of any suspicious activity around the time of his death is asked to call police at 413-322-6900. This is the third homicide in Holyoke this year. The first two occurred within days of each other in early January. On Jan 9 Jesus Otero Marrero, 21, of Holyoke, was killed and his body was found the next day in an alleyway off South Bridge Street. Jean Carlos Rivera, 30, of Holyoke, has been charged with murder in his death and Merkin Andrade, 30, of Holyoke was charges as an accessory. On Jan. 11 Racquese Wright, 21, of Springfield was killed on Sargeant Street. Police continue to investigate his homicide. . Representative Image (REUTERS/Jayanta Dey) Unemployment in rural India has fallen to a four-month low of 6.34 percent, as economic activity resumes in a phased manner. Rural unemployment rate was 6.34 percent during the week that ended on July 12, the lowest since the 6.07 percent rate recorded during the week that ended on March 15, according to data from the Centre of Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). CMIE data also indicates that area sown under kharif crops was 58 million hectares as of July 10, 44.1 percent higher than the level recorded during the same period last year. "The cooling-off of rural unemployment is due to expanding farming activities, aggressive MGNREGA push, and the gradual return of migrants to their ex-employers," said KR Shyam Sundar, a labour economist and professor at XLRI Jamshedpur said as per a report by Mint. "But one must realise that this improvement in rural employment scenario is institutionalising informality. The job loss in the formal sector, the layoffs that we are witnessing, is leading to self-employment and other odd works, including agricultural work," Sundar added. He is of the view that unemployment in urban India will continue to "remain stubborn". Unemployment levels had seen a sharp increase across the country after the lockdown was imposed on March 24, since most economic activity was halted. The unemployment rate is now moving closer to pre-lockdown levels after gradual resumption of economic activity. In April and May, the rural unemployment rate was slightly higher than 22 percent, while overall unemployment was above 23 percent, according to CMIE data. Overall unemployment in June recovered, declining to 10.99 percent, while rural unemployment was 10.52 percent and the number for urban areas was 12.02 percent. During the week ended July 12, unemployment rate across India was 7.44 percent, while in urban areas it was 9.92 percent. But nearly a year after its initial debut, one of Honda's most popular crossovers has yet to make it across the Pacific to the Philippines. Fortunately, the wait might be almost over as Honda Cars Thailand just launched the 2021 CR-V. This could mean that it won't be long before the updated CR-V finally makes its way to the Philippine market. After all, Thailand has been a barometer for the Philippines for quite some time now. The refreshed Honda CR-V has already been on sale for quite some time now, in North America, that is. Those in North America have been enjoying the updated model as early as September 2019. It saw a host of subtle design updates inside and out, along together with a new hybrid-powertrain under the hood. As reported back in February, the updated CR-V launched in Thailand looks very much like its North American counterpart. The changes are very subtle, to say the least. Upfront, the most visible change is the new bumper which features more black cladding, giving the crossover a bolder look. It is complemented by a new black grille. Though hard to tell, the headlights do appear to have been updated as well. The changes are even less obvious over at the back. The ones that pop out are the dark-tinted LED taillights, chrome trim on the tailgate, and more chrome bits on the bumper. New 17- and 18-inch wheels (depending on trim level), and a new color Cosmic Blue round up the exterior changes made to the 2021 CR-V. Depending on the variant, it can also come with a panoramic sunroof. Inside, the cabin has been mostly carried over from the pre-facelift model with a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system front and center. In Thailand (and even in the Philippines) it will be still available in both 5- and 7- seat layout. Honda has added auto-dimming rearview mirrors and a wireless charger. To give the cabin a more premium feel, the seats are now upholstered in black leather. Piano black trim with wood grain material further enhances the more upscale interior. Possibly the most helpful upgrades on 2021 CR-V are the new safety features. Honda Sensing is now available on the updated model, including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, lane departure warning, and collision mitigation braking system to name a few. Honda Connect has also been integrated into the updated model. Hopefully, these safety features make it over to the Philippines. Under the hood, the engines have been carried over. Unfortunately, the hybrid-powertrain offered in the North American market will not be available in the South East Asian market. Instead, Honda Thailand only offers the 1.6-liter i-DTEC inline-four turbo-diesel engine and a 2.4-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder gasoline engine. The diesel motor produces 160 PS with 350 Nm torque, is paired to a nine-speed automatic transmission, and is available only in 4WD. Meanwhile, the 2.4-liter gasoline engine has a max output of 173 PS and 224 Nm of torque and can come in both 2WD and 4WD. As for the PH-spec engines, we won't be surprised if the HCPI decides to carry-over the 120 PS/320 Nm version of the 1.6-liter turbo-diesel and the 2.0-liter gasoline inline-four. Of course, it would be nice if we got the uprated 1.6-liter turbodiesel. With the 2021 CR-V launched in Thailand, we now have a glimpse of what we will be getting in the Philippines. We might not have to wait too long before Honda Cars Philippines digitally launches the popular crossover in the country. Credit: CC0 Public Domain Doctors in France have described what they said was the first confirmed case of a newborn infected in the womb with COVID-19 by the mother. The baby boy, born in March, suffered brain swelling and neurological symptoms linked to COVID-19 in adults, but has since recovered, they reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Earlier research had pointed to the likely transmission of the virus from mother to foetus, but the study offers the first solid evidence, said senior author Daniele De Luca, a doctor at Antoine Beclere Hospital near Paris. "We have shown that the transmission from the mother to the foetus across the placenta is possible during the last weeks of pregnancy," he said. Last week, researchers in Italy said that data on 31 pregnant women hospitalised with COVID-19 "strongly suggested" that the virus could be passed on to unborn infants. A JAMA study in March reporting on a similar number of pregnant COVID-19 patients came to a similar conclusion. But evidence remained circumstantial. "You need to analyse maternal blood, amniotic fluid, the newborn's blood, the placenta, et cetera," De Luca said by phone. "Getting all of these samples during a pandemic with emergencies everywhere has not been easy. This is why it has been suspected but never demonstrated." De Luca and his team pulled together this data for the case of a pregnant woman in her twenties admitted to his hospital in early March. Because the baby was delivered by caesarean section, all of the potential sources and reservoirs of the virus remained intact. The concentration of SARS-CoV-2, the technical name given to the virus, was highest in the placenta, the researchers found. "From there it passed through the umbilical cord to the baby, where it develops," De Luca said. "That is the pathway of transmission." 'Bad news' The baby began to develop severe symptoms 24 hours after birth, including severe rigidity of the body, damage to white matter in the brain, and extreme irritability. But before doctors could settle on a course of treatment, the symptoms began to recede. Within three weeks, the newborn had almost fully recovered on his own. Three months later, his mother is without symptoms. "The bad news is that this actually happened, and can happen," De Luca said. "The good news is that it is rarevery rare compared to the global population." Among the thousands of babies born to mothers with COVID-19, no more than one or two percent have tested positive for the virus, and even fewer show serious symptoms, said Marian Knight, a professor of maternal and child population health at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the research. "The most important message for pregnant women remains to avoid infection through paying attention to hand washing and social distancing measures," she said. Others said the case study shed light on how the virus passes from mother to child. "This report adds knowledge to a possible mechanism of transfer to the baby, via the placenta," commented Andrew Shennan, a professor of obstetrics at King's College London. "But women can remain reassured that pregnancy is not a significant risk factor for them or their babies with COVID-19." Explore further Study suggests fetal coronavirus infection is possible 2020 AFP Corpus Christi officials are asking people from San Antonio and other Texas cities to stay away from the coastal community as it battles a wave of COVID-19 infections. "I'm going to do something that I never thought ever in my life I would say. I'm going to ask Texans to give us some coastal distance," Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales said Monday. The county reported four new deaths and 253 new cases on Monday, bringing the total counts to 58 and 6,427, respectively. Canales noted that people who own homes in the area have a right to be there but asked day-trippers to "think about coming when we're not in crisis." READ MORE: In Texas beach city, out-of-towners drove in an outbreak "I am personally going to reach out to Harris County, San Antonio, Bexar County, Dallas, and everybody in between that loves to come to the coast," she said. "I know why we love it too. On any other normal summer, we would welcome you with our open arms and thank you profusely for helping us. But our survival right now and the health of our hospitals depend on this coastal distancing. "When the coast is clear, we're going to let you know. We're going to have you come back, spend your money, enjoy everything thats wonderful about South Texas beaches. But right now we need to level off." A federal team of ICU nurses and respiratory therapists has been deployed to Christus Spohn Shoreline to assist the hospital's response. County officials also requested a FEMA mobile morgue unit (a refrigerated trailer) and body bags from the state. On Monday, Canales said that she was disappointed by videos of gatherings, packed beaches and bar fights over the weekend. She pointed to a New York Times story about the crisis in Corpus Christi, saying that the community made national headlines "for all the wrong reasons." Annette Rodriguez, the public health director for Corpus Christi, described the community spread to the newspaper. "I know because they would say to the contact tracers, Oh, I was at the beach and some girls from San Antonio told us at the end of the night that they had COVID,'" Rodriguez said. "'And we shared a bottle.'" MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- CMA, a full-service communications, marketing and association management firm, announced today that it will help a group of Mercer County, New Jersey, nonprofits stamp out hunger and homelessness in the Greater Trenton area. A subset of the Trenton Social Impact Group (TSIG), which is a consortium of 25 Mercer County-based nonprofits, will participate in the digital marketing campaign. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated a present and persistent problem where a growing number of neighbors exist without food and shelter. "We support our noble first responders who continue to serve and save our community every day," said Jeffrey Barnhart, CMA's CEO and founder. "When it comes to making a difference, we are always proud to work toward a solution." CMA's digital marketing campaign, which is part of TSIG's Common Good Initiative, will be funded by a grant from Janssen Pharmaceuticals. The five participating nonprofits include: Trenton Area Soup Kitchen Rescue Mission of Trenton Meals on Wheels of Mercer County HomeFront NJ Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Trenton CMA's integrated marketing communications campaign will create awareness among large, regional corporations, small businesses and the general public. CMA's campaign will include key messaging, a website and social media to launch the project. In addition, CMA has selected TSIG as its 4th Quarter Community Partner, which means the award-winning firm will build awareness for the group of nonprofits through its partnership with Trenton-Mercer Airport. The CMA Cares program helps nonprofits with financial support, as well as digital and social advertising and email marketing. CMA Helps Nonprofits for More Than Three Decades With association management expertise, CMA has helped nonprofits in many ways during the last three decades, which includes answering their most challenging questions. How Should We Manage Crisis Communications? When the New Jersey State Nurses Association needed help recruiting nurses to serve on the frontlines to fight COVID-19, CMA devised a campaign involving public relations, social media and an e-publication that compelled nearly 1,900 additional nurses to answer the call. How Can We Build More Brand Awareness? When the Susan G. Komen Central and South Jersey affiliate wanted more brand awareness to stand out amid a crowded field of charity races, CMA delivered 25 media placements with a reach of more than 3.8 million during the months leading up to the big event. The South Jersey affiliate was only one of five U.S. affiliates (50+) to generate media placements that year. How Can We Generate More Leads for Members? When the Rental & Staging Network wanted to generate more sales leads for its members, CMA launched a campaign that drove prospects down the sales funnelregistering 2,361 views of member profiles and 331 visits to members' websites. How Can We Engage Our Stakeholders? When a group of event service professionals wanted more engagement from its members, CMA implemented a public relations campaign that positioned the association as a trusted content provider for several key industry publications. In addition, CMA developed a series of blogs that reinforced the vital role that event planners play in the industry. As a result, CMA delivered more media placements, impressions and web traffic to fuel an increase in member engagement. How Can We Make Our Website Attractive? When the Hunterdon County Economic Development Council asked CMA to attract more companies to the rural area with a better digital and online presence, the firm developed a new website that positioned the government agency as a hub of innovation. About CMA CMA is a full-service communications, marketing and association management firm, which has provided its clients with award-winning and proven results for more than 30 years. To drive ROI, it utilizes its strategic solutions including branding, digital marketing, web and mobile app development, social media, public relations, advertising, collateral, association management, event planning, publications and advertising sales. Through its proprietary discovery process, Marketecture, CMA offers a strategic analysis to help clients understand how they can best be positioned in the marketplace. Community is central to CMA, with more than 3,000 hours dedicated to volunteering, fundraising and pro bono services over the past three decades. CMA embraces a workplace that fosters fun and creativity for its clients and staff, from summer BBQs and team-building activities, to a pet-friendly environment. Visit CMAsolutions.com and follow @CMAresults on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Kenneth Hitchner, CMA 609-297-2215; [email protected] SOURCE Creative Marketing Alliance Related Links http://cmasolutions.com Following similar efforts in California over how ride-hailing drivers are classified, Massachusetts is suing Uber and Lyft for treating their drivers as independent contractors. State Attorney General Maura Healey contends that the ride-hailing companies drivers should be employees under the Massachusetts Wage and Hour Laws. The lawsuit seeks an order declaring that these drivers are entitled to protections per those laws. For years, Uber and Lyft have built their billion-dollar businesses on a model that exploits drivers, Healey said in a video. "What this means is that they don't pay drivers minimum wage or overtime. They don't give them paid time off when they're sick. They shift the cost of doing business onto their workers. They have been playing this game for years. Not only is it unfair and exploitative, it's illegal. ANNOUNCING: We are suing @Uber and @Lyft for misclassifying their drivers. Billion-dollar businesses don't get to pick and choose which laws they follow. Tune in for our live press conference at 11AM here: https://t.co/ONVUH6HNBr pic.twitter.com/Xlm7tv82Yn Maura Healey (@MassAGO) July 14, 2020 Healeys office argues that the companies dont meet a three-part test under state law that would let them classify drivers as independent contractors. Theyd have to prove that the worker is free from their direction and control; the services the worker performs are outside the usual course of their business; and the worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business of the same nature as the service performed for the party. The AGs office asserts that none of those are the case for Uber and Lyft. Despite various efforts to force the companies to class drivers as employees, Uber and Lyft have long defended their practice of treating them as independent contractors. They have both suggested that drivers prefer to set their own hours and have the freedom to work for several ride-hailing and gig-working services. However, many drivers have complained about low pay and the lack of protections and benefits. The AGs office has asked drivers for the companies to weigh in through a complaint form. At a time when Massachusetts economy is in crisis with a record 16 percent unemployment rate, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to quickly start earning an income, an Uber spokesperson told The Verge. We will contest this action in court, as it flies in the face of what the vast majority of drivers want: to work independently. We stand ready to work with the state to modernize our laws, so that independent workers receive new protections while maintaining the flexibility they prefer. This lawsuit threatens to eliminate work for more than 50,000 people in Massachusetts at the worst possible time, a Lyft spokesperson told the publication. Drivers dont want this 89 percent of Massachusetts Lyft drivers drive fewer than 20 hours per week and choose to drive rideshare precisely because of the independence it gives them to make money in their spare time. Across the country, drivers have said they want to remain independent contractors over employment by a 4 to 1 margin. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. For many parents, its a question theyve been wrestling with for several months now: Is it safe during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to invite a babysitter into your home to care for your children? As businesses and restaurants on Staten Island begin to open up as the states COVID-19 restrictions loosen, many adults are tempted to venture out, in desperate need of some adult time away from the kids. If thats the case, a bit of caution is strongly suggested by doctors. With all interactions, there is risk, said Dr. Philip Otterbeck, chief medical officer at Richmond University Medical Center (RUMC) in West Brighton. We should all minimize whatever risks we can. The reality is that some families need to have a babysitter come into their home. Theres a way to do it safely.' The sitter should be expected to wear a mask in your home, Otterbeck said. And he strongly suggested that anyone you consider as a sitter be tested for the coronavirus before entering your home. I think its very important to have a conversation with the babysitter,' Otterbeck said. Make sure the babysitter is not feeling sick and the sitters family is not feeling sick. Its also important to question the sitter about his or her recent behaviors -- how many people are in his or her social bubble, for example. Has he or she worked outside the home recently? Has he or she been in crowds or on vacation to busy destinations with rising numbers of coronavirus cases? Parents should also find out if the sitter lives with anyone who puts him or her at greater risk -- a first responder or hospital personnel, for example, experts advise. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, its very important to ascertain that caregivers are comfortable enforcing hygiene protocol with the children -- being sure theyre washing their hands and using hand sanitizer several times each day, upon entering the home and before eating, for example. While children tend to be less affected by the coronavirus, there have been cases of children becoming very sick from the illness and its subsequent impact on the body, Otterbeck said, so that has to be considered. Children, if they wind up carrying the virus, can transmit that condition to moms, dads, grandparents, great-grandparents,' he said. Exposure is still a concern.' Obviously, its safer to avoid inviting a sitter into your home, the doctor said, advising parents to consider alternatives, if possible. Weve been cooped up for a long time, and I certainly recognize the desire to get out of the home,' he said. One approach might be to take the children out with you.' Another might be to ask a member of your extended family to stay with your children, one you are certain has been following social distancing guidelines and sheltering as suggested by state protocol, if thats a possibility. Its better, still, to be sure that person has been tested for the virus, he said. *** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK *** And should you let your child babysit for others? Parents of the sitter should be sure that he or she is following the proper guidelines and wearing a mask when social distancing isnt possible inside the other familys home, Otterbeck said. The sitter should also be tested before and, again, after spending time in someone elses home, he said, pointing out that free tests are available throughout New York City. The free tests are confidential and safe. Go to NYC.Gov/COVIDTest or text COVID TEST to 855-48 to receive a list of testing site near your zip code. There are dozens of testing locations on Staten Island. Related stories: Coronavirus: How risky is a beach house with friends? Coronavirus: How risky is a visit with grandparents as NYC reopens? Coronavirus: Do New Yorkers expect to see family this Christmas? Coronavirus: How to safely use a public bathroom Police in its FIR has also stated that these government funds are being diverted to militants coffer with assistance of sympathisers. Representational Image Guwahati: In a major breakthrough in the NSCN (IM) extortion case, the Nagaland police on Monday arrested the wife of self-style colonel of NSCN (IM) Rayilung Nsarangbe who is accused to have withdrawn Rs four crore from Rayilungs bank account a day after his arrest by a joint team of security forces. The Assam Rifles (AR) along with the Nagaland Police had busted a major extortion racket operated by the NSCN-IM in Dimapur and arrested the treasurer in self-styled Prime Ministers Office of National Social Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM) Rayilung Nsarngbe and his two associates on July 5. The security forces had also recovered a cash amount of about Rs. 1.59 crore and two kilogram of RDX with a large number of arms and ammunitions from the residence of top NSCN (IM) leader Rayilung who happens to be the close associate of NSCN (IM) general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah. The investigation of the case has now been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as confession a pastor Rabi Pame, arrested with Rs. 11 lakh cash, revealed that an IAS officer of Manipur was also involved in financial transaction being diverted from government funds and projects (PMGSY, NREGA etc.) and other construction works going on in Manipur and Nagaland. Police in its FIR has also stated that these government funds are being diverted to militants coffer with assistance of sympathisers and overground workers of NSCN (IM). Pointing out that wife of Rayilung was arrested by Nagaland police on direction of NIA team, security sources said that the NIA sleuths have already arrived Dimapur and monitoring the investigation but in a day or two they would take over the custody of all the accused after completing the legal formalities of NIA court. Security sources told this newspaper that scale of corruption could be realized by the fact, Rayilung who is a self-style colonel level worker of NSCN (IM) had acquired 800-acre land and was in possession of Rs. 5.59 crore. Indicating that NIA was trying to trace the recipient of Rs. 4 crore that Rayilung managed to withdraw from the bank with the help of his wife, security sources said that the NIA investigation would open the Pandoras box of the ongoing extortion and loot of public money in Nagaland and Manipur. Admitting that some forces deliberately delayed the NIAs entry into the investigation security sources said that NIA team had arrived Dimapur on July 6 to be the part of investigation but in the name of COVID formalities they could not join investigation. Security sources said that a day after on July 7 Rayilung managed to withdraw Rs. 4 crore from his bank account in Dimapur with the help of his wife. The National Junior Brangus Show is bringing almost 200 participants to Ford Park for a four-day event Beaumont is hosting for the first time. Contests, including speaking, leadership, handling skills, and heifer and bull shows, begin Wednesday and run through Saturday. The barns at Ford Park were busy Monday morning as families with participants ranging in age from 8 to 22 arrived from across the country for the annual event. Among the participants is 8-year-old Harold Baxley of Pinetta, Florida. He got help from his father, Darren Baxley, as he washed his heifer Happy Tiger. Harold has been showing Brangus since he was 5. His parents also showed when they were children. When I was young, it was the only way to travel and see different parts of the country, Darren Baxley said. He recalls traveling to shows in Denver and Minnesota. Harold likes getting to see new places as well and meeting people from across the country. The opportunity to make new friends brought together Florida residents Railee Steele of Gainsborough and Maddie Carte of Live Oak. The 14-year-olds have been best friends since meeting at a show years ago. Monday, the two sat together in the barn, looking through social media posts and taking a photo together to post online. They were joined by Lakeland, Florida, resident Truman Taylor, 8, who gave them a hug before returning to set up his show Brangus stall. Hes like a little brother, Railee said. While washing and brushing, Harold Baxley practiced reciting his speech for a public speaking contest, one of the first in which he would be taking part this week. He began by introducing himself as P.T. Barnum and welcoming his would-be audience to the greatest show on Earth. Im not really P. T. Barnum, he went on. Im Harold Baxley, and this is my heifer Happy Tiger. He then elaborated on his journey caring for the Brangus. His father congratulated him on a job well done before the pair resumed grooming. As Harold untied Happy Tiger after her bath, he remembered his first show cow, Pickles. Shes in the pasture now being a mom, he said. kbrent@beaumontenterprise.com Advertisement Firefighting efforts continued Tuesday morning on the USS Bonhomme Richard as the three-alarm fire raging aboard the battleship docked in California continued to burn for a third consecutive day. More than 160 people had been aboard the USS Bonhomme at the San Diego Naval Base when the fire started in the lower cargo hold of the ship at 8:30am Sunday, which later triggered an internal explosion. Hundreds of Federal and Navy firefighting units are said to be doing everything they can to save the ship more than 48 hours after the conflagration erupted on its lower decks, sending temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees in parts of the vessel and leaving it pitching in the water. New powerful photographs released by the US Navy Wednesday have revealed the tireless and brave efforts of those firefighters are they continue to battle the blaze. In total, officials have reported that 57 people 34 sailors and 23 civilians have so far been injured by the fire. The injuries were not life-threatening, and included heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation, Rear Admiral Phillip Sobeck said Monday. Scroll down for video Firefighting efforts continued Tuesday morning on the USS Bonhomme Richard as the three-alarm fire raging aboard the battleship docked in California continued to burn for a third consecutive day Federal and Navy firefighting units are said to be doing everything they can to save the ship more than 48 hours after a conflagration erupted on its lower decks, sending temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees in parts of the vessel An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter from the 'Merlins' of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 3, provides aerial firefighting support alongside Sailors and civilian fire crews on the ground to fight the fire aboard amphibious assault ship Two Navy helicopters have dropped more than 415 buckets of water on top of the burning ship in a bid to contain the fire Teams of sailors rotating on 15-minute firefighting shift patterns have been pouring water onto the ship from the pier and from tugboats tirelessly since Sunday morning According to Sobeck, officials believe the fire was started by drywall supplies in a storage area in the lower half of the ship. The admiral previously revealed that he believed the inferno was being fueled by paper, cloth, rags or other standard materials, and therefore he wasnt concerned about the blaze sending toxic fumes into the air. However, adding to the danger of the inferno, it is burning just two decks above from a section of the ship where a million gallons of fuel is being stored. In a press conference Monday, Sobeck, said the proximity of the flames to the fuel is of concern, however he voiced confidence that firefighters would be able to prevent the blaze from reaching that storage area. The fire has already brought down the amphibious assault ship's forward mast and caused other damage to the ship's superstructure that rises above its flight deck. There is a tremendous amount of heat underneath and that's where it's - it's flashing up - also forward, closer to the bow again there's a heat source and we're trying to get to that as well, Sobeck said Monday. Asked if he believes the ship could be saved, Sobeck said: I feel absolutely hopeful because we have sailors giving it their all. The Admiral also acknowledged that the ships Halon fire suppression system which could have extinguished the initial fire was not activated because it was undergoing maintenance. We again augment that with firefighting elements from the pier and the shipyard, he told reporters. The blaze began around 8:30am on Sunday. After 90 minutes, authorities decided to remove all firefighters from the vessel for safety reasons and battle the fire remotely. Navy boats are seen pouring water onto the ships exterior more than 48 hours after the ship caught fire A man takes photographs from the shore as firefighters are seen pouring water onto the hull of the ship and helicopters conduct water bucket dumps from above Sailors enter the USS Bonhomme Richard to combat a fire aboard the amphibious assault ship Navy firefighters are seen helping one another gear up as they prepare to return to fight the blaze inside the USS Bonhomme Richard Efforts to save the ship have entered their third day with more than 48 hours having now passed since the blaze first erupted Teams of sailors rotating on 15-minute firefighting shift patterns have been pouring water onto the ship from the pier and from tugboats tirelessly since Sunday morning. Two Navy helicopters have also dropped more than 415 buckets of water on top of the burning ship in a bid to contain the fire. Around two hours after the fire began, an explosion of unknown origin shook the vessel. None of the (SDFRD) firefighters were on board the ship when the explosion happened, but the blast threw several firefighters off their feet, the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department reported. All crew members have since been accounted for. Fire sailors were initially hospitalized with minor injuries but have since been released, officials said. Local authorities implemented a shelter in place order Sunday for all non-responding personnel at the base to maintain a 1,800-yard safety perimeter as the firefight. The Coast Guard also was assessing environmental sensitivities and has contracted an oil-spill response organization to preemptively deploy protective boom to guard against any potential environmental concerns, according to a statement from USCG public affairs. Officials in National City asked residents to remain in their homes as much as possible to avoid health hazards from the smoke billowing off the burning ship. Similarly, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District Office advised any resident who can smell acrid smoke to limit physical activity and remain indoors. Local residents have reported smelling the smoke as far away as Vista, more than 40 miles from where the ship is docked. According to the National Weather Service, the smoke carried through the county on Sunday and will continued to do so Monday. It said the highest concentration of smoke will eventually shift with an incoming onshore breeze. Sailors and Federal San Diego Firefighters prepare to relieve hose teams on board USS Bonhomme Richard on July 13 The smoldering frame of the USS Bonhomme is seen in his July 13 photo Naval Sailors are seen putting on their protective gear as they respond to the fire in this US Navy handout photo provided Wednesday Rear Admiral Sobeck said: I feel absolutely hopeful [the ship can survive] because we have sailors giving it their all Sailors prepare to board the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard early morning on July 14 Three MH-60S Seahawk helicopters from the Merlins of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron hovering above the USS Bonhomme Richard The American flag flies aboard USS Bonhomme Richard as a fire aboard the ship continues to rage in the background A helicopter is seen conducting water dumps of the USS Bonhomme Richard in the early hours of Tuesday morning The Bonhomme Richard is capable of carrying more than 1,000 sailors, in addition to helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The cost of the ship has been estimated $761 million, according to the Federation of American Scientists. The ship had been docked in the San Diego base to undergo routine maintenance between deployments when the fire broke out, Navy spokeswoman Krishna Jackson said. Jackson told the New York Times that the sailors assigned to the ship at the time were staying in Navy or private housing on shore and were not on board when the fire started. A duty section of sailors trained to fight fires were, however, of whom were first to respond. Admiral Sobeck said that there was no ordnance on the ship at the time of the fire. The ship has light arms but would not normally have large explosive munitions, such as airdropped bombs, on board while docked, according to the Navy. Two other warships, the USS Fitzgerald and the USS Russell, that were docked nearby have since been moved to other piers as a precaution, the Navy said. The USS Bonhomme Richard has been homeported at Naval Base San Diego since its last deployment in spring 2018, when it returned from a six-year port switch to Sasebo, Japan. Sailors stand at attention and salute the national ensign on the morning of July 14 behind the amphibious assault ship Sailors stand at attention and salute the national ensign during morning colors behind the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron flies over the front of USS Bonhomme Richard A second angle of the flyover is seen above as a group of Navy firefighters prepare to enter the ship on Tuesday The sailors are seen walking into the ship, traversing their way over a number of hose lines as they prepare to fight the fire for a third consecutive day A helicopter carrying water passes the USS Bonhomme Richard as a dense cloud of smoke is seen lingering in the air Vice Adm. Bill Galinis, commander Naval Sea Systems Command, inspects fire damage to USS Bonhomme Richard on July 12 Sailors and firefighters prepare to head back towards the USS Bonhomme Richard amid a shift exchange The rear of the USS Bonhomme is seen above with the thick plumes of black smoke seen at the beginning of the fire now significantly lighter The keel for the Bonhomme Richard was laid down in 1995 and she was delivered to the Navy in 1998. 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. '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.' Fire Chief Colin Stowell of San Diego also told CNN that he expects the fire to burn for several days right down to the waterline. Sobek, however, voiced optimism that the ship can still be saved during his Monday conference, saying that he's 'absolutely hopeful' at his chances of survival 'because we have sailors giving it their all.' The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael M. Gilday, called the fire a 'terrible tragedy' in a post on Twitter Sunday. 'Today, we suffered a terrible tragedy aboard USS Bonhomme Richard when a fire broke out aboard the ship while in port San Diego,' Gilday said. 'The remainder of the crew is accounted for,' the admiral continued. 'We are grateful for the quick and immediate response of local, base, and shipboard firefighters aboard BHR. Our thoughts and prayers are with our BHR sailors, their families, and our emergency responders who continue to fight the fire.' San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer tweeted: 'We are here for the sailors and civilians affected by the ship fire at Naval Base San Diego. SDFD and other first responders continue to lend support. All of the crew is off the USS Bonhomme Richard and accounted for. Thank you to our brave sailors and rescue crews.' Google is in advanced talks to invest close to $4 billion into Reliance Industries Ltds digital assets unit as the search giant seeks to join a host of marquee investors, including rival Facebook Inc., in tapping Indias vast but nascent internet market, two people directly aware of the development said. The investment, if it comes through, will be another feather on the cap of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, who has raised a record Rs 1.18 lakh crore since April 22 by selling stakes in Jio Platforms Ltd to a dozen of the worlds biggest investors. The Google investment will take the total fundraising to $1.48 lakh crore. The discussions are at a fairly advanced stage and would likely lead to Google buying more than 6% in Jio Platforms, the people said, requesting anonymity. Jio Platforms has so far received investments from a clutch of strategic and financial investors, including Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm as well as private equity firms General Atlantic and KKR among others. Mint had reported in May that Google was in discussions with Vodafone Idea to pick up about 5% in the company as part of a strategy to develop the next big connected digital ecosystem in India, which would have it in direct competition with Jio. In India, Google has announced a partnership with Bharti Airtel in January to extend its G-suite services to Airtel subscribers and has been working closely with the Bharti Airtel enterprise team for a few years now. For the proposed deal with Google, Morgan Stanley has been hired as the investment banker by Reliance Industries. Jio Platforms has so far sold 25.24% in just 11 weeks. For Ambani, the investments have helped Reliance Industries turn net debt-free before the March 2021 deadline. For the country, the deals have positioned India as a hot-spot for M&A this year, accounting for more than 12% of those announced in the Asia Pacific the highest ratio since at least 1998, Bloomberg reported. Facebook has invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in April; Microsofts venture fund M12 said last month it would open an office in India to pursue investment opportunities focusing on B2B software startups. Earlier this year, Amazon said it would invest an additional $1 billion in India. Intel has announced an investment of Rs1,894.50 crore for a 0.39% stake in Jio Platforms. Lenovo has just announced the Thinkstation P620. The Thinkstation P620 is powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO. It also comes with support for two NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000's The Lenovo Thinkstation P620 has just been launched. Its a first-of-its-kind workstation and is powered by the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor. Its a 64-core workstation that presumably can handle anything that is thrown at it. The Thinkstation P620 looks like its going to be one powerful machine. It will also come with a fully customizable and scalable chassis. Lets take a look at the specifications and features of the Thinkstation P620. Lenovo Thinkstation P620 Specifications and Features Well, as mentioned above, the Thinkstation comes with an impressive AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor running at 4.0Ghz with 128 lanes of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth and 8-channel memory support. It also comes with support for up to two NVIDIA Quadro RTX 8000 or four RTX 4000 GPUs. With up to a whopping 1TB of memory and 20TB of storage, the Thinkstation P620 is the first PCIe Gen 4 workstation in the market. In a statement to the media, Rob Herman, General Manager, Workstation and Client AI Business Unit, Lenovo, said, Our customers rely on us to deliver professional-grade solutions that are powerful, but nimble enough to be customized as their needs change and evolve. Weve worked closely with AMD, ensuring the ThinkStation P620 removes all these barriers and gives users the support they need. Built on AMDs versatile and extremely scalable Ryzen Threadripper PRO Processor there are no limits to what can be accomplished. In addition, AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO desktop processors also offer advanced security features allowing users to better guard important and sensitive data. This includes AMD Secure Processor, a validating code before it is executed to help ensure data and application integrity, as well as AMD Memory Guard which enables full memory encryption to help protect sensitive data against advanced physical attacks should a PC be lost or stolen. Lenovo Thinkstation P620 launched in India The Thinkstation P620 also features Lenovos rigorous standards and testing, ThinkStation Diagnostics 2.0, ThinkShield support, upgrades to Premier Support and a three-year warranty to boot. The ThinkStation P620 will be available starting in September 2020. The Ontario Court of Appeals has upheld an $11.1-million verdict in a lawsuit brought by the Niagara parents of a daughter who was left a quadriplegic at birth. Bernice Booth and Michael Woods sued their former obstetrician, Dr. Allan Jackiewicz of Niagara Falls, on behalf of their daughter Kelsey for not maintaining the standard of care. The result was brain damage that left Kelsey with catastrophic cerebral palsy. I would say the family is overjoyed with the result from the court and the decision to dismiss the physicians appeal, said their lawyer, Paul Cahill of the Toronto-area firm Will Davidson LLP. They are very much looking forward to focusing on using the funds they will hopefully now receive to make Kelseys life better. The jury in the case returned a verdict of liability against Jackiewicz in April 2019. The case took nearly a decade to make its way through the legal system, and concluded with a three-week trial in Kitchener. The jury deliberated for the better part of two days before reaching a verdict. At the trial, the jury agreed with Booths lawyers that proper treatment would have prolonged Booths pregnancy and resulted in a normal outcome for Kelsey. She was born prematurely with her twin sister, Karli, at 27 weeks. The twins are now 29 years old. The appeal hearing was held electronically via Zoom last month. The decision was released Monday. Bernice and Kelsey havent received any money yet, Cahill said. The doctor can still try to seek leave from the Supreme Court of Canada for another appeal, so this isnt necessarily over. Its more like Round 2 of a pretty tough fight, but when you read the appeal decision it doesnt really appear Dr. Jackiewicz had the strongest position. Jackiewicz has agreed to let his medical licence expire, and signed an undertaking stating he never reapply. In dismissing the appeal, the court wrote it was not persuaded that there was any material misdirection or non-direction by the trial judge that warrants appellate intervention. The medical diagnosis given to Booth was twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, whereby the twins share the placenta and an artery with one of the twins receiving reduced blood flow and developing at a slower rate. The jury agreed with Booths lawyers that with a timely diagnosis, the doctors could have performed an amniocentesis, reduced the volume of amniotic fluid, and prolonged the pregnancy, the jury heard. The result would have been a normal outcome for Kelsey, an expert testified. The trial heard Booth underwent an ultrasound May 28, 1991, which concluded she had a twin pregnancy with no apparent abnormalities. However, as weeks passed Booth became increasingly uncomfortable in her pregnancy and went to see Jackiewicz after the Canada Day long weekend. She was in pain and rapidly gaining weight. After an examination, Booth was instructed to go home and lie on her left side and watch television, the court heard. Hopefully, she would last another month before going into labour. Three days later, on July 7, she went into labour prematurely. The twins were transferred to Hamilton from Niagara Falls by another doctor. Still another doctor delivered them in Hamilton. Families will have the option to send their students to in-person classes four days a week, attend online classes or sign up for Hanna Cyber Academy in the Susquehanna Township School District. The school board voted to approve the three options for students and the District Health and Safety Plan at its 7 p.m. virtual board meeting Monday. If there was a need to close the district again, one of the reasons were offering so many options is so that we have a seamless transition to a closure if one were to occur at the state level, Dr. Tamara Willis, the district superintendent, said. The in-person option would run Monday through Thursday, leaving Friday for the school to be completely sanitized and prepared for the following week. Students would have online homework and tasks to complete on Fridays. The district will consider converting multipurpose rooms into classrooms and facing desks away from each other to allow for social distancing. Students will be required to wear facial coverings in common spaces, classrooms and buses. Mask break spaces will be placed throughout the school as well. One online option, the hybrid, offers students live, face-to-face instruction from the safety of their own home, Willis said. There would be some pre-recorded instruction, but students would still be able to see their teachers every day. The last option for students is self-paced, non-face-to-face instruction through Hanna Cyber Academy. Schoolwork could be done at any time of day, Willis said. Willis said the district is working to organize meal drops for students who choose at-home instruction so they can still get a school lunch. During public comment, some community members said that they were not comfortable sending their kids back to school. If the reason we pulled everyone from schools across the entire nation in March is still the same now, and has in fact gotten worse in areas where they dont practice social distancing, why are we sending people into a dangerous environment under the same/worse circumstances? community member Jason Schwartz asked. Willis said families who do not feel comfortable sending their kids to class in person can sign up for the hybrid model that offers face-to-face, live instruction from home or the Hanna Cyber Academy. Central Dauphin School Districts board recently approved its plan to return to in-person instruction. Other districts such as Middletown and Elizabethtown have released plans to go back to the classrooms though they are still awaiting board approval. Most districts are set to vote on back-to-school guidelines in the next few weeks. Gov. Tom Wolf lifted the order to suspend in-person classes. Now, the state requires school districts to develop a Health and Safety Plan that outlines its social distancing enforcement and sanitation protocol before they can host in-person instruction. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. DHAKA, Bangladesh - Heavy flooding is worsening in parts of Bangladesh, with over 1 million villagers marooned or leaving their homes for higher ground along with their cattle and other belongings, officials and volunteers said Tuesday. Water levels at major rivers were rising Tuesday at around two dozen points in 20 districts. Many new areas in northern, northeastern and central Bangladesh have been affected over last 24 hours, Arifuzzman Bhuiyan, an executive engineer with the Water Development Board, said by phone. Bangladesh has 64 districts. The situation is worsening, he said. The worst thing is that the floods are getting prolonged this year, which is a bad sign. Bhuiyan said heavy rainfall and rushing waters from upstream India were the main reasons for the floods in the delta nation of 160 million people, which receives monsoon rains between June and October every year, often leading to flooding. The floods started late last month, and after briefly easing continued to worsen, affecting many new areas, destroying crops and driving people from their homes in several impoverished regions. Bangladesh is crisscrossed by 230 rivers, including 53 shared with India. In the northern district of Kurigram, one of the worst-hit areas, thousands of villagers have moved from their homes to higher ground since the weekend, bringing along their cattle and other belongings, said Mizanur Rahman Soikat, project co-ordinator with the Bidyanondo Foundation, a local charity. The foundation has been distributing both cooked and dry food to the flood-affected villagers, many of whom have lost their crops and livelihood. Soikat said that over the last few weeks, the charity has distributed food to some 135,000 people in Kurigram, while the governments relief office was also providing food, cash and cattle food. Over last two days, the situation has deteriorated and many villages went underwater in the district, he said by phone. I have seen thousands taking shelter. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement Monday that more than a million Bangladeshis have been marooned by the floods, with the worst of it happening since the weekend. Thousands of people are expected to leave their homes throughout the beginning of this week to seek shelter in higher ground as the Water Development Board warned that the onrush of water from upstream would further intensify, the statement said. A.T.M. Akhteruzzman, a relief and rehabilitation officer in the northern district of Rangpur, said about 50,000 people who live along the Teesta River basin have been marooned. Waters are coming from India, while heavy rainfalls in the region are causing havoc, he said. We are trying to do our best to stand by the people, as we have already provided more than 300 tons of rice, cattle food, baby food and a good amount of cash. Our relief operations will continue. The backlash continues against a rule modification by the Trump administrations Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that mandates in-person attendance by international F-1 visa holders in universities and colleges this fall. According to reports Monday (July 13), 17 states and the District of Columbia are suing to block the rule change that would revoke foreign students visas if they are in the country taking all-virtual classes even though schools increasingly see online instruction as necessary to prevent health crises on campus amid the ongoing, and perhaps worsening, coronavirus pandemic. Business schools and their universities have already registered their displeasure, in the court of public opinion as well as actual court: Two days after the rule modification, Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit in U.S. district court in Massachusetts seeking an injunction. Arguments in that case are set to be heard Tuesday (July 14). But rejection of the governments move has been universal in higher education, because while many schools plan a hybrid approach of virtual and in-person instruction this fall, most would prefer to have the option to go all-virtual in the event of a spike in coronavirus cases a move that now, under current federal rules, could jeopardize their international student populations. At most of the top schools MBA programs, that is close to half the total enrollment. At smaller schools, the numbers are sometime even higher. It was unwelcome, a transparent attack on foreign participation in higher education in the U.S. and a political move against universities, which I think is a continuation of prior moves, Rice University Jones Graduate School of Business Dean Peter Rodriguez tells Poets&Quants, noting that his school, like many others, plans a hybrid approach this fall. We think that our hybrid approach will work with minimal impact as a result of this ruling, but its already impacted students. They feel less welcome. More are requesting deferrals. I think some were weeks away from getting started and they now think, I cant risk this. Let me defer for a year if possible. Thats a rational concern that they have. Story continues TRUMP ADMINISTRATION APPEARS UNMOVED BY OUTCRY Rice Jones Dean Peter Rodriguez: Trump administration move is a transparent attack on foreign participation in higher education in the U.S. According to reports, the new lawsuit, which accuses the Trump administration of violating the Administrative Procedure Act, will be heard in the same district court as Harvard and MITs suit. The latter lawsuit contends that the administrations rule change throws months of planning by colleges and universities into chaos and could force foreign students to travel to their home countries amid a pandemic, endangering their health and possibly their lives. About 40 higher education institutions filed declarations in support of the lawsuit, including Yale, the University of Chicago, and state universities in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The suit joins a separate suit by California filed last week. The area represented by the 17 states and the District of Columbia contains 1,124 colleges and universities that had a combined 373,000 international students enrolled in 2019, who contributed an estimated $14 billion to the economy that year, The New York Times reports. In addition to Massachusetts and D.C., Mondays lawsuit was brought by Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. Last week, the administration appeared unmoved by the outcry their rule change had sparked. You dont get a visa for taking online classes from, lets say, the University of Phoenix, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said. So why would you if you were just taking online classes, generally? She added, Perhaps the better lawsuit would be coming from students who have to pay full tuition with no access to in-person classes to attend. B-SCHOOLS VOICE THEIR EXASPERATION B-schools had breathed a sigh of relief when Trump, issuing a long-awaited (and -dreaded) executive order in June, left intact the Optional Practical Training program through which graduates of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs qualify for up to 36 months of work in the U.S. without needing a new visa. Thats because over the last three years and especially since 2019 B-schools have widely invested in designating all or part of their MBA programs as STEM, largely to attract international applicants who hope to work in the U.S. tech industry post-graduation. That effort has been a major element in B-schools strategy to offset the 13.7% decline in international applications between 2018 and 2019, as documented by the Graduate Management Admission Council, and a general decline in overall applications. However, with the same stroke of his pen, Trump suspended the H-1B visa, the main goal of those in the OPT program. A few weeks later, after his administration modified its rules to require in-person attendance despite a raging pandemic, school leaders aired their exasperation. We all face the possibility of moving completely online because safety will require that, says Rodriguez, whose school is located in Houston, Texas, currently a coronavirus hotspot. In that case, were forced to make this unnecessary trade-off when we think about not just whats safe for our students in a health sense, but whats good for them and their ability to study. Many of our foreign students would have to move back 12 time zones. Pick the program, it just would be infeasible for them to do it without great sacrifice. Thats just too bad. With coronavirus, I am certainly more concerned than I was six weeks ago when we looked to be headed in the right direction. I think that what were seeing now painfully mirrors what we saw in New York and New Jersey, Louisiana, in late March, early April. And so Im worried. Were planning hybrid approaches. Were trying to be as creative as possible, not having more than 25 students in a room, with ample distancing and face masks. I think we all know that things could change and that could not be enough, either. So I think unfortunately where most of the universities are preparing to ratchet up or ratchet down presence, it looks more like ratcheting down. We will ratchet up if, in the long term, things go back and theyre much, much better. But that seems further off, for sure. Jeff Brown, dean of the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, spoke to Yahoo Finance July 7 about his concerns leading a school that has among the countrys highest populations of international students across all its programs. Im actually really concerned about what this is going to do to higher ed, Brown said. If you look back over the last 100 years, one of the reasons that the United States rose to economic dominance in the world is because we have the worlds best university system and we train not only our own citizens, but we train people all around the world. It is one of the biggest exports that we have, too. We exported $35 billion worth of education, a net trade surplus, as of 2017, which are the last numbers Ive seen, and so this is kind of a funny way to go about trade policy: Lets try to do damage to one of our best export industries. We export education more than we do soybeans, almost as much as we do automobiles. This is gonna have repercussions not just for universities, who are gonna be hurt financially; not just for the international students, who find themselves in these straits. But honestly, having a global perspective on campus is important to the American students that we are training. So I think it does real damage. DONT MISS: U.S. TO FOREIGN MBA STUDENTS: TAKE IN-PERSON CLASSES OR GET OUT or SCHOOLS REACTION TO TRUMPS IN-PERSON MANDATE: A UNANIMOUS NOT HELPFUL The post 17 States & D.C. Sue Trump Over In-Person Mandate appeared first on Poets&Quants. Michelle Anderson (left) and Azadeh Aryan (right) are seen performing experiments in the insectary in 2016. Credit: Photo courtesy of Avery Stolte Virginia Tech researchers have proven that a single gene can convert female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes into fertile male mosquitoes and identified a gene needed for male mosquito flight. Male mosquitoes do not bite and are unable to transmit pathogens to humans. Female mosquitoes, on the other hand, are able to bite. Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes require blood to produce eggs, making them the prime carriers of the pathogens that cause Zika and dengue fever in humans. "The presence of a male-determining locus (M locus) establishes the male sex in Aedes aegypti and the M locus is only inherited by the male offspring, much like the human Y chromosome," said Zhijian Tu, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. "By inserting Nix, a previously discovered male-determining gene in the M locus of Aedes aegypti, into a chromosomal region that can be inherited by females, we showed that Nix alone was sufficient to convert females to fertile males. This may have implications for developing future mosquito control techniques." These findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We also discovered that a second gene, named myo-sex, was needed for male flight. This work sheds light into the molecular basis of the function of the M locus, which contains at least 30 genes," said Azadeh Aryan, a research scientist in Tu's lab and the first author on the paper. Aryan and colleagues generated and characterized multiple transgenic mosquito lines that expressed an extra copy of the Nix gene under the control of its own promoter. Maria Sharakhova, an assistant professor of entomology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Anastasia Naumencko, a former graduate research assistant, mapped the chromosomal insertion site of the extra copy of Nix. The Virginia Tech team, in collaboration with Zach Adelman's lab in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University and Chunhong Mao of the Biocomplexity Institute & Initiative at the University of Virginia, found that the Nix transgene alone, even without the M locus, was sufficient to convert females into males with male-specific sexually dimorphic features and male-like gene expression. "Nix-mediated sex conversion was found to be highly penetrant and stable over many generations in the laboratory, meaning that these characteristics will be inherited for generations to come," said Michelle Anderson, a former member of the Adelman and Tu labs and currently a senior research scientist at the Pirbright Institute in the United Kingdom. Although the Nix gene was able to convert the females into males, the converted males could not fly as they did not inherit the myo-sex gene, which is also located in the M locus. Knocking out myo-sex in wild-type males confirmed that the lack of myo-sex in the sex-converted males is the reason why they could not fly. Although flight is needed for mating, the sex-converted males were still able to father viable sex-converted progeny when presented with cold-anesthetized wild-type females. "Nix has great potential for developing mosquito control strategies to reduce vector populations through female-to-male sex conversion, or to aid in the Sterile Insect Technique, which requires releasing only nonbiting males," said James Biedler, a research scientist in the Tu lab. Genetic methods that rely on mating to control mosquitoes target only one specific species. In this case, the Tu team is targeting Aedes aegypti, a species that invaded the Americas a few hundred years ago and poses a threat to humans. However, more research is needed before potentially useful transgenic lines can be generated for initial testing in laboratory cages. "One of the challenges is to produce transgenic lines that convert females into fertile, flying male mosquitoes by inserting both the Nix and myo-sex genes into their genome together," said Adelman. As the Tu team looks to the near future, they wish to explore the mechanism by which the Nix gene activates the male developmental pathway. The team is also interested in learning about how it evolves within mosquito species of the same genus. "We have found that the Nix gene is present in other Aedes mosquitoes. The question is: how did this gene and the sex-determining locus evolve in mosquitoes?" said Tu, who is also an affiliated faculty member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. In addition to diving into the depths of the Nix gene in mosquitoes, researchers hope that these findings will inform future investigations into homomorphic sex chromosomes that are found in other insects, vertebrates, and plants. Explore further Researchers find gene that reduces female mosquitoes More information: Azadeh Aryan et al. Nix alone is sufficient to convert female Aedes aegypti into fertile males and myo-sex is needed for male flight, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Azadeh Aryan et al. Nix alone is sufficient to convert female Aedes aegypti into fertile males and myo-sex is needed for male flight,(2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2001132117 Blog Archive Apr 2010 (22) May 2010 (25) Jun 2010 (8) Jul 2010 (12) Aug 2010 (18) Sep 2010 (19) Oct 2010 (29) Nov 2010 (30) Dec 2010 (18) Jan 2011 (13) Feb 2011 (21) Mar 2011 (23) Apr 2011 (19) May 2011 (31) Jun 2011 (36) Jul 2011 (46) Aug 2011 (26) Sep 2011 (12) Oct 2011 (15) Nov 2011 (17) Dec 2011 (7) Jan 2012 (18) Feb 2012 (4) Mar 2012 (12) Apr 2012 (18) May 2012 (10) Jun 2012 (21) Jul 2012 (8) Aug 2012 (15) Sep 2012 (7) Oct 2012 (17) Nov 2012 (20) Dec 2012 (10) Jan 2013 (58) Feb 2013 (59) Mar 2013 (60) Apr 2013 (98) May 2013 (135) Jun 2013 (204) Jul 2013 (293) Aug 2013 (351) Sep 2013 (363) Oct 2013 (348) Nov 2013 (374) Dec 2013 (442) Jan 2014 (547) Feb 2014 (476) Mar 2014 (526) Apr 2014 (527) May 2014 (469) Jun 2014 (408) Jul 2014 (472) Aug 2014 (522) Sep 2014 (443) Oct 2014 (472) Nov 2014 (497) Dec 2014 (536) Jan 2015 (539) Feb 2015 (520) Mar 2015 (582) Apr 2015 (658) May 2015 (679) Jun 2015 (673) Jul 2015 (728) Aug 2015 (803) Sep 2015 (923) Oct 2015 (924) Nov 2015 (802) Dec 2015 (791) Jan 2016 (782) Feb 2016 (835) Mar 2016 (929) Apr 2016 (866) May 2016 (947) Jun 2016 (1044) Jul 2016 (882) Aug 2016 (1035) Sep 2016 (967) Oct 2016 (918) Nov 2016 (854) Dec 2016 (885) Jan 2017 (879) Feb 2017 (777) Mar 2017 (896) Apr 2017 (872) May 2017 (850) Jun 2017 (851) Jul 2017 (971) Aug 2017 (1040) Sep 2017 (998) Oct 2017 (1144) Nov 2017 (1046) Dec 2017 (838) Jan 2018 (873) Feb 2018 (769) Mar 2018 (885) Apr 2018 (809) May 2018 (827) Jun 2018 (820) Jul 2018 (840) Aug 2018 (854) Sep 2018 (844) Oct 2018 (851) Nov 2018 (870) Dec 2018 (912) Jan 2019 (919) Feb 2019 (827) Mar 2019 (957) Apr 2019 (913) May 2019 (1007) Jun 2019 (935) Jul 2019 (950) Aug 2019 (936) Sep 2019 (910) Oct 2019 (920) Nov 2019 (874) Dec 2019 (908) Jan 2020 (941) Feb 2020 (849) Mar 2020 (898) Apr 2020 (848) May 2020 (822) Jun 2020 (789) Jul 2020 (819) Aug 2020 (858) Sep 2020 (841) Oct 2020 (873) Nov 2020 (812) Dec 2020 (780) Jan 2021 (765) Feb 2021 (716) Mar 2021 (819) Apr 2021 (805) May 2021 (815) Jun 2021 (824) Jul 2021 (830) Aug 2021 (832) Sep 2021 (791) Oct 2021 (754) Nov 2021 (683) Dec 2021 (693) Jan 2022 (406) TDT Manama Southern Governor His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa chaired yesterday the Security Committees remote meeting, in the presence of his Deputy Brigadier Isa Thamer Al Dusari, and a number of officers representing security directorates. The Southern Governor praised the directives of Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa to follow up on initiatives and programmes aimed at promoting security all over the governorate, in partnership with security directorates. He was informed about plans related to traffic flow in many regions, in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic, stressing the need to boost traffic control to ensure the safety of road users. For his part, the General Directorate of Traffic Operations and Traffic Control director Colonel Adel Al Dusari underlined the directorates keenness on coordination with the governorate through the provision of traffic patrols to regulate traffic movement and reduce jams. As part of the governorates efforts to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Southern Governor reviewed the preemptive disinfection plan being carried out in partnership with the traffic directorate and volunteers. A series of disinfection campaigns were held in Zallaq and Riffa to ensure the safety of citizens and residents. The Southern Governor reviewed the outcome of the virtual security forum, which was held in conjunction with the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, in cooperation with the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Forensic Science and the Maan (Together) programme to combat violence and addiction. The Southern Governor affirmed that holding purposeful security programmes is essential in boosting security partnership with the Interior Ministrys security directorates. Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday accused rebel leader Sachin Pilot of playing into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party. IMAGE: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot flashes victory sign during a meeting with the party MLAs at his residence in Jaipur on Monday. Photograph: PTI Photo Speaking after the Congress announced the sacking of Pilot and his two aides from the state cabinet, Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress government led by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh had collapsed in March after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia. But the BJP's intentions will not fructify in Rajasthan, Gehlot said. The chief minister said that Pilot and other ministers as well as MLAs were given ample opportunities but they did not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Monday and Tuesday. "There is nothing in the hands of Sachin Pilot. He is playing into the hands of the BJP which is making all the arrangements, he told reporters after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra. I am very sad that horse trading was going on. It is for the first time in the country that democracy is under such grave threat, he said. Gehlot said that he had fulfilled the rebel leaders demands by making budget announcements and "their works were done but still they were like this". After attempts to assuage Pilot failed, the Congress on Tuesday removed him from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief. The party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. Gehlot met the governor immediately after the Congress Legislature Party meeting where the decision to remove the three ministers was taken. The court drama between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard continues to intensify as the former couple expose their deepest, darkest secrets. Depp, who recently appeared in the London courtroom, claimed that the "Aquaman" actress threw a "haymaker" punch at him after finding out that he had hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. Johnny Depp's $750 Million Debt The said incident happened in April 2016 when the "Edward Scissorhands" star learned that he lost a whopping $750 Million due to unpaid taxes. "I was in the early stages of learning from my recently acquired new business manager that the former business managers had taken quite a lot of my money. They stole my money," Depp mentioned, as cited by The Guardian. The 57-year-old star went on and explained in London's High Court that he made $650 million during his blockbuster fantasy series movie "The Pirates of the Caribbean." "It was put to me this way because I had no idea about money or amounts of money: Since Pirates [of the Caribbean] 2 and 3, I had - and this is ludicrous to have to state, it's quite embarrassing - apparently I had made $650 million, and when I sacked [the former business managers], for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650 million, but I was $100 million in the hole because they had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years," Depp explained. Johnny Depp Claims Amber Heard Hit Him With A "Haymaker" Punch Aside from his financial woes that day, he also revealed that he came late to Heard's 30th birthday later in the night. The "London Fields" actress previously claimed that Depp got angry at her when she confronted him about coming in late for her birthday celebration. Furthermore, the Golden Globe winner was also accused of throwing a large bottle of champagne at Heard (which luckily missed) before pulling her to the floor and dragging her by hair. Depp also reportedly left a note to his wife, saying: "Happy f-king birthday." This was immediately denied by the Depp, as he claimed that Heard was the one who attacked and became violent by throwing "haymaker" punches at him. Moreover, Depp was asked by the high court to detail what "haymaker" means, to which he described it as a "roundhouse punch." "It's just a type of wild swinging ... kind of a roundhouse punch, as it were," Depp elaborated on the alleged physical abuse. "It's a bit of a wild swing, but effective if it reaches the target." The "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" actor previously accused Heard of marrying him in order to "progress her own career." Depp and the blonde beauty met on the set of their 2011 comedy-drama film "The Rum Diary." After years of dating, the two married in 2015 on the actor's private island in the Bahamas. They decided to call it quits in 2017 following the physical assault allegations during their 18-month marriage. READ MORE: Will Smith Divorce: Actor's Advice To Jada Pinkett Smith Nearly Destroyed Their Marriage A bill signed into law Tuesday that calls for the creation of a statewide database on police misconduct was partially spurred by the protests over the death of George Floyd, including this one in Philadelphia in early June. Read more After weeks of bipartisan support, a bill aimed at preventing problem officers fired from police departments from seeking new jobs elsewhere was signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday. The measure introduced by State Rep. Harry A. Readshaw, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat requires police departments to keep detailed records of why an officer left their employ, feeding them to a confidential database. That would include reports on disciplinary actions, performance evaluations, and attendance records, and require departments to disclose information about any active investigations into current or former officers. This database, under the new law, must be consulted by law enforcement agencies whenever they receive an application from a prospective officer. And though the database will not be publicly available, any agency that chooses to hire an officer despite prior discipline is required to write a publicly available report explaining its rationale. Black and Blue: Explore 190 years of police brutality in Philadelphia Wolf was a vocal supporter of the bill, a rare example of collaboration between both parties on police reform. The legislation was also endorsed by State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, and a coalition, as he put it, of police leaders, including Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, and the Fraternal Order of Police, both locally at Lodge 5 and through the statewide chapter in Mechanicsburg. Shapiro said Tuesday that the group met in his Harrisburg office in October to discuss reform. And that a common refrain, from all parties, was the concern over keeping bad officers out of communities. I think this is a down payment on progress, he said. Theres a lot more to do, and its my hope to keep working with this coalition Ive built and get more things done. READ MORE: Fired, then rehired: Once-secret records show how the arbitration system overturned the firings of more than 100 Philadelphia cops. The president of the statewide Fraternal Order of Police lodge, Les Neri, said Tuesday that the law is particularly useful for smaller departments in more remote parts of Pennsylvania that may not have the resources for lengthy background checks. Nobody wants bad cops on the street, most importantly the officers that may be standing beside these individuals, Neri said. Were willing to do whatever we have to do to make our profession better, and safer, not just for our officers, but for the public. John McNesby, the president of the Fraternal Order of Polices Philadelphia chapter, said he was proud to work on both sides of the aisle to bring this important reform package to Wolf. Todays bill-signing is a solid first step toward transparency and reform in Pennsylvania, McNesby said. Law enforcement, lawmakers, and community residents must continue this important work to bring transparency to policing and criminal justice reform. The law signed Tuesday is part of a larger package of police reforms that gained traction in the weeks following the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis. A similar bill calling for the creation of a statewide misconduct database was introduced in 2018, after a police officer shot and killed Antwon Rose II, an unarmed black teenager, in a small borough outside Pittsburgh. But that legislation, among others, languished in committees without a hearing. You might notice something different here. As we continue our evolution, our data and market news is now available through the Fastmarkets platform and a trial of this website is no longer available. Our new delivery solution allows you to access the prices and news that matters most to you in a way that delivers value, quality and a unique, fully customizable view for you. We are working hard to develop an experience that allows you to test drive building your view of our data and news on the new platform. In the meantime, learn more about us through any of the options below. Medicago Inc. has been using plants to develop potential vaccines for more than two decades. A new partnership with GlaxoSmithKline Plc. putting its unproven technology to the test against the novel coronavirus is pushing the Canadian biotech into the limelight. The Quebec City-based company dosed the first humans with its experimental Covid-19 vaccine on Monday, making it one of 23 candidates that have reached phase 1 clinical trials in the race to curb the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. Medicago, which is backed by large investors like Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and Philip Morris International Inc., last week clinched a deal with Glaxo to pair the vaccine with the U.K. giants adjuvants -- boosters that can help any brand of shot. Its a bit of a coup for a company like ours, because I had to convince them about the robustness of our technology, Chief Executive Officer Bruce Clark said of the plant platform, which has yet to produce an approved vaccine. Its a real watershed moment for us as the new kid in town. Medicago relies on an Australian plant thats a close relative to tobacco, known as nicotiana benthamiana, to develop vaccines. The plant has a weakened immune system that allows it to easily host genetic material and develop particles that mimic a virus. As Clark put it in an interview, the plants serve as bioreactors that can harvest clinical-grade material in a matter of weeks. The Canadian trial of Medicagos Covid-19 candidate will involve 180 healthy patients aged 18 to 55, and will test various doses of the vaccine alone and coupled with two different adjuvants: one from Glaxo, and another from Dynavax Technologies Corp. Pre-clinical results of its vaccine candidate both with and without a booster demonstrated a high level of neutralizing antibodies following a single dose, according to the company. Should the early-stage study prove successful, Medicago aims to enter later-stage trials in October, and manufacture 100 million doses by the end of 2021. Medicago, like many companies behind the 160 coronavirus vaccines currently in development, is seeking to earn investors trust by validating their new platforms amid the pandemic. Its at once exciting, and extremely frustrating to be a small vaccine player vying to be taken seriously, Clark said. If were going to show the world how this works, we have to take Covid on. The skepticism for new technology is there. The plant skepticism is there. ALSO READ: Horseshoe crab blood could help make Covid-19 vaccine, but harm the ecosystem Budding Technology Medicago launched in 1999 out of a partnership between Canadas agriculture department and Laval University. After focusing on the tobacco-adjacent plant, Medicago went public in 2006. In 2009 it began using the technology to develop a shot to counter the H1N1 pandemic. In 2013, Medicago was taken private by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and Philip Morris.Clark, who has spent his career at a range of large pharmaceutical companies including Glaxo and Sanofi, was a vice president at Philip Morris when that acquisition occurred. Hes helped the company usher a seasonal flu vaccine through late-stage clinical trials. That program is currently under review by Canadian health authorities. Medicago is not alone in pursuing a plant-based approach to the novel coronavirus. Cigarette maker British American Tobacco Plc has been working on a similar vaccine through its biotech subsidiary Kentucky BioProcessing. Medicago sees itself as confronting a similar challenge as high-profile vaccine makers like Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Sanofi, which are relying on so-called messenger RNA technology to prompt the body to make a key protein from the virus, sparking an immune response. The mRNA technology also has yet to generate a vaccine approved by regulators in the U.S. or beyond. We really think well need more than one type of vaccine, said Nathalie Landry, Medicago executive vice president of scientific and medical affairs, noting that various populations could respond differently to certain technologies. So, Clark said, the data has to speak for itself. (This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.) Follow more stories on Facebook and Twitter Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Carl O'Donnell (Reuters) Tue, July 14, 2020 12:15 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666241ad 2 World US,coronavirus,coronavirus-effect,COVID-19,COVID-19-vaccines,manufacturing,pandemic,SARS-CoV-2,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free Drugmakers partnered with the US government are on track to begin actively manufacturing a vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of the summer, a senior administration official said on Monday. "If you say exactly when will literally the vaccine materials be in production and manufacturing, it is probably four to six weeks away, but we will be actively manufacturing by the end of summer," the official, who declined to be identified by name, said. He added that the administration is already working with companies to equip and outfit manufacturing facilities and acquire raw materials. The Trump administration has helped finance the development of four COVID-19 vaccines so far though its Operation Warp Speed Program, which aims to produce 300 million vaccine doses by the end of 2021. The US government has given grants ranging from several hundred million dollars to over $1 billion to Johnson & Johnson , Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Novovax Inc. It also signed a $450 million contract earlier this month with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc to help it supply therapies for patients who are sick with the virus. Clinical trials for therapeutics can produce results in a matter of weeks, making it possible to produce hundreds of thousands of doses by fall, the senior administration official said. "While we think is fair to say that vaccine progress is occurring at warp speed pace, faster than any vaccines have been developed in history, therapeutics are even faster," the official said. The "slate is not closed" for additional funding agreements and the administration plans to announce more in the future, the official said. The novel coronavirus has infected more than 3 million people in the United States and killed more than 130,000. NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of its commitment to spearhead research on the most critical and pressing issues facing people with Parkinson's and their families, The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF) today releases results from the first and largest self-reported data set detailing the lived experience of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the Parkinson's disease (PD) community. Leading Parkinson's scientists worked urgently to deploy a first-of-its-kind survey through the Foundation's online clinical study, Fox Insight (foxinsight.org), to identify the effects of the global pandemic on Parkinson's symptoms and disruptions in care. The survey, which remains open in Fox Insight, was designed in consultation with a group of nine people with PD and care partners who contributed to its content. From April 23 through May 23, the COVID-19 survey obtained 7,209 responses from people with or without PD (77 of whom reported a COVID-19 diagnosis). "It's remarkable how many people responded so quickly to tell us how they were impacted by the clinical and social aspects of this pandemic," says Fox Insight principal investigator Carlie Tanner, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences, University of California, San Francisco. "This is why Fox Insight exists to meet patients where they are and to use their experiences to transform our understanding of Parkinson's disease." Data Uncovers Consequences of COVID-19 for People with Neurological Disease The COVID-19 pandemic is exerting wide-ranging impact on the global population, but especially on individuals living with chronic neurological diseases, like Parkinson's. PD is a highly variable disease with unique disease onset, symptoms and progression to each individual. Direct-from-patient data, collected at scale through Fox Insight's COVID-19 survey, is critical to add to the growing body of evidence on the pandemic's consequences. In Fox Insight's coronavirus survey, 51 people with Parkinson's reported a COVID-19 diagnosis, making this study the largest group of people with PD and COVID-19 in research to date. The survey revealed that during a COVID-19 infection, 55 percent of people with PD reported worsening of an existing motor symptom (i.e., tremor, slowness, imbalance) and more than 50 percent reported worsening of non-motor symptoms (i.e., mood issues, digestive problems, pain and fatigue). "Having COVID with Parkinson's was unsettling, because doctors still don't know much about how these two diseases interact," said Dan Morris, a person with PD who had COVID-19 and completed the Fox Insight survey. "My tremor got worse with COVID and there was nothing to show if other people with PD were also experiencing this. I submitted my survey to Fox Insight because I wanted my experience to add up to something bigger." The survey also validated previously reported effects of the pandemic on people living with chronic disease, especially people of color. Of respondents, 62 percent reported canceled healthcare appointments, involuntary reductions in needed in-home care or difficulty obtaining medications. Non-white race and lower income were independently associated with difficulty obtaining PD medications. Furthermore, telemedicine appointments were reported by 39 percent of people with PD, but those with lower household income were less likely to attend appointments through telemedicine. In addition, 35 percent of people with Parkinson's had issues completing at least one essential daily activity such as getting food. Many respondents had to cancel exercise or social activities cornerstones of PD care. Some used online classes to continue activities, but people with PD with lower income were less likely to report alternative ways of seeking care. These interruptions, coupled with the need to self-isolate, were associated with worsening of Parkinson's symptoms. Analysis of the data set, which is expected on bioRxiv this week, was limited to surveys completed between April 23 and May 23, 2020. The COVID-19 survey will be kept open in Fox Insight, however, to capture the evolving experiences of people with Parkinson's as the coronavirus pandemic continues to evolve. Early respondents also will be re-surveyed in six to 12 months for longitudinal analysis, which will help clinicians better understand the long-term implications. Learn more about study results from expert panelists in MJFF's webinar on Thursday, July 16 from 1-2 p.m. ET. Register at michaeljfox.org/webinars . Fox Insight: A Digital Powerhouse to Amplify Patient Voice in Parkinson's Research Sponsored by MJFF, the Fox Insight online clinical study was launched in 2017 to facilitate a partnership between patients and researchers to provide critical visibility into the lived experience, genetics and variability of PD. The online nature of the technology-enabled study allows a broader population of patients, including those who may face geographic, mobility or transportation challenges, to contribute data. Fox Insight has enrolled nearly 50,000 participants to date, making it the largest cohort of patient-reported outcomes in Parkinson's research. Participants complete online "study visits" every 90 days to report on real-world information regarding PD. Fox Insight participants also can offer additional information by filling out one-time or sub-study questionnaires. To date, Fox Insight has received more than 1.3 million total in survey responses, with more than 136,000 study visits completed and nearly 103,000 one-time survey or sub-study responses. And 76 percent of participants had not participated in a clinical study before Fox Insight, crystallizing its role as a stepping-stone for people to advance research. Data from Fox Insight is de-identified to maximize privacy and protection of individual-level information and then made available through the Fox Insight Data Exploration Network, or Fox DEN. Qualified researchers can access COVID-19 data from Fox Insight by registering at foxden.michaeljfox.org. About The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research As the world's largest nonprofit funder of Parkinson's research, The Michael J. Fox Foundation is dedicated to accelerating a cure for Parkinson's disease and improved therapies for those living with the condition today. The Foundation pursues its goals through an aggressively funded, highly targeted research program coupled with active global engagement of scientists, Parkinson's patients, business leaders, clinical trial participants, donors and volunteers. In addition to funding more than $900 million in research to date, the Foundation has fundamentally altered the trajectory of progress toward a cure. Operating at the hub of worldwide Parkinson's research, the Foundation forges groundbreaking collaborations with industry leaders, academic scientists and government research funders; increases the flow of participants into Parkinson's disease clinical trials with its online tool, Fox Trial Finder; promotes Parkinson's awareness through high-profile advocacy, events and outreach; and coordinates the grassroots involvement of thousands of Team Fox members around the world. For more information, visit us at michaeljfox.org. SOURCE The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research Related Links www.michaeljfox.org By Online Desk NEW DELHI: With almost double the number of students scoring above 95 per cent in the CBSE Board results this year, the Delhi University cutoffs are also likely to be high this year. A major chunk of students who apply to the Delhi University are CBSE students. Shobha Bagai, dean (admissions), said the registration process was already underway till July 18. "The next step for students will be to update marks. There is an increase in students scoring above 95 per cent and 90 per cent marks, and we will see which streams they are from and how that will impact the cutoffs," Bagai said. "Once we get the data on the portal, only then an analysis can happen. We have been waiting for the revised academic calendar from the UGC," she said. ALSO READ | CBSE class 12 results: Girls shine again, no fail this year "For us, it will make a difference, specially for science courses since NEET and JEE exams are scheduled in September." Many of the NEET and JEE aspirants also apply to the DU. In few days, the admission committee will sit down and take a decision, Bagai said. Former Academic Council member Pankaj Garg said the cutoffs in the first list would be high, but even the cutoffs in the fifth and sixth lists would be higher than last year by two-three percentage points. For instance, if the cutoff was 88 per cent in a subject last year, it will be 90 or 91 per cent this year, he said. "Also, this year, students were not allowed to choose courses while filling the varsity registration form. So colleges will keep their cut-offs high since the number of seats are limited for courses," he said. Anju Srivastava, principal of the Hindu College, said the first cutoff would be the same if not higher than last year. "There is data that students who have scored above 95 per cent is almost the double of last year. We will have to keep the cut-offs high because of the limitations," she said. The number of students scoring over 95 per cent in class 12 exam this year is more than double the 2019 figure of 17,693, according to the CBSE. In 2020, a year when the examinations were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, this figure more than doubled, with 38,686 students scoring above 95 per cent. Similarly, the number of students who scored above 90 per cent also increased from about 94,000 students in 2019 to almost 1.6 lakh in 2020. A total of 11.92 lakh candidates appeared for the examination, the results of which were announced on Monday. This year, students were evaluated as per an alternative assessment scheme, after the pending exams were cancelled in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases. According to the four-pointer scheme, marks have been awarded on the basis of marks scored by a student in his or her best performing subjects. According to the assessment scheme, students were divided into four categories. The first had students who sat in tests for all their subjects; their results have been declared on the basis of their performance in all the papers. Students in the second category had appeared for more than three subjects. They have been awarded marks for subjects they did not appear for based on the average of the marks obtained by them in the three best performing subjects. The board identified a third category of students who appeared in only three subjects. For them, the average of marks obtained in the two best performing subjects has been awarded in the subjects whose examinations were not conducted. The students in the fourth category were mainly from the February riot-affected Northeast Delhi region where exams had to be postponed. The results of these students have been declared on the basis of their performance in the subjects they took the test for besides their performance in internal or practical project assessment. The board has decided to give an option to students to take a re-test if they are not satisfied with their results and want to improve them. However, the marks scored in the retest will be treated as final. (With PTI Inputs) Bilateral relations between China and the Philippines have picked up momentum as both leaders reached important consensus on pursuing joint development while shelving disputes, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday. "We need to cherish the hard-won friendly situation," Wang underlined while holding a video conference with his Philippine counterpart Teodoro Locsin. To better fight against COVID-19, Wang reiterated China's stance to continuously share its experience with the Philippine side, promote cooperation on R&D of vaccine and medicines, and put in place fast tracks for travelers between the two sides. On the South China Sea issue, Wang said China will continue to work with all parties, including the Philippines, to properly handle the maritime issues through dialogue and consultation. China will continue to work with the Philippines in the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea to uphold peace and stability in the region, he added. Wang Yi (L) speaks with his Philippine counterpart Teodoro Locsin during a video conference in Beijing, China, July 14, 2020. /fmprc.gov.cn On his part, Locsin said the Philippines is willing to work with China to take the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties as an opportunity to further cement traditional friendship, and elevate cooperation in various areas. Locsin once again hailed China for lending a helping hand to the Philippines to combat the virus, appreciating its medical teams and supplies. Locsin reaffirmed that disputes at sea are not the sum total of China-Philippines relations, which will neither affect nor change the friendship between the two countries. American rapper Pop Smoke performs during the Astroworld Festival at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, on Nov. 9, 2019. (Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images) 4 Charged in Los Angeles Death of Rising Rapper Pop Smoke LOS ANGELESTwo men and two teens have been charged in the death of rising rapper Pop Smoke, who was killed during a Los Angeles home-invasion robbery in February, the district attorneys office said Monday. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement that Corey Walker and Keandre Rodgers were charged with murder that occurred during the commission of a robbery and burglary. The two boys, 15 and 17 years old, were also charged with murder and robbery while in juvenile court. Their names were not released due to their age. The 20-year-old New York rapper, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was killed Feb. 19 at a home in the Hollywood Hills. A 911 call from a friend of someone in the house reported armed intruders inside the home, police previously said. Walker, 19, and Rodgers, 18, could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. The arraignment for both men has been postponed until Tuesday. Jaquan Murphy, 21, was also arrested in connection with the incident last week. The complaint includes gang and gun allegations. Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who oversees the Los Angeles Police Departments elite Robbery-Homicide Division, said three men and two teenage boys likely went to the home because they knew Pop Smoke was there from social media posts. They stole items from the home, though Tippet said he could not divulge what was taken. Pop Smoke performs on stage with French Montana at iHeartRadio Live and Verizon Bring You French Montana in New York City at Webster Hall on Aug. 28, 2019. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for iHeartMedia) All five are believed to be members of a South Los Angeles gang, which Tippet would not name, and at least some of them are believed to be linked to a 2019 homicide when a fight escalated into a shooting outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Authorities did not initially believe the rappers death was related to a robbery. The home where the shooting occurred is owned by Edwin Arroyave and his wife Teddi Mellencamp, a star of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and the daughter of Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer John Mellencamp. Teddi Mellencamp previously said on Instagram that the couple had been notified of the shooting at their rental property but knew no more than what they had seen in media reports. Pop Smoke arrived on the rap scene in 2018 and broke out with Welcome to the Party a gangsta anthem with boasts about shootings, killings, and drugs that became a huge sensation, and prompted Nicki Minaj to drop a verse on a remix. Earlier this year, Pop Smoke released the mixtape Meet the Woo 2, which debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard Top 200 albums chart. It was the follow up to his first official release, Meet the Woo. The rapper also had the popular hit Gatti with Travis Scott and Jackboys and Dior. His major label debut album, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon, which was executive produced by 50 Cent, recently topped the Billboard Top 200 albums charts. It was released posthumously July 3 to mostly positive reviews and features appearances from popular artists including Future, DaBaby, and Quavo. Pop Smoke had been scheduled to start a U.S. tour in Washington on March 2. By Jonathan Landrum Jr. In a move towards inclusion, the Tripura government has decided to recruit women in the Tripura State Rifles (TSR), its own paramilitary force, for the first time. This comes two years after a 10% quota was introduced for them in the force. On July 7 the state cabinet approved 1,488 posts for the paramilitary force. According to HT, 35,642 candidates had applied for the posts of which 4,752 were women. Representational image/DD/Twitter We will recruit 75% from the domicile of our state and rest 25% from outside the state for these posts. We got 4,310 women candidates from our state and another 442 from outside the state, HT quoted Ratan Lal Nath, the states law minister, as saying. For candidates belonging to general category, the minimum educational qualification is class X graduation while their age should be between 18 and 23 years old. For SC&ST candidates the age bar is 18 to 28 years and minimum educational qualification required is having cleared class VIII. Assessment will be done out of 100 marks. There is a 30-mark physical test. Those who qualify will go forward to a written 60 marks test and then the interview will be of 10 marks. PTI For the first time, we are introducing Kokborok, the language of the Tripuri community, as a medium in the examination, besides Bengali, Hindi and English. The CBSE will conduct the written examination. We will sign a memorandum of understanding with the CBSE soon for that, Nath reportedly said. Of the total number of applicants, 20,377 are from Tripura and the rest 15,265 are from other states. 16,062 men and 4,310 women candidates have applied from within the state. 14,823 men and 442 women have applied from outside Tripura for the posts. Representational Image/FC Indian Army/Facebook Earlier this month, in another inclusive move, various Indian paramilitary forces declared they were ready to recruit members of the transgender community. Officials of the Border Security Force (BSF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) told the Union Home Ministry that they will recruit transgender persons to the officer cadre post of assistant commandants. The Home Ministry directed all central government departments to include transgender as a separate category for recruitment for all posts, including civil services. These moves by forces to be inclusive of all genders are steps towards progression. Also Read: Odisha Civic Body Ropes In Transgender Community To Collect Taxes KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Polymeric Group announced today plans to license their patented SilvaKure antimicrobial coating technology to companies interested in protecting surface areas from bacterial and viral contagions as a first line of defense in preventing the chance of cross-contamination and human transference. SilvaKure was developed and patented by chemists at Polymeric in 2011 as an added protective property for their line of FORTIFI UV-curable and water-based functional coatings and has been widely used for many projects, especially in the medical and healthcare industries. Using silver ion technology, an antimicrobial substance that is REACH-compliant and approved by the EPA, FDA and NSF for its broad-spectrum performance, FORTIFI functional coatings with SilvaKure technology are recognized for their ability to inhibit the growth of bacterial, viral, and fungal pathogens throughout the lifetime of the coated product. Recently, FORTIFI UV-curable and water-based coatings underwent JIS Z2801 testing for efficacy and were determined to be up to 99.999% effective in preventing bacterial growth for common and problematic bacteria. "We understand the urgent need for effective, practical ways to provide long-term antimicrobial properties to surface areas in a wide variety of environments," says Terry Amerine, VP- Sales & Marketing for Polymeric Group. "That is the basis for our decision to license our SilvaKure antimicrobial coating technology, to help organizations adapt their business model to meet these safety demands." FORTIFI functional coatings are specifically formulated to meet a wide variety of end application requirements and to enhance the overall performance of the coated product or surface. FORTIFI functional coatings are designed to work on a wide variety of materials and surfaces including PVC, acrylic, PET, HDPE, paper and board, coated metals and more. "By integrating SilvaKure antimicrobial technology at the manufacturing stage of our FORTIFI functional coatings, we are able to protect the surface while also providing antimicrobial properties for the lifespan of the surface itself," says Dev Sarma, Polymeric Group Chief Technology Officer. "We are actively working with several universities in the United States and Europe to further test the efficacy of the SilvaKure technology against a host of novel bacterial and viral pathogens. To date, the test results have been truly outstanding." For more information about SilvaKure antimicrobial technology, including licensing opportunities, call Terry Amerine at 913.213.7980 or email him at [email protected]. About Polymeric Group Polymeric Group was founded in 1993 by a blend of chemists, color specialists and entrepreneurs with one goal in mind: develop customized inks and technologically advanced coatings to solve unique print application challenges to help our clients better compete. For more information about Polymeric Group, visit www.polymericgroup.com. Related Images polymeric-group.png Polymeric Group Logo Related Links https://www.polymericgroup.com/industrial-ink-and-coating-products#coatings SOURCE Polymeric Group Related Links http://www.polymericgroup.com In past years, the United Way of Greater Houston has coordinated Project Undercover with local partners, setting up collection baskets for the socks and underwear that would make their way to local schools. This year, due to COVID-19, the drive looks significantly different. The goal of Project Undercover is to help provide students with a necessity that their family may not be able to afford as often as it is needed. Fulfilling that need helps students stay in school, lowering drop-out rates and improving the educational experience. This year, Project Undercover still has the same goal but is going about meeting it by collecting donations online instead of in-person from community partners. The project started in Montgomery County but expanded to the greater Houston area two years ago. Online option Recently, the project had added an online option so that people could make a purchase of socks or underwear to the drive through Amazon. We had a small group of people that would purchase things that kind of way, it was a nice thing when people were doing their Amazon shopping to just add on, said Emily Faron, who heads up the project. As we looked towards 2020, we faced a couple decisions. Is this still a critical need in the pandemic and how are people going to be able to participate? After reviewing the community conditions, Faron said the organization decided that the drive was needed more than ever. Kids are still growing, and economic pressures are high due to the pandemic. While some of the community partners may be doing on-site drives, most of the community partners are embracing the online registry option. The online collection will be open through Aug. 15, the on-site collections will run through July. Its really tough to know what to expect this year, I think were all kind of flying blind, Faron said about whether or not the drive has set a goal this year for how many items they would like to receive. Last year we collected over 35,000 pairs of socks and underwear, and that benefited 3,500 Houston area students. Community collections In Montgomery County, the community collected around 10,000 items to benefit 1,000 students. United Way would love to reach that goal, or even break it, but Faron said they will just have to see how it goes. She understands that donors are facing many of the same economic frustrations as those in need. The collected items are distributed to local school districts with the help of community partners and the district themselves. Here in Montgomery County, the community partner is the Community Assistance Center. Students in need are typically found with the help of district nurses and counselors. Anytime we receive this community support - whether its material needs and clothing, or school supplies - it just enables our families who have limited budgets to focus that money somewhere else, on an unmet need, because the community is able to support them with these basic essentials, said Denise Cipolla, CISD administrative coordinator for counseling. In 2018, Cipolla said that CISD received over 500 donated packages from the drive and all of them were distributed that year to students in need. Shifting to donating online will likely be here to stay, Faron said, in the years to come. Its an opportunity to allow for groups that may not have a site for a collection basket to still be able to contribute. More information can be found at www.unitedwayhouston.org/projectundercover. jamie.swinnerton@chron.com NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nationally and in every US census region,1 chronic kidney disease and kidney failure were the most common comorbidity in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, accounting for 13 percent of all such patients in the period January-May 2020. All regions except one resembled the nation in having type 2 diabetes as the second most common comorbidity; the exception, the South, had hypertension in that rank. These are among the findings of FAIR Health's fourth COVID-19 study, Key Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients: Profiles Based on Analysis of Private Healthcare Claims. This study uses the nation's largest repository of private healthcare claims to illuminate some of the key characteristics of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. These characteristics include age, gender, rural versus urban area by age, venue of care where first diagnosed, venue of care by age, comorbidities of hospitalized patients and median costs of hospitalization. The patient characteristics are analyzed nationally and also by US census region. The data studied are from the period January-May 2020. Among the other findings: Nationally, the median charge amount for hospitalization of a COVID-19 patient ranged from $34,662 for the 23-30 age group to $45,683 for the 51-60 age group. The median estimated in-network amounts ranged from $17,094 for people over 70 years of age to $24,012 for people aged 51-60 years. for the 23-30 age group to for the 51-60 age group. The median estimated in-network amounts ranged from for people over 70 years of age to for people aged 51-60 years. The West was the region with the widest range of costs for COVID-19 hospitalizations. There, median charge amounts ranged from $21,407 for the 19-22 age group to $93,459 for the over 70 age group. Median estimated in-network amounts ranged from $15,289 for the 19-22 age group to $60,205 for the over 70 age group. for the 19-22 age group to for the over 70 age group. Median estimated in-network amounts ranged from for the 19-22 age group to for the over 70 age group. Nationally, an office was the most common setting for initial presentation of patients with COVID-19: 33.3 percent of COVID-19 patients presented to an office and 23.0 percent presented to an inpatient facility. However, older people (age 61 and above) most commonly presented first to an inpatient setting. In the Northeast, telehealth was more common for initial diagnosis of COVID-19 than emergency rooms (6.7 versus 6.2 percent of COVID-19 patients). The Northeast was the region with the highest percentage of COVID-19 patients who received their initial diagnosis via telehealth. Nationally, males were associated with a larger share (54 percent) of the distribution of COVID-19 claim lines than females (46 percent). Nationally, during the January-May time frame, COVID-19 was most commonly associated with the age group 51-60, which accounted for 29.9 percent of the distribution of claim lines with this diagnosis. Children (0-18 years) accounted for the smallest share, 1.5 percent. (It should be noted, however, that the age distribution may be in flux, with the average age of new COVID-19 patients in the United States having dropped by about 15 years compared with a few months ago, according to recent reports.) having dropped by about 15 years compared with a few months ago, according to recent reports.) In the South, Midwest and West, the age groups 19-30 and 31-40 accounted for larger shares of the distribution of claim lines than in the Northeast and the nation as a whole. Across age groups on the national level, rural and urban areas were similar in their association with COVID-19 claim lines. In the largest age group, 51-60, rural and urban areas had almost identical shares of the COVID-19 claim line distribution, respectively 30.2 percent and 30.3 percent. FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "Profiles of COVID-19 patients have many potential applications, including determining risk factors, influencing treatment protocols, setting priorities for eventual vaccination distribution, inspiring further research, and planning and budgeting for use of healthcare resources. FAIR Health presents this report to help support that broad range of applications by stakeholders throughout the healthcare sector." This is the fourth in a series of briefs released by FAIR Health on the COVID-19 pandemic. The first brief examined projected US costs for COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient stays, the second the impact of the pandemic on hospitals and health systems, and the third the impact on healthcare professionals. On July 16 from 2 to 3 pm ET, Ms. Gelburd will present a free webcast, "Using FAIR Health Data to Shed Light on the COVID-19 Pandemic," detailing the COVID-19 resources offered by FAIR Health, including this series of briefs. To register, click here. For the new brief, click here. Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth About FAIR Health FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 31 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data productsincluding benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indicesto commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Careand How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org. 1 The states in the US census regions are: Northeast: Connecticut, Maine , Massachusetts , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , Vermont ; Connecticut, , , , , , , , ; Midwest: Illinois, Indiana , Iowa , Kansas , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Nebraska , North Dakota , Ohio , South Dakota , Wisconsin ; Illinois, , , , , , , , , , , ; South: Alabama, Arkansas , Delaware , District of Columbia , Florida, Georgia , Kentucky , Louisiana , Maryland , Mississippi , North Carolina , Oklahoma , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , West Virginia ; and Alabama, , , , Florida, , , , , , , , , , , , ; and West: Alaska, Arizona , California , Colorado , Hawaii , Idaho , Montana , Nevada , New Mexico , Oregon , Utah , Washington , Wyoming . Contact: Rachel Kent Director of Marketing, Outreach & Communications FAIR Health 646-396-0795 [email protected] SOURCE FAIR Health Related Links www.fairhealth.org THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Qatar won a legal battle Tuesday in its efforts to end a long-running aviation boycott by Arab neighbours when the United Nations highest court ruled in its favour in a procedural dispute linked to the boycott. The International Court of Justice rejected an appeal by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of a June 2018 decision by the International Civil Aviation Organization to dismiss the countries challenge to its jurisdiction to rule in the aviation dispute. The ruling clears the way for the ICAO to be able to rule in Qatars case, filed in October 2017, claiming the boycott breached an international convention governing international aviation. Qatars Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, welcomed the ruling. We are confident that the ICAO will ultimately find these actions unlawful, he said. This is the latest in a series of rulings that expose the Blockading Countries continued disregard for international law and due process. Step by step their arguments are being dismantled, and Qatars position vindicated. Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates cut ties with Qatar in the summer of 2017 over its support for Islamist opposition groups that they view as terrorists. They also launched an economic boycott, stopping Qatar Airways flights from using their airspace, closing off the small countrys sole land border with Saudi Arabia and blocking its ships from using their ports. LONDON - Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, vaccines will be hoarded by rich countries in an unseemly race to inoculate their populations first. After the recent uproar over the United States purchasing a large amount of a new COVID-19 drug, some predict an even more disturbing scenario if a successful vaccine is developed. Dozens of vaccines are being researched, and some countries including Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. already have ordered hundreds of millions of doses before the vaccines are even proven to work. While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones cant afford to place such speculative bets at all. The key initiative to help them is led by Gavi, a public-private partnership started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that buys vaccines for about 60% of the worlds children. In a document sent to potential donors last month, Gavi said those giving money to its new Covax Facility would have the opportunity to benefit from a larger portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines. Gavi told donor governments that when an effective vaccine is found within its pool of experimental shots, those countries would receive doses for 20% of their population. Those shots could be used as each nation wished. That means rich countries can sign deals on their own with drugmakers and then also get no-strings-attached allocations from Gavi. Poorer countries that sign up to the initiative would theoretically get vaccines at the same time to cover 20% of their populations, but they would be obligated to immunize people according to an ethical distribution framework set by the United Nations. The donor countries are encouraged (but not required) to donate vaccines if they have more than they need, the document says. By giving rich countries this backup plan, theyre getting their cake and eating it too, said Anna Marriott of Oxfam International. They may end up buying up all the supply in advance, which then limits what Gavi can distribute to the rest of the world. Dr. Seth Berkley, Gavis CEO, said such criticisms were unhelpful. Right now theres no vaccine for anyone, he said, and were trying to solve that problem. Berkley said Gavi needed to make investing in a global vaccine initiative attractive for rich countries. Gavi would try to persuade those countries that if they ordered vaccines already, they should not attempt to obtain more, he said. But he acknowledged there was no enforcement mechanism. If, at the end of the day, those legal agreements are broken or countries seize assets or dont allow the provision of vaccines (to developing countries), thats a problem, Berkley said. Gavi asked countries for an expression of intent from those interested in joining its initiative by last Friday. It had expected about four dozen high and middle income countries to sign up, in addition to nearly 90 developing countries. Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is working with Gavi and others, said they would be talking in the coming weeks with countries who had signed deals with drug companies to secure their own supplies. One possibility: They might ask countries to contribute their private vaccine stockpile to the global pool in exchange for access to whichever experimental candidate proves effective. Well have to find a solution because some of these arrangements have been made and I think we have to be pragmatic about it, he said. After a vaccine meeting last month, the African Union said governments should remove all obstacles to equal distribution of any successful vaccine. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said Gavi should be pushing hard on convincing companies to suspend their intellectual property rights. We dont want to find ourselves in the HIV drugs situation, he said, noting that the life-saving drugs were available in developed countries years before they made it to Africa. Shabhir Mahdi, principal investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial in South Africa, said it was up to African governments to push for more vaccine-sharing initiatives, rather than depending on pharmaceutical companies to make their products more accessible. If you expect it to be the responsibility of industry, you would never get a vaccine onto the African continent, Mahdi said. Last month, Gavi and CEPI signed a $750 million deal with AstraZeneca to give developing countries 300 million doses of a shot being developed by Oxford University. But that deal happened after the drug company had already signed contracts with Britain and the U.S., who are first in line to get vaccine deliveries in the fall. We are working tirelessly to honour our commitment to ensure broad and equitable access to Oxfords vaccine across the globe and at no profit, said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. He said its contract with Gavi and CEPI marked an important step in helping us supply hundreds of millions of people around the world, including to those in countries with the lowest means. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also vowed to share any COVID-19 vaccine it develops with African countries but only once immunization has been completed in China. The World Health Organization has previously said it hopes to secure 2 billion doses for people in lower-income countries by the end of 2021, including through initiatives like Gavis. About 85% of the worlds 7.8 billion people live in developing countries. Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said Gavi should try to extract more concessions from pharmaceutical companies, including compelling them to suspend patents on the vaccines. Gavi is in a very delicate position because theyre completely reliant on the goodwill of drug companies, said Elder. She said the system of how vaccines are provided to developing countries needed to be overhauled so that it wasnt based on charity, but on public health need. Were just having our governments write these blank checks to industry with no conditions attached right now, she said. Isnt now the time to actually hold them to account and demand we as the public, get more for it? Yannis Natsis, a policy official at the European Public Health Alliance, said the last thing on the minds of officials in rich countries is sharing with poor ones. Politicians are scared if they dont throw money at companies, the citizens in the next country over will get the vaccines first and they will look very bad, Natsis said. ___ Cara Anna in Johannesburg contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Donald Trump, Jr., the eldest child of the president, is being widely ridiculed after releasing the cover of his upcoming book, which reads: Donald Trump Jr. #1 New York Times Best Selling Author Liberal PrivilegeJoe Biden and the Democrats Defense of the Indefensible. According to fourth-grade spelling bee winner Twila Nitpikker, the covers twenty-one words contain three punctuation errors: First, there should be a comma between Trump and Jr., Ms. Nitpikker notes. Second, there should be a hyphen between best and selling. Third, there should be an apostrophe after the s in Democrats, not before. Critics on social media seized on the apostrophe error in roundly mocking the presidents son, who is, ironically, the most privileged of Americans. The debacle comes on the heels of a similarly ironic misstep shortly after the release of Trump, Jr.s, first book, Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us. At an event at UCLA last November, a vocal group of young conservatives heckled the author until, apparently triggered, he became silent and walked off the stage. Dont worry, Mr. Junior, Ms. Nitpikker wrote on her sweetyhigh.com home page. Bullies suck! And you cant judge a book by its cover. Besides, you can always come back to school with us in the fall! BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Elnur Baghishov Trend: More than 124,500 tons of wheat and 3,120 tons of rapeseed has been purchased from farmers in Tehran province in the current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020), Director of Government Trading Corporation (GTC) of Irans branch in Tehran Province Abbas Arshadi said, Trend reports citing the corporations website. Arshadi stressed that the value of purchased wheat was more than 3.14 trillion rials (about $74.7 million), and the value of rapeseed was more than 145 billion rials (about $3.45 million) in the current Iranian year. More than 5 million tons of wheat worth 135 trillion rials (about $3.21 billion) has been purchased from farmers from the beginning of April 4. In addition, 257,000 tons of rapeseed worth 11.5 trillion rials (about $274 million) has been purchased from farmers in Iran during this period. 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. Ranjani Madhavan By Express News Service BENGALURU: The family of a COVID-19 suspect were in for a shock when Bengaluru's Columbia Asia Hospital quoted an estimated bill of Rs 9.09 lakh for 10 days in ICU with a ventilator. The 67-year-old man awaiting a COVID test result went to this hospital as he was gasping for breath. On hearing the estimated bill, the family did not admit him. The break up of the bill includes Rs 1.40 lakh for ventilator charges, Rs 3 lakh for medicines, medical supplies and consumables, Rs 2 lakh for laboratory investigations, Rs 75,000 for room rent. Rs 75,000 professional fee, Rs 58,500 for nursing charges, Rs 35,000 for radiology investigations and physiotherapy, Rs 25,000 equipment and surgical items. The bill said this is only an estimated amount and the actual costs could be higher in the event of complications, an unanticipated extension of stay and comorbid conditions. Speaking to The New Indian Express, Abdul Basir, a relative of the patient said," My uncle was tested at St. John's Hospital on Sunday and we were awaiting the swab test result. On Monday, he began gasping for breath at 2.30 pm. His oxygen saturation level was low. The hospital told us they have an ICU bed so we rushed him to the emergency there. They said he can be admitted and showed us this estimate bill and we were shocked." "We discussed the situation as saving his life was also a priority. However, we could not afford this amount. We contacted NGO Mercy Mission who got us in touch with Dr Taha Mateen of HBS Hospital who asked us to bring him there. By this time his oxygen levels had deteriorated further," Abdul said, further adding," The hospital should not take leverage when emotions are running high. They need to subsidize the rates for COVID-19 suspect patients as well. In HBS we admitted him for Rs 25,000." On Tuesday morning, his uncle tested positive for COVID-19. Reacting to the same, Minister for Medical Education Dr. K Sudhakar said that hospitals cannot charge this much and action will be taken against them. Commissioner for Health, Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that District Health Officer Dr. Srinivas will enquire into the matter. Dr. Chaitanya Pathania, General Manager, Columbia Asia Hospital, Whitefield said in response to this newspaper's query that the elderly patient came to the hospital with fever and respiratory distress. "He also had comorbidities of Diabetes and Hypertension. He was tentatively diagnosed as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, due to a viral or bacterial cause. We wish to point out that at that stage he was not confirmed COVID nor was he referred from the Government. Any patient in such a situation is given an estimate only. This does not mean that any final bill or costing was provided. All patients once confirmed to be COVID positive are treated in conformity with the government rules and regulations which Columbia Asia commits to following with no exception," Dr. Chaitanya said. Cardinal George Pell has described in detail the 13 months he spent behind bars, including an encounter with another prisoner who spat on him while they were in separate exercise yards. Cardinal Pell was in solitary confinement for just over a year, serving time at both Melbourne Assessment Prison and Barwon Prison, after a County Court jury in 2018 found him guilty of five charges related to allegations he sexually assaulted two choirboys in 1996 in St Patrick's Cathedral in East Melbourne. George Pell after he was released from Barwon Prison on April 7. Credit:Jason South After spending more than 400 days in jail, the country's seven most senior judges in April voted unanimously to quash all of Cardinal Pell's convictions for child-sex abuse, ruling there was a "significant possibility" an innocent person had been convicted. In a piece published in the August edition of American religious journal First Things, Cardinal Pell describes how he spent 10 months in isolation at Melbourne Assessment Prison in a cell about eight metres long by two metres wide. TOKYO - Japans defence minister said Tuesday that officials have discovered a number of problems with U.S. military measures to guard against the coronavirus among service members stationed in Japan after 95 Marines tested positive at several bases on the southern island of Okinawa. Okinawan officials on Sunday said most of the cases since early July were at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the centre of a relocation dispute. Others were at Camp Hansen, Camp Kinser and Camp McTureous. On Tuesday, Kadena Air Base reported two positive cases. Combined with three cases at Kadena in March, the total among the U.S. service members on Okinawa is 100, officials said. We have discovered a number of problems, Defence Minister Taro Kono said. We need to more strictly scrutinize the situation with the U.S. military in Japan. Kono said the problems were discovered after Japanese officials requested information from the U.S. military. He refused to give details, but said the problems exist at U.S. bases throughout Japan, not just on Okinawa. In a possible indication of one of the problems, Kono said Japanese officials are inspecting a hotel used by the U.S. military to house service members newly assigned to Okinawa from the U.S. while they undergo a 14-day self-quarantine. Okinawan officials and residents have raised concerns about whether adequate safety measures are in place at the hotel. Later Tuesday, officials said no infections or major problems were found at the hotel and those staying there are not allowed to go out during their two-week quarantine. Current hotel residents will move to facilities on base next week, while the hotel will then accommodate those leaving Okinawa. Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki has criticized the U.S. military for a lack of transparency regarding the coronavirus, saying it has caused concern among residents. Tamaki in telephone talks Saturday with Lt. Gen. H. Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, demanded the U.S. military increase transparency, improve disease prevention measures, stop sending personnel from the mainland U.S. to Okinawa and seal the bases. The U.S. military has told Okinawa that all infected people have been isolated and the bases are virtually under lockdown, officials said. We are taking prudent measures to prevent further spread of COVID-19 and will continue to communicate with our force, our families, and our local communities about positive COVID-19 cases, Kadena base said Tuesday on its Facebook page. Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact. Residents have long been sensitive to U.S. base-related problems such as pollution, noise and crime. Okinawans also oppose a planned relocation of Futenma Air Base from its current site in a densely populated area in the south to a less populated area on the east coast, and instead want the facility removed entirely from the island. Outside the bases, Okinawa has reported only about 150 coronavirus cases. Nationwide, Japan has confirmed 20,000 cases including about 1,000 deaths. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi China on Tuesday said last weekend's democratic primaries were an attempt at a "color revolution" in Hong Kong, citing a draconian security law recently imposed on the city by its National People's Congress. A spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO) under China's cabinet, the State Council, said the primaries represented an "erosion" of the powers of the Hong Kong government and a "flagrant provocation ... which must not be allowed." "Hong Kong has become a base for color revolution, infiltration and subversive activities against Beijing," the spokesman said. The spokesman said it is illegal for anyone to organize unofficial elections in Hong Kong, calling for those found responsible to be "severely punished." He singled out Hong Kong legal scholar Benny Tai, who suggested running the primaries, calling him "a political agent of foreign forces in Hong Kong," adding that the five demands of last year's protest movement and of pro-democracy lawmakers were a bid to overthrow the Hong Kong government. The statement came after Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said on Monday that police in the city would investigate complaints that the primaries were in breach of the law, which bans actions or activities deemed subversive, secessionist, terrorist, or involving collusion with foreign powers. "This was illegal manipulation of the election ... and a blatant challenge to the ... national security law for Hong Kong," a spokesman said in a statement posted to the HKMAO's official website. "We strongly ... support the investigation and punishment of violators." Article 22 of China's National Security Law for Hong Kong bans anyone from "seriously interfering in, disrupting or undermining the performance of duties and functions in accordance with the law by the body of central power of the People's Republic of China or the body of power of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by force or threat of force or other unlawful means." Lam had also said that if the primaries were set up to coordinate the opposition response with a view to blocking government measures in LegCo, they would be regarded as subversive. 'Primaries not illegal,' organizer says Tai dismissed the claim that the primaries were illegal in a social media post on Tuesday. "These are arrangements of the relationships between the executive and legislative authorities provided in the Basic Law," he wrote. "In no way [would] any unlawful means ... be involved." "It is absurd [to view this] as subverting the state," Tai said. Organizers said 610,000 people turned out in Hong Kong over the weekend to vote in the primaries, despite warning notes struck by officials, a raid targeting the poll organizer's office, and a new spike in coronavirus cases. A police raid on the offices of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), the polling organization tasked with running the election, also appeared to have done little to frighten people off. Pro-democracy parties were planning to use the primaries to select candidates most likely to win seats in a bid to win more than 35 seats in the 70-seat LegCo chamber. Incumbent pro-democracy lawmaker Helena Wong said she wouldn't be running in September after losing in the weekend's primaries, and would focus on supporting other pro-democracy candidates instead. "I think given that what is going on right now, people have certain expectations of their LegCo members, and want them to take more of a fighting position and create more of an impression," Wong told RFA. "I hope that the new generation of candidates can respond to the need of the current time," she said. Holding authorities to account Tai said the purpose of the primaries was to use the powers given to LegCo members under Hong Kong's mini-constitution, the Basic Law, to hold the authorities to account. "Of course, those powers would include vetoing the Budget," he said. Ivan Choy, politics lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), said Tai's strategy may not work, as the city's electoral system is complicated and unpredictable at the best of times. "This isn't just about the direct [geographical constituency] elections, but ... also about whether they can turn the tide in the functional constituencies," Choy said, in a reference to LegCo seats allocated to specific industries and professions. "I made some calculations and the outcome isn't particularly rosy," he said. Reported by Man Hoi-tsan for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Lu Xi for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie. A few days back the mysterious deaths of hundreds of elephants in Botswana became a matter of concern for many around the world. What added to the problem was that the government had not taken any immediate step to understand why this had happened. After days, there seems be some clarity about the situation. NY Post reports that according to the government a pachyderm-adverse pathogen, a deadly new novel disease, might be the cause of the deaths. Mail Online Since it is reportedly a new pathogen, scientists would have to rule out its transmission from animals to humans. Parts of the elephant carcasses have been sent to Zimbabwe as samples in a bid to learn more about what is killing the creatures and test results are also awaited from South Africa, Mail Online reports. Calling it a conservation disaster earlier Dr Niall McCann, the director of conservation at UK-based charity National Park Rescue told Guardian, This is a mass die-off on a level that hasnt been seen in a very, very long time. Outside of drought, I dont know of a die-off that has been this significant. Guardian When weve got a mass die-off of elephants near human habitation at a time when wildlife disease is very much at the forefront of everyones minds, he added. It was reported that locals saw some elephants walking around in circles, before dying, which could be an indication of neurological impairment. If you look at the carcasses, some of them have fallen straight on their face, indicating they died very quickly. Others are obviously dying more slowly, like the ones that are wandering around. So its very difficult to say what this toxin is, McCann said. Guardian Elephants of all ages and both sexes have been dying. According to a Guardian report, a cluster of elephant deaths was first reported in the Okavango Delta in early May, with 169 dead by the end of the month. By June, the number more than doubled. 70 per cent of the deaths were clustered around waterholes. The number of death now stands close to 400. Last year, Botswana legalised the hunting of elephants because the country had too many of them post which 70 elephants were legally killed there. More information about the new pathogen is awaited. Switch the Market flag Open the menu and switch the Market flag for targeted data from your country of choice. for targeted data from your country of choice. Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, says the federal government will not allow some countries to operate international flights to Nig... Hadi Sirika, the minister of aviation, says the federal government will not allow some countries to operate international flights to Nigeria. Addressing journalists at the daily briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Monday, Sirika said the government will not be in a hurry to resume international flights as whatever decisions to be made would be in the interest of the general public. He explained that several countries have not opened up for international flight operations and that Nigeria has not received clearance to fly to countries who are already receiving foreign visitors. Sirika explained that Nigeria has taken a similar stance as the country has not begun to allow international flights. On the question about when we are beginning international travels, certainly you are very aware that so many countries had placed a ban on countries that we cannot go even from Nigeria. Also Nigeria, of course, will place a ban on other countries that cannot come in here. Everyone is trying to keep safe, he said. These and many other reasons will make us be cautious and study some more and liaise with stakeholders to decide when we will open international flights. Within the sector, we want to reopen because we are bleeding and losing money but we have to remain alive first before we make money. Whatever decision we take has to be in the interest of humanity in general. The minister also said consultations would also have to be carried out with the World Health Organisation, the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) and other aviation stakeholders. Several countries across the world imposed travel restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus. On March 18, the federal government announced restriction of flights from 13 countries that had more than 1,000 cases of the coronavirus domestically. The airports in Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt were closed on March 21 and the Lagos and Abuja international flights wing were closed on March 23. Domestic flight operations resumed at the Lagos and Abuja airports on July 8, while Kano, Port Harcourt, Owerri and Maiduguri airports will reopen on July 11. 'The fatal mistake for the USSR was the invasion of Afghanistan.' 'Quite possibly the fatal mistake for the Chinese empire is the assault on Ladakh,' observes Rajeev Srinivasan. IMAGE: Prabhjot Singh, son of Satnam Singh, one of the 20 Indian Army soldiers murdered by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in Ladakh's Galwan Valley on the night of June 15, at his father's funeral in Bhojraj village, Gurdaspur, Punjab. Photograph: Munish Sharma/Reuters Part 1 of the column: Ladakh Stand-off: Be prepared to meet fire with fire Indian should become a formal US ally There is a school of thought that India should abandon its posture of strategic ambiguity because of the fear of China. The corollary is that it should jump in bed with the Americans, as they are the only other game in town. C Raja Mohan of the National University of Singapore, writing in the Indian Express, urged India to 'be realistic'. Gideon Rachmann of the Financial Times declared that 'India picks a side in the new cold war'. There are two ways of looking at this. One the one hand, there is nothing wrong with cooperating with other nations with similar interests. Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia and the US each have their (different) issues with China, and it is likely that together these countries could 'contain' China to a great extent. Therefore in terms of short term objectives, yes, they could come together, and the Quad is one such grouping. The Quad has been floundering for some years, partly because of mutual suspicions between Australia and India (perhaps dating back to the days of Sinophile Kevin Rudd as Australian PM). As circumstances change, the bad blood may be history, and Australia may become a full participant in the Malabar exercises at sea along with the US, Japan and India. On the other hand, there is an implicit assumption about a G2. People still haven't gotten out of the old Cold War days of a bipolar world, where the US and the USSR competed for influence; only now it is the US and China competing. Can it become a G3? I once had an argument with Bruno Macaes about India's chances to be the third pole. He was dismissive, suggesting that the European Union, and a still-potent Russia would be better candidates for that. That is a questionable assumption. While it has a nuclear stockpile, Russia is now reduced to the level of a supplicant to China, as the US continues to be hostile. The demographic collapse there means that one day China will just walk into Siberia, and there will literally not be enough Russians and not enough guns to stop them. The European Union continues to be riven by internal squabbles and does not have a sense of purpose. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi, US President Donald John Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave to the crowds at the Namaste Trump event at the Motera stadium in Ahmedabad, February 24, 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo Meanwhile, India will likely become the third largest economy in nominal (not PPP) terms by 2030, overtaking Germany and Japan. In parallel with its new-found economic strength, India will also be forced to invest in its military capacity. Then comes the question of why India should be just a secondary power: Its strategic intent should be to be one of the poles in a multi-polar world. India is one of very few candidates (others include Brazil and South Africa) that are big enough to be a global power. This train of thought suggests several ideas: One, that India could be the swing power that determines whether China or the US will be top dog (especially as the duo seem to be heading into the Thucydides Trap of actual warfare), and that gives India bargaining power which it should use; two, that India should take all possible support from the US, because by sheer geography, it is unlikely to have a conflict with the US, unlike with China which is on its borders after swallowing the historic buffer state Tibet. Recent statements by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the US is going to move troops from Europe because of 'threats to India' and Southeast Asia, and that it is moving three carrier battle groups into the Pacific, are interesting to a limited extent. First, there is no immediate possibility that India will allow US troops to be stationed on its soil. Second, any such move will require its pound of flesh, quite likely an Indian military presence in Afghanistan allowing the US to declare victory, cut and run. Third, aircraft carriers are only a symbolic threat unless the US wants to get into a serious shooting war in Asia: as we remember, India itself stared down the US 7th fleet that steamed into the Bay of Bengal in 1971. And these days, China does have carrier-killer missiles. India has been very friendly with Japan, somewhat tenuous with the US, and a little distant with Australia: that's been the history of the Quad. This status quo will probably continue; there's no real point in India throwing its lot in with the US unless there is a significant quid pro quo. IMAGE: Indian Army trucks moving on a road in Leh, July 11, 2020. Photograph: ANI Photo Chinese overreach Hubris leads to imperial overreach. This is how many great powers decline, by taking on more than they can reasonably handle. To an extent, post-Berlin Wall America, with its thinkers declaring 'the end of history', suffered from this syndrome, by involving itself in distant wars intended to evangelise its vision of how the world should be. More strikingly, the collapse of the USSR shows how unstable an imperial power might be. There had been few indications, if memory serves me right, leading up to the event that the Soviet empire was on the verge of falling apart. There were no large uprisings in the conquered Central Asian or Baltic states or in the Ukraine: they were all resentful of the overweening Russian presence, but they were not actively expressing separatist tendencies. China is in an analogous state now. The territories conquered by the overlord Hans are seething with resentment, but unable to revolt openly, as they will be crushed. The Soviets were in economic trouble from the fact that the Americans had lured them into an arms race they really couldn't afford. The Chinese are in economic trouble from the fact that many countries are actively seeking to decouple from them, by rebuilding their supply chains elsewhere. Granted, at the moment China still appears to be the world's factory, and scale and cost reasons might lead to some products continuing to be monopolised by China. However, there is reason to think that the trickle of companies heading for the exits will become a flood. Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations have already benefited from this exodus. More companies will move: Apple, for instance, is planning to shift 20% of its production to India. A concerted economic boycott may well be catastrophic for China. The imperial arrogance may soon turn to panic. Especially in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus, there is almost no trust in China, and that's no way to run trade. If the economy begins to flounder, the empire may fall apart sooner than we think. In addition, China is opening too many fronts at once: as Minhaz Merchant says, it may backfire, as they are busy in Ladakh, the South China Sea, Senkaku Islands, Taiwan, Uighur re-education camps, spats with Australia and Canada, infiltration of universities and media everywhere, not to mention the Wuhan virus. There is a day of reckoning, and being stretched can well be fatal. The fatal mistake for the USSR was the invasion of Afghanistan. Quite possibly the fatal mistake for the Chinese empire is the assault on Ladakh. Part 3: Time for India to inflict pain on China Rajeev Srinivasan is one of Rediff.com's earliest columnists. You can read Rajeev's columns here. Feature Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com David Koch has revealed that he is yet to meet his three-month-old granddaughter Ella due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 64-year-old has had to make do with video calls since his daughter, Brianna Jayasinghe, gave birth. Brianna and Ella are based in Perth, Western Australia while the Sunrise host is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Apart: David Koch (pictured) has revealed that he is yet to meet his three-month-old granddaughter Ella due to the COVID-19 pandemic On Tuesday, Kochie shared an Instagram Stories photo that showed little Ella watching him on television. The television personality captioned it: 'Connecting with my granddaughter Ella in Perth. Can't wait till it's in person'. David told The Daily Telegraph that he was introduced to the little one via Zoom when she was born. Aww! On Tuesday, Kochie shared an Instagram Stories photo that showed little Ella watching him on television. The television personality captioned it: 'Connecting with my granddaughter Ella in Perth. Can't wait till it's in person' David told The Daily Telegraph that he was introduced to the little one via Zoom when she was born: 'It was kind of like being there. She is just the cutest little thing,' he said 'It was kind of like being there. She is just the cutest little thing,' he said. In April, the host shared the good news of the tot's birth and said he was 'devastated' not to be there. Sharing a photo of Brianna and newborn Ella in their hospital bed, he wrote in an Instagram post: 'Welcome to the family Ella Hope Elizabeth Jayasinghe. In April, the host shared the good news of the tot's birth: Sharing a photo of Brianna and newborn Ella in their hospital bed, he wrote in an Instagram post, 'Grandchild number six, born in Perth and devastated we can't be there for a cuddle' 'You gorgeous little girl. You're so lucky to have such a wonderful mum and dad and two brothers.' He added: 'Grandchild number six, born in Perth and devastated we can't be there for a cuddle.' David is prolific on video calls, hosting a massive family dinner catch up in March via Zoom, and telling his fans: 'Consensus at the end was we catch up same time every Sunday.' Experts are urging people across Japan to remain vigilant, despite a slight reprieve Monday in recent daily coronavirus numbers. Officials in Okinawa are also concerned over a spike in cases connected to the US military. Tokyo officials confirmed 119 new cases on Monday. The daily tally had topped 200 for four days in a row. The increase brings the total number of confirmed cases to more than 8,000 in the city of 14 million people. Many of the recent cases are young people who work at or have visited nightlife districts. But officials have confirmed group infections in other areas too. A total of 22 children and staff at a nursery in central Tokyo have been infected. At a theater, 16 actors, five staff members, and 9 patrons are also among the latest numbers. Clustered infections were confirmed at two hospitals near Tokyo. Kaku Mitsuo at Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University says, "Some cases may be derived from nightlife districts. But there are invisible threads of infection at other places. I believe community transmission is beginning to occur on the local level." Kaku also says Japan should gradually resume social and economic activities while closely monitoring the situation. In the southern prefecture of Okinawa, 98 people connected to the US military have been infected, including 71 from the Marine Corps Futenma Air Station. More than 22,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Japan. Nearly 1,000 people have died. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia for a fifth-straight day on July 13 demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's government over corruption. Protests were also held in at least 10 other cities, including Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea and the countrys second-largest city of Plovdiv. In Sofia, protests denouncing corruption and mafia-like behavior in the EU member took place near the presidency and Council of Ministers. Later they centered on the Interior Ministry, where demonstrators denounced alleged police violence at a previous protest and demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Mladen Marinov. The ministry said it is investigating the incident. Protesters are also demanding the resignation of Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev. The opposition Socialists, which back President Rumen Radev and the protests, have said they will put forward a motion of no confidence in the government on July 15, the same day mass demonstrations are planned. Hristo Ivanov, the cochair of the opposition Democratic Bulgaria, which is supporting the protests, told RFE/RL that they want the government to resign within two weeks and elections to be called. People are taking to the streets and demanding change. The first step toward this change is the resignation of the government and the parliament and the convening of new elections," Ivanov said. The protests were sparked by a raid on July 9 by the Prosecutor-General's Office on the presidential headquarters. Public Anger Radev's legal affairs and anti-corruption secretary and his security and defense adviser were detained for questioning and their offices searched as part of two separate probes into influence-peddling and disclosure of state secrets. The searches sparked public anger and brought thousands of demonstrators onto the streets of Sofia to condemn the raids as an attack by the government and the prosecutor-general against Radev. Radev responded two days later by calling on the government and the prosecutor-general to step down. The searches 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, a largely ethnic minority Turkish party, to have control over the nations judiciary, including the prosecutors office. Protesters were also angered when NSO members prevented people from going to a public beach located near Dogans summer residence on the Black Sea. Access to the beach was restored on July 11 under pressure from the center-right Democratic Bulgaria opposition. The protests come amid rising political tension between Radev and the center-right government led by Borisov's GERB party ahead of general elections scheduled for March 2021. 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. Borisov, who has been prime minister almost without interruption since 2009, said at the weekend that his cabinet would not resign. KELOWNA, B.C.British Columbias health minister says several COVID-19 exposures in Kelowna serve as a reminder of the risks posed by private gatherings. Adrian Dix said during a news conference Monday that warnings of possible exposures at a restaurant, spin studio, bed and breakfast and resort are believed to stem from private parties at the hotels. Eight positive tests for the disease are linked to visits to downtown Kelowna and the citys waterfront between June 25 and July 9, said an email from Interior Health, the regional health authority. When people come together for private parties in this case it was primarily people in their 20s and 30s the risks are considerably higher, Dix said. The exposures follow the move to a new phase of reopening in B.C. that allows for tourism within the province. Although the accommodation industry was not ordered to close during the pandemic, many operators did so voluntarily but began welcoming guests again as part of the new phase. Infections in B.C. inched up on Monday as health officials announced 62 new cases since Friday. Two more people also died for a total of 189 deaths in B.C. The new figures bring the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 3,115, while 2,718 people have fully recovered from COVID-19. Interior Health also issued an isolation order for Krazy Cherry Fruit Co. in Oliver after two positive tests associated with the farm. Public health officials are monitoring the situation and placed restrictions on those living and working on the farm, the government said in a news release. The cases linked to Kelowna involved people who live in three regions of the province, including the Interior, Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health regions, said Dix. He credited contact tracers with making the connections. He said the tourism industry has done a good job of creating safe environments for guests, but its also up to guests to ensure they respect physical distancing guidelines and group size limitations. Whether its a trip or a party at home, the same risks and the same rules apply, Dix said. If youre gathering with friends and family, you should consider the increased risk that indoor locations pose and determine how many people can maintain a safe distance accordingly, he said. We have got to live with COVID-19 for the next year so that means the responsibility is on all of us to understand the risks and understand our responsibilities to one another. Interior Health issued an exposure advisory for the resort and bed and breakfast on Friday and added the restaurant and spin studio in a statement on Sunday. Visitors to the Boyce Gyro Beach Lodge on July 1 or the Discovery Bay Resort from July 1 to July 5 were advised to self-isolate and monitor themselves closely for symptoms. The health authority is now urging visitors to Kelownas Cactus Club restaurant on Water Street between July 3 and July 6, or the Pace Spin Studio on July 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 to self-monitor and get tested if COVID-19 symptoms appear. The B.C. Centre for Disease Control also warns that a case or cases were confirmed on an Air Canada flight from Kelowna to Vancouver on July 6, but Dix could not say if that warning was linked. Public health contact tracing is underway and the health authority said its reaching out directly to anyone who has been exposed, where possible. Testing is recommended for anyone with novel coronavirus symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, or a loss of taste or smell, said Interior Health. Milder symptoms may include runny nose, fatigue, body aches ... diarrhea, headache, sore throat, vomiting and red eyes, it said in a statement. Anyone with even mild symptoms is urged to stay home and avoid travel. Efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 include physical distancing, regular hand washing, not touching the face and avoiding gatherings of more than 50 people, the health authority said. Read more about: Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday pressed for urgent de-escalation of the situation on the border and said India and Pakistan should take immediate and effective measures to revive the process of comprehensive and composite dialogue. She said it is time for Pakistani political leadership to reciprocate and consider giving peace a chance in the region. Mehbooba, who conducted an extensive tour of areas like Nowshera, Poonch and Rajouri along the LoC affected by Pakistani shelling, expressed grave concern over the plight of the people living near the frontiers where a distressing situation has been created with loss of lives and destruction of properties. She interacted with the affected families and took on-the-spot appraisal of the measures put in place by the administration to provide necessary support and help to them. There is urgency of de-escalating the situation. There is no alternative to peace and reconciliation and New Delhi and Islamabad should take immediate and effective measures to revive the process of comprehensive and composite dialogue, she said. Instead of squandering their resources on meaningless conflict, India and Pakistan can be of great help to each other in their fight against the common challenges of poverty and economic deprivation in the region. Recalling the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Mehbooba said due to various internal and external initiatives taken during the period, peace prevailed along the borders and the people living there were happy as the guns remained silent. Today again, the leadership of our country, with a strong support and backing, will find a way out as wars do not help address any issue, the Chief Minister said. Citing examples of war-like situations in various countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, she said wars have resulted in complete destruction of once most prosperous countries and annihilation of their cultures and civilizations. She said, our political leadership did take the initiative to revive the process of reconciliation with Pakistan when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lahore (on December 25 last year) but then Pathankote (Airbase attack) happened and everything came to a standstill. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Complicated negotiations on kicking off the next stage of disengagement between the Indian and Chinese armies in eastern Ladakh saw senior military commanders from both sides hold an hours-long meeting at Chushul on Tuesday to discuss the road map for further reducing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), people familiar with the developments said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The talks that began at 11.30 am were in progress when this report was filed. The focus of the current round of military talks is to hammer out a consensus on easing tensions in the Finger Area near Pangong Tso and Depsang plains as well as pulling back weapons and equipment from friction points in other sectors, said one of the officials cited above. Tricky issues are on the table. Addressing them will take time, he said. This was the fourth meeting between the corps commander-ranked officers who made previous attempts to reduce tensions along the contested border on June 6, June 22 and June 30. The previous two meetings went on for up to 11 hours while the first one was the shortest at 7 hours. Negotiations are expected to be far harder this time as the continued presence of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in the Finger Area and the Depsang sector could be the sticking point of the talks, as reported by Hindustan Times on Tuesday. In Tuesdays talks, the agenda included the step-wise withdrawal of weapons and equipment to mutually agreed distances from all friction areas along the LAC and thinning the military buildup in the region, a second official said. The military dialogue will be followed by another meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs. The military commanders set the time-frame and method of disengagement while the WMCC monitors the process. The July 14 talks follow a series of steps taken by the two armies at friction points in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra to implement a complex disengagement plan worked out during the June 30 meeting between delegations led by Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, and Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region. The current disengagement process began after the June 30 military dialogue and a subsequent conversation on July 5 between national security adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. At the June 30 meeting, the Indian side reiterated its demand for the pullback of Chinese troops from friction points along the LAC and sought the restoration of status quo ante (the situation as it existed in early April) in the Finger Area, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang plains, apart from emphasising the need for thinning the military buildup in the region. The disengagement effort involves rival troops pulling back a specified distance from face-off sites, with further retreat taking place in phases as the plan progresses on a verifiable basis on the ground every 72 hours by both sides. The military build-up in Indian and Chinese depth areas hasnt thinned, with both sides keeping their guard up. The deployment of thousands of soldiers, fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, artillery guns, missile systems and air defence weapons continues in the region. The PLA pulled back 2 km from Patrolling Point 14 (Galwan Valley), PP-15 (Hot Springs) and PP-17 (Gogra) last week, with the Indian Army also withdrawing proportionately in these areas. The army observed some thinning of PLA troops, vehicles and removal of structures from a key spur in the Finger Area over the last week but the army doesnt view it as disengagement, said a third official. The Finger Area, which refers to a set of eight cliffs jutting out of the Sirijap range overlooking the Pangong lake, remains the biggest test and hardest part of the disengagement process. The army is keeping a strict vigil along the contested border in the Depsang sector where the PLAs forward presence is a matter of serious concern and where a 2013 Chinese intrusion blocked the access of Indian soldiers to several patrolling routes, including the ones leading to PPs-10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Syracuse, N.Y. Syracuse officials wont commit to posting police personnel files of its 427 officers online, despite proof from its Thruway neighbor, Utica, that it can be done. In the name of transparency, Utica began publishing personnel files of 164 officers on the city website, only weeks after the repeal of a 46-year-old law, 50-a, barring their release. So far, Utica has followed through with the release of six officers personnel records. Theyre releasing one or two officers files a week. The files contain everything, good, bad or indifferent, said Sunny Greco, chief of staff to Uticas mayor, Robert Palmieri. That means the public file contains any investigation of wrongdoing, whether substantiated by an internal police investigation or not. Of the six officers whose file have been made public so far, only one had a recorded complaint, according to Uticas website. That complaint resulted in verbal counseling, but no discipline. When asked whether Syracuse would do the same in releasing police personnel files, Mayor Ben Walshs administration did not answer yes or no. Instead, the citys top lawyer said only that the city was studying what Utica is doing, without promising to doing anything similar. The Mayor recognizes the importance of transparency in strengthening credibility for law enforcement and improving police community relations, Syracuse Corporation Counsel Kristen Smith wrote in a statement to syracuse.com | The Post-Standard. As a part of its implementation of the Mayors Executive Order, the City is analyzing the approach Utica has said it will adopt, as well as other ways to ensure compliance with the repeal of 50-a. But Uticas mayor said its exactly that need for transparency that requires bold action. My administration and Utica Police Department recognize that transparency and substantive engagement are critical for police legitimacy and acceptance in the eyes of the community it serves, Utica Mayor Robert Palmieri said last month. After discussions with Police Chief Mark Williams, Deputy Chief Ed Noonan, leadership of the Police Benevolent Association (police union) and the Citys Corporation Counsel, I have decided to begin the process of posting the personnel records of UPD employees on the citys website. For his part, Walsh was grilled earlier this month by police reform activists, many of whom say he isnt acting fast enough in rolling out reforms. The mayor has pointed to an agenda of 16 reforms that were part of his first-ever executive order, but that agenda so far has resulted in a swift backlash from Syracuse police union leadership. As for Walshs reform agenda, that calls for creating a process to ensure legal compliance with New York States repeal of Civil Rights Law Sec. 50-a and related amendments to the Freedom of Information Law, but does not say what that process might be. Greg Loh, the mayors chief policy officer, said that no promises have been made because the citys review of its options and what others are doing is not yet complete. While Utica has vowed to publish any and all disciplinary investigations against its officers, no records of discipline have been made public yet. Thats because none of the six officers whose records have been released so far have had any disciplinary history, Greco said. One officer, Sado Koman, was involved in an incident with several other officers in which a civilian claimed that she was told to go investigate the death of her own brother. That resulted in a recommendation of verbal counseling to the officers involved, but Koman was not actually disciplined, according to his personnel record. Other records released so far include internal depictions of incidents involving use of force. None of the records released so far indicated any discipline against officers in those encounters. As more Utica officers have their records posted online, disciplinary investigations will be noted when applicable, Greco said. As of last week, the only publicly released files were for the police chief, deputy chief and four rookie officers, fresh off training. Greco said theres no particular order being followed in releasing files. But its going to take a long time: only one or two officers, on average, will have their files released each week. At that rate, it will take a year and a half to three years to release all of the records. Its also important to note that the law does not require the release of all disciplinary files. Instead, it requires release of whatever disciplinary records are placed in an officers personnel file. Thats different from the complete investigatory files held by the departments internal affairs office. In addition, minor infractions do not need to be released under the new law. Thats discipline solely related to the enforcement of administrative departmental rules that do not involve interactions with members of the public, are not of public concern, and are not otherwise connected to such persons investigative, enforcement, training, supervision or reporting responsibilities. Lastly, personally identifying information, such as social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses and health records remain confidential under the law. Utica has cited the time necessary to redact personally identifying information as the reason only one or two officers a week are having their records posted online. Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or 315-470-6070. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 06:13:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LOS ANGELES, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of sailors and civilian fire crews are continuing to quell the blaze on amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard for the third day in a row Tuesday at Naval Base San Diego in California as authorities said the ship is currently "stable and the structure is safe." "For more than 48 hours, brave Sailors from commands all across San Diego have been working tirelessly alongside Federal Fire San Diego to get this fire under control," said Rear Admiral Philip Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, in a statement. "We have investigated the four main engineering spaces and found no major damage. There is no threat to the fuel tanks, which is well-below any active fires or heat sources," he noted. One million gallons of fuel are reportedly stored on the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship home-ported in San Diego. "We still have an active fire, which we are combatting from both within and outside the ship from multiple access points," Sobeck said. Helicopters have conducted more than 1,000 helicopter water bucket drops, which is cooling the super structure and flight deck enabling fire crews to get onboard internally to fight the fire. Tugs are also providing firefighting support from the waterline, according to Sobeck. U.S. officials said that a total of 61 personnel, including 38 sailors and 23 civilians, have been treated for minor injuries including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. Sobeck noted that U.S. Navy will do a thorough investigation of the incident to include assessing the cause of the fire and damage to the ship. Officials said that the fire appears to have started in a vast lower cargo area. Around 160 sailors were aboard USS Bonhomme Richard when the fire was called away at approximately 8:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. The ship is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of around 1,000, according to the U.S. Navy. Enditem City of Laredo and Webb County officials confirmed an additional 121 new cases of the novel coronavirus and three deaths on Monday. The development brings the city's total number of positives above 3,000 cases for the first time while giving it 46 deaths. Laredo is coming off a fourth straight record week of new cases, most recently posting 774 cases. Yet so far through three days this week, the city already has recorded 454 cases with four days to go. The city must be judged for weekly numbers on a Saturday through Friday format to accurately account for the time period Laredo stopped providing updates on weekends. Overall, Laredo's 121 cases Monday rank as the seventh-highest total in a single day as the city has announced five of its seven highest daily positives in the past five days, and six of its seven highest in the past seven days. Its average cases per day is now at a new high of 148.7 the past seven days. Of the 3,001 cases recognized since the start of the pandemic, 2,062 are classified as active infections. That's more than eight times the 250 necessary to declare the area in the highest warning level of Red for the citys color-coded advisory system. Nearly at this date a month ago on June 12, there were only 190 active cases in the city. The three deaths announced on Monday occurred over the weekend, with two occurring at Laredo hospitals. A man in his mid 50s died at Laredo Medical Center on Sunday. Another man in his mid 70s died at Doctors Hospital on Saturday. A female in her late 80s also died at a local nursing home on Sunday. All had underlying health conditions, which is also the case for all 46 coronavirus-related deaths in the area so far. As of noon Monday, city officials are reporting that Laredo hospitals are still facing staffing shortages, which are limiting capacity for COVID patients in Laredo. Fire Chief Ramiro Elizondo said that the city's main concern at this time is ICU capacity. There are 54 people in intensive care at Doctors Hospital and Laredo Medical Center, of which 182 hospitalized in total. Both numbers are new highs for the area. City officials continue to reach out to local medical facilities to ensure the city has enough beds in light of the surge of hospitalizations. A total of 12,403 people have been tested for the coronavirus locally with 8,290 returning negative. With that, Laredo's test positivity rate is now at its third-largest total ever at 26.6%, just under one point shy of the former high of 27.7% from April 11. At this time last month, the city's test positivity rate sat at just 13.2%. A total of 1,112 tests are still pending results, though 463 are presumed negative due to being over 30 days old. A group of 893 have recovered from previous infections. The speaker of Catalonia's regional parliament suspects the Spanish state tapped his phone, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Confirming a report first published by the Guardian and El Pais. The newspapers said Roger Torrent and two other separatist politicians were warned by researchers working with WhatsApp that their phones were broken into using a spyware called "Pegasus" made by Israel's NSO Group. A spokesman for Torrent confirmed those details and said, quote, "Everything seems to show the Spanish state is behind this." And that he wasn't involved in a crime such as terrorism or drug-trafficking that might warrant it. The prime minister's office said the Spanish government was "not aware" of any such spying on the three separatist leaders. Tensions between Catalonia's separatist regional leaders and the central government in Madrid have been high for years, especially since a failed independence bid in 2017. NSO, whose customers include law enforcement and governments around the world, declined to say whether it had sold its Pegasus spyware to Spain. Pegasus has been linked to political surveillance in Mexico, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, which researches digital surveillance. GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As school districts across the county grapple with reopening plans, parents, students, and teachers are left waiting. Many area high schools have decided to delay or forgo on-site instruction entirely for the 2020-2021 school year. To educate students in the age of Coronavirus one Cleveland area high school has developed a no-contact face-to-face learning environment that focuses on student and teacher safety. Using a 35,000 square foot facility in Garfield Heights Ohio, North Shore High School has over 30 student labs for less than 300 students. Each teacher has a private office with webcams and PVC window to provide both no contact onsite and online instruction. North Shore aims to be flexible and will provide every student a laptop to access their curriculum at home or at school. Students ages 15-21 can attend on site up to 6 hours per day 5 days per week with free transportation. The school will be offering both college and career pathways, as well as a "Fast Track Diploma" alternative diploma program for students who qualify. Incoming students can also qualify tuition free college for two years while attending school or working full time. The school now offers 100% online enrollment and will begin to ship student's technology in July to be prepared for the start of school August, 17, 2020. Students can also submit their information for a free transcript review to find out what requirements are left to earn a diploma. Along with an accredited diploma, the school will begin training students for careers in nursing, manufacturing, and business starting in August of 2020. "Our goal is to have 100% of students enroll in college or get hired in a rewarding career before graduation. At North Shore High School, a diploma is just the start, we prepare students for what comes next." - Nick Harris Board Member The school is enrolling students now for August of 2020. Students can enroll in person at: 4750 Turney Road Garfield Heights, Ohio 44115 NSHighSchool.com Or call (216) 800-7789 SOURCE North Shore High School Election 2020 We Are Weary of War: Myanmar Religious Leaders Appeal for Unity Ahead of Vote An IDP camp in Kyaukme Township, northern Shan State. / The Irrawaddy / Htet Wai YANGONA group of Myanmar religious leaders have appealed to all civilians, ethnic armed groups, political parties and other religious figures to jointly work for peace, harmony, unity and consolidation of democracy ahead of the countrys general election and a major peace conference this year. On Nov. 8, Myanmar will hold its third general election in nearly six decades. Moreover, the Fourth Session of the 21st-Century Panglong Peace Conference is scheduled to be held in August to discuss the implementation of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, and further peace talks and discussions on the basic principles for forming a federal Union are planned after the election. A statement released on Monday was signed by leaders of various faiths including Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism, as well as interfaith groups and religious networks working for peace. Amid the conflict raging between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army in western Rakhine and Chin states, the leaders said, We are weary of war, worn down by the enmities. They said, Why does Myanmars conflict never end? Where does the responsibility lie? It said that blame could be assigned to the Myanmar military and its belligerence in refusing to call a full ceasefire to allow the nation to cope with the pandemic. One could also deplore the limited authority of the civilian government, and the lack of due process in the judicial system, they added. Moreover, blame also lies with ethnic leaders and crony businessmen who benefit from the trade in jade and drugs, as well as religious leaders who are too timid to protest injustice, the statement said. The religious leaders said, In anticipation of important national elections and the 21st-Century Panglong Conference, we appeal directly to all leaders of Myanmar and to our fellow religious leaders to listen with respect to one another and determine to seek the good for all. The religious leaders said Myanmar people deserve peace, not unending war, and urged the people to seize the opportunity. Let a new Myanmar of hope, peace and prosperity dawn as we march towards the goal of democracy through the elections, the religious leaders urged. They also urged people not to be afraid of difference when it comes to building the nation, and to learn to negotiate, compromise and engage in dialogue, saying, Go deeper in your negotiations, and Work to convince them that peace is in their best interest too. When we elect a civilian government, are we not choosing who has authority in our nation? Is not democracy our goal in the elections? the leaders said. One of the signatories of the statement, U Aye Lwin, Chief Convener of the Islamic Center for Myanmar, told The Irrawaddy A fair and free election is important for democracy. We also want to send a message to hold free and fair elections and also not to use religion as a tool [to win votes]. We recognize the efforts which are being made for the peace process, but they still need to work harder. In my opinion, there is still a need to put more effort into trust building between the two sides, U Aye Lwin said. In the statement, the religious leaders said Myanmar is caught in a threefold crisis: coronavirus, environmental threats and polarized views on ethnic differences. They said coronavirus offers a chance to take new paths. Moreover, environmental threats put all at risk, as Myanmar is one of the five countries expected to be most affected by climate change this century. Furthermore, despite the beauty of diversity, Myanmar people cling to the folly of assuming a ranking in ethnic differences, they said. The leaders asked Myanmar people, What can we do differently instead of returning to senseless division? What future do we want for our young? The leaders urged an end to internal conflict that allowed neighboring countries to take away the countrys wealth and resulted in tragedy. When we fight one another, we become distracted, our land is ravished, our young are destroyed by addictive stimulant drugs, and thousands of our young women and men leave their country only to lose their dignity and their lives, the leaders said. The statement also mentioned the recent landslide in Hpakant, Kachin State, which took at least 174 lives. The leaders said that hundreds of young jade miners were buried in watery graves, while foreigners run away with our wealth. When we fight we put our young men at enmity with their brothers. Their lives and limbs are broken, mothers weep and young wives are made widows, they said in the statement. It is time to stop, they urged. You may also like these stories: Shan Groups Demand Myanmar Military Punish Troops Over Civilian Killing Difficulties in Voting Leave Myanmar Migrants in Limbo as Election Approaches Myanmar, China to Promote Cross-Border e-Commerce Systems State health officials on Tuesday reported another single-day high for new COVID-19 cases in Oklahoma. There were 993 new, confirmed cases of the potentially deadly disease, according to Oklahoma State Department of Health data. Each new case represents one unique individual, regardless of how many times they have been tested or received positive results, a Tulsa Health Department spokeswoman said. Officials in Gov. Kevin Stitts office and at the Oklahoma State Department of Health did not return requests for comment Tuesday. Stitt has remained resolute in not mandating masks in public. However, mask mandates have been implemented or are being considered in cities around the state. Mayor G.T. Bynum announced last week that an ordinance for face masks would be introduced to the City Council this week. Masks and cloth face coverings are a preventative measure encouraged by health experts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The mask mandate is not the last option, Bynum said during a COVID-19 briefing on July 8. The last option is to start rolling back and ultimately going back to shelter-in-place, like we were a few months ago. The mask is the interim measure. The final phase, which was due to begin on Monday, would have seen pubs and nightclubs reopen (Yui Mok/PA) Government plans to reopen pubs and nightclubs have suffered a major setback as public health chiefs have issued a stark warning about the spread of Covid-19. The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has raised serious concerns about moving into the fourth stage of the Governments plan for reopening the country due to the increasing number of coronavirus cases. The final phase, which is due to begin on Monday, would see pubs and nightclubs reopen. The number of people who could attend mass gatherings would also increase to 100 people for indoor events and 500 outdoors. Read More However, health chiefs expressed concern at a meeting today about the doubling of new cases over the last two weeks and the high rate of infection among young people. They agreed to highlight these concerns directly with Health Minister Stephen Donnelly ahead of tomorrows crucial Cabinet meeting. The new Government is now facing its first big decision on the Covid-19 pandemic. Nphet did not specifically warn against reopening pubs and nightclubs or increasing the number of people who can attend indoor and outdoor mass gatherings. However, they said they are deeply concerned about moving into the final stage of the roadmap due to the spread of the virus. Nphet will give their advice and the Government will make their decision, a source said. Central to their concern is the spread of the virus among younger people who are more likely to go to pubs or attend mass gatherings. The Cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss entering into the final stage of the plan to reopen the country. Speaking in the Dail, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he was more concerned about house parties than pubs reopening. What is of more danger than anything is a situation where we have 30 or 60 people at a house party or parties taking place on certain roads in our cities, and we will have to do something about that, Mr Martin said. Leaver is a licensed physical therapist with an MBA from University of Michigan and Board Certification in healthcare management, having earning the distinguished Fellow of American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) Credential. Prior to joining Alliance, Leaver worked at ATI Physical Therapy as Vice President of Operations for Washington State. Earlier in his career, Leaver held clinical management positions with a number of providers, including Flexeon Rehabilitation, located in Oakbrook, Illinois; Sparrow Hospital, located in Lansing, Michigan; and Physiotherapy Associates, located in Grand Ledge, Michigan. He also spent eight years with Land Rover Group in the U.K. where he established and managed multi-site clinical care of work-related musculoskeletal injuries; health, safety and ergonomics programs; and consultation on new vehicle programs as Manager of Industrial Physiotherapy Services/Senior Manufacturing Ergonomist. "Alliance's growth and success is rooted in the core mission of delivering superior, quality and compassionate service to partners and patients alike. With Richard at the helm, especially during the current pandemic and economic crisis, the Board is confident Alliance is positioned to thrive," said Joseph LaPorta, Alliance Chairman. "Alliance has built an incredible team and national footprint by staying focused on the mission of being the premier provider and employer of choice in the industry," said Leaver. "I am excited to leverage my experience to lead Alliance on the next phase of growth." About Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, LLC Alliance Physical Therapy Partners, LLC is focused on three key areas physical therapy practice owners, hospitals and industrial worksites. Alliance acquires private physical therapy practices across the U.S. to provide practice owners the opportunity to expand their footprint while receiving operational guidance and financial support. Alliance partners with hospitals by providing white-labeled contracted therapy services to help hospitals meet the needs of patients, without the stress and costs of managing it internally. Alliance supports industrial worksites by preventing on-site injury because healthy employees means a healthy business and bottom-line. For more information, visit www.allianceptp.com. SOURCE Alliance Physical Therapy Partners Related Links https://www.allianceptp.com SAN DIEGO Firefighters on land, in the air and on the water on Monday were still battling a blaze on a Navy ship that injured at least 21 people and sent smoke billowing over San Diego. The fire began Sunday morning in a vehicle storage area aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, according to Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, who said 17 sailors and four others, including firefighters, were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation or other minor injuries. It was proving to be a stubborn blaze to put out, requiring helicopters dumping water from above, firefighting vessels shooting seawater and fire trucks pounding water through hoses from the dock. Sobeck told the San Diego Union-Tribune that there was no ordnance on board, and while the ship holds a million gallons of fuel, that is well below any heat source. About 160 sailors and officers were on board when an explosion and flames sent up a huge plume of dark smoke from the 840-foot (255-meter) amphibious assault vessel, which has been docked at Naval Base San Diego and was undergoing routine maintenance. Thats far fewer than the thousand typically on the ship when its on active duty, said Mike Raney, a spokesman for Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told the 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. The explosion was probably caused by a change in air pressure, he told the Union-Tribune. 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 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. 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, its even more of a problem. Two other docked ships, USS Fitzgerald and USS Russell, were moved to berths away from the fire, officials said. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. UPPER THUMB Last week, the Small Business Administration revealed which businesses across the country have received Paycheck Protection Program loans from them for anywhere between $150,000 to upwards of $10 million. The SBA did not provide the names and addresses of businesses that received less than $150,000. The information about the businesses includes how many jobs were retained with these loans, which lender provided them with funds, and whether the business owners were men or women. Earlier this spring, the federal government enacted the Paycheck Protection Program as a way to help the nations economy. According to the Associated Press, the program aims to help smaller businesses stay open and keep Americans employed during the pandemic. But the program has been both popular and controversial. The AP explains that under the program, the government backs $659 billion in low-interest loans written by banks. Then, taxpayer money pays off the loans if borrowers use them on payroll, rent and similar expenses. The AP recently released data on the program including the businesses receiving funds, the number of employees retained, whether the owners are male or female, and if the owners are veterans among other details. The public may never know the identity of more than 85% of the nearly 5 million beneficiaries to date because the administration has refused to release details on loans under $150,000 the vast majority of borrowers. That secrecy spurred an open-records lawsuit by a group of news organizations, including The Associated Press, the AP reported. The APs dataset only includes the largest recipients of loans in the program. Roughly two-thirds of businesses received less than $50,000 under the program. As of late last month, nearly 4.9 million businesses had been part of the program nationwide and the program has loaned $520 billion overall. According to the U.S. Small Business Association, the program saw an extension and applications were accepted again starting Monday. The new deadline to apply for the programs loans is Aug. 8. The largest business in the Thumb in terms of jobs retained and loan received was the Scheurer Healthcare Network in Pigeon, which kept 442 jobs and got between $5 and $10 million in funds. There were some businesses that did not retain any jobs with their received loans, like Thumb Industries, Nietzke & Faupel P.C., Thumb Electric Cooperative, Osentoski Farm Equipment, and Thompson Chevrolet among them. Here are the known listed companies in the Thumb-area that have received PPP loans with the ranges of what they received: Huron County Received between $5 and $10 million: Scheurer Healthcare Network in Pigeon retained 442 jobs Received between $2 and $5 million: Cooperative Elevator in Pigeon retained 156 jobs Received between $1 and $2 million: Harbor Beach Community Hospital in Harbor Beach retained 127 jobs Rathmourne Dairy L.L.C. in Port Hope retained 168 jobs Select Leasing in Sebewaing retained 100 jobs Received between $350,000 and $1 million: Active Feed Company in Pigeon retained 70 jobs Farmers Co-operative grain company in Kinde retained 49 jobs Maurer Electronic in Bad Axe retained 41 jobs Nietzke & Faupel P.C in Pigeon retained zero jobs Robert Brown Dairy Equipment in Bad Axe retained 26 jobs The L.J. Gascho Furniture Company in Pigeon retained 56 jobs Thumb Electric Cooperative in Ubly retained zero jobs Zwemmer Management in Elkton retained 120 jobs Received between $150,000 and $350,000: American Technical Fabricators in Bad Axe retained 29 jobs Aquila Farms in Bad Axe retained 49 jobs Bayside Best Beans in Sebewaing retained 23 jobs Berne Enterprises in Pigeon retained 20 jobs Bischer Farms Partnership in Ruth retained 39 jobs Brining & Nartker, P.C. in Bad Axe retained 10 jobs D &W Salvage in Bad Axe retained 23 jobs Dr James F Hirn DDS PC in Harbor Beach retained nine jobs ESCH Landscaping in Pigeon retained 17 jobs Flannery Chevrolet Buick GMC in Bad Axe retained 26 jobs Grekowicz Farms Inc. in Harbor Beach retained 31 jobs Harbor Drug Inc. in Harbor Beach retained zero jobs Huron Eye Care P.C. in Bad Axe retained seven jobs John S Hunt, Patricia J Hunt, and Adam F Hunt in Bad Axe retained 24 jobs Leader Tool in Harbor Beach retained 21 jobs Lukes Super Market in Sebewaing retained 35 jobs Moore Shoreline Chevrolet Buick Inc. in Sebewaing retained 24 jobs Narayan Rehabilitation Inc. in Bad Axe retained 22 jobs Nitz Valve Hardware in Sebewaing retained 14 jobs Ordus Ford in Bad Axe retained 20 jobs Osentoski Equipment in Pigeon retained zero jobs Osentoski Farm Equipment in Bad Axe retained zero jobs Romath Inc. in Bad Axe retained zero jobs Roundtree Dairy in Pigeon retained 42 jobs Smith Distributing Company in Bad Axe retained 16 jobs TE Voortwis Dairy in Bad Axe retained 32 jobs Thompson Chevrolet in Ubly retained zero jobs Thumb Big Boy Restaurants in Bad Axe retained 45 jobs Thumb Industries in Bad Axe retained zero jobs Tru Flo Carbide in Ubly retained 11 jobs Vandevelde and Matheson DDS PC in Bad Axe retained 34 jobs W.A. Herford & Sons Farms in Elkton retained 15 jobs WIL-LE Farms in Bad Axe retained 20 jobs Zimmerman & Sons Electric in Port Austin retained 15 jobs Tuscola County Received between $2 and $5 million: Hausbeck Brothers Inc. in Reese retained 250 jobs Hills & Dales Healthcare Corporation in Cass City retained 370 jobs Kappen Tree Service in Cass City retained 349 jobs The Lighthouse Inc. in Caro retained 386 jobs Received between $1 and $2 million: ADS US Inc. in Millington retained 100 jobs Janson Equipment in Reese retained 53 jobs Received between $350,000 and $1 million: Astech Inc. in Vassar retained 39 jobs Axium Services in Millington retained 121 jobs Burt Watson Chevrolet Buick in Reese retained 55 jobs Burton-Moore Ford in Caro retained 33 jobs Cass City oil and Gas in Cass City retained 39 years Cass City OPCO retained 134 jobs Cook Chevrolet-Buick in Vassar retained 56 jobs Decker Inc in Vassar retained 36 jobs Fulton Residential Care Corp. in Caro retained 92 jobs JTLJ LLC in Caro retained 336 jobs List Psychological Services in Caro retained 58 jobs Michigan Valley Irrigation in Vassar Vassar Building Center retained 31 jobs Received between $150,000 and $350,000 Air Dale Express in Vassar retained 16 jobs Albrech Auction Service in Vassar retained 34 jobs Anderson, Tuckey, Bernhardt & Doran, P.C. in Caro retained 18 jobs Anrod Screen Cylinder Company in Cass City retained 28 jobs Arnold Zwerk & Sons in Vassar retained 18 jobs Bauer & Sons in Reese retained 17 jobs Baylyn, LLC in Caro retained 60 jobs Bell-Wasik in Caro retained 36 jobs Beyerlein Electric in Reese retained 18 jobs Biddinger & Estelle, PC in Cass City retained 16 jobs Caro Health Plaza, PLC in Caro retained 26 jobs Central Shop-Rite Mart of Vassar retained 56 jobs D/S Services in Cass City retained zero jobs Dental Health Care P.C. in Caro retained 22 jobs Engineered Tools Corp in Caro retained 12 jobs Farm Depot 3 in Caro retained 15 jobs Farm Deport in Caro retained 26 jobs Great Lakes Lift Inc. in Caro retained 15 jobs Green Sales, LLC in Caro retained three jobs Ground Hog Express Inc. in Vassar retained 16 jobs Laser Marking Technologies LLC in Caro MI-Tech Tooling, Inc. in Cass City retained 24 jobs PCCC LLC in Caro retained 40 jobs Radtech X-Ray in Vassar retained 19 jobs Randall Schuette in Cass City retained 31 jobs STMP Group in Caro Thumb Area Psychological Services in Cass City retained 23 jobs Thumb Cooling & Co. in Cass City retained 35 jobs Trinity Lutheran Church & School in Reese retained 33 jobs Sanilac County Received between $1 and $2 million: Jensen Bridge & Amp supply company in Sandusky retained 91 jobs TDS Pharmacy in Sandusky retained 151 jobs Tri County Equipment Inc. in Sandusky retained 170 jobs Received between $350,000 and $1 million: Deckerville Community Hospital retained 55 jobs Deckerville Veterinary Clinic retained 29 jobs Dickendesher Inc. in Sandusky retained 110 jobs Production Development Systems in Sandusky retained 23 jobs TMC Marketing in Sandusky retained 49 jobs TNT Equipment in Sandusky Tubbs Brothers in Sandusky retained 59 jobs Received between $150,000 and $350,000: Trinity Turf Nursery in Marlette retained 25 employees According to the SBA, nationwide, almost 5 million loans were approved with a total amount of over $517 billion given out. The average loan size was around $105,000. Related: Nationwide, local businesses report PPP data flawed The Small Business Administration has resumed accepting applications for the Paycheck Protection Program, lasting until August 8 with another $139 billion in loans available. More information about PPP loans can be found at www.sba.gov Manistee News Advocate Assistant Editor Arielle Breen contributed to this report. New Delhi: A new comet named NEOWISE discovered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is being witnessed by several skywatchers. According to NASA, "Right now, the comet is relatively easy to observe with binoculars or a small telescope, provided you have a clear view toward the horizon." They stated that as of July 7, the comet was easily seen through binoculars, with some observers able to see it with unaided eyes. NASA said that this week viewing opportunities switch from northeast before dawn to northwest just after sunset. Comet NEOWISE's that was first observed by NASA on March 27, 2020, will witness its closest approach to Earth is on July 22 at a distance of about 103 million kilometres. The comet is visible around 10 degrees above the northeastern horizon in the hour before dawn. From mid-July on, it's best viewed as an evening object, rising increasingly higher above the northwestern horizon. NASA stated that the observers at lower latitudes will see the comet lower in the sky, while it will appear higher for observers farther north. Dr Subhendu Pattnaik, Deputy Director at the Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Odisha told ANI news, "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 from naked eyes." "A pair of binoculars or a small telescope will enhance its visibility," he added. NASA also stated the comet will not return to Earth's skies for the next 6,800 years. A no-deal in Brexit trade talks at the end of the year would slow down the police and make it harder for them to catch criminals from European countries, MPs have been told. Richard Martin, the Metropolitan Police's lead for Brexit, said the contingencies in place to deal with disruption if a trade deal is not reached were "not as quick, or as effective" as the systems currently in place. The deputy assistant commissioner told the Commons EU future relationship select committee on Tuesday that "instant, at your fingertips" access to EU-wide criminal databases would be lost to police on the ground. Police and judicial cooperation is one of the main stumbling blocks in EU negotiations, with matters complicated by a UK refusal to give written assurances Britain will remain a party to the European Convention on Human Rights that guarantees the rights of European citizens will be respected. "Its at your fingertips, its live time, its immediate. If we lose that capability, we will revert to Interpol notices which are slightly different They dont have the full capability of SIS2 [a database], Mr Martin told the committee. Our use of the European arrest warrant combined with SIS2 [a database] means that my officer, who may be in uniform stopping a car on the streets of London, can identify somebody immediately if they are may be wanted for murder in France. Or one of our other member states can immediately arrest them and put them through the extradition process. The worst-case scenario is my officer is left in an ambiguous position where [if] they do stop a car, they do stop somebody thats wanted for a very serious offence. And if there are no other grounds to arrest that person there and then, theyve got to run off to Westminster magistrates court, which is the only court in the land that can issue the warrant. So, yes, theres a big risk that they could have abscond or disappear." The warning comes a day after the Home Secretary said foreign criminals would be reported under the UK's new post-Brexit border operating model. The government has said it wants to reach a deal with the EU by the autumn but that it would be prepared to leave the single market and customs union at the end of the year without an agreement. While the government refers to the arrangement as an "Australia style Brexit", the approach would in fact represent a significant upheaval of UK-EU relations overnight and is expected to cause major disruption. "Losing access to viral security tools would represent a huge failure on the part of UK negotiators," said Naomi Smith, chief of the pro-EU campaigning organisation Best for Britain. Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Show all 37 1 /37 Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Pro-Brexit supporters celebrating in Parliament Square, after the UK left the European Union on 31 January. Ending 47 years of membership PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Big Ben, shows the hands at eleven o'clock at night AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Pro Brexit supporters attend the Brexit Day Celebration Party hosted by Leave Means Leave Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage smiles on stage AFP/Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square People celebrate in Parliament Square Reuters Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square A Brexit supporter celebrates during a rally in Parliament square AP Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Police form a line at Parliament Square to prevent a small group of anti-Brexit protestors from going through to the main Brexit rally PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Nigel Farage speaks to pro-Brexit supporters PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square JD Wetherspoon Chairman Tim Martin speaks as people wave flags Reuters Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit supporters wave Union flags as they watch the big screen AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit Party leader, Nigel Farage arrives Reuters Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit supporters gather AP Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Ann Widdecombe speaks to pro-Brexit supporters PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Brexit supporters wave Union flags as they watch the big screen AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square People wave British Union Jack flags as they celebrate Reuters Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Pro-Brexit demonstrators celebrate on Parliament Square on Brexit day Reuters Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square A pro-Brexit supporter jumps on an EU flag PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square AP Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square A man waves Union flags from a small car as he drives past Brexit supporters gathering AFP via Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square A pro-Brexit supporter pours beer onto an EU flag PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square An EU flag lies trampled in the mud Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square Getty Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square PA Brexit celebrations in Parliament Square AFP via Getty "As the UK police lead on international criminality says, ending the transition period without a good deal on security would severely damage Britain's ability to catch criminals who flee. "The UK has made over a thousand arrests in the last decade using the European Arrest Warrant, while Interpol and the European Criminal Record Data Exchange have also been critical. "Without these invaluable tools, Brits will be more vulnerable in 2021 and beyond." SAN DIEGO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As of June 17th, 2020, LMS Reinforcing Steel USA, LP (LMS) has been served with a class action lawsuit filed by employees of the company. Class Members are current or former hourly iron worker employees of LMS who claim to be victims of wage-theft by the company. They are seeking damages, penalties, interest, restitution and injunctive relief. Class Members are alleging violations of the California Labor Code; Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order 16; and, California Business and Professions Code 17200. The California and Vicinity District Council of Iron Workers has fought to raise standards with workers in the California construction industry for many years. The California and Vicinity District Council of Iron Workers recently won a $300,000 class action settlement for ironworkers who were being similarly mistreated at Millennium Reinforcing. Wage violations, poor safety and working conditions are commonplace in the construction industry, leaving workers no option but to fight for changes at their employer. The California and Vicinity District Council of Iron Workers stands with iron workers of LMS in their fight for changes at LMS. District Council President and General Vice President Don Zampa said, "The Ironworkers Union has proudly stood beside unrepresented Iron Workers in their struggles for better treatment, pay, safety and working conditions from employers like LMS. Our Union is committed to ensuring ALL workers in the Ironworking industry receive the wages and the respect they've earned and are entitled to under California State laws." Contact: Donald A. Zampa, President District Council of Iron Workers, California and Vicinity Ph: (510) 724-9277 SOURCE Ironworkers California & Vicinity District Council Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, Jr., director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, speaks about national security issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Sept. 17, 2018. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) Top Intelligence Official Promoted White Fragility Recommendation The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) passed on a recommendation to read White Fragility, whose author argues that any gains the United States has made since its founding have come through identity politics. Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley Jr., the DIA director, mentioned in a recent townhall and in his weekly email to employees that a DIA officer recommended reading White Fragility, a spokesman for the agency told The Epoch Times in an email. Ashley in turn thought it might be of interest to members of the DIA workforce seeking to learn about the perspectives the book highlights, the spokesman said. Leaders recommend books that might be of interest to officers and officers highlight books they believe might be of interest to fellow officers, he explained. White Fragility was not included on Ashleys annual reading list. The list and other recommendations are part of encouraging the DIA workforce to to read widely to achieve a greater understanding about many issues, the spokesman wrote, adding, No books on any topic are required reading. White Fragility: Why Its So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, written by Robin DiAngelo, promotes the idea that white people are insulated from race-based stress. This insulated environment of racial protection builds white expectations for racial comfort while at the same time lowering the ability to tolerate racial stress, leading to what I refer to as White Fragility, DiAngelo wrote in a research paper (pdf) about the notion in 2011. In the book, published in 2018, DiAngelo argues that any gains the United States has made since its founding have come through identity politics. The identities of those sitting at the tables of power in this country have remained remarkably similar: white, male, middle- and upper-class, able-bodied, she wrote. DiAngelo said on her publishers website that her book is primarily aimed at white people and that she wants white readers to become uncomfortable so they can practice building [their] stamina for the critical examination of white identitya necessary antidote to white fragility. DiAngelo received a PhD in multicultural education from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she currently teaches. Her area of research, she says on her website, is in Whiteness Studies and Critical Discourse Analysis, tracing how whiteness is reproduced in everyday narratives. PORT AUSTIN When most people retire, typically they try to settle down a bit. It's not often that they try something bigger than what their previous careers were. But Joanne Murphy, along with her husband Lance, have been working the past few years restoring a home along Lake Street in Port Austin and turning it into Port Austin Bed & Breakfast. We thought wed have a two-year renovation, Joanne said. It turned out to be a four-year renovation. She said the building, dating back to the 1880s, had previously been a home for one of the founding fathers of Port Austin, and for Frank Hubbard from 1895 to 1930. From 1970 to 2014, it served as an adult foster care facility and was in bad shape. The foundation required fixing, the second and third floors had no support other than the outside walls, and the interior walls needed to be redone so support beams could be added. Everything inside had to be rebuilt, Lance said, adding they had to take out a lot of bathrooms when gutting the place. Its amazing it hadnt collapsed on itself, Joanne said. When finished, the bed and breakfast will have five guest bedrooms that are able to hold two people each, and each will have its own bathroom. It will also have common rooms, parlor rooms, a breakfast area, a reception area, a laundry room, patio furniture, and a fire pit outside. The Murphys own quarters are on the third floor. The Murphys previously lived and worked in the Detroit area, Joanne as an advocate for disabled students and Lance for Verizon. They were looking for options for their retirement and found this house on Zillow, with Lance having the idea of turning it into a bed and breakfast Joanne had been familiar with the area, having gone to a cottage in Port Austin in the summer when she was growing up. Instead of downsizing, our retirement went up in size, Joanne said. The Murphys were also looking for work opportunities for their son, who has cerebral palsy and autism. They knew he was not going to get a traditional job, and he also went to a culinary arts school, so they wanted to give him a role with some responsibility. Port Austin Bed & Breakfast hopes to open for the 2021 season, which Joanne said would last from May to October. The Murphys are willing to be open for longer as the Port Austin Chamber of Commerce wants to bring in more people year-round. In contrast to the two other bed and breakfasts in Port Austin, which have a very Victorian feel, Joanne said this bed and breakfast would show off different historical periods the house existed in. The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages hospitals in the country to admit only critically ill Covid-19 patients. That's after a number of Metro Manila's biggest hospitals declared full capacity in their virus wards. What does the WHO recommend for asymptomatic patients and those with only mild symptoms? Actor Vidyut Jammwal inaugurated his interview series, X-Rayed, with a chat with Thai actor Tony Jaa, known for the Ong Bak martial arts movies. The first part of the interview was shared by Vidyut, also known to be a formidable action star, on his YouTube channel. X-Rayed is where people will get to know what legends are made of, to know what the actors, the legends and the stars want you (the viewers) to know. This is not about any film promotions, but only about the star, he said in the introduction. When asked about the difference between a couple of Thai martial art forms, Jaa also brought up Kalaripayattu, an Indian martial art that Vidyut has been practising since he was a child. Jaa said that the reason why elephants feature so prominently in his films is because Thai people also pray to Lord Ganesha. He also expressed surprise at having Indian fans, whom he was told about by his stunt team after they worked in a Bollywood movie. Tony you can go to India, they told him, You have fans. At one point, Vidyut even says that Jaa should play Lord Hanuman in the Ramayana, because of the similarities in Indian and Thai cultures. If anybody is making Ramayana, Tony Jaa wants to play Hanuman, he said. Also read: This time is never going to come back, says Vidyut Jamwal The Thai star also told Vidyut about why he wanted to become an action star. When I was a kid I had a dream to become an action star after I watched The Drunken Master starring Jackie Chan, he said. I wanted to be an action star and I began seeing that movie in my dream. I began to work for my dream to be an action hero. I talked about it (my dream) to the universe and it happened! I cant believe it. Nobody believed it. I come from the locals, I am not from Bangkok. I was 6 years old when I saw the movie. Vidyut will next be seen in films Khuda Hafiz, on Disney+Hotstar, and Yaara, on Zee5. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Sony TV's popular singing reality show Indian Idol is all set to return with season 12 in the last quarter of 2020. It has to be recalled that every year the judges and anchor used to visit cities across India and select the contestants, but this year due to COVID-19 pandemic, the show's format is changed. This year, the makers will conduct virtual auditions, where in the participants will have to audition from their own homes for the show. A source was quoted by TOI as saying, "The show will have online auditions this year, which will commence from July 25. Anyone, who wishes to participate, can send their audition entry from home. They will need to upload their video and if selected, they will get a chance to come to Mumbai for the main auditions. Due to the pandemic, it is important that auditions are done with social distancing rules." Aditya has sung for the show, which was shot by following social distancing guidelines provided by the government. Regarding resumption of shoot, a source told IE, "There is no clarity as to when the shoot would begin. As of now, we are just excited to start the auditions, which will be the first of a kind in the history of the show. While the team will miss the excitement of live auditions, this is the need of the hour." It is being said that Neha Kakkar and Vishal Dadlani might continue to judge the show while Aditya Narayan will return as the anchor. Also Read: Neha Kakkar On Social Media Detox; Singer Hopes For Better World With NO Hatred, Nepotism & Suicides Also Read: When Neha Kakkar Lost Her Big Break In Bollywood Due To This Singer & That Too At The Last Moment! Graham said her costs have skyrocketed even though enrollment is down. (When we spoke last week, the facility had served just 28 children the day before; summer enrollment is usually about 300.) She said her center long ago exhausted its Paycheck Protection Program loan and is rapidly depleting its fund balance. It can continue running at a loss for only a few more months. At that point, it would join the 165 licensed child-care providers across Pennsylvania shuttered by the pandemic that have indicated they will not reopen. July 13, 2020 Release Readout of Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper's Phone Call With Norwegian Minister of Defense Frank Bakke-Jensen Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper spoke by phone today with Norwegian Minister of Defense Frank Bakke-Jensen to reaffirm the strategic defense relationship between the United States and Norway. The leaders discussed mutual security concerns, including Russia, China, and the security situation in the High North. They addressed a broad range of defense issues, including burden-sharing, the importance of readiness, and discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral relationship. The Secretary also expressed appreciation for Norway continuing to host a rotational element of U.S. Marines for cold weather training. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2272564/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Trend Armenian actions against Azerbaijan not to remain unpunished, the Spokesman of Turkeys Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Omer Celik said, Trend reports citing the Turkish media. According to Celik, Turkey is in every way supporting Azerbaijan and will continue to do so. A day earlier, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the repulsion of the Armenian attack by Azerbaijan is concrete evidence that the aggression of Armenia will not remain unanswered. The statement also said that the ministry strongly condemns the attack of the Armenian armed forces on Azerbaijans Tovuz district. The Turkish Foreign Ministry stressed that the Armenian side should refuse from such dangerous tactics and stand on a reasonable, legal path. "Turkey will always be together with Azerbaijan in protecting its territorial integrity, using all available means," the statement emphasized. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat, suffering losses. Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, non-commissioned officer, sergeant Vugar Sadigov and senior soldier Elshad Mammadov died holding off an Armenian attack. Despite the efforts of Azerbaijani doctors, a badly wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, soldier Khayyam Dashdamirov has also died. On the night of July 12-13, tensions continued on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the Tovuz districts direction. In the night battles involving artillery, mortars and tanks, Azerbaijani military divisions destroyed the stronghold, artillery installations, equipment and manpower of an Armenian military unit. During the battles, the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army, Rashid Mahmudov was killed. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding regions. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding regions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The Supreme Court on Monday ruled the royal family of Travancore will have rights to manage affairs of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram and the state cannot stake claim to its riches. The verdict is potent enough to influence outcome of similar such disputes going on between religious institutions and the government. Sources point out that several such disputes have been ongoing between the government and religious institutions on management of power and wealth. Most of the large temples in the country are managed by different management committees and often disputes happen over their administration and ownership of wealth. Recently, it was a hot debate whether to take over temples' wealth to manage the COVID-19 crisis, they note. As per an old estimate by the World Gold Council, gold holdings in India could be about 3,000-4,000 tonnes in the form of coins, jewellery and gold articles, besides diamonds, which are not segregated by value. It is also impossible to measure the value of many of these due to its antiquity. The Tirupati Sri Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh gets about 100 kg of gold every month and is believed to be the richest temple in India. Some of the other temples having huge gold holdings of above 150-200 kilogram of gold include Vaishno Devi Temple, Mumbai's Siddhivinayak Temple, Shirdi Saibaba temple, the Shree Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, Puri Jagannath Temple and the likes. A gold monetisation scheme offered by the government also had caused conflict within many temple authorities whether to encash their gold holdings. The Travancore Devaswom Board in Kerala, which runs over 1300 temples in the state, had recently taken stock of its gold and offerings by the devotees. Many devotees vociferously opposed the move, citing it as an attempt to sell the temple riches to tide over the Board's financial crisis. What Padmanabhaswamy temple issue is about The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has six underground hidden cellars with the largest treasure in the world - estimates from five of the six 'kallaras' or granite vaults in 2011 revealed a rare treasure of gold, gem and diamond antiques, utensils and ornaments worth at least Rs 90,000 crore to Rs 1,30,000 crore. None has clue on what is hidden in the remaining chamber, built many centuries ago. The temple is managed by a trust belonging to the erstwhile rulers of the region, the Travancore kings. Kingdoms and their royal lives are now history. The last ruler of Travancore till 1947, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, had passed away in 1991. India is now ruled by democratically elected federal governments. Therefore, the treasure and temple belong to the state, not the descendants of royals. Industry starved Kerala's economy is dependent on remittances from overseas and monthly state expenses are mostly met by borrowings for years. Why should the government not take out these treasures and spend it for the welfare of the people? Many people wonder in Kerala where Communist government has been in power for the past four years. Instead of spending, better display the treasure to the world in a museum, say some moderates. Staunch devotees of Lord Sree Padmanabha (Lord Vishnu) see it as a sin to touch and take away even the sand particles belonging to the 'Lord'. They cite the example of Travancore Kings religiously performing a century-old ritual of washing their feet and dust clothes while coming out of the temple after 'darshan' of the Lord, their family deity. This was the crux of a legal battle going on for decades and finally the Supreme Court on Monday has taken a decision. Upholding claims of the royal family as the custodians of the temple and its assets, the Supreme Court quashed the Kerala High Court decision in 2011 directing the state government to set up a body or trust to take control of the temple, its assets and management to run the temple in accordance with old traditions. The Supreme Court ruling The death of the last ruler will not result in revocation of rights of the family and the 'rights of shebaitship (the ministrant of the deity or a manager with certain powers) in favour of the State Government. The third chapter of Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950 also recognises Travancore royals as the legal custodians in managing temple affairs. Constitute an interim committee headed by the District Judge, Thiruvananthapuram to manage the affairs of the temple till a new committee is in place. The temple should be managed by a five-member administrative body and a three member advisory panel. Conduct an audit of accounts for the past 25 years and retrieve if any temple wealth is misused. The management committee should consist of the District Judge, Thiruvananthapuram as chairperson, a nominee of the royal family, a State Government representative, the Chief Priest and a nominee of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The advisory panel should include a retired HC judge, a public figure nominated by the royal family and a chartered accountant. The new committees have to formed within four weeks and appoint a new executive officer for administration. The Court directed the committees to ensure protection of the temple and its assets, ensure revenue collection from assets, ensure smooth conduct of pujas and rituals, return the money spent by the State Government for the temple, deposit the income in savings banks and set up infrastructure for devotees. The court left it to the discretion of the new committees to decide whether to open the remaining cellar B vaults or not. Background of the battle The Kingdom of erstwhile Travancore was a small province and was expanded in the 18th century by King Marthanda Varma, who defeated the Dutch and expanded his kingdom upto Kochi (regions from Alleppey to Thiruvananthapuram and certain parts of Southern Tamilnadu upto Kanyakumari). He rebuilt the Padmanabhaswamy temple and the entire wealth and his Kingdom were dedicated to the Lord and henceforth the rulers were called as 'Padmanabhadasa' or 'Servants of the Lord'. By end of the 19th Century, the British got a firm grip on Travancore and Kochi and the then resident Lord Macaulay pressurised the rulers to bring all temples under a common management of the royals. Thus all the temples were brought under the Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards and after independence temples were managed as per the rules related to the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950. While Travancore had signed the Instrument of Accession with the Government of India in 1949 and handed over the kingdom and its assets, it had excluded administration of the Padmanabhaswamy Temple and brought it under a 'Trust' belonging to the King. This arrangement continued even after formation of Kerala in 1956. In 1971, the government abolished 'privy purse' or special entitlements and privileges enjoyed by erstwhile royals, with a constitutional amendment. The last ruler of Travancore, Sree Chithira Thirubnal Balarama Varma, who ruled from 1924 to 1947 was heading the temple trust after the Indian independence. He died in 1991 and his younger brother Utradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma took over administration of the temple. There were allegations from within the royal family that temple assets are being misused and some even legally questioned the authority of Utradam Thirunal Marthanda Varma as a legal heir to head the Trust and the temple. Later, Kerala government became a party in the case filed by former IPS officer Sundarrajan and in 2011, the Kerala High Court ruled in favour of the state government. The royal family appealed in the SC and it granted a stay on the HC verdict and appointed former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai and Senior advocate Gopal Subramanium as amicus curiae to help the court. It also ordered a detailed audit to have an inventory of the valuables in A to F vaults. Later the SC itself directed to stop opening of the vault B, heeding to the prayers of the royal family that it is against the customs and belief of the people and myths on curse if opened. Also Read: Flipkart raises $1.2 billion in funding from Walmart; e-tailer now valued at $24.9 billion Also Read: SBI plans to double YONO user base in 6 months: Rajnish Kumar Also Read: Low-cost COVID-19 testing kit by IIT Delhi to launch tomorrow Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis recent statement calling Lord Ram as Nepali, not Indian has triggered a meme fest on Twitter with thousands of internet users mocking the leader. While Oli said that Rams birthplace of Ayudhya is not located in Uttar Pradesh, India but is near the Balmiki Ashram in Thori that lies in Southern Nepal. Not agreeing with Nepali PMs remarks, Twitter users made memes about how in the upcoming years all planets will be in Nepal.From using famous dialogues in Bollywood movies to editing world maps, netizens mocked Oli for making a bizarre claim. Here are some of the best memes: Brace yourself @realDonaldTrump The most powerful country with its dynamic and vibrant leader will conquer the entire universe very soon! World domination ka baap#Nepal #Ayodhya pic.twitter.com/xFhr2gXoL5 Aditya (@adi_aithal) July 13, 2020 #Nepal PM Oli says Real #Ayodhya not in India, Real #Ayodhya in Nepal After being trolled PM Oli: pic.twitter.com/T82664qdZs Girjesh Ch. Pathak (@ChGirjesh) July 14, 2020 My first reaction after hearing about the statement of PM of #Nepal that #Ayodhya is in Nepal. Congratulations we've got another #Pappu after @RahulGandhi . pic.twitter.com/zyhCLDnsP5 Siddharth Negi (@imSiddharthNegi) July 14, 2020 Nepali New Lord Ram I Think So??? First Time In The History Biggest Joke Then Why Nepal Govt Didn't Involved In Babri masjid Demolition??? @kpsharmaoli#Ayodhya #kpoli #Lordram #Nepal pic.twitter.com/qqTAHT8HSx Manideep Bejjarapu (@ManideepBejjar1) July 13, 2020 Read - Good News: US Waitress, Who Raised Voice Against Racism, Receives $82000 In Tips Read - Can You Spot The Snake In 15 Seconds? Check Inside For Closer Look Oli says Ayodhya in Nepal Oli made the shocking claims about real Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti. Oli said that Hindi God Ram's kingdom Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal and that India has created the disputed Ayodhya. He argued that 'real Ayodhya' is in Thori. "Ayodhya is a village west of Birgunj," he claimed. Giving an equally weird explanation, Oli was quoted by Nepali media saying why would Lord Ram travel as far as Janakpur to marry Sita if Ayodhya had been in India. He said that in that period there was no telephone or mobile phone, "so both Lord Ram and Sita would have married nearby if the place claimed by India is real Ayodhya," he added. Read - Firozabad Police To Make COVID-19 Violators Write 'mask Lagaana Hai' 500 Times As Fine Read - COVID-19: 4-year-old's Lockdown Rant Goes Viral, Cries 'only Thing That's Open Is Nothing' A solitary man runs along a waterway after lockdown restrictions were implemented in response to an outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Melbourne, Australia, July 10 2020. Photo by Reuters. With a lockdown imposed on Melbourne to prevent a second Covid-19 outbreak, Vietnamese in the metropolis worry about their future. For Nam Bui, a Melbourne resident for over 10 years, the second lockdown "resembles a dream since everything got upturned." Since Wednesday, Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, and capital of Victoria, will be locked down for six weeks as authorities try to prevent a second wave of coronavirus infection following a record rise in daily cases across the state. Restaurants and cafes will only sell takeaway food, while gyms, beauty salons, and cinemas will be closed again. Nearly five million people will no longer be allowed to leave their homes unless it's for grocery shopping, caregiving, exercise or work. The whole state of Victoria was placed under strict lockdown in early March, seriously affecting those working in the hospitality and restaurant industry like Nam as the number of customers fell sharply, leading to a decrease in his income. In mid-May, Nam felt happy and relieved as the Australian government relaxed lockdown measures, allowing restaurants to reopen and his job started returning to normal. However, Victoria has been facing a second Covid-19 outbreak, prompting the government to reimpose a lockdown on metropolitan Melbourne and some parts of the state to contain the flare-up of cases. Australia has so far reported over 9,300 infections and 106 deaths. "Luckily, I work different shifts at more than one restaurant. My income is still fine even though I'm struggling to survive the pandemic," Nam said. Nhung Le Farrell, manager of a restaurant at Melbourne Airport, has not been able to return to work since April 23. Melbourne Airport was planning to resume flights on July 17 when the second lockdown order suddenly changed everything. Victoria closed the border with neighboring New South Wales, isolating itself to curb the spread of the disease. "I'm sad Melbourne is under lockdown again," said Nhung, a resident since 2012. "95 percent of flights were cut, the airport was empty and restaurants closed their doors because there were no customers." "My income has reduced by 90 percent," Nhung said, adding as a permanent resident, she was fortunate to receive government support for those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Only permanent residents or Australian citizens are eligible for the government support package. Nhung takes advantage of this opportunity to spend most of the time at home with her 3-year-old son. Her husband, a high school teacher, still goes to work because high school seniors must continue their learning program. For many, the Covid-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on livelihoods. Lan Huong Tierney, owner of a wedding dress shop in Melbourne, also lives amid worry and stress. "My shop was closed for several months, reopening just as the new lockdown was imposed," Huong said. "I certainly support the decision to place the city under lockdown since human life comes first. The unemployed, like me, are also supported by the government. However, I am still worried about the future as my income has been greatly reduced." Huong's husband and children are now studying and working online from home. Prior to the renewed lockdown, her family restricted going out to avoid large crowds, with the Australian government yet to contain the pandemic. "During the first lockdown, which lasted two months, people rushed to hoard necessities, but this time most only stock up for a week to limit going out," she said. Like Huong, Nam now hardly stores any goods as supermarkets remain open. "It is really sad that Melbourne has to reimpose the lockdown, but it was necessary to completely stamp out the coronavirus outbreak," he maintained. Nam blamed the recurrence of the second wave for slack anti-pandemic measures and poor public awareness. Australia only encourages people to wear masks in public, though they scarce and very expensive, at up to $25-30 a box." I worried about my health amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Hopefully, thanks to strict police inspection, residents will comply with anti-pandemic measures, and the crisis would soon pass," Nam added. Huong also wishes the pandemic would end soon, though she accepts she will have to deal with its impacts until that time comes. This time, Jorge Carrasco was ready for the long wait. He had a folding chair, a backpack with several bottles of water and snacks for his wait at the state Motor Vehicle Commission agency in Edison on Tuesday morning. He was still wearing a coat, a giveaway of his 4:45 a.m. arrival time. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Oil prices fell on Tuesday to extend losses from the previous session as a record daily rise in global coronavirus cases stirred concerns about slow demand growth. In addition, traders remained on edge amid expectations that OPEC+ might ease output cuts from August in an upcoming meeting. Benchmark Brent crude dropped 25 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $42.47 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 29 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $39.80 a barrel, Both benchmark contracts fell over 1 percent in the previous session. California on Monday banned indoor dining and shuttered movie theaters and bars as coronavirus infection spread beyond the Sun Belt. Indoor religious services, gyms and hair and nail salons are again off-limits in most of the state to head off surging coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. As global coronavirus infections surged past 13 million, the WHO warned that 'the virus remains public enemy number one' and the pandemic could get far worse if countries around the world do not follow basic healthcare precautions. An OPEC meeting later this week is expected to recommend an increase in output. Under the existing agreement, OPEC+ is set to taper its record supply cut of 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) to 7.7 million bpd from August through December. Markets also await data on fuel consumption due later today from the American Petroleum Institute industry group and on Wednesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Farmers are reaching out to the public and MPs to raise the importance of the crops sector as part the annual #YourHarvest campaign. Growers are being asked to get involved in the NFU initiative by producing a short video to explain what they do and where their produce goes. The content should have an aim to show the public and parliamentarians how the British cereals sector delivers for both food production and the environment. Farmers have also been urged by the NFU to ask their MP to back arable farming through the development of the trade and agriculture commission and the agriculture bill. NFU combinable crops board chairman, Matt Culley said this years #YourHarvest campaign came at a 'critical time' for British farming. "Our government is in the process of developing a number of key policies that will change how our industry works and we need to make sure our voices are heard. While many of our farms remain closed to the public and MPs due to coronavirus, we can still show them what we deliver for the economy, the environment and the nation, and how they can support a thriving crops sector into the future," he said. Mr Culley said many people did not realise that the UK was already importing crops that have been grown using pesticides and other products that were illegal here. "If this is replicated in future trade deals, it could have a significant impact on the competitiveness of British growers," he said. The NFU has also provided farmers infographics, an animation, a video and other resources that they can use to show the value of arable farming. Delhi: Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal joined the protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in Delhi on Thursday. Kejriwal, while attending a solidarity meeting at the JNU campus, lashed out at the BJP saying that its leaders are not loyal to anyone, not even to their fathers. "Ye BJP wale kisi Hindu ke nahi hain, ye apne baap ke bhi nahi hain," ANI quoted Kejriwal as saying. Kejriwal said that the JNU vice-chancellor is not acting to trace Najeeb as he is "scared" of going "missing" himself if he did so. The chief minister said Najeeb, who has been missing for over two weeks now, will come back only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be made to realise that he is losing votes over the issue. Kejriwal, who has had frequent run-ins with the Delhi Police, said it will not dare to pursue any investigation in this regard as RSS' students' wing ABVP was involved in the brawl following which Najeeb went missing. "Whoever will raise any voice against RSS, ABVP or BJP will be called anti-national, will go missing," the AAP chief said. Kejriwal also wondered why no one from the ABVP who was part of the campus brawl been questioned by the Police. Kejriwal said he has written to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and will take a delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee when he returns from his Nepal visit. Earlier, the JNU administration appealed to students and teachers to "discourage obstructive politics and protests" on the campus as it was hampering the smooth functioning of the university and "unreasonable" demands are being raised through demonstrations. The appeal by the authorities came in the wake of protests by various student groups and teachers for the last two weeks over Najeeb's case. Najeeb (27), a student of School of Biotechnology and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, went missing on October 15 following an on-campus scuffle allegedly with the members of ABVP the night before. Congress leaders Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shashi Tharoor also attended the meeting. (With inputs from agencies) Congress MLAs were holed up at a resort near Jaipur, where a second legislature party meeting will be held Tuesday as the top leadership tries to woo back dissidents led by Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. Former party president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are among the senior leaders who have been in touch with Pilot, sources said. The second meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was announced several hours after the first one ended Monday afternoon, skipped by Pilot and 18 other party MLAs, according to one party source. The Congress had issued a whip, asking all 107 Congress MLAs to be present at Monday's meeting at the chief minister's home. In addition, 15 others independents and from allies -- were invited. Party leaders said 106 of these 122 MLAs attended, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. The meeting expressed support for the Gehlot government, adopting a resolution urging strong disciplinary action against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the government or the party. But it stopped short of naming Pilot, who also heads the party's state unit. Before the meeting, AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also adopted conciliatory tone, saying Pilot and other MLAs could still attend it. Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions found. This is the discipline of the party, he said. Apart from Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal are learned to have spoken with Pilot. As the CLP meeting ended, MLAs sat in waiting buses which took them to Fairmont hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur. Hours later, Surjewala announced the CLP will meet again at 10 am on Tuesday at the hotel, a move seen as another attempt by the party to get the dissidents back into the fold. We request Sachin Pilot and all other MLAs to come, he told reporters, adding that they will also be asked in writing. "They are requested to come and discuss how we can strengthen Rajasthan together and serve the state's eight crore people, he said. He said their problems will be solved. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are ready to listen to everyone and find solutions." Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. On Sunday, he claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. Those close to him disputed Gehlot's claim that his government had a majority, and said this is proven in the assembly and not at the CM's house. They also ruled out the possibility of Pilot joining the BJP. Asked if the Pilot group was thinking of forming a new party, MLA Deepender Singh Shekhawat said, As of now, we have not thought of anything but we will not go with the BJP. We are just talking about leadership change." Ladnun MLA Mukesh Bhakar tweeted, Loyalty in the Congress means Ashok Gehlot's slavery. That is not acceptable to us." Among those who did not show up for the meeting at CM's house was Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh. He posted a collage of four photos on his Twitter handle, showing Pilot taking part in protests when he was in the opposition. With an ailing family member in Delhi, Singh tweeted before the meeting. Just hours before meeting, Income Tax officials searched premises in Jaipur said to be linked to local party leaders Rajiv Arora and Dharmendra Rathore, an action criticised by the Congress. The CLP resolution blamed the BJP for the crisis. On Saturday, Gehlot had accused the opposition party of trying to lure away Congress MLAs. Asked about speculation that the BJP may support the Pilot camp from outside, party's state president Satish Poonia said all options are open. He said young leaders in the Congress are always "neglected and sidelined". In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Late at night, there were indications that the allies might distance themselves from the factional fight in Rajasthan Congress. The Congress had rushed AICC general secretary Avinash Pande, Ajay Maken and Surjewala to Jaipur as observers at the meeting, amid the power tussle between its two Rajasthan leaders. The party had issued a whip ahead of the CLP meeting, indicating disciplinary action against any MLA who failed to turn up. Pilot, however, had made clear in a statement on Sunday night that he would not attend the meeting. The current crisis began Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over an alleged attempt to bring down the government. The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. Firass Dirani could hardly contain his happiness when he stepped out with a mystery brunette in Sydney on Monday. The 36-year-old actor was all smiles as he enjoyed a night out with the beauty. Firass and his companion were dressed in similar ensembles, both opting for red, white and camel-coloured outfits. Out and about: Firass Dirani could hardly contain his happiness when he stepped out with a mystery brunette in Sydney on Monday His companion is believed to be Heven Iskender, and it's understood 'they've been spending a lot of time together recently', according to a source. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, Firass confirmed he's been seeing Heven. The House Husbands star stepped out in a pair of red tracksuit pants, which he paired with a matching red jumper. Perfect match: Firass and his companion were dressed in similar ensembles, with both opting for red, white and camel-coloured outfits He also wore a camel-coloured zip-up jacket and white sneakers, and kept his head warm underneath a black beanie. Meanwhile, his pal opted for a pair of maroon exercise tights with white racer stripes drown the sides. She also wore a maroon top, and rugged up against the cold in a camel-coloured teddy coat. Claim to fame: The handsome actor was voted Cleo magazine's Bachelor of the Year back in April 2010 Like Firass, she also wore white sneakers, and her long brunette hair was tied up with a few loose strands framing her face. The pair happily walked alongside each other, laughing as they made their way down the street. The handsome actor was voted Cleo magazine's Bachelor of the Year back in April 2010. 'They glance more often than not, but there's no conversation yet, so maybe I still have to make the move,' he said of attracting female attention Despite the title though, he admitted women rarely approached him. 'They glance more often than not, but there's no conversation yet, so maybe I still have to make the move,' he said at the time, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. When asked about his ideal partner, Firass said he was attracted to women who had a 'wicked sense of humour, amazing eyes and a beautiful smile'. Visits by foreign diplomats, business reps suspended THAILAND: The government has temporarily banned the entry of foreign diplomats and special business representatives after the young daughter of the Sudanese attache was found to be infected with the coronavirus after the family arrived from Khartoum. CoronavirusCOVID-19healthtourismimmigrationSafety By Bangkok Post Tuesday 14 July 2020, 03:52PM A disease control official directs returnees at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi airport. The government has suspended the arrivals of privileged foreign visitors following the discovery of COVID-19 infection in the Sudanese attaches family after they arrived from Khartoum. Photo: Arnun Chonmahatrakool. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman of the Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration, today (July 14) announced the suspension of arrivals by privileged foreigners and business reps under special arrangements, and foreign diplomats and their families. He said it would remain in force while the CSA plugged loopholes in its disease control measures. Privileged visitors are people the prime minister or an emergency state supervisor invited to the country. Business reps under special arrangements plan on only short stays. Both categories have been allowed in since July 1. Dr Taweesilp said that in future arriving foreign diplomatic staff and their families would have to stay for 14 days at alternative state quarantine facilities that the government would arrange. It would be dangerous for them to stay at embassies, he said. The CCSA decision was a response to the case of the 9-year-old daughter of the Sudanese attache in Bangkok, he said. The girls mother took their family of five for health checks in Sudan on July 7, and they were given clearance to travel. They left Sudan that day and arrived in Thailand at 5.40am on July 10. They reached their residence at One X condominium in Sukhumvit area at 9.25am. The same flight also carried 245 Thai returnees. Upon arrival, the family was asymptomatic but samples were taken for COVID-19 tests. It was known later that morning that the girl was infected. Her father took her to a hospital in Bangkok, where a second test confirmed the first result. On July 11 the girl was diagnosed with pneumonia and was referred to Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health in Bangkok on July 12. The same day, her family moved into the Sudanese embassy on Soi Suan Phlu. The family had been staying on the 19th floor of the One X condominium building, which has 329 rooms of which 200 were occupied. About 70% of the residents were foreigners and about 50% of them wore face masks while using elevators there, Dr Taweesilp said. Seven people were deemed at high risk of infection the girls parents and younger sister, a limousine chauffeur, two airport van drivers and a Sudanese embassy official. Fifteen other people who used the same elevator the family used were deemed at low risk of infection, he said. The family and drivers will be tested tomorrow. Venezuelas state oil firm PDVSA has resumed gasoline production at the only operating refinery in the country home to the worlds largest oil reserves that is experiencing severe gasoline shortages, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. PDVSAs refinery Cardon, capable of processing 310,000 barrels per day, was hit by a fire last week and people with knowledge of the operations told Reuters on July 6 that gasoline production was halted because the fire had affected the catalytic cracking unit. The refinery has since resumed production of gasoline, according to Reuters sources, and the Cardon facility is currently producing around 30,000 bpd of gasoline, union leader Ivan Freites told Reuters over the weekend. Venezuelas 1.3-million-bpd refining capacity is mostly offline, due to the cash crunch at PDVSA and Venezuela, the crumbling industry, and years of lack of investment in maintenance and repairs. The lockdown to curb the coronavirus pandemic in the country which is in a severe economic collapse has reduced some of the demand for gasoline, but shortages persist. Venezuela has seen some reprieve recently in its fuel shortage problem, after Iranian tankers shipped gasoline and refining components to the Latin American country in an open defiance of the U.S. sanctions. Nicolas Maduros regime tried to alleviate the fuel shortage in the country, but a new scheme of subsidized gasoline failed to put an end to the long lines in which Venezuelans queued to fill their cars with fuel. Despite the shipments from Iran, Venezuelans continue to queue for gasoline in the middle of July, while the U.S. is looking for ways to cut off Iranian gasoline deliveries to Venezuela. Ezio Angelini, the head of the Maracaibo Chamber of Commerce, told Agence-France Presse this week: We knew this would happen, because Venezuela is not producing gasoline or is producing very little. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: Many Italian media published articles sharply condemning the provocation of the Armenian armed forces on July 12 on the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in the direction of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district, Trend reports. The media included the Il Giornale newspaper, the Inside Over Italia analytical news portal, newspapers, news agencies and information-analytical portals such as Askanews, Agenzia Nova, Notizie Geopolitiche, TGCom24, European Affairs, EurosiaNews, Giornale Diplomatico, etc. The authors of articles, based on information from the Azerbaijani Embassy in Italy about the provocation of Armenia, referred to statements made by the Assistant to Azerbaijans President, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev, the Azerbaijani Foreign and Defense Ministries. They also referred to statements made by influential members of the Italian Parliament, Chairman of the Senate Permanent Commission on Foreign Relations, Senator Vito Petrocelli, Chairman of the Italian Delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Deputy Chairman of the Permanent Commission on Foreign Relations of the Chamber of Deputies, MP Paolo Grimoldi, as well as the Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Association of Friendship with Azerbaijan in the Italian Parliament, Senator Stefano Lucidi and Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Association of Friendship with Azerbaijan in the Italian Parliament, MP Rossana Boldi. The publications emphasized that the parliamentarians in their statements condemned the provocations of Armenia, supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, noting the importance of resolving the conflict on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions and declared that Italys position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was clearly set out in the Joint Declaration on Strengthening Strategic Partnership between Azerbaijan and Italy" and that they appealed to the Italian government for urgent measures to resolve the conflict. The articles also contained the conclusions of the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Italy Mammad Ahmadzade. Informing about the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan and the latest provocation of the Armenian side, the ambassador noted the importance of condemning the military aggression and recent military provocations of Armenia against Azerbaijan by the entire world community, including Italy. It was noted that Italys position on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is clearly stated in the Joint Declaration on Strengthening the Strategic Partnership between Azerbaijan and Italy, in which the parties expressed their support for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders. Another thing stated was the unacceptability of acts of aggression in the system of international relations, as well as the fact that the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should be resolved on the basis of the fundamental principles of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, in particular the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders, on the basis of relevant resolutions and documents of the UN and OSCE. GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A Traverse City physicians assistant has agreed to a lifetime ban from issuing prescriptions after he was accused by the U.S. Attorneys Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency of over prescribing opioids. James J. Berg, P.A., agreed Tuesday to surrender his DEA registration allowing him to prescribe controlled substances and he will never reapply for a DEA registration. Berg must also pay a $50,000 fine as part of the settlement. For several years, Mr. Berg recklessly prescribed high doses of opioids in a manner that endangered patients and contributed to the ongoing opioid epidemic, said U.S. Attorney Andrew B. Birge in a press release. This settlement ensures that Mr. Berg will no longer be in a position to prescribe controlled substances and serves as an example of our offices efforts to work with the DEA and other law enforcement to use all tools necessary to enforce compliance with controlled substance prescribing laws in Traverse City and the rest of Western Michigan. Berg is the co-owner and operator of the Hope Clinic for Muscle & Joint Pain, PLLC (Hope Clinic) in Traverse City according to the press release. As part of the its investigation, the U.S. Attorneys Office alleged Berg prescribed large quantities of opioids to patients well above national guidelines for treating patients with chronic pain and despite multiple red flags indicating that the prescriptions were not legitimate. Among the red flags discovered in the investigation were patients traveling long distances, failing multiple urine drug screen tests, violating Hope Clinics pain management agreements and displaying other conduct indicative of diversion. The investigation also claimed Berg prescribed opioids concurrent with other controlled substances, such as benzodiazepines and muscle relaxers, resulting in a dangerous cocktail for patients. To have a medical professional, who is fully aware of the effects of controlled substances, abusing his privileges is a total betrayal of his profession and the public trust, said DEA Detroit Field Division Special Agent in Charge Keith Martin. Teamwork at all levels of law enforcement was instrumental in this investigation. Although Berg agreed to the settlement, he has not been convicted of or admitted to any of the allegations made by investigators. In the past two weeks, we learned that Trump did nothing when he found out that Russias President, Vladimir Putin, successfully paid bounties to militants who killed American soldiers in Afghanistan and that Trump begged Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, to help him win re-election. These are just the latest examples of Trump capitulating to the interests of our two biggest competitors, and they are unlikely to be the last. If there were any doubts in 2016 as to who Trump puts first, he has erased them now by showing us he will always put his own political interests above the national interest -- even if it means getting played by foreign dictators. Take, for instance, Trumps darling trade deal, which he made the centerpiece of his approach to China -- and a centerpiece of his re-election strategy in November. Trump gave Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, concession after concession to secure the deal. He rushed to save the Chinese company ZTE -- which had violated U.S. sanctions and poses a national security threat -- citing too many jobs in China lost. He offered to stop prosecuting Huawei, another giant Chinese company that threatens American interests, if it would help get to a deal with China. He promised not to criticize Xis repression in Hong Kong and chillingly even encouraged him to build concentration camps in Xinjiang -- where over one million people are detained and subjected to horrors like forced abortions and sterilizations -- to protect his trade talks. Trump then gave China a free pass on the coronavirus in January and February. In the early weeks of the pandemic, what we needed most to save American lives was information on the virus transmission and nature -- information only China had at the time. But Trump twice refused the urgings of his advisors to pressure China for it, instead praising Xi on at least 15 occasions and saying the United States greatly appreciates [Chinas] efforts and transparency. Why did Trump do the opposite of what Americans needed and experts pleaded? Because he didnt want to derail his trade deal, which was signed in January and implemented in February. Researchers have concluded that eighty percent of American deaths from the coronavirus -- by far the most in the world at over 125,000 and counting -- could have been prevented if the administration had acted just two weeks earlier. But Trump put politics and his trade deal, which has already collapsed, before American lives and livelihoods. With Russia, Trump has inexplicably put Putin first. Most importantly, Trump refused to stand up to Putin when he offered bounties to kill Americans in Afghanistan even though U.S. intelligence concluded that our soldiers died as a result. Its a familiar pattern: Trump gushed over Putin in their first phone call, later lauded the brutal dictator as a great guy and terrific person, regularly sides with Putin over our allies, and publicly sided with Putin in Helsinki by rejecting the U.S. intelligence communitys conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. After all this, it comes as little surprise that Trump asked Xi and Putin to help him win elections instead of putting Americans first by taking them on. As John Bolton, Trumps former National Security Advisor, recently revealed, Trump begged Xi to use Chinas economic clout to help him win re-election. As a candidate, Trump invited Russia to interfere in our elections on television, and when the U.S. intelligence community confirmed that Russia did, he denied it -- then privately told two senior Russian officials that Russias interference did not concern him. The revelations of the past two weeks are beyond the last straws in this disgraceful onslaught that should infuriate all Americans. After all, we, not a Russian or Chinese dictator, choose our leaders, and our leaders are supposed to put our interests first -- not their own. American patriots declared independence so many years ago to fight for a democracy that protected our freedoms. Today, we must again assert that independence. Theres only one way we can protect our national security, our troops, and the republic that so many of our forebears and contemporaries died to defend: we must vote Donald Trump out of office in November. Naz El-Khatib, a North Hills, Montgomery Township, native, is a foreign policy expert based in Washington, D.C. Could Vietnam be on the cards for Tesla? - illustration photo South African-born American entrepreneur Elon Musk, who founded Tesla Motors in 2003, is currently pushing ahead with new factory construction near Berlin in Germany as well as one in Austin, Texas. On top of those major initiatives, the group is also expanding its gigafactory in Shanghai and adding more production capacity at both the gigafactory in Nevada and facility in Fremont. The new production capacity is expected to support the companys plan to be able to deliver one million electric vehicles every year. But Tesla does not plan to stop there. It is expected to build several more factories as part of its mission to accelerate the advent of electric transport and renewable energy and last week, Musk hinted at where the next factory could end up. When asked on Twitter if Tesla plans to expand mega factories in Asia outside China, the CEO answered in the affirmative. Yeah, but first we need to finish Giga Berlin and a second US Giga to serve the eastern half of North America, he explained. While Musk confirmed the groups idea, he failed to offer any specifics beyond Asia, but people were quick to send suggestions such as Japan and South Korea that both have strong existing automotive industries, and even Vietnam. While obvious advantages lay with the likes of Japan and South Korea for the billionaires next move, Musk will know that Vietnam can also offer a stable government, low-cost labour, and strong chances of avoiding mass delays or other obstructions thanks to the current coronavirus pandemic. The CEO did not offer a timeline beyond the completion of the current two factories under development, but that might happen quickly based on Teslas own timelines for the two factories, which are supposed to start production by the end of next year. According to green energy and e-vehicle news site Electrek, Japan and South Korea would be the frontrunners for such a facility as those markets already have strong talent in the automotive business, and Tesla has ties to important battery manufacturers and suppliers based in both countries. However, it also noted that some Southeast Asian markets could offer some good locations for Tesla, and Vietnam would certainly be in the mix. Elon Musk became a multimillionaire in his late 20s when he sold startup company Zip2 to a division of Compaq Computers. He founded X.com in 1999, which later became PayPal, and SpaceX in 2002. In 2012, SpaceX made history when the company launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space with an unmanned capsule. It reached the International Space Station with 1,000 pounds of supplies, marking the first time a private company had sent a spacecraft to the station. WEST CHESTER With just over 100 days until the 2020 November election and the future of the White House, Congress and the state Legislature at stake, the Chester County Republican Committee elected a new chairman to lead it into that crucial battle. Dr. Gordon Eck, the former county coroner and a social conservative, was elected unanimously on Monday along with a team of officers. Eck of Honey Brook will serve a term that expires in June 2022. He was not opposed in the race. The change in chairman brings to a close the leadership of Rick Loughery, who chose not to seek re-election after having served since 2019. Loughery addressed the committee members who had assembled virtually to cast their votes, thanking them for their work and wishing them luck. Ecks selection comes in a year that is fraught with election obstacles. In addition to the COVID-19 virus pandemic which delayed the April primary election until last month, county Republicans have seen their once-dominant position in party politics vanish, with Democratic Party registrations taking a lead for the first time in more than 150 years. Upon his election to the position, Eck said he was extremely honored and humbled to have won the committees support, according to a press release from the GOP committee, and signaled that he intended to bring the cultural fight over subjects like abortion rights and school choice to the fore in his tenure, although he did not use those words specifically. The Republican Party was founded on the principle of human dignity, he said. This dignity, as the Founding Fathers recognized and recorded in the Declaration of Independence, is endowed by our Creator and cannot legitimately be conferred or restricted by human government. Inherent in humanity and human dignity are fundamental rights, such as the sanctity of life, equal justice and opportunity, and personal freedom, including economic freedom and freedom of conscience. These rights should guide our approach to issues such as educational choice, access to affordable, quality healthcare, criminal justice reform, racial reconciliation, ending the exploitation of women, and coming alongside those in need, Eck said. The party chose Eck as part of its normal course of business, coming within 60 days of the primary election. The election, however, came later in the year than in the past because of the delay in the Primary Election because of the coronavirus outbreak. The timing put Eck at something of a disadvantage, those familiar with the party said. But in addition, the choice of Eck was surprising because of his relative lack of experience in running a political party. He was not particularly politically active until 2013, when he ran for the position of coroner for the first time and has had little experience in the large scale fundraising necessary to fuel the partys campaign for candidates at the local and state level. Two sources said that Eck was well-liked in party circles, but lacked the background in politics as would otherwise be expected in a chairman. Hes more of an amateur political observer, said one longtime party member who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal committee operations. Its not clear how effective hes going to be. But we will see. Another person said that whoever had control of the party this year faced the uphill battle of the absolute acceleration of voters abandoning the Republican Party in the county and switching their registrations to Democrats or Independents. They are shifting away from the GOP, and (President Donald) Trump. I am not surprised, that Loughery decided not to have to fight that trend in this presidential year, the source said. As of this week, Democratic registration in the county led that of Republicans by 150,046 to 148,569, with 61,722 independents or other party voters rounding out the total of 360,387. In the last presidential election in 2016, there were 155,519 Republican to 137,166 Democrats on Election Day meaning that the GOP has lost 5,473 voters in the years since, while the countys Democrats have added 11,403 voters to their rolls. Even the number of independent voters has decreased, ever so slightly from 62,038 to 61,722, as more and more residents register as Democrats. Eck said he was ready to begin work on the campaign. I am eager and excited for the opportunity, he said in an interview Tuesday. I enjoy a challenge. As I told the committee members last night, this requires a team effort. No one person can do everything. But I have surrounded myself with good quality people, and we will work together. As for Lougherys departure, both GOP sources who spoke about his tenure said his decision was largely expected. The writing was on the wall, said one. He knew he was not well-liked enough to continue on as chairman. I think he checked out a while ago, the other said, noting that he had been putting his energies into his position as chairman of the Young Republicans National Federation. He just let things erode. I dont know if he was even focused on the organization. Loughery did not return a call for comment on Tuesday. Eck, 67, has been a county resident since 1965. He attended West Chesters B. Reed Henderson High School before graduating from Ursinus College and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Eck is retired from his 36-year practice of family and geriatric medicine but has since graduated from Liberty Theological Seminary with a masters in Biblical Studies as well as a doctorate in Ministry from Southern Evangelical Seminary. Eck currently serves as the medical director for a juvenile detention center in Morgantown. We live in troubling times, Eck told his fellow committee members on Monday, according to a press release. But, as Robert Woodson reminds us, America is not defined by its failures, but by its promises. The Republican Party has historically fought for these promises against fierce opposition. As chairman, it will be my honor to continue leading that fight until those promises become a reality for all. To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544. The Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has disclosed it will present a report on its expose to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to serve as evidence for further investigation. The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD Ghana), through its foremost anti-corruption campaign platform, has exposed how some aspirants in the recently held New Patriotic Party parliamentary primaries allegedly influenced delegates using money and other items to garner votes. Some leading members of the NPP including its National Organizer, Sammi Awuku, had earlier dismissed reports of vote-buying in the parliamentary primaries of the party. Mr Awuku said the party had not been given any credible evidence of vote-buying. When asked on Citi TVs Point of View whether the CDD has submitted its expose to the NPP, Mr Willam Nyarko, the CDD consultant who trained the journalists for the expose said they would submit a report to the party once the full expose was ready. We have not [yet presented it to the NPP] but we intend to. We did the investigation on seven regions and we have released 2 results from 2 regions. We have a lot more to release and in the coming weeks, we will be releasing more. Once we are done, we intend to send a report to the NPP and to institutions that have the mandate to investigate such matters. Mr Willliam Nyarko also indicated that they will petition the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on cases that have to do with individuals taking advantage of state offices to enure to their personal interests. We have to also make a distinction between people using their private money versus others using their office to facilitate their campaign and so in Hajia Mahama's case, she is a public officer and therefore if she is using her office for her private thing, this is a matter that the Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice should take up. Mr William Nyarko who is also the Executive Director of the Africa Centre for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) also disclosed that the reason for the expose is to cause political parties to relook their way of doing things. The purpose really is to get the political parties to examine their own internal ways of doing things. When you have about 20,000 registered members of a party voting in a constituency, it reduces the possibility of delegates being bribed. The report which highlights prominent persons like the Deputy MASLOC CEO, Hajia Abibata Shani Mahama Zakaria, Deputy Procurement Officer at COCOBOD, Alhaji Umar Farouk Aliu Mahama, incumbent Member of Parliament for Kwesimintim Constituency, Joseph Mensah and the Executive Secretary of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), Dr. Prince Hamid Armah also detailed how they allegedly influenced delegates.i ---Ctinewsroom Cyprus is threatening to fine or turn away incoming passengers who fail to complete online arrival forms aimed at preventing a resurgence of the novel coronavirus. The move comes after a visitor who misrepresented their itinerary later tested positive for the disease. Dubbed the Cyprus Flight Pass, the online form is part of authorities' efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic while allowing some international arrivals to boost its vital tourism sector. The form must be filled out online 24 hours before boarding, irrespective of the departure country. The transport ministry said in a statement Monday that passengers arriving without a valid online pass faced two choices: "either to enter the Republic and pay the out-of-court fine of 300 euros [$340], or, to return to the country of their departure". The warning came after the EU member lifted a commercial flight ban on June 9. The majority of its single-digit daily reported COVID-19 cases since have been among incoming travellers. The Republic of Cyprus currently allows entry to passengers from three lists of countries, categorised according to epidemiological data and regularly updated. Category A countries including Germany, Greece and Austria are considered the lowest risk. Arrivals from countries in the higher-risk category B, currently including France and Spain, must provide proof of a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of departure, if possible, otherwise be tested at the airport. All other countries are considered category C, with entry restricted mainly to Cyprus residents, who must self-isolate upon arrival. The statement said that arrivals from category A countries who failed to fill out the online form would, in addition to a fine, be required to take a virus test at the airport at the passenger's expense. The ministry also warned against passengers misrepresenting their country of departure. "In a recent incident, a passenger entered the Cyprus Republic on a flight from a category A country, whilst his initial country of departure was a category C country" and without a valid online pass, it said. He later tested positive for the COVID-19 illness and admitted that his "initial country of departure was a category C country", it said. Authorities are considering whether there are grounds to prosecute the man for providing false information. The Republic of Cyprus is marketing itself as a relatively safe holiday destination in the face of the pandemic, having reported 1,022 coronavirus cases and 19 deaths and tested over 10 percent of its population. The breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, recognised only by Ankara, has reported 116 cases and four deaths. Cyprus lifted a commercial flight ban on June 9 Throughout our planning, the health and safety of our staff and students has been our top priority, and beginning the year with a virtual model allows us to continue to monitor the situation until we are confident it is safe to return, Duran wrote in the email, adding, I want to emphasize that this decision weighs heavily on all of us. London: Campaigners in London sent a rallying cry to Americans on Thursday to get out and vote in the forthcoming presidential election and avoid getting "Brexited". Dressed in hard hats and high-visibility vests to symbolise danger, activists gathered outside the British parliament to issue a warning to US citizens: "vote or regret it", drawing parallels with Britain's referendum on leaving the European Union. "We really want to make sure that Americans don't wake up on November 9 with election regrets having not turned out to vote," said Bert Wander, a campaign director for the Avaaz activist group. Campaigners insisted they were not telling Americans how to vote, though many were vocal in their opposition to Republican candidate Donald Trump. Saskia McCulloch, a New Zealand citizen living in London, said she could not register in time to vote in the EU referendum -- residents from Commonwealth countries had the right to vote -- and "felt distraught" at the result. "Brexit came down to a million votes. If I had known it would be that tight I would have done everything I possibly could to be registered and voting," she said. Meredith Alexander, a joint US-British citizen living in London, and a campaign director for Avaaz, said: "If you look at the fear and hatred that Donald Trump trades on, a lot of those same messages were used here in the UK" during the Brexit campaign. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Michigan reports almost 400 confirmed coronavirus cases on Monday, July 13 Michigan reported 384 more confirmed cases of coronavirus and seven new COVID-19 deaths Monday, July 13. Although Mondays number was lower than the 653 new cases reported Saturday, the seven-day averages for new cases and deaths are continuing to trend upward, as are the number of hospitalizations. In total, Michigan has reported 69,722 confirmed cases and 6,075 deaths linked to COVID-19 over the course of four months. Health officials recommend looking at seven-day moving averages to evaluate data trends during the pandemic. The state is averaging 495 new cases, the highest seven-day average since May 21, and 14 new deaths per day, the highest since June 12. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. As of Monday, July 13, the states hospital systems were treating 388 coronavirus patients, up from 363 on Friday, July 10. There were 113 on ventilators, up from 92 on Friday. About 74% of in-patient hospital beds were reported occupied in total, which is unchanged from Friday. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Gov. Whitmer extends orders on grocery store hours, nursing home rules Executive orders requiring grocery stores to keep special hours for seniors and vulnerable populations to shop and instituting more protections at nursing homes are extending under a new set of orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday. Grocery stores are required to set aside at least two hours per week for populations that are considered vulnerable to COVID-19, including people over 60, pregnant women and people with chronic diseases. The order requiring that was set to expire, and EO 149 extends it until Aug. 10. Whitmers handing of nursing homes has come under scrutiny from Republican officials who say COVID patients should not have been housed in the same facilities with vulnerable residents without the disease. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. MichMash: Michigan parents look for support during coronaviurs pandemic The early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic have turned into months, with no clear end in sight. This has left parents everywhere trying to find a balance between work and childcare like never before. Some supports are available, but not nearly enough to help families navigate child care in the COVID-19 Era. As part of the weekly series MichMash, Cheyna Roth and Jake Neher spoke with WDETs Sascha Raiyn about her work examining parenting in 2020. When the coronavirus first took hold in the United States, the school year was still underway. So parents and schools had to scramble to figure out how to keep educating children from afar, Raiyn said. The supports for parents that were put together the fastest, you can kind of tell they were put together very quickly, were educational resources to help parents kind of get through the school year with home schooling, she said. Brian Larkin stands with his wife DeAndra Larkin and her 9-year-old daughter Leila Robinson at their home on March 30, 2020 in Flint. "While staying home has been a challenging time it has also been a time of bonding, which as parents we are grateful for. Being able to focus on playing games, having more light-hearted conversations, taking walks -- (it) has been the silver lining amid the pandemic," DeAndra said. "We have spent time, like many families, balancing working from home and being good homeschool teachers. What do we miss the most? Visiting friends and family, other casual in-person interactions, shopping, the gym and trampoline parks." (Jake May | MLive.com)Jake May | MLive.com Michigan migrant farmers caught in coronavirus catch-22 as case counts spike As the asparagus harvest winds down in Michigans Oceana County, fears over the spread of the coronavirus have taken root. In recent weeks, Michigan has seen a surge in coronavirus cases among rural migrant workers, who number about 50,000 statewide and up to 94,000 if you count family members who travel and live with them. Their communal lifestyle is one thats ripe for COVID-19. With 352 confirmed cases as of Wednesday, July 8, Oceana County, which has a permanent population of about 27,000 -- a figure that can temporarily double during farming and tourist seasons -- has a higher rate of COVID-19 than Oakland County. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. These workers are scared of getting the virus, said Dorian Slaybod, an attorney with Farmworkers Legal Services, a nonprofit that advocates for Michigans migrant farmers. They want to be safe, they want to be protected ... Were talking about something that really affects virtually everyone. Were talking about the food supply, so were really talking about a public health issue. Michigan businesses must start enforcing mask rule Monday Monday is the day businesses must start enforcing a new rule requiring Michiganders to wear masks in public, indoor spaces under an order issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last week. The order, issued Friday, requires businesses to refuse entry to those not wearing masks, unless they fall under a number of exemptions in the law. Failure to do so may subject businesses to having their licenses suspended by the state. The order left some businesses concerned about being left to enforce the rule. The order, in a provision that started Friday, also required individuals to wear masks in indoor, public spaces and outdoor spaces where they could not maintain six feet for distance as well. Those who violate the order could be subject to up to a $500 fine. The order includes exceptions where people do not have to wear masks, including for those who are unable to medically tolerate masks and children under five years old. For more statewide data, visit MLives coronavirus data page, here. More coronavirus coverage on MLive: Consumers Energy Foundation donates $3.6M to Michigan nonprofits during coronavirus pandemic Shortage prompts Kroger to stop giving coin change to customers Third employee at Soaring Eagle casino tests positive for coronavirus As floods worsen in Assam, state records six more deads, nearly 50 killed so far India oi-Ajay Joseph Raj P Guwahati, July 14: As many as six people died in rain-related incidents in Assam on Monday even as the flooding submerged 95 per cent of the Kaziranga national park and tiger reserve, an official bulletin said. So far, the flooding has killed nearly 50 people in the state. According to official reports of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), the flood situation has so far affected over 2.1 million people in 27 of the state's 33 districts. Over 60,000 people uprooted by floods are taking shelter in 480 relief camps. WHO team arrives in China to find coronavirus origin Meanwhile, it is also said that a sub-adult male tiger, on Monday came out of the Kaziranga park's Agratoli range and took shelter in a goat shed in Kandolimari village located in the periphery of the world's largest habitat for one-horned rhinos. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Speaking to media, P Sivakumar, director of the national park, said, "Due to rise of water and to find a safe escape, a sub-adult tiger has entered inside a goat shed in Kandolimari village, Agratoli. Utmost care is being taken to ensure safety of both people and tiger." Coronavirus crisis: Lockdown in Maharashtra's Pune begins today Meanwhile, floods continue to wreak havoc in North Bihar districts as most of the rivers originating from Himalayan regions of Nepal have been maintaining rising trends. WRD minister Sanjay Kumar Jha said round the clock vigil was being maintaining by engineers and supporting staff of the department to keep the embankments safe. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 9:15 [IST] Press Release July 14, 2020 De Lima alarmed over cases of 'floating' employees in BPO companies Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has urged the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development to look into the reported cases of regular employees in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies who are being placed on floating status amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In filing Senate Resolution (SR) No. 462, De Lima underscored the need to review existing labor laws, policies and practices, which may require some legislative reforms to make them more responsive to the needs of workers amid the economic downturn brought about by the global health crisis. "The designation of floating status to employees is a labor practice where employers capitalize on legal loopholes in order to protect assets and capital investments and clear them from any financial obligations they may have to their employees for extended periods of time," she said. "The fairness of existing labor laws and policies, such as the designation of floating status employees, should be re-examined, particularly during extraordinary times of crisis such as the one brought by the COVID-19 pandemic," she added. Last May, it was reported that regular employees of some BPOs who came into contact with a COVID-19 patient were being placed on "floating status", thereby prompting them to undergo a 14-day mandatory self-quarantine period - all without pay despite being regular employees. A month after, some regular employees of BPO companies were reportedly being put on "floating status" for up to 90 days as offshore accounts pulled out their Philippine operations due to the global economic downturn. According to labor lawyer Arnold de Vera, there is nothing formally written about floating status of employees in the country's labor laws but the Supreme Court had upheld its validity in prior cases, provided that its implementation is fair and reasonable. While she acknowledged that designating employees to floating status is completely legal, De Lima stressed that problems arise when workers are left with no source of income for months at a time. "Despite being regular employees, workers are left with no choice but to accept the status quo rather than face permanent retrenchment should they seek other employment opportunities elsewhere," she said. De Lima, chairperson of the Senate Committee Social Justice, Welfare and Rural Development, maintained that it is only fair that both the government and BPO companies look after the welfare of BPO workers and support them during this pandemic. "More equitable labor arrangements should be institutionalized in order to balance the equation and provide protection to not just capital investments but, more importantly, the labor power supplied by workers themselves which serve as the key foundation of our economy," she said. Based on government data, the Philippine unemployment rate ballooned to 17.7 percent, which roughly translates to 7.3 million individuals, as of April 2020. Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III noted that this figure could even rise further by 4 million by the end of the year. One day in May, Carlton Grahams wife arrived at their Hamilton home to find her husband celebrating. When my wife came home from the market, she saw me dancing on the front steps, he said in a July 13 media release. She knew something was up my sleeve. The 77-year-old retired bus driver had just found out he won $50,000 the second-place prize in the May 13 Ontario 49 draw using the numbers suggested in his horoscope. He had also won $750 from other Ontario 49 selections. Graham and his wife went to Best Buy Variety on Fennell Avenue on Hamiltons Mountain, where he bought the winning ticket, to have it validated. My wife kept giggling and laughing we were so happy and excited, he said. The couple picked up their winnings a total of $50,750 at the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto, which has resumed in-person service for prizes of $50,000 or more. Graham plans to use the money to help his granddaughter fund her education. Her father, my son, passed away a year and a half ago and it means so much to me to do this for her, he said. This feels good and excellent in my heart. Read more about: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 14:30:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China's health authorities have encouraged qualified community hospitals across the country to set up fever clinics to better handle infectious diseases. Citing a circular issued by the National Health Commission, a China Daily report Tuesday said that medical staff at primary healthcare providers will receive regular training regarding infectious diseases, such as case detection during regular health checks. It is part of the country's efforts to improve grassroots medical institutions' capabilities in coping with infectious disease outbreaks, the report said. The circular highlighted the need to make up for the shortfalls exposed during the epidemic and coordinate disease control work with the provisions of other health services. Enditem (CNN) Hong Kong Disneyland is once again closing its gates. The resort, which reopened on June 18, is shutting down after Hong Kong tightened its social-distancing measures following a rise of 52 new coronavirus cases in the city. "As required by the government and health authorities in line with prevention efforts taking place across Hong Kong, Hong Kong Disneyland park will temporarily close from July 15," a Disney spokesperson said. The hotels at the Hong Kong Disneyland resort will remain open with "adjusted levels of services," according to the spokesperson. "They have put in place enhanced health and safety measures that reflect the guidance of health and government authorities, such as social distancing measures and increased cleaning and sanitization," the statement read. Disney's parks and resorts are a major part of the company's business. The unit brought in more $26 billion in fiscal 2019, but it was hit hard last quarter because of the pandemic when its operating profit fell 58% compared to last year. The re-closure of Hong Kong Disneyland comes days after the company opened its most important resort: Walt Disney World. The resort, located in Orlando, Florida, opened on Saturday despite a surging number of cases in the state. Disney World began a phased reopening for its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks over the weekend. Its other two parks, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, will reopen on July 15. Disney is implementing several health measures to reopen safely. Josh D'Amaro the new chairman of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products says the resort is safe for guests. "We are in a new normal," D'Amaro told CNN Business on Saturday. "The world is a different place, but we feel really prepared to operate in this new environment." Florida shattered the US record for new single-day coronavirus cases. The state's Department of Health reported at least 15,299 new cases on Sunday. CNN's Jadyn Sham and Sophie Jeong contributed to this report While interpreting the latest World Economic Outlook update of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), international media generally delivered an encouraging message that China is the only major economy expected to achieve positive growth in 2020. Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the severe recession of the world economy, Chinas continued economic recovery has injected strong confidence into the global economic recovery. China has withstood the stress test of the pandemic and set an example for other countries to coordinate pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development. The economic data recently released by China also confirmed the IMFs optimistic forecast. The added value of enterprises above designated size has risen for two consecutive months, and the total profits made by industrial enterprises and the index of services production began to increase. Besides, the growth of industrial electricity consumption accelerated, and power consumption of the service sector and rail-cargo volume was also on a rise. Data also showed the preliminary results achieved from Chinas work and production resumption and the recovery of the Chinese economy. The countrys manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index for June stood at 50.9 percent, keeping above the 50-point mark, which indicates economic expansion for four consecutive months. It indicated that Chinas economic recovery continued to gain momentum with constantly enhanced stability of industrial chains, laying the foundation for a stable start in the second half of the year. The growth of Chinas postal and express delivery against headwinds is also a vivid testimony to the recovery of the Chinese market. According to statistics from the State Post Bureau, Chinas express delivery volume achieved positive growth in February from a low level in January and surged over 40 percent year-on-year in May, the highest since February 2018. As facts have indicated, China has withstood the test of the pandemic and taken targeted measures to promote a steady and stable economic recovery in coordinating pandemic prevention and control and economic and social development. By orderly facilitating resumption of work and production, China has generated a strong impetus for the recovery of the global industrial and supply chains. In contrast, the pandemic continues to bring shocks to the global economy. The World Bank predicted that the global economy would shrink 5.2 percent this year, the worst recession since World War II. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said COVID-19 has triggered the most severe recession in nearly a century. Although countries are gradually relaxing pandemic prevention and control measures, the global recovery still faces uncertainties. Against this backdrop, China has always attempted to stabilize the overall performance of foreign trade, maintain the stability of the global industrial and supply chains and foster new growth drivers in developing new models of trade. Companies in China not only quickly resumed their own work and production, but also helped their overseas suppliers in restoring production capability, driving the recovery of the global supply chain, said Consumer News and Business Channel in a recent article. Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), noted that the Chinese governments timely and effective response measures after the COVID-19 outbreak, especially in public health, are crucial to its rapid economic recovery and its rank among the worlds top in terms of recovery. China has added new imputes to the recovery and development of the world economy by unswervingly promoting opening-up. The country set out plans on advancing opening-up in its government work report this year by stabilizing the overall performance of foreign trade, stepping up utilization of foreign capital, focusing on quality in the joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative, and promoting liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. A master plan for the Hainan free trade port released recently focused on making the island province in south China a pacesetter and an important gateway in the countrys opening-up in the new era. Chinas 2020 version of the negative list on the market access of foreign investment in general and that for pilot free trade zones significantly shortened the negative list for foreign investment based on previous cuts for three consecutive years, sending a strong signal that the country will make opening-up a catalyst for reform and development amid the pandemic. The 127th Canton Fair, which was moved online, gathered buyers from 217 countries and regions, with the number of sources of buyers reaching a record high in the event's history. The preparation work for the third China International Import Expo is going smoothly. For its exhibition of businesses, the signed exhibition area surpassed more than 90 percent of the planned area, and some companies even failed to get a booth. Foreigners held that China has been committed to making its market environment opener and fairer, which is helpful for boosting investors confidence and promoting global economic recovery. Despite the huge pressure in the first half of the year, the Chinese economy maintains stable and have a sound momentum for a long-term growth. China has strived to find new opportunities in the crisis and create new prospects in a changing world, delivering a performance that has encouraged the world. While the world is facing more unstable and uncertain factors, China has the confidence and ability to continue to promote its high-quality economic development, and inject confidence and impetus into the world economy amid the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the government schools in Delhi for achieving 98 percent pass percentage in the Class 12 results released by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on 13 July, which is the highest so far. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal congratulated the government schools in Delhi for achieving 98 percent pass percentage in the Class 12 results released by Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on 13 July, which is the highest so far. In 2019, the pass percentage was at 94.24 percent. Feeling v (very) proud to announce that the CBSE class 12 result of Delhi govt schools this year is 98% - highest ever so far," the Delhi CM tweeted. Feeling v proud to announce that the CBSE class 12 result of Delhi govt schools this year is 98% - highest ever so far. Its historic. Congratulations to my Team Education, all students, teachers, parents and education officers. Proud of you all. Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 13, 2020 According to a report by Hindustan Times, the pass percentage of Delhi government schools improved from 94.2 per cent last year to 97.8 per cent this year. The overall pass percentage in both government and private schools for CBSE Class 12 exams have increased by 5.38 percent compared to 2019. The report said that government schools in the capital were 5.9 percentage points higher than private schools when it came to number of students passed. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia shared the data of Delhi government school performance in CBSE Class 12 exams for the last five years. He wrote, "Over the past 5 years, we at #DelhiGovtSchools have been competing with ourselves to break our own record each time. This year is no exception!" Over the past 5 years, we at #DelhiGovtSchools have been competing with ourselves to break our own record each time. This year is no exception! 2020: 98% 2019: 94.24% 2018: 90.6 % 2017: 88.2% 2016: 85.9% Congrats to students, parents & Team Education! https://t.co/ktNogcLZEW Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) July 13, 2020 NDTV reported that this is the first time the CBSE has announced Class 12 results without completing the board exams in its entirety. The Class 12 exams were initially postponed and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report quoted Kejriwal saying that there was a time when government schools were looked down upon, but the results have "proved these assumptions wrong." According to The Hindu, Kejriwal stated that the figure, which is the highest in the history of the capital, was good news in what has so far been a depressing atmosphere. Addressing the 2 per cent students who either failed or have compartments, the CM said, "Dont worry, we are with you, the whole system is with you; we will arrange for extra classes. Im sure this result will turn into 100% after the results of the compartment exams are declared." An Indian Army (36) jawan, who went missing in January during a patrolling duty near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir, has been declared a martyr by the security forces after all efforts to locate him failed, his family members said on Tuesday. The martyred jawan is identified as Havildar Rajendra Singh Negi, a Dehradun resident, who had gone missing on January 8 during a patrolling duty at Gulmarg in Kashmir Valley, when he reportedly slipped amid heavy winter snow and fell on the Pakistani side across the LoC. Havildar Negi was attached to the Indian Armys 11 Garhwal Rifles since 2001. We received the information through a letter on June 21 about the Indian Army declaring him a martyr after failing to find him, said Rajeshwari Negi, his wife. But I am not ready to accept my husband is a martyr because there is no proof of his death, she said. How can I accept him as a martyr? Has anybody from his unit seen him slip in heavy winter snow on Pakistani soil across the LoC? I need to see his body to come to that conclusion, she added. Negis parents live in their native village in Chamoli district, while his wife and three children live in Dehradun, where he had shifted three years ago. The Indian Army had informed his parents about the missing incident on January 9 and later his wife also came to know about it. The wife has alleged that not enough efforts were made to search him. In January, the Indian Army officials were in constant touch with us and had assured that they would give clarity about his whereabouts by March. They have stopped communicating with us since then. They have declared him a martyr, when they failed to find him, she added. Earlier, Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had raised the matter with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and urged him to give necessary directions to find Havildar Negi at the earliest. The CM had also met his family members in Dehradun and assured them all possible help. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After the killing of former BJP district president along with his father and brother in Bandipora last week, the police have started reviewing the security of leaders of different political parties based in Kashmir. Police said BJP leader Waseem Bari, his father Bashir Ahmad and brother Suhail Bashir were killed by two Lashkar militants in a pre-planned attack, despite them having a posse of ten security personnel, who have been arrested and dismissed from their services for being absent when the militants targeted the trio from a close range. Politicians from various mainstream parties have expressed concern over their security arrangements, especially in Kashmir. Two BJP leaders, including Yuwa Morchas Baramulla president Maroof Bhat and party vice-president from Kupwara Asif Ahmad, recently resigned from their posts, owing to the issue. A senior police officer confirmed that the security of politicians is being reviewed and could also be upgraded on the risk assessment of different leaders. After the political killings in Bandipora, the security of party leaders is being again reviewed, the officer said. Top BJP leaders like general secretary Ram Madhav and state president Ravinder Raina had also flagged the issue of security of their leaders before police officials. Confirming that two BJP leaders resigned from the party in Kashmir after the killing of Waseem Bari and his family members, BJP state spokesperson Altaf Thakur said, Most of our workers have security, but leaders are still without security. The party leadership has taken up the issue with the government. Thakur said they have been assured that within a weeks time the security of politicians will be reviewed. The security of not only BJP leaders, but those affiliated with other political parties would also be reviewed or upgraded, he said. Last month, Congress sarpanch from Anantnag Ajay Pandita was also killed by militants. The Congress had said that despite threat and requests he wasnt provided any security cover. After the revocation of Article 370 last year, the security of many politicians affiliated with different parties was downsized or withdrawn. An eight-year-old boy has been killed after the motorbike he was riding collided with a tree. Emergency services and the Toowoomba-based RACQ LifeFlight helicopter were called to a farm near Kingaroy, 250 km northwest of Brisbane on Monday afternoon. But the boy could not be revived. 'Paramedics were called to the scene just before 5pm yesterday, treating the patient who had suffered critical injuries,' a Queensland police spokesman said. Police are now investigating the tragic incident and will prepare a report for the coroner. More to come. By Fabian Cambero SANTIAGO, July 14 (Reuters) - Chile's Candelaria copper mine, run by the Canadian firm Lundin Mining Corp, on Tuesday rejected claims by the mine supervisors union that it is planning to lay off workers, saying the claim relates to the offer of an early retirement package for older workers. The supervisors' union said on Monday the miner would cut 7% of its workforce in a belt-tightening exercise at a time when the mining industry is feeling the pinch from constraints placed on their operations aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. Candelaria said the measure was part of an "optimization programme" to ensure the sustainability of its operation in Chile's northern Atacama region. "The program will be offered to all workers 55 years of age and older. The company estimates that around 100 workers will participate ... which represents between 5-7% of its staff," the company said in a statement sent to Reuters. Copper production out of Chile has not yet been significantly impacted since the coronavirus outbreak started in March. In recent weeks however, there has been a surge of cases in the economically-critical industry, which has prompted operators to alter shift patterns and suspend smelters and construction projects. Candelaria produced 111,400 tonnes of copper - just under 2% of Chile's total - last year. Last week, global miner BHP Group Ltd offered workers at its Escondida copper mine in Chile, the worlds largest, the option for early retirement, drawing criticism for the union which rejected it as a scheme to oust the old and sick. (Reporting by Fabian Cambero, writing by Aislinn Laing Editing by Marguerita Choy) Champaign, IL (61820) Today Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 27F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly cloudy skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 27F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible. Please register or log in to keep reading. No credit card required! Stay logged in to skip the surveys. ~Calls for the intervention of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, Rejects recolonization of those territories.~ Mexico City:--- The Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, made up of more than 60 progressive parties from 29 countries, strongly condemned the violation of human rights incurred by the Kingdom of The Netherlands (Holland) in the countries of Aruba, Curacao and Saint Martin, while demanding that the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet send a special mission to document and stop serious abuses of the fundamental rights of citizens of these three countries that the Dutch commit. Alejandro Moreno Cardenas, president of COPPPAL, said that in addition to the abuses of the fundamental rights of the citizens of these three states, the gross blackmail of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is added to Aruba, Curacao, and St. Martin, to deliver aid to face the Covid-19 pandemic and mitigate the damage to their economies, in exchange for greater interference in the affairs of Government of these three Caribbean islands. He stated that COPPPAL rejects all forms of colonialism in Latin America and the Caribbean. "In the 21st century, any type of colonialism is an embarrassment to humanity, an affront to our region, so we reject new Dutch attempts to return to old forms of domination." Calle Ezequiel Montes 99, Colonia Tabacalera, Alcaldia Cuauhtemoc, C.P. 06030, Mexico City. Tels. (52 55) 56 83 46 03, 56 83 46 53, E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. He recalled that the United Nations Declaration that demanded the eradication of colonialism on the planet turned 60 this 2020 and "Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, Las Malvinas, despite their long struggles, do not have full rights to their free self-determination, Basic principle of international law. The spirit and continued action of admirable figures such as Betico and Rudy Croes in Aruba or Ruben Berrios in Puerto Rico, among other endearing leaderships, continue to guide the libertarian route of these brother nations until their final victory. For their part, Eerste Kamer and Tweede Kamer of the COPPPAL Decolonization Commission, pointed out that with the arrival of the Coronavirus, the World Tourism Organization made a calculation predicting that Aruba would lose 80 percent of its only economic pillar, which is a tourism and to avoid the collapse of their economies, Aruba, Curacao and San Martin, islands that together with Holland form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, asked the Netherlands for the same treatment that Holland granted to Italy and Spain, countries to which it lent billions of euros without any condition to combat COVID 19 and to avoid the collapse of their economies, but the request was denied and only agreed to grant the islands that make up the Kingdom of the Netherlands, loans at 0 percent of interest but with unfulfilled conditions and demands. Aruba has fully complied with the first and second loans despite the fact that the last one was granted with even more conditions. On July 10, the Netherlands approved the third loan, but days before, on July 6, the Prime Minister, Evelyn Wever-Croes, received a letter of secret content in which the Netherlands announced that it would only approve the loan on the condition that Aruba accepted TOTAL SUPERVISION by the Netherlands, which in practice will result in RECOLONIZATION and will mean ending the autonomy of this State within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they noted. They indicated that such fact contravenes Resolution 1514 of the 1960 United Nations General Assembly. The Netherlands gives Aruba 4 days to decide whether to accept these conditions. If not, the Netherlands will not approve this loan that Aruba urgently needs for its survival and well-being of people who lost their income overnight. Calle Ezequiel Montes 99, Colonia Tabacalera, Alcaldia Cuauhtemoc, C.P. 06030, Mexico City. Tels. (52 55) 56 83 46 03, 56 83 46 53, E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. They warned that if they do not accept the conditioning, a greater economic and social crisis will be generated in Aruba, which has become more acute since the pandemic. Considering these facts, the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean categorically condemn and reject: First.- The annexation of Bonaire, Saba and Saint Eustaquio; Second.- The violation of human rights in Aruba, Curacao and San Martin; and Third.- The attempts of recolonization of Aruba, Curacao, and St. Martin. It is to be remembered that the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and the Kingdom of the Netherlands created various colonies in various parts of the world. Examples of these colonies in Asia are Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), Dutch Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Formosa (Taiwan), Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand. In the Caribbean, it colonized Suriname, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Martin, Saba, and San Eustaquio, which were forced as a single entity to be called the Netherlands Antilles. It should not be forgotten that Northeast Brazil (the Captaincy of Pernambuco) and part, today, of the United States were also Dutch colonies. All these colonies became independent with the exception of the Netherlands Antilles. In 1986, BETICO CROES and the Aruban people, after years of fighting, achieved the freedom of Aruba as a separate autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands (commonly called the Netherlands) along with the Netherlands Antilles and the Netherlands. In 2010 Curacao and San Martin also achieved autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, but under severe conditions of financial and judicial supervision by the Netherlands. Bonaire, Saint Eustace, and Saba were ANNEXED, against their will, with the exception of Saba, who accepted the Annexation. COPPPAL has repeatedly condemned this ANEXION practice in our continent. In 1954, the Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of Holland which gave the islands of the Netherlands Antilles a certain degree of autonomy in certain areas such as public finance. He also promised to help these islands for a day to be free effectively. The Netherlands is currently doing Calle Ezequiel Montes 99, Colonia Tabacalera, Alcaldia Cuauhtemoc, C.P. 06030, Mexico City. Tels. (52 55) 56 83 46 03, 56 83 46 53, E-mail This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. just the opposite. Since January 1, 1986, Aruba achieved its autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and today it is complying with the rules of good governance in a responsible manner. Curacao and San Martin have been autonomous since 2010. Lola Blackwell is a longtime resident of New Mexico who grew up in Guatemala, where a deep appreciation for visiting and sharing historical sites was born. She has published her new book A Canvas Floor for Dancing: a slim yet enchanting story of compassion, romance, and justice on the southwestern frontier. After fifteen-year-old Lucinda Brown arrived at Fort Union to live, she wanted to learn to be a housewife, since she was nearly old enough to get married. She attended a small school taught by the quartermaster's wife but became self-conscious about walking past a barracks after finding herself attracted to the young bugle player she had seen through the window at home. One evening, when there was a party hosted by her parents, Lucinda was glad to see this young man come in through the door. A medical emergency and other unexpected events caused Lucinda to realize she'd better start paying attention. Published by Page Publishing, Lola Blackwells engrossing book is a short story capturing a vivid moment in time for a young man and woman in the post-Civil War southwestern frontier. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase A Canvas Floor for Dancing at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708. About Page Publishing: Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Pages accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com. A state court judge denied a Juneau mans request to block distribution of federal coronavirus relief aid under expanded rules proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavys administration. Superior Court Judge Philip Pallenberg ruled Eric Forrer had not shown a clear probability of success on the merits in his underlying case. Even if Forrer had, Pallenberg in his order wrote he would not have blocked disbursement of funds amid the virus economic fallout. The current situation is too grave, and the needs of Alaskans too great in the present emergency, for this court to stand in the way of the distribution of these federal funds to those who need them, he said. The order came a day after Pallenberg heard arguments on the injunction request. The Department of Law, in a statement, said it was pleased the ruling allows the state to move forward with helping to meet the needs of small businesses which are the cornerstone of the States economy. Joe Geldhof, an attorney for Forrer, said Pallenberg jumped the gun in weighing in on the merits when the case had not been fully briefed. Well just deal with it at the Supreme Court level, he said. The state designated $290 million of the more than $1 billion it received in federal coronavirus relief aid toward a small business program. The program was proposed by the Dunleavy administration and ratified by lawmakers and included language saying businesses that secured federal funds directly available to them under a federal relief law would not qualify. The state later sought to expand eligibility as a way to provide additional aid to businesses and allow businesses that received $5,000 or less in certain federal relief funds to become eligible for the states program, provided they meet other requirements. Forrer, who argued the ratification process itself was problematic as part of his underlying case, sought to have blocked spending that did not adhere to the express terms lawmakers ratified. Attorneys for the state said Forrer relied on a literal application of language in a program description that they said runs counter to the programs purposes and ignores the legislative history and context of the pandemic. Pallenberg said in the rapidly evolving circumstances of a public health emergency, the plan approved by lawmakers clearly was meant to be a broad-brush description of the program, leaving the details to be fleshed out later. He said Forrer had not pointed to a legislative purpose that would be served by excluding businesses that received small, prior amounts of aid. Geldhof, in court records, argued the ratification measure was at odds with constitutional provisions relating to appropriations. But Pallenberg said he could find no reason why the measure should not be deemed valid. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 Legislation ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A founder and former leader of a neo-Nazi group has pleaded guilty to conspiring to place hoax phone calls targeting an African American church, a Cabinet official, journalists and others. John C. Denton, 26, of Montgomery, Texas, faces up to five years in prison after entering a guilty plea Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria to conspiring to transmit threats. Prosecutors say Denton was leader of a group called Atomwaffen Division. More than a dozen people linked to Atomwaffen Division or an offshoot called Feuerkrieg Division have been charged with federal crimes since the groups formation in 2016. Denton and his conspirators targets in 2018 and 2019 included the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Old Dominion University in Norfolk, where one of the members of the swatting conspiracy attended college. In court, the judge noted that the U.S. Secret Service waved local police away from mobilizing to Nielsens home in Alexandria in January 2019 after a member of the conspiracy called, claiming hostages were being taken there. Denton also placed swatting calls to the New York City offices of news outlet ProPublica, and to a ProPublica reporter in Richmond, California. ProPublica articles had identified Denton as an Atomwaffen leader. Denton admitted that he used the online moniker Rape in online discussions on a forum called Graveyard to discuss possible swatting targets, and that some of the targets were chosen on the basis of racial animus. Denton told an undercover officer he used a voice changer when he made the ProPublica calls, and that it would be good if he was targeted in the swatting investigation because it would be viewed as a top-tier crime and benefit Atomwaffens reputation, prosecutors said. His lawyer declined comment after Tuesdays hearing. Swatting is a dangerous act with potentially tragic consequences, said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose office prosecuted the case. Sending law enforcement and emergency responders rushing to an individuals home, business, or place of worship, in an effort to target individuals because of their race or religious affiliation or simply to create chaos shows both criminal behaviour and a complete disregard for public safety. Another member of the swatting conspiracy, former ODU student John William Kirby Kelley, is scheduled to enter a plea next week. When Denton was arrested in February, prosecutors in Seattle also announced charges against Dentons roommate, Kaleb Cole, and others in a separate conspiracy. Prosecutors accused members of Koles conspiracy with cyberstalking and sending Swastika-laden posters to journalists and an employee of the Anti-Defamation League, telling them, You have been visited by your local Nazis, Your Actions have Consequences, and, We are Watching. Cole remains jailed awaiting trial. In a way, I can see the cunning Marxist logic of defunding the police. If your 911 call gets forwarded to a social worker for all nonviolent crises, whats not to like? The social workers will all be non-cis-gendered women with studies degrees and will all be reliable lefty voters. But why do we have police forces anyway? Naturally, when I called my Seattle City Councilman Dan Strauss last week, after he had voted to reduce the Seattle police budget by 50 percent, I left a history lesson about police on his phone. Because it just happens that I have been reading all about it in the Autumn of the Middle Ages by Johan Huizinga and The Broken Spell: A Cultural and Anthropological History of Preindustrial Europe by Pieter Spierenburg in recent months. Dutch scholars, dontcha know. Heres the deal. Back in the day, there werent any police forces. So who kept order? Simple: the patriarchs! So, you lefty freaks. If you ban the police you are just going to take us back to the days of the jolly old patriarchy. Betcha never thought of that one. Actually we all know what went down back in those days, thanks to Dead White Males. In the countryside, the nobles had their own private armies. Thats why in Dead White Male William Shakespeares Wars of the Roses plays we get the English nobles endlessly worrying about when our powers will get to the battlefield. They are talking about their own private peasant armies. But in the 16th century all the European monarchs went to work nationalizing their armies and disarming the nobles. The nobles all became courtiers and characters in Trollopes Palliser novels. And the peasants went to the wall. In another Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet, we learn what was going down in the towns. La Wik: The play, set in Verona, Italy, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. See, back in the day there were no police forces in the cities. Instead the notables -- such as the heads of the Montague clan and the Capulet clan -- each ruled their clan and kept order within the clan. Outside the clan? Well, occasionally there might be a street brawl on the clan borderlands. Heres another Dead White Male: Charles Dickens. His Oliver Twist is all about gangland London -- Bill Sikes, thug; Artful Dodger, pickpocket -- before its pacification by the Metropolitan Police. And in Lenny Bernsteins West Side Story we see the Romeo and Juliet scenario played by All-American ethnic gangs that are not yet assimilated to the middle class. Finally, a police officer: Officer Krupke, not that he was good for anything. Huizinga and Spierenburg write about the pacification and privatization of European society in the last 500 years. What they mean is the gradual replacement of clan and gang feuds and public executions with police and courts and prisons. Heres the prison story. First they imprisoned madmen; then they imprisoned the poor in workhouses (see peasants, above); then they imprisoned the criminals. Way to go, guys. Why do we have our modern pacified middle-class cities? Nobody knows, least of all lefties, but I have an idea. It is because violence and blood feuds and gangs do not pay. Hello Minneapolis? Anyone there? Notice that in the USA every immigrant wave involves a surge in gangs. The Irish had their gangs in the 19th century; the Jews had their gangs at the turn of the 20th century; the Italians had their gangs till the day before yesterday. But as each immigrant wave climbed into the middle class, their gangs disappeared. Today we have Black gangs and Hispanic gangs, because those are the ethnic groups that have not yet climbed into the middle class. And now we have Gentry kids and their fake gangs. Like Antifa. Remember Lenny and Radical Chic? The problem with police is that people want to have their cake and eat it too. In nice liberal journalist Jill Leovys Ghettoside we find that minority communities are angry that the police and justice system do not catch and convict murderers when everyone knows who dunnit, and they are also angry that the police arrest young gangbangers for minor crimes. Guess what? Its hard to prosecute gangbangers for murder because they intimidate the witnesses; its easy to prosecute murdering gangbangers minor offences because the police are the witnesses. Defund the police? Sure, but then well get more gangs. And the gangs will not be led by nice non-cis-gendered social workers, but by rough, tough clan chieftains and patriarchs, as of old. So we are back to Benjamin Franklin: Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other, and scarce in that. But I am puzzled. Regular schools charge tuition in advance, but the school of experience charges its tuition after the fact. I wonder why? Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also get his American Manifesto and his Road to the Middle Class. A prominent Egyptian journalist who had been jailed on charges of broadcasting false news died of COVID-19 on Monday, according to an international press watchdog, raising fears that the coronavirus may be spreading undetected in Egypts notoriously crowded prisons. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that Mohamed Monir, 65, contracted the disease caused by the coronavirus in pre-trial detention and was released after falling ill in custody. Even brief detentions amid the COVID-19 pandemic can mean a death sentence, the group said in a statement Monday. Diaa Rashwan, head of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate, confirmed Monirs death in a Facebook post, saying they were in touch during his final moments in the hospital. Monir died in an isolation unit at a hospital outside Cairo. Monir was arrested and taken to Cairos Tora prison complex last month after appearing on Al-Jazeera TV, a Qatari-owned channel banned by Egypts government. In 2013, following the military-led ouster of Egypt's first freely elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, authorities shut down the Al-Jazeera network, accusing the outlet of providing a platform for Egypts enemies, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood. When Monir's interview with Al-Jazeera came to light, prosecutors detained him for two weeks on charges of spreading fake news, joining a terrorist group and misusing social media, his lawyer said at the time . Political prisoners in Egypt can be held in pre-trial detention for years on these vague charges, often in what rights groups describe as unhealthy conditions without proper access to medical care. Egypt's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monir had long suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure. But following his release from detention on July 2, his condition rapidly deteriorated as he battled what he said was coronavirus. Last week Monir posted a video on Facebook that showed him struggling to breathe. I know if I go to the hospital I will never leave it, he panted. I need oxygen...somebody help me, please do anything to help me. I am very tired. Mahmoud Kamel, a board member of the journalists syndicate, said the union found Monir an intensive care bed in Cairo and helped him get treatment after he showed virus symptoms. Since rising to power in 2013, general-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has intensified a clampdown on dissent, silencing critics and jailing thousands. The Committee to Protect Journalists has ranked Egypt among the worlds worst jailers of journalists, along with Turkey and China. Rights groups have repeatedly called on el-Sissi to release thousands of political prisoners vulnerable to an outbreak of COVID-19. But Egyptian authorities have only sought to further stamp out dissent, arresting journalists and doctors who criticize the governments handling of the pandemic. Egypt's Health Ministry has recorded 82,070 infections and 3,858 fatalities-the highest death toll in the Arab world. Activist Sanaa Seif, the sister of prominent political prisoner Alaa Abdel Fattah, was among those arrested last month on charges that she had spread fake news about the spread of coronavirus in Egyptian prisons. She, her mother and another sister had been raising the alarm over Abdel Fattah's health and the lack of virus protection in prisons, as they fear the disease could be sweeping through crowded cells amid a news blackout. By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc released figures showing it took a tougher stance on climate matters in the springtime proxy season, though it drew criticism from environmentalists claiming the top asset manager failed to back up its recent emphasis on the area. BlackRock of New York said in a report on Tuesday that it voted against management at 53 companies worldwide, most of them energy companies, for 'lack of progress' on climate concerns during the 2020 proxy season, and warned another 191 companies to take faster action By Ross Kerber BOSTON (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc released figures showing it took a tougher stance on climate matters in the springtime proxy season, though it drew criticism from environmentalists claiming the top asset manager failed to back up its recent emphasis on the area. BlackRock of New York said in a report on Tuesday that it voted against management at 53 companies worldwide, most of them energy companies, for "lack of progress" on climate concerns during the 2020 proxy season, and warned another 191 companies to take faster action. A BlackRock spokesman said via email its critical voting at 53 companies compared to critical votes it cast at six companies in 2019, indicating a tougher overall approach. With some $7 trillion under management BlackRock wields much influence on Corporate America's boardrooms. Under pressure from clients and activists, BlackRock had said it would put a new focus on climate change concerns after supporting shareholder resolutions on the topic only about 10% of the time in the past. Tuesday's numbers included votes that BlackRock cast for resolutions and against directors, breaking with management recommendations, and was not directly comparable to the 10% figure. Of the 53 companies, 37 were energy companies with a market capitalization of $408 billion, BlackRock said. In its report BlackRock cited votes like those it cast against directors at ExxonMobil Corp this year, which were previously disclosed, for reasons including "Exxons failure to have clear, long-term greenhouse gas reduction targets." Ben Cushing, a representative of U.S. environmental group Sierra Club, said BlackRock should have voted critically more often rather than giving out warnings. "BlackRock took only baby steps forward by voting the right way on a fraction of the climate tests on the table, and claiming that stronger action is on the way," Cushing said via email. (Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Tom Brown) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 13, 2020 | 05:48 PM | LONE OAK The owner of a restaurant that has been a staple in Lone Oak for over 35 years is looking for someone to carry on the tradition.Tommy and Cyndi Morreau opened The Parlor in 1984 and it has been run in recent years by their son, Ryan. It has been a local favorite for many, serving homemade crackers, sandwiches, pizza and pasta, salads and ice cream, and eventually installed a pizza and salad buffet.The restaurant closed in March due to the pandemic, and had not reopened yet, which caused worry for some of their fans on Facebook. In a post on Monday, Tommy Morreau said the family has reached the difficult decision to stop running the business.He said, "Our hope is to pass that mantle to a new family, with the hope that it will bless them in the many ways it has our family."Morreau thanked everyone for the opportunity to play a small part in their lives by hosting celebrations for some, hiring others for their first job, or by being a familiar, friendly place to enjoy a meal.He said, "The challenges have been frequent, but far outweighed by the blessings. One of the most cherished has been the opportunity to be a beacon of hope through sharing our faith in the Lord we serve."Morreau asked that people share their news, so that, "the perfect family or individual to build on the legacy," can be found. On the Net: Vamika Singh The futures of hundreds of thousands of foreign students have been threatened by the Trump administrations decision to ban them from colleges which have moved their classes exclusively online. Students from nations torn apart by political, social and economic crises could be particularly affected by the sudden move that jeopardises their legal status under F-1student visas. For them, going home could mean going back to living without basic resources, under oppressive systems, and in many cases even to places where their safety cant be guaranteed. This is why news of the visa regulation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hit these students particularly hard. Ana, a Venezuelan student at the New School in New York who asked to be identified only by her first name, says her blood pressure dropped as soon as she heard she would be affected by the administrations move, as her school would be moving classes exclusively online. I had a panic attack. My world came crashing down because every year I have been fighting so hard to get my degree, to get these opportunities, said Ana. The 29-year-old is studying jazz on a nearly-full scholarship and funds the rest of her student life thanks to another scholarship from the the Latin Grammy Foundation, for which she has to compete every year. The administrations move feels particularly unjust for students like her, given the lengths they have gone through in their journeys to US universities. These students have to learn English and figure out the American university system, usually on their own and without many resources. Additionally, many struggle to find the funds to pay fees for tests such as the SATs, as well as college applications, which can cost prospective students as much as $80. Considering that many of them come from countries where minimum wage is less than $20, this alone is a hardship to overcome. You have to consider that we didnt have WI-FI in school, we didnt have high school advisers like most people do here in America. I had to teach myself these exams, said Elizabeth Apunda, a rising Junior at Kenyon college in Ohio who learned how to apply to universities on Google, and then worked to raise the money to pay for it. Story continues Even when prospective students manage to fulfil all the requirements and get into schools, they then have to get their visas approved while facing particular scrutiny because of their places of origin, often having to wait months to get a response. Moreover, because the economic situations in these countries are extremely precarious and job opportunities scarce, most students from conflict areas also need to secure their own funding. We also need to compete for scholarships or substantial financial aid after competing for admission, said Anas Almassri, from Gaza, who spent two years trying to secure the documents and funding he needed to get to Georgetowns School of Foreign Service after being admitted. Being from a conflict area also means these students have no idea where exactly they would be deported to if theyre not allowed to stay, as many of them are from places with broken relations with the US, such as Venezuela and Gaza. Palestinians from Gaza studying in the US, for example, cant simply take a flight back home. Most of them have to go through about six countries before making it there, which is why most dont visit during breaks from school, and the coronavirus pandemic only decreases their available routes. No one knows where we would even be deported to, said Abdullah, a graduate student from Gaza at Stanford university who asked to be identified only by his first name for concerns for his safety. We cant be deported directly to Gaza. Jordan would be the natural route but a lot of countries are closing their doors to flights from the US. Even if we managed to get to Jordan its unclear if we could then cross to Gaza. So its really uncertain where we would get deported to, he said. The same is true for Venezuelan students, as the socialist nation and the US do not currently have any diplomatic ties. Raul Romero and Daniel DiMartino went to high school together in Caracas, Venezuela, and now face an uncertain future as F-1 visa holders in the US. Daniel is a big supporter of president Donald Trump, even meeting him in the White House to advocate for Venezuelan democracy, a country the president has paid particular interest to during his presidency. Its unfortunate that the Trump administration is using us, international students, to blackmail universities into taking decisions they dont want, he said. We are being forced to leave only to come back again without any regard for how we can do that safely amid a pandemic or the consequences for our lives like what to do with our belongings or the unsafe conditions that await us at home. While Daniel has European citizenship and could go to Spain to join his family if his visa is stripped, Raul faces the reality of going back to Venezuela. For Raul, whose family had to raise money from their now-gone cheese shop to cover the costs his scholarship didnt, Trumps support for Venezuelans has only been verbal. We cant say he fully supports the cause if it only is a matter of bringing down the regime and not supporting the people that are here, he said. Aside from how exactly these students would get back home, a common difficulty all of them would face if deported is trying to complete their degrees online from countries with unreliable internet connections. Ana, from the New School, said it would simply be impossible to get her degree from Venezuela. Its not viable. Theres no water, people are eating once or twice a day, finding food is very difficult Someone outside of Venezuela may not understand this reality, but for someone like me to go to Venezuela and study online is simply impossible, she said. Elizabeth, from Kenyon College, also said internet connection, would be the main issue for her back home in Kenya. Theres not a lot of providers at home, even if we do theyre expensive and it would be highly inconvenient. I wouldnt be able to get through school properly at all, she said. In Gaza, where internet connection runs at 2G speed and electricity shortages are a daily occurrence, pursuing a higher degree online would be extremely difficult. Anas, from Georgetown, said he actually knows this because hes been working on a project with students there. Its a frequent problem for students from Gaza to continue with the project because they dont have high-quality internet connection, he said. For this and other reasons, the Trump administrations new student visa regulations would be effectively putting some of these studentss higher education on pause, particularly those who rely on on-campus jobs to afford tuition. My family cant afford tuition. For me it would definitely mean a leave of absence if I have to go back to Gaza, said Abdullah, who like many students from Gaza funds part of his schooling through his work at his university, which he cant do from his home country. For Nafeez Ahmed, a molecular student at Kenyon college in Ohio, the most-present concern is not being able to continue his treatment for a mental health disorder that was diagnosed once he arrived in the US. He now worries he wont be able to continue to treat it if hes deported back to Bangladesh, where mental health services are extremely limited. Then there are those foreign students who now face the prospect of how they would get their schoolwork done in a war zone. You dont want the threat of terrorism when youre trying to do your next economics assignment, said Abdulrahman, a rising junior at Lewis & Clark university from Kurdistan who asked to keep his last name private for safety reasons. Because many of these students come from places where civil liberties are limited, speaking out about the situation in their home countries in the US is a freedom they had never known before. I honestly love this country. I think it has a lot of freedoms and Ive been able to use some of these freedoms to the max. Freedom of speech was a relatively new right for me when I got here, Abdulrahman said. The fact that i can do this interview with you and criticize ICE guidelines is something that means a lot to me. I think a lot of westerns take that for granted, he added. Anas had a similar experience when he arrived in the US from Gaza, where he says he couldnt fully express himself and didnt have academic freedom to think and debate. He said hes spoken out about this during his time abroad, which could risk his safety back in Gaza. All of these common things that we think of as common civil liberties and academic rights are things that I have learned to appreciate in my time abroad, he added. For Venezuelan students who have engaged in activism in the US, going back home also represents a threat. Its certainly putting me at risk, said Raul, who has been an active voice against the Nicolas Maduro regime since arriving in the US. It could cost me jail. Im certainly at risk as is anyone whos vocal against the regime. Read more USCIS could stop running by end of summer Gaza Venezuela Trump appointee to cut visas for 10 journalists Donald Trump Donald Trump drives golf cart with caddie hanging off the back Trump confirms he ordered cyberattack on Russian trolls Trump condemns private Texas border wall built by his supporters Trump suggested selling Puerto Rico in hurricane response: official TEL AVIV, Israel and BETHESDA, Maryland, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQB: CNBX), a leader in personalized cannabinoid medicine focused on cancer and its side effects, announced today that it has initiated activities to penetrate European markets in order to offer a test based on its diagnostic platform to patients who suffer from cancer and are treated with cannabinoids, where regulations permit it. Cannabics Pharmaceuticals HTS Facility In Israel In light of the growing number of European countries that have regulations in place for the medicinal uses of cannabis, combined with the growing number of cancer patients in the continent, the company decided to strategically focus its efforts on making its HTS diagnostic platform available in these territories. Regulation in Europe requires clinical trials to be conducted in order to establish the validity of the company's technology. It is the company's intention to conduct further clinical trials to accomplish this milestone. The company's diagnostic platform utilizes its High Throughput Screening (HTS) facility, located in Israel. It is designed for cancer patients who seek the optimal cannabinoid composition. In this test, cancer cells, in the form of a biopsy, are derived from a patient, and are then screened against dozens of cannabinoid compositions, which stem from what is available in the patients' respective territory. Once exposed to the cannabinoid compositions, the cancer cells are monitored for apoptotic and necrotic effects. The results are then reported back to the patients and their practitioners, assisting them with making cannabinoid-based therapy decisions for optimal outcomes. According to a report issued by the World Health Organization in May 2019, there are approx. 58,000 new cases of colorectal cancer that are diagnosed each year in Germany alone. Therefore, and based on previously held pre-clinical trials at the company's facility, exhibiting cannabinoids demonstrating positive differential necrotic effects on colon cancer cells, the company is expanding its efforts in order to penetrate the European markets, with a focus on patients diagnosed with cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Mr. Itamar Borochov, Cannabics' Co-Founder and Chairman, said: "We are pleased to announce our intentions to penetrate the European markets, in such countries and territories where regulation permits the use of medical cannabis. Our aim is to bring forth valuable insights in order to further personalize cannabinoid-based therapy for cancer patients. European markets, such as the German market, present a unique opportunity with more and more countries opening to medicinal use of cannabis products containing THC alongside CBD and other cannabinoids. Our intention is to provide personalized, detailed reports to help cancer patients and their practitioners choose wisely from the plethora of medical cannabis products that are available in the European cannabis markets." About Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCQB: CNBX) is a U.S public company that is developing a platform that leverages novel drug-screening tools to create cannabinoid-based therapies for cancer that are more precise to a patient's profile. By developing tools to assess effectiveness on a personalized basis, Cannabics is helping to move cannabinoids into the future of cancer therapy. The Company's R&D is based in Israel, where it is licensed by the Ministry of Health to conduct scientific and clinical research on cannabinoid formulations and cancer. For more information, please visit www.cannabics.com. For the latest updates on Cannabics Pharmaceuticals follow the Company on Twitter @Cannabics, Facebook @CannabicsPharmaceuticals, LinkedIn, and on Instagram @Cannabics_Pharmaceuticals. Disclaimer: Certain statements contained in this release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other U.S. Federal securities laws. Such statements include but are not limited to statements identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "intends," "plans," "targets," "projects" and similar expressions. The statements in this release are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our Company's management and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those outlined in the forward-looking statements. Numerous factors could cause or contribute to such differences, including, but not limited to, results of clinical trials and other studies, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives, the effect of any competitive products, our ability to license and protect our intellectual property, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, changes in government policy and regulation, potential litigation by or against us, any governmental review of our products or practices, as well as other risks discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, our latest 10-Q Report filed April 13th, 2020. We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement or any information contained in this press release or other public disclosures at any time. Finally, the investing public is reminded that the only announcements or information about Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc., which are condoned by the Company, must emanate from the Company itself and bear our name as its source. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1214257/Cannabics_Pharmaceuticals.jpg For more information about Cannabics: Noam Permont, VP of PR & IR Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. Phone: +1(877)424-2429 [email protected] [email protected] http://www.Cannabics.com SOURCE Cannabics Pharmaceuticals Inc. Related Links http://www.Cannabics.com UAB Ignitis Grupe, (hereinafter Ignitis Grupe or the Company) identification code 301844044, registered office placed at Zveju str. 14, Vilnius, Republic of Lithuania. The total nominal value of issued bonds 900 000 000 EUR; ISIN codes XS1646530565; XS1853999313; XS2177349912. The company informs that on 14 July 2020 Ignitis Grupe concluded a loan agreement of EUR 30 million (hereinafter - the Loan) with UAB Ignitis renewables. The Loan is short-term, issued using the Company's working capital. It is planned that the Loan is to be refinanced by a long-term loan later. The term of loan repayment is 31 December 2020. The loan will provide financing for the development of wind farm projects of UAB Ignitis renewables. For more information please contact: Arturas Ketlerius Head of Public Relations at Ignitis Group arturas.ketlerius@ignitis.lt +370 620 76076 Stephanie Keith/Getty The federal prosecutor whom Attorney General Bill Barr ousted in June told House investigators that he was alarmed at the way Barr attempted to replace him, saying that the irregular and unexplained actions by the Attorney General raised serious concerns for me, according to a transcript of the closed-door interview released by the House Judiciary Committee on Monday. Geoffrey Berman, formerly the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was brought in for a closed-door session of the Judiciary Committee on July 9 to talk about the events surrounding Barrs public announcement on June 19 that Berman had stepped down from his post, even though the U.S. attorney made clear to Barr multiple times that he was not stepping down. The late-night announcement by Barr immediately sparked confusion and raised questions about his involvement in a crucial prosecutors office. The next day, Berman said he would leave the job when Barr agreed to let his deputy take over as acting U.S. attorney, as opposed to Craig Carpenito, the U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey, whom Barr wanted to install in the position until the Trump administrations pick, Securities and Exchange Commission chief Jay Clayton, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Berman, who at SDNY handled sensitive investigations into Trumpworld figures such as Rudy Giuliani, did not comment specifically to the Judiciary Committee on what he believed Barrs motivations to be, and he studiously avoided any questions about how specific SDNY probes might have factored into the situation. But Berman made clear that the attorney generals preferred plan would have slowed and complicated the work of the office, and he raised several questions challenging Barrs handling of the process. Trump Thought Hed Picked His Perfect U.S. Attorney in Geoffrey Berman. He Was Very Wrong. Why did the attorney general say that I was stepping down when he knew I had neither resigned nor been fired? Berman asked rhetorically, in response to questions from Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY). Why did the attorney general not tell me the actual reason he was asking me to resign instead of saying that it was to get Clayton into the position? And why did he announce the appointment of Craig Carpenito as acting U.S. attorney when Audrey Strauss was the logical and normal successor? Story continues Replacing me with someone from outside the district would have resulted in the disruption and delay of the important investigations that were being conducted, Berman said later. I was not going to permit that. And I would rather be fired than have that done. At numerous points, Berman expressed his dismay at Barrs wish to install Carpenitowho would have retained his previous job in New Jerseyin the job instead of Bermans top deputy, Strauss, a move he said violated 70 years of precedent at SDNY. According to his opening statement that was obtained by The Daily Beast last Thursday, Berman said that during a private meeting in New York that Barr called to open the discussion, the attorney general praised his performance as U.S. attorney but said the Trump administration wanted Clayton to take the SDNY post. Berman said Barr tried to lure him away by dangling other offersto head the Department of Justices civil rights division and, later, the SECbut Berman declined. Barr told him that if he did not resign, he would be fired. I believe the attorney general was trying to entice me to resign so that an outsider could be put into the acting U.S. attorney position at the Southern District of New York, which would have resulted in the delay and disruption of ongoing investigations, Berman told the Judiciary Committee. At one point in the interview, GOP committee attorney Steve Castor asked if Barr had laid out to Berman a set of actions that would have allowed him to keep his jobif there was any quid pro quo for you getting to keep your job. Berman said no, and he confirmed that Barr did not mention any specific SDNY investigationsCastor raised Jeffrey Epstein and Guiliani-related probesin pressuring him to leave. But Berman did say Barrs offering of other positions could have been construed as a quid pro quo. You know, he wanted me to resign to take a position. I assume you could call that a quid pro quo. You resign and you get this, that would mean quid pro quo, said Berman. Asked to clarify those comments later, he said it wasnt his term but reiterated that it could be seen as a quid pro quo, his offering me a job in exchange for my resignation. Berman is a rare U.S. attorney in that he was not confirmed by the Senate but was appointed by the judges of SDNY to hold the position in April 2018. Berman insisted that, as he was a court-appointed prosecutor, neither Barr nor President Trump had the authority to fire him before the Senate confirmed a successor, but some past legal precedent has indicated the president can fire a court-appointed U.S. attorney. Trump has said he had nothing to do with Bermans ouster. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. As the US ratchets up the pressure globally to ban Chinese vendors in 5G how will this affect operators? The dispute is centred on US allegations about the security implications of using Chinese sourced equipment in 5G networks. The most recent US move blocks companies worldwide from using US made equipment and software to design or manufacture chips for Chinese vendors. The British government in particular is under intense pressure to rip-out and replace Chinese sourced 5G network equipment in view of its membership of the Five-Eyes security sharing alliance that in addition to the UK and USA also includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Unsurprisingly, major UK network operators including BT, Vodafone and 3 are opposed to this, as indeed are a majority of operators throughout the rest of the world, including some in the USA. Will Townsend, Senior Analyst for Carriers and Enterprise Networking at Moor Insights & Strategy believes that the US restriction on the 5G supply chain could harm the interests of operators as it has the potential to reduce competition: The impact of US restrictions on the 5G supply chain reduces the number of infrastructure competitors mainly by that in Huawei and narrows the available choices for operators. This might result in higher CapEx for some carriers and service providers and force them to charge higher subscriber prices beyond prevailing market value for new 5G services as they amortize the cost of the infrastructure. Furthermore, most industry analysts agree that Huawei has a lead in 5G technology over its main competitors, a view also shared by many operators. BT in the UK for example have stated that it will take 10 years to replace all Huawei equipment in its network and that forcing it to do this sooner could result in service blackouts. It also flies in the face of market economics to suggest that less competition leads to stable or lower prices. This runs counter to the core principals of US free-market capitalism and should raise serious questions about Donald Trumps real motives for the ban. These appear to have as much if not more to do with the USAs response to wider geopolitical issues relating to China and the pursuit of Trumps protectionist America First policy, and to be driven wholly by domestic US political considerations. In other words, this looks simply like a trade dispute. It is hard to avoid the feeling that telecommunications is being influenced by geopolitics. The key question is how will this harm operators? According to Townsend: the United States contends that Chinese cellular infrastructure poses a threat to its national security based on security vulnerabilities. The details have not surfaced based on the aforementioned sensitivity, but Huawei in particular has attempted to provide transparency in opening cyber-security centres in China and Europe and inviting third party inspection of its hardware and software development efforts. It is also worth mentioning that Huawei contributes to the open source community through various Linux Foundation networking projects and has also published and made available SDKs (software development kits). Excluding the Chinese equipment vendors from the market will inevitably stifle innovation. The production, research, development, improvement and supply cycle requires sales to fund the research and development (R&D) that results in continuing improvement. Many of the most significant developments in recent years have come from China. It is well known that Huawei alone has invested more in telecoms R&D than the combined spending of other leading vendors. The results of this show in the companys ownership of a number of the most important patents relating to 5G, including those in areas such as network slicing and microwave and it is widely acknowledged as the company with the broadest portfolio of 5G expertise. Huawei is also a major contributor to the 3GPP standards organisation which benefits the entire global telecom industry. These improvements have benefited operators worldwide and led to better products and services for business and private customers worldwide. Preventing the participation of Chinese companies in the market inhibits their R&D, which ultimately limits the benefits to customers. The last forty years - through 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G - have seen costs driven down and product quality, functionality and availability driven up. This is the result of competition, just as competition has delivered mobile networks to almost every part of the world including many places that were thought to be too remote and poor to ever benefit from network coverage. Monopolies dont innovate as much as free markets do and duopolies can become too cosy with little incentive to innovate. Cutting the Chinese out of 5G will effectively result in a duopoly. Given this background, and the strong preferences of most operators to retain Chinese sourced equipment in their networks, it is incumbent upon those seeking to ban Chinese vendors to provide the evidence to support their position. Security experts are comfortable with Chinese equipment and the operators are happy with it. Many politicians in many countries who have examined the detail are confident that any potential threat can be mitigated too. How will this affect operators? Operators are in little doubt about how they feel. They like the competition for the lower prices and the higher quality that competition encourages, but above all they like the better service that it brings. However, it is becoming clear in this dispute that what operators want is not what matters. For better or worse geopolitical issues look like they will be the key determining factors. The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck out two suits by Lagos and Ekiti State governments, challenging the legality of virtual court sittings. A seven-member panel of the apex court, led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, struck out the suits after they were withdrawn by the plaintiffs. The first suit with number: SC/CV/260/2020 was filed by the Attorney General of Lagos State, Moyosore Onigbanjo. The suit has the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General of the Federation and the National Assembly as the first and second defendants respectively. The Lagos State government in the suit had urged the apex court to determine whether having regard to Section 36(1), (3) and (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) use of technology by remote hearings of any kind, whether, by Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, Skype or any other audiovisual or video-conference platform by the Lagos State High Court or any other Courts in Nigeria in aid of hearing and determination of cases are constitutional. But at the resumed hearing of the matter on Tuesday, Mr Onigbanjo withdrew the suit, having taken a hint from the apex court that the suit was speculative and preemptive. Following its withdrawal, the apex court, in a unanimous decision, struck it out. The court also struck out a similar suit marked, SC/CV/261/2020 filed by the Attorney General of Ekiti state, Olawale Fapohunda, against the AGF, shortly after the suit was withdrawn. In the suit, Mr Fapohunda asked the court to determine whether the directive issued by the AGF to the Heads of Courts at Federal and State levels, as it relates to the conduct of virtual proceedings in court, is not a violation of the federalism provisions of the 1999 Constitution. He also asked the apex court to determine if the directive issued in line with the National Judicial Council is not a violation of the constitutional provisions on fair hearing as it relates to the conduct of criminal trials in public. Furthermore, the senior lawyer asked the court to set aside or strike down directives to the extent that they purport to be binding on the Ekiti State High Court for being inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Apart from the Attorney General of the Federation, the Attorneys General of Lagos and Ogun States who have implemented virtual court proceedings were also listed as second and third defendants. The Ekiti State government further asked that the apex court determines whether the AGFs guidelines are not a derogation from the legislative, executive and judicial law-making, law execution and adjudicatory rules making powers exclusively vested in states of the federation in respect of states courts, by virtue of Sections 1(3), 4(6), 5(2), 6(2), 272 and 272 and 274 of the Constitution. The plaintiff also asked the apex court to decide whether Lagos and Ogun states, having adopted virtual court hearings pursuant to the lockdown, the three arms of Government in Ekiti State are bound to conduct their legislative, executive and judicial functions pertaining to adjudication in state courts in compliance with the directive upon which the National Judicial Council formulated the provisions of Articles E(1) to E(13) of its Guidelines (issued on May 7, 2020). But Justice Rhodes-Vivour in his ruling held that As of today virtual sitting is not unconstitutional. This suit is speculative and having been withdrawn, it is struck out, he said. The issue of the constitutionality of virtual court hearing has trailed controversy since the National Judicial Council(NJC) on May 7, released guidelines for court proceedings to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Many lawyers have had divergent views as regards to the legality of the directive. A number of High Courts including those in Lagos, Ogun, and Borno states, have proceeded to implement the guidelines while many states have been adamant in their opposition to the directive, insisting that only a constitutional amendment or pronouncement by the Supreme Court can ensure the legality of virtual court sittings. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:26:43|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DAMASCUS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Three Russian soldiers were wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb ripped through a joint Russian-Turkish patrol in northern Syria, a war monitor reported. The "highly explosive device" was detonated when the patrol was near the Msaibin area on the Latakia-Aleppo highway, also known as the M4, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. After the explosion, Russian warplanes carried out airstrikes on rebels' positions in the Jabal al-Akrad area in the countryside of Latakia province in northwestern Syria, said the Britain-based watchdog group. The Syrian government forces also shelled the same area from the ground with no information yet on casualties. Russian and Turkish forces started carrying out joint patrols on the M4 road near rebel-held areas in March as part of a cease-fire agreement both sides brokered to defuse the tension in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. The rebels who are in control of the areas near the M4 road have repeatedly attempted to cut off the road, expressing rejection of the Russian patrols in that area. Enditem Contrary to social media commentaries to the effect that the Accra Sky Train Project has hit the rocks, the Ministry of Railways Development, Ghana, and the South African counterparts say they remain fully committed to the project. The Ministry of Railways Development has also given the assurance that the project will commence real soon and cited the coronavirus for the delay of the project. https://www.operanewsapp.com/gh/en/share/detail?news_id=b43d43bdd510016b8889832844503b41&news_entry_id=s4527cc7c200713en_gh&open_type=tanscoded&request_id=news_e5554aef-9379-43e8-9a4a-0727da173c8c&from=news The ministry said the coronavirus pandemic has posed a stumbling block on the commencement of the Sky Train Project. The agreement for the Accra Sky Train Project was signed in November 2019. Per the agreement, the investors, who are South Africans, were supposed to visit Ghana to conduct the final feasibility study based on which both parties will get the necessary approvals for the project to start. The required approvals are to be obtained from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Parliament of Ghana, Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Roads and Highways, and any other Local Government areas the train will pass through. But due to the outbreak of the coronavirus and subsequent border closures in South Africa and Ghana, the investors have not been able to visit Ghana at the time they had planned to do so to undertake the final feasibility study. Also, contrary to media reports, neither the Minister of Railways, Joe Ghartey, nor the Ministry of Railways Development, has said that the project would be completed by August 2020. During the signing ceremony as part of the African Investment Forums Invest in Africas Space event in Johannesburg, South Africa, Mr Ghartey clearly admitted that there were lots of work to be done before the Sky Train Project can become a reality. What we have signed today is a concession agreement but we still have some work to do. We will work hard and work together. We think it is achievable, we must make it work, Mr Ghartey had said at the signing ceremony. http://www.mrd.gov.gh/4/16/105/accra-sky-train-investment-project-receives-big-boost-with-signing-of-concession-agreement The Minister in recent weeks, had expressed worry about the delay of the project caused by coronavirus. He has pointed out his strong desire to have the South Africans visit Ghana and have the final feasibility study conducted to get work started on the project. He continues to pray for the pandemic to be brought under control to allow borders to reopen so that the South African Investors can visit Ghana. The Ministry has therefore appealed to the general public to disregard reports suggesting that the project is a fiasco. It assured that the South Africans will visit Ghana once borders are reopened so that they can complete the final feasibility study before the necessary approvals from PPA, Parliament, AMA, Ministry of Roads and Highways, and the Environmental Protection Agency can be obtained. An MoU was signed in November 2018, which aided the South Africans to undertake a preliminary work on the project. Based on the preliminary work, the Concession agreement was signed in November 2019. The Concession agreement was to enable the investors to do more work to bring up the engineering design and the exact cost of the project, among others. Based on the report from the feasibility study, the Railways Minister would go to parliament to seek approval for the project. Also, an environmental impact assessment of the project is expected to be carried out to determine the issue of compensation payment. The investors and the Ministry are considering undertaking a post-Covid-19 assessment of the project. The signing of the concession agreement was between the Government of Ghana and AiSky Train Consortium of South Africa. About Sky Trains Sky train systems are pre-fabricated using precision moulded, pre stressed reinforced concrete components that are capable of being installed at a very rapid rate, meaning that there is minimal disruption and congestion in the urban area that is undergoing installation and commissioning. The proposed sky train initiative in Accra provides for the development of five (5) routes, four (4) of which are comprised of radial routes that originate at the proposed sky train terminal, at the heart of Accra, at a newly developed Kwame Nkrumah circle, and one (1) route that provides and intra-city commuter loop distribution service, also emanating from Circle. The project envisages a total track length across all routes of 194 kilometres. The SkyTrain is to be financed by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF), an independent fund set up by the government, and the Africa Investment SkyTrain Consortium of private companies, African ExportImport Bank, also referred to as Afreximbank. It will also have the support of the African Development Bank, a regional multilateral development finance institution. President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina, it would be recalled, while demonstrating the Banks strongest commitment to the project, observed at the signing ceremony that African Development Bank will continue to work with all other partners in the Consortium to make the Project a reality. He said What you are witnessing today is very significant in another sense, this is Africa to Africa investment. This is an investment of $2.3 billion made up of a consortium of South African investors that are investing in another African country. The government is hopeful that when the project is undertaken, it will help to decongest traffic in Accra. ---Daily Guide Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 : M. Sivasankar, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's secretary and IT secretary who was removed, here on Tuesday, presented himself before the top Customs and Central Excise officials. A three-member Customs officials team had gone to Sivasankar's house in the afternoon to serve a notice upon him. Sivasankar, present at the house, said he was ready to appear before the officials during the day itself. Swapna Suresh, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, here, is among the four booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in the diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5. Sivasankar, a senior IAS officer, ran into trouble after his alleged links with Swapna surfaced. She was on the run after the arrest of her friend and former colleague P.S. Sarith by the Customs. Later, it was revealed that Swapna and Sivasankar were close and had attended several Kerala government events. According to Swapna's call records, which are in possession of the media, she was in touch with Sivasankar and Kerala Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel. Reacting to this, Jaleel said he always believed she was secretary at the UAE Consulate General and the calls made was never in untimely hours. "I received a message from the UAE Counsel General on May 27 to discuss handing over of Ramadan kits. He said Swapna would get in touch for further discussion. "Now that the NIA is probing the case, my doors are open for them. If any staff member of mine had any contact with her, it's their responsibility. I am not responsible for that," said Jaleel. The NIA arrested Swapna and Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on Saturday for alleged role in the Kerala gold smuggling case. On Sunday, the NIA brought them by road on a transit remand and presented them at an NIA court in Kochi, which remanded them to the custody. The NIA had taken over the case on Friday and filed a FIR against the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Building a Network of MPAs in the Yellow Sea July 14,2020 | Source: YSLME Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) calls for protecting 10% of the coastal and marine areas by 2020. In the Yellow Sea region, PR China and RO Korea have committed to achieve this Aichi Target and management effectiveness of MPAs by aligning the expansion with the principles of biophysical connectivity in line with the YSLME Strategic Action Programme (SAP). Since the early 1990s, MPA establishment in the Yellow Sea region has steadily increased. By 2018, 93 MPAs and aquatic germplasm resource conservation zones (AGRCZs) in PR China and RO Korea (22,049 km2) have been designated to protect marine mammals, birds, fishes, mollusks, plants and algae in the Yellow Sea area. This covers 5.5% of the 40,000 km2 of the YSLME. Establishing well-designed and operational MPA networks does not happen instantly. In support of this objective, the UNDP/GEF YSLME Phase II Project developed a training kit entitled designing a network of MPAs for the YS based on principles of biophysical connectivity. The project also conducted several follow-up events to roll out the networking process, such as: (1) the MPA connectivity training in RO Korea in July 2018, (2) the YSLME MPA Networking Workshop in China in January 2020, (3) the Webinar Workshop for Management Plan for Spotted Seals in May 2020, and (4) identifying conservation gaps in areas in line with the principle of biophysical connectivity. The National Marine Environment Monitoring Center of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of PR China (NMEMC) identified six sites (Rudong Coast, Luannan Coast, Yingkou Coast, Zhuanghe Coast in PR China, Sindo Island in DPR Korea, and Saemangeum Coast in RO Korea) as spatial gaps on the conservation of endangered waterbirds and their habitats, while one site (Bak-ryoung Island) as a spatial gap on conservation of Spotted Seals and their habitats. The study by Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (YSFRI/MARA) proposed to expand the existing 25 AGRCZs based on assessment of conservation gaps of spawning sites, feeding and wintering grounds and migration routes of anchovy, small yellow croaker, mackerel and Spanish mackerel. Today, the UNDP/GEF YSLME Phase II Project is proud to launch an information video entitled, Developing a Network of Marine Protected Areas of the Yellow Sea. The video features key developments in the region and perspectives from the stakeholders and site managers in relation to enhancing effectiveness of MPA management through regional networking. 2018 by UNDP/GEF YSLME Phase II Project Management Office Theme(s): Others. As many as 480 Indian medical students, who were stranded in Russia due to the Coronavirus-induced restrictions, arrived in Mumbai by a private chartered flight on Monday. The students included 470 from Maharashtra, four from the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, four from Madhya Pradesh and two from Goa. According to Nikesh Ranjan of Delhi-based online ticketing company that arranged the flight, each student contributed 400 dollars, around `30,000, for the journey. There are nearly 3,000 Indian students stranded in Russia and they all will be back by this month-end. Aaditya Thackeray, who is a cabinet minister and holds charge of the protocol department, helped in coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the state government and the Indian embassy for the return of these students. There were nearly 800 students from the state in Russia and everyone could not return by flights arranged by the government under the Vande Bharat Mission. Some of the students in Russia heard about our evacuation of students from Ukraine and contacted me. I also emailed Aaditya Thackeray and tweeted about the chartered flight and he cooperated, Mr Ranjan said. A flight is scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru on Monday, another one is scheduled for Delhi on July 15, and one will land in Chennai on July 18. A student who returned to Mumbai from Russia said that they tried to return by Vande Bharat flight but it didnt work out. They later contacted Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant who advised them to tweet Aaditya Thackeray for help. According to the student Mr Thackeray immediately responded to their tweet and helped them out. Another student said that it was a difficult three months period for them and all their attempts to get a flight back home failed but with Mr Thackerays help they finally reached India. Cant embrace friends and family these days? Hug a tree instead. That is the message Israel's Nature and Parks Authority is spreading on social media to try to help people overcome the sense of detachment that coronavirus social-distancing rules can bring. Tree-hugger Barbara Grant was quoted as saying, "The most basic human need is for connection, for touching, for hugging", lamenting that, as a health precaution, she cant hug her grandchildren. "In this unpleasant corona period we recommend to people around the world to go out to nature, take a deep breath, hug a tree, express your love and get love," Orit Steinfeld, the authority's marketing director, said in Apollonia National Park. After flattening a coronavirus infection curve in May, Israel has experienced a spike in new cases over the past several weeks. Protective masks are mandatory outdoors and Israelis are advised to avoid close physical contact with elderly relatives, with visits at nursing homes held only in the open air. Israels tree-hugging campaign follows a similar endeavour launched in April by Icelands forestry service. All photographs: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters It's no secret that members of the royal family have a ton of rules they must abide by. However, the long list of guidelines consists of more than just a dress code and saying no to selfies. In fact, one unofficial rule in particular deals with preserving the line of succession. Royal protocol is that two direct heirs, such as Prince Charles and Prince William, in line for the throne are not allowed to travel by plane together. Technically, this is an older rule, that dates back to the days when air travel wasnt as safe. It was put in place to ensure that the lineage would not be thrown into disarray in the case of an accident. If you didnt know, Prince William is second in line to the throne, while Prince George is third in line, Princess Charlotte fourth and Prince Louis fifth. Therefore, it would usually be frowned upon for four heirs to the throne to travel on the same aircraft, according to Cosmo. However, in recent years, Her Majesty has decided to be more lax with the rule (especially with the Cambridge gang), given that air travel is a lot safer than it used to be. For example, when embarking on a tour of Australia and New Zealand back in 2014, Prince William and Kate Middleton brought 9-month-old George along for the first time. The BBC reports a royal spokesperson at the time negated that the rule was still in effect and said of the matter "While there is no official rule on this, and royal heirs have traveled together in the past, it is something that the Queen has the final say on." The whole fam has since traveled to Canada, Germany and Poland together. Whether the rule is still on the books or not, we're still pretty sure there are plenty of other ways the royal family will make headlines by breaking protocol. RELATED: 21 of the Most Ridiculously Strict Rules the Royal Family Must Follow MIAMI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- INSTIRE Inc. is a Miami based company operating a mobile app "INSTIRE" that disrupts the recruitment industry. INSTIRE, "the app for instant hiring", instantly connects, employers who have urgent or future staffing needs with candidates who are available for immediate interviewing, willing to work right away or according to their availability. INSTIRE APP Screenshots This new marketplace allows real time interactions between recruiters and candidates for any planned or unplanned hiring needs. INSTIRE is essentially dedicated to the employment of millennials to help them find - with their criteria of area, schedule and type of employment - their first job, side job, internship, or micro-internship. INSTIRE offers innovative, effective, and user friendly features: 1 minute sign-up Video-resumes Instant map visualization of jobs/candidates in the area Instant interviewing over the phone Hiring confirmation with a simple tap Mutual rating tool (employers and candidates rate one another) All-in-one staffing tool: Job posting, interviews, hiring, HR management In the global crisis we are currently facing, INSTIRE is meant to be at the forefront of the recruitment scene! For businesses who are stressfully re-organizing their operations, INSTIRE is the tool to facilitate and shorten the hiring process, providing direct access to a large, local, and energetic labor force eager to work. To help out the community with the current situation, the service will be FREE until the end of this year 2020. -> INSTIRE INC. is currently fundraising (seeking $1.5M seed round) to sustain its growth. (Direct contact with the company executives: [email protected]) Web: www.instire.com Email: [email protected] Download on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1147262321 Get it on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.instire.appinstire&hl=en_US Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/instire.inc/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instire.app/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/instire_inc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/instire General information: Press information: [email protected] Stephane Michelot (Co-founder-CEO) INSTIRE INC. [email protected] 2665 S Bayshore Dr, Suite 430, Miami, FL 33133 M (786) 212-3059 SOURCE INSTIRE Inc. Related Links http://www.instire.com Geneva: Ebola is spreading in western Democratic Republic of Congo, with nearly 50 known cases across a large region bordering the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. Since authorities announced the outbreak on June 1, 48 cases have been confirmed in Congo`s Equateur province, with a further three probable cases and a total of 20 deaths, WHO`s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan said. "This is still a very active outbreak, and I would say it is still a great concern," Ryan told a news briefing. The province includes part of the River Congo, he said, adding that it was a large geographical area where communities were linked and people travelled long distances. "I would caution everyone that while the numbers in this event are low, again in the era of COVID it is very important that we do not take our eyes off these other emerging diseases and we saw in North Kivu and other previous outbreaks of Ebola that these can get out of control very easily," he said. Ryan was referring to a separate outbreak of Ebola in Ituri and North Kivu provinces of eastern Congo that was declared over last month. That epidemic, the second largest on record, saw 3,463 confirmed and probable cases and 2,277 deaths over two years. It seems that the onging political crisis in Rajasthan is unlikely to end soon as Congress sources claimed on Tuesday (July 14) that Deputy CM Sachin Pilot is unwilling to accept anything less than the chief minister's post. Sources added that Pilot put forward his demand during his conversation with some senior leaders of the Congress. Pilot reportedly told the senior Congress leaders that he would not accept the Deputy CM or Rajasthan Congress president post. Pilot expressed his displeasure once again on Tuesday by skipping the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in Jaipur. This is the second CLP meeting in two days to discuss the political stalemate which has arisen due to the face-off between Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and Pilot. CLP has passed a resolution to take action against Pilot and other MLAs who have remained absent from the meeting. Sources said that Pilot was asked by Congress high command to attend the CLP meet in order to resolve the issues. Sources claimed that the Congress high command is likely to take strict action against Pilot and may sack him from the party for revolting against the party. Pilot is likely to be removed as Rajasthan Pradesh Congress chief too. Pilot loyalist MLAs, who did not attend the last two CLP meetings, are also expected to face action and it is likely that they would be suspended from the party. Notably, Pilot and 16 other MLAs who are considered close to him had skipped the first CLP meeting on Monday too. Earlier on Tuesday, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande on Tuesday (July 14) said that the party has decided to give a second chance to Pilot by asking him to attend Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday. The political crisis in Rajasthan started on Sunday (July 12) after Pilot raised the banner of revolt against CM Gehlot and sent a message to the party that he may quit the party with this loyalist MLAs. Pilot claimed in some interviews that he has the support of over 30 MLAs. ANI quoted sources as saying several senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Ahmed Patel, P. Chidambaram and KC Venugopal have talked to Pilot several times in order to defuse the crisis. Pilot is currently in Delhi-NCR with his loyalist MLAs and some reports claimed that he may join BJP like Jyotiraditya Scindia, but so far it has been denied by him and sources close to him. Gehlot government has the support of 123 MLAs, including 107 Congress MLAs, 2 MLAs of Bharatiya Tribal Party, one RLD MLA, and 13 Independents, but of these 123 MLAs, he is now left with only 101 MLAs. Out of the 22 rebel MLAs, Sachin Pilot has claimed the support of 19 Congress MLAs and 3 Independents. In Rajasthan's total 200 assembly seats, 101 MLAs are needed to save the government, but two MLAs of the Indian Tribal Party have also pulled out of the Gehlot government, which currently has the support of merely 99 legislators. But what is more worrying for Ashok Gehlot is that among the remaining 99 MLAs, several are claimed to be of Sachin Pilot's camp. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection this morning at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He is pictured above in an undated mugshot released in December 2019 The US government has executed the first federal inmate in almost two decades just hours after the Supreme Court cleared the way overnight with a 5-4 vote. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection this morning at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Lee, a self-confessed white supremacist, was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. 'I didn't do it,' Lee said just moments before he was executed at 8.07am EDT. 'I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I'm not a murderer... You're killing an innocent man.' His execution, which came over the objection of the victims' family, was carried out after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward. The decision to move forward with the execution - the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 - has drawn scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee's victims, who had sued to try to halt it. Critics have argued that the Trump administration, which has been pushing for the executions, was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain. Two other federal inmates are also scheduled to be executed later this week and a third next month. Lee, a self-confessed white supremacist, was convicted in Arkansas of the 1996 killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife Nancy, (pictured above) and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. He carried out the killings with his co-defendant Chevie Kehoe who received a life sentence Prosecutors said Lee and Kehoe incapacitated the Muellers and questioned eight-year-old Sarah (pictured) about where they could find money and ammunition. Then, they used stun guns on the victims, sealed trash bags with duct tape on their heads to suffocate them, taped rocks to their bodies and dumped them in a nearby bayou '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 developments are likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections. Lee's execution was scheduled for Monday afternoon but was put on hold just hours earlier by a US District Court judge over concerns from death row inmates on how executions were to be carried out. An appeals court upheld the decision, but the high court overturned it. That delay came after an appeals court on Sunday overturned a hold that had been put in place last week after the victims' relatives argued they would be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend the execution. Lee's execution was then set to happen at 4am EDT, but a last-minute legal question was raised by his lawyers. The Justice Department said in a statement it filed a request with the court to straighten it out but went through with the execution. A US Marshal lifted a black telephone inside the execution room - a small square room inside the prison with green tiles and windows looking at the witness rooms - and asked if there was anything to impede the execution. He said there was not and the execution could proceed. Lee had a pulse oximeter on a finger of his left hand and his arms were in black restraints. The IV tubes were coming through a metal panel in the wall. He breathed heavily before the drug was injected and moved his legs and feet. As the drug was being administered, he raised his head to look around. In a few moments, his chest was no longer moving. Lee was in the execution chamber with two men who the Bureau of Prisons would only identify as 'senior BOP officials,' a US Marshal and his spiritual adviser, who a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson described as an 'Appalachian pagan minister'. They did not wear masks and Lee was also not wearing a mask. The decision to move forward with the execution at thefederal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana - the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 - has drawn scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lee's victims, who had sued to try to halt it Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection this morning at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. He is pictured above waiting for his arraignment in Arkansas in October 1997 Attorney General William Barr has 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 in 1996 strongly opposed that idea and long argued that Lee deserved a sentence of life in prison. They wanted to be present to counter any contention that the execution was being done on their behalf but argued they would be put at high risk for COVID-19 if they attended. 'For us it is a matter of being there and saying, 'This is not being done in our name; we do not want this',' relative Monica Veillette said. The relatives noted that Lee's co-defendant and the reputed ringleader, Chevie Kehoe, received a life sentence. Kehoe, of Colville, Washington, recruited Lee in 1995 to join his white supremacist orgaization, known as the Aryan Peoples' Republic. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in Tilly, Arkansas, about 75 miles northwest of Little Rock. Lee and Kehoe dressed in police raid clothing and lay in wait for Mueller in his home the night of the murders, according to court documents. When the Muellers returned home, Lee and Kehoe overpowered and incapacitated Mueller and his wife. They then interrogated the couple's young daughter, Sarah, about where they could find cash, guns, and munitions. Protesters gathered outside the prison this morning ahead of Lee's execution. The decision to move forward with the execution - the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 - drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lees victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic Critics argued that the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain. Protesters are gathered outside Terre Haute Protesters gathered outside the prison ahead of Lee's execution. It went off after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward The home invaders found and took roughly $50,000 in cash, guns and ammunition. After robbing and torturing the victims with a stun gun, prosecutors said Lee covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks, and threw the family of three into the Illinois Bayou. The bodies of the three victims were found five months after they went missing. On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death. Lee has remained on death row since his conviction. Kehoe was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and is imprisoned in Florence High Penitentiary in Fremont County, Colorado. Two other federal executions are scheduled for later this week but one is already on hold in a separate legal claim. There have been two state executions in the US since the pandemic forced shutdowns nationwide in mid-March - one in Texas and one in Missouri, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama carried out one in early March. 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. Though there hadn't been a federal execution since 2003, the Justice Department has continued to approve death penalty prosecutions and federal courts have sentenced defendants to death. Guards man a roadbloack at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute where Lee was executed Guards stand outside Terre Haute ahead of Lee's execution. Two other federal executions are scheduled for later this week, though one is on hold in a separate legal claim Lee's execution is just one of three to take place this week. Inmates (left to right) Wesley Ira Purkey, 68 and Dustin Lee Honken, 52, are set to die in the coming days and Keith Dwayne Nelson, 45, will be executed in August by order of US Attorney General William Barr In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, President Barack Obama directed the Justice Department 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. He approved a new procedure for lethal injections that replaces the three-drug combination previously used in federal executions with one drug, pentobarbital. This is similar to the procedure used in several states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas, but not all. Numbers of state executions have fallen steadily since the last federal execution, according to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. States put to death 59 people in 2004 and 22 in 2019, nine of which were in Texas. Victims' relatives most vocal opponents of Lee's execution Family members of the three people slain in Arkansas by Lee and his co-accused have been among the most vocal opponents to the federal government's plan to execute him. Lee was first on the list of prisoners to be killed as the Trump administration tries to bring back federal executions this week after an almost two-decade hiatus. But relatives of William Mueller, his wife Nancy, and daughter Sarah, say that's not what they want. They have pleaded for years that Lee should receive the same life sentence as the ringleader in a deadly scheme that aimed to establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to the execution, the family members said their grief was compounded by the push to execute Lee in the middle of a pandemic. 'As a supporter of President Trump, I pray that he will hear my message: the scheduled execution of Danny Lee for the murder of my daughter and granddaughter is not what I want and would bring my family more pain,' Earlene Peterson, Nancy's mother and Sarah's grandmother, said in a statement last month. Family members had argued that the government was forcing them to put their lives at risk if they traveled during the coronavirus pandemic to witness Lee's execution. Peterson; her granddaughter Monica Veillette; and Kimma Gurel, Nancy Mueller's sister and Sarah's aunt, had asked a judge for a delay, which a judge initially granted. That decision was overturned as lawyers for the federal government, Lee and others fought in court in the days leading up to the execution. Peterson, 81, lives in Arkansas, while Veillette and Gurel live in Washington state. None traveled to Indiana on Tuesday for the execution. '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 prior to the execution. She said other relatives wanted to witness the execution to counter the government's argument 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',' she said. Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. IT HAS been 480 days and counting that the Chuck E Cheese franchise in Trinidad has remained closed as children under 12 are still not allowed in safe zones. In October, the Government drafted a safe zone policy that does not allow children under 12 to enter restaurants and other places of leisure. Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday ruled out the suspension, at this point, of IAS officer and his former Secretary M. Sivasankar who presented himself before top Customs officials earlier in the day for questioning over his links with gold scam accused Swapna Suresh. Responding to questions from the media on the issue, he said: "There are rules and procedures to be followed for it. Let us now wait for the ongoing events and we have also appointed a two member committee headed by the Chief Secretary after reports have come that he (Sivasankar) was in touch with the controversial woman (Swapna Suresh) on phone. At the moment, there are no grounds to suspend him." A three-member team of Customs officials had gone to Sivasankar's house in the afternoon to serve notice upon him. Sivasankar, present at the house, said he was ready to appear before the officials during the day itself. Swapna, a former employee of the UAE Consulate, here, is among the four booked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for allegedly facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5. Sivasankar ran into trouble after his alleged links with Swapna surfaced. She was on the run after the arrest of her friend and former colleague P.S. Sarith by the Customs. Later, it was revealed that Swapna and Sivasankar were close and had attended several Kerala government events. According to Swapna's call records, which are in possession of the media, she was in touch with Sivasankar and state Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel. In his response, Jaleel said he always believed she was a secretary at the UAE Consulate General and the calls made were never in untimely hours. "I received a message from the UAE Consul General on May 27 to discuss handing over of Ramadan kits. He said Swapna would get in touch for further discussions. "Now that the NIA is probing the case, my doors are open for them. If any staff member of mine had any contact with her, it's their responsibility. I am not responsible for that," he said. The NIA, which had taken over the case on Friday and filed a FIR against the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, arrested Swapna and Nair from Bengaluru on Saturday for alleged role in the Kerala gold smuggling case. It brought them back to the state on a transit remand and presented them at an NIA court in Kochi, which sent them to the agency's custody. PITTSBURGH, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- "We were frustrated with the damage associated with wiper blades freezing to the windshield," said one of two inventors, from Stirling, Ontario, Canada. "We thought there could be a simple accessory to prevent this from happening, so we invented the WIPER ICE GUARD." The patent-pending invention prevents windshield wipers from freezing to the glass while parked outside in the winter. In doing so, it eliminates the need to dislodge frozen wipers with a handheld ice scraper. As a result, it saves time and effort and it could help to prevent damage. The invention features a lightweight and user-friendly design that is easy to apply and use so it is ideal for vehicle owners. Additionally, it is producible in design variations and a prototype is available. The inventors described the invention design. "Our design enables vehicle owners to protect their wiper blades from freezing during the winter." The original design was submitted to the Toronto sales office of InventHelp. It is currently available for licensing or sale to manufacturers or marketers. For more information, write Dept. 19-TRO-258, InventHelp, 217 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or call (412) 288-1300 ext. 1368. Learn more about InventHelp's Invention Submission Services at http://www.InventHelp.com. SOURCE InventHelp Related Links http://www.inventhelp.com TROY Direct references to law enforcement were dropped out of a Democratic-sponsored resolution that calls for the Republican-controlled Rensselaer County Legislature to support the Black Lives Matter movement and racial justice for people of color. The resolution was inspired in part by the Troy Rally for Black Lives that drew an estimated 11,000 people to downtown on June 7. The resolution was rewritten after three of the six Democratic county legislators withdrew their names from sponsoring the measure and city police expressed concerns that the resolution didnt reflect the interactions between local law enforcement and the minority community. This is an evolution because the Black Lives Matter movement has brought to the attention of everyone the problems we have in society, Minority Leader Peter Grimm, D-Troy, said. The rewritten resolution changed a phrase originally written as continuing structural and systemic racism that is evident in law enforcement and the justice system and replaced it with continuing structural and systemic racism that plague our communities. Also removed was a phrase that stated the County Legislature is outraged by these injustices in law enforcement that unfairly target Black people and all people of color, which was replaced with the County Legislature cannot ignore these injustices that have unfairly targeted Black people and other people of color. Grimm said the Democratic caucus members can act independently and the decision by County Legislators Carole Weaver, Bill Barnes and Erin Sullivan-Teta is respected. In a world filled with divisiveness, I dont believe driving a wedge further between the community and law enforcement is the answer, Weaver said. The Black Lives Matter rally in Troy is one example of how the police and the community can make change and work peacefully together if we just talk to each other. Grimm talked with Officer Nick Laviano, president of the Troy Police Benevolent Association, the union representing the citys detectives, officers and sergeants, and Chief Brian Owens. He said he understood their concerns about the original resolution. Their intentions were not to belittle the efforts of the members of the Troy Police department, Laviano said. Weve voiced our displeasure with the section that puts all law enforcement in a negative light and the legislators understand and have apologized. I look forward to working with them on future police reform, Laviano said. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Law enforcement leaders in the county are holding a press conference Tuesday to express their problems with the resolution. Im disappointed with the resolution. The law enforcement agencies of the county will make their position known, Sheriff Patrick Russo said. Dan Phiffer, whos a member of an ad hoc group of Rensselaer County residents, said theyll be outside the entrance to the County Legislature chambers Tuesday to hold a vigil to support passage of the resolution. Phiffer said the Black Lives Matter activists in Troy should have been consulted about the resolution. This is just the first step in a long process, Phiffer said. County Legislature Chairman Michael Stammel, R-Rensselaer, could not be reached for comment Monday. The County Legislature meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday. FP Trending Scientists have always been trying to find out more about various planets in our solar system. They have been successful to an extent in the case of Mars. Now, NASA is planning to bring out details about Venus geology through its proposed new mission, called VERITAS. "VERITASs objectives are to reveal Venus' geologic history, determine how active it is, and search for the fingerprints of past and present water. The overarching question is 'How Earthlike is Venus?'," said NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a statement. Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography & Spectroscopy (VERITAS) is one of NASAs four proposed missions to study secrets of the solar system. According to EarthSky, the surface of Venus is covered by a thick and dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide. The temperature at the planets surface never goes down below 500 degrees Celsius. The pressure on the surface of Venus is similar to that deep in the oceans on Earth. Its clouds contain sulfuric acid. However, the temperature and pressure become much milder higher up in the atmosphere. The US space agency is expected to launch the mission in 2026, reported Forbes. VERITAS would orbit the planet and peer through the obscuring clouds with a powerful radar system to create 3-D global maps of Venus. It would use a near-infrared spectrometer to see what the surface is made of. The mission would also measure Venus gravitational field to determine the structure of the planets interior. It would be the first mission to study the surface of Venus after NASAs Magellan spacecraft. (Natural News) The latest weapon that the Chinese government is wielding to assert its claim over Taiwan is none other than Facebook. Leaked documents show that Beijing is using the social media platform to spread propaganda and fan pro-unification sentiments. To this day, Beijing maintains its claim over Taiwan, seeing the island as part of its territory and hoping to one ray reunite it with the mainland. Over the years, various indirect attempts to influence Taiwanese voters to elect pro-Beijing political candidates have been identified. For the most part, tying these directly to Beijing has been difficult that is, until now. Documents obtained from the Beijing city government by the Epoch Times confirm the Chinese governments direct involvement in creating and spreading pro-unification propaganda on Facebook. Leaked document reports on propaganda efforts on Facebook Dating from early June, the documents are reports to be presented to higher-ups to show off various accomplishments in regards to Beijings propaganda efforts in Taiwan. They provide evidence that Beijing is using various proxy Facebook pages to promote its claim of sovereignty as well as the idea of a military invasion of Taiwan. The documents show that, from May 25 to June 8, at least 74 posts across four pages were shared on Facebook. These posts were designed to deflate the insolent air of the pro-independence Taiwan groups and draw a contrast to the outbreak handling between China, U.S., and Taiwan, thereby to demonstrate the advantages of our system. Beijing has been using the term pro-independence to frame individuals and acts that demonstrate pride or solidarity for the Taiwanese identity, including just waiving the Taiwanese flag. Most of the pages have obscure names and modest followings, ranging from just a few hundred to over 8,000 followers. However, the report noted that five of the best performing videos from one page received more than 30,000 likes, comments, shares and clicks during the two week period. The top video, which was watched 1.02 million times and drew more than 137,000 reactions over 13 days, demonstrated a hypothetical military invasion of Taiwan. It claims that the Chinese military is invincible and that Taiwan needs to unify with the mainland. This, and other videos, were reported to have made a significant impact and drawn widespread attention from overseas netizens in another document. However, this report, written by Hu Guangqu, an editor and reporter for the state-affiliated news site Huaxia Jingwei, conceded that most Taiwanese feel that the U.S. would come to Taiwans aid should an invasion happen. He also noted that this sentiment was shared by the majority of Taiwans youths who have an extremely low sense of identification with the motherland. Increased propaganda efforts in response to Taiwans success in fighting COVID-19 While Beijings propaganda campaign against Taiwan has been going on for quite some time now, the ongoing pandemic has put them in a new light. Taiwan has largely been successful in fighting off the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19). This is despite the island nation being locked out of the conversation as the Chinese government continues to oppose any moves to make the island nation a member of the World Health Organization (WHO). This distance from the WHO and Chinese perceived influence over the health body seems to have worked in Taiwans favor, however. Early on in the pandemic, the country already started working with the assumption that COVID-19 was spread through human-to-human transmission something that took the WHO awhile to admit, possibly hurting the countries aligned with the health body. To date, Taiwan only has 451 cases and seven deaths from the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Taiwans success in dealing with the pandemic undermines Beijings efforts to convince the Taiwanese people that they would be better off reunified with the mainland. It tells the Taiwanese people that they can handle problems on their own, without the mainlands help. With this in mind, it shouldnt come as a surprise if the Chinese government doubles down on its propaganda efforts to undermine Taiwan. Sources include: TheEpochTimes.com 1 TheEpochTimes.com 2 Coronavirus.JHU.edu Efforts to secure a renewal of the nitrates derogation from 2021 could see many more dairy farmers forced to apply for the measure. Discussions have taken place in recent weeks over the future of the derogation, with industry sources suggesting that Ireland is in for a tough fight to convince Brussels that the measure should be retained. This comes just weeks after the Green Party pulled back from its demand in Government formation talks for the derogation to be removed. One industry source told the Farming Independent that having staved off the threat to the derogation from the Green Party, the sector now faces an uphill challenge to get it renewed at EU level. "We are hearing from the Commission that a renewal is not guaranteed, full stop, unless there is a good plan of action in place," he said. "The Commission is focused particularly on water quality and will only give a derogation if improvements occur." A significant tightening of the requirements farmers under the derogation is likely, while it is also expected that many more dairy farmers will be forced to apply for the measure. It is understood that there will be additional requirements, including a recalculation of the N load of a cow possibly from 85kg to 89kg, and also in terms of slurry storage, spreading, and the need to prove exports where farmers operate above 170kg without the derogation. Denis Drennan of the ICMSA said it is important to recognise that progress has been and is being made by farmers in relation to water quality - with the ASSAP programme being a clear example of farmers' willingness to play their part. Drennan said any changes to the derogation will have to be practical and sensible and take account of the economic sustainability of farmers. "While water quality is a concern we will not accept a situation where all the blame is placed on farmers with over-the-top requirements for derogation farmers," he said. "Additional measures have been taken over the last year and an appropriate time should be given to determine their effectiveness . "Also, the new REPS scheme needs to play a role in the context of farming under a derogation." Empire star Bryshere Gray has been arrested after an alleged domestic dispute with his wife. ETonline.com reports police in Arizona responded to a 911 call from an adult female, who said she had been assaulted by her husband, whom she identified as Gray. She was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a nearby hospital and later released. SWAT and crisis negotiation teams were reportedly called out to assist when Gray refused to respond to officers requests to come outside. Gray, who played Hakeem Lyon on Empire, was later booked on a domestic violence charge of aggravated assault, as well as two additional charges for assault and disorderly conduct. Goodyear Police Department later shared his mugshot on its social media accounts. In February, fellow cast mate Jussie Smollett, pleaded not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a hate crime. Investor focus has landed squarely on the surge in new COVID-19 cases and its threat to economic reopenings, but theres another possibility being ignored. According to Morgan Stanley equity strategist Mike Wilson, even though the market is expecting economic activity to decline, earnings could get a major boost. Cautious investors may be overlooking the potential for operating leverage to fuel an earnings rebound... Aggressive cost-cutting in a downturn is what creates the powerful operating leverage when the economy recovers, Wilson commented. While unemployment has skyrocketed during the coronavirus crisis, Wilson argues operating leverage was already dropping before the pandemics onset. Its also a classic feature of late-cycle economic expansions. My point is that many companies were already exhibiting negative operating leverage pre-COVID-19. This gives me confidence that Q2 will likely be the trough for earnings growth, he explained. Bearing this in mind, some investors are on the hunt, looking to snap up compelling names before shares re-embark on an upward trajectory. For the more risk-tolerant, focus has locked in on penny stocks, or tickers trading for less than $5 per share. The appeal is clear; the bargain price tag means you can get more bang for your buck and even what feels like inconsequential share price appreciation can result in huge percentage gains. Whats the flip side? Minor share price depreciation can fuel major percentage losses. By nature of these massive movements, penny stocks are notoriously volatile. Using TipRanks database, we identified three penny stocks the pros believe could see explosive gains in the coming months. Not to mention each one gets a Strong Buy consensus rating from the analyst community. Dare Bioscience, Inc. (DARE) Focused on identifying and advancing cutting-edge therapies, Dare Biosciences products could provide women with additional choices, improved outcomes as well as options that are easier to use. Its strong pipeline and $1.00 share price have scored it substantial praise from the pros on Wall Street. Story continues One of these DARE bulls is Aegis Capitals Nathan Weinstein. Citing its DARE-BV1 asset as a key component of his bullish thesis, the analyst tells investors that DARE had kicked off its pivotal trial for the candidate in patients with bacterial vaginosis (BV) earlier than he previously expected. Speaking to the therapys potential, DARE-BV1 is a bio-adhesive formulation of clindamycin phosphate 2% that, in a previous proof-of-concept study, generated an 86% clinical cure rate of BV. The trial, "DARE-BVFREE", is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pivotal Phase 3, and will enroll 240 patients across multiple sites in the U.S., with the primary endpoint being clinical cure (resolution of signs and symptoms). Weinstein points out that the therapy has already been given both Fast Track and QIDP designations. Topline data is anticipated to be released this year, and, if the study is successful, we expect an NDA application to be filed in 2021, the analyst added. On top of this, DAREs pipeline features two other promising lead assets including Ovaprene, a monthly non-hormonal contraceptive, and Sildenafil Cream, designed for the treatment of female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD). Commenting on the pipeline, Weinstein stated, We think the diversified, women's health-focused pipeline is undervalued relative to what we view as the upside potential, given: (1) the company's proven ability to strike sizable partnership deals, (2) the uniqueness of the assets that address what we view as unmet needs in the market, (3) the appeal of having multiple shots on goal, and (4) the possibility that FSAD proves to be a larger TAM than is currently appreciated. If that wasnt enough, the company is also developing a user-controlled long-acting reversible contraceptive device called DARE-LARC1, with the product already receiving funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. To this end, Weinstein rates DARE shares a Buy along with a $5 price target. This figure conveys his confidence in DAREs ability to soar 403% in the coming year. (To watch Weinsteins track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts are on the same page. With 5 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that DARE is a Strong Buy. Given its $4.50 average price target, upside of 350% could be in store for investors. (See DARE stock analysis on TipRanks) Alphatec Holdings (ATEC) When it comes to Alphatec Holdings, it has undergone a transformation thanks to its new management team, with it now operating as an innovative procedural-driven spine company. Based on this revamp and its $4.45 share price, major returns could be on the horizon, according to Northland Capitals Jason Wittes. Wittes tells clients the restructuring that has taken place over the last two years, which included the sale of its international business and a shift away from lower end distributors that were associated with lower profit and controversial Physician Owned Distributors (PODs), has enabled it to build strong R&D and sales teams as well as attract Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). Combined with a highly differentiated product portfolio, we think Alphatec is now positioned for significant growth, he commented. Looking at its product portfolio, the company has given it a major face-lift during this transformational period. Wittes points out that 12 products were unveiled in 2019 alone, with each being designed around specific spinal fusion approaches. SafeOP, the Companys novel nerve monitoring platform is unique in its ability to monitor nerve health in real time, not just position, for improving safety and reproducibilityespecially with minimally invasive lateral procedures, where there is no direct visualization of the nerves, the analyst added. The good news doesnt end there. ATEC plans to launch its Prone Transposes (PTP) lateral procedure at the North American Spinal Society (NASS) annual meeting in November. Reflecting a new approach to lateral fusions, PTP involves placing the patient in a prone position (stomach) versus on their side. Calling PTP a game changer for lateral and ATEC," Wittes noted, This approach increases the natural lordotic curvature of the spine for better alignment and cage placement, but also saves time by eliminating the need for patient repositioning when following up with decompression and/ or posterior fixation after the cage is placed (at least 45 minutes of OR time). This is a significant improvement over traditional lateral approaches, including NUVAs recently launched X360, which attempts to save time by keeping the patient on their side. Everything that ATEC has going for it prompted Wittes to rate the stock an Outperform (i.e. Buy) along with a $9 price target. This target implies shares could climb 100% higher in the next twelve months. (To watch Wittes track record, click here) Do other analysts agree with Wittes? They do. Only Buy ratings, 4, in fact, have been issued in the last three months, so the consensus rating is a Strong Buy. At $8.38, the average price target indicates shares could appreciate by 85% in the year ahead. (See Alphatec stock analysis on TipRanks) Axovant Gene Therapies (AXGT) With its innovative gene therapies, Axovant wants to transform the way in which neurodegenerative diseases are treated. Trading for $3.14 per share, several members of the Street believe that its price tag and technology platform make it a must-watch name. Part of the excitement surrounding AXGT is related to its lead asset, AXO-LENTI-PD. The company recently revealed that the enrollment of the higher-dose cohort of its Phase 2 SUNRISE-PD trial for the candidate in Parkinson's disease has been completed, with the data readout slated for Q4 2020. Speaking to the likelihood of success, the results from the lower-dose cohort were impressive, to say the least. Among AXGTs fans is Cantor analyst Kristen Kluska. Highlighting that there arent many players using gene therapy to target Parkinson's disease, she argues that its use of a lentiviral vector also sets it apart. Thanks to the large payload capacity, this vector could potentially include three genes that encode enzymes needed for the endogenous dopamine synthesis (TH, CH1 and AADC). Expounding on this, Kluska stated, As it relates to durability, we think there is evidence from ProSavin, where follow-up data has been published up to eight years for some patients (as a reminder ProSavin is considered part of a single development program with AXO-LENTI-PD, as the company has discussed with the agency) While early (and in small patient numbers), Axovant has established greater improvements from the highest dose of ProSavin in AXO-LENTI-PD. As a result, the readout in Q4 could serve as a major catalyst for shares. More than 2 million people suffer from the disease in the U.S. and the EU, and thus, Kluska thinks the candidate has blockbuster potential. We think that this program remains the largest market opportunity for a gene therapy product that is unpartnered... Even with other competing gene therapies, given the market size we believe there is room for many players, the analyst explained. To this end, Kluska rates AXGT an Overweight (i.e. Buy) along with an $11 price target, which implies nearly 250% upside potential from current levles. (To watch Kluskas track record, click here) Most other analysts also take a bullish approach. AXGTs Strong Buy consensus rating breaks down into 6 Buys and a lone Hold. Additionally, the $13.67 average price target, which is more aggressive than Kluskas, puts the upside potential at a whopping 375%. (See Axovant stock-price forecast on TipRanks) To find good ideas for penny stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. By Trend Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova appealed to Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Turkic-speaking countries (TURKPA) Altynbek Mamayusupov, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko, the Azerbaijani parliament told Trend on July 14. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery and tried to capture Azerbaijan's positions. "In response to Armenias attempts, the Azerbaijani side took urgent and adequate measures and as a result, further advance of the Armenian armed forces was prevented, the appeal reads. Having additionally militarized the border areas between the two countries, the Armenian side purposefully and systematically targets the civilian population." Armenias such an irresponsible military policy is caused by Armenia's ntention to involve the military-political organizations, in which it is a member, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as to avoid responsibility for the aggressive policy which is carried out against Azerbaijan, the appeal reads. In her appeals, Gafarova emphasizes that the UN Security Councils resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. However, the latest provocative acts committed by the Armenian side on the border again show that Yerevan is categorically not interested in the peaceful settlement of the conflict. "Another important point is that Armenia committed these provocative actions during the period when the entire international community is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the message said. Consequently, the continued violation of the ceasefire by Armenia shows that the support for the global call for ceasefire in connection with COVID-19 of the UN secretary general is mere hypocrisy, the message said. Therefore, as MPs, we ask the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to ensure the process of sending a letter addressed by the speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament to all member-states. At the same time, we urge the organizations members to condemn Armenias aggressive actions, the ongoing policy of aggression against Azerbaijan and this recent provocation in the border region, the appeal reads. Gafarova said that the Armenian leadership is fully responsible for the consequences of the attacks on the positions of the Azerbaijani State Border Service along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and the losses. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. CBSE 10th board result 2020 DECLARED | The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has declared Class 10 results on official websites cbseresults.nic.in and results.nic.in today (Wednesday, 15 July). CBSE 10th board result 2020 DECLARED | The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has declared Class 10 results on official websites cbseresults.nic.in and results.nic.in today (Wednesday, 15 July). Almost 18 lakh students await the Class 10 results. However, heavy traffic can cause official websites to become unresponsive. Students can check their scores using IVRS and mobile applications like UMANG and DigiLocker. Follow LIVE Updates on CBSE 10th Result 2020 Here some of the alternative websites to check your score: The education board had told the Supreme Court that both Class 10 and 12 results will be announced by 15 July. Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' tweeted that the results will be announced on Wednesday. My dear Children, Parents, and Teachers, the results of class X CBSE board examinations will be announced tomorrow. I wish all the students best of luck.#StayCalm #StaySafe@cbseindia29 Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 14, 2020 As per previous the previous schedule, exams for CBSE Class 10 were to be conducted from 15 February till 20 March. However, exams from 19 March onwards were postponed owing to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The remaining papers were then scheduled to be held from 1 to 15 July. However, these exams were cancelled as coronavirus cases continued to rise. Check result using DigiLocker CBSE will provide digital academic documents like marksheets, migration certificate and pass certificate through Parinam Manjusha, which is integrated with the DigiLocker mobile application. The DigiLocker account credentials will be sent to students via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE. Check result using UMANG app The mobile application is available on both Android and iOS. Students can access their scores by clicking on the marksheet tab and then entering their roll number and date of birth. How to check Class 10 result through CBSE website: Step 1: Login to official website cbseresults.nic.in or cbse.nic.in Step 2: Click on the link for result 2020. Step 3: Enter your roll number and date of birth. Step 4: The result will be displayed on the screen. Step 5: Download the result and take a print out. A: We believe the Iranians are not only posing a threat to Israel but to the entire community of the world. In October we have the issue of the arm embargo, whether it will be extended or not. We encourage all countries to support the position of the U.S. and not allow Iran to continue and increase the involvement in supplying arms to different groups in the Middle East. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: Potential for further investment by German firms in Turkmenistan could lie in the diversification of the Turkmen economy and in modernization projects, a representative of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany told Trend. Furthermore, the German side may also invest in Turkmen sectors dealing with climate change, environment and water management, the representative added. "There are about 50 German companies active in Turkmenistan," said the representative. In addition, the countries implement bilateral exchange and cooperation programs in the economy. "One of them is Manager Training Program which was initiated by German Ministries of Finance and Economy jointly with the intergovernmental working group on Economy and Trade that met in late January in Ashgabat shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak," noted the representative. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 related travel restrictions affected the business cooperation between Turkmenistan and Germany. "The COVID-related travel restrictions have reduced exchanges and visits between Germany and Turkmenistan and decreased business activities, as was the case worldwide," the representative said. To date, there are no registered cases of coronavirus infection in Turkmenistan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva Mercedes is reportedly well on the way to signing up its current drivers for 2021. There had been speculation that Mercedes junior George Russell or even Sebastian Vettel were in the running for a seat with the German works team. But Damiler CEO Ola Kallenius said in Austria: "We're staying with our two boys." Widespread reports this week claim that Valtteri Bottas' deal - another one-year contract - will be the first to be signed. And six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton's will probably follow "in the next few weeks", Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told DPA news agency. "There simply has not been enough time," Wolff added. The Finnish newspaper Ilta Sanomat also quotes the Austrian as saying: "I am asked about contracts every week. "This year, I do not intend to comment on the unfinished negotiations, but they are ongoing. I don't know when they will be done," Wolff added. (GMM) Islamabad, July 14 : A threat of a ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights in the airspace of Oman looms large as the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) assured them that credentials of all pilots had been scrutinised to ensure flight safety, a media report said. While expressing concern over the recent safety issue with the PIA, the Omani Civil Aviation Authority warned Pakistan that the national flag carrier could be barred from using its airspace, the Dawn news report said on Tuesday citing informed sources. The sources added that the Omani authorities also asked Islamabad to explain what curative measures had been taken to ensure safety of flights. The Pakistan CAA explained to the Omani Civil Aviation Authority that credentials of all pilots, who were allowed to fly, had been scrutinised before they had been declared fit to fly, they said. The Omani authorities were further informed that the scrutiny of pilots was initiated by the Pakistani authorities on the directive of the Supreme Court of Pakistan a couple of years ago, the sources explained. Amid the aviation crisis, seven other countries where Pakistani pilots had been employed with different airlines had asked Islamabad to verify their credentials. The issue of 'dubious' licences drew world attention after Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan revealed in the National Assembly that there were 860 active pilots in the country and 260 pilots had not sat their exams themselves and almost 30 per cent of the pilots had fake or improper licence and did not have flying experience, Dawn news reported. Local drugmakers are coping with serious supply chain disruptions due to the pandemic Hau Giang Pharmaceutical JSC (DHG), the biggest publicly-traded drugmaker in Vietnam, reported a fall in revenues and profits in the first six months of 2020. Total revenue dropped 3.5 per cent on-year and fulfilled 43.5 per cent of the annual target. In spite of this, DHGs total pharmaceutical gross output during the period hit VND2.46 trillion ($106.9 million), up 3.4 per cent on-year and meeting 52.6 per cent of the whole-year target. DHG now boasts Taisho Pharmaceutical Holdings, one of the five biggest pharmaceuticals in Japan, as a major foreign shareholder, with a take of 50.78 per cent. Some pharma players have announced their 2020 first-half performance results, while others are still to be revealed. On July 2, Traphaco JSC, the countrys second-largest publicly-traded drugmaker, held a meeting to review the six-month performance and set targets for the second half, amid the serious impacts of COVID-19. Traphaco is among the few pharmaceutical firms that gained during the January-June span. It made consolidated revenues of VND850 billion ($36.95 million), up 7 per cent on-year, while profits rose 17 per cent on-year to VND85.4 billion ($3.7 million). Industry insiders attributed the fruitful result to the fact that Traphaco holds 11.53 per cent of the oriental medicine segment, with 76 per cent of its self-production. Meanwhile, major western medicines like Methorphan and other eye drops such as Quimoxi, Oxflaxacin, and Tobramycin continue to bring about good results and positive prospects, driven by increasing demands for respiratory and eye disease drugs in the country. On a similar path, Imexpharm Pharmaceutical JSC (IMP), Vietnams fourth-biggest pharmaceutical firm, is said to have obtained good business performance during the first half thanks to its sufficient reserves of ingredients and sound business strategies. In contrast, many drugmakers still suffered losses in the period. Vietnam Pharmaceutical Corporation (Vinapharm) even envisions a 10.5 per cent decrease in its pre-tax profits for 2020. According to FPT Securities, domestic pharmaceutical businesses giants like DHG, Traphaco, IMP, and Domesco Medical Import-Export JSC face some risks in operations which might cause challenges for them to fulfil their 2020 targets. Traphaco aims to make consolidated revenue of VND2 trillion ($86.95 million) and consolidated after-tax profit of VND180 billion ($7.8 million) this year, up 16 and 9 per cent on-year, respectively. Meanwhile, DHG aims to increase its pre-tax profit by a percentage point. IMP even set 25 and 28 per cent on-year rises in net revenue and pre-tax profit, respectively. However, Traphaco is facing some investment risks in its operation in terms of management costs, ingredient imports, and liquidity. Specifically, the company is facing a rise in labour costs and selling expenses after opening an additional eight distribution branches in the past two years, which have not brought about good results. In addition, the drugmakers reliance on ingredient imports has impacted on its control of quality and the price of pharmaceutical substances. The main ingredients of its key western products like Methorphan, Quimoxi, Tobramycin, and Moxifloxacin, which make up 7.8 per cent of total net revenue, comes from China and India only. Worse still, Traphaco has low liquidity and a concentrated shareholder structure in which 75 per cent of stakes are owned by three major stakeholders: State Capital Investment Corporation, Magbi Fund Ltd., and Super Delta Pte., Ltd. At present, Traphaco is upgrading its Hung Yen western factory to EU-GMP standards to increase its possibility of joining tenders of high-end generic drugs in the ethical drugs channel under Circular No.15/2019/TT-BYT dated July 2019 regulating drug tenders at public hospitals. The upgrading process requires an extra cost of an estimated VND225 billion ($9.78 million) and is expected to be completed in 2022. Meanwhile, DHG is hitting hard rocks partly due to over-dependence on antibiotics amid the governments stricter control over their sales in the over-the-counter market. For the time being, this channel is seeing stiffening competition among domestic businesses in terms of prices and product segments. DHGs concerns are increasing in policy risks as its PIC/S Malaysia factory has fewer competitive advantages in tenders of high-end Group II categories of pain and fever drugs under the new circular. On the other hand, DHGs reliance on 90-per-cent ingredient imports is causing a big problem due to price fluctuation. Up till now, the biggest player has yet to find a solution. Like Traphaco and DHG, Domesco the third-biggest publicly-traded drugmaker is among the hardest-hit from the supply chain break. If the pandemic continues to develop, Domesco and others will see the shortfall becoming more serious, forcing them to find other supply sources outside China and India, thus resulting in a possible reduction in profit margins. Meanwhile, IMP is facing risk of acquisition. At present, Vinapharm is the biggest shareholder of IMP with 22.8 per cent, while the total stakeholding of IMP leadership is just 3.1 per cent, resulting in an insufficient veto vote of at least 36 per cent, thus increasing the chances of being acquired. Currently, IMPs foreign ownership limit is set at 49 per cent, with Balestrand Ltd., KWE Beteiligungen AG, and other overseas investment funds and financial firms holding a total of 48.4 per cent. This firm has yet to attain a strategic foreign partner. By PTI JAIPUR: Amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, some of the MLAs belonging to the Sachin Pilot camp demanded a floor test in the state assembly to know the number of legislators backing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The Ashok Gehlot camp has been saying that they enjoyed the support of 109 MLAs, a claim contested by the Pilot loyalists. In the run-up to the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday, Pilot loyalist Ramesh Meena said, "A floor test should be conducted in the assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs." Meena is among the MLAs who skipped the Congress Legislature Party meetings on Monday and Tuesday. He, along with Sachin Pilot and Vishvendra Singh, was removed from the state cabinet later in the day. The Congress has also sacked Pilot from the post of the party's state unit chief. Senior party leader and Sardarshahr MLA Bhanwarlal Sharma too claimed that the figure of 109 being projected in the support of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is incorrect. The MLA said he will not join the BJP but wants a change in the leadership. "The figure of 109 figure being project is completely fake. Congress has 107 MLAs. We are 22 together and six more will join us. Not more than 81 MLAs are on the other side, otherwise, what was the need to show the strength before the media and camp the legislators in a hotel," Sharma said. He said the situation will become clear once the floor test is conducted. ALSO READ: Rajasthan NSUI president Abhimanyu Poonia resigns in support of Sachin Pilot The seven-time MLA also 'blamed' Congress general secretary Avinash Pande for the mess, accusing him of being 'one-sided'. He said the government is not in a position to save itself. Another Congress MLA, Deependra Singh Shekhawat, too had raised the same demanded on Monday. "We want a floor test at the earliest, which will make the situation crystal clear. We are with the Congress and Congress (state) president Sachin Pilot," Singh had told reporters on Monday. Congress MLA Murari Lal Meena, who is close to Sachin Pilot, alleged that Chief Minister Gehlot neglected party leaders and workers who worked hard for five years. #SachinPilot removed from the post of Deputy CM and Rajasthan PCC chief. Here's all you need to know about #RajasthanPoliticalCrisis.@asnaniraajesh @gsvasu_TNIE #Sachin_pilot https://t.co/F7zSg1Li55 The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) July 14, 2020 In a tweet, he said, "Improvement is necessary to save the Congress. Otherwise, the party will get only 11 seats in 2023 (assembly elections)," Murari Lal Meena said. Meanwhile, Ramesh Meena along with Vishvendra Singh and party MLA Deepender Singh Shekhawat, issued a statement, saying they were taking a stand at a time when their leader was threatened with notices from the SOG under charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy. "We have for years worked with dedication, devotion and service towards the party. And we are taking a stand to protect our dignity and self-respect," they said. Haryana: Rajasthan Congress MLAs Inder Raj Gurjar, PR Meena, GR Khatana, and Harish Meena among others, at a hotel in Manesar. (Video released from Sachin Pilot's office of MLAs supporting him) pic.twitter.com/IHToT5tkiR ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2020 The statement further said, "This is unprecedented in the Indian democracy and the Congress Party, for whom we have toiled with sweat and blood. "Under the leadership of Sachin Pilot, we have made every effort in the past six years to strengthen the party and bring it to power in Rajasthan at a time when it had been reduced to an insignificant number in the state assembly." Public humiliation of Sachin Pilot is something that is totally unacceptable and those responsible for meeting out this treatment need to be made accountable, it said. The MLAs said they want that their self-respect be restored as they are not clamouring for any post or position, contrary to reports in the media. We have been senior members of the Congress for many years and have held many positions within the party and the government and are not lured by inducements, they said in the statement. Federal aid, including the expansion of unemployment benefits, has helped to stabilize the finances, and thus the lives, of millions of American households and the communities of which they are a part. Its not as good as a job: Among other things, millions of people have lost their health insurance. But even as the pandemic has pushed unemployment to the highest levels since the Great Depression, research suggests the aid is preventing any meaningful increase in the share of families living in poverty. These are individual benefits with societal impact. Workers on federal aid can afford to make rent payments, easing the pressure on landlords. They can afford to shop at local stores, supporting hard-pressed small businesses. When Congress slapped a July expiration date on the program, there was reason to hope that the United States might have brought the pandemic under control by now. Other nations have done so. But the United States has failed to control the spread of the virus, and fear continues to curtail economic activity. The need for continued aid is undeniable. The House of Representatives passed a bill in May that would extend the aid program through January, but few economic analysts expect the economy to recover by then particularly as the first wave of the coronavirus continues to spread rapidly across the Sun Belt. While any arbitrary deadline risks another battle over reauthorization, a January deadline would be particularly fraught. After the Republican Party lost control of the White House in 2009, during the last economic crisis, congressional Republicans decided it was politically expedient to oppose federal spending that was needed to revive the economy. Democrats would be wise to take the lesson. The size of the $600 bonus is also a subject of controversy. The figure was chosen because lawmakers wanted to provide workers with the money they would have earned, but the antediluvian conditions in many state unemployment offices made it impossible to tailor benefits. Instead, Congress picked a figure that would make the average worker whole. The White House, and some congressional Republicans, are upset that some workers are getting more money than they earned in their former jobs. They argue this could discourage workers from seeking new jobs. This is not an immediate problem: At the moment, the United States is suffering a lack of jobs, not a lack of willing workers. Moreover, there is a ready solution: a plan to reduce the payments as the economy recovers. James McClean has questioned the response to abuse he has received during his career. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile James McClean has questioned why Irish team-mates have not publicly supported him in the same way they have thrown their weight behind the Black Lives Matter campaign. The Derryman raised the point in a personal Facebook post where he strongly condemned the racist social media abuse directed at his international colleague David McGoldrick and Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha, but again asked why anti-Irish comments aimed in his direction over the years have not received comparable scrutiny. McClean's stance on not wearing a poppy has made him a target for fans both in stadiums and online and he did receive support from equality group 'Kick It Out' and the English FA earlier this year, having previously called them out for ignoring chants and comments aimed in his direction. Barnsley were charged for sectarian abuse of McClean by their fans, while a game at Huddersfield was halted. However, in the aftermath of the arrest of a 12-year-old boy for comments sent to Zaha and an attempt to identify a person who posted 'vile' messages to McGoldrick, McClean has asked why there wasn't the same eagerness to track down those responsible for material sent his way. And he went further by outlining his frustration that his Irish colleagues have been slow to back him up when he was on the receiving end - while a number of them recently took part in the campaign to post a black square on social media in tandem with the Black Lives Matter movement. The Stoke player was prompted to post after hearing a radio debate discussing Zaha and Sheffield United's McGoldrick, stating he agreed that it was 'horrendous and nobody should be subjected to that' adding that 'people need to be held responsible for their words and actions.' But he added that what left a sour taste in his mouth was that he had 'received more abuse than any other player during my nine years in England whether that be death threats, bullets sent in the post, birthday cards, letters etc! This is not a cry for sympathy but one to ask the question, what is the difference?' In the lengthy post, he goes on to say: "I have seen some of my fellow Irish team-mates post a black square in support of anti racism as well as post condemning the discrimination and AGAIN rightly so. "Have I ever seen any of them ever post a public condemnation of the discrimination I get which funnily enough is a discrimination against them also? That would be a no. "Does one kind of discrimination hold a higher bearing over another act of discrimination?' "I would say I am confused but that's the wrong word because confused means not fully understanding something. In this case, it's quite clear." McClean finished up his missive with the adage that 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.' Gangster Vikas Dubey, who was killed in an encounter on July 10, earned Rs 1 crore a month, Hindustan Times sister publication Hindustan reported quoting Enforcement Directorate officials. Dubey, however, led a simple life - he was a teetotaller and didnt like splurging on a lavish lifestyle. So, it is becoming difficult for the ED to trace Dubeys money, Hindustan reported. The slain gangster wore simple clothes and his bank accounts also do not have huge sums, according to Hindustan. The ED is now investigating the bank accounts of Dubeys close aides and some other transactions. According to sources in the ED, Dubey earned somewhere between Rs 90 lakh and Rs 1.20 crore. But he never splurged money on trips abroad, or bought expensive goods. It is also trying to find out silent investors, who used to manage Dubeys funds. A list is being prepared of those people - including businessmen - who were close to the gangster, said sources. Dubey was the main accused in a case in which eight policemen were gunned down in Bikru village in Kanpur on July 3. These cops were part of a team which had gone to arrest Dubey after a kidnap and attempt to murder complaint. The gangster had fled the village immediately after the shootout, and kept evading the police for five days. He was finally captured in Madhya Pradeshs Ujjain on July 9. Dubey was handed over to Uttar Pradesh Police who started by road from Ujjain towards Kanpur. On the morning of July 10, as the police team was close to Kanpur, one of the vehicles in the convoy overturned due to rain. The police said that Dubey used the opportunity to escape after snatching a policemans gun. A warning was issued, but the gangster fired at the police team and was killed in retaliatory fire. 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. At the foot of certain shrubs in the Mojave Desert, fluffy white motes skitter like tumbleweeds across the sand. Some are fruit: harmless, fuzzy orbs dropped by the creosote bush. Others are white wasps not that kind of the species Dasymutilla gloriosa, which have painful stingers and luxuriously silky hair, or setae. The creosote fruit and the female D. gloriosa, also called the thistledown velvet ant which is a wasp, not an ant are near perfect doppelgangers. So entomologists long assumed the wasps had evolved their white tufts to camouflage themselves as fallen creosote fruits. The resemblance was so obvious that no one ever questioned it. Until Joe Wilson. Ten years ago, Dr. Wilson, a biologist at Utah State University, was at work on a dissertation on how deserts influenced velvet ant evolution when he found himself entranced by the white and fluffy thistle-downs the Bichons Frises of wasps. The species was old, with white ancestors living in North America 5 million years ago. But fossil records suggest the creosote bush evolved in South America, traveling north sometime during the Ice Age and only becoming well-established in the Mojave approximately 100,000 years ago a blink of an eye in an evolutionary time scale, and hardly enough time for the wasps to evolve mimicry coloration. I had to know, Dr. Wilson said. Why was this wasp white? A decade later, Dr. Wilsons team thinks they have solved the conundrum. The wasps coloration may have emerged as a strategy to stay cool on scalding hot sand, according to a study published Wednesday in Biology Letters. The cooler a female thistledown stays, the more time she can spend on her lifes true purpose: wandering the desert in search of sand wasp burrows to parasitize. The Dakota Access Pipeline went into service in 2017, over protests from native Americans and environmentalists, who said it posed a risk of leaks. A federal judge this month ordered the pipeline shut down while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts an environmental impact analysis. Read more Not long ago, builders of fossil fuel pipelines in the U.S. followed a standard pattern: The operator made a business case for the project, lining up committed shippers, customers, and investors. Regulators obliged by granting a certificate of public need, which includes the power to acquire easements from property owners even if they object. But building a pipeline these days has become increasingly more challenging and expensive, as aggrieved property owners and climate activists have joined to rally political opposition to energy infrastructure projects as never before, and have scored a series of major legal victories. A federal judge in Washington last week ordered Energy Transfer LP to shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, which carries crude oil from North Dakota shale fields, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts a formal environmental impact analysis that it previously passed on. The shutdown, if upheld, could lead to the permanent closure of the $3.8 billion project if it cannot resolve risks of oil spills. Dominion Energy Inc. also announced last week it was divesting ownership of all gas pipeline and storage assets, and would cancel its Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a project that would deliver natural gas from Marcellus Shale gas fields to Virginia and the Carolinas. Chief Executive Officer Thomas Farrell explained the exit, saying that building gas infrastructure is increasingly litigious, uncertain, and costly. Williams Cos. Inc. this year canceled the Constitution Pipeline that would have delivered Pennsylvania gas into New York state after New York denied water permits, forcing Williams to settle with Pennsylvania landowners whose property it had already taken and cleared. And New Jersey last week suspended permits for New Jersey Natural Gas Southern Reliability Link after a drilling accident damaged a Monmouth County home. And then there is the Mariner East system, a state-regulated project to transport gas liquids like propane and ethane across Pennsylvania, through densely populated parts of Chester and Delaware Counties, to an export terminal in Marcus Hook, south of Philadelphia. The project, which Energy Transfer LP took over with its 2012 acquisition of Sunoco Inc., has repeatedly been fined for environmental violations, been forced to suspend construction while it changed construction methods, and remains the target of legal actions even as it approaches completion, now set for early 2021. READ MORE: FBI now investigating the way in which Pennsylvania approved Mariner East pipeline Environmental advocates believe that after years of litigation and activism, the pendulum is swinging in their favor. The public discourse around pipelines, around climate change, is starting to break through the din, break through to the justices, said Maya K. van Rossum, the head of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. And that is the reason why were seeing some better decisions, some stronger decisions. Industry advocates fear the backlash will impede vital projects that keep energy supplies reliable and costs low, and will impair energy development in Pennsylvania, which became the nations second-largest gas producer in the last decade after the adoption of hydraulic fracturing extraction methods. I dont think people appreciate that if we dont build out the infrastructure, we will not have the resources that we need to heat and cool our homes, to power our businesses, to make the products that we all need on a day-to-day basis, said Gene Barr, president of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Its very shortsighted. Adversaries in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are currently maneuvering for legal position before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering whether to hear a case involving the Penn East Pipeline, announced six years ago to transport natural gas 116 miles from Northeast Pennsylvania to New Jersey. PennEast is owned by five energy companies, including its operator, UGI Energy Services, a subsidiary of UGI Corp. of Valley Forge. New Jersey has blocked PennEasts access to 42 properties in which the state claims an interest. In 40 of the properties, the states interest are easements it granted requiring the land be preserved for recreational, conservation, or agricultural use. PennEast prevailed in lower court in its effort to acquire rights of way, arguing that the pipeline would preserve the land as open space. But the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia last year sided with New Jersey, saying that a states sovereign immunity protects it from lawsuits by private parties, even when entities like PennEast have obtained federal eminent domain authority. PennEast has asked the Supreme Court to take up the case. It says the Third Circuit decision undermines the Natural Gas Act of 1942, which gave the federal government the power to approve interstate pipelines, expressly to overcome obstacles erected by states, and to delegate eminent domain authority to private entities. PennEast said the appeals court panel got an exceptionally important question exceptionally wrong. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that reviews and approves pipelines, said that the Third Circuits decision will have profoundly adverse impacts on the development of the nations interstate natural gas transportation system, and will significantly undermine how the natural gas transportation industry has operated for decades. More than a dozen gas industry, labor and business organizations filed amicus briefs in support of PennEasts petition. The Supreme Court appears to be taking some interest in the case, and invited New Jersey and the solicitor general of the United States to file arguments about whether it should review. Gurbir S. Grewal, New Jerseys attorney general, said that PennEast greatly overstates the consequences of the case, saying the decision precludes only private parties from filing condemnation suits against states. The decision does not provide states with a veto over interstate pipeline projects, he said. The court will announce later this year if it will grant a formal review of the case. Even if the Supreme Court rules in PennEasts favor, the projects opponents believe numerous other legal and political obstacles await, each of which will cost time and money for the pipeline operator to resolve before various regulatory bodies part of a sophisticated legal strategy of this and other opposition campaigns to wage many simultaneous legal battles. The agencies are really, you know, taking a much harder look at these projects, at the need for these projects, at the environmental impact, said Tom Gilbert, the campaign coordinator of Rethink Energy NJ, a group formed to oppose fossil fuel pipelines and to promote renewable energy. So I think theres a whole set of factors there that are working against this project ever happening. The political landscape has changed dramatically in New Jersey since PennEast was announced in 2014, and was supported by former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. PennEasts owners include companies affiliated with two gas distribution companies, South Jersey Gas and New Jersey Natural Gas. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat elected in 2017, has taken a hostile position toward the project, challenging PennEast in court, and applauding the state Department of Environmental Protections denial of permits last year in an Oct. 11 tweet. We are committed to transitioning New Jersey to 100% clean energy by 2050, Murphy said. Pipeline opponents have also challenged the federal approval of PennEasts certificate of public need, saying there is no shortage of pipeline capacity to New Jersey, and that PennEasts owners are duplicating existing infrastructure. Why are we allowing new infrastructure if theres no new demand as defined by unmet capacity? said Jennifer Danis, a senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, which has represented PennEasts opponents. So if youre just kind of moving the air from one side of the balloon to the other theres a lot of environmental damage and also a lot of economic damage. READ MORE: Pa. approves $200,000 fine and orders 'remaining life' study of leaky 89-year-old Sunoco pipeline But the industry says that infrastructure is in short supply. They point to the increasing need for natural gas in New England and New York state, where nuclear power plants were forced to retire, increasing demand for gas-powered generation to maintain reliable electricity supplies when intermittent renewable sources cannot deliver. We have a very, very close view of how perilously close we are to not having sufficient capacity for natural gas, said Anthony Cox, chairman of the PennEast Pipeline Company Board of Managers. The potential exists for there to be a real calamitous event. And it would only take one to change the minds of a lot of people as to whether or not infrastructure is needed. In response to New Jersey, PennEast in January announced changes: It now plans to build the pipeline in two segments, and 68-mile Phase 1 would terminate near Easton, Pa. That means the first part of the project would be contained within Pennsylvania, where PennEast has obtained necessary permits. Opponents are challenging the amendment before federal regulators and with the Delaware River Basin Commission, which says it has jurisdiction over the project. Much of the ongoing debate hinges around the future of renewable power sources, such as offshore wind energy or solar power. The builders of pipelines say that until renewable energy is in place, natural gas is the most affordable option and cleaner than other fossil fuels. We certainly recognize that theres a move to move toward a decarbonized future with respect to energy, and were committed to being part of that, said Cox. But the industry maintains that a growing population needs electrical power, and it needs to be affordable. This is not something that we can continue to put our heads in the ground and hope for the magic bullet, that we are going to snap our fingers and all of a sudden renewables are going to take care of our needs, he said. Thats an evolution that is going to take a lot of years, and a lot of money. Luxury items shopping mall SKP Beijing was recently in the news for its supposedly discriminatory policy against a food delivery worker. On Saturday, Caodao, an internet influencer, posted a short video on Weibo showing security staff at the mall prohibiting her from entering the premises because she was wearing a food delivery worker's uniform. The video immediately went viral, with many commenting that the mall had no business prohibiting food delivery workers from entering it. SKP Beijing used its official Weibo account to respond to the controversy a day later, saying the mall had separate entrances for customers and working personnel, and the mall's regulation demands that food delivery workers use the entrance meant for working personnel. It even said that following the novel coronavirus outbreak, the mall recently changed its policy, asking restaurants on its premises to ferry take-away food to a designated spot from where delivery workers can pick it up. But Caodao would not accept the mall's explanation, as the security personnel had clearly told the food delivery worker she could not enter the mall wearing a delivery worker's uniform, unless she wore a coat to cover the uniform. She also expressed her anger in an interview on social media, saying the treatment meted out by SKP Beijing amounted to professional discrimination, as it deprives delivery workers of the right to enter a public space. Following the novel coronavirus outbreak, many public spaces and communities have tightened regulation for epidemic prevention and control. But epidemic prevention and control should not be an excuse for denying food delivery workers entry into a mall, or for a mall to deny entry to people wearing a uniform. The mall should abide by a promise it made in its statement on Weibo, to open its gates to all customers, irrespective of whether they wear an uniform or not. If only the rest of the country could handle COVID-19 as well as New York. Thats the lament of progressive commentators as coronavirus cases spike in the Sun Belt and the South. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin hailed New York City the other day after it reported no deaths for the first time during the pandemic. This is what competent government can accomplish, she gushed. Valerie Jarrett, former aide to Barack Obama, tweeted, Short term sacrifice saves lives!!! Neera Tanden, the head of the progressive think tank the Center for American Progress, contrasted the response in Democratic states to that in Republican states: It turns out we were lucky that this virus hit in blue states first. They had the thinking to take action to stop the spread of the virus in their states. This is all perverse given that New York is only now emerging from one of the worst COVID-19 debacles on the planet. There is nonetheless a widespread feeling that New York has been blessed with its exemplary leadership. Governor Andrew Cuomo, incredibly enough, has sky-high approval ratings. If New York is going to be held up as the model, every officeholder in the country has a new road map for handling the virus: See a significant percentage of residents of your largest city get infected, barely prevent your hospital system from getting overwhelmed, implement a policy that increases infections and deaths at nursing homes, suffer more than 30,000 deaths and a higher per-capita death rate than any country in the world and then, after all that, get hailed as a hero. If it worked for Cuomo, why not every other governor in the land? In fairness, New York had many factors working against it. It was hit first, while the virus and how to treat it were still poorly understood, and New York City is an international travel hub with densely packed neighborhoods and a heavily trafficked public transit system. Of course it got hammered. The outbreaks in other parts of the country arent anything like what happened in New York, at least not yet. What states such as Florida, Arizona, Texas, and California are trying to do is avoid New Yorks fate, even as they are lectured about the superiority of the Empire States approach. Story continues The positivity rate the percentage of tests coming back positive has increased in all of these places and in Arizona has gone above 20 percent. During the worst of the outbreak in New York, the seven-day moving average for the positivity rate reached an astronomical 50 percent. Deaths are also going up in all these states, but the scale so far is completely different from what New York went through. In New York, about 32,500 people have died. In Florida, a state of comparable population, about 4,300 people have died. In Texas and California, both bigger states, about 3,300 and 7,000 people have died. In per capita terms, New York has had 1,668 deaths per million. In contrast, Arizona has had 308, Florida 199, California 179, and Texas 114. Just in terms of the sheer numbers, New York should be a watchword, not something to emulate. It is in a better situation now, but only after the virus burned through much of the city. A state survey found that more than 20 percent of New York City residents have antibodies to the virus. At clinics in some hard-hit neighborhoods, about 60 percent of people have tested positive for antibodies. This isnt an experience anyone should want to duplicate. The fact is that the virus isnt interested in scoring partisan points or establishing the superiority of red-state versus blue-state governance. It is highly infectious and now is hitting places it missed earlier in the pandemic as they have started to reopen. We should wish them the very best and fervently hope they dont suffer the same calamity that befell New York. 2020 by King Features Syndicate More from National Review Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) president and Srinagar MP Farooq Abdullah and his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah on Monday filed petitions challenging the detention of 16 senior leaders, of the party, many among whom were former ministers and legislators. The habeas corpus petition was filed by the two senior NC leaders in the Jammu and Kashmir high court. They said the detention of NC leaders was unconstitutional and illegal. According to NC, party president Farooq Abdullah filed a petition for the release of Ali Mohammad Sager, Abdul Rahim Rather, Nasir Aslam Wani, Aga Sayeed Mehmood, Mohammad Khalil Band, Irfan Shah and Sheemama Firdous. Omar Abdullah challenged the detention of Mohammad Shafi Uri, Aga Ruhullah, Chaudhary Mohammad Ramzan, Mubarak Gul, Basher Veeri, Abdul Majeed Larmi, Bashaarat Bukhari, Saifudin Bhat and Mohammad Shafi. Both the leaders challenged the detentions through their counsel Shariq Reyaz. An NC spokesman said the decision to move to court had been taken to seek relief for party leaders who had been kept under house detention after being shifted from detention centres. Shifting of the detainees from the detention centres to their homes only characterized revolving door detention practice, he spokesman said. The house detentions without any administrative order are unlawful, undermining due respect to human rights and individual liberty, the NC spokesman said, adding that the party hoped the court will come to the rescue of political leaders who had been suffering ever since article 370, which granted special status to J&K, was effectively revoked in August last year. Most of the leaders are suffering from various ailments. The NC leaders were arrested a day before the abrogation of article 370 along with Omar Abdullah and Farooq Abdullah. Administrators at Attalla Health and Rehab moved several patients to other facilities last week after a number of staff members and residents tested positive for coronavirus. Patients were moved to Coosa Valley Health and Rehab, Gadsden Health & Rehab and Trussville Health & Rehab, according to a press release. We are acting swiftly and proactively to ensure we stop the spread of this virus within our facility, as well as to ensure adequate staffing levels are in place to meet the clinical and psycho-social needs of our residents, said Delane Barton, regional vice president of operations for C. Ross Management, which operates Attalla Health and Rehab. We have safely moved residents who have tested negative to a sister facility (Coosa Valley Health and Rehab) and nursing homes in the local community (Gadsden Healthcare and Trussville Health and Rehab). Nursing home staff have been communicating with local and state health officials. Some residents still remain at Attalla Health and Rehab. Nursing home staffing levels are critical throughout the state of Alabama and nation, Barton said. At this time, we are able to maintain adequate staffing levels to meet the needs of our residents. Our staff has gone beyond the call of duty to make sure our residents are cared for. We will continue to do everything necessary to protect and maintain the safety of our residents. Gadsden Health & Rehab and Trussville Health & Rehab are operated by ProHealth Group, Inc., a company based in Birmingham. Administrator Robbie Martini said relocated residents are in isolation and receiving regular screenings for symptoms of coronavirus. We are updating each patients representative on their loved ones health status, Martini said. ProHealth Group is honored to be the company of choice to provide a new home for these patients. Our company will do everything in its ability to care for the residents of Alabama during this pandemic. BRUNSWICK, Ohio --- Brunswick City Council approved the application for state grant funding for two planned road projects, at its July 13 regular council meeting. City Engineer Matt Jones explained that the first project is for the reconstruction of Old Eagle Drive, from Center Road to Valley Forge Drive, with possible capacity improvements at the intersection of Center and Old Eagle. The second project is a resurfacing of Sleepy Hollow Road, from Pearl to South Carpenter roads. The city is seeking Ohio Department of Public Works Issue 1 funding for both projects. Jones said the local share of the Sleepy Hollow resurfacing will be shared by the city and Medina County, on behalf of Brunswick Hills Township, with each share determined by property frontage in various parts of the project. Jones said that the approved legislation clears the way for the city to apply for the funds, which is important due to the uncertainty due to COVID-19 related issues - of how much funding will be available and when grant awards will be distributed. COVID 19 funding budget amendments Council also approved two budget amendments related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first budget amendment includes a $1 million overall reduction, along with an increase of $706,589 which the city received earlier this month in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding, resulting in a net $325,000 budget reduction. Finance Director Todd Fischer pointed out that the regulations for how municipalities spend CARES Act dollars is restricted to COVID-19 related expenses, with specifics still being determined by state officials. The second budget amendment included an advance of $16,340 from the general fund to the Department of Justice fund to facilitate the purchase of ballistic helmets for the police department as part of a Department of Justice grant. Council also approved the transfer of $13,642 from the Department of Justice fund to the general fund upon the completion and reimbursement of a Department of Justice grant for police evidence room updates. Moratorium extended Council approved an ordinance extending the citys temporary moratorium on the acceptance and processing of applications for zoning, occupancy, conditional use, and building permit approvals for multifamily dwellings in all zoning districts. Read more news from the Brunswick Sun. LONGUEUIL, QC, July 14, 2020 /CNW Telbec/ - Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. (TSX: MDF), a leader in SaaS commerce technologies, is delighted to welcome The Canning Group to its platform bidnetdirect.com. The addition of this group confirms the platform's rapid growth trajectory, which was accelerated by the increased tendering needs triggered by the COVID-19 situation. BidNet Direct is one of Mediagrif Strategic Sourcing's most rapidly growing platforms. The addition of The Canning Group brings 17 new government agencies to the New Jersey Purchasing Group, and further consolidates the Company's leadership position in the state of New Jersey. The Canning Group is utilizing Mediagrif's BidNet Direct system to streamline purchasing processes including bid management, bid distribution and vendor relations for the numerous local agencies it represents. The New Jersey Purchasing Group is a single, online location for managing sourcing information and activities and provides local New Jersey government agencies the paperless tools needed to minimize costs and save time throughout the purchasing process. Registered vendors have access to all open bids, related documents and files, additional addenda and award information, as well as a value-added notification service. "The addition of The Canning Group to Mediagrif Strategic Sourcing's solution bidnetdirect.com sends a clear message of trust and tells all vendors and buyers who are using our platform that we are committed to providing the best, paperless bidding solution in the United States," said Mark Eigenbauer, President, Strategic Sourcing at Mediagrif. "We are proud of the service we offer to local and state governments across the country, and we are thrilled that The Canning Group has chosen our platform to offer a top-notch bidding process to several of its participating agencies." "Vendors can now save time and paper. They not only have direct access to our open bids, but those from other agencies throughout the state. Many of the agencies also accept electronic responses from vendors. We invite all vendors to register on the New Jersey Purchasing Group to start receiving business opportunities," stated Sean Canning, Management Member of The Canning Group. About Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. (TSX:MDF) enables the flow of commerce by providing a broad set of SaaS solutions that optimize and accelerate commercial interactions between buyers and sellers. Our platforms and services empower businesses around the world, allowing them to generate billions of dollars in transactions on an annual basis. Our strategic sourcing, e-commerce, supply chain collaboration and e-marketplace solutions are supported by a strong and dedicated team of more than 600 employees based in Canada, the United States, Denmark, Ukraine and China. For more information, please visit us at www.mediagrif.com, follow us on LinkedIn or call at 1-877-677-9088. SOURCE Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc. For further information: Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc., Mark Eigenbauer, President, Strategic Sourcing, Toll-free number: 1-877-677-9088, ext. 6250, Email: [email protected]; Mediagrif Interactive Technologies Inc., Andre Leblanc, Vice-President, Marketing & Communications, Toll-free number: 1-877-677-9088, ext. 8220, Email: [email protected] Related Links www.mediagrif.com Last week the Macalope came to both bury Microsoft Stores and to praise the company for doing so. This week we see that Microsoft faces another problem but its not from chasing Apple. Jean-Louis Gassee lays it out. Apple Silicon: The Passing of Wintel. Were about to enter an exciting, messy transition. Not only will Apple Silicon make better Macs, it will force Microsoft to polish its Windows on ARM act, both hardware and software. How is Microsoft going to keep them down on the Windows farm when the kids all see the speed and battery life theyd be getting from ARM-based Macs? The Macalope isnt going to link to it but hes seen at least one pundit claim Apple is making a mistake in moving from Intel to its own processors. If you think this is a mistake, well, youre bad at analysis and you should isolate yourself from society. Since were all currently isolating from society, you should double isolate yourself by retreating to a closet or other enclosed space where the spray of your idea droplets cannot find their way out and infect impressionable minds, like those of children, the elderly or world leaders. Gassee discusses what Apples processor switch means for Microsoft. People, or people-like collections of viscous carbon-based matter roughly shaped like people, will argue that Microsoft did it first! And, its true, they made the ARM-based Surface RT which they canceled and the Surface Pro X which hasnt been canceled, its just more that it hasnt arrived yet. Even though its already shipped. So, while it was first, it also has half-assed it. Twice. Its current half-assing has several problems. First of all, its own apps dont even run on it natively yet. Second, from the review of the Surface Pro X at The Verge Gassee links to: At times, performance has been erratic, battery life underwhelming Battery life?! Running everything in emulation will probably do that but if you switched to ARM and your battery life is bad, well, then youre probably switching for your own reasons and not those of your customers. Third of all, can you believe they went with WoA Windows on ARM when WARM was right there? Although, the Macalope supposes that saying your processor is running WARM was probably not ideal. Okay, scratch that one. Of course, Microsofts not nearly done trying yet. Half-assing it twice is just getting started for Microsoft. Half-ass it until ya win it is the company motto. It sounds better in Latin. As Gassee indicates, other Windows OEMS will use ARM chips in their Windows PCs to get better performance with lower power consumption and Microsoft will continue to port things and improve their hardware. Microsoft is working with Qualcomm to design chips, but so far none of the benefits have shown up. Where does all this leave Intel? On the high end and as dry as a Prohibition martini. It still makes good money selling chips for servers but thats exactly where the PowerPC was left when Apple moved away from that architecture. On the plus side for Intel, while ARM-based Windows machines will start taking more share, its not like the vast installed base of Intel-based Windows hardware and software can disappear overnight. Corporations cant turn on a dime, or even an apocryphal $1 million bill. The face on the $1 million bill, by the way, is the American hero known as Gritty. Once again, its legacy is going to make this hard for Microsoft, but not impossible. Better pick up the pace. Ocado shares fell today despite 'unprecedented' demand for grocery helped online sales jump 27 per cent to over 1billion over the last six months. The online grocer-cum-tech company said it was confident that this surge in demand will persist as consumer behaviour has been for ever changed by the spread of the coronavirus. Chief executive and founder Tim Steiner said: 'The world as we know it has changed. As a result of covid-19 we have seen years of growth in the online grocery market condensed into a matter of months; and we won't be going back.' Stratospheric ascent: Ocado share price has risen 620 per cent over the last three years However, market reaction to the first half results was negative, with shares in the FTSE 100 listed firm closing 2.2 per cent lower at 19.88 on Tuesday. Ocado's shares have had a stratospheric ascent in recent years, having jumped a whopping 620 per cent over the last three years. Over the last year alone, the shares have risen 78 per cent, compared to a decline of 18 per cent for the wider FTSE 100. That is despite Ocado still being loss-making - and only expecting to turn a profit until at least next year - as growing grocery sales continue to be offset by heavy investments in its state-of-the-art food delivery technology. Ocado sells groceries through its website and app, using cutting-edge robot warehouses to package and dispatch customer orders. In September, it will begin to deliver Marks & Spencer groceries, dropping its long-term partner Waitrose. It also licenses its technology to other outlets, including France's Casino and US giant Kroger. It has been investing heavily in robots for food packing, preparation and production as well as vertical farming - saying the case for such investment has now strengthened further due to the 'post-Covid environment'. Investors have bought into the potential of Ocado becoming a successful tech company while cashing in from its online grocery delivery operations. Ocado has benefited from 'unprecedented' demand for online grocery deliveries 'Sitting somewhere between a traditional food retailer and a high technology innovator gives the company two bites at the cherry', says Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investors. But eventually it will need to turn a profit, he adds. 'Inevitably this performance heightens the bar for expectations and at some point Ocado will need to shake off its status as a 'jam tomorrow' stock.' 'In the meantime, the market consensus of the shares as a hold is perhaps reflective that the shares remain up with events for now, until the next stage of Ocado's transformation becomes evident.' In comparison, Tesco's shares are down 11 per cent over the past year at 215p, Sainsbury's shares are more or less flat at 199p, while Morrison's share price is down about 10 per cent compared to a year ago. But Thomas Brereton, a retail analyst at GlobalData, thinks Ocado is going to lose online market share this year because of the possible disruption from the looming supply switchover from Waitrose to M&S. He says: 'While the other major players will naturally focus on building and perfecting their online presences for the rest of 2020, Ocado must also integrate the supply switchover from Waitrose to M&S at the start of September a process that may disrupt and distract from keeping pace with competitors.' He also said that rivals have been able to leverage their store-pick models to expand total online capacity much faster. He adds: 'Tesco saw +90% online grocery sales in May, and Sainsbury's saw +136% in June figures that are simply unachievable by Ocado due to capacity issues. With that in mind and with the UK online grocery market expected to grow 76.2% in 2020 Ocado will inevitably lose share of the UK online market in 2020.' Nevertheless, the enforced growth of online grocery shopping around the world due to lockdowns have boosted Ocado's solutions business. Ocado has been investing heavily in robots for food packing, preparation and production as well as vertical farming Fees invoiced to international grocers for using its online delivery technology rose 58 per cent to 73.7million in the six months, as it continued to roll out new robotic distribution warehouses overseas including Paris and Toronto. But continued investment in setting up overseas projects means Ocado slumped to a pre-tax loss of 40.6million during the first half. That, however, is better than the 147million losse seen a year ago. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, also thinks that Ocado needs to begin making a profit 'sooner rather than later' as competitors are coming to the market. 'The loss-making position is a result of increased costs from setting up overseas projects, essentially spending money today to make money tomorrow,' he says. 'This waiting game has defined Ocado for some time as it plants flags in various countries, helping other grocery retailers to set up their online fulfilment operations using its platform. 'At some point in the future it should begin to make a profit, and this needs to happen sooner rather than later as the clear opportunity to advance online grocery services around the world will be attracting competition. 'After all, if there is such as an obvious opportunity, lots of people will want a bite at the cherry.' Cormac Nevin, an investment analyst at Beaufort Investment, says companies such as Ocado provide an interesting insight into trends driving wider equity markets that long-term investors should be aware of. 'Ocado, among many other stocks, appears to be emblematic of a market that is being driven by narrative rather than fundamentals,' he says. 'Rising levels of retail participation, and the wild swings seen in Tesla's share price yesterday, should make medium and long-term investors wary and reinforces the necessity of a diversified, multi-asset approach with a constant focus on exposure monitoring.' Ocado said its had a 'strong' 2.3billion cash position after the 1billion it recently raised on the capital markets. But de Garcia, who serves as a hub of information for her family, friends and apartment complex, said she was not aware of any free testing sites in Montgomery. In her community, covid-19 information is passed along primarily by word of mouth, she said. She gets her news from a friend who works for the county government and keeps her eyes peeled for updates from the countys Facebook page, which occasionally posts information in Spanish. TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Gratomic Inc. ("GRAT" or the "Company") (TSXV:GRAT)(FRANKFURT:CB81)(WKN:A143MR) is pleased to announce that the shipment of the final pieces of equipment has commenced - a custom drying, size classification and dewatering assembly - required for the Aukam processing plant which, once installed, will complete the mechanical system required to bring the plant into the commissioning phase. The custom drier system departed the Port of Shenzen China on the 13th of July 2020, and is being shipped to Walvis Bay, Namibia with an estimated arrival to occur in September. Once the three containers of equipment arrive at Walvis Bay, the equipment will be prepared and then trucked to the Aukam site. Photo of equipment being loaded into containers at the factory in China Manhattan Engineering, out of Johannesburg, was engaged to complete the structural and civil engineering designs to complete the platforms and foundations required to install the final pieces of equipment at the Aukam site and submitted the final drawings on the 8th of July 2020. During the shipping period, the Company will complete the requisite onsite preparations including installation of concrete foundations, conveyor screw installations, and upgrades of onsite electrical facilities to ensure quick installation and subsequent commissioning of the processing facility. As per the Company's news releases dated May 21, 2020 and May 25, 2020 confirming the Company's commitment to the delivery of the first three purchase orders totalling 1,800 tonnes to TODAQ commencing in November 2020, the pending arrival and subsequent installation of the final pieces of the mill assembly confirms the Company's commitment to meet this schedule. "We are very excited to see the last pieces of equipment on their way as this will allow Gratomic's Aukam Property to move into the commissioning phase before year's end. I am also very confident and look forward to the steps ahead with TODAQ. I believe achieving these exciting milestones will further strengthen and build our business relations together as partners." ~ President and CEO, Arno Brand. Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis ("PEA"), Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact no mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam Property. The Company appointed Dr. Ian Flint to complete a PEA on the Aukam processing plant. The Company will deliver TODAQ's Product to an onsite warehouse beginning in November 2020, to fill the first three purchase orders totalling 1800 tonnes. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant, nor the Company's ability to fulfil its obligations to deliver the 1800 tonnes of graphite as required by the purchaser orders. Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite pursuant to any off-take or supply agreement referred to in this news release is conditional on Gratomic being able to bring the Aukam project into a production phase and for any graphite being produced to meet certain technical and mineralization requirements. Gratomic continues to move its business towards production and as part of its business plan, expects to obtain a National Instrument 43 - 101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects technical report to help it ascertain the economics of the Aukam project. Risk Factors No mineral resources, let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam Property. The Company is not in a position to demonstrate or disclose any capital and/or operating costs that may be associated with the processing plant. The Company advises that it has not based its production decision on even the existence of mineral resources let alone on a feasibility study of mineral reserves, demonstrating economic and technical viability, and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit. Historically, such projects have a much higher risk of economic and technical failure. There is no guarantee that production will begin as anticipated or at all or that anticipated production costs will be achieved. Failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations. Failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Company's cash flow and future profitability. About Gratomic Inc. Gratomic is a materials company focused on mine to market commercialization of graphite products and components for a range of mass market products. The Company currently holds two off-take purchase agreements for graphite product sourced from the Aukam facility. One agreement is with TODAQ and the other is with Phu Sumika. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol GRAT. For more information: visit the website at www.gratomic.ca or contact: Arno Brand at abrand@gratomic.ca or 416 561-4095 "Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release." FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). SOURCE: Gratomic Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597439/Gratomic-Announces-Shipment-of-Final-Equipment-to-Complete-Aukam-Processing-Plant The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) jointly announced Monday that they had settled charges with Abra, a crypto investment app maker. In the case of the SEC, the agency accused Abra of "offering and selling security-based swaps to retail investors without registration and for failing to transact those swaps on a registered national exchange." The CFTC charged Abra "for entering into illegal off-exchange swaps in digital assets and foreign currency with U.S. and overseas customers and registration violations." The companies involved in the settlement were Plutus Financial Inc., which does business as Abra, as well Plutus Technologies Philippines Corporation, which operates as Abra International. In both instances, the firms reached a settlement and will pay a combined $300,000 in penalties ($150,000 to each agency), according to court documents. According to the CFTC statement, the investigation focused on actions between December 2017 and October 2019. The agency said that Abra "accepted orders for and entered into thousands of digital asset and foreign currency-based contracts via a mobile phone application. These contracts, which constituted swaps under the CEA, enabled customers to enter into financial transactions, with the respondents acting as the counterparty, to gain exposure to price movements of over seventy-five digital assets." "By entering into these contracts via their app, respondents violated Section 2(e) of the CEA, which makes it unlawful for any person, other than an eligible contract participant, to enter into a swap unless the swap is entered into on, or subject to the rules of, a board of trade designated as a contract market. Additionally, in soliciting and accepting orders for these contracts, the respondents illegally operated as an unregistered futures commission merchant," the CFTC continued. The SEC alleged that Abra "marketed its app to retail investors, yet Abra took no steps to determine whether users who downloaded the app were 'eligible contract participants' as defined by the securities laws." Abra is said to have discontinued this offering following discussions with the SEC, but it continued that May while "attempting to limit the offers and sales to non-U.S. people." Story continues "Although Abra moved certain operations outside the U.S., the order finds that its employees in California designed and marketed the swap contracts, and screened and approved users who would be allowed to buy the contracts. The order further finds that Abra's U.S.-based employees effected thousands of stock and ETF purchases in the U.S. to hedge the contracts." Abra settled the charges while neither confirming nor denying them, according to court documents. 2020 The Block Crypto, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. By Keita Nakamura, KYODO NEWS - Jul 14, 2020 - 23:16 | All, World, Japan, Coronavirus Japan said Tuesday it is closely monitoring attempts by China to boost its global clout, with Beijing dispatching medical professionals and providing face masks and assistance to other countries in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. In a defense white paper, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government criticized Beijing for "relentlessly" attempting to undermine Tokyo's administration of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, even at a time when international coordination is required to contain the virus. It was the first time that a defense white paper has characterized China's actions around the disputed islets -- which Beijing claims and calls Diaoyu -- as "relentless." With the international community grappling with the pandemic, a further spread of the virus "may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries intending to create international and regional orders more preferable to themselves and to expand their influence," the white paper said. The report stated that China has been "taking advantage" of its virus-related assistance to other nations in an attempt to advance its political and economic interests, and that Beijing has been engaging in propaganda work such as the "spread of disinformation" amid social unrest and confusion sparked by the pandemic. The moves, therefore, warrant close attention as "security issues," it said. Referring to the Senkakus, the document rebuked China over its "unilateral attempts to change the status quo" in the East China Sea despite the global expansion of novel coronavirus infections calling for "international cooperation and collaboration." "Despite protests by our country, Chinese official ships repeatedly intruded into our territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands," it said. Defense Minister Taro Kono told a press conference that Beijing has been attempting to alter the status quo "at various places" in the world, such as areas along the China-India border as well as the East and South China seas. "Along with the country's capability, we need to grasp clearly what China's intention is," Kono said. The latest report barely mentioned Japan's decision last month to scrap plans to deploy the U.S.-developed Aegis Ashore missile defense system. A Defense Ministry official said there was simply no time to put details about the policy shift in the document. The white paper also referred to China's unilateral creation of two administrative districts in the South China Sea, in which Beijing has overlapping claims with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. The two districts, named Xisha and Nansha, use the Chinese names for the disputed Paracel and Spratly Islands, respectively. Together with militarization of outposts in disputed areas of the strategic waterway, China uses such nonmilitary means to force shifts in the regional status quo, drawing the ire of other claimants, especially as countries are focusing on steps to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the document. Maintaining the expression used last year, the white paper said the international community has "strong security concerns" about Chinese military trends such as "high-level growth of its defense budget without transparency." The document also warned about a nuclear-armed North Korea, saying the county has been continuously advancing development of ballistic missiles at an "extremely rapid pace," a situation that poses "grave and imminent threats to Japan's security." Citing the possibility of Scud-ER and Nodong missiles carrying nuclear weapons, the paper said Pyongyang appears to have acquired capabilities to attack Tokyo. North Korea may be developing a ballistic missile that travels in an irregular trajectory at low altitude in an effort to slip through the missile defense networks of other countries, it said. Of all the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, no name is better known than that of Anne Frank, whose famous diaries chronicled her familys two years in hiding from the Nazis before they were betrayed and sent to concentration camps. Anne was 15 when she died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany in February 1945. But what if she had survived? Eva Schloss, 89, said that in many ways her story represents the continuation of Anne Franks tragically short life. A 1929 photograph of Eva Schloss as a baby with her mother, Elfreide Geiringer, in their native Austria. (Courtesy photo) She and Anne, born one month apart, had moved with their families to Amsterdam from the Germany/Austria region before the war to escape Nazi persecution. From the ages of 11 to 13, the girls played together in the courtyard of their shared apartment complex. When the war began, both families went into hiding but were discovered in mid-1944 and sent to camps in Germany and Poland. Advertisement Anne, her mother and her sister Margot Frank were dead from illness by February 1945. Evas father and brother, Heinz, were dead by spring. Schloss and her mother were liberated from the Birkenau camp in January 1945 by Russian soldiers and not a moment too soon. We were starving. If they hadnt come we wouldnt have lasted another month, she said. After the war, Annes father Otto and Evas mother, Elfriede Geiringer, both returned to Amsterdam where they fell in love and married in 1953, making Eva Annes stepsister. Schloss, a widowed mother of three who has lived in London since 1951, now travels extensively around the world sharing her familys story. At 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, shell make her first-ever San Diego County appearance at Chabad of Poway. She said her message is one of optimism and triumph over tragedy. When I was young I had horrible experiences and I saw the worst of what people can do to each other. But Ive had a long life, Ive met a lot of amazing people and found theres a lot of good in the world, she said in a recent phone interview from a tour stop in Puerto Rico. Schlosss visit is part of Chabad of Poways spring lecture series, organized by Rabbi Mendel Goldstein. He particularly likes booking speakers who can offer a first-hand historical perspective on the Holocaust since that generation of survivors is rapidly shrinking. He said her message of hope and resilience against prejudice is one that todays Jews embrace. Obviously, there were hard times and dark history we went through, but were focusing now on what we can do in the future, Mendel said. Well be stronger. No matter how much they want to bring darkness into the world, well bring more light. Schloss said the trauma of her experience had psychological repercussions on her life for many years. And when Otto Frank published his daughters diaries to international acclaim in 1952, she was resentful. There were times I was quite annoyed being introduced as the stepsister of Anne, because Im a person in my own right and I survived, Schloss said. But whenever I got upset Id say, look, I have a husband and three wonderful daughters. How can I object to giving a bit of attention to somebody whose life was finished when she was 15. Once I got over my jealousy, I was a much happier person. Schloss said The Diary of Anne Frank was the right book at the right time for a world recovering from a brutal war. In the early 1950s, people didnt want to read about the horrors of the Holocaust so Annes book was a more palatable discussion-starter. Its not a book about the Holocaust; its a book about hiding and how much wisdom she had for a 13-year-old girl, Schloss said. After the war, Schloss went to college and then moved to London to study photography. Thats where she met and married her husband, Zvi Schloss, in 1952. He passed away in 2016 after 64 years of marriage. After raising her daughters and running a London antiques shop for 25 years, Schloss refocused her energies on Holocaust education in the mid-1980s. She became a trustee of the Anne Frank Educational Trust U.K. and published three books, including Evas Story in 1988 and After Auschwitz in 2014. She has also collaborated on plays and educational exhibitions about the Holocaust. She spends 10 to 12 weeks a year on speaking tours. Despite her age and the toll the travel takes on her body, Schloss has no intention of giving up the speaking series. Shell do it as long as shes able because young people today need to know their history. Schloss said shes disappointed but not surprised by the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the world today. As bad as it may be now, its nothing like it was in Germany during World War II because at that time the persecution, restriction and murder of Jews was government-sanctioned, she said. Of course, its unpleasant, but I personally think there has always been and always will be anti-Semitism, she said. We can never say we havent spoken enough about it. An Historic Evening with Ann Franks Stepsister Eva Schloss When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5 Where: Chabad of Poway, 16034 Chabad Way, Poway Tickets: $36 at the door (VIP sponsorship packages from $180) Phone: (858) 451-0455 Online: chabadpoway.com/annefrank pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com Joe Biden ridiculed President Trump's record on climate Tuesday, citing the president's claims that windmills cause cancer and LED lights make the former reality television star 'look orange.' 'When Donald Trump thinks about climate change, the only word he can muster is hoax. When I think about climate change, the word I think of is jobs. Good paying, union jobs,' Biden said to a small audience of reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. The presumptive Democratic nominee was rolling out a $2 trillion green infrastructure plan that would serve dual roles of boosting the economy amid the coronavirus pandemic and helping combat climate change. Joe Biden ripped into some of President Trump's previous statements about green energy, including Trump's claim that windmills cause cancer President Trump, photographed at an East Room event Monday, said in December 2019 that he didn't like the 'new' bulbs because they made his look 'orange' Joe Biden also blasted President Trump for claiming that windmills, a source of green energy, caused cancer Biden's campaign had rolled out some of the details of the plan earlier Tuesday, so the Democratic presidential candidate could devote most of the speech to going after Trump. 'When Donald Trump thinks about renewable energy he sees windmills somehow causing cancer,' Biden said. 'When I think about these windmills, I see American manufacturing, American workers racing to dominate the global market.' On several occasions, Trump has claimed wind turbine noise 'causes cancer.' He also had blamed windmills for slaughtering bald eagles. 'When Donald Trump talks about improving efficiency by retro-fitting lighting systems with LED bulbs - remember what he said? He said he doesn't like LED because quote- "the light's no good, I always look orange,' Biden also said. In December 2019, Trump expressed at a small business roundtable at the White House a disdain for the new-fangled bulbs 'The new bulb is many times more expensive and I hate to say it, it doesn't make you look as good, of course, being a vain person that's important to me,' the president said at the time. 'It gives you an orange look, I don't want an orange look.' At the same event, Trump also griped that environmentally friendly toilets aren't up to the job. 'People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times as opposed to once, they end up using more water,' Trump complained. Biden also picked on the White House for failing to ever hold a successful 'infrastructure week,' which early on became a joke among reporters because each time it was on the schedule, other drama occurred. 'It seems like every few weeks when he needs a distraction from the latest charges of corruption in his staff or the conviction of high-ranking members of his administration and political apparatus, the White House announces "infrastructure week,"' Biden said. 'How many times have you heard him say that?' the ex-veep mused. 'But he's never delivered. He never really even tried.' Biden's plan called for $2 trillion to be spent in four years to invest in clean-energy infrastructure, with the pledge to cut carbon emissions from electrical power to zero in 15 years. His revised climate plan would require the country to be producing 100 per cent clean electricity by 2035 - a timeline borrowed from former presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee. The plan signifies a more aggressive approach on climate policy than he adopted during the Democratic presidential primary - a nod to progressives within the party who have been clamoring for swift action. Inslee said it was a 'triple-A-rated clearn energy plan,' according to The New York Times, adding that Biden 'vigorously seized this moment.' Biden is calling for $2 trillion in new spending over four years, according to a copy of the plan released by his campaign. He had originally suggested spending $1.7 trillion over a decade. The plan would seek to boost the U.S. auto industry through incentives for manufacturers to produce zero-emission electric vehicles. And it would look to build 1.5 million new energy-efficient homes and public-housing units. Biden argued his climate plan will create millions of new jobs, an effort in part to win over skeptical union workers in the oil and gas industries. 'It's a false choice to suggest we have to pick between our economy and the planet,' Biden said at an online fundraiser on Monday. His plan also has a large environmental justice emphasis and would direct 40 per cent of clean-energy spending toward disadvantaged communities in the shadows of refineries and power plants. Campaign advisers on Tuesday said the plan is a component of Biden's overall economic recovery package, which, they said, would represent the largest mobilization of public investment since World War Two. They acknowledged that the climate plan was an effort to seize the issue from Trump, who Biden will face in the Nov. 3 election. Trump has frequently advocated for massive infrastructure legislation but has failed to send any kind of outline to the U.S. Congress. The Trump campaign in a statement said Biden had 'fully caved in to the extreme left' with his energy plan and asked how Americans would afford it. Since taking office in January 2017, Trump has rolled back environmental regulations and announced he was pulling the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement. Many of Biden's proposals could be done through executive orders, aides said. But the large-scale outlays would require congressional approval. Biden said on a press call Monday that he would consider killing the Senate filibuster to get more legislation passed. He was previously opposed to nuking the rule. Congress has authorized $3 trillion in spending this year already to mitigate the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, but Biden aides said the economy will likely require another large stimulus early next year. Women living with disabilities in many states across Nigeria have registered their displeasure over their exclusion from the intervention programmes by the government during the coronavirus pandemic. The women said this during a virtual training organised to empower women with disabilities. The training was organised by BONews Service with support from Urgent Action Fund-Africa. The virtual training had in attendance women with disabilities (WWDs) from different states. The training revolved around empowering the women to be the voice in issues that affect them the most. These include human right issues, gender-based violence, rape and abuse that the women might experience. The organisers of the training exposed the WWDs to areas that will build their capacity to demand disability-inclusion in their various states. Expressing their grievance at the virtual training, Stella Udoka from Ebonyi, said the state governor gave N1 million to Persons living with disabilities (PLWDs), across the state, an amount which was insufficient to cater for their needs. When the money was shared, it amounted to N1,500 per person. This was during lockdown when there was restricted movement and people couldnt go to far locations to collect the N1,500 because they would have spent more than that on the cost of transportation. Because of our disabilities, we couldnt move independently and it is another cost to go with an aide because we want to collect N1,500. Mrs Udoka said if persons with disabilities were included in the planning stage, the governor would have known that N1 million was not enough for PLWDs. She added that there is a need to include representatives of PLWDs when deciding on matters that affect them. Another WWD from Ekiti State, Helen Ibitoye, said they were excluded from the distribution of relief packages in the state, until they cried out on all avenues, including social media. She lamented the approach of the state government, emphasising the need to give consideration to the most vulnerable groups in the society. Bilikisu Zango, a resident of Kano State, said there is an urgent need of inclusion of persons with disabilities across different states. Everything is centred at the top while those at the grassroots are not included in the real life aspect of what matters most to WWDs. Sidelining groups of Women with disabilities and Disabled Peoples Organisations at various levels of governments; local, states and national level, makes it difficult to achieve meaningful impact in mitigating the negative impacts of the humanitarian issues regarding WWDs, she said. Mrs Zango said there is a need for quick intervention. At the training, Ekaete Umoh, the National President of Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities (JONAPWD) encouraged the women not to relent in their fight for inclusion at all levels. President Donald Trump condemned Chicago and its violence on Monday after 64 people were injured, with 13 killed in various shootings. The Republican leader said the city's violence was worse than Afghanistan. Trump made the comments during a roundtable with law enforcement officials at the White House. He also asserted his opposition to defunding police and slammed Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for supporting police reform. In June, the president sent a letter to Chicago's Mayor Lori Lightfoot, urging her to take action on the city's waves of violence. In the letter, he said the official's lack of leadership is failing the city's residents, NBC Chicago reports. What happened in Chicago? Officials in Chicago reported 64 people were shot, 13 fatally, in multiple incidents across the city during the weekend. Among those killed was 15-year-old Terrance Malden, who was killed on July 10 on the South Side. He became the first victim of the weekend, The Epoch Times reports. On July 13, Shamari K. Smith, 27, was shot and killed by an unidentified person who quickly escaped the vehicle scene. An hour after he was dead, a 26-year-old male was fatally shot in the Lawndale neighborhood. On July 12, unidentified shooters opened fire at a vehicle parked in the West Englewood neighborhood. A 14-year-old boy, a 17-year-old male, and a 20-year-old man sustained injuries from the shooting. The two teens were rushed to the hospital and given medical treatment. However, the 20-year-old died from the shot. Around midnight the same day, a 15-year-old girl was shot as she and a 29-year-old man were standing on the West Side's sidewalk. The girl sustained gunshot injuries to the calf, knee, and shoulder, while the other victim was hit in the calf. Both victims were hospitalized and in good condition. Over the Independence Day weekend, over 79 people were shot, 15 of whom died from sustained injuries. During last year's Independence Day weekend, 32 people were shot, with nine killed. What happened in Afghanistan? On Monday, the Taliban forces launched an assault against an intelligence complex in Afghanistan. The attack left at least 11 people dead and 60 others injured. According to a report by The New York Times, the insurgents planted and detonated a car bomb at the country's National Directorate of Security entrance. The blast struck a nearby municipal compound. It also opened a path for the fighters to enter the complex where they exchanged fire with the Afghan forces for hours. A report by the province's deputy governor, Sefatullah Samangani, said only 15 of the 63 wounded victims were intelligence officers. The rest were civilians. The attack breached a preliminary peace deal between the United States and the Taliban. It also broke the Taliban's streak of violence in the countryside - crimes they did not claim. Want to read more? Check these out: VIRGINIA Virginia Memorial Public Library has started a GoFundMe to raise money for two new air-conditioning units. The initial plan was to replace the librarys basement air conditioner, which has been out for a while, said Rebekah Pentecost, the librarys director. When the library reopened in June after being closed because of the pandemic lockdown, Pentecost noticed something wrong with the buildings other air-conditioning units, she said. The air conditioners started going and we noticed it was kind of kicking off during the hottest times of the day, she said. The librarys upstairs area is larger than its basement, and two units are needed to keep it cool; both need to be replaced, Pentecost said. Once all of the buildings air conditioning went out, the library changed its hours from afternoon to morning, because the building gets hotter as the day progresses, Pentecost said. Once it hits that 1 or 2 oclock hour, it gets almost in the 90s in here, so we cant stay open past that time, she said, adding that morning temperatures in the building tend to stay in the 70s or 80s. While the units definitely need to be replaced, the library doesnt have the $10,000 needed, Pentecost said. Were just trying to raise as much as we can, she said. The library set up a GoFundMe page and posted about its fundraising efforts on social media. In addition to the GoFundMe page for online donations, the library is accepting donations by mail or in person during library business hours, Pentecost said. Donations also may be left in the drop box at the front of the library when the library is closed, she said. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, library hours now are from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Raising the funds to replace the air-conditioning units is key to getting back to normal library hours, Pentecost said. Its important because Virginia is a small community and we were closed for almost two and a half months and now were finally open and have our summer reading programs for kids, she said. We have a lot of things to offer our community and, if we cant continue with our opening hours, our community is not going to have a lot of kids come in here and theyre out of school and this is the only other thing they have to stay educated. We truly need to stay open as much as we can. Without those units, it gets too hot. Allegations have surfaced that President Donald Trump may have ignored intelligence information that Russians put a bounty on the heads of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan. At least three U.S. servicemen may have fallen victim to that plan. Now, a debate is raging over whether or when the president knew of this dastardly scheme and why he didnt warn Russian President Vladimir Putin of the potential consequences. While that argument consumes Washington, who speaks for the troops? This episode has taken me back to 1983, when I was press secretary for a newly elected Democratic congressman and former Marine from the Illinois Quad-Cities, Lane Evans. Evans, 31, had won election as a public aid attorney. Soft-spoken and unassuming, he was far from a star in the freshman class of Congress. But he had a strong and unyielding commitment to those serving in the U.S. military. When President Ronald Reagan sent hundreds of Marines as "peacekeepers" to war-torn Beirut, Lebanon, in August 1982, Evans then a candidate for Congress opposed it. He knew this was not the appropriate way to use Marines. They are a fighting force, he explained, and not meant to be peacekeepers. He argued their deployment in this fashion served a political purpose not a military one. Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges following a standoff with police at his Arizona home. Gray, who played Hakeem Lyon on the Fox TV series, was taken into custody on Monday at about 7am at his home in Goodyear, Arizona, where he had barricaded himself overnight. The incident began at about 10.15pm when police were called to a Circle K gas station in Goodyear to help a woman. The woman had flagged down a passerby at another gas station, stating that she had been assaulted at her Goodyear home for the last several hours by her husband, according to the police report obtained by Fox 10. Empire actor, Bryshere Gray arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife Empire actor Bryshere Gray was arrested on domestic violence charges Monday morning. He is pictured here in his mugshot. The passerby then drove the woman who was not named to the Circle K and called 911, at which point the woman identified Gray as her husband. Police said the woman had multiple visible injuries on her body and that she had said Gray had strangled her at one point, leading to her temporarily losing consciousness. The woman was taken to the hospital where she was treated for her injuries and released. Upon arriving at their home later, police said that Gray refused to exit the property and barricaded himself inside. Between the barricade situation and the possible felony domestic violence charge, police called Goodyear SWAT and Crisis Negotiations to the scene, AZ Family reported. Gray barricaded himself inside the house overnight, eventually surrendering himself to authorities without incident at about 7am Monday. Gray was then arrested and booked into jail. He was taken into custody and booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Gray now faces charges including assault (domestic violence), aggravated assault (strangulation) and disorderly conduct. Following her hospital discharge, Grays wife is being assisted by Goodyear detectives and a victim advocate, AZ Family reported. Gray isnt the only Empire cast member facing legal troubles now. Co-star Jussie Smollett has been charged with multiple felonies related to allegedly faking being the victim of a hate crime while living in Chicago in February 2019. Smollett filed a police report claiming that he had been attacked by two men while walking on the street late at night, who used both racist and homophobic slurs while assaulting him. He then said that they tied a rope around his neck and splashed bleach on him. Following an investigation, police said that the Smolletts attackers were actually two Nigerian brothers that the actor had paid to attack him in an effort to boost his profile and TV series salary. In February 2020, a grand jury indicted Smollett on six felony counts of disorderly conduct related to four false reports that he gave to police about the alleged attack. The city of Chicago is also suing Smollett for $130,000 in overtime that was paid to the officers who investigated the supposed attack. Smollett has claimed hes innocent of the charges and sued Chicago for malicious prosecution in the fall of 2019. Source: Dailymail.co.uk 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 The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has condemned the recently passed bill on se.xual harassment and ra.pe, alleging that it is targeted at lecturers. The National President of ASUU Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi while speaking on Monday, July 13, at a Town Hall meeting with critical stakeholders in Jos said that the bill which is yet to be signed into law is discriminatory and also targeted at the male lecturers. Ogunyemi said that the bill is capable of making male lecturers reject female students. He said; Our reaction to that Bill is that, it is discriminatory and is targeted at male lecturers. We dont want a situation, where male lecturers will begin to say they dont want to teach female students, because they say we should not smile to female students. So a time may come, when male lecturer will say, we wont teach female students, let them get female lecturers, let them get female supervisor. lm not sure, we want that, and that is not also healthy for the society. Because at one point or the other, there will be a point of interface. So, what we are seeing is that, we have laws in the society, that already addressed issues of se.xual harassment, issues of ra.pe. Another form of victimization is that male students can also be ra.ped in one way or the other and this has not been taken into account or has this type of bill passed. We went to the public hearing and we read our objections, well, we have not seen the newly passed bill, but, what we are told is that our views will be taken into account and we said, if they are laws in the society that already addressed the issues of harassment and ra.pe, why are we duplicating efforts? If it meant to cover all and some strata of the educational system, which means it could be a bill meant to cover all genders or both genders, male or female, which we have not seen. Our worries is that, all their talks is centred on the higher institutions, which should stop, because they are stigmatising and is like they are labelling lecturers as criminals or potential criminals. We can still raise our voices against that bill to ensure that it will promote equity, fairness and then, that is where we can have justice for all. We are against se.xual harassment of our students. We do not support it in any forms. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2020) - Outcrop Gold Corp. (TSXV: OCG) ("Outcrop") is pleased to announce that it has advanced multiple targets at the high-grade silver-gold Santa Ana project in Colombia, including a model for the La Porfia high-grade shoot on La Ivana target. Outcrop has also completed 330 metres in three core drill holes with a fourth hole in progress in the El Paraiso vein at the Megapozo target. Assays for the first holes are expected in the coming weeks. Outcrop continues to advance additional targets with systematic sampling and trenching. La Porfia high-grade shoot model Preliminary modeling of drill intercepts in the high-grade shoot of the main La Porfia vein in La Ivana target shows contiguous and robust grade contours at greater than 10 eq g Au/t (980 eq g Ag/t). Defining the high-grade shoot at the 2 eq g Au/t contour provides a 0.58 metre drill intercept width that extends approximately 200 metres along strike and 210 meters down dip - producing a volume of vein shoot with a weighted average grade of 15.2 g Au/t, 1,289 g Ag/t, 1.05% Zn and 0.69% Pb. The gold equivalent for the vein shoot is 28.4 g Au/t and the silver equivalent is 2,778 g Ag/t. Figure 1: A large high-grade shoot in La Porfia vein. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6343/59754_d7810668547ffa9a_002full.jpg La Porfia shoot has high-grade contours that remain open to the north northeast at surface and to the northwest down-dip. The shoot rakes or trends northwest within the plane of the vein. Multiple subsidiary parallel vein segments occur in the hanging wall of the main La Porfia are not illustrated but contribute incremental area and volume to the shoot and can also contain high-grade. The grade is such in La Porfia that using straight line dilution for a 1.8 metre stope width the resulting gold equivalent is 9.2 g Au/t and the silver equivalent is 900 eq g Ag/t. In practice for future potential mining - split-shooting of ore vein and wall rock separately would significantly reduce this dilution. A very simple estimate for exploration purposes only suggests La Porfia shoot contains approximately 50,000 equivalent gold ounces or 4,900,000 equivalent silver ounces and significant zinc and lead. These estimates would need to be refined and confirmed by an independent qualified person. Outcrop thinks that numerous shoots similar or larger than La Porfia will be discovered on the property and less than 10% of the strike of veins zones are tested with drilling. "La Porfia high-grade shoot shows remarkable scale and grade continuity for an epithermal system," remarks Outcrop CEO Joe Hebert. "La Porfia is open in two directions and shoots of this quality can accumulate gold and silver ounces very quickly." Paraiso vein and workings in Megapozo target Initial drilling on the Paraiso vein at the Megapozo target shows historic mine workings up to 2.2 metre widths with residual veins unmined and or parallel veins a few metres from workings. Future drilling will get below primitive historic workings within this vein. Photo 1: Residual vein and 2.2 metre open historic working in El Paraiso vein in Megapozo target. To view an enhanced version of Photo 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6343/59754_d7810668547ffa9a_003full.jpg Target Advancement Twenty-five soil profiles totaling 8 kilometres and 814 samples have been completed in the Megapozo, San Antonio, Guanabanera, El Dorado and Pollera target areas. Six zones anomalous for gold and silver in soils indicate that each extend over several hundred metres locally. Anomalous soils also suggest a 600 metre northern projection of the Roberto Tovar vein where high-grade gold and silver values were drilled in 2014. Soil sampling in El Dorado target (Map 1) shows an anomaly equivalent in size to the high-grade shoot drilled in La Ivana target 250 metres to the east. Three follow-up trenches cut the El Dorado vein zone and the width of the soil anomaly suggests multiple parallel veins will be drilled. Soil sampling in the San Antonio zone south of El Dorado shows silver anomalies that extend for over 600 metres (Map 2). Map 1: Soil sampling in El Dorado target show an anomaly of the same scale as the high-grade shoot in La Porfia vein of La Ivana target. To view an enhanced version of Map 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6343/59754_d7810668547ffa9a_004full.jpg Map 2: Soil sampling in the San Antonio target shows anomalous soils extending over 600 metres. To view an enhanced version of Map 2, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6343/59754_d7810668547ffa9a_005full.jpg QA/QC Samples were sent to ALS Chemex in Medellin for preparation and then to ALS Chemex Toronto for analysis, with approximately three control samples inserted (one blank, one standard and one field duplicate) for each twenty samples. The samples were analyzed for gold using standard fire-assay on a 50-gram sample with a gravimetric finish. Multi-element geochemistry was determined by ICP-MS using either aqua regia (ME-MS41) or four acid (ME-MS61) digestion. Comparison to control samples and their standard deviations indicates acceptable accuracy of the assays and no detectable contamination. About Santa Ana Project The Santa Ana project comprises 7,783 ha located in the Municipality of Falan, Tolima Department, Colombia, approximately 15 km southeast of the of the town of Mariquita, and 190 km from Bogota, Colombia's capital city. The Santa Ana project covers a significant part of the Mariquita District where mining records date to at least 1585. The Mariquita District is the highest-grade primary silver district in Colombia. Under colonial Spanish era control of the mines, silver grades were reported to be among the highest in Latin America with the fourteen mines of Santa Ana producing average smelter returns of 4,300 g Ag/t from veins averaging 1.4 m wide. Historic mining depths support a geologic and exploration model for a composite mesothermal and epithermal vein system having mineralization that likely extends to great depth. At Santa Ana it is unlikely that there is sharp elevation restriction common to high-grade zones in many epithermal systems with no mesozonal component. At least eleven principle vein zones are recognized on the project that cumulatively provide up to 14 km of strike length - La Ivana (including the La Porfia vein system), Roberto Tovar (Royal Mines, including the Santa Ana vein system), El Dorado, Morales, Pollera, Guanabanera, San Antonio, Palomos, Murillo, Culebra and Megapozo. The zones commonly each contain multiple parallel veins. The veins can show both high-grade gold and high-grade silver mineralization. Silver-gold ratios are variable - probably related to local prevalent styles of gold mineralization as free gold, sulfide-associated gold and possible silver-gold alloys. About Outcrop Gold Outcrop is a hybrid prospect generator active in Colombia acquiring gold and silver exploration projects with world-class discovery potential. Outcrop performs its own grass roots exploration and then employs a joint venture business model on its projects to maximize investor exposure to discovery and minimize financial risk. Outcrop has seven primary projects in Colombia with three at an advanced stage of exploration. Outcrop will conduct focused drilling on flagship properties such as Santa Ana to create its own catalysts for value creation and to receive full value for future joint ventures or dispositions. Qualified person The technical information in this news release has been approved by Joseph P Hebert, a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101 and President and Chief Executive Officer to the Company. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Joseph P Hebert Chief Executive Officer +1 775 340 0450 hebert@outcropgoldcorp.com Nisha Hasan Investor Relations +1 416 888 4219 hasan@outcropgoldcorp.com www.outcropgoldcorp.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "potential", "we believe", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Outcrop to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including: the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals, capital expenditures and other costs, financing and additional capital requirements, completion of due diligence, general economic, market and business conditions, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, political uncertainties, and the state of the securities markets generally. Although management of Outcrop have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Outcrop will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59754 The coronavirus pandemic that shuttered Bay Area schools in the spring will keep them closed for at least the first part of the fall, with districts across the region reporting they will begin the school year in distance learning. Under a July 17 mandate by Gov. Gavin Newsom, schools in counties on Californias coronavirus watch list cannot reopen. San Mateo County on July 29 was the last of the Bay Areas nine counties to join that list, which monitors key virus indicators for significant infection rates or troubling patterns. A county has to record 14 consecutive days of declining coronavirus cases and be removed from the watch list before schools can reopen for in-person learning. That means millions of Bay Area students will start the academic year in distance learning, reversing some local decisions to bring students and teachers back to classrooms full- or part-time. Elementary schools can apply to their county health departments for waivers to reopen for in-person learning, even if their counties do not satisfy state coronavirus watch list benchmarks. On Aug. 3, state health officials released waiver evaluation criteria for local officials. For schools that dont qualify for waivers, even when their county is no longer on the monitoring list, a return to classrooms is not automatic: Each district may adopt a reopening plan based on county health guidelines as well as local finances, staffing, space considerations and labor agreements. Many districts are still negotiating details with their teachers unions, including daily hours of instruction. But the following is a sampling of the more general local district plans, which could change based on the evolving pandemic and county caseloads. The districts are grouped by county. SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY San Francisco Unified Plan: Distance learning. Students will begin the school year with full distance learning. When its safe to do so and authorized by local and state health officials, schools will make a limited return to in-person instruction, with no more than a third of the districts students allowed back on any given day. The most vulnerable students will come back to school first. The city also plans to open learning hubs in the fall to help up to 6,000 children with digital classwork and social interactions that virtual learning cannot provide. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 52,778. Archdiocese of San Francisco Plan: The archdioceses Department of Catholic Schools, which has campuses in San Francisco, Marin and San Mateo counties, announced July 23 that its San Francisco and Marin elementary campuses would start the school year with distance learning. It also said San Mateo schools would begin with distance learning if the county was put on the states coronavirus watch list, which occurred July 29. The superintendent said the archdiocese will consider seeking a waiver from the state for in-person instruction when the application process is available. A plan from the archdioceses Reopening Schools Task Force is under review. First day of school: Varies. Enrollment: Varies. ALAMEDA COUNTY Alameda Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district has two programs: flexible learning and remote learning. Students in the remote learning program will do 100% online learning for the whole year. Students in the flexible learning program will begin the year in the distance phase and return to campus for in-person instruction when the public health situation is safe enough to do so. First day of school: Aug. 27 (delayed from Aug. 17). Enrollment: 9,372. Berkeley Unified Plan: Distance learning. Elementary and middle schools will stay in distance learning for at least the first eight weeks of instruction. High school students will stay in distance learning most likely until the December break. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 9,844. Fremont Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district noted that it cannot provide in-person instruction until Alameda County is off the state monitoring list for 14 consecutive days. A joint statement from the superintendent and interim county health officer added that when the time is right and public health conditions allow, it should be the goal of every district to provide hybrid educational models that include limited in-class opportunities. First day of school: Aug. 26. Enrollment: 35,046. Hayward Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district will start the year with distance learning only, phasing in a hybrid model later. A full distance learning option will remain available. First day of school: Aug. 24 (traditional schedule schools). July 16 (year-round schools). Enrollment: 19,802. New Haven Unified Plan: Distance learning. The districts plans include an eventual move to hybrid learning, which would combine in-person and distance learning. First day of school: Aug. 12. Enrollment: 11,047 Newark Unified Plan: Distance learning. The districts plans include an eventual move to hybrid learning, which would combine in-person and distance learning. First day of school: Aug. 13. Enrollment: 5,669 Oakland Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district says it is preparing for a safe return to in-person instruction when conditions allow. First day of school: Aug. 10. Enrollment: 36,154. Pleasanton Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district offers three options to families: hybrid, long-term (remote) independent study and distance learning. All three options will begin the school year in distance learning. When conditions allow, students in the hybrid model will attend classes in person. Schools may also stretch and slide between remote and in-person instruction, pending coronavirus restrictions. First day of school: Aug. 11. Enrollment: 14,878. San Leandro Unified Plan: Distance learning. All students will start the year with online instruction, with ongoing preparation to reopen when safe. First day of school: Aug. 12 Enrollment: 9,067 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY Antioch Unified Plan: Pending. The district plans a back-to-school webinar in early August to share its plans for the school year. First day of school: Sept. 1. Enrollment: 16,293. Mount Diablo Unified Plan: Distance learning. The districts reopening plan says it will allow for selective phasing into classroom environments only when and where the highest standards of health and safety can be achieved. First day of school: Aug. 17. (Delayed from Aug. 13.) Enrollment: 30,724. Orinda Union Plan: Pending. First day of school: Aug. 13 Enrollment: 2,568 Pittsburg Unified Plan: Distance learning. When conditions permit, the district says any in-person learning would likely start with small groups of some students before transitioning to a hybrid model, where students split their time between in-person learning and distance learning. First day of school: Aug. 12. Enrollment: 11,367. Walnut Creek Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district has canceled plans for students to initially choose between two models, Hybrid and Virtual Academy. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 3,555. West Contra Costa Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district has a multi-phase plan for instruction, starting with distance learning, with in-person instruction added when deemed safe. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 28,246. MARIN COUNTY Mill Valley School District Plan: Distance learning. The district says it is developing plans for a variety of instructional structures as conditions permit. First day of school: Aug. 20. Enrollment: 2,839. COVID Resources Coronavirus Map Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California. Novato Unified Plan: Distance learning. When conditions allow, the district will offer two models: full-time virtual instruction and a hybrid in-person model that will strive for the maximum amount possible of safe in-person learning allowable under county and state health guidance. First day of school: Aug. 20 Enrollment: 7,558 San Rafael City Schools Plan: Distance learning. A district task force is considering hybrid models with in-person instruction, which will be phased in based on safety considerations and other factors. First day of school: Aug. 20. Enrollment: 7,356. SANTA CLARA COUNTY East Side Union High School, San Jose Plan: Distance learning, with some high-needs students receiving in-person instruction. First day of school: Aug. 11. Enrollment: 22,600. Fremont Union High School District Plan: Distance learning. The school year will start with remote instruction only. First day of school: Aug. 26. Enrollment: 11,071. Palo Alto Unified Plan: Distance learning. When campuses are allowed to reopen, the district is considering giving elementary students an option for a full year of distance learning. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 11,745. San Jose Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district announced students will receive instruction remotely for at least the first six weeks of the school year. First day of school: Aug. 12. Enrollment: 28,830. Santa Clara Unified Plan: Distance learning. All students will start the school year in distance learning. The district is considering additional options during the 2020-21 school year, some of which include in-person learning. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 15,306. SAN MATEO COUNTY San Mateo Union High School Plan: Distance learning. After the first six weeks of the school year, remote instruction and the weekly instructional schedule will be reassessed. First day of school: Aug. 17. Enrollment: 9,314. Redwood City School District Plan: Distance learning. Instruction will be remote for the first trimester, which ends Nov. 13. First day of school: Aug. 19. Enrollment: 7,196. South San Francisco Unified Plan: Distance learning. The district plans three phases of reopening. The first, 100% remote, will last for a minimum of three weeks or as long as necessary depending on health conditions. Additional phases are pending. First day of school: Aug. 17. (Delayed from Aug. 12.) Enrollment: 8,438 Jill Tucker, Kellie Hwang and Annie Vainshtein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle, kellie.hwang@sfchronicle.com, avainshtein@sfchronicle.com New Delhi: Sony India on Tuesday announced expanded its Extra Bass wireless speaker range at a starting price of Rs 8,990. The speakers support Extra Bass' sound which is achieved on the XB wireless speaker line-up through Sony's renowned audio technology. The SRS-XB43, SRS-XB33 and SRS-XB23 speakers will be available from July 16. "Backed by Sony's newly-developed X-Balanced Speaker Unit, these speakers provide high-sound quality and powerful sound pressure for a richer, deeper, and more rewarding listening experience," the company said in a statement. The series has an IP67 rating which makes the devices dustproof, rustproof and waterproof. The speakers come with built-in Google Assistant. The SRS-XB43 and SRS-XB33 claims to support 24 hours of music playback. The SRS-XB23 supports up to 12 hours of battery backup which can support Extra bass Mode playback for up to 10 hours, the company claimed. The speakers can be charged using the latest Type-C USB and can support battery charging by connecting one's smartphone via USB Type-A. Jenna Ushkowitz has joined the growing list of actors paying tribute to the late actress Naya Rivera, whose body was recovered from Lake Piru in Ventura County, California on Monday. As the 34-year-old Glee alum mourned the mother-of-one, who also starred on Fox's musical TV series from 2009 to 2015, Ushkowitz reflected on their shared 'laughs, martinis and secrets' in a heartfelt Instagram post. 'There are no words and yet so many things I want to say, I don't believe I'll ever be able to articulate exactly what I feel,' the Tony Award-winning producer began, before diving into Rivera's legacy of 'humor, light and loyalty.' Memories: Jenna Ushkowitz mourned the late actress Naya Rivera, who also starred on Fox's musical TV series from 2010 and 2015 in a heartfelt Instagram post on Monday (seen in 2013) 'Naya, you were a force and everyone who got to be around you knew it and felt the light and joy you exuded when you walked into a room,' she reflected. 'You shined on stage and screen and radiated with love behind closed doors. After praising her pal, the Broadway star shared a gut-wrenching statement: 'I can not believe I took for granted that you'd always be here.' While revealing their 'friendship went in waves as life happens and we grow,' she explained that she knows not to 'look back and regret.' 'I love you and promise to help the legacy of your talent, humor, light and loyalty live on,' she said of Rivera's life, which was cut short at just 33. 'I love you and promise to help the legacy of your talent, humor, light and loyalty live on,' she said of Rivera's life, which was cut short at just 33 (pictured in 2019) Heartfelt: The 34-year-old Glee alum joined the growing list of actors paying tribute to the late actress Naya Rivera, whose body was recovered from Lake Piru in Ventura County, California 'There are no words and yet so many things I want to say, I don't believe I'll ever be able to articulate exactly what I feel,' the Tony Award-winning producer wrote; seen in 2012 She concluded: 'You are so loved. You deserved the world and we will make sure Josey and your family feel that everyday. I miss you already.' Rivera disappeared from a boat on Lake Piru last week, on July 8th. She was with her four-year-old son Josey at the time, who was found sleeping alone in the pontoon boat they had rented. 'Naya, you were a force and everyone who got to be around you knew it and felt the light and joy you exuded when you walked into a room,' she reflected (pictured in 2009) A massive search was undertaken by local authorities, and on Monday morning, the actress's family rushed to the lake along with some of Rivera's Glee castmates, including Heather Morris. Upon police confirming that they had recovered Naya's body on Monday, tributes began pouring in, from other Glee castmates including Jane Lynch, Kevin McHale, Chris Colfer and Demi Lovato. Her costar Lea Michele, who deleted her Twitter days earlier, even took to Instagram to pay tribute to Naya, along with Cory Monteith, who passed away from a drug overdose seven years ago to the day on Monday. Naya and Cory are not the only Glee cast members to have passed Mark Salling, who played Puck on the show, died by suicide in January of 2018 after being convicted of possession of child pornography. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a press conference in New York City on July 6, 2020. Cuomo defended the state's policy that mandated nursing homes accept residents who tested positive for COVID-19. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images) New York Governor: Visitors From 22 States Must Quarantine for Two Weeks Residents of nearly half the states in America must quarantine themselves for two weeks if entering New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday. Officials added four new states to the list Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, and Wisconsin, and removed Delaware. The success of our efforts depends on citizens willingness to comply with state guidance, socially distance, wear masks, and wash their hands, and rising cases around the country continue to threaten our progress, which is why four new states have been added to New Yorks travel advisory, Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement. The other states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. A spokesman for Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine, a Republican, told The Epoch Times: We understand most every state has guidelines regarding out-of-state travel. The spokesman said in an email that Ohio has similar recommendations for people who travel from areas with known spread of the virus, such as Florida. Individuals arriving to New York must undertake a precautionary quarantine for 14 days, under threat of a $2,000 fine. The travelers are also required to fill out a form that theyll receive from airlines. Two people sit in a temporary outdoor dining area as New York City moves into Phase 3 of re-opening, on July 13, 2020. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images) The form tells visitors that the new rules were put into place in response to increased rates of COVID-19 transmission in certain states within the United States. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Travelers are told to submit information including name, telephone, and the address of their final destination. New York has the highest death toll of people with COVID-19 in the country, by far. As of July 14, 24,994 deaths were linked to the new disease, according to data from the state Department of Health. New York City officials last week canceled all large events through September but exempted protests and religious events. Cuomo first mandated travelers from out-of-state isolate on June 25. Officials have gradually added new states to the self-quarantine list. During the worst part of the pandemic in New York, officials declined to advise New Yorkers not to travel out of state and Cuomo criticized measures similar to the ones he recently put in place that other governors imposed. An arriving traveler fills out a form for the National Guard at TF Green Airport in Warwick, R.I., on March 29, 2020. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images) Cuomo threatened to sue Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, a Democrat who ordered National Guard troops to stop vehicles with New York license plates and tell the drivers they needed to self-quarantine for 14 days. I understand the goal but theres a point of absurdity, and I think what Rhode Island did is at that point of absurdity, Cuomo said at a press conference. We have to keep the ideas and the policies we implement positive rather than reactionary and emotional. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said last month that he hoped Cuomo wouldnt quarantine any Floridians in nursing homes, a reference to the governors order that nursing home operators accept patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19. Cuomo in response told reporters: You want to talk about a full 180 for those people. Florida and other states imposed quarantine on New Yorkers. If you went to Florida, you had to quarantine for two weeks because they were afraid that New Yorkers were bringing the virus to their state. Jack Phillips contributed to this report. The family members of Dr. P Varavara Rao (81), a Telugu writer and poet, who is lodged at Navi Mumbais Taloja Jail in connection with the 2018 Elgar Parishad case, has expressed concern about his worsening health condition and the authorities bid to scuttle his bail plea again. They are apprehensive that JJ Hospital, where he was taken for a battery of medical tests owing to his advanced age on Monday afternoon, might hurriedly release him before his bail plea comes up for hearing on Friday to reinforce that his health condition is not as worse as it made out to be. They released a statement on Tuesday morning, pleading to the hospital authorities to ensure that he is not released until he recovers and no attempt should be made to discharge him hurriedly. Dr. Rao was shifted to JJ Hospital from Taloja Jail on Monday afternoon. He was undergoing various tests until midnight. Hospital officials reportedly said that he was brought in for an evaluation and did not confirm whether he was going to be admitted. He may be kept in the hospital until the results are made available in a couple of days, the statement read. Dr. Raos family members have alleged that the authorities did not provide any information to them about his health condition, including when he was taken to the hospital on Monday afternoon. Though it was mandatory to inform the family about these developments, neither government nor jail, police, hospital authorities provided any information to us, the statement added. On May 28, Dr. Rao was taken to the hospital after he had lost consciousness. Later, he was discharged on June 1. At that time, the family members had alleged that he was hurriedly discharged in a bid to obstruct his bail plea before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, which was rejected on June 26. The NIA, which had taken over the Elgar Parishad case from Pune Police in February, had opposed the bail plea, as Dr. Rao was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, where there is no provision to grant him temporary bail. NIA had submitted that the jail authorities could be directed to ensure that Dr. Rao was provided proper medical attention, whenever required. Earlier, on January 1, 2018, violence erupted between Dalits and Marathas near the village of Bhima Koregaon in Pune district, where thousands of Dalits had gathered to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Koregaon. In that battle, the British Armys Dalit Mahar soldiers had defeated the Brahmin Peshwa rulers of the Maratha empire. The commemoration took place a day after an event in Pune called the Elgar Parishad was held. The Pune Police conducted a preliminary probe and claimed that the violence in Bhima Koregaon was the result of speeches made at the Elgar Parishad event. They alleged that banned Maoist groups organised the event, and a first information report (FIR) was also filed. In June 2018, the Pune Police arrested five activists and lawyers from Pune, Nagpur, and Delhi Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, and Shoma Sen for their alleged links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), and also for organising the Elgar Parishad event. In August 2018, the police arrested four more activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, and Dr. Rao. While Gautam Navlakha and Dr. Anand Teltumbde were arrested on April 14 this year, taking the total number of the accused in the case to 11. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After months of keeping her pregnancy away from the limelight, Nairobi-based socialite Corazon Kwamboka has since become the poster girl for overcoming endometriosis to become pregnant. A week after she revealed how the condition had dimmed her hopes of becoming pregnant, the voluptuous gym wear model on Monday continued to share with her 643K followers on Instagram details of her successful battle against Endo. Ms Kwamboka who is expecting her first child with fitness instructor Frank Kiarie (Frankie Just Gym It ) bared her growing baby bump in a fabric bikini. In doing so, the 27-year-old Instagram personality also showed off scars from a laparoscopic surgery she underwent. Incoming hot mama. Peep my endometriosis warrior scars on my belly button and the sides of my tummy. Those are the scars from which the laparoscopic surgery were done. #endowarrior? she captioned the shot taken at My Happy Place. In the comments section, Corazons soon-to-be baby daddy joked: Nakitambi utawezana? ? To which, the mom-to-be responded: Nitawezana father Abraham. The couple recently went public about their relationship, with Corazon insisting that she did not wreck Frankies marriage with his ex, YouTuber Maureen Waititu. People saying I ruined his family. That is not true, said Corazon. Frankie added: I know a lot of people think that but it is totally false, I mean we met way after I broke up with Maureen, so that had nothing to do with it. Its just that we found something that we never actually planned to fall into it. The soon-to-be parents said they met in July last year. We were both going through tough times in our lives. We were both out of relationships, it was a sensitive time, said Frankie. Adding: We just started talking, it was not as if we had planned to get into a relationship. She was entering the fitness world and I was in the fitness world. So I guess we had so much in common that things just catapulted into something else. On his breakup with the mother of his two children, Frankie explained: Maureen and I had our differences, and it is not something we tried to fix once but throughout our relationship. We were not necessarily happy at that time. So we figured it was best for us to go our separate ways. Corazon also revealed that the pregnancy wasnt planned. When I told him I was pregnant he was like okay, what are we going to do? and we agreed. He did not react negatively, we were all mature about it. Bringing a child to the world ni responsibility ya watu wawili, said Corazon, who is six months along. I wanted to know what he thinks and how he feels before I made a decision. It was not planned, it was a surprise. We had just found something beautiful and we did not want any backlash about it so we decided to keep it to ourselves for a while. A 31-year-old woman has been arrested by police investigating a number of reports of online blackmail incidents involving users of a Northern Ireland adult escort website. Detectives in Antrim said they received a number of reports from men who accessed a Northern Ireland escort website and were then threatened, that if they didn't pay money, details of their contact with the escort agency would be disclosed to their friends and family. It's understood some victims were contacted by someone pretending to be a police officer. The PSNI issued a statement to confirm that a 31-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail and is currently on police bail pending further enquiries. Police said that it is believed that many more victims are out there, but have not contacted police due to the sensitive nature of the incidents. "This type of crime is taken extremely seriously and anyone coming to police with information can be reassured that they will be treated professionally and their information will be treated in confidence," the PSNI said. Anyone with information is asked to contact the PSNI on 101 or a report can be made online at http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/. You can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/. While the sale of sex is not a crime in Northern Ireland, it is a criminal offence to purchase sex. In April, the PSNI received more than 40 reports of cyber criminals attempting to extort money in scam attempts including 'sextortion' from people across Northern Ireland. Read More People in Antrim, Down, Tyrone and Londonderry were targeted by the fraudsters, many of whom demanded thousands of pounds via email. The PSNI appealed to the public not to be duped by the extortion attempts, in which victims are told if they didn't pay 2,000, X-rated or compromising photos of them will be sent to their families or images and footage of them accessing pornographic websites would be released. Others were phishing emails where scammers told the recipient they had their password in an attempt to convince them they're a genuine threat, while there were also been reports of more traditional scams where scammers claim to be calling from a bank and ask for details. Scammers have also pretended victims are due a refund after their MoT was cancelled and that bank details are needed to complete the process. They have also pretended to be workmen owed money from a householder after a job was completed. Speaking at the time, Chief Superintendent Simon Walls says scammers will stop at nothing to dupe people and reminded the public never to give out personal or financial information to an unverified source via email or over the phone. Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci wears a face mask while he waits to testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Trump Administration's Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. A leading group of infectious disease specialists called White House efforts to discredit the nation's top infectious disease expert "disturbing" Tuesday, while four former heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chastised U.S. leaders they say are politicizing the country's Covid-19 response. Reports of the Trump administration's campaign to discredit and diminish the role of White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading voices in the country's response to the coronavirus, "at this perilous moment are disturbing," Thomas M. File Jr., president of the Infectious Disease Society of America, said in a statement issued Tuesday. "The only way out of this pandemic is by following the science, and developing evidence-based prevention practices and treatment protocols as new scientifically rigorous data become available. Knowledge changes over time. That is to be expected," File said in his statement in support of Fauci on Tuesday. Comments Thursday by both Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and President Donald Trump revealed the apparent rift between them has widened. Fauci told the Financial Times in an interview that he hasn't seen Trump at the White House since early June and hasn't briefed him on the pandemic in at least two months. Trump told Fox News that "Dr. Fauci's a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes." "They've been wrong about a lot of things, including face masks," Trump said in the interview. "Maybe they're wrong, maybe not. A lot of them said don't wear a mask, don't wear a mask. Now they're saying wear a mask. A lot of mistakes were made, a lot of mistakes." The Trump administration has increasingly disregarded advice from its top scientific advisors on Covid-19, with Trump himself calling the CDC's guidelines on school reopenings too cumbersome and expensive. The White House further tried to distance itself from and discredit Fauci over the weekend, saying "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things," according to a statement first reported by The Washington Post. The White House pointed to comments and positions taken by Fauci early in the outbreak that he has since changed. File, of the Infectious Disease Society, said "all of America must support public health experts, including Dr. Fauci, and stand with science" if there's any hope of ending the pandemic. Dr. Howard Bauchner, the editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA, said in an open letter issued Tuesday that the "whisperings, innuendos, and attacks from the White House and others" about Fauci are "not only unseemly and unfair, but reveal a lack of commitment to the health and well-being of all Americans." "The undermining of science and the unprecedented attacks on scientists and public health officials risk lives in every corner of our country," Bauchner said in the letter. Separately, past directors of the CDC also criticized the Trump administration for dismissing advice from public health officials in an op-ed published in The Washington Post on Tuesday. Four former CDC directors wrote that the U.S. faces "two opponents" in its efforts to reopen the country: Covid-19 and politicians and others attempting to undermine the CDC. "It is not unusual for CDC guidelines to be changed or amended during a clearance process that moves through multiple agencies and the White House. But it is extraordinary for guidelines to be undermined after their release," wrote the former CDC directors: Tom Frieden, who served under former President Barack Obama; Jeffrey Koplan, who served under former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; David Satcher, who served under Clinton, and Richard Besser, who served under Obama. "Through last week, and into Monday, the administration continued to cast public doubt on the agency's recommendations and role in informing and guiding the nation's pandemic response," they said. The former CDC directors, while not naming Fauci, noted that there are "thousands of experts" at the CDC who are "best positioned to help our country emerge from this crisis." However, their advice has been challenged with "partisan potshots" that have caused confusion, the former directors said. The CDC and NIH are both divisions under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The rebuke from the former directors comes after Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos spent days pressuring schools to reopen amid a surge in Covid-19 cases nationwide. Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from states that don't reopen their schools. Vice President Mike Pence confirmed Wednesday that the Trump administration is looking to the upcoming phase four coronavirus relief bill as a potential way to exert leverage over schools. "As the debate last week around reopening schools more safely showed, these repeated efforts to subvert sound public health guidelines introduce chaos and uncertainty while unnecessarily putting lives at risk," the former directors wrote. WASHINGTON/BEIJING: The United States on Monday rejected China`s claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, drawing criticism from China which said the US position raised tension in the region, highlighting an increasingly testy relationship. China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other Southeast Asian coastal states, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," said Pompeo, a prominent China hawk within the Trump administration. The United States has long opposed China`s expansive territorial claims on the South China Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Monday`s comments reflect a harsher tone. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," Pompeo said. The US statement supports a ruling four years ago under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that invalidated most of China`s claims for maritime rights in the South China Sea. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian condemned the US rejection of China`s claim. "It intentionally stirs up controversy over maritime sovereignty claims, destroys regional peace and stability and is an irresponsible act," he said at a regular briefing. "The US has repeatedly sent large fleets of sophisticated military planes and ships to the South China Sea ... The U.S. is the troublemaker and destroyer of regional peace and stability." China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it. About $3 trillion worth of trade passes through the waterway each year. China has built bases atop atolls in the region but says its intentions are peaceful. MORE CONFIDENT? Analysts said it would be important to see if other countries adopted the U.S. stance and what, if anything, Washington might do to reinforce its position and prevent Beijing from creating "facts on the water" to buttress its claims. "The Southeast Asian claimants, especially Vietnam, will feel more confident in asserting their jurisdictional rights under UNCLOS," said Ian Storey, senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. The Philippines strongly supported a rules-based order in the South China Sea and urged China to comply with the four-year-old arbitration ruling, its defense minister, Delfin Lorenzana, said. Taiwan welcomed the US statement. "Our country opposes any attempt by a claimant state to use intimidation, coercion, or force to resolve disputes," Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters. The relationship between the United States and China has grown increasingly tense recently over various issues including China`s handling of the novel coronavirus and its tightened grip on Hong Kong. China routinely outlines the scope of its claims in the South China Sea with reference to a so-called nine-dash line on its maps that encompasses about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer waters. "This is basically the first time we have called it illegitimate," Chris Johnson, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said of Pompeo`s statement. "It`s fine to put out a statement, but what you going to do about it?" Move to sanction Lockheed Martin comes amid possible deal for Taiwan to buy defensive missile parts from US company. China said it would impose sanctions on Lockheed Martin Corp. in response to U.S. approval of a possible deal for Taiwan to buy parts to refurbish defensive missiles built by the company. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the announcement at a briefing in Beijing on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. should cut military ties with Taiwan so that it doesnt do further harm to bilateral relations and damage peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, Zhao said, adding: China decides to take measures to protect national interests. We will impose sanctions on the main contractor of this arms sale Lockheed Martin. The State Department last week approved a possible $620 million foreign military deal for the island to buy parts to refurbish previously sold Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles so that they can last 30 years. Chinas move comes as tensions grow with the U.S. on a number of fronts, from the trade war and territorial claims in the South China Sea to the new security law Beijing recently imposed on Hong Kong. The Trump administration has also gone after Huawei Technologies Co., seeking to have the Chinese telecom giant barred from advanced 5G wireless trials in countries from the U.K. to India. China has previously threatened to sanction U.S. companies, including General Dynamics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc., on numerous occasions over arms sales to Taiwan. It has also long-threatened to release a broader unreliable entities list in response to various actions by the Trump administration over the past year. (Newser) After a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee operative aboard the same American Airlines flight as Ted Cruz on Sunday tweeted a picture of the senator apparently relaxing on the plane, sans mask, the airline said it would reach out to Cruz. American requires all passengers to wear face coverings during their flights, though they can be removed while eating or drinking, and Cruz is holding a cup of coffee in the photo. "As we do in all instances like these, we reviewed the details of the matter, and while our policy does not apply while eating or drinking, we have reached out to Sen. Cruz to affirm the importance of this policy as part of our commitment to protecting the health and safety of the traveling public," a company rep tells the Hill. Cruz's fellow passenger also tweeted a photo of the senator waiting at the gate sans mask before the flight. story continues below The response from Cruz's camp: "To help promote safety, Senator Cruz wears a mask when traveling, and practices social distancing where possible. Consistent with airline policy, he temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking. Yesterday during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward. We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus." Cruz's rep also pointed to a separate tweet showing Cruz on a different flight, wearing a mask; the spokesperson said that photo was also taken Sunday. Yahoo News reports that American Airlines last month removed conservative activist Brandon Straka from a flight when he refused to wear a mask, and banned him from all of its flights as long as the requirement is in place. (Read more Ted Cruz stories.) It is true that a number of Faucis views on the novel coronavirus have evolved (though some of the administrations charges against him are distorted). But attacking a scientist for making such shifts is to willfully misunderstand the role of science in the fight against disease. We do not trust public health officials during an emerging pandemic because they have fully formed scientific views from the beginning. We trust them because 1) they are making judgments based on the best available information and 2) they have no other motive than the health of the public. If, say, health officials were initially mistaken about the possibility of asymptomatic transmission, it is not failure when they change their views according to better data. It is the nature of the scientific method and the definition of their duty. Patrick McMullan/Getty Ghislaine Maxwell has been denied bail and will remain in prison ahead of her trial, which is scheduled to take place one year from now. The 58-year-old British socialite pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating the abuse of minors by her boyfriend and former associate Jeffrey Epstein in an appearance by video link at a Manhattan court on Tuesday. Ms Maxwell, who wore a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses as she spoke from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held, faces up to 35 years in prison if she is convicted. She replied: "Not guilty, your honour," when US District Judge Alison Nathan asked her plea for the six criminal charges she faces. Explaining her decision to deny bail, Judge Nathan said that Ms Maxwell has access to extraordinary financial resources which could provide her the means to flee the country, despite travel restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus. No combination of conditions could reasonably ensure her presence at court. The risks are simply too great, she added. She said that Ms Maxwell had displayed sophistication in hiding her resources, and noted her international connections increased the likelihood that she would flee. That conclusion largely matched what prosecutors had argued. Speaking in support of denying bail, government prosecutor Alison Moe painted a picture of Ms Maxwell as a well-connected, wealthy individual with sufficient international ties that she could evade extradition. She alleged that Ms Maxwell had not been transparent about her finances, and as such posed an extreme flight risk. "There are serious red flags here," Ms Roe said, claiming that Ms Maxwell "has not come close to thoroughly disclosing her finances to the court, she has strong international ties, few if any community ties, much less a stable residence, and a strong incentive to flee." Ms Roe further argued that Ms Maxwell had proven to be "willing to lie to hide herself and disguise her identity." She claimed that she purchased the new Hampshire property where she was arrested earlier this month using the alias "Janet Marshall". Story continues The court heard from two alleged victims of Ms Maxwell, who spoke in support of the prosecution's request to deny her bail. One of them, Annie Farmer, said she was 16-years-old when she met Ms Maxwell. "She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other young women. She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors," she said. She added that Ms Maxwell "is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women," and that she "has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes." A statement from another victim, who gave the alias Jane Doe, called her a "predator and a monster". "Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did. She was in charge," she said in a statement read by the prosecution. Mark Cohen, the attorney representing Ms Maxwell, said his client had been the "target of endless media spin" as he called for her release on $5 million bail. "Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein. She is not the monster made out by the media." Ms Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and longtime associate, was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre property she bought in December . Ms Maxwell has been held since July 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn. Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He hanged himself on Aug. 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail. Prosecutors accused Maxwell of luring girls as young as 14 by asking them about their lives, schools and families and taking them shopping or to movies - acts, they said, that served as "the prequel" to Epstein's abuse. Epstein has been linked socially to several powerful figures including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew. Prosecutors said on Monday that when FBI agents went to arrest Ms Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a cellphone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection. Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said. With agencies Read more Ghislaine Maxwell wrapped phone in tin foil to evade detection ROME - ''Hagia Sophia is open to both Muslims and Christians. It was not a decision to restrict'' access, Turkish ambassador to Italy Murat Salim Esenli said Tuesday. He was speaking at the embassy during a commemoration ceremony for the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt and was referring to the recent ruling to reconvert the famous Istanbul monument and museum into a mosque. Esenli noted that the decision fell under Turkish sovereignty and was made ''on a legal basis. We are very sensitive to the issue of religious practices of our citizens''. ''As noted by President Erdogan, Hagia Sophia will welcome Muslims and Christians. This building will not lose its accessibility in becoming a mosque,'' he added. Then Turkish judiciary made a decision on the issue and ''the government must comply with it, since Turkey has rule of law and had to change Hagia Sophia from a museum back to being a mosque, because that is what must be done''. ''Those who have visited Turkey know that it doesn't matter when you enter a mosque whether you are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or of any other religion: so long as you take off your shoes you can enter. Whatever one's background is, you will have access to Hagia Sophia,'' Esenli stressed, adding that the building is a ''UNESCO World Heritage site and we know the criteria to ensure that it remains one. We will continue to comply with these rules and there will not be any changes.'' AmBank has been named as Malaysias best bank in a global ranking of 1,000 of the worlds quoted banks. This was revealed in the inaugural issue of The Statement, a new banking magazine published by Lafferty Group an organisation that provides research and advisory services to the banking industry worldwide. At the same time, AmBank is also ranked as one of the top 100 banks in the world by Lafferty, scoring particularly well for financial inclusion. Lafferty further noted that on average, Malaysian banks rated higher than banks in Australia, the UK, and the US, although they trail behind Indonesian banks. Lafferty also revealed that its ranking is dispelling the view that banks in the western market, such as the US and the UK, are the leading entities for industry achievement. Instead, banks from emerging markets are now setting the pace in world banking. They are more focused and unfettered by the mistakes that have done so much damage to Western banks. These mistakes include a misguided love affair with universal banking and the destructive ideology of shareholder value, said the chief executive officer of Lafferty Group, Michael Lafferty. The manager of Laffertys 1,000 Database & Research, Alexander Erickson, concurred with the opinion. He added that emerging market banks are becoming key industry players, especially in areas such as financial inclusion, diversity, and climate risk policy. This has opened up new doors and altered the course of research and data analytics, he said. Laffertys global ranking of 1,000 banks is a database that rates banks worldwide for their overall quality and longer-term sustainability. The banks are rated across 21 metrics, including staff investment, strategy, culture, leadership, customer satisfaction, digitalisation, inclusion, climate risk, and financials. Lafferty also clarified that its bank quality ratings are not credit ratings. Meanwhile, The Statement contains insights into the 1,000 banks directions post-Covid-19, and is anchored in continuous research. It is an exclusive magazine that draws information from Laffertys extensive database of global ratings and rankings. Aside from this recognition by Lafferty, AmBank had also recently won four prestigious awards from The Asset and Global Business Outlook for its AmOnline digital banking platform. (Source: The Edge Markets) 1 1 vote Article Rating SHARE Two excavators are pictured at a construction site on Taiping island in the Spratly chain in the South China Sea on March 23, 2016. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images) Taiwan Welcomes US Rejection of Beijings Territorial Claims in the South China Sea TAIPEI, TaiwanTaiwans foreign ministry welcomed a statement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejecting Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea. Joanne Ou, spokeswoman for Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on July 14 that she welcomed any related countries to issue statements that are in accordance with international laws, while reasserting Taiwans territorial claims in the disputed sea, according to Taiwans government-run Central News Agency. Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them, Pompeo said in a statement issued on Monday. The statement also marked a shift in Washingtons policy on the disputed waterway, taking a more aggressive stance against Beijing compared to past calls for China and its neighbors to resolve the disputed claims peacefully. Islands, reefs, and rocks in the South China Sea are claimed by a number of countries in the region, including Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Beijing has used the nine-dash line to proclaim sovereignty over 90 percent of the South China Sea, even as a United Nations legal judgment in 2016 refuted Beijings claims, after the Philippines brought the dispute to international court. Beijing has in recent years sought to bolster its claims in the strategic waterway by building military outposts on artificial islands and reefs. In addition, it has also deployed coast guard ships and Chinese fishing boats to intimidate foreign vessels, block access to waterways, and seize shoals and reefs. The PRC [Peoples Republic of China] has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region, Pompeo said in the statement. Similar to Beijing, the self-ruled island claims much of the South China Sea as part of its territory, but has taken a more restrained approach. Ou said that Taiwan opposes any countries that try to resolve the disputes through coercion, threats, or military force. She also reiterated President Tsai Ing-wens longstanding position on the issue, the so-called four principles and five actions that she first proposed in July 2016. Among the four principles is that Taiwan be included in any multilateral mechanisms to resolve disputes in the South China Sea and that all concerned states uphold the freedom of navigation and overflight in the region. Taiwan was previously blocked from participating in international negotiations, in part due to Beijings pressure. China has reacted angrily to Pompeos statement. Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused the United States of intentionally stirring up territorial disputes and damaging regional peace and stability. The Chinese Embassy in the United States also issued a statement, accusing the U.S. State Department of deliberately distorting the facts and international laws. Also on Tuesday, Filipino presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on state-run television that The Philippines will maintain friendly ties with China, even though Beijing rejected Manilas call to recognize the 2016 U.N. court ruling, according to the Philippine News Agency (PNA). On July 12, the four-year anniversary of the U.N. arbitration ruling, Filipino Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. called on Beijing to adhere to the ruling, saying that it was non-negotiable. The following day, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines said the ruling was illegal and invalid in a statement on its website. Several U.S. lawmakers applauded Pompeos statement. We fully support the administrations decision to clarify the United States position that Chinas territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea are unlawful, Sens. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said in a joint statement. The four lawmakers concluded: We hope this decision will lead to further efforts by the United States, our partners, and all members of the international community to better align support for international law with respect to the South China Sea. By developing rural tourism in recent years, a village in Central Chinas Henan Province, has been lifted out of poverty. Located in Luanchuan county, Henan Province, Cangfang village boasts lush mountains and lucid waters, yet the villagers were stricken by poverty for a long time for failing to make use of the natural advantages. The average per capita earnings of the villagers were around 2,000 yuan (about $285.6) in 2013 and 112 out of the 185 households in the village suffered from poverty, according to Wang Qingxian, head of the villagers committee. Due to the limited and infertile farmland in the mountain village, the locals couldnt make money by farming, Li Yinsheng, a resident in Cangfang, told the Peoples Daily, adding that his family of six had only about 3,330 square meters of land. For a time, the villagers tried to cut down trees and grow crops on the hills. However, they still couldnt make much profit this way, according to Li. As a result, many young villagers left their hometown for the cities, including Li, who left the village when he was 20. However, with little education and skills, he wasnt able to make ends meet, given the expensive cost of living in the city. After years of struggling, he had to return home to take care of his aged parents. Chongdu village, located on the other side of the mountain, is developing prosperously with similar natural conditions as Cangfang. By promoting rural tourism, the villagers in Chongdu have embraced a better-off life. As of the end of 2013, the per capita income of the villagers reached 30,000 yuan, and houses and cars were affordable for almost every household. How Chongdu village, which was less developed than Cangfang, turned out to be prosperous, became a dinner conversation for Cangfang villagers. After discussion, they agreed that rural tourism and transportation were the keys to Chongdus success. Li believed that what Cangfang village needed were not only roads, but also a way of poverty alleviation enabling the village to generate revenue out of its lush mountains and lucid waters, just as Chongdu village did. As expected by the villagers in Cangfang, a highway from Luoyang, Henan, to Luanchuan county, opened to public at the beginning of 2013, with part of its section passing Cangfang village. Under the governments policy of targeted poverty alleviation, a wildlife park was built in the village, making its rugged mountains and lush bamboo groves a great resort for tourists. By transferring the land-use right of the wildlife park, the villagers could gain both rent and dividends, and even get paid working in the park. Data suggest that the project has brought an annual income of over 6,000 yuan for each household in the village, plus three million yuan for villagers working in the park. The wildlife park has attracted many tourists, some of whom even had difficulty finding a parking space during the peak season, Li noted, who then sensed a new opportunity to develop agritainment business. With the help of poverty alleviation officials, Li has become quite familiar with the related policies. The government will provide an interest-free microfinance loan of 100,000 yuan for entrepreneurs in poor areas, an interest-free special loan of 30,000 yuan that requires other poor households as a guarantee, a subsidy of 3,000 yuan for poor families applying for poverty alleviation projects, and a maximum subsidy of 60,000 yuan for poor families that aim to develop rural tourism. By taking out loans and raising funds himself, together with over 100,000 funds from the government, Li renovated his house and turned it into a bed and breakfast (B&B), which was put into operation at the end of 2015. Li and his wife took the free courses provided by the local government, learning about cooking, reception etiquette and hotel housekeeping. Li also proactively learnt from the experience of the B&B facilities in Chongdu. The business is gradually booming and the rooms are even all booked up during the holidays, said Li. By running the B&B, Li earns about 70,000 to 80,000 yuan every year, and his entire family shook off poverty in 2016. More and more villagers have become better off by protecting the environment and developing rural tourism, and Cangfang village has made a rule to prohibit reclaiming the wasteland and cutting down trees to grow crops. Forty-two B&B facilities have opened in the village, generating an average annual income of about 30,000 yuan for each one of them, said Wang, adding that all poverty-stricken households in the village had been lifted out of poverty by the end of 2019, either by selling local products or securing a job in the village. However, the thriving tourism in Chongdu has caused serious pollution in recent years, as 8,000 tons of wastewater has been discharged every day, Li pointed out. Under the guidance of the government, an administrative committee of the Chongdu scenic area was established, where Chongdu village and surrounding eight villages work together to upgrade the B&B hotels by reducing the number of beds and improving the quality of service. Meanwhile, visitors that stay at the B&B in surrounding villages will receive ticket discounts and infrastructure concerning sewage treatment is enhanced. While protecting the environment, more villages in Luanchuan county have developed rural tourism. The county has established 23 ecological parks and 1,442 B&B facilities, lifting 13,000 people out of poverty through rural tourism. Now, Li is planning to make some of his B&B rooms bamboo-themed. Im more convinced that protecting the environment and developing rural tourism will bring more sustainable development to the village, he said. OTTAWALike charitable organizations across Canada, WE Charity was hit hard by COVID-19. Morale within the organization had been low for weeks, with longtime staff members being shown the door as the global health crisis deepened. Then news started circulating within the organization of a significant federal government contract. The Liberal governments $19.5-million deal for WE to operate a $900-million student volunteering grant program turned the mood around, a source within the organization told the Star. It was a really demoralized space for quite a while, and then we started hearing whispers internally about a government contract, a government project, the source said. The Star agreed not to name the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. A second source corroborated their account. They started presenting it internally before the documents were ever signed, the contract was ever finalized, because thats the way WE works. So we started drawing up the program before it was assured, before it was guaranteed. We started hiring people back based on that. The mood within the organization is markedly different today, the source said, now that the international charity finds itself at the centre of a political scandal. Over the past week, it has been revealed that WE paid members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus family to speak at WE-hosted events. Margaret Trudeau, the prime ministers mother, received $250,000 in honorariums for speaking at 28 WE-hosted events between 2016 and 2020. Alexandre Trudeau, the prime ministers brother, received $32,000 in speaking fees between 2017 and 2018. Then it was revealed that Finance Minister Bill Morneaus daughter works with the organization. On Monday, Trudeau and Morneau apologized for taking part in the cabinet discussions about the awarding of the contract. The federal ethics commissioner has launched an investigation. WE laid off 450 contract workers after the federal deal was nixed. Those workers were let go after the scandal broke and the charity and the government mutually agreed to let the public service instead administer the $900-million program to pay students to volunteer during the COVID-19 pandemic. The source said WE Charity and its co-founders, brothers Marc and Craig Kielburger, are now in damage control mode. The charity took out full-page ads on Monday in the Star and the Globe and Mail, in which the Kielburgers apologized for the scandal. The same advertisement ran in Postmedia papers Tuesday. The charitys integrity and purpose has been called into question, the advertisement read. It has had direct impacts on our staff, supporters and beneficiaries. We have made mistakes that we sincerely regret. It has led us to more closely examine our own internal structures, governance and organization. The charity issued a statement to the Star in response to questions about the organization. With respect to our staffs morale, WE Charity has welcomed 2,500 current and former staff over 25 years, and we respect the voice of each individual, the statement said. We strive to create an environment for all employees where they can enjoy coming to work each day. WE is by no means alone; charitable organizations across Canada have seen a decrease in donations and revenues since the pandemic hit. According to Imagine Canada, an advocacy group for the charitable sector, 73 per cent of Canadian charities reported donations were down in May 2020. The size and scope of (COVID-19-related) shifts is beyond anything that we have seen before, far exceeding what we saw in the 2008/2009 financial downturn, wrote David Lasby, the organizations director of research, in a May report. (Its had) broad effects (so that) even the most diversified revenue bases are seriously affected. The Stars source said that the Kielburgers began regular town hall meetings within the organization after the news website Canadaland in late 2018 began to investigate the charity, in an effort to increase transparency for its employees. A frequent aspect of those internal pep talks was a financial update from Marc Kielburger. The source said that last fall, Kielburger started talking about a coming recession and the smart moves the charity was taking to make sure it wasnt overextended. And then COVID happened. It is true that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted the Canadian charitable sector as a whole, and WE Charity was no exception but to be clear, WE Charity had no risk of ceasing operations, the emailed statement said. Prior to WE receiving its contact, the government had recognized the challenging times for the sector, and allocated $350 million through partners including the United Way, the Red Cross and Community Foundations Canada. The contract with WE was a further step in working with charities who were co-ordinating placements for students, while also engaging post-secondary students in meaningful service. That is the sole reason we participated. There is considerable anger within the organizations 174-person workforce, and especially among those contract workers laid off after the scandal hit, according to people who spoke to the Star on the condition they not be named. The government contract allowed WE to rehire a number of employees the organization had laid off since the pandemic hit. One source described it as keeping the lights on for WEs programming. The Prime Ministers Office did not immediately answer a request for comment Tuesday. The family of a young woman who suffered catastrophic and permanent brain damage after falling through a faulty second-floor railing at a Cleveland bar three years ago have reached a $22million settlement with the proprietors of the now-defunct business and the owners of the building. Megan Keefe was a 20-year-old nursing student when she plummeted from a balcony at Spirits Bar on West 6th Street on St Patrick's Day in 2017. She landed head first onto a granite countertop 15 feet below, suffering severe injuries to her head and face that have left her in need of around-the-clock care, according to the lawsuit that her parents filed on her behalf four months later. The lawsuit claimed that the bar owners knew that the balcony railing was broken but did nothing to protect their patrons, and that after Keefe's accident they tried to cover up her fall. Megan Keefe was a 20-year-old nursing student when she fell from a second-floor balcony at a Cleveland bar on March 17, 2017. She suffered catastrophic brain injuries that have left her in need of around-the-clock care Keefe's family in June 2017 sued the owners of Spirits Bar, and owners of the building and the property manager claiming, among other things, a cover-up It has now emerged that in April of this year, the owners of the shuttered bar, the buildings owner WD Downtown and the property manager Dalad Realty reached a settlement with the plaintiffs. The property manager agreed to pay $20million, and the two other defendants agreed to pay $1million each, reported Cleveland.com. About a third of the total settlement sum, or more than $8million, will go into a fund to cover Keefe's medical expenses, while her mother and father will each get $2million. More than $8million will go to the family's half-dozen lawyers. Keefe had been drinking underage at Spirits Bar on March 17, 2017, after the St Patrick's Day parade. At around 2.30pm, the nursing student took a fall while dancing with friends on the second-story balcony. She suffered a brain bleed and a fractured skull, vertebrae, and eye socket, but staff ignored her need for medical attention and dragged her outside, aggravating her injuries, the lawsuit stated. Video from inside the bar showed an employee removing her from the bar, while onlookers questioned his actions, saying she needed an ambulance. Keefe was laid out on the sidewalk in front of the bar before emergency responders arrived and took her to the hospital in critical condition, the lawsuit stated. Keefe was dragged outside by an employee at the bar (pictured, video from inside the bar) Her parents' attorney called the dragging 'unreasonable and negligent', adding that it 'aggravated' her already catastrophic injuries Her parents' attorney Craig Bashein called the dragging 'unreasonable and negligent', adding that it 'caused an aggravation and/or worsening of Megan's already catastrophic fall-related injuries....' Court records described alleged efforts by bar staff to conceal the accident by wiping away Keefe's blood and quickly repairing the broken railing before police and a fire investigator arrived. The fire chief said in a deposition that he was told by a bar employee that a manager had put the broken railing panel into place, reported Fox 8. According to court records, Keefe for a while remained in a coma. She has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder and suffered a stroke. Three years and multiple blood transfusions after the accident, she cannot perform basic everyday tasks on her own and requires constant care. She is not expected to ever fully recover from her injuries. After Keefe's fall, the bar was cited for serving liquor to an underage person, and the bartender who took her order was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct. The bar was temporarily shut down due 'hazardous conditions', police said. Building inspectors found Spirits was not certified to allow customers on the second floor, and cited the venue for an obstructed exit, along with outdated sprinklers and fire extinguishers. In their lawsuit, Keefe's parents accused the defendants of failing to do anything despite knowing the railings were 'in a hazardous, dangerous and/or defective condition'. Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG Philadelphia state Sen. Anthony H. Williams has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the second Pennsylvania legislator to contract COVID-19. Williams disclosure of a positive diagnosis Tuesday led at least two of his Democratic colleagues who recently attended a press conference with him including Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) to seek testing. Another lawmaker, Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre), said he decided not to return to the Senate floor Tuesday for the voting session because he had been in contact with Williams in the past 14 days, and believed it was prudent to self-quarantine. I just thought it was the proper thing to do, to be cautious, said Corman, adding that he is not exhibiting symptoms. In a statement, Williams said he is following recommended health guidelines, and had informed Senate Democratic leadership and those he had come into contact with so they can take the necessary steps to evaluate if they are running any risk. Williams also said that he is shuttering his offices for two weeks out of an abundance of caution. Brittany Crampsie, a spokesperson for Senate Democrats, said Williams began experiencing symptoms last Thursday, was tested Friday, and received the result Tuesday. Fewer than 10 staffers who were exposed to the senator in recent weeks have been told to work from home, she said. If any of their tests are positive, we will expand our contact tracing, Costa said in a statement. It was not immediately known when Williams, who did not respond to an interview request, was last in Harrisburg. His social media posts show that he has attended a handful of in-person events over the past few weeks. That includes a June 30 press conference at the Capitol with Costa and Sen. Vince Hughes (D., Philadelphia). All senators, including Williams, wore masks. Hughes was also tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, according to Crampsie. Kate Flessner, a spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), declined to comment on how the Republican caucus is dealing with Williams disclosure, saying only that the chamber has policies and protocols in place when there is potential exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace. In late May after a Republican House member revealed, a week after his diagnosis, that he had tested positive for COVID-19 Williams wrote Scarnati asking that the chamber mandate disclosure of potential coronavirus exposure to all four caucuses in both the House and Senate. In his letter, Williams noted that while the Senate had adopted a policy requiring disclosure of a coronavirus case, only people who work for the upper chamber would be informed. The belated revelation that Rep. Andrew Lewis (R., Dauphin) had tested positive for COVID-19 sparked outrage among his Democratic colleagues who complained that they had been left in the dark about the diagnosis. At the time, Lewis said he immediately began self-isolating after receiving the test result and that he informed House officials, who worked to identify anyone he may have exposed. But while some Republican lawmakers were notified of their potential exposure and self-isolated as a result, Democrats said they only learned of it from a reporter, despite their own daily proximity to Lewis. The episode prompted multiple calls for public officials to promptly and publicly disclose a positive test result. 100% ESSENTIAL: Spotlight PA relies on funding from foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. If you value this reporting, please give a gift today at spotlightpa.org/donate. The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) in Bayelsa State, Timi Alaibe, against governor Douye Diri. He had filed the appeal at the apex court to challenge the emergence of Mr Diri as PDPs candidate in the last years election. Mr Alaibe, who was a governorship aspirant of the PDP in the 2019 election, had instituted a suit against the party, Mr Diri and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) at the Federal High Court in Owerri. He had sought cancellation of the result of the primary election on grounds of procedural flaws. On March 10, Justice Tijjani Ringim of the Federal High Court in Owerri dismissed Mr Alaibes suit for lacking in merit. The Port Harcourt Division of the Court of Appeal on May 12, also dismissed Mr Alaibes appeal and upheld the judgment of the trial court. Dissatisfied with the appellate courts judgement, Mr Alaibe approached the Supreme Court. Dismissed again But at the resumed hearing of the matter on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, informed the appellants lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe, that his case cannot be categorised as a pre-election matter but a domestic affair of the party which the court lacked jurisdiction to hear. The appeal was also described as statute-barred. Following this, Mr Adedipe decided to withdraw the appeal and consequently, the apex court dismissed it. Long road Mr Diri and his deputy, Lawrence Ewhrujakporboth, had taken the oath of office in Yenagoa, after he (Mr Diri) was on Febrary 13, declared winner of the November 16 governorship election. This followed the annulment of the victory of the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), David Lyon, by the Supreme Court. A five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Odili sacked Mr Lyon on the grounds that his deputy, Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo, presented false information to INEC. The apex court in the judgment delivered by Ejembi Eko consequently ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Messrs Lyon and Degi-Eremienyo. The judge also ordered that INEC should immediately declare the party with the highest number of lawful votes and geographical spread. The INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, on February 14, formally declared Mr Diri winner of the polls. He said the decision was in compliance with the apex courts decision. Subsequently, the INEC commissioner for the South-south, May Agbamuche, presented the certificate of return to Mr Diri and his deputy. HANOI -- Vietnams coal imports in the first half of this year surged by more than 50% to a record high, government data showed on Monday, mostly to feed the countrys growing number of coal-fired power plants. Coal imports in the January-June period rose 53.8% from a year earlier to 31.57 million tonnes, the Customs Department said in a statement. Vietnam turned from a net coal exporter to a net importer about five years ago and has become more reliant on imported coal for its electricity production, though the government is seeking to reduce its coal reliance and boost renewables. Coal-fired plants now account for around 35% of Vietnams installed power generation capacity, a ratio that will stay unchanged for the next five years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trades institute of energy. Its coal imports in the first half of this year, mostly from Indonesia, Australia and Russia, exceeded the domestic coal production of 25.27 million tonnes during the same period, according to government data. Last years coal imports nearly doubled from a earlier to 43.77 million tonnes. The ministry last year said Vietnam would face severe power shortages from 2021 as construction of new plants lags demand. Electricity consumption is expected to exceed supply by 6.6 billion kWh in 2021, and 15 billion kWh in 2023. Last week, Vietnams state oil firm PetroVietnam said it will stop developing new coal fired power plants and wants to venture into renewable energy sources. Escalating ties with Turkey was the No. 1 issue at the July monthly meeting of European Union foreign ministers. Meeting in Brussels face-to-face for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, the ministers tried to balance harsh criticism against Ankara with keeping the door for dialogue open. "Turkey is an important country for the EU with whom we would wish to see our relations strengthened and developing. This should be done in respect of EU values, principles and interests. At the same time, there are worrying developments, in particular in the eastern Mediterranean and regarding Libya, that affect the EUs interests," said the EUs High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell on July 13. As far as the EU is concerned, the Turkish file includes several issues, including Turkeys increasing involvement in Libya, its involvement in Syria, its attitude on migration, its threats on freedom of press and speech, and now also the Hagia Sophia. Already on July 10, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian criticized strongly the decision taken by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to change the status of the Hagia Sophia from museum to mosque. Drian said, "These decisions undermine one of the most symbolic acts of modern, secular Turkey. The integrity of this religious, architectural and historical jewel a symbol of religious freedom, tolerance and diversity included on UNESCOs World Heritage List must be protected. Hagia Sophia must continue to represent the plurality and diversity of religious heritage, dialogue and tolerance." France has in recent months become one of Turkeys staunchest opponents over Libya. Speaking on July 13, and contrary to the more diplomatic language deployed in the ministers final statement, the spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry didnt mince his words. "At Frances request, the ministers held a deep and no-taboo discussion. With our partners, we have realized that the relation with Turkey has become difficult over the unilateral actions taken by it, especially in Libya and Syria, generating great concerns over international law, said the spokesperson, adding, "The ministers expressed great unity over the necessity to receive clarifications from Ankara over respecting the sovereignty of European states (Greece, Cyprus) and the engagement taken at the Libya Berlin conference especially concerning respecting the arms embargo decided by the United Nations. Turkey has been supporting for years now the UN-backed government in Tripoli against the forces of Gen. Khalifa Hifter. Officially, France is also supporting the Tripoli government, though it did support in the past Hifters campaign against Jihadist groups. But it was when Turkey began deepening its involvement in Libya and encouraging military confrontations that France became agitated. On June 10, a serious incident occurred off the Libyan coast involving Turkish military vessels and the French frigate Courbet. Paris accused Ankara of targeting the French warship, raising questions over Ankara infringing on the UNs arms embargo a claim that Ankara categorically denied. Be that as it may, the Libya crisis now confronts NATO allies, which is of great concern to Brussels. Escalating even further tensions within NATO, Turkey has recently sent ships and equipment to drill for gas in an area of the Mediterranean Sea where Cyprus says it has exclusive rights. European diplomats told Al-Monitor that Brussels considers the Hagia Sophia decision a clear provocation on the part of Erdogan, targeting the West in general and the EU in particular. It will certainly not help in striving for a political solution in Libya or in rehabilitating European ties with Ankara, they say. Backlog of 1.2 million cases awaits as courts in New Jersey, Maryland and Michigan reopen to non-detained immigrants. Three immigration courts in the United States reopened Monday as the government extended its push to fully restart the clogged system despite rising coronavirus cases in states where many of the small courtrooms are located. In Baltimore, Maryland people with hearings to reach final decisions were allowed to enter the federal building housing the immigration court only if they wore masks. Benches in a courtroom and seats in a waiting area were blocked off with tape, and social distancing signs were placed on the floor and in the elevators. But scheduling hearings, which can include dozens of people in a single courtroom, did not take place on Monday. Courts in Newark and Detroit also were scheduled to reopen on Monday. The reopenings extend a haphazard but unmistakable march to business as usual that has outraged judges and lawyers who say the coronavirus pandemic poses an unacceptable risk of spreading disease. Immigrants in a naturalisation ceremony being sworn in. Most such ceremonies have been cancelled altogether since the start of the coronavirus pandemic [File: Bloomberg] The Department of Justices Executive Office for Immigration Review started reopening courts over the past month to non-detained immigrants, first in Honolulu on June 15 and over the next three weeks in Boston; Buffalo, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; Las Vegas; New Orleans; Chicago; Cleveland; and Philadelphia. Dallas courts reopened June 29, but five days later, the agency announced on Twitter that it was closing until July 17 and gave no explanation. Texas has been reporting a record number of coronavirus cases, and its governor has warned the state may have to return to a lockdown to get things under control. San Diego, which also has seen a surge in coronavirus cases, was scheduled to reopen court on July 6 but moved it back two weeks again without explanation. The immigration Court is collapsing under the weight of one million pending deportations. In many jurisdictions it takes years to get a hearing date. The Pandemic didnt help. https://t.co/rs8ponUCjL Matthew Kolken (@mkolken) July 13, 2020 Hearings for non-detained immigrants were suspended in March because of the public health crisis, though courts in detention centres have continued to operate on a limited basis. The court systems backlog of 1.2 million cases becomes more crushing as long as courts are closed. The Justice Department said Monday that any court whose reopening date has not been announced will be closed through July. The Justice Department agency has given virtually no explanation on what public health data it is using to determine if courtrooms are safe, said Ashley Tabaddor, a Los Angeles-based immigration judge speaking in her capacity as president of the National Association of Immigration Judges union. We keep coming back to what numbers are you using?' she said. They seem to be out of touch with the state numbers we are seeing. Judges in Dallas have contacted the union, concerned their health is being put at risk. The union represents about 460 immigration judges who work more than 65 courts. People dont have trust that the agency is doing the right thing, Tabaddor said. In conjunction with the reopening, the government is going to stop allowing the electronic filing of documents, which it had done as a precaution to prevent the spread of the virus. Immigration courts are often housed in office buildings not courthouses making it particularly difficult for people to spread apart because the rooms are small, Tabaddor said, adding that there is also little ventilation, especially in older buildings. The coronavirus may linger in the air indoors, increasing the risk of infection in those spaces, according to the World Health Organization. Lahore: The Pakistan government has laid a 16,000-foot artificial turf in the courtyard of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara to facilitate bare-footed pilgrims walk on the marble floor in the scorching heat, a top official said on Monday. Sikh pilgrims from Pakistan have been visiting the gurdwara after it was reopened on June 29 following its closure for three months due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Astroturf was laid on the marble floor of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib last week, Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) spokesperson Amir Hashmi said. He said the gurdwara floor is carpeted with 16,000-ft turf in the courtyard to facilitate pilgrims as they have to walk bare-foot on the marble floor and in this hot weather, it is difficult to walk or sit on it. Indian pilgrims are currently not visiting the gurdwara as India temporarily suspended the pilgrimage and registration for the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara on March 16 in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Pilgrims of all faiths from India are allowed to undertake round the year visa-free travel to the historic gurdwara in Pakistans Punjab province. Photos tweeted by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee showing the astroturf spread out for the convenience of pilgrims on the marble floor at Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara due to the hot weather. (Twitter) NO GREEN SIGNAL FROM INDIA Still there has been no green signal from India to allow Sikhs to visit the gurdwara, Hashmi said, adding Pakistani Sikhs, however, are visiting it since June 29. Sikhs from Pakistan and India are allowed to visit the Darabar Sahib by following the standard operating protocol (SOPs) for social distancing. ETPB and Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee have made special arrangements for the safety of the pilgrims. Earlier, foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan had conveyed the Indian side about its readiness to reopen the corridor in connection with the occasion of the death anniversary of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjeet Singh on June 29. Sources in the government of India in New Delhi had said Pakistan was trying to create a mirage of goodwill by proposing to reopen the corridor on June 29. SHORT NOTICE OF TWO DAYS The sources also wondered why Pakistan proposed to reopen it in such a short notice of two days while a bilateral agreement on the corridor provided for information to be shared by both sides at least seven days before the date of travel. The 4km-long Kartarpur Corridor provides visa-free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit the gurdwara, the final resting place of Sikh faiths founder Guru Nanak Dev, who had spent the last 18 years of his life in Kartarpur. In November last year, the two countries threw open the corridor linking Dera Baba Sahib in Gurdaspur in India and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan, in a historic people-to-people initiative. Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara is located in Pakistans Narowal district across the Ravi river, about 4km from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. Crude futures rose as initial signs that OPEC members intend to comply with promises to curtail production eclipsed fears that a resurgence in coronavirus cases would send demand back to the worst days of the pandemic. Saudi Arabia commended Iraq for implementing almost all its pledged oil-production cuts, and Nigeria told the kingdom it was committed to hitting its target, in further signs that disputes among OPEC+ members over cheating of quotas are being resolved. Its all about risk appetite and the hope of continued demand growth here, said Bart Melek, global head of commodity strategy at TD Securities. Iraq and Nigeria pledging to to live up to their supply cut commitments made investors comfortable to take a long stance on oil. Oil has been stuck in a rut after staging a months-long rally from historic lows in April. A wave of new coronavirus cases sweeping the U.S. has spurred concerns over a recovery in gasoline demand. The market will turn its attention to weekly storage figures from the American Petroleum Institute later Tuesday for any signs that a persistent glut is being whittled down. PREVIOUSLY: Oil falls on signs OPEC+ will taper cuts even with virus surging Weve been in a market thats been in clear consolidation for quite some time, said Thomas Finlon of Houston-based GF International. After a considerable rally or selloff, the interesting thing is the market seems to be drawn back to unchanged on the day pretty quickly. The API report will be followed by the Energy Information Administration which will release its latest inventory data on Wednesday. If crude oil storage posts a new all-time record, with a build at Cushing thrown in for good measure, I would tend to think the market would trade lower possibly sharply lower, Bob Yawger, director of the futures division at Mizuho Securities USA, said in a note to clients. In the longer-term, OPEC expects demand for its crude to rebound next year, surpassing levels seen before the pandemic, as rival producers struggle to revive output. An OPEC+ committee meets Wednesday to discuss easing record supply curbs that have helped the market recover. OPEC+ is expected to stick with plans to taper the cuts from August even as the virus rages in many parts of the world. The OPEC+ committee will consider whether the alliance should keep 9.6 million barrels of daily output off the market for another month, or taper the cutback to 7.7 million barrels as originally planned. Members are leaning toward the latter option, according to several national delegates who asked not to be identified. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 03:42:21|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ADEN, Yemen, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Yemeni government on Tuesday agreed to resume commercial flights to the war-ravaged Arab country after four months of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Yemeni Supreme National Emergency Committee said in a statement that "the Yemeni government approved a proposal for resuming commercial flights to the country starting Wednesday, July 15." The decision was made at a government meeting chaired by Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik. It placed some conditions that request adherence to the preventive and precautionary measures declared previously. On Tuesday, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Yemen's government-controlled provinces increased to 1,516, with a death toll of 429. Enditem Jacksonville: US security and intelligence agencies fear that Russia-backed hackers might try another round of cyber-attack on the election day next week, multiple media reports have said. Even though such a move is unlikely to impact the election outcome, but it might sow doubts about the legitimacy of the results, reports said. "The assessment reflects widespread concern among US spy agencies that a months-long campaign by Russia to rattle the mechanisms of American democracy will probably continue after polls close on one of the most polarizing races in recent history, extending and amplifying the political turbulence," The Washington Post said in a major news story. "I think its correct to say the Russians dont think they can dictate the outcome," Congressman Adam B Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, was quoted as saying in the US media. Still Russian intelligence services are likely to be "looking through their troves of hacked documents and seeing what they can release," he said. In another news report, NBC News said government officials believe hackers from Russia or elsewhere may try to undermine Tuesday's presidential election. They are mounting an unprecedented effort to counter their cyber meddling. According to the news channel, Russia has been warned that any effort to manipulate the actual voting or vote counting would be viewed as a serious breach. "The Russians are in an offensive mode and [the US is] working on strategies to respond to that, and at the highest levels," Michael McFaul, the US ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, was quoted as saying in the US media. The Russians "want to sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process in ways they've done elsewhere," a senior Obama administration official told NBC news. "So this is to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal and that we're prepared to respond to whatever it is that they do," the official said. "We need to be prepared on every front, not just technical but messaging, and so on. Because any reporting irregularity could be incredibly disruptive. They can cause tremendous chaos, and by the time we are able to attribute, the damage may have already been done," the official said. US officials have said that given the nature of decentralization of elections, it would be extremely difficult for a nation or a non-state actor to alter ballot counts. "This assessment is based on the decentralized nature of our election system in this country and the number of protections state and local election officials have in place. States ensure that voting machines are not connected to the Internet, and there are numerous checks and balances as well as extensive oversight at multiple levels built into our election process," the official said. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A Taiwanese firm based in the southern Vietnamese province of Dong Nai was caught illegally burning more than three metric tons of garbage on Monday. Environmental officers under the provincial Department of Police confirmed on Monday that two employees of Shing Mark Vina, a firm with 100-percent Taiwanese investment, had been found incinerating the companys waste against regulations. Le Van Hung, 44, and Nguyen Van Ve, 57, were loading industrial waste including plastics, paper, wood chips, and rags contaminated with hazardous substances into a furnace at the company. The total amount of garbage was approximated to weigh 3.2 metric tons. A representative of the company later admitted that it had been burning about one metric ton of industrial waste every day since June 1. Further investigation is ongoing. The probe was previously conducted after residents living near the Bau Xeo Industrial Park in Dong Nai complained about dark smoke with unpleasant smell coming from local factories. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari has given Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, the go ahead to recruit 774, 000 Nigerians under the Special Public Works Progamme (SPW). The National Assembly had told Keyamo to halt action on the planned recruitment, as the minister did not consult them before embarking on such move. They accused the Minister of trying to hijack the scheme from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the implementing agency of the project. But Keyamo said on Tuesday that the president had given him unfettered go ahead on the recruitment. I have the instructions of my boss, Mr. President, to proceed unhindered, Keyamo said in a text message to The Nation. The lawmakers had invited Keyamo in June to give details of the Special Public Works Programme where 774,000 people would be recruited by the Federal Government under the National Directorate of Employment (NDE). The employment will be for three months, from October till December. During the meeting which was held at the National Assembly in Abuja, members of the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Labour sought to find out the method of selection of a 20-man committee from each state for the programme. However, a heated argument erupted between committee members and Keyamo over who should head the programme which was to be domiciled under the NDE. A rowdy session followed. The committee decided to go into a closed-door session to discuss the matter, but the minister refused, insisting that further discussions be held in the presence of journalists. This enraged the lawmakers who told Keyamo to apologise to the committee, but he ignored them. Thereafter, the minister was asked to leave the meeting since he refused to apologise to the committee members. The lawmakers claimed that Keyamo has no right to direct the committee on how to conduct its proceedings. This comes a day after the minister inaugurated a 20-man committee in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by virtual means. According to him, 1,000 persons would be selected from each of the 774 local government areas in the country to be engaged by the government in the Special Public Works Programme. Related PARIS Court reporters, and the transcripts they produce, are a support pillar of the court system, but a shortage of licensed court reporters is looming on the horizon. Tammy Bumgarner, the Director of Court Reporting Services in Springfield, says that if something is not done soon to change the course of the profession, there could be a slow down in the court system waiting for a record of proceedings. Licensed court reporters take a verbatim record in the criminal cases heard in Illinois to ensure that all citizens have equal access to justicenot just for the ones who can afford to hire a court reporter. The profession of court reporting has been seeing a decline for the past few decades for many reasons. There are many trades which are now suffering from the college only mentality thats been preached to kids. Thats causing shortages in professions while simultaneously driving up wages. For someone starting court reporting school now, thats good news. The profession is in high demand with many students getting recruited by agencies and the court system before they have even completed school. Court reporters starting salary with the state can be from $41,000-$51,000 per year with benefits and additional transcript income. You do not need to have a college degree to be a court reportera person just needs to gain enough proficiency on a steno machine to pass the licensing exam. The average age of official court reporters in Illinois is 52 years old. One-third of our court reporters are already eligible for retirement, which means we will likely have to replace more than 400 employees in the next 10-15 years, and its a scary prospect, says Bumgarner. We need to get creative to figure out how we can get more people to consider this profession. One of those things that were doing is offering a free Introduction to Court Reporting class, called First Steps, which will be taught by our court reporters, Bumgarner says. The class will be a few hours. Participants will learn what it takes to be a court reporter, what type of work they can do, be assessed for success in a court reporting program, and be able to get their hands on a steno writer. We are excited about this class. Since the initial launch of the website to introduce the class a month ago, weve received over 80 contacts from all over the state with interest in learning more. Participants will be able to walk out of the final class knowing everything they will need to know to get started on a great career. A free First Steps class will be held in Paris on Saturday, Aug. 29 at 9 a.m. and Toledo, on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 1:30 p.m.. For more information, please visit our website: www.illinoisofficialcourtreporters.com/firststeps. To see a YouTube Video about the profession in Illinois visit https://youtu.be/iC2qFhvcYEc. You may also contact Jill Layton at Jill.LaytonCSR@gmail.com for more information about the class. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. New Delhi: The European Union (EU) has said that it trusts both India and China will continue the dialogue in order to find a peaceful solution to the differences. The EU has been briefed by both the nations on the recent India-China border clashes in Ladakh's Galwan Valley. Ahead of the India and EU summit, an EU official said, "We trust both Indian and Chinese authorities and hope they continue the dialogue in order to find a peaceful solution to the differences. It is particularly important when two of the world's powerful and influential players like India and China...have this immediate de escalation.." and "it is crucial for global stability and EU supports good neighbourly relations between both". "We have certainly received detailed information on how the two government saw clashes at the border. But what is most important is they are talking to each other--at diplomatic, military and even the political level," the official added. The official further added, "Pleased to see since the deadly clashes took place at LAC both sides have committed to show restraint and engage in military de-escalation and engage in dialogue." Brussels welcomed the recent de-escalation steps between the two countries. China and India have started de-escalation at LAC with areas such as Galwan, Hot springs and Gogra area witnessing complete de-escalation. EU has also expressed an interest in a number of concrete economic steps taken by India after the June 15 clashes, said another EU official when asked about the border row. China will be one of the key topics of discussion at the 15th India-EU virtual summit that will take place on July 15 at 4.30 pm (IST). India will be represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and EU will be represented by Charles Michel, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell will also join. Researchers are in a race to find the ultimate energy storage solution, considering the rise of renewable energy generation and electric vehicle (EV) sales around the world. Some scientists are trying to improve the lithium-based battery chemistry with alternative and innovative solutions, while others are hoping that they will come up with a way to use different --i.e., cheaper and more readily available--chemical elements in batteries. Aluminum, sodium, and potassium are some of those chemical elements that are much more abundant than lithium. In theory, these could be used in batteries for energy storage. However, research has shown that aluminum, sodium, and potassium are challenging to work within batteries because they lack the suitable materials for the battery electrodes. That is, until now. New research led by Professor Guoxiu Wang from the University of Technology Sydney proposes a novel method to strain engineer a 2D graphene nanomaterial for making a new type of cathode. Strain engineering refers to the process of changing the properties of a material by changing its mechanical or structural characteristics. The new research, which was published in Nature Communications, says that the new approach could be extended to beyond-lithium-ion chemistry in high energy storage applications, according to its authors. The strain engineering of 2D nanomaterials could help developers of batteries other than those based on the lithium-ion chemistry by making aluminum, potassium, or sodium the main element in batteries. Related: Why The Hydrogen Boom Is Good News For Natural Gas The strategy of strain engineering could be extended to many other nanomaterials for rational design of electrode materials towards high energy storage applications beyond lithium-ion chemistry, the scientists said in their research. According to Professor Wang, who is also Director of the UTS Centre for Clean Energy Technology: Beyond-lithium-ion batteries are promising candidates for high-energy-density, low-cost and large-scale energy storage applications. However, the main challenge lies in the development of suitable electrode materials. If the strain-engineered nanomaterials can be successfully applied in electrodes, the field of battery and energy storage research will further expand to various potential storage solutions beyond lithium. Cheaper alternatives to lithium could mean cheaper energy storage solutions. Analysts predict that the price of lithium is set for a rally in the coming years, despite the current overall commodity price and demand slump because of the coronavirus crisis. The sales of EVs are only set to grow as many countries, especially in Europe, place the green recovery at the center of their stimulus packages. For energy storage as a whole, the rise of renewables will also mean that research into cheaper and better storage solutions could not come soon enough. Recently, researchers at Australias Queensland University of Technology (QUT) proposed a design based on the mechanical properties of nanostructures containing diamonds that could potentially be used in mechanical energy storage devices, including batteries, biomedical sensing systems, wearables, and small robotics and electronics. Mechanical energy storage systems are one of the many recent research projects and innovations in energy storage. Heat, gravity, or geothermal energy could be used to store and release energy, scientists and companies have set to prove. While lithium-ion batteries are currently the most popular and widely used energy storage solution, the future may lie in nanostructures using mechanical rather than chemical energy forces. In lithium batteries, researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have recently developed a new strategy to address the limitations of the lithium-oxygen battery. According to the scientists, This new strategy ensures high performance for lithium-oxygen batteries, acclaimed as a next-generation energy storage technology. The EV boom and the renewable energy rise need continuously improving and commercially viable energy storage solutions, regardless of the types of battery and their electrochemical or mechanical structure. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Australia Suspends HK Extradition Treaty, Grants HK People Asylum On July 9, Australia suspended its extradition agreement with Hong Kong and extended a hand to help Hong Kong residents. Australia changed its policies to extend offerings to skilled visa holders to five years from today and also offer them a pathway to permanent residency. Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison said: We continue to be concerned about issues in Hong Kong as many nations are and weve remained in close contact with other like-minded countries about these issues. The shape of higher education timetables for the autumn is starting to emerge, giving students an idea of what a hybrid approach to teaching and learning will mean, as public health concerns impose restrictions on face-to-face classes. After months of lockdown forced by the pandemic, there will be relief that campuses are reopening, but challenges too as everyone tries to adapt to the new way of doing things. The 2019/20 year ended with an unexpected turn in the road in March and a steep and bumpy learning curve ahead for all. In June, when it was all over, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) surveyed members about their experiences of the overnight switch to distance classes, and subsequently, end-of-year assessments. Unsurprisingly, a sense of this being "not what we signed up for" came through in many answers, but also a resilience. Despite being thrown in at the deep end, many talked about experiencing a "get to safety" feeling. Academic staff were just as unprepared, and only a little over half (52pc) of students believed the online learning content was of good quality. Disconnection was a common theme, with four in five (80pc) students reporting issues with motivation. Almost one in three had internet connectivity problems and about the same number felt their college didn't provide them with effective and timely communication. But USI vice-president for academic affairs Kevin McStravock also told a recent webinar of things that worked well for students, including being able to do exams from home rather than going into an exam hall. The webinar was organised by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) and its Enhancing Digital Teaching and Learning Project (EDTL), a three-year initiative funded by the Higher Education Authority. The EDTL was up and running anyway but its work has come centre stage, now refocused to support a more blended approach to teaching and learning in universities this autumn. Project manager Dr Sharon Flynn, formerly assistant director at the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching at NUI Galway, told the webinar that "one year into the project everything changed". She joked that some people had even accused her of planting the virus in order to attain the project's goals. She said what happened in March forced an emergency response, nobody had time to plan and a lot of the attention was given to tools and technology, rather than pedagogy, the art and science of teaching. Lots of lessons have been learned since, including from the feedback in the USI survey. Kevin McStravock is also member of the EDTL Steering Group. Hundreds tuned in to that IUA/EDTL webinar and over the summer, the project is laying foundations for more effective remote teaching when colleges open, to guide lecturers, course by course, module by module, on the nitty-gritty of what works well for students, and what doesn't. "It will be pedagogy first," said Dr Flynn. Five Daesh suicide bombers, two security forces killed in operation near Baghdad Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 1:39 AM The Iraqi military says five Daesh suicide bombers and two security members have been killed during the Iraqi forces' raid against a hideout near the Arab country's capital of Baghdad. The terrorists, who were found to be part of a suicide unit, were killed after being surrounded by Iraqi forces during an operation carried out in a village in the southwest of Baghdad, the media office of the Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) said in a statement on Sunday. The operation was launched based on intelligence reports received by the Iraqi military, and was supported by drones, the statement said, without giving further details about when exactly the raid occurred. The Iraqi forces managed to kill four suicide bombers, while the fifth one blew himself up, killing an officer and a soldier from the army and intelligence. The raid came as the Takfiri group's terrorists have intensified their attacks on security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and civilians in the formerly Daesh-controlled provinces, resulting in the killing and wounding of dozens. The security situation in Iraq has been improving since the country's security forces fully defeated the Daesh militants across the country late in 2017. However, the group's remnants have since melted in urban areas or deserts and rugged areas, carrying out frequent guerilla attacks against security forces and civilians. In one of the most recent atrocities attributed to Daesh, a leading Iraqi security analyst and government advisor was shot dead outside his home in the capital Baghdad, sparking public anger and a wave of condemnations from the country's senior officials. Three gunmen on two motorcycles fired at Hisham al-Hashemi, 47, from meters away last Monday, near his home in the Zayouna district, east of Baghdad, according to the investigator assigned to the killing. A gunman then approached and shot him four times in the head at close range, he said. Some Iraqi media reports said Daesh had claimed responsibility for the act of terror via Twitter accounts affiliated with the Takfiri outfit. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia continues repressions against the Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian citizens in the annexed peninsula, Bariev says. Chairman of the board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC), member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eskender Bariev says Russian security forces conducted 48 illegal detentions and 23 searches in the occupied Crimea in the first half of 2020 (H1). Read alsoTwo Crimean Tatars detained during July 7 searches to remand in custody until Sept 9 NGO "According to the analysis over the period under review, Russian security forces carried out 23 searches, 48 detentions, and 52 interrogations. In total, there were 150 arrests, of which 28 are new ones, while 122 cases were related to the extension of detention," he said during an online press conference on July 14. At the same time, 13 searches were conducted in the homes of Crimean Tatars. "Over the period under review, Russian security forces mostly searched Crimean houses on suspicion of [their owners] involvement in the Hizb ut-Tahrir and Jehovah's Witnesses organizations banned in the Russian Federation. Such searches are systematic and indicate religious persecution in Crimea," he added. A number of searches were carried out over the alleged preparation of terrorist attacks in Kerch-based educational institutions, participation in the volunteer battalion named after Noman Celebicihan, and allegedly espionage in favor of Ukraine. In addition, 231 cases of violation of the right to a fair trial and 74 violations of the right to "the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health" were recorded. Bariev also mentioned 27 cases of transferring political prisoners. "The number of violations in the said period significantly decreased year-over-year, and we primarily attribute this to the coronavirus-related adaptive quarantine," he said. In particular, 23 searches were reported in H1 2020 against 73 searches in H1 2019. Bariev says Russia continues repressions against the Crimean Tatars and pro-Ukrainian citizens in the annexed peninsula. In turn, CTRC communications manager Elvir Sagirman said that 115 out of 150 arrests were related to Crimean Tatars. According to Sagirman, the published statistics do not claim to be complete information, since not all cases are known or publicly disclosed. Pakistan's National Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution against the alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir. The resolution, moved by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, also expressed the resolve to extend diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiris. India has told Pakistan that the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has been, is and shall continue to be an integral part of India. Issues related to Jammu and Kashmir are internal matter to India. The House called upon the United Nations and the international community to play their role in resolving the Kashmir issue. Prime Minister Imran Khan also took to Twitter to express his solidarity with the people of Kashmir. Separately, the Foreign Office in a statement said Pakistan would continue to support the Kashmiri people. Pakistan has been unsuccessfully trying to drum up international support against India for withdrawing Jammu and Kashmir's special status on August 5 last year and bifurcating it into two union territories. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 of the Constitution was its internal matter. It also advised Pakistan to accept the reality and stop all anti-India propaganda. With Bihars coronavirus tally within the touching distance of 20,000-mark, the state government decided on Tuesday to extend lockdown from July 16 to 31 hoping to contain the spread of the disease. The decision was taken in a meeting held by the crisis management group of the state government, officials said. Guidelines governing the 16-day long lockdown period were being prepared, said deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi. The fresh restrictions are likely to include curb on public transport within the state and hosting of mass activities that are conducive to the spread of the disease, reported PTI. Bihar currently has 17,959 Covid positive cases as on Tuesday according to the union health ministrys data. 1,432 new cases were reported on Tuesday. For Coronavirus Live Updates Patna, Bhagalpur and Begusarai are the worst affected districts in the state. Patna is already under increase restrictions, to prevent conditions including crowding that are leading to a spurt in the disease. District authorities have warned of cracking the whip against errant individuals and traders defying social distancing norms. ALSO WATCH | Bihar govt is concerned about elections, not Covid: Tejashwi Yadav Bihar, with 69.09 percent recovery rate, remains among states with a higher percentage than the national recovery rate of 63.02 as of Tuesday. Bihar floods: Watch school building collapses into Koshi river Indias Covid-19 tally on Tuesday crossed 9 lakh with a total of 906,752 coronavirus patients registered till date since the outbreak. 571,459 of these patients have recovered while 23,727 have succumbed to death. The number of active cases stands at 311,565. The latest report from the Iranian technical investigation states the Ukrainian plane was shot down from a rocket launcher as a result of human error. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said Kyiv cannot agree with Iran's statement that Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by the Iranian military outside Tehran as a result of human error. "As of now, Ukraine cannot agree that the plane was shot down as a result of human error," he said at an online briefing on Tuesday, according to an UNIAN correspondent. Read alsoIran refuses to negotiate with Ukraine on compensation to UIA plane crash victims MFA "The latest report from the Iranian technical investigation states the Ukrainian plane was shot down from a rocket launcher. This is not news. We all knew about this. Another important step is the decoding of the black boxes scheduled to be held in France next week. The best experts from the U.S., Canada, France, Great Britain, and Ukraine will take part in their decoding," the minister said. "But today I want to clearly emphasize: it is too early to say that the plane was shot down as a result of human error, as the Iranian side claims. We have a lot of questions, and we need authoritative, impartial, and the most objective answers regarding what happened," Kuleba said. As UNIAN reported earlier, according to a report from Iran's Civil Aviation Organization, 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 the Ukrainian passenger jet in January 2020. UNIAN memo. 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. - Actress Regina Daniels has opened up about her pregnancy experience amid the coronavirus pandemic - The movie star noted that depression can set in if care is not taken - Regina also noted that she does not intend to keep her child hidden from the world - Speaking on the new addition to their family, Reginas mum said she is the happiest grandma in the world PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Legit.ng News on your Facebook News Feed! Popular Nollywood actress Regina Daniels recently opened up about what it felt like to be carrying her first child for billionaire hubby, Ned Nwoko, amid the coronavirus pandemic. The actress in a video shared by BBC News spoke to reporters during the naming ceremony of her newborn which took place on Friday, July 10. According to the new mother, being pregnant amid the pandemic is not exactly a pleasant experience. She noted that it is possible for depression to set in since pregnant mothers have to remain indoors most of the time in other to stay protected. The actress also noted that the pandemic was not favourable to her as she was not supposed to welcome her first child in Nigeria. Regina, however, maintained that she had a smooth run during her pregnancy as opposed to what a lot of people said she was going to experience. Actress Regina Daniels and her baby. Photo: Instagram/@regina.daniels Source: Instagram Regina said she welcomed her baby with ease and there was little or no complications at all while she carried the baby. Speaking on the new addition to the family, Reginas mum Rita Daniels said she is the happiest grandmother on earth. The new granny also disclosed that she used to be concerned about her daughters playful activities when she was heavily pregnant. She made a reference to Regina participating in Simis Duduke challenge. Watch the video below: PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group In a related story, Legit.ng earlier reported that Reginas father, Barrister Jude Ojeogwu, was among close family and friends who were present at the christening ceremony of her child. The appearance by the dad came after years of being against his daughters marriage to 59-year-old Nwoko. Reginas dad was spotted participating in the photo session at the ceremony and he also spoke to some journalists who were present. PAY ATTENTION: Do you have news to share? Contact Legit.ng instantly Top Nigerian Celebrities Kids You Cant Stop Admire | Legit TV Source: Legit.ng Just half of the 70 seats in the Hong Kong legislature represent geographical districts that are directly elected by voters. The other half are so-called functional constituencies, most chosen by corporate voting and more likely to go to establishment candidates Hong Kong: Defying warnings from local officials that the Hong Kong Oppositions unofficial primary vote could be illegal under a sweeping new security law, hundreds of thousands of people chose avowedly pro-democracy candidates to run in citywide elections this year, results released on Monday showed. Early returns showed that the more than 600,000 people who had voted favoured candidates who were prominent supporters of the months of demonstrations that have gripped the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Their choices indicated a desire to see the goals of the protest movement pressed within the government itself but could lead to an intensifying confrontation with authorities, who could bar some from running. So many people came out to vote despite the threat that it may violate the national security law, said Lester Shum, a 27-year-old activist and candidate who was among the front-runners on Monday. That means Hong Kong people have still not given up. Hong Kongs pro-democracy movement has been hobbled by mass arrests at protests and by the new security law, which bans vaguely defined crimes of secession, subversion and terrorism and is already working to mute dissent. The one remaining avenue of resisting Beijings tightening grip over the city, they say, is to capture a majority in the legislature in September. The obstacles are enormous. Hong Kongs electoral system has long been weighted heavily in favour of the establishment that is backed by the Chinese Communist Party. Pro-Beijing parties are far better funded than the Opposition. Now they must contend with the new, far-reaching national security law imposed by the central Chinese government that makes speaking out against authorities possibly criminal. Opposition candidates, whose calls for democratic freedoms could be deemed as hostile to Chinas ruling Communist Party, say they fear that whoever has protested the law could be disqualified from running or jailed. Even if they did succeed in being elected, there was no guarantee that the party would let them govern. Supporters of the democratic camp have been grappling with whether to rely on familiar, moderate politicians or to abandon them in favour of more confrontational candidates and those disagreements have threatened to divide the vote. The informal primary this past weekend to help determine who should run in September sought to avoid such a split. Among those in the lead were activists such as Joshua Wong, who led the large street demonstrations in 2014 for freer elections, and Ted Hui and Roy Kwong, young lawmakers who often tried to mediate between protesters and police during last years unrest. They are in favour of electing people who have a strong record in the protest movement so that they can continue the protests within the legislative body, said Ma Ngok, an associate professor of political science at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Those who have strong recognition in the protests stand out, irrespective of their parties. The turnout represented more than half of the Oppositions votes in 2016 and was several times higher than the organisers had expected. Voters went to polling stations set up on sidewalks as well as in unconventional venues such as a lingerie shop and a converted double-decker bus. Joyce Leung, a 35-year-old mother of two young children, said that she had decided to vote for candidates who regularly attended the protests even though they were at risk of exclusion from competing. I think they will definitely be disqualified, she said Sunday, after having cast a vote at a sidewalk polling station on Hong Kong Island surrounded by tenement buildings, office towers and coffee shops. But I still wanted to show them that a lot of people are supporting them. Hong Kongs electoral system has never been equal. Britain had little interest in democracy when it ran the city, and China quickly undermined a pledge that the entire legislature would be elected, by maintaining the British colonial system of limited voting. Just half of the 70 seats in the legislature represent geographical districts that are directly elected by voters. The other half are so-called functional constituencies, most chosen by corporate voting and more likely to go to establishment candidates. That tilted system has historically discouraged some Hong Kong residents from participating. But in November, after months of fierce and at times violent anti-government protests, voters turned out in large numbers for an election of Hong Kongs district councillors, a low-level office that previously drew little attention. More than seven in 10 eligible voters cast ballots, compared to a previous high of 47 percent and delivered a stunning victory for the pro-democracy camp, which swept 86 percent of the seats. That victory shocked Beijing and emboldened protesters to set their eyes on the more ambitious target of elections for the Legislative Council, a far more powerful body. Their goal has taken on extra urgency as other displays of dissent have become increasingly perilous under the new security law. Sage Ip, a 29-year-old flight attendant who cast her ballot Sunday in the Sai Ying Pun district, said she voted in the primary because she was worried that she would never get a chance to do so again. Voting is something that is still within our capacity, she said. We cant express ourselves at protests anymore. The police now regularly bans marches, citing violence and coronavirus-prevention measures, and sweep up hundreds of demonstrators in mass arrests. To cast your vote, you do not need to risk your life, Benny Tai, a law professor at the University of Hong Kong and leading strategist for the Opposition, said in June. It is a form of protest that actually is risk-less, I would say. So why not? Why not use your vote to buy a chance? Gwyneth Ho, a 29-year-old former journalist who emerged as a front-runner in her district Monday, has urged pro-democracy supporters to keep fighting, no matter the odds. We all know, we do something not because its effective or because itll succeed, she called out to commuters streaming past her outside a busy subway station on a recent Wednesday late last month. Its because we cant give up on any front. If the pro-democracy candidates were able to capture a majority in the legislature, they could use their position to block the governments agenda. Some have proposed vetoing the governments budget, which could force the dissolution of the legislature. If a new legislature were also to block the budget, the chief executive would be forced to step down. Erick Tsang, the constitutional affairs secretary, cited such a threat when he warned last week that the pro-democracy camps primary could potentially violate articles of the new national security law against secession and subversion. Carrie Lam, Hong Kongs leader, repeated Tsangs warning Monday that if the goal of the primary was to deliver a legislative majority for resisting every policy initiative of the Hong Kong government, then it may fall into the category of subverting the State power under the new security law. But the electoral push also displayed rifts within the Opposition movement. A few candidates who champion more aggressive tactics refused to participate in the pro-democracy camps primary, arguing that voters should be able to choose from the full range of candidates in September. More moderate voices have argued that voters needed to be strategic rather than ideological, and should rally behind the candidates most likely to win. A significant threat looms over all the pro-democracy camps plans: Disqualification. In the last legislative election, several candidates were barred from competing over questions of whether they acknowledged Beijings position that Hong Kong was an inalienable part of China. Six who won later lost their seats because they protested against China during their oaths of office. This year, many in the Opposition fear that election officials will also bar candidates who have questioned the new security law. Shum, who campaigned at the street booth with Ho, said his ultimate goal was for the pro-democracy camp to win so many seats that Beijing would be forced to take drastic action in response, such as disqualifying all the elected lawmakers. He said he hoped that such extreme action would then provoke an international response in support of the protesters. But others warn that any large-scale rejection of pro-democracy candidates by the government could cause Hong Kong to erupt. This time around we are talking about the possibility of getting more than half the seats, but I think the reality is we may not be allowed to participate in the election at all, said Fernando Cheung, a veteran Opposition lawmaker who is stepping down this year. If that is to happen, the anger and the frustration would be extreme, he said. Im afraid the confrontation would be much worse. Austin Ramzy, Elaine Yu and Tiffany May c.2020 The New York Times Company Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will reach Jaipur on Wednesday and attend a meeting of BJP MLAs at 11 am to take stock of the political situation in the state, sources have said. With all eyes on rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot's next political move, several senior BJP leaders from Rajasthan on Tuesday said their party's doors are open for anybody who expresses trust in its ideology. Two days after he raised a flag of protest against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, the Congress on Tuesday sacked Pilot as his deputy as well as from the post of the state chief president. Though the party seems to have the numbers for now to hang on to power in Rajasthan, the development deepens the crisis in the Congress which has lost two major states - Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh - over the past year. BJP vice president Om Prakash Mathur said the political crisis in Rajasthan has been caused by "weakness" within the Congress. Test excavations of potential unmarked mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre were resumed by a team of researchers and historians on Monday. A backhoe operator began slowly moving dirt at Tulsas Oaklawn Cemetery, where ground-penetrating radar earlier this year determined there was an anomaly consistent with mass graves. 'Our work continues to find the graves of our fellow Tulsans who went missing during the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,' Tulsa's Mayor G.T. Bynum said on Facebook. Workers and researchers have begun digging at Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, pictured above, in the search for possible mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre 'Today, we begin a test excavation in Oaklawn Cemetery to determine what is causing an underground anomaly found by geophysical scanning conducted earlier this year.' 'Because the scan is consistent with a mass grave, a team of some of the foremost researchers in the nation have assembled in Tulsa to assess both the presence and the condition of any human remains at the site in question,' he said. Researchers plan to open a 6-by-3-meter excavation area using the backhoe to clear the first layer of soil, followed by shovels, trowels and even more delicate tools if remains are uncovered, said Oklahoma State Archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck. 'It can become a tedious process, but it's important that we do this carefully, cautiously and take copious notes along the way,' Stackelbeck said. On May 31 and June 1 in 1921, white residents and civil society leaders looted and burned Tulsa's Black Greenwood district, known as Black Wall Street, to the ground, and used planes to drop projectiles on it. The attackers killed up to 300 black Tulsans, and forced survivors for a time to live in internment camps overseen by National Guard members. For two days starting on May 31 1921, an white mob estimated to be 10,000-strong destroyed Tulsa's Black Greenwood district, known as Black Wall Street,resulting in the deaths of an estimated 300 people and injuring 800 more Pictured: Dirt is dumped into a truck at Oaklawn Cemetery during a test excavation in the search for possible mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre Monday, July 13, 2020 in Tulsa, Oklahoma In the years that followed, Tulsa city and business leaders engaged in a 'concerted cover-up' to hide the truth about the massacre, Bynum said. 'You had generations of people who grew up in this community ... and never heard about it,' Bynum said. 'I feel a tremendous responsibility as mayor to try and find these folks. That's a basic thing that a city government should do for people, and Tulsa hasn't.' City officials predict that the test excavation will take three to six days, with work beginning at 7 a.m. each day. 'In Tulsa, if you're murdered we do everything we can to find out what happened and bring justice for your family,' The mayor said. 'It should not have taken us 99 years to get to this point of the investigation. 'But this generation of Tulsans is committed to being a better city, and to doing right by the victims. We will follow the truth where it leads us.' Forensic anthropoligist Phoebe Stubblefield, left, and other researchers view an item pulled from the ground at Oaklawn Cemetery during a test excavation in the search for possible mass graves from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Okla The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia (DFAT) and the UNDP signed a third-party cost-sharing arrangement on the contribution at a ceremony held on July 13. On the occasion, Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Robyn Mudie affirmed the strong support of Australia for Vietnam in terms of its promoting of provincial governance and public administration, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She expressed her impression that PAPI has constantly improved in the context of how Vietnam has developed in recent years. PAPI now has more indicators to measure the performance of the government apparatus at all levels, particularly in the areas of e-government and environmental management as aligned with new requirements in Vietnam, she added. UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam Caitlin Wiesen emphasised that Australias significant contribution is expected to promote further the efficiency of provincial governance and public administration in Vietnam. UNDP will coordinate with partners to assist provinces and cities in Vietnam to enhance public governancetowards assisting the government in its service of the people, she noted. Australia has been the major sponsor for PAPI since 2018. All 63 provinces and cities in Vietnam have organised annual workshops on the PAPA survey results. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:50:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Dio Matok, rapporteur of the mediation committee from South Sudan, speaks at a press conference in Khartoum, Sudan, July 14, 2020. The signing of a partial peace deal between the Sudanese government and the alliance of armed groups has been delayed, a mediation committee announced on Tuesday. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir) KHARTOUM, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The signing of a partial peace deal between the Sudanese government and the alliance of armed groups has been delayed, a mediation committee announced on Tuesday. "We have decided to delay the signing with initial letters on the agreement between the Sudanese government and the Revolutionary Front Alliance," Dio Matok, rapporteur of the mediation committee from South Sudan, said at a press conference in Khartoum. "A comprehensive peace agreement on the track of the revolutionary front will be signed soon," Matok noted. He added that "we will work to complete the item of the security arrangements." The Sudanese government and the Revolutionary Front Alliance, which brings together Darfur armed groups and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM)/northern sector, were scheduled to initial a peace deal on Tuesday. The deal was supposed to exclude the security arrangements file, which necessitates involvement of other armed movements, including the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM)/ Abdul-Wahid Mohamed Nur faction and the SPLM/northern sector, Abdul-Aziz Al-Hilu faction. Since October 2019, South Sudan has been mediating between the Sudanese government and the armed groups from Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile regions to reach a peace deal. A potential new wave of coronavirus infections this winter poses a serious risk to the U.K. and could lead to as many as 120,000 hospital deaths from September to June, according to a report. A second wave of Covid-19 could be more serious than the first as the National Health Service deals with a backlog of patients needing assessment and treatment and a potential outbreak of annual seasonal flu, researchers from the countrys Academy of Medical Sciences said in the report. The UK has already faced one of Europes worst outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson falling seriously ill at one point. The country is one of many striving to ease restrictions on social contact while trying to revive failing economies and businesses. Hospitals in the U.K. face an increased burden in winter when other respiratory diseases and common conditions such as heart disease tend to worsen. Covid-19 is also more likely to spread in cold weather as people spend more time indoors where the virus thrives, according to the report. Flu Shots Scientists and academics who wrote the report called for expansion of programs to test, track and trace those who have been exposed and are infected. Control measures and adequate stocks of personal protective equipment also need to be assured for hospitals and nursing homes, they said. Flu vaccinations will also be important to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed, the report said. Seasonal flu is regularly responsible in part for the NHSs winter crisis when some hospitals fill up with sick patients. The average number of people that one infected person transmits the coronavirus to, often called the reproduction rate or R-naught, could rise to 1.7 beginning in September, according to the report. That would lead to a peak of hospital admissions and deaths in January and February which could be worse than the first wave. The current reproduction rate in the U.K. is about 0.7-0.9, which means the epidemic is diminishing overall. Ministers have previously warned the U.K. could go back into lockdown if the R rate rises above one. The report is not a prediction but a reasonable worst-case scenario, and calls for intense preparation, the authors said. She was recently handed nine months of community service and $4.8m in fines for tax evasion. But Bar Refaeli put those troubles aside as she uploaded a sizzling bikini snap on Instagram on Monday. The Israeli model, 35, looked stunning in the black two-piece as she posed in shallow water. Stunning: Bar Refaeli shared a carefree snap on Monday as she slipped into a strapless black bikini The beauty donned a sunhat to complement the strapless bikini and gave a beaming smile. Bar showed off her taut abs and enviable figure in the sizzling snap shared with her 3 million followers. She captioned the post: 'I swear I also do other things than tan and exercise. Sometimes.' Relaxing: She captioned the post: 'I swear I also do other things than tan and exercise. Sometimes' Her post comes after it emerged she will be undertaking nine months of community service and $4.8m in fines as part of a plea bargain following a long-running tax evasion case against her. Bar, who is estimated to have a net worth of $25 million, will pay a $750,000 fine along with $2.8million in back taxes on top of her community service. Her mother Tzipi Refaeli - who acts as her agent - was also fined $750,000 and will go to jail for 16 months. Struggles: Her post comes after it emerged she will be undertaking nine months of community service and $4.8m in fines Troubles: Bar, who is estimated to have a net worth of $25 million, will pay a $750,000 fine along with $2.8million in back taxes on top of her community service The pair had been accused of lying about Bar's country of residence between 2009 and 2012 in order to avoid paying taxes on some $7.2million in income, plus gifts and discounts she rece\ived. The case dates back to 2016 when Tzipi was arrested and accused of failing to report her daughter's full income during the years in question and obscuring evidence of where she was living from tax collections. Lawyers for the pair had argued that, during the years in question, Bar had been in a romantic relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio - meaning her 'life centre', a term used in Israeli tax law referring to where a person spends most of their time - was in the US. But the state argued that she was actually resident in Tel Aviv during much of this time, in apartments rented under the names of her relatives. The media personality told a previous court hearing that her relationship with the actor, 45, was close enough to be considered a 'family unit', meaning she could pay taxes overseas. But the court overruled her, saying their romance did not count. Prosecutors also uncovered medical records that showed the host had been prescribed medication and received treatment in Israel paid for out of the national health fund during that period. A previous ruling stated The X Factor Israel presenter had lived in Israel for 185 days in 2009 and 135 days the following year. She also told US tax authorities she was a resident of Israel. The broadcaster had attempted to block the release of her earnings, but the court revealed she had earned 1.8 million in 2009 and 1.7 million in 2010. The federal government has announced the commencement of the Special Public Works Programme aimed at employing 774,000 citizens, a thousand from each of the 774 local government areas in the country. The announcement was made via its official Twitter handle on Tuesday. The Special Public Works Programme of the Federal Government has kicked off nationwide. The State Selection Committees have been inaugurated and have commenced work, it said. The announcement comes amidst a row between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the National Assembly on how the programme should proceed. It also comes about a week after the National Assembly asked that the programme be suspended. Two weeks ago, the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo, and the joint committee on labour were involved in a war of words last week over the planned employment of 774,000 Nigerians by the government. This happened at a meeting aimed at discussing the progress of the planned employment. About N52 billion has been allocated for the Special Public Works Programme in the 2020 budget. Mr Keyamo accused the lawmakers of wanting to sabotage the recruitment process despite receiving 15 per cent jobs slots. The National Directorate of Employment (NDE), according to the lawmakers, is meant to implement the recruitment under a special works programme. The Special Public Works Programme of the Federal Government has kicked off nationwide. The State Selection Committees have been inaugurated and have commenced work. Find the names and contact details of members of your States Committee here: https://t.co/d7YjB49JeE #NigeriaSPW Government of Nigeria (@NigeriaGov) July 14, 2020 They had accused Mr Keyamo of hijacking the programme from the NDE. The minister hit back, saying they were the ones trying to take over the project. The committee later demanded that the programme be suspended until the modalities for the exercise have been explained to the lawmakers. It also mandated its Committees on Labour and Employment to invite the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige and other relevant officials of the ministry to brief the joint committee on the modalities for the implementation of the programme. Mr Ngige eventually appeared before members of the committee and the Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, at the National Assembly on Tuesday and tendered an apology on behalf of Mr Keyamo after which the latter was asked to hands-off the project for the NDE. Unsatisfied with the resolution, Mr Keyamo insisted that the programme cannot be implemented without his approval according to the NDE Act. He said the controversy surrounding the programme is an attempt by the National Assembly to bypass him in the implementation of the project. With the announcement of the start of the programme, Mr Keyamo confirmed to Punch newspapers that the president has given him the go ahead to implement the process. It is however, not clear if he has the backing of the National Assembly. Efforts to get the reaction of the chairman of the joint committee, Godiya Akwashiki, were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text message sent to him. Its an entry to that first deal with a real estate agent. Once you get the first deal its your relationship to win or lose from that point. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, Lang is seeing an even greater demand from agents for the data analytics he provides through Outline. In a deeply uncertain market where the predictions everyone is making are bucked by the next weeks sales numbers, he says any and all data breakdowns are making a realtors work that much easier. Lang prides himself on parsing the data from behind the headlines. When headlines read that the average house price in Toronto is up 11.9 per cent, people understandably get excited. Headlines, he says, might say the overall price is ballooning, but analytics show that average prices havent risen accordingly. In fact, overall growth is driven by a more significant growth in luxury homes and condos, while lower priced homes and condo units are stagnating or even a little bit down. In April, he says, the big numbers pointed to doom and gloom for almost the opposite reason: nobody was moving in the luxury space while the more affordable end of the market kept ticking along. An overall market drop of 10 per cent, he says, didnt reflect the markets various subsectors. Its that kind of analysis that wins a realtor over to Outline. Lang says that providing this sort of analysis takes serious work. Hell get a monthly dataset from TREB through a pro-bono partnership with a real estate agency. Then hell spend days poring over the excel sheets, organizing them into pivot tables, copying and pasting patiently until the numbers represent the market subsectors into which realtors desperately need insight. Hes currently working with a group of new partners to build a similar means for other brokers to offer the same level of data-driven value-add. Haiti - News : Zapping... People set fire to a police station On Monday in retaliation, angry residents of La Boule, (Petion-ville) torched a police station. They accuses a police officer of opening fire on a motorbike taxi, fatally injuring him. According to the Ministry of Justice, the driver of the motorcycle taxi would refuse to show his papers and an officer would have fired at close range on him... A 8 month old baby shot dead Last weekend, Merrydjuna Fleurimond an 8 month old baby lost his life, victim of a stray bullet in the district of Belekou (Cite Soleil) where armed clashes rage daily between the Gang of Booklyn led by "Gabriel" who do not is not part of the colation of Gangs "G9 an fanmi ak alye" which confronts the armed gangs of the coalition who are trying to dislodge it to seize its territory. The town hall of Cap-Haitien burned Monday, July 13, in the evening, unidentified individuals burned the Town Hall of Cap-Haiten and the Garage of the Ministry of Works, causing considerable material damage. A criminal act that is reminiscent of the arson of the tax and accounting department of the Town Hall of Petit-Goave on the night of July 8 to 9 last https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31246-haiti-flash-fire-at-the-town-hall-of-petit-goave.html Scholarship students, back from Cuba On Saturday July 11, as part of a special flight, some fifty Haitian nationals, including scholarship students, left Santiago de Cuba to go to Haiti. The Embassy of Haiti in Cuba accompanied those concerned in their dealings with the Haitian and Cuban authorities to make this trip possible. Weather : Excessive heat until 5pm For the week of July 13 to 17, forecasts from several regional meteorological centers predict the maintenance of excessive heat over most of the Caribbean countries, especially in Haiti. EDH : 3 Groups have been waiting to be connected for 7 years For 7 years, 3 Electricity Generators of Haiti (EDH) have been waiting to be connected by technicians on the network of the city of Jeremie according to President Moise. HL/ HaitiLibre France is to spend more than 8bn (7.2bn) giving health workers a pay rise in thanks for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. After seven weeks of negotiations, prime minister Jean Castex and union leaders signed the deal, which the former hailed as a historic moment for our health system. Health and care workers will see their wages rise by an average of $183 (165) each month under the agreement 450m (407m) of which has been ring-fenced as a bonus for medics in the public sector in a bid to draw health staff from the employ of private companies. This is first of all recognition of those who have been on the front line in the fight against this epidemic, said Mr Castex, who replaced Edouard Philippe as prime minister at the start of July. It is also a way of catching up for years of delay, for which each and every one including perhaps myself has their share of responsibility. While the French public has been rapturous in their applause and thanks to health workers during the pandemic, anger has risen over the government's failure to demonstrate this appreciation fiscally despite president Emmanuel Macrons pledge at the peak of the crisis to reward health staff. Mondays announcement and signing ceremony fell on the eve of Bastille Day, during which a parade will be held on Pariss Place de la Concorde. Some 1,400 nurses, doctors and carers will attend as guests of honour. However in a signal that trouble may still lie ahead, some unions failed to back the deal, suggesting it did not go for enough in protecting services and staff. A Paris branch of the hospital workers union CFE-CGC tweeted a map of protests taking place on Tuesday, urging people to denounce the sham deal. Across the Channel in the UK, health workers, unions and the government have been at similar loggerheads over material displays of appreciation for the bravery and sacrifice of health workers, who the government has paid lip service to as heroes. A fortnight ago, on the eve of the NHSs 72nd anniversary, more than a dozen health unions and organisations called on the government to shelve ministerial platitudes and to set up imminent talks for a beyond substantial pay rise in 2021/22. Pressed by Sky News to commit to a pay rise for NHS staff on the services anniversary, health secretary Matt Hancock refused to commit to a pay rise, but said health workers would be rewarded. As Boris Johnson organised another Clap for Carers to mark the occasion, health chiefs accused chancellor Rishi Sunak of failing to live up to a pledge to give the service whatever it needs by refusing to give 10bn emergency funding to help preparations for a second wave of Covid-19. There was no mention of additional funding for the health service in his emergency mini-budget last week. OTTAWAA terrorism suspect is waging a new court fight against the federal government for information he says he needs to mount a full argument against deportation to his native Egypt and possible torture. It is just the latest twist in Mohamed Mahjoubs two-decade legal odyssey. The government is trying to remove Mahjoub, 60, using a national security certificate, claiming he was a high-ranking member of a terrorist organization. Security certificates are rarely used federal tools for removing foreign nationals suspected of links to terrorist activity or espionage. Mahjoub, married with three children, came to Canada in 1995 and attained refugee status. He once worked as deputy general manager of a farm project in Sudan run by Osama bin Laden, who would later spearhead the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Mahjoub was arrested under a security certificate in June 2000 after being interviewed by Canadas spy agency on six occasions between August 1997 and March 1999. Each time, he denied any involvement in extremism. The Supreme Court of Canada struck down the certificate regime as unconstitutional, but the government revamped the process and issued a new certificate against Mahjoub in 2009. It has subsequently been affirmed by the courts. In January, federal officials gave Mahjoub the results of two assessments one examining the nature and severity of his acts, the other looking at the risks he might face upon removal from Canada. A designated government official will review the assessments in deciding whether Mahjoub should be deported. But before that happens, Mahjoub wants to see all the information underpinning the assessments. Last month the Canada Border Services Agency told Mahjoub and his lawyers it would not disclose any of the requested documents or provide any further information, says his recent filing in the Federal Court of Canada. The information is important because, if deported, Mahjoub would be sent to Egypt, a country where he is likely to face persecution, torture and possible death, the filing says. The severity of the potential consequences mean Mahjoub is entitled to see all relevant information, whether the government intends to rely on it or not, given the principles of natural justice and procedural fairness, his submission says. In addition, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires the government to disclose any information related to proceedings that have potentially severe effects on Mahjoubs life, liberty and security, it adds. Mahjoub wants the court to prohibit the immigration minister and his delegate from issuing an opinion on his deportation until the information has been disclosed and he has had a chance to make submissions on it. The government has yet to file a response to Mahjoubs arguments. On Monday, we had hoped that Sachin Pilot's rebellion would jolt the Congress's ruling trinity -- the mother, son and daughter -- and compel them to do justice to a high performing politician who had delivered Rajasthan to the party in December 2018 after its electoral debacle under Ashok Gehlot's leadershp five years earlier. Didn't happen. On Tuesday afternoon, Pilot was ejected both as state deputy chief minister and president of the Rajasthan Congress Pradesh Committee. We aren't sure if Sachin is headed BJP wards, but his departure, we believe, is a big loss for a party so limited in youthful talent (naah, we don't rate the MP from Wayanad or his sister highly on political skills). Dominic Xavier offers his take on Pilot's aborted revolt after claiming on Sunday that he had the support of 30 Congress MLAs. Feature Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com AUSTIN, Texas, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NSS Labs, Inc., a global leader and trusted source for independent cybersecurity product testing, today announced the results of its 2020 Web Browser Security Test. Four of the world's leading web browsers were tested for Phishing Protection and Malware Protection. NSS Labs conducted 129,068 discrete tests of malware protection (32,267 per web browser) over a period of 34 days, and 189,096 discrete tests of phishing protection (47,274 per web browser) over 18 days. The reports include measurements of protection against fresh new attacks, consistency of protection over time, and how effective the browser protection was overall. Key Take Aways : Phishing protection rates ranged from 79.2% to 95.5% For malware, the highest block rate was 98.5% and the lowest block rate was 5.6% Protection improved over time; the most consistent products provided the best protection against phishing and malware. Email, instant messages, SMS messages and links on social networking sites are used by criminals to lure victims to download and install malware disguised as legitimate software (a.k.a. socially engineered malware). Once the malware is installed, victims are subjected to identity theft, bank account compromise, and other devastating consequences. Those same techniques are also used for phishing attacks, where victims are lured to websites impersonating banking, social media, charity, payroll, and other legitimate websites; victims are then tricked into providing passwords, credit card and bank account numbers, and other private information. In addition, landing pages (URLs) from phishing websites are another way attackers exploit victim's computers and silently install malicious software. The ability to warn potential victims that they are about to stray onto a malicious website puts web browsers in a unique position to combat phishing, malware, and other criminal attacks. To protect against malware and phishing attacks, browsers use cloud-based reputation systems that scour the Internet for malicious websites and then categorize content accordingly, either by adding it to blocklists or whitelists, or by assigning it a score. "As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees have been forced to work from home and now have unprecedented remote access to corporate resources. Threat actors are shifting tactics to target these remote employees who may not benefit from corporate protection," said Vikram Phatak, founder of NSS Labs. "This makes the protection offered by web browsers more important than ever." The Comparative Test Reports provide detailed results including block rates for each product and data recording consistency of protection over time. As a service to the community, NSS Labs is providing these reports for free on our website at nsslabs.com. The following browsers were tested : Google Chrome: Version 81.0.4044.113 81.0.4044.138 Microsoft Edge: Version 83.0.478.10 84.0.516.1 Mozilla Firefox: Version 75.0 76.0.1 Opera: Version: 67.0.3575.137 68.0.3618.125 Additional Resources: About NSS Labs, Inc. NSS Labs tests the world's security products. Based in Austin, Texas, the company's research and testing laboratory is recognized globally as the most trusted source for independent, fact-based cybersecurity guidance. C-Suite executives and information security professionals from many of the world's most demanding global enterprises rely on NSS Labs to accelerate security decisions with greater confidence. For more information, visit www.nsslabs.com. SOURCE NSS Labs, Inc. Related Links www.nsslabs.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:58:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close RAMALLAH, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Palestine on Tuesday recorded five new COVID-19 deaths in the Palestinian territories, including a 12-day-old toddler, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said. The ministry said in a press statement that, in addition to the toddler, a 54-year-old Palestinian from East Jerusalem, two men aged 75 and 90, respectively, and a woman aged 75 from the southern West Bank district of Hebron died from the coronavirus on Tuesday. The death toll from COVID-19 reached 47 since the outbreak of the epidemic in the Palestinian territories on March 5, said the statement. It reported 293 new COVID-19 infections and 59 new recoveries in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem within the last 24 hours. There are 6,372 cases are still receiving medical care, while 1,317 patients have recovered, the statement said. Meanwhile, Osama al-Najjar, an official from the health ministry, accused Israel of having been banning the shipment of medical supplies to the Palestinian territories for five weeks. "Israel bans the entrance of medical supplies in the Palestinian territories to increase the pressure on the Palestinian leadership to resume security cooperation between the two sides," said al-Najjar. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye called on the Palestinians on Tuesday to abide by all the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the deadly virus in Palestine. Enditem Nagpur: Underlining the importance and need of a digital platform for smooth administration, the Maharashtra government is making several efforts to use social media to convey its decisions and messages quickly. The government has asked all District Information Officers (DIOs) to start operating individual Twitter handles, the Director General Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) Brijesh Singh said. "Even Superintendents of Police (SsP) too have been asked to start their Twitter handles. This is working well for the administration. The DIOs have around 2,500 Twitter followers now including in backward district like Gadchiroli where there are 500 followers," Singh, an IPS officer of the rank of Special Inspector General (SIG) told reporters here last evening. Singh said that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has directed him to analyse all the information about government's moves that is published in the media. "Many times the government announces a decision assuming that it would serve society and people. But somewhere the media finds faults or criticises the decisions. The CM has asked me not to ignore such reports but verify them and find solutions if genuine concerns are raised," Singh said. He also spoke about cyber-crimes and measures being taken to tackle the ever growing threat. "The government has asked C-DAC to develop cyber-crime labs. Each lab costs around Rs. 1 crore. Softwares for data extraction, image recovery, are being developed for technology-assisted investigation. We are also setting up a big data centre as India is among the first 3 or 4 nations hit by cyber-crime the most," he said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Former agricultural minister Barry Cowen has released a pointed statement this evening after being sacked from the government by the Taoiseach. In a statement, Deputy Cowen said: "The Taoiseach informed me this evening by phone that he was removing me from office as Minister for Agriculture. "I am both surprised and disappointed with this decision," he added. "Previously I furnished the Taoiseach with all the facts about my drink driving conviction and the story that the Sunday Times proposed to publish about my alleged evasion of a Garda check point. In doing so I provided him with confidential details about my interaction with An Garda Siochana. "I have made my position on these matters known publicly and I have acknowledged my wrong doing for something that occurred four years ago. "I have sought an explanation - not as a government minister but as a citizen - as to how details relating to the incident were leaked to the media. The authorities have agreed to investigate the matter. "One point warrants emphasis: at no time did I attempt to evade the Gardai," Cowen continued. "Had I done so, the charges brought against me would, quite correctly, have been of a different tenor to those with which I was charged. "I am responsible for the offence with which I was convicted four years ago, not for an inaccurate Garda entry on Pulse about that event. "Ten days ago and this afternoon, the Taoiseach believed my failure of 2016 didnt warrant my removal from office but he now appears to have changed his mind based on a Pulse report I gave him this morning," the Clara man added. "It is important to re-emphasise that report was leaked in contravention of the protections that I and every other citizen is entitled to expect in respect of their interaction with the Gardai. "Unfortunately the decision of the Taoiseach to remove me from office, when he supported me this afternoon in the Dail, has undermined and potentially prejudiced my entitlement to fair process," he concluded. Daily FT (Sri Lanka) by Harindrini Corea 17 June 2020 The armed forces or the military primarily defend a nation from enemies within and without. Military strength goes beyond warfare, and includes functions within a nation, including responses to internal security threats and involvement in emergency services and reconstruction. The military is traditionally an apolitical and nonpartisan institution that acts professionally in serving the interests of the nation whilst being subject to civilian political leadership and political institutions. However, politicisation of the military distorts the true purpose and function of its existence. A politicised military serves only the interests of a single political party. In doing so this undermines public confidence in representative democracy and the preservation of national security as a national goal. The politicisation of the military appears to be rooted in myths that have shaped a dominant narrative on military rule. This article explores these enduring myths of military rule by exploring these beliefs in more detail and looking at the countries in which military governments have been formed. What is military rule? Military rule, as opposed to civilian rule, is where political power resides with the armed forces. A military dictatorship or military junta is an authoritarian state which is run by the military. It is either led by a dictator with absolute power who is often a high ranked military officer and/or a government led committee of military leaders. Thus the political structure of a military state places high-level military officers in a position to influence policy and political appointments. Military regimes are rarely purely military in composition as there is always a partnership between politicians, civil bureaucrats, elites and the military. However, the military has the final and overall decision making power. A military dictatorship is usually formed after the previous civilian government has been overthrown though military action. On the other hand, military juntas are also formed where civilian government is formally maintained whilst the military exercises de facto control over political power and certain areas of policy. Military rule is also characterised by the lack of political opposition and the political patronage towards loyal supporters of the military regime at the expense of the general population. There are several myths that surround and perpetuate the justifications for military rule. These beliefs include that military rule is not as corrupt as civilian rule, that a benevolent dictator can create a non-corrupt society, that there is a higher standard of discipline within military regimes and that a military regime is a better alternative to a failed democracy. Myth of military rule as anon-corrupta Perception of the military There is widespread belief of the armed forces as an institution of integrity and trustworthiness that serves its nation. The Global Corruption Barometer (2006) survey which assesses the perceptions of the public in countries around the world on whether the military is perceived to be corrupt, revealed that the military is generally regarded as clean, rather than corrupt. In Germany and France there is a strong perception of the integrity of the military. In Israel, the role of the military in warfare, has largely contributed to the perception of the military as dedicated and clean handed. In Czech, the positive perception of the military was in contrast to the perception of the Ministry of Defence, particularly with regard to defence procurement, which was subject to several corruption scandals. In Russia, the negative perception of the military was explained by a several factors including a series of corruption scandals in the military and widespread information about the practice of brutal behaviour of the officials and senior soldiers in the military. In Ukraine, the secrecy of the military, meant that there was less public awareness on the existence of corruption within the military. Non-corrupt benevolent dictatorships Singapore is usually held up as the poster child for a non-corrupt dictatorship. Whilst the Singaporean dictatorship is not a military regime, it is looked at in brief in this article, to investigate the belief that a government led by a benevolent dictator can be cleaner than a civilian government. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the aFather of Independent Singaporea, is usually viewed as an incorruptible and well-meaning leader, with absolute control and no restrictions on power, who developed and transformed his nation. There are several key factors that seem to be important in the development of Singapore sans corruption. The first is that, whilst there was elimination of political opponents and consolidation of a one party state, ruling officials and policy makers at the inception of the one party state in 1959 were all those with high levels of personal integrity and formal education, particularly extensive training in economics. High public sector salaries were introduced and maintained in order to attract and include experts and the computation of salaries of ministers, judges and senior civil servants was changed to be automatically tied to the amount of income taxes paid by the private sector. The second, is that the requirement for a non-corrupt and clean government was prioritised from the top down. Lee Kuan Yew himself and other high ranking officials have been investigated for impropriety and all officials are held accountable under the law with no immunity or exceptions. An interesting statement was made by Lee Kuan Yew, upon being investigated, where he said the following: aI take pride and satisfaction that the question of my two purchases and those of the Deputy Prime Minister, my son, has been subjected to, and not exempted from, scrutiny... It is most important that Singapore remains a place where no one is above scrutiny, that any question of integrity of a minister, however senior, that he has gained benefits either through influence or corrupt practices, be investigated.a Accordingly, the third, is the combination of stringent laws against corruption, enforcement of such laws and a society that demands a clean government. The Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), placed the burden of proof on the accused to show that he acquired his wealth legally. The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) is an independent body, empowered to investigate into corruption, and has focused on bribe-takers in higher levels of government as well as all officials and their families. The CPIB has the power to investigate bank accounts, property and assets of officials and determine if such individuals are living within their means. Where an official was determined to be living beyond their means or had property that could not have been acquired on their income it was presumed that this was as a result of bribes or corrupt activity. Therefore, the government official under investigation would then have to prove that they have not received such income or property as a result of corruption. Where the official was proven to be guilty, his property was subject to forfeiture and sanctions included fines and imprisonment. The CPIB also contribute to the shaping of a society that expects a clean system, does not condone giving or accepting bribes to get things done and reports corruption. It can be argued that these factors dismantle the myth of the benevolent dictator being able to establish a clean government. The determination to hold all officials accountable, even those at the highest levels of government, and the creation of a clean society in itself, seem imperative in contributing to a clean government. It is apparent that strong institutions play an important role in ensuring that even a strong leader himself is held accountable under the law. Non-corrupt military rule The histories of several countries ranging from Latin American countries to African countries reveals that whilst the goal of military rule may be to establish a non-corrupt military regime this remains as a goal and is not practically implemented. Busting the myth of non-corrupt military rule The reality of military rule, subject to limited exceptions, is that it facilitates corruption. The politicisation of the military, the involvement of the military in policy making and decision making and the lack of scrutiny over military actions exacerbates the abuse of power for private gain. An increase in military spending where military commanders hold positions in part of the government machinery, or where democratic governments are replaced by a military regime, leads to a reduction in spending on education, health and welfare. Military commanders, in strengthening their political power, will hold high level bureaucratic and administrative posts and exploit such posts for private gain. This necessarily also involves the collusion of military elites with political, administrative and bureaucratic elites in society and the exclusion of the general population from the economic and political decision making processes. This may be seen in the awarding of government contracts to specific private companies and the manipulation of tenders for monetary gain. In the case of military procurement, a lack of competition and accountability, leave space for kickbacks and other financial rewards. The collusion of the military elites and political, administrative and bureaucratic elites is consolidated and strengthened by the kickbacks and payoffs that maintain such mutually beneficial arrangements. The weakening or nonexistence of democratic institutions, such as the legislature and the judiciary, and the exclusion of the general population from military governance, consolidate the abuse of power and corruption. Transparency International Nigeria: aThus the military which entered into Nigerias politics as physicians for corruption ended up as patients in coma of the ailment of corruption.a The first military coup in Nigeria on 15 January 1966 was based on the desire to cleanse the nation of corruption. However, the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon, was overthrown in a coup led by General Murtala Mohammed, in an attempt to respond to the overwhelming corruption that had become the norm. The second republic led by Alhaji Shehu Shagari was also overthrown because of corruption. General Mohammed Buharias regime was overthrown by General Ibrahim Babangida under whose regime corruption became institutionalised in Nigeria. The Nigerian military in viewing itself as the saviour of Nigeria, saw decisive leadership as the solution for all problems in Nigeria. However, the issues that motivated military intervention were the symptoms rather than the substance of the crisis of underdevelopment in Nigeria. Military involvement in decision making and the asettlement syndromea whereby perceived opponents had to be asettleda with bribes using state resources did not resolve but rather intensified economic crisis in Nigeria. The myth of discipline within military regimes Discipline within the military is a form of behaviour that is designed to ensure compliance to orders within a command hierarchy and is the result of indoctrination and training. Military discipline is operated with a carrot and stick approach where conformity leads to benefits and rebellion incurs punishments. It is widely believed that the military ethos of discipline and service can be followed by a military government and be applied to citizens in the country as well. However, it can be argued that it is indiscipline, rather than discipline, that characterises military governments. On the one hand, the scrutiny and supervision of citizens carried out by military governments ensures total obedience of subjects to the regime and suppression or elimination of any opposition or dissent. This creates the desired discipline or order within society. On the other hand, where military leaders, or civilian leaders in collusion with the military and elites, abuse their power for financial gain, there is a lack of discipline or order, within the military government. The impunity of dictators or military rulers in economic corruption illustrates this lack of discipline. Mugabeas military regime in Zimbabwe provides insights into the symbiotic relationship between the executive and military and patronage politics. Whilst Mugabe remains firmly in charge of the country both retired and serving military officers are deployed in institutions such as the bureaucracy. The military suppress opposition and civil society threats and in return demand political influence and material rewards. The redistributive nationalist rhetoric adopted by the military regime shields the true purpose of the military in serving the interests of Mugabe and his ruling party. The myth of failed democracy A popular belief is that where there is a failure of democracy there is a necessity for a dictatorship or military rule. It is primarily corrupt and inefficient civilian politicians that triggers the desire for transition from civilian to military rule. However, it is a misconception that military rule is far more beneficial than civilian rule. This is because the essence of the military; its discipline and non-corrupt nature, cannot be put into practice by a military regime. The military leaders of military regimes do not have the mandate of the people to represent them and cannot be held accountable for their actions. Furthermore, the monopoly of power leads to abuse of power, corruption and indiscipline. Moreover, whilst citizens may find it easy to demand for or support a military regime, there is no choice in whether there should be an end to a military regime. The process of democracy, however flawed, is a lively process, in which citizens can play an active role in determining who represents them and how diverse interests are represented. In this instance it is the citizen that choses to ensure that corrupt and inefficient politicians are not re-elected and that sitting officials are held accountable for their actions. It is the citizen who is disciplined to live within their means and not take a bribe or give a bribe. Therefore, where there is failed democracy this is due to the failure of the citizen rather than the ruler; for the citizen has forgotten that it his/her mandate and power that is to be exercised by the ruler. It is the citizen who needs to demand that the power of the ruler is kept in check by a bold opposition in Parliament, a strong judiciary, independent institutions and free media. Conclusion The truth behind the myths of military rule is exposed by the realities of countries which have experienced military rule. The enduring myths of military rule persist in countries that desire such rule and are replaced with the truth in countries that have been governed by military rule. The myths and the truth behind the myths leave us with the question of whether we, as citizens, make the choice to relinquish our power or ensure that it is exercised in our best interest. [The writer is an Attorney-at-Law, LLB (Hons), DipFMS.] References The Congress initiated late on Tuesday the process of disqualifying legislators who failed to attend two consecutive legislature party meetings in Jaipur as the party scrambled to shore up its numbers and save its government. The decision came hours after Sachin Pilot was removed as deputy chief minister and two other ministers, Vishwendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, were dropped from the cabinet. Singh and Meena are considered close associates of 42-year-old Pilot. Congress general secretary in charge of Rajasthan, Avinash Pande, said the party had initiated the process of issuing notices to the MLAs who did not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting by submitting a petition before assembly speaker CP Joshi. Also read: How Ashok Gehlot retained support, made inroads into Sachin Pilot camp He said the absence of the MLAs from the CLP meeting amounted to giving up their membership of the party voluntarily as they tried to destabilise the government. We have filed a petition before the speaker for dismissal, if the replies arent found justified, then it is up to the speaker to decide the action, said Pande. There was no immediate response from the office of speaker CP Joshi. None of the MLAs who skipped the two meetings one on Monday and one on Tuesday was available for comment. To be sure, Pilot has neither been expelled nor has he formally quit the primary membership of the party. The same holds true for all the other rebel MLAs. Also read: Numbers behind Rajasthan story Pande refused to specify the number of MLAs who will get the and when asked, only said, All who were absent from the CLP. Also read: As Congress picks old guard over new, future tense for both Gehlot, Pilot Senior Congress leaders confirmed to HT that 88 party MLAs attended Mondays meeting while 86 were present at Tuesdays meeting. Two MLAs speaker Joshi and minister Bhanwarlal Meghwal, who is in hospital, were not expected to attend. Late on Tuesday, the Congress also dissolved the state executive, all department and cells of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. With the appointment of the new state president, a new state executive, departments and cells will be constituted again, said Pande. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Healthy debate can make your team stronger. (Source: Getty) Building a great team was hard enough when the office was a place where we all gathered and worked from. But now, in the new reality of working from home the majority of the time, helping your team collaborate effectively has become even more challenging, but all the more important. Here are three evidence-backed ways that you can turbo-charge collaboration within your team: 1. Make every meeting meaningful Most meetings are like Dementors. They suck the life out of us. This happens because most meetings are poorly prepared and inefficient. A survey of 38,000 people by Microsoft revealed that 69 per cent of people feel meetings arent productive. Research also suggests that 90 per cent of us daydream in meetings and 73 per cent of us use time in meetings to do other work. However, meetings play a critical role in team collaboration, as a large amount of teamwork happens within them. In addition, more than 15 per cent of a persons job satisfaction is based on how happy they are with the meetings they attend. Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of 1800-GOT-JUNK, refuses to attend meetings unless they have a PAO Purpose, Agenda, and Outcomes. Scudamore explained to me on the How I Work podcast: For every meeting, someone has to specify the purpose, the outcome, and a brief agenda. And it doesn't matter if it's a ten-minute meeting or a one-hour meeting. If there's no POA, the meeting doesn't happen. What to do: To further aid in creating better meetings, give people clear roles. Every meeting needs a facilitator and a scribe, so nominate these upfront. The facilitators job is to ensure that the discussion is kept on track and the intended outcomes of the meeting are achieved. The scribe takes notes on the critical points but may also be the person nominated with ensuring next steps actually happen. Story continues Finally, given we spend so much time in meetings (it is estimated that the average executive spends 23 hours per week in them), invest time in training staff how to conduct great meetings. Research has shown that only 25 per cent of workers have received formal training in how to conduct effective meetings. 2. Fight, then unite Great teams have great debates. University of California, Berkley, Management Professor Morten Hansen found that teams that are able to fight (have healthy and active debates) and then unite (agree on a decision) are far more effective in achieving their outcomes. Paul Migliorini, acting regional managing director of AWS commercial sales for APJ, spoke to me on How I Work about one of Amazons 14 leadership principles: Disagree and commit. At Amazon, people are encouraged to have robust, data-driven debates. But rather than strive for consensus, its about finding the best solution for the customer. Migliorini explained to me: We shouldn't be mild about making decisions and we shouldn't be consensus-based because if we land on the wrong answer, it's going to mean a bad outcome for our customer. What to do: To have effective debate, Hansen suggests showing up to every meeting prepared and having a point of view that is delivered with data and conviction. But its also critical to stay open to other views and ultimately, let the best argument win (even if it isnt yours). 3. Practice discipline in collaboration, too In his book Great at Work, Hansen reminds us that the goal of collaboration is not collaboration its to achieve the goals that have been set for the team. More collaboration does not always lead to better outcomes. Instead, Morten recommends being disciplined with collaboration. People obviously need to avoid working in silos and under-collaborating, but equally, people need to avoid collaborating with others unnecessarily. What to do: To decide whether or not to collaborate, start by working out whether there is a compelling reason for the proposed collaboration. If there isnt, stop right there. If there is, make sure a unifying goal is set that excites the team. And finally, reward the results, not the activities, driven by the collaboration. By following these three strategies, youll have turbo-charged the way your team collaborates in the remote working world. And if and when your team does eventually head back to the office, effective collaboration will feel like a walk in the park. Dr Amantha Imber is the Founder of behavioural science consultancy Inventium and the host of How I Work, a podcast about the habits and rituals of the worlds most successful people. Make your money work with Yahoo Finances daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, property and economy news. Follow Yahoo Finance Australia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. SCHOHARIE A potential plea deal in the criminal case against the operator of the stretch limousine at the center of the October 2018 crash that killed 20 people may be the result of worries that prosecutors could fail to win a guilty verdict from a jury due to the complexity of the case, according to the victims' families and their attorneys. One of the chief problems confronting Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery in her prosecution of Nauman Hussain, the limo company's operator: the role that a Mavis Discount Tire outlet in Saratoga Springs played in doing repair work to the brakes on the stretch Ford Excursion as well as the shop's alleged decision to slap a state inspection sticker on the limo just months before the tragedy without actually inspecting the vehicle. Families of the victims and their attorneys who have spoken to Mallery have been led to believe that any plea deal struck with Hussain would not involve prison time a prospect that does not sit well with many of the families, who say they want him to go to trial. Hussain has been charged with 20 counts each of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter; he has pleaded not guilty to all counts, and has remained free as the case has proceeded. The initial trial date was pushed back from last fall to this spring, and then delayed again by the conronavirus pandemic. No trial date is currently set. "I don't want this guy to get a plea deal; I want him to go to trial," Mary Ashton, the mother of crash victim Michael Ukaj, told the Times Union on Tuesday from her home in Maine. "Twenty people are dead this guy should go to trial." Mallery did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment on a potential plea deal. A court conference is scheduled to take place Wednesday involving Mallery, Schoharie County Court Judge George Bartlett III and Hussain's defense attorneys; the session will be conducted virtually, and will not be open to the public. Ashton and attorneys involved in the civil lawsuits filed against the Hussain family and Mavis acknowledge that the possible plea deal, while detail remain uncertain, would involve Hussain receiving probation and a prison sentence limited to time served under his bail conditions. Although the details of a potential plea deal may have been talked about between Mallery and Hussain's attorneys, the final arrangement would have to be approved by Bartlett. "I cant comment on a plea agreement that doesnt exist," said Lee Kindlon, one of Hussain's attorneys, on Tuesday. Ashton said Mallery has not shared any details about a potential plea deal, but that during a previous conference call with victims' families the district attorney confirmed that talks were taking place with Hussain's attorneys. Ashton and her husband worry there are other factors pushing Mallery toward a plea deal, such as the desire of two state agencies to keep their handling of Hussain's company out of the news. The couple also worry that Hussain's wealthy relatives in Pakistan Hussain's father, a longtime FBI informant, has asserted he is the brother of Malik Riaz Hussain, one of Pakistan's richest businesses have also added to prosecutors' anxiety. The Ford Excursion was taking 17 friends from Amsterdam to Cooperstown for a birthday party when it blew through a stop sign on Route 30 in Schoharie and crashed into the parking lot of the Apple Barrel Country Store, killing two pedestrians before slamming into the side of a ravine. All 18 passengers, including the driver, died. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Prosecutors allege that Hussain, 30, knew that the limo was dangerous after it had failed two state Department of Transportation inspections in the months leading up to the disaster; he was also aware that the driver he assigned to the job that day was not properly licensed. Hussain has said he was put in charge of his father's limo business after Shahed Hussain moved to Pakistan in early 2018. A State Police forensic report on the crash blamed the tragedy on catastrophic brake failure, although attorneys for the families assert that employees of the Mavis store on Broadway in Saratoga Springs that serviced the limo knew that the Excursion was a "death trap" due to its failing brakes. In the end, only some of the brake parts were replaced after the limo failed a 2018 inspection by the state DOT. Attorneys representing the victims' families say they believe that the actions of Mavis, which has denied any wrongdoing, may have placed doubts in Mallery's confidence in the case. All declined comment since no details of an actual plea deal have been released. They noted, however, that by avoiding trial, the state would avoid any embarrassing testimony that might come out regarding the DOT or the state Department of Motor Vehicle's handing of the company in the months that preceded the crash. DOT twice ordered the limo off the road after the two failed inspections, although it never impounded the limo or seized its license plates an action the state took against other limo companies after the Schoharie disaster, the deadliest U.S. traffic incident in more than a decade. Ukaj, Ashton's son, went to high school in Maine and got his college degree from Fulton Montgomery Community College; he lived in Caroga Lake at the time of the crash. He had served as a combat Marine. "He suffered through mortar fire while his comrades died," Ashton said. "My son cannot speak for himself anymore. I am going to do anything I can to bring (Hussain) to trial." The 11th annual iteration of Burger Boogaloo, Oaklands ever-eccentric, rockabilly-punk music festival has been cancelled and rescheduled for next summer. Hosted each year by cult filmmaker and author John Waters in Mosswood Park, the summer festival was initially postponed to Halloween as the pandemic lingered over the region. On Tuesday morning, organizers announced their decision to further delay the event to next year as a precaution of safety for fans, staff and musicians. Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot has skipped the second meeting of Congress MLAs on Tuesday, despite several senior party leaders reaching out to him to end his dispute with chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Unmoved by the Congress olive branch, Pilot has remained unreachable while the 18 MLAs in his camp stayed put at a hotel in Manesar, amid reports that he is in talks with the BJP. The Congress top brass had gone all out to placate Pilot as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra called him up four times on Monday and senior leader P Chidambaram reached out to the deputy CM late on Monday night, sources said. Just before the meeting, which was postponed by an hour, Congress national general secretary Avinash Pande also appealed to Pilot and his supporters to join the second Congress Legislature Party meet. The meeting was announced several hours after the first one ended on Monday afternoon, skipped by Pilot and 18 other party MLAs. While the Congress top brass tried to pacify Pilot, the Rajasthan unit took a more hardened approach after he skipped the first meeting of legislators on Monday morning. A resolution passed by the MLAs called for "strict disciplinary action" against anyone who did anything to weaken the government or the party. Tuesdays meeting is being held at a resort where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. He told reporters that a second chance is being given to Pilot and hoped that all MLAs come and extend solidarity to the leadership for which people voted to ensure development of the state. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had announced the second CLP meeting as the top leadership expressed the desire to woo back dissidents led by Pilot. Party leaders had said that 106 of the 122 MLAs attended Monday's meeting, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents and even demanded a floor test in the Assembly to make the situation clear. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji talked to the Sunday Nation on the war on corruption, the recent conviction of Sirisia MP John Waluke, Triton scandal, dams scandal, and more. After the emphatic victory in the Waluke case, what do we expect next from your office? There are many cases in court involving big shots which are almost at the tail-end. We also have a number that investigators are finalising in the coming weeks. I will order the prosecution of firms and individuals, some of whom are well-connected. How about the cases that have cross-border connections, such as the Triton scandal, Akasha brothers and the Kimwarer and Arror dams scam? We have requested the British government to help extradite fugitive billionaire Yagnesh Devani to face charges related to the Sh7.6 billion Triton scandal. But Devani has filed a case at the Supreme Court in the UK in efforts to stop his extradition. If he loses the case, he will be on the first flight home to face trial. The matter of Arror and Kimwarer dams is very complex and we are on the investigations. On the Akasha brothers, we are waiting for more information from the US prosecutors so that we finalise our investigations. Dont forget that the brothers were convicted largely based on the evidence we provided. We are doing this as a result of increased partnership between Kenyan investigators and prosecutors and those from other countries, especially in conducting investigations and training. Whom have you collaborated with in the prosecutions and training? The conviction of Sirisia MP John Waluke is a result of the cross-border collaborations. On May 28, the court allowed one of the directors of Emirates National Oil Company Ltd, one of the companies Mr Devani defrauded, to testify via video link from Singapore. We are training 150 prosecutors on financial crimes in partnership with an organisation known as the Attorney General Alliance-Africa. The organisation is made up of legal professionals consisting of attorneys-general, prosecutors, law enforcement officers and subject matter experts. It provides training in transnational crime such as human trafficking, trafficking in firearms, drug trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, internet crimes and corruption. The latest training, which ended last Friday, was conducted by Marcus Green, who served as the Executive Assistant Attorney-General for the State of New Jersey and Xavier Cunningham, an assistant United States Attorney in the Department of Justice. Our other partners include Lawyers Without Borders, the UK Crime Prosecution Services and the Basel Institute of Governance, based in Switzerland. Has the investment in the training been reflected in convictions? Our conviction rate, especially for corruption cases, is now amazing. For instance, in 2015, the conviction rate was just 30.43 per cent, with only seven convictions and more than twice acquittals. So far this year, the conviction rate is at 66.67 per cent, with 12 convictions and only six acquittals. Between 2015 and 2017, the conviction rate was 41.3 per cent while in the past two years since I came to office the conviction rate is at 58.7 per cent. Of the number of convictions from 2015 to 2020, 58.9 per cent were obtained between 2018 and 2020. This is a great success. Other than the training and collaboration, what else has contributed to this success? When I came into office, I discovered that prosecutors were among the least paid and appreciated among the various players in the justice sector. It was a poorly enumerated workforce, with little morale. We engaged the Salaries Review Commission, which raised the salaries and allowances given to prosecutors to competitive levels. There was also very little specialisation. We now have nine specialised divisions: Anti-corruption, Proceeds of Crime, Banking and Financial Crime, Transnational Organised Crime, Counterterrorism, Sexual and Gender-based Violence, Juvenile Justice, Judicial Revision and Petition and Hate Speech and Election Justice. We are also establishing the Prosecution Training Institute, which will be the first institution for prosecutors and the criminal justice system in Kenya and East Africa. Despite the reforms, there are claims that the prosecution office is still rife with corruption. Corruption had become endemic in this country. Not even this office was spared. But we have made progress in dealing with it. Recently, we established the Internal Compliance Unit (ICU), which is the equivalent of the Internal Affairs Unit in the National Police Service. The ICU will be prosecuting prosecutors accused of various crimes. We are also on course to establish the inspectorate arm of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP). There was a ruckus after I appointed former chief justice Bernard Chunga to head it. This is a matter in court. Once it is finalised, we will move to have the inspectorate. Do we expect more changes in policy, especially on who decides who should be prosecuted? There has been confusion in the past on whether detectives from the DCI should take cases to court. We have now ensured that only the Office of the Director of Criminal Prosecutions takes matters to court for prosecution, as this is our core mandate. To make the system more efficient, we have come up with a case management system and a central intake system through which investigators can feed whatever they are working on in an organised manner so that we know what is coming in and going out. In the coming weeks, we will be launching policy guidelines dubbed Decision to Charge to guide prosecutors on when and how to charge a suspect. They will also stop abuse of the prosecution system, where some suspects are taken to court because of external influence and other factors. Despite the good things that you have spoken about, there have been claims that your office is looking the other way on issues involving prominent personalities, like the murder of police officer Kipyegon Kenei. I did not order the investigations into the scandal involving the former Cabinet secretary Rashid Echesa and the subsequent murder of Sergeant Kipyegon Kenei. I am sure once the detectives from the DCI are done with the investigations, they will share the report with my office. Sudan said that limited progress had been achieved during the latest round of trilateral talks with Egypt and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in a final report presented to South Africa on Tuesday. The latest round of talk on the contested mega-dam were held under the auspices of the African Union and ended on Monday. According to Sudanese news agency SUNA, the Sudanese report, filed with South Africa as chair of the AU, reported limited progress on the outstanding issues. The report also included suggestions from Sudan on resolving those issues. Sudan also included with the report a draft agreement which could be the basis for an accepted and complete agreement between the three countries, SUNA reported. The draft agreement is an update of the draft presented by Sudan to Egypt and Ethiopia at the end of the previous round of talks in June. The latest round of talks ended without any agreement between the three countries. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa will hold a mini-summit of AU officials and heads of member states to discuss the next steps. Last Thursday, Cairo said it would not accept any incomplete deal that would not take into account the Egyptian concerns, stressing that Ethiopia's continued adherence to its intransigent stances on both the technical and legal aspects of the differences over the hydropower project would reduce the chances of reaching an agreement. The Egyptian negotiators voiced their concerns about Ethiopia's failure to address rules regulating the filling and operation of the GERD during drought and dry years. Egypt is also concerned about future projects on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile, and demands binding dispute settlement mechanisms, which Addis Ababa refused to include in a deal. Search Keywords: Short link: SqwidNet MD Phathizwe Malinga is one of South Africas top ICT executives and a leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) market. As managing director of SqwidNet, he is responsible for building an IoT connectivity business in South Africa in partnership with Sigfox. Malinga has been involved in the information technology and telecommunications industry for over two decades, having held senior management level positions. Before joining SqwidNet, Malinga was the head of application strategy at Life Healthcare Group, and he was in charge of the IT application strategy and software development for the group. He also has a love for the academic field and is a guest lecturer at the Graduate School of Business, Cape Town and a Singularity University faculty candidate. In this interview, Malinga discusses how he is running SqwidNet remotely and what the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is on the IoT industry. He further discusses the most popular IoT applications and where he thinks the IoT industry is heading in the next two years. The full interview is embedded below. You can see all Whats Next with Aki Anastasiou interviews here. Authorities in Mali released a number of opposition leaders on Monday in a move to try and appease a protest movement calling for the resignation of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita. Lawyer Alifa Habib Kone said three of his clients were released - Choguel Maiga, Kaou Djim and Imam Oumarou Diarra, according to the AFP news agency, reporting that others had been released on Sunday night. Some 20 opposition figures had been jailed following unrest in Bamako on Friday a peaceful rally turned violent with some demonstrators blocking bridges, attacking the state broadcaster and targeting the parliament. Gunfire was heard on Monday in the Badalabougou neighbourhood of Bamako, the home of Imam Mahmoud Dicko, one of the leading opposition leaders. The 5 June movement has organised recent demonstrations and draws support from Malians fed up with economic problems, allegations of government corruption and the ongoing fight against jihadists. Rights group Amnesty International said 11 people have been killed in these latest protests and at least 80 injured. International reaction International actors urged the government in Bamako to pursue political dialogue and condemned violence, especially the response to protests by Malian security forces. A joint statement by the Ecowas regional bloc, African Union, EU and UN said they were very concerned about the evolution of the socio-political situation in Mali. They regret that public buildings have been targeted by violence, which has resulted in a loss of life, a number of injured and destruction of property, owned by the state and individuals, said the statement published on Sunday. "They condemn forcefully all forms of violence as a means of settling the socio-political crisis," it added. The statement urged President Keita to create the conditions for political dialogue, notably by releasing the jailed leaders of the M5-RFP group, a coalition of religious, political and civil society leaders steering the protests. Amnesty International said the Malian authorities must immediately investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of 11 people, including a minor aged 15, during the weekend's protests. They must uphold their constitutional and international obligations in terms of respecting the freedom of peaceful assembly, forbidding the use of excessive force, said Samira Daoud, Amnesty's director for west and central Africa. In response to the protests, Keita has offered to dissolve the country's constitutional court, however, this has been judged insufficient by the M5-RFP group. Keita's son, Karim Keita, has also reportedly stepped down as head of the parliamentary committee on defence, according to Bamako correspondent Serge Daniel. Karim Keita was previously at the centre of a storm on social media over a video that emerged of him partying. Internet shutdown A clampdown on internet services in Mali continued on Monday, with restrictions hitting most, but not all users on social media and messaging apps, according to an internet access watchdog. NetBlocks said Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Messenger were restricted on Mali's leading phone network Orange, with problems also seen on Malitel and other networks. Findings are consistent with previous restrictions in Mali and there is no indication of a technical fault, said the civil society group, which campaigns for an open internet. The clampdown targeted the mobile telephone networks and varied according to the area or locality, according to Fatouma Harber, a blogger and activist. In certain parts of Mali, like Geo, it's a shutdown, pure and simple, but in other places, especially Bamako, it's restrictions mostly on the mobile networks Orange and Malitel, Harber told RFI's Kpenahi Traore. We see that it's the social networks that suffer from restrictions, quite simply because it's the most important channel young Malians use to communicate, Harber added, noting the crippling effect to WhatsApp and Facebook in particular. The authorities in Bamako previously clamped down on internet access in August 2018 during the runoff for the presidential elections. A monkey trainer in southern Thailand says that few monkeys are involved in harvesting coconuts for export. His message disputes an activist report that led several British supermarkets to ban coconut products. Nirun Wongwanich trains monkeys to fetch coconuts at a Thai monkey school. He says most coconuts that are used for export are harvested by humans -- with long sticks. Only a few farms in the south of Thailand use monkeys for taller coconut trees, he said. He also denied claims of animal abuse. 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 the Reuters news agency. He added that he trains six to seven monkeys a year. Earlier this month, several British companies removed Thai coconut products from their food stores after the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, released a report. The report claimed that coconuts in Thailand are picked by abused monkeys. Prime Minister Boris Johnsons fiancee Carrie Symonds asked other supermarkets to remove the products as well. PETA has said it believes that all coconuts from Thailand are picked by monkeys. Thailands government has denied the claims in the PETA report, saying the use of monkey labor is almost non-existent. Mananya Thaiset is Thailands deputy minister of agriculture. She said Thailands 200,000 coconut growers use almost all human labor and machines for harvesting. Even all the monkeys in the entire forest wont be enough for the industry, Mananya said. A PETA official on Saturday rejected the Thai arguments. PETAs Asia official, Nirali Shah, said, The industrys efforts to sidetrack the issue with a count of the number of farms and monkeys...only shows the world that they are trying to do more of the same keep monkeys in chains." Last year, Thailand produced more than 806,000 tons of coconut from more than 1,200 square kilometers, a government report shows. It exported coconut milk worth $396 million. About eight percent of that went to Britain. Im Ashley Thompson. Reuters news agency reported this story. Alice Bryant adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. ___________________________________________________________ Words in This Story coconut - n. a large fruit that has a thick shell with white flesh and liquid inside it and that grows on a palm tree fetch - v. to go after and bring back something or someone bond - n. something (such as an interest, experience or feeling) that is shared between people or with people and animals and forms a connection fiancee - n. a woman that a man is engaged to be married to sidetrack - v. to cause someone to talk about or do something different and less important chain - n. a connected series of metal links used for fastening or securing objects and pulling or supporting loads By Express News Service NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday dismissed the bail plea of suspended AAP Councillor Tahir Hussain in the murder case of IB official Ankit Sharma during the communal violence in Northeast Delhi. The court also observed that Hussain allegedly used rioters as human weapons who on his instigation could have killed anybody. Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav said that a powerful person like Hussain can threaten witnesses in the case if enlarged on bail. ALSO READ | No evidence yet of politicians instigating northeast Delhi riots: Police to High Court At this stage, I find that there is enough material on record to presume that the applicant was very well present at the spot of crime and was exhorting the rioters of a particular community and as such, he did not use his hands and fists, but rioters as human weapons, who on his instigation could have killed anybody. The judge clarified that anything stated in the order was based upon prima analysis of material available on record at this stage which is yet to be tested on the touchstone of trial. ALSO READ | Tahir Hussains employees saw him talking to other accused, says charge sheet filed by Delhi police In this case, it is apparent that witnesses, whose statements have been recorded are residents of the same locality and they can easily be threatened by a powerful person like the applicant (Hussain), the judge said in his order. The Delhi Police had, in its charge sheet filed in the case, alleged there was a deep rooted conspiracy behind Sharmas murder as he was specifically targeted by a mob led by Hussain. The charge sheet said that autopsy had revealed that there were 51 sharp injuries on his body and the way Sharma was killed has shaken the social fabric of the society and instilled a fear in the minds of the residents of the area. Four local students were named to honor rolls at the University of Alabama. Owassos Kiplyn Burk, Jaiden Pokoski and Journey Staggs were named to the Deans List, and Collinsvilles Trinity Warder was named to the Presidents List for the 2020 spring semester at the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-based campus. A total of 16,470 students enrolled during the 2020 spring term at UA were named to the Deans List with an academic record of 3.5 or above, or the Presidents List with an academic record of 4.0 (all As). The UA Deans and Presidents lists recognize full-time undergraduate students. The lists do not apply to graduate students or to undergraduate students who take less than a full course load. A mber Heard branded Johnny Depp a coward and was screaming hysterically after allegedly severing the stars fingertip in a blazing row, the actors bodyguard claimed. Malcolm Connolly told the High Court he witnessed the aftermath of the incident in Australia in 2015, when the Pirates of the Caribbean star suffered a gruesome injury and was left needing surgery. Depp claims Heard was responsible for the injury after throwing a vodka bottle which exploded on his hand, while she insists the actor did it to himself in a drink and drugs haze. Giving evidence to the High Court this morning, Mr Connolly said Depp told him as they left the rented Australian home Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle." The bodyguard, who has worked for Depp and his family for 16 years, said Heards claims of the incident bears no resemblance to my recollection and said he feared she was going to pelt them with objects as they left. Mr Connolly said he was ordered to extract the boss from the situation in March 2015, arriving to the sound of a ruckus inside. He and Amber were screaming at each other, he said. I shouted at Johnny words to the effect of come with me, you are coming with me. I then took his arm trying to move him out, but he broke away. I said again words to the effect of Johnny, come with me. It wasn't easy but I did get him outside. Mr Connolly said Depp blamed Heard immediately for the finger injury, and also suggested she had put a cigarette out on his cheek, said the security guard. I could see the mark on his face. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard at High Court: July 2020 1 /106 Johnny Depp and Amber Heard at High Court: July 2020 Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on the first day .Jeremy Selwyn Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on the first day PA Johnny Depp on the first day of his libel trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN) AFP via Getty Images Amber Heard with her sister Whitney Heard on the first day Johnny Depp's libel case PA Johnny Depp wearing a face covering AFP via Getty Images) Johnny Depp (right) being cross-examined by Sasha Wass QC (left) before the judge, Mr Justice Nicol, at the High Court on 7 July PA Johnny Depp arrives on the second day of the hearing his libel case Reuters Amber Heard waves as she arrives at the High Court on the second day PA AFP via Getty Images PA Getty Images AFP via Getty Images AFP via Getty Images PA Getty Images Johnny Depp (L) arrives on the third day of his libel trial against News Group Newspapers (NGN), at the High Court on 9 July AFP via Getty Images Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 9 July Reuters Photo showing Amber Heard injury alleged to have been caused by Johnny Depp An image Heard said was taken after this incident, showing a bruise on her arm. An image of Johnny Depp apparently passed out on the floor Lines of cocaine on a table that were allegedly taken by actor Johnny Depp PA Amber Heard and Bianca Butti leave the Royal Courts of Justice on 9 July Getty Images Amber Heard (R) arrives on the third day of the libel trial by her former husband US actor Johnny Depp against News Group Newspapers (NGN), at the High Court on 9 July AFP via Getty Images Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 9 July AP Amber Heard arrives on the third day of the libel trial by her former husband US actor Johnny Depp against News Group Newspapers (NGN), at the High Court on 9 July AFP via Getty Images Johnny Depp photo spilt ice cream photo referred to in court Amber Heard American actor Johnny Depp gestures to the media as he arrives at the High Court on 13 July AP Amber Heard's pet teacup Yorkshire Terriers Pistol and Boo which has been referred to as an exhibit in the hearing of Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court in London PA One of the pictures shown in court Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 14 July PA Johnny Depp with injuries allegedly sustained from Amber Heard during an incident in Los Angeles PA Amber Heard being questioned by Sasha Wass QC as she gives evidence at the High Court in London on 20 July Elizabeth Cook/PA Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 20 July AP Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on Monday where she is due to give evidence against former husband Johnny Depp on 20 July PA Amber Heard image which has been referred to as an exhibit in the hearing of Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court on 20 July PA Johnny Depp arrives at Royal Courts of Justice on 21 July Getty Images Amber Heard with a bruising on her face, which was referred to as an exhibit in the hearing of Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court in London PA Amber Heard being cross examined by Eleanor Laws QC as she gives evidence at the High Court in London during a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton on 21 July PA Amber Heard with a friend, which was referred to as an exhibit in the hearing of Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton PA Amber Heard arrives at the High Court in London for a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton on 21 July PA Johnny Depp leaves the High Court in London following a hearing in his libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton PA Video deposition of Amber Heard in US proceedings, which was referred to as an exhibit in the hearing of Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton, at the High Court PA Johnny Depp with a cast on his hand PA Amber Heard leaves the High Court in London following a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton PA Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on Wednesday morning for a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton on 22 July PA Actress Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on 22 July AP Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on Wednesday morning for a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, Dan Wootton on 22 July Getty Images PA PA PA PA PA PA PA Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on 23 July Reuters Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 23 July REUTERS Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 23 July PA Amber Heard arrives at the High Court on 23 July AFP via Getty Images Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 23 July AFP via Getty Images Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court on 23 July Getty Images Amber Heard with her girlfriend Bianca Butti arrive at the Royal Courts of Justice on 24 July Getty Images Amber Heard arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice on 24 July Getty Images Amber Heard arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice on 24 July Getty Images Getty Images Getty Images REUTERS PA AFP via Getty Images REUTERS Getty Images AFP via Getty Images SplashNews.com PA REUTERS AFP via Getty Images REUTERS SplashNews.com REUTERS He continued that Heard, wearing a green silk night gown, was screaming and crying while calling out: Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?. She was saying I love you, I love you. Is this how you are going to end this?, he said. She was not making a lot of sense: one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away. She was absolutely hysterical. I was worried that she might start throwing objects at Johnny, or at myself, as I had seen her throw objects before. For example, I had seen her lob a fork in Johnny's general direction once; another time I recall she threw a lighter at him; another time a can of coke. I knew that we needed to get out of there as soon as possible. Mr Connolly said Depp was in shock and panicking, but denied seeing that the star was drunk. He added that the security team decided to tell doctors that Depp had severed his finger while chopping onions to try to warn off bad publicity, but the medic didnt believe us for one second. The court also heard that Depps head of security Jerry Judge was recorded saying Heard had scratches on her arm after the incident in Australia. Depp is suing The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers and executive editor Dan Wootton for libel over a 2018 article which dubbed him a wife beater / PA Sasha Wass QC, representing The Sun, said a recording device was left on at the house in Australia, capturing five hours including Depp talking and Judge speaking. She has scratches on her left arm that someone told me about, Mr Judge was heard saying. Ive seen those scratches before on a lot of people. Ms Wass said Mr Judge who has since died may have been suggesting the scratches were self-inflicted. Connolly insisted he had not seen any marks on Heards arm when he extracted Depp from the property. Jerry Judge had four hours with Amber, I had roughly 30 minutes and had seen her from a distance, he said. Asked if he might have missed any scratches, Mr Connolly replied: No. Mr Connolly has said he was told by Depp that the severed finger was Heard's fault. Heard claims the finger injury came at the end of a three-day hostage situation after Depp had subjected her to repeated bouts of violence. However, Depp - who insists Heards allegations of violence are a hoax called his ex-wifes account patently untrue. The court has heard how Depp used his wounded finger to daub messages on a mirror, at first with blood and then black paint, which he says happened when he was in the grip of a nervous breakdown. Depp is suing The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers and executive editor Dan Wootton for libel over a 2018 article which dubbed him a wife beater. The libel trial continues. An exploding white dwarf star blasted itself out of its orbit with another star in a 'partial supernova' and is now hurtling across our galaxy, according to a new study from the University of Warwick. It opens up the possibility of many more survivors of supernovae travelling undiscovered through the Milky Way, as well as other types of supernovae occurring in other galaxies that astronomers have never seen before. Reported today (15 July) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society the research, funded by the Leverhulme Trust and Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), analysed a white dwarf that was previously found to have an unusual atmospheric composition. It reveals that the star was most likely a binary star that survived its supernova explosion, which sent it and its companion flying through the Milky Way in opposite directions. White dwarfs are the remaining cores of red giants after these huge stars have died and shed their outer layers, cooling over the course of billions of years. The majority of white dwarfs have atmospheres composed almost entirely of hydrogen or helium, with occasional evidence of carbon or oxygen dredged up from the star's core. This star, designated SDSS J1240+6710 and discovered in 2015, seemed to contain neither hydrogen nor helium, composed instead of an unusual mix of oxygen, neon, magnesium and silicon. Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the scientists also identified carbon, sodium, and aluminium in the star's atmosphere, all of which are produced in the first thermonuclear reactions of a supernova. However, there is a clear absence of what is known as the 'iron group' of elements, iron, nickel, chromium and manganese. These heavier elements are normally cooked up from the lighter ones, and make up the defining features of thermonuclear supernovae. The lack of iron group elements in SDSSJ1240+6710 suggests that the star only went through a partial supernova before the nuclear burning died out. The scientists were able to measure the white dwarf's velocity and found that it is travelling at 900,000 kilometres per hour. It also has a particularly low mass for a white dwarf - only 40% the mass of our Sun - which would be consistent with the loss of mass from a partial supernova. Lead author Professor Boris Gaensicke from the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick said: "This star is unique because it has all the key features of a white dwarf but it has this very high velocity and unusual abundances that make no sense when combined with its low mass. "It has a chemical composition which is the fingerprint of nuclear burning, a low mass and a very high velocity: all of these facts imply that it must have come from some kind of close binary system and it must have undergone thermonuclear ignition. It would have been a type of supernova, but of a kind that that we haven't seen before." The scientists theorise that the supernova disrupted the white dwarf's orbit with its partner star when it very abruptly ejected a large proportion of its mass. Both stars would have been carried off in opposite directions at their orbital velocities in a kind of slingshot manoeuvre. That would account for the star's high velocity. Professor Gaensicke adds: "If it was a tight binary and it underwent thermonuclear ignition, ejecting quite a lot of its mass, you have the conditions to produce a low mass white dwarf and have it fly away with its orbital velocity." The best studied thermonuclear supernovae are the "Type Ia", which led to the discovery of dark energy, and are now routinely used to map the structure of the Universe. But there is growing evidence that thermonuclear supernovae can happen under very different conditions. SDSSJ1240+6710 may be the survivor of a type of supernova that hasn't yet been "caught in the act". Without the radioactive nickel that powers the long-lasting afterglow of the Type Ia supernovae, the explosion that sent SDSS1240+6710 hurtling across our Galaxy would have been a brief flash of light that would have been difficult to discover. Professor Gaensicke adds: "The study of thermonuclear supernovae is a huge field and there's a vast amount of observational effort into finding supernovae in other galaxies. The difficulty is that you see the star when it explodes but it's very difficult to know the properties of the star before it exploded. "We are now discovering that there are different types of white dwarf that survive supernovae under different conditions and using the compositions, masses and velocities that they have, we can figure out what type of supernova they have undergone. There is clearly a whole zoo out there. Studying the survivors of supernovae in our Milky Way will help us to understand the myriads of supernovae that we see going off in other galaxies." Professor S.O. Kepler of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and who originally discovered this star, said: "The fact that such a low mass white dwarf went through carbon burning is a testimony of the effects of interacting binary evolution and its effect on the chemical evolution of the Universe." Dr Roberto Raddi of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain, who carried out the kinematic analysis, said: "Once again, the synergy between very precise Gaia astrometry and spectroscopic analysis have helped to constrain the striking properties of a unique white dwarf, which probably formed in a thermonuclear supernova and was ejected at high velocity as consequence of the explosion." ### * The research received funding and support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), part of UK Research and Innovation. * 'SDSS J124043.01+671034.68: The partially burned remnant of a low-mass white dwarf that underwent thermonuclear ignition?' is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa1761 Notes to editors: Artist's impression available at the link below. This image is free for use if used in direct connection with this story but image copyright and credit must be University of Warwick/Mark Garlick: Caption: The material ejected by the supernova will initially expand very rapidly, but then gradually slow down, forming an intricate giant bubble of hot glowing gas. Eventually, the charred remains of the white dwarf that exploded will overtake these gaseous layers, and speed out onto its journey across the Galaxy. Credit: University of Warwick/Mark Garlick https://warwick.ac.uk/services/communications/medialibrary/images/june2020/ejected_star_-_v2b.jpg For interviews or a copy of the paper contact: Tom Frew, Senior Press and Media Relations Manager, University of Warwick: Email: a.t.frew@warwick.ac.uk Mobile: +44(0)7785433155 The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is part of UK Research and Innovation - the UK body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. For more information visit UK Research and Innovation. STFC funds and supports research in particle and nuclear physics, astronomy, gravitational research and astrophysics, and space science and also operates a network of five national laboratories, including the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory and the Daresbury Laboratory, as well as supporting UK research at a number of international research facilities including CERN, FERMILAB, the ESO telescopes in Chile and many more. Visit https://stfc.ukri.org/ for more information. @STFC_Matters About the Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. Since 1925 the Trust has provided grants and scholarships for research and education. Today, it is one of the largest all-subject providers of research funding in the UK, currently distributing 100 million each year. For more information about the Trust, please visit http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk and follow the Trust on Twitter @LeverhulmeTrust MONTREAL July 14, 2020 Canada Quebec 3 million dollars $1.5M $1.5M Understanding why certain types of breast cancer are treatment-resistant and thus fight these resistance mechanisms with new therapies. Developing new treatments for aggressive types of breast cancer, such as triple-negative and HER2-dependent. Jida El Hajjar Canada Nadine Beauger Quebec Canada /CNW Telbec/ - The pandemic has highlighted the importance of supporting scientific research in order to allow investigators to find real solutions to deal with public health issues such as COVID-19 or cancer. In this context, IRICoR and the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation (QBCF) have joined forces to fund research on breast cancer, a cancer that affects a large and vulnerable population. Today, they proudly announce the four recipients of their joint LeadAction|Breast Cancer du Sein Competition, launched across. These winning investigators fromwill benefit from a total amount ofThis substantial support will enable recipients to accelerate theirresearch work in order to offer more therapeutic options to those affected. The projects selected target two major breast cancer issues:"The LeadAction|Breast Cancer du Sein Competition is unique and innovative! It is translated by the convergence of three vital scientific and social innovation components, namely science, industry and the patient community. Therefore, by jointly launching this call, IRICoR and the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation have met the glaring needs of the people affected by breast cancer, by supporting large-scale projects that will result in developing new promising therapies", points out, Ph.D., Vice-President of Investment and Health Promotion at the QBCF."Leading-edge breast cancer research must effectively translate into benefits to patients. The LeadAction|Breast Cancer du Sein Competition represents an exceptional opportunity to support creative projects that will ensure the development of novel therapeutic solutions for those suffering from breast cancer. This Competition allows us to seize the opportunity of combining our expertise in transforming research into therapeutic innovations with respect to the needs of breast cancer patients. IRICoR is excited about the outstanding quality of the projects submitted as part of the LeadAction|Breast Cancer du sein Competition launched across", added Dr., Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer of IRICoR.Following a competitive process and a thorough assessment of applications fromand the rest ofby an independent international peer committee, four projects were selected: 1. Blocking the addictions of cancerous tumors in order to destroy them Rationally designed approaches to target mRNA translation in eradicating poor outcome breast cancers [Team headed by Jerry Pelletier, Principal Investigator at the Goodman Cancer Research Centre, McGill University] While cancer cells depend on the translation of mRNA to produce the proteins required for their aggressive nature, no molecule has yet been developed to block that process in breast cancer. The team headed by Jerry Pelletier seeks to remedy that situation by developing a molecule belonging to a whole new class of anti-cancer agent that can target and block that addiction. 2. Countering resistance to treatments Development of orally bioavailable antiestrogens optimized for induction of estrogen receptor post-translational modifications by SUMOylation [Team headed by Sylvie Mader, Principal Investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universite de Montreal] 30 to 50% of patients affected by hormone-dependent (ER+) breast cancer develop resistance to therapies targeting the estrogen receptor. This team has already discovered that SUMOylation of the estrogen receptor contributes to the efficacy of fulvestrant, an anti-estrogen used in the treatment of ER+ breast cancer progressing after hormonal therapy. They are now working on developing new molecules optimized for this activity to better treat those affected by ER+ metastatic breast cancer. 3. Demystifying the role of a protein responsible for the spread of triple-negative breast cancer Development of small-molecule inhibitors of Ran GTPase as anti-cancer agents [Team headed by Anne-Marie Mes-Masson, Principal Investigator at the CHUM Research Centre] Breast cancer is much more difficult to treat at the metastatic stage. In many cases, the protein Ran is associated with the spread of the disease to the other healthy tissues. The two investigators are currently testing molecules to curb the protein Ran for the purpose of slowing down or stopping the progression of breast cancer. 4. Developing a new molecule comparable to vitamin D to fight triple-negative breast cancer Bifunctional vitamin D analogues as novel therapeutics against triple-negative breast cancer [Team headed by John White, Principal Investigator at the Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital] This team of investigators developed a new class of molecules as therapeutic agents against triple-negative breast cancer. They are vitamin D analogues. Their distinctive feature: they combine 2 active functions against cancer, namely HDAC inhibitors and the active form of vitamin D. About IRICoR Designated as a Centre of Excellence in Research and Commercialization (CECR) by the Canadian government and based at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) of the Universite de Montreal, IRICoR is a pan-Canadian leader in the de-risking of early-stage assets in the field of drug discovery. IRICoR's mandate is to accelerate the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies in cancer and rare diseases. Since 2008, IRICoR has been successfully investing in and supporting selected high-value projects in order to rapidly translate early-stage innovation into potential new therapies, through either co-development partnerships with the biopharmaceutical industry or the creation of spin-off companies. IRICoR seamlessly combines its business-related expertise with access to industry-level drug discovery capabilities, providing selected academic and industry projects with access to its network of experts and cutting-edge infrastructure, including one of the largest academia-based drug discovery unit in Canada. IRICoR's major funding sources include the federal CECR Program, the Ministere de l'Economie et de l'Innovation du Quebec (MEI), and collaborative partnerships with the biopharmaceutical industry. For more information about IRICoR: iricor.ca About the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation The Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation (QBCF) is dedicated to achieving its vision: a breast cancer free future. Breast cancer milestones underline the importance of our MISSION: advancing leading-edge research, education, community support, and advocacy. Since 1994, QBCF has raised more than $46 million to support promising research leading to key breakthroughs in breast cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and end-of life care. Our role as catalyst for establishing strategic collaborations brought cancer institutions, health professionals, and researchers to adopt interesting innovations such as artificial intelligence, telehealth, 3-D printing, big data, and many more. Together with our researchers, volunteers, supporters, stakeholders and staff, we are committed to continue our mission and to transform breast cancer control. For more information about the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation: rubanrose.org/en SOURCE IRICOR Global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, soared to a record high in 2017, the most recent year for which worldwide data are available, researchers said Tuesday. And they warned that the rise driven by fossil fuel leaks and agriculture would most certainly continue despite the economic slowdown from the coronavirus crisis, which is bad news for efforts to limit global warming and its grave effects. The latest findings, published on Tuesday in two scientific journals, underscore how methane presents a growing threat, even as the world finds some success in reining in carbon dioxide emissions, the most abundant greenhouse gas and the main cause of global warning. Theres a hint that we might be able to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions very soon. But we dont appear to be even close to peak methane, said Rob Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University who heads the Global Carbon Project, which conducted the research. It isnt going down in agriculture, it isnt going down with fossil fuel use. Democratic presidential hopefuls former Vice President Joe Biden (L) and Sen. Bernie Sanders greet each other with a safe elbow bump before the start of the 11th Democratic Party 2020 presidential debate in a CNN Washington Bureau studio in Washington on March 15, 2020. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) Biden-Sanders Unity Agreement Marks Democrats Lurch to the Left Commentary The BidenSanders unity agreement revealed on July 8 is, even for those of us prepared to fear the worst, an astonishing lurch to the far left by the traditionally centrist-left party it claims to unite. The environmental section of the 110-page document begins: Scientists inform us that net-zero carbon emissions are required to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis. (That there may not be a climate crisis, as many scientists also inform us, is naturally not an idea that is considered.) President Donald Trump is accused of systematic efforts to undermine, discredit, dismiss, fire, disempower, and diminish the contributions of scientists [that have] profoundly damaged Americas standing in the world (in both environmental and epidemiological matters). Trump is excoriated for the dangerous and destructive retirement from the Paris Climate Accord. Theres a miraculous rebirth of the 2008 promises of candidate Obama of vast job creation in the manufacture of the (unspecified) instruments of sustainable energy, with huge numbers of unionized, well-paid jobs. (These promises, as will be recalled, were a mirage and nothing of the slightest value came of them.) There will be a core and cohort of people toiling on the front lines to deal with climate change. There also will be a National Health Service Corps, National Resilience Program (to fund resilience), an Office of Climate Mobilization, disorder counselors in rural America, and a conference convened by the new president where all countries must submit and implement ambitious enhanced decarbonization strategies. (How implementation from such docile little jurisdictions as China, India, and Russia will be enforced isnt explained.) There will be a new electricity grid built by people at high wages to produce lower-cost electricity because of efficiencies the government will install in the homes of the nation. Agriculture will produce zero [carbon] emissions, although the awkward question of the bovine flatulence that even the Green New Deal acknowledged to be a problem, causing Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to advocate the end of beef-eating, was mercifully not raised. There naturally will be racial and socioeconomic equity in climate programs, and more robust and meaningful consultation with natives, and others. Criminal Justice The criminal justice section is considerably better as it excoriates the world-leading U.S. imprisonment-per-capita numbers and proposes less-severe sentences, more thorough programs to reintegrate discharged prisoners, improved education within prisons, reduction of civil asset forfeitures, the end of the disparity in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine, and the end of private prisons (where practically no services are provided except the prevention, by gunfire, of escape). The report proposes the abandonment of the war on drugs, an idea of some merit, but vaguely proposes that the problem be attacked by prevention. There are the customary demands for improved policing, and the transference of much police work to social agencies (which the police would welcome). But theres absolutely nothing about the core of criminal justice reform: removal of the prosecutors right to threaten unfounded indictments in exchange for suborned and extorted evidence, while giving cooperating witnesses immunity from charges of perjury. There is the promise of increased authority for the Department of Justice to reform itself, but that is like inviting a society of burglars to propose reforms in residential security. It is precisely the hypocrisy one would expect of a committee led by former Attorney General Eric Holder. Economy The report declares that the economy is rigged against the American people, that Obamas recovery has been squandered by Trump, and deplores his abject failure to respond competently to the COVID crisis. The Democrats stand ready to invest billions of dollars to pull the country out of the Trump recession, in infrastructure, day care, and education, and will supercharge investment in the Housing Trust Fund and end homelessness by improved veterans benefits and a more generous approach to the LGBTQ+ community, (victims of the Trump administrations discriminatory actions, which arent otherwise specified). Trump is accused of systematic criminalization of poverty, and of having bungled trade, and of launching a trade war with China that (he had) no plan for winning. That hes favorably renegotiated the previous administrations principal trade agreements, including with China, is unmentioned. Mega-mergers and all corporate concentration will be opposed as the Biden-Sanders regime equalizes established pathways for building wealth. Inevitably, the authors attack systemic racism and entrenched income and wealth inequality, and Trumps promotion of runaway income and wealth inequality and the scourge of anti-Black racism. (Never mind that under Trump prior to the COVID pandemic, there were more than 500,000 positions to fill than unemployed and the lowest 20 percent of income earners were gaining in percentage terms in income more quickly than the top 10 percent.) Scattered through the plan are promises for a vastly more progressive tax, and affordable, transparent, trustworthy banking, (like Clintons requirement of noncommercial mortgages), and reimposition of the (catastrophic) Dodd-Frank Act regulating (i.e., stifling) the securities industry. Suicide Pact The Biden-Sanders regime will increase Social Security benefits but will reject every effort to amend Social Security by changing the retirement age, the cost-of-living adjustments, or the benefit structure, while achieving solvency and strengthening it in perpetuity. Charter schools will effectively be suppressed, on the pretext that they seek to be profitable, and the monopoly of the corrupt and indolent teachers unions (staunchly pro-Democrat), will be reinforced. Public college and university tuition fees will be canceled for families with less than $125,000 annual income, and student loans will be alleviated by an immediate $10,000 per borrower, while billings will be capped at 5 percent of income and end after 20 years. Trump lied to the American people about the coronavirus and is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, as he failed to act on the advice of Congress to maintain a strong stockpile of critical medical supplies. The unity document clings to the Democrats grateful espousal of a general shutdown with their nonsense of test, trace, and quarantine. In fact, the Obama administration left a completely shriveled emergency health crisis response capability and Trump mobilized a prompt response, even as Biden advised that the presidents suspension of flights from China on Jan. 31 was xenophobic. This document promises a platinum-level, federally administered health insurance option with no fees and low deductibles. This is hard to distinguish from Sen. Elizabeth Warrens $52 trillion health care proposal. The immigration section promises to end the National Emergency and the unnecessary, wasteful, and ineffective wall, and Trumps cruelty and dehumanizing policies (Illegal immigration has been reduced by almost 90 percent.). Merit-based immigration will be rejected, all round-ups of illegal entrants will be stopped, relatives of those illegally in the country now will be admitted, and billions will be poured into Central America and the Caribbean to reduce the impulse to decamp to the United States. There will be a roadmap to citizenship of the illegals who are already here, which is reasonable for most of them, but the policy is open borders and come one, come all, although thats not explicitly stated. In this, as in many other areas, the unity document dissembles. The enactment of these recommendations in any policy area would be a disaster. The adoption of all of them would bankrupt what would almost immediately turn the United States into an economically stagnant cauldron of violence and institutionalized national self-hate. As in many dramatic and operatic tragedies, the chief protagonist, having defeated all rivals, commits suicide. This isnt Americas manifest, or even comprehensible, destiny. These people absolutely must not be elected. Conrad Black has been one of Canadas most prominent financiers for 40 years, and was one of the leading newspaper publishers in the world. He is the author of authoritative biographies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, and, most recently Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other. The views expressed herein are solely those of the author. As a nonpartisan public charity, The Epoch Times does not endorse these statements and takes no position on political candidates. A family-run company in Co. Cork has secured a 1m, 12-month contract with Aldi in Ireland. Cork-based Walls Honest Chips will supply its fakeaway chips to Aldi's 142 Irish stores for the next 12 months after a successful six months for its product already within the supermarket. Walls Honest Chips were first introduced to Aldis stores in 2019 as part of its Grow with Aldi supplier development programme, which gives small and medium-sized Irish producers the chance to supply its stores nationally. Based in Whitegate, Walls Honest Chips is a family-run business set up in 2017 by Kieran Wall. Over the last six months, it has grown its workforce to six and expanded its production facilities to meet the demand for its fakeaway chips. Made exclusively from the highest quality potatoes and beef dripping, the chips provide the authentic chipper chips taste at home. John Curtin, Aldi Group Buying Director, said: Walls Honest Chips have been a fantastic success with Aldi shoppers. It is a great example of a new and innovative product developed by an Irish food supplier. "Walls Honest Chips were one of the real discoveries of Grow with Aldi in 2019, and we are delighted to continue to support Irish. Kieran Wall, Owner Walls Honest Chips, added: Having our Walls Honest Chips stocked in Aldi stores nationwide is a huge achievement for us. We have also been working closely with the South Cork Local Enterprise Office, who helped us get this product off the ground. "Thanks to the Grow with Aldi programme, in the space of six months we have grown our workforce to six staff and quadrupled production. This new contract provides real security during a very challenging time for Irish producers, and the potential to develop our business further. UPMC has at times found itself at odds with state and local officials over the coronavirus. Read more Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG Last week, top officials for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center a $21 billion dollar health-care system with tremendous influence over public health policy made a headline-grabbing claim about the ongoing rise of coronavirus cases in Allegheny County. In noting the new cases had not led to a major increase in hospitalizations or deaths, Graham Snyder, a physician and medical director of infection prevention, claimed the strain of COVID-19 that UPMC was detecting was less severe than a previous version of the virus. You may have heard in the news that there is a dominant global strain, one that seems to transmit easier but is less deadly, Snyder said at the July 9 media briefing. Thats the strain were detecting. And our data supports those characteristics. But a Spotlight PA review of the studies cited by UPMC, as well as interviews with experts in virology and epidemiology, found the assertion is not supported by current research. Its an extraordinary claim, and extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. In this case, Rasmussen said, the evidence is simply not there. When contacted for proof of Snyders claim that the virus had become less severe, Allison Hydzik, a spokesperson for UPMC, responded with a link to a study published in the journal Cell. But the study itself contradicts UPMCs own takeaways. Regarding the new strain of the virus, the researchers did not find evidence of impact on disease severity, the paper said. There is no evidence COVID-19 has become more or less severe. When Spotlight PA asked for clarity from Hydzik and for further proof of UPMCs claims, she sent another scientific paper about the mutated strain. But this second paper stated unequivocally: Further studies will be necessary to determine the impact of this change on the nature and severity of COVID-19. For weeks, scientists have been tangled in a heated debate about the topic. Part of the issue is that the original study, the one UPMC first provided to Spotlight PA, gained credibility in news media before it had been peer reviewed the crucial process of having scientists not associated with the research scrutinize its analysis. And, as it turns out, the research changed substantially during its peer-review process. An article about the process said that after scrutiny, the research concluded scientists cannot be certain about whether the new strain is more transmissible or leads to more severe disease. Rasmussen is part of a team now highlighting the limitations of the study. The study provided important context for epidemiological research, Rasmussen said, but the impact of disease severity is still largely unknown. She said it is really dangerous for physicians to leap to sweeping conclusions. Its human nature to want an aha explanation, Rasmussen said, and people are desperate for good news. But if Pennsylvanians hear doctors prematurely declare COVID-19 is less severe, people will relax their guard. UPMC has at times found itself at odds with state and local officials over the coronavirus. The system in April announced its intention to resume elective surgeries, a major source of revenue, even though a state directive banned such procedures to conserve resources for COVID-19 patients. And as county officials sounded the alarm about a resurgence of cases, UPMC officials urged the public to change its mindset and focus instead on severity, though Rasmussen cautioned there is much experts still dont know about the virus long-term effects. In recent weeks, Allegheny County has seen a marked increase in new COVID-19 infections from 27 newly confirmed cases on June 21 to a record 210 just days later, according to county data leading officials to temporarily shut down bars, restaurants, and casinos. There are many reasons why Pittsburgh, and other regions across the country, might be seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases without a parallel increase in hospitalizations or deaths. Delays might be the simplest explanation. It takes time for symptoms to develop, to schedule and get the results of a COVID-19 test, and for hospitals to fill up. It also takes time for deaths to occur, then be reported, which skews the real-time view of the disease. Another explanation might be rising case numbers among young people, who are less likely to immediately suffer serious symptoms, as UPMCs Snyder said on July 9. With the recent shift to younger patients, the most likely explanation for less sickness per patient is that they are younger, Donald Burke, professor of epidemiology and dean emeritus at the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health, said in an email. And the most likely explanation for more transmission is the well-documented abandonment of social distancing, especially among young adults. But as far as seeing a strain of the virus in Pittsburgh less deadly or less severe than before, Burke said, he is not aware of any scientific evidence. 100% ESSENTIAL: Spotlight PA relies on funding from foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. If you value this reporting, please give a gift today at spotlightpa.org/donate. At least 21 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been killed so far in 2020, according to the Human Rights Campaign. That marks the most violent deaths in the vulnerable community at this point in the year since the advocacy group began tracking them in 2013. Shakie Peters / Credit: St. Helena Parish Sheriff Transgender and gender non-conforming people face a heightened risk of fatal violence, and Black transgender women are especially vulnerable because of a "a toxic mix of transphobia, racism and misogyny," according to the Human Rights Campaign. Advocates are using the phrase "Black Trans Lives Matter" to raise awareness about anti-transgender violence amid nationwide demonstrations protesting systemic racism and police brutality, with thousands participating in rallies last month in New York and across the country. In July alone, the Human Rights Campaign recorded at least three deaths. Tori Cooper, Director of Community Engagement for HRC's Trans Justice Initiative, said in a statement that the "horrific spike in violence against our community must be an urgent call to action for every single person in this nation." "This is the deadliest period we have on record. While we are still awaiting facts on the ground, it is clear that members of our beloved community are being killed because of who they are," Cooper said. "Racism, toxic masculinity, misogyny and transphobia are destroying lives and taking away our loved ones." Shakie Peters, 32, was found dead in Amite City, Louisiana on July 1 after someone called the St. Helena Parish Sheriff's Department to report finding an unidentified body along a rural road. The department, which referred to the victim by a male name in a statement, said a person of interest from another parish is being investigated. Dylan Waguespack, board president of Louisiana Trans Advocates, told CBS affiliate WAFB-TV that family members identified the victim as a trans woman who used the preferred name Shakie Peters and referred to herself with female pronouns. The sheriff's department released no details about how Peters died and did not respond to a request for comment from CBS News. Story continues Bree Black, a 27-year-old Black transgender woman, was shot dead July 3 in Pompano Beach, Florida. A Broward County Sheriff's detective told reporters that Black, also known as Nuk Cameron Breon, was shot multiple times in the street in short walking distance from her home. Investigators say there were hundreds of people out celebrating the July 4 holiday at the time of the killing, and believe there are eyewitnesses who have yet to come forward. No suspects have been identified in the case. On July 4, Summer Taylor, a 24-year-old White non-binary person who worked at a veterinary clinic, was fatally injured when a car drove into a crowd of protesters demonstrating against police brutality on a closed freeway in Seattle. The driver has been identified as Dawit Kelete, and his lawyer has called the incident a "horrible, horrible accident." Kelete has been charged with vehicular homicide. Bree Black / Credit: Broward County Sheriff The transgender community saw more violence in June. Brayla Stone, who HRC identified as a Black transgender girl, was found slain in Arkansas June 25. Police said the body of the 17-year-old Stone, who lived in North Little Rock, was found in a vehicle on a walking path in nearby Sherwood, according to CBS affiliate KTVH-TV. The Sherwood Police Department is investigating the death as a homicide, but has not released information about how Stone died or whether a suspect has been identified. The department has not returned requests for comment from CBS News. And on June 29, 22-year-old Merci Mack, a Black transgender woman, was found shot to death in the parking lot of a Dallas apartment building. Dallas police last week arrested Angelo Walker and charged him with murder in Mack's death. According to an arrest affidavit, a witness said they saw Walker firing shots at Mack as he chased her through a parking lot, and shooting her multiple times while she was on the ground. The witness told investigators Walker shot Mack because Mack was planning on releasing a video depicting the two together. Dallas police told CBS News they could not provide more information about the video, a motive or whether they were investigating the case as a hate crime, citing the ongoing investigation. On June 9, Riah Milton, a Black transgender woman, was shot dead during a robbery in Liberty Township, Ohio. One day earlier, another Black transgender woman, Dominique "Rem'mie" Fells, was found dead along the banks of a river in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told a local television station that the woman had suffered stab wounds and trauma to the head and face, and her body was found with both legs severed. In a statement, the Philadelphia Police Department's Office of LGBT affairs said the pain of losing a member of the city's LGBTQ community "is especially deep as we are in the midst of Pride montha season typically filled with joy and celebration for many in our community." "As thousands take to the streets to proclaim that Black Lives Matter, it is critical we remember that this includes Black trans lives. Dominique Rem'mie Fells' life mattered," the statement said. Merci Mack / Credit: CBS DFW Advocates say it's likely more killings of transgender or gender non-conforming people have gone unreported. Those that are reported can be difficult to track because law enforcement and the media sometimes misgender and misidentify victims by referring to them with their names given at birth, advocates say. "It's traumatizing whenever we see (a killing) because we think, 'will they be honored in their death?'" Natahalie Nia Faulk, a friend of Shakie Peters who is also transgender, told the Advocate. "It's a personal violence and whenever we die, often police or others don't recognize the life that came before it." Faulk remembered Peters as the life of the party in an interview with the paper. "Shakie was a very independent person and very loyal to her friends," she said. "She was full of laughter and an abundance of life." "Sometimes we have no choice": Guatemalan family recounts harrowing journey across the U.S. border Biden argues U.S. economy is improving after release of April jobs report Federal civil rights charges for 4 ex-officers in George Floyd's death The COVID-19 pandemic in the United States has developed into an unmitigated catastrophe. On Monday, the United States recorded more than 65,000 new cases, and daily cases are at nearly twice the earlier peak seen in mid-April. The US accounts for a third of the total new cases globally, despite having just four percent of the worlds population. In Florida, more than 40 hospitals are full, and hospitals in Texas are turning away ambulances. People are waiting in line for days to get tested, and Americas rudimentary and fractured public health systemrelying on fax machines to share data and waiting up to a week for test resultsis inundated. Nurses and doctors are facing a critical shortage of protective equipment. This catastrophe is the outcome of the premature reopening of businesses throughout the country. Since non-essential manufacturers reopened two months ago, the number of COVID-19 cases has more than doubled to 3.4 million, and some 43,000 more people have died, bringing the death toll to 138,000. A social crime is being committed, with devastating consequences. However, in the countless hours devoted to discussions of the pandemic on the cable news and in newspaper columns, no one seriously asks: Who is responsible? Who made the decision to prematurely reopen businesses? And what social interests have dictated policy? Of course, Trump and his far-right Republican allies, who downplayed the pandemic and encouraged people to disregard social distancing, have played a crucial role. Trump is waging a war against the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, for daring to point to the obvious fact that the pandemic is now raging out of control. However, it is not just a matter of Trump. Nearly every governor, Democratic and Republican alike, reopened non-essential businesses while the country lacked sufficient testing and contact tracing. As states reopened non-essential production throughout early May, more than half did so as case counts are trending upward, positive test results are rising, or both, according to an analysis by the New York Times. Among the states that reopened without meeting the most basic federal guidelines were Maine, North Carolina, Kansas and Colorado, all of which have Democratic governors. This campaign included the active participation of the Democratic-aligned media. The New York Times ran no less than 11 columns by Thomas Friedman advocating for herd immunityi.e., the abandonment of measures to contain the pandemic, while the Washington Post published an editorial calling the Swedish model of herd immunity appealing. The universal demand to return to work has been dictated by Wall Street and the corporate and financial oligarchy. For the ruling class, the pandemic has been a giant money-making opportunity. One bond trader spelled it out clearly in an interview with Reuters: COVID-19 is now inversely related to the markets. The worse that COVID-19 gets, the better the markets do because the Fed [US Federal Reserve] will bring in stimulus. That is what has been driving markets. Since March, the Fed has funneled $3 trillion into the markets, increasing its balance sheet from $4 trillion to over $7 trillion. This policy was endorsed nearly unanimously by Democrats and Republicans in Congress when they passed the so-called CARES Act in late March. This unlimited supply of money has fueled a massive rise in asset values. The S&P 500 stock index touched its highest level Monday since the outbreak of the pandemic, and it remains above where it was a year ago. One money manager recently told Fortune, We are in irrational exuberancethis is a bubble... The economy is grinding, slowing down, were lurching in and out of COVID, yet the tech market makes new highs every day. Thats a classic speculative bubble. It is this vast upward redistribution of wealth that explains the intensity of the campaign to herd workers into factories that are hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19. While the trillions of dollars of magic money pumped into the financial markets may be fictitious, the wealth of the financial oligarchytheir jets, their supercars, their mansions and condominiumsare very real. This wealth must, in the end, be sweated out of the working class. The case of Tesla CEO Elon Musk can be taken as a specific example. On May 11, Musk announced the resumption of production at Teslas main facility in California, defying state law, with the complicity of the states Democratic Party government. In the period since Tesla reopened, its stock has surged by 50 percent, making it the largest carmaker by market capitalization. This, in turn, has led to a surge in the personal wealth of Musk by $30 billion, to $70 billion, triple his net worth just two years ago. Getting workers back on the job was critical to this milestone. The Financial Times noted that Tesla was foregoing upwards of $500m in revenues a week amid the shutdown, money that a company that has never had a profitable year can ill-afford to forego. In a letter to employees, Musk pointed to the impetus for reopening. Breaking even is looking super tight," he said. "Really makes a difference for every car you build and deliver. As a result of the massive expansion of Teslas stock value, Musk is set, within a matter of days, to receive the highest CEO payout in historyby an order of magnitude--in the form of a $2.4 billion bonus. The policy that has been implemented is not socially neutral. It is not about saving the economy, but saving Wall Street and maintaining and indeed expanding the wealth of the capitalist oligarchy that holds the vast majority of financial assets. From the standpoint of the ruling class, the pandemic has had other advantages. To the extent that older people are the primary victims, it will help lower rising health care costslong cited by ruling class think tanks as a strategic problem. The mass unemployment created by the pandemic likewise has its benefits for the ruling class. Whereas the US was facing the tightest labor market in decades earlier this year, the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic has destroyed tens of thousands of jobs, many of them permanently. The Trump administration has been leading the call to eliminate the $600 weekly unemployment insurance subsidy passed under the CARES Act, but this demand has also received bipartisan support. Democratic Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont joined the chorus of demands for allowing workers benefits to expire, declaring that it discourages work. Critical to the ruling classs back-to-work campaign is the drive to reopen the schools, which, amid a raging pandemic, threatens the lives of tens of thousands of students and teachers and will inevitably lead to a further rise in new cases in the public at large. The ruling class is intent on using the COVID-19 pandemic to expand and intensify the processes that prevailed before its outbreak: the growth of social inequality, the dismantling of social infrastructure and the transformation of the American labor force into a casualized pool of cheap labor. A social crime of monumental proportions is being committed, whose victims pack the morgues and cemeteries from coast to coast. The guilty parties are the representatives of the ruling class, Republican and Democratic, and their accomplices in the media. The motive lies in the defense of the wealth of the oligarchy and the capitalist system. The response of the working class must be socialist revolution. This is the inescapable conclusion that flows from the pandemic. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 14:15 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662c21a 1 News Ubud,#Bali,Travel-Leisure,Gianyar,travel,tourist-destination,destination Free Nestled in Gianyar regency, Bali, the little town of Ubud never loses its charm. Its latest global recognition proves just that, as the town was included among the Best Cities in the World to Visit: Worlds Best 2020 list released by American travel publication Travel+Leisure. In the survey, Ubud ranked 9th with a score of 88.16, right between Luang Prabang in Laos and Istanbul in Turkey, which secured the 8th and 10th positions respectively. The town is particularly loved for its lush, tranquil paddy fields combined with vast culture and diverse traditional culinary scene. Travelers who go to Ubud often search for solitude, while at the same time going on nature-oriented adventures, such as whitewater rafting, hiking, mountain biking or merely strolling through paddy fields or farms. It is also home to the largest annual literary and arts event in Southeast Asia, Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. In 2017, Ubud was also mentioned in the Worlds Top 15 Cities list compiled by the same publication. The survey for the Worlds Best Awards ended in early March right before the COVID-19 pandemic. The results reflect our readers experiences before the pandemic, but we hope this years honorees will inspire your trips to come whenever they may be, wrote the publication. Mexican city Oaxaca topped the ranking, followed by San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and Hoi An in Vietnam in second and third respectively. (wir/kes) Nationals frontbencher Andrew Gee has urged the government to address regional universities' concerns the proposed shake-up of higher education funding could have unintended consequences for communities outside the major cities. Education Minister Dan Tehan's plan includes measures to support regional universities and boost educational access but Mr Gee said there was disquiet among chancellors and vice-chancellors about fee hikes for some courses and a relocation payment for regional students. Nationals minister Andrew Gee (centre) says regional university leaders' views are "vitally important" and need to be listened to. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education wants their "vitally important" views, aired at a roundtable he convened last week, to be heeded by the government. "Our country universities welcomed the increased focus on regional education and while there was, generally speaking, support for the proposed reforms, it was clear to me that the chancellors and vice-chancellors present share a number of the same concerns about how the proposed tertiary education reforms specifically impact regional universities," he said in a statement on Tuesday. T oday marks the fourth anniversary of the horrific massacre in Nice on Bastille Day, which left hundreds injured and over eighty people dead. Crowds of people celebrating at the at Promenade des Anglais in Nice were deliberately mowed down by an Isis terrorist in a cargo lorry. The so-called Islamic State has targeted France on several occasions since January 2015. Here's what happened on the tragic day in 2016. Nice Terror Attack - In Pictures. Warning: Contains images some readers may find distressing 1 /26 Nice Terror Attack - In Pictures. Warning: Contains images some readers may find distressing Forensics officers and policemen look for evidence in the truck Christine PoujoulatAFP/Getty Parents of victims embrace each other near the scene AP Photo/Luca Bruno Forensic police officers work at the truck that plowed into the crowd /Claude Paris/AP A body is seen on the ground with a doll Eric Gaillard/Reuters Emergency services vehicles at the scene Sasha Goldsmith/AP People running away after the lorry ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in Nice PA A man holds a child after a truck plowed through Bastille Day revelers Sasha Goldsmith/AP Bodies are seen on the ground in the street Eric Gaillard/Reuters Emergency teams assist wounded people Olivier Anrigo/EPA French police forces and forensic officers next to the truck Eric Gaillard/Reuters Bodies are seen on the ground Eric Gaillard/Reuters A woman cries whilst asking for her son as she walks near the scene AP Photo/Luca Bruno An injured person is seen on the ground being attended to Eric Gaillard/Reuters Wounded people are taken away from the scene Olivier Anrigo/EPA France's Clement Sordet with 'Pray for Nice' written on his hat during day two of The Open Championship PA People cross the street with their hands on their heads as a French soldier secures the area Jean-Pierre Amet/Reuters A man lays flowers outside the French embassy in Moscow Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty The Union Flag and the Tricolour flag of France fly at half-mast in Downing Street Dominic Lipinski/PA Tributes laid at the French Embassy in London Lucy Young The flags of France, Italy and Europe fly at half-mast at the palazzo Chigi in Rome Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty When was the Nice attack? The Nice attack happened on the evening of 14 July 2016, just after 10:30pm. By the waterfront at Promenade des Anglais in Nice, South of France, 30,000 revellers were enjoying Bastille Day celebrations. The country had just finished hosting the Euro 2016 football tournament and that morning, President Francois Hollande had announced the country's national state of emergency would end soon. However, a mere 10 minutes after the Bastille Day fireworks display finished, at 10.30pm, a white 19 tonne Renault Midlum lorry turned onto the promenade, which was closed to traffic. What happened during the Bastille Day killings? The 19-tonne cargo truck deliberately drove into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais. The truck was travelling at about 56mph when it mounted the pavement, mowing down dozens of pedestrians, rollicking through police barriers and driving "in a zigzag" through the pedestrianised zone. People attempted to stop the truck, with a motorcyclist throwing his bike under the wheels as the terrorist shot at police. Officers managed to shoot and kill the driver around five minutes after the attack started. How many people died during the attack? Remembrance: French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and his wife Marine arrive on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice to observe a minute of silence / Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images Eighty-six people were killed, all but three of them at the time of the attack. The dead included 10 children and teenagers, and 43 French nationals. Among the dead was Fatima Charrihi, whose son said she was the first to die. Another victim, according to reports, was the assistant head of the Nice border police, Jean-Marc Leclerc. An American 11-year-old boy, Brodie Copeland, and his father, Sean, were also killed. They had been on holiday in Nice. Three people on a school trip from Germany were unaccounted for. In the days after the attack, the Hotel de Ville in Nice was draped with two long black banners recording the names of the victims. The French government declared three days of national mourning from July 16 and later extended its state of emergency until January 26, 2017. After the attack hundreds more were taken to hospital for medical treatment, and in total at least 434 people were injured. What happened to the attacker? The so-called Islamic State later claimed one of its followers carried out the attack. The attacker was a 31-year-old radicalised Tunisian French resident, named Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel. He was allegedly divorced with three children, and his ex-wife was taken into custody along with four people thought to be linked to him. A flat he lived in near Nice railway station was searched by police. Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was known to police for delinquency and domestic violence, but was not on a list of radicalised people; he hired a lorry from a rental company in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, a town to the west of Nice, on 11 July, and was due to return it on 13 July. Police said that, at the time of the attack, Lahouaiej-Bouhlel was in possession of an automatic pistol, bullets, a fake automatic pistol and two replica assault rifles (a Kalashnikov and an M16), an empty grenade. Also in the lorry with him were a driving licence and a bank card. Wyandotte County task force holds first public form on police relations KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) -- A group of leaders in Wyandotte County and will meet for the first time to talk about how to improve the relationship between the community and police. George Floyd was killed in police custody in Minnesota. His death sparked widespread protests over police brutality and police interactions with the community. Amid an uptick in violence and continued protest against law enforcement, like it or not, these kind of dialogues are important and probably more productive than just yelling in the street . . . Read more: (Newser) Mary Trump can talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, President Trump, over the objections of the president's brother, a judge ruled Monday as he lifted an order that had blocked her from publicizing or distributing her work. State Supreme Court Judge Hal B. Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, NY, rejected arguments by Robert Trump that Mary Trump is blocked from talking about family members publicly by an agreement relatives made to settle the estate of her father after his death. The judge said the confidentiality clauses in the 2001 agreement, viewed in the context of the current Trump family circumstances in 2020, would offend public policy as a prior restraint on protected speech,'" the AP reports. Notwithstanding that the Book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot." story continues below Greenwald said the confidentiality agreement that settled multiple lawsuits mainly concerned the financial aspect of the deal, which isn't as interesting now as it might have been two decades ago. On the other hand the non-confidential part of the Agreement, the Trump family relationships may be more interesting now in 2020 with a Presidential election on the horizon," the judge said. He also wrote that Robert Trump had not shown any damages that the book's publication would cause himself or the public. Robert Trump is not frequently mentioned in the book. The judge reversed orders he had issued temporarily blocking Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing or distributing a tell-all book about the president. An appeals judge had already lifted the order blocking Simon & Schuster. The book is out Tuesday and is already ranked No. 1 on the Amazon. (Read more Mary Trump stories.) The Congress on Tuesday sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief, two days after he openly revolted against the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state. Though the party seems to have the numbers for now to hang on to power in Rajasthan, the development deepens the crisis in the Congress which has lost two major states -- Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh -- over the past year. Cracking the whip on the rebel leader, the party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced the decision after a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held in Jaipur amid a tussle for power between Pilot and Gehlot. "Pilot was ensnared by the BJP to bring down the Congress government in Rajasthan. We have given him many opportunities. He has been an MP and MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP. This is unacceptable," Surjewala said. Soon after the decision, chief minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra and assured him of the strength of the ruling party. He also informed Mishra about the removal of three people -- Pilot and his two aides -- from the cabinet. Gehlot claimed that the defection of Pilot and his aides was being orchestrated by the BJP, while Pilot on the other hand, through a tweet, said that truth can be frustrated but not defeated. Pilot will be replaced by Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra as the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. The party is also expected to seek the disqualification of all the MLAs that supported Pilots rebellion. Gehlot is likely to announce the name of the new ministers of his cabinet and they are expected to be sworn in on Thursday. Meanwhile, Pilot is likely to clarify his stand and announce his next political move through a statement on Wednesday. In a tweet on Tuesday afternoon, Pilot said, 'Satya ko pareshan kiya jaa sakta hai paraajit nahi [Truth can be frustrated not defeated]'. While intense speculation is doing rounds on the next moves of Gehlot and Pilot, many political observers are also keeping a close eye on the next move of the governor. If BJP presses for a floor test and the governor gives his assent, an interesting contest could be on the cards where the independents and those of the two-MLA Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP) will become crucial. In a statement released on Tuesday, BTP announced that it would support neither the Congress nor the BJP in the floor test. Congress sources say that the party has the support of 107 MLAs, one MLA each from CPI(M) and the RJD, and that of 13 independents - six more than are necessary to remain in power. BJP has 72 MLAs and its political ally RLP, has three. "It was quite clear for the past six months that BJP was trying to do here what they did in Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Horse trading was going on. The resort [where Pilot and his aides are staying] is owned by the BJP, the same people of the BJP who supervised toppling of governments from other states are now in action managing the situation here," Gehlot said. He added that the decision to convene the CLP and sack Pilot and his loyalists was necessitated by the almost daily "provocations" as he described it, that were being made by them over the past six months. On the list of questions youve probably never considered is how to describe what spitting sounds like. Phlegmy? Yes. Wet? Sure. Stylized ... ? That was the challenge facing director Saheem Ali in late June, during a Zoom recording session for the Public Theaters four-part radio play of Richard II. Sanjit De Silvas character, the Duke of Norfolk, had to spit early in the play. But Ali wanted options. Can you do it once high and sharp, and then again exaggerated and ugly? he asked. De Silva obliged with a pointed ejection, followed by a wracking hack. Thats great, Ali said. Hed soon add the tracks to a library of hundreds of hours of audio files that the production team spent a month editing into the approximately four-hour presentation. (The serialized episodes, accompanied by interviews, will air nightly July 13-16 at 8 p.m. EDT on WNYC. They will also be livestreamed on the stations website and then available as a podcast.) When the coronavirus swept through the country in March, Ali, a busy off-Broadway director, had been preparing to stage Richard II at the Delacorte Theater as the opening production of the Public Theaters free Shakespeare in the Park series, starring Andre Holland (Moonlight) in the title role. Holland, like a majority of the actors, is a person of colour, preparing to tackle a rarely performed history play in which the protagonist is traditionally white. The pandemic prompted the Public to cancel its summer festival, and it looked like Shakespeare fans were out of luck. But two months later, the theatre announced that Richard II would go on as a radio play with a majority of the Central Park cast intact. Then, the week before rehearsals began, George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis. Chomping at the Bit to Say Those Words The first day of rehearsal started with a virtual town hall. Ali, who grew up in Kenya, was grappling with how and whether to proceed. It was like, What does an old, dead white guy from 400 years ago have to say to me right now? Ali said. He discovered that a majority of the company members were eager to move forward, and the group decided to dedicate the production to the Black Lives Matter movement. Holland said in a phone interview last week that Richards final-act soliloquy, in which he reflects on his own humanity, had been building inside him for years and that, as a Black man, he needed to speak it. Ive been chomping at the bit to say those words for so long, he said. They invite the audience to see a Black man becoming more vulnerable with himself. Ali explored how he could use auditory cues to make Shakespeares at times archaic text resonate in a modern setting. It was decisions like, what does the music sound like? Is it contemporary, or is it more classical? he said. And with the military, is it boots on the ground, or are there tanks and helicopters? He hardly had a wealth of Richard II productions to consult. One of Shakespeares seldom-staged history plays, it was last done at the Delacorte in 1987, starring Peter MacNicol. The tale of a self-centred king dethroned by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, a man with the support of the masses, is rarely produced, Ali said, because it assumes familiarity with a political and social context that modern audiences dont have. But radio actually provides a way to circumvent this challenge that live theatre doesnt, he said. You can simply insert narration clarifying the stakes. (Enter Lupita Nyongo, who recorded that narration.) A Crash Course in Audio The WNYC audio team delivered microphones, recorders and XLR cables to the actors, who recorded at homes across the globe, some from towel-lined bathrooms and beneath blankets. The actors had to be their own technicians, responsible for checking battery levels before recording sessions. During one, Holland had just finished recording Richards speech in Act 3, Scene 2, in which the king is overjoyed to set foot on his native English soil after a harrowing journey across the Irish Sea, against the backdrop of his packed Brooklyn bookcase. (He has since been visiting his hometown, Bessemer, Ala.) That was really great, man! Ali said. Holland smiled. Then, a moment later, he grimaced. He let out an expletive and, holding up the recorder, said, Its dead. The Soundtrack of Shakespeare The Publics decision to pivot to radio was a first for everyone involved. When Ali was looking for audio productions on YouTube, the most recent Shakespeare radio play he could find was a 1930s production of Julius Caesar starring Orson Welles. Yet he enjoyed the challenge of telling a story solely through speech and sound effects. These are some of the greatest theatre, film and TV actors in the country, he said. But this format challenges them to think more broadly when dealing with sound. Ali said he encouraged the actors to put their stamp on their roles by speaking their lines in whatever way felt contemporary to them which he said was very different for 92-year-old Estelle Parsons and eight-year-old JaSiah Young. My nightmare is for someone to listen to this and think it sounds old-fashioned, he said. At one of the final recording sessions, in late June, Ali could hardly contain his excitement. Hed initially had reservations about the radio format, but now he was surprised how much he enjoyed it. This is sounding so good, Ali told the dozen people on the call. I cant wait for you all to hear it. Information Officer for Ghana's mission, UN, Kofi Ameyaw, has laid blame at the doorstep of the National Democratic Congress (NDC's) COVID-19 response team, for the increased numbers in confirmed Coronavirus cases in the country. Speaking on UTV's 'Adekye Nsroma' show, the NPP Communicator strongly held that the setting up of a COVID-19 Response Team by the opposition party was "unnecessary", since it "created the impression of a divided force in the fight against the pandemic" in the country. He accused members of the team of "skewing" government's education on the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, the NDC has painted the erroneous picture of the President and the current administration, exploiting funds meant to combat the pandemic for their personal gain, eventhough the virus is not that prevalent in Ghana. Mr. Ameyaw further stated that it is counter-productive to pitch the citizenry against government in the fight to curb the spread of the pandemic, pointing out that "our focus now must be on our ability to test more to bring the sickness under control". " . . the virus doesn't care about who is wealthy or which country has the strongest economic structure, so I believe the only solution will be that of massive education about the disease; done continuously at all district and municipal centres, as well as enforcing the strict adherence of safety protocols by members of the public ," he observed. Source: Elizabeth Semiheva Bedi, peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Soon after the Congress party announced Sachin Pilots removal as deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, chief minister Ashok Gehlot reached Raj Bawan in Jaipur to meet Governor Kalraj Mishra. The Congress on Tuesday also sacked two other state cabinet members after the party passed a resolution at the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting in Jaipur to remove Pilot from his currently held positions in Rajasthan. Pilot has also been removed as the chief of Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC). Govind Singh Dotasra, state minister of education and tourism, has been appointed in his place. As per reports, as many as 102 MLAs were present during the Congress legislature meeting and unanimously demanded Sachin Pilots removal from the party. I regret that Sachin Pilot and some of his associates have been swayed by the BJPs plot and are now conspiring to topple the Gehlot government elected by 8 crore Rajasthanis. It is unacceptable, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said during a press briefing, adding that Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena have been removed as state cabinet ministers. Pilot skipped the Congress legislature meeting in Jaipur on Monday that recommended action against him and supporting lawmakers. Tuesdays meet was partys second consecutive meeting to discuss the political fallout between Pilot and CM Gehlot. Pilot and his supporting camp of lawmakers skipped both the meetings. The Congress on Monday tried sending out messages for Pilot to stay put in party but all in vain. During a press briefing on Monday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that Congress doors are always to Sachin Pilot and other party members. If anyone is upset in family, they should find a solution by sitting with members of the family. On behalf of Congress leadership, including Sonia ji and Rahul ji, I convey that doors of Congress party are always open for Sachin ji or any member, Surjewala said on Monday. If anyone, be at any post or profile, has any problem, they must come forward and mention the issue on the party forum. We will work to resolve it together and keep our government intact in the state, he added. As a sign of defiance and show of strength, Pilot-led Rajasthan Congress camp on Monday released a video showing at least 16 MLAs sitting together. The 10-second video was shared late at night on Pilots official WhatsApp group. Pilot, however, was not seen in the video clip. Maharashtras Covid-19 tally jumped to 2,67,665 on Tuesday with the addition of 6,741 fresh cases while 213 more patients succumbed to the infection, including 70 in Mumbai, taking the states fatality count to 10,695, Health department said. A total of 4,500 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, taking the number of recovered cases to 1,49,007, it said. The recovery rate in the state is 55.67 per cent, while the fatality rate is 4 per cent, the department said. The state now has 1,07,665 active cases. Mumbai reported 954 cases in the day, taking its total count to 95,100 while the death toll has gone up by 70 to 5,405. Apart from Mumbai, 15 fatalities were reported each from the limits of the Thane Municipal Corporation and rest of the district while 12 patients died in areas under the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation, which are parts of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Vasai-Virar belt and Navi Mumbai, which also fall under the MMR, each reported 8 deaths, the department said. From other parts of the state, 10 fatalities occurred in Pune city, 9 in Pimpri-Chinchwad township and 7 in Jalgaon district (barring Jalgaon city), it said. The MMR, including Mumbai city, accounted for the highest 2,893 cases in the total 6,741 new cases on Tuesday. The number of cases in the MMR now stands at 1,79,760 and the death toll at 7,543. Pune city reported a rise of 1,139 cases in the day, followed by Pimpri-Chinchwad (541), Kalyan-Dombivali (405), Thane (304), Nashik (266), Navi Mumbai (258) and Ulhasnagar (210) cases. Currently, 6,98,854 people are in home quarantine and 42,350 in institutional quarantine in the state. A total of 13,72,939 people have been tested in the state so far, it said. Maharashtras Covid-19 tally is as follows: Positive cases 2,67,665, new cases 6,741, deaths 10,695, discharged 1,49,007, active cases 1,07,665, people tested so far 13,72,939. The Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service (GES) has disclosed in a joint press statement that about 55 students and some senior high school staffs have tested positive for the coronavirus. The statement said Accra Girls Senior High School has recorded most cases from the first report to date. It says as at 13th July, 2020, a total of 314 persons (student and staff) from the School have been tested. According to the statement jointly signed by the Director-General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye and Director General of GES, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, following reports of COVID-19 cases in some Senior High Schools in the country on 6th July, 2020, the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Education Service instituted a number of measures to determine the extent of the outbreak and containment measures. Out of these, 55 have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 while 259 persons tested negative, the statement indicated. Actions Taken So Far The statement said a number of actions have been undertaken, including the Identification and segregation of contact from other students; Sample collection and laboratory testing of all contacts identified and suspected cases. It added that all confirmed cases have been transferred to designated national treatment and isolation centres for management. Restriction of number of students that attend dining at a particular time; Enforcement of social distancing protocols, enhanced hand hygiene practices and the proper use of the facemask; Disinfection of the entire school has been carried out; Adequate PPEs have been provided to health staff stationed in the school; Education on COVID-19 prevention and control has been intensified within the school; Counselling and psychological support is being provided to the students; The school has designated a quarantine and isolation centre; Parents and guardians of affected student have been duly contacted, are among the measures taken so far. Staff of the school has been reassured. Similarly, a few other schools have reported sporadic cases which have not experience a surge. To prevent the spread of COVID-19 in senior high schools across the country, similar measures are being implemented, it added. Ghana Education Service working with Ghana Health Service wishes to inform parents, guardians and the general public that efforts are being made to ensure the safety of our staff and students. ---ModernGhana Cellular companies and internet service providers (ISPs) should maintain call data records (CDR) and other relevant data in a segregated and secure manner if a particular CDR or other record is seized during the investigation of a criminal case, the Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday in an order aimed at obviating difficulties arising due to non-availability of CDR and other data in criminal trials. Parties to the criminal case can then summon such record at the stage of presenting defence evidence, or in the event such data is required to cross-examine a particular witness, the top court said. This direction shall be applied, in criminal trials, till appropriate directions are issued under relevant terms of the applicable licenses (under which mobile companies operate), or under Section 67C of the Information Technology Act (which mandate central government to issue such directions), the bench headed by justice Rohinton Nariman said. The court noted that the Department of Telecommunications license conditions generally oblige internet service providers and providers of mobile telephony to preserve and maintain electronic call records and records of logs of internet users for a limited duration of one year. But, if the police or other interested individuals fail to secure those records or secure the records but fail to secure the certificate (validating its authenticity) within the period of one year, the production of a post-dated certificate (i.e. one issued after commencement of the trial) would in all probability render the data unverifiable, the court said. Therefore, the court ruled that it was necessary to issue general directions to mobile companies till appropriate rules are framed by the centre. General directions are issued to cellular companies and internet service providers to maintain CDRs and other relevant records for the concerned period in a segregated and secure manner if a particular CDR or other record is seized during investigation in the said period, the judgment said. The court was hearing a case from Maharashtra relating to admissibility of electronic evidence which itself stemmed from an election petition challenging the election of Shiv Sena candidate Arjun Panditrao Khotkar to the Maharashtra assembly from the Jalna constituency in 2014. The election petition was filed before the Bombay high court in 2014 by the defeated Congress candidate Kailash Kishanrao Gorantyal. The case set up by Gorantyal was that Khotkar had filed his nomination papers after the stipulated time of 3 pm on September 27, 2014. In order to buttress this argument, Gorantyal had sought to rely upon video-camera arrangements that were made both inside and outside the office of the returning officer (RO). The High Court, in March 2016, ordered the Election Commission and the concerned officers to produce the entire record of the election including the original video recordings. A specific order was made that this electronic record needs to be produced along with the necessary certificates. As per section 65B of Indian Evidence Act, such certificates from the concerned authorities are required, if secondary evidence like CDs, VCDs, chips etc are sought to be produced as evidence. But such certificates were not produced before the Bombay high court in this case. Despite that, the high court relied upon the statement made by the returning officer who admitted that the video cameras were regularly used in her office for recording incidents and daily VCDs were collected of the recording by her office. Based on the same, the video evidence was accepted and Khotkars election was declared invalid. The Supreme Court ruled that a certificate from the relevant authority is a condition precedent for admissibility of electronic evidence. Oral evidence in the place of such certificate cannot possibly suffice as Section 65B(4) is a mandatory requirement of the law, the court held. But in the current case, the court noted that Gorantyal had done everything in his power to obtain the requisite certificate from the appropriate authorities, that is Election Commission, including directions from the court to produce the requisite certificate, but no such certificate was forthcoming. Hence the high court judgment cannot be faulted, the Supreme Court ruled while also imposing a fine of Rs. 2 lakh on Khotkar. It is clear that apart from the evidence in the form of electronic record, other evidence was also relied upon (by the high court), the Supreme Court added. We dont know how many comets are out there that we cant see, Yelk said. Comets are thought to form at the very edge of our solar system in whats called the Oort cloud. The cloud contains rocks and dirt and the comet ball forms over time, getting bigger and bigger. Then something sets if off onto a trajectory change. Actress Minka Kelly, 40, and Tiger King's Carole Baskin, 59, are fighting for a common cause and pleading for a tiger who they say is suffering at a South Carolina zoo to be released to a sanctuary. Kelly penned a letter to the owners of the of the Waccatee Zoo where Lila, a nearly bald tiger, is being penned and urged them to let the big cat get the care it needs, according to Page Six. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has offered to step in and facilitate transferring Lila to an 'accredited sanctuary where she can receive expert care and appropriate treatment.' Big heart: Actress Minka Kelly and Tiger King's Carole Baskin are fighting for a common cause and pleading for a tiger who they say is suffering at a South Carolina zoo to be released to a sanctuary, according to Page Six 'I understand that Waccatee Zoo visitors have documented Lila's worsening condition, how she incessantly licks at her bare skin and stands in a hunched posture inside her cramped cage,' Minka Kelly wrote in the letter obtained by Page Six. She added: 'Lila clearly needs immediate help. Please, accept PETA's offer and let her be transferred to an accredited sanctuary without further delay.' Ironically, Minka played a character named Lyla in her star making role in Friday Night Lights. PETA agreed that the bald tiger is suffering from an apparent condition that is not being treated at the 'deplorable' facility and is one of many animals housed at the roadside zoo in need of adequate care. Poor thing: Kelly penned a letter to the owners of the of the Waccatee Zoo where Lila, a nearly bald tiger, is being penned and urged them to up an offer from PETA to let the big cat get the care it needs 'I understand that Waccatee Zoo visitors have documented Lila's worsening condition, how she incessantly licks at her bare skin and stands in a hunched posture inside her cramped cage,' Minka Kelly wrote (Kelly pictured as cheerleader Lyla in Friday Night Lights) The nonprofit has sent 'numerous complaints to the USDA and state and local officials requesting that these agencies investigate this deplorable facility, but conditions haven't improved.' According to Page Six, the zoo was inspected back in March and managed to eek by with a passing grade despite some red flags like animals with overgrown hooves and dirty pens. The zoo owners refused to comment on the matter when approached by the outlet but did quip that they had been 'harassed' by the zealous animal rights group for over 30 years. The outlet also spoke with Tiger King's Carole Baskin about the big feline and she echoed the cries to have Lila released into a sanctuary. 'I am especially concerned for the health and well-being of Lila,' Carole Baskin told the outlet. 'She appears to be enduring great suffering from an apparent medical condition that has left her nearly bald and not receiving proper veterinary care.' (Baskin pictured in Tiger King) 'She's been confined to a tiny, barren cage for years and is often seen pacing, a sign of stress Tigers maintain full coats of hair for their entire lives unless there is a serious underlying health issue,' Baskin said 'I am especially concerned for the health and well-being of Lila,' Baskin said. 'She appears to be enduring great suffering from an apparent medical condition that has left her nearly bald and not receiving proper veterinary care. 'She's been confined to a tiny, barren cage for years and is often seen pacing, a sign of stress Tigers maintain full coats of hair for their entire lives unless there is a serious underlying health issue.' Baskin, who owns Big Cat Rescue and rose to fame in 2020 as the nemesis of Joe Exotic in Netflix's Tiger King, has also faced some complaints for her own treatment of the animals. The 59-year-old insists that her Tampa based organization is a rescue as opposed to a zoo and has defended her use of unpaid volunteers who handle upkeep at the sprawling space. (Alliance News) - Wearing a face covering in shops and supermarkets is to be made mandatory in England in a fresh move to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the government has announced. In a statement on Tuesday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock will say anyone failing to comply with the order a which comes into force on July 24 a could face a fine of up to GBP100. The move follows a weekend of confusion over whether ministers intended to make face coverings compulsory after Boris Johnson said they were looking at "stricter" rules. The senior Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Sunday he did not believe they should be mandatory and that it was better to "trust people's common sense". However, during a visit to the London Ambulance Service on Monday, the prime minister offered the clearest signal he was going down the route of compulsion, saying the government was looking at the "tools of enforcement". Ahead of Tuesday's announcement by Hancock, a No 10 spokesman said: "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus. "The prime minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24." The move will bring England into line with Scotland, where face coverings are already mandatory in shops. The government has been urging people to wear face coverings in confined spaces such as shops since early May and they have already been made compulsory on public transport in England since mid-June. The regulations will be made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, with a maximum fine of GBP100 a reduced to GBP50 if it is paid within 14 days. Enforcement of the regulations will be the responsibility of the police. While shop workers will be asked to encourage compliance, retailers and businesses will not be expected to enforce them. As is the case on public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. The British Chambers of Commerce said the government needed to issue detailed guidance on the new requirement "as soon as possible". "Businesses need clarity on the approach to the wearing of face coverings that is consistent and supported by public health evidence," said BCC co-executive director Claire Walker. "Updated guidance, including on enforcement, should be issued swiftly so firms can maintain their Covid-secure status and continue their operations successfully." For Labour, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said ministers needed to explain why it had taken them so long to act. "The government has been slow and muddled again over face coverings," he said. "Given the government's own guidance issued on May 11 advised in favour of face masks, many will ask why yet again have ministers been slow in making a decision in this pandemic, and why it'll take another 11 days before these new guidelines to come into force." London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been pressing for face coverings to be made mandatory, said ministers should not wait until July 24. "It's a disgrace that there's been days of mixed messages and confused communications from ministers," he said. "We can't afford to wait another day and the government should bring this policy in immediately a further delay risks lives." In the early days of the pandemic, ministers and the government's scientific advisers repeatedly played down the value of face coverings, saying the evidence on the benefits was thin. There were also thought to be concerns stocks could be diverted from the NHS at a time of intense pressure on the supply of personal protective equipment if the public were encouraged to wear them. However, speaking during his visit to the London Ambulance Service, Johnson said he was now keen to make progress on the issue. "As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again," he said. The president of the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan, said the evidence was now "quite strongly in favour" of using face coverings in enclosed spaces where people are likely to come into contact with strangers. "I think that the government should be very clear," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain. "It's not consistent to make it mandatory on public transport and not make it mandatory in other enclosed and busy public spaces, because the behaviour of the virus is the same in all of these spaces." By Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Professor James Arrey Abangma Atia Azohnwi The National Union of Teachers in Higher Education (SYNES) has called on the Head of State, President Paul Biya to pardon two of theirs sanctioned in June for alleged wrongdoing. Dr. Martin Ndeh Sango and Dr. Aloysius Nyuymengka Ngalim were last month punished for failing to participate in re-sit examinations at the end of the previous academic year. Indeed, Decree N2020/317 of June 22, 2020 dismissed Dr. Sango Martin Ndeh from the higher education corps. The then lecturer at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Buea was sent packing, without suspension of his pension rights, for attempting to obstruct the smooth conduct of resit examinations organised in the said faculty during the 2018/2019 academic year and for repeatedly committing acts likely to impede the normal and smooth functioning of the faculty. Although President Biya dismissed Dr. Sango based on the minutes of a Disciplinary Board held at the University of Buea on March 25, 2020, and on the recommendation of the Minister of Higher Education, members of SYNES Buea Chapter are of the opinion that their colleagues were victimised based on their unionism. Dr. Sango had said he could not make it to campus during the resit exams of 2018/2019 owing to the insecurity that had enveloped Mile 16 Buea where he lives. He is said to have notified his hierarchy of the situation. While Dr. Sango served as Vice President of SYNES Buea Chapter before his dismissal, Dr. Ngalim was said to be a bona fide member of the lecturers union before the sanctions fell on him. In an interview published in The Post yesterday, Prof. James Arrey Abangma, SYNES Buea Chapter President appealed that President Biya uses his good conscience to pardon the axed lecturers. All options are on the table, but for now, within the period of three months, all what we seek is Presidential pardon. For now, everything is being done to seek for Presidential pardon, and we cannot seek Presidential pardon and then start making cases or flexing muscles. But when every other thing fails, all avenues will be exploited, to see into it that our members are reinstated. A case is with the National Executive Bureau of SYNES, but SYNES Buea is just a facilitator, Prof. Abangma is quoted as saying. He recalls that SYNES came into existence with the support of the International Labour Organisation, ILO, and they will leave no stone unturned to ensure that SYNES members are not arbitrarily relieved of their duty like Dr. Sango and Dr. Ngalim. We will have to stretch to the limit of elasticity to see to it that our colleagues are reinstated, said Abangma. Prof. Abangma told The Post that the National Executive Bureau of SYNES has put in place a judicial bench, to carry out investigations, whose findings will be authoritatively used to state the reason behind the heavy sanctions meted on members of SYNES. Hear him: A team of eminent law professors will have to work with Common Law lawyers to follow a Presidential pardon and we hope the Head of State, H.E. President Paul Biya, will actually consider our case, because, these colleagues have been doing everything possible for schools to continue during these difficult times. They staked their lives, and their liberties, and I dont think they should be treated shabbily in this manner. Cameroon-Info.Net recalls that on March 24, 2017, Prof. Abangma and Dr. Sango, respectively President and Vice President of SYNES-UB, announced the suspension of a lecturers strike in order to break the then deadlock in the Anglophone crisis. They had taken the decision to allow government show good faith by releasing their arrested colleagues, students and implementing the various agreements reached at during the Adhoc Committee meetings of 2016 and January 2017. GRAND RAPIDS, MI Police have identified the woman and child who died following a house fire Saturday at the same house where a 2019 double-homicide occurred. Jacqueline Baber-Bey, 65, and Emareyon Cummings, 5, were both pulled from the home by firefighters. Baber-Bey was pronounced dead at the scene, while Cummings died later at Helen DeVos Childrens Hospital. The two victims were both Grand Rapids residents. Authorities responded to the fire around 9 a.m. Saturday, July 11, at the 500 block of Sheldon Ave. The entire structure was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, according to a news release from Grand Rapids Fire Department. Lt. Bill Smith, of Grand Rapids Fire Department, told MLive Monday, July 13 that the investigation remains ongoing. RELATED: Woman and boy dead in Grand Rapids house fire where 2019 double-homicide happened The house was the scene of a double-homicide in March 2019 and police are still looking for a suspect wanted for murder. Cherletta Baber-Bey, 45, and her niece, Keyona Griffin, 25, died of gunshot wounds inside the house. Police are still looking for Derrell Demon Brown, 45, who lived with them, and Kent County prosecutors have issued warrants for open murder against him. A Grand Rapids police spokesperson declined to comment to MLive on the relationship between Jacqueline Baber-Bey and homicide victim Cherletta Baber-Bey. A neighbor described Jacqueline Baber-Bey as someone who was well-liked in the neighborhood. She was so nice, always very pleasant. Just a really nice lady, said Angela Graham, who lived next-door to the victim. This is really sad. Graham told MLive that the two homicides had consumed Jacqueline Baber-Bey in recent months. Every time I tried to talk to her I would start crying, she said. Thats all I could think about. Graham awoke Saturday morning to her mother screaming about the house next door being on fire, she told MLive. The neighbor looked out to see heavy flames coming from the front porch of the home. The heat from the fire melted the siding on Grahams house. Graham said she wonders about the cause of the fire and whether its suspicious. We have an investigator that is going back on the scene today, Smith said. We are just waiting for our investigator to follow up on all the information required to make a good judgement on what the cause of the fire was. Saturday morning, detectives were canvassing the neighborhood for any clues surrounding the fire. Grand Rapids Assistant Fire Chief Brad Brown said on Saturday that firefighters arrived to find heavy fire on the front of the house. Fifty Grand Rapids area firefighters responded to the fire on Saturday to deal with structural collapses on both the inside and outside of the house. Two firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, according to the fire department. MLive reporter John Tunison contributed to this story. More on MLive: Charges filed in Grand Rapids double homicide Police beating themselves up after 911 caller found dead hours later Grand Rapids double-homicide featured on fugitive TV show To commemorate our evolution into a software company, we launched the Noonies 2.0, which is powered by our own award voting software. With this years Noonies, we worked very hard to improve the experience for voters, nominees and sponsors. Visit https://Noonies.Tech. Hacker Noon, the technology publishing platform, opened public nominations for the Noonies 2020 in partnership with Amplify Exchange, the best place to buy and sell crypto worldwide with zero trading fees. Anyone can now nominate anyone for a Noonie by visiting noonies.tech. There are 200 Noonies across five major categories: technology, decentralization, software development, future heroes, and back to the internet. The Hacker Noon staff has curated a minimum of 5ish nominees for each award, and now will add at 5ish more nominees for each award based on the communitys nominations. Voting will open one month from today on August 13th. July 13th marks the 1 year anniversary of the launch of Hacker Noon 2.0, said Hacker Noon CEO David Smooke. To commemorate our evolution into a software company, we launched the Noonies 2.0, which is powered by our own award voting software. With this years Noonies, we worked very hard to improve the experience for voters, nominees and sponsors. Very much looking forward to working with the internet to recognize technological innovators. In addition to Amplify Exchange as the headline sponsor, the Noonies features many other sponsors for individual Noonies, such as Radix, Sustany Capital, Grant for the Web, Skillsoft, Beyond Skills, Udacity, and Flipside Crypto. There are still some individual awards available to sponsor, learn more here. When it comes to this years selection process, we were primarily focused on ways to make the Noonies more inclusive, diverse, and representative than last year. Which is, unsurprisingly, still not an easy task, in tech today, explains Hacker Noons Managing Editor, Natasha Nel. In line with this aim, Hacker Noon has extended this years open, public nominations period to a full one month, before voting opens on August 13th. Were looking forward to this opportunity to learn from each other, celebrate great work; start important conversations about what matters in tech today; and provide a platform for the people behind-the-scenes, those responsible for building our collective futures, so to speak, to be seen, heard and recognized for their contributions. We are so excited by our partnership between Amplify Exchange and Hackernoon to bring the best in innovation and technology to the forefront of everyones minds, said Amplify Exchange CEO, Justin Tabb. Especially in these times, taking time to recognize the exceptional work that happens every day across industries is a great initiative that we are proud to join. At Amplify Exchange, our eyes are always on the best. That focus is mainly about what will continue to build the best platform to buy and trade crypto, but when we saw the chance to broaden that spectrum to look at the best in so many other categories, we jumped at it. Weve been working with Hackernoon to make this years Noonies the absolute best they can be and cant wait to see whats in store. Some of the notable Noonies Tech Awards are: Top Tech YouTuber, sponsored by Radix* Innovative Company of the Year: Artificial Intelligence, presented in partnership with Skillsoft Social Network of the Year Startup Blogger of the Year No Code Innovation of the Year Creative Innovation of The Year WFH Innovation of the Year Most Promising Billion Dollar+ SAAS Startup Best Defi Initiative (NeoBanks), presented in partnership with Sustany Capital Winner Winner Bitcoin Twitter Most Influential Blockchain Engineer The Best Analytical Mind in Crypto, sponsored by Flipside Crypto Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - PROGRAMMING, presented in partnership with Udacity Hacker Noon Contributor of the Year - AGILE Innovator of the Year: Software Development, sponsored by Mental Health Advocate of the Year Skillsoft Accessibility Tech Innovation of the Year Extension of the Year Newsletter of the Year Slack, Telegram, and/or Discord Channel of the Year Most Innovative Transportation Tech Podcast Episode of the Year Best Web Monetization Innovator Hacker Noon Contributor of The Year: CYBERSECURITY, sponsored by Skillsoft Best Web Monetization Innovator, sponsored by Grant for the Web Best Coding Music Album This Tech News was originally published on Hacker Noon. About Amplify The Amplify Exchange Brokerage is the worlds first global zero trading fee cryptocurrency trading platform. Live in over 150 countries with native support for nine languages, the Amplify suite combines industry-leading portfolio management tools, an intuitive user experience, fiat banking integrations, and seamless onboarding to redefine how we view crypto trading on the global stage. By utilizing a blend of best in breed technologies including blockchain, Amplify creates the trading advantage that is raising the standard for cryptocurrency brokerages. About Hacker Noon How hackers start their afternoons. Hacker Noon is built for technologists to read, write, and publish. We are an open and international community of 12,000+ contributing writers publishing stories and expertise for 4,000,000+ curious and insightful monthly readers. Founded in 2016, Hacker Noon is an independent technology publishing platform run by David Smooke and Linh Dao Smooke. Get your technology story published today. About the Noonies The Noonies are an annual tech industry awards event, presented online by Hacker Noon, built to recognize and reward the most innovative people and products in technology today. Conceptualized in early 2019, Hacker Noons first annual Noonies celebrated the contributions of over 500 internally and publicly nominated technologists, thinkers, makers, and leaders in tech. The second edition will run for an extended period of three months, with public nominations open for a full month from July 13 to August 12. The police on Tuesday said they lost seven of their officers attached to the Special Forces Unit in a ghastly motor accident on their way to Katsina. The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Frank Mba, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. He said 11 other victims of the accident sustained injuries and were currently in a hospital in Kaduna receiving medical attention. Mr Mba said the incident, which occurred at Jaji town along Kaduna-Zaria Road on Sunday, involved an 18-seater Toyota Hummer Bus conveying 18 personnel of the unit. The FPRO said the deceased were part of an additional deployment made recently by the force to boost the ongoing fight against bandits in Katsina State. He said the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, had condoled the families and friends of the seven officers. Mr Mba said the IGP described the incident as a huge loss to the Force, adding that it was one of the unfortunate sacrifices officers often encounter in the line of duty. He said the IGP described the deceased as Heroes of Peace. He said a team of police medical personnel had been dispatched to Kaduna State where the 11 officers that survived the accident were receiving medical attention. The FPRO said three of the deceased officers had been buried according to Islamic rites while the remains of the other four had been deposited in a morgue. The IGP has directed the Police Accounts and Budget Department to ensure the immediate payment of the burial expenses, benefits and other entitlements to the families of the deceased officers, he said. (NAN) A former nursing assistant at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in West Virginia pleaded guilty on Tuesday to second-degree murder in the deaths of seven patients. Prosecutors said that Reta Mays, who worked at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, W.Va., in 2017 and 2018, administered fatal doses of insulin to military veterans who had not been prescribed it. She also pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to commit murder in the case of an eighth patient, who survived. Ms. Mays, 45, was charged on Monday. At a hearing on Tuesday, she answered a series of questions from the judge concerning the terms and conditions of her plea agreement by saying, Yes, sir. For each of the seven second-degree murder charges, she faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and for the count of assault with intent to commit murder, she faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Newsfrom Japan The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency says its asteroid explorer will return to Earth from its mission this December. Hayabusa 2 has been collecting sand and rocks from an asteroid to try and discover the origins of life. [ Nippon TV News 24 Japan] http://www.ntv.co.jp/englishnews/ Beijing announces targeted countermeasures against anti-China US hawks Global Times By Zhao Yusha and Cao Siqi Source: Global Times Published: 2020/7/13 23:57:48 Last Updated: 2020/7/14 0:18:40 More politicians may be targeted if US continues to smear "Symbolic" US sanctions against several Chinese officials over Xinjiang-related issues may be harmless, but China's countermeasures directed at some of the US' most "rancorous" China hawk senators will "rain pain" upon them, Chinese experts said after China announced sanctions against certain US officials, including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and warned that more US officials may be targeted by further countermeasures if the wrestle continues. As Washington has now descended into a "morbid and bottomless" struggle to contain a rising China, Chinese observers noted that the targeted sanctions China announced signals Beijing is fully prepared for the further floundering of China-US ties; and although China hopes for the best that bilateral ties will evolve, China is still preparing for the worst to come. Targeted countermeasures unveiled China's Foreign Ministry on Monday announced sanctions against the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel Brownback, US Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Republican Chris Smith, following the US' sanctions on several Chinese officials over Xinjiang-related issues. Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made the announcement at Monday's routine media briefing. Hua said that China will impose reciprocal sanctions on the mentioned commission and four US individuals effective immediately in response to the US sanctions on one Xinjiang regional government department and four Chinese officials. The US' actions seriously interfered with China's internal affairs, violated basic norms governing international relations and seriously damaged China-US relations, and China firmly opposes and strongly condemns them, Hua said. The move came three days after the US sanctioned Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Sanctioning such US figures can be considered a "precise targeting" strategy from China as Rubio and Cruz are among the most active China hawks in the US Congress, and precise retaliation measures against them demonstrate China's strong determination to guard against foreign interference over its domestic affairs, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday. The US sanctions do not have any meaningful impact upon China, but it shows a malicious attitude toward China, therefore, China decided to launch peer-to-peer countermeasures, said Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. But China's sanctions will have a larger impact on US officials, Lu told the Global Times on Monday. For example, Marco Rubio, a US Senator from Florida, will face pressure regarding reelection two years from now as Florida has close contacts with China in terms of culture, trade, education and technology. Florida has established several sister city agreements with China. Meanwhile, China is Florida's 11th-largest export market and largest source of imports. According to the US Department of Commerce, Florida exported goods worth $1.36 billion to China and imported about $12.2 billion from China in 2019. Investment from Chinese enterprises in Florida is at its initial stage. Although the scale of investment is not large at present, increasingly more Chinese enterprises are showing strong interest in Florida and actively seek development opportunities in the US state. Florida also attaches great importance to Chinese language teaching. More than 50 primary and secondary schools in the state offer Chinese language courses or programs. Similar pressure will also be imposed on Ted Cruz, the junior US Senator for Texas. "Restricting visas and freezing properties are usually two tactics for sanctions. Such tactics could affect US officials more under the revolving door mechanism, as they would have to engage in business someday in the future," Lu said. The revolving door mechanism, which has long existed in the West, most notably in the US, allows for the movement of people from the government to the private or academic sectors and back again. Diao Daming, an associate professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday that the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China was among the most rancorous organizations formed against China on issues over Xinjiang and other religious topics. For example, it once held a hearing in 2018 over Rebiya Kadeer, a separatist from Xinjiang who now resides in the US. Sanctions against this organization will be mainly imposed via visa restrictions or entry permission of personnel related to this organization. Also Chinese authorities will strictly scrutinize the organization's request of assistance to any Chinese institute. Lu predicted that if the US continues to smear China and impose sanctions against China to interfere in its internal affairs, more US officials might be listed for retaliation such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and David Stilwell, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst' In recent years, the Trump administration has shot a firestorm of measures to smear and attack China over issues regarding China's Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Apart from issuing various bills and sanction measures, it has also harnessed the power of media, and other platforms as well, to fabricate rumors to smear China's effort in managing these regions. On Sunday, the US embassy and consulates in China claimed "many products made in China are made by slave labor," and asked businesses to check their supply chains to ensure they are not profiting from "China's human rights abuses against Uygurs in Xinjiang" in a tweet on Sunday. But the tweet soon drew ridicule and angry backlash from netizens after the US embassy posted an apparently photoshopped clothes tag that read "made by slave labor in China." Many netizens at home and abroad ridiculed the US, saying it has been dedicated to smearing China and selectively forgetting its brutality toward Native Americans while groundlessly accusing other countries of human rights abuses. "We used to believe that the US domestically had a self-correction system, that when China-US relations turn sour, they will do whatever they can to push out of a situation," said Li Haidong. He noted when increasingly more politicians such as Cruz and Rubioemerge within the US political circle, the US will further slide into a morbid and even bottomless struggle against China. Both Cruz and Rubio hold deep grudges against Communist governments because of their family origins and they try to stand firmly against China to win over political capital. Diao said that the slew of hostile measures toward China cannot be seen as an "irrational eruption" of anti-China attitudes in the US or a usual tactic to hype up the "China threat theory" before election, but more so the US' enhancing antagonism to contain a rising China. "Right now China needs to formulate directives to deal with long-term US challenges, instead of playing along with the latter every time it exerts blows," Diao said. For tactics against the US, China is hoping the best but preparing for the worst, Diao told the Global Times on Monday. He noted that coupled with China's rapid growth, the country is gradually taking initiative to forming relations with Washington, rather than sitting idly by and waiting for the latter to swing its punches. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Bishop Denis Nulty has announced clerical appointments for the Diocese of Kildare & Leighlin, which covers part of Offaly. The appointments are to come into effect on 4 September. SEE FULL LIST BELOW STORY Commenting on the diocesan appointments, Bishop Nulty said, These have been a very difficult few months on all of us, our parishes, our families and personally; none more so than our priests serving at the frontline of parish duty. "As we are emerging gently out of lockdown, celebrating masses with limited congregations reminds us we have to learn to live alongside the Covid-19 virus. The demands at parish level are huge, there is the urgency to catch up on missed sacramental moments and there is that very real fear of what a second wave might mean. And, in the middle of it all, there are diocesan appointments that must be made. Changing parish is never easy for priests or their parishioners and changing parish in the middle of a pandemic is a huge ask. I sincerely thank all the priests involved in this years appointments. The announcement last January of Father Paul Dempseys appointment as Bishop of Achonry was a huge moment for our diocese. It is great for Kildare & Leighlin, to see one of our own, with his gifts and potential, recognised by Pope Francis. I wish Paul every grace and blessing and ask you all to remember him as he prepares for his Episcopal Ordination in Ballaghaderreen on 30 August. I also wish the priests who are retiring from Parish Priests duties this year, Father Sean Conlon and Father Adrian Carbery, every blessing as they assume less onerous duties in their respective parishes. I wish Father Eddie Kavanagh a full recovery and good health in his retirement. I thank all our priests who have accepted new and additional responsibilities. I welcome two new priests who will be joining us Father Robert Petrisor comes from Bucharest in Romania and Father Yanbo Chen SVD who was ordained from Maynooth last year. The Kildare & Leighlin diocesan appointments are as follows: Father Ruairi ODomhnaill Adm. Cathedral to become PP Newbridge in succession to Father Paul Dempsey, Bishop Elect of Achonry Father Liam Morgan PP Naas, Sallins, Two Mile House to become VF Kildare & Leighlin North Deanery, retaining responsibility for Parish Renewal & Development Father Sean Conlon PP Ballinakill to become PE CC Ballinakill, Abbeyleix & Raheen Father Adrian Carbery PP Kildare to become PE CC Kildare Father Eddie Kavanagh PP Balyna to retire Father Paddy Byrne PP Abbeyleix & Raheen to become also PP Ballinakill Father Andy Leahy PP Tullow to become PP Kildare Father Sean Maher CC Naas, Sallins, Two Mile House to become PP Balyna and Diocesan Scripture Resource Person Father Thomas OByrne PP Myshall & Clonegal to become Adm. Cathedral & to assist at Bishops House Father Brian Maguire SPS CC Cathedral to become PP Tullow Father Pat Hughes CC Emo & Portarlington to become PP Myshall & Clonegal Father Joe ONeill who was on loan to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to become CC Emo & Portarlington Father Gaspar Habara SVD CC Kildare to become CC Cathedral Father Yanbo Chen SVD to reside in Cathedral Presbytery and to assist in the wider area Father Robert Petrisor (Archdiocese of Bucharest, Romania) to become CC Naas, Sallins, Two-Mile-House New Delhi: Global beverages and snacks major PepsiCo Inc witnessed a double-digit decline in its beverage sales in India in the 12-week period ended June 13 amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the company's earnings statement. The company said its snacks volume also witnessed double-digit decline in India during the said period. In Africa, Middle East and South Asia (AMESA) region, the company said its "beverage volume declined 25 per cent, reflecting double-digit declines in India and Pakistan, a low-single-digit decline in Nigeria and a high-single-digit decline in the Middle East". "The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decrease in consumer demand, which had a negative impact on volume performance," PepsiCo said. Snacks volume "grew 117 per cent, primarily reflecting a 124-percentage-point impact of the Pioneer Foods acquisition, mid-single-digit growth in the Middle East and Pakistan and low-single-digit growth in South Africa, partially offset by a double-digit decline in India", it added. The company said its net revenue in AMESA region "decreased 1 per cent, primarily reflecting a net volume decline and a six-percentage-point impact of a prior-year refranchising of a portion of our beverage business in India, partially offset by a 13-percentage point impact of the Pioneer Foods acquisition. Net revenue was also negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic". In the 12-week period ended June 13, PepsiCo posted net revenue of USD 15.945 billion, while net income was at USD 1.658 billion. Commenting on the company's overall performance, PepsiCo Inc Chairman and Chief Executive Ramon L Laguarta said, "Despite being faced with significant challenges and complexities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, our businesses performed relatively well during the quarter, with a notable level of resiliency in our global snacks and foods business." He said, "The months of March and April were particularly challenging as overall global economic growth was contracting and restrictions, closures and the resulting impact on consumer mobility had a significant effect on our performance." However, the company saw an improvement in business performance and channel dynamics in May and June as population mobility increased after many economies gradually began to reopen both in the developed and developing markets, he added. Stating that the environment has remained volatile and much uncertainty remains about the duration and long-term implications of the pandemic, he said, "As a result, we are not providing a financial outlook for fiscal year 2020 at this time." PepsiCo said while its financial results in the US and Canada (North America) are reported on a 12-week basis, substantially all of its international operations report on a monthly calendar basis for which the months of March, April and May are reflected in its results for the 12 weeks ended June 13, 2020. Last year in July, PepsiCo had announced a deal to acquire South Africa-based Pioneer Foods for around USD 1.7 billion. YEREVAN, Armenia - Armenia and Azerbaijan forces fought Tuesday with heavy artillery and drones, leaving at least 16 people killed on both sides, including an Azerbaijani general, in the worst outbreak of hostilities in years. Skirmishes on the volatile border between the two South Caucasus nations began Sunday. Azerbaijan said it has lost 11 servicemen and one civilian in three days of fighting, and Armenia said four of its troops were killed Tuesday. The two neighbours in the South Caucasus have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current skirmishes appear to mark the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting. The latest incident began Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued. Azerbaijans Defence Ministry said two senior officers, Maj. Gen. Polad Hashimov and Col. Ilgar Mirzayev, were killed in fighting Tuesday along with five other servicemen. Armenian officials claimed that Azerbaijani drones launched an attack on the Tavush province town of Berd, targeting civilian infrastructure. Defence Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said that one of Azerbaijani drones was downed. Stepanyan also charged that the Azerbaijani military used civilians as shields, placing artillery close to the village of Dondar Gushchu in the Tovuz district about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the border. The Azerbaijani side has surrounded its own population with artillery batteries, making them a target, and then complained that the Armenian forces fired in that direction, she said on Facebook where she posted images of the Azerbaijani artillery around the village. The Azerbaijani military denied losing a drone and in turn claimed that its forces shot down an Armenian drone and destroyed an Armenian artillery system along with its crew. As hostilities continued, Armenia also accused Azerbaijan of launching cyberattacks on Armenian government websites. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev denounced what he described as another provocation of Armenia and vowed to protect Azerbaijans national territory. Turkey, which has close ethnic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support to Baku in the conflict. The United States and Russia, which co-chair the Minsk group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have condemned the violence and called for restraint. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had separate calls with his counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday to call for an immediate ceasefire. Russian President Vladimir Putins spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Tuesday that Moscow was deeply worried about the fighting and stands ready to play mediator. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed worry. His spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in a statement that the U.N. chief urges an immediate end to the fighting and calls on all involved to take immediate steps to deescalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric. ___ This story was first published on July 14, 2020. It was updated on July 15, 2020 to correct the transliterated name of the province where Armenia accused Azerbaijans military of launching a drone attack. It is Tavush province, not Tuvush. It was updated again on July 17, 2020 to correct the first name of Azerbaijans president. He is Ilham Aliyev, not Ilhan Aliyev. ___ Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, contributed to this report. The family is scared that just like last time he would be discharged saying he is fine and fit so that he is not released on bail. Mumbai: Family of Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has been taken to the state-run JJ Hospital after he complained of dizziness. They alleged that the ailing activist may be declared fit without proper treatment before hearing of his bail application on Friday. Rao has moved Bombay high court after his bail application was rejected by the trial court. Venugopal Rao, nephew of poet Varavara Rao, while speaking to The Asian Age, said that a petition was filed in June in the Bombay high court against a special NIA court order rejecting Varavara Raos bail application. The plea has been adjourned a few times and is scheduled for hearing on July 17. However, since his health has deteriorated our lawyer moved an urgent praecipe before the Bombay high court on Monday requesting court to give urgent hearing on his interim bail application but it couldnt be heard, said Venugopal. He further added that the lawyer moved another petition in the HC requesting court to prepone hearing on the petition but it was not heard on Tuesday too. Venugopal Rao said that the family is scared that just like last time he would be discharged from the hospital, before his bail application is heard by the HC, saying he is fine and fit so that he is not released on bail. He also said that the family is not getting any official update on Varavaras health. On Monday, Varavara Rao filed two petitions in the Bombay high court, seeking temporary bail owing to his deteriorating health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital. Raos lawyer Nilesh Uke said, We have filed one more petition in the high court requesting for direction to the Taloja jail superintendent, where Rao was kept before he was admitted in the hospital, to submit all medical records before the court. Family members of the poet on Sunday sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care and claimed that when the veteran activist, who hails from Telangana, contacted them last week he was in a delirious state and hallucinating. Varavara Rao has been in jail for about 22 months and had earlier approached the special NIA court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation. The majority parties within Luxembourg City municipality have demanded an increased police presence in Bonnevoie and around the capital's main train station. Many residents in and around the Gare district have expressed unease due to criminal activity in the area, particularly illegal drug dealing. City councillors Heloise Bock of the DP, and Claudine Konsbruck of the CSV tabled a motion on Monday to increase security in the district. Bock has spent years campaigning for an increased police presence in the area. The government recently increased this by 30%, but Bock felt this was insufficient as patrols are often diverted to deal with other tasks. Konsbruck supported the motion, saying a more intensive cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was required to tackle the issue. The two councillors proposed a 15-step plan, including the implementation of new redevelopment measures in the rue de Strasbourg and the strengthening of the police force in the districts concerned, as well as a reassessment of the situation around the Abrigado drug centre in Bonnevoie. The motion also proposed the development of a video surveillance system around Bonnevoie. The Green Party, which forms the main opposition in the municipality, opposed further repression and video surveillance. Councillor Christa Brommel said it would be more favourable to work on prevention, while LSAP councillor Gabriel Boisante argued for more support for those in difficulty, as well as better infrastructure, housing and commerce. The proposal has been submitted to the aldermen and will be debated over the coming weeks. NEWTON, Mass., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- We are proud to announce that Dr. Kanai Shah, President of RMD, Inc., a Dynasil company, has been selected to receive the prestigious 2020 RTSD Scientist Award by the scientific advisory committee of the Room Temperature Semiconductor Detectors (RTSD) conference. This award will be presented to Dr. Shah at the RTSD conference to be held in Boston from October 31st to November 7th in conjunction with the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and the Medical Imaging Conference . As part of the award acceptance ceremony Dr. Shah will deliver the RTSD keynote address. This international award is given annually as recognition to a researcher who has made outstanding contributions toward the detection of nuclear radiation using semiconductor detectors that operate at room temperature through a lifetime of work. Dr. Shah has been an active researcher in this field for over 35 years, with interest in crystal growth processes and detector designs. In recent years, Dr. Shah has contributed to RMDs efforts to develop thallium bromide (TlBr) gamma-ray detectors and lithium indium diselenide (LiInSe 2 ) neutron detectors. His current interests include tailoring wide bandgap semiconductors to combine charge and light collection within the same solid state detector. Previously, Dr. Shah investigated HgI 2 , PbI 2 , InI, Si, Ge, CdZnTe, B 2 Se 3 , diamond and Tl 2 SeI 4 semiconductor detectors for spectroscopic and imaging studies. The applications of these detectors include nuclear security, medical imaging, particle and space physics, oil exploration, health physics, non-destructive evaluation and materials research. Dr. Shah has served as the president of RMD since December 2011. He has authored more than 500 technical publications and been awarded 34 U.S. patents. He has been conferred with numerous awards including three R&D 100 awards , a DNDO recognition award and a Tibetts Small Business Award. Dr. Shah received his M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands. He has presented at international conferences on many occasions, written three book chapters, reviewed numerous papers for IEEE and MRS journals and served as reviewer for DOE, NSF, DOD and DHS programs. He teaches a short-course on Nuclear Detection (organized by Dr. David Wehe, University of Michigan) at the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (Atlanta 2017, Sydney 2018, Manchester, 2019). Story continues Dr. Shah currently serves as a member of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Chemical Engineering Industrial Advisory Board. About Dynasil Dynasil Corporation of America develops and manufactures optics and photonics products, optical detection and analysis technology and components for the homeland security, medical and industrial markets. Combining world-class expertise in research and materials science with extensive experience in manufacturing and product development, Dynasil is commercializing products including dual-mode radiation detection solutions for Homeland Security and commercial applications and sensors for non-destructive testing. Dynasil has an impressive portfolio of issued and pending U.S. patents. The Company is based in Newton, MA, with additional operations in MA, MN, NY, NJ and the United Kingdom. More information about the Company is available at www.dynasil.com. Contact: Patty Kehe Corporate Secretary Dynasil Corporation of America Phone: 617.668.6855 pkehe@dynasil.com SOURCE Dynasil Corporation of America WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Partly reflecting a substantial rebound in gasoline prices, the Labor Department released a report on Tuesday showing a slightly bigger than expected increase in U.S. consumer prices in the month of June. The Labor Department said its consumer price index climbed by 0.6 percent in June after edging down by 0.1 percent in May. Economists had expected consumer prices to rise by 0.5 percent. Excluding higher prices for food and energy, the core consumer price index ticked up by 0.2 percent in June after slipping by 0.1 percent in May. Core prices were expected to inch up by 0.1 percent. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. So far, to my understanding, there has been no official announcement from Ethiopia that all of the pieces of construction that are needed to be completed to close off all of the outlets and to begin impoundment of water into the reservoir have occurred, Davison said. New Delhi: A special PMLA court on Tuesday rejected the bail pleas of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and Sarang Wadhawan in the money laundering case involving Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank. Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang are accused, besides several others, in the Rs 4,355-crore PMC Bank scam which surfaced in September last year. The case stems from massive loans given by PMC Bank to the now bankrupt HDIL. The father-son duo have been booked under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act (PMLA). PMC bank officials allegedly gave loans to HDIL between 2008 and 2019 despite no repayment of the previous loans. Out of the 44 bank accounts responsible for not paying back the huge loans taken from PMC Bank, 10 belonged to HDIL and the Wadhawans. Out of the 10 bank accounts, Sarang and Rakesh had one personal account each. The case is being probe by Enforcement Directorate, along with Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police. Rakesh Wadhawan is currently in GT hospital after tested corona positive. The Wadhawans had sought bail claiming no particular section of banking regulations was violated by them, contending that allegations of misdoings were against PMC officials and not them. In the run-up to the 2020 US election, a group of major media organizations will once again work together to try and clamp down on fake news. The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) is a coalition of blue-chip publishers and Microsoft which have pledged to work together to tackle disinformation. And, this year, the team will try using a new verification technology, dubbed Project Origin, to try and watermark legitimate content. That way, its hoped, scammers cant mock up a headline and pass it off as real news as easily as they once did. Brand marks, styles and other traditional indicators of trust, says the BBC in a statement, they are no longer enough to ensure content legitimacy. Thats why Project Origin will attach a digital watermark to stories from TNI partners that shows them that the news has come from an official source. The idea is both to help people find trusted news, but also to filter out faked content. Unfortunately, theres no word on how this will work yet -- the standards for Project Origin have yet to be published. TNI Members include the BBC, NYT, CBC and the WSJ as well as Google, Facebook and Microsoft, with the AP and Washington Post joining this year. Its likely that Google and Facebook will have to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility after being willing incubators of fake news for so long. Sadly, Project Origin isnt going to be standard from now on, and instead will run in the month just before the 2020 election. That means that malign actors have got from now until early October to get their material in front of people. State Sen. Anthony Williams, seen here at the Delaware County Courthouse, said in a statement he is following recommended health guidelines. Read more Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and PennLive/Patriot-News. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter. HARRISBURG Philadelphia State Sen. Anthony H. Williams has tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the second Pennsylvania legislator to contract COVID-19. Williams disclosure of a positive diagnosis Tuesday led at least two of his Democratic colleagues who recently attended a news conference with him including Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) to seek testing. Another lawmaker, Majority Leader Jake Corman (R., Centre), said he decided not to return to the Senate floor Tuesday for the voting session because he had been in contact with Williams in the last 14 days, and believed it was prudent to self-quarantine. I just thought it was the proper thing to do, to be cautious, said Corman, adding that he is not exhibiting symptoms. In a statement, Williams said he is following recommended health guidelines, and had informed Senate Democratic leadership and those he had come into contact with so they can take the necessary steps to evaluate if they are running any risk. Williams also said that he is shuttering his offices for two weeks out of an abundance of caution. Brittany Crampsie, a spokesperson for Senate Democrats, said Williams began experiencing symptoms last Thursday, was tested Friday, and received the result Tuesday. Fewer than 10 staffers who were exposed to the senator in recent weeks have been told to work from home, she said. If any of their tests are positive, we will expand our contact tracing, Costa said in a statement. It was not immediately known when Williams, who did not respond to an interview request, was last in Harrisburg. His social media posts show that he has attended a handful of in-person events over the last few weeks. That includes a June 30 news conference at the Capitol with Costa and Sen. Vincent Hughes (D., Philadelphia). All senators, including Williams, wore masks. Costa was tested Tuesday and said he will quarantine until he receives his test results. Hughes was also tested, according to Crampsie. Kate Flessner, a spokesperson for Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), declined to comment on how the Republican caucus is dealing with Williams disclosure, saying only that the chamber has policies and protocols in place when there is potential exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace. In late May after a Republican House member revealed, a week after his diagnosis, that he had tested positive for COVID-19 Williams wrote Scarnati asking that the chamber mandate disclosure of potential coronavirus exposure to all four caucuses in both the House and Senate. In his letter, Williams noted that while the Senate had adopted a policy requiring disclosure of a coronavirus case, only people who work for the upper chamber would be informed. The belated revelation that Rep. Andrew Lewis (R., Dauphin) had tested positive for COVID-19 sparked outrage among his Democratic colleagues who complained that they had been left in the dark about the diagnosis. At the time, Lewis said he immediately began self-isolating after receiving the test result and that he informed House officials, who worked to identify anyone he may have exposed. But while some Republican lawmakers were notified of their potential exposure and self-isolated as a result, Democrats said they only learned of it from a reporter, despite their own daily proximity to Lewis. The episode prompted multiple calls for public officials to promptly and publicly disclose a positive test result. 100% ESSENTIAL: Spotlight PA relies on funding from foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. If you value this reporting, please give a gift today at spotlightpa.org/donate. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:59:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KATHMANDU, July 14 (Xinhua) -- After tens of thousands of locusts swarmed Guthichaur Rural Municipality in Nepal's mid-western Jumla district since the last three days, people have been making noises by hitting the metals to chase them away. It is a traditional method to chase locusts, the ravenous crop-eating insects. "Besides making noises, the farmers here are also producing smoke by burning dried plants and capturing them into the net," Hari Bahadur Bhandari, chairman of the Rural Municipality, told Xinhua over the telephone on Tuesday. He said that his office on Monday announced a bounty of 200 Nepali Rupees (1.65 U.S. dollar) per kg for submitting the locusts after capturing them. Bhandari said that the locust invasion has affected 10 to 15 percent of farms in the rural municipality in just three days after being spotted. "The locusts have consumed plants of paddy, maize, millet and apples," Bhandari said. According to the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre under Nepal's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the locusts spotted in Jumla are the insects which had entered Nepal two weeks ago. Although a large majority of the insects have already gone away due to unfavourable climate and air waves, a sizable number of them are still in various districts in western and mid-western Nepal, according to the centre. But, on July 12, the centre warned the stakeholders including farmers that a new wave of locusts entered Nepal through Gadhawa Rural Municipality of Dang in south-western Nepal from Uttar Pradesh state of India and moved to northern region from there. Likewise, another group of locusts entered through Beni-Tribeni Rural Municipality of southwestern Nawalparasi district, the centre notified on July 13 in another notice. The farmers have been using largely similar tactics to chase the locusts away. "The framers created noises by hitting the kitchen utensils to chase the locusts away from our rural municipality," Sahajram Ahir, chairman of Gadhawa Rural Municipality, told Xinhua on Tuesday over telephone. "There is a little presence of these pests within the border of our rural municipality at the moment." He said that there is very limited impact on the crops from the invading army of locusts within the border of this local government because people chased them away right after they entered into their villages. Although the country is witnessing the second wave of locust invasion, the Nepali government is not opting to take drastic measures immediately to control the crop-eating pests. "Our initial focus has been to control the locusts through the traditional methods such as creating noises, producing smokes and capturing them with the help of nets," Sahadev Prasad Humagain, chief of the Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Centre, told Xinhua on Tuesday. "We are now discussing on controlling the locust invasion without pesticides immediately given the environmental damages it could cause." He said that as the air is also moving towards the west from the east, the locusts are also expected to move towards the west along with the air wave and go completely away from Nepal. According to Humagain, the Nepali government is also discussing on providing a bounty of 500 Nepali Rupees (4.14 U.S. dollar) per kg to the people who come up with the captured locusts. According to the centre, the impact of the locust invasion in the country has not been huge so far that requires relief to be distributed to the people. "We have been collecting details about the damages caused by these pests," Humagain said. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:24:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, on Jan. 5, 2020. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua) While the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has not announced a more aggressive stance against Iran, Brian Hook, the State Department's special envoy for Iran, said last month that "timidity and weakness invite more Iranian aggression." by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Some U.S. media has reported that the United States and Israel are involved in a joint strategy to conduct clandestine strikes on Iran's nukes sites and carry out hits on certain generals. It remains unclear if this assertion from a recent New York Times report is accurate. But if it is, that could lead to increased ire between Washington and Tehran -- at a time when tensions are already running high. Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday said during a press conference that Iran would "react decisively" if it is found that any government was involved in the recent explosion at the country's Natanz nuclear facility. Speculation is rife over who masterminded the strike, and whether the United States or Israel were involved. The New York Times reported Friday that some officials said a "joint American-Israeli strategy was evolving -- some might argue regressing -- to a series of short-of-war clandestine strikes, aimed at taking out the most prominent generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and setting back Iran's nuclear facilities." A fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran city of Mahshahr on Sunday, according to the ISNA news agency. Local officials said the fire was caused by an oil leak and did not lead to casualties and damage. One day before the blaze, a gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, leaving one person injured, the ISNA quoted the city's fire department as saying. While the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has not announced a more aggressive stance against Iran, Brian Hook, the State Department's special envoy for Iran, said last month that "timidity and weakness invite more Iranian aggression." "It sounds plausible," David Pollock, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Xinhua, speaking of the possibility of a U.S.-Israeli joint strategy, such as the one the Times reported. A security force member stands guard at the construction site of the second phase of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr, southern Iran, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua) The Stuxnet cyberattack, revealed in 2010, has caused substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran. Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, the computer worm is widely believed to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel. Recent attacks are similar to what happened a decade ago with the Stuxnet attack, "so I think that's probably what we're seeing here," Pollock said. Speaking of the recent explosion in the Natanz nuclear facility, Clay Ramsay, an Iran expert at the University of Maryland, citing the possibility of cyberattacks, which means "the source of attacks might be outside Iran." Ramsay said the attacks were probably meant to provoke Iran into an unmeasured response that can then invite retaliation. Laborers work at the construction site of the second phase of Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in Bushehr, southern Iran, on Nov. 10, 2019. (Photo by Ahmad Halabisaz/Xinhua) According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal reached by relevant countries in Vienna five years ago, Iran, for the next 15 years, would only enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent and could not build any new heavy-water facilities. Iran has always maintained that it abides by the commitments. However, the current U.S. administration announced Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Iran, a widely criticized movement has thwarted other parties' implementation of the agreement and led to continued tension over the Iranian nuclear issue. The day the fire broke out on a Navy amphibious assault ship in San Diego, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck said he was confident the Bonhomme Richard would sail again. But as the fire rages in both ends of the amphib two days later, Sobeck, the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, is less confident about the vessel's salvageability. "When you look at the outside of the ship, you don't get the full picture," he said during a press conference Tuesday. "We haven't been inside the ship well enough to be able to get a full picture. It's just too early to tell." Read next: 'Sailors Using the N-Word': Navy Leaders Hear Painful Cases of Racism The Navy will thoroughly investigate the incident, Sobeck added, including the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage to the ship. Hundreds of Navy and other federal firefighters have been fighting for days to put out the blaze, which started in the Bonhomme Richard's lower cargo hold, known as the "Deep V," Sobeck said. At one point, it swept through the length of the ship and is now contained in two spots. "Right now, we're combating two fires in different parts of the ship: one forward and one aft," he said. "The one aft, we're still investigating, but we're finding out it's an additional heat source that we want to investigate and find out if it's an actual fire or just residual." He said it's "absolutely possible" the fire could be put out in the next 24 hours, though it remains a challenge. "We're still fighting a major fire," he said. Four more sailors have been injured in the blaze since Monday, reaching a total of 38. Twenty-three civilians have also been hurt. As of Monday, five people were hospitalized, but Sobeck said they've all been released. The injuries sustained in the fire have been minor, he added, including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. Teams have investigated the four main engineering spaces, finding no damage, he added. Sobeck also said there's no threat to the fuel tanks, which on Monday he said were within about two decks of the fire. "The ship is stable, and the structure is safe," he said. Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Barelli, with the service's San Diego sector, said there is no evidence of fuel in the water. "We're taking every precaution to prepare for the worst-case scenario," Barelli said. "... There is no discernible sheen [of fuel] on the water." There's currently a mix of saltwater and fuel in the tanks, Sobeck said, which is further helping to keep it cool. It's below the waterline and "far, far away from any heat source," he said. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: 57 Suffer Fire and Smoke Injuries as Navy Ship Bonhomme Richard Continues to Burn CHILLICOTHE, Ohio A man facing accusations of child sexual abuse while he was the leader of a Boy Scout troop during the 1980s and 1990s posted Sunday on Facebook, admitting to the allegations, according to reports. My name is Bill McKell and I am a child molester, the post says, according to the Chillicothe Gazette. Every 12-step program begins with admission. I have been one who abused teenage boys. As far as I am able to tell, it is a disease of the mind not unlike alcoholism or drug addiction. It is a sickness that can never be cured or healed, only recovered from. That being said, there is no excuse for what I have done. McKells wife and his father confirmed that McKell, 60, wrote the post, WBNS Channel 10 reports. The post was deleted later Sunday because of the comments, McKells wife tells WBNS. Accountability will be easier now that everyone around me is aware of my disease. It is the everyone around me that I must apologize to next, the post says, according to the Gazette. To my former coworkers and those who have defended me through the rumors and accusations because they could not reconcile the man they know with the man described, I thank you and Im sorry. Please forgive me for letting you down. I am working hard to remain only the man you know. This admission finally gives me the freedom to get the professional help I need to assure that. McKell, who also is a former church youth leader, has been under investigation by Chillicothe police and federal authorities since 2018 on allegations of sexual abuse involving 18 victims, WBNS reports. No charges have been filed. One alleged victim tells the Gazette that he was abused by McKell at a Boy Scout camp when he was between 10 and 12 years old. Another victim tells police he was assaulted more than four times but less than 10 times. Ross County Prosecutor Jeffrey Marks tells WBNS the post by McKell is hollow. He noted McKell did not admit to specific crimes, so the post might not be useful in court. Brandon Lawson, a Chillicothe resident and teacher who says he was abused by McKell as a youth in the Boy Scouts, tells the Gazette he is skeptical of McKells post. This is a superbly crafted statement to try to gain sympathy. It wont work, Lawson tells the Gazette. You didnt abuse your friends, you abused children. You werent equal with us, you were a father figure to us. And you used it to prey on us. ABC 6 reports the Boy Scouts of America issued a statement saying we care deeply about all victims of child abuse and sincerely apologize to anyone who was harmed during their time in Scouting. We are outraged that there have been times when individuals took advantage of our programs to abuse innocent children, the statement says. We believe victims, we support them, and we encourage them to come forward. More crime-related content on cleveland.com: Akron man, 1-year-old daughter in stroller intentionally struck and killed, police say Person of interest in Lorain shooting that killed 2-year-old girl, hurt two others arrested after police chase Ex-Cleveland safety director said Tanisha Andersons death wasnt an aggravating circumstance in disciplining officers, monitor says Report blasts former Cleveland Public Safety Director Michael McGrath for being lenient with problem police officers East Cleveland officers shot man after police say he fired at them outside bar Beijing, July 15 : The United States was undermining peace and stability in the South China Sea and intended to drive a wedge between regional countries, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said here. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Monday that many Chinese maritime claims over the South China Sea were illegitimate, and the United States urged relevant countries to oppose China's maritime claims. Pompeo added that the so-called award of the South China Sea arbitration was legally binding to both China and the Philippines. In response, spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a news briefing on Tuesday that the US statement disregarded the history and facts on the South China Sea issue, and violated its commitment of holding a neutral position on relevant territorial sovereignty disputes. It also violated and distorted international law, deliberately provoked territorial maritime disputes, and undermined regional stability and peace, he added, Xinhua news agency reported. The US statement said the dotted line in the South China Sea was announced by China in 2009, which is completely untrue, Zhao said, adding that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea were established throughout a long course of history. He said China has exercised effective jurisdiction over relevant islands, reefs, and waters in the South China Sea for thousands of years, and as early as 1948, the Chinese government announced the dotted line in the South China Sea. This was under no doubt from any country for a long time, he said, adding that China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea have sufficient historical and legal basis, which is consistent with relevant international laws and practices. China doesn't strive to build an "empire" in the South China Sea, always treats countries surrounding the South China Sea as equals, and always maintains the utmost restraint in safeguarding the sovereignty, rights, and interests of the South China Sea, Zhao said. "On the contrary, the United States refused to join the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), frequently pulls out of international treaties and organisations, abides by international rules that suit its purpose, and discards those that it finds obstructive. It frequently promotes militarization of the South China Sea by dispatching large-scale, advanced warships and aircraft. The United States is the destructor and troublemaker of peace and stability in the region. The international community sees this very clearly," Zhao said. As for the arbitration case and the award, Zhao said China's position is consistent, clear, and firm. The arbitral tribunal expanded its power to exercise jurisdiction, and made obvious mistakes in the determination of facts and the application of laws, which was questioned by many countries. The US hyped up the South China Sea arbitration for their own political agenda, which was abusing the international law of the sea, and China would never accept it, he said. According to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) reached by China and ASEAN in 2002, China is always committed to resolving disputes on territory and jurisdiction through negotiations and consultations with the related sovereign states, maintaining the peace and stability in the South China Sea with the ASEAN countries, Zhao told the briefing. "With joint efforts of the relevant countries, the situation in the South China Sea remains sound and stable at the moment," Zhao said, adding that China and the ASEAN countries not only abide by the DOC, but are also speeding up negotiations on a more binding code of conduct (COC) to safeguard the peace, stability, and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Now the consultations have made positive progress, and the relationships between China and the ASEAN countries have further consolidated and developed during their cooperations against COVID-19, Zhao said. However, the United States, as a non-regional country, has repeatedly stirred up trouble regarding the South China Sea for its own selfish agenda, played off the relationships of regional countries against China, and ruined the joint efforts made by these countries, he said. Meanwhile, the US statement deliberately misinterpreted the Chinese representative's statement at the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting in 2010. Zhao said the fact was that China's representative said China has always advocated that all countries are equal, and relevant disputes should be settled peacefully by the direct parties concerned through negotiations and consultations. "China expressed its strong indignation and firm opposition to the US wrongdoing," he said, urging the United States to immediately stop making trouble in this regard, and not to go further down the wrong path. Zhao stressed that China will continue to determinedly safeguard its national sovereignty and security, friendly and cooperative relations with regional countries, and the South China Sea's peace and stability. Welcome to BLife Therapeutics New York City, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BetterLife Pharma Inc. (BetterLife or the Company) (CSE:BETR) (OTCQB:BETRD) (FRA: BLife Therapeutics BLife TherapeuticsNPAT) indicated the finalisation of its rebranding exercise for its wholly owned subsidiary, BLife Therapeutics, which has been publicly formalised through the launching of its new website. Following its announcement regarding the merger with Altum Pharma, the Companys name and branding is now more consistent with its intent to become a major player within the biotechnology space. The new website, http://www.blifetherapeutics.com, provides visitors with an overview of the Companys treatment development pipeline, including information on the trial Phases for each of the treatments. The current pipeline for the Company includes: Coronavirus Treatment - AP-003 Patent pending proprietary Interferon 2b (IFNa2b) inhalation formulation. In recent findings, IFNa2b has been shown to be effective in slowing viral replication. Not only did IFNa2b help patients' immune systems clear the coronavirus faster, it also seemed to reduce certain inflammatory proteins linked to severe COVID-19 complications. Anti-bone cancer - AP-002 AP-002 is unique in that it has both anti-bone resorption and direct anti-tumour cell killing activity. This positions it ideally to treat cancer metastatic to the bone. Bone metastases often result in severe pain, spinal cord compression and cancer-induced bone fractures, collectively referred to as skeletal related events (SREs). AP-002 has US FDA IND approval and started Phase 1-2 trials in October 2019 in the US with cancer patients who have advanced or recurrent solid tumours. Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) AP-001. Phase 2 Completed. AP-001 is a topical IFNa2b product for the treatment of HPV infection that can cause cervical cancer. Interferon alpha-2b is already established as a potent, broad acting anti-viral agent, with established anti-HPV activity. The Company has acquired the Altums BiPhasix technology which is a unique encapsulation and delivery platform technology. Story continues BiPhasix-encapsulated interferon IFNa2b can be topically applied and self-administered for use in treatment of HPV-cervical dysplasia. Currently treatment is via painful injections within medical settings. Disclosure: BetterLife Pharma is a client of BDA International. About BDA International, Inc.: BDA International is an independent global firm offering a wide range of IR and PR related analysis, research and advisory services. In particular, we provide and are compensated for service packages that include strategic action plans and investor/market perception studies to help entities improve communication with customers and investors, and to increase their visibility. BDA International has received no direct compensation related to this release but its principles hold shares of client companies in our personal portfolios, including BETRF. BDA International accepts sole responsibility for the content and distribution of the foregoing release, which does not contain any previously unpublished or non-public information. Parties interested in learning more about the relationship between BDA and BETRF may do so via the contact information at the bottom of this release. Disclaimer The information, opinions and analysis contained herein are based on sources believed to be reliable, but no representation, expressed or implied, is made as to its accuracy, completeness or correctness. The opinions contained in this analysis reflect our current judgment and are subject to change without notice. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for any losses, damages or costs arising from an investors or other persons reliance on or use of this analysis. This analysis is for information purposes only, and is neither a solicitation to buy nor an offer to sell securities, nor a recommendation of any security, although members of the BDA may at times hold a position in the company covered within the article. BetterLife Pharma is a client of BDA International. Past gains are not a representative of future gains. The opinions herein contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements concerning manufacturing, marketing, growth, and expansion. When used herein, the words anticipate, intend, estimate, believe, expect, plans, should, potential, forecast, and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could affect actual results and cause them to differ materially from expectations expressed herein. A companys actual results could differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements contained herein. BDA is not a licensed broker, broker dealer, market maker, investment advisor, analyst or underwriter. We recommend that you use the information found herein as an initial starting point for conducting your own research in order to determine your own personal opinion of the companies discussed herein before deciding whether or not to invest. You should seek such investment, tax, financial, accounting or legal advice appropriate for your particular circumstances. Information about many publicly traded companies and other investor resources can be found at www.sec.gov. Investing in securities is speculative and carries risk. Investor Relations Contact: Dost Mushtaq BDA International www.bda-ir.com dost@bda-ir.com Attachment The Indian Railways, through the Central Railway of Nagpur Division, has called for applications in a prescribed format from eligible and experienced candidates for filling 60 Specialists vacancies in various capacities comprising CMP -GDMO (36), Pharmacist (06), Health & Malaria Inspector/ Sanitation Supervisor (06), Anaesthetist (04), Physician (04) and Intesivists (04) through direct recruitment. Applications in a prescribed format must be e-mailed on or before July 20, 2020. CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Specialists Organisation Central Railway Educational Qualification Class 10+2 in Science or equivalent with Diploma in Pharmacy or Bachelors Degree in Pharmacy; B.Sc in relevant discipline; MBBS Degree with Post-Graduation/Diploma in concerned speciality Experience Zero to three years in a relevant domain Skills Required Desirable Job Location Nagpur Division Salary Scale In the range of Rs. 29,200 to Rs. 95,000 per month as per designation Industry Railways Application End Date July 20, 2020 Age Criteria And Fees Candidates interested in applying for Specialists post through Central Railway Recruitment 2020 must have attained 18 years of age and not be more than 65 years of age as specified in the notification. For details regarding fee towards application processing, refer to the official advertisement given at the end of the write-up. UPSC Recruitment 2020 For Scientists, Information Officer And RO Posts. Apply Online Before July 30 Educational Criteria And Experience Candidates applying for Specialists post through Central Railway Recruitment 2020 must have passed Class 10+2 in Science or equivalent with Diploma in Pharmacy or Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy; B.Sc in relevant discipline; MBBS Degree with Post-Graduation/Diploma in concerned speciality from a recognised Board/University/Institute as specified in the notification with zero to three years' experience in the concerned area. Selection And Pay Scale The selection of candidates to Specialists post through Central Railway Recruitment 2020 will be done through Shortlisting and Online Interview. Candidates selected as Specialists post through Central Railway Recruitment 2020 will be paid emolument in the range of Rs. 29,200 to Rs. 95,000 per month as per designation. CBI Recruitment 2020 For Consultants Post In Hyderabad, Apply Offline Before July 31 How To Apply Candidates applying for Specialists post through Central Railway Recruitment 2020 must fill the application form in a prescribed format attached with the advertisement, and e-mail the same along with relevant documents at apoewngp@gmail.com on or before July 20, 2020 for those who wish to be interviewed online, or before July 30, 2020 for those who wish to be interviewed thereafter. Download application form and read the detailed notification about Central Railway Recruitment 2020 for Specialists post here https://cr.indianrailways.gov.in/cris//uploads/files/1594377936705-CMP_GDMO.pdf During the University of Georgias Freshman College Summer Experience, Hayliegh Rose was one of eight Black students in a group of about 300. She felt isolated and concerned that she wouldnt have others to relate to on the predominately white campus. Her Freshman College experience was even less diverse than UGAs student body, which is about 8% Black and 67% white, according to fall 2019 enrollment statistics. By comparison, Georgias population is 33% Black, according to 2019 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. I felt like I didnt belong, like there werent others like me, Rose said. If not for the Black organizations I found, Id still feel like that. As part of UGAs Student Government Association, Rose met Joshua Patton. They realized Black clubs on campus lacked cohesion and often planned events or meetings on the same days. With the vision of unifying Black organizations and forming a bridge between administration and Black students, the Black Student Union was formed in June. Rose emphasized that the role of BSU is not to override Black organizations but to assist them in unifying their goals and voices. Patton said BSU will host monthly meetings about initiatives and what theyd like to see from UGAs administration. BSU plans to reach the student body through town halls where students can speak on their concerns and needs. The town halls are for us to understand what Black students need, but non-Black students can also attend for them to learn about Black experiences and how to be allies, Patton said. Rose said when members of the Black community suffer, shed like to see more unity so the community can work to heal together. Unity is key in Pattons vision for BSU he said although Black students may vary in interests, beliefs and backgrounds, they must remain united. I want to see unity over conformity. You dont have to fit a mold, Patton said. Were related by skin color and want to be unified in that manner. Shared goals Camille Jones expected a unified Black student organization like BSU before she got to UGA. Jones is the president of Georgia Daze, which aims to recruit Black students to UGA. She said she hopes to find collaboration from BSU because they can get more done if they work together. The new union can help spread messages easier than single organizations can, Jones said. The UGA chapter of NAACP started Arch Accountability, its first initiative in collaboration with BSU, on June 19. It focuses on UGAs relationship with its Black students. Jones said without BSU, only UGA NAACP would have shared the initiative and fewer people wouldve seen it. Arch Accountability challenges the UGA community to uphold the values represented by the three pillars of the Arch: wisdom, justice and moderation. The effort demands the addition of students, especially Black students, to the USG committee reviewing the names of buildings named after racist figures. UGA NAACP also demands the university recruit Athens high school students to UGA with scholarships for the descendants of the enslaved Black Americans who built the school, according to the Arch Accountability statement. The effort also calls for a mandatory UGA course about the history of systemic racism. UGA must create a special committee to acknowledge the universitys current and previous history with slavery, the statement demands. As BSU and UGA NAACP work together toward a unified goal, so do other Black organizations. Abeneefoo Kuo Honor Societys president Adanze Nnyagu said in light of recent racial social movements and events, the unification of Black organizations is needed now more than ever. If there is an issue or justice needed for Black students, organizations can join together and reach a solution no one has to handle it alone anymore, Nnyagu said. Now we can recognize things in a system that targets races [and] ethnicities and work to change that, Nnyagu said. Black and minority groups can better coordinate different programs, grow together and properly address issues. Abeneefoo Kuo, which means circle of honor in Swahili, focuses on providing leadership and academic support for Black students and the Athens community. Since the 1970s, the Black Theatrical Ensemble has produced shows that center around Black people for Black people, Nala McCamy, BTEs president, said. McCamy said its time to learn about Black lives, emotions and truths on screen. BTE produces stories and representation in theater where otherwise students may not see people that look like them on the stage, McCamy said. McCamy said this fall semester will feel different from the rest. She said Black students are speaking out against and healing from racism and microaggressions throughout their college career. Now more than ever, they need to be there for one another. Changes ahead As BSU, NAACP and other Black organizations prepare their initiatives and goals for next semester, Rose said she hopes the university will become reactive and not silent on issues within the Black community. On May 31, UGA released a message from President Jere Morehead regarding racial inequality. The message garnered criticism from many in the UGA community because Morehead didnt specifically mention racism or those who were killed. The next day Morehead released a second statement. To our black students, faculty, staff, and alumni, I want you to know that I stand with you, Morehead said in his second statement. I know we dont always get it right, and mistakes are made. Rose said she was one of many students who were disappointed with the universitys original response. Although she believes Black students must stick together and support one another, she also said students need acknowledgement and action from the university. UGA NAACP President Alex English said hes cautiously optimistic that UGA will do something in light of the protests and requests for change from Black students. People have protested in every state since George Floyds killing, and they are ready to talk, he said. He said he understands UGA is handling a lot right now, but he wants action. I get it. Theres money at stake, a lot of stuff thats above my pay grade. Got it, English said. But its also a matter of human rights. I mean, come on, these are human beings. These are conversations that need to be had, and now that we are having them, lets act upon them. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump said Tuesday he signed legislation that would slap sanctions on Chinese officials who undermine the autonomy of Hong Kong, the latest step in the administration's increasingly confrontational posture toward Beijing. But the president's official remarks in the Rose Garden quickly turned political as he offered an extended critique of Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and the Obama administration's trade policies. "If we listened to Joe Biden, hundreds of thousands of additional lives would have been lost" to the coronavirus, Trump claimed without evidence. Trump's remarks, which focused far more on Biden than on Hong Kong, came as the president has slid in national polling and has seen slipping support in battleground states he won in 2016, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. The president, who made trade with China a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, argued that the Obama administration "freely allowed China to pillage our factories." Biden campaign spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said taxpayers should be reimbursed for the "abuse of funds" from the event. Todays statement that was ostensibly supposed to be about China, but there was one topic that President Trump couldnt seem to get off his mind: Joe Biden, whose name the president invoked nearly 30 times," she said. "The whole sad affair says more about Donald Trump than he said about any particular topic." Trump's remarks was only the latest instance in which the president has veered heavily into presidential politics during an official event. "I cant believe this," political analyst Stuart Rothenberg posted on Twitter. "This is a campaign event from the White House." U.S. relations with China have deteriorated as the president has hammered at Beijing's response to the coronavirus, repeatedly asserting the country failed to warn the world about the severity of the disease that expert say originated in Wuhan. The virus has added a new layer of tensions on top of the trade war that erupted in 2018. Story continues "We hold China fully responsible for concealing the virus and unleashing it on the world," Trump said during remarks in the Rose Garden announcing the decision. The president's remarks on the sanctions bill quickly turned political, with Trump offering an extended critique of Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. Trump has claimed his "phase one" trade agreement with China announced in January remains in place, though the country is falling short of its goals to purchase U.S. goods and Washington has left in place sanctions on billions of dollars in Chinese goods. The president said he also signed an executive order ending preferential trade treatment for Hong Kong. More: Trump administration rejects nearly all Beijing's claims in South China Sea China slapped sanctions on four U.S. officials this week in response to penalties the Trump administration imposed on Chinese officials it says are responsible for the persecution of Muslim Uighur minorities in China's Xinjiang province. Hours later, the Trump administration rejected nearly all of China's maritime claims in the South China Sea and accused Beijing of "bullying" its neighbors. President Donald Trump announces an executive order on police policy June 16 in Washington. But even as his administration has taken an increasingly aggressive tone with China, Trump has been reluctant to weigh in on the crackdown of Hong Kong. Last month, he announced he would "begin the process" of ending Washington's special relationship with Hong Kong, which grants the region sweeping trade advantages. China began imposing its national security law this month, dismissing international pressure to preserve Hong Kong's semi-autonomous status and its separate legal, political and economic framework, in place since 1997 when the United Kingdom turned over the administration of the city to China. That policy had enshrined freedoms of speech, press, assembly and an independent judiciary for residents of Hong Kong. Chinese officials have defended the new law as necessary to preserve national security and protect Hong Kong's prosperity, but critics say it is aimed at snuffing out pro-democracy protests that have roiled Hong Kong for months. Lawmakers, meanwhile, advanced bipartisan legislation to slap stiff penalties on China for undermining Hong Kong's autonomy. The measure imposes sanctions on Chinese officials that help implement the national security law, which criminalizes subversion and other forms of dissent and allows Hong Kong residents to be extradited to China for trial. Contributing: Nicholas Wu, Deirdre Shesgreen This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump signed Hong Kong sanctions bill amid tensions with China Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:52:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that China stands ready to work with Thailand to cement solidarity and cooperation among regional countries and safeguard the sound momentum of development and prosperity in the region. Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, China and Thailand have supported each other and joined hands to overcome difficulties, illustrating their family-like profound friendship with concrete deeds, Xi said. Now with the pandemic still spreading globally, China and Thailand are both under pressure to prevent imported cases and stem domestic resurgence, he added. China, he said, is ready to work with Thailand to intensify experience sharing, coordinate epidemic control and economic development, and carry forward safe and healthy resumption of work and production in an orderly manner while keeping regular epidemic prevention and control measures in place. China will uphold the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind and work with the international community, including Thailand, to support the World Health Organization better playing its role, promote global anti-epidemic cooperation, strengthen research and development collaboration on relevant drugs and vaccines, and jointly contribute to the global cause of public health, he added. Stressing that the China-Thailand relationship enjoys a solid foundation and great potential, Xi noted that since the begining of this year, the two countries have overcome the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic and continuously advanced practical cooperation, with bilateral trade rising against the downtrend and the China-Thailand railway project going smoothly. The two sides, Xi suggested, should better synergize the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Thailand's development strategies such as Thailand 4.0 and the Eastern Economic Corridor, promote cooperation in such innovative fields as e-commerce, and push for new development of their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. For his part, Prayut said Thailand and China have always staunchly supported each other in combating the novel coronavirus, which has fully reflected the family-like profound friendship between the two countries. Thailand, he added, appreciates the strong leadership and the people-first principle the Chinese government has demonstrated during the COVID-19 fight, applauds China's pledge to make its coronavirus vaccines a global public good when available, and hopes to enhance cooperation with China on research and development of anti-epidemic drugs and vaccines. Thailand firmly sticks to the one-China policy and firmly supports China's efforts to safeguard its core interests, said the Thai prime minister. The Thai side hopes to take the 45th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties as an opportunity to deepen Thailand-China friendship and cooperation, strengthen collaboration in such fields as economy and trade, innovation, and poverty alleviation, promote BRI cooperation and lift the partnership between the two countries to a higher level, he said. Thailand, he added, stands ready to work with China to maintain regional peace and stability and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. Prayut also conveyed his sympathies over the floods hitting multiple places in southern China, and Xi expressed gratitude for that. Enditem University Grants Commission (UGC) vice-chairman Dr Bhushan Patwardhan is against varsities awarding degrees without holding final exams. With Maharashtra government firm on not conducting final-year exams, Patwardhan said that he is making efforts to reach an amicable solution. State higher education minister Uday Samant on July 13 tweeted: despite UGC revised guidelines to take final- year exams, the state government is firm on not taking the exams. Taking about the issue, Patwardhan, who was earlier a biomedical researcher and professor of Health Sciences at Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), said, I am aware of the situation in Maharashtra because of the rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Health and safety of students is supreme for all of us. However, awarding degrees without final examinations is not acceptable academically. I am discussing different options with Maharashtra state chancellor, vice-chancellors and heads of various universities in the state. I will try my best in personal capacity to put forward the Maharashtra case before the Commission to reach a mutually acceptable sustainable solution. I hope the efforts will help to end the current impasse. The state government in June decided to cancel final-year and semester exams of all universities due to the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra. UGC last week issued new guidelines instructing universities to hold final-year exams before September-end 2020. Samant tweeted on July 13: Today state disaster management authority meeting was held and led by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and it was again decided not to take the final-year exams despite getting guidelines from the UGC. Arun Adsul, former vice-chancellor of SPPU, said, The present virus pandemic has caused increased fear of security, worry about future, anxiety, panic and distress among college youth. The confusion over exam is worrying students as the results will decide their future course of action. Parents are worried about the future of their children. Postponing the exams to next academic year will have a big impact on their academic future. Members of the National Democratic Congress in the Savannah Region have vowed to protect polling stations within the region in the wake of attacks on their members by some NPP thugs in the ongoing registration exercise. The Regional Communications Officer, Malik Basintale indicated that the NPP in the Savannah Region has resorted to violence in the current registration exercise to win the December 7 polls, a move he says "if not addressed portends far-reaching implications for our electoral process and our democracy." He added, "these thugs go about the constituency with pepper spray, electric police shockers and other arms of human destruction just to deter NDC supporters from registering to vote for H.E John Mahama and Mp Hon. Shaibu Obei." Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr Malik said five of their members have already been attacked by the NPP in the Daboya Mankarigu and Damongo Constituencies. According to him, a journalist was also assaulted by the same NPP thugs. The Savannah Regional Communications Officer used the opportunity to launch their operations to save their members from attacks and stop busing of strangers to the various polling stations. "We hereby declare an Operation "Protect Your Polling Station" and direct that all NDC members in the Savannah region take charge of their localities and stop all intruders from registering as it is an exercise against the law." He showcased the NDC's readiness to obey the orders of the national committee at the regional level as more thugs are footed to the region by the Deputy Chief of Staff and the NPP. "Some invincible forces brought from Accra and acting as national security persons have been intimidating our agents especially at the Busunu zone including an ambush of our constituency chairman, trouble at Tailope, a sabbath of Damongo. "We are hence going to exhibit the full realms of the boot for boot analogy as declared by our party the NDC." Mr Malik noted that the NDC is not intimidated by the violence portrayed by the NPP to deter their party faithful from taking part in the registration. "The NDC is not a timid party and will not allow our long-standing peace and stability in the Savannah region to be downplayed." He further cautioned the strangers not to become willing tools in the hands of the NPP to come to the region for the ongoing voter registration exercise. "We are sending a strong caution to persons who will allow themselves to be bused or sent here to register for the purposes of voting for Akufo-Addo and their parliamentary candidates to save their lives by rejecting such offers as it is a dangerous trap deliberately set for them to fall in and they will meet us halfway their journey into the region." Mr. Malik Basintale, however, legitimatised their actions to be conducted within the confines of the law and not violence: "We will face them, We will face them and within the remits of the law we will ensure they are sent back probably not the same to wherever they came from." KEY HIGHLIGHTS Nitin Gadkari exhorts banks to invest in road projects instead of depositing money with RBI Road Transport Ministry remains upbeat on awarding and constructing more road projects in FY21 Gadkari recommended innovative models engaging pension funds, insurance funds, NRIs, PIOs, other foreign investors could participate in India's growth story Underlined the role of various financial institutions in supporting MSMEs, said there is enough capital in the system for this Risk-averse banks earning interest income by parking their money with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can invest in road projects and get much better returns, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Speaking at a webinar, Gadkari noted that toll income of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is expected to reach Rs 1 lakh crore in coming years and traffic density was on the rise offering a good opportunity for banks to invest. "My toll income is Rs 28,000 crore per year now and our target is to reach Rs 100,000 crore per year. And when my income is there, I can monetise my projects. Traffic density has been increasing. So, the banks can invest in NHAI, or in road construction, or infrastructure. At least about road sector I am giving assurance that they will get good profits from it," Gadkari said. ALSO READ: IRB Infra share price rises over 4% after firm wins Rs 2,193-crore highway project He said that banks can get a return of 6.5-7 per cent by investing in road projects. While banks have generally been cautious with financing infrastructure projects, they hae become even more vigilant after the coronavirus pandemic that has created economic uncertainty across the sectors. The Road Transport Ministry has, however, been bullish on awarding and constructing more road projects in the current fiscal. It has set an ambitious target of awarding contracts for 20,000km and building 15,000km of highways in FY21. Gadkari noted that the economy was facing the challenge of investment and liquidity but suggested a host of measures to address the issues. He said that innovative models have to be found so that pension funds, insurance funds, NRIs, PIOs, and other foreign investors could participate in India's growth story. "My feeling is that as far as returns are concerned, we are still in a better position. For the investment, return in India is very good. Now, the investor, particularly foreign investment is very important," the minister stated. ALSO READ: RBI likely to pause rate-cutting cycle in August but it'll be short-term: Nomura For supporting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he highlighted the role of various financial institutions including credit co-operative societies and pointed out that there is enough capital available in the system. "The role of all financial institutions is very important. In Maharashtra and Gujarat, only in Kolhapur district, the capital that we have with the credit cooperative societies is more than Rs 45,000 crore. In Maharashtra, the credit cooperative societies' capital is more than Rs 3.80 lakh crore. So, this is a big capital that is available which we can utilise for even giving support to the small people (MSMEs)," Gadkari said. Apart from the Road Transport Ministry, Gadkari is also the Minister for MSMEs. Gadkari acknowledged that MSMEs were not getting enough focus from banks and financial institutions and suggested the deposits available with various co-operative banks could be used to support them. "This is the time we need to think about very, very small people who do not have house, paying capacity but have skill which can be used," Gadkari said. ALSO READ: RBI's liquidity infusion helps raise Rs 1.87 lakh crore from primary corporate bond market Road verges, if well cared for, could be a vital resource for pollinators such as bumblebees and butterflies, a study shows. Allowing wildflowers to flourish on the council-owned patches of land as well as letting the grass run wild would turn the plots into vital corridors for many insects. The Covid-19 crisis may have helped in this regard, as furloughed staff were not trimming the verge, allowing wildlife to thrive. Scroll down for video Allowing wildflowers to flourish on the council-owned patches of land as well as letting the grass run wild would turn the roadside plots into vital corridors for many insect pollinators Green verges and hedgerows can form a network of 'corridors' that provide food and shelter for insects if better managed, scientists say. Academics from the Penryn campus of the University of Exeter conducted a review of more than 140 studies. It found that while living by the roadside can have some downsides, including pollution and noise, the benefits do outweigh the negatives. Lead author Ben Phillips, a PhD student at Exeter,said: 'There is huge untapped potential to improve road verges for pollinators through management. 'In many cases this involves mowing less - and at the right times - to increase flowers and reduce the amount of pollinators, eggs and larvae killed. 'We can help pollinators further by reducing impacts of road pollution. 'This includes light pollution which can be addressed by limiting how long streetlights are switched on for. These confuse nocturnal insects.' Green verges and hedgerows can form a network of 'corridors' that provide food and shelter for insects if better managed, scientists say Repeated mowing damages the verges as the cuttings and pesticides can smother and kill wildlife. Verges can also be dramatically improved for pollinators by measures such as the creation of flower-rich verges. Ministers rule to cut road verges less often and allow them to grow Britain's wildflowers have been given a helping hand after new guidelines were approved to limit how often roadside grass verges will be cut. Wildflowers thrive by the roadside and verges are among the last remaining refuges for the beautiful plants which have been eradicated from large parts of the UK. Currently they are cut down four times a year, which doesn't give them adequate time to mature and release their seeds. The new rules will limit this to just two trims every 12 months, allowing wildflowers to complete their life-cycle and boosting their chances of flourishing once again. The grassy patches line 313,500 miles of UK rural roads, A-roads and motorways are an increasingly important source of meadow habitat, the wildlife charity Plantlife said. Grassy strips alongside roads have become vital following the decimation of 97 pr cent of all British wildflowers in the past century. Advertisement Co-author Andrew Whitehouse, of conservation charity Buglife, said: 'Buglife's B-Lines initiative has identified the lack of connected wildflower-rich habitats as a major contributor to the decline in our pollinating insects. 'This new research shows the potential road verges have to help to reverse insect declines. 'By making small changes to the management of our road verge network, local authorities and others involved in road verge management can make a significant difference to support nature's recovery.' Since writing the review, verges have undergone quite a transition due to the pandemic. Co-author Claire Wallace, a PhD student at East Anglia University, said: 'There were lots of reports of road verges not being mown because councils and contractors weren't operating as normal. 'This gave us a brief glimpse of the benefits of wilder verges for nature - with plants such as orchids popping up all over the place where they hadn't been seen before.' Last year, guidelines were approved to limit how often roadside grass verges will be cut n a bid to help roadside verges. Currently they are cut down four times a year, which doesn't give them adequate time to mature and release their seeds. The new rules will limit this to just two trims every 12 months, allowing wildflowers to complete their life-cycle and boosting their chances of flourishing once again. The grassy patches line 313,500 miles of UK rural roads, A-roads and motorways are an increasingly important source of meadow habitat, the wildlife charity Plantlife said. The findings are published in the journal Biological Conservation. By Lambert Strether of Corrente. Readers, Happy Bastille Day! lambert #COVID19 At reader request, Ive added this daily chart. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site. Our five problem states, with New York for comparison: Ill just keep doing this one until I see a peak followed by a decline. Congratulations, FL, you passed NY. Looks like CAs big drop was an artifact; now TX is having one. (Seems like the first wave is geographically and chronologically distributed. It will be interesting to see if and when New York starts going up again.) World cases, United States vs. Southeast Asia. On a log scale, because 50 vs. 50,000 doesnt fit on the y-axis of a linear scale: (I left out Vietnam because it doesnt display well, but right now its confirmed case count is one (1). Mujeres danan mercancia en tienda al negarse a usar mascarillas [Noticentro]. Google translation: Three women caused damage to merchandise from the Zara clothing store in Mall of San Juan yesterday, Friday, after they were told that they had to wear a mask to be in the establishment, police reported. According to the authorities, agents from the Hato Rey Este precinct of the Police investigated the complaint for damages and vandalism at 6:20 in the afternoon. The complainant reported that the three women, who are tourists, arrived at the store and were told that they had to put on the mask. After that, the women allegedly caused property and merchandise damage, valued at approximately $2,000. The Police continue the investigation of this complaint. Direct action brings satisfaction. Orange County education leaders want schools to reopen without masks or social distancing [Los Angeles Times]. Orange County education leaders voted 4 to 1 Monday evening to approve recommendations for reopening schools in the fall that do not include the mandatory use of masks for students or increased social distancing in classrooms amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Among the many compelling expert arguments for reopening our schools, a number of us were also struck by something different, something we might call advice for adults, [the Board of Education White Paper] states. Among our greatest responsibilities as adults is our responsibility to model courage and persistence in the face of uncertainty and fear , which is what many families are feeling with the mixed messages and confusion surrounding reopening of schools in the COVID-19 era.' Modeling courage: Forward, the Light Brigade! Was there a man dismayed? Children are fomites, so maybe masking wont help; I havent done the research on this. Most virtue signaling from liberals, though pernicious, doesnt have immediately lethal consequences. Not, apparently, virtue signaling on the right! Told to wear a mask at Kansas City area BBQ restaurant, man in MAGA hat flashes a gun [Kansas City Star]. I asked him if he could wear a mask, since its what Gov. Kelly told us to do, said [Arlo Kinsey], 18, who was working shifts at the barbecue joint this summer before heading off to college. He had dealt with a handful of customers who refused to wear masks inside the restaurant despite the statewide mandate but none like this, he said. The man said he had an exemption to the mask order: He then lifted up his shirt, revealing a gun in a holster on his hip. It was definitely a threat, Kinsey said. I was looking at the gun thinking he was going to shoot me. My first thought was, I work in customer service and this is really whats going to happen? All were asking is that you wear a mask for a couple of minutes. We could have taken your order outside if you didnt want to. But you go into an air conditioned area without a mask on, and if I tell you to wear one, youre going to shoot me? Wow. I make $8.50 an hour, plus tips for this?' Totally model[ing] courage and persistence in the face of uncertainty and fear. Kinsey, I mean. Family gathering infects 41 people with the coronavirus, NC health official says [Charlotte Observer]. According to one recent case study by the county health department, a single family gathering was responsible for at least 40 of those cases. More than two dozen people were reportedly in attendance. Folks did not wear masks or observe physical distancing at this gathering, and 14 people who attended subsequently tested positive for COVID-19, [County Public Health Director Jennifer McCracken] said. The family members went about their daily lives before they started showing symptoms which can appear anywhere from two to 14 days after exposure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That included going to work and taking a beach trip with other families, according to the release. Handy diagram: Good for Catawba county doing the contract tracing. That said, an outbreak of 41 would be (as the chart above shows) cause for national concern in Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, or Vietnam. 43 new coronavirus cases have been linked to one large house party in Michigan [CNN]. Forty-three new coronavirus cases have been linked to a large house party from early July in Washtenaw County, Michigan, according to health officials. Most of the new cases are young people between the ages of 15 and 25, the Washtenaw County Health Department said. With a recent surge in cases, more parties have been identified as the source of Covid-19 clusters. Cases, sometimes fatal, have been linked to gatherings in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Missouri, California, Texas and New Jersey. Look out, college towns! California, Florida and Texas, home to nearly 100 million, are getting swamped by the virus [New York Times]. Leaders in the countrys three most populous states acknowledged on Monday that the outbreaks they have been battling for months were on the rise and may require a return of stricter lockdown measures. California, Florida and Texas have reported a total of at least 892,000 cases since the start of the pandemic, according to a New York Times database. On Monday alone there were at least 30,000 new cases recorded across the three states, 18 percent of the worlds daily total. In Texas, a top medical adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott said the state may need to roll back its reopening plans and reinstitute an economic lockdown if cases keep rising. The adviser, Dr. Mark McClellan, is a physician and an economist at Duke University who is a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He said in an interview that a lockdown in Texas was a real possibility that Mr. Abbott may be forced to impose in the next few weeks. I dont think we have much time , before having to go to a more extreme step, Dr. McClellan said. You have no time! The pandemic is an exponential process! (If Taleb read McClellans comment, hes probably tearing his hair out.) Politics But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? James Madison, Federalist 51 They had one weapon left and both knew it: treachery. Frank Herbert, Dune They had learned nothing, and forgotten nothing. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord The electoral map. As of July 14: July 14: Indiana, Montana, South Carolina move from Safe to Likely Republican. On July 7, the undecided votes were 86. Now they are 56. This puts Biden at 278, i.e. over 270. Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com So, taking the consensus as a given, 270 (total) 204 (Trumps) = 66. Trump must win 66 from the states in play: AZ (11), FL (29), MI (16), NC (15), PA (20), and WI (10) plus 1 to win not tie = 102. 102 66 = 36. So if Trump wins FL, MI, NC, and PA (29 + 16 + 15 + 20 = 80), he wins. Thats a heavy lift. I think Ive got the math right this time! 2020 Patient readers who were also Sanders canvassers, thank you for your responses. I am mulling them. I may end up doing a survey, hopefully not too onerous. lambert Sanders (D)(1): Ex-Sanders aide says Biden unity task forces need to go farther [The Hill]. Briahna Joy Gray on Hill.TVs Rising: The whole theory behind the Bernie campaign was that it recognized the crises that we live in now, we lived in before the [coronavirus] pandemic, and it was targeted to address those things. And ironically now that corona is happening, what we needed was not the middle ground between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden but something that was even more responsive than what Bernie Sanders had already put on the table. Yep. More: Gray cited the task forces marijuana policy and refusal to address qualified immunity, the legal standard protecting police officers from litigation over their use of force, to bolster her claims that the proposals did not go far enough. It seems really empty and somewhat performative for Joe Biden to be claiming that he respects his so-called baseto be so overwhelmingly dismissive and cavalier about what would really be a political no-brainer, she said of legalizing marijuana, noting the disproportionate impact drug arrests have on communities of color. Its really kind of thumbing your nose at the whole process to not seriously take those things into consideration.' Sanders (D)(2): We Can Want to Stop Trump and Still Require Biden to Earn Our Votes [Op-Ed] [ColorLines]. Lest you believe I am being unfair, I want to remind you that previous calls for Biden to heed the demands of Black voters have been, thus far, dismissed. On May 14, seven notable Black women graciously reminded Biden of the debt he and the Democratic party owe to Black voters, and Black women voters, in particular. After all, it was a landslide victory in South Carolina among Black voters that propelled him forward. Not even a week later, Biden had arguably the greatest (worst) faux pas of the campaign. In response to a line of questioning about his record and his platform for Black people, a frustrated (and all too comfortable) Biden retorted, If you have a problem figuring out whether youre for me or Trump, then you aint Black.' Why dont we just make Clyburn Vice President? Trump (R)(1): House Democrat warns about inaccurate polls: Trump voters fundamentally undercounted' [The Hill]. Surveys often count people they determine are likely voters, but Slotkin learned that a person who tells a pollster that they dont have plans to vote but may ultimately do so were fundamentally undercounted. I believe that same thing is happening right now, Slotkin said. One CIA Democrats view. * * * Remember when Trump didnt accept the 2016 results, even though Democrats did? Oh, wait. Anyhow: The @IndivisibleTeam is planning to take action if Trump refuses to accept election results. Pledge to help, donate, spread the word:https://t.co/6bXWWlGbSA Democratic Party of Washington County, Oregon (@WashCoDems) July 11, 2020 As I keep saying, if the election results are disputed say because of Russian meddling or hacking (Democrats) or vote-by-mail issues (Republicans) or a collossal screw-up with electronic voting machines (neither party establisment talks about this, interestingly) then where does the country go for resolution? I think the intelligence community, including DHS, and thats very concerning to me, because it gives a highly undemocratic yet politicized entity control over the democratic process. Could make Bush v. Gore (or Hayes v. Tilden) look like a walk in the park. (Hard to see the Electoral College taking any action on its own; do they have the power to call witnesses?) Realignment and Legitimacy Expert warns the US is approaching one of the most unstable times in the history of our country' [CNN]. With rising Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations sending many states backward in their reopening plans, one health expert warns that if the US continues on its current path it will reach one of the most unstable times in the history of our country. We will have hospitals overwhelmed and not only in terms of ICU beds and hospitals and thats bad but exhausted hospital staff and hospital staff thats getting ill themselves, Dr. Peter Hotez, the dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN Friday night. So, we wont have enough manpower, human power, to manage all of this.' Oddly, Hotez doesn describe the instability in any way. People shooting their way into ERs? * * * Final Recommendations To Board of Registration & Elections Respectfully Submitted By, Chairman Pitts Elections Task Force (PDF) [Fulton County, Georgia]. Obviously a debacle from top to bottom. Picking out something simple: 2.2 Tactical Have a clear understanding of the power capabilities at each facility. Ensure that WiFi is working at each location, have back up servers and generators on site in case of equipment failure. 2.2.2 Conduct a dry run of the power grids at every polling location at least 24 hours before the election begins and again on the day of election. This includes checking all outlets within the facility. 2.2.3 Have a clear understanding of the power requirement for the 2 and 4 unit cabinets. Have enough plugs for the electronic voting machines ffs. Here are the reasons your mail-in ballot might not be counted in New Jersey [Shore News]. The May 2020 mail-in ballot election saw a 10% rate of rejection for ballots, meaning in New Jersey, every vote no longer counts. Some common errors include forgetting signatures, improperly marked ballots and accidental overvoting, if a voter for two candidates in the same election. Overvoting is not possible during in-person voting on voting machines, because the machines do not allow for two votes in one race. At least 100,000 ballots remain to be counted statewide, including provisional ballots and mail-in ballots that were received after Tuesday of last week. Still, theres another possibility that your ballot may not be counted. If you mailed your ballot on Election Day, many county election boards did not process or receive ballots on Friday and many were returned as undeliverable to the post office. Those returned ballots have until tomorrow night to be returned to the election board offices in order to be eligible to be counted. Stats Watch At reader request, I added some business stats back in. Please give Econintersect click-throughs; theyre a good, old-school blog that covers more than stats. If anybody knows of other aggregators, please contact me at the email address below. Housing: April 2020 Loan Performance: Early-Stage Mortgage Delinquencies Exceed Great Recession Levels in April [Econintersect]. Loan Performance Insights Report for April 2020 shows on a national level, 6.1% of mortgages were in some stage of delinquency (30 days or more past due, including those in foreclosure). This represents a 2.5-percentage point increase in the overall delinquency rate compared to March 2020, when it was 3.6% The CARES Act provided forbearance for borrowers with federally backed mortgage loans who were economically impacted by the pandemic. Borrowers in a forbearance program who have missed a mortgage payment are included in the CoreLogic delinquency statistics, even if the loan servicer has not reported the loan as delinquent to credit repositories. The resurgence of COVID-19 infections across the country has created economic uncertainty and leaves those who are unemployed concerned with their ability to make monthly mortgage payments, said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. The latest forecast from the CoreLogic Home Price Index predicts prices declining in all states through May 2021, erasing some home equity and increasing foreclosure risk.' Consumer Expectations: Continued Gradual Improvement in Consumer Expectations In June 2020 [Econintersect]. The Federal Reserve Bank of New Yorks Center for Microeconomic Data released the June 2020 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows continued gradual declines in pessimism about household financial conditions. While consumers overall remain less optimistic about earnings growth, income growth, and job finding expectations compared to the pre-COVID-19 environment, some indicators showed considerable improvements in June. Consumer Confidence: Economy Getting Worse, Americans Say [Econintersect]. In a June online poll from YouGov, nearly 60 percent of U.S. adults who responded said they felt the economy was continuing to get worse. Just under 18 percent said the economy was getting better, while 23 percent said they were either unsure or it was staying the same. This survey parallels with many other recent surveys showing Americans confidence in the economy at record lows. In an Ipsos survey, 50 percent of Americans surveyed said the economy wont recover quickly whether businesses reopen soon or not. In an index from the University of Michigan, consumer confidence in the country is rising from its record trough but is still very low even as businesses across the country reopen. As the U.S. attempts to reopen its economy, Americans are still feeling a general uneasiness surrounding the possibility of a second wave as they see other countries having to re-implement lockdowns after reopening. Small Business Confidence: June 2020 Small Business Optimism Improves in Anticipation of Better Economic Outlook [Econintersect]. The Small Business Optimism Index increased 6.2 points in June to 100.6 with eight of the 10 components improving and two declining. Owners anticipate improving sales as the economy continues to re-open with sales expectations rebounding to a net 13% after Aprils lowest reading in survey history (a net negative 42%). Small business owners continue to be optimistic about future business conditions and indicate they expect the recession to be short-lived. * * * UPDATE Housing: This Recession Is a Bigger Housing Crisis Than 2008 [Eric Levitz, New York Magazine]. In times of crisis, the unaffordability of American housing is exacerbated by our just in time socioeconomic model: Steady GDP growth is the duct tape holding together this jerry-rigged social order in which low-income Americans have little to no emergency savings, many basic welfare benefits are contingent on employment, and the threadbare safety is patchy by design. This top-heavy, gold-plated jalopy of a political economy can pass as road safe in fair weather; try to ride it through a once-in-a-century epidemiological storm and it starts to break apart. Between 2006 and 2014, about 10 million Americans lost their homes to the foreclosure crisis. Today, upwards of 20 million U.S. renters are poised to be evicted between now and September, according to Emily Benfer, the chair of the American Bar Associations Task Force Committee on Eviction. At present, the impending flood of evictions is partially dammed by a federal moratorium that covers one-fourth of all renters, the $600 federal unemployment insurance bonus, and the recent dispersion of $1,200 coronavirus relief checks. But even with these protections, a great many renters are being washed out of their homes while millions more accrue onerous debts. Roughly one-third of U.S. households have not made their full housing payments for July. UPDATE Pandemic: The economy is the pandemic. You beat the outbreak, and grow. Or you don't beat it, and contract. Small biz revenue recovered in FL and AZ thru Junethen fell. Driving in LA County recovered thru Junethen fell. Time away from home in TX recovered thru Junethen fell. pic.twitter.com/PX9DwbunMl Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) July 14, 2020 UPDATE Mr. Market: Wild Ride to Nowhere: APPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOG, FB Soar to New High. Rest of Stock Market is a Dud, Has Been for Years [Wolf Street]. The Giant 5 Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and Facebook had another good day on Friday. [T]he Giant 5 Index, which was at $5.78 trillion on June 8, has since surged by 14%, to $6.6 trillion. To see how the rest of the market is performing without these five stocks, I have created the Wilshire 5000 minus the Giant 5 Index. This shows whats left of the entire stock market of 3,415 stocks, after removing these five giants. The Wilshire 5000 minus the Giant 5 Index closed at $25,836 trillion today, still down 10.9% from the peak on February 19. Over the same period, the Giant 5 have soared 18.7%! A miserable savings account would have outperformed the overall stock market without the Giant 5, and would have done so without all the horrendous volatility of the two sell-offs. Just five stocks whose market values have soared beyond imaginable magnitude pulled out the entire market. And thats a scary thought that this entire market has become totally dependent on just five giant stocks with an immense concentration of power that have now come under regulatory security. And just as these stocks pulled up the entire market, they can pull down the entire market by their sheer weight. Hoo boy. * * * Todays Fear & Greed Index: 56 Neutral (previous close: 54 Neutral) [CNN]. One week ago: 48 (Neutral). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Jul 14 at 12:48pm. Whoa, back to Neutral! Health Care The headline turned me off, because it seems directed to symbol manipulators, but this is really excellent: Its Time to Tell a New Story About CoronavirusOur Lives Depend on It [The Nation]. Its time for a new story, one that more accurately captures the reality of how contagions unfold and why. In this story, pandemics would be cast as both a biological reality and a social phenomenon shaped by human agency. And the coronavirus, if cast as any kind of monster at all, would be a Frankensteins monster: a creature of our own making. We, after all, created the world in which SARS-Cov-2 evolved, one in which our industry has swallowed up so much of the planet that microbes from wild animals easily slip into livestock and humans. We created the society of overcrowded prisons and nursing homes staffed by underpaid employees who must work in multiple facilities to make ends meet; in which employers force their workers to labor on meatpacking lines even if theyre sick; in which asylum seekers are crammed into detention centers; and in which people living in hard-hit cities like Detroit lack access to clean water with which to wash their hands. A narrative that elevates these realities would compel us to consider a much wider range of policy responses to counter the threat of pandemics. Narrative, dread word. Paradigm is a better word, used earlier in the article. * * * Medical Vulnerability of Young Adults to Severe COVID-19 IllnessdData From the National Health Interview Survey [Journal of Adolescent Health]. Implications: Close to one third of young adults are medically vulnerable to severe COVID-19 illness. Smoking is the strongest risk factor for young adults with one in 10 participating in past 30-day smoking. The methodology doesnt look real strong. But those parties! Cloth masks can protect the wearer [fast.ai (Tricia Greenhalgh)]. Unfortunately, many public health bodies still incorrectly claim that there is no evidence that DIY masks are useful at protecting the wearer [WHO, Dr. Fauci, take a bow!]. Theres actually plenty of evidence they can. Effective protection for the wearer of a mask depends on three critical things: 1) Material: does the mask filter particles of the appropriate sizes? 2) Fit: do particles squeeze in through the gaps of your mask? 3)Sanitation: can you clean and re-use the mask? The whole piece is worth a read, but mask-makers may find these results on material very useful: Here is the best current practical research on creating a mask that PROTECTS YOU (not just those around you). It can be done, without tools, for very little money. This is, to my knowledge, the first time that this has been compiled in one place.https://t.co/MGwaXSV9mI Jeremy Howard (@jeremyphoward) July 13, 2020 Factors Associated with Cloth Face Covering Use Among Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic United States, April and May 2020 [Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report]. Discussion: Days after announcing a new behavioral recommendation on April 3, adults in the United States quickly adopted the practice of using cloth face coverings, and a higher prevalence of use was reported 1 month later, in May 2020. From April to May, the prevalence of reported use of cloth face coverings was higher in all sociodemographic groups in the population, especially among non-Hispanic white persons, persons aged 65 years, and persons residing in the Midwest, suggesting widespread acceptance of this recommendation. The increase in cloth face covering use continued to be reported as more persons began leaving their homes and going out in public more frequently from April to May These findings show higher prevalence estimates of the use of cloth face coverings in May 2020 compared with April among all sociodemographic groups. Research among persons who report not wearing a cloth face covering while in public is needed to understand potential barriers and to shape services or messages that would facilitate and encourage adoption of this recommendation. Among constructs known to influence behavior (e.g., attitude, behavioral intention, personal agency, perceived norms, and outcome expectations), there was strong agreement (>74%) among those who wore cloth face coverings. Based on behavioral associations, messages should be targeted to reach populations not wearing cloth face coverings to promote a positive attitude toward cloth face covering use, encourage social networks to be supportive of cloth face covering use, describe positive health outcomes expected from wearing a cloth face covering, and help persons feel confident in their ability to obtain and wear cloth face coverings consistently and correctly. Better late than never, I suppose. Face masks should be the norm until we find a vaccine, says STEPHEN POLLARD [Express]. The issue is clear. If we do not get the economy moving again, a health disaster will turn into an economic cataclysm. To avoid that, we need people out and about. But since many people wont go out until they feel safe, they need reassurance. That means making facemasks the norm.. That highlights the often forgotten point of a mask that its not so much about protecting whoever is wearing one as it is protecting others from the mask wearer. You may not have a clue you are infectious you may be asymptomatic. If youre wearing a mask, the rest of us are safer. An airborne virus is a threat worth taking seriously [Financial Times]. The current uncertainty over airborne spread mirrors the international debate about masks. An anxious pro-mask consensus was building for months before the WHOs advice formally changed in June to support face coverings. Strong evidence always trumps weak, but, in an extraordinary situation, weak evidence especially when it converges from multiple disciplines is arguably better than none. The final answer on airborne coronavirus transmission might well be blowing in the wind. The Precautionary Principle Police State Watch Baltimore Police sergeant arrested, accused of extortion and kidnapping contractor while on duty, county police say [Baltimore Sun]. A Baltimore Police Department homicide unit sergeant was ordered held without bail Friday after allegedly extorting, kidnapping and threatening to arrest a home contractor whose work he was unhappy with and whom he drove to a bank to withdraw money for a refund. Three other homicide unit detectives were present at one point during the confrontation, and the department said a preliminary review indicates all were on duty at the time. You are going to give me my money back, and Im going to give you freedom, Sgt. James Lloyd told the contractor, according to charging documents. So The Wire was a documentary? Humanitys Best Friend Time to Tell Americas Dogs This Arrangement Wont Last Forever [Bloomberg]. Americas pets are luxuriating in dreamy, continual proximity to their owners. Well, not all. Cats are annoyed, says William Berloni, who trains animals for the stage (Annie, Legally Blonde) and screen (Billions). Mine are like, Why are you in the bedroom? What are you doing here? But dogs are in paradise, certainor as certain as we can be about what dogs thinkthat this newfound dynamic will last forever. They assume its a new lifestyle, Berloni says. Theyre thinking, Finally our owners know that we want to be with them 24/7. But theres a problem: Dogs are becoming overly bonded, which means theyre intensely reliant on our presence to stay calm. Dogs signal this when they can no longer self-soothe and panic after an owner leaves a room or, God forbid, the house. It has to be addressed nowlong before your dog is left home, solo, for long stretches when you return to the officeto avoid doggie meltdowns. Black Injustice Tipping Point Best photo bomb ever: Guillotine Watch UPDATE Learned nothing, forgotten nothing: Happy Bastille Day https://t.co/qCCIKlRJwx Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) July 14, 2020 UPDATE Apples Cook, IBMs Rometty, Ivanka Trump Tout Job Training [Bloomberg]. Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook and IBM Corp. Chairman Ginni Rometty launched the Find Something New campaign with the White House on Tuesday, encouraging Americans to retrain or seek new job opportunities and employers to loosen degree requirements in favor of skills-based hiring. Ivanka Trump, a senior aide to and a daughter of President Donald Trump, joined Cook and Rometty in a virtual roundtable event Tuesday. Ivanka Trump co-chairs the White Houses American Workforce Policy Advisory Board and has spearheaded its Pledge to Americas Workers program, in which firms make non-binding commitments to train staff . Oy. Class Warfare The Urban Archipelago [The Editors of The Stranger, The Stranger]. From 2004, when the red/blue trope was invented: Its time to state something that weve felt for a long time but have been too polite to say out loud: Liberals, progressives, and Democrats do not live in a country that stretches from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico. We live on a chain of islands. We are citizens of the Urban Archipelago, the United Cities of America. We live on islands of sanity, liberalism, and compassionNew York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Seattle, St. Louis, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and on and on. And we live on islands in red states tooa fact obscured by that state-by-state map. For Democrats, its the cities, stupidnot the rural areas, not the prickly, hateful heartland, but the sane, sensible citiesincluding the cities trapped in the heartland. Pandering to rural voters is a waste of time We can secede emotionally, however, by turning our backs on the heartland. We can focus on our issues, our urban issues, and promote our shared urban values. We can create a new identity politics*, one that transcends class, race, sexual orientation, and religion, one that unites people living in cities with each other and with other urbanites in other cities. To red-state voters, to the rural voters, residents of small, dying towns, and soulless sprawling exburbs, we say this: Fuck off. Looks like its working! Good job on the falling life expectancy project! NOTE * Interesting early usage. 2004! Amazon Tells Staff Hand-Washing Time Wont Be Held Against Them [Bloomberg]. In a message Amazon sent recently to employees and posted in bathrooms at the Staten Island facility, the e-commerce giant said workers wouldnt be disciplined for falling short of quotas based on how many tasks they complete each hour. Time spent on safety measures like handwashing also wont be counted against them under Amazons Time Off Task policy, which limits the number of unproductive minutes allowed in their day. News of the Wired UPDATE Nothing gives champagne its fizz like a humble radish [Agence France Presse]. Forget Beluga caviar, foie gras, smoked salmon or ortolan, the tiny bird that French gourmets put a napkin over their heads to eat so they can savour every last second of their unique aroma. No, the food that goes best with the finest champagne is the humble radish. Didier Depond, the head of the venerable Delamotte champagne house, is so convinced of the validity of Puisais science he has become an evangelist for the root vegetable. They have all the virtues. They cost nothing and they dont make you fat, Depond added as he led an online champagne tasting, one of many which have flourished since the coronavirus. Honoring Bastille Day by honoring French, and the French: * * * Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, with (a) links, and even better (b) sources I should curate regularly, (c) how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal, and (d) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. Todays plan (JN): JN only sent the photo, and I cant think of anything clever to say, so Ill just admire the loveliness. * * * Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. So if you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldnt see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know Im on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for five or ten days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals: Here is the screen that will appear, which I have helpfully annotated. If you hate PayPal, you can email me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, and I will give you directions on how to send a check. Thank you! The United Arab Emirates said it plans to launch its "Hope" Mars probe on Friday local time from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center after a two-day delay due to poor weather there. A rocket is due to blast off at 5:43 am local time (2043 GMT Thursday) carrying the unmanned spacecraft that is bound to orbit the Red Planet in the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The launch was postponed from 2051 GMT Tuesday because of inclement weather at the remote Japanese launch site, but remains well within the launch window which runs until August 13. The Emirati project is one of three racing to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, taking advantage of the period when the Earth and Mars are nearest: some 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) apart. "Hope" -- or Al-Amal in Arabic -- is expected to reach Mars's orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates. Once there, it will loop the planet for a whole Martian year, or 687 days. The probe is expected to detach from the launch rocket about an hour after blast-off, which is when the UAE Mars mission's deputy project manager Sarah al-Amiri said the real excitement will begin. "In my heart of hearts, I'm looking forward to the initial 24 hours after separation, and that's where we see the results of our work," said Amiri, who is also Minister of State for Advanced Sciences. "It is when we first get the signal, when we know that every part of the spacecraft is functioning, when the solar panels are deployed, when we hit our trajectory and are headed towards Mars," she told AFP earlier this month. Keiji Suzuki from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is carrying the Hope probe into space, had already warned on Monday that thunderstorms forecast could delay the launch. - Big ambitions - The UAE -- which is better known for its skyscrapers, palm-shaped islands and mega attractions -- has in recent years been pushing to expand its space sector. While the objective of the Mars mission is to provide a comprehensive image of the weather dynamics in the Red Planet's atmosphere, the probe is a foundation for a much bigger goal -- building a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years. The UAE also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises. Dubai has hired architects to imagine what a Martian city might look like and build it in its desert as "Science City", at a cost of around 500 million dirhams (135 million dollars). And last September, Hazza al-Mansouri became the first Emirati in space, part of a three-member crew that blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, returning home after an eight-day mission in which he became the first Arab to visit the International Space Station. Several dozen probes -- most of them American -- have set off for the Red Planet since the 1960s. Many never made it that far, or failed to land. The drive to explore Mars flagged until the confirmation less than 10 years ago that water once flowed on its surface. "What is unique about this mission is that for the first time the scientific community around the world will have an holistic view of the Martian atmosphere at different times of the day at different seasons," the mission's project manager Omran Sharaf told Monday's briefing. "We have a strategy to contribute to the global effort in developing technologies and science work that will help one day if humanity decides to put a human on Mars." This is necessary to slow the current rate of viral spread that will endanger our health care systems ability to treat those in need if it is not addressed, Bynum wrote on his personal social media account. I have said if and when Dr. Dart recommends a mask requirement, based on trend data, I would proceed to put one in place. Bynum intends to have the ordinance ready for Wednesdays city council meeting. Gov. Kevin Stitt and OSDH Commissioner Lance Frye on Thursday reiterated the states core health policies: personal responsibility, preventing hospitals from becoming overwhelmed and emphasizing protection of the most vulnerable populations. The way to reduce the risk of it is to take personal responsibility, not just for yourself, but the people youre going to be around ... we have to think about our collective responsibility as well, Frye said. Vulnerable populations include older people, immunocompromised people and people with existing health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. Dear Zoey, welcome to a mad and messed up world. This is a moment in history. Every generation faces challenges created by the previous one - but right now feels particularly scary. Even the world you were conceived in was a very different place from the one you have been born into. Read More In recent years Ireland put itself on a pedestal by voting for marriage equality and a Taoiseach who is the son of an immigrant. A once starved island that was making peace with the past and always looking outwards, we boasted about our open-mindedness and once again booming economy. But 2020 has provided plenty of time and reason for reflection. For some, the measure of success seems to be to compare ourselves with our neighbours to the east and west. They forget that if the house next door is on fire, you're likely to inhale the smoke. When I studied history in school, it always puzzled me how Hitler came to be all-powerful. How could people acquiesce to that sort of irrational and totalitarian leadership? In recent years we have seen the answer in real time. The United States is turning on itself. I covered the election of Donald Trump four years ago and reported back that there was no middle ground in the land of the free anymore. "Words such as 'unity' and 'together', which we usually associate with election season, have been replaced by a narrative of hate and intolerance in this bizarre US presidential election," the story went. That was the day before the billionaire won and every day since has seen his new world disorder pollute politics. At some stage, I'll bore you with stories of buying our first home while standing on the White House lawn or shouting questions at Trump about Brexit in Shannon Airport - but that's another day. He claimed the UK exit from the European Union will be "very, very good" for Ireland. In reality we are all passengers on Boris Johnson's 'do or die' clifftop tour of populism. Our neighbours are having a moment. Measuring our own moral and social standing against them, not to mention the Covid-19 death toll, would be a sign that we are losing. Even now the lockdown introduced to frustrate the coronavirus seems imagined. When your world is limited to 5km you have a much better chance of noticing the life inside it. People talked about coming closer together by staying apart, although that wasn't always true. Joggers became more hated cyclists. Children were vectors. Older people scolded for not 'cocooning'. China lit a spark. Italian rugby fans and Cheltenham racegoers fanned the flames. Bulgarian fruit pickers and holiday home owners poured petrol on it. We were all in it together so long as there was somebody else to blame. Eventually a moment came where the days where nobody died justified bigger headlines than three dozen deaths. Day after day families told of the cruel and lonely endings until many just became numb to it. Not out of lack of empathy but because there is a limit to how much national grief can be processed. It was easier to focus on first world problems like getting a haircut or a sneaky pint. The sudden shutdown derailed all sorts of plans. Your nursery is now a home office and I'm claiming squatters' rights. We had hoped to 'dicky' up the house in time for your arrival. The deposit was even paid. Now you're going to have to move out so that at some stage the painters can move in. But the battle against the virus came with intervals. We stopped for rare moments of unexpected everyday wonderfulness. Without lockdown we would never have followed the daily running battle between the blackbirds and the magpies. We took bets on which would pop first - your mother or the allium (you lost). Experts are back in fashion. Social media influencers have been replaced by celebrity scientists. Journalists were even considered 'essential workers' in a bid to combat fake news. And there is still a sense that it was the ordinary man/woman who stepped up when the country could have been brought to its knees. Some people used the time to learn a new language over the internet or bake bread. I watched videos of how to change nappies. Inevitably we will fall back into old habits but the aftershock of Covid-19 will last. We are set to experience a second savage recession in a decade and that won't be easy. Very few things in life are easy. The good times always end, yet so too do the bad. You'll get to see lots of moments in history. Don't let them pass you by. There was a world before wifi. I got 9/11, the Good Friday Agreement, a pope resigning, the queen's visit to Ireland. Weirdly there are many things we consider 'normal' that you might never experience, like high-fives or a buffet breakfast. I guess I should put the daily newspaper on that list too. Hopefully in your lifetime you'll bear witness to a united Ireland, a female president of the United States and a genuine version of equality. As a woman you'll learn that life isn't fair no matter what the 'manual' says. But don't let that stop you. Education is the key to so many doors. The best power you can have is brain power. And when you achieve your goals, help others follow you. Only those who fear being found out pull up the ladder after them. Things are changing so fast that life advice from the summer 2020 will probably be irrelevant by Christmas. But here are a few observations before I get older, crankier and more conservative. 1 Try to see the world because you never know when it might be shut off from you. From inside Gaza to outer Mongolia, travel has filled my senses with sounds and sights and flavours that the Google never could. I'll get you to 32 counties as a starting point. 2 Make time for friends. They will get you into trouble but the best ones will dig you out when you get yourself into a hole. 3 Know your limits. One of man/woman's greatest strengths is to know their own limitations. That doesn't mean you shouldn't push them. 4 Treat 'change' with cynicism. The word is easily misrepresented as the obvious answer. As we know from the climate, change can just as easily bring danger as it can hope. 5 Be generous. Everybody is carrying a weight even if their smile hides it. You're lucky. Lucky to be born in a country where while we might not have the answer to all of society's failings, we at least acknowledge the faults. Lucky to live in a world where opportunities exist. Lucky to have a family that wants you to succeed. You'll make mistakes. The big ones bite. But the stings from the smaller ones linger. Own them. Be humbled by them. Live in the moment but always keep one eye on the future. The moment always passes whereas the future is there for the taking. And remember, the underdog is everybody's favourite in the truest meaning of the word. With that in mind, you can make almost all of your life choices when you're older except one: You'll support Offaly. We had our moments when I was kid but now we're close to rock bottom. You are young though and whenever they get to an All Ireland again, the bad times will fade into an epic story about keeping the faith. In most aspects of life, the stories of triumph are built on the defeats of the past. Dad PS: This wasn't originally written for publication but apparently my job now is to embarrass you. This is a first attempt. Weeks after the influx of migrant workers stopped, Odishas Covid-19 epicentre Ganjam district continues to be a hotspot, accounting for 30 per cent of the total cases. Ganjam has reported 64 per cent of the total 4,147 cases in the month of July, forcing the local administration to resort to unprecedented shutdowns and sealing of its border. Yet, the district continues to post high Covid-19 numbers for the last 15 days in a row. The governments own statistics now reveal that community transmission may have begun in Ganjam due to the incoming migrant workers. Of the 2,674 cases reported in the district in the last 12 days, at least 98 per cent of the cases were local infection caused by incoming migrant workers. Listed under the headline of active contact positive cases in the governments Covid-19 records, the statistics show the actual number of people who were infected by the 2.2 lakh migrant workers who stayed in over 3,000 quarantine centres of the district. While in the month of May and early June, most of the positive cases were being reported from quarantine centres, in late June and July, majority of the positive cases were reported from outside the quarantine centres. Had it not been community transmission in Ganjam, the numbers would not have been so high. It shows that the so-called quarantine model of the government has failed. The numbers would continue to rise for quite some time, said a senior government doctor working in MKCG medical college and hospital in Ganjam district. Renowned epidemiologist Jayprakash Muliyil, former principal of Christian Medical College, Vellore too said that community transmission has happened in Ganjam and the rest of Odisha too. It has happened in almost all the states though the ICMR may not admit it. The quarantine centre model may delay the onset of transmission, but it cant contain the virus. If any state government thought of collecting a gold medal by containing the virus, it is ridiculous, said Mulyil. Mulyil also came down heavily on the state governments frequent lockdowns and decision by district administrations to seal the border to contain the pandemic. The virus would get transmitted. The lockdown would have no effect on it, he said, referring to the weekend shutdown in 23 of the 30 districts of Odisha this month. Many in Ganjam said community transmission was inevitable due to the way migrant workers jumped quarantine periods and mingled with their family and neighbourhood. During the first few days, more than 150 people jumped quarantine in Beguniapada block while in other centres, people milled around handing mobile phone chargers, eatables, tobacco and other items to the inmates violating social distance norms. In a few centres there were reports of migrant workers sneaking into their homes at night and coming back to the quarantine centre in the morning. Ganjam district collector Vijay Kulange, however, said that community transmission may not have happened. Had we not built the quarantine centres, by now Ganjam would have recorded five lakh cases. As of now, 81 per cent of rural Ganjam is free from coronavirus and the cases that we are seeing are mostly in urban Ganjam. Its true that some of the migrant workers violated the quarantine conditions and mingled with their family and thats why we are seeing higher numbers. But with shutdowns we would be able to reach a plateau soon and the number will decline thereafter, he said. Faith vs safety in burials: COVID-19 remains in dead bodies for 9 days says Centre Third Covid wave peak in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra this week Centre asks states, UTs to ramp up Covid testing amid surge in cases COVID-19 deaths, hospitalisations and lockdowns could be over this year, says WHO India logs over 2.82 lakh new cases, 441 deaths in last 24 hours Minimize time taken in admission of COVID patients; give priority to high-risk groups: Delhi govt India pti-PTI New Delhi, July 14: Aiming to reduce the number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus, the Delhi government on Tuesday asked healthcare facilities to minimize time taken in admission of COVID-19 patients and to allocate a health care worker each for critical patients. It also asked them to accord priority to high-risk patients during admission. High-risk patients include the elderly, pregnant women, immuno-suppressed and pediatric patients, and those having co-morbidities, such as cancer, hypertension and diabetes. In an advisory, the Delhi government''s health department also stressed on the need for round-the-clock availability of a dedicated well-trained team for transportation of patients to appropriate treatment zones without any delay. The facilities have been asked to ensure real-time monitoring of blood oxygen saturation levels and use early warning score cards for monitoring in wards. "Any fall in oxygen saturation to be managed immediately... prompt remedial measures to be ensured," the advisory read. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News The healthcare staff has been asked to provide oxygen therapy in a staged manner, as per the clinical guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Senior resident doctors and specialists are required to closely monitor the condition of COVID patients at regular intervals, it said, adding tele-consultation with experts from AIIMS may be done as required. Coronavirus: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu account for 50% of cases, says govt For COVID-19 patients needing critical care, a "single command and control structure may be formed for better inter-department coordination", it said. The healthcare facilities have also been asked to make arrangements for continuous renal replacement therapy or sustained low efficiency dialysis with technicians as most of the critical COVID patients develop acute kidney injury. Hospitals have been asked to report deaths in a prescribed format with accurate data. The government also directed internal death committees of hospitals to suggest remedial measures to lower mortality. Amid the political crisis in Rajasthan, Congress National General Secretary Avinash Pande on Tuesday appealed to Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and his supporters to join the second Congress Legislature Party meeting scheduled here. The second meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was announced several hours after the first one ended on Monday afternoon, skipped by Pilot and 18 other party MLAs. The meeting is scheduled to be held at a resort where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. "I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting. While expressing your faith in the ideology and values ??of the Congress, please make your presence felt and strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," Pande tweeted. He told reporters that a second chance is being given to Pilot and hoped that all MLAs come and extend solidarity to the leadership for which people voted to ensure development of the state. However, there is no confirmation from the Pilot camp so far on whether they would join the CLP meeting. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala had announced the second CLP meeting as the top leadership expressed the desire to woo back dissidents led by Pilot. Former party president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are among the senior leaders who have been in touch with Pilot, sources said. Party leaders had said that 106 of these 122 MLAs attended Monday's meeting, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents and even demanded a floor test in the Assembly to make the situation clear. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. Twitter users called on a GP to apologise to her after she was proved right following a heated debate about coronavirus on the Jeremy Vine Show in March. And as the drama unfolded this week, a reflective Caprice was spotted enjoying some pie and a self-help book, as a source praised her for remaining 'elegantly silent' during the furore. The model, 48, put on an eye-popping display in a plunging berry-hued dress, which showcased her braless bust during her relaxed outing. 'Elegantly silent': Caprice was spotted at a cafe on Monday, as fans called on a GP to apologise to her after she was proved right following a heated debate about coronavirus in March The frilled dress featured a flowing skirt and revealed her lithe legs. The star went for comfortable vibe as she donned white trainers and accessorised with a cream handbag. Her platinum tresses were styled sleek and straight while a simple swipe of mascara accentuated her stunning features. Caprice donned some trendy spectacles for her solo outing as she ate and perused her book. What drama? The model, 48, put on an eye-popping display in a plunging berry-hued dress, which showcased her braless bust during her relaxed outing This comes after the model sparked a mass Twitter reaction, four months after her heated live TV debate. On March 16 - a week before the UK went into lockdown - the model found herself at loggerheads with Dr Sarah Jarvis on how best to curtail the pandemic's growth. Former Dancing on Ice contestant Caprice drew the ire of the medical expert when she suggested the UK go into a total shutdown for two weeks to contain the virus - a model which she insisted had worked in Asia. Dr Jarvis replied that the strategy had 'categorically not worked', adding: 'With the greatest respect, unless you have read every scientific paper and statistical modelling paper that's come out, you cannot argue with me on that. You can have an opinion but it's not a fact.' A source close to the star exclusively told MailOnline that Caprice was 'very intellectual' and had purposely maintained a dignified silence when she had been proven right with the UK-wide lockdown. They said: 'She has been concerned like many others that there has been a lack of clarity from so called experts. 'Caprice has always believed the UK should have followed Taiwan and Singapore's lead in how they have tackled the coronavirus early on. 'Ultimately those countries have controlled and contained the spread of the virus, and one of those measures was wearing a mask early when COVID-19 broke-out. 'So many people have now not worn a mask in shops and now the government are saying we should. 'Everyone at the time laughed and undermined what Caprice was saying because of the stereotype that she was a model. Caprice is actually very intellectual. She was right: On March 16 - a week before the UK went into lockdown - the model, 48, found herself at loggerheads with Dr Sarah Jarvis on how best to curtail the pandemic's growth 'She remained elegantly silent and let everyone mock her but she was correct all along. And the fact she got it from a world leading authority should have had some weight back in March too. 'Peter Andre also mocked Caprice in his column about it. Dr Jarvis and Pete should apologise to her really. During the debate, Caprice stood firm, shooting back: 'But I can, I have an opinion. Let me read you the facts: In Taiwan and Singapore early on everyone was wearing surgical masks' before Dr Jarvis quipped: 'Which make no difference at all.' When Caprice asked to be allowed to finish her point, host Jeremy then interjected with: 'Alright, but Sarah is the expert, but go on.' Excuse me: During the debate, Caprice stood firm, shooting back: 'But I can, I have an opinion. Let me read you the facts: In Taiwan and Singapore early on everyone was wearing surgical masks' before Dr Jarvis quipped: 'Which make no difference at all' Throwback: At the time many people took to Twitter to question why Caprice was even invited to debate such a topic on the show Caprice continued: 'This is from a newspaper! This is from somebody from WHO!' Mr Vine then interrupted her again commenting: 'I just don't want to get into things where we have the newspaper on the one hand and the expert on the other and we give them equal weight,' to which Caprice insisted the point she was referencing came from a spokesperson from WHO. At the time many people took to Twitter to question why Caprice was even invited to debate such a topic on the show. One viewer wrote: 'No disrespect to Caprice. She has to earn a living and everything but seriously broadcasters stop putting ill informed people up against experts. This is life and death stuff and TV has a duty to inform.' Stellar advice: On Monday a clip of the row was shared by Carole Cadwalla, who captioned it: 'So there you have it. If Caprice had been in charge not Boris Johnson, around 40,000 people might still be alive' Dom Joly chimed in on the episode, tweeting: 'This is just embarrassing stick to experts shouldn't even be having this kind of debate using people who've "read stuff in papers".' Yesterday a clip of the row was shared by Carole Cadwalla, who captioned it: 'So there you have it. If Caprice had been in charge not Boris Johnson, around 40,000 people might still be alive.' Her tweet went viral, attracting more than 2,700 likes and 810 retweets, prompting Caprice to trend on the social media site. Many people commented that the model deserved an apology for the way she was shot down by Dr Jarvis and Mr Vine. One tweeted: 'The way they gaslighted and laughed at Caprice in this interview back in March and turns out she was right!' SC sets aside high court order, says liberty of citizen can't be taken away in this manner Pegasus row: SC notice to Centre, WB on plea against setting up of Commission of Inquiry by state Cannot order for use of traditional remedies like Red Ant Chutney as cure for COVID-19: SC No one should be turned away from hospital due to higher cost of treatment: SC India pti-PTI Nagpur, July 14: No one should be turned away from hospital due to higher cost of treatment, the Supreme Court Tuesday said while asking the government to consider framing guideline on the issue of cost of treatment for COVID-19 infection. Though the apex court opined that "cost of the treatment should not be higher at the present time," it also said that court is not equipped to either regulate cost of treatment or say what should be the best model of treatment for patients infected with coronavirus. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R S Reddy and A S Bopanna, was hearing through video-conferencing a plea filed by advocate Sachin Jain who has sought a direction for regulating the cost of treatment of COVID-19 at private hospitals across the country. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told the bench that government is looking into all the issues related to coronavirus and concerns raised by the petitioner would be taken care of. During the hearing, the bench referred to the affidavit filed earlier in the matter by the Centre which had said that there is no provision under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010 "whereby it is mandated that the private hospitals running on the public land shall treat COVID-19 patients on free basis". Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News "It is again reiterated that such policies may only be defined and implemented by the respective state governments," the Centre's affidavit had said. Coronavirus: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu account for 50% of cases, says govt The counsel appearing for federation of private hospitals said that states have their own models and there cannot be a uniform pricing for all the states. He said as far as charitable hospitals are concerned, they are already providing free treatment to COVID-19 patients. He said each state is grappling with the problem of coronavirus and it is not that private hospitals are making money during the time of pandemic. Jain claimed in the court that some private hospitals are charging exorbitant rates for COVID-19 treatment at this time of this pandemic. The apex court said that concerned authority of Union health ministry should consider framing guideline on this aspect. In June, the apex court had asked private hospitals whether they were ready to provide treatment to COVID-19 infected patients at the charges prescribed under the government''s Ayushman Bharat Scheme. The ''Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana'' is aimed at providing health cover to poor and vulnerable persons in the country. The court had earlier said it is asking only those private hospitals, which have been given land at concessional rates by the government, to treat certain number of coronavirus infected patients for free. Mehta had earlier told the court that government is doing its best for the lowest strata of society, and people who cannot afford treatment are covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. In its affidavit filed in the court, the Centre had said, "It is therefore submitted that the Central Government, within its statutory powers or powers of delegated legislation, cannot make this particular bifurcation for the lack of a requisite statutory framework for the said classification". It had said that entire health infrastructure has been brought to most appropriate use for treatment of COVID-19 in the country and the Centre has taken several measures to strengthen public health facilities where medical care is provided free of cost to all patients. "The care cost in the private sector is not regulated by the Central Government," the affidavit had said. Four days after Gov. Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency in Montana, the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council issued its own declaration. Along with requesting that the governor recognize the declaration and send federal and state aid, the councils decision set in motion a system of rapid and stringent responses to what its leadership saw as a threat to every member of the tribes. In all of the decisions that we've made, since the beginning, its been a reciprocal relationship between tribal members and their leadership, said Fort Belknap President Andrew Werk Jr. Another resolution from the FBIC Council followed two weeks later, where it joined many other tribes in establishing a curfew, closing all administrative buildings and halting travel off the reservation. It also amended tribal law to allow tribal officers to enforce both the curfew and the new ordinance stopping those traveling from off the reservation from lingering within its borders. Two major highways cut through Fort Belknap: U.S. 66 running north and south, and Highway 2 at its northern border. Although the halt on outside travelers to Fort Belknap has been in place since March, the FBIC has not installed any checkpoints on these roadways. INDIANAPOLIS -- LOINC, the international health data standard created and maintained at Regenstrief Institute, has been accepted as the newest member of an international coalition of standards development organizations that has the goal of facilitating healthcare interoperability worldwide. The Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) has nine member organizations that work collectively to improve health informatics data standards development and implementation on a global scale. JIC was formed in 2007 with three members, and now includes several prominent standards organizations in the industry. The member organizations collaborate to enhance the worldwide digital health industry through joint initiatives that fill gaps without overlapping, leading to a more harmonized approach to developing standards. "The Joint Initiative Council's mission aligns closely with LOINC's, which is to build and support global interoperability to improve healthcare for people around the world," said Swapna Abhyankar, LOINC interim director. "We look forward to working together with other leading organizations to create a consistent and comprehensive approach to digital health standards." Standards are essential to improve communication across health organizations. Historically, each health system has had its own method of coding its information, and when that data is shared with another system, it can lead to confusion, mislabeling and even poor health outcomes. Standards create a universal language for health data, making it easier to share and ultimately improving the delivery of care. ### The LOINC (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes) terminology system is used around the world to identify health measurements and observations, laboratory tests and documents. Users from 179 countries employ LOINC, which is available for free. Other members of JIC are ISO/TC215, HL7 International, CEN/TC251, CDISC, IHE International, DICOM, SNOMED International and GS1. JIC recently published a white paper detailing its mission and work, including specific examples related to COVID-19. Read the paper here. About LOINC LOINC was created in 1994 at Regenstrief Institute in an effort to facilitate interoperability in healthcare. Today, the LOINC coding system contains more than 93,000 terms for everything from a serum alpha 1 antitrypsin level to a zygomatic arch x-ray report. For each concept, LOINC covers many other rich details, such as synonyms, units of measure, and carefully crafted descriptions. About Regenstrief Institute Founded in 1969 in Indianapolis, the Regenstrief Institute is a local, national and global leader dedicated to a world where better information empowers people to end disease and realize true health. A key research partner to Indiana University, Regenstrief and its researchers are responsible for a growing number of major healthcare innovations and studies. Examples range from the development of global health information technology standards that enable the use and interoperability of electronic health records to improving patient-physician communications, to creating models of care that inform practice and improve the lives of patients around the globe. Regenstrief Institute is celebrating 50 years of healthcare innovation. Sam Regenstrief, a successful entrepreneur from Connersville, Indiana, founded the institute with the goal of making healthcare more efficient and accessible for everyone. His vision continues to guide the institute's research mission. About Joint Initiative Council The Joint Initiative Council for Global Health Informatics Standardization (JIC) is formed to further the important role of health informatics standards to enable interoperability of information and processes across health domains. Health informatics standardization is supported by a community of experts that works within and across various health informatics standards development organizations (SDOs). The JIC supports the timely, efficient delivery of safe, coordinated, accountable, high-quality health services to individuals, communities and populations. http://www.jointinitiativecouncil.org. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration is following with concern the events on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, where armed clashes took place over last couple of days, that have also led to human casualties, Trend reports with reference to Moldovian media. "The ministry expresses condolences to the families of the victims and calls on the parties involved to renounce the use of force, continue to make more efforts to avoid escalation of the escalation, and return to the negotiating format within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group," the report said. An attorney for two people accused of attacking a Black man at a lake in Indiana claims that the alleged victim instigated the confrontation and then launched a 'smear campaign' against his clients. Civil rights activist Vauhxx Booker claimed he was a victim of an 'attempted lynching' when five white men pinned him against a tree, shouted racial slurs and threatened to 'get a noose' at Monroe Lake near Bloomington over Fourth of July weekend. But David Hennessy, a criminal defense attorney for Sean Purdy and Caroline McCord - two of the people caught on video that shows part of the incident - says Booker has been 'putting forth a false narrative' about what happened. 'Mr Booker was the instigator and the agitator,' Hennessy said at a press conference in downtown Indianapolis on Monday. Booker and his attorney, Katherine Liell, released a statement hours later and doubled down on their previous claims that he was the victim of a 'violent prejudice fueled attack'. 'Mr Booker did not instigate this encounter; he did not provoke anyone to hold him against his will. He did not yell or shout or lose his temper,' the statement said. 'This is what repeatedly happens. The victim gets blamed and shamed. He gets re-victimized. Vauhxx Booker is the victim. Black people across the nation have been the victims.' Attorney David Hennessy- (center) held a press conference to defend his clients Sean Purdy (left) and Caroline McCord (right) on Monday in Bloomington, Indiana. Purdy and McCord are accused of launching a racist attack on Vauhxx Booker, a Black man, at Lake Monroe on July 4 Civil rights activist Vauhxx Booker (pictured) claimed he was a victim of an 'attempted lynching' when five white men pinned him against a tree, shouted racial slurs and threatened to 'get a noose' at Monroe Lake near Bloomington over Fourth of July weekend Part of the confrontation was captured on video which shows at least three white men pinning Booker to a tree. Booker posted the footage on Facebook along with his version of events Hennessy presented his clients' recollection of the incident on Monday, saying that it began when Booker and his friends trespassed on private property at Lake Monroe on July 4. The attorney said that Purdy escorted the trespassers to the property line, where Booker offered him a beer and left. Hours later, Booker returned and began threatening Purdy, McCord and their friends while claiming to be a county commissioner, Hennessy said. He said that Booker then 'jabbed a finger' in McCord's face and proceeded to punch Purdy three times. 'If you go on a neighbor's property and start punching people, you can be restrained. And [Booker] ended up against a tree,' Hennessy said, arguing that Booker was not attacked. 'No talk of a noose, no talk of a rope, no talk of a lynching. No white power.' Hennessy said neither Purdy nor McCord heard or said 'get a noose,' but that 'some racially insensitive stuff' was said by people known to them. When asked, Hennessy said his clients know the people and condemn the language used. 'There is a grand awakening regarding racial injustice happening in all of our communities. This is long overdue. It is deplorable that a person would be targeted because of his or her race,' Hennessy said. 'It is equally deplorable for a person to use his race as a weapon and to arouse public passion over a false allegation.' Purdy and McCord stood silently behind Hennessy as he presented their version of events at Monday's press conference Hennessy said Booker has been 'putting forth a false narrative' about what happened and accused him of launching a 'smear campaign' against Purdy and McCord Hennessy said that the men restrained Booker after he punched Purdy (pictured) three times Booker has said that he and his friend were on their way to watch the lunar eclipse at an organized event on Saturday when a white man with 'an oversized hat with a confederate flag print on it' began following them in an ATV. Booker claimed the man informed him and his friend that they were trespassing on private property, so they apologized and continued on their way to the event. That's when he said the man and his friends began following him and two of them knocked him to the ground from behind. 'I tussled with the two and another one joined in, then two more,' he wrote in a viral Facebook post about the incident. 'The five were able to easily overwhelm me and got me to the ground and dragged me pinning my body against a tree as they began pounding on my head and ripped off some of my hair, with several of them still on top of my body holding me down.' 'They held me pinned and continued beating me for several minutes seemingly become more and more enraged as they kept trying to seriously injure me and failing. At one point during the attack one of the men jumped on my neck. I could feel both his feet and his full bodyweight land hard against my neck.' Booker further claimed that one of the men threatened to break an arms and repeatedly called out: 'Get a noose.' Only part of the altercation was captured in videos recorded by Booker's acquaintances that he included in his Facebook post. One clip shows Booker hunched over as at least two men pinned him against a tree and several other people in their group crowded around, while Booker's friends begged for them to let him go. A second clip, filmed after Booker was released, shows a man repeatedly calling someone off-camera a 'nappy-headed b***h'. In a third clip the same man yells: 'You invaded us!' and calls someone in Booker's group a 'stupid f**king liberal f**ks.' As Booker's group walks away, one of the men follows them shouting: 'Those black boys want to start it all.' Booker said the attack unfolded after a group of white people confronted him and his friend as they made their way to a Fourth of July event on Saturday afternoon. Three of the people in the group are shown above in a video believed to have been recorded by Booker's friend Booker said he and his friend were trying to walk away from the aggressors when two of them knocked him to the ground. Video shows at least three men holding him up against a tree Many of Booker's descriptions, including the lead-up to the confrontation, the call to 'get a noose', the threat to break his arms and a man stomping on his neck, are not visible in the videos. The videos do, however, show several of the men cursing and using racially-charged language at him after he said onlookers were able to pull him out of harm's way Booker said he suffered a minor concussion, cuts, bruises and had patches of his hair pulled out during the attack. Many of Booker's descriptions, including the lead-up to the confrontation, the call to 'get a noose', the threat to break his arms and a man stomping on his neck, are not visible in the videos. Hennessy said there is more video that the public has not seen that will provide proper context but that neither he nor his clients possess the footage. The attorney also accused Booker of 'race baiting' and encouraging one of the men involved to use racist language. Purdy and McCord were at the news conference but did not speak. Their lawyers said they are cooperating with law enforcement. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR), which responded to the reported assault, is still investigating what happened, officials said Monday. The FBI confirmed it also is still investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. Hundreds of members of the Bloomington community turned out for a protest demanding arrests in Booker's attack on the night of July 6 Booker broke down in tears as he addressed the crowd gathered at the protest Booker recounted his version of the incident in an interview with ABC News last week after he and hundreds of members of the Bloomington community staged a protest calling for his alleged attackers to be arrested. 'They were literally referring to me as a boy,' Booker said. 'They didn't even see me as human. They just saw me as something they could abuse and get away with.' 'Looking back now, it's apparent that these individuals began targeting our group the moment they saw myself, a black man, and were looking to provoke a conflict,' he said. Booker said he called 911 after the altercation, but responding officers from the IDNR refused to make any arrests despite seeing the videos filmed by his friends. 'They didn't seem overly concerned that I might need medical attention or anything else,' Booker said of the officers. 'I didn't even feel like they were going to do an investigation.' He said the officers didn't even take down the names of the attackers until one of the white people who intervened demanded that the officers conduct a thorough investigation. 'I was heartbroken when the supervising officer, the major, showed up. I felt re-traumatized as I recounted to him how I was afraid for my life,' Booker said. He said the supervising officer told him: 'Well I could go arrest these guys but they would tell me: "Hey, what about our property rights. We have a right to defend our property."' 'It was earth shattering,' Booker added. Booker recounted his version of the incident in an interview with ABC News last week After Booker's Facebook post went viral, the head of IDNR's Law Enforcement Division confirmed that it was investigating the alleged battery and would be submitting its report to the Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant. Oliphant's office issued a statement saying that it expects to receive the report soon. 'As soon as that happens, we will thoroughly review all of it and determine what charges are appropriate,' the statement said. The FBI joined the case last Tuesday and is now questioning witnesses to determine whether charges will be brought, according to Booker's attorney, Katherine Liell. 'We want this investigated as a hate crime. It was clearly racially motivated,' Liell told the Associated Press. 'We will continue our quest every day until some justice is served.' Liell also complained that the IDNR officers 'did not move rapidly enough' in response to reports of the attack. She said their failure to make arrests at the scene warrants further investigation from other law enforcement agencies. Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton and Bloomington City Clerk Nicole Bolden issued a statement on July 6 expressing their 'outrage and grief' over what they said was a racially motivated attack. State Sen Mark Stoops, a Bloomington Democrat, said he was 'horrified by the racist attack' and called on Republican Eric Holcomb to suspend and investigate the Department of Natural Resources officers who responded to the scene for failing to make any arrests. 'This is not just an issue of violence,' Stoops said in a statement. 'This is clearly a hate crime and must be treated as such.' TUNISI - The Tunis Coast Guard on July 11 intercepted a large motorboat carrying 8 young Tunisian nationals in Zarzis, who had been planning to make their way to the Italian coast, the interior ministry said in a statement. All have been reported to the judiciary. In another operation, the Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying 9 people in Hammam Lif. Off the El Abed coast, the Coast Guard on July 13 stopped a fishing boat carrying 12 Tunisians that were headed with Italy and off the Kerkennah islands, in Melitah, the maritime authorities arrested 9 Tunisians for attempting illegal emigration. In Rajaish, in the Madhia region, the Coast Guard stopped 12 Tunisians about to leave for the Italian coasts. Footage purporting to show clashes between residents and police in Beijing over coronavirus lockdown measures has emerged. Officers were accused of beating the locals who had refused to pay a mandatory 3 'exit fee' for a door pass, which would allow them to enter or leave the village, according to accounts. It is said that the residents of a village in Xihongmen Town had gathered to protest against the compulsory charge before the police arrived to crack down on the demonstration. Social media footage has purported to show physical altercations between residents and authorities in Beijing over an alleged 30 yuan (3.4) 'exit fee' due to a coronavirus lockdown A clip shared by high-profile Chinese science writer Fang Zhouzi on Twitter appears to show unrest outside a checkpoint in the village with a mob of people seemingly surrounding village officials. A separate clip, also shared by US-based Mr Fang, purports to show a few locals urging relevant officers to come out of an office as they can be heard shouting 'the ones that beat people, come out'. In a third video from the same source, one man speaks from behind the camera: '30 yuan exit fee. If you don't pay, they will beat you. Won't you say the police are tough?' MailOnline cannot independently verify the authenticity of the footage. There have been no reports from official Chinese media outlets regarding the trending videos. Accounts suggested police arrived at the scene clamp down on the protest after residents had gathered to voice their anger. No official Chinese outlets have reported on the trending videos According to New York-based Chinese-language broadcaster New Tang Dynasty Television, one person was arrested by police after protesters had gathered outside the registration office for the village pass. The news outlet claimed that it had obtained a notice issued by the village officials. It said according to the notice, all temporary residents in the village must pay 30 yuan (3.4) 'comprehensive service fee' between July 10 and 13 to obtain the permit or face being kicked out of the village. One anonymous local official told the station that everyone in the village would have to pay the 3 fee because it was the community's regulation. China reported on Tuesday five new coronavirus cases in the mainland for July 13. Pictured, people ride electric bicycles on a road on July 14 following a coronavirus outbreak in Beijing He said: 'This village started to impose an enclosed management style from June 16. All people underwent three nucleic acid tests. 'The charging of 30 yuan comprehensive service fee for the entry-and-exit certificate this time was required by the village. Everyone who lives there must abide by the rules.' The New Tang Dynasty Television is linked to the Falungong movement, a banned Chinese religious-spiritual group branded as an 'evil cult' by Communist Party chiefs. Radio France International, which also reported on the trending videos, said the alleged clashes represented the escalating social conflicts in Beijing due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Situated in south-west Beijing, Xihongmen is a 10-minute drive from the Xinfadi market, which has been linked to a recent coronavirus outbreak in the capital city. The reported altercations took place after the Xihongmen authorities adjusted the area's disease risk level from 'high' to 'medium'. The re-classification was reported by state-controlled Beijing News. Pictured: A police vehicle is seen outside an entrance of the Xinfadi wholesale market, which has been closed following cases of coronavirus infections in Beijing, June 16, 2020 China reported on Tuesday five new coronavirus cases in the mainland for July 13, compared with eight cases a day earlier, the health authority said. All of the new infections were imported cases, the National Health Commission said in a statement. There were no new deaths. Beijing, which saw a surge in new coronavirus cases a few weeks ago, reported no new cases for the eighth consecutive day. China also reported five new asymptomatic patients, down from six a day earlier. As of July 13, mainland China had a total of 83,605 confirmed coronavirus cases, it said. China's death toll from the coronavirus remained unchanged at 4,634. The condition of jailed poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, is stable after he was shifted to the J J Hospital in Mumbai, a senior hospital official said on Tuesday. Rao, 80, lodged in the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, was shifted to the government-run hospital in south Mumbai on Monday night after he complained of giddiness. According to Dr Ranjeet Mankeshwar, dean of JJ Hospital, Rao has been admitted to the neurology department after he was brought to the medical facility from the jail on Monday night. He is stable now and recuperating in the hospital, but it will take time to evaluate all his health parameters, said Mankeshwar. Rao's family members along with several writers and activists had asked the Maharashtra government to immediately shift him to hospital for treatment, citing his deteriorating health condition. Nationalist Congress Party leader and minister Jitendra Awhad had also demanded that Rao be shifted to hospital. Additional Director General (Prisons) Sunil Ramanandan said, "He has neurological problem...will discuss his condition with doctors and they will take the final call. It's not yet clear when he is going to be shifted to the Taloja jail or any other prison." The activist's family members have claimed he is unwell since sometime. Rao's family members on Sunday sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care and claimed that when the veteran activist, who hails from Telangana, contacted them last week, he was in a 'delirious state and hallucinating'. Rao has been in jail for about 22 months and had earlier approached the special National Investigation Agency court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation. In a tweet, Awhad had said, "We are extremely worried about Varvara Rao's health condition." 'His possession is under Home Ministry of Central Government and not under the Maharashtra Government. We appeal to the Central Government to urgently shift him to a hospital,' Awhad had tweeted, tagging Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh. On Monday, Rao filed two petitions in the Bombay high court, seeking temporary bail owing to his deteriorating health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital. Rao and nine other activists have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, which was initially probed by the Pune Police and later transferred to the NIA in January this year. The case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial. The police have also claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. An empty St Kilda Beach on July 13, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia after the city returned to lockdown following the rise in COVID-19 cases through community transmissions. (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images) Aussies Access $1 Billion From Super in First Week of Second Stimulus Round According to APRA, Australians have withdrawn $1 billion from their superannuation (super) retirement funds in the first week of the 2020-21 financial year when the second round of the scheme to get early access opened on July 1. Experts have warned that young people will lose tens of thousands of dollars when they retire as a result. When interviewed by 2GB radio on July 8, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said its the peoples money and ABS payroll data showed that over 55 percent of the spending from funds had gone towards discretionary items, like paying rent; and over 30 percent to paying down loans. And obviously that puts people in a better financial position overall, the treasurer said. The governments plan to cushion the impact of COVID-19 allowed individuals in financial stress to access up to $10,000 of their super in the 2019-20 financial year and a further $10,000 in the 2020-21 financial year. Economists and experts are concerned that fund members dipping unnecessarily into their funds will lose money come retirement. According to the latest data from superannuation regulator APRA, as of July 5, super funds had made 2.54 million payments worth more than $19.1 billion to their members. The total value of applications received has reached $23.3 billion. Victoria has become a cause for concern as the fresh outbreaks of COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as novel coronavirus, will likely drive the economic cost up even higher. Young People Will Have to Rebuild Their Savings Analysis from Industry Super Australia estimated that almost 500,000 Australians have withdrawn nearly all their super funds in the first round, the majority being young people. Four hundred thousand people under 35 years-of-age appear to have completely wiped out their super accounts so far and there could well be a lot more, former Labor leader and chair of Industry Super Australia Greg Combet told ABC Radio National on July 2. Andrew Charlton, the director of strategy consulting firm AlphaBeta and former government adviser said this was very concerning, especially for young people who would lose out on the compounding effect of a longer saving term. This means that they would lose more than $50,000 over the time, which is a lot of money, he told ABC on July 3, adding that the average super balance in Australia is $300,000 for a man and $160,000 for a woman. He acknowledged that it was a difficult financial time for people but added that drawing down on retirement savings should be the last resort as this may just be deferring hardship to retirement. 40 Percent Accessed Super Unnecessarily: New Data According to data released by illion and AlphaBeta in June, which was based on an analysis of bank transactions, around 40 percent of those who accessed their super were not eligible or had not seen an actual decline in their income. In response to the concern, ATO has said on July 1 that it will crack down on deliberate exploitation of the system, including withdrawing funds and then recontributing it to the fund to avoid paying tax; as well as withdrawing despite being not eligible. Those that are found to have accessed super on false pretenses could have the amount added to their taxable income. Serious offenders could face more than $12,000 penalty. While applicants are not required to submit evidence verifying their eligibility, they are urged to keep all the records for a potential audit. This article has been updated upon the release by APRA of data to reflect the correct amount of superannuation that has been accessed in the 2020-21 financial year. Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all. Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter. To support our nonprofit public service journalism: Donate now. The state's Project Roomkey has sheltered thousands of homeless people in hotels across California, protecting them during the pandemic. L.A. County had a goal of moving 15,000 of the oldest and most medically vulnerable people into hotel rooms, but so far only 3,700 have been housed, mostly due to a lack of resources to manage such a large task. So, as Project Roomkey begins to wind down, L.A. County officials are hoping to finish what they started. They are ramping up and developing an ambitious $800 million plan to not only house the original 3,700, but the entire 15,000 unhoused vulnerable residents. How will they do it? It's pretty straightforward -- leasing thousands of apartments and offering rental subsidies. The L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is the agency behind the effort, and its "COVID-19 Recovery Plan," will be one of the largest-scale projects ever proposed by the agency. How will it take shape? Read on. OKAY, SO HOW IS L.A. GOING TO TRY AND HOUSE 15,000 PEOPLE IF IT COULDN'T GET THEM INTO HOTELS? Depending on who you ask, Project Roomkey in L.A. was either a resounding success, or a total failure. While it's true officials only housed one-quarter of their original goal, it's also true that the capacity of L.A.'s homeless shelter system expanded faster than at any time in the previous several years. In public meetings, LAHSA and county staff have said the biggest bottleneck was staffing -- they simply didn't have enough workers to arrange more rooms for people experiencing homelessness. (Each site includes meal service, round-the-clock security, health practitioners, plus case managers and other staff.) WHAT'S DIFFERENT NOW? Money. Thus far, Los Angeles County has identified approximately $300 million for the plan, mostly from federal relief money disbursed through the CARES Act, and some from Medicaid reimbursement. LAHSA says it has approximately $200 million in existing resources that can be applied to the plan, too. Approximately $300 million is unfunded for now, though the agency has enough to begin work on housing people. icon DON'T MISS ANY L.A. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Get our daily newsletters for the latest on COVID-19 and other top local headlines. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy EXACTLY HOW WILL IT WORK? The government hopes to lease thousands of apartments and then subsidize rent for the occupants. In many cases, they will be leased off the regular rental market, such as studios and 1-bedroom units. But the plan also calls for the use of "shared-housing," which is basically a fancy term for a larger home with several roommates. All of these homes will come with a case manager who will work with the client to secure ongoing income, and craft a plan for securing permanent housing. LAHSA's plan banks on what seems to be a softening rental market, and cites a 3.3 percent decrease in rent across Los Angeles in the 12 months leading up to May. "Units should be able to be procured more rapidly than in prior years when the real estate market was considerably more competitive," the plan states. Housing for the plan could be located anywhere in the county where there are vacant units, so long as a landlord is willing to participate. Some permanent supportive housing developments, like those funded by L.A. City's Proposition HHH, are anticipated to open during the two years and will be utilized by the recovery plan. Likewise, Gov. Gavin Newsom has also set aside more than $500 million for the acquisition of Project Roomkey sites across California. Some amount of this money will be spent in L.A. County, though that pot of money is not enough to purchase more than a handful of all the hotels used. ARE THESE GOING TO BE PERMANENT HOMES? The rental subsidies Los Angeles will provide to residents are temporary. Depending on the person, the subsidy could last as long as 18 months, though for the vast majority of clients it'll be shorter. The idea is that these homes will be a sort of "bridge" between the street and a permanent home, which allows the client to stabilize and build income while working with a case manager. When the subsidy runs out, the hope is that the client will either have enough income to take over the lease, or have a move-out plan that doesn't result in homelessness. Clients moved into permanent supportive housing will remain there indefinitely. LAHSA expects this for about one-third of the overall 15,000 target. WHY HAVEN'T WE DONE THIS BEFORE? Actually, we have. One of the many strategies piloted with Measure H funds is called "Rapid Re-Housing," which is similar to what LAHSA wants to deploy at a larger scale with its COVID Recovery Plan. The idea is to get someone who falls into homelessness back indoors as quickly as possible, to minimize the trauma of actually being homeless. Over the past couple of years, Rapid Re-Housing has become one of the most commonly used tools to end homelessness locally. While it's being used more often, there are still questions about whether the strategy is actually sustainable and reliably ends homelessness. The success of the program ultimately relies on whether or not the client can build enough income before the temporary rent subsidy expires. IS THIS ACTUALLY GOING TO WORK? The key factiors in the plan are LAHSA securing enough housing units, and securing enough funding to subsidize the rents in those units. Those are some pretty substantial variables that, as of now, are not set in stone. But LAHSA is in a better position to execute such a plan than it has been in the past, thanks to the presence of flexible federal funds, as well as recent renovations to how the homeless services sector leases apartments from the rental market. 15,000 IS ADMIRABLE, BUT IT'S STILL LESS THAN A QUARTER OF THE HOMELESS POPULATION IN THE COUNTY Even if the recovery plan meets all its goals, it will still only be able to (temporarily) house less than a quarter of L.A.'s overall homeless population of more than 66,000. Consequently, advocates for the homeless, and some academics, have criticized the plan. A recent report authored by UCLA Luskin School's Institute on Inequality and Democracy called the recovery plan "a familiar combination of housing models and policies that have already proven insufficient to meet housing need in Los Angeles." That report strongly argues for the use of eminent domain, where the government acquires private property for public use. Specifically, the report argues that the government should use eminent domain to acquire now under-utilized tourist hotels and convert those into permanent housing: "In Los Angeles, eminent domain has been historically used to clear neighborhoods and make way for urban development. We argue that the time has come to flip the script of eminent domain and to use it for the self-evident public purpose of housing." Three people in their 20s on a Delta Air Lines flight from Georgia to upstate New York have tested positive for the coronavirus after showing symptoms a day after they landed. According to the Rensselaer County Health Department, the passengers are residents of the county who traveled on a regional Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta to Albany on July 6. All of the passengers, two 22 year olds and one 27-year-old, live in Troy, which is about eight miles from Albany. All three became symptomatic on July 7. It's unclear the passengers were traveling together. Health officials said there were 44 passengers on the flight. 'Any passengers on the flight are advised to call their home county Health Department,' New York health officials said. It's still unclear when or where the passengers became infected with the virus, and how New York plans to track down those individuals and inform them that they were in close proximity with people who became symptomatic just 24 hours after the flight. A DailyMail.com request for comment to Gov Cuomo's office about the matter was not immediately returned. Scroll down for video Three people in their 20s on a Delta Air Lines flight (file image) from Georgia to upstate New York have tested positive for the coronavirus after showing symptoms a day after they landed COVID-19 precautions in place for air travelers According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes. However, social distancing is difficult on crowded flights, and passengers may have to sit near others, which increases the risk for exposure to the coronavirus. For that reason, some airlines have blocked off every middle seat, reducing plane capacity. What's alarming is that only three airlines - Delta, Hawaiian and Jet Blue - have blocked off their middle seats entirely, despite the rising cases of COVID-19 in states like Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. Alaska, Frontier and Southwest airlines have made moves to reduce capacity of their flights, blocking off select seats but not all middle seats. Since early May, most major US airlines have required passengers to wear masks or face coverings while onboard. New York, Connecticut and New Jersey have a joint travel advisory that applies to any person arriving from a high-risk state like Florida or Texas. Travelers from 22 states on the joint travel advisory list are required to fill out quarantine forms before leaving the destination airports. While New York plans to issue a fine for travelers who fail to complete the form before they leave the state's airports, it's unclear how they will be tracking those individuals down. Advertisement Warren County, New York, reported a similar incident earlier this month. County health officials said three residents from Warren County flew on two Allegiant Airlines flights from Florida to Albany in late June. All three tested positive for the virus after returning home. One passenger started showing symptoms shortly after arriving home and quarantined. But the other two, who are a couple, went grocery shopping and through a restaurant's drive-thru before testing positive, according to USA Today. According to the Warren County health department, officials contacted more than 200 passengers who were on the two flights. Delta Air Lines, which requires passengers to wear masks onboard, has said the airline will continue to block off middle seats and cap seating capacity. Delta's chief customer experience officer Bill Lentsch said in a statement that 'reducing the overall number of customers on every aircraft across the fleet is one of the most important steps we can take to ensure a safe experience for our customers and people'. Research released on Monday also backed up that statement. Arnold Barnett, an award-winning professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management, shared his findings in a new research paper titled ' Covid-19 Risk Among Airline Passengers: Should the Middle Seat Stay Empty?' The data shows that barring the middle seat on airplanes may cut the risk of contracting COVID-19 by nearly half. Using publicly available statistics on social distancing and COVID-19 transmission, Barnett found that a person faces a one in 4,300 chance of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 while flying on a plane with every middle seat filled. Those odds fall to just one in 7,700 when flying on a plane where no middle seat tickets are booked, according to a report on Barnett's research in ZDnet. The travelers arrived in New York just days before Gov Andrew Cuomo made it mandatory for people arriving from a total of 22 states to quarantine upon entering the state. On Tuesday, Cuomo added four more states to New York's quarantine list as he seeks to contain the spread of COVID-19 from regions of the country where infection rates are growing. The addition of Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin means that travelers from 22 states will be required to quarantine for 14 days or face a $2,000 fine. The list of states that meet New York's travel advisory's metrics has grown each week as coronavirus cases continue to spike nationwide. Last month, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced a joint travel advisory that applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10 per cent or higher positive rate over a seven-day rolling average. Cuomo has warned that New York's dropping number of infections could be reversed if out-of-state travelers lead to a rise in infections. The state's tally of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in hospitals and nursing homes is nearing 25,000 on top of 4,600 additional presumed deaths in New York City alone. Delta Air Lines, which requires passengers (file image) to wear masks onboard, has said the airline will continue to block off middle seats and cap seating capacity The travelers arrived in New York just days before Gov Andrew Cuomo made it mandatory for people arriving from a total of 22 states to quarantine upon entering the state New York issues mandatory order for travelers from 22 coronavirus hotspot states Air travelers from the following states must fill out a quarantine form before leaving any airport in the state of New York: Alabama Arkansas Arizona California Florida Georgia Iowa Idaho Kansas Louisiana Minnesota Mississippi North Carolina New Mexico Nevada Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Texas Utah Wisconsin Advertisement The state reported just five deaths of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and nursing homes Monday, but the percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus ticked up to 1.5 per cent from a level of about 1 per cent where it had been since mid-June. The governor confirmed 912 additional cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 403,175 confirmed cases in the state of New York. Cuomo said gatherings over the Fourth of July weekend were to blame for some of the new infections. 'It's also clear based on contact tracing that many of the new cases in New York are a result of a lack of compliance during the July 4 weekend and illustrate how quickly the virus spreads, with one party, for example, infecting more than a third of attendees,' Cuomo said in a news release. 'I cannot be more clear: Look at what's happening in the rest of the country - if we are not smart, if we don't wear masks and socially distance, cases will spike. No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant.' Cuomo's office said that state and local contact tracing efforts found that just over a third of people who attended a Fourth of July weekend party in Suffolk County became infected with COVID-19. The governor announced Monday that out-of-state travelers arriving in New York airports from the 22 states face a $2,000 fine and a mandatory quarantine order for failing to fill out personal information on a tracing form that New York will use to help make sure individuals are quarantine. 'It's all across the country, and it's undeniable,' Cuomo said on Monday as he showed reporters a graphic highlighting the 39 states that are seeing an increase in the virus. He then pointed to states like Arizona, Florida and Texas which have all seen at least an 800 per cent increase in coronavirus cases within the past few weeks. Cuomo said in addition to the fine, non-compliant travelers may be called to a hearing and 'ordered to complete mandatory quarantine'. 'We can't be in a situation where we have people coming from other states in the country bringing the virus again. It is that simple,' the governor added. Cases are only falling on a weekly basis in New York, Tennessee, New Jersey and Delaware. While southern and western states are seeing the biggest increase in cases, infections are also rising in the Midwest. Minnesota's cases have gone up 60 per cent, Missouri is up 40 per cent and Iowa is up 30 per cent. More than 135,000 Americans have died from coronavirus and there have been more than 3.3 million infections. Prices of the metal used widely in the power and construction industries earlier touched $6,633 a tonne, its highest since June 2018 and up more than 50% since hitting four-year lows in March. "Miners at Antofagasta's Zaldivar mine in Chile voting to strike provided a tailwind to disruptions at Codelco due to COVID-19," said ING analyst Wenyu Yao. "Antofagasta's Centinela mine will soon conclude voting on whether to accept a wage offer or go on strike, which is another upside risk for copper." CHILE: Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, and other miners in Chile have altered shift patterns, suspended upgrades and smelter operations in an effort to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. FLOODING: Traders are worried that flooding in China's Jiangxi province could eventually affect copper production. Jiangxi Copper , one of the country's biggest copper producers, has so far been largely unaffected by the floods because most of its transportation is by rail. FUNDS: Much of the buying in base metals markets is by funds in China and elsewhere, jumping on the uptrend of recent days. DATA: Clues to demand prospects will come from Chinese urban investment, house prices and industrial production data on Thursday. SPREADS: Worries about supplies on the LME market in the face of falling stocks and cancelled warrants - metal earmarked for delivery - pushed cash copper's premium over the three-month contract to a 14-month high above $11 a tonne. Between May 2019 and June 2020 the cash contract mostly traded at a discount . OTHER METALS: Aluminium was up 0.1% at $1,691 a tonne, zinc gained 2.9% to $2,257, lead rose 1.4% to $1,881, tin climbed 0.4% to $17,380 and nickel added 1.5% to $13,715. (Reporting by Pratima Desai Editing by Catherine Evans) WASHINGTON, D. C. - More than 5 million workers around the United States lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic, the highest annual increase in the number of uninsured ever recorded, according to a study released Monday by a nonpartisan consumer health advocacy organization. The new study from Families USA says that 5.4 million laid-off workers became uninsured between February and May, a number significantly higher than the prior record set when 3.9 million non-elderly adults lost their insurance between 2008 and 2009. It estimated that 139,000 workers in Ohio lost their insurance during that period, bringing the states uninsured rate up to 11%. Ohio had the tenth highest increase in uninsured workers behind California, Texas, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia and Massachusetts, said the study, which urged Congress to include health insurance protections in its next COVID-19 relief bill Losing health insurance increases the risks that patients and communities face from COVID-19, said the report. Without comprehensive health insurance, people who do not know they have contracted the virus often delay seeking care because of cost. This endangers their health, risks their survival, and accelerates the viruss spread to family members, neighbors, coworkers, and customers. A separate analysis released Monday by researchers at the Urban Institute predicted 48 million non-elderly people in the United States will be part of a household where someone loses a job as a result of COVID-19. Because a high proportion of the people in families where a job was lost because of coronavirus had insurance provided through other family members jobs, Medicaid or the Childrens Health Insurance Program, it estimated that around 10.1 million of those people will lose health insurance because of the lost job. The COVID-19 recession has disproportionately affected the lowest paid workers, who are the least likely to have work-based health insurance, said a statement from Katherine Hempstead, senior policy advisor at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the Urban Institute research The loss of jobs and coverage associated with the pandemic is a huge test for our safety net, but it may not be the inflection point for the employer market that many predicted. A statement that Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown released about the Families USA report pledged to continue fighting to make it easier, not harder, for Ohioans to have access to the healthcare coverage they need at a time when record numbers of Ohioans are losing the jobs and health insurance at the same time. Ensuring Americans have access to healthcare coverage during a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic should be a top priority for any responsible elected official, said Brown, who noted a recent report by FAIR Health found that uninsured Americans with COVID-19 could pay an estimated average of $73,300 for a 6-day hospital stay, which is about 10 times more than someone with health insurance. More coverage: Rep. Anthony Gonzalez seeks Confucius Institute crackdown Republicans slam the Ohio Democratic Party for getting federal Paycheck Protection Program loan U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to skip Democratic convention over COVID-19 concerns Donald Trump and Joe Biden backers spar as Biden unveils his economic plan Ohio Democrats pleased with U.S. Supreme Courts decisions that Trump cant withhold his financial records from investigators Rep. Tim Ryan leads charge to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol Sen. Sherrod Brown wants Clevelands baseball team renamed the Buckeyes Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur tries to block Trump administration from conducting nuclear tests Ex-Cleveland mayor and congressman Dennis Kucinich still riffs on the he was right theme President Donald Trump slams possible Cleveland Indians name change in tweet President Trump plugs Christina Hagans congressional campaign on Twitter Presidential electors must vote as their states dictate, U.S. Supreme Court decides Coronavirus outbreak at Elkton prison is waning, says U.S. Sen. Rob Portman Ohios U.S. Senators back renaming Confederate-named military bases, despite Trump veto threat Sen. Rob Portman calls for sanctioning Russia if outrageous bounty reports are true U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law, similar to Ohios, requiring doctors to have agreements with nearby hospitals Senate Democrats including Ohios Sherrod Brown thwart consideration of GOP police reform bill Ohios U.S. Senators urge support for Asian tire dumping complaint Vice President Mike Pence to visit Lordstown on Thursday Disability technology can be so quotidian that nondisabled users dont even notice. GPS and spell-check, so ubiquitous for so many people, are technologies that assist me with dyslexia. Smartphones, where I find my GPS, may be the most powerful accessibility devices in history, especially now that voice control offers an alternative to touch screens for Blind and low-vision users, or people without the manual dexterity to operate them. (No interface is perfect, however. Some people might actually want buttons over sleek screens. And affordability remains a problem.) As hubs for accessibility programming, though, smartphones drive down costs. For example, Fred Downs, who lost his left arm when he stepped on a land mine during the Vietnam War and is now an advocacy director for Paralyzed Veterans of America, says that in 1980, screenreaders cost up to $50,000 a unit and could read one page at a time out loud. Now every computer, phone and tablet can read nearly any screen. Smartphones provide navigation, manage hearing aids, run speech apps and can even drive a wheelchair. Innovations build off these capabilities, so now, for example, companies are working on mapping interior spaces to help people navigate them the same way detailed exterior maps currently do. Those who are disabled have long struggled to win the right to work from home; these days, technologies like cloud computing and video conferencing are used everywhere and widely accepted at least for office jobs, especially as the coronavirus pandemic alters so many workplaces. Disabled employees who do not wish or are not able to go to an office can now more easily interact with their colleagues. Disability-related technologies are not just growing through incremental adjustments to existing products; transformative ones are on the horizon. Rory Cooper is director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He was paralyzed because of a spinal-cord injury in 1980 and has used a wheelchair since then. Now he is improving mobility devices, including wheelchairs and scooters, by adapting components designed for vehicles and drones. Mr. Cooper says he can take new batteries, motors and algorithms from other industries and build a much lighter chair with the same capabilities. He has developed a waterproof chair that runs on compressed air, originally for a wheelchair-accessible water park. Water parks are fun, but more important, the innovation will make it easier for wheelchair users to go out in the rain. Meanwhile, makers of self-driving cars are now consulting not just Blind users, who have long been involved, but people with myriad other disabilities, including those in wheelchairs, who would need to be able to roll into the vehicle. Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu on Tuesday visited the residence of BJP leader Sheikh Waseem Bari in Bandipora, who along with his father and brother was killed by militants last week. The L-G handed over financial assistance of 20 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family members. Murmu strongly condemned the killings and said the perpetrators of this dastardly act of violence would be brought to justice. Such a heinous act is an attempt to spread fear, and there can be no justification for such attacks, he said. On Sunday, Union minister Jitendra Singh and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav had visited the family and handed over 10 lakh aid to the family. Bari is survived by his wife, two minor children and a sister. A dispute between Bewley's Cafe on Dublin's Grafton Street and its landlord over alleged rent arrears is to go to mediation. Having been told of the development at the Commercial Court yesterday, Mr Justice David Barniville "very much welcomed" that the parties had engaged constructively and had agreed to go to mediation and he wished them every success with that. RGRE Grafton Ltd, a company controlled by developer Johnny Ronan, initiated proceedings earlier this month against Bewley's Cafe Grafton Street Ltd for summary judgment of 747,000 over alleged rent arrears and for possession of the premises. Ross Aylward BL, instructed by solicitor Barbara Galvin of Eversheds, for the landlord, previously told the court RGRE is the successor in title of the premises, leased to the defendant since 1987. He said the annual rent due was approximately 1.4m, to be paid on a quarterly basis but, following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the defendant asked for a rent holiday of six months. RGRE declined that application for reasons including that it believed the defendant had the means to discharge its rent obligations, counsel said. The tenant's parent company, Bewley's Ltd, which RGRE says is owned by the family of businessman Patrick Campbell, was sitting on cash reserves of more than 6m and net assets of 5m, counsel said. RGRE was made aware of the tenant's intention to permanently close the cafe, and make all staff redundant, through statements in the 'Irish Times' newspaper, he said. The cafe did not reopen after certain restrictions on businesses were lifted in late June and the defendant had not engaged since late April in any meaningful way with RGRE or broker an agreement to try to save the cafe business, counsel said. As a result, rent, plus interest, totalling some 747,000, is due and owing to RGRE and the landlord does not have possession of the property, he said. Yesterday, when RGRE's application to have the case admitted to the Commercial Court came before Mr Justice Bairnville, he was told, while there was no objection to the case being fast-tracked, the sides had agreed to go to mediation on July 20. In the circumstances, the judge agreed to admit the case to the Commercial Court list but adjourned making any further directions to facilitate the mediation. Noting it may be unnecessary to proceed if the mediation is successful, he wished the parties well in that regard. Jaipur, July 14 : Soon after Sachin Pilot was removed as Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee president, Rajasthan NSUI president Abhimanyu Poonia on Tuesday also tendered his resignation. Poonia said that around 400-500 members holding certain posts in the Youth Congress, National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and Seva Dal have resigned to protest against the development. Meanwhile, over 50 Congressmen have also resigned in Tonk, Pilot's home constituency in Rajasthan to protest against his sacking. District Congress President of Pali Chunnilal Chadwas has also resigned from the party. Meanwhile, Pilot in a tweet said: "My heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all those who have come out in my support today. Ram Ram sa." Retweeting the post, Poonia said: "We will defeat slavery and will make the struggle win (hamein gulaami ko harana hai aur sangharsh ko jitana hai) #RajasthanKaPilot." He said that he resigned from the post in support of Sachin Pilot. "Our conscience is alive, so is our self-respect. #SachinPilotkesaath," he said on Twitter. The Congress on Tuesday sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister as well as the party's state unit chief and also cracked the whip on the rebel party leader, removing his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. Meanwhile, protests were staged in many pockets of Gujjar dominated areas as Pilot is a favourite of the community. High alert has been sounded in Gujjar-dominated areas in Dausa, Ajmer, Tonk, Sawai Madhopur and Bharatpur to avert any untoward incident. Sajin Shrijith By Express News Service A new Malayalam production house is gearing up to release their maiden project. Friendly Productions, the banner backing director Prajesh Sens (Captain fame) new film Vellam, is hoping to make a mark in the industry with some socially relevant films. Ranjith Manambarakkatt, Josekutty Madathil, and Yadhu Krishna are the key names of the company with Biju Thoranathel involved as co-producer. Starring Jayasurya and Samyuktha Menon in lead roles, Vellam is based on a true story. The films newly released poster shows a serious-looking Jayasurya against the backdrop of a bar clutching a liquor bottle. But Ranjith says its not a dark film. Representing his company, he tells Express why the film is dear to them. He describes it as a heartwarming story. Its a very poignant, family-oriented film about a man from Thaliparamba, Kannur who is still alive. His journey is incredible. It is unlike Prajeshs previous film.The makers believe its the sort of film that can create a positive impact and bring about a change in a lot of people. There is someone like Jayasuryas character in every home. In this film, we strove to be as faithful to the real persons life as possiblehow he goes from failure to success on account of a stunning miracle. That miracle part is the twist of the story. It will leave a smile on your face by the time to leave the theatre, says Ranjith. Speaking about theatres, Ranjith and his partners are optimistic as well as adamant about releasing the film on the big screen itself. They feel that Vellam is a film that, given the message it propagates, deserves the community experience that a theatrical release engenders. We are firm believers in the theatrical experience and, so, we hope to release it whenever the screens reopen, he says. There is no point in giving a film like this for an OTT release. We believe theatres are not going anywhere. There is definitely going to be a crowd once everything returns to normal. We are willing to wait until then, no matter how long it takes. Hopefully, things will work out by the year-end. The team is currently engaged in the post-production work. Ranjith adds that the performances of Jayasurya and Samyuktha are the films main highlights. Everything is coming out well. Jayasurya recently got a look at his performance while doing the patch dubbing and it was a surreal experience for him. He has put in a lot of effort to play his character, which is unlike anything he has done before. He was so dedicated. He sometimes used to go over the script multiple times with Prajesh through the night until the next morning, for around four months. As for Samyuktha, she has aced the homemakers role. It will probably be a turning point in her career. Its a performance that is likely to get her more noticed. The film, which was shot in Kannur, has several crew members hailing from the region. Another highlight of the film is that a visually challenged girl has sung a song, for which Prajesh created a special sequence that was earlier not in the script. The music has been composed by Bijibal. Roby Varghese Raj shot the film while Bijith Bala edited it. Maxwell is expected to plead not guilty to six criminal charges including perjury and sex trafficking. A United States judge is expected to decide on Tuesday whether to grant bail to Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins longtime associate, who has been charged with luring young girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them. US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan is set to handle the arraignment of Maxwell, who prosecutors accused of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls from 1994 to 1997, and lying about her role in depositions in 2016. Prosecutors on Monday also described efforts they said Maxwell used to try to avoid being captured. Maxwell, 58, is expected to plead not guilty to six criminal charges, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts, and two for perjury. Prosecutors want Maxwell detained, calling her an extreme flight risk with no reason to stay in the United States. Maxwells lawyers are seeking a bail package including a five-million-dollar bond, and home confinement with electronic monitoring. Flags flying in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York [Mark Lennihan/AP Photo] Maxwell was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre (63-hectare) property she bought last December in an all-cash transaction with her identity shielded. Lawyers for Maxwell said she moved there, and changed her phone and email address, to escape unrelenting and intrusive media coverage. But prosecutors said on Monday that when FBI agents went to arrest Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection. Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said. There should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding, prosecutors said, adding that her wealth and multiple citizenships American, French and British also supported the need for detention. Maxwell has been held since July 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a Brooklyn jail, and is expected to appear by video conference at the 17:00 GMT arraignment. Lawyers for Maxwell also have argued that bail was justified because she might contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the Brooklyn jail. Her lawyers have previewed Maxwells possible defences. These include that her alleged misconduct occurred long ago and would be hard to prosecute, and that she was shielded by Epsteins 2007 plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Miami, which covered any potential co-conspirators. Epstein was charged last July with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He hanged himself last August 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail. Meanwhile, women who said they were victims of Epstein have spent 12 years trying to undo an unusual plea deal that spared the deceased financier from federal prison. Now, their efforts could sink a key legal defence for Maxwell. The 2007 deal allowed Epstein to plead guilty in a Florida court to soliciting minors to engage in prostitution and serve just 13 months in county jail. The once-secret agreement included nonprosecution protection for unidentified co-conspirators such as Maxwell, a provision that US lawyers since have acknowledged in court was unprecedented. Maxwells lawyers said in court papers Friday she intends to argue she cannot be prosecuted because of the agreement, a defence Manhattan federal prosecutors on Monday called absurd. Ghislaine Maxwell speaking at the Arctic Circle Forum in Reykjavik, Iceland October 2013 [The Arctic Circle/Handout via Reuters] The government charged Maxwell with luring and grooming minors for sexual abuse by Epstein at his mansions in Florida, New York and New Mexico, as well as at Maxwells London residence, in the 1990s. She is also charged with perjury from 2016 testimony in a civil case. The 2007 plea deal also came up last year when Epstein was charged with child-sex crimes by Manhattan federal prosecutors, who said the Florida deal did not protect Epstein in New York. Before the issue could be resolved in court, Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide. Several alleged victims of Epstein have been challenging the plea deal since 2008 arguing it violated the Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA) by concealing the Epstein plea and nonprosecution agreement until after it was signed. Had the alleged victims been informed of the deal, which they argue was their right under the CVRA, they could have tried to prevent a judge from approving it. The plaintiffs are seeking to invalidate the deal and the provision that protected co-conspirators, but after Epstein died a federal judge tossed their case. Epstein plea deal That ruling was upheld by a three-judge panel on an appeals court in Atlanta this year, which ruled 2-1 that the CVRA had not been triggered because Epstein was never charged with a federal crime. The alleged victims have asked the full Atlanta federal appeals court to revive their case and determine if the lower court wrongly refused to invalidate the plea deal, said Paul Cassell, who represents alleged Epstein victim Courtney Wild in the CVRA case. If the agreement is ripped up, she cant get to first base, said Cassell, who is also a law professor at the University of Utah, former federal prosecutor and former federal judge. On Monday, prosecutors dismissed Maxwells plea deal defence. In a court filing, they said her crimes were committed before and after the timeframe of the plea deal, Maxwell was not a named party to the deal and argued prosecutors in New York are not bound by their counterparts in Florida. Retired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who helped defend Epstein in 2007, said Maxwell could counter each of those arguments. When the United States government makes a promise, its binding all over the country, he said. The alleged victims have garnered noteworthy support for their appeals case, including from US Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and former Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Jon Kyl, authors of the 2004 CVRA law. The trio filed a brief urging the Atlanta federal appeals court to revisit the Epstein plea deal and CVRA case. This miscarriage of justice, they said of the agreement, is precisely what the act prevents. From the time Caroline Carlin arrived on the campus of Our Lady of Perpetual Help just one year ago, she had a plan to promote educational excellence as the academic dean. Ms. Carlin said she embraces a healthy tension between collaboration and challenge. As she completes her doctorate degree, she has had widespread exposure to 21st-century pedagogy that compels her to take a new look at the world in which our children take part. Officials said when working with students and parents Ms. Carlin displays a commitment to and practice of ethical action. At the core of everything she does is respect for her fellow teachers and students and a fierce sense of the value of the individual. Those who work with Ms. Carlin said they have a sense of shared responsibility. As a result, things get done and done very well. Her philosophy of education and leadership is rooted in the belief that to teach a child requires a holistic understanding of that child and a concern for their well-being. This paired with the belief that children will reach the bar that you set for them makes for a challenging yet loving environment that inspires students to reach their highest potential. Students who are challenged and loved can figure out their needs and wants and are best equipped to contribute to the society where they will live, said officials. Growing up Catholic and attending Catholic schools was the single most transformative experience in my life," said Ms. Carlin. During this challenging time, I rely on the principles and values instilled in me by my teachers in Catholic school such a perseverance, compassion, and an unwavering drive to help others." Endeavour Silver Announces Robust Economics in Final Pre-Feasibility Study on the Terronera Mine Project in Jalisco State, Mexico Posted by Publisher Internet Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE: EXK) (TSX: EDR https://www.commodity-tv.com/play/endeavour-silver-virtual-roadshow-investor-presentation/ ) announces that the Company?s recent re-assessment of all aspects of the Terronera Mine Project in Jalisco state, Mexico has resulted in more robust economics in the final Pre-Feasibility Study (?2020 PFS?) compared to the earlier Pre-Feasibility Study released on August 30, 2018 (?2018 PFS?). Endeavour management worked with Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc. (Ausenco) on the re-conceptualization and re-engineering of the project to generate the significantly improved 2020 PFS economics presented herein. Ausenco will co-author the 2020 PFS Technical Report in compliance with National Instrument 43-101, to be filed on SEDAR and EDGAR within 45 days of this news release. All currency references herein are in US$. The PFS base case assumes a two-year trailing average silver price of $15.97 per ounce (?oz?) and a gold price of $1,419 per oz with an implied 89:1 silver:gold ratio, and an MXN:USD exchange rate of 20:1. The 2020 PFS also presents an alternative spot case using the closing metal prices as of July 8th, 2020, with silver at $18.49 per oz and gold at $1,812 per oz for a silver: gold ratio of 98:1. Additional details and charts can be found in the NI 43-101 Technical Report which will be posted on SEDAR and the 2020 PFS webinar presentation available (here) on the Company website. 2020 PFS Base Case Highlights After-tax Net Present Value (?NPV 5%?) of $137 million After-tax Internal Rate of Return (?IRR?) of 30.0% Life of Mine (?LOM?) Annual Production averages 3 million oz silver and 32,800 oz gold for 5.9 million oz silver equivalent (?AgEq?) at an 89:1 silver:gold ratio over an initial 10 year Mine Life LOM Cash Cost (?CC?) of $0.004 per oz silver, net of the gold credit LOM Mine-Site All-in Sustaining Cost (?MAISC?) of $2.10 per oz silver, net of the gold credit Initial Capital Expenditure (?Capex?) of $99 million LOM Sustaining Capital Expenditures of $60 million Payback Period (?Payback?) of 2.7 years Pre-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow of $315 million After-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow of $217 million 2020 PFS Spot Case Highlights After-tax NPV 5% of $229 million After-tax IRR of 45.7% LOM CC of ($4.15) per oz silver, net of the gold credit LOM Mine-Site All-in Sustaining Cost (?MAISC?) of $($2.06) per oz silver, net of the gold credit Payback of 1.7 years Pre-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow of $514 million After-tax cumulative undiscounted free cash flow of $342 million Bradford Cooke, CEO, commented, ?This final iteration of our Terronera PFS adds real value to the project, reducing the initial development capex and significantly enhancing our financial returns. ?Endeavour?s Director of Project Development Ernesto Lima worked with Ausenco to re-evaluate every parameter in our previous Pre-Feasibility studies and the result is very simply a better project, with low capital and operating costs, quick payback period and robust financial returns.? ?At base case prices, the improved economics include an NPV of $137 million, IRR of 30.0%, and payback period of 2.7 years. At current spot prices, the project exhibits the exceptional economics that one would expect from such a shallow, thick and rich silver-gold vein system. Endeavour now plans to complete a Feasibility Study at an estimated cost of $1.8 million over the next 12 months. Terronera represents our next core asset and once built, should become our largest and lowest cost mine.? Location, Access, Physiography, Infrastructure Terronera is located approximately 50 kilometres (km) northeast of the port city of Puerto Vallarta in Jalisco state, Mexico, about a 1? hour drive on Highway 70 to the town of San Sebastian del Oeste. The property has excellent road access and is situated in a mountainous region at elevations of 1,500-2,200 metres (m)above sea level. ?Supplies, water, power and labour are all available locally however for mining operations, new water wells, more power capacity and employee camps will be required. Property, History, Geology, Mineralization Terronera consists of 24 mineral concessions totalling 17,369 hectares. ?Discovered in 1542, the San Sebastian district went through sporadic periods of small-scale silver and gold production from more than 50 old mines on approximately 20 mineralized veins. ?All mining halted around 1910-1912 during the Mexican Revolution and not much happened at Terronera until Grupo Mexico acquired the project and conducted some exploration work in the late 1980?s and early 1990?s. Endeavour acquired an option from Grupo Mexico to purchase Terronera for $2.75 million in 2010, and all expenditures since inception including exploration and engineering to date total $27.8 million. ?The Company commenced exploration work in 2011 and discovered mineralization in the Terronera Vein in 2012. High grade, silver-gold sulfide and sulfosalt mineralization is hosted in multiple low sulfidation, epithermal veins from 1 to 30 m thick over an area 12 km long by 6 km wide. ?The veins occur within late Cretaceous andesite to rhyolite volcanic rocks within the Sierra Madre Occidental metallogenic belt where it transects the Trans-Mexico Volcanic Belt. Reserves and Resources The 2020 PFS provides a revised mine plan, including revised mining dilution and recovery assumptions, which resulted in slight reductions to tonnes, grades and oz in the December 31, 2019 Mineral Reserve Estimate. ?Probable Mineral Reserves totaled 5.563 million tonnes grading 201 gpt silver and 2.29 gpt gold or 405 gpt AgEq (89:1 silver:gold ratio) for 36.0 million oz silver and 410,000 oz gold or 72.5million oz AgEq. ?Inferred Mineral Resources total 1.080 million tonnes grading 208 gpt silver and 2.28 gpt gold or 379 gpt AgEq for 7.2 million oz silver and 79,000 oz gold or 13.2 million oz AgEq. ?Changes from the 2018 PFS Mineral Reserve Estimate include tonnes up 18%, silver grade down 10%, gold grade up 0.4%, silver oz up 6.5% and gold oz up 20%, mainly due to infill drilling of the Terronera and La Luz Inferred Mineral Resources to upgrade them to Probable Mineral Reserves. Initial and Sustaining Capital The initial capital cost of the project is $99 million, to be incurred over an 18 month period prior to the start of commercial production. Initial capital is 14% lower than the 2018 PFS due to reducing initial mine development and equipment, reducing the plant footprint, updating the plant flowsheet, utilizing some used plant equipment from El Cubo, modifying the tailings storage facility and moving some capex into sustaining capital through lease financing. Cumulative sustaining capital is estimated at $60 million with over 80% spent in years 1-4 for the phased underground mine development. Operating, Cash and All-in Sustaining Costs The average annual operating cost per tonne is $83.82, or about 7% higher than the 2018 PFS due mainly to higher processing costs and smelter charges. ?Cash cost is slightly lower, however, MAISC is higher than the 2018 PFS, mainly due to the re-allocation of initial mine development to sustaining mine development. ? EBITDA and FCF The average annual EBITDA during commercial production is $48 million and after-tax free cash flow is $31 million. The cumulative LOM EBITDA and after-tax free cash flow are estimated at $476 million and $217 million, respectively 6% and 13% higher than the 2018 PFS. Project Sensitivities At current spot prices, the after tax NPV and IRR are most sensitive to metal prices and least sensitive to initial capex and has approximately equal exposure to silver and gold prices. Mining Operations Both Terronera and La Luz will be mechanized ramp access underground mines capable of producing an average of 1,600 tpd to meet the plant capacity. ?Mining operations were improved to defer some initial capital as well as reduce the operating cost. ?Four pieces of mining equipment were deemed redundant under the updated layout. ?Operating cost was reduced by increasing long-hole mining in both deposits and decreasing the re-handling of waste and backfill inside the mine to minimize transport cost. Plant Flowsheet The plant flowsheet with a 1,600 tpd capacity, consists of three stage crushing, grinding, flotation (flash, rougher, scavenger and cleaner), thickening and filtration of concentrate, tailings filter plant and a filtered-tailings (dry stack) storage facility. Plant operations were also improved to reduce capital. ?Construction capital was reduced by shrinking the plant footprint, reducing earthworks, eliminating the crusher building and regrind circuit, reducing the thickener size, utilizing used equipment from El Cubo and lease financing some new equipment. Operating cost was reduced by increasing plant capacity by 7%, simplifying the flowsheet, better utilizing equipment and reducing the power consumption and cost. Surface Infrastructure Surface infrastructure to be constructed at Terronera includes conventional gravel roads, underground haul roads, power generation plant, reclaim and fresh-water dams, waste and ore stockpiles, ancillary buildings, communications and camp facilities. The estimated power requirement for the project is 4.9MW and an additional 1MW for the camp. The power to the camp will be provided either by the national grid, CFE or as part of the project power supply which will be powered through a liquified natural gas generating station in tandem with a solar power plant built and maintained by a Mexican power provider. Project Schedule Management now plans to proceed with a Feasibility Study over the next 12 months at an estimated cost of $1.8 million to further de-risk the project and access additional project debt financing alternatives. Once a development decision is made, the Terronera Project will take approximately 18 months to construct and commission to commercial production. ?These timeframes do not take into account any further disruptions to the labour market and supply chain due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Sustainability Initiatives The Community Relations team has been successful in mitigating risk and obtaining support from the local communities, mainly focusing on the two closest towns, Santiago de los Pinos and San Sebastian del Oeste (combined population of 1,250). The Company has completed the following initiatives:? Social Impact Assessment 82.6% of the people surveyed agreed with mining activities in the area and support job creation and positive economic benefits that will result from mining Social Management System designed to build and maintain positive relationships in the communities, including a Social Grievance Mechanism designed to receive, investigate and respond to complaints and concerns in the local communities. Urban Development Project developing a Municipal Urban Plan to facilitate the influx of employees, contractors, suppliers and other stakeholders for the life of mine, including essential infrastructure (water supply, water treatment, roads, accommodations, etc. Government Engagement through agreements with local, municipal, state and federal ministries to develop cultural, educational, health, family, employment and other programs in the community Ejido Engagement ? through agreements with the communal land association to provide access across their land during the exploration, development and exploitation Government Permits Endeavour Silver has in place the following government permits for the development of the Project:? Mine and plant permits (received Q3, 2017) Tailings and dumps permit (received Q2, 2019) MIA (EIS) from SEMARNAT (Mexican Environmental Authority) previously received in Q1, 2017, is being extended. Additional permit applications will be filed as needed based on the Feasibility Study Exploration Potential Exploration at Terronera has identified several areas of interest with high discovery potential. The main Terronera and La Luz Vein orebodies are both open to a certain extent to surface and at depth. ?There are three main areas with significant potential to increase Mineral Resources, the deep central area, the central-north part and the shallow part of the Santa Gertrudis ? El Hundido area. The La Loma-Los Pajaros Veins located close to the footwall of the Terronera Vein have returned economic grades over mineable widths from surface rock chip sampling, however they have not yet been drilled. ?These vein targets range up to 500 m long by up to 3 m thick. In the Real Alto area, more than 12 veins have been identified. Real Alto is located about 20 km at southeast of the Terronera Vein at elevations 500 to 600 m higher than the Terronera orebody. These vein structures are hosted in the same favorable volcanic rock formations and with the same structural patterns as Terronera. These vein targets range from 500 m to 1,000 m long with previous rock chip and shallow drill results returning up to 150 gpt Ag. ?Since these low sulfidation epithermal vein deposits occur within bonanza zones with well-defined elevation controls, deeper drilling is needed to test the Real Alto targets down to the elevations of the Terronera and La Luz orebodies. Opportunities to Enhance Value Several opportunities to enhance value for the Terronera Project have been identified and will be further evaluated during the Feasibility Study. ?These include: Expand Property Size ? complete the process of applying for new concessions and acquiring existing third-party concessions covering mineralized areas proximal to the current properties Expand Mineral Resources and Reserves ? plan additional exploration drilling, both within the current resource footprint to convert Inferred Mineral Resources to Probable Reserves, and to test multiple other veins such as the La Loma-Los Pajaros and Real Alto Vein systems Expand Mine and Plant ? evaluate the potential to expand to 2,000 tpd subject to expanding the Mineral Reserves Optimize Mining Method ? with more geotechnical drilling, additional long hole mining may be possible, current model assumes a combination of long hole mining (in thicker zones with stronger wall-rocks), cut and fill mining (in narrower zones with weaker wall-rocks) and resuing (in very narrow high grade veins) Optimize Ore Transport ? evaluate an automated underground rail haulage system to haul ore to the plant which would benefit both haulage costs and ventilation requirements Optimize Mining Equipment ? evaluate electric equipment instead of diesel which would benefit both fuel costs and ventilation requirements Optimize Metallurgical Recoveries ? continue to evaluate grind sizes vs flotation stages vs metal recovery Reduce Operating Costs ? Evaluate pre-concentration technologies to reduce the unit operating costs Optimize Tailings Transport ? evaluate alternatives such as conveyor or pipeline vs trucks to move tailings from the plant to the dry stack storage facility Optimize Power Capacity ? re-evaluate power needs once other power applications are optimized Next Steps Endeavour plans to complete a Feasibility Study (FS) for the Terronera Project with some activities as overlapping instead of sequenced. ?These include: Feasibility Study Consultant bidding and selection process is already underway and scheduled to conclude in August. The Feasibility Study is estimated to take 9 to 12 months. EPC Process Endeavour has defined its EPC strategy and initiated contacts with potential contractors to commence the process of contractor bidding and selection process for the project engineering, procurement and construction. Government Permitting ? some permits such as mine access ramp portals, temporary waste rock storage areas and construction camp will be modified now the PFS is concluded, but these are not expected to delay the construction phase Long Lead Items ? Endeavour has received and warehoused the main ball mill components and will evaluate the possibility to commence early underground development of the main three km long haulage-way to access the main Terronera orebody Project Financing ? continue to evaluate staged financing, with current cash and ATM to fund the FS and long lead items, and debt, convertible, equity and other alternatives to fund the initial capex Video Webcast and Q&A ? 2020 PFS Webinar A video webcast to discuss the updated economics for the 2020 PFS is scheduled for Tuesday July 14, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time (1:00 p.m. Eastern time). Those interested in participating, are invited to join online: https://www.edrsilver.com/terroneraPFS2020webinar A Question and Answer period will follow. Participants can submit a question through the webcast webform via ?Submit a Question? button. ?The PowerPoint presentation will also be available (here) or on the homepage of the Company?s website and under the Investor Relations, Events and Webcast sections. The webcast will also be archived for replay. Qualified Persons and QA/QC Godfrey Walton, M.Sc., P.Geo., Endeavour?s President and COO, is the Qualified Person who reviewed and approved this news release and supervised the engineering work supporting the 2020 NI 43-101 Technical Report, Prefeasibility Study for the Terronera Project. The PFS team Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc Robin Kalanchey, P.Eng., P&E Mining Consulting Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. FEC. CET, David Burga P.Geo., Yungang Wu, P.Geo., D. Gregory Robinson P. Eng., Wood Engineering Humberto Preciado, P.E., Eugenio Iasillo ?P.E., JDS Mining Mike Levy P.E., P.Eng., Moose Mountain ? Mike Petrina P.Eng., are the Independent Qualified Persons for the 2020 PFS who have reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release. A Quality Control sampling program of reference standards, blanks and duplicates is used to monitor the integrity of all assay results. All samples are split at the local field office and shipped to ALS-Chemex Labs, where they are dried, crushed, split and 50 gram pulp samples are prepared for analysis. Gold is determined by fire assay with an atomic absorption (AA) finish and silver by aqua regia digestion and ICP finish, over-limits by fire assay and gravimetric finish. About Endeavour Silver ? Endeavour Silver Corp. is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that owns and operates three high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Endeavour is currently advancing the Terronera Mine Project towards a development decision and exploring its portfolio of exploration and development projects in Mexico and Chile to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer. ?Our philosophy of corporate social integrity creates value for all stakeholders. Contact Information: Galina Meleger, Director, Investor Relations Toll free: (877) 685-9775 Tel: (604) 640-4804 Email: gmeleger@edrsilver.com Website: www.edrsilver.com Follow Endeavour Silver on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn In Europe: Swiss Resource Capital AG Jochen Staiger info@resource-capital.ch www.resource-capital.ch Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains ?forward-looking statements? within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and ?forward-looking information? within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward?looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding Endeavour?s anticipated performance in 2020 and future years including statements regarding the economics analysis and production estimates in the 2020 PFS, changes in mining operations and production levels, the timing and results of various activities and the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on operations. The Company does not intend to and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law. ? Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, production levels, performance or achievements of Endeavour and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, the reliability of the Terronera economic analysis and production estimates for Terronera, the ultimate impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on operations and projects and results, changes in production timelines and costs guidance, national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Mexico; financial risks due to precious metals prices, operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; risks and hazards of mineral exploration, development and mining; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Company?s title to properties; as well as those factors described in the section ?risk factors? contained in the Company?s most recent form 40F/Annual Information Form filed with the S.E.C. and Canadian securities regulatory authorities. ? Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to: the ability to achieve the revenue, costs and production estimates in the Terronera 2020 PFS, the continued operation of the Company?s mining operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, mining operations will operate and the mining products will be completed in accordance with management?s expectations and achieve their stated production outcomes, no material impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the Terronera development plans provided for in the 2020 PFS, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. ? PITTSBURGH, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- "An alcoholic by himself is in bad company" is a saying recovering alcoholics pass around. While they normally have access to group support like Alcoholics Anonymous, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many into prolonged social isolation. While these conditions aren't easy for anyone to deal with, people in recovery are likely to return to their destructive drinking habits to cope with the quarantine induced stress. Nielsen reports that U.S. sales of alcoholic beverages rose 55% and online alcohol sales were up 243%. Book Cover Ed Latimore T.J. Mayes, the healthcare chair for the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce warns that "Some experts are calling it the biggest relapse trigger of the century. You have people facing economic uncertainty, isolation, boredom, depressionit's kind of a powder keg." "Sober Letters To My Drunken Self" is a beacon of light for recovering alcoholics during these tough times. The book is also a valuable resource for alcoholics to help their friends and loved ones understand their struggle. The author, Ed Latimore, starts the book by telling you exactly what to expect: "I wrote this book as if I was able to go back in time and talk to myself when I started to suspect I had an alcohol problem." Latimore relies on his experiences, observations, and insights to guide readers along their journey of sobriety regardless of where they are in it. "Sober Letters To My Drunken Self" is composed of essays that address the challenges that recovering alcoholics often face. The essays help those in recovery understand why they abuse alcohol and helps them through the rarely discussed emotional and social challenges that come with getting sober. Readers will discover: The surprising connection between the choices they make when sober and the destructive thoughts they have when intoxicated. The three most powerful things they absolutely need so they can stop drinking for good. Why a long-term plan to quit drinking will set them up to fail and what to do instead. The counterintuitive way to turn their weaknesses into strengths. "Ed's book is honest and real. He doesn't preach at you or guilt you because he's been in the trenches too. Ed Latimore just walks you through what worked for him and delivers it in a way that can work for anyone." -David Ayer, producer, screenwriter, and director "You can't solve a problem until you learn to think about it right, and Ed Latimore is a genius at helping people do that. This is an extraordinary book that will, for many readers, feel like a personal conversation with themselves in a future in which they are inexplicably much smarter. If you have decided to quit drinking, this is the book to get your mind in the right place to succeed." -Scott Adams, best-selling author and creator of Dilbert comic strip Whether you want to stop drinking and need some guidance, you're in the first months of your recovery, or you're a multi-year veteran of sobriety, "Sober Letters To My Drunken Self" has something to help you stay committed. Available on Amazon About Ed Latimore Ed Latimore is a former professional heavyweight boxer and veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard. He holds a B.A. in Physics from Duquesne University. Millions of people have learned from Ed's experiences through his writing and speaking, about developing stoic street-smarts, sobriety, and realizing your potential. Learn more about Ed and his message at edlatimore.com. Contact: Kate Stuard 949-777-2439 [email protected] SOURCE Ed Latimore Related Links http://edlatimore.com By Express News Service BENGALURU: Bengaluru witnessed another round of exodus on Monday, following the state governments announcement of a week-long complete lockdown from Tuesday night due to surge in Covid-19 cases. The exodus has led to concerns that the pandemic may also hit villages. According to KSRTC, more than 30,000 people left on Monday. They plan to run 1,000 buses on Tuesday. Besides, thousands of people had booked goods vehicles and left the city. Last week, thousands of people left the City, following which Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had appealed to the people not to leave Bengaluru. But Revenue Minister R Ashok said that people who want to leave Bengaluru should leave before Tuesday to avoid inconvenience due to the impending lockdown, and DCM and Transport Minister Lakshman Savadi said that the KSRTC will run its buses to facilitate people travelling from Benglauru to other districts. Nagarathna, a garment factory worker who was going to her hometown Channarayapatna in Hassan district, said, I have a job but its not fetching me enough money to live in Bengaluru. I have not paid the rent for four months. Also, I am worried as the pandemic is spreading. I will return to the city once everything returns to normal. ALSO READ | Bengaluru gets stricter lockdown this time As thousands left the city on Monday morning, traffic was hit on Tumakuru Road, Mysuru Road, Hosur Road and Hyderabad Road. Many vehicles were stuck at toll gates and the staff there allowed all vehicles to go to clear the traffic. More than 2,000 taxi and private cars were seen in traffic and there was a 2km-long pileup at Navayuga toll near Nelamangala. Some passengers got down their vehicles and walked to cross the toll. Sharadamma, a resident of Peenya Dasarahalli, said, We hired a taxi to go to our hometown Shira in Tumakuru and left home around 6 am. It took us one hour to pass the toll gate. People headed towards Hosur, Mysuru and Anantapur (AP) said that they had plans to leave the city on Sunday itself, but they could not do so due to the curfew. Meanwhile, the social media was abuzz with the exodus from Bengaluru. Many expressed concern that people leaving Bengaluru might spread the virus in the villages, which lack medical facilities to treat Covid-19 patients. Tracking student attendance under remote learning this spring was complicated and oftentimes ad hoc, a messy process that could continue to be a big problem if schools return to full-time virtual learning anytime this school year or do some combination of in-person and online education. Consider the case of Queens High School for Information, Research, and Technology in New York City. Several weeks after the city school system transitioned to virtual instruction, a new link appeared on the schools website. Each morning, the schools 400 students were supposed to mark themselves present by clicking through to an ad hoc Google Form, developed by computer science teacher Jeff Kaufman. The strategy was just one among a myriad of approaches used in the nations largest school district, highlighting a major problem that bedeviled K-12 systems across the country during the extended coronavirus-related closures. Even when students showed up for remote instruction, schools had no widely agreed-upon way of tracking attendance. Inconsistent data-collection practices led to unreliable data, raising questions about everything from graduation requirements to school funding formulas. We just saw a huge disruption in both our systems of data collection and reporting and our very notion of what is attendance and how its defined, said Paige Kowalski, the executive vice president of the nonprofit Data Quality Campaign. Data collection is about definitions, at the end of the day. The problem is hardly limited to New York. In the nations capital, district leaders were focused in the spring on whether students were engaged in some way, Superintendent Lewis Ferebee told the Washington Post. That could mean picking up an attendance packet, logging into a software program, or contacting a school psychologist. In Los Angeles, attendance data released by the countrys second-largest school district focused on whether students had recorded three or more interactions with their school in a given week. And, according to a survey of more than 450 school districts across the country released in June by the Center for Reinventing Public Education, only half of districts nationally expect teachers to track their students engagement in learning through either attendance tracking or one-on-one check-ins. The 1.1 million-student New York City school district embodies the resulting challenge of inconsistent attendance data. The citys Department of Education released citywide attendance statistics only once since the start of the pandemic, on April 17, reporting that roughly 84 percent of students regularly attended school between April 6 and 14, down from an average of 92 percent last year. But that figure didnt include information on roughly 200,000 students in nearly 350 schools that didnt submit attendance numbers to the citys database. And with schools responsible for tracking their own attendance, what the term has actually meant on the ground has been as varied as checking a name on an online form, following engagement over the course of several classes in a day, or using software to monitor student participation. The citys education department did not respond to requests for more recent data or further comment. I dont know how [the education department] can say how accurate [the data] are or what they actually reflect, said Kaufman, the computer science teacher who developed his schools attendance-tracking system. We Have to Take Action One danger with such inconsistency in attendance-tracking efforts is that educators, district leaders, and state policymakers arent getting a complete picture of which students are left behind as the coronavirus continues to upend daily school life. Everyone has heard the first-hand accounts and read the news reports about spotty attendance during remote learning, said Emma Garcia, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute who studies education policy. But no one has a good systematic overview of what attendance patterns actually are, which complicates the role of researchers and policymakers in crafting responses to the pandemic. Data must ultimately inform efforts to direct resources and time to schools and districts needing it the most. That sentiment was echoed by Hedy Chang, the executive director and president of Attendance Works, a San Francisco-based initiative aimed at promoting research and policy action around attendance. While it wasnt realistic to expect districts to develop and implement perfect attendance systems immediately after the pandemic hit, Chang said, it is critical that districts adjust and improve their systems quickly now to prepare for the 2020-21 academic year. We have to take action, really learn from it, have feedback loops, and then improve our metrics, she said. Its urgent that we put in place the foundation. Another issue is graduation and promotion. In part due to the trouble tracking attendance after coronavirus-related school closures, Chang said, many districts took a hold harmless approach, in which student grades either couldnt get worse than they were prior to school being closed, or were converted to pass-fail. But theres been tremendous variations across states and sometimes among districts within an individual state. In Illinois, for example, the states board of education announced in May less stringent requirements for graduation eligibility, requiring fewer years of instruction in areas like language arts and math. And in New York state, the Board of Regentsresponsible for administering the end-of-year exams that determine whether a student is eligible to graduate high schoolannounced in April that this years exams were canceled. They consequently loosened the graduation requirements in light of the cancellation. Perhaps the biggest attendance-related question of all, though, has to do with funding. At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Education announced in March that it was waiving attendance accountability measures used under the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act to determine its funding for school districts. And average daily attendance, one key indicator that many states use to determine funding to districts and schools, is not going to exist anymore, said Kowalski of the Data Quality Campaign. In New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced even before schools closed in March that he would waive the requirement that students receive 180 days of instruction in order for schools to receive state funding. Thats Powerful Information In response to the patchwork policy environment, some districts have gotten creative. Californias 36,000-student Oakland Unified school district, for example, was not tracking districtwide attendance. Instead, officials have created a dashboard system that lets teachers and school leaders look at students engagement with school across a variety of indicators, from whether they have a laptop to if they have an internet connection to their teachers. Thats powerful information, said Chang of Attendance Works. Still, though, inconsistency is a problem. A look across a handful of New York City schools shows just how variable attendance tracking can be, even within a single district. At Khalil Gibran International Academy, for example, students were marked as present if they logged into a single class each day. At the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, or P-TECH, attendance was measured by whether students interacted with their teachers via email, phone call, or video conferencing at least once per day. And at William E. Grady High School, the principal elected to use a software program called Pupilpath to keep track of student attendance during each class period. According to a city education department statement released in April, whats being measured across schools using such disparate methods cannot be considered attendance in the traditional sense. The hope is that even imperfect information will help schools support students and prevent learning loss. On the ground at places like Queens High School for Information, Research, and Technology, or QIRT, however, thats been a challenge. The schools internal data showed a steady uptick in attendance. In April, an early snapshot via Google Forms pegged the schools daily attendance at 50 percent. Within a week, that number had climbed to 64 percent. As of June 1, the schools attendance rate had inched up to 69 percentstill 15 points below pre-coronavirus levels, and 11 points below the attendance threshold of 80 percent that the city education department said all schools were expected to meet through the end of the school year. That missed target shows just how difficult the attendance issue is. The Queens neighborhood where the high school is located was hit particularly hard by the coronavirus this spring, according to data released by the New York City Health Department. All told, the borough accounted for 31 percent of all cases in New York City through June 8. Those students who fell behind this springdisproportionately black, Hispanic, and poorwill be expected to catch up over the summer. The education department estimated about 180,000 students to take part in online summer learningmore than three times the roughly 50,000 students who enrolled in summer school last year. The district does not know exactly which students are expected to participate, however. The Department did not send summer school notices to students for whom it did not have accurate attendance data, according to city education department spokeswoman Miranda Barbot. Aside from academics, educators fear that under full-time remote learning, students may miss out on other critical social benefits schools provide. The aspect of this pandemic which is most frustrating is that by its very nature, it prohibits us from engaging socially, said Kaufman, the computer science teacher. I can honestly say that the community is somewhat togetherthey see themselves as QIRT studentsand thats gone, thats ripped out. Its hard to replace that. Kolkata, July 14 : Amid opposition BJP's allegations over the "murder" of party MLA Debendra Nath Ray, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday said that prima facie it appeared to be a "case of suicide". Addressing a press meet at the state Secretariat Nabanno, Bandopadhyay said that the state government would take the probe into the matter to its logical end. He said that the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was probing. "The post-mortem suggests death due to hanging as noted above and is ante-mortem in nature. There was no other injury on his body. After preliminary investigation, the state police is assuming it a case of suicide," he said, while quoting the post-mortem report. Meanwhile, a 12-hour shutdown was observed in eight northern districts of West Bengal, amid sporadic disruptions by angry BJP supporters. The shutdown was called to protest against the death of BJP legislator from North Dinajpur's Hemtabad, who was found hanging a few metres from his home near a local market on Monday morning. According to police sources, BJP activists took out rallies in Malda district and forcibly closed the district head post office. They also staged a sit-in to disrupt regular transport services in the district. A group of BJP workers staged protests at the depot of North Bengal State Transport Corporation and also blocked the National Highway-34. Similarly, BJP workers also hit the roads in Cooch Behar district protesting the incident. Daily transport services were disrupted by BJP supporters at Ghughumari area in the district. As many as three buses were partially ransacked by irate political activists. At least 15 people were arrested in connection with the incident. A minor clash also took place between BJP activists and Trinamool Congress supporters at Toofanganj in Cooch Behar district, police said. Ray had joined the BJP in 2019. Earlier, he was elected on a Communist Party of India-Marxist ticket in 2016. The family members of the deceased BJP lawmaker had alleged that Ray was 'murdered' for his political affiliations and demanded a thorough probe into the matter. In Delhi, the BJP alleged on Tuesday that 'jungle raj' prevailed in West Bengal, after a delegation of senior state party leaders met President Ram Nath Kovind here to demand a CBI probe into the death of Ray. NASA broadcasts final spacewalks to upgrade space station power system NASA astronaut Bob Behnken (at left) is pictured during a spacewalk to swap batteries and upgrade power systems on the International Space Station's Starboard-6 truss structure. Pictured at lower right, is an external pallet, gripped by the Canadarm2 robotic arm, that housed the batteries replaced on the orbiting lab. Behnken was joined during the six-hour and seven-minute excursion by NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (out of frame). Credits: NASA NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy, KF5KDR and Robert Behnken will conduct a pair of spacewalks Thursday, July 16, and Tuesday, July 21, to finish a 3.5-year effort to upgrade the International Space Stations power system. Coverage each day will begin at 6 a.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agencys website. The spacewalks will begin around 7:35 a.m., and could last up to seven hours. Cassidy and Behnken will replace aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with new lithium-ion batteries delivered to the station on a Japanese cargo ship in May. The replacements will be on the starboard 6 truss 3B power channel. During the July 16 spacewalk, they plan to remove five of six older nickel-hydrogen batteries for the truss power system and install three new lithium-ion batteries, as well as accompanying hardware. The last nickel-hydrogen battery will be removed from the truss and stowed on July 21, when Behnken and Cassidy venture out on the 300th spacewalk involving U.S. astronauts since Ed White stepped out of his Gemini 4 capsule on June 3, 1965. In all, 12 spacewalks will have been performed since January 2017 to change out batteries for eight power channels used to route electricity on the station. When the power upgrades are complete, the astronauts will shift gears and remove two lifting fixtures used for ground processing of the stations solar arrays prior to their launch. Theyll also begin preparing the Tranquility module for the installation of a commercial airlock provided by NanoRacks and scheduled to arrive on a SpaceX cargo flight later this year. The airlock will be used to deploy commercial and government-sponsored experiments into space. Behnken will be designated extravehicular crewmember 1 for both spacewalks and wear a spacesuit bearing red stripes. Cassidy will be extravehicular crewmember 2 for both spacewalks, wearing a suit with no stripes. These will be the 230th and 231st spacewalks in the history of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. They also will be the ninth and 10th for Cassidy and Behnken, who will join former NASA astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Peggy Whitson with the most spacewalks by Americans. Cassidy arrived at the space station in April, taking command of Expedition 63. Behnken, who is serving as a flight engineer for the expedition, arrived at the station in May with fellow Commercial Crew astronaut Douglas Hurley on SpaceXs Crew Dragon Demo-2 test flight. For almost 20 years, humans have lived and worked continuously aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and demonstrating new technologies, making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth that will enable long-duration human and robotic exploration into deep space. As a global endeavor, 239 people from 19 countries have visited the unique microgravity laboratory that has hosted more than 2,800 research investigations from researchers in 108 countries and areas. For more information about the International Space Station, its research, and crew, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/station Korean actress Lee Young-ae shakes hands with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a state banquet hosted by President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae in November 2017. Uzbek First Lady Ziroatkhon Hoshimova, fourth from left, sent a letter recently to thank Lee for her role in "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors," a big-budget K-drama she starred in in 2017, now being broadcast for free in Uzbekistan. Yonhap By Yi Whan-woo Lee Young-ae, one of Korea's most famous actresses, has received a letter of gratitude from the first lady of Uzbekistan recently in recognition of a favor she did for Uzbek television viewers. According to her agency, Ziroatkhon Hoshimova, the wife of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, thanked Lee in the letter in June for helping provide "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors," a big-budget K-drama she starred in in 2017, for free broadcast in Uzbekistan by donating the copyright. The first lady wrote that she was "very pleased to hear about Lee's role" in helping the soap opera's broadcasting in Uzbekistan. She called Lee's action "a beautiful one" and that it is "more meaningful in the time of COVID-19 pandemic." "I am always pleased and appreciative for Lee's love and affection toward Uzbekistan. Lee's good deeds have touched us deep inside our heart," the first lady added. Aired in Korea from January to May 2017, the drama had Lee playing Shin Saimdang, a Joseon-era lady who is seen as the model woman for her talents in art and literature while also being a respected wife and mother. The 28-episode drama marked Lee's television comeback after she rose to international stardom with 2003 drama "Dae Jang Geum" (or "Jewel in the Palace") that led the Korean wave in the 2000s. With "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors" being produced at the cost of nearly 22 billion won ($18.2 million), its producer Group Eight went on a sales spree of its copyrights on the international market to generate revenue. The firm had sought to sell copyrights in Uzbekistan as well but Lee "persistently" convinced its executives to "donate" the copyrights instead, out of concern that the soaring price might deprive fans in Uzbekistan of the chance to enjoy Korean dramas including hers, according to her agency. Lee especially was keen about helping 600,000 ethnic Koreans in Central Asia, including 200,000 in Uzbekistan, to get to know more about Korea and its culture through dramas. She personally spent more than 100 million won on dubbing and other relevant steps for the soap opera to be aired in Uzbekistan. Her popularity in Uzbekistan has been notably high, with "Dae Jang Geum" recording a 97 percent viewer rating there. Lee was among the guests when President Moon Jae-in hosted Uzbek President Mirziyoyev and first lady Hoshimova at a state banquet during their visit to Seoul in November 2017. The first several episodes of "Saimdang, Memoir of Colors" aired in Uzbekistan last week, with viewer ratings ranging from 70 percent to 80 percent. BROSSARD, Quebec, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diagnos Inc. (DIAGNOS or the Corporation) (TSX Venture: ADK) (OTCQB: DGNOF), a leader in early detection of critical health issues using advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI), is pleased to announce a service agreement with the Colombian Telemedicine Centre Ltd (CTMC). The CTMC selected DIAGNOS AI engine CARA to start screening Colombias population in alliance with the largest and most well-renowned specialist center in the country. The aim is to commence the screening project in the following weeks in two major regions of Colombia. CARA will empower local technicians. Automated results will be validated by the specialists in order to schedule and follow up only the patients that need to be treated. The CTMC was founded and launched in 2005 aiming to foster a Telemedicine environment, eHealth service in order to overcome the difficulties of having access to healthcare. Today we seize the opportunity hand-to-hand with DIAGNOS to unburden the heavy costs of blindness caused by diabetes at the time thousands of patients will have access to a real-time eye analysis, said Dr. Jorge Alberto Velez B., Director and Founder of the CTMC. We would like to thank the CTMC for choosing our CARA platform. We believe that CARA is a perfect fit as the main engine of the telemedicine solution. After a successful eye screening program with Bayer in 2015, we return to Colombia to engage our AI service into a practical solution for the local community. Along with CTMC, we can add value by making our unique service accessible, said Andre Larente, President of DIAGNOS. About DIAGNOS DIAGNOS is a publicly-traded Canadian corporation with a mission of early detection of critical health issues through the use of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool CARA (Computer Assisted Retina Analysis). CARA is a tele-ophthalmology platform that integrates with existing equipment (hardware and software) and processes at the point of care. CARAs Artificial Intelligence image enhancement algorithms make standard retinal images sharper, clearer and easier to read. CARA is accessible securely over the internet and is compatible with all recognized image formats and brands of fundus cameras and is EMR compatible. CARA is a cost-effective tool for screening large numbers of patients in real-time. CARA complies with local regulations, is FDA cleared for commercialization in the United States of America is Health Canada licensed for commercialization in Canada and is CE marking compliant in Europe. Story continues Additional information is available at www.diagnos.com and www.sedar.com This news release contains forward-looking information. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements. DIAGNOS disclaims any intention or obligation to publically update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Mr. Andre Larente, President DIAGNOS Inc. Tel: 450-678-8882 ext. 224 alarente@diagnos.ca On a hot day in early June, Dr. Heidi Gullett, medical director at the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, stood with a host of other public health workers in protective gear in the parking lot of the Word Church on Kinsman Road in Cleveland. She watched a man ride his bike into the lot, up to one of three lanes set-up for cars to drive through. The Board of Health and MetroHealth System had worked with church officials to make a pop-up COVID-19 testing site at this particular parking lot. He was on his way to work at a construction site, Dr. Gullett explained. He had a cough and just said, I really want to be tested. After a quick screening and the standard nasal swabs, the man was back on his way within 5 or so minutes (although he was told to self-isolate by the county due to his symptoms). Thats just a snapshot of the work that the County Board of Health and MetroHealth have done since roughly mid-May, when they started an initiative to launch testing sites in key neighborhood locations throughout the county and city of Cleveland. Community health centers like Care Alliance in Cleveland have also started sites where anyone can drop in to get tested, with more on the way. Between mid-May and the end of June, CCBH and MetroHealth had tested a little more than 3,500 people at sites like the Word Church through a county-funded partnership, with 39 percent of the clients, like the bike rider, self-identifying as Black or African-American, according to a CCBH spokesperson. Setting up a testing site accessible to Black Ohioans is critical in a state where African-Americans are 27 percent of all COVID-19 cases despite making up about 13 percent of the total population, according to Ohio Department of Health data. Nichelle Shaw, a supervisor in prevention and wellness with CCBH, explained that CCBH tries to look at where cases are spiking in the county when trying to set up a new testing site. Those locations include homeless shelters, nursing homes and other congregant-living facilities. Thats in addition to looking at other factors, such as certain social determinants of health, if a community has a high infant mortality rate, for example, Shaw explained. if individuals dont have cars, we have data on that because one of the important things we want to do is make sure we can also reach people that dont have cars. Thats why partnering with trusted community organizations to locate testing sites at places like the Word Church is all the more key, Dr. Gullett said, because they can help get the word out about testing. Dr. Heidi Gullett, center, Cuyahoga County Board of Healths medical director, explains the process to a driver who came through a pop-up COVID-19 testing site located at the Word Church on Kinsman Road in Cleveland back in early June. To that end, a local collective of churches called the Greater Cleveland Congregations has partnered with the County Board of Health on GCCs Color of Health initiative, in which the GCCs 17 member churches will serve as testing sites and use their platform to disseminate information. The county isnt alone in trying to make tests available to people who live in high-risk neighborhoods. The other major source of testing sites in Cleveland neighborhoods are federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), which operate in under-served areas. Those centers are working together to ramp up access to testing, with some FQHCs offering free walk-up and drive-up testing hours each week. Eric Morse, CEO of the Centers for Families and Children and Circle Health, said the goal of that collaboration is to eventually do upward of 300-400 free tests per day across the various FQHCs in Cleveland, with enough of a geographic spread to reach a significant number of underserved neighborhoods. But, that initiative is still getting off the ground, Morse said. As an example of what that effort looks like, Care Alliance, one of those FQHCs, has been offering a free drive-up and walk-in COVID-19 testing clinic on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays each week since mid-June. Dr. Claude Jones, CEO of Care Alliance, said his agency has done 300 tests as of July 6, with 11 confirmed positives. The majority of those (positive) individuals were asymptomatic, so were catching those carriers, Dr. Jones said, noting that these were people who might not be tested otherwise. Although appointments are recommended so that people can be pre-screened, people can walk up to the clinic (they are asked to wear a mask and given one if they dont have one) or drive up into a lane in front of the facility to get curb-side testing. Doris Williams, director of nursing, said that Care Alliance also helps provide transportation to the facility if people need it. All they have to do is let us know at the time of registration for the testing appointment and we will pick them up and bring them here, Williams said. As the coronavirus continues to surge in Ohio and elsewhere, however, testing results are becoming increasingly more difficult to get back in a timely fashion with some hospitals and labs. What had been a 24-48 hour delay in mid-June is now closer to two to three days or more for Care Alliance, for example. Andrea Mathews, center, a registered nurse with Care Alliance Health Center, prepares to give a COVID-19 test at the Care Alliance Health Centers Central Neighborhood Clinic on Central Avenue in Cleveland. Denise Snyder, a medical assistant with Care Alliance, is at left. These kinds of neighborhood sites have made it easier in recent weeks to get a coronavirus test in Ohio, but barriers remain, especially for poor people or others who might not have access to a car or public transportation. And in places where there are drive-up tests through the Ohio Department of Health, there have been long lines of cars, with some waiting several hours to get tested. Dr. Charles Modlin, a doctor with the Cleveland Clinic and chair of the Ohio Minority Health Strike Forces outreach committee, said that the strike force is in the process of finalizing its recommendations to the state for how to address the viruss disproportionate impact on people of color. Recommendations will include more pop-up testing sites being set-up in close proximity to minority neighborhoods, Dr. Modlin said, including in Cleveland. No state-run pop-up sites have occurred in Cuyahoga County yet, however. Information on new pop-up locations and other testing sites can be found through an ODH map, but, it doesnt have completely up-to-date information on each testing location. However, Ohio isnt the only state struggling to improve access to testing in high-risk neighborhoods. Its a national problem. Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, lead epidemiologist for the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Testing Insights Initiative, said shes not aware of any gold-standard model for improving access to testing in the U.S. She said access to transportation is a big barrier for poor communities; recognizing that, some cities have created mobile testing clinics to meet people where they are. Nuzzo said pop-up testing sites help expand access, but theyre not a permanent solution. Another roadblock is simply an inability to spread the word about testing sites to non-English speakers, Nuzzo said. She recommended health agencies translate any information they have on testing into Spanish and other languages that their communities might speak. And finally, there are unresolved questions about the cost of testing, Nuzzo said. While the federal Families First Act requires insurers not charge patients for COVID-19 testing, depending on state regulations, some insurance companies could deny that coverage if the test wasnt medically necessary, Nuzzo said. Even then, theres a significant population of people without insurance and without a regular doctor whom they can call to ask for a test. Redlining access The difficulty in getting a COVID-19 test in poor communities didnt sit well with Greater Cleveland Congregations. It recently called on major pharmacies, such as CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens, to expand their COVID-19 testing sites in inner-city Cleveland after finding that the vast majority of those businesses didnt offer testing in poor neighborhoods. An analysis by the GCC found that of the 35-plus CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens in the Cleveland area, the only pharmacies that offered testing were located at the edge of, or beyond, the city limits. Pastors for the group alleged during a press conference Thursday that this lack of access to testing in majority-African-American neighborhoods was a product of structural racism, akin to redlining access to testing. This screenshot, provided by the Greater Cleveland Congregations, shows the location of 35-plus Rite Aid, Walgreens and CVS pharmacies throughout the Cleveland area. The pharmacies labeled in yellow do not offer COVID-19 testing as of early July; the stores labeled in green do. Rev. Ronald Maxwell, senior pastor of Affinity Missionary Baptist Church and a GCC member, said that in the last week alone that hed heard from three members of his congregation who could not get a test for the coronavirus in a timely manner. Thats not simply because of the barriers that are put up toward testing, and those barriers are many; each of them had to leave not just their neighborhood but drive through the suburbs into the exurbs, Maxwell said. There are early signs that the GCCs advocacy is working, though, with CVS spokesperson Mike DeAngelis saying on Friday last week that CVS was committing to putting four new store-based testing sites in the city of Cleveland by July 24 to serve highly vulnerable communities as determined by the CDCs Social Vulnerability Index. Even with that improvement, many of those pharmacies testing sites are drive-through only, meaning a person needs a car in the first place. Plus, they require a person to complete an online screening to qualify for the limited number of tests available. The problem goes deeper than these pharmacies, however. Even as the number of people tested in Ohio per day has jumped from around 6,100 on May 1 to about 19,900 on July 7 and as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in early June that anyone who wants a test can get one hospital systems are still limiting who can get tested. Dr. Brian Rubin, chairman of pathology and laboratory medicine at Cleveland Clinic, said his hospital system tries to test everyone it can, but, it still needs to screen people to make sure they fit into a series of buckets if they have symptoms, or have had direct contact with somebody with the coronavirus, for example. In a hospital, all resources are limited; we just cant test every single person who wants a test theres not enough tests, Dr. Rubin said. In an ideal world wed all be tested every day, and wed eliminate COVID in a few months in an ideal world. Higher education stepping in is it a model? Leaders with Howard University, a historically black university based in Washington D.C., saw how difficult it was for people to access testing early on in the pandemic. So, the college created two testing sites in D.C.s Ward 7, an area of the city that was 50.7 percent African-American according to 2010 Census data. Michael R. Crawford, associate dean for strategy, outreach and innovation with Howard, said that Ward 7 and Ward 8, nearby, are some of the areas that were hit the hardest by the pandemic. He noted that those wards were also already medically underserved areas even before the pandemic. There was no free testing center (at the time) that was directly embedded in the community that community residents could walk to, Crawford explained. So, using a $1 million grant from Bank of America, Howard Universitys Faculty Practice Plan located one testing site in a health clinic in a densely populated area in Ward 7, just adjacent to a metro station and a bus line. The university later opened another site at the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church on the border of Ward 7 and 8, which is also adjacent to public transit options, Crawford said. Appointments are recommended, but there are times reserved for people to walk into the clinics. Those sites together have administered more than 1,000 tests over the last two months, with an average positive rate of between 3% and 4%, Crawford said. Were proud of our efforts, but we know we can do more, he said. Crawford said he believes others in higher education and elsewhere can follow Howard Universitys model. I would say partnerships are key; being able to analyze the data and understand which communities have been impacted the most, and then being able to deploy those resources with social determinants and health disparities in mind, Crawford said. One limiting factor for many testing sites, however, is timing, said Johns Hopkins Dr. Nuzzo. Howard Universitys sites are open Tuesdays and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., like some of the sites in Cleveland. Many of the people in the communities that these efforts are trying to reach are normally working during those hours, Nuzzo said. We need to be making testing more available and at more convenient times so that people can be tested and they dont have to worry about missing work or anything like that, Nuzzo said. -- Conor Morris is a corps member with Report for America. You can find him on Twitter at @condormorris, or email him at cmorris@advance-ohio.com. This story is sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative, which is composed of 16-plus Greater Cleveland news outlets including Cleveland.com. Rome holds summer opera festival in 2,800-year-old Roman arena. Rome's Circus Maximus, the ancient chariot racing arena, is preparing to welcome the city's summer opera festival, organised by Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, for the first time. Workers are putting the final touches to a giant stage and a high raised stand with seating for a maximum of 1,400 audience members, all of whose seats are spaced wide apart to allow for social distancing. Romes opera house technical director, Francesco Arena, told Reuters news agency that the Circus Maximus is "returning in a way to its origins" by transforming itself "from a circus to a theatre, an opera house in this case." The opera festival under the stars will open on 16 July with a new production of Verdi's Rigoletto, conducted by Daniele Gatti, which will be broadcast on Italy's RAI 5 television channel. Photo: Yasuko Kageyama / TOR. Rigoletto with Roberto Frontali and Gilda Rosa Feola. The programme includes The Barber of Seville (22 July-13 Aug) and The Merry Widow (31 July-12 Aug), both of which will be conducted by Stefano Montanari. Opera fans can also to look forward to Le Quattro Stagioni, a ballet based on Vivaldi's Four Seasons (25 July-3 Aug), and Omaggio a Roma, with stars Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov (6-9 Aug). Rome's summer opera season normally takes place at the Baths of Caracalla - since 1937 - but the historic venue was ruled out definitively for being "incompatible" with Italy's covid-19 social distancing rules. For full details about the summer 2020 opera season, including tickets, see Teatro dell'Opera di Roma website. Cover photo: Kimberly Ross / Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. That sort of no-maybe-yes messaging has been typical of the Johnson governments pandemic response. Johnson and his ministers say they follow their science advisers and take each step as necessary. But critics say the waffling may have been especially unhelpful in the case of face coverings which have been supported by numerous studies on controlling spread of the novel coronavirus. The MSA Coalitions new partnership with MCI USA will enable us to enhance our activities around the four pillars of our mission: providing credible and relevant education, offering trusted emotional support, building a unified MSA community, and funding patient-centric research. The Multiple System Atrophy Coalition (MSA Coalition), the leading nonprofit funder of global MSA research, today announced a strategic partnership with MCI USAs Association Solutions division. The announcement signals a major milestone for the MSA Coalition as it continues its remarkable growth and expansion of service and programs to the multiple system atrophy community. As of July 1, 2020, MCI USAs dedicated team of nonprofit professionals began supporting patients, care partners, and medical professionals on the frontlines of the battle against multiple system atrophy, a rare and rapidly progressive neurological disorder that affects approximately 250,000 people in the middle years of life worldwide. Supporting the MSA Coalition Board of Directors, a full-time Executive Director will manage various experts at MCI USA as they provide skilled support to enhance and expand key services and programs such as educational programming, planning of the worlds largest MSA patient and family conference, advocacy, public relations, fundraising, and donor support. MCI USA will also manage day-to-day operations and provide accounting administration. This is a pivotal moment in the MSA Coalitions history. Over 30 years ago our organization was born out of the resolve of one caregiver to make a difference in the lives of other MSA families. Since then our volunteer Board of Directors have remained hands-on performing all administrative functions without hired staff. Now we are excited to take our programs and initiatives to the next level with the professional support of MCI USA, said Cyndi Roemer, Chair, Board of Directors, the MSA Coalition. The MSA Coalitions new partnership with MCI USA will enable us to enhance our activities around the four pillars of our mission: providing credible and relevant education, offering trusted emotional support, building a unified MSA community, and funding patient-centric research that is so important to finding a treatment and ultimately a cure for MSA. An exciting benefit of the management support offered by MCI USA is that it will allow the MSA Coalition Board to focus on governance, big-picture strategies, and personal relationships with those in the MSA community. The Board will also oversee the work being conducted by the team at MCI USA to ensure it is efficiently and effectively advancing our strategic plan. The MSA Coalitions decision to move to paid staff was part of a two-year strategic planning process focused on how best to bring real hope to those suffering from MSA. Additionally, the MSA Coalition recently announced strong financial results for 2019 with revenue of $4.2 million. The nonprofit ended the year with net assets of $5.4 million, of which $3.3 million is restricted, primarily to research. The MSA Coalitions strong financial position assures sustainability of North Americas largest charitable provider of MSA support, education, and research funding. With financial security and a well-designed strategic plan in place that required professional help to execute it, an extensive and thorough search was conducted to identify the best association management company to carry out the strategies approved by the MSA Coalition Board of Directors, stated Carol Langer, Treasurer, the MSA Coalition. Starting with sixteen responses to our request for proposals, the MSA Coalition Board ultimately determined MCI USA to be the best fit for meeting the needs of the MSA Coalition and the community it serves. For nearly 30 years, MCI USAs Association Solutions division has helped advance the goals of its mission-driven nonprofit clients. With more than 350 employees in six U.S. locations, MCI USA provides results-oriented experience and expertise in full-service nonprofit management, strategic planning, fundraising, community building, creative services, technology solutions, event conceptualization, and more. MCI USAs healthcare clients include the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, Association of Women Surgeons, Interstitial Cystitis Association (ICA), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA), and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association all groups that combine an essential mission with a need to educate clients and patients, professionals, and the general public about critical health care issues. MCI USA is proud to welcome the Multiple System Atrophy Coalition as a strategic partner, said Erin M. Fuller, FASAE, CAE, President, Association Solutions, MCI USA. We look forward to collaborating with the MSA Coalition Board and community to improve the lives of people impacted by this terrible disease through support, education, research, and advocacy. In recent years, the MSA Coalition has greatly expanded the scope of its programs. From planning and hosting the worlds largest MSA patient and family conference, to funding more than $2 million in research seed grants, and providing important educational content such as the "What You Need to Know document, the MSA Coalitions volunteer Board of Directors has contributed countless hours to the cause. Additionally, Board members have attended scientific conferences around the world, set up personal fundraisers, written website content, liaised with medical and nonprofit experts, and more. Simply stated, the MSA Coalition has outgrown the all-volunteer model which it pioneered in the MSA space dating back to 1989 when we were known as the Shy-Drager Support Group. Ten years ago, the Board of Directors, comprised of Dr. David Robertson, Dr. Thomas Chelimsky, Vera James, Judy Biedenharn and I developed the first iteration of our strategic plan focused on broadening our mission from primarily support and education to include a much stronger focus on meeting the needs of those impacted by the disease, stated Don Crouse, Vice-Chair, the MSA Coalition. This change in focus led to eight years of remarkable growth in revenue, services, and programs. In 2012 we relaunched our nonprofit as the Multiple System Atrophy Coalition with an expanded mission. 2013 was highlighted by the announcement of our global MSA research grant program and the awarding of our first research grants. Since then we have more than doubled our Board of Directors, increased our outreach to the global MSA community, doubled the size of our annual conference, and awarded over $2 million in research grants. As we grew, we realized that continuing to operate with an 'all-volunteer' model would hinder our ability to provide patients and their families the best support and services possible. With that realization, the time was right to hire professional staff to help us take the MSA Coalition to the next level. The MSA Coalition support line will continue to be run by MSA Coalition volunteers with experience as MSA care partners. Those in need of emotional and educational support can continue to call (866) 737-5999. The Board remains passionate and committed to this cause and looks forward to maintaining relationships with the community as MCI USA provides necessary support to increase awareness and fulfill the MSA Coalitions important mission. ### About the Multiple System Atrophy Coalition The Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) Coalition is a positive beacon of hope standing up to a little-known, rare, insidious disorder. Since 1989, the MSA Coalition has been devoted to improving the quality of life and building hope for people affected by multiple system atrophy by focusing on a four-pillar mission: Providing patients and caregivers with trusted and compassionate emotional support Educating patients, care partners and healthcare professionals with credible, critically important and relevant information Funding patient-centric collaborative research aimed at alleviating symptoms, slowing disease progression and discovering a cure Building a sense of community by connecting and unifying people affected by MSA. Thousands of participants benefit from the annual MSA Coalition Family Conference, which is live streamed and posted online. With multiple online discussion groups and a dedicated support line, someone is always there to help. As the host of the first-ever Global MSA Advocacy meeting, the MSA Coalition works with other like-minded charities to foster a community of support and care, while also playing an important role in global MSA research efforts. Learn more at http://www.multiplesystematrophy.org/ or call our support hotline toll-free at 866-737-5999 or our business line at 866-737-4999. About Multiple System Atrophy Multiple system atrophy, previously known as Shy-Drager Syndrome, is a rare and fatal disorder with less than 15,000 Americans diagnosed at any given time. According to the National Institutes of Health, "Multiple system atrophy is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by symptoms of autonomic nervous system failure such as fainting spells (neurogenic orthostatic hypotension) and bladder control problems, combined with motor control symptoms such as tremor, rigidity, and loss of balance and muscle coordination." MSA affects both men and women primarily in their 50s. MSA tends to advance rapidly over the course of 6 to 10 years, with progressive loss of motor skills, eventual confinement to bed, and death. There is no cure or remission from the disease. The body of Glee star Naya Rivera was found on Monday at a Southern California lake, authorities said. Ventura County Sheriff's officials confirmed at an afternoon news conference that the body that search crews found floating in the northeast corner of Lake Piru earlier in the day was that of the 33-year-old Rivera. The discovery came five days after Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru, where her son was found on July 8 asleep and alone on a rented pontoon boat, authorities said. Authorities said the following day that they believed Rivera had drowned, and they had shifted to working to find her body rather than find her alive. According to the police working on Rivera's case, the actor died trying to save her son. Rivera's son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, was found asleep and alone on the boat the duo had rented which led to the cops being alerted. The boy later told the police that after the two went swimming, Rivera pushed him into the boat but when he turned around to see her, she had disappeared underwater. Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said during a press conference that Rivera had mustered enough energy to help her son, but not to save herself. The cops believe that the actor had been trapped by vegetation beneath the surface of the lake, which is why it took five days to spot her. Rivera's untimely and tragic demise has sent shock waves around the world. The fact that the actor had died while trying to save her son was what broke her fans' hearts. Heartbreaking to hear the police report confirming that they've found Naya Rivera. She used the last of her energy to save her son's life. She died a mother and a hero. RIP Naya. pic.twitter.com/rdF59SVcuz Joe (@JoeSaunders) July 13, 2020 Naya used her last breath, her last bit of energy, her last few moments alive to save Josey. She saved his life & died just as an amazing mother & the hero she was every single day to that little boy. #nayarivera The whole world needs to know her love for this son of hers. pic.twitter.com/VzivZkiq0y Muhammad Taqi (@IamTaqiZ) July 14, 2020 naya rivera's last moment on earth was protecting her son. she pushed him onto the boat but couldn't save herself. i'm heartbroken. pic.twitter.com/yEDGbaUT6y jade (@cristinasoh) July 13, 2020 It appears that in her final moments, Naya used her last bit of strength to lift her son out of the water and onto the boat, possibly saving his life. Absolutely devastating. #NayaRivera Derrick Levasseur (@DerrickL) July 13, 2020 Naya Rivera reportedly helped boost her son back into their boat before disappearing into the water at Lake Piru. pic.twitter.com/zzTBqCYkWy The AHS Zone (@ahszone) July 13, 2020 Sheriff on death of Naya Rivera: No foul play, and this was not a suicide. According to Naya's son, they had both been swimming. She pushed him up on to the boat, then slipped down into the water and disappeared. pic.twitter.com/8YmKyLBV5F Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 13, 2020 naya saved josey. naya saved her 4 year old son.that's the image you should have.that's naya rivera. she's not what the media says. celeste (@DINAHPET5CH) July 13, 2020 Naya Rivera sacrificed her own life to save her son. There truly is no greater love than a mother's. Rest in peace, Naya. The world lost such an amazing soul. :dove_of_peace: pic.twitter.com/OmTImIofOG PRINCESS (@pjibrinn) July 13, 2020 naya rivera died a selfless hero as she spent her final moments saving her son's life. she will not be forgotten. grateful to have witnessed her talent in the industry. may she rest in paradise and sending all my love to her family and friends :yellow_heart: pic.twitter.com/T2yQUR9WuT ex. (@28tinytommo) July 13, 2020 Confirming it is speculation, officers suggest that Naya Rivera and her son both got into trouble in the water due to riptides, but she "mustered the energy" to get her son back on board. Rebecca Lewis (@bexlewis361) July 13, 2020 Rivera played singing cheerleader Santana Lopez for six seasons on the Fox musical-comedy series Glee. She is the third major cast member from the show to die in their 30s. The confirmation of her death comes seven years to the day after co-star Cory Monteith died at 31 from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin, with the series losing one of its leads while it was still on the air. Mr Theophilus Tamakloe, Chairman of the Assinman Cocoa Farmers Cooperative and Marketing Union Limited (AMCOFUL) has called for a policy direction on re-afforestation on most Cocoa lands to avoid the looming threats of deforestation in Cocoa growing areas. He said Cocoa production in Ghana continued to affect many forest reserves. Mr Tamakloe said a study conducted by the Union on Addressing Cocoa Land use and Impact on deforestation revealed that the trajectory of deforestation due to cocoa production had remained upward primarily because of rising demand for chocolate, decreasing production capacity from aging cocoa trees, lack of good agricultural practices and the shrinking suitable land associated with climate change. The study was sponsored by the BUSAC Fund, USAID and DANIDA. The factors he noted, created further incentives to convert forests to farmlands for cocoa, which threatened remaining forest and protected areas. Meanwhile, though Ghana joined La Cote d'Ivoire at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23), in Bonn, Germany to announce far-reaching Frameworks for Action with leading chocolate and cocoa companies to end deforestation and restore forest areas, much was not realized. Central to the Frameworks, he said was a commitment to stop further conversion of any forestland for cocoa production, which marked one of the latest forms of transnational business governance, where state actors shared the regulation of the environmental and social externalities with private sector actors. He said in addition, both countries announced plans to introduce a differentiated approach for improved management of forest reserves, based on the level of degradation of the forests. Mr Tamakloe, however urged the two countries to do more adding, "there are growing concerns from international cocoa buyers". He stated that there were also several challenges of Cocoa Farmers such as , inadequate funding, limited technical knowledge to replant old trees and somewhat lack of best practices to rehabilitate old cocoa farms for resilience and higher yield. In addition to the setbacks, he indicated that many cocoa farmers were faced with insecure land tenure arrangements that prevented or discouraged them from replanting on old farms among many others. Mr Tamakloe revealed that the implications for the depletion of the forest cover induced land degradation and desertification, destruction of biodiversity and depletion of the natural sink for carbon dioxide. "It has adverse effects on ecosystem services such as watershed protection, provision of habitat for wildlife, storm-flow stabilization, runoff control, prevention of soil erosion, and other types of environmental amelioration. He noted that in disturbing the watershed protection function of forests, deforestation caused siltation of streams, rivers and increased flooding. Mr Tamakloe therefore called on partners to take action considering the limited technical and economic capacity of smallholder cocoa farmers who were prime culprits on deforestation in the Cocoa sector. 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 As COVID-19 becomes the most intensely covered virus in history, there are important lessons to be drawn from the medias reporting of another global pandemic: HIV/Aids. Whose lives the world deems worthy of saving depends, at least partly, on the stories that journalists tell. This was one of the findings of my research into British media coverage of Africas Aids pandemic, in which I analysed 1,281 news reports between 1987 and 2008. At the height of that pandemic, journalists helped to expose how intellectual property laws and the business models of big pharmaceutical companies disregarded the health needs of those living in poorer countries. Such reporting played an important role in creating the political momentum for the mass roll-out of life-saving treatment across the global south. But Aids also provides a darker lesson about the capacity of the media to normalise millions of deaths taking place around us. Burying the story and the dead Until the late 1990s, millions of people dying of Aids-related causes across sub-Saharan Africa were a non-issue for the British media, much like the initial wave of coronavirus deaths in China barely registered on the international media radar. My analysis showed that BBC News reported only 14 times about Aids in Africa between 1987 and 1995, mostly in passing. The Financial Times carried a mere 18 stories in the same period. Little changed following the discovery of life-saving antiretroviral therapy in 1996, which remained out of reach for the majority of people living with HIV/Aids. In 1999, there were more than 24 million HIV-positive people in sub-Saharan Africa. Some countries saw prevalence rates rise above 20%. Yet, by then the pandemic had merited just one front-page story in the British press. As late as 2001, The Economist concluded that: The world is not going to rescue Africa from Aids. Only Africans can do that, by changing their behaviour. The spectacular concentration of the pandemic in Africa, Economist readers were told, was driven by Africans presumed hyper-sexuality, cultural myths and the incompetence of the continents leaders. Poverty was also to blame, since, as the magazine wrote in 1998, those who cannot afford television find other ways of passing the evening. Rooted in thinly-veiled racist assumptions, these assertions steered attention away from the ways that the rules of the global economic order undermined the public health capacities of developing countries. The global Aids pandemic has been shaped by the complex interplay of epidemiological, behavioural and cultural factors. But its unequal distribution is also linked to the punishing legacy of external debt and conditions for governmental reforms imposed on the continent by the IMF and World Bank. Stephen Lewis, the UNs former Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, denounced this as a form of capitalist Stalinism that decimated Africas health care infrastructure during the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, in more than two decades, I found only one instance that explicitly linked the Aids crisis to Africas encounter with neoliberalism. Published in The Guardian in July 2000, it was a letter to the editor by a medical aid worker entitled Our guilt in the land of the dying. READ ALSO: It is this capacity of media reporting to mask the way that pandemics are shaped by the worlds grotesque inequalities that is perhaps the most disquieting finding of my research as COVID-19 spreads to countries with fragile health care systems. Of profits, patents and power The struggle over access to life-saving HIV medicines that took place at the turn of the millennium showed that this need not be the case. Pitting the worlds powerful pharmaceutical companies against a coalition of activists and NGOs, the international media became a central arena in which this battle unfolded. In the early 2000s, Aids suddenly became the subject of front-page news, op-eds and investigative reports as journalists shone the spotlight on the murky world of international trade politics, exposing how western governments were colluding with drug companies in protecting their patents. The story of profits, patents and power became enveloped in deeply empathetic accounts of human suffering. Aids sufferers were no longer mere objects of our pity or moral judgement. They now had names, families, friends, and tangible places of origin, as in The Guardians Saving Grace series from Malawi. This period was exceptional in the history of the medias treatment of HIV/Aids though since the mid-2000s coverage has declined sharply. Coronavirus warnings As the search for COVID-19 vaccines intensifies, journalists must aggressively question whether governments and pharmaceutical companies are enacting all measures to ensure universal access. Its deja vu for those who led the campaign for access to affordable Aids drugs. Alarmed by the prospect of profiteering by big pharmaceutical companies, they are concerned that coronavirus treatments may again remain out of reach of the less privileged. There are some hopeful signs that big pharmaceutical firms will not seek to aggressively assert their monopoly rights. Perhaps they are fearful of another monumental public relations debacle, as occurred when a number of pharmaceutical firms sued the South African government over Aids drugs in 2001. Still, some experts are less sanguine about COVID-19, and fear it will be pharmaceutical companies who ultimately decide who lives and who dies. Read more: Coronavirus: how media coverage of epidemics often stokes fear and panic How COVID-19 will end depends, in part, on the script that journalists write and their ability to tell stories that acknowledge pandemics are always rooted in the history of accumulated global inequalities and so our own role within them. With all eyes on the coronavirus, its sobering that HIV/Aids continues to claim almost half a million lives in sub-Saharan Africa alone every year. Ludek Stavinoha, Lecturer in Media and International Development, University of East Anglia This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The conversation Turkish authorities have told Iranian journalists Arash Yavari and his wife Masoomeh Hatamkhani, who is also a journalist, to leave the country and go back to Iran despite having UN refugee status. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) calls on the Turkish authorities not to deport both journalists and respect international refugee law. Both journalists and their son had to flee Iran in 2015 after suffering threats, intimidation and harassment from the authorities for years. In 2012, Arash YavariI was sentenced to four and a half years in prison, 74 lashes and permanent deprivation of political, media and cultural activity. Authorities charged him with "propaganda against the regime, insulting the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and virtual activity in violation of Islamic principles" due to his reporting for Agence France Press (AFP). Both journalists and their 13-year old son fled to Turkey where they have been living after obtaining UN refugee status. However, the problems continued, Arash YavariI told the IFJ. "During this time in Turkey, we have not been relieved of problems such as the theft of my home appliances and identity documents and beatings, attacks and threats by unknown individuals and by Islamic Republic agents," Arash claimed. The family was granted asylum status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Still, the Turkish Migration Board decided to close their case and gave them a ten-month tourist residence permit that will not be extended. Once this residence permission is over, they will have to go back to Iran, where their wellbeing will be at serious risk. The IFJ sent a letter to the UNCHR headquarters and the regional office in Turkey, urging them to press the Turkish authorities on the need to comply with their international obligations towards them as people under UN protection. IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: "Iran has a long record of press freedom and human rights' violations. We call on the UNCHR to do their utmost and prevent the deportation of Arash Yavari, Masoomeh Hatamkhani and their son to Iran, where their safety will be in serious danger." Other Iranian journalists are in a similar situation in Turkey. Another couple of journalists, who are members of the IFJ affiliate in Iran, and live in Turkey with their six years old son since 2017 were also recently told by Turkish authorities that their case was closed and they risk being deported if their appeal is not successful. Both journalists have told the IFJ not to disclose their identity fearing reprisals against their families in Iran. THE OFFICIAL KANSAS CITY HOMIICDE COUNT STANDS AT 101!!! THIS TOWN HIT THE CENTURY MARK FASTER THAN ANY YEAR IN LOCAL HISTORY!!! KCPD Share Local Beat Down Clip Of The Day KCPD releases graphic video of June 25 robbery to help identify suspects WARNING: The attached video may be considered graphic to some.The Kansas City Missouri Police Department is asking for help to identify two men in connection with a brutal June 25 robbery.The incident happened at a home near 31st Street and Highland Avenue.Officers were dispatched to the area around 10:25 a.m. Shooting Then Suicide At Lake Man dead, woman injured in shooting near Longview Lake KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man has died and woman has been injured in an overnight shooting at Longview Lake in southern Kansas City, sheriff's officials said. The shooting happened around 1 a.m. Monday, deputies said, during a domestic disturbance, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office said. Murder In Olathe Olathe police investigate homicide on West 127th Street KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Olathe police are investigating a homicide in the 15900 block of West 127th Street. Police said officers were called to the location around 2:22 a.m. Monday on a disturbance. When they got there, they found a 41- year-old man dead from an apparent gunshot wound. Dead-Tree Petty Cash Targeted Investigation opens into burglary at The Pitch offices in KC KCPD on Broadway. // Photo by Brock Wilbur Over the July 11th weekend, police suspect that one or more people broke into the offices of The Pitch (3543 Broadway Blvd) and made off with a laptop and business funds in the form of petty cash. Golden Ghetto Scout Master Charged With Sex Crimes Former Overland Park Boy Scout leader charged with rape, child abuse A former Boy Scout leader was charged with rape and child abuse for crimes dating back years. The Kansas City Star reported 45-year-old Andrew Rowland of Overland Park, Kansas, faces charges of rape, aggravated indecent liberties with a child involving sex, and two counts of child abuse. Big Pharma Pandemic Parole Pandemic leads to early release for Kansas City pharmacist convicted of diluting lifesaving medication KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - A Kansas City pharmacist who diluted prescriptions for profit will be released from federal prison early. KCTV5 News has learned Robert Courtney qualifies for home confinement as part of a new federal program to help with prison populations. Families of Courtney's victims are starting to be notified, and they are very upset. Silence Echoes After KCMO Youngster Shot Dead In Sleep KCPD release new image of suspect vehicle in LeGend Taliferro's murder KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Police in Kansas City, Missouri, released a clearer image of the suspect vehicle in a shooting that left 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro dead . KCPD previously released a short surveillance video clip and photo of the vehicle June 30, but authorities hope the clearer image will generate more tips in the case. Newspaper Reports Suspected Coronavirus Lunch Crime Man flashed gun when told to wear mask at Johnson County restaurant When an employee at RJ's Bob-Be-Que Shack in Mission instructed a customer to wear a mask, he responded by flashing a gun. The employee said he was only trying to follow Kansas' statewide mask mandate and that the exchange felt like a threat. Investigation Into KCK Tragedy Continues Eyewitness led KCK police to trail where they found body of missing 3-year-old girl KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Sources say an eyewitness led police to the spot where 3-year-old Olivia Jansen's body was found Friday near 34th and Steele Road. The KCK girl's body was found in what police describe as a shallow grave off a path in a wooded area about nine hours after her father, Howard Jansen III, reported her missing Friday. Lucky Local Lady Pays It Forward To Po-Po Woman turns found $1 bill into lottery win, donation for injured KCPD officer The Kansas City Police Department said it received a call this past Friday from a woman who wanted to donate the winnings of a lucky lottery ticket to help the officer that was shot on July 2 and remains in the intensive care unit at Truman Medical Center.According to police, The spate of Kansas City metro violence persists amid this turbulent Summer 2020 and in the shadow of civil unrest, campaign season and the worsening pandemic.To wit . . .Compare this to only 75 murders counted last year at this time. The spike represents an increase ofso far, with about half the year left to go.The weekend was relatively peaceful in terms of homicide and the last to murders seem to beAs always, we remind our readers that deadly crime in KCMO has a tendency to spill over into other parts of the area and so the latest crime scene news compilation offers a peek at police action, reports of violence and murder investigations across the metro.Developing . . . New findings suggest twins who survive the loss of their co-twin face an elevated risk of psychiatric disorders in the short and longer term. The death of a twin, especially earlier in life, can increase the risk of their surviving twin being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, finds a new study published today in eLife. Losing a loved one is always difficult but losing a twin may be particularly so. By virtue of being the same age, twins share many common experiences and may have strong emotional bonds. The new study suggests those who lose a co-twin may require extra support in both the short and longer term. "Losing a co-twin by death may be a particularly devastating life stressor with considerable health implications for surviving twins, yet there have been few studies on this type of bereavement," says lead author Huan Song, a senior researcher at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, China, and also at the University of Iceland and Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Using the Swedish health registers and the Swedish Twin Registry, Song and colleagues identified all Swedish twins who experienced the death of a co-twin between 1973 and 2013. They then compared the rates of psychiatric diagnoses in these bereaved twins with their non-twin siblings, and with 22,640 twins whose co-twin was still alive. "We showed that the risk of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder increased by 55% to 65% after the death of a co-twin," Song says. This risk was highest in cases where a co-twin had died during childhood or young adulthood. Surviving twins were most likely to receive a new psychiatric diagnosis in the first month after the death, when their risk of such a diagnosis was sevenfold higher than non-bereaved twins. But they continued to have a higher risk for more than 10 years after the loss. The findings also revealed that the risk of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder after a co-twin's death was particularly high for identical twins, who share all the same genes. These individuals had about a 2.5-times higher risk compared to their non-twin siblings. Surviving fraternal twins, who are as genetically similar to their twin as their non-twin siblings, had about a 30% higher risk of a psychiatric diagnosis after the death of their twin than their non-twin siblings. Senior author Unnur Valdimarsdottir, Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Iceland explains that because of their genetic similarities and shared experiences, twins often develop a sense of shared identity, which may compound their grief after the loss of their co-twin. "Our results suggest that both genetic similarity and early-life attachment may contribute to the subsequent risk of psychiatric disorders among surviving twins after the death of their co-twin," Valdimarsdottir concludes. ### Reference The paper 'Risk of psychiatric disorders among the surviving twins after a co-twin loss' can be freely accessed online at https://doi/org/10.7554/eLife.56860. Contents, including text, figures and data, are free to reuse under a CC BY 4.0 license. Media contact Emily Packer, Senior Press Officer eLife e.packer@elifesciences.org 01223 855373 About eLife eLife is a non-profit organisation created by funders and led by researchers. Our mission is to accelerate discovery by operating a platform for research communication that encourages and recognises the most responsible behaviours. We work across three major areas: publishing, technology and research culture. We aim to publish work of the highest standards and importance in all areas of biology and medicine, including Epidemiology and Global Health, while exploring creative new ways to improve how research is assessed and published. We also invest in open-source technology innovation to modernise the infrastructure for science publishing and improve online tools for sharing, using and interacting with new results. eLife receives financial support and strategic guidance from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Max Planck Society and Wellcome. Learn more at https://elifesciences.org/about. To read the latest Epidemiology and Global Health research published in eLife, visit https://elifesciences.org/subjects/epidemiology-global-health. Published on 2020/07/13 | Source New stills and behind the scenes images added for the Korean drama "Backstreet Rookie" (2020). Advertisement Directed by Lee Myeong-woo Written by Son Geun-joo Network: SBS With Ji Chang-wook, Kim Yoo-jung, Han Sunhwa, Do Sang-woo, Solbin, Kim Sun-young,... 16 episodes - Fri, Sat 22:00 A collaboration between Korea and China! Synopsis It's a romantic comedy where Choi Dae-hyeon meets Jeong Saet-byeol as a part-timer at his convenience store! A pretty college girl came to Dae-hyeon's convenience store to do a late night job. This is Jeong Saet-byeol, a high school girl who gave Dae-hyeon a surprise kiss for a cigarette errand. Dae-hyeon is under stress as sales go up with male guests coming to see Saet-byeol. Despite all the tricks of Dae-hyeon, Saet-byeol likes him. A love story by Jeong Saet-byeol, an unusual girl, will be played at a convenience store. Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2020/06/19 However, members of a group of clergy members and laity who fought to get Mulakkal arrested raised doubts on whether he actually tested positive. Franco Mulakkal, the former Jalandhar Bishop accused of raping a Kerala nun, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, reports have said. He tested positive hours after a court in Kottayam cancelled the bail granted to him and issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. Hindustan Times quoted the spokesperson of the Jalandhar Diocese Father Peter as saying that Mulakkal's health is "not so good." However, members of Save Our Sisters (SOS) Action Council, a group of clergy members and laity who fought to get Mulakkal arrested, raised doubts on the claim. One of them, Riju told The News Minute, "We seriously doubt the legitimacy of this update. We have confirmation that the Bishop House where the accused is residing is not under a lockdown. The incumbent Administrative Bishop has been stepping out of the residence. The other priests too have not been in quarantine. If there is a COVID-19 patient in Bishop House, then their approach would not be so lax and casual." On Monday, Mulakkal's counsel had told the court that he could not appear for the hearing as he had been a primary contact of a COVID-19 positive person, and was therefore in self-quarantine. Mulakkal had not appeared for an earlier hearing on 1 July, and had claimed he was staying in a containment zone in Jalandhar. However, in response, the prosecution had cited official records to show that the area where he was staying was not a containment zone. The court subsequently cancelled his bail, accepting the prosecution argument that the accused was trying to delay the trial, and posted the case to 13 August. Earlier, on 7 July, the Kerala High Court had dismissed a petition seeking to discharge Mulakkal from the sexual assault case filed against him by the nun. It had directed the deposed Bishop of Jalandhar diocese to stand for trial in the rape case, which was registered on a complaint filed by the nun of same diocese in Kerala. The court dismissed the plea by the Bishop, admitting the prosecution's argument that there was prima facie evidence against Mulakkal in the rape case. The nun, in her complaint to the police in June 2018, had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Bishop between 2014 and 2016. The bishop, who was arrested by the Special Investigation Team which probed the case, has been charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation. With inputs from PTI Late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's office is seen in the Seoul Metropolitan Government building. / Korea Times file By Kim Se-jeong The Seoul Metropolitan Government is under growing pressure to investigate the sexual harassment allegations made against the late Mayor Park Won-soon. The police haven't officially announced any relation between Park's suicide and the harassment allegations, but it's widely thought that he took his own life because of the pressure he felt from these. The former mayor committed suicide in a forest on Mount Bugak, northern Seoul, Thursday, one day after his former secretary filed a sexual harassment complaint with the police. Speaking at a press conference, the victim's lawyer said the victim had been harassed for four years between 2016 and earlier this year but her attempts to get help were ignored. The city is being urged to act immediately because the police are expected to close the case. Criminal law doesn't give the law enforcement body the grounds to continue investigations when those accused are no longer alive. Observers say the city has a good reason to act because it is facing growing criticism over failing to give an early response to complaints from its employee. Metro Manila (CNN Philippine, July 14) The Philippines should boost defense spending and establish a minimum credible defense posture amid Chinas incursions in the West Philippine Sea, a senator and a former diplomat said Tuesday. Senator Panfilo Ping Lacson said in a virtual conference that the Philippines military expenditure is way behind other countries, particularly those with maritime conflict with China such as Vietnam, Japan, and India. In the Philippines' 2020 budget, defense spending is only at 192.1 billion, Lacson said, noting that it accounts for a dismal 0.9 percent of the projected Gross Domestic Product, when it should have been at least two percent. An increase in military funding is not meant to militarize the issue, but it goes without saying that what a nation could not protect by its own power could not be safeguarded by the international community, Lacson said. Among China's recent hostilities, the former national police chief said, was when a Chinese vessel pointed a radar gun at the Philippine Navy's BRP Conrado Yap in February an incident that prompted the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest with Beijing. It's not clear if there has been any response from the Chinese government, but it has so far made no public statement on the issue. READ: Locsin: 'Never point anything at my country unless you're looking for a fight' As a self-respecting country, we need the capacity to protect our territory and defend ourselves against external threats like Chinas incursions, as mandated by our Constitution, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario said in the same forum organized by the Stratbase ADR Institute. Del Rosario urged the government to develop the country's defense assets, participate in joint patrols in the South China Sea, and strengthen its partnership with the US and other like-minded allies such as Australia and Japan. "It may be high time for our government to assert our rightful position by relying on the skill, courage and patriotism of our Navy and Armed Forces which are capable of developing a credible minimum defense posture against any bully or aggressor, whoever that might be," he added. The Defense Department defines minimum credible defense posture as the establishment of an effective force presence in the Philippines and in its exclusive economic zone that should be capable to protect national interest. Del Rosario reiterated that war has never been an option. "But if threatened by the use of force, we should be ready to inflict, at the very least, a bloody nose on any attacker who is out to harm us," he said. These comments were made as the Philippines marked the fourth anniversary of its arbitral victory. The landmark decision in 2016 by an international tribunal in The Hague favored the Philippines in its case against China and invalidated Beijing's sweeping claims to almost the entire South China Sea. President Rodrigo Duterte previously refused to raise the arbitral ruling with China, saying he could not afford to go to war with the East Asian giant. When he finally brought it up last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping maintained that China rejects it. Duterte later revealed that he agreed to set the ruling aside to make way for a joint oil and gas exploration. READ: Roque insists on remaining friendly with China: We agree to disagree on Hague ruling Some of Duterte's officials have recently made strong statements on the dispute, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Tedoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, Jr. calling the arbitration ruling "non-negotiable" and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana urging China to comply with it. NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio Councilman Dan Langshaw, formally charged by City Council colleagues last month with gross misconduct and/or malfeasance in office, has resigned from council. In a July 4 resignation letter sent to council and posted on Facebook, Langshaw suggested that Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz, council President Paul Marnecheck and former Mayor Robert Stefanik had separately or together plotted against him. He called them left-over Jimmy Dimora-era Democrats who must maintain their kingdom at all costs, although he didnt explain what he meant. Langshaw said Antoskiewicz, Marnecheck and Stefanik, not the people of North Royalton, control everything. He said they are selling this city away to the highest bidder, although he again didnt explain or elaborate. Residents, you are absolutely right, there is something evil going on in our city government, Langshaw wrote. When you cross them (city leaders), out their evils or worse, publicly blow the whistle, you will end up on the list, just like me, for blowing the whistle. Langshaw added that an unknown Antoskiewicz supporter placed a racist flyer in his newspaper box. The flyer denigrated Langshaws 13-year-old son for his Mexican lineage. In the end, I declare my independence from all of this evil, Langshaw said, referring to the July 4 date of his resignation. I choose having my soul and my loving family over all of this, if they will destroy my (more than) seven years of dedicated service to the community for sport. All of you on council are next, Langshaw continued. Dont be fooled. Im not your enemy. The real enemy is those who pull your strings. However, your submissiveness as leaders makes you all just as guilty or worse. Langshaw didnt return calls or a Facebook message to explain what he meant by his comments or provide details regarding his allegations. Antoskiewicz, speaking to cleveland.com Monday, said Langshaw was trying to deflect attention away from the reason council charged him last month with misconduct and/or malfeasance in office Langshaws profanity-laced, threatening phone call to a part-time City Hall secretary. In the June 20 call, Langshaw told the secretary, Jaimie Anton, he would seek to defund her job unless she convinced Antoskiewicz to keep the city jail open. Langshaw also warned Anton that council would investigate Antoskiewicz and his office unless Antoskiewicz reversed his decision to close the jail. He advised Anton to lawyer up because the investigation would include her. He (Langshaw) will try to blame anyone he can, Antoskiewicz said of Langshaws latest comments. Hes trying to show hes the victim. But nobody forced him to make that phone call. Marnecheck, in an email to cleveland.com, suggested that Langshaw take time off from social media. This whole thing (councils charges and possible disciplinary action against Langshaw) is about a phone call between Dan and a part-time, newly hired secretary, Marnecheck said. If that phone call does not happen, none of this happens. Stefanik, who was term-limited out of the mayors office in January, said he had no idea what Langshaw was talking about in his resignation letter and Facebook posts. Im glad I dont have to put up with this nonsense, Stefanik told cleveland.com. We had a good run for 12 years (when Stefanik was mayor). A lot of things got done, and Dan was part of that. I dont know what changed. Political payback On June 30, council scheduled a special meeting to discuss Langshaws phone call, which Anton had recorded. She gave the recording to Antoskiewicz, who in turn sent it to council. (Langshaw) is not my employee, Antoskiewicz said. Council is a separate branch of government and polices their own. Langshaw publicly apologized for the phone call at the June 30 meeting. He said the call was inappropriate, rude and offensive and asked for forgiveness. But after an executive session, council voted 6-0 to bring charges against Langshaw. The next step would have been to schedule a public hearing to judge the case against him. After the hearing, council would have decided whether to remove Langshaw from office, censure him or take other action, such as stripping him of committee assignments. Council could also have chosen to do nothing. At the hearing, Langshaw and his attorney would have had a chance to give their side of the story, present evidence and examine witnesses. Langshaw was disappointed that council chose to charge him. In his resignation letter, he said council didnt even consider alternative ways to handle the matter. I knew then you would never give me any type of due process, Langshaw said. My sincere apology did not matter. Langshaw said that adding insult to injury, the person council had most likely handpicked to replace him was in the audience that night. He didnt say who it was. Marnecheck said that was false. No replacement has been selected, Marnecheck told cleveland.com. Council will go through the same process which was used when Dan himself was appointed to council. Anyone who claims to know who will be appointed should go play the lottery. Langshaw called councils charges against him textbook political payback at its worse and an attempt to silence him perhaps about the proposed jail closing, although Langshaw didnt explicitly say. He said Marnecheck and Stefanik had enjoyed destroying him. Marnecheck told cleveland.com that he enjoyed no part of what happened to Langshaw. He said that after he became council president, he agreed, at Langshaws request, to appoint him chairman of councils Safety Committee and councils representative to the citys Board of Zoning Appeals. He said he and Langshaw worked together on a few council resolutions earlier this year. Also, when Langshaw suggested to Marnecheck that North Royalton join the Northeast Ohio City Council Association, Marnecheck said he would explore that possibility. I feel I have always treated Dan fairly, even when I disagreed with him, Marnecheck said. As for the disciplinary process against Langshaw, Marnecheck said he worked with Law Director Tom Kelly to make sure it was fair and open. Between the time of the phone call and the (June 30) meeting 10 days later, Im not aware (that) Dan contacted any of council, the mayor or (Anton) to offer his apology or accept responsibility, Marnecheck said. The flyer in his resignation letter, Langshaw said it was an Antoskiewicz supporter that placed the flyer attacking his sons racial lineage in his newspaper box. The writer of the flyer, calling Antoskiewicz a friend, used a profanity to warn Langshaw against opposing the mayors plan to close the city jail. In a separate Facebook post, Langshaw claimed Antoskiewicz knew who was responsible for the flyer and called the mayor a racist. He said the flyer was retaliation for his opposing the jail closing. Langshaw didnt say whether he received the flyer before or after he made the controversial phone call to Anton, the mayors secretary. You outraged me, Mr. Mayor, the most I have ever been in my 34 years of life, Langshaw said. I fell hook, link and sinker for your political trap and messed up. You broke me. Antoskiewicz told cleveland.com he has no idea who left the flyer in Langshaws newspaper box. The people I consider my friends would never do that, and I would never condone something like that, Antoskiewicz said. Thats not my style and anyone who knows me knows that. Antoskiewicz, at one time a labor union representative, said his life and actions negate Langshaws claim that he is a racist. He said hes done nothing to deserve that label. One thing you learn as a union representative is that you represent everybody, regardless of race, creed or color, Antoskiewicz said. I think I have a pretty good reputation as to what Im all about. Langshaw repeatedly said North Royalton government is evil. He said its dysfunctional, a rubber stamp, an embarrassment and a social drinking club. He urged residents to clean up the mess that is our city government. Rest assured I will be back when I am stronger and spiritually ready to combat the evil that we all know is holding us up, Langshaw said. Antoskiewicz said he didnt know how to respond to allegations that city government is evil. He said that when he was council president before he became mayor, he served with Langshaw on council for six years and always tried to help him. Antoskiewicz said that as council president and mayor, he has performed his job professionally. Through this whole ordeal with the jail, I listened, took my personal shots and never responded in a way that wasnt respectful of this office, Antoskiewicz said. I had opportunities to lash out, but I didnt. Ms. Kotak is an attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in economic development, public policy and public-private finance. Most recently, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Neighborhood Economic Development in the Office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In this role, she led the mayor's neighborhood efforts, with a focus on the city's neighborhoods most in need. "PEAK6 is committed to solving today's biggest problems through investment and forward-thinking technology and strategies," said Judi Hart, Chief Operating Officer, PEAK6. "Aarti's deep background in working on hard problems and focusing on real, measurable action will enable us to optimize our approach to transformation across industries and building the world as it ought to be." In her new position, Ms. Kotak will report to Ms. Hart and drive alignment with the executive leadership team to achieve key goals, while facilitating project delivery and measuring business impact. During her time in the Chicago mayor's office, she demonstrated expertise in strategizing and implementing policies and projects, helping to lead the City's Amazon bid team. She also created the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and served as its founding director, distributing $50 million in new resources, predominantly to entrepreneurs of color in neighborhoods in need. She also led numerous efforts from idea to execution, including the Whole Foods store in Englewood and the Method factory in Pullman. Previously, she led the Economic Development Bureau in the City's planning department. Prior to that, she served as general counsel for the NATO Summit Host Committee, and as an attorney in the Real Estate practice at DLA Piper LLP. "I am energized by the culture at PEAK6, a company based on the concept of creating, spreading and embracing needed change," said Ms. Kotak. "I look forward to being a part of our business units' growth and using my background in getting things done to create real change." Ms. Kotak earned her bachelor's degree in Political Science with a minor in Spanish and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned her J.D. with distinction from Stanford University School of Law. ABOUT PEAK6 PEAK6 uses technology to find a better way of doing things. The company's first tech-based solution was developed in 1997 to optimize options trading and, over the past two decades, the same formula has been used across a range of industries, asset classes and business stages to consistently deliver superior results. Today, PEAK6 seeks transformational opportunities to provide capital and strategic support to entrepreneurs and forward-thinking businesses, helping to unlock potential and activate what is into what ought to be. PEAK6's core brands include: PEAK6 Capital Management, Apex Clearing, National Flood Services and Evil Geniuses. Learn more at www.PEAK6.com or follow us on LinkedIn. Media Inquiries: JConnelly for PEAK6 Kyle Kappmeier (973) 850-7366 [email protected] SOURCE PEAK6 Related Links http://www.PEAK6.com In the past, Japan's Imperial forces managed to defeat Russia in 1905, and at its peak during World War II it was composed of more than five million soldiers. Nowadays, Japan's military, limited in size and responsibilities, does not pose a threat toward countries abroad. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Japan holds the world's sixth-best army in terms of funding, despite initially disbanding its military and renouncing war following World War II. The country stands as a "peaceful rise" postwar model. Japan supports developing countries and does not serve to intimidate or terrorize them. With Tokyo's democratic maturity and economic growth, international society expects the capital city to partake more in international affairs. Japan's World War II Aftermath Japan's 1941 Pearl Harbor attack pushed the US to participate in World War II in retaliation. The 1946 Constitution of Japan, written by the US after Japan was defeated, includes Article 9 that legally prohibits Japan from possessing combat potential and waging war. After World War II, the US brought Japan under its nuclear protection because Japan found itself bombed-out and poverty-stricken. Then Japan's old regime was replaced with a democratic government and its Imperial Army and Navy were dissolved. Although Japan is not allowed to have a military, Japan does invest in Self-Defense Forces (SDF). Mushroom cloud from the atom bomb that exploded over Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, during World War II. Image credit: Everett Collection/Shutterstock Article 9 Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan forbids settling international disputes through means of war and bans military maintenance. Article 9 is often referred as the peace clause and details that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained." In wake of the Cold War and the Korean War, however, Japan was pressured to reinforce defensive capabilities. A closer inspection of Article 9 grants Japan the right to defend itself and obtain minimum armed strength needed to exercise that right. SDF The Self-Defense Forces of Japan went on to be established in 1954 despite Article 9. Japanese governments argue that the sole purpose of the SDF is defensive and they possess no offense-driven weaponry, such as bombers, long-range ballistic missiles, and aircraft carriers. Though they are well-trained for defensive missions, they are also small-sized, under-equipped, and understaffed when it comes to more advanced military operations. Disaster relief and some UN peacekeeping efforts are part of the SDF's few allowable activities. Namely, some disaster relief efforts like the devastating Hanshin earthquake in 1995 and the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 restored civilian faith in the SDF, as the pacifist public viewed the SDF with hostility and suspicion. To accomplish their missions, the SDF maintains surveillance and offers communication, command, training support, and logistics while tending to disaster relief. As observed, their primary focus concerns preservation of Japanese independence and peace by conducting operations through armed forces like the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF), the Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF), and the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) to protect Japan from direct and indirect aggression. If attacked by greater enemy forces, the SDF must have the US coming to their aid. Similarly, if under nuclear threat, the SDF must depend on the US's nuclear deterrance. Essentially, the SDF's military power is merely defensive and bilateral with the US. Another interesting aspect of the SDF is that they hold no military secrets law, and offenses committed by military personnel are handled by civil courts in appropriate jurisdictions. To further dissuade any appearance of a militarism revival, Japanese leaders conistently emphasize constitutional guarantees of civilian control of the armed forces and government. Prime Minister Abe Discusses Constitutional Amendments The constitution has never been revised, which frustrates conservative Japanese citizens who feel disgusted over foreigners being responsible for writing their nation's basic law. Throughout the years, the constitution has faced numerous proposals for revision, yet the proposals on Article 9 cannot evade the most heated debates. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tried to explicitly allow the SDF to arm themselves with offensive weapons. The election of Donald Trump inspired fears of Japan and the US's alliance weakening as Trump threatened to withdraw US troops from Japan. Because of increasing fears surrounding North Korean missile testing and the sarin gas attacks, and aiming to avoid accusations of "freeloading" from the US, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) pushed the amendment of Article 9 to be a prominent policy issue. The LDP and its allies, however, failed to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Upper House, which means Abe cannot produce a referendum to revise the constitution. Despite this political outcome, the military capacity continues to grow for matters of peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction operations, and greater missile defense. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on April 6 2016. Image credit: Drop of Light/Shutterstock Japan's Reiwa Era In April 2019, Emperor Akihito abdicated due to his old age. In turn, the throne has been passed on to his son Prince Naruhito, who invites a new era to begin. In Japan, each emperor would have his own era with its own unique name. For Naruhito, the new era "Reiwa" roughly means "beautiful harmony" and commands order to be restored in the nation. The name "Reiwa" derives from ancient Japanese poetry, not from the usual Chinese literature where the majority of Japan's era names were found. The Reiwa era represents a breaking of tradition and even holds a strong bearing on the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. With Prime Minister Abe determined to amend Article 9, he marks the beginning of change closely approaching, as Japan seeks to lead international security with a military presence shaped by its history. CINCINNATI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Local college student Harrison Stanley announces the media launch of his campaign to represent Ohio's 29th House District. Running to oppose the unelected, previously uncontested incumbent, Harrison Stanley is spearheading a grassroots, progressive, non-partisan campaign to ensure that the constitutional and civil rights of all are respected in Ohio. With strong support for reinvestment in our underserved communities, infrastructure improvement, and increased access to quality education, our coalition is growing to include people from all walks of life within the district. Harrison T. Stanley Harrison stands for what is right Having come from an active duty military family with a history of service stretching back several generations, Harrison Stanley is well versed in the American ideals of honor, integrity, and duty. This is not an attempt to launch a lengthy political career: this is the continuation of service to protect our democracy and ensure a bright future for all. As a published research archaeologist, Harrison is a capable and effective processor of information, and is well equipped to make informed legislative decisions. This campaign is part of the larger progressive movement that is sweeping the nation. Working class people are rejecting the corporate politics of yesteryear and yesterday. Together we will ensure a bright future for all of us, in Ohio and across the nation. We are the People, let's make the government work for us. WRITE-IN Harrison Stanley for 29 ( writeinstanley29.com ) is a grassroots political committee focused on combating the partisan grip on Ohio's General Assembly by electing an independent, progressive candidate, one not beholden to the interests of any political party or organization. Harrison Stanley is an Independent Progressive that truly believes that Ohio can be an even better place for all of us moving into the future. The Fight for a Better Tomorrow Starts Today Media Contact: WRITE-IN Harrison Stanley for 29 513.374.5344 [email protected] SOURCE WRITE-IN Harrison Stanley for 29 Related Links http://www.writeinstanley29.com That's awesome, good for him. I hope one day to go on a similar journey to reclaim my true ethnic surname. Sometimes I'm really impassioned to do it, other times it's like "well, I've lived this long with my last name and I need to pay to change it...." my dad's side has had to adopt the name for a while though, it wasn't something I Anglicized myself so idk. A bit more complicated. Reply Thread Link I hope you get to! My friend was adopted as a kid (she and her sister) and her parents changed her Russian name to a more Anglicized version and she has been bitter as long as I have known her. But apparently when you register at the DMV in Colorado, if your original birth certificate says one thing and your adoption papers another, you are allowed to pick which one you want. Saved her 500 bucks having to change it Reply Parent Thread Link My mom has considered this lately, too. Her grandma changed her surname & that of her dad and his brother because their true surname was essentially making it impossible for them to find anywhere to work/live in the US. I think it would be awesome, but I do understand that she has an attachment as well to the name she was raised with & it would also result in her having a different name than her brother. As for me, I have literally zero clue where my surname is from (seriously, I'm not going to post it here because it's something like less than 800 ppl worldwide) but I've always assumed it has to be some kind of anglicized thing because it has ZERO presence outside the USA. & even in its present form, it tends to somehow break people's brains and gets pronounced in totally nonsensical ways. I learned long ago to just spell it out if I wanted it written down anywhere correctly :/ Reply Parent Thread Link Good for him. I always loved Psych. Shawn and Gus forever. Reply Thread Link That's great for him. As a white passing person myself I know what it's like to feel at odds with your mixed heritage because so many people try to deny your bloodline simply because you don't look it. It's always been really hard for me as far as where my identity lies, as I'm sure it's probably been for him Reply Thread Link I feel the same way completely. I've been told, "you don't count" when someone says something about my ethnic group and I speak up against it. As a kid, I distanced myself a lot from the culture and find myself as an adult really wishing I hadn't felt that need. Left me feeling like I don't fit in anywhere. Reply Parent Thread Link that's so awesome good for him! I should do a Psych rewatch. The real world is hot garbage rn so I need something light and funny and fun Reply Thread Link Where even can we watch it anymore? I left all my DVDs in the home country T___T Reply Parent Thread Link I think its gonna be on Peacock along the new movie Reply Parent Thread Link It's on Prime Reply Parent Thread Link I was reading a few articles about people changing their names, at least on their resume, in order to make it easier finding a job due to discrimination. My full name is very non-English sounding so Im thinking if I should change it once I leave my country in order to make things at least a bit less difficult Reply Thread Link I can sympathize, I really considered using one of my English middle names when I went to college but they just never felt like me and I love my name so much. People have no clue how to pronounce it most of the time and they hesitate to even interact with me because of this. (It's not like I'd get offended since most people don't know the language?? I don't expect ppl to be experts.) I definitely know that my applications and resumes have been tossed bc the person couldn't figure out my name and/or bc it's foreign. My close friend in hs had a very "white girl" name, as did her siblings. She and I are both Black and she told me her mother gave them all names more acquainted with white Americans than Black Americans specifically so their resumes would get looked at. She told me her parents had wanted to name her older sibling after a family member but they decided against it since the name would've made their race obvious. I'm also named after family members and it's so sad to me that her parents had to think strategically and forego giving someone that honor just to make their children more palatable to white people. Reply Parent Thread Link Nicole Byer was saying the same on Why Wont You Date Me, her mum picked her and her sisters names because they didnt sound black Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Ive noticed this happened a lot. I have two friends who arent white, but can look white passing but dont have English, or European names for that matter. They changed their names to make it more English and all of a sudden got so many call backs for interviews :/ Reply Parent Thread Link My name is a very basic kinda name, that probably can be applied to a litany of different races or culture, and I wouldn't be surprised if let me get called (but when I got into the door and they saw I was Black, whomp whomp~). I was also told that about changing your name Reply Parent Thread Link I think it depends on where you move to, tbh. I live near Los Angeles and most jobs don't care what your last name is if you have the qualifications. But that is limited to the fact it's a city of mixed ethnicities Reply Parent Thread Link Yeah...studies have proven that this is the reality, both in the U.S. and in Canada (and I imagine maybe in the UK as well.) my family's got a surname that's fairly commonplace in some parts of the world but here (North America) it's very obvious which ethnic group it belongs to. I remember as a child being a little sad the times I heard my dad give a shortened/anglicised version of our name. I judged my older brother so hard, when I learned that wherever he worked (even today) he gives an English version of his name (and it's not like our names are difficult to pronounce). As an adult though, i forgive them...it's harsh out there, too often. I used to hang out on forums a LOT when I was a teen/in uni, and i had made up a whole other white alter ego. She a was Irish/Welsh Canadian, named megan, called Maggie or Mags. I never posted any photos, despite being white passing and a lot of the friends I'd made asking or thinking it weird. Was just so worried what they'd think of me if they knew I was Arab and Muslim, and as I became more popular it was harder to 'come out' as it were. I was envious of those users who openly just ...presented exactly who they were, from the beginning. Reply Parent Thread Link My friends name is Ariana and she lives in Utah and every single career advisor she has ever encountered, male and female, had told her to use Ari on her resume so companies will likely consider it more. Name bias is a huge thing in hiring practices unfortunately Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Yep. I knew someone who changed his written name on applications from Jorge to George and said that he immediately noticed an increase in responses. Fucked up. Reply Parent Thread Link Good for him!!!! its shitty that people with ethnic names have to hide it in order to succeed in a racist industry Reply Thread Link I kinda wondered about this for a while, but I assumed it was based in typical Hollywood racism and having a 'marketable' name or whatever. But this is a cool choice. Reply Thread Link I have a few friends who are doing this. Or no longer going by the Americanized pronunciation of their names. Reply Thread Link I started doing this recently in the past few years and I feel so much more comfortable in my identity Reply Parent Thread Link I've thought about doing this for my last name tbh. Reply Parent Thread Link Good for him! Reply Thread Link He was still pressured to change it to be more "marketable" via disguising his heritage. Reply Parent Thread Link That wasnt even close to the point. Reply Parent Thread Link You are on thin ice. Reply Parent Thread Link glad he at least acknowledges that what he did was fucked up and is now trying to do better. Reply Thread Link Going by roday was fucked up? I dont think so. If he feels it helped him get more roles then he made the right decision. Do what you have to do to get ahead Now with that being said, there are a lot of white/white looking latinos in Hollywood using their real last names. I doubt his change was actually necessary Reply Parent Thread Link Did you see Dules insta post about tapping with his son? So cute Reply Parent Thread Link His wiki says his father is of Mexican descent. Reply Parent Thread Link Rodriguez is Spanish, Rodrigues is Portuguese. Edited at 2020-07-14 10:18 pm (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link W O W It's almost like the Europeans colonized us and now centuries later many of us have our colonizers names. Weird how that works, huh? Reply Parent Thread Link typically if it looks like a hispanic surname, the ones that end in -z are spanish, the ones that end in -s are portuguese Reply Parent Thread Link His dad is Mexican Reply Parent Thread Link Never gets old. Reply Parent Thread Link Eh I don't think people with ethnic names should be too hard on themselves for doing what they needed to do to make in this industry. I place more blame on the industry. I remember hearing Martin Sheen had to do this because his real name Ramon Gerard Antonio Estevez gave him trouble when booking jobs. And I remember Leo kept his name cause they tried to get him to change it cause Leonardo DiCaprio was too ethnic. The other name would've been Lenny Willams. Reply Thread Link Ugh, glad that didn't happen. Imagine thinking Lenny Williams sounds better than Leonardo DiCaprio. That's tragic. Reply Parent Thread Link It's a middle aged man name, horrible lol. Reply Parent Thread Link lol He does look like a Lenny Williams now. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Seriously! Leo sucks but his name is really beautiful and very instantly iconic and memorable. This reminds me of the recent post about Christina Aguilera being asked to change her name to Christina Agee. Wtf? Reply Parent Thread Link Lenny Williams is a singer lol Reply Parent Thread Link Wow didnt know that about Leo! Dante Fiero/Dennis Feinstein tea Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Somehow, the name "Lenny" encompasses current day Leo more with dating 20 year old girls. Reply Parent Thread Link I get a slight chuckle that blondie Emilio Estevez was the son to use his legal name. guess Charlie needed that Sheen to get roles. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link i had 0 idea that martin sheen's name is not martin sheen until this post Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I had absolutely no idea about Martin Sheen! I wonder why he didn't go with his mother's maiden name. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link A special court under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on Tuesday rejected bail pleas of Kapil Wadhawan and Dheeraj Wadhawan, the promoters of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL), arrested for their involvement in the YES Bank fraud case. The Wadhawans had sought the bail on Monday stating that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had failed to file a prosecution complaint or charge sheet within the stipulated 60-day timeframe. However, ED, which had arrested the Wadhawans on May 14, filed a prosecution complaint on Monday evening. The court rejected the Wadhawans contention for bail on Tuesday, but will again hear the merits of the plea on Thursday (July 16). ED had initiated proceedings against the Wadhawans based on a first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Earlier in March, CBI had registered two cases against Rana Kapoor, YES Banks co-founder, former managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO). A first information report (FIR) filed on March 7 had alleged that the bankrupt YES Bank had invested Rs 3,700 crore in short-term debentures of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) between April and June 2018. In lieu, Kapoor was allegedly paid kickbacks to the tune of Rs 600 crore by DHFL promoter, Kapil Wadhawan. DHFL had sanctioned a loan to DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RAB Enterprises in which Kapoors wife Bindu is a director and 100% shareholder, the CBI had stated in its FIR. Kapoors three daughters -- Rakhee Kapoor Tandon, Roshni Kapoor, and Radha Kapoor -- are also 100% shareholders in DoIT Urban Ventures (India) Pvt Ltd. EDs second charge sheet, filed on Monday, had named Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan and the firms that they had allegedly floated to indulge in money laundering. The charge sheet also names Rana Kapoor, his wife Bindu Kapoor, daughters Roshni and Rekha Kapoor, and chartered accountant Dularesh K Jain & Associates. The second charge sheet was filed after ED examined a host of witnesses including YES Bank and DHFL employees. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Srinagar, July 14 : Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu on Tuesday visited the house of slain BJP leader Waseem Bari in North Kashmir's Bandipore district. Bari along with his father and brother were killed by terrorists near his home last Wednesday. According to an official statement, the Lt Governor handed over a financial assistance of Rs 20 Lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family members. "The Lt Governor strongly condemned the killings and said that the perpetrators of this dastardly act of violence would be brought to justice," the statement said, adding, "Such heinous act is an attempt to spread fear, and there can be no justification for such attacks." WASHINGTON - A judge on Monday blocked the Justice Department from resuming federal executions this week, setting up a new front in the myriad legal challenges to the Trump administration's push to start carrying out capital punishment after a nearly two-decade hiatus. The Justice Department's plan to move forward with the first federal executions since 2003 has led to numerous court battles between the government and death-row inmates, their spiritual advisers and even relatives of victims in one case. In an order Monday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia wrote that she was blocking the executions - including three set to take place this week - saying it was necessary to let legal challenges to the government's lethal-injection protocol play out in court. The inmates have argued that the protocol is unconstitutional, and Chutkan wrote that "the public interest is not served by executing individuals before they have had the opportunity to avail themselves of the legal process to challenge the legality of their executions." An attorney for the death-row inmates praised the decision, while the Justice Department quickly appealed it to both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. The department wrote in a filing that extensive preparations were already underway and that Chutkan's order served "to scramble those plans with a meritless injunction." Chutkan blocked the Justice Department last year from resuming executions in December as it had originally planned, issuing an injunction on separate grounds also relating to the lethal-injection protocol. A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said earlier this year that the executions could proceed, and the Supreme Court declined to take up a challenge to the protocol last month. The Justice Department has defended its plans to resume executions by citing the need to carry out lawful death sentences and emphasizing the nature of the crimes as well as the victims and their loved ones. In recent days, though, the department has fought in court against relatives of victims in the first case with a scheduled execution. Federal officials set Daniel Lewis Lee's lethal injection for Monday afternoon at a federal penitentiary in Indiana. Lee and another man were convicted in 1999 of murdering a family of three - including an 8-year-old, Sarah Powell, and Nancy Mueller, her mother. Lee and the other man, Chevie Kehoe, were part of a group intending to create a white supremacist community in the Pacific Northwest, according to court records. They traveled to Arkansas in 1996 and robbed and murdered William Mueller, a firearms dealer, as well as his wife and their daughter, sealing plastic bags over their heads before throwing them into a bayou, the records show. Also scheduled to be executed this week were Wesley Purkey, who was convicted in 2003 of raping and murdering Jennifer Long, a teenager; and Dustin Lee Honken, who was convicted in 2004 of killing five people, including two young girls. In a statement last month scheduling their executions, Attorney General William Barr said: "We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system." Some of those family members in Lee's case have spoken out against his death sentence and the timing of his execution amid the coronavirus outbreak. Three of Nancy Mueller's relatives - including Earlene Peterson, her mother; Kimma Gurel, her sister; and Monica Veillette, her niece - went to court last week seeking to have Lee's execution delayed. They said scheduling it during the pandemic forced them to choose between witnessing it and protecting their health. All three have health issues, they said. "What is happening now is very illogical," Gurel said in an interview over the weekend. "They shouldn't be doing these executions during a pandemic and expecting us to travel. It is our right to be there and experience this ending, whatever it ends up being." The Justice Department wrote in court filings that it took their perspectives "seriously, in accordance with their terrible loss and distinctive perspective" but said it was not required to factor in "the availability and travel preferences of those attending the execution when scheduling it." The department also described efforts it was making to protect the relatives and other witnesses, including providing protective equipment. A federal judge in Indiana last week blocked Lee's execution, siding with the relatives in their case, but that restriction was lifted Sunday by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, which wrote that "they have no statutory or regulatory right to attend the execution." The three relatives appealed to the Supreme Court on Monday. The relatives oppose Lee's execution, arguing that it is unfair he was sentenced to death while Kehoe was given a life sentence. "We've never advocated for Daniel Lee getting out of prison completely," Veillette said. "But we have consistently said we want this sentence to be fair." The federal judge who presided over the trial and the lead prosecutor have also spoken out against Lee's death sentence, writing letters years later saying that Kehoe was the leader and Lee his follower. The judge wrote years later that "justice was not served in this particular case, solely with regard to the sentence of death imposed on Daniel Lewis Lee." But the relatives said they still felt obligated to attend his execution. "It's certainly not something I want to watch," Veillette said. "But I think for me, when something is being done in our family's name or my name . . . the least I can do is bear witness to it and be present and have a voice saying, 'This is not being done in my name.' " After the appeals court said Sunday that the execution could proceed, Veillette said she, her mother and grandmother had decided not to attend, given the health risks. She also said that by the time the appeals court's order came down saying the execution could occur the next day, it was too late for them to travel as initially planned. Lee had initially faced a December 2019 execution date, but that and others were blocked by the court challenges over the lethal-injection protocol. Barr had announced the protocol in July 2019 when he unveiled the department's plans to resume executions. The Justice Department's push to restart executions marked a break with national trends in the death penalty, which is largely handled on the state level. The overwhelming majority of death-row inmates are held by states, and nearly all executions in the modern era have been carried out by state officials. Since the Justice Department last carried out an execution in 2003, the landscape around capital punishment has also shifted. Executions and death sentences have both declined significantly, public support for capital punishment has fallen and more states have abolished the practice entirely. States have struggled to obtain drugs, with pharmaceutical firms opposing the use of their products to carry out death sentences, in some cases going to court to fight against it. The Trump administration's goal of resuming executions has also played out more recently against a backdrop of a country gripped by both a pandemic and protests against racial injustice, much of it focused on law enforcement practices. Ruth Friedman, an attorney for Lee, has pointed to these demonstrations, saying in a statement that "even as people across the country are demanding that leaders rethink crime, punishment, and justice, the government is barreling ahead with its plans to carry out the first federal executions in 17 years." Other court challenges remain for the executions scheduled to take place this week. Purkey's execution, set for Wednesday, was separately and temporarily stayed by an appeals court, which the Justice Department is challenging at the Supreme Court. Mental health organizations have called for Purkey's execution to be called off, saying he "lives with schizophrenia, dementia and Alzheimer's disease" and should be sentenced instead to life in prison without parole. The Rev. Seigen Hartkemeyer, a 68-year-old Buddhist priest and spiritual adviser to Purkey, has also gone to court asking that the execution be delayed. Hartkemeyer wrote in court filings that due to the coronavirus, his health could be endangered if he attends, so he is being forced to "decide whether to risk his own life in order to exercise his religious obligations to be present." Mark O'Keefe, a Catholic priest, joined that case and made a similar argument, saying he is the spiritual adviser for Honken, who is scheduled to be executed Friday. O'Keefe has said the government is burdening his exercise of religion. The Justice Department pushed back against their arguments, saying they are not being forced to attend the executions and will be provided with protective equipment to wear if they go to the prison. It has also compared his potential attendance to priests visiting coronavirus-stricken patients in hospitals. "Any risks he accepts by choosing to attend Mr. Honken's execution are the result of Father O'Keefe's own choice, not the Government's coercion," the department wrote in response, adding later: "Despite the pandemic, the Government still must carry out its important duties." Travellers planning to visit Jammu and Kashmir will have to follow a set of guidelines after the administration opened the Union Territory for tourism in a phased manner from Tuesday. The outbreak of disease and the subsequent measures put further burden on Kashmirs tourism industry, the backbone of J-Ks economy, which had been witnessing a downturn since August last year. Authorities had banned the entry of foreign tourists into the region as a precautionary measure in view of the outbreak of coronavirus disease around the world. Here are things you need to keep in mind if you plan to visit J-K: * Only those coming by air would be permitted to enter J-K in the first phase, according to guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). * All tourists will have to install the Aarogya Setu mobile application and make regular updates regarding their health. * Tourists above the age of 65 should avoid coming to J-K, the guidelines say. * It will be mandatory for tourists to pre-book their accommodation online in hotels, houseboats or guesthouses etc. The proof of the same shall be checked on arrival, according to the guidelines. * They must have confirmed hotel bookings for the duration of their stay as well as confirmed return tickets to any place outside J-K, either to their departure point or any other destination. * The hotel administration or travel agents will have to provide the travellers with a pick-up facility from the airport and also drop them on their departure. * Taxis or transport facility have to be pre-booked through hotel or travel agency for which procedure will be put in place by the tourism department. * A Real-Time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction or RTPCR test to detect Sars-Cov-2 or coronavirus will be compulsory for visitors when they arrive. * Till the test result shows a negative result of Covid-19, a tourist will remain in the hotel where the booking has been made and shall not be permitted to move out. A form in this regard shall have to be signed at the airport, the guidelines said. * Test results will normally arrive within 24 hours except in special circumstances. The hotel management shall be required to ensure compliance with the protocol, the guidelines said. * Visitors with Covid-19 negative reports from their departure points would not be required to remain isolated in hotels, the guidelines said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Political junkies know Macomb County, Mich. But Gogebic?! Located in the Upper Peninsula, it will cast a tiny amount of votes, but went for President Trump in 2016 and a Democratic ticket in 2018 and looks like the states political median in the age of Trump. What's happening: Third Way, the center-left think tank, is out with "Bellwether Counties 2020," isolating 21 counties in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Senate battlegrounds of Arizona, Iowa and North Carolina. Why it matters, from David de la Fuente, who wrote the report: These counties may be the best indication leading up to November, and even on election night, of which way a state will tip. About half of the bellwethers are mostly suburban, or in an urban county with heavy suburban influence. Lawyers for Weinsteins accusers vow to continue fight for justice after criticising the settlement terms. A United States judge on Tuesday rejected a proposed $18.9m civil settlement for women who claimed they were subjected to sexual abuse and workplace harassment by the disgraced movie producer, Harvey Weinstein. US District Judge Alvin Hellerstein in Manhattan said the preliminary settlement would be unfair to women who Weinstein raped or sexually abused, because it treated them no differently from women who had merely met him. He also criticised a plan to set aside money to help Weinstein and the board of his former studio pay defence costs. The idea that Harvey Weinstein could get a defence fund ahead of the plaintiffs is obnoxious, Hellerstein said at a hearing. A settlement would have resolved class-action litigation by Weinstein accusers, and New York Attorney General Letitia Jamess lawsuit accusing Weinstein, his brother Bob Weinstein and their bankrupt Weinstein Co of maintaining a hostile work environment. Elizabeth Fegan, a lawyer representing nine Weinstein accusers, had argued that all of the women were in the zone of danger created by Weinstein, justifying class-action treatment. Lawyers for the settling plaintiffs and for Weinstein did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for the Weinstein Co declined to comment. Jamess office will review the decision. Our office has been fighting tirelessly to provide these brave women with the justice they are owed and will continue, a spokeswoman said. The settlement drew objections from women who said it would leave Weinsteins victims with typical awards of just $10,000 to $20,000, while setting aside $15.2m for defence costs. Weinstein, a movie producer whose alleged sexual misconduct helped spark the #MeToo movement, leaves a New York city court in January 2020 [File: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images/AFP] Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer representing six objectors, said he was pleased Hellerstein swiftly rejected the one-sided proposal. Weinstein, 68, is appealing his February 24 conviction and 23-year prison term for sexually assaulting a former production assistant and raping a one-time aspiring actress. He still faces separate rape and sexual assault charges in Los Angeles. (CNN) For around $400,000, you can own the home where controversial Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara was born, according to official Argentine news agency, Telam. Situated 186 miles north of Buenos Aires in the city of Rosario, Argentina, the 2,150-square-foot apartment has been uninhabited since 2011, according to Agencia Telam. The home has had several owners and was intended to house various cultural projects before being put up for sale. One of the current owners, businessman Francisco Farruggia, told CNN en Espanol that he was already planning to sell it, but with multiple properties in different countries, the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated his decision. The owners point to the property's historical and architectural value as well as location. They told CNN en Espanol they already have some offers. Ernesto "Che" Guevara is known for playing a major role in the Cuban revolution in the 1950s, where he helped Fidel Castro overthrow Fulgencio Batista. He went on to become Cuba's Central Bank chief. In 1965, he left Cuba to continue to wage leftist guerrilla rebellions around the world. Guevara's critics point to his brutal war tactics. Hundreds were reportedly executed under his watch. Guevara was shot to death in 1967 by Bolivian troops. He was buried in a mass grave along with six of his comrades. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Che Guevara's birth home is up for sale in Argentina" Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 16:10:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENTIANE, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Dengue cases in Laos have reached 3,089 with eight deaths since January, according to Lao Ministry of Health report. Deputy Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under Lao Ministry of Health, Latsamy Vongkhamsao, told a press conference on Tuesday that the highest number of dengue patients were reported in the Lao capital Vientiane with 642, while 395 cases were reported in Vientiane province, and 358 cases were reported in Bolikhamxay province. The eight deaths included three in Lao capital Vientiane, two in Bolikhamxay, and one each in Khammuan, Xayaboury and Xieng Khuang province. Lao health authorities urged people to clear potential mosquito breeding sites around their homes and workplaces to help control the spread of dengue fever. According to the World Health Organization, dengue fever is one of the fastest emerging infections and one of the most rapidly spreading viral disease known, with Thailand, Laos, the Philippines and Singapore also seeing the high incidences. The number of cases in the western Pacific Region has more than doubled over the past 10 years. Enditem No need to make a phone call, no need to check a website. Just step outside your front or back door any day after 4 a.m. in Alvin. Thats when the wafting aroma of burning post oak or hickory are surefire indicators that Joes Barbeque Co. will be open for business. The landmark restaurant at 1400 E Highway 6 and nearing 50 years in business, has been in full operation since the coronavirus pandemic started. Owner Joe Saladino, who opened his restaurant in the early 1970s, aims to keep things going. When you break it down, were still serving between 1,500 and 2,000 customers per day, Saladino said, and I havent let off any employees. Thats saying something, since Joes employs approximately 100 people. THE LATEST: These Houston restaurants are temporarily closed due to COVID-19 Were still doing about 300 catering jobs a month, Saladino said, but were doing it different. More Information Enduring tradition What:Joe's Barbeque Co. Where: 1400 E Highway 6 in Alvin Details: Open for nearly 50 years in business, this restaurant has found ways to change to successfully cope with the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. It serves between 1,500 and 2,000 customers per day, owner Joe Saladino says. Contact: 281-331-9626; catering@joesbbq.com; joesbarbequecompany.com/ See More Collapse On a recent Wednesday, he said, the restaurant did a catering job that provided grilled chicken for 300 people. Its got to be made individually because they cant sit around and eat in groups, Saladino said. Whatever people want, well do it. He has the firepower to get the job done. According to Joes website, the restaurant boasts eight 720-square-foot, one-ton pits. On a daily basis, the pit masters, pit bosses, cooks whichever term suits you best smoke at least 80 briskets, 130 slabs of pork and beef ribs, 100 pounds of sausage, 80 half-chickens and 10 hams. Memories of working up to 130 hours a week Saladino has catered for business entities such as Southwest Airlines, NASA, Lockheed Martin Corp., Houston Methodist Hospital and Monsanto. Its not unusual for Joes to cater for groups numbering in the tens of thousands. WHERE TO EAT: Despite the pandemic, these Houston-area restaurants are coming soon or now open Joes Barbecue is open seven days a week, and if you walk into the restaurant during lunch hour, theres a good chance youll see Saladino shooting the bull at his customary table in the main dining section. Im 73 years old, and I work almost every day, he said. I still love what I do. I cant stay as long as I used to, but Im here every day. Nowadays, I guess Im here eight to ten hours a day probably 60-70 hours a week, Saladino said. In my younger days, I was working 125-130 hours per week. Thats not an exaggeration at all. I went on all the catering jobs. When Saladino opened his restaurant in Manvel in the 1970s, he had no idea how it would go. ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Houston man accused of stealing $1.1 million in COVID small business relief We opened here at our current location in 1982, and I was in Manvel 10 years before that, so Ive been on (Texas 6) for about 50 years, Saladino said. Joes Banquet Center, which sits adjacent to the restaurant, opened in 1999. Success amid pandemic Saladino said a strong business sense, quick action and a good planning have helped him during the pandemic. Our takeout orders and our curbside service has doubled versus the inside, Saladino said. As far as catering, we were huge in the catering business, and we still are. Its just a different way to handle it. We dont bring the food out in bulk, we bring it out individually. We had to adapt to that. Ive been in business 50 years, and I know what to do. I was in the restaurant business when my dad opened on Telephone Road in 1948; so Ive been around restaurants all my life. Obviously, capacity restrictions havent negatively affected Joes efforts. Right now, were at 50 percent, and we have done that before, he said. Before that, it was 25 percent, and before that it was none. We moved some things around, and weve got everything sanitized. Everything is brought to the table; so the customer does not have to touch anything. In the formative stage of business, Joes was a one-trick pony. However, as business grew and popularity abounded, Saladino expanded the menu. Chicken-fried steak was a natural transition along with hamburgers, but Saladino wanted to take a bigger step. My dad had a drive-in restaurant where he served shrimp baskets and things like that, Saladino said. He always got fresh shrimp and fresh oysters and fresh fish. Seafood was always one of his best sellers, and we just we started to add that to our menu. The shrimp dinner proved to be an immediate hit. We started out just doing it on Tuesday, and it got so big it was called Shrimp Day at Joes Barbecue, Saladino said. The customers would be lined up out to the street, and wed do a thousand pounds of shrimp on Monday. So, we just started doing it every day. We added oysters and seafood platters after that. Now, people can come in, and if they dont want barbecue, they can get our hamburgers or chicken fried steaks or whatever they like. We make everything from scratch. We peel our own shrimp, we grind our own meat, cut our own steaks. Barbecue is still the No. 1 seller, but seafood is right there with it. Buffets are thing of the past Before the pandemic hit, Joes offered a buffet six days a week, featuring a different item each day. Monday was reserved for various types of chicken. Wednesday featured chicken-fried steak and chicken strips. On Thursday, Mexican food was a staple for a while. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, a seafood buffet was offered. Although the buffet no longer exists, Saladino isnt shedding any tears, and he says customers arent either. Theres no more self-service, he said. We took it out completely the first week (of the pandemic) and started making soups and salads individually. All our foods are covered up, and people seem to like it better than before. You still get the same food, but nobodys touching anything. Buffets, in my opinion, are a thing of the past. People do not want that, and you really cant be safe with a buffet. Weve put up barriers at the registers where you pay for your orders, and weve probably added 25 more hand sanitizers. I want us to be safe. So how has Saladino prospered now as many restaurants have suffered or even closed? I cant answer that, he said. I think a lot of (restaurants closed) because they were scared and didnt have enough staying power. Ive been doing this a long time, and the main thing is keeping the same employees. Weve had some of the same employees for 35 or 40 years. If youve got a good crew, you can get through pretty much anything. Joes has a nearly 40-year partnership with Sysco Corp., a specialty supplier in the food service business. Cash flow and profit seems to be better now, Saladino said. We prepare all this food, and Im a firm believer in not keeping anything for the next day. Well call the food bank to come pick it up at the end of the day. We dont reuse it. And when the cooking starts, it starts early. Well begin about 3 a.m., Saladino said. We go through about 12 cords of wood a month, and we use post oak. I get there about 4 or 4:30 a.m., and then we have a shift that comes in at 6 a.m. that sanitizes the whole restaurant. Saladino is always open for advice to improve customer service. Were really good friends with Kent Black and his dad up at Blacks Barbecue in Lockhart, Saladino said. We kind of trade ideas, and weve both been in the business about the same amount of time. We just talk to each other and stay involved. My son has gone up to Nashville and done some cookoffs there. You do what you have to do. Barbecue, seafood and burgers represent only a handful of the options at Joes. A variety of steaks, soups, sandwiches and desserts are also available. Saladino said being inventive is one of the primary forces behind a burgeoning business. Having a hundred employees and not laying off a single one weve been able to do that by moving them around, he said. We started doing home delivery. Weve created new things, and theyve all got something to do. Every day is different, and you never know what might happen tomorrow, but I believe I can survive. Were always trying to find ways to stay in business, feed the folks and take care of employees because they need to work. tdunnam@hcnonline.com The global cleanroom technology equipment market is expected to grow by USD 1.36 billion as per Technavio. Steady growth is expected to continue throughout the forecast period, and the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6%. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005424/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Cleanroom Technology Equipment Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Request for Technavio's latest reports on directly and indirectly impacted markets Market estimates include pre- and post-COVID-19 impact on the cleanroom technology equipment market - Download free sample report Demand for cleanroom technology from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries is expected to drive the market. Cleanroom technology enables users to control the environment and prevent contamination from pollutants such as dust, microbes, airborne particles, chemical vapor, and water vapor. As a result, the market is expected to grow at a neutral rate, unlike different industrial sectors, that are expected to witness a steep decline in terms of market growth due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Technavio's custom research reports offer detailed insights on the impact of COVID-19 at an industry level, a regional level, and subsequent supply chain operations. This customized report will also help clients keep up with new product launches in direct indirect COVID-19 related markets, upcoming vaccines and pipeline analysis, and significant developments in vendor operations and government regulations. https://www.technavio.com/report/cleanroom-technology-equipment-market-industry-analysis The market is driven by the growing healthcare industry. In addition, the introduction of new universal standards for air filters is anticipated to boost the growth of the cleanroom technology equipment market. The aging population and the increasing prevalence of various diseases have been fueling the growth of the global healthcare industry. For instance, the national health expenditures in the US grew at a rate of 4.8% in 2019 compared to 4.4% in 2018. In addition, the 20-year patents of many branded drugs are expected to expire in the coming years. This is expected to attract significant investments in the development of generic drugs. In the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, cleanrooms are used to eliminate contaminants from operators as well as from the air to ensure the quality of products. Therefore, the growth of the global healthcare industry is expected to have a positive impact on the cleanroom technology market during the forecast period. Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. View market snapshot before purchasing Major Five Cleanroom Technology Equipment Companies: Alpiq Holding Ltd. Alpiq Holding Ltd. operates its business through segments such as Generation Switzerland, Generation International, and Digital and Commerce. The company offers and supports the installation of cleanrooms for the pharmaceutical, electronics and food industries, hospitals, plastic manufacturers, and research laboratories through its product Alpiq InTec. Ansell Ltd. Ansell Ltd. operates its business through segments such as Industrial and Healthcare. The company offers a line of products such as BioClean cleanroom grade gloves with high standards. Ardmac Ardmac operates its business through a unified segment. The company offers industry-leading cutting edge cleanroom solutions to global clients with modular HVAC systems, while delivering cost-effective solutions through standardization. Azbil Corp. Azbil Corp. operates its business through segments such as Building Automation, Advanced Automation, and Life Automation. The company offers a line of products such as Multi-Loop Controller and Multifunction Display Model C7G/C7S with resistive touch-panel which is easy to operate in cleanrooms. Clean Air Products Clean Air Products operates its business through a unified segment. The company offers a line of products such as air showers for modular cleanrooms to reduce or eliminate the product defects for increased yields. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Cleanroom Technology Equipment Product Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2020-2024) Consumables Equipment Cleanroom Technology Equipment Market Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD bn, 2020-2024) North America APAC Europe South America MEA Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005424/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ The first mistake that left Sean Worsley facing a five-year prison sentence was choosing to stop for gas in tiny Gordo, Ala. The next was blasting music at the pump loudly enough to catch the attention of a local police officer. And the third error was letting Officer Carl Abramo, who said he smelled weed in Worsley's car, to search the vehicle. What was the worst that could happen? The marijuana in his back seat had been legally prescribed to him in Arizona. Worsley, an Iraq War veteran with a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, had used the substance for years to calm his nightmares and soothe his back pain. Yet unbeknown to him, even his legal prescription was illegal in Alabama. The worst-case scenario was far more severe than Worsley could have ever imagined: a years-long legal fight that plunged him into homelessness, cost him thousands of dollars in legal fees, and recently concluded in a 60-month prison sentence. "I feel like I'm being thrown away by a country I went and served for," Worsley wrote in a letter from the Pickens County Jail to Alabama Appleseed, a criminal justice organization that recently published a detailed account of his case. "I feel like I lost parts of me in Iraq, parts of my spirit and soul that I can't ever get back." Besides painting a damning picture of Alabama's criminal justice system, Worsley's tale underscores the wildly inconsistent legal landscape across states on marijuana. While recreational use of the drug is legal in 11 states and the District of Columbia and medicinal use is allowed in 33 jurisdictions, the substance is entirely banned in Alabama. Not so in Arizona, where the substance has been legal for medical purposes since 2011. Worsley, a Purple Heart recipient who spent five years in the military, including a 14-month deployment to Iraq, used his legal prescription to relieve his short-term memory issues, depression and chronic pain, according to the Appleseed report. Neither the Gordo Police Department nor Pickens County District Judge Lance Bailey immediately responded to phone calls requesting comment from The Washington Post. According to the Appleseed report, Abramo no longer works for the department, and attempts to reach him by The Post were unsuccessful. In 2016, Worsley and his wife, Eboni, were driving from a visit to her family in Mississippi to surprise his own relatives in North Carolina. Driving along Highway 82, they stopped at a gas station outside Tuscaloosa, Ala., to refuel their car. Worsley played air guitar at the pump. On Aug. 15, 2016, shortly after 11 p.m., Abramo heard loud music coming from a vehicle and "observed a Black male get out of the passenger side vehicle," according to a police report obtained by Appleseed. "He was laughing and joking around and looking at the driver while doing all this." When Abramo told them their music was violating the noise ordinance in Gordo, a town of less than 2,000 people, they quickly turned it down. After the officer said he smelled marijuana, Worsley said he was disabled veteran and tried to show the officer his medical marijuana card from Arizona. "I explained to him that Alabama did not have medical marijuana," the police report said, according to Appleseed. "I then placed the suspect in hand cuffs." In the back of the vehicle, Abramo also found a prescription bottle of marijuana, rolling papers, a pipe, a six-pack of beer, a bottle of vodka, and some pain pills, all of which he cited as reasons to arrest the couple. (It is illegal to possess most types of alcohol in Pickens County, which at the time was one of Alabama's 23 partially dry counties.) While first-time possession of marijuana is sometimes charged as a misdemeanor, according to the Appleseed report, it can be charged as a felony if the arresting officer believes the substance is for purposes "other than personal use." That's what the Worsleys, who spent six days in jail, were charged with. After being released on bond, the couple's legal nightmare seemed to be over. But almost a year later, the bail bondsman called back with a dire message: The Pickens County judge was revoking bonds on all his cases. That meant they had to rush back from Arizona, he told the couple, or they would be charged with failing to appear in court. They hustled and drove back overnight to Alabama, where the Worsleys were split up and taken to separate rooms for questioning - even though, as Eboni insisted to authorities, her husband's disabilities meant he needed a legal guardian to help make him an informed decision. "They said no, and they literally locked me in a room separate from him," Eboni Worsley told Leah Nelson, the Alabama Appleseed researcher who authored the report. "They told him that if he didn't sign the plea agreement that we would have to stay incarcerated until December and that they would charge me with the same charges as they charged him." It was that threat that caused Worsley to give in and sign the plea agreement: 60 months of probation, drug treatment and thousands of dollars in fines. But in February 2019, he missed a court date in Pickens County. The local probational program cut short his supervision, citing "failure to attend" and "failure to pay court-ordered moneys." And it wasn't until months later, according to the Appleseed report, that he learned from the Department of Veterans Affairs that Alabama had issued a fugitive warrant for his arrest. Now struggling with homelessness, he failed to pay $250 months later to renew his medical marijuana card. When he was arrested at a traffic stop in Arizona last August, according to the Alabama Political Reporter, police found him in possession of the substance without a valid medical marijuana card. Pickens County demanded that he be extradited back to Alabama - and made Worsley pay for it, more than doubling the $3,800 he already owed in court costs. In April, the Pickens County judge sentenced Worsley to five years in prison. Worsley is appealing the sentence. But he is also back in Pickens County Jail, waiting for a spot to open up in the Alabama prison system. The large elephant Butte Wildfire has prompted evacuations in the Evergreen area near Denver, Colorado. Footage from July 13 shows the raging blaze on the hillside as a helicopter flies above. A park ranger told Newsflare: "So far we have a fire of unknown origin approximately 50 acres in size. "Although we had dry lightning in the area the past few days the cause has not been determined. "Volunteer firefighters, incident management team, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Animal Control officers and Jefferson County Open Space Parks and Denver Mountain Parks park rangers all assisted in evacuating people and animals, horses house pets etc. from the nearby community of Evergreen, Colorado. "Several of the evacuees had been in COVID quarantine since February, so quite a challenge to figure out the evacuation plan as a fire is bearing down on their neighbourhood. PPE and all of the other pandemic considerations that need to be done in a safe, timely manner." By Greg Bluestein | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Atlanta Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is locked in an escalating rift with Gov. Brian Kemp over coronavirus restrictions and her approach to policing. But shes getting backup from another high-profile governor. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he would send a team of experts trained at Johns Hopkins University to help Atlanta conduct testing and contact tracing of people exposed to the coronavirus. You have an open offer. Whatever you need, Cuomo said at his daily briefing, adding that we are also 100% behind you. The mayor, who like Cuomo is a Democrat, has been in an increasingly testy battle with Kemp over issues of public safety and health. She appeared at Cuomos daily briefing and criticized Kemp, a Republican, for refusing to require the use of masks. It's not immediately clear if Bottoms will take Cuomo up on his offer, though her aides indicated she was likely to accept some help from New York. Never close personal friends, the working relationship between Bottoms and Kemp has unraveled over the last week. The two have clashed over Kemps decision to deploy the Georgia National Guard to three sites in Atlanta, Bottoms signing of a mask mandate over the governors objections and her announcement of new economic limits in the city to contain the disease. And top Georgia Republicans have blamed Bottoms, a potential running-mate to Joe Biden, for not more aggressively responding to a spate of violence earlier this month that resulted in the shooting of an 8-year-old girl and the ransacking of the state Department of Public Safety. The number of coronavirus cases in Georgia has soared over the last month, and the state has set several recent daily records of new cases. The hospitalization rate has also sharply increased, and roughly 80% of the states hospital beds are filled. New York, once the national epicenter of the outbreak, logged the lowest number of coronavirus-related hospitalizations on Monday since mid-March and the number of daily cases in the state has steadily declined. WASHINGTON A former nursing assistant pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal murder charges in connection with a string of insulin deaths at a veterans hospital in West Virginia. Federal prosecutors say Reta Mays injected lethal doses of insulin into eight veterans at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in rural Clarksburg, causing their blood sugar levels to drop to dangerously low levels. Seven died shortly after. The 46-year-old was charged with seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with intent to commit murder, according to charging documents unsealed Tuesday. She faces life imprisonment. Her attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. Authorities are investigating a string of suspicious deaths at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Five of the victims have been publicly identified (clockwise from left): Air Force veteran George Nelson Shaw Sr., 81; Army veteran William "Sport" Holloway, 96; Army veteran Archie Dail Edgell, 84; Navy veteran John Hallman, 87; Army veteran Felix Kirk McDermott, 82. "Nothing we have done will bring your loved ones back," Bill Powell, U.S. attorney in West Virginia, said at a press conference. "But we do hope that the work of these agents and prosecutors honored the memory of your loved ones in a way that they so justly deserved and, in some small fashion, assuage the anguish you have suffered." The deaths gripped Clarksburg, where several war memorials honoring veterans stood at the center of town. The development comes two years after a criminal investigation into suspicious deaths of 10 veterans at the hospital began. All patients were elderly veterans staying in the hospital's surgical unit, known as Ward 3A. All suffered unexplained drops in their blood sugar levels. 'I trusted those people': Red flags missed, limiting evidence in potential serial killer case at VA hospital A string of suspicious deaths: What we know about veterans who died at the Clarksburg VA Mays began working at the hospital five years ago and was assigned to work the night shift in Ward 3A. As a nursing assistant, Mays was responsible for, among other things, acting as a one-on-one sitter for patients, checking vital signs and testing blood sugar levels, but she was not qualified to administer medication, including insulin. Story continues Her motive remains unclear. USA TODAY reported in October that hospital staff missed opportunities to figure out what was happening, which may have risked veterans' lives and limited evidence in the probe. The hospital didn't adequately track insulin, and there were no surveillance cameras on the ward, according to employees. 8/27/2019. This is Felix Kirk McDermott a veteran who died in 2018 at a VA hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia. By the time a doctor alerted hospital supervisors of the deaths in June 2018, at least eight patients had died under suspicious circumstances. Several had been embalmed and buried, destroying potential evidence. One veteran had been cremated. Many of the bodies had to be exhumed for a medical examiner to perform autopsies. Mays appeared in court for a plea hearing Tuesday, repeatedly saying "Yes, sir" to the judge's questions, including whether she understood the terms of her plea deal. At times, her body shook and her voice trembled beneath the white mask she was wearing. Deaths grip small town: After 10 suspicious deaths at VA hospital, veterans demand answers. 'It's scary really scary' Tony O'Dell, who represents several of the victims' families, said his clients are pleased with the outcome, although he said the investigation should not stop. "The VA hospital in Clarksburg had a frightening number of system failures that allowed this person to kill as many people as she did," O'Dell said in a statement. "The fact that the related deaths continued to pile up shows a complete lack of competence and a total lack of human caring." Air Force veteran George Nelson Shaw Sr., died on on April 10, 2018, at the VA hospital in Clarksburg, W. Va. His death, ruled a homicide by an Armed Forces examiner, is one of 10 under investigation by federal authorities. He was 81. Michael Missal, inspector general for the Department of Veteran Affairs, said his agency is conducting an investigation of the hospital's policies and procedures, including medication management and communications among staffers. Missal said investigators identified Mays as a person of interest shortly after officials were notified of the suspicious deaths in 2018. She was fired in July of that year. "Were glad the Department of Justice stepped in to push this investigation across the finish line and hopeful our court system will deliver the justice Clarksburg-area Veterans and families deserve," Wesley Walls, spokesman for the hospital, said in a statement. Powell, the U.S. attorney, said Mays denied wrongdoing until recently, when she realized the mounting evidence against her. "While overdue, today justice is finally being served. I hope todays announcement brings some semblance of peace to their hearts and to the families who are still uncertain about the fate of their veterans," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said in a statement. Three deaths in three days: Veterans died at a VA hospital under the same suspicious circumstances. What happened? Nurses who kill: Medical murderers and the mystery of the Clarksburg VA hospital in West Virginia Manchin, who introduced a bill requiring the Department of Veteran Affairs to submit detailed reports on patient safety, publicly pressured officials for answers and called for a Senate investigation. The investigation drew the interest of Attorney General William Barr after it became public last year that at least two of the deaths had been ruled homicides. Felix Kirk McDermott, 82, and George Nelson Shaw, Sr., 81, died in April 2018. The Army Forces medical examiner ruled that both men died by homicide by insulin injection. The other victims are Archie Edgell, 84, Robert Edge, Sr., 82, Robert Kozul, 89, Raymond Golden, 88, and one identified in charging documents as W.A.H. USA TODAY reported last year that William Alfred Holloway, 96, died after suffering from severe hypoglycemia, a condition in which blood sugar levels plummet. Some of the deaths were ruled "undetermined." Several of the patients were not diabetic, while others had Type 2 diabetes but were either not prescribed insulin or needed only a small dose. Court records say Mays injected another veteran, identified in court records as R.R.P., with insulin, although his blood sugar levels stabilized. The man, 92, died two weeks later, but the medical examiner was unable to tie his death to the insulin injection. All men died within months, sometimes days, of each other in 2017 and 2018. One veteran, John Hallman, 87, was cremated, although his daughter said his medical records showed his level of insulin spiked before he died. Mays previously worked as a correctional officer in West Virginia and at a privately-owned home care company based in Kentucky. Contributing: Donovan Slack, Kevin Johnson and Ken Alltucker This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Veteran deaths: Reta Mays facing murder charges for Clarksburg deaths One of Johnny Depps security guards has claimed he cooked up a story about the actors severed finger to protect Amber Heard. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, told the High Court in London how he was sent to extract his boss from an argument with ex-wife Heard in Australia in 2015. The bodyguard has been giving evidence on day six of Depps libel claim against The Sun newspaper over an April 2018 article which labelled him a wife beater. Mr Connolly said in a witness statement that when he and another security guard arrived at the property in Australia, he could hear the ruckus coming from inside. He claimed Depp told him: Shes cut my f***ing finger off. Shes smashed my hand with a vodka bottle. Mr Connolly said the actor also told him Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and claimed he saw a mark. The security officer said Heards account of the incident bore no resemblance to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress did not have any marks on her face or arms. Heard claims the incident was part of a three-day hostage situation in Australia one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour she has made against her former husband. Mr Connolly said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the head of Depps security team Jerry Judge, now deceased, who told him: Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation. He added: I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasnt locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house. He and Amber were screaming at each other. I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of Look at my finger. Shes cut my f***ing finger off. Shes smashed my hand with a vodka bottle. I saw his finger and it was a mess. The security guard said the team knew the true cause of Depps injury would create extremely bad publicity and that Mr Judge suggested they should say at hospital that the actor had injured his finger while slicing onions. Sasha Wass QC, representing The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers, said Depp had come up with a variety of potential explanations to give to other people about how his finger was damaged. Actress Amber Heard arrives at the High Court in London for a hearing in Johnny Depp's libel case against the publishers of The Sun and its executive editor, 14 July 2020. (Yui Mok/PA) Mr Connolly said those explanations were only to protect Amber. He added that the story Depp had trapped the finger in the accordion doors in the house was my story. Ms Wass took Mr Connolly to a text sent by Depp to his private doctor, David Kipper, shortly after he lost the tip of his middle finger which read: F*****, man. Had another one. I just cannot live like this. She is as full of shit as a Christmas goose!!! The message added: I cut the top of my middle finger off... What should I do!?? Except, of course, go to a hospital... Ms Wass asked: Would you agree it appears that Mr Depp was accepting that he cut the top of his finger off in that text? Mr Connolly said: Yes, its how its worded. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star, 57, is suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) and its executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on 27 April 2018 with the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be genuinely happy casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film? His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was overwhelming evidence Depp assaulted Heard, 34, on a number of occasions and left her in fear for her life. NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Depp denies the allegations. The trial continues. Additional reporting by Press Association The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has called on the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) to make determinations to decommission the Saltpond Oil Field (SOF) in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region. The Committee believes the move will reduce huge cost of skeletal staff maintaining the rig that had become an economic drain on the State. Mr Noble Wadzah, Chairman of PIAC, a constitutionally mandated body with the oversight responsibility on the prudent use and accountability of oil revenues noted that "the continued use of oil revenues to cater for an idle field did not reflect judicious use of the resources." He made the appeal at a public forum on the management and use of Ghana's petroleum revenues held at Cape Coast on Tuesday. The forum assembled key stakeholders including; representatives of the Central Regional Coordinating Council, PIAC member institutions, traditional and religious leaders, media and the public. Mr Wadzah explained that the SOF which was the nations oldest oil producing field did not produce any more oil hence the need to decommission to reduce unwarranted expenditures. He indicated that commissioning a rig came with careful planning and so GNPC with the consent of the Ministry of Energy had embarked on a two-phased programme to dismantle the premier oil producing field in Ghana. The first phase of bringing down the rig involved preparation of a comprehensive decommissioning plan, while the second phase would actually kick-start the decommissioning operation. Operation of the SOF was halted in June 2010 by the GNPC when it started incurring operational cost from a field that was producing next to nothing from two of its archive wells of six wells originally sunk when the field was operating in the 70s. The PIAC chairman added that it was not financially viable for the GNPC to continue to use oil revenue to cater for the cost of maintaining the offshore production platform ahead of plans to decommission it. He explained that the payment of the emoluments of skeletal staff and the maintenance of the non-functional oil production facility was heavily draining the country's oil revenues. Mr. Nasir Alfa Mohammed, a member of PIAC bemoaned that notwithstanding the committee's statutory mandate and commitments to ensure efficient, transparent and accountable management of petroleum revenues and investments, it lacked the legal wherewithal to prosecute people who misappropriated funds of Ghanas oil revenue allocations. Against this backdrop, he reiterated the need and support for PIAC to have prosecutorial powers to effectively and efficiently control the misappropriation of oil revenues. The PIAC member recommended that Parliament empowered the committee and rendered their unqualified support to forestall any further misappropriation of oil revenue to spark rapid national development. That, he observed would promote accountability from people who were not performing their roles. He assured that the committee would continue to execute its mandate with high integrity and remain independent of governmental dictatorship on the oil revenue management. The PIAC member representing the Ghana Bar Association reaffirmed the PIACs determination to engage the media and other key stakeholders to keep track of oil revenue disbursement as means of promoting social auditing and accountability. He urged the media and other strategic stakeholders to play their roles more effectively to ensure that oil revenues were better protected. Osabarima Kwasi Atta II, Omanhen of Oguaa Traditional Area called for further engagements by PIAC to educate the public on their mandate and work towards galvanisig support of all to presecutoral powers. 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 Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 03:32:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close German Ambassador to the United Nations Christoph Heusgen (C) presides over a Security Council meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York, July 14, 2020. The Security Council held an in-person meeting on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York, the first of its kind since mid-March when COVID-19 forced the council to convene virtually. (Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council held an in-person meeting on Tuesday at UN Headquarters in New York, the first of its kind since mid-March when COVID-19 forced the council to convene virtually. "In light of recent developments regarding the containment of COVID-19 in New York, the UN Security Council together has decided to begin a gradual and phased shift toward in-person meetings here at the UN Headquarters, of course, while ensuring all health precautions," Christoph Heusgen, the German UN ambassador, told reporters before he presided over the Security Council meeting. The meeting was held in the Economic and Social Council Chamber instead of the Security Council Chamber, where the council usually meets. The change of venue is obviously out of the need for social distancing. The Security Council Chamber, with a horseshoe-shaped table in the center, is less desirable for such a purpose. Participants of Tuesday's meeting were seated sparsely in a large circle in the Economic and Social Council Chamber, with many of them wearing face masks, live video feed shows. Briefers who are currently not in New York delivered their statements via video teleconference. Reporters were denied physical access to the Economic and Social Council Chamber. The restriction was "to minimize risk," said the UN Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit on Monday night. Tuesday's meeting agenda was a heavy one. The council first adopted its annual report to the UN General Assembly before the adoption of two resolutions: one on the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement, the other on youth and peace and security. The council then heard a briefing on the peace process in Colombia. Heusgen, whose country holds the Security Council presidency for the month of July, said his delegation intends to have a few more in-person meetings before the end of July. Heusgen said Tuesday's in-person meeting was the result of a unanimous decision of the 15 members of the Security Council. He said he would discuss with other council members after Tuesday's meeting to see whether further in-person meetings would be arranged. Germany's position is that Security Council meetings should go gradually in this direction, he said. "We were pushing, as the presidency, for this. We have everybody on board. And now I want to see how colleagues react. We haven't made any concrete plans. But to give you a German response: yes, we would like to have a few more meetings before the end of our presidency here at the UN Headquarters." Heusgen said virtual meetings cannot replace in-person diplomacy. But he added that the safety of everyone involved is a priority. "We will continue to be very careful," he said. The Security Council began to convene via video teleconference in mid-March after restrictive measures were implemented at UN Headquarters in New York in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The last in-person meeting of the Security Council was held on March 12. After that it had to shift to interim procedures for the conduct of its business, including how meetings are convened and how resolutions are adopted. No interpretation between languages was made available in the meetings via video teleconference. In Tuesday's in-person meeting, several representatives were pleasantly surprised by the fact that they could speak their mother tongue in interventions. Enditem A focus of attention at the event was the Lao Governments financial and banking policies to support pandemic-hit enterprises and workers. Speaking at the function, Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung said the Lao Government has carried out drastic measures to prevent and control the pandemic and mitigate its influences on the local socio-economy. Vietnamese businesses here have faced various difficulties, he said, adding that their operations were stalled with unstable human resources and material sources. The number of Vietnamese projects in Laos remains at 413 with total value at US$4.22 billion. Hung recommended Vietnamese firms proactively seek ways to adapt to the new conditions and prepare for post-pandemic production and investment, suggesting they change management styles, apply new technologies, and seize opportunities from the host countrys major infrastructure projects, which are about to be completed. Nguyen Van Binh, General Director of LaoVietBank and head of BIDVs representative office in Laos, said Laos has issued various financial and banking policies and run a number of preferential loan packages to help enterprises during this difficult time. Participating firms proposed the Lao Government allow entry of Vietnamese workers and clear hurdles to goods transport. The talk was jointly held by the Vietnamese Embassy and the Vietnam Business Association for Cooperation and Investment in Laos (Viet-Lao BACI). Russian journalist Svetlana Prokopyeva has won a prestigious media award, just days after a Russian court found her guilty of justifying terrorism in a controversial case widely criticized as an attack on freedom of speech. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) announced on July 13 that Prokopyeva was one of its 2020 International Press Freedom awardees alongside three other journalists from Bangladesh, Iran, and Nigeria who have been arrested or faced criminal prosecution in reprisal for their reporting. Like brave and committed journalists everywhere, CPJs honorees set out to report the news without fear or favor for the benefit of their communities, their country, and the world, said Joel Simon, CPJ executive director. Prokopyeva, a freelance contributor to RFE/RL's Russian Service, was ordered by a court on July 6 to pay a fine of 500,000 rubles (about $6,950), but she escaped a prosecutors demands for six years in prison and a ban on journalistic activities for four years. Prokopyeva said she will appeal the decision. The case against Prokopyeva was widely criticized by independent Russian journalists, RFE/RL, media rights groups, and Western governments. Prokopyeva was charged in connection with a commentary she wrote in November 2018, published by an affiliate of Ekho Moskvy radio. In the text, she discussed a bombing outside the Federal Security Service (FSB) offices in the northern city of Arkhangelsk. Russian media have reported that the suspected bomber, who died in the explosion, had posted statements on social media accusing the FSB of tampering with criminal cases. In her commentary, Prokopyeva linked the teenager's statements to the political climate under President Vladimir Putin. She suggested that political activism in the country was severely restricted, leading people to despair. CPJ will honor the International Press Freedom awardees on November 19 at a virtual annual benefit gala due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The other awardees are Shahidul Alam of Bangladesh, Mohammad Mosaed of Iran, and Dapo Olorunyomi of Nigeria. Advertisement Earth's population will peak in 44 years at around 9.7billion before it starts to shrink again, according to scientists who predict Nigeria will eventually be home to more people than China. After 2064 the total number of people will start to fall because of a decline in the number of children people are having, dropping by 900million to 8.8billion by 2100. Populations will only grow or stay stable if women have an average of 2.1 children each but better education and contraception will stop this in future because women will be more able to work instead of staying at home as mothers and wives, experts say. Many countries already have lower birth rates than are necessary to sustain population sizes, including most of Europe, Russia, Canada and the US, Brazil, China and Australia. In the coming decades, older citizens in these countries will start to die at a faster rate than they are replaced and the populations will shrink. Some countries, including Japan, Spain and Thailand will see their communities shrink by a staggering 50 per cent or more, the University of Washington researchers predicted. As populations in the West shrink faster than they will in Africa and Asia it will take another 80 years or more for birth rates to drop below sustaining levels in some slower-developing countries a global power shift will emerge. Nigeria is set to become one of the largest, wealthiest countries in the world by the end of this century, the team believe. The US will remain the top global power except for a period in around 30 years' time when China will succeed it before dropping down again. India will be the world's most populated country in 2100, the study says, with 1.09billion people it currently has 1.3bn, second only to China (1.4bn). It will be followed by Nigeria (791m), China (732m), the US (336m), Pakistan (248m) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (246m) in Africa. The population of the UK (currently 66m) will peak in 2063 at 75million before falling back to 71.5million by the turn of the century. In the US (333m) the peak will be at 363million a year earlier, in 2062, before it drops to 336million. And the economies of Indonesia, Turkey will make inroads to become two of the 12 most powerful nations by 2100 as Brazil and Russia slip down the global rankings. Some countries (in purple, dark blue and dark green) already have birth rates that are too low for the population to stay the same size or to grow, according to the study. Once the largest generations start to die off in those nations the populations will begin to shrink Nigeria is set to become one of the largest, wealthiest countries in the world by the end of this century, while India, China, USA, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will have the other largest populations The research was done by a team of 24 scientists led by Dr Christopher Murray and Professor Stein Vollset from the University of Washington in Seattle. The study was published in UK medical journal The Lancet. Dr Murray said: 'Continued global population growth through the century is no longer the most likely trajectory for the world's population.' The scientists who did the study said birth rates are expected to fall globally as more and more countries become modernised and traditional roles of women as mothers and homemakers fade away. WHICH WILL BE THE WORLD'S TOP ECONOMIES IN 2100? The University of Washington study predicted many of the world's top economies will remain powerful over the next 80 years but there will be some reshuffling in the ranks. These are their predictions, based on gross domestic product (GDP): Country USA China India Japan Germany France UK Australia Nigeria Canada Turkey Indonesia Brazil Russia Mexico Rank in 2100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank in 2017 1 2 7 3 4 5 6 12 28 11 17 16 8 10 15 Advertisement Greater availability and affordability of contraception in countries that currently have poor healthcare will mean that unplanned children will become less common and not just a consequence of sex. Better education for girls, improving women's rights and employment opportunities will also mean more women have full schooling and careers, making them less likely to have large families. This is projected to lead to a drop in the fertility rate of the world's population, from an average of 2.37 children per woman 237 children from every 100 women to 1.66, or 166 children for every 100 women. The fertility rate must be 2 for a population to remain stable and 2.1 for it to increase, the researchers said. To keep a community the same size a mother must, on average, not only replace herself but also the baby's father. It could fall to as low as 1.17 in Poland, the study claimed, and to 1.2 in Spain. A total of 23 countries are predicted to see their populations shrink by a staggering 50 per cent or more. They are: Latvia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Cuba, Romania, Poland, Andorra, Moldova, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Taiwan, Japan, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Spain. However, the scientists were adamant that fears about shrinking, ageing populations and the effects they might have on the economy must not lead to a slowdown in the march for women's rights. Professor Vollset said: 'Responding to population decline is likely to become an overriding policy concern in many nations, but must not compromise efforts to enhance womens reproductive health or progress on womens rights.' Dr Murray and colleagues said their work goes against the United Nations, which projects the population of the world will continue growing for the rest of the century. But they acknowledge that the global population is likely to explode in the next 40 years, rising by more than two billion people. Much of this growth will be in sub-Saharan Africa, where birth rates are already high. The Lancet study predicted the population of sub-Saharan Africa which includes Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya will triple between now and 2100, from 1.03billion in 2017 to 3.07billion in 80 years' time as health improvements bring the continent's death rate down. Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa and the Middle East will be the only regions where the populations are higher in 2100 than they were in 2017, the study said (left). In sub-Saharan Africa the population is expected to triple in that time. Niger and Chad (right), both in Africa, will see their populations soar in the next 80 years, increasing more than seven-fold, the scientists said The economies of Indonesia, Turkey will make inroads to become two of the 12 most powerful nations by 2100 as Brazil and Russia slip down the global rankings North Africa and the Middle East is the only other region that will have a bigger population in 2100 than it does now, the researchers said, with the number of people there rising from 600million to 978million. MIGRATION 'WILL BE NECESSARY FOR ECONOMIES TO SURVIVE' Many wealthy European and Asian countries will see their populations shrink dramatically over the next 80 years, the Lancet study claims. And low birth rates and improved survival will mean their average ages increase, with over-80s expected to outnumber under-fives by two to one around the world by 2100. One impact of this will be drastically reduced workforces in some countries such as Japan, Italy and Spain, which are forecast to see populations more than halve. In a bid to boost the number of people working in a country and keep its economy healthy, migration and international co-operation may become a necessity. Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, from University College London, was not involved in the University of Washington study but said in a commentary: 'Ultimately, if Murray and colleagues predictions are even half accurate, migration will become a necessity for all nations and not an option... 'The choice that we face is whether we improve health and wealth by allowing planned population movement or if we end up with an underclass of imported labour and unstable societies. 'The Anthropocene has created many challenges such as climate change and greater global migration. The distribution of working-age populations will be crucial to whether humanity prospers or withers.' He added: 'Nations would need to cooperate at levels that have eluded us to date to strategically support and fund the development of excess skilled human capital in countries that are a source of migrants. 'The projected changes in the sizes of national economies and the consequent change in military power might force these discussions.' Advertisement For many countries in other parts of Asia and in Europe, populations will shrink because birth rates are already low. In some countries populations will drop by more than half. In Japan the researchers estimated the population would fall from around 128million in 2017 to 60million in 2100 a fall of 53 per cent. In Thailand it is projected to drop from 71m to 35m (51 per cent); in Spain from 46m to 23m (50 per cent); in Italy 61m to 31m (49 per cent); in Portugal from 11m to just 5m (55 per cent); and in South Korea from 53m to 27m (49 per cent). A further 34 countries are expected to see their populations drop by between 25 and 50 per cent, including China, where the number of people is projected to fall from 1.4billion to 732million. The researchers said that the average age of people will rise as a result of lower birth rates and better survival, meaning the working age population will shrink and economies would suffer. Some of the oldest countries will have to rely on immigration to make sure they have enough people to keep industry going, the scientists warned. Professor Vollset said: 'The societal, economic, and geopolitical power implications of our predictions are substantial. 'In particular, our findings suggest that the decline in the numbers of working-age adults alone will reduce GDP growth rates that could result in major shifts in global economic power by the centurys end.' The researchers also projected a major increase in the number of elderly people. Over-80s will outnumber under-fives by two to one by the end of the century as fertility falls and life expectancy increases. At the moment there are 681million children under the age of five a figure that will fall to 401million. The number of individuals older than 80, meanwhile, is projected to increase six fold, from 141million to 866million. Professor Vollset said this may have a major impact on the workforce. 'While population decline is potentially good news for reducing carbon emissions and stress on food systems, with more old people and fewer young people, economic challenges will arise as societies struggle to grow with fewer workers and taxpayers. 'Countries' abilities to generate the wealth needed to fund social support and health care for the elderly [will be] reduced.' Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet, added: 'This important research charts a future we need to be planning for urgently. 'This will truly be a new world, one we should be preparing for today.' Gen. Kenneth Frank McKenzie, the top commander of American forces in the Middle East, said today that his command is concerned about recurring uprisings in prisons holding thousands of Islamic State detainees in northeast Syria. McKenzie also said the United States is absolutely concerned about the coronavirus spreading in the prisons, though no signs of an outbreak have yet been detected. We believe the best way to reduce the population of those prisons, in all cases, is repatriation, McKenzie told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday morning. Were working with a variety of nations to achieve that goal. Its a slow process, but we believe thats the best path going forward, the commander said. McKenzie is currently on a tour of the Middle East and has met with regional officials, including Iraqs Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and Jordans King Abdullah II, over the past week. The general also visited northeast Syria, where he met with the commander of the Kurdish-led forces and al-Tanf garrison in southern Syria over the past week. Backed by US Special Operations and the international coalition, Syrias Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) captured and detained tens of thousands of suspected IS prisoners in the war against the extremist group in Syria. Thousands of male IS suspects languish in makeshift prisons guarded by the Kurdish-led forces in Syrias northeast, with an estimated 60,000 mostly women and children stuck in internment camps in the autonomous region. The Kurdish-led autonomous administration has called for an international tribunal to try IS war criminals in northeast Syria, but to little avail. The Trump administration has encouraged foreign governments to repatriate IS prisoners who originated from their countries. Pentagon and former administration officials have warned repeatedly that the IS suspects indefinite detention in Syria is unsustainable and the status quo risks further radicalization and breakouts. The US-led coalition no longer directly supports the SDFs prisons but will continue to try to help the SDF indirectly in any way we can, McKenzie said Tuesday. IS prisoners broke down doors and escaped from their holding area during a riot in March at a major detention facility near the city of Hasakeh. Prisoners took control of parts of the ground floor of the same facility in May. SDF reinforcements were sent to the prison, and the US-led coalition assisted local forces in negotiating with the prisoners before order was restored. A British IS suspected recently died at the Hasakah prison during the latest bout of unrest, the BBC reported Saturday. More than 100 IS detainees escaped SDF detention last October when Turkey launched a military incursion against the Kurdish-led forces along Syrias northeastern border, though some were recaptured, US officials have said. Agra, July 14 : More than the lack of medical facilities, it is the critical delay in testing samples of Covid-19 to ensure early treatment of patients, that has taken a heavy toll of lives in Agra which has recorded 93 deaths in around 100 days. So cumbersome and time-consuming is the process of sampling that most suspected cases go unreported. "People on their own are reluctant to come forward to give samples, as they have to wait for long and go through an agonising procedural process. The patients are also scared of being sentenced to quarantine in facilities that are ill equipped, and reportedly unhygienic," explained a health worker attached to an NGO. So far Agra has tested only 30,510 samples. The SN Medical College, district hospital and the JALMA centre run by the ICMR, have a collective testing capacity of more than a thousand daily. "If only people could get samples checked without fear and delay, and confined to friendly hospitalisation, the results would show a marked improvement. The private nursing homes are compounding the problem by squeezing the victims and when things get out of control, the patients are referred to government hospitals," complained a family member of a victim. In the last 24 hours, 14 fresh cases have been reported in Agra, while Firozabad reported 23 and Kasganj 12. Agra district magistrate P.N. Singh said the total now stands at 1,411 cases, of which 1,154 had recovered. The number of active cases is 164. More than 1,550 teams under the Covid Surveillance Programme, scheduled to end July 15, have surveyed over a lakh homes and collected health related data. Health department officials collected 67 samples of the inmates of the temporary jail at the MD Jain Inter College. All those arrested are first lodged in this temporary jail for 14 days and only when the report comes, are they transferred to the district or the central jail. On Monday markets opened in all areas, except in the buffer and the containment zones. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text China's hybrid national tobacco regulator and manufacturer announces a two-month e-cigarette crackdown focused on illegal and false advertising, as well as online sales, which were technically banned in China last year. Chinas state tobacco regulator has launched a crackdown on covert online sales of e-cigarettes as part of efforts to keep the controversial products out of the hands of minors. The State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA), which effectively both sells and regulates Chinese tobacco products, announced the two-month blitz in a video and telephone conference Monday. Spot inspections began three days earlier on July 10, according to details of the campaign posted on the regulators website. The announcement is a signal that the regulator intends to enforce a ban enacted on Nov. 1 for online e-cigarette sales, and it also helps flesh out some of the detail. Last years online ban, which followed a prohibition on sales of e-cigarettes to minors, brought questions about whether it would extend to WeChat public accounts and microblogs. This weeks blitz singled out We Media, which comprises official WeChat channels, microblog accounts and other forms of online self-publishing, among targets of scrutiny. The STMA has also directed each provincial tobacco monopoly bureau to set up a joint action group with the local regulator to clamp down on illegal online sales, false advertising, and vending machine sales, and ensure legitimate businesses are verifying the age of their customers. The regulator also encouraged the public to squeal on those they see flouting the rules via two consumer hotlines, 12313 and 12315, and post warning signs about penalties for selling e-cigarettes to minors. One seller contacted on WeChat on Tuesday, nevertheless, offered to courier e-cigarettes to Beijing from the vape manufacturing hub of Shenzhen. When asked about the dubious legality of the sale, they said, I understand your concern, but this industry still has honest people in it. When pointed to the STMA announcement, the seller responded, Oh, were going to lose our jobs. It will bring the industry down well have to switch to new products, the seller said. Just what impact the crackdown will have on Chinas 11 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) domestic vaping market, the worlds fifth-largest, remains unclear. Analysts told Caixin previously that increased regulation could spark sector-wide consolidation and increased investment in the biggest e-cigarette companies. Manufacturers might be buoyed by the fact that Mondays announcement also reiterated the goal of promoting the high-quality development of the vaping industry. China exports far more e-cigarettes than it consumes domestically, with Chinese vape-makers exporting 43.8 billion yuan worth of the products last year, an annual increase of more than half. Young people are the largest vaping demographic in China and, according to official statistics, around 45.4% of e-cigarettes were purchased online last year. In November, Caixin revealed that STMA, which oversees and shares staff and offices with China National Tobacco Corp., the worlds largest tobacco company by sales, was weighing whether to also ban most brick-and-mortar stores from selling e-cigarettes. The products have been a source of sustained global controversy for their potential harmful effects and concerns they are marketed at young people. With cigarette smoking going out of style in many markets over its acute impact on human health, many of the most popular vaping brands have now been bought up by traditional tobacco companies. Vaping fears came to a head last year when a wave of hospitalizations and deaths from lung injury were linked to the products. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported 2,807 hospitalizations and 68 deaths through February this year, and the agency later determined that vitamin E acetate, an additive contained in some products, was strongly linked to the outbreak. Contact reporter Flynn Murphy (flynnmurphy@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com) NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Young people going out and about socializing and moving around the city more is what officials see as the driving factor behind an uptick in new coronavirus cases for 20- to 29-year-olds. This week, officials warned that coronavirus cases were on the rise among young adults in their 20s and would begin reaching out to them to remind them to keep socially distancing, wearing face coverings and getting tested. Weve asked a lot of people with the face coverings, with the social distancing, with the shelter in place, its a lot, and lets face it, its harder in many ways on younger people, and I think thats some of whats happening here and elsewhere, de Blasio told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. City data shows that the uptick in cases among young adults started to steadily increase from about June 13, as the Black Lives Matter protests continued around the city. OFFICIALS SAY CASES NO LINKED TO PROTESTS, WONT SAY WHETHER SPIKE TIED TO CROWDS AT BARS AND RESTAURANTS The mayors public health advisor Dr. Jay Varma said officials had traced those new cases primarily to young adults in Brooklyn and Manhattan. But Varma said officials had not seen a link between the Black Lives Matter protests -- which were widely attended by young adults in parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan -- and the increase in cases among New Yorkers in their 20s. He was also unable to say whether the rise in cases in young adults was tied to large crowds outside of bars and restaurants. Without providing a detailed demographic breakdown of the new cases, Varma indicated it was not low income or minority New Yorkers getting sick. Were seeing cases in parts of Manhattan in parts of Brooklyn among that age group that doesnt exactly overlay with our poverty and racial disparities that weve seen in the past, Varma said. So to us, this would imply that it really is closely related to all the things that we would expect that people are moving around more, theyre socializing more, and it really emphasizes the importance of strengthening those messages as the mayor said about wearing face coverings, staying away from large gatherings, keeping distancing and observing good hygiene, Varma continued. Officials had said in early June, at the start of the nationwide police accountability protests, that they would wait until the end of the month to determine whether the demonstrations were driving up cases. But by the end of June, there was no significant uptick in new cases. Theres nothing that we can see that directly links the protests to the rise that were seeing right now among younger people, and theres a couple of lines of evidence that supports that, Varma continued. If you look at the time period in which the protest were most active and intense, we didnt see this similar increase occurring around that time, it should have occurred a little bit later in the month, thats certainly not absolute truth, but it does suggest that protests werent a direct cause, Varma said. De Blasio said that unlike four months ago, hospitals across the city were now in a position to treat several hundreds of new cases if needed. This weekend, New York City reported its first day of no coronavirus deaths for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in the city. FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER. Photo: (Photo : Instagram/skuanavega) Juan Manuel Ballestero rode his small sailboat across the Atlantic for 85 days to see his 90-year-old dad. The cancellation of international flights from Argentina did not stop the 47-year-old sailor from seeing his dad. According to The New York Times, Ballestero loaded his 29-foot sailboat with canned tuna, fruit, and rice and set sail mid of March. He did not want to stay cowardly on an island with no coronavirus cases because his family is the most important for him. His friends tried to dissuade him, and authorities even said that he could not go back if he encountered any problem along the way. His father, Carlos Alberto Ballestero, said that they were worried because they had no idea where his son was for 50 days, but they did not doubt his return. Challenges during sailing Ballestero had challenges while sailing across the Atlantic in a small boat. He said that authorities in Cape Verde did not allow him to dock at the island to restock food and refuel on April 12. Hoping he had enough food and fuel, he continued to sail west. He panicked when he thought that a ship was trailing him because it appeared closer and closer. He started going as fast as he could and thought that if it got closer some more, he would shoot. Seafaring is a family tradition The Ballestero family has made seafaring a tradition. Ballestero's dad took him to fishing vessels when he was three. He took a fishing boat job in southern Argentina when he was 18. One of the most experienced fishermen aboard told him to "go see the world," and so he did. In 2017, he bought his Ohlson 29 sailboat, named Skua. Even though he had a lot of uncertainty, he rode his boat and traveled around the world. He felt strange traveling during the pandemic because he listens to the radio for 30 minutes every night to get news about current events. Ballestero felt anxious, so he drank whiskey for solace, only to find himself feeling worse. Then he resorted to praying and resetting his relationship with God. Faith kept him standing during the toughest times. Many weeks during his trip, he found solace in a pod of dolphins when his spirits were low. And when he had drunk heavily, he saw a large bird known as Skua, where the name of his boat came from. He felt that the bird cheered him up, never to give up. Waves delayed his trip A brutal wave rattled his boat to around 150 miles from Vitoria, Brazil when he approached the Americas. It caused him an added ten days to his expected 75-day travel by stopping in Vitoria. The sailor learned that his brother told the reporters about his trip during that stop. His friends urged him to create an Instagram account to document the last few moments of his voyage. On June 17, people welcomed him like a hero when he reached his native Mar del Plata. He felt that he accomplished a mission after entering the port where his father had his sailboat. A medical staff tested him for COVID-19, and within 72 hours, results came out negative. He was allowed to enter Argentina. Even though he did not get in on time for his father's 100th birthday, he did get to celebrate Father's Day. See also other stories: Viral: Single dad adopts abandoned kids because he relates to them 5-year-old boy walked with prosthetic legs, raised over $1M for hospital that saved him Hairstylist received letter of thanks from husband of woman with dementia Houston Police Department A man was killed Monday at a northwest Houston apartment complex, police said. The man was found dead on the scene in the 5500 block of Desoto. Police are searching for the suspect. A Victorian man in his 30s who is fighting for life in hospital is believed to be one of the youngest patients in Australia battling coronavirus in intensive care. The news comes on another horror day for the virus-stricken state with 270 new cases recorded and two deaths - while the number of national infections soared past 10,000. Of the 1803 active cases across Victoria, 85 are in hospital, including 26 in intensive care, which rose by nine in 24 hours. The Victorian Department of Health and Human Service released more details of the intensive care cases, whose ages range from their 30s through to their 80s. Scroll down for video It's been a grim day in Victoria with 270 new coronavirus cases. Pictured is a healthcare worker prepared to test residents inside a Melbourne public housing tower last week Two men and two women in their 40s are also in intensive care, along with one woman and four men in their 50s. There are also four men and four women in their 60s, three men and three women in their 70s. The two eldest patients, a man and a woman are aged in the 80s. Fifteen ICU patients are men while 11 are women. All but five of the intensive care patients are on ventilators. Of the 1803 active cases across Victoria, 26 are in intensive care, including a man aged in his 30s. Pictured is a mobile testing site in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner on Monday The majority of Victoria's ICU cases come from Melbourne's north-west corridor, according to the state's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. It comes a day after Richmond Tigers AFL star Bachar Houli revealed his mother Yamama was gravely ill in intensive care with the deadly virus. 'My mother's been affected a lot. She's currently in ICU undergoing some heavy treatment. The team in the ICU is taking care of her. Her current state is a mixed one. God knows best her situation,' Houli explained in an emotional video on Monday. 'What burns and what hurts truly is the fact that no one from her family members can go and visit her, which is very, very tough.' Bachar Houli (right) says it has been a tough time for his family with his mother Yamama (left) gravely ill with coronavirus Professor Sutton estimates another several hundred coronavirus cases could be hospitalised in the next fortnight. 'That's a really significant number of people with coronavirus and it does mean that in the next fortnight, we're going to see a number of people who will require hospital,' he told reporters on Tuesday. 'There's often 10 to 20 per cent of all coronavirus infections who require hospitalisation, so that's a couple of hundred individuals at least. 'They will require hospitalisation in the next couple of weeks.' Several hundred cases of coronavirus in Victoria are expected to be hospitalised in the next two weeks. Pictured are Australian Defence Force and Victorian Police at a vehicle checkpoint along the Princes Freeway on Monday Professor Sutton said further restrictions may be considered to curb the spread of community transmission. 'We would do the minimum required, because we know how much of an imposition it is on businesses and people's lives, but if it's required to reduce transmission, then it has to be in play,' he said. Premier Daniel Andrews said it was too early to decide on further restrictions, noting metropolitan Melbourne and Mitchell Shire are just one week into a six-week lockdown. He also confirmed Victoria's last returned overseas travellers would finish hotel quarantine by Thursday. International flights will continue to be diverted away from Melbourne indefinitely, meaning the state's botched hotel quarantine program will stay suspended. A staff member sanitises her hands outside the Menarock Life aged care facility in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon, where 28 new infections were reported on Tuesday Meanwhile, experts say the 'whole of New South Wales' is now a coronavirus hotspot, as the NSW premier warns Victoria's COVID-19 outbreak has 'no doubt' reached Sydney. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian made the grim declaration on Tuesday night after the number of cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's southwest hit 30. Of these cases, 14 are people who attended the pub. While the source of the outbreak has yet to be identified, Ms Berejiklian said investigations confirm the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW. 'It's highly likely that given the evolving situation in Victoria that NSW was exposed to underlying community transmission from that state,' she said in Sydney on Tuesday. It comes as Australian Medical Association Northern Territory branch president Dr Robert Parker called for all of NSW to be considered a 'hotspot'. Victoria's health chief has warned more lockdown restrictions may be considered to curb the spread of community transmission. Pictured is a motorist being tested in Melbourne on July 10 He said NSW residents shouldn't be allowed to enter the NT when it opens up its borders on July 17. Queensland announced it would ban residents from 77 suburbs in Sydney's south west from entering the Sunshine State. 'It's far safer just to delay NSW for a further week sure, open up to South Australia, Western Australia, whatever delay NSW for a further week, just to see what the effect of this particular location is and how far and wide the virus spreads rather than having a fairly confident response,' Mr Parker told the ABC. TikTok is collaborating with the Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) to support emerging talent in the industry, via a bespoke residency for final year students who are eager to begin their fashion careers. Students from GFF member universities are being mentored by TikTok creators and leading designers, as they spend a week learning about design for manufacturing, grading, production lines and much more. By the end of the residency, each emerging designer will have produced four garments of their chosen winning design which will be produced for TikTok to gift to their Creator and VIP community. Fashion designer Henry Holland decided to get involved to help young designers learn the skills needed to create a business, and said the challenge offers "a really useful set of tools that so many students often are lacking". Fashion designer Henry Holland said the Tik Tok residency has offered students valuable manufacturing and marketing insight / Ben Choy Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the fashion industry hard, and according to Holland has "caused us all to question the way we work, the way we shop, the way we consume and how often we do that." GFF Awards finalist Bel Nicholson said: "Ive been trying to apply for jobs, and theres not a lot going on out there, so Im hoping when the situation does clear up a bit more, itll bounce back a bit. But at the moment Im looking into freelance print - thats what I want to do. Print is my life!" In compliance with social distancing measures, students on the residency completed their final collections from home, which brought it's own challenges due to a lack of studio space - although the opportunity to work with TikTok was well worth it. Ms Nicholson said: "TikTok is so big and eccentric. The fact you can put a fashion name to it is really great. "I wanted to express how I view TikTok - it's a place to fit in. In my home town people look at me with my purple hair and crazy colours and they're like 'where do you come from' and then when I go on TikTok, everyone's got crazy hair and crazy colours. I'm like - this is where I belong." As the entry level jobs market is insanely competitive, students are looking for new ways to break into the industry / Ben Choy Likewise, student Melody Ramsey, who designed a tailored poncho as her final piece and previously interned at Ralph Lauren in New York, describes how the video-sharing app "has brought a lot of joy for me and my friends when it's been a difficult time". Student Beth added: "TikTok is all about fun and dance, and it reminded me of rave culture. So I chose a psychedelic print inspired from Acid House which I felt really conveyed what TikTok was all about. TikTok's Cassandra Russell, who works in brand partnerships, was "blown away" by the execution of the designs, and told the students they should be proud of themselves. She added: "Were sending these out to a combination of influencers and our most VIP clients, so itll be the head of marketing for Burberry getting one of these items, and lots of other fashion houses as well. For Holland, the rise of social media had fundamentally altered the fashion industry, by changing consumer behaviour, how people interact with clothes and offering seemingly instant access. "Social media has become a way for individuals to create brands of their personalities, and of who they are - it's really taught people a lot about the process," he says. The designs will be sent out to a combination of TikTok influencers and VIP clients / Ben Choy In reference to the new entrants on the TikTok residency, the fashion designer stressed the importance of passion, and always having a point of view. He said: "Find out it is what you want to say, and then figure out how you're going to say it. "There are so many brands, there's so much noise out there - you have to find a way to cut through that, and do it in a way that feels true to you. "Clothing has the ability to tell stories - we're able to communicate to people without even speaking to them, about who we are and what we're about. "I think that's the power of fashion." A young woman who was believed to have been attacked by a shark is likely to have been bitten by a different fish altogether, experts say. Anika Craney, 29, suffered 'significant leg injuries' after she was bitten while swimming at Fitzroy Island, near Cairns, at about 12.10pm on Tuesday. Ms Craney is apart of a seven-member crew working on the Barefoot II vessel who are creating a YouTube series on marine life. While on a day off, Ms Craney and another crew member decided to swim to shore to see the island when she suddenly felt something sink its teeth into her leg. Initial reports speculated the culprit was a shark despite nobody actually seeing one in the area. But marine biologists have rejected the idea and said Ms Craney's wounds were instead likely to be from a giant trevally or a red sea bass. Anika Craney, 29, (pictured) suffered 'significant leg injuries' after she was bitten while swimming at Fitzroy Island, near Cairns, at about 12.10pm on Tuesday Ms Craney had been on her day off when she decided to swim to the island with another crew member before the attack Fitzroy Island Resort chief executive Glen MacDonald pointed out that Ms Craney hadn't even seen the shark - if that was what attacked her. 'No one's actually seen a shark, that we're aware of,' he told reporters. '[She] herself admitted she hadn't seen anything either. 'She was just aware she'd been bitten, but was unable to confirm it was a shark. 'Fitzroy's never had any evidence of shark attacks in the past. Fitzroy's not known as a breeding ground or habitat for them.' Mr MacDonald's theory was backed up by Reef Teach marine biologist Gareth Phillips, who said it was very unlikely the attack was from a shark. 'The description of the wounds, and I've seen a number of shark attacks in my career, was not conducive to that,' he said. 'There's a strong chance it was either a giant trevally or a red sea bass.' Mr Phillips said trevallys could be mistaken for sharks and were known to attack humans resulting in lacerations and even fractures. Ms Craney shouted: 'I still love sharks!' while being wheeled on a stretcher to hospital Dean Cropp, the skipper of the boat, believed Ms Craney was attacked by a shark but wasn't sure which kind. 'As [Ms Craney] got close, a shark grabbed her on the ankle and she kicked at it,' Mr Cropp told the Daily Telegraph. 'She's a very experienced freediver and has dealt with sharks in the past two years. 'They're not something we're fearful of but we do respect them.' Bystanders applied first aid to the 29-year-old following the bite, while paramedics and a rescue helicopter rushed to the scene. Ms Craney was then flown via helicopter from the popular tourist spot to Cairns, where an ambulance waited to take her to hospital. Despite the mysterious attack, Ms Craney was seen waving and laughing while being wheeled on a stretcher by emergency crews. The 29-year-old had not actually seen the shark herself following the attack Bystanders applied first aid to the victim, while paramedics and a rescue helicopter rushed to the scene 'I still love sharks!' she shouted while being wheeled to hospital. 'Sharks are beautiful!' Ms Craney had been working as a nurse, videographer and deckhand on Mr Cropp's vessel. Mr Cropp said she had been attacked in water only five metres deep and he and the crew are planning to visit Ms Craney who remains in hospital on Tuesday night. 'She seemed to be more worried about missing out on the adventure then the injuries,' Mr Cropp told the Sydney Morning Herald. 'While you hope it doesn't happen to you, you know it's part of the risk.' Ms Craney, who worked as a volunteer firefighter and lost her home in the Cobargo fires early this year, is now looking at a potentially broken ankle and deep lacerations to her lower left leg. Shark attacks in Fitzroy Island are very uncommon but there have been two other attacks in Far North Queensland within the last ten days. Mani Hart-Deville, 15, was attacked while surfing at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, north of Coffs Harbour, just before 2.30pm on Saturday. Board-riders helped the boy to shore and he was given first aid for serious leg injuries but died at the scene. Matthew Tratt, 36, was fatally mauled while spearfishing off Queensland's Fraser Island on Saturday July 4. After a senior parliament official, who had attended a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee last week, tested positive for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Tuesday morning, several MPs have gone into self-isolation. Two MPs and a senior Lok Sabha official confirmed the developments. Covid-19 cases had been reported among parliament staff earlier, but this is the first time it involved the main parliament building and affected MPs. It underlines the vulnerability of holding meetings amid the Covid-19 pandemic and some lawmakers feel that the demand for online meetings will now get louder. A total of 18 MPs attended the meeting. With many MPs swiftly moving into to self-isolation, some of the upcoming meetings of the parliamentary panels have been affected. Biju Janata Dals (BJD) Bhartruhari Mahtab, the chairman of the labour panel and a member of the PAC, said, I am in self-isolation and so the meeting of the labour committee has been deferred to July 20. Another MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced on twitter that he is going into quarantine. Although strict health normsmembers wore masks and maintained distance were observed at the meeting of the Parliaments audit watchdog on July 10, the emergence of an active case of an official who sat throughout the meeting and assisted MPs took many by surprise. BJP MPs had thwarted PAC chief Adhir Chowdhurys attempt to discuss PM Cares fund in that meeting. The first time such an incident inadvertently involving a parliamentary panel meeting and MPs comes amid the demand for digital meetings. Four panel heads Shashi Tharoor, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh and Adhir Chowdhury (all four Congress leaders) had sought permission to go online but no digital plan for panels has been finalised yet. An opposition leader said, After this incident, the demand for holding online meetings will grow even louder. We have a stronger case to underline the risk of meeting offline when Covid cases are exponentially growing in India. The labour panel was scheduled to discuss the crucial subject of changes in labour laws by some states and issues relating to migrant labour force. Five meetings of different panels are also slated in this week. Officials also said that a few weeks ago, two junior staff members were detected with Covid-19 in one of high offices of the Lok Sabha, prompting a few top officials to go into self-quarantine. Previously, a few senior officers and a senior housekeeper had also tested positive. The Lok Sabha officials have started attending office in select numbers since May. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON LONDON Hand sanitizer, social distancing and limits on the number of people in any one place: Coronavirus precautions have been ubiquitous in the U.K. There is, however, one notable exception masks. The politically fraught conversation around masks that has taken place in the United States has been largely absent in England. Since the lockdown began lifting here last month, it has been rare to see the country's top politicians or royals in masks, and according to opinion polls, few people on the street have been wearing them. At last, that could now be changing. The health secretary, Matt Hancock, announced Tuesday that masks will be compulsory in shops and supermarkets from Friday, July 24. Anyone caught in a shop without one could have to pay a 100 pound ($125) fine, although children and people with disabilities are exempt. "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from Coronavirus," said a spokesperson for 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence. "The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24." Scotland, which sets its own health policies, has already made masks in shops compulsory, following countries such as Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece. Image: Rishi Sunak (Phil Noble / AP) Johnson has repeatedly hinted that a change was coming on mask guidance and London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also pressed the national government to require masks in public places. Masks are already required on public transport in England and Scotland, but not yet in Wales until July 27. Britain has Europe's highest death toll in the pandemic, with nearly 45,000 coronavirus-related deaths, and almost 290,000 recorded cases. It also lags significantly behind Italy, Spain, France and Germany in the number of people wearing masks when out in public, according to YouGov polls. In early July, 36 percent of U.K. respondents said they wore a mask in public places, compared to 83 percent in Italy and 86 percent in Spain, Europe's hardest-hit countries after the U.K. Story continues "The U.K. government has a history of doing things rather late in the day, starting from lockdown, PPE, test, trace and isolate it seems to be part of a pattern," said Susan Michie, a professor of health psychology at University College London and a member of a group of experts that releases pandemic-related research in a bid to change government policy. "There isn't a tradition or culture of wearing face coverings, so we are starting on the back foot. More needs to be done to make it a routine behavior compared to other countries where they are more used to this." After reopening its doors after lockdown, the Little Apple Bookshop in York asked that all customers entering its 400-square-foot store wear masks. The response in the first week was shock and even anger from some customers. "We thought it was common sense and didn't think it would be controversial at all," said owner Philippa Morris. "We opened and were really surprised that some people thought it was strange." Over the last week however, Morris said that's changed. "Now that people are coming out more into town, they are saying they like it," she said. Projections by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle show that the adoption of universal masks in the U.K. could result in around 20,000 fewer deaths by November. A model published by the Royal Society also found that masks could significantly cut the spread of the virus. "One of key features of this outbreak is that people are asymptomatic for a period of time, but they are still able to infect others," said Richard Stutt, one of the article's authors and a post-doctoral research associate in the epidemiology and modeling group at the University of Cambridge. "We saw that it was at least twice as effective to have people wear masks all the time than after they became symptomatic." Related: For Ben Walker, a teacher of children with special needs in the northeast England town of Hull, wearing a mask in public feels strange when he doesn't wear one at work. He said his school discouraged teachers from wearing masks all the time so students could more easily connect with them. Walker, however, said that with clearer messaging from the government, he would be willing to wear a mask when out in public. "There is a real lack of clarity from the government in this country, England specifically, around the wearing of face masks," he said, "and that leads to difficulties for a lot of people." Two weeks ago, I asked Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, what a functioning Department of Education would be doing to prepare the country to reopen schools in the fall. A functioning Department of Education would have been getting groups of superintendents and principals and unions and others together from the middle of March, she told me. It would have created a clearinghouse of best practices for maintaining grab-and-go lunch programs and online education. By mid-April it would have convened experts to figure out how to reopen schools safely, and offered grants to schools trying different models. None of that has happened, said Weingarten. Zero. Instead, Donald Trump has approached the extraordinarily complex challenge of educating children during a pandemic just as hes approached most other matters of governing: with bullying, bluster and propaganda. While doing nothing to curb the wildfire spread of the coronavirus, he has demanded that schools reopen and threatened to cut off funding for those that dont. On Wednesday, he tweeted that the guidelines for reopening schools from his own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were very tough & expensive, adding, I will be meeting with them!!! Mike Pence then suggested that the guidelines would be revised. On Thursday the agencys director, Dr. Robert Redfield, said they wouldnt be, but later, seeming to give into pressure, said the guidelines should be seen as recommendations, not requirements. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:38:49|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LUSAKA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Zambia on Tuesday received a batch of anti-pandemic medical supplies from the Chinese government through the Organization of African First ladies for Development to help mothers and children combat COVID-19. The Chinese embassy entrusted by China's first lady, Peng Liyuan, handed over various medical supplies to help Zambia in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The donations, made by Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Jie, were received by Zambia's First Lady Esther Lungu during a ceremony. Among the donated items included disposable medical masks, infrared thermometers and surgical masks. The Zambian first lady expressed gratitude to her Chinese counterpart for the donation, saying it will go a long way in helping the country tackle the pandemic. The Zambian first lady indicated that the donation could not have come at a better time than now when countries were trying to protect themselves from the transmission of the deadly disease. "It is for this reason that I am here today because I fully support Professor Peng Liyuan's initiative and firmly believe in the significance of sisterly collaboration as first ladies across the globe," she said. She emphasized the need for countries to stand together in true solidarity in the face of the pandemic. According to her, it was also time that citizens in countries supported each other by doing everything possible to preserve life and restore nations. On his part, the Chinese envoy said China will continue to provide Zambia with support in its quest to tackle the pandemic through supplying medical items as well as building the capacity of human resources. China, he said, was among first countries that helped Zambia when the pandemic broke out in the southern African nation in March. The Chinese envoy said his government was currently in the process of organizing ventilators to help the country in the treatment of COVID-19 patients while more medical personnel will soon be deployed to the country to help build the capacity of local medical personnel. The envoy, who commended Zambia for the efforts done to combat the pandemic so far, said collaboration was important if the battle against the pandemic was to be won. Zambia has so far reported a total of 1,895 cases and 42 deaths. Enditem The advent of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and the increasing use of Internet of Things devices throw techno-legal challenges regarding privacy and security. Experts say, any expansion of power to the government to block web-services is detrimental to the interests of users, innovation, and Indias larger technology ecosystem. The move to block the mobile apps is likely to have a lasting impact on the data security and privacy framework. Photograph: Michael Dalder/Reuters The governments move to block 59 Chinese mobile apps will put to test the provisions of the two-decade-old, overarching statute - the Information Technology Act, 2000 - in safeguarding the countrys data security and privacy concerns. Section 69A of the Act empowers the central government to block access to information on the internet that is considered prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of the country. However, the legal basis of the move - and whether it could withstand judicial scrutiny - is still being debated. Some experts feel the absence of a dedicated data privacy and security law limits the countrys legal options. There is also concern among a section of policy analysts, who argue the move sets a precedent in terms of expanding the power of the government to block web services. This is the first time internet applications have been blocked on the ground of national security, say experts. In the past, the ground for initiation of such action included display or dissemination of specific inappropriate content, breach of privacy or data security concerns. The sweeping nature of the order to block these mobile apps has taken many experts by surprise. I am unaware of instances where internet applications have been banned on the grounds of national security, says Santosh Pai, partner, Link Legal. Internet Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that works to protect and advance digital rights, argues in a blogpost that according to its reading, Section 69A does not extend to directions for blocking smartphone applications, but individual pieces of information and content. Legal experts point out most governments generally issue notice or direction to the concerned service providers, allow them to comply, before issuing any blocking orders. India, too, has been largely following that protocol. However, this time the service providers have to first comply with the government order, before making representations to concerned authorities and convince them they comply with all the regulations. The affected service providers are entitled to appeal against the move in Indian courts, citing provisions of Article 14 of the Constitution, say lawyers. Article 14 provides any person equal protection of the law within the territory of India. However, legal experts point out courts generally do not interfere with a government order based on the grounds of national security. Pai, too, expects the affected service providers to first enter negotiations with the government to put forth their point of view and try and comply with the security concerns raised. But the fact remains the absence of dedicated laws raises questions around the efficacy of Indias cyberlaw framework to counter IT-related data security and privacy threats. Further, the advent of artificial intelligence, blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, and the increasing use of Internet of Things devices throw techno-legal challenges regarding privacy and security, say experts. The current work-from-home scenario raised several questions around data privacy and security. India needs to have a holistic approach on these techno-legal issues, says Pavan Duggal, a cyber-law expert. The Supreme Court recognised the right to privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution. However, the proposed Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, is still in the works, pending consideration of the Joint Parliamentary Committee. Experts feel India needs to learn from the experience of other countries like Singapore, Australia, and Vietnam, which have already legislated new legal frameworks dedicated to cybersecurity and its various aspects. Given the newly changing ground realities of 2020, there is a need to review and extensively amend the IT Act, 2000, and make it topical and relevant in todays context, says Duggal. Most experts are in favour of putting in place specific regulatory instruments to safeguard individual privacy and meet data security concerns. Any non-compliance should be penalised in an objective and evidence-based manner, following proper legal standards, they add. In its blogpost, Internet Freedom Foundation says any expansion of power to the government to block web-services is detrimental to the interests of users, innovation, and Indias larger technology ecosystem. The move to block the mobile apps is likely to have a lasting impact on the data security and privacy framework. China's reciprocity clause Chinas new Foreign Investment Law came into force from January 1, 2020. It has a provision (Article 40) that states that companies from other countries or regions that adopt discriminatory practices against Chinese investment could face reciprocal measures. This, along with the National Security Review regulations, makes policy experts apprehensive of China using this provision for reverse sanction against 100-odd Indian companies operating out of that country. A similar threat was made by the Chinese government regarding Huaweis participation in 5G trials, experts add. Image used for representation purpose only. - Ghana's first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, was buried on 9 July 1972 after his body was returned to Ghana from Guinea - President Toure, the then president of Guinea, was beseeched by Nkrumah's mother that she wanted to touch her son's body before leaving the earth - Dr Kwame Nkrumah died in Bucharest, Romania at the age of 62 after six years in exile in Guinea, far away from his birthplace of Nkroful Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in On 9 July 1972, exactly 48 years ago, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana, was buried at his hometown in Nkroful near Tarkwa in the Western Region of Ghana. Before the burial, Nkrumah's aged mother, Madam Elizabeth Nyaniba, had beseeched the then president of Guinea, President Toure to allow the body to be returned to Ghana. In Nyaniba's own passionate and famous words, I want to touch the body of my son before he is buried, or I die. READ ALSO: Bride proceeds with wedding after accident cripples groom Source: UGC Source: Twitter READ ALSO: Ghanaians go crazy on Twitter after 55 people at Accra Girls' test positive for COVID-19 The return of his body to Ghana had been preceded by lengthy negotiations between Ghanas military rulers and the government of Guinea that lasted for more than two months. Nkrumah's mother, who also indicated that she would like her sons body embalmed and kept permanently on public display, had her desire granted, after which the burial ceremony was held. Dr Kwame Nkrumah died on 27 April 1972 in Bucharest, Romania after six years in exile in Guinea, far away from his birthplace of Nkroful. He was 62 years old. READ ALSO: African country discovered to have more cattle, sheep, and goats than human beings President Kwame Nkrumah was unconstitutionally ousted from office through a military coup launched by the National Liberation Council (NLC) with the code name Operation Cold Chop. It happened on 24 February 1966 while he was in Peking (todays Beijing). Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Vox pop: Which team Nana-Bawumia or Jane-John will win the 2020 election? Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: YEN.com.gh Supplier News 14 July 2020 Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the successful implementing of a high speed Wi-Fi network upgrade at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Columbus, Georgia. Aiming to provide its guests with all of the amenities that make a hotel stay enjoyable and feel like home, Country Inn & Suites, Columbus had begun work on an extensive property-wide renovation that placed a top priority on first revamping its internet abilities due to being identified as one of most important services for guests. Since partnering with HIS, the hotel is now able to ensure a fast and seamless connection for each guest device, with the property also noting a significant improvement in online guest review scores. Prior to partnering with HIS, Country Inn & Suites, Columbus frequently faced poor internet quality issues such as an inability for guests and staff to connect or extremely slow speeds despite paying for a high speed service. After considering several competing companies, the property ultimately decided to work with HIS, as thanks to the organization's industry-specific expertise, the root cause of the issue was identified as resulting from an outdated network infrastructure that was creating a bottleneck in bandwidth performance and signal strength. In contrast to the other companies that the hotel had considered, HIS was also able to provide a detailed strategy over how any connectivity issues could be fully resolved at an affordable price. This included updating the property's network with several state-of-the-art modems along with the strategic implementing of advanced Ruckus access points within guestroom, lobby, breakfast, and meeting room areas. "Providing guests with a high quality Wi-Fi service is such a crucial aspect of ensuring guest satisfaction that we knew we had to address it first during our renovation efforts, and to achieve this we also understood the need to partner with a provider able to deliver fully on any and all online guest expectations," said Fiona Cornelius, General Manager at Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Columbus, Georgia. "Even from the beginning stages, we have been highly impressed with HIS and the abilities of its technicians in thoroughly analyzing every aspect of our network to implement an effective solution, with total installation time taking only four days and while working to minimize any disruption to guests. With the new network, our guests can now be guaranteed a fast and seamless connection for all of their devices and can now even stream their own content which was simply not an option before. As result, we have seen our online reviews for internet quality jump from low scores to virtually all being 10 out of 10 and with HIS offering exceptional customer service, we are sure that this will continue as a long-term trend." In addition to offering unmatched industry expertise and access to the latest in Wi-Fi network hardware, HIS also provides both hotel staff and guests with 24/7 instant customer support. This ensures that properties and their guests will consistently continue to receive high quality Wi-Fi performance along with the ability to swiftly address any troubleshooting issues that may arise. Improved maternal health is an important prerequisite for womens advancement and achieving set targets for goal three of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet due to low access and utilization of maternal healthcare, women, especially those in rural communities remain vulnerable and under-served. The SDGs goal three, among others seeks to reduce global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100,000 live births, and ends preventable deaths of new-born babies and children below five years. Countries around the world are aiming to reduce neo-natal mortality to as low as 12 per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality to as low as 25 per 1,000 live births. But, the absence of staff accommodation, laboratory and standard maternity ward at the Bonsu Health Centre in the Nkoranza South Municipality of the Bono East Region is affecting provision and access to quality health care service delivery. Currently, the Bonsu Health Centre is serving more than 6,000 clients but the facility is bedeviled with poor hygiene and sanitation condition due to lack of sanitary facilities. This came to light when the Project Assessment Team (PAT) of the Global Media Foundation (GLOMeF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) visited to assess challenges confronting the facility. Madam Sylvia Boakye Sarpong, the officer in-charge of the facility told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) only two out of the nine health workers had accommodation, and the situation was affecting quality service delivery. She said the facility recorded about 500 out-patients department cases with 100 being maternity attendance a month and therefore appealed for urgent expansion of the facility. Madam Sarpong said through its internally-generated fund, the facility was putting up a laboratory of GH50,000.00, but had become standstill due to lack of funds and appealed for support. Mr. Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of GLOMeF said quality healthcare was a fundamental human right, and a key indicator of sustainable development. Poor health conditions threaten the rights of children to education, limit economic opportunities for men and women and increase poverty within communities and countries around the world. Mr. Ahenu appealed for support towards upgrading the facility to provide quality healthcare delivery to the people. In 2018, the human rights and media advocacy NGO initiated and is implementing a project in the area to help achieve the global SDGs three. Titled Project Rural Health System Strengthening Program (RHSS), the goal of the project aims at partnering the private sector, health care NGOs and public clinics to raise awareness and increase access to targeted health services for all, especially rural communities. It is also designed to improving health infrastructure in rural communities to help improve quality health care delivery. 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 Two Trinity University students died in a car accident last Friday in Palo Pinto County about 65 miles west of Fort Worth, according to school officials. The university identified the students Tuesday as 19-year-old Tyler Colvin and 20-year-old Rebekah Wendt, both of whom were part of the class of 2023. The students were members of the Young Conservatives of Texas and were in North Texas campaigning for Jon Francis, a candidate for the Texas House of Representatives, according to a news release from the organization. The students were returning to their hotel after their shift ended around 6 p.m., when the accident happened. Colvin was driving a 2016 Toyota Corolla east on FM 4 when he failed to yield the right-of-way and struck the passenger side of a 2016 GMC 3500 pickup traveling north on U.S. 281, the Texas Department of Public Safety said in an email to mySA.com. Colvin was pronounced dead at the scene. Wendt later died from her injuries after she was flown by air ambulance to a hospital in Fort Worth, according to DPS. The condition of the driver of the GMC was not given. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Colvin, a business major, and Wendt, who was majoring in history with a minor in architecture, were active member's of the school's chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas, a non-partisan youth group fighting for conservative values in Texas, according to its website. "To know that not only two of my members, but two of my friends have passed away is heartbreaking, said Nathan Darsch, Trinity's YCT chairman, in a news release. Both were fun, energetic and always looking to help those around them and they will be sorely missed. My thoughts and prayers as well as those from everyone at Trinity goes out to their families and any others affected by this tragedy." The university sent a letter to its students and faculty members on Sunday, writing that the loss of the two "bright lights" has dimmed its world. According to the letter, Wendt was a member of Swing Bums (a group of swing dancers at Trinity) and participated in the Plunge, which is a five-day, pre-orientation mission event sponsored by Trinity's Chapel Fellowships. Friends remember Wendt as outgoing, lighting up every conversation and bringing joy wherever she went, the letter said. Colvin joined Alpha Kappa Psi, a co-ed business fraternity, in the fall of 2019 and was slated to serve as the service chair to Phi Sigma Pi, a national honor fraternity this upcoming school year. He was active in the Catholic Student Group and recently joined the polo club as a novice rider. Friends describe him as a warm, caring, intelligent individual who dedicated his time and energy freely to the people and causes he cared about. Francis asked others to pray for the families of the students who were killed in the car crash, according to the YCT news release. "Please join us in lifting up the families in prayer over the weeks to come," he wrote. "As a Believer, I know that we were never meant to experience death. Today is a painful reminder that until the Resurrection, we will still see death come far too soon for many. Hold your loved ones close. I know I am today." Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:49:00|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Health workers disinfect a mosque in Sale, Morocco, on July 14, 2020. A total of 161 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Morocco on Tuesday, bringing the total infections in the country to 16,097. (Photo by Chadi/Xinhua) RABAT, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A total of 161 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Morocco on Tuesday, bringing the total infections in the country to 16,097. The number of recovered patients rose to 13,442 with 508 new recoveries, Hind Ezzine, head of the Department of Epidemic Diseases of the Ministry of Health, told a regular press briefing. The COVID-19 death toll rose to 257 after two new fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours, Ezzine said. The death rate from the coronavirus in Morocco is kept low at 1.6 percent, while the recovery rate is at 83.5 percent, the official noted. Meanwhile, Moroccan Minister of Health Khalid Ait Taleb urged the citizens to stay alert and increase vigilance as the epidemic is not over yet. The increasing number of deaths and critical cases recorded recently is basically due to many people's refusal to obey the the precautionary measures, mainly the social distancing rule and wearing of masks. China has helped Morocco in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. A batch of medical supplies donated by the government of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was transported on June 8 to Casablanca-Settat in Morocco. On May 14, China Development Bank sent a batch of donation, including respirators and medical protective masks, to help Morocco fight the COVID-19 pandemic. China's Guizhou Province has also donated 15,000 surgical gloves, 20,000 medical masks and 2,000 protective suits to help Moroccan medical workers fight the pandemic. Enditem A Household Cavalry corporal is fighting for a 700,000 payout after claiming his career was wrecked when he was hit in the eye by a rubber bungee while putting up an army tent. Simon Harley, an NCO in the mounted regiment - which forms part of the Queen's official bodyguard - says he was erecting a makeshift tent during a training exercise in February 2015 when a bungee cord came loose suddenly and catapulted into his face, which he claims left him almost blind in one eye. He says that because his damaged eye meant he could no longer fire a weapon in combat, he was discharged from the Army about a year after the accident, bringing his 15-year military career to an end. Household Cavalry corporal Simon Harley, above, is fighting for a 700,000 payout and says he was discharged as his damaged eye meant he could no longer fire a weapon in combat Mr Harley, from Bordon, Hampshire, is now suing the Ministry of Defence for 'just shy of 700,000' over the long-term effects of his injuries, claiming the tent accident was caused by the negligence of his comrades or superiors. But the MoD denies liability for his accident, claiming Mr Harley may himself have been at fault, and is questioning the true impact of the accident on his vision. The court heard that Mr Harley, a lance corporal of horse, was taking part in an exercise in a military training area on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, when the freak accident happened. Mr Harley and his comrades, as part of their exercise, had to create a makeshift tent as a 'base' to sleep in, consisting of a waterproof sheet or poncho covering a trench and secured with bungee cords. As he got into the trench, Mr Harley, 36, says he had to adjust the poncho, which was supported by a stick. When he did so, the stick snapped and wrenched free a bungee attached to a nearby tent peg in the ground. 'He crawled into the shell scrape and as he adjusted the height of the poncho the stick snapped, the tent peg came out of the ground, the bungee sprang back and he was immediately struck in the eye by the metal hook on the end of the bungee,' his lawyers stated in court papers. The blow caused immediate blood loss and he has since lost at least 75 percent vision in his right eye, he says. The blow caused immediate blood loss and he has since lost at least 75 percent vision in his right eye, Mr Hurley says The injury, which also resulted in a broken nose, caused acute damage to his optic nerve, his lawyers added. He claims the injury caused his discharge from the Army in March 2016 and that the damage to his eye now puts extra strain on his functioning left eye, causing headaches and fatigue and problems with long-distance driving. The MoD denies liability for his accident, and alternatively suggests Mr Harley may himself have been at fault in failing to ensure the tent peg was properly fixed before adjusting the height of the poncho. Those taking part in the training exercise were also fully trained in how to build their two-man trenches, the MoD insists. During a pre-trial hearing at Central London County Court, Andrew Ward, for the MoD, told judge David Saunders: 'It is not disputed that when this bungee cord which was attached to a tent recoiled, it hit him in the face and injured his right eye. That's not disputed.' But he went on to say a report by one medical expert had suggested there had been a 'dramatic improvement in his vision' since the accident, which the MoD says 'puts into doubt either the causal nexus or the genuineness of the symptoms.' The judge was also told his claim is worth 'just shy of 700,000'. The case will return to court for trial at a later date. Confined to their homes by lockdown, women have also found it difficult to access family planning services. Manila, Philippines Before beginning her daily three-kilometre walk to the government health clinic where she works as a midwife, Stella Marie Alipoon packs a bottle of water for herself and birth control pills, condoms and injectables for the patients she is about to meet. Alipoon has continued her rounds since mid-March when the Philippines government declared a strict lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Businesses and commercial establishments ceased operations, all forms of public transportation were suspended, and city borders were barricaded by checkpoints operated by police. The measures were meant to curtail the spread of the coronavirus which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19 but it also cut off the midwifes patients in the city of Caloocan, about 8 kilometres (5 miles) north of Manila, from free birth control services and products. Patients found me on Facebook and messaged me asking me how they could access birth control, Alipoon said. Many couldnt go to the clinic because there was no public transport or they didnt have money for the fare. Some werent sure if the clinic had closed during the lockdown and didnt want to venture going out and risk getting infected. Since the women could not go to the clinic, Alipoon brought family planning services to them, meeting them along the highway to give them enough birth control pills and condoms to tide them over for two to three months. In one instance, Alipoon found a discreet spot behind a 7-11 convenience store to administer an injectable contraceptive. Health worker Mak Calsona does her rounds in Manila. Her work has been affected by the prolonged coronavirus lockdown [Ana Santos/Al Jazeera] The women were desperate for birth control. Their partners were home all the time because of the lockdown and well, lets just say they didnt want the increased intimacy to result in an untimed pregnancy, said Alipoon. Baby boom Globally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that more than 47 million women could lose access to contraception as a result of the coronavirus overloading health systems and disrupting global supply chains, which could result in about 7 million unintended pregnancies. In the Philippines, experts say the lockdown means more than 5 million women in the Philippines are likely to find their reproductive health services disrupted. More than 1.8 million unplanned pregnancies were already expected this year, and the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI) and the UNFPA are predicting a coronavirus baby boom with an additional 751,000 unintended pregnancies if community quarantine measures continue until the end of the year. This would be the highest number of births in the country since 2012, said Juan Antonio Perez III, executive director of the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM). According to POPCOM data, the number of births that year was 1.79 million and has been slowly declining as family planning services became more widely available. But the lockdown is reversing the situation. POPCOM says government health centres have seen a 50-percent drop in people using their services since March, mostly due to lack of public transport, limited clinical staff and reduced clinic hours. A ravaged economy compelled the government to ease lockdown measures across the country on June 1, except for certain high-risk areas but, despite the relaxation, many are still afraid to leave their homes. In the past few weeks, the Philippines has recorded new daily COVID-19 cases in the thousands. As of July 12, there were 56,259 total cases, the second-highest in Southeast Asia. New initiatives In an effort to make reproductive health services easier to access, the health department in April launched Family Planning on Wheels, a programme where health workers visit various communities and hand out three months supply of their preferred birth control. Jeanger Parane, one of thousands of pregnant teens in the Philippines, waits for a consultation. She did not have any kind of check-up for the first seven months of her pregnancy [Ana Santos/Al Jazeera] The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken our health system, disrupting access to family planning. Through Family Planning on Wheels, we bring family planning to the doorstep of our clients, health secretary Francisco Duque said in a press briefing last Friday. Duque added that initial data showed the initiative led to an increase in the use of condoms and birth control pills. But the nature of birth control, pregnancy and childbirth are complex and often unpredictable. In the dense urban slum community of Baseco, Manila, where Mildred Jamandron lives, the 24-year-old says the lockdown measures left her overwhelmed. I didnt know where I could safely give birth. I discounted two hospitals because they handle COVID cases. I was scared to give birth there. A small birthing clinic wanted to charge me 11,000 Philippine pesos (about $220) which I couldnt afford, said Jamandron, a homemaker whose partner is a seafarer. On June 4, when Jamandron began going into labour in the early hours of the morning, she contacted the Likhaan Center for Womens Health, an organisation that provides free maternal healthcare. Likhaan community health workers dispatched their emergency vehicle and picked her up so she could give birth safely in their facility. Mak Calsona, a community health worker with Likhaan, visited Jamandron last week in her home to check on the health of her newborn and give her advice about birth control options. Seated in the sidecar of a motorbike, she made her way through narrow streets in ankle-deep water caused by bad sewage and a high tide to reach Jamandron. The driver of the sidecar charged her 40 Philippine pesos ($0.80) because of the distance and because they now accommodate fewer passengers in compliance with physical distancing measures. Usually, it would cost a quarter of that. Double burden Calsona said women are suffering a double burden caused by the pandemic. On one hand, they are scared to go out to the clinics to get their birth control supplies and check-ups. On the other hand, they are scared to get pregnant during a pandemic that has made health and income security so uncertain, she said. Mak Calsona visits Mildred Jamandron. The 24-year-old says she has been overwhelmed by the situation [Ana Santos/Al Jazeera] After paying Jamandron a visit, Calsona met two other pregnant women and brought them to the Likhaan clinic for a check-up and to discuss their birth plan. Likhaan shouldered the cost of their transportation. It seems like such a small amount 40 pesos ($0.80) for transport. But that is just one way. When you think of having to pay for a return trip and the recurring cost to continue clinic visits, it adds up. It is a real barrier to accessing services. Jeanger Parane was one of those Calsona brought to the clinic that day. The 14-year-old is in her seventh month of pregnancy and has not had any kind of prenatal check-up. The joint UPPI-UNFPA study indicates that some 18,000 more teenage girls could fall pregnant by the end of the year because of the COVID-19 measures. Parane described being surprised and afraid of what her family would say when she first found out she was pregnant. Now, she is also confused. She tried to see a doctor twice. Once, the clinic was closed, and the other time, there was no doctor. Later she heard that some clinics were asking for a health check and a negative COVID-19 test before letting patients enter, so she stopped trying. I want to give birth in the hospital, but I just might end up giving birth at home. I guess Ill just decide when the baby comes, Parane said, shrugging. The Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila is the countrys leading government maternity hospital. About a decade ago, the hospital saw as many as 40,000 births annually. Hospital director Dr Esmeraldo Ilem says the combination of the small gains in contraceptive use and equipping more health centres to safely handle deliveries has reduced the number of annual births in Fabella by half. But now the hospital is bracing itself for a coronavirus baby boom. We will handle many of those births. Right now, it is the gestation period, Ilem said. WASHINGTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Spend Forum (PSF), a Washington D.C.-based startup focused on providing public sector supplier intelligence, was awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to expand its supplier and contract data sets of 1.9 million suppliers within its market intelligence tool, GovShop . Under the proposed effort, this expansion can be deployed across the needs of the USAF and other Department of Defense (DOD) sponsor organizations, and will further enhance GovShop's machine learning algorithms to allow DOD contracting and program staff to rapidly identify and vet suppliers. "Market and supplier intelligence is critical to achieving successful acquisition and procurement outcomes," said Raj Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Public Spend Forum. "We're excited to continue building GovShop datasets and algorithms by applying cutting edge machine learning and AI approaches that support both identification and matching of suppliers with requirements." The mission impact and outcomes of this project will provide the USAF and the DOD the ability to: Rapidly identify emerging and non-traditional suppliers across the world Identify local sources of supply that can be deployed to support contingency operations Support vetting of suppliers through increasing levels of intelligence on each supplier The primary sponsors for this phase II SBIR award include Air Force Installation Contracting Center (AFICC); Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center (AFIMSC); Air Force Contracting Career Field Management Team (DAF/ACT) and Market Intelligence Team (DAFACT MIT); Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND); and Secretary of the Air Force Chief Architect Office (SAF/AQ CAO). About Public Spend Forum and GovShop Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a global market and supplier intelligence platform for public sector markets. Through GovShop, its free supplier and contract intelligence platform, PSF provides local/state/federal and international government agencies comprehensive supplier and contract data across all markets. SOURCE Public Spend Forum Related Links www.publicspendforum.net Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday stressed deepening economic and trade cooperation with Singapore and Thailand while continuing to jointly fight the pandemic with the two countries. Xi made the remarks as he held separate talks on the phone with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Xi told the two leaders that China wants to share its experiences in fighting COVID-19 and enhance cooperation in R&D of drugs and vaccines as guided by the principle of "a community of shared destiny." Containers at Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province, April 14, 2020. /Xinhua In his phone call with Lee, Xi congratulated him on the election victory, saying that he believes under Lee's leadership, the Singaporean people will be able to overcome the epidemic very soon, and the economic and social vitality will restore. Xi said that the two countries' bilateral relations stand at a new starting point as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore. Xi noted that the two countries took the lead in establishing a "fast track" for necessary personnel exchanges. He said that China will continue to deepen reform and opening up, improve its business environment, hoping that Singapore will also provide good conditions for Chinese enterprises in future economic activities. China and Singapore should strengthen anti-epidemic cooperation to ensure the safety and health of both citizens and make good use of the "fast track" to speed up the resumption of work and production of the two countries, helping both countries' economies to revive, Xi added. The Singaporean prime minister said that Singapore welcomes Chinese enterprises to actively participate in Singapore's economic constructions. The country is willing to work with China to safeguard free and open trade and promote exchanges at all levels, he said. In the phone call with Prayut, Xi said that Sino-Thai relations have a deep foundation and great potential. Since this year, the two countries have overcome the impact of the epidemic, continued to promote practical cooperation, and bilateral trade has also been growing, he said. China is willing to work with Thailand to consolidate regional unity and cooperation and maintain the good momentum of regional development and prosperity, the Chinese president said. Prayut said that the Thai side hopes to deepen Sino-Thai friendship and cooperation, strengthen cooperation in fields of economy, trade, innovation, and poverty alleviation, and promote the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative to enhance the level of the two countries' comprehensive strategic partnership as the two countries celebrate the 45th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties. He also said that Thailand firmly supports the one-China policy. Teachers in Deir ez-Zor have rejected a curricula that was provided by the the Kurdish Self-Administration, in favour of one developed by UNICEF writes Zaman Al-Wasl. Teachers in the Kurdish-held part of eastern Deir ez-Zor province have refused to replace the UNICEF curricula with a Kurdish educational program in the elementary schools, activists said Sunday. The curriculum is promoting the Kurdish militant movement and personalities, in a region that is historically known as the land of Arab tribes. The Council of the Self-Administration in Deir ez-Zor announced that the results were negative, following meetings with the teachers and families regarding the curricula which was tested on the first to the fourth grades in the Jazrat, al-Kasrah, and al-Husain areas. Teachers refused to accept the alternative curriculum instead of the UNICEF curriculum that was used previously. The Chairman of the Deir ez-Zor Civil Council, Leila al-Hassan, said during a meeting that the curriculum is under discussion and it can be modified according to the region. The rejection was also unanimous during a vote at a meeting held at the Abu Hamam Education Complex, as well as in al-Shahail, Shafah and Hajin, east of Deir ez-Zor. Attendees of the meeting objected to its scientific weakness and its contradictions to religion, customs and traditions of the local community. For his part, a school principal in al-Bahra said that they rejected the curriculum of self-administration because of the change from Islamic education to Beliefs of Nations, which could be understood as fighting the Islamic religion and marginalizing it, in addition to adding the Womens Science book for the preparatory grade, which is contrary to Islamic customs and law and calls for the liberation of women in the Western way. He added that the nationalism subject, which glorifies the Baath Party and its men (symbols of the Assad regime), was replaced with the Democratic Nation book that glorifies Kurdish figures and the Kurdish struggle (the Democratic Union etc.) as well as introducing a book on the history of Kurdistan and Kurdish folklore, while information about what happened in Deir ez-Zor, during the revolution and before, was absent, and thus changed the important role of the region. The source pointed out that they demanded the inclusion of the Holy Koran and Islamic education as main subjects. Likewise, a group of teachers that spoke during the meetings said that, the emergency curriculum provided by UNICEF is better than the curriculum from the self-administration. On Friday, the Education Authority in the Self-Administration held several meetings with the families of students in al-Tabqah, west of Raqqa, after objections to the altering of the curriculum adopted by UNICEF, on the pretext of delaying the obtaining of the textbook and the low level of these curricula, which are not commensurate with the age levels and mental capabilities of students, which teachers refute is excellent and its authors are well-known names, but the Administration has refused to reproduce books to enforce their curricula. The most prominent objections of the specialized teachers to the new curriculum can be summarized as follows: The womens science subject, which is considered sexual content that is not suitable for the local community and cannot be allocated to children in pre-university education, so it should be canceled. The Culture and Ethics, or Beliefs of Nations, as an alternative to Islamic education that discusses the Zoroastrian and Yazidi religions and religions sanctifying nature. They requested that they be abolished because people in areas of SDF control in Deir ez-Zor are Muslim and there are no Zoroastrians, Yazidis or other religions. History: Paragraphs talking about important historical stages were omitted; especially when talking about Umayyads, Abbasids and others. Also, highlighting recent events and considering that the events of Qamishli in 2004 are the beginning of the Syrian revolution, and mistakes and faults must be corrected and historical paragraphs that talk about the role of Arabs in historical events must be mentioned. In geography, maps were manipulated and maps of northern Syria that included the name Rojava and others, and must be corrected. This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The COVID-19 elimination bus is back on the road following a significant outbreak of the virus in Victoria. For those who might be deciding whether to climb aboard, there are two key questions: is elimination in Australia feasible, and if so, should it be the national strategy? Epidemiological "elimination", zero new infections in a geographical area, has been a tough infectious disease public health goal, with a shortlist of successes (e.g. polio). Even tougher has been eradication, zero new infections globally, with smallpox the lone human infection on the list. Data to help us fight SARS-CoV-2 is mounting. Credit:NIAID-RML via AP Six months into the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, how do prospects look for elimination of infection and the disease it causes, COVID-19, anywhere? In March, as Australia responded to rapidly escalating cases, "flattening the curve" to avoid overwhelming hospital services and limit mortality was the appropriate strategy. As relative control of transmission was achieved through April, the focus shifted to greater control or "suppression". With continued decline in May, the national strategy of suppression was rightly hailed as a major public health success, enabling subsequent easing of restrictions. Murder charges against Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, whose two children died in a hot car have been dropped Murder charges against an Oklahoma father whose two children died in a hot car have been dropped because they have tribal ancestry which means the district attorney has 'no jurisdiction' to prosecute him for the crimes. Tulsa authorities dismissed their prosecution of Dustin Lee Dennis, 31, Monday - just three days after charges of second-degree murder and child neglect were filed against him. Teagan, 4, and Ryan, 3, were found dead on June 13 after being locked inside Dennis's truck for five hours in 90 degree heat while he took a nap indoors. Dennis was arrested and charged over their deaths but local authorities were forced to drop the charges Monday after new information came to light about the children's tribal heritage. This comes after a Supreme Court ruling last week decided that crimes involving tribal citizens and on tribal land fall under the jurisdiction of federal - and not state - law enforcement. 'This morning my office determined that the mother of the children is a member of the Cherokee Nation,' Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said Monday. Teagan, 4, and Ryan, 3, (pictured) were found dead on June 13 after being locked inside Dennis's truck for five hours in 90 degree heat while he took a nap indoors 'We also determined that the oldest child had a tribal membership card. The youngest child was in the process of acquiring a tribal membership card.' Court records do not identify Dennis as a tribal citizen but, because the children are tribal citizens, the federal rather than the state government has jurisdiction over the crimes. The site of the alleged murders is also within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that much of eastern Oklahoma is legally Indian Territory. This decision takes away the state's power to prosecute a crime committed on a reservation or by or to a tribal citizen, and hands it over to the federal government. The ruling came amid the territorial dispute between Oklahoma and the Muscogee Nation where the tribe challenged the state's ability to prosecute Seminole citizen Jimcy McGirt. McGirt is currently serving two 500-year prison terms for raping a 4-year-old girl within the tribe's boundaries. The Seal of the Cherokee Nation at the Cherokee War Memorial a day after a Supreme Court ruling declares that a large part of eastern Oklahoma is still Native American land. The ruling means murder charges against Dennis have been dropped because the children have tribal ancestry and so the Tulsa district attorney has 'no jurisdiction' to prosecute him for the crimes The court ruling in favor of the tribe has implications on several cases involving crimes committed on tribal land or involving tribal members. Kunzweiler said Monday that because of the children's tribal ancestry he was left with no choice but to hand the investigation over to the federal government. 'The way of this future is we can literally think we've got a good case and we're moving forward on state charges only to find out, as it was in this case, the children had tribal membership,' he said. 'Based upon the US Supreme Court decision in McGirt, it is clear that jurisdiction lies with the Federal Government. We dismissed our prosecution and referred the matter to the United States Attorney's Office.' Kunzweiler said the federal government could now file murder charges against Dennis but slammed the process for prolonging the trauma for the victims' mother. 'My concerns are with the mother of these children. I cannot imagine how difficult this must be for her,' he said. 'We were confident in the facts of this case, and were prepared to move forward. Now, she has to pursue justice on behalf of her children essentially from the start again.' Kunzweiler added: 'This will be a reality for Eastern Oklahoma prosecutors, courts, and law enforcement for the foreseeable future until all cases with tribal membership issues can be identified.' Dennis was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and child neglect over the deaths of his children Teagan, 4, and Ryan, 3 but the charges have now been dropped Tulsa prosecutors filed charges against Dennis (pictured with his children) Friday but DA Steve Kunzweiler Monday announced he had been forced to drop them because the children are tribal citizens The DA said he had contacted the US Attorney's Office in Tulsa to urge prosecutors to bring charges against Dennis. 'They're going to have to start out essentially from scratch,' Kunzweiler said. Dennis was arrested back in June in connection to the deaths of Teagan and Ryan. The father told cops he had taken them on a drive to a QuikTrip convenience store at around noon on June 13 before returning to his Tulsa home and falling asleep for between four and five hours. Dennis said he awoke and couldn't find the children anywhere before locating their bodies on the floorboard of his truck. He called 911 and moved the children into the living room of the family home where paramedics pronounced them dead. Surveillance footage later showed the children had clambered back into the pickup truck on their own and had not been left in it by their father. Days before their death, Dennis had shared a Facebook post proclaiming his love for his children. Officers at the scene where the children died in June. Dennis told police he drove with his kids around noon to a convenience store, but then returned home and fell asleep for several hours 'Two in the morning up watching my kids sleep, I can't believe they're mine, I love them so much and nobody in this world could ever make me feel as loved as they do. The other day I was so depressed because I just missed them, and I got to thinking of when they get older and become adults,' he wrote. 'If you don't have kids you may not understand this but that is the scariest but most amazing thing to think of, watching them become their own person and seeing what they will experience and achieve. I hope our bond only grows stronger, I hope they always want to call me or see me just to talk or ask for advice. I can't imagine this world without them,' he continued. Dennis was released from jail on a personal recognizance bond last month. On Friday, the Tulsa County DA's Office filed charges of two counts of second-degree felony murder and child neglect. The Supreme Court ruling makes the darker shaded areas Indian tribal lands again. Crimes involving tribal citizens and on tribal land fall under federal and not state jurisdiction so the federal government must now decide whether to file murder charges against Dennis The charging document, which are now voided, said the father had caused the deaths of his children by committing child neglect described as 'sleeping for hours during the day when he was the sole caretaker.' The office for US attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma Trent Shores said in a statement it works together with tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to prosecute cases. 'Let there be no doubt that my team of federal prosecutors, legal support staff, victim specialists, and administrative staff are working around the clock right now to pursue justice and help victims of crime,' the statement read. 'We are doing so in partnership with tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies as well as with the Tulsa County and Creek County District Attorneys and the Muscogee (Creek) Attorney General. We want to ensure the citizens of northeastern Oklahoma continue to receive seamless public safety services.' Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Geneva, Switzerland Tue, July 14, 2020 10:50 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406661cb69 2 World WHO,Tedros-Adhanom-Ghebreyesus,coronavirus,coronavirus-effect,coronavirus-restrictions,SARS-CoV-2,COVID-19,COVID-19-infection,pandemic,virus-corona,novel-coronavirus Free The World Health Organization warned Monday that there could be no return to normality any time soon as too many countries were bungling their response to the coronavirus pandemic. After a daily record of 230,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported to the WHO on Sunday, the UN health agency said the pandemic was only going to get worse unless people stuck to the basics of physical distancing, handwashing and wearing masks. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that countries that were easing their way out of lockdowns were now witnessing a resurgence of the virus because they were not following proven methods to reduce risk. "I want to be straight with you: there will be no return to the 'old normal' for the foreseeable future," Tedros told a virtual news briefing. "Let me blunt: too many countries are headed in the wrong direction. "The virus remains public enemy number one, but the actions of many governments and people do not reflect this." He said mixed messages from leaders were undermining trust. If governments do not roll out a comprehensive strategy to suppress transmission of the virus, and if populations do not follow basic public health principles, "there is only one way this pandemic is going to go," he said. "It's going to get worse and worse and worse." The novel coronavirus has killed nearly 570,000 people and infected more than 12.9 million since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP. "Although the number of daily deaths remains relatively stable, there is a lot to be concerned about," said Tedros. He said there were four scenarios playing out around the world. They were: countries that were alert and avoided large outbreaks, those that got a major outbreak under control, those that eased restrictions but are now backsliding, and those that are in an intense transmission phase. Tedros said the epicenter of the virus remains the Americas. Ryanair has announced it is cutting 1,000 flights from the Republic of Ireland to the UK in August and September over the Irish Government's 14 quarantine regulation saying it makes "no sense" while the border with Northern Ireland remains "wide open". The Republic requires all travellers except those from Northern Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival. In a statement a spokesperson for the budget airline said that it made no sense that people from Northern Ireland could travel freely to mainland Europe via Dublin "without any quarantine restrictions whatsoever". Have you been affected by the cancellations? Contact us at digital.editorial@belfasttelegraph.co.uk Ryanair estimated that cancelled flights would result in the loss of over 200,000 passengers. The airline said the decision was taken as "Ireland maintains a defective quarantine restriction on EU visitors even as the UK and Northern Ireland last week opened up air bridges to most EU countries". On Tuesday Tanaiste Leo Varadkar ruled out mandatory quarantine for people arriving into the Republic of Ireland, saying it "turned out to be a bit of a disaster" in Australia. Ryanair said that the Republic of Ireland, its tourism industry and commuters were now being negatively affected "as arriving EU passengers are forced to quarantine even while the border to Northern Ireland remains wide open with no such quarantines". A spokesperson for Ryanair complained that it made "no sense" for the Republic of Ireland to be the only country in the EU with the policy as many of the countries affected had lower rates of Covid-19. The spokesperson said the loss of the flights would mean 100,000 fewer visitors to the Republic of Ireland during the peak of the tourism season. "This unique policy by Ireland, insisting on blanket quarantines with our European neighbours (most of whom have lower Covid case rates than Ireland) is damaging the recovery of Irelands economy and our tourism industry, causing long-term damage to jobs in Irelands largest employment sector, with business travellers in particular being told that Ireland is closed for business," the spokesperson said. Ryanair called on the Irish Government to remove the restrictions as a "matter of urgency so that Irelands hotels, guest houses, restaurants and other tourism providers can recover their business and minimise job losses before we reach the downturn winter period. "If Micheal Martin does not quarantine for 14 days after visiting Brussels this week, then why should any other Irish or EU citizen be treated differently," the spokesperson concluded. Expand Close Tanaiste Leo Varadkar speaking to the media as he arrived for the Cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tanaiste Leo Varadkar speaking to the media as he arrived for the Cabinet meeting at Dublin Castle (Niall Carson/PA) Mr Varadkar said the Government intends to publish a "green list" of countries where it safe to travel to and from without having to quarantine next week. "What we're going to do when it comes to travelling to countries that aren't on the green list or a list is (look at) tighter controls - that could mean putting the passenger locator form online and it also means potentially looking at testing," he added. "People will say testing is inferior to mandatory quarantine, but if we know mandatory quarantine can't be done then maybe it's better to do something like that than nothing at all." After Libya lifted and then declared again force majeure on all its oil exports in the span of just two days, the United States warned that parties in the conflict that continue to undermine Libyas economy and seek confrontation face isolation and risk of sanctions. After six months of port blockades and no exports, Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Friday that it lifted force majeure on all oil exports from Libya. NOC placed the oil terminals at Hariga, Brega, Zueitina, Es Sider, and Ras Lanuf under force majeure at the beginning of this year, after forces affiliated with the Libyan National Army (LNA) of eastern Libyan strongman General Khalifa Haftar occupied Libyas oil export terminals and oilfields. As a result of the blockade, oil production in Libya plummeted to just 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared to 1.2 million bpd before the blockade. However, just two days after lifting the force majeure, NOC declared force majeure again, citing a renewed blockade on its oil export terminals and blaming it on interference from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is gravely disappointing, especially following repeated statements by very senior representatives of the UAE last week in support of international efforts to restart oil production in Libya. Wagner and Syrian mercenaries now occupy Es Sider oil port and Wagner and Sudanese mercenaries are camped within the vicinity of the Sharara oil field, preventing Libyan oil from flowing, NOC said on Sunday. The U.S. Embassy in Libya said it regrets foreign interference against Libyas economy. The door remains open for all who lay down weapons, reject foreign manipulation, and come together in peaceful dialogue to be a part of the solution; however, those who undermine Libyas economy and cling to military escalation will face isolation and risk of sanctions, the U.S. Embassy said. On Monday, the UAEs foreign minister Anwar Gargash said on Twitter: The UAE, alongside its partners, wants to see a return to oil production in Libya as soon as possible, with safeguards in place to prevent the proceeds fueling further conflict. We continue to work for an immediate ceasefire and return to a political process. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Therapies for treating glioblastoma brain cancer can be delivered with greater precision and existing drugs can be used in new ways. These are the conclusions from a study from Uppsala University investigating a large number of cell samples from patients with brain tumours. The researchers have characterised how changes in glioblastoma cells influence the effect of different drugs. Their findings are published in the journal Cell Reports. Glioblastoma is a severe form of brain cancer, with a very poor prognosis. It has become increasingly evident that glioblastoma tumours contain many genetic aberrations that vary between patients. Despite this, there is still a lack of ways to tailor the therapy to take account of these changes and patients currently receive similar treatments. "This was the starting point for our study, in which we examined how glioblastoma cells from 100 Uppsala patients responded to different drugs. To do this we used cell cultures grown from patient samples and tested more than 1,500 drug substances to see how the cells responded," says Professor Sven Nelander of the Department of Immunology, Genetics and Pathology at Uppsala University, who has been the principal investigator of the study. The researchers then used an algorithm to investigate which changes in the cancer cells could best predict the effect of a specific drug. By means of this characterisation, they were able to group the tumours and found two main subgroups based on drug response and mutations in certain genes. "By characterising the cells at multiple levels, we discovered unexpected associations between important genes and pathways, and different drugs. This in turn led us to find new ways to combine different drugs to maximise the effect. Our results thus provide a good starting point for further research aiming to increase precision and adapt the therapy for different glioblastoma patients. They can also be used to discover new purposes for already existing drugs," says Nelander. ### The study, financed by bodies including the Swedish Cancer Society, AstraZeneca and the Swedish Research Council, is a collaboration between researchers in Uppsala, London, Singapore and the US. Fact box: Most of the glioblastoma cells in the study are from the Human Glioma Cell Culture (HGCC) biobank, founded and run by Uppsala University researchers, many of whom are involved in the present study. HGCC consists of cell cultures grown from cells taken from brain tumour patients in operations. The cell cultures have been analysed genetically to ensure that they represent different subgroups of gliomas (brain tumours). The new study substantially extends HGCC. The cells and associated information are available to all researchers via the HGCC website and in HGCC's data portal. Reference: Johansson et al., (2020); A patient-derived cell atlas informs precision targeting of glioblastoma, Cell Reports 32(2020), DOI: https:doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107897 West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday called for an impartial probe into the death of BJP MLA Debendra Nath Roy and added that political violence seemed to continue unabated in the state. Dhankhar further termed the police's version that it was a "suicide" as suggestive of a "cover-up" and "police prejudice". "Political violence and vendetta @MamataOfficial shows no signs of abating," Dhankhar tweeted. "Death of Debendra Nath Roy, Hemtabad MLA-Uttar Dinajpur District, raises serious issues including allegations of murder," he wrote on Twitter. Political violence and vendetta @MamataOfficial shows no signs of abating.Death of Debendra Nath Roy, Hemtabad MLA-Uttar Dinajpur District, raises serious issues including allegations of murder. Need for thorough impartial probe to unravel truth and blunt political violence. Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) July 13, 2020 "Need for a thorough, impartial probe to unravel the truth and blunt political violence," the governor added. "Police stance at top that it is 'suicide' is indicative of cover up- smacks with police prejudice, not without obvious intentions," Dhankhar said. "Autopsy be VIDEOGRAPHED BY EXPERT TEAM AS PER SUPREME COURT DIRECTIVES," he tweeted. "Highest TRANSPARENCY be observed @MamataOfficial." Roy, who was in his 60s, was found hanging from the roof of a verandah outside a shop near his house in Hemtabad area of the district, police said. The West Bengal police said that a suicide note was retrieved where he had blamed two persons for his death. BJP has called twelve-hour 'bandh' in the districts of North Bengal today to protest over the death of BJP MLA Debendra Nath Ray. #WestBengal BJP has called 12-hour 'bandh' in the districts of North Bengal today to protest over the death of BJP MLA Debendra Nath Ray, whose body was found hanging in Bindal near his village home. Visuals from Siliguri and Raiganj. pic.twitter.com/GJJUsTxldk ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 Meanwhile, BJP state president Dilip Ghosh along with a delegation of party leaders met Dhankhar later in the evening and sought his intervention for a CBI inquiry into the incident. "BJP Sr leaders MP Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha and others called on me and sought CBI investigation of political murder of Hematabad MLA Debendra Nath Roy," he tweeted. BJP Sr leaders MP Dilip Ghosh, Rahul Sinha and others called on me and sought CBI investigation of political murder of Hematabad MLA Debendra Nath Roy. Delegation expressed concern at postings of police officials-tasked to harass and liquidate opposition leaders. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/6heE7tdwVa Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) July 13, 2020 Dhankar said that the BJP delegation had expressed concern over "supari" postings of police personnel, tasked to "harass and liquidate" opposition leaders. "Incident has sent shock waves. Have impressed @MamataOfficial for fair investigation. Police Officials cannot be "law unto themselves" or politically motivated," the governor wrote on Twitter, "Inappropriate and demeaning treatment of opposition MPs and leaders by police officials will not be countenanced," he added. Roy had contested and secured victory in the Hemtabad assembly segment a reserved seat for Scheduled Castes on a CPI(M) ticket but had crossed over to the BJP last year after the Lok Sabha polls. He, however, did not resign as CPI(M) legislator in the state assembly. The BJP leader's kin has demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident as they suspect that he was murdered. The BJP called Roy's death a "cold-blooded murder" by the ruling Trinamool Congress. However, TMC district president Kanailal Agarwal rejected the BJP's accusations, adding that it was for the police to probe the cause of Roy's death. (With inputs from PTI) Medicago Begins Phase I Clinical Trials for its COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Details Category: Vaccines Published on Tuesday, 14 July 2020 14:19 Hits: 2380 First doses administered to human volunteers QUEBEC CITY, Canada I July 14, 2020 IMedicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, began Phase I clinical trials for its plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate yesterday, administering the first doses in healthy human volunteers. Medicago is also planning a Phase 2/3 trial to be initiated this October. We are thrilled to see our COVID-19 vaccine candidate enter the Phase 1 trial, and we look forward to obtaining safety and immunogenicity results in October, said Nathalie Landry, Executive Vice-President, Scientific and Medical Affairs at Medicago. Our progress continues to demonstrate the value of Medicagos unique plant-based vaccine technology. The Phase I clinical trial is a randomized, partially blinded study of 180 normal healthy subjects, male and female aged 18-55, and will evaluate dosages of 3.75, 7.5 or 15 micrograms of the recombinant Coronavirus Virus-Like Particle (CoVLP) vaccine candidate alone or with an adjuvant in a prime-boost regimen. Medicago will be testing its vaccine candidate with two adjuvants separately GSKs proprietary pandemic adjuvant technology and Dynavaxs CpG 1018. An adjuvant can be of particular importance in a pandemic situation as it may boost the immune response and reduce the amount of antigen required per dose, allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and therefore contributing to protect the greatest number of people. Medicagos innovative platform and plant-based manufacturing technology is helping to diversify the pool of COVID-19 vaccines in development. Creating a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccines within the next year is a challenge which will require multiple approaches, with different technologies, said Dr. Bruce Clark, President and CEO of Medicago. Our proven plant-based technology is capable of contributing to the collective solution to this public health emergency. Medicago expects to be able to manufacture approximately 100 million doses by the end of 2021. By the end of 2023, the construction of Medicagos large-scale facility in Quebec City, Canada, will be completed. It is anticipated that this commercial facility will have the capacity to produce up to 1 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine annually. Medicago is the only company with plant-based manufacturing technology that has completed Phase III clinical trials (with its quadrivalent VLP influenza vaccine candidate) and pandemic Phase II clinical trials (with its H1N1 pandemic vaccine candidate). The companys first New Drug Submission for its seasonal recombinant quadrivalent VLP vaccine for active immunization against influenza in adults (18-64 years), is currently under review by Health Canada following the completion of a robust safety and efficacy clinical program in over 25,000 subjects. In addition to its clinical development capabilities, Medicago has also demonstrated its capacity to produce a large amount of vaccines in a short period of time, with the production in 2012 of 10 million doses of monovalent pandemic influenza H1N1 vaccines in one month for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense. Medicagos plant-based platform The company uses a proprietary plant-based technology to develop vaccines and protein-based therapeutics. Unlike traditional vaccination development, Medicago does not use animal products or live viruses to create its products. Instead, it uses Virus-Like Particles (VLPs) that mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and create an immune response in a non-infectious way. Clinical trial data suggest that VLPs have a multi-modal mechanism of action that is different from that of inactivated vaccines, activating both arms of the immune system antibody and cell-mediated responses. Medicagos proprietary technology is rapid, versatile, and scalable. As soon as the genetic sequence of a virus is made available, Medicago can develop a clinical-grade vaccine candidate in only a few weeks. Its recombinant technology allows the production of a vaccine that precisely matches the circulating strains, such as in the case of seasonal influenza. The technology is easily scalable, allowing the company to increase volume of production by simply increasing the number of plants it uses. Facilities Medicago is headquartered in Quebec City, Canada, and plans to produce COVID-19 vaccines in its manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina (USA) and in its Quebec pilot plant. A new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant is under construction in Quebec City, and is planned to have the capacity to deliver up to 1 billion COVID-19 vaccines annually. About Medicago Medicago is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City with productions sites in Quebec, Canada and Durham, North Carolina, USA. Medicagos mission is to improve global health outcomes by leveraging innovative plant-based technologies for rapid responses to emerging global health challenges. Medicago is committed to advancing therapeutics against life-threatening diseases worldwide. For more information: www.medicago.com SOURCE: Medicago Voters queue up in long lines waiting to cast their votes in primary elections in Hong Kong, on July 12, 2020. (Song Bilung/The Epoch Times) Beijing, Hong Kong Leader Threaten Opposition Camp With Security Law After 600,000 Locals Cast Ballots Beijing and the pro-establishment Hong Kong government have claimed that the citys pro-democracy opposition camp may have violated the communist partys newly-implemented national security law by holding their primary polls over the weekend. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in a press conference on Monday accused the primary elections as causing unfairness to the legislative elections in September and warned people not to take part in activities that could interfere, disrupt, [or] cause confusion to the upcoming elections. The elections for members of the Legislative Council (LegCo) are currently scheduled for Sept. 6, when all 70 seats are up for vote. The primary elections for the pro-democracy camp, organized by local political association Power for Democracy, were aimed at selecting the most promising candidates for the opposition as it hopes to win a majority of more than 35 seats in LegCo. Over 600,000 Hong Kong citizens cast ballots over the weekenda turnout much higher than the organizer had originally predicted. The large voter turnout is widely viewed as a symbolic protest vote against the national security law, which Beijing formally adopted for the city after ceremonial votes at the communist partys National Peoples Congress on June 30. The security law criminalizes what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deems as acts of subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country or with external elements against the state, with maximum penalties of life imprisonment. If this so-called primary elections purpose is to achieve the ultimate goal of delivering what they call a 35+ with the objective of objecting to, resisting every policy initiative of the Hong Kong SAR Government, then it may fall into the category of subverting the state power, Lam said. She added: Im not saying that it has breached it but I have to put forward a warning that if that is going to be proven to be the case, then there is certainly a case to answer. She added that the Hong Kong government would be investigating complaints they had received against the primary elections, such as breaches of privacy protection. Chinas Liaison Office in Hong KongBeijings top representative office in the cityalso issued a statement on Monday night labelling the oppositions primary elections illegal. It echoed Lams language, denouncing the elections as doing serious damage to the fairness of the upcoming September vote and accusing the opposition of holding its primary elections with support from external forces. The liaison office then named out Benny Tai, manager for the primary elections and an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, saying that he had violated Article 22 of the National Security Law, which deals with the crime of subversion. Benny Tai and the opposition camp aims to seize the ruling power of Hong Kong and carry out a Hong Kong version of the Color Revolution, the Liaison Office charged. Lams remarks about the primary elections have drawn widespread criticism. In a free and open democracy, opposition lawmakers not only have a right, but a duty, to oppose ill-thought out and bad government policy, London-based NGO Hong Kong Watch wrote on its Twitter account. It added: Threats by Carrie Lam to use the National Security Law to silence dissent is yet another reason why this draconian law must be opposed. Lo Kin-hei, a district councilor and vice chairman of Hong Kongs Democratic Party, took to his Twitter to question Lams logic in accusing politicians in the camp of sedition after they held the internal primary vote. Its like No! You cant coordinate in the election, you cant aim at winning most seats in the election! Or else you are separatist?? Lo asked. Alan Leong, chairman of the pro-democracy Civic Party, said on Twitter that the CCP and the Lam government are now using the national security law as a repressive tool they use to serve their political ends. Hong Kong-based writer and lawyer Antony Dapiran warned of Beijings next moves following the Liaison Offices statement. My bet is they will disqualify all candidates selected through the primary process (maybe even all who ran in the primary) from Sept. LegCo election, Dapiran stated on Twitter. Tai, writing on his Facebook on Tuesday morning, asked freedom-loving Hongkongers to be mentally prepared for possible fierce pushback and a settling of scores from the authorities against those who took part in the elections. On Monday night, Power for Democracy announced the preliminary voting results from the elections. Joshua Wong, the iconic figure from the 2014 Umbrella Movement, was leading with 30,047 votes among six candidates in Kowloon Eastone of the citys geographical constituencies. At another geographical constituency, Kowloon West, Jimmy Sham, convenor of local pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), was leading with 24,144 votes among nine candidates. Current LegCo member Claudia Mo was third with 8,801 votes. Another incumbent LegCo member Hui Chi-fung, member of the Democratic Party, leads ahead of another six candidates with 27,357 votes in the Hong Kong Island constituency. The Glee star Naya Rivera was recently found dead at a Southern California lake. The authorities confirmed that her body was found floating in the northeast corner of Lake Piru on Monday. The 33-year old Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru, and her son was found on July 8 sleeping alone in the rented pontoon boat. After they couldnt find Rivera anywhere around, they started looking for her body as they believed that she had drowned in the lake. According to the authorities, the actor died saving her son from drowning. The whole incident is heartbreaking and the fans are since then pouring in love for her on Twitter. Heartbreaking to hear the police report confirming that theyve found Naya Rivera. She used the last of her energy to saving her sons life. She died a mother and a hero. RIP Naya. pic.twitter.com/rdF59SVcuz Joe (@JoeSaunders) July 13, 2020 Riveras son, Josey Hollis Dorsey was found asleep on the boat alone. This further led to the cops being alerted and the little boy told the police that the two of them went swimming and Rivera pushed him onto the boat. But, when he turned around, he couldnt see his mother and she had disappeared underwater. Sheriff Bill Ayub said during the press conference, Rivera had mustered enough energy to help her son, but not to save herself. The cops believe that the actor had been trapped by vegetation beneath the surface of the lake, which is why it took five days to spot her. Nayas untimely and heartbreaking demise has shocked the whole world and the fact that she dies while saving her son has also broken many hearts on the internet. Heres what her fans have to say- Naya used her last breath, her last bit of energy, her last few moments alive to save Josey. She saved his life & died just as an amazing mother & the hero she was every single day to that little boy. #nayarivera The whole world needs to know her love for this son of hers. pic.twitter.com/VzivZkiq0y Muhammad Taqi (@IamTaqiZ) July 14, 2020 naya riveras last moment on earth was protecting her son. she pushed him onto the boat but couldnt save herself. im heartbroken. pic.twitter.com/yEDGbaUT6y jade (@cristinasoh) July 13, 2020 It appears that in her final moments, Naya used her last bit of strength to lift her son out of the water and onto the boat, possibly saving his life. Absolutely devastating. #NayaRivera Derrick Levasseur (@DerrickL) July 13, 2020 Naya Rivera reportedly helped boost her son back into their boat before disappearing into the water at Lake Piru. pic.twitter.com/zzTBqCYkWy The AHS Zone (@ahszone) July 13, 2020 Sheriff on death of Naya Rivera: No foul play, and this was not a suicide. According to Nayas son, they had both been swimming. She pushed him up on to the boat, then slipped down into the water and disappeared. pic.twitter.com/8YmKyLBV5F Mike Sington (@MikeSington) July 13, 2020 naya saved josey. naya saved her 4 year old son. that's the image you should have. that's naya rivera. she's not what the media says. celeste (@DINAHPET5CH) July 13, 2020 Naya Rivera sacrificed her own life to save her son. There truly is no greater love than a mothers. Rest in peace, Naya. The world lost such an amazing soul. pic.twitter.com/OmTImIofOG PRINCESS (@pjibrinn) July 13, 2020 Rivera played Santana Lopez for six seasons in the series Glee and she is the third major cast member from the show to die in their 30s. May her soul rest in peace. A 25-year-old West Easton man, who was already known to Pennsylvania State Police, was arrested Monday after lying on state and federal forms when he brought four 9mm handguns in two visits to a local retailer, court papers say. Authorities believe Darshon Tyree Holden was making straw purchases for others, police said. In the past, a handgun registered to him was used by someone else in a Bethlehem robbery and homicide attempt, police said. While he never reported it missing, he told police in March that he had lost the weapon. He bought two 9mm handguns for cash on July 6 and again Saturday from Sarko Inc. at 50 Hilton St. in Williams Township, police said. He was driven to the retailer by different people each time and appeared nervous during the background checks, police said. When he was filling out state and federal forms, he lied about not having a criminal record, having no warrants out for him when there was 2017 paper charging him with a marijuana crime in New Jersey and about drug use, police said. In my training and experience, a trooper wrote in court papers, the nervous actions accompanied by multiple different individuals and multiple purchases in cash of 9mm handguns are all indicators of straw purchases. The investigating trooper recognized the name and realized the Belfast barracks had been out on him several times for drug issues -- including two overdoses in the 900 block of Ridge Street in West Easton, police said. Troopers went to the home again on Sunday afternoon and Holden told them he still had the four guns, police said. When a trooper asked him to see them, Holden said, they must have been stolen from his basement, police said. A consented search didnt turn up the guns, police said. Before Holden was handcuffed, he put something in his mouth and swallowed, police said. He later said it was Ecstasy, police said. A search turned up marijuana and Ecstasy power in bags in his pants pockets, police said. Holden was taken to St. Lukes Hospital-Easton to be checked out and a blood test showed marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and opiates in his system, police said. He was arraigned at 7 a.m. Monday before District Judge Douglas Schlegel on charges of possession of a firearm when prohibited, making false statements while buying a firearm (10 counts), unsworn falsification to authorities (four counts), drug possession, possession of a small amount of marijuana and tampering with evidence, records show. He was housed in Northampton County Prison in lieu of $50,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing 9 a.m. July 24 in District Judge Daniel Corporas court on Eastons South Side. Court papers do not list an attorney for Holden. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting lehighvalleylive.com with a voluntary subscription. Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. A study published earlier this year claiming the coronavirus may have jumped from dogs to humans is scientifically flawed, offering no direct evidence to support its conclusions, according to a collaborative group of international researchers, including scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. "During this time of COVID-19 we are seeing people publish things that make wild leaps to conclusions that are not justified by the evidence," said David Pollock, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "And this seems to be one of them." Pollock and CU Anschutz alumnus Todd Castoe, an associate professor of biology at the University of Texas Arlington, are lead authors of an academic letter published this week in Molecular Biology and Evolution aimed at refuting the earlier study published in the same journal. Pollock and his co-authors, including Ph.D. student Kristen Wade and colleague Elizabeth Carlton, Ph.D., MPH, an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz, took issue with the April 2020 study by biology Professor Xuhua Xia of the University of Ottawa in Canada. Many scientists are interested in the origins of the novel coronavirus. The want to know which host the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for COVID-19, came from before making the leap from animal to human. The classic way to address this is by finding viruses with similar genome sequences in a particular animal host. Xia, however, focused on a feature of the coronavirus genome known as CpG content, and found that a distantly-related dog coronavirus had similar CpG content as SARS-CoV-2. Because this distant virus replicated well in the dog's digestive tract, he concluded that a dog's intestines were the ideal place to have affected the ancestral SARS-CoV-2's CpG content. "However, there is no evidence for the logical premise of Xia's argument, considering that all mammals have digestive tracts," the researchers wrote. They showed that dogs aren't special in their content of ZAP and ABOBEC3G proteins, which help safeguard humans from viruses and can interact with viral CpG content. "Additionally, a recent inoculation study found that while other domesticated mammalian hosts are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, canines exhibited low susceptibility, and no traces of viral RNA were detectable in any dog organs," the scientists wrote. Pollock and his colleagues said that although the recent origin of SARS-CoV-2 is uncertain, the best current evidence makes it likely that it was passed to humans by horseshoe bats or possibly pangolins, a kind of spiny anteater in China. There is strong evidence that the virus has recently jumped between humans and these animals or other intermediate hosts. Bat and pangolin viruses also have CpG content similar to human SARS-CoV-2, so the environment that affected viral CpGs must have happened long ago and possibly in one of these two mammals. They noted that there are signs of prior recombination events among divergent viruses. That suggests that over the years relatives of coronaviruses found in bats and pangolins mixed and mutated to give rise to SARS-CoV-2. The proposition that dogs were likely recent ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 is not justified by the available evidence, the researchers concluded. "Xia did not demonstrate that the low CpG frequency in the SARS- CoV-2 genome was driven by a unique selective environment in dog digestive tracts," the authors wrote. "Dogs are not more plausible than most other potential host species, and based on current data, far less plausible than bats or pangolins." Pollock said determining how the virus jumped from animals to humans is critical in preparing for the next pandemic. Even so, he said, in the midst of a pandemic scientific results can be over-interpreted and misused, leading to misappropriation of resources and effort. Rather than promote the speculations of a study based on weak evidence, he noted, it is better to admit uncertainty. If not, the scientific community has an obligation to respond. "Considering the ramifications, scientists need to be particularly careful in interpreting findings, and avoid rushing to conclusions that are not well supported by solid evidence" co-lead author Castoe said. "We need to get this right." Explore further Missing link in coronavirus jump from bats to humans could be pangolins, not snakes More information: David D Pollock et al, Viral CpG deficiency provides no evidence that dogs were intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2, Molecular Biology and Evolution (2020). Journal information: Molecular Biology and Evolution David D Pollock et al, Viral CpG deficiency provides no evidence that dogs were intermediate hosts for SARS-CoV-2,(2020). DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa178 Crew members of the Chinese Navy stand guard on the deck of Chinese PLA Navy ship on May 23, 2014. WASHINGTON The nation's top diplomat for East Asia said in remarks Tuesday that the Trump administration could use sanctions to target Chinese officials' actions in the hotly contested South China Sea. "Nothing's off the table," David Stilwell, assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said when asked whether the U.S. would consider using sanctions to rein in China. "There is room for that and this is a language China understands, demonstrable and tangible action," he told a virtual audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Wherever you are, Beijing increasingly wants to stake claims, coerce, and control. By its nature, it cannot accept a pluralistic world with fundamental freedoms of choice and conscience," Stilwell said, adding that U.S. involvement in the region was to simply enforce existing law. "This is housekeeping. These are things that we should have done for a long time," he said. Stilwell's comments come on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's blistering Monday rebuke of Beijing's "campaign of bullying" in the South China Sea. Pompeo said the U.S. would bolster its position in the region and described the bulk of Chinese territorial claims in the disputed waters as illegal. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," he said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington also said Monday that the U.S. was "throwing its weight around in every sea of the world." "Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region," the statement said, adding that the U.S. was "not a country directly involved in the disputes" and was interfering. The unfolding coronavirus health pandemic and escalated tensions in the South China Sea are the latest in a string of issues rattling the relationship between Washington and Beijing. The world's two largest economies are engaged in a disruptive trade struggle with intellectual property theft and cybersecurity proving to be a major sticking point between the two nations. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray slammed the Chinese government for its use of espionage and cyberattacks against the United States. He said the Chinese campaign has amounted to "one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history." The South China Sea, which is home to more than 200 specks of land, serves as a gateway to global sea routes where nearly $4 trillion of trade passes annually. More than $1 trillion of that is linked to the U.S. market. The sea is also home to an estimated $2.6 trillion in recoverable offshore oil and gas. Five claimants China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam occupy nearly 70 disputed reefs and islets across the South China Sea. Over the years, claimants have built and expanded approximately 90 outposts on these contested features. Beijing Places 'Heavy Orders' as J-20B Stealth Fighter Enters Mass Production Sputnik News 19:11 GMT 13.07.2020 The world's third operational fifth-generation aircraft, the Chengdu J-20 "Weilong," has entered mass production, according to insider reports. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force has reportedly placed a large order, now that many of the jet's early problems have been sorted out. According to PLA insider reports, a new version of the J-20, the J-20B, is ready to be fielded by the Chinese military. "Mass production of the J-20B started on Wednesday. It has finally become a complete stealth fighter jet, with its agility meeting the original criteria," a military source close to the project told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on Sunday. "The launch of the J-20B means this aircraft now is a formal fifth-generation fighter jet," said SCMP's source, which noted Chengdu Aerospace Corporation (CAC) had received "heavy orders" from the People's Liberation Army. Just a handful of J-20As have been made - 50 by the end of 2019 according to SCMP, which noted in January the PLA would likely need between 100 and 200 to fill its needs. It's estimated CAC can make four J-20s per month. The source noted the new version of the stealthy jet is equipped with thrust vector control, a high-tech function on some newer jet fighters that allows them to change the angle their jet engines are pointing. This function makes an aircraft supermaneuverable. Some other jets with the ability include the US' F-22 Raptor, Russia's Su-30-series fighters and Su-57 and China's J-10C. Related to the matter of thrust on the J-20 is the development of its engines: Beijing has been attempting to replace the J-20's underpowered WS-10 and AL-31 engines, the latter of which is built in Russia, with the domestically produced WS-15 high-thrust turbofan engine, but the work remains ongoing. "The Chinese engine designed for the J-20s still failed to meet requirements, but its development is going quite smoothly, and it may be ready in the next one or two years," the source told SCMP. "The ultimate goal is to equip the J-20B fighter jets with domestic engines." The report makes no mention of a rumored naval version of the J-20 that would complement or replace the staple of the PLA Navy's aviation wing, the J-15. As Sputnik reported, a naval version of the J-20 would have to be much smaller than the present design in order to comfortably fit on an aircraft carrier. The other aircraft under consideration is the Shenyang J-31 or FC-31 Gyrfalcon, a newer fifth-generation jet than the J-20, but for which the PLA has struggled to find an adequate use. However, the Chinese Aeronautical Establishment, the research and development branch of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, said earlier this month it plans to begin testing a "new type of aircraft" for naval use in conjunction with Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, the maker of the FC-31. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pilot sacked, but Gehlot on shaky ground in Rajasthan India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, July 14: With the firing of Sachin Pilot as Deputy Chief Minister, a long term relationship between him and the Congress is all to come to an end. While the Ashok Gehlot camp has claimed that it has the numbers to remain in power, the fact is that the government is on shaky ground. To remain in power, Gehlot needs 101 MLAs to back him. However the Bharatiya Tribal Party with two MLAs has said that, it was withdrawing support to the Congress. This would mean that Gehlot has the support of 100 MLAs and he would need one more to remain in power. Sachin Pilot sacked as Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan A lot would depend on the number of MLAs that Sachin Pilot would be backed by. There have been contrasting claims on this and at the time of the rebellion breaking out, he had claimed the support of 30 MLAs. However, the numbers have been varying and some reports have also said that he has the backing of 25 MLAs. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News In the 200 member Rajasthan assembly the magic number is 101. Congress has the support of 125 MLAs including 107 of its own legislators. The party has the backing of 13 independents and 5 from other parties. In the house where the majority mark is 101, the BJP has 72 legislators and also the support of three Hanuman Beniwal Rashtriya Loktantrik Party. JAIPUR: Shortly after being removed as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state Congress chief, Sachin Pilot changed his Twitter biography on Tuesday and tweeted that truth cannot be defeated. Sachins Twitter bio mentioned him as MLA from Tonk and former Minister of IT, Telecom & Corporate Affairs, GoI and Commissioned Officer in Territorial Army. In a direct fallout of the Congress` political crisis over the leadership issue in Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot was on Tuesday divested of both the posts of Deputy Chief Minister and the PCC President. In his first tweet after his ouster as Rajasthan DyCM and state Congress unit chief, Sachin tweeted that ''truth can't be defeated.'' Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 Two other Pilot-loyalist Ministers - Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena - were also removed from the council of ministers. State Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara was appointed the new Pradesh Congress Committee chief. After sacking Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, two other ministers, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra and submitted the proposal to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM, and Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena as ministers. Gehlot said that "the party High command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading." The Rajasthan CM further said "I have not complained against them, the party was forced to remove them because their attitude was not good for the past six months," adding "We knew it was a big conspiracy, and now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi." Congress leaders had called two meetings on Monday and Tuesday and appealed to Pilot to attend these in order to pacify him. However, as he remained absent, disciplinary action was taken against him. On Sunday, Pilot had announced that the Ashok Gehlot government in the state was in a minority since 30 MLAs were supporting him. On the other hand, the Chief Minister claimed he had the requisite numbers to head the state government and has left for the Raj Bhavan to meet Governor Kalraj Mishra. Earlier, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala told the media after the party meeting "The BJP conspired to destabilise the Congress government elected by the people of Rajasthan. The BJP tried to buy Congress and independent legislators by misusing power, the ED, and the Income Tax Department. Chief Minister Gehlot has said about the efforts being made to buy MLAs." He said that for the last 72 hours, under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leaders tried continuously to contact Pilot and other Ministers and MLAs in his camp. "The Congress leadership tried to talk to Sachin Pilot many times. Congress leader KC Venugopal also spoke to him several times, but he did not turn up for the meeting." Meanwhile, a high alert was issued in Gujjar-dominated areas of the desert state to avert any untoward happening. Pilot has strong support in the Gujjar belt in Rajasthan. During the three months of nationwide lockdown, Maharashtra gained fresh investment worth 11,229 crore, making it second among the top 10 states in the country to invite fresh investment, a report released in July reveals. Tamil Nadu, which recently signed 17 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in May 2020, ranked first in the list. According to the report released by Projects Today, a project monitoring organisation based in Mumbai, 1,241 new projects were announced between April and June in the country, with an investment of 97,859 crore. During the similar period a year ago, the country had seen announcement of 2,500 new projects worth 3,86,673 crore, the report states. In June, under Magnetic Maharashtra 2.0, the state signed 12 MoUs with companies from Singapore, South Korea and the United States of America. Maharashtra is followed by Uttar Pradesh, which announced 167 new projects and an investment of 8,867 crore. Other states in the top 10 include Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Manipur. Shashikant Hegde of Projects Today said, Though most of the new projects announced are of the Central and state governments, there are a few private projects also, which is a positive sign considering the country was under lockdown since March 2020. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON CORNING, N.Y., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On July 6, 2020, Firouzeh Sarhangi (Fi) retired as chief financial officer (CFO), treasurer, and corporate secretary of Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation (Corning). Ms. Sarhangi served as CFO since 2006. The company thanks Fi for over 20 years of superior service in positions of ever-increasing responsibility. She oversaw the companys accounting, regulatory, and treasury functions during a period of rapid growth that included the purchase of a combination electric and natural gas utility in Pennsylvania, the building of a new gas utility in Pennsylvania, and an aggressive pipe replacement program at Corning Natural Gas in New York. On July 6, 2020, Charles Lenns joined Corning as vice president, chief financial officer, and corporate secretary. Mr. Lenns, age 67, began his professional career in the tax practice of Ernst & Young, and served clients in the firms power and utilities tax and merger & acquisition (M&A) practice. He was a partner with Ernst & Young from 1989 until his retirement in 2012. Mr. Lenns then served as vice president-tax for Consolidated Edison Inc. from September 2012 until his retirement in December 2018. Following his retirement from Consolidated Edison, he provided accounting consulting services through Lenns Consulting Group, LLC until he joined Corning. Mr. Lenns is a graduate of the University of Scranton, where he currently teaches in the business school. He holds a law degree from Duquesne University Law School and is a certified public accountant. Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation is the parent company of its operating subsidiaries Corning Natural Gas, Pike County Light & Power, and Leatherstocking Gas Company. The subsidiaries provide natural gas and electric service to customers in New York and Pennsylvania. From time-to-time, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation may produce forward-looking statements relating to such matters as anticipated financial performance, business prospects, technological developments, new products, and similar matters. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Corning Natural Gas Holding Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experiences to differ materially from anticipated results or other expectations expressed in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Story continues Contact: Mike German 607-936-3755 By Trend Mouhamed Khouraichi Niass, Secretary General of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) expresses his deep concern over the attack by Armenia in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the border of the two countries and the perpetuation of the occupation of a large part of the territories of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to PUIC. Niass condemns the aggression of Armenia against Azerbaijan, member of the PUIC. Based on the Resolutions and Decisions of previous PUIC Conferences specially those of its 15th Conference held in Burkina Faso, on January 2020, as well as the demands set out in United Nations Security Council Resolutions 822 (1993), 853 (1993), 874 (1993) and 884 (1993), PUIC Secretary General calls for the immediate, unconditional and complete withdrawal of Armenian forces from all occupied territories of Azerbaijan, and demands the strict implementation of those Decisions and Resolutions in order to further force Armenia to comply with them. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz This combination photo shows the cover art for "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man", left, and a portrait of author Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. The book, written by the niece of President Donald J. Trump, was originally set for release on July 28, 2020, but will now arrive on July 14. (Simon & Schuster, left, and Peter Serling/Simon Schuster via AP) Presidents Brother Robert Trump Drops Injunction on Mary Trump NEW YORKMary Trump can talk about the memoir she wrote about her uncle, President Donald Trump, after the presidents brother requested a judge cancel a temporary restraining order from June 30 on Monday, allowing the presidents only niece to freely publicize and distribute her work. After Robert Trumps request, Judge Hal B. Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, reversed orders he had issued temporarily blocking Mary Trump from promoting her book. Robert Trump had filed an injunction in June seeking to block Mary Trump from publishing the memoir according to an agreement that relatives made barring anyone talking about family members publicly without others consent when settling the estate of her father after his death. An appeals judge had already ruled on July 1 that the publisher of Trumps nieces memoir, Simon & Schuster, was not bound by the confidentiality agreement that she signed, allowing it to print and distribute the 240-page book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man, which is scheduled to be released on July 14. Bloomberg reported that more than 600,000 copies of the book have already been distributed to bookstores across the United States, but not yet released. Simon & Schuster Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Karp argued in an affidavit to the court on July 8 that the book was already widely available and that Robert Trumps injunction would have little impact at this point. The judge said the confidentiality clauses in the 2001 agreement viewed in the context of the current Trump family circumstances in 2020, would offend public policy as a prior restraint on protected speech' Notwithstanding that the book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot, the judge wrote. Greenwald said the confidentiality agreement that settled multiple lawsuits mainly concerned the financial aspect of the deal, which isnt as interesting now as it might have been two decades ago. On the other hand the non-confidential part of the agreement, the Trump family relationships may be more interesting now in 2020 with a Presidential election on the horizon, the judge said. According to the books description, it seeks to trace how family members were affected by the presidents father, a successful real estate owner, and provides Mary Trumps insights on how the president may have developed some of the traits that he is known for in the White House. The publisher describes Mary Trump as a trained clinical psychologist with a PhD from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies. The book was originally to be published at the end of July. The publisher announced last week it would be published Tuesday. Mary Trumps lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said the judge got it right in rejecting the Trump familys effort to squelch Mary Trumps core political speech on important issues of public concern. The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Marys important words for themselves, he said in a statement. In a statement, Simon & Schuster said it was delighted that the Court has denied the plaintiffs request for preliminary injunction, and vacated the Temporary Restraining Order against our author, Mary L. Trump. It added: The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions, it added. TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH is a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse, and we look forward to bringing it to a public that is clearly eager to read it. Messages seeking comment were left with an attorney for Robert Trump. On the eve of its publication, Mary Trumps book was ranked No. 1 on the Amazon.com list of best-selling books. By Larry Neumeister. With additional reporting by Epoch Times staff. This week, Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the current United States Trade Representative, came before the Ways and Means Committee to discuss the Trump Administrations 2020 trade agenda. I used my time in the hearing to thank the administration for the critical agriculture trade wins such as reducing Japanese tariffs on beef, and urged him to continue prioritizing our farmers and ranchers in future agreements. I was pleased he hear the administration will not compromise on getting fair access for our producers. The United States-China Phase One trade agreement was a landmark deal for U.S. agriculture, committing China to buying significant amounts of our products and lowering longstanding trade barriers. While some commodities have fared well, others such as ethanol are not yet being purchased at agreed-upon levels. Since the pandemic, China has yet to make any real purchases of our ethanol or distillers grains, nor have they eliminated the tariffs imposed on them. We must hold China accountable, and make sure they are holding their end of the bargain across the board. Its not the Connecticut Way. So says an offended Gov. Ned Lamont in response to President Donald Trumps call to states to get tough with rioters who loot and destroy the businesses primarily minority-owned across our country. So what is the Connecticut Way: A state pension funded at 33 cents for every dollar owed. A $353 million pay raise for all state workers come July 1, even as hundreds of thousands of state residents struggle with furloughs and job losses that have decimated household incomes. Tolls for trucks only. Tolls on trucks and cars. Tolls on trucks only. This time we mean it. Tolls on all highways. Tolls on interstates. No tolls at all. A bankrupt university system that pays $710,000 to an erstwhile administrator on sabbatical. A tax on a plastic grocery bag, generating $55 million in revenues. Oops, didnt expect the stores to ditch them. Never mind, you can have your bags. Secret multimillion-dollar deals with hedge fund cronies and high-priced consultants who thumb their noses at public information laws. An absentee voting scheme that threatens what little integrity remains in the states electoral process. Cow-towing to protesters who flagrantly violate executive orders on masking and social distancing while the rest of us are spied on by drones and neighbors, threatened with fines and arrests, or labeled dumb for demanding a restoration of our basic rights. Arbitrarily lifting and re-imposing executive orders on barbers and salon owners trying to reopen their shops after months in lockdown. COVID centers that go empty as hospitals transfer recovering patients to nursing homes where vulnerable residents are succumbing to the virus by the thousands. Federal bailouts. Falling property values. A crumbling economy. Were suffocating under Lamonts Connecticut Way. Faith Ham Cheshire Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line is aiming to be back in service by August 28, according to a statement. Upon announcing that we would resume cruising in late July, we were thrilled to see a great deal of demand, demonstrating that there is a strong appetite amongst travelers for our unique short-cruise microcation product. At this time, we remain the only cruise line in the country to have received a green status from the CDC on our No Sail Response plan, meaning we have met all requirements in providing a safe environment for our crew members to work and disembark via non-commercial travel," said Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line CEO Oneil Khosa. "Over the past few weeks, weve continued preparations to return to Grand Bahama Island while keeping an eye on the overall landscape, which continues to evolve. In recent days, amidst a spike in COVID-19 cases in many states across the country, weve seen mounting pressures to modify reopening plans and consideration of the return of stay-at-home orders," he said . "Additionally, new restrictions from the Bahamas have been announced, requiring travelers to present a negative swab test prior to entry. In an effort to provide the safest environment for our passengers and crew, we have no choice but to further postpone our sailing schedule. "Our current plan is to resume cruises on August 28th, 2020. This is incredibly disappointing to our entire team, but the decision was made after very careful consideration of all factors, and we believe this is in everyones best interest. We look forward to welcoming guests back onboard and appreciate everyones patience throughout this process. The company plans to first start sailing with its Grand Celebration, and as operations ramp up, add the Grand Classica back into the mix as well. Both ships offer short, two-night cruises from Palm Beach. Fears of a second wave of infections have forced authorities around the world to reimpose restrictions in recent days. It comes soon after they eased lockdowns...and then saw a spike in new cases. California, which gradually reopened in May, is once again shutting down all indoor activity in bars, restaurants, movie theaters and museums as 8,200 new infections were reported daily. California Governor Gavin Newsom. "We're continuing to see hospitalizations rise in the state. We're continuing to see a modest increase in ICUs and number of beds represented by ICU patients throughout the state of California. And we continue to experience an increase in the rate of positivity here in the state of California." In Asia, it's a similar story. Some parts of India and The Philippines introduced new restrictions as infections rose rapidly after lockdowns were eased. While Hong Kong reimposed strict social-distancing measures from Tuesday (July 14), as 52 new cases were reported the day before. From Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam - there was a warning. "From the information of the World Health Organization as well as local experts, unless we have an effective vaccine which can be widely used in the community, we may need to co-exist with the virus for a period of time." Australia is another country to see a spike in cases following re-openings. Last week, its second largest city, Melbourne, enforced a strict six-week lockdown due to a spike in cases. It highlights the challenges facing authorities as they try to reopen businesses and get their economies moving again. The number of coronavirus infections around the world hit 13 million on Monday, according to a Reuters tally, climbing by a million in just five days. The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted petitions seeking a court-monitored probe into the killing of gangster Vikas Dubey in Kanpur by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police for July 20. It also asked the UP government to file a status report in the Vikas Dubey case by Thursday. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for UP government volunteered to file a report on the steps they have taken so far. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde said that it is open to form a judicial committee to probe the incident. An order in this regard has not been passed yet. The Court said that this is something which the Court will do reluctantly. However, since there was a precedent of forming a judicial committee to probe a similar encounter killing in Telangana in December 2019, the Court was willing to pass a similar order in this case too. The Court sought suggestions from petitioners on possible names to head the probe committee. In December 2019, CJI Bobde had asked the Telangana government to suggest the name of a retired Supreme Court judge who could take up the task of probing the killing of four men who allegedly raped and murdered a 26-year-old veterinary doctor on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were killed in an ambush in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey on July 3. Dubey was killed in an encounter on the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur toppled over in an accident and he tried to escape from the spot after snatching the revolver of a police officer, the police had said The opposition has alleged that Dubey was killed to cover up a gangster-police-politician nexus in Uttar Pradesh. [July 14, 2020] AST Private Company Solutions Announces Partnership with Fund Administration Leader Standish Management AST Private Company Solutions (AST PCS) today announced its latest strategic partnership with Standish Management, a leading fund administration provider to private equity with over $130+ billion under administration. Users of PCS's Astrella capitalization (cap) table and ownership tracking platform will be able to integrate relevant ownership data from Astrella to Standish. Standish will use this data to support limited partner (LP) financial reporting and communications, capital calls and distributions and partnership accounting. Astrella was built by AST PCS, the Silicon Valley-based business unit of ownership data management leader AST, as a new cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS (News - Alert)) platform to manage private company ownership data. The solution brings together private blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics and includes an API ecosystem readymade to allow seamless integration with established leaders like Standish, which now supports over 1800 funds in the U.S. and Europe. Launched this spring, Astrella has developed a strong roster of premier technology and service partners covering a wide range of related private shareholder requirements, all with the objective of providing rapid data access, efficient workflow and the best possible end-to-end user experience and now includes clients from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and The Netherlands. "In many ways Standish and AST PCS are kindred spirits, as our company grew out of a clear and growing need for the private equity market at a time of great change. Astrella is set to do the same today," Standish Management CEO Bob Raynard says. "Today, LPs ae more diverse, dispersed and invested in different private equity arrangements than ever before, and it is crucial they have effective technology enabling fund performance reporting and accounting. They don't want to be calling CFOs at portfolio companies to receive out-of-date cap table data via email. They want the data available to them whenever they need it. Astrella will form the bridge between companies on its system and our clients, creating efficiencies and accuracy in reporting benefiting the entire private equity ecosystem." AST PCS President Carine Schneider adds, "Standish Management is truly a model for solving some of private equity's trickiest administration challenges, and we are excited to announce this partnership with their firm. In many ways, our work building Astrella was meant for exactly this kind of relationship. Working closely with Bob and his team, including his service on our Advisory Council, has driven our team to build an innovative solution. We expect this to be a fruitful integration going forward." About Standish Management Founded in 2007, Standish Management has grown from 100 fund entities under administration a decade ago to over 1,800 today, which report to over 30,000 limited partners. Operating from 14 locations across the United States, the firm provides both software solutions and advising across a range of requirements affecting private equity managers today, including fund performance reporting, tax, accounting and auditing, and regulatory matters and compliance. For more information, visit www.standishmanagement.com. About AST Private Company Solutions, Inc. Founded in 2019, AST PCS is an affiliate of AST and is focused on serving private companies worldwide. Astrella, a cloud-based SaaS solution, allows private companies to manage their ownership data, including the cap table and employee equity plans, and to connect directly with related service providers to support efficient workflow and provide access to investors, advisors and employees. For more information, visit www.astrella.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005057/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] An investigation by Global Witness have uncovered a money laundering operation that helps the regime avoid sanctions and purchase supplies reports Alsouria Net. Global Witness published an investigation that revealed, for the first time, an active Russian-Syrian international network for money laundering that has been financing the Assad regime since the beginning of 2012. Global Witness is a British non-governmental organization that works on investigative reports concerning corruption and money laundering, in various countries around the world. The investigation, released by the organization Monday, revealed the mechanism used to operate a money laundering network led by Mudalal Khoury, a Russian-Syrian banker. Khoury has ties to Muhammad Makhlouf, who is the uncle to the head of the regime, Bashar al-Assad. Since the beginning of 2012, the [money laundering] networks work has focused on providing vital material aid to the Assad regime, which ranged from helping to purchase fuel and banknotes to using companies as an interface for chemical and ballistic weapons programs. According to the investigation, the activities of Mudalal Khoury had the tacit approval of the Russian intelligence services. Also as per the investigation, the Khoury network provided front companies, one in Cyprus and two in the British Virgin Islands, indicating that, they may be used by the Syrian Center for Studies and Scientific Research (SSRC), responsible for chemical weapons and ballistic missile programs in Syria. The Mudalal Khoury network has also enabled the Central Bank of Syria to avoid international financial sanctions and obtain hard currency. The investigation comes at a time when Syria is facing an unprecedented economic crisis, after the Caesar Act came into effect, which imposed economic sanctions on dozens of influential figures in the Assad regime. The investigation shed light on the shortcomings of sanctioning corrupt regimes, especially the Assad regime. Although the United States has imposed sanctions on a number of the Khoury network members, the European sanctions regime is not powerful enough to allow sanctions to be imposed on the Khoury network, according to Global Witness. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. The latest round of negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the latters contentious dam on the Blue Nile has ended with no agreement, according to Egyptian and Sudanese officials. All of the efforts exerted to reach a solution didnt come to any kind of result, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said on Monday in an interview with Egypts DMC TV channel. The failure sank modest hopes the three countries could resolve their differences and sign an agreement on the dams operation before Ethiopia begins to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), set to be Africas largest. Addis Ababa had previously pledged to start storing water in the dams vast reservoir at the start of the wet season in July, when rains flood the Blue Nile. The bitter dispute pits Ethiopias desire to supply electricity to a significant portion of its population that lacks it and to become a major power exporter by selling its surplus, against downstream Egypts concern that the colossal dam will significantly curtail its water supply if filled too quickly. Egypt, which is almost entirely dependent on the Nile for its fresh-water supplies, sees the project as a potentially existential threat. It is anxious to secure a legally binding deal that would guarantee minimum flows and a mechanism for resolving disputes before the dam starts operating. For its part, Sudan stands to benefit from the project through access to cheap electricity and reduced flooding, but it has also raised fears over the dams operation, which could endanger its own smaller dams, depending on the amount of water discharged downstream daily. Years of talks with a variety of mediators have failed to produce a solution, with the latest round mediated by the African Union (AU) and observed by US and European officials proving no different. The three countries agreed they would send their reports to the AU president and reconvene in a week to determine next steps. There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia on the talks. Filling the GERD without a deal would sharply escalate tensions, with observers fearing it could push the countries to the brink of military conflict. Shoukry warned that Egypt might be compelled to appeal again to the UN Security Council to intervene in the dispute, a prospect Ethiopia rejects, preferring that regional bodies such as the AU mediate. If there is something that threatens the regional security of Egypt and international security, it is the main responsibility of the Security Council to adopt procedures that will prevent this, he said. A handout satellite image shows a closeup view of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia [Reuters] In a press conference on Monday, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas outlined a series of sticking points. While the parties were keen to find a solution, technical and legal disagreements persist over the filling and operation of the dam, he said. Most important, he said, are the unresolved questions of how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs, and how the countries will resolve any future disputes. Hisham Kahin, a member of Sudans legal committee in the dam negotiations, said 70-80 percent of negotiations turned on the thorny question of whether an agreement would be legally binding. Ethiopia, he said, fears a binding agreement will hinder its future development projects. Sudan and Egypt consider it critical. All suggestions are under discussion, said Kahin. We have made very little progress. Actors Hwang Jung-min and Hyun Bin left for Jordan to shoot their new film. "Negotiations," to be directed by Yim Soon-rye, was supposed to start shooting in March this year, but due to the coronavirus epidemic, it was postponed indefinitely. Amid a gradual easing of the lockdown, they are now able to enter the Middle Eastern country. The cast and crewmembers will get into shooting after quarantining themselves for a certain period there. The film revolves around a diplomat and an intelligence agent who work together to rescue hostages kidnapped by terrorists in the Middle East. NEW HAVEN The city Monday moved to dismiss a lawsuit filed by local Italian-American residents over the future of the Christopher Columbus statue that once stood in Wooster Square Park, claiming the group has no standing to bring the case. The Italian-American Heritage Group of New Haven, represented by attorney Patricia Cofrancesco, filed suit against the city June 24, seeking an injunction to prevent removal of the statue, which has yet to be heard. The figure of Columbus was removed that day, although the base remains in the park. Cofrancesco said in the original complaint that roughly 200 ancestors of current members of the heritage group financially contributed to the erection of a statue of the Explorer, Christopher Columbus in New Haven, Wooster Square Park in 1892, which was gifted to the city. The group, through a July 8 motion by Cofrancesco, is seeking to have a professional excavate a portion of the statues base and retrieve documents laid in place in 1892, as they may speak to conditions potentially imposed on the city when the statue was accepted as a gift more than a century ago. But in the motion to dismiss and associated brief, city attorneys Patrica King, Roderick Williams and Alyssa Torres argued the group does not have standing to bring a case, as individual members have not established or claimed specific ownership of the statue only referenced a general ancestral claim or suffered recognizable legal injury from it being removed. Even assuming that the plaintiff could show that the statue may have been a gift to the City from some ancestor of some member or members, there is no claim raised in the pleadings sufficient to give the plaintiff a legal interest that is injured by the Citys decision to remove the statue from the park, the brief says. The loss (of) the opportunity to view a statue, an affront to the pride of its members, is the only articulable loss to the plaintiff that may be inferred from the pleadings. This falls far short of constituting any legally protected interest that the association stands to suffer, the attorneys said in the brief. (T)here is no judicially recognized right to recover for loss of pride or of the opportunity to be reminded of ones heritage. The city attorneys also question the validity of the group, and thus its standing to bring the case under precedent concerning voluntary associations. The attorneys argued there was no discernible purpose or proof that the organization even truly exists in an organized sense, much less that it has members who have a means to express their collective views or control how those interests are projected as an organization included in the filing. The group is not registered with the secretary of the state, the attorneys noted. I fully expected that the city was going to move to dismiss this action, Cofrancesco said Tuesday. In the coming days, the arguments raised will be addressed by my client so as to demonstrate that the removal of the statute was illegal and that the interests of the plaintiff will be vindicated in court. The Italian-American Heritage Group also has alleged the city failed to properly consult the Board of Alders before the decision to remove the statue was made and contended the Parks Commission violated open meeting law by voting to remove it without properly notifying the public the matter was under consideration. Cofrancesco also has filed a Freedom of Information request with the city seeking any documentation reflective of the identity of the donor or reflective of the source of the funds used to pay for the removal of the statute. In a letter to King, Cofrancesco stated she and the group believed the funding was provided by a private donor, asking that the city verify the accuracy of this information and provide the persons identity as the same may be violative of the City of New Haven charter. The motion to dismiss and associated brief do not speak to these allegations. A request for comment about the Freedom of Information request was previously sent to city officials. william.lambert@hearstmediact.com Thousands of people in Bulgaria took to the streets of the capital Sofia on Monday to protest against the government and the country's top prosecutor, accusing them of corruption and criminal connections. It was the fifth straight day of protests. The rallies have been mostly peaceful, although there have been occasional clashes and 18 arrests. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who backs the protests, has called on the center-right government of Boyko Borissov to step down and chief prosecutor Ivan Geshev to resign. In an address to the nation last weekend, Radev said that people demand "the restoration of the rule of law and basic civil freedoms that have been methodically violated over recent years." The protests started after the chief prosecutor ordered police to raid the president's headquarters and arrest two of his aides, on suspicion of influence peddling and disclosure of classified documents. Many saw the raid as an attempt by Geshev to silence the president, who is a vocal critic of the government. Prime minister Borissov has been in power since 2009 and his third term is scheduled to end in March next year. The biggest opposition party in Parliament, the Socialists, are planning a no-confidence vote in the government on Wednesday. I had a hospital appointment last week, my final session of post-operative physiotherapy and my first face-to-face meeting with the physiotherapist since the Covid crisis began. I arrived a few minutes early, and as I sat in the waiting area I flicked through the messages and emails on my phone. Before I knew it I was preoccupied by what I was reading as a few issues emerged on the screen that needed dealing with as soon as my appointment was over. The physiotherapist greeted me warmly; we had come to know one another virtually and were glad to meet, although with both of us wearing face masks it couldnt be described as a face-to-face encounter. The session was very thorough and I was put through a menu of exercises designed to ensure my body recovers fully from the intrusive nature of the prostate surgery. However, I found I had to concentrate really hard as I was distracted and constantly returning, in my head, to the phone messages and the emails. Thankfully the physiotherapist was able to keep me focused and, after the session, forwarded me a list of what I need to do. Here lies the challenge of the on-screen age: how do we remain in the moment, how do we stay present to whats happening now? How do we avoid being suspended between virtual and real life? After I left the hospital I examined the distracting messages and emails and found they were not that urgent. Yet I had allowed them to invade what was a very important space in time where I needed to attend to the healing of my body. This on-screen age is an age without boundaries, where work, play, family, politics, romance, education, global issues and gossip crash in and out of one another. This world without boundaries is captured in the device held in the palms of billions of hands all over the globe. We are enslaved to it. We go into an absolute panic if we leave home without it. I am reminded of an old Western film I saw decades ago, where a New York socialite fell in love with a cowboy while on a trip out West. She convinced him to come back with her to the Big Apple where she set about civilising him. She had a major job convincing him to do without his gun-belt every time he took it off his legs went from under him. Our attachment to our mobile phone is just like that. While we might go weak at the knees when it happens, the world doesnt stop when we forget it or leave it behind. In fact there can be great liberation when we do, and indeed a mischievous sense of satisfaction knowing the thing is at home hopping mad on the kitchen table in glorious oblivion. At the risk of wandering into TMI territory (too much information), one of the reasons Im attending physiotherapy is, as Dominic Cummings might say, to take back control of my bodily functions, to establish who is in charge around here. We need to do the same with our mobile phones. They are enslaving us while robbing us of the adventure of being human. In the store of stories that make up the folklore of my wifes family, there is a tale of transatlantic adventure that wouldnt happen today. One of her more celebrated relatives was the only male in a family of seven. After his six sisters emigrated to the United States he got married, inherited the farm and went on to have four daughters. Now in those patriarchal times, the lack of a son and heir was a matter of great concern, and the sisters in America were particularly worried that the home place would be lost to the family. As luck and Mother Nature would have it, after much desiring and a long gap in the production line, a male child was born. The father was ecstatic and adjourned forthwith to a local hostelry where, in a fit of drunken delirium, he decided to go to America and bring the good news to his sisters, in person. When the man came to his sober senses he was on a liner halfway across the broad Atlantic. It took him six months labouring to make the money to pay for his passage back to his farm, his family and his little male heir in Longford. Now, if he had a mobile phone hed have missed out on all that, and the family would have been deprived of one great story. THE company behind 'super-pub' Temple Bar has been refused planning permission for a new store which was to house the country's largest whiskey collection. In turning down permission for the proposed Temple Bar Whiskey Emporium, close to the Temple Bar pub, Dublin City Council said the proposed development would add to an over-concentration of licensed premises in the immediate area. The council pointed out the applicant, Temple Inns Ltd, already operates a whiskey shop in the area and that no compelling case has been made for a new whiskey shop. It said as a result the proposed development "would seriously injure the amenities of the area". Temple Inns told the council visitors to the emporium could relax in the shop's seating area, listen to a pianist at the grand piano and taste samples within the shop. The firm had proposed housing the whiskey emporium in the retail space formerly occupied by North Face and promised a "high-end retail and experiential amenity". Planning documents say Temple Inns has one of the largest collection of Irish whiskeys in the world, some 450 varieties. One of three local residents to object to the plan is former environment editor of the 'Irish Times', Frank McDonald. He told the council the street already has more than enough pubs. Conal O'Sullivan, a resident for 25 years, told the council: "I have been appalled by the conversion of Dublin's cultural quarter into Dublin's drinking and public urination quarter." Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of coelurosaurian dinosaur, Aratasaurus museunacionali, from the Romualdo Formation in the Araripe Basin, Brazil. Aratasaurus museunacionali roamed the Earth during the Cretaceous period, approximately 104 million years ago. The new dinosaur was a type of coelurosaur, a large group of small, lightly built, theropod dinosaurs which are more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Its remains were recovered from the Romualdo Formation, which is known worldwide for the large number of well-preserved fossils. The fossil material is preserved in a dark shale slab with originally 1.2 m by 0.8 m (3.9 by 2.6 feet), and a thickness of around 3 cm (1.2 inches). Aratasaurus museunacionali is known by an incomplete but articulated right hind limb with the distal portion of the femur, proximal half of tibia and incomplete pes, said senior author Dr. Alexander Kellner from the Laboratory of Systematics and Taphonomy of Fossil Vertebrates at the Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro and colleagues. The bones showed that this Aratasaurus museunacionali specimen was a juvenile, with an estimated body length around 3.12 m (10.2 feet) and a body mass of 34.25 kg. The extinct creature is closely related to Zuolong salleei, a coelurosaurian dinosaur that lived some 160 million years ago (Jurassic period) in China. The material known from Aratasaurus museunacionali differs from derived coelurosaurian groups (e.g. Tyrannosauroidea, Ornithomimosauria) and Megaraptora mainly regarding by the cnemial crest and the disposition and morphology of metatarsals, the paleontologists said. Among basal coelurosaurs, the new Brazilian theropod has a tibia similar to that of Zuolong salleei, and the pes more similar with that of Aarun zhaoi and Tanycolagreus topwilsoni. The new taxon represents the first occurrence of basal coelurosaurians in the Araripe Basin and suggests a widespread distribution of this group during the Lower Cretaceous, they said. The discovery of Aratasaurus museunacionali is reported in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports. _____ J.M. Sayao et al. 2020. The first theropod dinosaur (Coelurosauria, Theropoda) from the base of the Romualdo Formation (Albian), Araripe Basin, Northeast Brazil. Sci Rep 10, 10892; doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67822-9 SROs made teaching possible Just another point of view about the letter of June 21 (Schools need more social workers, The Daily Progress): I, too, was a career high school teacher for 22 years in Columbia, South Carolina, and at first thought the addition of police officers was a waste of money. Over the years, I changed my mind as I saw the positive results from having them in my school. I had a student fight break out in my room, and the only person who came to help was the school resource officer. I got a call one day from a friend who was a chemistry teacher and I could not understand him; he had been punched in the face by a kid who he was not even talking to. I had $100 calculators regularly disappear and saw teachers threatened, and I contend that some of our students are criminals at a very early age. Note that girl who graduated from a local high school was murdered in New York City by a 13-year-old students. I am a University of Virginia undergraduate and have a masters degree in computer science. I am also a carrier qualified Navy pilot and a highly trained math teacher; I have been local teacher of the year, district finalist as teacher of the year. What I do not have is the training or desire to overcome all of the criminal activities that impacted my ability to teach students who came to school to learn. No number of guidance personal or social workers could provide what I needed to perform my duties as a classroom teacher. This one SRO made teaching for 260 professionals possible. Patsy Scango Fluvanna County{&lettersname} The tragic death of a toddler accidentally run over and killed in her family's driveway has prompted the launch of a review into car reverse sensors becoming compulsory. Nineteen-month old Aurora Ellis died after she was accidentally hit by her mother as she reversed her Toyota LandCruiser into the driveway of their home in Bayswater, Perth, on June 6. Now the toddler's grieving parents Lara and Preston launched a campaign to introduce 'Aurora's Law' and are demanding remote sensors be installed in every car, including second hand vehicles. Road Safety Minister Michelle Roberts vowed to look into making Aurora's Law a reality after she was touched by their harrowing story on Monday night. Lara Ellis is on a mission to ensure her daughter Aurora's tragic death isn't in vain 'I am very much with them [Aurora's parents] on the view that we shouldn't import a single car to Australia that doesn't have that reverse sensor,' Ms Roberts told Seven News. 'The second issue is retrofitting, that's something I'll be looking very strongly at with the Road Safety Commission.' Aurora's parents are on a mission to ensure their little girl's tragic death wasn't in vain. 'I'm sure if we had reverse sensors, our little lady would still be here,' Mr Ellis said. 'We've got pool gates, we've got so many other things, we've got airbags in our cars. We've got everything helping us, I guess, protecting us. 'Every day is a battle just to breathe so if we can stop just one child passing like ours did, then I'll be happy.' His wife fears many more young lives will be lost if Aurora's Law isn't introduced. 'If we hadn't spoken out, how many other people would have been hurt?' Ms Ellis said. 'That's why we had to do this- not because we wanted to but because we needed to.' Her husband added: 'Otherwise, we have blood on our hands.' Preston Ellis said Aurora (right) was a barrel of mischief before her life was cut short One child is run over in their own driveway across Australia each week, according to Western Australia's Road Safety Commission. More than a third of children aged under six who died in crashes were killed 'off road' in yards, car parks and driveways. Nine children have been killed in driveways in Western Australia in the last 10 years. Motor Trade Association of WA chief executive Stephen Moir believes Aurora's Law should be rolled out nationwide. 'One of the problems we've had historically is that we've had different rules in different states,' he said. But he believes a subsidy could be needed for second-hand vehicles as the average age for cars is over 10-years-old in Western Australia. Aurora's mum Lara Ellis broke down as she spoke for the first time about the tragedy this week Aurora's death occurred 10 months after a 14-month-old girl was run over and killed by a car in a driveway in the Perth suburb of Caversham. The toddler's parents have since reached out to the Ellis family to provide support. Aurora's parents have also recalled the harrowing split second their lives changed forever in the hope no other parent will go through the same nightmare. 'I was reversing and she was there ... and I didn't even see her,' Ms Ellis told Channel Seven program Flashpoint. 'And then she's gone and our family will never be the same, ever.' Her husband was inside cooking dinner at the time. Little Aurora and her sister Indiana had been playing at their dad's feet moments before he heard his wife's harrowing screams from outside. 'It was a yell I've never heard before and it's a yell I hope to never hear again. It was horrible,' Mr Ellis said. The heartbroken parents say the tragedy has brought them closer together. Ms Ellis had been had been reversing Toyota LandCruiser (pictured) when tragedy struck Five days after Aurora's death, Mr Ellis posted a heartbreaking tribute as he urged everyone to 'not sweat the small stuff'. 'Today please breathe, please appreciate the air in your lungs,' he wrote on a Perth community Facebook page. 'Please slow down and notice everything the rain drops on leaves the warmth from a cup of coffee. Please hug who you love and hold them so very tight and kiss their heads for me.' 'My memories are haunted with images of my baby no parent should have ever seen.' Technavio has been monitoring the global distribution software market size and it is poised to grow by USD 1.08 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of over 2% during the forecast period. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005836/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Distribution Software Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Technavio suggests three forecast scenarios (optimistic, probable, and pessimistic) considering the impact of COVID-19. Please Request Latest Free Sample Report on COVID-19 Impact The market is fragmented, and the degree of fragmentation will accelerate during the forecast period. Acumatica Inc., ADS Solutions Corp., Blue Yonder Group Inc., Epicor Software Corp., Fishbowl, Koch Industries Inc., Oracle Corp., Sage Group Plc, SAP SE, and SYSPRO Pty. Ltd. are some of the major market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments. The increased adoption of cloud-based distribution software has been instrumental in driving the growth of the market. However, the long product replacement cycle might hamper market growth. Distribution Software Market 2020-2024: Segmentation Distribution Software Market is segmented as below: Deployment On-premises Cloud-based Geographic Landscape North America Europe APAC South America MEA To learn more about the global trends impacting the future of market research, download a free sample: https://www.technavio.com/talk-to-us?report=IRTNTR44273 Distribution Software Market 2020-2024: Scope Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our distribution software market report covers the following areas: Distribution Software Market size Distribution Software Market trends Distribution Software Market industry analysis This study identifies the emergence of omnichannel retailing as one of the prime reasons driving the distribution software market growth during the next few years. Distribution Software Market 2020-2024: Vendor Analysis We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the distribution software market, including some of the vendors such as Acumatica Inc., ADS Solutions Corp., Blue Yonder Group Inc., Epicor Software Corp., Fishbowl, Koch Industries Inc., Oracle Corp., Sage Group Plc, SAP SE, and SYSPRO Pty. Ltd. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research reports on the distribution software market are designed to provide entry support, customer profile and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support. Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform Distribution Software Market 2020-2024: Key Highlights CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2020-2024 Detailed information on factors that will assist distribution software market growth during the next five years Estimation of the distribution software market size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior The growth of the distribution software market Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of distribution software market vendors Table Of Contents : Executive Summary Market Landscape Market ecosystem Value chain analysis Market Sizing Market definition Market segment analysis Market size 2019 Market outlook: Forecast for 2019 2024 Five Forces Analysis Five Forces Summary Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market condition Market Segmentation by Deployment Market segments Comparison by Deployment On-premises Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Cloud-based Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Market opportunity by Deployment Customer Landscape Geographic Landscape Geographic segmentation Geographic comparison North America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Europe Market size and forecast 2019-2024 APAC Market size and forecast 2019-2024 South America Market size and forecast 2019-2024 MEA Market size and forecast 2019-2024 Key leading countries Market opportunity by geography Volume Drivers Demand led growth Market Challenges Market Trends Vendor Landscape Overview Vendor landscape Landscape disruption Vendor Analysis Vendors covered Market positioning of vendors Acumatica Inc. ADS Solutions Corp. Blue Yonder Group Inc. Epicor Software Corp. Fishbowl Koch Industries Inc. Oracle Corp. Sage Group Plc SAP SE SYSPRO Pty. Ltd. Appendix Scope of the report Currency conversion rates for US$ Research methodology List of abbreviations About Us Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005836/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ Jaipur, July 14 : Amid the ongoing political crisis in Rajasthan, Bharatiya Tribal Party MLA Rajkumar Rot on Tuesday released a video accusing the Rajasthan Police of taking away his car keys for no reason after stopping him midway when he was on his way from Jaipur to his Assembly seat of Dungarpur. Speaking to IANS, Rot said, "We were stopped and tortured by policemen when we were going to our Assembly area from Jaipur on Tuesday at around 12 noon. A police van came, stopped us and took away our vehicle keys leaving us stranded for we could not even start the vehicle and were sitting inside packed in sweltering heat." Rot further said that he called the concerned officials and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was also informed of the police misbehaviour. "CM coordinated with officials and our keys were returned later," he said, adding "Police were talking all nonsense, saying that our life is in danger." Meanwhile, when asked with whom does their party stand with respect to rival Pilot and Gehlot camps, he said, "We will have a meeting in a day or two to take a stand." "At this point of time, we are standing indifferent to either group. We are neither in Gehlot camp nor in Pilot camp," he added. In fact, Pilot's media manager also shared videos of some BTP MLAs tacitly supporting him, however, Rot said the party will decide on it soon. Rajesh Asnani By Express News Service JAIPUR: Amidst the political crisis in Rajasthan, Govind Singh Dotasara was elevated to the post of the state Congress chief came almost 15 years after he contested his first election. The development comes after rebel leader Sachin Pilot was sacked from the post deputy chief minister and chief of PCC. The three-time Congress MLA also serves as the Education Minister in the state but his name wasn't a part of the speculated list of names for the post. Considered as a close aide of chief minister Ashok Gahlot, his first challenge would be to handle the reactions of Pilot's rebellion and ensure a smooth running of the government. READ | Rajasthan political crisis: Ashok Gehlot should take floor test, demands BJP The son of a school teacher, Dotasara entered politics through the election of Panchayat Samiti after studying law. Dotasara was elected MLA from Laxmangarh seat of Sikar and comes with a long experience in politics. He has been elected MLA for the third time from this seat. After finishing his B.Com and LLB from the University of Rajasthan, the 56-year-old minister went on the work actively in the Youth Congress during his student politics days. In 2005, he contested the election of Laxmangarh (Sikar) Panchayat Samiti on a Congress ticket. Govind won the election and was also elected as the head of the Panchayat Samiti. Dotasara then proceeded in politics and has been the Congress District President of Sikar for seven consecutive years. In 2008, he became an MLA for the first time from Laxmangarh and later was appointed District Congress President in 2011. He was then elected a second time despite the strong Modi wave in 2013. After winning in 2018, he was handed the independent charge of Minister of State for Education along with the Minister of Tourism and Devasthan Department. ALSO WATCH: DAWSON COUNTY In order to allow for the maximum number of anglers and their boat trailers at the Plum Creek Wildlife Management Area, the south central Nebraska site closed to camping permanently July 10. The wildlife management area was designed as a fishing access point, not for overnight camping and has no site amenities. Due to the management areas size and limited parking availability, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will prioritize boat and fishing access to the waterway there. We appreciate everyones enthusiasm to get out, camp and enjoy the outdoors, said Alicia Hardin, wildlife division administrator. Unfortunately, Plum Creek WMA just isnt big enough to support the traffic from both anglers and campers. We hope people see this as an opportunity to explore our other great recreation areas. Signs in the Plum Creek WMA notify users of the changes. Nearby overnight camping remains available at Johnson Lake State Recreation Area or other state parks and recreation areas. For more information, or to find a site, visit OutdoorNebraska.org. LOS ANGELES, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, community-focused businesses have become popular to help localize investments, returns and benefits to underrepresented communities. One such startup is Ebony Crown, an online marketplace for curated Black-owned hair & beauty businesses. Protect Your Crown Founded in May 2020, Ebony Crown is working on curating and highlighting Black-owned hair and beauty businesses that normally are unable to reach the demographic they serve. The company's mission is driven by the philosophy that money spent in the Black hair & beauty space should go back to Black-owned companies. "Only 15% of the $2.5 billion dollars spent in the black hair and beauty market go to Black entrepreneurs," said Onyekachi Amadi, founder and chief executive officer, Ebony Crown. "It doesn't make sense that so much of our money is being given to companies that don't invest back into our communities or have a workplace/company reflective of the demographic they cater to." The business focus of Ebony Crown is to concentrate revenues within the Black community. The success of the platform would mean success of Black enterprises in the hair & beauty market that currently have to deal with much competition from typically established companies in the space. Customers can now have access to a site that provides products that are focused on them and can easily relate to products designed for them exclusively. The products on Ebony Crown are created for textured coils and varied skin not as an afterthought but the main focus. Businesses are welcome to sign up on the Ebony Crown site and start selling to customers who are already looking out for products that are made exclusively for them. There is of course due diligence done to ensure quality and fit of the company requirements. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information, please visit: https://www.ebonycrown.com Media Contact: Onyekachi Amadi Phone: (424) 274-1762 Email: [email protected] Related Images ebony-crown.png Ebony Crown Protect Your Crown SOURCE Ebony Crown Inc. Bengaluru, July 14 : The 9-day lockdown in the Karnataka capital began at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, with police swinging into action to restrict the movement of people and vehicles. "The lockdown will be strictly enforced in the urban and rural areas of the city till 5 a.m. on July 22, as decided by the state government to reduce the spurt in coronavirus cases," a state Home Department official told IANS here. Barring essential services and supplies, including groceries, milk, vegetables, fruits and medicines, no other activity will be allowed during the lockdown to ensure people remain at home. "As the decision to re-impose the lockdown was announced on July 11, the citizens were given 3 days to prepare for staying at home or leaving the city. About 1 lakh people left for their homes in other districts and neighbouring states in buses and private vehicles till late evening," said the official. Hundreds of vehicles choked the main roads across the city leading to state and national highways as people, including migrant labourers and their families, were in hurry to leave before lockdown began. "Fear of lockdown being extended after July 22 and its strict enforcement till then forced thousands of outsiders, who are part of the city's 1 million floating population, to leave Bengaluru along with their belongings, as they don't want to return till normalcy is restored," noted the official. Additional police personnel have been deployed in the urban and rural areas of the district and patrolling intensified to prevent people from coming out of homes, except in emergency and those on duty. While shops selling essential supplies and daily needs will remain open for only 7 hours from 5 a.m. to 12 noon daily during the lockdown, liquor shops will remain shut till further notice. Scheduled flights and trains will be allowed to operate, but buses, cars and other vehicles will not be allowed to ply. Of the 2,496 new cases across the southern state on Tuesday, Bengaluru accounted for 1,267, taking its Covid tally to 20,969, of which 15,599 are active cases. Of the 87 deaths in the state in the last 24 hours, 56 were from the city, taking its toll to 377 as against 842 across the state. In contrast, 14 new cases were reported in Bengaluru Rural district, taking its tally to 379, including 346 active. The state's positive cases shot up to 44,077 on Tuesday, with 25,839 active. VIENNA, July 14 (Reuters) - A1 Telekom Austria lowered its 2020 revenue forecast and cut its spending plans for the year after lower roaming income due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions and foreign exchange effects weighed on second-quarter core profit. The group, which is controlled by Mexico's America Movil and the Austrian state, said on Tuesday it now expects a 2% decline in full-year revenue after previously forecasting a 1-2% rise from last year's 4.57 billion euros ($5.21 billion). It said it will cut initially planned investments of 770 million euros until the end of the year by a quarter. "As the further effects of COVID-19 are difficult to predict, precautionary cuts in capital expenditure and operating expenses will help to further secure flexibility," Chief Operating Officer Alejandro Plater said in a statement. The new investment plan does not include investments in new spectrum for 5G applications and potential acquisitions. A1 Telekom Austria, which operates in six eastern European countries besides its home market, said revenue decreased 2.4% to 1.1 billion euros in the second quarter mainly due to lower roaming income and the devaluation of the Belarus currency. The group booked negative foreign exchange effects of 16.4 million euros. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 0.5% lower at 390.1 million euros in the period. The group will publish its second-quarter report on July 21. ($1 = 0.8774 euros) (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle; editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise) Washington, July 14 : US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that China's pursuit of offshore resources in parts of the South China Sea was "completely unlawful". In a statement on Monday, Pompeo denounced China's claims on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, saying Beijing had "no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region", the BBC reported. He said the US, which has previously said it does not take sides in territorial disputes, rejected China's claims to waters off Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. "Any (People's Republic of China) action to harass other states' fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters - or to carry out such activities unilaterally - is unlawful," he said. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire." Although largely uninhabited, the two island chains in the area may have reserves of natural resources around them. The sea is also a shipping route and has major fishing grounds, said the BBC report. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Beijing claims an area known as the "nine-dash line" and has backed its claim with island-building and patrols, expanding its military presence there. Responding to Pompeo's statement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. said on Twitter that the US State Department "deliberately distorts the facts and international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea". It said America "exaggerates the situation in the region and attempts to sow discord between China and other littoral countries". "The accusation is completely unjustified. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it," the BBC quoted the Embassy as saying. The US has long been critical of what it says is China's militarisation of the region and routinely angers Beijing with "freedom of navigation" missions. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Scientists found out that Latino age more slowly compared to other groups. The findings were published in an issue of Genome Biology. But genes are not the only factor to be considered as to why Latinos age slower. Their skincare habits should also be credited for it. You don't have to spend a lot just to get that glowing supple skin JLo flaunts. Here are some of the timeless skin care tips most Latinas practice: 1. Healthy hair Avocados can be added to your beauty routine by using it as hair conditioning weekly. Avocado oil is rich in good fatty acids that can nourish and strengthen your hair. This can also provide moisture that will give your hair a shiny look. This also promotes healthy growth, while protecting hair from damage and dryness. 2. Healthy nails Say goodbye to your nail fungus with this beauty remedy. All you need is to soak your nails in vinegar for five minutes and soak them again in baking soda and water solution around the same period of time. If you want to keep those nails healthy and strong, garlic is the answer, my friend. Mince one garlic clove and add it to a bottle of clear nail polish. Apply it to your nails and wash hands with lemon to remove the smell. See results in a few weeks. 3. Heal skin with plants Who said Agave can only be used in tequila? The Aztecs used Agave back then to heal sunburns and moisturizing hair. But now, you can use it to hydrate your under-eye circles. Nature's best to heal your skin. Nopal cactus can also be used to hydrate and detoxify skin. You just need to remove the needles and soak it in warm water. Once soft, they can be split in half and rubbed on the skin. Kind of how you use an aloe vera. 4. Moisturize skin Get that moisturized skin with just a few ingredients you can grab from your pantry. Colombians are known to mix strawberries, yogurt, and honey for a hydrating facial mask. But this can be changed based on your liking or skin's needs. You can mix yogurt, coffee, banana, and lulo if you want to try something new. In Chile, women use red grapes for masks to keep their skin moisturized. This can be done with mashed grapes with flour. This can diminish redness and blemishes, which can give you a healthy glow. 5. Exfolliate naturally Who knew you can exfoliate your skin with papaya? Well, Peruvians women knew. Eat the fruit itself and gently rub the inside of the papaya skin in your face for a minute. Why papaya, you ask? Papaya is filled with an enzyme that helps break down inactive proteins and remove dead skin cells. It also contains vitamin A, which helps reduce fine lines. If you want more texture in your exfoliation, you can try Bolivian pink salt. This is an ideal use as a body scrub. This contains minerals like magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Check this out! 5 Most Promising Skin Care Products of 2020 Most Popular Latino-Made Skincare Products for 2020 Meet Natalie Aguilar: The Skincare Expert Behind Eiza Gonzalez And Ana de la Reguera's Natural Glow Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said the country will proceed with its friendly relations with China despite the latter's refusal to acknowledge an arbitral tribunal ruling that largely favored the Philippines and invalidated Beijing's sweeping claims in the disputed South China Sea. Roque, in a Palace briefing Tuesday, admitted that differences remain between the country and China when it comes to recognizing the 2016 ruling of the international tribunal in The Hague. The tribunal, constituted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, upheld the Philippines' sovereign rights over areas within its exclusive economic zone that are being claimed by China. It also ruled that China's claims of historic rights over nearly the entire sea and its so-called nine-dash-line were without legal basis. We will agree to disagree on the arbitral award and we will proceed with our friendly relations. yong mga bagay bagay na pwedeng isulong, isusulong. Yong mga hindi pwedeng iresolba ngayon, isasantabi, the spokesperson said. [Translation: We will agree to disagree on the arbitral award and we will proceed with our friendly relations. The matters that can move forward will move forward. The issues that cannot be resolved will be set aside.] READ: DFA chief: PH arbitral win on West Philippine Sea non-negotiable, as country marks 4th year of Hague ruling Roque added that the relationship of the Philippines with China is not completely dependent on the said ruling We will proceed with our bilateral relations because after all, the arbitral award is not a sum total of our relations with China, he said. In a statement, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the government should assert its sovereign authority over its territories. We should never give up the fight for what is legally ours. We should never cower in fear from the harassment and political intimidation that foreign governments impose on us, it read. Roque also noted that President Rodrigo Duterte stands neutral regarding the rising tension between the United States and China. Kinakailangan itaguyod natin at isulong ang pang nasyonal na interes ng Pilipinas. Thats where we stand, he said. [Translation: We have to promote and pursue the national interest of the Philippines. Thats where we stand.] Mumbai: The second largest two-wheeler maker Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) reported on Thursday half-a-million sales in October, up 9% from year-ago period, while its festive season sales scaled new record of crossing 1.25 million-mark. The company said its October dispatches rose 9% to 4,92,367 units, while the flagship scooter brand Activa vroomed with a sale of above 3 lakh units (3,02,946 units) for the fourth month in a row. The company said its festive sales set new record of selling 12.5 lakh units for the first time, which was up 25% from the previous year. "For the first time in our 15-year history we sold more than 1.25 million units this festive season growing by 25%", HMSI president & chief executive Keita Muramatsu said. Of this as many as over 7 lakh units were the Activas and the rest were motorcycles CB Shine, which alone sold more than 2 lakh units, he added. During the April-October period, its sales grew 21% which is nearly double that of the 12% industry growth, at over 33 lakh units (33,01,297 units), helping its market share jump 2% to 26%. Scooter sales jumped 26% to cross 2 million mark for first time in just seven months, while total motorcycle sales grew 12% to cross the 1 million mark during this period, said Muramatsu. HMSI added 2.6 lakh customers only on the Dhanteras day, Muramatsu added. He said scooterization is happening even in the hinterlands as this festive season it sold over 7 lakh Activas a good portion of which came from the rural markets. Speaking on the record sales, senior vice-president for sales & marketing Yadvinder Singh Guleria said increasing demand for Honda products saw its automatic scooter sales cross 2 million-mark for the first time selling 21,01,168 units, a growth of 26% growth since the beginning of the fiscal year. While its scooters sales rose to 3,02,946 units motorcycle sales rose to 1,67,542 units in October. Guleria said exports too continued to peak over 20,000 mark for the fifth month in the current fiscal and stood at 21,879 units, a 29% growth. 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 WASHINGTONRoger Stone, the political operative convicted of lying and obstructing an investigation into President Donald Trumps campaign, denied on Monday night that he withheld incriminating information about the president before receiving clemency keeping him out of prison. In his first television interview since Trump commuted his sentence Friday night, Stone said he had been misinterpreted when he said he had refused to play Judas against the president. Instead, he said investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller wanted him to bear false witness against Trump. I would not lie against my friend of 40 years so they could use it for impeachment, Stone said on Sean Hannitys show on Fox News. They wanted me to be the ham in their ham sandwich because they knew the Mueller report, particularly on Russia, was a dud. It was a goose egg. They had nothing. The presidents decision to erase Stones 40-month prison sentence has generated a gale of criticism from Democrats and some Republicans who have accused him of using his clemency power to reward an ally who lied to protect him. House Democrats vowed to investigate and pursue legislation barring Trump from issuing pardons or commutations to people who engage in a coverup shielding from criminal prosecution, although such a measure would face constitutional hurdles and never be signed into law by Trump. Stone was convicted of seven felonies, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, to impede an investigation into ties between Trumps campaign and Russia during the 2016 election. Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, who presided over Stones trial, said at his sentencing that he was not prosecuted, as some have complained, for standing up for the president; he was prosecuted for covering up for the president. Trump commuted the sentence, arguing that the investigation was a witch hunt and that Stone was treated unfairly. In his two-page order, released Monday, Trump also erased the two years of supervised release and $20,000 (U.S.) fine imposed by Jackson and ordered him released from home detention. In the hours before the commutation Friday, Stone said Trump knew he could count on him. He knows I was under enormous pressure to turn on him, Stone told the journalist Howard Fineman. It would have eased my situation considerably. But I didnt. They wanted me to play Judas. I refused. In his Fox interview, Stone said that did not mean he knew something that he refused to tell investigators. When I said that, people said: Ah, you see? Stone had the goods on Trump and he traded his silence for commutation, he said. That is patently false. I never said that. I never implied that. Stone denounced the horrific prosecutors, calling one of them the dirtiest of Muellers dirty cops and another a functionary with all the charm of a North Korean prison guard. Stone, 67, who said he feared that he would die in prison because of a respiratory condition that would make him vulnerable to the coronavirus, expressed gratitude to Trump. I have deep, deep affection for Donald Trump because I have known him 40 years, he said. Hes a man of great justice and fairness. Hes a man of enormous courage. I knew he would take some shots for this. But I think most people, most fair-minded people, understand he saved my life. While his penalty was wiped out, his conviction was not, and Stone said he was not sure if he would continue to appeal because if the guilty verdict was overturned, he would have to go on trial again before the same judge. Trump defended his clemency order Monday, assailing the law enforcement officials who pursued Stone at a White House event called to celebrate law enforcement officials. Im getting rave reviews for what I did for Roger Stone, Trump said, attacking the prosecutors, judge and jury forewoman in the case. He wasnt given a fair trial. TORONTO, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trigon Metals Inc. (TSX-V: TM) (Trigon or the Company) announces today that it has relocated its registered head office to 130 Queens Quay East, Suite 1224, Toronto, Ontario M5A 0P6, Canada from 65 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario. The Company has also terminated its consulting agreements with Forbes & Manhattan, Inc. Jed Richardson, CEO of Trigon Metals Inc. commented, These changes mark a significant milestone for Trigon as the company grows and advances our Silver and Copper projects in Morocco and Namibia. We look forward to new opportunities to the benefit of shareholders and employees as we begin a new chapter as a company. New Office Address (effective immediately) 130 Queens Quay East Suite 1224 Toronto, Ontario M5A 0P6 Canada Trigon Metals Inc. Trigon is a publicly traded Canadian exploration and development company with its core business focused on copper and silver holdings in mine-friendly African jurisdictions. Currently the company has operations in Namibia and Morocco. Namibia is one of the worlds most prospective copper regions, where Trigon has substantial assets in place. The Company continues to hold an 80% interest in five mining licences in the Otavi Mountain lands, an area of Namibia widely recognized for its high-grade copper deposits. Within these licences are three past producing mines including the Companys flagship property, the Kombat Mine. Cautionary Notes This news release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements include statements regarding the Companys operations, the Companys strategies and the Companys abilities to execute such strategies, the Companys ability to restart the Kombat operations, the Companys expectations for the Kombat operations, and the Companys future plans and objectives. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially because of factors discussed in the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statements or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. Story continues Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. CONTACT: For further information, contact: Jed Richardson +1 416 566 8134 jed.richardson@trigonmetals.com Website: www.trigonmetals.com Sadiq Khan has revealed that police officers in London have just fined 59 people passengers for not wearing face masks on public transport as he criticised Boris Johnson for not speaking to him since May despite the coronavirus crisis. The London Mayor questioned the governments 'mixed messages and confused communications' on face masks as he revealed he had not spoken to the prime minister for more than two months. The pair met several times at Cobra meetings at the start of the global pandemic, but there has been no contact since May 10. City Hall explained the pair usually only meet at Cobra meetings, but a spokesman for the mayor added: 'In times of crisis you would expect to have a closer working relationship.' It comes as the government performed a U-Turn on wearing face masks in shops which will become mandatory from July 24 - with those who don't risking a 100 fine. Face masks were made compulsory on public transport in England on June 15 but Mr Khan revealed today only 59 Londoners have been fined out of 18,500 that have been stopped. He added that around one in 10 people were not wearing face masks while travelling on public transport. Boris Johnson met with London Ambulance Service paramedics on Monday, but has not seen the Mayor of London for more than two months Mr Khan's comments came ahead of new rules, starting from next Friday, that will make it mandatory to wear face masks in shops and supermarkets. Speaking on GMB, Mr Khan told presenters Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway: 'On public transport we've had to issue very few fines, only 59, but a combination of British Transport Police and Transport for London enforce officers have encouraged people to wear face coverings. 'The good news is during rush hour more than 90 per cent of commuters are wearing face coverings. Sadiq Khan said around 90 per cent of passengers are wearing some kind of covering on their face, but some are still choosing not to. Exemptions are in place for children and people with certain physical or mental health conditions Commuters on the Central Line this morning were wearing face coverings as they travelled through London 'I'm hoping that police won't be required to issue lots of fines I hope customers will realise "me wearing a face mask makes you safe, you wearing a face mask makes me safe".' Shoppers who fail to comply with new rules from July 24 risk fines of 100 under the plans to stop a second wave of coronavirus. Retailers will be asked to advise customers to wear masks but their staff will not be expected to enforce the law. Instead, police will be given powers to dish out fines. Only young children or those with certain disabilities will be exempt from the new regulations. Most commuters on the Central Line were wearing some kind of covering this morning, but there are still passengers travelling with their mouths and noses exposed. Police appeared to step up patrols on face masks, with a large presence of officers spotted near Westminster Tube station being reported by commuters on Tuesday morning. Mr Khan had criticised the government for delaying rules on face masks on public transport until June and has called for the new rules for shops to be implemented 'immediately'. Some people are still not wearing face masks on London's public transport, ahead of new rules that will make it compulsory to wear coverings in shops and indoor spaces from next Friday Speaking today he said: ''Don't be alarmed at this new rule, I wish it was being brought in today rather than next Friday. 'This will help all of us be safer and could prevent a second wave that could have led to a second lockdown, which none of us want.' Following his criticism of the government, GMB presenter Ben Shephard asked Mr Khan when he had last spoken to the Prime Minister, after the mayor called for more frequent Cobra meetings during a previous appearance on GMB. The Labour mayor revealed he had had no contact with the PM since May 10. Mr Khan said: 'One of my concerns is that it's led to some poor decision-making some of the decisions and policy that PM has can't be properly tested in a private space where there can be candor. 'That leads to group thinking which I think has led to some poor decision making.' Mr Khan said he had lobbied the PM on occasions since they last met, more than two months ago. He added: 'My concern isn't because of vanity, it's because I'm the mayor of a city with more than 9million people. 'It's for the Prime Minister to explain why that is, I hope its's not because he's playing petty party politics. Mayor warns of 500million hole in London's finances Sadiq Khan slashed his 152,000 salary by 10 per cent last month as he warned coronavirus has caused a 500million hole in London's finances. The mayor is reducing his salary by more than 15,000 as he threatened cuts to police, fire services and the Tube unless the government bails the capital out. The call came amid mounting concerns about the impact of lockdown on the economy, with fears GDP will plunge by a third this quarter as the UK endures the worst recession in 300 years. Mr Khan was heavily criticised for slow progress in getting transport services in the capital to full levels, with images of workers packed in to carriages. The government has already offered a 1.6billion injection to shore up Transport for London, while slamming the 'pre-existing poor condition' of its finances. But Mr Khan said the GLA, in common with other authorities across the country, faces a 493million budget shortfall over the next two years, due to loss of business rates and council tax income from coronavirus. There have also been costs to 'support Londoners during the pandemic', he insisted. Advertisement 'Our population is greater than Scotland and Wales put together and some, but also we've got four airports serving our city, we've got the Eurostar serving our city, we contribute between a quarter and a third of our country's wealth. 'If the government is keen for a recovery to be successful they've really got to be working with us because it's got to be a team effort.' It's understood the PM has not spoken with First Minister for Wales since May 28. Mark Drakeford told LBC last week: 'We've had contact through the Cabinet Office with the UK government and when it happens it's helpful. Downing Street itself? No I have not had a meeting with the Prime Minister since the 28th of May.' Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's last Covid-related call with the PM was on May 28. The two leaders last spoke on June 26, in connection with an attack outside a Glasgow hotel that left six people injured. A Downing Street spokesperson said: 'The PM has been clear that we remain absolutely committed to ensuring our response works in the interests of the whole of the UK. 'Throughout this pandemic, we have adopted a UK-wide approach, providing vital assistance to the devolved administrations and local authorities while directly supporting hundreds of thousands of people and businesses across the country.' The PM and and Mayor of London have clashed since lockdown began over funding the capital's transport and the protection of statues targeted during last month's Black Lives Matter protests. Mr Khan called on the government to bailout the capital, which he claimed faces a 493million budget shortfall over the next two years, due to loss of business rates and council tax income from coronavirus. The government has already offered a 1.6billion injection to shore up Transport for London, while slamming the 'pre-existing poor condition' of its finances. Last month, a furious Boris Johnson took a swipe at the Sadiq Khan after a statue of Sir Winston Churchill, which was defaced during Black Lives Matter protests, was boarded up. The PM blasted 'absurd and shameful' attacks on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill and said the UK 'cannot lie about its history' as Sadiq Khan was accused of 'surrendering' the capital's streets 'to the mob' after he ordered the boarding up of the monument to Britain's greatest prime minister and the nearby Cenotaph. Sadiq Khan revealed just 59 people had been fined on London's public transport for failing to wear face coverings, while also revealing he hadn't spoken to the Prime Minister since May 10 In an extraordinary Twitter outburst, Mr Johnson has slammed those who want to topple the Churchill statue and said: 'The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country and the whole of Europe from a fascist and racist tyranny'. He added: 'It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent protestors. Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial'. While Mr Johnson didn't mention Sadiq Khan in his tweets, they were sent after a phalanx of Tory MPs slammed the Mayor of London for boarding up monuments instead of using police officers to form a ring of steel around them and arrest anyone who tries to attack them. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show it cost 10,147 to put a hoarding around the statue of Churchill. A further 21,115 was spent on protecting statues of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. The GLA said it cost 3,050 to remove graffiti in Parliament and Trafalgar squares. Churchills statue was boxed up on June 12 but the boarding was removed six days later ahead of a visit by French president Emmanuel Macron. Mike Pompeo discussed the situation in Afghanistan with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, the U.S. State Department has confirmed. The U.S. Secretary of State's chat followed a report by The New York Times, which said that Russia was paying Taliban militants bounties to kill U.S. service members. Donald Trump called the claims a 'hoax' and his administration has downplayed reports, saying U.S. agencies have not corroborated intelligence that Russia may have paid the Taliban to kill U.S. troops. Russia has denied the allegations. Exact details of Pompeo's call with Lavrov were not released but he also raised the issue of election security, the department said in a statement as the United States readies for nationwide voting on November 3. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, on Monday, the U.S. State Department said, following media reports Russia offered money to militants to kill Americans in Afghanistan The Trump administration has downplayed the reports, saying U.S. agencies have not corroborated intelligence that Russia may have paid the Taliban to kill U.S. troops Donald Trump called the claims a 'hoax' in this July 1 tweet 'The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX!,' Trump tweeted at the beginning of this month. Officials in the administration have not disputed the existence of the intelligence report but have said it was not verified and that was why it was not presented to President Trump. After being briefed by U.S. intelligence officials earlier this month, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Washington should impose sanctions on Russia's intelligence and defense sectors. U.S. officials have raised concerns that Russia could interfere in this year's election after an investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller disclosed a campaign of hacking and propaganda by Russia during the 2016 U.S. presidential race. Top Pentagon leaders told Congress last Thursday that the reports of Russian bounties were not corroborated by defense intelligence agencies, but said they are looking into it and the U.S. will respond if necessary. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said his military commanders heard initial reports on the the bounty issue in January and he first saw an intelligence paper about it in February. While the threats were taken seriously, he said they have not yet been found credible. Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were testifying before the House Armed Services Committee on the role of the military during recent protests triggered by the killing of George Floyd. Several House members asked about the Russian bounty reports. In his call with Lavrov, pictured with Trump in 2017, Pompeo also raised the issue of election security, as the United States readies for nationwide voting on November 3 Milley said Russia and other nations have long worked against the U.S. in Afghanistan and provided support to the Taliban, but the specific notion of bounties hasn't been proven. Milley and Esper appeared to walk a fine line. Esper said he didn't recall a briefing that mentioned the word 'bounties.' But, under questioning he later acknowledged that there were reports that mentioned 'payments.' And Milley was pressed about the difference between Iran backing militants in Iraq - which has triggered U.S. retaliation - and what the Russians are doing in Afghanistan. He said that while Russia continues to back the Taliban, there is no evidence it directed militant attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien told 'Fox & Friends' the president wasn't briefed because the allegation against Russia was 'uncorroborated.' But he also acknowledged the allegation was in Trump's briefing material - but the briefer didn't tell the president about it. The New York Times reported in May that Trump's CIA briefer is Beth Sanner, who has three decades of experience. The piece also detailed how the president has a short attention span, rarely reads his daily brief (except for graphs and photos he likes to look at) and tends to get his information from conservative news outlets. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president does read his briefing reports. 'The President does read and he also consumes intelligence verbally. This president I will tell you is the most informed person on planet earth when it comes to the threats that we face,' McEnany said. By Aisha Jabbarova Azerbaijani army fully controls the operational situation on the border and the situation remains tense, spokesperson for Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Vagif Dargahli told reporters on July 14. Currently, fierce fighting is taking place on the front line. As a result of the response measures taken by our units, the enemy, which suffered heavy losses, was forced to retreat, Dargahli said. He reminded that five servicemen, including major general Polad Hashimov, who were on the frontline have lost their lives during the Armenian attack today. As a result of punitive measures taken by the command to prevent the activity of the enemy, various military equipment, combat equipment, command posts, reserves in the depths of defense and hundreds of manpower belonging to the enemy were destroyed, he said. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery. As a result of the appropriate measures, the Armenian forces was struck back while suffering losses, Dargahli said. Furthermore, Dargahli said that as always, Armenia continues to fire on civilian settlements when the situation on the frontline escalates and seeks to keep the civilian population in the settlements under pressure. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A squirrel in the United States tested positive for the bubonic plague, public health officials announced over the weekend. The animal was found Saturday in the town of Morrison, Colorado, a community located roughly 20 minutes southwest of Denver, according to a statement from Jefferson County Public Health. The squirrels diagnosis marks the first cases of the plague in the county. If proper precautions are not taken, both humans and household animals can contract the bubonic plague, an infectious disease caused by the bacteria yersinia pestis, JCPH noted. The plague is most commonly seen in areas where the bacteria is in wild rodent populations, mainly in rural and semi-rural areas, including homes that provide food and shelter to ground squirrels, chipmunks or wood rats, officials said. Humans may be infected with plague through bites from infected fleas, by the cough from an infected animal or by direct contact (e.g., through a bite) with blood or tissues of infected animals, the Colorado public health agency wrote in its statement. There are three different forms of the plague: bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic. The pneumonic plague is the most serious type and is the only one that can spread from person to person, doing so via infectious droplets. More than 80% of the plague cases in the United States have been the bubonic form, though, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pointed out on its website. According to the CDC, the bubonic plague was first introduced to the United States in 1900, and between 1900 and 2012, 1,006 confirmed or probable human plague cases have been identified in the country. On average seven people are diagnosed with the plague each year in the U.S. Globally, between 1,000 and 2,000 cases are reported annually to the World Health Organization, but the actually number of plague diagnoses is likely much higher, the CDC noted. Plague has occurred in people of all ages (infants up to age 96), though 50% of cases occur in people ages 1245, the United States agency said. Cats are highly susceptible to the plague and may die if not treated quickly with antibiotics, Jefferson County Public Health said. Dogs on the other hand are more resistant, though they can pick up and carry infected fleas from rodents. The public health agency urged pet owners to talk with a veterinarian if they believe their pet is sick. Those who live close to wild animal populations, like prairie dog colonies, should also speak with a veterinarian about flea control for their pets to help prevent the transfer of the insect to humans. While the mortality rate of the disease is high, 8% to 10% by some estimates, the risk of getting the plague is extremely low as long as proper health precautions are taken, according to officials. Officials recommended people take the following preventative measures to protect against the plague: Eliminate all sources of food, shelter and access for wild animals around the home. Do not feed wild animals. Maintain a litter and trash-free yard to reduce wild animal habitats. Avoid contact with sick or dead wild animals and rodents. Use precaution when handling sick pets. Have sick pets examined by a veterinarian. Consult with a veterinarian about flea and tick control for pets. Keep pets from roaming freely outside the home where they may prey on wild animals and bring the disease home with them. Related Content: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 15:42:47|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Xinhua writer Jiang Li BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States rejected China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea, the latest provocative act in his notorious campaign to undermine China. Pompeo's statement not only disregards the facts related to the South China Sea, but also gravely violates China's sovereignty and interferes with its internal affairs. The Chinese embassy in the United States slammed his remarks as "completely unjustified," and said the Chinese side is "firmly opposed to it." Washington is not a relevant party regarding territorial concerns in the South China Sea, yet it frequently -- and unwisely -- chooses to flex its military muscle and stir up tensions in the region. The reason? To contain China and pursue its own hegemonic ambitions in the Asia-Pacific. Don't be fooled. As the world continues to fight COVID-19 and with the United States itself deeply mired in the pandemic, sober minds worldwide can see right through the current U.S. administration's purely political scheme to divert domestic attention away from its poor handling of the outbreak, not to mention the country's systemic human rights abuses against its African American population. Islands in the South China Sea have been part of China's inherent territory since ancient times, and China has ample historical proof to underpin its sovereignty and legitimate maritime rights there. No one can deny such overwhelming evidence. Besides, China has long worked with all related parties in the South China Sea to maintain peace and stability in the region. Within the framework of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations continue to make visible progress in ensuring peace in the region. The golden principle of preserving stability in the South China Sea requires all parties to solve their differences through dialogue and respect each other's core interests. Yet by sending aircraft carriers to the region and launching ill-founded accusations against Beijing, Washington is attempting to undermine the peace. Washington hardliners should not underestimate China's determination to safeguard its sovereign rights. History has shown that every time Washington tries to make waves in the region, China steadfastly responds, as it did with the South China Sea tribunal debacle in 2016. As of Monday, the United States has reported more than 3.36 million COVID-19 cases with over 135,000 deaths, according to the latest Johns Hopkins University tally. Both figures are far higher than those of any other country or region. Washington's energy would best be spent on containing the pandemic raging in its own backyard instead of interfering in China's domestic concerns. Enditem Concurrent failures of federal drinking water standards and Michigan's emergency manager law reinforced and magnified each other, leading to the Flint water crisis, according to a University of Michigan environmental policy expert. Flint's experience offers lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exacerbated local financial challenges while highlighting the importance of access to clean, safe drinking water, said U-M's Sara Hughes, an assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability. As we wrestle to combat the coronavirus, we should keep in mind that building healthy communities starts with a renewed commitment to investing in 21st-century drinking water systems and supporting cities as they navigate systemic financial challenges. Learning from the Flint water crisis requires counteracting and confronting the marginalizing effects of infrastructure underinvestment and urban austerity measures." Sara Hughes, Assistant Professor, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan The Flint water crisis resulted from simultaneous failures of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and Michigan's Local Financial Stability and Choice Act, Hughes writes in an article published July 13 in the journal Perspectives on Politics. Also known as Public Act 436, the Michigan law places cities deemed by the state to be experiencing fiscal distress under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. Both policies rationalize complex problems--safe drinking water and municipal financial distress--by providing purely technical solutions, and the weaknesses of each reinforced and magnified the harmful consequences of the other for the residents of Flint, according to Hughes. For nearly 18 months, from April 2014 to October 2015, the city of Flint delivered inadequately treated Flint River water to residents, exposing thousands to elevated lead levels and other contaminants. Poor children and families were particularly affected. At both the state and federal levels, the primary response to the Flint water crisis has been to strengthen drinking water safety standards and monitoring practices, Hughes said. But providing safe drinking water to city residents is only partly a technical problem. Much less attention has been paid to funding and supporting local governments in ways that ensure their capacity to build and maintain infrastructure, provide reliable services, and sustain meaningful dialogue and engagement with their residents, according to Hughes. Failure to address these longstanding problems will complicate efforts to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, especially in hard-hit places like Southeast Michigan, which has the state's highest concentration of COVID-19 cases. "If addressed, these policy failures would mitigate against the disproportionate and unequal patterns emerging in the coronavirus outbreak," Hughes said. "But absent change, poor and minority cities remain vulnerable to the marginalizing effects of these multiple and reinforcing rationalized policy domains." By a rationalized policy Hughes means one that is presented as purely technical in nature and politically neutral. Techno-rational approaches to policy hold out the promise of more effective, unbiased decision-making, but they often cloak decisions and priorities in the language of rationality and science while failing to consider the public's preferences, according to Hughes. Rationalized policy approaches were at the heart of the Flint water crisis, involving both the federal drinking water act and the state emergency manager law. Flint first came under emergency management in 2011 through the law that preceded Public Act 436, then in 2012 through the provisions of PA 436, which was developed and championed by former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Flint's state-appointed emergency managers made or forced decisions about the city's water supplies and treatment protocols that were ostensibly made with the goal of cutting costs. The second policy failure implicated in the Flint water crisis involves the federal Safe Drinking Water Act's Lead and Copper Rule. The LCR provides two important sets of criteria: water quality standards and treatment/testing protocols for lead and copper in drinking water systems. The law requires that local water utilities monitor and test their water supplies and report their results to the state government, which in turn reports all data to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA is ultimately responsible for ensuring compliance. When Flint switched its drinking water source to the Flint River in April 2014, the state environmental quality department failed to require the city to treat the water for corrosion, as would be necessary to meet federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) standards. Federal standards for lead in drinking water are 15 parts per billion. Lead levels of up to 1,000 ppb were detected in Flint homes during the water crisis, yet enforcement actions were not triggered. "The fact that such systemic and prolonged noncompliance, and clear evidence of a threat to public health, failed to trigger regulatory action by EPA calls into question the adequacy of public protections embedded in the SDWA and LCR," Hughes said. In much the same way that Michigan's emergency manager law represents a rationalized approach to municipal financial distress, the federal Lead and Copper Rule is a rationalized approach to protecting human health, according to Hughes. "The provisions and standards in the LCR create a policy environment that facilitates decision-making that is reactionary, prioritizes cost-effectiveness, excludes the public and tolerates risk," she said. The LCR has no enforceable health-based standard "and does not protect any individual or household from exposure to elevated lead levels." In 2018, the state of Michigan passed its own set of stricter standards for lead, shifting to a lower 12 ppb standard and requiring that communities replace 5% of lead service lines annually. At the national level, the EPA has submitted proposed revisions to the LCR to the Office of Management and Budget, but they have yet to take effect. Critically, the policy changes resulting from the Flint water crisis have not extended to a reevaluation of how municipal financial distress is addressed and prevented, according to Hughes. Michigan's emergency manager law remains unchanged. Poor, minority U.S. communities consistently receive lower-quality drinking water, and lead contamination cases fit a pattern of low-income, unequal and largely black cities, according to Hughes. The study is based on interviews with local activists, decision-makers, scientists, journalists and scholars working in or with the city of Flint, as well as a review of reports, testimony, newspaper articles and secondary demographic and financial data. CLARKSBURG, W.Va. - In her three years as a nursing assistant on the overnight shift at the local Veterans Affairs hospital here, Reta Mays tended to elderly veterans with the ailments of old age. She took their vital signs and glucose levels on the graveyard shift, sitting vigil at their bedside while medical staffing was thin. Few saw her go in and out of patients' rooms. No one watched while she injected them with lethal doses of insulin during an 11-month killing rampage in 2017 and 2018, which she admitted to Tuesday in federal court, pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the deaths of seven veterans and an intent to murder an eighth who died two weeks later. Prosecutors said they still have not determined why she did it. But after a two-year investigation into a pattern of suspicious deaths that took the hospital almost a year to detect, Mays, who had denied any wrongdoing in multiple interviews with investigators, told a federal judge she preyed on some of the country's most vulnerable service members. The deaths gripped this Appalachian community four hours west of Washington and were an embarrassment for leaders of the sprawling and long-troubled VA system, which President Donald Trump promised to reform. The investigation by William Powell, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, and VA Inspector General Michael Missal's office took two years. Its reverberations reached the highest levels of the Justice Department. Mays, a 46-year-old Army veteran hired by the Louis A. Johnson Medical Center in 2015 with no certification or license to care for patients, chose victims admitted to the hospital from July 2017 through June 2018 with heart conditions, strokes, cancer. A few had mild diabetes. But they were not about to die, court documents show. In the middle of the night, with a small staff on the medical surgical ward known as 3A, Mays injected the patients with insulin she was not authorized to administer, leading to their deaths from severe hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, investigators said. At least 26 family members of the eight victims attended the hearing in person, all wearing masks, while others watched via Zoom video conference. By pleading guilty to all of the charges, Mays waived the right to have the case presented to a grand jury. With her voice breaking under a white mask, Mays sobbed near the end of the proceeding, "Did you, in fact, do what the government says you did?" U.S. District Judge Thomas Kleeh asked. "Yes, sir," she replied. A mother of three sons, she served in the Army National Guard from November 2000 to April 2001 and again from February 2003 to May 2004, when she deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. She told the judge she was taking medication for post-traumatic stress disorder. Wearing a cream-colored blouse and black skirt, with short brown hair, Mays was handcuffed by U.S. marshals and remanded to the Northern Regional Jail in Marshall County. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled. It remains unclear why Mays gave fatal doses of insulin to the veterans she was charged with watching. Powell said he expects Mays and her attorneys may reveal more at her sentencing in the coming months. Prosecutors plan to ask for consecutive sentences of life in prison. Powell read the names of each victim and their military service. Two of them fought in World War II. He said each family was asked and consented to her plea deal in lieu of an indictment and trial. After the hearing, Steven Edgell, of Barbour County, W.Va., told reporters he was satisfied with Mays's plea but also longed to know her motive for killing his father, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Germany during the Korean War and played in the Army band. Archie Edgell was 84 when he died. "I'd like to know why she kept on doing it. Was she planning on being God or something?" Steven Edgell said. The hospital has come under fire for leaving its insulin supplies so easily accessible and for failing to more quickly detect the suspicious pattern of the deaths, issues Missal said would be addressed in an upcoming report. Investigators had focused on Mays from the start, moving to have her taken off patient care once the hospital notified the inspector general's office in July 2018. But they had to build a circumstantial case because the hospital ward does not have cameras in patients' rooms, and cameras in the common areas, including the supply room where insulin was kept, were not working, investigators said. Similarities were identified in the deaths: Elderly patients in private rooms were injected in their abdomen and limbs with insulin the hospital had not ordered - some with multiple shots, according to people familiar with the case. Within hours, the veterans' blood-sugar levels plummeted. Several bodies were exhumed, and at least three deaths were ruled homicide. The armed forces deputy medical examiner changed the death certificates of the others from "natural causes" to "undetermined," according to autopsy reports and people familiar with the case. As the investigation lingered, Attorney General William P. Barr at least twice called Powell to ask about the status. Powell also faced pressure from Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and West Virginia Sens. Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, and Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican. Manchin criticized hospital leaders in Clarksburg for taking too long to put the pieces together in the deaths. "While overdue, today justice is finally being served," Manchin said in a statement Tuesday. "I will not stop until we determine how this could have happened, and ensure it never happens again. . . . My heart goes out to the families and loved ones who tragically lost a Veteran and have had to endure this injustice." Other criminal cases have engulfed the agency in the past year, intensifying questions about whether the country's largest health-care system is doing enough to protect veterans in its care. A former osteopath at the VA hospital in Beckley, W.Va., was charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. A former VA pathologist in Fayetteville, Ark., pleaded guilty in June to manslaughter after officials say he misdiagnosed thousands of patients while using drugs or alcohol. The families blamed hospital leaders for not detecting a pattern in the deaths sooner. Melanie Proctor, whose father's body was one of seven disinterred last year and taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for a forensic autopsy, told The Washington Post last fall that she was angry VA "still has not stepped forward to say what they have fixed to make sure this doesn't happen again." Felix McDermott's blood sugar had plunged to dangerous levels hours before the retired Army sergeant died in April 2018 of hypoglycemia. Mays was fired from the hospital last year, seven months after being removed from patient care, after it was discovered she had lied about her qualifications on her resume. The Clarksburg hospital, in a statement, repeated what it has said throughout the investigation - that it discovered the misconduct and reported it to the inspector general. "Our hearts go out to those affected by these tragic deaths." Christopher Polk/Getty Images for NARAS(MISSISSIPPI) -- Yo Gotti, Jay-Z and Team Roc have filed a new class-action lawsuit on behalf of 227 inmates to address what they say are deadly living conditions in Mississippi prisons as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread across the nation. Yo Gotti said they intend to hold all parties "accountable and fight for the rights of the incarcerated" in a lawsuit against new Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Nathan Burl Cain and Centurion, the healthcare provider for all Mississippi prisons. The lawsuit details the "barbaric" living conditions at local prisons, including the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, which is experiencing a shortage of COVID-19 testing supplies, and the "lack of social distancing protocols" at the state's only maximum-security prison for men. In late December 2019, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, the suit claims inmates detailed their "cruel and torturous living conditions," which resulted in riots, suicides and homicides, prompting Yo Gotti and Jay-Z's initial lawsuit. It also alleged that inmates were deprived of "health and mental health care" though they were surrounded by "abuse and constant violence." "The situation in Parchman in dire. More and more of the incarcerated population are reaching out for help and pleading for immediate medical attention, especially as the coronavirus threatens their lives," Yo Gotti said a statement, mentioning Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who hired Commissioner Cain to oversee the prison in mid-June. "Mississippi Governor Reeves, Commissioner Burl Cain, and Centene -- as the parent company of Parchman's healthcare provider Centurion -- can't continue to neglect this tragedy and let the death toll rise," Gotti continued. "We will hold them accountable and fight for the rights of the incarcerated. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Alice Topp has often been drawn to question the moves she was asked to dance. The Australian Ballet dancer's vision is contemporary, and deeper than the limitations she found in dancing a snowflake or a flower. Alice Topp is retiring from dancing after 13 years to concentrate entirely on choreography. Credit:Simon Schluter "After the 40th snowflake, I had to ask what the emotional depth was because mine was melting," she says. Now, rather than asking questions, 35-year-old Topp is committing to finding the answers. She has decided to hang up her pointe shoes to focus on her growing gift for choreography. Business & Finance By Ls Cohen Published: July 14 2020 Could close all stores, including on Long Island. Womens fashion retailer New York & Company has filed for bankruptcy, according to a news release issued by the company on Monday. The stores parent company, RTW Retailwinds, Inc., said that it expects to close a significant portion, if not all, of its brick-and-mortar stores. It has already begun a store closing and liquidation process. New York & Company was once known as Lerner Shops, which changed the name in the early 1990s. The company will continue to operate its online sites for now and has reopened most of their retail locations post quarantine. A combination of factors is forcing the chain to close, according to the company. The one-two punch of a challenging retail environment combined with the impact of COVID-19 proved too much for the retailer to bear. There are approximately ten retail and outlets locations of New York & Company on Long Island. The Supreme Court on Tuesday indicated that it may order a judicial probe into the killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates as it issued a notice seeking Uttar Pradesh governments response to a bunch of petitions demanding an independent investigation into them. The Uttar police claimed Dubey was killed on Friday when he tried to flee after a car bringing him from Madhya Pradesh, where he was arrested for his alleged involvement in the July 3 killing of eight policemen in Kanpur, overturned. Politicians, former police officers, and rights groups have demanded a probe into the killing, saying the police version of what happened did not add up. Five people linked to Dubey were killed between July 3 and July 9. This is something which this court will do reluctantly. But since we have done it in the other case pertaining to Telangana, we will do something similar here, said chief justice of India (CJI) Sharad Arvind Bobde as a three-judge bench he heads began hearing three petitions seeking a probe into Dubeys killing. Monitoring [of the probe] is something we cannot do as finally the appeal arising out of this case has to come to this court. The court posted the matter for hearing next on Monday when the Uttar Pradesh government has to file its response. The Supreme Court in December constituted a three-member commission to investigate the killing of four men days after they were arrested for allegedly raping and murdering a 26-year-old veterinary doctor near Hyderabad. The former Supreme Court judge VS Sirpurkar-led panel was constituted after two lawyers moved the court seeking an independent probe into the Hyderabad killings. The Telangana police have insisted the four accused were killed in an exchange of fire on December 6 after they allegedly snatched their weapons when they were taken to the crime scene. The killings triggered a fierce debate and raised concerns about the violation of the due process. The three-member Supreme Court bench drew parallels between the two cases. It asked the petitioners to suggest the composition of the judicial inquiry committee to probe the murders of Dubey and his accomplices. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the Uttar Pradesh government, said the state has addressed all concerns of the petitioners. We have taken up the matter seriously. Let me first place before the court what has been done and then the court can take a decision. The court allowed Mehta to file his response by Thursday. Ghanshyam Upadhyay, a lawyer and one of the petitioners, had filed a petition before Dubey was killed fearing he will be eliminated like his accomplices. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, another petitioner, has sought a probe into the alleged police-politician-gangster nexus behind Dubey and his gang members killings. He has alleged the state police consider themselves to be above the law and hence their excesses in this case should be subject to a court-monitored probe either by central agencies or a panel headed by a retired judge. NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - What's moving these stocks in the pre-market hours today? In the Green 1. INmune Bio Inc. (INMB) is up more than 96% at $17.39 in premarket trading Tuesday, following promising results from a phase Ib clinical trial of XPro1595 in Alzheimer's disease. The study demonstrated that XPro1595 decreases neuroinflammation by 40.6% in a brain fiber pathway important for learning and memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease. 2. electroCore Inc. (ECOR), which gained more than 100% yesterday, is up over 22% at $2.18 in pre-market trading Tuesday. Yesterday, the FDA granted Emergency Use Authorization for the use of the Company's gammaCore Sapphire CV for the acute treatment of asthma exacerbations in known or suspected COVID-19 patients. This allows gammaCore Sapphire CV use at home or in a healthcare setting. 3. Celyad Oncology SA (CYAD) is up over 16% at $11.45 in pre-market trading today, following the progress in CYAD-211, the Company's first-in-class short hairpin RNA-based allogeneic CAR T candidate and second non-gene edited off-the-shelf program. CYAD-211, which targets B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), has been given the go-ahead by the FDA to enter phase I trial for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM). The phase I study is expected to begin by year-end 2020. 4. Vaxart Inc. (VXRT), which gained more than 50% yesterday, is up over 6% at $12.05 in pre-market trading. Yesterday, the Company announced that it has raised gross proceeds of approximately $90 million through its At-the-Market (ATM) facility with participation based on interest received from RA Capital Management and Invus. RA Capital Management will own approximately 9.99% of the Company's outstanding common stock. Vaxart is developing an oral vaccine for COVID-19 and is planning to seek FDA clearance for conducting a phase I study of its oral COVID-19 vaccine soon. If all goes well, the clinical study is expected to be initiated this summer. Vaxart is also one of the few companies selected by Operation Warp Speed. 5. BioNTech SE (BNTX) is up over 4% at $81.30 in pre-market trading. Yesterday, the stock gained more than 10% after two of the four investigational vaccine candidates, being developed under the mRNA-based vaccine program, to help protect against SARS-CoV-2, received Fast Track designation from the FDA. This vaccine program is being developed in collaboration with Pfizer. The two vaccine candidates BNT162b1 and BNT162b2 are currently being evaluated in ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical studies in the United States and Germany. Early data from the U.S. Phase 1/2 study for BNT162b1 reported on July 1 were promising. Early data from the German trial of BNT162b1 are expected to be released in July. In the Red 1. Equillium Inc. (EQ), which gained over 730% yesterday, is giving back some of its gains today. In pre-market trading, the stock is down more than 23% at $20.30. Yesterday, the Company's partner Biocon reported promising clinical trial results of Itolizumab in patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Equillium acquired the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize Itolizumab for the US and Canada markets from Biocon in May 2017. This licensing agreement was expanded to include Australia and New Zealand in December 2019. A global randomized controlled clinical trial of Itolizumab in COVID-19 patients is being planned by Equillium. 2. Iterum Therapeutics plc (ITRM) is down more than 15% at $0.96 in premarket trading. Yesterday, the Company announced the record date for its planned rights offering as August 5, 2020. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de The Covid-19 situation in India is turning grim with new infections per day racing towards the 30,000 mark. We now have the third-largest number of infections globally. The redeeming feature is the high percentage of recoveries, which can be explained by demography with a larger number of young people getting infected, but shedding the virus in a short period. But case fatality rate is rising especially among elderly and people with co-morbidities. It is time to identify where we are falling short in our responses. Sporadic corrective measures are not helping. We should realise that the pandemic is no more limited to certain identifiable groups who can be accessed through contact tracing or contained by locking down geographical areas. The pandemic in India is out in the open, whether we technically name it community transmission or not. It is time to adopt a new paradigm in the response to quickly get ahead of the curve. Until now, we have based our entire response on the number of reported cases, which will touch the million-mark soon. Most of them are symptomatic cases detected by testing. Experts are of the opinion that, for every symptomatic case, there could be several undetected asymptomatic cases. No organised attempt has yet been made to ascertain the estimated number of total infections that India could have which is necessary for a meaningful response. India had done this earlier in 1999 when the Aids epidemic was at its peak. At that time, we claimed 90,000 reported cases, which was not credible. A nationwide sentinel survey done by the National AIDS Control Organisation estimated HIV prevalence in the country to be around three million. The government, at that time, bit the bullet and announced the figures to a shocked nation. It was chaotic for a few days, with the media pouncing on the government for hiding the facts, but it helped the country mount a strong response for the next 10 years which reversed the trend and brought down new infections by 56%. The estimated prevalence was further revised as 2.4 million. We need to make a similar effort to determine the size of the pandemic by a national-level surveillance programme. This will provide valuable inputs about the profile of the pandemic, its urban-rural, male-female orientation, and identification of risk groups who need greater care. Once the size of the infected population is known with a reasonable degree of accuracy, the health care system can be geared to meet the increasing load of symptomatic cases who will report for admission. It will become easier to do advance planning for procurement of drugs, diagnostics, life-saving equipment like oxygen, ventilator systems and protective gear for the health care personnel and prevent the system from getting overwhelmed. A complementary effort has to be initiated in the area of testing also. Currently, testing is done only for symptomatic cases and contacts. A limiting factor for expansion of testing is the high cost of reverse transfer-polymerase chain reaction test kits and availability. More rapid test kits, both blood-based and swab-based, are now available in the market at relatively affordable cost. The Indian Council of Medical Research has already evaluated many of these kits for sensitivity and specificity. Under the new strategy, testing should cover a larger section of population based on risk factors, and not just on exposure to Covid-19. People at risk should be able to access testing at voluntary testing facilities in high-prevalence states to start with, and, later, in other parts of the country also. Many countries, including the United States, have introduced voluntary testing, which has promoted health-seeking behaviour in the population. The kits can be provided either free or at subsidised cost to testing centres. Greater efforts are needed to save the lives of people who are more vulnerable to Covid-19, such as the elderly and those with co-morbidities. Patients often die of co-morbidities due to lack of attention to and care for those health conditions in Covid-19 hospitals and care centres. Specialist medical attention should be provided to them in Covid-19 hospitals to treat the co-morbidities. There were similar instances in the 1990s, when out of fear and stigma, HIV-infected persons were not treated for opportunistic infections and co-morbidities.In the last few weeks, a number of drugs have been re-purposed, with varying degree of effectiveness, for treatment of moderate and severe cases of Covid-19. The timely and effective use of these drugs should help in reducing mortality even in severe cases. The central and state governments should adopt effective procurement mechanisms to make these drugs available in sufficient quantities to physicians treating Covid-19 patients. Covid-19 has also disproportionately affected the marginalised sections of the population such as HIV-positive persons, tuberculosis patients, sex workers, drug users and gay and transgender people, many of whom are facing discontinuation of treatment for their existing medical conditions. Marginalised groups who have lost their means of livelihood need to be enlisted into the social support system to save them from starvation and death. If India has to fight a long and sustained battle against Covid-19, it cant happen only through biomedical interventions. We need a wholesome and all-encompassing programme, which involves all sections of the population affected by the virus. Indias strength lies in its strong communities, who should be mobilised in full strength to take the country ahead of the pandemic curve and control its spread. JVR Prasada Rao is a former health secretary, Government of India The views expressed are personal THE KING OF CONFIDENCE A Tale of Utopian Dreamers, Frontier Schemers, True Believers, False Prophets, and the Murder of an American Monarch By Miles Harvey Will the American thirst for snake oil ever be quenched? Probably not, at least judging by The King of Confidence, Miles Harveys jaunty, far-ranging history of the 19th-century con man and prophet James Jesse Strang. Despite the frontier setting, there is something eerily contemporary about Harveys portrait of a real estate huckster with monarchic ambitions, a creative relationship to debt and a genius for mass media. Until his assassination in 1856, Strang ruled over a breakaway Mormon colony on Lake Michigans Beaver Island, where he was crowned King of Earth and Heaven. King Strang, as the press delighted in calling him, tried his hand at various roguish trades lawyer, newspaperman, prophet, pirate, state legislator but his true gift was for the pure flimflam of American celebrity. In 1843, Strang, a young man from the Burned-Over District of New York, went west to duck a warrant. In the Mormon capital of Nauvoo, Ill., the avowed unbeliever was baptized by Joseph Smith himself. After Smiths murder, Strang received a letter, allegedly written by the slain prophet before his death, appointing Strang leader of the 25,000 Latter-day Saints. While Brigham Young consolidated power and began organizing the Mormon exodus to the high desert of Utah, Strang gathered his own modest flock in Wisconsin. Late in the summer of 1845, he led a troop of men to the base of a tree by the White River, a spot revealed to him in a vision. There, the men exhumed three brass plates engraved with a mysterious script, supposedly written by one Rajah Manchou of Vorito, the leader of a long-vanquished civilization. Using a pair of seer stones on loan from an angel, Strang translated the Rajahs prophecy: The forerunner men shall kill Smith but a mighty prophet there shall dwell: Strang. Like The Book of Mormon, Strangs plates tied a makeshift American sect to the ancient world. Unlike Smith, Strang produced a genuine relic for his followers to see with their own eyes. Chairman's Address and Presentation Sydney, July 14, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The world's major economies are transitioning to sources of energy with lower carbon emission intensity. According to the Australian Clean Energy Regulator, Australia achieved its 2020 renewable energy target of 33,000 GWh in September 2019, more than a year ahead of schedule.Against this backdrop, natural gas is playing an increasingly important role in the overall energy mix. Natural gas-fired power generates approximately half of the carbon emissions of coal.Gas is the natural partner for renewable energy. It is the best solution we have to the problem of intermittency. It is the key that will allows us unlock the full potential of wind and solar, allowing renewables to become a larger part of our energy mix.Furthermore, natural gas is a critical feed stock for a myriad of products including fertilisers, plastics, building materials and a range of household items.Demand for LNG, particularly in the growing economies of Asia, is forecast to increase for decades, as the Managing Director will detail in his presentation. Australia is well placed to satisfy this demand given its strategic location and endowment of resource wealth.Natural gas production in Australia has increased by more than 10 per cent a year in Australia since 2008 to meet the growing demand for domestic gas use and the energy consumption markets of Asia.In 2019, Australia overtook Qatar to become the world's largest exporter of LNG, shipping 77.5 million tonnes with an export value of $49 billion. Natural gas is now Australia's third largest export commodity behind iron ore and coal. The Ichthys LNG project, operated by Inpex and based in Darwin, played a major role in increases in LNG exports from Australia in 2019.The politics that have restrained the development of gas deposits in Northern NSW and parts of Victoria means that new gas discoveries in the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins will become an even more important part of the country's energy future.Gas bearing shales in the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins were identified as far back as the 1980's. But the technology was not available to extract oil and gas from shale formations commercially.The development of hydraulic fracturing coupled with horizontal drilling in the US in the early 2000's was a gamechanger.Empire's former CEO, Bruce McLeod, played a founding role in the emergence of the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins in their current form. He mandated Professor John Warburton, who is now a member of our Board, to identify shale basins in this part of the world in 2010.John identified the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins as having large scale, attractive geology, and potential. As a result of this, Empire Energy staked a 14.5 million acre holding across the Beetaloo and McArthur Basins which now forms the core asset of our company.Since Empire staked its ground, significant players have made substantial investments in the Beetaloo Basin, near our holdings, moving the basin from the exploration phase and into the appraisal phase. Empire's shareholders stand to benefit from further success by our neighbours as they improve the understanding of the basin and progress it towards commercialisation.Empire is now carrying out its task of identifying and detailing the shale structures and preparing for further exploration and development.The building up of the team in the last two years provides us now with the potential to build upon our existing assets and seize the opportunities to realise their potential.To view the Company Presentation, please visit:About Empire Energy Group Ltd Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) (OTCMKTS:EEGUF) holds over 14.5 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the McArthur and Beetaloo Basins, Northern Territory. Work undertaken by the Company since 2010 demonstrates that the Eastern depositional Trough of the McArthur Basin, of which the Company holds 80% has very considerable conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential. The Beetaloo sub-Basin, in which Empire holds a substantial position, has independently assessed world class hydrocarbon volumes in place with a major ramp up in industry activity underway to appraise substantial discoveries already made by major Australian oil and gas operators. Empire Energy is an experienced conventional oil and gas producer with operations in the Appalachia region (New York and Pennsylvania). Empire has been successfully developing and producing oil and gas since 2006. T he latest docu-series from Netflix sees Zac Efron trotting around the globe seeking healthy and sustainable lifestyle choices. From Costa Rica to Iceland to Peru, all corners of the earth are scoured on his search, satisfying the wanderlust of many housebound viewers. But Efron didn't journey alone, as he is also joined by co-presenter Darin Olien. The author and wellness guru is well-versed in the concepts behind healthy living, so makes a natural companion for Efron. If you're curious to find out more, we've compiled this handy list to help you get to know Netflix's latest sensation. Who is Darin Olien? Minnesota-born Olien was in fact the catalyst for the series, and served as an executive producer over its 10 episodes. Efron describes his friend as a "guru of healthy living and superfoods," whereas Olien's own website lists him as a "widely recognized exotic superfoods hunter, supplement formulator" and author. Others have described him as the Indiana Jones of superfoods, due to his habit of scouring the globe for exotic edibles. As is demonstrated by his Instagram, Olien is also very much a dog person. His faithful companion Chaga rarely seems to leave his side. Last but not least, Olien is also a well-known vegan - although he has pointed out that he doesn't expect this of everyone, and thinks that people should only eat what works for them. What does he do? Olien is a long-established businessman, and originally formulated Shakeology - one of America's biggest superfood shakes. He also co-created BeachBodys plant-based Ultimate Reset 21-day detox programme. In 2017 he compiled his expertise into his own guide for maintaining a healthy lifestyle: SuperLife: The 5 Forces That Will Make you Healthy, Fit, and Eternally Awesome. He has also created a health app - Tribed - and works as an adviser for P5 Energy, who research renewable energy systems. Olien also spends a lot of his time doing exactly what he does in Down to Earth - travelling around the world seeking under-utilised superfoods and medicinal cures. On a trip to the Cerrado region of Brazil, Olien realised the potential of the Barukas nut - a superfood well-known to indigenous tribes but less so to the wider world. He now markets and distributes the nut, which he claims contains specific micronutrients, across the US. How does he know Zac Efron? Efron allegedly reached out to Olien after hearing him speak on a podcast. The best films coming to UK cinemas, Netflix, Disney+ and more in July 1 /6 The best films coming to UK cinemas, Netflix, Disney+ and more in July Hamilton coming to Disney+ on July 3 A recording of Broadway hit Hamilton with the original cast is set to arrive on the platform on July 3, with Disney sequel Frozen 2 also coming on the same day. The streaming site has made it a little harder for fans to see the film, after ending its seven-day free trial recently, but its still one of the biggest releases of the year for musical fans and a rare chance to see the smash hit show. Disney The Hater coming to Netflix on July 6 This Polish thriller won Best International Narrative Feature at this years Tribeca Film Festival, and is shaping up to be one of the most interesting releases of the month. The Hater follows a disgraced law student, who is drawn into shady office politics after moving to a PR to impress a girl. Jan Komasa, known for 2019s Corpus Christi, directs the film. The Old Guard - coming to Netflix on July 10 Charlize Theron leads the cast in this fantasy action movie, playing the head of a team of immortal mercenaries whose existence comes under threat for the first time in centuries. KiKi Layne, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenaerts, Marwan Kenzari and Luca Marinelli also star in the movie, which is directed by Love & Basketballs Gina Prince-Blythewood. Greyhound - coming to Apple TV+ on July 10 It was originally slated for a theatrical release, but Tom Hanks WWII drama Greyhound will now be arriving on Apple TV+. Its adapted from the C.S. Forester novel The Good Shepherd, and tells the story of the allied forces led by Commander Ernest Krause (Hanks) who crossed the North Atlantic chased by German U-boats during the early stages of the USs involvement in the conflict. Elisabeth Shue, Rob Morgan and Stephen Graham also star in the visceral drama. Tenet - coming to cinemas on July 31 Christopher Nolans latest mind-bending blockbuster sees John David Washingtons special agent attempt to prevent a conflict "worse than World War III" through the manipulation of time. The film was recently moved back two weeks from July 17 to 31. It's still expected to be the first big release UK film fans get to enjoy in reopened cinemas. The pair clearly get along well, with Olien referring to Efron as his "little bro" in a recent Instagram post. Is he married? Olien was previously married to Eliza Coupe, the American actress and comedian known for her roles in Happy Endings and Scrubs. The pair were wed in 2014, but filed for divorce in 2018, with no children together. Benny Diaz says that lately, the scene in front of his home in a residential Miami neighborhood has looked a lot like a normal day in South Beach several miles away, with partygoers at the rental home across the street showing off their expensive rental cars, blasting loud music, and getting drunk without regard for the risks of spreading the coronavirus. "They have no clue that there's a pandemic," he told "Nightline." "They have no clue that there's a curfew. The scene is chaotic, irresponsible drunkenness." Diaz says the parties have gotten bigger since they began in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first led to bars and nightclubs closing in Florida. Two weeks ago, there were buses shuttling people to and from a party, as well as over a dozen people arriving by cab, Diaz said. He estimated there were more than 100 people at the party. "When they came out of that bus, there was nobody wearing a mask," he said. "It was crazy." PHOTO: Benny Diaz, of Miami, says the rental home across the street from his is being used for parties and they may be helping the coronavirus spread. (ABC News ) Over the weekend, 12 states reported record highs of new coronavirus cases, with many being traced back to large gatherings. Florida, specifically, recorded the highest single-day total of new cases out of any state since the pandemic began, with 15,000. MORE: State records continue to fall for new cases, hospitalizations "These people that are in these party homes lately have no concern at all that they can catch the virus just by not wearing masks, not being socially distant," Diaz said. "They are there to party on top of each other. They probably think that they're not going to catch the virus." "They're negligent," he added. "The fact that they think they can't get it or that they don't care. But it's really shameful what they're doing, not caring about somebody else." Several parties across the country have been linked to the spread of coronavirus cases. On Sunday, Westfield, New Jersey, Mayor Shelley Brindle announced that an uptick in cases in the town had been linked to parties within the community. Story continues MORE: 30-year-old dies after attending 'COVID party' thinking virus was a 'hoax' In Alabama earlier this month, students who had been diagnosed with the virus were found to have attended "COVID parties," where organizers purposely invited people who had the virus, Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKistry told ABC News. In San Antonio over the weekend, a man died after attending one of these parties. He told his nurse he thought the virus was a hoax but realized he made a mistake when he got sick. ABC News' Stephanie Fasano contributed to this report. Miami man fears parties held at neighbor's home are helping coronavirus spread originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Railway improvements to boost trade opportunities for local businesses New rolling stock acquired by Moldovas state-owned railway company Calea Ferata din Moldova (CFM) will deliver important benefits for the countrys trade, its economy and for peoples lives. Twelve modern diesel locomotives purchased thanks to joint financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Union (EU) arrived in Chisinau today. The engines will consume less energy than the current stock and ensure safer, more efficient transport of goods and passengers within Moldova and to its trading partners abroad. The arrival of the new locomotives, financed by @EBRD, @EU_near, @EIB is a real milestone: they mean a more modern, greener and dynamic Moldova, says our @EBRDAngela_Sax on the occasion of todays event. https://t.co/t8QqCkAFjr pic.twitter.com/CVjpdwYDH0 The EBRD (@EBRD) July 14, 2020 The new rolling stock was manufactured in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, by GE Transportation, now a division of the US company Wabtec, a leading supplier of freight car and locomotive products. GE Transportation was contracted following a tender held by CFM in 2018 in line with EBRD procurement policies and rules. Greener, safer and more #energyefficient transport in Moldova! Watch the amazing footage of our 12 new modern diesel locomotives arriving to the station. Together w/ @EU_near @EIB https://t.co/t8QqCkAFjr pic.twitter.com/OJBhCVg41a The EBRD (@EBRD) July 14, 2020 Igor Dodon, the President of Moldova, expressed gratitude to the representatives of the EBRD and the EIB in Moldova, and to the head of the European Union Delegation to Moldova, for the constant support they provide through various projects that finance strategic sectors. The head of state noted that the efficient management of Moldovan railways is a priority to re-energise the countrys economy. Adrian Onceanu, CFM Director General, said: Thanks to the locomotives more powerful diesel engines, fewer operations will be needed. This will improve transport efficiency and reduce operating costs. The improved technical characteristics of the new diesel rolling stock will increase the interval between the scheduled maintenance to 92 days from 48 hours, significantly reducing the maintenance costs. They will also help reduce the consumption of diesel fuel by 15-20 per cent and oil by 35-40 per cent, resulting in significant savings. Ambassador Peter Michalko, Head of the EU Delegation to Moldova, added: Today, the EU is once again proving its support to the Moldovan people. The 12 locomotives are acquired with support from the European Union, the EU bank (the EIB) and our partners from the EBRD, with the EU contribution financed by the money of EU citizens. This event today marks an important step towards making Moldova greener and more sustainable. It also showcases the successful cooperation between the EU and Moldova in this sector, which proves that together we can overcome challenging times and achieve our objectives for a sustainable economy, environmental resilience and social prosperity, for the benefit of the people of Moldova. The EUs support for the people of Moldova is provided for both infrastructure and reforms, because both need to be done to provide quality of life. Angela Sax, EBRD Head of Moldova, said in a video statement: The arrival of the new locomotives, financed by the EBRD, EIB and EU, is a real milestone: they mean a more modern, greener and dynamic Moldova. The new rolling stock will facilitate Moldovas trade, keep the economys wheels turning and improve lives. EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova commented: It is the task of the EU bank to work towards an upgrade of the transport infrastructure in Moldova. The new locomotives will facilitate a more environmentally friendly transport mode and improve the interconnectivity inside the country as well as with neighbouring countries. This will contribute to better conditions for the transport of passengers and goods. The acquisition of the locomotives is part of a large project financed by the EBRD, EIB and EU that also includes the rehabilitation of railway infrastructure and comprehensive reform of CFM to improve safety, efficiency and corporate governance. The tender for the upgrade of railway infrastructure is currently underway and the company is implementing an action plan to improve corporate governance. In addition, Moldovas parliament is due to adopt a new Railway Code, legislation based on EU directives that aims to bring the countrys railway sector in line with the Association Agreement with the EU. The total project cost is 110 million, of which 5 million is an investment grant from the EUs Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) and the remainder from loans by the EBRD and EIB. The EBRD is a multilateral development bank and a leading institutional investor in Moldova. It has so far invested over 1.3 billion through 130 projects there. The Bank also helps the Moldovan authorities to design policies that improve the business climate in the country. The EIB is the European Unions bank. As the largest multilateral borrower and lender by volume, the EIB provides finance and expertise for sound and sustainable investment projects that contribute to furthering EU policy objectives. More than 90 per cent of EIB activity is focused on Europe but it also supports the EUs external and development policies. The EU is Moldovas largest donor and has to date provided over 1 billion in grant funding. One officer was told to stop speaking Spanish on a ship. Another faced snide comments about her cornrows. A third had a superior speak only to her chief, ignoring her years of professional expertise. Those are just some of the candid examples of discrimination sailors and officers said they've faced in their careers. The group shared the experiences with members of a new Navy task force charged with identifying racist or sexist policies. "I think that we should assume that there are barriers everywhere for minorities," Lt. Destini Henderson, a Black naval flight officer, told the task force Monday. "That was definitely the case for me throughout my Navy career and also even just getting into the Naval Academy." Read next: Coast Guard Officials Have Refused to Testify in Race-Based Academy Discrimination Hearing Henderson, who said she took heat over the way her hair looked at the Naval Academy, was one of about 10 Navy personnel asked to participate in the first virtual meeting of the newly formed Task Force One Navy. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday directed his service to stand up a group to examine Navy policies amid the national conversations about race and discrimination. The group is looking at policies affecting everything from recruiting to promotions and the Navy's criminal justice system. Gilday said he's under no illusion that racism doesn't exist in the service. The participants agreed. Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Leah Stiles said the task force should consider recommending that the Navy adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to racism. The Puerto Rican senior chief petty officer is married to a Black man. "I've corrected sailors using the N-word around me more than once," she said. "Not because [I'm] married to a Black man, but because it's wrong. ... The punishment should fit the crime." Lt. Cmdr. Rolando Machado, another Naval Academy grad, said he felt out of place when he arrived in Annapolis, Maryland. He was one of two Hispanics in his plebe class, said Machado, who serves as the Navy's representative at the Association for Naval Services Officers, a nonprofit that promotes the recruitment, retention and promotion of Hispanics and Latinos in the sea services. Years later, when Machado deployed as a junior officer, he recalled hearing a couple sailors speaking Spanish. He joined in, only to have a chief petty officer who heard the three berate Machado in front of the two sailors. "I felt very embarrassed. Ashamed. And at the time, I didn't know what the right thing to do was. I thought I was wrong," he said. "Come to find out that it's perfectly fine to speak a foreign language in our Navy as long as you're not on watch and you're not executing or giving a direct order. "But that was a big marking moment for me," he added. Chief Warrant Officer LaTresha Williams, one of two Black female boatswains in the Navy, said she experienced racism as recent as 2016, shortly after earning her commission. An officer refused to acknowledge her presence, sometimes speaking to her chief instead of addressing her directly. That was despite Williams having 22 years of experience. She noticed he didn't have trouble communicating with other female officers, leading Williams to worry that he wouldn't speak to her because she was Black. "It astonished me, that late in my career, to be experiencing racism or sexism at that point," she said, though she noted that, earlier in her career, another superior downplayed an instance in which a sailor called her the N-word after telling him to complete a task. "If we're having this much trouble acknowledging, dealing with and addressing the racism toward African Americans -- a very large demographic in the Navy -- then all the other demographics that are experiencing any type of racism, imagine how much trouble, how much resistance they're going to feel once they make their issues known," Williams said. As Task Force One Navy examines policies and makes recommendations for change, the team plans to hold more virtual meetings where they'll hear from additional sailors and officers. Force Master Chief Huben Phillips, the task force's senior enlisted adviser, told the sailors and officers who shared their experiences that their input is crucial to ending discrimination in the ranks. "We want to hear it," he said. "We have acknowledged that we have an issue in our Navy, and we're getting after it." -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: Navy's New Effort to Crack Down on Racism, Sexism Won't 'Fizzle Out,' Admiral Says Torch Lake in northern Michigan over July 4 weekend. Michigan State Police Hundreds of people gathered for a boat party on Torch Lake in northwest Michigan over July 4 weekend, and some have tested positive for COVID-19, health officials said in a press release on Friday. Many people who tested positive were not able to identify people they had come in contact with while on the lake's sand bar, near Rapid City, Michigan. It remains unclear how many people have tested positive, but health officials have asked everyone who attended to monitor their health for any COVID-19 symptoms. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Hundreds of people partied together over July 4 weekend on a lake in Northern Michigan, and now health officials say several people that attended the event have tested positive for COVID-19. The Health Department of Northwest Michigan said in a press release on Friday that "several individuals" tested positive for COVID-19 after attending boat parties on Torch Lake's sand bar over the July 4 weekend. It remains unclear exactly how many people have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the party on the popular lake's southwestern sand bar, near Rapid City, but photos and video of the July 4 weekend shared by the Traverse City Record Eagle show people gathering in close quarters while partying in the water and standing in close proximity while on the sandbar. Michigan's Torch Lake over July 4 weekend. Michigan State Police The health department said that some people who tested positive for COVID-19 haven't been able to identify everyone they came in contact with, making contact tracing more difficult. "Therefore we want to make the public aware that those who attended could be at risk for exposure and additional cases could be seen in the coming days," the health department said. "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." Story continues The outbreak at Torch Lake comes weeks after a college bar in East Lansing, Michigan, was linked to at least 185 COVID-19 cases that spanned 15 of the state's 83 counties. Lisa Peacock, health officer for the Northwest Michigan Department of Health, told the Traverse City Record-Eagle that people should take precautions when in large groups by social distancing and wearing face masks. "Unfortunately this is not an isolated event and leaves our community at risk when close contacts are not able to be identified and alerted to quarantine. We can't stress enough how that it is imperative that we each do our part to stay safe and stay open," Peacock said. Read the original article on Insider Okinawan officials and residents have raised concerns about whether adequate safety measures are in place at the hotel. Later Tuesday, officials said no infections or major problems were found at the hotel and those staying there are not allowed to go out during their two-week quarantine. Current hotel residents will move to facilities on base next week, while the hotel will then accommodate those leaving Okinawa. Click here to read the full article. BIELMONTE, Italy We have been rethinking and questioning everything with a new spirit, we have the mind-set of a start-up, said Gildo Zegna, chief executive officer of the Ermenegildo Zegna Group. His familys company marks its 110th anniversary this year, but as the world is turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic and everything is put into question, the executive easily slips into talking about the future of the group, the opportunities and the challenges this new landscape presents, and the steps taken during the lockdown to ensure that all the ducks are in a row. Zegna meets with WWD at the familys Hotel Bucaneve in Bielmonte, a 90-minute drive from Milan, and part of the Oasi Zegna, which was created starting in the Thirties by the executives grandfather, Ermenegildo Zegna, founder of the namesake luxury mens wear group. Surrounded by rhododendrons and half a million pine trees planted by Ermenegildo Zegna, with views of the Alps, Bucaneve is perched 5,000 feet above the sea overlooking the Po Valley and 20 minutes away from the companys sprawling headquarters in Trivero. The anniversary couldnt have happened in a worse year, shaken by momentous changes. We have been taking stock of the situation, reviewing past, present and future, focusing on things that count, rethinking priorities and working on projects for the next five years, Zegna said. Lessons learned in 2020 will be carried over into 2021, such as an increased use of smart working and more video conferences, which have helped speed up the communication flow. I see the teams arriving more prepared with their reports ready, and we make decisions in a more efficient and faster way not to mention that we are saving on traveling costs, Zegna said pragmatically and with a knowing smile. This mental organization must be maintained. We must have a more scientific approach, work on projects that create value and have a fast return. Mistakes will not be forgiven by the market. Story continues Ahead of the brands first phy-gital show on July 17, during Milan digital fashion week, Zegna touted the new format. Alessandro [Sartori, artistic director] had a brilliant idea, it will amplify our message and open up new paths, he said. I dont think the industry will return to the number of itinerant shows as before the pandemic. As first reported by WWD in April, Sartori thought the new format of the show would allow him to have freedom of thought, experiment with new technologies and communicate his creativity to an even larger audience. Now, the designer said the event incorporates the brands values and the collection was inspired by the Oasi Zegna. Sartori leverages a long relationship with the company, to which he returned in June 2016 after five years at Berluti. The designer had joined Berluti after eight years at the creative helm of Z Zegna, Ermenegildo Zegnas more fashion-oriented brand that was launched in 2003. Born and raised in Biella, a mountain town in the northeastern corner of Italy famed for its wool production and not far from Trivero, Sartori joined Zegna in 1989 after graduating from design school in Milan. The designer enthused about the companys archives of countless fabrics and textiles that hark back to 1910 with precise indications on how to reproduce them and designs from 1968. They are very interesting to study, but I always focus on a specific period I am interested in at a specific time. I rediscover certain themes. With Anna [Zegna, president of Fondazione Zegna and of Oasi Zegna], we have been researching the past 10 years, for example, and the connections between certain periods in history, or how certain trends re-emerge in critical periods, whether 2001 or 2009. Developing the companys digital channel has also helped drive business in Asia. There are 60 Zegna stores in Greater China, which last year accounted for 40 percent of sales and the group, a pioneer in the region, plans to continue to invest there. Consumers in the region are very sensitive to luxury, they are open to innovation, they enjoy shopping and they are now spending well locally, Zegna observed. Weve seen a great return from WeChat, with our personalized messages and styling. He also cited great progress on the Tmall Luxury Pavilion, first tested last year, and now helping to target both established and loyal customers as well as new, younger consumers. Zegna is also investing in developing its business-to-consumer, also in the U.S. and Europe. The digital channel is key to have a dialogue with customers, and we are investing in more resources and new talents. Digital is not only the technology you can buy that but its also about transmitting your identity, your history. You must give consumers a reason to buy. He also trumpeted the brands sophisticated virtual showroom. Post-COVID-19, the most resilient business area has been the Su Misura division, Zegna remarked, because this channel offers exclusive, personalized service, and customers can order without coming to the stores. Formal clothes as well as loungewear are available at Su Misura. Zegna feels the company has a competitive advantage because last year it bought Italian company Dondi Jersey. Mens wear will increasingly be more casual, informal and comfortable, and linked to jersey. Customers used to seek this kind of comfort for traveling, now they want quality and to feel and look respectable working from home and on a video screen. This mind-set will continue, he forecast. Zegna, a signatory of the Fashion Pact, has also been investing in sustainability. The Oasi Zegna is obviously as sustainable as can be and has an enormous symbolic value, said the executive, but the company, as seen in the fall show last January, has been recycling or upcycling wool, nylon and cashmere fibers, spinning or weaving them into new fabric or stuffing them into puffers, shoulder linings or coat padding for about 10 percent of the collection, which is expected to grow to one-third with the spring 2021 season. When a product lasts long and its made naturally, its sustainable, Zegna said, adding that the Use the Existing project is expanding to other categories, such as knitwear. Sustainability will also be achieved through tighter collections, with fewer leftovers and less waste. The company closed 2019 with sales of just above 1.3 billion euros, compared with 1.16 billion euros in 2018, also helped by the consolidation of the Thom Browne label, acquired in 2018. I am very satisfied, its an iconic and innovative brand, its on a very interesting path and showing resilience, the executive remarked of the U.S. designer label. Zegna has also been rethinking and consolidating its organization, with new talents as key for growth, promoting from within the ranks, too. The fourth generation of the family has also joined the company: Gildos sons Edoardo and Angelo as innovation strategy director and as head of retail and merchandising, U.S., respectively; Stefano Aimone as Z Zegna head of style, and Francesco Trabaldo Togna as general merchandising manager, EMEA. In April, Luca Lo Curzio, worldwide chief marketing and digital officer, was appointed North America ceo. He succeeds Robert Aldrich, who left on April 30. Lo Curzio is expected to take on his new role as soon as the COVID-19 emergency ends and allows the move. In the interim period, the position is being handled by Tom Kalenderian, the chairman of Zegna USA. The U.S. is Zegnas second-largest market after China and the executive said he continues to believe in the region also indicated by his son Angelos presence there, he noted. We are ready to reinvest, we want to grow in the U.S. where the new normal will be different from China or Italy, said Zegna, noting how business will be increasingly more local. There will be several new normal after the excessive globalization; for each country we have to figure out a new normal, how to do it and how to execute it. In February, the company unveiled a capsule with Jerry Lorenzo and his Fear of God brand, to be delivered in stores in September, and which Zegna believes will have an impact in America and globally. He is a wonderful person, a great innovator and hard worker, Zegna said of the designer. Speaking of brick-and-mortar stores, Zegna is rethinking the formats, resizing them and renegotiating rents. We must be faster and more nimble, defending the fort, cutting costs also in communication and be better at executing new things that can grow and develop. We have a multilevel structure, and one of the most important things is the communication flow within the company, with messages cascading down at all levels. If the water does not get to the depth of the earth, the plant wont grow. Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Australia has fared better than most countries in reducing its COVID-19 cases to very low numbers. However, on June 15, new clusters of infection were identified in Victoria. The numbers grew so rapidly that metropolitan Melbourne is back in lockdown and the border with New South Wales is closed. Lapses in quarantine for people with COVID-19 returning from overseas are believed to have led to community transmission in Victoria. Hotel isolation has been effective in other states. However, while incoming travellers to Australia are forced to isolate for two weeks, any onshore patients are only asked to self-isolate at home. Community spread due to a patient failing to comply with the self-isolation rule (or more innocently as a member of a shared household) could easily create multiple new clusters as in Victoria. So how do the costs and risks of aggressive hotel isolation compare with self-isolation at home? We ran the numbers. Although hotel isolation is more expensive than self-isolation at home, for families of more than five people we found the likely costs flowing from transmission to others would justify hotel isolation. The recent outbreaks in Victoria, especially in higher-density public housing towers, illustrate the high risk of disease spread within and across households. Ultimately, this transmission can place an intolerable burden on the health-care system, as we have seen overseas. Weighing up the options We analysed the economic costs and benefits of forced isolation of onshore patients to help guide decisions on when patients should be forcibly isolated away from the family home. We first considered the cost of the two alternatives when a person is confirmed positive: home isolation: self-isolating at home where the person may live with other household members hotel isolation: isolating the person in a hotel room to prevent interaction with other householders. In hotel isolation, the estimated cost is A$177 per night for accommodation plus A$113.70 per day for food and other essentials. Therefore, the total cost of isolating a confirmed case in a hotel room for a typical isolation period of 14 days would be $4,069.80. On the other hand, when a confirmed case is asked to self-isolate at home, we need to consider the cost of hospital care for other householders who might contract the virus. The chance of spreading the virus to other household members, known as the household secondary attack rate (HSAR), is typically between 3% and 15%. But it could be higher depending on the environment and how aggressive the virus is. We assume the rate to be 15% with a household size of 2.6, the average for Australia. Based on current data, an estimated 20% of cases will require hospitalisation, of which about 25% will be admitted to intensive care units. The average stay in hospital is reported as 16 days (with ten days in ICU) if the confirmed case needs critical care. Otherwise, the average is eight days on wards. The costs of one day in ICU and on wards in Australia are reported as A$5,000 and A$1,800 respectively. On our calculations, the expected cost of self-isolating a confirmed case and exposing other household members would be $1,248. This suggests the cost of isolating in a hotel room is significantly greater than for self-isolating at home in an average-sized household. Household size matters The household secondary attack rate is highly dependent on factors such as types of activities, duration of event, household ventilation and viral shedding. The rate can be as high as 100%. In other words, the whole household is infected. Further analysis of the relationship between household size and secondary attack rate shows the cost of home isolation increases greatly and exceeds the cost of hotel isolation when household size is five people or more. So, the decision on where to isolate an infected person needs to be re-evaluated when five or more people are living in the home. More than 10% of households in Australia have five or more members. What does this mean for stopping the spread? This analysis is particularly relevant to decisions on measures to contain outbreaks such as the isolation of whole buildings, as in Victoria. The lockdown of public housing towers may be considered a larger case of "home isolation" where density and dwelling sizes may greatly increase the likely household attack rate. The increased risk of infection for individuals within the building or groups of buildings suggests hotel isolation could be both a safer and more cost-effective measure. Facing the risks of a second wave of COVID-19 infections, the government needs to consider multiple measures to control the spread of the virus. Although our findings show the cost of self-isolating a patient in his/her home is cheaper than a hotel room on average, this is not the case for all household sizes. Strategies such as testing, isolation and contact tracing, including use of the COVIDSafe app, can play a crucial role in the broader control of COVID-19. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. BAD AXE Recently retired Pastor Phil Tousley was born into a Christian family, his father, a pastor as well. Growing up in the late 1950s, he disliked the faith that was popular among so many lives. Back then, there was a lot of societal pressure, he said about religion. I got to know a lot of people I would not have known any other way. I think the good and the bad were at least equal and maybe the good even outweighed the bad part of it, but at the time you couldnt have told me that. He fought hard to steer away from religion in his youth. I was seeing what I thought being a pastor was through a childs eyes," he said. "Fact of matter is, it was nothing like I thought it was then." He and his family, including his parents and three siblings, moved around Indiana and Michigan frequently for his fathers job. I spent a lot of time in the Thumb on the farm with my grandparents, Phil said. His parents, born in Deford on farms three miles apart, also created his ties to the region. He attended Tawas Area High School and graduated in 1972. He was unsure of his future and his desires at the time. Three days after graduation, he traveled to Colorado in search of work. After high school, it was kind of a tumultuous time," he said. "I did a lot of trying to find myself. We were trying to find our place in the world." Phil left his faith in 1972 and spent years struggling with his identity. He returned to Tawas where he had several different jobs. He built sea walls in Tawas and worked on oil fields and orchards in Traverse City in the mid-70s. He eventually found himself in the Upper Peninsula working at a foundry. He received a call from Alaska in 1979 that led him to embark on his first road trip as a Christian. I had a friend that was building houses up there and he said, Why dont you come on up? Youre not going to find any work where you are,' he said. I left Tawas as a believer and what I think is going to be a month turns out to be four years and then it kept going from there. Thats always been amazing to me." Eventually, he seized an opportunity to work in fishing. One day, a storm in the Taku Inlet caused his "turn to God" moment. He was salmon fishing when he got caught in what is known as the Taku Winds. When this happens, a wind tunnel is created and can cause hurricane-like wind speeds. We started out to get away from there and we almost made it around the bend, but the storm hit us and man that was something Ive never experienced and hope to not again, he said. It sounds like a cliche, but at that point I said, "Well if you get me through this, Ill dedicate my life to you in a deeper way.' After the storm, the boat docked in Juno and delivered Phil there for his first time. He walked around town and that is where he found The Lighthouse Christian Coffee House and Bookstore. He spent quite a bit of time there, where he met his lifelong friend, Nick, and several other like-minded people. I spent quite a bit of time there and I was so excited about it," he said. "I went back to the town Id originated from to do the fishing, which was Wrangell, Alaska, and started a Christian coffee house there." He worked there until he was invited back to Juno to run the original coffee house he stumbled upon. He returned to Wrangell again but left soon after. I literally flipped a coin, he said. I didnt know whether to go up north or go back to the lower 48. He had the choice between staying in Alaska, possibly to pursue an education, or returning to work in the states. He decided to leave and worked out west on cattle ranches in Montana, Washington, Utah, and Wyoming. In 1985, an opportunity presented itself to him college. I had always avoided college; didnt think Id like it, but once I got a taste of it I just kind of kept going and wound up being in school for quite a while, he said He attended Adrian College, where graduated with a four-year degree in religion and psychology. After, he went to seminary to become a pastor. He attended the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. There, I began the journey of becoming a United Methodist pastor, he said. He decided to stay in Colorado, which ended up working very well for him. His lifelong love of all-things cowboy was answered when he was sent to his first church in Baca County, Colorado. Thats ranch country," he said. "I wound up doing as much horseback stuff there as I ever did when I was working as a ranch hand." He met people and friends there through rounding cattle up on farms and even got his own horse. After his time out west, he moved back to Michigan in 1998, and was sent to Menominee. He was a pastor there for 13 years. It was there I met my wife," he said. "Her kids were grown at the time, but they are all pastors in the family." In Menominee, Phil met a young man, Tim Callow, in confirmation class and worked with him very closely. I was so amazed to learn that Tim Callow was coming to Bad Axe, he said. In Phils church, the bishop and cabinet place pastors based on their own choosing and recommendations of community members. They didnt even really know, at the level of the cabinet, that hed been in confirmation with me and would be following me into the Bad Axe church, Phil said. Thats just the way that worked out and I was so excited to learn about that. Phils return to the Thumb years earlier reacquainted him with some of his extended family and presented the opportunity to buy part of his grandfathers land. My cousin is living on the old farm, and it worked out that I wound up putting my horses there, he said. I got to know him and did some projects on the farm with him and over the course of time wound up buying some land and built a retirement home now. He and his wife, Laurie, plan to move in within the next month; plans were delayed due to the coronavirus. He has enjoyed riding his horse, Gunner, and said his cocker-spaniel has taken to the property well. Thats very exciting to actually going to be living in the house not just working on it, he said. They originally wanted a log home, but instead found a log home builder to create it using all wooden construction. I dont think theres anything that isnt wood in it," he said. "Its a beautiful home and its coming together in amazing ways." Phil is also looking forward to his first time living in his own home, as most of his life was spent in parsonages, church-owned homes provided for pastors. Now that retirement has happened, I am just looking forward to living in my own place for a while, he said. Even in his retirement, Phil will pastor half-time at Columbiaville United Methodist Church. It promises to be a great experience, he said. He started this past week and looks forward to exploring the church and communitys vision. In addition, he streams a daily devotion live on Facebook. When the virus hit, our bishop encouraged us to branch out into social media or any other way we could find a way to minister other than being in a building, he said. I decided Id do a Facebook devotion and that actually worked out pretty good. He said community members have responded well to his videos and hes received several follower requests. It seems to be something people want to be involved in and Im happy to do it, he said. Phil said he has learned many things about people, himself and the world through religion. Its taught me that theres so many things that are going on in peoples lives that we dont know about and dont understand, he said. Theres a whole lot of amazing diversity out there and a lot of people to get to know and a lot of people to learn how to love. The policing of mandatory mask wearing on public transport to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 remains in a state of disarray as thousands of passengers yesterday failed to obey the rule. Although the National Transport Authority (NTA) claimed compliance was good, it was as low as 60pc on some bus routes, 80pc on Dublin's Luas and 80-90pc on Dublin Bus. Read More According to new regulations, flouting the rule should carry a penalty of six months jail or a fine of 2,500. But both the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU)and Siptu insisted yesterday frontline staff cannot be compelled to become enforcers of the law. The NTA was unable to say which workers would be delegated to impose the rule and remove passengers. Neither the NTA or Irish Rail could say what the enforcement plan is even if not used at this stage. Dublin Bus referred all questions to the NTA and Transdev, which operates Luas, did not respond to media queries. An NTA spokesman was not able to say at what point passengers would be refused entry for not having a mask and whether they would have to leave a mainline rail train before their destination. The spokesman did not answer questions on whether transport staff will be disciplined if they refuse to enforce the law. It comes as concern grows about the sustained higher number of new cases of Covid-19 being diagnosed over the past week, with 11 more people found to have the virus yesterday. The NTA said its immediate priority was to ensure compliance among customers through co-operation by educating, engaging and encouraging face covering usage. The NTA appears to have done no pre-planning on the transition from voluntary to mandatory wearing of masks . A spokesman in a written statement said: "There is extensive information in stations, at stops and on board vehicles advising customers of the requirement to wear a face mask." He claimed "staff are directly ensuring there is awareness by engaging with customers and that is the focus at this stage. "There does not seem to be any confusion among passengers today with compliance rates in the 80s and 90s." Staff remain deeply concerned they will end up getting into confrontation with passengers if they have to demand compliance and refuse entry. Dermot O'Leary of the NBRU said he was encouraged by compliance but warned that the "problem of enforcement is still an issue". Antoinette Cunningham, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, said gardai could only become involved after transport staff first attempt to enforce the law. If transport staff continue to resist enforcing the law it would be necessary to redraw the regulations because gardai cannot become involved in a first stage of applying the regulations, she added. In Dublin city yesterday many morning commuters by train, tram and bus were heeding the mandatory face mask rule, with the vast majority of passengers traveling with face coverings. While passenger numbers are still very low compared to pre-Covid times, bus and tram drivers reported a big difference in the numbers wearing masks today compared to last week. One Luas worker who was recording passenger numbers and how many of them were wearing masks, said on more than 10 trams she had surveyed there were 286 passengers and 280 of them were wearing masks, which is almost 98pc compliance. Another Luas worker hoped public pressure would improve compliance. A police officer guards the front of a road block near the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Wash. on July 13, 2019. (Rebekah Welch/The Seattle Times via AP) Man Accused of Killing Police Officer Arrested Without Incident The suspect in the killing of a police officer in Washington state was taken into custody early Tuesday. The suspect was arrested without incident, the Bothell Police Department said around 3:30 a.m. Pacific Time. He was located hiding on a rooftop close to where the shootings took place. Police officials said a black male wearing a grey tank top and baggy sweatpants was pursued by two officers after a traffic stop around 9:40 p.m. on Monday. The suspect struck a man riding a scooter before slamming into a median. When other officers arrived on the scene, they found one officer dead and another wounded. It wasnt clear whether the suspect or officers fired first. The suspect fled on foot with a handgun visible. Bothell police Capt. Mike Johnson told reporters that the man was armed and dangerous. No Bothell Police Department officer had been fatally shot for over 25 years, Johnson said. Its going to be a troubling time for our department and our profession, he said. This is uncharted territory for us. This is going to be a rough couple days for our organization, Johnson said. Bothell is a city in the Seattle metropolitan area with a population around 47,000. The second officer who was injured was released from the hospital, Q13 reported. The pedestrian struck by the suspect was still in the hospital. Bothell Councilman Mason Thompson said in a statement that he was heartbroken about what happened, adding, My prayers are with the officers who have been shot and their families. By Trend Armenian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down and its artillery mount together with the combat crew was also destroyed, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. "UAV belonging to the Armenian armed forces and the combat crew of the artillery mount were destroyed by targeted fire of Azerbaijani armed forces," the ministry said. Commenting on the information in the Armenian media that the shot down UAV allegedly belongs to the Azerbaijani army, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense officially stated that this is false information, it does not reflect the reality and it is a fabrication of the Armenian Defense Ministry's representative. "UAVs belonging to Azerbaijani army are in full force in the ranks and there are no losses," the ministry. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a major uptick in video conferencing services, with most sectors working from home. However, after Zoom shot into popularity, and other platforms such as Google Meet and Microsoft Skype firing salvos subsequently, things may have gotten a bit confusing for you as a user. It is this homologous usage experience that a new plugin, NextCall, is aiming to offer by integrating with your Google Chrome browser as an extension. By installing NextCall, you can sign in with your Google or Outlook account whichever you use for work. NextCall will gain access to your workplace calendar, and read your schedule to see when you have video conferences scheduled. Once this is scrolled, NextCall simply offers you a one-click interface to access any video call that you have scheduled no extra fuss about which platform would you need to access for your next meeting, and rummaging through your emails to find the invitation link to the meeting. NextCall presently has support for Zoom, Google Meet and Microsofts Skype and Teams, which pretty much covers the most-used video conferencing platforms around the world by global teams. The apps home page is fairly simplistic, and shows an earnest plugins interface that does not appear to have too many complications. A quick look through the site also reveals a crisp privacy policy, although it does not take you through the detailed clauses of privacy redressal steps for specific issues. The plugin has been built by Karthik Kalyan and Charles Scheuer, who are also colleagues that are working on Stilt Inc, a California-based financial startup. Kalyan and Scheuer also state that more video conferencing services and calendar/organiser platforms will be integrated with NextCall in future. Upon initial impressions, NextCall has great potential to simplify all video conferences that you may have scheduled through the week. Video conferencing has come up as one of the most intensive and important fields in the technology space today, and NextCalls idea of putting all calls at one place, which you can join from your browser with one click from an extension prompt, can be super useful in streamlining your overall work emails to a large extent. A White House effort to undermine Anthony S. Fauci has drawn rebukes from public health experts, scientists and mostly Democratic politicians, who argue it is dangerous for the Trump administration to disparage a highly respected government infectious-disease expert as the novel coronavirus continues to exact a heavy toll on the nation. The White House provided The Washington Post with examples of what it characterized as mistakes that Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had made about the pandemic, mostly in the early days when information about the virus was extremely limited. The White House also made the information available to other reporters, some of whom described it as opposition research. Academics and researchers rallied to defend Fauci. Its shocking, said Janis Orlowski, chief health care officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges. When you begin to discredit scientists like Fauci, who are national treasures, you are in serious trouble. (Washington Post) Featured stories Trump cites game show host on pandemic while undercutting doctors and questioning their expertise (Washington Post) A record 5.4 million Americans have lost health insurance, study finds (New York Times) California governor orders statewide reclosure of indoor dining, limits on church services, salons (Los Angeles Times) COVID-19 and Floridas governor could tank Trumps renomination festivities (NBC News) Michigan partygoers test positive for COVID-19 after July 4th lake bash; 43 cases tied to house party (Detroit Free Press) Covid-19 immunity from antibodies may last only months, UK study suggests (CNN) National news 44 Hundreds of protesters gather outside police union in North Portland Protest declared riot in North Portland after demonstrators, police face off for hours (oregonlive.com) House to quickly revive legal effort to get Trumps financial records (Politico) U.S. Senate to begin debate on new coronavirus bill next week: McConnell (Reuters) Judge lifts gag order on Mary Trump ahead of tell-all book release (CBS News) Black Lives Matter mural defaced with red paint in front of Manhattans Trump Tower (New York Daily News) Cell phone in foil, $1 million cash for a house: Feds lay out case to keep Ghislaine Maxwell in jail (CNN) Supreme Court clears way for resumption of federal executions (Associated Press) Tech CEO seen on camera barraging Asian family with racist rant has resigned (ABC News) 1,000-degree blaze continues to rage aboard Navy ship in San Diego (ABC News) Federal judge throws out Georgias anti-abortion law (Atlanta Journal Constitution) World news WHO warns that coronavirus crisis may get worse and worse and worse (Reuters) U.S. bases in Japan locked down as coronavirus outbreak blamed on July 4th parties (CBS News) Hong Kong to impose most severe social distancing restrictions (Reuters) U.N. report says pandemic could push up to 132 million people into hunger (NPR) U.S. declares most of Chinas maritime claims in South China Sea illegal (CNN) China announces retaliatory sanctions against Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz (The Guardian) Poland re-elects president who creates dangerous society for gays, advocates say (NBC News) Coronavirus: Face masks and coverings to be compulsory in Englands shops (BBC) Two decades ago, Poles could only look on in bewilderment. Americans were so divided over who should be president that the 2000 election hung on a dimpled chad and had to be decided by the Supreme Court. George W. Bush became the first winner to lose the national popular vote since 1888. American democracy had been tested but emerged whole. As ballots for Poland's presidential election were being counted Sunday, the results looked tight enough to go to the courts too. It was the country's closest national vote since the fall of communism. Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski has still not conceded defeat, but the electoral commission has said that President Andrzej Duda won just over 51% of the vote, a lead that is unlikely to be reversed. The immediate reaction from those who lament Poland's recent trajectory will be disappointment. A confirmation of Duda's victory almost certainly means a continuation of the "institutional reforms" that have steadily eroded checks on state power, judicial independence and media freedom since the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) swept to power in 2015. That Duda won through a darkly polarizing campaign of nationalist populism that attacked the foreign media and baited Jews, gays and other minorities was depressing, if not surprising. And yet Poles who opposed Duda can also take heart. The closeness of the race, and the robust turnout, will embolden the opposition to come back stronger in the 2023 parliamentary election. As one Polish friend put it to me, Duda's victory is a Pyrrhic one; PiS, which only narrowly won in 2019, will have a tougher time ahead. The presidency in Poland carries limited powers, so in one sense the vote might not seem hugely consequential. One of those powers, however, is the ability to veto legislation, which would have been a major weapon in the opposition arsenal if Trzaskowski's bid had prevailed. PiS won power in 2015 - the first outright majority since the fall of communism - on a populist campaign to fight corruption, champion traditional Catholic conservatism and deliver welfare benefits to the poorer parts of the country. Its policies reduced extreme poverty and have remained popular, but they've done little to create real opportunity for poorer Poles in rural areas. Meanwhile, the party's institutional "reforms" have served to steadily weaken democratic accountability. The most brazen has been the attacks on the courts. (The European Court of Justice has made two landmark rulings against new rules that give the executive sweeping powers at all levels of the judiciary.) PiS has also co-opted Poland's state broadcaster, TVP. During the election campaign, it pictured Duda flatteringly against a backdrop of flag-waving Poles and rousing music. Trzaskowski, by contrast, was portrayed darkly, as preparing to sell out Polish national interests to the EU and use money earmarked for welfare programs to pay restitution to Jewish families for WWII. The programming "was charged with xenophobic and anti-Semitic undertones," concluded the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, after the first round of voting. Poland's democracy, as Trzaskowski has said, is under attack; but it is not yet broken. The close vote and record turnout shows how much democratic freedoms still matter in a country that only shook off communism some three decades ago. That marks a major difference with Hungary, where Viktor Orban now effectively runs a one-party thugocracy. Still, the election intensifies the challenge for the EU and should be seen as a wake-up call for those in more mature democracies who are tempted to believe that checks and balances always protect voters. The EU has criticized PiS policies, but has seemed powerless to confront them in any meaningful way. In December 2017, the EU triggered Article 7 proceedings against Poland, the first time it has used the mechanism of EU law that allows a member state to be sanctioned for failing to abide by fundamental democratic values. The result of the hearings and warnings has been mostly a shrug. In June, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for more action. "The failure by the Council to make effective use of Article 7 continues to undermine the integrity of common European values, mutual trust and the credibility of the European Union as a whole," it pleaded. Poland is the largest recipient of EU structural funds and PiS have used repurposed EU aid to cushion the blow of the coronavirus and strengthen their power base. Both Duda and Orban have said they would veto any attempt to attach conditions on relief money intended to roll back institutional changes. The EU's sanction mechanism - and especially Article 7 - is cumbersome, long and ineffective if two member states want to collude to block it. Poland's polarization is also a worrying omen. Duda was saved by rural voters where levels of education and earnings are much lower. Inequality had been rising steadily when PiS took power, despite Poland's unrivaled run of GDP growth since the end of communism. The PiS's child cash transfer, which Trzaskowski supports too, along with higher pension payments and other measures have been hugely popular. What's missing are supply-side reforms to lift these areas out of poverty and allow for educational attainment - and that's where the opposition should focus its efforts. The undermining of Poland's democratic institutions and the country's polarization mirrors divisions in other countries, including Trump's U.S., where growing inequality and declining social mobility provided fertile ground for populists. The threat to democracy, however, doesn't come from the divide itself but from discarding democratic rules to secure a quicker route to power. Poland's election captures how the PiS has done this. That should be a warning to Americans: Mature democracies can be fragile too. But the nail-biting result is also a reminder that this fight is far from over. - - - Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe. A newly discovered comet C/2020 F3, also known as NEOWISE, which has been spotted from various parts of the world, will now be visible in India for 20 days, starting today. There is no need to use binoculars or telescopes as the NEOWISE comet will be visible to the naked eye for 20 minutes every day. How to spot comet NEOWISE in India: Date and time Comet NEOWISE will be visible in the skies of the Northern hemisphere for the next 20 days. It will be at its closest with Earth on July 22. For the best view, astronomical buffs are advised to look up at the sky during early dawn and dusk, when there's just enough sunlight to see the comet against the night sky, according to a Conde Nest Traveller report. "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," news agency ANI quoted Odisha planetarium's Deputy Director Subhendu Pattnaik as saying. He added the NEOWISE comet will rapidly climb higher and be visible for a longer duration of time. The NEOWISE will be visible in the northwest sky, which is 20 degrees from the horizon. After July 30, the comet will not be visible to the naked eye and thus a pair of binoculars is recommended. Pattnaik said, "Around July 30 the comet will be visible near Ursa Major, which is also the Saptarshi Mandal at a height 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." A brown booby has sparked excitement among bird lovers in Co Wicklow after Ireland's first sighting of the tropical sea bird alive. The large bird, which is usually only found in tropical areas of the Atlantic Ocean like Central America and East Africa, was spotted yesterday afternoon in Greystones in what is believed to be the species' first documented visit to Ireland. In 2016, a brown booby landed on a boat at sea off the Skellig Islands in Kerry, and in the same year another was found washed up on an Irish beach. The decomposition of the latter would suggest though that it died far before it set foot on Irish soil. Niall Hatch, from Birdwatch Ireland, said that the sighting is extremely rare in Europe. "In an Irish context it's extremely rare. This is the first time that the bird has been seen in Ireland in a location people could actually see it," he said. "It's a lovely bird. It's a tropical sea bird related to our gannet here in Ireland. The Brown booby is like a tropical counterpart of that, so we know this bird would have come from somewhere in the tropical Atlantic so it would have been the West Indies or the coast of central America or maybe even West Africa or somewhere like that. "So it has gone much further north in the Atlantic than it normally would." Expand Close Brown booby at Greystones (Photo: John Murphy) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Brown booby at Greystones (Photo: John Murphy) The bird, which is currently still ashore in Greystones, is in healthy condition and Mr Hatch said that there is no need for concern for the bird, which will be left to its own devices. While brown boobies have a wide-ranging habitat, that it could be in such good health so far north may be a concern. An increase in recent sightings, Mr Hatch said, could suggest the effects of global warming are at play. "Birds turn up in Ireland and other places, and if it seemed to be injured or sick or anything like that it might require some help but at the moment it seems OK, it's finding food. We don't know what it will do, it might hang around a while longer, it might head back out to sea. These birds have a tendency to disappear as quickly as they arrived so they're very much evolved and adapted to lie on the open ocean and it will probably just fly off and head somewhere else. "They are ocean wanderers and they will travel over large areas but over the last couple of years there have been an increase in sightings in Europe, a handful in Southern England. You can't tell anything really from one bird showing up but what this would suggest is that climate change is making the oceans here more suitable for them," he said. "Most sea birds like colder water but they like warmer water so it could be that the water is being warmed up and it's making it easier for them to wander further north than usual. It does suggest some warming up of the ocean." The brown booby (Sula leucogaster) is a member of the Sulidae booby family of birds. They live mainly in the open ocean and feed on fish using an arial dive technique. While their stocks are high and are a low conservation concern, Sofia-Lilly Guilfoyle (7) from Greystones was one of the first people to ever see the bird in Ireland. Sofia-Lily swims every day at Greystones and said that she immediately recognised that the bird was not Irish. "We went down to the beach and there was another family who were trying to shoo it but it wouldn't leave and their dog was running around but it still wouldn't move," she said. "I had never seen a bird like her before. It had feathers and it was white, brown, yellow and black and it had feet like a duck. "He flapped his wing especially for me. I knew he wasn't an Irish bird so I said bonjour to him." It is unlikely that the booby will make Ireland its permanent home, and unsure when it will return to the tropics, but Birdwatch Ireland say that for now it is healthy and uninjured and its holiday in Ireland is of its own volition. Ghislaine Maxwell cried as she was denied bail on Tuesday and learned she must stay locked up until her trial next summer, as Jeffrey Epstein's accused madam pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking charges brought against her. The 58-year-old wiped tears away and hung her head as she learned her fate, wearing a prison-issued brown top and with her normally short hair now long and swept back into a bun, appearing via video link. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan denied Maxwell's proposal of a $5 million bond co-signed by two of her sisters and backed up by more than $3.75 million in property in the UK. Maxwell's legal team had argued she would be confined to a 'luxury hotel' in the New York area, surrender all her travel documents and be subject to GPS monitoring. But Judge Nathan ruled the British socialite was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources', setting an anticipated trial date for July 12, 2021. Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997, a period when she was his girlfriend. She faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of the charges, as prosecutors successfully argued that along with her three passports, connections to some of the world's most powerful people and her own fortune of more than $10 million - Maxwell had every incentive to try and flee. Maxwell will now return to the fortress-like Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where she has been given paper clothes to ensure she doesn't kill herself. Ghislaine Maxwell cried as she was denied bail on Tuesday and learned she must stay locked up until her trial next summer, as Jeffrey Epstein's accused madam pleaded not guilty to the sex trafficking charges brought against her But Judge Nathan ruled the British socialite was a significant flight risk, citing her 'substantial international' ties and 'extraordinary financial resources', setting an anticipated trial date for July 12, 2021 Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997, a period when she was his girlfriend. She faces up to 35 years in prison if found guilty of the charges, as prosecutors successfully argued that along with her three passports, connections to some of the world's most powerful people and her own fortune of more than $10 million - Maxwell had every incentive to try and flee Maxwell is currently in custody in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (pictured) where she is wearing paper clothes to ensure she doesn't kill herself Maxwell is being closely watched as the Department of Justice wants to ensure she does not kill herself like Epstein, who hanged himself last August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. During the two hour and 20 minute hearing at Manhattans Federal Court, Maxwell appeared via video from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The small room she was in had white walls, a white bed, a window with frosted glass and a door at the back. She was wearing a dark brown prison issued top and her dark hair was far longer than in the past - she reportedly has not had a haircut in a year - and was swept behind her head in a bun. At the start of the hearing, Maxwell rested her elbows on a table in front of the camera and put her head on her hands. She appeared nervous and pensive and kept looking from side to side, as she leaned into the camera. Maxwell briefly spoke and only to confirm she could hear the judge and to enter her plea by saying: Not guilty, your honor. Her demeanor changed when prosecutor Alison Moe began outlining the allegations against her, sitting back in her chair and bowing her head when Moe accused her of sexual abuse of minors. With every allegation, Maxwell either scratched her face or moved her hair, but was emotionless as victim impact statements were read aloud. It wasnt until Judge Nathan started reading her decision that Maxwell finally broke down. She began moving uneasily in her chair as the judge said the evidence against her was strong. When Judge Nathan said a combination of factors showed she had the motive and opportunity to flee before her trial, Maxwell wiped a tear away. The second tear fell as the judge said Maxwell was sophisticated at hiding her financial resources. During the two hour and 20 minute hearing at Manhattans Federal Court, Maxwell appeared via video from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She was wearing a dark brown prison issue top and her dark hair was far longer than in the past - she reportedly has not had a haircut in a year - and was swept behind her head in a bun It wasnt until Judge Nathan began reading her decision that Maxwell finally broke down. She began moving uneasily in her chair as the judge said the evidence against her was strong. When Judge Nathan said a combination of factors showed she had the motive and opportunity to flee before her trial, Maxwell wiped a tear away For the rest of the decision, Maxwell rested her head in her hands as she had done at the start of the hearing. Maxwell sat though prosecutors detailing how she was 'skilled at living in hiding' and as two victims argued she was a flight risk, with one writing: 'Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey couldn't have done what he did. She is a predator and a monster.' Prosecutors argued against Maxwell being granted bail, citing that due to holding both French and British passports, she has the ability to 'live beyond the reach of extradition indefinitely'. Prosecutor Moe argued: 'She is good at living under an assumed identity. There really can be no question that she can live in hiding.' She revealed when Maxwell bought her $1 million home in Bradford, New Hampshire last December, she toured the property with a real estate agent using an alias. Moe said: 'The real estate agent told the FBI agent the buyers for the house introduced themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall. Both had British accents. 'Scott Marshall told her he was retired from the British military and was currently working on a book. Janet Marshall described herself as a journalist.' Last summer, DailyMail.com previously tracked down Maxwell in Manchester-by-the-Sea, living at a home owned by her tech CEO lover Scott Borgerson. It is unclear if the man who toured the New Hampshire home with Maxwell was Borgerson. Records revealed Maxwell's $1 million home was purchased by a company that reportedly has ties to Borgerson. The buyer is listed as Granite Reality LLC - a mysterious corporation that was set up just weeks prior the purchase. The Sun reports that Granite Reality LLC is managed by Boston lawyer, Jeffrey W. Roberts, who is also the registered agent of a second company, Hopely Yealton. Curiously, the publication reports that the manager of Hopely Yealton is Borgerson. Moe also read out a victim impact statement from a woman identified as Jane Doe, who also made the case that Maxwell was a flight risk. The victim said she knew Maxwell for 10 years and the socialite intended to 'deliver' her to Epstein, all the while knowing the 'heinous dehumanization that awaited me'. The woman claimed Maxwell 'was in charge' and 'egged' Epstein on. She described Maxwell as 'sociopathic' and said she would 'have done anything to get what she wanted - to satisfy Jeffrey Epstein'. Victim Annie Farmer (pictured) also spoke at the hearing, detailing how she met Maxwell when she was 16 years old. Farmer has previously gone on record with her claims against Maxwell Prosecutor Allison Moe said when Maxwell bought her $1 million Bradford, New Hampshire home (pictured), she toured the home back in November of 2019 using the alias of Janet Marshall and claimed to the real estate agent that she worked as a journalist The victim added that 'if [Maxwell] is out, I need to be protected', citing a phone call she received in the middle of the night threatening her two-year-old child. Annie Farmer also spoke at the hearing, detailing how she met Maxwell when she was 16 years old. Farmer has previously gone on record with her claims against Maxwell. She said Maxwell 'has never shown any remorse [and] tormented her survivors... She has associates across the globe, some of great means.' Maxwell's attorney Mark Cohen tried to argue his client was not a flight risk, claiming she has community ties and is 'part of a very large and close family'. He said: 'Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein, and she has been the target of endless media spin', leading prosecutor Moe to later shoot back: 'These are the facts. It is not dirt, it is not spin, it is evidence to the court.' Cohen claimed Maxwell had received numerous threats and denied she had refused to open her front door to the FBI when they raided her home on July 2. He claimed her front door was unlocked, the windows were open and she had 'surrendered' to the agents. Addressing reports that Maxwell had wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil, which prosecutors called a 'seemingly misguided effort to evade detection' by law enforcement, Cohen claimed her phone had been hacked and she had to preserve the phone as evidence. MAXWELL'S LEGAL TEAM: Pictured l-r: Jeffrey S. Pagliuca,Christian R Everdell, Laura A. Menninger and Mark Cohen. In their filings to the court Maxwell's lawyers had argued that she is at increased risk of catching the coronavirus whilst in prison. They claim that the restrictions on access to her lawyers caused by the pandemic would mean it was impossible for her to get a fair trial Also on the case is (l-r) Alex Rossmiller, Alison Moe and Maurene Comey, James Comey's daughter Pictured: Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss speaks during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell Cohen went above the issue of Maxwell being a flight risk to complain that the charges against her are from 25 years ago, calling the indictment 'an effort to dance around' the controversial non-prosecution sweetheart deal Epstein and his associates received in Florida in 2007. With her bail now denied, Maxwell will return to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Journalists had started lining up outside the federal court in downtown Manhattan at 6am to get a seat inside the courtroom. They were allowed in at 11.45am and had to stand 6ft apart while they waited to ensure social distancing. The hearing took place in the jury assembly room which normally has space for hundreds of people but had a dramatically reduced capacity of just 60 due to the coronavirus. A dial-in phone line allowed 1,000 more people to listen in - the capacity was increased from 500 due to world-wide interest. Inside the room there were two projector screens, which showed the proceedings live. All parties, including the judge, appeared remotely and no one was physically in court. Maxwells lawyer was visible at all times in a box on the screen. Maxwell had her own box, the judge had one and the prosecutors had another. Maxwells mugshot has not been released by the federal authorities and the hearing offered the first chance to see her in at least a year. Maxwell's whereabouts had largely been unknown since Epstein's arrest last July. Although DailyMail.com tracked her down to the New England coast last summer, she vanished again, later popping up in a photo at an In-N-Out in Los Angeles. The FBI managed to finally trace her down in the quiet and rural town of Bradford, New Hampshire earlier this month, where she had been living since December. Maxwells mugshot has not been released by the federal authorities and the hearing offered the first chance to see her in at least a year. Maxwell's whereabouts had largely been unknown since Epstein's arrest last July. Although DailyMail.com tracked her down to the New England coast last summer, she vanished again, later popping up in a photo at an In-N-Out in Los Angeles Maxwell was romantically involved with Jeffrey Epstein from around 1992, but then became his 'right-hand woman', managing his property empire and, it is alleged, his trafficking of minors Officials said her conduct during the 8.30am raid at the property called 'Tuckedaway' was 'troubling'. They wrote that when the FBI arrived they were confronted by a locked gate which they forced their way through. The filing said: 'As the agents approached the front door to the main house, they announced themselves as FBI agents and directed the defendant to open the door. 'Through a window, the agents saw the defendant ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her. Agents were ultimately forced to breach the door in order to enter the house to arrest the defendant, who was found in an interior room in the house. 'Moreover, as the agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk, a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement'. After Maxwell, the daughter of late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, was arrested the FBI spoke to a security guard who worked on the property who said that her brother had hired him from a company staffed with former British military soldiers. The filing states: 'The guard informed the FBI that the defendant had not left the property during his time working there, and that instead, the guard was sent to make purchases for the property using the credit card. As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding'. In their filings to the court Maxwell's lawyers had argued that she is at increased risk of catching the coronavirus whilst in prison. So far there have only been five cases and no deaths at the prison. They claim that the restrictions on access to her lawyers caused by the pandemic would mean it was impossible for her to get a fair trial. The prosecutors said that in fact the prison had made substantial efforts to accommodate her and keep her safe. New York prosecutors said in a filing Monday this was evidence that Maxwell was 'skilled at living in hiding' and should be denied bail Her bail request (pictured) was filed in the US District Court in Manhattan and claims she was not 'hiding' from authorities, is not a flight risk and is at risk of contracting COVID-19 if she continues to be held in the Brooklyn jail The case against her is 'strong' and multiple victims have provided 'detailed, credible evidence of the defendant's criminal conduct' - with more women coming forward in the past week. The victims have made clear they want Maxwell remanded in custody and say they were 'directly abused as a result of Ghislaine Maxwell's actions'. The document states: 'While that conduct did take place a number of years ago, it is unsurprising that the victims have been unable to forget the defendant's predatory conduct after all this time, as traumatic childhood experiences often leave indelible marks. 'The recollections of the victims bear striking resemblances that corroborate each other and provide compelling proof of the defendant's active participation in a disturbing scheme to groom and sexually abuse minor girls'. The prosecutors said that it was 'curious' that Maxwell claimed to have access to millions of dollars had not offered 'a single dime' as collateral for her bond. They claimed that Maxwell's finances were 'completely opaque' and she had not even indicated which properties she would use for her bond. Some of the co-signers are 'themselves so wealthy that it would be no financial burden whatsoever' if they lost their $5 million by Maxwell skipping bail, the document states. Epstein's victims have long demanded Maxwell's arrest and lawyers for them say that a slew of new accusers have come forward since she was apprehended. Prosecutors will likely be looking to do a plea deal with Maxwell to lighten some of the six charges against her, two of which are perjury for allegedly lying during depositions. They will be questioning her about powerful men in Epstein's orbit including Bill Clinton with whom she flew on Epstein's private jet, called the 'Lolita Express', on a tour of Africa in 2002. Maxwell was also good friends with Prince Andrew and one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Roberts, claims she was loaned out to the Duke three times for sex when she was 17. ALBANY Rudy Wilson was known as a person who did everything he could for others in need, and was a loyal employee at Popeyes for more than a decade. But it was ultimately the 57-year-old's job as manager at the Central Avenue fast food location that cost Wilson his life. The Guyana native died in April after contracting COVID-19, after a sick co-worker brought the virus into the restaurant. I was married to an angel, said Wilson's wife, Corietta. God sent him, and then when he fulfilled His work on the face of this earth, He took him back. On April 3, the Albany County Health Department warned the public about a COVID-19 case at Popeyes, after it said a cashier had the disease caused by the coronavirus and worked there between March 23 and March 25. Popeyes owner Peggy Savchik told WNYT at the time that their longtime employee who tested positive was doing well. No one in the general public knew the rest of the story, that it was Popeyes' general manager who would become seriously ill while at home, and ultimately die while on a ventilator. Im gonna breathe, my wife The employee of Wilsons came to the Central Avenue location in March sick, with some symptoms of COVID-19. Two weeks later, her COVID-19 test results came back positive. Popeyes shut down, and the stores workers were given emergency sick leave to quarantine. The day before Wilsons quarantine was supposed to end, his fever spiked to 104 degrees. His wife said health officials told her to give Wilson two Tylenol and keep him home, unless he started exhibiting shortness of breath. In the early days of the pandemic, sick people were told to stay home amid fears that hospitals would be overrun with patients; it was believed that most patients would get better on their own. Wilsons fever did go away, but the next day Corietta sensed something was off with her husband he wasnt talking straight. This time, the health department told Corietta it was up to her if she wanted to take him to the hospital but they wouldnt send an ambulance since Wilson didnt have shortness of breath. Corietta took her husband to Albany Medical Center Hospital. Upon admitting Wilson, a doctor detected his lungs had already started to fill with fluid. He told Corietta they would have to sedate Wilson in order to hook him up to a ventilator. Maam, I see patients come out of this all the time, do you understand me? Corietta recalled the doctor telling her. Wilson woke up from his sedation with the ventilator plastered to his face, uncomfortable and frustrated. You have to breathe better, and once you can breathe ok theyll take the tube out, Corietta told her husband. Ok, Im gonna breathe, my wife, Wilson told her. Corietta went home. The next night, Wilsons heart stopped. A half hour later, he was dead. The next day, his COVID-19 test results came back positive. Wilson became one of the thousands of people of color in New York who disproportionately lost their life to COVID-19 many of whom were also essential service workers, like Wilson. An angel on Earth The way Corietta and her husband first started getting close to each other was similar to many other people entered Wilsons life she needed help, and he was there for her. A single mom in Guyana, Corietta was a cook at a hotel Wilson managed, and she was dealing with financial woes. Wilson was always there to help her, giving her money to support her family and even renting her out an apartment at one point. They married in 2004. Shawn Rockford can tell story after story about the second (and third, and fourth, and) chances Rudy Wilson gave him. There was the time Wilson took out a $3,000 loan from the bank to help Rockford buy a car so he could become a manager at work, but Rockford an adolescent at the time spent the money elsewhere. There was the time Wilson bought a car for Rockford himself, but the car ended up breaking down because Rockford didnt keep up with maintenance. And there was the time Wilson asked Rockford to cover his newspaper delivery route while out of town, ultimately costing Wilson his job because a few papers didnt get delivered. Even after that, he still didnt hold a grudge against me, he still helped me out, said Rockford, who describes Wilson as a father figure. When Im thinking about Rudy, Im like, he had a big heart for people. Because I know it wasnt just me that he was looking out for in this manner. Since his death, friends, family and acquaintances remember Wilson in this way, the man who did everything for everyone. Wilson gave a nephew $1,000 so he could move out of his parents home in Guyana and in with the mother of his child. He gave another cousin in Guyana $500 to start his own farm. He paid for the education of most, if not all, of his nieces and nephews. He gave food to homeless people if they came into the restaurant, and would give the days leftovers to random passersby at the end of each day. He would buy clothes for his staff. If anyone needed anything, he would hand them his credit card. As the manager of Popeyes, he hired formerly incarcerated applicants, defending them when other employees voiced concerns. He paid for that already, Wilson would tell co-workers, Corietta said. Mark Bobb-Semple had known Wilson since 2004, because Wilson was like another son to Bobb-Semples mom. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. She used to always, if she had a problem, Lets go to Rudy, Bobb-Semple said. Anything my mother wanted, he would give it to her. He described Wilson as a giant in the community, always quick to donate food to community events Bobb-Semple would host, or help with various initiatives. Wilson was an extremely hard worker, friends and family say, but he always prioritized his family especially Corietta. When he took days off to spend with Corietta, he would make sure Rockford, who also works at Popeyes, would show up to work. Rebecca Joy, Coriettas best friend, described the couple as unbreakable. Ive never seen them have a serious argument, Joy said. And Wilson wasnt only financially supportive of friends, family and the community at large he was emotionally supportive, too. He treated me like family, said Rockford, who first met Wilson after his father had passed away when he was 14. Especially with the absence of my father, he made sure that I was guided right. Legacy lives on Rockford still has dreams that hes talking to Wilson. When he was alive, they would talk for hours about work, life and relationships. When he first passed, I was like, Now what am I going to do? Who am I going to get that guidance from? Rockford said. Rudy was one of the closest men in my life. What Im going to miss from him is the conversation, just to be able to sit down and talk with Rudy. Joy said she still cant believe Wilson is gone. Its still so hard for me to wrap my head around when I go over there and hes not there, she said. How is my best friend doing without her husband? Even customers, Rockford said, inquire about Wilson when they come to the store, and get sad when they learn the news. He had a smile of peace, life, joy, happiness, forgiveness, Corietta said. I cant find nothing to say that he ever messed up or did something wrong. How is this man so perfect? With Wilsons passing, Rockford is focusing on emulating the life he lived. I use him as an example for myself so when Im looking at people I try to think, Rudy did it for me, let me do it for them, Rockford said. Were gonna do better and we should. Try always to keep that memory and that legacy he had alive in our hearts. The event will be hosted virtually this year and is expected to gather 2.6 million shareholders to hear about the companys future plans. But what exactly is expected from RILs 43rd AGM? Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) yesterday announced that it will be holding its 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on July 15. This announcement comes days after the companys spree on getting 13 partners on board for investing a total of 118,318.45 crore over the course of weeks. The event will be hosted virtually this year and is expected to gather 2.6 million shareholders to hear about the companys future plans. But what exactly is expected from RILs 43rd AGM? At the AGM, the company could talk more about its recent investment spree and how was this made possible. It may also talk about the companys debt and how it will be fulfilling its promise to clear all of it by 2021. In addition to this, RIL is also expected to give some details on its Aramco deal that wouldve let RIL raise almost $75 billion more. Also read: RIL launches WhatsApp chatbot for all AGM-related queries One may also expect the firm to talk about the strategy to further expand its Reliance Retail brand that has over 11K stores in over 1,800 cities across the country. We may hear about some details about JioMart, which got a fresh boost after Facebook acquired a 9.99% stake in Jio Platforms, a deal which also included increased participation between WhatsApp and JioMart. However, if you look at the past announcements made by RIL during its AGM, the company usually introduces a products and services. So this year too it may launch a new service that will be coming to all in the near future. In 2017, the company launched JioPhone. In 2018, the company announced its Jio Hungama offer and in 2019, the company announced a major investment in creating digital infrastructure across the country. Reliance Industries is expected to continue with this trend. A new report from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment is asking the federal government to harness its COVID-19 economic stimulus not only to address climate change and emissions but more specifically to save more than 100,000 lives. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A new report from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment is asking the federal government to harness its COVID-19 economic stimulus not only to address climate change and emissions but more specifically to save more than 100,000 lives. The federal government revealed its economic update last week, indicating a deficit of $343 billion would be posted in order to support the Canadian economy through the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. These spending levels havent been seen since the Second World War. "The investment choices our government makes will determine whether we fall back towards a fossil fuel-intensive economy that puts our health at risk, or move Canada forward on a path to meeting our climate targets and ridding our economy of greenhouse gas emissions while driving investment in sustainable jobs," reads the opening letter to the report, Healthy Recovery Plan, signed by CAPE chief executive officer and president Robin Edger. CAPE paired with Navius Research a company that looks at economic, energy and climate policy to create a road map and recommendations on how fiscal stimulus could be used to meet climate change emissions reduction targets previously set by the Liberals since 2005. Based on data made available by Health Canada, the report then extrapolates how the decline in emissions would affect air pollution and, as a result, save lives. "Of course, we focus a lot on climate change, but then a lot of the best information on health impacts especially health impacts that we can reduce all have to do with air pollution, which is not climate change exactly," Edger told the Free Press. "But, obviously, the emissions that cause air pollution also cause climate change, so theyre not unrelated. Then climate change makes air pollution worse, both because its worse when its hotter, but also because of (the increased intensity of) wildfires." Edger said if this fiscal stimulus isnt used to bolster a green economy, the moment where it is possible will be lost. CAPE determined the roadmap was required policy recommendation because of how far behind Canada has fallen on its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. "As per the most recent annual projection by the Canadian government, that includes actions taken by governments, consumers, Canada was on track to miss its 2030 GHG emissions commitment by 162 annual megatonnes of greenhouse gases. That gap alone is more than double the annual emissions from personal vehicles in Canada. So, we have some work to do," the report reads. The calculations spearheaded by Navius Research estimate that between 2030 and 2050, if emissions reductions targets were to be met, air pollution in Canada would be reduced to the extent that it would spare approximately 112,000 lives from premature death. "Thats a big figure. Thats like twice the size of Brandon," Edger said. "The roadmap we created is basically reverse-engineered from there how to achieve those goals." 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. The report lists 25 recommendations and priority investment areas for the federal government to achieve its climate goals, including electric vehicle manufacturing, establishing zero-emissions building targets for new homes and commercial buildings, and investing in zero-emissions transit infrastructure. One of the key priorities of the report is decarbonizing the electricity grids of the country, which Manitoba would be less affected by since its electricity is nearly entirely produced through hydroelectric power. However, the report suggests a $2-billion grid investment to connect Saskatchewan into Manitobas grid would be worthwhile in order to try and eliminate Saskatchewans use of coal-fired electricity. Manitoba would also benefit from investment in hydrogen refuelling and electric vehicle infrastructure, if the recommendations were pursued by the federal government. "This is their shot," Edger said. "We cant spend all this money on broadening highways, and subsidizing fossil fuels and think that were going to hit our targets. Thats never going to happen." sarah.lawrynuik@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @SarahLawrynuik ASIS International, the globally renowned association for security management professionals, has announced that General Stan McChrystal, US Army (RET), will present a Global Security Exchange Plus (GSX+) keynote address on Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at GSX+. The presentation, titled Leading in a New World, will take place on Wednesday, 23 September. Global Security Exchange Plus GSX+ offers a unique opportunity to share the insights and guidance from global thought leaders, said Godfried Hendriks, CPP, 2020 President, ASIS International, adding We are thrilled to have General McChrystal on our lineup to share his insights on leadership in an ever-changing global landscape on Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day at GSX+. A retired four-star general, McChrystal is the former commander of US and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) Afghanistan and the former commander of the nations premier military counter-terrorism force, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He is best known for developing and implementing a comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy in Afghanistan, and for creating a cohesive counter-terrorism organisation that revolutionised the interagency operating culture. Crisis management and strategic operations McChrystal will provide practical and actionable guidance on what it takes to lead in a rapidly shifting world landscape In his GSX+ presentation, highlighting lessons from his crisis management and strategic operations playbook, McChrystal will provide practical and actionable guidance on what it takes to lead successfully in a rapidly shifting world landscape. In this insightful keynote, he will address such key leadership principles as transparency and inclusion, leveraging the power of teams through relationships, leading by influence, relentless mission focus, and sharing a clear vision with everyone who must execute against it, all against the shifting backdrop of the ever-evolving remote workplace. Military services veteran Throughout his military career, he commanded a number of elite organisations, including the 75th Ranger Regiment. After 9/11 until his retirement in 2010, he spent more than 6 years deployed to combat in a variety of leadership positions. In June 2009, the President of the United States and the Secretary General of NATO appointed him to be the Commander of US Forces Afghanistan and NATO ISAF. His command included more than 150,000 troops from 45 allied countries. On 1 August 2010 he retired from the US Army. Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day He is the New York Times bestselling author of My Share of the Task, Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World, and Leaders: Myth and Reality. A passionate advocate for national service and veterans issues, McChrystal is the Chair of the Board of Service Year Alliance. He is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and the Naval War College. GSX+ is a new online experience that delivers the industry-renowned education sessions, robust marketplace, and unique peer-to-peer networking opportunities that security professionals have come to expect from the live GSX event. During Military & Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, all military, law enforcement, and first responders receive free one-day admission to GSX+. Commuter belt areas surrounding London are particularly benefiting from a surge in house hunter inquiries following last weeks stamp duty cut, according to analysis from Rightmove (PA) Commuter belt areas surrounding London are particularly benefiting from a surge in house hunter inquiries following last weeks stamp duty cut, according to analysis. Rightmove compared home hunters inquiries about properties in the days following the Governments announcement with the same period the week before. It found that Milton Keynes, Watford, Harrow, Chelmsford and Ilford are among the locations seeing particularly big jumps in buyer inquiries. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced last week that in England and Northern Ireland where stamp duty applies, buyers will pay no stamp duty on the first 500,000 of their purchase when they move home. Our analysis shows that this is going to help the mid-market the most, but all parts of a property chain are vital to keep the market moving Miles Shipside, Rightmove The measure, which lasts until March 31 2021, temporarily increases the nil rate band of stamp duty from 125,000 to 500,000. Buyers can potentially save up to 15,000. Rightmove said the biggest jump in buyer inquiries has been for homes priced just under the threshold at which stamp duty now applies. It has seen a 49% increase in demand for homes priced at 400,000 to 500,000. The next biggest jump has been a 40% increase in inquiries about homes priced at 500,001 to 750,000. There has also been a 26% increase in demand for homes priced at 300,001 to 400,000. Homes in the most and least expensive price brackets have seen the smallest impact. Properties with a price tag of 750,001-plus saw an 11% uplift in interest, while homes priced at 300,000 or under saw a 1% increase in buyer inquiries. From today until 31 March 2021, buyers will pay no Stamp Duty on the first 500k when they move home. Nearly 9 out of 10 people getting on or moving up the property ladder will pay no Stamp Duty at all. pic.twitter.com/atR9rROr01 HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) July 8, 2020 Rightmoves commercial director Miles Shipside said: The uplift in inquiries is likely a mixture of people looking in new areas to see what they can now afford, changing their search criteria to bigger, slightly more expensive homes, and new movers coming into the market because they now have enough extra budget to move home. The savings of 15,000 on property above 500,000 may also help some people to trade up more easily. Our analysis shows that this is going to help the mid-market the most, but all parts of a property chain are vital to keep the market moving. Mr Shipside also sounded a note of caution for first-time buyers. He said: Although low deposit mortgage options are slowly coming back to the market, first-time buyers who were already exempt from stamp duty up to 300,000 may find that they will be competing with some buy-to-let investors also looking to make the most of the stamp duty savings in this sector of the market. Here are the areas with the biggest uplifts in buyer inquiries, according to Rightmove, comparing July 8 to 12 with the same period the week before, with the postcode area and the percentage uplift: 1. MK (Milton Keynes), 136% 2. WD (Watford), 109% 3. HA (Harrow), 103% 4. CM (Chelmsford), 95% 5. IG (Ilford), 91% =6. EN (Enfield), 83% =6. BR (Bromley), 83% 8. W (West London), 80% =9. SG (Stevenage), 78% =9. SN (Swindon), 78% Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:15:27|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows an in-person United Nations Security Council meeting on the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement at the UN headquarters in New York. The Security Council adopted a resolution on Tuesday to renew the mandate of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) for 12 months, till July 15, 2021. (Xinhua) UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council adopted a resolution on Tuesday to renew the mandate of the UN Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement (UNMHA) for 12 months, till July 15, 2021. Resolution 2534, which won the unanimous support of the 15-member council, decides that UNMHA shall continue to support the implementation of the Hodeidah agreement as set out in the December 2018 Stockholm Agreement between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels. Under the Stockholm Agreement, the two sides agreed on a cessation of hostilities in Hodeidah governorate and the mutual redeployment of forces from Hodeidah city and the ports of Hodeidah, Salif and Ras Issa. Resolution 2534 decides that UNMHA shall oversee the governorate-wide cease-fire, the redeployment of forces, and mine action operations. It requests UN member states, particularly neighboring countries, to support the implementation of UNMHA's mandate. The resolution requests the secretary-general to report to the Security Council on a monthly basis on progress regarding the implementation of the resolution, and to present to the council a further review of UNMHA. UNMHA was established by the UN Security Council in January 2019, right after the Stockholm Agreement was reached. Enditem Vietnamese residents wait for checking in to board a repatriation flight at the Sherementyevo airport in Moscow, Russia, July 8, 2020. Photo by Vietnam News Agency. A Vietnamese man repatriated from Russia is the latest Covid-19 patient in Vietnam, raising the nations tally to 373, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. The 53-year-old man resides in Nam Tu Liem District of Hanoi. He flew back to Vietnam on a special flight from Russia that landed in Can Tho City in the Mekong Delta last Thursday. He was sent to quarantine in Ca Mau Province nearby. He tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Sunday and is now receiving treatment at Ca Mau General Hospital. Also on Tuesday morning, two patients were announced Covid-19 free. Both of them are Vietnamese residents found to have contracted the coronavirus after returning from abroad. One is a 47-year-old woman from Japan hospitalized on June 6, and the other a 25-year-old man from Kuwait admitted to hospital on June 18. She will continue staying at Quang Nam General Hospital in the central province of Quang Nam and he at Ba Ria-Vung Tau General Hospital in the eponymous province that neighbors Ho Chi Minh City for 14 more days for health monitoring. With the latest updates, Vietnam now has 373 cases of Covid-19, of whom 21 are active and the remaining 352 have recovered. The nation has gone 89 days without reporting a single case caused by community transmission of the disease. The pandemic so far has resulted in almost 575,000 deaths around the world. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has announced that remote learning will continue in August, as the state re-shuts down amid rising coronavirus cases. LAUSD superintendent, Austin Beutner, sent a letter out to parents in the city on Monday confirming that classes will resume online next month. We made the decision to close school facilities before there was any occurrence of the virus at our schools, and this proved to be the right call, Mr Beutner said. Science was our guide then, and it will continue to be. Unfortunately, Covid-19 continues to spread in the Los Angeles area and the virus is going to impact how we start the new school year. The district is the second largest school system in the country, and it announced its decision alongside the statess second biggest system, the San Diego Unified School District (SAUSD), who also decided to continue with online learning next month. The school year will start remotely on 18 August in Los Angeles and on 31 August in San Diego, according to the Los Angeles Times. The decision now means that the two biggest school districts in California have decided to continue home learning in the next school year, amid rising Covid-19 cases across the US. California has been badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the last month, and Los Angeles has seen a significant spike, with more than 3,202 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday and at least 14 deaths. On Monday, California governor Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of indoor operations, including restaurants, in order to stop the spread of Covid-19, as the state has seen record daily coronavirus totals over the last few weeks. This virus is not going away anytime soon. I hope all of us recognise that if we were still connected to some notion that somehow, when it gets warm, its going to go away or somehow its going to take summer months or weekends off, this virus has done neither, he told reporters. Union, United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), voted overwhelmingly to continue online learning for the next school year on Sunday, and 83 per cent of the organisations more than 18,000 members voted against physically reopening schools. UTLA president Cecily Myart-Cruz told Fox 11 that It is hitting us hard to think we may not be back with our students in the fal. She added: We know this is hard on our students and their parents, so many of whom have stepped up as our partners in teaching while struggling with the economic fallout of this crisis. But safety must come first, along with a commitment to focus on strengthening distance learning. Recommended California gym reopens with individual pods for social distancing In a joint statement, the LAUSD and the SAUSD said that they would not not put children at risk, while infection rates were still rising. One fact is clear: those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available, the districts said. California has neither. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control. Canadian trials have just begun for a prospective COVID-19 vaccine but its Quebec-based manufacturer is already tempering expectations. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A dose of a plant-derived COVID-19 vaccine candidate, developed by Medicago, is administered to a healthy woman participant in Quebec City on Monday, July 13, 2020 as part of the companys Phase 1 clinical trials in this handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Medicago *MANDATORY CREDIT* Canadian trials have just begun for a prospective COVID-19 vaccine but its Quebec-based manufacturer is already tempering expectations. Bruce Clark, president and CEO of the biopharmaceutical company Medicago, cautions observers against holding unrealistic assumptions that his product or any of the numerous vaccine hopefuls in development globally can bring the pandemic to a screeching halt if proven viable. Clark notes more than 120 companies are trying to come up with a COVID-19 vaccine, many of which have never been in the vaccine space before. He doesn't doubt that "something's going to come out of this," but he questions how effective it may be. "Whatever vaccine we get in this first round unless it's a miracle it's not going to be perfect," says Clark, whose company began trials for its proposed vaccine Monday in Quebec City. "It's going to have to undergo development, it's going to take probably years to come up with an understanding of the right vaccine, the right approach. It's not the panacea. "To assume that we can have, in 18 months, the solution to a pandemic that comes around once in a generation, is naive." Canada's deputy public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo expressed similar cautions Tuesday, while acknowledging the need to develop viable vaccines and therapies. "Lots of different steps are still ahead of us before we might even anticipate that there might be a safe, effective vaccine that would be available for use in the general population," said Njoo. So much is still unknown about COVID-19, notes Clark, including how it may manifest during the flu season later this year. He suspects a more likely scenario is that a vaccine will offer only part of the solution, along with new therapeutics and ongoing public health interventions. Medicago's first phase of clinical trials will test the safety of a plant-based product on 180 healthy men and women, aged 18 to 55. The randomized, partially blinded study uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses like traditional methods. Clark notes that vaccine developers typically use chicken eggs to propagate a virus, but Medicago uses recombinant technology involving the genetic sequence of a virus, with living plants as the host. The resulting virus-like particles mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response. Clark says the plant-based approach is significantly faster and offers more consistent results than egg-based or cell-based methods. It's the same method Medicago has used for a proposed seasonal flu vaccine that Clark says is currently being reviewed by Health Canada. If approved, Clark says it would be the first plant-based vaccine in the world. While it takes five to six months to propagate a virus in eggs, the plant-based technique requires just five to six weeks, he says. "In a pandemic, something like COVID, if you're able to cut that much time off development, you have a substantial impact on public health." Meanwhile, Clark says viruses are prone to mutations as they adapt and grow in an egg, which could result in a vaccine that doesn't exactly match the circulating virus. In contrast, "a plant is a plant," and that makes production easily scalable. "One plant behaves like 100,000 plants," he says. The trial will evaluate three different dosages alone, or with one of two adjuvants provided by GlaxoSmithKline and Dynavax. An adjuvant can boost the effectiveness of a vaccine for a better immunological response, thereby reducing the required dose, Clark adds. He hopes to know the safety of the product, as well as effectiveness of the adjuvants and dosing by October. Based on that, researchers would kick off a second, more targeted trial phase involving about 1,000 participants. If that's successful, Clark says a third phase would involve about 15,000 to 20,000 subjects, include older cohorts, and may be a global study, depending on circumstances of the pandemic by then. If the vaccine proves effective, Clark points to another uncertainty. Because the company's commercial plant is across the border in Durham, N.C., he says there's no guarantee of a Canadian supply. "'Guarantee' is a strong word," says Clark. "Strange things happen to borders in the context of a pandemic." Such border complications were made clear to Canadians in April when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau complained about problems with incomplete or non-existent deliveries of critical COVID-19 supplies. At the time, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered U.S. producers to prioritize the domestic market. Clark suggests similar hurdles could impact vaccine distribution, putting immediate pressure on Medicago to complete construction of a large-scale manufacturing facility in its home base of Quebec City. "Certainly, we need a facility in Canada," Clark says. "There's no guarantee on the easy flow of materials back and forth across the border should we have a successful vaccine. We have to keep the focus on completing the Canadian facility so that we have domestic capacity. I think this is what most countries are concerned about." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. By the end of 2023, the Quebec City plant is expected to be able to produce up to one billion doses of a COVID-19 vaccine annually. Until then, Medicago says it expects to be able to make approximately 100 million doses by the end of 2021, assuming its trials are successful. Clark says countries must temper any nationalist agendas that might emerge with a viable vaccine and acknowledge that the fight against COVID-19 is global. Meeting that demand would require multiple manufacturers, multiple distribution routes, and lots of co-operation, he says, possibly through the World Health Organization. "There has to be some ability to share those around and distribute, whether that's through an entity like the WHO, or something equivalent." This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2020. Decaying buildings are providing the raw material for Detroit-based business Rebel Nell. This social enterprise not only creates inspired jewelry, it also is designed to help change the lives of local women. Amy Peterson and Diana Roginson had a dream of creating a company that would teach a woman to fish Peterson said. The business got started back in 2013, when Peterson befriended her neighbors, women living in a shelter next to her home. I had lots of conversations with the incredible women that were living there, Peterson said. From that spawned this idea of how could we create a company that not only would provide employment, but also all of the wraparound support that the women need in order to transition to a successful life. The concept of the business came first, and then the women had to come up with a product to make this happen. Were a very unique company in that we started mission-first, and concept-second, Peterson said. Inspiration for that product came during a run through the Dequindre Cut in downtown Detroit. Rebel Nell is one of the businesses that Founders Brewing Company is highlighting through its Crafted in Michigan campaign. Over the next several weeks, well be bringing you the stories of the locally-owned businesses behind Crafted in Michigan, introducing the people behind these businesses, their products or craft, and the inspiration behind it all. Check out our interview with Amy Peterson below, where we talk about the inspiration behind the business, and how the program works, plus where you can find this jewelry. Rebel Nell founders Amy Peterson, left, and Diana Roginson, right.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. Petersons run took her through the Dequindre Cut, a former rail line that has been reclaimed and converted into a greenway. Colorful graffiti adorns the pathway, and it has become a popular spot for bike rides and walks, as well as just hanging out and enjoying the urban vibe. I found some graffiti that had fallen off the walls, and thats how we got the idea for our product, Peterson said. The company has a very strict policy of only using fallen graffiti, never defacing the murals when they are on the walls. Diana and I really wanted to pay tribute to this city that we love and live in, and that was really important to us, Peterson. The one-of-a kind jewelry features pieces of fallen graffiti that undergo a special treatment to bring out its natural beauty and unique colors. Each woman who works on the jewelry then adds her own vision to the piece. Thats my favorite part of the job, Peterson. To see the confidence come through when they are able to make their first pieces, and how much pride they feel when someone buys something that they had a vision for. I dont think we gave enough credit when we first started the business as to how powerful the jewelry-making process is. A piece of fallen graffiti ready to get turned into jewelry at Rebel Nell.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. The company has also released some new collections that have been sourced from specific locations. As the graffiti falls from iconic spots, Rebel Nell collects it for unique pieces that truly speak of a place. Right now, you can get jewelry from the Detroit locations of the Dequindre Cut, Joe Louis Arena, Michigan Central Station, The Palace of Auburn Hills, and The Alley Project. Flint provides raw material from The Flint Rock, while Chicago is represented by Soho House and West Town. See these collections here. The fallen graffiti undergoes a special treatment before it gets made into jewelry. Each woman designer has her own vision for what the finished product will look like, and every piece is unique.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. The jewelry is available to purchase from their online store, and from retail stores throughout the Midwest. Rebel Nell opened a brick and mortar location just prior to the pandemic shutdown. They have since reopened the store, and it will be another part of the Rebel Nell mission, providing a training ground for customer service. Our women will get trained in how to run a retail store, said Peterson. That will just add to their resume as they are ready to transition. Rebel Nell employees not only learn to make beautiful jewelry, they also work through a multi month program designed to help them become financially stable.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. The kind of backward start of the business, with the mission coming first, came about as Peterson got to know the women who lived next door to her at the COTS shelter. These were just conversations with my neighbors, Peterson said. Id just chat with them. My dog was a wonderful bridge. He was an incredibly friendly dog, and deserves a lot of credit for starting the company. Just having conversations, which I feel we need to do more of anyways, just have more conversations. I learned that these were women who left really challenging situations, Peterson said. Her neighbors were struggling with a variety of issues, such as homelessness, fleeing abusive relationships, or reentering society after an incarceration. Some just had one event occur that caused a downward spiral financially, and they couldnt climb back up on their own. The courage and the incredible optimism that they had, you just want to be a part of their journey and help them succeed, Peterson said. That was really what kicked off this whole idea. Roginson and Peterson decided that in order to achieve their mission, they would need to run the business as a true business, in order to make the profits they needed to pay for the services the women would participate in. So, they launched a non-profit arm, named T.E.A. (Teach, Empower, Achieve) in 2017. Taking a social work approach, the organization aims to create a new model for businesses and non-profits to work together to uplift the community, create social change, and end generational poverty. T.E.A. provides the participating women with financial training to help create a stable household, builds job skills to help find better jobs, and advocates for better systems for working women and mothers. They also provide legal aid to the women as needed, and provide micro loans to the participants. The curriculum is constantly building and improving, Peterson said. Rebel Nell works with seven different organizations around Detroit to recruit employees, working directly with case workers, to see who is ready for this opportunity. To date, weve hired 26 women out of shelters and into the traditional work force, Peterson said. Reporting that statistic makes me pretty happy. The amount of time it takes a woman to complete the program varies. Each woman can complete the steps at her own pace. We take a very individualized approach to each woman, understanding what their dreams and ambitions are, and how do we get them there, Peterson said. Every piece of jewelry is unique from Rebel Nell, and each piece represents the creator's special vision.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. That has always been our goal, that the women that we serve are first and foremost in every decision that we make, Peterson said. That has been something that weve been pretty successful with, and maintaining for the last seven years that weve been in business. We are a place that will tell you we love you, youve got this, and were going to be here for you. Teaching women to fish was the goal, making unique jewelry was just one beautiful result. Creating new lives for women who needed just a little help was an even better one for Rebel Nell. Rebel Nell recently opened a brick and mortar store in Detroit.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. Rebel Nell 1314 Holden Street, Detroit, Michigan 48202 Hours: Mon-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-3 (313) 288-8825 Facebook Azzie Caldwell, one of Rebel Nell's employees, works on jewelry.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. Bracelets from Rebel Nell.Courtesy Photo, used with permission. Other Crafted in Michigan stories: Young man turns artistic skill into hand forged knife business Special Brew Bakers are behind Beer City Dog Biscuits Why Founders Brewing is behind Crafted in Michigan San Francisco, July 14 : As the world faces a period of gradual recovery, Google Cloud sees organisations shifting to digital models to reach out to their customers, deliver products and services and even design and manufacture products, Thomas Kurian, CEO, Google Cloud said on Tuesday. These changes, he added, have driven many organizations to modernise their technology infrastructure rapidly using the cloud to pivot quickly, optimise costs and prepare for the future. "Our mission at Google Cloud is to accelerate our customers' ability to digitally transform and reimagine their businesses through data-powered innovation," Kurian said while kicking off the first 'Google Next '20: OnAir' digital event series. According to him, Google Cloud offers three primary capabilities to help it customers: global-scale distributed infrastructure as a service, a digital transformation platform, and industry-specific solutions powered by Google's AI and machine learning advances. "We continue to see organizations across various industries place their trust in Google Cloud because of the differentiated technology we provide to help them solve real business problems. "This includes several leading global companies we've recently announced such as Deutsche Bank, FOX Sports, Procter & Gamble, Group Renault, Telefonica and Verizon - to name just a few," he said. Kurian said that the company continues to expand its global footprint, opening several new regions over the last year, with plans for many more. "We continue to see rapid uptake of Anthos and have introduced new capabilities that bring Anthos to bare metal hybrid environments, and to other clouds including Microsoft Azure and AWS. We also continue to build tools to help you migrate and modernize a broad array of enterprise workloads to Google Cloud," he explained. Google Cloud also introduces 'BigQuery Omni', the new multi-cloud analytics solution powered by Anthos that extends analytics platform to other public clouds. "Also new today is Confidential VMs, the first product in our Confidential Computing portfolio, which lets you run workloads in Google Cloud while ensuring your data is encrypted, not only at rest and in transit, but while it's being processed as well," said Kurian. The company also announced 'Assured Workloads for Government', which allow them to automatically apply controls to workloads, making it easier for customers to comply with things like data location and personnel access requirements. On 5G, he said that "our Global Mobile Edge Cloud strategy will deliver a portfolio and marketplace of 5G solutions built jointly with telecommunications companies; an open cloud platform for developing these network-centric applications; and a global distributed edge for optimally deploying these solutions". The Office of the Auditor-General of Federation has indicted the embattled outgoing Managing Director of Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading company (NBET), Marilyn Amobi, for financial mismanagement, disrespect for due process, and contract fraud. The indictments are contained in a June 2020 Auditor-Generals special report on audit monitoring and evaluation of NBETs capital projects and programmes between June 2017 and June 2018. The report was submitted to the National Assembly as Nigerias Constitution provides. The provenance of the report, obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, is a whistle-blower, and this paper verified the report to be genuine. Ordinarily, the audit checks should form some paragraphs in the annual Auditor-Generals Report, but the Auditor-General, Anthony Ayine, wrote that it had become necessary to issue the special report because of the public interest generated in the NBETs affairs. Appointed in 2016, Ms Amobi has had a controversial stint at NBET. In February 2019, PREMIUM TIMES reported how she controversially paid at least N2 billion to two power generating companies and made controversial payments to law firms and other consultants. In the June special report, the Auditor-General noted a contract variation of N4.8million from the initially approved amount of N136 million for the partitioning of office space awarded to Julius Berger which thereby brought the total contract sum to N141 million without the approval of the appropriate Tenders Board. Ms Amobi, however, reportedly responded that the variation amount of N4.1million was within her threshold. She was, nevertheless, overruled by the Auditor-General, who asked for a refund of N4.1million. In the 2017 budget, NBET had a N470.5 million appropriation for procurement of operational vehicles/conveying of staff and consultants and project management/monitoring of NBETs executed new PPAs/IPPs. However, according to the audit report, NBET used N355 million of that appropriation to procure 12 vehicles but only three (Toyota Hilux), costing N66.7 million, were for project monitoring. The remaining nine were status/luxury vehicles all of which cost between N21 million and N67 million each and distributed to management staff. The audit report concluded that the sum of N288 million spent on luxury vehicles not appropriated by the National Assembly was a breach of the 2017 Appropriations Act and Financial Regulations (415) 2009 in respect of economy of expenditure. The management should be sanctioned for gross misconduct in line with Financial Regulations 3129 and other extant rules and regulations, the report recommended. Between 2014 and 2019, the report said NBET did not submit its audited accounts, thereby breaching Financial Regulations 3210(v). Ms Amobi started as the head of NBET in 2016 and she is leaving in just over a week after she failed to earn a tenure renewal. The audit report also noted a N20.9 million contract for NBETs audit manual. While NBET made full payment, there was no evidence of job execution, the report said, adding that was a breach of Financial Regulations 3104(iii), which requires a full refund of the fraudulent payment by the the official (Ms Amobi) and that the matter be referred to the EFCC. The report also said Ms Amobi authourised N65.6 million for an international training without the required approval of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. Ms Amobi should be sanctioned in line with Financial Regulations 3129, said the report. Ms Amobi did not reply to a message requesting her comment for this report. PREMIUM TIMES had on June 10 exposed how Ms Amobi continued to run a private firm, ESL Economics and Management Limited, registered in the United Kingdom, while being a public officer in Nigeria in violation of the countrys code of conduct for public officials. Top administration officials then said our report angered President Muhammadu Buhari who immediately ordered her immediate removal. But the finance ministry swiftly came to her aid with a presidential memo allowing her to complete her tenure. Last December, Ms Amobi was suspended by the power minister, Saleh Mamman, who claimed that the move was in continuation of the governments effort to reorganise and sanitise the Federal Ministry of Power and its affiliate agencies. Consequently, a five-member investigative committee was constituted to probe the myriad complaints leveled against Ms Amobi. The suspension, last December, of Ms Amobi came after PREMIUM TIMES reported how she instigated the arrest and detention for several hours of nine top officials of the bulk trader by the State Security Services (SSS, also called DSS). The embattled MD had been accused of abuse and intimidation of employees in recent time, with concerns over workplace safety and teamwork among staff members. But in January, Mr Buhari curiously overruled the minister, reinstating Ms Amobi despite her indictments by anti-graft agencies, EFCC and ICPC. Queen Elizabeth was not explicitly told Australia's governor-general was about to sack Gough Whitlam as prime minister, but she was aware he was considering the option. Letters from her private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, confirm the Queen read Sir John Kerr's despatches from Canberra on his approach to the crisis, including his deliberations about whether to dissolve Parliament or sack the Prime Minister. Gough Whitlam on the steps of Parliament after his dismissal in 1975. Credit:Herald Archive In Sir John's letter after he sacked the prime minister he said he made the decision not to inform the Queen ahead of time. "I was of the opinion that it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance," Sir John wrote on November 11. The economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic has taken a financial toll on the world's wealthy investors, affecting 70 per cent of them and forcing them to delay their retirement plans, according to a study by the Swiss bank UBS. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected how the wealthy think about money, as they now have less to pass on to their next generation, according to the May 2020 survey of 3,750 wealthy individuals in 15 markets including the United States, the UK, Germany, France, mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The survey shows how the world's worst health crisis of the last few decades is sparing no one in its economic toll, not even the well-heeled and the moneyed class. The short-term consumption slumps and economic recessions are spilling over to long-term negative implications on retirement plans and succession planing. "The pandemic is causing many of them to rethink how they'll fund their liquidity, longevity, and legacy needs," said UBS' global wealth management co-president Tom Naratil. A logo of the Swiss bank UBS displayed in front of its branch in Dusseldorf in Germany. Photo: Picture Alliance / dpa alt=A logo of the Swiss bank UBS displayed in front of its branch in Dusseldorf in Germany. Photo: Picture Alliance / dpa Financial concerns are bubbling to the surface, as the coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 13 million people worldwide, and claimed more than half a million lives since it was first reported in central China's Hubei province. The economic toll has been the worst since the Great Depression, with tens of millions of jobs lost, forcing global central banks to pour an estimated US$6 trillion in funds to prop up economies. In the short term, 56 per cent of those surveyed said they do not have sufficient liquid assets to weather another pandemic, according to UBS. In the longer-term, 65 per cent believe their retirement savings would be reduced, while 54 per cent are concerned that they wont leave enough money for their children, and 60 per cent worry about being a financial burden to their families should they fall ill. Story continues Hong Kong's Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF), a compulsory retirement scheme that covers 3 million people, lost 2.7 per cent of its value, or HK$23.26 billion (US$3 billion), in the first half of this year, as its investments fell along with slumping stock markets. Hong Kong's economy contracted 8.9 per cent in the first three months of 2020 when the coronavirus forced businesses to lock down, the city's worst quarter since economic records began in 1974. The unemployment rate rose 5.9 per cent in the March to May period, with 230,400 people going jobless, its worst decline since the 2008 Financial Crisis. In the US, more than 27 per cent of people are using withdrawals from their retirement savings accounts as a source of income, as many are unemployed, according to a survey by Bankrate, a consumer financial services company based in New York. Over 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits as at the end of April, or about 23 per cent of the workforce, a level last seen during the 1930s Great Depression. There are also 59 million jobs at risk across the European Union and in the UK, according to a report by consultancy firm McKinsey at the end of April. The Covid-19 is also going to escalate deglobalisation, and more companies will move their production lines away from mainland China, according to a report by Japanese investment firm Nomura co-written by research analyst Lewis Alexander. "We expect unconventional monetary policies to be the new normal, and this will reduce the urgency for fiscal austerity to address the sharp rise in public debt," Alexander said in the report released on Monday. "However, there is no free lunch. There is a danger of moral hazard fuelling excessive risk-taking and asset price bubbles." "Income inequality is set to worsen substantially, leading to a political clamour for more drastic solutions, and Covid-19 could be the calm before the storm of a global food crisis in the coming years," he said. This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Hong Kong has been under immense political turmoil with the introduction of new National Security Law threatening the autonomy of the city; however, the Legislative Council elections, which promote a democratic approach of governance in the city, are due in September 2020. Although the legislative council elections have been a weaker attempt at democracy in the past as against the stronger Executive Council wielding more power in Hong Kong, the opposition to China's policies and protestors are hoping the elections may be of some help in advancing the democracy in the region. However, Chinese mouthpiece Global Times' Editor has given a glimpse of how the Xi administration is likely to spin the narrative to sell to the galleries. The stooge, who has been making statements of a pseudo-establishment nature, makes the most far-fetched and delusional claims about the matter and says that the National Security Law will target those who are hoping a turnaround in the situation. Through Legislative Council elections, extreme opposition forces of Hong Kong hope to turn themselves into Trojan Horse to destroy chief executive-led HK political system. This objective will be targeted by national security law for HK. Hu Xijin (@HuXijin_GT) July 13, 2020 READ | US Weighs In Restricted Options To Attack China Over Hong Kong: Report READ | UK-China Ties Freeze With Debate Over Huawei, Hong Kong This seemingly comes as hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers flocked together over the weekend to cast their votes in the city. The voting was a symbolic protest vote against Beijings National Security Law. As per reports, nearly 600,000 'voters' turned out to cast their vote against the National security law exceeding estimates of a turnout of 170,000. The opposition politicians have criticised all the moves calling them the means to suppress dissent. With the introduction of the new law, critics are apprehensive that it would undermine the principle of "one country, two systems", eventually leading to the decimation of Hong Kong's autonomy stated under the Sino-British joint declaration of 1997. As the autocratic Chinese Government introduced the law, it has received widespread criticism on the international fora. This unilateral decision by the Chinese communist regime has deeply concerned the International community and countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and the UK opposed the decision of China to impose the security law in Hong Kong. The countries promoting democracy are raising the Hong Kong crisis in all possible forums, in a way pressurising the autocratic Chinese regime to rescind the law. In a joint statement, the four countries had earlier said that direct imposition of national security legislation on Hong Kong by the Beijing authorities, rather than through Hong Kong's own institutions as provided for under Article 23 of the Basic Law, "would curtail the Hong Kong people's liberties, and in doing so, dramatically erode Hong Kong's autonomy and the system that made it so prosperous". The countries are also thinking about reshaping their economic relations with China in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as its aggressive autocratic unilateral expansionist policies. READ | Nearly 600,000 Vote In Hong Kong Pro-democracy Primaries READ | Hong Kong Protestors Flock Polling Booths To Cast Symbolic Vote Against Security Law China and the US on Tuesday continued to deepen their ongoing multi-front diplomatic tussle with Beijing lashing out at Washington for rejecting Chinese claims over the South China Sea (SCS) as illegal and also sanctioning American defence giant Lockheed Martin for selling missiles to the self-ruled democracy, Taiwan. On Monday, reversing a policy of not taking a direct side in the SCS maritime disputes involving China and several other smaller littoral states, the Donald Trump administration rejected Beijings expansive claims in the resource-rich seas. We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the SCS are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement Monday. China is involved in disputes with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Taiwan in the SCS maritime region. The change in the US policy comes at a time when two nuclear-powered US navy super aircraft-carriers, USS Nimitz and Ronald Reagan are deployed in the region. The Chinese foreign ministry reacted sharply to Pompeos statement, saying the US statement neglected the history and facts Beijings claims on the SCS and the disputed islands and shoals. The US, out of its selfish agenda, is doing all it can to stir up trouble in the SCS and drive a wedge between regional countries and China, aiming to disrupt Chinas and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries efforts to maintain peace and stability, foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian said at the regular ministry briefing in Beijing on Tuesday. China does not seek to build a maritime empire in the SCS. We have been treating our neighbouring countries as equals and we have been keeping maximum restraint in safeguarding sovereignty and interests in the South China Sea, he said. Also read: China denies burial to its soldiers killed in Galwan clash China and the ASEAN bloc were accelerating discussions on a Code of Conduct to jointly safeguard peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the disputed waters, Zhao said, adding, We have made progress in our consultations, he said. At the same press conference, Zhao announced that China will put sanctions on Lockheed Martin for its involvement in the latest US arms sale to Taiwan, Beijing claims as a breakaway region. One of the leading weapon-makers in the world, the US company is the primary contractor for a $620 million upgrade package for Taiwans Patriot surface-to-air missiles, which the US government approved last week. When asked to comment on the arms sale, Zhao said the US should stop selling weapons to Taiwan to avoid further harming Sino-US ties and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. In order to safeguard the countrys interests, China has decided to take necessary steps, and put sanctions on the main contractor for this sale, Lockheed Martin, Zhao said. He did not elaborate. Also read: After US sanctions, UK bans Huawei from 5G networks The impact of the sanctions would be essentially symbolic as Washington has long had an arms embargo on Beijing. Agency reports from Taiwan said the Taiwanese government has welcomed the missile upgrade. It is bolstering its defences for what it sees as increasingly threatening moves by Beijing, such as its regular air force and naval exercises near Taiwan. Taiwans Defence Minister Yen Teh-fa, visiting troops during the annual Han Kuang military exercise, was quoted by Reuters as saying that they needed to be strong in the face of all sorts of threats and provocations from China. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Kerala gold smuggling: IT sleuths question accused at NIA office India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, July 14: Income Tax officials are set to question the accused in the Kerala gold smuggling case. A team of the IT reached the office of the National Investigation Agency at Kochi, where the accused are lodged. They are currently in NIA custody, following an order of the court. The IT sleuths would question, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair. Fake consulate seals, funding terror, Kerala gold smuggling case gets murkier Meanwhile, the probe being conducted by the NIA found that the accused had faked documents of the UAE consulate. The accused had fake seals with the emblem of the UAE Consulate and were using the same to smuggle gold through diplomatic channels, the NIA also said. Kerala gold smuggling case has rocked the Vijayan govt| Know the full story | Oneindia News The purpose was also to raise funds for terror, the agency has learnt. On Friday, the NIA registered an FIR in the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case. The case has been registered under sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, against 04 accused persons including Swapna Prabha Suresh. The case relates to the seizure of 30 kg of 24 carat gold worth Rs.14.82 crores at Trivandrum International Airport. The aforesaid consignment was found camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from UAE that is exempted from inspection as per the Vienna Convention. The said consignment was to be received by Sarith P S who had worked in the UAE Consulate earlier as Public Relations Officer. Initial investigation by Customs Department has revealed that Sarith had received multiple such consignments earlier as well. As the case pertains to smuggling of large quantity of gold into India from offshore locations threatening the economic stability and national security of the country, it amounts to a terrorist act as stated in section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Kerala Gold Smuggling: Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair arrested by NIA in Bengaluru Further, as the case has national and international linkages and as the initial enquiries have revealed that the proceeds of smuggled gold could be used for financing of terrorism in India, NIA had taken up the investigation of the case. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on Tuesday (July 14, 2020) said that the NASA experts will discuss and answer public questions about Comet C/2020 F3 NEOWISE during a broadcast of NASA Science Live and will follow up a media teleconference on July 15. The NASA Science Live episode will air live at 3 PM EDT on Wednesday (12:30 AM IST on Thursday) on NASA Television and their official website. The live episode can also be watched on NASA's official accounts on Facebook, YouTube, Periscope, LinkedIn, Twitch, and USTREAM. Comet NEOWISE was first discovered by NASA on March 27, 2020. Also read | NEOWISE comet nears earth, here's how to watch it in India NEOWISE will witness its closest approach to Earth on July 22 at a distance of about 103 million kilometres. Viewers can submit their questions using social media platform Twitter with a hashtag #AskNASA. They can also leave a comment in the chat section of Facebook, Periscope, and YouTube. NASA will follow the broadcast with a media teleconference at 4 PM EDT on Wednesday (01:30 AM IST on Thursday). The media teleconference audio will stream live at https://www.nasa.gov/live. The teleconference participants will include: - Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer and program executive of NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office, NASA Headquarters. - Emily Kramer, co-investigator on the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) science team, NASA JPL. - Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, University of Arizona. Xiaomi India is going to host another flash sale of the Redmi Note 9 Pro today. Launched in March, the handset is a follow up of the companys popular Redmi Note 8 Pro. The smartphone boasts of a new square camera module and a punch-hole display at the front. The company had also launched the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, a slightly beefed-up version offering a higher resolution camera and higher memory and RAM options. The Note 9 Pro will go on sale today at 12PM noon on Amazon India and Mi.com. REDMI NOTE 9 PRO SPECIFICATIONS The Redmi Note 9 Pro features a 6.67-inch full-HD+ LCD display with a punch-hole placed on top center and a quad-camera setup in a square module. Like the previous Redmi Note 8 series, it has Gorilla Glass on the front and back, but this time the cameras are also protected with the same. Other notable design features include a side-mounted fingerprint scanner similar to the Poco X2 and the Realme 6 series. The device is powered by the new 8nm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G which should be more efficient and slightly more powerful than the 730G. The smartphone will be offered in two variants- 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage and 6GB RAM with 128GB storage. There is also a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the storage further. The square camera module is placed at the center and is raised from the main body. It includes a 48-megapixel main sensor next to an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera. There is also a 5-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. At the front, there is a 16-megapixel selfie camera placed in the punch hole. According to the company, the camera is capable of shooting RAW photography and some nifty tricks in pro mode while shooting video. The battery unit is rated at 5,020mAh which is said to be the biggest on a Redmi Note device and supports 18W fast charging. Rest of the features include support for 4G VoLTE, NaVIC GPS, dual-SIM card slots, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, P2i coating, USB Type-C and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The handset will come with Android 10 with MIUI 11. There are three colour options to choose from including Aurora Blue, Glacier White, and Interstellar Black. PRICE AND OFFERS The smartphone is priced at Rs 13,999 for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant, and Rs 16,999 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. Airtel is offering double data benefits with Rs 298 and Rs 398 unlimited packs on the Note 9 Pro. Customers can also avail no-cost EMI as well as standard EMI options when purchasing the phone from Amazon. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a nonprofit foundation that works to improve the security of software, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021. When the organization was established in 2001, the Internet of Things was just emerging, so initial projects focused on the rapid expansion of the World Wide Web, which only became popular to millions of users a few years before the organization was established. While the Internet itself has been around for well over half a century, the Internet continues to revolutionize the computing and communications world as a world-wide broadcasting platform, a mechanism for information distribution, and a way for people and machines to connect without regard for geographic location. Beginning with the early research in packet switching, the government, industry and academia have worked together to evolve and advance web-based applications, including the now sprawling IoT. As long as there has been an Internet, there have been people who try to manipulate it, and the bigger the Internet gets the higher risk it becomes for intrusions, phishing, viruses, worms, ransomware and fraud, on a massive scale. In the 1990s we saw malware emerge, which manifested in the famous AOL phishing attack, allowing hackers to steal usernames and passwords. In the 2000s, global cybercrime became a trillion-dollar criminal enterprise as more computers and other machines were connected. Along with tremendous innovations, from smart phones to smart homes, and from smart cars to smart factories, attackers became as sophisticated as developers, and according to Gartner, are now spending 10X more developing software to attack Internet-based systems and data generated by those systems than large enterprises are spending to defend their assets. Today, one of the most challenging areas to secure is IoT and Industrial IoT devices, equipment, networks, clouds and applications, and the rise of automated systems, including rapid adoption of AI for control systems, is raising the stakes. The OWASP Foundation, with its community-led open source projects, hundreds of local chapters worldwide, tens of thousands of members, and leading educational and training conferences, has become an essential source for developers and technologists to secure the IoT. The OWASP top 10 threats to IOT started as an OWASP project with a goal of helping developers, manufacturers, enterprises, and consumers to make better decisions regarding the creation and use of IoT systems. Their latest list includes: Weak Guessable, or Hardcoded Passwords Insecure Network Services Insecure Ecosystem Interfaces Lack of Secure Update Mechanism Use of Insecure or Outdated Components Insufficient Privacy Protection Insecure Data Transfer and Storage Lack of Device Management Insecure Default Settings Lack of Physical Hardening Global cybersecurity expert Moshe Ferber has been focusing on addressing all ten of these threats. A major contributor to various security certifications, research and community initiatives, Ferber is a Member of ISC2 CCSP founding committee, member of the board at Machshava Tova, Chairman of the Cloud Security Alliance, Israeli. Chapter, official lecturer for the Cloud Security Alliance CCSK & ISC2 CCSP, and co-hots of the Silverlining podcast about security engineering. Most recently, he has contributing to the development of Cloud of Things (based in Boston, MA and TelAviv, Israel), and to the advancement of the companys DeviceTone products. When building DeviceTone, we gave considerable amount of attention not only to avoid mistakes that can compromise our devices, but also building an infrastructure that will mitigate the top threats of IOT devices and help others in creating better, protected IOT services, Ferber said. A comprehensive security posture means securing every vulnerability up and down the stack, and from edge to cloud, Ferber explained. We have focused hard on the device software, for example, which generates a unique, device-only, access key kept in a secure location inside the device, without default credentials. Regarding network services, we made sure our management software enables visibility and enforcement on every network service associated with the device, and continuous security updates to make sure each device is running the latest version. Third on OWASPs list, Insecure Ecosystem Interfaces, applies to insecure web, backend API, cloud, or mobile interfaces outside of the device that allows compromise of the device or its related components. Common issues include a lack of authentication/authorization, lacking or weak encryption, and a lack of input and output filtering It is essential for developers to build backend applications on the latest protocols, services and standards, Ferber said. Look for reviews and approvals by security experts, encrypted traffic, API interfaces authenticated with rotating security keys, and further protection through multifactor authentication when human intervention is required. Fourth on the list, Lack of Secure Update Mechanism, can be addressed through over-the-air (OTA) updates and adoption of only download signed firmware on encrypted channel policies. DeviceTone, for example, validates the signed firmware authenticity before installment, while also enabling the entire lifecycle of rolling and rollback of security updates. Use of Insecure or Outdated Components incudes insecure customization of operating system platforms, and the use of third-party software or hardware components from a compromised supply chain. To address this, make sure backend servers are patched periodically, enable OTA updates to devices, and guarantee new devices, as they are installed, have the latest patches and are ready to receive updates securely and simply. Insufficient Privacy Protection occurs when a users personal information stored on the device or in the ecosystem that is used and is not secured or permissioned. The best method to avoid hacking of personal information is to not keep that data on the device, rather moving it to the cloud and a secured location, with access permissions based on least-privilege principles. Privileged Access Management, or PAM, separates duties between device administrators and private data administrators, and any IoT platform should ensure that data from different jurisdictions is kept at the relevant locations (in order to follow GDPR guidelines and other regulatory requirements. Insecure Data Transfer and Storage is another area of the potential attack surface IoT solution providers must keep in mind; according to the OWASP list, this means lack of encryption or access control of sensitive data anywhere within the ecosystem, including at rest, in transit, or during processing. This is resolved by encryption by default for all traffic between devices and backend servers, Ferber said. This will depend on the protocol used, but generally information stored and transmitted should be secure and encrypted by the IoT and the cloud provider, and access to encryption keys should be limited and based on the least principle privilege. Lack of Device Management (security support on devices deployed in production, including asset management, update management, secure decommissioning, systems monitoring, and response capabilities) has become a huge challenge for the IoT vendor as the number of IoT endpoints continues to explode. Enterprises should look for management tools that can handle the entire deployment life cycle of devices, including provisioning, de-provisioning, security updates, monitoring, maintenance and more. Insecure Default Settings, or devices or systems shipped with insecure default settings or lack the ability to make the system more secure by restricting operators from modifying configurations, has lead to pivot attacks for many years, an issue Ferber says can be addressed by provisioning unique passwords per device, on devices which are hardened by default. To be successful in an increasingly sophisticated digital-physical world, its important to ensure hardware, firmware, software and networking security is addressed at every level, without slowing down performance, or creating too much complexity, Ferber summarized. Lack of physical hardening measures, allowing potential attackers to gain sensitive information that can help in a future remote attack or take local control of the device, creates huge risk, so encrypting as much as possible, and creating robust and automatic update process is the new standard. Addressing all ten of OWASPs top ten list for IoT security means enterprises can address to the more complex issues of information security. Edited by Ken Briodagh Lashing out at KP Sharma Olis bizarre claim that the birthplace of Lord Rama is in Nepal, priests in Ayodhya said the neighbour's Prime Minister has made the statements under pressure from China. They condemned Olis claims and called him insane. "Lord Rama was born here. He was born here in Ayodhya near Saryu river. It is a popular belief that he belongs to Ayodhya. It is true that Sita Ji (Lord Rama's wife) was from Nepal, but to claim that Lord Rama was Nepali is wrong. I condemn Oli's statement," Mahant Dinendra Das, Ram Temple Trust member said. Kalki Ram Das Maharaj, president, Rama Dal Trust, went on to say that despite being a Hindu Rashtra the Nepal Prime Minister was working on behalf of China and Pakistan. He recalled one of the lines from religious Hindu books that said The place from where Saryu river flows in the east is Ayodhya. READ | Nepal PM Claims 'real Ayodhya Is Not In India'; Alleges Encroachment Of Cultural Heritage 'Oli unaware of Nepal's history' Das further said that the Saryu river is not situated in Nepal and so his claims remain false. I am challenging him that he will be dethroned in one month," he added. Commenting on the statement, another priest Mahant Paramhansh Acharya said that KP Sharma Oli is not Nepali as he is unaware of his country's history. China had captured over two dozen Nepali villages and to conceal that he is using Lord Rama's name, he said. "Lord Rama belongs to the whole universe. He was born here in Ayodhya. Oli is betraying his people and people of Nepal should protest against him otherwise they have to face ill fate. It does not make a difference whatever he said. Oli is insane," Acharya added. All India Akhada Parishad President Mahant Narendra Giri demanded an apology from KP Sharma Oli for his statement, adding that he should be removed as the Prime Minister of Nepal. "Nepal should apologize now. Oli has lost his conscience. He is on the way to ruin Nepal. He should be removed immediately," he stated. READ | India-Nepal Border Row: BRM Stages Unique Postage Stamp Protest Along Border 'Lord Rama is Nepali not Indian' Making a bizarre and shocking claim on Monday evening, Nepal's KP Sharma Oli said that 'real Ayodhya' - that is the birthplace of Hindu God Ram is in Nepal and not in India. He was quoted by Nepali media saying that Lord Ram is Nepali and India has encroached upon the cultural heritage of Nepal by setting up 'fake Ayodhya', Nepali media reported. This comes amid rising tensions between India and Nepal and reports of China's meddling in Nepal's internal politics. Nepal has recently banned the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan. The current tensions began when Nepal issued a new map claiming Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura - which are a part of India's Uttarakhand - as their territory. READ | Nepal Sends 'diplomatic Note' After Censoring Indian Channels Amid PM Oli's Maneuvering READ | Amid Tensions With India, Cable Operators In Nepal Ban All Indian News Channels Except DD "Educators want to be back in school buildings. We miss and value the relationships we have with students and their families. The careful approach Governor Cooper has taken in all of his re-opening decisions has been deeply appreciated, and while we understand that this was a difficult choice, we must make the safety of our educators and students the first priority," Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said. Unfortunately, educators and parents have been presented with a false dichotomy: the public schools we love, or our safety. We can have both. In order to safely re-open all schools in a way that will protect the health of both students and educators, a significant amount of resources is required. The General Assembly has simply refused to appropriate them. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesBY: JAMES HILL AND AARON KATERSKY, ABC NEWS (NEW YORK) Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and longtime companion of the infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges in a video appearance before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan set a trial date for July 12, 2021. The hearing is still ongoing. Maxwell, 58, is the Oxford-educated daughter of Robert Maxwell, the larger than life publishing baron whose rags-to-riches story captivated England. She lived an extravagant life among the British elite until her father's business empire collapsed in the wake of his death. She fled to New York looking for a fresh start and was soon seen in the company of the mysterious multimillionaire Epstein. In a letter to a Florida state prosecutor related to Epstein's 2008 guilty plea, Epstein's attorneys describe his relationship with Maxwell as one of two "long-term intimate relationships" Epstein had in adulthood. Maxwell has asserted in court filings that she entered Epstein's employ in 1999, where she remained, despite the eventual end of their romantic relationship, until at least 2006. Maxwell is now facing a reckoning for her alleged role in facilitating Epstein's sexual abuse of young women. She was arrested by federal authorities in New Hampshire earlier this month and is facing a six-count federal indictment alleging that she conspired with Epstein in a multi-state sex trafficking scheme involving three unnamed minor victims between 1994 and 1997. Prosecutors contend Maxwell not only "befriended" and later "enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein, through a variety of means and methods," but was also, at times, "present for and involved" in the abuse herself. Maxwell has repeatedly denied those allegations, both in court filings and in a sworn deposition, claiming through her attorneys to have "had no involvement in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged misconduct." But several of Epstein's alleged victims tell an entirely different story, one that often places Maxwell in a role that was central to their abuse. Maxwell has been named as a defendant in five lawsuits from alleged Epstein victims, and in at least three others, alleged victims identify her as one of Epstein's primary recruiters." According to Brad Edwards, an attorney who represents several of Epstein's alleged victims, Maxwell's role in Epstein's story is clear. "Ghislaine Maxwell created Jeffrey Epstein," Edwards told ABC News. "She helped to create the monster that we later understood him to be." Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. A bit of a panic set in on Tuesday when Lok Sabha Secretariat informed members of the Department Related Standing Committee for Public Accounts that a joint director-level officer from the PAC Committee staff had tested positive on Tuesday. A call was made by Parliament to all the 15-plus MPs and other officers about the case and they were advised to go for self-quarantine. Immediately after receiving the information, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar put out a tweet saying he is going into self-quarantine for a week. CNN News18 spoke exclusively to PAC Committee Chairman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary. He said, "I was informed and I immediately conveyed the same to the Lok Sabha speaker. As per the rules, I will be at home for the next seven days." The Congress Lok Sabha floor leader also expressed concern over the large number of cases. "Cases are still very high... It will be a tough call to see how Parliament session can happen keeping everyone safe," he said. DMK leader TR Baalu told CNN News18, "I attended the meeting and am back to my village... I will obey the protocol I will quarantine myself. Each one of us was checked for temperature before we entered the meeting... Nobody being ill or having fever, etc, was reported that day." Bhartuhari Mahtab from the BJD was also present in the meeting. "I have quarantined myself upon getting the information about the officer and wish the said officer well," he said. Some BJP MPs, however, said they do not see the need for quarantine as of now. Baghpat MP Dr Satyapal Singh told CNN News18, "I do not see how we could've caught infection. We were sitting at a very far off distance from the official. We were at the other end of this huge meeting room. At this time, I dont see a reason to quarantine." Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh told CNN News18, "Parliament has advised us to quarantine, but the distance between the said officer and where I was sitting was easily 100 to 150 feet away. Plus, I have done Covid tests practically each week. So I don't see why I should quarantine." BJP MP from Surat Darshana Jardosh told CNN News18, "I came back to Surat from the meet and right at the airport, I was advised home quarantine since I came from a place which has a high caseload (Delhi). So, I have thankfully been in self-quarantine since my return." Interestingly, the Lok Sabha Secretariat shows the names of those MPs who attended the meeting on July 10. The list includes the name of TMC deputy floor leader Sukhendu Sekhar Ray. Upon being called by CNN News18 for a comment, Roy was shocked to see his name there. Roy said, "I hope it was a mere clerical mistake. I did not attend the meeting. I did not deem it fit to travel to Delhi in the midst of this pandemic. I had informed my unavailability to committee chairman in writing too." This comes in at a time when India has clocked over 9 lakh COVID-19 cases and a vaccine is nowhere in sight. Also at a time when both Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman are holding meetings to see the best way to hold Parliament monsoon session ensuring the health and safety for once and for all. The committee meetings were being seen as a dress rehearsal for the session to see if a full session can happen. Parliament abruptly had to be adjourned sine die on March 23 March as coronavirus cases were being seen on the rise. Complete nationwide lockdown for three weeks was declared from that midnight by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The government will also have to look at calling for a session before September 23 six months time must not exceed between two sessions as the rules state. By Asad Mirza, TwoCircles.net In a completely uncalled for move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has revised its syllabus for students of Classes 9 to 12 in the name of handling the stressful situation of teachers and students amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Support TwoCircles The Union Human Resource Development (HRD) minister Ramesh Pokhriyal in a series of Tweets, earlier this week said that, Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, it has been decided to rationalise syllabus up to 30% by retaining the core concepts. This has been done for annual exams for the year 2020-21. Deleted Topics CBSE has removed several chapters from various subjects to reduce the course load on teachers and students. Some of the important chapters that have been deleted include Federalism, citizenship, nationalism and secularism from class 11th political science subject besides Indias foreign relations with neighbouring countries and citizenship. A complete chapter on Social and New Social Movements in India from class 12th political science paper has also been removed. Demonetisation from class 12th Business Studies paper has been removed too besides Colonialism and the countryside colonial cities and understanding partition from class 12th History subject. A complete topic on GST from class 11th Business Studies subject also got removed. Complete chapters on population, democratic rights and food security in India from class 9th social science subject. Besides a chapter on girl education by renowned Hindi writer Mahavir Prasad Dwivedi has been deleted from class 10th Hindi subject. The board also said that it has asked the heads of schools to ensure that the topics that have been left out are explained to the students to the extent required to connect different topics. The reduced syllabus will, however, not be part of the topics for Internal Assessment and year-end board examinations.Though the CBSEs move is purported to lift the burden off the shoulders of students and teachers in the immediate term and allow them to pay more attention to the quality of learning. Yet, the selection of topics deleted from the textbooks makes one wonder over the rationale to pick these particular topics or chapters. Most of the deleted topics form the foundation of democratic societies and students need to learn about these to enhance their knowledge base. The irrational exclusions smack off a political tone i.e. to keep a large and young part of the population unaware of these issues. We should not forget that depriving the young generation of its right to increase its knowledge base is not only authoritarian but it might also boomerang. In its defence, the CBSE also issued a press statement, citing the pandemic and NCERT recommendation for the syllabus revision. So far, only the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the Opposition ranks has criticised the move. A careful study of the deleted topics reveals that they include issues, which the current leaders do not want most people to know or discuss. Instead, it wants to insert a completely new narrative on these issues based on its ideological lines. We should remember that Sangh ideologues had been working surreptitiously on rewriting the Indian history school textbooks for the last 25 years and they have now been made part of the syllabus. But the move didnt attract much attention due to the surreptitious manner in which it was done. Draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 The overall intent and decision makers mindset will be clearer, if we make efforts to study the Draft National Education Policy (NEP) introduced in 2019, in tandem with the latest move. The NEP was expected to change the government funding on education, the structure of school education, the curricular design for school and higher education, the nature of teacher training and recruitment, among others. However, a critical study of the 484-page NEP 2019 reveals an issue deserving of wider, more heated opposition. The words secular or secularism are not found anywhere in the NEP 2019. Though a clear reference to secular education was vital to be seen as the base for these ambitious reform proposals. The absence of the word secular in the NEP 2019 becomes all the more pronounced when seen in contrast to the earlier policies of mentioning secularism as a core Indian value for the Indian education. The omission of the words secular and secularism in the NEP 2019 is ominous, along with the frequent affirmation of its aim of inculcating constitutional values in the education system, making it doubly odd. In contemporary India, which has seen a sharp rise in caste and religious violence, the curriculum and teaching methods in Indian classrooms have a key role to play in making caste and religious prejudices in society irrelevant and out of time. The challenge is to find fresh and creative ways of making young minds grasp these difficult contemporary social realities. You have to understand that you cant hide history by giving it a new twist. Even in countries like the UK, there are demands to teach medieval history to school students. If the government thinks that by hiding the truth on its controversial decisions, they will be-fool people or hide their misjudgments then they are wrong. History will ultimately judge the present government, whether they like it or not. Asad Mirza is a senior journalist and commentator based in New Delhi. He was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai. He writes on Muslims, educational, international affairs and interfaith issues. He can be reached at: [email protected]. Max was last seen in Port Campbell, south Victoria, in April 2005 at the age of 19 The father of a backpacker who mysteriously vanished more than a decade ago has died without finding out what happened to his son. Rolf Castor's son Max was last seen in Port Campbell, south Victoria, in April 2005. He was 19 years old when he vanished and had been in Australia just five months after arriving from Sweden. Max's heartbroken father, who lives in Sweden, spent the next 15 years searching for clues surrounding Max's strange disappearance, but he never lost hope. With the help of a Facebook group dedicated to finding the missing backpacker, Mr Castor would spend hours each day poring over leads that could determine his son's whereabouts. In his final public post on the Facebook page, Mr Castor wished Max a happy 35th birthday. 'If you are out there and see this you can get in touch!' he wrote in April, a month before he died. The teenager closed his bank account before he disappeared and sent a letter to his father, along with all his possessions including passport and return plane ticket. Rolf Castor (pictured) spent the next 15 years searching for clues surrounding Max's strange disappearance, but he never lost hope 'Something strange has happened to me and I don't know how to cope with it,' the note read, which was written in English. 'I am tired of myself but there is still so much beauty in the world. Now I am vanishing no tears.' Victorian police investigated, but Max was never seen or heard of again. Mr Castor believed Max was alive until he died in his sleep at the age of 77, Yahoo reported. Victorian police investigated, but Max was never seen or heard of again. Until he died peacefully in his sleep, Mr Castor believed Max was alive 'I believe he has found some type of other community and could be living off the land, maybe even with a wife and kid I wouldn't be the least bit astonished,' he told Yahoo in 2018. Max's siblings will continue managing the Facebook page dedicated to finding their missing brother. 'We would like to officially thank Victoria Police, [investigators] Danielle and Chris, and all Australians that have been helping us through the last 15 years,' Max's sister Olu told the publication. A memorial will be held for Mr Castor in Viken, Sweden, on July 18. There have been no developments in Max Castor's case, though investigations by Victoria Police are ongoing. William Marcus Marc Wilson believed he was standing his ground when he fired at a pickup truck he says was trying to run his car off the road as he drove home with his girlfriend one night last month. He had a licensed handgun with him, and he might have assumed that he was covered by Georgias stand your ground law, which reads, in part, A person who uses threats or force ... in defense of self or others ... in defense of a habitation, or in defense of property other than a habitation, has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and use force ... including deadly force. But Wilson, 21, a college student from Statesboro, Ga., a small city in the southeast part of the state, is Black, and according to his family and attorneys, that has made a big difference in how he has been treated. Wilson, charged with murder in the death of a teenaged girl who was riding in the truck, has been in jail since June 17. This is bigger than Marc, said his aunt SaJuana Williams meaning it raises the question of whether the principle of stand your ground applies to Black men when they are threatened by whites. Francys Johnson, Wilsons attorney, recounted last week at a press conference what he alleges happened the night of the shooting. Wilson and his girlfriend were driving home from picking up food at a Taco Bell in Statesboro at 12:30 a.m. on June 14 when a group of white men approached them in a Silverado pickup truck, said Johnson. The group was hanging out of the window, waving their arms and yelling racial slurs at the couple and shouting your lives dont matter. The group also allegedly called Wilson a n***** and his girlfriend a "n***** lover" before throwing an object that struck Wilsons car. The pickup trucks driver then allegedly tried to run Wilsons much smaller Ford Focus off the road before, according to Johnson, Wilson defended his life by using a legally registered firearm to shoot at the truck. A passenger in the truck, 17-year old Haley Hutcheson, was struck and later died from a gunshot wound. Story continues The police report from the incident said Statesboro Police were called just before 1 a.m. on June 14 about a possible drive-by shooting. Investigative records released by the department include accounts from the passengers in the Silverado truck, who say two or three shots were fired before a final bullet entered through the trucks back window, striking Hutcheson. Members of Wilsons defense team say that police have given more credibility to the white teenagers accounts than Wilsons. They also claim police have also yet to mention Wilsons claim of self-defense in public statements about the case. Marc Wilson believed he was "standing his ground" when he fired at the pickup truck he says was trying to run his car off the road as he drove home with his girlfriend one night last month. Wilson was later charged with murder in the death of Haley Hutcheson, right, a 17-year-old who was riding in the truck. (Family photos) The judge in the case last Tuesday postponed a preliminary hearing for Wilson because two witnesses for the defense were exposed to COVID-19. The judge also imposed a gag order barring attorneys, investigators or anyone connected to the case from speaking to the media, the day after defense lawyers in the case held a news conference to give Wilsons side of the story. Johnsons office declined Yahoo News request for comment on why the judge imposed the gag order. A date for the next hearing has not been announced. During a press conference on June 17, Hutcheson's parents said their daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time. "You took a beautiful child from this sister, that child did not deserve to get what she got," said Robert Baggett, Hutcheson's grandfather. There can be mercy. There can be forgiveness, the girls uncle, Brent Holcombe, said at the same presser. But justice has to be served. Later that day Wilson turned himself in to police. Hes been in jail for nearly a month on charges of felony murder and aggravated assault. Police also charged 18-year-old Luke Harry Conley, who was in the pickup truck with Hutcheson, with misdemeanor obstruction of a law enforcement officer. Conley told police the shooting was unprovoked, but investigators later found out Conley was seen yelling out of the trucks window before the shooting. It is believed that Conley has involvement in the case, a supplemental report says. He was seen yelling out of a window of the victim vehicle just prior to the shooting. Conley also allegedly encouraged his friends to withhold information, according to Atlanta Black Star. Conley did not respond to Yahoo News request for comment. Supporters of Wilson say his actions would be covered under the states Stand Your Ground laws, which allows the use of deadly force to defend themselves based on a reasonable belief that such force is necessary to prevent death, bodily injury or a forcible felony. A Change.org petition seeking Justice for Williams Marcus Wilson has been signed by more than 90,000 people as of Tuesday afternoon. Marc Wilson and his parents (Family photo) Another attorney for Wilson, Mawuli Davis, said he plans to use a stand your ground defense. Davis argues that if anyone is guilty in the death of Hutcheson, it should be someone in the truck. Rarely do we see successful stand your ground or self-defense claims when Black people attempt to assert them, said Davis. This is a real test of whether the legal system in Georgia can be just for all citizens. Rev. James Woodall, president of the Georgia NAACP, said last week during a Zoom press conference that the case appears to be shaping up to be a public lynching. He suspects that Wilsons race he is the son of a black father and a white mother explains why he is in jail. If Black people cannot stand their ground as well, then nobody should be able to, Woodall said. There are other instances of stand your ground laws being unequally applied. A Black woman, Florida resident Marrissa Alexander, 38, spent six years behind bars or confined to her home after her stand your ground defense was rejected. She was convicted of aggravated assault charges in 2012 for firing a warning shot at her husband, who she said had abused her. In contrast, earlier this year, George Barnhill, the original prosecutor in the case of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man shot to death by two white men as he jogged past them, pointed to the Georgia stand your ground law as one of the reasons he refused to pursue charges against Gregory McMichael, 64, and Travis McMichael, 32. The McMichaels were later arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault two months after Arberys killing, after a new prosecutor was assigned to the case. Everything about the scenario is trash, said Nse Ufot, CEO of the New Georgia Project, a large-scale civic engagement organization that works with young people of color to transform the politics of the state. Justice is the Wilson family being reunited and Marc being able to come home, recognizing that until the stand your ground laws in Georgia change, this appears to be a scenario where this young man and his defense team should be able to avail themselves of this type of defense. I don't understand, from all of the facts that have been made available to us and to the public, how stand your ground does not apply here, she said. It leads us to further interrogate how the court is applying the standard, how the investigators and the cops and the sheriffs are applying a standard, and whether or not Black people, whether or not Black Americans, are entitled to the full protection of the law. Marc Wilson's aunt, SuJuana Williams, and his cousin, Chance Pridgen. Wilsons cousin, Chance Pridgen, who is white, said he believes if he had pulled the trigger, he would not have been prosecuted. Stand your ground is implemented across the country many times, but I do strongly believe that it was not implemented or extended to my cousin because of him being a biracial young man, Pridgen said in a video chat interview with Yahoo News. I feel pretty strong that had that been me, the prosecution would have never happened. This entire ordeal has made Pridgen more aware of injustice happening in the country and he feels like everything is happening for a reason. I can honestly say it has opened my eyes a lot to everything thats going around in the world today, he said. Up until this incident, I cant say that Ive ever experienced real racism until Ive seen some of the stuff thats been said about my cousin. I believe Gods using this family to show the world that we can all love one another. We can all be united. We dont have to be divided or hate one another, just because of the way we look. Williams, Wilsons aunt, added that their family, which includes Black, white and Hispanic members, will show the world that love is going to conquer all because we are a loving people because we are a family. Marc Wilson's family members She spoke to Marc last Thursday and added that hes in good spirits and staying grounded in his faith. When I talked to him yesterday, he even said to me, Auntie, at first I was wondering, why is this happening?, she recalled. And then I thought about it. He said, God is in this. And God has put me in the situation that Im going to be a better person once its over. ... He knows that we love him. Were behind him. Williams is thankful that Wilson is alive to tell his truth. The good thing about our case [is that] my nephew is living, Williams said. Hes able to tell his story. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: While several of the most significant numeric and statistical measures relating to the coronavirus continue to rise, and while we understand our continuing responsibility to address students educational, social and emotional needs, it is the Boards judgment that the best course of action in the near term is not to have students return to the classroom while coronavirus indicators increase, the school board said in a statement. By Trend Speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament Sahiba Gafarova appealed to Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Turkic-speaking countries (TURKPA) Altynbek Mamayusupov, President of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Chairperson of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentina Matviyenko, the Azerbaijani parliament told Trend on July 14. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery and tried to capture Azerbaijan's positions. "In response to Armenias attempts, the Azerbaijani side took urgent and adequate measures and as a result, further advance of the Armenian armed forces was prevented, the appeal reads. Having additionally militarized the border areas between the two countries, the Armenian side purposefully and systematically targets the civilian population." Armenias such an irresponsible military policy is caused by Armenia's ntention to involve the military-political organizations, in which it is a member, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as to avoid responsibility for the aggressive policy which is carried out against Azerbaijan, the appeal reads. In her appeals, Gafarova emphasizes that the UN Security Councils resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 require the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied Azerbaijani territories. However, the latest provocative acts committed by the Armenian side on the border again show that Yerevan is categorically not interested in the peaceful settlement of the conflict. "Another important point is that Armenia committed these provocative actions during the period when the entire international community is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the message said. Consequently, the continued violation of the ceasefire by Armenia shows that the support for the global call for ceasefire in connection with COVID-19 of the UN secretary general is mere hypocrisy, the message said. Therefore, as MPs, we ask the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to ensure the process of sending a letter addressed by the speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament to all member-states. At the same time, we urge the organizations members to condemn Armenias aggressive actions, the ongoing policy of aggression against Azerbaijan and this recent provocation in the border region, the appeal reads. Gafarova said that the Armenian leadership is fully responsible for the consequences of the attacks on the positions of the Azerbaijani State Border Service along the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and the losses. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Kannada blockbuster Love Mocktail directed and produced by Krishna is all set to be remade in Telugu. The Tollywood remake has been locked and it will reportedly star Satyadev Kancharana and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles. The romantic drama will be directed by Nagashekar and co-produced by Bhavna Ravi. Moreover, Kala Bhairava has been roped in to compose music of the film. The cinematography department will be handled by Satya Hegde. Love Mocktail's Telugu remake is all set to go on floors in September. For those who are unversed, Love Mocktail also stars Milana Nagaraj in the lead role. Notably, the actress has also produced the film. Released on January 31, 2020, Love Mocktail turned out to be a surprise package for all, and become a blockbuster despite being promoted on a low scale. The romantic drama caught everyone's attention and we hope the Telugu remake will do justice to the original. Talking about the lead pair of the Telugu remake of Love Mocktail, Satyadev was last seen in Pradeep Maddali's directorial venture 47 Days, which released on ZEE5. On the other hand, Tamannaah Bhatia will next be seen in Seetimaarr and That Is Mahalakshmi. She is also a part of the Hindi film, Bole Chudiyan opposite Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Also Read : Krishna On Love Mocktail 2: 'I Am Ready To Start The Shooting, Will Feature A New Heroine' After this news, fans can't wait to see Satyadev and Tamannaah romance in Love Mocktail's Telugu remake. Also Read : Tamannaah Bhatia To Essay Key Role In Pawan Kalyan's Vakeel Saab? Blaine Kern, who helped turn Mardi Gras in New Orleans into a huge event known around the world, most notably through the innovative and spectacular parade floats he designed and built, died on June 25 at his home in the city. He was 93. His son Barry, who confirmed the death, said he had developed an infection after falling from an exercise bike. Like Walt Disney, to whom he was often compared, Mr. Kern was an artist, a businessman and a showman all in one. He was also a visionary designer: His parade floats had double decks, multipart structures, lights, animation and many other features that later became common in the various parades in the city. Two of his most famous floats are the Bacchasaurus, a nearly life-size dinosaur, and the Bacchagator, a 105-foot-long alligator, both built for the Krewe of Bacchus, one of the social groups behind the celebration and one known for its elaborate parade floats. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (Reuters) Tue, July 14, 2020 07:17 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406660b713 2 World Mexico,presidential-plane,barter-trading,medical-equipment Free Mexico's government is considering a $120 million bid for a luxurious presidential jet after an unidentified prospective buyer offered to pay part in cash and part in medical equipment, a government official said on Monday. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has made selling the Boeing 787 Dreamliner of his predecessor a cornerstone of his campaign for a more frugal government. Last week he traveled economy class on a commercial airline to a summit with US President Donald Trump. Jorge Mendoza, who heads a state-owned development bank involved in the sale, told a regular news conference the president had instructed him not to offload the jet, and other planes and helicopters on sale, for less than their value. "The offer is in cash and also a part in medical equipment," Mendoza said, adding that he could not yet give more details or identify the buyer for reasons of confidentiality. Like many nations, Mexico has been scrambling to source medical supplies including oxygen, ventilators and masks during the coronavirus pandemic. Both the United States and China's governments have helped with equipment. The sale of the jet, acquired by former President Enrique Pena Nieto in 2012 and fitted with marble-lined bathrooms, has proven tough. In January, Lopez Obrador said one potential buyer offered $125 million. But Mexico could not sell it below a United Nations-backed valuation of $130 million, he explained then. It was not immediately clear why Mexico was now considering a lower offer, although the plane may have decreased in value while in storage. The government has separately launched a raffle aimed at raising the value of the plane in return for cash prizes. Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on July 14, 2020 2020/07/14 CCTV: According to a press release from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) of the US Department of Defense on July 9, the US State Department has approved a request from Taiwan to recertify its Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles for an estimated cost of $620 million. Lockheed Martin would be the prime contractor for this sale. What is your comment? Zhao Lijian: China firmly opposes US arms sales to Taiwan and urges the US to honor its commitment to the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and stop selling arms to and having military ties with Taiwan to avoid further damage to China-US bilateral relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. In order to safeguard our national interests, China has decided to take necessary measures and impose sanctions on the prime contractor for this sale Lockheed Martin. Global Times: The Japanese government released the Defense of Japan 2020 white paper on July 14, saying that China has continued unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East China Sea and the South China Sea, seized military bases through the Belt and Road cooperation, and sought political and economic interests for itself through offering anti-epidemic assistance. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: Japan's Defense of Japan 2020 white paper is fraught with bias against China and false information. China has already stated its solemn position. As a responsible major country firmly committed to pursuing a neighborhood diplomacy of building friendships and partnerships with its neighbors and upholding a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, China has been safeguarding, building and contributing to world peace, stability and prosperity. At the same time, China is unswerving in upholding its sovereignty, security and development interests. Japan should work with China to build constructive security relations and play a positive role in safeguarding regional peace and stability. Macau Monthly: On July 13 local time, US Secretary of State Pompeo issued a statement saying that China's maritime claims in the South China Sea have no basis in international law. The US urges relevant countries to reject China's maritime rights claims. The statement also says the Arbitral Tribunal's decision is legally binding on both China and the Philippines. Do you have any comment? Zhao Lijian: The US statement disregards the historical facts in the South China Sea and breaks the US government's public commitment of not taking a position on the South China Sea sovereignty issue. It violates and distorts international law, deliberately stokes territorial and maritime disputes, and undermines regional peace and stability. This is an irresponsible act. In this statement, the US claims that China formally announced the dotted line in the South China Sea in 2009. That's not true. China's sovereignty, rights and interests in the South China Sea have been established over the long course of history. China has effectively exercised jurisdiction over relevant islands, reefs and waters in the South China Sea for thousands of years. Back in 1948, the Chinese government officially published the dotted line with no other country raising any dispute for a very long period of time. China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea are solidly grounded in history and law and consistent with relevant international law and practice. China never seeks to build a "maritime empire" in the South China Sea. We always treat our South China Sea neighbors as equals and exercise maximum restraint when safeguarding our sovereignty, rights and interests in the South China Sea. The US, on the contrary, refuses to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), cannot stop itself from withdrawing from one international treaty and organization after another, and only chooses to comply with international law when the occasion serves its own interests. It frequently dispatches large fleets of advanced military vessels and aircraft to the South China Sea to drive militarization. Its power politics logic and bullying behaviors demonstrate that the US is the real destroyer and trouble-maker upsetting peace and stability in the region. The international community can see this very clearly. With regard to the South China Sea arbitration and the so-called Award, China's position is consistent, clear and firm. The Arbitral Tribunal violated the principle of state consent and exercised its jurisdiction ultra vires. There are obvious errors in fact finding and law application in the Award. And many countries have questioned this point. The US is hyping up the arbitration to serve its own political purposes, which is an abuse international maritime law. China will never accept it. Pursuant to the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed by China and the ASEAN Member States in 2002, China is committed to resolving territorial and jurisdictional disputes through friendly consultations and negotiations with sovereign states directly concerned and to jointly maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea with ASEAN countries. Currently, with the concerted efforts of China and ASEAN states, the situation in the South China Sea is basically stable. China and ASEAN nations are not only honoring the DOC, but also accelerating and advancing consultations on more binding Code of Conduct (COC) to jointly safeguard peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. There has been positive progress in relevant consultations. The relations between China and ASEAN members have been further strengthened and enhanced in our cooperation against COVID-19. The US, as a country outside the region, wishes nothing but chaos in the South China Sea so that it can gain from the muddied waters. To this end, it goes to great lengths to stoke trouble and sow discord between China and other regional countries, thwarting and undermining efforts by China and ASEAN countries to maintain peace and stability. The US statement also deliberately warped the Chinese delegate's remarks at the 2010 ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Meeting. To get facts straight, what the Chinese delegate said at the meeting was that China always holds that countries, big or small, are all equals; relevant disputes should be resolved peacefully through negotiation and consultation by parties directly concerned based on the merits of the issue. The US will never succeed in driving a wedge among regional countries. We strongly deplore and firmly oppose the wrong move by the US and urge it to stop stirring up trouble on the South China Sea and stop going further down the wrong path. China will always firmly defend its sovereignty and security, safeguard friendly cooperative relations with regional countries, and uphold peace and stability in the South China Sea. ITV News: What response can the British government expect from China if today, as expected, the Prime Minister moves to block Huawei technologies? Zhao Lijian: Whether the UK will provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory environment for Chinese businesses offers a telling clue to how the post-Brexit British market will perform and how secure China's investment will be in that country. So, we will be closely following the situation. AFP: Just one follow-up regarding the South China Sea question. Will you be taking any moves in response to what the US Secretary of State has said? The second question is a follow-up to what we asked yesterday about France reducing the number of flights by Chinese airlines between both countries. We understand the Chinese embassy in France has made some comments, but we are wondering if negotiations are still on-going and if China has plans to increase the number of flights that Air France can operate? Zhao Lijian: On your first question, I have made clear China's position. My answer to the previous question is quite thorough. On your second question, I am not aware of the specific issue. I advise you to check with the competent authority. NHK: China has been criticizing US military of violating China's territorial sovereignty and threatening its national security in the South China Sea. There are suspicions that China is planning to set up Air Defense Identification Zones in the South China Sea. Could you tell us more about China's position? Zhao Lijian: We stated our position on this issue on many occasions. Every nation has the right to set up an ADIZ and will determine whether to do so based on the level of security threats it faces in the air. China will take into account various factors, including the security threats we face above the relevant waters in the South China Sea and meticulously and prudently study the relevant issue. Sky News: Doesn't the fact that China is issuing threats to the UK, for instance, the Chinese ambassador to the UK saying the UK is treating China as a hostile country if it bans Huawei, show that Huawei and the Chinese government are too close? Zhao Lijian: You are taking words out of context. I suggest you read the transcript of Ambassador Liu Xiaoming's press briefing carefully from start to finish. Amitabh Bachchan, Indias reel-life Iron Man, has tested positive for the coronavirus. With this, the realisation has hit home that the rich and hyper-privileged are no longer invulnerable and the pandemic is in full flow. The number of fresh cases in the last 24 hours rose to 28,637, and the national tally, which took 109 days to breach the benchmark of one lakh cases, crossed eight lakhs on Saturday with a one-lakh jump over just four days. Resource-strapped state governments have responded to the renewed crisis by locking back down particular districts and containment zones for weeks and/or weekends Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra among them. Nonetheless, as amply demonstrated, a lockdown in itself is no solution unless it is accompanied by a clear strategy of combating the coronavirus that includes testing, contact tracing and ramping up of infrastructure. These, as well as ground-level enforcement of the new lockdowns, are sadly missing. However, even as the RBI governor made dire prognostications, the government cannot keep wavering between a lockdown and reopening and, in the face of this emergency, needs must privilege health over business. Encouragingly, the Kerala story and more recently Delhi has shown that if there is political will, there is indeed a way to flatten the case curve. In Delhi, the ITBP is operating a 10,000-bed hospital to care for Covid-19 patients. This is a welcome departure from the laughably empty gesture of showering flower petals on Covid-19 facilities that the Air Force had indulged in a few months back, and it is advised that the services of the Army Medical Corps and Military Nursing Service be deployed at vulnerable areas on a priority. One of Indias other strengths in the war against coronavirus is its expertise in generic drug manufacturing. The government must tap into its strengths and plug its weaknesses in terms of filling the gap in its testing infrastructure soon to be overwhelmed by the burgeoning cases. It is no point hiding these cases. Dissimulation, with the tacit support of the administration, and suppression of death count data as well as data on infections will prove detrimental sooner, not later. Reports of bodies of Covid-19 patients being thrown together into trenches and being carried to the graveyard in autorickshaws have caused outrage among readers. Policing should be stepped up at crematoriums and burial grounds and municipal and hospital records should be matched at regular intervals to put a curb on these practices. The Union government is on the right track in promoting home quarantine for asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients, so as not to burden the already-swamped health infrastructure, now crumbling under the pressure of the pandemic. This is something we missed during the early days of the lockdown. But since health is a state subject, the responsibility of implementing this policy correctly falls on state governments. Instead of fearing stigma on their parts, it is a good idea to involve gram panchayats and resident welfare associations in the process and put them in charge of monitoring the isolation, access to medicine and further testing of patients. Telemedicine and health apps can be promoted to minimise doctor-patient contact, save valuable time and contain the virus spread. In Delhi, the pulse oximeter has proved to be the patients best friend, but its price has quadrupled under heavy demand. Subsidising the device will go a long way in providing relief to patients. It is not a single big measure, but small, incremental steps, taken relentlessly with courage in our hearts, that will ultimately win the fight against the coronavirus. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has declared victory in the country's economic war with the United States, adding that Tehran has successfully overcome Washington's sanctions, as reported by domestic media on Tuesday. "The Americans were expecting that the country's economy would come to a halt a while after the onset of the sanctions, but today we have managed to run the country with planning and reliance on oil-free economy," Rouhani said at a high-level economic meeting, as quoted by the Iranian news agency Tasnim. These measures have allowed the Iranian economy to show its strength and not be beaten by the United States, the president added. "This is a display of power and a major victory for the Iranian nation in the economic war," Rouhani was quoted as saying. The United States has levied ever-toughening sanctions on Iran as part of President Donald Trump's campaign of so-called maximum pressure, which began once Washington pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, in 2018. Leading officials in Tehran, such as Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have called on Washington to ease sanctions amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic, although the Trump administration refused to take this course of action. WASHINGTON President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed phony polls showing a tight presidential race in Texas, saying hes way ahead because he saved the oil industry, and later adding, I created it. Were doing well in Texas, Trump said during a roundtable discussion at the White House with Americans who say they were helped, and in some cases saved, by police officers. A BATTLEGROUND STATE? Why Trump vs. Biden will likely be closest Texas presidential race in decades I read where I was one point up in Texas, Trump said. Im not one point up in Texas, were many points up I saved the oil industry, two months ago I saved the oil industry. The president continued: I created it. We became No. 1. We have millions of jobs and we saved it so Texas is not going to have to let go of millions and millions of people. Trump did not specify what he did to save the industry, which has seen multibillion dollar losses and nearly 100,000 layoffs during a massive downturn sparked by the coronavirus. Were at $40 dollars a barrel and yet you can buy gasoline for under $2 nobodys ever seen it like that, the president said. While the price of oil has rebounded to $40, it remains too low for most producers in Texas shale oil fields to turn a profit. Were No. 1 in oil as you know, oil and gas by far. Were now No. 1 in the world, Trump said. And we wouldve had millions of people out of work. I saved it. And then they said Im leading by one point in Texas. To think that after saving the oil and gas business and millions and millions of jobs, Im leading Texas by one point? I dont think so. Though no Democratic presidential candidate has won Texas since Jimmy Carter in 1976, early polls have shown President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden tied in Texas. Trump has been a vocal booster for the oil industry, and has had some successes in aiding the industry through the downturn, including working with Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members the OPEC+ group to win a 10 million barrel per-day cut in crude production. THEYVE THROWN SOME CRUMBS: Trump struggles to bail out oil sector after unprecedented drop in demand, threatening Texas Still, the president has struggled to get aid to an industry suffering under an unprecedented drop in energy demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. Poll after poll shows the same result: Texas is the biggest battleground state and Trump is in a dogfight with Joe Biden in the state, said Abhi Rahman, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party. Texans are experiencing the cost of Donald Trumps failed leadership across the state. None more so than the oil industry, which has suffered record lows and continues to lay off Texans everyday. ben.wermund@chron.com At the behest of President Donald Trump, Republicans moved most of the high-profile portions of their quadrennial gathering from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Jacksonville after Democratic North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper refused to let the convention go on without having social distancing measures in place. SAN CARLOS, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Empirical Spine, Inc., a Silicon-Valley based medical technology company, announced today that data from the IDE study of the company's LimiFlex Paraspinous Tension Band for patients suffering from degenerative spondylolisthesis with lumbar spinal stenosis, will be presented at the 27th International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques. IMAST, originally scheduled April 1-4, 2020 in Athens, Greece, will take place as a series of live, online presentations during July and August 2020. On Saturday, July 18, Dr. Rick Sasso of Indiana Spine Group and co-Principal Investigator of the LimiFlex IDE Study will present preliminary safety and outcomes data from 93 subjects with 12 months follow-up. The presentation and accompanying paper have additionally been nominated for the prestigious Whitecloud Award for Best Clinical Research Paper. About LimiFlex The LimiFlex Paraspinous Tension Band is a new, investigational device designed as an alternative to spinal fusion for patients receiving surgical decompression for grade 1 lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis with spinal stenosis. LimiFlex does not involve any screws or bone grafts, which eliminate the natural motion between spine segments. Instead, LimiFlex is designed to stabilize the spine without fusing it, thereby preserving motion. The device works by supporting and enhancing the spine's natural biomechanics with stabilizing yet flexible elements. The LimiFlex device is placed following a standard decompression surgery, typically in less than 30 minutes. About Empirical Spine Empirical Spine, Inc., founded in 2015, is a privately held company developing advanced solutions for the surgical treatment of spinal disorders. The company is currently running a pivotal IDE trial in the US on its breakthrough, motion-preserving Paraspinous Tension Band, LimiFlex. LimiFlex is a minimally invasive implant that stabilizes the spine after decompression surgery yet preserves motion. Caution: The LimiFlex Paraspinous Tension Band is an investigational device in the United States and is limited by law to investigational use. SOURCE Empirical Spine Related Links limiflex.com Redmi Note 9 Pro is going on sale later today. The popular smartphone from the company will be available to buyers via a flash sale that will start at 12pm today via Amazon and Xiaomi India website. One of the most popular budget segment devices in the country, the phone will be available in two storage options, with the entry one getting 4GB RAM + 64GB storage priced at Rs 13,999, while the 6GB+128GB variant getting a price tag of Rs 16,999. Both the variants will be available in three different colour options -- Aurora Blue, Glacier White and Interstellar Black. In terms of the design, the phone offers a refined look which has been a hit with buyers in the segment. The Redmi Note 9 Pro brings the company's Aura Balance design philosophy, with the phone housing a 6.67-inch display with support for up to Full HD+ resolutions (2400x1080). The panel is IPS in technology and boasts of 20:9 aspect ratio which is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Under the hood, the Redmi Note 9 Pro gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset. The chipset gets 8 Kyro 465 cores for handling both performance heavy and general tasks. This 8nm fabricated chipset also houses an Adreno 618 GPU for improved performance in games. The chipset has been paired to up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of storage on the Redmi Note 9 Pro. For cameras, the Redmi Note 9 Pro promises strong performance for the price it commands. It gets a 48-megapixel lens-based quad camera. The primary lens is a Samsung ISOCELL GM2 with support for technologies such as PDAF and Super Stablisation. Sat next to it is an 8-Megapixel ultra-wide lens with a 120-degree field of view. The camera set-up also brings a 5-megapixel lens for clicking macros and another 2-megapixel one for depth sensing. For selfies, there's a 16-megapixel AI camera. Keeping the lights on the device is a 5020mAh battery, however, unlike the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, the Note 9 Pro only gets support for 18W fast charging. Israel is no stranger to being singled out for criticism, having been condemned by the U.N. Human Rights Council more times than the rest of the world combined. Now, the drumbeat of opposition to the Jewish states plan to annex parts of the West Bank represents the latest chapter in this pattern of hypocrisy. Democrats in both chambers of the U.S. Congress are coming out forcefully against annexation, not only criticizing the development but proposing concrete steps in the realm of funding. Thirteen U.S. senators on July 2 filed an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act to prohibit Israel from using U.S. security assistance for the purpose of unilaterally annexing Palestinian territory in the West Bank. In the House, 12 U.S. representatives signed a letter led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) which stated, Should the Israeli government continue down this path, we will work to ensure nonrecognition of annexed territories as well as pursue legislation that conditions the $3.8 billion in U.S. military funding to Israel to ensure that U.S. taxpayers are not supporting annexation in any way. Former presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who signed the proposed Senate amendment, joined the House members letter. Yet between the Senate and the House, these two-dozen lawmakers are silent when it comes to the occupation of proportionally massive swaths of territory in other countries. Where is the chorus against Russias occupation of the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, comprising 20 percent of the territory of Georgia? And where is the condemnation of Armenias occupation of the same percentage of internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory, in the Nagorno-Karabakh region? (It is certainly no coincidence that earlier this year, the internationally unrecognized president of Nagorno-Karabakh congratulated the internationally unrecognized president-elect of Abkhazia.) Ever since Russia supported the two self-proclaimed republics in Georgian territory in 2008, most of the international community has not recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been festering for longer, since those post-Soviet states war from 1988-1994. Armenias decades-long occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh violates four U.N. Security Council resolutions as well as U.S. State Department policy which does not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country and supports the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. But while the Senate and House members threatened to condition U.S. security assistance on Israels annexation plan, 10 House Democrats last month testified in support of demining aid to Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh. It is unsurprising that Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the first woman of Palestinian descent in Congress, was among those who signed Ocasio-Cortezs letter opposing West Bank annexation. However, Tlaib was also part of the testimony for aid to Nagorno-Karabakh, marking the most recent indicator of her hypocritical stance on territorial conflicts. In Tlaibs worldview, Israel is held accountable under international law, but Armenia is not. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, persistently speaks out against Israels presence in the West Bank yet supports the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) lobbys agenda on Nagorno-Karabakh, which serves to perpetuate the occupation of that territory. The double standard of Tlaib, Sanders, and their Democratic colleagues is perhaps most powerfully encapsulated by this: They routinely accuse Israel of undermining a two-state solution through its actions in the West Bank, but they either fail to condemn or proactively support the ANCAs rejection of the Madrid Principles for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. (The Madrid Principles were produced by the OSCE Minsk Group, which is co-chaired by the U.S., Russia, and France.) The hypocrisy even extends to historically strong supporters of Israel like Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who on the one hand is an architect of sanctions against Iran which intend to protect Israel, but on the other hand is a longtime vocal advocate of Armenian policy positions despite the deep alliance between Armenia and Iran. As the West Bank annexation debate intensifies, Congressional Democrats rhetoric will continue to ring hollow until they apply the same standard to all territorial conflicts. Jesse Bogner is an author and journalist. His memoir and social critique, The Egotist, has been translated into five languages. His work has been featured in The Daily Caller, MSN, and The Huffington Post. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 6 By Jeila Aliyeva - Trend: President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has ordered to speed up establishing industrial production of cement, metal structures and finishing materials, Trend reports with reference to Turkmenportal Information Portal. Necessary instructions on the matter were given to Deputy Prime Minister Shamukhammet Durdylyev, who oversees the construction, industrial and energy sectors. The president also pointed out the necessity to build new plants for production of mineral fertilizers, which will allow for additional crop yields. In addition, the head of the state ordered to analyze construction work in the country and determine a new program in this direction for 2021. Turkmenistan has increased cement production by 20 percent and reduced the cost of its manufacturing by using basalt additives. Basalt additives were developed by researchers at the Institute of chemistry of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. Thus, manufacturers began to enrich the mixture of clinker and gypsum with crushed porphyritic basalt, which is local raw material extracted at the Ufra deposit in the Balkan region. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @JeilaAliyeva March of the Sparrows The Kerrytown market passes from father to son. by Sally Mitani From the July, 2020 issue Some good news emerged from a season of Covid-caused business disasters. On May 1, Bob Sparrow officially sold Sparrow Market to his son Jordan, who has worked there more or less full-time since graduating from Lake Superior State in 2010. Jordan notes, though, "I've been working there since I was eleven." In 1982 Bob opened a butcher counter in Kerrytown, Sparrow Meats, and, with a little nudging from landlord Joe O'Neal, he took over the adjacent produce store in 2004. Bob, a youthful-looking fifty-nine, is still working for his son at Sparrow two days a week. "After working a hundred hours a week, I figured going down to no hours a week would be too big a withdrawal," he says. "Working two days a week is like being on another planet." By "working," does he mean he's lending a hand for old times' sake or taking a small stipend? They both laugh: "Oh no," says Jordan. "I pay him what he's worth." Sparrow Market is in the lucky slim minority of businesses that have weathered the pandemic with little disruption. "We've been rocking," says Bob. Sparrow is as close to a full-service grocery store as you get in central Ann Arbor, and its butcher counter is stocked with meat sourced from family farms, an increasingly scarce and sought-after resource in pandemic times. Customers often notice that nearly all the people behind the meat counter are young women--unusual for the physically demanding meat-cutting trade. Bob says it happened organically: early on, some of his best employees happened to be women, and he continued to recruit new staff from their friendship pools. Over the years his meat cutters have skewed more and more female. Jordan says they never changed the store hours during the pandemic, and he has no plans to change them now. The only real change he's had to make was to close down the sandwich counter (next to the cash register, it was a favorite grab-and-go for nearby ...continued below... /sparrowmeats In the July issue under Marketplace Changes there is a story "March of the Sparrows" in which you relate that Bob Sparrow of Sparrow Market in Kerrytown has recently sold his business to his son, Jordan. In the article you describe Sparrow as being "as close to a full-service grocery store as you get in Ann Arbor". I frequently shop there and it is a very good store but I think that there are at least 2 other stores that could fit that description. One is The People's Food Co-Op about a block north of Sparrows on Fourth. Although the meat selection at the Co-Op is small it does have items not found at Sparrows like household goods; soap, paper products, etc. It also has everything else a grocery store is expected to have. The 2nd is Knights Market a few blocks west on the corner of Spring and Miller. Knights (a family business) has everything a grocery store should have and is known for quality meats. Both of these stores are doing an excellent job in the pandemic. They have limited store access and very busy curbside business. Everyone wears masks. Perhaps in your next issue you can profile them. Donna Estabrook I wanted to give some praise to Sparrow Market. As a new Ann Arbor local vendor, it has been very hard to scale during the COVID times, but Sparrow, being a great neighbor, gave me a chance... https: / /cheekyspices.com /blogs /news /ann-arbor-vendors-working-together-during-covid-sparrow-market-cheeky-spices ---------- workers but so unobtrusive a lot of people never noticed it). He doesn't know when he'll open it again.Bob says his own approach through the years has always been "I'm not big on change. I just try to do more of what's working and less of what's not working."One good thing that's kept working is the thirty-eight-year relationship with Joe O'Neal and now O'Neal's son Andrew. "Joe deserves credit for our success," Bob says. "He let me do whatever I wanted."We always did everything on a handshake. He didn't let us down, and we didn't let him down."[Originally published in July, 2020.]On July 6, 2020, Donna Estabrook wrote:On July 30, 2020, Rita Shelley wrote: Wesdome said today its Q2 production will be 25,142 ounces. H1 production is 50,264 ounces, and the company said it is "confident" on achieving its full year guidance of 90,000 100,000 ounces. "With the COVID-19 pandemic occurring at the end of Q1, and subsequent health and safety protocols immediately implemented, the mine was operating at a significantly reduced capacity, where we focused primarily on production and development, however had to cease our diamond drilling activities to allow for enhanced distancing in the Eagle River Camp," said CEO and president Duncan Middlemiss. "Production was better than anticipated due to increased ounces from the high grade 303 zone. We are now at a point where we can begin to add diamond drills back into our plans and as such, we now are operating four drills, down from the seven drills we operated pre-pandemic. At Kiena, the Quebec government allowed for the resumption of activities in mid-May and we are now back to almost 100% drilling capacity at the Kiena Complex. "Concurrent with the exploration drilling at Kiena, we are conducting the infill drilling to upgrade the resources in Q4 and this new resource will be used for the subsequent Pre-Feasibility Study to follow." Wesdome runs the Eagle River Complex in Wawa, Ontario is currently producing gold from two mines, the Eagle River Underground Mine and the Mishi Open pit, from a central mill. The company is also actively exploring its brownfields asset, the Kiena Complex in Val dOr, Quebec. The Bloomberg report came a day after Googles chief executive Sunder Pichai said it would invest USD 10 billion in India. This year alone, major players including Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm and others have ploughed some $15 billion into Jio Platforms. (Photo | Instagram - Reliance Jio) New Delhi: Google is in advanced talks to buy a $4 billion stake in Jio digital platforms, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, as major tech firms race to tap into the massive nations market. The US technology giant has been in talks to invest in Reliance Industries Jio Platforms, Bloomberg said citing sources, with an announcement as soon as in the next few weeks. The report came a day after Googles chief executive Sunder Pichai said it would invest $10 billion in the country of 1.3 billion people over the next five to seven years. Foreign firms have spent tens of billions of dollars in India in recent years as they fight for a piece of the Asian giants burgeoning digital economy. This year alone, major players including Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm and others have ploughed some $15 billion into Jio Platforms. Ambani is aiming to take on US giants Amazon and Walmart in Indias growing e-commerce space. The tycoon said in mid-June that his Reliance conglomerate was net debt free after raising more than $22 billion in a rights issue and selling stakes in Jio Platforms. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 04:54:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close A screenshot taken from boston.com on July 13, 2020 shows the title and picture of its report about 17 U.S. states and the District of Columbia's suing of the administration of President Donald Trump to reject the federal government's recent rule stripping foreign students of their visas if the institution they are enrolled in only offers online teaching this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Xinhua) "The Trump Administration didn't even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses," says Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in a statement. WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Seventeen U.S. states and the District of Columbia sued the administration of President Donald Trump on Monday to reject the federal government's recent rule stripping foreign students of their visas if the institution they are enrolled in only offers online teaching this fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. Led by the Massachusetts attorney general's office, the lawsuit came exactly one week after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released guidelines vowing to invalidate foreign students' F-1 and M-1 visas if the educational institution they are enrolled in switches to online-only courses, possibly depriving them of their legal status of stay in the United States. "The Trump Administration didn't even attempt to explain the basis for this senseless rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Boston, sought an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect, accusing the federal government of engaging in a "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States." A screenshot taken from mass.gov on July 13, 2020 shows the name, title and picture of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. (Xinhua) Joining Healey in the lawsuit are the attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. The lawsuit alleged that the administration's "actions are arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion because they reverse previous guidance without explanation, input, or rationale," adding that the new guidelines violated "the Administrative Procedure Act - and fail to consider the need to protect public health and safety amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic." "The lawsuit includes a request for immediate preliminary relief blocking the rule from going into effect while the case is litigated, and the attorneys general have requested a hearing as soon as possible," the Massachusetts attorney general's office said in a press release. Announced on July 6, the ICE's controversial order said that international students who are only offered online courses in the upcoming semester "must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status." Those who violate the rules "may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings," the ICE said. While the U.S. government typically requires international students to take most classes in person, the ICE offered flexibility in March, allowing the students to take online courses throughout the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. File photo taken on Oct. 14, 2018 shows the campus of the Harvard University in Cambridge of Massachusetts, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit, also in the U.S. District Court in Boston, on Wednesday seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to bar the federal government from enforcing its new order. "(The) ICE's action proceeded without any indication of having considered the health of students, faculty, university staff, or communities ... or the absence of other options for universities to provide their curricula to many of their international students," the lawsuit by the two prestigious universities read. The U.S. District Court in Boston will hold a hearing on the Harvard and MIT case Tuesday. In a show of solidarity, 59 colleges, based in 24 states and Washington, D.C., filed an amicus brief in court on Sunday backing Harvard and MIT's legal action. The schools include Georgetown, Princeton, Stanford and Yale, among others. "A fundamental principle of administrative law is that the government must provide a reasoned explanation for its actions and consider all important aspects of a problem before imposing burdens on regulated parties," the brief stated. "The July 6 Directive fails this basic requirement." "The emergency persists," the universities said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic, "yet the government's policy has suddenly and drastically changed, throwing (schools') preparations into disarray and causing significant harm and turmoil." The Boeing Company BA recently secured a modification contract for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense development and sustainment. The deal has been awarded by the Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, AL. Valued at $150 million, the contract is expected to be completed by Jul 30, 2023. Per the terms, the jet giant will offer development, fielding, test, systems engineering, integration and configuration management, equipment manufacturing and refurbishment, training and operations and sustainment for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) weapon system. Significance of GMD The system is the United States' only operationally deployed missile defense program capable of defending the entire homeland from long-range ballistic missile attacks. It is designed to detect, intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles during the midcourse phase of flight. GMD forms an integral element of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency's layered ballistic missile defense architecture. Being its prime contractor, Boeing designs, produces, integrates, tests and sustains all GMD components deployed across 15 time zones. Missile Defense & Boeing Increasing geopolitical tensions along with a rapid rise in terrorism across the globe are prompting nations to strengthen their defense systems manifold. With rapid technological upgrades, missile defense is nowadays playing a pivotal role in a nations defense strategy. Particularly, rogue nations like North Korea and Iran seek dangerous capabilities, including long-range ballistic missiles that can threaten the U.S. homeland, support regional aggression, and deter potential U.S. responses. Thus to protect its homeland, the U.S. government has adopted layered missile defenses. Apart from being a leader in the commercial aerospace market, Boeing has contributed significantly to United States missile defense strategy and its GMD forms the first layer in the U.S. homeland missile defense architecture. Story continues Boeing is upgrading its GMD system. Initially fielded in 2004, the GMD system is currently undergoing life extension and will be improved with the addition of the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI), starting in 2028. Market Prospects Impressively, the rocket and missile market is projected to grow from $55.5 billion in 2017 to $70 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 4.74%, per a forecast made by Markets and Markets. With the United States being one of the key players in the global defense space, such projections indicate a golden era for the nations premier defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin LMT, Raytheon Technologies RTX and Northrop Grumman NOC. Price Performance In a years time, shares of Boeing have plunged 50.6% compared with the industrys decline of 34%. Zacks Rank Boeing currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year. See their latest picks free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Northrop Grumman Corporation (NOC) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Boeing Company (BA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT) : Free Stock Analysis Report Raytheon Technologies Corporation (RTX) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Maya Jama nailed the perfect summer look on Tuesday when she was pictured heading to the BBC Studios. The 25-year-old, who hosts Peter Crouch's Save Our Summer, looked incredible wearing a white cropped jumpsuit which belted in at the waist. She teamed it with nude kitten-heeled sandals and carried a Dior Mini Lady Bag in beige which retails for around 3000. Chic and unique: Maya Jama looked summery in a white belted jumpsuit and vintage shades as she headed to the BBC Studios in London on Tuesday Maya's long locks were styled in loose curls and she wore a vintage pair of sunglasses for her outing. She shared a picture of her look from the comfort of her cab on the way to the studios and wrote: 'Boujie as hell today,' before showing off her dance moves. As well as scoring big name campaigns for brands such as Adidas and Aussie, the Bristol native is set to up her bank balance further with a massive new TV deal. Stunning: She teamed her outfit with nude kitten-heeled sandals and carried a Dior Mini Lady Bag which retail for around 3000 After she stepped down from her Radio 1 show earlier this year, BBC bosses are reportedly keen to offer her a big money deal to keep her from going to a rival network, believing she can be as 'big as Holly Willoughby'. A source told The Sun: 'Maya is seen as one of the biggest stars on the box right now and could easily go on to be as big as Holly Willoughby. 'At the moment shes tied to the BBC with her Saturday night show and the door remains open for her to return to Radio 1. Loving it: She shared a picture of her look from the comfort of her cab on the way to the studios and wrote: 'Boujie as hell today,' before showing off her dance moves 'But other major channels would also love to have her so the BBC know they need to make sure they dont lose her. 'She appeals to a younger audience and has a massive following on social media too so she ticks a lot of boxes for the BBC.' Last month, BBC Radio 1 confirmed the DJ had 'made the difficult decision not to continue her contract' after two years due to other commitments. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:08:05|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close One horned Rhinos in Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary gather in a higher land to get rid of flood water in Nagaon district of Assam, India, July 16, 2020. The incessant rains in India's northeastern state of Assam has worsened the flood situation there as water has inundated new areas, officials said Tuesday. Wildlife officials said 95 percent areas of the Kaziranga national park were inundated. The park, a world heritage site, is the largest home to the one-horned rhinoceros in India. Reports said at least 51 wild animals were confirmed dead and 100 have been rescued. Many wild animals including tigers and rhinos strayed into nearby villages because of the rising water. (Str/Xinhua) by Peerzada Arshad Hamid NEW DELHI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The incessant rains in India's northeastern state of Assam has worsened the flood situation there as water has inundated new areas, officials said Tuesday. According to officials around 2.2 million people were affected in the current wave of flooding in 22 districts. Around 13 rivers and tributaries were flowing above the danger mark. "All the major rivers including the Brahmaputra are in spate. Floodwater has caused major damage to infrastructure including embankments and destroyed crops," a disaster management official said. "Nearly 22 lakh (2.2 million) people are affected due to surging water in 22 districts." According to officials, 45,000 people were shifted to relief camps in the affected areas set up for the affected people. Reports said 763 villages were completely inundated and over 100,000 hectares of cropland have been submerged. Wildlife officials said 95 percent areas of the Kaziranga national park were inundated. The park, a world heritage site, is the largest home to the one-horned rhinoceros in India. Reports said at least 51 wild animals were confirmed dead and 100 have been rescued. Many wild animals including tigers and rhinos strayed into nearby villages because of the rising water. The authorities have suspended traffic movement on the national highway near Kaziranga. On Monday six people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, which took the toll in this year's floods to at least 50 people. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has been chairing review meetings and ordered repairs of breached embankments. "Today Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and federal minister Rameshwar Teli and water resource minister Keshab Mahanta are visiting flood and erosion hit Jonai area of Dhemaji District," a government spokesman said. "The chief minister will hold two review meetings at Jonai, one with water resource department and the other with Dhemaji district administration." Officials said India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were carrying out massive rescue operations in Assam. Floods are an annual occurrence in Assam during the monsoon season. Meanwhile, the meteorological department officials said the intensity of rainfall over India's northeast has substantially reduced. However, isolated heavy falls were likely over the region during the next two to three days. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:48:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TOKYO/SEOUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The recent COVID-19 flare-ups at several U.S. overseas military bases have sparked concerns among local communities, which are highly skeptical about the U.S. military's containment ability and efforts. The U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, confirmed 32 more COVID-19 infections, pushing the total number of cases related to U.S. military facilities in Okinawa to 98, the prefectural government said on Monday. With only 148 infections since February, excluding those related to the U.S. bases, the prefecture has otherwise been successful in curbing the virus. Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki said that some U.S. military-linked personnel had held parties in downtown areas and on beaches in the prefecture, coinciding with Independence Day celebrations on July 4. The U.S. military personnel in Okinawa are on virtual lockdown following an order issued on Saturday morning by the military, which bans almost all off-base movement by the personnel unless approved by an officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel or above, according to CNN. However, Tamaki still questioned the measures taken by the U.S. military to prevent the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus among its personnel based on the island. "We have strong doubt about measures taken by the U.S. military to prevent spread of the virus," Tamaki told a press conference regarding the spike in cases, adding he was "shocked" at the new infections. Okinawa hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, yet the tiny sub-tropical island accounts for just a small fraction of Japan's total landmass. Meanwhile, infections among U.S. service members have also surged over the past weeks in South Korea, where local transmissions have been under control and there is a growing worry about imported cases. The U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said on Monday that 11 USFK service members were confirmed with the virus after arriving in South Korea, noting that all individuals tested positive on their first mandatory COVID-19 test prior to entering quarantine. The confirmed cases have been transferred to a designated isolation facility on either Camp Humphreys or Osan Air Base both in Pyeongtaek, 70 km south of the capital Seoul. The total number of infections among the USFK-affiliated individuals rose to 74, according to Yonhap news agency. Of the total, 33 are active-duty soldiers. During a briefing on Sunday, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun voiced his worry about the increase in USFK cases, calling on South Korean authorities to work with U.S. officials to strengthen quarantine measures, according to media reports. However, despite the confirmed cases, the USFK said in a statement on Monday that it "remains at a high level of readiness with less than 1 percent of its active duty service members who are currently confirmed positive for COVID-19." Enditem By John Shiffman and Michael Berens (Reuters) - An Arkansas judge who styled himself as a Sugar Daddy and was accused by local women of soliciting sex in exchange for cash, drugs and bail leniency largely escaped accountability from authorities for years, a Reuters investigation found. On his final day in office, the judge was forced to resign from the bench in disgrace. But more than three years later, state officials have yet to decide whether he should be allowed to keep his law license. To date, he continues to practice law despite his misconduct on the bench. The story of District Court Judge Tim Parker shows how hard it can be to remove an American judge suspected of corruption. It also illustrates how, even after misconduct on the bench becomes an open secret, a judge can remain in power for years when his victims are people who typically make for poor witnesses in this case, petty criminals and drug addicts. The Reuters investigation, Part 3 of the news agencys series The Teflon Robe, is based on hundreds of pages of confidential sworn testimony, as well as interviews with the judges accusers and eight law enforcement officials in Arkansas. Parker was investigated by the city police, the sheriffs office, the state police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a federal grand jury over four years, but no charges were brought. Witnesses gave evidence that the judge disclosed the identity of a confidential informant; traded money and opioids for sex; and gave favorable treatment to young women in his courtroom, Reuters found. As part of its Teflon Robe project, Reuters identified and reviewed 1,509 cases from the last dozen years 2008 through 2019 in which judges resigned, retired or were publicly disciplined following accusations of misconduct. In addition, the news agencys investigation identified 3,613 cases from 2008 through 2018 in which states disciplined judges privately withholding from the public details of their offenses, including the identities of the judges themselves. Story continues Here are four key takeaways from Part 3 of the Reuters investigation, the first comprehensive accounting of judicial misconduct nationally: * In many states, the lack of aggressive public oversight means that judges may behave with impunity. But a well-staffed and persistent state judicial oversight agency the exception, not the rule, in the United States can hold judges to account when other authorities cant. * In the unlikely case that judges are publicly charged with misconduct, many states enable judges to simply resign or retire, putting a stop to the charges and any investigation of potential wrongdoing. Reuters found that at least 341 judges across the United States escaped punishment or further investigation in the past dozen years by resigning or retiring amid misconduct allegations. * By analyzing actions by state oversight commissions over more than a decade, Reuters found that states that deploy fewer resources tend to discipline fewer judges. Nationally, oversight agencies have on average one full-time employee for every 155 judges. Arkansas, which conducts relatively aggressive monitoring, has roughly one staffer for every 53 state judges. * At least 5,206 people were directly affected by a judges misconduct, Reuters found. The victims ranged from people who were illegally jailed to those subjected to racist, sexist and other abusive comments from judges in ways that tainted the cases. This secret system of resolving cases involving miscreant judges has parallels to how misbehavior by police is handled. The public has been alerted as it never has been before to the way police misconduct is concealed, said Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University. The same is true for judges. To read this latest chapter of the investigation, click https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-judges-commissions To read Part 1, click https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-judges-misconduct To read Part 2, click https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-judges-deals And to explore our interactive database and read official documents about judicial misconduct, click https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-judges-data/ (Reporting By John Shiffman and Michael Berens. Edited by Blake Morrison) Two men have been arrested after a Ryanair flight was forced to make an emergency landing due to a bomb threat. A note found in one of the plane's toilets claiming that explosives were on board forced the flight from Krakow to Dublin to divert to Stansted Airport on Monday night. A pair of Typhoon jets were sent from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to intercept the plane after the captain alerted UK authorities, the Ministry of Defence confirmed. The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport (Stansted) where the plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely, a spokesperson for Ryanair said. Essex Police said the plane was diverted on Monday due to reports of a security alert but nothing suspicious was found on board after investigations. Two men, both of whom were onboard, have been taken into custody, police said. A spokesperson for the force said: A flight from Krakow to Dublin was diverted to Stansted Airport at around 6.40pm on Monday 13 July due to reports of a security alert. Following investigations on the plane, we have been able to establish there is nothing suspicious on board. The aircraft has been handed back to Stansted Airport and the operator. Two men - aged 47 and 26 - have been arrested on suspicion of making threats to endanger an aircraft and are currently in custody. Passengers disembarked safely at Stansted and a spokesperson for Ryanair on Monday night said they were being checked by the UK police who will decide when they may travel onwards to Dublin on a spare aircraft. Ryanair apologises sincerely for the delay and inconvenience caused to those affected by this diversion, the airline said in a statement. Additional reporting by Press Association Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 13:07 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662605d 4 National virus-korona-indonesia,covid-19-task-force,COVID-19,patients,personal-data,coronavirus,personal-data-protection,doni-monardo Free The national COVID-19 task force is considering releasing patients personal data in an effort to encourage adherence to health protocols in affected areas. Task force chief and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo said such data would only be made available to people living in the patients neighborhoods. "Current regulations don't allow authorities to publish patient data. But if this data could be known by people living in their neighborhoods, it could help the surrounding community prepare preventive actions," Doni said during a meeting with House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing social affairs on Monday, as quoted by kompas.com. He added that such data should be published for the sake of public safety. He also asked people to stop stigmatizing COVID-19 and condemned unjust treatment of people with the illness. The task force was also looking for other solutions to help protect people from the disease, Doni said. Read also: Human rights groups urge privacy protection in COVID-19 contact tracing efforts While the Constitution requires the state to protect peoples privacy and personal data, the country has never passed a specific law on personal data protection to enumerate the rights of data owners and establish what kinds of data are legally considered personal. The publication of the country's first two COVID-19 patients' personal data resulted in privacy breaches and assault. Fear of stigma and ostracism has prevented many people in the country from being tested for COVID-19. (trn) Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:30:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BANGKOK, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Ministry of Labour on Tuesday announced that it is offering work permit renewal applications to be submitted online, rather than having migrant workers queuing up in provincial immigration offices nationwide to avoid clustering in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, migrant workers must receive health examinations at Thai government hospitals and then submit the results to an immigration office for a visa stamp. "Monday was the first day that the Thai government allowed foreign workers from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos to renew work permits that expired on March 31 in a new round of renewal," said Suchart Pornchaiwisetkul, the Ministry's Employment Department's Deputy Director-General. After submitting the online application, migrant workers can receive a non-citizen ID card with a work permit at any district office. The department would remind employers via text message to take their employees to apply for a non-citizen ID card on a specific date and time that have been arranged to help prevent crowding at district offices, Suchart said. Enditem EdgeServ POS today announced the release of version 2020, a completely redesigned point of sale restaurant software solution created for resellers by resellers with decades of point of sale industry experience. The EdgeServ POS solution utilizes Apple iPads as the POS terminals, delivering the tablet/mobile functionality restaurants need and want. Development of the 2020 release was guided by EdgeServ resellers, ensuring strategic and competitive positioning in the market. The 2020 release includes a fresh, updated design intuitive, easy to use, and feature-rich, with flexible workflow settings. Michael Tash, VP, Customer Relations of Frederick, MD based Essential Systems Solutions, said, We are excited to be installing version 2020 in our client locations this week. Downtown Frederick restaurants will not be the same! Yasser Vargas, POS Channel Manager TechXmart L.L.C., a restaurant solution provider in Miami, said, Our three new sites were all installed with 2020, and they love it! Gyula Lukacs, CEO of EdgeServ POS, said, We are excited to release EdgeServ 2020, a major update to our Front of House iOS App. The great looking design and optimized workflow are a result of our unique ISV business model that includes Reseller ownership and management participation. We strongly believe EdgeServ is the best product for POS Resellers. In lieu of attending trade shows this year to display version 2020, EdgeServ will host virtual demos and education sessions. Interested resellers should email sales@edgeservpos.com or call (855) 776-6488. About EdgeServ POS: Founded in 2013, EdgeServ (formerly known as Synetouch) is based in Sarasota, FL. In 2019, a group of passionate veteran resellers acquired an ownership interest in the product and rebranded as EdgeServ POS. Through the Reseller Collaboration Company, EdgeServ POS offers a reseller program that enables new resellers to earn ownership in the company. VARs can now earn equity in the product that they sell and support. This provides a great opportunity for resellers to increase the value of their business, said Hunter Allen, President of Cervion Systems, an EdgeServ POS reseller and a member of the Reseller Collaboration Company. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) - House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano told Senator Grace Poe on Tuesday to just chill after the latter said that the denial of franchise to ABS-CBN would be a dangerous precedent to franchise applications by other media outlets. Poe said in a statement last week that the decision of the House of Representatives not to renew the television giants legislative franchise might affect the franchise applications of those who use Philippine Depository Receipts, tax schemes, and digital platforms. These were also the same issues thrown at ABS-CBN during the 12 sessions of hours-long deliberations in the chamber. READ: Poe calls for strengthening of media as ABS-CBN franchise decision may send out warning to other agencies Cayetano defended that the chilling effect of the franchise denial only applies to those who abuse the system. I agree with Sen. Grace Poe that the denial of the Lopezs franchise application for ABS-CBN sets a precedent, he said in a Facebook post. And it is precisely the precedent we want to make - that the House of Representatives will never tolerate anyone, including oligarchs, who will abuse the system and cheat both the government and our people. He added that the franchise applications of other broadcasting networks like GMA and TV-5 were easily approved because he claimed that they never served the business interest of their owners. That is because their exercise of the freedom of speech and of the Press, was never employed to mask the corporate practices of their owners that screwed the system and our people - to the tune of billions of pesos, said Cayetano. The House Speaker also said that these networks never played as Kingmaker or Kingslayer in their election coverages. READ: Cayetano warns big business could use media to protect own interest Cayetano advised Poe and even Vice President Leni Robredo to rewatch the hearings and read again the findings of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises. Chill ka lang (Just chill) Sen[ator] Grace. Our country is on the right track, he said. Krishgen has also signed a MOU with Wockhardt Hospitals Mumbai National Biomedical Resources Indigenization Consortium NBRIC is delighted to announce that NBRIC member, Mumbai-based biotech co Krishgen Biosystems has released two latest Assays for SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) Research - GENLISA surrogate Virus Neutralization Test ELISA and the GENLISA Inhibitor Screening ELISA. Krishgen Biosystems is a bio-supplier company focused on offering solutions for immunoassays, cell cultures and toxicology to researchers. They have released 2 new assays called GENLISA surrogate Virus Neutralization Test (sVNT) ELISA and GENLISA Inhibitor Screening ELISA kits for vaccine developers and new drug manufacturers working on SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). The GENLISA sVNT ELISA is based on the principal of virus neutralization test. The second assay GENLISA Inhibitor Screening ELISA detects presence of potential inhibitors in the samples to compete with human ACE2 protein in combining with the SARS Cov2 S protein. Krishgen has also signed a MOU with Wockhardt Hospitals Mumbai, Department of Stem Cells to test their Anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG spike protein ELISA and another Nucleoprotein Antibody IgG ELISA as per protocol. Businessman and brother of ex-president John Mahama, Ibrahim Mahama, has taken legal action against the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chairman Wontumi, on the grounds of defamation. The boss of Engineers and Planners is seeking damages to the tune of GHc5 million after Chairman Wontumi alleged that he (Ibrahim) made his wealth through illegal means. Not too long ago, Chairman Wontumi who was speaking on Wontumi TV, claimed that Ibrahim Mahama was beneficiary of stolen government funds while his brother, John Dramani Mahama was president. By way of reliefs sought, Ibrahim, in a summons sent to Wontumi through his lawyers, was asking that Wontumi renders an unqualified apology and also retract the defamatory statements he made within seven days. The notice sent on behalf of Ibrahim Mahama clearly stated that the comments and claims made by Chairman Wontumi were just lies and propaganda without any proof of the matter. It would be recalled that Instagram socialite, Mona Montrage, known widely as Hajia4reall, also threatened to sue Chairman Wontumi over some defamatory comments he made about her. In Monas case, Wontumi had alleged that Hajia4reall had been gifted a car and a house by Ibrahim Mahama on her birthday. Mona, who was having none of that, sent caution to Wontumi through her lawyers to have him retract the baseless statements he made. Chairman Wontumi is considered as a stalwart in the governing NPP and has sometimes been considered as untouchable. He is noted to own Kumasi-based Wontumi TV and radio. Source: Nkonkonsa.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video After a Paris auction house defied his requests and those of Nigerian authorities to halt the sale of artifacts over questions of provenance, a scholar says hell push harder for repatriating cultural treasures. For those who think the story is over, its not. We are just beginning, said Chika Okeke-Agulu, a Princeton University professor of African and American diaspora art, whose Twitter petition for #BlackArtsMatter has drawn thousands of supporters. Okeke-Agulus comments followed Christies June 29 auction, which included the sale of Nigerian artifacts, including two Igbo sacred statues. The pair sold to an anonymous buyer for $239,000, Christies reported. The pressure is on not just Christies but collectors and collections all over the world that have these objects from Benin, from Igbo area, from Ashanti," Okeke-Agulu told Voice of America in an interview. His vow to press for returning artifacts taken from what is now Nigeria mingles with other calls to hand back African items that may have been illegally seized amid colonialism and conflict. Nigeria In mid-June, five activists dislodged a funeral pole at the Musee du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac in Paris, demanding its return to Africa. The activists face trial in September. Such demands have echoes that are both global and longstanding. Greece, for example, has fought for two centuries to reclaim the ancient Elgin marbles from Britain. Complex debates Nigeria was saddened by the Christies sale, the lawyer representing the countrys National Commission for Museums and Monuments told the BBC. Babatunde Adebiyi had written to the auction house June 17 seeking to suspend the sale of Nigerian items so their provenance could be scrutinized. Christies, in a statement to The Associated Press, said the items were legitimately acquired and lawfully sold. While the auction house acknowledged the nuanced and complex debates around cultural property, it said such sales hinder black market dealings. Its auction offered pendants, masks and statues from Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Gabon, Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo. But the carved wooden statues a male and a female caught Okeke-Agulus attention. In the Igbo language of eastern Nigeria, they are called alosi, sacred sculptures representing spiritual forces or deities. They would have originally been installed in communal shrines where sacrifices and offerings are made to the deities that they represent, said Okeke-Agulu, who is ethnic Igbo. The two statues arms extend forward, palms up, which he said would be for receiving ritual foods or other substances. While it wasnt publicly known where the alosi would go now, Okeke-Agulu said it was clear they came from eastern Nigerias Igboland. The professor said there is a well-documented history of profiteering during the countrys civil war in the late 1960s. European dealers, mostly waiting at the Cameroonian side of the border, hired locals to steal and smuggle objects that eventually wound up in public and private collections, he said. Such trade violated Nigerias 1953 Antiquities Ordinance and a 1954 UNESCO convention protecting cultural property during armed conflict, Okeke-Agulu said. A pledge to repatriate Today, museums in France hold tens of thousands of objects from Africa, including many from its former colonies. The Musee du Quai Branly alone houses 70,000 African items. During a 2017 speech in Burkina Faso, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to make the return of African artifacts a top priority, according to The New York Times. That pledge has not yet been fulfilled because new legislation may be needed to allow the objects release from government custody, French public radio RFI has reported. French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during the closing press conference at the G5 Sahel summit on June 30, 2020, in Nouakchott, Mauritania. Okeke-Agulu contends that Nigeria's government needs to do more to halt the trade in stolen goods and reckon with the sordid histories of collecting during and after the colonial period. There are legal instruments that can be applied to stopping the sale of illegal, illegally exported cultural property, he said, adding that he expects Nigerian authorities to pursue these objects much more robustly than they have done up until now. Nigeria's diplomatic approach Aliyu L. Abdu, who directs Nigerias museums commission, told VOA in an email that its members appreciate the strong protests expressed by concerned citizens such as Professor Chika Okeke to assert his cultural right as a member of a community whose cultural integrity and sensitivity (have) been violated by commercial interest. But, he wrote, the government entity is taking a more comprehensive approach, using diplomatic and institutional channels for recovering Nigerias cultural patrimony. Abdu cited the Benin Dialogue Group as an example. The initiative aims to establish a museum in southern Nigerias Edo state capital, Benin City, that would reunite looted artworks now scattered around the globe. Representatives from Nigeria, including from the commission, are collaborating with museum directors and delegates from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The group has started the moves to identify and inventory thousands of Nigerian artifacts in European museums for repatriation through an agreeably mutual process, Abdu wrote. However, that angle does not substitute prompt reaction towards recovery of our stolen artifacts that has come to light. As long as Nigeria has noted, recorded and tracked the movements of objects exposed through Christie's auction, the matter can no longer be denied or suppressed, so we shall continue our efforts of recovery through all available means, which happily are becoming more available. Examining ethics of collecting Okeke-Agulu also has called on public museums that own looted African objects to come clean about where the objects came from and how they were obtained. American museums, like their European counterparts, are grappling with repatriation. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, wary of the provenance of some African items it received in a bequest, in 2014 contacted Nigerias museums commission. When the commission confirmed that export documents had been forged, the MFA returned the (eight) works in question, ARTnews magazine reported last summer. The same story noted that Marylands Baltimore Museum of Art with more than 2,500 African works, including ancient sculptures and modern paintings was creating a Cultural Property Working Group to assess the museums collection policies. The group had hoped to complete its recommendations by late this year, but it has been delayed by the pandemic, the museum told VOA in an email. In Okeke-Agulas opinion, negotiation about the status and ownership of these objects ought to begin sooner rather than later, and until there is a lot of pressure put on the institutions or the private collections that have them, theyre not going to do anything. Its not a sprint, he said of his campaign. What I want to be associated with is a long journey, and as I said, were only beginning. VOA Africa Divisions Jason Patinkin and Carol Guensburg reported from Washington, with additional reporting by Catherine Field in Paris. WATERLOO A man who allegedly had a role in distributing more than 750 grams of meth has been sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison. Fredy Juan Morales-Alvarez, 33, a citizen of Michoacan, Mexico, who was living in Waterloo, was sentenced to 10 years and one month in prison Monday after pleading to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. Authorities said Morales was involved in meth dealing between the fall of 2013 and December 2013. He was stopped in Waterloo on Dec. 17, 2013, and police found 55 grams of meth. Officers then searched his home and found another 122 grams of meth in a safe, a digital scale and $6,540 in cash. Morales, who later moved to Minnesota, was indicted in March 2014 and remained at large until 2019 when he was caught picking up a package with 120 grams of meth in Melrose, Minn. Authorities searched his Minnesota residence and found another 233 grams of meth, according to court records. He pleaded to the federal charges for the Waterloo case in February. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lisa Williams and Special Assistant United States Attorney Dillan Edwards and investigated by the Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, the Waterloo Police Department, the Cedar Falls Police Department, and the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Department. Photos: Missing children in Iowa Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. James E. Jamie Monogan, a former University of Georgia political science professor, was arrested for federal child pornography charges on June 25. Monogan was indicted on June 18 on multiple charges for the possession, production, receipt and distribution of child pornography by a federal grand jury. He resigned last September amid an investigation by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, with assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. After being arrested, Monogan was arraigned, pleaded not guilty and was released on a $10,000 bond. Under the bond conditions, Monogan must report to a U.S. probation officer, turn over his passport and submit to a curfew. He cannot have a firearm or other weapon and must stay in the state of Georgia, with limited travel to South Carolina with a note to his supervising officer. The indictment alleges that in March 2019, Monogan coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing and transporting a visual depiction of said conduct. Monogan is also accused of receiving and distributing child pornography with users on Kik Messenger, a mobile instant messaging app. Under the possession charge, Monogan is accused of possessing an image of child pornography that involved a prepubescent minor and a minor who had not attained twelve (12) years of age. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the court has a jury trial moratorium until Sept. 13. The novel coronavirus pandemic is stalling some efforts to improve election security across the country, delaying efforts to install basic security measures on hundreds of local election websites, interviews with top leaders and an exclusive analysis by the National Investigative Unit has found. Election security is a topic on the agenda for the annual summer conference of the National Association of Secretaries of State which convenes virtually later this week, the last scheduled NASS conference for all of the nations top election officials before the general election. To assess the resiliency of county election websites in states nationwide, the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit asked McAfee Security to once again analyze more than 2,000 web pages where voters may turn to for information about voting, registration, election administration, precincts, poll hours and other suffrage details. While no American uses those local election websites to cast a ballot, citizens do rely on the information to be accurate so they can exercise their right to vote. A lack of simple security tools, cyber experts and government agencies say, could leave those webpages vulnerable to manipulation, possibly disenfranchising voters who are misled. The new McAfee analysis found little progress overall in securing those websites with encryption identified by the letters https in the URL and with a federally-validated domain, like .gov, since the worldwide cyber firms initial analysis for the NIU conducted in January. They dont understand Steve Grobman is McAfees chief technology officer and led the election website analysis. To demonstrate for this report how a lack of those two web security tools makes sites easy to spoof, Grobman created a real-looking election website walled off in a "sandbox" so actual voters would not stumble upon it modeled on a website used by a county in Georgia. He then plastered election misinformation on the simulated site, including a $19 COVID poll tax, to illustrate the threat. All this information is fake, but it might give them the wrong information, Grobman warned, which may cause voters to just not vote at all. When asked why, in light of the vulnerability and potential repercussions, more counties across the U.S. werent fixing them by installing encryption and migrating to the .gov domain, Grobman answered simply, I think they don't understand how critical it is." Pandemic put us behind Indeed, some of the 15 election officials interviewed on-camera for this story conceded the pandemic had delayed efforts to strengthen election security on those websites, although many state-level leaders revealed they dont have the authority to unilaterally mandate it. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who serves as the outgoing president of NASS, acknowledged, COVID has put us behind." New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver said, we were making progress but then the pandemic hit. Michael Adams, secretary of state in Kentucky, said bluntly, "We got a lot of work to do." Some secretaries implied other issues, such as COVID-19-related disruption, may be a higher priority right now. Securing county election websites, may not be the most important things, Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen said. Missouris chief election official, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, emphasized more robust security mechanisms are in place elsewhere, for example on state-run election infrastructure, like registration databases. "It's improper to assume that the underlying networks that need to be secure are not secure, Ashcroft said in the interview. Dramatic progress Local election websites in his state did make dramatic progress since the first McAfee analysis in January when only 34.2% of pages had encryption; now, 84.2% do, the cyber company found. Much less improvement was made in use of the .gov domain, however, rising from 6.1% of county election websites to 14%. The state with the biggest gains was Ohio, with 100% of county election pages now using https to secure its sites, up from 61.4% in January, and the only state with all of its counties currently doing so. Pages on .gov rose more sharply, up from just 17% six months ago to 87.5% now. Frank LaRose is the secretary of state in Ohio and spearheaded the improvements because, he explained, the threat is real. "One of the most damaging things that our foreign adversaries can do is, is diminish voter confidence by hacking an elections website, LaRose said in an interview. Some states far behind But some states are far behind. Mississippi is one of the worst states for having encryption and .gov on local election websites, McAfee found. As of July 1, only 17.1% of its counties used encryption for their local election pages and only six percent were on a .gov domain. "We don't have the authority to force" counties to increase security, explained Secretary of State Michael Watson. He called it "a great question," why more counties have not prioritized those changes. California did make a little progress on adding encryption, rising to 74.1% of local election websites, up from 65.5% in January. But it made no progress in overall use for .gov, still at 13.8%, or 8 of its 58 counties, the data show. Alex Padilla, Californias secretary of state, blamed it on a matter of resources. He said while he cant force counties to change, he intends to stress voter education is paramount. Georgia to seek new deadline In Georgia, which saw disastrously long lines in some places for its June primary, the secretary of state promised in an interview that he'll seek a deadline from each individual county for better security on their election websites. "We need to get from them a date on when they plan on having it implemented, Secretary Brad Raffensperger vowed. It's very important that we also help the county commissioners understand how important elections are. In addition to election security, nearly all of the leaders said in interviews they worry about poll workers deserting at the last minute because of COVID-19 health worries, of postal delays due to a pandemic-fueled crush of absentee ballots, and of an impatient public, increasingly anxious if election results aren't known for days including for the winner of the marquee presidential race. Mark Albert is the chief national investigative correspondent for the Hearst Television National Investigative Unit, based in Washington D.C. April Chunko and Tim Tunison contributed to this report. Know of election security problems or voter suppression? Have a confidential tip? Send information and documents to the National Investigative Unit at investigate@hearst.com. QUESTION: What is brainwashing? ANSWER: The classic 1962 psycho thriller movie, The Manchurian Candidate, starring Frank Sinatra, Lawrence Harvey, Janet Leigh and Angela Lansbury, is a good depiction of brainwashing. The Manchurian Candidate movie brought brainwashing to the publics mind for the first time. The film featured a plot by the Soviet Union to take over the United States by using a brainwashed sleeper agent for political assassination. A dictionary definition: Brainwashing is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subjects ability to think critically or independently, to allow the introduction of new, unwanted thoughts and ideas into their minds, as well as to change their attitudes, values, and beliefs. Brainwashing is the process of changing the thoughts and beliefs of another person against their will. In psychology, brainwashing is often referred to as thought reform or thought control. Lets look at some of more famous cases of brainwashing. A few American soldiers captured in the Korean War confessed to waging germ warfare and pledged allegiance to communism. At least 21 refused to return to the United States after 1953. Patty Hearst, granddaughter of famed publisher William Randolph Hearst and heiress to his publishing fortune, was kidnapped by the left-wing terrorist Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. Hearst was a 19-year-old sophomore at University of California-Berkeley. She was isolated, brutalized and ended up joining the group and agreed to take part in their criminal activities. Hearst was arrested and charged with bank robbery. A famous photo from a surveillance camera shows a gun-toting Hearst robbing a bank. Two people were shot in the robbery attempt. She helped rob another store and made explosives designed to kill policemen. Famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey argued at her trial that Hearst should not be held responsible for her actions. Bailey pointed out that her case was similar to alleged brainwashing of Korean POWs. Hearst was found guilty and sentenced to 35 years in prison. She served 22 months, then President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence. Lee Boyd Malvo assisted John Allen Muhammad in killing 10 people in the 2002 Washington DC sniper attacks. Malvo, age 17, was abandoned by his mother in Antigua, picked up by Muhammad and brought to the United States and brainwashed into believing there was an impending war between the Islamic culture and the United States. Muhammad was executed in 2009. Boyd is in a supermax prison in Virginia. Lawyers used the brainwashing defense in both the Hearst and Malvo cases. In both trials, the defense claimed their client would not commit such crimes under normal situations. Some infamous religious cults could fall into the brainwashing category: The Peoples Temple with Jim Jones in Guyana, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, and Heavens Gate, founded by Marshall Applewhite, out in San Diego. The Manson family, the KKK, the Unification Church and the Hare Krishnas are sometimes put in the brainwashing category, but not everyone would agree. In our everyday experience we hear about brainwashing frequently. Is advertising and info commercials brainwashing? What about political rhetoric? Or elements of talk radio? Most people view these as persuasion, propaganda, education or campaigning not as brainwashing in the narrow sense of the word. True brainwashing is an intense form of influence, requiring complete isolation and dependency of the person being brainwashed. This kind of brainwashing takes place in prison camps or cultist compounds. The practitioner has complete control over the victims sleep and eating patterns and even bathroom privileges. It is total dependency. The brainwasher breaks down the persons identity to the point that it doesnt work anymore. The brainwasher than replaces that identity with another set of values, beliefs, and attitudes. Unfortunately, according to reports by the United Nations, brainwashing is taking place in human trafficking. Seems there will always be some people who want complete control over others. Send questions and comments to: lscheckel@charter.net. Larry Scheckel is a retired Tomah High School physics teacher. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Antibody Therapy Targeting Interleukin-1a significantly reduced stroke related brain injury in animals and points to new potential blockbuster therapy AUSTIN, Texas, July 14, 2020, points to a use for XBiotech's drug candidate antibody that blocks interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1?) for use as a therapeutic to reduce brain damage and neurological deficit after stroke. The research was headed by a world-leading cardiovascular researcher, Dr. Giovanni Camici, Director for the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. Dr. Camici's research team tested an anti-IL-1? antibody provided by XBiotech to evaluate its ability to reduce brain injury in animals subjected to an experimental stroke and reperfusion injury. About 15 million people worldwide suffer from a stroke each year. Approximately 795,000 of these people are in the United States. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Dr. Camici commented, "This study demonstrates the importance of IL-1a in mediating the damages caused by ischemic stroke and the efficacy of IL-1a blockade in improving outcome after transient cerebral ischemia in mice. The availability of a clinically approved anti-human IL-1a antibody could offer the possibility to establish new treatment strategies for the management of ischemic stroke patients. Based on our results, randomized clinical trials should be designed to assess the potential of anti-IL-1a therapy as an adjuvant to interventional or thrombolytic treatment of acute ischemic strokes." Dr. Camici's research team focused on a particular difficult aspect of ischemic stroke, so called reperfusion injury. When patients suffer from a stroke, or a blockage in an artery that provides crucial blood and oxygen to the brain, a portion of the brain typically suffers irreparable damage. However, there is also typically a portion of the brain that has been deprived of oxygen but is functional and may be rescued if the blood clot is removed and normal circulation can be restored. Unfortunately, when the blood clot is removed and blood supply resumes into areas of the brain where oxygen had been deprived, a massive inflammatory response occurs. This ensuing inflammation is believed to be responsible for the so called "reperfusion injury" that is observed with the returning blood supply. The result is widening destruction of brain tissue upon opening of the clogged artery and associated irreparable neurologic deficits. Therefore, decreasing this inflammatory response by inhibiting IL-1? holds promise as an effective treatment for reperfusion injury. There is currently no therapy to treat reperfusion injury. Peter Libby, M.D., Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and clinical cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a contributing author on the publication, and consultant to and XBiotech Director stated, "We urgently need adjunctive therapies to contemporary reperfusion strategies to minimize the potentially devastating brain damage in patients with acute strokes. These events too often rob people of their ability to function independently, to communicate, and can also contribute to cognitive decline. The benefits of anti-IL-1? therapy, if replicated in humans, could have immense consequences for patients, families, and society at large." Dr. Camici's group blocked an artery in the brain in animals to simulate a human stroke. Then after time, researchers reopened the artery to mimic the reperfusion treatment (and subsequent injury) a stroke patient may receive in a hospital. The brains and function of the animals treated with anti-IL-1? antibody were compared to control animals to observe the extent of reperfusion injury. The findings were significant: animals treated with anti-IL-1? antibody had a 36% reduction in brain damage (ie, reduction in reperfusion injury) and these antibody treated animals retained significantly better neurological function, as measured by activity tests, compared to controls. XBiotech is developing True Human antibody therapies targeting IL-1a and plans to enter into human clinical studies with a new product candidate for stroke in 2021. Despite the enormous unmet medical need for therapies, there remains today no approved therapy to reduce brain damage caused by reperfusion injury. The findings demonstrate a crucial role for IL-1? related inflammation in brain injury, which occurs after a blocked artery in the brain is opened and blood returns to the affected area. In patients that suffer a stroke, the opening of a blocked artery in the brain is performed as soon possible using catheter devices and clot inhibiting drug therapy. However, artery reopening and resumption of blood supply is associated with expanded injury and loss of brain function, such as cognitive or physical impairment. In this research, treatment with an antibody that blocks IL-1? was given after artery blockage and just prior to resumption of blood supply to simulate a stroke. The antibody treatment was found to inhibit inflammation in blood vessels and brain cells that had suffered a lack of oxygen supply as a result of the blocked artery. Decreased inflammation caused by IL-1? blockade is believed to be the contributing factor for the reduction in brain damage and improvement in neurological function observed in the animals that received the IL-1a blocking antibody treatment. About XBiotech XBiotech is a fully integrated, global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to pioneering the discovery, development and commercialization of therapeutic antibodies. XBiotech currently is advancing a pipeline of therapies by harnessing naturally occurring antibodies from patients with immunity to certain diseases. Utilizing natural human immunity as a source of new medicines offers the potential to redefine the standards of care for a wide range of diseases. On December 30, 2019 XBiotech sold an IL-1? blocking True Human antibody that had been used successfully in a number of clinical trials. The sale of the antibody generated $750 million in upfront cash and up to $600 million in potential milestone payments. The Company retained the right to pursue the development of True Human antibodies targeting IL-1? for all areas of medicine outside of dermatology. While the Company previously was focused on a single True Human antibody targeting IL-1?, it now plans to develop multiple product candidates, which will target IL-1? in specific areas of medicine. In addition to recent sale of its anti-IL-1? antibody, XBiotech now has other revenue sources. Commencing January 1, 2020 XBiotech began using its proprietary manufacturing technology to produce clinical drug product for a major Pharmaceutical Company under a two-year supply agreement. In addition, XBiotech is providing clinical trial contract research operations to conduct two large, double-blind placebo-controlled Phase II clinical studies. The financial strength generated from the sale and contract operations is enabling XBiotech to expand both its anti-IL-1? product development and infectious disease programs. To accelerate advance of the Company's pipeline, the Company is expanding its existing manufacturing and research center, and planning to build an additional 30,000ft2 infectious disease research & development center on its 48-acre property in Austin, TX which is wholly owned by the Company. The expansion and new building will be in addition to the present custom-built 33,000ft2 combined manufacturing and R&D facility that currently exists on the campus. XBiotech owns the 48-acre campus-and all structures on the property-debt-free and envisions further expansion of facilities. For more information, visit www.xbiotech.com . About True Human Therapeutic Antibodies XBiotech's True Human antibodies are the only available antibodies derived without modification from humans who possess natural immunity to certain diseases. (Unlike all commercially available antibodies, which are called "Humanized" or "Fully Human," XBiotech's True Human antibodies are directly sourced from the natural human immune response for specific diseases without modification.) XBiotech's True Human antibodies have the potential to harness the body's natural immunity to fight disease with unprecedented safety, efficacy, and tolerability. Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including declarations regarding management's beliefs and expectations that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "could," "expects," "plans," "contemplate," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "projects," "intend" or "continue" or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are subject to the disclosures set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of certain of our SEC filings. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and our actual results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and the development of the industry in which we operate, may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Any forward-looking statements that we make in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We assume no obligation to update our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release. Contact XBiotech Ashley Otero aotero@xbiotech.com 512-386-2930 Three individuals have been arrested for their suspected involvement in a fatal Fourth of July shooting at a cookout in Lynn that killed a 35-year-old man and wounded four others, authorities said. Police responded around 10 p.m. on July 4 to a report of gunshots near 134 Fayette St. and found five people shot, according to a joint statement from Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett and Lynn Police Chief Michael Mageary. Noe Hernandez was taken to Salem Hospital, where the 35-year-old Lynn man was pronounced dead, the statement said. Another man was flown by MedFlight to a Boston hospital, where he remains in critical condition, according to Blodgett. Three other people were shot and are expected to survive, the district attorney said. Tyrell Berberena was taken into custody Monday at a gas station on the Cambridge-Somerville line in connection to the killing of Hernandez, according to the prosecutor. The 25-year-old man was arraigned Tuesday in Lynn District Court on charges of murder and carrying a gun without a license, Blodgett said. He was also charged with four counts of armed assault with intent to murder and four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious injury. He was ordered held without bail, according to the district attorney. Marcus Carlisle, a 22-year-old Lynn man, was arrested in Long Beach, California on Monday with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service. He faces the same charges as Berberena, authorities said. It is unclear when Carlisle will be taken back to Massachusetts, because of travel restrictions issued as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Blodgett. Seventeen-year-old Josue Cespedes, was taken into custody Tuesday morning in Salem on the same charges as the other two suspects. He is expected to be arraigned Wednesday in Lynn District Court, according to Blodgett. A warrant is also out for a fourth suspect, the district attorney said. Belt and Road More Dangerous for Victorian State Government Than COVID-19: Former Premier A former leader of Victoria has criticised the states Belt and Road agreement with Beijing saying it will be the undoing of the current Labor government, and more serious than the recent COVID-19 spike in the state. Even with COVID, the most dangerous aspect for this Labor government is this deal that they have signed with another government which has an expansionist policy, the former state Premier Jeff Kennett told Sky News on July 13. The Belt and Road policy will be the undoing of this government more than any other act we are facing, he added. The current premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews has signed two agreements with Beijings National Development and Reform Commission: a Memorandum of Understanding in 2018 and a Framework Agreement in 2019. Workers inspect railway tracks, which serve as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative freight rail route linking Chongqing to Duisburg, at the Dazhou railway station in Sichuan Province, China, on March 14, 2019. (Reuters) The agreement has received intense criticism in recent monthswith state, federal and international political figures weighing in. The criticism has focused on national security concerns and increased scepticism of AustraliaChina relations, which have deteriorated in the wake of Beijings response to the foreign ministers calls for an investigation into the origins of the pandemic. Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas at the time criticised the federal government for vilifying China, while the Victorian Premier remained firm in his support for BRI claiming it was about growing jobs for Victorians. Kennett (state premier from 1992 1999) responded to the premiers assertion saying that while on the one hand Victoria was engaged with Beijings BRI, on the other, the Australian federal government has been tied down by an ongoing trade dispute instigated by Beijing. Australian beef is seen at a supermarket in Beijing on May 12, 2020. China suspended imports from four major Australian beef suppliers on May 12, just weeks after Beijings ambassador warned of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberras push to probe the origins of the coronavirus. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images) The same Chinese government that he has signed to support in their expansionist policies, is the same government that is refusing to take the barley from Victorian farmers. Its the same government that is giving advice to its population not to visit Australia, and its certainly the same government that is stopping its students from coming to our universities, he said. The BRI has attracted controversy over concerns Beijing is using the program to expand its influence via debt-trap diplomacy that mainly targets developing nations. For example, in 2017 the Sri Lankan government had to hand over 70 percent control of its Hambantota Port to a Chinese-state owned firm (for 99 years) after it was unable to service a $1.3 billion loan from China. A general view of the port facility at Hambantota, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 10, 2015. (Lakruwan WanniarachchiAFP/Getty Images) Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics and author of Silent Invasiona book which details Beijings influence efforts in Australiawrote in The Age on May 23 that the Victorian governments championing of BRI was a success for the Chinese Community Party (CCP). He argued that attitudes toward the CCP in Sydney and Canberra have hardened in recent years, typified by the ban on Huawei and the downfall of New South Wales Senator Sam Dastyari. The CCP has instead focused on ramping up influence activities in other statesWestern Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and Victoria. Hamilton drew comparisons with a communist tactic called using the countryside to surround the city. The tactic became well known when the CCP employed it against the ruling Nationalist government in China during the 1930s. The CCP was unable to defeat the Nationalist Army in the cities, so retreated to the countryside to build its strength. Later when the Nationalist Army was weakened after defending China from Japanese forces during World War II, the CCP re-emerged and seized the country. In the 1960s, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot adopted the tactic to usurp the Cambodian government after he learned it from the CCP. Ethiopia has blamed "unchanged stances" plus "additional and excessive demands of Egypt and Sudan" for the failure to find an agreement in the latest round of talks about the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd). Nevertheless, in a statement the country's water ministry said that the current process, which is being led by the African Union, is at a "very encouraging state". The three countries have been trying to resolve differences over Ethiopia's massive hydroelectric dam project for nearly a decade. The construction of the Gerd, which straddles the Blue Nile upstream of Egypt and Sudan, is almost complete. Egypt, which relies almost entirely on the Nile for its water needs, is worried that Ethiopia would be able to control the flow of the river. Ethiopia appears to be on the brink of beginning to fill the dam and disputes continue about the speed of the filling as well as water flow once the dam is full. It is not clear from the Ethiopian government statement exactly what new demands Egypt had come up with. But Ethiopia did say that the three countries had reached an "understanding on their interests instead of reiterating their positions". Ethiopia says it expects negotiations to continue. The Egyptian irrigation ministry's spokesman said that the final meeting on Monday between the three countries' water ministers "reflected the ongoing disputes" over the filling and operation of the dam, BBC Monitoring reports. Source: BBC 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 New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court Tuesday it would file a status report detailing the steps taken by the authorities on encounter killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it may consider appointing a committee headed by a former judge to probe the encounters of Dubey and his aides as also the killing of eight Uttar Pradesh policemen by the gangster. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the bench that he would file the status report by July 16. The apex court said it would hear on July 20 the pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters of Dubey and his associates. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3. Dubey was killed in an encounter on the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. by Kamel Abderrahmani With the transformation of the Christian basilica into a mosque, "Erdogan, this 21st century Caliph, has secured the support of a religious and fundamentalist electorate nostalgic of the Ottoman era". "A clear new message from political Islam to the West: dominate and subjugate, always and at all times!". The western world does not seem to understand provocation. A system of lighting and veils to hide Christian mosaics and frescoes. "Whenever Islamism comes to power in a democratic and secular state, it declares war on civilizations, cultures and other religions." Paris (AsiaNews) - The Hagia Sophia (some to ironically call it Lalla [[i]] Safia [[ii]]) has a historical path marked by war and peace, hatred and cohabitation. From basilica, testimony of the Christianity of Constantinople, to mosque in Muslim domination; then as a museum during the establishment of secularism in Turkey, before returning to being a mosque in the era of Erdogan, self-proclaimed Emir of believers, the Caliph, as Al Qaradawi, the Islamist guru and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood calls him. During Kamel Mustapha Ataturk's rule, Hagia Sophia enjoyed the status of museum, a place where different cultures and religions encountered each other; a highly popular historic site visited by people from all over the planet and from different religions. In other words, before 11 July 2020 - another date that marks the history of this temple - Hagia Sophia was a place where the possibility of coexistence between religions, as well as the tolerance of Islam was manifest an Islam separate from politics. As Ioan Sauca, a member of the Romanian Orthodox Church, wrote to Erdogan: "It was a good test of Turkey's attachment to secularism and its desire to leave past conflicts behind," and I would add: to establish the universality of human values. The move to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque has an internal and external political dimension. Internal: having lost Istanbul - passed to the opposition in the last municipal elections - and having in mind the 2023 elections, Erdogan, this 21st century Caliph, is securing the support of a religious and fundamentalist electorate, nostalgic of the Ottoman era. External: symbolically, the Hagia Sophia affair is a new clear message from political Islam to the West: to dominate and subjugate, always and at all times! In other words: Erdogan wants to test how far he can go in provocation and push borders! Silence in the face of these maneuvers is a form of abdication, "to say in front of everyone that he is free to do what he likes and when he likes". The western world does not seem to grasp the fundamentals of this decision. The newspaper "Le Monde", naively comments: Transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque: "... a reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque will not prevent tourists of all religions from visiting it - there are many who visit the nearby Blue Mosque every day!". As if Hagia Sofia was in history only a simple museum, and as if Erdogan's fundamentalism stopped there! The Turkish newspaper "Hurriyet" [[iii]] reported that the "Sultan" asked the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Presidency of Religious Affairs to prepare the basilica for the first prayer which will take place on Friday 24 July. In the parts of the mosque dedicated to prayer, a system of lights will be placed on the ground to hide the Christian mosaics and frescoes. On the agenda there is also a project for mosaics and frescoes to be covered with a curtain mechanism during the hours of prayer. This measure returns to highlight the dangerous aspect of the exploitation of religion which, in one way or another, creates tensions and prepares the ground for new clashes of cultures that could be avoided. In other words: in the context in which political Islam dominates, peace disappears and with it fraternity and respect for other religions. Ibrahim Negm, of the Council of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, considers the Turkish president's decision "a dangerous political game" [[iv]]. Furthermore, this measure gives a bad image of Islam and Muslims - already quite degraded - and [confirms that] every time Islamism comes to power in a democratic and secular state, it declares war on civilizations, cultures and other religions. Taking his time, with pauses for silence between one word and another, Pope Francis told those gathered for the Angelus of July 12 that "My thought goes to Istanbul, I think of Hagia Sophia and I am very saddened". French newspapers have translated "saddened" to "afflicted" (Afp); "Struck" (IMedia); "Marked by paint" (Le Parisien); "Upset" (France24). All these translations contains hades that might seem euphemistic. But they are part of the lexical field of pain, of "sadness, of sorrow mixed with indignation". It is a sentiment that I share in all sincerity: such decisions, in this perfidious game of assault on religion, peace is aborted between the believers of the different religions in this world. [i] Lalla is an honorary title, a sign of distinction given to important women of the great families among the Berbers in North Africa. [ii] Safiya bint Houyay ( ), born around 610 in Yathrib (later to become Medina), died between 661 and 670. Converted to Islam, she was the 11th wife of Muhammad in the year 7 of 'hegira. [iii] https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/86-yil-sonra-ayasofyada-ilk-ibadet-boyle-olacak-41562218 [iv] https://arabic.rt.com/world/1133419-%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A3%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%BA%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%A2%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%81%D8%A7-%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%AC%D8%AF/ The Omaha city council will consider a resolution urging the Legislature to let Nebraskans vote on repealing the state ban on affirmative action the practice of improving employment and educational opportunities for minority groups. The resolution, brought by Councilman Ben Gray, says government policies are needed to bridge inequalities in employment and wages, increase access to education, promote diversity and help redress past wrongs, among other things. In 2008, Nebraska voters approved Initiative 424, a constitutional amendment banning affirmative action in the state. The amendment barred public agencies, such as universities and city governments, from considering race, gender and ethnicity when handing out contracts, hiring employees and awarding scholarships, according to World-Herald reporting from the time. Grays resolution argues that the ban presents a significant barrier to improving diversity and inclusion in city government. In an interview Monday, Gray, who represents North Omaha, said people of color have received unequal treatment the entire time weve been in this country. White people, meanwhile, have enjoyed privileges not extended to minority groups, he said. The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for parts of northern Connecticut. In its 12:05 p.m. warning it said the T-storms could ping pong ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts. The warning is in effect until 1 p.m. for both western Tolland County in northern Connecticut and north central Hartford County. At 12:04 p.m., a severe thunderstorm was located over Northampton, (Mass.) moving south at 15 mph, the NWS says. To track the storms on radar, click here. The northern half of Connecticut also has a chance of isolated to scattered non-severe thunderstorms today. Locally heavy rainfall with ponding of water on roadways and standing water in low lying areas is possible, the NWS says. Women in Music Pt. III by Haim: Theyre our buddies. But I would have said I love the record anyway. Theyre clearly pushing their boundaries. That one, less vacuuming, more dancing with my kid. 4. Dark Oh, my goodness. That is one of the strangest and most dense shows that Ive ever watched. Theres something exciting about the fact that a lot of people are watching Dark in German with subtitles. I feel like theres so much less resistance to something like that now, hopefully, in our country. It speaks to the Reddit generation of television, where people want to hatch conspiracy theories and guess what things mean. 5. Queer Eye Its one of the most life-affirming shows, for me anyhow. Its that rare thing thats fun and funny, and you want to see the makeover aspect of it. But they say it right in the title: Its so much deeper. They find people that you are immediately in there with and rooting for. Theres such an emphasis on kindness and thoughtfulness and self-reflection and growth. And some of the scenes with Karamo [Brown], where hes talking people through their personal struggles I just feel like if you really do pour your energy into something to try and improve it and make it more meaningful, it can actually work. 6. Heat Waves in a Swamp: The Paintings of Charles Burchfield I find myself flipping through it a lot and getting whisked away. Theres a surrealism that I love, and I dont know how Charles E. Burchfield would feel about this, but it takes me to the place of the covers of the old Lord of the Rings books. Theres something supernatural and fantastical that really opens my brain when I look at it. 7. Portrait of a Lady on Fire It blew me away. And I feel like its a good movie for men to understand energetically how when they show up it can really change things. Its not a spoiler to say this. You get lulled into this amazing space of there being no men for a long time in the movie, then a random guy does show up. Hes a nothing character; hes there to do an errand. Hes not being a jerk or being weird. But him just sitting there eating some slop, youre like: Ugh, whats this guy doing here? Get him out of here. Hes ruining the vibe. 8. Older Music All for You by E.T. Mensah & the Tempos: Its a genre thats sometimes called Highlife more traditional music from Ghana, mixed with Western instruments that had become available in that region at the time. I listen to it front-to-back a lot. It makes everything feel happy and crackly. Google's new speaker is just around the corner. The Digital Trends reported that the pictures for Google's new smart speaker were leaked through a short clip video, and a photo--these were released by Google's PR team, showcasing a little taste. The report claimed that it has a better idea of what's to come with this possible new generation of the Google Home. Also Read: Following TikTok Controversy, Google Play Bans 25 More Apps and Urges People to Delete Them, Including AnTuTu It has the same fabric mesh design as most Google smart home speakers.. This is our first official look at the new Google Nest smart speaker.#Googlehome pic.twitter.com/KcZSDWL8TA Heres an early official look at the upcoming Google Nest speaker..!!It has the same fabric mesh design as most Google smart home speakers..This is our first official look at the new Google Nest smart speaker. #Google Ritik (@Rkjustin12) July 11, 2020 Also Read: Google Discontinues Google Pixel 3A; Here's Where To Buy, How to Check Safety Feature of Your Pixel The new model took a long time to be revealed since the original was unveiled in 2016. Since many users are itching to know what the new Google Nest Home will be like, we will provide you the leaked information that you need to know. New features The new device is more geared toward better sound quality, as indicated by the full fabric covering and shape. However, it doesn't have 360-degree speakers. Instead, Nest home on gave front speaker just like Google Home Max; it cannot blast sound from all sides. Recently certified by the FCC, here is our first look at GXCA6, the new @Google Nest Speaker, replacing the original Google Home. pic.twitter.com/Ltp1quPFqc Android TV Guide (@androidtv_rumor) July 9, 2020 The description provided by the report came from the video since the new speaker was shown backed up to a wall, suggesting it doesn't 360 capabilities. It can also work as duel-stereo speakers since the first part of the video showed a man using two speakers--one on each side of his face. Design The size of the original Google Home speaker is one of the most obvious. It can possibly be a bit over 8.6 inches long. The change is a noticeable difference since the original is 5.6 inches long. The shape is another obvious change in the new speaker. The new Google Home looks like a very comfortable pillow, instead of having a shape comparable to a bloated chip can. Fabric is covering the bottom of the speaker, instead of a plastic top. Availability and price The report clarified that there is no current update on availability and price. However, it was rumored that the new Google Nest Home speaker would have been announced at last month's I/O conference. Although the pandemic forced the conference to be canceled, the photo and short video of the speaker suggested that Google might make an official online presentation soon. The report also claimed that the new speaker's announcement should be expected this fall, along with its new Pixel phones' announcement. Also Read: [BREAKING] Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook CEOs Set to Testify at Antitrust Hearing 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The reopening of the tourism market may be near as resumption of air routes may occur to areas where COVID-19 is well controlled and to some countries which want to open safe corridors with Vietnam. It is still unclear when Vietnam will reopen in the international tourism market, but travel firms have begun preparing to receive foreign travelers. Tu Quy Thanh, director of Travelink, said after several months of silence, some partners from China and ASEAN countries have mentioned tours to Vietnam. Partners have contacted and asked for information after hearing that Vietnam may resume international flights commencing in July, Thanh said. We are ready to restore the markets as soon as the green light turns on, he said. Other travel firms reported the same, saying that not only Vietnamese firms but foreign partners also want to reopen the market soon to re-activate their operation which has been stagnant for many months. The reopening of the tourism market may be near as resumption of air routes may occur to areas where COVID-19 is well controlled and to some countries which want to open safe corridors with Vietnam. Vietnam is a good destination for travelers thanks to its great achievements in the fight against the coronavirus. Pham Ha, CEO of Luxury Travel Group, revealed that he has received orders for family tours from Germany. Travelers plan to come in Q4 and early next year. The company is renewing its products to re-access the markets, focusing on new trends such as living slowly, returning to nature, and connecting with other people. It is also creating procedures for receiving guests, examining the health of tour guides and arranging equipment for vehicles and restaurants. Dong Hoang Thinh, director of Dong Thi Company, said he has some orders with departure time in February 2021, but his company is preparing for the comeback now. Dong Thi has completed preparation is seeking to buy vouchers from hotels to design tours with the best service fees. At present, many restaurants and resorts are empty, so they are offering vouchers at very good prices, he explained. The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) reported that in the first five months of 2020, the number of foreign travelers to Vietnam fell by 50 percent to 3.7 million. The agency estimated that if Vietnam reopens the market in Q3, it may receive 6-8 million foreign travelers for this year. Travel firms say it is difficult to predict the market performance, but believe that the number of foreign travelers not only depends on the attractiveness of products and prices, but also on the technical barriers applied to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Ngoc Ha Vietnam Intl Travel Mart to take place in August The Vietnam International Travel Mart (VITM) 2020, themed Vietnamese tourism looks toward the future, is slated for August 12-15 in Hanoi. A teenager has shared shocking photos of blisters on her chest that she claims were caused by a 15 PrettyLittleThing top. Adara, 19, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, said she needed 'medical attention' after the metal loops on the garment apparently gave her sore red blisters. Sharing photos of the painful wounds to Twitter yesterday, Adara said she was in 'a lot of pain' after wearing the 15 zebra print top once. She added she's seen a doctor and is on antibiotics as the wounds are infected. Adara, 19, from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire says she needed 'medical attention' after the metal loops on the garment apparently gave her sore red blisters on her chest (pictured) Sharing photos of the painful wounds to Twitter yesterday, Adara said she was in 'a lot of pain' after wearing the 15 zebra print top once, shown here on a model in a picture from Pretty Little Thing's website Photos show her chest is covered in red flaking blisters, which run down from her chest to the top of her stomach. PrettyLittleThing told FEMAIL that Adara was currently speaking with their customer service team to resolve the issue. Writing on Twitter, Adara said: 'Anyone buying from @OfficialPLT please be wary of buying tops with metal loops on them. 'This was my first time wearing it, and the metal loops look as if they have gone rusty and burnt through my skin causing my chest to blister and be in a lot of pain. 'Now having to seek medical attention, looking like it's going to become infected. She claimed that she got the injury from the Mono Zebra Lace Up Cup Detail Top, showing the tarnished metal which is believed to have caused the wounds. Writing on Twitter, Adara warned anyone buying from Pretty Little Thing to be wary of buying tops with metal loops on them Pictured: Adara is with red sores over her chest and stomach which she believes were caused by a PrettyLittleThing T-shirt. Adara uploaded the photo with the edits After the pictures were shared on Twitter thousands of users urged Adara to get help and asked Pretty Little Thing for an explanation. Pictured the photos of the wounds The post, which has been liked more than 32 thousand times, has outraged social media users who urged her to get help. 'This is why all metal components on garments should be tested, nickel free and non-corrosive. I would not like to be in their shoes right now. Hope you're okay!' one wrote. 'Omg I bought that top a while ago and sent it back, lucky escape' added another. Pictured: Adara's T-shirt with metal hoops. Adara says she wore the 15 top once and reacted to the metal Adara is pictured holding her top after she sustained injuries. The metal hoops are shown to have corroded slightly Customer support at Pretty Little Thing later replied asking the shopper to get in contact. They wrote: 'Hey, I'm so sorry about this, please could you drop us a direct message?' Adara later added that it wasn't warm and she was wearing the garment inside. Customer support at Pretty Little Thing later replied asking the shopper to get in contact. They wrote: 'Hey, I'm so sorry about this, please could you drop us a direct message?' This has not been the first time Pretty Little Thing has shocked customers with the materials it uses for clothing. The post, which has been liked more than 32 thousand times, has outraged social media users who urged her to get help Last September, they were forced to explain warnings on their website which stated that the retailer used chemicals which may 'cause cancer and birth defects'. A spokeswoman for the company explained at the time that the warning was in place to comply with Californian law, as the company sells to customers in the US. The PLT spokeswoman said the law, known as Proposition Proposition 65 or the Safe Drinking and Toxic Enforcement Act 1986: 'Requires companies to make customers in California aware that certain products may contain traces of chemicals.' A twenty-five-year-old lady identified as Victoria Okocha, has given a chilling account of how she was abducted by suspected herdsmen in... A twenty-five-year-old lady identified as Victoria Okocha, has given a chilling account of how she was abducted by suspected herdsmen in the Isa-Ogwashi-Uku area of Delta state, gang-raped and forced to drink the blood of another victim as water, while in her captors den. Vanguard reports that Okocha left her home town in Ubulu-Uku, Aniocha South Local Government of the state last Friday, July 10, and was heading for Asaba, the states capital. She boarded a bus and while in transit, they sighted a fallen tree across the road at Isa-Ogwashi. Presuming that the fallen tree was as a result of the heavy downpour the previous day, the driver kept moving towards the direction of the tree until they discovered too late that it was used to barricade the way. ''By the time the driver attempted to reverse, it was too late as a man armed with a cutlass, hit his side window in an attempt to drag him out of the vehicle. Passengers hurriedly jumped out and ran into the bush in different directions. But I was unlucky because I had cramps and fell. Another one got hold of me and dragged me into the bush, while the driver who was inflicted with matchet cuts managed to escape. They took me far into the bush and demanded N20 million ransom. When I told them my family could not afford that amount because we are poor, they threatened to cut my breasts and plucked out my eyeballs from their sockets if they did not get the amount. They were five in number and spoke in Fulani dialect. Only one of them could speak English. I was blindfolded and had my hands tied. Five of them took turns to rape me that night. When they contacted one of my relatives, Afamefune, he begged that they reduce the amount and they agreed to reduce it to N5 million. I stayed with them for two days before my people could raise some money which was dropped at a designated place. They also collected N2000 out of the N3000 cash I had in my bag. In my weak state, I begged them to give me some water to drink and they offered me blood. The blood was that of a lady they kidnapped and murdered while I was there. They also drank out of the blood. Leader of the gang, who could speak English, told me that their intention was also to kill me because my family did not give them a reasonable amount. But he intervened by sending other members away and told me to run away, showing me the direction to take. I was able to locate the road, where I saw a vehicle that was heading towards the direction of my village she said The victim said her family members informed the state police about the incident. Its the stuff of nightmares. Sushi lovers like to think the raw fish dish they enjoy is safe. That was not the case for an anonymous 25-year-old woman in Japan who arrived at St. Lukes International Hospital in Tokyo complaining of a sore throat earlier this year. The pain had persisted for the previous five days after consuming assorted sashimia raw fish dish. From a simple examination of the womans throat, doctors spotted a black worm wriggling in the back of her esophagus. The worm was then removed directly with tweezers from her left tonsil, after which her symptoms rapidly improved. They determined the parasite to be Pseudoterranova azarasi, a type of round worm normally contracted from eating undercooked or raw fish. The worm measured 38 millimeters (1.5 inches) long and 1 millimeter wide, and doctors noted it was molting the outer cuticle and concluded that it was a fourth-stage larva of Pseudoterranova azarasi. These parasites ordinarily settle in the stomach and require an endoscopy to remove; a throat infection from the worm is rare but has been known to cause pain, cough, and tingling throat syndrome. The case report from St. Lukes was released on July 8 in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and it noted that the number of parasitosis infection cases from raw fish has markedly increased worldwide. Another study, from UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, also observed a rise in sushi parasites in recent decades. The studys author, assistant professor Chelsea Wood, found a 283-fold spike in cases of Anisakis worms found in raw fish since the 1970s. At every stage of seafood processing and sushi preparation, people are good at finding worms and removing them from fish, Wood noted. She added, Thats important to know from a public health standpoint, and for understanding whats going on with marine mammal populations that arent thriving. Such infections are found more commonly in coastal areas and particularly in Japan, where raw fish dishes such as sushi and sashimi are popular. We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc Photo: Sean Davies A Metro Vancouver man is speaking out after claiming he found a used, disposable glove in the paper bag containing his Tim Hortons order Monday morning. Sean Davies had already finished the hash brown he bought for breakfast from the Harbour Centre location in Vancouver which he said wasn't fully contained in its paper protective wrapper, but he "didn't really think much of it" when he dug through the bag to find the second of two sausage breakfast sandwiches he had ordered alongside his coffee. Instead, Davies pulled out "a clear, translucent, used, greasy, sweaty, half-flipped inside-out glove," he said. "Disgusting doesn't quite cover it." Disturbed, Davies showed the glove to another worker on his downtown Vancouver job site. "He's like, 'What, no way,'" Davies recalled. "We both couldn't believe it." After attempts to reach Tim Hortons corporate office through a complaints line, Davies said he instead received a call back from the location where he initially purchased the food, apologizing for the incident. Later in the afternoon, he received a second call, inviting him to speak with the restaurant's general manager, who he said "genuinely seemed very concerned." Davies said the manager he spoke with instructed him to go to the doctor, "right away." According to Davies, the restaurant kept the glove and provided him with a file number for an internal investigation. As for next steps, Davies said he'd like to see the coffee shop "held accountable" for its mistake. "I'd like to see some form of like health inspection done, or some sort of health and safety audit," he added. "I don't really know what to do, I just know that it's a really big problem," he continued. "And it kind of highlights a larger problem, like, it's not just the fact that I found a glove in my bag of food. It's the fact that that's able to happen." LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan -- Unlike his neighbors and peers, 10-year-old Qudratullah cannot walk, run, or talk. The polio virus has turned his life and those of his family into a living hell. Ihsansullah, his neighbor, says Qudratullahs illness impacts the lives of his sisters and mother who must constantly take care of him. We want the authorities to help them by treating this boy so they all can live a normal life, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. Healthcare officials in Helmand say Qudratullah is not the only polio victim requiring assistance, and they are worried over the spread of the crippling virus. As most of the Helmands limited healthcare resources have been diverted to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, authorities recorded 11 new polio cases in the first half of the current year across six of Helmands 14 districts. We used to run vaccination campaigns before the [coronavirus] lockdown was imposed [in the spring], but everything came to a screeching halt after the lockdown, Abdul Ahad Azim, provincial head of the Afghan Public Health Ministry, told Radio Free Afghanistan. Azim, a physician, says the insecurity prompted by frequent clashes between the government forces and the Taliban insurgents was the main impediment to ending the polio virus in Helmand. Since 2014, the Taliban have frequently halted immunization campaigns and imposed restrictions such as forcing health workers to administer vaccines in mosques instead of door-to-door campaigns. The virus was already lurking here, but it found a good opportunity to spread once we were forced to stop the vaccination campaigns, he said. It will now be very challenging to rein in the polio outbreak here. Last month Jan Rasekh, a spokesman for Afghanistan's polio eradication program, warned the virus outbreak is expanding. "We worked hard for years and cornered polio to a limited geographical area," Rasekh said. "The coronavirus has helped polio spread beyond its endemic region of south and southeast, and now threatens people across the country." With 11 new cases, Helmand has recorded the most cases in any Afghan province out of the national total of 29 this year. This worries residents, who fear that while their country reel from the coronavirus pandemic, polio is silently transforming into a major healthcare threat. Mohammad Gul, a resident of Helmands Nad-e Ali district, says authorities need to pay attention to containing both viruses. We have not seen any vaccination in our villages for a while, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. We consider this a major loss. Things need to change immediately. Noor Agha, a resident of Garamser district in Helmand, sees the suspension of polio vaccination campaigns as a major threat. Suspending the vaccination campaign amounts to a major risk as our kids are being deprived of a vital vaccine [against a dangerous disease], he told Radio Free Afghanistan. Abdul Haq Zwakman, an activist in Helmand, says that while local officials needs to deliver better healthcare services, security is a major roadblock to containing the polio outbreak. The Taliban frequently challenge polio vaccinations and sometimes even ban them altogether, he told Radio Free Afghanistan. The information we now have indicates that the polio vaccination is banned in regions controlled by the Taliban. Helmand, Afghanistans largest province which shares a porous border with Pakistan, has emerged as the scene of a key polio outbreak. This undermines decades of efforts to eradicate the disease from Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where it still remains endemic. Nigeria, however, appears to have controlled the crippling disease. Abubakar Siddique wrote this story based on reporting by Mohammad Ilyas Dayee, Radio Free Afghanistans reporter in Helmand. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Counterprotesters said a passing driver pointed a gun at them Friday and said All Lives Matter, as competing groups gathered in front of South Carolinas capitol building to mark the five-year anniversary of the state's removal of the Confederate battle flag from Statehouse grounds. The driver stopped in the middle of the road and stuck his middle finger out at several demonstrators who were on a road median shortly before noon, protester Kamison Burgess told The State newspaper. He then said All Lives Matter, a phrase used by critics of the Black Lives Matter movement before pointing the gun and driving away, Burgess said. A handful of members of the State House Honour Guard, supporters of the emblem, had gathered outside the state capitol in the morning. A separate group, the Columbia Racial Justice Coalition, held an event in the afternoon. The flag held by one of the Honour Guard members, clad in dress uniform, was not the battle emblem, with its red field topped by a blue X and 13 white stars, as expected. Instead, the group unfurled the official state flag, with its iconic palmetto tree and white crescent. A woman with the group did not answer questions about their choice of flag Friday. She said they were not speaking with reporters. The group's decision not to unfurl the Confederate battle flag prompted one counterprotester, Tori Hyder, to call the Honour Guard members cowards. Two sets of barricades set up by law enforcement separated the Honour Guard from Hyder and about two dozen other counterprotesters, who lined the sidewalk carrying signs that read Black Lives Matter and other slogans that have been associated with demonstrations nationwide against racial injustice and police brutality following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd in May. Counterprotesters interviewed said they were taking a stance against the Confederate flag, widely seen as a symbol of racism and hatred. Some of the demonstrators said they had gathered at the statehouse daily since late May. Story continues South Carolina pulled down the rebel banner from the Capitol grounds in 2015, a month after a white supremacist slaughtered nine black church members during a Bible study at a Charleston church. Since then, groups for and against the Confederate battle flag have regularly gathered on the anniversary of its removal from South Carolinas Statehouse. On Friday, the Honour Guard blasted music from its speakers, including The Star-Spangled Banner" and songs from the Confederacy such as Join the Calvary! At one point, counterprotesters on the opposite side of Gervais St. blared heavy metal, each side attempting to drown the other out. Both the State House Honour Guard and the Columbia Racial Justice Coalition attempted to reserve a permit for the grounds at the same time on Friday, news outlets reported. State officials scheduled the Honour Guards gathering in the morning and the coalition's event in the afternoon. A third group, Flags across the South, aims to fly the Confederate flag from a temporary flagpole by a monument dedicated to confederate soldiers Saturday, The State newspaper reported. ___ Liu is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. After months of mixed messages, some Santa Clara County businesses including salons whose owners protested in downtown San Jose in June were allowed to reopen Monday. The reprieve proved short-lived. As stylists and nail technicians were welcoming clients back, they learned of new statewide health orders that will force them to close again in two days. Under strict new protocols imposed by the countys latest health order, gyms, hair and nail salons and tattoo parlors resumed operation, bringing excitement and anxiety after a series of fits and starts. But Santa Clara County said it had been placed back on the state watch list as of Sunday and learned Monday that the new restrictions on personal care businesses applied to it and will become effective Wednesday. Its all sort of mushed together into a quagmire of a nightmare, said Mary Hill, the owner of the Fabu salon in Campbell. Hill and other salon owners had initially expected to reopen in mid-June, when some personal services businesses and the reintroduction of outdoor gatherings were scheduled to resume. In the past two weeks, the county rescinded one health order after being placed on the state health agencys watch list, then gained a variance from the state, and finally set new guidelines for reopening Monday. For this brief resumption of work, personal care businesses in Santa Clara had to complete an online application that showed their ability to implement safety measures for cleaning, facial coverings and proper distancing; training workers; and having an adequate plan in the event that a worker tests positive for the coronavirus. There are so many rules, and they arent clear, so its difficult to know if we comply, said Lena Le, who has owned Fantasy Nails in San Jose for more than 30 years. Ive read the guidelines back and forth, and I still dont understand whats going on. I need lots of explanations. Hill, whose salon is ordinarily closed on Mondays, used the day to practice safety protocols, cutting her husbands and brothers hair. The reopening came as coronavirus infections continued to surge in much of the state and many businesses in California faced new restrictions. State orders announced Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom required every county in California to close indoor restaurants, movie theaters, bars and wineries. In addition, the counties on the state watch list were ordered to close hair salons, barbershops, gyms, houses of worship, offices for non-critical work sectors and shopping malls, unless they can operate outside or offer pickup services. Confusion heightened midday Monday as the new state orders were announced, but that didnt stop shoppers at Eastridge Center mall in San Jose. Thirty minutes before doors opened, scores of people lined up outside. Many were there to race to the salons. Le, who said her landlord has asked her to pay back rent for the four months of closure, was still scrambling to post safety guidelines as clients tried to make appointments. At Litas Hair Salon, the business limited appointments to three or four stylists and clients at a time to ensure adequate separation. Stylist Anna-Lyn Pabelonio said she has averaged five to eight clients a day for three years at Litas, but will now serve only two or three. Its nerve-racking, but were excited to finally get back here, said Pabelonio, who has been on unemployment since mid-March. I missed working, and I feel bad for my clients. She started taking appointments in the middle of June, but had to cancel those after the county decided to delay the reopening of personal care businesses. Now shes doing it again. This is so frustrating, Pabelonio said. After months, I was excited to open today and finally see people, but now were closing. This is the second time that Ive made appointments only to cancel them. Its not a great way to build clientele. Street Set University Barbershop and Boutique owner Defcase Dofredo, also in the Eastridge mall, was philosophical: Yes, we have to close shop quickly, but at least they didnt wait a week or two for when wed be fully functioning to close us down again. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes Dofredo said he has been able to survive the shutdown through unemployment benefits and help from his wife, who works as a certified public accountant, but he missed being in the shop. Clients consistently contacted him about opening a barbershop in his garage, but he declined. He reopened Monday at limited capacity. Next door, 24 Hour Fitness opened for the first time since March allowing 60-minute reservations with a 30-minute cleaning break between sessions. The extra safety measures were deemed necessary in a county that reported 315 new coronavirus cases Sunday and more than 200 Monday. The daily coronavirus cases in Santa Clara County the initial epicenter of the outbreak in the Bay Area have nearly tripled over the past month, now averaging 145 a day. Im frantic. Everybody is frantic. The public health officer is frantic, because there is no leadership from the top, and we are not going to able to control this regionally or locally, Dr. Jeffrey Smith, Santa Claras county executive, told The Chronicle. In a video statement this weekend, Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said: Nobody wants to have to shut things down again, and the way to prevent this is for all of us to take action together. Hill still plans to open Fabu Tuesday to serve eight clients, many who have been customers for the 16 years Hill has been at her current location. Oh, hell yeah. Im going to do what I can do. Are you kidding? Ive gone four months without working, she said. Rusty Simmons and Shwanika Narayan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com, shwanika.narayan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron, @shwanika Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) President Rodrigo Duterte discouraged his daughter Sara Duterte from following his political career track. In a speech before troops in Jolo, Sulu on Monday, Duterte said the Davao City mayor should forego running for president in the 2022 national elections unless she believes she can improve the lives of Filipinos. "Sabi ko kay Inday, huwag ka mag-presidente unless you see something na kaya mo gawin para sa bayan," he said. "If it's just a matter of ambition, lay off. Wala ka talagang makuha diyan, pagod lang." [Translation: I told her not to run for president unless she sees something she can do for the country. If it's just a matter of ambition, lay off. You won't get anything there, just exhaustion.] The President added that the meager salary is not enough for the amount of responsibility, saying that Sara won't get rich from that job unless she turns into a corrupt official. The younger Duterte previously said she has no plans to run for the top national post in 2022, but also said she was not closing her doors on the possibility. Sara first assumed the Davao mayoralty post from 2010 to 2013, and was re-elected in 2016, succeeding her father twice. A 36-year-old man had roughly 3,800 bags of heroin and more than $50,000 in cash when police caught up with him early Monday morning at a Fairview Township hotel, authorities said. Township police tried to pull Philadelphia resident Brian Pena-Villanueva over around 4:15 a.m. on the 100 block of Limekiln Road after recognizing him and knowing he had a suspended license. Pena-Villanueva fled and eventually left the car he was driving in a hotel parking lot. Police said they could see drug paraphernalia through its windows. Between the car and a hotel room linked to the 36-year-old, investigators found the heroin, cash and two bags of marijuana. Pena-Villanueva is being held at the York County Prison in lieu of $750,000 bail. Philadelphia resident Brian Pena-Villanueva, 36, is facing drug charges after York County authorities found him in a hotel room with thousands of bags of heroin and cash. (Fairview Township Police Department) READ MORE: 1 teen dead, 2 injured in crash after Pa. police chase; gun found in car 31-year-old man killed in I-83 crash: state police Allentown police release video showing what happened after cop put knee on mans neck CATSKILL, N.Y. The street painting would stretch about three blocks, from Village Pizza II to the stoplight at the southern end of Main Street, spelling out Black Lives Matter on the pavement. The proposal didnt seem like too much of an ask; in the weeks since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis, the phrase has been painted on streets from Washington, D.C., to Charlotte, North Carolina, and, Thursday, even in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan. But village leaders in Catskill balked, offering several counterproposals instead, including one that would have allowed the painting, but in the Black area of town. I knew it was going to be a no, said Shirley Cross, 31, a member of the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition, which proposed the painting. I just feel like its a slap in the face for Black people. In cities across the nation, the civil unrest that followed Floyds death has heightened racial tensions and, in some cases, led to confrontations pitting protesters against police and some community members. It has also caused flashpoints in many smaller communities. On Saturday, a Black Lives Matter march in Kinderhook, New York, about 20 miles northeast of Catskill, was interrupted by a white couple who brandished a gun at protesters outside their home. The couple were eventually taken into police custody, but no arrests had been made as of Monday. Can you imagine if I pulled a gun on people protesting in front of my house? Kamal Johnson, the mayor of the nearby city of Hudson, said in a Facebook video; Johnson was among those protesting Saturday. Id be arrested and all over the newspapers. In Saranac Lake, New York, about 45 miles south of the Canadian border, the director of a state-sponsored Adirondack diversity initiative said she is moving because of racist graffiti that she believed was directed at her. The graffiti, which included profanity, said go back to Africa and was scrawled on a railroad bridge along a route she uses. As more examples of Black Lives Matter art have spread on streets and sidewalks, controversy has followed. In Chicago, one wording was painted over to read All Lives Matter. In Palo Alto, California, artists blocked the street around a freshly laid painting after officials moved roadblocks, allowing it to be driven over. And in Catskill, on the western banks of the Hudson River, the debate over whether to allow a Black Lives Matter painting directly on Main Street has only exacerbated racial tensions in a village where just over a fifth of the population is Black. Many Black residents live in crumbling public housing, in de facto segregation from the pockets of rural retirees and transplanted Brooklynites, an experience so starkly different they say they might as well be living in two different towns. And it has left some Black residents wondering: To Catskill, do they matter? Cross, a supervisor at a shoe store in town, says she no longer feels theres a place for her in the village she has lived in since she was 12. She is now looking to move. I kind of gave up, she said. Even with my voice, I gave up. She spoke from a stoop where she lives in the Hop-O-Nose Homes, the public housing complex beside Catskill Creek, which runs southeast from the Catskill Mountains, emptying into the Hudson in the village. Nearly 70% of residents in public housing are people of color, according to the Catskill Housing Authority; the housing complex is close to where the alternate location of the painting was proposed to go along Water Street. The worn, low-slung red brick homes are just steps away but a world apart from the rapidly gentrifying main drag. There, a turmeric latte costs nearly $5, and Black Trans Lives Matter signs rest in the windows of shops, some grasped in the arms of luxury bathrobes. Catskill has had a sizable Black population since at least the early 1800s, when the village was a prominent Hudson River port; by the latter part of the century, local historians said, the village drew Black families from the South. Nearly a century later, Catskill continued to attract Black residents, drawn in part by the construction of new public housing like Hop-O-Nose; in more recent years, a new wave of visitors from places like Brooklyn, lured by the scenery and cheap housing stock, has given the village a more trendy vibe. When you leave out of Hop-O-Nose, once you go out on Main Street, you see the Black Lives Matter signs here and there, Cross said. But theres nothing Black on Main Street. On June 4, that seemed to briefly change when hundreds of villagers marched down Main Street in a rally to denounce racism. Black residents took the microphone and shared racist incidents they had endured. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. It was one of a flurry of such marches that sprang up across the state. The high turnout in Catskill surprised some here in Greene County, where President Donald Trump, who in recent days has called Black Lives Matter a symbol of hate, won 60% of the vote in 2016. The proposal to paint Black Lives Matter on Main Street materialized around the time of the march, attracting more than 3,500 supporters on a Change.org petition. But the villages five-member board of trustees all of whom are white rejected the painting proposal June 30. They initially offered the Water Street location instead; when the organizers rejected that, the trustees offered the placement of two large banners saying Black Lives Matter. One could be strung across Main Street, stretching from the old 1920s vaudeville house-turned-cinema to the law offices of Brown, Kelleher & Zwickel, the other alongside the high-traffic New York State Route 9W. Vincent Seeley, president of the board, said the banners would get more visibility and last longer than paint underfoot. He said the village was attuned to its Black residents needs, pointing to strides it had made on behalf of the public housing residents in recent years, including revamping the lease agreements, bringing in a new director and creating a position of a village board liaison for the housing complex. The fact that they are not willing to work with me and hear me out is really upsetting to me, Seeley said, and does not feel like I am getting the credit for what we have done. Since the proposal, the village has fielded requests to hold a Blue Lives Matter rally on Main Street, and to post an Unborn Child Lives Matter and an All Lives Matter banner, according to Seeley, who added that the village board might need to reconsider whether to allow any public messaging on its streets. Seeley said his counterproposal offering the Black Lives Matter banners was an effort to blend the wishes of the different constituencies that make up Catskill: the younger residents and transplants of all races who want the painting, and an older, predominantly white population that doesnt. It is my job to bridge that gap between the two. And weve been doing a good job of that, he said as he stood on Main Street wearing an American flag face mask and holding an iced coffee from HiLo Catskill, a cafe, cocktail lounge and gallery. And then this ends up becoming the divisive thing. For now, everything is on hold. The Black Lives Matter activists have rejected the boards offer of the banners; the village is still weighing whether to go forward. Along Main Street, where vintage Black Panther texts are displayed at the counter of the Magpie Bookshop and anti-racism messages have popped up on chalkboards outside restaurants, few people were willing to publicly voice opposition to the Black Lives Matter painting. Dissent has seemed to take place mainly under the cover of social media, where rancorous debates run rampant in comments. I thought all peoples lives mattered, said a man unloading pizza boxes from a truck outside Village Pizza II. The man, who was white and said he was against the painting, declined to give his name because of the sensitive nature of the subject. At the Mermaid Cafe on Main Street, Michelle Williams, the owner, stopped dishing up tacos to denounce the trustees decision. Williams, who is white, said she was deeply affected by the searing stories she heard from her Black neighbors during the Catskill march. To just have a bunch of people in their folding-chair thrones telling them no; its just really shortsighted, Williams said. You have people who are playing both sides here, she added. But whats the side? Either Black lives matter, or they dont. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian officials said on Tuesday the kingdom has seen a decrease in the number of new coronavirus cases over the past seven days. The kingdom recorded 2,692 new infections on Tuesday, the fourth day in a row the numbers have stayed below 3,000. Saudi Arabia has recorded a total of 237,803 cases with 2,283 deaths. The number of new daily infections had reached their highest point of 4,919 on June 16, but those numbers have been steadily declining since early July, falling below 3,000 for the first time on July 10. "We've noticed a decrease in the number of cases, and in particular the number of critical cases," Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali told a news conference. "We've noticed a stabilisation of the numbers of cases we're monitoring and a decline in the curve." (Reporting by Raya Jalabi; Editing by Alison Williams) Iran has executed a former employee of the defence ministry who was convicted of spying on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency, the country's judiciary said Tuesday. It was the second such execution in the past month. The report said Reza Asgari was executed last week. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said Asgari had worked in the airspace department of the ministry and retired in 2016. In the last years of his service, he joined the CIA, he sold information about our missiles ... to the CIA and took money from them," Esmaili said. He was identified, tried and sentenced to death. Occasionally Iran announces arrests and convictions of alleged spies for foreign countries, including the U.S. and Israel. In June, Iran said another alleged spy, Jalal Hajizavar, was hanged in a prison near Tehran. The report said Hajizavar also a former staffer of the defence ministry had admitted in court that he was paid to spy for the CIA. The report said authorities had also confiscated espionage equipment from his residence. It said the court sentenced Hajizavars wife to 15 years in prison for her role in the espionage. Before that, in 2016, Iran executed a nuclear scientist convicted of spying for the United States. The man accused of photographing Perth school children while working as an IT contractor at several public schools has been charged with a further 67 counts of child exploitation-related offences. The 21-year-old man was an external contractor working at numerous public schools across the Perth metropolitan area when he allegedly photographed students on school grounds without permission. Midland Detectives charged him with indecently recording a child under 13 and possession of child exploitation material in June after the photos were allegedly found on his personal electronic devices. The 21-year-old is charged over taking unauthorised photos of children at WA schools. Credit:The Age He was rearrested on Friday and further charged with 27 counts of unlawful access to a restricted access computer system, and 40 counts of indecent recording of a child under 13 years. DETROIT, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Life-long Detroiter, artist, musician, businessman and popular podcast host Robert Dempster joins the Salem Media family with his Positive Patriot talk show that will air at noon every Saturday on WDTK 101.5 FM and 1400 AM in Southeastern Michigan beginning July 18, 2020. The program can also be streamed live at www.thepositivepatriot.com or on demand at www.detroittalkradio.com. The Positive Patriot Evolution not Revolution The Awarenaissance is Here Dateline Detroit: LaunchIng a Positive Message song about supporting Our Faith in The Blue Positive Message to keep our Communities Safe Dempster grew up the oldest of 9 kids in the Old Redford district of Detroit where he attended Detroit Public Schools. He would go on to become a successful businessman in the area and his design company has worked with the some of the most noted businesses in Detroit and throughout America. You may already own one of his t-shirt designs or have seen one of his award-winning paintings, signs or branding logos prominently displayed throughout the Metro-Detroit area. In recent years, he has hosted a very successful podcast called "The Positive Patriot" www.thepositivepatriot.com and he is now taking this positive show to the airwaves at WDTK. The Positive Patriot will feature interviews with well-known community leaders, businesspeople, charities, artists and celebrities and discuss what's happening in our town and around the world today all in a very unique and positive manner. Listeners will be encouraged to call in to share their positive take on the topics of the day. The Patriot WDTK bills itself as a radio station serving the Detroit-area market with "Intelligent Talk" that is making a difference. Robert Dempster joins personalities Sean Hannity, Hugh Hewitt, Mike Gallagher, Larry Elder and fellow Detroiter, John McCulloch, to name but a few. Tune in July 18 and, in the meantime, like us on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/The-Positive-Patriot-102678728146256 For more information on THE POSITIVE PATRIOT or to help support this positive program call: Robert Dempster 248-398-9999 Or Jeff Holme Pen Media 313-949-5855 SOURCE Robert Dempster I think that if you had asked me a year and half ago, would we be in this situation electorally, I wouldnt have said that some of these races would be where they are, said Abby Curran Horrell, executive director of the House Majority PAC, a super PAC helping elect House Democrats. Now Biden is ahead in many of these [Trump] districts . . . [The president is] just out of touch with where voters are, and that continues to be a drag on these Republican candidates. Tsinghua University Professor Arrested After He Publishes Articles Criticizing Beijing On July 6, a famous jurist and professor at Tsinghua University, Xu Zhangrun, was suddenly taken away from his home in Beijing by the police on the charge of consorting with prostitutes. Xus friend revealed that the police arrested him because he has published a series of articles criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. Xus friend, Geng Xiaonan, told a reporter at China Forbidden News that police came very early in the morning of July 6 and searched Xus house, taking away a computer and many documents. The neighbor said that more than 10 police cars and more than 20 police officers came in the morning. The nanny said that two or three people took Xu away, she said. MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a phone conversation on Monday, discussing the preparations for a summit among the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The two top diplomats discussed in detail preparations for a Russia-initiated meeting of the leaders of the UNSC permanent member countries. The sides exchanged views on maintaining strategic stability in the context of the upcoming meetings of Russian-U.S. working groups on military-political issues," said the statement. In addition, Lavrov and Pompeo discussed issues of the settlement of conflicts in certain regions of the world, including Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, it said. Some other pressing issues of the international agenda and problems of bilateral relations were also touched upon, it added. Even with her successful Hollywood career and marriage, Kelly Preston has not asked for extravagance in her life. In fact, she lived her life for the simplest pleasures like spending most of it with her family. Back in 2018, during an interview with People, she expressed that her life couldn't get any better as she gets to spend it with her kids and husband alone. However, her blissful life was short-lived after she succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 57. In honor of the talented artist, loving wife, and mother we look back to the beautiful life of Kelly Preston. 'Til Death Do Them Part' The marriage of John Travolta and Preston lasted for more than 28 years. They tied the knot on the 5th of September in 1991 a few years after they first met. Their union was blessed with three beautiful children named Ella, Benjamin, and Jett. Before Preston married Travolta, she was married for two years to Kevin Gage. She also dated other actors such as George Clooney and Charlie sheen, who she was also engaged to once. The couple first crossed paths in 1989, during the screen test for a comedy show called "The Experts." It was also noted that Preston immediately captured the attention of the famous actor who thought it was love at first sight. However, for Preston, it was not that easy since she was in a relationship with Gage, but noted that she was really with the wrong person at the time, Heavy. reported. More than a year after they first met, Travolta asked Preston to marry him during their vacation in Switzerland on New Year's eve. A few months later, the couple tied the knot. Last year, during their 28th wedding anniversary, the couple exchanged touching tributes in their Instagram account, expressing their love for each other. On June 21, Father's Day, Preston posted the last Instagram post that she ever wrote before her death which was a tribute to Travolta as the best father that she knows and loves. Read also : Jada Pinkett Smith Reveals Affair with August Alsina, Confirms Previous Split with Will Smith 'Death of a Child' On January 2, 2009, Preston and Travolta's family faced a tremendous loss after their eldest son Jett died after a seizure attack during a family vacation in the Bahamas. Based on a report from The Mirror, the eldest Travolta child was suffered from Kawasaki disease when he was young and had Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). On April 13, 2020, the day that Jett was supposed to turn 28, his father posted a photo of himself with Jett in honor of his late son. With the death of Jett, the Travolta family did not expect that only a decade and a few months later, another member of their family would be saying goodbye. Kelly's Battle Against Breast Cancer Despite her Hollywood status and famous husband, Kelly Preston was also human. She was a human as someone who could die at any minute, and in the past two years, she has been battling breast cancer. And on July 12, 2020 - Preston's laid down her sword and succumbed to the disease,CNN reported. However, in his Instagram post, Travolta noted that his wife did not die without fighting a courageous battle. A battle that she fought together with her closest family and friends, a battle that was not lost in vain. Related article: Fact Check: Is Jennifer Aniston Writing a Tell-All Book About her Love Life? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. U.S. Sen. Doug Jones had harsh words for the White House after what some have described as an effort to discredit Dr. Anthony Fauci and others who have disagreed with the President on how to handle the rapidly spreading coronavirus that causes COVID-19. This week, a top White House advisor posted a cartoon mocking Fauci, and the White House released previous statements from Fauci that ABC News called misleading, in what some saw as an effort to undercut the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. President Donald Trump also retweeted a post from a former game show host blaming the CDC, the media for lying about the virus. I think it has been just really in very poor taste, borderlining despicable, what it seems to be that the White House has done to try to discredit somebody like Anthony Fauci, Jones said. Fauci is a member of the White House task force on the coronavirus, but appears to be at odds with the administration, and reportedly hasnt spoken with Trump since early June. His televised appearances have all but disappeared in recent weeks, and CNN reported that its efforts to book Fauci as a guest had been blocked by the White House. Fauci joined Jones last week for a press conference on Facebook Live, in which he said COVID-19s lower death rate, which President Trump frequently touts on Twitter, can lead to a false narrative that serious measures are not needed to combat the virus. Then this week, Trump re-Tweeted former game show host Chuck Woolery, who accused the CDC, as well as democrats, doctors and the media of lying about COVID-19 to hurt Trumps re-election, though not mentioning Fauci specifically. Jones said people should listen to healthcare professionals rather than politicians or game show hosts for information about the virus. I would encourage folks to listen to [Fauci], listen to Dr. [Robert] Redfield with the CDC, listen to Dr. [Scott] Harris with the Alabama Department of Public Health, Dr. [Don] Williamson with the Alabama Hospital Association, Jones said. Dont worry about people from the administration who may tweet out things from a game show host. That is just unbelievable that that would be done to try to discredit our CDC, our NIH and those healthcare professionals. Jones made the comments at the end of an hour-long press conference with Williamson, president of the Alabama Hospital Association and former State Health Officer, discussing the states surging numbers of COVID-19 patients and the record number of hospitalizations due to COVID that the state is seeing. Alabamas number of new COVID-19 cases continues to increase, with the states seven-day average of new cases now over 1,500, and COVID hospitalizations at an all-time high of 1,335. Alabama reported 40 deaths in the past day, a new record high. Williamson said the state was down to 13 percent of its intensive care beds were available due to the recent surge. Today we have 211 ICU beds available, thats about 13% of our capacity, Williamson said. That doesnt mean we can only take care of 211 patients in ICU. We can stretch that. We can take care of patients in other critical care areas. But as a measure of the impact of COVID, as that ICU bed availability goes down, it just tells us that our system is becoming increasingly stressed. Williamson said that the state had likely begun seeing the effects of the July 4 holiday in the recent surge in new cases, of COVID, but that those people who were infected over July 4 likely are not needing hospitalization yet. That surge may still be coming, and its a surge that has Williamson and other healthcare workers concerned about what lies ahead. I fear that hospitalizations are much more likely to rise later this week and into next week, Williamson said. And what Im extremely concerned about is if we find ourselves with 1,500 to 2,000 people hospitalized with COVID by the middle to end of this month, and were having 1,500 to 2,000 new cases diagnosed per day, as we approach the gathering of children together in August, in K-12, and in our colleges, I think we set ourselves up for what could be a potential disaster in terms of new infections, and new demand on hospitals. Williamson said it would fall to us all to take measures to limit the spread of the virus to avoid the worst-case scenarios. I think its incumbent upon us in the days and weeks to come, that we as a state and we as fellow Alabamians do the things necessary to limit the spread to our fellow citizens, Williamson said. I think we have a very, very short window to get this under control. And if we dont, I think we will reap the consequences of that both in terms of hospitalizations, deaths and disruption to our routine lifestyle for a long time to come. But, Williamson said he didnt think future lockdowns were inevitable, even as cases continue to increase. This is one of those rare diseases where we control our future, Williamson said. If we -- over the next 10 days to two weeks -- will put on masks, will avoid large group gatherings, will maintain six feet of social distancing, will wash our hands and do all the things that weve talked about now, it seems like forever, we will make a meaningful difference in the transmission of this virus. Williamson said the experiences other countries have had with the virus show that the techniques we have can work, if people take them seriously. Theres something called the Golden Rule, Williamson said. And its really about protecting our neighbor. Its about doing to others what we would have them do to us. I know everybody has COVID fatigue. Lord knows I have COVID fatigue and if I never hear the word again, it will have been too soon. But that still doesnt mean I can go out and gather with 40 friends and be shoulder-to-shoulder and then not suffer the consequences. And if only I suffered the consequences, thats my decision. But it isnt only me that suffers the consequences. It is my family. Its innocent bystanders who I might pass in the grocery store. We can avoid another lock-down but its in our hands. You can watch the full press conference below. A pilot escaped with only minor injuries after crashing his World War Two-replica light aircraft on farmland in Wiltshire. The plane crash-landed on a field of wheat on Sunday afternoon (12 July) just off the A346 near Lower Upham Aerodrome. The pilot, aged in his 70s, was rescued by firefighters who used hydraulic cutting equipment to cut him free. He was then taken to hospital. Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service crews had to stop the plane's fuel leaking onto the crops. Station manager Wayne Presley told the Swindon Advertiser: "The aviation fuel was the main hazard for the fire service. (Photo: Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service) "The aircraft was in a field of standing crop, so with a day like today fire can spread." The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said it will examine the incident: "The AAIB was informed of an accident involving a light aircraft at an airstrip south of Swindon, and will be conducting an investigation." The plane was thought to have been a replica of a Focke Wulf FW 190, a model used by the German Luftwaffe during the second world war. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 06:31:03|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TUNIS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisian Foreign Minister Noureddine Erray on Tuesday held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss the Libyan crisis. "They exchanged views on a number of international and regional issues, including the Palestinian cause and the situation in Libya," the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The Tunisian top diplomat was quoted as saying that it will be vital to combine efforts for a rapid and comprehensive solution to the crisis in Libya via national dialogue and respect for international legitimacy. Tunisia voiced commitment not to interfere in Libya's internal affairs, while vowing to find peaceful solutions to end the bloodshed in the neighboring war-torn country in order to preserve the security and stability of Libya and the whole region, the ministry said. Enditem Thinking about a vegan cleanse or a full-on plant-based conversion? The Bay Area's bountiful veg-based dining destinations mean you don't need to breakup with Postmates just because you're committing to vegetables. From raw bowls in the Inner Richmond to hearty Mexican in the heart of the Mission, the range of local vegan options has you covered, from cleanse-friendly to comfort classics, even during the coronavirus pandemic. Vegan Mob The newest-comer to the Bay Area's vegan best list is Vegan Mob, and this Oakland-based Black-owned eatery can also claim the heartiest dose of buzz. Opened in late 2019, the walkup vegan barbecue and soul food spot is said to already be eyeing expansion in San Francisco; until then, you can order their fully loaded nachos, fries, Impossible tacos, and barbequito online for pickup. // 500 Lake Park Ave. (Oakland), veganmob.biz Timeless Coffee Entirely vegan Timeless Coffee pairs a rotating selection of sweet and savory eats with fresh coffee in an inviting setting. Cure the Sunday scaries with croissants and gluten-free carrot walnut tea cake, or go more substantial with quiche, empanadas, and fritata. // 2965 College Ave. (Berkeley) and 4252 Piedmont Ave. (Oakland), both locations are open for takeout; timelesscoffee.com Donut Farm You've undoubtedly treated yourself to a donut or two from their Ferry Building kiosk, but while that location is closed, Donut Farm's casual Oakland kitchen is offering takeout and delivery of its top-shelf vegan donuts, coffee, and tea. You can also pick up organic flour, yeast, and more staples for baking at home. // 6037 San Pablo (Oakland), vegandonut.farm. Gracias Madre This Mission eatery's fried cauliflower (with cashew-based queso and a side of fresh AF guac) paired with warm tortillas is the ultimate margarita pairing for vegan taco Tuesdays. Speaking of margs, all drinks here are soju-based for more sipping and less buzzing. Gracias Madre is open for takeout and delivery via Caviar, GrubHub, and DoorDash. // 2211 Mission St. (Mission), gracias-madre.com Shizen This gorgeous restaurant uses vegetables in place of fish so artfully, you'll do a double take at both their specialty rolls and traditional-looking nigiri. On chillier days, order a companion bowl of miso soup as well as gyoza and sunomono salad. // For takeout orders, call 415-678-5767; 370 14th St. (Mission), shizensf.com Cha-Ya Cha-Ya is beloved for its veggie-filled Japanese dishes like soups, sushi, and salads that won't break the bank. Tuck into a piping hot boiled gyoza and vegetable hot pot. During the pandemic, the restaurant is accepting phone orders for stir fry and hot pot meal kits; order by Sunday night for free delivery in SF on Tuesdays. // Call 415-252-7825; 762 Valencia St. (Mission), facebook.com Indochine Vegan For those days when you want a meal that falls somewhere between raw, superfood bowl, and chili cheese fries, Indochine doesn't disappoint. This Valencia Street vegan restaurant has a lengthy menu of healthyish Asian dishes ranging from spring rolls to Szechuan green beans and tofu to spicy sushi rolls. // Order online at menupages.com; 509 Valencia St. (Mission), indochinevegan.com Nourish Cafe Inner Richmond locals know all about Nourish Cafe and their massive plant-based bowls, salads, and sweet treats. This vegan joint is an easy pick for a healthy and mostly raw mid-week lunch or early dinner; try the signature Nourish bowl or bibimbap salad, now available for curbside pickup with online order at both locations. // 189 6th Ave. (Inner Richmond) and 1030 Hyde St. (Nob Hill), nourishcafesf.com/order Judahlicious Vegan beach bums flock to Judahlicious for healthy eats in a laid back, order-at-the-counter setting. Munch on heaping plates including the grilled veggiefilled, walnut parmesantopped Nekked burrito and raw Dahnu wrap stuffed with almond pate, and of course Judahlicious's signature "jungle-style" raw acai bowl. In true plant-based fashion, Judahlicious relies on organic produce and works towards zero waste. Order online at clover.com. // 2906 Judah St. (Outer Sunset), judahlicious.com Project Juice Juices, acai bowls, and a rotating soup of the day are the options at the Hayes Valley and Castro outposts of the Bay Area's mini juice empire, which also has juice-and-smoothie-only bars around the Bay Area. Grab-and-go smoothies like the Mint Chip Shake and Chocolate Protein are divine, while a variety of superfood and breakfast bowls are reason to wait it out for one of two outdoor tables. // While SF's Mid-Market and FiDi locations are closed, most Bay Area Project Juice locations are open for contactless pickup and delivery; projectjuice.com Butcher's Son and The King's Feet If you think vegan food is all acai bowls and spiralized zucchini, try the #thisismyaddiction breakfast dish (the ultimate vegan calorie bomb) at the East Bay's vegan deli. Butcher's Son makes all its "meats" and "cheeses" in house to serve up plant-based takes on deli classics as well as out-of-this-world pastries. New sister restaurant The King's Feet specializes in 100-percent plant-based Italian fare including pizzas, fried "calamari," and Beyond Beef Bolognese. Both restaurants are open for takeout and delivery. // 1941 University Ave. (Berkeley, thebutchersveganson.com; 1401 University Ave. (Berkeley), thekingsfeet.com CyBelle's Front Room Expect carb-centric, drool-worthy vegan eats at this unassuming pizzaplus everything elsejoint. Though it's not entirely vegan, they offer a multipage plant-based menu of decadent dishes. Munch on mac 'n' cheesetopped monster pizza slices, Impossible burger loaded fries, and inject hot pink Unicorn Beignets with salted caramel sauce before going into a food coma. // Call 415-665-8088 for pickup and delivery;1385 9th Ave. (Inner Sunset), cybellesfrontroom.com Souley Vegan In need of a plant-based comfort food fix in the East Bay? Souley Vegan is the place for cruelty-free takes on Southern classics like vegan mac 'n' cheese and fried tofu. The restaurant is an easy go-to for dinner, and is available for delivery via Caviar, GrubHub, and DoorDash. // 301 Broadway St. (Oakland), souleyvegan.com Next Level Burger Appropriately housed at the base of Whole Foods, Oregon transplant Next Level Burger serves up a range of patties, including mushroom and quinoa, Beyond burger, and crispy chik'n, topped with decadent sauces and organic veggies, alongside hot dogs and fries. Don't forget to treat yourself to one of their 14 soy- or coconut-based milkshakes. Order for pickup via toasttab.com. // 450 Rhode Island St. (Potrero Hill), nextlevelburger.com. Veggie Grill It's a rare vegan who doesn't swear by Veggie Grill's fast-casual vegan magic. And while lucky Marin and East Bay residents have their own in Corte Madera and Walnut Creek, a schlep from SF is worth it for a fix of their buffalo wings, crispy cauliflower, and seasonal entree specials. // Multiple locations are open for takeout and delivery via most major apps; veggiegrill.com Millenium Ask any Bay Area vegan for the ultimate date-night spot and they will all agree: Millennium. In 2015, this SF special occasion vegan institution moved across the Bay Bridge to Oakland, but of course the dining room is currently closed due to Covid-19. Menu highlights include heirloom tomato and melon caprese salad; beer-battered fried green tomatoes; coconut-glazed tempeh; tres leches cake; and an assortment of wines and cocktails including a fresh strawberry-basil margarita. Order takeout via toasttab.com and delivery at grubhub.com. // 5912 College Ave. (Oakland), millenniumrestaurant.com Wholesome Bakery This entirely gluten-free and plant-based bakery serves up beautiful sweet treats including brownies, layer cakes, and cookie sandwiches so good you'd have no idea they're not the real deal. Not in the mood to indulge? The sunny shop also offers up savory snacks like pizza hand pies and quiche, and a seasonal harvest menu with healthy toasts and salads. Order for local delivery via Postmates, or get those tasty loaves and treats for shipping nationwide. // 299 Divisadero St. (Lower Haight), wholesome-bakery.myshopify.com SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 14 July, 2020 - Chubb announced today the launch of Work from Home (WFH) Insurance, a market-first in Asia Pacific. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the traditional office environment has increasingly become the home, as work from home becomes the new normal. As businesses adapt to living with COVID-19 and beyond, working from home is expected to remain a part of an employee's work-life. Chubb's Work from Home Insurance has been tailored to enable employers to continue to care for the health, safety and well-being of their employees whilst they work remotely. Highlights of this product include[1]: Mental health payment for the psychological counselling of employees diagnosed with stress disorders due to working from home. Ergonomic injury and prevention benefits for postural injuries/strains resulting from inconsistent workstation setups. Accidental death and permanent disability payments for slips and falls within the home from hazards such as stairs and unkept toys. Coverage for employees who take their work outside or are on the move and are injured. Ben Howell, Deputy Head of Regional Accident & Health at Chubb in Asia Pacific said, "Chubb anticipates that companies will continue to encourage workspace flexibility even as lockdown measures are easing across the region. Although employees have adjusted well to being digitally connected from home via videoconferencing and other applications, there are emerging risks as a result of this new work arrangement. It is timely for Chubb to launch our Work from Home Insurance to meet the evolving employee care and benefit needs." For more information about Chubb's Work from Home Insurance, please visit https://www.chubb.com/sg-en/business/work-from-home-insurance.aspx [1] These product highlights are an overview of the key features of the product. Please see the actual policy for exact terms, conditions and exclusions. About Chubb Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. More information can be found at chubb.com Malis president and the protest movement calling for his resignation were weighing their options on Tuesday after days of violent unrest, as the international community quietly worked to defuse the crisis in the vulnerable African country. The capital Bamako slowly returned to normal after at least 11 people were killed in demonstrations where witnesses said security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has faced a wave of protests sparked by a contested parliamentary election, but whose underlying causes include discontent over his handling of the West African countrys jihadist insurgency. For the first time since Friday, two of Bamakos three main bridges major choke points that protesters had targeted were reopened and traffic was flowing smoothly. Security forces were deployed along crucial arteries through the city. There was no problem, said Aicha Noutoume, 34, a pharmacist working near the Martyrs Bridge. Calm has also returned to the Badalabougou neighbourhood, the stronghold of influential imam Mahmoud Dicko who has emerged as a leader of the protest movement, and the scene of clashes between civilians and security forces on Saturday night. Badalabougou was just one of the hotbeds of violence that seized various neighbourhoods on Friday, the culmination of a crisis that has alarmed international allies and neighbours that fear the demonstrations could further destabilise the country, one of the poorest in the world. Far-reaching consequences The demonstrations are being driven by a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members that calls itself the June 5 movement. The movement has channelled deep-seated frustrations over a long-running jihadist conflict, economic woes and perceived government corruption. It has been urging Keita to resign since June, among other requests. A rally on Friday turned violent after protesters blocked bridges, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster and attacked the parliament building. There were further protests on Saturday. After the worst civil unrest the country has seen in years, each side has been left facing decisions with far-reaching consequences. The president has tried to soothe tensions, offering a consensus government of national unity and fresh elections in constituencies whose provisional results in the March-April parliamentary elections were annulled by the constitutional court. The move allowed several members of Keitas party to be elected, and is seen as the initial spark to the latest unrest. Keita has also offered the dissolution of the constitutional court. But the June 5 movement has rejected his attempts, insisting that he step down. In another apparent bid to appease the opposition, authorities on Monday night freed all June 5 figures who had been arrested during the protests. However it appears unlikely that the president will accede to the long list of demands, which include the dissolution of parliament and the formation of a transitional government with a prime minister appointed by the movement let alone Keitas resignation. Paths out of crisis The June 5 movement must make choices too, now that its leaders have regained freedom. There has been no sign of willingness to compromise so far. The international community has been trying to defuse the crisis. On Sunday night, representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS urged Mali to pursue political dialogue. Condemning any form of violence as a means of crisis resolution, they attacked the use of lethal force by the security forces. They also voiced support for proposals put forward by ECOWAS, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States of which Mali is a member. Members of these organisations met on Monday with figures from the June 5 movement. They told us that they had been instrumental in the release of the arrested leaders and asked us for paths out of the crisis, a leader of the movement, Bassy Diarra, told AFP, adding that they would be meeting again on Tuesday. SOURCE> AFP The Delhi high court on Tuesday declined to grant any interim relief to a senior army officer, who has challenged the Indian Army''s recent policy banning armed forces personnel from using social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram, saying he has to either abide by the mandate of the organisation or put in his papers. The high court said he has a choice to make and asked him to delete his FB account as the policy to ban the use of social networking platforms for army personnel was taken keeping in view the security of the nation. It said he can create a new social media account later. A bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon said that when it has not even found a reason yet to entertain the plea, 'the question of granting any interim relief does not arise.' 'Especially when the matter has the potential of concerning the safety and security of the country,' the bench said. Lieutenant Colonel P K Choudhary contended that once deleted all the data, contacts and friends in his FB account would be 'irretrievably lost' and the loss would be 'irreversible'. "No. No. Sorry. You please delete it. You can always create a new one. It cannot work like this. You are part of an organisation. You have to abide by its mandate," the bench said. It further said, "If you are so dear to FB, then put in your papers. See you have to make a choice, what do you want to do. You have other choices which are also irreversible." The army officer had sought an interim relief that he be allowed to retain his Facebook (FB) account in deactivated form till the next date of hearing when the court will decide whether to entertain his petition after going through the Army's policy under challenge. According to the new June 6 policy, all Indian Army personnel have been ordered to delete their accounts from Facebook and Instagram and 87 other applications. The counsel for the army officer said the only choice he has is whether to face departmental action for not deleting the account. The officer's lawyer repeatedly urged the bench to allow him to retain the account in deactivated form, saying forcing him to delete it and the data therein amounts to violation of his right to privacy. The Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma, told the court that the policy decision was taken as 'we found that Facebook was a bug. It was infiltrating as a cyber warfare and there were so many instances of personnel being targeted'. Sharma also said the petitioner's grievance was that he needs FB to communicate with his family in the United States, when there were other modes of communication like WhatsApp, Twitter and Skype which were available to him. After hearing him for some time, the bench said it finds no ground to grant the interim relief. It asked the ASG to file the policy document in a sealed cover for perusal by the bench and said the reasons for taking the decision be also filed. With the direction, the court listed the matter for hearing on July 21. The petition has sought a direction to the Director General of Military Intelligence to withdraw its June 6 policy to the extent that it orders all the members of the Indian Army to delete their accounts from Facebook and Instagram and 87 other applications. Lt Col P K Choudhary, who is currently posted in Jammu and Kashmir, said in the plea that he is an active user of Facebook and uses the platform to connect with his friends and family as most of them are settled abroad, including his elder daughter. In the petition, the officer has sought a direction to the Ministry of Defence to withdraw the June 6 policy to ensure that the fundamental rights of armed forces personnel are not abrogated amended or modified by arbitrary executive action which is not backed by the mandate of law, offends the provisions of the Army Act and Rules made thereunder and is unconstitutional. The petition has alleged that the policy which bans social media platforms is illegal, arbitrary, disproportionate, violates the fundamental rights of soldiers including but not limited to the freedom of speech and expression, the right to life and the right to privacy. It has said the authorities have cited security concerns and risk of data breach as the basis of imposing the restrictions contained in the policy regarding usage of social media platforms but the act of banning it is a clear violation of Article 14 (Equality before law) of the Constitution. The plea also seeks a declaration that the Director General of Military Intelligence is not empowered under the Constitution or under any other law to modify, amend or abrogate the fundamental rights of the petitioner and other members of the armed forces. Besides, the Centre and Director General of Military Intelligence, the petition has also made Chief of the Army Staff, who is the professional head, commander and the highest-ranking military officer of the Indian Army, party to the petition. Huawei's largest flagship store in the world, in Shanghai, China. Photo: Costfoto/Barcroft Media via Getty Images Britain has banned Huawei from its 5G network, reversing an earlier decision to allow the Chinese company to work on the critical telecoms infrastructure. The UKs digital and culture secretary Oliver Dowden on Tuesday announced an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks and said the Chinese companys role in historic networks would also be reviewed. Dowden admitted the move would set back efforts to establish 5G in Britain by up to three years and cost the telecoms industry billions. However, he defended the move by citing national security concerns. READ MORE: Boris Johnson defies Trump to give Huawei 5G green light This has not been an easy decision but it is the right one for the UKs telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy both now and in the long run, Dowden said in a statement to parliament. UK telecoms companies will be banned from buying any new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of the year. Telecoms companies must also remove all Huawei equipment already installed in the network by 2027. The best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UKs future 5G network, Dowden said. To be clear, from the end of this year telecoms operators must not buy any 5G equipment from Huawei and once the telecoms security bill is passed it will be illegal for them to do so. Digital, culture, media and sport secretary Oliver Dowden makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, London on Tuesday. Photo: House of Commons/PA via Getty The announcement reverses an earlier decision to limit Huawei to 35% market share in UK 5G. Boris Johnson approved the limited role for Huawei in January, flying in the face of sustained pressure from the US. Donald Trump and US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had repeatedly pressed the UK to follow the likes of Australia in banning Huawei. The UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) initially approved a limited role but launched a new review in May after the US imposed fresh sanctions on Huawei. Dowden said the NCSC had significantly changed their security assessment of Huawei in light of the US sanctions, which could have a severe impact on Huaweis ability to serve the UK. Story continues Clearly since January the situation has changed, the digital and culture minister said. The decision creates a headache for Huawei customers like Vodafone (VOD.L) and BT (BT-A.L). BT boss Philip Jansen warned this week it would take ten years to remove Huaweis equipment from its network and could lead to service outages. BT logo. Photo: Dave Rushen/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Dowden admitted the ban would delay the launch of the UKs 5G network by two to three years and add an estimated 2bn costs. He said the government had not taken this decision lightly. The security and resilience of our telecoms networks is of paramount importance, he said. We have never and will never compromise that security in pursuit of economic prosperity. The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the UK and China over a new security law imposed on Hong Kong. Britain has angered Beijing by offering Hong Kongers a path to citizenship in Britain in response to the law. Dowden said in parliament: Let me assure members that this government is clear-eyed about China. We have been robust in our response to the imposition of new security laws in Hong Kong. Huawei logo. Photo: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP What we want is a modern and mature relationship with China, based on mutual respect. Todays decision, however, is about ensuring the long-term security of our networks. US intelligence services believe Shenzen-based Huawei may have links to the Chinese state and fear allowing it to work on national telecoms equipment could allow Beijing to spy on sensitive government communications. The NCSCs own assessment notes that Huawei could be ordered to act in a way that is harmful to the UK under Chinese law. Even if Huawei is not working with the Chinese government, experts told Yahoo Finance UK its Chinese supply chain could be compromised. GCHQ said last year Huaweis software was shoddy, adding to hacking risks. READ MORE: US warns UK over 'momentous' Huawei decision Rebel Tory MPs, including Iain Duncan Smith and Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat, have repeatedly expressed concerns about Huaweis role in UK telecoms networks. Earlier on Tuesday Huaweis UK chairman Lord Browne resigned after five years in the role. A spokesperson for Huawei said: He has been central to our commitment here dating back 20 years, and we thank him for his valuable contribution. For my Mamagee and my mom, home has always been a place of systemic erasure. But they never gave up. Mom always took me to visit the lands an hour south of Tulsa that contained the burned remnants of her childhood home and her buried umbilical cord a connection to our land that no federal law or policy can ever dismantle. Mamagee sang our cherished Muscogee hymns to me her entire life, and on her final day, I sang these hymns to her, at her bedside. Like the generations before them, Mamagee and my mom persevered with the steadfast hope that their children or their grandchildren would someday be recognized as Muscogee in their home. It was a heartfelt act of support that inspired Houston businessman Le Hoang Nguyen, to put up a Black Lives Matter billboard on Bellaire Boulevard. "Having faced racism first hand over the years and especially having seen the recent social injustices in America, I used my personal funds to put a billboard that shares the message of Black Lives Matter," Nguyen wrote on Facebook. "I did not receive any outside funds. The opinion expressed is 100% my own." Hoang Nguyen said when he was only 8 years old, he escaped from Vietnam. He moved to America when he was 9 years old--without his parents. He remembers the one group that truly showed support for him at that time. I escaped Vietnam when I was an 8-year-old boy, and I languished in refugee camp in Malaysia for about 9 months," Nguyen said in a Facebook post. "Unbeknownst to that little 8-year-old boy, there was a group of black civil rights leaders who spoke out up for me. And they took out a full page in the New York Times on March, 19, 1978." After placing the billboard, he was stunned by the reaction from some members in his community. Not all agreed with Nguyen. Some called for a boycott of his business, while others even called for his lynching. "Not in a million years, did I think I would receive death threats," Nguyen said in a Facebook post after the billboard was erected. "There has been a public call for my lynching within my own Vietnamese community--a community that I love and a community that I have proudly served." Nguyen said that he never casts judgement upon others' struggles. "It is true, America is a great country and I am forever grateful to this land. I came here at 9 years old without my parents and worked hard to build an amazing life. And, I am very fortunate to have a beautiful family," Nguyen said. "However, 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. 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?" Some people applauded his public show of support, while others targeted him with criticism. "Stay strong, Le Hoang Nguyen. You're doing the right thing and many Vietnamese Americans--and other Americans--support you whole-heartedly," Viet Nguyen wrote on Facebook. "Thank you brother for your courage and bravery for taking a stance on justice and humanity! God Bless you and know that the Creator sees what you have done. Keep putting good Karma out in the universe," Velvet Toi wrote on Facebook. "Thank you for your courage and compassion. And also for highlighting the situation of those that have been marginalized. Keep doing what you do and ignore those racist bigots. Thank you," wrote Paul D. Ung." "Why the message, "Black Lives Matter" and not "All Lives Matter"? Because White Lives are not in the same danger right now. We don't complain when people raise awareness about breast cancer with "Fight breast cancer" and not "Fight all cancers," wrote Tuan Nguyen on FB. Despite the backlash, Nguyen is determined to stand strong in the face of racial injustice. He said he had three goals in mind when he put up the billboard---"to show my public support for stopping all racism and injustice, to inspire future generations of leaders, and to speak up and to start the hard conversations about racism and injustice." He says one message of wisdom he wants to share others is this insight by Alfred Adler: Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another. Nguyen intends his next billboard to honor first responders. alison.medley@chron.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:49:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GABORONE, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Botswana has announced intention to review the country's elephant management plan. The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism on Tuesday said crafting of the blueprint expected to guide management and conservation of elephants, are at an advanced stage. "In addition, the government is investing in building local capacity for testing, to this end, the ministry is setting up its own laboratory working alongside with stakeholders to acquire advanced testing equipment." said Onalenna Moyo, spokesperson at the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism. The development comes at the backdrop of mysterious elephants' death in Seronga, near the Okavango Delta, with 281 verified deaths against the 356 reported cases. Investigations are ongoing regarding the unexplained deaths of elephants and the government has devoted resources. "Initial testing of samples was conducted locally and for further additional testing, the samples were sent to reputable laboratories abroad. However, the movement restrictions occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, have adversely affected the movement of diagnostic samples to foreign laboratories causing delays in receipts of the results. Nonetheless results from Zimbabwe are currently being analyzed and interpreted whilst results from other laboratories are expected in a week time." said Moyo. Last week, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) secretariat in its latest SADC response to COVID-19 bulletin has challenged members of the bloc to increase joint transboundary conservation activities to complement strengths and increase effectiveness against illegal activities. Enditem Obtaining such high recognition at a national level not only validates what we do every day, but also puts a spotlight on our student-centered culture, our efforts to align workforce demand and curriculum focus, and our commitment to career success. The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have formally announced Pittsburgh Technical College (PTC) as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE), the first primarily two-year college in Western Pennsylvania to earn this designation. This prestigious designation indicates that PTCs Information Systems and Technology (IST) degree programs are validated by the highest security agencies in the nation. Currently less than seven percent of all U.S. degree-granting post-secondary institutions have earned this designation. This distinction has been given to both concentrations for the Associate in Science in Information Technology Network Administration and Associate in Science in Information Technology Network Security and Computer Forensics. While graduates from PTCs Information Technology programs have continuously been sought after by our industry employer partners as a result of the reputation of the program and the school as a whole, obtaining CAE- CD (Cyber Defense) accreditation will draw the attention of an even broader employer base and validates the high standard of education our students are exposed to, stated Dr. John Scarpino, Academic Chair for PTCs School of Information Systems and Technology. Not only do our graduates have the philosophical knowledge required for successful careers in cybersecurity, they also possess the technical security know-how expected of todays professionals. They are eager to make a difference in an area that affects every U.S. citizen when it comes to information security issues and threats. Pittsburgh Technical College is committed to setting a higher standard in education for all programs that we offer. Obtaining such high recognition at a national level not only validates what we do every day, but also puts a spotlight on our student-centered culture, our efforts to align workforce demand and curriculum focus, and our commitment to career success, added PTCs president and CEO, Dr. Alicia B. Harvey-Smith. Identifying that CAE-CDE accreditation will eventually be a requirement of schools teaching cybersecurity, Dr. Scarpinos team embarked on the application process in November 2018, exposing the faculty, curriculum, and educational environment to a stringent examination. Included in this examination was developing PTCs Jarrod T. Mochnick Center for Cybersecurity, which was unveiled and dedicated in October 2019 under the leadership of Dr. Harvey-Smith and supported by Pittsburgh-based Aires Corporation. Per NSA.gov, The goal of the program is to reduce vulnerability in our national information infrastructure by promoting higher education and research in cyber defense and producing professionals with cyber defense expertise. Graduates of both of PTCs associate degree concentrations complete the required courses to achieve CAE-CDE designation. The college also offers a bachelors degree in Information Systems and Technology with four concentrations. Currently, government agencies are only recruiting employees from colleges with the designation and this is expected to become a standard expectation for all security employers in the near future. The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states, Employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 32 percent from 2018 to 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. Demand for information security analysts is expected to be very high, as these analysts will be needed to create innovative solutions to prevent hackers from stealing critical information or causing problems for computer networks. PTC shares National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education designation with three other Pittsburgh-area accredited academic institutions: Carnegie Mellon University, Robert Morris University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Only nine other Pennsylvania colleges have obtained the designation. With more than 30 associate, bachelors, and certificate programs, Pittsburgh Technical College provides education that prepares students for career success. PTC has been part of the regions education community for over 70 years. For more information about PTC, visit http://www.ptcollege.edu. (Natural News) Authorities in New Zealand are beefing up security at isolation sites following reports of people escaping quarantine facilities in Auckland this week. On Tuesday night, a 32-year-old man absconded from Stamford Plaza, with reports saying that he was out in the city for over an hour. The man tested positive for the coronavirus the next morning. Cabinet Minister Megan Woods, who heads the countrys isolation and quarantine facilities for travelers, said that the government will press charges against the escapee. We will come down on them with the full weight of the law, Woods added. They are putting New Zealanders at risk. Frankly, they dont deserve to join the team of five million. On Thursday, health officials reported three new cases, all of them identified in isolation facilities. To date, New Zealand has 24 active cases, as well as 5,468 people in managed isolation or quarantine. The country has one of the worlds most effective responses to the coronavirus, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern moved swiftly to close borders and enforce lockdowns during the early stages of the outbreak. Currently, the country has a caseload of 1,542, with 22 deaths, based on data from Johns Hopkins University. According to local reports, the man was under quarantine at Stamford Plaza, after arriving from India on July 3. He escaped the facility from a smoking area, with security mistaking him for a construction worker. In an interview with the Herald, the man felt healthy and fine but was very stressed by his situation. He also said that his reasons for leaving the hotel were different from those provided by officials, but he refused to elaborate. Based on official reports, the man climbed through the fenced section of a smoking area at the hotel to escape. He was then seen walking through town to a supermarket, spending 20 minutes inside and taking selfies on his phone. He then made a phone call using free Wi-Fi outside a shop. Officials say that he was wearing a mask and did not come into close contact with anyone. Overall, the assessment of risk from this incident continues to be low, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. This is the second report of a person fleeing from an isolation facility this month. Last week, a 43-year old woman escaped from the Pullman Hotel, wandering the streets for over an hour. The woman, who has since been located and charged, is set to appear in court this week. Flights limited to ease overflow in quarantine facilities Meanwhile, the government is planning to limit the number of Kiwis flying home to manage the countrys overflowing quarantine facilities. Bookings for Air New Zealand flights, in particular, will temporarily be suspended to ensure the government is able to safely place arrivals in either managed isolation or quarantine. In response, the airline has placed a three-week hold on new bookings on international flights in compliance with the governments request. Many Kiwis have recently been heading back to the South Pacific nation, especially after it eliminated the coronavirus within its borders. Foreigners are still from barred entering, and returning citizens or residents are placed in managed isolation facilities for two weeks before re-entering the country. Since it was implemented in March, over 26,400 people have been through managed isolation and quarantine. To date, over 28 facilities usually hotels approved for the purpose serve as managed isolation areas in the country. The government is working on adding more facilities in an effort to accommodate an increase in arrivals. (Related: Wealthy Americans are ESCAPING CORONAVIRUS by bugging out to luxury survival bunkers.) Standing up new capacity at the required levels for people to stay in for 14 days of isolation is a hugely complex undertaking, added Air Commodore Darryn Webb, head of managed isolation and quarantine in New Zealand. It needs appropriate levels of health and other services near by, New Zealand Defence Force personnel and extra security to ensure that people are looked after properly and the risk of COVID getting out into the community is minimized. Pandemic.news has more on the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus outbreak. Sources include: NZHerald.co.nz DW.com Coronavirus.JHU.edu Bloomberg.com On Monday, federal prosecutors replied to the $5 million bail request from Ghislaine Maxwell, the former assistant to deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in advance of todays arraignment in a New York court. The prosecutors argued that Maxwell must remain in custody to block her plans to flee and live comfortably abroad for the rest of her life. In the governments brief, Audrey Strauss, acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, argued that Maxwells memorandum in opposition to detention wholly fails to appreciate the driving force behind this case: the defendants victims were sexually abused as minors as a direct result of Ghislaine Maxwells actions, and they have carried the trauma from these events for their entire adult lives. Strauss further stated that there is every reason to think that Maxwell, if granted her request for home confinement, would be afforded the opportunity to flee the jurisdiction. Maxwell, according to Strauss, poses a clear risk of flight, and no conditions of bail could reasonably assure her continued appearance in this case. She argued that among the reasons Maxwell is a flight risk is that she is a citizen of France, which does not extradite its own citizens, she appears to have access to considerable wealth domestically and abroad, she declined to provide the court with detailed information about her finances, and she appears to be skilled at living in hiding. In response to Maxwells health concerns about being held in the federal Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, the prosecutors acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic isand should bea relevant factor for the Court and the parties in this case. However, the prosecutors wrote, Maxwell had not given any reasons why she should be treated any differently from the many defendants who are currently detained at the MDC pending trial, and that she should not be granted the special treatment she requests. Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, was arrested by the FBI at her secluded 156-acre home in Bedford, New Hampshire on July 2 and charged with six federal offenses, including enticing and grooming teenage girls as young as 14 to be sexually abused by the wealthy investment advisor and New York City socialite Jeffrey Epstein and his elite friends and associates from around the world. Maxwell had been a girlfriend and a close associate of Epstein going back to the early 1990s, when she moved to New York City from London following the death of her father, Robert Maxwell, the owner of an extensive publishing empire in the UK. After it was discovered that Robert Maxwell had misappropriated hundreds of millions of pounds from his employees pension fund, he was mysteriously found drowned and floating in the North Atlantic not far from his yacht on November 5, 1991. Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein built up an extensive list of friends and associates from among the bourgeois worlds superrich and politically influential, including dozens of US political figures (both Democrats and Republicans), European and Middle Eastern royalty, Hollywood celebrities and Wall Street billionaires. They congregated at elaborate social gatherings at his private residences in New York City, Palm Beach, Florida, Paris and a private island in the US Virgin Islands. From the mid-1990s through 2019, based on victim statements, the social gatherings, as well as flights on a 727 passenger jet, included sexual abuse of underage girls both by Epstein and some of his elite associates, to whom girls were trafficked. A 2008 case against Epstein was settled by federal authorities with a non-prosecution agreement that permitted him to plead guilty to Florida state charges of procuring a minor for prostitution. He served 13 months in a special Palm Beach jail cell that he was allowed to leave six days a week for 12 hours a day. The nonprosecution agreement protected Epstein, Maxwell and other co-conspirators from any future charges. With his sex ring left intact, Epstein continued his abuse and trafficking of teenagers for another decade. He was eventually rearrested while departing from his private jet at Teterboro Airport on July 6, 2019. He was found strangled to death in his New York City jail cell while awaiting trial on multiple counts of sex trafficking. Although his death was determined by the medical examiner to be the result of a suicidal hanging, the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death pointed in the direction of murder, and statements by other forensic experts supported this conclusion. As evidence that Maxwell poses a flight risk and is skilled at living in hiding, the government pointed to the fact that when the FBI showed up at her New Hampshire mansion, the property was barred by a locked gate. There was an individual who was later determined to be a private security guard, and when the agents announced themselves and directed the defendant to open the door, Maxwell ignored them and tried to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her. The prosecutors also presented in their brief the fact that when agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk. This was cited as evidence of Maxwells attempt to evade detection by law enforcement. Maxwells legal team filed a motion on July 9 requesting that their client be released from lockup on $5 million bail with a commitment from six cosigners and $3.75 million in property collateral located in the UK. Maxwells lawyers have emphasized that she has not fled the country and her legal team has been in touch with the US Department of Justice since Epsteins death in prison one year ago. Since her arrest, anonymous prison officials have been quoted in the media as saying that Maxwell is being monitored closely out of concerns that she may take her own life. In addition to reports that she was given paper clothing to wear and forced to sleep on a bare mattress in the MDC, anonymous insiders told the Daily Mail on Saturday that prison authorities are terrified someone will try to kill her and that she is being moved around in the prison to protect her. The insider said, She is being moved from cell to cell and sometimes has a cellmate, sometimes not. Jeffrey Epstein died behind bars, and they are terrified someone will try to kill Ghislaine. A major reason for the courts decision to bind her over before trial would be the ability to block her from talking. She has limited time to meet with her legal team, and visits are restricted at the MDC. It is apparent, as was the case with Epstein, that there are many powerful people who would like to make sure Maxwell does not have an opportunity to tell or share details of what she knows about what went on at Epsteins Orgy Island or his jetliner Lolita Express. The Sun reported on Sunday that a former associate of Epstein and Maxwell, Robert Steel, had seen video surveillance footage of two high-profile US politicians having sex with minors and two high society figures having a threesome with an under-age girl. Steel, who is an ex-thief-turned-writer, told the Sun, 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. Some experts are speculating that Maxwell may be released on Tuesday by Judge Alison Nathan of the Southern District Court of New York. Former federal prosecutor Jaimie Nawaday told the New York Post on Monday, All bail arguments look a little bit different now given COVID. Thats definitely in her favor. More and more there is a push toward home confinement, especially holding people pretrial, when you still have the presumption of innocence. Arguing against prosecutors claims that Maxwell is a flight risk, Nawaday said, She obviously could have left the country, she didnt. She was keeping a low profile here. I dont think that shows a risk of flight. The family of Vanessa Guillen will meet with President Trump in Washington DC on July 29 one day before a bill bearing the murdered soldiers name will be introduced to Congress. Guillen, 20, disappeared in April after she told her family that she had been sexually harassed while at Fort Hood, Texas. Her burned remains were found in nearby Belton on June 30 and officially identified on July 6. Her family is planning to introduce the #IAmVanessaGuillen bill to Congress to create an independent avenue for members of the military to report instances of sexual harassment and assault. The announcement of the Guillen family's meeting with Trump was made by the familys attorney, Natalie Khawam, outside the McLennan County Federal Court in Texas on Tuesday. Khawam spoke ahead of a court hearing for suspect Cecily Aguilar, who is accused of helping Army specialist Aaron Robinson dismember and bury Guillens body. Aguilar issued a plea of not guilty to three counts of evidence tampering and was denied bail by a judge during the hearing. Robinson, meanwhile, committed suicide on July 1 as investigators closed in on him. Scroll down for video The family of Vanessa Guillen (seen above) will meet with President Trump in Washington DC on July 29 one day before a bill baring murdered soldiers name will be introduced to Congress. Dozens of protesters demanding justice for Guillen had gathered outside the courthouse as Khawam announced the news of the meeting. Khawam was accompanied by one of Guillen's sisters (seen left) The announcement was made ahead of a hearing for Cecily Aguilar (left), who is accused of helping Army specialist Aaron Robinson (right) dismember and bury Guillens body. Dozens of protesters demanding justice for Guillen had gathered outside the courthouse Tuesday afternoon. Members of Guillen's family, including her father and a sister, were also in attendance. News of the DC meeting comes just days after President Trump sounded off about Guillen's murder, calling it 'horrible. Absolutely horrible,' to Telemundo. During her Tuesday court appearance, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to the three counts of conspiracy to tamper with evidence that she faces in relation to the death of Guillen. She was denied bail by the judge. US Attorney Mark Frazier described how Aguilar had deleted her Google account before her arrest and even called an unnamed third party while she was in jail, asking them to delete her Facebook page. In a separate phone call, Aguilar is said to have expressed a desire to leave the county with a pre-paid $5,000 credit card, Frazier told the judge. She's a terrorist, she's a murderer, she's a sicko. You know?, Khawam said of Aguilar outside the court. She's a danger to society She killed a U.S. soldier in vain. During Tuesdays hearing, Aguilar pleaded not guilty to the three counts of conspiracy to tamper with evidence that she faces in relation to the death of Guillen. She was denied bail by the judge Vanessa Guillen's mother, Gloria (pictured), has previously slammed Fort Hood officials as being 'clowns in a circus' who lied to her. She has demanded Congress investigate the base Guillen, 20, disappeared in April after she told her family that she had been sexually harassed while at Fort Hood, Texas. Her burned remains were found in Belton, Texas, on June 30 and officially identified on July 6 Aguilar was arrested on July 1, the same day that Guillens believed murderer Aaron Robinson, 20, killed himself as investigators closed in on him. According to reports, Aguilar was either Robinsons estranged wife or girlfriend. Aguilar told reportedly investigators that Robinson claimed to have used a hammer to beat to death Guillen in a Fort Hood arms room, then stuffed her body into a box to carry off post. She allegedly said that Robinson picked her up from job at a gas station on either April 22 or April 23. He then allegedly took her to a site near Leon River, showed Guillen's body to her, and together they tried to dispose of the body using multiple different methods over the course of several days. Such methods of disposal were said to include mutilating and attempting to burn Guillens body, a police affidavit details. When the body didn't completely burn, Aguilar allegedly said that they buried the remains in three different holes. Authorities then asked Aguilar to call Robinson. During the call, which investigators were listening in on, Robinson did not deny what they had supposedly done to Guillen and also was heard saying, 'Baby, they found the pieces. They found pieces.' Before she died, Guillen's relatives said that she had told them she was being sexually harassed and was too afraid to come forward about it. An Army official told ABC News that during the Army's Criminal Investigation Command's investigation into her disappearance, they found information suggesting that she may have experienced harassment at the base. The harassment, however, did not appear to be sexual, although investigators said that found that some of the comments made about Guillen were sexual in nature. Army investigators also found that neither the harassment nor the comments stemmed from Robinson. The Army said that Guillen and Robinson were not in the same command and did not work in the same building. Army investigators also said that they didn't find any evidence of a relationship between Guillen and Robinson, other than a professional one, after checking phone records and text messages. Aguilar was arrested on July 1, the same day that Guillens believed murderer Aaron Robinson, 20, killed himself as investigators closed in on him. According to reports, Aguilar was either Robinsons estranged wife or girlfriend Protesters gather at a march and vigil for murdered Army Spec. Vanessa Guillen on July 12, 2020 The #IAmVanessaGuillen bill, which, when passed, will create an Independent avenue for members of the military to report instances of sexual harassment and assault In an interview with ABC last week, Guillen's mother, Gloria, slammed Fort Hood officials for lying to her, calling them 'clowns in a circus'. 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. On Friday, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said the Army would be conducting an independent investigation of Fort Hood, 'the command culture and climate', and the circumstances surrounding Guillen's death. The news was first announced during a press conference with representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens and Rep. Sylvia Garcia. On Friday, Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy said the Army would be conducting an independent investigation of Fort Hood, 'the command culture and climate', and the circumstances surrounding Guillen's death. The news was first announced during a press conference Rep. Sylvia Garcia (above) Vanessa's sisters, Mayra and Lupe (above), have also spoken out about their sister's murder, accusing Fort Hood of treating her death as a 'joke' Khawam, however, says the Armys independent investigation is not enough. 'Thats not congressional investigation, thats not going to get everybody exposed, every piece of that base looked into because at the end of the day you never know who on that panel the relationship they have, what involvement they have,' she said. The attorney is also conducting her own independent investigation as the push for a congressional probe continues. 'She will not be buried. Theyre trying to bury the story but she will not be buried. We will keep her alive through a bill that fixes this,' Khawam vowed. 'Were going to keep her alive with the whole country saying never forget. 'This is why were going to do thisso we never forget this happened. The only way to never forget something is to fix it and get that reform in there so our military and soldiers never fear that this happens to them.' Robinson fatally shot himself on July 1 while police were trying to take him into custody. Aguilar could face 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine if convicted of her charge. The judge did not set a date for her next court appearance. I have questions. It is clear, from the trajectory of infections in countries around the world, that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) starts slow, builds up momentum, rises to a peak, then starts plateauing, and finally falls. This is more or less true for every country in Europe. It is true for Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. And, within every country, it is true for every region. In large countries, it is also true of states that were early hunting grounds for the virus New York in the US; Delhi, perhaps, in India. So, the first question is simply this: Is there a pattern? Does the trajectory of infections across countries follow a certain timeline? If so, what is this timeline? 45 days? Two months? Click here for complete coronavirus coverage Or, does it dance to a different metric say, the population infection rate, rising till a certain proportion of the population is infected, and then falling? If so, what is this proportion? 15%? 20%? 25%? And if this is indeed the case, what does it mean for the herd immunity level? 60% or 43%? Or could it be some other value? I ask these questions because I havent come across any answers on why the infection followed the pattern it did in continental Europe, and New York City. Countries on the continent may see a flare-up, but, on current evidence and case statistics, the worst is definitely behind them. That can be said of New York State and New York City too. And closer home, the same can be said, albeit tentatively, of Delhi. Why did the infections start falling in Europe? Why did they start falling in New York? And why in Delhi? Also read: Regulate Covid treatment costs at private hospitals, orders Supreme Court Sure, masks, lockdowns, social distancing, better hygiene, and extensive testing and tracing helped, but the infection still traversed a similar trajectory in most countries (and states within countries) that have seen off the worst of it. Does it indicate an overall population infection rate that is rarely crossed? And because this cant be herd immunity (not at the levels we are talking of), does this mean only 15%, 20%, 25% of a population is vulnerable to the infection itself under certain conditions (which would include our current response to the disease)? Like I said at the beginning of this column, I have questions. Scientists who believe they are good enough to be hypotheses that merit research are welcome to use them. Im not particular about credit I just want the answers. We know that the Sars-CoV2 virus which causes Covid-19 does not infect everybody. In fact, why it infects who it does is one of the questions researchers are scrambling to answer (they have a reasonably good explanation on how it infects, though, and also how it kills). It might be even better to flip the question around why does the virus not infect those it doesnt? We also know that not everyone who is infected spreads the disease research has shown that a lot of the spreading is caused by super spreaders, perhaps explaining the clusters of infection that emerge. And finally, we know that the infection rate on the Diamond Princess (the yacht, which for some time had more cases than most countries) was 20%, and that on the US Navys Theodore Roosevelt 25%. Both were contained spaces and, at least in theory, the virus should have infected more people, perhaps everyone on board. Why did it not? Still, the preceding three statements are internally consistent not everyone exposed to the virus gets infected; and not everyone infected by the virus passes it on. It would help to know the prevalence of the infection in, say, Italy, New York City, and Delhi, because that could be a starting point for some of the answers. Thats what makes serological surveys (blood tests) of the population, to find out who has antibodies to the virus and who doesnt, important. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON After months of searching, U.S. marshals early Tuesday nabbed a man wanted for a home invasion robbery in Mount Holly Springs after following a tip that led them to the Bronx. Nathanael Arroyo, 19, was arrested without incident around 5:30 a.m. and promptly returned to Pennsylvania for prosecution on charges including robbery, burglary and aggravated assault., U.S. Marshal Martin J. Pane said. Arroyo is one of two men charged for the Jan. 30 robbery during which the victim was stabbed with a knife and threatened with a gun. The other wanted man, Javier Sabdiel Santos, 20, was arrested by marshals in the Mechanicsburg area on March 27. Patna, July 14 : In the wake of the increasing coronavirus cases in Bihar, the state government has ordered the closure of all government offices, shops, religious places, barring essential services, across the state. The lockdown will remain in force from July 16 to 31. The order issued on Tuesday by the Home Department of the Bihar government said the reason for the lockdown is the increase in Covid-19 cases. The ban is already in force in many districts, including Patna. However, the ban will not apply to cargo vehicles. Ration shops, vendors of fruits, vegetables, milk, dairy, meat and fish will operate in the morning and evening after seeking permission of the district magistrate concerned. Banks, ATMs, print and electronic media have been exempted from the ban. The number of corona-infected persons in Bihar has crossed 18,000. Tata group Chairman N Chandrasekaran and Lockheed Martin CEO Jim Taiclet will receive the USIBC Global Leadership Award this year, business advocacy group USIBC said on Tuesday. "Every year, the USIBC Global Leadership Awards are conferred upon executives in recognition of outstanding leadership and for promoting Indo-US trade and business," Washington-based US-India Business Council (USIBC) said. It added that this year, the prestigious annual award would be presented to Jim Taiclet, chief executive of Lockheed Martin and co-chair of the US-India CEO Forum, and Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of the Tata group and co-chair of the US-India CEO Forum. The earlier receivers of this award include Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Google CEO Adena Friedman, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Sun Pharmaceuticals Founder and Managing Director Dilip Shanghvi. "I'm honoured to receive the USIBC's Global Leadership Awards at a time when the Council's work to connect business with governments in the US and India has never been more critical," said Taiclet. Chandrasekaran said, "It is a great honour and privilege to receive the Global Leadership Awards. My thanks to the USIBC for this award and their ongoing efforts to build a better future for the India-US partnership especially in these challenging times. Cancel Culture Dominates Climate Research, Canceling the Scientific Method Commentary Contrary to popular perception, cancel culture, in which people or their opinions are shamed and shut out of the discussion when they dont conform to whatever those shouting the loudest or rioting in the streets believe, isnt a new phenomenon. For more than two decades, politically connected climate scientists have been leading the cancel culture movement. These researchers abandoned the pursuit of knowledge and human progress for the pursuit of political power to impose their vision of how society should be shaped. Rather than seeking an understanding of the world through the use of the scientific method and its reliance upon data and empirical falsification, theyve promoted the political notion of consensus as to how knowledge is obtained, and comity, rather than experimentation, as to how progress is made. They cancel through making personal attacks, denial of funding, removing opponents from positions, and suppressing the research of any researcher or analyst who dares to disagree with the so-called consensus position that humans are causing catastrophic climate change. Honest scientists who cling to the quaint notion that climate change theory should be tested against data are deemed retrograde or climate deniers, whose views arent worthy of being considered in these days of post-modern climate science. Indeed, many cancelers advocate for imprisoning climate skeptics. Lets look at just a couple of examples of in which academic conferences and media headlines have given consensus, cancel culture science pride of place over the facts when it comes to alarming climate claims. Based solely on the unsupported assertions of consensus climate researchers, the media has been flooded with stories claiming human-caused climate change is causing famine and starvation. In late June 2020, Cornell Alliance for Science claimed farmers in sub-Saharan Africa were desperate for new farm technologies and crops to fight a climate change-induced decline in crop production that the Alliance claimed was driving millions [of Africans] into hunger. Yet data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization shows cereal (staple) food crop production across southern Africa has grown substantially, and fairly steadily, since at least the 1960s. Moreover, the past 10 years have provided the 10 highest crop yields in sub-Saharan African history. Dozens of similarly false claims linking supposed anthropogenic climate change to an agricultural apocalypse were covered by outlets such as Google News, GQ, the New Republic, and Roll Call over the past couple of months. Yet, had the journalists writing the stories showed a little bit of investigative initiative, they could have easily discovered hundreds of field experiments and studies collected on CO2 Science, much of which was distilled or summarized in the exhaustive report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, titled Climate Change Reconsidered II. These reports show crop yields have been booming and hunger and malnutrition declining as, and in large part because, carbon dioxide concentrations have been rising. Following the Democratic playbook, per Rahm Emanuel, of never letting a crisis go to waste, radical climate alarmists have also manipulated science to assert climate change is making pandemics more frequent and deadlier. Dozens of media outlets, including Jurist Legal, the Los Angeles Times, MSNBC, and Time magazine published articles during the midst of the CCP virus pandemic claiming human-caused climate change, if not already making the incidences of pandemics more likely, would make them more frequent and more deadly in the future. For instance, an article in Pro Publica blatantly lied when it stated, Vector-borne diseasesthose carried by insects like mosquitoes and ticks and transferred in the blood of infected peopleare also on the rise as warming weather and erratic precipitation vastly expand the geographic regions vulnerable to contagion. The body of scientific literature, as detailed in Chapter Four of the second volume of Climate Change Reconsidered II, shows there is no factual basis for this claim. Studies from Africa to England and Wales, to North and South America, to Thailand and beyond, find that any link between human climate change and the spread of malaria, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, and other vector-borne diseases is either grossly overstated or outright false. Indeed, historically, colder periods are linked to famine, as crops fail, and to the rapid spread of pandemics, such as the bubonic plague, which ran rampant during the little ice age. By contrast, pandemics typically wane, though they dont disappear, and hunger and malnutrition decline sharply during relatively warm periods. In one study published in The Lancet in 2015, researchers examining health data from 384 locations in 13 countries, accounting for more than 74 million deathsa huge sample size from which to draw sound conclusionsfound that cold weather, directly or indirectly, killed 1,700 percent more people than hot weather. Commenting on the study in a 2017 New York Times article, columnist Jane Brody wrote, Over time, as global temperatures rise, milder winter temperatures are likely to result in fewer cold-related deaths, a benefit that could outweigh a smaller rise in heat-caused mortality. Albert Einstein once said, No amount of experimentation can ever prove me right; a single experiment can prove me wrong. Sadly, climate researchers would cancel Einstein if he said that today. There is an old adage in legal circles, When the law is on your side, pound the law; when the facts are on your side, pound the facts; when neither are on your side, pound the table. For three decades, climate alarmists have been pounding the table. They hold rallies carrying placards and wearing T-shirts that say Believe Science, even as their actions betray science. Too many climate scientists have become sideshow hucksters hoping to sell the general public the dangerous notion that giving government experts greater control over our lives will allow us to control the weather, and make the world a utopia. Ask the people in Cuba, Hong Kong, North Korea, or Venezuela how thats working out for them. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D. is a senior fellow on energy and the environment at The Heartland Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center headquartered in Arlington Heights, Ill. His email is hburnett@heartland.org Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Author: Abdul Rashid Gbambu 14.07.2020 LISTEN Recent developments surrounding voters register compilation, the conduct of the electoral commission and its related issues, return of students to school amidst the rise in COVID-19 cases, the registration of SHS students by the Electoral Commission(EC), among other things, have exposed the level of insensitivity of the Nana Addo-led government. The safety and security of citizens are the responsibility of every elected government chosen by the people. Any viable and tenable national security policies and other executable measures are the only surest way of providing guarantees to these safety nets. While these are undeniable facts, intelligence gathering and processing are also known to facilitate the effectiveness of provision of security. In every civilized society like Ghana, national decisions, especially on security centered issues, is the prerogative of policymakers and/or political heads (known in the security milieu as consumers of intelligence). Their decisions are supposed to be the bases for rational choice(s) towards national interest, after proper evaluation of events, risk assessments/management and mitigation measures. In every democratic society, the intelligence community is mandated, constitutionally, to provide these consumers of intelligence with relevant security centered information and adequate recommendation(s). However, it appears the NPP government has woefully failed Ghanaians in the provision of security, either through refusing to accept intelligence gathered or not having adequate information provided by the intelligence community. The seemly lack of coordination on the.part of national security to formulate a policy to provide security operatives with enough guidelines and support, to ensure human security, can be cited as a typical example. This has led to creating confusion within and/or among security agencies and their agents into believing that they were executing their constitutional mandate in the provision of security. This appears also to have affected the operations of the intelligence community in Ghana in providing adequate and accurate intelligence to the government, for swift and decisive action(s) presumed hazards, and emerging threats like COVID 19. Even though regarded as security actors, the intelligence, policy-makers and opinion leaders appeared to be either naive and innocent looking or they woefully underrated emerging threats, and/or failed to act upon both overt and covert intelligence provided. For example, the COVID-19 outbreak in China took a global dimension since November 2019. As early as February 2020, the warning signals of its pandemic nature were obvious. Ghana could have been spared the ravishing effects of the COVID if government had been proactive enough and acted upon this overt intelligence. After government had left her entry points loose and gotten our country highly endangered, decision making and mode of communication about the virus, at the top level of the government, was invariably poor. Governments communication on the virus, were laden with fear and panic, constituting a threat of its own. For instance, the president's first and second nation addresses on the virus depicted a fearful and panic situation among Ghanaians. This propelled the media and commentators to express varied opinions and guidelines, further worsening the fear and panic situation. THE EMERGING SECURITY THREATS Another evidence of governments insensitivity to security matter is seen in the decision to keep students in schools, amid the rise in COVID-19 cases across the country. This has exposed the lives of students at high risk and its complications are not far fetched. The ECs move to register senior high school students, despite the dangers involved, further creates an impression of ulterior motives on the part of H.E. Nana Addos government and to demonstrate how the President has chosen Party over national interest Moreover, the EC's relentless move in furtherance of this agenda, is also obvious to all Ghanaians that the Commission was truly no longer neutral as stipulated in our Constitution. This was further evident in by the NPP with an open display of party paraphilenia during the nomination of its Chairperson, as well as coming other related issues, and how NPP as a political party, came out in on the ongoing compilation of their irrevocable support for compilation of a new voters registration exercise, pushing aside the NCCE which is mandated by the constitution to do so but for lack of government funding. Constitutionally, the EC is expected to play a neutral and mediating role in Ghanaian politics yet from all indications, it is questionable as to whether this role can be maintained In conflict resolution, when a mediator loses the trust of either or both of the parties involved in a stalemate in a deadlock conflict. Furthermore, the Electoral Commissions modus operandi, in the conduct of the ongoing voters registration exercise, raises other serious security concerns. Even though to some extent, the EC might have justifiable reason for the compilation of a new voters registrar, the issues surrounding the usage of Passport and Ghana or Ecowas Card, as prerequisite to registration, has left many Ghanaians frustrated. While acquisition of a passport is cumbersome in Ghana, (especially during this new normal times), the Ghana or Ecowas Card registration, was a pilot project exercise, which did not give every Ghanaian the equal opportunity to acquire one. The alternative of vouching for someone in the on-going registration process is yet another recipe for chaos. Indeed, the voter card compilation exercise, is also currently being conducted on pilot bases from the look of the mandate given them thus raising more serious security concerns, raising many questions whether the December polls shall be conducted in similar haphazard manner? This process could be compromised by potential belligerents and other intelligence agencies to break through our electoral system o may even provide room for double registrations. Despite the many concerns expressed by majority of Ghanaians and despite the overwhelming signs of failure, the EC appears unwilling to acknowledge it failed strategies. Perhaps, it is for this reason that many think the EC is not apolitical. Observations across the country, indicate that the way the EC is conducting the registration exercise, will not only affect one group of people but Ghanaians in general. The consequences will be devastating if at this latent or preventive level, something is not done to avert it. These indicators are recipe for political violence, ahead of December 7, 2020 polls. This is because, ordinary Ghanaians will be more frustrated on elections day, since there are indications of probably having insufficient logistics for conducting smooth elections at every polling station, concurrently across the country. The major causal factor for political violence, is when groups or individuals, are deprived of their constitutional rights, especially when it is caused by interruption to their progress, towards expected goal(s), it will lead to frustration and aggression, will exhibit the outcome later. While it is now obvious, that the EC is working for Nana Addo and his NPP, it becomes equally imperative to note that, neutrality cannot be possible in her conducts. It is also a clear indication, that, H.E. Nana Addo, had chosen the interest of his government and political party over National Interest. In-state affairs, the primary consumers of intelligence are the doerspolitical leaders. Intelligence seeks to improve knowledge of these political leaders to enable them take decisions to reduce uncertainties. But if a government decides to ignore these indicators, then it tells of the level of its security insensitivity. Ghanaians, must take notice and call on government to reduce or avert the consequences of security threats arising out of this situation. Therefore, Security actors, such as the Intelligence Community, National Peace Council, Religious and Traditional Leaders, and entire Ghanaians, must take notice of these developments and counsel government, especially at this latent level, before it escalates into an uncontrollable stage. The intelligence community, must take into considerations some of these indicators as open-source intelligence and warn the consumers of intelligence, accordingly. The ruling government, must not consider every concern expressed by the NDC and other opposition political parties as mere rhetoric but should be seen as an open intelligence, analyze and process it, with the zeal of nationalism. By: Abdul Rashid, Gbambu (Media and Security Analyst) [email protected] (+233)(0)266593893 Responding to Sachin Pilots rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan, the Congress on Tuesday dismissed Pilot as deputy chief minister, sacked him as the state unit president of the party, removed two of his loyalists from the cabinet, accused his camp of conspiring with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to destabilise the government, and contended that its government has numbers. Soon after the decision, Pilot who has maintained a studied silence on the issue tweeted in Hindi: Truth can be harassed, but not defeated. Later in the evening, he thanked people who expressed their support to him. While Pilot who has also served as a Congress member of Parliament and a Union minister, and was widely perceived as a rising star of the party with a national future has not commented about his future plans, observers saw Tuesdays developments as marking the end of his association with the Congress.Officially, he has neither been expelled nor has he formally quit the primary membership of the party. Coming in the wake of developments in Madhya Pradesh earlier this year, where Jyotiraditya Scindia left the party, senior Congress figures expressed regret at the possible exit of another young leader. Pilot, 42, is likely to set up his own regional party, according to a person familiar with his thinking. As the intra-Congress battle took a decisive turn, the BJP which had, so far, claimed to be just watching the developments and blamed it on the Gandhi family indicated that its doors were open for Pilot, and claimed that Gehlots government had lost its majority. Also read: As Congress picks old guard over new, future tense for both Gehlot, Pilot The Congresss decision to sack Pilot came in the backdrop of its assessment that the arithmetic in the Rajasthan assembly favours Gehlot though party leaders acknowledge privately that there will now be questions over the stability of the government and the situation will remain fragile. On Tuesday, 101 legislators in an assembly of 200 attended the Congress legislative party meeting at the Fairmont hotel on the outskirts of Jaipur, which included 10 independent legislators and two from Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) and one from the Communist Party of India (Marxist); the other CPIM legislator was unwell. However, in the afternoon, the two BTP legislators left the hotel, and went home, saying they would take a call on supporting a political party at an appropriate time. Pilots camp claimed to have the support of 22 legislators, including three independents, also said that six other legislators would join it soon, and rejected Gehlots claims of being in a majority. Two of the legislators in the Pilot camp, Ramesh Meena and Vishwendra Singh, who were both sacked as ministers, issued a statement saying that they were with Pilot and Gehlot government was in minority. Also read| Was a 20-20. Test match next: Team Sachin Pilot tweets to Ashok Gehlot The dramatic decision came on a day when the Congress held a second legislative party meeting in as many days which Pilot and legislators loyal to him, once again, did not attend. A Congress leader familiar with the developments said that senior party leaders reached out to Pilot again, and conveyed to him that if he did not want to attend the meeting, he should address the media in Delhi, clarify that he was a loyal soldier of the Congress, that he would not do anything that would bring down the government in Rajasthan. But Pilot turned this offer and insisted on his demand for immediate removal of Gehlot as the chief minister, the leader said. Despite repeated attempts, Pilot did not respond to questions about the Congresss accusations and the chain of events put forth by it. Also read: Sachin Pilot welcome to join, say BJP leaders as party weighs its options A leader close to Pilot, however, dismissed the claim that the party was responsive, and said that the former deputy CM had consistently expressed his concerns to the partys top leadership in the past year and a half. Pilots camp has been resentful of what they see as Gehlots dominance and attempt to marginalise the former deputy CM, including by implicating him in a case regarding the destabilisation of the government. Randeep Singh Surjewala, the partys chief spokesperson and one of the partys central observers sent to the state, formally made the announcement. He said Pilot had enjoyed the blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age, and alleged that despite this, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy. This cannot be acceptable to any political party. Therefore, the Congress took the decision with a heavy heart, he said. He declared that states education minister, Govind Singh Dotasara, would be the new Rajasthan Congress president. Soon after, CM Gehlot met state governor Kalraj Mishra and apprised him of the dismissal of the three ministers. Gehlot categorically blamed the BJP. The party high command was compelled to take the decision [to sack Sachin Pilot] because for a long time, the BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading. He claimed that it was not Pilot, but the BJP, which was managing everything. Pilot is scheduled to address reporters on Wednesday at 10am. The BJP categorically rejected the accusation of conspiring to destabilise the government, with senior leader and MP, Om Mathur, saying, Dear Ashok Gehlot, closing your eyes does not make the sun disappear. There is weakness in the structure of your house, and you are blaming the BJP national leadership for this. However, Mathur, who is also from Rajasthan, opened the partys doors for Pilot. Our doors are open for Sachin Pilot. Anyone who wishes to join the party and adapt to the ideals of the party, they are welcome, he said. The partys central leaders were circumspect. According to a person familiar with the partys thinking in Delhi, BJP general secretary Anil Jain and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan have been at the helm of tracking developments in the state. A second leader said that it would only be natural if the party was in touch with Pilot, for he would not have gone so far in his battle with the Congress without signals. A third party leader, when asked about the speculation that the BJP could support Pilot if he floats his own party, said the BJP will watch from the sidelines till the time it becomes clear that the Gehlot faction does not have the required numbers to stay in power. But even as the permutations and combinations of the political alignment in Rajasthan were being worked out, observers said that the big takeaway from Tuesdays development was the exit of yet another young leader from the Congress, which is in the middle of a deep political crisis after losing two Lok Sabha elections. Mumbai-based political analyst Abhay Deshpande said young leaders are restive and there is a trust deficit between them and the leadership. One the aspirational leadership doesnt see its future in the party and also dont see the future of the party. They have lost hope and lack confidence in the leadership which has become unpredictable in the recent past, he said. The National Guard sets up near the Lake Street/Midtown metro station as buildings continue to burn in the aftermath of a night of protests and violence following the death of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minn., on May 29, 2020. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times) Governor Extends State of Emergency, Order for National Guard Troops in Atlanta Gov. Brian Kemp extended Georgias state of emergency order to allow National Guard troops to remain stationed in Atlanta, following weeks of unrest and a surge in crime. Kemps order is now slated to expire on July 27, according to a statement from his office on Monday evening. The order was signed last Monday, on July 6. To ensure public safety & prevent violence, I have renewed the State of Emergency authorizing as many as 1,000 Georgia Guard for active duty. They will protest state property to allow state police to patrol our streets, especially in City of Atlanta, the Republican governor wrote on Twitter. The governor signed the order following an especially violent Fourth of July weekend in Atlanta, when 31 people were shot and five were killed in incidents across the city. An 8-year-old girl was counted among those who were fatally shot, prompting a public outcry. An armed man stands outside the Wendys where Rayshard Brooks was shot, in Atlanta, Ga., on June 23, 2020. (John Bazemore/AP Photo) Late on Sunday, Atlanta Police officials released images of a person of interest who is believed to be connected to the death of the girl, identified as Secoriea Turner. She was killed on July 4 while she was riding in an SUV with her mother. The driver had attempted to pass a roadblock that was set up by rioters and protesters near a Wendys. A reward of up to $20,000 was offered for information leading to the arrest and indictment of a suspect in the case. They say Black lives matter, her father, Secoriya Williamson, said in a news conference days after her slaying. You killed your own. You killed your own this time. A second person of interest in the shooting death of 8-year-old Secoriea Turner. (Atlanta Police Department via AP) In the same time period, the Georgia State Patrol headquarters was vandalized by Black Lives Matter activists and protesters. Peaceful protests were hijacked by criminals with a dangerous, destructive agenda. Now, innocent Georgians are being targeted, shot, and left for dead, Kemp stated last week. He said that deploying the National Guard to certain, key buildings will free up state troopers for policing the city. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, decried the governors move to bring in National Guard troops. But to announce that the National Guard was comingit was not discussed with me, it was not discussed with our police chief, Bottoms told Atlantas WSB-TV. To me, it speaks to showmanship and this need to show that there are tanks on the streets of Atlanta. The catastrophic effects of global environmental degradation, health deterioration and diminishing energy resources are demanding remedy measures aimed at environmental conservation, health interventions and harnessing of the abundant and renewable energy resources. Consequently, sensors and renewable energy harnessing systems have emerged as worthwhile solutions to the existent challenges. However, conventional sensors and renewable energy harnessing systems have presented diminished efficiency and performance to be improved. Therefore, current research trends are focusing on improving the efficiency and performance of these systems. For centuries, nature has availed an unlimited cache of evolved biological species with improved energy harnessing capabilities and heightened responses to external stimuli, including temperature, pH, humidity and chemical molecules. Specifically, butterfly wings have gained research and aesthetic popularity for their vivid coloring, architypes of unique micro/nanostructures, sensitivity and effective responses to stimuli. While insect enthusiasts marvel at the beautiful wing coloration and patterning, researchers have determined that the vivid coloration and wing properties result from the structures and pigments found in the wing scales. The huge variety of beautifully colored wings has led researchers to classify the various unique wing scale architectures. Equally, researchers have made attempts to mimic the wing properties in fabrication of various manmade functional materials and systems, such as sensors and energy harnessing applications. In the overview published in National Science Review, researchers in the State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China present the recent research progress in sensor and energy applications inspired by butterfly wings. In their review, Zhang W. and co-workers highlight the genesis of wing scale development and the subsequent formation of wing scale architectures. They describe the general appearance of the wing scale architectures as having three distinct regions namely, the highly convoluted upper lamina, flat and featureless lower lamina and pillar-like connection of the two layers called trabeculae. In addition, the authors discuss the most recent wing structure classification based on variations in specialized regions of the architectures. These wing scale architecture variations influence wing coloration among other properties, including porosity, surface area and responses to stimuli. Recently, researchers have worked on a variety of sensor and energy systems with the aim of mimicking the properties of natural species into manmade functional systems. This published review has focused on the progress achieved in recent research towards the fabrication of sensor and energy systems inspired by butterfly wings. By employing the different properties of butterfly wings, featured researches have successfully fabricated thermal, medical and vapor sensors, anti-counterfeit security devices, photocatalysts, photovoltaic systems, triboelectric nanogenerators and energy storage systems. Comparatively, these featured systems have demonstrated competitive efficiency and performance to similar systems inspired by other natural species. Unfortunately, more research is still necessary to achieve optimal replication of natural properties onto manmade functional systems. As a result, authors suggest that the application scope should extend to photothermal imaging and therapy in cancer treatment and management. The good performance recorded by medical sensors for health monitoring and photothermal capabilities of butterfly wing inspired materials will generate sufficient mechanism for the detection, imaging, therapy and monitoring of terminal diseases. Similarly, photothermal materials inspired by butterfly wings can gain interest in the emerging stealth technologies research for modern-day warfare and scientific research technologies, such as rockets. Lastly, butterfly wings have exhibited numerous and diverse properties that enable them effectively respond to external stimuli. Research should envision tapping onto these characteristics in fabrication of functional systems with multiple responses and high efficiencies. This should be a real break-through in attaining next generation applications that optimize the properties of natural species and meet the global energy shortages, environmental degradation and deteriorating health conditions. ### This research received funding from the Key Program for International S&T Cooperation Program of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Science and Technology Committee and National Key Research and Development Program. See the article: Maurice I. Osotsi, Wang Zhang, Imran Zada, Jiajun Gu, Qinglei Liu, Di Zhang Butterfly wing architectures inspire sensor and energy applications Natl Sci Rev 2020; doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwaa107 https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwaa107 The National Science Review is the first comprehensive scholarly journal released in English in China that is aimed at linking the country's rapidly advancing community of scientists with the global frontiers of science and technology. The journal also aims to shine a worldwide spotlight on scientific research advances across China. Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier? Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop. Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News N Augusta Breaking News Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time. Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up! Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page. Parents of babies born during the pandemic lockdown will each get three extra paid weeks of leave under Government plans. However, there have been claims the plans fall "far short" of the needs of mothers whose maternity leave coincided with lockdown and that it amounted to the re-announcement of plans to extend parents' leave. There has been a mounting campaign for women who gave birth during lockdown to have their maternity leave extended by three months with a petition attracting around 28,000 signatures. Sinn Fein will table a motion in the Dail tonight seeking a temporary extension of maternity benefit from six to nine months for mothers whose claim expires between the start of March and the end of November. Speaking yesterday, Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said the proposals for an extra three weeks of parents' leave will be the Government's response to the Sinn Fein move. Proposing "What the Government is proposing here is that in the context of Budget 2021 to examine an extension of parents' leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent," he said. "So that's an additional three weeks for each parent and that leave is paid at the rate of 245 per week." Mr O'Gorman said the extra weeks would apply to the parents of all children born since November 1, 2019. "This is a measure to recognise to some extent the particular challenges that mothers and parents have faced during the Covid-19 crisis," he said. Parents would be able to avail of the leave within two years of the birth of their child. The National Women's Council of Ireland said it "falls far short of needs of mothers". Its director Orla O'Connor said increasing the leave is welcome, but this had already been expected. (CNN) For many companies, food plays a big part of workplace culture. Whether it's free lunches every day, or an occasional perk like pizza or bagels to celebrate an accomplishment, or an extra long meeting with a catered lunch, employers often use free food to reward or motivate their staff. But workplace lunches could look very different when employees return to the office. A packed cafeteria, buffet-style meals in conference rooms or buzzing elevators filled with lunch goers at noon won't bode well for social distancing. "You can't have 40 people in a factory trying to get out the tiny entrance and drive off to Chipotle to wait in line for 30 minutes. That is a very unsafe thing to do," said Diane Swint, head of marketplace at ezCater, a corporate catering marketplace. "In a high rise, you can't have folks all try to pile into an elevator." Real estate and investment management firm, JLL, has seen a bigger focus on safety from its clients. "Health and safety are front and center, and that includes how employees access food," said Tom Larance, JLL's head of experience management. "We have had several clients come to us and ask about how we can work with them to safely provide food -- whether that means providing lunches for employees so they do not need to venture out of the office, or if they need food and beverage service for small gatherings they are having within the office." Boxed lunches Before coronavirus, company review website Glassdoor served employees a daily buffet-style lunch at its headquarters. It also offered snacks and drinks in the communal kitchens across its six offices. But if lunch is provided when employees return to the office it will be different. "[I]t will likely be individually boxed and either distributed by an individual wearing gloves and face covering or will be laid out on tables for employees to queue up and pick up," wrote Rick Friedman, Glassdoor's senior director of global real estate and workplace experience, in an email to CNN Business. Snacks could be in prepackaged boxes that are distributed twice a day. Drinks will be limited in the fridge with new safety protocols regarding the use of hand sanitizer and paper towels when opening the refrigerators, he added. "We'll also have signage that reminds people 'if you touch it, you take it.'" Along the same lines, community coffee pots are likely to go away. "Some employers are transitioning employees away from a communal coffee pot and are supplying them with discounts or gift cards to local coffee shops or supplying travel mugs to bring in their own," said Angela Simpson, human resource knowledge advisor at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She added that cafeterias could shift to offering more pre-packaged meals and brown bag lunches. Convene, a co-working space with 30 locations across the country, used to offer buffets and food stations prepped in its kitchens for meetings and events for its members. Now, it's serving individually-packaged meals. Before the pandemic, workers were able to order food on Convene's app and it was delivered directly to their desks or sent to a pickup location. Now, workers get an alert when their food is ready and has been placed in a designated pickup zone on their floor to help minimize contact and exposure. Community breakfasts and lunches are also going to look a little different. Instead of people congregating in a common space to eat, individually-wrapped meals will be at a pickup station to minimize contact. Kitchen staff members also face increased safety measures. They have to change into a company-provided uniform and have their temperature checked before entering the space. They've also reduced the number of vendors they work with that provide food and other supplies. "We want to limit the amount of traffic that comes through our doors," said German Villatoro, director of culinary at Convene. "We are making things in-house as much as possible," he added. Robots, apps and other alternatives to the cafeteria Some workplaces are turning to robots to provide food safety. California-based Chowbotics, has seen an uptick in demand for its fresh food robot "Sally." Sally can whip up a variety of cold meals, including salads, grain bowls and yogurt. Before the pandemic, one place Sally was often used was in hospitals after the cafeteria closed. Now, the machine is replacing the salad bar in the cafeteria, according to CEO Rick Wilmer. He said the number of inquiries the company has received about Sally quadrupled in June compared to April and May. EzCater said it has seen a five-fold increase in corporate orders of individually-packaged meals since the end of March. The company recently launched a new app called Relish that allows workers to place food orders from designated restaurants. By ordering in through one source, crowded elevators can be avoided and the number of delivery people coming in is also reduced as individually-packaged meals arrive in a designated space and at a specified time, the company said. Employers who use Relish can choose to set up a subsidy of 0% to 100% of meals. "Right now, the majority of businesses are picking up the tab, but we do know that some of our current customers are going to be shifting off to a lower subsidy come August," said Swint. Breakfast orders have to be put in the night before and lunch orders have a 10:00 am deadline. Upon delivery, orders are placed at designated spot like shelves or lockers for contactless pickup. "Companies can stagger lunch times in a socially distant way. You can set up two or three lunch hours," said Swint. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Food is a big deal at work. Here's how the pandemic will change lunch and snacks." After days of political uncertainty in Rajasthan after Sachin Pilot's revolt, Congress has removed him as the state deputy chief minister and Rajasthan PCC Chief. His loyalists Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena have also been sacked. The Congress party on Tuesday has removed Sachin Pilot as Rajasthans Deputy CM. He has also been removed as Rajasthan PCC Chief and replaced by Govind Singh Dotasra. CLP has passed a resolution to take action against 19 rebels, including Sachin Pilot. In the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting held at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur, about 102 MLAs demanded the removal of Sachin Pilot from the party. CM Ashok Gehlot is currently in a meeting with the Governor. Along with Sachin Pilot, Congress has also removed his 2 loyalists Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena. Speaking to the media, Randeep Surjewala said that the party made many appeals but the three ministers are misguided by BJP and have betrayed the mandate of 8 crore Rajasthanis. Calling it a conspiracy, he added that the party wanted them to come back. After his sacking, Pilot tweeted, Truth can be disturbed, not defeated. Also Read: India China stand-off: Corps Commander-level talks begin at Chushul The decision came in the backdrop of Congresss multiple requests to Pilot to attend the meeting and put forth his demands, the failure of which would lead to disciplinary action. Ahead of the meeting, Surjewala requested Sachin Pilot and all other MLAs to attend the meeting as doors are open for them. He added that demands will be heard and solutions found, as this is the discipline of the party. Sachin Pilot also removed as Rajasthan PCC Chief, Govind Singh Dotasra appointed in his place: Randeep Surjewala, Congress. https://t.co/x3akloNHYt ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 #WATCH Congress party has decided to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM and Rajasthan PCC Chief. Vishvender Singh & Ramesh Meena removed as Ministers: Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/sJHmE9kI3T ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 Rajasthan: CM Ashok Gehlot meets Governor Kalraj Mishra, at Raj Bhawan in Jaipur. pic.twitter.com/uyhOmreLZC ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 #WATCH Rajasthan: Inside visuals of MLAs attending the ongoing Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur. As per sources, 102 MLAs are present & have unanimously demanded that Sachin Pilot should be removed from the party. pic.twitter.com/FZxIUYVgq7 ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 Also Read: CLP meeting underway in Jaipur, Sachin Pilot gives it a miss Sachin Pilot had gone incommunicado 2 days ago and claimed the support of 30 MLAs. One of his primary demands included Chief Ministership. After the opposition questioned his claim, the ministers official group shared a 10 second video last night in which 16 MLAs could be seen sitting in a circle. Amid reports that Sachin Pilot would be joining BJP, the leader clarified that he has no such plans. Rajasthan Congress, on the other hand, has alleged that BJP is trying destabilize the government in Rajasthan. Also Read: BJP trying to demolish Cong in Rajasthan, Sena attacks erstwhile ally For all the latest National News, download NewsX App Egypts top appeals court upheld on Tuesday life sentences against the leader of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group Mohamed Badie and others over violence in Upper Egypts Minya that followed the ouster of late Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The Court of Cassation rejected appeals filed by186 defendants, including Badie, against their prison terms, and acquitted 63 others, a judicial source said, without specifying how many received final life sentences. In September 2018, a Minya criminal court sentenced Badie and 87 others to life imprisonment over clashes in the southern governorate. The court also handed over 200 other defendants jail terms ranging from two to 15 years and acquitted 463 others in the same case. The mass trial dates back to violence in August 2013 that followed the dispersal of a sit-in by supporters of ousted president Morsi, which left hundreds of Brotherhood members and dozens of police dead. The defendants were convicted of charges including assaulting a police station in Minya, killing several policemen and the attempted murder of others. The verdicts are final and cannot be appealed. Tuesday's sentences are the latest in a series of trials and re-trials against Badie, the Brotherhoods Supreme Guide, and other senior leaders of the Islamist group that ruled Egypt before Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted following massive protests. It is the fifth final life sentence handed to Badie, totaling 125 years. It comes days after the same court upheld life sentences for Badie, his deputy Khairat El-Shater and four others over violence in front of the groups main headquarters in Cairo ahead of Morsi's ouster. That verdict was the first final ruling against El-Shater, who had been handed a total of another 40 years in jail that can still be appealed. Search Keywords: Short link: Speaking at an event in Kathmandu, Oli had blamed India for cultural encroachment by 'creating a fake Ayodhya.' The Nepal foreign ministry on Tuesday issued a clarification on Prime Minister KP Oli's remarks regarding the birthplace of Lord Ram and allegations that India created a "fake Ayodhya". In a statement that sought to downplay the row, the ministry said that Oli's remark "was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears (sic)." "The remarks made by the Prime Minister are not linked to any political subject and have no intention at all to hurt the feeling and sentiment of anyone," the ministry said. "As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilisation," it added. The ministry further said, "It may be underlined that the tradition of celebrating Bibaha Panchami where a marriage procession coming from Ayodhya, India to Janakpur, Nepal takes place every year. The Prime Ministers of Nepal and India launched the Ramayana Circuit in May 2018, of which Janakpur-Ayodhya Passenger Bus Service is an important component. These facts signify the bond of time-honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples." On Monday, Oli had said, "Although real Ayodhya lies at Thori, a city in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed that Lord Ram was born there (in India). Due to these continuous claims, even we have believed that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. However, in reality, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj." He was speaking at an event organised at the Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu. Oli also blamed India for cultural encroachment by "creating a fake Ayodhya." "Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi. Dashrath's son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal," he claimed. Oli also questioned how Lord Ram could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there was "no means" of communication. He further said that it to be impossible for Lord Ram to come to Janakpur from present Ayodhya that lies in India. "Janakpur lies here and Ayodhya there and there is talk of marriage. There was neither telephone nor mobile then how could he know about Janakpur," Oli said. With inputs from ANI WASHINGTON - Canada and the United States are now widely expected to extend their mutual ban on non-essential cross-border travel as COVID-19 destroys President Donald Trumps hopes for a quick end to Americas public-health nightmare. The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to discretionary travel like vacations and shopping trips since the pandemic took hold of the continent in mid-March, a rolling 30-day agreement thats currently set to expire July 21. Officials on both sides of the border who are familiar with the ongoing talks, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet public, say another extension until late August is all but inevitable, thanks to a towering wave of new COVID-19 cases thats swamping efforts to restore a modicum of normality in the U.S. New York Rep. Brian Higgins, one of several members of Congress from northern states keen to see a plan for reopening the border, expressed dismay Tuesday at news he called disappointing but hardly surprising. With no leadership from President Trump to address the pandemic, cases in the United States are spiking and as a result U.S. citizens are not welcome in several countries around the globe, including many of our allies, Higgins, a Democrat, said in a statement. Recent calls from Higgins and others for a plan to start easing border restrictions have been greeted with social-media scorn and derision in Canada, where recent polls make clear the idea of allowing entry to Americans any time soon is a non-starter. The novel coronavirus has been particularly resurgent in southern states like Florida, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, where businesses tried to reopen early, contrary to the advice of public health officials, and the wearing of face masks became a partisan issue. The U.S. and Canada should be developing a plan that lays out what continued, nuanced management of the border during a prolonged pandemic will look like, Higgins said. But the administrations failure to develop a national plan for widespread testing, (personal protective equipment) distribution and the rejection of social distancing and mask-wearing to slow the spread doesnt inspire confidence that such a plan is in the works. Wearing a mask, perhaps the simplest way to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, has evolved into one of the most complex and flummoxing points of division in the U.S., thanks in part to conflicting signals early in the crisis about its effectiveness and the obvious reluctance of the commander-in-chief to embrace the idea. It was only just this past weekend nearly four months into the crisis that Trump himself was photographed wearing one in public, during a visit with wounded service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, urged Americans to mask up Monday, saying facial coverings for everyone in the country would break the pandemics back in less than two months. Its our major defence to prevent ourselves from getting this infection, Redfield told a news conference in Charlotte, N.C. If all of us would put on a face covering now for the next four weeks, six weeks, I think we could drive this epidemic into the ground. Paradoxically, new online polling from Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies suggests the idea of mandatory masking in public is more popular in the U.S. than it is in Canada. Legers latest online poll, conducted July 10 to 12, found 72 per cent of 1,001 American respondents supported the idea of mandatory masks indoors, compared with 67 per cent of the surveys 1,523 Canadian participants. Of those surveyed in the U.S., 41 per cent said they would consider it a violation of their personal freedoms, compared with 27 per cent of those in Canada. Americans are far more likely to agree that rights are at issue, said ACS president Jack Jedwab. Yet, despite the fact that Americans strongly agree that the mask requirement is a rights infringement, they nonetheless believe that mask wearing should be mandatory. Trump appears to be capitulating on other border issues as well: on Tuesday, facing a lawsuit from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the administration abandoned a controversial measure that would have forced international students whose courses move entirely online to either transfer schools or leave the country. That news likely comes as a relief to untold thousands of Canadian students studying south of the border, many of whom have been forced into virtual classrooms with colleges and universities having cancelled in-person classes. Dr. Howard Njoo, Canadas deputy chief public health officer, was reluctant Tuesday to discuss the worsening COVID-19 situation in the U.S. in any detail. But he said cross-border travel in a public health emergency is usually a matter of ensuring that both countries have a similar grip on the circumstances, taking into account factors like their respective health-care systems, testing and contact-tracing regimes and strategies for preventing transmission. Given that a number of U.S. states are experiencing community transmission of COVID-19 and dont have the situation under control, it will likely be weeks or even months before the benefits of additional preventative steps become apparent. It will take some time, Njoo said. If I were to travel anywhere, I would stick to Canada for the time being. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2020. Follow James McCarten on Twitter @CdnPressStyle A large group of people partying at a short-term rental property in Melbourne's south-west were among 88 people fined by police on Monday for breaching coronavirus guidelines. Eleven people who gathered at an apartment in Point Cook were each fined $1652 after being caught by police. Nine people were fined after they were caught at a residence in the CBD, allegedly involved in drug-related activity. As the state recorded 270 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, police said 24 fines had been issued on Monday at vehicle checkpoints set up to monitor those travelling between the lockdown zone of Greater Melbourne and Mitchell Shire and regional Victoria. An Albury man allegedly in possession of prohibited drugs while crossing the border from Victoria into NSW on Monday night was charged by NSW Police after a search found methylamphetamine hidden in a cigarette packet. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:12:07|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KABUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The hope for restoring lasting peace in Afghanistan has been jeopardized amid increasing insurgency in the country and constant delay in holding intra-Afghan talks to find negotiated settlement to the country's lingering crisis, locals say. Taliban militants targeted the office of National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country's intelligence agency in a deadly car bombing in Aybak city, the capital of northern Samangan province on Monday, killing 14 people and injuring 63 others. According to provincial government spokesman Sediq Azizi, 11 NDS staff were among those killed. The attack was widely condemned as a cowardly terrorist act. "The terrorist attack on Aybak city demonstrates Taliban resolve for pushing for war and violence," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a statement released by the Presidential Palace. In the statement, the president warned that "pushing for war and violence would damage the peace process." The attack in Aybak city was the deadliest one claimed by the Taliban since the militant outfit inked a peace deal with the United States on Feb. 29 in Qatar's capital Doha. The deal was meant to initiate intra-Afghan dialogues, facilitate the withdrawal of the U.S.-led foreign forces and end the war in Afghanistan. "We are fed up with war and the so-called peace efforts that have no results," resident of Samangan province Ahmad Shah told Xinhua on Tuesday. Shah who was travelling to his hometown Aybak lamented that the road leading to Samangan is unsafe as the Taliban militants sometimes intercept buses and check the passengers outside Baghlan's provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri. The man said the deadly bombing in Aybak was not the first one and will not be the last one as the prospect for peace seemed bleak, adding "we are the witness of killing and destruction everyday." "It has been more than a decade since the so-called peace efforts started but the result is zero," Kabul resident Noorul Haq told Xinhua. "My father was killed in war, my brother was killed in war, I was born in war and I am afraid to be killed in war too," said Kand Agha, 32, a resident of northern Baghlan province. Enditem She called the Supreme Courts early morning orders disappointing but not surprising. Veillette said she was up all night monitoring the news from her home in Washington state and in regular touch with her mother, at her own home in the same state, and her grandmother in Arkansas. Early Tuesday morning, Veillette said, her attorney told her Lee had been executed. There are nearly 3,000 Indian students stranded in Russia and they all will be back by this month-end As many as 480 Indian medical students, who were stranded in Russia due to the Coronavirus-induced restrictions, arrived in Mumbai by a private chartered flight on Monday. The students included 470 from Maharashtra, four from the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, four from Madhya Pradesh and two from Goa. According to Nikesh Ranjan of Delhi-based online ticketing company that arranged the flight, each student contributed 400 dollars, around `30,000, for the journey. There are nearly 3,000 Indian students stranded in Russia and they all will be back by this month-end. Aaditya Thackeray, who is a cabinet minister and holds charge of the protocol department, helped in coordinating with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the state government and the Indian embassy for the return of these students. There were nearly 800 students from the state in Russia and everyone could not return by flights arranged by the government under the Vande Bharat Mission. Some of the students in Russia heard about our evacuation of students from Ukraine and contacted me. I also emailed Aaditya Thackeray and tweeted about the chartered flight and he cooperated, Mr Ranjan said. A flight is scheduled to arrive in Bengaluru on Monday, another one is scheduled for Delhi on July 15, and one will land in Chennai on July 18. A student who returned to Mumbai from Russia said that they tried to return by Vande Bharat flight but it didnt work out. They later contacted Shiv Sena leader Arvind Sawant who advised them to tweet Aaditya Thackeray for help. According to the student Mr Thackeray immediately responded to their tweet and helped them out. Another student said that it was a difficult three months period for them and all their attempts to get a flight back home failed but with Mr Thackerays help they finally reached India. This article will be updated throughout the week with coronavirus case counts and other need-to-know information about the pandemic in San Antonio. COVID-19 isnt going away:' Despite insistent appeals to wear masks and practice social distancing, the novel coronavirus maintained its grip on San Antonio as officials reported six more deaths and 2,202 new cases on Sunday. 85 infants test positive in Texas county: Eighty-five infants have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nueces County, according to CNN. "These babies have not even had their first birthday yet," said Annette Rodriguez, director of public health for Corpus Christi Nueces County. Please help us stop the spread of this disease." No details on the infants conditions were released. July 18 COVID-19 updates: Another 11 people with COVID-19 have died, including a longtime San Antonio Fire Department mechanic and a seasonal security guard at the Alamodome. The death toll in Bexar County now stands at 251. The figures updated by Metro Health on Saturday also showed 1,108 new cases of novel coronavirus, increasing the total in Bexar to 28,633. July 17 COVID-19 updates: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Bexar County continues to climb, but hospitals have now seen decreases for four days in a row. Deaths, however, continue at a high rate. Mayor Ron Nirenberg reported 11 more people with COVID-19 have died and none were in congregate settings. The death toll is at 244. Washington recommends rollback in Texas: An unpublished White House document obtained by the Center for Public Integrity says Texas is one of 18 states where the coronavirus has gotten so out of hand that officials should start rolling back their reopenings. In response to a request for comment, a Trump administration official said the document is created by Dr. Deborah Birx, a leader of the White Houses coronavirus task force, and has been provided to each state to inform and assist with their response effort." TEA extends transition period for schools set to open this fall: The Texas Education Agency has extended its transition period for school districts to start their school years to four weeks before they must open their classrooms for students who want to return in person. Schools will also be allowed to apply for a waiver giving them more time to comply according to new rules issued today. Guidance the TEA released last week has drawn heavy criticism for requiring districts to provide in-classroom instruction five days a week to families who choose that option. Chance of COVID-19 at S.A. gatherings: As of Friday, the estimated chance that at least one COVID-19 positive individual will be present at a 100-person gathering in Bexar County is 99 percent, according to a new risk planning tool. The "Covid-19 Event Risk Assessment Planning Tool," created by Georgia Tech researchers, estimates the risk of someone in attendance at a gathering being infected with the coronavirus. July 16 COVID-19 updates: Bexar County officials reported a record 21 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday and 5,501 new cases of the coronavirus. Of the new cases, just 691 were diagnosed in the previous 24 hours. The rest were identified earlier but were not reported until Thursday because of a backlog that built up over the past two weeks, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. Fall semester will start online-only: Northside and North East independent school districts, the two largest in Bexar County, will begin the fall semester fully remote. North East will start its academic year Aug. 17 and Northside on Aug. 24, but neither will provide in-person and on-campus instruction until after Labor Day at the earliest. July 15 COVID-19 updates: There were slightly fewer people with COVID-19 in San Antonio hospitals Wednesday, but another seven residents died with the virus. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the deceased were five men and two women with ages ranging from the 40s to the 80s. The number of new cases was lower than it has been in recent days; there were 479 new novel coronavirus cases reported Wednesday, pushing the total since the pandemic started to 21,546. July 14 Head of county's COVID-19 response dies: Kyle Coleman, coordinator of the Bexar County Office of Emergency Management, died from a cause that has not yet been determined, officials said. His death is not believed to be related to the virus. His office is office coordinating the area response to the coronavirus. COVID-19 updates: San Antonio and Bexar County officials reported Tuesday that six more people have died from COVID-19 and 854 more have tested positive for the coronavirus. Hospitals remained under severe stress, with resources stretched to a critical point, officials said at their daily briefing on the pandemic. Bexar Countys death toll from COVID now stands at 201, the fourth highest among Texas counties. Polling locations reduced: The Bexar County Elections Department initially had planned for 226 polling sites on election day, down from 280 that were open March 3 for the primary. That number of sites, now called voting centers, was further reduced by 12, for a total of 214, because about 50 election judges and workers scheduled to work decided at the last minute, sometimes in consultation with their families, not to work on election day over fears of COVID-19. July 13 COVID-19 cases update: The novel coronavirus resurgence showed little sign of slowing down Monday, as total cases soared past 20,000 and 11 new deaths were reported, including five people who died at home. The number of newly reported coronavirus infections in Bexar County grew by 565 to 20,213. Thats now seven days in a row with more than 500 new cases each day. July 12 Deaths continue: The novel coronavirus resurgence continued on its deadly course Sunday, as Metro Health reported nine more deaths in Bexar County, following nine reported Saturday. Health authorities also reported 511 new cases of COVID-91 in the county, pushing the total to 19,648 since the deadly disease first appeared in the local population. Thats more than 5,000 cases in the last eight days alone. TRACKING COVID-19: Maps and graphics show the spread of the virus through San Antonio and Texas. A social media campaign started by three Moroccan friends has emboldened hundreds of "revenge porn" victims to share their experiences, raising awareness about online abuse and challenging taboos. The Diha F'Rassek movement - meaning 'Mind Your Own Business' - was launched to fight back against dozens of "revenge porn" accounts that appeared online during the country's coronavirus lockdown, said co-founder Sophia Zerh, 26. "We started to receive messages that were really shocking, for instance girls starting to think about suicide," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that the campaign has drawn 15,000 followers in less than two months. More importantly, Zerh said, about 300 women and girls have contacted the campaign group about the abuse they suffered. Some agreed to have their testimonies posted anonymously on the group's Instagram page, which Zerh said could help other potential victims spot danger signs and challenge taboos about gender relations in the socially conservative country. Fearing relatives could find out, many victims are too scared to speak out or seek help, she said: "Even if a girl didn't share any nude pictures, she's super afraid of her family just hearing about something. It's really hard to convince them to go to the police." "Women in Morocco are easy targets, with Arab culture - not everyone is lucky enough to have an open-minded family." Scared and Ashamed In other countries too, women's rights activists have reported a rise in online posts of intimate images of women and girls, usually by abusive partners or ex-partners, during COVID-19 lockdowns. Online abuse has become a common feature of domestic abuse in Morocco, which criminalised all forms of violence against women in 2018. But despite the two-year-old law, campaigners say domestic abuse victims face numerous hurdles in securing convictions against their abusers. A government survey last year showed 54.5% of Moroccan women have been subjected to violence, but only 6.6% have brought their case before justice. When victims get in touch with Diha F'Rassek, which is supported by a volunteer network, they receive help to report the abuse or are put in touch with free legal and counselling services. Others simply want to talk. "Sometimes people just need someone to talk to because they are too ashamed to talk to family or friends, but feel freer to talk to us," Zerh said. Some victims are so scared they create fake social media accounts to get in touch, she added. 'Everybody Was Mocking Me' Their stories can be harrowing. "I loved him a lot and I was ready to do anything so he stayed with me," wrote one victim. "He wanted me to send him some nudes. I hesitated many times but when he said he was going to leave me, I did it but wearing underwear," the unnamed 17-year-old posted on May 28. "The following day, at school, everybody was mocking me and calling me a slut... That same evening, I talked to him about how he'd treated me. He said that in this life there are lots of sluts, that he knew I was one and that's why he dealt me this blow," she said. "The harassment followed even by my own friends. I cried and suffered every day and wanted to end my life," she said. While many "revenge porn" victims are targeted by vengeful former partners, Zerh said it was also common for them to be singled out by strangers who hack their social media accounts to steal photos and other personal information. In such cases, the perpetrators typically use an ordinary photo of a victim and post it alongside pornographic photos sourced elsewhere, including contact details and urging others to harass her. A finance manager by day, Zerh and her fellow co-founders, who work in management and marketing, felt compelled to raise awareness about abuses that are often swept under the carpet. "I'm able to wear what I want, I'm able to talk, I grew up with an open-minded spirit. A lot of women are not as lucky... so I thought I should do something about it," she said. The three friends' initiative has caused a backlash, drawing criticism from some conservative Moroccans, Zehr said. "But that means it's working - we're making a difference in making people talk." Search Keywords: Short link: Royal dynasty wins right to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple one of the worlds richest places of worship. Indias Supreme Court on Monday upheld the right of a former royal dynasty to run the Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, one of the worlds richest places of worship, after the state government tried to take it over when the family patriarch died. When one of the vaults of the towering centuries-old Hindu temple in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala state was opened in 2011, it was found to hold diamonds by the sackful along with tonnes of gold coins and jewellery a hoard estimated at more than $20bn. The Kerala High Court had ruled that year, after public-interest petitions, that the Travancore family must give up its custodianship of the temple following the death of its head, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruling Maharaja of Travancore, in 1991. The Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple is one of the worlds richest places of worship [File: Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto/Getty Images] But on Monday, the Supreme Court reversed that decision. We allow the appeal of the royal family of Travancore. Death does not effect Shebaitship (management and maintenance of the deity) of the Travancore Family, justices UU Lalit and Indu Malhotra said in their order. Several Hindu temples in India have wealth running to the billions of dollars as devotees give gold and other precious objects as gifts to spiritual or religious institutions that run hospitals, schools and colleges. The Tirupati temple in Indian state of Andhra Pradesh has gold reserves of over 9,000 kg, making it the worlds richest Hindu temple. It also has billions of rupees in bank deposits. The Supreme Court said a new committee that the royal family will set up to run the temple, some seven stories high and replete with ornate carvings, will have the right to decide what to do with the temples wealth, including the contents of another ancient vault yet to be opened. A large number of devotees had prayed for us. The judgement is their victory, Gauri Lakshmi Bai, a member of the family, told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. NEW ORLEANS, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- South Rampart Pharma, LLC ("South Rampart" or "the Company"), a company committed to improving the lives of people suffering from pain by developing a new class of non-opioid pain medicines, today announced a peer-reviewed publication detailing the identification and characterization of a new class of compounds able to reduce pain and fever without abuse potential or the liver and kidney toxicity associated with over the counter pain medicines such as acetaminophen. The paper, published in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, is available as open access and entitled, " A novel pipeline of 2-(benzenesulfonamide)-N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetamide analgesics that lack hepatotoxicity and retain antipyresis 1 ." We are currently working to finalize the preclinical data package necessary to submit our lead molecule for the first Investigational New Drug (IND) application by the third quarter of 2020, followed by the rapid initiation of Phase 1 clinical trials to evaluate safety. Ongoing preclinical studies have reproduced these extensive proof of concept studies confirming that our lead compound shows pain reduction with absent liver and kidney toxicity, said Dr. Hernan A. Bazan, chief executive officer and co-founder of South Rampart. Our primary goal is to develop and commercialize new alternative pain medications that lack abuse potential and have fewer associated safety concerns than current treatment options. The paper characterizes the synthesis and screening of a library of compounds, including two compounds with the ability to reduce both pain and fever. Moreover, these compounds do not cause liver or kidney toxicity, as is the case with common over the counter medicines such as acetaminophen. Lastly, the molecular mechanism that accounts for the lack of liver toxicity is demonstrated in this publication. The chemical synthesis of this new class of compounds was performed in collaboration with researchers at the LSUHSC School of Medicine in New Orleans and the University of Alcala in Madrid, Spain. Story continues About Chronic Pain Acute and chronic pain affect more than 50 million Americans and is one of the most prevalent and costly public health issues worldwide. For example, pain costs the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $635 billion each year creating an enormous unmet need for safer pain relief2. Current medications are either highly addictive or cause harm to the liver or kidney with overuse creating a significant unmet need for new safe, effective and non-opioid pain medications. About South Rampart Pharma South Rampart Pharma is committed to improving the lives of people suffering from acute, chronic or neuropathic pain by developing a new class of small molecule, non-opioid pain medicines. South Rampart Pharmas proprietary compounds have been effective in reducing both pain and fever in pre-clinical studies without liver and kidney toxicity, that are associated with current common over the counter analgesics. Headquartered in New Orleans, South Rampart Pharma is working with top medicinal chemists across the United States and in Spain at clinical and academic research centers to develop oral and intravenous formulations optimized for each indication. For more information, please visit http://southrampartpharma.com . South Rampart Pharma, LLC Contact: Hernan A. Bazan, MD, DFSVS, FACS CEO and Co-Founder info@southrampartpharma.com References: 1. Bazan, H.A., et al. A novel pipeline of 2-(benzenesulfonamide)-N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) acetamide analgesics that lack hepatotoxicity and retain antipyresis. Eur J Med Chem 202, 112600 (2020). 2. DJ, G. & P, R. The Economic Costs of Pain in the United States. The journal of pain : official journal of the American Pain Society 13(2012). NEW YORK, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Wells Fargo & Company ("Wells Fargo" or the "Company") (NYSE: WFC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and indexed under 20-cv-03697, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants who purchased or otherwise acquired Wells Fargo securities between April 5, 2020, and May 5, 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 Wells Fargo securities during the class period, you have until August 3, 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 [email protected] 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] Wells Fargo is a diversified financial services company that provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services to individuals, businesses, and institutions in the U.S. and internationally. On April 5, 2020, Wells Fargo announced that it had received strong interest in the Paycheck Protection Program ("PPP"), a program under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the "CARES Act"), and was targeting to distribute a total of $10 billion to small business customers under the requirements of the PPP. On April 8, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced that it would allow Wells Fargo to exceed the asset cap that it had imposed on Wells Fargo in 2018 after revelations that the Company had opened millions of accounts in customers' names without their permission, a change which would allow Wells Fargo to make additional small business loans as part of the PPP. That same day, Wells Fargo issued a press release stating, in relevant part, that, "beginning immediately, in response to the actions by the Federal Reserve, [Wells Fargo] will expand its participation in the [PPP] and offer loans to a broader set of its small business and nonprofit customers subject to the terms of the program." The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about Wells Fargo's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, Defendants failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Wells Fargo planned to, and did, improperly allocate government-backed loans under the PPP, and/or had inadequate controls in place to prevent such misallocation; (ii) the foregoing foreseeably increased the Company's litigation risk with respect to PPP allocation, as well as increased regulatory scrutiny and/or potential enforcement actions; and (iii) as a result, the Company's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On April 19, 2020, after at least one lawsuit was filed against the Company, reports emerged that Wells Fargo may have unfairly allocated government-backed loans under the PPP. For example, USA Today reported that "[t]he lawsuit filed on behalf of small business owners on Sunday alleges that Wells Fargo unfairly prioritized businesses seeking large loan amounts, while the government's small business agency has said that PPP loan applications would be processed on a first-come, first-served basis." According to the lawsuit, "[t]he move by Wells Fargo meant that the bank would receive millions more dollars in processing fees," and, "[m]aking matters worse, Wells Fargo concealed from the public that it was reshuffling the PPP applications it received and prioritizing the applications that would make the bank the most money." Following this news, Wells Fargo's stock price fell more than 5% over two trading days to close at $26.84 per share on April 21, 2020. Finally, on May 5, 2020, Wells Fargo filed a quarterly report on Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosing, in addition to multiple PPP-related lawsuits initiated against the Company, that Wells Fargo had "received formal and informal inquiries from federal and state governmental agencies regarding its offering of PPP loans." Following this news, Wells Fargo's stock price fell by more than 6% over two trading days from its closing price on May 4, 2020, closing at $25.61 per share on May 6, 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 [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com GRAND HAVEN, MI -- The owner of popular boardwalk business Pronto Pups ranted against the coronavirus pandemics effect on his food stand in a rambling post on social media posted -- seemingly by accident -- to his business Facebook page Monday evening. The post also denounced the Black Lives Matter movement, expressed support for the Michigan Militia, compared journalists to Adolf Hitler, called for a scaling back of police funding, and, bizarrely, claimed to have seen a presumed-murdered Muskegon woman years after her death. A follow-up post claimed that the owner, Carl Nelson, intended the post for his personal page. The business entire Facebook page disappeared later Monday night, before reappearing with a third post, this time apologizing. Nelson declined comment when reached by MLive on Tuesday morning. RELATED: Business as usual at Pronto Pups, after owners controversial social media post The initial, 1,200-word post began with anger aimed at the statewide order that people must wear masks indoors. Nelson described the discomfort of working over hot oil in a small space while wearing a mask, saying it wasnt necessary for how his business is structured, but adding that he would keep his food stand open in order to ensure his employees remained employed. Then he began to criticize the fight against COVID-19, calling it 100% political, and claiming, falsely, that it is the same as the common cold. Coronaviruses are a family of virus, of which the common cold is one strain, and COVID-19 is another. Not previously seen in humans, COVID-19 is significantly more contagious and more deadly than the common cold, and can cause a wide range of unusual symptoms, including severe respiratory distress. Nelson blamed the media for controlling the narrative about the virus, writing, Good job HITLER, before the post transitioned to a rant against anti-racist activism that included a claim that there is no such thing as white privilege because indigenous Americans killed white settlers. He seemed to suggest he wanted to kill George Soros, a billionaire who is the subject of many conspiracy theories regarding his wealth, stating that Soros funds the Black Lives Matter movement. He said that cause has absolutely nothing to do with racism, and added that he would like to paint White lives matter down a Grand Haven street. He also seemed to call for armed resistance against the government figures enacting anti-coronavirus measures. I believe it will take fire power. Period, he wrote. I am curious of the MIchigan Militias stand on this act of Treason that Michigans governor is putting us through. Maybe I run for president of the militia...... Towards the end of the post, while decrying what he described as mismanagement of police funds and a slow 911 system in Ottawa County, Nelson also claimed that Jessica Heeringa, who disappeared from a Norton Shores gas station in 2013 and was later presumed killed, visited Pronto Pups on a night that the man convicted of her murder was on trial. He seemed to blame 911 dispatchers for not helping him to apprehend her. After the post began making the rounds, a follow-up apology appeared on the business Facebook page. There was a post meant for the owners personal account that was accidentally posted to this page tonight, read the follow-up, posted at 9:18 p.m. We have removed it, as it was not intended to be a Pronto Pup post. This post was in no way representative of Pronto Pup as a business or our staff members. We are not sure how to make this right at the moment but we will try to figure it out. We are truly sorry for any hurt of offense this has caused, the apology read. Two hours later, after the page had been deactivated, it reappeared, with a new note from Nelson. As the deterioration of our nation and freedoms as we have enjoyed over the decades begin to dwindle away,... I snapped, he wrote at 11:32 p.m. My sincere apologies to anyone that may have seen the post. He asked readers not to blame his staff for his message, and rejected assertions that his diatribe was racist. Both follow-up posts received nearly a thousand comments apiece, with many calling for Nelson to step down from the business and saying they would not visit again, and some supporting his words. In response, other area businesses that sell deep fried hot dogs on sticks distanced themselves from the Grand Haven food stand. Just as a friendly reminder we want to make sure everyone knows we are in no way affiliated with any other Pronto Pup restaurant or food truck, wrote a Pronto Pup food truck based in Comstock Park. A Pronto Pup is distinct from corn dogs because it uses pancake batter, not cornmeal, and is based on a recipe and franchise model out of Portland, Oregon. But the Grand Haven beachside stand, which Nelson co-owns with his wife, Nancy, at 313 S. Harbor Drive, is synonymous locally with the summer treats. The 63-square-foot, white-and-yellow stand has stood on the edge of Grand River since 1947, and in warm months, the line stretches down the block for the dogs. MLive has previously described Pronto Pups as a Grand Haven icon. Read more on MLive: Business as usual at Pronto Pups, after owners controversial social media post Grand Havens canceled Coast Guard Festival moves to front porches Police ID woman, boy who died in Grand Rapids house fire where 2019 homicide occurred Some police push back against enforcing mask order, businesses try to deal with angry customers BAY CITY, MI A judge has issued a six-figure judgment against the owner of several popular Mexican and Brazilian restaurants, who says he fell into debt in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In late February, American Express National Bank filed a lawsuit against Jose Costilla and Costilla Restaurants LLC, which owns several Coco Loco eateries in Bay and Saginaw counties, El Mexicano in Hampton Township, and Costela Brazilian Steak House at Uptown in Bay City. The bank was asking for more than $100,000 in its suit. A hearing in the case was set for Monday, July 13, before Bay County Circuit Judge Harry P. Gill. Attorney John D. Whitty of Troy-based Zwicker & Associates appeared on the banks behalf, but Costilla failed to appear. He also had not previously responded to the lawsuit, Gill said. As a result, Gill granted Whittys request for a default judgment against Costilla and Costilla Restaurants LLC. The judgment is in the amount of $102,348.55, with $240.92 of that court costs. In the hearing, Whitty said the amount was supported by an affidavit and an account statement. Contacted by MLive-The Bay City Times, Costilla said he would use an American Express card for business purposes and ended up behind in his payments, in part due to construction of a patio on the Coco Loco at 201 N. Euclid Ave. in Bangor Township. This is something Im not used to, Costilla said. I pay my bills. If that werent the case, we wouldnt have all of these restaurants. I got behind, with the pandemic and everything. Im still trying to recover. Weve been trying to get through this mess. Costilla said he had been in negotiations to pay off the debt, which he estimated was originally around $80,000. At different times throughout the months he offered to pay them $1,000 or $5,000 per month, which the plaintiffs rejected. They denied that, said, Nope, we want the whole amount, Costilla said. I said, I dont have the whole amount to pay you off. In April, the plaintiffs told Costilla they would accept $50,000 from him. I told them it was too late, with all my restaurants closed, except for takeout, Costilla said. Back before the pandemic, I was saving to do it. Regarding Mondays default judgment against him, Costilla said he will pay whats owed, but didnt know he was supposed to be in court. I feel like the victim, he said. I was not aware I was supposed to be in court. MLive was unable to reach Whitty for comment. Related: Murals at Bay County restaurant, Coco Loco, tell stories of Mexican heritage Coco Loco Mexican restaurant set to take up residence at former Linden-Hof location on Euclid Avenue In government, backing the wrong candidate or candidates can get you fired. Thats what happened when the solicitors for a central Pennsylvania school board supported what turned out to be the losing side in the 2015 board elections. After their candidates lost, they got the ax. That firing was perfectly legal and not a violation of the solicitors free speech rights, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. Middle District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson came to that conclusion while refereeing a three-year court battle between the Chambersburg Area School District and the law firm of its former solicitor, Black & Davidson. As Wilson explained it, Black & Davidson provided legal services to the district for 47 years before its members voluntarily became entangled in the contentious school board race of 2015. That contest featured sets of feuding candidates, those allied with a bloc called Citizens for Value and Excellence in Education a.k.a. CVEE and those carrying the banner of Common $ense. Black & Davidson partners actively and overtly supported the CVEE. They made financial donations to CVEE, handed out CVEE campaign literature, posted its signs and took CVEE-friendly voters to the polls. One partner, Elliott B. Sulcove, who was the main partner serving as the school boards solicitor, even created CVEEs political action committee, Wilson noted. Sulcove also expressed support for CVEE at public meetings. Common $ense swept the 2015 election, however, and its candidates took control of a majority of board seats. Three months after taking office, they fired Black & Davidson. The firm filed its suit in 2017, claiming breach of contract and violation of its members First Amendment rights. In dismissing that suit, Wilson concluded the new school board had no legal or constitutional obligation to keep an obvious opponent as its solicitor. The court concludes that the role of district solicitor for the Chambersburg Area School District is a policymaking position because the district solicitor has meaningful input into the decision-making process of the board for the district, Wilson wrote. Therefore, the board and district are entitled to have a solicitor who shares their policy views. Moreover, the boards interest in maintaining a trusted relationship with the district solicitor in order to efficiently fulfill its duties outweighs the district solicitors interest in freedom of speech and association in this case, she found. New Delhi, July 14 : More than one third of respondents to a snap poll feel that the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan will collapse and the BJP will return in the state, as per IANS CVoter. The poll comes on a day when Congress rebel Sachin Pilot was sacked from two key posts -- one in the party and the other in the government, that of Deputy Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) President. With a sample size of 1,200, the poll found that 37.2 per cent respondents feel the Congress government will collapse in Rajasthan and the Bharatiya Janata Party will return in the state. Pilot is also said to be in touch with the BJP, which has been closely monitoring the developments. More people seem to be backing Pilot to become the Chief Minister compared to Gehlot. A total 29.1 per cent said that Pilot will replace Gehlot as the Chief Minister while only 19.2 per cent said Ashok Gehlot will continue as the Rajasthan Chief Minister and Pilot will be pacified. The fourth possible outcome has the lowest probability as per the survey. A 14.4 per cent said that Ashok Gehlot will continue as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Sachin Pilot will join the BJP. In a direct fallout of the Congress' political crisis over the leadership issue in Rajasthan, not just Sachin Pilot was divested of key posts on Tuesday but two other Pilot-loyalist Ministers -- Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena -- were also removed from Gehlot's council of ministers. State Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasra was appointed the new Pradesh Congress Committee chief, leaving everyone wondering about Pilot's next move. After his removal as Rajasthan deputy chief minister, the rebel Congress leader said: "Truth can be rattled, not defeated." He tweeted in Hindi. Pilot also changed his profile on Twitter deleting his position as deputy CM and Rajasthan Congress chief. He described himself only as an MLA of Tonk and a former Minister of IT, Telecom and Corporate affairs of Government of India. Earlier, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot accused Sachin Pilot of playing into the hands of the BJP. He alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it has done in Madhya Pradesh (with Jyotiraditya Scindia). But the BJP's intentions will not bear fruit in Rajasthan, Gehlot said. The American Petroleum Institute, the trade association representing the nations oil and gas industry, unveiled a new blue, red and gray logo this week that the group says reflects its collaborative and nonpartisan nature. The new logo, which features the initials API in blue and red with a gray curved stripe running through the letters, also drops the word energy from the branding. The associations previous logo launched 12 years ago featured the initials API in all red and incorporated the word energy in the branding. VANCOUVER, BC, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Oroco Resource Corp. (TSX-V: OCO) ("Oroco" or "the Company") announces the appointment of Ian W. Rice of London, England to its Board of Directors. Mr. Rice joined the Company in March of this year as its Senior Business Advisor and is a well-known international entrepreneur with a career focus on the mining and renewable energy sectors. His considerable knowledge of the capital markets has directly contributed to the success of numerous early-stage public and private companies. In order to accommodate this appointment, Steve Vanry, the Company's CFO, has relinquished his seat on the board. Mr. Vanry will remain an officer of Oroco in his continued capacity as its Chief Financial Officer. "We are pleased to be able to expedite the appointment of Ian Rice to Oroco's Board of Directors at this important time in our development" stated Oroco's CEO, Craig Dalziel. "With the current limitation on the number of board seats, which could not be altered without a general meeting of the shareholders, Steve Vanry's cooperative step will allow Mr. Rice to more formally represent the Company in its financing initiatives while retaining the benefit of Mr. Vanry's valuable input. We are therefore very pleased to be able to expand our expertise at the senior management level." ABOUT OROCO: The Company holds a net 61.4% interest in the collective 1,172.9 ha core concessions of the Santo Tomas Project in NW Mexico, and may increase that majority interest up to an 81.0% interest with a project investment of up to CAD$30 million. The Company also holds a 77.5% interest in 7,807.9 ha of mineral concessions surrounding and adjacent to the core concessions (a total project size of 8,980.8 ha). The Project is situated within the Santo Tomas District, which extends from Santo Tomas up to the Jinchuan Group's Bahuerachi project, approximately 14 km to the north-east. Santo Tomas hosts a significant copper porphyry deposit defined by prior exploration spanning the period from 1968 to 1994. During that time, the property was tested by over 100 diamond drill and reverse circulation drill holes, totaling approximately 30,000 meters. Based on data generated by these drill programs, a Prefeasibility Study was completed by Bateman Engineering Inc. in 1994. The Santo Tomas Project is located within 160 km of the Pacific deep-water port at Topolobampo, and is serviced via highway and proximal rail (and parallel corridors of trunk grid power lines and natural gas) through the city of Los Mochis to the northern city of Choix. The property is reached by a 32 km access road originally built to service Goldcorp's El Sauzal Mine in Chihuahua State. The reader is directed to the Company's August, 2019 Technical Report filed on SEDAR, as amended. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein, including without limitation, statements relating to future events or achievements of the Company, are forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in such statements. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release concerning these matters. Oroco does not assume any obligation to update the forward-looking statements should they change, except as required by law. Readers are also cautioned that this news release includes reference to certain historical reports and studies that are cited in the Report. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information SOURCE Oroco Resource Corp. Related Links www.orocoresourcecorp.com Type address separated by commas Your Email: Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Jessie Pang and James Pomfret (Reuters) Hong Kong Tue, July 14, 2020 07:27 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406660bda7 2 World Hong-Kong,Hong-Kong-security-law,Hong-Kong-protests,Hong-Kong-national-security-law,Hong-Kong-activist,Hong-Kong-autonomy,pro-democracy Free Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Monday that an unofficial city-wide election conducted by the pro-democracy camp over the weekend might have violated new national security laws by "subverting state power". The weekend election drew more than 600,000 votes, in what democrats described as a symbolic protest vote against tough new laws imposed by Beijing on the freewheeling former British colony. The vote at around 250 polling stations was held to decide the strongest pro-democracy candidates to contest key Legislative Council elections in September. The city's opposition camp is aiming to seize majority control in the 70-seat legislature for the first time from pro-Beijing rivals by riding a wave of anti-China sentiment stirred by the law, which critics say has gravely undermined Hong Kong's freedoms. The city returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a guarantee of wide-ranging autonomy. The new law punishes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison and allows mainland Chinese security agents to operate officially in Hong Kong for the first time. Lam told reporters that if the democrats' aim to gain a legislative majority was to obstruct government policies, "then it may fall into the category of subverting the state power". She didn't elaborate. One of the organizers of the election, Benny Tai, told reporters that the results of the poll had been leaked ahead of an official announcement. But he said there had been no personal data breach of the voters. Last Friday, Hong Kong police raided the office of the independent pollster helping with the election, and officers copied some information from computers there. Hong Kong's Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau said in a statement late on Monday that it had received public complaints that the weekend poll may have "jeopardized the integrity of the electoral process". It added it was now conducting an investigation and might later refer the case to law enforcement agencies. The preliminary results showed several incumbent democratic lawmakers like Ted Hui and Eddie Chu taking the most votes in some districts. But a group of aspiring young democrats, or "localists", also performed strongly, reflecting a potential changing of the guard as the democrats gear up for the September poll. "It's just the beginning," one candidate, Sunny Cheung, a runner-up in one district putting him on the democratic ticket for September, told Reuters. "I will try to persuade more people to support us," he added, saying localists like himself were gaining more mainstream support. ORLANDO, Fla. Starved for (character) interaction? Dont feel goofy about it see him directly! The Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resorts popular Good Morning Breakfast with Goofy & Pals is back, open to the public and taking reservations again. Offered on Saturdays only at Ravello, reservations are required and available between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. with updates in procedures even before you get to the restaurant. Overhead temperature screening at the resort entrance is just one new addition for safety. All of our restaurants are doing limited-capacity seating that maintains social distancing recommendations, says Dana Berry, director of public relations for Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort. Reservations are required because the event is filling more quickly than before. Characters will parade through the restaurant in Ravello-unique outfits, posing at different intervals, which will allow guests to snap photos. Each dining party will also have their photos taken upon arrival; Disney Magic allows the characters to be added in; photos will be provided later via complimentary digital download. Replacing the events buffet format will be a bakery basket, sliced fruit and choice of entree, along with coffee and juice options. I think our character breakfast is a lot of fun for all ages. Theyre so expressive and entertaining and the food at Ravello is delicious no frozen waffles, everything is made fresh, said Berry. Return guests will find breakfast favorites on the new prix fixe menu, she added. From the old-fashioned Belgian waffle to the egg white frittata my favorite is the cooked-to-order omelet. Per the Orange County mask ordinance, guests will be required to wear a mask upon entry removing it for the photo, then putting it back on until they are seated. Pricing is $48 per adult, $28 per child 12 and younger. Valet parking is complimentary; staff will validate inside. For reservations, contact the resort directly at 407-313-7777. Story continues 2020 The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) Visit The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Fla.) at www.OrlandoSentinel.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. EDITORS NOTE: NJ Cannabis Insider produces exclusive weekly content and monthly events geared toward those interested in the marijuana and hemp industries. Gov. Phil Murphy said legalized marijuana sales could boost New Jerseys struggling economy, which needs new revenue sources to weather damage from the the coronavirus outbreak. Speaking on the Jim Kerr Rock & Roll Morning Show Tuesday, Murphy called legalization an incredibly smart thing to do. Were not inventing marijuana, he said. It exists. The topic came up as the governor spoke about the ongoing financial crisis brought on by closures to stem the spread of the virus in March. The state, too, has had to spend additional funds in attempts to control the outbreak, and could borrow as much as $9.9 billion over the next year, if state lawmakers approve a massive proposal later this week. We still need federal cash assistance direct into the state, Murphy, a Democrat, said. Thats something that I hope that Congress will get to, sooner than later, that the president will sign. Thats another big slug that we need. Well look at revenues that we can potentially raise on our own. One host chimed in, suggesting money from a tax on cannabis purchases. Listen, as you probably know, Ive been on that from day one, Murphy said. Multiple attempts in the Democrat-controlled state Legislature to pass a bill legalizing weed for those over 21 have faltered. Lawmakers eventually voted last fall to pose the question to the people. Murphy acknowledge the role legalization could play in criminal justice reform, as police arrest Black people 3.5 times more often than white people in New Jersey for marijuana use, even though both groups use it at similar rates. The state Assembly last month voted to pass a bill that would decriminalization possession of up to two ounces of weed, but the Senate has not yet voted on it. But, he also spoke of the financial and business sector gains the market could bring. Its a job creator. Its a tax revenue raiser, Murphy said. It checks a lot of boxes. I hope well get there sooner than later. A 2016 report from New Jersey Policy Perspective estimated the state could bring in $305 million in sales tax if it legalized weed sales, should the state use a sliding tax scale that eventually lands at 25% and prices hold at around $350 an ounce, a common cost in the medicinal market. The ballot question currently proposed makes marijuana sales subject to a much lower state sales tax. A recent poll showed six in 10 New Jersey voters said they would vote for marijuana legalization. But even if the measure passes in November, lawmakers will have to pass enabling legislation to establish an industry, mandating tax revenue and rules. That could mean more delays, a common feature in the states efforts to expand cannabis access. A new entity, the Cannabis Regulatory Commission, would oversee the industry, as well as the existing medical marijuana program. A law passed last summer established the commission and called on a five person panel of appointees made by Murphy, Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Speaker of the House Craig Coughlin to steer the commission and takeover the medical program by January 2020. But only Sweeney had made his appointment by February. Progress on the commission has languished. Without a commission or enabling legislation in place, many say legal weed sales will not begin until months, or maybe longer, after the vote. After the state legalized marijuana for medicinal use in 2010, it took nearly three years for the first dispensary to open. Today, the states nearly 80,000 patients are still waiting for three dispensaries licensed in late 2018 to open their doors. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. A police officer used a Taser against a black man during a protest in Brooklyn on Monday. The protester was following a group of police, yelling at them for arresting another Black Lives Matter protest attendee earlier that day. As the protester approaches the police officer, the officer swirls around and gets in the protesters' face. The police officer then shoves him backwards. The protester stumbles back a few feet and is grappled from the side by another police officer, who attempts to wrestle him to the ground. Eventually the protester breaks the grapple, and the officer fighting with him steps back. The protester does not try to run away but steps back. At the same time, the officer draws his Taser and fires it at the protester. It takes nearly five seconds for the officer to draw the device, aim and fire it. During that time, the protester does not move or make any aggressive actions. "He's going to lose his job," one protester said several times after the Taser was used. The Taser pulses drop the protester to the sidewalk. He then begins ripping the barbs out of his clothing as the police officer who shot him with the device tries to restrain him. As the protester struggles back to his feet, a swarm of officers descend on him and slam him against a nearby car. They force the protester's arms behind his back and begin restraining him. "You tased me," the protester yelled after dropping to the ground. "I didn't do nothing!" The video of the encounter eventually caught the attention of the state's attorney general, Lettia James. She asked the journalist who shot the video to send a report and the video to her office By Online Desk MUMBAI: A month after Bollywood actor Sushant Sigh Rajput death, his alleged girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty finally broke her silence and took to Instagram to express herself. The actress posted two pictures of them, happy and giddy. She wrote,"Still struggling to face my emotions.. an irreparable numbness in my heart . You are the one who made me believe in love, the power of it . You taught me how a simple mathematical equation can decipher the meaning of life and I promise you that I learnt from you every day. I will never come to terms with you not being here anymore." The actress was called in interrogation and was also present during his funeral along with his family and fellow Bollywood actresses Shraddha Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. The actress further said,"I know youre in a much more peaceful place now. The moon, the stars, the galaxies wouldve welcomed the greatest physicist with open arms.Full of empathy and joy, you could lighten up a shooting star - now, you are one . I will wait for you my shooting star and make a wish to bring you back to me. You were everything a beautiful person could be, the greatest wonder that the world has seen . My words are incapable of expressing the love we have and I guess you truly meant it when you said it is beyond both of us. You loved everything with an open heart, and now youve shown me that our love is indeed exponential. Be in peace Sushi. 30 days of losing you but a lifetime of loving you. Eternally connected To infinity and beyond." Sushant was found hanging on June 14 at his flat in Mumbai's Bandra. It was widely speculated that the late actor was suffering from depression and had been a victim to nepotism.The actor's post-mortem report stated his death was a suicide. Within a few days of the actor's death, a complaint was filed by advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. The case filed regarding the actor's death was against eight Bollywood personalities including Bhansali, Salman Khan, Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra and Ekta Kapoor. Mumbai Police is investigating the death of the actor, though many fans on social media have been demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the case. His last film 'Dil Bechara' dropped it's trailer on July 07 and managed to become the most liked trailer in the world by beating Marvel Studios' 'Avengers: Infinity War' which had 3.6 million likes. 'Dil Bechara' got a whopping 4.8 million likes within a day on YouTube. The film is based on the bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars by author John Green. (Vilnius, Lithuania, July 14, 2020): StrongPoint has today signed an agreement with the retail chain Palink (part of REWE Group) to deliver Self-Checkout solutions for more than 1 MEUR. Palink (managing IKI brand stores in Lithuania) moves forward with an extensive self-checkout expansion. StrongPoint has already delivered multiple instalments to Palink, and this order will be delivered and installed during second half of 2020. StrongPoint has a broad and thorough experience in delivering self-checkout solutions in the Baltics over the past years, and our team has proven that we are a true partner during technology changes. We are proud that we are allowed to continue to support our customers journey for a more efficient shopping experience says Jacob Tveraabak, CEO of StrongPoint. For additional information please contact: Jacob Tveraabak CEO, Strongpoint ASA Mail: jacob.tveraabak@strongpoint.com Phone: +47 908 21 370 Hilde Horn Gilen CFO, StrongPoint ASA Mail: hilde.gilen@strongpoint.com Phone +47 920 60 158 About StrongPoint | www.strongpoint.com StrongPoint is driving productivity for European retailers by providing innovative, integrated technology solutions for multi-channel retailing based on long-standing relationships with customers and partners. StrongPoint is also a leader in IBNS solutions for Cash-In-Transit (Cash Security), and Labels for customers in Norway and Sweden. StrongPoint offers best-in-class service and consultancy expertise through its team of 512 employees in Norway, Sweden, the Baltics, France, Belgium, Spain and Russia. StrongPoint is headquartered in Rlingen, Norway, and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: STRONG). This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Coronavirus cases in California are now surging as the total number detected since the start of the pandemic nears 330,000. Of those, about 45% were reported in the last month alone. As the virus spreads, the number of seriously ill patients is increasing, with hospitalizations up 38% in the past two weeks. The death toll, which was relatively flat in May and June, is up nearly 20% in July, according to state data. Of California's 58 counties, 30 have landed on the state's watch list for increased spread. In the Bay Area, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, Santa Clara, Sonoma and Solano are all on the list of jurisdictions being monitored by the state. Experts don't point to a single cause for the increase but rather say that it's the result of a combination of everything, from the reopening of the economy to protests to Memorial Day festivities to people holding indoor gatherings and not wearing masks. When will there be an end to the rising cases in California? Dr. John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley infectious disease professor, believes there's some hope for cases to decline in August if residents wear masks and follow public health orders with vigilance. The state has helped combat the surge by taking steps to encourage social distancing and has dialed back reopening plans. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the closure of more indoor businesses in counties that are on the state's watch list for increased spread of the virus. But it will take time to see the effects of these efforts. The virus has an incubation period of about two weeks and after one to two cycles, or two to four weeks, California's curve could start to turn downward, said Swartzberg. "My guess is people are starting to get that we cant do what we did in May and expect for things to get better," he said. "People are beginning to recognize this is going to be a long haul. Were in the second inning of a nine-inning game. I would not be surprised if with interventions, we start to see things get better by August, not dramatically better, but a little better, that well stop seeing these dramatic increases that are just devastating." Dr. George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at UC San Francisco, said that "maybe" we'll see a downturn soon but he's not counting on it. "If we got away with the Fourth of July and people are behaving, more are wearing masks, and more are social distancing, we should start to see a slowing here this week, but I think thats wishful thinking," he said. "Theres no data suggesting anything but it going up." Rutherford said Southern California and the Central Valley, especially Latino and farming communities, are seeing the most severe spread in the state. Outbreaks in the prison system have also been an issue. "I think the real question is how to stop transmission in low-income communities," Rutherford said. "Is it doing more screening in heavily Latino neighborhoods? Where are they going quarantine people? What will they do for income supplementation? Where will the food come from? Thats a complicated mix of services. We have kind of gotten our arms around that in San Francisco but in the San Joaquin Valley there's more work to do." If there's a lull in August, it may not last long. Fall will present new challenges with more people going back to work and some children returning to school though many districts, such as San Diego and Los Angeles, are beginning to make announcements that the school year will start with distance-learning models. "There are tremendous societal changes that are going to happen in September, and thats school and thats going to perturb the system," said Swartzberg. "Were going to also have the system perturbed locally with fires. The fire season is predicted to extend through Thanksgiving. Were going to be inhaling particulate matter through the fall. By November influenza starts to appear. Influenza reaches its zenith typically in January and February. Well see influenza start to get better in March and April. "Thats what the landscape looks like. I dont think we have anything to look forward thats terribly positive except maybe August if we behave better." The path of the pandemic has often been compared to a wave that would go down in the summer and then a second wave would hit in the fall. Swartzberg said this is the wrong metaphor and led people to think the virus might disappear in summer. "I think we may have framed this issue incorrectly," he said. "We never finished the first wave. What were seeing is a continuation of the first wave. We were able to alter the trajectory of the first wave because in the Bay Area we acted early. We thought we got over this in March and April and everything was going to be fine. But then we went back to trying to live the way we were before." MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: Sign up for 'The Daily' newsletter for the latest on coronavirus here. Multiple Alameda County cities will support outdoor dining in spite of new state guidance How often should I wash my cloth mask? What about surgical, N95 masks? San Francisco says the Zoo may reopen but salons, barbers must keep waiting COVID-19-positive Bay Area nurse sues Kaiser for racial discrimination How to protect yourself when caring for a child who is sick with COVID-19 Amy Graff is the news editor for SFGATE. Email her: agraff@sfgate.com. Kathmandu/New Delhi, July 14 : Rashtriya Ekta Samaj, a fringe outfit, on Tuesday held a protest outside the Pakistan Embassy in Kathmandu, accusing the Pakistan government of destroying Hindu and Buddhist temples in that country. They also burnt Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's effigies during the protest while raising the issue of atrocities against the minority Hindus in Pakistan. Recently, another demonstration took place in Nepal on a similar pattern where an effigy of Imran Khan was burnt. It was coordinated by outfits like Rashtriya Ekta Samaj and Vishwa Hindu Mahasangh's Nepal chapter. Earlier in June this year, India too had strongly raised the issue with Pakistan. It had issued a strong demarche to the Pakistan High Commission over what India called "systematic" and "targeted" demolition of residences belonging to the minority Hindus in the Punjab province. This growing assertion of Hindu rights in Nepal comes amid the government's growing proximity to communist China and its Prime Minister's controversial claim that Lord Ram didn't belong to India. Facebook is preparing to launch officially licensed music videos on its social network in the U.S. next month, in a direct challenge to YouTube. In materials reviewed by TechCrunch, Facebook informed Page owners linked to artists they'll need to toggle on a new setting to add their music videos to their page ahead of an August 1st deadline, at which point Facebook will automatically create a page of their videos if no action had been taken. Artists will not have to manually upload their videos or even provide links, Facebook told the artist Page admins. Instead, by enabling the new setting, artists are giving Facebook permission to add music videos to their Page, where they can be discovered by fans on the Page's Videos tab. This library will include both the artist's own official videos and those they're featured in, Facebook explained in its marketing materials. Once enabled, the artists can edit or remove their videos from this destination at any time. Above: Screenshots detailing to artist Page admins how to enable the Music video experience Though artists are being strongly encouraged to enable the feature by August 1st, if they choose not to or miss the deadline, Facebook will create a separate official music Page on their behalf titled "[Artist Name] Official Music." This Page will be created and controlled by Facebook and will be accessible by fans via the Facebook Watch tab and a new music video destination on the platform. In an email sent to Page owners (see below), Facebook explained that whenever it receives a new release from a music label, the artist's Facebook Page would automatically share the video directly on the page's Timeline. This allows the new video to reach all the followers' News Feeds. The setting for automatic sharing can be turned off at any time. A partial screenshot of the email to artists leaked to Twitter, where it was amplified by social media consultant Matt Navarra. The addition had previously been reported by other smaller sites, as well. TechCrunch has reviewed the marketing materials that explained in more detail how to enable the setting on artists' Facebook Page. Story continues Facebook to launch a official Music Videos feature for artists to rival YouTube? h/t @seaninsound pic.twitter.com/U9Hs9gHcbr Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) July 14, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js By enabling the setting, artists are also giving Facebook permission to share aggregate performance insights with righstholders, including likes, shares, comments, views and other engagement data associated with these auto-generated posts, the materials noted. In addition, artists can edit the auto-generated posts, including their title, description, tags and even the thumbnails. Facebook's expansion into music videos will present a significant challenge to YouTube, which accounted for 46% of the world's music streaming outside of China as of 2017, according to a report from IFPI. Around the same time, YouTube had claimed over 1 billion music fans came to its site to connect with music from over 2 billion artists. More recently, the company reported it had paid out over $3 billion to the music industry in 2019. Bloomberg late last year reported that Facebook was negotiating with the three largest record labels -- Universal Media Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group -- over rights to music videos. The report noted that record labels were interested in an alternative to YouTube, which they feel doesn't pay enough. Currently, artists under the major U.S. labels have not been able to share full music videos on Facebook due to licensing rights; they could only publish a short preview. Though Facebook had prior deals with labels, the focus had been on the right to use licensed music in "social experiences" across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Oculus. That meant users could post personal videos with licensed music in the background without having their videos taken down. The prior agreements also enabled Facebook to test music-driven social experiences of its own. For example, Facebook tested a Musical.ly competitor called Lip Sync Live and later, a TikTok rival called Lasso, thanks to those deals. It rolled out Music Stickers on Facebook and Instagram, as well. Facebook already offers a music video experience in Thailand and India. The company more broadly sees video as a major focus area, as videos help connect users and encourage social conversations. Facebook Watch, a dedicated video destination, emerged due to Facebook's earlier video efforts and continues to expand. Facebook, reached for comment, declined to offer a statement on its plans. Sachin Pilot today changed his profile on Twitter, minutes after he was dropped as Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and Congress' state unit chief. Apart from the office of deputy chief minister, Pilot also held the portfolios of public works department as well as the Panchayati Raj Ministry in Rajasthan government. Pilot, minutes after being removed from the state cabinet, tweeted in Hindi: "Truth can be harassed, not defeated." - Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 He also updated his details on Twitter, which now describes him as MLA from Tonk; former Union Minister of IT, Telecom and Corporate affairs, and Commissioned officer of the Territorial Army. The Congress party, while cracking the whip on the rebel leader, also removed Pilot's loyalists Ramesh Meena and Vishvendra Singh from the state cabinet. Randeep Singh Surjewala, party spokesperson, said, "Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy." Also Read: Google in advanced talks to invest $4 billion in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms: report Sachin Pilot might be the next high-profile removal from Congress after Jyotiraditya Scindia. Scindia joined BJP earlier this year resulting in a collapse of the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Congress' MLAs recommended action against Pilot and other members of his camp during the Congress' Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in Jaipur on Monday as well as Tuesday. Meanwhile, after Tuesday's CLP meeting, Surjewala announced that state's education minister Govind Singh Dotasra will replace Pilot as chief of the Congress' Rajasthan unit. Surjewala added, "The Congress party has taken some decisions with a heavy heart." (With agency inputs) Also Read: Centre to earn Rs 2.25 lakh cr more from new petrol, diesel taxes Also Read: Best invention of 2020! Cuddle curtains for coronavirus-hit families to hug The recent cut in stamp duty could help boost the property market amid the coronavirus pandemic - but there are a slice of homeowners who are unable to take advantage due to unsafe cladding. They have been unable to sell their homes due to the flammable materials used on their buildings. They are effectively 'prisoners' in their own homes as lenders refuse to offer finance to buyers. The clampdown on finance follows the fire at Grenfell Tower three years ago, which claimed 72 lives. But it is not the lenders who are to blame. Rather it is the owners of the buildings who are refusing to pay for the cladding to be replace by safe materials. Understandably, lenders have become nervous about underwriting such buildings since the Grenfell tragedy. Add the coronavirus pandemic into the mix, where concerns about future house prices and the wider economy have made lenders even more cautious about lending to anyone but the most credit-worthy of borrowers. It has left anyone living in a home with dangerous cladding unable to sell their home to anyone but a cash buyer. Unfortunately, for some affected homeowners, it has also become a serious health issue. Nine out of 10 of the 550 leaseholders and tenants surveyed by campaigners at the UK Cladding Action Group said their mental health had deteriorated due to fire safety problems. And nearly a quarter reported suicidal feelings or considered self-harm as a result of their predicament. They have been unable to sell their flats and face crippling bills to get the building work fixed. In addition, many leaseholders have been living in fear that a second Grenfell could happen. Some are facing bills of as much as 24,000 a month for fire wardens to patrol during the night, to help keep their homes safe while the dangerous cladding remains in place. Homeowner is unable to sell Edmund Spencer, 37, reveals he has sleepless nights about cladding Edmund Spencer, 37, bought his first home in eight years ago, but has only just found out that his three-bedroom shared ownership flat that he co-owns with his flatmate is affected by cladding issues. The flat is in a block in East London that has cladding. As a result, Ed says he is unable to sell his flat to anyone but a cash buyer as lenders refuse to provide loans on these types of properties with it passing fire safety tests. The IT worker is keen to sell up and move out of the capital as he is able to work remotely. Yet he fears being left with a massive bill to cover the cost of fixing the 'flammable cladding' and covering the potential cost of a night warden to patrol the property. He would like to be able to sell his 40 per cent share of the flat for 300,000, but sees little hope of this happening while the cladding issue is being addressed. A fire report has yet to be released by the housing association One Housing Group. He said: 'I am devastated that my first house buying experience means that I could lose all my savings. 'I've not been able to sleep properly since finding out a few weeks ago. It is shocking. 'I have done everything I was supposed to do. I saved up and bought a home, only to find out that I could lose everything. It is devastating and I have no idea of the potential costs that lie ahead.' One Housing Group was contacted by MailOnline for a comment and it insisted that it has 'robust measures in place' to protect residents. Chyrel Brown, of One Housing, said: 'We do understand the frustration and worry being felt by our residents with cladding on their buildings. I want to reassure them that we are acting on the plans we have in place. 'We continue to take the safety of our residents very seriously and we have robust measures in place to protect them. 'In terms of [the flats Ed lives in], we are continuing to do the necessary works with qualified fire professionals and the intrusive test was carried out recently and we are awaiting the results. 'Following the results, we will be in touch with our residents with more information. In addition to this, we also intend to share a summary of the fire risk assessment when it's available. 'We are working with the other G15 housing associations and continue to engage with government for further clarity and additional funding. 'We are looking at all options of the Building Safety Fund and are awaiting detail on how to apply for funding to cover leasehold costs which will be set out this month. 'We are continuing to pursue warranty providers and other parties involved with the construction of these buildings.' Advertisement The cladding deadlock Why has the problem not been resolved? Freeholders and developers are often delaying or refusing to pay to fix the problems despite the Government insisting that they 'have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings are safe'. In the past, cladding was used to improve the appearance of tower blocks and green policies encouraged the use of cladding to improve insulation to make buildings more energy-efficient. There are still 300 high-rise residential and publicly owned buildings in England built or refurbished with similar aluminium composite cladding yet to be remediated, according to figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. It comes as the UN warned Britain about its failure to strip combustible cladding from high-rise buildings, saying it may be a breach of international law. The UN is warning Britain may have breached the international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights. It includes the 'right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing'. Housing should be habitable with 'adequate space and protecting them from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health,' it says. Mortgage lenders have restricted their loans on homes with cladding following the Grenfell Tower fire three years ago that claimed 72 lives So far, the Government has spent less than a quarter of what if promised on replacing dangerous cladding. In May 2018, ministers pledged 400million to remove aluminium composite material panels on social housing towers. But only 133million has been spent, according to a report by the National Audit Office. And of an additional 200million earmarked in May 2019 to fix private blocks, only 1.4million has been spent. Will Martin, of UK Cladding Action Group, said: 'Three years on from Grenfell and yet thousands of residents of buildings across the UK still go to bed each night in unsafe homes covered in dangerous cladding. 'This daily mental stress is taking its toll, with nine out of 10 saying their mental health has deteriorated. The delayed response to the UN report will do little to encourage leaseholders the government is tackling this housing crisis head on. 'Fire will not wait for the argument over who is financially and legally responsible for fixing catastrophic failings in building safety (caused by a failure of the government's building regulations) to be resolved and nor should the government.' A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government told MailOnline Property: 'All building owners have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings are safe. We've made 1.6bn available to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding and make residents safer in their homes. 'There has been considerable progress - remediation is underway or completed in 95 per cent of buildings identified with ACM cladding in the social sector. 'It's unacceptable that some building owners have yet to remove unsafe cladding; and we are actively pursuing them to encourage swift action. 'We are also introducing the most significant improvements to building safety rules in 40 years, to protect even more residents in future.' As always, you can find our summary of today's key virus developments below. In Luxembourg 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. One death has been recorded, bringing the total number to 111. It is the first reported death since 25 May. There will be no Schueberfouer this year, but an alternative series of culinary hotspots and free attraction rides across town has been organised. In international news Hungary's government said Sunday it was barring travel from South America, Africa, most of Asia, 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. US President Donald Trump finally yielded to pressure and wore a face mask in public for the first time, as new figures Sunday showed the pace of the global spread of the coronavirus has accelerated. Grand Est becomes the French region with the lowest coronavirus circulation. Berlin's clubs and concert halls, closed for four months due to the coronavirus pandemic, have received an average of 81,000 euros each in aid from the city, according to figures published Sunday by the daily Tagesspiegel. 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. Sri Lanka's ruling party Sunday called off its rallies ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections and delayed the international airport's reopening over a surge in virus cases. The Iguazu falls, considered to be one of the seven wonders of the natural world, partially reopened on the Argentine side on Saturday, 100 days after closing due to the coronavirus pandemic. The corporate watchdog says it was not consulted with about its new role regulating class action funders and only found out about the new rules the day before they were announced by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has revealed it was kept out of the loop before Mr Frydenberg announced on May 22 that all litigation funders would be required to hold an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) like investment managers and financial planners and will be policed by ASIC. ASIC says it was not consulted with before Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the corporate cop would also be responsible for policing litigation funders. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen The new rules came into place amid growing concerns corporate Australia was facing a spike in the number of class actions being funded by unregulated groups, which bankroll cases against companies and take a large cut of any damages won by class action claimants. Mr Frydenberg has also loosened listed company disclosure rules until November to safeguard listed groups from class actions at a time when it is difficult for directors to properly assess the impact of the coronavirus and ever-changing restrictions on their businesses. A direct descendant of Confederate Gen. J.E.B. Stuart wants to "bring home" his ancestor's deposed statue from Monument Avenue to the cavalryman's birthplace in Patrick County in Southwest Virginia. Dr. James E.B. Stuart V, a Richmond orthopedic surgeon, formally asked Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and the City Council on Monday to allow the transfer of the statue to the J.E.B. Stuart Birthplace Preservation Trust Inc. The trust is a 29-year-old nonprofit organization that operates Laurel Hill on a portion of the farm on which the Confederate grew up at Ararat in Patrick along the North Carolina border. The historic preservation trust had written to Richmond leaders on July 7 - the same day the city removed the statue from its Monument Avenue pedestal at Stuart Circle - to "express our fervent desire" to acquire the statue and move it to Laurel Hill at its expense. The trust had not received a reply as of Monday morning. Stuart, who wrote a column two years ago about the divisive debate over Confederate monuments in Richmond, made clear this week that he has no interest in the statue returning to the perch it had held on Monument since 1907. "I think the horse has left the barn about putting the statues back up," he said in an email on Sunday. "Our focus is on returning the statue to his home." Stuart has no involvement in a lawsuit two Richmond residents filed last week challenging Stoney's decision to remove the statues under powers granted to him under the public emergency Gov. Ralph Northam declared. The governor declared an emergency in response to protests over police brutality toward African Americans and over Confederate monuments erected during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation. On June 29, he signed an executive order extending the state of emergency in Richmond at Stoney's request. The lawsuit, filed by Helen Marie Taylor and E. Morgan Massey, seeks to reverse the mayor's decision and require the city to return the statues to their previous sites on Monument Avenue. Another suit, filed by an anonymous plaintiff, challenges Stoney's authority to remove the statues without following procedures specified by a state law that took effect July 1. Richmond Circuit Judge Bradley Cavedo imposed a 60-day injunction last week on removal of any other Confederate memorials on property owned by the city. Thomas Jamerson, a Midlothian lawyer who represents Stuart, said his client is not a party to the lawsuits. "He was not ever consulted," Jamerson said. Jim Nolan, spokesman for the mayor, said Monday, "The administration has received multiple inquiries expressing interest in acquiring and/or relocating the monuments, but their ultimate disposition will be determined by the city council in accordance with recently enacted state law." "That process is just beginning, and we encourage all to participate," Nolan said. The new state law specifies that the local governing body "shall have sole authority to determine the final disposition of the monument or memorial." The law also requires the locality, 30 days before removing a monument, to "offer the monument or memorial for relocation and placement to any museum, historical society, government, or military battlefield." Jamerson's letter to the city on behalf of Stuart said moving the statue to Laurel Hill would allow Richmond "to rid itself of a point of contention," while preserving a work of art that was the basis for the "Rumors of War" statue by African American artist Kehinde Wiley that was unveiled last year in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on Arthur Ashe Boulevard. The move also would allow the statue to be placed in context with historic preservation and honor the private philanthropy of Stuart's father, J.E.B. Stuart IV, who died in April. His father had raised money to restore and protect the statue, including the erection of protective fencing around the monument that protesters later tore down. "It just makes the most sense for it to be there," Jamerson said in an interview. The trust was established in 1991 to manage Laurel Hill on 75 acres of what had been a 1,500-farm at Ararat, near Mount Airy, N.C. In 1998, the property was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. The College of William & Mary has conducted an extensive archaeological survey of the property, which includes a Native American site and a slave graveyard, as well as a family graveyard, hiking trails and pavilions. A fire in 1848 destroyed the home in which Gen. Stuart was born in 1833, the eighth of 11 children. The general died in 1864 in his brother-in-law's house on Grace Street in Richmond after he was wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern north of the city. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery. His great-great grandson waded into the public debate over Richmond's Confederate monuments in 2017, the month after a white nationalist rally at the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville ended in violence and the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer. In an op-ed that ran in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Sept. 2, 2017, Stuart condemned "Neo-Nazis, racists and any other groups who seek to divide us on the grounds of race or religion," as well as vandalism or destruction of public or private property. "Unfortunately, these groups who promote hate and division have latched onto our ancestors; they do not honor their memory, and they undermine historic preservation efforts," he wrote. Stuart also challenged both those who want to remove the monuments and those who want to preserve them as history. "Indeed, preserving history is a double-edge sword," he wrote. "Are we preserving history so that we can do better in the future, or are we simply preserving our place of privilege in it?" Since writing the column, Stuart said, he was not included in discussions by the Monument Avenue Commission established by Stoney to recommend how to deal with the Confederate monuments. He also said he was not contacted by the mayor or the city prior to removal of his ancestor's statue, which protesters defaced and on one occasion tried to topple themselves. "There needs to be some accountability with the city leadership, Stuart said in an interview. Unlike some descendants of other Confederates memorialized on Monument Avenue, such as Lee and Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson," Stuart has not joined calls to remove the monuments. However, he said last week that their removal offers an opportunity for Richmond to move past the debate over the statues and address the city's future. Theres been so much emotion, Stuart said. The silver lining is the path forward. He acknowledges that the Stuart statue does not belong to him or his family, but he hopes the trust will give it a "non-controversial home." "My ancestor would say, bring me home. Last week, Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, said the book was filled with falsehoods. Image Mary L. Trump Credit... Peter Serling/Simon & Schuster, via Associated Press The fight over the book began last month, when the Trump family, led by Robert S. Trump, the presidents younger brother, sought to enjoin Ms. Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from releasing it, arguing that a confidentiality agreement she signed nearly 20 years ago forbade her from revealing family secrets. The secrecy pact was agreed to as part of a settlement of a group of long-simmering disputes concerning the will of the family patriarch, Fred Trump Sr., the presidents father and Ms. Trumps grandfather. In his ruling on Monday night, Judge Greenwald said that the confidentiality agreement could not be used to stop Ms. Trump or Simon & Schuster from publishing the book because the secrecy provision was narrowly tailored to the disagreements about the will, not about any subject related to the Trumps. [Read more on Mary Trumps lawsuit.] Why would a 2001 settlement of two estate matters and a local Supreme Court case contain a clause prohibiting the parties to these actions to ever speak again about their relationships? Judge Greenwald wrote. He also noted that since the book was already in print and would go on sale Tuesday morning, Simon & Schuster would face immense costs if publication were to be stopped. Judge Greenwald said the public had a right to hear Ms. Trumps stories about what she called her dysfunctional family. Pelosi Opposes Reopening Schools for In-Person Learning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Saturday that forcing schools to reopen this fall is not in the best interest of children because it will put students health at risk. We dont want our children taking any risks. We want them to go to school, we all do, but we want them to do so safely. And in order to do that, we want to have the criteria, the guidance, the requirements of the Centers [for] Disease Control to be very clear, said Pelosi in an interview with activist Al Sharpton. President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have said that that they want schools to reopen this fall and that it can be done safely. Over the course of the last week, Secretary DeVos has repeated the call for schools to reopen for in-person learning. We need to get kids back in school and every state should figure out how its going to be done safely, DeVos told Americas Newsroom on July 9. Every state and every community has school leadership that can sit down and can figure out solutions to the problem of reopening, DeVos said. Its not a matter of if, its just a matter of how. DeVos and Pelosi agree that each community needs to make the school reopening decision based on the needs of specific localities and that safety should be a top priority, but Pelosi wants schools to adhere to CDC guidelines, while DeVos said schools should look at their local circumstances to decide what health precautions they want to incorporate. Localities will make up their mind as to if they think its safe for children to go to school. Teachers overwhelmingly want to go back to teaching and to being in school, but safely. So, the statements made by the President had been reckless and have not been serious, but let us hope that each of the localities will make their own safe decisions, Pelosi added. While Pelosi wants schools to follow the CDC guidelines, President Trump on July 8 criticized the CDCs guidelines for opening schools. I disagree with the @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!!! Trump wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, DeVos told Chris Wallace on July 12 that getting kids back to school safely is the governments responsibility. 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, said DeVos. 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, triggering a response from Pelosi. Let me just say when the President says that hes going to hold back federal funds, theres very little federal funding that comes nationally, maybe six percent, much of it for children in economically disadvantaged areas, Title I, said Pelosi. Democrats believe it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families, Trump, wrote on Twitter on July 8. Kerala DHSE Plus Two Result 2020 DECLARED | The Directorate of Higher Secondary Education, Kerala has announced the plus two or class 12th exam result 2020 today (15 July Wednesday). Kerala DHSE Plus Two Result 2020 DECLARED | The Directorate of Higher Secondary Education, Kerala has announced the plus two or class 12th exam result 2020 today (15 July Wednesday). Students who have taken the exam will be able to check their results online at keralaresults.nic.in or dhsekerala.gov.in. According to News18, about 4.42 lakh students appeared for Kerala board Class 12 exams. The intermediate exams began on 10 March, but later some papers had to be postponed due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The pending papers were held from 27 to 30 May. This year, the declaration of results has been delayed due to the coronavirus lockdown. Last year, the DHSE Kerala result was released on 8 May 2019. FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES FOR DHSE RESULTS 2020 HERE Steps to check the Kerala DHSE Class 12 Results 2019: Step 1: Visit the official website of Kerala DHSE at keralaresults.nic.in Step 2: Click on the link 'DHSE results' on the homepage Step 3: Enter your roll number and date of birth Step 4: Results will be displayed on the screen Step 5: Download the results for future reference About DHSE Kerala board DHSE Kerala, manages the higher secondary, secondary and vocational higher education in the state. DHSE, Kerala was setup in the year 1990 in line with the National Education Policy. Disclaimer: As has been observed over the course of the past few weeks, the dates and times of result announcements have been frequently changed around. The information above has not been independently verified by Firstpost. However, this article will continue to be updated to reflect official updates as and when they come in. Johnson is encouraged by the protests that have swept across the globe, sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. That horrendous nine-minute video has done more to radicalize the masses than a million lectures or pamphlets ever could. People are calling into question, in the millions and tens of millions, white supremacy and how rooted it is in the fabric of this society, said Johnson. How do we get beyond it? How can we live in a world without this horrific oppression of Black people? Johnson was an Army brat who grew up in Germany and across the South. In 1969, when he was 12 years old, he sold the Stars and Stripes newspaper to soldiers on a U.S. Army base in Babenhausen, Germany. That, he says, was the start of his political awakening. We used to talk a lot about the (Vietnam) war and their sentiments, he said. There was a lot of I dont want anything to do with it. They were counting down the days they had left in the military. Some Black soldiers had Afro picks with the Black fist, he remembered. Lieutenants would cut off the fist part and hand it back to them. Taliban Attack On Intelligence Agency Office Kills At Least 11, Wound Dozens In North Afghanistan By RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan July 13, 2020 A major Taliban attack on the offices of Afghanistan's main intelligence agency has killed at least 11 security personnel and wounded dozens of others, mostly civilians. A group of militants detonated a car bomb at the entrance of the National Security Directorate (NDS) offices in Aybak, the capital of the northern province of Samangan, and then stormed the building. Provincial Governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi told RFE/RL that the ensuing hours-long gunbattle ended with the death of all four attackers. Ibrahimi said all 11 government personnel killed in the clashes were members of the NDS. He said 63 people, mostly civilians, were wounded in the attack. Mohammad Hashim Sarwari, deputy chief for the provincial council, said a suicide car bomber targeted the NDS office and the blast was a signal for other Taliban fighters to storm the building. The Taliban routinely stages such complex attacks on government targets in urban centers. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, claimed both the bombing and the subsequent attack. The attack came as the Taliban intensified attacks in northern Afghanistan. On July 12, the Taliban attacked checkpoints in northern Kunduz Province, killing at least 14 members of the Afghan security forces, according to Esmatullah Muradi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Overnight, local officials also accused the Taliban of attacking several security checkpoints, killing seven personnel in the northeastern province of Badakhshan and four in the northern province of Parwan. 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. The Taliban and government forces have been exchanging accusations over a recent surge in attacks across Afghanistan -- even as efforts continue to try and bring about the start of direct peace talks between Kabul and the militants. Mujahid on July 12 accused the government of delaying the start of talks, saying the militant group was "left with no option but to continue the war." President Ashraf Ghani warned on July 6 that the spike in violence posed a "serious" threat to the peace process with the Taliban. With reporting by Reuters, dpa, AP, and AFP Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/car-bomb-explodes- near-afghan-provincial-government-compound- militants-clash-with-forces/30723321.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Senator Cruz has repeatedly said since the start of the pandemic we need to follow the science, listen to public health experts and take common sense steps to slow the spread of Covid-19 and reopen our economy, the spokeswoman said in an email. That includes wearing face masks, washing hands and social distancing where possible. Hosseh Enad, who shared the photos of Mr. Cruz without a mask, works for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a political action committee that works to elect Democratic candidates into the U.S. House of Representatives. Mr. Enad later wrote that the photos were taken by a friend of a friend. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. It is unclear who took the photo of Mr. Cruz wearing a mask or when it was taken. A spokesperson for American Airlines confirmed that Mr. Cruz flew with one of its domestic regional partners on Sunday and said that the company reviewed the incident. As we do in all instances like these, we reviewed the details of the matter, the spokesperson wrote in an email on Monday afternoon. And while our policy does not apply while eating or drinking, we have reached out to Senator Cruz to affirm the importance of this policy as part of our commitment to protecting the health and safety of the traveling public. COMMENT | The poverty of numbers Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor. - James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name COMMENT | Thats the bare truth. Life for a family of four is beset with multiple demands for funds to meet daily necessities like food and transport, to pay for medical recovery to health, the growing needs of the children, to fend off pressing demands from the landlord, bank or Ah Long and emergencies. Dont talk about setting aside for old age, the daily grind does not allow time to think about the future (or money for it). Their plight is made worse because, while for them poverty is a real desperate lack of funds, for economic planners and politicians, poverty is just a numbers game. The government finally conceded last week that the poverty line, set at RM980 a month for a family of four to live healthily and actively, was farcical. I would say tragic for those families earning a thousand ringgit, or just over, who are considered safe from destitution and thus, not requiring the help of the government or charitable society. The only thing this sum did was to allow the government to proudly proclaim that in 2016, only 0.4 percent of households in Malaysia were poor, and the government dug in its heels on that risible, ridiculous figure till as recent as last August. Philip Alston, a former United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, after a visit to various parts of the country, questioned the governments Lilliputian figure. "Pretending that almost no-one in the entire country lives in poverty doesnt change the reality that millions are poor. "Saving face is one thing, but distorting the facts is quite another," Alston (above) said. International Trade and Industries minister Azmin Ali, then titled economic affairs minister, had his feathers ruffled over the questioning of the governments accurate financial forensics and reportedly described Alston's statements as unacceptable and irresponsible. Story continues We stand by our absolute poverty rate, which is currently recorded at 0.4 percent of total households in 2016 or 24,700 households. This poverty rate is derived from internationally-accepted standards based on the Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics, Second Edition (2011), which is published by the United Nations. The Poverty Line Income (PLI) used to derive this poverty incidence is currently set at RM980 at a national level and calculated based on the basic requirements for a household to live healthily and actively, which is more than the PLI targeted in the first Sustainable Development Goal at US$1.25 per day, was Azmin's response. What a wondrous achievement: 37.4 percent of all households classified as poor in 1979. Twenty years later it was 8.5 percent in 1999, then 0.4 percent in 2016. With our wonderful, efficient government, I was expecting the next imminent announcement on the subject to be that Malaysia had become the only country in the world with no poor people. So much for standing by the figure. (We know how good Azmin is in standing by.) Sparing the country further ridicule, trying to defend an untenable position, the government, last week, raised the poverty line income to RM2,208. The unacceptable and irresponsible has become acceptable and more responsible. Alston responded on a positive note: Malaysia's government has taken a courageous step towards bringing its poverty line closer to reality. Excuse me, Mr Alston, it is not a compliment if the government has to have the courage to face reality. Though I agree they havent faced reality for a long time. RM980 to RM2,208 it helps that over 380,000 more households are classified as requiring of aid. But will they get the aid? More pertinent, if they do, how much will they get? The answer to this is coloured for me by thinking of the sum each family will get, compared with the monthly salary/fees of the politicians governing the government agencies and statutory bodies handing out the aid. A supplementary irk for me is to see photos of them, smugly patronising, handing out cheques and aid in kind to the disadvantaged. In the end, it is still just a numbers game. Does the figure mean that if a familys monthly income is, say RM2,250, they do not have to struggle to survive? What about the chasm between this figure and the RM1,100-1,200 minimum wage? How does one reconcile these two numbers so that a family can live healthily and actively? The minimum wage is a landmine planted by big businesses. Any slight footstep near it will set it off, the corporate world of manufacturers and labour-intensive industries screaming bankruptcy from their penthouse boardrooms. This year, they will have a wealth of gloomy figures to substantiate their resistance. In the first quarter of this year, retail sales were down 11.5 percent, year-on-year, the Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA) noted in its July report. Fashion and fashion accessories retailers are down 30.5 percent while department stores, 17.5 percent. A couple of retail sub-sectors project a 40-62 percent drop in revenue in the second quarter of the year. Throw into the mix of depressing figures, the unemployment rate of 3.9 percent, the highest since June 2010, and its a good bet the number of households falling under the new poverty line will need an update soon. THOR KAH HOONG is a veteran journalist. The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini. Causeway between Malaysia and Singapore (FILE PHOTO: Yahoo News Singapore) SINGAPORE Singapore and Malaysia are working towards implementing two schemes of cross-border travelling by 10 August: the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA). In a media release on Tuesday (14 July), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) added that both governments will publish the requirements, health protocols, and application process involved for entry and exit into Malaysia and Singapore 10 days before the cross-border travelling begins. Schemes to address needs of different groups The two cross-border travelling schemes are meant to address the needs of different groups of cross-border travellers between both countries. The RGL will enable cross-border travel for essential business and official purposes between both countries. Eligible travellers will have to abide by the prevailing COVID-19 prevention and public health measures mutually agreed upon by both countries which include undergoing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab tests. Travellers will also be expected to submit to the relevant authorities of the receiving country a controlled itinerary and adhere to this controlled itinerary during their visit. The PCA will allow Singapore and Malaysia residents, who hold long-term immigration passes for business and work purposes in the other country, to enter that country for work. After at least three consecutive months in their country of work, they may return to their home country for a short-term home leave, and thereafter re-enter their country of work to continue work for at least another three consecutive months. These travellers will also have to abide by the prevailing COVID-19 prevention and public health measures mutually agreed by both countries. Finalising standard operating procedures Officials are working towards the targeted implementation of both schemes on 10 August, with relevant agencies continuing their consultation to finalise the standard operating procedures of the two initiatives. Story continues Both countries have also agreed to develop other appropriate schemes for the cross-border movement of people, including a daily cross-border commuting proposal for work purposes for travellers from both countries. Such schemes will take into account the required health protocols and available medical resources in both countries to ensure the safety of the citizens of both sides. Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore More Singapore stories: Chickenpox, pneumococcal jabs to be free for eligible Singaporean children from 1 Nov GE2020: ELD apologises, to do thorough review of Polling Day long queues Couple who killed 5-year-old son through horrific abuse get 27 years' jail, caning COMMENT: Pritam Singh is the man of the moment, but there is a long road ahead By Trend Armenian armed forces continue to shell villages on the border with Azerbaijan, Trend reports. Armenian armed forces have shelled residential houses in Dondar Gushchu village of Azerbaijans Tovuz region. Houses and land plots have been damaged as shells hit the villages. As a result of shelling of Aghdam village in Azerbaijans Tovuz district by Armenian armed forces, Aziz Azizov, born in 1944, died. That's all for us on the blog this evening - thanks for following along today. The biggest coronavirus news stories were: - The situation worsened in Victoria. A woman in her 90s died, making it three deaths in two days in the state. There were 238 new cases. There are 105 people in hospital in Victoria, 20 more than yesterday, and 27 in intensive care, one more than yesterday. - The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne reported that five healthcare workers tested positive to COVID-19. They add to the hundreds of Victorian doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who have been furloughed after COVID-19 clusters spread through three emergency departments, a coronavirus ward, an oncology unit and a rehabilitation hospital in recent days. People on Lygon Street in Carlton on Wednesday, one week in Melbourne's lockdown 2.0. Credit:Eddie Jim - In NSW, there were 13 new cases, including 10 linked to the Crossroads Hotel. The hotel cluster ballooned to 34, with virus detectives have tracing the COVID-19 contagion back to a work party held at the pub where up to three people were infected by a man visiting from Melbourne. A drive through Coronavirus testing clinic at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula on Wednesday. Credit:Wolter Peeters -The NSW Premier ruled out pursuing the elimination of COVID-19, saying suppression was the state's "only option" in tackling the spread of the pandemic. - The Northern Territory declared all 30 Sydney local government areas coronavirus hotspots, meaning people who have been in Sydney within 14 days of their arrival in the Territory will be subject to the same restrictions already scheduled to be imposed on Victorians. - In sport, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan confirmed that Victorian clubs would relocate to Queensland for up to 10 weeks and potentially the remainder of the home-and-away season. The QLD Premier also made a bid to host the AFL grand final. This is Rachael Dexter signing off. We'll be back on Thursday morning with more live, free coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. As always, if you appreciate our COVID-19 coverage and are an avid reader of the blog, please consider taking out a subscription to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald to support independent news. Stay safe, and goodnight. FG Trade/iStockBY: DR. STEPHANIE E. FARBER, ABC NEWS (PITTSBURGH) With stay-at-home orders leaving many bemoaning their webcam appearances, plastic surgeons have seen a rebound in demand for procedures with the reopening of their offices. Across the country there has been some pent-up demand," said American Society of Plastic Surgeons President Dr. Lynn Jeffers. "Our statistics show that people are still interested. Jeffers said breast augmentation and liposuction top the list of most common procedures, according to surveys of plastic surgeons' offices from across the country compiled by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. Even during this pandemic the interest in plastic surgery has not waned," she noted. Millions of Americans get Botox injections and breast augmentation every year. Following strict stay-at-home orders in March and April, many hospitals and doctors' office across the country have since resumed these elective procedures, particularly in places where infection rates are relatively stable. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, 55% of plastic surgeons across the country reported that Botox injections were the most commonly sought treatment during the stay-at-home order, followed by 40% who reported that breast augmentation was the most frequent request. These expectations align with prior plastic surgery trends. Botox injections and breast augmentations were the most common procedures in 2019 for nonsurgical and surgical categories, respectively. Nearly 8 million botox injections and nearly 300,000 breast augmentations were performed last year. Dr. Heather Furnas, a plastic surgeon at Plastic Surgery Associates in Santa Rosa, California, and an adjunct clinical professor of plastic surgery at Stanford University, agrees. Its like there was this pent-up demand for surgery breast augmentation, breast lifts, tummy tucks . . . demand is huge," she said. "We filled up immediately. Furnas feels that stay-at-home orders may have contributed to this phenomenon. Some of them will say they see themselves on Zoom and they just want to feel better," she explained. "In this crazy time, I think people are looking for something to make them feel better about themselves. But as patients grapple with the economic impact of the pandemic, Jeffers predicts a higher proportion of patients will opt for less expensive and less invasive procedures initially. Bridging procedures like Botox and fillers patients will want things like that until they are more secure, she said. And beyond cosmetic procedures, plastic surgeons are grateful to be able to resume other procedures as well, such as reconstructive plastic surgery for an injury or for breast or skin cancer. As the pandemic swept the nation and all elective procedures were canceled, plastic surgeons say the blurred lines between essential and nonessential surgeries led to many difficult decisions. If somebody came in with something traumatic, it obviously had to be dealt with. The harder things were skin cancer, early breast cancers at what point can you delay them and at what point must you move forward, Jeffers explained. These decisions were difficult because no one knew how long this was going to last," she said. "Certain things can be put off for a month but they cant be delayed for three or five. Many of these patients who had their cancer surgeries and reconstructions delayed are now part of a backlog that plastic surgeons like Jeffers are trying to tackle. We still dont know the whole aftermath of that and how many people had certain amount of delayed care from a cancer perspective, she said. Meanwhile, the pandemic has somewhat normalized remote medical visits, in which patients video conference with their doctors to talk about their medical concerns and see if they can be addressed remotely. Now, many plastic surgeons hope that virtual medicine is here to stay because it might increase access to treatments among people who live in more remote areas. Although telemedicine can help relieve some of the demand for in-person visits, there are certain procedures and consultations that must be done in person. Plastic surgeons say they can be done safely by following CDC guidelines to prevent the spread of infection. What you should know if you want to visit a plastic surgeon For those wishing to see a plastic surgeon in the near future, Furnas said, Find out what their protocol is. They should be informing you in advance to come with a mask, that they will be taking your temperature, and they will be screening your symptoms. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons put out guidelines for plastic surgeons to get back to work safely and Jeffers encouraged patients to ask their plastic surgeons about the safety procedures they have in place. Furnas also said that not every patient will be a good candidate for elective surgery during a pandemic. Sometimes patients will push to do more than can safely be done," she said. "We do really look at comorbidities and so occasionally we will tell somebody, 'Why dont we wait? Furnas and Jeffers are both pleased to be providing patients with a source of happiness during these challenging times. The best part of being a plastic surgeon is seeing the happiness of the patient afterwards ... seeing them smile in this time is just really, really gratifying, Furnas said. Stephanie Farber, M.D., is a plastic surgeon from Pittsburgh and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Ukraine's parliament legalizes gambling 13:11, 14.07.20 8239 Gambling has been outlawed since 2009. Crime rate in Bengaluru: Murders and burglary cases dropped in 2021 in Karnataka's capital Bengaluru apartments with more than 3 Covid cases to be declared containment zones: BBMP imposes fresh curbs Apartments with over 3 Covid cases to be containment zones for 7 days: Check BBMP's full guidelines Bengaluru braces for week-long lockdown from today India oi-Madhuri Adnal Bengaluru, July 14: To curb the spread of Covid-19 in Karnataka, Urban and rural Bengaluru readied itself for a week-long lockdown starting Tuesday 8pm. Lockdown restrictions will be in place from 8 pm July 14 (Tuesday) till 5 am on July 22, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced. Essential services will be available during the lockdown period. Detailed guidelines on the lockdown were announced by the Chief Secretary Vijay Bhaskar on Monday evening. Total lockdown in Bengaluru from today: What remains open, what stays closed Grocery shops, meat shops, and other essential but non-emergency establishments would be open only between 5 am and 12 noon. However, all other commercial private establishments would be shut for a week. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Meanwhile, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda demanded that the Karnataka government announce a statewide lockdown as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to spiral. The former PM also appealed to the people to cooperate with the government and follow the safety protocols. On Monday Karnataka registered 2,738 new cases, taking the tally to 41,581, including 757 deaths and 16,248 discharges. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 8:53 [IST] Speeding up infrastructure development and improving ease of doing business and vocational training are among things Vietnam can do to make itself more attractive to foreign investors post-Covid-19, according to VinaCapital. A factory belonging to a foreign company in Hai Duong. There are several things Viet Nam could do to become more attractive to foreign investors. Don Lam, the funds co-founder and CEO, said, Consultants expect 20 per cent of Chinas manufacturing sector to move out the country in the coming years. Not all of that will come to Viet Nam, but the country stands to attract a good portion of that for several reasons. They included factory wages in the country being less than half of those in China though the quality of the workforces is comparable, Viet Nam doing an outstanding job in controlling the Covid-19 outbreak and ranking high in various FDI decision making schemes that companies use to evaluate the potential of a country for building factories. Companies looked for some key factors when considering direct investment in a country. They wanted good supply of labour with skills and experience, logistics convenience in places they set up new factories so that they could easily ship in raw materials and ship out finished products, minimal bureaucratic obstacles to setting up and operating factories, and political and economic stability. Viet Nam scored well in most of these aspects, and quickly improves in areas it did not. But there were several things it could do to become more attractive to investors. Its logistics costs continued to be high, and it needed to quickly build and improve physical infrastructure to rise in the World Bank Logistics Performance Index from its current 45th position. The Government also needed to improve the countrys position in the World Banks ease of doing business rankings by streamlining the bureaucratic processes related to setting up and operating a business. In the most recent World Bank survey, Viet Nam ranks 70th out of 190 countries, ahead of countries like Indonesia, and the Philippines but behind Malaysia and Thailand. The Governments recently announced fast track initiative to speed up the licensing of FDI projects was a good example of the steps it could take to reduce red tape and bureaucratic hurdles companies faced. The Government should consider promoting quality FDI by setting up an Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) to actively market Viet Nams advantages as an FDI destination around the world. The Government tended to approach FDI reactively and only worked with foreign companies that approached it though the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other relevant Government departments had become more aggressive in following potential leads. Next, Viet Nams vocational training needs to be significantly improved to ensure that the workforce could perform tasks that require higher skill levels, and the country needed to invest in R&D and improve technical universities. Finally, the Government could encourage the formation of industrial clusters around desirable industries such as electronics. This strategy would have the dual advantage of maximising Viet Nams benefit from FDI investments and giving firms more confidence to locate their higher value-added activities in the country. Should not offer overly generous tax breaks According to VinaCapital, Free Trade Agreements help attract FDI to a country, especially when they entail measures that improve a countrys ease of doing business. However, it is important to note that Viet Nam is already a party to more FTAs than any country in the world, it said. Lam said, Often countries use a range of tax incentives to attract foreign investment, and of course who does not like tax incentives? But offering overly generous tax breaks is not critical for Viet Nam to be successful in attracting FDI. According to the IMF, tax incentives are not critical to attracting FDI and cannot substitute for political stability, good macroeconomic fundamentals, the availability of infrastructure, and a sound legal framework. Lam said his fund expected the next wave of FDI to be driven by companies relocating their factories out of China and have a bigger impact on Viet Nams economy than previous inflows because multinational companies now had an incentive to help local firms move up the value chain to build supply chains in Viet Nam capable of supporting those companies. VNS EVFTA, plus Vietnam's COVID-19 success, to help attract more FDI: experts The country's great achievement of containing the spread of COVID-19, plus the EVFTA (EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement), will help Vietnam attract more FDI. In a space of just over ten days, the Cuban Police have killed two men. To justify both deaths, the official version of events cited "self defense". And, to dehumanize the victims, they were depicted as violent criminals. In the first case, that of Hansel Ernesto Hernandez Galiano, age 27, the only witness was the officer who shot him. In the second, that of Yamisel Diaz Hernandez, 32, the officer was also alone, but this time in the official statement from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) a farm hand, whose horses had allegedly been stolen, vouched for him. The death of citizens at the hands of Cuban police happens, but it is hardly frequent. What is significant in these two cases is their temporal proximity, and that they occurred in a context of a whole series of reports of police brutality and other abuses. In its official statements, the MININT briefly mentioned investigations into the events, but few details have been released. How much clarity and justice can the relatives of the deceased aspire to? Based on the provisions of Cuban law, and the way the military proceeds, they are, to a great extent, defenseless. Who judges the military? Crimes committed by law enforcement officers in Cuba in the exercise of their functions are not specially regulated in the Military Crimes Law, but rather a Special Section of the current Penal Code, or Law 62. With regards to physical or psychological violence, if the agents commit crimes, including coercion, that result in murders, homicides, injuries, damages or abuse in the exercise of their functions, they face the same types of sentences as those slated for civilians, but the crimes must be confirmed by a military court (special jurisdiction), and there are other complexities to consider: In criminal matters, there are two jurisdictions in Cuba: civil, for crimes in which general citizens are involved as victims, or as the accused; and military jurisdiction, for crimes in which at least one member of the military is involved in the exercise of his functions. Military jurisdiction stands above civil in those cases in which the accused or one of the parties is military staff. Article 11 of the Military Criminal Procedure Law states that "it is up to the military courts to handle criminal proceedings ... when any military staff is accused, even if one of the participants, or the victim, is a civilian." When a civilian dies at the hands of a member of the military, the competent military prosecutor must file a complaint for one of the crimes on the books against human life. The investigations carried out must be aimed at finding out whether he acted in accordance with the established protocols, and the victim's next of kin is to be apprised of the results. Upon asserting in its official statements that the policemen who killed Hernandez Galiano and Diaz Hernandez acted in self-defense, the Ministry of the Interior jumps the gun, pre-judging a ruling that lies exclusively with the Military Prosecutor's Office, after the corresponding investigations. Convenient disinformation For the evaluation of the rights and limits of law enforcement officers, there should be a transparent Police Law that encompasses the operation, the various structures, hierarchies, code of behavior, powers and limits of the General Police Directorate (DGPNR). But, in a closed system like the Cuban one, such questions are not in the public domain - which favors those in uniform, and are well dispersed in various types of legal provisions. Military Crime Law 22/1979 regulates only "military crimes; that is, socially dangerous actions or omissions prohibited by law committed by the military." This regulation also establishes that the "provisions of the General Section and the Special Section of the Penal Code" are applicable to the military, provided that they "do not contradict" the specific provisions of the Military Crimes Law. This law also authorizes the use of weapons: "the military is exempt from criminal liability," it says, "when acting as a guard or on patrol, or in the course of other surveillance services, or when making rational use of weapons to repel an obvious attack against the persons or objectives that protected or guarded, as well as personnel that jointly form part of the service; and also when, in compliance with these services, their preventive orders or voices are not obeyed, as established in the military regulations. " People are not only unaware of these types of provisions, as are judges, prosecutors and lawyers under the ordinary civil jurisdiction. The absence of a law that regulates the actions of the Police in Cuba, and the fact that resolutions, military orders and other types of higher- or lower-level legal provisions are not well known, make it difficult for police officers to be held accountable for their abusive actions. This mess and legal dispersion also mean that the population does not know where to turn in the wake of police misconduct. Citizens often go to the MININT population services offices, or to the Public Prosecutor's Office, of civil jurisdiction, instead of bringing a formal accusation before the military prosecutor of the territory or region. The police and military seek to be untouchable Filing a complaint is a right of all citizens in cases of police and military abuse, as with any other. It is also an obligation for the Military Prosecutor's Office to process it, investigate, and provide a reasoned response to the victim or party affected. It is a serious offense to impede the filing of a complaint that a citizen wishes to make against agents, or to refuse to do so. Likewise, late or superficial responses, or failure to respond, may entail disciplinary action for military prosecutors who are cognizant of these situations and in charge. However, MININT members regularly shield each other against public accusations of misconduct, and fabricate retaliatory accusations of contempt, disobedience and resistance against those affected, resulting in "revictimization." These types of actions are very frequent against dissidents, and have spread in recent months, with an increase in police brutality against the rest of the citizenry. When filing complaints against agents and officials for abusive acts, the alleged perpetrators often never receive injunction, or are never subjected to precautionary measures. They can usually be found later performing the same type of duties involving the population in the course of which they previously committed abuses. At most, those affected manage to get the agents temporarily reassigned to a new location. Although the official press has covered numerous exemplary trials for various types of crimes since the start of the pandemic, at no time has it reported disciplinary measures or proceedings against law enforcement officers, despite countless complaints from the population. Washington, July 14 : The US Supreme Court has cleared the way for the first executions of federal prisoners after 17 years, the media reported on Tuesday. Several executions were delayed after a judge ruled on Monday that there were still unresolved legal challenges against the Justice Department, reports the BBC. Among those facing the death penalty is triple murderer Daniel Lewis Lee, who was due to be executed on Monday but was blocked by a ruling from District Judge Tanya Chutkan. Lee was convicted of torturing and killing a family in Arkansas in 1996, dumping their bodies in a lake. The Supreme Court voted 5-4 that "executions may proceed as planned". Three more federal executions are scheduled in the near future. All three prisoners are, like Lee, child killers. Last year, President Donald Trump's administration said it would resume federal executions. In a statement at the time, Attorney General William Barr said: "The Justice Ddepartment upholds the rule of law - and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system." The last inmate executed by federal death penalty in 2003 was Louis Jones Jr, a 53-year-old Gulf War veteran who murdered 19-year-old soldier Tracie Joy McBride, the BBC reported. The death penalty was outlawed at state and federal level by a 1972 Supreme Court decision that cancelled all existing death penalty statutes. A 1976 Supreme Court decision allowed states to reinstate the death penalty and in 1988 the government passed legislation that made it available again at federal level. According to data collected by the Death Penalty Information Center, 78 people were sentenced to death in federal cases between 1988 and 2018 but only three were executed. There are 62 inmates currently on federal death row. Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging Ukraine's authorities to investigate death threats against a local independent journalist who has written about the alleged influence of far-right groups on a fact-checking website, and ensure that she and her family are safe. Kateryna Sergatskova was targeted in social media posts in which people posted personal information, including photographs of her son, the New York-based watchdog said in a statement on July 14. Sergatskova, co-founder of the online media outlet Zaborona, told HRW that she had contacted a lawyer to file a police report about the threats. Journalists should not have to fear for their lives because of what they report, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW. Williamson called on Ukraine to "stand up for free speech and protect" Sergatskova and others "who are repeatedly targeted for legitimate journalism." On July 3, Zaborona published an article detailing alleged friendships between the leaders of far-right or neo-Nazi groups and the directors of StopFake.org, a website that aims to stop the dissemination of false information about Ukraine. In the article, commentators and journalists -- including RFE/RL contributor Christopher Miller -- suggested that these friendships had influenced StopFakes editorial choices. StopFake rejected the claims, saying they were part of a campaign of "harassment and intimidation from pro-Russian media." Meanwhile, a Ukrainian journalist last week posted a picture of Sergatskova with her five-year-old son, published details about her personal life, and suggested that she was working for Russian intelligence services. Responding to the post, social-media users threatened Sergatskova with death and physical violence over what they alleged was pro-Russian propaganda, and posted her address, as well as photos of her home. The post appears to have been deleted, but the journalist continued to write insults and falsehoods about Sergatskova, who gave up her Russian citizenship to become a Ukrainian citizen in 2015. Sergatskova said she had been subject to online harassment before, particularly for her reporting on the work of Ukraine's security services. HRW said online harassment, threats, and the publication of personal information on the Internet of journalists or other figures perceived as pro-Russia has become "more prominent" since Russias forcible seizure of Ukraines Crimea region in 2014 and subsequent fighting by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In 2016, the Ukrainian website Myrotvorets published the names and personal data af hundreds of journalists and others who had been accredited to work by separatist groups who are holding parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Little progress has been made into a criminal investigation that was opened in 2017 into the website, despite ongoing public pressure" from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), according to HRW. Premier Daniel Andrews announced an inquiry into Victoria's quarantine scheme, to be led by former judge Jennifer Coate, after protocol breaches by guards at the Rydges on Swanston and Stamford Plaza hotels were identified as the source of coronavirus outbreaks in Melbourne's north and west. The outbreaks marked the start of a second surge across the state. Victoria recorded 177 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday after more than a week of triple-digit daily increases. In May and June, there were dozens of days when fewer than 10 new cases were reported statewide. The states Chief Health Officer said on Monday it was "conceivable" that all the active COVID-19 cases in Victoria stemmed from Melbournes problem quarantine hotel program. After an incident in which a traveller left his room to smoke at 3am, the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions official sent a second email on March 30 demanding that DHHS request police support, suggesting private security companies were "not adequate" to guard the hotels. The email recommended DHHS ban quarantined travellers from leaving their rooms for any reason, including exercise. A top official from Emergency Management Victoria responded to the request by saying police were not required because guards could call triple zero if a situation warranted police involvement. DHHS declined to answer questions about whether it requested the support of Victoria Police and whether its departmental officials escalated the concerns to Health Minister Jenny Mikakos. Victoria Police was contacted for comment but did not respond before deadline. A spokeswoman for the Premier's office, also responding on behalf of departments, declined to answer questions about the early warnings, instead saying an inquiry had been established "at arms length from government", the same response it has given to questions on the failings of the hotel quarantine program since the inquirys establishment. Loading "All departments and agencies will fully co-operate with the inquiry," the spokeswoman said. "We will let the inquiry do its work our focus remains on containing this virus." On July 2, the day the government announced a judicial inquiry, Police Minister Lisa Neville said police were not the default agency for the management of the pandemic response in Victoria, as they were in other states. Masked workers inside the Stamford hotel. Credit:Getty Images "Every state runs their emergency management system in a very different way. In NSW its run by the police ... that is not the case in Victoria. In health emergencies, its health." On the same day, the Premier labelled the quarantine breaches "unacceptable". "Its why there have been changes into the way hotel quarantine operates," Mr Andrews said. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported earlier this month that at least five agencies were involved in the decision to deploy private security guards, instead of soldiers or police, at quarantine hotels: Health; Jobs; Premier and Cabinet; Emergency Management Victoria; and Victoria Police. Emails sent on March 29 and an internal Emergency Management Victoria operational document dated March 28 detail the roles and responsibilities of each agency in the hotel quarantine system, with DHHS and Emergency Management Victoria leading the program. DHHS and Jobs Department worked together along with the Department of Transport, the Australian Federal Police and Border Force on the logistics and planning of the hotel scheme, including transporting travellers from the airport. Loading DHHS and Emergency Management Victoria led by Ms Mikakos and Ms Neville respectively had "control and command" powers for operations at the hotels, including managing, monitoring and responding to returned travellers, the documents show. The Jobs Department, led by minister Martin Pakula, was responsible for procuring contracts with hotels and security firms, and purchasing services, items and food for returned travellers. The department's early planning role would "transition to the Deputy State Controller and DHHS as the control agency," a March 29 email from DHHS to Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions shows. The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald revealed on July 3 that the Chief Health Officer was told of similar problems with the hotel quarantine system in mid-April. Wilson, MSS and Unified were the three major security companies contracted to provide security at the hotels. A spokeswoman for Wilson Security which says it did not supply guards at either Rydges or Stamford Plaza and says none of its workers were infected said it collaborated with police for hotel site walk-throughs, and it defended its capacity to equip guards to work at quarantine hotels. The company regularly "reinforced use-of-force provisions and legal authority for quarantine restrictions", the spokeswoman said. Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton. Credit:Eddie Jim "We deployed specialist services and expert personnel from our corporate risk department to oversee the deployment of all staff into hotels. Loading "We also had expert health, safety, and environmental resources provide risk-based assessments of duties and work environments in order to enhance operational processes to mitigate risks." A spokesman for Unified Security said guards had adequate personal protective equipment and were "equipped to do the job safely and effectively" after being trained thoroughly. Speaking on ABC Radio Melbournes Drive program on Monday evening, Chief Health Officer Professor Sutton said that while the viruses currently circulating Victoria had not all been sampled, it was possible they were all linked. "We don't know the exact proportion [that are linked to hotel quarantine]. We know that it's genomically linked to the quarantine cases, but not all of the viruses that are out there at the moment are sampled, not all of them can be grown in order to get the genomic sequencing but I think we've said previously a very significant proportion was shown up in an early snapshot of that," he said. Drive host Rafael Epstein asked: "So its still [the case that] most, if not all, comes from the one problem in one hotel?" "Yeah, that's conceivable absolutely," replied Professor Sutton. The Chief Health Officer said he used "pretty colourful language" when the genomic link was first made between hotel quarantine and outbreaks around the city. "No one wants to have that be the case. I felt that everyone who was managing that quarantine program, because they were actually doing a fantastic job managing all of the logistic complexities of it. But it speaks to, you know, the dangers of any positive case out there and the ability for it to spread very extensively as has occurred." New York: In a stunning reversal of policy, the Trump administration on Tuesday abandoned an attempt to force out tens of thousands of foreign students following widespread condemnation of the move and pressure from colleges and major businesses. US officials announced last week that international students at schools that had moved to online-only classes due to the coronavirus pandemic would have to leave the country if they were unable to transfer to a college with in-person instruction. The Trump administration's decision has caught US universities by surprise. Credit:Bloomberg There are more than a million foreign students at US colleges and universities, and many schools depend on revenue from foreign students, who often pay full tuition. The announcement blindsided many universities and colleges that were still making plans for the fall semester, trying to balance concerns about rising cases of the novel coronavirus in many US states and the desire to return to classes. Payal Rajput is glad that she has successfully navigated the initial tough phases of the lockdown. The Venky Mama actress reveals that she was in Mumbai during the first three phases of the lockdown. She reached her hometown, Delhi, on June 12. The lockdown has taught so many things to so many people. I was stuck in my apartment in Mumbai for more than two months; there was no maid, so I did all the chores on my own and that is something I had never done before in my life. During that period, I realised the significance of being content and grateful with what we have in life, she shares. After I came to Delhi I am being pampered by my parents (smiles). So it just goes to show that family is our real strength during these testing times. The actress has signed a new music video in Punjabi, and says she will start shooting next month. We have to start somewhere; we cant get into a shell. I have been getting offers, but was hesitant to take them up fearing the Coronavirus spread. But now I have taken up one project. I need to build immunity whilst taking all the precautionary measures, she elaborates. Shooting in the new normal will be challenging, she feels. Wearing masks, gloves and sanitising frequently is very annoying, but we need to do those things to ensure that the virus doesnt spread, the RDX Love actress adds. For Payal, staging a comeback to Punjabi cinema is like a homecoming. Its a romantic music video and will serve as a drive to take up more films there, she says. The actress will be seen in the Telugu remake of Kannada film, Kalratri. I instantly connected to the script; this is the kind of role the audience would love to see me in,she signs off. Sausages laced with rat poison have been found on a suburban footpath just weeks after a dog in the area was baited and had to be rushed to the vet. The latest suspected baiting attempt in Mayfield West, three hours west of Sydney has left local pet owners on edge. The Frankfurt-style sausages were found scattered on a footpath opposite Stevenson Park on Sunday. Local resident Lozzie Macey, who made the chilling discovery, immediately took to social media to urge dog owners to 'keep an eye out'. A woman has found frankfurts laced with rat poison on a footpath opposite a park in the area's latest suspected dog baiting attempt Ms Macey collected the Frankfurts to prevent another animal from being harmed but said she was unsure if she had found all the pieces. The worrying find comes after a dog owner, known only as Carmen, said her staffy kelpie cross named Luna became extremely unwell two weeks ago. Carmen said she believes meat laced with poison was thrown into her backyard which quickly caused Luna's health to deteriorate. The pet owner told ABC News the suspected baiting was similar to what her neighbour's dog had experienced two months ago. 'So she has a similar dog to Luna, our dog, and she had also been baited two months ago,' Carmen said. 'So I'm not really sure where she picked up the meat from or the baiting, but her housemate had to take Lucy (their dog) to the vet and give her IV fluids and whatever else to make her healthy again. 'It sort of made us aware that we were probably right, that Luna had been baited.' Ms Macey said she has reported the Frankfurts to the police and hoped those responsible are found soon. Im writing from a gilded cage in the Sydney Harbour Marriott as one of the last returning citizens whose quarantine is funded by the NSW government. Im one of the last Australians whose right to come home was not dependent on how rich I am. Estimates vary but about 1 million Australians are usually overseas at any one time. Many of us have made a life overseas we have careers, families and homes. While some may be well-paid financiers in Dubai or Singapore, others are barely making a living teaching English in Cambodia or working in human rights and development in Kenya. Many were exporting the treasured ethos of Australians helping others as fellow global citizens especially during a pandemic including doctors and nurses. When I made the decision in May to abandon the life I had built in New York, I had just passed the bar exam, just started a new job at a criminal defence not-for-profit, and had an apartment, a car, friends, and career plans. It was a difficult decision to make trying to predict the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States, the possibility of someone I care about in Australia getting sick, and the risk that if I did not take this window, commercial flights would cease or the Australian government might make it difficult or even impossible to get home. I gambled that if I wanted to see my family anytime in the foreseeable future, I would have to give up my life in the United States and come home indefinitely. The minister explains that a private statement and an individual position have nothing to do with the state's policy. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says recent statements made by ex-President of Georgia and ex-Governor of Ukraine's Odesa region Mikheil Saakashvili, who now chairs Ukraine's Executive Reforms Committee, about the current political situation in Georgia should not spoil relations between the two countries. "In general, the situation is regrettable, because, in fact, the following happens: there is a citizen of Ukraine who is not authorized to represent the position of the state, but actively comments on the situation in Georgia ahead of elections. This citizen is Mikheil Saakashvili, and his every statement is followed by summoning the Ukrainian ambassador to the Georgian Foreign Ministry and expressing dissatisfaction with Mr. Saakashvili's statements. Where is imbalance? That an individual makes a statement while the state pardon my French gets it in the neck," Kuleba said, according to the Ukrainian TSN TV news service. Read alsoSaakashvili outlines main tasks in new position in Ukraine According to him, the Ukrainian side is aware of the situation in Georgia ahead of the elections there and appreciates friendship with that country and other Black Sea neighbors. "We understand the situation in Georgia, it is very sensitive ahead of the elections. We highly appreciate the friendship with our Georgian partners, Black Sea neighbors, and look forward to stabilizing the relations and eliminating this irritant. As I am deeply convinced that no private statement could destroy or undermine relations between our peoples, or relations between our states. The Foreign Ministry's stance on this issue is as clear as possible, it has been officially declared: Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili is a private person and does not represent Ukraine's position in his comments on the situation in Georgia," Kuleba added. As UNIAN reported earlier, Saakashvili on July 9 called the Georgian government "illegitimate." "I believe that the Georgian government is completely illegitimate. I will never recognize its legitimacy and I will never recognize the legitimacy of the situation that has now developed in Georgia," Saakashvili said in a video address. Following this statement, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Ukrainian Ambassador to Georgia Ihor Dolhov, saying Saakashvili's actions were in violation of Georgian law and "do significant harm to the relations between the two countries." But starting to taper the output cuts is not without its risk. The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over and a resurgence of infections met with further restrictions on movement and social gathering, for work or pleasure could quickly undermine the recovery in oil demand. The rise in oil consumption is already beginning to falter. Data from the TomTom Traffic Index show congestion on city streets stabilizing at levels well below last years averages, while commercial flights remain at about half the level they were in January, even as the start of summer holidays in Europe and North America would normally be pushing them higher. The UK's mobile providers are being banned from buying new Huawei 5G equipment after 31 December, and they must also remove all the Chinese firm's 5G kit from their networks by 2027. Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden told the House of Commons of the decision. It follows sanctions imposed by Washington, which claims the firm poses a national security threat - something Huawei denies. Mr Dowden said the move would delay the country's 5G rollout by a year. He added that the cumulative cost of this, and earlier restrictions announced against Huawei earlier in the year, would be up to 2bn. "This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run," he said. Because the US sanctions only affect future equipment, the government has been advised there is no security justification for removing 2G, 3G and 4G equipment supplied by Huawei. However, when swapping out the company's masts, networks are likely to switch to a different vendor to provide the earlier-generation services. Huawei said the move was: "Bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone" and threatened to "move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide." New restrictions are also being applied to use of the company's broadband kit. The government has also been advised operators should "transition away" from purchasing new Huawei equipment for use in the full-fibre network, ideally within the next two years. Mr Dowden said the government would "embark on a short technical consultation" with operators about this. He explained that the UK needed to avoid becoming dependent on Nokia as the single supplier of some equipment, and he wanted to avoid "unnecessary delays" to the government's gigabit-for-all by 2025 pledge. The action, however, does not affect Huawei's ability to sell its smartphones to consumers or how they will run. Source: BBC 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 Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) Before General Felimon Santos, Jr. steps down as the chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines early next month, he is getting another title as the military hierarchy implements changes in the titles of its highest-ranking positions. This was done for "effective command, control, and supervision." CNN Philippines obtained a copy of the Department of National Defense order which states the AFP chief will have a new designation as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. DND order no. 174, issued last June 19, indicated that other senior uniformed leaders will also be getting new titles. The second and third highest-ranking AFP positions have also been renamed from vice chief of staff to vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and from deputy chief of staff to Chief of the Joint Staff. The commanders of the "unified commands" or regional military commands (NOLCOM or Northern Luzon Command, SOLCOM or Southern Luzon Command, WESCOM or Western Command, CENTCOM or Central Command, EASTMINCOM or Eastern Mindanao Command, WESTMINCOM or Western Mindanao Command and JTF-NCR or Joint Task Force-National Capital Region) have been renamed to Joint Forces Commanders. The leaders of the "major service commands" or military branches will also have simplified titles: chief of the Army (formerly commanding general of the Philippine Army), chief of Air Force (formerly commanding general of the Philippine Air Force) and chief of the Navy (formerly flag-officer-in-command). "Basically, the purpose of the designation and the renaming of key positions of the AFP is for effective command, control, and supervision by the chief of staff of the AFP, who is also the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs," AFP spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo told CNN Philippines. The changes in the titles of the AFP's highest-level officers "will entail no added personnel, remuneration, or powers bestowed." "As chief of staff and the head of the AFP, he will have the operational supervision and control over the Joint Force commanders of the (regional) commands, who are the force employers," Arevalo said. With his new designation as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the AFP chief "will have administrative supervision and control" over his deputy, as well as, the heads of the service branches, who are also called as "force providers". Notably, the new designation and titles are patterned after armed forces abroad. Similar to the United States Armed Forces, the AFP Joint Chiefs will serve as the body of the most senior military leaders within the defense department, which "shall advice the President and Commander-in-Chief," as well as, the DND secretary. They shall be composed of the following: AFP chief of staff and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Chief of Joint Staff and the chiefs of military branches. The order states that "They (AFP Joint Chiefs) shall also discuss matters pertaining to the future medium to long-term strategic direction and capability plans relating to the organization, training, equipment, maintenance, and development of the AFP and its personnel." Arevalo said the changes in the organization's key positions also aims to "align" the Philippine military with uniformity of the military structures in the region, "para hindi tayo magkalituhan [translation: to avoid confusion]." "Ang tawag ng ibang bansa, kahit ang Australia, for example, is chief of the Army. So parang, hindi na tayo maninibago sa pandinig natin [translation: In other countries, like in Australia, for example, it's called chief of the Army. So, it would not be difficult for us] to talk about the commanding general of the Army, when we talk about the chief of the Army. It means, the commanding general of the Philippine Army." CLEVELAND, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Nitor today announced that its Nitor CONNECT app is now available for online purchase on SAP App Center, the digital marketplace for SAP partner offerings. Nitor CONNECT integrates SAP Ariba with Microsoft Teams to provide a unified collaboration environment streamlining communication during the source-to-settle process. "Nitor CONNECT centralizes all chats, communications, training materials and support documents, providing a unified collaborative environment," said Sean Sollitto, Principal with Nitor. "This app is designed to help increase adoption rates, improve compliance, empower a remote workforce to stay connected and allow for a faster time-to-decision process." Nitor CONNECT helps to eliminate the need to search between several applications to locate files, documents and communications as well as reduce the number of emails, phone calls and meetings required to support compliance and complete the source-to-settle process. In 2020, Nitor will also offer the Nitor DATA ASSURE app, which validates supplier information without human interaction, ensuring clean and accurate supplier data as well as INSIGHTS POWERED by Nitor, performing advanced analytics with Nitor's best practice or custom reports by integrating with multiple business intelligence tools. "Based on client demand, Nitor continues to develop solutions that deliver incremental value to the market and make digital commerce simpler. The introduction of app-based capabilities released today is the opening act of our mission to drive simplicity into B2B ecommerce," said Ryan Walicki, Partner with Nitor. At SAP App Center, businesses can discover approximately 1,500 innovative partner solutions that integrate with and extend SAP solutions. There, customers can find the SAP-validated partner apps they need to grow their business. Find, try, and buy SAP partner solutions digitally at www.sapappcenter.com. Nitor is a partner in the SAP PartnerEdge program. As such, it is empowered to build, market and sell software applications on top of market-leading technology platforms from SAP. The SAP PartnerEdge program provides the enablement tools, benefits and support to facilitate building high-quality, disruptive applications focused on specific business needs quickly and cost-effectively. The program provides access to all relevant SAP technologies in one simple framework under a single, global contract. Nitor, a leading business process transformation services firm granted the SAP Recognized Expertise in cloud procurement in North America designation, has partnered with SAP Ariba since 2013 to help create value through procurement technology and process transformation. Nitor is a leader in source-to-pay transformation with a dedicated focus on advisory, consulting, technology and change management. SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. For more information, press only: [email protected] SOURCE Nitor Pastor Victor Kanyari has moved on from his ex-wife Betty Bayo and wants the gospel songbird to move on too. This comes after Betty Bayo put up several posts on social media related to Kanyari. In one post, Ms Bayo spoke about her past mistakes, including moving in with the controversial preacher just three weeks after they met. Bayos posts have left Kanyari wondering why she keeps talking about him, saying I dont know why Betty keeps on speaking about my relationship with her, yet she had other relationships before me. She should not be worried that I may appear and fight for love. I am a good man and I dont fight for love, Kanyari said in an interview. I have never been with a person I loved that much to make me fight for her to love me. When we separated, its a decision we made so I cannot go back to her, he added. In another post, Betty Bayo opened up on being in an abusive relationship. Asked whether she was referring to him, Kanyari said: I never hit her when we were together. The fact remains we separated. I never touched her. One day I came home angry and hit a picture on the wall but I never fought her. She can even testify to that. Kanyaris advice on love matters is that its never that serious. Ukiachwa achika. Otherwise, depression is there. If she was not your destiny, then let her go and stop begging for their love. If she stays, its okay, he said. The preacher also spared some words of advice to fathers who have been separated from their wives. I respect separation but dont neglect children. Take care of them and support them and give the woman a chance to get someone else to love her. She might get a Jesus or a saint. I dont regret it, just that I love my children so much but I cant regret that we separated. Let her look for a Mzungu, when they die she will come looking for you, he said. Pastor Kanyari also disclosed that he is single. This is a journey and the spirit of getting married has not entered me but when it does, I will think about it. I am still single and ready to mingle, he said. In a long-rumoured announcement today, the UK government revealed that Chinese technology company Huawei will be banned from the UK's 5G networks. As announced by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, purchasing any new Huawei 5G equipment will be prohibited in the UK after December 31 this year, and all of its hardware will be removed from the networks by 2027. The decision came after the governments National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) assessed the impact of US government's ban on Huawei equipment. The ban has reduced Huawei's access to American-made and designed technology, including computer chip designs, which British officials say raises questions about the quality of Huawei kit in the future. As a result, it has 'significantly changed' its security assessment of Huawei's presence in the UK's 5G network. But questions remain about what the UK's Huawei decision means for customers and businesses and whether the cost of overhauling Huawei equipment will be funded by consumers. Ministers today announced Huawei will be banned from the UK's 5G network with all of the firm's technology to be ripped out by 2027. The move, announced by Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, represents a major U-turn after the government said in January that the Chinese tech giant would be allowed to help build the infrastructure What does this decision mean? As a result of the decision, it will be illegal for telecoms operators such as Vodafone and Three to buy Huawei 5G equipment from the end of this year. All of the Chinese firm's hardware will then be removed from the network over the next seven years, up until 2027. The decision, agreed by the National Security Council this morning, is likely to delay the completion of the country's 5G rollout by more than two years, and increase costs by up to 2 billion. The decision follows fresh sanctions imposed on Huawei by the US government, which has long urged its allies not to use Huawei technology because of national security concerns, which the firm has always rejected. In a statement, Huawei called the government's decision disappointing and said its bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone, urging it to reconsider. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide, the Chinese firm said on Tuesday. Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security. Purchasing any new Huawei 5G equipment will be prohibited in the UK after December 31 this year and all of its hardware will then be removed from the network over the next seven years As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done. We will conduct a detailed review of what todays announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain. How will it affect mobile phone users? The decision will not affect Huawei smartphones only the companys network equipment that forms part of the countrys 5G infrastructure. Huawei smartphone devices will continue to work as normal although some new models, including this years Mate 30 Pro, no longer support the full Google Android operating system, as US company Google is also banned from trading with the Chinese firm. However, experts say the decision will impact consumers, who could end up having to wait longer for 5G to roll out in their area, and paying more for the next-generation connectivity standard. The announcement is a hammer blow to the UKs ambition to become a global 5G leader, Kester Mann, network operator analyst for CCS Insight, told MailOnline. The timing is particularly unfortunate, with the demand for high-quality connectivity never higher due to the coronavirus lockdown. The decision will inevitably lead to delays in 5G network roll-out and higher costs to operators.' What will this mean for telco providers? Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight, told MailOnline that the decision will be a 'major headache' for most of the UKs telco providers. Most of these providers, including the so-called big four Vodafone, EE, O2 and Three have already started rolling out 5G networks, with Huawei equipment accounting for around 35 per cent of the total infrastructure. There are other companies providing similar equipment, but Pescatore said it is 'unclear whether they are up to the task' of replacing Huawei. 'Established rivals like Ericsson and Nokia have been struggling and theres a resurgence of players like Samsung Networks and Japanese players Fujitsu, NEC,' he said. 'Smaller, fast growing and niche solution providers like Mavenir will all be keen to secure new business. He added: In essence, this will have a negative impact on 5G rollout however, 5G remains in its infancy and the technology has yet to achieve its full potential. A long road awaits. The business model for 5G remains unproven. Telcos are wary given the need to balance to invest while margins are being squeezed. Who will fork out for these additional costs and disruption in any service issues that might arise hopefully not the users. Huawei said the decision to ban it from the network was 'disappointing' and risked consigning the UK to the 'digital slow lane' as the firm also claimed its role in Britain had become 'politicised' Last week, Vodafone said it would cost billions to rip out and replace Huawei equipment, and would delay the rollout of its 5G network. Andrea Dona, Vodafone UKs head of networks, said a Huawei ban would cost Vodafone low-single-figure billions to swap out its thousands of Huawei stations and antennas across the country, according to Bloomberg. But after the decision today, Vodafone said in a statement that it is studying todays announcement by the UK government. Obviously we are disappointed because this decision as the government has highlighted today will add delay to the rollout of 5G in the UK and will result in additional costs for the industry, Vodafone said. We will work with the government to address the implications of this decision, including the cost. In a statement to MailOnline, O2 said its primary partners for 5G rollout are Nokia and Ericsson and that it has no Huawei kit in its core network. Our 5G rollout continues, and we are ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, Three said it will fully comply with the governments decision. We are working through the NCSC guidance to understand what it means for our network investment plans, a Three spokesperson said. We have chosen Nokia to be the core network provider and Huawei currently represents less than 25 per cent of our total network sites. Philip Jansen, chief executive of EE owner BT Group, said the decision will 'clearly' have logistical and cost implications for communications providers in the UK market. 'However, we believe the timescales outlined will allow us to make these changes without impacting on the coverage or resilience of our existing networks,' he said. Is the security threat real? Tech experts are generally in agreement that politics played a major part in todays U-turn, which comes just over a month after Huawei took out full-page ads in national newspapers promising it will 'fix the country's connectivity problems'. However, there are genuine concerns that China could use Huawei as a proxy to spy on rival nations and scoop up useful information, according to a MailOnline source. 'Given the growing geo-political tensions between the US and China, Washington has been placing pressure on its allies to adopt a similar approach of banning Huawei 5G kit', the source said. Although there is no direct evidence of Chinese government interference in Huawei's business operations, 5G networks are more vulnerable to state-sponsored cyberattacks than previous generations, because they rely more heavily on software. Moreover, a lot of the network management takes place in the cloud, rather than on physical appliances, meaning they can be potentially be hijacked remotely if the right security measures are not in place. This could, in theory, make it easier for spies to intercept communications or take control of the network. Meanwhile, the dramatic expansion of bandwidth that makes 5G possible also creates additional avenues of attack, Tom Wheeler and David Simpson previously wrote for US research group Brookings. Small cell sites deployed throughout urban areas can provide 'backdoors' into the network, as can the billions of hackable smart devices within homes, offices and connected vehicles. On the other hand, Matthew Howett, founder of London analyst firm Assembly, told MailOnline that the threat Huawei poses to UK national security is very much hypothetical. It stems from the fact the US have imposed recent sanctions on the ability for Huawei to use American technology in the manufacture of its chipsets, he said. Based on their existing monitoring of Huawei equipment over the last decade, no spying has ever been observed and no so-called backdoors ever discovered. Andy Barratt, UK managing director of cyber security consultancy Coalfire, said the outright ban of Huawei from the 5G network is short-sighted and that doing business in a globally connected environment naturally comes with an element of risk. The UK has taken a very measured approach towards the companys technology up until now, with a dedicated testing centre and significant oversight of its operations here something that Huawei is unlikely to continue agreeing to pay for if we further limit its access to the UK market, Barratt told MailOnline. The ban doesnt negate the nation-state concern of Chinese cyber interference, but it does arguably reduce the number of tools we have to monitor it. 'I have no doubt that removing Huawei from the 5G network will set us back, and I question the actual security benefits of doing so,' Barratt said. 'We should move to guard against them effectively, rather than adopt a protectionist outlook that will ultimately limit our technological advancement. He also said Huawei infrastructure has been subject to 'substantial oversight' from the UK government and investigations have uncovered 'limited evidence' that the company is a genuine threat. 'It is absolutely possible for backdoors to be installed in a 5G network that could then be used for spying, but as yet weve seen no substantial proof that China is doing so through Huawei in the UK,' he said. Huawei said the 'disappointing' decision is 'bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone' Dan Ridsdale, an analyst at Edison Group, said there are legitimate security concerns around Huawei. 'However, it would be clearly naive to think that the decision was based purely on security concerns, with political and trade interest parties also at play,' he said. 'While any benefits from the improved security may never become apparent, the rollout of 5G networks in the UK will inevitably be slower and more expensive as a result of the decision. 'With the majority of EU countries expected to allow Huawei to be deployed in a limited fashion, the UKs mobile infrastructure may well fall behind that of the EU at least in terms of capability if not security.' What about 3G and 4G? In todays announcement, the UK government also said Huawei equipment in the UK's 3G and 4G networks will not be stripped out, because it is not judged to be a security risk. But Conservative backbenchers have questioned why Huawei's 3G and 4G technology was being allowed to remain in place. 'If they are a risk in 5G why are they not a risk to us generally? said former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. Ripping out 3G and 4G Huawei infrastructure, on which the country has relied upon for the past 20 years, would be a hugely costly procedure. However, if the Chinese government really is able to exploit Huawei equipment for spying purposes, then 3G and 4G equipment could also pose a potential threat although this is unlikely, according to one analyst. Pescatore at PP Foresight pointed out that Huawei is 'entrenched' across both fixed and mobile networks and in all generations, from 3G to 5G. 'Stripping out Huawei will cause huge disruption and put UK in the slow lane of connectivity,' he said. 'Ultimately with each new generation of network there is an ever increasing reliance on software. This is the case and more so with 5G. 'On this basis, the conclusion for now is that the concern firmly resides with 5G and not with previous network generations.' Neil Campling, head of TMT at Mirabaud Securities, told MailOnline the government has 'caved to pressure' and enforced only a half-hearted approach. 'The government hardly covered itself in glory by flip flopping over the process and policy from day one,' he said. 'By the time of the deadline we will have a new government, as will the US who exerted pressure for this policy change, so it may not even be enforced.' Government said Huawei equipment in the UK's 3G and 4G networks will not be stripped out because it is not judged to be a security risk Former Tory leader Duncan Smith also said the seven-year deadline for the removal of Huawei 5G technology should be brought forward to five years, as he said there is 'no reason why' action could not be sped up. But the lengthy seven-year timeframe to strip the countrys 5G networks of Huawei equipment, will provide a manageable transition period, according Assembly founder Matthew Howett. [It will] allow operators the time to reach new procurement agreements with other suppliers and manage the logistics of visiting tens of thousands of base stations up and down the country,' he said. A shorter period would mean the potential for blackouts in service for mobile customers and an even greater bill to the operators and the economy. Earlier this month, executives from Vodafone and BT told the Science and Technology Select Committee they would need at least five years to completely remove the Chinese firm's equipment without causing disruption, which could cause signal blackouts for several days. Why is it happening? Huawei has come under criticism over its alleged close ties to the Chinese state, which has a history of censorship and surveillance. As an example, the Great Firewall of China has become the collective term for Chinese legislation that blocks internet services in the country. Under Chinese law, firms can be compelled to support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work. Critics of Huawei have expressed concerns that Beijing could require the firm to install technological back doors to enable it to spy on or disrupt Britain's communications network. In May 2019, Trump added Huawei to the Entity List, effectively blacklisting the firm and preventing it from trading with US companies. The ban comes amid ongoing allegations that the company is a threat to American national security which Huawei has consistently denied. Trump extended the US's trade ban for another year this May a decision Huawei called arbitrary and pernicious and one that would damage the global technology industry. The Huawei ban follows intense pressure from US President Donald Trump (pictured) to deny China a foothold in the West's critical infrastructure The company said the US will cause damage to the global technology industry by undermining trust and collaboration in the sector and affect services for 3 billion people. Huawei has always denied any suggestions of close links with the Chinese state, or that it has ever been asked by Chinese authorities to help spy on others, insisting it fully abides by the laws of each country in which it operates. Earlier this year, the UK government confirmed it would allow Huawei to have a limited role in the roll-out of the UK's 5G network. However, the company was classified as a high-risk vendor, meaning it could not be used in critical parts of the network such as military bases and nuclear facilities and its presence would be limited to 35 per cent of the periphery of the network. The decision was met with anger by critics in both the UK and the US, with the latter warning it would consider withdrawing intelligence co-operation from countries who allow Huawei to be a part of telecoms networks. This June, Huawei published an open letter, published in several national newspapers including the Daily Mail, to promise the UK public it was as 'committed as ever' to building internet networks 'quickly, affordably and securely'. By this time, rumours had already emerged that Boris Johnson wanted to back out of the deal to let Huawei build 35 per cent of the nation's 5G network. CHICAGO Southwest Airlines Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday that he was concerned about the impact of a recent rise in COVID-19 cases and quarantines on already-weak travel demand and said passenger numbers would need to triple by the end of the year to prevent job cuts. Although furloughs and layoffs remain our very last resort, we cant rule them out as a possibility obviously in this very bad environment, Kelly said in a message to employees reviewed by Reuters. He added that a spike in cases and travel restrictions arent positive developments for our business, and we are concerned about the impact on already weak travel demand. United Airlines started sending furlough warnings to about 45% of its front-line workers last week, and American Airlines was preparing to send warnings coupled with early exit packages to encourage voluntary departures this week, people familiar with the matter said. Southwest and United employees have until July 15 to apply for early exits. No U.S. airline can furlough staff before Oct. 1, according to terms of a government bailout, and must give employees 60 days notice of potential furloughs. iStock/niratBy: IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News (ATLANTA) -- A judge struck down Georgia's controversial ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. District Judge Steve C. Jones said the state law, H.B. 481, was unconstitutional as it violated several stipulations set forth by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that codified abortion as a protected right. "After considering H.B. 481 as a whole, the title, the caption, the prior legislation, the legislative scheme, the old law, the evil, and the remedy, the Court rejects the State Defendants' argument that the statutory purpose solely concerns "promoting fetal well-being," he wrote in his decision. The law was supposed to go into effect at the beginning of the year but was blocked while the courts heard the suit filed by several groups. Under the legislation, abortions would be banned after six weeks, which is approximately when a doctor may be able to detect a heartbeat from a fetus. The law had exceptions for rape and incest; however, the patient would have to get a police report in that circumstance. Abortion rights activists who sued the state, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights, contended the law was made to undermine Roe v. Wade and restrict the right to choose. "The district court blocked Georgia's abortion ban, because it violates over 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and fails to trust women to make their own personal decisions. This case has always been about one thing: letting her decide," Sean J. Young, the legal director, ACLU of Georgia said in a statement. The law, which passed with a 92 to 78 vote last year, generated an outcry from business leaders, including Hollywood heavyweights, who threatened to leave the state over the measure. A spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp told ABC News in a statement his office will appeal the ruling. "Georgia values life, and we will keep fighting for the rights of the unborn," spokesperson Candice Boce said in a statement. The decision on the Georgia ban came two weeks after the U. S. Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required abortion providers have admitting privileges with a nearby hospital. The judges ruled in their decision that third-party standing, which means that a third party -- like an abortion provider -- is allowed to argue on behalf of the person impacted, applied in the Louisiana case. Jones, the judge in the Georgia case, said when the case was heard in June that he would wait for the Supreme Court to decide on the third-party standing issue before he made a decision about the Georgia law. Abortion rights activists also scored a legal victory in Tennessee Monday after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on a law passed the same day that also banned abortions after six weeks. The Tennessee law also blocked patients from having an abortion based on rape or incest. "It is unconscionable that in the middle of a public health crisis and a national reckoning on systemic racism lawmakers are focused on trying to eliminate access to abortion," Jessica Sklarsky, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Natural8 2020 WSOP Online Hand of the Week: Jeff Platt Cracks Aces to Assume Chip Lead July 14, 2020 Chad Holloway Natural8 is home to the WSOP 2020 Online with 54 Bracelet Events taking place from July 19th till September 6th. Win a Bracelet and join the exclusive Natural8 Winner's Circle where up to $700,000 in Sponsorship rewards are waiting to be claimed. Start your journey by exploring the WSOP Silk Road Micro-Stakes Tournaments or via the $5,000,000 WSOP Giveaway. The opportunities are endless. The 2020 World Series of Poker (WSOP) online bracelet events will run from July 1st to September 6th and is comprised of 85 WSOP gold bracelets on the digital felt across two different clients: WSOP.com and GG Poker. Each week, well highlight a Hand(s) of the Week, which very well could include bad beats, lucky suck outs, and game-changing swings. In the first week of the 2020 WSOP online series, we shared two big hands played by Daniel DNegs Negreanu. PLAY IN WSOP ONLINE 2020 AT NATURAL8 This weeks hand took place in Event #7: $800 NLH Knockout Deepstack with 15 players remaining in Level 35 (30,000/60,000/7,500). Poker commentator and PokerNews Podcast co-host Jeff "mavsusc" Platt, who has been streaming WSOP online action daily, raised to 122,500 from middle position, and was called by Ian "APokerJoker2" Steinman in the cutoff and James "jerzrep" Nadolski in the big blind. At this point in the tournament, I had a top-five chip stack with 15 players left, Platt told PokerNews. With the top-heavy payout structure, I wasn't worried at this stage about any ladders/pay jumps. He continued: There are some stacks in the shove or fold range behind Steinman, so you always have to be concerned with traps when the cutoff flats, especially when the cutoff is as good as Ian Steinman. Nadolski has a fairly wide defending range here, but not as wide as it'd be if there were no callers before him. The Flop Nadolski checked the flop to Platt, who continued for 155,200. Only Steinman called. Not a terrible flop for us, as we assume tens or better three-bets preflop, especially with Nadolski off his 25 BB stack, Platt explained. I like betting small here when Nadolski checks to us. We need to protect two red sevens a bit at this point. At this point, it's still pretty hard for us to narrow down Steinman's range. He'd call behind with any pocket pairs and high cards including the queen of spades or better, probably? The Turn The fell on the turn, and Platt checked. Steinman bet 282,500 and Platt called. Let's pump the brakes a little bit. I moved into defensive mode here. I don't think there's a reason to lead here, Platt said. We're planning on check-calling here. Why? Steinman still has too many bluffs at this point, considering he can fire all of his flush draws here after I check. We also don't want to inflate the pot by leading if Steinman has a better hand than us. The River Platt then led out for 225,500 on the river after making a set and Steinman raised to 677,500. Platt called, and Steinman tabled . Platt drilled the river with his , however, and Platt's set of sevens won the pot and propelled him to the chip lead. This looks like a blocker bet, and I feel like it opens the door for Steinman to raise with just the ace of spades or just the king of spades, Platt added. Sure, he'd also raise with his flushes here, and he did raise with the ace of spades but also just so happened to have the ace of hearts. I love this raise by Steinman here. He can fold to a reshove, which he's never going to see, considering he has the ace of spades. Pretty clear call for me, but great hunt for more value here by Steinman. I think too many players just call river with ace. He's looking for max value. I just got really, really, REALLY lucky on the river! WSOP Online 2020 - Natural8 sponsorship up for grabs! Win WSOP Gold bracelets on Natural8 for up to $700,000 in sponsorships, including a Las Vegas Package and opportunity to join Team Bling as an ambassador Ready to play? The hand was pivotal in Platt making the final table as the chip leader, which in turn energize the poker world. Not only did he have thousands of fans watching his run, he had dozens if not hundreds of big-name players, most of whom hed interviewed in the past, pulling for him. Unfortunately for Platt, the cards dried up on him at the tough final table, which included Steinman, Eric CircleBall Baldwin, and eventual winner Joon jykpoker Kim, who busted Platt in seventh place for a $12,657 payday. While he may not have run, Platts run to the final table, propelled by the above hand, was enjoyed by many. Want to play on Natural8? Get a head-start with exclusive newcomer promos like the WSOP First Deposit Bonus, $8 Extra Bonus, and $500 Weekly First Deposit Freeroll. Sign up here. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has filed a notice of appeal at an appeals court against a district court decision to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline, Reuters reports. A district judge ruled that the Dakota Access is to be empties within 30 days in what was seen as a big win for the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, which has been fighting the pipeline for years. The court ruling was motivated by the need for another environmental review of the infrastructure. The Dakota Access was conceived as a channel to transport shale oil from the Bakken play in North Dakota to Illinois. The $3.8-billion project, whose initial capacity was 570,000 bpd, attracted a lot of opposition, which escalated to massive protests a few years ago. It is the biggest outlet for crude oil produced in the Bakken. According to District Judge James Boasberg, the Army Corps of Engineers had violated environmental laws by granting Energy Transfer a permit to build the pipeline under Lake Oahe without an adequate environmental impact statement. North Dakotas Attorney Generals office, however, has supported the project. A shutdown will force North Dakotas oil industry to shut in massive amounts of oil product, and shift the remainder of production to more expensive and uncertain modes of transportation, it said in a statement defending the pipeline. Energy Transfer said it will not start emptying the pipeline. We believe that Judge Boasberg has exceeded his authority in ordering the shutdown of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been safely operating for more than three years, the company said in a statement. We will be immediately pursuing all available legal and administrative processes and are confident that once the law and full record are fully considered Dakota Access Pipeline will not be shut down and that oil will continue to flow. The company recently raised hackles among its own clients with the Dakota Access pipeline. The company has plans to expand its capacity to 1.1 million bpd and tried to force users to stick to their capacity commitments by declaring force majeure on the pipeline. By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:37:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Muhammad Tahir, Li Hao ISLAMABAD, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan has opened five key routes with Afghanistan for bilateral and transit trade over the past weeks and also announced to open Wagah border crossing with India from Wednesday for Afghan exports to help war-ravaged Afghanistan boost trade. Pakistan had closed all trade routes with Afghanistan in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but the country has now reopened Torkham in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and Chaman in southwest Balochistan province, two major crossings with Afghanistan, for both the bilateral trade and the Afghan transit trade. These border crossings are now operationalized for 24 hours a day and six days a week to facilitate cross-border trade, which has been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic in both countries. Besides the two major routes, Pakistan has also opened three other routes with Afghanistan including Ghulam Khan in North Waziristan tribal district, Angor Adda in South Waziristan tribal district and Kharlachi in Kurram tribal district. Mushahid Hussain Syed, chairman of the Pakistani Senate's standing committee on foreign affairs, told Xinhua on Tuesday that Pakistan's decisions to open routes for Afghan trade are "positive" and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) can greatly enhance regional connectivity and "link Pakistan with Central Asia via Afghanistan." During the China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue held in Islamabad in September 2019, the three sides agreed that trilateral cooperation should be pushed forward under the BRI and the three sides are willing to enhance connectivity by extending CPEC to Afghanistan. Pakistan has already allowed Afghan traders to use the Gwadar port, operated by a Chinese company, in Balochistan for imports and exports. Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan had signed a transit trade agreement in 1965 that was revised in 2010, which calls for better facilitation in the movement of goods between the two countries. "Since January 2020, Afghan trade is utilizing the Gwadar port which is the centerpiece of CPEC, for transporting to Afghanistan which is a shorter route than the Karachi port," Syed said. Pakistan announced in October last year to open the Gwadar port for the Afghan transit trade as the trade related infrastructure at the port was already to handle bulk cargoes to and from Afghanistan. The first ship carrying containers for Afghan transit trade arrived at the Gwadar port on Jan. 14, 2020. Earlier in April, Pakistan announced to allow import of the Afghan bulk cargo of wheat, sugar and fertilizers at the Gwadar port and onward transit to Afghanistan in sealable trucks, instead of being limited to containers, which will greatly cut the cost of the traders to further facilitate the Afghan transit trade. Encouraged by the favorable policy, a cargo ship, carrying about 16,000 tonnes of urea for transit to Afghanistan arrived at the Gwadar port in May. "This will certainly have a positive impact on Afghanistan-Pak trade and transit ties. We must extend support to each other for revival of commerce and connectivity in Central and South Asia that will surely benefit people in the region," Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Atif Mashal said while lauding the progress. Experts from eight countries at a video conference convened by a Pakistani think tank -- the Pakistan-China Institute last week said that the BRI is the way forward by promoting regional connectivity. The participants highlighted that by providing connectivity, the initiative has made landlocked countries like Afghanistan and Nepal to be land-linked and be able to access a greater market. Traders in Pakistan and Afghanistan welcomed reopening of the routes and hoped the decision will help in resumption of routine trade activities in the two countries and the region. Afghan importers said that their large number of containers loaded with goods had stuck at the Karachi port due to closure of the borer points between Pakistan and Afghanistan, causing them demurrage and detention charges. But most of the stuck containers have been cleared and left the ports, according to the traders. Enditem A wildfire in Elephant Butte erupted and razed to about 50 acres as of 7 p.m. on Monday, prompting authorities to issue an order to about 1,000 homes in Evergreen to evacuate to safety. Around 100 firefighters from several departments, three helicopters, three large air tankers, single-engine air tankers, and Tatanka and Pike Hotshots crew are racing against time to stop the fires before it reaches residential areas. Authorities are calling for more resources to put out the fire, including an elite force of firefighters. The water used to douse the fire was sourced from Evergreen lake. American Red Cross also responded to firefighters and residents in need of assistance. Firefighters had to contend with the lighting while doing the operation, prompting them to withdraw. According to Evergreen fire officials, they will return as soon as the lighting clears. It rained briefly but, "unfortunately, the rain didn't help as much as we hoped," the sheriff's office posted on Facebook. The fire was estimated to have covered 48 hectares as of 8 p.m. The fire, as of Monday, 6:50 p.m., had zero containment. In a briefing at 6:30 p.m., fire officials report that no homes had burned so far, and there are no injuries reported so far. Authorities are still investigating how the fire started. 1,000 Homes Evacuated The spokeswoman for Evergreen Fire Rescue, Stacee Martin, said they got a 911 call about the fire at about 2:45 p.m., and the office of the Jefferson County Sheriff Office sent out evacuation calls immediately. The residents of the Upper Bear Creek Road Elephant Area were issues and evacuation orders on various platforms. According to the sheriff's office, they sent 2950 Code Red phone calls, 1070 text messages and 826 emails, to warn the residents about the fire, and advising them to leave their area immediately. A code red was initially sent to residents about a 5-mile radius, which includes 250 homes, but has the order has since increased to cover about 1,000 homes. The designated evacuation centers are King Murphy Elementary School at 425 Circle K Ranch Road and the Evergreen Middle School on Hiwan. Livestock and animals are to be sheltered to the county fairgrounds, while pets can take refuge at the Foothills Animal Shelter in Golden. Authorities are also advising people to avoid Jeffco trails and Elk Meadow and Alderfer/Three Sisters, two known open space parks, as it is closed due to the fire. The sheriff's office also assured everyone that structural protection is in place should the wildfire worsen. A Hot and Dry Week in Denver Denver has been under hot weather the entire week with little moisture. This hot weather has prompted Jefferson County to implement a fire ban on Monday because of the hot and dry condition of the area. The ban covers prohibiting fires of any kind, including campfires, smoking outside designated areas or a car, and the use of fireworks or other related activities that may pose spreading of fires. Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to ban Huawei Technologies Co from Britain's 5G network on Tuesday, angering China but delighting US President Donald Trump by signalling that the world's biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer welcome in the West. Trump has repeatedly asked London to ban Huawei which Washington calls an agent of the Chinese Communist state. Huawei denies it spies for China and has said the United States wants to frustrate its growth because no US company could offer the same range of technology at a competitive price. Following is the approach ... WATERLOO REGION Agencies that help women and children experiencing abuse are seeing more people reaching out for help compared to when the pandemic started, but the worry remains that some are still at risk. They urge everyone in Waterloo Region to watch out for each other to prevent a rise in family violence during this unprecedented and stressful time. There is so much that can be done just by reaching out to people, said Karen Spencer, executive director of Family & Childrens Services of the Waterloo Region. Several agencies have joined together to launch the Keep Families Safe campaign to raise awareness about the danger of violence against women and children due to the isolation and stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This is still a dangerous time for women and for families, said Jennifer Hutton, chief executive officer of Womens Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. Reaching out for help may not be safe for many in abusive homes, and pandemic restrictions mean people are out less in the community where others can spot warning signs. Usually the shelters are full or close to full, but at the pandemics start that dropped to about half and calls were also down. Since the region moved into Stage 2 of the reopening plan and added opportunities to leave the home make reaching out easier, more women are seeking safe refuge. There is some relief that were seeing more, Hutton said. Were still not at what would be typical for us. That worries her because the current situation points to an escalation of family violence, not a decrease. The agency added an online chat feature to its website as a discrete way for women to reach out for help. Hutton said its seeing good use, with one family reporting they could come into shelter because that option was available. Normally, Hutton said it is difficult for women to leave an abusive situation but the pandemic has added other barriers to overcome, including uncertainty for the future. So then its hard to make such a major decision about taking your kids and going into a shelter, she said. At Family & Childrens Services, calls were down at the start of the pandemic while police were responding to more. But now referrals are back to normal levels and thats lessened the fear about unreported family violence. There isnt that same worry that people arent calling us to report concerns about a childs safety or to request help, Spencer said. The agency relies on the community for early intervention because theyre called when something happens to a child or theres a serious concern about well-being. Spencer is thankful people are looking out for their neighbours, and families are being connected to available support from food hampers to counselling. I would say the community has really pulled together to make sure families dont fall through the cracks and get the help they need, Spencer said. Thats been a collective community effort. She hopes that continues, emphasizing that a listening ear or helping hand go a long way to ensure families have what they need to survive this stressful time. Theres a link between a lack of support networks and child welfare concerns, Spencer said. A lot can be done to prevent child abuse and neglect by simply reaching out. The Kien Giang Province's People's Committee has submitted a master plan on sustainable development for Phu Quoc until 2040 to the Prime Minister for approval. Sao beach is the most beautiful and serene on Phu Quoc Island. Photo travel.com.vn The master plan focuses on marine, coastal and island development to build a comprehensive infrastructure system linked with the infrastructure of the country and Mekong Delta. It seeks to promote sustainable development, culture, environmental protection, security, and harmonisation of economic growth with the conservation of historical and cultural relics. Under the plan, the Phu Quoc Economic Zone will be developed into a hub for trade and tourism services to attract domestic and international visitors, a political and cultural centre and a science and technology centre. It will prioritise development of coastal and riverine areas and public green spaces to improve the quality of life for locals. It will be key to creating a legal basis for the management of investment projects. Blessed with white sand, turquoise beaches and pleasant weather almost all year round and with two-thirds of its area covered in tropical forests, Phu Quoc, nicknamed pearl island, is a holiday-goers paradise. It is the largest island in the country at some 590,000sq.km, almost the same size as Singapore. The Phu Quoc National Park, which has mountains, dense tropical jungle, hiking trails, and wildlife, spreads over more than half of the island. Phu Quoc is close to most of Southeast Asia and part of international freight routes, and less than two hours by air from the capitals of many countries in the neighbourhood. It has had an international airport since 2012, with travellers flying directly to the island enjoying a 30-day visa-free stay. International airlines operate both commercial and charter flights to the island. Phu Quoc is set to become one of the countrys three special economic administrative zones along with Van Don in the northern province of Quang Ninh and Bac Van Phong in the south-central province of Khanh Hoa. It received more than five million visitors last year, up 30 per cent from 2018, including 541,600 foreigners. Phu Quoc city proposal A proposal to upgrade Phu Quoc island district into a city has received the approval of 96.28 per cent of its people, Pham Van Nghiep, vice chairman of the Phu Quoc District Peoples Committee, said. The feedback has been submitted to the Peoples Committee of Kien Giang Province, where Phu Quoc is located. Nghiep said the island held a poll on the proposed establishment of Phu Quoc island city in which almost all of its 64,263 residents voted. They also voted for a proposal to establish Duong Dong Ward (currently Duong Dong Town) and An Thoi Ward by merging Hon Thom Commune into An Thoi Town. Last month province authorities collected public feedback on the proposal to convert the island district into a city. The city will have a population of more than 177,500, two wards, Duong Dong and An Thoi, and six communes, Ham Ninh, Duong To, Ganh Dau, Bai Thom, Cua Duong, and Cua Can. The province will soon submit the proposal to the National Assembly for approval. If approved, Phu Quoc will become the first island city in Vietnam, according to Nghiep. It currently faces problems related to its growing population, education, healthcare, trade, tourism, and security, and becoming a city would enable Phu Quoc to address them, he said. The establishment of a city will play an important role in asserting the countrys sovereignty over its waters and islands. In 2018 the Government gave the green light for the province to hire a foreign consultant to draw up a master plan to develop the island into a special administrative and economic zone. Large investors Most large corporations such as Vingroup, Bim Group, Sun Group, CEO Group have invested in Phu Quoc, which has attracted more than $15 billion so far. There are more than 300 projects worth over VND361 trillion ($15.55 million), according to the Kien Giang Province Peoples Committee. Currently there are over 600 lodgings, including hotels and resorts, with nearly 20,000 rooms on the island. It expects to have 12,000 five-star hotel rooms by the end of this year. Visitors to Dinh Cau Rock on Phu Quoc Island. A master plan to develop Phu Quoc into a special administrative economic zone offers many incentives to investors. It will have the best mechanisms and incentives in the whole country, according to provincial authorities. Its corporate and personal income tax rates are the lowest in the country, while land rents are waived for the first four years and cut by 50 per cent for the next nine. It is seeking approval to offer 99-year land leases to investors. The incentives continue to attract large investments from both local and international firms. VNS Phu Quoc seeks to become Vietnams first island city If you like to dive into reefs, kayak in bays, hire a motorbike to explore, or just lounge on a beach, Phu Quoc Island is what you are looking for. Olivia Jansen's grandmother said there were failed efforts to intervene on the 3-year-old's behalf before she was killed. Elisabeth Jansen said she was scared to reach out to the Kansas Department of Children and Families because she was unsure of what the outcome might be. The longer the battle with this virus goes the more obvious it is that Australias governments do not agree on what living with COVID 19 looks like. Failing to settle on a definition risks levelling the economy as we shunt in and out of lockdowns in the hunt for a diabolically elusive disease. The resurgence of coronavirus in Victoria has rebooted the argument that Australia should be shooting for eliminating the coronavirus, rather than suppressing it. The hopeful argue this is still possible if we go hard enough for long enough. Elimination is an arguable idea if thats the plan. So is accepting some risk and some deaths. What wont work is ricocheting between the two. No government went harder than Victoria to crush the virus and none was more enthusiastic in fining its citizens for the new era crimes of driving without purpose and paddleboarding with intent. By May its police force was handing out penalties at triple the rate of Queensland, which was the next most puritanical jurisdiction. It was hard to escape the conclusion that Victorias aim was to follow New Zealands lead. DENVER, CO / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / There was previously no way for businesses or digital marketing agencies to track and prioritize the world of Facebook interactions with their brands by any one individual lead. How could any Facebook marketer possibly tell who was engaging with them most often? Digital agencies, consultants and businesses are missing substantial lead opportunities that are both well recognized and those that have never been seen or tracked before. Sales are falling through Facebook Marketer's fingers every day. LeadKlozer, a social media marketing startup with support of top industry influencers, announces the first-ever Facebook engagement monitoring service (CRM) for individual leads. As Facebook continues to be the favorite social network among U.S. marketers, there remains a huge gap between the creation of engagements with leads initiated through Facebook page marketing and the actual ability to track those interactions at the individual lead level. LeadKlozer allows marketers to automatically track, organize, prioritize and respond to individual leads all in one place, saving time, increasing closing rates and sales. "Until now, Facebook marketers have been blind to the most important lead intelligence information and decision making priorities," said LeadKlozer Founder and CEO, Steven MacDonald. "Forrester forecasts that social will remain the fastest growing digital advertising channel globally over the next five years. Through LeadKlozer, our customers will never need to worry about missing a single Facebook lead again." LeadKlozer allows marketers using Facebook Pages, Facebook Ads and Facebook Ads Manager to easily view their engagements in real-time using LeadKlozer's custom search engine of your entire contact database and applying automated recommendations from an internal lead scoring algorithm, Smart Score. "With all of the social tools currently on the market, I'm amazed that no one has come up with this solution until now," says Joel Comm, social media influencer and NY Times best selling author. LeadKlozer is a game-changer that reveals the hidden gold in your social accounts." For more information and trial memberships go to LeadKlozer.com. About Us For over a decade, We've trained more than 10,000 entrepreneurs on how to use social media to grow their businesses. LeadKlozer was born from their feedback. Our students were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of activity and the inability to see all their social media interactions happening around their businesses, making it extremely difficult for them to organize it all into a clear set of follow-up priorities. We went looking for a tool to recommend to them, but there was nothing to keep track of all the social media engagements at the individual lead level. I was utterly shocked! There was no way to see the bigger picture of how much a particular prospect has been interacting with you. We recognized the need for an aggregate view of all interactions with business pages through likes, shares, comments, and messages. It was impossible to know at a glance who your most engaged and, therefore, the most important prospects are, and this is the problem that we set out to solve with LeadKlozer. We have started with Facebook and automatically tracking and scoring all your page interactions from likes to comments, replies, chatbots, inbox messages, and ads, but this is only the start! We will keep adding more social networks and new interaction tools very soon. Our mission is to help you see the complete lead engagement picture from your social media activity with little to no effort, to unveil your highest follow-up priorities and easiest sales opportunities. Contacts: Steven MacDonald 300 E. Miller Court, #282 Castle Rock, Colorado 80104 United States Founder & CEO Work: (480)258-4650 steve@leadklozer.com www.leadklozer.com Links https://leadklozer.com/testimonials/ SOURCE: LeadKlozer View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597436/LeadKlozer-Unlocks-Secret-Hidden-Golden-Gems-Within-Facebook-Marketing French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that face masks will soon be required in public indoor spaces to curtail the coronavirus outbreak, acknowledging that infections were again on the rise. His comments, in a television interview marking Bastille Day, came after he oversaw the traditional military ceremony that was drastically downsized because of the pandemic. "I would like to make masks mandatory in all enclosed public spaces," Macron said in the interview, a Bastille Day tradition he had shunned since taking office three years ago. "We have indications that (the outbreak) is accelerating a bit," he added, suggesting that his government would require masks in shops and public buildings from August 1. He later posted on Twitter that "Wearing a mask in enclosed public spaces will be mandatory in the coming weeks." The virus reproduction rate, the "R" ratio, has again risen above one in France, he said in the interview, meaning that a person infected with COVID-19 is likely spreading the disease to at least one other person. Macron's comments come as doctors have warned of a potential second wave of infections that could again overwhelm hospitals and require new lockdowns that could further hammer the economy. Asked whether France had enough masks in case of a new spike in cases, following massive shortages as the outbreak worsened in March, Macron said: "We will be ready." "We have secured both the stocks and the supply sources, and we are organised on the ground, to allow us to deal with an upsurge, if it comes," he said. He also said the government's "massive" recovery plan would reach 100 billion euros ($114 billion), on top of more than 460 billion euros spent so far to limit the social and economic devastation from the two-month lockdown imposed in mid-March. Priority will be placed on investments to fight climate change, he said, such as increasing freight transport by rail instead of trucks and providing subsidies for improving energy efficiency in homes and public buildings. "I believe we can build a different country within the next 10 years," he said. - Health workers honoured - Fearing contagion risks, authorities called off the annual military parade along the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris that marks the July 14, 1789, storming of the Bastille prison that launched the French Revolution. Instead, Macron presided over a scaled-down gathering of just 2,000 soldiers -- half the usual number -- at the Place de la Concorde, where several dozen doctors, nurses and other careworkers were given pride of place. Several were in tears as a military troupe saluted them with the national anthem "La Marseillaise" to close the ceremony, as jets flew over trailing blue, white and red smoke. Macron personally thanked many of them, a day after his government agreed an eight billion euro ($8.5 billion) package of pay hikes for nurses and careworkers. He then donned a face mask to visit with guests who included Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization. - Protests - Critics have accused Macron of initially underestimating and then mishandling a crisis that has now caused more than 30,000 deaths in France. And some health workers say the government has still not done enough -- two people were briefly detained after they launched balloons near the Place de la Concorde bearing a banner that said "Behind the tributes, Macron is suffocating hospitals." Elsewhere in Paris several thousands of people marched to demand more money and resources for careworkers. They were later joined at the Place de la Bastille by "yellow vest" anti-government protesters, where some clashed briefly with police who fired tear gas. But no crowds were allowed anywhere near the Concorde square, where just 2,500 guests were invited to a ceremony lacking the usual display of military equipment -- only two WWII tanks trundled noisily across the paving stones. Large portions of Paris remained closed Tuesday to avoid mass gatherings for the Bastille Day fireworks, and most other cities have called off their shows altogether. A Malian jihadist police chief committed unimaginable crimes during a reign of terror in the fabled shrine city of Timbuktu, prosecutors told the International Criminal Court at the start of his trial Tuesday. Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 42, personally oversaw corporal punishments including amputations and floggings while the Malian city was under the control of Islamist militants for almost a year from early 2012, prosecutors said. Al Hassan who appeared in court in The Hague wearing a traditional turban, and a face mask to protect against coronavirus is charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape and sexual slavery. The jihadists from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Eddine groups also destroyed the centuries-old shrines of Timbuktu, a city described as the pearl of the desert. Today marks the beginning of the long-awaited trial of the unimaginable crimes which have been committed in Mali, the ICCs chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the court. Al Hassan was directly involved in the violence and torture inflicted on the men, the women and the children of Timbuktu. He worked in the heart of a repressive, persecuting system. The prosecutor said Al Hassan was a key figure in the Islamic police and court system set up by the militants after they exploited an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to take over cities in Malis volatile north. Timbuktu the pearl of the desert, whose population had been living in peace for years, was subject to their diktats, she said, adding that the militants aim was to strike fear into people, to spread terror. Brutal mutilation Al Hassan arrested people, conducted investigations during which suspects were tortured, referred cases to the Islamic court and participated personally in the meting out of corporal punishment by the police, Bensouda said. She said the court would see a video in which a mans hand is amputated in a public square before the entire population of Timbuktu in the most brutal way possible, with a type of long knife. Al Hassan totally sanctions this criminal and brutal mutilation, Bensouda added. The Islamists are also accused of forcing women and girls to marry militants. Al Hassan is the second Islamist extremist to face trial at the ICC for the destruction of the Timbuktu shrines, following a landmark 2016 ruling at the worlds only permanent war crimes court. In the courts first case to focus on cultural destruction, the ICC judges found Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012. He was sentenced to nine years in jail. Built between the fifth and the 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes, Timbuktu has also been dubbed The City of 333 Saints who were buried there during the golden age of Islam. Timbuktus tombs were rebuilt after the jihadists were thrown out, but the city remains in the grip of insecurity and tourists who once flocked there are now scarce. Martha G. King. The veteran Vanguard executive is moving with 1,300 Vanguard employees to Infosys. Read more Vanguard Group, the Malvern-based investment giant that employs more than 12,000 in Chester County, says it will transfer out of the company 1,300 workers who handle employers 401(k) plans for five million working and retired Americans. The staffers will start working later this year for a contractor, a new Malvern-based unit of Infosys, the India-based technology outsourcing giant. The workers Vanguard boss, Martha King, managing director of Vanguard Institutional Investor Group for the last five years, will leave the company with her staffers and become one of their bosses at Infosys. She promised a seamless transition. The switch includes record-keeping, client administration, operations, and technology workers at Vanguards Malvern headquarters and its smaller operations centers in North Carolina and Arizona. Employees will keep their same pay and benefits and work at existing Infosys offices nearby, for the first year. Infosys plan to open a regional headquarters for its financial industry clients should create significant long-term employment opportunities in the vicinity and an ongoing commitment by Infosys to expand in the Philadelphia area, said Vanguard spokeswoman Emily Farrell. King will become chief client officer for Infosys new Mid-Atlantic Center of Excellence, serving Vanguard as its anchor client and adding other business from its rivals. Infosys president Mohit Joshi says half of the 20 largest U.S. money managers already use its services, and he hopes to win more. Our platform will create a new standard for the industry and drastically improve the retirement savings experience, Joshi promised in a statement. King, a graduate of Bloomsburg University, will be replaced as boss of Vanguards institutional investor group by John James, previously Vanguards human-resources chief. He, in turn, will be replaced at HR by Vanguard veteran Lauren Valente. Vanguard has a history of farming some tech jobs and other positions out to contractors, who have recruited and operated, sometimes from Vanguard buildings, sometimes from other locations. Vanguard has said that using contractors, for example in times of financial stress such as a recession, can enable the company to operate with minimal disruption by reducing workforce without mass firings of its own staff, as happens cyclically at Wall Street banks and other financial employers. Last year, the company hired an arm of the Swiss post office to process mail at Swiss Posts sprawling private mail facility in El Paso, Texas. Heres how Vanguard and Infosys say they are splitting the work: Infosys will assume day-to-day operations supporting Vanguards [direct contribution plan] record-keeping business, including software and administration, Vanguard said in its statement. Vanguard salespeople will continue to call on clients and prospects, design plans, manage investments, and sell advisory services to plan members. This earns Vanguard an additional fee that helps boost the companys revenues at a time when investment managers are under pressure to cut their retirement and money-management fees. Together the companies will set up a cloud-based record-keeping program, add analytics and collect data on plan members behavior, and support operations. Both Vanguard and Infosys will handle phone inquiries. That is an area of large potential cost-cutting, for example, if Infosys moves phone services to its operations in low-cost India, said Dan Wiener, a New York investment adviser who publishes the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors newsletter. Wiener said King has experience cutting expenses. Vanguard prides itself on driving down fees so it can charge customers less. The private, for-profit company does not disclose what it pays executives or spends on marketing. With the number of COVID-19 cases crossing the nine lakh-mark on Tuesday, the health ministry said that 86 per cent of the total active cases are confined to 10 affected states with Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu accounting for 50 per cent of them. IMAGE: Health workers check the oxygen level of an elderly person while conducting door-to-door COVID-19 screening of residents at Dadar in Mumbai, on Tuesday. Photograph: PTI Photo Despite being the second-most populous country of the world, the daily growth rate of new COVID-19 cases in India has been coming down continuously from around 38.2 per cent in March to 3.24 per cent on July 12, Rajesh Bhushan, the officer on special duty in the health ministry, told a press briefing. He said Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are the two most affected states contributing to 50 per cent of the total active cases (amounting to 1,54,134 cases). Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat and Assam are the other affected states that contribute to 36 per cent of the total active cases (1,11,068 cases). The official further said that 22 states are doing more than 140 COVID-19 tests per day per million in line with comprehensive testing guidance note by the WHO and asked the remaining states and union territories to increase testing accordingly. India's coronavirus infection caseload surged to 9,06,752 on Tuesday while the death toll climbed to 23,727, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. According to a PTI tally, the total number of cases is 909743, the number of discharged people is 5,73,477 and the death tally is 23,770. Bhushan said the total recovered cases of COVID-19 are about 1.8 times the number of active cases. "In many states, the number of daily discharges from hospitals is more than the number of daily admission," he said. Responding to a question on the fatality rate, he said the national rate is 2.6 per cent and it is coming down rapidly. "Compared to the global case, fatality rate it is significantly lower," he added. "India's COVID-19 cases and deaths per million are amongst the lowest in the world," Bhushan said informing India has 657 cases per million population as against 1,638 globally and 17.2 deaths per million as against 73 globally. Asked how the government is calculating the recovery rate, Bhushan said it is done based on the total number of people who were hospitalised. For the term hospitalised, there are two categories -- those who came to formal COVID care centres or COVID care health facilities or dedicated COVID hospitals and secondly those who were advised home isolation. "So both are then covered by the discharge policy that the ministry issues from time to time and that is how we show the recovered cases," he explained. People who are in home isolation are monitored in two ways. There are groups of paramedical workers and volunteers who are given the responsibility to check physically on these people on a daily basis and based on a standard template a decision is taken whether the home isolation should continue or the patient be shifted to a COVID care facility, he said. The second way of monitoring such patients is through telephone calls. There are dedicated health homecare agencies which are also given the same standardised checklist and based on phone calls to the patient they do this tracking. Responding to a question on norms on off-label use of drugs, Bhushan referred to the term emergency authorisation given by the DCGI, a process available globally to all regulator, which means based on restricted evidence submitted by the drug makers to the regulator an emergency authorisation is given which is distinct from a market authorisation. "Market authorisation whenever it is given by a regulator means that the manufacturer of that drug can freely market it. Emergency authorisation means that it can be procured only in emergency circumstances, the treating clinician has to certify this and informed consent needs to be obtained. In case a patient is not in condition to provide this consent the caregivers or family members can give," he said. Elaborating more on that, Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said in severe patients of COVID-19, there is a problem of a cytokine storm. Cytokines are released and they are responsible for a storm that ultimately leads to serious conditions. There are two drugs which are thought to be preventing the cytokine storm --- tocilizumab and itolizumab. "Having said that, they have not yet demonstrated mortality reduction by any trial and therefore, trials are happening in different parts of the world to look at whether there is mortality reduction with these two drugs," he said. He also said that human clinical trials for a vaccine has been initiated in the country with approximately 1,000 volunteers participating in the exercise for each of the two indigenously developed vaccine candidates. Commenting on COVID-19 affecting other organs apart from lungs, Bhargava said the disease causes pneumonia which is most common, but it can affect other organs like the liver and kidneys, heart, the blood vessels causing clots and thrombus formation which is an important complication of COVID-19. "Clots form and these clots can go into the lungs and ultimately block and oxygen exchange in the lungs and that is why in most of the treatments it is recommended and it is standard of care to give blood thinners or anticoagulants or low molecular weight heparins for preventing these complications," he explained. Certain other complications have also been described in small children that arteries get dilated and can be affected. These are being studied and they have been studied in autopsy studies in some reports and clinical data is being collected, he added. On whether COVID is air-borne, Bhargava said in terms of transmission it is well established that it is a droplet infection. There have been hypotheses and suggestions by several scientists that there may be some air-borne transmission with micro droplets, again, it is also a droplet less than 5 micron in size but what clearly remains important is physical distancing, use of masks, hand sanitisers has to continue to curb the transmission of the disease, he said. Asked when Delhi's sero-survey findings will be made public, Bhushan said these surveys are fairly complex exercises and therefore by definition take time. In the case of Delhi, it was initially decided that sero-surveillance will take 20,000 samples from June 26 till July 5 but the sero surveillance ended up taking 22,800 odd samples, these are blood samples which are then subjected to ELISA test. This was done till July 5 then testing was done now the testing has finished . Presently different kinds of stratification like gender specification, age stratification, district-wise stratification of data and analysis is being done. "The moment it is complete and reviewed internally and shared with ICMR and other domain experts, it will be shared," Bhushan said. The latest round of talks had agreed on the need for a legally binding mechanism to settle disputed, a Sudanese negotiator says A "negotiated agreement" is the only way out to resolve the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the Ethiopian irrigation ministry said on Tuesday, and the African Union is best suited to resolve the differences. Cairo, Addis Ababa, and Khartoum have been engaged in virtual talks since 3 July, mediated by the African Union, in a bid to resolve the disagreements on the mega-dam, which is under construction on the Blue Nile. The 11-day round of talks wrapped up on Monday without a final agreement, however. Ethiopia's irrigation ministry said on Tuesday that it is committed to showing flexibility to reach a win-win outcome on all outstanding issues, adding that the commitment to reach a mutually beneficial outcome is the only avenue." The statement touched upon the differences between the three nations, which it said included the impact of the guidelines and rules on Ethiopias future use of the GERD. The absence of a comprehensive treaty governing the relation of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan with regard to the Nile is the major factor that poses a challenge unchanged stances and additional and excessive demands of Egypt and Sudan prohibited the conclusion of this round of negotiation by an agreement. Cairo said this weekend that Ethiopia's continued adherence to its rigid stances on both the technical and legal aspects of the differences over the hydropower project would reduce the chances of reaching an agreement. The Egyptian negotiators voiced their concerns about Ethiopia's failure to address rules regulating the filling and operation of the GERD during drought and dry years. Egypt is also concerned about future projects on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile, and demands binding dispute settlement mechanisms. A member of Sudanese legal negotiation committee, Hesham Kahen, said on Monday that the three countries had agreed to include a legally binding mechanism to settle disputes, a Sudanese news agency reported. Creating the mechanism was the only remaining part, he said. The proposed mechanism starts with binding and active mediation and if the parties fail to reach consensus, the mediator will issue a binding and final say for all, according to the Sudanese negotiator. The three countries have now been sent reports on the negotiations to South Africa, the current president of the AU. A mini-African summit is set to be held in the coming days. Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry described the conclusion of the online talks without agreement as "a regrettable matter, stressing that Cairo doesnt want to resort to the United Nations Security Council again. The Ethiopian irrigation ministry said on Tuesday that the AU-led process is best suited to negotiate and resolve the differences. A previous round of negotiations in June had failed to produce an accord due to Ethiopia's refusal to enter into a legally binding agreement and its announcement that it will begin filling the dam in July with or without the approval of the two downstream countries. Egypt, as a result, presented a draft resolution for deliberation to the UN Security Council, which encouraged the three countries to reach an accord within two weeks, and avoid any unilateral measures related to the dam. Search Keywords: Short link: Navy Will Have to Plug Gap in Pacific Plan After Ship FireBut Not Just Yet Mast listing, melted by 1,000-degree heat, as fire crews continue to battle the flames in San Diego harbor, the USS Bonhomme Richard faces an uncertain fate. Whether or not the ship ultimately survives the fire that broke out over the weekend, according to analysts, it will still leave a strategic hole in the pacific in a year or twowhich the Navy will have to fill by lengthening deployment schedules of other ships. The 844-foot amphibious assault ship was being refitted to be optimized as a so-called Lightning Carrier: one of a handful of ships that can bring the next-generation Lightning F-35 jet to the pacific theatre. The F-35 is really three different planes: one that can take off from land; one that can take off from U.S. aircraft carriers; and one that can take off and land vertically from amphibious ships like the Richard Bonhomme. In this handout image provided by the U.S. Navy, an F-35B Lightning II makes the first vertical landing on a flight deck at sea aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp on October 3, 2011, in the Atlantic Ocean. (Natasha R. Chalk/U.S. Navy via Getty Images) About half of the amphibious assault ships are able to carry the F-35 B and the Bonhomme Richard was one of them, Bryan Clark, senior analyst at the Hudson Institute told The Epoch Times. So thats a big impact on the ability of Marines to keep fifth-generation fighters forward deployed. The impact will be felt probably in a year and a half to two years when the Bonhomme Richard would have been returning to operations and deploying, said Clark. Sailors and Federal Fire San Diego firefighters combat a fire aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) July 12, 2020. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Kofonow/Released) The ships on the West Coast are going to have to deploy a little bit longer and a little bit more often to fill in the gap. Clark says that larger aircraft carriers are not carrying the sister F-35 C yet. The stopgap would be probably to deploy the existing F-35 capable amphibious assault ships more often or for longer. The Navy wants to maintain essentially a continuous presence of F-35-capable amphibious assault ships in the Pacific. Dakota Wood, a senior defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation, told the Epoch Times that the Navy will ensure there is not any impact on U.S. power projection in the pacific or support of allies. Ship Structure is Safe But he says it is too early to make long-term projections, before a detailed assessment of the damage. According to the latest Navy statement, issued on the afternoon of July 14, fire crews were still fighting an active fire. We have investigated the four main engineering spaces and found no major damage, said Rear Admiral Philip Sobeck according to the statement. There is no threat to the fuel tanks, which is well-below any active fires or heat sources. The ship is stable and the structure is safe. The time needed to repair or replace the ship will likely mean other adjustments, says Wood. Other ships in the fleet must stay at sea for longer than currently planned, defer scheduled maintenance for a while as shipyard availability is adjusted, or lower priority missions are canceled or not pursued. The United States key security interests in the region will always be covered. 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) Wood says that the F-35B can still be flown from other ships that are not optimized to support them. The absence of Bonhomme Richard will not mean the loss of F-35B capability for Navy-Marine Corps deployments to the region, he said via email. The remaining large-deck amphibious warships will adjust to account for the absence of the Bonhomme Richard. Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with Telemus Group, gives a less rosy assessment, according to Defense News, saying that the Navys posture in the Pacific could be challenged. It has a huge impact, said Hendrix. Bonhomme Richard has been in this overhaul for two years getting these upgrades to operate F-35Bs. She has about eight more years of life left in the hull, and so she was a central cog in our Pacific operational deployment plan for the next eight-to-10 years. But Wood says that the generational leap in technological capability that the F-35 brings will mean the Navy and Marine Corps will be determined to ensure it is included in future deployments as quickly as it can be acquired and fielded. Stealth Fighters and Mini Carriers The F-35 is regarded by many as the most advanced fighter jet in serviceand one of only three so-called 5th generation fighters in the world. Developed as a joint forces program, the stealth jet was envisioned as the next-generation backbone of fighter fleets of the navy, air force, and marine corps, with an efficient single-engine and universal design aimed at cutting production and running costs. A new F-35B Lightning fighter jet takes off from the deck of the United Kingdoms new aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth on Sept. 27, 2018. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) But the original simple vision of a jack of all trades morphed, with the program splitting into what many analysts say is really three different aircraft with very different technical requirements. The party trick of the F-35 B is to perform vertical take-off and landing. That capability has effectively turned the ships originally conceived as amphibious assault ships into potential mini carriers or Lightening carriers. Other countries are using the F-35 B variant on their full-size carriers, which lack the sling-shot system on U.S. carriers that will work with the F-35 C. The Bonhomme Richard is an older class of amphibious ship, the Wasp-class. The latest America-class ships cost around $3.5 billion. Imprisoned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi says she has been suffering from symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 -- the illness caused by the coronavirus -- including coughs, fatigue, diarrhea, and loss of smell, and has complained that authorities have not released the results of her test. In a letter from prison published online on July 13, Mohammadi said she and 11 of her cellmates in the Zanjan prison, some 330 kilometers west of the capital, Tehran, are suspected of having been infected with the coronavirus. Mohammadi, who served as the spokesperson for the Center for Human Rights Defenders in Iran founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shirin Ebadi, said signs of an outbreak of coronavirus emerged in the prison about two weeks ago. The rights activist, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of anti-government propaganda and membership in a banned group opposed to the death penalty, called on Irans health ministry to send a representative to the Zanjan prison to investigate the situation. Mohammadi said that she and other prisoners in her ward are feeling sick while being denied access to medication, treatment, and proper nutrition. Mohammadis relatives have said in past months that she has been denied health care and prevented from talking over the phone to her children, who live in France. Unfortunately, the judiciary wants to teach her a lesson and force her not to take any stands. Not to be herself. Narges Mohammadi is being denied every basic right because she takes a stand, her husband, Taghi Rahmani, told the New York-based Center for Human Rights In Iran last week. Mohammadi has been awarded several prestigious prizes, including the American Physical Society's Andrei Sakharov Prize in 2018 for outstanding leadership in upholding human rights. Iran has been struggling to contain the deadly coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 13,000 Iranians and infected nearly 260,000, according to official figures. Real numbers are believed to be significantly higher. Following the easing of restrictions, Iran has experienced a rise in infections and fatality numbers. In March, the judiciary announced that it has ordered the temporary release of tens of thousands of prisoners to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in crowded jails. Pushkar Banakar By Express News Service NEW YORK: Following outrage and several lawsuits. the Donald Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded the order that would have barred the entry of foreign students, with full online classes, into the US. The Immigration and Custom Enforcement, in an order on July 6, had said no foreign students would be allowed to continue residence or enter the US if their classes had shifted completely to online mode due to the coronavirus pandemic. The move was likely to affect thousands of Indian students. Following the order, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on July 8 dragged the Trump administration to court saying the order was reckless and unlawful. On Tuesday, during a hearing in a Boston district court, judge Allison Burroughs announced the US government and the two universities had come to an agreement to drop the new guidelines and restore status quo. The government has agreed to rescind the decision as well as any implementation of the directive, the judge said. Pressure on the Trump administration mounted after tech majors Google and Facebook also supported the lawsuit filed by the two universities. In all, 17 states had filed lawsuits against the order with 136 Congressman also urging Trump to reverse the order. Trump admn rescinds order, students heave a sign of relief According to estimates, there are around 2.5 lakh Indian students in the US and they contribute significantly to the revenue of many universities. The order reversal has sent a wave of relief among the students. I had returned due to the pandemic and the order had put my travel plans back to the US in jeopardy. Now, I can breathe easy. I cannot wait to go back and start classes again, Ashutosh Singh, a second year MS Engineering student, said. An ex-diplomat said, This was an election gimmick but even the administration knew it was not feasible to execute the order. Firstly, the revenue foreign students generate for universities would be hit hard and secondly, the principles of the US would be shadowed. Iran has executed a former defence ministry worker who sold information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Iranian judiciary said on Tuesday. Reza Asgari had linked up with the CIA during his last years serving at the defence ministry and sold the agency information about Iran's missile programme, judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said, quoted by its Mizan website. He retired from the ministry four years ago. Esmaili said Asgari was executed last week. Separately, Esmaili said a death sentence for Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, an Iranian accused of spying for U.S. and Israeli intelligence, is among those still to be carried out. Last year, Iran announced it had captured 17 spies it said were working for the CIA. Search Keywords: Short link: Photo credit: Gareth Cattermole - Getty Images From Harper's BAZAAR Stella Jean has spoken out about the racism she has witnessed when working as a black fashion designer in Italy. The Milan Fashion Week regular says that we have been given an opportunity at this unique moment in history to create significant change. Jean has been presenting her collections in Milan for years, but chose in February to step off the schedule in favour of putting out a short film and photography project entitled Italians In Becoming, in which she highlighted multicultural Italy and 20 women of colour, who vocalised racist comments that had been directed at them. She said that she decided not to show last season "since the situation was no longer acceptable". Photo credit: Victor Boyko - Getty Images "I could not fathom holding a fashion show as if nothing serious was happening," she wrote on Instagram. And now, the designer has opened up about the lack of reaction she got for her social-awareness campaign at the time, from publications who have now promised to support the Black Lives Matter movement. "Believe me, I knocked on every door," Jean told British Vogue. "I wrote emails and letters to all the important Italian media and people who could help. And the sad thing is, only three people answered me. When I saw [the same people] put a black square for #BlackOutTuesday and writing to say they support the cause of black Americans, the first thing that came to my mind was, 'What?! You want to talk about racial issues in the United States, but you dont see what happens in your own house every single day?'" The designer added that although she was disappointed about this, she is optimistic for what this means for the future: "It was sad, because when I knocked, nobody answered, and now theyre all activists. But Im optimistic I dont want to think its hypocrisy. I hope from now on they will be supportive. If not, we are losing a great chance to change." Jean added: "This moment in history should allow us [the opportunity] to reshape our perspectives and priorities." Story continues Photo credit: Mondadori Portfolio - Getty Images Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for more from Harper's Bazaar, straight to your inbox SIGN UP You Might Also Like Managing Director Brian Abernathy will resign following a brief tenure as the city's top bureaucrat that was marked by catastrophes Read more Philadelphia Managing Director Brian Abernathy, a key mayoral appointee who came under fire for the citys response to the unrest sparked by the police killing of George Floyd, will resign in coming weeks, according to an administration source with knowledge of the decision. Abernathy, who oversees the citys operational departments, will tell his staff Tuesday that he will step down in early September, said the source, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the personnel move. Abernathys planned resignation was first reported by Billy Penn. Reached late Monday night, Abernathy declined to comment. Abernathy, 43, had held the position as Mayor Jim Kenneys top aide since January 2019, but emerged as one of the administrations most visible faces and targets since the coronavirus pandemic and the protests and calls for police reform that began in late May. The city has been criticized both for being unprepared to deal with the size of the demonstrations on the first day of planned protests, and for heavy-handed tactics by police in subsequent days, including the tear-gassing of peaceful demonstrators. Three weeks ago, protesters shut down the lobby of the Municipal Services Building, where he works, in a demonstration calling for his resignation. I was dumbfounded by how out of touch I truly was, he testified at a City Council hearing about the protests. And how I had underestimated the anger and rage and frustration of folks Im hired to serve. READ MORE: Philly Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, Mayor Jim Kenney apologize for teargassing of protesters on 676 Progressive activists Monday night applauded his planned resignation, noting he was one of the more moderate members of Kenneys progressive inner circle. When communities in every neighborhood in this city called to defund the police, we were demanding an end to incremental reforms that increase the power and presence of racist policing in our neighborhoods, to defund policing in all its forms, and to invest, instead, in the services that truly keep us safe, said Bryan Mercer, executive director of the Movement Alliance Project. Abernathys resignation shows that the administration may be beginning to have an interest in real action to deal with police violence and advance public safety. Active in city politics for more than a decade, Abernathy, a Boston native, previously served as policy director to then-City Councilmember Frank DiCicco and led the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority under Mayor Michael Nutters administration. READ MORE: Brian Abernathy is one of the most powerful people in Philly. Coronavirus and protests put him in the spotlight. Under Kenney, he served as first deputy managing director before taking the top job when his predecessor, Mike DiBerardinis, resigned in January 2019. His salary is $196,000 a year. It was not clear who will succeed Abernathy. His deputy managing director is Tumar Alexander, who was a top aide in the Nutter administration and previously worked as a staffer in City Council. READ MORE: Black and Blue: Explore 190 years of police brutality in Philadelphia BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Export of cars from Turkey to Kyrgyzstan increased by 48.26 percent from January through May 2020, compared to the same period of 2019, having amounted to $4.5 million, Turkeys Ministry of Trade told Trend. In May 2020, the export of cars from Turkey to Kyrgyzstan rose by 32.27 percent, compared to May 2019, amounting to $865,000. The export of cars from Turkey to foreign markets decreased by 33.1 percent from January through May 2020, compared to the same period of 2019, and amounted to $8.7 billion. According to the ministry, Turkeys export of cars for the reporting period made up 14.2 percent of the country's total export. In May 2020, Turkey exported $1.2 billion worth of cars to world markets, which is 56.3 percent less compared to the same month of 2019, the ministry said. Turkey's export of cars for May 2020 amounted to 12.1 percent of the country's total export. Over the past 12 months (from May 2019 through May 2020), Turkey exported the cars worth over $26.2 billion abroad. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:21:49|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HELSINKI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The number of violent acts committed in public places declined by almost seven percent in Finland year-on-year during the first half of 2020 when the COVID-19 epidemic hit the country, Statistics Finland reported on Tuesday. As restaurants and cafes throughout the country remained closed between early April and the end of May, the number of assaults there decreased by half compared with the first half of 2019, according to Statistics Finland. The number of assault offenses in private dwellings or other private locations increased by three percent. However, there was a steeper increase in the number of violent acts between spouses. Violence between married couples increased by 20 percent during the first half of 2020 year-on-year, but violence between unmarried couples living together increased by 67 percent nationwide. Senior statistician Kimmo Haapakangas elaborated in a press release that women were the victims of assaults in 80 percent of the cases in both the above categories. He noted that the increase in domestic violence had started before teleworking became widespread in March. The figures also showed that street violence was becoming more severe. Crime inspector Jari Koski told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday that the number of serious assaults (including the attempted ones) increased in Helsinki by nearly 40 percent during the first half of 2020. There were some ten percent fewer "smaller acts of violence" in Helsinki, he noted. Koski said that many of those who committed such crimes had earlier been drinking in bars, where staff control prevented conflicts between persons from escalating. "But since the closing of restaurants, drinkers moved somewhere else, where no such control existed," which might be one of the reasons behind the increase in the number of serious assaults, Koski noted. Enditem TUESDAY PUZZLE Stella Zawistowski (nee Daily) made a rousing New York Times Crossword debut in 2004 with Bruce Venzke. For four years, the two constructors were regular collaborators. And then, in 2008, Ms. Zawistowski vanished from the Times Crossword page. Where did she go? In an email, Ms. Zawistowski said that constructing had started to feel more like work than fun, so she simply took a break. For 12 years. She solved a lot, she said and began writing trivia questions for a variety of outlets. But the puzzle-making siren is hard to ignore and, in 2020, Ms. Zawistowski promised herself that she would get back into making crosswords. Her first solo puzzle in The Times ran in January with the hilarious warning at 1A, DONT JUDGE ME. Since then, shes had another Saturday puzzle in The Times, and shes back to show off for us. Im really happy shes back. Virginia police are investigating white supremacist flyers that are appearing in or near local resident mailboxes across the state. The flyers, which were found in ziplock bags with bird seeds, read, "Most whites insist on making heroes and saints of criminal black." It went on to say, "Most whites are idiots" and called for recipients of the flyer to "pray for white Americans in 2020." Listed as a contact on the flyer is the North Carolina Ku Klux Klan chapter, the Loyal White Knights. More than 1 million people signed a petition last month calling for the US to formally label the KKK as a terrorist organization. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. A Ku Klux Klan member is escorted out of Justice Park after a planned protest by the Klan on July 8, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia Chet Strange/Getty Images Police in Virginia are investigating white supremacist flyers that are appearing near local residential homes, according to Newsweek. The flyers are affiliated with North Carolina's Ku Klux Klan chapter, the Loyal White Knights, according to the report. In a Facebook post, the New Kent County Sheriff's office reported that residents discovered the flyers near or in their mailboxes. The flyer was found in a plastic ziplock bag filled with bird seeds. New Kent Sheriff (@NewKentSheriffs) July 14, 2020 The flyer states "100% Americanism" and to "pray for white Americans in 2020." Similar flyers appeared in Norfolk, Virginia, and in West Virginia last month, according to WVNSTV. While authorities across Virginia are seeking any information linked to these flyers, New Kent County Police urges the public to not approach the individuals posting the flyers. Related video: How white savior films hurt Hollywood "Do not put yourself in harms way or confront anyone to do so," a spokesperson said in the Facebook post. "We would like to locate the parties involved. Similar items have been left in neighboring jurisdictions over the past six months or so." Last month, more than 1 million people signed a petition for the US to label the KKK as a terrorist organization. The KKK is currently categorized as a domestic extremist group. Read the original article on Business Insider A panicked French minister made a very relatable mistake ahead of the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris. French Minister Delegate for Industry Agnes Pannier-Runacher, 46, was attending a ceremony on the Place de la Concorde to mark France's national Day. However, the politician panicked when she realised she had left her face mask in her car. In an amusing moment that was caught live by French informational channel BFMTV, the politician could be seen running after her car before signaling to her colleagues that she did not have a mask. Thankfully, members of staff had planned for such an eventuality and were able to swiftly hand her a spare. Wearing a mask was mandatory for all people taking part in Bastille Day celebrations in Paris, which limited the number of attendees in line with coronavirus precautions. French Minister Delegate for Industry Agnes Pannier-Runacher, 46, was attending a ceremony in Paris to mark France's national Day. However, the politician panicked when she realised she had left her face mask in her car The minister was struck by panic moments before the Bastille Day ceremony was due to start. Masks were mandatory during the event BFMTV was covering the preparations of the ceremony and had one camera on the Place de La Concorde, where cars were dropping off ministers. As she exited her car, a bare face Agnes Pannier-Runacher could be seen smiling. But her smile was soon replaced by a panicked expression when she realised she had left her face mask in the car. The politician tried to catch up with her car, waving at the driver, however, after it drove off, she alerted members of staff around her that she did not have a mask. Hiding her face in panic and embarrassment, she could be seen signaling with her hands that she had forgotten mask. Eventually, an aide rushed to the minister and handed her a spare face mask right before the ceremony was due to start The minister was smiling when she was dropped off at the ceremony but soon realised she had forgotten her mask in the car Thankfully, a member of staff swiftly came to her and handed her a white mask, which she quickly put on. Ministers were dropped off by car on the Place de la Concorde where the ceremony was due to take place. Agnes Pannier-Runacher, who is one of President Emmanuel Macron's earliest supported has been a member of the his government since 2018. Agnes Pannier-Runacher signaled to other attendees that she had forgotten her mask, as ministers arrived at the Bastille Day ceremony Who is Agnes Pannier-Runacher? Agnes Pannier-Runacher, 46, have been a member of the French government since 2018. She was one of President Emmanuel Macron's earliest supporters during the French Presidential Election of 2017. She entered the government as Secretary of State for Economy and Finance, under Minister Bruno Le Maire. On Monday, during a restructuring of the government, she became Minister Delegate for Industry under Bruno Le Maire. She is a graduate of the prestigious HEC Paris business school, the Paris Institute of Political Studies (known as Sciences Po) and of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA). Advertisement She was recently appointed Delegate Minister for Industry after working as the Secretary of State for Economy and Finance, still under Minister Bruno Le Maire. The traditional military parade on the Champs-Elysees was replaced with a smaller ceremony which was not open to the public, but broadcast on TV. The parade paid homage to the military and civilian forces who stepped up during the healthy crisis. 2,500 guests took part, including 1,500 keyworkers, from medical staff to the families of medical staff who died of Covic-19, teachers, cashiers, police officers, firemen and the factory workers who created masks of tests. The grand fireworks display that usually lights up the French capital in the evening will replaced with a digital show the French will be able to enjoy from their home. In a speech following the parade, President Macron announced that wearing a mask will be mandatory in all closed public spaces and all over France from August 1 in a bid to stop a second wave of the coronavirus. Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., has expressed morbid fears over the rapid increase in the COVID-19 cases in Ghana. Ghana's case count has reached 25,252 with 21,397 having recovered and/or discharged and 139 death cases have been recorded, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS). Speaking to host Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Kwesi Pratt wondered why the numbers keep increasing despite all the assurances by government and health Professionals to Ghanaians about staying safe by obeying the health protocols against the disease. He alluded to the President's COVID-19 update speeches where he asked Ghanaians to adhere to the health protocols and social distancing to avoid transmission of the viral disease but questioned why with all these protocols in place, the case count is not dwindling, hence new cases being recorded day in and out. Being alarmed by the current numbers, Mr. Pratt compared Ghana to a country like Mauritius which he said has done extremely well to contain the disease and sought to find out where Ghana has gone wrong. He stated that Mauritius opted for a lockdown and in the past weeks have recorded a zero COVID-19 case. "Go to Mauritius and look at the figures. Mauritius recorded about 200 cases or so, total cases and they did a shutdown and introduced measures. In the last three weeks, they've not recorded even 1 case. The question that arises is if some countries can do this, why is ours almost messed up?" Kwesi Pratt quizzed. Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video ALBANY, N.Y. State lawmakers from Syracuse introduced a bill last week that would give the mayors office greater control over police discipline and take some power from the police union. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman William Magnarelli and state Sen. Rachel May, both Democrats, is written to apply only to Syracuse. Narrowing the laws effects just to one city aims to make it easier to pass, legislators say. The bill put the lawmakers in the role of picking one of the Democrats traditional bases of support (police reformers) over another (public employee unions). The citys top lawyer and Sen. May acknowledged the bill might draw objections from unions worried about a reduction in rights. The bill would amend the state Civil Service Law to stop the use of an independent arbitrator who currently has the final say under the current contract between the Syracuse Police Benevolent Association and the city. If passed, the city would free to impose a disciplinary system on its own. Its an effort to bypass the litigation between the city and the police union over whether the police chief gets the last word on discipline. In June, State Supreme Court Judge Deborah Karalunas sided with the police union after a 10-month legal battle over whether City Halls disciplinary decision could be overruled by an arbitrator in the cases of four cops who were suspended last year. The city is appealing that ruling, but Mayor Ben Walsh has said the appeal could take months or years. So the city last week asked for state legislation that would mean city officials could go forward with their plan to control the disciplinary process. They say this change would make discipline more transparent and fair. This would be a more expeditious way to solve an issue that we think is important, said Kristen Smith, the citys top lawyer. PBA President Jeff Piedmonte did not respond to a request for comment. The current union contract allows the union to appeal when the police chief disciplines officers. The contract also dictates that those appeals go to an independent arbitrator, who hears those appeals in secret and makes a binding ruling. Part of the arbitrators decision on discipline is based on precedent, so he or she would be unlikely to impose severe discipline if that misconduct had been lightly punished in the past. The city would like instead to send unions discipline appeals to a public hearing, overseen by a mayoral appointee. Smith pointed out that taking the union out of the discipline process would not be unprecedented: Thats the way it works in Schenectady, New York City and in Westchester and Rockland counties, either through state or local laws. Taking the fight to the legislature could capitalize on the current moment of local and national protests fighting for a more accountable police department, she said. In Syracuse, the Peoples Agenda for Policing has issued nine demands to reduce police brutality, better fund non-police services and make the department more trustworthy and accountable. The bill introduced in the legislature last week is just the first draft, according to Magnarellis office and others. It could change as it is subject to a legal review in both houses and other procedural steps. State Sen. Rachel May also anticipates pushback from statewide unions. Thats their job, she said. But I feel like my job is to make sure that the public has every reason to trust law enforcement. This is one more way to make sure that discipline is handled in a way that is transparent and accountable. May also said she thinks the bill will have a better shot at passing because its tailored just to Syracuse and wouldnt go into effect statewide. Contact reporter Patrick Lohmann at (315)766-6670 or PLohmann@Syracuse.com. These kinds of incidents are all too common for Black and brown Hoosiers. The only difference is that this time I had a front-row seat and got to see with my own eyes exactly why so many Hoosiers are so upset with the way they are often treated by law enforcement. Trade Officials from left to right: DG of Trade Roy Mickey Joy, Finance Manager Ben Joseph and and Director of Industries Jimmy Rantes relax under historical Nabanga Tree at Longana Peoples Centre where Father Lini demonstrated meaning of Independence during colonial era By PTI AHMEDABAD: The International Space Station (ISS), the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and moon, passed some 400 kilometres over Gujarat on Tuesday night, giving people, especially in Ahmedabad and Rajkot, a glimpse of the space technology marvel. The ISS was visible as a bright dot when it emerged from the south-west horizon at 8:35 pm, and vanished some six minutes later in the opposite direction. "Due to its current path, ISS was clearly visible today for the people living in Ahmedabad and Rajkot. People in other cities of Gujarat may not have seen it this clearly mainly because the ISS did not pass directly overhead and remained at an angle," said Narottam Sahoo, an adviser with the Gujarat Council of Science and Technology (GUJCOST). "Those who have missed it on Tuesday, there is chance on Wednesday when it will be visible for six minutes, starting from 7:48 pm," said Sahoo. "This is the first time I have actually spotted it. This massive structure is testimony to mankind's engineering prowess," said Jinal Zala, assistant professor with an engineering college. Among the enthusiastic stargazers was 10-year-old Krishna Raval who said he seen videos of the ISS but was thrilled to have seen it in the sky. The ISS is a modular space station in low Earth orbit and is a collaborative effort between multiple countries. Seven years after the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the worlds largest trading bloc, the European Union, came to a grinding halt, EU official sources have again said that "conditions are not there yet to engage in formal negotiations". Even as they acknowledged that the trade relationship is "below potential", they said India and the EU are still "far apart" on an FTA. Ahead of the 15th India-EU summit on Wednesday, EU official sources said they believe India is showing a trend of moving towards the protectionist side and they were doubtful of how the "self-reliant India" (Atmanirbhar Bharat) move will play out in a trade relationship. While ruling out a limited trade deal, they stressed that the EU was looking at a far-reaching free trade agreement that is win-win and the focus shouldnt be on a "low hanging fruit". While the EU official sources said they were willing to look at a standalone investment protection agreement as an early harvest but India was not open to the idea. Indian government sources had said it is looking at an FTA and investment treaty woven into one. But EU officials said the proposal of a separate investment agreement will be taken up at the summit. Indian government sources had also indicated that since the new EU leadership assumed office a little over six months ago, the discussions on FTA have been renewed. The matter was being discussed at the highest level in India by the Prime Minister, Commerce and External Affairs ministers, said government sources. However, EU official sources indicated that India and EU were no closer to convergence. Key differences on tariff related issues, opening up the services sector and procurement market for European companies, remained. But they revealed that a high level dialogue on trade investment will be created to keep he communication going so as to narrow the gaps. Significantly, only a week ago Foreign Secretary Harshvardhan Shringla had tried to dispel concerns over the call for Atmanirbhar Bharat. He had said that the call for Atmanirbhar Bharat is not about reverting to economic isolationism. Its essential aim is to ensure Indias position as a key participant in global supply chains. Through building capacities at home, we also intend to contribute to mitigating disruptions in global markets. EU is Indias one of the largest regional trading partner while India was the EUs 9th largest trading partner in 2018-19. Indias overall bilateral trade with European Union for the period 2018-19 was $115.64 billion comprising Indias exports to EU at $57.20 billion. This is 17.33% of Indias exports. Imports of $58.43 billion which is 11.37% of Indias imports, according to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be holding a virtual meeting with the Charles Michel, President of the European Counciland Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Joseph Borrell, will also be participating. The summit had to be postponed in March when Prime Minister Modi was set to travel to Brussels due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Johnny Depp has claimed that allegations of domestic violence made by his former wife, Amber Heard, mirrored her abuse towards him. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor finished giving evidence in his libel case against The Sun on Monday after around 20 hours in the witness box over five days. It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something she had done to me, Depp said at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. He also accused Heard of throwing a haymaker punch at him during a row after her 30th birthday party, just hours after he had learned during a bad business meeting that he had lost $650m (514m). The High Court also heard Depp has a remarkable ability to not get drunk despite drinking a lot of alcohol, that cocaine simply brought him to a normal level which normal people might operate at and jokingly referred to himself as Shatter while playing the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Depp is suing the tabloids publisher, News Group Newspapers (NGN), and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article which labelled him a wife beater. His barrister David Sherborne referred to a secret recording of the former couple in San Francisco in July 2016, after they had split and Heard had obtained a restraining order against the actor. In the recording, Heard can be heard to say it was unbelievable to imagine she had either been in a secret fight club or plotting to do this for three years ... just saving it up for the right time when she was not asking for any money, adding no-one is going to believe that. Depp described Heards words as a reverse confession, adding: It seemed like everything she would accuse me of was something that she had done to me, so I started to see this kind of pattern, a mirroring, and when she said that, I was real taken aback, for sure. Mr Sherborne said Depp can also be heard saying you f***ing haymakered me, man in the recording which is said to refer to an incident after Heards 30th birthday party at the couples LA penthouse on 21 April, 2016. The actor is accused of throwing a bottle of champagne at Heard, grabbing her by the hair, and pushing her during a row, after he arrived home late for the party. Depp denies the allegations. The actor said that, at a business meeting on the day of Heards party, he was in the early stages of finding out from a new business manager that the former business managers had [taken] quite a lot of my money. Asked how much had been taken, Depp said: It was put to me this way, because I had no idea about money or amounts of money. Since Pirates [Of The Caribbean] 2 and 3, I had and this is ludicrous to have to state, its quite embarrassing apparently I had made $650m and when I sacked them, for the right reasons, I had not only lost $650m, but I was $100m (79m) in the hole because they (the previous business managers) had not paid the government my taxes for 17 years. Depp was also shown a photograph, apparently taken by his ex-wife, which showed him in August 2014 with ice cream spilled all over my leg shortly before he was due to go to the Bahamas for a detox. The actor said the picture was taken at a time when he had been working 17-hour days and was very tired, falling asleep. The court also heard evidence from Depps former personal assistant, Stephen Deuters, who alleged Heard was the abuser in the relationship. Mr Deuters, who is now European president of Depps production company, Infinitum Nihil, said that during the period in which Depp is alleged to have been abusive towards Heard, he saw her on many occasions and at no point did she ever mention any physical abuse. He told that court that he was extremely surprised and outraged when it became public that Heard had filed for a restraining order. Mr Deuters described the couples tempestuous relationship as not great, saying: I think they were two people that were in love with each other that shouldnt have been together. The front desk supervisor at Depps LA penthouse building also gave evidence that she saw no visible injuries whatsoever to Ms Heards face three days after Depp allegedly hit his ex-wife in the face with her own mobile phone on 21 May, 2016. Trinity Esparza said the first time she saw any marks on Heards face that week was on 27 May, the day the Aquaman actress appeared in court to obtain a restraining order against Depp, which disturbed Ms Esparza. Ms Esparza, who owns the company that provided concierge services at the Eastern Columbia building where Depp previously owned five apartments, said in her witness statement she saw and interacted with Ms Heard on 23 May, 24 May and 25 May with a clear and unmarked face. Sasha Wass QC, representing NGN, said to Ms Esparza: Isnt it more accurate to say you saw her earlier in the week and you didnt notice it? Ms Esparza replied: That is not accurate, I saw her very clearly. Ms Esparza also told the court that she saw a number of marks on Ms Heards body including bruises on her neck, plasters on her arm and a mark below her left eye on a day in June or July 2016, shortly after Tesla founder Elon Musk left the building at around 9am looking like he had just woken up with messy hair. Depp is suing NGN and its executive editor, Mr Wootton, over the publication of an article on 27 April 2018 with the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be genuinely happy casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film? NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Ms Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. On Tuesday, the court is due to hear evidence from Malcolm Connolly, part of Depps security team; Tara Roberts, the property manager at Depps Bahamas home; Heards assistant Savannah McMillan; and Hilda Vargas, Depps housekeeper at his LA properties. Additional reporting by Press Association Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:59:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The German government is considering travel restrictions for domestic regions affected by COVID-19 outbreaks, the head of the Chancellery Helge Braun told the German broadcaster RTL/n-tv on Tuesday. German citizens living in such regions would not be allowed to leave the country. "We are discussing this as a measure to see whether this is not, in the end, a better option than arriving at the holiday destination and then being refused," said Braun. Following a recent COVID-19 outbreak in Germany's largest meat processing company Toennies, regional restrictions on public life have been temporarily re-imposed. Several German states have imposed accommodation bans for people arriving from the affected districts. According to Braun, the government would consider asking German citizens to stay at home in case of an "unclear infection situation" in a given region so that large-scale testing could be carried out to quickly identify all infection chains. Eventually, citizens could "quickly return to normality" and at the same time COVID-19 infections would be "completely detected," added Braun. The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) has noted repeatedly that a key element in combating any pandemic is "to break the chain of infection" and that the use of the COVID-19 warning application (app) could "make an important contribution." Germany's official COVID-19 warning app has been downloaded 15.7 million times since its launch nearly four weeks ago, the RKI said on Tuesday. Enditem By Ayya Lmahamad Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has said that Armenia's provocatin on the border seriously casts doubt in the essence of the conflict settlement negotiations Mammadyarov made the remarks during phone conversation with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell on July 13. Minister informed the EU official about the attempt of the Armenian armed forces to attack the Azerbaijani- Armenian border, prevention of this military provocation and the ongoing tense situation in the region. He stressed that Armenia and its aggressive policy poses a serious threat to peace and security in the region, including major geostrategic projects in the region. In turn, Borrell stated that a representative of the EUs European External Action Service published a statement on the incident on the border between the two countries. Moreover, he called on the EU to take urgent measures to prevent tension in the region,and voiced support for the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co- Chairs and called for substantive negotiations on the conflict settlement. Four Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during the Armenian attack on the border near Azerbaijan's Tovuz district on July 12-13. Azerbaijan repelled the attack, destroying Armenian military faciliites and equipment. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz The film undeniably captures the breathtaking and unique landscape of coastal Western Australia. It's an incredibly beautiful film, but it's a challenge to emotionally connect to it. It feels like the outline of what would have been an epic novel, but in the translation to the screen, it has lost its interiority, and anything profound it might have communicated. In 2009, legendary Australian filmmaker Phillip Noyce ("Rabbit-Proof Fence") was attached to adapt the novel, but by 2014, he admitted in an interview, "I could never get a script that I thought captured the poetry of the novel, and there's the problem. A poetic novel is just difficult to translate into a movie." Therein seems to be the problem. There's something deeply lacking about this screen version of "Dirt Music," and ultimately, all that potential is sadly squandered. While the majority of New Zealanders still have deceased loved ones embalmed, there are alternatives. Embalming uses chemical preservatives, and there are various options from partial to full embalming. The NZ Embalmers Association says funeral homes keep records but there are no national statistics for rates of embalming. Spokesperson and former president, Wade Downey, says an educated guess is that around 80 to 90 percent of Kiwis are embalmed. State of Grace in Albany is one organisation that does not routinely embalm. Its co-owner, Deb Cairns, says many people come to State of Grace for that very reason. We embalm at a rate of about five percent, Deb says. She says while in some cases embalming is necessary, when there is a choice, the reasons that people reject embalming include that it is an intrusive process. The potential impact of the chemicals on the environment is also a concern. We use cooling methods to keep a body in a dignified state until the day of the funeral, Deb says. We have a walk in cool-room as the first option and for people who stay at home, we have discreet ice packs placed around the body. She says State of Grace is not anti-embalming, but just prefers more natural methods. When we do need to embalm, we are grateful to have that option. We follow the wishes of families the choice is theirs. Hibiscus Funeral Services owner, funeral director Mark Mortlock, says around half the companys clients choose to have loved ones embalmed. Another 20 percent opt for non-invasive treatments and the remainder go au naturale, he says. Natural treatments include washing with biodegradable products. Some cultures use the likes of eucalyptus oil and spices to slow the effects of decomposition, Mark says. He says more families are exploring alternative treatments and increasingly approach a funeral having done their research, with a good idea of what they want. He says reasons for not choosing embalming include that full embalming can contravene certain religious and cultural practices. Our approach to embalming is on an as needed basis. We do not insist on it and are happy to work with families to find alternative treatments. There are often good options available that better fit with their values and priorities. We are aware that every decision we make affects our environment so we evaluate our treatments to ensure there is a well-considered outcome. He says that an important thing to be aware of when using alternatives, however, is that they will usually only give an extra few days before degradation is noticeable. Brenton Faithfull, director of Faithfull Funerals in Red Beach says this is why embalming is beneficial for a positive viewing experience when there is a delay between someones death and their farewell. Embalming today is not like it was for the ancient Egyptians, where the desired outcome was preservation for thousands of years, he says. Modern embalming is to sanitise and preserve the deceased, and it can restore the natural appearance. He says only qualified personnel should carry out the process. Auckland has a shortage of qualified embalmers. Sadly, anyone can call themselves an embalmer or a funeral director for that matter. Unlike other health professionals, you are not required to be qualified, and many operators have had no formal training. The NZ Embalmers Association notes that another variation that people are choosing at the moment is not to have a funeral service at all, just transfer the body for cremation and collect the ashes later. Embalmers spokesperson Wade Downey says this is obviously not something that funeral directors wish to promote not only because of the potential impact on their businesses but also because it provides no celebration of a persons life, or a place to grieve together. How does memory training lead to cognitive benefits? Aaron Seitz, director of the Brain Game Center for mental fitness and well-being at the University of California, Riverside, has wrestled with this question for several years. Now he and Susanne Jaeggi, an associate professor at the UC Irvine School of Education; and Anja Pahor, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at UCR; are ready to address it by launching a nationwide project that seeks to engage 30,000 people in different variants of memory training through apps developed by the Brain Game Center. Results from the project can be transformative toward understanding how cognitive skills can be trained and how people may vary in their propensities for such training. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the project aims to determine for whom certain training methods work best. Many billion-dollar companies sell exercises as workouts for the brain -- a topic of controversy in the scientific community, where the effectiveness of such training is much debated. The large-scale project will contribute extensive data and may be able to resolve some of the controversies. We want to understand which training approaches lead to what types of benefits in different individuals. We are interested in exploring how individuals may have different outcomes from the same training method. We would also like to understand how and why the best approach may differ from individual to individual. We would like to know if it's possible to have something akin to personalized medicine in cognitive training where your doctor prescribes the treatment appropriate for just you." Aaron Seitz, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Riverside Pahor explained that although it is generally accepted among cognitive psychologists that memory training affects performance, the mechanisms involved remain largely elusive. "Understanding these underlying mechanisms can shed light on why some studies benefit brain training while others fail," she said. "Understanding how our memory systems work and the mechanisms that guide learning can be applied broadly in society. Our acquisition of knowledge in the world intimately relies on memory processes. Improvements in memory can, therefore, benefit almost all aspects of our lives." Participation in the study is free and requires a commitment of a few weeks. Participants will play a memory training program, complete a few cognitive tests, and fill out brief questionnaires anonymously. Data is downloaded into a server at UCR. Participants can complete all sessions at home using their tablets or smartphones. They may drop out at any time. Each session lasts 20-30 minutes. Participants are asked to complete two sessions a day and at least 10 sessions a week. Prizes can be won at weekly giveaways that will be hosted by the Brain Game Center. Participants have a chance to win an iPad in a monthly giveaway. To participate in the project, people can sign up here, where additional information about the study can be found. Jaeggi, who directs the UCI School of Education's Working Memory and Plasticity Laboratory at UCI acknowledged that many in the scientific community remain skeptical that memory training works. "If we fail to find any consistent evidence that the interventions work in 30,000 people, then that also is an important finding," she said. "We would save money and time for people who currently engage in brain training. It needs to be stressed that our project is not trying to prove anything; we are trying simply to get clarity. What our project can do is shed light on the factors that mediate and moderate these types of cognitive interventions and address the extent to which some procedures may, and others may not, lead to improvements in real world cognition." The only university-based research center focused on research of brain training games, the UCR Brain Game Center researches, tests, and disseminates evidence-based, scientifically optimized brain fitness games that assist people in real-life activities. The center's interdisciplinary team includes psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, medical experts, programmers, and artists. The UCI School of Education's Working Memory and Plasticity Lab takes an interdisciplinary approach to investigate individual differences in higher cognitive functions across the lifespan. A large part of the work focuses on the development of cognitive interventions and the investigation of whether, how, and for whom those interventions generalize to non-trained cognitive domains. Argentina is trying to solve a medical mystery after 57 sailors were infected with the coronavirus after 35 days at sea, despite the entire crew testing negative before leaving port. The Echizen Maru fishing trawler returned to port after some of its crew began exhibiting symptoms typical of COVID-19, the health ministry for the southern Tierra del Fuego province said Monday. According to the ministry, 57 sailors, out of 61 crew members, were diagnosed with the virus after undergoing a new test. However, all of the crew members had undergone 14 days of mandatory quarantine at a hotel in the city of Ushuaia. Prior to that, they had negative results, the ministry said in a statement. Two of the other sailors have tested negative, and two others are awaiting test results, the province's emergency operations committee said. Two sailors were hospitalized. "It's hard to establish how this crew was infected, considering that for 35 days, they had no contact with dry land and that supplies were only brought in from the port of Ushuaia," said Alejandra Alfaro, the director of primary health care in Tierra del Fuego. A team was examining "the chronology of symptoms in the crew to establish the chronology of contagion," she said. The head of the infectious diseases department at Ushuaia Regional Hospital, Leandro Ballatore, said he believed this is a "case that escapes all description in publications, because an incubation period this long has not been described anywhere." "We cannot yet explain how the symptoms appeared," said Ballatore. The crew was placed in isolation on board the ship and returned to the port of Ushuaia. Argentina exceeded 100,000 total cases on Sunday, and the death toll rose to 1,859. The majority of infections are in the Buenos Aires area. While robotic short-order cooks have been in development for a few years, their use in actual customer-facing businesses has been largely restricted to either independent or gimmick restaurants. But that changes today as Miso Robotics, maker of Flippy, and White Castle, maker of sliders, announce an Indiana-based pilot program that could one day see burger-flipping robots slinging patties and dunking fries all across the country. The industry is facing some real, fundamental challenges, Buck Jordan, Miso Robotics CEO and Co-founder, told Engadget. There's labor challenges due to self-sufficiency in kitchens, there's been a massive increase of delivery and now, of course, shifting consumer preferences towards low-touch establishments. These are all challenges that can be solved through automation. Flippy When we started to look to the future in the kitchen, we didn't want to wait, White Castle VP Jamie Richardson added. Weve been around for 99 years as a family-owned business and we just saw Miso as a great partner. We've been around for generations but were a smaller family-owned business that doesn't want to fall behind and this [partnership] gives us the chance to do what's best for our team members and best for our customers. The two companies have been collaborating for about a year to integrate Flippys ROAR (Robot on a Rail) system into White Castles existing kitchen layouts and workflows. The robotic arm will, as its name implies, ride an overhead rail in front of the griddle flat top and oil fryer using the restaurants existing equipment. But before Flippy can be installed in White Castles 365 restaurants nationwide, itll have to prove its cooking skills, especially how well it can handle the fryer. What we've seen over the years is that in the restaurant world, every day is different, and it's always a combination of art and science in terms of how operations run, Richardson said, noting that a large portion of White Castles menu spends time submerged in hot oil. I think for us we see this opportunity as the chance to really devote resources to the science side of things. Additionally, White Castle hopes that Flippys assistance can help its staff reduce food waste and shorten the time customers spend waiting for their food to arrive. Story continues Should Flippy prove itself capable of its new job, Jordan hopes to further expand the robots capabilities. The next thing that we're considering is pressure frying, which is different from open bay frying, he explained. We're also considering getting into assembly and prep, especially with the dark kitchen phenomenon out there. white castle We believe that robotic arms have the flexibility that you just need in the kitchen. As White Castle changes their menu, they're going to need different prep, Jordan continued. We're not going to build a brand new machine, so for us, it kind of devolves cooking into a software problem. Flippys introduction will not adversely impact the job prospects of White Castle employees, Richardson noted. We absolutely believe by having Flippy join the team that it's actually going to free our team up to focus more on what we'd call our heart for hospitality, he said. Having the robot handle the tedious grunt work of food prep will free up employees to focus on higher-level tasks like order logistics and customer service. The Flippy system is expected to be up and running by September at one White Castle-selected location. By Trend Murder of an Azerbaijani civilian by the Armenian armed forces is a bloody crime, Trend reports with reference to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Aghdam village resident Aziz Azizov was killed July 14, 2020 as a result of an attack of Armenia's armed forces. Azizov was killed as a result of artillery fire by the Armenian armed forces. "Targeting Azerbaijani civilians with heavy guns is a clear proof of fascism and barbarism. This is part of the occupation policy of Armenia. The Armenian side has purposefully killed Azerbaijani civilians before, thus committing acts of crime against humanity," Azerbaijani MFA said. The MFA added that 613 civilians killed with particular cruelty, including children living along the contact line of the troops in Khojaly on February 26, 1992, as well as six killed and 33 wounded civilians during the April battles of 2016 are innocent victims of Armenian aggression. "Along with the fact that the Armenian armed forces constantly shell settlements with heavy guns, they cause serious damage to the economy and property of the population, as well as the infrastructure of settlements. By such actions, Armenia grossly violates international law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions," the MFA said. Azerbaijani MFA calls on the international community to react harshly to the fact of Armenian armed units' shelling peaceful Azerbaijani population and the turning of Azerbaijani civilians into victims of bloody crimes, as well as to condemn these illegal actions of Armenia. "The responsibility for the murder of Azerbaijani civilian lies on the political and military leadership of Armenia," the MFA said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Some 20 leaders released in apparent bid by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to calm the deadly unrest. Malian authorities have freed some 20 political opponents arrested by the security forces during a wave of deadly protests calling for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to resign. Their release on Monday is an apparent bid by Keita to calm tensions sparked by the outcome of a long-delayed parliamentary poll, but whose underlying causes include discontent over his handling of armed groups in Mali. The 75-year-old has been in power since 2013. Malis capital Bamako remains tense after a rally on Friday turned violent, with security forces reportedly firing live rounds and tear gas to disperse protesters, who blocked bridges, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster, and attacked the parliament building. At least 11 people have died, and nearly 150 others have been wounded since Friday, according to a hospital official in Bamako, where the clashes continued over the weekend and Monday, with much of the tension focused in the opposition-supporting Badalabougou neighbourhood. The well-off neighbourhood is a stronghold of influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, who has emerged as a leader of the worst civil unrest the country has seen in years. The demonstrations are being driven by the M5-RFP, a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members calling for civil disobedience, including non-payment of fines and blocking entry to state buildings. On Monday, the M5-RFP said 20 people had been killed since Friday, but Malis health ministry confirmed 11 deaths. The M5-RFP has rejected concessions offered by Keita as insufficient, including his offer to dissolve the constitutional court. Mondays clashes came after the UN mission in Mali, the African Union, West African regional bloc ECOWAS and the EU jointly criticised Malian authorities for their response to the protests. The organisations condemn the use of lethal force in the context of maintaining public order and invite all stakeholders to exercise restraint, they said in a statement late on Sunday. The former French colony has struggled to contain an armed rebellion 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. Albany, N.Y. Starting Tuesday, New York will station enforcement teams at airports statewide to help ensure compliance with the states coronavirus quarantine policy. The teams will meet arriving flights and greet passengers from states on New Yorks quarantine list. The teams will ask for proof that those passengers completed a new, mandatory form Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced earlier on Monday. Cuomo said the form will gather travelers contact information, where theyre coming from and where theyre going. If travelers dont give authorities the form before leaving the airport, theyll face a $2,000 fine and a court summons, Cuomo said. Airports in Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Westchester County and Long Island will have enforcement teams on site daily to meet flights from states on New Yorks current quarantine list. Elmira, Ogdensburg and Plattsburgh airports will have teams on site when needed. Airports will set up a designated enforcement area for the teams to ensure people line up properly and stay far enough apart, Cuomos office said. New Yorks quarantine list currently includes 19 states where the coronavirus is still spreading rapidly. Travelers from the states on the list must self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving. Cuomo said some travelers havent been following the rule, which led to todays enforcement actions. The governor has said repeatedly hes concerned surges in the virus in other states could harm New Yorks progress against the pandemic. Enforcement teams in Syracuse and other Upstate New York cities will include state Department of Health peace officers and staff supported by New York State Police personnel, according to Cuomos office. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police will staff enforcement teams for airports run by the authority. Airlines will hand out the new form Cuomo announced today and it is available online. Airlines have agreed to let passengers know about the form and quarantine rule through pre-flight emails and announcements during and before flights. Travelers arriving in New York from states on the quarantine list by other methods, including trains and cars, must also fill out the form and complete the quarantine. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Out-of-state travelers must tell NY authorities where they came from or face fine, Cuomo says Cuomo: New York schools will reopen based on a formula similar to economic reopening Whats the greatest health risk in coronavirus era: Kids at school or at home? Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 Dr. Mira Bajirova calls on humanity to repent to Allah to remove the evil jinn and grant them a blissful life of paradise DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- In her previous publication titled Disease is an Expiation of the Sins, Dr. Mira Bajirova explains that the diseases inflicted to humanity are the result of Decreased Oxygen Utilization and the Evil Jinn. The Ultimate Cure from all diseases is the Ruqya, Negative Ions and Prophetic Medicine. She continues to expound about this evil jinn in The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases (published by Partridge Singapore). In this book, Bajirova tells that the coronavirus is a jinn (demonic) possession due to humanitys sins. It serves as a wake-up call for all the disbelievers to repent to Allah before it is too late because He is the only Who can forgive all the sinners, remove the evil jinn and grant them a blissful life of paradise if they will only obey Him. One thousand four hundred years ago, Almighty God sent down the Noble Quran and Prophetic Medicine for all mankind as a cure for all diseases but medicine went astray, ignoring the Divine cure. Instead of healing, it is harming and killing. This is what happens when humanity do not follow our Creator Who knows what is best for them, Bajirova says. People should know that the coronavirus was sent because of humanitys sins. Sins should be stopped and people should repent to Allah, for their own benefits and salvation from the hellfire. The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases aims to remind readers that the end of the world is approaching and on judgment day, Allah will judge humanity by the Quran, Sunnah and their deeds. They should obey Allah and His Messenger and stop sinning, Bajirova adds. For more details about the book, please visit https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Cure-Coronavirus-Widespread-Diseases/dp/1543757677 The Divine Cure of Coronavirus and Widespread Diseases Story continues By Dr Mira Bajirova Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757682 Softcover | 6 x 9in | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757675 E-Book | 360 pages | ISBN 9781543757699 Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble About the Author Dr Mira Bajirova is an associate professor, consultant OB-GYN, IVF from Paris. She has obtained 14 university diplomas and certificates. She received the Women Achievers Award 2018. She published the book Infertility Caused by Decreased Oxygen Utilization and Jinn (Demon). She is an international speaker and worked in many countries. Partridge Publishing, an imprint of Author Solutions, LLC, aims to help writers in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Southern Africa become published authors. Partridge gives authors in these region direct access to a comprehensive range of expert publishing services that meet industry standards but are more accessible to the market. For more information or to publish a book, visit www.partridgepublishing.com or call 800 101 2657 (Singapore), 1 800 81 7340 (Malaysia), +44 20 3014 3997 (Africa) or 000.800.10062.62 (India). Attachment CONTACT: Marketing Services Partridge Singapore pressreleases.singapore@partridgepublishing.com Luc Trieu Vy is suspected to work as a pimp in a high-class prostitution ring in HCM City. - VNA/VNS Photo Three women and a man have been arrested after raids at a hotel in Ben Nghe Ward and an apartment in District 7. They include 27-year-old man, Luc Trieu Vy, from Da Nang who is suspected of being a pimp to the women. The detained women told police they would go to hotels to service wealthy businessmen for between $18,000 and $30,000 a time. They also told police they were instructed to go to their appointments by Vy and that they had taken part in beauty pageants in both Vietnam and overseas. Under Vietnamese law, sex workers are issued warnings and fined VND100,000-300,000 ($4.3-13), while pimps and sex ring organisers can face jail terms. Crime Police Department under the Public Security Ministry is continuing the investigations. By PTI NEW DELHI: Writer-director duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have come on board to direct the new Netflix drama "Soil". The Moroccan-Belgian directors, who recently directed the Hollywood blockbuster "Bad Boys for Life", are currently shooting the series, which revolves around a mortuary, in Brussels, Belgium. "For us Muslims, from where we are, we bury our people into the holy ground in Morocco. This series is about a mortuary. One of the guys in the mortuary has a genius idea of taking the soil from Morocco to Belgium, so that the people in Belgium can be buried in the Moroccan soil," Fallah told PTI in an interview over a Zoom call. Thousands of Muslims from Morocco moved to Belgium when the government in Brussels in 1960s invited workers to move to the European country to take jobs in factories and mines. El Arbi said the burial of the dead is a bone of contention between the older and younger generations, which gave birth to the story. "The old and new generations in families have a lot of conflict - where one wants to bring their dead back to the country of origin and the other wants them buried in Belgium so that they can visit their grave in the country of current stay," the director added. The lockdown in Belgium has eased for the past two months and El Arbi said the cast and screw were following the rules to keep everything "as healthy and safe as possible". "The actors don't wear masks as there are no intimate scenes or crowd scenes. People do have to be close to each other as they play family members. But the whole crew wears masks and there is hand gel everywhere," he said. The director said adhering to safety and hygiene standards makes the process of filmmaking "slower and difficult", but it's always safety first. "It's a different way of working. You work with less people, things take more time because you have to be certain of hygiene. You don't want to shut down production if somebody is sick. Until there's a vaccine for everybody, that's going to be the way to go. Certain movies or shows like ours will be easier to make than others. You have to rethink everything and how to make movies again," El Arbi added. "Bad Boys for Life", starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, will have its Indian television premiere on July 26 at 1 pm and 8 pm only on &flix SD and HD. Irish police found a man strapped to a crucifix having his bare bottom whipped as masked customers watched during a raid on a sadomasochism club in Dublin, a court has been told. Liam Grant, landlord at the property in Baggot Street, Dublin began court proceedings against Hilda Conway this week at the city's circuit court for breaching legal undertakings and agreements. He accuses her of using the premises as an underground brothel and sadomasochistic club. During this week's proceedings, Mr Grant revealed how during an earlier police raid in October 2019, during a so-called 'Blasphemy Event', a Garda Inspector recalled seeing a man having his bare bottom whipped while tied to a crucifix in a room-full of customers. The inspector added that there were a group of voyeurs wearing masks and holding whips, watching the show. Pictured: Advertising material from Bronze Gentleman's Club, the location of the alleged sadomasochism club, shows a model wearing a mask. Landlord Liam Grant said he was disgusted to discover his basement property was being used for fetish shows Pictured: An interior view of the Bronze Gentleman's Club in Dublin. Gardai found a naked man on crucifix being whipped there last year Pictured: Advertising material from Bronze Gentleman's Club. Mr Grant told Dublin Circuit Court this week that a police officer discovered a man strapped to a crucifix having his bare bottom whipped during a raid on the premises in 2019 Grant was also advised that sexual activity had been taking place in one of the back rooms. The landlord told the Irish Sun about the disgust he felt upon finding what his premises were being used for. He said: 'There were these events when you go along and there were guys on crosses... 'The lease we have with her said she can operate as a restaurant and nightclub. That was it. 'And we discovered they had removed the kitchen from the premises and converted that into a second room.' 'But she certainly has no right to let it operate as lap-dancing or for all these other sexual things going on,' he added. Pictured: An exterior view of 127 Baggot Street, where the alleged sadomasochism club is. Liam Grant has accused Hilda Conway of using the premises as a brothel and fetish club Past adverts from 2017 seen by the MailOnline show images of scantily clad women holding masks and wearing leather lingerie, posing in front of plush decor. More recently, the Bronze gentleman's club is being marketed as a cocktail lounge. Mr Grant told the Sun that he issued proceedings to evict Conway two years ago after discovering that the premises were being used as a lap-dancing club. He added that there were reports of prostitution and some of the girls were quoting prices for sex on the premises. The landlord asked the court to have her evicted and he was told the prostitution had stopped. 'Some months later,' Grant said, 'we discovered they were operating completely differently sadomasochism.' 'We then continued the proceedings to have her evicted. It has been awful to deal with.' Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, vaccines will be hoarded by rich countries in an unseemly race to inoculate their populations first. After the recent uproar over the United States purchasing a large amount of a new Covid-19 drug, some predict an even more disturbing scenario if a successful vaccine is developed. Dozens of vaccines are being researched, and some countries including Britain, France, Germany and the US already have ordered hundreds of millions of doses before the vaccines are even proven to work. While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones cant afford to place such speculative bets at all. The key initiative to help them is led by Gavi, a public-private partnership started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that buys vaccines for about 60% of the worlds children. In a document sent to potential donors last month, Gavi said those giving money to its new Covax Facility would have the opportunity to benefit from a larger portfolio of Covid-19 vaccines. Gavi told donor governments that when an effective vaccine is found within its pool of experimental shots, those countries would receive doses for 20% of their population. Those shots could be used as each nation wished. That means rich countries can sign deals on their own with drugmakers and then also get no-strings-attached allocations from Gavi. The donor countries are encouraged (but not required) to donate vaccines if they have more than they need, the document says. By giving rich countries this backup plan, theyre getting their cake and eating it too, said Anna Marriott of Oxfam International. They may end up buying up all the supply in advance, which then limits what Gavi can distribute to the rest of the world. Dr. Seth Berkley, Gavis CEO, said such criticisms were unhelpful. Right now theres no vaccine for anyone, he said, and were trying to solve that problem. Berkley said Gavi needed to make investing in a global vaccine initiative attractive for rich countries. Gavi would try to persuade those countries that if they ordered vaccines already, they should not attempt to obtain more, he said. But he acknowledged there was no enforcement mechanism. If, at the end of the day, those legal agreements are broken or countries seize assets or dont allow the provision of vaccines (to developing countries), thats a problem, Berkley said. Gavi asked countries for an expression of intent from those interested in joining its initiative by last Friday. It had expected about four dozen high and middle income countries to sign up, in addition to nearly 90 developing countries. Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is working with Gavi and others, said they would be talking in the coming weeks with countries who had signed deals with drug companies to secure their own supplies. One possibility: They might ask countries to contribute their private vaccine stockpile to the global pool in exchange for access to whichever experimental candidate proves effective. Well have to find a solution because some of these arrangements have been made and I think we have to be pragmatic about it, he said. After a vaccine meeting last month, the African Union said governments should remove all obstacles to equal distribution of any successful vaccine. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said Gavi should be pushing hard on convincing companies to suspend their intellectual property rights. We dont want to find ourselves in the HIV drugs situation, he said, noting that the life-saving drugs were available in developed countries years before they made it to Africa. Shabhir Mahdi, principal investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial in South Africa, said it was up to African governments to push for more vaccine-sharing initiatives, rather than depending on pharmaceutical companies to make their products more accessible. If you expect it to be the responsibility of industry, you would never get a vaccine onto the African continent, Mahdi said. Last month, Gavi and CEPI signed a $750 million deal with AstraZeneca to give developing countries 300 million doses of a shot being developed by Oxford University. But that deal happened after the drug company had already signed contracts with Britain and the US, who are first in line to get vaccine deliveries in the fall. We are working tirelessly to honor our commitment to ensure broad and equitable access to Oxfords vaccine across the globe and at no profit, said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. He said its contract with Gavi and CEPI marked an important step in helping us supply hundreds of millions of people around the world, including to those in countries with the lowest means. Chinese President Xi Jinping has also vowed to share any Covid-19 vaccine it develops with African countries but only once immunization has been completed in China. The World Health Organization has previously said it hopes to secure 2 billion doses for people in lower-income countries by the end of 2021, including through initiatives like Gavis. About 85% of the worlds 7.8 billion people live in developing countries. Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said Gavi should try to extract more concessions from pharmaceutical companies, including compelling them to suspend patents on the vaccines. Gavi is in a very delicate position because theyre completely reliant on the goodwill of drug companies, said Elder. She said the system of how vaccines are provided to developing countries needed to be overhauled so that it wasnt based on charity, but on public health need. Were just having our governments write these blank checks to industry with no conditions attached right now, she said. Isnt now the time to actually hold them to account and demand we as the public, get more for it? Yannis Natsis, a policy official at the European Public Health Alliance, said the last thing on the minds of officials in rich countries is sharing with poor ones. Politicians are scared if they dont throw money at companies, the citizens in the next country over will get the vaccines first and they will look very bad, Natsis said. Online Learning Rice Opening Individual Online Courses to Visiting Students A new program at Rice University gives students outside the institution a chance to take select online courses for credit. The Rice Online Visiting Owls program is open to high school juniors and seniors as well as visiting undergraduates. "The program is built for students who are ready to undertake the rigors of credit-bearing undergraduate online study at Rice," said Caroline Levander, vice president of global and digital strategy at Rice, in a statement. "The program can help serious-minded students from across the country looking not only to get ahead in their studies but to expand and diversify their learning environment." Course offerings include Organic Chemistry, Single Variable Calculus, Fundamentals of Computer Engineering, General Physics, Introduction to American Politics and Multiracial America, among others. Students can attend live course sessions synchronously or view recorded sessions on their own. The courses are credit-bearing, but not a means of entering a Rice degree program. Students can also take classes without earning credit by attending as a "visiting auditor." For more information, visit the Rice site. Four Victorians have been arrested in Adelaide after being discovered stowed away on an interstate freight train, in scenes described as similar to a Hollywood film. The Adelaide inbound interstate freight train left Melbourne at 10.30pm on Monday, heading towards Perth. But the stowaways were spotted when the train stopped at Adelaide Freight Terminal at Regency Park on Tuesday, and police were called. Police dogs Axe and Zac were sent onto the train and located the fleeing four suspects. The four men, aged 22, 26, 29 and 29, had no fixed addresses but were believed to be from Victoria. Troops are seen at Woodside Barracks in South Australia on Saturday (pictured) after being drafted in to help monitor the closed border with Victoria The Adelaide inbound interstate freight train left Melbourne at 10.30pm on Monday, heading towards Perth (stock) Victorians have been banned from travelling interstate as COVID-19 cases continued to climb in Melbourne. The state recorded 270 cases on Tuesday, the second highest daily total since the pandemic began, as well as two deaths - a man and woman in their 80s. All of metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire in the state's north were placed under strict stage 3 restrictions for six weeks as the government battled to manage the killer disease. The stowaways were all charged with breaching COVID-19 directions and were refused police bail. The men were scheduled to front Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Two police dogs, Axe and Zac, hopped onto the train and located the fleeing four suspects on the freight trains (stock) This is not the first time Victorians have been caught trying to flee to South Australia, with two other men turned away at the Bordertown check point earlier this month. They were each fined $1,000 on the spot and charged with breaching border conditions. Last month, a truck driver allegedly spat and assaulted a police officer at a border crossing in southeast South Australia. The 63-year-old Victorian was stopped at the Hynam checkpoint about 10am on June 4. He allegedly became abusive when officers questioned him which led to his arrest. He was charged with aggravated assault to police, resisting police and using offensive language. The driver appeared in the Mount Gambier Magistrates Court on June 15. New Delhi, July 14 : On July 8 a group of officers from the Delhi Police special cell were taking positions in a crowded market in Siliguri, West Bengal. For the team it was a golden opportunity to nab one of the 'most wanted' criminals. Sandeep Dhillon, who was involved in 22 cases of murder, extortion, dacoity and robbery, had escaped from the police custody in February 2018 when he was brought for a dental checkup at the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital in Delhi. His associates threw chilly powder in the eyes of the cops escorting him and took Dhillon away. The police arrested him in Siliguri after he was identified in the market. While Dhillon's name was struck off from the 'wanted' list, the Delhi Police, according to sources, is on the look out for others who are either on the run or have gone underground. "We are in the process of updating the 'most wanted' list. Many who figured in the list have been arrested," said a senior Delhi Police officer. After the Vikas Dubey episode, the police of several states have intensified efforts to flush out hardened criminals from their hideouts. Dubey and his gang slaughtered 8 policemen in Bikru village of Kanpur. A hot chase to nab the gangster, who had gone underground after the crime, forced him to surface at a temple in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. He was later gunned down in an encounter in Kanpur, UP, after he allegedly tried to flee. Earlier, Jitender Maan alias Gogi (29), one of the most-wanted gangsters of Delhi, who carried Rs 6.5 lakh bounty on his head, was arrested by the Delhi Police along with his three accomplices from Gurugram in March. The Delhi Police claim to have recently unearthed extortion rackets, being operated from Tihar Jail. In the recent shoot-outs in Delhi, over a dozen criminals have been incapacitated. According to the Delhi Police, 8 kidnappings for ransom were reported up to June 15 against 7 during the year-ago period. A total of 236 cases of attempt to murder were reported during the same period against 218 last year. 2,612 cases of snatching and 2,436 heinous crime cases have been recorded during the period. Seven of the 12 fire districts that dot St. Tammany Parish are considering rolling their millages forward, a move that will bring them more money but prompted a recent grilling by the St. Tammany Parish Council. The council spent two hours Thursday questioning fire chiefs about their plans with some council members noting that some taxpayers are struggling financially due to coronavirus and Council Chairman Mike Lorino telling the chiefs that rolling millages forward is tantamount to hiking taxes without voter approval. Taxing bodies are required to roll back their millage rates when overall property values increase in order to keep the amount of money they receive the same as in the previous year. But with a two-thirds majority vote, the governing bodies, in this case fire district boards, can roll their millage rates forward to the rate approved initially approved by voters. The seven fire districts considering the roll forward will hold public hearings this month. Lorino asked the fire district officials to attend Thursdays council meeting to justify their proposals, particularly St. Tammany Fire Protection District No. 1, which serves Slidell and the surrounding area and levies a 35-mill property tax, and St. Tammany Fire Protection District NO. 4, which serves Mandeville and the area around it and levies a 26-mill tax. Lorino said he could not support the Mandeville districts plans to roll the millage forward in order to build two new fire stations because in 2018 voters had rejected a $75 parcel fee for that purpose. He also compared the roll-forward to a 2016 vote by the Parish Council to levy a three-quarter-cent sales tax in six economic development districts across the parish without putting the measures on a ballot. The council ended up repealing the taxes amid intense pressure from the business community and taxpayers. He called that a valuable lesson. But fire officials defended their plans, noting that voters had approved their millages. Their expenses, particularly pension obligations, continue to increase, they said. And while the parishs tax base has grown, so have demands on their services. Everybody should know, if you roll up the mills, people are going to pay more taxes, Lorino said. Im receiving phone calls, Why are you allowing this to happen? Because the parishs tax base is growing, all of the fire districts will get some additional revenue even if they dont roll their millages forward, St. Tammany Parish Assessor Louis Fitzmorris said. Fire District 1 will get an additional $931,147 even if it rolls its millage rate back to 33.65 mills. Rolling the millage forward to the full 35 mills approved by voters will mean an additional $856,360 on top of that. Fire District 4 will get an additional $825,428 if it rolls back to 24.7 million but would get even more, an additional $790,848, by rolling forward to the maximum 26 mills. Fire District 1 Chairman Dan Crowley said both sides of the equation need to be considered. The districts most recent fire rating improvement will save homeowners an average of $68 in insurance costs annually, he said. By contrast, 1 mill costs the same homeowner an additional $13 per year. District 1 Fire Chief Chris Kaufmann said the district has rolled back its millage seven times, adding that firefighters have remained on the job through the pandemic. Bill Dobson, chairman of Fire District 4, said the two additional stations are long overdue and response times have become longer in some areas of the district. I cant recommend to my board that we kick the can down the road, he said. St. Tammany top stories in your inbox A weekly guide to the biggest news in St. Tammany. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up Councilman Rykert Toledano asked District 4 officials about spending cuts and the districts budget reserves. Fire Chief Kenneth Moore said that when he arrived in 2014, the district had been living off reserves to maintain the budget. He said he made substantial cuts but a large portion of the budget is payroll. Toledano asked if the district had laid off anyone. No, Moore replied, but were shorter. The people are saying they dont want any more taxes, Toledano said. Im imploring you to defer youll be losing nothing but time or do a partial rollback. Its a gesture to say, were in this boat together. Moore said that the fire district has worked with the parish and will continue to do so. Your tax that didnt pass? I voted for it, every single time, he said, referring to a pair of sales taxes to fund the jail and courthouse that voters rejected three times. Two business groups also weighed in with statements in opposition to rolling millages forward, the Northshore Business Council and the St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce. The fire district hearings will be held over the next two weeks at the Parish Council chambers. Tuesday: Fire District 5, 8 p.m. Wednesday: Fire District 3, 6 p.m.; Fire District 9, 7 p.m. Thursday: Fire District 12, 6 p.m.; Fire District 4, 7 p.m. July 21: Fire District 1, 8 p.m. July 22: Fire District 6, 6 p.m. This story was altered on July 14, 2020 to correct the figure Fire District 1 will get if the millage is rolled up. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, July 15 2020 The governments plan to release COVID-19 patients personal data for preventive measures has received a lukewarm response, with a public policy expert calling it worrisome and unnecessary. Personal health data is a very sensitive data that should the government release one patients data, it might lead to him or her being subject to discrimination by the rest of society, Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM) deputy director Wahyudi Djafar told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. He was referring to a plan by the national COVID-19 task force to release patients personal data in an effort to encourage adherence to health protocols in affected areas. Task force chief and National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) head Doni Monardo said such data would only be made available to people living in the patients neighborhoods. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login More politicians may be targeted if US continues to smear Photo: Global Times "Symbolic" US sanctions against several Chinese officials over Xinjiang-related issues may be harmless, but China's countermeasures directed at some of the US' most "rancorous" China hawk senators will "rain pain" upon them, Chinese experts said after China announced sanctions against certain US officials, including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and warned that more US officials may be targeted by further countermeasures if the wrestle continues. As Washington has now descended into a "morbid and bottomless" struggle to contain a rising China, Chinese observers noted that the targeted sanctions China announced signals Beijing is fully prepared for the further floundering of China-US ties; and although China hopes for the best that bilateral ties will evolve, China is still preparing for the worst to come. Targeted countermeasures unveiled China's Foreign Ministry on Monday announced sanctions against the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel Brownback, US Senators Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Republican Chris Smith, following the US' sanctions on several Chinese officials over Xinjiang-related issues. Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made the announcement at Monday's routine media briefing. Hua said that China will impose reciprocal sanctions on the mentioned commission and four US individuals effective immediately in response to the US sanctions on one Xinjiang regional government department and four Chinese officials. The US' actions seriously interfered with China's internal affairs, violated basic norms governing international relations and seriously damaged China-US relations, and China firmly opposes and strongly condemns them, Hua said. The move came three days after the US sanctioned Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang. Sanctioning such US figures can be considered a "precise targeting" strategy from China as Rubio and Cruz are among the most active China hawks in the US Congress, and precise retaliation measures against them demonstrate China's strong determination to guard against foreign interference over its domestic affairs, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday. The US sanctions do not have any meaningful impact upon China, but it shows a malicious attitude toward China, therefore, China decided to launch peer-to-peer countermeasures, said Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. But China's sanctions will have a larger impact on US officials, Lu told the Global Times on Monday. For example, Marco Rubio, a US Senator from Florida, will face pressure regarding reelection two years from now as Florida has close contacts with China in terms of culture, trade, education and technology. Florida has established several sister city agreements with China. Meanwhile, China is Florida's 11th-largest export market and largest source of imports. According to the US Department of Commerce, Florida exported goods worth $1.36 billion to China and imported about $12.2 billion from China in 2019. Investment from Chinese enterprises in Florida is at its initial stage. Although the scale of investment is not large at present, increasingly more Chinese enterprises are showing strong interest in Florida and actively seek development opportunities in the US state. Florida also attaches great importance to Chinese language teaching. More than 50 primary and secondary schools in the state offer Chinese language courses or programs. Similar pressure will also be imposed on Ted Cruz, the junior US Senator for Texas. "Restricting visas and freezing properties are usually two tactics for sanctions. Such tactics could affect US officials more under the revolving door mechanism, as they would have to engage in business someday in the future," Lu said. The revolving door mechanism, which has long existed in the West, most notably in the US, allows for the movement of people from the government to the private or academic sectors and back again. Diao Daming, an associate professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday that the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China was among the most rancorous organizations formed against China on issues over Xinjiang and other religious topics. For example, it once held a hearing in 2018 over Rebiya Kadeer, a separatist from Xinjiang who now resides in the US. Sanctions against this organization will be mainly imposed via visa restrictions or entry permission of personnel related to this organization. Also Chinese authorities will strictly scrutinize the organization's request of assistance to any Chinese institute. Lu predicted that if the US continues to smear China and impose sanctions against China to interfere in its internal affairs, more US officials might be listed for retaliation such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and David Stilwell, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Photo taken on March 13, 2018, shows U.S. Senator Marco Rubio speaking during a press conference in Washington DC, the United States. Xinhua file photo 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst' In recent years, the Trump administration has shot a firestorm of measures to smear and attack China over issues regarding China's Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Apart from issuing various bills and sanction measures, it has also harnessed the power of media, and other platforms as well, to fabricate rumors to smear China's effort in managing these regions. On Sunday, the US embassy and consulates in China claimed "many products made in China are made by slave labor," and asked businesses to check their supply chains to ensure they are not profiting from "China's human rights abuses against Uygurs in Xinjiang" in a tweet on Sunday. But the tweet soon drew ridicule and angry backlash from netizens after the US embassy posted an apparently photoshopped clothes tag that read "made by slave labor in China." Many netizens at home and abroad ridiculed the US, saying it has been dedicated to smearing China and selectively forgetting its brutality toward Native Americans while groundlessly accusing other countries of human rights abuses. "We used to believe that the US domestically had a self-correction system, that when China-US relations turn sour, they will do whatever they can to push out of a situation," said Li Haidong. He noted when increasingly more politicians such as Cruz and Rubioemerge within the US political circle, the US will further slide into a morbid and even bottomless struggle against China. Both Cruz and Rubio hold deep grudges against Communist governments because of their family origins and they try to stand firmly against China to win over political capital. Diao said that the slew of hostile measures toward China cannot be seen as an "irrational eruption" of anti-China attitudes in the US or a usual tactic to hype up the "China threat theory" before election, but more so the US' enhancing antagonism to contain a rising China. "Right now China needs to formulate directives to deal with long-term US challenges, instead of playing along with the latter every time it exerts blows," Diao said. For tactics against the US, China is hoping the best but preparing for the worst, Diao told the Global Times on Monday. He noted that coupled with China's rapid growth, the country is gradually taking initiative to forming relations with Washington, rather than sitting idly by and waiting for the latter to swing its punches. Coronavirus is spreading in the Damascus countryside, as two judges and two legal assistants tests positive, and re-imposing the lockdown is considered writes Sowt Al-Asima. On Sunday, the Ministry of Justice in the Syrian regime government announced four coronavirus infections among judges and legal assistants in the Palace of Justice in Damascus. The Ministry said in a statement that two of the judges who work in the Palace of Justice were infected with the coronavirus, as well as two legal assistants, who were placed under surveillance. The statement did not mention their health status or if they had been quarantined. In light of the events, the Ministry instructed the judges in the Palace to wear rubber masks and not to hold stationery, in addition to sterilizing offices and processing requests submitted by lawyers and citizens while taking precautions, and to keep a distance of one meter when interacting with anyone. Coronavirus infection rates have increased, according to official statements, to 417, while the number of deaths reached 19, and those recovering, 136. Private sources revealed to Sowt Al-Asima information about discussions held two days ago by the Syrian government, with the governmental team in charge of taking coronavirus-related decisions in Syria. Discussions revolved around re-imposing a partial lockdown on all governorates under the control of the Syrian regime, especially the Damascus countryside, where more than 70 infections have been recorded since the beginning of July. The private sources confirmed to Sowt Al-Asima the spread of the virus among members of the leadership of the Damascus countryside branch of the Baath Party this month. The Damascus Rural Health Directorate transferred a member of the leadership of the Damascus countryside Baath party and the head of its economic office, Essam Khraibeh, from the town Zakia, in the western countryside of Damascus, to the Quarantine Center in the National Hospital in Qatana, after confirming that he was infected with the virus, due to contact with a patient during a meeting in the capital. Khraibehs family was placed on house quarantine pending their test results. This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author. Scientists from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a new link between impaired brain energy metabolism and delirium - a disorienting and distressing disorder particularly common in the elderly and one that is currently occurring in a large proportion of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 [15th of July 2020]. While much of the research was conducted in mice, additional work suggests overlapping mechanisms are at play in humans because cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from patients suffering from delirium also contained tell-tale markers of altered brain glucose metabolism. Collectively, the research, which has just been published in the Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that therapies focusing on brain energy metabolism may offer new routes to mitigating delirium. Delirium When the body experiences high levels of inflammation - such as during bacterial or viral infections - the way our brains function changes, which in turn affects our mood and motivation. In older patients such acute inflammation can produce a profound disturbance of brain function known as delirium. Despite the disorder being relatively common, the mechanisms by which it arises are poorly understood. In the new research the scientists found that artificially inducing peripheral inflammation in mice triggered sudden onset cognitive dysfunction, and that this is mediated by a disturbance to energy metabolism. In these experiments, inflammation left the mice with lower levels of blood sugar (glucose), which the brain requires for maintaining normal function. When the animals were supplemented with glucose, their cognitive performance returned towards normal, despite the continued inflammation. Professor Colm Cunningham, who leads the Trinity Biomedical Science Institute lab where the work was performed, said: "An important feature of these experiments was that mice with early stages of pre-existing neurodegenerative disease were far more susceptible to dysfunction when these metabolic changes occurred. "Our collaborators in Oslo also detected evidence of altered brain glucose metabolism in cerebrospinal fluid taken from people experiencing delirium, which argues for overlapping mechanisms in humans and mice. In other words, the signs are that similar processes are at work in people." Dr Wes Ely, a critical care physician from Vanderbilt University, who wasn't involved with the study, added: "The finding that the neurodegenerative animals are less resilient to this disturbance of energy metabolism really resonates with what we see in our intensive care unit patients with delirium." Given the frequency of delirium during hospitalised members of the elderly population and, given that these episodes can accelerate the progress of underlying dementia treatments are desperately needed. Professor Cunningham added: "Simply providing glucose to patients is not likely to treat delirium in most cases but collectively our data emphasise that an appropriate supply of both oxygen and glucose to the brain becomes especially important in older patients and in those with existing dementia. Therefore, we believe that focusing on brain energy metabolism may offer routes to mitigating delirium." ### Government proposals to provide new parents with three extra weeks of leave each to recognise the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on new mothers was subject to a major backlash within hours of being announced. There have been claims the plans fall "far short" of the needs of mothers whose maternity leave coincided with lock-down and that it amounted to the re-announcement of plans to extend parents' leave. Read More There has been a mounting campaign for women who gave birth during lockdown to have their maternity leave extended by three months, with a petition attracting around 28,000 signatures. Sinn Fein will table a motion in the Dail tonight seeking a temporary extension of maternity benefit from six to nine months for mothers whose claim expires between the start of March and the end of November. Speaking after Cabinet yesterday, Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman said the proposals for an extra three weeks of parents' leave was the Government's response to the Sinn Fein move in the Dail. Expand Close Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman said the extra leave would apply to children born since November 1 2019. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Childrens Minister Roderic OGorman said the extra leave would apply to children born since November 1 2019. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins He said: "What the Government is proposing here is that in the context of Budget 2021 to examine an extension of parents' leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent. "So that's an additional three weeks for each parent and that leave is paid at the rate of 245 per week." Mr O'Gorman said the extra weeks would apply to the parents of all children born since November 1, 2019. He said: "This is a measure to recognise to some extent the particular challenges that mothers and parents have faced during the Covid crisis." Parents would be able to avail of the leave within two years of the birth of their child. The proposals garnered criticism within hours of their announcement. The National Women's Council of Ireland (NWCI) said it fell "far short of needs of mothers". Its director, Orla O'Connor, said increasing the leave for all parents from two to five weeks was welcome, but insisted this had already been expected as per commitments in the Programme for Government. Ms O'Connor said during lockdown women gave birth without a partner or loved one present and faced into motherhood without family or professional support. She said babies have missed developmental checks, scans, hospital appointments and saw vaccinations cancelled or delayed. Ms O'Connor also said mothers could not access support groups. She said: "This is why extending maternity benefit was so critical for new mothers, and this measure does not go far enough to meet the needs that new mothers have raised with NWCI since the start of the Covid crisis." Sinn Fein TD Claire Kerrane accused the Government of a "re-announcement of old policy". She said the three weeks of extra leave next year "does not deal with the immediacy of the issues facing workers and families who cannot access childcare right now". Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said the proposals "fall very short of what's needed to help new mothers who are currently facing huge challenges accessing childcare". She said mothers on maternity leave needed supports in place now and they "don't have the luxury of waiting until Budget 2021". The Government's proposals were announced after a Cabinet meeting where plans were discussed for a July stimulus package to help businesses and workers affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Planning for a feared no-trade-deal Brexit was also discussed. The stimulus package is to include a 2bn Credit Guarantee Scheme aimed at providing low-cost loans to businesses hit by the economic fallout from the emergency. The future of the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) is also under consideration as part of the package. Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath last night offered no guarantee that people currently in receipt of the full 350-a-week payment would still get that full sum after August 10, the date the scheme is due to end. Both he and Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys said there shouldn't be a "cliff-edge" reduction in the payments. Ms Humphreys told RTE she wants any changes to be "fair". Mr McGrath said the payment should not end overnight with people dropping from 350-a-week to the 203-a-week on offer for standard jobseekers' payments. But pressed on whether the 350 rate would remain after August 10, he said: "I'm not getting into any further detail." He suggested some families would end up "better off" on the normal jobseekers' rate because they may have qualifying dependents or children that would see them get more than 350-a-week. "I hope to have a fair and balanced package in relation to the PUP next week," he said. Separately, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney briefed the Cabinet on Brexit. He expressed frustration at the lack of progress in efforts to secure a free trade deal with the UK. But he said he still believed it was more likely an agreement would be reached than not and the hope was a deal would be struck by September or October. Pittsfield Schools to Begin Non-Renewal Recalls PITTSFIELD, Mass. The Pittsfield Public Schools will begin recalling staff given non-renewal notices now that a budget is in place. Superintendent Jason McCandless told the School Committee last week that there will be recalls of some of the 140 nonrenewal notices sent out prior to the passage of the $64 million budget. "We will let them know their jobs are back and we look forward to having them with us," McCandless said. Without a firm Chapter 70 education aid number to build a budget around, the city passed an education budget that relied on at least level state aid. This version of the budget equates to the minimal loss of actual jobs, however, without being able to say for sure what Chapter 70 will be, the district released 140 nonrenewal notices in preparation for a possible 10 percent reduction in aid a more than worst-case scenario. "We still don't know what our Chapter 70 numbers are going to be and I don't feel at this point that we have anybody really willing to go on the record and say there aren't going to cuts," the superintendent said. "We released more notices than we can actually afford to be without to be able to run school in person in the fall." In other business, Chairwoman Katherine Yon announced that the committee plans to discuss the two high school mascots at the August meeting. "We have been getting correspondence from people in the community," she said. "They have been coming in a long time and I think it is at least time that we take a look at these things." The Taconic Braves mascot and the Pittsfield High Generals mascot have been a frequent subject during public comment. Before launching into business, the School Committee took a moment to remember former member Carmen Massimiano Jr. "He certainly was a strong advocate for public education," Yon said. Massimiano, who died recently at the age of 75, was a past chairman of the School Committee and served as Berkshire County sheriff for 32 years. "I will say not once, not one single time, did I not see him advocate for what he thought was the right thing to do for kids," School Committee member Daniel Elias said. Committee member William Cameron said the district underwent multiple school renovations while Massimiano was chairman. "He certainly played a leadership role in that as well as everything else that was mentioned," he said. "He certainly was a significant figure for the public schools for many years." McCandless added that he served on the Taconic School Building Committee and was an asset during the entire process. Australians trying to return home from overseas are reportedly being bumped from flights if they do not upgrade to business class. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the cap of a maximum of 4,000 passengers per week reducing arrivals by about a third. Arrivals into Sydney Airport were already capped at 50 passengers per flight. The measure was introduced to reduce strain on Australia's beleaguered hotel quarantine system - with New South Wales' budget for accommodating return travellers during the coronavirus pandemic already exceeding $50million. But Australians have said the cap is wreaking havoc on their attempts to secure flights as airlines prioritise business class passengers. Cathy Collins and her husband Jim have been trying to get back to Australia with their young family but have found themselves being cleared from their economy seats to make space for business class passengers on reduced-capacity flights Jim Collins said he and his wife Cathy, from Tasmania, had been trying to get home from the UK since March, and thought he had finally found a way when he was re-booked onto a flight to Sydney last week. However the airline he booked with cleared his family off the flight before he learned they were favouring business class passengers to cut capacity down to the 50-passenger limit. 'As best as I know, all economy passengers were cleared off the flight to make room, with a 50-person limit for premium passengers only first class and business class,' Mr Collins told 7.30. Another passenger Rebecca Halligan - who was trying to return to Adelaide from the UK - said she was booked to return to Sydney when the 50-passenger limit was introduced. 'I was called by the airline and they told me that they were prioritising business class passengers,' she said 'I couldn't afford to upgrade to business class so I was bumped off that flight.' Traveller Katy-May Hudson said she was looking at a cost of $34,500 for a business class ticket if she was put in a position where she had no choice but to upgrade Two passengers are pictured from the last flights from Melbourne last week She said she eventually decided to book a business class flight home on her credit card, but admitted not everyone was in a financial position to do so. One Australian traveller Katy-May Hudson said she was looking at a cost of $34,500 for a business class ticket from the US if her economy-fare route later this week was cancelled. There were just 3,440 overseas visitors to Australia in May, the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows - an increase from the previous month but down 99.5 per cent from a year ago. Jim and Cathy Collins thought they had finally found a way home from the UK when they were re-booked onto a flight to Sydney last week Pictured: A masked passenger from a Melbourne to Sydney flight arrives at Sydney domestic airport last Wednesday Another 13,380 Australian residents also returned during the month, a 98.5 per cent slump from a year ago. Almost a fifth was made up of residents returning from India. Of the overseas arrivals, almost a third of the visitors were from New Zealand - Australia's largest source country - followed by the United Kingdom and United States. RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Marken, the clinical supply chain subsidiary of UPS Healthcare, announced today they are adding a GMP-compliant depot in Los Angeles, California and a new GMP-compliant depot in Kiev, Ukraine. In addition, two GDP-compliant logistics branches will be added in Dublin, Ireland and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. These newest additions to Marken's global network add increased capacity and enables Marken to continue to offer superior supply chain services to its clients, their investigator sites and patients. The Amsterdam facility will include a cryogenic filling station to meet the growing need of Marken's cell and gene therapy clients. An additional LN2 service station has been added to Marken's network in Geneva, Switzerland. "The infrastructure investments we have made in all of our facilities globally serve a single purpose," said Ariette van Strien, Marken's President. "Since 2011, we have made investments which meet client demands where they need us. Marken will always strive to offer the very best service, reliability and security for our clients." By early Q4, Marken will have 12 fully operational GMP-compliant depot locations, complemented by more than 10 million square feet of GMP-validated commercial warehouse space in 56 UPS Healthcare distribution centers. This extensive global network provides an exceptional degree of flexibility and efficiency, whether it involves coordinating supplies from a central or regional location based on trial enrollment activity or implementing innovative strategies that are built for future demand. Wes Wheeler, UPS Healthcare's President, commented: "Marken continues to lead as our clinical trial logistics subsidiary with unique new services and a very broad reach. We will continue to invest in Marken as the industry moves into new regions of the world, becomes more virtual, and demands a greater degree of control and visibility. We are also using their unique knowledge in clinical trials to influence our strategic investments in healthcare." About Marken Marken is a wholly owned subsidiary of the UPS Healthcare division. With Polar Speed and Marken included, the UPS division staffs 128 locations with 5500 employees worldwide. Marken maintains the leading position for Direct to Patient and Home Health care services, biological sample shipments and offers a state-of-the-art GMP-compliant depot network and logistic hubs in 54 locations worldwide for clinical trial product storage and distribution. Marken's dedicated 1200 staff members manage 85,000 drug product and biological sample shipments every month at all temperature ranges in more than 220 countries. Additional services such as biological kit production, ancillary material sourcing, storage and distribution, shipment lane verification and qualifications, as well as GDP, regulatory and compliance consultancy add to Marken's unique position in the pharma and logistics industry. SOURCE Marken Related Links http://www.marken.com A U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper fighter jet crashed during landing at the Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico on Monday evening, causing minor injuries to the pilot. "A U.S. Air Force F-16C Viper assigned to the 49th Wing crashed during landing at Holloman AFB at approximately 1800 MDT (2400 GMT) today. The sole pilot on board successfully ejected, and is currently being treated for minor injuries," said a statement of 49th Wing Public Affairs published on the website of the Holloman Air Force Base, Xinhua reported. Emergency response teams are on the scene at this time, and an investigation is underway to determine the cause of the incident, the statement said. Over the last decade, security in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, as well as Ghana and Liberia has worsened as law enforcement has been grossly underfunded and continues to lack the infrastructure to keep pace with safety and security advancements. Thankfully, UrSafe has the most advanced tools in personal security ranging from voice-activated emergency command, elective real-time location sharing with family and friends, and a geolocated connection with emergency services (911) in more than 200 countries and territories and through this groundbreaking new partnership, the app will be available for FREE beginning July 2020 throughout the next year, regardless of the user's network carrier. "This partnership will empower each Nigerian, Ghanaian and Liberian by providing a free version of our next-generation personal safety technology to safeguard their day to day lives," said Anthony Oyogoa, CEO and Co-Founder of UrSafe. "Since our launch, we understood that the biggest impact we could make with our app would be partnering with telephone carriers while respecting user privacy and keeping their data safe, and we believe this is the first step in achieving our global expansion plans to provide safety for everyone, everywhere." Carlos Morales Paulin, former Telefonica Mexico employee where he served as CEO for over six years, helped solidify the idea when he began advising our UrSafe founding team. "Telecoms, when they come to a community, bring education, information, and financial inclusion," said Paulin during their initial meeting in Mexico City in 2019. "Now, imagine the effect if they can help bring some sense of safety and security." Since the UrSafe launch in December 2019, the app has amassed users in over 140 countries, and facilitated over 4,000 SOS activations around the world. UrSafe also recently released an update that includes six languages and along with several new features, including Follow me, check-in, and Fake Call all to go along with its innovative Voice Activated SOS. During the height of the global COVID pandemic, UrSafe took the initiative to ensure the app was free to its worldwide users to help combat the domestic violence spike caused by the extensive shutdown. Now, the brand is unveiling its newest partnership to make mobile personal safety accessible for all, regardless of income and phone carrier network, because safety and people come first. "This new partnership and marketing outreach in West Africa will bring about a new layer of security that many need and are looking for in their daily lives," said Alexander Babs-Jonah, General Manager of Mobile Intelligence. "For the average Nigerian, having this world-class technology in their hands empowers us much more than you can imagine." UrSafe is available in both iOS and Android play stores around the world. To learn more about UrSafe, visit ursafe.com and view the partnership video at the link here. Keep up to date with UrSafe's latest news and follow @UrSafe_App on Instagram, @UrSafeApp on Facebook and @UrSafe_App on Twitter. About UrSafe UrSafe is the first and only hands-free, voice-activated personal safety app fully integrated with 911. Now available for download in the App Store and Google Play, UrSafe is a first-of-its-kind technology built by a team of industry experts in healthcare, military service, and public safety and policy. UrSafe gives you the advanced safety features you need at your fingertips including voice-activated SOS, built-in background screening, real-time location-sharing with friends and family, and geo-located 911 response that functions in over 200 countries and territories. Learn more about UrSafe at ursafe.com . About Virtual Data Virtual Data a digital service provider based in Lagos, Nigeria founded by Telecommunication industry experts. Virtual Data adopts an e2e approach to solution delivery and provides content development, solution integration as well as platform hosting related services. About Mobile Intelligence Mobile Intelligence is a regulatory licensed Value Added Service Aggregator in Nigeria serving as a central bridge across the country's digital Value Added Service ecosystem. Mobile Intelligence is a technology-oriented organization founded by enthusiasts and enterprising technocrats, comprised of energetic professionals with extensive experience in engineering of real-time embedded systems in the Telecoms industry. As a proactive technology partner, Mobile Intelligence works with its clients to understand their market trends and business vision, developing disruptive solutions to thrive in a changing world and increase their global reach, brand efficacy and profitability. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1213180/UrSafe_phoneMI.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1200996/ursafe_front_Logo.jpg SOURCE UrSafe TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The federal government on Tuesday carried out its first execution in almost two decades, killing by lethal injection a man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Protesters against the death penalty gather in Terre Haute, Ind., Monday, July 13, 2020. Daniel Lewis Lee, a convicted killer, was scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. in the federal prison in Terre Haute. 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. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The federal government on Tuesday carried out its first execution in almost two decades, killing by lethal injection a man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution of Daniel Lewis Lee came over the objection of the victims relatives and following days of legal wrangling and delays. Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, professed his innocence just before he was executed at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. I didnt do it," Lee said. Ive made a lot of mistakes in my life, but Im not a murderer. His final words were: "Youre killing an innocent man. The decision to move forward with the first execution by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 -- and two others scheduled later in the week drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lees victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide. Critics argued the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain. One of Lee's lawyers, Ruth Friedman, said it was shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution during a pandemic." And it is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this execution in haste," Friedman said in a statement. The developments are likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections. The road sign for the entrance to the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., is shown Monday, July 13, 2020. Daniel Lewis Lee, a convicted killer, was scheduled to be executed at 4 p.m. in the. 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. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) The execution of Lee, who died at 8:07 a.m. EDT, went off after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward. Attorney General William Barr has said the Justice Department has a duty to carry out the sentences imposed by the courts, including the death penalty, and provide closure to the victims and those in the communities where the killings happened. But relatives of those killed by Lee in 1996 opposed that idea and argued Lee deserved life in prison. They wanted to be present to counter any contention the execution 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, relative Monica Veillette said. They noted Lees co-defendant and the reputed ringleader, Chevie Kehoe, received a life sentence. Kehoe, of Colville, Washington, recruited Lee in 1995 to join his white supremacist organization, known as the Aryan Peoples Republic. Two years later, they were arrested for the killings of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in Tilly, Arkansas, about 75 miles (120 kilometres) northwest of Little Rock. At their 1999 trial, prosecutors said Kehoe and Lee stole guns and $50,000 in cash from the Muellers as part of their plan to establish a whites-only nation. Prosecutors said Lee and Kehoe incapacitated the Muellers and questioned Sarah about where they could find money and ammunition. Then, they used stun guns on the victims, sealed trash bags with duct tape on their heads to suffocate them, taped rocks to their bodies and dumped them in a nearby bayou. A U.S. District Court judge put a hold on Lees execution on Monday, over concerns from death row inmates on how executions were to be carried out, and an appeals court upheld it, but the high court overturned it. That delay came after an appeals court on Sunday overturned a hold put in place last week after the victims relatives argued they'd be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend the execution. Lee's execution was then set to happen at 4 a.m. EDT, but a last-minute legal question was raised by his lawyers. The Justice Department said it filed a request with the court to straighten it out but went through with the execution. A U.S. marshal lifted a black telephone inside the execution room -- a small square room inside the prison with green tiles and windows looking at the witness rooms -- and asked if there was anything to impede the execution. He said there was not and the execution could proceed. Lee had a pulse oximeter on a finger of his left hand, to monitor his oxygen level, and his arms, which had tattoos, were in black restraints. The IV tubes were coming through a metal panel in the wall. He breathed heavily before the drug was injected and moved his legs and feet. As the drug was being administered, he raised his head to look around. In a few moments, his chest was no longer moving. Lee was in the execution chamber with two men the Bureau of Prisons identified as senior BOP officials, a U.S. marshal and his spiritual adviser, described by a prisons spokesperson as an Appalachian pagan minister. They and Lee didn't wear masks. One of the senior prisons officials in the room announced Lees time of death, and the curtain closed. Two other federal executions are scheduled for this week, though one remains on hold in a separate legal claim. There have been two state executions in the U.S. since the pandemic forced shutdowns nationwide in mid-March one in Texas and one in Missouri, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Alabama had one in early March. 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. Though there hadnt been a federal execution since 2003, the Justice Department has continued to approve death penalty prosecutions and federal courts have sentenced defendants to death. In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, President Barack Obama directed the Justice Department to conduct a broad review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. The attorney general said last July the review had been completed, allowing executions to resume. He approved a new procedure for lethal injections that replaces the three-drug combination previously used in federal executions with one drug, pentobarbital. This is similar to the procedure used in several states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas. Numbers of state executions have fallen steadily since the 2003 federal execution, according to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center. States put to death 59 people in 2004 and 22 in 2019. ___ Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Colleen Long in Washington and Michael Tarm in Chicago contributed to this report. Rep. Morgan Griffith announced Tuesday that he tested positive for COVID-19, joining the growing list of members of Congress to contract the disease. The Virginia Republican announced he had tested positive on Twitter, where he wrote that he has been self-isolating since noticing symptoms, which he says are currently not "significant." Griffith held a news conference Thursday with other members of the House Freedom Caucus, a conservative and libertarian sect of Congress, where they encouraged President Donald Trump and state officials to reopen schools across America in the fall for in-person instruction. The caucus gave the conference during a time where state governments and public health experts are at odds with the federal government about how to safely reopen schools, if at all. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said this week that schools that do not reopen should not be eligible for federal assistance. Rep. Morgan Griffith, D-Va., asks questions to Richard Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, during House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing Thursday, May 14, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP) "We also heard it's not a matter of safe versus unsafe," Griffith said at the conference. "It's about making sure that we mitigate the risks which we can easily do, we can take care of the students, we can take care of the teachers." Several members of Congress have tested positive for the virus in the past few months. Indiana Republican Rep. Trey Hollingsworth announced on Facebook Monday that he had tested positive for antibodies, posting a photo of himself donating plasma. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: COVID-19: Congressman Morgan Griffith says he tested positive Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has discussed why she chose not to get involved with JK Rowling's transgender row. In a new interview, the actress, 79, insisted transitioning is 'hugely complicated' and claimed the best-selling author, 54, 'dived into the pool and got very wet' when she shared her thoughts on the topic. She said: 'I was asked to make a public statement and I didn't want to. I just thought I've made enough public statements.' 'It's hugely complicated': Harry Potter star Miriam Margolyes has discussed why she chose not to get involved with JK Rowling's transgender row The media personality, who has been with Professor Heather Sutherland for 52 years, detailed her three-part series Almost Australian, which sees her meet a group of of indigenous transgender people from Tiwi Islands. In this week's edition of Radio Times, the Oxford native highlighted the importance of not offending fellow members of the LGBTQ community with her documentary. Miriam, who played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter film series, said: 'I am on the fringes, I suppose, of being rather too direct in some quarters. I always thought that somebody who wanted to become a woman would have chopped their d*** off. 'I know I'm a lesbian and I know I'm a woman, so I've sorted it out. But if you are on the way between one sex and another, how do you decide when you've arrived? It's hugely complicated. Look at poor JK Rowling. She's dived into the pool and got very wet.' 'I didn't want to make a public statement': The actress, 79, claimed the author (pictured in 2019), 54, 'dived into the pool and got very wet' when she shared her thoughts on the topic Former colleague: The thespian, who has been with Heather Sutherland for 52 years, played Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter series (pictured in the Chamber of Secrets in 2002) Controversy: JK was hit by what she described as 'relentless attacks' after she took issue with an online article about 'people who menstruate' JK was hit by what she described as 'relentless attacks' after she took issue with an online article about 'people who menstruate'. She tweeted to her 14.5m followers last month: 'I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?' The acclaimed novelist then penned a deeply personal essay to address the controversy, revealing she was sexually assaulted in her 20s and saying she still feels the scars of 'domestic violence' in her first marriage. Her remarks sparked backlash from a range of her former Harry Potter castmembers including Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Speaking out: Her remarks sparked backlash from a range of her former Harry Potter castmembers including Rupert Grint, 31 (pictured in November) and Emma Watson Speaking to The Times, actor Rupert, 31, said: 'I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. 'We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement.' Out now: This week's edition of Radio Times is available now Emma, 30, added: 'Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren't who they say they are. 'I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are. Happy #Pride2020 Sending love x.' The thespian went on to say she was proud to donate to charities such as Mermaids and Mama Cash before encouraging her fans to do the same. Since the backlash, Mermaids - a charity that supports transgender children - urged JK to meet some of the young people it works with in a lengthy statement challenging her views. Resisting pressure from President Donald Trump, three of the nation's largest school districts said Monday that they will begin the new school year with all students learning from home. Schools in Los Angeles, San Diego and Atlanta will begin entirely online, officials said Monday. Schools in Nashville plan to do the same, at least through Labor Day. Several other big cities were considering similar plans, while others have adopted hybrid plans through which students would be in school on certain days and at home on others. Some have announced plans to open five days a week, as the White House has demanded, but they appear to be in the minority. The decisions are another sign that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to wreak havoc on fundamental aspects of American life, and the economy, well into fall. Many parents who need to work will be left scrambling for child care. And while some schools found success with virtual school in the spring, it was a disaster for many, with little indication it will be drastically better in the new school year. In some ways, it may be more challenging because students will be starting with new teachers who do not know them. Still, some school leaders are concluding that the risk to students and staff members is too great to allow in-person education of any kind. "The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control," said a joint statement from the Los Angeles and San Diego districts. They said they would return to in-person learning later in the academic year, "as soon as public health conditions allow." Monday's developments from California and Georgia, two states with surging rates of coronavirus infection, reflect the deep divide that has opened over the risks and benefits of in-person school. Trump and his senior aides emphasize the benefits to children and parents of having students in schools, while others voice concern that reopening will allow the virus to spread. At the White House on Monday, Trump again pressed his case for in-person learning. "Schools should be opened," he said when asked for his message to worried parents. "Schools should be opened. Kids want to go to school. You're losing a lot of lives by keeping things closed." Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pressed the same message on Sunday, dismissing concerns about rising caseloads as "little flare-ups" that can be managed as they arise. She also noted that children do not appear to become seriously ill or die of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, though it's less clear how easily they spread the disease. Others are concerned about teachers and school staff members, who face more significant risks. An estimate from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 1 in 4 teachers are at elevated risk based on their age or underlying health conditions. Asked Monday about an Arizona teacher who died of covid-19, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany focused on the benefits to children and compared teachers with other essential workers. "There's a way for essential workers to go back to work, just as our meatpacking facilities did. Just as you all in the media are essential workers, we believe our teachers are as well," she said. The message was more nuanced Monday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a fresh sign of the rift between Trump and the experts who work for his administration. Last week, Trump questioned the CDC guidance on schools opening, calling it too tough and expensive and pushing for changes. In a briefing for school officials and other decision-makers, a CDC official said Monday that decisions about whether to open schools should depend on the local situation. "We're in a very different place in the nation right now than we were even two weeks ago as far as transmission rates go," said Erin Sauber-Schatz, lead for the CDC's Community Interventions and Critical Populations Task Force. "There are places where transmission is low. And those places, it will be safer to open schools for students, teachers and staff." She said the CDC would soon release new documents aimed at helping parents decide whether to send their children to school. "There is a lot to consider. It's not a clear answer at this point in time," she said. "I can say from personal experience, it's a really tough choice." In Atlanta, the schools had been planning a hybrid option, with students in school on certain days and learning from home on others. But amid rising cases, the superintendent announced a plan for all-virtual learning for at least the first nine weeks of school, or until the spread of the coronavirus falls off. "In a perfect scenario, we would have a face-to-face engagement for the first day of school," Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Lisa Herring told the district's school board. "We also do not want to turn our ears and eyes away from the truth." The statement from Los Angeles and San Diego said their decision was a "significant disappointment" for teachers and "an even greater disappointment to the many parents who are anxious for their students to resume their education." They added that there will be training for teachers and students about how to better use online education. The announcement came on the same day that California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, put many restrictions on daily life in the state back in place. He ordered bars closed and halted indoor operations of restaurants, wineries and theaters statewide, among other restrictions. Some rural districts have said they plan to reopen fully for in-person school. In addition, districts in Kansas City, Mo.; Indianapolis; Providence, R.I.; and Reno, Nev. are planning to offer in-person school five days a week for at least some students, said Michael Casserly of the Council of Great City Schools, which represents urban districts. But many other urban districts - including New York City, the country's largest - have announced hybrid plans. The idea is to try to create distance between students by reducing the number in the building at any given time. "It's all over the place and changing constantly because of conditions and state directives," Casserly said. - - - The Washington Post's Valerie Strauss contributed to this report. DAF awards contract for first lot of F-15EX fighter aircraft By Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs / Published July 13, 2020 WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The Department of the Air Force has awarded a nearly $1.2 billion contract for its first lot of eight F-15EX fighter aircraft. The contract, awarded to Boeing, provides for the design, development, integration, manufacturing, test, verification, certification, delivery, sustainment and modification of F-15EX aircraft, including spares, support equipment, training materials, technical data and technical support. The F-15EX will replace the oldest F-15C/Ds in the service's inventory. Eight F-15EX aircraft were approved in the fiscal year 2020 budget and 12 were requested in the FY21 budget. The Air Force plans to purchase a total of 76 F-15EX aircraft over the five-year Future Years Defense Program. "The F-15EX is the most affordable and immediate way to refresh the capacity and update the capabilities provided by our aging F-15C/D fleets," said Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command. "The F-15EX is ready to fight as soon as it comes off the line." The F-15EX is a two-seat fighter with U.S.-only capabilities. It features a deep magazine that can carry a load of advanced weapons. The platform also requires minimal transitional training or additional manpower and little to no infrastructure changes, ensuring the continuation of the mission. "When delivered, we expect bases currently operating the F-15 to transition to the new EX platform in a matter of months versus years," Holmes said. The most significant difference between the F-15EX and legacy F-15s lies in its Open Mission Systems (OMS) architecture. The OMS architecture will enable the rapid insertion of the latest aircraft technologies. The F-15EX will also have fly-by-wire flight controls, a new electronic warfare system, advanced cockpit systems, and the latest mission systems and software capabilities available for legacy F-15s. "The F-15EX's digital backbone, open mission systems, and generous payload capacity fit well with our vision for future net-enabled warfare," said Dr. Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. "Continually upgrading systems, and how they share data across the Joint Force, is critical for defeating advanced threats. F-15EX is designed to evolve from day one." The first eight F-15EX aircraft will be fielded at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to support testing efforts. The delivery of the first two aircraft is scheduled for the second quarter of FY21. The remaining six aircraft are scheduled to deliver in FY23. The Air Force is using the Strategic Basing Process to determine the fielding locations for subsequent aircraft lots. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address If you loved Netflix's Bird Box, you're going to love this news. The hit Netflix movie dropped in 2018 and now it's been confirmed by Josh Malerman that a sequel is officially in development! Not much about the development of the film can be revealed yet but the sequel of the novel is being published on July 21 with it being named Malorie, Josh Malerman is not yet able to discuss the film's plot or whether or not it will be similar to his follow up novel which is set ten years after the film ends. I can't say much, but I can say that it is in development. Sometimes it's weird, all this secrecy, but I'm game. Netflix itself hasn't confirmed a Bird Box sequel, but given the success of the film with over 45 million Netflix accounts watching the movie in the first seven days, it seems an announcement from Netflix is inevitable! Yassss [SPOILER ALERT] The film ends with Malorie boating down a river with her two kids, they then arrive at a former school of the blind that becomes something of a sanctuary. Once there they find some of the residents are blind and the viewer is left to wonder about them. But in the original book it was a whole lot darker! As Malorie and the kids get inside they find that the people there have all blinded themselves to stay safe. Five policemen arrested over the death of a father-son duo after being allegedly thrashed at a police station in Tuticorin district in Tamil Nadu were sent to the Central Bureau of Investigation custody for two days by a court in Madurai on Tuesday. Principal District and Sessions Judge Hemant Kumar passed the order remanding an inspector, two sub-inspectors and as many constables of Sathankulam police station to the custody of the CBI, which has taken over the case from the state CB-CID police. While the premier investigating agency in its application filed on Monday sought seven days custody, the counsel for the accused policemen, booked by the CB-CID on murder charges, opposed the plea. The five, including inspector Sridhar and sub-inspectors Raghu Ganesh and Balakrishnan, lodged in the Central Prison in Madurai, were produced in the court on Tuesday, complying with the order of the judge. A CBI team led by an additional superintendent of police is investigating the death of P Jeyaraj and his son Bennicks days after they were allegedly beaten up brutally in the Sathankulam police station last month, an incident that led to a nationwide outrage. Bennicks and Jeyaraj died on June 22 and 23 respectively at a government hospital after being rushed from a prison in Kovilpatti town following complaints of health issues. The two were arrested on June 19 for "violating" lockdown norms over the business hours of their cell phone shop and lodged in the prison after a court remanded them to judicial custody a day later. A total of 10 policemen have been arrested by the CB-CID, which was directed by the Madras High Court to probe the case till the CBI took it over after the Tamil Nadu government transferred the investigation to the central agency. Offer a personal message of sympathy... You'll find individual Guest Books on the page with each obituary notice. By sharing a fond memory or writing a kind tribute, you will be providing a comforting keepsake to those in mourning. . From a Guest Book, you may log in with your Google, Facebook, Yahoo or AOL account to leave a message. If you have an existing account with this site, you may log in with that. Otherwise, it's simple to create a new one by clicking on the Create "Sign up" button and following the simple steps on the Sign Up page. They announces To Facilitate the honorable guests visiting to ITCN ASIA IT & TELECOM SHOW at Expo Center Karachi. They have furnished Rent a Car service Counter to offer special rates for Car Rental Service. Rent a Car Pakistan is participating as Car Rental service provider in ITCN ASIA IT & TELECOM SHOW at Expo Center Karachi during September 22 till September 24, 2020. They have decided to furnish a Customer MANY European countries used the coronavirus crisis to cut the tax burden and increase consumption, help businesses, and speed up the recovery of the economy. Croatia isn't among those countries. A drastic VAT cut in Germany Germany made perhaps the most significant intervention in the tax system and decided to cut the standard rate of VAT from 19 to 16 percent. Angela Merkel's government even cut the reduced VAT rate from seven to five percent. The new tax measures are in force from July 1 until the end of the year, as announced by the global media. We'll see what will happen after that. Boris Johnson reduced VAT in the hospitality sector Many other European countries implemented the changes in the tax system. The UK decided to reduce the VAT rate in the hospitality sector from 20 to five percent and scraped VAT on e-books and electronic newspapers. Boris Jonhson's government hopes that the reduced tax burden in certain sectors will not only help their business in the coronavirus crisis but also encourage consumption, especially in popular pubs. Amid the coronavirus crisis, Austria has also decided to change the tax system; in Vienna, in the second half of the year, they decided to reduce the VAT rate on non-alcoholic drinks from 20 to 10 percent, while the VAT rate on accommodation services, culture, and printed publication is reduced from 10 to five percent. Belgium did a slightly smaller intervention in the tax system. According to world media's data, the VAT rate on accommodation services, restaurants, and publishing is cut from 12 to six percent. Bulgaria, the poorest EU member state, has chosen a similar tactic, and the VAT rate on accommodation, restaurant, and books is reduced from 21 to nine percent. Greece cuts VAT on tourism and taxis Greece and Cyprus, countries that greatly depend on tourism just like Croatia decided to help that sector by reducing the VAT rate on accommodation services and restaurants. Cyprus reduced the VAT from nine to only five percent, and Greece made a similar reduction. Besides, Cyprus will introduce the VAT rate of only five percent for public transport services. The reduction of the tax burden on transport, including taxis, is also implemented in Greece, as the global media broadcasted, from 24 to 13 percent, and those tax changes cover non-alcoholic beverages as well. The Czech Republic also decided to reduce the tax burden due to the coronavirus crisis for accommodation services, sports, and cultural events. The government in Prague decided to tax those services with the VAT rate of 10 percent instead of 15 percent. Lithuania is also among the countries that decided to change the tax system, where accommodation services and restaurants should be taxed with the VAT rate of nine percent, instead of 21 percent, as it was before. Let's add that some other European countries consider reducing the tax burden. One of them is Ireland, in which, according to the portal Avalar that deals with tax issues, they consider dropping the VAT rate on hospitality sectors from 13.5 to nine percent. Countries outside Europe are also reducing taxes Advertisement Tax cuts in Europe are only temporary for now: the plan is to adopt the majority of the measures in the second half of the year only. But, at this moment, no one can predict how long the coronavirus crisis will last or in what intensity, so the possibility for these measures to continue longer isn't' excluded. It's worth pointing out that not only European countries decided to cut taxes amid the pandemic, but many other countries in the world as well. Countries that didn't make tax cuts still helped the businesses by extending the deadlines for tax payments and other measures. Croatian new government bashfully announces the first interventions in the tax system The Croatian government still hasn't decided to reduce taxes. The new government, which is currently being formed, bashfully announced the first interventions in the tax system, firstly in the segment of profit tax and extending the implementation of the reduced VAT rates on food. In other words, we won't experience tax cuts like Germany. Besides, the announced changes in the Croatian tax system are, above all else, designed to somewhat maintain the standard of living, and they are less aimed at stimulating economic activities. The economists explain that with VAT being too important for the Croatian treasury since around 54.9 billion kunas was collected in 2019, according to the Ministry of Finance's data. VAT represents a golden goose for the Croatian government "So far, no government dared to significantly meddle with VAT because it represents a golden goose. The VAT reduction by only one percent means around two billion kunas of income less," consultant Andrej Grubisic revealed to Index. Grubisic believes that the government should reduce the tax burden more significantly in the coronavirus crisis and thus help the economy. He also believes that greater benefits would be gained from reducing the tax burden than direct financial transfers. Of course, our interlocutor adds that the government still has a chance to relieve the tax burden, thus enabling the improvement of the standard. According to him, the government should first reduce the profit tax rate for everyone, and not only, as they announced, for small businesses. Besides, Grubisic said that the profit tax rate should be reduced retroactively, i.e., for 2019 as well. Andrej Grubisic: The general VAT rate should be reduced gradually When it comes to VAT, Grubisic thinks that the general VAT rate should be reduced gradually, from year to year. However, he's aware that the sudden reduction in the general VAT rate, which amounts to 25 percent in Croatia and is one of the highest in Europe, would be a huge impact for the treasury, so he suggests to be reduced gradually. Andrej Grubisic For example, by one point every year, until it reaches a certain optimal rate for Croatia. Besides the reduction of VAT and profit tax, Grubisic advocates cuts in income tax and excise duties. The tax disburdening would result in a hole in the treasury, which could be covered with government debts, since, in any event, we have to go into debt, due to the consequences of the coronavirus crisis. But it's clear that no tax cuts could be implemented without an overall reduction in the budget expenditure, i.e., a reform plan. "State expenditure should be cut at the same time as the tax cuts, and that means reforms," Grubisic concluded. Rhea Chakraborty Mumbai: It has been a month since actor Sushant Singh Rajput left us in despair and his fans and family are still grieving. His death came as a shock to everyone as he died by suicide on June 14. The investigation is underway to know what led him to take his own life. Mumbai Police has interrogated more than 28 people including the actor's family, close friends, professional acquaintances as well as his rumoured girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. Advertisement Rhea ChakrabortyThe Jalebi actress has been away from social media since Sushant's death. However, on Monday, she changed her WhatsApp profile picture with a cute selfie with Sushant Singh Rajput. Rhea has kept silent about her relationship with Sushant and has been away from the limelight since his death. Remembering him on his one month death anniversary, Rhea changed her WhatsApp picture which surfaced on the internet. Talking about the interrogation, her statement was recorded by Mumbai Police on June 18, 2020. Police interrogated her for nine hours. Advertisement Rhea and SushantRhea and Sushant never made their relationship public but their frequent outings together were a hint that they have been dating. The duo even celebrated Rhea's birthday together last year. Rhea had said that she doesn't like any intrusion into her personal life which is why she never talks about the rumours. About Sushant, she had said, "Sushant is a dear friend. I have known him for many years! No more comments on this." Online electricals firm AO World has said the lockdown had boosted its sales as it revealed that its turnover in the UK soared by 20 per cent in the last year. Total UK revenues grew to 901.6million in the year to March 31 compared to 749.3million the previous year due to higher purchases of its domestic appliances. Turnover only rose 8.2 per cent when including revenues from the company's Mobile Phones Direct business, which it bought in December 2018. AO World's sales have continued to remain strong since the UK went into lockdown in March The company, which is known for selling white goods such as fridges and cookers, blamed the closure of the Dutch-based website AO.nl for impacting its performance in Europe. Shares in the firm were down 13.7 per cent to 141.6p during mid-afternoon after it disclosed that its revenues on the European mainland fell 5.6 per cent to 144.5million and that losses only dropped marginally to 24.3million from 28.5million last year. This did not prevent it registering a pre-tax profit of 1.5million, as the firm's founder and chief executive John Roberts said the company 'made substantial progress, closing the year in good shape after getting AO fit and focused on the future.' Earnings from products, commissions and services all notably climbed as the retail merchant signed a new contract with Vodafone, launched multiple new schemes including AO Finance and had a strong Black Friday, among other highlights. Sales at AO World have continued to remain strong since the UK went into lockdown on March 23 as the market for electrical goods moved almost wholly online. It said its core retail business received 'significantly increased demand' from late March in both the UK and Germany. AO World warned that it could be impacted by falling consumer confidence hitting purchases of expensive goods as well as political uncertainty over a possible hard Brexit It wrote: 'The forced migration to online has presented AO with an opportunity to impress a new customer demographic and convert them to the AO Way as they experience a better way of shopping for electrical products which should continue to drive sales growth through repeat and recommendation purchases.' However, it warned that it could be impacted by falling consumer confidence hitting purchases of expensive goods. Political uncertainty over a possible hard Brexit, a subdued housing market and falling economic output are added concerns for the Bolton-based retailer. It believes the coronavirus pandemic could 'permanently convert' many customers to shop for goods online and widen their customer base. AO World added that initial data shows that the online retail market has continued to grow against last year, despite the Government easing some of these lockdown measures, such as the closure of non-essential retail stores. The company said it is 'very encouraged' by its current trajectory of revenue growth and profitability improvements for the current year. Roberts said the changes wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic were an ideal opportunity for the firm to take advantage of the rise in online shopping. 'AO now has the opportunity to become a new habit that lasts - by delivering brilliant service for customers. In other words, turning those lockdown learnings into lifelong change.' Their efforts mirror what is happening nationally, with just weeks left before the 2020-2021 school year opens. President Trump has dialed up pressure for a full reopening of school campuses for the fall. But Hogan, speaking Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press, said that Maryland is not going to be rushed into fully reopening schools and that schools in the state are likely to take a hybrid approach to instruction during the pandemic. Lucifers Case: a potent and surprisingly compelling defense of the most universally lambasted and anathematized figure in human history. Lucifers Case is the creation of published author, Lawrence Baker. Baker states: What would happen today if Satan tempted Christians as he did with Jesus after His forty-day fast in the wilderness? Christians know who Satan is and what will become of him at the end; but would they have the power to resist his temptations, or would they succumb to his devises? Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Lawrence Bakers new book calls upon its readers to act as audience and jury in a hypothetical legal case against the most infamous figure in human historythe Devil. What follows is a detailed scrutiny of the alleged crimes, a debate on the merit of granting everyone a second chance, and an opportunity to reevaluate evidence and commonly held beliefs in the new light cast upon Lucifers character and crimes by the authors unusually, counterintuitively compelling expose. View a synopsis of Lucifers Case on YouTube. Consumers can purchase Lucifers Case at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble. For additional information or inquiries about Lucifers Case, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919. Anunt de selectare a participantilor si participantelor la cel de-al doilea curs de instruire din cadrul Programului educational pentru dezvoltarea competentelor lucratorilor de tineret Joe Biden lashed out at President Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic before unveiling his green infrastructure plan Tuesday in Wilmington, Delaware. 'It's gotten bad enough that even Donald Trump finally decided to wear a mask in public,' the Democrats' presumptive nominee said. 'I'm glad he made the shift. Mr. President, it's not enough.' Biden, again, called for a more comprehensive federal response, adding, '"Open Everything Now" isn't a strategy for success, it's barely a slogan.' Joe Biden knocked President Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic at the top of his remarks delivered in Wilmington, Delaware Tuesday 'Quit pushing the false choice between protecting our health and protecting our economy,' Biden advised. 'All it does is endanger our recovery on both fronts.' 'Mr. President, please listen to your public health experts instead of denigrating them. Do you job Mr. President, because if can't deal with the public health crisis, we can't deal with the economic crisis,' Biden continued. The former vice president was speaking to the spiking rates of virus across a majority of U.S. states that the president has largely blamed on the country's increased testing capacity. The White House has also taken flak for pushing out opposition research on the country's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has presented the country with dire warnings about the current spread of the disease. 'In just the last few days, 19 states, 19 states reported record cases, including Florida, which saw more than 15,000 new cases in a single day,' Biden said. Even testing still needs to be improved with former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney coming out this week to complain about the sometimes week-long delays in Americans receiving COVID-19 testing results. Biden's speech in Wilmington was supposed to be devoted to his proposed $2 trillion green infrastructure plan. But at the top of his remarks, delivered to only a small pool of reporters because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, he said he needed to address the current 'crisis' first. OptiInstrument software allows physical and remote communication and control of instruments. It simplifies the testing, characterization and automated measurements. OTTAWA, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Optiwave, a provider of the world's leading photonics design software, now offers a new software, OptiInstrument. OptiInstrument software is a standalone tool that can be used to communicate and control different instruments through any available communication interface such as TCP/IP, USB, GPIB, or serial port (RS232/RS485). OptiInstrument tool helps researchers, developers, and QA testers to simplify their setups and reduce human interaction. The software allows using alias name for the equipment eliminating the need for the reconfiguration of the communication protocol. Currently, offered instrumentation automation software in the market by different companies requires qualified software developers to enable visual communication and control of the instruments. Users need to understand coding language like Java or know how to program using visual tools to enable visual communication and control capabilities. Also, users need to find the proper instruments' SCPI commands in the equipment's manuals, then type them in the chosen language or tool to enable the communication and control of the instruments. Potential mistakes during typing of the SCPI commands could be difficult to find. However, OptiInstrument software has a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) that allows loading and executing single SCPI command or a sequence of SCPI commands. Users of OptiInstrument software can load all SCPI commands of the instrument through pre-formatted XML files and have access to the list of commands from a tree configuration. Then they can drag any specific command to a designated window to check its operation. In that window, the user will view a description of the SCPI command. If the operator is satisfied with the command, he can drag it to another window, in which he creates a sequence of commands. The sequence of commands can be adjusted by moving them up and down to achieve the required order, save the sequence in a file, and execute it at any time. A Python script can be generated for the sequence of SCPI commands and saved in a file. The Python script file can be loaded and executed by OptiInstrument software or in a Python environment. OptiInstrument can read the data signals generated by the instruments, display it using a built-in viewer tool, and save it in a CSV file for post-processing. "OptiInstrument is a simple and user-friendly software that can be used to remotely communicate and control instruments for automation and characterization at the manufacturing floors," said by Dr. Ahmad Atieh, VP of Optical Systems at Optiwave. Details of OptiInstrument can be found on the Optiwave (www.optiwave.com) website. Additionally, Optiwave offers a 30-day free evaluation where customers can try all Optiwave products before making a final decision. About Optiwave Optiwave (www.optiwave.com) is a leading provider of engineering design software products for the photonics, optoelectronics, and system designs. Optiwave provides a comprehensive variety of design tools to over than 1000 leading high-technology businesses and academic institutions. An established community of engineers and scientists in over than seventy-five countries supports Optiwave's hallmark of achievements in Canadian business for 26 years. Optiwave is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with an established distribution network throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia. To download a free evaluation license, please visit Optiwave's online resource center at www.optiwave.com. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 10:12:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Helen Clark, co-chair of a World Health Organization (WHO) panel to review the WHO-coordinated global response to COVID-19, said they would look at reforming international institutional response to a pandemic, media outlets have reported. Clark, also former New Zealand prime minister, said the investigation "would look at the effectiveness of WHO work," as well as "how various countries responded to WHO's warnings," British newspaper the Guardian recently reported. The report said that Clark and her colleagues already discussed whether the UN health body "needed more powers, or the introduction of a 'convention on pandemics.'" To fight a global pandemic, the world needs global cooperation, strong international organizations, and "the WHO to be the best it can be," the report quoted Clark as saying on Friday. The agency at the moment "can basically only call on countries to be co-operative," she said. She also pointed out the importance of "urgent funding boost" for the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, while warning against "the prospect of cascading economic collapses and all the issues that come with that." Launched by the WHO on Thursday, the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response is co-chaired by Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. The panel is supposed to present its interim report in November when the World Health Assembly (WHA) resumes, and its substantive report in May next year. The WHO said the panel is set up in accordance with a WHA resolution in May to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to COVID-19. That involves the global response, including but not limited to the WHO. Enditem Burma Myanmars Karen Border Guard Force Denies Knowledge of Chinese Who Entered Thailand Illegally The detained Chinese men appear with Thai police in Mae Sot on Sunday. / INN News The Karen Border Guard Force said there are Chinese experts and investors based at its casinos in Myawaddy, Karen State, but claimed to have no knowledge of 16 Chinese people arrested by Thai police for illegal entry on Sunday in Mae Sot, a Thai border town. Thai police arrested 16 Chinese who snuck into Thailand by swimming across the Moei River, which is the boundary between Myanmar and Thailand, Thai media reported on Sunday. The Chinese detainees said they had been working at casinos in Myawaddy until the casinos were forced to close due to COVID-19. According to the reports, of the 16 Chinese, 10 had no passports. The six who were carrying passports had no Thai entry stamps or other documents permitting entry into Thailand. The Thai police are investigating the 16 men, after detaining them, and would contact the Chinese Embassy, according to Thai Rath news. In fact, the BGF commander said, the casinos in Myawaddy have been closed for four months due to COVID-19, and its workers have been provided with very limited amounts of financial assistance for food, as businesses has dried up. The casinos were shut in February; at that time the employees were paid half of their salaries, but now it has been reduced to 1,500 Thai baht [65,242 kyats] for each employee for food, said Colonel Saw Chit Thu, the leader of the BGF, which is now backed by the Myanmar military. The BGF was formed in 2010 from a splinter group of the former Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which is itself a faction of the Karen revolutionary group the Karen National Union. Businesses have been hit hard and some have not been able to pay staff during the casino closures. An estimated 20,000-30,000 employees in those casinos are out of jobs due to COVID-19, he added. Regarding the claim by the Chinese who illegally crossed into Thailand that they worked in casinos in Myanmar, Saw Chit Thu said his casinos employees are mostly local Myanmar people. I am not aware of those Chinese [that you mentioned], but our employees working in our five or six casinos are mostly locals. We accept foreignersThais and Chineseas investors or experts only, he told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. He added that the BGF has strictly controlled the border crossing since COVID-19 cases were reported both in Myanmar and Thailand, and only some food items, mostly vegetables and meats, are allowed to be sent through their checkpoints. People are not allowed to cross. We regularly monitor our border checkpoints, both with our staff and flying drones, Saw Chit Thu said. Thai news media reported that the Chinese detainees illegal entry into Thailand is a violation of Thailands Communicable Disease Act as well as Tak Provincial orders. In order to contain the spread of COVID-19, since late March, Thailand and Myanmar have only opened the second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Mae Sot-Myawaddy, where Myanmar migrants are allowed to return home, after undergoing mandatory health checks and quarantine. All bilateral trade must pass through this border post, while the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge 1 is still closed. Thailands land borders remain closed to foreigners. You may also like these stories: Myanmar Extends COVID-19 Restrictions Until July 31 We Are Weary of War: Myanmar Religious Leaders Appeal for Unity Ahead of Vote Shan Groups Demand Myanmar Military Punish Troops Over Civilian Killing TEL AVIV, ISRAEL and BEIJING, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ADAMA Ltd. (the "Company") (SZSE 000553) today provided an estimate regarding its financial performance for the first half of 2020. The Company is expecting to deliver record second quarter sales, in both USD and RMB terms, driven by strong business growth, enabling first half sales to finish in line with those of the same period last year, crossing the $2 billion mark for the third consecutive year. The solid sales performance in the quarter was achieved in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to disrupt the global crop protection market, amongst many others. The pandemic has contributed to the significant weakening of many global currencies against the US dollar in recent months, most notably the Brazilian Real, Indian Rupee and Turkish Lira, as well as increased volatility in the Euro and Australian dollar. These currency movements have negatively impacted the Company's performance in the first half of the year, as reflected in a lower sales growth in USD and RMB terms when compared to the growth in constant exchange rate (CER) terms, as well as reduced profitability. Sales Sales in the second quarter are expected to increase by more than 12% in CER terms, driven by a strong, double-digit increase in volumes alongside higher prices. In USD terms, sales are expected to grow by a more moderate 3%, and by 7% in RMB terms, reflecting the significant impact of the weaker currencies. Growth in the second quarter was led by a strong performance in Latin America, driven by Brazil and Argentina, overcoming the material depreciation of regional currencies as well as robust growth in the India, Middle East & Africa region, which benefited from favorable weather. ADAMA continues to grow strongly in China, driven by sales of the Company's branded, formulated products, and supporting an almost complete recovery from the first quarter COVID-19 impact. ADAMA is expecting to deliver robust second-quarter growth also in Asia-Pacific, led by a strong performance in Australia, benefiting from favorable rainfall in the country. Sales in Europe in the second quarter are expected to be in line with those of last year, with growth in North Europe being offset by a challenging season in South Europe, where a severe drought over much of the quarter caused a reduction in planted areas in some key crops. Sales in North America in the second quarter are expected to be lower than those in the same quarter last year, with challenging weather reducing purchasing from customers in key crops. Over the first half of 2020, ADAMA generated sales growth of almost 7% in CER terms, but is expecting to report sales in USD terms to be in line with those of the same period last year (+4% in RMB terms), overcoming the shortfall from the first quarter to once again exceed $2 billion in sales. This was achieved despite the various impacts of COVID-19, which continues to pose both numerous challenges to the way the Company is able to do its business, as well as materially impacting global currencies. In the half year, growth was led by Latin America, mainly driven by Argentina alongside a pleasing contribution from Peru following an acquisition there in 2019. The Company grew strongly over the half year also in the India, Africa and Middle East region, driven by continued robust growth in India and a return to supportive weather conditions in South Africa, and also saw significant growth in Australia, benefiting from favorable weather conditions. Gross Profit In the second quarter, the Company is expecting to report lower gross profit compared to the same period last year, with the material depreciation of global currencies more than offsetting the strong business growth and moderate price increases. Similarly, over the half year period, the significant currency weakness in recent months is expected to outweigh the Company's resilient business growth, resulting in reduced gross profit compared to the same period last year. Operating Profit and EBITDA In the second quarter, the Company is expecting to report a relatively moderate decline in Operating Profit and EBITDA, driven by the lower gross profit. The Company continues to exercise tight control of its operating expenses, which also benefited to some extent from the weaker currencies. Similarly, in the first half of the year, the lower gross profit is expected to be only partially offset by a reduction in operating expenses, reflecting the impact of COVID-19 constraints as well as the related weakening of currencies, resulting in lower Operating Profit and EBITDA than those reported in the same period last year. Net Income Net income in the second quarter is expected to be somewhat below that reported in the same quarter last year, driven by the lower operating income, partially offset by reduced financial expenses. Similarly, over the first half of the year, Net Income is expected to be below that reported in the same period last year, again driven by the reduced operating income. While the Company is expecting to record lower financial expenses in the first half, this is expected to be outweighed by markedly higher tax expenses, largely due to the first-quarter impact of the weakening of the Brazilian Real against the US dollar, which resulted in non-cash tax expenses due to differences between the functional (US dollar) and tax (local) currencies regarding the value of non-monetary assets. The Company's reported net income in the second quarter and first half will reflect around $15 million and $45 million, respectively, of net expenses in respect of certain one-time, mostly non-cash items, including mainly: i. Approximately $9.5 million in the quarter, and $19 million in the first half, in non-cash legacy amortization charges in respect of the 2011 PPA for the acquisition of Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd. by ChemChina, which charges will conclude by the end of 2020; ii. Approximately $7.5 million in the quarter, and $15 million in the first half, in non-cash amortization charges in respect of Transfer assets received from Syngenta related to the 2017 ChemChina-Syngenta acquisition, which charges in 2020 are expected to be approximately $31 million (down from $35 million in 2019), while in the year 2021 they are expected to further reduce to $23 million; iii. Approximately $9 million in the first half in respect of a one-time provision, made mainly in the first quarter, for early retirement of certain employees at the Company's manufacturing facilities in Israel. Reported Estimated H1 2020 H1 2019 Net income attributable to shareholders (USD millions) 23 30 87 Earnings per share (USD) 0.0094 0.0123 0.0355 Net income attributable to shareholders (RMB millions) 164 214 589 Earnings per share (RMB) 0.0669 0.0873 0.2406 Excluding the impact of the abovementioned one-time, mostly non-cash items, the Company is expecting to deliver the following adjusted net income: Adjusted Estimated H1 2020 H1 2019 Net income attributable to shareholders (USD millions) 68 75 131 Earnings per share (USD) 0.0277 0.0306 0.0535 Net income attributable to shareholders (RMB millions) 477 527 887 Earnings per share (RMB) 0.1950 0.2153 0.3626 These estimations are preliminary and have not been audited or reviewed by the Company's auditors. These estimations may change, inter alia, as a result of the further processing and analysis of the financial data that the Company will perform for the preparation of its quarterly financial statements, which are expected to be released in the coming weeks. The ongoing spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue to negatively impact the performance of the Company in the third quarter, and potentially beyond. The Company continues to actively manage its response to the outbreak in order to ensure the safety of its employees and limit the impact on the Company's performance. Actions being taken include extending and strengthening distribution channels, use of expedited transport options where possible, working collaboratively with supply chain partners, and raising prices wherever possible to accommodate the increased logistics costs. Investors are reminded to exercise caution when making investment decisions. About ADAMA ADAMA Ltd. is a global leader in crop protection, providing solutions to farmers across the world to combat weeds, insects and disease. ADAMA has one of the widest and most diverse portfolios of active ingredients in the world, state-of-the art R&D, manufacturing and formulation facilities, together with a culture that empowers our people in markets around the world to listen to farmers and ideate from the field. This uniquely positions ADAMA to offer a vast array of distinctive mixtures, formulations and high-quality differentiated products, delivering solutions that meet local farmer and customer needs in over 100 countries globally. For more information, visit us at www.ADAMA.com and follow us on Twitter at @ADAMAAgri. Contact: Ben Cohen Global Investor Relations Email: [email protected] Zhujun Wang China Investor Relations Email: [email protected] SOURCE ADAMA Ltd. - The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has named Erika James as the first-ever female dean - James also made history as the university's first-ever Black woman to become dean in the establishment's 139-year history - The University of Pennsylvania appointment of her as the first-ever female dean excited many people The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States has named Erika James as the first-ever female dean in the establishments 139-year history. This is the first time in the history of the school that a woman has become the dean of the private Ivy League university. READ ALSO: She was out on the streets hungry and smelled horrible, man shares how he found his bae Dr. Erika James' appointed impressed and inspired many people. Photo: Twitter.com Source: UGC READ ALSO: Frankie dismisses deadbeat accusations, discloses his mum tops up sons' school fees TUKO.co.ke has learnt that the leadership of the school unanimously supported the decision to appoint Erika James as the first Black female dean of the university. The Wharton School announced her appointment in a post on the universitys official Twitter handle on 1 July. ''Today, we officially welcome Erika H. James as the 17th Dean of the Wharton School: Trained as an organisational psychologist, Dean Erika James is a leading expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy. Welcome Erika James.'' As an alumna of UPenns Graduate School of Education and former employee at Whartons Lauder Institute, her appointment has been well received and lauded. READ ALSO: Serge Aurier: Brother of Spurs star Christopher shot dead in France READ ALSO: Nakuru: Kijogoo atemwa na mke kwa kuchovya asali ya kijakazi wao Launch Lead Learn, in a post on social media, wrote: 'Congratulations, Dean James! As an alumna of UPenns Graduate School of Education and a former employee at Whartons Lauder Institute, this warms my heart in so many ways!' James also made history when she was named as one of the Top Women of Power in Education by Black Enterprise. She was also listed as one of the Power 100 by Ebony Magazine. Dr. James has a PhD and Masters degree in organisational psychology from the University of Michigan and she earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Pomona College of the Claremont Colleges in California. Do you have a hot story or scandal you would like us to publish, please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news. I married a man every woman wanted - Pastor Joan Chege | Tuko Talks | Tuko TV Source: TUKO.co.ke Bengaluru: While the capital of Karnataka is poised to go into another bout of the coronavirus lockdown from Tuesday night, there is a strong likelihood of the rest of the state following suit. The majority of deputy commissioners (DCs) in Karnataka told chief minister B S Yediyurappa during a video conference on Monday that they are in favour of imposing a week-long lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the state. The chief minister had sought their opinion whether they favoured a lockdown on the lines of what is being clamped upon Bengaluru starting Tuesday night. A majority of the DCs were in favor for a lockdown, while a few suggested a ban on inter-district vehicular movement. The chief minister authorized the DCs to take a call after discussing it with people's representatives. Yediyurappa also said he would hold one more meeting with district in-charge ministers and district in-charge secretaries regarding a lockdown. The chief minister also directed all district authorities to conduct rapid antigen test for Covid-19 patients. Olakh rapid antigen test kits have been supplied to district to conduct emergency tests for Covid patients. Following an increase in the Covid-19 mortality rate in Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Bidar, Gadag, Mysuru, Bellary, Udupi and Kalaburgi districts, the chief minister categorically instructed the DCs take necessary steps to reduce mortality in these districts. Bidar is one among the top five districts in the country with regard to mortality rate, the chief minister pointed out in the meeting. Yediyurapa instructed all deputy commissioners to send analytical reports on deaths due to Covid. Containment zones must be kept under strict watch, he said and told DCs to hire health workers on contract basis if there is any scarcity of zonal health workers. Several decisions were taken at the video confernece. Disturbed with non availability of ambulances and beds in private hospitals, CM has directed to provide adequate beds in both government and private hospitals, which designated as Covid hospitals. Orbite co-founders, Jason Andrews, Nicolas Gaume, and CFO Sophie Stabile Orbite aims to become the social nexus to train and accommodate future sub-orbital and orbital space travelers. Our emphasis will be to create a unique, exclusive, and inspiring experience for these future space explorers. Orbite Corporation, formed by entrepreneurs Jason Andrews and Nicolas Gaume, announced today plans to develop the first Spaceflight Gateway and Astronaut Training Complex for commercial astronaut training. Orbite provides state-of-the-art astronaut preparation across all types of vehicles as well as luxury accommodations, dining, and recreation for future commercial astronauts, their friends and families, and other Orbite customers. Jason Andrews founded Andrews Space in 1999, Spaceflight in 2010, BlackSky in 2013, and subsequently integrated all three businesses under Spaceflight Industries in 2015. Its been clear during my two-plus decades in this industry that commercial human spaceflight was going to happen, explains Andrews, There are now four new human-capable vehicles going into operation this year. The 2020s will be the decade of commercial human spaceflight. Nicolas Gaume is a serial entrepreneur and a long-time space enthusiast who has founded or co-founded nine startups in technology & media. He currently leads Space Cargo Unlimited and is actively involved in the Gaume family real estate and hospitality activities, located in the Bay of Arcachon, France, and which include La Co(o)rniche, a 5-star boutique hotel designed by Philippe Starck. I have a passion for space and luxury hospitality, and I am thrilled to combine both in creating the only Spaceflight Gateway and Astronaut Training Complex. This will be the place to experience and train for space! Sophie Stabile is also joining the Orbite team as CFO. Ms. Stabile brings extensive hospitality experience as a former Chief Executive Officer of Hotels Services France and Switzerland (within AccorHotels Group) from 2015 to 2017. Prior to this position, she was CFO of Accor Hotels Group and a member of the Accor Hotels Executive Committee. As SpaceX has successfully demonstrated, commercial human spaceflight will become increasingly available to a variety of customers. Other great companies like Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, Axiom, and others will begin passenger operations within the next few years. Orbite aims to become the social nexus to train and accommodate these future sub-orbital and orbital space travelers. Our emphasis will be to create a unique, exclusive, and inspiring experience for these future space explorers, ends Gaume and Andrews. Orbite will begin operations in the United States and Europe, potentially expanding based on market opportunities and space transportation operations. Training will begin in late 2021, with plans to open the Spaceflight Gateway and Astronaut Training complex in 2023, at a location to be disclosed next year. About: Orbite, which is orbit in French, was co-founded in 2019 by Jason Andrews and Nicolas Gaume. Orbite will develop the first spaceflight getaway complex to provide commercial astronaut training services and help customers prepare for their future spaceflights. In addition to its unique training infrastructure, Orbite will provide upscale hospitality services to accommodate astronauts and their families while they train and prepare for their suborbital and orbital launch experiences. Training activities will start in late 2021 with a projection to open the Spaceflight Gateway and Astronaut Training Complex in 2023. Follow us on Twitter The federal bureaucracys institutional responsibilities can put it at odds with political leadership. The intelligence community strives to get the facts straight and to provide objective analysis. Most often correct, but certainly not perfect, intelligence informs the national risk equation and attempts to keep the policy debate intellectually honest. This is particularly important in a world in which fiction routinely passes for fact. If the intelligence community needs to correct understatements of threat (no, the Islamic State is not defeated) or correct overstatements of threat (no, data doesnt suggest a significant threat from refugees), thats not a deep state undermining the president; thats a professional civil service doing its job. Just like the civil servants at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Justice Department and everywhere else in the government. On Monday, July 13, the new executive order (2020-147) went into effect, requiring Michigan businesses to enforce face coverings in indoor, public spaces. The new order requires face masks in crowded outdoor spaces as well as public transportation, where distancing 6 feet apart is not possible, and went into effect Monday, July 13. Businesses are also required to post signage about the requirement. There are a few exemptions to wearing a mask. People who are eating or drinking, anyone officiating a religious service, children under 5 and people who cannot medically tolerate a face covering are not required to wear one. Individuals could face a $500 fine for violating the order and businesses could risk losing their operating licenses, including their liquor license. Though challenging, Midland Police Chief Nicole Ford said the department would be enforcing the order as resources allow, working with the city attorneys office and the prosecuting attorneys office to handle cases. At Monday nights city council meeting, City Attorney Jim Branson said his office had already received several calls and emails about noncompliance by individuals and businesses on Monday. Many local businesses have gone to Facebook to communicate to their customers about the change. For some businesses, like Circle Quality Shoes, the new executive order doesn't change much for their day-to-day operations, as the local shoe store was already requiring face coverings inside. Its easy to do; its safe. Its the right thing to do, said employee Andy McGee. Over at Laskos Restaurant, Manager Zoey Berisha said the mask requirement puts a strain on their older customers who she said cant wear one for medical reasons. She said shes seen customers come in for takeout then opt to eat their meals in the car. To help individuals and businesses navigate the new order, the Midland Business Alliance provided the following webpage. This latest executive order comes in response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Over the last week, every region in Michigan has seen an uptick in confirmed coronavirus cases and according to health officials, wearing a face mask can significantly reduce the chance of spreading the deadly virus. 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, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a public statement Saturday. Masks can reduce the chance of spreading COVID-19 by about 70%. By wearing masks, we can save lives and protect our family, friends, and neighbors from the spread of COVID-19. And by wearing masks now, we can put our state in a stronger position so our kids can return to school safely in the fall. For the sake of your loved ones, lets all mask up, Michigan. Senior Indian and Chinese military commanders are set to meet at Chushul in eastern Ladakh on Tuesday to negotiate the next stage of disengagement between the two armies along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), with the talks expected to focus on reducing tensions in the Finger Area and Depsang plains as well as pulling back weapons from friction points, people familiar with the developments said on Monday. This will be the fourth round of talks between the corps commander-ranked officers of the two armies who made previous attempts to reduce tensions along the disputed border on June 6, June 22 and June 30. Negotiations are expected to be far harder this time as the continued presence of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) in the Finger Area and the Depsang sector could be the sticking point in the talks, said one of the officials cited above. The meeting is expected to begin at 11.30am. In Tuesdays talks, the two commanders are expected to discuss the step-wise withdrawal of weapons and equipment to mutually agreed distances from friction areas along the LAC and thinning the overall military buildup in the region, said a second official. Also read| HT Editorial: What does China want? This military dialogue will be followed by another meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on border affairs. The military commanders set the time-frame and method of disengagement while WMCC monitors the process. The July 14 dialogue will be crucial as it will take up the Finger Area near Pangong Tso and the Depsang plains where there is Chinese intrusion across Indias perception of the LAC, said former Northern Army commander Lieutenant General DS Hooda (retd). In both these locations, the Indian side should insist on restoration of status quo ante as anything less than this could leave us with a territorial disadvantage, Hooda added. The military talks follow a series of steps taken by the two armies at friction points in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra to implement a complex disengagement plan hammered out at the June 30 meeting between delegations led by Lieutenant General Harinder Singh, commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, and Major General Liu Lin, commander of the South Xinjiang military region. Also read: Forces have full possession of all our countrys land, says ITBP chief The current disengagement process began after the June 30 military dialogue and a subsequent conversation on July 5 between national security adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi. Even as uncertainty persists in the Finger Area and Depsang plains, the army is monitoring the withdrawal of the PLA from Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and Gogra, where 4-km buffer zones have come up. At the June 30 meeting, the Indian side reiterated its demand for the pullback of Chinese troops from friction points along the LAC and sought the restoration of status quo ante (the situation as it existed in early April) in the Finger Area, Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang plains, apart from emphasising the need for thinning the military buildup in the region. The disengagement effort involves rival troops pulling back a specified distance from face-off sites, with further retreat taking place in phases as the plan progresses on a verifiable basis on the ground every 72 hours by both sides. The creation of buffer zones has temporarily restricted the patrolling activities of both armies in the region. While some experts saw this as a necessary step, others cautioned that the temporary curtailing of patrolling rights should not become a long-term feature undermining Indian presence and control. The military build-up in Indian and Chinese depth areas hasnt thinned, with both sides keeping their guard up. The deployment of thousands of soldiers, fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, artillery guns, missile systems and air defence weapons continues in the region. The PLA pulled back 2 km from Patrolling Point 14 (Galwan Valley), PP-15 (Hot Springs) and PP-17 (Gogra) last week, with the Indian Army withdrawing proportionately in these areas. The army observed some thinning of PLA troops, vehicles and removal of structures from a key spur in the Finger Area over the last week but it cant be seen as disengagement, said a third official. The Finger Area, which refers to a set of eight cliffs jutting out of the Sirijap range overlooking the Pangong lake, remains the biggest test and hardest part of the disengagement process, as reported by HT last week. Before the PLA grabbed positions on Finger 4 overlooking Indian deployments, the army would patrol right up to Finger 8 that New Delhi considers within Indian territory. The new positions held by the PLA have curtailed the scope of Indian patrols. Fingers 4 and 8 are 8km apart. The Indian claim line in this sector extends to Finger 8, while the Chinese claim is up to Finger 4 where the PLA has set up permanent bunkers, pillboxes, observation posts and tented camps over the last two months. The army is keeping a strict vigil along the contested border in the Depsang sector where the PLAs forward presence is a matter of serious concern and where a 2013 Chinese intrusion blocked the access of Indian soldiers to several patrolling routes, including the ones leading to PPs-10, 11, 11A, 12 and 13. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Representative Image Bengaluru urban and rural districts will go under a week-long lockdown from 8 pm on July 14 to check rising COVID-19 cases in Karnataka capital. With a spike in the novel coronavirus infections, the state government on July 11 had announced complete lockdown in the two districts from July 14 night to 5 am on July 22. COVID-19 infections in Karnataka has breached the 40,000-mark as the state reported 2,738 fresh cases and 73 related fatalities on July 13, taking the death toll to 757, according to the health department. Out of 2,738 fresh infections reported, a whopping 1,315 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone, while 43 of the 73 reported deaths were from the state capital. The mortality rate in the state is 1.82 percent and 1.63 percent in Bengaluru. Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic 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 Heres a list of what is allowed and what is not during the week-long coronavirus-enforced lockdown: > Shops selling essentials including milk, groceries and vegetables, would be permitted to open from 5 am to 12 pm. > Hotels and restaurants shall be permitted to operate kitchens for take away or home delivery of food items only. > Home delivery of essential items will be allowed, aiming at minimising the movement of individuals outside their homes. > All places of worship shall be closed to the public, and religious congregations are strictly prohibited. > Opening of theatres, malls, bars, gyms, swimming pools is not permitted. > Public transportation services will remain suspended during the period, which include buses (KSRTC, BMTC, Private), Metro rail services, Taxis (including auto-rickshaws) and services of cab aggregators, except those hired for an emergency. Also read | Over 23,000 people in home quarantine furnish wrong addresses in Bengaluru > Only flights and trains already scheduled will continue to operate during the Lockdown period and the tickets shall serve as passes for movement of the passengers. > The inter-state and intra-state movement of passenger vehicles is allowed only in cases of emergencies or for permitted activities. Such movement is allowed through registration/obtaining valid pass through Seva Sindhu portal. > Most government offices will be closed except those providing essential services and engaged in COVID-19 works, while Secretariat Offices in Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha will work with 50 percent strength. > Construction activities can be allowed in projects where workers are available on site. (With inputs from PTI) Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here WICHITA, Kan., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) is excited to welcome more than 600 teachers to the YEedu conference. The annual conference will take place July 14-16 and, for the first time will be held completely online. With the COVID-19 pandemic challenging educators across the country to reimagine their classroom experience, YE invites teachers to recharge and "reignite their spark" for education. Participants can expect to dive deep into inspiring professional development opportunities, find community with hundreds of other educators facing the same challenges, get inspired by high-energy keynote speakers, and have plenty of opportunities for fun group activities. The conference draws a mix of educators who have spent years in the YE program and those who are experiencing the YE program for the first time. "YE has helped to change me into a different teacher," said Chad Berry, YE educator. "Coming to events like this is like a big, fun game, where you're just jumping in with each other and you are learning new things almost as a student yourself." Conference attendees will hear from the best and brightest minds alongside many of the folks behind the YE curriculum. The event highlights include top names in education: Chase Koch , president of Koch Disruptive Technologies , president of Koch Disruptive Technologies Kevin Brennan and Tom Cody , co-owners of Top 20 Training and , co-owners of Top 20 Training Joseph Vincelli , chief executive director of development and curriculum at The Artist Outreach , chief executive director of development and curriculum at The Artist Outreach Steven A. Bollar 'Stand Tall Steve,' school administrator and inspirational speaker 'Stand Tall Steve,' school administrator and inspirational speaker Dori Berg , project-based learning expert , project-based learning expert Brian Hooks , chairman and CEO of Stand Together , chairman and CEO of Stand Together Many others, including a surprise guest or two! "I'm excited at the opportunity to speak to a collection of the nation's most entrepreneurial-thinking educators," said Brian Hooks, chairman and CEO of Stand Together. "These teachers represent everything we want from a quality education: an entrepreneurial mindset that makes bottom-up change possible, a student-led method that makes learning individualized, and a passion for their students that highlights the innate ability of each and every kid they teach." Educators from around the nation can choose between six tracks during the three-day event to personalize their experience. The six tracks cover an introduction to YE for new educators, quick mental breaks with virtual workout sessions, presentations for potential YE educators, professional development, and time for attendees to network. Despite being held virtually, each session is built to be immersive and interactive so participants do not feel like they are attending a conference, but one of their favorite activities. "We're excited to host a one-of-a-kind event built to empower educators," said Kylie Stupka, president of Youth Entrepreneurs. "YEedu is designed to challenge educators to think differently about their classroom experience and we can't imagine a better time for the sort of entrepreneurial thinking than in the midst of a crisis such as the one COVID-19 has presented," Stupka shared. "These events bring out the best in all of our educators. With an open mind, they share ideas, recharge, get inspired, and bring it all back to their classrooms." Educators that are interested in the event still have time to register at http://ye-edu.org/#register . About Youth Entrepreneurs Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) is an experiential program that equips young people with the values and vision to pursue their dreams. YE provides educators with training, resources, and freedom to customize lessons and activities to create a tailored curriculum that benefits their students most introducing entrepreneurial skills and economic principles that change students' mindsets, so they believe in themselves and what they can do. Since 1991, YE has inspired more than 35,000 alumni across the nation to greater achievement than they ever thought possible. YE is a public 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and is funded by private donations. For more information, visit YouthEntrepreneurs.org . Youth Entrepreneurs Contact: Jennifer Watkins [email protected] | 316-312-7573 SOURCE Youth Entrepreneurs Related Links http://www.youthentrepreneurs.org On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that China's attempt at claiming expansive maritime territories across the South China Sea was not justified by the rule of law and could potentially set up military confrontations between the US and Beijing. Unlawful territorial claims The attempts could also result in some companies getting sanctioned by the US as the American government aims to drive Chinese activity in the region down, as reported by The New York Times. The secretary of state noted China's yearslong control campaign of the maritime resources and territory across the massive stretch of water was illegal. Pompeo's criticism of China's efforts has been the most explicit show of Washington's support of a 2016 ruling at The Hague that states China violated international laws with its territorial "bullying." The announcements suggest that the US policy expresses its support of the tribunal ruling and puts Washington in an eligible position to enforce that legislation despite China's open rejection. Another note is that the statement was not tied to the military, hinting that there is a possibility the US could come in support of nations affected by China's territorial disputes including Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines if confrontations occur. A political scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M. Taylor Fravel, who is currently studying territorial disputes of China as well as its military, said the statement by Pompeo was a public expression of Washington's support of the tribunal's ruling. Despite the public support for the ruling, the United States government is wary of maintaining its neutrality on territorial disputes including the Spratly Islands, said Fravel. Also Read: Pressure Mounting on US as China, Iran Moves Closer to Trade and Military Partnership The land features across the South China Sea is being battled over by China and five other governments where Indonesia tackled the Asian giant for its activities near its maritime territories. China denies the allegations of illegal claims, citing "a nine-dashed line," which is a boundary that consists of an area as large as Mexico and contains most of the region. Beijing noted the tribunal had no jurisdiction in the matter and continued its construction of artificial islands around the disputed territory and equipping them with weaponry, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Firm denial of the accusations The Chinese embassy located in Washington issued a statement that called Pompeo's comments an exaggeration of the issue and is an attempt to create chaos between China and other Asian nations. Chinese representatives also noted the allegations had no basis and evidence, adding Beijing completely opposed the accusations. The statement also said China was open to resolving territorial disputes through peaceful negotiations. The disputed region is home to potentially abundant oil and gas resources that are usually used by governments to sign contracts with companies that conduct exploration and gathering of resources. The waters of the South China Sea are also home abundant fisheries which have resulted in multiple fishing boats and coast guard vessels from various countries to encounter one another over the past few years repeatedly. Related Article: Supreme Court Says New York Prosecutors Can See Trump's Tax Records @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. In a nutshell: Huawei continues to feel the hurt as the UK vows to remove all of the Chinese manufacturer's components from its mobile infrastructure by 2027. It also plans to outlaw future purchases of the company's products beginning in January 2021. Last week, the UK government was reportedly rethinking its decision to use Huawei equipment in its 5G cellular infrastructure. The reconsideration comes after pressure from the US, which has banned the Chinese manufacturer over potential security risks. The British parliament is also concerned over Huawei's dwindling supply chain, which is forcing it to use unvetted secondary components. Today, the UK decided it would move forward with a plan that would eliminate Huawei gear from its 5G network by December 31, 2027. A Telecoms Security Bill is expected to pass through parliament and go into effect at the end of this year. The law would ban providers from purchasing Huawei-made 5G equipment. "By the time of the next election, we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks," said British Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden. The final push for the ban came from advice from the UK's National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), which said that the US sanctions imposed by the US in May would cripple Huawei's ability to procure trusted manufacturing components. The decision expands the country's stance earlier this year that banned "high risk" OEM components from core parts of its 5G infrastructure. It still allowed their use in scenarios that required less security precautions. Huawei expressed disappointment in the decision in a statement saying that the UK has decided to "level down" it's 5G network. "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone," the spokesperson said. "It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills, and deepen the digital divide. Instead of 'levelling up' the government is levelling down, and we urge them to reconsider." The company went on to say that this move is more about US trade policy than 5G security. It said it would review the UK's decision in detail and work with lawmakers "to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain." Image credit: 5G Huawei by Daniel Constante, Huawei Lock by Ink Drop Quarterly testing for Johne's is helping a Carmarthenshire dairy farmer identify infected cows and control the spread of the devastating disease. Rheinallt Harries milks a herd of 170 spring block calving New Zealand Friesian and Jersey cross cows plus followers, based at Based at Llwynmendy near Llandeilo. The farm is one of 500 farms taking part in AHDB's HerdAdvance project, which aims to help farms lift profitability and performance by focusing on improved herd health management and disease control. The farm decided that individual whole herd testing four times a year for the presence of Johnes disease was a priority. HerdAdvance will pay for Johnes testing and an annual Johnes Management Plan, written and reviewed by the vet, as part of the project. Rheinallt said the project had enabled the business to be proactive in managing the fight against Johnes disease by funding quarterly testing of the whole herd. "In doing this, we can make informed decisions which have helped improve the efficiency of the herd and business, he said. The vet indicated the problem would initially appear to get worse as more cows were tested and their status determined. The initial test found approximately 10% of the herd were positive for the disease. As testing continued the prevalence rose and is now approximately 12%, but Rheinallt is implementing control measures to reduce this gradually. Cows identified as either amber or red positive are marked with a red ear tag so that they are easily identifiable and are managed separately. Positive cows are bred to beef semen and are calved separately to the rest of the herd, with calving pens thoroughly disinfected between calvings. No colostrum from Johnes positive cows is fed to any calves. The prevalence of the disease on farm is expected to reduce dramatically over the coming years by implementing these control measures alongside regular testing and an annual review of the Johnes Management Plan. AHDB animal health manager Ceri Davies explained: By testing the whole herd quarterly, the farm has been able to identify the cows which pose a risk of transmitting the disease to the rest of the herd and take actions in minimising this spread. "Without this regular testing and identification of positive cows, controlling and eradicating the disease would be extremely difficult," he added. EBRD 1.18 bn RSD (10 million equivalent) to finance development of petrol station network Expansion of Greeces Coral Group to bring high-quality Shell-brand fuels to Serbia Corals Serbian network to grow A loan of 1.18 billion Serbian dinars (10 million equivalent) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will bring premium quality fuels to Serbia as Greeces leading fuel distributor Coral Group is expanding its activities in the country. Coral Group distributes petrol, fuel oil, diesel and lubricants through a network of 750 petrol stations in Greece. In Serbia, the company is planning to significantly grow its network, which currently consists of four petrol stations. The EBRDs loan will help finance this investment programme. The petrol stations, operating under the Shell brand, will enhance the market offering, with high-quality V-Power fuel that is designed to help clean and protect engines. Zsuzsanna Hargitai, EBRD Regional Director, Western Balkans, and Head of Serbia, said: We are pleased to support an important regional player as it expands in Serbia, bringing high-quality fuel and also competition to the market. Spyros Balezos, Chief Financial Officer of Coral Group, commented: This loan agreement opens a new page of cooperation between Coral and the EBRD, marking a milestone in the growth of our retail network in Serbia. We are committed to delivering top-quality Shell fuels and services in the local market. The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Serbia. The Bank has invested more than 6 billion across 267 projects in the country to date. The EBRD is focusing on support for private-sector development, on the improvement of public utility services and on the overall transition towards a green economy. The lack of potable water in many Lagos homes could jeopardise the state governments fight against the coronavirus pandemic, a civil society organisation, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), has warned. During a press conference in Lagos Tuesday, the group called on the Lagos State Government to declare a state of emergency on the water sector. The Executive Director of CAPPA, Akinbode Oluwafemi, said despite the fight against COVID-19 by the state government, no attention is paid to the supply of water, which is at the centre of the fight. Water is a fundamental human right and it is important the government takes it as such. The state did not include provision of water as part of the COVID-19 response strategy. In fact, what we saw was a decline in water production during the pandemic, he said. Mr Oluwafemi said a recent report on the status of the waterworks in Lagos in response to the state governments public service campaign asking residents to wash their hands regularly to curb the spread of the COVID-19, has revealed further shortfalls in the water sector. Water and COVID-19 As of July 13, there are 12,583 coronavirus cases in Lagos and 172 deaths, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. In its report titled How Acute Water Shortage may jeopardize COVID-19 response in Lagos, the group said it visited 13 waterworks across 11 highly populated local governments including Alimosho, Epe, Kosofe, Ifako-Ijaiye, Adiyan, Akilo-Ogba, Badagry, Bariga, Iju and Isashi. The report noted that many waterworks in Lagos are non-functional, denying Lagosians access to clean and safe water even amidst the pandemic. When the Lagos State Government commenced its public service announcement on the need for citizens to regularly wash their hands with clean water, it was necessary to complement their efforts by ascertaining the true state of infrastructure that would deliver on that mandate. Unfortunately, the findings were very disturbing Not only did we discover that many of the waterworks were performing abysmally below capacity, at the time of the most crucial need for residents, most were practically on lock down. Mr Oluwafemi said some of the reasons why the waterworks were performing abysmally include faulty engines, irregular power supply and lack of manpower among others. Shasha waterworks in Alimosho the most populated local government in Lagos had not functioned for upwards of seven years. Infrastructure at the Badagry waterworks have started crumbling and the premises taken over by weeds. Only at the Lekki waterworks which services highbrow customers did the team learn that production was more regular especially when there is power. CAPPA urged the Lagos State government to jettison its planned privatisation of the water sector and declare a state of emergency in the sector. It also urged the state government to fully uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government, representing the people. Mr Oluwafemi recommended that the state government should build the political will to prioritize water for citizens, leading to a comprehensive plan that invests in water infrastructure necessary to provide universal access, jobs, improved public health, and invigoration of the Lagos economy. Corruption in Lagos Water Sector The group called for the institution of a probe into the N1.6 billion released for rehabilitation of the 48 mini and micro waterworks under the administration of the former governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, and all water contracts in the state since 1999. Mr Oluwafemi said there is no account for the released fund, despite the claim of the state government that it was spent on water rehabilitation as there is no improvement in the supply of water in the state. Speaking at the conference, Funmi Sessi, the chairperson of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Lagos chapter said it is worrisome that a state filled with water lags basic water supply for the populace. Water is essential in the fight against COVID-19. How many homes in the state have links to constant supply of water by the government? Mrs Sessi said there is a need to block corruption and wastages in the water sector and channel public funds to amenities that will better the lives of the people. There is water everywhere in Lagos but none to drink and use by the people. No water, no soap in public facilities provided by the government to combat COVID-19, she said. Advertisements The Union leader urged the government to pay urgent attention to the supply of water to its citizens. Achike Chude, the Vice-Chairman of Joint Action Force, said the water infrastructure in Nigeria is so bad that Nigerians are getting used to the fact that there is no water and they are carrying on their lives. He said citizens should awaken to the consciousness that water is one of the most basic infrastructure that the government should provide for the populace. Lagos State Government seem to be doing a lot in terms of combating COVID-19 but in the actual sense, the state and populace lack access to water which is a key part in fighting the pandemic. Government at the state and federal level do not see water as a priority, which is why they fail to address the supply of water even amidst the sensitization of good hand and personal hygiene as a way of combating the pandemic, Mr Chude said. He encouraged citizens to begin to move away from the normalisation of absence of water and make the supply of water a priority for the government. Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and return to the status quo. A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said only that the judges characterization was correct. The announcement brings relief to thousands of foreign students who had been at risk of being deported from the country, along with hundreds of universities that were scrambling to reassess their plans for the fall in light of the policy. Under the policy, international students in the U.S. would have been forbidden from taking all their courses online this fall. New visas would not have been issued to students at schools planning to provide all classes online, which includes Harvard. Students already in the U.S. would have faced deportation if they didnt transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily. Immigration officials issued the policy last week, reversing earlier guidance from March 13 telling colleges that limits around online education would be suspended during the pandemic. University leaders believed the rule was part of President Donald Trumps effort to pressure the nations schools and colleges to reopen this fall even as new virus cases rise. The policy drew sharp backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the challenge by Harvard and MIT. Colleges said the policy would put students safety at risk and hurt schools financially. Many schools rely on tuition from international students, and some stood to lose millions of dollars in revenue if the rule had taken hold. Harvard and MIT were the first to contest the policy, but at least seven other federal suits had been filed by universities and states opposing the rule. Harvard and MIT argued that immigration officials violated procedural rules by issuing the guidance without justification and without allowing the public to respond. They also argued that the policy contradicted ICEs March 13 directive telling schools that existing limits on online education would be suspended for the duration of the emergency. The suit noted that Trumps national emergency declaration has not been rescinded and that virus cases are spiking in some regions. Immigration officials, however, argued that they told colleges all along that any guidance prompted by the pandemic was subject to change. They said the rule was consistent with existing law barring international students from taking classes entirely online. Federal officials said they were providing leniency by allowing students to keep their visas even if they study online from abroad. China's space tracking ship Yuanwang-6 sails on the Yangtze River after departing from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province, July 13, 2020. China's space tracking ship Yuanwang-6 departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province Monday for multiple spacecraft monitoring missions. Yuanwang-6, the third-generation Yuanwang space tracking ship, will carry out missions in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It will complete a one-way voyage of more than 10,000 nautical miles and operate at sea for 100 days. (Photo by Yang Rui/Xinhua) NANJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's space tracking ship Yuanwang-6 departed from a port in east China's Jiangsu Province Monday for multiple spacecraft monitoring missions. Yuanwang-6, the third-generation Yuanwang space tracking ship, will carry out missions in the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. It will complete a one-way voyage of more than 10,000 nautical miles and operate at sea for 100 days. This is the first time for a Yuanwang ship to perform missions in the three oceans during a single voyage. Yang Bianjiao, captain of Yuanwang-6, said crew members had conducted drills, devised action plans and inspected facilities before the voyage. The ship has completed an overhaul, maritime calibration tests, equipment precision appraisals and two satellite maritime monitoring missions this year. Nearly 70 percent of the crew have been working on the ship for over 160 days. Enditem Previously, I listed the 15 members of Big Pharma that are expected to record the highest sales in 2026, as reported by EvaluatePharma. Now we'll look at the products and strategies that will propel the top five companies' revenue. Roche Holding AG (RHHBY) Estimated 2026 sales: $61.9 billion 2019 sales: $48.2 billion 2019 to 2026 CAGR: 3.62% Although the Swiss company is expected to suffer a $10 billion shortfall when three of its top-selling cancer drugs lose exclusivity, replacements are expected to step into the breach. That was the case in the first quarter, when two of the company's new drugs to treat a type of breast cancer called HER2 surpassed sales of Roche's blockbuster treatment, Hereceptin. Roche is also a powerhouse in the neuroscience field. Among its treatments is the multiple sclerosis drug Ocrevus, whose sales jumped nearly 40% in the first quarter compared to the same period a year earlier. Also driving revenue growth is the hemophilia A drug Hemlibra, whose first-quarter sales climbed nearly 150%. To protect its hemophilia franchise, Roche just bought gene therapy specialist Spark Therapeutics. At a price of more than $44, Roche is selling nearly $2 below its 52-week high. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) Estimated 2026 sales: $56.1 billion 2019 sales: $46.1 billion 2019 to 2026 CAGR: 2.83% To help hit the 2026 sales target of more than $56 billion, Pfizer is jettisoning Upjohn and its underperforming generics business and emphasizing the company's branded drugs and small consumer health line. Upjohn contributed more than $10 billion to the Pfizer top line, but that and more could be made up after the spinoff via greater emphasis on Pfizer's heart drug Vyndagel, blood thinner Eliquis and breast cancer treatment Ibrance. These and two other medications form Pfizer's core five products, which are being counted on as the primary sales drivers. FierceBiotech reported that in January, RBC Capital Markets analyst Randall Stanicky said the core five would likely survive a "messy" breakup with Upjohn. Story continues Moreover, the group won't face a serious patent loss until after 2025, which should give Pfizer the time to shore up its pharma business through the company's pipeline or via strategic acquisitions At just more than $35, Pfizer is selling at the mid-point of its one-year range. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Estimated 2026 sales: $54.6 billion 2019 sales: $42.4 billion 2019 to 2026 CAGR: 3.75% Johnson & Johnson's emphasis on its pharmaceuticals is paying off. In 2019, sales were more than $42 million, the largest total among the company's three primary businesses. The percentage increase was also the biggest. Sales of the company's cancer drugs increased nearly 12% to $10.7 billion last year while immunology climbed nearly 8% to almost $14 billion. The neuroscience franchise generated $6.3 billion, a 6.6% increase, while sales for cardiovascular, metabolic and other meds came in at $5.2 billion, a 9.7% decrease. The company's pipeline looks strong and Johnson & Johnson could see label expansions for several of its key drugs in 2020. FierceBiotech reported that last month that Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen wrote in a note to clients that the company's hematology franchise and its therapeutics business, in general, are both underappreciated. Chen's team said two Johnson & Johnson cancer drugs in its pipeline are very promising. The company also has two neuroscience treatments that are in the late stages of testing. The Cantor team rated Johnson & Johnson among its top picks earlier this year, citing a "leading pharma business that is well-positioned to drive above-market growth" in 2020 and beyond. At about $147.50, the stock is trading just 6% under its 52-week high. 16335428f424537555b5dfdd04b016c2.png Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Estimated 2026 sales: $54.25 billion 2019 sales: $46.08 billion 2019-26 CAGR: 2.36% In two years, Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan's strategy is bearing fruit. He has successfully transformed the Swiss company into a pharma giant with a broad portfolio of medications in the fields of immunology, cardiology, neuroscience, oncology and beyond. Plus, the company is working to expand its territory and pursue new indications for existing drugs and entirely new treatments. The company has been busy, acquiring Advanced Accelerator Applications, Endocyte, AveXis and The Medicines Company and selling its over-the counter business to joint venture partner GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and spinning off Alcon Inc. (ALC). Novartis' top seller is Cosentyx, which treats plaque psoriasis and certain types of arthritis. It brought in more than $3.5 billion last year, up 25% for the same period a year earlier. The drug recently received Food and Drug Administration approval for another inflammatory disease. The company's heart drug Entresto contributed more than $1.7 billion to the company's top line last year and a new indication could propel annual sales to $5 billion. At the same time, recent drug launches have been disappointing, but Novartis has demonstrated the wherewithal to overcome slow starts in the past. The company has a number of cancer drugs and recently got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration for a key one, Tabrecta. Novartis has high hopes for the cholesterol drug Inclisiran, the crown jewel in its acquisition of MedCo. The company is banking on getting 50 drugs approved in China and doubling its current sales there from $2.2 billion currently. Novartis is selling at about $12 below its year high of just under $100. AbbVie Inc.(NYSE:ABBV) Estimated 2026 sales: $53.56 billion (includes Allergan) 2019 sales: $32.35 billion 2019-26 CAGR: 1.84% AbbVie went from 2019 sales of $32.3 billion to an estimate of more than $53.5 billion by 2026, thanks in great part to is acquisition of Allergen. The company may be forced to go the mergers and acquisitions route again to help overcome several challenges to its revenue base in the coming years. Humira, the world's top-selling drug with more than $19 billion in sales last year, is set to lose U.S. exclusivity in 2023. Knowing that billions of dollars in revenue are at risk, AbbVie last year agreed to shell out $63 billion for Allergan, gaining the blockbuster Botox and several other products in the deal. But even after that massive buyout, Evaluate says it's "not out of the question for AbbVie to consider further moves." With an annual growth rate of 1.84% in the cards through 2026, more deal making might well be necessary, Evaluate said. With a projected $20 million in sales, follow-up drugs could one day bring in more to the top line than Humira, AbbVie CEO Rick Gonzalez said earlier this year at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The Humira loss will be painful for AbbVie, but RBC Capital Markets analysts see the drugmaker becoming a "growth story again on the other side," according to FierceBiotech. The opportunity is currently "under-appreciated," RBC analyst Randall Stanicky wrote in a note to clients, and will be partly driven by "pipeline visibility and confidence increases over the next couple of years." AbbVie is trading at nearly $99, up nearly 60% from its 52-week low. Disclosure: The author has a position in Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson. Read more here: Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. On Demand We have a new story every day on the front page of thephuketnews.com. Also like us on our Facebook page (facebook.com/thephuketnews) and be the first to watch all the new stories. Finally you can watch any segment, any time by going to thephuketnews.com/tv where all the stories are listed for you to enjoy. All our programs can be enjoyed in High Definition when watching on the internet. In-Room VDO India's auto sales volume will take another 3-4 years to reach 2018 levels, an industry body executive said on Tuesday, as the coronavirus-induced lockdown hurt monthly revenue and increased pressure on a sector already reeling from poor demand. The pandemic-related disruption to the supply chain comes at a time when India's auto industry was already facing a slowdown in demand and government rules to adopt tougher emission standards forced carmakers to hike prices, driving customers away. India's passenger vehicle sales rose 3 per cent to 3.37 million units in fiscal ... I'm starting to feel like a broken record here, but man: Microsoft really is shaping up to be one of the most interesting forces in the Android ecosystem this year. As the company gears up to release its first homegrown Android phone, the unusually dual-screened Surface Duo, we're seeing more and more signs of how it's bending Google's virtual neighborhood to suit its needs. And the effects of those efforts could end up having a surprisingly broad impact on Android one that'd reach every corner of the ecosystem and all of us who use it, whether or not a Microsoft-branded device is involved. That's exactly the case with Microsoft's latest Android-adjusting move, revealed in a recent low-profile post on the site Medium. The article details a new collaborative plan between Google and Microsoft (better known as "The Hell Hath Frozen Over Amigos"). The goal is simultaneously simple and supremely ambitious: to make it easier for developers to create rich progressive web apps that'd be virtually indistinguishable from traditional Android apps in both function and presentation and that'd exist in the Play Store, where you'd find and download 'em just like any regular ol' title. In fact, you'd probably never even know anything different was going on, and that's kinda the whole point. Progressive web apps have actually been available in the Play Store for a while now, but this latest shift aims to make it easier than ever for developers to create 'em and to do so using simple tools that'd bring more fully featured, native-app-like experiences into their offerings. Thanks to the new setup, Play-Store-hosted progressive web apps will soon be able to support app shortcuts, customized status bars, and advanced forms of notifications all with minimal extra effort from their developers. That last part is key and what really clues us into how Microsoft is increasingly working to twist Android to its advantage and usher us all into its vision for a post-platform future. [Get level-headed knowledge in your inbox with JR's Android Intelligence newsletter. Tips, insights, and other tasty treats await!] Microsoft and the expanding Android ecosystem Before we get into the nitty-gritty of this, let me re-emphasize: The most important part of this whole effort is the fact that you'll almost certainly never be aware of it on any surface level. And, quite frankly, that's the beauty and the brilliance of it all. But understanding what's happening is still important if you want to keep tabs on the ever-shifting nature of our mobile-tech reality and since you're reading a column called Android Intelligence, well, I'm assuming that you do. So a progressive web app, in case that incredibly bland-sounding name doesn't ring a bell, is basically a special sort of packaging that allows a website to look and act like an app and emulate its more advanced functions. That means it can run offline (and thus feel fast, even when your network connection is not) as well as manage notifications, interact with local hardware, and exist in its own standalone app-like structure, with an icon in your app drawer and all the other standard fixins (to use the technical term). Unlike a traditional Android app, though, a progressive web app can run on a computer, too any computer in that same single form. And that means it's way easier and more economical for developers to maintain a single progressive web app and have that one version of their program run everywhere. And if the end result is just as good as what you'd get with a native app or close enough to seem practically the same, for most real-world purposes then there's no real downside. It's a win-win-win, for developers, for gatekeepers like Microsoft and Google, and for us feline-impersonating land-people who rely on Android phones. For Microsoft, the move means more and more apps could run in identical forms on both Windows and Android and thus despite the fact that it's venturing into uncharted territory by fully embracing Android and steering folks into its own mini-ecosystem within Google's universe, it can begin to offer a surprisingly consistent experience for anyone embracing a mix of Android and Windows (a fairly common combo for enterprise productivity and even general consumer use). For Google, it means the amount of exceptional Android apps will only continue to grow and become more diverse. And remember, it isn't just about Android for Google, either; the company is equally interested in pushing Chrome OS forward, and the presence of Android apps on Chromebooks is an important part of that picture. Remember, too, that Google recently started offering up progressive web apps in place of Android apps in the Play Store on Chromebooks at times a move that I theorized could hint at eventual plans to turn the Play Store into a streamlined source of different types of apps for both Chrome OS and Android (which was a theory that a Google manager who works in that area retweeted with a party-face emoji and an applause emoji, incidentally; interpret as you will). And for us, well, it means the benefits associated with all that stuff the more consistent software experiences across multiple platforms, the more diverse options for software on Android, and so on will be at our fingertips, no matter what types of devices we use in different areas of our lives. And all of that is still only the start of the ways in which Microsoft is indirectly working to improve the state of affairs all across Android and even further throughout the greater Google ecosystem. The broader Microsoft-Android landscape In the latest issue of my newsletter, I talked about how Microsoft's move to step up its Android software development game is giving me fresh optimism about the company's potential to shake up the sad state of Android upgrades. That's because Microsoft just days ago formed its own in-house development team to "handle post-launch software updates" and "add new features and experiences over time" for that upcoming Surface Duo device (and presumably also its successors). While it's slightly strange that Microsoft didn't have its own in-house software team for the product up 'til now instead relying on externally contracted developers for the job the fact that it's investing in establishing its own local squad for that purpose at this point, so close to the device's likely debut, makes me hopeful the reason is at least in part that the company wants to be prepared to handle post-sales software support properly. It's something I've been hopeful of before, albeit in a much more guarded way. As I wrote earlier this year: Outside of Google and its own Pixel line of products, most Android phone-makers do a consistently terrible job of sending out software updates to their users. The data says it all, and despite heavily hyped narratives to the contrary, things aren't really getting much better not by any meaningful measure. The underlying reason is simple: Outside of Google, most device-makers don't have the motivation to make timely and ongoing post-sales software support a priority. I mean, think about it: They make their money mostly by selling you hardware. Software updates require time and resources, and the companies doing all that legwork don't get anything tangible back in return. If anything, updates arguably work against most device-makers' interests, as getting phone-improving updates early and often makes your current phone seem consistently new, fresh, and current enough to keep using. And what do the companies making those devices want you to do? Yup, you guessed it: buy new phones as frequently as possible. Right now, Google really is the sole exception to that rule within the realm of Android the only company for whom selling you hardware is less of a primary goal and more of a way to draw you in deeper to its software-and-service-driven primary business. Well, guess what other company also fits that same description? Yes, indeedly: none other than everyone's favorite (or maybe sometimes not-so-favorite) Windows warrior. Factor in the fact that Microsoft is also the sole Android-involved company outside of Google that has actual experience at providing timely software updates on any large scale not to mention a history of treating that process as a priority and you can see why, now more than ever, I'm feeling optimistic about how Microsoft could potentially reshape the expectations around Android upgrades in a way Google by itself has never managed to do. And if all of that weren't enough, let's not forget all the ways Microsoft has been indirectly improving Google's Chrome browser lately as well. From memory handling to tab management and smaller touches such as file drag-and-drop behavior and in-browser spellcheck effectiveness, the company once known as Google's archenemy is offering up lots of its engineering efforts to enhance the lives of Chrome users (as a side effect of the fact that its own Edge browser now uses the same Google-managed code base as Chrome, but regardless). And that's to say nothing of the fact that Google's on the brink of unveiling actual Windows app support for Chromebooks in the enterprise a move that'll further break down the remaining barriers between Microsoft's universe and Google's domain. Truly, for anyone paying attention, the creeping (and generally quite positive!) Microsoft influence on Google ecosystems is one of the biggest mobile-tech stories of 2020. Only time will tell whether Microsoft's first Android phone ends up being worth owning, all in all, or whether it proves to be a compromise-laden flop. But in a way, it almost doesn't matter at least, not in any big-picture sense. The story here is really less about that one device and more about the ongoing Google ecosystem investments that product and the strategies around it are causing Microsoft to make. Two once-sworn enemies, working together in user-serving harmony. What a weird, wild world we live in. Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters. [Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld] Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen has been sacked by Taoiseach Micheal Martin. Mr Martin has announced the decision in the wake of ongoing controversy over his drink-driving ban. In a statement in the Dail, Mr Martin said Mr Cowen was asked to resign because he was not willing to address the Dail again on the ban. Mr Martin said the issue is damaging to the ongoing work of government and he will announce a replacement tomorrow. He said it is in everyone's interest that the government is not distracted from the work they need to do in the coming weeks. Mr Martin said he had extensive discussions with Mr Cowen about claims he sought to evade gardai which the Offaly TD insisted were completely untrue. (1) The Taoiseach informed me this evening by phone that he was removing me from office as Minister for Agriculture. I am both surprised and disappointed with this decision. Barry Cowen (@CowenBarry) July 14, 2020 He said on Tuesday morning, Mr Cowen showed him the dispute garda record which he procured through data protection legislation. Following these discussions and having seen the Garda report this morning, it was my view that it raised additional issues requiring further explanation and clarification. I made this view clear to him and gave him space today to consider the matter further, Mr Martin said. However, Mr Cowen told the Taoiseach he was not willing to address the allegation publicly and refused to make a further statement in the Dail This decision has created a situation where legitimate doubts and additional questions are being raised, and Government colleagues are expected to address these. This is simply untenable, Mr Martin said. It is my view that Minister Cowen had an obligation to come before the House. It is also my view that this issue is damaging to the ongoing work of Government, he added. The Taoiseach said he is conscious that there are important and legitimate legal processes underway, and that Mr Cowen is questioning the accuracy of the Garda record and seeking to establish how his personal information became public. I have sought to respect these processes and I would ask that colleagues do the same. This decision I have made is without prejudice to those proceedings. The challenges facing this Government are unprecedented in scale and the Irish people require nothing less than our full and undivided attention. It is in everyones interest that the Government not be distracted in any way from doing what is necessary to protect public health and our efforts to rebuild our society and our economy, he added. In a statement posted on Twitter, Mr Cowen said he was "surprised and disappointed" to be informed by the Taoiseach over the phone of his sacking. He claimed Mr Martin's decision to remove him from office - having backed him in the Dail earlier on Tuesday - has "undermined and potentially prejudiced" his entitlement to a fair process. His statement said: "The Taoiseach informed me this evening by phone that he was removing me from office as Minister for Agriculture. I am both surprised and disappointed with this decision. Previously I furnished the Taoiseach with all the facts about my drink driving conviction and the story that the Sunday Times proposed to publish about my alleged evasion of a Garda check point. "In doing so I provided him with confidential details about my interaction with An Garda Siochana. I have made my position on these matters known publicly and I have acknowledged my wrong doing for something that occurred 4 years ago. "I have sought an explanation - not as a government minister but as a citizen - as to how details relating to the incident were leaked to the media. The authorities have agreed to investigate the matter. "One point warrants emphasis: at no time did I attempt to evade the gardai. Had I done so, the charges brought against me would, quite correctly, have been of a different tenor to those with which I was charged. "I am responsible for the offence with which I was convicted 4 years ago not for an inaccurate Garda entry on Pulse about that event. Ten days ago and this afternoon the Taoiseach believed my failure of 2016 didnt warrant my removal from office but he now appears to have changed his mind based on a Pulse report I gave him this morning. "It is important to re-emphasise that report was leaked in contravention of the protections that I and every other citizen is entitled to expect in respect of their interaction with the gardai. "Unfortunately the decision of the Taoiseach to remove me from office, when he supported me this afternoon in the Dail, has undermined and potentially prejudiced my entitlement to fair process." Read More The Taoiseach's statement in full: "I wish to announce for the information of the Dail that the President, on my advice, this evening terminated the appointment of Deputy Barry Cowen as a member of the Government. Pursuant to Section 4(1) of the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1946, I have assigned the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to myself. "I intend to make a proposal of a new member of the Government tomorrow. "This is a sad day for Barry, his family, and for me. Over the course of the last ten days, he has been the subject of significant criticism and condemnation for a Road Traffic Offence that took place in 2016. "He has been completely clear and unambiguous regarding his drink driving offence. He gave a personal statement to this House on July 7th, in which he talked about the stupidity of his actions, he accepted what he did was absolutely wrong, and he apologised to all members. "I accepted that his remorse was genuine and I accepted his apology. "When he was first confronted with the allegations, Minister Cowen was immediately clear and emphatic about his drink driving offence and understood the need to acknowledge this. However, he was equally clear and emphatic that one detail of the allegation he was being presented with was completely untrue. Namely that he sought to evade Gardai at the time. "We have had extensive discussions on this point last evening and again this morning, when he shared with me for the first time the actual Garda record under dispute. "Following these discussions and having seen the Garda report this morning, it was my view that it raised additional issues requiring further explanation and clarification. I made this view clear to him and gave him space today to consider the matter further. "However, he has decided that he is not prepared to address this allegation publicly and will not make any further statement or answer any questions on the issue in this House. "This decision has created a situation where legitimate doubts and additional questions are being raised, and Government colleagues are expected to address these. This is simply untenable. "It is my view that Minister Cowen had an obligation to come before the House. It is also my view that this issue is damaging to the ongoing work of Government. "Throughout this, I am conscious that there are important and legitimate legal processes underway, where Deputy Cowen is questioning the accuracy of the Garda record and seeking to establish how his personal information became public. I have sought to respect these processes and I would ask that colleagues do the same. This decision I have made is without prejudice to those proceedings. "The challenges facing this Government are unprecedented in scale and the Irish people require nothing less than our full and undivided attention. "It is in everyones interest that the Government not be distracted in any way from doing what is necessary to protect public health and our efforts to rebuild our society and our economy." A Fourth of July party in Saratoga County, which drew attendees from Warren County as well, has led to a coronavirus outbreak. People did not wear masks and did not socially distance at the party, Warren County Health Services reported. In Warren County, one person who attended the party has tested positive so far. While others await test results, 15 to 20 residents have been quarantined because of their exposure at the party, Warren County Health Services said. The partygoers are cooperating with Health Services. Health Services clarified Wednesday that people were quarantined after attending multiple gatherings, not just the one in Saratoga County. In Saratoga County, the party was one of several recent social gatherings that led to 22 new cases over the weekend. Others caught the virus at a birthday party, a group camping trip and a funeral, spokesman Andrew Mangini said. Saratoga County is also grappling with a new issue: quarantines related to the horse-racing industry. Jockeys and workers have arrived with horses for the season, and NYRA announced that jockeys who race at Saratogas meet cant hop to tracks outside of New York state. All workers must pass a coronavirus test to access the Saratoga Race Course property. But many of them have arrived from states on the quarantine list. They are supposed to quarantine for 14 days. The racing season begins Thursday. In the meantime, the horses need to be taken care of, which also makes it difficult to enforce a standard quarantine. Health Services offered one sentence about the situation, saying that a top jockey didnt have to quarantine after he came from Delaware a few days ago. As of today, Delaware is off the list, Mangini said. Of course, the quarantine order was still in effect when the jockey arrived, and many other jockeys have arrived from states still on the list, including Florida. Also on Tuesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo added four states to the quarantine list. The complete list is: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. He sounded the alarm about parties, noting that a Fourth of July weekend party in Suffolk County led to 35% of the attendees getting coronavirus. Its also clear based on contact tracing that many of the new cases in New York are a result of a lack of compliance during the July 4 weekend and illustrate how quickly the virus spreads, with one party, for example, infecting more than a third of attendees, Cuomo said in a news release. I cannot be more clear: Look at whats happening in the rest of the country if we are not smart, if we dont wear masks and socially distance, cases will spike. No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant. Throughout the state, all but two regions had more than 1% of people tested turn out to have the virus. Only the North Country and the Southern Tier were below that threshold. The Capital Region was at 1.7%. On Tuesday: Warren County reported one person tested positive, after traveling to a state with a coronavirus outbreak, for a total of 260 confirmed cases. One person recovered, so there are eight people still ill, all mildly. No one is hospitalized. Washington County reported one person tested positive, for a total of 227 confirmed cases. There are four people still ill, and no one is hospitalized. Saratoga County reported six people tested positive, for a total of 624 confirmed cases. There are 48 people still ill and four are hospitalized. Sixteen people recovered, for a total of 560 recoveries. Of the northern Saratoga County towns, two new cases are in Moreau, and five residents are still sick in Wilton. Essex County reported one more inmate tested positive. There are five inmates still sick, out of 16, and a total of 70 cases throughout the county, but all non-inmates have recovered. The Capital Region reported a total of 55 new cases, a significant increase, which represented 1.7% of those tested. Epidemiologists consider any amount over 1% to indicate that not enough people are being tested to find all of the cases. Of the Capital Region, most new cases were in Albany County, with 22 people tested positive, and Schenectady County, with 15 people testing positive. Statewide, 912 people tested positive Monday, representing 1.5% of those tested. Saratoga Hospital reported two coronavirus patients and Glens Falls had zero. Statewide, 820 people were hospitalized with coronavirus and five died Monday. You can reach Kathleen Moore at 742-3247 or kmoore@poststar.com. Follow her on Twitter @ByKathleenMoore or at her blog on www.poststar.com. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. New York City's wealthiest neighborhoods have some of the lowest response rates to the 2020 census after the coronavirus pandemic sent rich residents fleeing to the suburbs, leaving the streets of the Big Apple deserted. A report obtained by The New York Times shows the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown has hampered efforts to collect data from households across the city. The low response rates appear to be more pronounced in Manhattan's richest areas, such as the Upper East Side and in Midtown, where the majority of people packed up and left for their vacation homes after stay-at-home orders were imposed in March. As of June 25, only 46 per cent of Upper East Side households have responded, compared to the 71 per cent in 2010. As of June 25, the city has a total response rate of 53 per cent, with 38 per cent in Midtown Manhattan, and 46 per cent in SoHo, Tribeca, Civic Center and Little Italy areas New York City's bustling neighborhoods were transformed into ghost towns after the Big Apple was gripped by the coronavirus pandemic in March Reports showed a large percentage of the city's wealthiest residents fled to ride out the lockdown period in the suburbs or elsewhere at their vacation homes The city currently has a total response rate of 53 per cent, with 38 per cent in Midtown Manhattan, and 46 per cent in SoHo, Tribeca, Civic Center and Little Italy areas which are mostly populated by the rich and college students. Manhattan's Fifth Avenue between 70th and 35th Streets - which is home to the some of the city's elite - has 'some of the lowest levels of self-response,' according to the Department of City Planning. North Corona, Queens has the worst response rate of them all, with just 37 per cent of households filling out forms, according to the NYT. Democratic state senator Liz Krueger, who was working on the census outreach when the pandemic struck, said she was stunned to see the low numbers come in. 'They're not here,' she told the paper. 'No one's here.' The worryingly low response rates have sparked concerns among public officials and census-takers who say it could result in a loss of congressional seats as well as public resources for New York City. Americans' participation in the census is critical in determining how much federal funding will be given to local governments and will be especially crucial for the post pandemic era. About $1billion in New York City federal aid is determined by census data and miscounting just one person could potentially cut education funding by $2,295, according to the report. Julie Menin, the director of the NYC Census, told the paper that failing to respond could potentially hurt the city 'for 10 years to come'. Two people sit in a temporary outdoor dining area as New York City moves into Phase 3 of re-opening New York City streets are slowly becoming busier as residents return to work 'It is one of the single worst ways that you can act in New York's greatest time of need,' Menin said. Officials, however, are hoping things may turn around if residents return to their homes and fill out their forms before the extended October 31 deadline. It comes months after an earlier report showed about 420,000 residents of the Big Apple - home to nearly 8.4 million people - particularly from the wealthiest neighborhoods, fled the city between March 1 to May 1. The mass exodus has also raised concerns over whether the city will be return to its former glory after many New York City transplants returned to their hometowns for good. In May, DailyMail.com reported the pandemic caused many young residents to rethink the city's appeal in addition to the high cost of living after being away from the congested streets and the hustle and bustle for weeks. A number of companies have also announced plans to keep the work from home model for good, raising questions over whether employees will now flee major metropolitan areas for cheaper, and less densely populated regions. T wo RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled to a "security alert" involving a Ryanair passenger plane this evening. The Boeing 737-800 from Krakow to Dublin was diverted to land at London Stansted under military escort at around 6.40pm. The RAF ordered its Quick Reaction Alert crews to intercept the aircraft after a reported "bomb scare". A Ryanair spokesperson told the Standard: "A Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin this evening (13 JUL) discovered a note in one of the toilets claiming that there were explosives on board. "The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport (Stansted) where the plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely." The Ryanair jet is being held in an isolation point on the tarmac at Stansted / @J_shaw01/Twitter The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the Typhoon fighter jets have since returned to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire but police are still dealing with the flight on the ground. Essex Police said in a statement: "A flight from #Krakow to #Dublin was diverted to #Stansted Airport at around 6.40pm on Monday 13 July due to reports of a security alert. "The plane is currently at the airport and officers are making enquiries. Well bring you more information when we can." The force later said: "We have now safely brought off all the passengers from the plane. The plane remains in an isolated area at Stansted and our enquiries are ongoing." An MoD spokesman told the Standard: "Two Typhoons were dispatched from RAF Coningsby to inspect a Ryanair passenger flight that has now been grounded at Stansted and Essex Police are on hand at the moment. Two Typhoon jets were dispatched from RAF Coningsby to escort the Ryanair plane (File image: PA) / PA "It was all escorted escorted safely and there were no issues after that point." Stansted Airport confirmed police were still dealing with the incident but could not give any further information. Ryanair added in a statement: "The aircraft and passengers are being checked by the UK police who will decide when they may travel onwards to Dublin on a spare aircraft. "Passengers in Dublin waiting to depart to Krakow are being transferred to a spare aircraft to minimise any delay to their flight. "Ryanair apologises sincerely for the delay and inconvenience caused to those affected by this diversion". Earlier unconfirmed reports had suggested that communications had been lost with the pilot. Katy Independent School District parents may enroll their children online in virtual instruction starting Monday, July 20, through Wednesday, Aug. 5. School is set to start Wednesday, Aug. 19. Using PowerSchool, parents will be able to choose for their children to learn through the Katy Virtual Academy in the fall semester. Once enrolled, the children can go back into in-person instruction at the end of a six-weeks for secondary or nine-weeks for elementary grading period. Related: Katy ISD board approves compensation increase The KVA instructional framework encompasses a schedule in which students are able to engage in two-way, real-time, live instruction with teachers that is delivered through technology devices, the districts website stated. The KVA students will be able to communicate with their teachers and ask for help when they need it. The website said they will study their course work daily and that the learning model fits the requirement for daily minutes from the Texas Education Agency. According to the website, during in-person instruction, students will interact face to face but also use Canvas, which is a digital learning management system. If students need to learn intermittently from home due to the pandemic, they can use Canvas to help them learn virtually. Related: Katy ISD has new leaders for WoodCreek J.H., special education The district advises that students in the KVA have a dedicated technology device and broadband access and asks that it be noted when signing up on PowerSchool for the KVA if a child needs a device and/or internet access. The Smart Restart page on www.katyisd.org has been launched to keep parents informed about heading back to school during the pandemic. The page has links to details for families, students and staff members ranging from attendance to University Interscholastic League (UIL) activities. tracy.maness@hcnonline.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 13:11:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A suspected case of bubonic plague reported in Govi-Altai province in western Mongolia has been confirmed by lab test results, the country's health ministry said Tuesday. "The result of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test revealed on Monday night that bubonic plague caused the death of a 15-year-old boy," Dorj Narangerel, head of public relations and surveillance department of the country's health ministry, told a press conference. The teenager on Sunday died in Tugrug district of the province on the way to a hospital. He was found to have eaten marmot meat with two of his friends three days before his death, according to the health ministry. His two friends and 15 others who had contact with them have been isolated and treated at local hospitals, the official said, warning citizens not to eat marmot meat. Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization. Enditem Harper told police he took several pairs of shoes some Air Jordans, some LeBron James, but all Nike. One of the shoe boxes contained a digital scale. After the shooting, Harper drove off in Davis Mustang. Two days later on April 24, at the urging of his ex-wife, who called from Virginia worried because she hadnt heard from Davis, police were asked to do a welfare check on Davis at the Econo Lodge. They didnt see Davis Mustang and no one came to the door of his hotel room. A half-hour later, a maintenance man and the owner of the motel went to Davis room. They opened the door, but did not enter. They saw a foot uncovered beneath a pile of bedding mattress, sheets, blankets and pillows on the floor. Police again returned to the motel and Davis body was discovered under that bedding. He was found face down with a single gunshot to the upper left side of the back of his head. Harper told police he sold the Mustang for scrap in Elba. The owner of the scrap yard provided police a bill of sale, which started a search for Harper. This article, Hope Mars Mission aims to unravel the mystery of the red planet's atmosphere, originally appeared on CNET.com. July is an incredibly busy month for Martian explorers, with NASA and the Chinese space agency attempting to land rovers on Mars' surface. A third mission, led by the United Arab Emirates, may be the most important of all and could unravel some of the lingering mysteries about Mars' unusual atmosphere. It's known as "Al Amal," or "Hope." When the Hope satellite reaches Mars in 2021, it'll be the first probe to offer a full picture of the Martian atmosphere, providing a holistic view of how Mars' climate varies throughout the year. But here on Earth, it may achieve something even more important: providing hope to a younger generation, bringing more women into STEM and promoting collaboration between nations. There's something else that makes it a first: Hope is the first interplanetary mission led by an Arab, Muslim-majority country. "The intent was not to put a message or declaration to the world," says Sarah Al Amiri, chair of the UAE Council of Scientists and deputy project manager for the Emirates Mars Mission. "It was, for us, more of an internal reinforcement of what the UAE is about." The satellite, which launches from Japan in July, will study the connections between the red planet's lower and upper atmosphere and look into what causes the loss of hydrogen and oxygen into space. After achieving its orbit around Mars in February 2021, it'll collect data for two years. There's also an option to extend the mission to 2025. It's no coincidence Hope will arrive at Mars the year the UAE celebrates its 50th anniversary. The mission is an act of resilience for the young nation. When the UAE announced in 2014 that it would launch the Hope Mars Mission, it was a tumultuous time for the region. Throughout the Middle East, nations were (and many still are) embroiled in anti-government protests and uprisings. Terrorist organizations like ISIS were gaining a stronghold and recruiting efforts were focused on one particular group: young people. The intent was not to put a message or declaration to the world. It was, for us, more of an internal reinforcement of what the UAE is about. Sarah Al Amiri In the region, members of that younger demographic are demanding new opportunities from their governments. The Hope Mars Mission (also called the Emirates Mars Mission) seems like the perfect way to offer that. Ninety percent of team members are 35 and under. There's also been a boost in space exploration-related jobs throughout the country. Universities have actively recruited faculty for positions related to Mars and planetary science, while the UAE Space Agency, created with this mission, has generated new jobs for overseeing programs within the nation. The Emirati team at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre has grown from 70 people in 2015 to more than 200 today. "From a region that's primarily made up of youth, it was very important for governments and nations to provide opportunities for them and to provide them with a beacon of hope," Al Amiri says. This, combined with the UAE's push to diversify its economy as its oil supply dwindles, made a Mars mission a compelling choice, she says. A global effort Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre International collaboration is a critical element of the Hope Mars Mission. The UAE is working with the University of Colorado, Boulder; the University of California, Berkeley; and Arizona State University on the mission. The probe will carry three scientific instruments. First is the Emirates Exploration Imager (EXI), a camera that can capture and send high-resolution images back to Earth. The Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) will study temperature patterns, ice, water vapor and dust in the atmosphere. And the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) will study the upper atmosphere and traces of hydrogen and oxygen further into space. Throughout history, international collaborations like this one have given space exploration a leg up, even when political relations between nations were lukewarm. At the height of the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union embarked on the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Mission. This joint space flight became the impetus for future collaborations. And the International Space Station has notably brought together a plethora of nations including the US, Russia, Japan and Canada. Space has always seemed to be an area where nations could put aside their differences. Philip Christensen Philip Christensen, principal investigator of the EMIRS on the Hope orbiter and professor of geological sciences at Arizona State University, says international cooperation is critical. It not only helps mitigate the challenges and expenses of Mars exploration, but it can advance our understanding of worlds beyond. "Space has always seemed to be an area where nations could put aside their differences and realize there are ways we can work together, diffuse tensions and learn a little bit more about each other," Christensen says. "Many countries are starting to look at international partnerships as the wave of the future. This is how Mars exploration should be done." Hope is one of four missions going to Mars this year, in addition to NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, the European Space Agency's ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin and China's Mars explorer. "We see a broader interest in exploration and the UAE coming up with the Hope mission is just further proof of that," says Frederic Nordlund, head of ESA's external relations department. "Exploration is very relevant for any society interested in lifting up its education, science and technological base, or reorienting its economy toward new sectors." Uncharted territory This mission is on schedule, but that doesn't mean there haven't been challenges along the way. The UAE is a new player in the space game, going from zero space capability to building its own satellites in just over 10 years. But an interplanetary mission like Hope is around five times more complex than Earth observation. To begin with, there are budgetary restrictions. The core cost hasn't yet been shared, but the UAE "didn't get a blank spreadsheet," Al Amiri says. Then there are mission-specific challenges. Mars is an average of around 140 million miles away and a mission like this demands high navigational accuracy. The further you get from Earth, the harder it is to make course corrections in time. The probe also has to be highly autonomous, because once it reaches Mars, it'll take about 14 minutes for a radio signal to reach it and another 14 minutes for a response to be recorded. But it'll be worth it. Mapping Mars' atmosphere, climate and the movement of gases will not only help scientists learn more about the red planet, but help us understand more about our own climate and atmosphere here on Earth, according to Al Amiri. Hope also offers an opportunity to promote women in STEM. The mission team is 34% women, as well as 50% women in leadership roles. Al Amiri says this reflects a growing interest among women to enter the sciences and a need for the UAE to develop programs that'll allow it to achieve gender parity in STEM. The Hope mission is just the beginning of the UAE's foray into space. The nation pledged a long-term commitment to planetary and space exploration with its plan to "establish the first inhabitable human settlement in Mars by 2117." That, too, will require international collaboration. "I would like to think that the exploration of space -- Mars and beyond -- is something that should and will be a collaborative international effort," Christensen says, "and not a competition." Editor's note: This piece was originally part of the Welcome to Mars package, which launched in March. It has been updated to coincide with the Hope probe launch. Hyderabad, July 14 : Southern actress Lavanya Tripathi is showcasing her acting skills on social media until shooting resumes. Lavanya shared two pictures of herself on the Stories feature on her verified Instagram account. In the first picture, she is seen posing with her arm on her forehead while lying down with her eyes closed. On the image, she wrote: "Showing my acting skills on insta until we start shooting." In the second post, she shared the same image but with another caption added to it: "This is me playing dead in (the) fashion world." Lavanya rose to fame with films like "Doosukeltha", "Bramman" and "Bhale Bhale Magadivoy", "Srirastu Subhamastu", "Yuddham Sharanam" and "Antariksham 9000 KMPH" among many others. The actress will next be seen in Telugu film, "A1 Express", co-starring Sundeep Kishan. The film, which is reportedly a remake of the 2019 Tamil film "Natpe Thunai", is directed by Dennis Jeevan Kanukolanu. Image Source: IANS News -- Syndicated from IANS Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:38:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MOSCOW, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian and Turkish troops were injured after an improvised bomb exploded Tuesday during a joint patrol in the Idlib de-escalation zone in Syria, the Russian military has said. The wounded Russian troops were delivered to the Russian-run Hmeymim air base in the Syrian province of Latakia, where they received medical care, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Parties in Syria said in a statement. At present, the patrol has been suspended and damaged equipment is being evacuated, according to the statement. The command group of the Russian forces in Syria, the Turkish military and Syrian security agencies are checking the involvement of militants operating in the Idlib de-escalation zone in the bomb attack, it said. The explosion occured on the M4 highway in the southern part of the Idlib de-escalation zone. The key highway, located about 30 km from the southern border of Turkey, links Aleppo to Latakia in Syria. On March 5, Turkey and Russia sealed a deal to maintain a temporary cease-fire for "all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area" and envisaged the establishment of a security corridor six km to the north and six km to the south of the M4 highway, after nearly 60 Turkish soldiers were killed in escalated tensions between the Syrian government and Turkish troops in the region. Joint Turkish-Russian patrols began on March 15 along the M4 highway as part of the deal. Enditem NASHVILLE, Tenn. It was mid-March when Dr. Daniel Lewis, the chief medical officer at a Tennessee hospital, attended a small meeting about how to keep the coronavirus from spreading within the medical center. One of his colleagues had a mild cough. They assumed it was allergies. It was not. That night, the man spiked a fever. A few days later, Lewis developed a fever of his own, then he got tested. Even before his results came back positive, he knew. Over the next month, the coronavirus dragged Lewis to the brink of death. He was hospitalized in isolation and spent 10 days unconscious while hooked to a breathing machine. When he finally awoke, he was plagued by hallucinations, blood clots and muscle atrophy that left him unable to walk, eat or go home. Lewis doesn't revel in the story of his brush with death, but he feels compelled to share it with an emphatic message: Everyone should wear a mask and avoid crowds to protect themselves from a virus that is dangerous to all. Coronavirus does not respect your person. You dont have to be elderly, Lewis said. Its an apolitical virus that can strike anyone. While there are certain risk factors that may predispose some people to being more ill than others, it can strike people like myself that otherwise were healthy. Dr. Daniel Lewis, seen here while hospitalized at Johnson City Medical Center, nearly died from coronavirus earlier this year. As the coronavirus escalates across the nation, some have attempted to downplay the pandemic by insisting the virus is less deadly than anticipated. This claim is prevalent in Tennessee, where the fatality rate has lagged behind most other states for reasons that are not entirely understood. Lewis infection kept him from his family for more than five weeks. Today, two months after he finally was healthy enough to return home, he is still working reduced hours while recovering and likely suffers from long-lasting damage to his lungs. Lewis hospital treatment also cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and while his care is covered by workers compensation, another person with the same infection could be buried in medical debt. Story continues I absolutely did not die from the virus, and I praise God for that daily, Lewis said. But Ive now spent three months of life recovering from the virus with more to go I will continue to seek care for this in follow up visits probably for the rest of my life. One of the first infections in Greene County, Tenn. Lewis, 42, who does not have any serious prior health conditions, got his positive test results for coronavirus on March 30 while the Tennessee outbreak was still young. The state had recorded only 1,800 infections at that point, and Lewis was one of the first dozen cases in Greene County, a blue-collar Appalachian community in northeast Tennessee. He has been a doctor in Greene County since 2008. People walk past a downtown mural Friday, April 12, 2019, in Greeneville, Tenn. At the time Lewis tested positive, he was already isolating from his family, as do many medical professionals who know they face a high likelihood of infection. Lewis moved into the basement to keep a distance from his wife and five children. He chatted with his wife by standing in the driveway and shouting to her through a window. When his kids went to bed, he sent them air hugs from the bottom of the basement steps. Isolation was difficult, Lewis said, but it would prove more justified than he ever expected. Two days after he got his positive test results, Lewis virus symptoms dramatically worsened. He recorded audio messages for his children in case things didnt turn out well, then checked himself into Greeneville Community Hospital. Lewis found himself as a COVID-19 patient at his own hospital, subjected to the same isolation processes he helped create as an administrator. Staff wearing protective gear met him at a side entrance and took him directly to negative pressure room that was prepped just for this purpose. Visitors were forbidden. It was surreal, Lewis said. Once I was in the hospital, I knew that every time I called for a nurse or a staff member I was potentially exposing them to a deadly virus. It was scary, and it was daunting, but it was also reassuring because I knew we had put processes in place to protect us. Ten days on a ventilator, then delirium Lewis was quickly transferred to a larger hospital with a dedicated COVID-19 unit, where he would spend the next few weeks isolated to a single room. After about four days, his infection progressed and oxygen levels in his blood dropped until he required 6 liters of oxygen to be piped into his nose every minute. Medical training told Lewis what would happen next. Because of my unique situation, the medical staff did consult with me, Lewis said. And I was the one that brought up the ventilator first. Lewis was sedated and attached to a ventilator on April 6. These life support machines, which breathe for a patient whose lungs are too weak or damaged to do so on their own, are one of the last hopes for severely ill coronavirus patients. Many patients never return from this point. Early reports from China and Europe suggested that as many as 90% of coronavirus patients who need a ventilator will not survive. More recent studies from the University of Michigan and Emory University have placed the fatality rate at closer to 30%. Lewis was dependent on a ventilator for 10 days. He was detached from the machine on April 17, then struggled for a week from ICU delirium, a form of intensive confusion caused by the powerful drugs used for medical sedation. 'COVID hallucinations saved my life': Coronavirus-induced vision told a woman near death to call 911 Lewis said he remembers being visited by his wife in the hospital, although he learned this was a hallucination. His first real memory is attempting to diagnosis his own delirium during a check-up with a neurologist. My medical background was a blessing and a curse, Lewis said. It was a blessing to know and understand what was going on to an extent, but I also knew all the things that could go wrong." Dr. Daniel Lewis poses for a selfie with his wife Jessica and five children during a recent family outing. Lewis spent five weeks away from his family after he became infected with coronavirus in March. It took a week for Lewis mind to recover from his time on a ventilator, and his body lagged behind. The muscles in his legs and throat atrophied during weeks in a hospital bed, so was no longer able to walk or swallow safety. Lewis left the larger hospital to go a rehabilitation facility on May 2. He was wheeled out of the hospital on a stretcher while his family watched from a distance. It was the first time they had seen each other in a month. Thirty-eight days after Lewis was first admitted to a hospital, he finally got to go home. His wife picked him up from the rehab center and they drove past the Greeneville hospital he worked at, where a crowd of friends held up signs to welcome him back. Back at his house, he was greeted by the members of his Sunday school class and his five children he had not hugged in two months. It felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders, Lewis said. It was exhilarating. Follow the reporter on Twitter: @brettkelman. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee doctor caught coronavirus at a meeting about COVID-19 The staff and the Board of Directors of The Greater Michigan Construction Academy announce it has received a $50,000 grant from the Midland Area Community Foundation to support the Crossroads Project. GMCA and the Midland Area Community Foundation are partnering on a skilled trades pre-apprenticeship program located at GMCA to provide construction opportunities for citizens in the greater Midland area. New subscription-based platform puts software at the heart of the enterprise and includes new eLearning platform to bridge widening knowledge gap UTRECHT, The Netherlands, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultimaker, the global leader in professional 3D printing, launched today Ultimaker Essentials, a new software solution created to aid companies in overcoming major barriers in the adoption of additive manufacturing. Ultimaker Essentials enables companies to incorporate 3D printing in existing IT infrastructures and allows for seamless distribution and updating of 3D printing software. The paid subscription-based software offering addresses several glaring IT pain-points, including the need for improved management across workflows and the knowledge gap that exists in the manufacturing industry. A major concern within enterprise IT departments is the ability to successfully and centrally manage distribution 3D printing software. Ultimaker Essentials addresses this issue by ensuring updates and plugins are rolled out across users in an organization at the same time. This streamlines the process, providing better control across multiple 3D printers in an organization. Ultimaker Essentials also includes a brand-new direct support function and a catalogue of verified plugins to help effectively scale 3D Printing outputs. Subscribing to Ultimaker Essentials provides organizations with an enterprise grade solution for adopting a full 3D printing infrastructure. "As one of the core pillars of Industry 4.0, 3D printing is an essential part of progressive business solutions and processes," said Jos Burger, CEO at Ultimaker. "In the wake of the recent pandemic, companies need to quickly realize, if they haven't already, that global supply chains and manufacturing workflows can be easily disrupted. The transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing is now imminent and more imperative than ever. The Ultimaker Essentials launch is targeted at addressing these gaps and removing the final barriers in adoption of 3D printing." As part of the Ultimaker Essential package, users have access to three eLearning courses from the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy, which also launches today. Ultimaker's 2019 3D Printing Sentiment Index found that 69 percent of the professionals surveyed cited knowledge as the most frequent barrier, of which, 40 percent brought up a lack of necessary skillsets to properly leverage 3D printing. The Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy helps professionals overcome these barriers with curated and developed content catered specifically to the jobs of today. Courses in the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy, ranging from novice to expert level, will also be available separate from Ultimaker Essentials. "We are thrilled to roll-out the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy as a premier platform for learning, which will significantly increase in value over time," said Nuno Campos, CMO at Ultimaker. "This is only the first step of our program as in Q4 we will expand the Academy by releasing multiple role- and topic-based courses, which will lead to additional certifications. We look forward to the continued adoption and education of 3D printing and are excited to help businesses uncover how 3D printing can benefit their business now and in the future." To learn more about Ultimaker Essentials, please register to join our live webinar on July 14, 2020 at 9pm SGT / 3pm CEST / 9am EDT / 6am PDT. Additional information can be found at https://ultimaker.com/software-launch. About Ultimaker Since 2011,?Ultimaker?has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials that enable professional designers and engineers to innovate every day. Today,?Ultimaker?is the market leader in professional 3D printing. From offices in the Netherlands, New York, Boston, and Singapore - plus production facilities in Europe and the US - its global team of over 400 employees work together to accelerate the world's transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing.? Ultimaker.com ?? Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/398030/UM_Company_logo_Logo.jpg Find Something New campaign has taken on a new sense of urgency with millions of Americans jobless from pandemic. A new White House-backed advertising campaign aims to encourage people who are unemployed or unhappy in their jobs or careers to go out and find something new. The opening ad in the Find Something New campaign beginning on Tuesday features ordinary people sharing their stories. A companion website provides links to training and other resources. The Trump administration has long emphasised skills-based job and vocational training as an alternative to two or four-year college degree programmes, arguing that college is not for everyone and that many jobs do not require a degree. But the long-in-the-works effort has taken on a new sense of urgency after the coronavirus outbreak cost millions of people their jobs, many of which may be lost forever. There has never been a more critical time for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to...gain the vocational training and skills they need to fill jobs in a changing economy. Ivanka Trump, co-chair of the White House's American Workforce Policy Advisory Board The campaign is a product of the White Houses American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which President Donald Trump created in 2018. The board is co-chaired by Trumps daughter and White House adviser, Ivanka Trump, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. There has never been a more critical time for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to be aware of the multiple pathways to career success and gain the vocational training and skills they need to fill jobs in a changing economy, said Ivanka Trump, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvanias Wharton School. The nonprofit Ad Council on Tuesday was announcing Find Something New, which it created in collaboration with IBM, Apple and members of the Business Roundtable, along with the White House and the workforce policy advisory board. An Arkansas Workforce Center employee tells people who lost their jobs that they will have to return tomorrow to file for unemployment in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States [File: Nick Oxford/Reuters] The initial 30-second spot features ordinary people talking about their experiences with career challenges and transitions. Among them are a fitness instructor who completed an apprenticeship programme and became a welder after her gym went under, and a man who lost his job twice in one year, took online certification courses and now works as a tech consultant. I got laid off twice, but you got to keep going, the man says, adding later on in the ad: Im now a consultant in the tech space. Another woman says she had no career plan after finishing high school, but I found a medical course online and became a phlebotomist. You will find something, she says. The companion website offers links to education and training options, including online and virtual learning. Additional ads are expected to be produced. All will appear nationwide across TV, digital and print platforms in time and space donated by various media companies, the Ad Council said. Funding was provided by more than 20 corporations and organisations, including Apple, IBM and the US Chamber of Commerce. The Ad Council declined to disclose the cost of the campaign. which will run at least through the end of the year. The Trump administration rejected Chinas expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, reversing a previous policy of not taking sides in such disputes and escalating tensions with Beijing on yet another front. The move aligns the US with a 2016 ruling by a United Nations tribunal that found Chinas claims to waters also contested by the Philippines were unlawful. Its meant to push back against what the US sees as an intensifying Chinese campaign to dominate the resource-rich South China Sea and smaller nations in the region. We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a statement Monday. In the past, the US largely limited itself to calling for ensuring freedom of navigation" in the contested waterway, which is critical for global trade routes, while stopping short of taking a position on specific claims. China has proceeded nonetheless, engaging in a years-long campaign to build bases and other outposts on shoals, reefs and rock outcroppings as a way of deepening its claims. China on Tuesday said the US statement neglected the history and facts" around issues concerning the South China Sea. The US, out of its selfish agenda, is doing all it can to stir up trouble in the South China Sea and drive a wedge between regional countries and China, aiming to disrupt Chinas and ASEAN countries efforts to maintain peace and stability," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily briefing in Beijing, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. China does not seek to build a maritime empire in the South China Sea. We have been treating our neighboring countries as equals and we have been keeping maximum restraint in safeguarding sovereignty and interests in the South China Sea," he said. Zhao said China and the ASEAN bloc were accelerating discussions on a Code of Conduct to jointly safeguard peace, stability and freedom of navigation in the disputed waters. We have made progress in our consultations," he said. Regional countries weighed in, with the Philippines urging China to heed the call of the community of nations to follow international law and honor existing international agreements." We continue to push for the finalization of a substantive Code of Conduct in the South China Sea to settle disputes and prevent the escalation of tensions in the region," Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said in a statement.Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo on Tuesday that his country was very concerned" about Chinas recent activities in the waters. We understand that the US announcement represents the unwavering commitment of the US to regional peace and stability. We support such a commitment by the US," Suga said. Japan is a key US military ally. Growing differences While the immediate impact of the US decision isnt clear, it adds to conflicts over issues from trade to cybersecurity and President Donald Trumps efforts to blame China for the coronavirus pandemic that began there. Last week, the U.S. slapped sanctions on a top Chinese official over human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, and China responded by imposing sanctions on Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. Among the demands that the UN tribunal -- and now the U.S. -- are rejecting are Chinas claims in waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam and Luconia Shoals off Malaysia. The US also says China cant claim any maritime rights around Scarborough Shoal off the Philippines or features including Mischief Reef that are submerged at high tide. Most recently, the US had raised concern over Chinas decision to conduct military exercises in the contested waters around the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. The Defense Department last week called the actions unlawful." The top State Department official for East Asia, Assistant Secretary David Stilwell, said in an interview the US hoped its announcement Monday would give cover to other nations in the region to contest their own claims against China. He said the change doesnt mean the US is taking sides in specific disputes over land -- such as islands that China and other nations also claim. These laws exist to prevent the Chinese approach of big countries pretty much dominating small countries," Stilwell said. The threat of using that excessive weight, both economic and otherwise, has cowed them into not ending their claims but acquiescing for a time. What we are doing I believe gives them the space to assert their own claims." Stretching from China in the north to Indonesia in the south, the South China Sea encompasses 1.4 million square miles (3.6 million square kilometers). Over the last several years, China has engaged in an extensive campaign to build up many of the land features in the region as a way of extending its claims to the entire region. The move provides the legal basis for the US to take more forceful steps to back other claimants rights to fish and develop energy" within their exclusive economic zones, said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Trump administration officials have long accused past administrations, and especially that of former President Barack Obama, of doing too little to challenge Chinas territorial moves. This month, the US announced it was sending the USS Ronald Reagan and USS Nimitz aircraft carriers to the South China Sea for military exercises as China ramps up its own drills in the area. The question now is what the US will do if China continues to violate the UN tribunals ruling. The US has a decades-old defense treaty with the Philippines but no such agreement with other nations involved in territorial and maritime disputes with China. Critics of the Trump administration approach have said they worry that neither side appears willing to back down, raising the possibility that tensions will only escalate further and could even lead to a clash at sea. Stilwell said the US wants to talk to China but said such discussions need to be productive. The door has remained open as long as Ive been in this seat to an honest, results-based conversation," Stilwell said. The Chinese need to understand that we are serious and we are going to discuss these things in a serious manner." Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. A news website in Iran reported Monday that an indictment has been issued for the former Deputy President for Iran for Women's Affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi. Hours later, Ms. Molaverdi issued an open letter to the head of Irans Judiciary demanding to know how the media is leaking news about her indictment while she has not been informed. On Monday, July 13, the Rah-e Dana website disclosed that Ms. Molaverdi was charged with "propaganda against the regime", "encouraging corruption and prostitution" and "providing classified information and documents to disrupt national security." According to the site, Molaverdi's plaintiffs are "the country's intelligence, security and law enforcement bodies." In her letter Mollaverdi protested that a website close to a military outfit can be privy to a legal case, while the accused is totally in the dark. She did not say which military outfit she was pointing at but she could have been referring to the Revolutionary Guard's Intelligence Organization. It is not clear how these charges can be proven against an academic and a defender of womens rights. But it is common in Iran to bring serious charges against those who demand reform and change and convict them in closed-door trials without due process of law. Molaverdi, 54, was the Deputy for Women and Family Affairs in President Hassan Rouhani's first administration (2013-2017). In Rouhani's second term, she was appointed Assistant to the President for Civil Rights Affairs, but resigned in November 2018, following the implementation of a law banning retirees' employment in government posts. Iranian hardliners have repeatedly bombarded Molaverdi with a barrage of criticism for her attempts to promote women's rights in the clergy-dominated country. As recently as last May, the ultraconservative allies of The Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei launched a campaign against Molaverdi for "promoting homosexuality" by posting the U.N. International Day of Families poster on social media, depicting various forms of families, including homosexual families. Under heavy pressure from the hardliners, Molaverdi was forced to remove the controversial post and even issued an "apology" for "inadvertently republishing a post". A vociferous defender of women's rights within Islamic laws, Molaverdi, had earlier admitted that President Rouhani, who campaigned as a moderate, failed to address significant problems confronting Iranian women. While referring to various hurdles blocking the governments' plans, including harsh opposition from the conservatives and other close allies of Khamenei, Molaverdi acknowledged that, during the past six years Rouhani's administration failed to present even one single bill to parliament (Majles) concerning women's rights. Failing to table bills on women's rights was our major shortcoming, Molaverdi lamented in early February 2019, adding, "When I was appointed as the Deputy President for Women and Family Affairs (October 2013), I thought that I would bombard Majles with a barrage of bills related to women's rights. However, that never happened." In her first interview after retirement, Molaverdi told the government's official news agency (IRNA) that any step toward improving women's public stature in Iran was immediately challenged by the conservatives and soon abandoned. "Our efforts to grant Iranian women their absolute rights were doomed from the very beginning, since the conservatives were, and are, very sensitive toward such issues," Molaverdi bitterly complained, reminding, "Our opposition to issues such as child marriage and banning women from entering volleyball arenas, were silenced by the conservatives." Presenting a list of her failures, including efforts to save women from home violence and banning stepfathers from marrying their adopted daughters, Molaverdi reiterated that all such attempts were a non-starter and doomed to fail from the time of their inception. Women have limited rights, according to Iran's Islamic constitution. All women have legal custodians, which is either their husband, father, or another male member of the family. They can hardly complain against the decisions or actions of their custodians. Bord Bia says it cannot insist on the use of Irish grain in its proposed grass-fed beef standard, and does not have a mechanism to exclude genetically modified (GM) feedstuffs from the diets of qualifying animals. Responding to queries from the Farming Independent, Bord Bia said the "grass-fed standard doesn't examine the other feeds consumed by the animal other than to quantify them". "The Bord Bia standards for our dairy, beef and lamb schemes contain specific criteria relating to the sourcing, handling and management of animal feed to ensure the safety and hygiene of the feed. Bord Bia does not impose requirements on the origin of this feed," a spokesperson said. The Irish Grain Growers (IGG) has criticised the absence of a requirement to use locally-produced grain as part of the proposed marketing initiative. "Why are Bord Bia not promoting the use of Irish grains in Irish beef production? We should be promoting beef from Irish pastures and tillage fields," IGG said. "We should be pushing for a closed-loop system of Irish family farmed beef production where all elements of the process are transparent and traceable to Irish soil. "Many family farms have both tillage and beef systems; this would be the perfect synergy to promote rather than promoting a single system." But Bord Bia said it was prohibited by State aid rules from "requiring the use of Irish feeds/grains as a requirement in any of the standards". "Bord Bia does not operate a quality assurance scheme for tillage and therefore does not have any mechanism that would facilitate a requirement to use Irish grains," the food marketing body added. However, IGG rejected Bord Bia's explanation and questioned how Irish grass-fed beef could justifiably be marketed as a green and sustainable product when over 20pc of the qualifying animals' feed (calculated on a dry-matter basis) could include GM ingredients imported from South America or North America. Illogical "In the current climate where the EU policy direction is to halt the biodiversity crash, reduce GHG emissions and reduce food miles, it's illogical to promote a monocrop while also failing to address the source of feed/grains for Irish beef production," IGG stated. "The PGI status achieved for Irish whiskey and some spirits did not include the necessity to use all Irish grain but did include the necessity to use cream from Irish cows." Meanwhile, the IFA is seeking a meeting with Teagasc regarding the increased use of imported maize in dairy rations. The heightened focus on imported cereals comes as the harvest kicks off across the south and south-east. There are serious concerns among cereal growers that yields this year will be well back on normal as a result of the drought in April and May. The latest Teagasc forecast suggests that overall grain output this harvest will be back 20pc on 2019 to around 1.8 million tonnes. This is down 400,000 tonnes on last year. SHANGHAI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference '(WAIC)' has the theme of "Intelligent Connectivity, Indivisible Community". The conference is a "high-level, international, professional, market-oriented, and intelligent" platform attracting the most influential AI scientists and entrepreneurs around the world, as well as government leaders, to converse and talk about the technological frontiers, industry trends and thought-provoking issues in AI, in the form of speeches and high-level forums. Mark Stanton, CTO of Human Horizons and HiPhi, sharing his keynote speech on autonomous driving and how that impacts mobility in the era of 5G-V2X. Human Horizons' CTO, Mark Stanton was invited to deliver a keynote speech at WAIC 2020, in the Autonomous Driving Forum of the conference which aimed to gather prominent experts from all over the world to discuss V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) technology. This included its development, applications, trends, and how AI can better serve humanity for good. During his speech, "5G-V2X in Supporting Transportation Safety via AI", Mark presented Human Horizons' experience at the intersection of technology and transportation. More specifically, he described the rise of vehicle automation and how it might impact the way mobility changes for the good in the near future. More than 550 firms are in attendance, including Microsoft, Amazon, Alibaba, Tencent, SAIC, and other industry leaders who also participated in the exhibition last year. New exhibitors include AstraZeneca, Qualcomm, JD Cloud, Youbixuan, Bank of China and other AI tech companies such as Cerinsi, Cambrian, Yunzhisheng, Suiyuan Technology, and Yunkuang. Unlike the previous two conferences, which were held onsite in Shanghai, WAIC 2020 is being held online from July 9 to 11 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, this has not changed the conference's core mission and objectives. This year's conference took advantage of its online component by offering a series of online interactive activities and virtual platforms. Surface transportation manufacturers and suppliers including cars, buses and trucks together with roadway operators, are at the beginning stages of unleashing the benefits of V2X communications. Emerging wireless services and applications are poised to have a huge impact on transportation safety and mobility. Emerging V2X applications will demand spectrum band, must coexist within limited bandwidth, and must have the coverage and range intended by their designers. Connectivity has the potential to deliver big gains in safety. V2V communications can substantially augment in -built sensors to provide more accurate crash-prediction capabilities and enhance existing crash avoidance technologies. In the autonomous vehicle space, industry consensus is that Level 3 capable autonomous vehicles will be hitting the market in 2021. Human Horizons has been working to deliver this technology on its first product, HiPhi 1, which is expected to achieve production by the end of this year and customer deliveries in 2021. About the HiPhi Brand HiPhi is a premium brand created by Human Horizons and enhanced by its users. Beyond being an EV with a lightweight hybrid- aluminum construction, HiPhi 1 embeds sustainability with the adoption of vegan leather and the use of recyclable materials to further increase the sustainable nature of Human Horizons' EV products. About Human Horizons Human Horizons is building on R&D for innovative and leading intelligent mobility technologies as well as the industrialization of future-oriented smart vehicles. Furthermore, Human Horizons builds smart transportation technologies, contributes to the development of smart cities and will redefine mobility. Media contact: Cherrie Rao +86 18619735510 [email protected] www.human-horizons.com SOURCE Human Horizons Related Links http://www.human-horizons.com Recent news from the Arctic tundra is a reminder that distant events may affect us here in unexpected and unpleasant ways. At the end of May, approximately 23,000 U.S. tons of diesel fuel spilled from a power-plant reservoir in Norilsk, the northernmost city in Siberia. Nearly 17,000 tons flowing into a river, then to nearby Lake Pyasino. Its impossible to live in this mix of water and fuel, so of course, fish there died, Vasily Yablokov, projects coordinator for the Russian branch of Greenpeace, said. Now we can call this a dead lake. The spill is expected to reach the Arctic Ocean, says Rob Huebert, an Arctic specialist at the University of Calgary, and from there its unclear where it will go. It could head toward Finland and Norway or the U.S. and Canada or just hug the coastline of Russia. The oil spill wont just kill sea life; itll have an adverse effect on land mammals and other wildlife and on the fragile Arctic biome as did the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska about 39,000 tons of oil and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico at least 200,000 tons. The EU Reference price (excluding the UK) stood at 144p/kg last week, 3p down on the previous week and 22p below the late-March peak. Prices in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are coming under particular pressure, largely as a result of plant closures and the knock-on impact on exports.While the German Reference price was down only 3.3p in the first week of July, reports suggest it has taken a battering over the past week. German pig industry organisation ISN said the closure of the Tonnies processing plant, in Rheda, cost the industry 20 million (18m) last week alone, with the price of slaughter pigs falling 19 cents since over the past fortnight, creating unbearable economic misery for farms. This is backed by the latest Tribune prices, which show a 12.5p/kg drop in the German price last week, with falls up up to 5p elsewhere. AHDB analyst Duncan Wyatt said a backlog of finished pigs developing in Germany and Belgium is putting EU pig prices under significant pressure, while the Dutch price has also weekend significantly in recent weeks due to an export ban from China. Although the Netherlands supplies slaughter pigs to Germany, six Dutch plants have themselves temporarily had export licenses for China withdrawn due to COVID-19 outbreaks, compounding the situation in the country. The Dutch prices fall cannot, therefore, be wholly attributed to the closure of the important German plant at Rheda. why atlanta? that's kinda random Reply Thread Link oh wow it's the second sentence. Reply Parent Thread Link lolol this is sending me, thank you for starting my day with a laugh Reply Parent Thread Link lmaooooooo but in seriousness atlanta is hollywood: east these days, loads of celebs are around all the time Reply Parent Thread Expand Link sahajsj i am in tears Reply Parent Thread Link never change, ontd Reply Parent Thread Link Good for them! I love her. Reply Thread Link I know I love me some basic white boys, but how do people find him attractive?? I know I love me some basic white boys, but how do people find him attractive?? Reply Thread Link They seem equalish. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link ??? He There's a lot going on in the world, maybe I should be nice today. No I typed something anyway but then deleted it. He's ugly. Reply Parent Thread Link sis couldnt even part his own hair down the middle and tuck it behind his ears? smh Reply Parent Thread Link It was a very very brief moment for me. Idk what people see in him now. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I thought he was hot as Loki. He really does the least for his appearance IRL though. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link maybe he has a nice personality? Reply Parent Thread Link he must have good dance moves he must have good dance moves Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Edited at 2020-07-14 03:52 pm (UTC) he had his moments... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I don't think they genuinely do, it's probably just a case of his personality making him easier to look at (which I also disagree with bc he seems super OTT and annoying but some people are into that extraness I guess) Reply Parent Thread Link he had a brief moment in the early '10s where I could sorta see it (which ended as of the mid-10s lol) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I swear, people on ONTD act like they've never seen an actual ugly person lmao. idk where you all live that you're just constantly bombarded by so many above average men that every single celebrity male is hideous in comparison. Dude looks kind of rough these days, but ONTD acts like this normal-looking man is covered in boils or something. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Right? My first thought was girl, you can do a lot better. Reply Parent Thread Link I am by no means a fan of his but having seen him in motion I can see how he would be very charming irl and like, he isn't hideous. he's below average compared to other Hollywood actors, but compared to the men I see on Bumble... Reply Parent Thread Link Oh sweetheart, the height isn't worth it. Reply Thread Link Good luck to them I would not op Edited at 2020-07-14 02:49 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link He's so bland. Reply Thread Link The way his career died after Hiddleswift Reply Thread Link I think it was the one-two punch of Hiddleswift and his awful acceptance speech. Reply Parent Thread Link Watching that mess, I just kept shaking my head for him to just stop because everyone knew where this was going. He would have been better served just quietly starring in theater and indie films. Reply Parent Thread Link his career died in the getaway car Reply Parent Thread Expand Link he melted after she let him too, like a guy who's been wearing the same blue sweater for years, cause it reminds him of innocence and it smells like her, he can't get rid of it, cause it he remembers it all too well Reply Parent Thread Link i think he lowkey had a breakdown after it happened, he literally disappeared and did zero promo for thor ragnarok even tho he was a main character and was a fame whore in all the other press tours Reply Parent Thread Expand Link he got completely hammered in the UK press/media. I've never actually seen such universal ridicule for an actor like that before. Literally everyone took the piss out of him, tv shows, radio, other actors .. and like publicly too! He comes across as someone who really cares what other people think about him/needs to be liked so that probably killed him internally. Reply Parent Thread Link I thought that said Tom was moving in with Ziwe @___@ Reply Thread Link they are not an attractive couple but good for them Reply Thread Link How/why are all these people hooking up in the age of Covid and I can't even a man to say "Pardon me" when they bump into me??? IDGI. Reply Thread Link These two were together pre-Covid. Reply Parent Thread Link I feel you sis Reply Parent Thread Link Theyve been together since last year. Reply Parent Thread Link They were dating pre-Covid. Reply Parent Thread Link I like them together and compared to that Swift mess they've been really lowkey and lovely. I really liked her in Misfits and Velvet Chainsaw. Reply Thread Link He defs can't make her cum, y/n? Reply Thread Link He's the guy that will keep licking a cm above your clit and after fifteen minutes ask how many times you came. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Omg story of my dating life Reply Parent Thread Link hahhahahaha omg i was thinking he probably asks "is that good?" 80,000 times while like, rubbing blindly at your inner thigh Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Lmao too real. Reply Parent Thread Link If you gotta ask... One time, a dude called me up and was like "can I just come over and eat you out?" I was like, "um, yah." So he came over and was going down on me, but couldn't get the job done. I wanted to just fuck, but he had been golfing and boozing and couldn't get hard. It was such a letdown on so many levels. Never touched his dick though... Reply Parent Thread Expand Link lmaoo this is triggering Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I mean, he tries really hard... Reply Parent Thread Link I thought it was Tom *Holland and was like what WHAT JUAT??!. Carry on. Reply Thread Link Lmao same! Im going back to sleep. 5 more minutes okay. Reply Parent Thread Link i have two friends who were each talking to new interests in january/february and then decided to do lockdown together. both couples are still doing fine which surprises me tbh lol. Reply Thread Link Honestly I feel like lockdown couples are either hating each other or loving it. I haven't seen much 'meh'. Reply Parent Thread Link you may have a point! i was worried i'd get sick of my husband after a month or so but it's been surprisingly nice having him around all the time lol. Reply Parent Thread Link I loved fresh meat Reply Thread Link oh my god, THAT'S where I recognize her from! I loved her on that show! Reply Parent Thread Link Yeees and she was SO good in it too Reply Parent Thread Link I'm sad that Jack Whitehall was basically the only star out of that show. Reply Parent Thread Link Joe Thomas also had Inbetweeners, tbf to him. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link yeah. i've seen charlotte ritchie around, but not as much. Reply Parent Thread Link charlotte ritchie (sp?) works pretty consistently as leads on UK tv. also the bbc/uk tv have invested in jack whitehall heavy. like why is he getting all these shows with his dad?! Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Same it was so funny Reply Parent Thread Link The fact that she and Oregon weren't girlfriends by the end of it was ridiculous though Reply Parent Thread Link A farmer on a tractor sprays his crop in north west New South Wales on May 05, 2020 in Dungowan, Australia. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images) Australian Farmers Want Economic Recovery to Go Rural Australian farmers believe they can help lead the country through the COVID-19-induced recession. National Farmers Federation president Fiona Simson will lay out a wishlist to kickstart farming and agriculture at the National Press Club on July 14. The federation wants green and red tape slashed, digital resources for farmers, investment in regional manufacturing and the Murray Darling Basin Plan fixed. When farmers do well, Australia does well, Simson said ahead of the speech. Simson says COVID-19 is a chance for businesses to become more flexible, with Australia having the potential to be a global leader when it comes to a post-COVID economic recovery. The obvious place for that recovery to start is in the bush, Simson said. But the regionalisation of Australias economy will need national coordination. Fragmented sources of public and private investment have no coordinating strategy at the regional level, Simson said. The farming lobby wants a $1 billion fund to entice farmers to meet biodiversity targets. Simson is also asking the government to fast track 20 regional infrastructure projects. Finbar OMallon in Canberra Ebola is spreading in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with nearly 50 known cases across a large region bordering the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Mike Ryan, the WHO's top emergencies expert, said on Monday that 48 cases had been confirmed in DRC's Equateur province since authorities announced a new outbreak there on June 1. There were three additional probable cases, he said, while a total of 20 people have died. "This is still a very active outbreak, and I would say it is still a great concern," Ryan told a news briefing. The province includes part of the River Congo, he said, adding that it was a large geographical area where communities were linked, and people travelled long distances. The newest outbreak is the 11th in the DRC since scientists first characterised the disease in 1976. The WHO said it has vaccinated 11,327 people against Ebola in the past month. The Ebola virus causes haemorrhagic fever and is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person, who suffers severe vomiting and diarrhoea. An epidemic of the virus on the other side of the country that began in August 2018 killed more than 2,277 people. The WHO declared the outbreak over in Ituri and North Kivu provinces on June 25. Experts said the use of a vaccine and swift containment efforts including mobile handwashing stations and a door-to-door education campaign kept the disease at bay. While the number of infections in the new outbreak is low, Ryan cautioned: "In the era of COVID, it is very important that we do not take our eyes off these other emerging diseases". "We saw in North Kivu and other previous outbreaks of Ebola that these can get out of control very easily," he added. The DRC, one of the world's poorest countries, is also dealing with a measles epidemic that has killed more than 6,000 people, as well as COVID-19, which has infected more than 3,000 and killed 188, according to official figures. In its latest weekly bulletin on Monday, the WHO said the growing outbreak in Equateur was a "grave" matter given the complex humanitarian crisis in the DRC, with multiple disease outbreaks as well as ongoing clashes between armed groups that have displaced thousands of people in the country's east. Source: aljazeera.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Police spent hours evaluating evidence after a shooting that injured at least one person in Harrisburg on Monday evening. Sgt. Tyron Meik said officers were called to the 1600 block of Hunter Street for a call of shots fired before 6 p.m., where they were told that one person was shot. When officers arrived they found one male, not identified by police, with a gunshot wound who was then transported to a local hospital for treatment, Meik said. Since then, the investigation has found a second person might have been shot who went to a separate hospital, and damage from a gun was found in both a house and a car, Meik said. They are still trying to confirm if the second person is connected to the case. Meik could not comment on where the first person was shot or the persons condition as of Monday evening. To conduct the investigation, police had to block off most of the neighborhood, expanding the scope of the scene at one point. Meik said they are asking for the publics help on the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Harrisburg Bureau of Police. Read more on PennLive: STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Young Leaders of Staten Island, the group responsible for organizing multiple peaceful Black Lives Matter marches across the borough, hosted three separate community events in recent weeks, helping more than 100 people register to vote. The series of gatherings, called Burgers and Ballots, began June 19 at the Gerard Carter Center in Stapleton before moving to Jersey Street in New Brighton on July 4 and to La Colmena in Port Richmond on July 12. La Colmena, a job community center, co-ran the last event. The purpose of these events is to spread awareness to our North Shore communities that they need to be accounted for and this is the best way to do it, said Mike Animodi, 24, a member of the Young Leaders of Staten Island. Over the course of the three events, approximately 135 people registered to vote and about 100 also filled out the 2020 Census, according to Animodi. Some communities dont have access to this information, so our job as the YLSI is to bridge that gap and provide the necessary information, Animodi said. Food and personal protective equipment were provided to participants. Yesenia Mata, the executive director of La Colmena, said the job center and the Young Leaders of Staten Island brought our communities together in solidarity for Black Lives Matter and to show that no human being is illegal. During the pandemic, it was the Black and Latino communities that were dying at a higher rate and the communities that were forgotten by many elected officials, Mata said. Through this event, we ensured that we registered our communities to vote and ensured that they completed the Census, to show the power and the unity of our communities. Staten Island is changing and it is becoming a welcoming borough, Mta added. So, like we always say at La Colema, that your fight is our fight,' ... nobodys free until everyones free'. Today there were burgers, young people registering to vote, and parents who completed their census. Most importantly,... Posted by La Colmena - Community Job Center on Sunday, July 12, 2020 The Young Leaders of Staten Island were the main organizers who helped gather hundreds of protesters for multiple marches on Staten Island following the death of George Floyd in police custody on May 25 in Minnesota. The groups actions led to a profound moment between protesters and Assistant Chief Kenneth Corey, the NYPD borough commander on Staten Island, in late May after Isaiah Buffong, 21, spoke to officers at the 120th Precinct stationhouse in St. George, saying, Im not the problem, Im trying to bring about a solution. So lets work together and find a solution, Corey replied. The exchange helped lead to a sitdown between the group and Corey to discuss their goals, the Advance/SILive.com previously reported. Buffong said he told Corey the group is trying to do this the right way and to move as a unified group. Corey commended the young organizers who protested peacefully in recent months and committed to constructive dialogue. Let Staten Island be an example for others to follow, he wrote in an open letter at the time. Let leaders from all walks of life come together so we may continue to see each other as members of one community. Additional Burgers and Ballots events will be held this upcoming Saturday in West Brighton Park, and on July 25 in Mariners Harbor Park, said Animodi. While the deadline for filing returns (ITRs) has changed several times owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, its not the only change of which you should be mindful. A new Form-26AS has been introduced by the (I-T) department which will seek far more details than before. Archit Gupta, founder and chief executive officer of ClearTax, says: The applicability date is June 1, 2020. At present, taxpayers are successfully filing their ITRs based on the existing Form-26AS, which is available for download while the new form is underway. The new deadline for filing is November 30. While it is not clear whether the new form will be applicable from this year, some chartered accountants say that things can go both ways. The new form will be in place by November, and the new changes will be for financial year 2020-21 for all practical purposes. Currently, annual information Form-26AS provided by the department includes Information relating to the payment of taxes (advance tax, self-assessment tax, and others) and tax deducted or collected at source on income (salary, interest, dividend, professional fees, and others) received or earned by the taxpayer during the relevant financial year. ALSO READ: Investment community backs separation of chairperson-CEO role: Survey Gopal Bohra, partner at NA Shah Associates, says: Now the new Form-26AS will contain various additional information: (a) specified financial transaction (issue of shares, debentures, bonds and others); (b) tax demand raised or refund granted by the department; (c) any pending proceeding or completed proceeding before/by the tax department; and (d) Information received from any officer under any law or under any tax agreements between countries to the extent it is in the interest of the revenue. Tax expert Balwant Jain says: The general public is apprehensive about it, they are not very happy about the provision of details. But it is good for us. Going forward, you will have to mention your email address and mobile number registered with the IT department on the form. This will help you keep your details current with the tax department. Jain adds: Since the department will provide details of demand which is outstanding. Such information will help you ascertain whether the same demand is genuinely outstanding or the same is disputed. The newly added details of pending income tax proceeding with the tax department will now include the details of proceedings which have been completed during the year. It includes the details of proceedings which have been completed during the year. This will help you remain updated about the appeals, any pending ones sitting at various levels, and also if any such proceedings are there without you being aware of it. The good thing is that these additional details will help the taxpayers verify and initiate corrective steps in case some of the Information submitted is incorrect. ALSO READ: RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani to detail post-Covid business plan at AGM How to access: Bohra says: "A Taxpayer can download Form-26AS from the income-tax e-filling portal under the tab My Account. It can also be downloaded from the taxpayer's net banking facility.' Deal with a mismatch: Bohra says: Until now the I-T department has not provided any guidelines as to how a mistake on the part of the department can be corrected. However, it is recommended that the assessee brings to the notice of the authorities any mismatch of the Information provided in Form 26AS with necessary supporting documents. Remember Tax Credit Statement or Form-26AS is an essential document for tax filing and needs to be reviewed carefully. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:16:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that cooperation between China and Singapore in the fight against COVID-19 has become a new highlight of bilateral relations and added significant connotations to their all-round cooperative partnership. In a telephone conversation with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Xi congratulated Lee on leading the People's Action Party to victory in Singapore's recent general election. Xi said he is glad to see the positive results Singapore has achieved in its fight against the coronavirus epidemic, and confident that the Singaporean people, under Lee's leadership, will prevail over the disease and restore economic and social vitality at an early date. China, he added, will continue to provide Singapore with firm support. In the battle against COVID-19, China, upholding the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, has been sharing its experience unreservedly with other countries, and providing supplies and technical support for the international community to the best of its capacity, Xi said. China, he added, stands ready to work with Singapore to cement global solidarity in combating the pandemic, support the World Health Organization in better playing its role, and jointly build a global community of health for all. Since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, the governments and various communities of the two countries have been helping and supporting each other, Xi noted, adding that they took the lead in establishing a "fast-track lane" for exchanges of essential personnel and have made concerted efforts to guarantee smooth operation of supply and industrial chains in the region. Bilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, he stressed, has once again demonstrated that the relationship between the two countries is foresighted, strategic and exemplary. Noting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Singapore diplomatic ties, Xi said that the bilateral relationship is standing at a new historical starting point, and that the two sides should hold celebrations in flexible and diversified forms, so as to deepen public support for their friendship. The two sides, he suggested, should strengthen anti-epidemic cooperation and ensure the safety and health of each country's citizens in the other. The two countries should make good and full use of the "fast-track lane" to speed up their resumption of production and work and boost the development of their economies, he added, also calling for closer cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and better collaboration concerning the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and third parties. China, Xi said, will continue to deepen reform and opening-up and improve the domestic business environment, and hopes that the Singaporean side will provide sound conditions for Chinese enterprises doing business in the country. China stands ready to work with Singapore to overcome distractions and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, added the Chinese president. Enditem The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC), under Government of Bihar, has called for online applications from qualified and interested candidates for filling 287 vacancies to the post of Assistant Professors in Electrical engineering discipline through direct recruitment. The online registration process towards the same started on July 13, 2020 and closes on July 30, 2020 with August 7, 2020 as the last date for pay the application fee, and August 14, 2020 as the last date for filling online application. CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Assistant Professors Organisation Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Educational Qualification Bachelors Degree/B.E/B.Tech in Electrical engineering discipline; M.E/M.Tech/M.S or integrated M.Tech in Electrical EngineeringSalary Scale: Rs. 57,700 per month Experience Desirable Skills Required Teaching Job Location Bihar Salary Scale Rs. 57,700 per month Industry Civil Service Application Start Date July 13, 2020 Application End Date July 30, 2020 Age Criteria And Fees Candidates interested in applying for the post of Assistant Professors through BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification must have attained 22 years of age, with relaxation (upper age limit) for OBC/SC/ST categories as specified in the notification. Candidates must pay a prescribed amount of Rs. 750 (Gen/UR/OBC) and Rs. 200 (SC/ST//PWD and Ex-SM candidates) respectively as examination fee either through online mode or Challan mode as specified in the notification. TCS Campus Placement: IT Major Mulls Hiring 40,000 Freshers Amid COVID Crisis Across India Educational Criteria And Eligibility Desirous candidates applying for the post of Assistant Professors through BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification must possess a Bachelor's Degree/B.E/B.Tech in Electrical engineering discipline; M.E/M.Tech/M.S or integrated M.Tech in Electrical Engineering from a recognised University/Institution. Selection And Pay Scale The selection of candidates as Assistant Professors through BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification will be done through a Written Examination and Interview. Candidates selected as Assistant Professors through BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification will be paid an emolument of Rs. 57,700 per month. Central Railway Recruitment 2020 For 60 Specialists Post, E-mail Applications Before July 20 How To Apply Candidates applying for the post of Assistant Professors through BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification must register online on the official BPSC portal at https://onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in/main/home before July 30, 2020 and submit their applications on or before August 14, 2020 at here Read the detailed advertisement about BPSC Recruitment 2020 Notification for Assistant Professors post here https://onlinebpsc.bihar.gov.in/main/home Pajhwok Afghan News, July 11, 2020 (Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Embassy in the United States has reconstructed its boundary wall measuring 70 meters at a cost of around 1,825,839 US dollars after its reconstruction for $88,000 was rejected by the embassy, Pajhwok has learnt. For building the 70-meter wall, KADCON Corporation has been given $1,586,000, VIKA Company received $12,750 for survey, ECS received $12,250 for soil test, KCE received $64,839 for technical advices and DLA Piper received $150 for making contracts and legal consultation. Nearly 21-time high rate According to information, the wall has been built 20.74 times higher cost than the initial company proposed and each meter-square cost 8,694 US dollars. US$1.8 million has been spent on a 70-meter long wall in the Afghanistan Embassy in the USA. US$1.8 million has been spent on a 70-meter long wall in the Afghanistan Embassy in the USA. A reliable source told Pajhwok Afghan News that a company had offered reconstruction of the 70-meter long and three-meter high wall of the eastern part of the Afghan embassy in Washington at a cost of 88,000 US dollars but the embassy rebuilt the wall at a cost of 1,586,000 US dollars through a contract by another company. The source said the wall between the embassy and a house had collapsed on March 21, 2019 due to negligence on the part of the embassy and the owner of the neighboring house had repeatedly written to the embassy and requested the Afghan mission to construct the wall. Pajhwok also received a copy of the document sent by the Afghan Embassy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on March 29, 2019, along with letter No18. It shows that JG Construction Company initially offered to build the wall at a cost of 68,100 US dollars but later raised the price to over 88,000 US dollars. A credible source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Pajhwok that the ambassador in Washington had taken responsibility of the project from Barakatullah Rahmati due to pave the way for corruption in the project and she asked Haris Ansari from Kabul to be hired instead of Rahmati. The source explained: The ambassador (Roya Rahmani) changed the previous calculations for the project in consultation with Yama Nizam, Humayun Qayyumi, some members of the National Procurement Commission and Presidential Adviser Shad Mohammad. Instead, in a letter 912 dated October 26, 2019, a contract was signed with an American-based company KADCON Corporation at a cost of 1,586,000 US dollars a decision the central government has accepted. The Afghan Embassy could purchase a building According to the source, the collapsed wall made up about seventh part of the embassys perimeter wall and the price (around 1.8 million US dollars) for its construction was enough to purchase a complete building a few kilometers away from the diplomatic area. He said four other small contracts had also been signed regarding the reconstruction of the wall. According to MoFAs letter, the ECS Company has been awarded 12,250 US dollars against soil test for reconstruction of the wall. A detailed report about the wall projects received by Pajhwok Afghan News shows that VIKA Company received 64,839 US dollar for technical advice. For survey, the same (VIKA) company received 12,750 US dollars from the embassy. A credible source in MoFA said DLA Piper company was paid 150,000 US dollars for arranging the contracts and legal advice. A copy of the letter from the MoFA, received by Pajhwok shows that 1,586,000 US dollars had been transferred to the embassys bank account under the contract for the wall reconstruction. The source quoted finance diplomats of the embassy as saying, the money had not been paid directly to the projects contractors but through cheques from a third party via the embassys financial account. He also accused Roya Rahmani of negligence in maintaining the embassy building and of corruption in the reconstruction of the wall, saying she also kept the embassy staff in the dark. The contract is approved by National Procurement Commission The Afghan embassy in Washington also accepted bids from the two companies, saying that final price (1,586,000 US dollars) had been approved by the NPC for the construction of the wall. Sayed Najib Hashimi, spokesman for the Afghan embassy in Washington, told Pajhwok that the 70-meter long wall of the embassy had been crumbling to dust for the past 27 years and finally collapsed last year due to heavy rains and the embassy repeatedly contacted the authorities. He said the JG company initially based on estimation offered 68,100 US dollars for reconstruction of the wall, excluding projects implementation and cleanliness costs after rebuilding of the wall. He informed that the same company had again accepted the certain conditions and offered 88,180 US dollars to the embassy but the offer was rejected by MoFA and neighbor of the embassy because they did not trust the firm. Hashimi added: The house owner (neighbor of the embassy where the wall is collapsed) has been in contact with MoFAs officials and some members of Congress, so he politicized the issue of the wall and at last he hired a special lawyer for asking to implement the project and the embassy introduced Finance Ministrys advisor Yama Nizami. He also acknowledged that in agreement with both parties and in accordance with the principles of the Washington DC municipality, a contract of 12,750 US dollars was signed with VIKA Company to determine the volume, dimension, construction and survey of the wall. Hashimi added that another contract at a cost of 68,830 US dollars was signed with a company named KCE for technical advices and for soil testing 12,250 US dollars contract awarded to ECS Company. According to him, the project was approved by the NPC on September 2, 2019 with KADCON Corporation in accordance with the decision number 3,557. A source in MoFA told Pajhwok that Presidential Adviser Shah Mohammad Sargand in consultation with Humayun Qayyumi had asked MoFA deputy financial minister in a letter termed the agreement of the project with KADCON company as successful and requested another 300,000 US dollars. The source said: The issued was raised by Qayyumi at a NPC meeting, but in part of the project, the National Procurement Authority (NPA) is considering, it is written that the project should be approved based on Qayyumis guidance and emergency situation. According to the source, the MoFA received approval for the project and they shared it with the Afghan embassy in Washington and transferred money from the Ministry of Finance. Ahmad Ramin Ayaz, spokesman for NPA, told Pajhwok that the Afghan embassy had launched the project in accordance with the American procurement law and six firms had joined the bidding. The project has been presented by the MoFA to NPC meeting number 198th and after discussion, it was approved following the emergency situation, he explained. According to the embassys spokesman, based on the decision of NPC, the project was handed over to Presidential Adviser Shah Mohammad Sargand. Hashimi added: The money could not be directly given to the companies because they were looking at the progress of the construction of the wall and needed the approval of Shah Mohammad Sargand. However, Pajhwok emailed JG Company and Shah Mohammd Sargand for comment but they did not respond until today (Saturday, July 11). Ansari fired, but he kept official card A credible source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Pajhwok that the ambassador in Washington had taken responsibility of the project from Barakatullah Rahmati in order to to pave the way for corruption in the project and she asked Haris Ansari from Kabul to be hired instead of Rahmati. The ambassador called Haris Ansari to Washington, son-in-law of the project supervisor Shah Mohammad Sargand from Kabul, but after the issue was reported in the media, the president ordered Hariss dismissal and Ansari sought refuge in the US instead of returning to Kabul and disappeared without returning the official cards to the embassy. Regarding Ansaris case, a report from MoFA shows that Roya Rahmani had secretly sent a proposal to the central government for appointment of Ansari but instead of citing appointment, administrative matter has written in the embassys book and after the issue became controversial, the MoFA fired Ansari. Ansari, who is currently in the US, told Pajhwok that he had been asked by Roya Rahmani to serve in technology sector, but 20 days later the ministry fired him for unknown reasons. He denied allegations he had sought refuge in the US, saying he had visited America several times before. He said he had been appointed as third secretary of the Afghan embassy in Egypt, but because of waiting for a visa, he was introduced to the Afghan embassy in Washington and now he was unaware that why he was fired. A letter sent by the MoFA to Afghan embassy in the US, a copy of which is available with Pajhwok, shows that Haris Ansari was appointed to solve the problems of the wall project. Hashimi, spokesman for the embassy, said Ansari was introduced to the embassy by MoFA but was recalled to Kabul after half a month. When an employee is recalled to Kabul, like other embassies, the embassy handles the return until a plane ticket, but could not force the employee to return for deport, he added. Gran Hewad, spokesman for MoFA, told Pajhwok that the issue was sensitively important and they held two meeting for collecting information and after the 3rd meeting today (Saturday), they would provide information to Pajhwok and promised to talk about the matter again tomorrow. Sri Lanka: Indian Coast Guard rescues six Sri Lankan fishermen from EEZ in Andaman Sea July 14,2020 | Source: News on Air Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued six Sri Lankan fishermen from Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in Andaman Sea. During the EEZ surveillance of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the ICG Dornier located a boat adrift at approximately 190 Nautical Miles North-West of Port Blair. The boat has been identified as Sri Lankan and was reportedly in distress due to technical snag. Acting over the situation, a rescue mission was launched from Port Blair. ICG Ship RAJKAMAL rescued the six Sri Lankan fishermen along with the boat on the early morning of 11th July. The basic necessities were provided and their condition was observed as normal. The boat is being towed to Port Blair. The coronavirus pandemic has caused the majority of people to take a closer look at their health and what risks exist in their environment. Now, a resurfacing threat comes in the form of the deadly bubonic plague or also known as the black death. This makes people ask if the bubonic plague still exists today. The bubonic plague was last seen in the mid-19th century and is a disease caused by bacteria that will make the host develop flu-like symptoms, similar to the ongoing COVID-19 virus. However, the plague is transmitted through fleas and other small animals, and it can also be transferred from exposure to the body of a dead animal that was infected by it. New cases have been reported in recent days following the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, bringing a new threat to a world that is already suffering. Bubonic Plague in Chinas Mongolia Last week, China placed the region of Inner Mongolia under high alert after a new case of bubonic plague after hundreds of years from the previous pandemic, which was considered one of the world's deadliest in history. The state-run media of China, Xinhua news agency, said the case was first discovered within the city of Bayannur in the northwestern parts of Beijing. Municipal authorities were first notified of the incident by a hospital that admitted the patient on Saturday. On Sunday, authorities issued a level 3 warning across the entire region, the second-lowest of a four-level system, in an attempt to prevent any further spread of the plague. The news agency also said that authorities would continue to implement the warning until the end of the year to help control the spread of the infection. The patient found to have been infected by the plague has been isolated and treated in the hospital and has been said to be in stable health conditions. This may answer questions if the bubonic plague still exists. Also Read: Coronavirus Cover-Up: Chinese Virologist Speaks Out About China Allegedly Hiding COVI-19 Intel Squirrel gets bubonic plague In Colorado, a squirrel was found to have tested positive for the bubonic plague on Saturday, which was revealed in a statement on Sunday by Jefferson County Public Health. The small animal's case is the first reported case of the deadly plague. The small creature was found roaming in Morrison, which is a short 18-mile drive southwest of Denver. What is the black death? The bubonic plague was a massively infectious and deadly bacterial infection that devastated the world across several countries and killed more than 50 million people. The plague has had several pandemic outbreaks in human history, the first of which occurred in the 14th century. The second plague killed about one-fifth of London's entire population in what is known as the Great Plague of 1665. However, the latest before this generation was during the mid-19th century, where it took the lives of at least 12 million people in China and India. Fortunately, in modern times, the black death plague is not as deadly as it used to be. However, bubonic plague still exists. Advanced medical technology has allowed humans to treat the disease using antibiotics. But if the black death is left untreated, it has the potential to kill the host about 30 to 60 percent of the time. Related Article: Fact Check: Does the Nasal Swab for COVID-19 Test Reach the Blood-Brain Barrier? @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. TWIN FALLS Health care leaders are worried Idahos medical system could be overwhelmed if the state and residents dont take swift action to slow the spread of COVID-19. Executives and doctors for hospitals in the Treasure and Magic valleys said at a Tuesday press conference that they felt a strong need to share with the community the seriousness of the situation. The exponential growth in cases is alarming, they said. They would like to see the state impose a mask requirement, and urged residents to ask their state and local policy makers to institute a mandate. In response to the press conference, Marissa Hyer, Gov. Brad Littles press secretary, said the governor recommends mask wearing but has no plans to instituting a mandate. Instead, Little is deferring to the decisions of municipalities some cities have required individuals wear masks in public. The numbers are frightening, the trends are more concerning, but we know we have the opportunity to turn this around, St. Alphonsus Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Steven Nemerson said. The situation Two weeks ago, Idaho had 5,552 confirmed cases. In the past 13 days alone the state has had another 5,110 cases. Nearly half the states cases have occurred in July. Thats bad, hospital leaders said. Last week Twin Falls had 142 new confirmed cases, behind only Ada, Canyon and Kootenai counties. Minidoka and Cassia counties had the fourth and fifth highest weekly totals in Idaho with 50 and 49 cases respectively. While most of the new cases are coming out of the Treasure Valley, Magic Valley cases keep rising, too. There were 266 new cases in the eight-county Magic Valley region last week. Thats the most the region has had since early April when an outbreak in Blaine County was largely responsible for 285 weekly Magic Valley cases. The explosion in cases is leading to a rapid increase in hospitalizations. Idaho intensive care units are filling up again, after a bit of a respite in May and June. Right now, Idaho hospitals said theyre capable of handling the influx. Its the next weeks and months theyre worried about. Theyre already considering reducing some of their less urgent offerings, such as elective surgeries, since the case spike is forcing them to divert staff to COVID-19 patients. We see no change in this trend, and our projections suggest COVID-19 related admissions will double every two weeks, St. Lukes President and CEO Chris Roth said. On June 26, there were 26 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in St. Lukes facilities. On July 2, there were 40. That jumped to 51 on July 7 and 77 as of Tuesday. Statewide there are now 129 people hospitalized for COVID-19, compared to 22 on June 14. During the outbreak in late March and early April, there were never more than 69 people COVID-19 patients in the hospital at a given time. And treating just 69 people was incredibly difficult. Many of those individuals were from Blaine County and treated at St. Lukes Magic Valley Medical Center. St. Lukes Wood River closed, both because too many of its nurses and doctors got sick and because the hospital wasnt set up to take care of so many patients. I can tell you that what we saw play out there in Twin Falls was a once in a lifetime experience for me, St. Lukes Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jim Souza said. Souza said the Twin Falls ICU was completely full of respiratory patients with COVID-19, most of them intubated. The hospitals anesthesia team was called up to help in the ICU. The hospital couldnt keep up, Souza said, so some patients were airlifted to St. Lukes facilities in Boise and Meridian. If hospitalizations double weekly as the projections predict, Idaho hospital leaders said facilities are going to have a difficult time keeping up. Souza described it like this: Imagine going into work and your boss asks you to do 50% more work than you already do. And then imagine you get asked to do more work again, and again. You might be able to handle extra work for a while, but its really hard to do it for weeks and months. Plus, while doctors and nurses are being asked to do more, there also arent as many of them to do the work. They keep getting sick. Odette Bolano, CEO and president of St. Alphonsus health system, said that her hospital had 25 employees quarantined a month ago. Today 123 are quarantined. We can create an increased bed capacity, Souza said. But We need people to provide that care. Hospital leaders also made clear that the new cases are not merely a result of increased testing. Dr. David Peterman, CEO of Primary Health Medical Group, said that since late March and early April, the positive case rate has tripled. When Idaho first dealt with a case spike, 5.1% of tests came back positive, now between 12 and 15% of cases are coming back positive. The ask Health care leaders are not calling for a re-institution of stay-at-home orders those have too many negative effects, they said. But they are asking Idahoans to pitch in and fight the virus. Theyre urging everyone to be more vigilant wear masks, keep your distance from others and wash your hands. Do everything you can to slow the spread. Until we change our collective behaviors, (the exponential growth in cases) will continue, Roth said. Theyre also asking Idahoans to reach out to their government leaders and ask them to impose mask-wearing mandates. There shouldnt be any controversy over mask wearing, Souza said. There is now mounting scientific evidence that they work. If you talk without a mask, youre releasing droplets into the air. If youre sick, those droplets can infect others. Wear a mask and you virtually eliminate those droplets. Souza said that someone you know or love is likely to need a health care facility in the next few weeks or months so do your part to limit the spread for the sake of those you care about. Idaho has been in a better spot than states like New York, Florida, Texas and Arizona. If people dont do a better job slowing the spread, health care leaders said, that could change. If we do not reverse this trend, Roth said, we are headed for a crisis. Back in February, as the coronavirus started rapidly spreading worldwide, Swedens state epidemiologist didnt see the need to lock down the country. A lot of Swedes started to fly all over Europe for their annual winter break. The countrys public health leaders insisted on keeping businesses and primary schools open while the rest of the world shut them down. Face masks were constantly discouraged. Months later, Sweden now has one of the highest death rates from the coronavirus in all of Europe. Its hands-off approach to COVID-19 has been disastrous, and shockingly, its still unclear whether Swedens policy will change course. Advertisement On Tuesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Lena Einhorn, an author, filmmaker, and former medical researcher, about how Sweden screwed up and what to think about whats happening there now. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Subscribe to the Slatest Newsletter A daily email update of the stories you need to read. We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again. Please enable javascript to use form. Email address: Send me updates about Slate special offers. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time. Mary Harris: Lets go back to the beginning. Sweden was very slow to respond to the virus. But I remember that this was kind of seen in the United States as almost fresh thinking. I remember seeing articles saying the country is an outlier in Europe, trusting people to voluntarily follow protocols. Even though many did not, that seemed to not affect them. Do you remember that? Lena Einhorn: Sure. The problem is that it wasnt only an issue of trustit was an issue of recommendations. The recommendations were different in Sweden. The restaurants were kept open. Experts were advocating against face masks. Its different from most countries today. Advertisement Advertisement Reporting shows that the Public Health Agency of Sweden pushed back hard against research showing that people who seemed healthy could be contagious. And for all the additional data we have, the Public Health Agency hasnt substantially adjusted its claims. In the beginning, the agency wrote on its website that there is no precedent for dramatic spread from those who are asymptomatic. Today, it will still say, Its possible, but it will not drive the epidemic. And so the agency still has the same recommendations: Wash your hands and stay at home if you feel sick. Its webpage still says, if someone in your household has COVID-19, you go to work or school as usual. Advertisement The Public Health Agency may be refusing to admit it made a mistake because that means admitting that you caused a lot of peoples deaths. Its a very difficult thing to admit. Advertisement The countrys policy has been shaped by state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who talks about immunity in this kind of funny way. He denies that his strategy is to make the population immune to the coronavirus. But at the same time, he puts forward these numbers that suggest otherwise. He said a while back, We think that up to 25 percent of people in Stockholm have been exposed to coronavirus and are possibly immune. I dont know what his evidence was for that. But to even put that forward, it hints that maybe thats something youd like to be true. Advertisement Advertisement "When somebody whom you want to trust says positive things in such a calming way, people want to believe it." Lena Einhorn And in the beginning, he was very open. He believed the only way were going to solve this is through herd immunityhe actually said that. Then the next time he denied that. At the same time, the agency overstated the antibody prevalence. Its acting as if officials want younger people to get infected, because theyre very, very strict on people ages 70 or older staying at home or not associating with people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They clearly recognize that theres a vulnerable population. Absolutely. But the problem is that so many people have died in elder care, both in the facilities and in the home. That goes back to pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic spread. Swedish epidemiologists dont believe that that drives the pandemic, and they do not advocate using face masks in elder care facilities unless people are working with somebody who is sick. But a lot of the people who were working in the elder care facilities came from areas of Stockholm where there was a lot of spread, like in the suburbs. People were saying, oh, they came to work sick. No, they didnt come to work sick. They came pre-symptomatic. They had no symptoms. But since they were told not to wear face masks, they probably gave it to the elderly. And thats how it spread. Advertisement With a death rate and an infection rate that are so much higher than those of surrounding countries, its hard to think about why the population in general hasnt risen up and said, We want more restrictions, we want more control of this virus. There are a few answers to that. One aspect has to do with wishful thinking or desireswe want this to turn out well. Another one is, we want to be able to live as we always have. The third one is, we want to believe that our country is good and is doing the right thing. Advertisement Advertisement There is another aspect, and that is that the Public Health Agency and the state epidemiologist had a press conference every day during the week at two oclock. Now, in the summer, its only twice a week. But until recently, they had this every day during the week and everybody was watching it. And they basically always said: This is looking good. We know its hard on the hospitals, but were going in the right direction Advertisement Theyd say that even as the numbers were going up? Yeah. It was always, The numbers are going up, but its flattening, its not going up as steeply anymore. And in the beginning, they said, Were going to reach the peak tomorrow. And then the next day they said, maybe in two days. There was always a positive message at those press conferences. When somebody whom you want to trust says those things in such a calming way, people want to believe it. Did you notice any kind of change in the Swedish perspective on this approach as the death numbers climbed, as the infection rates climbed? The support for the Swedish policy lessened. It used to be very high. Its not as high anymore. I would still say the support is pretty strong, but its definitely much more polarized compared with how it was. Also, the newspapers, their editorials started getting much more critical. But what hasnt changed in the least is the policy of the Public Health Agency and the government. Theyre sticking to their guns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In some ways, it seems like Sweden is doing deliberately what the U.S. has done, with incompetence and neglect. Yeah, and I dont know how successful you could call it when we overall have higher death numbers per million inhabitants than the U.S. does. Advertisement Advertisement Right now, coronavirus cases are actually on the decline in Sweden. Last week, Swedens daily COVID count dipped to its lowest point since May. The countrys health agency director said, We are beginning to approach levels that other countries find acceptable. What does it mean to you that Swedens numbers are going down now? Does that mean that theres been some kind of success? Well, theyre not at all going down as radically as they are in countries that had lockdowns. I mean, Sweden still has higher rates than surrounding countries and many other countries. But it is going down. There could be different explanations for this, because its still spreading a lot among the young. Im speculating that one of the reasons its somewhat going down is that health care facilities routines are much better worked out, so its not striking the elderly to the same extent. Advertisement Advertisement Another reason its going down is because you have to know what happens in Sweden come midsummer. From June 20 until Aug. 1, Sweden is a summer vacation place. That means people are in the country houses, they are not working. There is much more social distancing for natural reasons right now. So thats another aspect. What are people thinking about school? About businesses? Is it just back to normal? Our schools were open, except for high school and universities. Which was really scary for some people because they maybe had parents with risk factors. But the kids were forced to go to school. If parents kept the kids home, they were threatened with social interventions. And now high schools will be open again too. So people will be going back. Does that worry you? Of course! Now what we are wondering is, will they finally change the policy in the fall? Will they say, please wear a face mask? Im not only worried, but also curious about what will happen in September. Listen to the full episode using the player below, or subscribe to What Next on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. By Judy Jengo When COVID-19 hit New Jersey it soon became evident that sending infected folks to nursing facilities for further care after hospitalization spelled disaster. The virus spread rapidly and killed voraciously. Many had been enjoying their lives in assisted living or long-term care facilities, relishing time with friends and family and looking forward to the future. Others were in rehabs, working to heal from injuries and planned to go home and resume their lives. People in nursing facilities have bucket lists, too. Instead of resuming their plans, thousands contracted the virus and died. New Jersey and New York have been the epicenter of the virus in the U.S. New York also lost thousands in nursing facilities to the same deadly policy of mandating COVID admissions to nursing homes. After great losses, Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally prohibited admissions. Gov. Phil Murphy inexplicably did not, and instead made COVID admissions voluntary. In New Jersey, for more than four months, some residents have largely been isolated in their rooms, not allowed to get crucial help from family. For four months, war-weary staff not had significant help from families, some of whom would have provided residents with essential exercise, comfort and mental stimuli. Their rooms were never meant to be their world. Residents were meant to move around the facility to avoid muscle atrophy, to practice speech by convening with others and to go outside to touch nature. Instead many have languished in anguish. Recent state authorization has permitted limited outdoor visits at nursing homes but the change hasnt happened in some places due to difficulties with the requirements and/or COVID issues. Where visits are occurring, the allotted time is short and the patient/resident cannot receive hands-on help to exercise deconditioned limbs. These victims of state policy feel forgotten, voiceless. For many, their futures are forever altered. Some were in the prime of their lives when they were struck down by illness or injury. How was it decided that it was okay to hold them captive with COVID? Most couldnt just leave because they need skilled nursing. COVID-infected individuals should have been cared for completely separate so others wouldnt be locked down. If there was the will, there would have been a way. Gov. Murphy concurs with scientists that indoor air is the most dangerous condition when it comes to the spread of the virus. But if dining inside for an hour is risky, cooping up vulnerable nursing facility patients/residents indoors with COVID since March 13 is the most ill-conceived of policies. Every day that lockdown continues, ground is lost. How many more days do families have to watch loved ones through the windows, weeping in despair, spirits broken, recoveries harmed, even as some now finally get a few outdoor moments but cant be touched. Families have not been allowed inside nursing facilities for fear of them bringing COVID-19 in, yet known COVID-positives were admitted right through the front door. The notion that lockdown is to keep those in nursing homes safe is fundamentally flawed because residents have been sequestered inside with the virus. Our hard-working family member was unexpectedly slammed by a stroke, a time-sensitive situation requiring significant family help for the best outcome. State policy has denied him this help for more than four months, greatly harming his recovery. Always giving to others, this forgotten person spent his Christmas at a nursing facility caring for someone very ill, then visited an elderly person so her Christmas would not be lonely. Then, the stroke happened. He fought to survive and finally made it to rehab. The state shortly thereafter ordered nursing facilities on lockdown, mandated COVID admissions and disallowed the facilities from COVID-testing incoming patients. The state essentially deemed those in his position expendable by not course-correcting when deaths mounted. Why arent COVID admissions prohibited? How many more people have to be sacrificed on the altar of us not learning our lesson? Testing and PPE are important but meaningful separation and getting those who arent infected off lockdown are immensely urgent needs. We cannot incongruously have people enjoying beaches, boardwalks and other areas while at the same time keeping our most vulnerable in agonizing, unhealthy, debilitating isolation. Various elected officials have touched on reforms needed for the long term. Yet the 911 crisis that is right now - The Forgotten Ones remains unaddressed. Judy Jengo has over 30 years of experience in state and federal government policy roles. She lives in Hopewell. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Heres how to submit an op-ed or Letter to the Editor. Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow us on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and on Facebook at NJ.com Opinion. Get the latest news updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters. Shares is the leading weekly publication for retail investors. It is packed with investment ideas, news and educational material to help build and run portfolios and get more from your money. Shares puts on free Investor Events throughout the year across the country. They provide an opportunity for investors to learn more about companies on the stock market and hear from a range of investment experts including fund managers and Shares journalists. Boulder, Colo., USA: The impact event that formed the Chicxulub crater (Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico) caused the extinction of 75% of species on Earth 66 million years ago, including non-avian dinosaurs. One place that did not experience much extinction was the deep, as organisms living in the abyss made it through the mass extinction event with just some changes to community structure. New evidence from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 364 of trace fossils of burrowing organisms that lived in the seafloor of the Chicxulub Crater beginning a few years after the impact shows just how quick the recovery of the seafloor ecosystem was, with the establishment of a well-developed tiered community within ?700,000 years after the event. In April and May 2016, a team of international scientists drilled into the Chicxulub impact crater. This joint expedition, organized by the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) and International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) recovered an extended syn- and post-impact set of rock cores, allowing study of the effects of the impact on life and its recovery after the mass extinction event. The end Cretaceous (K-Pg) event has been profusely studied and its effect on biota are relatively well-known. However, the effect of these changes on the macrobenthic community, the community of organisms living on and in the seafloor that do not leave body fossils, is poorly known. The investigators concluded that the diversity and abundance of trace fossils responded primarily to variations in the flux of organic matter (i.e., food) sinking to the seafloor during the early Paleocene. Local and regional-scale effects of the K-Pg impact included earthquakes of magnitude 10-11, causing continental and marine landslides, tsunamis hundreds of meters in height that swept more than 300 km onshore, shock waves and air blasts, and the ignition of wildfires. Global phenomena included acid rain, injection of aerosols, dust, and soot into the atmosphere, brief intense cooling followed by slight warming, and destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer, followed by a longer-term greenhouse effect. Mass extinction events have punctuated the past 500 million years of Earth's history, and studying them helps geoscientists understand how organisms respond to stress in their environment and how ecosystems recover from the loss of biodiversity. Although the K-Pg mass extinction was caused by an asteroid impact, previous ones were caused by slower processes, like massive volcanism, which caused ocean acidification and deoxygenation and had environmental effects that lasted millions of years. By comparing the K-Pg record to earlier events like the end Permian mass extinction (the so-called "Great Dying" when 90% of life on Earth went extinct), geoscientists can determine how different environmental changes affect life. There are similar overall patterns of recovery after both events with distinct phases of stabilization and diversification, but with very different time frames. The initial recovery after the K-Pg, even at ground zero of the impact, lasted just a few years; this same phase lasted tens of thousands of years after the end Permian mass extinction. The overall recovery of seafloor burrowing organisms after the K-Pg took ~700,000 years, but it took several million years after the end Permian. ### FEATURED ARTICLE Rapid macrobenthic diversification and stabilization after the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event AUTHORS: Francisco J. Rodriguez-Tovar, Christopher M. Lowery, Timothy J. Bralower, Sean P.S. Gulick, and Heather L. Jones CONTACT: Francisco J. Rodriguez-Tovar, fjrtovar@ugr.es URL: https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/doi/10.1130/G47589.1/588088/Rapid-macrobenthic-diversification-and GEOLOGY articles are online at http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/content/early/recent. Representatives of the media may obtain complimentary articles by contacting Kea Giles at the e-mail address above. Please discuss articles of interest with the authors before publishing stories on their work, and please make reference to GEOLOGY in articles published. Non-media requests for articles may be directed to GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org. https://www.geosociety.org DUBLIN, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Point-to-Point Antenna Market with COVID-19 impact by Type (Parabolic, Flat Panel, Yagi), Polarization, Frequency Range (1.0 GHz to 9.9 GHz, 10.0 GHz to 29.9 GHz, 30.0 GHz to 86.0 GHz), Application, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The overall point-to-point antenna market was valued at USD 3,496 million in 2019 and is projected to reach USD 5,040 million by 2025; it is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.9% during the forecast period. Point-to-point antenna market projected to grow at 6.9% CAGR during 2020-2025 This estimation factors in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the market. The major driving factors are the simplicity of installation as compared with other antennas and the growing penetration of the Internet. The increasing number of M2M connections among various industry verticals is also expected to drive the point-to-point antenna market growth during the forecast period. Parabolic antenna to account for the largest share of point-to-point antenna market during the forecast period Parabolic antennas have a wider range of frequency and applications, as well as very high gain, ranging from 30 to 40 dB as compared with flat panel antennas and Yagi antennas. A parabolic antenna uses a parabolic reflector, a curved surface with the cross-sectional shape of a parabola, to direct the radio waves. The most common form of parabolic antennas is shaped similar to a dish. These antennas are widely used for radio and wireless applications. Dual-polarized antenna to witness the highest growth in point-to-point antenna market in coming years The dual-polarized antenna is segment expected to witness a higher growth rate in the point-to-point antenna market in the coming years as it can respond to both horizontally and vertically polarized radio waves simultaneously. The use of both polarizations increases the traffic handling capacity of the system. 1.0 GHz to 9.9 GHz frequency range segment to account for the largest share of point-to-point antenna market during the forecast period Majority of the applications, including the industrial and commercial applications, as well as cellular applications (2G, 3G, and 4G), operate in the 1.0 GHz to 9.9 GHz frequency range. Due to this, the 1.0 GHz to 9.9 GHz frequency range segment occupies the largest share of the point-to-point antenna market. Commercial/industrial to grow at highest CAGR in point-to-point antenna market from 2020 to 2025 The overall deployment of point-to-point antennas is expected to increase with the growth in the number of commercial office buildings and industrial facilities; hence, this segment is projected to grow at the highest rate in the coming years. The response of manufacturers to the COVID-19 pandemic has been varying. For instance, while some manufacturers are decreasing production and furloughing workers, others are increasing, shifting, or relocating production to meet the demand. Procter & Gamble, 3M, Georgia-Pacific, BASF, ExxonMobil, Tesla, Ford, GM, ArcelorMittal, and Air Products are a few examples of the companies that have innovated to manufacture new products or shifted production to meet demand. Some of the manufacturers have been rapidly transforming their businesses to be able to produce critical and high-demand products. For instance, breweries and distilleries have switched from producing beer, wine, or liquor to contribute toward meeting the unprecedented demand for hand sanitizers. Paper products manufacturers have ramped up production and are managing their distribution closely to help fill the empty shelves in many retail outlets. Automotive and electronics manufacturers have responded to government requests to produce ventilators, facemasks, and other high-demand personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. APAC to hold largest share of point-to-point antenna market during the forecast period China is expected to be the major contributor to the point-to-point antenna market in APAC. The high growth rate of the market in APAC is owing to the increasing number of 5G infrastructure development initiatives in the region. The rising demand for telecommunication infrastructure has also created a plethora of opportunities for the point-to-point antenna market in the APAC region. In APAC, investments look promising as the majority of countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea have been more successful in containing the spread of COVID-19 than the US and European countries. China is easing the restrictions imposed on the operations of factories and the movement of workers. Major telecommunication equipment providers in the region, including ZTE (China) and Huawei Technologies (China), have signed more than 95 5G commercial deals with leading global telecom operators. Key Topics Covered: 1 Introduction 2 Research Methodology 3 Executive Summary 3.1 Optimistic Scenario 3.2 Realistic Scenario 3.3 Pessimistic Scenario 4 Premium Insights 4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Point-To-Point Antenna Market 4.2 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Type 4.3 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Polarization 4.4 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Frequency Range 4.5 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Application 4.6 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Region 5 Market Overview 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Market Dynamics 5.2.1 Drivers 5.2.1.1 Simplicity of Installation as Compared With Other Antennas 5.2.1.2 Rise in Penetration of Internet 5.2.1.3 Increase Number of M2M Connections Among Various Industry Verticals 5.2.2 Restraints 5.2.2.1 Growing Consumer Demand for Extended Network Coverage 5.2.3 Opportunities 5.2.3.1 Growing Demand from Smart Cities 5.2.3.2 Increasing Deployment of Wi-Fi by Businesses 5.2.4 Challenges 5.2.4.1 Lack of Consistency in Point-To-Point Antennas and Variance in Operating Frequencies for Different Applications Across the World 5.3 Impact of Covid-19 on Drivers 5.3.1 Simplicity of Installation as Compared With Other Antennas 5.4 Impact of Covid-19 on Restraints 5.4.1 Growing Consumer Demand for Extended Network Coverage 6 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Type 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Parabolic Antenna 6.2.1 Increase in USe of Parabolic Antennas in Radio and Wireless Applications 6.3 Flat Panel Antenna 6.3.1 Rise in Importance of Flat Panel Antennas Owing to Growing Demand for Communication on the Move (Cotm) 6.4 Yagi Antenna 6.4.1 Increase in Adoption of Yagi Antenna in Point-To-Point Communications as They Radiate in Only One 7 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Polarization 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Single-Polarized Antenna 7.2.1 Single-Polarized Antennas Respond Only to One Orientation of Polarization 7.3 Dual-Polarized Antenna 7.3.1 Dual-Polarized Antennas Can Respond to Both Horizontally and Vertically Polarized Radio Waves Simultaneously 8 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Diameter 8.1 Introduction 8.2 0.2 Meters to 0.9 Meters 8.2.1 Increase in USe of Antennas With Diameter Ranging from 0.2 Meters to 0.9 Meters in Commercial and Industrial Applications 8.3 1.0 Meters to 3.0 Meters 8.3.1 Surge in USe of Antennas With Diameter Ranging from 1.0 Meters to 3.0 Meters in Civil, Military, and Government Radar Applications 8.4 3.1 Meters to 4.6 Meters 8.4.1 Rise in Adoption of Antennas With Diameter Ranging from 3.1 Meters to 4.6 Meters in Satellite Communications or Raw Satellite Feeds 9 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Frequency Range 9.1 Introduction 9.2 1.0 Ghz to 9.9 Ghz 9.2.1 Industrial, Commercial, and Cellular Applications Operate in this Frequency Range 9.3 10.0 Ghz to 29.9 Ghz 9.3.1 Super-High-Frequency (Shf) Antennas Operate on this Frequency Range 9.4 30.0 Ghz to 86.0 Ghz 9.4.1 Antennas in this Frequency Range Are Also Known as Extremely High-Frequency (Ehf) Antennas 10 Point-To-Point Antenna Market, by Application 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Telecommunication 10.2.1 5G Network Expected to Widen Frequency Application Range for Point-To-Point Antennas in Telecommunication Sector 10.2.2 Impact of Covid-19 10.2.3 Urban 10.2.3.1 Integral Linking of Urbanization With Advancements in Communication Technology 10.2.4 Rural 10.2.4.1 Rise in USe of Point-To-Point Antennas in for Connecting Utility Networks and Areas Having Poor Broadband Connectivity 10.3 Commercial/Industrial 10.3.1 Commercial/Industrial Segment of Point-To-Point Antenna Market Includes Offices, Service Providers, and Manufacturing 10.3.2 Impact of COVID-19 10.4 Satellite 10.4.1 Advancements in Satellite Technologies Resulted in Growth of Satellite Services Sector 10.5 Military & Defense 10.5.1 Military and Defense Sector Requires Continuous Monitoring of Communication for Privacy and Security Issues 10.6 Others 11 Geographic Analysis 11.1 Introduction 11.2 North America 11.3 Europe 11.4 Asia-Pacific (Apac) 11.5 Rest of the World (Row) 12 Competitive Landscape 12.1 Overview 12.2 Market Ranking Analysis, 2019 12.3 Competitive Leadership Mapping 12.3.1 Visionary Leaders 12.3.2 Innovators 12.3.3 Dynamic Differentiators 12.3.4 Emerging Companies 12.4 Competitive Scenario 12.5 Competitive Situations and Trends 12.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements 12.5.2 New Product Launches/Developments 12.5.3 Acquisitions 13 Company Profiles 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Key Players 13.2.1 Commscope 13.2.2 Ericsson 13.2.3 Comba Telecom Systems Holdings 13.2.4 Amphenol 13.2.5 Cambium Networks 13.2.6 Tongyu Communication 13.2.7 Laird Technologies 13.2.8 Radio Frequency Systems 13.2.9 Rosenberger 13.2.10 Shenglu 13.2.11 Mobi Antenna Technologies 13.2.12 Infinite Electronics International 13.2.13 Trango Networks 13.2.14 Mwave Industries 13.2.15 Kavveri Telecom 13.3 Right to Win 13.4 Other Players 13.4.1 Xi'An Putian Antenna 13.4.2 Leax Arkivator Telecom Ab 13.4.3 Wireless Excellence Limited 13.4.4 Powerwave Technologies 13.4.5 PCTEL For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/h5ab5u Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. Media Contact: Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [email protected] For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 SOURCE Research and Markets Related Links http://www.researchandmarkets.com Another minister tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bihar, where the tally rose to 17,421 on Monday with 1,116 new cases, the Health Department said. The state also reported nine Covid-19 fatalities in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 134, the department said. Shailesh Kumar, the minister of the Rural Works Department, tested positive for Covid-19, the second member of the cabinet to have contracted the disease. He is placed in home quarantine. His close aides said the minister did not suffer from any symptoms but had got himself tested as a precautionary measure after he recently toured his Jamalpur assembly segment in Munger district. For latest updates and live news on coronavirus, click here The minister's wife has tested negative, though one of the domestic helps at his residence had been found positive. Earlier, Backward and Extremely Backward Classes Welfare Minister Vinod Kumar Singh and his wife were found infected with the virus. According to the health bulletin, Gopalganj district reported its first casualty so far, while there were two more deaths each in Bhagalpur and Gaya, and one each in Begusarai, Kaimur, Munger and Nalanda. The tally of coronavirus has risen by over 1,000 for the second consecutive day. On Sunday, the state had witnessed the biggest single-day spike of 1,266 cases. Out of the new 1,116 cases, the maximum number of 223 new coronavirus cases were from Patna district. More than 20 people, who had recently attended a funeral, have tested positive at Bihta block in the district. District Magistrate Kumar Ravi has ordered closure of at least three wholesale vegetable markets Mithapur, Kankarbagh and Rajendra Nagar. In Begusarai, 79 more people have tested positive, followed by 78 in Bhagalpur, 76 in Muzaffarpur, 68 in Munger and 65 in Gaya. The Health Department said 9,129 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. As many as 12,364 people have recovered so far and the recovery rate 70.97 per cent is higher than the national average of 63.02 per cent. Legislative Council acting Chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh, who had tested positive a fortnight ago, is among those who have recovered. "I returned to my home the previous night upon getting discharged from hospital", the 71-year-old Singh told PTI Bhasha over phone. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi and Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary had undergone tests after coming in contact with Singh at the oath-taking function of nine newly-elected Legislative Council members in Patna on July 1. All of them have reported negative for the infection. Patna, with 2,097 confirmed cases and 15 deaths so far, has been the worst hit by the outbreak, followed by Bhagalpur with 1,074 infections and 12 fatalities. Other districts with a high number of cases are Begusarai (813), Muzaffarpur (787), Siwan (711), Munger (646) and Madhubani (632). Two men and two teenagers have been charged with killing rapper Pop Smoke during a robbery in February. Corey Walker, 19, and Keandre Rodgers, 18, were both charged with murder by Los Angeles County district attorney on Monday. The charges carried the special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a robbery and a burglary, making them eligible for the death penalty, according to the announcement. The complaint also alleges gang and gun allegations. Pop Smoke, 20, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, died on February 19 The rapper was considered a rising star and his death shocked the music world Both defendants are expected to be arraigned later on Monday at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. Additionally, two male juveniles, ages 17 and 15, were each charged with one count of murder and robbery in juvenile court. Walker and Rodgers face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged. A decision on whether to seek capital punishment will be made at a later date. Pop Smoke, 20, whose legal name is Bashar Barakah Jackson, was found suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on February 19 when police responded to a call on Hercules Drive in the Mount Olympus area of the Hollywood Hills. He died later at a hospital. Pop Smoke was shot at this house in the Hollywood Hills, owned by a Real Housewives star Police said the assailants did not know Pop Smoke, but got his address from photos the rapper posted on social media. The Brooklyn-based rapper suffered his fatal injuries at a rental property owned by Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave, star of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. The 911 call the LAPD responded to actually came from the east coast, from someone who had apparently been called by someone inside the L.A. property during the home invasion. The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of Parliaments Finance Committee has dismissed claims that the approved $3.2 million tax waiver on the importation of the mathematical sets is a loss of revenue to the State. According to the New Juaben South lawmaker, the tax waiver is rather to reduce the cost of the items since the supplier would add the tax amount to the cost of the items. The Minority in Parliament questioned the cost of mathematical sets to be purchased after Parliament approved a tax waiver of $3.2 million for the supply of KAPEK scientific mathematical instruments to be procured for use in the upcoming West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said the government should have considered better value for money analysis before approving the tax waiver. But speaking on Eyewitness News, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah said government will not be making any losses in the procurement of the math sets. If we had not provided the tax waivers, it would still be added to the cost of the mathematical instruments. It is like taking something with your left arm and giving it to the right. So, either government goes ahead to give the supplier the tax waiver or it is added to the cost, so the tax waiver picture is neither here nor there. The tax waiver will not bring any income loss to the state because if we had not granted the waiver, we would have had to pay for it in the cost of the products. So, instead of paying $12 million as we are doing in the current circumstances, he will add another 3.2 to make it $15.2 million and that would have been the cost of it. The Scientific Mathematical Instruments (SMI) is to be procured and supplied by Messrs Bluegrass Group Limited for use in examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Ghana. According to the chairman of the finance committee, the instruments are to help eliminate examination malpractices which had been aided especially by use of mathematical sets and calculators in examination halls by candidates in all WAEC examinations. The West African Examination Council (WAEC) has had challenges with exam malpractices over the years, this malice seems to have persisted. In fact, our sister country, Nigeria has employed these scientific mathematical instruments in the last four exams and member councils have met the head of WAEC and they all decided to move towards the use of these. What it means is that instead of students carrying calculators and mathematical sets into the examination hall, the WAEC itself, at the point of entry into the exam hall will supply students with these mathematical instruments and take them back after the exam. The agreement between Education Ministry and Messrs Bluegrass Group Limited will see the company supplying 853,009 units of the Kapek Scientific Mathematical Instruments. citinewsroom Benny Diaz, of Miami, says the rental home across the street from his is being used for parties and they may be helping the coronavirus spread. - (ABC News)By ANTHONY RIVAS, ABC News (MIAMI) -- Benny Diaz says that lately, the scene in front of his home in a residential Miami neighborhood has looked a lot like a normal day in South Beach several miles away, with partygoers at the rental home across the street showing off their expensive rental cars, blasting loud music, and getting drunk without regard for the risks of spreading the coronavirus. "They have no clue that there's a pandemic," he told Nightline. "They have no clue that there's a curfew. The scene is chaotic, irresponsible drunkenness." Diaz says the parties have gotten bigger since they began in March, when the COVID-19 pandemic first led to bars and nightclubs closing in Florida. Two weeks ago, there were buses shuttling people to and from a party, as well as over a dozen people arriving by cab, Diaz said. He estimated there were more than 100 people at the party. "When they came out of that bus, there was nobody wearing a mask," he said. "It was crazy." Over the weekend, 12 states reported record highs of new coronavirus cases, with many being traced back to large gatherings. Florida, specifically, recorded the highest single-day total of new cases out of any state since the pandemic began, with 15,000. "These people that are in these party homes lately have no concern at all that they can catch the virus just by not wearing masks, not being socially distant," Diaz said. "They are there to party on top of each other. They probably think that they're not going to catch the virus." "They're negligent," he added. "The fact that they think they can't get it or that they don't care. But it's really shameful what they're doing, not caring about somebody else." Several parties across the country have been linked to the spread of coronavirus cases. On Sunday, Westfield, New Jersey, Mayor Shelley Brindle announced that an uptick in cases in the town had been linked to parties within the community. In Alabama earlier this month, students who had been diagnosed with the virus were found to have attended "COVID parties," where organizers purposely invited people who had the virus, Tuscaloosa City Councilor Sonya McKistry told ABC News. In San Antonio over the weekend, a man died after attending one of these parties. He told his nurse he thought the virus was a hoax but realized he made a mistake when he got sick. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:47:13|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is working on a comprehensive strategy to boost recovery of women-led businesses that have suffered disruptions linked to COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Tuesday. Margaret Kobia, cabinet secretary for youth and gender affairs, said the government has developed an inventory of female-owned enterprises that have suffered due to the pandemic, to facilitate their bailout. "The women-led businesses have suffered from negative impacts of COVID-19 and the government is working on a bailout strategy with financial institutions to restore them to profitability," said Kobia. She spoke during the launch of a mobile-based application supported by multinational companies to help African female entrepreneurs digitize their operations beyond the COVID-19 era. Kobia said that Kenya's budding female entrepreneurs will benefit from HerVenture App amid the quest to expand market linkages while exploring alternative sources of capital. "Access to technology will enable women to grow their businesses in the post-pandemic period. The mobile application will enable women entrepreneurs to work from home while taking care of their families," said Kobia. She said that women-led businesses will benefit from a stimulus package launched by the government in April to bailout local start-ups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. "The government has set aside a rescue package for small and medium-sized businesses owned by women to help them withstand COVID 19 shocks. We are ready to provide interest-free loans to these businesses," said Kobia. She said the government will support female entrepreneurs to leverage on technology, skills and networks and harness opportunities in the global supply chains. Kobia said that COVID-19 has opened new business ventures for women in diverse areas like value addition, manufacturing of sanitizers and stitching of face coverings. "The pandemic has brought to light the resilience and tenacity of female entrepreneurs. They are now thriving in the cottage industry through tailoring of masks," said Kobia. She said that access to capital, mentorship, financial literacy and enhanced market linkage is key to the growth of female-led businesses. Enditem The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has moved Interpol seeking a blue notice against Faisal Fareed, a Dubai-based person named as key accused in Kerala gold smuggling case, officials said. The agency has found that Faisal Fareed had forged the documents - seal and emblem - of the UAE embassy to ensure diplomatic protection for the baggage and the gold was to be used for terror activities. An Interpol blue notice is issued to collect additional information about a persons identity, location or activities in relation to a crime. The blue notice request to Interpol has been sent after procuring a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Fareed who is one of the four people booked by the NIA. ALSO WATCH | Kerala CM Office involved in gold smuggling case: BJP president JP Nadda Two other accused, Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair are already in NIA custody and are being interrogated. On Monday, a special NIA court in Kochi sent the two of them to the agencys custody for eight days. Sarith PS was the first accused who was arrested by Customs. The gold smuggling racket which came to light on July 5 after the Customs seized an air consignment for the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram, has sparked a political firestorm in Kerala with the opposition accusing the state government of being involved in the smuggling. The haul of 30 kg gold is said to be worth Rs 15 crore. Seven-year-old Levi Isanhart found an unexpected treasure right in his family's driveway in Coleman. On Friday, he found his first Petoskey stone. "I'm looking for more in my driveway," Levi said. Levi's interest in rock collecting began when he was 5. At the time his dad Bowdie returned from a trip to Africa with gemstones and rocks, which he gave to his sons. "They've been rockhounds ever since," Bowdie said. Levi has searched for rocks in his yard and along Lake Michigan. While his collection is comprised of 24 pieces of quartz along with some fossils and various other rocks, he hadn't found any Petoskey stones until now. When he found the stone on Friday, Levi was initially searching for more quartz. Thinking the stone was a fossil, he brought it into the house for confirmation. Bowdie identified it as a Petoskey stone. "I've never seen one this far south," Bowdie said. Petoskey stones are Michigan's state stone and are made of fossilized pre-historic coral, Hexagonaria percarinata. While the stones can be found anywhere in the Lower Peninsula thanks to glaciers that deposited them millions of years ago, they are most commonly found along the shore of Lake Michigan. Levi has polished the Petoskey stone and added it to his collection. He is currently on the hunt for sedimentary rocks. Germany's Robert Koch Institute has placed Luxembourg on its list of at-risk countries. The institute continuously updates its map (and list) of potential risk countries by using information about positive tests per 100,000 inhabitants. The map displays all EU member states, countries belonging to the Schengen area, and the United Kingdom. Out of all these countries, Luxembourg is the only one on the map that recorded more than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last seven days. Within the last seven days, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Finland, Denmark, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Greece performed best with 0 to 5 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. France and Belgium recorded between 5 and 10 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants while Portugal and Sweden recorded 25 to 50. Germany's Foreign Office is also currently cautioning against "non-essential" travel (including tourism) to Luxembourg. The complete list of at-risk countries can be found here. Residents and cross-border workers among the new infections in Luxembourg The Robert Koch Institute said the guidelines were based on 50 cases per 100,000 residents. However, it is worth noting that Luxembourg's figures count both residents and cross-border workers infected with the virus. This approach means the Grand Duchy's figures can be misleading, but the phenomenon only affects around 10% of new infections according to Minister of Health Paulette Lenert, who gave details in a briefing last Friday. The Luxembourg government has appealed for a more coordinated approach to figures across the EU, echoed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn on Friday. A return to border controls? Despite the rise in new infections, the governments of the neighbouring Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate have opposed putting border controls with Luxembourg in place once again. When is a country considered a risk zone? A country is placed on the risk zone list following a coordinated analysis and decision made by the German Ministry of Health, the Federal Foreign Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Construction and Home. In order to be considered at risk, a country must have counted more than 50 new infections per 100,000 residents in the last seven days, or else it is determined whether there is a high enough infection risk within the state, even if the number of new infections falls under the nominal amount. PANAMA CITY, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (NYSE: BLX) cordially invites you to participate in its Second Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call Date and time: Tuesday, July 28, 2020 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time Presenting for Bladex: Mr. Jorge Salas, Chief Executive Officer Mrs. Ana Graciela de Mendez, Chief Financial Officer To participate, please dial: 1-877-271-1828 (U.S. Participants) 1-334-323-9871 (From outside the U.S.) Passcode: 89194804# This event will be webcast live at www.bladex.com Bladex's Second Quarter and Half-Year 2020 Earnings Release will be announced on Tuesday, July 28, 2020 before the market opens and will be available on the Bank's corporate website, along with the webcast presentation. Contact Information: Monica Cosulich Senior Vice President Finance and Investor Relations E-mail address: [email protected] Tel: +507 210-8563 SOURCE Banco Latinoamericano de Comercio Exterior, S.A. (Bladex) Related Links http://www.bladex.com UPDATE: N.J. expands quarantine travel advisory to 22 states. List adds 4 states, while Delaware gets removed. New York is now requiring travelers arriving at its airports from states on a quarantine list to fill out a form with contact information and details about their trip or receive a $2,000 fine to help make sure theyre following a regional quarantine advisory to protect against the coronavirus. So will neighboring New Jersey which is also asking for out-of-state travelers to quarantine follow suit with a similar fine? Gov. Phil Murphy said no Tuesday morning, though he stressed hes very concerned about surging cases across the U.S. New York and New Jersey do things a little bit differently, Murphy said during a radio interview on Q 104.3-FM in New York City. I dont know that we will be fining people. But we are aggressively pursuing public relations and begging people for personal responsibility. If youre coming in from a hotspot, we need to know it, you need to self-quarantine, you need to get tested, he said. New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut announced a joint advisory last month calling for travelers from states that qualify as coronavirus hotspots to voluntarily self-quarantine for 14 days including residents returning home from a trip. The list is now 22 states about 44% of the nation. Four states were added Tuesday, while Delaware was remove. The quarantine applies to anyone arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. People traveling for business are exempted. But enforcement is still an open question. Murphy has said states cant force people to quarantine because its unconstitutional for American states to close their borders. Instead, he said, New Jersey is strongly suggesting it. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took it a step further Monday by announcing the fine. We have already implemented a quarantine order for travelers coming in from states with the highest infection rates, but we are experiencing non-compliance with the order that can lead to outbreaks and threaten the tremendous progress weve already made, Cuomo said. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has not yet said whether his state will institute fines, though he said his administration is looking at boosting enforcement and tracing travelers landing at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. This all comes as New Jersey and New York once the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. have seen their daily numbers drop dramatically while numerous other states are seeing daily new cases rise. That, Murphy said Tuesday, has New Jersey worried. Weve lived through hell, the governor said during a separate television interview on ABCs Good Morning America. We dont want to have to go through that again. So were very concerned, he added. If we could control everything within our four walls, that would be one thing. But we are the United States of America. You have to look with great concern on the surges elsewhere. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tells @arobach he is "very concerned" about the rise in COVID-19 cases in other states: "We've lived through hell ... we don't want to have to go through that again." https://t.co/8b7FHXyLEU pic.twitter.com/Abd9pbcinx Good Morning America (@GMA) July 14, 2020 New Jersey on Tuesday reported 28 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 423 more positive tests. The state has now reported 15,582 deaths 13,635 lab-confirmed and 1,947 considered probable with 175,5915 known cases since its first case was announced March 4. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Meanwhile, the states rate of transmission has remained below the critical benchmark of 1 in recent days after jumping over that mark earlier this month. Staying under that point means, on average, every newly infected resident was passing COVID-19 to fewer one other person. In other words, the virus spread is being kept in check. The latest rate held steady at 0.91, officials said Tuesday. Officials said part of the reason for the recent uptick in transmission is because the state has reopened some indoor businesses and because of out-of-state travelers have brought the virus with them. Murphy has paused Stage 2 of the states gradual reopening from months of lockdown restrictions. And the state is now requiring people to wear masks outdoors in public when they cant practice social distancing. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. California wineries that specialize in Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Zinfandel are a dime a dozen. But have you ever encountered a winery where the main specialty is the Carignan grape? Enter Vinca Minor, a 3,000-case label owned by Jason and Emily Charles that set up shop in West Berkeleys fast-growing wine district in spring 2019. The brand named for the periwinkle flower has been around since 2013, and Jason Charles made the wines in a shared space in Sonoma. But when his friends Tracey and Jared Brandt, owners of Donkey & Goat, tipped him off that a space was opening up on their block, Jason Charles jumped at the chance to have a space of his own. Wander through the glass-plated garage doors into the winery, which is open for tastings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and youll be looking at Vinca Minors entire setup: a cellar packed full of barrels, with some communal tables and a colorful bar, all accented by potted succulents. Jason Charles reconfigures the set-up during harvest to make space for grape-processing equipment, and has even lined the sidewalk outside with barrels when necessary. Since moving into this space, weve never felt more creative, he says. Carignan (pronounced CARE-in-yawn) became a focal point for Vinca Minor early on. Jason Charles had spent his first few years in the wine industry in Napa and Bordeaux, but when he was looking to launch his own project, he scouted vineyards in the backwoods of Mendocino County. In Mendocino especially its Redwood Valley he could find significant plantings of old vines whose fruit could be bought for cheap. Even better, most of these vineyards were being farmed organically, sometimes simply because the longtime farmers had never bothered to introduce synthetic chemicals. What was planted in these vineyards? Carignan, mostly. Today, Vinca Minor makes a lovely, delicate Carignan rose, plus multiple renditions of red wine. The Mendocino Carignan is austere and earthy with a core of bright, persistent red cherry; a field blend of Carignan, Zinfandel and French Colombard is brawnier with darker berry flavors. Across the board, the wines are lean, relatively light in alcohol, designed to be refreshing rather than heavy and invariably delicious. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Like many of the wineries in this West Berkeley neighborhood, the vibe at Vinca Minors tasting room is very laid back, with Jason and Emily Charles often behind the bar themselves. The menu behind the bar advertises prices for bottles and glass pours ($11-$16), but the format is flexible: If you want to taste through some different wines, just ask. WHAT TO TRY: You cant visit Vinca Minor and not try some Carignan, but theres plenty else to enjoy here too. Two Chardonnays one from Sonoma Valley, one from the Santa Cruz Mountains display beautiful tension and balance; the Sonoma Valley version is made in a slightly richer style than its counterpart. Under a separate label called Soil, Grape & Sun, the winery also produces a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Sonoma side of Los Carneros, which shows forest-floor and wild berry flavors; plus a 50-50 blend of Cab and Merlot from Napa Valley, which is refined and fresh, mingling graphite and cedar flavors. Reacting to KP Sharma Olis bizarre claim that the birthplace of Lord Rama is in Nepal, VHP president Alok Kumar said that the neighbours Prime Minister has joined an anti-India campaign to ruin its emotional, religious and spiritual ties with India. But I am sure that the Nepalese believers of Lord Ram would reject the statement and not be entrapped in it, the VHP leader added. KP Shama Oli received severe backlash from Indians as well his own citizens for his shocking statement that Lord Rama was Nepali and not Indian. Former Nepal PM Baburam Bhattarai also lashed out at KP Oli, calling his way of thinking 'unhealthy.' Stressing that it was 'dangerous' to leave the PM without barricades, the former Nepal PM said that Oli's words and actions were pushing all limits and that the more he said, the more harm he would cause. READ | Ram Mandir Trust Issues First Response As Nepal's PM Oli Stakes Claim On Lord Ram, Ayodhya Mentally imbalanced Oli Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi also lambasted KP Sharma Oli for his 'real Ayodhya is not in India'. Singhvi taking to Twitter said Oli seems to have lost his "mental balance" or is "puppet and parrot" like mouthing lines scripted by "desperate" Chinese. First he claimed territories never earlier claimed by Nepal. Now he relocates Ram, Sita, Ayodhya and Ram Rajya a few hundred miles from Ayodhya inside Nepal! READ | Yogi Govt Slams Nepal PM Oli For claiming Ayodhya; DyCM Makes Counter-claim On His Country 'Ayodhya is also in Nepal' The Nepal Prime Minister also blamed India of cultural encroachment by "creating a fake Ayodhya." "Balmiki Ashram is in Nepal and the holy place where King Dashrath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi. Dashrath's son Ram was not an Indian and Ayodhya is also in Nepal," he claimed. In an attempt to save self from criticism, Oli questioned how Lord Rama could come to Janakpur to marry Sita when there were "no means" of communication. He further said that it to be impossible for Lord Rama to come to Janakpur from present Ayodhya that lies in India. "Janakpur lies here and Ayodhya there and there is talk of marriage. There was neither telephone nor mobile then how could he know about Janakpur," Oli said. READ | 'Give Up Communism, Embrace Ram Rajya': David Frawley On Nepal PM Oli's Claim On Ayodhya READ | Nepal PM Oli Insane, Remove Him Immediately: Ayodhya Seers On 'Lord Ram Not Indian' Claim Besides Bollywood movies, brand endorsements play a big role in adding to the enormous income of celebrities. However, these actors do not sign all the brand endorsements that come their way due to their moral compass, even if they are getting an outrageously good deal for it. Let's take a look at these celebrities who took responsibility and weren't a part of the rat race for money. 1. Akshay Kumar Twitter/Akshay Kumar When Akshay Kumar got an opportunity to endorse a lucrative paan masala ad, the actor shut it down as such things are harmful to one's health. Since he himself has stringent rules that he adheres to, it didn't even take a moment for the Khiladi to turn down such an unhealthy endorsement. Way to go, AK! 2. Amitabh Bachchan Twitter/SrBachchan We call Amitabh Bachchan a righteous man for several reasons. The veteran actor, who has done brand promotions for various things like air conditioners and tourism, avoided the promotion of caffeinated drinks after being questioned by a young girl, who said these drinks are poison and unfit for everyone. This is when the actor turned it down and egged other celebrities to not promote such ads. 3. Ranbir Kapoor Twitter/Ranbir Kapoor_FC According to reports, even Ranbir Kapoor has turned down several brand endorsements and one of them was when he refused to promote a fairness cream brand. Even though he was going to get paid a huge sum of money, which was Rs 9 Crores, the actor didn't flinch before turning it down as he knew it would promote racism and he opposed it. 4. Aamir Khan Twitter/Aamir Khan You anyway won't see Aamir Khan promoting many ads and the reason is that the actor is picky with what he chooses to do. He only endorses ads that are related to a social cause and hence when an opportunity to promote a luxury car ad came along, he declined it. He has only been seen promoting ads like Polio eradication, water conservation etc. 5. Abhishek Bachchan Twitter/JrBachchan Being a teetotaller himself, Abhishek Bachchan said no to an endorsement related to alcohol, as he knew it would influence the audience in a negative manner. As per reports, the actor declined a deal worth Rs 10 Crores. He mentioned in one of the interviews that the brands he works for, he has to personally believe in them to promote it and won't endorse it if he himself does not use it. 6. John Abraham Twitter/John Abraham Being a fitness enthusiast, even John Abraham didn't support unhealthy items, when it came to promoting alcohol and tobacco. The actor turned it down and also made a strict policy to not be approached for such brand endorsements in the future. 7. Kangana Ranaut Twitter/Team KaganaRanaut Kangana Ranaut also believes in only promoting worthy products that are not problematic. Just like Ranbir Kapoor, even Kangana turned down endorsing fairness cream brands which were reported to be worth Rs 2 Crore. She also mentioned in one of the interviews that it is extremely humiliating and problematic, which is why she opposes such brands. Harpreet Bajwa By Express News Service CHANDIGARH: Those visiting Punjab from other states for less than 72 hours are now exempt from mandatory home quarantine requirement, and only need to submit a formal undertaking at the border check post. As per the orders issued by the state government, these travellers will have to submit the formal undertaking with the OIC of the check post in a standard format provided on COVA app, which the visitors need to download on their phones. Apart from entering their details in the apps travellers information section, visitors will have to ensure that the app remains active throughout their period of stay in Punjab. This relaxation for inbound domestic travellers has been given mainly to facilitate students appearing for examinations in the state or business travellers who stay less than three days from the time of their arrival. The additional SOPs for such travellers requires them to voluntarily submit that they are not coming from any containment zone. During this period, they shall commit to monitoring their health and maintaining distance from those around, and also interact with the assigned surveillance team in case they notice any symptoms consistent with COVID-19, in which case they must and immediately dial 104. Punjab government yesterday imposed more stringent curbs in the state including mandatory wearing of masks even while working in office, restricting social gatherings to five people and marriages or other social functions to 30 instead of the present 50. They also announced a complete ban on all public gatherings. The state government has also partnered with IIT Chennai experts to intensify surveillance, using technology in order to identify gatherings in the past that could have resulted in a faster spread of the virus. A detailed notification was also issued yesterday stating that cases will now be registered against those found violating the social distancing norms. A similar order was also passed a month back by Chandigarh Administration, announcing no need for mandatory home quarantine for anyone coming to the city for 72 hours. A company in Pasadena, Texas, has been cited by federal officials and faces penalties of almost $500,000 for exposing employees to confined space hazards after two workers died. The U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited Alpha Technical Services (ATS) doing business as Quala Rail and Specialty after two employees were fatally overcome by fumes while cleaning a tank trailer. The company faces $497,920 in penalties. OSHA investigators determined that one employee became unresponsive after entering the trailers confined space. After a non-entry retrieval system used to rescue the worker failed, several employees entered the tank in an attempted rescue when a second employee became unresponsive. OSHA cited ATS for a willful and two repeat violations for confined space hazards, including failing to conduct appropriate tests to ensure atmospheric conditions were safe for entry. This tragedy could have been prevented if the employer had complied with the law and tested and monitored the oxygen level within the tank before permitting workers to enter, OSHA Houston South Area Director Mark Briggs said in a media release. ATS has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Source: OSHA Topics Texas Workers' Compensation A tuberculosis vaccine may help reduce the risk of death from novel coronavirus, according to two peer-reviewed studies released last week. According to the authors of the study, developing countries, where TB vaccine was given on higher rates, have lower-than-expected COVID-19 death rates. One of the studies led by Indian researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) stated that the quality of protection from COVID-19 depends upon the TB vaccine strain, the Hindustan Times reported. The widely-used TB vaccine-Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) has six major strains Pasteur, Danish, Glaxo 1077 (derived from the Danish strain), Tokyo, Russia, and Moreau. Gobardhan Das, chairperson, Centre for Molecular Medicine at JNU said that BCG has offered some degree of protection against COVID-19, but all the countries (that give BCG vaccines to their children) did not do equally well. Das added that BCG Mix, BCG Pastuer, and BCG Tokyo do better compared to others, such as BCG Russia and BCG Danish. In India, BCG Mix vaccine is used. The peer-reviewed study was published in Cell Death and Disease. In India, BCG vaccination of children started in 1949. In 2019, at least 97 per cent of the 2.6 crore children received the TB vaccine. The vaccine in children prevents a simple TB from turning into a systemic and affecting the brain and other organs. However, it doesn't offer protection from adult pulmonary TB, which has led to several countries discontinuing its use. Das said that BCG also had protective effects against leprosy, buruli ulcer, bladder cancer, type-1 diabetes and several other diseases. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in April said that there was no evidence that BCG protected people against coronavirus. According to the daily, many clinicians and epidemiologists were also unconvinced about the findings. Dr Krishnan Chhugh, director of pediatrics at Fortis Memorial Research Institute said that it was highly unlikely that the protection would last till adulthood. "The vaccine just prevents simple TB from becoming systemic and affecting the brain and other organs," says Chugh. Also, epidemiologists are wary that most countries with high BCG vaccination rates, like India and Brazil, are not testing enough. Prof Madhukar Pai, Director, McGill University, Montreal, said that it was dangerous to make conclusions in such a dynamic situation. Pai tweeted, "We simply cannot act on these correlations and must wait for randomised trials on BCG and COVID-19". Also read: Over 90 doctors on COVID-19 duty lost their lives so far, says IMA Also read: WHO chief Tedros condemns 'mixed messages' on coronavirus pandemic from world leaders A San Antonio doctor warned of an increase in the number of young people contracting the coronavirus after a patient told a nurse he had attended a "COVID party." Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital, said the 30-year-old man died shortly after telling the nurse, "I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax but its not." The hospital released a video statement from Appleby over the weekend in hopes it would bring awareness to the need for young people to protect themselves from the virus. On ExpressNews.com: Methodist physician warns against deadly COVID parties after San Antonio death Appleby did not identify the patient. The citys Metropolitan Health District told the Express-News they had not heard of such parties taking place in the Alamo City. In the statement, Appleby said she was "trying to share some real world examples to help our community realize that this virus is very serious and can spread easily. Here's what Appleby said about the rise in coronavirus cases among young people and the COVID party: "I just want to take a few minutes to share what weve been seeing across the city and at Methodist Hospital over the last several weeks. Currently, the Health Department is reporting that 22 percent of people who are tested for the COVID virus have a positive test. Thats about one in five people. This is a concerning increase from a positive rate of about five percent only several weeks ago. As we see the virus spreading in our community and affecting more people, were also seeing it affect a broader age range of people, including young people in their 20s and 30s. What weve learned about this virus is it doesnt discriminate and none of us are invincible. I dont want to be an alarmist. Were just trying to share some real world examples to help our community realize that this virus is very serious and can spread easily. I heard a heartbreaking story this week. We cared for a 30-year-old patient at Methodist Hospital who told their nurse that they had attended a COVID party. This is a party held by somebody diagnosed with the COVID virus and the thought is that people get together and see if the virus is real and if anyone gets infected. Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and they said, 'I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax but its not.' This is just one example of a potentially avoidable death of a young member of our community and I cant imagine the loss of the family. Methodist Hospital today, we have several 20-year-olds and several 30-year-olds that are critically ill. Some of these young folks come to the hospital for treatment and can be discharged home, yet others become ill very quickly and require intensive care. We know that people with hypertension and diabetes and obesity seem to be at higher risk for having a severe illness with the COVID virus. We care deeply about the citizens of San Antonio, Texas and we are here to help you. At the same time, we hope that you dont need our help. Please wear a mask, stay at home when you can, avoid groups of people, and sanitize your hands. Thank you." MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE: San Francisco, July 14 : Microsoft has secretly updated the Outlook for Android app to add Bing search integration to the long-press menu. Some users who have Microsoft Outlook installed on their Android devices have noticed seeing a new option to perform a Bing search when selecting text, reports Android Police. After opening the Outlook app to check an email and if a user long presses on a word in the email text, a pop-up menu will appear with three options: Web Search, Translate and Bing Search. The third option Bing Search appears even if the user does not have Bing installed on the smartphone. However, the feature appears not to be working for all. In some cases, users were able to get rid of it by simply reinstalling the app from the Play Store. "I noticed over the last few days that long press on text in Android now also includes a "Bing Search" option. I don't have the Bing app installed. Only Microsoft app I have on my phone is Outlook. Anyone know what is going on?" wrote a user on the help page. This is not the first time Microsoft is pursuing a clever strategy to promote a product. The tech giant had previously used the Share menu and 'Open with' menu in Android to promote its apps. New York Times opinion editor writer Bari Weiss has announced she has quit in a scathing resignation letter that slams the newspaper for fostering an 'illiberal environment' and allowing her to be bullied by coworkers for 'wrongthink'. Weiss, who joined the Times in 2017, said the paper of record was among the media institutions now betraying their standards and losing sight of their principles as she accused them of only publishing stories that 'satisfy the narrowest of audiences'. In her lengthy resignation letter addressed to publisher A.G. Sulzberger and posted on her website on Tuesday, Weiss claimed that intellectual curiosity and risk-taking was now a 'liability' at the Times. The controversial editor and writer said the opinions of those on Twitter had become the newspaper's 'ultimate editor'. Weiss, who once dated SNL's Kate McKinnon while studying at Columbia University, also accused the outlet of creating a 'hostile work environment' for employees that essentially had anything other than left-of-center views. She says this mentality resulted in her being constantly bullied by coworkers who have called her a 'Nazi and a racist' because of her 'own forays into wrongthink'. New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss has announced she has quit in a scathing resignation letter that slams the newspaper for fostering an 'illiberal environment' and censoring centrist opinions 'Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery,' Weiss wrote. Weiss, who has previously said she doesn't support President Trump, started her letter saying she optimistically joined the newspaper three years ago in what she described as the outlet's efforts to bring in voices that wouldn't normally appear. 'The reason for this effort was clear: The paper's failure to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 election meant that it didn't have a firm grasp of the country it covers,' she wrote. 'The priority in Opinion was to help redress that critical shortcoming. 'But the lessons that ought to have followed the election - lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society - have not been learned. 'Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isn't a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else. 'Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions.' Weiss went on to claim that intellectual curiosity and risk-taking was now a 'liability' at the Times. In her lengthy resignation later addressed to publisher A.G. Sulzberger and posted on her website on Tuesday, Weiss claimed that intellectual curiosity and risk-taking was now a 'liability' at the Times Weiss, who joined the Times in 2017, said the paper of record was among the media institutions now betraying their standards and losing sight of their principles as she accused them of only publishing stories that 'satisfy the narrowest of audiences' 'Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher, when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world? And so self-censorship has become the norm,' she wrote. 'What rules that remain at The Times are applied with extreme selectivity. 'Op-eds that would have easily been published just two years ago would now get an editor or a writer in serious trouble, if not fired.' Weiss has repeatedly drawn criticism during her time at the newspaper. Most recently, she tweeted that there was a 'civil war' brewing inside the Times in relation to the controversy surrounding the publication of the Tom Cotton op-ed. The Times ran a column calling the Senator's op-ed 'fascist' after he called on Trump to use the military to crack down on rioting, looting and violence in the wake of George Floyd's death. Initially, publisher A.G. Sulzberger stood behind the column but the outlet later backtracked. James Bennet, the New York Times editorial page editor responsible for publishing Cotton's column, resigned over the ordeal following the outrage from inside and outside the Times' newsroom. At the time, Weiss tweeted: 'The civil war inside The New York Times between the (mostly young) wokes the (mostly 40+) liberals is the same one raging inside other publications and companies across the country. The dynamic is always the same.' In response, staffers called for Weiss to be fired. Weiss repeatedly drew criticism during her time at the newspaper. Most recently, she tweeted that there was a 'civil war' brewing inside the Times in relation to the controversy surrounding the publication of the Tom Cotton op-ed The Times ran a column calling the Senator's op-ed 'fascist' after he called on Trump to use the military to crack down on rioting, looting and violence in the wake of George Floyd's death The article was initially defended by publisher AG Sulzberger (left) who said the paper aimed to share 'views from across the spectrum'. The newspaper's opinion page editor James Bennet (right) also defended the decision to publish. Bennet later resigned over the ordeal BARI WEISS' PAST JOURNALISM JOBS: Bari Weiss joined the New York Times as an opinions editor and writer in 2017. According to her website, Weiss was an op-ed editor at the Wall Street journal between 2013 to 2017 before joining the New York Times. In an interview with Vanity Fair last year, Weiss said she realized she was among the most left-wing people at the WSJ around the time Trump was elected. She claimed she wasn't allowed to write about what she believed was the hypocrisy of Melania Trump's anti-bullying campaign. Weiss said Trump winning prompted her to leave the WSJ. 'I was sobbing, openly, at my desk. I wanted people to see how I felt about this, and what I thought it meant for the country. I realized I had to leave,' she told Vanity Fair. She was also previously a senior editor at Tablet - an online Jewish magazine - from 2011 to 2013 where she covered news and politics. Weiss graduated from Columbia University. Advertisement In her resignation letter, Weiss noted that it took the Times 'two days and two jobs' to say the Tom Cotton op-ed 'fell short of our standards'. She was also among those to sign an open letter published in Harper's Bazaar Magazine last week that slammed 'cancel culture' and warned of an 'intolerant climate' for free speech. Weiss was also criticzed for her opinion on the #MeToo movement after cautioning on immediately believing every woman who comes forward. When she weighed in on the Brett Kavanaugh controversy, she was slammed for asking on MSNBC if the accusations stemming from his teen years should be 'disqualifying'. Weiss later admitted that her soundbite about Kavanaugh sounded 'glib' or insincere. Weiss, in her resignation letter, said her opinions had resulted in her being bullied by coworkers. She described the Times as a 'hostile work environment' and criticized management for allowing her coworkers to 'publicly smear' her on Twitter and also on company-wide Slack channels. Weiss said some employees would post an ax emoji next to her name on company Slack channels and others would discuss the need for her to 'rooted out' if the NYT was 'truly inclusive'. 'My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I'm 'writing about the Jews again',' Weiss wrote in her resignation letter. 'Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. 'There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly 'inclusive' one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are.' She went on to describe that behavior as unlawful discrimination, hostile work environment and constructive discharge. 'I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the paper's entire staff and the public. And I certainly can't square how you and other Times leaders have stood by while simultaneously praising me in private for my courage,' she wrote. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005965117 A team of researchers with members from several institutions in the U.S., one in the U.K. and one in Peru, has found evidence of forced migration by pre-colonial Incas. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes their multidisciplinary study of six individuals found in two cemeteries in what is now modern Peru, and what they learned from it. Prior research has suggested that during the Late Horizon, a period of Inca history, the Inca rounded up people living outside of the Inca Empire and forced them to relocate to places inside the empire as a means of bolstering the population and thus the economy. Unfortunately, to date, evidence for such forced migrations has been scant. In this new effort, the researchers conducted a thorough investigation of the remains of six people buried in a cemetery in what was once a part of the Inca empire during the Late Horizonthey suspected that all six were people who had been forcibly moved from their homeland hundreds of miles away. The work involved use of ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis, study of artifacts, written accounts in later years and information from biogeochemical sources to tie the six individuals to societies of people living outside of the Inca empire along what is now the Peruvian coast. Whole genome sequencing of the individuals found in the graves showed they had belonged to a group of people who lived along the Peruvian northern coasttheir gravesites, in contrast, were in cemeteries in the center of the Chincha Valley, near the Peruvian southern coast. Radiocarbon dating showed them to have lived during the period between 1415 and 1805, which aligned with other reports of forced migrations. The researchers also noted that ceramics and textiles in the gravesites matched those that were made and used by people from the same area identified by the genome sequencing. The researchers suggest their multidisciplinary approach to studying the individuals found in the gravesites provides strong evidence of institutionalized forced migration by the Inca during the Late Horizon. They further suggest such individuals were either made to walk or were carried by oceangoing vessels. Explore further Archaeologists discover Incan tomb in Peru More information: Jacob L. Bongers et al. Integration of ancient DNA with transdisciplinary dataset finds strong support for Inca resettlement in the south Peruvian coast, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Jacob L. Bongers et al. Integration of ancient DNA with transdisciplinary dataset finds strong support for Inca resettlement in the south Peruvian coast,(2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005965117 2020 Science X Network BRIDGEPORT An Easton man, accused last week of raping two 8-year-old girls, was arrested again during his arraignment on Monday after police said they found incriminating photos on his tablet computer. Robert McGuire, 40, of Adams Road, was charged Monday with first-degree possession of child pornography and employing a minor in an obscene performance. On Friday, McGuire was charged with two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of illegal sexual contact, and risk of injury to a child. A police report obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media states that following his arrest, McGuire agreed to give police his passwords for two computer tablets and his cell phone, all recovered from his home. The report states, on one of the tablets, police found more than 50 photographs of the crime. During McGuires arraignment hearing, Senior Assistant States Attorney Tiffany Lockshier called McGuire a danger to the community and urged Superior Court Judge Alex Hernandez to set a high bond. There was a large amount of photographic evidence that corroborates the victims allegations, Lockshier said. McGuires lawyer, Edward Gavin, argued that any high bond would be academic but he asked that it be less than $1 million so that his client will remain at the Bridgeport Correctional Center rather than be transferred to a maximum security prison. Judge Hernandez ordered McGuire held in lieu of $750,000 bond and continued the case to Aug. 4. McGuire, who participated in the hearing via video from the basement lockup, showed no emotion. We look forward to receiving the discovery information from the state so we can aggressively defend Mr. McGuire on these serious charges, Gavin said as he left the Fairfield County Courthouse. Easton police said they received a call on July 1 from Yale-New Haven Hospital reporting they had two juveniles who had been admitted to the hospital to be examined for signs of sexual abuse and trauma. Police said the victims were interviewed on July 9 with the assistance of The Family Justice Center in Bridgeport. McGuire was arrested on a warrant the following day. The warrant affidavit has been sealed. Qantas have announced further rewards for frequent flyers as travellers look to domestic and trans-Tasman locations for their next holiday. The Australian airline have made it easier for their 13million members to use their accumulated points in a loyalty program to drive new bookings and sales. For the remainder of 2020, Qantas have increased the number of seats available on flights to popular destinations including Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Queenstown and Auckland by up to 50 per cent. Tiered members rated silver and above will be granted a status credit bonus in the loyalty program to compensate for reduced flights during the coronavirus period and give members more value on their upcoming trips. Silver members and above will be given 50 per cent of their required status credits to keep their tier, with some receiving monthly status credit support. Qantas have made it easier for frequent flyers to use their points in a loyalty program (stock image) Points Plus Pay Qantas Hotels have decreased their booking price by 20 per cent, with all flight cancellation fees waived until 31 October 2020 and more Points Planes to meet pent up travel demand. Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce said the changes will greatly benefit domestic tourism hotspots in Australia and support local jobs after the pandemic. 'Australia is home to world-class destinations and Qantas is making it easier for frequent flyers to visit them,' he said. 'Were adding more Points Planes and more reward seats to our most popular domestic destinations, because thats where people will be holidaying for the rest of the year. 'Were also helping our most loyal flyers maintain their travel benefits by giving them extra Status Credits in recognition of their long-term loyalty.' Mr Joyce also acknowledged Australia was not out of the woods yet after the horror second wave of COVID-19 in Victoria. Travellers are temperature tested by health officials after arriving on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Sydney on July 7 Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth noted 90 per cent of frequent flyers had still expressed an interest to travel. 'Weve been listening to our Frequent Flyers closely over the last few months about how they feel about travel, where they want to go and how they want to use their points,' Ms Wirth said. 'What emerged was that despite whats going on around the world, the notion of the dream trip is well and truly alive, theyre just looking a little closer to home. 'Qantas Frequent Flyers are some of the countrys biggest advocates for travel and this has been reflected in the number of bookings were seeing as travel restrictions ease. 'Thats why were continuing to invest in making our members travel dreams a reality with more choice, better value and greater flexibility.' Earlier this month Qantas announced their Love Australia flight sale with 350,000 fares across 77 routes slashed by up to 47 per cent in the hope of getting people back on planes following months of lockdown. Represented by Mr Delish Nguwaya in Zimbabwe, Drax had entered into an agreement with Government for the supply and delivery of medicines and consumables at a cost of US$20 million. But when it became apparant to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, which by law acts as the procurement backstop by looking at value for money in contracts, that the supplies were priced well above alternatives, the Minsitry of Health and Child Welfare was ordered to cancel the deal. New Delhi, Jul 14 (UNI) A war of words erupted between Congress and the ruling BJP at the Centre over reports of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra seeking more time to vacate her Lutyens bungalow even as she rubbished the claim asserting that the accommodation will be surrendered by August 1. 'This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government." As per the eviction letter handed to me on the 1st of July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by the 1st of August,' she said. After Ms Vadra's tweet, BJP leader and Urban Development minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that a "powerful" Congress leader had recently requested him to allot the Lodhi Estate government accommodation to another Congress MP so that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who has been asked to evict the residence by August 1, can stay on. 'Facts speak for themselves! A powerful Congress leader with much clout in the Party called me on 4 July 2020 at 12:05 pm to request that 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another INC MP so that Priyanka Vadra can stay on. Let's not sensationalize everything please,'Puri saId after Priyanka termed the news report as 'fake news. Mr Vadra responded to the Union minister to assert that she made no such request to the government and reiterated that she would be vacating the bungalow by August 1 as required in the eviction letter. "If someone called you Mr Puri, I thank them for their concern, and thank you for your consideration as well but it still does not change the facts: I have made no such request, and I am making no such request. As I said, I will be vacating the house by the 1st of August as required in the eviction letter," she said. AICC media incharge Randeep Singh Surjewala also sought to counter the claim by Hardeep Puri and said he should not sensationalise his "lies". "Dear Mr Puri, Priyankaji fights for the cause of people and need no favours from your ilk. So stop bragging unwarrantedly. The issue is closed. And so that all know, did you allot 35, Lodhi Estate to a Congress MP or BJP Spokesperson? So pl stop sensationaling ur lies,'Surjewala said. The government had on, July 1, issued an eviction notice to the Congress leader, asking her to vacate the 35, Lodhi Estate bungalow before August 1. UNI AR SB 1439 BRIDGEPORT A young woman, who was sexually assaulted by a Trumbull police officer who supervised her in a program for teenagers, has offered to settle her pending lawsuit for $10 million. The woman was 15 when police said Officer William Ruscoe, a 20-year veteran and supervisor of the Trumbull Police Departments Explorer Scout program, repeatedly sexually assaulted her. In documents filed Tuesday in state Superior Court, the plaintiff, represented by Cindy Robinson, offered to settle her lawsuit against the town of Trumbull for $2.5 million and her suits against Ruscoe, then-Police Chief Thomas Kiely and Officer Timothy Fedor, who was in charge of the Trumbull explorer program, for $2.5 million each. Contributed photo / Contributed photo For years, it has been known that police explorer programs, such as the one in Trumbull, put underage explorers at risk for sexual molestation. Yet, Trumbull had inadequate supervision and allowed rules to be broken enabling Ruscoe, a police officer and program adviser, to have un-monitored contact with our client, who was a minor cadet in the program, Robinson said. Our client was drawn to the police cadet program because she always looked up to and trusted law enforcement. Instead, she was horribly deceived and continues to suffer emotional trauma from the abuse. In January 2015, Ruscoe, who resigned following his arrest, pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault in the case and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be suspended after 30 months. He was recently arrested again and charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a young girl at his former Trumbull home in 2013 and 2014. That case is pending in state Superior Court. Ruscoe, who is representing himself in the civil case, could not be reached for comment. As a matter of policy, we dont comment on pending litigation other than to confirm that our clients deny all of the material allegations of the complaint and will defend this matter accordingly, said Richard J. Buturla, the lawyer for Trumbull, Kiely and Fedor. During Ruscoes sentencing hearing in 2015, the victim told the judge, I was completely betrayed by someone I looked up to as a role model. I still wake up in a pool of sweat after having a nightmare where I yell stop and no the two words I yelled that night at him. The teen told state police that Ruscoe expressed his desire to have a sexual relationship with her after she had taken her physical assessment exam with the scouts in March 2013. She said Ruscoe began texting her that he loved her and described in detail things he wanted to do with her sexually, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. In mid-June 2013, Ruscoe picked the teen up at her home and drove her to a scenic overlook near Marnicks restaurant in Stratford, where he gave her a silver bracelet that read, Made with Love, and then tried to kiss her, the affidavit states. On another occasion, the teen said, Ruscoe showed up drunk at her home and groped her. The affidavit states that in the fall of 2013 after she and Ruscoe had worked as security at the Battle of the Bands event at Trumbull High School, Ruscoe had driven her to his Trumbull home. When she balked at having sex with him, the affidavit states Ruscoe plunked his service weapon down on the kitchen counter in front of her and then ordered her upstairs to his bedroom, grabbing his handcuffs on the way up the stairs. Once in the bedroom he pulled off the teens cadet uniform and, over her many protests, sexually assaulted her, the affidavit states. The affidavit states detectives found at least two dozen photos of the teen in various stages of undress on Ruscoes cellphone, as well as nude photos he had taken of himself. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: The US condemns the violence along the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border and urges the sides to stop using force immediately, Morgan Ortagus, US Department of State Spokesperson said, Trend reports with reference to the US Department of State. "The United States condemns in the strongest terms the violence along the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border. We urge the sides to stop using force immediately, use the existing direct communication links between them to avoid further escalation, and strictly adhere to the ceasefire," Ortagus said. "As a Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, the United States remains strongly committed to helping the sides achieve a lasting, peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We will remain actively engaged in efforts to accomplish that goal. The United States joins the Minsk Group Co-Chairs in calling for the sides to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and in emphasizing the importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances allow," she said. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. 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. file pic Police in Beitbridge have recovered nearly 12kg of mbanje from three men along the Limpopo River who had attempted to smuggle the dangerous drug into South Africa, as cases of smuggling continue to rise along the border. The three suspects escaped into the neighbouring country after being confronted by police officers who were on patrol. Police then recovered the mbanje, which was stashed in two wooden drawers and a cardboard box. National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed and warned smugglers that the police would remain firm on the ground to thwart such activities. About 11 895 kilogrammes of dagga were recovered in Beitbridge after a police patrol team along Limpopo River intercepted three men carrying two wooden drawers and a wrapped cardboard box. The trio fled into SA side after the police informed them that they were under arrest for violating Covid-19 regulations. The parcel was opened and dagga destined for South Africa was found, he said. He said investigations were still in progress and they were working with their counterparts in South Africa to locate the suspects. Asst-Comm Nyathi said last Tuesday, they arrested 60 border jumpers in the Spillway area along Limpopo River, Beitbridge who had illegally crossed into the country. He urged members of the public to abide by the laws of the country and cross using designated entry and exit points. Last Monday evening, Beitbridge police arrested 35 people carrying an assortment of goods worth thousands of dollars, which they had smuggled into the country through an illegal crossing point located less than 1km from the main port of entry. The gang was arrested as the police intensify efforts to reduce intrusive leakages along Zimbabwes border with South Africa. It is reported that the suspects, who have since been charged with smuggling were carrying electrical gadgets including fridges, 275 litres of petrol, groceries and drums among other things. The police officer commanding Beitbridge, Chief Superintendent Tichaona Nyongo said deployments had been made to make sure that criminal activities were dealt with accordingly along the river. Zimbabwean and South African security agencies have since the start of the lockdown in April, been intensifying patrols to minimise the illegal movement of both people and goods. This is done to reduce the rate of the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the two neighbouring countries. The South Africans are intercepting mainly cigarettes, while their Zimbabwean counterparts are arresting people with an assortment groceries and electrical gadgets. Presently, the border is closed to non-essential human traffic and the development has led to an upsurge in smuggling and border jumping cases. A few days ago, security officials in Beitbridge intercepted six people who had smuggled goods worth R1.3 million and attracting an estimated import duty of $4 million. The suspects had declared that they were shipping maize meal and diapers though it turned out they were transporting groceries from South Africa to Harare. The crude divorce rate in Hungary stood at 1.7 per 1,000 persons in 2018, somewhat below the EU average, according to data by statistical agency Eurostat. The crude divorce rate in Hungary is down from 2.4 per 1,000 persons in 2009. The EU average stood at 2 divorces per 1,000 persons (2017 data). Eurostat noted that the divorce rate in the EU has been growing for decades, more than doubling since 1965 (0.8 divorces) The lowest crude rates among member states were registered in Malta (0.7 and Ireland (0.7, 2017 data), Slovenia (1.1), Bulgaria, Croatia, and Italy (all three 1.5). On the other end of the spectrum, the highest crude divorce rates were recorded in Latvia and Lithuania (both 3.1), followed by Denmark (2.6) and Sweden (2.5). EU citizens will be deported for minor offences under Priti Patels post-Brexit immigration crackdown, despite having permission to stay, a leading lawyer has warned. Rules that allow foreign offenders to be expelled only if they represent a threat to the UK will be beefed up to target persistent pickpockets and shoplifters, from January. Crucially, the home secretary announced the change would apply to the 3 million-plus EU citizens in the UK in the process of being awarded settled status, which supposedly guarantees their right to stay. Colin Yeo, an immigration barrister, warned the crackdown was a major change from the current law that requires a proportionality assessment and a current threat from the person facing deportation. The Home Office was already targeting EU citizens and deporting more of them by bending and sometimes breaking EU law, he told The Independent. But Id expect the number of EU citizens to be deported to increase substantially from January 2021 onwards. This will include even EU citizens born in the UK or brought here as small children if they have not acquired British citizenship, for example because their parents cannot prove they were settled at the time of their birth. The3million group, representing EU nationals, said the policy showed Ms Patel had failed to learn from the review into the Windrush scandal, despite having agreed to implement its recommendations. EU citizens will, from January 2021, become part of the existing hostile regime that has seen fathers separated from their children and families, returned to countries they barely know, said co-founder Maike Bohn. Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Show all 20 1 /20 Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Britain votes to leave the European Union - 23 June 2016 A referendum is held on Britain's membership of the European Union. Fifty-two per cent of the country votes in favour of leaving AFP via Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? David Cameron resigns - 24 June 2016 David Cameron resigns on the morning of the result after leading the campaign for Britain to remain in the EU Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Theresa May takes the reins - 13 July 2016 Theresa May becomes leader of the Conservative party and prime minister, winning the leadership contest unopposed after Andrea Leadsom drops out Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? High Court rules parliament must vote on Brexit - November 2016 - 3 November 2016 The High Court rules that parliament must vote on triggering Article 50, which would begin the Brexit process Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Article 50 triggered - 28 March 2017 The prime minister triggers Article 50 after parliament endorses the result of the referendum Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May calls snap election - 18 April 2018 Seeking a mandate for her Brexit plan, May goes to the country Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May loses majority as Labour makes surprise gain - 8 June 2017 After a disastrous campaign, Theresa May loses her majority in the commons and turns to the DUP for support. Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party makes gains after being predicted to lose heavily AFP/Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Negotiations begin - 19 June 2017 David Davis and Michel Barnier, chief negotiators for the UK and EU respectively, hold a press conference on the first day of Brexit negotiations. Soon after the beginning of negotiations, it becomes clear that the issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic will prove a major sticking point AFP/Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? MPs vote that withdrawal deal must be ratified by parliament - 13 December 2017 The government suffers a defeat in parliament over the EU withdrawal agreement, guaranteeing that MPs are given a 'meaningful vote' on the deal Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary - 11 July 2018 Following a summit at Chequers where the prime minister claimed to have gained cabinet support for her deal, Boris Johnson resigns as foreign secretary along with David Davis, the Brexit secretary Reuters Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Draft withdrawal agreement - 15 November 2018 The draft withdrawal agreement settles Britain's divorce bill, secures the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa and includes a political declaration commiting both parties to frictionless trade in goods and cooperation on security matters. The deal also includes the backstop, which is anathema to many brexiteers and Dominic Raab and Esther McVey resign from the cabinet in protest Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? May resigns - 24 May 2019 After several failed attempts to pass her withdrawal agreement through the commons, Theresa May resigns Reuters Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson takes over - 24 July 2019 Boris Johnson is elected leader of the Conservative party in a landslide victory. He later heads to Buckingham Palace where the Queen invites him to form a government Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Parliament prorogued - 28 August 2019 Boris Johnson prorogues parliament for five weeks in the lead up to the UK's agreed departure date of 31 October. Stephen Morgan MP Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Prorogation ruled unlawful - 24 September 2019 The High Court rules that Johnson's prorogation of parliament is 'unlawful' after a legal challenge brought by businesswoman Gina Miller Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson agrees deal with Varadkar - October Following a summit in Merseyside, Johnson agrees a compromise to the backstop with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar - making the withdrawal agreement more palatable to Brexiteers Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Final Say march demands second referendum - 19 October 2019 As parliament passes the Letwin amendment requiring the prime minister to request a further delay to Brexit, protesters take to the streets in the final show of force for a Final Say referendum Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Johnson wins 80 seat majority - 12 December 2019 The Conservatives win the December election in a landslide, granting Boris Johnson a large majority to pass through his brexit deal and pursue his domestic agenda Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? Withdrawal deal passes parliament - 20 December 2019 The withdrawal agreement passes through the commons with a majority of 124 Getty Brexit timeline: How did we get here? EU parliament backs UK withdrawal deal - 29 January 2020 Members of the European parliament overwhelmingly back the ratification of Britain's departure, clearing the way for Brexit two days later on 31 January. Following the vote, members join hands and sing Auld Lang Syne AFP/Getty The home secretary promised that she will implement the recommendations of the Windrush review. There has been no evidence of this. The fresh threat revives criticism of Brandon Lewis, the then-immigration minister, when he warned deportation could go ahead before EU citizens could challenge a ruling that they had no right to stay. This policy was revealed in post-Brexit immigration plans, which will toughen the requirement that those already in the UK who are sentenced to 12 months or more in prison must be considered for deportation. Where the 12-month criminality deportation threshold is not met, a foreign criminal will still be considered for deportation where it is conducive to the public good, including where they have serious or persistent criminality, the Home Office document states. And it adds: For EU citizens who are protected by the withdrawal agreement or the UKs domestic implementation of the withdrawal agreements, the tougher UK criminality thresholds will apply to conduct committed after the end of the transition period. The Home Office said Brexit should mean a robust and consistent approach to applying the UK criminality thresholds rules, treating EU citizens in the same way as arrivals from elsewhere. The truth is, time and again, Indian Republic that guarantees free speech and calls itself a socialist and secular democracy incarcerated Varavara Rao for his political beliefs. The last week saw frantic efforts to somehow reach medical assistance to the Telugu revolutionary poet Varavara Rao who is currently being held in Taloja jail in Maharashtra. Innumerable organisations of poets, academics, and intellectuals have been appealing for immediate medical care for him on humanitarian grounds amidst news of gross neglect. Yesterday, 13 July, he was taken to JJ Hospital in Mumbai. Successive governments have filed at least 25 cases since 1973 against Rao. If he is accused of conspiring to over-throw Andhra Pradesh State in one, in another he is accused of conspiring to kill a constable. None of the cases have a leg to stand on, resulting in acquittals in each instance. Now, widening the horizons of its creativity, the State is accusing him, along with others, of conspiring to kill the Prime Minister of India. The truth is, time and again, Indian Republic that guarantees free speech and calls itself a socialist and secular democracy incarcerated the poet for his political beliefs. The poor, the Dalit, and the Adivasi understand him, for his empathy distils their conditions of existence and shows them the way to reclaim their own humanity in an increasingly brutalised State. The octogenarian poet Rao does not "conspire." Whether to assassinate a VVIP or to overthrow the State. Since the publication of his first poetic work in 1957 till date, his life, his politics and his passions have been an open book. He has publicly espoused revolutionary politics. Led from the front the literary movement of revolutionary poetry, unhesitatingly, with courage, inspiring thousands of young men and women to dream of more just futures for themselves. This was not a secret. Cowards conspire. Not a poet of courage like him, whether one agrees with his politics or not. He is a prolific writer, critic, translator, journalist, academic, and a mesmerising orator. He has lived one of the most public lives. Wherever he lives, it is open-house for anyone in distress. Both the powerful and the persecuted get an equally empathetic ear from him. But his unwavering support is always for those in distress. He has paid nine years of his productive life as price for believing in alternative politics that could serve the marginalised people, by serving prison sentences. Millions read him. Millions came to listen when he spoke. Despite trying very hard, the state has rarely succeeded in criminalising his vision in the eyes of the people. In 1985, Rao was accused of supplying bombs to ensure the success of a strike called by "radical" students. The courts acquitted him. In his poem Reflection, written soon after the incident, he addressed the State and said: I did not supply the explosives Nor ideas for that matter It was you who trod with iron heels Upon the anthill And from the trampled earth Sprouted the ideas of vengeance It was you who struck the beehive With your lathi The sound of the scattering bees Exploded in your shaken facade Blotched red with fear Each prison term empowered the poet and stoked the peoples curiosity about his vision. This time around, his arrest has exposed the true nature of the State. That he, and the others now under arrest, had no links to the Bhima-Koregaon or with the events at the Elgar Parishad. Bhima-Koregaon celebrations, in fact, were criticised by people like Professor Anand Teltumbde, raising a rigorous debate on how to read aspects of Dalit history in India. But Professor Teltumbde, too, was arrested on similar accusations of conspiracy. Sudha Bharadwaj, Shoma Sen, and other lawyers and activists arrested in this case have all challenged the unsustainable economic model adopted by successive governments that was devouring the lives and livelihoods of the poor, not necessarily a particular person in power. They have been engaged in relentless legal battles, as sanctioned under the Constitution of India, to restore respect for constitutional values. In each of their careers, neither over-throw of the state nor conspiracies for assassination have been a part. Those orchestrating their persecution know this. The arrests of "conspirators" is from an a priori list, that has little to do with facts on the ground, some of which were revealed during the public hearings held on Bhima-Koregaon violence. Charging human rights activists with assassination conspiracies is a leap of imagination taken by the security establishment, with the strategic silences and complicity of the courts. If the Indian State has shaken all shackles of Constitutional governance, the human rights activists, despite the intensity of persecution, are still functioning within the ethical boundaries set by the Constitutional values. Voluntarily. The human rights advocacy is now being reduced to making petitions for chairs to sit on in the prison, basic medical care, newspapers and books to read. The very act of incarcerating the rights activists is a blot on the Constitutional governance and the courts should have risen to prevent it. Rao and the others charged falsely, and being held without bail over the last two years in the name of Bhima-Koregaon, Elgar Parishad events or conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister, should be released unconditionally as undermining the processes of law and order and administration of justice to this extreme will erode the foundations of democratic governance. Once such a premise gets judicial sanction, the persecution of innocents will spread exponentially to engulf all dissent. That most of the accused are over 60 years of age and ailing is a humanitarian issue. Justice will be served only when they are acquitted unconditionally because of the unsubstantiated accusations and subversion of justice, and not on humanitarian grounds. The author is a former professor at Osmania University, Hyderabad. Views are personal Whether they do it or they dont is really up to them, Lawther said. And I think what youre seeing now is a lot of folks deciding they dont want to do that and so were seeing a jump in cases. McCumber said he personally would prefer to see more education out of the health department and didnt feel the county had met a type of threshold requiring the county to resort to action in the form of a public health emergency. For Lawther, the question is what would that number of hospitalizations or deaths be before more action is taken to intercede and mandate public caution as residents seem to be less stringent about avoiding the possibility of COVID-19 transmission. And though the numbers indicate mostly younger people, a group less likely to die due to the virus, are the ones testing positive for COVID-19, Lawther said the virus can have lasting effects on even healthy people. One person in their early 30s who tested positive months ago still deals with shortness of breath and general bad health as a result of having COVID-19. G hislaine Maxwell has been denied bail after she pleaded not guilty to assisting Jeffrey Epstein's abuse of underage girls. Ms Maxwell, 58, appeared at a New York federal court via video link from prison on Tuesday. The former British socialite has been held in a Brooklyn jail since her July 2 arrest at her million-dollar New Hampshire estate. She was charged with recruiting at least three girls, one as young as 14, for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997 which she denies. Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell arrested US District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Maxwell's bid for bail after prosecutors portrayed her as an extreme flight risk. Her trial is scheduled for July 12, 2021. An indictment alleged that Maxwell helped groom the victims and was sometimes present for the abuse. She is also accused of lying during a 2016 deposition in a civil case related to the financier's abuse of girls and women. She faces up to 35 years in jail if convicted. Maxwell appeared via livestream for the bail hearing, wearing her hair pulled back and dressed in a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses. Alison Moe, a federal prosecutor, said the prosecution would take "no more than two weeks" to present its case and recommended three weeks for the trial. She said three alleged victims will make statements later on Tuesday. Financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017. / REUTERS Epstein killed himself in prison in Manhattan in August last year while awaiting trial for sex trafficking offences. He had been arrested in New York following allegations that he was running a network of underage girls - some as young as 14 - for sex. In 2008, he was found guilty of procuring an underage girl for prostitution. Maxwell, had kept a low profile since his death. Some of his alleged victims say she brought them into his circle to be sexually abused by him and his friends. In court papers, Maxwells lawyers argued that Epsteins death left the media wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein even though shed had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade". They also stressed that she had "never been charged with a crime or been found liable in any civil litigation, and has always denied any allegations of claimed misconduct. Last week, they said that her detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn put her at "serious risk" of contracting coronavirus. They insisted she was not a flight risk and asked the judge to release her from custody on bail signed by six of her associates and secured by a $3.75m property in the UK. Under the proposed conditions, Ms Maxwell would surrender her passports from the US, UK and France and confine herself to a property in New York with electronic GPS monitoring. But prosecutors said her wealth, multiple passports and and the length of her potential sentence meant there was a risk she could abscond. The defendant has not only the motive to flee, but the means to do so swiftly and effectively, prosecutors wrote in court papers. They cited her access to millions of dollars and the scant information about her finances provided by her lawyers. Maxwells lawyers have said she vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Highlights Lenovo has released a teaser for the Legion Phone ahead of July 22 launch. The teaser shows Snapdragon 865 SoC instead of Snapdragon 865+ on Legion Phone. Lenovo could launch a Pro variant of Legion Phone with Snapdragon 865+ SoC. Lenovo is preparing for the launch of its Legion-branded gaming phone on July 22 by building hype around it. The fresh teasers released by the Chinese company have revealed key specifications of the Legion Phone, including the screen refresh rate. The gaming phone will come with a 144Hz display and run on Android 10-based Legion OS, which is a version of Lenovo's ZUI 12 enhanced for gaming. While these specifications seem fit for a gaming phone, others are not. In the promo teaser shared by Lenovo (via Sparrow News), the specifications sheet of the Legion Phone was outed and it made some surprising revelations. The smartphone will run Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 instead of the Snapdragon 865+, have only 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal storage. For a high-end gaming smartphone, these specifications seem inadequate and unjustifiable. But Lenovo has different plans. The Chinese company will launch two Legion Phone variants, so while the aforementioned specifications will be found on the vanilla one, a more capable and powerful Pro model will house the top-notch hardware, including the 144Hz display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ SoC, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage. A video of the Legion OS in action has been leaked by Sparrow News, as well. It shows an Avengers logo on the wallpaper and thematic elements in the interface, which resembles that of ZUI 12. Since the software is based on Android 10, there is the dark mode on the device. The video also shows there will be 90W fast charging on the smartphone, which will work for the 5000mAh battery under the hood. The Legion Phone will also have 65mm drivers for dual speakers to enhance the gaming experience, as well as let the smartphone double up as a music-centric phone. Lenovo is launching the Legion Phone on July 22 in China a few hours ahead of its rival's event. The Taiwanese company Asus is set to launch the ROG Phone 3 gaming smartphone on July 22 in India. Both Legion Phone (Pro model) and ROG Phone 3 will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ processor for high-end mobile gaming. The price of the two smartphones is also likely to be nearly the same. While Asus is launching the ROG Phone 3 in India, Lenovo is yet to say a word on the global availability of the Legion Phone. Update: The Placerville City Council tabled a proposal to remove the noose image from the city logo Tuesday evening, reportedly because there was not enough time to thoroughly discuss the issue. A Sierra Nevada foothills city with a history of vigilante justice is considering scrubbing a controversial image from its official logo. The City of Placerville logo shows a miner panning for gold during the California gold rush. In the background is a tree with a noose dangling from its only branch. Today, nooses are most commonly associated with lynchings of Black people. But City Manager Cleve Morris told CBS13 the image on the logo refers to Placervilles history of frontier justice. On Tuesday evening, the City Council reportedly will decide whether to remove the noose. City of Placerville The symbolism harkens back to the 19th century when Placerville, formerly Hangtown and Old Dry Diggins, developed a reputation for speedy capital punishment. The town began being called Hangtown following an incident in 1849. Supposedly, a local gambler named Lopez left a local saloon after a successful day at the card tables. Three men intending to relieve him of his winnings jumped him, but he was able to fight them off with the help of townspeople who came to his aid. Soon the thieves were captured. In addition to the attempted robbery, the trio were accused of being wanted for murder. Their trial lasted all of 30 minutes. A mob demanded death by hanging after a unanimous guilty verdict was read. They took law into their own hands at that time and there were people that were hanged for their crimes, Morris said. The stump of the hanging tree now sits in the cellar of The Hangmans Tree tavern on Historic Main Street. Placerville will still keep its nickname, Hangtown or Old Hangtown, for now. The council reportedly will not act on a proposal to change the nickname at Tuesdays meeting. Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE Reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate Reval Center was selected because of its proven expertise, and long history of working with the worlds largest organizations. ION, the largest global provider of trading, analytics, and risk management solutions for capital markets, commodities, and treasury management, today announced that London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has selected ION Treasurys Reval Center for portfolio valuation services and hedge accounting. LSEG is a UK-headquartered global financial markets infrastructure group. Given its position at the heart of the worlds financial community, building and maintaining stable, trusted markets, and providing transparency are critical to its role in the global economy and capital markets. LSEG selected Reval Center to ensure compliance with regulatory reporting requirements and minimize its exposure to unexpected volatility, price changes, and market turbulence by managing the hedging of its debt and derivatives trading portfolio. Reval Center uses market data and innovative financial analytics to deliver fast, accurate, and reliable valuations for derivatives and other financial instruments. Trusted by banks, issuers, treasurers, fund administrators, corporations, and broker-dealers, the service is used to value a broad range of financial instruments and manage the hedge accounting of their derivatives. Ian Kirkpatrick, Treasurer for Group Funding and Risk at LSEG said: Our position at the heart of the global financial markets means we need to ensure regulatory compliance. We went to market for a solution to help us with our IAS 39 hedge accounting entries and IFRS 13 requirements and credit valuation adjustments. Reval Center was selected because of its proven expertise, and long history of working with the worlds largest organizations. Rich Grossi, CEO of ION Treasury said: Were delighted that LSEG has selected Reval Center to outsource the hedge accounting and valuations of its debt and derivatives portfolio. LSEG, like many of our customers, want increased visibility into exposures related to price changes and market volatility. Reval Center was created to help organizations minimize their risk, decrease administrative burden, and reduce costs. Experts have warned over the risks associated with loneliness and social isolation (PA) A helpline for older people has seen an increase in suicidal ideation among those who had to cocoon during the pandemic, a new report has found. Alone, the organisation which supports older people, collaborated with The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (Tilda) to publish a report examining loneliness and isolation among over-70s. The report focuses on the impact of public health measures such as cocooning on the mental and physical health of older people who are struggling with loneliness. During the pandemic, Alone saw a rise in callers reporting negative emotions, including suicidal ideation. Loneliness was found to have a negative effect on mental health and was associated with depressive symptoms in older people. Physical health was also negatively affected as a result of lockdown measures, with calls indicating that older people living with chronic illnesses were limited by strict cocooning measures, and many individuals were apprehensive about attending medical appointments in case they came into contact with a carrier of the virus. The charity said that current measures such as social distancing and cocooning are increasing levels of loneliness and social isolation among many older people, which may have a negative effect on their physical and mental well-being. Alone CEO Sean Moynihan said the arrival of Covid-19 in Ireland emphasised existing issues while further alienating some older people. He said: Loneliness and social isolation are two of the greatest health risks for older people today. Research shows that loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health and are worse for us than well-known risk factors such as obesity and physical inactivity. We have seen a huge increase in loneliness among older people as a result of the isolation experienced while cocooning. Since March, Alones National Support Line has received in excess of 27,012 calls for support while its staff and volunteers have made more than 130,149 calls to older people who needed support, and provided more than 22,725 units of practical support, delivered from the support line, staff and volunteers. Mr Moynihan said the charity set up a loneliness taskforce to ensure provisions are being put in place to safeguard older people. He said: It is important for members of the public to remember that loneliness can happen to anyone and can take a toll on both your physical and mental health. We hope that we can work towards breaking down this stigma and focus on the people behind the percentages. A shepherdess left ITV viewers baffled when her 'house pony' and one of her nine children crashed her live TV interview. After ditching her city life for the country, Amanda Owen, 45, from Huddersfield moved to a 2,000-acre hill farm in the Yorkshire Dales with her husband Clive, who at 66 is 21 years her senior, and their massive brood. They are set to appear on Channel 5 series 'Our Yorkshire Farm' and appeared on ITV's Lorraine to discuss the show's return - however the chat was interrupted by one of the farm's many animals, a live-in pony called Tony. After Clemmy, four, brought Tony along to say hello to host Lorraine Kelly, viewers quickly took to Twitter to insist that the pair were an 'added bonus', but teased that they have 'enough mess' in their home without a live-in pony. Amanda Owen (pictured) , 45, from Huddersfield, left ITV viewers baffled when her 'house pony' Tony and one of her nine children, Clemmy, crashed her live TV interview After daughter Clemmy brought Tony along to say hello to host Lorraine Kelly (left), viewers quickly took to Twitter to comment on the moment As Lorraine began to ask a question, Clemmy burst into the shot saying: 'Hello Lorraine!' 'She was desperate, said Amanda. 'She wanted to say hello with Tony, whose been keeping us all amused. He's a house pony.' An amused Lorraine asked: 'So the pony has the run of the house?' 'We have such trouble, said Amanda, 'During lockdown I'm fortunate because we have a lot of rooms but it appears everything that's supposed to be outside is inside and vice versa.' Viewers insisted that the pair were an 'added bonus' and teased that they have 'enough mess' in their home without a live-in pony The moment left viewers in hysterics, with one writing: 'Just watched Amanda Owen, how amazing is she. So real and says it as it is. Loved the pony in the house.' 'Would love a house pony...Amanda seems to be living the best life', said another. A third agreed: 'Super interview with Amanda Owen this morning. An added bonus seeing Clemmy & her live in pony tony! So looking forward to the return of this incredibly inspirational family.' A fourth teased: 'A house pony? I have enough mess with my family.' As Lorraine began to ask a question, Amanda's daughter Clemmy burst into the shot saying: 'Hello Lorraine!' Explaining the pony, Amanda said: 'We have such trouble. During lockdown I'm fortunate because we have a lot of rooms but it appears everything that's supposed to be outside is inside and vice versa' Ahead of the interruption, the mother spoke about giving birth to her eighth child, Clemmy, who she delivered herself inside her home using her experience with lambing over the years. She explained: 'My eighth was perfect, because it was right here by the fire, it wasn't because I'm some kind of earth mother. It was more out of laziness, I thought if I could do it myself [I will]. It's DIY everything now.' When quizzed on whether she would be expanding her brood even further, Amanda insisted that there are 'no plans' when it comes to having another baby. When quizzed on whether she would be expanding her brood even further, Amanda insisted that there are 'no plans' when it comes to having another baby 'Well there's no plan', she told, 'You must be able to see that. Plans don't even come into it and I think that's why people like watching the show, because life doesn't always go right does it. The family shot the final episodes of their show in March, when lockdown meant they had to film scenes themselves because of social distancing rules. Amanda explained: 'By the time we get to the end of the series we have lockdown, we have no film crew and channel five entrusted me with cameras and sound gear. "It was like right can you make your own episode please, when people tune in to see our self-filmed episode it will be the first time I get to see what some of the children are up to.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 12:12:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- German Health Minister Jens Spahn on Monday urged German vacationers to follow COVID-19 social distancing rules, saying that Germany could prevent a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the autumn given continued public vigilance. He made the remarks at a press conference where he criticized German people who failed to wear masks or keep the recommended safe social distance while on summer vacation abroad. The health minister said he was "very worried" by a video showing German tourists partying on the Spanish island of Mallorca at the weekend. The video showed German tourists drinking, sometimes from the same bottle, hugging, singing and dancing outside bars and terraces on Friday evening, disregarding social distancing rules. Spahn said it was important to remain vigilant, and that he understood the "impatience" of people, "but where there are parties the infection risk is particularly high." "That's why we have to try particularly now in the holiday season to prevent infections. We don't automatically have to expect a second wave in the autumn and winter. Together, as a society, we can prevent that, as we did once before: breaking the wave and keeping the pandemic in check," he noted. Enditem By Express News Service ALAPPUZHA: A 47-year-old Chunakkara native died of COVID-19 at the Government Medical College in Alappuzha. Nazeer, an NRI, had arrived from Saudi Arabia in the first week of July. Health officials said that he died early on Monday morning. After his death, his swab samples were tested and confirmed that he had been infected with COVID-19. Officials said that he was a cancer patient and approached Kottayam Medical College for cancer treatment. He was later referred to Alappuzha MCH. He had also approached the general medicine wing of the Alappuzha MCH. The health department has begun steps to prepare his contact list. With this, the number of COVID-19 deaths has increased to 34 in the state. The death toll in the district has now risen to two. Earlier, a Chengannur native died at the Medical College after being infected. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ghina Ghaliya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 17:09 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663c722 1 Politics RUU-PKS,sexual-violence-bill,NasDem-Party,PDI-P Free A growing womens movement in support of the sexual violence eradication bill (RUU PKS) has encouraged more politicians to publicly and vocally support the legislation, especially following a recent uproar over the House of Representatives move to drop the bill yet again from the National Legislation Program (Prolegnas) priority list. The NasDem Party faction was the first to respond to the sidelining of the bill. NasDem Party politician Taufik Basari announced shortly after the bills removal from the priority list that the party would lead the effort in the House to include it in the 2021 Prolegnas. "I'm gathering support from members of other factions to support the bill, although what we need at the House is the support of the factions [in our coalition]," Taufik said on Wednesday. The bill is being contested because two parties, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP), have objected to some of the provisions. The PKS argued that the bill supported the legalization of adultery and nontraditional sexual orientations, such lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) identities, an accusation denied by supporters of the bill. The PPP opposed criminal sentences for domestic sexual violence, saying the bill should not punish a husband who forced his wife to have sex. So far, no parties beyond NasDem have announced their support for the bill. However, some members of the government coalition who had for years pushed for the House to pass the bill have voiced their support for NasDems initiative. One of these people is Diah Pitaloka of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). "The PDI-P has consistently supported [the bill] from the beginning. No need to lobby us anymore. We give it our full support," Diah told The Jakarta Post on Friday. In the previous legislative term, only two factions supported the bill: the PDI-P and the Gerindra Party. At the time, Gerindra had Rahayu Saraswati Djojohadikusumo, who, with Diah, pushed other factions in Commission VIII to support the bill. In the current term, amid changes to the political map and the membership of the House, support for the bill has increased. The NasDem Party and certain members of the Golkar Party and the Islam-based Nation Awakening Party (PKB) have voiced their support for the bill. The last two factions did not support the bill in the previous term. Golkars Nurul Arifin and new lawmaker Christina Ariyani, Taufik said, were two female members of the Golkar faction who had communicated with him. "I hope they will ask the factions to support the bill. NasDem can't be the only one, he said. Christina, however, told the Post that she was still unsure whether Golkar would officially support the bill, despite its female members support for the bill. "I don't know about the faction itself, but many of the female members are supporting it," she said. PKBs Marwan Dasopang said his faction was not against the bill, saying the exclusion of the bill from the 2020 priority list was a result of difficulties in arranging the bill's deliberation. The deputy chairman of House Commission VIII overseeing social affairs, who previously handled the bill's deliberation, said the lawmakers were just as divided over the bill as they were in the previous term. However, the PKB supports the deliberation of the bill on next year's priority list. The PKB wants the bill to be added in the 2021 Prolegnas. It's just that the commission doesn't have much time to resolve it this year, he said. Many supporters of the bill, which has been under consideration since 2016, have criticized its continued postponement. According to a public debate analysis by big data consulting firm Drone Emprit released on July 3, more women had expressed their disappointment about the postponement on Twitter than usual. Normally, men tended to be more vocal. "The SNA [Social Network Analysis] of the RUU PKS discussion shows that the social media sphere [in this instance] isnt just filled with the people who usually influence trending topics. Many who are not usually vocal have appeared to voice their concerns," the study found. Before responding to the bills removal, social media users were debating the fraught Pancasila Ideology Guidelines (HIP) bill, which was criticized for controversial articles and what some members of the public called insignificant objectives. "The debate over the RUU PKS defeats the trend of the HIP bill, which had a relatively large opposition. This indicated that the publics attention on the RUU PKS is also very high," the firm wrote. NasDems Taufik said his faction would be the facilitator of the womens movement at the House, noting it aligned with the partys relatively large representation of women in the 2019 general elections. The partys external and internal policies have sided with the womens movement. We have the largest number of female representatives in the House. We also did the same thing to the party structure from the central to the subdistrict level. In the 2019 elections, our female legislative candidates reached 50 percent [of the partys total candidates] in some areas, such as in Pringsewu regency, Lampung, he said. Taufik added that the bill would not pose a significant political risk to the party provided lawmakers and activists could explain its policies effectively to those who opposed it. Feminist activist Olin Monteiro reminded lawmakers and other groups not to forget the initial draft proposed by activists in 2014, which was supported by female lawmakers during the Houses previous term, including Diah and Nurul. "Whoever the initiator of the bill is, I hope there will be no new draft and that the lawmakers will always communicate with us. We could, of course, change and fix the language of the draft bill, but we dont want to have a new one," she said. Achmad Baidowi of the PPP said the party had yet to decide its stance on the bill, noting it would focus on addressing the bills on this year's list for the time being. "Later. Were still focusing on the 2020 Prolegnas," he said. Water level at Hankou hydrologic station in Central China, a crucial point of the Yangtze River, dropped Monday, as the flood peak passed through the section, according to the Bureau of Hydrology of the Changjiang Water Resources Commission. Statistics provided by the bureau showed that the Hankou station in Hubei province registered a water level of 28.74 meters at 5:00 pm Monday, lower than the peak of 28.77 measured at 11:00 pm Sunday. The peak level this time ranked fourth in history since 1865, after the levels in 1954, 1998, and 1999, according to the bureau. A previous forecast showed the level would peak at around 29 meters on Tuesday, with the change taking place mainly due to storage adjustments by reservoirs in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, according to Feng Baofei, an engineer with the bureau. The agreement was signed as the family settled the estate of the presidents father, Fred Trump. Lawyers for Mary Trump had argued it was meant to keep details of the settlement private and does not bar Mary Trump from telling her famous familys story outside of that. They had said, too, that the books content was vital to the countrys democratic process, saying in court filings that the speech at issue concerns vital political discourse directly relating to an ongoing national election. (Newser) After days of conflicting statements from government ministers, the British government plans to announce Tuesday that masks will be mandatory in shops in England as of July 24. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday that masks "should be worn" in shops, but cabinet minister Michael Gove said Sunday that face coverings shouldn't be mandatory, leading to calls from the opposition for "urgent clarity" on the issue, the BBC reports. Under the new regulations, people who refuse to wear masks in stores could be fined up to $125, reports the Guardian. The government says it wants retail staff to encourage mask-wearing, although enforcement will be up to police. story continues below Wearing masks in shops is already mandatory in Scotland and in many of Britain's former European Union partners, including Germany, Spain and Italy. A recent YouGov poll found that only 36% of Britons wear masks in public, compared to 86% in Spain and 73% in the US.. Like President Trump, Johnsonwho ended up in intensive care with a COVID-19 infection in Aprilonly recently wore a mask in public for the first time. "The scientific evidence of face coverings, and the importance of stopping aerosol droplets; thats been growing," he said Monday. "So I do think that in shops it is very important to wear a face covering." (Read more coronavirus stories.) Profit-booking in light of weak global cues, rising coronavirus infections, imposition of new areas under lockdowns and flaring US-China tensions dragged Indian equities lower on July 14. The Sensex closed 661 points, or 1.80 percent, lower at 36,033.06 and Nifty settled 195 points, or 1.81 percent, down at 10,607.35. "June quarter earnings season started last week and is expected to be a complete washout. Management commentary would be keenly watched out for, which could keep the market volatile in the near-term," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. He advises traders to stay cautious and investors to be more defensive in their portfolio approach. "Market valuations have become expensive at this level. The Nifty is now trading at forward P/E of 20 times, a 14 percent premium to its long period average (LPA). Technically, the Nifty has broken its rising support trend line and could continue to decline towards 10,500-10,450 levels." We have collated 15 data points to help you spot profitable trades in the next session: Note: The open interest (OI) and volume data of stocks given in this story are the aggregates of three- months data and not of the current month only. According to pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 10,528.24, followed by 10,449.17. If the index moves up, key resistance levels to watch out for are 10,721.04 and 10,834.77. The Bank Nifty plunged 3.16 percent to close at 21,392.20 on July 14. The important pivot level, which will act as crucial support, is placed at 21,106.5, followed by 20,820.8. On the upside, key resistance levels are placed at 21,793.8 and 22,195.4. Maximum call OI of 24.58 lakh contracts was seen at 11,000 strike, which will act as crucial resistance in the July series. This is followed by 10,800, which holds 11.49 lakh contracts, and 10,700 strikes, which has accumulated 10.02 lakh contracts. Significant call writing was seen at 10,600, which added nearly 3 lakh contracts, followed by 10,700 strikes, which added 2.76 lakh contracts. Call unwinding was witnessed at 10,900, which shed 27,450 contracts, followed by 10,200 strikes, which shed 12,450 contracts. Maximum put OI of 18.47 lakh contracts was seen at 10,500 strike, which will act as crucial support in the July series. This is followed by 10,200, which holds 12.67 lakh contracts, and 10,400 strikes, which has accumulated 11.74 lakh contracts. Minor put writing was seen at 10,900, which added 17,250 contracts. Put unwinding was witnessed at 10,600 strikes, which shed 3.28 lakh contracts, followed by 10,400 strikes, which shed 2.84 lakh contracts and 10,800 strikes, which shed 2.25 lakh contracts. A high delivery percentage suggests that investors are showing interest in these stocks. Based on the OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which long unwinding was seen. An increase in OI, along with a decrease in price, mostly indicates a build-up of short positions. Based on the OI future percentage, here are the top 10 stocks in which short build-up was seen. A decrease in OI, along with an increase in price, mostly indicates a short-covering. (For more bulk deals, click here Infosys, Bandhan Bank, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Federal Bank, GTPL Hathway, Kavveri Telecom Products, Bartronics India, Mcnally Bharat Engineering Company, Mercator, Minda Corporation, Rolta India, Uttam Galva Steels, etc. Reliance Industries ( RIL) to hold its 43rd annual general meeting (AGM) on July 15. Yes Bank: Its Rs 15,000 crore follow-on public offering will open for three days from July 15. Bharti Airtel inks strategic alliance with Verizon to bring secure, world-class video conferencing solutions to businesses in India. Wipro Q1: IT services revenue at Rs 14,595.6 crore versus Rs 15,296 crore, EBIT margin at 19.1 percent versus 17.6 percent QoQ. Wipro has signed an agreement to acquire Brazil-based IVIA Servicos de Informatica. Khadim India: Q4 loss at Rs 19.87 crore versus profit at Rs 1.2 crore, revenue at Rs 158.2 crore versus Rs 206.6 crore YoY. Affle India: Company has appointed Martje Abeldt as Chief Revenue Officer of Affle RevX Platform. AksharChem India: UBS Principal Capital Asia sold 58,868 shares at Rs 229.73 per share. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,565.62 crore and Rs 649.7 crore, respectively, in the Indian equity market on July 14, provisional data available on the NSE showed. Nine stocks - Steel Authority of India ( SAIL ), Century Textiles & Industries Canara Bank and Mindtree - are under the F&O ban for July 15. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 14:07:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LANZHOU, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Gansu Province saw remarkable growth in the export of highland vegetables in the first half of this year, local customs said. According to Lanzhou Customs, the total export volume increased by 320 percent year on year to over 4.1 million U.S. dollars in the period. Gansu mainly exported highland vegetables, including pepper, tomato and onion, to Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Bangladesh in the first six months. The province had a vegetable cultivation area of 607,000 hectares in 2019, of which highland vegetables accounted for over 70 percent. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops 74 times, Trend reports referring to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. The Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, sniper rifles, mortars and other artillery mounts. 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. Falls Festival has been cancelled in Tasmania because of coronavirus but organisers are hopeful it can still be held in other states. It was announced on Tuesday the summer festival, held at Marion Bay for 17 years running, had been called off. 'During these unprecedented times, and like most industries, we must adjust our business operations to allow us the best opportunity for long-term viability,' organisers Sunset Sounds said in a statement. 'To be clear this is not a goodbye, more a 'See you soon' to Tasmania.' Falls Festival (pictured) has been running at the property in Marchweil, near Hobart, since 2003 in the lead up to New Year's Eve 'After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to not operate Falls Festival Marion Bay this year,' organisers Secret Sounds said in a statement Sunset Sounds said it was planning to hold Falls Festival this summer in NSW, Victoria and Western Australia and was hopeful of returning to Marion Bay in the near future. Tasmania has been coronavirus-free for 59 days. Heartbroken festival-goers vented their frustration on the event Facebook page. Heartbroken festival-goers vented their frustration on the event Facebook page. Pictured: Falls Festival in Marion Bay 'You've crossed the line now Covid, you dog,' one fan wrote. 'They really be picking the second-wave-state Victoria over covid-free Tassie?' another asked. 'You just broke my heart,' wrote someone else. The organisers stressed that the event would not be cancelled forever. 'To be clear this is not a goodbye, more a 'see you soon' to Tasmania ... [We] remain hopeful that we will be in a position to come back to Marion Bay in the future.' Managing Director Brian Abernathy said he will resign to spend more time with his family and allow "different voices" to lead as the city tackles police reforms. Read more Philadelphia Managing Director Brian Abernathy announced Tuesday that he and Mayor Jim Kenney decided he should step down less than two years into his tenure as the citys top nonelected official to allow for more diverse leadership as the city responds to demands that it reform policing and address racial inequities. The surprise resignation marks the administrations highest-profile response to the protests of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and follows criticism of how the Police Department, which falls under Abernathys broad portfolio, handled the demonstrations. Its important to broaden the table, broaden the decision-making, and frankly I hope the next managing director is an African-American, and maybe even an African-American woman, Abernathy, who is white, said at a virtual news conference. We have deep racial divides here. I am painfully aware of that. ... Ive been born with privileges that frankly are unfair. The planned departure, scheduled for Sept. 4, is an abrupt about-face for the administration. The mayor two weeks ago denied rumors Abernathys job was in jeopardy, and Abernathy said at the time that he had no plans to leave. Kenney on Tuesday dodged questions about what had changed, and Abernathy said one factor was that he wanted to spend more time with his family. Protesters of police brutality have focused on Abernathy, who has been one of the more visible members of the administration since taking a leading role in the citys public response to the coronavirus pandemic. Three weeks ago, demonstrators shut down the lobby of the Municipal Services Building, where he works, and called for his resignation. Kenney elevated Abernathy to managing director in January 2019. In that role, a position unique to Philadelphia among large U.S. cities, Abernathy essentially serves as the citys chief operating officer, overseeing the heads of city agencies and reporting to the mayor. Although significant decisions about policy and management are ultimately made by Kenney, the mayors hands-off management style has given Abernathy wide latitude to shape city government during his tenure, including in law enforcement. He has frequently appeared alongside Kenney and Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw while addressing police-related issues including gun violence and the response to the protests. He was also heavily involved last year in the secretive four-month search that led to the hiring of Outlaw, saying the former Portland, Ore., police chief was chosen out of a field of 31 candidates, including 18 from within the Philadelphia department. READ MORE: Philly Managing Director Brian Abernathy to resign following criticism of city response to protests Ive worked closely with many public servants throughout my career, and few match Brians level of integrity and commitment, Kenney said in a statement. I particularly thank him for his tireless dedication while managing multiple unprecedented crises in the past four months. The mayor praised Abernathys leadership on reducing the prison population, shepherding the Rebuild program for improvements to parks and rec centers, and guiding the city through the coronavirus pandemic. Hes done an outstanding job, Kenney said. In internal debates, Abernathy was one of the more moderate voices on Kenneys team, often siding with the Police Department at moments when more liberal members of the administration wanted to push a more aggressive reform agenda. Soon after Kenney took office, for instance, Abernathy, who at the time held the No. 2 job in the Managing Directors Office, argued that the mayor should abandon his campaign promise to end stop-and-frisk policing, siding with then-Police Commissioner Richard Ross. Kenney has not ended the practice, which critics say makes it easier for officers to illegally stop and search Black and Latino residents. That dynamic made Abernathy an odd fit at a moment when the city was focusing on challenging the ways the Police Department does business. Kenney nonetheless had denied rumors that he was considering looking for a new managing director for weeks after the protests put the citys handling of police and racial equity issues in the spotlight. He said two weeks ago that whisper campaigns in City Hall are often started by people with grudges. A lot of commentary that is told behind the scenes or not for attribution or unnamed you have to look at where its coming from and what the motivation of that person might be, Kenney said then. Im happy with our management team. Asked if he was leaving his current post in the near future, Abernathy said at the time, No, not immediately. Black and Blue: Explore 190 years of police brutality in Philadelphia Abernathy said then that, despite rumors of discord between him and the mayor following the criticism of the citys handling of the protests, his relationship with the mayor hadnt changed. Oh, its fine. I would say, hows anyones relationship with the mayor? Abernathy said. Ive known Jim a long time. I know his moods. I know his personality pretty well. This has been really hard for all of us, and weve all had pretty sty days at times. Some activists who had been critical of Abernathy applauded his departure as a necessary first step in the process of addressing police misconduct, while others cast it as more of a symbolic gesture. The Rev. Nicolas ORourke, organizing director for the progressive Pennsylvania Working Families Party, said he believed the departure signaled the administration may, in fact, be beginning to have a genuine interest in real action to deal with police violence going forward. ORourke said he was disappointed that Kenney and Abernathy did not take bolder action during last months budget negotiations with City Council in response calls to defund the police and redistribute funds to communities of color that need more job opportunities, better schools, and neighborhood based antiviolence programs. Its very clear that if were talking about community and public safety that the safest communities actually do not have the most police, he said. They have the most resources. Kenney, who has said he is opposed to reducing the size of the police force, and Council adopted a spending plan that largely kept the departments more than $700 million budget intact while moving some non-officer positions like crossing guards to Abernathys office a move that led to the protest at the Municipal Services Building. Robert Saleem Holbrook, director of community organizing for the Abolitionist Law Center and a member of the Black Philly Radical Collective, cast Abernathy as a sacrificial lamb whose resignation was meant to appease activists demands without enacting real change. It is not surprising the mayor had Abernathy throw himself to the wolves in an attempt to silence the outrage and frustration over the mayors indecisiveness around police accountability, Holbrook said. Kenney said Tuesday his administration will conduct a broad search for Abernathys replacement. One favorite among insiders is First Deputy Managing Director Tumar Alexander, whose position Abernathy held before replacing the retiring Mike DiBerardinis. Holbrook warned that whoever replaces Abernathy shouldnt expect an easy ride. Advocates for police reform, defunding the police, and police abolition will not be appeased by this sacrifice to the people until the demands of the people are delivered upon, he said. If anything, his successor should expect to see more pressure. by Vladimir Rozanskij Tomorrow Russia will remember the "martyrs of the pandemic". Mother Anastasia, aka Nina Artemeva, continued her dual profession, religious and medical, until the end. She entered the monastery as a 70-year-old. Married twice, she had two children. For her, medicine makes the Gospel current: "love your neighbor, even if he is dirty, injured or bloodied". Moscow (AsiaNews) - Tomorrow, July 15, Russia will observe a day in memory of the doctors and healthcare personnel who lost their lives due to the coronavirus, sacrificing themselves for the good of all. In St. Petersburg, the list of 56 "martyrs of the pandemic" begins with a well-known and loved character, the professor of surgery Nina Artemeva, consecrated with the monastic name of mother Anastasia, who passed away on June 8 for Covid-19. Faithful to the very end to her dual vocation, Nina-Anastasia died while taking care of the nuns and sick people in the monastery of Saint John in Karpovka. Although well known, the news about mother Anastasia is not found on Wikipedia, or on other websites. The woman never gave interviews, as she did not consider her life extraordinary, even when she continued to perform delicate surgical operations as an Orthodox nun. As in many other Russian monasteries, the Easter liturgy in Karpovka was celebrated in the full presence of religious and lay people, with the result of a general coronavirus infection, which the 84-year-old mother tried to remedy in some way, before being her herself hospitalized in intensive care, where she gave up on the day of Pentecost. Born in 1936 in Uljanovsk, the city of Lenin, Nina had dreamed of becoming a doctor since childhood. Transferred to Leningrad, she finished her medical studies, marrying Nikolaj, a fellow student. While finishing her surgery specialization, she gave birth to a son, also Nikolaj (see photo 2, Nina with her son). Her husband could not tolerate Nina's desire to continue her scientific career, and they soon divorced; in a second marriage she married Mark Lanskij, a colleague in hospital surgery, with whom he had her second son Ilja. In 1984 Nina defended her doctorate in intestinal surgery, and became famous for the operations of rare difficulty that no one had the courage to perform, with a method of her own. She was particularly loved for the constant care of every patient, which she did not want to delegate to anyone. In 1990 her second husband died, and in the same year a chapel was opened in the hospital on her initiative. During the Soviet years, nobody knew her as a religious person. Her husband's death prompted her to get closer and closer to the Church, and at almost 70 years old Nina decided to leave medicine and enter the monastery, taking the name of Anastasia. Sister Tatjana recalls that "it seemed that she had decided to go to war, to save the world". A priest who accompanied her in her conversion, Father Andrej (also a doctor) explains that "one enters the monastery to die worthily, giving ones life to God; it no longer matters how many years one still lives, because one is already together with the most totally loved one, with Christ. " Mother Anastasia also explained that "medicine is a practical possibility of realizing what is written in the Gospel, of loving one's neighbor, even if he is dirty, wounded or bloodied". Of course, her patients and the many who knew and admired her began to come to visit her in the monastery, creating a true "soul healing" movement. Eventually the superior of the monastery allowed her to continue to perform surgery, and they equipped an operating room in the monastery of Saint John, under the silent and watchful gaze of the icons. On Saturdays mother Anastasia dedicated herself to patients, even for simple consultations, without an appointment and without compensation. The civic memory, in this case, is accompanied by a religious memory, which recognizes the first and best holiness of human heroism itself: the story of Mother Anastasia is not over, because she will still be able to do great good. RICHMOND, Va., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) today announced it would issue its earnings release containing second quarter results after the market closes on July 29, 2020. A conference call will be held on July 30, 2020 at 9:00 a.m. (ET) to discuss the quarter's results. At this time, the company will report on business results and provide an update on the pending transaction with China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. Genworth's earnings release and second quarter financial supplement will be available through the company's website, http://investor.genworth.com, at the time of their release to the public. Genworth's conference call will be accessible via telephone and the Internet. The dial-in number for Genworth's July 30th conference call is 888 208.1820 or 323 794.2110 (outside the U.S.); conference ID # 6602361. To participate in the call by webcast, register at http://investor.genworth.com at least 15 minutes prior to the webcast to download and install any necessary software. A replay of the call will be available at 888 203.1112 or 719 457.0820 (outside the U.S.); conference ID # 6602361 through August 14, 2020. The webcast will also be archived on the company's website for one year. About Genworth Financial Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) is a Fortune 500 insurance holding company committed to helping families achieve the dream of homeownership and address the financial challenges of aging through its leadership positions in mortgage insurance and long term care insurance. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Genworth traces its roots back to 1871 and became a public company in 2004. For more information, visit genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth releases important information via postings on its corporate website. Accordingly, investors and other interested parties are encouraged to enroll to receive automatic email alerts and Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds regarding new postings. Enrollment information is found under the "Investors" section of genworth.com. From time to time, Genworth's publicly traded subsidiary, Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited, separately releases financial and other information about their operations. This information can be found at http://www.genworth.com.au. SOURCE Genworth Financial, Inc. Related Links http://www.genworth.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 00:45:28|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, on March 5, 2020. (Kremlin photo) Erdogan said access to this unique monument of world civilization will be guaranteed for everyone, including foreign citizens, and Christian shrines will be preserved. MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed in a phone conversation on Monday developments in Syria and Libya, as well as the fate of Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia, the Kremlin said. Putin and Erdogan emphasized the importance of stepping up efforts to promote a Syrian settlement, including in the Astana format based on agreements reached at the Russian-Turkish-Iranian online summit held on July 1, it said in a statement. The parties highly appreciated the interaction between the Russian and Turkish defense ministries, which helped stabilize the situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib and in the country's northeast, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan reiterated the need for an early end to the armed confrontation and a return to the negotiation process in Libya on the basis of the decisions of the Berlin Conference held on Jan. 19, approved by UN Security Council and agreed to intensify joint political and diplomatic efforts in this area, it said. Putin drew the attention of Erdogan to the significant public outcry in Russia over the decision to change the status of the Hagia Sophia, which served as a museum since 1935, to a mosque. Erdogan said access to this unique monument of world civilization will be guaranteed for everyone, including foreign citizens, and Christian shrines will be preserved, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan also exchanged views on certain issues on the bilateral agenda, including the prospects for the resumption of tourism as the COVID-19 situation improves, it said. ALBANY (BCN) A Black Lives Matter sign on a University of California at Berkeley fence in Albany was defaced with paint, police said they were told Monday. Police were told Monday morning that the sign at Marin and San Pablo avenues had been defaced with spray paint. Albany public works crews took down the sign so the paint could be removed from it. UC Berkeley police were notified because the sign was on university property. Once the paint is removed from the sign, the sign will be put back up. "I believe hateful and hurtful acts like this are unacceptable and do not represent the City's values," Albany police Chief John Geissberger said in a statement. "I understand the harm events like this can have on a community, but I also believe we are a strong community that will reassure our neighbors, business owners and visitors that we care about each other by our daily interactions," he 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. With coronavirus cases surging in Florida, Republicans are planning to move the three nights of their national convention from an indoor arena to an outdoor venue in Jacksonville, but its still unclear how many people will be allowed to attend the events, people familiar with the discussions said Tuesday. Officials met Monday night to discuss shifting the events of Aug. 25, 26, and 27 out of the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena, where the indoor program was scheduled to take place, including President Trumps acceptance speech on the final night. The two outdoor options theyve been examining are near the arena, the people familiar with the discussions said. Mr. Trump often shifts positions, and officials emphasized that the plans could change. Officials remain uncertain about whether a capacity crowd would be allowed to attend outdoor events, or if there would be restrictions to prevent people from being too close to one another. The plan to move the activities outdoors was made after a meeting that Mr. Trump held with political advisers on Monday evening. Its a change from what Mr. Trump had envisioned when he forced the Republican National Committee to abandon plans in Charlotte, N.C., because officials there refused to guarantee the type of pre-coronavirus event the president wanted, absent restrictions on social distancing. Details added (first version posted on 18:25) BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13 Trend: Azerbaijani former Minister of Defense Rahim Qaziyev has been detained as a suspect within a criminal case upon Articles 281 (public appeals directed against the state) and 282 (sabotage) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, Trend reports on July 13 referring to the joint statement made by the Azerbaijani State Security Service and the General Prosecutor's Office. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery, said the statement. As a result of the appropriate measures, the Armenian forces were struck back while suffering losses. The statement also conveys condolences to the families of the Azerbaijani servicemen who became martyrs during the suppression of Armenias provocation and the wishes for the speedy recovery is expressed to the wounded are expressed. "During the recent battles on the front line, the hostile circles and anti-national forces discontented with national solidarity and unity between citizens and the state, which our people have always demonstrated, made the unsuccessful attempts to violate the socio-political stability in the country and to damage the systematic activity of the state, its army and other structures, the statement said. To realize their vile intentions, a group of people, taking advantage of Armenias provocation on the state border, began to spread false information in social networks aimed at reducing Azerbaijans defense capability and misleading the public, and also made open calls directed against the state to denigrate the image of an Azerbaijani soldier, as well as the authorities and law enforcement agencies, to create mistrust towards them, the statement said. There were suspicions that when the military operations were conducted on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border on July 12 and July 13, 2020, to suppress Armenias provocation and when the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense was regularly providing official information about the hostilities, Qaziyev purposefully disseminated information about these in social networks, which was clearly contrary to reality, the statement said. Having committed the acts aimed at reducing Azerbaijans defense capability, Qaziyev called on people to commit pogroms, sabotage and seize power by force, the document reads. The statement underlines inadmissibility of disseminating the unspecified, biased information aimed at misleading the public, as well as the information which is a state secret, is detrimental to the country's defense potential, combat capability of the armed forces and the army, and which is contrary to the Azerbaijani national interests in the field of information, as well as in violation of the Azerbaijani laws "On state secret", "On the Mass Media" and other legislative acts. The solidarity of people in protecting Azerbaijans national interests and security is unshakable, the statement said. The attempts made by the anti-Azerbaijani forces and those serving their interests to cause chaos and anarchy, and commit sabotage have been and will be resolutely suppressed. Presently, the investigative actions on the criminal case filed against Qaziyev at the State Security Service are underway. The Bombay high court (HC) has allowed JSW Dharamtar Port Private Limited to construct additional conveyor belts in the mangrove buffer zone on the ecologically-fragile Dharamtar creek in Maharashtras Raigad district. A two-member HC bench, comprising Justices KK Tated and Abhay Ahuja, last Friday allowed the company to construct additional conveyor belts while taking into account that no mangrove plantation is required to be cut for the infrastructure upgrade and the company has taken all necessary permissions and clearances from the authorities concerned for its expansion drive. The bench also said that the HC in the past granted had permissions for other similar projects owing to larger public importance. JSW Group uses a conveyor system to transport raw materials from the riverine port at Dolvi village on Dharamtar creek to its steel manufacturing plant located around two kilometres apart. The company had moved the HC contending that the expansion project would augment the waterway transportation corridor of the Dharmtar creek, and as a result, would lessen the load on road transport infrastructure. It also cited that the project would be of socio-economic importance, as it would create more employment opportunities for Raigad residents. The firm had obtained requisite approvals and clearances from both the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) for expansion of its conveyor system. While granting the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance last December, MCZMA had cited the HC order issued on September 17, 2018. The HC order had stated that no destruction of mangroves would be allowed by the state government or a private company for commercial or any other use unless the HC deems it necessary for the public good or public interest. Any such move requires prior permission from the HC, including making construction within 50 metres of the mangrove buffer zone. The state and central governments had no objection for granting permissions to JSW Dharamtar Port Private Limited for the expansion work. However, they insisted that the steel manufacturer should comply scrupulously with all necessary permissions and clearances before undertaking any new construction work in the ecologically-fragile Dharamtar creek. "We [will] drop all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan," Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari said, the BBC reported. Khartoum, July 13 (IANS) After more than 30 years of Islamist rule, Sudan has outlined wide-reaching reforms including allowing non-Muslims to drink alcohol, and scrapping the apostasy law and public flogging. A raft of new laws were passed last week but this is the first public explanation of their contents. Sudan has also banned female genital mutilation (FGM). Under the new laws, women no longer need permission from a male relative to travel with their children. The reforms come after long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir was ousted last year following massive street protests. The current government is an uneasy mixture of those groups which ousted Bashir and his former allies in the military, who ultimately staged a coup against him. Non-Muslims are now allowed to consume alcohol in private, however the ban on Muslim drinking remains, Abdulbari told state TV. Non-Muslims could still be punished if they are caught drinking with Muslims, the Sudan Tribune reports him as saying. He explained that the government was trying to safeguard the rights of the country's non-Muslims, who make up an estimated 3 per cent of the population. They are now allowed to drink, import and sell alcohol. "We are keen to demolish any kind of discrimination that was enacted by the old regime and to move toward equality of citizenship and a democratic transformation," he said. The laws were initially approved in April but the BBC's Mohamed Osman in Khartoum says they have only now taken effect. Until now, anyone convicted of renouncing Islam, or apostasy, could face the death penalty. The best known case was of Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, a pregnant woman who was sentenced to be hanged after she married a Christian man in 2014. She managed to flee the country but the apostasy law - targeting those deemed to have abandoned Islam - has remained on the statute books until now. The declaration that someone was an apostate was "a threat to the security and safety of society," Abdulbari said. Under Bashir, the morality police would often carry out public flogging for various misdemeanours but Mr Abdulbari said this punishment had now been abolished. The latest changes come after a restrictive public order law that controlled how women acted and dressed in public was repealed in November. The imposition of strict Islamist laws in the 1980s was a key factor in the long-running civil war which eventually led to independence for South Sudan, where the majority of people are Christian or follow traditional religions. --IANS rt/ A day after a court in Kerala's Kottayam issued a non-bailable warrant against Jalandhar's former Catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of sexually assaulting a nun between 2014 and 2016, for failing to appear before it, it was told that he has tested Covid positive on Tuesday. The case at the court was posted on July 1, but Mulakkal, currently in Jalandhar, failed to appear. The explanation given was his lawyer there tested positive, and since Mulakkal had visited the lawyer, he was asked to go for 14 days isolation. It was on Tuesday that Mulakkal turned positive. In March, a court had dismissed the discharge petition filed by Mulakkal in the sexual assault case. The bishop's alleged ploy was to delay the trial and now with the lower court dismissing his petition, it remains to be seen if he will approach a higher court. Mulakkal, arrested on September 21, 2018 on rape charges, got bail on October 16, 2018. The Kerala Police has filed a 1,400-page charge sheet against him. The charge sheet names 83 witnesses, including Cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Mar George Alencherry, three bishops, 11 priests and many nuns. After the case came to light, Mulakkal was removed as head of the Jalandhar diocese. After the judges decision on Tuesday, Dominique Huett, one of several accusers who had filed objections to the settlement deal, expressed relief. Under that agreement, Mr. Weinstein wasnt going to have to be held accountable for his wrongdoing, she said, and she had been especially alarmed by the millions of dollars in legal fees the settlement provided for the convicted sex offender and his former board of directors. The judge identified so many problems, it was not even close, said John Clune, who represents Zoe Brock, another of the women who objected to the proposal. Everyone wants a good result for these survivors. This wasnt it. But now the question of what that result might be, and how to achieve it, is open once again. While Mr. Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes against two women earlier this year, and is serving a 23-year prison sentence, the civil settlement has long been seen as the last, best hope for legal recourse for his numerous other alleged victims. Those women have been operating with difficult constraints: Because the Weinstein Company is in bankruptcy proceedings, they have had to make their claims along with its creditors. The accusers have already watched a potential settlement payout dwindle from a projected $90 million victims fund that had been discussed as part of a possible sale of the film studio in 2018, when the Weinstein Company entered bankruptcy. In response to the ruling, plaintiffs, their lawyers and the office of the New York attorney general said they were considering their options, none of which look easy. Some say they are considering appeals. But the now-rejected settlement took more than two years to negotiate, given the number of parties and the complexity of the bankruptcy proceedings, and many of the women may be reluctant to restart the process. Ms. Fegan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the class-action case, did not respond to requests for comment. Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, said, We will review the decision and determine next steps. 2 | Next crop of COVID-19 vaccine developers take more traditional route: The handful of drugmakers dominating the global coronavirus vaccine race are pushing the boundaries of vaccine technology. The next crop under development feature more conventional, proven designs. The world will need several different vaccines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, given the sheer size of global need, variations in effects on different populations, and possible limits of effectiveness in the first crop. Many leading candidates now in final-stage testing are based on new, largely unproven technology platforms designed to produce vaccines at speed. Russia has completed phase-1 clinical trials on its coronavirus vaccine candidate and may be all set for the second round of human trials. According to a report by Sputnik news, the second phase was to begin at Russia's Sechenov University on July 13. 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. The Russian Health Ministry had sanctioned the trial for the vaccine candidate on June 16. The first group of volunteers would be discharged on July 15 and the second group on July 20. Phase-II trials were supposed to start on July 13, while there is no clarity over phase-III trials. Experts said it is still difficult to comment on the vaccine candidates efficacy without having data from the clinical trials so far. 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 Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic This comes even as around 150 vaccine candidates against SARS-Cov-2, which causes COVID-19, are in various stages of development around the world. 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. 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. Globally, there have been over 1.3 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 5.7 lakh people have died so far. London, July 14 : A total of 20 coronavirus positive cases have been reported so far in the Premier League since testing began in May. On Monday, the Premier League informed that one person returned a positive result in its latest round of COVID-19 tests conducted on players and staff last week. "The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 6 July and Sunday 12 July, 2,071 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, one has tested positive." The league, however, did not reveal the name of the player or the club. "The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided by the league and results will be made public after each round of testing." So far, 13 rounds of testing have taken place since players returned to contact training in May. England's top flight returned to action last month after a three-month hiatus caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Rapper Tory Lanez was arrested after police officers found a gun in his vehicle following a reported fight outside of a Hollywood Hills house party early Sunday. The Ontario, Canada-born artist, 27, was hanging out with fellow music star Megan Thee Stallion at the time of the incident, TMZ reported on Monday, citing police sources. Megan Thee Stallion, 25, was hospitalized after she had an injured foot with a cut on it, and police listed her as a 'victim' in the incident, sources told TMZ, noting that there was broken glass in the SUV. The latest: Rapper Tory Lanez, 27, was arrested after police officers found a gun in his vehicle following a reported fight outside of a Hollywood Hills house party early Sunday. The incident unfolded when authorities were notified of a skirmish, according to the outlet, and responding officers received reported that shots were fired into the air from an SUV that hauled off. Police told TMZ that the SUV containing Lanez matched a description and Megan Thee Stallion was also in the vehicle at the time police pulled him over. Officers recovered four shell casings on the ground outside of the home, police told TMZ. Sources told the outlet that Lanez was booked in connection with a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon. Out and about: Lanez was seen in NYC in December of 2018 Prodigal son: The rapper was seen performing last summer in his native Canada Insiders told the outlet that the sound of the gunshots echoed miles away from the location of the Sunday get-together. Lanez and Megan Thee Stallion were seen attending a Kylie Jenner pool party on Instagram Live Saturday night. Lanez has past found himself in legal trouble in connection with weapons charges, as he was arrested in Miramar, Florida in April of 2017 after authorities recovered a gun and marijuana on him after they pulled him over for registration issues, according to TMZ. The rapper has past had success on the charts with hit singles including Jerry Sprunger, Freaky and Who Needs Love. Thats why its time to shut Google down and dismantle the Orwellian search giant thats destroying the minds of billions of human beings. Read more about evil Google at BigTech.news. Make no mistake: Google is pure evil , and its now run by extremist left-wing lunatic libtards who are all clinically insane and filled with hatred, bigotry and rage against White people (and White men in particular). Heres my interview with Zach Vorhies, who explains even more about the Machine Learning Fairness bias indoctrination system: Another user has posted Pollys video to Brighteon, which we also include below because YouTube is likely to ban this video for all the obvious reasons. YouTube sensation Amazing Polly has posted an especially powerful description of Googles Machine Learning Fairness program, which was revealed by Google whistleblower Zach Vorhies via ProjectVeritas.com (see my interview of Vorhies, below). Googles internal libtard machine learning system is called Machine Learning Fairness, and it builds a search results infrastructure that decries conservatism, logic, statistics, Trump supporters, U.S. history and reality. In place of reality, Google now presents search results that are twisted and shaped to appease left-wing libtards who believe that men can become women, that carbon dioxide kills forests, and that all White people are evil and should be cancelled. ( Natural News ) Google is run by a radical left-wing cult that uses social justice libtards to program machine learning algorithms which are used to alter search engine results. Libtard logic, for example, says that there are no White inventors in U.S. history, so when you search Google images for American inventors, nearly all White people are removed from the results. About the author: Mike Adams (aka the Health Ranger) is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com called Food Forensics), an environmental scientist, a patent holder for a cesium radioactive isotope elimination invention, a multiple award winner for outstanding journalism, a science news publisher and influential commentator on topics ranging from science and medicine to culture and politics. Follow his videos, podcasts, websites and science projects at the links below. Mike Adams serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation. He has also achieved numerous laboratory breakthroughs in the programming of automated liquid handling robots for sample preparation and external standards prep. The U.S. patent office has awarded Mike Adams patent NO. US 9526751 B2 for the invention of Cesium Eliminator, a lifesaving invention that removes up to 95% of radioactive cesium from the human digestive tract. Adams has pledged to donate full patent licensing rights to any state or national government that needs to manufacture the product to save human lives in the aftermath of a nuclear accident, disaster, act of war or act of terrorism. He has also stockpiled 10,000 kg of raw material to manufacture Cesium Eliminator in a Texas warehouse, and plans to donate the finished product to help save lives in Texas when the next nuclear event occurs. No independent scientist in the world has done more research on the removal of radioactive elements from the human digestive tract. Adams is a person of color whose ancestors include Africans and American Indians. He is of Native American heritage, which he credits as inspiring his Health Ranger passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution. Adams is the author of the worlds first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books. In his laboratory research, Adams has made numerous food safety breakthroughs such as revealing rice protein products imported from Asia to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tungsten. Adams was the first food science researcher to document high levels of tungsten in superfoods. He also discovered over 11 ppm lead in imported mangosteen powder, and led an industry-wide voluntary agreement to limit heavy metals in rice protein products. In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories. With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies. Adams is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed strange fibers found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health gurus, dangerous detox products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics. Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness. In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released over fifteen popular songs covering a variety of activism topics. Click here to read a more detailed bio on Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, at HealthRanger.com. Find more science, news, commentary and inventions from the Health Ranger at: Brighteon.com: Brighteon.com/channel/hrreport Diaspora: (uncensored social network) Share.NaturalNews.com GAB: GAB.com/healthranger Podcasts: HealthRangerReport.com Online store: HealthRangerStore.com #1 Bestselling Science Book Food Forensics: FoodForensics.com iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-health-ranger-report/id1063165791 SoundCloud: Soundcloud.com/healthranger Health Rangers science lab CWClabs.com Health Ranger bio HealthRanger.com TruthWiki.org Search engine: Webseed.com Putting up and tearing down statues has been part of American history from its beginning. In July 1776, New York City patriots held a public reading of the Declaration of Independence in front of an equestrian statue of King George III. Then they pulled down the statue, melted it, and used it to make bullets. Soon the British defeated George Washingtons army in New York, however, and occupying British soldiers made an alternative vandalistic statement. They tore the head and arms off a Manhattan statue of the pro-American British politician William Pitt. Both statues had only been erected in 1770. Statues tell people stories about their history, but the fate of a statue can change fast. Just think of the golden calf in Exodus. While Moses was away, the Israelites worshiped the calf as the god who brought them out of Egypt. When Moses got back, he ground the calf to powder, dumped it in water, and made the people drink it. Statues dont have a sterling reputation in Scripture, given the prohibition against them in the Ten Commandments and the trouble over Nebuchadnezzars golden image in the Book of Daniel. What should Christians think about the new effort to take down American history monuments and symbols, such as the Confederate banner that was part of the Mississippi state flag? The topic has personal stakes for me. I was born and raised in South Carolina, the first state to secede from the Union in 1860. In my circle of friends and family, there was a strong streak of neo-Confederate sympathies. I would once have bristled at the notion of taking down Confederate symbols and monuments because I figured they were an indication of respect for Southern history and heritage. When I became a born-again Christian in my late teens, I was no longer so sure. The postCivil War era saw a great movement to erect monuments in the name of national unity and to honor what became known as the Souths Lost Cause: the vanquished but ostensibly laudable aims of the Confederacy. Defeat in war is as likely to generate monument-making as victory is. In addition to the now-controversial Emancipation Memorial (1876) depicting Abraham Lincoln and a freed slave in Washington, DC, Southern cities began putting up statues of Confederate generals and soldiers, such as the 1878 monument erected in Augusta, Georgia, which includes several Confederate generals and is capped by a Confederate soldier who reportedly refused to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in 1865. The monument inscription reads in part, For the Honor of Georgia. For the Rights of the States. For the Liberties of the South No nation rose so white and fair: None fell so pure of crime. Though most such monuments went up before World War I, they kept appearing (mostly though not exclusively in the South) throughout the 20th century, sometimes in not-so-veiled responses to the long civil rights movement. Remarkably, a bust honoring Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest in Selma, Alabama, was not erected until the year 2000. It was stolen in 2012 and replaced in 2015. Forrest was one of the early leaders of the Ku Klux Klan, and he oversaw the 1864 Fort Pillow massacre of African American troops in Tennessee. Removing monuments to figures such as Forrest should be an easy call for Americans, especially for Christians. Forrest was a brilliant tactician, but also a Grand Wizard of the Klan. He committed racial atrocities in the name of a rebellion against the United States. If standing on public land, such monuments should be removed and at most be displayed in a museum, not in a place of honor. Most monuments require tougher judgments than someone like Forrest, though. What about generic monuments to Confederate soldiers, many of whom did not own slaves, even though they fought for a nation committed to slavery? What about slave-owning Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson, Washington, and (perhaps surprisingly to some) Benjamin Franklin? What about presidents such as Woodrow Wilson or even Lincoln, who held racial views common to the white people of their time that appear loathsome to many Americans today? Article continues below This is not just a civic dilemma, either, as many Christian churches and colleges have plaques or statues honoring slaveholders or segregationists who played an important role in the life of their denomination or school. The Southern Baptist Convention is only the most conspicuous Christian institution that has wrestled with its history of race relations, due to the SBCs pro-slavery origins and its status as the nations largest Protestant denomination. My employer, Baylor University, was named for Judge R. E. B. Baylor, a Southern politician, Baptist leader, and slave owner. In the wake of the racial unrest generated by the killing of George Floyd, Baylor appointed a Commission on Historic Campus Representations to study the universitys history of complicity in slavery and racial injustice and to review campus representations, such as a prominent statue of Baylor, erected in 1939. Here are a few guidelines for thinking about removing historical monuments. First, it is better to make decisions via deliberation instead of resorting to vandalism. Although we smile at the memory of American patriots yanking down the statue of King George, vandalism is an extreme and provocative tactic in the moment. A democratic process nearly always takes longer than one would like, but decisions like Mississippis to change its state flag have the imprimatur of a deliberative process, which is more durable. Second, if we remove historical statues, we should do it with as much humility as we can muster. This is where a Christian view on the matter is distinctive and helpful. If you assume that everyone is a sinnerand that we ourselves are the chief of sinnersthen theres less reason to revile people in the past or present for their failings. Of course, that does not prevent us from recognizing peoples transgressions; it just keeps us from setting ourselves above them on a holy perch of judgment. Acknowledging the failings of people in the past should not make us prideful, but it should chasten us about the risks of abusing power or of becoming captive to the values of the time. I routinely remind my American history students that if they had been born into a white slave-owning family in 1776, it is virtually certain that they would have died as slaveholders, too. Why would you or I have been the lone emancipationist among the vast majority of white Southerners who didnt support freedom for slaves? Everyone likes to think that they would have been the one to think outside their cultural box, but most people dont do so. A final guideline is that we should be willing to ask why it is important for us to keep a particular monument standing. Patriotism rightly understood is good and virtuous, but it cannot be a first-order commitment for a Christian. Love of neighbor is a first-order commitment. If a neighbor finds a celebratory monument to be painful or offensive, thats a pretty compelling reason to consider removing it. It doesnt damage my faith if any particular historical symbol is taken down, even if I think that taking it down might be an overreaction. We should also realize that even if we take down every potentially objectionable monument in America, it wont address ethnic disparities in income, education, incarceration, marriage, and childrearing. Symbols are far easier to destroy than ingrained social patterns are. Article continues below If our primary citizenship is in heaven, and our primary allegiance is to the global church, that makes a big difference about how much we revere American history. I love studying and teaching American history, and I have devoted my vocational life to doing so. But make no mistake: American history has nothing like the eternal significance of Gods truth revealed in the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. Think about the perspective of a brother or sister from Nigeria or Guatemala. They can certainly understand us symbolically honoring our historical heroes, as they do for theirs. But Washington and Lincoln play no role in their Christian faith, and they shouldnt in ours either. If we do attach spiritual significance to American historical heroes, then we may have become devotees of American civil religion as much as of Christianity. This is the same impulse that leads some Christian history writers to insist that all the Founding Fathers were Christians, in spite of much evidence to the contrary in the case of founders like Franklin and Jefferson. If the American founding plays a role in our faith, then we might desire for the founders to serve as saints in civil religion. Having historical heroes (flawed as they might be) is good and normal, but we should never treat them as idols. It will be tough for our fractured culture to find symbolic figures in the American past who truly unify most of us. But the monuments erected prior to the 1960s, during the Jim Crow era, didnt reflect any full national consensus or participation either. If we dig a little deeper into American or Christian history, however, we can surely find some good candidates. One of my favorite examples is the recent naming of Grimke Seminary, an evangelical school in Richmond, Virginia, for pastor Francis Grimke. Grimke was a former slave who became a traditionalist Presbyterian pastor and a courageous defender of African Americans rights. Deciding not to give someone a place of symbolic honor is hardly the same thing as erasing history. If all you know about Lincoln comes from viewing a statue of him, you dont know much about Lincoln anyway. Libraries hold thousands of books on Washington, Lincoln, and even figures such as Nathan Bedford Forrest, and that should not change. What were talking about with monuments is publicly celebrating historical figures. Our sensibilities about honor change. All our monuments and markers went up at a certain time for a certain purpose. Sometimes those purposes were good, sometimes not. Even if we dont find a monument objectionable, our love of neighborand especially love of brothers and sisters in Christshould compel us to listen to those who do. Thomas S. Kidd is the Vardaman Distinguished Professor of History at Baylor University and associate director of Baylors Institute for Studies of Religion. CT reviewed his latest book, Who Is an Evangelical?: The History of a Movement in Crisis, last year. Speaking Out is Christianity Todays guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication. LONDON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Elsevier, a global leader in research publishing and information analytics, today announced that it is endorsing the Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics, ten principles that guide best practice in metrics-based research assessment. The Leiden Manifesto is a set of practical and action-oriented recommendations for those engaged in the evaluation of research, whether in the role of evaluator, those being evaluated, or those responsible for designing and delivering research metrics and indicators. Elsevier, working through its recently-launched International Center for the Study of Research (ICSR), will now strive to develop its research evaluation tools and services aligned with the recommendations of the Leiden Manifesto. "The Leiden Manifesto is a distillation of best practice in research assessment. Abiding by these ten principles means that research evaluation can play an important role in the development of research and its interactions with society. I look forward to seeing Elsevier use the principles across its business," said Professor Diana Hicks, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology, lead author on the 2015 Leiden Manifesto, and ICSR Advisory Board member. 2019 CiteScore Metrics were announced on June 23, 2020, the latest assessment of thousands of peer-reviewed research journals, book series, conference proceedings and trade publications covered in Scopus . In addition, an improved calculation methodology was introduced to provide a more robust, fair and faster indicator of research impact. CiteScore Metrics already align with Leiden Manifesto Principles by being clear (Principle 4 methodology is simple and easy to understand); transparent (Principle 5 the data are freely available for verification purposes); and offered as a suite of indicators (Principle 9 the CiteScore Metrics suite, offered alongside two other journal citation metrics). The revision of the calculation methodology embodies Principle 10 (scrutinize indicators regularly and update them) and in the improved approach CiteScore values are now rounded to one decimal place to avoid false precision (Principle 8). ICSR President Dr. Andrew Plume added, "Elsevier has supported a similar set of principles to the Leiden Manifesto for many years. Taking this formal step means that our customers and the broader research community have clarity on how we will deliver improved research evaluation tools and indicators. I'm delighted we now have the opportunity to learn from everyone connected to the Leiden Manifesto, and to bring these principles to an even wider audience." About Elsevier Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps scientists and clinicians to find new answers, reshape human knowledge, and tackle the most urgent human crises. For 140 years, we have partnered with the research world to curate and verify scientific knowledge. Today, we're committed to bringing that rigor to a new generation of platforms. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, 39,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.elsevier.com Media contact David Tucker Elsevier Communications, Europe +44-7920-536-160 [email protected] SOURCE Elsevier At least four people were injured, one of them seriously, when a fire broke out in a chemical plant in Andhra Pradeshs Visakhapatnam leading to a massive explosion of one of its reactors late on Monday, in the third such accident in the district in two months, the police said. The accident happened at the solvents recovery unit of Visakha Solvents Ltd, which recovers waste solvents from pharmaceutical units, located in Ramky Pharma City of Paravada on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam, at around 11pm. Police said four workers were present in the plant at the time of the accident and all of them were injured. One of them, Malleshwar Rao, received severe burn injuries and was shifted to a private hospital at Gajuwaka. Visakhapatnam district collector V Vinay Chand said according to preliminary investigations, there were five reactors in the plant and one of them exploded. Soon after coming to know about the incident, the entire district administration was alerted and efforts were made to control the fire, Chand said. As many as 12 fire tenders were deployed to douse the flames and officials struggled for four hours to bring the flames under control using chemical foam and water. Visakhapatnam police commissioner Rajeev Kumar Meena said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. The police and fire tenders rushed there and brought the flames under control, he said. Chief executive officer of pharma city Lal Krishna told reporters the fire might have broken out in one of the columns during the recovery process. Luckily, the flames were confined only to Visakha Solvents and they did not spread to other units, he said. The fire spread to a few other adjacent tanks storing chemicals resulting in their explosion. People in Visakhapatnam about 15km from the pharma city could also hear the explosions. We could hear the sounds of around 12-15 explosions and the flames were visible till a long distance. Thick smoke that billowed from the premises spread over several kilometres, Rajesh M, a resident of Maddilapalem junction in Visakhapatnam, said. People in the nearby localities in Parawada rushed out of their houses, as electric lines in the nearby areas also got snapped, leading to complete darkness. Workers belonging to adjacent pharmaceutical companies ran for their safety. There are nearly 85 pharmaceutical companies in the pharma city but the fire did not spread to other units. This is the second industrial mishap in the pharma city and third in the district since May. Two workers died and four others were hospitalised after a gas leak in Sainor Life Sciences Pvt Ltd at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parawada on June 30. Twelve people were killed in a gas leak at LG Polymers India Ltd, a South Korean-owned factory making polystyrene products, and hundreds fell sick on May 7 in Visakhapatnam. UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab at a press conference in London, May 2020. Photo by AFP/Daniel Leal-Olivas. The U.K. Foreign Secretary on Monday thanked Vietnam for treating British Covid-19 patients, and congratulated the country on its success in tackling the pandemic. In a phone call to Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Dominic Raab expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the dedication of the Vietnamese authorities and doctors who treated British Covid-19 patients. He also feted Vietnam on its impressive success in handling the Covid-19 pandemic, adding that the UK had placed Vietnamese citizens on the non-quarantine list of people entering the country. Vietnam has treated 20 British Covid-19 patients, including "Patient 91", a Scottish pilot, according to its Health Ministry. "Patient 91", the country's most critically ill Covid-19 patient, was declared fully recovered from the disease on July 6. After spending nearly four months in treatment, 43-year-old Stephen Cameron returned home Sunday. Vietnam has recorded 372 cases as of Monday, with 350 recoveries and not a single death. Deputy PM Minh said the two countries should increase exchanges and maintain cooperation mechanisms, including strategic dialogue at the deputy-ministerial level towards signing the U.K.-Vietnam free trade agreement. Raab said the U.K. considers Vietnam an important partner in Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia and wished to deepen the UK - Vietnam Strategic Partnership in all areas and bilateral cooperation to maintain momentum as the U.K. departs from the E.U. Appreciating Vietnam's efforts as the ASEAN Chair and non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council this year, Raab said the U.K. would continue cooperating closely with Vietnam at multilateral frameworks and international forums. He also affirmed that the U.K. supported the maintenance of peace, security and stability in the South China Sea, known in Vietnam as the East Sea, as well as compliance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Tension in the Libyan battlefield over the countrys oil-rich Sirte province and strategic al-Jufra air base has further escalated after the military command of the internationally recognized government declared three areas near Sirte as a military zone, a further signal that the Turkish-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) forces are preparing for a new military push. The commander of the Sirte-Jufra Protection and Security Operations Room reiterated more than once that the GNA forces were ready to enter Sirte, pending Fayez al-Sarraj's orders as the chief commander of the Libyan army, despite Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's threats that Sirte province and al-Jufra air base are Cairos red lines. The declaration came after intense contacts between Turkey and its Libyan ally the GNA that fights against Egypt-backed Khalifa Hifters Libyan National Army (LNA). On July 3, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and Turkish Chief of General Staff Yasar Guler paid an unscheduled visit to Libya. In addition to their meeting with GNA head Sarraj, the Akar-led Turkish delegation also met with the GNAs deputy defense minister, chief of general staff and commander of the Libyan naval forces. Akar also visited Mitiga air base and two Turkish frigates off the coast of Libya. The defense circles in Ankara view the visit as a way to gauge the GNA forces readiness level ahead of looming Sirte and al-Jufra operations. The response of the GNAs rivals to Akars high-profile visit was swift. Only hours after the Turkish defense minister's visit, the MIM-23 Improved Hawk air defense system deployed by Turkey in the strategically located al-Watiya air base was hit in an air attack. No casualties were reported, but the system that was deployed in three different corners of the base was damaged. The GNA forces seized al-Watiya air base, which is located some 125 kilometers (78 miles) south of Tripoli near the Tunisian border, breaking the LNAs 14-month long blockade around Tripoli and forcing its forces to retreat. The attack on al-Watiya can be seen as a test to gauge the capabilities of the Turkish air defense system in Libya. The system failed the test, which indicates that the area south of Tripoli is not under full aerial control of Turkey, and that the air space dominance over the region is contested. This situation is upsetting for Turkey as it reveals Ankaras vulnerability in the region. The fact that the perpetrators of the attack remain unidentified is another setback for Ankara. According to Turkish sources, there are four different scenarios as to how the attack took place. The attack might have been carried out by Russian MIG-29 or Su-24 jets that departed from al-Jufra air base some 550 kilometers (342 miles) north of the region. Yet this is highly unlikely as Russia would avoid directly confronting Turkey given its ongoing cooperation with Ankara in Syria and in other fields. Another possibility is that Mirage, Rafael or F-16 jet fighters from Egypt or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carried out the attack, taking off from Egypts Sidi Barrani base that is located in the west of Egypt, some 1,350 kilometers (839 miles) from the area. Although this may seem a feasible scenario considering Cairo's increasingly aggressive attitude toward Ankara, it is hard to believe that Egypt would dare to take such an action that could lead to a direct confrontation between the two countries. The attack could also have been carried out by French Mirages taking off from Faya-Largeau air base in Chad, some 1,780 kilometers (1,106 miles) south of the area. Yet this scenario is very unlikely not just because of the distance between Faya-Largeau and al-Watiya, but also because France would want to avoid an open conflict with Ankara over Libya, at least for now. The most likely scenario is that the attack was carried out by Emirati Mirage fighter jets that departed from al-Khadim air base some 880 kilometers (547 miles) from al-Watiya. Although the UAE has not claimed the attack, the Ankara administration and many pundits believe that the attack was carried out by the Mirages. Regardless, the attack on al-Watiya air base stands out as a worrisome development because it shows that the ongoing proxy warfare in Libya can swiftly and uncontrollably turn to conventional military confrontation. There are four possible reasons for Ankaras silence in the wake of the attack. First, Ankara may be avoiding escalating the situation by retaliation. Second, Ankara may be trying to test Moscow's reaction to the attack on al-Watiya. The lack of support from the United States and European countries to a possible Turkish retaliation can be another reason. Or Ankara may simply be trying to keep its focus on the ongoing preparations of the looming Sirte and al-Jufra operation. One thing is clear, Ankaras determination for the Sirte and al-Jufra operation still remains intact. Akar and Gulers seemingly satisfied departure from Libya show that the preparations for the operation have been finalized, which means that Ankara does not have any operational concerns. However, problems on the diplomatic front are likely. The major diplomatic problem is Russias increasing military activity in Libya in response to Turkeys actions. Turkey, in turn, has not secured the support it has been trying to get from the European countries, particularly from Italy and Germany. Indeed, Libya topped the agenda of Italian Foreign Minister Lorenzo Guerinis surprise visit to Ankara July 6. Reportedly, in addition to the diplomatic support, Turkey has also asked for Italys military support in a meeting that lasted almost four hours between the Italian minister and Akar. Setting up a no-fly zone in the Tripoli-al-Jufra-Sirte triangle, supporting the Turkish navys anti-access area denial efforts in the eastern Mediterranean and pressuring the French might have been among the demands expressed by the Turkish side. Apparently, Ankara has finally accepted the fact that its military capabilities in the Libyan battlefield, proxy warfare techniques and its armed TB2 Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicles are not enough for the new military operation and thus has begun to look for new allies. However, too occupied with unilateral military moves, Ankara has been late on the diplomatic front. The legal doctrine known as qualified immunity protects police officers and other government officials from being held liable in civil lawsuits unless they are proven to have violated what the Supreme Court described as clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known. In practice, that means police officers are immune from lawsuits unless their actions had been specifically found to be illegal in a prior case. In the Senate, Mike Braun of Indiana, a Republican, introduced legislation that would effectively reverse the burden of proof by requiring police officers to cite a relevant law or court case showing their conduct was authorized. Those calling for reform say qualified immunity makes suing the police almost impossible. In one case, a plaintiff was bitten by a police dog while sitting on the ground with his hands up. The police won immunity because in the only relevant prior case the plaintiff had been lying down. The House bill would sharply curtail the ability of officers to use the defense. June has been marked in recent years by a flurry of orange-clad marchers promoting National Gun Violence Awareness Month. This years planned gatherings, however, fell victim to the COVID-19 pandemic and were overshadowed by Black Lives Matters nationwide protests against institutional racism within policing. But the gun-control lobbys reticence isnt out of respect for the lives of George Floyd or Breonna Taylor but rather concern for its own preservation. For decades, gun-control advocates promoted greater police power as well as known practices of institutional racism within police firearms-licensing divisions. Now that there are calls to defund the police, many leaders of the gun-control lobby, who are mostly white, should rightly fear that their history of siding with the police and promoting policies now deemed racist by progressives may make them the next casualty of cancel culture. Gun control in the U.S. has historically been rooted in racism of the blatant no blacks allowed variety. Fundamentally, it is difficult to subjugate a group if its armed. This is why restrictions on minority gun ownership pre-date not only the institution of slavery in the U.S. but the Founding itself. The modern gun-control movement has supported a more insidious method of using police discretion and biased background checks to suppress firearms-license issuance. New Yorks Sullivan Act is one of the best examples of gun-control laws that put minorities at a disadvantage, and it has been widely copied. Passed in 1911, the law addressed what was considered a growing problem of gun ownership among minorities, immigrants, labor organizers, and anyone seen as a threat. The law accomplished this by allowing majority-white police departments broad leeway to determine licensing requirements. Police departments can add their own requirements; even if applicants deemed undesirable checked all the required boxes, the laws good moral character clause could be used as a catchall to deny them. Reminiscent of practices any segregationist would appreciate, the NYPD License Division, with its perpetually white leadership and the blessings of the New York City Council, has used exorbitant fees, long English-only applications, expansive ID requirements, the need for applicants to take time off from work, and numerous other unconventional tactics to restrict license issuance. The NAACP and other civil-rights groups have denounced these impediments as unfairly putting blacks and other minorities at a disadvantage. Story continues Organizations that support such discretionary licensing requirements, such as Brady United Against Gun Violence, seem to believe that the same police who allegedly beat, shoot, and asphyxiate people of color in the street would turn around and equitably issue them firearms permits. This makes no sense. And what about background checks, the holy grail of the gun-control agenda? The public seems to have little idea of what goes into them. For example, the NYPD License Divisions background check includes marijuana offenses and not just convictions, but mere arrests. The ACLUs research shows that African Americans are 3.64 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession (in New York the figure is in the double digits). You would think that inclusion of such arrests on background checks would raise social-justice concerns. There is a broad movement dedicated to reforming a racist justice system, yet the gun-control lobby doesnt seem to have gotten the memo. Moreover, and perhaps most egregiously, peaceful protesters who came out to support the Black Lives Matter movement and were arrested for minor infractions stand to lose their gun licenses or their right to ever have one. Still, the gun-control lobby remains silent. Maybe we shouldnt be surprised. After all, groups like Everytown for Gun Safety were founded by Mr. Stop-and-Frisk himself, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Like Bloomberg, most funders behind gun-control initiatives are wealthy whites who can afford to hire private security. But even if gun-control groups believe that minority groups shouldnt be armed, why take the additional step of providing special privileges to the police? Weve all balked at the armored military vehicles that start in Fallujah, get bought up by police departments, and end up in Farmingdale. So why does every gun-control bill since the 1934 Firearms Act contain clauses that exempt police officers from common sense restrictions? The 2004 Law Enforcement Safety Act, for example, promoted by gun control enthusiasts such as Senator Charles Schumer (D, N.Y.), allows active or retired officers the right to carry weapons nationwide. Assault-weapon-weary New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey certainly think its okay for their police officers to possess military arms and jam as many rounds into them as desired. And if keeping guns in the home is so dangerous, why are police officers encouraged to do so? Dont blue lives matter too? If we are trying to instill in our police that they are of and for the people, why do gun-control advocates grant them a status akin to super-citizen? One of the simplest ways to reduce the number of police shootings is to hold police officers to the same standard of self-defense the rest of us are held to. Surely the gun-control lobbys mantra that only the police should have guns no longer holds. Perhaps the most striking contradiction inherent in the gun-control lobby is that its promotion of licensing discrimination and special police privileges comes on the backs of those seeking to reduce gun violence. Rank-and-file members of the gun control movement are good people, many of whose lives have been tragically touched by gun crime. Its only right that they seek to stem further violence and advocate laws to help prevent the mass shootings and killings we witness in this country. But these folks know little about the discriminatory nature of the policies that the gun-control lobbys leadership supports. Some groups have seen the light: that the gun-control lobby is violating the tenets of progressivism even as its nestled amongst the progressive Left. In 2017, New Yorks Gays Against Guns was one of the first to acknowledge that gun control is a tool of American white supremacy. But this is far from the norm. So far, the gun-control lobby has refused to comment on policy changes in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, nor have leaders apologized for their role in perpetuating institutional racism. If the Black Lives Matter movement is going to rid America of every vestige of racism, it must hold Americas gun-control lobby to the same standard and demand the resignation of its leadership. As the movements slogan goes: Their silence is violence. More from National Review Mayor Randall Woodfin on Tuesday banned outright the use of chokeholds or stangleholds by police and ordered guidelines saying officers have a duty to intervene anytime excessive force is used. The two immediate actions are in line with national #8CANTWAIT policies suggested widely following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He died as an officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds and after Floyd repeatedly said he could not breathe. The officers involved have been charged with murder; one for the direct act and the others for not intervening to stop excessive use of force. Woodfin said Tuesday he was reporting back on the initial 30-day review he pledged June 10. The citys police department policies are in line with most of the #8CANTWAIT recommendations, Woodfin said. Woodfin release the internal committee review report [see it here] and named members of a police review task force. Woodfin and Councilor Hunter Williams, whos chairman of the Citys Public Safety Committee, will be co-chairs of the task force. The members are: Jaselle Houghtlin A recent UAB graduate and co-founder of the advocacy group, Listen Cara McClure, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Birmingham Victor Revill, a Birmingham Attorney with Revill & Associates Ed Watkins, a former Birmingham police detective Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney of the Northern District of Alabama Findings and information about the ongoing effort are at peaceandpolicy.com. Earlier Tuesday, City Council approved a five-year, $7.5 million lease with Axon Enterprise Inc. for body-car-taser camera systems. Related: We want change: Voices from the front lines of Alabamas protests Watch as George Floyd protests around Alabama turn violent Chris Christies days as a presidential candidate may not be over. The former New Jersey governor told The Hill in a new video interview he wouldnt rule out running for the White House in 2024. I would certainly, you know, look at the race in 2024, and I would not back off from that at all, Christie said. Two years into his governorship, Christie considered running for president in 2012 but ultimately didnt launch a campaign. Four years later, Christie who was still governor at the time unsuccessfully ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. He dropped out of the race after a disappointing sixth-place finish in the New Hampshire Republican primary. The nod ultimately went to President Donald Trump. Christie has hinted since then that he may run again. But this is the most direct response the 57-year-old has given so far. It comes a little more than a month after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out convictions against two former Christie allies in the Bridgegate lane-closing case. After Christie was re-elected governor in a landslide in 2013, the scandal hovered over both his first presidential bid and his final years running New Jersey. He left office in January 2018 with record-low approval ratings in the teens after two terms as governor, the most he could serve consecutively under the state constitution. Christie who now runs a law firm and is a contributor to ABC News suggested in the interview that his chances would be better in the wake of the Bridgegate ruling. The media and others convicted people before they even had a trial, and it materially affected my ability to run for president, he said. Now that weve had that cleared away and its no longer a controversy, you know, from my perspective, maybe 2024 is time to try to go after that job again. I think I have a lot to contribute, and I think everybody sees that. Of course, in 2014, long before the case went to court, Christie fired or cut ties with those aides and apologized to New Jerseyans for the matter. The Supreme Court simply threw out the criminal convictions. Christie himself was never charged in the case and repeatedly denied having a hand in the lane closings. Heres the full exchange between Christie and The Hills Steve Clemons: Clemons: Any interest in running for president down the road? Christie: Sure, yeah. I mean, you know, Steve, Im 57 years old. Ive had a great career as a U.S. attorney for seven years and eight years as the 55th governor of New Jersey and a job that I absolutely loved. But I was term limited after two terms, so I couldnt seek reelection. Im in the private sector now and enjoying that. But once youve been a governor, I think you always feel like youve got something to contribute. And so, yeah, I would certainly, you know, look at the race in 2024 and I would not back off from that at all. I feel like there are a lot of atmospheric things that happened in the lead up to the 16 race, especially the Bridgegate matter which now has been dismissed by the United States Supreme Court in a 9-0 vote that there was no crime committed there. And yet the media and others convicted people before they even had a trial, and it materially affected my ability to run for president. Now that weve had that cleared away and its no longer a controversy, you know, from my perspective, maybe 2024 is time to try to go after that job again. I think I have a lot to contribute, and I think everybody sees that. You know, its very, very important to have competent executive leadership as you said in the beginning, at all levels of government and the kind of people that we could pick at the executive level of the federal government has a real impact on peoples day-to-day lives. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Guests immediately take photos in the main entranceway of the 2020 Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on its opening day, Feb. 29. The show closed March 8, a week before the region went into lockdown. Read more It feels almost like another lifetime when crowds of enthusiasts filed into the Pennsylvania Convention Center for events about new cars and Mediterranean-inspired floral exhibits. Since those wintry days of 2020, cancellations of large meetings and conventions have piled up amid the pandemic. The city has lost out on at least 380 potential gatherings that would have brought 420,000 attendees to the city, according to the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. Tourism officials are predicting that it will take three to five years to return to 2019 levels of convention business, when the visitors bureau booked business for 585 groups that brought 788,000 people to the city. Cue the doctors. In an effort to get ahead of other cities that will be competing to host future meetings, the visitors bureau announced this month a new advisory group PHL Health Advisors to help businesses address questions about meeting and traveling safely. The competition for this business on a national scale will be incredibly fierce, said spokesperson Alethia Calbeck. The organization believes that by drawing on the citys medical community, and on its own advisory members, well be able to compete and win back this critical element of Philadelphias tourism business, she said. David Nash, founding dean emeritus of Jefferson College of Population Health, is serving as chief health advisor to the committee comprised of doctors, biotech executives, academics, and health executives. This is really important to the local economy, Nash said. When its safe, he added, we want to be like the first kid on the block to say, Come here. This is not like a switch that youre going to flip. This is going to take time, and people and resources. Nash spoke with The Inquirer after the 19-member subcommittee met by video conference Monday morning. How would you explain this new role you have with PHLCVB? Im going to be a translator, a synthesizer, a disseminator, a person who is going to help translate the science for the broadest possible audience, Nash said. He views the job as supporting the visitors bureau to give prospective visitors the best available information in a timely way, without politics, and to reinforce the message about washing your hands, social distance and wear a mask. Masks, he said more than once, are critical. If 60% of people wore a 60%-effective mask, wed crush it. Itd be over. The next best thing to a vaccine is wearing a mask. (Nash has two types of masks: a regular old surgical mask available at drugstores, and cloth N95s, which he recommends that people practice wearing to get used to them. He also uses a bandanna when he goes running.) READ MORE: Two Philly tourism groups cut staff and a full recovery could take years What are some of the issues you covered this morning? Understanding what are customers asking, Nash said. Its fascinating. Like any place, they want to know: Are the hotels adhering to the best possible guidelines? Whats it like getting back and forth to the airport? The convention center itself, which were lucky to have... is it up to speed? Are there other questions youre anticipating from businesses? Im anticipating more questions about testing, Nash said. Whom do we test? What time? Should we test them before they get on an airplane? When they get here? Do you have the overnight test? We havent gotten into that yet. He also expects to field more questions about hotel cleanliness, and about arrangements inside the convention center: Can we have our meeting in this part? Who else will be there? How are we going to be separated? Is there enough distance to have, lets say, 200 people in a room? Some of the answers will depend on input from the city, and what officials allow at the time. Were going to have to work closely, and its great that the advisory group has someone representing [state health department secretary] Dr. Rachel Levine and [Philadelphia health commissioner] Dr. Tom Farley. Other members include Meghna Patel, the states deputy secretary for health innovation; Barbara Wadsworth, senior vice president of patient services at Main Line Health; and Jonathan Epstein, chief scientific officer at Penns Perelman School of Medicine. READ MORE: Virus woes put properties from Fillmore music hall to View dorm tower near Temple on Philly areas $2.7B loan-default watchlist Are there emerging answers to those questions yet, such as how soon do you get tested before you get on a plane? The short answer is no, Nash said, adding: Lets put it this way, every big company is struggling with a plan to safely get people back to work. And so we have to learn from all these other employers, who, after all, might be exhibitors and want to have a meeting here. There will be crossover lessons, he said, between how employees return to a workplace, and how businesses would send their employees to an out-of-town business gathering. Theres no national strategy, so the private sector has to jump in here, said Nash. We just dont have national leadership of any kind as it relates to school reopening, companies reopening...weve got to fill that gap. 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. Has the advisory group discussed a timeline? Big meetings are typically planned three to five years in advance, Nash noted. Thats the time horizon, he said. I think were all hoping that in 2021, we could have some successful, safe, pretty large in-person [business] meetings in Philadelphia. That would be great. Im hoping for that. But I think, realistically, its a three- to five-year time frame. The development of an effective vaccine will be one component of a return to normalcy. Beyond that, Nash said, In some respects, its up to us. Wear a mask. Darn. Its not that complicated. Texas transportation officials say 412 motorcyclists were killed and more than 1,800 were seriously injured on the states roads in 2019. Acknowledging that on average, one motorcyclist dies every day on Texas roads, the Texas Department of Transportation is urging drivers to Share the Road: Look Twice for Motorcycles. TXDoT said it has initiated a campaign that aims to alert drivers to the risks that motorcyclists face and suggests safety precautions motorists can take to protect motorcyclists and themselves. The campaign reminds drivers that motorcycles are small and can be hard to see. The summer months are among the most dangerous for motorcyclists, the agency says. The six-month period from May through October is the deadliest for motorcycle riders and accounted for 61 percent of motorcycle fatalities in Texas last year, TxDOT Executive Director James Bass said in a media release. Thats why we are urging drivers to Look Twice for Motorcycles-theres a life riding on it. Safety experts say that crashes between motorcyclists and drivers often occur when drivers make left turns in front of an oncoming motorcyclist, misjudging the distance and speed of the motorcycle. Last year, 30 percent of Texas motorcycle fatalities occurred in an intersection or were intersection-related. The highest numbers of fatal motorcycle crashes last year occurred in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso, Corpus Christi, Lubbock and Odessa. The Share the Road: Look Twice for Motorcycles campaign is a key component of #EndTheStreakTX, a broader social media and word-of-mouth effort that encourages drivers to make safer choices while behind the wheel, like wearing a seat belt, driving the speed limit, never texting and driving and never driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs. Nov. 7, 2000 was the last deathless day on Texas roadways. Source: Texas Department of Transportation Topics Texas Auto A student fraternity embroiled in the sexual assault allegations sweeping St Andrews University is under pressure to pass the names of implicated members to police. Several members of the Scottish university's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), an all-male and predominantly Jewish society, were suspended following a series of claims made on the St Andrews Survivors Instagram page. AEPi said members who 'acknowledged any role' in the allegations were swiftly suspended and referred for expulsion pending investigation. The fraternity insists it 'unconditionally opposes' sexual misconduct and pledged to root out any offending members. But it is facing calls to abandon an internal probe and hand over information to the authorities because of the seriousness of the allegations. A student fraternity embroiled in the sexual assault allegations sweeping St Andrews University (pictured) is under pressure to pass the names of implicated members to police Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie, whose North East Fife constituency includes St Andrews, urged AEPi to cooperate with officers Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie, whose North East Fife constituency includes St Andrews, urged AEPi to cooperate with officers. 'This is not an issue for AEPi to resolve themselves; it has gone well beyond that,' he told The Times. He said it was for detectives, not AEPi's leadership, to drill down into the 'deeply worrying allegations' for the sake of the complainants. But the fraternity insists it will work with police should an investigation be launched. Media spokesperson Jonathan Pierce told MailOnline: 'Since these anonymous allegations against unnamed individuals were first made public, Alpha Epsilon Pi has said that we will completely cooperate with all investigations made by proper authorities. 'They are clearly better equipped and trained to handle that investigation than is our organization. 'To the best of my knowledge, at this time, no one from the police has approached any members.' He added: 'If anyone has indicated that that our members are not being cooperative, I am not aware of it and I believe that is completely untrue. 'There is absolutely no room in Alpha Epsilon Pi for this type of behavior and if the allegations are properly investigated and found to be true, we will immediately begin the process to expel those members from the fraternity and hope that they are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.' More than a hundred episodes of misconduct were alleged to have taken place at the world-famous institution (pictured), including rape, sexual assault and domestic violence Since its inception earlier this month, the St Andrews Survivors Instagram channel has been flooded with claims from current and ex-students about rape, sexual assault and harassment. More than a hundred episodes of misconduct were alleged to have taken place at the world-famous institution, including 20 claims of rape and dozens more for sexual assault, harassment and domestic violence. One anonymous post said: 'I was out drinking and had met a frat boy through friends. I had a meltdown outside The Union and he comforted me, I explained that I had been sexually assaulted on another night out. 'He offered to take me to his for some water since he lived nearby and I didn't. I was very drunk and so he put me to bed and he was going to sleep on the floor. 'I woke up sometime later and he was in the bed with me feeling me up. I can't believe anyone could do this.' According to its bio, the St Andrews Survivors account aims 'to expose the reality of sexual abuse at our university' and 'empower survivors' A university spokeswoman said that AEPi is not an official St Andrews society but vowed to 'take action' and 'facilitate Police reporting'. 'The university is making sexual education mandatory for students, but it is not believe any of the claims have been reported to police. St Andrews is the UK's third oldest university and was attended by Prince William and Kate Middleton. 'Multiple' accusations were directed at members of AEPi, a branch of a US college fraternity which counts Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg among its alumni. Some of the allegations reportedly occurred at society events, which include toga parties but also charity fundraisers. On July 3, AEPi released a statement saying: 'Alpha Epsilon Pi St Andrews was made aware of allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and rape against multiple members of our fraternity, including incidents at chapter events. 'We find the contents of these allegations abhorrent, and are taking them extremely seriously.' It added: 'The chapter was unaware of these allegations before they were brought to light. As soon as chapter leadership was made aware of the allegations we assembled our members to gather additional information. 'Following these discussions, the chapter immediately suspended members who acknowledged any role in the alleged incidents and entered them into Alpha Epsilon Pi's expulsion process, which allows for thorough investigation, a standard that will apply any time more evidence comes to light.' It is not clear how many members were suspended, but the Daily Telegraph reported two. AEPi has faced sexual abuse allegations at other universities, including the Penn State chapter which was suspended following a police investigation. MailOnline has approached AEPi for additional comment. A desperate helicopter search is underway for a surfer who didn't come out of the water as wild weather hit Sydney. Authorities were called to Coogee Beach, in the eastern suburbs, at 5.15pm on Tuesday after the surfer didn't return to shore. The Westpac Rescue chopper is searching over nearby Gordon's Bay, while police canvass the beach. Rain swept across Sydney tonight, with a severe weather warning for damaging winds and surf issued by the Bureau of Meteorology. The Westpac Rescue chopper is searching over nearby Gordon's Bay and Coogee in the eastern suburbs Reliance AGM 2020: Reliance's 43rd AGM will take place on July 15. Before that we take a look at what was announced at last year's AGM. Reliance Industries Limited will host its 43rd Annual General Meeting on July 15. The company is expected to make a slew of announcements ranging from its flurry of investments in Jio Platforms, new products, more details on JioMart. Reliance Jio would be the highlight of the event with new developments expected from the telco. Theres only a day to go for Reliances 43rd AGM, and while we speculate on what will be announced, lets take a look at what happened last year. The highlight of Reliances 42nd AGM was the announcement of Jio Fiber service. Jios mammoth of a broadband fiber service comes bundled with a 4K set-top-box, console gaming, video calling, AR and VR support. Jio Fiber starts at 699 per month and it offers up to 1 Gbps data speed. Reliance also announced it will create the worlds largest blockchain network. It plans to use blockchain technology across industries and to off users data privacy. Reliance also said it is setting up a pan-India edge computing network. Reliance Jio and Microsoft announced its partnership to accelerate digital transformation in India. Jio will set up data centers across India with Microsoft powering them with its Azure services. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also made a special announcement at the event. Mukesh Amabani also announced Saudi Aramco will invest for a 20% stake in RILs O2C division. He added that Jios network is 5G ready and the telco is already offering 4G+ services to mobile users. Jio was also expected to launch the Jio Phone 3 at the AGM event but there was no presence of the smart feature phone. Among products, a new Jio Phone could make its debut at the upcoming AGM. The 43rd RIL AGM is scheduled to take place on July 15 at 2:00 pm. Jio has also launched a WhatsApp chatbot for users to send in their queries on the AGM. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated the national capitals second plasma bank for Covid-19 patients at government-run Lok Nayak Hospital. After huge success of our first plasma bank, we are launching Delhis 2nd plasma bank today at LNJP Hospital, Kejriwal tweeted. The chief minister was accompanied by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia among other officials on the occasion. The Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) was the first centre in the national capital to start the facility for Covid-19. The hospital has hired three expert counsellors who will encourage Covid-19 patients to donate plasma and tell them it is a safe process, an official told news agency PTI, adding that these counsellors will call up patients who have recovered from coronavirus and explain them about the therapy. Also read: Indias recovery-to-death ratio for Covid-19 at 96:4, says government After India's first Plasma bank by Delhi Govt Hon'ble CM shri @Arvindkejriwal with Hon'ble Dy CM shri @msisodia visited LNJP hospital to inaugurate the second plasma bank of Delhi. pic.twitter.com/VJBeHIXc2r AAP (@AamAadmiParty) July 14, 2020 We already have a database of patients in our hospital and these counsellors will be calling them. However, patients who have recovered after treatment from other hospitals can also come and donate plasma to the bank, he said. The national capital on Monday recorded 1,246 fresh coronavirus cases, authorities said, the lowest in the last 35 days. The Covid-19 tally in the national capital stands at 113,740. After huge success of our first plasma bank, we launched Delhi's 2nd plasma bank today at LNJP Hospital#DelhiFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/vmHuCZv7iZ Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 14, 2020 According to state health department figures, Delhis Covid-19 recovery rate stands at over 80 percent. So far, 91,312 patients across Delhi have recovered from the infection. The death toll stands at 3,411 while the active number cases is slightly over 19,000. Of 15,253 beds in hospitals, 10,944 are vacant; of 9,217 beds at dedicated Covid care centre, 7,069 beds are vacant for Covid-19 patients. The number of containment zones in the national capital stands at 658. From July 1-13, Delhi recorded 26,380 cases, while 32,984 people recovered. Barring July 1 and July 6, Delhi reported more Covid-19 recoveries than fresh cases this month. Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed the possibility of airborne transmission of Coronavirus (COVID-19), urging the public to protect the vulnerable elderly and those with underlying sicknesses Available for Android and iOS, Calendar.AI optimizes day-to-day meetings with rich 3rd party insights on who youre meeting and the companies they work for App creates more informed meetings, enhances sales initiatives, and boosts productivity by turning your mobile device into an interactive digital meeting assistant TEL AVIV, Israel, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sync.AI , a suite of robust mobile productivity solutions to optimize everyday work life, announced today the launch of Calendar.AI , a data-powered smart calendar to supercharge productivity. Full free and premium versions are currently available for Android , while iOS remains in beta with an update coming later this summer. Calendar and Personal Assistant All-in-One Say goodbye to blind meetings or conference calls where youre left wondering who your contact is and what youve spoken about last, or forgetting follow-up initiatives and leaving deals on the table. Calendar.AI provides rich 3rd party data insights directly into your calendar to give you all the relevant information needed to build meaningful business relationships and close your next big deal. Powerful features include: Contact Insights: Have a prospect meeting and want to know everything about the person you are meeting with or need more in-depth information to prepare? No worries Calendar.AI instantly shows you your contacts work history, education background, social media profiles, and company details, all in one easy-to-read interface. If they arent a new contact but its been a while since youve last spoken, Calendar.AI will also show you previous correspondence so you can pick up where you left off. Company Intelligence: Want to impress your contact by mentioning their latest company milestone or press clipping? Calendar.AI provides robust company intelligence, including general company information, latest news, funding rounds, key executive profiles, and more. Smart Scheduling: No more endless emails back-and-forth asking, What time works for you?. Calendar.AIs innovative smart scheduling enables you to set your availability and let your contact select meeting times on their terms with a click of a button and no time wasted. Personal Meeting Assistant: Cant find the meeting agenda you were sent? Calendar.AIs personal meeting assistant will send you all of the latest attachments from previous meetings, private and shared meeting notes, and key action items. Calendar.AI focuses on the admin so you can focus on the meeting. You can also write notes and create action items directly in the app that can be instantly sent to others with no hassle. Story continues Calendar.AI effectively assists users in differentiating between the endless stream of meetings and what key information and action points they need to ensure optimal communications. Want to see Calendar.AI in action? Watch our short video here . Weve all been in the situation where we were invited to a meeting and would like more in depth information about the meeting organizer and its participants. With Calendar.AI theres no need to dig through your inbox, check multiple LinkedIn profiles, or conduct endless Google searches, said Ken Vinner, CEO of Sync.AI. Our rich data intelligence capabilities enable users to quickly pull all the information they need on contacts just minutes before a meeting begins. Our smart assistant and scheduling capabilities make managing your calendar a breeze and will enhance productivity for even the busiest professional. Whether youre a lawyer in a meeting with a large circle of participants, a freelancer managing multiple daily meetings with new companies, a real estate agent on the go, or an enterprise sales professional closing deals, Calendar.AI can change the way you work, every day. Sync.AI is brought to you by the founders of Sync.ME, a world-renowned caller ID and spam blocker with more than 20M global users. To learn more about Calendar.AI, visit their website or watch this short video . To download Calendar.AI for Android, please click here . To download Calendar.AI for iOS, please click here . About Sync.AI Sync.AI is a suite of robust mobile productivity solutions to optimize everyday work life through better use of email, calendar, and calls on mobile devices. Using AI and rich 3rd party data, Sync.AI provides users with powerful insights to better perform every day business tasks, boost sales, and maximize productivity and efficiency. Currently available products include Calendar.AI (Android and iOS), and Calls.AI (Android). Sync.AI is brought to you by the founders of Sync.me, a world-renowned caller ID and spam blocker with more than 20M global users. To learn more about Sync.AI, please visit our website: https://www.sync.ai Media Contact: Matthew Bretzius FischTank PR matt@fischtankpr.com LONDON Britain and France moved Tuesday to make face coverings compulsory in more places as both countries try to get their economies going while at the same time seeking to prevent further coronavirus outbreaks. Following days of procrastination and mixed messages, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the wearing of face coverings will be mandatory in shops and supermarkets in England from July 24. On the other side of the English Channel, amid signs of a slight virus resurgence in France, President Emmanuel Macron said he also wants to require masks inside all indoor public spaces by Aug. 1. Britain and France previously took a more relaxed attitude to face coverings than many other European nations, recommending masks but not requiring them. Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece already require masks to be worn in enclosed spaces. But with their economies reeling after months-long lockdowns, French and U.K. government leaders were anxious to try to persuade people to spend again hopefully without spreading the virus. Weeks of indecision made way for new rules that came into view virtually overnight. Britains Hancock told lawmakers in the House of Commons Tuesday that face covers can help workers and shoppers alike. In recent weeks, we have reopened retail and footfall is rising, he said. We want to give people more confidence to shop safely and enhance protection for those who work in shops. People in England already have to wear face coverings on public transport and in hospital settings. Anyone not wearing a face covering in the additional environments outlined by the government could be fined 100 pounds ($125,) and shops can refuse entry to anyone failing to comply. Children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. The new requirement only applies to England. The other nations of the U.K. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland can determine their own public health policies, and Scotland already requires masks in shops. Hancock stressed that wearing a face covering complements other accepted strategies aimed at keeping a lid on the pandemic, such as washing hands and abiding by social distancing rules. We cannot let our progress today lead to complacency tomorrow, he said. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who in April spent a week in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, began wearing a bright blue mask in public last week. The change in policy followed. In an interview with French television networks marking Bastille Day, Frances Macron said the best prevention against the virus is masks, social distancing and hand washing. Recent rave parties in France and widespread backsliding on social distancing even within Macrons presidential palace and other government facilities have raised concern lately, so the government has been weighing tougher mask guidance. We have signs that (the virus) is picking up a bit, Macron said, noting that Frances virus reproduction rate is inching past 1 again, meaning each infected person is infecting at least one other. British authorities are hoping the public will comply with the new requirement. London Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC he believed that Londoners by and large will follow the rules, without too much need for the police. The problem is not the issue of enforcement, the problem is the mixed messages and the confused communications, Khan said. British Environment Secretary George Eustice also did not rule out the possibility that mandatory face coverings would become compulsory in offices and other workplaces in the future. He told the BBC that the government was taking one step at a time and weve taken the view in this next step that we should make it mandatory in retail environments. A growing body of evidence suggests wearing face coverings brings some benefit in preventing the spread of the virus. Lack of strong evidence of their effectiveness should not be considered a problem but the evidence is accumulating that they have a part to play in reducing transmission and also in protecting the wearer, said Keith Neal, an epidemiologist at the University of Nottingham. ___ Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Monday he wants to see if existing restaurant restrictions, an ongoing 10 p.m. curfew and a countywide mask order help stabilize the countys alarming COVID numbers before forcing more businesses to close. Gimenez is under pressure on both sides, with cities and restaurant groups criticizing last weeks ban on indoor dining and Miami-Dade seeing much more coronavirus spread and hospitalizations than when the county mayor ordered all nonessential businesses to close in March. Were not there yet. But everything is on the table. I dont think anyone on this call wants to take that drastic step, Gimenez said at a Monday morning online press conference with local doctors advising him on Miami-Dades COVID plan. If we simply follow the rules, and keep our masks on and keep our distance, wash our hands, that weve opened can be done in a relatively safe way. ... Right now, I dont have any intention of going further. The mayors press conference was announced after political rivals scheduled their own Monday morning media event to criticize the countys response. Miami-Dade Democrats repeatedly criticized Floridas Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, and Gimenez, a Republican congressional candidate, for failing to communicate on hiring contact tracers. I hope that the governor and mayor will come to their senses and work with all of us to act quickly, said Miami-Dade Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, whom Gimenez hopes to challenge as the Republican nominee in Floridas 26th Congressional District. At best, we have a hole in our leadership at the state level and at the federal level, Democratic state Sen. Oscar Braynon said. A coordinated effort between federal, state and local leaders would have stopped us from breaking the [COVID case] record yesterday. Listen to today's top stories from the Miami Herald: Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Alexa | Google Assistant | More options Story continues County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava, who is running for Miami-Dade mayor, said DeSantis should activate a temporary field hospital in Miami Beach, which has not accepted a single patient since opening in April but remains open. We have a field hospital in Miami Beach, but it hasnt been activated, Levine Cava said. The governor has said were bringing in 100 nurses from out of state, but we dont have a plan. We dont have a state plan, we dont have a county plan. Some have estimated we need 10,000 contact tracers. We need to get started. On Sunday night, Miami Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala. the health secretary under President Bill Clinton, called for a 21-day shutdown. Doctors call current situation extremely grave Doctors on Gimenezs call described Miami-Dades COVID situation as extremely grave and placing the county in the epicenter of the current COVID pandemic that once was ravaging New York and China. They urged the public to comply with county rules on businesses and public spaces, including requirements to wear masks. We really need your help. Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic. What we were seeing in Wuhan five or six months ago, now we are there, said Dr. Lilian Abbo, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Miami and chief of infection control at the countys tax-funded Jackson hospital system. Miami-Dades COVID total of about 67,000 reported cases is on par with the Chinese province of Wuhans reported total of 50,000 before cases started flattening out in April, but about a third of the deaths 1,037 reported in Miami-Dade and about 3,800 in Wuhan. New York Citys COVID measures remain far more alarming than Miami-Dades. While Miami-Dade is seeing about one in four COVID tests come back positive, roughly 70% were testing positive at the peak of New Yorks outbreak in the spring. But the county numbers are far worse than what Miami-Dade faced when Gimenez reopened restaurants and nonessential businesses on May 18. Then, COVID patients occupied about 22% of the countys supply of intensive-care beds. On Monday, they occupied 98% of ICU beds. Abbo said shed welcome more business restrictions but not at the expense of more people being pushed into financial turmoil. Yes, I would love to order a lockdown. However, we are trying to prevent that, she said. Because we understand how important the economy is ... for people to be able to pay their day-to-day bills and survive. Gimenez said the public needs to take the mask rules seriously and make it socially unacceptable to ignore them. All of us have to have a little bit of peer pressure in enforcing the rules, he said. Its not OK to take off your mask in front of me, thank you very much. Because you may have the virus. As a matter of fact, I may have it. Thats the message that needs to be driven home. He declined to say whether hed asked the White House to encourage President Donald Trump to cover his face when he flew to Miami late last week and greeted Gimenez without a mask, an apparent violation of the mayors own emergency rule that masks be worn in public places. The county has not answered what exemption applied to Trump, except that the White House requires people greeting the president to be tested for COVID ahead of time (as Gimenez said he was). The president of the United States has extraordinary measures that protect him, Gimenez said Monday. Trump wore a mask for the first time in front of the media the next day while visiting a military hospital near the White House on Saturday. On Monday, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he thinks the president and DeSantis should reinforce the wearing of masks, especially if they appear in Miami-Dade County. Id love for the president to come out and say everyone should wear a mask in public, Suarez told the Miami Herald. Id love for the governor to say that as well. Theres a segment of the population that listens to them and only then. We would all benefit if they would say that. Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report. This article was updated to correct statistical information about COVID cases in the Wuhan province of China, which are close to the totals reported now in Miami-Dade County. This article also was corrected to fix the spelling of Dr. Lilian Abbos first name. Becky Jones broke down in tears after three maternity dresses were stolen A stranger has offered to pay for the damage to a pregnant NHS worker's car which was damaged as she was out for dinner with her boyfriend. Becky Jones, 30, from Newark, Nottinghamshire recorded a tearful message after someone broke into her car and stole several maternity dresses she had purchased earlier. Ms Jones, who is a clinical biochemist, has been working at Nottingham City Hospital performing vital Covid-19 tests during the pandemic. She looks for any 'abnormalities' in patients blood and urine tests including those who have been diagnosed with coronavirus. But when she decided to go shopping and for a meal with her boyfriend in Nottingham city centre on Saturday, July 12, her day was ruined when thieves smashed into her black Audi A1. They hammered through the passenger window, rummaged through the boot, and stole three maternity dresses she had bought for work, gym clothes and headphones. However, Ms Jones, who is 23 weeks pregnant, received a message over Facebook from a fellow NHS worker who offered to pay for the damage and the stolen maternity clothes. She said she could have 'cried with happiness' following the gesture which has restored her faith in human nature. According to the BBC, the man wrote: 'My family are all hard-working and dedicated members of the NHS similar to yourself. 'I personally think you are are all utterly amazing unsung heroes for everything you do, not just during this Covid crisis. 'I would like to cover the price of the replacement window and the maternity clothes so hopefully it restores your feelings that there are some good people out here in the world. 'I just think heroes like you might need a helping hand from time to time.' Ms Jones responded: 'I'm not even bothered about replacing the window or the clothes, just the fact that he said what I was doing was really brave and that he was willing to pay for it. 'That's made all the difference.' Thieves smashed the window of Ms Jones car and stole the three dresses on Saturday In total, around 500 of items were taken. She told Nottinghamshire Live: 'I was absolutely gutted. I can't even put it into words. I felt violated. I have been going into work every day and I am pregnant. 'It is not just me that is at risk, it is the baby as well. I bought these clothes so I could go to work and I have been trying to keep fit and then for someone to take advantage like that. 'My NHS badge was left on the seat and they would have known that.' The incident happened at the Nottingham Arena (Brook Street) Car Park between 7.30pm and 8.30pm while the couple were enjoying a meal at Sexy Mamma Love Spaghetti in Hockley. She returned to her vehicle to find her gym leggings and the rest of her gym bag sprawled across the car park floor. She said: 'It's caused a lot of distress and I'm 23 weeks pregnant. The NHS worker was out with her boyfriend, Kyle Farrow, in Nottingham city centre when the incident happened 'I'm sickened and saddened by what has happened. I can't go into work because I need to contact the garage and insurance about the damage to my car. 'I have to think it is just possessions and I have got my health. 'But I would like to see someone put to account for it.' She was so devastated by what happened she put out a video on social media. Fighting through tears, she said: 'Whilst I have been going to work throughout this pandemic - and even though I'm pregnant - it is good to know there are still people out there who will take advantage of people like me - and take things that I have bought myself - on my weekend off. 'Thank you. You really are the Pride of Britain.' A black cap was left behind by the thief which will be examined by forensics and CCTV of the car park is set to be checked yesterday. Chief Inspector Kathryn Craner from Nottinghamshire Police said: 'We believe that people should be able to visit Nottingham city centre without the fear of criminals targeting them or their possessions while they are busy going about their business. 'That is exactly why we take incidents of this nature so seriously and, as has been the case here, why we will actively investigate reports of this kind as soon as possible to give our officers the best possible chance of identifying those responsible and, hopefully, reunite the victims with their stolen items. 'I would appeal to anyone with any information to call Nottinghamshire Police as soon as possible on 101, quoting incident number 739 of 11 July when they call.' 18 sailors injured in fire on U.S. Navy ship in San Diego People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 08:35, July 13, 2020 LOS ANGELES, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen sailors were injured Sunday morning in a fire on a U.S. Navy ship at Naval Base San Diego in California, authorities said. Eighteen sailors on board the USS Bonhomme Richard have been transferred to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, tweeted the Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, adding that the entire crew is off the ship and all are accounted. 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 fire. The ship is going through a maintenance availability and has a crew size of around 1,000, the U.S. Navy said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SAN DIEGO - Flames tore through a warship for a second day Monday as a top Navy official revealed that a fire suppression system was inoperable when the blaze erupted while the ship was docked in San Diego. Hundreds of sailors were battling to keep flames away from a million gallons (3.7 million litres) of oil on board the USS Bonhomme Richard. The U.S. Coast Guard hired an oil clean-up crew to put in place a containment boom that could be ready if any oil is spilled. It also halted boat traffic within one-nautical mile of the ship and flights over the vessel. Meanwhile, acrid smoke from the blaze wafted across San Diego and health officials urged people to stay indoors if they smelled it. The fire that erupted Sunday morning is one of the Navys worst shipyard fires in recent years. At least 59 people, including 36 sailors and 23 civilians, have been treated for heat exhaustion, smoke inhalation and minor injuries. Five people who had been in a hospital under observation were released. Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck said fire temperatures had reached up to 1,000 degrees, causing the mast of the ship to collapse and threatening the central control island where the captain operates the vessel. He said there were about two decks between the fire and the fuel supplies on board. Water being dumped on the vessel to douse the flames was causing the 840-foot (255-meter) ship to list to one side, but crews were pumping off the water. Sobeck said it was too soon to give up on saving the 23-year-old amphibious assault ship, which has been docked in San Diego since 2018 undergoing maintenance. In the last 24 hours, 400 sailors have been on board that ship to make sure that, you know, we make every effort to save that ship, said Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3. Retired Navy Capt. Lawrence B. Brennan, a professor of international maritime law at Fordham University in New York, said there is a risk of the hull rupturing, which could cause the ship to spill its oil and leave the Navy looking at a major environmental mess. If this is a million gallons of oil that ends up settling on the bottom of the San Diego harbour and cant be removed safely, were talking about billions of dollars of environmental damage, said Brennan, who has investigated and litigated hundreds of maritime cases. The fire was first reported in a lower cargo area where seafaring tanks and landing craft are parked. It appears to have started in a spot where cardboard boxes, rags and other ship maintenance supplies were being stored, Sobeck said. Sobeck believes the cardboard and other supplies might have been what first ignited, though the exact cause is still unknown. The fire suppression system had been turned off because it was being worked on as part of the ongoing maintenance. The system uses Halon, a liquefied, compressed gas that disrupts a fire and stops its spread by cutting off its oxygen. Sailors on board and from the pier doused the blaze until it grew too large and they had to retreat. Local and federal firefighters were called in, and an explosion caused by pressure from the heat prompted the evacuation of all 160 people on board, Sobeck said. Brennan said its common that a ship would deactivate the Halon system while it is being worked on because the gas can be dangerous to humans. But the fire extensive and rapid spread indicates the Navy might not have done enough to compensate for the deactivation of the suppression system, and had poor or no fire boundaries in place, he said. This fire got to pretty much every space on the ship, and to exacerbate the problem, I keep getting signs that there were flammable substances in a lot of spaces like gear from the shipyard, rags and cloth, he said. Ship fires are often unfortunate but not catastrophic in most cases. They usually dont get out of control this badly. The flames were burning plastic, cabling and other material on board, sending the haze over downtown San Diego. The San Diego Air Pollution Control District warned that concentrations of fine particulate matter could reach unhealthful levels in some areas and that people should avoid exercising outdoors and stay indoors if possible to limit exposure. Sobeck said there was no ordnance on board the ship and he did not believe there was anything toxic. Firefighters attacked the flames inside the ship while firefighting vessels with water cannons directed streams of seawater into the ship and helicopters made water drops. The ship can be used to deploy thousands of Marines to shore and has the capacity to accommodate helicopters, certain types of short-takeoff airplanes, small boats and amphibious vehicles. - AP writers Christopher Weber and John Antczak contributed from Los Angeles. ____ This story has been updated to correct that cardboard boxes not dry wall supplies may have been in area where fire started. Mahurangi Matters asked candidates standing for the Kaipara mayorality, the Warkworth subdivision of the Rodney Local Board and the Otamatea ward of Kaipara District Council what they wanted to achieve if elected Kaipara Mayor Dr Jason Smith (incumbent) Who are you? Kia ora, as a fifth generation local Kaipara resident, descended from Albertlanders, Im passionate about Kaipara and making real progress for this district. Im the only mayor in New Zealand with a doctorate in economic development, but Im also at home on the family sheep and beef farm in Ruawai. At 47, Im getting on with it and have really enjoyed serving the Kaipara community since being elected Mayor of Kaipara in a by-election last year. What is your number one priority if re-elected Mayor? My number one priority if re-elected Mayor is to have Kaiparas roading system on the right track. This is the most important thing for this place. For this reason, I led and support the $19 million Provincial Growth Fund project for improving Kaipara roads. In 2019/20, Kaipara roading investment will be nearly $40 million, double normal levels, and in 2013/14 it was less than $7 million. What other issues are important to you? Keeping tight control of Council finances, including prudent management of debt; focusing on how we plan for and manage growth, as Kaipara has the fastest growing population (3.1%) of any North Island district; preparing for climate change, especially sea level rise which has the potential to impact and change our communities and settlements; and keeping Kaiparas communities thriving and broadening its economic base. Why does Kaipara need to re-elect you as Mayor? Because Ive proven in the last 18 months that Im running a tight ship and were making real progress. After Kaipara Districts chequered past in recent years, it now has improved stability, confidence and growing momentum. Council is serving the people better than it has for years, elected members are working together well to tackle issues important to the community and the people of Kaipara tell me they feel better about Council now than before. Re-electing me will see more progress. What skills and strengths do you have to offer? My ability to listen then turn that listening into action. For example, when I was first elected in 2018 everyone told me Kaipara roads were the biggest problem here and on a scale difficult for this small Council to tackle. I listened and over several months worked Kaipara towards the $19m PGF roading funding thats now helping us make real progress with our roads. The Council Ive led has been transparent, open, approachable and has employed a great chief executive. Our Council meetings are filled with lively debate, theres rigorous scrutiny of documents and staff reports and, as a result, Kaipara District Councils governance is in great health. Its working well with local Maori, iwi and hapu through its Mana Whenua Forum and were working together for the promise of abundant wellbeing thats in the words Kaipara te Oranganui from the district brand. In fast-growing Kaipara people told me they need better tools for growth, so were working currently with community towards a new District Plan, including spatial planning like Kaiparas never had before. These are just some examples of how were turning listening into action for Kaipara and making real progress. Nga mihi nui kia koutou katoa. Moemoea Mohoawhenua Who are you? Ti hei mauri ora. E mihi ana ahau I te Matua nui I te rangi. Homai te aroha o te Atua ki a tatou katoa. Tena koutou ki tini mate. Haere haere haere. Ko Moemoea Mohoawhenua taku ingoa. Tena koutou katoa. Throughout my life I have been: an award-winning performance poet, inmate, guerrilla film maker, drug dealer, street photographer, bank robber, published author (three books), escort agency owner, professional boxer, actor, Maori sovereignty revolutionary, entrepreneur, proud father, common labourer I have also played many other different roles and acted many different other parts in this bizarre paradox we call life. Now I am running for the Mayoralty of the Kaipara for my Maori people. What is your number one priority if re-elected Mayor? My number one priority, as I say on my website mayor.kiwi.nz, is to have the Red, Black & White Maori Sovereignty Tino Rangatiratanga flag flying in true equality alongside the Pakeha/NZ (sic) flag outside the Council Building in Dargaville. This is in accordance with all the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. What other issues are important to you? Another key issue is the creation of a tourism venture called the Kumara & Kauri Trail, which I have been developing for a while now. These are two unique things that are specific to the Kaipara, so I would like to see a vision implemented in which busloads of tourists come to the area to see them, plus also partake of our Maori culture (Marae stay-over, etc.). Why does Kaipara need to elect you as Mayor? I believe the Kaipara needs not only a new Mayor but a total shakeup of the entire Council, so there is an equal balance of power between Maori and Pakeha in all areas of the Council. What skills and strengths do you have to offer? I am a visionary doer. I think outside the square. I see things not as how they are, but how they could be (to quote President John F. Kennedy). I am highly imaginative and creative. I also truly believe if a proactive tourism initiative is fully developed and implemented, it will be highly successful and create real jobs and wealth for both my Maori and Pakeha people. Kia-ora koutou katoa. Candidates for Rodney Local Board Warkworth subdivision (three seats) Steven Garner Independent A local of most of the last 50-plus years, Steven attended school in Warkworth and spent 12 years on the Mahurangi College Board of Trustees while his children attended. He is involved with and an active member of a host of community organisations. He is active, positive and motivated to make and keep Rodney great. A keen cyclist, fisherman and walker, he is out in the Rodney area most weekends seeing first-hand what a great region we live in and where attention is required. Why are you standing for the Local Board election? Rodney is very poorly represented at present. The block of Local Board members who have silenced and cut off those members who are not part of their team do not appear to understand what representation actually means for someone elected to a local body. I would like to represent the Warkworth area on the Local Board and ensure the needs of this area are met. Roading, public transport, sports/recreation facilities and our library are all funded, via the general rate, as they are supposed to be and appropriately resourced, promoted and utilised. What are the three main issues facing the Warkworth subdivision and/or Rodney as a whole? Transport the public transport options to the city to and from Warkworth and surrounds. Review the Local Board targeted rate we currently pay, which should not have been passed (I understand there was some dubious/marginal counting of the support). Investigate why the Board decided to apply this local funding to projects that have the worst Return on Investment possible. Do you think the Dome Valley is the best place for a new landfill for Auckland? NO! Although I am unaware of what other options there are there must be a better one than this site which drains to the pristine Kaipara Harbour! What skills can you offer that other candidates cant? I have a long history of involvement with community organisations and management. I have an interest in dispute resolution and a sales and marketing background. The ability to listen, process and act when required or discuss and dissect issues. Experience, Empathy, Excellence and action! The ability to make considered and rational decisions. What do you hope to achieve if elected? Review the targeted rate we currently pay. Is it necessary? Is it an effective and appropriate use of property tax? Re-engage the Local Board with the communities represented and ensure that there is a forum for people to be heard. And to ensure that Auckland Council continues to increase the spend on our rural roads. In addition to the unsealed country roads, some of our main roads, e.g. to Matakana and Snells Beach, should be upgraded. Tim Holdgate Independent Married with four adult children, our family has lived and grown up on our Matakana lifestyle property over the past 25 years. During this time I have been actively involved in the Warkworth and greater Rodney community, as a finance manager in the banking industry and as a registered valuer. My Warkworth community involvement has included 10 years on the Mahurangi College Board of Trustees (four years as chairman), together with various sporting and cultural committees. Other local community roles have included seven years as a trustee on the Harbour Sport Trust Board and as a member of the Mahurangi Collective for Sport and Recreation. Why are you standing for the Local Board election? To fairly and transparently represent the interests of the Warkworth community and all community groups, by demanding accountability from Auckland Council to have our fair rates share spent locally. What are the three main issues facing the Warkworth subdivision and/or Rodney as a whole? Managing population growth and employment opportunity in regards to the Unitary Plan, particularly the required capital infrastructure. Regional Fuel Tax, currently unfair proportioning of the RFT in Rodney, together with the rapidly deteriorating condition of the roading network. Basic provisioning of transport, water, sewage and rubbish Do you think the Dome Valley is the best place for a new landfill for Auckland? Certainly not a potential environmental disaster! What skills can you offer that other candidates cant? I have the financial qualifications and business experience to work collaboratively to provide financially feasible outcomes for all Rodney ratepayers. As a registered valuer and with a project management background, I have a keen eye for the required added value aspects involved. What do you hope to achieve if elected? Provide a strong voice at local board level, to vigorously challenge and defend situations that arise regarding Rodneys existence within Auckland City. Beth Houlbrooke Rodney First Ive lived in the Warkworth area for 25 years and during that time have raised a family, farmed, owned businesses, been on a school Board of Trustees and run a thriving businesswomens network. My family are active locally and we have had a bach at Takatu for 60 years. I love boating and fishing, and choral singing when time allows. This will be my third term on the local board, having first been elected in 2013. Why are you standing for the Local Board election? Im standing for re-election because there are so many projects underway that I am keen to see through, and because I get immense satisfaction out of serving this community that I have come to know and love so well. What are the three main issues facing the Warkworth subdivision and/or Rodney as a whole? Impending growth and being prepared for this with necessary infrastructure in place, especially roads, stormwater and wastewater capacity. Ensuring we have the necessary community infrastructure in place such as access to public transport, enough space to assemble and enjoy our recreation such as parks and community facilities. Environmental impacts, and resilience of our rural road network, as a result of development. Do you think the Dome Valley is the best place for a new landfill for Auckland? This decision will be made by independent commissioners and possibly, ultimately, the Environment Court, not local board members. The consent application will be publicly notified so the public will get to have their say. What skills can you offer that other candidates cant? As the only incumbent standing for re-election for Warkworth subdivision, I offer experience, an excellent track record, and important continuity. I have formed valuable relationships with senior council and CCO officials, and politicians at every level. These connections and networks are vital to ensuring Rodneys voice is heard. I come as a package deal with two other Rodney First candidates, who will share the workload and bring a balance of skills and representation. What do you hope to achieve if elected? I would love to see the completion of walking and cycling connections from the Warkworth Showgrounds to the Cement Works, and progress made on the Snells Beach to Warkworth (Puhinui) Trail. I also want to see the multi-sport facility at the Showgrounds underway, some great town centre improvements to Warkworth, and the Park & Ride built. Beyond Warkworth town itself, Id like to see all our villages and beach settlements clean and thriving, and our roads safe and in good repair. Paul Manton Rodney First Im an engineer, business owner, farmer, rural contractor and land manager for a local forest. I live just north of Puhoi on Ahuroa Road (gravel), and have for the last 30 years. I have been a proactive and involved member of the Puhoi and Warkworth community. Currently I am co-chair of the Puhoi Community Forum, sit on the Mahurangi Community Sport and Recreation Collective Committee, and am an active participant in the Matakana Coast Trail Trust. I love riding horses and having a beer after a hard days work. Why are you standing for the Local Board election? Its important that communities, groups and clubs have strong representation so they can grow and prosper. I was lucky enough growing up that some like-minded people felt the same way. Now its my turn to pay back and advocate on your behalf. What are the three main issues facing the Warkworth subdivision and/or Rodney as a whole? I wish there were only three! Roading unsealed, maintenance issues, congestion, and poor communication from Auckland Transport. The impact of uncontrolled growth on infrastructure, facilities, and the environment. The slow dismantlement of the rural way of life, with urbanisation turning Rodney into the Auckland sprawl. Do you think the Dome Valley is the best place for a new landfill for Auckland? I have strong views on waste and I think this needs to be addressed at a central government level, it needs a policy where the funding and ability to truly solve the issues exist. Local Board wont get a vote. What skills can you offer that other candidates cant? I can only speak to my strengths and the candidates I know. I am prepared to work in a team, I will listen, I will make informed decisions, I will stand by my mistakes and be held accountable, I will work hard on your behalf using the knowledge and experiences I have gained. I will be heard when its needed, I will communicate. What do you hope to achieve if elected? There needs to be better communication with Auckland Transport. We need to utilise the spending of the roading budgets to maximise cost benefits across all roading solutions. We need to get AT to address dangerous parts of our rural road network. I would like to secure the future of Rodney for our young and old alike and be proud of those achievements. Vote Paul Manton Rodney First and my running mates, Beth Houlbrooke and Ayla Walker. Ayla Walker Rodney First Im a Mum, wifey, celebrant, business coach, millennial and planet lover, who lives in Ahuroa with my husband and two children, aged five and two. Im very down to earth, approachable, open-minded and good for a laugh. I recently completed my business diploma and I am mentored through the One Warkworth Business Association. I am part of the Santa Parade and Mahurangi Winter Festival of Lights committees. As a member of the Board of Trustees of Ahuroa School, I take great pride in representing local families and their children. Why are you standing for the Local Board election? I am a product of this community. So many people have helped me and without those kind, respectful people I wouldnt be who I am today. I appreciate our volunteers and I want to continue their good work and learn from our elders so that I may pass the teachings on to the next generation. I am standing to give representation for my generation and younger generations, we are the future and we need a voice. What are the three main issues facing the Warkworth subdivision and/or Rodney as a whole? Support and education around environmental sustainability and zero waste. More involvement from our teens and young families in shaping our parks and public facilities. Ongoing support for our local businesses, social enterprises and non-government organisations. Do you think the Dome Valley is the best place for a new landfill for Auckland? We need a long term solution for waste, landfill is pollution and only delaying the inevitable. What will we do when we run out of space to hide rubbish? We need to reduce our waste, recycle, reuse, and reuse again what we can and give our kids the best shot they have at a clean planet. What skills can you offer that other candidates cant? I bring a fresh charismatic perspective with love for our people and community, but above all else I will work as part of a team to see that we are effective, efficient and get the best outcomes. I understand the wellbeing challenges that 2019 presents to young people and young families; financial pressure, stress, anxiety and expensive housing. What do you hope to achieve if elected? All I have ever wanted is to work for my community. I love this place the people. With the support of my team, Paul Manton and Beth Houlbrooke, we will work hard to pave the way for future generations to come. Kaipara District Council, Otamatea Ward Councillor (two seats) Mark Vincent Who are you? I grew up in Hamilton. After secondary school, I completed an assignment with Volunteer Service Abroad in Fiji before starting a law degree in Wellington. My passion for the land ultimately led me to farming in Northland. I met and married Cindy, who brought three children to the marriage and they have provided us with nine grandchildren. We graze dairy heifers on our harbour-side property. Why do you want to stand for the Otamatea Ward? It has been my home base for the past 35 years, but I want to contribute to the future of the Kaipara District as a whole. What is your number one priority if elected? We need more people. This will help ensure the viability of existing businesses and community services, and open up more opportunities for new enterprises and improvements to functions. To achieve this, we need a roading network which is fit for purpose, and a district plan which enables development while protecting and enhancing our physical environment. What other issues are important to you? Council could do more to support existing community organisations in the district through facilitating governance training, strategic planning and helping with preparing funding applications. This will help to improve services and facilities using external funding rather than rates. The future of the Kaipara Harbour is also important to me, which is why I formed Otamatea HarbourCare. I want the KDC to continue its support for the Integrated Kaipara Harbour Management Group. What skills and strengths do you have to offer? Apart from my past experience as a senior manager at KDC, I have gained much governance experience through establishing Otamatea HarbourCare, and chairing the Kauri Museum board, successfully leading it through a restructuring to return it to a financially sustainable operation. I have been a member of the Kaipara and Whangarei district licensing committees for the last five years. I have a couple of farming diplomas and a post-graduate diploma in development studies and a practical and creative approach to problem solving. Ian Miller Who are you? Im formerly from West Auckland and now standing as a candidate for the Otamatea Ward in Kaipara. I live in Paparoa. With a background in engineering, journalism, information technology and business, I believe Kaipara needs to improve its roading maintenance, tourism planning and operational transparency. What is your number one priority if elected? Otamatea is an old ward with new boundaries. With a predominantly rural population, it is crucial that our roads, both unsealed and sealed, are up to scratch. What other issues are important to you? As the gateway to Kaipara and Northland, Otamatea has an important role to play in making sure our growing tourism numbers are adequately catered for. Its important that every visitor feels welcomed and enjoys their time with us. Kaipara District also needs to do more to improve all ratepayers access to information. With increased access to Council information online, ratepayers should be able to see that their dollars are being spent wisely and that everyone is getting their fair share. What skills and strengths do you have to offer? Prior to moving to Paparoa, I had a long involvement with the Massey Birdwood Settlers Association in West Auckland. I offer a wealth of local government experience in my new home. Other candidates for the Otamatea ward Anna Curnow and Craig Jepson did not respond to Mahurangi Matters questions. Attempts to contact candidate Wayne Linton were unsuccessful. RELATED STORIES Candidates clash on rates, roads and right turns Lord and Vaughan oppose Dome Valley landfill plans Voters Guide Kaipara and Rodney What lies beyond the pandemic? MassForward is MassLives series examining the journey of Massachusetts businesses through and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. ________________ The two nudist resorts in Massachusetts have opened their gates to visitors for the 2020 season but have seen a drop in numbers attending. Were nowhere near the traffic we normally get, Jeff, a trustee at Sandy Terraces who did not want his last name identified, told the Cape Cod Times. About 40% of the regular members say theyre not coming this year. Sandy Terraces in Marstons Mills is a 10-acre nudist campground is entering its 69th season after opening for the first time in the late 1940s. At a resort where clothing is optional, masks having to be worn is a very new feature at the campground. Sandy Terraces is open to non member day-trippers during the week but restricted to members on weekends and usually sees as many as 10 new visitors a day. Now its two or three people coming to the camp daily. Jeff said to the Cape Cod Times that the majority of the members at the campground are seniors. With the older generation being more vulnerable to the coronavirus, face mask regulations have been put in place to avoid the spread of the virus at the campground. Sandy Terraces is one of two nudist campgrounds in Massachusetts, the second is the Berkshire Vista Nudist Resort in Hancock. Much like the rest of the state, both nudist resorts have been relying on the state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance when reopening. Usually, both nudist campgrounds would be opening in May, but due to the worries, they have been delayed until told otherwise. Day visitors in the Berkshires are still not permitted, according to their website. We are not yet allowing day visitors, said a statement from Berkshire Vista. When we do start admitting day visitors, it will be pre-registered and pre-paid to comply with the protocols and guidelines set forth by the state. The Berkshire Vista campground advises those coming to call ahead to book a spot when the campground does finally open. We have initiated a specific routine of sanitizing before opening at 9:00 AM on Friday thru Sunday, then every two hours, states the guidelines of the resort. We will clear the pool area, spray down railings, latches and chaise lounges, then re-admitting up to 23 persons. illustration photo, source: VNA Recent costs for live hogs (see box) in the country continued to draw a bleak picture for the domestic husbandry sector in the first half of the year. However, proactive enterprises are taking advantage of rising prices in an attempt to profit. Reports of the vast revenue and profit of Dabaco Group JSC, a multi-field group specialising mainly in animal feed, cattle, and poultry breeding, as well as food processing, is one such example demonstrating the sectors speed of growth. Talking to VIR, a representative of another foreign-invested group confirmed that despite the company having to spend massive fees to prevent and control the pandemic, it still achieved its whole-year profit targets in only three months. This breakthrough growth has not only offset those fees but also the loss from breeding chicken. It is a historic opportunity for husbandry companies, the representative said. There have been no official reports about bleak business results of either foreign or domestic husbandry enterprises in the first half of this year. Even enterprises outside the sector, including steelmaker Hoa Phat Group and automobile assembly group THACO, have reported impressive business results, thanks in part to the rising price of pigs. In 2015, Hoa Phat Thai Binh Breeding One Member Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hoa Phat Group, was granted an investment licence for its pig breeding project with a scale of more than 20,000 pigs in Thai Thuy district of the northern province of Thai Binh. After five years, the group stands 17th in terms of market share in the pig breeding sector with 200,000 units in total. In the first quarter of this year, the group earned VND480 billion ($20.8 million) in profit from its agricultural segment, accounting for 21 per cent of its total profits. Hoa Phat expects to earn VND10 trillion ($434.7 million) in revenue and VND1.2 trillion ($52.1 million) in after-tax profit from agriculture, making it the second-largest revenue stream following steel. Group chairman Tran Dinh Long confirmed at its shareholders meeting in May that a large part of the profit from the agricultural segment came from the higher selling price of pigs. Being aware of the important contribution of the husbandry sector, Hoa Phat will continue to promote existing livestock farms and expand when possible. The groups goal is to reach a maximum capacity of 600,000 tonnes of animal feed and 450,000 pigs per year. Last month, meanwhile, THACO added pig breeding to its business registration certificate. This move came in the context of failures in the cow breeding sector. The expansion of enterprises has raised expectations of a bright picture for the animal husbandry sector the second half of this year, following a bumpy past six months. Risks of a return of African swine fever (ASF) and the impact of the current pandemic have been creating difficulties for re-populating pigs and ensuring steady supply for the domestic market. In the first six months of this year, the industry faced massive difficulties due to both disease outbreaks. The latest report published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that ASF returned in 20 cities and provinces including in Hanoi, Cao Bang, Bac Kan, and Lang Son in the north, forcing a cull of 4,000 pigs. A representative of a foreign-invested husbandry company told VIR, While ASF has broken out again, the number of pigs raised by households remains limited, thus information about the epidemic has not been mentioned regularly in the media. Meanwhile, along with the impact of the pandemic, the cost of breeding pigs has been another barrier for re-populating herds. Pig farm owner Nguyen Tan Hau told VIR that the selling price had already increased to nearly VND2.5 million ($110) per unit, and is even more so now. I hoped the price would fall when Thai-imported breeding pigs arrived in Vietnam. However, the selling price of has climbed to VND3-3.5 million ($130-152) per unit. OTTAWA - A Quebec photographer wants a judge to order the RCMP to destroy all the images of Canadians it obtained through a controversial facial-recognition tool. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The RCMP logo is seen outside Royal Canadian Mounted Police "E" Division Headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on April 13, 2018. A Quebec photographer wants a judge to order the RCMP to destroy all of the images of Canadians it obtained through a controversial facial-recognition tool. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck OTTAWA - A Quebec photographer wants a judge to order the RCMP to destroy all the images of Canadians it obtained through a controversial facial-recognition tool. Ha Vi Doan's proposed class-action lawsuit in Federal Court seeks unspecified damages for her and other Canadians whose photos and related information were allegedly part of a massive database compiled by U.S. firm Clearview AI and used by the Mounties. Clearview AI's technology worries many privacy advocates because it allows for the collection of huge numbers of images from multiple sources with the aim of helping police forces, financial institutions and other clients identify individuals from photos. The federal privacy commissioner said this month the company will stop offering its facial-recognition services in Canada in response to an investigation by the commissioner and three provincial counterparts. Clearview's retreat includes an indefinite suspension of the company's contract with the RCMP, its last remaining client in Canada. The Mounties said in February that their National Child Exploitation Crime Centre had two licences for the Clearview AI application and had used it in 15 cases, resulting in the identification and rescue of two children. The RCMP said a few of its units were also using Clearview AI on a trial basis to determine its usefulness. Doan's proposed class proceeding says the RCMP became a Clearview AI client even though the company's services entailed a "large-scale invasion of privacy of residents and citizens of Canada," as well as infringement of copyright. Doan is passionate about photography and takes pictures of herself and others, posting a significant number on her own website and online platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, the filing says. She alleges her "personal biometric information" and photos have been collected, copied, reproduced, stored or used by Clearview without her knowledge or consent. The class action would cover three types of plaintiffs: people in Canada whose images are in the Clearview AI database, those who were the subjects of targeted database searches by the RCMP, and those holding copyright and moral rights with respect to photos. It seeks a court order that the RCMP destroy all documents and information from Clearview in response to searches of the database. The court action also wants the Mounties to be barred from future use of the database "or similar services of other providers." The RCMP "should have known better" and verified compliance with Canadian laws and regulations before using Clearview's services, said Lev Alexeev, a lawyer for Doan. Cpl. Caroline Duval, an RCMP spokeswoman, said the force was reviewing the filing, but declined further comment since the matter is before the courts. Doan has filed a second planned class-action suit in Federal Court against Clearview AI, alleging privacy and copyright infringements. It seeks an order that Clearview destroy all personal information about Canadians and be forbidden from doing business in Canada. Representatives of Clearview AI had no immediate comment. Stay informed The latest updates on the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 delivered to your inbox every weeknight. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. On its website, the company says it aims to help law-enforcement agencies solve the toughest cases, and its technology comes with strict guidelines and safeguards to ensure investigators use it only for its intended purpose. Dozens of groups and individuals working to protect privacy, human rights and civil liberties recently wrote to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair urging a ban on the use of facial-recognition surveillance by federal law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. No federal directives on the use of facial recognition technology have been given to law enforcement, said Mary-Liz Power, a spokeswoman for Blair. "Canadians can continue to be confident in the important work performed by our agencies to keep our communities safe." Follow @JimBronskill on Twitter This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2020. Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Mauritania Monday recorded 91 new confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) infections out of 766 tests carried out, two deaths and 138 recoveries, an official source told PANA here TELUS launches first wave of its 5G network to bolster Canadas economic productivity, improve virtual healthcare, and support digital education. The net network is projected to create 250,000 Canadian jobs. TELUS will invest an additional $40 billion over the next three years to support the roll out of its 5G network. TELUS will roll out its first wave 5G network in Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, and the Greater Toronto Area. It will continue to expand to an additional 26 markets across Canada throughout the remainder of the year. TELUS 5G will be available at no additional cost on TELUS Peace of Mind plans with endless data and no overage fees. Our team understands the critical importance of connectivity for all Canadians, particularly given the new reality imposed by the global health emergency. As the first phase of our 5G rollout, we are pleased to offer citizens access to the next generation of wireless technology that will profoundly enhance the way we connect to information, resources and one another, said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO, TELUS. TELUS 5G network, built on the foundation of TELUS award-winning 4G LTE network, will support the latest 5G-ready devices, including the Samsung Galaxy 5G S20 series, LG V60 ThinQ 5G Dual Screen and Motorola Edge+. Our 5G network, built on the backbone of our PureFibre fibre optic infrastructure, will bring Canadians in Canada the fastest, most robust communications technology in the world that will set the foundation of Smart Cities and industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles, next generation virtual healthcare, immersive education, agriculture technology and next level gaming, said Eros Spadotto, Executive Vice President, Technology Strategy and Business Transformation. Since 2000, TELUS has invested nearly $200 billion in wireless and fibre optic network infrastructure, spectrum and operations to enhance the coverage, speed, and reliability of its networks to connect customers across Canada. For more information, visit telus.com/5G. Kate Middleton has emerged out of the U.K.'s lockdown with a fresh new haircut. The Duchess of Cambridge made an appearance on BBC Breakfast for a segment that aired Tuesday, wearing an Emilia Wickstead polka dot dress paired with espadrille wedges, and revealing a new haircut, chopped into soft layers framing her face with caramel highlights. As quarantine measures have eased in England, the duchess has begun making her first rounds of in-person appearances after months of public engagements via Zoom. She sat down with BBC to discuss Tiny Happy People, an initiative for new parents and their babies aiming to address the language gap among children aged under five across the U.K. During the appearance, she also joked that she's become a "feeding machine" to her children, Prince George, 6; Princess Charlotte, 5; and Prince Louis, 2. Story continues "My children have bottomless pits," she said. "I feel like a constant feeding machine for them. Louis doesn't understand social distancing, he goes out wanting to cuddle everything, particularly any babies younger than him." Kensington Palace also shared photos of Kate during the making of Tiny Happy People back in November, posting a series of shots of her on Instagram in a long-sleeved blue dress and black pumps. "Families and carers are at the heart of nurturing the next generation of happy, healthy adults, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to turn to for advice," she said in a statement about the initiative. "Tiny Happy People is an invaluable resource which provides parents and carers with support and tips, as well as simple activities to ensure children develop the language skills they need to have the best possible start in life. I am delighted to have been part of its journey and hope families across the UK will enjoy exploring the resources." RELATED: Kate Middleton Broke Out Her Wimbledon Wardrobe for a Very Special Occasion Earlier this month, she and Prince William had their first in-person joint appearance since quarantine, coordinating outfits for a visit to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn to mark the 72nd anniversary of the NHS (the United Kingdom's National Health Service). A coronavirus cluster at a south-western Sydney pub has been genomically linked to Melbourne cases, putting NSW on high alert for a similar large-scale outbreak. As the Crossroads Hotel outbreak in Casula grew to at least 30 cases on Tuesday, genomic testing conducted by NSW Health revealed a Blue Mountains resident who dined at the venue on July 3 is linked to the Victorian outbreak. NSW closed the border with Victoria on July 8. Cars queued for nearly a kilometre to attend a pop-up mobile clinic in Victoria Park, Picton. Credit:Dean Sewell Cases from the Crossroads outbreak have continued to spread to other businesses in the area, with the Kmart in Casula Mall forced to close after a worker tested positive, while two further cases linked to the Planet Fitness gym in Casula were also confirmed. A residential aged care home, Prestons Lodge, was also placed in lockdown as a precaution after a person visited a relative while infectious. But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said on Tuesday night she was not intending to implement another city-wide lockdown. (Bloomberg Opinion) -- More than a decade ago Time magazine anointed You its person of the year, in recognition of our collective effort to create free content for social media. Today Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. owes a similar debt of gratitude to its long-suffering customers. The cash theyve advanced the transatlantic airline for future bookings was every bit as important as that provided by billionaire founder Richard Branson and hedge fund Davidson Kempner Capital Management in saving it from collapse. Issuing customer refunds at a snails pace helped the airline preserve cash during the pandemic but unhappy customers will make Virgin Atlantics recovery that much tougher. Virgin Atlantic has confirmed that Davidson Kempner will inject 170 million pounds ($213 million) in secured debt as part of a 1.2 billion pounds rescue deal. That provides an external vote of confidence. The airlines co-owners, Bransons Virgin Group and Delta Air Lines Inc., will forgo 400 million pounds of fees owed. On top of that, Virgin Group injects 200 million pounds; in precisely what form isnt specified. The deal must still be approved by a court. The rescue suggests the U.K. government was right to push Virgin Atlantic to exhaust other options before demanding a government bailout. Finding private money was a tall order because the carrier entered the pandemic with a lot of debt, a paucity of assets it could sell and a track record of losses. A strategic focus on the once lucrative North American market the destination accounted for about 70% of group revenues has become a vulnerability. The coronavirus is still ripping through the southern United States; those flying transatlantic face a fortnight in quarantine. Its difficult to know when and to what extent demand will return. Branson, whose billionaire status and tax residency in the British Virgin Islands made a rescue politically unpalatable, has done the honorable thing by stumping up more of his own cash rather than relying on taxpayers. He also stays in control. Fortunately for him, monetizing part of his stake in space-tourism business Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., hasnt crimped its stratospheric valuation too much. Story continues Davidson Kempner is taking a risk because the value of the takeoff slots and aircraft against which its loan is secured is uncertain, but at least it has some fallback. Its Virgin Atlantics customers who have gone the extra mile. Blaming the difficulty of processing such a high volume of refund requests, the airline has taken up to 120 days to give customers their money back when their flights were cancelled, thereby turning its passengers into unsecured creditors. At December 2018, the most recent date for which there are published accounts, Virgin Atlantic and the associated holidays operation held 520 million pounds of cash from forward sales. Since the crisis began, social media has been awash with complaints about poor customer service; the airline came near bottom of a recent consumer survey of the way travel companies have handled refund requests. Chief Executive Shai Weiss acknowledged that we have not lived up to the high standards we set ourselves. One sticking point in the rescue talks was apparently that credit card acquirers, which authorize and process card payments, threatened to withhold the cash that Virgin Atlantic generated from future bookings, instead of passing it on to the airline. You can understand why Lloyds Banking Group Plcs Cardnet and Fiserv Inc.s First Data may have been hesitant: Theyd be on the hook if Virgin Atlantic went bust and customers claimed a refund via their bank. The company said Tuesday it has credit-card providers support. This rescue shows those already exposed to Virgin Atlantic, and some who arent, will give it another chance. But the carriers path back to profitability targeted for 2022 remains precarious. The $7 billion pre-tax quarterly loss that co-owner Delta just announced included a $200 million write-down on Virgin Atlantic and underscores the scale of the challenge now facing the aviation sector. Not only is Virgin Atlantic focused on a difficult route but its small size could be an impediment to operating efficiently: After retiring less efficient aircraft it expects to operate fewer than 40 planes. A plan to cut the workforce by one-third will deliver savings, but at what cost to service quality? Bransons child lives to fly another day but the airlines mission statement to become the most-loved travel company now requires urgent attention. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times. 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. Joseph Casciotti calls himself an avid barbecue enthusiast who will put just about anything on his smoker. So when the Katy resident started seeing social-media posts around Memorial Day weekend about smoked queso, he was game. Casciotti recently whipped up a batch of smoked queso, making him one of the many who have embraced a cooking trend that is sweeping Texas. In recent months, foodies on Facebook and Instagram have enthusiastically posted comely photos of the suddenly hot dish. So, what is it? Its an easy, anything-goes approach to the Texas-beloved cheese dip that is accomplished on an outdoor smoker or grill. The components of queso cheeses, chiles, tomato- and onion-stoked salsa, and various meats are assembled in a disposable aluminum pan or a cast-iron skillet and set in the toasty confines of a smoker or grill until hot and bubbly. Give it a stir and bring on the tortilla chips. Voila, a pan of gooey, irresistible queso. Sarah Penrod, a Dallas-based chef and cookbook author, isnt sure where the smoked queso trend originated but knows it has had tremendous traction during this spring and summers pandemic home cooking. It felt like something that was already a thing, but it popped up, said Penrod, whom Texans may remember from her turn on Season 10 of Food Networks Food Network Star. I think everyone is looking for something easy to make, especially now. I also think the reason it got popular is because of all those beautiful colors. Plus, everyone is cooking outside, so the timing of it was perfect. Recipe: Basic Smoked Queso Penrod, who writes about food on her Urban Cowgirl website (urbancowgirllife.com), made a video of preparing two versions of smoked queso a good tutorial for those who havent tried it. Like all chile con queso dips, smoked queso is wide open to personal interpretation. You can fine-tune it to your taste. Put in whatevers in your refrigerator, Penrod said. No matter what you put in it, its going to be pretty good. Social-media posts convey all manner of smoked queso ingredients. The traditional American cheese (Velveeta or H-E-Bs Easy Melt) and Ro-Tel merger reigns. But there are plenty of versions using a variety of cheeses and chiles, onions, pico, cilantro and meats including taco meat, chopped brisket, chorizo, fajita meat and pork sausage. The common denominator is placing the ingredients in a pan and then placing it in a smoker or on a grill (the latter could be called grilled queso). The smoker obviously imparts wood flavors, but queso made on the grill without the benefit of wood smoke taste just as good. A tip: Dont set the aluminum pan over the hottest part of the grill. A low-to-medium temperature works fine. Rita Olsen wanted to take a more natural approach to her smoked queso by avoiding processed cheese and canned tomatoes. The San Antonio resident, who is passionate about barbecue, roasted her chiles (poblano and jalapeno) and combined them with grill-sauteed onions and garlic, cream and half-and-half, and a variety of good cheeses including Oaxacan. She let it melt over a live hickory-wood fire and finished it in an offset smoker. Her recent attempts at smoked queso were a hit with her family and friends, she said. Being a San Antonio native, I obviously love queso, said Olsen, who runs a family farm and hopes to turn her love of barbecue into a food business (qthefire.com). Im a little bit of a purist, so when I have the option of using locally sourced fresh ingredients, Im on it. Smoking the cheese dip lends a unique flavor, she said. The flavor profile you get from it is not comparable to cooking inside, she said. Theres an element of involvement that makes it more rewarding. And anything you can cook outside is always going to taste better than on a simmering stove or a crockpot. Casciotti said he enjoyed making the queso because it easily can be tailored. He recently used Velveeta, pepper jack cheese, mild Italian sausage, pico and green chile. Recipe: Smoked Queso The only thing Id do differently next time is use a little cream cheese, the employee of the Harris County fire marshal said. Even when it was hot, it was still pretty thick. I think it needed liquid, milk or cream cheese to make it a little more loose. It tasted awesome. Candace Lillibridge said she had to make smoked queso once she saw it blowing up on social media. Its been showing up on almost every social feed. It was hitting my feeds so much I was thinking of it day and night, the Houston physical therapist said. Lillibridge recently attempted smoked queso, making it on a Weber grill with applewood smoke. She said smoking took it up a notch. In addition to the ease, she appreciated the ability to attractively compose her queso at the outset. Everyone is into charcuterie. Im not that fancy. I said to myself, I feel like this is like queso charcuterie. Because queso is forgiving, Lillibridge said, she appreciates that leftovers can be used assorted cheeses in the refrigerator, leftover barbecue, random vegetables. She threw some leftover restaurant salsa into her smoked queso. Would she make it again? Absolutely, Lillibridge said: Its my new favorite trend. greg.morago@chron.com The policing of mandatory masks on public transport to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 remains in a state of disarray as thousands of passengers yesterday failed to obey the new law. Although the National Transport Authority (NTA) claimed compliance was good, it was as low as 60pc on some bus routes, at 80pc on Dublin's Luas system and 80-90pc on Dublin Bus. According to new regulations, flouting the rule should carry a penalty of six months jail or a fine of 2,500. However, both the National Bus and Railworkers' Union (NBRU) and Siptu insisted yesterday that frontline staff cannot be compelled to enforce the law. Refusal The NTA was unable to say which workers would be delegated to impose the rule and remove passengers. Neither the NTA or Irish Rail could say what the enforcement plan is, even if it is not being used at this stage. Expand Close Compliance was high in general / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Compliance was high in general Dublin Bus referred all questions to the NTA and Transdev, which operates Luas, did not respond to media queries. An NTA spokesman was not able to say at what point passengers would be refused entry for not having a mask and whether they would have to leave a mainline rail train before their destination. The spokesman did not answer questions on whether transport staff will be disciplined if they refuse to enforce the law. It comes as concern grows about the sustained higher number of new cases of Covid-19 being diagnosed over the past week, with 11 more people found to have the virus yesterday. Expand Close Passengers on Dublin bus wearing face masks / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Passengers on Dublin bus wearing face masks The NTA said its immediate priority was to ensure compliance among customers through co-operation by educating, engaging and encouraging face covering usage. The NTA appears to have done no pre-planning on the transition from voluntary to mandatory wearing of masks . In a written statement, a spokesman said: "There is extensive information in stations, at stops and on board vehicles advising customers of the requirement to wear a face mask." He claimed "staff are directly ensuring there is awareness by engaging with customers and that is the focus at this stage". "There does not seem to be any confusion among passengers today with compliance rates in the 80s and 90s," he said. Staff remain deeply concerned they will end up getting into confrontation with passengers if they have to demand compliance and refuse entry. Dermot O'Leary of the NBRU said he was encouraged by compliance but warned that the "problem of enforcement is still an issue." Antoinette Cunningham, general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, said gardai could only become involved if transport staff first attempt to enforce the law. Resist If transport staff continue to resist enforcing the law, it would be necessary to redraw the regulations because gardai cannot become involved in a first stage of applying the regulations, she added. In Dublin city yesterday many morning commuters by train, tram and bus heeded the mandatory face mask rule, with the vast majority of passengers travelling with face coverings. While passenger numbers are still very low compared with pre-Covid times, bus and tram drivers reported a big difference in the numbers wearing masks today compared to last week. One Luas worker who was recording passenger numbers and evaluating how many of them were wearing masks, said that on more than 10 trams she had surveyed there were 286 passengers and 280 of these travellers were wearing masks, which is almost 98pc compliance. Another Luas worker expressed the hope that public pressure would improve compliance. Rights organisations say 3,599 people were interrogated on charges of defamation between 2015 and May 2019. Beirut, Lebanon Lebanese authorities are engaged in an alarming crackdown on critical free speech aimed at suppressing widespread demands for accountability over corruption and mismanagement, 14 rights organisations said on Monday. Human Rights Watch, member of the Coalition to Defend Freedom of Expression in Lebanon launched on Monday, said 3,599 people were interrogated on charges of defamation between 2015 when large anti-government protests took place and May 2019. That is an average of about two people questioned per day by just one of the countrys main four security agencies the Cybercrimes Bureau. The Lebanese Army, General Security and State Security also regularly interrogate and detain activists. New arrests have spiked since October 2019 when the country witnessed its biggest-ever mass protests. At least 60 people were investigated for social media posts alone since demonstrations ushered in a new wave of outspoken criticism of the countrys ruling class. Lebanons politicians have failed to provide for citizens most basic needs, and their corrupt practices have squandered away billions of dollars of public funds, said the coalition in a statement. Yet, instead of heeding protesters calls for accountability, the authorities are waging a campaign of repression against people who expose corruption and rightfully criticise the governments significant failings. Lebanon is still seen as a rare beacon of critical free speech in a region where dictators and autocrats ruthlessly enforce the official state narrative. But signatories to the statement including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, local watchdogs ALEF and Legal Agenda, independent media platforms Megaphone and DARAJ Media as well as an alternative media syndicate warn this status is in jeopardy. Police state fears Were very concerned that Lebanon is becoming a police state, Doja Daoud, a Lebanese journalist and founding member of the Alternative Media Syndicate, told Al Jazeera. Those in power are trying to lower the ceiling of freedoms so much that it may crash onto our heads as they try to hide the truth of their corruption. Lebanon regularly ranks among the worlds most corrupt countries. Its ruling class of former military leaders and business tycoons have long been accused of plundering state coffers and mismanaging the economy, pushing the country into a disastrous financial crisis. In addition to the crackdown via courts and security services, several activists have been beaten by supporters of establishment parties in recent weeks. These include Bashir Abo Zeid, the editor of an independent newspaper named after the October 17 protests, and Wassef Harake, an outspoken anti-establishment activist and former independent candidate for parliament. They definitely dont want strong independent media and free expression to hold them accountable, Daoud said. Were raising our voices now because soon, we fear we may not be able to speak. Coalition members described as jarring a large army presence outside the venue where their launch event was held on Monday, including armoured vehicles and gun-wielding soldiers. Intimidation tactics Among the violations documented by the coalition are a range of physical and psychological interrogation tactics by authorities that people affected believed were intended to humiliate, punish, and deter them from publishing content deemed to be insulting to or critical of powerful people. The prosecution and security agencies acted improperly and sometimes illegally to intimidate and silence people charged in these cases, the coalition said. Lebanons constitution guarantees freedom of expression but sets limits within the law, including defamation of public officials, punishable by up to one year in prison, in addition to insulting the president or religious rituals which carry a maximum of two year and three-year sentences, respectively. Insulting the Lebanese flag or army is also punishable by up to three years in prison. These laws, many of them older than the countrys independence from France in 1943, are enforced by prosecutors today. On June 15 the countrys top prosecutor ordered a security agency to investigate social media posts deemed offensive to the president. Soon after, Michel Chamoun, a government critic, was arrested for criticising the crackdown. Parliament and government are together working to amend the countrys aged media laws, saying they want to bring them into the digital age. The coalition warned it was not privy to discussions and said the most recent draft they obtained included increased penalties on some charges. They urged authorities to abolish criminal defamation and recognise the public interest of criticising officials involved in wrongdoing. At this critical juncture for the country, Lebanon needs laws that protect people exposing corruption and misconduct rather than punishing them, the coalition said. Space Center Houston Photo: Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston / Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston Photo: Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston / Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston Space Center Houston plans to reopen Sunday, July 19. The beloved tourist draw shut down in March in an response to what were then the "latest city, state and federal guidelines" regarding the coronavirus. During the closure Space Center Houston worked both on safety and its content, so it promises "a new enhanced guest experience with new safety measures and new exhibits." The facility was originally scheduled to reopen July 1 but that was postponed at the last minute. Among the safety measures: The museum requires purchase of timed admission tickets, which helps it limit guest entry and capacity in the museum. Touchless entry has also been implemented, and multiple hand sanitizer stations have been placed throughout the museum. Employees and guests ages two and older are required to wear face coverings. Space Center Houston believes its 250,000 square feet of space will offer guests ample room for social distancing. Also the museum's galleries will now have a one-directional flow. More vulnerable visitors also have special admission hours from 9 a.m.-10 a.m. on Tuesdays. As for the new offerings: One year after Space Center Houston and NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the museum opens a new exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the near catastrophic Apollo 13 mission with the exhibit "Apollo 13; Failure is not an option." Also a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that has seen use will be part of a new permanent outdoor exhibit. It is the only Falcon 9 in display beyond SpaceX headquarters. Guests are encouraged to visit Space Center Houston's "Know Before You Go Guide" page for best practices in planning a visit. For more information or to buy tickets, visit Space Center Houston's site here. Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the largest in parliament, called Monday for consultations to appoint a new prime minister, a move opposed by President Kais Saied. Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh was sworn in in February after winning a confidence vote in parliament following four months of post-election deadlock amid tensions with Ennahdha. Fakhfakh is under investigation over alleged failure to hand over control of shares he owns in private companies that have won public contracts. Ennahdha consultative council asked party leader Rached Ghannouchi "to carry out consultations... on a change of government", council president Abdelkarim Harouni said. "The economic and social situation is very serious and can only be overcome by a government whose head is not suspected of any conflict of interest," he told a news conference. "Ennahdha does not allow any suspicion of corruption to prevail in the government," Harouni said. Relations between Ennahdha and Fakhfakh have been strained ever since the October legislative elections. President Saied rejected Ennahdha's call for consultations to go ahead. "There will be no consultations so long as the prime minister remains in power," his office said in a statement after a meeting with the premier. Tunisia's already fragile economy has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic. Fakhfakh said last month that the economy would shrink by some six percent this year as "all state enterprises are in bankruptcy". The U.S. State Department last week approved a deal to sell Taiwan $620 million worth of replacement parts and services to recertify its armory of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), America's largest defense contractor, was named the prime contractor on the deal, and the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (the Pentagon arm responsible for coordinating foreign arms sales) promptly notified Congress. China is not pleased, and says it's taking out its displeasure on Lockheed Martin. China intends to impose "unspecified sanctions" against the defense contractor, Bloomberg reported this morning. The news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry as saying "China firmly opposes U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," an island nation that the People's Republic of China considers integral to its own territory. In response to the U.S. move, the foreign ministry promised to "impose sanctions on the main contractor of this arms sale, Lockheed Martin." It is not entirely clear that Chinese sanctions can have much effect on Lockheed Martin, however. U.S. law already limits the amount of business that Lockheed can do with China. The company's Sikorsky subsidiary sells a few helicopters to Chinese companies from time to time, but for the most part, Lockheed's high-tech defense products are already banned from sale to China. Thus, a Chinese vow to not purchase these items appears to be a bit of an empty threat. One potential sanction that might have more bite would be if China bans the sale of components or raw materials used to produce Lockheed's weapons. Whether China will go this route remains to be seen. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 16:57 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663b593 1 World #students,student,Indonesian-students-abroad,Indonesian-students,united-states,#United-States,#Indonesian-students-abroad,#Indonesian-students,#COVID19,COVID-19,Education,#education Free Thousands of Indonesian students in the United States are in limbo following a Trump administration policy that requires foreign students to leave the country if their schools move classes entirely online in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The Trump administration, through its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, announced the rule last week for holders of certain student visas if their courses went fully online in the fall. In the US, the first semester of the school year often begins in early September and runs until mid-December. As we know, with the US government recently issuing the new policy regarding foreign students, basically, international students in the US cannot take a fully online set of courses and, instead, must have in-person classes or mixed classes, Foreign Ministry director for citizen protection Judha Nugraha said last week. He said all six Indonesian representative offices in the US had assured the nations students that the Indonesian government would protect them. Our representatives have also coordinated with various campuses regarding the US policy, including [exploring] the possibility of holding face-to-face or hybrid classes, Judha said. The new ICE policy exempts students at schools with full-time, in-person instruction, as well as most students attending schools with a mixed curriculum of in-person and online learning, provided those programs are approved by ICE, Reuters reported. While there are fewer Indonesian international students in the US than those from other countries, American education remains an attractive option for Indonesian students seeking an education abroad. The US has consistently been in the top five most favored destinations for Indonesian students, along with Australia, the United Kingdom, Singapore and China. Alvinsyah A. Pramono, the chair of the Indonesian Students Association in the United States (Permias), said the new policy had taken everyone by surprise, forcing all representative offices, including the education and culture attache, to seek clarification from US government agencies, particularly ICE, and campuses. This policy has confused everyone. However, so far we have not seen any immediate action because, from the data we have obtained, most campuses have opted to have hybrid systems, meaning they will conduct some in-person lectures, he said. Most of the 117 universities Permias surveyed have decided to use a combination of online and in-person classes to meet the requirements for the new school year this fall. Seventy-six schools confirmed that they would have hybrid systems, while 6 others had decided to hold classes entirely in person. Three institutions Harvard University, Vanderbilt University and San Joaquin Delta College are moving fully online for the semester, while the remaining 32 have not made a decision and will give further notice about their policies at a later time, the survey found. Despite assurances from most universities that they would use a mixed system, fears linger that policies will change along the way, as the US continues to report record-breaking daily increases in COVID-19 cases. Infections are rising in about 40 states, and the country broke global records by logging about 60,000 new cases a day in the four days prior to Sunday, Reuters reported. Alvin said some campuses that had previously opted for hybrid systems were now considering moving entirely online after the US holiday of Thanksgiving in November in anticipation of a second wave of outbreaks. This means that if the new regulation is still in place, Permias and the Indonesian representative offices have at least three months to prepare contingency plans, Alvin said. According to Permias data, 4,461 Indonesian university students are currently in the US, but the number affected could be higher if the regulation includes exchange students and students taking short courses in the US. Alvin, citing the latest update from the Indonesian Embassy, lamented the fact that ICE had yet to develop clear procedures on what would happen to students whose schools had moved entirely online. We are not clear about this because [ICE] is also depending on the grace period, he said. The grace period allows students to stay in the US for 60 days after they graduate, which will allow them to take care of certain things, including changing their visa status if they want to work in the country. Students who decide not to finish their studies get a 15-day grace period, while students who are expelled do not have a grace period. Some universities that previously announced they would move most of their 2020 classes online, including Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, filed a lawsuit in federal court on Wednesday, asking a judge to temporarily block the rule and invalidate it, Reuters reported. They argued in the lawsuit that the new policy threw their operations, and the operations of virtually all of higher education in the United States, into chaos. Kang Kuan, vice president of culinary at Chowbotics, holds a custom salad made by his company's robotic salad-making kiosk at the company's headquarters in Hayward, Calif., on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. Prior to this year, Chowbotics had sold over 100 of its $35,000 robots, primarily to hospitals and colleges. But since the coronavirus hit, sales have jumped more than 60%, CEO Rick Wilmer said, with growing interest from grocery stores, senior living communities and even the U.S. Department of Defense. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) Robots that can cook - from flipping burgers to baking bread - are in growing demand as virus-wary kitchens try to put some distance between workers and customers. Starting this fall, the White Castle burger chain will test a robot arm that can cook french fries and other foods. The robot, dubbed Flippy, is made by Pasadena, California-based Miso Robotics. White Castle and Miso have been discussing a partnership for about a year. Those talks accelerated when COVID-19 struck, said White Castle Vice President Jamie Richardson. Richardson said the robot can free up employees for other tasks like disinfecting tables or handling the rising number of delivery orders. A touch-free environment that minimizes contact is also increasingly important to customers, he said. "The world's just reshaped in terms of thoughts around food safety," Richardson said. Flippy currently costs $30,000, with a $1,500 monthly service fee. By the middle of next year, Miso hopes to offer the robot for free but charge a higher monthly fee. Robot food service was a trend even before the coronavirus pandemic, as hospitals, campus cafeterias and others tried to meet demand for fresh, customized options 24 hours a day while keeping labor costs in check. Robot chefs appeared at places like Creator, a burger restaurant in San Francisco, and Dal.komm Coffee outlets in South Korea. Now, some say, robots may shift from being a novelty to a necessity. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says the risk of getting COVID-19 from handling or consuming food outside the home is low. Still, there have been numerous outbreaks among restaurant employees and patrons. "I expect in the next two years you will see pretty significant robotic adoption in the food space because of COVID," said Vipin Jain, the co-founder and CEO of Blendid, a Silicon Valley startup. Vipin Jain, CEO and cofounder of Blendid, holds a smoothie on Tuesday, June 30, 2020, in Sunnyvale, Calif., made by his company's robotic kiosk that makes blended fruit drinks with no human intervention. "I expect in the next two years you will see pretty significant robotic adoption in the food space because of COVID," said Jain. (AP Photo/Terry Chea) Blendid sells a robot kiosk that makes a variety of fresh smoothies. Customers can order from a smartphone app and tweak the recipe if they want more kale or less ginger, for example. Once or twice a day, a Blendid employee refills the ingredients. Only a handful are now operating around San Francisco, but since the pandemic began, Blendid has started contract discussions with hospitals, corporations, shopping malls and groceries. "What used to be forward-thinking - last year, pre-COVID - has become current thinking," Jain said. As salad bars shut down, Hayward, California-based Chowbotics started getting more inquiries about Sally, a robot about the size of a refrigerator that makes a variety of salads and bowls. Sally lets customers choose from 22 prepared ingredients stored inside the machine. It can make around 65 bowls a day before kitchen workers need to refill the ingredients. Prior to this year, Chowbotics had sold around 125 of its $35,000 robots, primarily to hospitals and colleges. But since the coronavirus hit, sales have jumped more than 60%, CEO Rick Wilmer said, with growing interest from grocery stores, senior living communities and even the U.S. Department of Defense. Wilkinson Baking Co., whose BreadBot mixes, forms and bakes loaves of bread, has also been getting more inquiries. Randall Wilkinson, the CEO of the Walla Walla, Washington-based company, said the BreadBot serves shifting needs. Grocery shoppers no longer want self-serve options like olive bars, but they still want fresh and local food. Seeing how that food is made also gives them more confidence, he said. Robot cooks haven't always been successful. Spyce, a Boston restaurant with a robot-run kitchen, closed in November to retool its menu. Zume, a Silicon Valley startup that made pizzas with robots, shut down its pizza business in January. It's now making face masks and biodegradable takeout containers. Max Elder, research director of the Food Futures Lab at the Palo Alto, California-based Institute for the Future, is skeptical about the future of food prep robots once the pandemic has eased. "Food is so personal, and it needs to involve humans," he said. A technician makes an adjustment to a robot at Miso Robotics' White Castle test kitchen in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday, July 9, 2020. Robots that can flip burgers, make salads and even bake bread are in growing demand as virus-wary kitchens try to put some distance between workers and customers. Starting this fall, the White Castle burger chain will test the robot arm that can cook french fries and other foods. The robot, dubbed Flippy, is made by Pasadena, California-based Miso Robotics. (Miso Robotics via AP) Elder is also concerned that focusing on automating food preparation during the pandemic will shift attention from other problems in the food system, like outbreaks among meat industry workers or produce pickers. "We can't automate our way out of the pandemic because the pandemic affects much more than what can be automated," Elder said. Automated food companies insist they're not trying to replace human workers. At White Castle, Richardson says Flippy will allow managers to redeploy workers to drive-thru lanes or help them cover a shift if an employee calls in sick. Wilmer, of Chowbotics, says Sally may actually create jobs, since it keeps selling food at times of day when it wouldn't have been available before. But robots can lower the demand for labor. At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, workers used to spend six hours per day prepping grab-and-go salads in the 24-hour cafe, said Tonya Johnson, the school's director of nutrition services. But two years ago, the campus installed a Sally, which now makes an average of 40 salads per day. Sally allowed the school to eliminate a vacancy in its cooking staff, Johnson said. Johnson said the campus is buying another Sally for students to use when they return this August, which will save four hours per day of grab-and-go salad prep in the college deli. "I think the pandemic has made us realize how much we need more equipment like Sally," Johnson said. Miso Robotics co-founder and CEO Buck Jordan said fast food restaurants are already having trouble finding workers, due in part to a shrinking population of young workers. "It's our contention that automation is not a choice," Jordan said. "You must automate in order to survive the future." Explore further Breadmaking robot startup eyes fresh connections 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that the Delhi education model made history as 98 per cent children in government schools in the national capital cleared Class 12 CBSE exams the results of which were declared recently. Addressing a joint press briefing along with his deputy Manish Sisodia, CM Kejriwal, The Delhi education model has made history with 98 per cent students of city government schools passing CBSE class 12 exams this year. The Chief Minister said that Delhi's students have done tremendous job in the board exam. Amid the pandemic, I have good news for you. Delhis kids have done a wonderful job by achieving 98 percent pass percent in CBSE Class 12 exams, Kejriwal said. Kejriwal said that he thinks that 98 per cent passing results would not have come in any other state of the country. The AAP chief said he believed this is an unprecedented feat. I dont think the combined CBSE Class 12 result of states across India could have ever matched this figure in our history, he stated. Delhi education model has made history with 98% children in our govt schools passing in the Class 12 CBSE exams | LIVE Press Conference https://t.co/WUPf0Ffk2S Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) July 14, 2020 Kejriwals comments came after 98 percent of students (97.92 percent) across Delhi government schools passed the Class 12 CBSE exams. The Delhi Chief Minister said that out of the total 916 government schools in Delhi, over 300 schools have reported 100 percent pass results in CBSE Class 12 exams this year. Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis: India locks down millions The northern Indian state of Bihar, which has a population of around 125 million people, will go into lockdown on Thursday for 15 days, the local government says. The announcement comes as the southern city and IT hub Bangalore, home to more than 13 million people, also prepares to go into a week-long lockdown from 8:00 pm (1430 GMT). More than 573,000 deaths The pandemic has killed at least 573,091 people worldwide since it surfaced in China late last year, according to an AFP tally at 1100 GMT on Tuesday based on official sources. The United States is the worst-hit country with 135,615 deaths. It is followed by Brazil with 72,833, Britain with 44,830, Mexico with 35,491 and Italy with 34,967 fatalities. UK slump Britain's economy slumped almost one-fifth during the country's lockdown and remains set for its sharpest decline in annual output for 300 years, official data shows. The Office for National Statistics says gross domestic product plunged 19.1 percent in the three months to the end of May. France pushes mask-wearing "I would like to make masks mandatory in all enclosed public spaces," says French President Emmanuel Macron in a televised interview, adding such a measure could come into force from August 1 amid signs infections in the country are picking up again. England too Facemasks will be compulsory in shops and supermarkets in England from July 24, the government says, in a U-turn on previous policy. People who fail to cover their face risk a fine of up to 100 ($123) with enforcement to be carried out by the police. Travel trouble Thailand suspends all inbound flights after an Egyptian soldier skips self-quarantine and visits a shopping mall before testing positive for the virus. Authorities are now scrambling to trace around 1,700 people at the mall and the surrounding area. And Cyprus threatens to fine or turn away incoming passengers who fail to complete its online arrival forms aimed at preventing a resurgence of the virus, after a visitor who misrepresented their itinerary later tested positive. Explore further Follow the latest news on the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak 2020 AFP Twitter users could try to foil Russia's campaign to divide the country before the November election by avoiding posting content that they have not fact-checked. (Loic Venance / AFP/Getty Images) Another presidential election is approaching, which means Russian election interference is back in the news. Maybe youve already made up your mind about your favorite candidate, and so youre immune to the social media messaging being circulated by Russian trolls right? Not exactly. Russian trolls arent only targeting behaviors, like pulling a voting lever. Theyre targeting beliefs, trying to stoke tribalism and polarization. Those who think they are immune to Russian tactics could become complacent, and feed right into Russian hands. To understand what the Russians are up to, a bit of a history lesson is in order. During the Cold War, researchers at Rand Corp. began applying game theory to national security policy. The Soviet military, in comparison, was developing its own theories, including one called reflexive control theory. Reflexive control is, in part, the intellectual basis for current Russian efforts to more broadly interfere with U.S. elections and democracy. If you understand reflexive control then you can better understand Russian strategy and devise ways to combat it. The theory is mathematically dense, drawing on models from the study of graphs and abstract algebra. But the core idea is simple: The theory assumes that people live in a polarized world of cooperation versus conflict. And it describes how people make decisions based on who they view as friends or enemies and how they think others view them. The Russians are trying to feed information to distort these views. The end goal for these efforts is to trigger emotional reactions and drive people to ideological extremes, making it nearly impossible to build a consensus. The Russians also hope those who are not driven to extreme positions will throw up their hands in frustration and check out. The result is political paralysis. Heres a notional example: Suppose you and a neighbor agree that your property taxes are too high, but disagree on issues related to sensitive topics like race relations or immigration. You start seeing online memes focusing on extreme views on these topics. Those memes evoke strong reactions, painting the issue as a battle between two extremes. You begin thinking of your neighbor based on this false dichotomy. The neighbor becomes one of them rather than a person with whom you had some commonality. After all, its difficult to agree on most anything when you and your neighbor view each other as racist or anti-American. Story continues The Russian objective is to create an illusion of deep-seated divisions between people like you and people who arent like you, so that you wont be able to agree on anything. The Russians dont particularly care about the details of our social and political issues when they are trolling Americans. Their focus is to gin people up to be against one another regardless of their identity or political beliefs. Thats why Russia tries to infiltrate groups of both Black Lives Matter and white nationalists online. We dont know if these efforts are working, but we believe Russia is trying to divide U.S. society by seeding extremist views. And the current political environment, coupled with the nature of social media, makes combatting these efforts a bit tricky. Short, shareable (and sensationalist) content is the currency of social networks and it does not naturally promote nuanced conversations. Micro-targeting makes it easy to feed people customized content based on what they already like, which enables manufactured content to get a foothold with the right audience and go viral more quickly. Everyone has the opportunity to fight Russian efforts to drive U.S. citizens to extremes before the November election. Tech firms have a responsibility to root out Russian social media content and ensure their users are who they claim to be. Political, religious and civic leaders could bring people together and help build consensus on divisive issues like race relations, immigration, and economic inequality that Russia may try to exploit. Most importantly, users could be more careful about what information they share online. Dont forward content from unknown sources. Dont post content that you have not fact-checked. Be aware that even a humorous meme may have an underlying dark goal to make you think less of another group. Americans are less likely to have their emotions manipulated if they are aware that manipulation is the goal. Behind the veil of extreme positions are groups of people who may well have much in common. Its important to recognize that disinformation efforts targeted at emotional beliefs could further decay the national discourse. Marek N. Posard is a military sociologist, Jim Marrone is an associate economist and Todd Helmus is a senior behavioral scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan Rand Corp. In this U.S. Navy released handout, Sailors and Federal Firefighters combat a fire onboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) at Naval Base San Diego, July 12. Fire Still Burning on Navy Ship in San Diego Where 57 Hurt SAN DIEGOFirefighters were still battling a blaze on July 13 on a Navy combat ship that injured at least 57 people and sent acrid smoke billowing over San Diego. The fire began on the morning of July 12 aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard, apparently in a vehicle storage area as the ship was in a berth undergoing maintenance, according to Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck. Initially, 17 sailors and four civilians were reported injured but by July 13 the number had grown to 57 and five remained hospitalized for observation, the Navy said. Firefighters attacked the flames inside the ship while firefighting vessels with water cannons directed streams of seawater into the ship and helicopters made water drops. Sailors across this waterfront are absolutely doing a magnificent job, Sobeck said on July 12. He said there was no ordnance on board, and while the ship holds a million gallons (3.7 million liters) of fuel, it was well below any heat source. About 160 sailors and officers were on board when an explosion and flames sent up a huge plume of dark smoke from the 840-foot (255-meter) amphibious assault vessel, which has been docked at Naval Base San Diego. Thats far fewer than the 1,000 typically on the ship when its on active duty, said Mike Raney, a spokesman for Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet. All crew members were accounted for, said Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations. The San Diego Air Pollution Control District warned that concentrations of fine particulate matter could reach unhealthful levels in some areas and that people should limit exposure, staying indoors if possible. Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said the Navy thinks the fire began somewhere in a lower cargo hold where equipment and vehicles are stored. The fire spread up into the office and personnel berths where it was fueled by paper, cloth, rags, or other materials, Sobeck said. He said he was not concerned about the air quality or toxicity around the fire. There was a report of an internal explosion, Sobeck said. What we cannot ascertain is exactly what the explosion was caused from. The admiral suggested that the compartment heated up and over-pressurized. The 23-year-old ship has the capacity to deploy and land helicopters, certain types of short-takeoff airplanes, 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. 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, its even more of a problem. Brennan said it was worrisome that the fire continued to burn for more than a full day. My guess is that theres going to be a lot of internal damage, he said. Two other docked ships, USS Fitzgerald and USS Russell, were moved to berths away from the fire, officials said. The ship was commissioned in 1998 and is the third to bear the name Bonhomme Richard. During the Revolutionary War, Capt. John Paul Jones named the first ship after the French translation of the pen name Benjamin Franklin used as the author of Poor Richards Almanac. By Julie Watson - The GHS says 264 new Coronavirus cases have been reported - This has sent the national load to 25 252 - Meanwhile, the death toll remains at 139 Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has confirmed 264 new COVID-19 cases in the country on Tuesday, 14 July, taking the national tally to 25 252. The death toll remains at 139 and the total number of recoveries has jumped to 21 391. A total of 264 new cases were reported on July 14, 2020. These are samples that were taken from the period 21 June to 9 July 2020, the GHS said on its website. COVID-19: Ghanas case count is 25 252. Source: Facebook/Information Ministry Source: Facebook READ ALSO: Fact check: EC boss COVID-19 positive status claim false Four patients are currently on ventilators, eight are in critical condition, and 25 others remain in a severe situation. Regional breakdown: Greater Accra Region 13 690 Ashanti Region 5 259 Western Region 2 140 Central Region 1 110 Eastern Region 948 Volta Region 418 Upper East Region 282 Northern Region 267 Bono East Region 205 Western North Region 200 Oti Region 128 Bono Region 107 Ahafo Region 98 Upper West Region 70 Savannah Region 57 North East Region 9 YEN.com.gh also reported that 55 out of 314 test samples taken from students and teachers at Accra Girls Senior High School have returned positive for COVID-19. This was revealed in a joint statement released by education and health authorities. Accra Girls Senior High School is among the list of schools that have recorded cases of the virus two weeks after the government reopened schools for final year students after spending almost three months at home following the outbreak of the virus. READ ALSO: NPP MP, Carlos Ahenkorah, declared COVID-19 negative by GHS Meanwhile, some parents and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have asked the government to close schools and allow the students go home. According to them, the risks and spikes in COVID-19 numbers cannot be contained by the country's health facilities. The lives of medical personnel are already in danger. More than 779 doctors and other health officers are reported to have contracted the disease with nine deaths amongst them. YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the police in the Central Region of Ghana have arrested an aspiring parliamentary candidate for flouting the COVID-19 protocols by organising a rally. The politician, who wants to become a member of parliament for Assin South constituency in the Central Region, is called Joseph Kofi Damte. He was arrested after failing to give the police notice of his intention to hold a political campaign as the law stipulates. Ghanaians express fear over final year students in school: READ ALSO: Presidential villa: A look inside the luxurious palace where Akufo-Addo is in self-isolation (video) 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 The House of Representatives committee on public accounts has given the Chief of Naval Staff, Ibok Ibas, a seven-day ultimatum to appear before it to defend a query on N11.5 million unaccounted for by the navy. The summon is based on a query issued by the office of the auditor-general which said that N11.5 million was paid as rent for a four-bedroom apartment in Ikoyi, Lagos State by the Nigerian Navy. The query added that the receipt issued did not reflect the duration of the rent and, in violation of financial regulations, there was no deduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the payment. The chairman of the committee, Wole Oke (PDP, Osun), issued the ultimatum to the naval boss after he failed to appear in person before it on Monday. A delegation of the navy which was led by the services assistant director of budget, Murtala Ahmed, represented Mr Ibas, a vice admiral, instead. But Mr Oke said the committee was displeased with Mr Ibas non-appearance and his failure to write the committee, stating why he could not appear in person. If the chief of Naval staff is indisposed to appear before this committee, the least I expect him to do is to send either the Naval secretary or the chief of Naval account and budgets, he said. READ ALSO: Please this parliament belongs to you. Democracy survives on a tripod, one of which is a very strong and vibrant armed forces. I think the military has done well and fared better under democratic governance. We will not accept your appearance. If the Chief of Naval Staff cannot appear, he should send a very senior officer to appear before this committee; he has seven days to appear, within seven days please, he added. Unanswered questions Meanwhile, in another query from the auditor-general, it was alleged that N30 million was misappropriated as there was no record to show that compensation was given to communities whose properties were demolished while implementing the canalisation of Okoko and Ugbaga Rivers contract in Osogbo. Reacting to the query, the permanent secretary in the ecological fund, office of the secretary-general of the federation, Habiba Lawa, said the compensation had been paid to the affected victims. She added that the evidence of payment, which included a letter from the contractor that handled the project, payment of professional fees to negotiators, receipts and signatures of beneficiaries, had been submitted to the committee for verification. The committee, therefore, nominated a four-member delegation to Osun to confirm if the said N30 million was paid as compensation to the victims in the area. Tuesday is decision day for Midlanders at the polls, specifically the Midland County Hospital Districts sales tax election. Should voters approve Proposition A, the funds generated from the tax collected is expected to help make up for revenue lost because of expected cuts in federal funding. That is potentially around $30 million for the hospital district to use for community health care services funding, including nonprofits, the Midland Community Healthcare Services, contracted physicians, mental health services, ER calls and Texas Tech University Health Science Center. All registered Midland County voters are eligible to cast a ballot in this election. (The tax proposition) is about ensuring that we have a healthy, financially sound, well-run hospital, former Commerce Department Secretary and current board chairman of the Permian Strategic Partnership Don Evans said last week during an online press event. So, I think its one of the most important votes the city has had in maybe decades. The amount of the sales tax on the ballot is one-quarter of 1 percent. That amounts to a quarter for every $100 spent on eligible goods. Currently, the sales tax inside the city of Midland is 8 percent. If voters approve the proposition, the sales tax inside the city would be capped at 8.25 percent. Midland Health CEO Russell Meyers said previously that reductions in Medicaid supplement reimbursements are projected to reach $23 million in fiscal year 2021 and $38.4 million by fiscal year 2024. That would mean net income would fall from between $5 million and $10 million this fiscal year to a deficit of $20 million in fiscal year 2024. Hospital district officials also have said that more than $40.147 million was spent in community health care services in fiscal year 2019. Benefits of those services include compensation paid to more than 200 physicians -- more than 75 percent of active medical staff). Meyers told the board that cuts to community health care services funding will mean loss of revenue for Midland Memorial Hospital, the decline in prioritized positions (including doctors) and the likely cutting of services and accessibility. Its clear that the health-care systems here in Midland and across the country are going through some struggles -- financial struggles and those have to be dealt, Evans said. Our great leadership is laser-focused on this and has gone to the community and said, Look, heres what we need in order to make sure weve got good, solid and strong health care for all the citizens of Midland as we move forward, because the financial challenges we see in the future require it. So, (the hospital districts board of directors and the hospitals board of governors) want to protect against it and plan against it, and thats exactly what this sales tax vote is all about. And I think it's critically important and vitally important to the health-care delivery in Midland, Texas, he said. Voting is 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at nine voting centers. KITCHENER Hugh McColl told a pack of lies on the witness stand at his murder trial. But the Kitchener man may have been truthful about one thing: He said he had advanced prostate cancer and was worried he would die in prison. McColl, 66, died on Sunday at Beaver Creek Institution in Gravenhurst of apparent natural causes following an illness, Correctional Service Canada said in a news release. As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, Correctional Service Canada will review the circumstances. McColl killed Kate Reid, 51, in her apartment on Burn Place, near the corner of Belmont Avenue West and Highland Road West, on Jan. 2, 2015. He was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced in 2017 to life in prison with no chance of parole for 13 years. McColl, who sublet a room in Reids apartment, struck her in the head with a hammer as many as 14 times and then concealed her body on her third-floor balcony, where it froze. He left her body there until late January, when he tossed it to the ground, dragged it near a dumpster and covered it with snow. Her body was not found until March 20, 2015. McColl continued living in the apartment for weeks after the killing. Reid, a former waitress who was on disability support, moved here years ago from New Brunswick. McColl, a former film producer and son of a United Church minister, maintained Reid came at him with a hunting knife in a dispute over rent. He said he struck her with the hammer in self-defence. The jury didnt buy it. McColl admitted that after killing Reid, he impersonated her in a call to MasterCard to get a new PIN for her credit card. He used the card to buy two iPads and get money from an ATM. McColl also forged Reids signature on her cheques to pay bills to make it look like she was still alive and told Reids 17-year-old daughter her mom had gone to New Brunswick, even though Reids dead body was on the balcony. RELATED STORIES Waterloo Region https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/2016/12/14/jury-finds-hugh-mccoll-guilty-of-second-degree-murder.html He then went about trying to cover up the crime, cutting up bloody parts of a couch and disposing of all of her belongings. Fifty-one years of memories, pictures and treasures thrown in the trash as garbage, her sister, Leslie Reid, said at McColls sentencing hearing. A small, red recipe book that Kate began when she was 13, filled with notes from her grandmother, is now lost forever because you wanted to erase a life. For selfless reasons, you, Mr. McColl, not only killed my sister but you also murdered any chance of my family keeping a single physical reminder of Kates life in Ontario. New Hope United Methodist Church Names New Pastor NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The congregation of New Hope United Methodist Church, serving North Adams and Williamstown, this month officially welcomed its new pastor, Stephen Dale, appointed by Bishop Devadhar to lead the congregation. Dale joins the Northern Berkshire community after serving two years in Bennington, Vt. He started the Bennington AfterDark community in late 2018, and was invited to serve the Pownal UMC as pastor in July 2019. Dale has been serving churches in New England for the past 11 years, beginning as a licensed local pastor and completing his master of divinity at Boston University in 2015. Dale was commissioned into provisional membership after a year in Northern Maine, and finally ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church at annual conference last year. Previous to Dale's transition, he spent 20 years working in information technology. "Tech is a big part of how I enter the world, and a big part of how I participate in the shared ministry of a United Methodist Church and its pastor," he said. Dale said he is looking forward to this opportunity to join the church, particularly in bolstering the ongoing development of 192 State St., a North Adams property purchased by the church in 2015. "God has begun something wonderful here at New Hope, and God is going to continue to move us forward into undreamt of avenues of service in love," he said. Dale delivered his first worship service with New Hope on Sunday, July 12, at 10 a.m. on New Hopes Facebook page and Youtube channel. His next virtual worship service is Sunday, July 19, at 10 a.m. Previous to Dale, New Hope was served by Pastor Dan Randall and Pastor Courtney Randall, who were appointed by Bishop Devadhar to Global Ministries as Missionaries in the Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem. The congregation said goodbye to Dan and Courtney at a drive-by worship on June 21. They had served the church since 2013. Kerala's daily COVID-19 figures saw a sharp spike on Tuesday with a record 608 cases taking the infection tally to 8,930 and the death toll rising to 34 with one more fatality. has reached a stage where clusters have been found in Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram and some other districts and the next stage is community transmission, Chief Minister said, stressing the need to be extremely vigilant to contain the spread of thepandemic. The Nipah virus, which hit the state in 2018 and claimed 17 lives, could be contained in a month's time but the battle against began six months ago was still continuing, he noted. It was expected that the disease will be around till the year end, Vijayan said after a review meeting here. The state had only 12 active cases in May first week but has seen a steady increase in the last two months. The capital city accounted for the highest number of 201 cases on Tuesday with those infected through contact touching 152. A 47-year-old man from Alappuzha, who had returned from Saudi Arabia recently, succumbed to the disease, taking the toll to 34. Of the positive cases, 130 people had come from abroad, 68 from other states and 396, including eight health workers, were infected through contact, Vijayan said. The source of infection of 26 people had not been traced so far,he added. The Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) continued to reel under the virus attack with a total of 130 personnel in the state being infected as on Tuesday. Vijayan said state Director General of Police Loknath Behera has informed the ITBP Director General of the situation. On Monday, as many as 77 jawans of the ITBP were infected. Of the fresh cases on Tuesday, Ernakulam clocked 70 infections followed by Kozhikode 58 and Kasaragod 44 among the districts with higher daily count. Over 1.80 lakh people are under observation and 4,736 are in hospitals, including 720 admitted on Tuesday. As many as 181 were discharged with 4,454 people undergoing treatment. As the cases were increasing, IAS officers have been appointed in all the 14 districts to help the district administration,the Chief Minister said, adding 227 hotspots were there in the state now. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A police officer was dispatched to do a wellness check on a woman with a history of mental disorder. A veteran officer, not a trained mental health professional. Police misconduct, or a mentally distressed individual pushing it to the limit? Watching the video without context of the officer trying to contain a mentally distressed, suicidal woman might just take the officer down herself. Put yourself in that position. A distraught person, you are trying to help. You dont want to see her do it, but shes intent on it. At any cost. Perhaps she might take you with her. You have seconds to react. The images are secondary. The womans alive. Not lying in a pool of blood. She got a black eye and a few bruises but shes alive. She should be thanking that officer for saving her life. That officer deserves a serious apology. When that officer was dispatched to the call, the woman's counsellor should have been sent with the officer. Do you think that might have had a different ending? Mark McMahon A high school teacher from Kentucky has been charged with rape and sodomy for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old student and sending inappropriate messages to another teenager. Mollie Verkamp, 27, from Florence, was arrested last Thursday following a year-long investigation by the Boone County Sheriffs Office. Detectives first learned of Verkamp's alleged relationship with a student in May 2019 when officials at Walton Verona High School, where she was employed at the time, reported that the teacher was sending sexually explicit videos and text messages to one of their 18-year-old students. Former teacher Mollie Verkamp, 27, has been charged with rape and sodomy for allegedly having sex with a 17-year-old student and sending X-rated videos to an 18-year-old student When interviewed by law enforcement officials, Verkamp reportedly admitted to sending the same kind of sexually explicit messages to a 17-year-old student at Grant County High School, where she had previously taught for two years. The teacher allegedly acknowledged that she knew the age of the student, and that being a teacher at the same school made her a person in a position of authority. 'Despite that, her relationship with the 17 year old evolved from sending and receiving messages to having sex with him at her home in Boone County,' according to a press release from the sheriff's office. Verkamp was indicted by a Boone County Grand Jury on one count of third-degree rape and one count of sodomy. She was booked into the county jail and released the same day after posting $10,000 bond. Officials at Walton-Verona High School first learned of the allegations against Verkamp in May 2019 and immediately contacted the sheriff's office She was no longer a school district employee during the 2019-2020 academic year. Instead, she earned a living working as a yoga instructor, according to divorce records obtained by the Cincinnati Enquirer. The paper reported that Verkamp's husband filed for divorce last December. In a letter to parents sent last week, Walton-Verona Independent Schools Superintendent Matt Baker said officials contacted the authorities as soon as they learned of the allegations concerning Verkamp. Last week, I had the opportunity to attend President Trumps Independence celebration at Mount Rushmore. During this speech, the President stated, Our Founders launched not only a revolution in government, but a revolution in the pursuit of justice, equality, liberty, and prosperity. No nation has done more to advance the human condition than the United States of America. And no people have done more to promote human progress than the citizens of our great nation. I appreciate President Trumps strong remarks. Mount Rushmore is a symbol of the progress of our nation. While the Presidents honored George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt were not perfect by modern standards, each significantly contributed to the improvement of our nation, and because of their extraordinary efforts, we are the greatest nation on earth. In order to protect this American icon, I have cosponsored the Mount Rushmore Protection Act (H.R.7358) which would prohibit the use of federal funds to alter, change, destroy, or remove, in whole or in part, any name, face, or other feature on the monument. - Pia Magalona recently took to Twitter to condemn Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa - She slammed the senator for his trending statements about ABS-CBN employees and illegal Chinese workers in the country - Her tweet shows Dela Rosas quote telling ABS-CBN workers to look for another job and his past statement on giving illegal Chinese employees a chance to comply with requirements - Pia then criticized Dela Rosas leadership and accused him of being selfish PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News Feed Pia Magalona took to social media to lambast Senator Ronald Bato dela Rosa whose statements about ABS-CBN employees and illegal Chinese workers trended online recently. Source: Pia Magalona / Instagram Source: Instagram On her Twitter account, the celebrity posted an art card with the senators remark that received backlash from netizens. "Alangan naman sabihin ko sa kanila na maghimagsik kayo, magwala kayo, hindi naman pwede 'yun. Hanap na lang kayo ng ibang trabaho para mabuhay ang pamilya ninyo, the art card quoting Dela Rosas message to ABS-CBN workers reads. The art card also included the politicians lines about illegal Chinese employees which first become trending online in February 2019: Illegal is illegal,' di ba? Kung illegal, eh di dapat gawing legal. Pia then posted, Kailangan nating magsalita dahil kung tatahimik lang tayo, ang ibig sabihin ay sang-ayon tayo sa mga tulad nito sa gobyerno. PAY ATTENTION: Shop with KAMI! The best offers and discounts on the market, product reviews and feedback She also criticized Dela Rosas leadership and accused him of being selfish. "Isa palang itong halimbawa ng mga hindi dapat nasa pwesto dahil makasarili. Ganun kasimple, she added. PAY ATTENTION: Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news! ABS-CBN is one of the leading broadcast networks in the Philippines. Its 25-year franchise expired on May 4 and the Committee on Legislative Franchises of the House of Representatives rejected on July 10 its bid to secure another franchise. Several personalities from its major rival, GMA 7, including prominent Kapuso talents and journalists then expressed sympathy to celebrities and employees from the Kapamilya network. GMA's late-night news program "Saksi" also showed solidarity with ABS-CBN by displaying the Kapamilya network's transmitter tower and logo in its extro. Please like and share our amazing Facebook posts to support the KAMI team! Dont hesitate to comment and share your opinions about our stories either. We love reading about your thoughts and views on different matters! Source: KAMI.com.gh The COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything that we have experienced in living memory and the normal life as we knew it ceased to exist a long time ago. With the uncertainty still looming, we are not sure if and when our lives will go back to being 'normal'. While COVID-19 did not spare any, it particular devastated the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors. Just like around the world, the COVID-19 took a pounding on several tourism dependant states in India, including Goa, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, etc. bccl Though a lot of industries have gone back to being normal or adjusted to the 'new normal' after lockdown restrictions were ended and the unlock process began. While the tourism industry has also been allowed to resume, business is yet to pick up and nobody knows when it will. The industry has been crying for help for long as millions, whose livelihoods depend on the tourism revenues have been left in the lurch, with an uncertain future. bccl Tourism dependent states slowly opening up Several tourism dependant states are slowly opening up, on the hope that business will pick up despite the fact that in all the states, the COVID-19 curve is on the rise and people are yet to gain confidence about traveling, or being out in the public. One of the first states to announce that it is ready to welcome visitors was tourist hotspot Goa. The beach state opened its gates for tourists last week. But what followed since is not promising. bccl Most of the hotels are yet to receive any bookings or those who have, saw around 10 percent occupancy. That too, are not tourists in the real sense as most of them are on official visits, to factories, offices or clients. Himachal Pradesh opened for a week now Another state that has been open for nearly a week is Himachal Pradesh, where tourists who wish to visit the state have to adhere to the guidelines issued by the government including registering themselves on the official web portal 48 hours before visiting under tourist category, carry certificate (RT-PCR) issued by ICMR certified laboratory with a negative report and this should not be more than 72 hours. bccl/ file They should also have a confirmed booking for a minimum of five days. And in the five days since the state opened for tourists Himachal welcomed around 700 visitors from outside. Incidentally, a good portion of the hoteliers and locals do not want visitors from outside the state as they fear that the tourist could spread the deadly virus. Neighbouring Uttarakhand is also opening up for tourists, but again with similar preconditions for visitors. While there are no restrictions on Uttarakhand residents, those coming from outside should carry a COVID-19 negative certificate and should have a confirmed hotel booking for seven days. afp Kashmir the latest to open On Tuesday, Jammu and Kashmir became the latest to open its doors to domestic tourists. In the first phase, only tourists arriving via air will be allowed in the UT. All tourists must have confirmed hotel bookings for the duration of their stay and should pre-book accommodation online in hotels, houseboats or guesthouses and cabs. Unlike others, those visiting Kashmir will have to undergo RT-PCR testing and only after the result shows a negative for COVID-19, tourists will be allowed to their hotel rooms. bccl There is no doubt that the tourism industry needs a boost and visitors at this critical moment to survive, only time will tell if we opened up a little too early. Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces escalated on Tuesday, with Azerbaijan reporting seven more troops killed, including a general, and Armenia saying it has lost two servicemen. Skirmishes on the volatile border between the two South Caucasus nations began on Sunday. The new losses bring the number of Azerbaijani troops killed to 11. Armenia previously reported five of its troops wounded. The two neighbours in the South Caucasus have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a region of Azerbaijan that has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. International efforts to settle the conflict have stalled. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current outburst of fighting appears to be the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting. The latest incident began on Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would "bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences". Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev denounced what he described as "another provocation of Armenia" and vowed to protect Azerbaijan's national territory. Turkey, which has close ethnic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, has voiced strong support to Baku in the conflict. The United States and Russia, which co-chair the Minsk group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe that has tried to negotiate a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have condemned the violence and called for restraint. Loading the player... Coronavirus drug: Cipla ramps up production of antiviral remdesivir amid demand spurt In wake of rising demand for antiviral drug Remdesivir used for coronavirus treatment, homegrown drug major Cipla has ramped up its capacity and that of its partner network to fill the demand-supply gap. Last month, the company launched the generic version of Gilead Sciences' antiviral drug Remdesivir under its brand name 'CIPREMI'. Indian IT firms' revenues may contract up to 3% in FY21, says ICRA The Indian IT services sector is likely to see up to 3 per cent contraction in its revenues in the financial year 2020-21 as global spread of the coronavirus epidemic has resulted in simultaneous supply and demand shocks. In long term, the sectoral growth has been pegged between 5-8 per cent over the FY20-FY25 period, according to domestic rating agency ICRA. Coronavirus crisis: FM calls for speedy insurance settlement claims for healthcare workers Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reviewed the implementation of the recently announced insurance scheme for health workers battling COVID-19 and emphasised the need for speedy settlement to help reach the benefits to the nominees at the earliest. The Rs 50 lakh insurance scheme is a part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) announced in March for three months for 22.12 lakh public healthcare providers, including community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of patients suffering from coronavirus infection and who may be at risk of being impacted by this. In COVID-19 world, digital distribution platforms become strong alternative for FMCG majors US has better coronavirus testing programme than India, Russia and China: Trump The United States has the biggest COVID-19 testing programme in the world, better than big countries like Russia, China, India and Brazil, President Donald Trump said on Monday, asserting that America has "just about the lowest mortality rate" due to the disease in the world. More than 34 lakh Americans have tested positive for COVID-19 so far and over 1,37,000 have died due to the disease, both of which are the largest numbers among all the countries Sundar Pichai-led Google sets up $10 billion India digitisation fund Google on Monday announced an investment of $10 billion in India. The tech giant announced that Rs 75,000 crore or $10 billion digitalization fund will be utilised over next five to seven years. It will be done via a mix of equity investments, partnership and operational infra and ecosystem investment. The development comes after a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Alphabet chief Sundar Pichai earlier in the day. According to Google, this investment will help realise PM's vision of a Digital India. Bengaluru lockdown extension puts MSMEs in a pinch, export orders at stake As Karnataka decided to shut Bengaluru urban and rural districts from July 14 till July 22 morning, owing to exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state fear that this extension could cause irreparable damage to the already fragile industries. As export-oriented industries have started getting orders, companies fear that extension would result in cancellation of orders and disrupt supply chain. Over 90 doctors on COVID-19 duty lost their lives so far, says IMA Nasa will hold a live event to discuss Comet Neowise, the space agency has announced. The comet has become cleebrated in recent days after it became suddenly visible in the night sky. It was discovered in March and is currently on a journey that will take it past Earth before it heads back out to the edges of the solar system. Nasa's event will be attended by a representative from Nasa's Planetary Defense Coordination Office which works to track potentially dangerous objects in space, as well as organise our response to them as well as representatives of the Neowise space telescope that spotted the comet and gave it its name. Unlike other recent comets that offered hope they could be seen with the naked eye, such as Comet Atlas, Neowise survived its journey around the Sun and is now on a journey that will bring it closer to our planet. It is already visible with the naked eye in the early morning sky, and should soon be able to be seen after sunset, too. Recommended Nasa gives Seti contract to keep Earth safe from alien contamination While it is difficult to predict the future of such comets, in part because they are susceptible to breaking up as they fly through space, the object is expected to stay bright enough to see for the coming weeks. Nasa said that the event will provide an opportunity to discuss the comet, answer questions from the public, as well as update the media. A teleconference for the press will follow that public event, and will be attended by Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer and program executive of NASAs Planetary Defense Coordination Office; Emily Kramer, co-investigator on the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) science team; and Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, University of Arizona. Nasa did not give any indication of the specifics of what would be discussed in either of the events, or whether they would make new announcements about the object. Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Mystic Mountain, a pillar of gas and dust standing at three-light-years tall, bursting with jets of gas from fledgling stars buried within, was captured by Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope in February 2010 Nasa/ESA/STScI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever selfie taken on an alien planet, captured by Nasa's Curiosity Rover in the early days of its mission to explore Mars in 2012 Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Death of a star: This image from Nasa's Chandra X-ray telescope shows the supernova of Tycho, a star in our Milky Way galaxy Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Arrokoth, the most distant object ever explored, pictured here on 1 January 2019 by a camera on Nasa's New Horizons spaceraft at a distance of 4.1 billion miles from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory in January 2012. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures The first ever image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon telescope, as part of a global collaboration involving Nasa, and released on 10 April 2019. The image reveals the black hole at the centre of Messier 87, a massive galaxy in the nearby Virgo galaxy cluster. This black hole resides about 54 million light-years from Earth Getty Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Pluto, as pictured by Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft as it flew over the dwarf planet for the first time ever in July 2015 Nasa/APL/SwRI Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures A coronal mass ejection as seen by the Chandra Observatory in 2019. This is the first time that Chandra has detected this phenomenon from a star other than the Sun Nasa Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Dark, narrow, 100 meter-long streaks running downhill on the surface Mars were believed to be evidence of contemporary flowing water. It has since been suggested that they may instead be formed by flowing sand Nasa/JPL/University of Arizona Nasa's groundbreaking decade of space exploration: In pictures Morning Aurora: Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station in October 2015 Nasa/Scott Kelly The public event will begin at 3pm eastern time, or 8pm in the UK, and will be streamed live on Nasa TV and on its website, as well as the space agency's official Facebook, YouTube, Periscope, LinkedIn, Twitch and Ustream pages. Members of the public have been invited to ask questions either by tweeting them using the hashtag #AskNASA or by leaving comments on the live stream. Photo: Glacier Media New B.C. real estate data suggests residential sales normalized last month. According to the latest monthly report from the British Columbia Real Estate Association, there were nearly 8,200 residential sales recorded last month a 17% increase in sales activity year-over-year. Sales around the province surged back to pre-COVID-19 levels in June, said BCREA chief economist Brendon Ogmundson in a news release. Unit sales rose the most in Chilliwack (30.2%), the Fraser Valley (30.1%), South Okanagan (25.7%) and Greater Vancouver (19%). Only two of 12 regions reported unit sale declines: Northern Lights (down 20%, to 28 from 35 sales) and B.C.'s northern region (down 2.2%). The value of residential sales in June rose by double digits year-over-year in all markets except Northern Lights and B.C.'s north, with South Okanagan (55.3%), the Fraser Valley (36.8%), Chilliwack (35.6%) and Vancouver Island (27.9%) leading the way. Total residential sales dollar volume last month reached $6.1 billion, up 27.5% over June 2019. While there are some temporary factors that may have pushed demand forward, we are cautiously optimistic that market activity will remain firm," noted Ogmundson. While the BCREA says sales activity has normalized, active listings are down nearly 20% year-over-year, with many markets experiencing upward pressure on residential home prices. The average Multiple Listing Service residential home price in B.C. increased 9% to just over $748,000 a $62,000 increase over the average price recorded last year. South Okanagan saw the largest average price increase, to $496,000 from $401,500 a year ago an increase of 23.6%. The average price in Victoria rose by $100,000 (a 14.4% gain), and in Greater Vancouver, the average residential price rose by 7% to top $1 million. Year-to-date, total residential sales dollar volume is up 0.6% to $24.7 billion, compared with the same period in 2019. Sales are down 8% and the average MLS residential price is up 9.4%. By 2100, projected fertility rates in 183 of 195 countries will not be high enough to maintain current populations without liberal immigration policies World's population likely to shrink after mid-century, forecasting major shifts in global population and economic power - new analysis, published in The Lancet forecasts global, regional, and national populations, mortality, fertility, and migration for 195 countries worldwide. The USA is projected to have population growth until just after mid-century (364 million in 2062), followed by a moderate decline of less than 10% to 336 million by 2100--the world's fourth most populous country. The USA's total fertility rate--which represents the average number of children a woman delivers over her lifetime--is predicted to steadily decline from 1.8 in 2017 to 1.5 in 2100; well below the minimum birth rate (2.1) considered necessary to maintain existing population levels long-term without immigration. In 2100, the USA is forecasted to have the fourth largest working-age population in the world (around 181 million), after India, Nigeria, and China (figure 8)--with immigration likely sustaining the US workforce, with the largest net immigration in absolute numbers (more than half a million more people are estimated to immigrate to the USA in 2100 than will emigrate out). However, the researchers warn that US liberal immigration policies have faced a political backlash in recent years, threatening the country's potential to sustain population and economic growth. The forecasting model predicts that while the USA had the largest economy in 2017, China is set to replace it in 2035, but the USA is forecasted to once again become the largest economy in 2098--bolstered by immigration (figure 9). Among the 10 countries with the largest populations in 2017 or 2100, the USA is predicted to have the fifth highest life expectancy in 2100 (82.3 years), up from 78.4 in 2017 (appendix 2, section 3). Please find below: 1) Media release, 2) Access to the Article + linked Comments 3) Country data 4) Infographics. For further information, please contact The Lancet press office (pressoffice@lancet.com) By 2100, projected fertility rates in 183 of 195 countries will not be high enough to maintain current populations without liberal immigration policies. World population forecasted to peak in 2064 at around 9.7 billion people and fall to 8.8 billion by century's end, with 23 countries seeing populations shrink by more than 50%, including Japan, Thailand, Italy, and Spain. Dramatic declines in working age-populations are predicted in countries such as India and China, which will hamper economic growth and lead to shifts in global powers. Liberal immigration policies could help maintain population size and economic growth even as fertility falls. Authors warn response to population decline must not compromise progress on women's freedom and reproductive rights. Improvements in access to modern contraception and the education of girls and women are generating widespread, sustained declines in fertility, and world population will likely peak in 2064 at around 9.7 billion, and then decline to about 8.8 billion by 2100--about 2 billion lower than some previous estimates [1], according to a new study published in The Lancet. The modelling research uses data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017 to project future global, regional, and national population. Using novel methods for forecasting mortality, fertility, and migration, the researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington's School of Medicine estimate that by 2100, 183 of 195 countries will have total fertility rates (TFR), which represent the average number of children a woman delivers over her lifetime, below replacement level of 2.1 births per woman. This means that in these countries populations will decline unless low fertility is compensated by immigration. The new population forecasts contrast to projections of 'continuing global growth' by the United Nations Population Division [1], and highlight the huge challenges to economic growth of a shrinking workforce, the high burden on health and social support systems of an ageing population, and the impact on global power linked to shifts in world population. The new study also predicts huge shifts in the global age structure, with an estimated 2.37 billion individuals over 65 years globally in 2100, compared with 1.7 billion under 20 years, underscoring the need for liberal immigration policies in countries with significantly declining working age populations. "Continued global population growth through the century is no longer the most likely trajectory for the world's population", says IHME Director Dr. Christopher Murray, who led the research. "This study provides governments of all countries an opportunity to start rethinking their policies on migration, workforces and economic development to address the challenges presented by demographic change." [2] IHME Professor Stein Emil Vollset, first author of the paper, continues, "The societal, economic, and geopolitical power implications of our predictions are substantial. In particular, our findings suggest that the decline in the numbers of working-age adults alone will reduce GDP growth rates that could result in major shifts in global economic power by the century's end. Responding to population decline is likely to become an overriding policy concern in many nations, but must not compromise efforts to enhance women's reproductive health or progress on women's rights." [2] Dr Richard Horton, Editor-in-Chief, The Lancet, adds: "This important research charts a future we need to be planning for urgently. It offers a vision for radical shifts in geopolitical power, challenges myths about immigration, and underlines the importance of protecting and strengthening the sexual and reproductive rights of women. The 21st century will see a revolution in the story of our human civilisation. Africa and the Arab World will shape our future, while Europe and Asia will recede in their influence. By the end of the century, the world will be multipolar, with India, Nigeria, China, and the US the dominant powers. This will truly be a new world, one we should be preparing for today." [2] Accelerating decline in fertility worldwide The global TFR is predicted to steadily decline, from 2.37 in 2017 to 1.66 in 2100--well below the minimum rate (2.1) considered necessary to maintain population numbers (replacement level)-- with rates falling to around 1.2 in Italy and Spain, and as low as 1.17 in Poland. Even slight changes in TFR translate into large differences in population size in countries below the replacement level--increasing TFR by as little as 0.1 births per woman is equivalent to around 500 million more individuals on the planet in 2100. Much of the anticipated fertility decline is predicted in high-fertility countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa where rates are expected to fall below the replacement level for the first time--from an average 4.6 births per woman in 2017 to just 1.7 by 2100. In Niger, where the fertility rate was the highest in the world in 2017--with women giving birth to an average of seven children--the rate is projected to decline to around 1.8 by 2100. Nevertheless, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to triple over the course of the century, from an estimated 1.03 billion in 2017 to 3.07 billion in 2100--as death rates decline and an increasing number of women enter reproductive age. North Africa and the Middle East is the only other region predicted to have a larger population in 2100 (978 million) than in 2017 (600 million). Many of the fastest-shrinking populations will be in Asia and central and eastern Europe. Populations are expected to more than halve in 23 countries and territories, including Japan (from around 128 million people in 2017 to 60 million in 2100), Thailand (71 to 35 million), Spain (46 to 23 million), Italy (61 to 31 million), Portugal (11 to 5 million), and South Korea (53 to 27 million). An additional 34 countries are expected to have population declines of 25 to 50%, including China (1.4 billion in 2017 to 732 million in 2100; see table). Huge shifts in global age structure - with over 80s outnumbering under 5s two to one As fertility falls and life expectancy increases worldwide, the number of children under 5 years old is forecasted to decline by 41% from 681 million in 2017 to 401 million in 2100, whilst the number of individuals older than 80 years is projected to increase six fold, from 141 million to 866 million. Similarly, the global ratio of adults over 80 years to each person aged 15 years or younger is projected to rise from 0.16 in 2017 to 1.50 in 2100, in countries with a population decline of more than 25%. Furthermore, the global ratio of non-working adults to workers was around 0.8 in 2017, but is projected to increase to 1.16 in 2100 if labour force participation by age and sex does not change. "While population decline is potentially good news for reducing carbon emissions and stress on food systems, with more old people and fewer young people, economic challenges will arise as societies struggle to grow with fewer workers and taxpayers, and countries' abilities to generate the wealth needed to fund social support and health care for the elderly are reduced", says Vollset. [2] Declining working-age populations could see major shifts in size of economies The study also examined the economic impact of fewer working-age adults for all countries in 2017. While China is set to replace the USA in 2035 with the largest total gross domestic product (GDP) globally, rapid population decline from 2050 onward will curtail economic growth. As a result, the USA is expected to reclaim the top spot by 2098, if immigration continues to sustain the US workforce (figure 9). Although numbers of working-age adults in India are projected to fall from 762 million in 2017 to around 578 million in 2100, it is expected to be one of the few if only major power in Asia to protect its working-age population over the century. It is expected to surpass Chinas workforce population in the mid-2020s (where numbers of workers are estimated to decline from 950 million in 2017 to 357 million in 2100)rising up the GDP rankings from 7th to 3rd (figure 8). Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to become an increasingly powerful continent on the geopolitical stage as its population rises. Nigeria is projected to be the only country among the worlds 10 most populated nations to see its working-age population grow over the course of the century (from 86 million in 2017 to 458 million in 2100), supporting rapid economic growth and its rise in GDP rankings from 23rd place in 2017 to 9th place in 2100 (figure 8). While the UK, Germany, and France are expected to remain in the top 10 for largest GDP worldwide at the turn of the century, Italy (from rank 9th in 2017 to 25th in 2100) and Spain (from 13th to 28th) are projected to fall down the rankings, reflecting much greater population decline (figure 9). Liberal immigration could help sustain population size and economic growth The study also suggests that population decline could be offset by immigration, with countries that promote liberal immigration better able to maintain their population size and support economic growth, even in the face of declining fertility rates. The model predicts that some countries with fertility lower than replacement level, such as the USA, Australia, and Canada, will probably maintain their working-age populations through net immigration (see appendix 2 section 4). Although the authors note that there is considerable uncertainty about these future trends. "For high-income countries with below-replacement fertility rates, the best solutions for sustaining current population levels, economic growth, and geopolitical security are open immigration policies and social policies supportive of families having their desired number of children", Murray says. "However, a very real danger exists that, in the face of declining population, some countries might consider policies that restrict access to reproductive health services, with potentially devastating consequences. It is imperative that women's freedom and rights are at the top of every government's development agenda." [2] The authors note some important limitations, including that while the study uses the best available data, predictions are constrained by the quantity and quality of past data. They also note that past trends are not always predictive of what will happen in the future, and that some factors not included in the model could change the pace of fertility, mortality, or migration. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected local and national health systems throughout the world, and caused over half a million deaths. However, the authors believe the excess deaths caused by the pandemic are unlikely to significantly alter longer term forecasting trends of global population. Writing in a linked Comment, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, University College London (UCL), UK, and Chair of Lancet Migration (who was not involved in the study) [3], says:"Migration can be a potential solution to the predicted shortage of working-age populations. While demographers continue to debate the long-term implications of migration as a remedy for declining TFR, for it to be successful, we need a fundamental rethink of global politics. Greater multilateralism and a new global leadership should enable both migrant sending and migrant-receiving countries to benefit, while protecting the rights of individuals. Nations would need to cooperate at levels that have eluded us to date to strategically support and fund the development of excess skilled human capital in countries that are a source of migrants. An equitable change in global migration policy will need the voice of rich and poor countries. The projected changes in the sizes of national economies and the consequent change in military power might force these discussions." He adds: "Ultimately, if Murray and colleagues' predictions are even half accurate, migration will become a necessity for all nations and not an option. The positive impacts of migration on health and economies are known globally. The choice that we face is whether we improve health and wealth by allowing planned population movement or if we end up with an underclass of imported labour and unstable societies. The Anthropocene has created many challenges such as climate change and greater global migration. The distribution of working-age populations will be crucial to whether humanity prospers or withers." ### Peer-reviewed / Modelling study / People NOTES TO EDITORS The study was in part funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. The labels have been added to this press release as part of a project run by the Academy of Medical Sciences seeking to improve the communication of evidence. For more information, please see: http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMS-press-release-labelling-system-GUIDANCE.pdf if you have any questions or feedback, please contact The Lancet press office pressoffice@lancet.com [1] The latest (2019) UN Population Division report estimates that world population is likely to reach 10.88 billion by 2100 (https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Volume-I_Comprehensive-Tables.pdf) The difference between the new GBD projections and UN Population Division forecasts can largely be explained by the unprecedented pace of fertility decline predicted in sub-Saharan Africa (resulting in 702 million fewer people by 2100 than UN Population Division forecasts), and sustained declines in fertility lower than the population replacement level (2.1 births per woman) in many countries--resulting in estimates of 584 million fewer people in south Asia and 447 million less in southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania by the century's end than UN Population Division forecasts. Population forecasts from UN Population Division use just past time trends as the determinant of future trajectories for fertility and mortality. Such an approach does not allow for alternative scenarios linked to policies or other drivers of fertility and mortality. In the new study by IHME, researchers developed a statistical modelling strategy that use past and forecasted trends in drivers of fertility (education and met need for modern contraceptives), mortality (sociodemographic variables and more than 70 risk factors for disease) and migration (sociodemographic variables, deaths due to conflict and natural disasters, and the difference between birth and death rates). Also, their model incorporates uncertainty about migration and accounts for women delaying childbirth as they become more educated. They used the model to develop a reference scenario and four alternative scenarios to show the demographic implications of policies which impact the scale-up of educational attainment and access to reproductive health services, including a scenario in which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on universal access to secondary education and contraception by 2030 are met (figure 2). They also assessed potential economic and geopolitical effects of demographic change this century. [2] Quotes direct from authors and cannot be found in the text of the Article. [3] Lancet Migration is a global collaboration between The Lancet and researchers, implementers, and others in the field of migration and health that aims to address evidence gaps and drive policy change building on the recommendations of the UCL-Lancet Commission on Migration and Health published in December 2018. http://www.migrationandhealth.org Signs outside Sir Francis Drake High School show that the school is closed because of COVID-19 in San Anselmo, Calif., on March 31, 2020. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) Los Angeles, San Diego Public Schools to Hold Classes Entirely Online in the Fall Los Angeles and San Diego public schools announced they will remain closed and continue to rely on remote learning this fall, citing the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in Southern California. The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control, a joint statement from San Diego Unified and Los Angeles Unified School Districts (LAUSD) reads. LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said that the fall semester will begin on Aug. 18 as previously scheduled, but with all students learning online from home. The decision would affect the districts 75,000 employees and 700,000 students and their families. We closed school facilities before there was any case of the virus at schools, Beutner said in a statement. That proved to be the right call. Science was our guide and will continue to be. Both districts said their goal is to bring students back to school during the 2020-21 academic year, as soon as public health conditions allow. They are going to provide a public assessment in August regarding when a physical return to class would be possible. The decision comes amid an increasingly polarized debate over reopening schools. While the federal government has urged school districts to fully return to the pre-pandemic normalcy, teacher unions are calling on their members to teach exclusively online. Over the weekend, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos once again demanded school districts to resume in-person learning, threatening to defund those planing to stay entirely online or offer a combination of online and in-person classes. American investment in education is a promise to students and their families, she told Fox News Sunday. If schools arent going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldnt get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise. Theres going to be the exception to the rule, but the rule should be that kids go back to school this fall, she said , seemingly referencing President Donald Trumps recent remark. 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, DeVos added. Meanwhile, the 34,000 member-strong United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) came out against physically reopening schools. The union argued in its research paper (pdf) that LAUSD should not reopen until a COVID-19 vaccine or cure is available, privately-run public charter schools are shut down, police are defunded, among many other conditions. The eventual restarting of schools should be primarily about learning, not merely about the economy, the UTLA wrote. Unlike other countries that recognize protecting lives is the key to protecting livelihoods, the United States has chosen to prioritize profits over people. Conservative Party members have been cutting up their membership cards in protest at Boris Johnson's move to make face masks mandatory in shops as Michael Gove shunned them while buying breakfast today. The hashtag #NoMasks and the word 'muzzles' were both trending on Twitter, while several Tory supporters posted pictures of chopped-up cards, cancelled registrations or deleting their direct debits. Many said the order - which will come into effect from July 24 and carries a maximum fine of 100 for non-compliance - is incompatible with the party's libertarian values. Others claimed there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the measure has meaningful health benefits. Today, Health Secretary Matt Hancock urged shops to call the police if people refuse to wear face masks - despite top officers warning the rules are 'impossible' to enforce. Meanwhile Michael Gove hinted he agreed with them on Sunday by saying that masks in shops should be a matter of 'courtesy' and 'common sense' rather than required. Mr Gove added it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops but was pictured picking up breakfast in a Westminster Pret a Manger without one this morning. Minutes later Trade Secretary Liz Truss arrived at the same branch wearing a blue face covering similar to the one worn by the Prime Minister yesterday. Dominey Jenner with her chopped up Conservative membership card amid anger of Boris Johnson's plans to make face masks compulsory in shops Others have taken to social media to share their anger and decision to cancel their Tory membership saying its leader has gone too far Michael Gove didn't wear a mask in Pret this morning after saying on Sunday that masks in shops should be a matter of 'courtesy' and 'common sense' rather than required Dominey Jenner, 42, a stay-at-home mother and former teacher from Wimbledon, south-west London, told the PA news agency that she had been 'quite sceptical about the lockdown' but said the face mask rules are the 'final straw'. 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'. July 13: Justice Secretary Robert Buckland made it worse that 'perhaps' masks should be mandatory., Hours later Mr Johnson was forced to steps and says an announcement will be made 'in the coming days' on upgrading the advice on using face coverings. July 14: George Eustace says that shops will have to play their part to enforce the wearing of masks and refuses to rule out masks being mandatory in offices. Advertisement 'If you look at the statistics regarding the cases and the death rate, which is plummeting ... why now you would bring in mandatory face masks? 'The other strand for me is the libertarian strand. I think people should be trusted, I think we should be given a choice. 'I'm really angry at how the Government has invoked fear in its population to control people - I think that is the wrong way to manage a population and to govern.' Mrs Jenner said she and her family have 'really suffered over lockdown', adding that her mother's breast cancer had not been picked up and has now metastasised, meaning she may now only have a 'few years' to live. She added: 'I have an 11-year-old girl. I don't want to put a face mask on my child. I'm sure that covering your mouth and nose is not a good idea, it's part of our respiratory system. Instinctively, it can't be a good thing.' Ahead of Health Secretary Matt Hancock's announcement of the new measure, a No 10 spokesman cited 'growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus'. A recent modelling study from the Universities of Cambridge and Greenwich found that the widespread use of face masks keeps the coronavirus reproduction number below 1.0. Researchers found that even home-made masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce transmission rates if worn by enough people, regardless of whether they show symptoms. However, Alistair Haimes, a data analyst and owner of a private investment company, said he has not seen any evidence which convinced him that face masks would have a meaningful impact on transmission of the virus. 'All it is, it's very transparently that they think that people will be more confident to go back to shops and offices if they wear them than if they don't. 'I think people should be free to wear them. I just object to being told what to do.' Mr Haimes said he is leaving the Conservatives just a few months after joining, having previously voted for a number of political parties. 'People are trying to see the dividing lines where they aren't. People are seeing it as Brexiteer Tories who are against masks. 'I voted for Tony Blair. I voted Remain. I'm not representative of my tribe, as it were,' he told PA. Both Mr Haimes and Mrs Jenner were critical of the Government's handling of the coronavirus outbreak. 'To be honest, the camel's back was breaking anyway. I'm in slight despair that I just don't think it can be managed at any point worse than they have done,' Mr Haimes said. '(Mr Johnson) has made some big mistakes,' Mrs Jenner said. 'He's not communicated a vision. It went from squashing the sombrero and saving the NHS, to the R number, which seems to have disappeared from everyone's vocabulary. 'I actually don't know what he's seeking to achieve.' She added that the Government's move has left her politically homeless. 'This is the dilemma, I really have no idea now. I really hope that some people create a new party. I've got my eyes on Nigel Farage and his Reform Party, possibly, but I haven't done much research on what they stand for. 'I probably brought down the average mean age of the Conservative Party massively and I'm also female, so I think I was a bit of an asset to them in some ways and they've totally lost me.' Shoppers who fail to comply risk fines of 100 under the plans to stop a second wave of coronavirus. Pictured: Prime Minister Boris Johnson wearing a face mask during the Coronavirus while campaigning in his Uxbridge constituency Michael Gove was in Westminster's Pret a Manger this morning without a mask as he said it should be left to people to decide whether to wear one Mr Johnson's decision to make face masks mandatory in shops descended into chaos and confusion today as businesses called the plan 'utterly ludicrous' and police said they will find it 'impossible' to hand out 100 fines to those flouting the rules from July 24. Do face coverings help reduce coronavirus transmission? Initially many authorities, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), suggested face coverings were not effective in preventing the spread of Covid-19 but are now recommending wearing them in indoor spaces. So, has the science evolved on face coverings? A report recently published by the Royal Society suggests that even basic homemade face coverings can reduce transmission if enough people wear them. Dr Julian Tang, who is an associate professor of respiratory sciences at the University of Leicester, said wearing face coverings in public places could keep the R value below 1 by creating an 'artificial herd immunity'. But Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor of cellular microbiology at the University of Reading, said that while face coverings may reduce the spread of cough droplets, robust epidemiological evidence on their benefits is still lacking. Are there any benefits to wearing them? Experts say the risk of coronavirus transmission appears to be higher in poorly ventilated indoor spaces and wearing face coverings in small shops or enclosed shopping centres could help reduce the spread. In addition, there is also increased evidence which suggests that many people with the virus who do not have symptoms can still be contagious. What does this mean for those looking to go back to the office? Experts say wearing face coverings could provide an added line of defence amid growing evidence of airborne transmission of coronavirus. Dr Tang said: 'If half the people in the office wear a mask, it would increase artificial herd immunity to around 25%, which can reduce transmission overall within the office, just by reducing the number of people who are susceptible.' Are there downsides to face coverings? There are many indoor spaces, such as pubs and restaurants, where the use of face coverings may not be possible. Some experts have also shared concerns that wearing face coverings may give the wearer a false sense of security, although Prof Neal said there is 'no evidence to suggest that is the case'. Are some face coverings better than others? The WHO advises a three-layer face covering in the community - the outer layer should be water resistant, the inner should be water absorbent and the mid-layer acts as a filter. The Government has said coverings can be made from scarves, bandanas or other fabric items, as long as they cover the mouth and nose. But scientists at the Leverhulme Centre say some coverings are not as effective as others, with loosely woven fabrics, such as scarves, shown to be the least effective. Advertisement Mr Johnson's own ministers are also openly split on the issue with the Prime Minister accused of confusing millions of Britons by forcing them to wear face coverings in confined spaces from next week despite his deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries cautioning at the start of lockdown that wearing one 'is not a good idea for the public'. Boris Johnson and other senior ministers have been wrestling to balance their instinctive dislike for 'nanny state' moves with rules to ensure public safety - and Michael Gove sparked fresh confusion by saying on Sunday that masks in shops should be a matter of 'courtesy' and 'common sense' rather than required. Mr Gove added it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops but was pictured picking up breakfast in a Westminster Pret a Manger without one this morning. Minutes later Trade Secretary Liz Truss arrived at the same branch wearing a blue face covering similar to the one worn by the Prime Minister yesterday. The confusing message from Downing Street was also increased by Environment Secretary George Eustice, who refused to rule out the mandatory use of face coverings being extended to offices and other workplaces during a BBC interview this morning. MailOnline has been inundated with emails from business owners left perplexed and angry at the face masks diktat who fear that this will kill off their businesses as it was revealed that UK faces the biggest peacetime deficit in history with the risk of four million people out of work by next year - and the economy might not recover until 2025. Jools Cardozo, who runs Farringdon and Forbes Home Interiors in Leamington Spa, said: 'Our high streets are near deserted, businesses are being forced to close and now the government want to tighten that last nail in the coffin by imposing that all shoppers wear face masks! How utterly ludicrous. I am all for the safety of my staff and customers but imposing this on a random future date screams of desperation'. Susan Carlin, who runs a corner shop, said: 'I doubt many of our customers will be willing to wear one - very very few do - and the staff will not be comfortable asking customers to wear one. But if we let in larger numbers without masks it makes mockery of the requirement'. She added: 'We had a good system in 2 metre social distancing which the customers adapted well and willingly to and we work behind a screen. I believe this is a totally unnecessary and an unenforceable rule which will cause huge discomfort for my staff'. Moshe Schmahl, who works at Nat Jacobs Fishmongers in north London, said: 'There is essential communication going back and forth between the monger and the customer. With face masks on, it is extremely difficult to understand the other person. Let's hope the government will provide some clarifications and exemptions'. It comes as today Matt Hancock today urged shops to call the police if people refuse to wear face masks from July 24 - despite top officers warning the rules are 'impossible' to enforce. Finally confirming the move - which has already come into effect in Scotland - in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Hancock said he hoped shoppers would fall into line without punishments. But he told MPs: 'Should an individual without an exemption refuse to wear a face covering, a shop can refuse them entry and can call the police if people refuse to comply. 'The police have formal enforcement powers and can issue a fine.' Mr Johnson and other senior ministers have been wrestling to balance their instinctive dislike for 'nanny state' moves with rules to ensure public safety. Matt Hancock (pictured in the Commons today) urged shops to call the police if people refuse to wear face masks from July 24 - despite top officers warning the rules are 'impossible' to enforce Ken Marsh, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said compulsory masks and the levying of 100 fines was 'impossible to enforce', adding: 'We can't have police outside every shop'. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan - a strong supporter of face masks - revealed that since lockdown began to be eased more than a month ago just 59 people have been fined for not wearing masks on the Tube and admitted that the delay in making them compulsory has only caused more confusion in the UK. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Khan admitted some 10 per cent of people travelling at rush hour in the Capital are still refusing to wear a mask on public transport. Who is exempt from wearing face masks and what are the acceptable reasons for not having one? If you are in these groups you the government says you are exempt from having to wear masks on public transport: A child aged 11 or under An emergency responder, including paramedic or fire officer, acting in the course of their duty, or a constable or police community support officer acting in the course of their duty, or a an official, such as a border force officer, acting in the course of their duties An employee of the transport operator, when they are acting in the course of their employment or any other person providing services to the transport operator Those remaining in a private vehicle, like on a car ferry, or a cabin or private area with members of your own household 'Reasonable excuses' for not wearing a mask on public transport include: Those with physical or mental impairments which would cause 'severe' distress to wear a face mask, as well as those with breathing difficulties difficulties People providing a lip reading service Those needing to eat, drink or take medication can temporarily remove their face mask If you are asked to remove your face covering by a police officer or other official Advertisement Many shoppers have taken to social media to say that they will still refuse to wear a mask calling the new rule 'hysterical' Retailers and police forces have today slammed the government's 'impossible' new rules making face masks compulsory in all stores from next week. Retailers will be asked to advise customers to wear masks but their staff will not be expected to enforce the law. Instead, police will be given powers to dish out fines. Shoppers who fail to comply risk fines of 100 under the new regulations which come in on Friday, July 24, to stop a second wave of coronavirus. But the move has sparked confusion among retailers, who remain in the dark over whether they will be made to wear a mask behind a perspex screen, and how to deal with customers not following the rules. Chief executive of the British Retail Consortium Helen Dickinson said 'more clarity was needed' on how to protect shop workers from aggressive customers refusing to wear face masks. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 today, Sadiq Khan admitted some 10 per cent of people travelling at rush hour in the Capital are still refusing to wear a mask on public transport. Adam Marshall said the British Chambers of Commerce was supportive of the new rules around face coverings, and said they would help to 'restore consumer confidence' and encourage more people to head into their town centres to shop. 'Restoring consumer confidence to use towns and city centres safely is enormously important to the restart and recovery of the UK economy and taking measures, sensible measures like the use of face masks in enclosed businesses, is one step that can help rebuild that confidence,' he said. Mr Marshall told the PA news agency: 'The evidence that we see from other countries is that when the rules are clear people's confidence goes up and their ability to go and use shops, to use towns and city centres also improves. He added: 'We don't believe that the use of coverings will stop people going into these establishments - in fact we believe it will probably help many more to do so.' The law will require people to wear simple cloth face coverings, rather than the medical grade masks used by front-line NHS workers. Only young children or those with certain disabilities will be exempt from the new regulations. Ken Marsh, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation - which represents rank-and-file officers - told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'Shopkeepers need to step up to the plate and take some responsibility. 'They can quite easily put signs up on their doors 'No mask on, no entry, this is private property'. 'That's the first point we need to get across because this cannot all be laid on the shoulders of the police yet again. 'The second point is it will be nigh-on impossible for enforcement because you won't have a police officer on every shop door because there isn't enough of us. 'If a shopkeeper calls the police because someone hasn't got a mask on, they haven't got the power to detain them so that person can just walk away. 'We'll be driving around and around London looking for people who aren't wearing masks, it's absolutely absurd.' JD Sports chief executive Peter Cowgill criticised the delay in the Government ordering the mandatory use of face masks in shops in England, suggesting it could hit consumer confidence. Mr Eustice said the face coverings would not be compulsory for shop staff, or in pubs and restaurants, and he defended the delays to introducing the measure. He told the BBC that ministers want to 'give people time to plan and prepare' by delaying the enforcement of the measure until July 24. The Cabinet minister said the measure, which had been in place in Scotland since Friday, was now backed by the Westminster Government because the evidence 'has been evolving'. Michael Gove snubs mask as he pops to Pret after saying it should be 'basic good manners' to wear one in stores Michael Gove in Pret without a mask today Michael Gove shunned his own advice about it being 'good manners' to wear a mask in a shop today. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster popped into Pret in Westminster to buy breakfast but did not have his face covered. Minutes later fellow cabinet minister Liz Truss arrived at the same branch - but she was wearing a mask like the one worn by the PM yesterday. On Sunday Mr Gove dismissed the idea of making face coverings compulsory in shops. 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'. 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'. Advertisement The move follows a weekend of confusion over whether ministers intended to make face coverings compulsory after Boris Johnson said they were looking at 'stricter' rules. He told Sky News today: 'The evidence, the understanding, has been evolving. 'So the World Health Organisation changed their guidance back in June and following that the Government changed its guidance and we recommended that people wear face coverings in enclosed spaces when they're out and about. 'We then sharpened that and made it compulsory for public transport in the middle of June and what we've really got here is, as we loosen the lockdown and allow more venues to open, we need to consider the mix of measures we have in place to limit the transmission and control the virus. 'And that's why we're making this next step, which is to say it's mandatory to wear masks in retail environments.' Mr Eustice said the mandatory use of face masks in England would apply to 'all shops', but not pubs and restaurants, as he appeared to contradict guidance for hairdressers. 'Hairdressers, you've always required a mask to go to,' he told Sky News. But the Government guidance says: 'There is no requirement for the client to wear any additional protection such as a mask or face covering, when the practitioner is wearing a visor.' Mr Eustice added: 'We're not for instance mandating the wearing of masks in pubs and restaurants, because obviously people have got to eat. 'We've been evolving the measures we've had as we come out of lockdown and we've been strengthening the guidance progressively on masks making it mandatory first on public transport and now we're going to that next step to make it mandatory in retail environments.' The British Retail Consortium today said more 'clarity' was needed on the use of face coverings in shops in England after days of 'mixed messages'. Helen Dickinson told the Today programme: 'Our expectation is that [shop staff] would not need to wear a mask behind a screen. 'The whole point about face coverings is that it's another level of mitigation we have social distancing, the importance of hygiene measures. 'Within a retail environment there is a huge amount of time, resource and investment that has gone into putting the infrastructure like those Perspex screens in place and it's also quite different for a retail colleague to be required to wear a mask for eight hours a day. 'The job of the retailer is to encourage compliance but where the boundary gets more difficult for people who work in retail is that they are often on the frontline of that very small minority of people who don't want to comply with the rules or become verbally aggressive to the shop worker.' Sadiq Khan, meanwhile, said he welcomes the Government's 'U-turn' on making face coverings mandatory in shops in England. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said masks should be worn in shops, supermarkets and gyms. NO PLANS FOR MANDATORY FACE COVERINGS IN SHOPS IN WALES Face coverings have not yet been made mandatory in shops in Wales because coronavirus is at its 'lowest ebb' in the country, Wales' finance minister has said. Rebecca Evans said it was important the country took a 'proportionate response' to the pandemic, following the UK Government's decision to enforce the use of face coverings for shoppers in England. In Wales, face coverings will only become mandatory for public transport when new rules come into force on July 27. Today, Ms Evans' Labour colleague in Westminster, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth, accused UK Government ministers of being 'slow and muddled' over introducing the rule for shops in England. Ms Evans said the Welsh Government had been consistent in making changes to measures only 'once we have a plan in terms of how we will deliver that'. On Monday, First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would not mandate the use of three-layered face coverings in public places like shops. But he said that could change depending on the state of the virus in Wales in future, while claiming businesses could request customers wear the coverings anyway. Advertisement He said a suggestion that people refusing to wear a face covering on the Tube were not being fined or stopped was 'not true'. He said TfL enforcement officers and the BTP have stopped in the region of 18,500 people from travelling on public transport and issued 59 fines, with 'more than 90% compliance,' from passengers traveling at rush hour. Mr Khan claimed the government's concern about police standing on the streets issuing fines was 'misfounded and misplaced.' He added: 'The problem is not the issue of enforcement, the problem is the mixed messaged and the confused communication, that has been the issue. 'The government needs to ensure that the test, trace, isolate system is fully operational all these things will lead to consumer confidence and the public having confidence to return to the shops. 'It's really important the government gets a grip, makes sure the public has confidence the virus is under control.' JD Sports chief executive Peter Cowgill criticised the delay to introducing the measure, saying 'it will have an impact on consumer confidence' as he blamed ministers for 'inconsistencies and the indecisiveness'. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'It's come as a surprise at the lateness, a little bit like quarantine, and it seems to have come at the back end rather than the front end of the pandemic, and even more so it's been delayed until July 24, which is very difficult to work out and seems quite indecisive. 'I'm not sure about the rationale for the delay, but I do think it will have an impact on consumer confidence. 'Maybe it will be a positive for older customers but a deterrent for younger ones. 'I think it's the inconsistencies and the indecisiveness that causes the lack of confidence. 'I actually think the delay up to the 24th is quite confusing as well.' He suggested his store will offer face coverings to anyone not wearing them but said it will be for police to enforce. 'The guidance so far is that our store colleagues are not really to get involved and it's a police matter to enforce rather than for them to get involved in any potential public disturbances,' he said. A sales assistant at a food retailer has said she believes she and her colleagues will receive abuse from the public when face coverings become mandatory in shops in England from July 24. Only young children or those with certain disabilities will be exempt from the new regulations which come in on Friday, July 24. Pictured: Pedestrians pass a John Lewis store in central London Retailers will be asked to advise customers to wear masks but their staff will not be expected to enforce the law. Pictured: Members of the public wear face masks as they shop on Princess Street, Edinburgh 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 'We have had people become very irate when we have had to limit purchases, remind them about the one-way system etc,' Holly, 34 from Solihull said. Sadiq Khan admits one in ten passengers refuse to wear a mask at rush hour London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been pressing for face coverings to be made mandatory, said ministers should not wait until July 24. 'It's a disgrace that there's been days of mixed messages and confused communications from ministers,' he said. 'We can't afford to wait another day and the Government should bring this policy in immediately - further delay risks lives.' But speaking on Radio 4, he was asked why more people had not been fined for failing to wear masks on public transport. He said: 'The amount of fines that have had to be issued so far is only 59. During rush hour we have more than 90% compliance. 'The problem is not the enforcement the problem is the mixed messaged and the confused communication, that has been the issue. 'The government needs to ensure that the test, trace, isolate system is fully operational all these things will lead to consumer confidence and the public having confidence to return to the shops. 'If it's safe to do so of course I want people to return to return to the fantastic culture we have in London, to their place of work if it's safe to do so. 'Very few places of work will be able to have 100% of staff returning to the level they had pre-Covid. 'It's really important the government gets a grip, makes sure the public has confidence the virus is under control. 'Then you'll see people returning to the shops, return to work.' Advertisement 'So yes, I do think myself and the colleagues will get more abuse from members of the public. Especially our regulars who probably think we will let them off. 'I feel it's too little too late and how will this even be monitored? If we have repeat offenders do we go to the police? 'We have a persistent shoplifter currently and the police don't have the time to sort him. Let alone people wearing masks.' The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that the Government has procured ten factory production lines capable of making five million masks a week. Face coverings have been compulsory on public transport since June 15 and, last Friday, Scotland ordered shoppers to wear them. Government sources said guidance on masks in other settings would be 'kept under review'. The move may anger those who find them uncomfortable or dislike the idea of state compulsion. One libertarian Tory MP has already vowed to stop shopping rather than wear a mask. But Boris Johnson yesterday said they were important in confined spaces as 'a kind of extra insurance'. A Downing Street spokesman said: 'There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus. 'The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24.' The move follows days of confusion about the Government's stance on the issue. On Sunday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said that while it was 'basic good manners' to wear masks in shops it would not be made compulsory. He said it was 'always better to trust to people's common sense'. A Whitehall source played down the idea of a Cabinet split, but acknowledged that Mr Gove's intervention had been 'unhelpful'. Mr Johnson, who was initially sceptical about face masks, yesterday said there was growing evidence they could help slow the spread of coronavirus. A further 21 people have died from coronavirus in 24 hours bringing the UK's total death toll to 44,819 Nine out of ten Britons back mandatory face masks in shops Nine out of ten Britons back the latest Government moves to make the wearing of face masks mandatory in shops as well as on public transport, according to a new report today. Over half would go further and make coverings obligatory when leaving home and mingling with others in open spaces, the latest research shows. Donning masks has become more commonplace with the study, carried out for fashion supplier Elle, showing almost three in four adults claiming to have worn some sort of protection since the lockdown was first announced 17 weeks ago, compared with only a quarter in a survey carried out in late April. One in five claimed they regularly put on a mask when in an enclosed public space. However some members of the public still need convincing that they should be worn at all despite evidence they offer some protection from the Covid virus. Middle aged men are the most skeptical with almost six out of ten of 45-65 year olds branding face masks unnecessary. Some 26 per cent of the adult population, around 13 million people, admit they don't have a mask and 7%, one in 15 of the population, saying they would defy official instructions to wear one despite the threat of a 100 fine. 15% of Britons complained they had been unable to obtain face masks. The study was carried out by research company Manu for Elle which has turned to making masks for the public after its regular work of providing hosiery for leading designers suffered because of the pandemic. Advertisement Speaking on a visit to the London Ambulance Service yesterday, the Prime Minister, who was wearing a mask, said they had 'a great deal of value in confined spaces' where people are coming into contact with those they do not normally meet. He added: 'As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again.' Face masks have been compulsory in shops in many European countries for months. The Czech Republic introduced the requirement on March 18, with Austria following suit on April 6, Germany on April 22, France on May 10 and Spain on May 20. But in the UK, both Government scientists and ministers have questioned their value. In March, deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries said wearing a mask could 'trap the virus' and cause the person wearing it to breathe it in. 'For the average member of the public walking down a street, it is not a good idea [to wear a face mask],' she added. But scientists have changed their view as evidence of the risk of asymptomatic and airborne transmission has grown. 'Officials now believe that face coverings can help stop people spreading the virus, particularly when they do not know they have it. Royal Society president Dr Venki Ramakrishnan yesterday said the evidence was 'now quite strongly in favour of using face coverings in enclosed spaces where we're likely to come into contact with strangers'. He added: 'The Government should be very clear. 'It's not consistent to make it mandatory on public transport and not make it mandatory in other enclosed and busy public spaces, because the behaviour of the virus is the same in all of these spaces.' The move is part of a wider push to open up the economy and give consumers confidence to go out and spend. Downing Street yesterday confirmed that official advice to work from home where possible is now under review. 'The PM said last week that people should 'start to go to work now if you can'. THE TRUTH ABOUT FACE MASKS: WHAT STUDIES HAVE SHOWN Research on how well various types of masks and face coverings varies but, recently, and in light of the pandemic of COVID-19, experts are increasingly leaning toward the notion that something is better than nothing. A University of Oxford study published on March 30 concluded that surgical masks are just as effective at preventing respiratory infections as N95 masks for doctors, nurses and other health care workers. It's too early for their to be reliable data on how well they prevent infection with COVID-19, but the study found the thinner, cheaper masks do work in flu outbreaks. The difference between surgical or face masks and N95 masks lies in the size of particles that can - and more importantly, can't - get though the materials. N95 respirators are made of thick, tightly woven and molded material that fits tightly over the face and can stop 95 percent of all airborne particles, while surgical masks are thinner, fit more loosely, and more porous. This makes surgical masks much more comfortable to breathe and work in, but less effective at stopping small particles from entering your mouth and nose. Droplets of saliva and mucous from coughs and sneezes are very small, and viral particles themselves are particularly tiny - in fact, they're about 20-times smaller than bacteria. For this reason, a JAMA study published in June still contended that people without symptoms should not wear surgical masks, because there is not proof the gear will protect them from infection - although they may keep people who are coughing and sneezing from infecting others. But the Oxford analysis of past studies- which has not yet been peer reviewed - found that surgical masks were worth wearing and didn't provide statistically less protection than N95 for health care workers around flu patients. However, any face mask is only as good as other health and hygiene practices. Experts universally agree that there's simply no replacement for thorough, frequent hand-washing for preventing disease transmission. Some think the masks may also help to 'train' people not to touch their faces, while others argue that the unfamiliar garment will just make people do it more, actually raising infection risks. Advertisement Mr Johnson is planning to set out a new 'road map' this week setting out a nine-month timetable for easing social distancing measures in the hope of giving people the confidence to return to near-normal life. But Tory MP Sir Christopher Chope said the mask policy would have the opposite effect. Speaking at the weekend, he said: 'I don't think I will be going in shops if they impose a condition that people wear masks.' James Daunt, managing director of bookseller Waterstones, yesterday said asking customers to wear a face covering was not a problem. He told Radio 4's Today programme: 'If it reassures people, then it is a perfectly reasonable measure to take.' But Mr Daunt said staff working across his chain of stores could not be asked to police the policy. 'There will be a tiny, tiny minority of people who will be confrontational over it and it is not the position of shop workers to enter into that situation,' he said. Labour health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth said the Government's policy was muddled. He added: 'Why yet again have ministers been slow in making a decision in this pandemic, and why will it take another 11 days before these new guidelines to come into force?' The regulations will be made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, with a maximum fine of 100 - reduced to 50 if it is paid within 14 days. As is the case on public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. Ryan Exley, safety and health content developer at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, said: 'In a public place such as a shop, controlling the risk is more challenging as any member of public infected or not infected, symptomatic or asymptomatic is able to enter without any recognition of their medical status. Therefore, the government has viewed shoppers wearing masks as a reasonable addition to a suite of controls to be implemented by the duty holder.' And Lee Lucas, principal and CEO of the Fashion Retail Academy, added: 'There are bound to be some people who are not keen on these new rules. 'In the early days, shops may need to consider providing some disposable masks to hand out to customers who do not have one of their own. 'Retailers may also need to continue reminding customers about social distancing, as the masks may give some people a false sense of security. 'It will be important for stores to continue to provide floor markings and posters to remind customers to keep their distance from fellow shoppers. 'Shops will not need to enforce the rule themselves. 'This will be the responsibility of the police. It's important that shopping remains a relaxing and happy experience for customers. 'Their return to the high street is going to be crucial to the country's economic recovery.' Eight out of 10 Covid-19 patients died in one English hospital as NHS data reveals 'stark' differences in death rates across the country with fewer than half surviving at 11 trusts By Sam Blanchard Senior Health Reporter for MailOnline Coronavirus death rates vary massively across NHS hospitals in England, according to shocking data. Eight out of 10 infected patients have died in one hospital in the South West but just 12.5 per cent succumbed to the illness in a London trust. Autistic children may experience 'trouble' with face coverings An autistic woman has said she expects she and her autistic children will experience 'trouble' after it was announced that face coverings will be mandatory in shops in England from July 24. Jen, 44, from Birmingham - who did not want her surname published - is exempt from wearing a mask, but said she has encountered judgment on public transport having already demonstrated her exemption to a bus driver. 'I go to sit down and there is a sea of faces looking at me like 'how dare you get on our bus without your face covered',' she said. 'There were these two ladies, probably 70-something, glaring at me, and their eyes followed me all the way to my seat. 'I thought, 'these people need to know why I'm not wearing (a mask)... which is an extremely uncomfortable thing to do.' Jen said she received an apology from one of the women but, asked whether she believed she would encounter similar judgment in shops, said: 'I would bet my left kidney that we're going to have trouble. Advertisement The data, seen by The Guardian, showed more than half of Covid-19 patients have died in at least 11 hospital trusts across the country. Data from a study presented to government scientists last month showed the death rate for hospitalised patients is 28 per cent across the UK, on average. But information being sent to senior doctors, which the NHS denies is official, shows that this varies wildly between hospitals. Twenty-six NHS trusts had death rates lower than a quarter between 12.5 per cent and 25 per cent. But rates were higher at the remaining 109. Experts said the huge disparity in death rates did not necessarily mean patients were getting worse care, but that it could be a consequence of the population in the area or the number of patients they had treated. Older people are more likely to die from coronavirus and some regions have far more older people the average age in the South West, for example, is eight years higher than it is in London. NHS England said it did not produce the data which the newspaper said had been adjusted for age and say they appear to be 'experimental'. For comparison, the national death rate for everyone who tests positive not only hospital patients is 4.2 per cent in the US, 4.6 per cent in Germany, and 15.5 per cent in the UK. The infection itself is thought to kill around 1 per cent of all cases but not everyone who catches the virus gets spotted. The NHS data showed that two of the five hospital trusts with the highest death rates were in the South West one with 80 per cent and another with 62 per cent. Specific trusts were not named in the report, The Guardian said, and were referred to only by the region they were in. Other hospitals where more than half of patients were dying included one in the North West (68 per cent), the East of England (60 per cent) and one in London (54 per cent). Hospitals across the country have varying death rates from coronavirus, according to secret NHS data (stock image) Three of the hospitals with the lowest death rates were in London with 12.5, 14 and 15 per cent along with one in the Midlands (13 per cent) and one in the South East (15 per cent). Dr Alison Pittard, chief of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, told the newspaper: 'That is a huge variation, a huge range. HOW DO OFFICIAL DEATH RATES COMPARE BY REGION? Public Health England publishes weekly reports which show the total number of people who have been diagnosed, and the total number of deaths, in each region. These should include all hospital patients but also include people who have tested positive and died outside of hospital. This is how the regions break down: London (19.8%) West Midlands (19.6%) East of England (18.6%) South West (16%) South East (15.9%) North East (15.6%) North West (15.4%) East Midlands (14.8%) Yorkshire & The Humber (13%) Advertisement 'I'm surprised at the degree of variation. A spread between 12.5 per cent and 80 per cent is quite stark.' She added: 'We know that poorer communities and BAME communities have a higher risk of mortality, so if a trust is in an area of higher-risk individuals you would expect that trust's Covid-related mortality rate to be higher.' The exact factors that have played into some NHS trusts having significantly higher death rates are not clear. The ethnicity of patients in a NHS trust's area, how wealthy they are and their general health are all contributing factors. Data has shown non-white people, those in poorer areas and people with existing health conditions are all more likely to die if they catch Covid-19. Hospitals with small numbers of patients may also have an artificially high death rate because an increase of one could push the average up significantly. The NHS data gives a breakdown of 135 major hospital trusts around the country and calculated how many of the diagnosed patients died, to get a rate of death. It is not publicly available, however, so it is unknown whether some regions' hospitals were suffering significantly more fatalities than others. NHS England denied that it had produced the data. It said in a statement: 'We do not recognise these figures, which appear to be experimental analysis of unverified data, but there is now a wide range of published data on the role that health inequalities, including pre-existing conditions and other health factors, have played when it comes to the impact of Covid, including from the ONS and PHE. 'The NHS is accelerating work to tackle health inequalities, and will shortly be providing local services with a range of actions they should build in to their plans for the coming months.' Public Health England publishes weekly data showing how deaths break down by region, which shows that London has the highest overall death rate for all patients. In the capital 19.8 per cent of people not necessarily all admitted to hospital have died of the virus, compared to 19.6 per cent in the West Midlands and 18.6 per cent in the East of England. The lowest regional death rate has been in Yorkshire and The Humber, where 13 per cent of people officially diagnosed have died. The other regions had death rates of 16 per cent in the South West, 15.9 per cent in the South East, 15.6 per cent in the North East, 15.4 per cent in the North West and 14.8 per cent in the East Midlands. Separate regional data from Public Health England shows that London has the highest death rate among people who have officially tested positive for Covid-19. There, 19.8 per cent of patients have died Government papers published last week after being presented to officials in June showed that the average hospital death rate has been just over a quarter across the UK. A study of 64,066 hospital patients with Covid-19 in the UK found that 28 per cent of them - more than one in four - die with the disease. Deaths were higher for people admitted to intensive care, of whom 35 per cent succumbed to the disease, and even higher for those who had to be put onto ventilators - 42 per cent. The COVID-19 Clinical Information Network (CO-CIN), comprised of university experts from around the UK, presented the results to SAGE - the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies - on June 22. The study had found people spend an average of nine days in hospital if they are admitted with coronavirus, or catch it while on a ward. Some 16 per cent of patients require high-flow oxygen therapy to help them breathe. The most common symptoms for hospital patients are coughs (63 per cent), fever (62 per cent) and shortness of breath (61 per cent) - but a worrying one in 16 people (6 per cent) claimed to have had no symptoms at all, the study found. Mounting household and business debt will stymie the expected rapid recovery of the Canadian economy post-COVID-19, according to Capital Economics. High private-sector (business and consumer) debt is likely to hold back productivity growth in the coming decade relative to that in the US, said Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics. Defying the general mood of optimism among observers of Canadas struggles against the coronavirus pandemic, the new report by Capital Economics projected that year-end GDP might end up 6.3% weaker than the level seen prior to the outbreak. LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Britain's culture minister said telecoms firms Ericsson and Nokia need to be protected as alternatives to Huawei after announcing plans to ban the Chinese firm from Britain's 5G network. "We are already working with all our Five Eyes partners on those alternatives," Oliver Dowden told parliament, referring to cooperation between the group of allies comprising the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. "The first thing we need to do is ensure that we protect the other two vendors in this market so Nokia, and Ericsson. Secondly we need to get new suppliers in, that starts with Samsung, and it starts with NEC," he said. (Reporting by Paul Sandle and William James; writing by Costas Pitas; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) A new paper in the JNCI Cancer Spectrum, published by Oxford University Press, finds that the mortality rates for complex cancer procedures differ greatly between one-star hospitals (10.4%) and five-star hospitals (6.4%). The safety of complex cancer surgeries varies widely across hospitals in the United States, with as much as a four-fold difference in hospital mortality rates, volume of patients, hospital experience, and surgeon training. Researchers have previously suggested that a large-scale shift of patients away from high-risk hospitals could meaningfully reduce mortality rates for complex cancer surgeries. Yet there are numerous challenges to matching patients with hospitals that are best suited to perform a specific procedure. In particular, hospital volumes and surgery-specific performance data are not readily available to patients and providers. Researchers examined the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' "Star Rating" system, which serves as a guide for patients to compare the quality of each hospital's care (one-star = lowest to five-star= highest). This system is based on 62 measurements (e.g. mortality, readmissions, patient experience), but is not specific to any medical operation or patient population. Despite this fact, researchers found that the ratings correlate with quality and safety across many patient care scenarios, including the risk of mortality after complex cancer surgery. A total of 105,823 patients underwent complex cancer procedures at 3,146 hospitals between 2013 and 2016. Eligible patients were over 65 years old with a diagnosis of cancer of the lung, colon, stomach, esophagus, or pancreas. This group captures an estimated 80% of all high-risk cancer surgeries. The mortality rating over a 90-day period correlated with the star system, with the greatest difference observed between the 1-star (10.4%) and 5-star (6.4%) hospitals. However, these rates varied by surgery type. These findings are consistent with prior studies that have found that the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' star rating system correlates with surgical mortality. And yet, the overall effectiveness of this system in choosing hospitals for complex cancer surgeries appears to be modest (84 lives per year), relative to other proposed strategies. For complex cancer care, choosing the right hospital may be as important as choosing the right treatment. In order for patients to select the best hospital for their situation, they need access to understandable information regarding the safety and quality of hospital care. Unfortunately, the CMS star-rating system, while clear and easy to access, does not appear to distinguish the safest from the least safe hospitals with enough separation to reliably guide cancer patient choice for complex surgical care." Daniel Boffa, Department of Surgery, Yale School of Medicine Former President Goodluck Jonathan has been appointed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as a special envoy to lead the sub-regional bodys mediation mission in Mali. As a Special Envoy, Mr Jonathan is to facilitate dialogue with all principal stakeholders in Mali, including President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, opposition leaders, civil society as well as religious organisations, towards resolving the worsening socio-political situation in the West African country. Speaking ahead of his scheduled departure for Bamako on Wednesday, Mr Jonathan promised to do his best to ensure that the mission achieves the desired result. According to his Media Adviser, Ikechukwu Eze, Mr Jonathan also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the support of the Nigerian Government, including providing an aircraft and other logistics needed to make the assignment successful. Former President Jonathan, who had led peace missions to many crises-ridden nations in the past, is expected to deploy his enormous goodwill within the continent to facilitate the process of restoring peace in the troubled nation. The West African nation has been hit by protests, sparked by the outcome of parliamentary elections in March and April, perceived discontent over the governments handling of Malis jihadist insurgency and worsening economic situation. The former Presidents appointment was communicated to him in a letter signed by Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, President of the ECOWAS Commission. It said: Given your position as the former President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the great role and contributions your tenure offered to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in our region, I have the honour, in consultation with the Chair of the Authority, H.E. Issoufou Mahamadou, President of the Republic of Niger, to communicate to you, the decision to appoint you as ECOWAS Special Envoy for the sociopolitical crisis in Mali. Mr Jonathan is to engage in consultations with all relevant stakeholders involved in the ongoing dispute in Mali to ensure that a common ground is found in the search for peace. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:52:49|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIRUT, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Tuesday that negotiations with Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq to provide support for Lebanon have seen positive developments lately, the National News Agency reported. "We are doing our best to alleviate the burden of the crisis on citizens," Diab said at the beginning of the cabinet's meeting at Baabda Palace. He also accused some political parties in Lebanon of trying to persuade Gulf countries not to offer support to the current Lebanese cabinet. Diab has previously denounced some parties standing in the way of the current cabinet's achievements. These parties have been calling the government "Hezbollah-dominated." The prime minister denied these allegations, saying some want this cabinet to resign "for them to control the government and adopt biased policies that are in line with their interests and those of the United States." Enditem Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Sir John Kerrs decision to dismiss Gough Whitlam as prime minister and his government with him in 1975 was the apex of Australias greatest political crisis and has sparked furious debate in books and newspapers in the years since. On July 14, a new cache of documents called the Palace Letters that had stayed secret since they were written in the 1970s revealed more about how the dismissal happened and the Palaces role in it than almost anything since 1975. So what are the Palace Letters? Who wrote them? And what do they say? The letters on their release in July. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer What are the Palace Letters? The "letters" are more than 1200 pages of letters, telegrams and clippings sent between Sir John Kerr as governor-general of Australia and Sir Martin Charteris, then Queen Elizabeth's private secretary. They span the years 1974 to 1977 and shed light on an array of topics including, most notably, Sir John's dismissal of the Whitlam government in November 1975. That was triggered by opposition leader Malcolm Fraser's decision to block the government's supply bills, starving it of funds, and sparking a constitutional crisis. Gough Whitlam on the steps of Parliament House in Canberra after his dismissal in 1975. Credit:Fairfax What do they show? Advertisement Sir John does not tell the Palace he plans to dismiss Gough Whitlam and dissolve his government but confers with Sir Martin about his power to do so and is given guidance about whether it would be wise. In one letter, Sir Martin points the governor-general to a scholarly text that argues he can dissolve a government. Loading In another, before the dismissal, Sir Martin says while Sir John has the powers to dissolve parliament, he ought "only use them in the last resort and then only for constitutional and not for political reasons." Later, after Mr Whitlam's sacking, he praises Sir John's decision not to inform the Queen as showing "admirable consideration", implying it has shielded her from criticism and kept the issue in Australia, and says if Mr Whitlam were to be reappointed prime minister he ought to be "grateful" to Sir John. Why were the letters kept secret for so long? Queen Elizabeth and her private secretary Sir Martin Charteris reviewing papers late at night on the royal yacht Britannia in 1971. Credit:Getty Images Public documents created by federal officials are usually eligible to be released after 30 years. However, Sir John's files were given to the National Archives of Australia on a "personal" basis and with the condition that they only be released after 60 years and in consultation with the monarch's representative. Advertisement From the Nile to the Mississippi and from the Amazon to the Yangzi, human civilization is inextricably linked to the great rivers along which our societies developed. But rivers are mutable, and the benefits they bestow can quickly become disasters when these waterways change course. Scientists are working to understand how environmental changes alter river dynamics. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences coauthored by UC Santa Barbara geomorphologist Vamsi Ganti has outlined the factors that dictate how often rivers jump course, or avulse, and the effects this will have on river deltas. The results promise to help scientists and planners prepare for a future of sea-level rise and changing land use. Deltas counteract sea level rise by building up sediment, which mostly occurs near a river channel itself. Every once in a while, the river will switch course through an avulsion and begin building up the delta somewhere else. "So avulsions are the way that the river spreads its sediment out over the whole landscape," said first author Austin Chadwick, a postdoctoral scholar at University of Minnesota. "The questions we're asking are how often do rivers naturally change their course," he continued, "and how is that going to change with climate change and human interference." Unfortunately, there has previously been no consensus on how rivers responded to climactic shift. Some scientists thought avulsion rates would increase as sea level rises, while others predicted they'd decrease. "There simply was no unifying theory to explain how river avulsion frequency is dependent on sea level," Ganti said. To straighten out the situation, Ganti, Chadwick and their coauthor Michael Lamb of Caltech, combined observations from the geologic and historical records with a mathematical model of river dynamics. By focusing on this specific issue, they aimed to finally get definitive answers and useful predictions. advertisement Large rivers tend to flatten out and decelerate as they approach the ocean. After a certain point, the downstream conditions of the sea level begin to influence the river's behavior in what scientists call backwater hydrodynamics. "This is a dynamic zone where deposition and erosion occurs in coastal rivers," Ganti explained. In a previous paper, the team had shown that avulsions occur within this backwater region, which can extend quite far inland. For instance, the backwater zone of the Mississippi River reaches 500 kilometers from the coast. Deeper, flatter rivers like the Mississippi, which have larger backwater regions, therefore have larger deltas. The researchers goal with this study was to apply their newfound understanding of the impact of backwater hydrodynamics to learn about the frequency of avulsions themselves. Using the model, and comparing their results to field data, the team discovered that there are three ways that deltas can respond to sea level rise, which depend on the balance between the rate of sea-level change and the sediment supplied by the river. The first: when a river has a lot of sediment and sea-level rise is relatively slow. According to the model, these rivers are resilient to sea-level rise, and their avulsion rates remain stable. China's Yellow River is one example. advertisement The second case occurs when a river has less sediment or the sea level rises more quickly. In this scenario, avulsions become more frequent. The rising ocean promotes sedimentation, and once a channel fills to a certain depth, the river will jump its course. And representing the extreme, in which sea level rise outpaces a river's ability to deposit sediment, is the third case. As the ocean infiltrates the delta, the river will reach its maximum avulsion rate, and the whole system will begin migrating inland. Scientists hadn't known about this case before, and the discovery of the three regimes together explains the previous inconsistencies in the scientific literature. The researchers inputted observations and data into their model to see whether various river deltas would behave differently under predicted climate conditions. "The answer is yes, for most of them," Chadwick said. "Many rivers will experience more frequent avulsions and some rivers will also have avulsions farther inland." River avulsions have huge societal implications, with the potential to cause economic and civil unrest. Archaeologists believe that a course change of the Indus River in western India directly contributed to the decline of the Bronze Age Harappan civilization. More recently, avulsions led to the 1877 Yellow River flood and 1931 China floods, two of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history. An avulsion could have dire consequences for rivers like the Mississippi, where a system called the Old River Control Structure has prevented the river from jumping course since 1963. If the backwater region migrated inland, the river could change course upstream from the facility and bypass it altogether. Millions of gallons of water per minute would course through previously dry land, while the downstream portion of the channel would go completely dry. The authors have made their model available and accessible to anyone who might want to use it. They were even able to reduce several formulas into a single equation by implementing a few basic assumptions about river conditions and dynamics. "Groups like the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior can use this tool to apply to any delta," said Chadwick. "And hopefully it will help inform our decisions in these places as we cope with climate change." With the 2020 Toyota Supra being based so heavily on the BMW Z4, you can imagine that it had a very strong offering of aftermarket options by the time it launched. After all, just about anything that will mechanically improve the Z4 will improve the Supra too, right? Well, imagine for a moment, if you will, an A90 Toyota Supra with the S58 engine thats found in the X3 and X4 M and the upcoming next-gen M3 and M4. That would make the Toyota Supra one powerful beast and force to be reckoned with. The best part? A new report straight out of Japan says its going to happen. That special Supra will be known as the Supra GRMN, and its going to be outlandishly rare. If you want one, you better figure out how to be one of just 200 people that will be lucky enough to get one The Toyota Supra GRMN A Unicorn Among Unicorns One could argue that adding more BMW bits to a car thats been criticized for being to a little too BMW to begin with is a good idea, but when you start talking about limited production and 500+ horsepower, you might think a little differently. Thats exactly what Best Car Web reports the Supra GRMN to be capable of. Well, 503 horsepower, to be exact. Thats some 40 horsepower more than that current BMW X3 M and X4 M offer, and they have the same S58 engine that will allegedly pump life into the Supra GRMN. In its current application the engine also produces 442 pound-feet of torque, meaning that this limited-run Supra will be a lot more powerful than the best model on sale today. In comparison, the 2021 Toyota Supra has just 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque. So, the Supra GMRN will deliver an extra 121 horsepower and at least 74 extra pound-feet of torque. The current Supras sprint time of 3.9 seconds to 60 mph could be slashed down to as little as 3.5 seconds or even better if Toyota does its job right. Theres a kicker to this news, though: BMW fanboys wont be able to get an equivalent in Z4 form. Thats right, the limited-run Supra GRMN isnt getting the S58 by default because the Z4 will be offered with the same. There are absolutely no plans for BMWs M division to create a Z4 M, so this rare 500+ horsepower Supra will truly be one of a kind among sister cars. How rare will it be? Well, the current report indicates that Toyota plans to build just 200 examples of the Supra GRMN. Theres no word as to what markets it will be available in or what the market split will be, but its safe to say that it will be significantly more expensive than the range-topping 3.0 Premium Supra that starts out at $54,490. If we had to guess, the GRMN will go for at least $80,000 if not more. When you consider the downright rarity of it, theres potential for pricing to reach $100,000 between dealer markup or, maybe, a manufacturer bidding process. BMWs Seven-Speed Dual Clutch Transmission in the Supra? Youre probably aware that BMW has been very reluctant to give Toyota access to its seven-speed DCT, despite the fact that the company has been gradually abandoning it for some time now. Regardless, this latest report says that Bimmers seven-speed DCT will be handling shifting duties in the Supra GRMN. Its not a six-speed manual like youd probably want, but that means the Supra GRMN will be even quicker. And, since that transmission isnt all that good for AWD (this is why most cars with the S58 feature BMWs eight-speed automatic), chances are the GRMN will also retain its RWD status. Needless to say this is an interesting recipe, and price aside, it sounds like something wed like to see. But, is the report legit? Well, we should find out in the coming years. Its the Supra GRMN isnt due until 2023, which puts it on the market just 2 years before production of the A90 ends. That, by the way, will be the end of an era as BMW isnt looking to make a next-gen Z4 so Toyota will have to find a new partner or do its own thing if there will be a next-gen Toyota Supra. With that in mind, the Supra GRMN could end up being one hell of a farewell model. Source: Best Car Web Per Reuters, Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL has received positive responses from more than 15,000 employees on early buyout packages. Hence, the airline might be able to avoid involuntary furloughs during fall. With air travel demand at an unprecedented low level, U.S. airlines have warned of job cuts post Oct 1, in order to right-size its network. U.S. airlines getting financial assistance under the CARES Act are barred from laying off employees until Sep 30. In order to address pilot overstaffing amid the suppressed demand scenario, Delta, carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), had sent notices to more than 2.500 pilots about potential furloughs. Simultaneously, the airline reached an agreement with the pilots union for early-retirement options, in order to encourage voluntary separations. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Delta Air Lines, Inc. Price Delta Air Lines, Inc. Price Delta Air Lines, Inc. price | Delta Air Lines, Inc. Quote Earlier this month, United Airlines UAL, carrying a Zacks Rank #3, sent potential-furlough notices to approximately 36,000 employees, i.e, about 45% of its total workforce. The possible layoffs are expected to take place on or after Oct 1. Meanwhile American Airlines AAL, carrying a Zacks Rank #3, is also said to be planning to send potential layoff notices to its employees. To minimize involuntary exits, the airline will also be offering early-exit packages. With air travel demand already way below year-ago levels, the recent surge in coronavirus cases in some parts of the United States and new quarantine rules add another layer of uncertainty to the airlines recovery. Delta has slowed down its capacity expansion plans amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in the United States. Raising concern about the impact of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases on the already weak travel demand, Southwest Airlines LUV chief executive officer Gary Kelly said that passenger numbers would need to triple by the end of this year to prevent job cuts. Southwest carries a Zacks Rank of 3. In a message to employees reviewed by Reuters, Kelly said, Although furloughs and layoffs remain our very last resort, we cant rule them out as a possibility obviously in this very bad environment. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) : Free Stock Analysis Report Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research For young teens struggling with social isolation in pandemic times, a smartphone can be a lifeline. But too much Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and the like can be unhealthy. Thats where Central Michigan University psychology faculty member Sarah Domoff comes in. Backed by a grant from the Detroit-based Childrens Foundation, Domoff will teach middle school teachers and students in Michigans rural Upper Peninsula to avoid cyberbullying, dangerous content, sleeplessness and other problems linked to social media overuse. Teens need to learn to navigate their digital worlds in healthy ways, Domoff said. She and her team of student research assistants in CMUs Family Health Lab are partnering with the Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District to train two teachers this summer and follow up with weekly phone calls through the school year. Those first two trainees will introduce the program to other teachers and counselors. Domoff will assess results with an eye toward expanding the program. If we find this is effective, we absolutely would love to bring it to more schools around the state, she said. Help for students and educators The program will reach about 300 sixth and eighth grade students in the Gladstone and Escanaba school districts starting this fall. Six health class lessons will cover topics such as how social media content affects teens, how to critically assess information, how to be mindful about sharing and privacy, and how to avoid cyberbullying and support victims. These issues affect not only teens but also educators who set policies for use of digital devices at school and deal with the fallout from their use and misuse. Domoff will follow up with both groups to measure the programs effectiveness. This is really the first foray into evaluating: Does this work? Does it improve outcomes for teachers and administrators?' Domoff said. But also, we want to know: Does this work to improve healthy digital media use with youth?' Staying healthy and social Domoff advises teens to use social media in healthy ways to prevent burnout and overload, especially in the COVID-19 era. Understand what youre reading before you share, post or tweet it. Is the content from a trustworthy site? Think critically and ask yourself: Is it backed by scientific evidence? Does it feel like click bait? Is it trying to make someone or a group look bad? Even with school being out, a healthy sleep schedule is still extremely important for your health. Try turning off your electronics an hour before going to bed. Include down time in your technology routine. Being inside your home all day is a drastic change for most people, so remember to go outside or disconnect from technology whenever you can as long as youre doing so safely. Social media is a great tool for staying connected while social distancing. Try playing online with friends, Facetiming with family, or sending fun TikTok videos. Domoff provides a list of online resources for families coping with the pandemic. Commonsensemedia.org offers additional resources for social media use. Creating a ripple effect Kristine Paulsen, educational consultant with Delta Schoolcraft ISD, said the work of Domoff and her team popped up right away when she began searching for ways to help the district address issues with digital devices. Technology has so many benefits, but at the same time it presents so many challenges to make sure youre using it in healthy, productive ways, she said. Paulsen emailed Domoff, and the partnership grew from there. To be able to access and learn from their research I think is going to be huge, she said. This provides an opportunity to really learn strategies that will benefit not only our students but have the potential to benefit students throughout the state and around the country. Theres going to be a ripple effect. A motorist has had his custom-made number plates cancelled because officials considered them to be offensive. Peter Hansen, from Portland on Victoria's southwest coast, had the plates reading 'WEPN' on his 1971 Holden Torana for ten years. Mr Hansen's plates were cancelled when his wife Jacinta applied for a set of plates for another car reading 'WEPN 2'. He received a letter from VicRoads in June which the plates were 'unacceptable'. 'Number plates containing offensive language, anti-social values, racial overtones or a negative road safety message are generally unacceptable,' the letter read. Peter Hansen had 'WEPN' number plates on his 1971 Holden Torana (pictured) for ten years Mr Hansen waited until Friday to change his plates and invited friends to join him on WEPN's last drive. 'Come join me and WEPN for her last cruz (sic) around the streets of Portland and then to VicRoads to buy a new set of plates, sad it's come to this but that's VicRoads for you,' he wrote on Facebook. Mr Hansen has vowed to fight to keep his custom number plates and has received a wealth of support from car lovers and his community. 'The community support, and the local people of Portland, and everything thats been done for me, I feel like a very rich man,' Mr Hansen told 7News. Ms Hansen said the number plates were part of the family. 'Weve done everything in the car, weve gone all over Australia, weve competed in events,' she said. A letter Mr Hansen received from VicRoads that reads his WEPN plates are being cancelled because they are considered 'offensive' and 'unacceptable' A Change.org petition was launched to protest VicRoads' decision and let Mr Hansen keep his plates on his car, which is well known in the area. 'This is so wrong for so many reasons. So I ask for all my fellow car enthusiasts to sign this so that the rights to the plates return to its rightful owner Peter Hansen,' the petition reads. More than 11,600 people have signed in favour of the petition. Despite having put generic plates on his car, Mr Hansen has kept the WEPN plates in the hope of a successful bid against the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 'Theres always hope, thats why I still hold onto them,' he said. 'Until the day I dont hold onto them, I guess Ill always have hope.' German brand Volkswagenwhose cars are distributed under AC Motorshas opened another sales avenue for its offerings by bringing them to the Lazada Philippines platform. Aside from making its cars available on the popular online e-commerce app, Volkswagen Philippines will also be throwing exclusive discounts to those who will purchase a new VW car on Lazada Philippines. Santana variants, for one, are being tagged with as much as P90,000 discount. Below are the details for the available variants. Meanwhile, the Lavida 1.4 TSI DSG SE is being offered with an P85,000-discount. from Volkswagen Philippines Since June 21, Volkswagen Philippines entire roster of German-designed and engineered vehicles, including all Santana variants, have been available on the Lazada online storemaking these vehicles accessible to the 4 million dailyor 120 million monthlysite visitors, including a nationwide social media reach of 29 million Facebook and 78,000 Twitter followers. Volkswagen vehicles are also available for online purchase/reservation anytime, virtually expanding the dealerships effective reach round-the-clock, all year round. The Lazada platform makes it easy for online buyers to get behind the wheel of their very own Volkswagen vehicle with these 4 easy steps: Purchase your vehicle reservation voucher on the Volkswagen Philippines LazMall Store. Wait for a SMS, e-mail, and app notification once transaction is completed. Call your preferred dealership to confirm your vehicle order. Redeem the voucher in your preferred dealership and settle the remaining balance, and drive home with your new Volkswagen vehicle. All processes are safe, as codes are dealership-generated, unique, and secured under the Lazada Seller Platform. Since June 21, Lazada and Volkswagen Philippines have been offering a reservation voucher of P5,000.00 for all Volkswagen models. For more details, visit the Volkswagen Philippines Lazada Store, or get in touch with an authorized Volkswagen Philippines representative. Story continues You may also visit Volkswagen Philippines Facebook page, or check their website at volkswagen.com.ph. Customers may also call the following Volkswagen authorized dealerships: Volkswagen BGC at (02) 8558-5888 or (02) 8558-5819; Volkswagen Quezon Avenue at (02) 8558-5818 or (0917) 501-7677; Volkswagen Pampanga at (45) 961-1895; Volkswagen Alabang at (02) 8558-5807 or (0906) 508-6557 or (0998) 841-2925; Volkswagen Santa Rosa at (0917) 769-7676; Volkswagen Cebu at (32) 517-8226 or (0906) 292-8315; Volkswagen Iloilo at (33) 331-2622; Volkswagen Bacolod at (034) 435-7575, and; Volkswagen Cagayan de Oro at (088) 851-7960 or (0906) 416-2108. Of course, your may also shop for your very own Volkswagen car here on Carmudi. Photos from Volkswagen Philippines Also read: Maxus vehicles now on Lazada Suzuki vehicles now available thru Lazada MINI PH Partners with Lazada for First-Ever Online Sale of MINI Monte Carlo Edition Leave it to the politicians, Republican and Democrat, to dangle the prospect of Juneteenth as a federal holiday in lieu of rolling up ones sleeves and crafting, negotiating and passing long overdue reforms addressing police brutality and racial injustice in America. Add the reality of pressing another costly federal holiday that most work-a-day Americans wont get to observe and the absurdity is complete once you also figure in the seemingly indiscriminate defacing and toppling of monuments honoring Founding Fathers, abolitionists and other non-Confederate figures. This newspaper has long celebrated the significance of Juneteenth, marking the occasion when word of President Lincolns 1863 emancipation of slaves in the South at long last reached Texas, precipitating ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments and ushering in Lincolns new birth of freedom edging us closer and closer to the vision articulated in the Declaration of Independence (and, yes, were aware the 13th was on its way to ratification when Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger announced a federal order in Galveston in June 1865 proclaiming all slaves in Texas were free). As doctors, nurses and other hospital staff work tirelessly on the frontlines of the war against Covid-19, R&D teams and legal experts band together to aid the fight in their own way. Robert Appelbaum and team - Leanne Mostert, Megan Jarvis and Cameron MacKenzie What is the National Ventilator Project? What was the role of your team on such an initiative? Your team collectively spent hundreds of hours on this project at no charge... Why offer your services pro bono for such a huge endeavour? Tell us a bit about your own experience on the project and what it means to you? How do you believe we, as South Africans, can stay united in the face of the pandemic? We speak to Robert Appelbaum, partner at Webber Wentzel, about the work he and his team - comprising Megan Jarvis, Leanne Mostert and Cameron MacKenzie - carried out on the National Ventilator Project.The project has entailed designing and building three local prototypes of non-invasive ventilators for mass local production. Non-invasive ventilators are desperately needed to treat most hospitalised Covid-19 patients with a mixture of pure oxygen and air delivered through a well-sealed mask or hood. The NVP will build 1,000 non-invasive ventilators a week to an initial target of 20,000.Webber Wentzel advised Business for South Africa, the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) on a pro bono basis. They provided hundreds of hours of time, giving advice on the choice of outside experts, drafting, negotiation and settlement of the prototype and manufacturing agreements required for the NVP. In addition to this, Webber Wentzel assisted in ensuring the non-invasive ventilators were registered by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).Webber Wentzel donated its time and expertise in the conviction that its efforts will ultimately be for the benefit of hundreds of thousands of people that may be affected by Covid-19 before this crisis is over, and will help to save the lives of our fellow South Africans. Our firm is deeply committed to South Africa and to making a positive difference. We do a lot of incredible work like this on a pro basis, owning our part of working towards a better life for all. This is one of many projects we have worked on related to Covid-19 another one has been helping the rising people who have been illegally evicted over this time.This was one of the most stressful engagements I have been involved in given the urgency of the matter, but it has also been one of the most gratifying. This work will directly help and support our essential services teams, our valued doctors and nurses, to save lives.We can stay united by working together to find new and innovative solutions to fight the pandemic, to build the economy and to curb negative stigmatism which people who have tested Covid-19 positive may face. In this case, business (through Business for South Africa) worked with government (the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition) to jointly find solutions to sort out South Africas local manufacturing of pretty much everything South Africa will require to fight the pandemic. This saves lives, creates jobs and stimulates the local economy. Wild winds and huge waves battered Sydney's ferry service on Tuesday as a huge storm front tore through the Harbour City. The normally calm and picturesque journey between Circular Quay and Manly turned into a terrifying white-knuckle ride for passengers. Footage and pictures have emerged showing the iconic vessels tipping from side to side as they crash through rough seas. Scroll down for video. Wild winds and huge waves battered Sydney's ferry services on Tuesday as a huge storm front tore through the Harbour City The ferry from Sydney's Circular Quay to Manly is pictured battling through huge waves The normally picturesque journey turned into a terrifying white-knuckle ride for passengers Although a Facebook user who posted video of the rocky voyage described the journey home as 'fun', others were horrified. 'You're brave on a day like today!' one person wrote. Another said: 'Blimey! Little bit rocky!' Others couldn't believe the service was still operating with winds gusts of up to 100km/h recorded this morning. 'Those ferries are as tough as nails,' a Facebook user wrote. 'I am surprised it is running,' another said. Pictured: Storm clouds gather over Sydney on Sunday as the city braced for wet and windy weather this week The Bureau of Meteorology told residents to keep their cars away from trees as the city prepared for wind gusts of up to 90km/h (hail pictured falling in Sydney on July 12) Eventually conditions became too dangerous and the ferry service was replaced with extra buses to the northern beaches. The low pressure system brought five-metre swells and torrential rainfall to Sydney, the mid-north coast, the Hunter region, the Illawarra and the south coast of New South Wales. The Bureau of Meteorology says the miserable weather is expected to stick around until Wednesday evening before the system moves eastwards over the Tasman Sea. In Sydney, 20mm of rain is expected to fall before the end of Tuesday with a further 5mm set to come tomorrow. The Bureau of Meteorology's Jane Golding warned New South Wales residents to be vigilant over the next 24 hours. 'It certainly will not be a good day to go out boating,' she warned. 'The landscape is still quite vulnerable at the moment because of the bushfires so do keep an eye out for falling trees and things like that.' Gale Warnings remain in place for the Byron Coast, Coffs Coast, Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast and Illawarra Coast. Rough seas at Bronte Beach on Tuesday. Waves of up to five metres are forecast for Sydney as a ferocious east coast low pressure system lashes the Harbour City Two walkers brave the heavy rain and windy conditions at Bondi on Tuesday morning Queensland and Melbourne are expected to escape the ferocious east coast low but Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Adam Morgan said weather systems like these can be very unpredictable. 'As with all east coast lows pinpointing exactly which communities will see the worst of the weather depends on exactly where and how close to the coast, any low pressure centre forms,' he said. 'Winds may be strong enough to bring down trees and powerlines and beach conditions will be dangerous right along the coast. 'These are weather systems that can impact communities through flash flooding, damage to trees and property and through coastal erosion.' German prosecutors leading an investigation into Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner say they do not know what prompted Portuguese police to search wells near to where the British youngster went missing 13 years ago, according to reports. They also claim Portuguese police did not tell them about their plans to search the wells, located near to where Brueckner lived during his time in the Algarve, reports the Mirror. The claims come after detectives from the investigative Policia Judiciaria coordinated a search of an underground reservoir on Thursday morning and have searched two other wells in relation to the disappearance of Madeleine, who went missing from Praia da Luz in 2007. It also comes as reports suggest police are set to search another 20 wells for her body over fears the prime suspect in her disappearance, Brueckner, dumped her in a disused shaft in the Algarve. Portuguese police reportedly launched searches for Madeleine McCann's body on the Algarve last week. 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 discovered 'fundamental evidence' to be able to prove suspect Christian Brueckner (right) is responsible for Madeline McCann's (left) disappearance But, according to reports, Hans Christian Wolters, Braunschweig's public prosecutor, who is overseeing the German investigation, says he was not alerted about the searches in advance. Mr Wolters said: 'I read about it, but the measures were not taken in consultation with us. 'The Portuguese police are investigating themselves. We dont know what knowledge they are based on.' Mr Wolters told news outlets in Germany that he believes the Portuguese police have been startled by the renewed global attention and may have had new information. According to reports Hans Christian Wolters, Braunschweig's public prosecutor, who is overseeing the German investigation, says he was not alerted about the searches in advance It comes after an unnamed source told The Sun that Portuguese police are to search more than a dozen other wells after searching three on Thursday. The source said: 'Those well searches are unlikely to be the last. '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. This is the third well in the Algarve that Portuguese police have been searching for the body of Madeleine McCann 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 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 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. 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. 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. Over the past 25 years, normalised relations with Vietnam have been beneficial for trade, our public health, and for supporting human rights and democracy around the world, said Senator Gardner, who is also Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy. As we celebrate 25 years of diplomacy with Vietnam, we also celebrate its chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Senator said he looks forward to continuing to grow the strong partnership between the US and Vietnam, which will be supported by his bipartisan Asia Reassurance Initiative Act. The same day, former US President Bill Clinton tweeted Grateful for 25 years of partnership working towards peace, prosperity and security in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Earlier, Gardner and Senator Ed Markey, along with Congressmen Ami Bera and Ted Yoho introduced two resolutions, which recognised that in the 25 years since normalising diplomatic relations, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the United States of America have worked toward increased stability, prosperity, and peace in Southeast Asia. The resolutions also expressed the commitment of the US Congress that the US will continue to remain a strong, reliable, and active partner in the Southeast Asian region. The resolutions affirmed the importance of the Vietnam-US comprehensive partnership and the cooperation between the two governments and peoples for a peaceful, prosperous, open and rule-based Asia-Pacific. Shortly after he was sacked as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and the pradesh Congress chief on Tuesday, Sachin Pilot fired a truth tweet at the Congress. Two other Rajasthan ministers, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena, were also sacked from the state cabinet after a meeting of the Congress legislature party, its second in the last two days. The truth can be harassed but not defeated, Pilot, camping in Delhi, posted on Twitter. Taking note, Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande turned the meaning on its head, saying that the leader is right and that the people elected by the state have won today. Adding that the lord may grant the rebel leader some good sense. Bilkul sahi keh rahe hai Sachin Pilot, janta ne jinko chuna hai unki jeet hai. Bhagwan unnko sadbudhi de (Sachin Pilot is right. Those elected by the people have won today. May lord grant him some good sense, Pande was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. As soon as the meeting ended, AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Pilot enjoyed the blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy. This cannot be acceptable to any political party. Therefore, the Congress took the decision with a heavy heart, he said. Chief minister Gehlot too accused his former deputy of playing into the hands of the BJP. I am very sad that horse trading was going on, he said. During the run-up to Tuesdays CLP meeting, Pilot supporters insisted that the leader had no plans to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. A video clip circulated by the Pilot camp last evening appeared to show a group of 16 Congress MLAs. In a statement issued Sunday, Pilot had claimed the support of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. The crisis in Rajasthan unit reached a breaking point when 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. Russia's Defense Ministry said on July 14 that a roadside bomb planted by militants hit a joint Russian-Turkish patrol in Syria, wounding three Russian soldiers, Russian news agencies reported. Several Turkish soldiers were also wounded in the blast, according to reports. The blast occurred in the southern part of the rebel-controlled Idlib region in northeastern Syria during a joint patrol mission along the strategic M4 highway, which connects Aleppo to Latakia on the Mediterranean coast. "The explosion damaged an armored personnel carrier belonging to the Russian military police and a Turkish armored vehicle. Three Russian servicemen sustained minor injuries. There were also injuries on board the Turkish armored vehicle. All injured servicemen were rapidly evacuated from the area," the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria said in a statement quoted by Interfax on July 14. Turkey and Russia brokered a March cease-fire in Idlib following a months-long Russia-backed offensive by Syrian forces that displaced nearly 1 million people and threatened to send a flood of refugees into Turkey. As part of the cease-fire deal, Turkish and Russian troops conduct joint patrols in a buffer zone between rebel fighters and Syrian government forces along a section of the M4 highway. Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- On the heels of last years successful campaign to change the form of government over to an elected mayor in 2022, City Manager Tanisha Briley is now working on a potential transition of her own. As of last week, Briley was one of two finalists for the vacant city manager's post in Gaithersburg, Md., with a population that may be approaching 70,000 -- after an official Census nearing 60,000 in 2010. In addition to a population boom, Gaithersburg also retains a "council-manager" form of government, which Cleveland Heights is now transitioning away from. "While I have not been actively looking for other roles, the fact is the voters of this community decided to change the form of government last November and that change eliminates my position at the end of 2021," Briley said in a request for comment Monday. The Maryland interviews, which she described as a "combination of socially distanced and masked in-person meetings as well as virtual ones." were held Thursday July 9 with Briley and Gaithersburg's current deputy city manager. The position has been vacant since early May, when Tony Tomasello retired after 25 years with the Gaithersburg, the last eight of those as city manager. Growing up in Collinwood, Briley has served as Cleveland Heights City Manager since mid-2013, coming back home from Davenport, Iowa. Like the original charter form of government in Cleveland Heights, the city manager in Gaithersburg is hired by council. Mayor Jud Ashman said there was nothing official to report as of Monday. In the meantime, "I remain committed to Cleveland Heights and assisting with its transition to the new form of government," Briley said. "However when attractive opportunities come along, I must consider them given that my tenure will soon be coming to an end." Regardless of the current outcome, Briley added that it has been her "honor and privilege to serve this great community of Cleveland Heights for the last seven years as city manager. Cleveland is my home and I had hoped to continue on here for years to come." Briley said she'd heard about the opportunity in Gaithersburg from an executive recruiter and went from there. As a result of a national search coordinated by The Novak Consulting Group, more than 90 applicants expressed interest in the position, a Gaithersburg press release noted. "Gaithersburg is an incredible community and I am honored to be considered to be their next city manager," Briley said. "In many ways, it is similar to Cleveland Heights and is a place I would be proud to call home." She added that serving as Cleveland Heights' city manager has "truly been my dream job; it allowed me to come back home and spend every single day working alongside dedicated and talented professionals, each committed to making this community better than it was the day before." And while the new elected mayor will have a "chief administrator" to handle day-to-day operations at an as-yet undisclosed salary, Briley last year renegotiated her contract roughly three months before the election. That agreement allowed for Briley to terminate her contract if the elected mayor charter amendment passed, as well as receive up to a year's salary, set then at a base of $147,000. "As Cleveland Heights heads in a new direction I will continue to serve this city to the very best of my ability to ensure a smooth transition until it is time to part ways," Briley said. Briley said she remains proud of what has been accomplished during her tenure for residents and businesses alike. Whatever happens with Gaithersburg will not change that for me -- just as the decision of the voters last fall hasnt changed my love for this city or my dedication to it. Read more from the Sun Press. Press Release July 14, 2020 Gatchalian family extends help to Cebu City amid rising COVID-19 cases As cases of COVID-19 continue to rise, Senator Win Gatchalian stresses that there should be no let-up in providing aid to those who need it most, especially in Cebu City which is now considered as the epicenter of COVID-19 in the country. Today, the Gatchalian family donates more than two million peso-worth of daily basic needs and commodities to the Cebu City government. Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella receives the donations consisting of 600 sacks of rice, 20,000 assorted canned goods, 50,000 packs of noodles, and 100,000 pieces of surgical masks. Senator Win Gatchalian is joined by Cebu City ABC President Franklyn Ong and Region 7 PNP Regional Director Albert Ignatius Ferro in the ceremonial turnover of donations at the Cebu City Hall open grounds. Senator Gatchalian said that the latest donation is part of the Gatchalian family's ongoing humanitarian efforts especially to those in vulnerable communities. The donation is on top of the family's earlier assistance to Barangay Lahug in Cebu two months ago. Over a million peso-worth of food packs, bottled water, sacks of rice, assorted canned goods, and medical supplies for the frontliners and constituents were donated. "We're far from flattening the curve. Containment measures seem to be not enough. But we also cannot be less stringent in managing the outbreak," emphasizes Gatchalian. The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has reached more than 56,000 as of Monday afternoon. For Cebu City alone, of the 7,246 confirmed cases of COVID-19, there were recoveries of 3,650 and 356 deaths as of July 11. "While the government continues to strive in providing help to where it's needed most, the private sector's contribution in the fight against Covid-19 could keep our countrymen away from hunger and illness," says Gatchalian. "Makaaasa ang taong-bayan na patuloy kaming tutulong, sa abot ng aming makakaya, sa kahit saan mang sulok ng Pilipinas. Kaisa kami sa laban na ito," he stresses. Have you ever wondered into a random cafe or a book shop and you can't help but imagine meeting someone perfect, handsome, Kim-Soo-Hyun-looking-man who could possibly be your one true love? We do blame Korean dramas sometimes for such fantasy. Most Korean dramas have perfected the equation of men that allows viewers' eyes to be glued onto the television screen. They create male characters who bring butterflies in our tummies yet are also realistic and who actually exist somewhere in the world. But most male characters carry the non-existent, perfect, and flawless gene, which are all traits we long for but we know that are too good to be true. Here are five Korean dramas that feature unrealistic leading men who we want to have as a boyfriend and put a ring on our finger even! Something In The Rain This romance drama, starring actors Jung Hae In and Son Ye Jin, that tells a love story about a 35 year old woman named Yoon Jin Ah and a 20-something year old man named Seo Jun Hui. They work together in the same building, which eventually helped them develop romantic feelings for each other. However, due to their age difference, their parents don't approve of such relationship. The drama shows the excitement that the beginning of relationships bring. Seo Jun Hui's endearing personality will no doubt make you smile. Crash Landing On You "Crash Landing On You" is one of the most popular romance dramas in the end of the year 2019 and Yoon Se Ri and Captain Ri Jung Hyuk's love story still lingers today. The couple is portrayed by actress Son Ye Jin and actor Hyun Bin. It follows a story of a woman who gets into a paragliding accident and lands on North Korea. Captain Ri, who discovers her, hides her and protects her from being caught. Captain Ri aka Se Ri's knight and shining armor is one of the most lovable and sweetest characters in this drama. He even has very thoughtful gestures including buying care products for Se Ri's stay in North Korea. Reply 1998 This one's no doubt one of the most popular Korean dramas. Ever! Directed by Shin Won Ho, he also directed the acclaimed shows "Prison Playbook" and "Hospital Playlist." "Reply 1988" tells the story of five friends and their own families, set in Korean historical events that happened in real life, such as the Sampoong Department Store collapse in 1995 and the Summer Olympics in Seoul in 1988. It features two unrealistic male characters, Taek (Park Bo Gum) and Jung Hwan (Ryu Jun Yeol). Taek is a genius Go player and has a smile that can almost make you faint. Jung Hwan is a sarcastic and stoic kind of person, but is quite endearing and caring towards his family and friends, and of course, Deok Sun (Hyeri). What's Wrong With Secretary Kim Portrayed by Park Seo Joon, Lee Young Joon is a narcissistic and self-absorbed boss who doesn't care much about his employees. He has a secretary named Kim Mi So, portrayed by Park Min Young. When Kim Mi So decides to retire after nine years of working for Lee Young Joon, she realizes that he is actually her savior in a past incident. The drama brings a modern-day romance about a rich guy falling in love with a woman who is poor. It brings excitement, heart-fluttering, and hilarious bits that for sure will not make you take your eyes off the screen. It's Okay Not to Be Okay One of the hit dramas today is the healing romance story of Moon Kang Tae and Go Moon Young. Moon Kang Tae is a man who works as a health worker at a psychiatric hospital. He meets Go Moon Young who is a famous children's book author that also has an anti-personality disorder. In the drama, Moon Kang Tae always saves Go Moon young from harm, which makes Go Moon young refer Moon Kang Tae as her safety pin. Together, they heal each other from their emotional wounds without even knowing it. Watch these dramas and fall in love with these characters and their stories! And as a takeaway, always remember that you and the people around you are nowhere near being perfect. All we can do is be there for each other no matter what. The lifting of lockdown hasnt been the great liberation we were all hoping for. Ministers entreaties to go back to work wherever possible have fallen on deaf ears. Some of Britains biggest firms are refusing to return their offices to full capacity. Companies in the financial sector, including Barclays and Deloitte, will continue to let up to 60 per cent of their staff work from home. Many of Britain's companies, such as Barclays (pictured), are still letting the majority of their staff work from home despite the Prime Minister's plea to head back to offices Only 600 of Goldman Sachs 6,000 employees have gone back to their desks at the firms London headquarters. Theres little prospect of the rest returning any time soon. J.P. Morgan expects three-quarters of its staff to still be working from home for the next few months. The City of London, the nations economic powerhouse, may not revert to normal until the New Year, at the earliest. And, maybe, never. Its the same story in the business districts of cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds. Our city centres resemble ghost towns. All thats missing right now is the tumbleweed. If the great slumber lasts until 2021, it will be too late for other businesses who rely on customers from office blocks for their bread and butter. Companies are already reassessing whether they need to maintain expensive office buildings. The Zoom boom during the crisis has persuaded them that they can do things more cheaply. A survey of 1,250 senior managers has revealed they are happy for their staff to work remotely for the foreseeable future. That will sound the death knell for thousands of shops, cafes, sandwich bars and pubs, who rely on office staff for custom. At this rate, predictions of four million unemployed could soon seem like a conservative estimate. Boris Johnson hoped the easing of restrictions would lead to a stampede back to work. Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured) hoped the easing of restrictions would lead to a stampede back to work By now, many of us assumed most people would be bored rigid and itching to get back to the office, for a bit of social interaction, juicy gossip and a pint at lunchtime, if nothing else. Yet it seems working from home has become entrenched. Many simply cant be bothered to get back in the old routine. Theyve got out of the habit of commuting. The grave danger now is that when they are ready to face our brave new post-Covid world, there may not be jobs for them to go back to. Managers considering whether to vacate their office blocks permanently are also capable of turning their attention to whether they need quite so many employees from now on. They may also decide that if people arent having to travel to work, or look the part in business suits, then they neednt pay them so much, either. Wage cuts, as well as job cuts, may well become an integral and unwelcome fixture of the new normal. Its fine and dandy ministers pleading with companies to welcome staff back to the office, but the Government has to take a lead. Why, for instance, should an accountancy firm resume normal working when the Treasury building is practically empty? Whitehall usually teems with tens of thousands of civil servants. At the moment, though, theres only a few hundred on deck. Ministers shamefully bottled a confrontation with militant teachers who refused to co-operate with the reopening of schools, citing safety grounds. They shouldnt make the same mistake with civil servants and other public sector staff, currently languishing at home on full salaries. The Government should instruct all civil servants to return to work from August 1, unless they have a serious medical condition certified by a doctor. Anyone who declines will be assumed to be on strike and should be sacked. The Government should instruct all civil servants to return to work at the start of August, and anyone who does not agree should be sacked The same must apply to Town Hall staff and those who work for other public bodies. If manual employees, like dustmen and road sweepers, can turn up for work, why not the legions of pen-pushers, keyboard tappers, compliance officers and diversity enforcers? Far from economising, councils are continuing to spend as if corona never happened. Councillors in Enfield, North London, for instance, have just voted themselves a 36,000 increase in allowances and have appointed an extra cabinet member. It would also help set an example if more MPs were willing to travel to Westminster. Most of the time the Commons chamber is deserted, with or without social distancing. The Lords are receiving a reduced daily allowance of 150 for sitting at home. Nice work if you can get it. Ministers must apply themselves to the cause of getting Britain back to work with the same zeal they approached lockdown. By insisting in March that we were all going to die if we set foot outside our front doors, they fashioned a rod for their own backs. Far too many people have got used to slobbing about at home. When theyre told to return to their desks, they pretend to be paralysed with fear for their lives. Not that its prevented millions flocking to the seaside every time the sun has come out. Nor has it helped that the advice coming from Government has been confusing and inconsistent. Were told the safest way to travel is by car, yet at the same time urged to cycle or use public transport. Ministers baled out Londons bus and Tube network with an emergency loan, then sat back complacently as Labours two- bob chancer of a mayor Genghis Khan cynically played politics, cut services and introduced draconian anti-car measures. The result? You could hold a Grand Prix in Central London without the risk of crashing into anything other than an empty double decker. Im told the picture in other big cities up and down the country is pretty similar. Meanwhile, the prospect of an early return to normality seems as far away as ever. As this column has always insisted, Chancellor Rishi Sunaks decision to extend furlough until October was a serious misjudgment. While the Government is picking up the lions share of the wage bill, private employers have little incentive to bring their staff back to work. In a decision led by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, the Government decided to extend the furlough scheme until October And when furlough payments do eventually run out, many of those enjoying a six-month subsidised summer holiday shouldnt be surprised when they find the jobs they thought they were going back to simply dont exist any more. Yes, theres a risk that Covid-19 may make a comeback. Some Opposition MPs and sections of the media even seem desperate for a second wave, just so they can blame the Government. But life involves risk at the best of times. The looming prospect of catastrophic economic collapse far outweighs the dangers of a new spike in coronavirus. Unless Boris fires up the Quattro and gets Britain back to work sharpish, at warp factor nine, we are all going to hell in a handcart. After four months without a haircut, I looked like a cross between the mad professor in Back To The Future and a 1970s working mens club comedian. That would probably amuse those who think this column has always been written by a 1970s comedian. Several Britons have spent months without a haircut, meaning many could do with one as lockdown has been eased Still, after visiting my man Harry, at Ego barbers in Cockfosters, North London, I am newly shorn and fit to face the world again. The last time it was this short, Desmond Dekker was at No 1 with Israelites. There hasnt been so much hair on a barbers floor since Elvis was conscripted into the U.S. Army. Mind you, our usual line of communication was limited by the PPE. Its difficult to slag off Spurs through a face mask, and Harry was togged up in the kind of visor arc welders have to wear. I think he must have initially misheard my instructions. What was that again, Rich? I said: I could do with a good crop. Speaking of haircuts, I read about a woman who paid 250 to get her barnet done at a flash West End salon. The cost included cleanse and finish. Isnt that what used to be called wash and blow-dry? Still, giving it a fancy name obviously lets hairdressers charge more. I guess its the same as pubs knocking out beef stew for a couple of quid, but if they call it boeuf bourguignon itll cost you a fiver. Misread a report about Uber starting to run a boat service in London. I thought for a moment it said U-boats coming to the Thames. I had visions of Das Boot surfacing in St Katharine Docks, next to Tower Bridge. The Germans arent that desperate to stop us leaving the EU, are they? A detente has occurred across the fraught capital territory literary landscape, which fractured this week when the Canberra Writers Festival was attacked over its lack of diversity. The ACT Writers Centre issued a stinging open letter telling the organisers that the time for excuses has passed when the festival announced this years headliner would be Christopher Pyne flogging his book in a Wine with Pyne session. Christopher Pyne. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: For years, the festival and the centre have co-existed in a state of mutual low-level enmity, similar to how Canberra locals judge each other for living on the wrong side of Lake Burley Griffin. The festival, co-founded by Newgate spinner turned thriller writer Steve Lewis, boasts literary agent Jeanne Ryckmans as its artistic director and former chief scientist Ian Chubb as its chair. Ticket revenue has swelled to a healthy $200,000, up from $70,000 four years ago. Kolkata: The post mortem report of Hemtabad BJP MLA Debendra Nath Roy, who was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village in North Dinajpur district on Monday, has revealed that non continuous ligature marks was placed high up around his neck and his death was caused due to effects of hanging. A suicide note recovered from his shirt pocket names of two persons behind his extreme step. The post mortem was conducted at Raiganj Government Medical College and Hospital and said non continuous ligature marks were placed high up around the neck, with a gap of two inchees. The ligature mark was dark in colour, parchmentised, furrows and abraded at places. The injuries showed evidence of vital reactions and was ante-mortem. No other injury was detected. There were no deformity, fracture and dislocation, the report reads. The post mortem report, a copy of which is with News18, also mentioned that Roys ribs, cartilage skull, hyoid bone, thyroid cartilage and vertebrae bone were intact and his membrane and brain was congested. Speaking to News18, BJP state vice-president, Joy Prakash Majumdar, rubbished the report and demanded another post mortem examination by an impartial team of doctors. The report says he died due to the effects of hanging. And then it goes on saying that his neck bone (hyoid) and cartilage (thyroid) are intact. How can it be possible? Why are the police probing the incident with pre-conclusion thoughts in mind? How can the SP, without visiting the spot, say that it is a case of suicide? The post mortem report itself raises several questions and therefore we want that there should be a separate investigation on the report itself, he said, adding that this case requires greater investigation. The report says his mouth, liver, kidneys, pharynx and oesophagus were congested and spleen was healthy. Death was due to effects of hanging as noted above ante-mortem in nature. Further information if any will be provided after receipt of the chemical examiners report, the report reads. Alapan Bandyopadhyay, West Bengal home secretary, said, Investigation and based on circumstantial and scientific evidences prime facie the police suspect that it is a case of suicide. Inquiry also revealed his differences with someone over informal money lending. His suicide note contains names of two persons and their photographs. Police are looking for them. The state government is giving utmost priority to ensure impartial probe in this case, he added. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: Pakistan strongly condemns the attack by Armenian forces in the direction of Tovuz district of Azerbaijan on the border of the two countries on 12 July 2020, Trend reports citing Pakistans Foreign Ministry. The unresolved conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh poses a serious threat to regional peace and security with far-reaching consequences, said the ministry. The recent provocative action is manifestation of the Armenian attempt to distract the international community and hamper the ongoing negotiation process for peaceful resolution of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as enshrined in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, according to the statement. Pakistan reaffirms its principled position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and reiterates its support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Azerbaijan. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn Taking a tough stand, the Congress on Tuesday (July 14) sacked Sachin Pilot as the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and the state party chief. Along with Pilot, two other Rajasthan ministers who had revolted against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and supported Pilot have also been fired from the cabinet. The decision to sack Pilot was announced by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjeawal during a press conference. The Congress decided to show the door to Tonk MLA after he skipped a second meeting of Congress Legislative Party on Tuesday in Jaipur. Congress made Sachin Pilot a Union minister in his 30s, a deputy chief minister in his 40s..We have given Sachin Pilot many opportunities. He has been an MP, MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP...This is unacceptable, said Surjewala. Pilot reacted to the development by posting a tweet, saying that truth can be harassed but it cannot be defeated. Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 Former president of Sikar Congress Govind Singh Dotasra has been appointed as the new chief of Rajasthan Congress. Dotasra is also a Minister of State in CM Gehlot's cabinet. Young MLA Ganesh Gogra has been appointed as the new president of Youth Congress. Meanwhile, Congress leaders Vishvender Singh, Ramesh Meena and Deepender Shekhawat from Pilots camp have issued a statement saying, Under the leadership of Shri Sachin Pilot we have made every effort in the past 6 years to strengthen the party and bring it to power in Rajasthan at a time when it had been reduced to an insignificant number in the state assembly. Public humiliation of our leader Mr Pilot is something that is totally unacceptable to us, and those responsible for meting out this treatment need to be made accountable." The political crisis in Rajasthan started on Sunday (July 12) after Pilot raised the banner of revolt against CM Gehlot and sent a message to the party that he may quit the party with this loyalist MLAs. Pilot claimed in some interviews that he has the support of over 30 MLAs. Meanwhile, CM Gehlot proved his strength once again on Tuesday as 102 MLAs attended the CLP meeting at Hotel Fairmount in Jaipur. In 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, 101 MLAs are needed to save the government. Tucker Carlson in 2018. (Jennifer S. Altman / Los Angeles Times) Fox News host Tucker Carlson distanced himself and his program from the incendiary hate speech posted online by a former writer who worked on his top-rated program. But critics who expected an apology from the conservative cable provocateur for the out-of-office behavior of Blake Neff, who worked on "Tucker Carlson Tonight" since January 2017, did not get one. He even delivered a parting shot at them. "What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong," Carlson said Monday on his program, reading from a statement. "We don't endorse those words, they have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. We often say that because we mean it. We'll continue to defend that principle often alone among national news programs because it is essential...Blake fell short of that standard and he has paid a very heavy price for it." Neff had written racist and sexist comments under a pseudonym on the message board AutoAdmit. He resigned Friday after a CNN report revealed his postings on the site for law school students that bills itself as a forum for "supporters of the marketplace of ideas and freedom of expression." Neff shared racist and bigoted opinions on Black and Asian people, the Mormon church and immigrants. Still, Carlson had harsh words for his detractors whom he accused of reveling in Neff's departure. "We are all human," he said. "When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people we are committing the gravest sin of all and we will be punished for it. There is no question." A former reporter at the Daily Caller, the conservative news site co-founded by Carlson, Neff also created multiple discussion threads where he mocked women he was friendly with on social media for sharing details about their personal lives, and engaged with posts containing racist vitriol. Story continues Neff was part of a small group of writers who help Carlson craft the commentaries he presents throughout his nightly program, which in recent months has been the most-watched program in cable news, averaging more than 4 million viewers a night. Some nights, in the current fragmented TV landscape, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" is the most watched program in all of television. Carlson is among the Fox News hosts who is regularly watched by President Trump. There has even been speculation by political columnists that Carlson would be a viable Republican presidential candidate in 2024 who would carry Trump's message of anti-immigration nationalism and economic populism. But Carlson, who first joined Fox News in 2016, has been harshly criticized for remarks he has made regarding immigrants and race. He recently scared off advertisers, including T-Mobile, Papa John's and Walt Disney Co., from his program with a commentary in which he said the Black Lives Matters movement may be a lot of things, this moment were living through, but it is definitely not about Black lives. Remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will. Fox News issued a clarification of the remarks, saying the they referred to Democratic politicians and not Black people. Fox News hosts rarely apologize when faced with a public backlash over their programs. TW: Incredibly racist language This is Blake Neff, the head writer for @TuckerCarlson's show who was forced to resign today after years of posting vile racist comments under a pseudonym "CharlesXII" (a nod to a celibate king of Sweden) and cyber-stalking women. pic.twitter.com/tEgLwVeJCN Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) July 11, 2020 But the Neff comments prompted a rare rebuke from senior Fox News executives. In a statement to staff Saturday, Fox News Chief Executive Suzanne Scott and Fox News Media President and Executive Editor Jay Wallace condemned Neffs remarks, calling them horrendous and deeply offensive. We want to make abundantly clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior," they said in a statement. "Neffs abhorrent conduct was never divulged to the show until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force. Carlson told viewers he will be on a previously scheduled vacation for the rest of the week. He took vacation last August, two days after he said white supremacy was a "hoax," which led to an advertiser exodus from his program. Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group that has long pressured advertisers to pull their commercials from Fox News programming, said Neff's comments were not far from the rhetoric that showed up on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "His day job was writing a somewhat more sophisticated version of his online posts for Carlsons show," Media Matters senior fellow Matt Gertz wrote Monday. "His employment provides a clue as to how some particular obsessions of that community ended up on Fox prime time. But 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' is drenched in the talking points of white nationalists because thats the way Carlson wants it." But aside from online outrage, Carlson's critics have little economic leverage to pressure Fox News to take the host off the air. For most of this year, Carlson's program has been airing without the support of national brand advertising, as companies have defected over remarks he had made regarding immigrants and race. Nearly all of the commercials on his program are from direct-response advertisers who solicit customers through 1-800 phone numbers or websites, such as MyPillow.com. Such marketers tend to be less particular about the content of the programs where their ads run. MyPillow had four commercials on Monday's program, which also included ads for Fungi-Nail, a toe nail fungus remover made by Arcadia Consumer Healthcare, and Pray.com, an app that serves up Bible stories. "I am not changing my advertising," MyPillow Chief Executive Mike Lindell said in a statement. "I make my decisions based on what is best for MyPillow customers and employees." Lindell is a staunch supporter of President Trump. Carlson has endured the advertiser exodus because he has the backing of Fox Corporation Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch, who picked the host to replace Bill O'Reilly in prime time in 2017. O'Reilly was ousted over sexual harassment allegations, for which he and Fox News paid multimillion dollar settlements to keep them from being publicly revealed. Private sector lender Yes Bank will launch its Rs 15,000-crore follow-on public offering (FPO) on July 15. After the exit of co-founder Rana Kapoor, the troubled private lender is now backed by marquee institutions State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Federal Bank, Bandhan Bank and IDFC First Bank, who invested Rs 10,000 crore in the bank through a government-approved reconstruction scheme in March this year. After fixing of the price band, much lower than the market price, the stock has lost 22 percent and was trading at around Rs 20.7 on July 14. Kotak Mahindra Capital Company, SBI Capital Markets, Axis Capital, Citigroup Global Markets India, DSP Merrill Lynch, HSBC Securities and Capital Markets (India), ICICI Securities and Yes Securities India are lead managers for the issue. Here are 10 key things to know about FPO: Issue size The bank plans to raise Rs 15,000 crore through the further purchase offer that opens on July 15 and closes July 17. Shares worth Rs 200 crore have been reserved for subscription for the banks employees. An FPO is a process by which a listed company raises fresh capital by issuing new equity shares to the public. Bids can be made for minimum 1,000 shares and in multiples of 1,000 shares thereafter. ALSO READ: Rossari Biotech IPO, Bharat Bond ETF & Yes Bank FPO: Where should investors put their money? Price band The bank, in consultation with its merchant bankers, has fixed a price band of Rs 1213 per equity share, a discount of 53 percent and 49 percent to its July 10 closing. Objectives Yes Bank intends to use proceeds towards ensuring adequate capital to support its growth and expansion, including enhancing its solvency and capital adequacy ratio. As of March 31, 2020, the bank's CET (common equity tier) I ratio was at 6.3 percent. The RBI prescribed a minimum CET I ratio of 7.375 percent by March 31, 2020. "This minimum CET I ratio requirement will increase to 8 percent by September 30, 2020," the bank said in its prospectus. ALSO READ: SEBI may probe Yes Bank share transactions under SLBM after FPO announcement Anchor book The issue opened for anchor investors for on July 14. The bank may, in consultation with the book managers, allocate up to 60 percent of the QIB (qualified institutional buyer) portion to anchor investors on a discretionary basis. Hence, the QIB portion will accordingly be reduced for the equity shares allocated to anchor investors. The issue is being made through book-building process, where allocation to QIBs is up to 50 percent, non-institutions bidders not less than 15 percent and retail individual bidders not less than 35 percent. Business The bank has a presence in all the 28 states and in eight union territories of the country. It has a representative office in Abu Dhabi as of March 2020. It is a full-service commercial bank specialising in merchant banking, digital banking, brokerage business, asset management and investment banking. As of March 2020, the bank had a network of 1,135 branches and 1,423 ATMs. Its assets decreased from Rs 3,12,449.65 crore as of March 2018 to Rs 2,57,832.16 crore as of March 2020 at a CAGR of (9.16) percent. Its total deposits have declined from Rs 2,00,688.6 crore as of March 2018 to Rs 1,05,311.16 crore as of March 2020 at a CAGR of (27.96) percent. CASA deposits for the bank decreased from Rs 73,174 crore as of March 2018 to Rs 28,046.1 crore as of March 2020 at a CAGR of (38.09) percent. Advances have decreased from Rs 2,03,518.82 crore as of March 2018 to Rs 1,71,433 crore as of March 2020 at a CAGR of (8.22) percent. The bank reported a net loss of Rs 16,432.58 crore for 2019-20, hit by higher provisions that increased more than four-fold to Rs 28,312.49 crore during the year. "The increase in NPA as a consequence of additional slippages and increase in PCR has resulted in higher provisioning and a loss in our results for fiscal year 2020," the bank said. The lender reported a profit of Rs 1,709.26 crore in the previous year. Net interest income during the year fell sharply by 30.8 percent to Rs 6,793.96 crore compared to the previous year. As of March 31, 2020, the bank's gross non-performing assets amounted to Rs 32,877.58 crore, or 16.80 percent, of the gross advances, and net NPAs amounted to Rs 8,623.78 crore, or 5.03 percent of the net advances. The bank had non-performing investments of Rs 9,222.38 crore as of March 2020, with provisions of Rs 6,825.42 crore as of same date. Shareholding Public shareholding in the bank stood at 98.58 percent as of March 2020, of which country's largest lender State Bank of India held 48.21 percent stake. ICICI Bank held 7.97 percent, Axis Bank 4.78 percent, Federal Bank 1.92 percent, IDFC First Bank 1.67 percent, Bandhan Bank 2.39 percent, HDFC 7.97 percent and Kotak Mahindra Bank 3.61 percent. Under the reconstruction scheme, drawn up by the Reserve Bank of India, SBI is required to hold not more than 49 percent and not less than 26 percent of the total equity shares in Yes Bank. which is subject to a three-year lock-in from March 14, 2020. Other investors are subject to a three-year lock-in from March 13, 2020 for 75 percent of the investments they made in the bank . LIC holds 1.64 percent stake in Yes Bank, while current promoters' stake is at 1.42 percent. Management Prashant Kumar, the ex-DMD and CFO of State Bank of India, is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Yes Bank. Sunil Mehta is the Non-Executive Chairman while Mahesh Krishnamurti and Atul Chunilal Bheda are Non-Executive Directors on the board. Rama Subramaniam Gandhi and Ananth Narayan Gopalakrishnan are Additional Directors and Partha Pratim Sengupta and Swaminathan Janakiraman are Non-Executive Directors and Nominee Directors from State Bank of India. Strategic objectives Yes Bank's new management has set the objective to rebuild the bank and calibrate growth over the next six to twelve months by rebuilding liabilities and liquidity buffers, optimising cost, strengthening the governance and underwriting framework, and focusing on stressed assets resolution. Its medium-term objectives are:(a) Stabilise liability mix and lower cost of funds with an aim to increase CASA ratio to more than 40 percent(b) Provide granular advances, with retail, small and medium enterprises being more than 60 percent(c) Enhance corporate flows and cross-selling through transaction banking (d) Increase Return on Assets to above 1 percent within the one to three years and above 1.5 percent within three to five years. Subsidiaries As of March 2020, Yes Bank had three subsidiaries--YES Securities, YAMIL and YTL. YES Securities is engaged in merchant banking, investment banking, institutional sales and trading and equity research. YAMIL offers services of an investment manager and YTL acts as a trustee to YAMIL. A riot squad was called in to disperse crowds in Australia after Krispy Kreme announced it was giving away free doughnuts. The dessert giant announced it was celebrating its birthday by giving away boxes of Original Glazed doughnuts to people who had celebrated a birthday during lockdown, between 13 March and 13 July. A large crowd of people ignored social distancing measures to queue outside stores in west Sydney on Monday. New South Wales Police said they were called to several Krispy Kreme stores in Sydney to help crowd and traffic control. Riot police were called in to disperse crowds and enforce social distancing outside the Auburn store on Parramatta Rd. NSW Police Acting Assistance Commissioner Tony Cooke said the timing of the giveaway was nonsensical and defies logic. We have people in NSW who have lost jobs, people who have missed the opportunity to farewell their loved ones at funerals, and of course, people who have lost their lives due to Covid-19, he said. "Promotions like this do nothing to assist in maintaining social distancing which is vital to stopping the spread of the virus. "Police are examining which, if any, breaches may have occurred and will take appropriate action where required." Krispy Kreme released a statement saying health and safety was its priority. "Krispy Kreme adheres to the current state government requirements for hygiene and social distancing to protect our employees and to allow us to continue to serve our guests in a safe and clean environment," it read. "We encourage people visiting our stores to please adhere to signage and instructions from staff." The company had 350,000 doughnuts to give away yesterday, but ran out of stock around 3.30pm after huge demand. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 03:31:23|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KEDAINIAI, Lithuania, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A festival dedicated to cucumber was celebrated on Tuesday in Kedainiai, a small town in the center of Lithuania with a population of around 22,000. Starting from 11 a.m., a cucumber market was open, drawing locals and visitors to taste and buy cucumbers and all kinds of products made from cucumbers -- from pickled and fermented cucumbers to cucumber martini and drinks, from cucumber jams, cakes, ice cream and dishes to cosmetic products. Titled as the cucumber capital of Lithuania, Kedainiai with its surrounding areas has a history of growing cucumbers dating back to the 19th century, according to a press release from Kedainiai District Municipality. "This is cucumber jams from Kedainai, from cucumber town, very sweet, recommend to eat with cheeses, all kinds of cheese, maybe with wine," said Justina, a vendor at the market while promoting her products and inviting Xinhua reporter to have a taste. Not far from her stall, a special cucumber post office was set up there to serve people who wanted to send greetings to their friends and loved ones in the letters with the envelopes in cucumber green on Cucumber Day. "You can just write the name and send the letter with the best wishes from the cucumber capital," said Jorune Liutkiene, adviser to the mayor of Kedainiai District Municipality for public relations. Starting from 1997, Cucumber Day is celebrated annually to honor cucumber growers, most often in the middle of July when cucumbers become very cheap and the time of canning and preparing these vegetables for the winter begins. "Today we are celebrating the cucumber day here in Kedainiai, we invite the people from all over the world to see how beautiful our town is and taste the real naturally grown cucumbers in our country," said Liutkiene. She also invited Chinese tourists "to come and to see how we celebrate, how we find business and cooperation together." Enditem A judge has ruled against some Nashville bar owners who sought a temporary restraining order against city officials in an effort to push back against coronavirus restrictions. Federal Judge Eli Richardson denied the request, the mayors office and the plaintiffs attorney told news outlets on Sunday. Judge Richardsons ruling affirms Metros approach in fighting the coronavirus and keeping Nashvillians safe, Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a statement. Attorney Bryan Lewis, who is representing the bar owners said they are disappointed with the ruling but plan to move forward with their case. The bar owners filed suit last week in U.S. District Court and sought a temporary restraining order against Cooper, Metro Public Health Department Director Michael C. Caldwell and the Metro Beer Permit Board. The suit says the bar owners have suffered harm because of closures amid the pandemic and requests an exemption from a recent order by the mayor that requires bars in Nashville to close for two weeks. As of Sunday, Nashville had more 5,000 active cases of the coronavirus and 141 death attributed to the illness. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Legislation CAMBRIDGE A Waterloo Regional Police badge and identification were stolen when a vehicle was broken into in Cambridge. Police said they were informed at about 8 a.m. Monday that a rock had been thrown through a window of a vehicle parked in the area of Black Bridge Road and Townline Road. A purse, along with the police badge and warrant card identifying the officer, was taken. Police want to speak with a man seen in the area at the time. He is described as white, in his 20s, with dark hair that was short on the sides and slicked back in the middle. He was wearing a plain white T-shirt and grey pants, and was seen driving a dark coloured car, possibly an Infiniti or Nissan. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 519-570-9777 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477. If youre concerned that someone using a badge isnt an officer, police say you should ask for further identification, or call 911 to confirm that the officer is legitimate. The Borgata will become the last of Atlantic Citys nine hotel-casinos to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic when it starts to welcome the public on July 26. It will host an invitation-only soft opening starting July 23, Borgata officials told The Associated Press on Tuesday, and will open its doors to everyone three days later. Theres no place like this place. We're excited to announce our public reopening on July 26. We are ready to get back to doing the things we love most. We can't wait to welcome you back to Borgata, safely. Learn more: https://t.co/ytzbYcdWQH pic.twitter.com/geBsqxIsqn BORGATA (@BorgataAC) July 14, 2020 Hotel rooms will open in a limited capacity, the Borgata said in a statement and every other slot machine in the casino will be disabled. Outdoor dining areas and retails shops will also be open at New Jerseys top-grossing casino. Guests and staff will be required to wear face coverings in public areas. In addition, menus will be available to be looked at electronically on mobile devices and chairs at the outdoor pool will be spread apart. The Borgata was preparing to reopen in early July before Gov. Phil Murphy announced that plans to allow indoor dining in the state were being put on hold as governor pointed to scenes from expanded outdoor bar and restaurants in the state showing packed crowds without masks and patrons flouting social distancing as a reason to halt indoor dining indefinitely. The states previously-announced restrictions on indoor dining included 25% capacity limits, tables spaced 6 feet apart, face coverings for staff and other rules. But Murphy said spikes in cases in other states made eating inside too risky. While other hotel-casinos reopened by setting up temporary outdoor quarters and offering grab-and-go bags that customers can eat outside or in their hotel rooms, the Borgata said it would remain closed. Our guests expect a special experience when they come to our property and if we cannot provide that level of hospitality, we feel it best that we remain closed until such time that the Governor lets us know it is safe to offer food and beverage, Borgatas statement on June 29 said. The health and safety of our employees and guests are at the center of all that we do, and although we respect the decision we regret that we are unable to welcome back the thousands of employees who are anxious to return to work. We look forward to a time when it is safe to welcome everyone back. Murphy ordered Atlantic Citys casinos shut due to the virus on March 16. They have been permitted to operate at 25% of capacity since July 2. The Borgata says it plans to bring back about 40% of its staff when it reopens. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Congressional Response Legislative Response (TNS) No one questioned Gov. Jim Justice on Friday, July 10 when he announced that he was cutting in half the amount of CARES Act money to be devoted to road repairs. But the questions remains What is he not spending the money on?Justice said Friday that $50 million of the $100 million out of $1.25 billion in CARES money hed channeled to the Division of Highways would go toward broadband expansion, for such things as distance education and telehealth.Boyd Vanhorn, administrator of the Grafton-Taylor County Health Department and president of the West Virginia Public Health Association said he doesnt want to criticize Justices decisions as he doesnt know what the foundations of his decisions were.What I will say is local public health is not on the list and it should be, Vanhorn said. Hed recently been on a conference call with local health officials, and theyve talked with federal and state legislators. Weve received nothing from the CARES funding.Grafton-Taylor received a $29,000 one-year COVID-19 grant and has been running on that. Were out here on the front line actually administering tests. Theyre doing 40-50 per day at their drive-through site and relying on volunteer help, he said.Health departments have requested direct reimbursement funding through the CARES Act, Vanhorn said, but were told to access fund through local governments. Grafton-Taylor received an advance from the city and the county, who had to submitted spending justifications to get reimbursed through CARES.asked Justice about using CARES money for health departments instead of roads during one of his press briefings this week, before he announced the broadband decision (all interviews for this report were conducted before Friday).Justice said, Thats not fair. Thats just plain not fair. Health departments can apply for a share of the $970.8 million in federal grant money also available. Justice had previously said top priorities for that money include higher education and K-12, future pandemic preparedness such as PPE manufacturing, rural hospitals, health departments and broadband.There is incredible dollars setting over there that the CARES money didnt really need to go toward that, he said this week regarding funding health departments. Weve got grants to take care of all of our local health in every way.When his staff worked out how to allocate the $1.25 billion, $100 million was left and he sought legal advice on whether it could go to roads. His office supplied toa copy of the three-page summary of advice from law firm Bailey Glasser. It says that use would be permissible where the repairs are necessary to enhance access to medical care for COVID-19 patients and the costs of such repairs are not or cannot be paid for with other federal funds.Bailey Glasser noted in its summary that DOH told them none of the projects on the CARES list were scheduled to be funded in its six-year plan.asked both U.S. senators and Re. David McKinley for their thoughts of Justices use of the CARES money, particularly the $100 million.Sen. Shelley Moore Capitos Communications Director Kelley Moore (no relation) said in an email exchange, Congress intended to give states flexibility in order to meet the needs each state has in addressing the COVID public health emergency. Sen. Capito is confident that West Virginia will spend its CARES Act allocation in a way that meets the needs of our state and local governments and that complies with legal requirements.Sen. Joe Manchin, however, openly disagrees with Justices approach.Its totally crazy, especially when the health departments are hurting, he said in a phone interview.What else would qualify if they dont?CARES money was intended to fight the virus, he said. As a former governor, he understands Justices position of balancing the budget. But, The states making itself very vulnerable. Treasury more than likely will refuse to allow the expenses of $100 million toward the program.He continued Were fighting a health care crisis which is going to turn quickly into an absolute nightmare economically. Congress aim from the first aid package onward was to get 40% to 45% of the money to communities under 500,000 population. The governor has no discretion over that.I would have called the Legislature back a long time ago for a special session and set up the guidelines to disburse the money and stay ahead of the coronavirus.McKinleys office did not respond.At the state level, legislators of both parties also disagreed with Justices approach and talked about calling themselves into special session to appropriate the CARES money.Sen. Dave Sypolt, R-Preston, a Finance Committee member, Agriculture and Rural Development chair and former Education chair, said in a text exchange, Although I strongly agree that our road maintenance and funding have fallen way behind and that this funding source is attractive, it is a long stretch of the imagination to make the CARES Act money fit into the road funding needs. Furthermore, the CARES money, I believe, is intended primarily to help employers and first responders stay viable amid this economic downturn.Neither Senate President Mitch Carmichael nor House Speaker Roger Hanshaw responded to invitations to comment. But Senate Minority Leader Roman Prezioso, a former chair of the Health and the Finance committees, commented in a couple phone interviews.Our caucus is not very happy with the governor, he said. Its the Legislatures mandate to appropriate federal funds. We question the $100 million for transportation. I dont know thats COVID related.The public health system is antiquated and understaffed, he said. But Justice told them, also, that there are plenty of grants that health departments can apply for.Senate Democrats, Prezioso said, held a virtual caucus late in the week and discussed the possibility of the Legislature calling itself into special session. But they learned from Carmichael that there was no appetite among GOP senators to do that. Without the Republicans getting on board theres no hope of calling us back.So he asked his caucus members to put together a CARES wish list and submit it to his office for presentation to the governor. Among the items, he said, are public health, broadband and volunteer fire departments. They want to sit down and talk with Justice about their ideas.Back at the Public Health Association, Vanhorn said health departments havent been totally left in the lurch. Theyve received a $57 million Epidemiological Laboratory Enhancement Grant. Of that, $20 million will go to infrastructure improvements, such as software, hardware and telephones. A statewide system called Chexout will vastly improve contact tracing.Another portion will fund a statewide task force. Each threat-prep region will have a panel of 11-13 public health personnel able to coordinate response in a regional area. The local region takes in Monongalia, Marion, Harrison,Doddridge, Taylor and Preston counties.But thats the future and theyre on the front lines now, he said. Weve been doing this since March 20 and funding has been scarce so far, and CARES Act funding inaccessible. The World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on July 15, every year. This United Nations invented day aims at spreading awareness of the importance that technical and vocational education, training, and the development of new skills holds in our lives and is relevant to both local and global economies. Here is all about the World Youth Skills Day theme for 2020. Read ahead- Also Read | Housefull 4 Is Rana Dagubatti's First Comedy Film In Bollywood World Youth Skills Day Theme 2020 World Youth Skills Day 2020 will be taking place in a very challenging context. The lockdown measures taken due to the global pandemic have led to the worldwide shut down of the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions, that has threatened the continuity of development of skills in children. Reportedly, it is said that almost 70% of the worlds learners are getting really affected by the closure of educational institutions all across education levels currently. Respondents to a survey of TVET institutions, jointly collected by UNESCO, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, have recently reported that distance training and online sessions have become the most common way of teaching skills to children, but with considerable difficulties regarding, among others, curricula adaptation, trainee and trainer preparedness, connectivity, or assessment and certification processes. Also Read | Rafael Nadal Interacts With Fans On Instagram After US Open Win On December 18, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution, by consensus that was earlier spearheaded by Sri Lanka, and declared July 15 as the World Youth Skills Day. Sri Lanka initiated this resolution, with the assistance of the G77 & China, in order to highlight the importance of youth skills development at a global level. The goal behind celebrating this day is to achieve better socio-economic conditions for todays youth, including as a means of addressing the challenges of unemployment and underemployment. Also Read | "Salman Khan Has A Bad Habit," Says Director Ali Abbas Zafar The UN Secretary - Generals Special Envoy for Youth, Mr Ahmed Alhendawi, and his office supported this initiative from its very early days, while the UN system in New York and Colombo were solidly behind it. Since the World Youth Skills Day was first suggested in the Strategy Committee, World Skills International has been pursued as the World Skills Day. But, it was once that the connections were made with the United Nations in New York, World Skills International Day fully supported the proposal of Sri Lanka for a World Skills Youth Day. Also Read | Bhoot Part 1: The Haunted Ship Release Date And First Look Out Now Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Statesman/Asia News Network) New Delhi, India Tue, July 14, 2020 11:03 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406661e08b 2 Business India,Google,digital-economy Free Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai on a wide range of subjects. The duo interacted on particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of Indias farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs. They also spoke on the new work culture emerging during the corona crisis. Google announced a Rs 75,000 crore fund to help accelerate Indias digital economy. Marking one of its biggest commitments to a growth market, the tech giant said the fund would be used over the next five to seven years through equity investments and tie-ups. Today at #GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B digitization fund to help accelerate Indias digital economy. Were proud to support PM @narendramodis vision for Digital India many thanks to Minister @rsprasad & Minister @DrRPNishank for joining us, Mr Pichai, the 48-year-old Indian-American Google CEO, wrote in a tweet. This morning, (I) had an extremely fruitful interaction with Sundar Pichai. We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of Indias farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs, Modi said in a series of tweets. Pichai briefed the Prime Minister about the efforts undertaken by Google to help spread awareness and provide reliable information about COVID-19. He said that the strong step of Lockdown initiated by the Prime Minister set up a very strong foundation of Indias battle against the pandemic. PM Modi appreciated the proactive role played by Google in battling misinformation and conveying information about necessary precautions. He also talked about further leveraging technology in providing healthcare services. Prime Minister said that Indians are adjusting to and adopting technology at a rapid pace. He talked about farmers benefiting from technology and the possible wide-ranging benefits of AI in agriculture. PM explored the idea of virtual labs that can be used by students as well as farmers. Sundar Pichai briefed the PM about new products and initiatives by Google in the country. He mentioned about the launch of AI Research Lab in Bengaluru, while also highlighting the benefits of Googles flood forecasting efforts. Prime Minister was briefed about Googles plan to launch a large investment fund and develop strategic partnerships in India. Prime Minister remarked that India is amongst the most open economies in the world. He also spoke about recent steps taken by the government towards reforming agriculture and about the campaign to create new jobs, while also highlighting the importance of re-skilling. Prime Minister discussed the issue of data security and concerns around privacy. He said that tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit. He also talked about cybercrimes and threats in the form of cyberattacks. Other areas of discussion included technological solutions to expand the scope of online education, access to technology in the native language, use of AR/VR to give a stadium-like viewing experience in the field of sports, and progress in the area of digital payments. Nairobi, Kenya The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to cut the use of climate-warming hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), has reached a major milestone, with Liberia becoming the 100th nation to ratify the Amendment, providing a welcome boost to global climate action New Delhi, July 14 : Miracle during the times of the pandemic are indeed rare, but it happened with a 26 week old baby, who survived two invasive surgeries. These surgeries were conducted by doctors at the Fortis Hospital in Shalimar Bagh in the national capital. It was part of four life-saving high-risk surgeries on an expecting mother and her premature twins. "At the time of delivery, the twins were stabilised via ventilator support and medication for lung maturation and customised artificial nutrition was provided," said Doctor Vivek Jain, Director and Head of Department, Neonatology of Fortis Hospital. However, Jain said, one of the twins developed complications by the third day, an intestinal perforation, much like the initial condition of the mother. An urgent surgery was required, however, since the baby weighed only 1,000 grams and was premature, the chances of survival were minimal, Jain said. "The first surgery was conducted, and a pouch was made on the side of the stomach and the intestine was left to heal. After 6 to 8 weeks another surgery was performed, the hole in the intestine was closed and it was reconnected to it." The time between both the surgeries passed slowly and excruciatingly, the baby was fighting to live and had developed severe distress, sepsis, respiratory failure, and hypotension. However, against all odds, the baby survived and 12 weeks after his birth, he was handed over to the parents. "It was nothing short of divine intervention that this baby, who had been born prematurely and had undergone two intensive operations, had come out thriving, the doctor said. Soni, the mother of the twins, underwent dual surgery, wherein an intestinal blockage was successfully removed, and a C-section was performed, with her giving birth to twins who were 14 weeks premature, the Hospital said in a statement. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the hospital being a dedicated COVID facility, Fortis doctors managed to save three precious lives. Father of the twins said he thought he was going to lose his wife and the unborn children. "I was frantic and had lost all hope. The only respite I had was to keep praying. Thankfully, the doctors at Fortis Shalimar Bagh managed to save the lives of my children and my wife. "Every day, my wife and I watched our child fight for his life. It was a painful time, but we have emerged from it and our baby is stronger than ever. Doctor Vivek Jain and his team fought for our child and because of their dedication, sincerity, around the clock monitoring, we are taking both our babies' home." -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text In a classic case of "poacher turning gamekeeper", the fishermen of Senegal have joined forces to protect one of the ocean's most endangered species -- the sea turtle. Three species can be found on the Senegal coast in west Africa. The most populous is the green turtle and they are joined by the loggerhead and leatherhead which can weigh over 600 kilograms. They are all beautiful creatures but each is threatened by pollution, poaching and, even now, the fishing net. "Once we were the biggest eaters of turtles, now we have become their biggest protectors," says Abdou Karim Sall, a fisherman who is now the manager of a protected marine zone through which the turtles pass. Some 30 years ago, turtle meat was sold in the streets of Joal, one of the most important fishing ports in Senegal, and in Fadiouth, the port's sister village built on an artificial island made from heaps of shells. "We ate them in the street, we cooked them at home," says the 56-year-old Sall who leads the management committee for the Marine Protected Area (MPA) of Joal-Fadiouth, two hours south of Dakar. Founded in 2004, and backed by the government, local authorities and several associations, the MPA stretches over 147 square kilometres (57 square miles) and is made up of sandy beaches along a marine strip eight kilometres wide, as well as a network of mangroves and an area of savannah. It is an area for the protection of endangered migratory species, such as the sea turtle. Its objectives are the conservation of biodiversity, as well as the improvement of fishing yields and socio-economic benefits for the local population. The sea turtles navigate their way along this tropical stretch of the Atlantic during their migration of more than a thousand kilometres between the volcanic archipelago of Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, just south of Senegal, where they return to lay eggs when they reach sexual maturity. The green turtles are predominantly herbivorous while the other species like to snack on crab and sea urchin. They all graze on the seagrass beds that grow abundantly in the shallow waters of the Senegalese "Petite cote" (small coast), especially in front of Joal. Through their presence, the turtles help maintain a fragile biotope, a breeding ground and nursery for many species of fish and this, in turns, boosts the economy -- the fishing sector directly or indirectly supports about 500,000 Senegalese. The sea turtles' long voyage is not without risk. Plastic is an increasing danger as they often mistake plastic bags for jellyfish which is one of their favourite foods, even for the green turtle. And, in spite of the efforts of Sall and the other protectors, they also get caught in fishermen's nets. On a dugout canoe with a multicoloured hull at the limit of the protected area, four young bare-chested lads haul in their nets. It is the start of the migration period and they have snagged a 100-kilogramme turtle. It takes a big pull to haul it in. They untangle the turtle from the nets and release it back into the water. "It's not to our advantage to eat them, because they help save marine species. Wherever you find turtles you will find shrimp and octopus in abundance," explains the boss Gamar Kane. Since 2000, Sall, as head of the local fishermen's association and manager of the MPA, has made local populations aware of the protection of turtles, in particular by organising "cinema debates". Even former turtle sellers have been "converted" by receiving "three small canoes to take tourists to the sea," he said. According to Sall, turtle numbers have "decreased by around 30 percent in the past 20 years" but the 500-odd visitors who come each year are almost guaranteed a memorable photo of some of the thousands that still line the coast. With luck, they might also spot a manatee (sea cow) grazing peacefully in the depths. Rather than imposing restrictions, the MPA is trying to educate the communities in the economic benefits so that they join the project. "It's after they are told: 'It's an endangered species'," he says. From June to October, a few dozen turtles stop to lay eggs on the beaches of Joal. About 20 MPA agents and village volunteers protect their nests with fences. About 45 days later, "people come at 6:00 am so that predators do not take the young", says Sall. The danger lies largely at the feet of monitor lizards who like the eggs, the birds who swoop down just after the young turtles have hatched and the monkfish who move in once they enter the sea. The chances of survival for a young turtle are no greater than one in a thousand, says Sall. But the fisherman-conservator agrees, "awareness has not worked 100 percent". "Not all fishermen have turned away from turtles and when the fishing is not good, some even hunt them," he says. They can take dozens a day, or more, to pay for fuel for their outboard engines. And there remains a taste among the human population for turtle flesh -- and other parts. At the end of June, the corpse of a young green turtle was found on a beach in Dakar, its belly cut down its entire length. "Its tail and reproductive system were removed for 'medicinal' reasons," said Charlotte Thomas, an official with the Senegalese NGO Oceanium. The struggle to protect the sea turtle goes on. This is the first ever attempt by any Indian University towards a cloud based AI enabled faster & low-cost solution to the problem based on Multiple Hypothesis Inference Criterion Kolkata based Adamas University has signed a project based Memorandum of Understanding, with Elmax Systems & Solutions ( ISO 9001:2015 Certified company and enlisted with MSME. Govt. of India) in Kolkata to develop a cloud based automated diagnostic tool to detect coronavirus disease using radiographs. This is the first ever attempt by any Indian University towards a cloud based AI enabled faster & low-cost solution to the problem based on Multiple Hypothesis Inference Criterion. The novelty is in a single point multi-hypothesis based faster detection of COVID-19 from Radiography images & other medical vital conditions with severity score tag for early detection of nCOVID-19 patients and necessary measures. The Automated Detection Tool developed by Adamas University and ESS aims to offer a valuable second opinion to the doctors and assist them in the screening process. This type of mechanism will provide results to the doctors quickly and in an efficient and accurate manner. Mr. Debashis Chakrabarti, CEO of ESS and alumni of IIT-Kharagpur said that, In this software, we have developed an Artificial Intelligence based Technique for detecting COVID-19 on Chest Radiographs(X-Ray or CT Scans) ,other medical vitals like temperature , saturation percentage of Oxygen and even pathological data from Blood Routine Examination like Leukocyte, Lymphocyte & Neutrophil. The technique would also act as an aid to the conventional RT-PCR based method to isolate the contracted individuals. The project will see utilization of the techniques of data science and machine learning on radiograph images along with other parameters to successfully detect the COVID-19. A man has confessed to pushing a female police officer down a flight of stairs during a protest in central London involving far-right hooligans in June. Shocking footage from the demonstration on June 13 shows Jamie Dewing, 31, shoving the officer during a confrontation between the violent protestors and police in Parliament Square. The officer now requires physiotherapy on her neck and back following the attack, while Dewing was also seen throwing large items and even spitting at other officers on duty that day. Jamie Dewing, 31, admitted to pushing a female police officer down a flight of stairs during far-right protests in Parliament Square, central London on June 13. The officer now requires physiotherapy after injuring her neck and back following the fall Dewing had travelled down to London from Saltburn-by-the-Sea, north Yorkshire to join the protest that day which saw 1,000 far-right hooligans get involved in confrontation with police and other Black Lives Matter demonstrators. Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the behaviour of the far-right hooligans as 'racist thuggery' on the evening of June 13, the same day as Dewing's attack on the officer. The attack took place near the Nelson Mandela Statue in central London at about 1pm in the afternoon, as police were trying to monitor crowds developing in Parliament Square. After being caught on video and CCTV footage, Cleveland Police identified him after a photograph of him involved in the confrontation was released to the media. Detective Constable Nicky Dixon said: 'Dewing initially denied that he was the man responsible for pushing one of our colleagues, claiming that it was someone else. 'However, he quickly changed his mind when he was in the dock, admitting both charges against him. 'Footage from nearby police shows the force he used to push the officer - his actions were completely reprehensible. Dewing travelled down to London from North Yorkshire to take part in the protests and was also spotted throwing large items and even spitting on other officers. He pleaded guilty toone count of assaulting an emergency service worker and one count of violent disorder at Teeside Magistrates' Court on Thursday 'I'd like to thank Cleveland Police for their help in identifying Dewing but we also need the help of the public.' On Thursday, Dewing pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting an emergency service worker and one count of violent disorder at Teeside Magistrates' Court. He will remain in custody until until his sentencing at Southwark Crown Court at a later date. Detective Constable Dixon has also asked the public to help them identify any other individuals caught on CCTV that day taking part in the confrontation. On Sunday, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that she is proposing plans to increase the maximum jail term for thugs who attack 999 workers while on durty. New Delhi, July 14 : Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Narendra Singh Tomar has urged the states to expedite the work under the Central government's "Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan" with a competitive approach. He reviewed the progress of Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan through video-conference with the Rural Development Ministers and senior officials of six states and found it satisfactory. The drive of employment for migrant labourers at their native places launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, is being undertaken in 116 districts in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan. The 'Abhiyaan' will continue for 125 days, and 25 projects coming under 11 different ministries have been identified for completion. The Abhiyaan was found to be progressing well under various parameters which are being regularly monitored, said a statement released by the Union Rural Ministry. Tomar emphasised on developing a competitive approach among the states to achieve maximum results along with minimising the hurdles being faced by various ministries in the implementation process so that the set targets are completed within the determined time period. He instructed that the tender process for sanctioning the third phase of rural road construction works under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana or PMGSY should be sped up as employment will be rapidly generated across all rural areas due to this. He said the drive is an important step towards providing employment to the people on a mission mode. The minister said the Abhiyaan is not only providing employment to returning migrants and similarly affected rural citizens, but also strengthening the economy and will saturate villages with public infrastructure and create livelihood opportunities viz. roads, housing, Anganwadi centres, panchayat bhavans, various livelihood assets and community complexes among others. He expressed satisfaction on the progress of the special drive by active cooperation between the Centre and the States, and laid emphasis on further accelerating the drive and creation of maximum infrastructure. The representatives of the six participating states thanked the Union Government for the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan and gave a number of suggestions for its effective implementation. Minister of State for Rural Development of Uttar Pradesh, Anand Swarup Shukla expressed confidence that the set targets would be fully achieved in the state. Bihar Minister Shravan Kumar thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for launching the Abhiyaan from Khagaria district of the state and including the maximum number of 32 districts of Bihar in it, which is proving to be a boon for workers who have returned to their homes during the pandemic. The Union Rural Development Minister assured the state representatives that their suggestions would be considered. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-13 16:25:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File photo taken on March 21, 2019 shows the forage grass cultivated in Luanzheng Village at Long'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua) NANNING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Wei Yuefang, who lives in south China's karst mountains, no longer needs to share her house with cattle and pigs. This is after she relocated the livestock to a barn built by the village, and jointly used by poverty-stricken farmers like herself. Wei had raised draught animals under the same roof with the family for decades, and bidding farewell to the old lifestyle has allowed the 62-year-old, from Luanzheng Village, Long'an County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to dare think big. Luanzheng Village faces one of the most severe land degradation problems in karst areas. Rocky desertification has depleted arable lands and made the roads inaccessible. The younger generations moved to cities for a better life, while those who stayed struggled to make ends meet. Households relied on cattle to cultivate the land for farming, and transportation depended on human labor and horses. The lives of villagers, however, began to turn around in 2016 as the collective economy started reshaping the karst village. Tian Yi, a 39-year-old poverty alleviation official, can be credited for translating the ideas into reality. Tian came to the village in 2016 and soon noticed that villagers are experienced in raising livestock. He therefore encouraged them to adopt livestock farming. He helped forge an agreement among local government and villagers. With the financial support of the government, a beef cattle husbandry center was established. Villagers were given an opportunity to become shareholders, and enterprises were introduced to run the business. Meanwhile, the local government renovated the infrastructure of roads, electricity, and water to facilitate cooperation. Over the years, the village of 380 households has participated in the business of four husbandry centers that raise hundreds of beef cattle. The village has also invested in the hog farming industry, having generated a total income of 100,000 yuan (14,280 U.S. dollars) as of October 2019. The second pig breeding center that was put into use in April this year is expected to reach an annual output worth 38 million yuan. Destitute villagers are also encouraged to work for the breeding centers as the job can ensure a steady income, said Long Fukang, with a beef farming company in the village. "In 2019, local businesses, including beef and pig farming, generated an income of nearly 250,000 yuan for the village and it is expected to reach 280,000 yuan this year," Tian said. Enditem She's been quarantining in Los Angeles amid the coronavirus crisis. And Lena Dunham updated her fans on how she's doing during lockdown as she shared a sultry snap via Instagram on Saturday. The Girls creator, 34, looked stylish in a pair of gold trousers while she opted to go topless and cover her modesty by crossing her arms. Posing up a storm: Lena Dunham put on a sultry display as she posed topless in gold trousers for a snap she shared via Instagram on Saturday while spending time at home Looking up to the camera with a sultry expression on her face, Lena posed with her finger on her mouth for the snap. Her brunette locks were styled into loose waves which fell over her shoulders in a side-swept style, and she wore a light palette of make-up for the occasion. Reflecting on lockdown, she wrote in the caption: 'Since quarantine started, Ive been seeing rainbows everywhere. I used to think they were just cheesy stickers. 'Now I think they really are a symbol of unity and joy. Who else is getting sentimental in their old age?' Location, location: Lena has been quarantining in Los Angeles amid the coronavirus crisis In June, Lena agreed with critics on social media who said her young success in Hollywood was due to privilege. In a series of tweets the actress said she 'didn't know what privilege was' early on in her career. Actors and filmmakers of colour began commenting on her privilege by retweeting and commenting on a tweet from The Hollywood Reporter that said '.@LenaDunham was 23 when she sold #Girls to HBO with a page-and-a-half-long pitch, without a character nor a plot.' She started her message with a joke writing 'Whenever I find out I'm trending, I have to immediately check if I'm alive.' In agreement: In June, Lena agreed with critics on social media who said her young success in Hollywood was due to privilege Privilege: In a series of tweets the actress reflected on her privilege after people commented on how she successfully pitched Girls to HBO 'with a page-and-a-half-long pitch' 'Then, I try and see if there's a constructive dialogue to have on Twitter,' Lena continued. 'Often there isn't, but today there really WAS.' She found the conversation critics were having about her career was useful, and not much of a discussion but rather an agreement. 'It actually wasn't a dialogue,' she wrote. 'It was just me agreeing that the Hollywood system is rigged in favor of white people and that my career took off at a young age with relative ease.' Much of the earlier discussion on Dunham centred on a comment she made to THR three years ago, regarding her lack of preparation and development when she signed the deal for Girls. Many also pointed to her family's wealth. I spent a considerable amount of the next few years trying to do research, which we did. But the patients were still sick. We really had to spend a lot of time with the patients. So I was knee-deep in the suffering of this group, he said. They didnt have any idea how they got infected. They were just doing what they did in their lives. A militant killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. (PTI Photo) Srinagar: A militant was killed in an encounter with security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation early Monday morning in Srigufwara area, following information about the presence of militants there, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter around 6.40 am when the hiding militants opened fire at the security forces, who retaliated. One militant was killed in the operation, which was going on till last reports, the official said. BIDV, HDBank, VPBank, and TPBank have been the most active bond issuers in the first half Banks issuing the most bonds in this years first half are BIDV, HDBank, VPBank, and TPBank, among others. Specifically, BIDVs bond certificates were valued at more than VND16.6 trillion ($721.74 million) and were issued in 34 rounds. HDBank also mobilised about VND10 trillion ($434.8 million) from its issuance while VPBank got VND7 trillion ($304.35 million). The average maturity for bank-issued bonds is usually 2-3 years, however, a few banks like BIDV and VietinBank distributed bonds with longer maturity of 6-15 years to supplement their middle- and long-term capital sources. During this time, about 130 companies distributed bonds in 818 phases worth VND156 trillion ($6.78 billion), selling nearly 70 per cent of the volume they registered to put on sale. The average maturity for the bonds is 3.93 years. Of which, the bonds with 3-year maturity numbered the most, reaching more than VND66 trillion ($2.87 billion). In the second quarter of 2020, a total of 81 companies issued corporate bonds in 522 rounds worth VND117.7 trillion ($5.1 billion), selling more than 70 per cent of the registered volume. Credit organisations and real estate companies lead bond issuers over the first half of this year, according to the Hanoi Stock Exchange. Accordingly, credit organisations successfully distributed more than VND43.3 trillion ($1.88 billion) with an average maturity of 4.55 years. Real estate companies issued more than VND45.5 trillion ($1.98 billion) with an average maturity of 3.84 years. Notably, the local government has just published Decree No.81/2020/ND-CP outlining some amendments for Decree No.163/2018/ND-CP on corporate bond issuances. According to Article 6.8, corporate bonds distributed in the local market will be restricted from trading unless more than 100 investors are looking to sell at the same time (not including securities investors) in the first year after the completion of the issuance. After that, bonds will be free to be traded without limitation on the number of investors. Decree 81 will come into force on September 1, 2020. 2016 presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is worried President Donald Trump wont go quietly if he loses the 2020 election. Clinton appeared in a new interview with The Daily Show host Trevor Noah on Monday, speaking about about her efforts to help boost voting ahead of the November election. Noah asked Clinton about Trumps opposition to mail-in voting, despite coronavirus concerns, and whether hell accept the election results if he loses the White House to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Well, I think it is a fair point to raise as to whether or not, if he loses, hes going to go quietly or not, Clinton said. And we have to be ready for that. But there have been so many academic studies and other analyses, which point out that (Trump saying mail-in voting will lead to voter fraud is) just an inaccurate, fraudulent claim. According to the Daily Beast, Clinton said Republicans are aiming to prevent as many people who think they wont vote for them from voting, specifically voters who are young, Black and/or Hispanic. She said shes been working with Democracy Docket, an advocacy group that focuses on legal challenges to attempts at voter suppression, such as requiring photo IDs. Look, I want a fair election. If people get to vote and they, for whatever reason, vote for Donald Trump, OK, well accept it. Not happily, Clinton said. But I dont think thats what will happen, because I think the more people who can actually get to the polls, whether by mail or in person, and get their votes counted, then we are going to have the kind of election we should have. And then it will be a win both in the popular vote and the Electoral College. Rolling Stone reports Clinton also spoke about the Hulu documentary Hillary, Trumps longtime resistance to wearing a mask in public, and the presidents recent commutation of ally Roger Stones prison sentence after he was found guilty of witness tampering and lying to Congress. In this case, its a continuation of the cover-up, she said. Because the one thing that Trump is fearful of, when it comes to his being president, is that finally we will see how illegitimate his victory actually was, and how he was involved in the seeking of foreign help, and then the utilization of it, and how Roger Stone was critical to that. But unless Trump is defeated at the polls in November, we will never really know everything there is to know about this really deep ongoing dismantling of institutions and undermining the rule of law and the original sin of the way he actually won the election. Tuesday's tally of new cases at 6,741 was down from a peak of 8,139 (July 11), but increased by 244 compared to Monday's 6,497. Mumbai: Maharashtra notched 213 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday while Mumbai's tally of fresh cases fell below the 1,000-mark, providing some relief, health officials said here. The number of fatalities in the state again went above the 200-mark from the July lowest of 125 to 213 on Tuesday, though considerably lower than the previous record toll of 295 notched on July 4. With the fresh fatalities, the state's death toll went up to 10,695 while the total cases touched 267,665, both highest in the country. According to Tuesday's figures, one death was recorded in roughly every 7 minutes and a staggering 281 new cases every hour in the state. The recovery rate in the western state increased marginally from 55.38 per cent a day earlier to 55.67 per cent on Tuesday, while the mortality (death) rate stood at 4 per cent. The Health Department said that of the total cases till date, 107,665 are active cases, which is lower vis-a-vis the number of patients cured, indicating a positive sign. On the positive side, 4,500 cured patients returned home on Tuesday, taking the total number discharges to 149,007, considerably higher than the 107,665 active cases in the state. In the most cheerful news, a 100-year retired schoolteacher, Arjun G. Naringrekar, taught a lesson' to coronavirus and returned home to Kandivali suburb after celebrating his birthday with doctors, nurses and other care-givers outside the BMC's Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital in Jogeshwari on Tuesday evening. Of the 213 fatalities, Mumbai alone accounted for 70 deaths, taking the city's toll to 5,405, while the number of corona cases increased touched 95,100 on Tuesday. Besides, Thane recorded 64 fatalities, followed Pune (25), Palghar and Jalgaon (8 each), Nashik and Solapur (6 each), Ahmednagar and Aurangabad (4 each), Raigad and Nanded (3 each), Ratnagiri, Latur and Parbhani (2 each), and Satara, Sangli, Akola, Buldhana, Bhandara and Nagpur (1 each). The MMR (Thane Division) remains on the edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the current toll at 7,543 and a staggering 2,893 new patients, pushing up the number of cases to 179,760 on Tuesday. Thane cases have touched 65,324 with 1,769 fatalities to emerge as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state. Pune district continues to zoom ahead by notching 42,092 cases, with the death toll increasing from 1,127 a day earlier to 1,152 on Tuesday. The Pune Division's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll reached 1,578 with 48,425 patients, but remains far behind MMR and Thane district. The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 782 fatalities and 16,890 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 401 deaths and 10,314 cases, and Akola Division with 168 fatalities and 3,958 cases. Next on the list is Kolhapur Division, which has notched 76 deaths and 3,148 patients, Latur Division had 86 fatalities and 2,048 cases, and Nagpur Division recorded 30 deaths and 2,912 cases. All the eight divisions in the state recorded fatalities on Tuesday, but only Chandrapur (out of total 36) remains a zero-Covid-death district, though all have notched fresh cases. Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 687,353 earlier to 698,854 now, while those in institutional quarantine went up from 41,660 to 42,350 on Tuesday. Arguing that Huawei created too much risk for such a critical, multibillion-dollar project, the British government said Tuesday that it would ban the purchase of new Huawei equipment for 5G networks after December, and that existing gear already installed would need to be removed from the networks by 2027. As facts have changed, so has our approach, Oliver Dowden, the government minister in charge of telecommunications, told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the U.K.s telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run. After the British government announced its decision, President Trump took aim at Huawei during a news conference at the White House, saying the United States has confronted untrustworthy Chinese technology and telecom providers. We convinced many countries, and I did this myself for the most part, not to use Huawei, because we think its an unsafe security risk, Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump also announced that he was issuing an executive order formalizing a declaration from late May that the United States would treat Hong Kong in the same manner as China rather than as a semiautonomous territory and would impose the same tariffs that it applies to China. He also said he was signing into law a bipartisan congressional bill that encourages sanctions against Chinese officials and entities that take part in the repression of Hong Kong, as well as financial institutions that do business with those parties. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during a telephone conversation with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic congratulated Croatia on the completion of its first presidency of the Council of the European Union and separately noted the holding of the Eastern Partnership video meeting during the Croatian presidency. "I believe that the next Ukraine-EU summit will open a new page in our cooperation. In particular, we hope that Croatia will continue to support Ukraine's European integration aspirations," he said. Plenkovic noted strong support for Ukraine's European integration aspirations and progress on the path to reform. By Express News Service HYDERABAD: A day after a doctor from Telangana's Pedapalli drove a tractor himself to assist in the transport of a coronavirus victim's body to a crematorium for completion of their last rites, Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu lauded his efforts. Taking to Twitter, the VP tweeted, "Greatly appreciate the gesture of Dr. Pendyala Sriram, Peddapalli District Surveillance Officer in Telangana. I am sure his noble act will inspire others. #Respect" "His selfless service is an outstanding example of Indias age-old philosophy of share & care," the Vice President further said. The incident occurred on July 13 in Pedapalli district where municipal workers did not turn up to take the victim's body to the site and assist the family in conducting their last rites. The doctor then stepped up by taking the charge of transporting the patient's mortal remains himself. Dr Srirams efforts were captured in a video that has since gone viral and he was appreciated by many for his proactive approach. 14.07.2020 LISTEN Following record audience numbers to BBC.com in the first half of the year, with BBC.com attracting 179 million and 158 million unique browsers in March and April respectively, and BBC World News available in over half a billion households, BBC Global News - the BBCs international commercial news, sport and features arm has named Yewande Adewusi as the new Regional Director for Africa. Yewande has been the commercial representative for BBC Global News in West Africa since 2016, focusing on rejuvenating the West African marketplace and driving key commercial partnerships in the region. Based in Lagos, in her new role, Yewande will have overall revenue responsibility for growing the commercial opportunities for BBC World News, BBC.com and BBC World Service. As the worlds most trusted international news broadcaster, BBC Global News has a large and growing audience base across the world. In Africa, the BBC was ranked the most admired media brand by Africa Business magazine , owing the accolade to its breadth of coverage and journalistic footprint across the region. Commercial revenue for BBC Global News increased exponentially in Africa following long-term partnerships across sectors including travel, tourism, finance and foreign direct investment (FDI). Since the creation of the Africa regional office in 2015, BBC Global News has made significant headway in growing its business through comprehensive, competitive analysis and new long-form content and branded content initiatives. Isla MacLeod, Vice President for Commercial Partnerships in Europe, Africa and Central Asia at BBC Global News, said: Africa offers a wealth of opportunities for BBC Global News, with the team having recently secured clients across a broad range of sectors from the region. Strong relationships have been fostered with key individuals within the public and private sector, and having Yewande at the helm puts us in a great position to expand our commercial footprint across the continent. Yewande has a wealth of experience in strategy, marketing and business development having previously worked for major brands such as Airtel, EFInA (a DFID/Bill & Melinda Gates programme), United Bank for Africa and Pfizer. Yewande Adewusi says: The BBC is unrivalled in its international news coverage of Africa. Known for the highest editorial standards, trust and impartiality, its an exciting time to connect African brands with our global audiences. Im looking forward to furthering our commercial success within the region. BBC World News and BBC.com, the BBCs commercially funded international 24-hour English news platforms, are owned and operated by BBC Global News Ltd. BBC World News television is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, and over half a billion households and 3 million hotel rooms. The channels content is also available on 178 cruise ships, 53 airlines, including 13 distributing the channel live inflight, and 23 mobile phone networks. BBC.com offers up-to-the-minute international news, in-depth analysis and features, including BBC Worklife, BBC Culture, BBC Future and BBC Travel, for PCs, tablets and mobile devices to more than 110 million unique browsers each month. The Northern Ireland Protocol will see Northern Ireland operate under different trading rules to the rest of the UK (Liam McBurney/PA) The Governments lack of understanding and overly political approach to post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland has left businesses in the dark, a Westminster committee has claimed. The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee condemned the Government for leaving businesses ill-prepared for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31. The committees findings come after members conducted an inquiry into the Northern Ireland Protocol the element of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that will see Northern Ireland operate under different trading rules to the rest of the UK. Under the terms of the protocol, which is designed to avoid border checks on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland will be a part of the UKs customs territory but will still follow EU customs law and administer the blocs customs rules at its ports. Expand Close Preparations are being made at Belfast Port for expanded checks at the end of the transition period (Niall Carson/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Preparations are being made at Belfast Port for expanded checks at the end of the transition period (Niall Carson/PA) The region will also follow EU single market regulations on goods. The Government has acknowledged this will mean more regulatory checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, with the expansion of infrastructure to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) screening of animals and food products. But the Government has insisted there will be no new physical customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland. A report by the committee, which is made up of Conservative, Labour, SDLP, Alliance and DUP MPs, criticised the Governments plans and questioned its claim that Northern Ireland companies will have unfettered access to the Great Britain market from 2021 onwards. The MPs called on ministers to provide more detail to businesses on trading arrangements by October 1. The committee report said businesses should also be reimbursed for the cost of protocol compliance. It also called on Government to lay out a plan B for ensuring unfettered access between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in the event the UK and EU fail to strike a comprehensive trade deal ahead of the end of the transition period. Committee chairman Simon Hoare said: Political process must not trump the interests of the people of Northern Ireland. Those trading across the Irish Sea have been told to prepare without knowing what to prepare for Simon Hoare, Northern Ireland Affairs Committee The Government may be able to wait until the wire for clarity on customs arrangements, but business cannot. Those trading across the Irish Sea have been told to prepare without knowing what to prepare for. Its now time for them to get that clarity, and they must have it by October 1. If not, business will not have time to prepare for the realistic prospect of friction and delays to products moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This will increase their costs, with an accompanying increase in the cost of living. Such frictions would be incompatible with the notion of unfettered access touted by Government ministers. It would put Northern Ireland at a competitive disadvantage compared with the rest of the UK and would damage business confidence at a time when it has seldom been lower. If this happens, business must be reimbursed for the cost of complying with the Northern Ireland Protocol. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and it must not experience particular disadvantage because of Brexit Simon Hoare Mr Hoare highlighted that many businesses are already struggling as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. There is no need, and no reason, to add insult to injury for political gain, he said. The Government needs to stop gambling with the future of business and of the people of Northern Ireland. Instead, it must set out detailed and realistic proposals on how customs processes will work and which goods will be affected. Unfettered access was promised, but it looks less and less likely that it will be delivered. Northern Ireland is part of the UK, and it must not experience particular disadvantage because of Brexit. Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Louise Haigh reacted to the report, saying: The lack of detail and engagement from senior ministers on the most significant change to border management in decades is staggering and irresponsible. The Governments careless approach risks a perfect storm for Northern Ireland, with businesses unprepared for major new requirements with their largest trading partner at a time when they are fighting to stay afloat during the Covid-19 crisis. The Prime Minister owes it to Northern Ireland businesses, so badly let down by his broken promises, to urgently lay out the precise details of the new checks and arrangements that must be implemented in less than six months time. This must include help with mitigation to avoid businesses going under as a result of the new costs, and outline if they will make use of measures like a bespoke Trusted Trader Scheme between GB and NI to avoid costly tariffs and checks on business. Responding to the report, a Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: We are engaging intensively with businesses and the Executive in Northern Ireland and will set out further guidance later this month. We have set out our clear approach to the Northern Ireland Protocol which will uphold the gains of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, protects the place of Northern Ireland in the UKs customs territory and ensures no hard border on the island of Ireland. This would guarantee unfettered access for Northern Irelands goods across the UK, no tariffs on goods moving within the UK, and no new physical customs infrastructure in Northern Ireland. We will formally respond to the Committees report in due course. The Electoral Commission has warned parliamentary candidates and operatives of political parties to desist from transporting applicants to the registration centres. According to Dr Eric Bossman Asare, Deputy Chair in charge of Coporate Services, the political parties know the people they are bussing are not residents of the electoral areas where they want to register. He also asked operatives of political parties to stop fronting for people who were not Ghanaians adding, "the Commission needs the support of all our stakeholders to compile a clean register". He said this at the "Let the Citizen Know" press briefing in Accra on Monday. Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video GREENSBORO Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday he will allow school districts to reopen their schools for the fall with "moderate" social distancing required. All of grades K-12 and all school staff will be required to wear face coverings, he said. He said he is asking school districts to provide remote learning as an option for any students and families that want it. And he said districts also have the option to choose fully remote learning for everyone instead of reopening their buildings. The "moderate" social distancing requirement includes keeping everyone in schools six feet apart while in the building and keeping the total number of students in the buildings at 50 percent or less of the fire code capacity. For many school districts, that will mean they will need to reduce the number of students in school at any time to be able to pull that off. This breaking news will update. Contact Jessie Pounds at 336-373-7002 and follow @JessiePounds on Twitter. Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Nicholas School Ph.D. student Graden Froese admires a forest giant in Ivindo National Park, Gabon. Credit: Duke Research Blog Like wine, cheese, and savvy financial investments, many tropical trees become more valuable with age. This is particularly true when it comes to carbon storage, because old trees are often the biggest trees and the larger the tree, the more carbon it stores. The value of big, old trees in combating climate change was underscored in a recent study of Gabon's forests, led by the Nicholas School of the Environment's John Poulsen. The team's striking findingthat half of Gabon's wealth of carbon is found in the largest 5% of treeshas implications that reach far beyond the sparsely populated Central African country's borders. Tropical forests play a key role in the global carbon cycle by keeping carbon out of the atmosphere. Trees take in CO 2 one of the infamous, heat-trapping greenhouse gassesduring photosynthesis and use the carbon to grow, making new leaves, thicker and taller trunks, and more expansive root systems. Scientists can estimate how much carbon a tree holds by measuring its trunk. So, like rainforest tailors, trained technicians traveled to all corners of the country to measure the girth and height of tens of thousands of trees. This extraordinary two-year long effort was one of the first nationwide forest inventories in the tropics, making Gabon a leader in comprehensive forest monitoring. Who needs ladders, when you have colleagues? The field team collaborates to measure a forest giant. Credit: Duke Research Blog Poulsen and collaborators used the tree measurements to estimate the amount of carbon stored in Gabon's forests and to determine why some forests hold more carbon than others. "The field techs deserve all the credit," Poulsen explained, "as they often walked for days through thick forest, traversing swamps and enduring humid, buggy conditions to measure trees. We turned their sweat and toil into information that could be used by Gabon's government to prioritize areas for conservation." The team analyzed a suite of environmental factors to see their effects on carbon storage. Of the natural factors, only soil fertility had a noticeable positive effect on tree biomass. Much more important was the impact of humans. As human activities such as agriculture and logging tend to target large trees, more heavily human-disturbed forests had a much different structure than pristine forests. The farther a study area was from human settlements, the more likely it was to host large trees and consequently, higher amounts of carbon. The paper notes that Gabon stands out as a country with "one of the highest densities of aboveground forest carbon." In fact, Gabon's undisturbed forests store more carbon than those in the Amazon, which have been referred to as the lungs of the planet. Unfortunately, even Gabons small trees make for spectacular felled logs. Credit: Duke Research Blog According to Poulsen, "Gabon is the second most forested country in the world with 87% forest cover, a deforestation rate near zero" Because of its impressive forest cover and its location straddling the equator, Gabon's forests host an incredibly diverse array of plants and animals, including many threatened and endangered species. Rural communities depend on these forests for their livelihoods. However, Gabon's impressive forests are valuable to more than just wildlife, climate researchers, and local communities. The logging industry also sees these forests as a chance for profit. More than half (about 67%) of Gabon's forests are under contract with logging companies to harvest timber, putting them at risk of losing many of their carbon-storing giants. Poulsen's study highlights the importance of a more nuanced approach to forest conservation in Gabon. One that doesn't simply focus on stopping deforestation or promoting restoration, as is prescribed in many international climate change plans, but an approach that recognizes the necessity of preserving high conservation value, old growth forests. Explore further Gabon minister hails country's responsiblity after historic forest deal Provided by Duke Research Blog The housing finance major on Monday (13 July) said it is planning to raise up to Rs 45,000 crore by issuing debt securities, and will seek approval of shareholders in its upcoming AGM later this month. The board of directors of HDFC will meet on 30 July to announce the Q1 June 2020 results. The 43rd annual general meeting (AGM) of the corporation is scheduled to be held later on the same day (30 July 2020). In the 30 July meeting, the board will consider issuance of secured redeemable non-convertible debentures, in various tranches, aggregating Rs 45,000 crore on a private placement basis, HDFC said in a statement. HDFC's consolidated net profit fell 9.8% to Rs 4,340.58 crore on a 41% slump in total income to Rs 18,249.71 crore in Q4 March 2020 over Q4 March 2019. HDFC is engaged in financing by way of loans for the purchase or construction of residential houses, commercial real estate and certain other purposes, in India. Shares of HDFC fell 2.79% to Rs 1,794.95. The scrip hovered in the range of Rs 1,793.40 to Rs 1,830 so far. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday inaugurated the citys second convalescent plasma bank at Delhis biggest treatment facility for patients with coronavirus disease (Covid-19)the 2,000-bed Lok Nayak hospital. The Delhi government had opened the countrys first plasma bank at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in south Delhis Vasant Kunj on July 2. Another plasma bank which is yet to start operating is at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, the biggest hospital in the trans-Yamuna region. It has been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital. Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today Today, Lok Nayak hospital started plasma collection. Till the time a vaccine is developed, plasma will help save lives. I am not saying that it can save 100% of the people, but it can save some lives. And, it had a role in reducing Delhis death rate as well. One of the benefits of having the bank in Lok Nayak hospital is that it is located at the centre of the city and it will be easier for people to come here and donate, Kejriwal said while visiting the plasma bank on Tuesday morning. Convalescent plasma therapy uses the blood component plasma rich in virus-fighting antibodies from patients who have recovered from the infection to aid the immune system of Covid-19 patients. It is still an experimental therapy that has been approved by the health ministry for use in patients whose need for oxygen increases despite providing oxygen support and steroids. Also read: Beds empty in private hospitals as Delhi builds Covid capacity Unlike the centre at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, plasma received at Lok Nayak hospital will be used for its own patients to ensure that more people receive the therapy at the hospital. The plasma will be used for treating patients at the hospital. We have many sick patients and we need to serve the poor. So far, we were providing the therapy only under a clinical trial. Now, with the apheresis machine and bank in place, we will be able to provide the therapy to more patients, even outside the trial. Having an in-house bank will also mean that we will not have to wait to get the plasma from ILBS and can administer it to patients as and when needed Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical director of Lok Nayak hospital, said. Also read: 86% of Indias Covid-19 cases confined to 10 states, says govt assessment The hospital has so far provided the therapy only to 60 patients, including the 29 patients who were administered the therapy under the COPLA I trial whose results prompted the government to set up the bank. The initial trial had shown an improved respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and organ failure score in patients who received the convalescent plasma. Their duration of stay in the intensive care unit, as well as the hospital, also went down. Click here for complete coronavirus coverage The hospital has one apheresis machinea device to separate the blood componentsthat can collect plasma from eight to ten donors in a day. We are planning to run it round the clock later to ensure about 15 to 20 donations a day. Plus, one unit of plasma donated by a recovered patient can be used for two sick patients, Dr Kumar said. The hospital has already discharged over 3,600 Covid-19 patients, many of whom are eligible to donate plasma. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court held its first Constitution bench sitting through videoconferencing on Tuesday. This is the first time since March 5 the five judges sat together in a single court hall ever since the lockdown forced the apex court to stop physical court hearings and begin hearing cases through videoconferencing from March 25 this year. A bench of justices Arun Mishra, Indira Banerjee, Vineet Saran, MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose appeared wearing masks and maintaining nearly two-feet distance between them on the bench. The first case that was heard by the five-judge bench was a legal tussle on whether Centre or states have the power to provide reservation to in-service candidates in post-graduate medical degree courses. The plea was brought up by Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association. Opening the argument, senior advocate Arvind Datar exchanged the extensive compilation of his arguments including cases to be referred through Google drive with all lawyers. One of the lawyers, senior advocate Vikas Singh appearing for Medical Council of India (MCI) complained about being unable to access Google Drive. He objected to Datar referring to the same, the first hiccup encountered by the Court in the virtual proceeding. The problem was sorted as court asked Datar to give case law citations. As the hearing proceeded, Datar was inaudible to the Court. Justice Shah commented in a lighter vein, Dont keep social distancing with your mike. Datar heard mike as wife, leaving the bench in splits. The bench reserved judgment in the case, allowing parties to submit their written submissions in the case by July 20. Other matters listed before the Constitution Bench could not be taken up due to lack of time. The day also witnessed veteran jurist and the senior among the bar Fali S Nariman make maiden appearance through videoconferencing before a three-judge bench headed by CJI SA Bobde. Seeing him, CJI remarked, So happy to see you Mr Nariman. For the first time you are appearing through videoconferencing. The Supreme Court began hearing of urgent cases through video conferencing app called VIDYO in March after the imposition of lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. The volume of cases taken up on a daily basis has been less in the past three months. Beginning this week, the Supreme Court has listed regular matters and Constitution Bench matters for hearing as well. With the pandemic showing no signs of let up, there is uncertainty over when physical court hearings can resume. Till such time, virtual mode may be the only way left for courts to keep functioning. With occupancy rates now at 44% in the U.S., and European hotels not expected to fully recover until 2023, hotels are reaching out to a new crop of clientele local residents who are tired of working from home. Luxury hotels are now renting rooms by the day often at steeply discounted rates with extra perks such as gym, sauna and pool access for midday breaks. And unlike your local coffee shop or home office, suites are posh and Zoom-meeting ready with plastic-free fine dining delivery just a phone call away. InterContinental Hotels, New York City When it reopens in late August, InterContinental New York Barclay in Midtown is launching "The Offices at Barclay" with customized rooms in three styles traditional, lounge and comfort that can connect up to five hotel rooms. Wireless internet, local calls, office supplies and printing in the business center are included in the room rental as is in-room coffee, cold brew, tea and energy drinks. Guests can break up the workday with a trip to the hotel gym and by ordering meals and snacks to the room. A one-bedroom deluxe suite at Intercontinental New York Barclay. Courtesy of Intercontinental New York Barclay "We understand the need of a change of scenery while working from home which is why we started to offer rooms as offices spaces," said Sofia L. Vandaele, the hotel's general manager. "We've recently had entrepreneurs and corporate professionals unable to return to their offices and shared workspaces inquire about our space." InterContinental New York Times Square, which is scheduled to reopen Sept. 1, is also providing office space for workers who require longer stays or complete floor buyouts. Rate at Barclay location: from $500 per day or $6,250 per month Rate at Times Square location: from $1,000 per week Raffles Singapore Singapore's iconic Raffles Singapore is transforming its luxury state room suites into elegant workspaces with butler service and suite access from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m in its new "Work from Home" package. Suites come with complimentary internet access, select beverages and parking. Daily rentals of state room suites are limited to one guest per suite and are available through November 2020. Courtesy of Raffles Singapore Day guests can access the hotel gym and hold team meetings in the library, which is limited to five people at a time. They also receive 15% off purchases in the hotel's restaurants, bars, boutiques and spa. Interested parties will have to wait though. Last month the country lifted some restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and hotels are now applying for approval to allow staycations for local residents. Rate: S$290 ($208) per day Hotel Figueroa in Los Angeles, California Guests at "the Fig," as it's affectionately known, a historic hotel and urban oasis in downtown Los Angeles, can set up shop in a 353-square foot classic suite as part of its new "Work Perks" program. Suites come with living rooms, executive desks, refrigerators and iPads, and can be virtually explored before being booked. Printing, coffee and Wi-Fi are complimentary, as is access to the pool deck and fitness room. Most "Work Perks" guests at Hotel Figueroa live near the hotel and want to escape the distractions of working from home. Josh Telles Work Perks memberships have been purchased as gifts, said the hotel's Managing Director Connie Wang. "One very clever husband pre-purchased a gift certificate last week from us for his wife as a gift to brighten her day," she said. "We are looking forward to welcoming her and making her 'alone-time' extra special." Teams can join the hotel's tiered work subscription program, which comes with added perks such as onsite storage and use of the hotel's Gran Sala ballroom that accommodates more than 25 people working six feet apart. Rate: $129 per day, with option to extend to an overnight stay for an additional $20; $1,500 per week to $5,000 per month for the subscription program The Fullerton Hotel Singapore Once staycations are permitted, another historic hotel in Singapore is inviting guests to escape their home offices with 12-hour room rentals and flexible check-ins from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Quay Room at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore. Courtesy of The Fullerton Hotels and Resorts Rooms at The Fullerton Hotel Singapore come with a S$50 ($36) food and beverage credit and complimentary coffee and tea, Wi-Fi and parking. In between meetings, guests can access the gym and infinity pool overlooking the Singapore River. The hotel's stylish sister property, The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore, has a similar "Work from Fullerton" promotion, which is cancelable up to 72 hours prior to arrival and is priced at slightly higher rates. Rate: from S$210 ($150) per day Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi in Sante Fe, New Mexico This Rosewood boutique hotel in the heart of Santa Fe is renting guest rooms as workspaces for half the normal daily rate. A day stay comes with Wi-Fi, an Apple TV, poly-com telephone and beverage service throughout the day. The library at Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi. Courtesy of Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi The Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi is also renting out other areas of the hotel for private workspaces; the living room, wine cellar (which has a large conference table) and library are available for up to 10 hours a day. Another Rosewood hotel in California, the Rosewood Miramar Beach outside of Santa Barbara, is transforming suites into offices with computer monitors, printers and office supplies. Aimed at travelers who need to work while on vacation, suites are also available by the day. Rate: from $250 per day Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa in Epernay, France If you're already working at home, why not temporarily relocate your office to the hills of France's celebrated Champagne region? That's the question The Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa is asking guests to consider this year. The Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa overlooks the hills of Champillon, France. Joann Pai Until the end of 2020, guests can book a package that includes lunch served in your suite and access to indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a hammam, sauna and fitness room. The stay also comes with an unlimited supply of tea, coffee and French pastries throughout the stay and an after-work glass of Champagne with cheese. This stay is different in that the hotel does want guests to stay the night. In fact, it's required. A minimum stay of three nights is needed. Rate: 504 euros ($569) per night Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit in Bangkok, Thailand Guests can now book 398-square-foot luxury rooms at the Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit for the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday and receive free Wi-Fi and complimentary lunch served in the room. The new "Work From Sofitel" promotion is designed to balance work and play. Courtesy of Sofitel Bangkok Sukhumvit Air travelers flying into New Englands second busiest airport will soon need to check-in with officials upon arrival as the region works to curb the spread of coronavirus. Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont announced Monday that the state will implement a certification process for travelers from more than a dozen states where COVID-19 cases continue to rise. Before you get on that plane in Miami Beach to come up to Bradley Airport, know that we will be asking you where to self-quarantine to make sure you are taking this seriously, Lamont said. Lets see how that goes for a couple of weeks. If we find we still have a lot of leaks in the bucket, we can think about other disincentives to make sure people take it even more seriously. The states involved are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The states were included on the list as they have a daily positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents or a state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average. The list of states included on the travel advisory will be updated weekly. Travelers will be required to provide details on where they intend to quarantine. The state previously ordered people traveling into Connecticut from any of those states to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. including both Connecticut residents and out-of-state visitors. 15 Bradley International Airport during COVID-19 public health crisis More than 56,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported nationwide on Monday. Florida set a new single-day record on Saturday with 15,300 COVID-19 cases - higher than New York at that states peak this spring. As of Monday, Florida health officials reported 243,230 total cases, a total higher than several nations, including Italy which was hit hard by the virus. COVID-19 hospitalizations in Connecticut peaked at just under 2,000 patients in late April and have dropped in weeks since. Eastern Libyas parliament passed a motion approving a possible military intervention by neighboring Egypt to stop an offensive by Libyas Tripoli-based government in the west. The House of Representatives in Tobruk, which is aligned with the forces of rogue Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifter, passed the motion on Monday, asserting Egypts right to intervene militarily to protect the national security of Libya and of Egypt if they see an imminent danger to our two countries." Egypts President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi threatened military intervention in Libya last month and raised the possibility of arming and training eastern Libyan tribes if Tripolis forces advance further toward the strategic coastal city of Sirte or the key airbase at Jufra, both currently held by Hifters forces. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) called Sisis remarks last month a declaration of war. Why it Matters: An Egyptian military intervention would risk significant escalation in Libyas conflict. The two sides foreign backers, most visibly Turkey and Russia, have continued to introduce fighters and weaponry into the war as the opposing sides have raised the stakes. Foreign military entrenchment in Libyas civil war has now reached unprecedented levels, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last week. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and France backed Hifters offensive against Tripoli launched last April, but Turkeys intervention helped the UN-recognized Tripoli government reverse the generals gains in recent months. Though Russia and the UAE have since expressed support for a cease-fire, there is no sign the rogue generals foreign backers intend to simply abandon him. Apparently in response to Tripolis counteroffensive, Russia introduced fighter aircraft on Hifters behalf in May, reinvigorating the United States calls for a cease-fire. Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier this week that the Tripoli-based government has no intention of negotiating until Hifters forces withdraw from the Sirte and Jufra. Whats Next: Despite some doubts about Egypts tactical capabilities, an intervention by Cairo would almost certainly hamper the GNAs advance. It is also likely to embolden Hifter, whose side has been accused of resisting international pressure to restart the flow of oil from petroleum fields under the influence of his forces. In a rare statement on Sunday, the United States threatened to sanction foreign parties to Libyas conflict if they continue to undermine the Libyan economy and cling to the military escalation. Should Tripolis forces get bogged down outside of Sirte and Jufra, the conflict could develop into a spending war by the opposing sides foreign backers. Following the US statement on Sunday, the UAEs foreign minister tweeted that his country supports a cease-fire and a restoration of the oil flow if Tripoli ensures petroleum revenues will not be used to prolong the conflict. Prasad will lead marketing and communications for global expansion Sangeeta Prasad Headshot of Sangeeta Prasad, Chief Marketing Officer. Headshot of Sangeeta Prasad, Chief Marketing Officer. SEATTLE, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Slalom announced today the appointment of Sangeeta Prasad as its first global chief marketing officer. Prasad will lead the $1.8B consulting firms marketing and communications vision, strategy, and programs, helping to elevate Slalom as a globally recognized company. Prasads unique marketing perspective and experience in building a global brand comes from having lived and marketed across various geographies and industries, and will be a great asset for us as we expand globally, said Tony Rojas, president of Slalom. Shes a natural fit for our leadership team and culture. Under her guidance, we will elevate our marketing and communication efforts. Prasad brings nearly three decades of experience in brand transformation and performance-based marketing at Procter & Gamble, American Express, and JP Morgan Chase. Most recently, Prasad served as Russell Reynolds Associates first CMO where she designed and built its global marketing function across 26 countries, enabling 50% revenue growth. I am honored to be Slaloms first CMO, said Prasad. It is a company with an amazing brand story that I am excited to share globally. Slaloms strongly held values and passionate people are what drive its success, and I look forward to telling the world how Slalom helps leaders realize their vision. Prasad has lived in Korea, Brazil, India, Australia, and several cities in the US. For this role, she will be moving to Seattle, Slaloms headquarters. Prasad has a bachelors degree from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. About Slalom Slalom is a modern consulting firm focused on strategy, technology, and business transformation. In over 35 markets across the US and around the world, Slaloms teams have autonomy to move fast and do what's right. Theyre backed by regional innovation hubs, a global culture of collaboration, and partnerships with the worlds top technology providers. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Seattle, Slalom has organically grown to over 8,000 employees. Slalom was named one of Fortunes 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2020 and is regularly recognized by employees as a best place to work. Learn more at slalom.com . Story continues A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/40e3a9b3-88d4-4d57-9471-a49e6a8dd1fd CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACT: Jeremy Littman 510-457-6377 jlittman@cplusc.com Turnout for the Midland County Hospital Districts sales tax election is off to a better pace than most other non-Midland ISD elections held in the last 15 years. The Midland County Elections Office reports eligible voters have cast 7,317 votes (in person or by mail) during the early voting period. That is more than the 2005 Midland College bond election (4,542), the 2009 Midland County Hospital District bond election (5,302), the 2016 Midland ISD tax ratification election (4,449), the 2017 city of Midland tax ratification election (4,276) and the 2017 road bond election (5,898). During those elections, a little more than 62 percent voted early, according to the Elections Office. Rosalind Grover, who has overseen the Say Yes to Healthcare campaign, said Monday she feels good going into Election Day and is cautiously optimistic. Grover led the 2009 hospital bond effort to a lopsided victory. She said the sales tax election has been more difficult because the coronavirus pandemic didnt allow her the opportunity to tell the story in front of people. Grover said the campaign has been over Zoom online chats and social media. We have done our level-headed best in the midst of a pandemic to get our message out, Grover said. She encouraged anyone with questions to go to www.sayyestohealthcare.com for more information, including a video. Turnout in person and mailed-in ballots has been comparable for the Republican Party and Democratic Party runoffs. On the GOP side, there is a 142 District Court judge race between David Rogers and Mary Baker. On the Democratic Party side, there are a races for lieutenant government and railroad commissioner. So far, of the 7,316 ballots received, more than 84 percent have come from those voting in the Republican runoff. The number of ballots is more than the 2018 runoffs, which included a Republican Party race for county judge. Two years ago, 3,500 of the 5,350 people who voted in the primaries, voted early (or around 65.4 percent). Watertown, NY (13601) Today Mostly cloudy. Snow showers around late. Low near 0F. SSE winds at 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40%. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Mostly cloudy. Snow showers around late. Low near 0F. SSE winds at 5 to 10 mph, increasing to 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40%. Higher wind gusts possible. 1 Market Buzz Rossario IPO, Bharat Bond ETF or Yes Bank FPO, which is the one for you? Rossario Biotech Rs 496-crore IPO opened for subscription on July 13 and the second tranche of the Bharat Bond exchange-traded fund (ETF) opens for bidding between July 14 and 17. The base size of the issue is Rs 3,000 crore with a green-shoe option of Rs 11,000 crore. Yes Bank has fixed a floor price of Rs 12 per equity share and cap price of Rs 13 per share for its follow-on public offer (FPO) that opens from July 15. So, which among them is the best long-term bet? All three options look exciting but they cater to different segments of market participants and can't be bunched together. Analysts speak their mind on the three options, read here. 2 Big Story Googles $10-billion India bet Google and Alphabet's Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai has announced a $10-billion Google For India Digitisation Fund that will assist in accelerating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to digitise the Indian economy. Pichai made the announcement right after his virtual meeting with Modi at the Google For India 2020 event. Through the India Digitisation Fund, Google will invest nearly Rs 75,000 crore over the next five-seven years in Indian companies working on digitising India. This could entail picking up a stake in digital services companies. Beyond investments via the fund, Google will also focus on areas such as artificial intelligence and education in India, Pichai has said. Read here. 3 Your Money Insurance sector stirs to life Almost three months after the coronavirus lockdown, life insurance companies are seeing new premium collections go up. Even though there is a decline in new premiums, the rate of decrease is significantly lower than the previous months. IRDAI data shows that the private sector industry saw a 1.28 percent year-on-year decline in new premiums in June. In May 2020, there was a 28.3 percent decline. LIC, which saw a 24.3 percent YoY decline in new premiums at Rs 10,211.53 crore in May 2020, saw a 12.7 percent decline in June 2020. Since the restrictions were lifted in June 2020, their policy sales have picked up, industry sources said. Read here. 4 Global Watch S&P slashes emerging market forecasts Rating agency S&P Global cut its emerging market growth forecasts on Monday, predicting a 4.7 percent slump on average this year due to the coronavirus and warned that all countries would be left with permanent scars too. The firm said the downward GDP revisions mostly reflected the overall worsening pandemic for many emerging markets and a larger hit to foreign trade compared to its last set of expectations in April that predicted a 1.8 percent contraction. Read here. 5 Tech Tattle Top 10 music-streaming services Listening to music has come a long way. There was a time when you had to buy CDs or cassettes to listen to your favourite pieces but with music streaming services now you can access millions of songs. According to FIPPs Global Digital Subscription (GDS) Snapshot for November 2019, the number of digital-only subscriptions has doubled to nearly 20 million. Listeners are spoilt for choice, with diverse music available at fingertips. The market, however, seems to be dominated by the big three. To know more about them and the 10 most popular music streaming services with the most subscribers as of November 2019, read here. 6 Startup Tales Unacademy could be Indias newest unicorn Japanese investment giant SoftBank is in advanced talks to invest in online learning platform Unacademy, a move that could mint a new unicorn in India. Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank is looking to lead an investment of $150-200 million in Unacademy, valuing the company at $1.2 billion pre-money. Unacademys rival Byjus is the only other online learning platform among Indian startups to be a unicorn. Unacademy allows educators to create videos for courses from school-level learning to college entrance exams across streams and also for more advanced courses such as civil services exams and MBA entrance tests. Edtech companies are among the few businesses that benefited from the coronavirus lockdown. Read here. 7 Tailpiece Suit up, Mars Mars, often referred to as the Red Planet, is about to be invaded by three countries the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates which are sending their unmanned spacecraft to the planet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life while scouting out locations for future astronauts. The UAEs mission 'Al-Amal' (Hope) is scheduled for launch in 2020. 'Hope'. The US is dispatching a six-wheeled rover the size of a car, named Perseverance, to collect rock samples that will be brought back to Earth for analysis. Each spacecraft will travel more than 483 million kilometres before reaching Mars next February. China will launch its Mars rover and an orbiter sometime around July 23, 2020. Take a look A top member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force thwarted Donald Trump Tuesday morning when he asserted 'none of us lie' to the public about the disease. Admiral Brett Giroir's comments came after the president accused 'everyone,' not excluding members of the task force, of lying in order to affect the November election. Trump shared three tweets from former game show host Chuck Woolery who accused government medical experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, of spewing 'outrageous lies' about coronavirus. When asked on NBC News' Today Tuesday morning on whether the CDC and other doctors are lying, Giroir said it's his job as a public servant not to lie and to be transparent. 'We may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie,' he asserted to Today host Savannah Guthrie. 'We are completely transparent with the American people.' 'In my experience on the task force is the vice president and everyone there has been completely transparent,' Giroir continued. 'We let the American people know what we know. Again, as new information comes, that may need to be changed because we are learning every day.' Of Trump's tweets, Giroir also insisted that he would not speak too much on them because he is 'not a Twitter analyst.' 'To be quite honest, I don't spend time looking at any of that one Twitter because who knows what it means and how it's interpreted,' he said. A top member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force Admiral Brett Giroir asserted Tuesday morning that 'none of lie' about coronavirus 'We may occasionally make mistakes based on the information we have, but none of us lie,' he told NBC's Today host Savannah Guthrie. 'We are completely transparent with the American people' The comments came after Donald Trump retweeted a few posts from former game show host Chuck Woolery, who said the CDC, media, Democrats and doctors are spewing 'outrageous lies' about COVID-19 Woolery also claimed in his tweet that the lies are an effort by Democrats to sway the election in November against Donald Trump Trump on Monday retweeted three different post by Woolery, the onetime host of TV's 'Love Connection,' about the virus and some unfounded claims about those doctor's addressing the country about COVID-19. 'The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying,' Woolery wrote in one tweet the president reposted. 'The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust.' He theorized that the focus on severity of the virus is an effort by Democrats to keep the economy suffering and in turn influence the election in November. 'I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it,' the former game show host continued. In another tweet he suggested, without any evidence, that it is safe to reopen schools in the fall a point the task force and administration have been pushing for recently. 'There is so much evidence, yes scientific evidence, that schools should open this fall. It's worldwide and it's overwhelming. BUT NO,' he tweeted. The claims also come as coronavirus cases have seen a resurgence over the last few weeks, with some states experiencing record day-high levels of new infection rates. The U.S. by far has the most infections, with more than 3.36 million confirmed cases of the virus and as of Tuesday morning there are more than 135,000 deaths. Trump has said on several occasions that the virus will 'just disappear.' Giroir told Today that is unlikely 'unless we take active steps to make it disappear.' He appealed to people to wear masks, practice social distancing and to avoid bars and other tightly packed areas. Trump himself has at times disregarded the advice of his medical experts on the task force and continues to play down the threat from the virus as it spikes across the country, forcing some states to slow or reverse steps to reopen their economies. Asked on NBC's 'Today,' whether the CDC and other doctors are lying, Giroir allowed that mistakes have been made and that public guidance is updated when more is learned about the virus, 'but none of us lie. We are completely transparent with the American people.' Trump has said on several occasion that the virus will 'just disappear.' Giroir said that is unlikely 'unless we take active steps to make it disappear.' He appealed to people to wear masks, practice social distancing and to avoid bars and other tightly packed areas. Woolery also asserted in another tweet, without exhibiting any evidence, that schools are ready to reopen in the fall The comments posted by Trump also come as the White House distances itself from Dr. Anthony Fauci (pictured), the country's leading infectious disease expert at the National Institute of Health and a member of the task force With U.S. virus cases spiking and the death toll mounting, the White House has worked to undercut its most trusted coronavirus expert, playing down the danger as Trump pushes to get the economy moving before he faces voters in November. The U.S. has become a cautionary tale across the globe, with once-falling cases now spiraling. However, Trump suggests the severity of the pandemic that has killed more than 135,000 Americans is being overstated by critics to damage his reelection chances. The president and top White House aides are also ramping up attacks against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious diseases expert and member of the task force. Fauci has been increasingly sidelined by the White House as he sounds alarms about the virus, a most unwelcome message at a time when Trump is focused on pushing an economic rebound. 'We haven't even begun to see the end of it yet,' he said Monday in a talk with the dean of Stanford's medical school, calling for a 'step back' in reopenings. Last week, Fauci contradicted Trump about the severity of the virus during a FiveThirtyEight podcast. While Trump contends repeatedly that he has done a great job against the pandemic, Fauci said, '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.' Trump later said Fauci had 'made a lot of mistakes.' He pointed to Fauci's early disagreement with him over the China travel ban and to the evolving guidance over the use of masks as scientists' understanding of the virus improved - points the White House expanded on in statements to media outlets over the weekend. Asked whether the president still had confidence in Fauci, a White House official on Monday insisted Trump did. The official said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was regarded as 'a valued voice' on the White House coronavirus task force. The official spoke on condition of anonymity even though the president has repeatedly railed against anonymous sources. 'I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci,' Trump told reporters Monday, calling him 'a very nice person.' But the president added, 'I don't always agree with him.' That supportive message was not echoed by Peter Navarro, a top White House trade adviser who has been working on the coronavirus effort. In an email, Navarro continued to criticize Fauci to The Associated Press on Monday, saying the doctor has 'a good bedside manner with the public but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on.' That includes, he said, downplaying the early risk of the virus and expressing skepticism over the use of hydroxychloroquine, which Navarro - who is not a doctor - has aggressively championed despite contradictory evidence on its efficacy and safety. Asked by NBC News if he was bothered by the White House's treatment of Fauci, Giroir didn't answer directly but said 'none of us are always right and that's just the way things are.' Giroir also appeared to disagree with Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who have been pressuring schools to fully open in the fall, even going as far to threaten those that remain closed with the loss of some federal funds. Giroir said it was important to 'get the virus under control' first. 'And if we get the virus under better control, clearly kids can get back into school safely,' he said. Fauci, who has not appeared at recent White House task force briefings and has been largely absent from television, told the Financial Times last week that he last saw Trump in person at the White House on June 2 and hadn't briefed him in at least two months. He blamed the fact that he has refused to toe the administration's line for its refusal to approve many of his media requests. 'I have a reputation, as you probably have figured out, of speaking the truth at all times and not sugar-coating things. And that may be one of the reasons why I haven't been on television very much lately,' Fauci said. Trump's political foes put it more strongly. 'The president's disgusting attempt to pass the buck by blaming the top infectious disease expert in the country - whose advice he repeatedly ignored and Joe Biden consistently implored him to take - is yet another horrible and revealing failure of leadership as the tragic death toll continues to needlessly grow,' said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for Democrat Biden's presidential campaign. The epidemiological situation in Iran is still tense; virologists note that the coronavirus situation in Iran is uneven. Since the beginning of July, Iran has updated its daily death tall record several times. Against the backdrop of an uncompromising struggle to get the epidemic under control, the republic's leadership does not stop business and other economic activities. Iran remains one of the largest regional business centers, closely connected with the economies of the South Caucasus republics. It is one of the largest exporters of fruits and vegetables to the Armenian, Georgian and Azerbaijani markets. However, according to Baku, Tbilisi and Yerevan, optimistic reports from Tehran that the peak of the epidemic is over do not inspire confidence, so traffic at checkpoints is still limited. The borders can be opened, but in a limited mode if strict sanitary standards are observed. It is possible that checking of baggage and hand luggage of passengers arriving from Iran will be strengthened at the Armenian-Iranian and Iranian-Azerbaijani border check points. Livestock products without factory packaging may be seized. Since it has been revealed that coronaviruses are not particularly resistant to disinfectants, strict disinfection of objects and premises is possible to reopen the crossings. The need to open borders is due to the preservation of existing ties. If trade is not resumed, then in addition to price increases, which has gradually begun in February, Armenia, for example, may also face a food shortage. First of all, this concerns the limitation of dried fruits, spices, nuts and chestnuts supplies from Iran. The importance of stable transport links, trade and economic relations between Iran and Azerbaijan, which suffered from the epidemic, especially in the border zone, should not be underestimated. Iran accounts for a significant part of consumer goods imports and building materials imports. Moreover, Iranian goods are one of the most affordable in Azerbaijan. Iran needs huge financial resources to develop the necessary infrastructure, including in the border zone. According to various estimates, this may require up to $500 billion, so the Iranian authorities consider all possible options for exporting their national wealth. Important negotiations on the possible integration of the Iranian gas pipeline system and the Azerbaijani-Turkish TANAP gas pipeline were scheduled to be held in 2020. However, it is not known whether negotiations will take place, given the skepticism of the Azerbaijani political establishment regarding Iran's sanitary and epidemiological security. Closed borders mercilessly hit the entire region's tourism industry. Residents of the South Caucasus republics often visit Iran for medical treatment, since the prices in Iranian clinics are much lower than in Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. At the same time, limited border opening can be costly. Working at border crossings require a lot of consumables, personal protective equipment, and complying with the necessary sanitary standards requires significant financial investments for an indefinite period. It is also important that the package of measures undertaken will not be effective if it is implemented by just one side. Therefore, all sides should prevent the transmission of the virus, which will require the creation of monitoring structures to exercise overall control at all the checkpoints. So far, Iran has opened a border with three countries, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, but the mandatory mask regime has been introduced in unfavorable areas of the country, and it is premature to talk about the imminent opening of the border with the countries of the South Caucasus. Tensions mounted over how the United States is grappling with a resurgent coronavirus outbreak Monday, as global health officials warned that the pandemic will only intensify worldwide unless officials adopt comprehensive strategies to combat it. The virus' spread is worsening in many countries and there will be no return to the old normal for the foreseeable future," the director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said. Tedros called for countries to come up with comprehensive strategies, and noted that roughly half of all new cases are in the Americas. His remarks came a day after Florida shattered the record among U.S. states for the largest single-day increase in new confirmed cases, with more than 15,000. If the basics aren't followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go, Tedros said. It's going to get worse and worse and worse. Meanwhile, two WHO experts were in China for a mission to trace the origin of the pandemic. The virus was first detected in central China's city of Wuhan late last year. Beijing had been reluctant to allow a probe but relented after scores of countries called on the WHO to conduct a thorough investigation. The probe comes as cases continue to rise in many U.S. states, especially in the South and West. I really do think we could control this, and it's the human element that is so critical. It should be an effort of our country. We should be pulling together when we're in a crisis, and we're definitely not doing it, said University of Florida epidemiologist Cindy Prins. The U.S. totals are still well below the numbers reached in April, according to a recent Associated Press analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. But with President Donald Trump pressuring school districts to reopen this fall, and with the academic year in some southern states just weeks away, the debate over how to respond to the resurgence is growing more heated. I do think that there are going to be many challenges to opening schools safely and just kind of asserting that just because they want to open safely doesn't make it so, Dr. Tom Inglesby, director for the Center of Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, told a Fox News interviewer on Sunday. 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 ABC's This Week on Sunday that if we don't have that, we will not get control of the virus.'' 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. 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 of 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. Regarding the WHO experts in China, the country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said they would work with Chinese scientists and medical experts on scientific cooperation on the new coronavirus tracing issue. China has argued that the virus might have originated outside of China and has angrily denied allegations that it covered up the scale of the outbreak as infections first began to spread. Trump has harshly criticised WHO over its response to the coronavirus pandemic and accused it of bowing to Chinese influence. The Trump administration formally notified the U.N. last week of its withdrawal from WHO, although the pullout won't take effect until July 6, 2021. We have a basic consensus with the WHO that virus tracing is a scientific issue, and that requires international scientific research and cooperation of scientists across the world, Hua, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, said. WHO also believes that the virus tracing is an issue in progress, which may involve multiple countries and regions, and WHO will also conduct similar inspections in other countries and regions as needed. The WHO confirmed the visit by an epidemiologist and an animal diseases specialist but has not given out information on their agendas while in China. In Japan, more than 30 Marines tested positive at the Futenma U.S. air station on Okinawa, where infections among American service members have rapidly risen to more than 90 since last week. Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops based in Japan. Confirmed cases also have been found at three other Okinawa bases: 22 at Camp Hansen, one at Camp Kinser and another one at Camp McTureous. Officials said the movements of people at Futenma and Camp Hansen have since been restricted and large-scale virus testing is being conducted. In other parts of the world, the number of infections has been rising dramatically in India, South Africa and Brazil, whose virus-denying president has tested positive. India, which has the most confirmed virus cases after the United States and Brazil, on Monday reported a record daily surge of 28,701 new cases reported in the past 24 hours. Washington Rep. Anthony Brindisi raised twice as much money as Claudia Tenney in the second quarter of the year, giving him enough cash to outspend his rival by more than 4-to-1 in the 22nd Congressional District election. The rematch of their 2018 campaign is expected to be one of the most competitive and expensive House races in the nation, with money flowing from political groups outside of Central New York to support both candidates. Brindisi, D-Utica, plans to file a report with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday disclosing that he raised more than $815,000 through June 30, according to his campaign. Brindisi now has about $2.75 million cash-on-hand for the November election, the campaign said. Tenney, a Republican from New Hartford, plans to report raising almost $400,000 during the second quarter, leaving her with about $600,000 cash-on-hand as of June 30, according to her campaign. Tenney is seeking to reclaim the 22nd District seat that she lost to Brindisi in the 2018 election. Brindisi won by 1 percentage point in an eight-county district that President Donald Trump won by 15 points in 2016. Brindisi is considered vulnerable because he represents the most Trump-friendly district that flipped to Democrats two years ago. This year, Tenney faced a Republican primary challenge from George Phillips, a former congressional aide and history teacher from Broome County. Tenney easily won the June 23 election, with almost 70% of the vote. National political groups supporting Brindisi and Tenney have already reserved almost $7 million worth of TV ads between now and Election Day, Nov. 3. Two groups that support House Republican candidates said they plan to spend $5.5 million on TV ads for Tenney. The National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, reserved $3.3 million in TV time in the Syracuse, Utica and Binghamton markets. Separately, the Congressional Leadership Fund reserved $2.2 million worth of TV ads to support Tenney. The group has ties to House Republican leaders. Brindisi will receive outside help from the House Majority PAC, which reserved an initial $1.2 million worth of TV time. The group has ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the 2018 election, independent political groups from outside of Upstate New York spent about $16 million on ads supporting Brindisi or Tenney. It was the most money independent groups spent on any House race in New York and seventh highest total in the nation. The 22nd Congressional District spans all of Madison, Oneida, Cortland and Chenango counties and portions of Oswego, Broome, Herkimer, and Tioga counties. MORE ON THE CAMPAIGN FOR CONGRESS Republicans bet $5.5M on Tenney, making race against Brindisi one of nations hottest George Phillips concedes to Claudia Tenney in 22nd Congressional District primary Rep. Anthony Brindisi launches early TV ads for his 2020 campaign Got a tip, comment or story idea? Contact Mark Weiner anytime by: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751 BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: Armenia seeks to involve military-political organizations, member of which it is, into the Karabakh conflict, through military provocations, and avoid responsibility for occupation and aggression against Azerbaijan, Assistant to Azerbaijans President, Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmat Hajiyev said in an interview with Russian Lenta.ru news website, Trend reports. The assistant to the president stressed that the armed forces of Armenia created provocative actions in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district and grossly violated the ceasefire regime. "The Armenian soldiers were the first to start [the attack], using their artillery, but this attack was rebuffed by retaliatory fire and counter-offensive measures. Violation of the ceasefire clearly indicates that the responsibility for all this is on Armenia, he said. The actions of Yerevan contradict the legal documents of the international organizations of which it is a member. Moreover, it seems to me that Armenia seeks to escalate the long-standing military conflict amid aggravation of its own socio-economic problems," Hajiyev noted. According to him, one of the reasons of COVID-19s wide spread in Armenia is the destructive policy of the country's leadership. "The creation of tension [by Armenia] on the border will distract from [its] internal problems, whilst our country is against such tensions. In order to prevent the provocations, our border services and armed forces have been strengthened, he said. I want to add another fact: on July 12, we noticed the movement of heavy military equipment and manpower in Armenia to the border with Tovuz [district]. We regard this as evidence of the Armenian side preparing the artillery attack in advance. But eventually, Armenia failed to capture any areas," Hajiyev said. The assistant to the president stressed that Baku is always ready to suppress provocations and eliminate similar incidents that could lead to the creation of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. "On its [borders] significant section along the Gazakh and Tovuz districts, the Azerbaijani state border service units are deployed. The Armenian side, on the contrary, continues to systematically militarize the state border between the two countries and deliberately shoot at [the districts] civil population, he said. As you know, a serious conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been ongoing for 30 years after Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. Our [and Armenian] armed forces are still standing there face to face, resembling the scenarios of the First and Second World Wars, when 100,000 soldiers stood face to face. All these facts suggest that a battle [between Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces] can take place at any time. We should ask the Armenian side whether we should expect new provocations, since they're the ones who occupied our lands," Hajiyev said. The assistant to the president reminded that on July 13 Iranian, Russian and Turkish foreign ministers expressed their concern [over the mentioned events]. We thank these countries for being indifferent to the irresponsible policy of Armenia. Our neighbors understand that the situation in the world is already unstable, and in the case of a new [Armenian-Azerbaijani] war outbreak, the war will affect them as well, he also noted. Armenia commits thoughtless actions, not caring about their consequences. Azerbaijan is always ready to resolve this issue peacefully, and we always show our initiative. We always discuss issues with the OSCE representative and do not want to distract the attention of other countries, whilst Armenia is very interested in attracting other regions to its provocations," Hajiyev said. The assistant to the president also stressed that the role of Russia in resolving this issue is very big. We greatly appreciate this [role], because the leadership of the Russian Federation and personally President Vladimir Putin take the necessary steps. But, unfortunately, the Armenian occupation and provocative steps prevent to resolve the issue peacefully. We appeal to the entire international community to hold Armenia accountable. Armenia proves that its not interested in peaceful resolution of the issue. This aggressive policy of Armenia threatens a number of other countries," Hajiyev concluded. LINCOLN, Neb., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE) , a leading provider of health information exchange solutions and services, has announced a partnership with KPI Ninja to improve the health of populations in Idaho. This partnership will provide IHDE participants interoperable technology and advanced analytics that cut burdensome data processes and instill insights to enhance health outcomes. "KPI Ninja shares our vision and is committed to working with IHDE to maximize the usability of Idaho's Health Information Infrastructure by turning data into information and insights that providers, payers, and other stakeholders can use to assure that Idahoans receive the best health services possible." said Hans Kastensmith, IHDE Executive Director. "Our participants will now be able to choose from a comprehensive set of cutting-edge analytics and data management tools to reduce the burden of collecting and using health data for more effective health services and better population health." KPI Ninja brings a trusted brand, proven technology and a deep focus on innovation that creates an analytics powerhouse for those looking to be successful with value-based care. Their platform, Ninja Universe, has earned NCQA's eCQM Certification, Measure Certification for HEDIS Health Plan 2020, Patient-Centered Medical Home and Patient-Centered Specialty Practice Prevalidations. This will enable IHDE participants of all sizes to leverage the benefits of these capabilities including the use of certified eCQMs as standard supplemental data for HEDIS, direct reporting to CMS for Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and Comprehensive Primary Care Plus (CPC+), as well as a suite of predictive and risk stratification capabilities to name a few. "With our Ninja Universe platform and IHDE's data infrastructure, we can provide payers, providers and other healthcare organizations with comprehensive, real-time analytics that uniquely overcomes the typical data barriers that hinder insights and rapid improvements," said Vineeth Yeddula, CEO at KPI Ninja. "We put information and powerful functionality into the hands of clinicians to help simplify and rapidly transition with value-based care trends." About Idaho Health Data Exchange Idaho Health Data Exchange (IHDE), a non-profit 501(c)(3) company, is Idaho's statewide Health Information Exchange, dedicated to meeting the needs of healthcare providers and ensuring that Idaho's citizens receive the most effective health services possible. To achieve these goals, IHDE is working with a wide-array of stakeholders and actively building a best in breed technology infrastructure to provide access to reliable data and information, combining traditional healthcare data with other data sources to help address the medical, behavioral, and social needs that influence the well-being of Idahoans. In addition to technology enhancements to improve overall performance, an array of tools aimed at improving patient outcomes will be made available to IHDE participants, including: an analytics platform, telehealth platform, a remote patient monitoring system, a social determinants of health platform, and an alerts and notifications system. As a trusted data sharing partner in Idaho, IHDE looks forward to bringing you a new suite of service offerings to improve quality of health outcomes and reduce the cost of care. For more information, visit: https://www.idahohde.org/ About KPI Ninja KPI Ninja is a leader in healthcare interoperability, analytics and performance improvement. Using a mix of innovative technology solutions and services, they work with clients to accelerate the achievement of strategic goals through better management of key performance indicators. The platform, Ninja Universe, is aligned with initiatives led by CMS, ONC, NCQA, including holding NCQA's eCQM Certification, Measure Certification for HEDIS Health Plan 2020, PCMH and PCSP Prevalidation; demonstrating the commitment to provide clients an effective enterprise analytics solution. IHDE CONTACT: Prudence Vincent 208-803-0048 [email protected] KPI Ninja CONTACT: Susan Price 402-681-9283 [email protected] SOURCE KPI Ninja Related Links https://www.kpininja.com/ Israeli Air Force Rolls Out New Special Forces Wing to Address 'Growing Threats in Various Arenas' Sputnik News Oleg Burunov. Sputnik International 12:02 GMT 13.07.2020 The new unit is expected to take part in the IDF's so-called "war-between-war" campaign against Iran amid ongoing tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran. The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has unveiled a new squadron that will unite all IAF special forces under one command. In a press release on Sunday, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the 7th Aerial Special Forces Wing "was formed as part of an overall process of strengthening as well as streamlining and improving operational effectiveness of the [IAF] units [] to respond to changing and growing threats in various arenas". The new squadron will include the IAF elite commando unit Shaldag as well as the search-and-rescue Unit 669 and the Frontal Landing Unit. Speaking at an unveiling ceremony, IAF chief Amikam Norkin, for his part, underscored that the new wing will make IAF special forces "more effective in battle, more influential in our aerial superiority, and more a part of all the processes and scenarios taking place in the air force". "We are moving now to a new era in the history of the Aerial Special Forces Wing we are standing on the shoulders of our predecessors, who were courageous and took action and now we are leading the way", Norkin added. Interestingly, the new unit is expected to be under the command of an officer who would only be identified by his rank and first Hebrew initial of his name, namely, Col. "Ayin". The unveiling of the 7th Aerial Special Forces Wing came after reports that the new squadron may take part in the IDF's so-called "war-between-war" campaign against Iran amid ongoing tensions between Tel Aviv and Tehran. Israel has repeatedly accused the Islamic Republic of supporting "terrorist" groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and of waging proxy wars in countries such as Syria which could pose a threat to the Jewish state's security. Iran, which refuses to recognise Israel's right to exist, denies the accusations, saying that there are only Iranian advisers in Syria. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Africa: Over four million social relief grant applications approved A total of 4 424 720 applications for Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant have been approved. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said that the department has to date, received 7 558 555 applications through the various electronic application platforms, including Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Website, WhatsApp and email. A total of 2 174 046 applications were found to be active on various databases, including those who are currently receiving social grants, receiving Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits or are appearing on the active database of UIF contributors, those who are receiving National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) stipends, [and] those who are found on government employees databases (Persal and persol), Zulu said. The Minister was speaking at the Social Cluster media briefing on socio-economic measures under the enhanced level 3 of the risk-adjusted strategy, held on Monday. R1 billion paid for May applications In line with the department's commitment to pay successful applications from May 2020, Zulu said that 3 429 808 of the approved applications were paid as at 12 July 2020. We have so far disbursed R1 200 432 800. These payments are all for applicants who applied in May 2020. South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will on a monthly basis, re-assess all applications to ensure that, where circumstances have changed and income is received from any other source, the grant will not continue to be paid. The re-assessment of all applications has already commenced and the applicants are being re-assessed against SOCPEN (Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens), UIF, NSFAS, Persal and Persol, in preparation for batch release of June payments from this week, Zulu explained. The Minister also acknowledged that the department is currently experiencing challenges in relation to the speedy administration and payment of the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant. Among the challenges include slow processing of the special COVID-19 SRD Grant, bank accounts that failed the verification process, as well as a high number of declined applications. Zulu explained that the initial delays in processing have been largely due to systems development which has been custom developed for the special COVID-19 SRD Grant alone, the need for multiple data verification sources, and slow response to requests to provide banking details by successful applicants, amongst others. She said SASSA has enhanced its systems to improve the validation processes. 123 000 failed bank accounts verification Zulu said that a high number of applicants failed the bank accounts verification process largely due to errors in the capturing of banking information and some applicants attempting to use other peoples bank accounts. Approximately 123 000 failed bank account verification which is facilitated through the National Treasury, prior to crediting of accounts. In this regard, SASSA has requested Post Bank to open accounts for the clients to enable payment without delay. Clients will be able to update their banking details and preferences in future should they wish to make use of different bank accounts or even the cash send option and not continue receiving the money through the post office, the Minister said. Reconsideration of previously declined applications Zulu said SASSA has undertaken an internal reconsideration of previously declined applications due to UIF, after having received an updated database from the Department of Labour and Employment. The number of declined applications as a result of the ID having been found on the UIF database has declined significantly. Approximately 900 000 validated applications were found to potentially qualify for payment from May 2020 following the reconsideration process. SMS messages were sent to all these applicants indicating that they have been provisionally approved and must provide SASSA with their banking details. SASSA is currently processing payments to these applicants, Zulu said. Recourse mechanism for declined applicants In order to address further exclusion errors, Zulu said, SASSA is implementing a recourse mechanism for applicants who have been declined and wish to review the decision. She said that applicants can now direct their appeals for review to covid19srdappeals@sassa.gov.za This facility will have dedicated staff to respond timeously to all emails. I would like to point out that applicants requesting recourse need not upload documents the recourse process will be electronic. Work is currently underway to develop a recourse mechanism which will attend to the complaints and disputes raised, while not extending the life span of this intervention. In addition, any recourse mechanism will have to be electronic in order to cope with the numbers involved manual processes are not a viable option at all. The recourse process will be gazetted in due course. This will provide the legal framework within which the reassessments will take place, the Minister said. SAnews.gov.za This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. In politics they say it's never too late to learn a lesson though it may come at a cost. The Gandhis perhaps have realised this which is why no time was wasted in trying to keep Sachin Pilot in the fold. Rahul Gandhi spoke to him once and Priyanka Vadra who's had a good equation with him, is believed to have called him at least four times. Not just this, the Gandhis told the top leaders who were given the responsibility to broker peace to ensure Sachin Pilot stayed in the party. Most of those who have left the Congress recently, like Himanta Biswa Sarma and Jagdambika Pal, have complained about the inaccessibility of the Gandhis. In fact, Pal has a story to narrate. He said when he was a Congress MP, he met Rahul Gandhi in Parliament and asked to speak to him. Rahul told him to sit in his car and drive with him to his house at Tughlaq Road. The veteran leader narrates that during the entire short drive of 10 minutes, Rahul Gandhi was on the phone and got off his car without speaking to Pal. Himanta Biswa Sarma has publicly taunted Rahul for preferring to feed his dog biscuits over speaking to party colleagues. While Scindia has been more restrained in his criticism of the Gandhis, those close to him say that the inaccessibility of Rahul Gandhi meant he couldn't foresee the departure of the young leader. Rahul's supporters though say that the two met over lunch a couple of days before the exit, no hint was given to the former Congress chief. But there have been several complaints of Rahul and the other Gandhis not meeting people and party cadre. Even in the worst crisis or with impending elections like in Bihar and Bengal, the Gandhis have little time to meet the workers, they say, In a recent case, a Bihar ticket aspirant said he had to run from pillar to post to meet Rahul Gandhi and then he never got an audience. But this criticism may have reached the Gandhis and at least in the case of Pilot they have tried to make amends. Hence the calls to Pilot to also create the message that the Gandhis fight for their own people. Maybe a bit too late, but then politics at times gives you the luxury for this. However, there is a problem here. If Sachin doesnt listen to what the Gandhis have to offer, it would be seen as a snub to them. Can they afford that? Crackdown: A protester supporting Ivan Safronov, an ex-journalist accused of treason, is arrested in Moscow yesterday. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/AP Tens of thousands of people joined anti-Putin protests over the weekend and yesterday in Russia's far east region after the arrest of a popular local opposition politician. Khabarovsk, a city of 600,000 on the border with China and seven time zones away from Moscow, erupted in protest on Saturday after the arrest of Sergei Furgal, the opposition governor. An estimated 30,000 people took to the streets in what has been described as the largest rally in the city's history. Protests persisted on Sunday and yesterday when hundreds of angry residents came out in defiance of an explicit ban on public gatherings. Last week's arrest of Mr Furgal, who was filmed being manhandled roughly and handcuffed by FSB secret agents in broad daylight and flown to Moscow for questioning, has rattled Khabarovsk, which overwhelmingly voted for the opposition politician in 2018. With Mr Furgal's win "people felt there was a chance for change, and it's all been destroyed", Alexei Vorsin, a local activist aligned with opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said yesterday. Alexei Izotov, a Khabarovsk businessman who is moving to western Russia this autumn, said the protests are channelling long-harboured frustrations with Moscow. "The region is in disarray," he said. "Everything that's being said on TV about development and big projects is just fiction. People in the region feel both geographically and financially cut off from the rest of Russia." Mr Furgal's prosecution on charges of organising two contract killings 15 years ago has been widely seen as a payback for his landslide win as well as his apparent unwillingness to rig the results earlier this month of a constitutional referendum that handed Vladimir Putin a mandate to rule Russia at least until 2036. Khabarovsk was one of the few regions that delivered an extremely low turnout and a shaky victory for the proposed changes. Russian secret services last week unleashed what has been described as a fresh wave of political repressions, raiding homes of several opposition activists and arresting Ivan Safronov, a prominent defence reporter, who had quit journalism just two months earlier and became an adviser at Russia's space agency. Mr Safronov was charged with state treason yesterday, his lawyer said, accusations that have sent a chill through Russia's media community which has protested over what it says is his unfair treatment. Security forces last week detained Mr Safronov and accused him of passing military secrets to the Czech Republic. He faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty of a charge he denies. Police detained around a dozen journalists who gathered outside his detention facility yesterday to offer their support in a case they say is shrouded in unacceptable secrecy. Details are sparse given its sensitive nature and his trial is likely to be held behind closed doors. ( Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021] A Michigan cop saved a three-week-old baby from choking as her desperate mom collapsed on the ground and helpless family members looked on. Heartstopping video footage shows the moment Officer Cameron Maciejewski managed to revive the tiny infant girl after she choked and lost consciousness while drinking milk from her bottle. Maciejewski is caught on camera calmly unblocking the baby's air way and reassuring the baby's inconsolable mother - who is living out every parent's worst nightmare - that her little girl is safe. A Michigan cop saved a three-week-old baby from choking as her desperate mom collapsed on the ground and helpless family members looked on Heartstopping video footage shows the moment Officer Cameron Maciejewski (pictured) managed to revive the tiny infant girl after she choked and lost consciousness while drinking milk from her bottle The nightmare scenario began when Sterling Heights police officers were called to a home in Waltham Drive just before 11 p.m. Thursday. The footage, released by authorities, begins with the police cruiser racing towards the home with its lights flashing. People are seen coming out of the property to meet the cop as soon as the car pulls in. 'Hey what's going on with the baby?' Maciejewski is heard asking. Inaudible cries are heard from the baby's traumatized mom and Maciejewski calmly tries to get a handle on the situation. 'Okay, calm down calm down,' the cop is heard saying. 'Let me see the baby.' The officer leaps into action, taking the baby - who is not breathing - in his arms and bringing her to the front of his police cruiser. The hysterical mom desperately paces around the officer crying uncontrollably, while several other family members watch helplessly. 'He's blinking, he's blinking,' says Maciejewski. The cop then turns the baby onto her tummy on his arm and performs back thrusts to clear her air way. The nightmare scenario began when Sterling Heights police officers were called to a home in Waltham Drive just before 11 p.m. Thursday. Told that the baby is not breathing, the officer leaps into action, taking the little girl in his arms and bringing her to the front of his cruiser The hysterical mom desperately paces around the officer crying uncontrollably, while several other family members watch helplessly The cop then turns the baby onto her tummy on his arm and performs back thrusts to clear her air way and the baby begins breathing and starts crying The baby coughs up the obstruction and thankfully begins to cry. 'He's crying, he's crying, he's okay,' Maciejewski tells the baby's distraught mom. 'It's okay, he's crying, he's okay,' he keeps saying. The baby's mom crumples onto the floor in distress and is helped to her feet by her family members. A distressed male asks the cop: 'Is she okay? Is she breathing?' The officer calmly reassures them family the baby is okay. 'She? Yeah she's breathing. She was crying a minute ago. Yeah she's okay,' he says. 'She's got a pulse and she's breathing okay.' Emergency services can be heard arriving off-camera to check over the baby and authorities learn that the little girl is just three weeks old and had begun choking when drinking milk. Sterling Heights police praised the calm, quick-thinking action of Maciejewski for saving the newborn's life. 'If it wasn't for Officer Maciejewski's quick, calm, lifesaving actions, the outcome of this incident could have been tragically different,' they said in a statement. 'Not only did the officer save the baby, but the officer did an outstanding job consoling the family.' The baby was taken to a local hospital by the Sterling Heights Fire Department for evaluation. HOUSTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- McDermott International Ltd. today announced it has been awarded a *large engineering and procurement contract from Azikel Petroleum Ltd. for the modular 12,000 BPD Hydro-Skimming Refinery project. The facility will be located in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The scope of the award includes the detailed engineering and design of the inside battery limits (ISBL) modular refinery. It also includes supply of equipment and all tagged items within the ISBL. McDermott has been working with Azikel Petroleum Ltd. since 2018, most recently on an extended Front-End Engineering Design (FEED). This next phase of the award will utilize McDermott's extensive modularization experience and expertise. The design capitalizes on McDermott's world-class refining process engineering abilities. "McDermott has been an integral part of what is one of the few refineries to be built in Nigeria and we look forward to expanding our presence further by delivering the next phase of this important project," said Tareq Kawash, Senior Vice President, Europe, Middle East, Africa. "Our decades of modularization experience makes us uniquely positioned to deliver this scope and the team has done a great job of developing a simple process design that meets all of Azikel's product specification requirements." The engineering and design are scheduled to be executed from McDermott's office in Tyler, Texas with support from its Mexico City office. Equipment will be sourced from both US domestic and international suppliers. Azikel is building this grassroots facility and has already done extensive work to prepare the site for construction. The early work includes site reclamation and backfilling, completion of roads, perimeter wall, drainage and security gates. Early work also includes construction of the administrative, maintenance and terminal operator buildings as well as the erection of the feedstock tanks. Construction is also underway for a 656-foot (200 meter) pier with shoreline protection. The pier will be used for the delivery of the refinery modules and other equipment. The President of Azikel Group, Dr. Eruani Azibapu Godbless, stated that the award was based on the high level of confidence and professionalism exhibited by McDermott and he expects the project will be delivered on schedule and within budget. He further stated that the Azikel Refinery is a flagship for Nigeria as it is the first hydroskimming refinery to advance to this level of achievement in the modular refinery regime. Azikel Petroleum Limited is a subsidiary of the Azikel Group and the progenitor of the Azikel Refinery Project. The contract award will be reflected in McDermott's second quarter 2020 backlog. * - McDermott defines a large contract as between USD $50 million and $250 million. About McDermott McDermott is a premier, fully-integrated provider of engineering and construction solutions to the energy industry. Our customers trust our technology-driven approach to design and build infrastructure solutions to responsibly transport and transform oil and gas into the products the world needs today. From concept to commissioning, our expertise and comprehensive solutions deliver certainty, innovation and added value to energy projects around the world. It is called the "One McDermott Way." Operating in over 54 countries, McDermott's locally-focused and globally-integrated resources include approximately 40,000 employees, a diversified fleet of specialty marine construction vessels and fabrication facilities around the world. To learn more, visit www.mcdermott.com. Forward-Looking Statements McDermott cautions that statements in this communication which are forward-looking, and provide other than historical information, involve risks, contingencies and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about backlog, to the extent backlog may be viewed as an indicator of future revenues or profitability, and about the expected scope and value of the project discussed in this press release. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that those expectations will prove to have been correct. Those statements are made by using various underlying assumptions and are subject to numerous risks, contingencies and uncertainties, including, among others: adverse changes in the markets in which we operate or credit or capital markets;, our inability to successfully execute on contracts in backlog; changes in project design or schedules; the availability of qualified personnel; changes in the terms, scope or timing of contracts, contract cancellations, change orders and other modifications and actions by our customers and other business counterparties; changes in industry norms; actions by lenders, other creditors, customer and other business counterparties of McDermott and adverse outcomes in legal or other dispute resolution proceedings. If one or more of these risks materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expected. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. This communication reflects the views of McDermott's management as of the date hereof. Except to the extent required by applicable law, McDermott undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement. Contacts: Investor Relations Kevin Hargrove Vice President and Treasurer +1 281 870 5569 [email protected] Global Media Relations Gentry Brann Senior Vice President, Communications, Marketing and Administration +1 281 870 5269 [email protected] Local Media Relations Barbara Knight Senior Director, Global Area Communications & Marketing +971 56 403 2903 [email protected] SOURCE McDermott International Ltd. Reputed Chagrin Falls Digital Marketing Agency to Help the New Client Expand its Alcohol Delivery Service in London London based booze-up-late-night delivcery service.jpg Booze Up | London's No.1 Alcohol & Drinks Delivery Co. is a premier alcohol delivery service for customers in London, Surrey, Kent, Middlesex & Essex. They are known for their fast, same day drinks delivery along with snacks, cigarettes, and various other products. Currently featuring are beers, ciders, wines, champagnes, soft drinks, and more. Booze Up | London's No.1 Alcohol & Drinks Delivery Co. is a premier alcohol delivery service for customers in London, Surrey, Kent, Middlesex & Essex. They are known for their fast, same day drinks delivery along with snacks, cigarettes, and various other products. Currently featuring are beers, ciders, wines, champagnes, soft drinks, and more. Ohio, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cleveland, OH 14th July 2020 38 Digital Market, Clevelands Digital Marketing Agency is known for its customized SEO and content marketing solutions is pleased to announce that they have acquired a new marketing client Booze-Up. They are the founders of on-demand alcohol delivery services in London who deliver premier liquor, cigarettes, soft drinks, snacks, and extras to customers ordering from London, Surrey, Kent, and Middlesex. The Chagrin Falls SEO agency has partnered with Booze-Up to help them expand their alcohol delivery services in London. The team here consists of SEO specialists, talented and experienced content creators, and videographers with over 50 years of combined experience. New clients can benefit from the Free SEO Analysis offered here. The team understands what sort of services the website would need to grow the business and attract targeted visitors. With the help of Local SEO services, websites such as Booze-Up can maximize their online presence by achieving top results on search engines and local maps. The clients can also benefit from social media marketing services that make people aware of the brand and create a positive image of the company. 38 Digital Market has worked with all sorts of small and medium-sized businesses, entrepreneurs, and large industrial corporations. They provide services and solutions backed by up-to-date technologies aimed to help create new business opportunities for their clients. Story continues To learn more about leading Chagrin Falls Digital Marketing agency visit https://38digitalmarket.com/ About 38 Digital Market 38 Digital Market, reputed Chagrin Falls Digital Marketing and SEO Agency offers effective content marketing strategies with proven methods for increasing search engine rankings. This Cleveland based company helps its clients with topnotch social media services, engaging content, and video productions. About Booze-Up Booze Up | London's No.1 Alcohol & Drinks Delivery Co. is a premier alcohol delivery service for customers in London, Surrey, Kent, Middlesex & Essex. They are known for their fast, same day drinks delivery along with snacks, cigarettes, and various other products. Currently featuring are beers, ciders, wines, champagnes, soft drinks, and more. ### Contact 38 Digital Market 1188 Bell Rd Suite #206 Chagrin Falls, OH 44022 (216) 577-8452 Website: https://38DigitalMarket.com/ Contact Booze-Up Address: 141-157 Acre Lane London SW2 5UA Phone: 0842-289-2930 Email: Submit@booze-up.com Website: https://www.booze-up.com/ Attachment live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Indias most-valued private company Reliance Industries (RIL) will hold its 43rd Annual General Meeting on July 15. The oil-telecom-to-retail major recently crossed Rs 12 lakh crore in market capitalisation becoming the first listed Indian entity to achieve the feat. Reliance Industries share rallied over 12o percent from its March 23's low and was one of the key drivers of Nifty50's 44 percent rally from those levels. Also, it is the only company in the Nifty50 that doubled in value from March lows. Since its last AGM, the scrip has returned over 68 percent. Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates from RILs 43rd AGM "Given the recent records, RIL's AGM improves the mood of its stock price and given the huge weight in the index, markets too are expected to remain on the higher side unless negative global cues spoil the party. This time it is expected that the AGM would garner maximum viewership given the slew of deals cracked for Jio Platforms," Jimeet Modi, Founder & CEO at SAMCO Securities & StockNote told Moneycontrol. Also Read: Reliance to hold its first virtual AGM on July 15: Here's all you need to know The Mukesh Ambani-owned company, being the only listed entity having a market cap of more than Rs 12 lakh crore, has successfully achieved its target - set in the last AGM - to become a net debt free well before its schedule of March 31, 2021, by selling more than 25 percent stake in Jio Platforms (to global marquee investors), rights issue of Rs 53,124 crore and stake sale to BP in the petro-retail joint venture. With the Rs 1.18 lakh crore raised from Jio Platforms, the Rs 53,124 crore rights issue along with stake sale to BP in the petro-retail joint venture, the Mukesh Ambani Group company has become net debt-free well before its targeted date of March 31, 2021. Here are five things that could be on RIL's agenda according to experts: -- Update on Oil-to-Chemical division (O2C) deal with Saudi Aramco;-- Overseas listing of Jio Platforms;-- Value unlocking plans in fibre & tower infrastructure via InvITs funds;-- Roadmap plan of Reliance Retail and JioMart; -- Revival of petrochemicals business and oil-to-chemicals capital expenditure target. "After successfully fulfilling the promise of becoming zero net debt company earlier-than-expected, Reliance Industries may now shift its focus on growing Retail business (JioMart) and overseas listing of Jio Platforms," Prashanth Tapse, AVP Research at Mehta Equities told Moneycontrol. "Investors also expect finer announcements regarding its advanced talks to buy out stakes in Kishore Biyani's Future Group. If the same is announced, it would help RIL to expand its reach in the retail space across categories like fashion, general merchandise and groceries thus targeting to become India's number one Retail Company. The AGM will also focus on drafting roadmap of Reliance Retail JioMart future as JioMart is at the heart of Reliance Industries' retail ambitions," he said. On July 2, Reliance clarified that they are unable to comment on media speculation and rumours after The Economic Times reported, "Reliance Industries nears deal to acquire retail businesses of Future Group." Apart from that, Prashanth Tapse feels Reliance would keep ita focus on asset monetisation to the proposed stake sale in its oil-to-chemical division (O2C) with Aramco which is expected to be the bigger trigger on cards and it will also look to announce value unlocking plans in fibre & tower infrastructure via InvITs funds. Sumit Bilgaiyan, Founder of Equity99 said key aspects one should look out for in the AGM are: a) expected revival in the petrochemicals business, b) oil-to-chemicals (O2C) capital expenditure target, c) details and update about the Aramco deal and d) outlook on JioMart. Despite lockdown in several countries to control the spread of COVID-19, Jio Platforms, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, has raised Rs 1.18 lakh crore by selling over 25 percent stake to global marquee investors including Facebook, General Atlantic, KKR, Saudi's Public Investment Fund etc. Also Read: Qualcomm-Jio deal: Here are five key things to know Investors' strategy Reliance's share price hit a record high of Rs 1,947 on July 13 ahead of its AGM and experts are of the view that investors should add the stock to their portfolio or keep accumulating on every dip. Sumit Bilgaiyan believes investors should add the stock to their portfolio given- a) RIL has become the biggest conglomerate of India with a broad range of business, b) the main value of the company comes from Telecom and Retail business (not a pure petrochemical company anymore), c) the telecom business will continue to do well, the petrochemical segment is also improving (while retail business might take time to come back to normalcy), d) JioMart can be the next big trigger for the stock and e) the company has become net debt-free which makes the business more robust. Prashanth Tapse also has a positive long-term view on Reliance Industries considering its focus on the digital and retail business which would drive the company going forward. "Retail business to be a key value driver for Reliance over the long run though we see there would be some impact on business in FY21 due to the COVID-9 outbreak." Given that the stock has run up by more than 100 percent from its March lows, he feels upside could be limited in the short-term. Hence, he advises investors to use current short-term market volatility to accumulate the stock on bull case strategy and target price would be in the range of Rs 2,000-2050 per share for the short-term. Click here for Moneycontrols full coverage of RILs 43rd AGM Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. "Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd which publishes Moneycontrol." In the middle of the pandemic, restaurateur Francesco Covucci started to reassess his three North Beach restaurants: Il Casaro, Barbara Pinseria and Pasta Pop-Up. Not only were they all in the same neighborhood, the businesses all served pasta. Feeling the need to diversify during an exceptionally challenging time for restaurants, Covucci opted to close Pasta Pop-Up and replace it with something better suited for the coronavirus era. The result, California Fish Market Restaurant, opened this month with a seafood-centric menu and a retail shop, as first reported by Tablehopper. San Francisco is famous for the seafood, Covucci told The Chronicle. I always say to people, when you go to Naples, you have to have pizza, and when you go to San Francisco, you have to have seafood. Covucci, with partner Pete Fazio, built a parklet out front that seats 24 diners and remodeled the interior. Now, about 30% of the space is dedicated to an enormous seafood display. The restaurant sells some local sustainable seafood, such as halibut and salmon, as well as delicacies like oysters and octopus from further afield. The bet on retail follows what Covucci has observed at his other restaurants during the pandemic, where diners will often buy large quantities of takeout as well as ingredients like pizza dough to maximize their outing. Even after things go back to normal, which will be in a long time, I think most people will keep the same habit, he said. After they go out, theyll still buy things to bring back home and cook. California Fish Market Restaurant also sells fresh pasta for home cooks and serves plenty of pasta at the restaurant. For those missing Pasta Pop-Up, theres even a holdover of squid ink spaghetti with squid, clams and cherry tomatoes ($21.50). Bucatini is tossed with cured fish roe, garlic and lemon ($21.50), while rigatoni sees a mix of octopus, nduja and tomato sauce ($21.95). Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Appetizers include seafood cocktails, classic seafood salads and crudo calabrese, which pairs raw halibut, scallops and salmon with capers and chili ($29) in a similar fashion to the much-loved Sicilian sashimi at Swan Oyster Depot. Seafood sandwiches, composed entrees like grilled salmon over asparagus ($25) and a classic cioppino ($39) are among the entrees. In addition to outdoor dining, the restaurant is offering takeout and delivery through Grubhub, with other platforms still to come. California Fish Market Restaurant. Noon-9 p.m. Sunday-Thursday and noon-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. 550 Green St., San Francisco. 415-757-0918 or https://www.instagram.com/ca_fishmarketrestaurant Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:50:09|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HANOI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam reported a new case of COVID-19 infection on Tuesday, bringing its total confirmed cases to 373 with zero deaths so far, according to its Ministry of Health. The latest case was a 53-year-old Vietnamese man recently returning to the country from Russia, said the ministry, noting that he was quarantined upon arrival. Meanwhile, two more patients were given all-clear on Tuesday, increasing the total cured cases in the country to 352, according to the ministry. Vietnam has recorded no local transmission for 89 straight days while there are nearly 13,400 people being quarantined and monitored in the country, Vietnam News Agency reported. Enditem Efforts to ensure safe drinking water for children need further support to reach their intended audience, according to an analysis of California's mandate requiring child care facilities to test their water for lead, known as AB 2370. The finding from the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation is part of a new report and policy brief that examine strategies for developing and implementing the state's testing and remediation program for those sites. Among its recommendations, the report stresses the need for a dedicated funding stream to ensure the program's success. "We've learned from a similar program in California's schools that if robust monitoring and funding doesn't exist, much of the needed testing and remediation won't be implemented," said Gregory Pierce, associate director of the center and lead author of the study. In order to be successful, Pierce predicts, the program will require five to 10 times more funding than the $5 million currently budgeted by the state. Lead exposure poses an acute threat to young children and their families. Even low-level exposure has been connected to loss in IQ, hearing impairments and learning disabilities. Recognizing this threat, California passed Assembly Bill 2370 in 2018, which mandates the testing of drinking water for lead at licensed child care facilities built before 2010. These sites must complete the tests before 2023 and, if elevated levels are found, remedy the problem or find alternative sources of water. AB 2370 represents a meaningful step toward further protecting children's health, the researchers say, but implementing the law remains a huge feat. Thousands of day care centers must test and clean up their plumbing systems, and many of these facilities are experiencing funding and staffing shortages, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. To determine how to best implement the program, the researchers synthesized feedback from a variety of stakeholders, including child care providers, environmental justice advocates and water utilities. They found several current shortcomings, including the fact that many child care providers have not received directives to test their water and that the program's messaging is only available in English and Spanish. The study recommends that stakeholders at all levels have a voice in helping to design the program to correct problems. A co-design process that includes parents, day care centers, utilities and state agencies will result in higher compliance rates and confirm that all centers have their facilities tested in a timely manner, the researchers say. It is also important that the program not increase mistrust of tap water in settings where such concern is unmerited, according to the report. For instance, after hearing about the lead testing program, some day care centers and parents began using bottled beverages, even though their drinking water was clean. Bottled water can be expensive and has a negative environmental impact. Overall, the researchers view the program as an important step toward ensuring the human right to clean water for all Californians. A more streamlined and supported implementation process, they say, would help officials better deliver on-the-ground results statewide. The study was funded by First 5 LA, an independent public agency working to strengthen systems, parents and communities so that by 2028, all children in Los Angeles County will enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school and life. "Drivers should not pay expensive car insurance premiums. To lower the price of insurance, drivers should scan the insurance market regularly and see if the competitors have better deals than their current insurance providers", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. For some drivers, the price of car insurance can be expensive. Luckily, there are many ways that can help drivers lower the costs of car insurance. The following methods can help any driver to pay lower insurance rates: Bundle multiple policies. If a policyholder owns more than one vehicle, he should consider insuring all of his vehicles to one insurance company. Also, drivers can combine their car insurance with homeowners or life insurance. Most insurance companies will offer great discounts to bundled policies. Ask for a low-mileage discount. Drivers that are not using their vehicles frequently, might be eligible for a low-mileage discount. In this case, they should contact their insurers and see what requirements they have to meet in order to be eligible for this discount. Some insurers will accept policyholders that drive as much as 15,000 miles in a year, while other carriers will accept drivers that use their cars for less than 7,500 miles per year. Maintain a good credit score. In most states, insurance companies are allowed to analyze the drivers' credit score before granting them coverage. Policyholders that have good credit scores will pay less on their insurance premiums. Install safety devices. On the market, there are numerous safety devices that can be installed in order to make a vehicle safer. Devices like cruise control, blind spot detectors, collision warning systems, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, and so on. Before installing any safety devices, drivers should contact their insurers and see which ones are approved and how much they can save. Check for online insurance quotes. Policyholders can find a better insurance deal if they compare insurance quotes at least two times per year. The best way to compare multiple car insurance quotes is by visiting a brokerage website. Brokerage websites usually work with multiple insurance companies and will provide their clients with multiple insurance offers in just a few moments after they finished completing an online questionnaire. To obtain accurate insurance offers, drivers should be honest and input the correct data in the online form. For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit http://compare-autoinsurance.org/. Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday reviewed the implementation of the recently announced insurance scheme for health workers battling COVID-19 and emphasised the need for speedy settlement to help reach the benefits to the nominees at the earliest. The Rs 50 lakh insurance scheme is a part of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) announced in March for three months for 22.12 lakh public healthcare providers, including community health workers, who may have to be in direct contact and care of patients suffering from coronavirus infection and who may be at risk of being impacted by this. The scheme, funded through the National Disaster Response Fund operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, was later extended for another three month till September. During the review meeting held via video conferencing, a presentation was made by the Chairman and Managing Director of New India Assurance providing details about the highlight of the scheme and its status of implementation as on date, an official statement said. Of the 147 intimations received till date, claim documents have been submitted for 87, out of which 15 have been paid, 4 approved for payment while 13 are under examination, it said. "Further, a total of 55 claims have been found ineligible, out of which 35 claims fall outside the scope of the cover like police personnel, municipal workers not related to hospitals, people from education, revenue departments, etc, while another 20 claims submitted have the cause of death other than COVID-19 like cardiac arrest, etc," it said. It is to be noted that the New India Assurance is implementing this insurance scheme. During the meeting, the finance minister highlighted the importance for a speedy settlement and emphasised the need of the benefit reaching to the nominees at the earliest. Officials from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare provided an overview of the mechanism being followed with state nodal authorities to expedite the claims, also highlighting the issues being faced while reaching out to the family of deceased as well as obtaining the legal heir certificate, it said. Along with health ministry officials, senior officials from the Department of Financial Services were also present in the meeting. While announcing the scheme, the finance minister had said, safai karamcharis (sanitation workers), ward boys, nurses, ASHA workers, paramedics, technicians, doctors and specialists and other health workers would be covered by the special insurance scheme. However, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare later in an FAQ clarified that private hospital staff treating COVID-19 patients will also be covered. Also read: Coronavirus insurance: IRDAI allows 29 insurers to market short-term Corona Kavach policy It is a mere six months old, but 2020 has already been a bumper year for natural disasters. The devastating Australian bushfires in January, broken heat records, the most damaging locust plague in 70 years in parts of East Africa, a super-cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, and the worst drought in centuries in Central Europe. Ashim Paun, co-head of Global ESG Research, HSBC Biodiversity crisis a direct risk to humankind How investors can take the lead Most damaging of all, of course, has been Covid-19 a consequence of our increasingly close contact with hitherto remote ecosystems. The pandemic has revealed the massive and unpredictable interconnectedness between natural environments and global economies.Damage to ecosystems across the world, and the resulting loss of biodiversity, has received less attention than other sustainability challenges climate change risks, pollutants, poverty and conflict. Yet the biodiversity crisis is a direct risk to humankind. It is hard to quantify given the heterogeneity of ecosystems, and it is very hard to solve. However, what is certain is that we have not found a way to continue to grow and develop that interacts with the natural world in a sustainable way.The effects of human action on the natural world are profoundly damaging: deforestation; land degradation; pollution of the water, air and soil; hunting and harvesting; and climate change. And as our population increases and our pursuit of economic growth continues, so the threat intensifies. We lost an average of 60% of the population of vertebrate species between 1970 and 2014. Three-quarters of the land on Earth has been severely altered by human actions, as has two-thirds of the marine environment. Around a million species are at risk if we do nothing.Our dependence on biodiversity for food, raw materials, medicine and weather regulation makes this trend extremely worrying. Around 70% of cancer drugs are organic or derived from natural products, for instance. Production of over 75% of global food crop types relies on animal pollination. In economic terms, the WWF estimates the cost of inaction on ecosystem decline at $9.87tn over 2011-2050.Like many sustainable development challenges, protecting and restoring biodiversity remains extremely complex for investors, policymakers and communities around the world. So perhaps there is a risk, that as policymakers and companies focus on tackling Covid-19, and then on increased debts, balance sheet damage and weak profits, that other sustainability issues might get pushed into the background.However, as we seek to build back better from the current social, economic and environmental crisis, we have an opportunity to integrate an urgent and sizeable response to the biodiversity crisis at global and systemic levels. And we think investors can take a lead in three keyways.First, they can support the development of a robust methodology for measuring biodiversity loss, conservation and enhancement. More data will allow the measurement of biodiversity risks and enable markets to integrate these in valuation.Second, investors can allocate assets towards companies which operate in environmentally sustainable ways and which produce biodiversity-positive technologies. A simple analysis contains evidence to suggest that such companies have outperformed in recent years. And third, asset management firms should embed biodiversity protection at the heart of their approach to responsible investment through engaging with issuers, proxy voting and disclosure.If anything, the pandemic should accelerate the focus on sustainable investing, rather than distract from it. While governments are firefighting, investors can step up and play a pivotal role, with potential long-term benefits for themselves and for the planet as a whole. Since April, weve been searching for ways to make life normal. Cant have your kids around their grandparents? Lets Facetime. Cant meet up for girls night? Well do a wine Zoom. Cant go on your family vacation? Buy an inflatable pool for a backyard reprieve. Well...maybe not that last one. Understandably, nobody thought that in the face of a global pandemic, we would consider inflatable pools an essential item. That was incorrect. As it turns out, in the face of a global pandemic, one of our greatest driving desires is to feel normal. And after family beach vacation plans dissolved into mirages by the thousands in May, people began scrambling to buy inflatable pools to fill the void of normalcy, even if it only bought us a little more time. The bad news is, roughly 328 million of us tried to do this, and all of the inflatable pools disappeared seemingly overnight, both in stores and online. The coronavirus was officially the cause of the Great Inflatable Pool Shortage of 2020. Inflatable pools are not essential, of course. But famine became feast as we pivoted, and the shortage in inflatable pools drove consumers to seek new ways to fill up a body of water in their backyards. One of those ways? Stock tanks. Turns out these things make great pools. Indeed, the galvanized tubs designed to provide water for animals come in a wide range of sizes, were widely available, affordable and, most importantly, easily converted into a personal swimming hole. All you need is a stock tank, a filter, a pump and some tools. But this is Texas, where individuality and elbow grease comes in spades. Which is why in so many backyards, youll find Pinterest-worthy pieces of art -- personal oases complete with meticulous decking, intricate pergolas, twinkling overhead lights, beautifully landscaped flowerbeds and soothing water features. In at least one Houston-area stock tank pool, youll even find the occasional chicken. Chickens can swim, Danielle Choates said evenly as we stood by, arms crossed, watching her chicken float unperturbed on the surface of the water. Danielles pool is surrounded by a large deck, cozy furniture and a handful of ponies. Several goats, tall tallow trees, a chicken coop, fire pit and grill are all on-hand nearby, comprising what is a truly multi-functional outdoor area. There are heavily-bulbed string lights above, glinting in the setting sun. Danielle and her husband Brent have plans to build a pergola over the pool before the end of the summer to provide extra shade as Houston temperatures inch past 100 degrees. You cant find inflatable pools right now, she said. And we dont want a permanent pool so were glad we have this stock tank pool. It fits our aesthetic." With all of the creature comforts the Choates have lovingly put into their outdoor haven, the most precious feature it has provided, she said, was one they werent expecting. Its helped us feel normal during all of this, she said. We all are struggling to feel normalalmost everyone in the world is right now, I thinkand this has helped us get a little closer to it. An F-16 fighter jet has crashed during landing at Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico on Monday evening, the U.S. Airforce has confirmed. The incident marks the fifth crash of a U.S. Air Force fighter jet in a troubling string of accidents since May. The pilot on-board the F-16C Viper fighter jet was able to eject before the crash and is being treated for minor injuries. 'A U.S. Air Force F-16 Viper assigned to the 49th Wing crashed during landing at Holloman AFB at approximately 1800 MDT today,' officials posted on the base's Facebook page. An F-16C Viper fighter (pictured above, file photo) crashed during landing at Holloman Air Force base in New Mexico. The pilot was able to eject and suffered minor injuries 'The sole pilot on board successfully ejected and is currently being treated for minor injuries,' the statement published at around 8.00 p.m. read. The statement also said that emergency responders were on the scene at the time. Earlier this month, a F-16CM Fighting Falcon pilot was killed in a crash at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina while 'while conducting a training sortie.' The cause of the crash is under investigation. In October, Holloman Air Force Base, pictured above in 2017 as a QF-16 drone flies overhead, lost another F-16 in a crash on a night training sortie. The pilot in that incident also survived On June 15, 1st Lt. Kenneth 'Kage' Allen died when his F-15C Eagle jet crashed off the coast of Britain during a routine training mission. Allen was part of a Fighter Squadron based at RAF Lakenheath, England. On May 19, an F-35A Lightning II, assigned to the 58th Fighter Squadron of the 33rd Fighter Wing, crashed on landing at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. The pilot successfully ejected and was evaluated at the base hospital. Days earlier, an F-22 Raptor crashed during routine training near Eglin. The pilot was able to eject and was also evaluated. Officials have said that separate investigations have been launched into each incident. In October, Holloman Air Force Base lost another F-16 in a crash on a night training sortie. The pilot in that incident also survived. Lucy Lafferty, 28, from Co. Cavan, is a health and nutrition advisor in Niger, West Africa with Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide. Lucy explains here why she decided to stay in Niger with just 20 ventilators for 22 million people - so she could help with the charitys Covid-19 response. It has been a long and eventful four months working and living from the Concern team house in Niamey, the hot and dusty capital of Niger in West Africa, over 7,000km from Ireland. My colleagues and I left Concerns office in Niamey in mid-March following a team meeting when it was decided that it was prudent for us to self-isolate for two weeks, given our proximity to one of the first confirmed cases in Niger. Swift actions from the government ensued, the airport closed and contact tracing began. Naively, or optimistically, we hoped that within those two weeks the situation would be under control. Simultaneously, I was anxiously watching the evolution of the situation at home in Ireland; the significant daily increase in cases and the impressive mobilisation of health care staff through the Irelands Call campaign. I spoke to my mum, Clare, in the first week of self-isolation. She is a retired nurse, who returned to work in a local Covid-19 testing centre in Cavan. She explained the extensive personal protective equipment she carefully wore when working. This put my mind at ease that her risk of contracting the disease at work would be low, but it made me reflect early in lockdown on the unimaginable challenges we would face in Niger if disease transmissions increased. With a weak health system, a high burden of other diseases, widespread food insecurity, a large proportion of the population lacking access to basic water and sanitation facilities, and around 20 ventilators for a population of 22.4 million,?my head and heart ached for my colleagues, the local population with whom we work, and myself. Since then, my days have been filled writing proposals for the crucial funding needed and with learning about this new disease to adapt Concerns existing projects to ensure that we build community awareness on Covid-19 and create an enabling environment (distributing soap and handwashing stations) to protect our teams and the local population with whom we work. Within weeks, I was given the option of leaving and going back to my family in Ireland. The fragility of Niger one of the worlds poorest countries was to the forefront of my mind as I weighed up what to do. That opportunity came one Tuesday evening in an email from the French Embassy, informing me of a flight to Paris leaving that Thursday. My brain whirled about what to do. I could hear the echoes of questions from my family and friends: When are you coming home? When will the airport be open again? With over 600 confirmed cases at the time and likely many more undiagnosed (the total confirmed number of cases as of June 28 was 1,059 and 67 dead), I wondered when would be my next opportunity to fly home? Most cases were in the capital, but community transmission had already appeared in Concerns programme areas. The situation was clearly worsening. It was unlikely the airport would reopen for commercial flights any time soon. I thought about what I might do if my parents or brother fell ill. What if I got sick? Not only would I be another patient burdening an already swamped health system, but I was also acutely aware that the available treatments and resources were a fraction of what I would have at home. Would it be irresponsible to leave? Would it be irresponsible to travel through at least three airports, inevitably come into contact with hundreds of people and potentially increase the risk of transmission or of contracting Covid-19? I reflected on the reasons why I chose this career. Working from home in Niamey or Cavan, what would the differences be? Where would I be most useful? No question has a simple answer. I have always been aware of my distance from home, but never more so than now. I had been in the privileged situation that, if necessary, I could probably get home within 48 hours. Once this freedom was gone, it instilled anxiety. I voice this fear, with my dad, Peadar. He rationally pointed out that in some ways life is more low-risk now than ever before. Fewer car journeys, no pubs open, home-cooked meals, and a very simple life. I know that both my parents understand what I do and why I do it, having themselves worked with Concern in Bangladesh in the 1980s. Weighing up my options, I decided to stay in Niger where I felt I was better placed to support my colleagues who are doing the critical work. Every country was faced with the same battle of trying to minimise Covid-19 transmission and now many are navigating coming out of lockdown, however in very different contexts and with varying resources. Over this period, the Concern Niger team have been building awareness of Covid-19 in very poor and remote communities, focusing on how to reduce the risk of disease spread. We have also been providing essential resources (soap, handwashing stations, etc.) in communities and health facilities. Now over 15 weeks later, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Niger has remained low (1,075, 1 June 2020) I am hopeful that this continues to be the case. The world remains a public health pandemic, and as a public health professional, I do not think there is a right or wrong answer, to go or to stay.?All I know is that I am content with the decision I made to at the time to stay and help. Imagine a political leader who has taken his party through a radical transformation in the way in which Gerry Adams drew Sinn Fein into the Good Friday Agreement. And then imagine him standing before the massed ranks of his party and the IRA and contradicting the fundamentals of that agreement and no one calling him out on it. Over a period of nearly two decades, from 1990 to 2007, Adams re-educated the republican base on the best route to a united Ireland. One of his key allies in that process was Bobby Storey. We can fairly suppose some republicans had great difficulty with the changes that they were encouraged to make. Indeed, Storey was as much an enforcer of the party line as an explainer. Expand Close Bobby Storey / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Bobby Storey But in the very tribute to Storey in which Adams praised him as a peacemaker, he also said flatly that he and Storey believed in principles that are contrary to the agreement. In December 1993 Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and the Prime Minister John Major made a joint declaration, anticipating that the IRA would respond with a ceasefire. The core of that statement from the British side was that Britain "had no selfish strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland". In other words Britain was not interested in governing Northern Ireland for any advantage it derived from doing so. The ceasefire was not formally announced until the following August, but the IRA responded immediately by ending a bombing campaign that had been disrupting life in Belfast. The city was at that time surrounded by checkpoints to deter the bombers. At the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery on the day of Storey's funeral, Adams said that: "England rules us only in English interests and that the time is coming when we will end English rule and replace it with governance by the people of this island for the people of this island." So, 27 years after Britain's declaration that it did not have an interest in retaining Northern Ireland within the Union, Adams has said he doesn't believe that. He says that despite the fact that the peace process was advanced by the statement and despite the IRA having ended the bombing of commercial targets as a signal of its intention to work towards a ceasefire. But there was another important assertion in the joint declaration. This was that Britain would only continue to govern Northern Ireland by the consent of the majority of the people here. When that consent was withdrawn and a majority made clear that it wanted a united Ireland, then Britain would facilitate a transition towards that. That undertaking is written into the Good Friday Agreement. At the eulogy to Storey Adams said: "They cannot rule over us." He dismissed Boris Johnson and British ministers as "amadans and nonentities". An amadan is a fool. It's what the Christian Brothers would call you when they were lifting you out of your seat by the ear. Adams said: "They have not our consent to rule us." That, he said, is what Bobby Storey believed. And no one has emerged from the republican movement to say: "But Gerry, that's not what you said before." The position that Adams took at the funeral, and which he attributed to Storey, is the purist republicanism of the past. It is the dissident position. And it contradicts the understandings in the Good Friday Agreement, which the other parties to the agreement have understood for the last 22 years to be the position of Sinn Fein. If Sinn Fein does not accept the consent principle, then it does not accept the Good Friday Agreement. Imagine if a unionist leader, who had committed a party to the Good Friday Agreement, made the same comment. Imagine if Peter Robinson - now, like Adams, retired as leader - was to say that he did not accept the consent principle and that regardless of how many people in Northern Ireland wanted to leave the Union, he would not recognise their right to do so. I think that would be equivalent to what Adams has just done. A unionist making such a statement would cause uproar. Adams ditching the consent principle wasn't even noticed and perhaps will have no impact. His refusal of consent to being governed by Britain and his discounting of the consent of unionists as irrelevant have no practical translation into action - so far. So long as republicans aren't going to let this imagined lack of consent prompt them towards violence again, then this little throwback to chauvinistic thinking counts for very little. And Adams made plain that the field of battle now is electoral politics and that the core goal is the growth of Sinn Fein. And Sinn Fein learnt the hard way that it cannot thrive alongside an IRA campaign. But what are republicans to make of his statement? Are they not confused by it? It's all reminiscent of Orwell's 1984. Yesterday, we were at war with Eastasia and we were always at war with Eastasia. Today, Eastasia is our ally against Eurasia and has always been our ally against Eurasia. Yesterday, we agreed to a consent principle. Today, the position is that there never has been consent. What does Big Brother - sorry, Gerry Adams - actually believe? And what did Bobby Storey believe? As a supposed champion of the peace process he jeopardised it several times if the big operations credited to him were, in fact, his. The Thiepval Barracks bombs of 1996 might easily have ended the loyalist ceasefires and complicated any later effort to stop the violence. The Northern Bank robbery seemed to signal that the IRA reserved the right to carry on as a criminal gang and came close to disillusioning the Irish Government, as well as the unionists. Storey in his actions and Adams in his speeches routinely stretched the credibility of their own peace process to the limit, as if they were constantly daring other parties to walk away from it. And who can say that similar mischief wasn't at work in the organisation of Storey's funeral. Was it intentional provocation? A wind-up? But what are we to make of the electoral base of a party that stays loyal regardless of how much the statements of core philosophy change? Big Brother - sorry, Gerry Adams - could stand up tomorrow and say: "It was never about the border; it was always and only about 'taty bread and wee sweetie mice." And they would cheer him. What politician wouldn't love to have followers like that? A construction company behind a swanky apartment complex in Darling Point has received a $36,000 fine after its crane with an illuminated sign obscured a neighbour's harbour views. Bay State Construction was building a multimillion-dollar block of five luxury apartments in Loftus Road in 2017 and 2018 and erected a crane on-site with an illuminated sign bearing its name in capital letters. The new "Aloft" apartment building in Darling Point. Credit:Louise Kennerley A neighbour in nearby Darling Point Road complained about the sign to Woollahra Council in December 2017, the NSW Land and Environment Court said in a decision on Monday. "He said it 'completely spoils' his night-time view across Sydney Harbour towards the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House," the court's Chief Judge Brian Preston said. Peel Regional Police have arrested and charged a Mississauga man with 15 offences in relation to a mischief investigation. Since July 2018, police have been investigating several incidents in which used condoms were allegedly tied to unoccupied vehicles in shopping centre parking lots across Mississauga. Nine women have reported these incidents to police. A 74-year-old from Mississauga was arrested on Monday and charged with 11 counts of mischief over $5,000, two counts of criminal harassment, one count of commit an indecent act and one count of voyeurism. The investigation continues as police believe there may be other similar incidents that have occurred across the Greater Toronto Area. Anyone with information on these incidents can contact Peel's 11 Division criminal investigation bureau at 905-453-2121, ext. 1133 or Peel Crime Stoppers to leave an anonymous tip at 1-800-222-8477 or by visiting peelcrimestoppers.ca The man will appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in the City of Brampton on Sept. 18 to answer to the charges. Humble yourselves and learn, white police chiefs of Ontario and Canada. Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is not the problem you are. Thats the message conveyed to Halton Police Chief Steve Tanner in a heated Twitter exchange. But he dismissed me. Tanner and his counterparts in the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police are offended by Singh telling the country what virtually every Black, Indigenous, person of colour (BIPOC) is already publicly stating: Corey Hurren, the 46-year-old man accused of crashing into the Rideau Hall gate on July 2 to enter the grounds where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives, wouldve been treated very differently by police if he wasnt white. Singh noted if a person could potentially kill the prime minister or show up with weapons at the PMs residence and leave in handcuffs without any violence, why would a person be killed in his own home? (Mississauga resident Ejaz Choudry, 62, was fatally shot by Peel Regional Police during a mental health crisis at home last month). That to me is what systemic racism in policing is all about, that difference, Singh told The Canadian Press. Singhs right. Hes reiterating what the Black Lives Matter movement has been pointing out all along: We deserve to be treated with care, too; no one needs to suffer or die in police custody. Tanner trolled Singh, tweeting: A situation safely resolved and you choose to somehow make it an issue about racism? I suppose you openly believe the accused should have been killed by the Rcmp then. Politics at an all time low. Clearly, Tanner is clueless when it comes to matters involving both race and social media. He flips the script, accusing Singh of politicking, while making inflammatory comments and tagging the press. Wouldnt it be prudent for police chiefs of all people right now to appear diplomatic, empathetic to civilians, especially BIPOC, in the aftermath of George Floyds murder at the hands of Minneapolis police? He might as well just tweet it: Blue Lives Matter more. This OACP statement demonstrates peak 2020 gaslighting: demanding an apology from Singh for not applauding the Rideau Hall suspects successful de-escalation and arrest. Again, theyre missing the point. Yes, this was good policing Singh never said it wasnt. He merely stated facts: BIPOC suspects deserve to be treated the same way as white suspects. But for Tanner, thats onerous given hes overseeing the safest and whitest region in the west GTA. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is equally one-dimensional. Lucki and Brian Sauve of the National Police Federation released a statement without explicitly naming Singh asserting speculation is damaging an important national dialogue with all stakeholders seeking solutions to societal issues. The white cops with all the weapons and power are centering themselves as the victims here, and they arent looking for solutions. They want a scapegoat and its the dude with the turban. Cops arent listening. Even if they try, the message is being delivered by white journalists who view the world through the same Eurocentric lens; predictably pathetic in its overt bias toward Hurren, whos facing 22 charges. Singh never suggested the accused shouldve been killed in that interaction with RCMP. Again, BIPOC should be afforded the same level of care as Hurren. Thats all. Tanner could have added something constructive to the conversation but chose what he knows best: his whiteness. It was echoed by Bell Medias mediocre article, advancing the story solely off of Tanners tweet without providing any context. Who the hell is Tanner and why should anyone care what he thinks? Where was the reaction from Halton taxpayers especially BIPOC to his unabashedly pro-white sentiments? A nut graf on Haltons municipalities and demographics, namely wealthy white people and cops from other GTA regions? Milton is the fastest-growing community in Ontario and sixth overall in Canada, 2016 Census data shows. In white policing circles, Milton is dubbed Brampton West due to the infiltration of Black and brown people in recent years, many from Peel. Tanners hyper-vigilance on Twitter is disappointing; its degrading to BIPOC, civilians, his own racialized officers whose humanity he fails to acknowledge. He just sees himself in uniform; white and blue. You are here: Arts Chinese colleges will provide online consultation to students who sat the national college entrance exam earlier this month for epidemic prevention, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Monday. This year's national exam had been delayed by a month due to COVID-19. The MOE said the online consultation for students and parents will last from July 22 to July 28, during which they can get access to consultation and instruction services of various colleges through a website or a mobile phone app. The MOE has stressed openness of enrollment policies and procedures, adding that information should be released in a timely manner. It was a week where oil remained essentially flat but natural gas prices settled sharply higher. On the news front, the slump in oil prices prompted Italys Eni SpA E to announce a 3.5 billion write-down. Meanwhile, another European major BP plc BP shelled out $1 billion to Indias Reliance Industries for a 49% stake in its retail fuel business. Overall, it was a mixed week for the sector. While West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were roughly unchanged at $40.55 per barrel, natural gas prices gained 4.1% for the week to finish at 1.805 per million Btu (MMBtu). In particular, the oil market hit a speed bump after reaching its highest since March in the previous week. Coming back to the week ended Jul 10, the crude benchmark was little changed with large but opposing forces at work. The commodity got a leg up after the International Energy Agency revised up its growth estimates for 2020 global oil demand. At the same time, investors remain worried of the supply glut. In total, U.S. commercial stockpiles are up by more than 19% since March, while domestic fuel demand, though improving, remains weak. As it is, another build in distillate inventories in the latest EIA weekly report, taking supplies to 37-year high, kept traders worried. Moreover, refinery utilization in the United States remains far below the usual capacity usage at this time of the year. Meanwhile, natural gas prices spiked on prospects of less associated gas draining the oversupply and hopes of rising demand due to the onset of hotter weather. Recap of the Weeks Most Important Stories 1. Eni SpA has estimated a write-off of roughly 3.5 billion from its non-current assets value following the downward revision of its long-term oil prices. The company added that the write-offs will mostly be booked against upstream assets. The downward revisions were a result of the coronavirus pandemic-dented global energy demand. Also, the company believes that post COVID-19, there will be rising transition to a low-carbon economy since investors are increasingly building pressure on oil companies to drastically reduce carbon emissions, in line with the Paris climate goals. To incorporate these impacts, Eni trimmed its forecast for Brent oil price starting 2023 from $70 per barrel to $60. Moreover, for the years 2020 to 2022, the energy giant made a downward revision for its forecast of Brent crude from $45, $55 and $70 per barrel to $40, $48 and $55 per barrel, respectively. (Here's Why Eni Has Decided to Write Off EUR 3.5B From Assets) 2. BP announced the payment of $1 billion to Reliance Industries (RIL) for a 49% stake in Reliance BP Mobility Limited (RBML) a joint venture (JV) with RIL holding the remaining 51%. The transaction marked the completion of the initial agreement entered by the companies on Aug 6, 2019. With the investment, the British Energy giant carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) - will capitalize on fast-growing fuels and mobility markets of India to become a leading player in the country. BP said that it will now be able to leverage the wide customer networks of RIL in India through the Jio digital platform. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. BP says that through the next two decades, it expects India to be the worlds fastest-growing fuel market. The integrated energy major added that India will likely see its number of passenger cars increase six-fold over the period. Thus, in order to keep pace with the mounting fuel demand, the JV is planning to boost the number of fuel retailing stations to 5,500 from 1,400 over the next five years. (BP to Capitalize on India's Fuel Market With $1B Investment) 3. Equinor ASA EQNR announced that along with partners, it has been successful in finding natural gas and condensate at the 30/2-5 S Atlantis exploration well on the Kvitebjrn Field in North Sea. The drilling of the exploration well took place across more than 17 kilometres to the south of the Kvitebjrn Field using West Hercules drilling rig. Based on preliminary estimates, the discovery at exploration well, which intended to ascertain the presence of hydrocarbons in the Middle Jurassic reservoir of the Brent Group has proven reserves of 3-10 million standard cubic metres of recoverable oil equivalent. Drilled at a vertical depth of 14,301 feet below sea level with water level as deep as 465 feet in the area, 30/2-5 S Atlantis marks the first exploration well to be drilled in production license 878. The license was awarded in the Awards in Predefined Areas 2016 (APA 2016). Equinor owns a 60% stake in the license while Source Energy and Wellesley Petroleum have 20% partnership interests each. (Equinor Hits Gas & Condensate in Atlantis Exploration Well) 4. Halliburton Company HAL together with TechnipFMC FTI has launched Odassea, the first distributed acoustic sensing solution for subsea wells. This technology is said to improve seismic imaging and reservoir diagnostics while reducing costs and improving the data gathered for oil and natural reservoirs below the sea floor. Oilfield services giant Halliburton will be responsible for the fiber optic sensing technology, completions and analysis for reservoir diagnostics while TechnipFMC will cater to the optical connectivity from the topside to the completions. The collaboration will reportedly combine hardware with digital systems, which in turn, will reinforce digital resources in facilitating subsea reservoir monitoring and production optimisation. Further, this technology enables operators to accelerate full-field subsea fiber optic sensing, design and execution. (Halliburton With TechnipFMC Launches Odassea Technology) 5. In its weekly release, Baker Hughes Company BKR reported another drop in the U.S. rig count. Rigs engaged in the exploration and production of oil and natural gas in the United States fell to an all-time low of 258 in the week through Jul 10, compared with the prior-week count of 263. The current national rig count is well below the prior years 958. Investors should know that with the recent all-time low mark, the tally has touched record-low levels for 10 successive weeks, thanks to dented global energy demand owing to the coronavirus pandemic. The Oil rig count was 181 in the week through Jul 10, compared with 185 in the week ended Jul 2. Since crude prices are in the bearish territory, explorers are cutting their capital budget considerably. This led the weekly tally of oil rigs to fall for 17 consecutive weeks. (US Oil & Gas Rig Tally Hits Record Lows for 10 Straight Weeks) Price Performance The following table shows the price movement of some the major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last 6 months. Company Last Week Last 6 Months XOM -3.2% -38.9% CVX -3.5% -26.9% COP -5% -39.1% OXY -6% -64.1% SLB -1.1% -54.7% RIG +2.2% -69.9% VLO -4.8% -44.3% MPC +0.4% -39.3% The Energy Select Sector SPDR a popular way to track energy companies lost 4.8% last week. The worst performer was oil and gas producer Occidental Petroleum OXY whose stock shed 6%. Longer-term, over six months, the sector tracker is down 40.6%. Offshore driller Transocean Ltd. was the major loser during this period, experiencing a 69.9% price plunge. Whats Next in the Energy World? All eyes will be on Wednesdays crucial OPEC+ web conference, which will decide the way forward to the cartels output cut agreement. As usual, market participants will also be tracking the regular releases to watch for signs of a rebound in oil consumption.. In this context, the U.S. government statistics on oil and natural gas - one of the few solid indicators that comes out regularly - will be on the energy traders' radar. Data on rig count from energy service firm Baker Hughes, which is a pointer to trends in U.S. crude production, is also closely followed. 5 Stocks Set to Double Each was hand-picked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2020. Each comes from a different sector and has unique qualities and catalysts that could fuel exceptional growth. Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Today, See These 5 Potential Home Runs >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report TechnipFMC plc (FTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Halliburton Company (HAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Eni SpA (E) : Free Stock Analysis Report BP p.l.c. (BP) : Free Stock Analysis Report Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) : Free Stock Analysis Report Baker Hughes Company (BKR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Equinor ASA (EQNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Ghana: MOFAD, ADB secure 1,300 outboard motors for fisherfolks by Godfred Blay Gibbah July 14,2020 | Source: AllAfrica Ghana's Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development (MOFAD) said there would be no closed season this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mrs Elizabeth Afoley Quaye, announced this on Friday when her ministry took delivery of 1,300 outboard motors for distribution to fishermen at affordable prices to improve their productivity. She said the ministry earlier this year planned with stakeholders to implement the closed season (July to September) and started engagements to help fishers prepare for it, but had to stop to respect the COVID-19 restrictions. She said instead, plans had been put in place to deepen sensitisation for the 2021 all fleet close season. The consignment of outboard motors made up of 1,200 Horsepower (40 HP) and 100(15HP) was the first batch of over 5,000 outboard motors imported with initial funding from the Agriculture Development Bank (dab Bank). Government, through the Ministry of Special Development Initiative has paid for the 1,300 outboard motors. Mrs Afoley Quaye, together with officials of adb Bank and Coastal Development Authority (CODA) inspected the equipment at the Japan Motors warehouse. She said the government through the ministry was collaborating with CODA to provide the outboard motors under the fishing input support scheme aimed at enhancing the livelihoods of fishers and the fishing communities. She noted that the 40HP outboard motor sold on the open market for close to GH20,000.00 was being offered at a subsidised rate of GH10,000.00, while the 15HP outboard motor was being offered for sale at GH5,500.00. Mrs Afoley Quaye said committees comprising representatives of CODA, MOFAD, regional ministers and the relevant Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, Landing Beach Committees and relevant fisheries associations have shortlisted beneficiaries under the programme. "This gesture indicates government's commitment to improve the lot of fisherfolks and increase productivity," she said. Mrs Afoley Quaye thanked adb Bank and Japan Motors for their contributions and encouraged fishers to reciprocate the goodwill by the government through subsidised inputs including outboard motors and premix fuel, by fishing with appropriate methods and gears. The Managing Director of adb Bank, Dr John Kofi Mensah said the bank provided profitable and diversified financial services for a sustained contribution to agricultural development and wealth creation. He said the bank committed GH20 million to import the outboard motors without any profit motive adding, "we could have made a profit of GH7 million but rather chose to assist government to create a solid foundation for agribusiness to thrive." AllAfrica Theme(s): Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:32:29|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JUBA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Tuesday signed an agreement with the World Food Programme (WFP) to help speed up agricultural production under its Comprehensive Agricultural Masterplan (CAMP) that seeks to improve food security. Josephine Lagu Yanga, minister of agriculture and food security, said the agreement with WFP will enable the youngest nation to transform its nascent agricultural sector by empowering smallholder farmers to produce enough. "We are a rural country because the majority of our people live in rural areas and it's our responsibility to ensure that we lift them from rural areas. Other countries have done it and a lot of them did through transforming their agricultural sector," she told journalists in Juba. She urged South Sudan to follow China's blueprint on the agricultural transformation that has helped lift millions out of poverty. "In the recent past the People's Republic of China is one of those countries that have accelerated technological advancement through agricultural revolution," said Yanga. "I always mention this to our people that in the 1960s China was a rural country and they could not even feed their people, but they had an ambitious program to ensure that they achieved food self-sufficiency for the majority of their people," she added. Matthew Hollingworth, WFP country director, said empowering smallholder farmers is part of WFP's long-term vision in South Sudan. "We believe that if we are going to serve the people that WFP wants to support which are the smallholder farmers in the country, we must have a strong robust agreement with the government to support an entity that can support those smallholder farmers and one of the best entities to deal with is the agricultural bank of any country we are working in," said Hollingworth. He disclosed that WFP aims to achieve three objectives which include, empowering smallholder farmers, scale up commercial agriculture, build institutional capacity of Agricultural Bank of South Sudan (ABSS) and also support the quality of agricultural produce. "WFP attempts to feed five million of the most vulnerable South Sudanese today, the majority of the food we buy to transfer is coming from outside, we want to change that," said Hollingworth. "We know that if we can change that and buy from the country that we are working in, over time we will do ourselves out of business and that's the ultimate vision of WFP in South Sudan," said Hollingworth. He disclosed that by supporting smallholder farmers to become productive enough enables them not only to meet their own families' needs but also to make a decent living. Hollingworth said WFP bought 8,000 tons of food grown in South Sudan in 2019. "I am hoping in the years to come, instead of talking about 5,000 tons of food being bought in this country we can talk in terms of 40,000 tons of food being bought. Instead of three or four small-scale farmers that we partner with, we can talk about hundreds of farmers that we partner with because in doing so we will speed up the change," he added. The joint action agreement aims to harmonize the interventions and ongoing efforts to transform agriculture by specifically operationalizing the CAMP under the framework of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) of the African Union to achieve continental and regional agricultural development objectives. Enditem Take a look at some of the biggest movers in the premarket: Delta Air Lines (DAL) The airline posted a second-quarter loss of $4.43 per share, wider than the loss of $4.07 that analysts had been predicting. Revenue was slightly above forecasts, but Delta said it will be more than two years before the airline industry sees a sustainable recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic's impact. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) The bank reported quarterly earnings of $1.38 per share, compared to a consensus estimate of $1.04 a share. Revenue also came in above forecasts. Profit was down more than 50% from a year earlier as JPMorgan Chase added to its loan loss reserves to guard against potential loan defaults, but results were helped by record trading revenue. Alphabet (GOOGL) According to a Bloomberg report, Alphabet's Google unit is in advanced talks to invest $4 billion for a stake in Jio Platforms, the digital arm of India-based conglomerate Reliance Holdings. Facebook (FB) and KKR (KKR) are among prominent companies that have already invested in Jio. Ford (F) Ford unveiled the 2021 Ford Bronco SUV in a series of online videos, marking the Bronco's return to the Ford lineup after an absence of 24 years. Nokia (NOK) The Finland-based telecom equipment maker introduced new software that allows mobile operators to upgrade their broadcasting stations to 5G from 4G without requiring a visit to their sites or replacing equipment. Mohawk Industries (MHK) The maker of carpets and floor covering products is being sued for alleged securities law violations, and is also under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation. Mohawk is accused of fabricating sales figures, but the company said it will "vigorously" defend itself against the charges. Lockheed Martin (LMT) The Chinese government said it would put sanctions on the defense contractor for selling an upgrade package to Taiwan for Patriot surface-to-air missiles. China maintains that any US arms sales to Taiwan constitute interference in Chinese internal affairs. Blueprint Medicines (BPMC) Switzerland's Roche will invest up to $1.7 billion in the U.S.-based drugmaker, partnering on a treatment for certain types of cancers that mutate and accelerate tumor growth. American Airlines (AAL) American plans to warn pilots this week about potential furloughs, according to an audio message to pilots heard by CNBC. It would become the latest carrier to issue such a warning in the face of weak passenger demand. Tesla (TSLA) Piper Sandler raised its price target on the stock to a Street-high $2,322 per share, citing faster-than-expected market share gains and an underappreciated opportunity in software. Spotify (SPOT) UBS downgraded the streaming service's stock to "sell" from "buy," saying the company's long-term prospects are now solidly reflected in the stock's price. The firm also thinks the benefits of an expansion in podcasting may be overstated. Hanesbrands (HBI) The apparel maker was upgraded to "outperform" from "neutral" at Wells Fargo Securities, which notes that basic apparel sales have been among the best performing categories as retail stores have reopened. Over 80 millionaires from the United States (US) and six other nations have a message for their governments "Tax us. Tax us. Tax us." The nabobs comprising Walt Disney Co. heirs Abigail and Tim Disney, Danish-Iranian entrepreneur Djaffar Shalchi, Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield, former BlackRock Inc. managing director Morris Pearl, and "Love, Actually" director Richard Curtis have signed an open letter in this regard. They have urged the governments in their respective countries to tax them more to help pay for the damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to economies around the world. Also Read: Coronavirus Lockdown XII: Why the wealthy should be taxed more The open letter "Tax us. Tax us. Tax us" from the group calling itself 'Millionaires for Humanity' reads, "The problems caused by, and revealed by, COVID-19 can't be solved with charity, no matter how generous... Government leaders must take the responsibility for raising the funds we need and spending them fairly." In response to this predicament, they offer the solution of taxing the rich "immediately" and "permanently" to pay for the government programmes made necessary by the pandemic. "Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. It is the right choice. It is the only choice. Humanity is more important than our money," the cohort says in the open letter that further states that coronavirus outbreak has thrown open a sea of challenges that could not be solved with charity, "no matter how generous," and that governments ought to take responsibility to mobilise funds needed to handle the issues themselves. The millionaires, mostly based in the US, the UK, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand articulate in the letter that increasing the taxes will adequately fund health systems, security, and schools. Also Read: Govt calls rogue IRS panel's super rich tax proposals 'irresponsible' "No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door," they say in the missive. The millionaires also forewarn of the need to "rebalance our world before its too late." They continued to emphasise that "unlike tens of millions of people around the world, we do not have to worry about losing our jobs, our homes, or our ability to support our families." The signatories to the letter further underlined that they were also much less likely to fall victim to COVID-19. The letter, which comes ahead of this weekend's Group of 20 meeting, isn't the first such entreaty. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic upset public finances, a cohort of over 200 wealthy individuals calling themselves 'The Patriotic Millionaires" pressed for a more forward-looking taxation system. MEDINA, Ohio ---Amid the uncertainty of the nations post-COVID-19 world, there has been one thing all school administrators, teachers, parents and students are fairly certain of: school would look much different in the fall of 2020. Just how different became somewhat clearer this week, as area districts unveiled reopening plans following Ohio Governor Mike DeWines recommendations July 2. Brunswick City Schools As we continue to develop plans for learning in the fall, student and staff safety remains at the center of every decision, said Brunswick City Schools Community Relations Coordinator Dawn Allar. The recommendations Governor DeWine outlined provide guidance and allow us to refine a plan that specifically considers our buildings, transportation, and our learning environments. The district was still finalizing our return to learning plan for the fall, Allar said, which will incorporate further guidance and best practices provided by the Ohio Department of Health. DeWine issued five guidelines for districts July 2, including vigilantly assessing symptoms, including temperature checks; washing and sanitizing hands; cleaning and sanitizing shared surfaces at schools; practicing social distancing; and, the most controversial of the recommendations, face coverings required for all staff and recommended for students in the third grade and up. Meanwhile, groups like the Ohio Federation of Teachers have raised concerns about potential additional costs associated with the recommendations, in the face of state budget cuts due to the coronavirus. In Brunswick, Allar said the district created a task force of teachers, parents, and administrators to analyze three return to school scenarios - in-person, hybrid, and online learning only and how each relates to elementary, middle, and high school. The leadership team is currently reviewing the focus groups findings and developing a district-wide plan for the fall. We will share these details as soon as the plan has been reviewed by the Medina County Board of Health and the Brunswick City Schools Board of Education, Allar said. She added that while the Governors guidelines have not greatly changed the districts plans, they have provided some additional framework and suggestions for finalizing our plans. The plan we are creating allows us the flexibility to adapt while minimizing the educational disruption to our students and protecting both students and staffs safety, she said. The Brunswick City School district also created a parent survey to solicit insight on learning and the effectiveness of communication during the extended school closure. Allar said that the survey generated more than 1,400 responses with the majority of respondents giving the district positive marks in its remote learning efforts. Among the survey results, 87 of parents believed that the district handled the emergency remote learning plan for the 4th quarter as effective or highly effective; 69 percent of parents reported that the workload assigned to K-12 students was just perfect; 78 percent of parents felt the office hours teachers provided to students effective or very effective; and 80 percent of parents also believed that their students did not struggle with remote learning. Parents listed student preparedness for next year, social isolation and mental health as the primary concerns during distance learning. The responses concerning future planning were more discordant, Allar said. While 64 percent of parents indicated they would be willing to send their students to school at the beginning of the school year if there were no vaccine for COVID-19, only 45 percent would be willing if students had to wear a mask all day. Moreover, the survey showed 24 percent of parents support continuing remote learning in the fall, 41 percent support a combination of remote and in-person learning, and 49 percent support traditional in-person learning, Allar said. Highland Local Schools Highland Local Schools Superintendent Catherine Aukerman said the district has been carefully studying and reviewing a variety of other scientific, medical and public health research and information to help inform our (school reopening) decision-making, in light of, and apart from, the Governors guidelines. Based on the information currently available to us, including the latest COVID data as reported by the Medina County Health Department, we have made the decision that the Highland Local School District will reopen for students, in-person, five days a week - with specific health and safety provisions in place, Aukerman said in a July 10 letter to parents. Our collective goal must be to not only simply return students to school, but to do so in a way that is as safe as possible for all students and staff. Aukerman said details of the district preliminary reopening plan will be released within the week, outlining as many specifics as possible. There will also be an opportunity for both parent and staff feedback before the plan is finalized, Aukerman wrote, noting that any plans for the reopening of school must include contingency plans for an all-remote learning option for all students, should the Governor issue another stay-at-home order or if local risk levels. Aukerman said Highland Local Schools will also offer a remote learning option for families that choose not to send their students back to school. As we are all aware, the decision on how, exactly, to safely return to school this fall is an incredibly difficult one and one that is filled with strong opinions, emotions and frankly, conflicting scientific and medical recommendations, Aukerman wrote. We are striving to make the best possible decisions we can, in this constantly-evolving situation. Medina City Schools Medina City Schools has provided the most detailed draft plan, with the Ohios county risk level guidelines an overall indicator of how much in-person instruction will take place. If Medina County remains at a Level One or Level Two risk for COVID-19 spread all students will fully return to school with COVID-19 safety protocols in place as the Health Department has permitted a 3-foot distance between students with masks, the Medina plan reads. At Level Three, students will move to Online Learning 2.0 or a hybrid model should the health department require a 6-foot distance between students and staff, but still allow students and staff to attend school. A Level Four designation will require students to move to full Online Learning 2.0, which will be different from the Medina Digital Academy Online Learning Option as the Health Department has required stay at home/necessary travel only. In person instruction will include a number of changes, including daily symptom assessment; social distancing; mandatory mask usage for all staff; student mask usage in kindergarten through fifth-grade students on buses, entering and exiting buildings, in hallways, or gathering in small groups. Sixth-grade through 12th-graders will be required to wear masks at all times except lunch and built-in breaks. The plan notes that students who refuse to comply with mask requirements will be moved to online learning options. This plan is currently in draft format to allow for changes based on the current COVID-19 risk level guidelines, Medina City Schools Superintendent Aaron Sable, following a July 13 Medina Board of Education work session. A final plan will be presented to the Board of Education in early August. The safety and well-being of our staff and students is a priority during these unprecedented times and will guide the decisions that are made. The plans implementation is specifically for the current pandemic. We are looking forward to a normal return to society and fully re-engaging our students in school. Putting a time table on Sables final comment, however, remains perhaps the most difficult plan of all. Read more news from the Medina Sun. TORRINGTON The Torrington Historical Society has scheduled three outdoor events this summer on the grounds of the Hotchkiss-Fyler House Museum, 192 Main St., Due to COVID-19 and social distancing requirements, seating is limited. Attendees must wear masks, must observe social distancing, and are asked to bring their own chairs or blanket. Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased online at www.torringtonhistoricalsociety.org The first program will be held at 6 p.m. July 31, with a rain date of Aug 1, and will feature Margaret Gibson, Connecticut State Poet Laureate. Reserved, distanced locations are $10. Each location can seat up to four people from one household or social group. Gibson will read from a selection of her poems that focus on the environment. She is the author of 12 books of poems, most recently Not Hearing the Wood Thrush. According to a statement, as Connecticut State Poet Laureate (2019-2022), she has been awarded an Academy of American Poets Grant for Poet Laureates, which is intended to support her poetry and to fund various poetry projects. Gibson has taken as her social focus Poetry and the Environment during Climate Crisis and is paying for videos of Connecticut poets reading their poems about the environment in natural settings and Green Poetry Cafes. An anthology of Connecticut poets writing about climate crisis will be published next year. Gibson has received numerous praise and many awards, including the Lamont Selection for Long Walks in the Afternoon, her second book, 1982; the Melville Kane Award (co-winner) for Memories of the Future, (1986), and the Connecticut Book Award for One Body, 2008. The Vigil was a finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry in 1993. Broken Cup was a finalist for 2016 Poets Prize, and the title poem from the book won a Pushcart Prize for that year. Passage, from Not Hearing the Wood Thrush, was included in The Best American Poetry, 2017. Gibson is Professor Emerita, University of Connecticut. She lives in Preston. For more information, www.margaretgibsonpoetry.com In August the Torrington Historical Society will host two concerts on the grounds: The Peter McEachern - Mario Pavone Phase 2 Quintet Aug. 14, and The Zolla Boys on Aug. 28. Tickets are not yet available. Concerns linked to the States licensing system and doubts over timber supplies is casting a shadow over the future of thousands of jobs, a major Longford based producer has warned. Glennon Brothers in Longford employs about 250 workers and 120 contractors in Ireland, but a bureaucratic tangle is threatening to leave large scores of trees waiting to be felled in the ground. Industry figures fear the supply of timber will dry up in coming months, forcing sawmills to close and leaving the Republic dependent on imports for a material that it already produces itself. It's already been mooted that at least 2,000 forestry jobs are already under direct threat - with workers on short time or furloughed - as a licensing and appeals logjam threatens to bring the entire sector to a halt. To make matters worse, a backlog of licence applications has caused sawmills chiefs like Glennon Bros to register their reservations about the difficulties facing the sector. The speed, resources and capability within the Department of Agriculture must improve urgently to increase the rate of forest licensing approvals to four times the current level, said Mike Glennon of Glennon Bros. The introduction by the Department of Agriculture last year of a new, more stringent licensing system for essential work such as planting, felling and thinning has led to major delays. He also called for similar attention to be directed at the appeals process in order to speed up the delivery of decisions and improve all-round efficiency levels. Forest Industries Ireland, meanwhile, said it believes such actions and commitments are critical to deliver a new licensing and appeals system that is fit for purpose. A vast majority of entrepreneurs were after all a bunch of ordinary folks who decided to take that plunge when risk was at its peak There goes a popular adage little hinges swing big doors. The world of start-ups runs on this ideology. Look around: A vast majority of entrepreneurs were after all a bunch of ordinary folks who decided to take that plunge when risk was at its peak. Deccan Chronicle explores what makes these young professionals jump into the world of business. Believe in yourself and push your boundaries Mitali Tandon, 30 years (Founder of Morning Fresh, Indias first natural hangover-detox drink targeted at millennials aged 2140 years as well as health enthusiasts actively seeking natural solutions to maintain their workfun balance). Entrepreneurs who start early, as I did, have made enough mistakes by the time they are 30-years-old. By then, youve put yourself in enough situations to understand your strengths and limitations. You also smarten up about your work and thinking and learn that more than the idea or approach to, it is consistency that works, says Mitali. Mitali used the advantage of her age to better gauge the pulse of her target consumers. I have always wanted to create a natural detox drink that protects the liver, flushes out toxins and keeps you fresh after a night out, she tells us. With a strong focus on wellness, our formulation has been designed to be caffeine-sugar-and-gluten-free keeping our customers healthy lifestyle at the forefront. Advice to upcoming entrepreneurs: 1. Be consistent. 2. Zoom in and out of your business when you need to and believe in yourself. 3. Dont be disappointed if others dont understand you. 4. Stay versatile at work so you can keep finding avenues that help you learn, grow and push your boundaries. Time to blossom Jhelum Biswas Bose, 39 years (Founder of Jhelum Loves that creates products based on Bach flower therapy, aroma remedies and chakra healing theories, personalised as per individual needs). Entrepreneur Jhelum Biswas Bose, who also calls herself flower witch, believes that when one is prepared, the pathways just show up. An erstwhile English literature student who aspired to be a teacher and realised she didnt have the patience for the job! Jhelum first worked as a beauty editor and then a marketing head of a beauty giant for 1012 years cumulatively before becoming a freelance writer. Later, she began exploring alternative remedies. Soon, I decided to make it a career, where I was not only healing myself but also creating skin and haircare products that healed others emotionally, says Jhelum. Thus began her organic move into entrepreneurship. I created just one product with honey, which amassed a lot of appreciation. Then, the orders kept coming in, and thats how Jhelum Loves came about, she adds. Jhelum believes she found mental stability in her 30s. Despite the risks of leaving the comforts of a regular job and perhaps unsettling your family life, starting entrepreneurship in your 30s is rewarding because you havent still lost your zeal. Moreover, by then, youve reached an age when you can judge things objectively, she adds. Advice to upcoming entrepreneurs: 1. Be well-versed in the area you want to create your enterprise in. 2. Get your finances, legalities and licenses in order. 3. Dont rely blindly on those helping you. 4. Keep upskilling be prepared to study and update your knowledge. 5. Stay alert and wise to changes around you its what you need when you run a successful business. Labour of love Nibhrant Shah, 35 years (Founder and CEO of Isprava Luxury Homes) While many entrepreneurs believe that instincts to venture out on your own and clarity comes with time, Nibhrant Shah, believes otherwise. While I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, I knew the advantages of having experience, states Nibhrant, who used his experience as an investment banker in New York and London to nurture and sharpen skills and character traits such as discipline, hard work and business acumen. Then in 2013, he longed to escape his hectic life and seek a place offering tranquillity and luxury. Looking for a perfect home away from home, a getaway to Goa became the first chapter of his ever-evolving entrepreneurial story. Goa then was marred by gated communities, complicated paperwork and lax regulations, where purchasing a home was an ordeal. And the homes lacked a feeling of authenticity and exclusivity, he remembers. So we made it our USP to offer a hassle-free purchase experience, taking away our buyers pain-points from paperwork and procuring licenses to designing and construction. Since then, Nibhrant has celebrated tremendous success by crafting homes with the brands signature aesthetics, furnishings, facilities and amenities, their concierge service, seamless purchase experience, etc. For Nibhrant, the experience and insights he gained in his 30s definitely helped in manoeuvring through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. The experience, expertise, financial resources and backing that you lack in your 20s to support your business, you have just the right amount of all of those in your 30s. Then, there is the enthusiasm and the sheer hunger to achieve big goals, not giving in to any excuses and pushing yourself harder to do better, he says. Advice to upcoming entrepreneurs: 1. As an entrepreneur, youre always on the move working, thinking about your business whether youre at a business meeting or networking at a social event. 2. Incorporate meaningful structure and plan for your life end your day by summing up everything that went right and wrong in it and prioritising your next day. 3. Choose a day in the week, perhaps Sunday, to note down the positive things that happened. List out your short- and long-term tasks so you can build some structure around your work. Dream chasers Cheenu Kala, 33 years (Founder of Rubans Accessory) Cheenu Kalas is the rags-to-riches story that could inspire every enterprising wide-eyed youngster to take the plunge. She tells us how she left home when she was 15-years-old, with merely Rs 300 in her pocket. I had to pretty much fend for myself, learning things the hard way, she says. Then with a chuckle, she adds, I dont think I even knew the spelling of entrepreneurship then but I knew I wanted to be successful, which during my initial days meant getting three meals a day. I wanted to be the best, whether it was as a door-to-door sales girl, floor manager for an apparel store or part-time waitress. But what Cheenu walked away with from those difficult times was experience, which became her biggest asset. I developed a keen sense of consumer understanding while working as a salesperson in the apparel store. For instance, Id guess what customers were looking for by their turn out and would suggest options based on their fashion sensibility and give them their own space to discuss and decide what to buy. Cheenu would go on to realise that this consumer understanding was a subject in MBA curricula, called Consumer Behaviour. When she decided it was time to be an entrepreneur, she founded Fonte Corporate Solutions, a company that specialised in corporate merchandising. But with her innate interest in fashion, in 2016, she started Fonte Fashions India Pvt Ltd parent company of Rubans Accessories to bridge the gap between customer expectation and products sold in the market, offering jewellery for everyone and every occasion, in over thousand designs in western and ethnic jewellery, at suitable price points. Cheenu also believes that 30s is the best age to do anything new. It sets in the right balance of experience, exposure, confidence and risk-taking, she asserts. Advice to upcoming entrepreneurs: 1. Pursue what you are passionate about because passion gives purpose to life. 2. When starting your entrepreneurial journey, dont keep options no Plan Bs. If you do fall, fall forwards, not backwards, so you see where you are falling. 3. Develop the ability to thrive in chaos because then the journey will be exciting, no matter if you are in your 30s or not. Business before pleasure Hari Singh, 38 years (Owner of Briggs Brewery, Bengalurus first home-grown craft beer) Hari Singh talks about how the brand hopes their array of unique and international collection of craft beers serves as the bridge between stories among patrons, serving the perfect mug of cold beer as they swap conversations and build relationships. Ive always believed that the best stories unfold over a great beer, states Hari, who previously worked in the corporate world for five years. Someone who always wanted to run his own firm, Hari started a couple of businesses, with zero investment and watched them sink. However, the learning experience helped me make correct decisions. Its truly been a long battle of patience and persistence that got me to where Im today. As for being in his 30s, an age perceived to be quite flexible in manoeuvring the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, Hari believes age is just a number. It doesnt matter if youre in the 20s, 30s or older. What matters is if you are mentally, emotionally and physically aligned with your passion and in managing your ups and downs, he adds. That being said, I do believe that in my 30s, Ive actually started learning and thinking about every decision, every risk. And its an added advantage that you work with todays youth, whos constantly teaching you fresh ideas, innovativeness, patience and persistence, he says. All across the country, schools were working hard to figure out how to have a safe and productive school year in the midst of a pandemic. The administration last week made a tough situation worse with threats and recriminations. Anyone who has been paying attention and parents have been especially attentive knows that school reopenings should be guided by science, safety and diligence. But as has been the case throughout the national response to the coronavirus pandemic, presidential bluster continues to complicate the already arduous task of getting children back to their classrooms. A call to water down Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for how the nations schools could reopen safely and the threat to cut federal funding if classes arent held in person are the last things parents, teachers and school administrators need to hear. We all know that K-12 instruction with teachers and students in the same room beats remote learning. However, we also know that the spread of COVID-19 may make distant learning a necessary alternative. Most of the men in the village of Lorengippi in northwestern Kenya are scarred. Almost everyone has a tale of a relative killed in the cycle of violence over the years. But that is changing now. Village tradition demanded every boy over the age of 11 train to fight. By 16, they would carry a weapon to protect the livestock valuable commodities in Turkana, Kenyas poorest region. We were fighting over livestock, we were fighting over grazing land, we were fighting over water, said Kokoi Namojong, 59. His older sister was among those killed. Then a clash between Lorengippis Turkana residents and neighbouring Pokot killed 23 people in 2013, said Nathan Ekal, the village chief. Their bodies are buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of Lorengippi. The bloodshed shocked government officials, despite the regions long history of deadly cattle raids and inter-ethnic violence. Police mounted an operation to collect weapons, established a base and built a checkpoint on the border with West Pokot. Most importantly, said Ekal, the communities formed peace committees to resolve disagreements right after the 2013 killings. The new security ushered in some development a school, a small clinic and a new road connecting the village to the county capital of Lodwar, 90 km (55 miles) away. Cross-border raids still take place but for now the committees are resolving the issues. Livestock are being returned and there have been no mass killings in recent years. The Kenyan police are also present there in force Now there is lasting peace, said Namojong, who is a chairman of one of the peace committees. We do business with the Pokot and inter-marry with the Pokot. SOURCE> REUTERS Photo credit: Joshua Sammer - Getty Images From Harper's BAZAAR Wearing face masks in England's shops and supermarkets will be essential from 24 July, according to new government guidelines. Children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. Anyone who fails to comply will be fined 100 or 50 if they pay within 14 days. Police will enforce the rules, although shop staff are expected to encourage the policy. Environment Secretary George Eustice said on BBC Radio 4: "With all of our laws there is an element of policing by consent and so we need the public to play their part and abide by the restrictions." The announcement follows the same rules already implemented in Scotland and European countries such as Spain, Italy and Germany. It has been mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport since 15 June. The World Health Organisation updated guidance in June recommending that everyone wear face masks in public areas where there is a risk of transmission of Covid-19, to help reduce the spread of the disease. A recent study by the Royal Societys Science in Emergencies Tasking Covid-19 group reported that the UK was trailing behind other countries in its uptake of wearing face coverings. "Wearing a mask did not bother our Italian, French or Spanish neighbours; none of whom were used to wearing one before the pandemic, yet now do so routinely," said Ramakrishnan, according to The Guardian. Treat it as another item of clothing that is part of the new normal and wear it whenever you cannot socially distance safely. It is the right thing to do, and a small price to pay, to help keep infections down and the economy open in the pandemic. In need of some at-home inspiration? Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for skincare and self-care, the latest cultural hits to read and download, and the little luxuries that make staying in so much more satisfying. SIGN UP You Might Also Like CHICAGO - The man next on the list to be executed by the federal government after a nearly 20-year hiatus ended this week may have a better chance of avoiding lethal injection, legal experts say, because he suffers from dementia and so, his lawyers say, can no longer grasp why hes slated to die. Wesley Ira Purkey, convicted of a gruesome 1998 kidnapping and killing, is scheduled for execution Wednesday at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Daniel Lewis Lee was put to death Tuesday after his own 11th-hour legal bids failed. Lee, who was convicted of killing an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation, was the first of four condemned men scheduled to die in July and August despite the coronavirus pandemic raging both inside and outside prisons. Purkey, 68, of Lansing, Kansas, would be the second, but his lawyers were still expected to press for a ruling from the Supreme Court on his competency. This competency issue is a very strong issue on paper, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. The Supreme Court has halted executions on this issue in the past. At a minimum, the question of whether Purkey dies is going to go down to the last minute. Lees own execution went forward a day late. It was scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday, but the Supreme Court only gave the green light in a narrow 5-4 ruling early Tuesday. The issue of Purkeys mental health arose in the runup to his 2003 trial and when, after the verdict, jurors had to decide whether he should be put to death in the killing of 16-year-old Jennifer Long in Kansas City, Missouri. Prosecutors alleged that he raped and stabbed her, dismembered her with a chainsaw, burned her, then dumped her ashes 200 miles (320 kilometres) away in a septic pond in Kansas. Purkey was separately convicted and sentenced to life in the beating death of 80-year-old Mary Ruth Bales, of Kansas City, Kansas. But the legal questions of whether he was mentally fit to stand trial or to be sentenced to die are different from the question of whether he is mentally fit enough now, in the hours before his scheduled execution, to be put to death. Purkeys lawyers argue he clearly is not, saying in recent filings that he suffers from advancing Alzheimers disease. He has long accepted responsibility for the crime that put him on death row, one of this lawyers, Rebecca Woodman, said. But as his dementia has progressed, he no longer has a rational understanding of why the government plans to execute him. Purkey believes his planned execution is part of a vast conspiracy involving his own attorneys, Woodman said. In other filings, they describe delusions that people were spraying poison into his room and that drug dealers implanted a device in his chest meant to kill him. While various legal issues in Purkeys case have been hashed, rehashed and settled by courts over nearly two decades, the issue of mental fitness for execution can only be addressed once a date is set, according to Dunham, who also teaches law school courses on capital punishment. A date was only set last year. Competency is something that is always in flux, so judges can only assess it in the weeks or days before a firm execution date, he said. In a landmark 1986 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution prohibits putting someone to death who lacks a reasonable understanding of why he is being executed. It involved the case of Alvin Ford, who was convicted of murder but whose mental health deteriorated behind bars to the point where, according to his lawyer, he believed he was pope. Legal standards as to whether someone has a rational understanding of why an execution is taking place can be complex, Dunham explained. I could say I was Napoleon, he said. But if I say I understand that Napoleon was sentenced to death for a crime and is being executed for it that could allow the execution to go ahead. Purkeys mental issues go beyond Alzheimers, his lawyers have said. They say he was subject to sexual and mental abuse as a child and, at 14, was diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, and psychosis. Last week, three mental health organizations urged U.S. Attorney William Barr to stop Purkeys execution and commute his sentence to life in prison without possibility of parole. The letter signed by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America and the Treatment Advocacy Center said that executing mentally ailing individuals like Purkey constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and does not comport with evolving standards of decency. The mother of the teen he killed, Glenda Lamont, told the Kansas City Star last year she planned to attend the execution. I dont want to say that Im happy, Lamont said. At the same time, he is a crazy mad man that doesnt deserve, in my opinion, to be breathing anymore. The runup to Lees execution demonstrated that a lot can still happen before Purkeys scheduled one. On Monday, hours before Lee was set to be put to death, a U.S. District Court judge put the execution on hold over concerns from death row inmates on how executions were to be carried out, and an appeals court upheld it, before the Supreme Court overturned it early Tuesday. If prison officials get the go-ahead to execute Purkey, he would be put to death by lethal injection, as Lee was, and in the same small room at the Terre Haute prison. ___ Hegeman reported from Wichita, Kansas. Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Mark Sherman and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report. The finance ministry has started consulting with various industry leaders and the banks about the necessity of extending the loan moratorium beyond August, when the second three-month long respite ends. According to industry sources, the government wants to continue the moratorium for companies in most affected sectors such as automobile, steel, hospitality and real estate for another three months until November. "The government is likely to advise the same to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after getting the feedback from the banks. However, the government is not in favour of offering it to all the sectors as many of the companies in essential sectors are bouncing back to normalcy," a top executive said. The government is also considering the one-time loan restructuring demand of the industry bodies. Earlier finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, "We are in intense engagement with the RBI for a one-time restructuring of debt and finances for businesses. The process to ascertain the level of stress, whether Stress 1 or Stress 2 or NPA, is under way." The idea is to help businesses to exit the crisis honourably, she added. However, the government is worried with the way some of the corporates are making use of the moratorium scheme to preserve their liquidity, though they didn't face any cash flow crisis. It is not clear how the government and RBI will be able to tweak it to avoid exploitation of the scheme. The RBI had, on March 27, allowed commercial banks, co-operative banks, financial institutions, and non-banking finance corporations (NBFCs) to offer moratorium on payment of instalments of all term loans outstanding as on March 1 to help alleviate hardship of borrowers. A total of 3.2 crore account holders in state-owned banks availed the moratorium on loans, Finance Minister's Office tweeted in May. State Bank of India chairman Rajnish Kumar last week said that across the board relief on payment of loan dues is not needed beyond August and he expects the RBI to take a more sectoral approach in the coming months. The microfinance sector has been affected badly because of the lockdown and about 75 per cent of the borrowers from the sector -- like Kirana owners, workshop owners, roadside vendors, tailors and weavers in urban and semi-urban pockets -- sought moratorium on loan repayments as their livelihood has been blocked. Though just 30 per cent of the micro loan borrowers had sought moratorium until the first week of April, the ratio jumped to about 75 per cent, according to the data compiled by microfinance industry associations. As many as 328 companies, including well-known industrial firms, have sought moratorium on loan repayment, said rating agency ICRA in April. Tata Power Renewable Energy, JSW Paints, JSW Steel, Kalyan Jewellers, MRPL, Piramal Enterprises, TV Sundaram Iyengar, Centrum Financial Services, Air India Express, GMR Hyderabad Aviation SEZ, Hindustan Copper, Jindal Power, and Jindal Steel & Power are among the companies that sought moratorium on loan repayment, ICRA said. The stocks of companies in banking and financial services have been hammered the most since the lockdown started. The announcement of moratorium also hit the BFSI stock prices, as delaying loan payments increased uncertainty about asset quality. Also Read: Flipkart raises $1.2 billion in funding from Walmart; e-tailer now valued at $24.9 billion Also Read: SBI plans to double YONO user base in 6 months: Rajnish Kumar Also Read: Low-cost COVID-19 testing kit by IIT Delhi to launch tomorrow Washington, July 14 : The White House has urged the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reinstate its emergency use authorization (EUA) for the anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), for COVID-19 treatment. Weeks ago, the FDA revoked the EUA that allowed for HCQ used to treat certain hospitalized patients with COVID-19, after the agency determined that the drug was "unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA", while highlighting potential serious side effects, reports Xinhua news agency. "White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is leading a Trump administration effort to demand the FDA reverse course," the Washington Post said in a report on Monday. "A reversal (on HCQ) would be widely seen as bending to the political will of the White House," the Washington Post quoted Steven Joffe, a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying. As the agency will take the lead in approving a vaccine for the coronavirus in the country, "health experts say it is important for the agency, which was criticized for its initial decision to okay hydroxychloroquine in March, to guard its credibility as it prepares to make these landmark decisions for a public sometimes sceptical of vaccines", the report warned. The World Health Organization has vacillated on HCQ use, stopping trials using it, then reinstating it and again dropping it. Last month, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it has halted a clinical trial to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of HCQ as it determined that while there was no harm, the drug was very unlikely to be beneficial to hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Public health officials in Six Nations of the Grand River have announced a 15th case of COVID-19 on the territory. The new case was confirmed Monday morning, at which point contact tracing began, with anyone connected to the infected resident ordered to go into self-isolation pending a COVID-19 test. Since the start of the pandemic, 13 Six Nations residents who had the disease have recovered, while one died. Six Nations Health Services director Lori Davis Hill urged continued vigilance in light of this new positive case. Weve all been getting a little more comfortable going about our day-to-day activities since entering Stage 2 of the recovery plan, but this latest confirmed case is a stark reminder that the virus is still in and around Six Nations Territory, Hill said. Everyone should continue to conduct themselves as though they have the virus and dont want to spread it, and as if everyone else has the virus and they dont want to get it. Hill also reminded residents to note who they have interacted with should the public health service have to trace their contacts. If you cant remember the names of all of the people you have been in contact with over the past two weeks, you may be overdoing it and should consider reducing your interactions with others, she said. The territorys COVID-19 assessment centre has completed 1,076 tests, of which 1,023 came back negative. Nearly 13,000 people live in Six Nations, with approximately 15,000 band members living off the reserve. India and China may be in the process of lowering tensions in the Ladakh region but there appears to be no end to the proxy war being waged by the two countries in Nepal. It is no secret that Nepals Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli is canoodling with the Chinese and this has obviously not gone down well with the Indian establishment. New Delhi would be only too happy if the Nepal Prime Ministers detractors succeed in dethroning him as suggested by recent reports from Kathmandu. However, China is learnt to have intervened to ensure that Oli remains in office. But India has no plans to give up. According to the grapevine, New Delhi has access to some incriminating material against Oli and would like it to be used against him to ensure his ouster. However, it is not clear how this will pan out as India has always maintained that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Meanwhile, the suspense about Olis future is continuing as the next meeting of the standing committee of Nepals National Communist Party, which has already demanded that he step down, has been postponed by a week. Congress leader Rahul Gandhis decision to start a Telegram channel sent many party leaders into a tizzy. Except for the younger lot, others had no clue about this new messaging platform. Several leaders even called up media-persons on the Congress beat to enquire about Rahul Gandhis latest venture to reach out to the public. Needless to say this has led to a mad scramble in the party as leaders are now vying with each other to join Telegram. From Nikhil Alva and Ghulam Nabi Azad to Sanjeev Singh, Anil Shastri and Kiran Chaudhary, all have signed up on Telegram while others are following suit. Rahul Gandhi has been active on Twitter and Facebook. His attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi are a regular feature on these social media platforms. However, Rahul Gandhi felt Telegram will help him widen his network. The Congress is synonymous with sycophancy. It was, therefore, not surprising that the partys media department came up with an angry response when Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was asked to vacate the government bungalow she had been allotted on security grounds. There are a few Congress leaders who believe Priyanka should have vacated the bungalow when the Centre withdrew her SPG cover but they cannot voice their opinion publicly for obvious reasons. On the other hand, there is a section which is suggesting that the party should ask a sitting Rajya Sabha member to resign so that Priyanka Gandhi can enter the Upper House which would automatically entitle her to official accommodation. But the question is: which Congress leader will volunteer to relinquish his or her seat. Madhya Pradesh chief minister has had a rough time ever since he took over the top job for the fourth time. These days he is busy placating the angry Bharatiya Janata Party legislators who have not been accommodated in the Cabinet. They were overlooked in favour of Jyotiraditya Scindia loyalists who had resigned their seats and helped bring down the Congress government. As resentment in the party is growing, Chouhan has been assuring his colleagues that they will eventually find a place in the Cabinet as he is confident that at least four to six former Congress MLAs, belonging to the Scindia camp, are unlikely to retain their seats in the by-elections. Chouhans assertion clearly hints at an internal sabotage. Having led a vigorous campaign against feudalism and royalty, BJP workers are now finding it difficult to support Scindias camp followers as their victory will only end up strengthening the Gwalior scion. Many of them have gone public with their opposition to the partys new recruits. As Indias consul general in New York, diplomat Sandeep Chakravorty created ripples when he told a gathering of Kashmiri Pandits that they should follow the example of Israel, which built settlements in the occupied West Bank to reclaim their land. The ministry of external affairs was unhappy with his statement and felt he should have been more circumspect as his remarks did not reflect Indias stand. As a result of this faux pas, Chakravorty was not appointed joint secretary, external publicity, though he was tipped to get this job. Though denied this high-profile posting, luck appears to be favouring Chakravorty as he is tipped to move to the Americas desk, which ranks high in the hierarchy of posts in the ministry. It is said Chakravorty is foreign secretary Harsh Shringlas special choice as the two had worked together in the United States. Shringla was Indias ambassador in Washington before he returned to take over as foreign secretary 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. At least two local school districts that were scheduled to begin the academic year early next month are moving to postpone classes. The San Antonio Independent School District would push the first day of school back one week, to Aug. 17, and start with fully remote instruction for the first three weeks. In-person classes would begin after Labor Day. The school board will vote on the changes Monday. Harlandale ISD trustees also will decide Monday whether to postpone its first school day from Aug. 5 to Aug. 24, per recommendations from city officials and school district administrators. Harlandale Superintendent Gerardo Soto, in a joint statement with the board Tuesday, hinted that the district might offer online instruction only. The changes are in response to a surge of coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths in Bexar County and in the state. We have been watching whats happening in our community as cases have been rising, SAISD Superintendent Pedro Martinez said Tuesday at a news conference. Safety is our first priority. Opposition has been growing to last weeks state mandate that schools must provide in-person learning five days a week for families who want it. The rules give school districts some flexibility including the option to go fully remote for the first three weeks of school. After that, they would have to offer in-person instruction or risk losing state money. In an interview with a Houston TV station, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said state Education Commissioner Mike Morath would be announcing plans in the coming days to extend the time period for online-only classes. This is going to have to be a local-level decision, but there will be great latitude and flexibility provided at the local level, he said. In a phone call Tuesday with superintendents statewide, Morath addressed districts inclination to delay the start of school. If it makes sense in your local context to delay the start of the school year, theres no law or rule that would prevent you from shifting things back. Jerry Lara /San Antonio Express-News He also said that the public health guidance is likely to change as the health situation continues to evolve and it is continuing to evolve, so were working through possible adjustments. He noted that while some parts of the state have few cases or none at all and can reopen schools with little risk of a surge, Harris, Travis and Bexar counties are seeing cases skyrocket and parents and teachers are worried. As of Monday, 31 percent of SAISD families indicated they wanted to send their children back to school buildings, down from 87 percent in early June, Martinez said. Billy Calzada / Staff photographer The state, which allocates funding to schools based on their average daily attendance, spelled out last month how to take attendance for children learning remotely. Martinez and SAISD board President Patti Radle joined superintendents and board presidents from eight of the states largest urban school districts in urging Abbott to provide greater flexibility in counting attendance and deciding whether to open school buildings. To say we are required to have in-class instruction no matter what the situation is is not only reckless but unsafe for our students and our staff, said Radle and the board presidents from the Aldine, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston and Ysleta independent school districts. The Bexar County Education Coalition sent a letter Tuesday to Abbott and Morath that echoes the concerns of the urban school districts. Signed by 19 San Antonio-area superintendents, the letter said if greater flexibility is not provided, Our districts may need to make deep budget cuts and layoffs in the coming year, which will add to our already strained unemployment system as well as leave children across the state without critical educational support. The San Antonio Coalition on School Reopening, led by teachers unions and which includes students and community organizations, called Tuesday for the first quarter, or nine weeks, of the school year to be taught fully remotely. At the Tuesday news conference, Radle said SAISD would be guided in its decision-making by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health experts. Kin Man Hui, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographer Although all students will be learning remotely in the first three weeks, Martinez said SAISD schools will be open during that time for essential services, including distribution of meals, laptops and tablets, special education testing and some work with migrant and English-learner students. The period of virtual learning also gives the school district more time to plan in-person classes, transportation and sanitation procedures, Martinez said. Teachers will be able to track which students are struggling to learn remotely and prioritize them for return to the classroom. Parents will be invited in small groups to tour buildings and see model classrooms. Theyll be given the choice between in-person and remote learning at the end of every nine-week quarter, Martinez said. Given more flexibility, Martinez didnt know how long he would recommend that SAISD teach fully remotely, but said he wanted the ability to make that determination with local health professionals. With the extra month Martinez is proposing, he said SAISD could safely plan to accommodate 25 to 50 percent of children in schools. In SAISD, with nearly 49,000 students and high levels of concentrated poverty, many are better off learning in school buildings, Martinez said. We know, during this pandemic, our families are disproportionately being affected, he said. More of our families are losing their jobs. More of our families are struggling at home to pay their bills, being evicted and becoming homeless. We want to make sure that our decisions dont add to their stress. The proposed calendar eliminates one of the three contingency weeks SAISD last month added to next school year so students who fall behind or miss classes as a result of the pandemic can come in for extra help. The last day of school would remain June 18, 2021. Bexar Countys two largest school districts, Northside and North East ISD, are waiting on updated guidance from the Texas Education Agency before deciding on reopening plans. Both had already set their start dates for later in August. Northside ISD Board President Carol Harle said at a meeting Tuesday that district plans challenge Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Education Agencys mandates. Superintendent Brian Woods said he is advocating for better guidance from the state. Were also advocating that it come very soon because we all know were running out of time with regard to the start of school, he said. In NEISD, Castle Hills Elementary, the only traditional public school in Bexar County with a year-round calendar, will hold classes entirely online for its first three weeks, beginning July 21. As for other schools, North East ISD could see changes to the schedule. Everything is on the table, said Aubrey Chancellor, school district spokeswoman. About half of NEISD parents said in surveys two weeks ago theyd be comfortable sending their children back to school, but the situation is changing so quickly that the district is planning additional surveys, Chancellor said. NEISD leaders want the power to make their own decisions based on how the health crisis is unfolding locally, she said. Whats happening in San Antonio might not be whats happening in a smaller town out west, she said. Alia Malik covers several school districts and the University of Texas at San Antonio. To read more from Alia, become a subscriber. amalik@express-news.net | Twitter: @AliaAtSAEN On March 6, the Mexican Health Ministry began to broadcast daily press briefings on covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Initially, the audience for the briefings was mostly journalists, but soon the broader populace began to tune in each night at 7pm. Mexicans joke that the briefings have become the new hit telenovela, with Hugo Lopez-Gatell, the ministrys silver-haired undersecretary of Prevention and Health Promotion, an unlikely heartthrob. Each briefing begins with a PowerPoint presentation of the days confirmed deaths and new cases, active and recovered, in Mexico and worldwide. During the early weeks of the pandemic, Mexican social media was frequently flooded with graphs-and-stats-heavy memes that lauded Lopez-Gatells presentations. Such briefings are at the center of the Mexican governments covid-19 media strategy. They follow a similar tack to the one President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has taken since assuming office in late 2018: incessant information as a stand-in for transparency. But amid the steady stream of information, accurate data remains elusive. Multiple investigations have shown that official counts of confirmed cases and deaths dont capture the magnitude of the viruss spread in Mexico. Mexico has a record-low testing rateat 2.54 tests per confirmed case, the lowest among the thirty-seven countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Lopez-Gatell has repeatedly acknowledged that the official numbers are likely lower than the actual figures. In a situation already rife with misinformation, including concerns that the government is either neglecting or manufacturing the crisis, such imprecision only fosters more uncertainty. As the country begins reopening, the lack of data transparency poses an information crisis for journalists as well as the general public. And despite journalists urgings, officials refuse to take a new tack. On May 8, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and El Pais published articles suggesting that the governments official death toll numbered far fewer than the actual count. In response to those stories, hundreds of pro-AMLO Twitter accounts excoriated the journalists behind them. Health authorities didnt deny the allegations; rather, in a wordy six-minute response video heavy on epidemiological jargon, Lopez-Gatell discussed the complexities of tracking the numbers. Shortly thereafter, the think tank Mexicanos Contra la Corrupcion y Impunidad (Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity) released an investigation of death certificates in Mexico City, which showed that deaths attributed to covid added up to three times the cases included in the official count. An investigation by Quinto Elemento Lab in Mexico City showed that 911 calls reporting covid deaths also numbered triple the official count of non-hospital covid deaths. Journalists have reported uncounted deaths and test backlogs across the country. THE MEDIA TODAY: Trump, Fauci, and the conditions of anonymity Pablo Perez, a journalist with Verificovid, a project of the fact-checking initiative Verificado dedicated to fact-checking media claims and social media rumors, points out that federal statistics also differ from those offered at the state level. Mainstream outlets use the number that works for their editorial line, he says. Sometimes they get it from the states, sometimes nationally; theres a lot of confusion. Official explanations refer to the criteria for data-gathering on covid deaths: the official deaths count includes only confirmed covid cases, not the many suspected cases that arent tested after people die. Lopez-Gatell has affirmed that the data underestimates the actual numbers, but he insists it accurately captures the trends. Sign up for CJR 's daily email Andrea Cardenas, one of the reporters behind the Quinto Elemento Lab investigation, believes the government is dramatically undervaluing the importance of maintaining official numbers. We all have the right to know the real number of covid deaths, confirmed, those who didnt get a test, either because they didnt go to the hospital or because they were rejected by hospitals, she says. Beyond a statistic, the official number of deaths, all those deaths deserve to be counted because those deaths correspond to a person that had dreams, a story, a life, a community. Its the life of a personhow can that not matter? Those numbers also have broader implications for public health. They can explain, Cardenas says, what populations are turned away from hospitals, as well as who might avoid hospitals altogether, and who fears the widespread stigma around being diagnosed with covidall issues relevant for journalists, government institutions, and the public in general. If the strategy is to control the narrative, its going really badly, says Perez of available public health information to date. There are contradicting discourses. Neither the media nor the government are dictating the narrative. Social media is imposing the discourse. Many Mexicans continue to believe the virus doesnt exist. The country has begun reopening on a stoplight system; seventeen states are in the orange, or high-risk, phase. But despite admonitions from Lopez-Gatell that the pandemic continues, movement has dramatically increased across the country. Concern over the quality of public health data stems partially from a historic generalized mistrust of the Mexican state. As of 2019, 87 percent of Mexicans saw the government as deeply corrupt. In a country where prominent media outlets are infamous for receiving money in exchange for parroting official lines, distrust of the media and the state go hand in hand. Discontent with the governments handling of the pandemic also has partisan roots. Opponents of President Lopez Obrador, whose antiestablishment rhetoric has won him vehement opposition, take the governments handling of the pandemic as a referendum on the ruling party. Conversely, the presidents supporters have led social media rampages against journalists who have questioned the governments data. After the May 8 investigations came out, Twitter was flooded with a bot campaign under the hashtag #PrensaProstituida, or Prostituted Press, against the reporters behind the stories. Of course, theres no guarantee that accurate data would make the general public more cautious. If they say a million, two million [cases], people think that maybe that should scare the public, Perez, of Verificovid, points out. In the case of the US, where they have the most cases, people want to go out anyway. The lack of data transparency also poses a challenge for journalists in stretched newsrooms. For journalists without backgrounds in statistics or epidemiology, its difficult to critique what one cant see. The government is communicating a complicated set of info to reporters who may or may not be prepared or have the tools to decipher that info, says Jan Albert Hootsen, the Mexico representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Its very difficult for beat reporters to communicate whats going on and make sense of it under all this stress and pressure and polarization. We cant see public contracts, we cant see everything thats being spent, so we have to trust the information that they give us. In May, Sarahi Uribe, a reporter for El Sol de Mexico, cited a comment by a former health secretary and then asked Lopez-Gatell whether he was lying to Mexico about coronavirus numbers. When the undersecretary asked for clarification, Uribe faltered: He says theres that your data doesnt add up let me see. Lopez-Gatell laughed in response and encouraged the young reporter to investigate and ask the question again later. On social media, users pointed to Uribes slip-up as an example of uninformed, ideologically motivated anti-government journalism. But Uribes question indicates the challenge many journalists find themselves facing. Part of the reporters job is to interrogate the states narrative. When the basis of the narrative is data that only the government has, its difficult to find a way in. In addition to the lack of transparency around cases and deaths, the pandemic has made other public information less accessible. The information is concentrated in the federal and local health ministries, so its hard to compare it with other sources, says Cardenas of Quinto Elemento Lab. Many offices have prolonged the reopening of their activities, and they dont answer our information requests. We cant see public contracts, we cant see everything thats being spent, so we have to trust the information that they give us. Lopez Obrador has continued to insist that journalism critical of the administration is ideologically motivated. In late April, the president said in a press conference that Mexico lacked a professional, independent news media. Its a gross lack of recognition of hundreds of highly professional and independently minded reporters, Hootsen says. Daily, the countrys reporters risk their lives, health, reputation, and livelihood even to get the most simple stories out that might be critical. Mexico continues to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Since the covid-19 lockdown began, two Mexican journalistsJorge Miguel Armenta Ramos and Maria Elena Ferralhave been murdered. Thirteen have died of covid-19. Lopez-Gatell continues to show his own frustration with media coverage of the covid crisis. In a late-June press briefing, the subsecretary presented a video he called The Long Epidemic. The nine-minute montage showed clips of Lopez-Gatell repeating ad nauseam, from March to June, We have to be prepared for a long epidemic. Lets not assume that the journalists or editors or heads or owners of these outlets, who probably finally define the agendas of those outlets, have bad intentions, Lopez-Gatell concluded. Maybe they dont watch the daily press briefing. NEW: How election reporters see us, and how we view them Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Madeleine Wattenbarger is a freelance journalist based in Mexico City, where she primarily covers human rights, politics and social movements. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Vice and the Baffler. Photo:Xinhua Thanks to nationwide efforts to ensure foreign trade, China has reported better than expected foreign trade in the first half of the year, with imports and exports of goods at 14.24 trillion yuan ($2.04 trillion), down 3.2 percent year-on-year and narrowing the decline 1.7 percentage points compared to the first five months. During the period, the country's exports dropped 3 percent to 7.71 trillion yuan and imports fell 3.3 percent to 6.53 trillion yuan, data from the General Administration of Customs (GAC) showed on Tuesday. However, both imports and exports registered positive growth in June, reflecting signs of faster recovery and stability as some countries loosened lockdowns and domestic demand increased with coronavirus outbreak under control at home. In June, the country's foreign trade increased 5.1 percent year-on-year, with exports growing 4.3 percent and imports up 6.2 percent. The rise in China's trade is sending a strong positive signal for China's recovery and a rebound in international orders, Liu Xuezhi, a macroeconomics expert at the Bank of Communications told the Global Times on Tuesday. "There has been a significant acceleration in China's production activities, and the June figures show that demand in the international market is also recovering and more orders were made and fulfilled last month." In the first half, ASEAN became China's biggest trading partner, with foreign trade increasing 5.6 percent to 2.09 trillion yuan. By contrast, China's foreign trade with the EU was down 1.8 percent to 1.99 trillion yuan, and down 6.6 percent with the US to 1.64 trillion yuan. The robust growth in trade between China and ASEAN is the result of the effective containment of the coronavirus in the regions and the free trade contracts signed over the years, Liu said. "Supply chains with ASEAN are likely to be the first to fully recover, with the free trade deal and less disruption to stimulate more demand after the coronavirus outbreak." It's worth mentioning that China's exports of urgently needed supplies grew rapidly in the first six months as the country ramped up efforts to help combat the global pandemic. During the period, the country's exports of textile products including face masks surged 32.4 percent, according to the GAC. Exports of medicines grew 23.6 percent and pharmaceutical exports soared 46.4 percent. Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times that inelastic demand for China's products is bound to lift the trade volume in the second half of this year. Over the second half of the year, trade may start to normalize even as the global pandemic persists, Bai said. "As overseas demand picks up and supply chains recover somewhat, trade will also start to recover between China and some of its biggest trade partners, including Europe and the US," he said. The underground mine worker who suffered a serious fall at a Goldfields site on Monday has died, Saracen Minerals has confirmed. In a statement to the ASX on Tuesday afternoon, Saracen Minerals said the underground contractor involved in the incident at its Dervish mine 120 kilometres north west of Kalgoorlie had died. Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety acting director mines safety Graham James said the worker was fatally injured when the loader he was operating veered off the edge of a stope. "The department's officers are working with the mine operator to identify and assess the circumstances surrounding the fatality," he said. "Further investigations into the incident are continuing." ALBANY A recent coronavirus outbreak at the St. Peter's Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Albany began around the time a nurse's aide who was in quarantine after traveling out of state returned to work, allegedly due to staffing needs, according to a person briefed on the situation. The nurse's aide, who had attended a wedding in North Carolina, tested positive for coronavirus after returning to work, according to the same source. At least two nursing home residents who had been treated by the aide subsequently tested positive, the person said. The facility denied that any employee was asked to return to work while in a 14-day quarantine. Officials there also would not provide information on how many residents or staff members may be in quarantine or have tested positive for coronavirus. But a recorded hotline set up by the facility on Tuesday said the 160-bed nursing home currently has 13 COVID-positive residents as well as five staff members who tested positive and remain at home under quarantine. Eight residents at the facility have died of the illness over the course of the pandemic. "No aide or any other worker at St. Peter's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been asked or ordered to return to work early from a quarantine after traveling to one of the states covered in the governor's travel advisory," the hospital's nursing home said in a statement. "Since the governor issued his advisory on June 24, St. Peter's Health Partners has been in full compliance with the New York state Department of Health guidance and directives regarding testing, masking and monitoring health care workers who travel to any of the states in question." The statement added that the nursing home has mandated a 14-day quarantine for all St. Peter's Health Partners health care workers who return from one of the states with high infection rates. Another person familiar with the case, but not authorized the comment publicly, said the employee tested positive in the past two weeks and that the employee told other workers that he did not feel well and had traveled out of state. The employee was sent back upstairs to tend to residents for about three hours before the test result came back positive, the second person said. It's unclear whether the infected nurse aide had told his supervisors at the facility that he had traveled out of state and was feeling ill. Last week, staff members at the facility urged supervisors to ensure that all staff and everyone on the affected floor be tested, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. On June 24, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that anyone traveling to New York from states with a high rate of coronavirus infections would need to self-quarantine for 14 days or face fines. The 19 states included in that list includes North Carolina. There were exceptions made in the quarantine order for essential workers, including many in health care. Under guidance issued by the state on July 2, any health care worker who feels ill after traveling to a high-risk state or otherwise has symptoms of COVID-19 should "immediately stop work and isolate at home." The guidelines do allow limited circumstances under which a health care worker could return to duty within that 14-day quarantine period, but only if they had traveled to another state for official work. In that case, for instance, they could return to their job if "staff shortages ... would adversely impact operation of the health care entity, and all other staffing options have been exhausted." Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. But traveling out of state for a social engagement would require a health care employee to remain quarantined for 14 days. The returning health care workers who are called back to work must be asymptomatic; receive a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of returning to New York; check their symptoms and temperature twice a day; wear a mask; and not deal with higher-risk patients, including the elderly. The state Health Department launched an investigation of the St. Peter's situation on Monday after being contacted by the Times Union. The department is in contact with the facility to better understand all the factors regarding this incident, and more importantly working with the facility to ensure they have appropriate levels of PPE (personal protective equipment) and staffing, adequate resident and staff testing, and that proper infection control and cohorting practices are in place," said Gary Holmes, a spokesman for the health department. "New Yorkers have worked extremely hard to flatten the curve while protecting our most vulnerable populations and well continue to work with this facility, and others, to slow the spread of this virus." Albany County reported 10 new COVID-19 infections on Monday. In the eight counties that comprise the greater Capital Region, 54 new cases were reported Monday the highest one-day total in July. RICHMOND, Va. - Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, announced Monday that he will seek his party's nomination for state attorney general. Jones, 31, the son of a former delegate, won his father's old seat in the General Assembly in 2017. He quickly rose to prominence in that year's crop of young Democrats by speaking out on environmental and social justice issues. Virginia has never elected an African American as attorney general. Jones, who is black, framed his bid as the culmination of a civil rights journey, at a time when Virginia is taking down Confederate monuments and wrestling with how to address racial inequity. "This decision is truly generations in the making," Jones said Monday in a statement announcing his bid. "Five generations ago, my ancestors were freed from the shackles of slavery. Just two generations ago, my grandfather endured systematic racism and discrimination on his journey to becoming a pioneering black lawyer in Virginia. And in 1960 my father and my uncle were two of the first black students to attend an all-white elementary school in Norfolk, Virginia." Jones becomes the first member of either major party to officially announce his candidacy for that office. Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, has signaled an interest in running for governor but could make another run for the office he has held for two terms. Candidates are already beginning to line up for Virginia's 2021 statewide elections. Among Democrats, state Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy of Prince William are running for governor. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a Democrat, has also said he intends to seek the top job. And former governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, has signaled that he would like his old job back, raising significant amounts of money in preparation for a bid. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, like all Virginia governors, is prohibited by the state's constitution from seeking a second consecutive term. On the Republican side, state Sen. Amanda Chase of Chesterfield is running for governor. Former state senator Bill Carrico, from the southwest part of the state, has said he is considering a bid. Jones is a partner at the law firm Bischoff Martingayle in Norfolk, focusing on civil litigation. He earned an undergraduate degree at the College of William & Mary and his law degree from the University of Virginia. His father is Circuit Judge Jerrauld Corey Jones, who served in the House of Delegates from 1988 until 2002, when he became director of juvenile justice under then-Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat. His mother is Lyn Simmons, a Norfolk juvenile-justice judge and former prosecutor. In the General Assembly this year, Jones sponsored high-profile environmental legislation and worked with Del. Lee Ware, R-Powhatan, to push for safeguards to keep the state's largest utility, Dominion Energy, from passing excess costs along to consumers. That legislation failed, but the effort elevated Jones's profile and showed his ability to work across the aisle on key issues. He released a campaign kickoff video Monday in which he emphasizes that he has worked to expand access to Medicaid and pledges to work as attorney general to fight efforts to limit the Affordable Care Act. Jones said he already has more than $330,000 cash on hand for his campaign. "It is time for a Virginia that embraces everyone, lifts everyone, no matter who you are, where you come from or what you look like," Jones says in the video. The number of travelers has increased in the last three months after bottoming out in early April, but there are concerns with the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Still, only about a quarter of the number of passengers who boarded planes a year ago are getting on them now, according to Transporation Security Administration figures. Santiago: Chile's state-owned Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, has registered a total 3215 COVID-19 infections and nine deaths due to the pandemic, the chairman of the firm said on Monday, local time, as pressure rises on production of the red metal. Board Chairman Juan Benavides said 2473 workers had already recovered while 37 remained hospitalised, according to comments made to a mining commission made up of lower-house MPs and confirmed by the mining giant. A healthcare worker takes a nasal swab sample from a merchant at a new coronavirus testing site for street vendors, at a sports centre in the Puente Alto neighbourhood of Santiago, Chile. Credit:AP Chile's copper miners have largely maintained output despite soaring case numbers in the South American country, though pressure has been mounting for companies to strengthen safety measures, even potentially at the expense of production. Unions at Codelco, which has a workforce of about 60,000 including contract workers, said last week that nearly 3000 workers had been infected. Northern Ireland is badly prepared for Brexit, with businesses here still unclear about the new arrangements after the transition period ends in December, according to a new report. The report by the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee claims the Government has shown a lack of understanding and an overly political approach to post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, leaving businesses in the dark. Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhan Connolly said it was "reflective of the mood" among businesses here. He said: "There is concern and frustration that we are just over five months from the end of the transition period and there is still not the clarity and detail that we need." Read More The report, which looks at the element of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement that will see Northern Ireland operate under different trading rules to the rest of the UK, questions the Government's claim that companies in here will have unfettered access to the market in Great Britain from 2021 onwards. Under the terms of the protocol, which is designed to avoid border checks on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland will be a part of the UK's customs territory but will still follow EU customs law and administer the bloc's customs rules at its ports. The region will also follow EU single market regulations. Read More The Government has acknowledged this will mean more regulatory checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, with the expansion of infrastructure to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) screening of animals and food products which sits contrary to its claims that Northern Ireland will have frictionless access to GB goods. The committee, which is made up of Conservative, Labour, SDLP, Alliance and DUP MPs, called on ministers to provide more detail to businesses on trading arrangements by October 1. Committee chairman Simon Hoare said: "Those trading across the Irish Sea have been told to prepare without knowing what to prepare for. Expand Close Committee chair Simon Hoare / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Committee chair Simon Hoare "It's now time for them to get that clarity, and they must have it by October 1. If not, business will not have time to prepare for the realistic prospect of friction and delays to products moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. "This will increase their costs, with an accompanying increase in the cost of living. "It would put Northern Ireland at a competitive disadvantage compared with the rest of the UK and would damage business confidence at a time when it has seldom been lower." Mr Connolly agreed: "We have always argued that it is necessary for unfettered access from NI to both the EU and GB markets to allow us to continue to provide NI and GB households with choice and affordability. "That is not what we have at the moment. "We need the UK Government to be ambitious in asking for a certified supply chain solution that would remove friction for goods destined for retailers' shelves which account for 70% of the value of all GB-NI movements." Ann McGregor, NI Chamber of Commerce chief executive, said the overriding concern was the lack of time for smaller businesses and their intermediaries to react to any new systems that will be put in place. Expand Close Ann McGregor / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Ann McGregor She said: "Some of the larger companies can react quicker but the majority of smaller companies aren't fully informed. "We facilitate trade documentation and provide customs training but we are concerned, from a practical perspective, how companies and their intermediaries are able to deal with this in the timeline now available particularly as HMRC don't have the computer system they're proposing to use tested." Sinn Fein Foyle MLA Martina Anderson, speaking after a party delegation met the Chamber of Commerce in Derry, said members in the North West feel "unprepared and uninformed" about Brexit. The drive-in movie experience has returned to Lebanon 17 years after the beloved Motor-Vu Drive-In was closed for good. Families packed into their vehicles on Friday and Saturday night to watch The Angry Birds 2 Movie at Cheadle Lake Park. These were the first of seven movie nights planned this summer at the park in a joint fundraiser organized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam and the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce. Brittany Shreve brought her children Karen, 8, and Dominic, 4, and they were joined by her mother, Valerie Jensen. Shreve and her children moved to Sweet Home four months ago from Wyoming. Weve been sitting here through the coronavirus just cooped up in the house, trying to do our own thing, Shreve said. We have kids that need to come out and meet new people, new friends, A community thing like this is perfect. Jensen said it was important to support the event to help out the Boys & Girls Clubs. Its part of the community, Jensen said. Kris Latimer, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Greater Santiam, said opening weekend was a great success with strong turnout. t was amazing. I think everybody had a great time. It was really neat to see so many families out, enjoying themselves and children experiencing the magic of the drive-in, Latimer said. Ben and Jennifer Pulliam brought their son, Henry, 5, so that he could share the drive-in experience. Gives us something to do. Theres not a whole lot open right now. You cant go see a movie in the theater. And I kind of miss having the drive-in, Ben Pulliam said. He grew up in Lebanon and attended many showings at the Motor-Vu. Jennifer Pulliam grew up in Southern California, but moved to Lebanon in 1999 and attended the Motor-Vu regularly before it closed in 2003. It was just something that was fun when we were younger. You get to stay up late, you get to watch movies on a big screen in the comfort of your own car, Ben Pulliam said, adding that this is Henrys first time to see a drive-in movie. Theres one in the state, maybe. I didnt figure Id ever get to do that. Its nice. Im glad they put it on. Jennifer Pulliam said the $20 admission per car is a good value. Organizers are also offering premium parking for $40 and VIP parking for $60. Its a steal of a deal. To me it is, especially these days, getting the whole family out to do anything, she said. This weekends showings were not sold out, which was helpful, Latimer said. Those who want to attend the movies are encouraged to pre-register in advance at https://drivein-lebanon.com/. But for this first weekend, many people bought tickets at the gate. Latimer said they will continue to offer this option as long as space allows, but she warned that tickets for future shows, especially premium tickets, are in limited supply. The VIP and Premium spots are filling up and selling out fast. What we have online are all we have of those spots, Latimer said. For the last weekend, there are only 50 tickets remaining for that, already. There will be food trucks on site for the showings, but their menu is limited to beverages, snack items and hot dogs. Rebecca Grizzle, the executive director of the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce, said they tried to bring in a wider variety of food trucks, but safety regulations and the short notice made that impossible. Organizers are encouraging families to order curbside pickup from a local restaurant and bring their food to the park. The gates open at 7 p.m. and the movies begin at about 9:15 p.m. Lorrie Beck and Lynet Parrish had originally planned to attend opening night with Becks grandson. He was unable to attend due to illness, but they showed up anyway. Beck grew up in Portland and enjoyed going to a wide range of drive-in movies. Parrish had fewer opportunities growing up in Coos Bay. It was too foggy. It rained a lot and when it wasnt raining, the wind was blowing. We didnt have any big flat places. Its all hilly, trees and bushes, Parrish said of her coastal hometown. Both Beck and Parrish work as volunteers at Riverview School and said it was important to them to support this event because it is a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs. Its sure a great idea for a good cause. Were always happy to support local stuff, kids, schools, the Boys & Girls Club, Beck said. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 04:06:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations is concerned about 1.7 million people in northeast Syria needing humanitarian aid, as 1.1 million of them already are in acute need, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday. "This includes nearly 500,000 displaced people throughout the northeast, including in al-Hol camp, where more than 65,000 people - two-thirds of them children - live in challenging humanitarian conditions," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The cost of food and other basics is among the highest in all of Syria, with the prices in June up more than 60 percent in Deir Ezzour in just one month, he said. Food costs in al-Hasakeh are up 240 percent more than this time last year. "We stress the need for full and regular humanitarian access to all areas in the northeast, as well as (all of) Syria," Dujarric told correspondents at a regular briefing. The spokesman also said that so far six cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the northeast, including one death. One case of the disease was reported last week in the northwest. The global organization's plea for the northeast comes just days after the Security Council approved a single cross-border humanitarian route from Turkey to the northwest of Syria. Enditem On Wall Street, some things never change. Public health crisis or not, the fact of the matter remains that healthcare stocks are the epitome of risk/reward plays. Why? It comes down to the nature of the industry itself. Healthcare companies are unique in that their financial performances arent necessarily the most important piece of the puzzle. Rather, a few key factors like clinical data readouts or regulatory approvals indicate whether or not a particular name will be able to generate sustainable revenues in the long run. As such, any development, good or bad, can act as a catalyst that launches shares in either direct. So, which strategy can help investors find the healthcare stocks poised to blast off on an upward trajectory? One approach is to follow the pros on Wall Street. We used TipRanks database to lock in on three healthcare stocks that have been given the Streets blessing, and come with an affordable price tag. Each ticker trades for less than $5 per share and has earned a Strong Buy consensus rating from the analyst community. The icing on the cake? Serious upside potential is on the table. Galmed Pharmaceuticals (GLMD) Focused on the development of its product candidate, Aramchol, Galmed Pharmaceuticals wants to provide patients with a more effective therapy for the treatment of Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). Given its recent addition to its product lineup and its $4.50 share price, the healthcare name is scoring major points with the Street. Back in May, GLMD unveiled Aramchol meglumine, which is an Aramchol salt version that is more soluble than the free acid version, with it also showing improved PK characteristics. The therapy is eligible for New Chemical Entity (NCE) designation and additional patent protection. Weighing in on the impact of this revamp, five-star analyst Yasmeen Rahimi calls the candidate GLMDs new star," arguing it can raise the bar for Aramchol's efficacy in NASH and potentially add a layer of patent protection. The analyst points out that the company has already placed a significant focus on protecting its intellectual property, with patents maintained in 37 territories in the EU, as well as other countries including Canada, Australia, China and Japan. In addition, patent discussions are taking place in the U.S. Story continues Speaking to the improved PK characteristics, Rahimi highlights that when compared to the Aramchol free acid version, Aramchol meglumine produced nearly identical AUCs following a single dose, but a higher AUC after multiple doses, and Meglumine had an identical half-life at both the single and multiple doses. Importantly, Aramchol meglumine demonstrated three-fold lower variation in concentration during multiple dosing, which hints at a potential for more steady concentrations in patients treated with meglumine and Aramchol meglumine's Cmax was higher during multiple dosing or steady state administration, the analyst added. As for how COVID-19 affects this trial, Rahimi told clients GLMD is taking a diligent approach to maintaining execution of Phase 3 ARMOR. These efforts include temporarily halting the screening of new patients into ARMOR to minimize potential COVID-19 exposure, taking this time to advance the opening of new sites in preparation for when screening and randomization is possible and reducing its costs. To this end, Rahimi rates GLMD a Buy, along with a $33 price target. This figure conveys her confidence in GLMDs ability to soar 622% in the next twelve months. (To watch Rahimis track record, click here) Turning now to the rest of the Street, other analysts also like what theyre seeing. 6 Buys and a single Hold add up to a Strong Buy consensus rating. Given the $19.86 average price target, the upside potential comes in at 334%. (See GLMD stock analysis on TipRanks) ImmunoGen (IMGN) Utilizing antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, ImmunoGen hopes its therapies will be able to disrupt the progression of cancer. Ahead of key data readouts, several members of the Street believe that at $4.22, its share price reflects an attractive entry point. Pointing to the FORWARD II study, five-star analyst John Newman, of Canaccord, tells clients that its mirvetuximab asset, which was evaluated in combination with Avastin, generated encouraging results. In addition to exhibiting strong efficacy and safety, a 64% Overall Response Rate (ORR) among Folate Receptor alpha high platinum agnostic patients was witnessed. Newman also noted, Importantly, mirvetuximab + Avastin demonstrated a 59% ORR for FRa high patients that were platinum resistant, comparing well to ~27-28% for bevacizumab + chemotherapy in a similar population. In addition, ORR was similar between platinum-resistant and platinum-sensitive patients (59% vs 69%), suggesting encouraging efficacy for mirvetuximab in both populations. As for what these results mean, Newman argues that they suggest mirvetuximab will eventually be approved and used in all lines of ovarian cancer, underscoring the importance of its safety in combination with other drugs. Going forward, enrollment for the Phase 3 MIRASOL trial and Phase 2 SORAYA trial is underway, with top-line data for SORAYA still slated for release in mid-2021. This will be followed up by MIRASOLs top-line data readout in the first half of 2022. Importantly, mirvetuximab is known to be a highly active agent in ovarian cancer, which should support robust enrollment. Also, we remind investors that the FORWARD I trial enrolled ahead of schedule in 9 months. We recognize that the COVID-19 pandemic may have some effect on clinical trial enrollment, but we believe the effects can be mitigated, Newman commented. The analyst is expecting positive data from both trials, with the Phase 2 data potentially supporting accelerated approval and the Phase 3 results supporting full approval. Importantly, we see multi-leg long-term growth potential for mirvetuximab in ovarian cancer based on expansion into earlier lines of therapy, and eventual combination with platinum therapy in the front-line setting, he stated. Everything that IMGN has going for it prompted Newman to leave a Buy rating and $12 price target on the stock. Should the target be met, a twelve-month gain of 183% could be in store. (To watch Newmans track record, click here) Do other analysts agree with Newman? They do. Only Buy ratings, 3, in fact, have been issued in the last three months. At $10.50, the average price target puts the upside potential at 147%. (See ImmunoGen stock analysis on TipRanks) Matinas BioPharma (MTNB) The last healthcare stock on our list, Matinas BioPharma, brings cutting-edge technology to the table, with the goal of developing therapies capable of overcoming the limitations associated with existing options. Even though COVID-19 impacted its clinical activity, multiple analysts believe that its $0.72 share price presents investors with a unique buying opportunity. As a result of the pandemic, the trials for MTNBs two leading programs, MAT9001 and MAT2203, were delayed. That said, management recently stated it plans to restart the enrollment of ENHANCE-IT for MAT9001 and EnACT for MAT2203. Writing for BTIG, five-star analyst Robert Hazlett noted, These two programs, especially MAT9001, are core value drivers for Matinas, and trial progress is welcome news. Looking more closely at the trials, ENHANCE-IT is a head-to-head open-label, 28-day crossover trial featuring patients with elevated triglycerides designed to assess the pharmacodynamic (PD) effects of MAT9001 compared to Amarins Vascepa. Hazlett points out that the company has added two additional clinical sites to the program to compensate for the delay. Speaking to the strength of its MAT9001 asset, Hazlett believes the fact that its composition includes DPA, a more potent TG lowering Omega-3, sets it apart from the competition. In addition, the therapy doesnt increase LDL, with it able to achieve substantially higher blood levels of EPA than Vascepa. MAT9001s positioning as a more potent, yet differentiated EPA-based omega 3 has become even more important under the lens of recent Vascepa patent trial challenge... We believe ENHANCE-IT can further differentiate MAT9001, and project material potential for this program, with estimate peak revenue of greater than $1.5 billion, Hazlett said. As for EnACT, it is an open-label, sequential cohort study evaluating MAT2203, its liposomal nanocrystal (LNC) technology candidate which allows for oral delivery of the potent anti-fungal amphotericin B. It was designed for the treatment of HIV patients with cryptococcal meningitis. Cryptococcal meningitis represents a beachhead for broader antifungal consideration of MAT2203 over time, Hazlett commented. It should be noted that the CF Foundation has supported the therapys preclinical development, and MTNB has submitted a proposal to receive funding for MAT2501 through Phase 2. To this end, Hazlett rates MTNB a Buy along with a $5 price target. Shares could appreciate by 586%, should the analysts thesis play out in the coming months. (To watch Hazletts track record, click here) Looking at the consensus breakdown, the rest of the Street agrees with Hazletts assessment. With 6 Buys and no Holds or Sells, the word on the Street is that MTNB is a Strong Buy. The $3.29 average price target implies shares could skyrocket 362% in the next year. (See MTNB stock analysis on TipRanks) To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks equity insights. NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than ten years, industry leading Premium Financing firm Succession Capital Alliance (SCA) has hosted the widely recognized Annual Advanced Premium Financing Conference in Las Vegas. With in-person Conferences no longer possible, SCA turned this crisis into an opportunity to motivate and inspire Advisors by creating a unique, first class, and entertaining Virtual Conference. Advisors from all over the country tuned in for three hours to hear about competitive strategies to maximize success in the high-net-worth market using SCA's proprietary Capital Maximization Strategy, while also being entertained by a virtual magician and DJ during breaks. SCA also shared their unmatched experience in virtual selling, which was a very timely topic. In addition, the Conference included an in depth panel discussion with Dawn Trautman Behnke, Executive Vice President, Life Insurance Division of Pacific Life, Michael Rothman, Executive Vice President of Succession Capital Alliance, and Virginia Craig, Vice President and Chief Underwriter of Pacific Life. Finally, SCA announced a revolutionary new loan program available now exclusively through SCA. "We have being doing this conference in Las Vegas for the last 13 years. We didn't know if we could create a similar experience in a virtual environment, but we wanted to try. This was the first national conference of its kind in our industry and in the end we were shocked by the production quality, and the overwhelmingly positive response from all of the attendees," stated Julian Movsesian, President and CEO of Succession Capital Alliance. "Pacific Life and Julian Movsesian have a relationship that spans almost 20 years. It is very fulfilling to see the professionals at SCA partner with us to bring the best practices in premium financing to some of the top financial professionals in our industry. The agenda was loaded with great insights and most importantly tips to open and close a variety of cases focused on high net worth and ultra-affluent customers. As always, Julian and Michael are fantastic at making complex cases seem so simple," said Greg Reber, Senior Vice President, Chief Distribution Officer of Pacific Life Insurance Company. Succession Capital Alliance is known as the founding firm of Premium Financing in the Life Insurance market with their Capital Maximization Strategy, CMS. Since the company was solidified in 1996 they have placed over $44 billion in life insurance and $4.4 billion of funded premiums. Today, SCA continues to be the largest, longest running, and most reputable life insurance premium financing program in the industry. Several major insurance carriers have partnered with CMS, Inc. over the years to offer the CMS platform of loan programs to their field force. For additional information on CMS - Succession Capital Alliance, please visit www.SuccessionCapital.com or call 949-794-1882 Contact: Adrina Movsesian, Marketing Director Phone: 949-527-3222 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Succession Capital Alliance Related Links http://www.SuccessionCapital.com Although carrion crows and hooded crows are almost indistinguishable genetically, they avoid mating with each other. Researchers from Ludwig-Maximlian-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have now identified a mutation that appears to contribute to this instance of reproductive isolation. The carrion crow and the hooded crow are genetically closely related, but they are distinguishable on the basis of the color of their plumage. The carrion crow's feathers are soot-black, while the hooded crow's plumage presents a particolored combination of black and light gray. Although crosses between the two forms can produce fertile offspring, the region of overlap between their geographical distributions in Europe is strikingly narrow. For this reason, the two forms have become a popular model for the elucidation of the processes that lead to species divergence. LMU evolutionary biologist Jochen Wolf and his team are studying the factors that contribute to the divergence of the two populations at the molecular level. Genetic analyses have already suggested that differences in the color of the plumage play an important role in limiting the frequency of hybridization between carrion and hooded crows. The scientists have now identified a crucial mutation that affects this character. Their findings appear in the online journal Nature Communications, and imply that all corvid species were originally uniformly black in color. The ancestral population of crows in Europe began to diverge during the Late Pleistocene, at a time when the onset of glaciation in Central Europe forced the birds to retreat to refuge zones in Iberia and the Balkans. When the climate improved at the end of the last glacial maximum, they were able to recolonize their original habitats. However, during the period of their isolation, the populations in Southwestern and Southeastern Europe had diverged from each other to such an extent that they no longer interbred at the same rate, i.e. became reproductively isolated. In evolutionary terms, the two populations thereafter went their separate ways. The Western European population became the carrion crow, while their counterparts in Eastern Europe gave rise to the hooded crow. The zone in which the two now come into contact (the 'hybrid zone') is only 20 to 50 km wide, and in Germany it essentially follows the course of the Elbe River. "Within this narrow zone, there is a low incidence of interbreeding. The progeny of such crosses have plumage of an intermediate color," Wolf explains. "The fact that this zone is so clearly defined implies that hybrid progeny are subjected to negative selection." Wolf wants to understand the genetic basis of this instance of reproductive isolation. In previous work, he and his group had demonstrated that the two populations differ genetically from each other only in segments of their genomes that determine plumage color. Moreover, population genetic studies have strongly suggested that mate selection is indeed based on this very character - the two forms preferentially choose mating partners that closely resemble themselves. These earlier studies were based on the investigation of single-base variation, i.e. differences between individuals at single sites (base-pairs) within the genomic DNA. "However, we have never been able to directly determine the functional effects of such single-base variations on plumage color," says Matthias Weissensteiner, the lead author of the study. "Even when we find an association between a single-base variant and plumage color, the mutation actually responsible for the color change might be located thousands of base-pairs away." To tackle this problem, the researchers have used a technically demanding method to search for interspecific differences that affect longer stretches of DNA. These 'structural' variations include deletions, insertions or inversions of sequence blocks. "Up until recently, high-throughput sequencing technologies could only sequence segments of DNA on the order of 100 bp in length, which is not long enough to capture large-scale structural mutations," says Wolf. "Thanks to the new methods, we can now examine very long stretches of DNA comprising up to 150,000 base pairs." The team applied this technology to DNA obtained from about two dozen birds, and searched for structural variations that differentiate carrion crows from hooded crows. The data not only confirmed the results of the single-base analyses, they also uncovered an insertion mutation in a gene which is known to determine plumage color by interacting with a second gene elsewhere in the genome. In addition, phylogenetic analysis of DNA from related species revealed that their common ancestor carried the black variant of the first of these genes. The variant found in the hooded crow represents a new mutation, which first appeared about half a million years ago. "The new color variant seems to be quite attractive, because it was able to establish itself very quickly, and therefore must have been positively selected," says Wolf. How the variant accomplished this feat is not yet clear. The evidence suggests that it first appeared in the region which now encompasses Iran and Iraq, and there are some indications that the lighter plumage confers a selective advantage in hot regions, because it effectively reflects sunlight. This supports the idea that the mutation might have initially been favored by natural selection. "Once it had reached a certain frequency within the local population, it would have been able to spread because parental imprinting, which enables nestlings to recognize their parents, also causes mature birds to choose mates that resemble their parents in appearance," Wolf explains. However, other possible scenarios, such as random genetic drift in small populations or the involvement of selfish genes (which promote their own propagation), are also conceivable and have yet to be ruled out. ### Sunil Sethi caught the coronavirus. This is what happened next. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com After eight days and nights in a Covid hospital following an attack of some severity, I can vouch for one thing: Beware of the suddenness, stealth, and unexpected ferocity of this terrible affliction of our times. It can creep in upon you in the most silent, insidious way. Short of planning to scrub door handles -- or sanitising groceries or reducing human contract to zero -- for the rest of your lives you can take all anti-Covid precautions and still get it. That is what my family and I learnt through a punishingly stressful month. Shortly after lockdown was lifted, my wife resumed work intermittently. On June 6 she returned home with mild fever - about 99.5 degrees -- and immediately went into strict self-isolation. Whatever doctors may tell you (and unless you are in a hermetically sealed medical facility), treating a patient in self-isolation at home is easier said than done. Despite food, medicines, dishes, and laundry being segregated, her low-grade fever kept returning. There were no other symptoms; and to compound the crisis this was when Delhi's squabbling political authorities, disastrously trying to control tests, controversially made Covid testing difficult. It took me more than a week to organise a technician from Gurgaon to come and test my wife. Doctors I contacted were helpless and besieged. To confuse issues, friends with similar feverish symptoms had tested negative -- mere instances of 'seasonal flu'. That, too, is the subterfuge of Covid - it is after all a form of flu, albeit dangerous and potentially fatal. My wife tested Covid positive on June 19, but in less than 48 hours matters had spun sharply out of control. Our live-in staff turned positive. Between logging their temperatures, pulse rates, and oxygen saturation levels thrice a day, attending to my wife behind closed doors, organising meals, and calling doctors, I barely noticed my own rapidly deteriorating state. Late on a Monday night I fell into a stupor. It didn't take more than a few minutes for my 'vitals' to go haywire. Sensing something wrong, my wife found me fallen from the couch on to the floor. Quick readings showed my temperature soaring, oxygen level precipitately dropping, and pulse racing. She had the presence of mind to swiftly organise help and transport me to the Max Super Speciality Hospital in south Delhi, one of the best-equipped and efficient medicare facilities. With 300 Covid-compliant rooms spread over two blocks, and clinically sealed off from the rest of the hospital -- with its own ICU, catering, cleaning, nursing, and floor management units -- it has a profoundly dedicated staff of doctors and nursing staff, working 24x7 to the last reserves of their physical endurance. (Yet it is a sign of the times that, like most professionals, these health care workers at the frontline of the Covid battle, have had to suffer major salary cuts.) By definition a quarantined Covid unit is a bubble-like entity, with little link to the outside world. For instance, it took several hours to arrange my toilet bag and laptop to reach my room from the front gate two days after I had entered hospital. Nevertheless I would rather forget the first few hours I spent in the high-dependency unit before being allotted a private room. This was a crowded pre-testing facility that seemed (in my fevered state) like Saadat Hasan Manto's madhouse. Elderly patients moaned and shrieked and even hurled abuse at the PPE-attired medical staff. This is because of the unnerving, sinister first impression of a Covid ward -- all attendants are dressed, down to white rubber gloves, in tip-to-toe white uniforms with masks and visors. You cannot tell surgeon from sweeper. It is a daunting sight. Until I grew to recognise my wonderfully attentive doctor, Smit Rajput, by voice on his daily rounds, I was unable to tell what he looks like. I would not be able to recognise him on the street today. Fortunately my eight days in a Covid hospital turned out to be relatively uneventful. I had no prevailing medical conditions -- diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease -- and required no oxygen support. My sole risk factors were commonplace -- age of 60-plus years and an old pulmonary obstruction that all affects ex-smokers. A regimen of antibiotics, saline drips, and a battery of tests set me to rights. Only one unpleasant incident marred my family and my recovery -- and this was the persistent telephone calls from the interfering, ignorant Nanny State, in this case the capital's municipality. Covid tests are registered on the basis of Aadhaar cards, so local government has your personal details. Banshee-like, semi-literate voices will disturb your peace, threatening to drag you off to quarantine facilities -- 'Aapko quarantine mein jaana padega.' After a few calls, I shouted back to say that I was already under medical supervision in hospital. But think of the terror such calls may induce in the poor, the lonely, defenceless, and elderly. Upon discharge my summary from hospital includes the assurance that I have 'recovered from COVID and do not pose a risk to the community.' Cold comfort it may be, but it spells a release from a future under siege. For the moment that is. Feature Production: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com The Heritage Council is to run an awards scheme for each county participating in National Heritage Week this year. To take account of restrictions on gatherings due to COVID-19, rather than focusing on the organisation of Heritage Week events this year, local heritage groups, families and communities are invited to develop projects around this years theme of Heritage and Education: Learning from our Heritage. All projects submitted will be considered for a National Heritage Week Award. National Heritage Week Awards have been expanded to include an award for the best project in each county. Projects will be assessed on the basis of their local reach and community engagement, educational value and the level to which they involve different age groups. Laois man and Chairman of the Heritage Council, Michael Parsons, urged everyone to get involved. This year, more than ever, National Heritage Week is accessible to everyone: we are calling on individuals, families and communities to explore an aspect of their local heritage; document it; and showcase it in a format that can be shared widely. Lots of older members of families and communities have the knowledge and skills that can contribute to a heritage project, while younger people have the technological skills and the imagination to showcase local heritage projects in digital formats," he said. Te Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan, also spoke at the announcement. I am delighted that the Heritage Council has taken the initiative to expand the National Heritage Week Awards to include county awards. There is a strong network of local Heritage Officers around the country, who work hard to support communities in protecting and promoting local heritage. The awards should help stimulate interest and healthy competition within communities, he said. National Heritage Week projects should be completed in time for August, when they will be showcased during Heritage Week 2020. Formats for showcasing may vary from online talks or exhibitions, to a video, podcast, slideshow presentation or blog, to media coverage, a dedicated website or moderated social media account, or by means of small, restricted social gatherings, which comply with official public health advice. National Heritage Week is co-ordinated by the Heritage Council as part of European Heritage Days a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union in which more than 40 countries participate each year. The main aim of European Heritage Days is to promote awareness of our built, natural and cultural heritage and to promote Europes common cultural heritage. The week is supported by the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and run in association with Failte Ireland. At the county level, National Heritage Week is co-ordinated and supported by local authority heritage officers, their colleagues and with numerous local heritage groups and organisations. Collaborative partners include the Office of Public Works; the Local Authority Water Programme; the Irish Landmark Trust; and the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland. National Heritage Week will run from Saturday, 15th Sunday, 23rd August. For further information, visit www.heritageweek.ie With some Haryana districts falling in the National Capital Region seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, Home Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday indicated that stricter curbs may be imposed in the worst-affected areas to contain spread of the infection. Of the over 22,000 cases in the state as of Tuesday, three districts alone--Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, all of which fall in the NCR, contributed to nearly 15,000 of the cases and also to nearly 75 per cent of the total fatalities. Talking to reporters in Ambala, Vij, who is also the State's Health Minister, said the state's recovery rate is over 75 per cent, which is quite good. He also said adequate arrangements including isolation facilities, doctors, medicines etc. are there to deal with the novel coronavirus cases. "Our priority is to treat these patients with the best of resources at our disposal. Still, the cases which are increasing, these are going up in districts adjoining Delhi. "Eighty per cent of our total cases come from these districts (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Jhajjar). If need arises, in the interest of Haryana, if we have to impose stricter curbs to contain spread of infection we will not hesitate to do so," said Vij. When asked if the state government could impose lockdown and other stricter measures in the worst-affected areas, Vij replied, "in Haryana's interest, whatever is required to be done, I will do that." Earlier two months ago, while citing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in Haryana districts adjoining Delhi, Vij had ordered sealing of borders with the national capital. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had said the government will increase testing, hospital beds and ventilators to tackle coronavirus infection in some of the NCR districts which have been worst-hit by the pandemic. Special attention will be paid to the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak and Jhajjar, Chautala had told reporters after a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Tri Indah Oktavianti (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 18:06 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663f710 1 National doctors,nurses,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,IDI,PPNI,Indonesian-Medical-Association,death,Amnesty-International-Indonesia Free With the COVID-19 pandemic still accelerating at an alarming rate, healthcare workers remain prone to the virus and social persecution, a medical association and human rights association have said. The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) on Monday reported that at least 61 doctors across Indonesia had died in the fight against COVID-19. In the past week, 14 doctors have died [of COVID-19], IDI spokesperson Halik Malik told The Jakarta Post on Monday. It is the highest number of cases reported within a week, and they mostly came from East Java. On Monday alone, the IDI announced the deaths of five doctors from the coronavirus, namely Abdul Choliq from Probolinggo of East Java, Zulkiflie Saleh from Banjarmasin of South Kalimantan, Arief Agustono Hadi from Lamongan of East Java, Budi Luhur from Gresik of East Java and Deni Chrismono Raharjo from Surabaya of East Java. Many doctors were unable to get access to swab tests. Many died even before being tested, Halik explained, adding that the government needed to provide healthcare workers with access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in every health facility. According to the Indonesian Nurses Association (PPNI), at least 167 nurses nationwide were confirmed to have had the disease so far. Read also: More Indonesian doctors, nurses die fighting against COVID-19 However, PPNI chairman Harif Fadhilah said the East Java PPNI alone had recorded at least 277 nurses who were COVID-19 positive in the province. He went on to say that with many cases that went unreported, he assumed that the total number of nurses with COVID-19 might exceed 400. It is hard for us to verify the actual number as nurses usually report their health status voluntarily. Some may also not report their positive COVID-19 result due to negative stigma, work pressure and many other factors, he added. Harif also added that the PPNI had recorded 43 deaths of nurses nationwide as they battled against the virus, 11 of them in East Java. The PPNI also received reports that nurses working in non-COVID-19 referral hospitals were still dealing with shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). Amnesty International Indonesia released on Monday a report documenting the experiences of healthcare workers on the front line battling the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that the government is accountable for the deaths of many medical workers in the country because of the disease. The organizations report revealed that as of Monday at least 89 healthcare workers consisting of 60 doctors, 23 nurses and six dentists in Indonesia had died because of the virus. Not only do healthcare workers have to work extra hours during the pandemic, but they are also being unfairly paid and dealing with fear of the risks of COVID-19 on a daily basis, Amnesty International Indonesia executive director Usman Hamid said in a webinar, entitled Global report: Health workers silenced, exposed, attacked, on Monday. Read also: 'I lost him too fast': Families mourn loss of nurses from COVID-19 In addition, the organization reported that as of June 12, at least 878 healthcare workers in Indonesia had contracted COVID-19, at least 225 of them residing in East Java province the current COVID-19 epicenter in the country. Those are the numbers that are able to be verified by organizations like us. If only the government also verifies the report on the matter, the actual numbers might be higher than what we provided, Usman added. Amnesty International Indonesia also reported that as of June 2, at least 189 health workers had been laid off due to the crisis resulting from the pandemic. Health workers have also experienced stigma and violence because of their job, Usman said. The organization has recorded eight cases of healthcare workers being rejected from their respective rooming houses. In one instance, local residents rejected the funeral of a nurse who had died of COVID-19, near a residential complex. We urge the state to take its response to COVID-19 seriously and to better protect those healthcare workers who are battling the pandemic at the forefront, Usman concluded. The state must ensure adequate compensation for health workers and protect those who have faced reprisals for raising health and security concerns to prevent further unjust treatment against health workers. As of Tuesday, Indonesia had recorded 78,572 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 3,710 fatalities. The move against Huawei will please the US, which has been pressuring the UK to act. The UK has banned the purchase of new 5G equipment from the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from December 31. Huawei has called the decision disappointing and politicised. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under pressure from within his own party and the US, which says the company is a security risk. Al Jazeeras Nadim Baba reports from London. Angelina Jolie has pleaded with governments worldwide to invest in education for refugees during the coronavirus pandemic. The actress and humanitarian warned that disruption to schooling during the global health crisis could become permanent for refugee children, during a Unesco and UNHCR conference on Monday. Jolie is a special envoy for UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. Covid-19 is proving to be an incredible catalyst for science and discovery and innovation Angelina Jolie Speaking virtually to refugees who have benefited from education aid, and education ministers from Cameroon, Pakistan and Kenya, she urged governments to use amazing new technologies to support distance learning to bridge the very real digital divide between countries. Covid-19 is proving to be an incredible catalyst for science and discovery and innovation, she said. If we could do the same for education harnessing new technologies with the power of government and private sector funding, and the energy and the drive of millions of talented young people it would be one of the greatest single inoculations imaginable against poverty and the denial of rights worldwide. Around 1.5 billion children in more than 150 countries are out of school, compared with around 260 million worldwide before the coronavirus crisis. Jolie added: To my mind, theres one fundamental question in this, because of how the world so often speaks of refugees: do we allow them to regard refugees as a burden, or do we help them see they are individuals with huge potential who, if given the tools, can develop their minds, contribute to society and help stabilise their home countries? To me there is only one answer: there is no better investment we could make. Expand Close Baroness Sugg (Joe Giddens/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Baroness Sugg (Joe Giddens/PA) The Prime Ministers special envoy for girls education, Baroness Liz Sugg, also announced a 5.3 million investment in UK aid to support the salaries of more than 5,000 teachers in 10 of the worlds poorest refugee-hosting countries over the next seven months. It is hoped the support will help at least 300,000 vulnerable refugee children continue their education. Speaking at the virtual round-table, Baroness Sugg said: This funding will ensure that children can continue to benefit from education during school closures, and will mean teachers can provide vital outreach to get children back to school once they reopen. We know that supporting every childs right to 12 years of quality education is one of the best investments we can make to end the cycle of displacement, poverty and conflict as we recover from coronavirus. She added the UK will be supporting Unicefs Open Up Better campaign along with many other efforts to get children back to school. ACME TOWNSHIP, MI -- A Kalkaska man wanted in connection with an alleged assault at the Meijer in Acme Township Sunday has been arrested. The incident took place around 2 p.m. according to a now deleted Facebook post from the Grand Traverse Sheriffs Office. According to Up North Live, police arrested the man after initially asking for the publics help in identifying him. The man is accused of pulling a knife on an employee of the store after repeatedly being asked to wear a mask inside. He refused before allegedly brandishing the knife. The name of the 39-year-old suspect is not being released as he has yet to be formally arraigned on charges. However, Up North Live reports he is facing a felonious assault charge. The incident came just one day before Gov. Gretchen Whitmers latest executive order goes into effect which requires people to wear a mask indoors in public spaces. Businesses that refuse to enforce the order are subject to having their licenses revoked and fines. Individuals that refuse to comply with wearing a mask indoors or wont wear a mask outdoors when unable to maintain six feet of social distancing from others are subject to fines. There are however several exceptions to the order. PREVENTION TIPS In addition to washing hands regularly and not touching your face, officials recommend practicing social distancing, assuming anyone may be carrying the virus. Health officials say you should be staying at least 6 feet away from others and working from home, if possible. Use disinfecting wipes or disinfecting spray cleaners on frequently-touched surfaces in your home (door handles, faucets, countertops) and carry hand sanitizer with you when you go into places like stores. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has also issued an executive order requiring people to wear face coverings over their mouth and nose while inside enclosed, public spaces. Read all of MLives coverage on the coronavirus at mlive.com/coronavirus. Additional information is available at Michigan.gov/Coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus. READ MORE Complete coverage at mlive.com/coronavirus ATLANTA - President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is rolling back a foundational Nixon-era environmental law that he says stifles infrastructure projects, but that is credited with keeping big construction projects from fouling up the environment and ensuring there is public input on major projects. Together were reclaiming Americas proud heritage as a nation of builders and a nation that can get things done, Trump said. Trump was in Atlanta to announce changes to National Environmental Policy Act regulations for how and when authorities must conduct environmental reviews, making it easier to build highways, pipelines, chemical and solar plants and other projects. The 1970 law changed environmental oversight in the United States by requiring federal agencies to consider whether a project would harm the air, land, water or wildlife, and giving the public the right of review and input. Critics called Trumps move a cynical attempt to limit the publics ability to examine and influence proposed projects under one of the countrys bedrock environmental protection laws. This may be the single biggest giveaway to polluters in the past 40 years, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that works to save endangered species. Trump has made slashing government regulation a hallmark of his presidency and held it out as a way to boost jobs. Environmental groups say the regulatory rollbacks threaten public health and make it harder to curb global warming. With Congress and the administration divided over how to increase infrastructure investment, the president is relying on his deregulation push to demonstrate progress. Among the major changes in the new rule: limiting when federal environmental reviews of projects are mandated, and capping how long federal agencies and the public have to evaluate and comment on any environmental impact of a project. We wont get certain projects through for environmental reasons. They have to be environmentally sound. But you know what? Were going to know in a year. Were going to know in a year and a half. Were not going to know in 20 years, Trump said. NEPA requires all federal agencies to evaluate the potential environmental effects of proposed projects, but fewer than 1% per cent of those reviews are the kind of complex and detailed review that Trump focused on environmental impact statements. Opponents say the changes the Trump administration made will have an inordinate impact on predominantly minority communities. More than 1 million African Americans live within a half-mile of natural gas facilities and face a cancer risk above the Environmental Protection Agencys level of concern from toxins emitted by those facilities, according to a 2017 study by the Clean Air Task Force and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Donald Trump is taking away the last lines of defence for front-line communities, and continues to demonstrate a total disregard for our environment and for those demanding racial and environmental justice, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former associate administrator in the Obama administrations EPA environmental justice office, said Black and other minority communities will pay with their health and ultimately with their lives for the rules changes. Business groups generally supported the changes. Modernizing and clarifying NEPA could not come at a better time for our country, as we are recovering from COVID-19, said Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration and Production Council, a trade group for oil and gas explorers. For his announcement, Trump chose Georgia, a swing state in the general election. Trump won the Republican-leaning state by 5 percentage points in 2016, but some polls show him trailing former Vice-President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee. This will be Trumps ninth trip to Georgia and his sixth visit to Atlanta during his presidency. The presidents trip also comes as the state has seen coronavirus cases surge and now has tallied more than 12,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths. The White House said the administrations efforts will expedite the expansion of Interstate 75 near Atlanta, an important freight route where traffic can often slow to a crawl. The state will create two interstate lanes designed solely for commercial trucks. The state announced last fall, before the White House unveiled its proposed rule, that it was moving up the deadline for substantially completing the project to 2028. Trump, who spoke at a UPS facility, said the project will save the company and its drivers an extraordinary number of hours a year. Much of the crowd wore a mask, but not all. Trump did not wear a mask. Republican lawmakers applauded the new rule, saying an update was long overdue. We can protect the environment and move our economy forward at the same time. This rule gets that done, said Sen. John Barrasso, the chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Trumps trip to Georgia came one day after former Vice-President Joe Biden announced an infrastructure plan that places a heavy emphasis on improving energy efficiency in buildings and housing as well as promoting conservation efforts in the agriculture industry. In the plan, Biden pledges to spend $2 trillion over four years to promote his energy proposals. Matt Hill, a Biden campaign spokesman, said Trumps regulatory efforts were an attempt to destroy a bipartisan, cornerstone law to distract from the fact that Infrastructure Week never happened and never will happen as long as he is president. ___ Freking reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:57:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAIRO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's top appeals court, on Tuesday upheld the court ruling of life sentences against 89 Islamists including Mohammed Badie, supreme guide of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, over charges of violence and murder. The case dates back to 2013 when the defendants broke into a police station, seized weapons and killed two policemen in the southern Egyptian province of Minya, state-run Ahram newspaper reported. They also set fire to the police cars and documents and helped 31 Islamists break prison. A life sentence in Egypt is 25 years in jail. In addition, 192 others were sentenced to jail terms varying from two to 15 years over the same charges. In a separate case, Badie was sentenced to death for ordering the murder of 10 people in Cairo in 2013. He also received three other life sentences in cases related to espionage for a foreign country and violence. Since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, Egypt has been fighting acts of terrorism that have killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians. Enditem In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, a volunteer receives a COVID-19 test vaccine injection developed at the University of Oxford in Britain, at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make it happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, FIle) Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make that happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. Activists warn that without stronger attempts to hold political, pharmaceutical and health leaders accountable, vaccines will be hoarded by rich countries in an unseemly race to inoculate their populations first. After the recent uproar over the United States purchasing a large amount of a new COVID-19 drug, some predict an even more disturbing scenario if a successful vaccine is developed. Dozens of vaccines are being researched, and some countriesincluding Britain, France, Germany and the U.S.already have ordered hundreds of millions of doses before the vaccines are even proven to work. While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones can't afford to place such speculative bets at all. The key initiative to help them is led by Gavi, a public-private partnership started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that buys vaccines for about 60% of the world's children. In a document sent to potential donors last month, Gavi said those giving money to its new "Covax Facility" would have "the opportunity to benefit from a larger portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines." Gavi told donor governments that when an effective vaccine is found within its pool of experimental shots, those countries would receive doses for 20% of their population. Those shots could be used as each nation wished. That means rich countries can sign deals on their own with drugmakers and then also get no-strings-attached allocations from Gavi. Poorer countries that sign up to the initiative would theoretically get vaccines at the same time to cover 20% of their populations, but they would be obligated to immunize people according to an ethical distribution framework set by the United Nations. The donor countries are "encouraged (but not required) to donate vaccines if they have more than they need," the document says. "By giving rich countries this backup plan, they're getting their cake and eating it too," said Anna Marriott of Oxfam International. "They may end up buying up all the supply in advance, which then limits what Gavi can distribute to the rest of the world." Dr. Seth Berkley, Gavi's CEO, said such criticisms were unhelpful. Right now there's no vaccine for anyone, he said, and "we're trying to solve that problem." Berkley said Gavi needed to make investing in a global vaccine initiative attractive for rich countries. Gavi would try to persuade those countries that if they ordered vaccines already, they should not attempt to obtain more, he said. FILE In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 file photo, Philanthropist and Co-Chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates gestures as he speaks to the audience during the Global Fund to Fight AIDS event at the Lyon's congress hall, central France. Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make it happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. While no country can afford to buy doses of every potential vaccine candidate, many poor ones can't afford to place such speculative bets at all. The key initiative to help them is led by Gavi, a public-private partnership started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that buys vaccines for about 60% of the world's children. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File) But he acknowledged there was no enforcement mechanism. "If, at the end of the day, those legal agreements are broken or countries seize assets or don't allow the provision of vaccines (to developing countries), that's a problem," Berkley said. Gavi asked countries for an expression of intent from those interested in joining its initiative by last Friday. It had expected about four dozen high and middle income countries to sign up, in addition to nearly 90 developing countries. Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which is working with Gavi and others, said they would be talking in the coming weeks with countries who had signed deals with drug companies to secure their own supplies. One possibility: They might ask countries to contribute their private vaccine stockpile to the global pool in exchange for access to whichever experimental candidate proves effective. "We'll have to find a solution because some of these arrangements have been made and I think we have to be pragmatic about it," he said. After a vaccine meeting last month, the African Union said governments should "remove all obstacles" to equal distribution of any successful vaccine. Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention chief John Nkengasong said Gavi should be "pushing hard" on convincing companies to suspend their intellectual property rights. "We don't want to find ourselves in the HIV drugs situation," he said, noting that the life-saving drugs were available in developed countries years before they made it to Africa. Shabhir Mahdi, principal investigator of the Oxford vaccine trial in South Africa, said it was up to African governments to push for more vaccine-sharing initiatives, rather than depending on pharmaceutical companies to make their products more accessible. "If you expect it to be the responsibility of industry, you would never get a vaccine onto the African continent," Mahdi said. Last month, Gavi and CEPI signed a $750 million deal with AstraZeneca to give developing countries 300 million doses of a shot being developed by Oxford University. But that deal happened after the drug company had already signed contracts with Britain and the U.S., who are first in line to get vaccine deliveries in the fall. In this Wednesday, June 24, 2020 file photo, medical staff member prepares a syringe, at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg. Politicians and public health leaders have publicly committed to equitably sharing any coronavirus vaccine that works, but the top global initiative to make it happen may allow rich countries to reinforce their own stockpiles while making fewer doses available for poor ones. (AP Photo/Siphiwe Sibeko, File) "We are working tirelessly to honor our commitment to ensure broad and equitable access to Oxford's vaccine across the globe and at no profit," said AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. He said its contract with Gavi and CEPI marked "an important step in helping us supply hundreds of millions of people around the world, including to those in countries with the lowest means." Chinese President Xi Jinping has also vowed to share any COVID-19 vaccine it develops with African countriesbut only once immunization has been completed in China. The World Health Organization has previously said it hopes to secure 2 billion doses for people in lower-income countries by the end of 2021, including through initiatives like Gavi's. About 85% of the world's 7.8 billion people live in developing countries. Kate Elder, senior vaccines policy adviser at Doctors Without Borders, said Gavi should try to extract more concessions from pharmaceutical companies, including compelling them to suspend patents on the vaccines. "Gavi is in a very delicate position because they're completely reliant on the goodwill" of drug companies, said Elder. She said the system of how vaccines are provided to developing countries needed to be overhauled so that it wasn't based on charity, but on public health need. "We're just having our governments write these blank checks to industry with no conditions attached right now," she said. "Isn't now the time to actually hold them to account and demand we as the public, get more for it?" Yannis Natsis, a policy official at the European Public Health Alliance, said the last thing on the minds of officials in rich countries is sharing with poor ones. "Politicians are scared if they don't throw money at companies, the citizens in the next country over will get the vaccines first and they will look very bad," Natsis said. 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) has observed that human trafficking and irregular migration activities remained widespread in the country despite closure of borders to contain the spread of COVID:19. The Ministry said traffickers had devised new methods of luring victims, through force or deceit for the purpose of sexual exploitation, child labour or domestic servitude. Dr Afisah Zakariah, Chief Director of the Ministry said this at a two-day capacity building workshop against human trafficking and irregular migration for security officers. She said victims ended up suffering all forms of abuse, living in poor conditions, with many developing acute health problems. The training, by the Human Trafficking Secretariat of the Ministry, was part of activities to commemorate this years World Anti-Human Trafficking Day and empowered personnel from the Police Service, Economic and Organised Crime Office and Immigration Service to handle root causes and prevent human trafficking amid COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Zakariah said because Ghana was a source, transit and destination country for human trafficking, the training would enable participants had stronger grip on the issue to identify victims, arrest offenders and prosecute them. She said it was a build-up course to improve on the technical understanding of personnel on victim identification, child labour, child abuse, migration and others. Dr. Zakariah said the capacity building would also orient newly recruits and officers who had replaced those transferred and promoted in various law enforcement agencies working on human trafficking and smuggling. She said the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Human Trafficking mandated the Ministry to support security agencies in building capacity to combat human trafficking and child trafficking. The Chief Director said in 2018, the Ministry trained 45 law enforcement officers from various security agencies, to effectively identify victims, victim protection and combating human trafficking in general. Superintendent Mike Baah, Director of Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, called for collaboration among the security services to clamp-down on the crime. He was hopeful the training would prevent frictions among personnel of the Services, that traffickers took advantage of. Ms Alberta Ampofo, Head of Anti Human Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons Unit of the Ghana Immigration Service, charged the officers to be vigilant to avoid commiting the crime in the name of poverty. Barima Akwasi Amankwah, National Coordinator of the Ghana NGOs Coalition on the Rights of the Child said there was the need to draw the line between the social factors of human trafficking, where people hid under fostering to commit crime. 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 LONDON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Manchester City's two-year ban on competing in UEFA competitions has been lifted, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced on Monday. In February, UEFA confirmed that Manchester City had been banned from European competitions for the next two seasons and fined 30 million euros (32.5 million U.S. dollars) after being found guilty of "serious breaches" of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules. CAS ruled that the Premier League club did not disguise equity funding as sponsorship contributions, but did fail to cooperate with UEFA authorities. CAS then decided that while City's exclusion from participation in UEFA club competitions would be lifted, their fine would be upheld but reduced to 10 million euros. According to the investigation of the independent Adjudicatory Chamber of the UEFA Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), Manchester City was believed to "committed serious breaches of the UEFA Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations by overstating its sponsorship revenue in its accounts and in the break-even information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016". But after "a hearing with the parties, their legal representatives, witnesses and experts on 8, 9 and 10 June 2020," the CAS panel of arbitrators in charge of the matter concluded with a different decision from CFCB. The CAS statement read: "The CAS award emphasized that most of the alleged breaches reported by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the CFCB were either not established or time-barred. As the charges with respect to any dishonest concealment of equity funding were clearly more significant violations than obstructing the CFCB's investigations, it was not appropriate to impose a ban on participating in UEFA's club competitions for MCFC's failure to cooperate with the CFCB's investigations alone." Manchester City welcomed the verdict by releasing a club statement to "thank the panel members for their diligence and the due process that they administered". The oil nouveau riche club confirmed a second-place finish in this season's Premier League with three games remaining. The overturn of the two-year ban means that they will play in the European Champions League next season. UEFA said in a statement that it took note of the decision but emphasized: "Over the last few years, Financial Fair Play has played a significant role in protecting clubs and helping them become financially sustainable". CAS said the final award with reasons will be published on its website in a few days. UEFA said it will be making no further comments on the matter. Three years after flipping a seat in the House of Delegates, Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William, is running for lieutenant governor. Ayala announced her candidacy for the post on Tuesday, becoming the second candidate in the race. If elected, Ayala, who is Afro-Latina, would be the first woman and first woman of color to hold the position. Theres a whirlwind happening, and in a Commonwealth as vast and diverse as ours, we cant make progress or heal discord without bridging divides between our communities and our leaders, between our ideals and our realities, and between our past and where were going, Ayala said in a statement. She is seeking to succeed Justin Fairfax, who became the second African American elected statewide in Virginia when he won the 2017 election. Fairfax is running for governor in 2021. Ayala, 47, is the daughter of a Salvadorian and North African immigrant father and an Irish and Lebanese mother. She's a cyber specialist under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Im running for Lieutenant Governor because I believe my life experiences enable me to be a bridge builder so we can move Virginia forward into a strong, just, and prosperous future," she said. "I think thats what our families want someone who understands their experiences and can bring people together to make progress in their day-to-day lives. Paul Goldman, a former chairman of the state's Democratic Party, is the other announced candidate for lieutenant governor, a part-time position that presides over the state Senate. Del. Elizabeth Guzman, D-Prince William, is exploring a run, a spokeswoman said last month. After building overwhelming statewide support in her run to become Virginias first Latina DNC member, Delegate Guzman is exploring a run to become the first woman and first Hispanic person to serve as Virginia's lieutenant governor with a potential Labor Day launch, said Katie Baker, a spokeswoman for Guzman. Ayala and Guzman were among the Democrats whose election helped nearly flip control of the House in 2017, narrowing the Republican majority to 51-49. The 2019 election saw the majority in the House and Senate flip to Democratic control. That led to a progressive General Assembly session this year that saw passage of, among other things, gun control measures and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which Ayala touted in her announcement. A third Prince William Democrat elected in 2017, Jennifer Carroll Foy, is running for governor next year. Ayala's campaign announced endorsements from Del. Danica Roem, D-Prince William, and Del. Clint Jenkins, D-Suffolk, on Tuesday. Having worked with Hala, I know she has a servants heart, Jenkins said. A proven leader whose contributions extend to the fabric of our nation, its security and prosperity, she knows where were going and how to get us there. Ayala, who helped organize the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C., has two children. MIRABEL, QC, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - i3 BioMedical Inc. today announced that a team of scientists at the University of Toronto tested and established that the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, cannot be recovered after being applied to the TrioMed Active mask. The mask's external surface deactivates >99% of the Coronavirus suspension within minutes. University of Toronto Tests Confirm First Mask From i3 BioMedical Inc That Deactivates Coronavirus (CNW Group/I3 BioMedical Inc.) The TrioMed Active Mask type IIR surgical mask incorporates TrioMed's technology and provides an advanced level of active protection for healthcare workers and the general population. The patented antimicrobial technology is at the core of the company's entire line of medical products such as wound dressings, medical tapes, gloves, headwear, gowns and other personal protective equipment sold globally. A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control established that people touch their face 23 times per hour on average1. Furthermore, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 remains present and infectious on the outer layer of masks for up to 7 days, according to a study published in The Lancet Microbe2. In addition to the warnings issued by governmental authorities pertaining to self-contamination by touching one's mask, these two scientific publications further demonstrate the major deficiency in the level of protection for all wearers of current masks. "The TrioMed Active Mask is the first and only respiratory protection that is scientifically proven to deactivate the virus causing Covid-19, therefore drastically reducing the risk of contamination for the wearer", says Pierre Jean Messier, founder and CEO of i3 Biomedical Inc. "Our company spent years and millions of dollars to develop this interactive antimicrobial technology. The resulting products are used by the medical community around the world and have been tested by independent laboratories to kill numerous microbes, such as MRSA, VRE, E-Coli, Staphylococcus Aureus, Influenza Virus and now SARS-CoV-2 . This third-party scientific testing confirms TrioMed's leading position in medical antimicrobial technology available in the global fight against Covid-19." Features and benefits of the TrioMed Active mask include: Active antimicrobial protection of the mask outer layer deactivates >99% of the Coronavirus SARS 2 and Influenza virus H1N1 Viral filtration efficiency (VFE) > 99.9% Bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) > 99.9% Meets ASTM F2100 Level 3 Meets European Medical Device standard EN 14683 Type IIR Five-year shelf life About i3 BioMedical Inc: i3 BioMedical is a Canadian company, focused on the development and manufacturing of novel antimicrobial products that help prevent the spread of infection and disease. ___________________________________ 1 Kwok YL, Gralton J, McLaws ML. Face touching: a frequent habit that has implications for hand hygiene. Am J Infect Control. 2015;43(2):112-114. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2014.10.015 2 Chin A W H, Chu J T S, Perera M R A, et al. Stability of SARS-CoV-2 in different environmental conditions. Lancet Microbe 2020; published online April 2. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2666-5247(20)30003-3. SOURCE I3 BioMedical Inc. Related Links https://www.i3biomedical.com (Natural News) A 24-year-old mother was killed by a Black Lives Matter mob in Indianapolis last week, allegedly for saying All Lives Matter. (Article by Cassandra Fairbanks republished from TheGatewayPundit.com) Unlike Charlottesville, or any violence from the right, this killing was reported so quietly that barely anyone even noticed. Jessica Doty Whitaker was shot and killed following an altercation with Black Lives Matter thugs who were upset that she and her fiance had said All Lives Matter last Sunday. 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 reports. 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, the victims fiance Jose Ramirez told the station. Her grandfather posted on Facebook that multiple black assailants shot her in the head. Why isnt anybody outraged about this? he asked in the post. Is it that BLM was involved or that it was white young adults that [were] the victims? Whitaker leaves behind a three year old son. She shouldnt have lost her life. Shes got a 3-year-old son she loved dearly, said Ramirez. 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. When asked how the family is holding up, Doty said one day at a time is all we can do. Her sister Jennifer told TGP that they were walking the canal with friends after an awesome Fourth of July celebration. Its heartwrenching to watch my mother explain to my three year old nephew that mommy is an angel in heaven, Jennifer told TGP, adding and him ask when we can go get her and bring her back. Jennifer told TGP that her sister was a Certified Nursing Assistant doing home health care and getting ready to go back to school to become a registered nurse. Her son was her world, she had the kindest heart and was in no way racist towards anyone, Jennifer told TGP. Ramirez says that the hardest part has been explaining to her son Greyson that his mother will not be coming back. Its 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, said Ramirez. A white woman w/ her fiance argued with blm supporters over it (allegedly said all lives matter) The argument ended, blm supporters supposedly left, and as the couple continued on their way, they got ambushed by them & the woman was killed#BlmTerrorismhttps://t.co/mlDfcX0ZUL Magane (@MaganeMeow) July 12, 2020 Were going through a lot. The 3-year-old boy doesnt even understand really, said Ramirez. I just want justice for Jessica and her son and her family. Police are still looking for suspects and have released a video from the area of the murder. Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call the IMPD Homicide Office at 317.327.3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317.262.8477 or (TIPS). A GoFundMe has been launched to help pay for her funeral and take care of her young son. Read more at: TheGatewayPundit.com Libya's parliament has passed a motion authorising Egypt to intervene militarily if needed to safeguard the "national security" of both countries in light of what it termed a Turkish "occupation". The legislature backs military commander Khalifa Haftar, who fought a year-long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to seize the western capital Tripoli from a United Nations-recognised unity government. Haftar is supported by neighbouring Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, while the Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli has the backing of their regional rivals Turkey and Qatar. In a resolution passed late Monday, the legislature in the eastern city of Tobruk authorised "Egyptian armed forces to intervene to protect the national security of Libya and Egypt if they see an imminent danger to both our countries". Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi warned last month that Egypt could send troops into Libya, after the unity government pushed back Haftar's forces from around Tripoli following months of stalemate. El-Sisi explained that any intervention in Libya by Egyptian forces "would be led by the Libyan tribes," and stressed that "we only aspire for stability in Libya." He emphasised that Egypt has no ambitions in Libya, and only wishes to restore security and stability in the country. "We will not be invaders we only want a stable, safe and developed Libya", he said. Libya has seen years of violence since the ouster of long-time leader Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed 2011 uprising, with the GNA and the parliament in the east, elected in 2014, vying for power. Haftar launched an offensive in April 2019 to seize the capital, but the GNA took advantage of Turkish military support including drones to re-impose its control over Libya's northwest. In its statement late Monday evening, the parliament said Libya and Egypt should work together "to guarantee the occupier's defeat and preserve our shared national security" in the face of "the dangers posed by the Turkish occupation". *This story was edited by Ahram Online. Search Keywords: Short link: Sachin Pilot, the Rajasthan deputy chief minister and two ministers in his camp have been dropped from the Ashok Gehlot cabinet, the Congress announced on Tuesday afternoon after the 42-year-old leader credited with leading the partys successful campaign in the last elections refused to stand down. Pilot had stayed away from the Congress legislature meeting in Jaipur on Monday that recommended action against him and other lawmakers of his camp. They had argued that if the party didnt act against the rebels, it would send a wrong message. Also read: Unprecedented - Pilot supporters sharp message on Rajasthan development Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot drove down to Raj Bhavan to make a formal request to the governor to drop Pilot and two ministers from his cabinet as soon as the meeting of lawmakers was over. Governor Kalraj Mishra accepted Gehlots recommendation. The two ministers who have been sacked are Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala stayed back to make the announcement. The Congress party regrets that deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and some of his supporting MLAs fell into the opposition BJPs trap to destabilise the Gehlot government, he told the news conference before announcing Pilots sacking. ALSO WATCH | Sachin Pilot sacked: Watch Congress charge & Pilots response l Key details Pilot has also been sacked as Rajasthan Congress chief. He has been replaced by Govind Singh Dotasara, the minister of education and tourism in Gehlots cabinet. Congress lawmaker Ganesh Ghogra has been appointed to head the states youth Congress unit, replacing Mukesh Bhakar. It is unfortunate that Sachin Pilot and some MLAs supporting him were misguided and became part of the conspiracy of the BJP to topple the Gehlot government. The Congress leader also listed the many posts that Pilot had been appointed to by the Congress, a reference to suggestions that he wanted the party to edge out Ashok Gehlot and appoint him as Rajasthan chief minister. The party always promoted Pilot from a very young age. He became an MP at 26, Union minister at 30-32, a State unit president at 34 and deputy chief minister at 40, Surjewala said. The Congress said Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders had tried to touch base with Sachin Pilot but in vain. Sachin Pilot responded to news of his sacking delivered via the media with a one-line tweet. The truth can be rattled, not defeated, he said. Minutes before the Congress legislators started their meeting, the two ministers who lost their cabinet posts for standing with Pilot put out a statement to counter the perception that they were fighting for a plum posts. We are taking a stand to protect our dignity and self respect at a time when our leader is threatened with notices from the SOG (Special Operations Group) under the charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy, said a joint statement circulated by Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena. A notice to the deputy chief minister was unprecedented in India democracy and the Congress party Public humiliation of our leader Mr. Pilot is something that is totally unacceptable to us, and those responsible for meeting out this treatment need to be made accountable. We are seeking to restore our self respect and are not clamouring for any posts, the statement said. The newly hired general manager and president of The Woodlands current Mesquite city official Jeff Jones will be paid a higher annual salary than the man he is replacing, 14-year veteran Don Norrell. However, Jones two-year contract does not include the massive cash bonuses Norrell has earned each year since 2013 in addition to his base pay. In documents provided by The Woodlands after a public records request, details of the past 12 years of Norrells employment contract reveal a series of small annual raises punctuated by a growing annual bonus that began at $25,000 per year in 2013 is now at $40,000 a year after growing larger in increments of $5,000 over his last seven years of employment. Related: The Woodlands names Mesquite official as new general manager The township also revealed the identities of the final three candidates for the job that was eventually offered to Jones. The identities of 55 applicants were kept secret during the process and the six semi-finalists who survived initial rounds of vetting had interviews during a several-hour, online closed meeting April 27. That day, the township board of directors whittled the final six down to three before ultimately tabbing Jones for the top job at the township in June. Related: Woodlands reveals contract for new general manager; names of other finalists The other two finalists were internal candidate John Powers, who is currently the assistant general manager for community services for the township, and Jose Madrigal, who is the interim solid waste services manager for Irving, Texas. Madrigal continued to interview for The Woodlands job while simultaneously seeking another position with the city of DeSoto, Texas. He was eliminated from contention for that job in February and continued to be considered to replace Norrell into June. Although he has been an employee of what is considered The Woodlands since 2006, Norrell technically became general manager and president of The Woodlands Township on Oct. 15, 2008, when he agreed to a 38.5-month employment contract with the board. Slated to retire on April 30, Norrell agreed to remain on in his position until June 30 due to the disruptions to all facets of government from the COVID-19 pandemic. As the shutdowns and restrictions made in-person interviews for his replacement virtually impossible, the process moved online and was slowed, forcing the township to extend Norrells employment deal until the end of the business day on Sept. 5. He will work as a part-time consultant to Jones at a rate of $185 per hour through June 30, 2021. Originally, he was going to end the consultant period on April 20, 2021. Salary bumps Norrell began with a base salary of $198,000 per year in 2008, with an option to transfer without penalty or loss revenue all his accumulated retirement benefits from his prior position with the community associations. In 2013, he received a $27,000 annual raise in his salary and in 2016, saw his salary bumped up to $236,964 per year. At the end of his career, Norrells annual salary remained at the $236,964 he reached in 2016, but he received series of performance bonuses beginning in 2013. The first bonuses were for $25,000 from 2013 until 2015. In 2016, Norrell earned a $30,000 bonus; in 2017 the bonus increased to $35,000 and in 2019, he received a $40,000 bonus. Other perks in his contract with the township include a $400 per month membership to The Woodlands Country Club and a roughly $44,000 annual contribution into what Norrell described as a fund, to be used for health, life, and dental insurance, short and long term disability insurance coverages and retirement plan contributions. The insurance, disability and employer retirement plan contributions are the same as provided to Township general employees, Norrell added. Comparing contracts Jones begins his initial two-year contract on Aug. 31. In comparison to Norrell, he will have a higher annual pay but not receive the performance bonuses Norrell has received since 2013. Jones contract is up for renewal in one-year increments after the initial two-year period. Jones will earn an annual salary of $242,500, which is slightly more than $5,000 per year than what Norrell earns in the final year of his full-time contract. Norrell has a salary of $236,964 per year with a 2019 performance bonus of $40,000. In regard to paid time off, Jones has 80 hours to utilize from Aug. 31 through Dec. 31, 2020 with an annual 232 hours of paid time off starting Jan. 1, 2021. Jones will receive a $625 monthly personal car allowance for work travel within 100 miles of the township. Norrell had a $1,400 monthly car allowance in his initial contract from 2008 and 232 paid time off hours per year, 176 of which were eligible for future-use rollover starting in 2018. Jones also receives $20,000 in relocation expenses. Norrell received no moving expenses as he was already a township resident at the time he inked his initial contract in October 2018. Bruce Rieser, the vice chairman of the township board, said when it came down to deciding which person would replace Norrell, Jones stood out from the field as the best person in the boards opinion. I think Jeff is going to be a great hire. I am really impressed with his energy. He has a lot of really good ideas about things we can do going forward. I think he connected really well with the staff when he interviewed with them, Rieser said of Jones. Norrell was initially tasked with meshing together numerous community associations and other entities like the fire department and a parks and recreation entity into the modern-day township, a task similar to what Jones may be faced with if incorporation of The Woodlands is put on the ballot and possibly approve by voters in the future. Township board Chairman Gordy Bunch has indicated the issue would only appear on ballots when high-turnout elections occurred, like 2020, 2022 or 2024. The incorporation issue will not be on this years ballot after directors tabled a possible vote due to COVID-19 issues. Related: Coronavirus scuttles incorporation plans for The Woodlands Rieser said the board felt Jones experience in city matters especially with possible incorporation looming in the next few years would help take The Woodlands into the next decade. jeff.forward@chron.com * India sent 77 queries to Chinese firms whose apps banned * Companies questioned on data storage, role of influencers * TikTok-owner ByteDance says working to respond By Aditya Kalra NEW DELHI, July 14 (Reuters) - Chinese companies such as TikTok-owner ByteDance have been asked by India to answer 77 questions about their apps that have been banned by New Delhi, including whether they censored content, worked on behalf of foreign governments or lobbied influencers. India's Information Technology Ministry has given the companies three weeks to respond to the questionnaire, which has been seen by Reuters, and said unspecified follow-up action would be taken, two sources said. India last month banned the apps following a border clash between soldiers from the two countries, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead. India has said the apps pose a threat to its "sovereignty and integrity". China has criticised the ban. The 59 banned apps, which include TikTok and Alibaba's UC Browser, were asked whether they acted at the behest of any foreign government to edit, promote or demote any content. One theme of the questionnaire is whether content was censored after an attack last year carried out by a Pakistan-based militant group in Pulwama district in Kashmir. The attack killed at least 40 Indian police officers and heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. "In the aftermath of the Pulwama Attack of 2019, did the company/app censor content relating to the attack or its perpetrators?" the question reads. TikTok said it was working to respond to the ministry's queries and that it complied with all Indian laws, adding that users' data security and privacy were its top priorities. The app ban has jolted the ambitions of ByteDance in India, where its TikTok video app was hugely popular. Neither Alibaba nor the Indian ministry responded to requests for comment. A source familiar with the government's thinking said the queries were in line with federal procedures and the same questions were sent to all affected companies. Story continues One question seeks to investigate if company executives in India communicated with film stars, social media influencers or journalists to promote any content, even if the communication was not for commercial purposes. Other queries were around advertisers, business structures, taxation practices and privacy policies, the document showed. The government also asked the app companies whether they had faced any investigation in the United States, European Union or elsewhere for surreptitiously harvesting user data. (Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Alison Williams) Moscow, July 14 : Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed in a phone conversation developments in Syria and Libya, as well as the fate of Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia, the Kremlin said. Putin and Erdogan emphasized the importance of stepping up efforts to promote a Syrian settlement, including in the Astana format based on agreements reached at the Russian-Turkish-Iranian online summit held on July 1, it said in a statement on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. The parties highly appreciated the interaction between the Russian and Turkish defence ministries, which helped stabilize the situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib and in the country's northeast, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan reiterated the need for an early end to the armed confrontation and a return to the negotiation process in Libya on the basis of the decisions of the Berlin Conference held on January 19, approved by UN Security Council and agreed to intensify joint political and diplomatic efforts in this area, it said. Putin drew the attention of Erdogan to the significant public outcry in Russia over the decision to change the status of the Hagia Sophia, which served as a museum since 1935, to a mosque. Erdogan said access to this unique monument of world civilization will be guaranteed for everyone, including foreign citizens, and Christian shrines will be preserved, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan also exchanged views on certain issues on the bilateral agenda, including the prospects for the resumption of tourism as the COVID-19 situation improves, it said. The team at Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca in Morocco has announced that its doors will be opening to the public on July 15, just in time to enjoy summer in the citys most coveted urban oasis. The property welcomes guests back with stringent hygiene and safety measures in place so that they can relax with confidence. In addition to the routine cleaning and hygiene procedures carried out in all areas of the Hotel, a dedicated sanitation team will sterilise the common areas at regular intervals every day to ensure that guests continue to enjoy renowned Four Seasons comfort in a safe and secure environment. While the Four Seasons experience may look different, it will feel the same. Our dedicated people are committed to delivering the same intuitive service and personalised care for which we are known and trusted for the world over, explained General Manager Mehdi Zaanoun. Always focused on the health of guests and employees as a top priority, Four Seasons Hotels Casablanca encourages the use of Four Seasons App and Chat for a touchless experience. This award-winning service will further allow guests to control how they engage with employees. With the App and Chat, guests will have direct access to property teams in 100+ different languages. From the comfort of their own device, the App provides a contactless experience that does not compromise Four Seasons genuine care and signature service. Guests can enjoy fine dining at one of the Hotels restaurant outlets including Mint and the outdoor seasonal restaurant Latitude33, which boasts a new menu by Executive Chef Christophe Laplaza. Patrons staying at the property can also enjoy in-room dining in the comfort of their room and order-in using the FS App. Le Spa as well as the fitness centre will operate with new hygiene measures and social distancing rules in place. Inspired by the heritage of the famous coastal city and the relaxed yet sophisticated style of the Hotel, guests can enjoy the summer weather in the propertys lush outdoor area, which features a pool, private cabanas and direct access to the Atlantic beach. Casablanca Staycation Bring the family closer, reconnect with loved ones or simply take time for oneself with a relaxing staycation experience at Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca. Travel closer to home to enjoy endless ocean breezes, intuitive Four Seasons service and world-class facilities. Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca is now more than ever a distinctive urban oasis. This offer is available exclusively to Moroccan residents. With its dedicated teams, Four Seasons Hotel Casablanca promises guests a beautiful summer in magical Casablanca with exclusive services and personalised experiences. - TradeArabia News Service There appear to be vague references to the oath on social media and internet message boards going back to early June. But it took off on June 24 after a so-called Q drop that is, a post by the person purporting to be Q, the originator of the movement who claims to be a high-ranking official with access to top-secret information. The post was on 8kun, a new message board that has quickly become a home for all flavors of conspiracy theorists and extremists, especially QAnon followers. Individually and collectively, we will never, and should never, forget the shocking video images of the brutal murder, now formally charged, of George Floyd. ACTEC will not be silent in the face of these events but will state here affirmatively: ACTEC condemns racism in all its forms. Stephen R. Akers, President of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC), today issued a statement regarding recent events stoking civil unrest, delineating the Colleges position and commitment to the renouncement of racism in all its forms. ACTECs Diversity and Inclusivity Committee developed the statement, which exemplifies the fundamental issues and values to which the College is committed. ACTEC Statement Condemning Racism ACTEC is a non-partisan, apolitical organization. However, the College considers the historical, continuing, and devastating impact of institutionalized racism against people of color in our society to be a humanitarian, rather than a political issue. Individually and collectively, we will never, and should never, forget the shocking video images of the brutal murder, now formally charged, of George Floyd. ACTEC will not be silent in the face of these events but will state here affirmatively: ACTEC condemns racism in all its forms. ACTEC will continue to strive to be, and publicly commits to be, anti-racist. ACTEC agrees that as we strive to be an anti-racist society, we cannot attain that goal without acknowledging that Black lives matter. ACTEC acknowledges that, in a culture and society where white supremacy has been institutionalized, systemic racism exists; therefore, a failure to embrace strong anti-racist practices and policies will merely perpetuate racism. While we remain committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment, we too must do more as a College. We pledge to take additional anti-racist actions, and we encourage all ACTEC Fellows to actively strive to eliminate all forms of racism in their personal and professional lives. ACTEC acknowledges and accepts that, in time, we all will be judged not only by our words, but also by our actions. About the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC): Established in 1949, The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) is a national, nonprofit association of approximately 2,500 lawyers and law professors from throughout the United States and abroad. ACTEC members (Fellows) are peer-elected on the basis of professional reputation and expertise in the preparation of wills and trusts, estate planning, probate, trust administration and related practice areas. The Colleges mission includes the improvement and reform of probate, trust and tax laws and procedures and professional practice standards. ACTEC frequently offers technical comments with regard to legislation and regulations but does not take positions on matters of policy or political objectives. Faith vs safety in burials: COVID-19 remains in dead bodies for 9 days says Centre COVID-19 deaths, hospitalisations and lockdowns could be over this year, says WHO 80 Metro Rail workers test positive, shifted to COVID centre India pti-PTI Bengaluru, July 14: About 80 workers associated with the Metro Rail work have been found infected with the coronavirus, a Bangalore Metrol Rail Corporation Limited official said on Tuesday. "About 80 workers working at the Reach-6 underground work tested positive for coronavirus last week," BMRCL chief public relations officer B L Yashwanth Chavan told PTI. Stating that all those who tested positive have been shifted to the COVID care centres in different locations, Chavan said he has no information whether anyone has developed any complications. Coronavirus: Number of COVID-19 cases in India crosses the 9-lakh-mark; 553 deaths in last 24 hours According to Chavan, most of those infected are migrant workers from different parts of the country. Another BMRCL official said a week ago one of them came to the site with fever. "Everyday before letting them to the work site, we conduct fever test and one of them was found having mild fever. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Accordingly, we got him tested and he was found COVID positive," the officer added. Later, all of them were tested and about 80 of them were found infected by the virus. As per the protocol, the camp where they were staying has been sanitised and all the dwellers have been isolated at different places. Their swabs have also been collected for tests, the officer added. UAE-based security firm has denied allegations of lying to Sudanese about the nature of their expected work in Libya. Hundreds of Sudanese protested outside the United Arab Emirates embassy in Khartoum on Tuesday against a dubious recruitment drive to fight for renegade Libyan commander Khalifa Haftars forces. Demonstrators demanded an apology and compensation from the UAE authorities for being deceived by Emirati company Black Shield Security Services and forced to serve in Haftars militias instead of the jobs promised as ordinary security guards. We demand an apology from the UAE to the Sudanese people because we are not mercenaries, said Abu Alma Ali Hamza Taha, a protester. Ahmad Babakr, another demonstrator, threatened to take the issue to the United Nations and human rights groups if the UAE embassy failed to respond to our demands. Black Shield Security Services has previously denied allegations of lying to Sudanese nationals about the nature of their expected work in Libya. Failed assault The UAE a main backer of Haftar along with Egypt and Russia has been accused by the United Nations and rights organisations of breaking a UN arms embargo on Libya by sending weapons and mercenaries to fight for Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA). A UN report last October said thousands of Sudanese were fighting alongside the LNA against forces from the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA). Haftars forces have been on the back foot after military support from Turkey helped GNA fighters repel his 14-month assault to seize the capital, Tripoli. The GNA has recaptured the key al-Witaya airbase and the city of Tarhuna in recent weeks, and now has set its sights on the strategic city of Sirte. Haftar has deployed thousands of foreign mercenaries, including Sudanese and Chadian fighters, for the looming battle for the city the last significant settlement before the traditional boundary between Libyas west and east. Whoever controls Sirte controls Libyas main oil export ports. Sudan crackdown The presence of Sudanese men deceived by the UAEs Black Shield Security Services and taken to Libya has been widely reported by the United Nations. 200120142328437 Sudanese authorities in June, meanwhile, arrested more than 100 citizens who were set to travel to Libya for combat. State news agency SUNA quoted Brigadier Jamal Jumaa, spokesman for the Rapid Reaction Forces, as saying joint security forces detained 122 outlaws, including eight children, who were heading to fight as mercenaries in Libya. SUNA published a video showing dozens of young men sitting on the ground, surrounded by military vehicles carrying soldiers armed with assault rifles. The UN report last year said thousands of Sudanese militiamen were stationed in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. The paramilitaries were deployed to protect oil infrastructure while Haftars main forces continued their attack on Tripoli, it said. Drums of war GNA spokesman Mohamad Gnounou pledged on Tuesday that its forces would advance towards the cities taken hostage and eradicate all outlaw groups an allusion to pro-Haftar forces. Egypts military said on Saturday that it had carried out exercises involving navy, air force, and special forces near the Libyan border in response to the severe and rapid changes in the region. The UAE on Tuesday issued an implicit warning to GNA forces advancing on Sirte. The drums of the war raging around Sirte in Libya threaten serious developments and dangerous humanitarian and political consequences, tweeted Anwar Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs. We in the UAE call for an immediate ceasefire and for wisdom to prevail, he added, calling for inter-Libyan dialogue within clear international frameworks. Years of international efforts have so far failed to bring a lasting peace to the North African country, which has the continents largest proven oil reserves. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in June called Sirte a red line for Egypt, while Turkey has urged Haftar to withdraw from the strategic city and negotiate a ceasefire. Libya analyst Jalel Harchaoui of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague said despite the rhetoric, he did not see the imminent risk of a major military escalation. The military reality around Sirte has not changed significantly in the past two weeks, said Harchaoui. Sirte remained well-defended by pro-Haftar Russian and Syrian mercenaries with UAE logistical support, as well by dangerous minefields to the west of the city, he added. Cairos political desire for a visible and official Egyptian intervention remains very tenuous, Harchaoui said. At a time of regional economic and coronavirus pandemic woes, he continued, Egypt has other problems at the moment. Chris Hemsworth goes on holiday. Chris Hemsworth gets a haircut. Chris Hemsworth rubs his tummy after lunch. Every time Chris Hemsworth steps outside, Australias culture shifts (if the tabloids are to be believed). But, for once, with the countrys lockdown in various stages of undress, and as the nations perception of ~travel~ changes perhaps irreversibly, Chris Hemsworths latest jaunt up the coast reveals more than just his abs. Chris Hemsworth and his familys latest holiday destination, and their choice to keep it under wraps, besides providing a damning indictment on the Byron paparazzi, demonstrates a lost holiday art every Australian couple (whether youve got kids or not) can learn from. The art of losing touch. Also: the humble road trip. Forget soaring Amalfi Coast views and Portofino prosecco, a nondescript stretch of east (or west) coast sand could be the key to switching off your brain box; less bills, less flights, less hassle. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth) on Dec 8, 2019 at 7:33am PST Once there, your second key to a truly refreshing holiday is as follows: leave your phone alone. As DMARGE reported last year, study after study shows the benefits of disconnecting especially when travelling. On top of that, numerous (see here and here) professional backpackers say losing touch is a feature not a bug of the travel experience. Put another way: unless youre someone that can have their Instagram and eat it too, if you stay in the loop while away youll find yourself taking photos when you should be inhaling, posing when you should be basking and curating when you should be doing. It seems Chris Hemsworth and Elsa Pataky have realised this. As news.com.au reports, since racing north for a Queensland getaway once the state border reopened last Friday, they [Chris, brother Liam and Elsa] havent posted a single happy snap to their 60 million-odd combined Instagram following. That said, a couple of their less famous friends have kept fans updated. View this post on Instagram A post shared by April Munro (@aprilmun) on Jul 12, 2020 at 9:07pm PDT Also present on the low-key family trip to Rainbow Beach north of Noosa were Hemsworth family friends April and Luke Munro and their kids, news.com.au reports. April posted pics from the getaway to her Instagram account with cameos from a few A-list faces. But hey: as long as someone else is doing the shutter bugging, the holiday is yours to enjoy. Take note, Australia. Read Next Melbourne residents are being encouraged to wear face masks in public as the state of Victoria battles a surge in coronavirus cases. And footy WAG Rebecca Judd revealed on the 3pm Pick-Up on Monday that she had suffered a 'COVID fail' recently when she wore her mask the wrong way around. Recalling the embarrassing gaffe, the mother of four, 37, said: 'There have been articles going around of how to wear a mask properly.' Oh dear! Footy WAG Rebecca Judd (pictured) revealed on the 3pm Pick-Up on Monday that she had suffered a 'COVID fail' recently when she wore her mask the wrong way around 'I've got the single-use ones, but I had them on the wrong way. I had the white on the outside; it's the blue [that should be on the outside]. I'm such an idiot,' she added. The correct way to wear a single-use surgical mask is by wearing the coloured part facing outward, while the white side faces inward, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Rebecca noted that while it's important to wear face masks, there is a downside. Wrong way: 'I've got the single-use ones, but I had them on the wrong way. I had the white on the outside; it's the blue [that should be on the outside]. I'm such an idiot,' she said She explained that after having her morning coffee, she put a mask on and caught a whiff of her coffee breath. 'It's a real reminder, because it's like this little air cloud of just you breathing in your own air,' she said. 'I think, coronavirus aside, this'll be really good for dental hygiene, wearing masks!' Rude awakening: She went on to explain that after having her morning coffee, she put a mask on and caught a whiff of her coffee breath Rebecca's observation comes after the Melbourne metropolitan area and Mitchell Shire were forced into lockdown last Wednesday for six weeks, as the state battles a major coronavirus outbreak. Victoria's second wave recorded 177 new cases on Monday, bringing the total number of active cases to 1,612. Rebecca and her husband, retired AFL star Chris Judd, share four children, son Oscar, eight, daughter Billie, six, and three-year-old twin boys Tom and Darcy. Advertisement The US population will grow until 2062, then shrink - alongside 182 other countries around the world - to 336 million by 2100, a new study predicts. Fertility rates in the US and abroad have been declining and are expected to continue to do so for decades to come, driving the number of people in many nations down for the next 80 years, according to the new research from the University of Washingtons Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Women are having fewer children as more widespread gender equality allows them to pursue educations, and careers and improved access to contraception - shifts that delay the age at which women start to have children and the limiting the number of kids they ultimately give birth to. By 2100, the authors of the new study, published in The Lancet, predict the average American woman will have just 1.5 children, 17.7 percent lower than 2017s fertility rate of 1.8 children per woman. These falling birth rates are expected to drive the US population down from its 2062 peak of 364 million to 336 million by 2100. Coupled with aging populations, declining fertility could shrink the populations of 23 countries - including Japan, Thailand, Italy and Spain. The result will be a global population that shrinks from a peak of 9.7 billion to 8.8billion by 2100. Meanwhile, the American life expectancy is continuing to extend, according to new research from Harvard Universitys TH Chan School of Public Health, meaning that more people will live longer past the years when they contribute to the economy or to population growth. But the UW scientists caution against putting societal pressure on women to have more children, which could offset the important public health, educational and economic benefits women have gained by delayed having children. Instead, they say that the US, as well as other nations, will need to lean on immigration to replace the population, a key factor to keep economies stable or growing - but one that may face resistance in the US, where the political climate has increasingly turned against liberal immigration policies. The US is among the countries (in purple, dark blue and dark green) that already have birth rates that are too low for the population to stay the same size or to grow, according to the study. Once the largest generations start to die off in those nations the populations will begin to shrink The US has a population of about 331 million people, accounting for about 4.2 percent of the 7.8 billion people on Earth. In order for the global population to be replaced - meaning the number of people would remain the same over time - each woman in the world would have to have 2.1 children. Already, the US is well below that, with 1.77 births per women, as of 2017 (the most recent year for which there is complete data). Globally, the birth rate is about 2.4 births per woman - enough to continue to continue to replace the population, but by a fairly slim margin that the IHME team expects to fade over over the next 50 years. Earth's population will peak in 44 years at around 9.7billion before it starts to shrink again, according to scientists who predict Nigeria will eventually be home to more people than China. After 2064 the total number of people will start to fall because of a decline in the number of children people are having, dropping by 900 million to 8.8 billion by 2100. Currently, the US is the third most populous country in the world - behind only China and India. But by 2100, it will fall to the fourth most populated nation, the IHME model predicts. Birth rates hit a record low in the US for the fourth year in a row in 2019, falling one percent from 2018. With 3.75 million births, it was the least fertile year for Americans since 1985, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Populations will only grow or stay stable if women have an average of 2.1 children each but better education and contraception will stop this in future because women will be more able to work instead of staying at home as mothers and wives, experts say. Many countries already have lower birth rates than are necessary to sustain population sizes, including most of Europe, Russia, Canada and the US, Brazil, China and Australia. In the coming decades, older citizens in these countries will start to die at a faster rate than they are replaced and the populations will shrink. Some countries, including Japan, Spain and Thailand will see their communities shrink by a staggering 50 per cent or more, the University of Washington researchers predicted. Nigeria is set to become one of the largest, wealthiest countries in the world by the end of this century, while India, China, USA, Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will have the other largest populations As populations in the West shrink faster than they will in Africa and Asia it will take another 80 years or more for birth rates to drop below sustaining levels in some slower-developing countries a global power shift will emerge. Crucially, falling fertility rates and growing elderly populations mean a shrinking workforce. In June 2020, there were more than 206 million working age (15-64) people in the US. By 2100, that number is expected to fall to 181 million, at which point the US will have the fourth largest potential workforce in the world, behind India, Nigeria and China. Nigeria is set to become one of the largest, wealthiest countries in the world by the end of this century, the team believe. The US will remain the top global power except for a period in around 30 years' time when China will succeed it before dropping down again. India will be the world's most populated country in 2100, the study says, with 1.09billion people it currently has 1.3bn, second only to China (1.4bn). It will be followed by Nigeria (791m), China (732m), the US (336m), Pakistan (248m) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (246m) in Africa. And the economies of Indonesia and Turkey will make inroads to become two of the 12 most powerful nations by 2100 as Brazil and Russia slip down the global rankings. The US boasted the largest economy in the world in 2017, but China continues to threaten its position at the top of the financial food chain. Fertility rates are shifting downward across the globe, and will only continue to do so if education continues to improve worldwide, the IMHE model predicts According to the new research, China will succeed in overtaking the US by 2035 - but not permanently. By 2098, the IHME scientists believe the US will once again reclaim its place as the top economy in the world, a position the nation will only be able to regain if it continues to have one of the highest rates of immigration in the world. 'For the US, I think this is a relatively simple q and also countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand have been sustaining a population in the past where women have fertility rates below the level needed to maintain the population,' lead study author Dr Stein Emil Vollset todl DailyMail.com. 'So this is nothing new, but...the US will also see much more severe effects of aging [in the next 80 years] like have been seen in high income countries where population decline has already started to happen in Italy, Spain and in France.' The population of the UK (currently 66m) will peak in 2063 at 75 million before falling back to 71.5 million by the turn of the century. In the US (333m) the peak will be at 363 million a year earlier, in 2062, before it drops to 336 million. And the economies of Indonesia, Turkey will make inroads to become two of the 12 most powerful nations by 2100 as Brazil and Russia slip down the global rankings. The number of working age adults in the US (lime green) has stayed and will continue to stay relatively stable, so long as the nation continues to have a large influx of immigrants The research was done by a team of 24 scientists led by Dr Christopher Murray and Professor Stein Vollset from the University of Washington in Seattle. The study was published in UK medical journal The Lancet. Dr Murray said: 'Continued global population growth through the century is no longer the most likely trajectory for the world's population.' The scientists who did the study said birth rates are expected to fall globally as more and more countries become modernised and traditional roles of women as mothers and homemakers fade away. WHICH WILL BE THE WORLD'S TOP ECONOMIES IN 2100? The University of Washington study predicted many of the world's top economies will remain powerful over the next 80 years but there will be some reshuffling in the ranks. These are their predictions, based on gross domestic product (GDP): Country USA China India Japan Germany France UK Australia Nigeria Canada Turkey Indonesia Brazil Russia Mexico Rank in 2100 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Rank in 2017 1 2 7 3 4 5 6 12 28 11 17 16 8 10 15 Advertisement Greater availability and affordability of contraception in countries that currently have poor healthcare will mean that unplanned children will become less common and not just a consequence of sex. Better education for girls, improving women's rights and employment opportunities will also mean more women have full schooling and careers, making them less likely to have large families. This is projected to lead to a drop in the fertility rate of the world's population, from an average of 2.37 children per woman 237 children from every 100 women to 1.66, or 166 children for every 100 women. The fertility rate must be 2 for a population to remain stable and 2.1 for it to increase, the researchers said. To keep a community the same size a mother must, on average, not only replace herself but also the baby's father. It could fall to as low as 1.17 in Poland, the study claimed, and to 1.2 in Spain. A total of 23 countries are predicted to see their populations shrink by a staggering 50 per cent or more. They are: Latvia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ukraine, Cuba, Romania, Poland, Andorra, Moldova, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Taiwan, Japan, Serbia, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Spain. However, the scientists were adamant that fears about shrinking, ageing populations and the effects they might have on the economy must not lead to a slowdown in the march for women's rights. Professor Vollset said: 'Responding to population decline is likely to become an overriding policy concern in many nations, but must not compromise efforts to enhance womens reproductive health or progress on womens rights.' Dr Murray and colleagues said their work goes against the United Nations, which projects the population of the world will continue growing for the rest of the century. But they acknowledge that the global population is likely to explode in the next 40 years, rising by more than two billion people. Much of this growth will be in sub-Saharan Africa, where birth rates are already high. The Lancet study predicted the population of sub-Saharan Africa which includes Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya will triple between now and 2100, from 1.03billion in 2017 to 3.07billion in 80 years' time as health improvements bring the continent's death rate down. Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa and the Middle East will be the only regions where the populations are higher in 2100 than they were in 2017, the study said (left). In sub-Saharan Africa the population is expected to triple in that time. Niger and Chad (right), both in Africa, will see their populations soar in the next 80 years, increasing more than seven-fold, the scientists said The economies of Indonesia, Turkey will make inroads to become two of the 12 most powerful nations by 2100 as Brazil and Russia slip down the global rankings North Africa and the Middle East is the only other region that will have a bigger population in 2100 than it does now, the researchers said, with the number of people there rising from 600million to 978million. MIGRATION 'WILL BE NECESSARY FOR ECONOMIES TO SURVIVE' Many wealthy European and Asian countries will see their populations shrink dramatically over the next 80 years, the Lancet study claims. And low birth rates and improved survival will mean their average ages increase, with over-80s expected to outnumber under-fives by two to one around the world by 2100. One impact of this will be drastically reduced workforces in some countries such as Japan, Italy and Spain, which are forecast to see populations more than halve. In a bid to boost the number of people working in a country and keep its economy healthy, migration and international co-operation may become a necessity. Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, from University College London, was not involved in the University of Washington study but said in a commentary: 'Ultimately, if Murray and colleagues predictions are even half accurate, migration will become a necessity for all nations and not an option... 'The choice that we face is whether we improve health and wealth by allowing planned population movement or if we end up with an underclass of imported labour and unstable societies. 'The Anthropocene has created many challenges such as climate change and greater global migration. The distribution of working-age populations will be crucial to whether humanity prospers or withers.' He added: 'Nations would need to cooperate at levels that have eluded us to date to strategically support and fund the development of excess skilled human capital in countries that are a source of migrants. 'The projected changes in the sizes of national economies and the consequent change in military power might force these discussions.' Advertisement For many countries in other parts of Asia and in Europe, populations will shrink because birth rates are already low. In some countries populations will drop by more than half. In Japan the researchers estimated the population would fall from around 128million in 2017 to 60million in 2100 a fall of 53 per cent. In Thailand it is projected to drop from 71m to 35m (51 per cent); in Spain from 46m to 23m (50 per cent); in Italy 61m to 31m (49 per cent); in Portugal from 11m to just 5m (55 per cent); and in South Korea from 53m to 27m (49 per cent). A further 34 countries are expected to see their populations drop by between 25 and 50 per cent, including China, where the number of people is projected to fall from 1.4billion to 732million. The researchers said that the average age of people will rise as a result of lower birth rates and better survival, meaning the working age population will shrink and economies would suffer. Some of the oldest countries will have to rely on immigration to make sure they have enough people to keep industry going, the scientists warned. Professor Vollset said: 'The societal, economic, and geopolitical power implications of our predictions are substantial. 'In particular, our findings suggest that the decline in the numbers of working-age adults alone will reduce GDP growth rates that could result in major shifts in global economic power by the centurys end.' The researchers also projected a major increase in the number of elderly people. Over-80s will outnumber under-fives by two to one by the end of the century as fertility falls and life expectancy increases. At the moment there are 681million children under the age of five a figure that will fall to 401million. The number of individuals older than 80, meanwhile, is projected to increase six fold, from 141million to 866million. Professor Vollset said this may have a major impact on the workforce. 'While population decline is potentially good news for reducing carbon emissions and stress on food systems, with more old people and fewer young people, economic challenges will arise as societies struggle to grow with fewer workers and taxpayers. 'Countries' abilities to generate the wealth needed to fund social support and health care for the elderly [will be] reduced.' Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet, added: 'This important research charts a future we need to be planning for urgently. 'This will truly be a new world, one we should be preparing for today.' Jada Pinkett Smiths mother Adrienne Banfield-Norris recently uploaded a picture of herself where she is seen flaunting her abs. Adrienne Banfield-Norris is also the co-host of Red Table Talk. This selfie was posted by her just a day before the Red Table Talk episode where her daughter Jada addressed cheating rumours with her husband Will Smith. In the mirror selfie, The 66-year old actor Adrienne Banfield-Norris was seen donning a white and black athleisure outfit. Her messy bun and glasses gave her a chic look. Adrienne Banfield-Norris shared the picture with the caption, Trying to motivate myself to get back in the gym. A good look in the mirror always does the trick! Elliptical here I come [sic] Also Read| Will Smith cries while talking about the complexities of fatherhood with wife Jada Pinkett Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith's Red Table Talk Hollywood actor Will Smith sat down with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith for an episode of Red Table Talk. Jada Pinkett Smith admitted that she was in a relationship with August Alsina, who was then 23 years old. The 48-year-old actor stated that she was in an 'entanglement' with Alsina 4 years previously when she and Will Smith had hit a rough patch. In the Facebook watch show, Jada Pinkett Smith stated the truth behind the rumours that have been doing the rounds for quite some time. Despite saying that she believes that the matter is personal and should not have gone public, she stated that it was necessary for her to disclose the truth. In the video, Jada can be heard saying, I started a friendship with August and we actually became really, really good friends. It all started with him just needing some help. I wanted to help me wanting to help his health, his mental state. Also Read| Jada Pinkett Smith to move to 'The Red Table' to address August Alsina's affair claim Will Smith further confirmed that August Alsina was really sick when he first came around. He went on to say that the Smiths helped him pull through a very difficult time. Jada Smith went on to talk about her relationship with August, saying that she and Will were going through a 'difficult' time. When Will Smith asked Jada to elaborate about Jada's relationship with Alsina, she said, I got into an entanglement with August. When the actor pushed her to describe the entanglement, Jada Pinkett Smith, confirmed saying, yes it was a relationship, absolutely. Also Read| Jada Pinkett Smith confirms she was romantically involved with August Alsina; Read details Also Read| Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith's combined net worth will leave you speechless 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. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) The space launch schedule for the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in a Kazakstan steppe has not been affected by a coronavirus outbreak in the eponymous town nearby, Russian space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said Monday. "I am not going to make any changes. We are not even discussing the idea of moving [the schedule]," Rogozin told Russian radio KP. The head of the Roscosmos space corporation said that a Progress cargo craft would lift off for the International Space Station on July 23, while a Proton rocket with communication satellites would head for the orbit on July 30. Separately, Rogozin criticized the US landing project for "departing from the principles of cooperation and mutual support" that US astronauts have been honoring while working alongside the Russians aboard the orbital station. "It is a big political project for the US ... This program is like a NATO to them, rather than an international [effort]," he said. NASA's Artemis program aims to bring Americans back to the moon by 2024. The US space administration says it will collaborate with commercial and international partners to establish sustainable exploration of Earth's only natural satellite by the end of the decade. Rogozin called this plan US-centric. "There is America and everyone else are to help and pay it. Frankly, we are not interested in being part of this project," he added. The official said Russia would build a lunar station together with China. The US will be welcome to join, he noted. "I do not rule out that this project will open to all interested parties, including the Americans. But Russia and China will play the leading role," Rogozin said. He said he had a teleconference on Monday with his Chinese counterpart and friend, National Space Administration Zhang Kejian. They agreed to make first steps toward "outlining the lunar scientific base's framework and mission." In 2019, the MAGIC telescopes detected the first Gamma Ray Burst at very high energies. This was the most intense gamma-radiation ever obtained from such a cosmic object. But the GRB data have more to offer: with further analyses, the MAGIC scientists could now confirm that the speed of light is constant in vacuum - and not dependent on energy. So, like many other tests, GRB data also corroborate Einstein's theory of General Relativity. The study has now been published in Physical Review Letters. Einstein's general relativity (GR) is a beautiful theory which explains how mass and energy interact with space-time, creating a phenomenon commonly known as gravity. GR has been tested and retested in various physical situations and over many different scales, and, postulating that the speed of light is constant, it always turned out to outstandingly predict the experimental results. Nevertheless, physicists suspect that GR is not the most fundamental theory, and that there might exist an underlying quantum mechanical description of gravity, referred to as quantum gravity (QG). Some QG theories consider that the speed of light might be energy dependent. This hypothetical phenomenon is called Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Its effects are thought to be too tiny to be measured, unless they are accumulated over a very long time. So how to achieve that? One solution is using signals from astronomical sources of gamma rays. Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful and far away cosmic explosions, which emit highly variable, extremely energetic signals. They are thus excellent laboratories for experimental tests of QG. The higher energy photons are expected to be more influenced by the QG effects, and there should be plenty of those; these travel billions of years before reaching Earth, which enhances the effect. GRBs are detected on a daily basis with satellite borne detectors, which observe large portions of the sky, but at lower energies than the ground-based telescopes like MAGIC. On January 14, 2019, the MAGIC telescope system detected the first GRB in the domain of teraelectronvolt energies (TeV, 1000 billion times more energetic than the visible light), hence recording by far the most energetic photons ever observed from such an object. Multiple analyses were performed to study the nature of this object and the very high energy radiation. Tomislav Terzi?, a researcher from the University of Rijeka, says: "No LIV study was ever performed on GRB data in the TeV energy range, simply because there was no such data up to now. For over twenty years we were anticipating that such observation could increase the sensitivity to the LIV effects, but we couldn't tell by how much until seeing the final results of our analysis. It was a very exciting period." Naturally, the MAGIC scientists wanted to use this unique observation to hunt for effects of QG. At the very beginning, they however faced an obstacle: the signal that was recorded with the MAGIC telescopes decayed monotonically with time. While this was an interesting finding for astrophysicists studying GRBs, it was not favorable for LIV testing. Daniel Kerszberg, a researcher at IFAE in Barcelona said: "when comparing the arrival times of two gamma-rays of different energies, one assumes they were emitted instantaneously from the source. However, our knowledge of processes in astronomical objects is still not precise enough to pinpoint the emission time of any given photon". Traditionally the astrophysicists rely on recognizable variations of the signal for constraining the emission time of photons. A monotonically changing signal lacks those features. So, the researchers used a theoretical model, which describes the expected gamma-ray emission before the MAGIC telescopes started observing. The model includes a fast rise of the flux, the peak emission and a monotonic decay like that observed by MAGIC. This provided the scientists with a handle to actually hunt for LIV. A careful analysis then revealed no energy-dependent time delay in arrival times of gamma rays. Einstein still seems to hold the line. "This however does not mean that the MAGIC team was left empty handed", said Giacomo D'Amico, a researcher at Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich; "we were able to set strong constraints on the QG energy scale". The limits set in this study are comparable to the best available limits obtained using GRB observations with satellite detectors or using ground-based observations of active galactic nuclei. Cedric Perennes, postdoctoral researcher at the university of Padova added: "We were all very happy and feel privileged to be in the position to perform the first study on Lorentz invariance violation ever on GRB data in TeV energy range, and to crack the door open for future studies!" In contrast to previous works, this was the first such test ever performed on a GRB signal at TeV energies. With this seminal study, the MAGIC team thus set a foothold for future research and even more stringent tests of Einstein's theory in the 21st century. Oscar Blanch, spokesperson of the MAGIC collaboration, concluded: "This time, we observed a relatively nearby GRB. We hope to soon catch brighter and more distant events, which would enable even more sensitive tests." Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. ALBANY A recent coronavirus outbreak at the St. Peter's Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Albany began around the time a nurse's aide who was in quarantine after traveling out of state returned to work, allegedly due to staffing needs, according to a person briefed on the situation. The nurse's aide, who had attended a wedding in North Carolina, tested positive for coronavirus after returning to work, according to the same source. At least two nursing home residents who had been treated by the aide subsequently tested positive, the person said. The facility denied that any employee was asked to return to work while in a 14-day quarantine. Officials there also would not provide information on how many residents or staff members may be in quarantine or have tested positive for coronavirus. But a recorded hotline set up by the facility on Tuesday said the 160-bed nursing home currently has 13 COVID-positive residents as well as five staff members who tested positive and remain at home under quarantine. Eight residents at the facility have died of the illness over the course of the pandemic. "No aide or any other worker at St. Peter's Nursing and Rehabilitation Center has been asked or ordered to return to work early from a quarantine after traveling to one of the states covered in the governor's travel advisory," the hospital's nursing home said in a statement. "Since the governor issued his advisory on June 24, St. Peter's Health Partners has been in full compliance with the New York state Department of Health guidance and directives regarding testing, masking and monitoring health care workers who travel to any of the states in question." The statement added that the nursing home has mandated a 14-day quarantine for all St. Peter's Health Partners health care workers who return from one of the states with high infection rates. Another person familiar with the case, but not authorized the comment publicly, said the employee tested positive in the past two weeks and that the employee told other workers that he did not feel well and had traveled out of state. The employee was sent back upstairs to tend to residents for about three hours before the test result came back positive, the second person said. It's unclear whether the infected nurse aide had told his supervisors at the facility that he had traveled out of state and was feeling ill. Last week, staff members at the facility urged supervisors to ensure that all staff and everyone on the affected floor be tested, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. On June 24, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that anyone traveling to New York from states with a high rate of coronavirus infections would need to self-quarantine for 14 days or face fines. The 19 states included in that list includes North Carolina. There were exceptions made in the quarantine order for essential workers, including many in health care. Under guidance issued by the state on July 2, any health care worker who feels ill after traveling to a high-risk state or otherwise has symptoms of COVID-19 should "immediately stop work and isolate at home." The guidelines do allow limited circumstances under which a health care worker could return to duty within that 14-day quarantine period, but only if they had traveled to another state for official work. In that case, for instance, they could return to their job if "staff shortages ... would adversely impact operation of the health care entity, and all other staffing options have been exhausted." But traveling out of state for a social engagement would require a health care employee to remain quarantined for 14 days. The returning health care workers who are called back to work must be asymptomatic; receive a COVID-19 test within 24 hours of returning to New York; check their symptoms and temperature twice a day; wear a mask; and not deal with higher-risk patients, including the elderly. The state Health Department launched an investigation of the St. Peter's situation on Monday after being contacted by the Times Union. The department is in contact with the facility to better understand all the factors regarding this incident, and more importantly working with the facility to ensure they have appropriate levels of PPE (personal protective equipment) and staffing, adequate resident and staff testing, and that proper infection control and cohorting practices are in place," said Gary Holmes, a spokesman for the health department. "New Yorkers have worked extremely hard to flatten the curve while protecting our most vulnerable populations and well continue to work with this facility, and others, to slow the spread of this virus." Albany County reported 10 new COVID-19 infections on Monday. In the eight counties that comprise the greater Capital Region, 54 new cases were reported Monday the highest one-day total in July. By PTI NEW DELHI: With 28,498 fresh cases recorded in a day, India's COVID-19 tally sprinted past nine lakh on Tuesday, just three days after it crossed the eight-lakh mark, according to the Union health ministry data. The total coronavirus caseload in the country surged to 9,06,752 and the death toll mounted to 23,727 with 553 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am on Tuesday showed. Of the total instances of the infection, the number of recoveries stood at 5,71,459, leaving 3,11,565 cases active. The total number of confirmed cases include foreigners. "Thus, around 63.02 per cent of patients have recovered so far," an official said. The march of coronavirus infection in the country has picked up pace with the number of cases increasing by more than 26,000 for the fifth consecutive day. It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and just 56 days more to go past the nine-lakh mark. Of the 553 deaths reported in 24 hours, 193 are from Maharashtra, 73 from Karnataka, 66 from Tamil Nadu, 40 from Delhi, 37 from Andhra Pradesh, 24 from West Bengal, 21 from Uttar Pradesh, 17 from Bihar, 15 from Rajasthan, 10 each from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Telangana has reported nine fatalities followed by Jammu and Kashmir eight, Haryana seven, Odisha six, Punjab five, Jharkhand and Goa three each, Kerala and Uttarakhand two each, while Assam and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have recorded one death each. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,20,92,503 swab samples have been tested up to July 13 of which 2,86,247 were tested on Monday. Of the total deaths, Maharashtra accounted for the highest 10,482 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,411 deaths, Gujarat 2,055, Tamil Nadu 2,032, West Bengal 956, Uttar Pradesh 955, Karnataka 757, Madhya Pradesh 663 and Rajasthan 525. So far, 365 people have died of COVID-19 in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh each, 308 in Haryana, 204 in Punjab, 187 in Jammu and Kashmir, 160 in Bihar, 70 in Odisha, 49 in Uttarakhand, 36 in Assam, and 33 in Kerala and Jharkhand each. Chhattisgarh has registered 19 deaths, Puducherry 18, Goa 17, Himachal Pradesh 11, Chandigarh eight, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura two and Ladakh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported one fatality each. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 2,60,924 followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,42,798, Delhi at 1,13,740, Gujarat at 42,722, Karnataka at 41,581, Uttar Pradesh at 38,130 and Telangana at 36,221. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 31,448 in West Bengal, 31,103 in Andhra Pradesh, 24,936 in Rajasthan, 21,894 in Haryana and 18,207 in Madhya Pradesh. Bihar has instances of 17,959 infections, Assam 16,806, Odisha 13,737, and Jammu and Kashmir 10,827 cases. Punjab has reported 8,178 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 8,322 cases. A total of 4,217 people have been infected by the virus in Chhattisgarh, 3,898 in Jharkhand, 3,608 in Uttarakhand, 2,583 in Goa, 2,080 in Tripura, 1,626 in Manipur, 1,468 in Puducherry, 1,243 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,093 in Ladakh. Nagaland has recorded 845 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh 588 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 495 cases. Arunachal Pradesh reported 387 cases, Meghalaya 318, Mizoram 233, Sikkim has registered 192 infections so far, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has recorded 166 cases. "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 2,179 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added. - The list of the most valuable brands in the world in 2020 has been released per a report by Statista - The list showed Amazon, Apple and Microsoft took the top three slots as the best brands worldwide - Companies such as Google, VISA, Alibaba, Tencent and Facebook also made the list The 2020 list of the most valuable brands in the world has been released. The list includes business giants such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Tencent. Microsoft, VISA, Google and Alibaba also made it to the top eight global brands. READ ALSO: Francis Mugweru: Juja bishop who took off with one of his congregant's wife found dead Source: statista.com Source: UGC READ ALSO: She was out on the streets hungry and smelled horrible, man shares how he found his bae According to a report by statistics website Statista, Amazon took the top spot as the most valuable brand in the world and its value was estimated at over $400 billion (KSh 42.9 trillion) It was followed by Apple, which was estimated at over $350 billion (KSh 37.5 trillion) and Microsoft, which took the third spot with over $320 billion (KSh 34.3 trillion). READ ALSO: Oscar Sudi apokelewa ngome ya Raila Odinga Google, valued at over $320 billion (KSh 34.3 trillion) came fourth and was followed by VISA, which registered almost $190 million (KSh 20.3 billion). Alibaba and Tencent also registered about $150 billion (KSh 16.1 trillion) and Facebook completed the list with almost the same value. READ ALSO: Serge Aurier: Brother of Spurs star Christopher shot dead in France Meanwhile, MTN was recognised as the most valuable telecommunications brand in Africa. The award was given by Brand Finance, a top independent brand valuation consultancy. Brand Finance explained MTNs brand value was boosted by a solid overall performance in the light of challenging economic conditions and regulatory challenges in some markets. Do you have a groundbreaking story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690. Contact Tuko.co.ke instantly. Source: TUKO.co.ke Mukesh Ambanis Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has asked to be made a party in the case involving the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indias (Trai) denial of faster internet speed to Vodafone Idea Ltds premium postpaid customers. Jios application to the Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which was reviewed by Mint, contended that it will be impacted by the outcome of the case and, hence, wants to be impleaded in the proceedings. Meanwhile, it has emerged that Trais order barring both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel from offering differentiated products in 4G postpaid plans was passed following a complaint filed by Jio on July 8. Jio alleged that Vodafone Ideas RedX plan was discriminatory and misleading. The development adds a twist to the tussle between Jio on the one side and Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel on the other over market share in India. The two sides have fought a bitter tariff war since Jios launch in 2016. Trai on Saturday ordered Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to put on hold their premium plans offering faster data and priority services, citing violation of service norms and the possibility of lower data speeds for those who have not opted for such schemes. Vodafone Idea moved the tribunal on Monday challenging the order. The TDSAT on Tuesday refused to stay Trais order, denying interim relief to Vodafone Idea. TDSAT has asked Trai to file an affidavit in response to Vodafone Ideas appeal. TDSAT has not admitted Jios application, but will take it up on July 16, said a person aware of the matter on condition of anonymity. In its complaint to Trai, Jio said the tariff plan would cause deterioration in the quality of service for one class of customers by providing priority to others and was premised on false and misleading claims being made to customers. China has declared primaries held by Hong Kong's pro-democratic parties at the weekend 'illegal' and vowed to support the city's government to 'seriously deal with the matter'. Beijing's representative office in Hong Kong branded the polls as 'a naked violation of the law' and pledged to 'prevent outside forces from taking control of Hong Kong's political affairs'. The city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam yesterday claimed that the primary election 'may fall into the category of subverting the state power' under the new national security law. Beijing's representatives in Hong Kong have branded polls held by Hong Kong's pro-democratic parties 'a naked violation of the law'. More than 600,000 Hong Kongers turned out over the weekend to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections despite warnings The Hong Kong government said yesterday it was conducting an in-depth investigation into complaints regarding the primaries and would seek legal advice if necessary. More than 600,000 Hong Kongers turned out over the weekend to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections despite warnings from government officials that the exercise could breach Beijing's sweeping new law. Polls for the city's partially elected legislature are due to take place in September. Pro-democracy parties are keen to use seething public anger towards Beijing's increasingly authoritarian rule to win a majority within a chamber that has always been weighted in favour of pro-establishment parties. Control could give them a greater ability to stall budgets and legislation, one of the few tactics left open to the opposition camp. Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong described the primaries as 'a serious provocation against the current election system'. Pictured, Luo Huining, director of the Office, speaks during a ceremony to mark the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover China's new national security law for Hong Kong targets subversion, sedition, terrorism and foreign collusion with penalties of up to life in prison. It went into effect at 11pm on June 30 But the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong described the primaries as 'a serious provocation against the current election system'. The agency, which represents China's government in the semi-autonomous city, accused the primaries of 'destroying the Legislative Council's fair and just election'. In a statement released late Monday, it vowed to 'resolutely' support Hong Kong leaders to 'lawfully investigate and deal with the individuals who have violated the law and regulations'. It said campaigning that pushed to take control of and paralyse the chamber is a breach of Article 22 of the security law. Article 22 targets 'subverting state power'. It outlaws 'serious interference and obstruction' of the central and Hong Kong governments, or any act that causes them to be 'unable to perform their functions normally'. The Hong Kong government said yesterday it was conducting an in-depth investigation into complaints regarding the primaries at the weekend and would seek legal advice if necessary Hong Kong's Beijing-backed Chief Executive Carrie Lam yesterday said the primaries might have breached the national security law. She said at a press conference: 'If this so-called primary elections purpose is to achieve the ultimate goal of delivering what they call a 35-plus with the objective of objecting to or resisting every policy initiative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, then it may fall into the category of subverting the state power, which is now one of the four types of offences under the new national security law.' The Liaison Office's statement also singled out Benny Tai, a prominent democracy activist who played a leading role in organising the primaries. 'The goal of the Benny Tai gang and the opposition camp is to seize power to govern Hong Kong, with a vain attempt to launch a Hong Kong version of a "colour revolution",' a spokesperson said. Colour revolution is a term used to describe multiple popular protest movements around the world that either swept a government from power or tried to. However in authoritarian Communist China -- itself a state built from revolution -- the term has frequently been used by both the government and state media to describe an illegitimate revolution backed by hidden, usually western, forces. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam yesterday said the primaries 'may fall into the category of subverting the state power' under China's new national security law for Hong Kong Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties are keen to use seething public anger towards Beijing's increasingly authoritarian rule over the Asian financial hub to win a majority in the legislature Tai, a law professor, has previously been jailed for his involvement in peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2014. On Tuesday, the Apple Daily newspaper published a column by Tai in which he hailed the primaries. 'Threats from the powerful did not deter tens of thousands of citizens from coming out and casting a ballot,' he wrote. 'They have not given up on their determination to pursue democracy and universal suffrage.' Apple Daily's owner is by Jimmy Lai, one of the few tycoons in Hong Kong to openly support democracy. He is also being prosecuted for taking part in pro-democracy protests. Beijing singled out Benny Tai (pictured on July 11), a prominent democracy activist who played a leading role in organising the primaries. It accused Tai of attempting a 'colour revolution' Hong Kong has seen waves of pro-democracy demonstrations over the last decade. But last year the city was convulsed by seven straight months of huge and often violent protests. In response, Beijing imposed its security law in a bid to end the unrest once and for all. The legislation bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and its contents had been kept secret until the law was enacted at the end of last month. It targets subversion, sedition, terrorism and foreign collusion with penalties of up to life in prison. But its broad phrasing -- such as a ban on encouraging hatred of China's government -- has sent fear rippling through a city used to speaking its mind. Hong Kong was rocked by a series of anti-government mass protests last year before China bypassed the city's parliament and approved the national security law. Pictured, riot police secure an area outside of a branch of HSBC during a rally on New Years Day on January 1 Beijing now claims jurisdiction over some serious cases and has allowed its intelligence apparatus to set up shop openly in the territory for the first time. Those provisions have ended the legal firewall that existed between the Chinese mainland's Communist Party-controlled courts and Hong Kong's independent judiciary. National security laws are routinely used on the mainland to crush dissent. China says the Hong Kong legislation is needed to return stability after last year's protests, which it has portrayed as a foreign plot to destabilise the motherland. Opponents, including many Western nations, say the law has started to demolish the 'One Country, Two Systems' model where China agreed to let the city retain key civil liberties, as well as legislative and judicial autonomy, until 2047. The South Australian Film Corporation has launched its vision for 2020-2023, and three-year strategic plan for stimulating the recovery of the local screen sector. CEO Kate Croser unveiled measures designed to support, position, and champion South Australian screen businesses. A three-year strategic plan will set the primary focus for SAFC support and funding for industry professionals: mid-career to established businesses and practitioners that are in the business of developing and delivering narrative and interactive screen content, for any screen. As the states leading screen authority and investment body, the SAFC has created a roadmap for the next three years to develop and diversify our local talent, develop cohesive career pathways and ensure a pipeline of production work and production activity for our screen service companies, she said. In growing our capability we will create the environment to expand and diversify the bench of experienced crew, and the pool of credited key creatives, and grow the economic contribution of screen service companies. In championing SA, we maximise the profile of our world-class facilities and competitive incentives and rebates, which enhance the capacity of the local sector and the states attractiveness as a production location. This multi-pronged strategy will increase both inward investment in SA screen businesses and export revenue while maximising the value of South Australian screen Intellectual Property. The entire Strategic Plan sits under the umbrella of the SAFCs commitment to the industry and our stated organisational values: being Supportive, Can Do, Trustworthy, Open, Professional and Inclusive. Minister for Innovation and Skills David Pisoni said, I am pleased to see a commitment to collaboration and coordination between the SAFC, Adelaide Film Festival and Mercury, and endorse their streamlined approach to delivering the best outcomes for the entire sector. Since the establishment of the South Australian Film Corporation, and the opening of Adelaide Studios in 2011, Adelaide and South Australia have been at the forefront of Australias screen industry as a hub of innovation and extraordinary achievement. Today that legacy of excellence begins a new chapter with the launch of the SAFCs Strategic Plan for 2020 to 2023 and I congratulate the SAFC Board and staff, and CEO Kate Croser on the launch of this new vision for the future, as Adelaide and South Australia continue to deliver as Australias most exciting centre of screen innovation. Support and funding to develop emerging talent will be delivered by the SAFC through its partnership with the recently rebranded Mercury CX (formerly Media Resource Centre), and bespoke talent escalation initiatives. Ms Croser reiterated a key focus for the SAFC will be the support and development of South Australias First Nations screen sector, with the agencys new First Nations Screen Strategy for 2020-25 to be announced later in the year. The incumbent Polish president Andrzej Duda of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party has won the second round of the presidential elections on Sunday. According to unofficial results, Duda received 51 percent of the votes. His rival of the liberal Civic Platform (PO), Rafa Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, received 49 percent. Duda and his wife with US president Donald Trump and Melania Trump. With 67.9 percent, it was the second-highest turnout for a presidential election since 1989. In several places, voter turnout was at a record high. Compared to the 2015 election, Duda was able to increase his votes by 1.78 million. Trzaskowski won in most urban areas, but Duda dominated in the eastern part of the country and in the rural areas, where the influence of the Catholic Church is paramount. The elections took place under conditions of a recession that is set to lead to contraction of Polands GDP by at least 4.2 percent this year. The World Bank estimates that the eurozone, which is Polands most important economic market, is expected to contract by over 9.1 percent. Over one million people are now unemployed, with hundreds of thousands having lost their jobs because of the coronavirus crisis. Despite very limited testing, the country records hundreds of new coronavirus infections every day. The mining region of Silesia has been by far the most affected by the pandemic because the government has left the mines open even amid a national lockdown. PiS has been thrown into a serious crisis and was forced to postpone the election from May to June in order to avoid the fall of the government. In the first round of the election two weeks ago, Duda had failed to win an absolute majority and many polls saw Trzaskowski as the likely winner of the election. The fact that even under these conditions, and after years of relentless promotion of far-right forces and assaults on democratic rights, PiS was able to carry the day, is above all the result of the policies of the liberal opposition. Avoiding any serious discussion of the far-right policies and war preparations of PiS, the opposition consciously chosen to black out all major social and political questions concerning workers from the campaign. Throughout the campaign, Duda and Jarosaw Kaczynski, the de facto head of PiS, repeatedly alleged that Berlin was interfering in the elections. At one of his last rallies, Duda stated that there had been a German attack in these elections. The Germans want to choose the president in Poland? I will not allow this! Dudas main rival, Trzaskowski, speaks for sections of the Polish ruling class that seek to maintain close ties with Germany, Polands largest trading partner, fearing that an exclusive reliance on US imperialism will be unsustainable and harmful for Polands foreign policy interests. Trzaskowski has worked closely with Donald Tusk, one of the main leaders of the liberal opposition, who has been an important ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel in the EU. There is little question that the campaign by the PiS was conducted with the approval, if not direct involvement, of the White House. Days before the first round of the election, Duda had travelled to Washington as the first guest to be received by the White House since the lockdown in the US. In a move unprecedented for a US president amid an election in the EU, Trump effectively endorsed Dudas campaign, stating that he was doing a terrific job. Trump also announced that many of the troops that he is now pulling out of Germany will be stationed in Poland. The already significant tensions between German and US imperialism have been further heightened in recent months, with Germany exploiting the crisis in the US amid the pandemic, as a pretext to escalate its own remilitarization. The outcome of the Polish election is set to significantly exacerbate these geopolitical tensions, and further deepen the political crisis of the Polish ruling class. In addition to promoting anti-German sentiments, the PiS made a conscious decision to place appeals to anti-Semitism and homophobia at the center of Dudas reelection bid. The state-owned TVP broadcaster, which is effectively controlled by the PiS, has aired reports suggesting that Trzaskowski was working for a powerful foreign lobby and rich groups who want to rule the world, and linked him to the Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, who is one of the main targets of the anti-Semitic right in Eastern Europe. In another broadcast, Trzaskowski was denounced as hostile to Catholics and a believer in the god of Spinoza whom TVP described as a Jewish philosopher. Polish state television also ran several features suggesting that Trzaskowski was preparing to sell out the country to Jewish interests because he had cautiously suggested that Jewish organizations should be talked to in the ongoing dispute over the restitution of Jewish property that had been plundered by the Nazis and Polish collaborators during German occupation of Poland in World War II. TVP stated that satisfying Jewish claims would stop the stream of money that is flowing from the state budget into the pockets of Polish families. Before the war, Poland was home to the worlds largest Jewish community of almost 3.5 million; 90 percent of them were murdered during the Holocaust. While the Nazis bear primary responsibility for this genocide, they were aided by local fascist and nationalist forces across Eastern and southeastern Europe. Anti-Jewish pogroms by Polish nationalists occurred both during and after the war. Just three days before Sundays election, Jarosaw Kaczynski doubled-down on TVPs anti-Semitic campaign in an interview with the far-right Catholic Radio Station Radio Maria. In the interview, Kaczynski said that Only someone without a Polish soul, a Polish heart and a Polish mind could say something like that. Mr. Trzaskowski clearly doesnt have them, seeing as he says that this [restitution of Jewish property] is open to discussion. Duda also denounced rights for LGBT as an ideology that was more dangerous than communism and proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar same-sex couples from adopting children. Over the past years, the PiS government has systematically encouraged anti-Semitic sentiments. In 2018, president Duda signed a bill into law that bans discussion of Polish anti-Semitism and collaboration in the Holocaust. Government representatives have demonstratively participated in marches of the far-right. However, such open appeals to anti-Semitism had as yet not been such a central part of election campaigns. In a staggering expression of political cowardice and spinelessness, Trzaskowski made virtually no effort to denounce the blatant anti-Semitism of the PiS. In response to Kaczynskis attacks broadcast over Radio Maria, Trzaskowski insisted on Twitter that he had a Polish soul and a Polish heart, and that the opposition would not let the PiS take away its right to Polish patriotism. He did not mention the term anti-Semitism. While avoiding any serious criticism and even discussion of the ever more open appeals to fascist forces by the PiS, Trzaskowski and the liberal opposition also shunned any mention of the burning social crisis that has significantly deepened in recent months. In the eyes of Polish workers, many of whom have been pushed to the brink of financial ruin in recent months, the PO stands above all for policies of austerity. Trzaskowski himself has in the past advocated for the raising of the retirement age. His campaign was focused almost exclusively on appealing to layers of the upper middle class, emphasizing an orientation to the EU and issues like LGBTQ rights. Underlying this political strategy is the fact that the oppositions main fear is not the shift toward authoritarianism and the strengthening of fascist forces in Poland under the PiS, but an intervention of the working class in political life. When a national strike by over 300,000 Polish teachers shook the PiS government in the late spring of 2019, the PO-aligned teachers unions made every effort to quickly shut it down, thus helping stabilize the PiS government in one of its most severe crises. Moreover, just like the PiS, the PO stands for an escalation of the war preparations against Russia. The outcome of the elections is a stark warning to workers internationally. The threat of fascism, dictatorship and war can only be countered through the intervention by the working class on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program. Jammu: Undergoing treatment for severe neck, spinal and abdominal injuries at a hospital here, 14-month-old Pari is a testimony of the "barbarism" unleashed by the Pakistan Rangers on unarmed civilians on the Indian side. The girl has lost her grandfather, an aunt and two cousins in the cross-border shelling by Pakistan on her village in Rangoor Camp on November 1. She underwent a life-saving surgery at the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital on Wednesday. "At this tender age she is unable to understand what tragedy has befallen on the family. Her parents were also injured in the Pakistani shelling," Baljeet Kumar a relative of Pari said. Doctors attending to Pari said she received severe splinter injuries in the neck, spine and abdomen. Some portions of her intestines were also damaged. She has been operated for "Exploratory Latropomy" and has been placed under observation in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). While Pari is battling for her life in the hospital, her father, Rakesh Kumar, who was also injured in the attack, is recuperating in the same hospital. "The attack on our village was sheer barbarianism unleashed by the Pakistani Rangers. They continued to pound our village for several hours, without giving us any time to run for safety. Pari is a living testimony of all this," Geeta Kumari, another relative of Pari, said. "Pari's father has not been able to see her. He is injured in the leg. We had to lift him on our shoulders so that he could perform the last rites of his father," Kumari said. People across Jammu region have been praying for early recovery of Pari as she has become a symbol of the agony and pain being faced by the border residents across the region due to the continuous firing from across the border. Rishab (7) and Abhi (5) were among the eight killed in the cross-border firing in Ramgarh sector of Samba district. "These kids had no idea of what cross-border firing is. Their life was cut short by the madness of Pakistan which deliberately targeted the civilian areas," Pardeep Kumar a relative of another injured border resident said. Terming the attack on civilian areas the "height of barbarianism", Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said it is insane that small kids are targeted by the Pakistan. "It is barbarianism on part of Pakistan to target kids. Pakistan is a rouge state which attacked villages and killed eight civilians and injured scores others including Pari," he said. Singh also said the Jammu and Kashmir government will take care of all medical expenses incurred for the treatment of the firing victims and will ensure that Pari gets the best possible medical care. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, has warned Nasir Ladan, director-general of the National Directorate of Em... Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, has warned Nasir Ladan, director-general of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), of severe penalties if he further breaches the directives of his ministry on the special public works programme. Sources at the NDE confirmed the censure to TheCable. President Muhammadu Buhari earlier gave Keyamo the go-ahead to execute the programme which the national assembly had suspended. The minister and the national assembly committees on labour and employment had slugged it out over the legislatures attempt at dictating the process of the programme. The national assembly committees said Keyamo should not superintend the programme, and they were already making an alternative plan with the NDE DG to implement the public works programme which will see the employment of 774,000 citizens. The minister wrote to the NDE DG, citing the directive of the president on the execution of the programme under the supervision of his ministry. He asked the DG to halt all further plans to proceed with an alternative plan to implement the programme with the committees of the national assembly. The minister also asked the DG not to do anything or take any step regarding the preparation and actual execution of the special public works programme without his express approval in writing. The federal government announced it has kicked off the programme on Tuesday. President Donald Trump's younger brother lost his fight for an injunction against a damning memoir written by their estranged niece, Mary Trump, who said her book will expose the toxic nature of the family. Robert Trump's motion for a preliminary injunction against the scheduled July 14 release of the book was denied Monday by Justice Hal Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, according to a copy of the order provided by the book publisher, Simon & Schuster. "The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions," the publisher said in a statement. The lawsuit alleges the memoir violates a secrecy deal the family struck as part of a 2001 settlement agreement over the will of the family's late patriarch, Fred Trump. Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster argued the agreement isn't valid and that it can't override her First Amendment rights. The memoir, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," portrays the president as a liar and narcissist who rose to power after being coddled by his father, the media and banks. Details from the book have been widely reported in the media. Greenwald noted in his decision that more than 600,000 copies of the book have already been shipped. "Comparing the potential enormous cost and logistical nightmare of stopping the publication, recalling and removing hundreds of thousands of books from all types of booksellers, brick and mortar and virtual, libraries and private citizens, is an insurmountable task at this time," the judge wrote. Robert Trump's lawyer Charles Harder didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. "The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy," Theodore Boutrous, Mary Trump's lawyer with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, said in an emailed statement. "Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary's important words for themselves." Mary Trump wrote in the book that she was first moved to take action in 2017 as she watched "democracy disintegrating and people's lives unraveling" as a result of her uncle's actions. She also claims she was the source of leaked Trump Organization tax documents central to a Pulitzer Prize-winning report in the New York Times detailing the president's finances. That report revealed financial schemes used by the president during the 1990s to avoid tax liabilities. The president previously dismissed the Times report as a "hit piece" that was "old" and "boring." Last week, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany called Mary Trump's work "a book of falsehoods" full of "absurd allegations." The book was originally put under a temporary restraining order before a July 10 hearing, but an appeals court judge lifted the ban on publication. Simon & Schuster then announced it was moving up the publication date by two weeks to July 14. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 07:52:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Indian army troopers guard near the site of a gunfight at village Srigufwara in Anantnag, south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, July 13, 2020. Five militants were killed in two separate fierce gunfights with government forces in less than 24 hours in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Monday. (Xinhua/Javed Dar) A woman has been detained for questioning in connection with a stabbing incident involving her husband Tuesday, according to San Antonio police. Officers responded to a family violence incident in the 1400 block of San Acacia Drive just after 4 a.m. and found a 28-year-old man suffering from multiple stab wounds to the arm and torso. New satellite imagery shows the reservoir behind Ethiopia's disputed hydroelectric dam beginning to fill, but an analyst says it's likely due to seasonal rains instead of government action. The images emerge as Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan say the latest talks on the contentious project ended Monday with no agreement. Ethiopia has said it would begin filling the reservoir of the $4.6 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam this month even without a deal, which would further escalate tensions. But the swelling reservoir, captured in imagery on July 9 by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-1 satellite, is likely a "natural backing-up of water behind the dam'' during this rainy season, International Crisis Group analyst William Davison told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "So far, to my understanding, there has been no official announcement from Ethiopia that all of the pieces of construction that are needed to be completed to close off all of the outlets and to begin impoundment of water into the reservoir'' have occurred, Davison said. But Ethiopia is on schedule for impoundment to begin in mid-July, he added, when the rainy season floods the Blue Nile. Ethiopian officials did not immediately comment Tuesday on the images. The latest setback in the three-country talks shrinks hopes that an agreement will be reached before Ethiopia begins filling the reservoir. Ethiopia says the colossal dam offers a critical opportunity to pull millions of its nearly 110 million citizens out of poverty and become a major power exporter. Downstream Egypt, which depends on the Nile to supply its farmers and booming population of 100 million with fresh water, asserts that the dam poses an existential threat. Years of talks with a variety of mediators, including the Trump administration, have failed to produce a solution. Last week's round, mediated by the African Union and observed by U.S. and European officials, proved no different. Experts fear that filling the dam without a deal could push the countries to the brink of military conflict. "Although there were progresses, no breakthrough deal is made,'' Seleshi Bekele, Ethiopia's minister of water, irrigation and energy, tweeted overnight. "All of the efforts exerted to reach a solution didn't come to any kind of result,'' Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Monday in an interview with Egypt's DMC TV channel. Shoukry warned that Egypt may be compelled to appeal again to the U.N. Security Council to intervene in the dispute, a prospect Ethiopia rejects, preferring regional bodies like the African Union to mediate. Meanwhile the countries agreed they would send their reports to the AU and reconvene in a week to determine next steps. Between Egypt and Ethiopia lies Sudan, which stands to benefit from the dam through access to cheap electricity and reduced flooding. But it has also raised fears over the dam's operation, which could endanger its own smaller dams, depending on the amount of water discharged daily downstream. In a press conference on Monday, Sudanese Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas said the parties were "keen to find a solution'' but technical and legal disagreements persist over its filling and operation. Most important, he said, are the questions about how much water Ethiopia will release downstream if a multi-year drought occurs and how the countries will resolve any future disputes. Hisham Kahin, a member of Sudan's legal committee in the dam negotiations, said 70% to 80% of negotiations turned on the question of whether an agreement would be legally binding. Search Keywords: Short link: CHICAGO, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ryerson Holding Corporation (NYSE: RYI), a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, today provided guidance for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020. The Company anticipates revenues in the range of $765 million to $775 million for the second quarter of 2020 and net loss attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation in the range of $26 million to $28 million. The Company anticipates Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO for the second quarter of 2020 in the range of $19 million to $21 million. The Company responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic shutdown early and effectively, as total global liquidity is expected to range between $345 million and $350 million as of June 30, 2020. Most importantly, Ryerson's global workforce rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases remains low and all Ryerson employees who have tested positive have either recovered or are expected to recover from the virus. Early indications for the third quarter are seeing a continuation of the recovery initiated in the second quarter as average selling prices, gross margins, excluding LIFO and order rates are all currently trending positively. Ryerson Holding Corporation's Second Quarter 2020 Conference Call Details Ryerson will host a conference call to discuss second quarter 2020 results on Thursday, July 30th, at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The live online broadcast will be available on the Company's investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com. Ryerson will report earnings after the market closes on Wednesday, July 29th. Ryerson Holding Corporation's Second Quarter 2020 Conference Call Details: DATE: Thursday, July 30, 2020 TIME: 10:00 a.m. ET / 9:00 a.m. CT DIAL-IN: (833) 241-7253 (Domestic) / (647) 689-4217 (International) CONFERENCE ID: 7995746 An online replay of the call will be posted on the investor relations website, ir.ryerson.com, and remain available for 90 days. Ryerson is a leading value-added processor and distributor of industrial metals, with operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and China. Founded in 1842, Ryerson has around 3,900 employees in approximately 100 locations. Visit Ryerson at www.ryerson.com. Safe Harbor Provision Certain statements made in this release and other written or oral statements made by or on behalf of the Company constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding our future performance, as well as management's expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, estimates, objectives, or projections relating to the future. Such statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "objectives," "goals," "preliminary," "range," "believes," "expects," "may," "estimates," "will," "should," "plans," or "anticipates" or the negative thereof or other variations thereon or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy. The Company cautions that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and may involve significant risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may vary materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Among the factors that significantly impact our business are: the cyclicality of our business; the highly competitive, volatile, and fragmented metals industry in which we operate; fluctuating metal prices; our substantial indebtedness and the covenants in instruments governing such indebtedness; the integration of acquired operations; regulatory and other operational risks associated with our operations located inside and outside of the United States; impacts and implications of adverse health events, including the COVID-19 pandemic; work stoppages; obligations under certain employee retirement benefit plans; the ownership of a majority of our equity securities by a single investor group; currency fluctuations; and consolidation in the metals industry. Forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various factors, including those set forth above and those set forth under "Risk Factors" in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Moreover, we caution against placing undue reliance on these statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances, new information or otherwise. RYERSON HOLDING CORPORATION AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES Reconciliation of Second Quarter 2020 Net loss attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation to Adj. EBITDA, excl. LIFO Guidance (Dollars in Millions, except Per Share Data) Second Quarter 2020 Low High Net loss attributable to Ryerson Holding Corporation $ (28) $ (26) Diluted earnings per share $ (0.74) $ (0.68) Interest and other expense on debt 19 19 Benefit for income taxes (5) (4) Depreciation and amortization expense 14 14 EBITDA $ - $ 3 Adjustments 3 5 Adjusted EBITDA $ 3 $ 8 LIFO expense 16 13 Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense $ 19 $ 21 Note: EBITDA represents net income before interest and other expense on debt, provision (benefit) for income taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Adjusted EBITDA gives further effect to, among other things, gain on the sale of assets, impairment charges on assets, reorganization expenses, gain or loss on retirement of debt, and foreign currency transaction gains and losses. We believe that the presentation of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, provides useful information to investors regarding our operational performance because they enhance an investor's overall understanding of our core financial performance and provide a basis of comparison of results between current, past, and future periods. We also disclose the metric Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, to provide a means of comparison amongst our competitors who may not use the same basis of accounting for inventories. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, are three of the primary metrics management uses for planning and forecasting in future periods, including trending and analyzing the core operating performance of our business without the effect of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, expenses, revenues, and gains (losses) that are unrelated to the day to day performance of our business. We also establish compensation programs for our executive management and regional employees that are based upon the achievement of pre-established EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, targets. We also use EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, to benchmark our operating performance to that of our competitors. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, do not represent, and should not be used as a substitute for, net income or cash flows from operations as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and neither EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, is necessarily an indication of whether cash flow will be sufficient to fund our cash requirements. Our definitions of EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, gross margin, excluding LIFO expense, and Adjusted EBITDA, excluding LIFO expense, as a percentage of sales may differ from that of other companies. SOURCE Ryerson Holding Corporation Donald Trump has been mocked for retweeting comments by a former game show host lamenting the coronavirus recommendations issued by experts. The president highlighted Chuck Woolery's comments on Monday. 'The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19,' Woolery tweeted to his 686,000 followers. 'Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. 'I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it.' Chuck Woolery, pictured in 2015, found his criticism of scientists retweeted by the president Woolery, the 79-year-old original host of Wheel of Fortune, weighed in on the scientific debate Donald Trump, pictured on Monday, retweeted the thoughts of Chuck Woolery His comments were 'liked' 87,000 times, and retweeted to Trump's 83.4 million followers. Woolery, 79, was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, presenting the show from 1975 to 1981. He hosted a series of dating shows, and his career culminated in 2007 with Game Show Network's Lingo. In response to the uproar, Woolery attempted to clarify his views, and added that his son had tested positive for COVID-19. He said he simply wanted to emphasize the need to have 'the best information to make the best decisions.' Woolery on Monday afternoon expanded on his views about COVID and science Woolery said he was simply pointing out the need for accurate data before making decisions Yet Trump's critics were shocked by the president's siding with a 1980s game show host over experts such as the head of the center for infectious diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci. Fauci is said to have increasingly irritated the president with his refusal to back up some of Trump's outlandish claims and theories. Fauci has continued to issue stark warnings about the risks of reopening the country amid the pandemic, leading the White House to issue lists of when Fauci made mistakes. 'This idea that our president is taking advice from somebody like Chuck Woolery, or promoting these kind of words from the guy whose biggest claim to fame is being the host of the Love Connection or a name in a Beastie Boys song is just utterly insanity,' said epidemiologist Anne Rimoin, in an interview with MSNBC. Ben Sommers, a doctor who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said the retweet was damaging. 'When the president is calling the guidance wrong and endorsing the view that these public health experts are lying, it makes it incredibly difficult for the public to know what to do,' he told The Washington Post. 'It erodes the long-term ability of our government to provide one of its basic goals which is to protect the public safety.' Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman and Democrat presidential candidate, despaired at the tweet. Woolery's career as a game show host began in the 1970s and ended in 2007 In 2002 Woolery hosted a contest to find who had the 'most beautiful underarms' 'This virus is out of control, with no leadership from our governor, no leadership from the president, who as you mentioned is tweeting out health guidance from Chuck Woolery instead of Dr Fauci,' he said. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, asked about the retweet, defended the president's criticisms of Fauci and reinforced the president's attacks on the government's health experts. She accused 'some rogue individuals' at the CDC of misleading the public and defended Trump's retweet of Woolery by saying he was calling out scientists for engaging in politics. 'Overall, the notion of the tweet was to point out the fact that when we use science, we have to use it in a way that is not political,' she said. But the retweet was ridiculed on social media by Trump's critics. Ted Lieu, a Democrat congressman for California, reacted angrily to Trump's retweet Ted Lieu, congressman for California, defended the scientists and accused the president of deciding 'to stab you in the back during a pandemic.' He later tweeted: 'Dear @chuckwoolery,' with a link to an LA Times account from a hospital chaplain. Bryan Behar, an Emmy-nominated writer, tweeted: 'Now we have TWO washed-up game show hosts giving the nation medical advice.' Grant Stern, an activist with Occupy Democrats, simply told his 100,000 followers: 'Trump values Chuck Woolery's opinion over Dr Fauci.' Emmy-nominated writer Bryan Behar mocked the president for the retweet Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam Wed, July 15 2020 Riau Islands Police have arrested the supervisor of a Chinese fishing vessel in connection with the death of an Indonesian crew member. Riau Islands Police general crimes director Sr. Comr. Arie Darmanto said that the boat supervisor, a 50-year-old Chinese national named Song Chuan Yun, was suspected of physically abusing Indonesian crew member Hasan Apriadi, who was found dead aboard the Chinese fishing vessel Lu Huang Yuan Yu 117 last week. The suspect and the evidence have been secured at the Riau Islands Police general crimes division headquarters for further investigation, Arie told The Jakarta Post on Monday. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login By Trend The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, Stephane Visconti of France, and Andrew Schofer of the United States of America) call on the sides to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible, Trend reports on July 13 referring to the Co-Chairs statement. "According to reports from the Ministries of Defence of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as other sources, on 12-13 July there was a serious breach of the ceasefire on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, resulting in casualties. Artillery of various calibers reportedly was used by both forces," the statement said. The Co-Chairs and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-office (PRCiO) Andrzej Kasprzyk regret the loss of life and offer their condolences to the families of those who were killed and injured. The Co-Chairs and PRCiO have been in direct contact with Armenian and Azerbaijani officials since the beginning of the incident, said the document. "The sides have accused each other of initiating the fighting. The Minsk Group CoChairs condemn the recent ceasefire violations and call upon the sides to take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation, including by use of the existing direct communication channels between them," reads the statement. The Minsk Group Co-Chairs also call on the sides to resume substantive negotiations as soon as possible and emphasize the importance of returning OSCE monitors to the region as soon as circumstances allow. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery. As a result of the appropriate measures, the Armenian forces were struck back while suffering losses. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz BAD AXE Bad Axe Police Chief David Rothe released a second press release clarifying his department's decision not to enforce the governor's executive order regarding masks. Rothe said that at the end of March he consulted with the Huron County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to find out what the proper way to handle executive order complaints were. According to Rothe, he was informed it was best to direct complaints to the Attorney General's Office. Rothe said the latest executive order leaves the retailers with the burden of enforcing the mask requirement, which has drawn some criticism from the Michigan Retailer's Association. Wearing a mask is an easy way to support and appreciate retail workers, and Michigan Retailers Association encourages all individuals to wear a mask when they shop in our great state," the association stated in a press release July 10. "While retailers and retail employees appreciate Gov. Whitmers efforts to increase the number of residents wearing masks when in enclosed, public spaces, we are frustrated that she did not leave the policing to law enforcement officers. This puts retail employees in potentially dangerous situations when theyre forced to confront unmasked customers." According to the release from the MRA, the order includes several exemptions that still allow individuals to enter public space without a mask, which could pose a problem for retailers when trying to determine the validity of an exemption. "And now, even retailers acting in good faith could be subject to severe licensing sanctions based on the actions of non-compliant customers," the release reads. "We worry for retail employees safety and disagree with the overly aggressive penalties for retailers. When shopping, please wear a mask and understand that retailers are not to blame for the states mask requirement. Shopping has proven to be a safe activity, we can keep it safe and retail doors open by wearing a mask and being respectful of others." Rothe said according to the executive order, if any retail business encounters a customer who refuses to wear a mask, they are to remove the customer from the store and refuse service. Rothe said it may be a violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act for a business to ask a customer for their medical reason for not wearing a mask. Meanwhile Rothe said under the American's with Disabilities Act, it may be a violation for a retailer to ask a customer what their disability is. "This puts the retailer in a very difficult position," Rothe said. However, according to the U.S. Justice Department and the ADA, there have been inaccurate flyers and social media posts claiming that people who are medically unable to wear masks are protected under the ADA. The department states it did not issue any such flyer and that the public should not rely on the information. "The ADA does not provide a blanket exemption to people with disabilities from complying with legitimate safety requirements necessary for safe operations," the department said. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states that the privacy rule sets a national standard for the "protection of individually identifiable health information by three types of covered entities: health plans, health care clearinghouses, and health care providers who conduct the standard health care transactions electronically." Rothe said Bad Axe Police will handle all complaints involving angry customers. "If a customer becomes argumentative, disorderly, verbally abusive, etc. the retailer should call 911 and ask for police assistance," he said. "BAPD will handle all complaints involving irate customers. If a customer becomes irate over the retailer asking them to wear a mask, it is no longer a "mask violation" issue, but is now a disorderly type of complaint that the police should handle." "Remember to treat other people the way you would like to be treated," Rothe added. While summer travel will be down this year for the first time since 2009, Americans will still take 700 million trips this summer, according to AAA. Some people said they will be among those changing plans and staying home. Becky Pouliot, of New Hampshire, rescheduled her family trip to Disney in Orlando. I would want our family to be wearing masks down there, Pouliot said. And to be wearing masks in 100-degree weather its not a good combination. Above video: As more people hit the road, COVID-19 cases could increase, official says Some theme parks there reopened on Saturday even as Florida reported more than 15,000 positive COVID-19 tests in a single-day a national record. AAA forecasts nationwide travel by air this summer will be down by about 74% compared to last year. With the pandemic ongoing, trips by rail, cruise ship and bus are projected to be down 86%. Travel agent Kim Terrio said the coronavirus has brought the industry to a screeching halt. Rather than sending people off and wishing them Bon Voyage, were checking to see if their trips are being rescheduled, refunded, Terrio said. Now, many airlines and tour companies are scrambling to be creative in convincing people to look past the pandemic flexing cancellation or refund policies and offering extra travel credits. As many people nationwide re-book trips for next year, Terrio offered advice about incentives currently available. I think if people are looking toward traveling next year, if theres a vaccine, they should go ahead and get it booked, Terrio said. Most of the companies have either very reduced deposits or very lenient cancellation programs. So, you really cant go wrong. WHO says nearly 50 people infected in new Ebola outbreak as DR Congo grapples with COVID-19 and measles epidemics. Ebola is spreading in the western Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with nearly 50 known cases across a large region bordering the Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said. Mike Ryan, the WHOs top emergencies expert, said on Monday that 48 cases had been confirmed in DRCs Equateur province since authorities announced a new outbreak there on June 1. There were three additional probable cases, he said, while a total of 20 people have died. This is still a very active outbreak, and I would say it is still a great concern, Ryan told a news briefing. The province includes part of the River Congo, he said, adding that it was a large geographical area where communities were linked, and people travelled long distances. The newest outbreak is the 11th in the DRC since scientists first characterised the disease in 1976. The WHO said it has vaccinated 11,327 people against Ebola in the past month. The Ebola virus causes haemorrhagic fever and is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person, who suffers severe vomiting and diarrhoea. An epidemic of the virus on the other side of the country that began in August 2018 killed more than 2,277 people. The WHO declared the outbreak over in Ituri and North Kivu provinces on June 25. Experts said the use of a vaccine and swift containment efforts including mobile handwashing stations and a door-to-door education campaign kept the disease at bay. While the number of infections in the new outbreak is low, Ryan cautioned: In the era of COVID, it is very important that we do not take our eyes off these other emerging diseases. We saw in North Kivu and other previous outbreaks of Ebola that these can get out of control very easily, he added. The DRC, one of the worlds poorest countries, is also dealing with a measles epidemic that has killed more than 6,000 people, as well as COVID-19, which has infected more than 3,000 and killed 188, according to official figures. In its latest weekly bulletin on Monday, the WHO said the growing outbreak in Equateur was a grave matter given the complex humanitarian crisis in the DRC, with multiple disease outbreaks as well as ongoing clashes between armed groups that have displaced thousands of people in the countrys east. Seven Treatment and Health Centres in the Western, Central, and the Western North Regions have received Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other medical items to support the management and treatment of COVID-19 cases. This is in fulfillment of the cardinal objectives of the COVID-19 Trust Fund which is to support persons engaged in the combat of the COVID-19 pandemic. The items for distribution include infrared thermometer guns, scrub suit, head covers, all sizes of coveralls, heavy-duty aprons, utility gloves, examination gloves, sterile gloves, gynaecological gloves, N95 face masks, surgical face masks, goggles, among others. The beneficiary institutions are the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Cape Coast Metropolitan Hospital, Dunkwa Government Hospital, Axim Government Hospital, Tarkwa Government Hospital, and the St. John of God Hospital in Sefwi Wiawso. Speaking at a short ceremony to present the items, Madam Gifty Afenyi Dadzie, a Member of the Board of Trustees said the items formed part of a consignment worth ten million Ghana cedis to be distributed to institutions and individuals who are directly engaged in the combat of COVID-19 across the length and breadth of the country. She said, despite government efforts and other benevolent institutions to adequately equip and protect the dedicated front-line workers in the combat against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board of Trustees have monitored media reports and heard complaints from a lot of health professionals concerning the lack or inadequate supply of PPE and other logistics needed for the combat of the COVID-19 disease. She added that the distribution was therefore meant to help fill the gap or shortfall in the supply of PPE and other medical items to front-line workers for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. She bemoaned that the exponential rise in the COVID-19 cases should be a concern to all and called on the populace to adhere to the protocols which have been put up by the WHO, Ghana Health Service, and other experts towards the containment of the disease. Mrs Dadzie noted that the protocols which are the washing of hands under running water, sanitizing of hand with alcohol-based sanitizer, the wearing of face Masks, avoiding crowded places and observing social distancing protocols were the surest ways to control the spread of the virus. Mrs Eugenia Gifty Kusi, Deputy Western Regional Minister pointed out that the disease was causing a lot of havoc hence, all must commit to fighting the disease With all seriousness. Let's all know that the disease is real and not a hoax which we must accept and come together to stem the spread of the virus which is moving at an alarming rate, especially in the Western Region". Dr Joseph K Tambil Medical Director in charge of the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital who spoke on behalf of the beneficiary Hospitals commended President Akufo-Addo for setting up the Fund and also the board to steer the affairs of the Fund to a success and promised to commit them to good use to serve its purpose. He also called on the beneficiary hospitals to release some to other facilities that may need them to benefit all. 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 Ivory Coast has created a special military zone in the north of the country, the government said Monday, less than a month after a deadly jihadist attack on a frontier post. The pre-dawn killing of 14 army personnel at Kafolo, on the country's border with Burkina Faso, was the first assault by Islamist extremists on Ivorian soil since March 2016, when a raid on the southeastern beach resort of Grand-Bassam left 19 people dead. "Given the persistent insecurity at the borders between Ivory Coast, Mali and Burkina Faso due to the presence of armed terrorist groups in these neighbouring countries and following the attack," the government has authorised "the creation of an operational zone," according to a statement made at the end of a cabinet meeting. The zone will have a single central command for military operations. "This northern operational zone will make it possible to move from the phase of border surveillance to a defensive posture... in order to prevent any infiltration of these armed groups onto national territory," the statement said. The attack at Kafolo has not been claimed but security sources believe it was carried out by the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM), an organisation linked to Al-Qaeda. Around 60 people, including the jihadist leader who led the June 11 assault, were arrested before and after the attack, according to security sources. It took place in the same zone where Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso launched a ground-breaking joint operation to flush out jihadists in May. Ivory Coast shares a 550-kilometre (340-mile) border with Burkina Faso, where jihadist violence has claimed nearly 1,000 lives and forced 860,000 people from their homes over the past five years. Islamabad: Signalling a fresh slide in ties, Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their high commissioners and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each other's missions in the wake of the latest diplomatic spat over the spying episode, a media report said on Friday. The latest spat started last week after a staff member of Pakistan's High Commission in New Delhi was detained by police for questioning over espionage charges, the Express Tribune reported. The fresh slide in ties may also lead to a 'scaling down' of the strength of diplomatic staff by the two neighbours, the paper said. The tension intensified after tit-fit-tat naming of diplomatic staff for alleged spy work by both sides. Mahmood Akhtar, who was working as a visa officer at the Pakistani High Commission, was later expelled from India. Also read: India rejects Pakistan's spying allegations against its 8 High Commission officials as 'baseless' "However, India, using a statement Delhi police extracted from Akhtar through coercive means, implicated other Pakistani staffers. The identities of at least six such officials were leaked to the media, jeopardising their security. The move prompted Pakistan to withdraw them from New Delhi," it said. Also read: Pak Media names 8 Indian mission staffers for anti-Pak activities In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan yesterday claimed that eight officials posted in India's High Commission in Islamabad were agents of RAW and IB. The disclosure left New Delhi with no other options but to withdraw the named officials, the paper said. An official with knowledge of latest developments said that India had breached an 'understanding' by revealing the identities of certain Pakistani officials posted in New Delhi, the paper said. Also read: Espionage row: Pakistan recalls 6 high commission staffers from Delhi The official said both sides knew that certain officials worked under cover and they did so with the full official knowledge, it said. "What India did was unthinkable," the official added, saying the Indian move would have serious implications for the two countries. He said the immediate fallout of this controversy could be the recalling of high commissioners by the two countries for the time being, the paper said. The official said another implication might be 'cutting down' the size of diplomatic staff posted in each others countries till the situation normalised, it added. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. 11 killed in clashes after Taliban car bomb attack in Afghanistan's Samangan Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 5:38 PM Eleven Afghan security personnel have been killed in clashes with the Taliban militants following a car bombing at a government compound in the northern province of Samangan. Local officials said the bomb attack was carried out in the provincial capital Aybak close to an office of the National Security Directorate (NDS), the main intelligence agency, on Monday. Abdul Latif Ibrahimi, the governor of Samangan, confirmed that at least 11 people were killed and 63 others, mostly civilians, were wounded in the explosion and ensuring gunfire. The governor's spokesman Sediq Azizi said the clashes, which lasted for nearly four hours, ended after security forces shot dead three gunmen. In recent months, the Taliban have carried out near-daily attacks against Afghan forces. Officials said at least 19 security personnel were killed In two separate attacks on Sunday. A group of 12 soldiers and policemen were killed in a seven-hour battle with the Taliban militants who attacked their outpost in the northern province of Kunduz. In the second attack late Sunday in Badakhshan, seven policemen were killed in a similar fighting. The Taliban claimed both attacks in Kunduz and Badakhshan. Official data shows that Taliban bombings and other assaults have increased 70 percent since the militant group signed a deal with the United States in February. Under the agreement, the US will withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, and the Taliban will refrain from attacking international occupying forces. The militants have made no pledge to avoid attacking Afghan forces and civilians. The Taliban militants had been refusing to recognize the Afghan government until they reached the deal with the United States on February 29. The Afghan government was a party neither to the negotiations nor to the deal, but it has been acting in accordance with its terms, including by agreeing to free Taliban prisoners. The militants have not stopped attacking government targets and civilians. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The co-director of President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed can maintain extensive investments in the drug industry and avoid ethics disclosures while he continues to make decisions about government contracts for promising coronavirus vaccines under a decision this week by the Health and Human Services inspector general. Monday's ruling by the Office of Inspector General came in response to a complaint filed by the advocacy groups Public Citizen and Lower Drug Prices Now. The groups said the Trump administration has carved out an improper exception to federal conflict of interest rules for Moncef Slaoui, a venture capital executive and former high-ranking official at drug giant GlaxoSmithKline. Slaoui took the helm of Operation Warp Speed in mid-May as what the administration has described as a volunteer contractor, accepting just $1 for his services. That designation has allowed him to avoid the requirement for government employees to disclose financial interests and divest in holdings that conflict with their responsibilities. Public Citizen and Lower Drug Prices Now contend that there is no basis in law for Slaoui to run Operation Warp Speed without being a full-time government employee or a "special government employee," a designation that permits the government to tap outside people with unique expertise for up to 130 days. "The whole purpose of that is to allow Slaoui to avoid the conflict of interest and public disclosure requirements," Craig Holman, Public Citizen's chief watchdog for conflicts of interest and government lobbying and ethics rules, said Tuesday. In their complaint to the Office of Inspector General filed May 28, the groups said: "It is imperative that there be a reasonable level of confidence that the decisions coming from the Warp Speed project are being based on the public's interest. But the conflicts of interest posed by Slaoui's private-sector employment and financial interests with his new official role in government seem enormous and seriously undercut such confidence." The inspector general, in a brief letter rejecting the groups' complaint, did not address the broader questions about conflict of interest and instead focused on the definition of a special government employee. It said Slaoui did not qualify for that designation because he is very likely to be in his post for more than 130 days. It said OIG is "not in a position to determine that [the HHS] decision was unreasonable when it pursued options other than an SGE appointment for Mr. Slaoui's advisory services for this operation." The Office of Inspector General is being led by the principal deputy inspector general, Christi Grimm, pending the confirmation of Trump's nominee for the top job, Jason Weida, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston. Trump announced Weida's selection in May after he expressed displeasure with a report from Grimm's office that discussed "severe shortages" of government supplies available for its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Operation Warp Speed said in response to complaints about potential conflicts of interest that Slaoui has taken steps, including selling stock and stepping back from corporate leadership, that mitigated ethical concerns. "HHS ethics officers have determined Dr. Slaoui's contractor status, divestiture and board resignations put him in compliance with our robust department ethical standards. The American people are fortunate to have him as a leader of President Trump's effort to discover vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to defeat the coronavirus,'' the administration said in an email. The administration trumpeted Slaoui's expertise as a former chief of vaccine development for GlaxoSmithKline when it tapped him to co-lead Operation Warp Speed. Slaoui has been credited with leading the creation of 14 vaccines in 10 years. The New York Times reported in May that Slaoui continued to hold $10 million worth of stock in GSK and did not wish to divest after assuming his Operation Warp Speed post. GlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with drug company Sanofi to develop a coronavirus vaccine. The administration said Slaoui will donate any gains in GSK stock beyond the average pharmaceutical stock index increase to National Institutes of Health research. When he accepted the role as Trump's top vaccines official, Slaoui stepped down from the board of director at Moderna, one of the leading contenders to develop a vaccine. The administration also said he was selling his stock holdings in Moderna. Moderna has $483 million in government commitments to develop its vaccine candidate. Slaoui has taken a temporary hiatus from his job as a partner at Medicxi, a venture capital firm that has invested in more than 50 biotech companies. He is chairman of the board of one of the companies that has received investment from Medicxi, Vaxcyte, which develops vaccines. He also is chairman of Galvani, a bioelectronics company owned by GSK and Verily Life Sciences, which is part of Google parent Alphabet Inc., according to an administration news release at the time of his government appointment. Slaoui's lack of financial disclosure has attracted negative attention from Democrats on Capitol Hill. Last month, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar blasting his employment status, calling it "a blatant attempt to skirt federal ethics law." "If Dr. Slaoui were properly brought on as a federal official, it would be illegal for him to maintain these conflicts while leading Operation Warp Speed," the lawmakers said in a news release. "It is outrageous that the administration made a special arrangement, circumventing the law, that allows Dr. Slaoui to avoid disclosing his conflicts of interest," they wrote to Azar. The interrogation of the two accused -- Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair -- in the Kerala Gold Scam is underway at the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office in the city. Officials from the Income Tax Department have reached the NIA office in order to interrogate the accused. A NIA special court in Kochi on Monday sent accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair to NIA custody for eight days until July 21 in the gold smuggling case. NIA sought 10 days of custody, but Justice P Krishna Kumar granted only eight days. The agency informed the court that the accused forged seal and emblem of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Embassy to commit the crime. This comes days after 30 kg of gold worth Rs 14.82 crore was smuggled in consignment camouflaged as diplomatic baggage was busted by customs in Thiruvananthapuram. The case gained national attention after the opposition in the state alleged the involvement of the Chief Ministers Office, as one of the accused reportedly had connections with the Principal Secretary to CMO who was removed from the post. The NIA has registered an FIR under Sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, against four accused persons, of which three have been arrested. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Parliament is considering the report of the Finance Committee on the Revenue Administration (Amendment) Bill, 2020. The Bill seeks to amend the Revenue Administration Act, 2016 (Act 915) to establish an Independent Tax Appeals Board (ITAB) to hear and determine appeals against tax decisions made by the Commissioner-General, allowing for the payment of a shortfall in tax liability. Such a tax liability results from omissions or misstatements without payment of a penalty, and requires subcontractors of government contracts to submit Tax Clearance Certificates (TCCs). Mr Kwaku Agyeman Kwarteng, Deputy Minister of Finance moved the motion for the second reading of the Bill. He said the purpose of the Bill was to amend the Revenue Administration Act, (Act 915) to establish an ITAB to hear and determine appeals against tax decisions made by the Commissioner-General to allow for the payment of a shortfall in tax liability resulting from omissions or misstatements without payment of a penalty, and require subcontractors of government contracts to submit TCCs. He said in the 2018 Budget and Economic Policy Statement, the government proposed to implement some compliance measures to improve revenue administration in Ghana. He said government therefore proposed the introduction of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism to resolve tax disputes. Mr Kwarteng also explained that ADR was widely accepted as the best and more cost-effective approach to resolving tax disputes and was a prelude to litigation in the law courts. He said the establishment of the ITAB to hear tax matters prior adjudication in the courts was expected to instill confidence in investors and reduce the time spent at the court for both payers and revenue administrators. He said the government views the voluntary tax compliance as the best compliance as its places a lighter administration on government. Mr Kwarteng also indicated that taxpayers failed to register with the revenue authorities, submit returns, make misstatements in documents or omit relevant information from documents they submit to the authorities. He said the acts of commission and omission result in under-reporting of information or understatement of taxes that attracted interests and penalties. He said taxpayers could only be penalized when identified by the revenue authorities, which he said imposed a costly burden on revenue administration. He said the voluntary disclosure procedure would therefore relieve taxpayers who voluntarily made disclosures of their infringements of the tax laws to make it easy for the revenue authorities to collect their revenues. Mr Kwarteng also announced that the establishment of the ITAB was estimated to cost GH2.5 million for the first year and the measure was expected to lead to the registration or voluntary compliance of 1,000 taxpayers. Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, Chairman of the Finance Committee in presenting the Committees report observed that the establishment of ITAB to hear tax matters prior to adjudication in the law courts was expected to instill confidence in investors and reduce the time spent on litigation for taxpayers and revenue authorities. He said taxpayers that failed to register with the revenue authorities, submit returns, make misstatements in documents or omit relevant information from documents they submit to the authorities could only be penalized when identified by the revenue authorities, which he noted imposed a costly burden on revenue administration. He said the voluntary disclosure procedure included in the Bill would therefore relieve taxpayers who voluntarily made disclosures of the infringements of the tax laws and make it easy for the revenue authority to collect the revenue. He said the Bill also encouraged more taxpayers to register with the authorities without the fear of being included in penalties. Mr Ras Mubarak, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kumbungu in a remark stated that in granting amnesty to companies, corporation and individuals that violated tax obligations, they needed to be careful and ensure that there were safe guards in the law in order not to overly abuse the process. He cited for example there were many people in the informal sector whose claims were not paying their taxes even though they made a lot of money. But if we are not careful, we will see year-in, year-out there are still people violating tax obligation. That is why I want safeguards that if you were to violate your tax obligations and got an amnesty for year one or year two, there should be punishment if the violation of the tax obligation continues, to serve as deterrent for others, he added. 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 Editor's note: This is the second installment in an SFGATE series of the "most San Francisco" restaurants. A visiting friend recently made us wonder what local eateries are the epitome of San Francisco. We polled the SFGATE staff, looked at restaurant-ranking lists and revisited Chronicle archives to make an extensive list of the "most San Francisco" restaurants. There were so many worthy contenders we realized we needed to create three categories: the true classics, the new classics (above) and the "only in SF" eateries. This is not necessarily about the places that are extremely trendy, overhyped, or tourist destinations. It's about finding a mix of restaurants with the essence of San Francisco that are cutting-edge, iconic, and popular among locals. We ran our compilation of the "true classics" last month. And now that we've tipped our hat to those establishments, it's time to turn our attention to the "new classics." Some of these restaurants have been around for more than a decade and had a role in transforming neighborhoods or establishing food trends. Others are new but seem to have all the right ingredients to leave similar footprints. See all of them, including interesting facts and tips on what to order, in the above slideshow. And just for fun, we've included recipe videos from two of the chefs at the restaurants we included, Flour + Water and Acquerello, below. Keep an eye out for our next installment in this series, the "only in SF" restaurants, in the next few weeks. Tell us what you think of this list on Twitter and reach out to author Jessica Mullins at @mullin_around. You can also e-mail her at jmullins@sfchronicle.com. With rise of Covid-19 cases in the areas falling on the Indo-Bangla border Tripura government on Tuesday announced week-long total lockdown within one km of border in rural areas and 0.5 km in municipal areas on the border with Bangaldesh. The lockdown will begin from July 17. It has come to the notice of the State Government that there is some spread of Covid-19 in border areas of the state which has posed as a major threat to public health, hygiene and safety of the people. In the capacity of the chairman of the State Executive Committee of Tripura State Disaster Management Authority, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 22 ( 2) (h) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 direct enforcement of Total Lockdown within 1 km of border in rural areas and 0.5 km in municipal areas from international Bangladesh border of the State of Tripura for 7 days w.e.f. 7 AM of 17th July, 2020, as stated in a government notification released by chief secretary Manoj Kumar this late evening. During the lockdown, all kinds of individual movements would be prohibited except emergency services. All autonomous/subordinate offices and private offices, business establishments, shops, trades, educational institutions, worship places would remain closed. All political and social activities would be suspended. At least 50 persons in wedding ceremony and 20 persons in the funeral ceremony could be present. Later, Law minister Ratan Lal Nath told the mediapersons, We will see the Covid-19 rate in the bordering areas in the weeklong lockdown. Later, we will consider whether lockdown should be extended in the entire state. On June 29, St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey told a local reporter that he and his wife, Patricia, had brandished guns as Black Lives Matter protesters walked by because he feared that the crowd - or, as he called them, the "mob" - "was Storming the Bastille." What McCloskey referenced is one of the most famous events in French revolutionary history, the July 14, 1789, Parisian people's attack on the royal prison known as the Bastille. In using the "Storming of the Bastille" as shorthand for unpredictable mob violence, McCloskey echoed a historical analogy recently employed in conservative media outlets to delegitimize contemporary Black Lives Matter protests. Especially when protests include destruction of property, such as monuments, some pundits decry protesters as antithetical to the ideals of the American Revolution. Instead, they see protesters "morphing into 'French Revolution fervor.' " But this distorts the history of both revolutions, and their relationship to one another. The American Revolution was violent and the destruction of property was critical to both American protest and military campaigns during the Revolution. When the storming of the Bastille occurred, Americans viewed it as the hopeful continuation of their founding ideals, the spark of liberty catching flame across the Atlantic. In fact, the key to the Bastille was among George Washington's prize possessions, and he proudly displayed it when president and later at Mount Vernon, where it still hangs today. The founders understood then what protesters understand today: that building a new political order relies on dismantling the old, which sometimes requires the physical destruction of things such as monuments. From the Stamp Act Crisis on, American revolutionaries were no strangers to destroying property and tearing down monuments to further their cause. They saw it as an effective political tool to spread revolutionary ideals. In 1765, tax-protesting Americans looted, burned and destroyed offices, warehouses and private homes in Boston, Newport, New York and Annapolis. In 1773, in what we now call the Tea Party, Bostonians stole and destroyed tens of thousands of pounds of East India Company tea. In 1776, Southern patriot soldiers looted and burned the Virginia town of Norfolk, and Northern patriot citizens tore down the gilded lead statue of King George III in Manhattan and melted it into bullets. Throughout the war, in every former colony and west to the Mississippi River, they also ransacked loyalist businesses, farms, churches and homes - kidnapping and displacing enslaved people as well as looting possessions. And it wasn't just British supporters and their property who were targets. In 1779, Washington ordered thousands of troops to Iroquoia in Upstate New York with the mission of carrying out "the total destruction and devastation of their settlements, and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible" among Haudenosaunee Indians. Patriot soldiers in "Sullivan's Campaign" destroyed at least 40 villages, looting wooden homes before burning them, robbing graves and desecrating Indian corpses to make souvenirs. The campaign earned Washington the nickname "Town Destroyer" among Indians. Violence and property damage, in short, were integral to the American revolutionary experience. And so, when Americans heard about the storming, and subsequent destruction, of the Bastille several years after winning their war for independence, the violence and property destruction did not deter them from celebrating the news as a hopeful sign of republicanism's global spread. Built in the 14th century to guard the entrance to Paris, the Bastille was a formidable structure, with 100-foot-high stone walls and a moat. It housed arms, royal, governmental and police archives, and prisoners, notably political dissidents. Although by 1789 the Bastille housed only a handful of prisoners, it remained a physical symbol of the monarchy's unenlightened authoritarian power. On July 14, when the prison governor refused to let Parisians - angry over food shortages and the increasing militarization of their city entrance - seize gunpowder stored there, the people attacked. They freed prisoners, looted archives, seized armament supplies and then decapitated the prison's governor and lieutenant governor before parading their heads on pikes through the streets. Thomas Jefferson, then U.S. ambassador to France, described the event in detail, including the decapitations, in a letter to then-secretary of foreign affairs John Jay that was reprinted in American newspapers. The violent details of the storming of the Bastille, in other words, were known both to high-ranking American politicians and the broader American public. In fact, the storming and subsequent destruction of the Bastille became its own popular culture phenomenon, commemorated in events and goods alike, and across America, citizens proudly displayed these violent images. Charleston windows had transparent paintings, lit by candlelight, of its ruins, while Philadelphians bought wallpaper decorated with the "beautiful figure of the destruction of the Bastille." Like less-famous Americans, George Washington was swept up in the popular fixation with the storming of the Bastille. In 1790, the Marquis de Lafayette, veteran of the American Revolution and commander of the Paris National Guard, sent Washington a picture of the Bastille and its large iron key. He sent it as a "tribute, which I owe, as a son to my adoptive father, as an Aide-de-Camp to my General, and as a Missionary of liberty to its Patriarch." Washington showed it off as the newly inaugurated president, and it was traced and its image published in American newspapers. Washington ensconced the key in the President's House in Philadelphia, and then near the end of his second term, it was sent to his Virginia home, Mount Vernon. Visitors to Mount Vernon regularly commented on seeing it there in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is one of only a handful of things original to Washington's ownership that remained in the mansion when the Washington family handed over the estate to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association in 1860, and it remains there today, proudly on display in its original 18th-century, custom-made gilded case, newly restored by conservators to its original beauty. Yes, eventually Washington and other Americans viewed the growing violence of the French Revolution - and even more particularly, revolution in its colony of Saint-Domingue - with horror. Divided opinions over the radicalism of "The Terror" in France and ensuing European warfare helped fuel the rise of bitter partisan politics in the United States. The Haitian revolution in Saint-Domingue alarmed even the French Revolution's biggest supporter, Thomas Jefferson, who like most enslavers thought that freedom enslaved people won for themselves, through violence and warfare, carried the egalitarian promise of the American Revolution too far. But that didn't take away from the fact that the storming of the Bastille itself remained a hopeful symbol. The storming and destruction of this relic of absolute monarchy continued to represent American revolutionary ideals made manifest - the hope that the foundational ideals of liberty, equality and republican government would spread around the world. In 1796, American painter Edward Savage finished what became one of the enduring icons of early American art, "Liberty, in the form of the Goddess of Youth at the birth of the nation." In it, the female figure of Liberty offers a cup to a bald eagle, a liberty cap-surmounted American flag waving in the sky behind them. She also tramples the key to the Bastille underfoot. Jefferson hung a copy in the parlor at Monticello. Schoolgirls embroidered copies of it, and ordinary people made watercolor paintings imitating it. As the 19th century dawned, the key to the Bastille had emerged just as much a symbol of liberty as the bald eagle and the American flag - proudly on display by American people and leaders. But it was a sanitized symbol, under Liberty's dainty foot or in a gilded case at Mount Vernon, wiped clean of much of the violence and destruction of the events of July 14, 1789. Americans have continued to sanitize memories of their own Revolution, choosing to remember its patriots as more rational than radical, and its soldiers as victims of wartime violence by the loyalists, Indians and the British, rather than enactors of it. Whitewashing revolutionary history has long made it easier for those who wish to maintain the status quo to police protests as appropriate only if they are "peaceful." But since the founding of the United States, political protest has never been entirely peaceful. McCloskey was more right than he knew when he suggested that Black Lives Matter protesters marching against historic injustice and structural inequalities in today's America were "storming the Bastille." - - - Anishanslin is an associate professor of history and art history at the University of Delaware, and author of "Portrait of a Woman in Silk: Hidden Histories of the British Atlantic World." In 2020-21, she will be a fellow at the Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton University. SIOUX FALLS, S.D., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As a result of an exclusive institutional agreement between Kingdom Trust and Fidelity Digital Assets, individual retirees now have the option to safeguard their tax-advantaged bitcoin with Fidelity Digital Assets via a Choice by Kingdom Trust retirement account. "Personally, I've grown to trust the Fidelity family of brands as an individual investor in the traditional markets and now the bitcoin in my Choice retirement account can be kept secure by Fidelity Digital Assets. For anyone who was considering bitcoin as part of their retirement portfolio, but was waiting for the infrastructure to mature and for familiar names to enter the space, that day is today," says Ryan Radloff, CEO of Kingdom Trust. As part of the agreement, Choice members who opt for this solution will not have to manage their own private keys but will choose to have bitcoin held in cold storage exclusively by Fidelity Digital Assets, a leading provider of digital asset custody and execution services to institutional investors, and digital asset business of Fidelity Investments which administers $8.1 trillion in customer assets. "Since our market entry less than two years ago, we've seen significant progress in the infrastructure supporting investors in digital assets, and an evolution in the range of investors adopting digital assets into their portfolios," said Christine Sandler, Head of Sales and Marketing at Fidelity Digital Assets. "We welcome innovation in this space and progressive offerings like the Choice retirement account that enable investments in digital assets and ultimately supports the maturation of the entire ecosystem." While Fidelity Digital Assets publicly launched their bitcoin custody service for institutional clients in late 2018, this is notably the first time that owners of self-directed IRA accounts who invest in bitcoin will be able to benefit from the infrastructure Fidelity Digital Assets has developed as a result of the exclusive custody agreement with Kingdom Trust. "Bitcoin held in a tax-advantaged Choice retirement account, with cold storage provided by Fidelity Digital Assets is here. This is a remarkable day for bitcoin and retirement savers who demand choice - we're humbled to be a part of the solution, said Ryan Radloff, CEO of Kingdom Trust." In addition to the cold-storage option announced today, Choice offers memberships which cover the full spectrum of risk from holding your own private keys, to using your bitcoin to subsidize a free account. For more information on the Choice platform or Kingdom Trust, please visit us at RetireWithChoice.com, kingdomtrust.com or drop us an email at [email protected]. About Kingdom Trust Kingdom Trust is an independent qualified custodian regulated by the South Dakota Division of Banking. We specialize in unique and innovative custody solutions for individual investors, investment sponsors, family offices, advisory firms, broker-dealers and various other investment platforms. This approach has led to us powering more than 100,000 retirement accounts, and providing custody for more than $13 billion worth of assets. We pride ourselves on friendly service and our flexible platform, which holds more than 20,000 unique assets and empowers the most curious, creative investors. In addition to retirement accounts, Kingdom Trust supports some of the biggest names in finance, providing a range of professional custody and escrow services for hundreds of institutional clients. From investment advisors and advisory firms to broker-dealers or fund managers, we help firms scale their business by making alternative assets accessible to clients, opening up private offerings to retirement investors and removing the complexities of custody. Media Contact: Fitch Carrere [email protected] About Fidelity Digital Assets Fidelity Digital Assets offers a full-service enterprise-grade platform for securing, trading and supporting digital assets. A business of Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest and most diversified financial services providers with more than $8.1 trillion in client assets under administration, Fidelity Digital Assets combines the operational and technical capabilities of the broader Fidelity organization with dedicated blockchain expertise to deliver a completely new offering for institutional investors. Learn more at http://fidelitydigitalassets.com. Media Contact: Arlene Roberts 617.392.2840 [email protected] SOURCE Kingdom Trust RICHMOND, Va., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services celebrating 80 Years of Making a Difference, announced today that Paul Baginski, P.E., has joined the firm as Office Executive for Richmond, Virginia, where he will focus on overseeing federal, state and municipal clients in the central Virginia area. "Paul brings more than 25 years of leadership and management experience, as well as a background in civil and environmental consulting and large-scale operations insight, to his new position," said Jim Koch, Mid-Atlantic Regional Director at Michael Baker International. "We are excited to have Paul lead our team of talented professionals in Richmond as we look to expand our operations across the region." Most recently, Mr. Baginski served as CEO and CMO for PAB Consulting, Inc., which provides engineering and technology solutions, including a proprietary mapping technology that he co-created. He was previously the COO for Professional Environmental Engineers, Inc., overseeing HR, safety, risk management and project delivery, execution and performance. He served in leadership positions with both Leidos, Inc., and AMEC (now Wood Group). Earlier in his career, Mr. Baginski was SVP and National Director of Buildings and Infrastructure for Parsons Brinkerhoff (now WSP), where he was responsible for global business development of the federal client base, helping the firm win nearly $8 billion in contracts. He also spent almost 14 years with Kleinfelder, Inc., rising to the position of Director of Federal Programs. In this role, he worked closely with operations to leverage local business development efforts and project executions. Mr. Baginski is a member of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Environmental Studies from Rollins College in Orlando, Florida. About Michael Baker International Michael Baker International, celebrating 80 Years of Making a Difference, is a leading provider of engineering and consulting services, including design, planning, architectural, environmental, construction and program management. The company provides its comprehensive range of services and solutions to support U.S. federal, state, and municipal governments, foreign allied governments, and a wide range of commercial clients. Michael Baker's more than 3,000 employees across nearly 100 locations are committed to a culture of innovation, collaboration and technological advancement to help solve challenges for clients and communities throughout the country. To learn more, visit www.mbakerintl.com. Contact: Julia Covelli [email protected] (866) 293-4609 SOURCE Michael Baker International Related Links http://www.mbakerintl.com AUSTRIA announced today the ban of passenger flight operations from the majority of Balkan countries, as well as Moldova and Egypt, in order to minimize the risk of passengers infected with coronavirus entering the county. This measure will be in force as of Thursday, announced the Austrian Ministry of Health. This decision is the latest among many travel warnings that Austria issued for the Balkan region since the beginning of July. Advertisement The new ban refers to arrivals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Egypt. Flight bans remain in force for Belarus, the UK, China, Iran, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, and Ukraine. Austrian health authorities partially lay blame on the passengers who traveled to the Balkans for the latest increase of coronavirus cases in the country. Austria has a large community of people with Balkan roots who spend their vacation in Croatia. More than 530,000 people in an Austrian province with 8.9 million residents have roots in the former Yugoslavia. Besides that, around 120,000 Romanians live in Austria. Attorney General Maura Healey is filing suit against Uber and Lyft, alleging the companies have misclassified their workers as independent contractors to avoid having to provide the benefits enjoyed by employees under Massachusetts law. Healey said the state is asking for declaratory judgment on the question of whether ride-hail workers are independent contractors or employees under state law. The suit is also seeking an injunction requiring that the companies provide the protections employees in Massachusetts enjoy. Were asking the court to rule, once and for all, that (Uber and Lyft) drivers are employees, Healey said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday. Ride-hail companies like Uber and Lyft maintain that their workers are independent contractors, meaning they dont have access to employment benefits like paid sick time, workers compensation and unemployment insurance. Many of the workers drive for ... well over 40 hours of the work week, and yet do not get workers comp, overtime pay, unemployment or health insurance or retirement plans, said Steve Tolman, president of the states AFL-CIO. And weve all seen how important in this pandemic unemployment insurance is. Asked about the timing of the lawsuit, Healey said the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the needs of ride-hail workers, many of whom arent even making minimum wage. Uber and Lyft drivers are also classified as essential workers during the pandemic. Healey estimates that there are as many as 200,000 ride-hail drivers in Massachusetts, though the exact number is uncertain. Now is an important time to think about what has happened generally speaking in the employment landscape, she said. Massachusetts isnt the only state fighting the ride-share giants of the so-called gig economy. Californias attorney general launched a similar suit against Uber and Lyft, demanding that they treat their workers as employees instead of contractors if the company controls how the daily work is carried out, according to the New York Times. Californias suit, launched several months ago, also came in the middle of the pandemic. 2020 Toyota Tacoma TRD PRO 4x4 DBL CAB Review by David Colman +VIDEO This is where the beef is! By David Colman Special Correspondent to THE AUTO CHANNEL Unlike Ford, Chevy and Ram, Toyota sells more compact pickups than full size models. In fact, with yearly sales of a quarter million Tacomas, this compact Toyota outsells the larger Tundra by more than two to one. What accounts for this industry challenging reversal of form? Bottom line, the Tacoma is a great product, offering enough engine/drivetrain/body style configurations to please every buyer from the landscaper to the do-it-yourselfer to the off-road adventurer. Because of that wide variance in the truck's potential customer base, prices range from $33,425 for a stripped 4 cylinder model (159hp) with a manual gearbox to $49,679 for the TRD PRO 4x4 Double Cab we tested. Appropriately enough, our test Tacoma was finished in understated "Army Green "(LB25), a shade of Khaki exclusive to the TRD Pro range for 2020, and very much in keeping with this truck's ability to bivouac anywhere. If the TRD Pro can't get you there, neither can anything else. Toyota has put its considerable, race tested, off-road engineering to the test in configuring the suspension, driveline and engine performance of the TRD Pro. The 2GR-FKS V6 engine sits well back in the engine bay, protected underneath by a massive TRD logo front skid plate. This engine produces 278hp, 265lb.-ft. of torque and returns a combined fuel consumption figure of 20MPG. You will never have to worry about bumping the concrete divider in a parking lot because this truck offers nearly 12 inches of ground clearance. Under the wheelwells, a set of highly visible red, TRD-tuned Fox shocks, with 2.5 inch bodies and internal fluid bypasses, keep ride height stable - no matter what kind of terrain you encounter. The rear shocks are even fitted with remote fluid reservoirs capable of coping with the kind of hectic jounce and rebound you might encounter on a trip to Baja. Instead of the normal 17 inch rims and tires fitted to les sporty models of the Tacoma, this one uses 7 x 16 inch black alloy rims which have shed 4.1 pounds at each corner compared to last year's wheels. These are fitted with Kevlar reinforced Goodyear Wrangler off road capable rubber (265/70R16). If you're not planning on tackling Baja, what's the TRD Pro like to drive on a daily basis? Clumsy is the word that comes to mind. The beefy, high aspect ratio Goodyears have a lot of sidewall compliance, so it's difficult to position your tires with precision. But this hefty truck, which is tow rated at 6,500 pounds, itself weighs 5,750 lbs. That's nearly three tons of top-heavy mass which you need to manage carefully in urban driving and parking maneuvers. Thankfully, Toyota now provides the Tacoma with standard blind spot monitor and rear cross traffic alert to help backing out of parking slots. The TRD Pro is also fitted with Toyota's Safety Sense-P suite of advantages, including pre collision braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, and dynamic radar cruise control which worked effortlessly on freeway jaunts. With its tall-in-the-saddle good looks nicely augmented by an optional $699 TRD Pro graphics package, and its passenger side A pillar set off by the other-worldly Desert Air Intake ($725 extra), this mean army green pickup looks like it's ready for combat action. But this is no mere poseur pickup. Toyota has gone to great lengths to insure that the driveline in the TRD Pro is up to battle snuff, with full and part-time 4WD available at the twist of a knob on the dash. The 6 speed automatic gearbox feeds engine power to those gummy Goodyears through a 2-speed transfer case which is electronically controlled by the driver. A locking rear differential insures maximum aft end grip. Driver selected terrain control benefits from 5 available modes including Mud & Sand, Loose Rock, Mogul, Rock & Dirt and Rock. Crawl Control offers further refinement with 3 setting available (Low, Medium and High) as well as Hill Start Assist. The short bed is plenty big enough to serve as a receptacle for tree trimmings on their way to the dump (or resource recovery center it is so grandly known these days). We particularly liked the 4 optional ($55) D-Rings which are fastened to the four corners of the bed floor. These served as perfect tie down points for the bungee cords that helped tarp the load. The upper rails of the bed contain slots for a sliding bed cover or the removable stanchions that Toyota supplies as standard equipment. The optional ($120) heavy duty bed mat made sweeping out the debris a cinch. Just shake the mat and broom the trimmings out the back. Unfortunately, the Tacoma does not have those folding, tailgate mounted stair steps that are now so popular on full size pickups. Bed access in the Tacoma still requires you to sling a leg over the tailgate and slide in the old fashioned cowboy way. 2020 TOYOTA TACOMA TRD PRO 4x4 DBL CAB ENGINE: 3.5 liter V6 with Dual VVT-i and TRD Exhaust HORSEPOWER: 278hp TORQUE: 265lb.-ft. FUEL CONSUMPTION: 18MPG City/22MPG Highway PRICE AS TESTED: $49,679 HYPES: Alluring Look and Stance GRIPES: Hard, Flat Seats, Springy Ride, Extra Heavy Hood without Struts STAR RATING: 9 Stars out of 10 Iraqs leading security expert was assassinated last week, with his death leaving behind a complex legacy and many unanswered questions Hisham Al-Hashimi, a prominent Iraqi commentator on terrorism and armed groups whose murder on 6 July sparked outrage, was born in Nassiriya to a Shia family in 1973 only five years after Saddam Husseins Baath Party came to power in a military coup in Iraq. By the time Al-Hashimi had graduated from college in 1994, the former dictator had seemingly switched the partys secular views by institutionalising Islam into the state via the Faith Campaign he had launched apparently to help the regime grapple with political, economic and social problems in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. One theory is that Saddams Faith Campaign Islamised large sectors of Iraqi society, in particular Sunni Muslims, paving the way for the rise of religious extremism of the likes of the Islamic State (IS) group. Like all college and high-school students in Iraq, Al-Hashimi was made to study the Sunni version of Islamic education first thing in the morning every day, though he was majoring in statistics and economics. As time went on, the young Al-Hashimi not only changed his secular attitudes in favour of the religious model encouraged by the campaign, but he also converted to Sunni Islam, apparently influenced by the indoctrination. In addition, the young and zealous Al-Hashimi started studying the Hadith, the religious science of evaluation and critique based on the collection and use of the Prophet Mohameds sayings, the second pillar of Islamic Sharia, or jurisprudence. Al-Hashimi also became a Salafi preacher, and among those who attended his lectures in a mosque in northern Baghdad was Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi who later became the IS leader and the declared caliph of the group in 2014. While under the auspices of the Salafis, Al-Hashimi married a Sunni woman, further consolidating his family and cultural ties to Iraqs then ruling community. In the years after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Al-Hashimi was close to Islamist extremists who were a major force in the countrys sectarian anti-occupation insurgency. He served as an instructor and a preacher in a mosque run by Al-Qaeda in Iraq, formed by Sunni militants after the invasion to fight the American troops and the newly installed Shia-led regime. Al-Hashimi was arrested and spent time in Camp Bucca, a notorious and sprawling US army detention centre that detained some of the most radical jihadists including Al-Baghdadi along the Kuwaiti border. Unlike many of the other detainees who were freed later to become more radicalised and seek revenge, Al-Hashimi began collaborating with the US army and Iraqs security forces in fighting Al-Qaeda. With his wealth of knowledge about extremists and information provided by his US and Iraqi intelligence contacts, Al-Hashimi became a leading security expert, a member of the Iraq Advisory Council and former adviser to the US-led Coalition to defeat IS. Al-Hashimi began to write regularly about terrorism in Iraq, and he authored detailed publications on IS for various research institutions and spy agencies in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Soon, Al-Hashimi began to gain international attention as Iraqs leading expert on armed groups and became an adviser to research centres in the US and the UK such as the Centre for Global Policy and Chatham House. The British newspaper The Guardian has reported that his expertise was sought by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown-Prince Mohamed bin Salman, both of whom consulted him personally. With such broad influence beyond Iraq and large contributions to the international media, Al-Hashimi was on the radar of powerful actors in Iraq who were monitoring his every word and movement. Al-Hashimi was shot dead last week near his home in the Zayouna district of Baghdad by a group of gunmen riding motorbikes. The shooting, caught on surveillance cameras, showed a cold-blooded murder by professional hit-men. No group has claimed responsibility, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi has vowed that the authorities will find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. Al-Hashimis body was carried in a simple cortege through the streets of Baghdad to Najaf, where he was laid to rest in the sprawling cemetery of the Shias most holy city. But his assassination also gave rise to a wave of grief and shock that has swept Iraq, and it has taken on the dimensions of a global cause. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned the assassination and called on the Iraqi government to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. Several Western embassies and the United Nations mission in Baghdad also strongly condemned the assassination and called for the perpetrators of the crime to be brought to justice. While it has been established that Al-Hashimi was killed in cold blood by a death squad and his murder was premeditated, a lot of questions remain whose answers will contribute to the understanding of Al-Hashimis history. Among these are, why Al-Hashimi? Who were the killers? Who gave the order to kill him? What was the motive behind the crime? And why now? Al-Hashimis life and work, particularly in his final year, were inevitably more complicated than can be captured in the idealised frame drawn by those who knew him in the international media, world intelligence agencies and the Iraq expert community. The truth about his fate remains elusive in large measure because of the complex situation in Iraq and the continuing deterioration of the countrys security and stability, a situation that includes rising tensions between the United States and Iran. Al-Hashimis research and commentaries on TV talk shows and social media recently focused on the Iran-backed Shia militias in Iraq that he had been criticising for gaining substantial power and influence while remaining unaccountable. Lately, Al-Hashimi had published a study on the Website of the Centre for Policy Making, an NGO, which detailed the struggle between the pro-Iran militias and the rest of the groups within the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), the umbrella organisation of the militias. When Iraqi security forces raided a camp of the Kataib Hizbullah (KH), one of the most powerful pro-Iran militias, and arrested a dozen of its members last month, Al-Hashimi advised the government on how to deal with the group and spoke frequently to international news outlets about it. Al-Hashimis support for Iraqs months-long popular protests last year against the government of former prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, perceived as dominated by Iran, angered many Iran-backed factions in the PMF. As his name became a byword for opposition to Irans proxies, Al-Hashimi began receiving death threats from hardline groups, including some allegedly from a notorious spokesman for the KH who had previously accused Al-Kadhimi of collaborating in the assassination of Qassem Suleimani, the commander of Irans Al-Quds Force and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the KH leader. Seemingly, Al-Hashimi reacted to these threats with a combination of the nerve and concern that would define the remaining days of his life. He had previously stopped speaking to the media after being warned by the militias. Ironically, Al-Hashimi did not receive protection either from Al-Kadhimis government or from his international friends, even as it became evident that the countrys militias were monitoring his every word and sending him threats. While the focus now remains on the investigation promised by Al-Kadhimi to divulge details surrounding the crime, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the assassination may prove to be a covert message for multiple receivers. Al-Hashimis murder came amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran against the background of the killing of Suleimani and Al-Muhandis and retaliatory rocket attacks against US interests in Iraq. It also came as the relationship between Al-Kadhimi and Iran has deteriorated after he came to office in May, as he has begun challenging the Iranian-sponsored militias and interest groups that have often dictated terms in Iraq. Many experts believe that Al-Hashimis murder may be Irans retaliation for Suleimanis and Al-Muhandiss killing and a stern message to Al-Kadhimi who has promised to make it a priority to rein in the unruly militias. The brazen murder is also a message to many in Iraqs intellectual community who have been outspoken against Irans interference in Iraq and the countrys ruling Shia elites who are accused of corruption and mismanagement. Though Iraq has been a playground for a plethora of rival local and foreign forces vying for influence, Al-Hashimis assassination could be a change in the dynamics of the beleaguered country. The murder has raised concerns about the lives of critics, especially among the countrys most outspoken intellectuals who may now start weighing the costs of speaking out and opt instead for silence. It has also raised fears about Al-Kadhimis declared efforts to prevail over the Iran-backed militias that have started challenging the prime minister in several areas in order to underline his limits in restoring state sovereignty and imposing law and order. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: iStock/ChiccoDodiFCBy: IVAN PEREIRA, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- Doctors are required to have insurance if they want to practice medicine. Some states require attorneys have malpractice insurance if they want to practice law. If New York State Legislature passes new legislation, cops will also have to take out insurance if they plan to wear a badge. State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi introduced a bill last week that would mandate all officers in New York obtain liability insurance throughout their career. The local city and police agency would determine the base rate of the policy. Biaggi said this policy would act as a deterrent to police misconduct as an officer's insurance premiums would rise if they were involved in a civil suit by a civilian that ended with any payout. "While taxpayers bail out law enforcement who engage in misconduct, those same officers too often evade meaningful accountability," she said in a statement. Between July 2018 and June 2019, New York City paid out $220.1 million in settlements for 5,848 tort cases involving the NYPD, according to a report by New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer. NYPD tort claims represented 36% of all tort claims against the city, Stringer's report said. Currently, no state or municipality has a liability insurance requirement for their police officers. Colorado passed a bill last month that makes officers personally liable for up to $25,000 in damages in lawsuits related to misconduct. Deborah Ramirez, a professor of law at Northeastern University and a former federal prosecutor, told ABC News liability insurance would go a long way for cutting down taxpayer waste and improving police conduct. Ramirez, who co-wrote an op-ed in the Boston Globe last month supporting police liability insurance mandates, contended that officers who have large premiums would be priced out if they were involved in suits that lead to high payouts. "It is going to identify at a very early stage which officers will conduct dangerous, reckless actions," Ramirez told ABC News. Ramirez said that local governments would benefit the most as they would save millions since the insurance companies and the officer would be responsible for the lawsuit payouts. She said she's been in touch with insurance companies and they are on board. "The insurance companies have told me, 'Hey this is what we do. We assess risk,'" she said. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. KEY FACTS 7:15 p.m.: 8 cases identified from anti-racism rallies in Alberta 6:27 p.m.: Canada, U.S. expected to extend cross-border travel ban 1 p.m. Toronto warns of drastic cuts without aid The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Tuesday. This file is no longer updating. Click here to read the latest coverage. Web links to longer stories if available. 10 p.m.: Two City of Toronto workers in the Parks, Forestry & Recreation department have tested positive for COVID-19. In a press release issued Tuesday evening, the City said it was made aware of the employees diagnoses earlier in the afternoon. The workers were exposed to the virus sometime between July 6 and 10, the City said. The employees have been advised to self-isolate for 14 days by Toronto Public Health. The City said that no children in CampTO programs, which began Monday, have been directly exposed to the employees. The employees have been advised to self-isolate for 14 days by Toronto Public Health, the City said. Through contact tracing, the city also identified 23 other employees who have been in contact with the two workers. All of them were advised to get tested and self-isolate for 14 days, the City said. The City said it is in the process of advising families, employees, the union and the public of these cases as a matter of public transparency. Toronto Public Health advises that the risk of contracting COVID-19 for children and families at this CampTO program is very low. 9:25 p.m.: As gyms and fitness studios outside of Toronto prepare to open Friday, and those in the city look ahead for their turn, the owners of small studios say it will be impossible for many to reopen with the current limitations and lack of support. Stage 3 of Ontarios reopening allows indoor gatherings of up to 50 people with two-metre physical distancing still in effect. But gym and studio owners say operating at a significantly reduced capacity with little federal financial support might not be feasible and many may choose to stay closed or shut their doors for good. Read the full story from the Stars Rosa Saba. 9 p.m.: Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced 13 new COVID-19 cases in B.C., bringing the total number diagnosed to 3,128. That was followed by 62 cases announced Monday over a three-day period. She said the recent rise in cases is due to more people socializing when they need to recommit to the basics of keeping transmission low, including washing hands and gathering in small numbers. This is what is going to get us through the next year, she said, adding shes spoken with restaurant owners and employees who say some people are arriving in groups of 20, which would increase the risk of the virus spreading. People need to be on their best behaviour, she said. Its for your safety as well as the people who work there. Anyone concerned about the high number of visitors to bars or restaurants should contact public health officials, Henry said. 8:15 p.m.: Hes doing his best to qualify as an underground artist. Banksy made his mark on the London Underground, dipping into the subway with a pile of paint to coat a car with rats engaging in coronavirus-themed behaviors. On Tuesday, the elusive English street artist whose identity is studiously kept secret from the broader public shared a video on Instagram showing the tube as it turned into his canvas. Banksy dressed as a street cleaner, clad in white and bright orange with goggles and blue gloves. In the tagged car, an unmasked rat sneezes specks onto a window. Another rodent dispenses hand sanitizer. If you dont mask you dont get, Banksy captioned the post. Banksy often draws rats. He once coated his own bathroom with them. At the end of the clip, the car doors close, and a painted sentiment blaring in blue on the wall outside the train I GET LOCKDOWN is replaced with lettering painted on the closing car doors. BUT I GET UP AGAIN. 7:15 p.m.: Eight COVID-19 cases have been identified among thousands of people who attended recent anti-racism rallies in Calgary and Edmonton. Albertas chief medical health officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, says the outcome could have been worse had so many people at the events not been wearing masks. Hinshaw says shes concerned about the rise in new cases in recent weeks, and that people might be starting to tune out public health messages urging the use of masks, hand-washing and physical distancing. Alberta found 86 new cases of the virus out of nearly 6,000 tests done on Monday. There were also two new deaths, one of which was linked to an outbreak at Edmontons Misericordia Community Hospital. Hinshaw also says she was disturbed to hear about businesses turning away members of the Siksika Nation east of Calgary, where there are nine active COVID-19 cases. The First Nations leadership have acted quickly, transparently and proactively to control the spread of the virus among its 7,500 members, Hinshaw said. When the result of that prompt and transparent action is stigma against their members, it sends a message against transparency and risks discouraging people from being tested or co-operating with public health, she said Tuesday. The members of the Siksika First Nation deserve better than that. All Albertans of every heritage deserve better than that. 6:36 p.m.: Premier Doug Ford is hitting the campaign trail, but hes ruling out an early election call to cash in on a bump in the polls over his governments handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with the Star on Tuesday, Ford was asked if his province-wide summer tour is to set the stage for a snap vote this fall. No, not at all, the premier said from Waterloo. Were going to year four. That means the June 2022 election will go ahead as planned. Read the full story from the Stars Robert Benzie. 6:27 p.m.: Canada and the United States are now widely expected to extend their mutual ban on non-essential cross-border travel as COVID-19 destroys President Donald Trumps hopes for a quick end to Americas public-health nightmare. The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to discretionary travel like vacations and shopping trips since the pandemic took hold of the continent in mid-March, a rolling 30-day agreement thats currently set to expire July 21. Officials on both sides of the border who are familiar with the ongoing talks, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet public, say another extension until late August is all but inevitable, thanks to a towering wave of new COVID-19 cases thats swamping efforts to restore a modicum of normality in the U.S. New York Rep. Brian Higgins, one of several members of Congress from northern states keen to see a plan for reopening the border, expressed dismay Tuesday at news he called disappointing but hardly surprising. Recent calls from Higgins and others for a plan to start easing border restrictions have been greeted with social-media scorn and derision in Canada, where recent polls make clear the idea of allowing entry to Americans any time soon is a non-starter. The novel coronavirus has been particularly resurgent in southern states like Florida, Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, where businesses tried to reopen early, contrary to the advice of public health officials, and the wearing of face masks became a partisan issue. 6 p.m.: As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, Ontarios regional health units are reporting a total of 38,966 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19, including 2,761 deaths, according to the Stars latest count. The rate of new infections in Ontario has fallen sharply over the last two months and has remained low so far in July. Over the last seven days, the provinces 34 health units have reported an average of 127 new infections per day well down from a sustained peak of nearly 600 cases per day, seen in late April. Tuesdays total, up 91 cases in 24 hours, does not include any new reports from Toronto, which has switched to updating just three days a week. Meanwhile, another two new fatal cases were reported Tuesday, both in Peel Region; Amid the worst of the provinces epidemic, the health units reported as many as 94 deaths in a single day. Earlier Tuesday, the province reported 137 patients are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, including 30 in an intensive care unit, of whom 21 are on a ventilator numbers that are themselves near the lowest the province has reported since first publishing hospitalization data in early April. The province says its data is accurate to 4 p.m. the previous day. The province also cautions its latest count of total deaths 2,723 may be incomplete or out of date due to delays in the reporting system, saying that in the event of a discrepancy, data reported by (the health units) should be considered the most up to date. The Stars count includes some patients reported as probable COVID-19 cases, meaning they have symptoms and contacts or travel history that indicate they very likely have the disease, but have not yet received a positive lab test. 5:55 p.m.: In another rebuke of China, President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed legislation mandating sanctions for Chinese officials involved in Beijings crackdown in Hong Kong and issued an executive order that ends U.S. preferential treatment for Hong Kong. The two actions are part of the Trump administrations offensive against China for what he calls unfair treatment by the rising Asian superpower, which hid details about the human-to-human transmission of the cornoavirus. The almost daily administration broadsides against China come as Trump is being criticized for the surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States and as he works to portray his expected Democratic challenger, former Vice-President Joe Biden, as weak on China. U.S.-China relations are at a low ebb. Since the two nations signed phase one of a trade deal, the talks are currently stalled with virtually no hope of restarting before the November election. 4:30 p.m.: Federal opposition parties are demanding to know why the Liberal government created a $900-million program to help students find volunteer positions rather than putting the much-needed funds into an existing summer jobs program. The call for answers comes as the government tries to chart a way forward for the new Canada Student Services Grant, which has been in limbo after WE Charity withdrew from administering the program amid controversy over its links to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family. The Liberals have billed the grant program as a way to reward tens of thousands of students who want to help with the COVID-19 pandemic and cant find paid work. Participants were told they could earn up to $5,000 toward their education costs by volunteering the maximum 500 hours. Opposition parties say the Liberals could have accomplished the same task without controversy by putting the money into the Canada Summer Jobs program, through which thousands of positions for students are subsidized by the federal government every year. 4:21 p.m.: Manitobas 13-day streak without new COVID-19 infections ended Tuesday as health officials reported five additional cases, including that of an airline passenger. The individual was on a WestJet flight from Winnipeg to Calgary on June 27 and on a return flight on July 2. All passengers on those flights are being asked to monitor themselves for symptoms, the Health Department said. Investigations into how the five contracted the novel coronavirus are continuing. Even with the new cases, Manitoba remains among the provinces with the lowest infection rates, with 330 confirmed and probable cases. No one was in hospital with the virus as of Tuesday and five cases were active. The Progressive Conservative government has relied on the low numbers to reopen most businesses and relax many restrictions on public gatherings in recent weeks. 3:47 p.m.: Canadas deputy public health chief says going inside a bar to have a drink with friends remains a high-risk activity in the era of COVID-19. Dr. Howard Njoos reminder comes days before Ontario will allow indoor dining and drinking at restaurants and bars in much of the province. Ontarios decision, which takes effect Friday, comes against the protests of parents who fear it will lead to a second wave of COVID-19 that will keep schools from reopening in September. Njoo would not link school reopenings to the risks in reopening bars but says young people often congregate in bars for long periods of time in close proximity and any indoor space is a higher risk for transmission than outside. That has proven to be true in Quebec, which is now enforcing a provincewide mask order indoors and rolling back bar hours and patron limits after more than 30 cases were linked to nine bars in Montreal in recent days. Premier Doug Ford says the decision to let bars and restaurants open for indoor use is a necessary economic move to save thousands of small, family-owned businesses from going belly-up. 3:40 p.m.: Montreal health officials say they have seen a rise in the percentage of positive results from COVID-19 testing over the past several days. Positive cases are now about three per cent of the total, compared to about one per cent over the past few weeks, Dr. David Kaiser of Montreals regional health authority said Tuesday. That percentage translates to about 10 to 15 cases per day, Kaiser explained, a relatively low positivity rate compared to the height of the pandemic, when authorities were conducting more tests. But if its sustained and if we dont feel that we can get on top of where transmission is happening and stop it, thats whats more alarming, Kaiser told reporters. Health officials over the weekend called on anyone who visited or worked in a bar since the beginning of the month to get tested for COVID-19. On Saturday, officials reported eight COVID-19 cases tied to Montreal-area bars. By Tuesday, Kaiser said that number jumped to a minimum of 30 cases connected to nine bars. 3:06 p.m. British Columbias government is predicting what was a balanced budget will balloon to a deficit of $12.5 billion because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Minister Carole James says the numbers are staggering with a predicted a GDP decline of 6.8 per cent and retail sales down 15.9 per cent. James says B.C. has lost over 235,000 jobs since February. The B.C. government has already tabled legislation giving itself room for three years of deficits and James says that will be re-examined each year. 2:50 p.m. Riverdale Farm and High Park Zoo are among free Toronto city attractions newly reopened with limits after being closed for months to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Mayor John Tory announced the reopenings Tuesday at the 7.5-acre working farm in Cabbagetown. The attraction, with a changing array of cows, pigs and other animals, is popular with children. Tory calls Riverdale Farm his favourite place in the city, citing visits first with his children and later his grandchildren. The reopening of the Riverdale Farm, High Park Zoo and conservatories in our city will provide families an opportunity to enjoy some of our citys most treasured attractions, the mayor said in a statement. Only outdoor areas of both Riverdale Farm and the High Park Zoo, the oldest in the city, are open to the public for now. Signs notify visitors of physical distancing requirements. Washrooms and drinking fountains are getting extra cleanings. Riverdale Farm opens daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. High Park Zoo is open from 7 a.m. to dusk. Read more from the Stars City Hall Bureau Chief David Rider: Riverdale Farm, High Park Zoo reopen with limits 2:40 p.m. Premier Doug Ford says his government is taking steps to prepare for a potential second wave of COVID-19 in the fall. Ford has provided no details of the plan, but says the provinces health system is better off now than in the early stages of the pandemic. The premier made the comments during a visit to a Cambridge, Ont., business that is manufacturing personal protective equipment. Ontarios hospitals are warning the province it must prepare the health-care system for a potential second wave of COVID-19 that could hit during flu season. The Ontario Hospital Association says the government must develop a contingency plan to ensure regional service and staffing plans are in place ahead of a possible surge. OHA president Anthony Dale says if a potential second wave collides with flu season, it will add significant pressures to hospital operations. The call comes in reaction to the governments decision to move most of Ontario to Stage 3 of reopening later this week. Dale said moving to Stage 3 will represent a heightened risk for the province and it must be prepared to respond. 2 p.m. Canadas deputy public health officer says the federal government would be having a different conversation with the Toronto Blue Jays about playing regular-season games at Rogers Centre if the United States and Canada were at similar stages in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Howard Njoo said Tuesday that discussions are ongoing between the Canadian government and the Major League Baseball team, but he said the issue of having both the Blue Jays and American-based teams continually crossing the U.S.-Canada border complicates the idea of hosting regular-season games. Njoo said the federal, Ontario and Toronto governments were comfortable with the measures the Blue Jays put in place to safely train as a team at Rogers Centre. Read More: COVID-19 situation in U.S. complicates Blue Jays plans to play at home, official says 1:55 p.m. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has written to his counterparts across the country, encouraging them to pressure the federal government to change the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. The program offers money to people who have lost work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Pallister says it has become a disincentive for people to return to work. He says instead of cutting off benefits after people earn $1,000 a month, the federal government should reduce the benefit gradually as peoples incomes rise. Pallister says he hopes Ottawa will agree to change the program if other premiers join his call. Manitoba has among the lowest rates of COVID-19 in the country, and is launching a new tourism campaign to attract visitors from the other western provinces. Pallister says precautions will continue during the pandemic, but the economy cannot remain shut down. 1:28 p.m. A Michigan sheriffs deputy on Tuesday fatally shot a man suspected of stabbing another man who had challenged him about not wearing a mask at a convenience store, police said. The shooting occurred in Eaton County, southwest of Lansing, about 30 minutes after the stabbing at a Quality Dairy store, state police Lt. Brian Oleksyk said. A sheriffs deputy spotted the mans vehicle in a residential neighbourhood and shot him when he tried to attack her with a knife, Oleksyk said. Sean Ruis, 43, of Grand Ledge, who worked at the Michigan Department of Transportation, died at a hospital. He was suspected of stabbing a 77-year-old man inside the store when he was confronted about not wearing a mask, Oleksyk said. The stabbing victim was in stable condition at a hospital. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has ordered people to wear masks in stores to reduce the risk of spreading the coronavirus. The decision about whether to wear a mask in public for some has become a political statement, and there have been other instances of violent encounters over masks. In May, a security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint was fatally shot after denying entry to a customer without a mask. 1:19 p.m. The government of Saskatchewan says two recent flights into Regina carried passengers who later tested positive for COVID-19. In a post on its website, the government says Air Canada Flight 7947 from Toronto on July 4 and WestJet Flight 296 from Calgary on July 6 had confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on board. The province doesnt have information to offer on the affected seats on the WestJet flight, but says anyone sitting in rows 14 to 20 on the Air Canada flight may have been exposed. The government is urging passengers to self-monitor for symptoms for 14 days after arriving at their destination. People who think they may have been exposed to the virus on those flights can use the Public Health Agency of Canadas self-assessment tool to gauge symptoms. Saskatchewan also offers a self-assessment tool. As of Monday, the province had 90 active COVID-19 infections with three people in hospital. There have been a total of 871 cases, 766 people have recovered and 15 have died. 1:01 p.m. Health officials in British Columbias Okanagan region say the number of positive COVID-19 tests linked to an outbreak in Kelowna has grown to 13. Interior Health says six more people have tested positive and their activities are linked to events that occurred in Kelownas waterfront district between June 25 and July 9. Those are in addition to seven people who visited the city earlier this month and later tested positive for COVID-19, triggering the health authoritys alert. Health Minister Adrian Dix says possible exposures that occurred in the waterfront district are believed to stem from private parties held around Canada Day. That has prompted a statement from Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran urging visitors to respect the advice of provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and use appropriate travel manners. Basran says visitors will come to Kelowna because travel restrictions are not in place, but he says people must take the health risk seriously and respect physical distancing rules and proper hygiene such as hand washing. On Monday, health official announced 62 new cases of COVID-19 in B.C. since Friday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 3,115. 1 p.m. Torontos projected $1.9-billion COVID-19 deficit has been reduced by $513.7 million in savings on wages, fuel, and services like crossing guards for school children, but unless other governments step up with emergency funding, drastic cuts to programs and services will have to begin within weeks, Mayor John Tory said Tuesday. Speaking at a press conference at city hall, Tory pointed out that Toronto and mayors in other cities have been lobbying for emergency funding from other levels of government since April. He called on the federal government to launch a national program for cities hard hit by costs incurred fighting the pandemic. Toronto has experienced both a surge in costs for things like procuring additional shelter space for the homeless, supplying personal protective equipment to staff on the front lines, and overtime. Meanwhile, it has experienced a drop in revenue from services like the TTC. We are working to find savings wherever we can, said Tory. Without funding from the provincial and the federal governments, Toronto will have to make deep cuts to programming or significantly raise taxes, Tory has said. On Tuesday, he said cuts will have to start by the end of summer if they are to have the required impact on the city budget. Read more from the Stars Francine Kopun: We dont have the luxury of time: Toronto to make drastic cuts to services within weeks without help from Queens Park or Ottawa, mayor warns 12:43 p.m. New Brunswick is reporting one new case of COVID-19 in the province. Public health officials said today the case involves a person in their 20s in the Moncton region. Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Jennifer Russell, says the case is related to travel outside the Atlantic provinces and the person is self-isolating. She says each new case is a reminder the novel coronavirus can present itself at any time. There have now been 167 cases of COVID-19 in New Brunswick, 163 of which are considered recovered. New Brunswick has reported a total of two deaths attributed to the virus, and there are two active cases. 12:36 p.m. Ontarios hospitals are warning the province it must prepare the health-care system for a potential second wave of COVID-19 this fall. The Ontario Hospital Association says the government must develop a contingency plan to ensure regional service and staffing plans are in place ahead of a possible surge. OHA president Anthony Dale says a potential second wave will likely collide with flu season, adding significant pressures to hospital operations. The call comes in reaction to the governments decision to move most of Ontario to Stage 3 of reopening later this week. Dale says moving to Stage 3 will represent a heightened risk for the province and it must be prepared to respond. 12:24 p.m. Florida confirmed 132 coronavirus deaths Tuesday, a one-day record for the state. Thats a 10% increase from the previous record set Thursday, but likely includes deaths from Saturday or Sunday not reported until Monday. The rolling seven-day average is 81 deaths per day, currently the second highest in the U.S. behind Texas and double the 39 average two weeks ago. Doctors had been predicting a surge in deaths because Floridas daily reported infection cases have gone from about 2,000 a day to more than 12,000 in the past month. That is partly driven by increased testing. However, the percentage of tests coming back positive has increased from 6% a month ago to more than 18 per cent. When COVID-19 was ravaging New York three months ago, it recorded 799 deaths on April 9 and had a top seven-day average of 763 deaths on April 14. It now has one of the lowest death rates in the country per capita, recording 10 per day during the last week. 12:24 p.m. More than 300 students and tutors have tested positive for coronavirus at high schools in the West African nation of Ghana. Health officials confirm the Accra Girls Senior High School has been hardest hit, with 55 students and staff contracting the virus. Its campus remains under quarantine. Parents have thronged the school protesting the governments refusal to grant them access to their children. Classes resumed June 22 for senior high school students, and education officials maintain infection rates at schools are still comparable to those for the general population. Ghana has 139 confirmed deaths from COVID-19 and confirmed more than 25,000 total infections since the pandemic began. 12:24 p.m. Some 41 workers at Kenyas largest maternity hospital have tested positive for the coronavirus. Ministry of health Director General Dr. Patrick Amoth says 19 cases involve health care workers and 22 are hospital support staff. He says those infected are asymptomatic and undergoing medical care under home-based isolation. Three mothers at the facility also tested positive for COVID-19, but Amoth says no babies have been affected. He says services at the hospital will continue and measures have been put in place to protect the health workers and the public visiting the hospital. Nurses Association of Kenya President Alfred Obengo says infection control prevention measures at the hospital werent followed. The first doctor in Kenya to die of COVID-19 was buried Monday, amid calls by health professionals for better insurance coverage and compensation. Kenya has recorded 10,791 coronavirus cases and 202 confirmed deaths. 12:24 p.m. Italy has made contingency plans to transfer recently arrived migrants with coronavirus to military hospitals after their presence in a southern seaside town sparked protests among some residents. Italys interior ministry says surveillance measures were beefed up in the apartment building in the Calabrian town of Amantea to ensure the quarantine is respected among migrants who tested positive for the virus. Other migrants who tested positive after a rescue at sea have been quarantined on a ferry offshore. 12:24 p.m. A group of Florida teachers and parents took part in a motor march in Jacksonville to promote the reopening of schools when its safe. Two grassroots groups the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team and the Duval For a Safe Return to Campus say they want the school district to put certain regulations in place until a vaccine for COVID-19 is available. The 5-mile drive ended at the Duval County Public School headquarters just before the boards meeting. Marla Bryant, co-founder of the Duval Schools Pandemic Solutions Team, told the Florida Times-Union the groups primary concerns include requiring masks in classrooms, keeping desks 6-feet apart, rigorous cleaning and disinfecting at each school and a full-time distance learning option for all grade levels. Previously, the district was criticized for not offering a full-time distance learning option for K-12 students who wanted to stay enrolled in their existing school. Floridas Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said schools should reopen as planned next month. 12:24 p.m. Coronavirus infections are rising again in the Netherlands, with the countrys public health institute reporting 534 confirmed positive tests in the last week, an increase of 102 from the previous week. The Dutch government has relaxed many of the restrictions to rein in the spread of the virus when it nearly swamped hospital intensive care units in late March and April. The government is still calling on people to adhere to social distancing measures and stay home and get tested if they develop symptoms of COVID-19. The health institute reported eight confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 16 people hospitalized in the last week. The confirmed Dutch death toll is 6,135. 12:24 p.m. Bosnia is reopening its border for the citizens of the European Union after four months. Prime Minister Zoran Tegeltija says the EU citizens must provide a negative test on the coronavirus to be allowed into the country. The test must not be older than 48 hours. Bosnia and the rest of the Balkans have faced a spike in the virus cases in the last weeks after relaxing lockdown measures during the outbreak in spring. Bosnia is not on the list of countries allowed into the EU after the bloc recently reopened its borders. The government initially said it, too, would not reopen for EU citizens. This has triggered protests in the southern town of Mostar and elsewhere by people who are dependent on tourism and have been hit hard in the pandemic. 12:24 p.m. Serbias health minister is asking people to avoid protesting against the countrys restrictive measures to combat a surge in coronavirus cases. For over than a week, thousands of people across Serbia have been defying a ban on public gatherings of more than 10 people to demonstrate against the Serbian presidents handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The protests started July 7 when President Aleksandar Vucic announced the capital of Belgrade would be placed under a new three-day lockdown following a second wave of confirmed coronavirus infections. His government ended the plan and introduced a 10-person ban, but that hasnt stopped the protests. Vucic and health officials say the mass gatherings have contributed to the virus surge. Serbias Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar says in the past 24 hours, its recorded 344 new cases and 13 deaths in the country. That makes a total of more than 4,500 confirmed cases and 418 deaths. 12:06 p.m. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo added four more states to New Yorks quarantine list on Tuesday as he sought to contain the spread of COVID-19 from regions of the country where infection rates are growing. The addition of Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin means that travellers from 22 states will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon entering New York. The list of states that meet New Yorks travel advisorys metrics has continued to grow each week as coronavirus cases continue to spike nationwide. Last month, the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced a joint travel advisory that applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a seven-day rolling average or a state with a 10% or higher positive rate over a seven-day rolling average. Cuomo has warned that New Yorks dropping number of infections could be reversed if out-of-state travellers lead to a rise in infections. The state reported just five deaths of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and nursing homes Monday, but the percentage of people testing positive for the coronavirus ticked up to 1.5% from a level of about 1% where it had been since mid-June, and Cuomo said gatherings over the Fourth of July weekend were to blame for some of the new infections. 11:55 a.m. Quebec is reporting five additional deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the provinces total to 5,633. The province also reported today another 109 novel coronavirus infections, for a total of 56,730, with 26,025 cases considered recovered. Hospitalizations continue to decline, with 10 fewer patients being treated for the disease compared with the previous day, for a total of 295. Among those in hospital, 21 are in intensive care, the same number as Monday. The government says it conducted 9,072 COVID-19 tests July 12, the last day for which data is available. Quebec Premier Francois Legault announced Monday that mask-wearing will be mandatory in all public indoor places beginning Saturday. 11:48 a.m. Another essential worker has tested positive for COVID-19 on Prince Edward Island. Chief medical officer of health Dr. Heather Morrison says the man in his 30s is not a health-care worker, but she did not disclose the nature of his work. She says he recently returned from international travel and is recovering while self-isolating at home. The latest case follows two cases in recent days at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown involving a health-care worker and a patient in the emergency department. More than 100 patients and 125 staff were identified through contact-tracing, and Morrison says all tests done so far have come back negative. She says some people who have been in contact with the health-care worker in the last few days may be tested a second time. 11:14 a.m. Sources say Canada and the United States are likely to agree to extend their mutual ban on non-essential travel between the two countries for another 30 days. The Canada-U.S. border has been closed to so-called discretionary travel like vacations and shopping trips since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold of the continent in mid-March, an agreement thats set to expire July 21. Officials familiar with the ongoing talks, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters not yet public, say another extension until Aug. 21 is all but inevitable. News of the likely extension, initially reported by the Globe and Mail newspaper, comes with COVID-19 resurgent in the U.S., particularly in southern states where businesses reopened early and the wearing of face masks has become a partisan issue. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted at the possibility Monday after a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump. Trudeau says Canada is closely monitoring what he calls a constantly evolving situation, but wont say whether officials have discussed extending the border restrictions beyond the standard 30-day window. 11 a.m. Much of Ontario is moving into the third stage of reopening as the number of new COVID-19 cases remain steadily low. Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 111 new cases reported Tuesday with one death. Locally, 28 of Ontarios 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with fully 21 of them reporting no new cases at all, Elliott said on Twitter. With 122 more resolved, there are 11 fewer active cases in the province, she said. There are 137 patients in hospital with COVID-19 with 39 in intensive care units. Of those, 21 are on ventilators. Read the full story from the Stars Robert Benzie: Ontario reporting 111 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death 10:45 a.m. As the federal and provincial governments race to ramp up testing for COVID-19, a Richmond Hill company is breaking ground on a rapid, cheap and easy-to-use device to detect infection. LooK SPOT, a portable rapid point-of-care antigen test device, is the brainchild of Laipac Technology Inc., a leading GPS electrical engineering company based in Richmond Hill. The test, which is expected to roll out in September, will be able to detect proteins of the new coronavirus from a nasal swab sample in less than five minutes with 95 per cent accuracy, according to Laipac. It will be the start of something big, Diego Lai, founder and CEO of Laipac Technology, said on July 8. We have a lot of faith in this and hope it would become something that would help a lot of people. With no prior training required, the test is based on a technique called lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) commonly used for home pregnancy tests which only takes a few minutes to produce a result after a sample comes in contact with the LFIA strip, according to the companys website. 10:33 a.m. A union representing Ontario health-care workers says its planning a series of escalating political and legal actions, including brief work interruptions, in response to the province potentially extending its emergency powers. The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, a division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, says its pushing back against the provinces emergency order because it suspends their collective bargaining agreement. Union president Michael Hurley says his members are going to start by sending their MPPs emails this week, explaining how the order damages their workplace rights. The union says its also planning legal challenges and will hold rallies outside of its workplaces on Friday. Members of the union will vote on Monday night to see if it will be necessary to have a brief work stoppage the next day. Hurley says that while the emergency orders were acceptable in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, its now a detriment to health-care workers and the emergency is over in most of the province. A spokeswoman for the union confirmed on Monday that 98 per cent of its membership voted in favour of political action over the weekend. 10:04 a.m. British Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed the wearing of masks will be mandatory in shops and supermarkets in England. The requirement is expected to take effect July 24. The decision follows weeks of discussion by the government about their value during the coronavirus pandemic. We are not out of the woods yet, so let us all do our utmost to keep this virus cornered and enjoy summer safely, he said. Anyone not wearing a face covering can be fined 100 pounds ($125) and shops can refuse entry to anyone failing to comply. 10:04 a.m. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is signalling she favours people in hard-hit counties staying in their areas after major coronavirus outbreaks. Germany has loosened many restrictions on public life during the past 2 1/2 months, but local authorities will consider new restrictions if the number of infections in an area exceeds 50 per 100,000 residents during a one-week period. Last month, a partial lockdown was imposed on the Guetersloh region of western Germany after an outbreak at a slaughterhouse. Many other German regions refused to allow people from the area to stay unless they could produce a recent negative test. Merkel asks, isnt it better for the hot spot itself to say, you can only travel anywhere if you have a negative test than if we check at every hotel in Germany whether someone from a particular county is there? She says its being discussed with state governments, which are responsible in Germany for lockdown measures. 10:04 a.m. Regional authorities in Andalusia, on the southern Spanish coast, approved a package of measures making face masks mandatory in all open or enclosed spaces, including beaches and swimming pools. People can take off their mask only to swim. Fines can reach 100 euros ($114). Other exceptions are inside family homes or when eating, and for children under 6 or people with health problems. Andalusia, home to such historic cities as Seville, Cordoba and Granada, is also famed for its beaches. Like the rest of Spain, it is trying to control outbreaks of the coronavirus after ending a national lockdown. 10:04 a.m. French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to require masks inside all indoor public spaces by Aug. 1. In an interview with French television networks marking Bastille Day, Macron says the best prevention for the virus are masks, social distancing and hand washing. Macron says Frances virus reproduction rate is inching past 1 again, meaning each infected person is infecting at least one other. Many other European nations required masks in indoor public space when they started easing virus lockdowns. France took a more relaxed attitude, recommending but not requiring masks. Recent rave parties in France and widespread backsliding on social distancing even within Macrons presidential palace and other government facilities have raised concerns. France has confirmed more than 30,000 virus deaths. 10:04 a.m. Israels Health Ministry says the country has confirmed 1,681 new coronavirus cases, a record high. Israel was widely praised for taking swift action early in the pandemic by closing its borders and imposing other restrictions to contain the viruss spread. But since reopening the economy and schools in May following a more than monthlong lockdown, the number of new cases has steadily increased. Health Ministry Director General Hezi Levi says the government is making every effort to try to avoid another countrywide lockdown. A general lockdown is without a doubt one of the tools that we try our utmost to avoid reaching for, Hezi told Israel Radio, but says it remained an option authorities are considering. Israel has recorded a total of 41,235 cases of the coronavirus. The country currently has over 21,000 active cases and confirmed at least 368 Israelis deaths from COVID-19, according to the Health Ministry. 10:04 a.m. A semi-official Iranian news agency says Tehrans governor has imposed new restrictions because of a spike in coronavirus cases, ordering mosques and several businesses closed for a week in the Iranian capital. According to the Tasnim news agency, Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpey, the governor, said the measures would apply to mosques and womens beauty salons, gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and coffee shops. The development comes after Iran has been seeing a surge in COVID-19 infections and deaths in recent weeks, including record numbers of deaths so far in the pandemic for the Middle Eastern country. Health Ministry spokesperson Sima Sadat Lari says 179 more people died in Iran from the virus on Monday, bringing the countrys confirmed death toll to 13,211. She says there were 2,521 new confirmed cases on Monday, more than half of which were hospitalized, bringing the overall number of infections to 262,173. Iran is the regional hotspot for COVID-19, with the highest number of infections and deaths from the virus. 10:04 a.m. Austria is expanding a list of countries with banned flights to include six nations in the western Balkans, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Egypt. Austria currently bans flights from eight countries and one region of Italy. The Austria Press Agency reported that only the latter Lombardy, the Italian region worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic is being removed from the list starting on Thursday. The health ministry added 10 new countries in light of high coronavirus infection levels and kept the eight that were already on the list: Belarus, China, Britain, Iran, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. There are exceptions for flights bringing in freight, repatriated Austrians, medical caregivers or agricultural workers. 10:04 a.m. Africas coronavirus caseload has climbed above 600,000 as the pandemic on the 54-nation continent continues to pick up speed. Africa surpassed the half-million case mark less than a week ago. The continent now has more than 610,000 confirmed cases. South Africa has the most cases on the continent, with more than 287,000. South Africas public hospitals are already filling up, and the government on Sunday night reimposed a ban on alcohol sales to help free up hospital beds. The return of alcohol sales on June 1 was blamed for a surge in emergency admissions and an increase in the number of women and children killed. Other countries struggling with shortages of medical equipment and personnel include Nigeria, Africas most populous country, which has more than 33,000 cases. 10:04 a.m. The authorities in Thailand are suggesting almost 1,900 people quarantine themselves and get tested for the coronavirus after a breakdown in screening allowed two foreigners who tested positive for the disease to pose a risk to public health. The agency co-ordinating Thailands coronavirus response also announced it was rolling back regulations for admitting foreign visitors to tighten up procedures. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, spokesman for the COVID-19 centre, said the agency was suggesting that 1,882 people whom a contact tracing app indicated may have crossed paths with an infected member of a visiting Egyptian military team self-isolate for 14 days and get themselves tested as soon as possible. Seven people already known to have had direct contact have already been quarantined. Officials in the eastern province of Rayong closed several schools and a mall, sealed off part of the hotel where the Egyptians had stayed and gave free coronavirus tests for people who feared they may have had contact with the infected man. The second case involved the infected 9-year-old daughter of a foreign diplomat whose family returned from Sudan and stayed in their condominium in Bangkok. 10:04 a.m. The official opening of the Dutch parliamentary year will happen without the traditional pomp and ceremony in September due to coronavirus restrictions. The Hague municipality and the defence ministry says King Willem-Alexanders traditional ride in an ornate horse-drawn carriage from a palace in the city to the parliament wont happen and appealed to the public not to visit the city on Sept. 15. Thousands of people usually flock to The Hague to line the route of the monarchs coach ride to parliament. The venue of the meeting of both houses of Dutch parliament has been changed from the historic Knights Hall to a church that is large enough to accommodate all 225 lawmakers with social distancing in place. 9:30 a.m. Premier Doug Ford is launching an election-style summer tour of Ontario as the province reopens after months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the next eight weeks, he will be travelling to seven regions, stopping in 38 ridings, and covering nearly 5,000 kilometres to thank Ontarians and the many businesses across this province for stepping up and doing their part during COVID-19, Fords office said Tuesday. The premier will be in Cambridge on Tuesday afternoon at Eclipse Automation, a company that retooled its machines to manufacture N95 and surgical masks and other medical supplies. He will then tour Challenger Motor Freight to thank workers for continuing to operate throughout the pandemic, including bringing essential products across the U.S. border. Read the full story by the Stars Robert Benzie 8:31 a.m. Pearson Airport in Toronto is eliminating 500 jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority announced Tuesday. Thats a workforce reduction of 27 per cent. The changes reflect a significant decrease in global air traffic, with passenger numbers at Pearson currently at operating at 1996 levels. The job reductions will be achieved through the elimination of unfilled positions, together with voluntary departures and layoffs. 8:05 a.m. Canadian trials have just begun for a prospective COVID-19 vaccine but its Quebec-based manufacturer is already downplaying its potential impact. Dr. Bruce Clark, president and CEO of the biopharmaceutical company Medicago, cautions observers against holding unrealistic expectations that his product or any of the numerous vaccines in development globally will bring the pandemic to a screeching halt. Whatever vaccine we get in this first round unless its a miracle its not going to be perfect, says Clark, whose company began trials for its proposed vaccine Monday in Quebec City. Its going to have to undergo development, its going to take probably years to come up with an understanding of the right vaccine, the right approach. Its not the panacea. To assume that we can have, in 18 months, the solution to a pandemic that comes around once in a generation, is naive. So much is still unknown about COVID-19, notes Clark, including how it may manifest during the flu season later this year. He suspects a more likely scenario is that a vaccine will offer only part of the solution, along with new therapeutics and ongoing public health interventions. Medicagos first phase of clinical trials will test a plant-based product on 180 healthy men and women, aged 18 to 55. The randomized, partially blinded study uses technology that does not involve animal products or live viruses like traditional methods. Clark notes that vaccine developers typically use chicken eggs to propagate a virus, but Medicago uses recombinant technology involving the genetic sequence of a virus, with living plants as the host. The resulting virus-like particles mimic the shape and dimensions of a virus, which allows the body to recognize them and spark an immune response. Clark says the plant-based approach is significantly faster and offers more consistent results than egg-based or cell-based methods. While it takes five to six months to propagate a virus in eggs, the plant-based technique requires just five to six weeks, he says. In a pandemic, something like COVID, if youre able to cut that much time off development, you have a substantial impact on public health. 7:46 a.m. The coronavirus pandemic is weighing heavily on the financial health of JPMorgan Chase, as Americas largest financial company set aside billions in the second quarter to cover potential losses from all the businesses and consumers who are unable to pay their debts due to the slumping economy. The results offer a glimpse into how badly the pandemic is impacting the financial health of American consumers and businesses. Last quarter, when the coronavirus pandemic had only just begun, JPMorgan set aside nearly $8.3 billion (U.S.) to cover loan losses. The bank added additional $10.5 billion (U.S.) to those reserves this quarter. The year-over-year decline was almost entirely due to the coronavirus pandemic. JPMorgan reported its highest quarterly revenue in its history, but those gains were overtaken by the money set aside to cover potentially bad loans. Whether JPMorgan and the other big banks have set aside enough money to cover bad loans remains unclear, but the outlook does not look good. The coronavirus pandemic is now in its fifth month in the U.S., with infections hitting records in several states and economies shutting down again. Enhanced unemployment benefits run out at the end of the month, and at this point many consumers are upward of 90 days past due on their debts. Despite some recent positive macroeconomic data and significant, decisive government action, we still face much uncertainty regarding the future path of the economy, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said in a prepared statement. JPMorgan is the first of the big six Wall Street banks to report its results this week, with Wells Fargo and Citigroup reporting on Tuesday as well. like JPMorgan, the other banks are expected to take significant losses on their loans this quarter due to the pandemic. 7:19 a.m. China is pushing harder to make territorial claims in the regional seas and even using the coronavirus pandemic to expand its influence and take strategic superiority, posing a greater threat to Japan and the region, Japans government said. The report highlighting the governments defence priorities was adopted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abes Cabinet on Tuesday, less than a day after the Trump administration rejected outright nearly all of Beijings significant maritime claims in the South China Sea in a statement likely to deepen the U.S.-China rift. The Abe governments Defence White Paper 2020 highlights what are potential Chinese and North Korean threats as Japan tries to further increase its defence capability. Under Abe, Japan has steadily increased its defence budget and capability and purchased costly American arsenals. Defence Minister Taro Kono recently scrapped the deployment of a pair of costly U.S. land-based missile intercepting systems due to technical issues, and Abe quickly announced his intention to revise Japans defence guidelines, possibly allowing Japan to go beyond its conventional defence-only role under the Japan-U.S. security alliance, including discussing a possibility of acquiring a preemptive strike capability. The White Paper accused China of using propaganda, including spreading disinformation, about the spread of the coronavirus. The COVID-19 pandemic may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries intending to create international and regional orders more preferable to themselves and to expand their influence, the report said. We need to closely watch their move with serious concern affecting the national security. 6:10 a.m. Britains government will demand people wear face coverings in shops as it seeks to clarify its message after weeks of prevarication amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to tell the House of Commons on Tuesday that anyone failing to comply with the order could face a fine. The order comes into effect on July 24, giving shops and the police time to prepare. Many European nations, including Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece, already require masks to be worn in enclosed spaces. Britain, which has reported one of the worlds highest numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths, had taken a more relaxed attitude, recommending masks but not requiring them at least until now. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who in the spring spent a week in the hospital being treated for COVID-19, had not been seen in public in a mask until last week. On Monday morning, he urged people to wear them. Monday evening, his government announced it would be compulsory. 5:35 a.m.: Vice-President Mike Pence travels Tuesday to Louisiana, which has re-emerged as one of the nations hot spots for the coronavirus only months after seeming to contain its outbreak. The Republican vice-president was scheduled to meet with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, members of the congressional delegation and state health officials to talk about the states response to the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus. Pences visit comes as Louisianas confirmed virus cases, percentage of positive tests and COVID-19 patient hospitalization rates are surging worrying public health experts about the level of virus spread in a state that previously appeared successful in combating its outbreak. Louisiana has been on the radar, literally front and centre, of the White House Coronavirus Task Force since the very beginning. Weve never come off of that radar, Edwards said. I think thats a big reason why the vice-president chose to come to Baton Rouge and to Louisiana. 5:32 a.m.: China said the number of people in treatment for COVID-19 in the country has fallen to just 297, with only three new cases of coronarvirus reported, all brought from outside the country. No new deaths were announced, leaving the total at 4,634 out of 83,605 cases of the disease. A pair of experts from the World Health Organization were in China on Monday to make arrangements for an investigation into how the pandemic may have spread after the virus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. 5:28 a.m.: Australias Queensland state is toughening the punishment for those who break coronavirus quarantine rules. Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the current fines for breaking a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine for some visitors or lying about their whereabouts may not be a sufficient penalty. The maximum penalty will now be a higher fine or up to six months imprisonment. Queensland reopened its borders to all but Victoria state residents two weeks ago. Victoria is the centre of Australias recent outbreak, adding 270 new infections overnight to its more than 4,000 active cases. 5:25 a.m.: Indias number of coronavirus cases jumped by another 28,000 on Tuesday and are fast approaching 1 million. The 28,498 cases reported in the past 24 hours took the national total to 906,752. Cases have jumped by 100,000 in four days. The Health Ministry also reported another 553 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking total fatalities up to 23,727. India has largely lifted its nationwide lockdown, and the virus has been spreading at a significant rate, prompting several big cities to impose partial lockdowns. India is the third worst-affected country in terms of infections, only behind the United States and Brazil. 5:22 a.m.: Pakistan announced Tuesday it would resume vaccinations against polio next week, months after the drive against this crippling childrens disease was halted because the novel coronavirus had overwhelmed the countrys health system. The anti-polio campaign would last three days, from next Monday, with the plan to have about 800,000 children vaccinated, the officials said. Police departments have received requests to ensure the safety of the polio workers. 5:20 a.m.: The British Columbia government is expected to give a financial update today on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected its residents, businesses and the economy. Finance Minister Carole James says the pandemic has created profound challenges for people in B.C. and around the globe, fundamentally changing the ways people live and work. She says the update will provide a summary of those impacts and outline the supports government has put in place and will continue to provide. 5:15 a.m.: A union representing Ontario health-care workers says it will announce political action this morning in response to the province potentially extending its emergency powers. The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, a division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, will be making the announcement at Hamilton General Hospital. A spokeswoman for the union confirms that 98 per cent of its membership voted in favour of some form of political action over the weekend. The Progressive Conservative government introduced a bill last week that would allow it to keep some emergency measures in place in the months ahead. 4 a.m.: A new poll suggests Canadians are torn on whether the federal government should turn off the spending taps to keep the resulting deficit from flooding the nations future. The Leger/Association for Canadian Studies survey found 41 per cent think that COVID-19 support programs and payments must immediately be scaled back. Forty-four per cent think the payments to Canadians and businesses ought to continue even with the $343-billion projected deficit. The poll suggests 78 per cent are worried about that bottom-line figure, and 60 per cent think the way out of the hole is to cut government spending, while 21 per cent say raising taxes is the solution. The poll surveyed 1,523 Canadians between July 10 and 12 and cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered truly random. Monday 9 p.m.: British Columbias health minister says several COVID-19 exposures in Kelowna serve as a reminder of the risks posed by private gatherings. Adrian Dix said during a news conference Monday that warnings of possible exposures at a restaurant, spin studio, bed and breakfast and resort are believed to stem from private parties at the hotels. Eight positive tests for the disease are linked to visits to downtown Kelowna and the citys waterfront between June 25 and July 9, said an email from Interior Health, the regional health authority. When people come together for private parties in this case it was primarily people in their 20s and 30s the risks are considerably higher, Dix said. The exposures follow the move to a new phase of reopening in B.C. that allows for tourism within the province. Although the accommodation industry was not ordered to close during the pandemic, many operators did so voluntarily but began welcoming guests again as part of the new phase. Infections in B.C. inched up on Monday as health officials announced 62 new cases since Friday. Two more people also died for a total of 189 deaths in B.C. The new figures bring the total number of confirmed cases in the province to 3,115, while 2,718 people have fully recovered from COVID-19. Monday 11:40 a.m. A store employee at Square One Shopping Centre has tested positive for COVID-19, according to media relations spokesperson Ashley Shantz. According to Shantz, the employees last day of work was July 8. Management from the store closed the location for appropriate cleaning and sanitization. The store is still closed, confirmed Shantz. Staff who worked with the employee have been asked to get tested and report any negative results before reopening. Shantz could not confirm which store or restaurant the employee worked at, when the mall was notified of the positive case, or which position the employee held. Click here to read more of Mondays coverage. Jefferson County may be reaping the first rewards for residents cooperation in donning face coverings to slow the spread of coronavirus. Cases of the virus confirmed by the Beaumont Public Health Department in the past few days have been closer to daily numbers logged earlier this month, compared with the dozens of cases confirmed each day last week. Officials werent ready to take a victory lap. Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bill Bartie continued to press Gov. Greg Abbott to consider shutting down parts of the economy to limit crowd sizes and curb the virus spread. In hard-hit Houston and Harris County, the mayor and county judge have both made similar pleas. Barties counterpart in Beaumont, Mayor Becky Ames, was not ready to go that far but said it is too early to rule out another shutdown. She wants to see more evidence over a longer period that the outbreak is being contained. It is concerning to slow down the economy worse than it already is, she said. If we could do it with masks and social distancing, that would be my preference. Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick came the closest to speaking out against a new lockdown. I am not advocating for closing down any businesses right now or for anything further than what the governor has done, he said. More Information Coronavirus testing sites When: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today Where: First Baptist Church Loeb, 3082 Hwy 69 S., Lumberton When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday Where: John Davis Community Center, 3580 E. Lucas, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday Where: Forest Park United Methodist Church, 255 S. Major Drive, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 20 Where: Stonehurst Apartments, 1615 E. Lucas, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 21 Where: Alice Keith Community Center, 4050 Reed, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 22 Where: Sterling Pruitt Community Center, 2930 Gulf, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 23 Where: Rogers Park Community Center, 1455 Dowlen Road, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 24 Where: Central Park Community Center, intersection of Fourth Street and Fannin, Beaumont When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 27 Where: Pointe North, 3710 Magnolia, Beaumont See More Collapse Related: Madisons owner calls for change as restaurant goes to takeout again Since Branicks mandatory mask order went into effect June 24 a rule that was superseded by a statewide order several days later the number of people wearing masks in stores and other public places has dramatically increased. Physicians say masks make a definite difference in the virus spread. Still, Ames said shed like to see a longer downward trend in the daily number of virus cases confirmed before coming to any definite conclusions. Beaumont has consistently led the number of new cases confirmed each day. On Monday, the citys public health department confirmed 32 new coronavirus cases in the northern half of Jefferson County, including Beaumont. On Saturday and Sunday, the department logged 19 and 12 new cases, respectively. These numbers are a stark contrast to the 148 cases - the citys highest single-day record - confirmed on Thursday. Beaumont also reported two additional deaths in Mondays case report. A 68-year-old man died as a result of the virus on Saturday and a 74-year-old woman died on Monday. That brings Beaumont to a total of 31 virus-related deaths. Related: Virus strikes disproportionate blow in Beaumont Latino community Ames said she hasnt heard any reports that local hospitals have had to turn anyone away due to crowding. But she underscored the continued need for individuals who have recovered from the virus to donate plasma to be used to treat patients who are still ill. Bartie, whose city had not reported updated case numbers by print deadline Monday, said he felt hopeful when Abbott issued the requirement that most Texans wear face coverings while in public places. Now, he said, he hopes the governor will soon have the fortitude to continue that momentum and require many businesses across the state to temporarily close. Bartie also urged Abbott to speak out against plans to reopen schools in a little over a month. I dont know what the plan is, Bartie said, but its not a plan for longevity. Weve got to do something. A stable economy wont do anything if we dont have any individuals to participate in the stability. Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox Branick said he had a call with Abbott on Saturday, in which the governor said his medical advisers believe if the state stays the course with the mask order, residents over the next few weeks will begin to see a gradual decrease in the number of cases. Jefferson County as a whole has recorded a total of 2,323 cases of coronavirus and 40 virus-related deaths. That does not include cases at three state prison units in the county. Over the past week, the county has seen its number of confirmed cases increase by nearly 37%. Kaitlin Bain is the Government Reporter for the Beaumont Enterprise. Contact her at Kaitlin.Bain@BeaumontEnterprise.com or on Twitter by clicking here. Don't miss a thing: Sign up for our Daily Headlines newsletter. The Nepalese PM had made his controversial remarks during the 207th birth anniversary celebrations of Adikavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya New Delhi: After Nepalese Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli on Monday triggered a raging controversy by reportedly claiming that the real Ayodhya lies in Nepal and not in India and that Lord Rama was born in Thori in southern Nepal, the Nepalese Government seemed to swing into damage-control mode on Tuesday, saying Mr. Oli did not intend to hurt the feelings or sentiments of anyone by his remarks. Saying its attention was drawn to various interpretations of the remarks, Nepal said its Prime Minister also did not mean to debase the significance of Ayodhya or its cultural value. It may be recalled that under the Communist leadership of Mr. Oli in Nepal who is seen to be deeply anti-India and pro-China, ties between the two neighbours have plunged sharply in the past few weeks after Nepal adopted its new controversial map that shows Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh -- territory in Indias Uttarakhand State -- as part of Nepal. Stating that Mr. Olis remarks on Ayodhya were not linked to any political subject, the Nepalese Foreign Ministry issued a statement, saying Mr. Oli was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Lord Rama and the Ramayana as there have been several myths and references about the Prince of Ayodhya and the places associated with him. The Nepalese PM had been quoted as saying, in his controversial remarks on Monday, Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram. ... Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj ... The place called Thori, near Birgunj is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is great dispute on Ayodhya. But, there is no dispute in our Ayodhya. The Nepalese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the Ramayana circuit launched by the leadership of the two countries two years ago signifies the bond of time-honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples. The Nepalese PM had made his controversial remarks during the 207th birth anniversary celebrations of Adikavi Bhanu Bhakta Acharya, the author of the Ramayana in the Nepali language. (Corrects paragraph 5 to make clear Algeria requested membership) LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Shareholders of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have given the go-ahead to Algeria becoming a member of the multilateral financial institution, the bank said on Tuesday. It opens the way for Algeria to potentially receive funding to support private sector competitiveness, promote sustainable supplies of energy and enhance the quality and efficiency of public services in the country. "Our goal will be to unleash the potential of Algeria, particularly in the private sector, to create jobs and support sustainable development," said Jurgen Rigterink, the EBRDs Acting President. "Similar to our support to Algeria's neighbouring countries, the EBRD can mobilise significant financial resources as well as technical expertise and advisory services." Set up in 1991 to help ex-communist countries of eastern Europe shift to market economies, the Algerian authorities made a request for membership of the EBRD in March with a view to becoming a recipient of the bank's finance and advisory services. Majority owned by G7 top economic powers, the EBRD has widened its geographic scope in recent years to include Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco in Africa. The EBRD has invested over 12 billion euros in 260 projects across the southern and eastern Mediterranean region in natural resources, financial institutions, agribusiness, manufacturing and services as well as infrastructure projects such as power, municipal water and wastewater, and transport services. (Reporting by Tom Arnold, editing by Ed Osmond) THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Kosovo President Hashim Thaci arrived in The Hague on Monday for a meeting with prosecutors who last month indicted him for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Kosovo's 1998-99 uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Before entering the Specialist Chamber set up in 2015 to handle cases of war crimes during the revolt that eventually led to independence for Kosovo, Thaci told reporters he stood for 'truth, reconciliation and peace'. THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Kosovo President Hashim Thaci arrived in The Hague on Monday for a meeting with prosecutors who last month indicted him for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Kosovo's 1998-99 uprising against repressive Serbian rule. Before entering the Specialist Chamber set up in 2015 to handle cases of war crimes during the revolt that eventually led to independence for Kosovo, Thaci told reporters he stood for "truth, reconciliation and peace". Thaci had last week accepted an invitation by the court to discuss the allegations against him. He previously has denied involvement in any war crimes during the conflict. "Nobody can rewrite history. This is the price you pay for freedom," Thaci said on his arrival at the Specialist Chamber. When he left the special tribunal in The Hague Monday night, he said the interview would continue on Tuesday. The indictment, which also covers alleged crimes against humanity, is not final and a judge will take several months to decide whether the case built by the special prosecutor's office is strong enough to put him on trial. Prosecutors hold Thaci, former top commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrilla group, responsible for nearly 100 murders of civilians during the war. Around 20 ethnic Albanians demonstrated outside the Chamber in support of Thaci, waving Kosovo and Albanian flags and chanting "U-C-K" - the Albanian language acronym for the KLA. The Kosovo Specialist Chamber is governed by Kosovo law but is staffed by international judges and prosecutors. War crimes allegations against the KLA first surfaced in a 2011 report by the Council of Europe rights agency that accused guerrillas of killing civilian Serbs and ethnic Albanian political opponents during the insurrection. Local efforts to investigate alleged war crimes have so far been foiled by widespread intimidation in the tiny Balkan state, where clan loyalties run deep and former rebels are lionised. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Writing by Bart Meijer; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Tom Brown) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. People seen voting at Chung Cheng High School on 10 July. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore) By Cherian George and Donald Low Cherian George and Donald Low argue that the Sengkang Dividend from last Fridays General Election can only be realised if leaders and citizens step forward to support a more participatory and deliberative democracy. An election doesnt just distribute seats to victorious candidates and bequeath legitimacy to the governing party. It also creates new opportunities that political actors and the wider public may seize or ignore, widen or block. This contentious process will dominate Singapore politics in the days, weeks and months following Singapores July 10 general elections. Some of it will occur in public: now that the people have spoken, multiple interpreters will compete to have the final word on what those 2.53 million crosses really meant. But much of the action will take place in the shadows, as elites jostle for influence behind the scenes, and millions of Singaporeans make private decisions about whether and how to participate in the countrys democratic life. In a piece we co-wrote three days before Polling Day, we warned that Singapore might be headed for a period of political disaffection and disillusionment, with many citizens feeling alienated from the political system, and the ruling party becoming more irritable and irascible. Our prognosis has not changed fundamentally. We know this view is not in tune with the hopeful tenor of the times. Commentators across the political spectrum are calling the GE result a good outcome, while PAP politicians have tried to be gracious in their initial public comments. There is an old saying that nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come. But ideas alone, no matter how compelling, are not enough; they cannot be transformative without action. Influential individuals in the PAP need to muster the moral courage to push for change; peers need to support them; and the small number of decision-makers at the top must finally give their nod of approval. Story continues As for the wider public, much depends on whether the attentive voter who enthusiastically sought out the latest party videos and dissected every campaign message is now willing to metamorphose into an active citizen, prepared to scrutinise boring government Bills and volunteer at the grassroots, for example. All these steps go against the grain of Singapores political culture, so we are not holding our breath. There is every chance that the government will respond to GE2020 just as it did to GE2011 correcting policy failures without reforming its politics. It may once again convene managed conversations while restricting the space for public discourse and whipping up populist nationalism against critics. As the PAP starts soul-searching, influential voices are already advising it to focus narrowly on livelihood issues and ignore the calls for political diversity and fairness. The Sengkang Dividend 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) But, yes, the results of GE2020 open up opportunities for positive political and policy reforms and a maturing of Singapores democracy. The Workers Party (WP) win in Sengkang GRC, in particular, is significant beyond the obvious fact that its the first time that the opposition has secured two GRCs. First, Sengkang, together with the swing in the PAPs vote share toward 1991 and 2011 levels, underlines Singaporeans desire for a diversity of voices in parliament, as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledged in his post-election press conference. This signal is clearer now than in 2011. Voter discontent in GE2011 had mostly to do with bread-and-butter issues, particularly housing affordability, public transport reliability, weak social safety nets, and the angst caused by relaxed immigration policies. Although we both argued at the time that these policy lapses were intimately related to groupthink within an overly dominant executive, the PAP told itself that it did not need to fix its approach to governance, only its policies. It responded to the GE2011 debacle with a slew of technocratic solutions in the key vote-losing policy areas. But for all the new normal hype, the government quashed moves towards a more inclusive or diverse political system. In GE2020, on the other hand, the PAP entered an electoral battlefield softened with the largest outlay of bread and butter in the republics history. Indeed, the COVID-19 packages were widely expected to give the PAP an unassailable competitive edge. Compared with 2011, it will be much harder this time to resist the conclusion that many Singaporeans want political change, not just practical help. Second, if not for the Sengkang result, the PAP government would not have deemed it necessary to confer WP leader Pritam Singh with the honorific Leader of the Opposition, along with a commensurate level of staff support and other resources. Although this comes at the possible expense of opposition unity since it will deepen the gulf in prestige and interests between the WP and parties with only non-constituency seats, not to mention those with no parliamentary presence it is an important symbolic gesture. Providing the WP with more state resources acknowledges a loyal oppositions legitimate role in Singapores system of government. This is a step toward correcting the common misperception that the interests of the ruling party, the administration, and state are one and the same a conflation that remains one of the main barriers in the way of a fairer, more contestable political system. Third, Sengkang reflected voters rejection of, even revulsion at, the attacks on the WPs Raeesah Khan. The PAP chose to misrepresent Raeesahs 2018 comments as being highly derogatory [of] Chinese and Christians, when they were clearly about unequal treatment of different groups by the system. The vigorous pushback against the attempted character assassination clearly caught the PAP by surprise, even though it should not have just before Parliament was dissolved, the PAP had engaged in an equally clumsy and racialised attack on playwright Alfian Saat, which seemed to work only on its own hardcore supporters and trolls. The attack on Raeesah ended as abruptly as it began. In his final e-rally on 8 July, PM Lee went into damage limitation mode, acknowledging a possible generation gap in the way Singaporeans talk about race. Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam also struck an unusually conciliatory note in post-election remarks about the case. The controversy opens up an opportunity to adjust Singapores top-down and punitive approach to conversations on race and religion, as many experts and other thoughtful citizens have long advised. Fourth, the Sengkang result opens the door to a debate on electoral reform. At the top of the agenda is the unpopular group representation constituency (GRC) system. Even if this was not the intent, GRCs serve as hard-to-breach electoral citadels. If the opposition pips the PAP in an individual ward within a GRC, the advantage is usually cancelled out by sister wards that are solidly pro-PAP. This has long been suspected to be a feature, not a bug, of the GRC system, since GRC boundaries are not drawn by an independent commission. GE2020 provided further evidence of how difficult it remains for the opposition to win a GRC: even a 28 percentage point swing against the PAP in West Coast GRC could not dislodge a PAP team led by two ministers. But the GE results also present the PAP with a dilemma. Aljunied GRC shows that, once breached, citadels are equally difficult to recover. Sengkang gives further cause for pause: there is a limit to how many sitting ministers can be wagered in these high-stakes GRC contests. This, after all, is not a game of cards, and the government will at some point need to do the math. The case for reforming or even abolishing the GRC system is further strengthened by GE2020s evidence that it may be getting redundant as a means of ensuring minority representation. The WPs victorious Aljunied team had three minority candidates, while the PAPs best-performing GRC team was anchored by another. No blank cheque for reform Prime Minister and PAP election candidate Lee Hsien Loong speaking to the media at Deyi Secondary School on Nomination Day (30 June). (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore) These significant developments, we stress, present only opportunities for Singapore not guaranteed outcomes. The optimists may be underestimating how difficult it will be for the PAP government to change its internal culture and its approach to governance. We also anticipate that most Singaporeans will continue to outsource political participation to a small number of activists, while they themselves venture no further than the nearest Like button. We do not lack hope. Indeed, most of our writing on Singapore government and politics has been premised on the possibility and desirability of internal reform. We have also consciously tried to appeal to the establishments better angels. Cherians 2017 volume, Singapore, Incomplete, was addressed primarily to supporters and future leaders of the PAP, suggesting how an embrace of Singapores multicultural and political diversity could strengthen both the party and the nation. [A]nyone rooting for the PAP to remain relevant must hope that reform-minded leaders will emerge in the fifth-generation leadership, and perhaps even in the fourth, the book argued. Political reform may not be in the short term interests of current PAP leaders who have grown comfortable with the status quo, but if they do it soon and manage it right, it will help their successors secure Singapores long-term interests. Donalds 2014 book, Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus, made the case for political and policy reforms that were well within the PAP governments ideological range. In a recent article on the coronavirus pandemic, he noted that Singaporeans are justifiably proud of their strong, competent government, but that the biggest cognitive threat a decision-maker faces is not disunity; rather it is the tunnel vision that comes from being in the trenches for too long. He argued: [B]etween a strong, competent state and a strong society that can check and constrain the states excesses lies a narrow corridor that protects our rights and freedoms while allowing the state to function effectively. We believe that the country should not put all its eggs solely in the PAP basket. But, as our commentaries over the years suggest, Singaporeans should not neglect the PAP basket either, nor underestimate the value of a strong elite (though not elitist) administration. An internally reformed PAP government has to be a key plank of Singapores strategy to survive and thrive, at least in the short to medium term. Unlike the PAPs response to GE2011, todays reforms must start with politics rather than policy. Even establishment voices are calling for an end to the PAPs culture of political bullying and greater fairness in the way it conducts politics. In a widely shared Facebook post, former Law Society president Thio Shen-yi offered a to-do list for the ruling party: take the high road, stop bullying candidates, be humble and learn to apologise, understand that a strong mandate does not require a parliamentary supermajority, eschew fear-mongering, ensure a scrupulously fair playing field, fight bad ideas with good instead of relying on tools like POFMA, and accept that Singaporeans are ready for a non-Chinese PM. A good rule of thumb for the PAP to adopt would be to ask itself what sort of formal and informal rules of political conduct it would like to see in a world in which it is no longer dominant, or even in power. Somewhat paradoxically, only by embracing such rules can it secure its long-term success. Contrary to what the PAP believes, greater political competition would also develop and sharpen the political acumen of its future leaders. Consider how the unremitting heat directed at WPs Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh has forged them into respected leaders, and steeled them for crises. It is clear that political competition serves the same function as market or biological competition: it forces one to grow fitter and adapt to changes in the environment. In contrast, sheltering the next generation of PAP leaders from robust challenge and competition on the misguided assumption that protecting the highly credentialed promotes sound, technocratic and innovative policy-making would mute the signals the PAP requires to adapt to an increasingly complex and uncertain domestic and external environment. Internal reform, in theory, should be easier for the PAP than for many political parties. Parties elsewhere that are dependent on patronage networks and corrupt practices, for example, cannot clean up without first clearing out. This is essentially the story of parties like UMNO in Malaysia, Golkar in Indonesia, and the Kuomintang in Taiwan. The PAP, by contrast, has relied more on the (internal) contestation of ideas over what is in Singapores interests. This deeply technocratic and pragmatic streak suggests that it is well within the PAPs capacity to realise that it is in its own enlightened self-interest to accept, even welcome, greater political competition and diversity. With the PAP, a few good men and women at the top should be capable of changing the entire administrations direction. Unlike many other parties that have been (or were) in power for several decades, the PAP is not rigidly factionalised along personality lines. Such factionalism can often stymie the ability of reformists to enact reforms from within. The PAP does not suffer from this structural disadvantage, and is able to effect change quite quickly if a critical mass of its leaders so choose. Unlike some critics of the PAP government, we do not think the administration lacks such individuals. The PAP is a national movement, comparable to a religion. No major religion speaks with just one voice. Each has opposing internal tendencies. It may have a fundamentalist strand, rigid and dogmatic, exclusive and unforgiving, ever ready to launch inquisitions against perceived infidels. Yet, at the same time, it may have an inclusivist, open-minded denomination, respectful of differences and striving for social justice. These tendencies can co-exist, although in any one time and place, one dominates. In the PAP, since the shock of the 2011, the partys fundamentalist streak has held sway at the expense of a broad-church philosophy that we believe some within the administration quietly subscribe to. Citizen initiatives The PAPs induction of Louis Ng, a wildlife protection advocate deeply respected by civil society activists, is just one indicator of how some types of participation comfortably co-exist with the status quo of one-party domination. (PHOTO: YouTube screengrab) The second ingredient for reform is a politically engaged and active citizenry. There have been positive signs over the past decade or two. Civil society is more vibrant, and many young Singaporeans find personal fulfilment in causes larger than themselves. But one should not exaggerate the political impact of growing youth participation. Much of this is easily incorporated into existing governance systems, by opening certain narrow domains for consultation, for example. The PAPs induction of Louis Ng, a wildlife protection advocate deeply respected by civil society activists, is just one indicator of how some types of participation comfortably co-exist with the status quo of one-party domination. To ensure that ground energies are not disruptive to its power, the PAP government has operated a system of divide-and-rule. Many Singaporeans in the people sector find that they are able to achieve their narrow objectives with the governments active support. Therefore, among the PAPs newly elected candidates in the Class of 2020 are several with exemplary records of community service. But Singapore also has many activists whose valuable contributions to a more humane society are not welcomed, and some who are actively vilified by PAP leaders, punished by the authorities, and targeted for abuse and hate by their internet brigade. After the excitement dies down, most Singaporeans will be unable to sustain their current levels of interest in politics, no matter how excited they are by the prospect of change. Just like in the post-2011 era, it is quite possible that they will shift the burden of change-making along with its heavy personal and psychological costs to activists who have been pushed to the margins. The many ways to read the election results will continue to fuel public debate for a while. Some perceive GE2020 as a childish outburst. We disagree. Democratic elections are, of course, a flawed and imperfect means of collective self-government, vulnerable to irrational impulses and manipulation; but they are still by far the best system that humankind has come up with to resolve differences peacefully. Despite the inevitable messiness of the process, we are struck by the growing maturity of the Singapore public. GE2020 affirms our belief that Singaporeans whether in the administration or the public, whether among PAP loyalists, opposition supporters or neutrals do not lack ability or patriotism. GE2020 presents openings for government, parties and citizens to respond positively to the need for participation and distributed leadership. The question is whether Singaporeans and the party they have relied on for six decades can rise to this challenge of a generation. This article was first published on Academia.sg. The views expressed are the authors own. Cherian George is professor of media studies and associate dean for research at Hong Kong Baptist Universitys School of Communication. His books include Freedom from the Press: Journalism and State Power in Singapore (NUS Press, 2012), and Air-Conditioned Nation Revisited: Essays on Singapore Politics (Ethos Books, 2020). Donald Low is professor of practice in public policy at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, the director of its Institute for Emerging Market Studies, and director of Leadership and Public Policy Executive Education. He is the lead author of Hard Choices: Challenging the Singapore Consensus (NUS Press, 2014). More GE2020 commentaries and analysis: COMMENT: Pritam Singh is the man of the moment, but there is a long road ahead 'A flight from the status quo': Analysts break down GE2020 results COMMENT: Singapore, we deserve an 'A' COMMENT: The dilemmas of a first-time voter COMMENT: Lows departure has accelerated the Workers Partys transition - but at what cost? COMMENT: GE2020 Why Singapore may lose, whatever the final score Five of the properties owned by former Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri and his family, now under investigation for diverting US$32 million of public funds into family companies and buying a large swathe of property, were sold shortly before he left the country in 2017 or last year after he had already left. Buyers paid a total of US$620 000 for the five properties registered in the names of his family members and the State is still trying to find out how ownership changed in respect of two other assets previously owned by the Chihuris. Prosecutor General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi has already been granted orders that freeze company and property assets, orders now being disputed by Chihuri, and has filed a fresh application seeking explanation of the sale of the additional properties. In the latest High Court application countering Chihuris recent bid to set aside two orders issued against him, Mr Hodzi said a check with the Deeds Office showed the rushed disposal of assets by the Chihuris. National Prosecuting Authoritys (NPA) head of Asset Forfeiture Unit Mr Chris Mutangadura recently filed the counter application of behalf of the State. Chihuri, his wife Isobel and children Ethan and Samantha were listed as respondents together with five companies involved in the alleged siphoning of money from the Police Revolving Fund. My inquiry with the Registrar of Deeds office and correspondences I received from interested parties, revealed more of how the respondents went on a rampage to dispose of properties that are subject to investigations and possible forfeiture, said Mr Hodzi. On July 17, 2018, Isobel Halima Khan Chihuri sold stand 1421 Gletwyn Township which was walled, gated with a borehole, water tank, tank stand and wooden cabin to Brian Chijaka for US$130 000. Her brother Aitken Khan had her power of attorney to make the transaction, reads the application. Stand Number 1411 Gletwyn was also sold by True Hope Trust again with Khan standing in for his sister but the value of the property is yet to be established. On March 21, 2018, Khan sold 8 St Aubins Chisipite in Harare on behalf of owner Samantha Chihuri to Erinah Muchingami for US$365 000. The property, measuring 9 094 square metres has a four-bedroomed house, with borehole, and is gated and walled. On August 29, 2017, Khan had sold 784 Strathaven, registered in the name of Nicole Tawonga Chihuri to Fairline Investments Pvt Ltd for US$125 000. The Chihuri family is expected to disclose how they acquired Lot 3 of Plot 4 of Juliasdale Nyanga, a property worth US$3 860 000 and registered in the names of Samantha Chihuri, Ethan Augustine Chihuri, Nicole Tawonga Chihuri and Anashe Melamine Chihuri under Deed of Transfer 2208/12. The family should also explain how it originally acquired 14453 Ibhalabhala Crescent, Selbourne in Bulawayo which was transferred from the ex-police bosss name into the name of Tendai +Madamombe on July 24, 2018. The buyer resold it in December. Chihuri is challenging earlier unexplained wealth orders. The order, which the NPA obtained at the High Court last month, placed known family property in Zimbabwe under the management of the Asset Management Unit of the NPA. This means the property and companies cannot be sold without permission of the courts. Chihuri, who is being represented by Kantor and Immerman law firm, argues that when the order was granted neither he nor others listed were given any prior notice of the proceedings, nor were given an opportunity to respond to the allegations that allegedly support the unexplained wealth order. The order is an ex parte order, that is one made without the other party being aware. Such orders provide instant relief, albeit on a temporary basis and usually issued when immediate relief is needed and when scheduling a regular hearing and providing notice to the other party is not feasible. Chihuri argues that the unexplained wealth order constituted a gross irregularity and a fundamental breach of their legal rights and wants the High Court to declare that certain provisions of the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act of 2019, infringe the constitution. In challenging the constitutionality of these provisions in the High Court, Chihuri and his family rely on a constitutional provision that gives courts subordinate to the Constitutional Court the power to make constitutional declarations and to pronounce as invalid, offensive pieces of legislation, although any such finding is subject to confirmation by the Constitutional Court. Bolivian sex workers are preparing for life in the age of coronavirus with new equipment including gloves, bottles of bleach and see-through raincoats. The thigh-skimming 'biosecurity suits' are among a number of recommendations in a 30-page coronavirus security manual drawn up by the Organization of Night Workers of Bolivia (OTN). The group is pushing authorities to lift the day-time business restrictions put in place during the lockdown in the capital La Paz, even if a strict nighttime curfew still impedes their more habitual evening work. Lily Cortes, a representative of Bolivia's sex workers union, says some may have no option but to work on the streets if they could not work in the legal brothels. Sex workers in Bolivia wear see-through protective suits during a demonstration of the safety precautions they will take at their jobs after the coronavirus lockdown One sex worker, Antonieta, showed Reuters late last week how, in addition to donning a thong, a sequined eye-mask and a sheer, crotch-height dress for work, she could layer on top a paper face mask, plastic visor, gloves and a raincoat. She gave a demonstration of how she sprays a bleach solution on the pole she uses to dance for clients at the brothel that she operates with several other women. 'The biosecurity suit will allow us to work and protect ourselves,' she said. Perched on a heart-shaped leather bed in a nearby room another woman, Vanesa, a single mother to two children, said she had to work to be able to fund their studies. She said she felt confident the changes proposed by the sex workers' lobby would keep everyone happy. 'Our clients respect the issue of safety, that we are taking these measures for our security, but also for theirs,' she said. Cortes, the union member, previously said that if the legal establishments cannot function, 'unfortunately the sex workers will go out to work the streets and the result will be worse.' 'We are also part of Bolivian society,' said Cortes. 'We are sex workers, women, aunts and grandmothers that also have to worry about our work hours.' Sex workers in Bolivia are pushing authorities to lift the day-time business restrictions put in place during the lockdown in the capital La Paz A sex worker takes off her shoes during a demonstration of the safety precautions they will take at their jobs to curb the spread of the coronavirus The World Health Organization has said that, based on current evidence, the coronavirus cannot be sexually transmitted. However, some degree of close contact is unavoidable. Bolivia has 48,187 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 1,807 deaths, but medical experts say the real numbers of those infected could be many times higher. Similar rules drawn up by Swiss sex workers in May called for masks to be worn if possible and people to keep 'one forearm length apart' during sex. Anonymity is also a thing of the past in Switzerland, because clients' personal details will have to be kept for four weeks in case they are needed for contact tracing. The rules acknowledge that some of the Swiss government's preferred outcomes such as plexiglass screens between customers and staff are not achievable in brothels. However, 'the argument that protective measures cannot be enforced in the sex industry does not hold true,' a lobby group said in a letter to the government. Many protective measures in brothels or smaller studios can be inspected by the police if necessary, they wrote. Sex positions cannot be monitored in this way but the same is true of private dealings between people and their doctors or therapists, they argued. A Herefordshire farm has been forced to go into lockdown following a Covid-19 outbreak which has infected at least 73 crop pickers and packers. Dozens of farm workers at AS Green & Co, based in Mathon near Malvern, have tested positive for the virus and more are awaiting results. Over 200 workers have been told to self-isolate in mobile homes situated on the farm premises. Herefordshire Council, which is supplying food and essential items to the key workers, believes the outbreak is 'contained'. It added that the workers were being treated as 'one extended bubble' and were staying within household groups. A spokesperson for AS Green & Co said the welfare of its 'hard-working key workers' was its 'priority'. "We contacted PHE and we are working closely with them and public health at Herefordshire Council to prevent the spread of COVID-19. "As a precautionary measure we have arranged for testing of additional key workers including management team members and visitors connected with A S Green, and can confirm all results to date outside of our site have been returned with negative results." AS Green & Co, a family-run business, supplies major UK retailers. It specialises in growing broccoli, broad beans and runner beans. Public Health England (PHE) said a range of Covid-19 measures had been introduced on the farm, including on-site testing, social distancing and regular hand-washing. Katie Spence, PHE Midlands health protection director, said it was 'expected' to still witness cases in the community during the current phase of the pandemic. "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," 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." The government has issued Covid-19 guidelines on working safely in the agricultural industry. It comes as a number of meat plants confirmed recent outbreaks of Covid-19, including 2 Sisters's Anglesey chicken site and Tulip's West Midlands' pork plant. Many petroleum, petrochemical, and power industry professionals are enhancing their resumes with advanced API, CWI and NDT online training courses during the pandemic. HOUSTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Atlas Training, the leading provider of comprehensive API, CWI & NDT online exam prep training courses, reported today a pandemic related surge in professionals upgrading their credentials by adding new certifications to their resume. Atlas Training allows students to take these guaranteed, industry-leading multimedia courses from anywhere Atlas has recently extended their online multi-media course access for an entire year. Hannon McLeod, the president of Atlas Training stated, "Many have realized that if they can't be at work, that they might as well be constructive and take one of our online training courses to enhance their resume. We all know that when the job market in the oil, petrochemical, chemical and power industries starts to dry up, everyone becomes aware of how important advanced certifications can be. When it comes down to several candidates and only a very few positions, these certs and qualifications become extremely important in determining if a candidate will be chosen to fill an available position." Atlas Training is noted in the industry as the company that is always moving forward with the most effective online multimedia course applications that allows course access from anywhere via mobile or desktop devices. In addition to the above, Atlas Training recently increased their NDT course offering to include MT (magnetic particle testing), PT (liquid penetrant testing), VT (visual testing), RT (radiographic testing), UT (ultrasonic testing) and UTT (ultrasonic testing thickness) exam prep certifications. Atlas also introduced the first-ever English/Spanish AWS Certified Welding Inspector exam preparation course to be available in the United States. Established in Houston in 2014 by Hannon McLeod and Oran Lewis, Atlas API Training provides online and on-site petroleum, petrochemical, and power industries exam preparation courses for advanced industry certification. Over the last several years, Atlas has received multiple requests to expand their offering of advanced API, CWI and NDT certifications and is now developing additional industry-specific training courses that will soon be available. Our online training courses are designed to give students the best opportunity to pass the critical certification exams. All courses are frequently updated to reflect the most current industry-specific changes and testing parameters. In the effort to service the ever-increasing demand for on-site instruction, AtlasTraining has also expanded their instructor recruitment program. Contact: [email protected]. 409-234-1322 SOURCE Atlas API Related Links https://atlasapitraining.com/ The 24-year-old from south-west Sydney will face court on Tuesday morning A man has been charged with allegedly attempting to murder a two-year-old girl by drowning her in the bath. The 24-year-old from south-west Sydney has also been charged with common assault and property destruction offences. Detectives with the Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad arrested the man at his Campbelltown home about 9pm on Monday. Police moved to arrest the man after receiving reports he had been physically abusive toward a 25-year-old woman and the little girl. Police will allege in court that the man abused the woman and child on several occasions between January and July this year. 'It will be further alleged that during one incident the man attempted to drown the child while bathing her,' a statement said. Daily Mail Australia has been told the man is not the child's biological father. He will face Campbelltown Local Court on Tuesday morning, where he also has two applications for apprehended violence orders listed against him. KYODO NEWS - Jul 15, 2020 - 14:05 | All, World President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an order to fully end the special treatment extended under U.S. law to Hong Kong, saying that he will hold China accountable for its "oppressive actions" against the people of the former British colony. "Hong Kong will now be treated the same as mainland China: no special privileges, no special economic treatment, and no export of sensitive technologies," Trump said at a press conference. He also signed into law a bill to impose sanctions on foreign individuals and entities allegedly involved in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom. Related coverage: Japan, Australia air "grave concern" over China's H.K. security law China opens national security office in Hong Kong U.S. Congress passes bill to penalize China banks over Hong Kong law The move is the latest in a series of U.S. actions to pressure China over its recent implementation of a national security law on Hong Kong. China later condemned the U.S. move, with the Foreign Ministry saying in a statement that Beijing will take "necessary measures" to protect its legitimate interests and will slap sanctions on the American people and entities concerned. The national security law has enabled Beijing to crack down on what it views as subversive activity in the territory despite its promise to ensure a high degree of autonomy and freedom of expression. In line with China's "one country, two systems" policy, the United States has given Hong Kong a special status separate from the rest of mainland China, such as over trade matters and visa issuance. But as China pushed ahead to implement the national security law, the United States in late June began revoking the special status by ending controlled defense exports to Hong Kong. The executive order signed by Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. government will revoke license exceptions for exports to Hong Kong and treat Hong Kong passport holders in the same manner as it does those from China. The United States will also block the assets of people who have engaged in actions that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Hong Kong, according to the order. The Hong Kong Autonomy Act, which Trump signed Tuesday, penalizes banks that do business with officials who implement China's national security law on Hong Kong. Seeing his job approval rate slipping as the coronavirus ravages the United States ahead of the November presidential election, Trump appears to be attempting to cast himself as tough on China, a perceived positive among voters, in contrast to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden. "No administration has been tougher on China than this administration," Trump said, while repeating accusations that China concealed the outbreak of the coronavirus which was first detected in the country late last year before spreading globally. Trump has continued to downplay concerns about the coronavirus despite parts of the country continuing to see surges in infection numbers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were 58,858 new cases countrywide on Monday. Approximately 136,000 people have died in the United States due to the virus, a figure that is much higher than any other country in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University. Over the past months, U.S.-China relations have increasingly soured as the two countries clash over issues ranging from the origin of the pandemic to China's alleged human rights abuses against its Muslim Uyghur minority. Adding further tension to relations, the U.S. State Department said Monday it is taking a tougher stance against China's assertiveness in the South China Sea, calling Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the disputed waters "completely unlawful." The U.S. Navy said Tuesday that it conducted the freedom of navigation operation near the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where China has continued to engage in militarization and construction of facilities. There is no sign that the relationship between the two economic giants will improve anytime soon. Asked by a reporter whether he plans to have talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump said at the press conference, "I have no plan to speak to him." Under China's "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong was promised it would enjoy the rights and freedoms of a semiautonomous region for 50 years after the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997. China's national security law on Hong Kong outlaws acts of separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with external forces. Those who commit the offenses can be punished with up to life in prison. Details of the clemency deal were made public on Monday after a judge asked the Trump administration for clarification. US President Donald Trumps executive clemency to his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone not only commuted the veteran Republican operatives prison term but it also spared him a hefty fine and two years of supervised release. The details of the clemency arrangement were made public by the United States Department of Justice and Stones lawyer on Monday after the judge who presided over the case asked the Trump administration to explain whether the commutation announced on Friday meant he would not be supervised, as many convicted felons are after being freed. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had set a Tuesday deadline to receive a copy of Trumps clemency order along with an explanation about whether it also commuted the period Stone was meant to be supervised after leaving prison. Asked about Robert Muellers op-ed, Trumps press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Fox News. "He had to come up with process crimes, which is exactly what was done in the case of Roger Stone. Mueller said Stone remains a convicted felon, and rightly so:https://t.co/lrKcehZbY6 pic.twitter.com/1degr1jI2g Jennifer Jacobs (@JenniferJJacobs) July 13, 2020 In the order, Trump wrote that justice would not be served were Stone to remain confined to his home or serve the said sentence, and the safety of the community will not be compromised if he is released from home confinement and clemency is granted. I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said Roger Stone, Jr. to expire immediately, read Trumps order. I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised released with all its conditions, and finally, I remit any unpaid balance of the $20,000 fine imposed. The president told reporters on Monday that he was getting rave reviews for his action on Stone and restated his position that the Russia investigation should have never taken place. The executive grant of clemency Trump signed for Roger Stone commutes his entire prison sentence, as well as two years of supervised release and a $20,000 fine. https://t.co/2mZF5zA6Wj Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) July 13, 2020 Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being convicted by a jury in Washington last year of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Stone was found guilty of all seven counts against him. The commutation did not erase Stones conviction as a pardon would have. Stone was due to have reported to a federal prison in Georgia on Tuesday. Stones lawyer Grant Smith, who tweeted out a copy of Trumps order, said it speaks for itself in answering the judges enquiry. Rajesh Asnani By Express News Service JAIPUR: With the sacking of Sachin Pilot from the post of Deputy CM, the Congress party in Rajasthan has been split into two camps. It is a scenario that is to BJPs liking and the presence of Pilot along with his dozen MLAs in a Manesar hotel has left BJP managers smiling in anticipation of a kill. Though BJP power brokers have not come into the open on the Congress infighting, yet the partys shadow is seen lurking everywhere through IT and ED raids on people close to Gehlot. The message is clear that the central BJP leadership is definitely working closely with the state party functionaries. The state BJP leaders met on Tuesday in Jaipur to review the current situation. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria stated that BJP would certainly view how the events unfold. And while a floor test would give a much clearer picture, yet it is evident that the Congress government has lost the confidence of the people. Sources say that Central Water Resources Minister Gajendra Singh has been entrusted the responsibility to assess the situation while Jyotiraditya Scindia has been handed the onus of dealing and discussing the matters with Sachin Pilot. A senior BJP veteran admitted that the party must not be in a hurry to force matters in Rajasthan as the situation of the desert state is much different from the scenario in MP and gathering the numbers to bring about a downfall is not so easy. In fact, he felt Pilot has only two choices - either join BJP and lose his stature or else start a new political party. Admitting Pilot in BJP is a thorny issue as BJP itself is a divided house in Rajasthan. If one faction is led by former BJP CM Vasundhara Raje, the other faction, supported by Modi-Shah duo, is led by RSS backers such as State BJP president Satish Poonia and Gulab Chand Kataria as well as former stalwarts like Rajendra Singh Rathore and Gajendra Singh himself. Sidelining Raje may have been successful but it would lead to inner-party rivalries led by these senior veterans. Digesting Pilots presence in any capacity would be very difficult for all of them. However, sources in the BJP say that central leadership is of the opinion that if Pilot is offered the chief ministership, it may bring a faster downfall and split within the Congress and hence, its open to such a line of action. Many observers point out that Sachin Pilot may have been promised support for initiating a regional party and efforts are on through Cabinet Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to provide all necessary help in this regard to Pilot and his followers in view of a congregation. Some even say that Pilot could be adjusted at the Centre as a minister as BJP leadership feels he has a sizeable following among the youth on account of his charisma and BJP could use Scindia-Pilot duo to counter the Congress in the future elections. It may be noted that BJP leader P P Choudhary has said that if Pilot does join the BJP, he will be warmly welcomed by all factions. I have spent the past three months in my home state of Florida, during which time Ive watched it become the hottest of coronavirus hotspots on the planet. This week began with the announcement that the state registered over 15,000 new infections in a single day, which was almost 3,000 more daily cases than any state previously had recorded since the pandemic began. If Florida was a country, according to Reuters, it would have the worlds fourth-highest tally of new Covid-19 cases over that 24-hour span, trailing only the US, Brazil and India. Florida has a well-deserved reputation as Americas weirdest state, so perhaps the pandemic punishment being meted out to us right now shouldnt come as a shock. A 1948 Fortune magazine study observed: Florida is a study in abnormal psychology, useful in signaling the hidden derangements of the national mood. A lot of bad trends in American life find their most bizarre and refined forms in the Sunshine state, which is why Florida Man has become shorthand for the bad behavior of too many state residents. As far as the present pandemic is concerned, the simplest and most convincing explanation for why Florida is experiencing an explosion of Covid-19 cases it that it is an extreme case of the broader American failure to take the pandemic seriously. Related: Florida reports 15,000 new coronavirus cases, a record single-day total in the US Considerable blame rests with the states Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. A former member of the House Freedom Caucus, the most slavishly pro-Trump faction in Congress, he won election as governor in 2018 largely on the strength of the presidents endorsement as well as campaign ads that showed him teaching his children how to build walls and recite Make America Great Again. Video: Ron DeSantis interrupted at press conference for COVID-19 response Unsurprisingly, he followed Trumps lead in minimizing the seriousness of the pandemic. Florida was one of the last states to impose a stay-at-home order, in early April, and began reopening little more than a month later. A state data scientist responsible for tracking the spread of the virus was fired when, she claimed, she wouldnt manipulate the data to show sufficient recovery from the pandemic to justify further easing of restrictions. Story continues Even now, DeSantis is aggressively pushing for schools to reopen next month, on the grounds that if big-box stores like Walmart and Home Depot can resume operations successfully, then so can schools. Teachers object that schools are smaller and more crowded spaces, and that few customers spend eight hours a day in the stores. But perhaps DeSantis is channeling the dystopian future vision of the film Idiocracy, in which higher education has been taken over by stores like Costco. DeSantis, to his credit, allowed some of the hardest-hit cities and counties to delay reopening and require masks in some public settings unlike the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona, who blocked any pandemic restrictions more stringent than those imposed by the state (both governors have backtracked). He also seems, in hindsight, to have been unfairly pilloried by the media for allowing beaches to stay open, in view of current opinions on the lower risk of outdoor transmission. Floridas subtropical climate is an irresistible inducement to hedonism Its also clear that Florida, like the country as a whole, failed to shut down to the extent and duration necessary to contain the spread of the virus, or to wear masks and practice social distancing to the extent that was routine in most societies where the virus was successfully brought under control. During the first two months I was down here, I rarely saw as many as half of the customers (and in some cases staff) in supermarkets and drugstores wearing masks. Groups of teenagers thronged the shopping malls as if the pandemic was a thing of the past. Floridas governor, Ron DeSantis, puts on his mask as he leaves a news conference on Monday. Photograph: Wilfredo Lee/AP Bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, gyms, massage parlors, nail salons and a host of other transmission-friendly environments reopened in early June, with distancing restrictions more or less ignored. Floridians who chafed at weeks of restrictions made up for lost time by partying down with a kind of feral intensity, to judge by local social media, at any rate. Floridas subtropical climate is an irresistible inducement to hedonism, and many of the young people who crowded into bars and nightclubs believed that they had nothing to fear from the virus. Health officials have linked more than 150 Covid-19 cases to a single bar in Orlando. (DeSantis subsequently banned on-premise alcohol consumption at establishments that derive more than half of their income from alcohol sales.) There could be some other factors peculiar to Florida that explain the virulence of the pandemics spread here. Partisanship is hard-edged here, and not wearing a mask has become a mark of Republican tribal identity. Many conservatives I know (particularly men) consider mask-wearing to be an infringement upon their constitutional freedom. Skepticism of science and experts, along with ingrained contrarianism some otherwise sane Floridians I know resolutely maintain that the virus is a hoax, or no worse than seasonal flu surely plays a role in some cases as well. The state governments handling of the pandemic has proved shockingly inadequate, largely because the previous Republican administration sabotaged its institutional capacities. It took weeks and even months for laid-off Floridians to get unemployment relief, largely because the online system was designed to make it harder for workers to receive benefits so that the previous governor (now a senator), Rick Scott, could claim lower jobless numbers. Floridians historically have shown a ferocious individualism and an unwillingness to abide by state government restrictions. In addition, the severe economic damage inflicted by the shutdown surely has made people more willing to engage in magical thinking about how the dangers of the virus have been inflated by the media and the establishment, including the mistaken belief that hot weather prevents virus spread. The inability of too many Floridians to distinguish between reality and fantasy is part of whats frustrating about this place Two-thirds of Floridas residents (and nearly all of its tourists) come here from somewhere else, which may cut against the collective sense of social responsibility thats more widespread in more settled communities and societies. And masks are indeed uncomfortable in Floridas heat and humidity, as visitors to a reopened Disney World are finding out. The pandemic laid bare the incompetence of the Trump administration, which took much too long to put widespread testing in place and has yet to implement contact tracing on the scale thats needed. But the pandemic has also shown the weakness of Americas federal structure and its insufficient state capacity relative to other developed countries, where governments have implemented more uniform and effective national responses. Perhaps one of the pandemics legacies will be greater citizen insistence on competent government. Ive spent most of my adult life outside Florida, but I share the affectionate exasperation that many Floridians feel for their state. Its not like anywhere else, for both good and ill. The New York Times recently interviewed a couple who visited the reopened Disney World and shared their belief that the parks reopening was the first thing that made us feel like we could leave our house and still feel safe. Why? Because its Disney. The inability of too many Floridians to distinguish between reality and fantasy is part of whats frustrating about this place, but their irrepressible optimism makes me hope we will get through this pandemic without losing too many more of them. WINSTON SALEM, N.C., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company ("RJRVC") today launched its updated consumer-focused website for the Vuse brand, www.vuse.com. The enhanced platform is interactive, experience-driven and is designed to enable age 21+ adult nicotine consumers (ANCs) to identify and create the moments they are looking for. The new www.vuse.com site is designed to be engaging and informative, while empowering creativity and individuality. Through the site, ANCs will have the opportunity to customize and purchase their ideal vapor product and explore creative passions with engaging content. As part of Vuse's continued commitment to responsibility, the updated site will continue to require robust third-party age verification prior to purchase. "Our website may look brand new, but our mission remains the same: we are committed to responsibly delivering enjoyable vapor products to adult nicotine consumers," said Amy Harp, Vice President Digital Marketing and eCommerce. "We believe vapor products can be marketed responsibly to ANCs without compromising on the quality and enjoyment they are looking for. This website was developed thoughtfully and diligently to meet our high standards for responsible marketing while delivering sought-after product access for our consumers." Adult nicotine consumers will also now have the option to personalize their Vuse vapor products directly on the site. ANCs can choose to customize their product with options for device colors, device wraps, flavors and nicotine strengths. The release of the updated website also marks a major step for the Company's media integration strategy, allowing ANCs to engage with the broader Vuse community on Instagram and Facebook directly through the site. "The Vuse community is a dynamic one, and we are excited to help foster their creativity in one place. We are excited to see how our consumers interact with this new platform, and we can't wait to continue bringing them the experiences they want with a brand they trust," said Harp. To commemorate the launch of the updated website, Vuse is offering a 25% off limited time discount plus free shipping with a purchase of $10 or more through July 20 to its most loyal consumers. For more information about Vuse and the full Vuse product portfolio, please visit www.vuse.com. About Vuse/R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company: The Vuse brand combines tobacco expertise with innovative technology to provide age 21+ adult nicotine consumers with alternatives to traditional tobacco products. Vuse products are marketed in the United States by R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company ("RJRVC"), an operating company of Reynolds American Inc., a member of the British American Tobacco Group. RJRVC remains committed to responsibly marketing Vuse products. To learn more about R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company, please visit www.rjrvapor.com. To learn more about Vuse vapor products, please visit www.vuse.com. Engage Socially Twitter: https://twitter.com/RAI_News LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rj-reynolds/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReynoldsAmericanInc SOURCE R.J. Reynolds Vapor Company Related Links http://www.vuse.com Historic letters lifted veil off of 1975 crisis when British monarchs envoy brought down Labor government in Australia. Queen Elizabeth IIs representative in Australia fired a prime minister without informing the palace in advance, according to letters kept secret for decades, but her office did assure the then-governor-general, John Kerr, that he had the power to bring down the Australian government before he took the extraordinary step in 1975. Kerrs decision to sack Prime Minister Gough Whitlam without warning on November 11, 1975, triggered a constitutional crisis that spurred many to call for Australia to sever its constitutional ties with Britain and create a republic. The firing of the Labor Party leader was the only dismissal of an elected Australian government on the authority of the British monarch, who remains Australias head of state. The National Archives of Australia lifted the veil off the mystery on Tuesday, releasing more than 1,200 pages of letters and press clippings between Kerr and the monarchs office from August 1974 to December 1977. The letters show Kerr and Buckingham Palace discussed the political crisis gripping the country for two months before Kerr fired Whitlam as the prime minister tried to get Parliament to approve his budget and end a months-long standoff. National Archives of Australia Director-General David Ficker speaks during the Kerr Palace Letters release event in Canberra, Australia [Lukas Coch/ AAP via Reuters] In a dispatch on November 4, 1975, the queens private secretary Sir Martin Charteris wrote to Kerr that the monarchs power to dissolve a parliament had not been used in years. Some argued that the power no longer existed, he wrote, but I do not believe this to be true. Charteris said if Kerr did what the constitution dictates, you cannot possible (sic) do the Monarchy any avoidable harm. The chances are you will do it good, he added. Better for Her Majesty not to know A week later, Kerr fired Whitlam but did not tell the queen he had decided to remove the prime minister until after he had done it. I should say I decided to take the step I took without informing the Palace in advance because, under the Constitution, the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is of course my duty to tell her immediately, he wrote on November 11, immediately after taking the unprecedented step. Kerr then appointed opposition Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as interim prime minister, sparking chaos in Canberra and protests on the steps of Parliament. Fraser went on to win a landslide election victory later that year. Charteris congratulated Kerr for not warning the palace or Whitman in advance of his decision. In not informing The Queen what you intended to do before doing it, you acted not only with perfect constitutional propriety but also with consideration for Her Majestys position, he wrote. Jenny Hocking sued the National Archives of Australia for access to the letters [File: Rick Rycroft/ AP Photo] The release of the 212 so-called palace letters is a victory for Whitlam biographer Jenny Hocking who has been trying for years to get access to them. Bombshell Historians say the country was never told the full story of Whitlams firing, and Hocking in 2016 sued the National Archives of Australia for access to letters between Kerr and the queen. The lawsuit initially failed on the grounds that the letters were private, but in May, Australias High Court overturned the ruling saying they could not be kept secret indefinitely. Hocking, in an op-ed in The Age, said the letters were every bit the bombshell they promised to be. The Queen breached the central tenet of a constitutional monarchy, that the monarch is politically neutral and must play no role in political matters, she wrote. The damage this has done to the Queen, to Kerr and the monarchy is incalculable. The high interest in the letters brought down the National Archive of Australias website temporarily on Tuesday, and the office later made the documents available as PDFs. Due to higher than usual traffic, RecordSearch is temporarily unavailable. Thank you for your patience as we work to restore the service. National Archives of Australia (@naagovau) July 14, 2020 Labor leader Anthony Albanese, Australias opposition leader, said the 1975 crisis reinforced the need for an Australian head of state instead of the British monarch. It is, I think, a blight on our character as a nation that a democratically-elected government was dismissed, Albanese said. The action of the governor-general on November 11 to dismiss a government, to put himself above the Australian people, is one that reinforces the need for us to have an Australian head of state, reinforces the need for us to stand on our own two feet, he added. Tucker Carlson on Monday announced he would be taking a vacation just days after his chief writer was forced to resign for secretly posting racist, anti-LGBTQ and sexist comments to an obscure online forum over the past five years. The Fox News host said the break was a 'long planned trout fishing' trip, telling viewers: 'This is one of those years where, if you don't get it in now, you're probably not going to, if something dramatic happens, of course.' Blake Neff, who is originally from South Dakota, posted offensive material over a number of years on an Internet message board called AutoAdmit. He resigned Friday after the story was broken by CNN, who then contacted Fox for a comment. Addressing the story Monday, Carlson appeared to defend Neff, saying 'we are all human' and he 'paid a very heavy price'. He also slammed the 'ghouls beating chests destruction young man' but added: 'We don't endorse those words. They have nothing to do with the show.' The CNN report cites several examples of postings on the site AutoAdmit, with bigoted and derogatory comments about women and black, Asian, and LGBTQ people. 'Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down,' he reportedly wrote a few weeks ago. In another he stated: 'Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep.' Scroll down for video Tucker Carlson on Monday announced he would be taking a 'long planned' vacation just days after his chief writer was forced to resign Blake Neff, who served as the top writer for Tucker Carlson's Fox News show, has resigned after a number of racist and sexist posts written by him came to light Speaking Monday evening Carlson said: 'What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We don't endorse those words, they have no connection to the show. 'It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not how they were born. We often say that because we mean it. We'll continue to defend that principal, often alone among nation news programs, because it is essential. Nothing is more important. 'Blake fell short of that standard and he has paid a very heavy price for it.' But he added: 'We should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs. 'We are all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all, and we will be punished for it.' On Friday evening, Neff's digital public persona had been removed from online sites with his personal Twitter and LinkedIn accounts deactivated. The AutoAdmit forum is supposedly frequented with lawyers and law school students in which racism and sexism run rampant. According to CNN Business, Neff allegedly made disparaging remarks towards black and Asian people. He derided a woman for being an 'Azn megashrew' in posts that were all allegedly posted under a pseudonym. His abuse led to other users then getting involved and abusing the woman for several years in follow-up posts. Neff stated how he 'wouldn't get LASIK from an Asian for free' in response to an email thread with the subject line, 'Would u let a JET BLACK congo n***** do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?' 'I wouldn't get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no,' Neff is alleged to have responded. In other parts of the forum, he is said of have joked about 'foodie f*****' and 'Third World sh*******.' Neff resigned Friday morning from Tucker Carlson Tonight, after an investigation revealed that Neff had been posting under the pseudonym 'CharlesXII' He was posting on AutoAdmit for the entire four years he worked on the show Fox News said in an internal memo to employees that it 'strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior. '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. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our work force,' read the memo from FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott and FOX News Media President & Executive Editor Jay Wallace. Neff attended Dartmouth College, a private Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire. An article written about him in an alumni magazine spoke of the supposed influence he had on the show. 'Anything he's reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me,' says Neff. In the past three-and-a-half years he has been working on the show, Neff explained that he would Initially speak to Carlson each day about what to cover but said that he shared similar views as the right-wing pundit on many issues. 'I've gotten used to what he likes and what he thinks about,' he said. 'We're very aware that we do have that power to sway the conversation, so we try to use it responsibly,' he told the magazine. 'Our show is controversial - that's just objective - but I don't believe that we're stoking conflict. 'When people accuse us of that, they're allowing actual firebrands to stir them up.' Sometimes Neff's posts even overlapped with Carlson's on-air lines which would be repeated Neff allegedly made a number of openly racist comments and has since removed all of his social media At times, his posts even overlapped with Carlson's on-air lines. In one example, Neff allegedly wrote on the forum, 'It is your f***ing right as an American to wear whatever T-shirt you want, and hold whatever political views you want. Christ.' The former Fox writer held a great amount of power over the highest-rated show on cable news for a number of years The following night on his show, Carlson mirrored the comments. '...And they can wear whatever shirts they want. You thought that was true. You thought that was your right as an American,' he allegedly wrote. CNN received an anonymous tip revealing Neff's username as 'CharlesXII'. Researchers were then able to corroborate messages on the noticeboard with public information about him. In photos which he had allegedly posted to the forum, Neff's reflection could also be seen taking the picture. Commentators on the site reportedly knew that the person behind the account worked on Carlson's show. Carlson has come under fire a number of times in recent years for racist and sexist comments made both on air and off yet he remains at the top of Fox News ratings. He has been accused of stoking racism and xenophobia, while also claiming the threat of white supremacy is a 'hoax.' In one instance, he implied that accepting immigrants into the country makes America 'poorer and dirtier.' On Monday, Carlson claimed that decorated war veteran Tammy Duckworth was a 'coward' for not wanting to appear on his show. Following his comments on Monday, Duckworth - who became a double amputee after losing her legs while serving in Iraq - suggested on Twitter that Carlson 'walk a mile in my legs.' Wrexhams hometown heroes and lockdown legends sought for 2020 National Lottery Awards This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jul 14th, 2020 The National Lottery is searching for your hometown hero or lockdown legend as part of the 2020 National Lottery Awards. This year the annual search for the UKs most popular National Lottery funded projects will, for the first time, honour individuals who have made an extraordinary impact in their community, especially those who have adapted during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. New figures reveal more than 4.6 million of National Lottery funding has been invested in good causes in the Flintshire and Wrexham local authority areas in 2018/19 alone. A total of 167 National Lottery grants were awarded in the region during the previous financial year, providing vital support to arts, sports, heritage and community projects. The National Lottery is now calling for nominations of people who have done amazing things with the help of National Lottery funding and are an inspiration to us all. Winners in each category will receive a 3,000 cash prize for their organisation and a coveted National Lottery Awards trophy. Jonathan Tuchner from The National Lottery is encouraging the people of Flintshire and Wrexham to make their nominations. He said: The National Lottery continues to have a positive impact on life across the UK. Thanks to National Lottery players thousands of projects are making an incredible difference to their local communities. Now, more than ever, people have rallied together, and individuals are performing inspirational acts and extraordinary endeavours to help in cities, towns and villages up and down the country. Thanks to National Lottery players, up to 600 million has been made available to support communities throughout the UK amid the coronavirus crisis. People have used National Lottery funding in amazing ways during these challenging times. We want to honour them as part of this years National Lottery Awards and recognise their selfless dedication and thank them for their fantastic work. Encompassing all aspects of National Lottery good causes funding, the 2020 National Lottery Awards are seeking to recognise outstanding individuals in the following sectors: Arts Education Health Environment Sport Heritage Community / Charity And there will be a special Young Hero Award for someone under the age of 18 who has gone that extra mile in their organisation. All nominees must work or act for a National Lottery funded organisation or have received National Lottery funding. To make your nomination for this years National Lottery Awards, tweet @LottoGoodCauses with your suggestions or complete an entry form through our website www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/ awards . Entries must be received by midnight on 19th August 2020. A 40-year old chemist was charred to death and four workers were injured, one of them seriously, when fire broke out at a pharmaceutical plant in Andhra Pradeshs Visakhapatnam, leading to a massive explosion of one of its reactors late on Monday night, police said. While initially Visakhapatnam police commissioner R K Meena said that there were no casualties, except injuries to four workers, the police later recovered the charred body of senior chemist Kandregula Srinivasa Rao. Visakhapatnam district collector V Vinay Chand said the fire broke out in one of the columns during the solvents recovery process. There were five reactors in the plant and one of them exploded. The fire spread to a few other adjacent tanks storing chemicals resulting in their explosion. The sound was so deafening that people in Visakhapatnam city, about 15 km from the pharma city, could also hear it. The police commissioner said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained. The police and fire tenders rushed there and brought the flames under control, he said. The opposition Telugu Desam Party and CPI (M) blamed it on the state government for adopting callous approach towards industrial accidents. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A 20-year partnership between the United Kingdom and its biggest mobile operator could soon be over. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to ban Chinese firm Huawei from involvement in Britains 5G network. He has been under pressure from the United States, which says the company is a security risk. Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton are reportedly living together. The 39-year-old actor - who dated pop star Taylor Swift in 2016 - was reported to have been secretly seeing his 'Betrayal' co-star since February last year, when it was claimed he was smitten with the 35-year-old actress. And it has now been claimed that the 'Loki' star asked her to move in with him at his pad in Atlanta, Georgia, where he will reportedly be staying for the rest of 2020. Tom is working on the Disney+ series in the US city and has had to stay there amid the coronavirus pandemic. And the pair have been spotted out and about together in Atlanta. A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: "Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US. "They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world. "Their lives are typically very busy, so spending time together while not working has been something they have both embraced." Last year, an insider had claimed: "Tom really has fallen for Zawe in a big way. "They've actually been together for more than six months. But he is so paranoid about his private life since his relationship with Taylor that he has gone to great lengths to keep this under wraps. "Tom and Zawe spent Easter together renovating his house in England. They now spend most weekends together and going for long walks with his dog. He thinks this could be the love of his life - he's ready to settle down." When it was claimed they had sparked up a romance, Zawe and Tom were starring in Harold Pinter's play 'Betrayal' with Charlie Cox, in which they played a couple whose marriage is torn apart by the wife's affair with the best friend of her husband. Meanwhile, the 'Thor' star often spoke about his relationship with Taylor - who has been dating Brit Joe Alwyn since September 2016 - during their time together and insisted he didn't care what anyone thought about them. He said: "How best to put this? That notion is - look, the truth is that Taylor Swift and I are together and we're very happy. Thanks for asking. That's the truth. It's not a publicity stunt." YouTube Studio is finally adding dark mode support for its Android app. The support is rolling out for users starting with version 20.26.101 of Googles own app for YouTube creators. To activate dark mode, youll need to go to your account (tap your avatar image in the top right), then navigate to Settings and toggle the Dark theme switch under the Appearance menu. Unfortunately, the app doesnt follow the system theme. Thats really disappointing from Google. YouTube Studio is getting dark mode support almost two years after YouTube for Android got it and it doesnt follow the system theme yet. Advertisement Also, Google is yet to get rid of that blacked-out navigation bar when using gestures. Nevertheless, the latest version of the app appears to be a step in the right direction. YouTube Studio gets dark mode support Google has made some major overhaul to YouTube Studio over the past year or so. It has added several new features to the app, introducing more controls and analytical data for your YouTube channel. These additions made the channel management process much better. However, dark mode support has been surprisingly missing all this while. The latest YouTube Studio update finally brings the long-due support. Advertisement The new version is now available for users across the world. Along with dark mode support, it also contains the fix for an issue which caused the save button to remain inactive for some users while attempting to edit thumbnails and tags. Dark mode support comes just a week after Google added a new Analytics for Artists feature to YouTube Studio. It gives creators the most comprehensive and complete view of their audience, global reach, and performance on YouTube. Theres a Total Reach metric that incorporates views for a video uploaded from the official channel as well as views on fan-made versions of that video. Advertisement A similar Song Detail feature shows all the related videos for a particular track. Those include unofficial lyric videos, covers, and dance videos on YouTube. Last month, YouTube Studio also picked up support for the Smart Reply feature. It allows creators to reply to comments effortlessly. This feature learns from your response and suggests similar responses for your future replies. It is currently available in English and Spanish, with more languages expected in the future. With Google seemingly putting in efforts to make YouTube Studio experience better for creators, expect it to add more features over the coming months. You can download the latest version of YouTube Studio from the Google Play Store. The deal was first announced in August 2019. In addition to acquiring SulAmericas auto and P&C business, Allianz will also take control of the standalone insurance company NewCo. Read more: Allianz purchases Brazilian insurers automobile segment for over US$700 million This represents our largest investment in Brazil, said Allianz SE member of the board of management and chief business transformation officer for insurance Ibero-LatAm region Ivan de la Sota. De la Sota noted that with the acquisition of SulAmericas P&C business, Allianz has attained a leading position in the growing property-casualty market in the largest economy of South America. It is also a great opportunity to deploy digital technologies and deliver first-class solutions for local brokers and customers, the chief business transformation officer added. Today, a new Allianz is being born that combines the best of both worlds. In a challenging moment, professionals from both sides have shown exemplary quality, professionalism and performance in this operation, commented Allianz Brazil CEO Eduard Folch. Firearms-related fatalities decrease 4 percent over the same period last year; COVID-19 deaths poised to surpass all other causes of officer fatalities Washington, DC, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum issued its 2020 Mid-Year Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Report with preliminary data through June 30, 2020, revealing that 65 law enforcement officers have been killed in the line of duty in 2020a 14 percent decrease over the same period last year (76). Of these 65 officers, 27 were killed in firearms-related incidents, 26 were killed in traffic-related incidents, and 12 died due to other causes such as job-related illnesses. There have been 5 confirmed COVID-19 related officer line-of-duty deaths thus far this year; however, another 53 cases are pending. Once these 53 COVID-19 cases are confirmed, the total number of law enforcement deaths for the first six months of this year could skyrocket to 118 or a 55% increase over last years mid-year report. This would make COVID-19-related fatalities the single highest cause of law enforcement deaths occurring in the first six months of 2020. Key Facts Firearms-related fatalities were the leading cause of law enforcement deaths for the first half of this year, with 27 fatalities in 2020, compared to 28 in the same period in 2019a decrease of 4 percent. Notably, nine of these deaths occurred while officers were investigating a suspicious person or activity. Five officer deaths occurred while the officer was attempting to make an arrest; three were killed while responding to domestic disturbance calls and three were killed in tactical situations. Additional circumstances are included in the 2020 Mid-Year Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Report. Traffic-related fatalities (26) increased eight percent in the first half of 2020 compared to last year (24). Nine of these fatalities were the result of crashes involving another vehicle or fixed object; seven were the result of single-vehicle crashes and nine officers were struck while outside of their vehicles. One officer was killed in a motorcycle crash. Story continues Twelve officers died of other causes during the first half of 2020, the same number of officers who died of other causes in 2019. Five of the 2020 officer deaths have been attributed to COVID-19 related illness. One officer died in a helicopter crash. Other causes of death include heart attack, stroke and 9/11-related illnesses. Texas leads the country in officer fatalities, losing eleven officers in the line of duty for the first half of 2020; California lost five officers, three officers died in each of the states of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Six states lost two officers and fourteen states lost one officer during the first six months of the year. One federal officer and one tribal officer were also killed in the line of duty as of June 30, 2020. The National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum is dedicated to remembering the fallen, making it safer for those who serve and educating the public about the history of American law enforcement. Through the generous support of Verizon, our Destination Zero program provides officer safety and wellness program resources to carry out our mission. Supporting Quote: The numbers so far this year show a 14 percent decrease in overall officer line-of-duty deaths, and while we're pleased to see this trend, the data shows there's still a great deal of work to be done to keep these officers' names off the Memorial walls," said National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund CEO Marcia Ferranto. We also cannot ignore the severe impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the brave men and women who serve, as well as the impact on their families. A copy of the full report, 2020 Mid-Year Law Enforcement Officer Fatalities Report, is available at www.LawMemorial.org/FatalitiesReport. - # # # - About the National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum Established in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a non-profit organization dedicated to telling the story of American law enforcement and making it safer for those who serve. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial contains the names of 22,217 officers who have died in the line of duty throughout U.S. history. For more information about the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, visit LawMemorial.org. Authorized by Congress in 2000, the 57,000-square-foot National Law Enforcement Museum at the Motorola Solutions Foundation Building tells the story of American law enforcement by providing visitors a walk in the shoes experience along with educational journeys, immersive exhibitions, and insightful programs. The Museum is an initiative of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization. For more information on the Law Enforcement Museum, visit LawEnforcementMuseum.org CONTACT: Robyn Small National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund 202-737-8524 rsmall@nleomf.org More people are speaking about their feelings of Jada Pinkett Smiths record-breaking Red Table Talk episode in which she admitted to a past romance with August Alsina. Charlamagne Tha God publicly denounced Smith for entering into a relationship with Alsina when he was in such a vulnerable position. Now, LisaRaye McCoy is echoing Charalamgnes remarks, adding that Smith was foul because of the age difference between her and Alsina. August Alsina and Jada Pinkett Smith via Twitter LisaRaye McCoy condemns Jada Pinkett Smiths past romance with August Alsina because of their age difference Smith confirmed Alsinas account of their reported three-year relationship during Red Table Talk. She revealed that the two grew close as friends after Alsina came to her for help with addiction and mental health issues. While separated from Will Smith, she and Alsina became intimate. Alsina ended the relationship and cut off all contact with her upon suspecting that she and Will were reconciling. He told his version of the story during a sit-down interview with Angela Yee. The backlash against Smith has been brutal, with many calling her out for what they perceive as her taking advantage of Alsina. McCoy agrees and also slammed Smith for entering into a relationship with Alsina because of their age difference. Smith is 21 years older than Alsina. She spoke on the FOX talk show, Out Loud With Claudia Jordan. I think and I feel that he [Alsina] was a baby. Now Im all for if you want to date somebody younger, go for it. But because of his circumstance and why in which he came to her, wounded and hurt, and in her lap how in the hell did he get from off her lap, and then you [Smith] got onto the d**k? I dont understand, McCoy exclaimed. August Alsina with Jada Pinkett Smith via Twitter Related: Fans Weigh In On Will and Jada Pinkett Smiths Alleged Open Marriage After August Alsina Alleges Affair With Jada McCoy continued, explaining that she believed the whole situation was inappropriate on Smiths behalf considering Alsina was introduced to her through her son, Jaden. She also hinted that Smith took advantage of a vulnerable Alsina and further questioned how their relationship transitioned from familial to sexual. McCoy believes that the relationship with Smith set an already broken and presumed mentally unstable Alsina further back. She agreed with Smith defining the relationship as an entanglement because its such a messy scenario all around. Charlamagne Tha God also blasted Jada Pinkett Smith for taking advantage of August Alsina McCoys comments come just one day after Charlamagne spoke out against Smith on The Breakfast Club. Like McCoy, Charlamagne was upset over the relationship, particularly because of Alsinas mental state when he first met Smith and Smith first acting as Alsinas mentor. Charlamagne Tha God 2019 | Steven Ferdman/Getty Images Jada Pinkett Smith was dead a** wrong. August Alsina, that young man came to her broken, in need of healing, and her response is I wanted to feel good, I hadnt felt good in a long time so you slept with him. Nevermind how that young man is feeling, you know? You just gotta get yours? That is the epitome of toxic behavior, he said. Smith said that she does not regret the situation as she learned a lot about herself during the time and was able to get to a level of healing that shed never experienced before. She did admit that what drew her to Alsina was her codependent nature and her desire to want to fix people who were struggling. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:36:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LONDON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese technology company Huawei said Tuesday that the British government's move to ban the company's involvement in the country's 5G networks is a "disappointing decision" which "threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide." "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone." said Ed Brewster, a spokesperson for Huawei UK in a statement. "Instead of 'levelling up', the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new U.S. restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK," Brewster said. The British government announced Tuesday that buying new Huawei 5G equipment will be banned after Dec. 31, 2020 and all Huawei equipment will be removed from the country's 5G networks by the end of 2027. "Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about U.S. trade policy and not security," said Brewster. The British government announced in January its plans to safeguard the country's telecoms network, approving a restricted role for Huawei in helping build the country's 5G networks. Tuesday's decision marks a U-turn in Britain's policy concerning Huawei. "We will conduct a detailed review of what today's announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain," said Brewster. The latest decision by the British government is expected to delay the country's 5G roll-out, according to Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden. From an economic viewpoint, eliminating Huawei from Britain's 5G infrastructure market could be expected to lead to higher prices and delays in roll-out, according to a recent report released by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a research institute in Britain. A previous study conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by Huawei also said that restricting Huawei from helping to build Britain's 5G infrastructure market would increase roll-out costs by 9 percent to 29 percent. "Outages would be possible" if BT is forced to pull out Huawei's 5G kit too quickly, the telecoms operator's chief executive Philip Jansen told BBC Radio 4's Today program. Depending on how big or how intrusive the work to be carried out is, users would lose their signal, "sometimes for a couple of days", Vodafone UK's Head of Networks Andrea Dona, told British lawmakers last week. The Chinese technology company has been operating in the British market for some two decades. It employs 1,600 people in Britain and supplies telecoms network equipment to all the major mobile and broadband service providers in the country, according to Huawei. Recently, Huawei announced that it will build a state-of-the-art center in Cambridge, Britain, which will focus on the research, development and manufacturing of optical devices and modules. Enditem Ten women serving in procuratorial organs have been honored as this year's National Outstanding Female Prosecutors, according to the results of a commendation and promotion activity to identify the distinguished female prosecutors which was launched in March this year. The China Women Prosecutors Association (CWPA), acting on the recommendation and application by local procuratorial organs, presented the personal profiles of the candidates to the public in the form of videos, texts and pictures. It invited deputies to the National People's Congress, members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and leaders of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the All-China Women's Federation, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and other relevant departments, as well as experts and scholars, to serve as judges. In the end, 10 outstanding female prosecutors in 2020 were selected, and another 21 candidates were shortlisted. Cui Yu, a prosecutor working at the First Branch of the Beijing People's Procuratorate, is one of the 10 outstanding female prosecutors in 2020. [sohu.com] Cui Yu, director of the Second procuratorial department of the First Branch of the Beijing People's Procuratorate, who is mainly responsible for handling duty-related crimes, was ranked among the 10 outstanding female prosecutors. In recent years, she has successfully handled a number of exemplary cases, of which many were described as "classic cases," and also received four third-class merit awards and six commendations. Liu Jiaqing, deputy director of the Third Procuratorial Department of the First Branch of Tianjin People's Procuratorate [spp.gov.cn] Liu Jiaqing, deputy director of the Third Procuratorial Department of the First Branch of Tianjin People's Procuratorate, is another recipient of the honorary title this year. She started working in the procuratorial organ in 2005, and received the titles of the National Model Prosecutor and the Media Influencer in the Political and Legal Sector on the 40th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up in 2018. Liu has taken part in many major corruption cases involving senior officials. Given her hard work, she has won many awards and honorary titles over the past 15 years. Gu Beilei, who serves as a prosecutor in Dengfeng City of Central China's Henan Province, shares legal knowledge with students. [henandaily.cn] Gu Beilei, director of the Fifth Procuratorial Department of the Dengfeng People's Procuratorate in Central China's Henan Province, has been responsible for more than 830 cases with no mistakes since she took the job in 2014. After the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, she volunteered to join community-based epidemic prevention and control for 57 days. To promote the resumption of work and production, she coordinated anti-epidemic materials and strived for preferential policies such as enterprise loans for 12 private enterprises. She also insisted on handling dozens of letters and visits of complaints and petitions amid the epidemic to the satisfaction of the people. Gu has paid close attention to cases involving minors in recent years and attempted to carry out parenting education in her work, providing help and education to the minors involved and their parents. Because of her excellent performance, she was rated as one of the National Outstanding Female Prosecutors this year. Liu Hua, President of the CWPA, expressed her hope that all female procurators across the country will follow the example of these outstanding models, strive to improve their professional skills, provide targeted assistance to women, children and families in need, and make new and greater contributions to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all aspects. (Women of China) The government launched second tranche of Bharat Bond exchange traded fund (ETF) today through which it is looking to raise up to Rs 14,000 crore. The subscription for the ETF will be closed on July 17. The ETF is an attempt by government to meet its divestment target for this fiscal year. Edelweiss Asset Management will oversee the proceedings of the ETF. The ETF will invest funds in constituents of the Nifty Bharat Bond Indices consisting of AAA-rated public sector companies. The fund will raise an initial amount of Rs 2,000 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 6,000 crore in 2025 maturity, and a second one with initial amount of Rs 1,000 crore with a green shoe option of Rs 5,000 crore in 2031 maturity, based on market demand. Today's fund launch comes after the announcement of initial series of the ETF in December 2019. Bond Fund With a Difference The first tranche of Bharat Bond ETF was subscribed 1.7 times with the government garnering over Rs 12,400 crore from the issue. Bharat Bond ETF ensures an additional source of funding for Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs), Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), Central Public Financial Institutions (CPFIs) and other government organisations. It provides opportunity to retail investors to participate in quality public sector bonds at an affordable cost. India-focussed offshore funds, ETFs pull out $5 billion in Q4: Morningstar FILE PHOTO: Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk speaks at an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai By Tina Bellon and Andrea Shalal (Reuters) - Tulsa, Oklahoma, is an oil-industry town with a 75-foot (23 m) statue called "The Golden Driller." Austin, Texas, is a progressive city in a conservative state with a thriving software industry and a "Keep Austin Weird" counterculture image. These two very different towns have one thing in common: They are both on the short list to land a $1.1 billion vehicle assembly plant for Tesla Inc - and up to 20,000 new jobs. With a decision expected within a few weeks, the Austin-versus-Tulsa contest is heating up as Tesla and its chief executive, Elon Musk, stoke a bidding war over tax breaks and other concessions that would reduce the factory's cost. Travis County, home to Austin, is expected to vote this week on a portion of ten-year tax rebates totaling more than $65 million. The company told Texas officials the new plant would create at least 5,000 jobs, while Oklahoma officials were told about the creation of at least 7,000 jobs in the near term and up to 20,000 positions down the line. But some Austin residents have told officials they are skeptical about subsidizing what is now the world's most valuable auto company, after previously turning away Amazon.com Inc. "Instead of focusing to get people a living wage ... you're giving tax breaks to a company that's worth billions. It makes no sense," Silvia Zuvieta-Rodriguez, a student at the University of Texas, told officials at a recent county hearing. Tesla in public filings with Travis County said local and state tax incentives serve a critical role in getting the new factory under way and successfully compete against longstanding industry rivals. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment for this story. In Oklahoma, Tesla fever is on full display. That Golden Driller statue? It was recently repainted by a local Tesla fan club to look something like Musk, sporting a Tesla logo on its chest and a belt buckle emblazoned with the company's name. Story continues Musk himself flew in on July 3 to visit the undeveloped site overlooking Tulsa that would house the new factory, which would build Model Y sport utility vehicles and Tesla's futuristic Cybertruck. Musk met with the state's governor under a white tent in the sweltering summer heat, according to pictures posted on Twitter by Oklahoma's governor, Kevin Stitt. Oklahoma officials were scheduled to make their pitch to dozens of senior Tesla executives in a Zoom call on Monday afternoon. "The response here continues to be overwhelming," said Oklahoma Commerce Secretary Sean Kouplen. "In the time that we're in, having something positive to hold on to or grab is really making a difference." Even local retailers have caught the Tesla bug. Kouplen's children came home the other day with a photo of a special Tesla-themed snow-cone sold by a local store, and a Tulsa pizzeria has promised to give out free pies to all Tesla employees. Tulsa, once known as the "Oil Capital of the World," is trying to remake its image with a $1 billion renovation of its downtown, including hip coffeehouses, raft races, jazz clubs and efforts to attract white-collar workers who can work remotely. A new video featuring testimonials from engineers who recently relocated to Tulsa has been viewed 200,000 times, including by Musk, according to Oklahoma officials. Several websites attempting to appeal to Tesla have sprung up. One, called "Big F*cking Field," purports to be in the voice of a plot of land and includes humorously fake endorsements by the likes of Thomas Edison. "We were the original oil boom town in the '20s and it's a cool way of saying something is changing," said Jacob Johnson, the creator of the websites and a Tulsa-based digital marketing executive. In its search for a new plant site, Tesla short-listed eight central U.S. states and received incentive packages from many others, but only Tulsa and Travis County remain in the running. The company told Texas officials its plant would create more than 5,000 mainly low-skilled jobs at an average salary of $47,000. Oklahoma has signed a nondisclosure agreement about its incentives package, but Kouplen claimed the bid was not only competitive but better in parts than Travis County's. It includes business and personal tax breaks, most of which were already guaranteed under state law, which meant they would not require the kinds of public votes that have been delayed several times in Austin. Details on the Travis County tax breaks emerged only during public hearings and it remains unclear whether the state of Texas would provide additional incentives. Governor Greg Abbott's office did not respond to requests for comment. Squeezing states for incentives is not new to the auto industry. Tesla itself received some $1.4 billion in incentives to build a battery plant in Nevada in 2014 and Alabama attracted German carmaker Mercedes-Benz with a $253 million package in the 1990s. Those outlays now pale compared with the wealth of Musk, who is in reach of a payday potentially worth $1.8 billion as the company's stock rally continues. Tesla shares have more than quadrupled so far this year as the company increased vehicle sales and is expected to return a second-quarter profit. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington and Tina Bellon in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis) The Ghana Education Service (GES) Tuesday, restated its resolve to go ahead with this year's West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). The Service also said adequate safety measures were in place in all schools to contain the spread of COVID-19 and that there was no reason to recall students. Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, the Director-General of the GES said this when he addressed journalists at the bi-weekly media briefing organised by the Information Ministry in Accra. He said based on experts' advice, and measures instituted to contain the spread of the virus in schools, the Service would organise the examinations as planned. The Director-General said if a candidate could not write the examinations due to COVID-19, arrangements would be made for the affected student to write the nearest examination in future with Government taking up the cost. He said if a candidate, for instance, wrote the first paper and due to health reasons could not take the second paper, the Service would apply the Clemency Rule, where marks would be awarded to the candidate based on the performance in the first paper and other factors. "So we looked at our situation and based on advice from health experts, we'll go ahead with the examinations- Liberia, The Gambia, and Sierra Leone are writing the examinations. Nigeria is not writing because it has her issues, "Prof.Opoku-Amankwa explained. He noted that health experts had projected that COVID-19 would be around for some time, therefore life must go on for the betterment of the students and the nation at large. Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said about 300 national, regional and district monitoring teams had been set up to monitor the compliance of the safety and hygiene protocols in schools, and also address challenges that may come up. The Director-General indicated that a master training programme was provided to members of the monitoring teams, teachers, headteachers, and students on do's and don't's of COVID-19 on campus, to enhance compliance. He said necessary arrangements had also been put in place at the school settings to manage infections and link up with district and municipal health system for isolation and treatment of students and staff. Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said in case of emergencies, the Service would quickly inform parents and guardians of situations and explain actions taken by the health and school authorities to treat any infected student to minimize anxiety. The Director-General said before the final year students went to school, government disinfected schools and distributed hand washing stations with tissue papers, sanitizers and thermometer guns to public and private schools to help in observing the safety protocols. He said Government also organised stakeholder engagements with key stakeholders including Parents/Teacher Associations, Teacher Unions, and Education Directors to solicit their concerns, which were factored into the implementation of the safety directives. Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said the schools were opened purposely for the final year students to write their exit examinations and not for any political suitability. Meanwhile, Ghana has recorded 264 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total tally to 25,252 after conducting 334,101 tests. There are 21,391 recoveries and discharges and 3,716 active cases, with the death toll at 139. Due to the confirmation of some cases of COVID-19 in schools, a few civil society organizations and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have called for the closure of schools and cancellation of this years WASSCE and BECE. 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 YORK The York County Sheriffs Department will be holding a domestic violence donation drive, with officials saying, During these uncertain times, home should be a safe place. For domestic violence victims and survivors, home is one of the most dangerous and feared places they can be. During this nationwide pandemic known as COVID-19, the domestic violence rate has increased significantly as well as other forms of child abuse and neglect and even the human trafficking rate. Sheriffs department officials recognized that domestic violence and mental health agencies across Nebraska continue to provide safety, shelter and support services. Their crisis and information lines are open 24 hours a day and 365 days a year for anyone who is in need of their services. Some of these agencies include Voices of Hope, Bright Horizons, Center for Survivors and the Hope Crisis Center. To help the above listed organizations during this stressful time, the York County Sheriffs Office is hosting their first annual domestic violence donation drive. The York County Sheriffs Office Domestic Violence Donation Drive will continue to be organized on a yearly basis and is to take place at the York County Sheriffs Office. President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed legislation requiring companies involved in oil production or handling other hydrocarbons to have adequate resources for a contingency plan in the case of a spill. The law makes it mandatory for companies to have sufficient financial reserves to prevent potential spills or clean them up if they occur. The financial reserves can take various forms, including an insurance contract or a letter of guarantee to pay the damage from a given accident. The law also requires companies handling hydrocarbons to draw up plans to prevent and clean up spills by Jan. 1, 2024. In late May, a fuel tank at a power station in the Arctic city of Norilsk leaked 21,000 tonnes of diesel into rivers and subsoil, an incident that the environmental campaign Greenpeace compared to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Kremlin has said the new legislation is aimed at preventing similar spills. The mining company Norilsk Nickel has pledged to eliminate the consequences of the accident at its own expense, and is challenging a request for more than $2 billion from Russias environmental watchdog, which has said the damage to the Arctic could be unprecedented. (Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber; editing by Kevin Liffey) Photograph: Russian President Vladimir Putin, participates in a meeting with cultural figures marking the Russian Language Day via teleconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on Saturday, June 6, 2020. Photo credit: Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP. Related: Topics Energy Oil Gas Russia New Delhi: The fate of the Congress government in Rajasthan remained in a limbo on Monday as deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot dug in his heels and chief minister Ashok Gehlot paraded and then holed up his MLAs at the luxury Fairmont resort on the outskirts of Jaipur. On the face of it, there seemed to be no immediate threat to the Gehlot government as the chief minister claimed the support of more than 100 MLAs, but Mr Pilot seemed determined to jump ship, refusing, it is understood, even a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with whom he is known to have a personal rapport. The day began on a negative note for the Congress with Mr Pilot, who has been on a warpath with his boss and arch rival Mr Gehlot, refusing to attend the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. Though there was no official word on the number of MLAs who attended the meeting at Mr Gehlots home, party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there. Mr Pilot had claimed on Sunday night that he had the support of more than 30 MLAs. In the 200-member Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. Later, when the CLP began after a delay of three hours, it adopted a resolution urging strong disciplinary action against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the government or the party. The resolution stopped short of naming Mr Pilot but blamed the BJP for the crisis. On Saturday, Mr Gehlot had accused the Opposition party of trying to lure away Congress MLAs. Sources in the Congress told this newspaper that the Congress central leadership has offered Mr Pilot the state home and finance ministries and withdrawal of FIR filed against him in the state. Officially reaching out to him before the CLP meeting, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, adopting a conciliatory tone, said Mr Pilot and other MLAs could still attend the CLP meeting from which they had distanced themselves. When a member of the family gets annoyed, he does not make the family fall but sits with family members and resolves the issue, he said. Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions will be found. This is the discipline of the party, the AICC spokesperson said. Sources also claimed that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was in touch with Mr Pilot and was making efforts to broker peace between the two warring factions. The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 100,000 lives across the country, with more than 500 of those deaths here in New Mexico. Communities of color are among the hardest hit by this pandemic, which has further exposed deep social inequities in our society. The pandemic, however, also presents a great deal of opportunity as we rebuild our society and shape our new normal. From ensuring access to clean water on the Navajo Nation, to access to health care for all residents without regard for immigration status, COVID-19 can be the impetus to make the type of systemic changes needed to build a more equitable society where every person has the opportunity to live healthy, fulfilling lives. This is also true of our public education system. In this moment were faced with the opportunity to reimagine a system that serves all children regardless of race, socioeconomic or immigration status. The current system has created a significant opportunity gap for students of color. We also know that the opportunity gap begins at an early age, with children of color being less likely to have access to quality early learning programs, which set the foundation for lifelong learning. However, as we emerge from the current crisis, we can reimagine an equitable system informed by students, their families, and teachers. Were grateful to the N.M. Public Education Department and Albuquerque Public Schools, which adapted quickly to ensure that children could continue their education with as many of the wrap-around services students need like access to food and technology. The city of Albuquerque responded in kind by for providing access to the internet through buses, libraries and other means. But we must do more. In our work with families and their students, weve learned that although low-income families received a laptop to help students access online learning platforms, many of those families were unable to effectively use the laptops or navigate those platforms. Assuming that distance learning will be part of the new normal, NMPED and school districts across the state must invest in technical assistance supports. In APS many of our teachers had to pull double-duty as educators and technical assistance providers for students and their families this is unsustainable and unfair to the student and to the teacher. We must also think very seriously about how to continue to engage families in meaningful ways. NMPED and local districts should partner with reputable community-based organizations to help engage families in creative ways. For example, during the first 10 weeks of the pandemic PCA parent volunteers implemented 15 family engagement sessions via Facebook Live, engaging dozens of families from schools across APS at no cost to the school district. NMPED and APS must ensure family engagement continues to be a priority as we work to build effective, equitable distance learning models. Long term, the state of New Mexico must comply fully with the Yazzie/Martinez decision and double down on its investments in targeted programs. The state must also address years of neglect in infrastructure funding across the state including broadband, prioritizing the most impoverished communities from Chaparral to Dulce and points in between. Finally, the state needs to fully fund early learning for all students. If weve learned one thing during this pandemic its our early childhood system is not only essential, its not properly funded. In the midst of so much suffering we also face the type of transformative opportunity that seldom comes around. We can either wait for the world to go back to normal, or we can seize this moment and build an education system that serves all children, acknowledges and celebrates unique identity and nurtures an environment where all of our children can thrive. In our communities, we are ready to seize this moment. We hope you can join us. By Tom Hals and Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Women who say they were victims of Jeffrey Epstein have spent 12 years trying to undo an unusual plea deal that spared the deceased financier from federal prison. Now their efforts could sink a key legal defense for Ghislaine Maxwell, who was charged this month with luring girls so Epstein could abuse them. By Tom Hals and Karen Freifeld (Reuters) - Women who say they were victims of Jeffrey Epstein have spent 12 years trying to undo an unusual plea deal that spared the deceased financier from federal prison. Now their efforts could sink a key legal defense for Ghislaine Maxwell, who was charged this month with luring girls so Epstein could abuse them. The 2007 deal allowed Epstein to plead guilty in a Florida court to soliciting minors to engage in prostitution and serve just 13 months in county jail, which included work release. The once-secret agreement included nonprosecution protection for unidentified co-conspirators such as Maxwell, a provision that U.S. attorneys since have acknowledged in court was unprecedented. At Maxwell's bail hearing on Tuesday, her lawyer Mark Cohen said she cannot be prosecuted because of that agreement, a position that Manhattan federal prosecutors have described as "absurd" in court papers. Maxwell was denied bail and ordered held until her trial in July 2021. The government charged Maxwell with luring and grooming minors for sexual abuse by Epstein at his mansions in Florida, New York and New Mexico, as well as at Maxwell's London residence, in the 1990s. She is also charged with perjury from 2016 testimony in a civil case. Maxwell's defense lawyers did not respond to requests for comment and prosecutors declined to comment. The 2007 plea deal also came up last year when Epstein was charged with child sex crimes by Manhattan federal prosecutors, who said the Florida deal did not protect Epstein in New York. Before the issue could be resolved in court, Epstein was found hanged in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial. His death was ruled a suicide. Several alleged victims of Epstein have been challenging the plea deal since 2008 arguing it violated the Crime Victims Rights Act (CVRA) by concealing the Epstein plea and nonprosecution agreement until after it was signed. Had the alleged victims been informed of the deal, which they argue was their right under the CVRA, they could have tried to prevent a judge from approving it. The plaintiffs are seeking to invalidate the deal and the provision that protected co-conspirators, but after Epstein died a federal judge tossed their case. That ruling was upheld by a three-judge panel on an appeals court in Atlanta this year, which ruled 2-1 that the CVRA had not been triggered because Epstein was never charged with a federal crime. The alleged victims have asked the full Atlanta federal appeals court to revive their case and determine if the lower court wrongly refused to invalidate the plea deal, said Paul Cassell, who represents alleged Epstein victim Courtney Wild in the CVRA case. "If the agreement is ripped up, she can't get to first base," said Cassell, who is also a law professor at the University of Utah, former federal prosecutor and former federal judge. On Monday, prosecutors dismissed Maxwell's plea deal defense. In a court filing, they said her crimes were committed before and after the timeframe of the plea deal, Maxwell was not a named party to the deal and argued prosecutors in New York are not bound by their counterparts in Florida. Retired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who helped defend Epstein in 2007, said Maxwell can counter each of those arguments. "When the United States government makes a promise, its binding all over the country," he said. The alleged victims have garnered noteworthy support for their appeals case, including from U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, and former Republican senators Orrin Hatch and Jon Kyl, authors of the 2004 CVRA law. The trio filed a brief urging the Atlanta federal appeals court to revisit the Epstein plea deal and CVRA case. "This miscarriage of justice," they said of the agreement, "is precisely what the act prevents." (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Tom Brown) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. 'This is a key step as we continue to expand our digital services portfolio' Q Associates founder and managing director David Cue Beedon-based Q Associates, an independent UK datacentre infrastructure and data management services provider, has acquired Apex Group, the Bracknell cloud and network services specialist. The combined company will employ around 80 staff, with turnover in the region of 35m. Apex Group complements Q Associates datacentre infrastructure and data management solutions. In addition to specialist networking capabilities, Apex Group brings a range of cloud migration and integration services with expertise around Microsoft Azure Cloud, Modern Workplace, Business Applications and Data Analytics. Together, these will offer significant value to Q Associates clients across all sectors as they increasingly rely on Microsoft technologies to deliver critical workloads. The acquisition of Apex Group represents a significant development for Q Associates and our clients, who are striving to embrace the benefits of digital transformation and cloud productivity, said Q Associates founder and managing director David Cue. This is a key step as we continue to expand our digital services portfolio, supporting customers with specialist services across modern workplace, datacentre and cloud environments underpinned by independent advice and technical excellence. Established in 1986, Q Associates, which is based at Langley Business Court, specialises in the design, delivery and support of IT infrastructure solutions to more than 400 clients across the commercial and public sectors. The company is recognised as a leading provider of datacentre solutions to UK universities and research councils. Q Associates also provides a range of secure IT services through its Q Secure Systems division. Commercial clients are supported across industry sectors including finance, legal, retail, transportation and energy. Press Release July 14, 2020 Dispatch from Crame No. 847: Sen. Leila M. de Lima on SC's Dismissal of Petition Asking for the Disclosure of Duterte's State of Physical and Mental Health The Supreme Court decision motu proprio dismissing the case asking for the disclosure of Duterte's state of physical and mental health WITHOUT COMMENT is only expected from a Court now dominated by Duterte appointees. The case, Dino De Leon v. Rodrigo Roa Duterte (Disclosure: Petitioner De Leon is one of my lawyers in the drug cases), was dismissed in a 6-page Minute Resolution, with two 30-page dissenting opinions registered by Associate Justices Leonen and Caguioa. In effect, the majority of the Court were the ones who supplied the arguments for the respondent in this case the Justices' appointing authority, Duterte himself in lieu of a comment from Malacanang. While the Minute Resolution faults the petitioner for relying on news reports for evidence and as basis for its allegations on the state of Duterte's health, the Court itself relied on the same news reports to belie the petitioner's claims. While the Court took judicial notice of Duterte's "regular televised addresses to the nation" as proof of Duterte's rosy health, it refused to take judicial notice of Duterte's own admissions about the diseases he is afflicted with and his general incoherence in the same televised addresses to the nation. This prompted Justice Leonen to observe that in commenting for the President, the Court has seemingly abdicated its independence in exchange for servility to the appointing authority, thus, effectively making the Court useless in a Republican government's scheme of checks and balances and independence of the judiciary from the executive. For his part, Justice Caguiao lamented his colleagues' "overly deferential attitude" towards Duterte as he finds "truly perplexing" the majority's act in dispensing with a Comment from the respondent which "impacts on the public's perception of the Court's impartiality." One would wonder if the televised addresses the Court's majority were watching were other than those viewed by the whole nation. What is incoherent to the general public appears to the Court to be a sign of the President "performing his duties." God save us from Justices who consider that incoherent ramblings on "the kit is the kit", the bubonic plague and the burning of witches, the insufferable narrative on the blood of dead horses, etc., etc. are the pinnacle of presidential performance of duties. Under ordinary circumstances, the Court's syncing of its own rationality with the incoherent ramblings of a sick man is plainly deplorable. But under circumstances of a raging pandemic, it could prove deadly to a people who can no longer rely on the two other branches of government to act independently of the executive branch. It is indeed our great misfortune that the pandemic has stricken us at a time when men and women of greater minds have chosen to be supplicants to a deranged one. (Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 847, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._847) The Andean condor actually flaps its wings for 1% of its flight time. Credit: Facundo Vital New research has revealed when it comes to flying the largest of birds don't rely on flapping to move around. Instead they make use of air currents to keep them airborne for hours at a time. The Andean condorthe world's heaviest soaring bird which can weigh in at up to 15kgactually flaps its wings for 1% of its flight time. The study is part of a collaboration between Swansea University's Professor Emily Shepard and Dr. Sergio Lambertucci in Argentina, that uses high-tech flight-recorders on Andean condors. These log each and every wingbeat and twist and turn in flight as condors search for food. The team wanted to find out more about how birds' flight efforts vary depending on environmental conditions. Their findings will help to improve understanding about large birds' capacity for soaring and the specific circumstances that make flight costly. During the study, the researchers discovered that more than 75% of the condors' flapping was associated with take-off. However, once in the sky condors can sustain soaring for long periods in a wide range of wind and thermal conditionsone bird managed to clock up five hours without flapping, covering around 172 km or more than 100 miles. The findings are revealed in a new paper Physical limits of flight performance in the heaviest soaring bird, which has just been published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Hannah Williams, now at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior, said: "Watching birds from kites to eagles fly, you might wonder if they ever flap. This question is important, because by the time birds are as big as condors, theory tells us they are dependent on soaring to get around. Our results revealed the amount the birds flapped didn't change substantially with the weather. This suggests that decisions about when and where to land are crucial, as not only do condors need to be able to take off again, but unnecessary landings will add significantly to their overall flight costs." Professor Shepard, who is part of Swansea Lab for Animal Movement, said as all the birds they studied were immature, it demonstrated that low investment in flight is possible even in the early years of a condor's life. Closer examination showed the challenges the birds faced as they moved between weak thermals. The condors were seen to flap more as they reached the end of the glides between thermals when they were likely to be closer to the ground. Dr. Lambertucci explained: "This is a critical time as birds need to find rising air to avoid an unplanned landing. These risks are higher when moving between thermal updrafts. Thermals can behave like lava lamps, with bubbles of air rising intermittently from the ground when the air is warm enough. Birds may therefore arrive in the right place for a thermal, but at the wrong time. This is a nice example of where the behavior of the birds can provide insight into the behavior of the air." Explore further Research shows how vultures evesdrop to gather vital flight information More information: H. J. Williams et al. Physical limits of flight performance in the heaviest soaring bird, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences H. J. Williams et al. Physical limits of flight performance in the heaviest soaring bird,(2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1907360117 A Meeting With the Parents Ends in Tears for Brittany on 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way A day after Brittany and Yazan's airport reunion turned into an expletive-laced disaster, the 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way couple tried to get back on track. Yazan arrived at her hotel room and she was expecting him to come with an apology. He said he was jealous and explained in a confessional that she wasn't respecting him or the Muslim traditions by hugging the crew member in public and bringing alcohol with her. "You need to recognize your own crazy," she told him. They set off to see his family, not exactly on the same page about everything. The fighting continued in the car as Brittany tried to explain she has her own set of customs and traditions and by forcing her to give them up, he's not respecting her. 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way Season 2 Couples With his parents, things went from bad to worse. Yazan's father pushed for marriage as soon as possible, but Brittany said she wanted her father thereand has yet to tell them she's still not technically divorced from her ex. Did she explore Islam when she was home? No. Did she cancel her social media accounts and make attempts to live more in line with the Islamic faith? No. Then Yazan's mom, who asked not to appear on camera due to her beliefs, went off on Brittany. How long are they supposed to wait for her? She wants grandkids. How long are they supposed to wait for her to make the changes they are demanding of her? The meeting ended with Brittany in tears, unable to understand what was being shouted at her. Meanwhile Ariela and Biniyam Ariela's mom is not pleased with the living conditions her daughter will be living in and racing her baby in. "As a mother and a medical professionalit's really painful for me to see she will live in a place," she said. So, Biniyam took them to the apartment he was remodeling for his partner and baby. The mother-daughter duo were still less than impressed with the conditions, but he said it was the best he could afford and she needs to understand that. Story continues Kenneth and Armando Armando prepared for Kenneth's arrival by making him a gift, a frequent occurrence because of Armando's somewhat limited funds. The apartment they'll call home is in a gated community because they were concerned about safety as a gay couple living an out life in Mexico. And Kenneth is paying for the apartment. Deavan and Jihoon In South Korea, Deavan was feeling hoodwinked. She said Jihoon lied to trick her into coming to South Korea. He apologized and said he was selfish, and that ever since he met her, he's been nervous. He started a part-time job so he could rest when he wants to rest. He took some money he made and put it into a fund for his mom to manage. But why didn't he help her with that money? Now, she used everything she had to keep her and the kids afloat and get to South Korea, she has nothing, she said she gave up everything, "but you couldn't give up some time to work a little bit harder to help." "My life is not a game," she said. So, off she went to a hotel where she said she could feel safe. "I feel like game over," he said. Jenny and Sumit In India, Jenny confronted a pal of Sumit's who knew about his secret marriage. The friend apologized and wanted to tell her many times, but he saw how real Sumit's love for Jenny was and didn't want to ruin it. This pal is also going through a divorce that's been ongoing for four years. Jenny wasn't thrilled to hear how long the process can take 90 Day Fiance: The Other Way airs Mondays, 9 p.m. on TLC. Ovidiu Dugulan/iStockBy JON HAWORTH and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News (NEW YORK) -- The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 573,000 people worldwide. Over 13 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 3.3 million diagnosed cases and at least 135,615 deaths. Latest headlines: Philadelphia banning large public events through February 2021 North Carolina schools will open for in-person and remote learning Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin added to NY travel advisory Here is how the news is developing today. All times Eastern. Check back for updates. 7:22 p.m.: Mississippi seeing 'highest numbers of patients as we speak' Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told "World News Tonight" on Tuesday that the state is now in the worst of its battle with COVID-19. "We were a little bit slower or behind New York, behind the West Coast as far as seeing that real surge of patients, but we're seeing our highest numbers of patients as we speak," Woodward said. On Monday, the number of cases jumped 862 to a total of 37,542. The number is shy of two 1,000-case days in late June, but still overwhelming UMMC. "We are full. We are full in our med surge beds, we are full in our ICU beds," Woodward said. "As of some hours ago, we had a few open pediatric beds, but in fact in the adult bed count, at this moment, we're oversubscribed by 29." 6:30 p.m.: LA County reports new record for deaths, cases The crisis in Los Angeles County is continuing to get worse. The county reported a new daily record for deaths (73) and cases (4, 244) on Tuesday. The county did qualify that the death total could be higher due to a lag in reporting from over the weekend. There are 2,103 people currently hospitalized in the county, 19% of which are on ventilators. The county already has rolled back some of its reopening plans in the wake of the rise in cases. 5:15 p.m.: Moderna says everyone in vaccine trial developed antibodies Moderna released data from its Phase 1 trial Tuesday, saying the trial was relatively safe and that all 45 people who were given the vaccine developed COVID-19 antibodies. These antibodies are believed to provide some level of immunization, but how much immunization and for how long is still to be determined. The trial was made up of three groups with 15 people in each group. Each group received a different dose of the vaccine -- low, medium or high. Side effects were minimal, Moderna said. 3:35 p.m.: CDC director says 'we can bring this epidemic under control' if everyone wears masks CDC Director Robert Redfield told JAMA on Tuesday, "I really do believe if the American public all embraced masking now and we really did it, you know, rigorously ... I think if we can get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four to six, eight weeks, we can bring this epidemic under control." "Masking is not a political issue, it is a public health issue," he continued, calling it a "personal responsibility" for everyone. "I'm glad to see the president wear a mask this week, and the vice president," Redfield said. "We need them to set the example." Redfield said "the most powerful weapon we have" against the coronavirus is using face coverings, washing hands and "being smart about social distancing." "If we all rigorously did this, we could really bring this outbreak back to where it needs to be," he said. 3:08 p.m. North Carolina schools will open for in-person and remote learning In North Carolina, where there are over 89,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, schools will open with in-person and remote learning, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday. The beginning of the school year in North Carolina is about a month away, he said. Schools will have protocols in place including fewer children in classrooms, social distancing and required face coverings for all students and staff, Cooper said. The schools are also recommended to use one-way hallways and suspend large group activities like assemblies. Districts will have the option to conduct all remote learning if that is best for them, he said. "If trends spike and in-person school cannot be done safely with these safety protocols, then we will need to move to all remote learning like we did in March," Cooper tweeted. 1:30 p.m.: Philadelphia banning large public events through February 2021 In Philadelphia, large public events will be banned through Feb. 28, 2021, reported ABC Philadelphia station WPVI-TV. Banned events include parades, concerts, fairs and block parties. "To bring people together in large groups ... would not be responsible. And that's why we're doing what we're doing," Mayor Jim Kenney said at a new conference Tuesday. "We're going to have to live with the virus for a long time," said Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city's Department of Public Health. "We're gonna have to have some restrictions on our activities until we deploy a vaccine." Philadelphia held a parade during the 1918 flu pandemic, which prompted a massive outbreak. Farley said that is "still in the memory" of public health workers and "that weighs on all of our decisions. Philadelphia has over 27,000 cases of the coronavirus. While the city is not facing the same rise in cases many states are seeing, Farley called this a "dangerous period." "The way for us to avoid similar increases ... is to have everyone follow the safety precautions," he said. 12:15 p.m.: Arizona sees 20% positivity rate In Arizona, where the pandemic has intensified, the state reported a positivity rate of 20% on Tuesday, a slight drop from the 21.7% rate on Monday. Nationally, the overall test-positivity rate stands at 9.4%, according to a FEMA memo obtained by ABC News. Arizona reported 4,273 new cases and 92 new deaths on Tuesday, according to the state's Department of Health Services. The state has 197 adult ICU beds available, the department said. On Monday officials said ICUs were 90% full. Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday he was expanding testing capacity and limiting indoor dining to 50%. 11:35 a.m.: Florida has 48 hospitals with no ICU beds Out of 309 facilities being tracked, Florida has 48 hospitals with no available ICU beds, and 31 hospitals with just one available ICU bed, according to the state's Agency for Healthcare Administration. These numbers will fluctuate throughout the day. Hard-hit Florida saw a record new 132 deaths bringing the fatality total to 4,513, the state's Department of Health said Tuesday. Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, and Osceola County, home to the cities of Kissimmee and Celebration, are especially hard-hit. Miami-Dade is reporting a positivity rate of 22.1% while Osceola County's positivity rate stands at 22.8%. Duval County, home to Jacksonville, and Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, both have positivity rates at 16%. 11:12 a.m.: Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin added to NY travel advisory Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin have been added to New York's coronavirus travel advisory, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. Those four states join Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Delaware has been removed from the list. Travelers headed to New York, New Jersey or Connecticut from those states must quarantine for two weeks. The quarantine applies to states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a one-week average, or any state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a one-week average. 10:20 a.m.: Virginia Beach, Montana see new jumps Virginia Beach, Virginia, may be a new spot to watch, according to an internal FEMA memo obtained by ABC News. Virginia Beach reported 317 new cases for the week ending July 8 -- a 92.1% increase over the previous week. Montana is also seeing a drastic jump. On July 9, the state reached a new single-day record of 96 new cases, according to the FEMA memo. There were 377 new cases reported in the week ending July 8 -- a 59.1% increase week-over-week. Nationally, the overall test-positivity rate stands at 9.4%, according to the FEMA memo. Forty states reported an upward trend test-positivity rate over the last week. Nationwide death counts show a large increase in the last two days. From July 6 to July 12, there were 410,332 new cases reported and 5,073 new deaths in the U.S. Those figures represent a 20.4% increase in cases and a 47.4% increase in deaths. 9 a.m.: New Jersey governor: 'We've lived through hell' New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is "very concerned" about surges in other states because "we've lived through hell," he told ABC News' Good Morning America on Tuesday. "We've lost over 13,000 confirmed fatalities to COVID-19 in our state. Over 15,000 if you include probable deaths," he said. "We don't want to have to go through that again." New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he was issuing an order requiring out-of-state travelers from states with rising coronavirus cases to give local authorities their contact information when they arrive. Cuomo said this would help enforce the mandatory quarantine for people traveling to New York from high coronavirus states. When asked if New Jersey is considering a similar order, Murphy told GMA, "we'll do it our own way, but were deadly serious about this." "We knew when we opened our state up we'd take on more risk of transmission of the virus, but there's an added element from folks who are coming in from out of state, from hot spots, and we'll take that very seriously," he said. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have a travel advisory in place for states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a week average, or any state with 10% of higher positivity rate over a week average. Travelers arriving in the tri-state area from those states must quarantine for two weeks. Last week, Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma were added to the travel list, joining Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina , Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. 4:22 a.m.: Russia lifts two-week quarantine for arriving foreigners from tomorrow A 14-day quarantine will no longer be required for anyone arriving to Russia, according to a decree signed by the country's chief sanitary doctor on Monday. Starting from Wednesday, people entering Russia will need to provide a document -- in English or Russian -- that they have tested negative for the coronavirus in the past 72 hours. Alternatively, they can test in Russia and provide the document within three days. This news followed last week's announcement that Russia is looking resume international air travel in mid July. Russia confirmed 6,248 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday bringing the countrys official number of cases to 739 947. Over the past 24 hours, 175 people have died bringing the total toll to 11,614. A total of 8,804 people recovered over the last 24 hours bringing the overall number of recoveries to 512,825. 3:17 a.m.: U of Miami infectious disease doctor: Miami is now the epicenter for the virus" A group of Miami-area medical experts joined Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on a Zoom news conference Monday morning and made clear that South Florida is in a dire position when it comes to the spread of COVID-19. Miami is now the epicenter for the virus, said Lilian M. Abbo, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Miami Health System and the Chief of Infection Prevention for Jackson Health System. What we were seeing in Wuhan [China] five months ago, were now seeing here. The experts were speaking minutes after Florida announced 12,624 new cases of COVID-19 -- a day after Florida set a record for any state with 15,300 new cases. The experts stressed the need to restrict large gatherings of people in indoor spaces, and Gimenez said the biggest thing that needs to be done is residents following the safety guidelines. The reason [for the spike] is us. Theres no Boogeyman. The reason is us, he said. We have to change our behavior. The no. 1 reason is our behavior. 1:59 a.m.: Hawaii delays reopening to tourists until September 1 Hawaii Governor David Ige announced that, in light of the surge of cases on the mainland, Hawaii is delaying its reopening to tourists until September 1. The plan was to allow tourists who have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their trip to Hawaii to bypass that mandatory two-week self quarantine starting in August. But with the increase of cases in the state and the growing number of cases nationwide, officials decided to delay it by a month. I am announcing today that we will be delaying the launch of the pre-travel testing program until September 1, said Ige during the press conference. The outbreaks on the mainland are not in control and we dont believe that situation will change significantly by August 1st." Said Ige: "We did believe it would be in the best interest of everyone here in the state of Hawaii to delay the start of the program to September 1. I know this increases the burden of businesses here in Hawaii we still believe in the pre-testing program and we will take actions to implement it safely. Copyright 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved. D onald Trump's official Twitch channel has been reinstated two weeks after it was taken offline for several instances of "hateful conduct". Rather than using the platform like most gamers to stream Fortnite, Trump has been using his channel as part of his 2020 presidential campaign, broadcasting political talk shows called Team Trump Online and War Room Weekly. However, on Monday, June 29, a ban was imposed on Trump's page over two instances of what the platform has deemed "hateful conduct". The first report was after the channel live-streamed Trump's Tusla rally, which was the first public rally held since Covid-19 swept the nation. During his speech, Trump used racist language, referring to the coronavirus "kung-flu". At the same event, he also stated he'd asked health officials to slow testing down, in order to avoid the appearance of alarming case rates. A spokesperson later said Trump was "joking". The second report was after the channel rebroadcast a 2016 rally where Trump was filmed saying that Mexico was "not sending their best", in reference to people entering the United States, going on to say that Mexico was "bringing drugs and crime. Theyre rapists. According to the official Twitch guidelines and policies, the criteria for "hateful conduct" is defined by "any content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, religion, sex, gender or identity, sexual orientation, age, disability or medical conditions and veteran status, is strictly prohibited". Twitch's guidelines further state that any hateful conduct is a zero-tolerance violation, with threats of indefinite suspension being one of the consequences. At the time Trump was banned, Twitch did not state how long the ban would be in place, or whether it was permanent. The ban was a temporary suspension issued for content identified as violating Twitch's community guidelines and that now Trump's channel is live again it will be subject to the same rules as before. The streaming platform hasn't mentioned anything directly related to the Trump channel ban, apart from the statement it made when he first joined the Amazon-owned streaming platform. "Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines, Twitch said. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules". When asking Twitch for a comment, The Standard Online was referred to the above statement regarding the issue. LANSING The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has crafted a new plan to address double-crested cormorant conflicts. It proposes to allow the killing of as many as 77,000 of the migratory birds in the Mississippi and Central flyways each year. That covers 24 states, including Michigan. The agency estimates the population in the region at about 500,000 migrating cormorants, which nest in Canada, the Great Lakes and other parts of the Upper Midwest. The double-crested cormorant is a protected species of waterbird that has historically created problems for shoreline communities. They destroy vegetation and are blamed for declining fish populations in some places, critics say. The new proposal from the FWS addresses the question of cormorant impacts on wild fish. Theyre very good at catching fish. They eat about a pound a day, said Rachel Pierce, a waterbird biologist with the FWS. The FWS released its plan on June 5 in the form of a draft environmental impact statement. The draft offers five plans of action, four of which would permit killing as many as 123,157 cormorants nationwide. The goal is not to lower the cormorant population, Pierce said. Rather, that number should be just enough to address local conflicts while making sure the population is sustained. With about 60,000 cormorants nesting in the Great Lakes region, the species raises the ire of many local sport anglers. The FWS does not agree with claims that the birds cause widespread harm to wild fisheries, but it acknowledges problems in certain places like the Les Cheneaux Islands and Mackinac Countys Brevoort Lake. Although the FWSs approach may be conservative, Randy Claramunt of the Department of Natural Resources said it would allow lethal control to protect fish and would be a step in the right direction. Even if it is not at the level of control that fisheries managers desire, it is a substantial improvement over past approaches, Claramunt said. During the period of the last control order from 2003-16, the FWS was accused of having no real hold on the cormorant situation. Pierce says states were deputizing citizens and not requiring them to report how many birds they killed. That was definitely on us, Pierce said. But since then, I think weve been very careful and mindful of how we move forward. The control program was effective in Michigan, reducing the number of nesting birds to a third over a decade. But problems with federal management led to a lawsuit, and a judge closed the program in 2016. This time, the FWSs preferred plan of action would give the states a cap on how many birds each can take. The agency also plans to create a detailed monitoring system to make sure that all states take birds within their specified limits. Cassidy Hough reports for Interlochen Public Radio, where this story first appeared, and for Great Lakes Echo. Pater Payette reports for Interlochen Public Radio. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:41:04|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Aerial photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows the container terminal of Jingtang Port District under Tangshan Port in Tangshan City, north China's Hebei Province. China saw its foreign trade rise 5.1 percent year on year in June, with exports and imports up 4.3 percent and 6.2 percent respectively, official data showed Tuesday. (Xinhua/Yang Shiyao) BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China registered better-than-expected foreign trade performance in the first half of the year, with exports and imports both rising in June, as the country's economic recovery gathers momentum amid further containment of COVID-19. The country saw its foreign trade rise 5.1 percent year on year in June, with exports and imports up 4.3 percent and 6.2 percent respectively, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said Tuesday. Following the turbulence in the first quarter, imports and exports of the second quarter showed signs of recovery and stability, and the exports have risen for three consecutive months, said GAC spokesman Li Kuiwen at a news conference. Foreign trade of goods went down 3.2 percent year on year in the first half of this year to 14.24 trillion yuan (about 2 trillion U.S. dollars), narrowing by 1.7 percentage points compared with the decrease for the first five months. BUCKING UP AGAINST THE EPIDEMIC China's effective COVID-19 control and early business resumption have been solid support for the rebound in imports, according to Li. In the first half, China's imports of mechanical and electrical goods increased by 1.2 percent year on year, among which the imports of electronic components, as well as automatic data processing equipment and components, jumped 14.1 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively. China has also paid particular attention to helping foreign trade enterprises in times of difficulties, especially the smaller firms, by cutting or deferring fees and taxes and supporting them with sales in the domestic market, according to Li. To combat COVID-19, exports of medical supplies grew rapidly, with sales of textile products including face masks, pharmaceutical products and medical equipment expanding by 32.4 percent, 23.6 percent and 46.4 percent, respectively. Driven by the stay-at-home economy springing up amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the exports of laptops and mobile phones went up by 9.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, China has actively expanded imports by allowing the purchase of more commodities from more countries. In the first half of the year, China imported 109.5 billion yuan of meat and 154.2 billion yuan of grain, up 107.3 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively. Noting that China's exports and imports continue to face a grim and complicated situation in the second half of this year, Li said the country's foreign trade is resilient and has more leeway. He assured that a raft of pro-trade policy measures will take effect to ensure stable and high-quality foreign trade. TRADE WITH PARTNERS GROWING During the January-June period, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) became China's largest trading partner with trade up 5.6 percent year on year to 2.09 trillion yuan, accounting for 14.7 percent of China's total foreign trade. The expansion was partly buoyed by growing interconnectivity in electronic manufacturing between China and countries like Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore along the global supply chain, said Li. Integrated circuits, for instance, saw imports from and exports to ASEAN grow 23.8 percent and 29.1 percent, respectively, in the period. China has also made substantial headway in sharing high-quality development with countries along the Belt and Road (B&R), said Li. Trade with B&R countries accounted for 29.5 percent of the total trade in the first six months, up 0.7 percentage points year on year, driven by active cooperation in COVID-19 control, setting up smart customs, as well as the China-Europe freight trains, as anchors of stability for the global supply chain. During the same period, trade with the European Union and the United States decreased 1.8 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, GAC data showed. Experts believed that it is only a matter of time before China's foreign trade recovers to the normal level of the past as some countries loosened trade restrictions and domestic demand increased quickly. In the second half, China's foreign trade recovery will accelerate, with players boasting high efficiency in their industrial and supply chains likely to secure better performance, said Zhang Yansheng, chief researcher of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges. tech2 News Staff Editor's Note: The launch of UAE's Hope Mars mission has been delayed due to poor weather conditions at the launch site in Tanegashima Space Center, Japan. Originally scheduled to blast off on 15 July at 2.21 am IST, the revised launch attempt is now targeting Friday, 17 July at 2.13 am IST. The United Arab Emirates is all set to launch its first interplanetary mission, a Mars orbiter called Hope, at 2.13 am IST (12:45 am UAE time) the pre-dawn hours on Friday, 17 July. The mission, formally known as the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), is one of the three Mars missions set to launch this month. NASA's Perseverance Mars rover and China's Tianwen-1 mission a three-in-one combo of an orbiter, lander and rover are along slated to launch later this month. The UAE's Hope orbiter is scheduled to launch on 17 July 12.45 am UAE or 17 July 2.13 am IST from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. The Arab space agency has a long launch window that opened up on 14 July and will stay open till 12 August 2020. This window will give them a sufficient buffer in case any unsuspecting technical difficulties arise. However, if the launch does not take place in the next five and a half weeks, the launch will have to be postponed by two years, to 2022. One Martian year is equal to almost two years on Earth. Once every two years on Earth, the two planets come into perfect alignment with each other around the Sun. This alignment is the ideal time for an Earth-Mars journey since it saves on time, money and fuel. Interplanetary missions are no joke; in any and all conditions, are an expensive, time-consuming affair that requires a lot of planning. The Rosalind Franklin rover, a joint effort by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), has already been postponed to 2022 after the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic affected operations. If successful, the Hope Mars probe will join six other orbiters from the US, Europe and India that are currently surveying the Red Planet. The mission's launch will be facilitated by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which is also providing the launch site, flight and range safety for launch. The Hope orbiter will be aboard the H2A202 rocket, part of the H-IIA launch vehicle family developed by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The rocket is made up of the first stage, second stage, payload fairing and a pair of Solid Rocket Boosters. The propulsion system of the launch vehicle uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It will take around 200 days for the Mars orbiter to cover the 493,500,000 km needed to reach Mars by 2021. According to NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive, the Hope probe will enter an elliptical orbit around Mars that is roughly 22,000 x 44,000 km (nearest x farthest) in altitude, taking approximately 55 hours to complete a single orbit. As per plans, Hope is designed to carry out two years of science operations starting May 2021, with a possibility of a two-year extension to do more science till 2025. The Hope Probe has a mission life of one Martian year and weighs around 1.350 kgs. It is three metres high and 7.9 metres wide. It also has a 600-watt solar panel that charges its battery. It has three instruments that will help it complete its science mission objectives studying the Martian atmosphere. These include a high-resolution camera that is known as the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI), the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) which is a UV imager, and a scanning infrared imager called the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS). How to watch the Hope Mars mission launch LIVE: You can watch the live stream of the launch on the EMM's official site or on the UAE's official Youtube channel. By Yosuke Watanabe, KYODO NEWS - Jul 14, 2020 - 20:55 | All, World A photocopy of a transit visa issued by the then Japanese envoy to the Soviet Union to help a Jewish refugee flee from Nazi Germany during World War II has been preserved in the hands of her relatives, the family said. While it is already known that Ambassador Yoshitsugu Tatekawa issued travel documents for Jewish refugees, it is very rare to confirm that he also issued visas for them. The visa was issued for 17-year-old Rischel Kotler on March 8, 1941 at the Japanese Embassy in Moscow. Since the Japanese Foreign Ministry had banned visa issuance in the Soviet Union a day earlier, Tatekawa, who was thought to be sympathetic toward Jewish refugees, is likely to have decided to grant the visa on humanitarian grounds. Given the ministry's ban, Kotler's visa is also highly likely to have been the last Tatekawa issued to Jewish refugees. According to Kotler's relatives citing her account and relevant documents, she visited the Japanese embassy on the night of March 8, when many other Jewish refugees were gathered outside. Although the other refugees were not permitted entry, a security guard let her in when she said in English that she had an appointment. In the embassy building, Kotler met with a man wearing what she described as "silky kimono-like clothes." After she told him that she wished travel to Japan, the man pondered for a considerable time and then signed and issued a visa. Travelling through several locations such as Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture and the Chinese city of Shanghai, Kotler visited the United States in 1947 and later settled in the country. Aaron Kotler, the youngest son of Kotler, told Kyodo News that the security guard probably allowed her to enter the Japanese embassy thinking she was not a refugee. "She talked about the story hundreds of times," the 56-year-old man said, adding, "She was always very grateful to Tatekawa." "Without the visa she had no chance of leaving the Soviet Union. Both of her parents were killed by Nazis. At that time no country allowed Jews, including the United States," he said. Another wartime Japanese diplomat, Chiune Sugihara, is better known for helping Jewish people flee Nazi-occupied Europe and the Holocaust, being credited with issuing thousands of travel documents while serving as acting consul to Lithuania. Saburo Nei, then acting consul-general in Vladivostok in the then Soviet Union, was also recently found to have signed transit visas issued by Sugihara. The report on Nei's involvement prompted Aaron Kotler to contact Japanese freelance writer Akira Kitade, who has written a book on Japanese officials who supported Sugihara in his efforts to help Jewish refugees flee from Nazi persecution. Kitade helped shed light on the role Tatekawa played in helping Jewish refugees. Along with her husband and her father-in-law, Kotler helped to establish a yeshiva for orthodox Jews in Lakewood, New Jersey. Kotler died in 2015 at age of 92. "Sugihara and Nei are now famous. But Tatekawa should be honored too. He is the third great rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust," Kotler's son said. "The story of Sugihara has been told. The story of Nei is now being told. The story of Tatekawa should be told too. I think it is very important to recognize the people, particularly the government officials who make good moral choices in a tough time." Aaron Kotler is now president of the Beth Medrash Govoha, a yeshiva in Lakewood. The town has thrived as a college town and, as a hub of Orthodox Judaism, has one of the highest percentages of Jewish residents among U.S. municipalities. Tatekawa was the saver of his mother's life and should be credited for his deed along with Sugiura and Nei, Aaron Kotler said, adding, "No visa, no town." Amber Heard called Johnny Depp washed up and fat and was physically aggressive towards him during a Christmas trip to the Bahamas, the manager of his private island has alleged. Tara Roberts, estate manager at Depps Caribbean home, claimed she saw Heard screaming and berating the Hollywood star as he yelled at the actress to go away. Ms Roberts also alleged she had seen a red, swelling gash on Depps nose, and claimed he told her Heard had thrown a can of lacquer thinner into his face. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers and its executive editor Dan Wootton over an April 2018 article which labelled him a wife beater. In her witness statement at the High Court in London, Ms Roberts, who has worked for the actor since December 2008, described Depp as an unusually kind man and said she had never seen him be violent or aggressive with ex-wife Heard, or anyone else. She told the court: I observed in December 2015 to my colleagues that Amber was a thrower, someone who threw projectiles. She alleged she saw Heard lunge violently at Johnny, pull his hair, and commit other aggressive physical acts against him. Ms Roberts said that on 29 December 2015, when the couple were staying on the island with his two children and a friend, the pair had an argument. In her statement, she said: While I could not hear what caused the fight, Amber repeatedly berated him with increasing ferocity. She was insulting him, calling him names, and in the middle of this onslaught I heard her say specifically your career is over, no one is going to hire you, youre washed up, fat, you will die a lonely man, and also screaming things that were incomprehensible. American Actress Amber Heard arrives at the High Court in London, 14 July 2020. (Getty Images) She alleged Depp responded by yelling go away and leave me alone. The estate manager claimed Heard was makeup free and unmarked throughout this visit, adding: I never saw her with any sign of injury on her face or body whatsoever. The High Court also heard from Hollywood stylist Samantha McMillen, who said Heard had no visible injuries the day after the actress alleges Depp was violent towards her during a heated row. Ms McMillen claimed she could see clearly that Heard had no marks or bruises on 16 December 2015 as she prepared to appear on James Cordens The Late Late Show. The stylist claimed that after her appearance on the programme, Heard said to her can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes? She told the court: Ms Heard did not have any black eyes, and had been visibly uninjured throughout the day and at that moment. Undated picture shown in court of Amber Heard on the James Corden show in December 2015. (PA) Depp, 57, is suing News Group Newspapers and its executive editor Dan Wootton over the publication of an article on 27 April 2018 with the headline: Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be genuinely happy casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film? His lawyers say the article bore the meaning there was overwhelming evidence Depp assaulted Heard, 34, on a number of occasions and left her in fear for her life. NGN is defending the article as true, and says Depp was controlling and verbally and physically abusive towards Heard, particularly when he was under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Depps former security guard Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for Depp and his family for about 16 years, also gave evidence on the sixth day of the trial. Mr Connolly said he was sent to extract Depp from an argument with Heard in Australia in 2015 and found his boss with a severed finger. He claimed that when he arrived Depp told him: Shes cut my f***ing finger off. Shes smashed my hand with a vodka bottle. The bodyguard said the actors security team knew his injury would create extremely bad publicity and therefore made up a story to protect Heard. Heard claims the incident was part of a three-day hostage situation in Australia one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour she has made against her former husband, all of which he denies. However Mr Connolly claimed Heards account of the incident bore no resemblance to his recollection and that when he arrived at the house, the actress did not have any marks on her face or arms. The trial continues. Additional reporting by Press Association President Macron will use the traditional Bastille Day television interview, a custom which he had dropped earlier in his presidency, to remind the French people of the lingering danger of Covid-19 and outline plans for the remaining two years of his presidency. Elysee officials said the president would address the health crisis as well as several measures to revive economic growth. The president will be able to match his no-doubt fulsome tributes to health workers with a concrete package of 8 billion euros, agreed on Monday night after several weeks of negotiations with health sector representatives. He is also likely to outline measures to help out businesses, government schemes to get young people into employment and how he plans to implement many of the ideas which emerged from the Citizens convention on the Climate earlier this year. More tough times ahead He will also address the anti-racism protests in France in line with the Black Lives Matter movement and he is expected to announce some new anti-discrimination measures. Prime Minister, Jean Castex, announced last week that he will move quickly to finalise a controversial pensions overhaul suspended by the crisis, so Macron is likely to face tough times after the summer break. On the 50th anniversary of the death of General Charles de Gaulle and the 80th anniversary of his famous call to his countrymen to join him against the Nazis, Macron will also be keen to remind the nation of the virtues of resilience and unity. For the first time since 1945, authorities have called off the annual military parade along the Champs-Elysees in Paris that marks the storming of the Bastille prison on July 14th 1789, that launched the French Revolution. Just 2,000 soldiers - half the usual number - will gather at the Place de la Concorde today. Congressional leaders are squaring off over the next pandemic relief bill in a debate over whom Congress should step up to protect: front-line workers seeking more safeguards from the ravages of COVID-19 or beleaguered employers seeking relief from lawsuits. Democrats want to enact an emergency standard meant to bolster access to protective gear for health care and other workers and to bar employers from retaliating against them for airing safety concerns. Republicans seek immunity for employers from lawsuits related to the pandemic, an effort they say would give businesses the confidence to return to normal. The Senate is scheduled to reconvene later this month. The debate reflects a deepening schism between the major political parties, with Democrats focused on protecting lives and Republicans focused on protecting livelihoods. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressed frustration over efforts to pass an emergency worker-protection standard, which keeps running into GOP resistance. Theyre saying Lets give immunity no liability for employers, Pelosi said. Were saying the best protection for the employer is to protect the workers. Nearly 98,000 health-care workers have contracted the coronavirus, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data that the agency acknowledges is an undercount. In May, the House passed a $3 trillion relief bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to put in place an emergency standard that would call on employers to create a plan based, in part, on CDC or OSHA guidance to protect workers from COVID-19. It would cover health-care workers and also those at occupational risk of exposure to COVID19. The measure would allow workers to bring protective gear if not provided by the employer. Similar rules in place in California for health-care workers have come under fire for offering little added protection. In action, the new measure would allow OSHA inspectors to request to review an employers plan and hold them accountable for following it, said David Michaels, former U.S. assistant secretary of Labor and OSHA administrator, who has called for such a standard. Federal guidance is currently optional, not required. Many employers want to be law-abiding, Michaels said, and they know they risk enforcement and possibly a monetary fine if they dont attempt to do this. Top Democrats, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, have called for better worker protections, while GOP leaders have called for stronger employer protections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has insisted that the next pandemic relief bill include immunity for employers against coronavirus-related lawsuits. If we do another bill, it will have liability protections in it for doctors, for hospitals, for nurses, for businesses, for universities, for colleges, McConnell said July 1. Nobody knew how to deal with the coronavirus, he said, and unless theyve committed gross negligence or intentional harm, those parties should be protected from an epidemic of lawsuits. He has proposed a five-year period of immunity from December 2019 through 2024. (McConnells office declined to comment for this article.) Such a measure could derail lawsuits already filed by grieving family members such as Florence Dotson, the mother of 51-year-old certified nursing assistant Maurice Dotson, who died in April. Her son cared for nursing home residents with COVID-19 in Austin, Texas, and did not have proper personal protective equipment (PPE), her suit alleges. He later died of complications from the virus. Another lawsuit alleges that an anonymous New York nurse requested but was denied proper PPE when she was assigned to care for a patient in intensive care with COVID-19 symptoms but who was tested for the virus only after death. The nurse, who contracted COVID-19 shortly after, is seeking $1 million in damages. U.S. workers in every industry have filed more than 13,300 COVID-related complaints with OSHA, records show, demonstrating widespread concern over their lack of protection at work. Twenty-three complaints reference a fear of retaliation, including among hospital workers who say they were pressured to work while sick. The agency has closed investigations into those complaints but is investigating 6,600 more open complaints. OSHA has so far issued one citation against an employer, a spokesperson confirmed. Employers are also struggling, evidenced by layoffs and an 11% unemployment rate, which the Congressional Budget Office projects will hit 16% in the coming weeks. States have taken some matters in their own hands during months of federal inaction. At least 25 states have created some degree of legal immunity for doctors or facilities, through new laws or executive orders, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. READ MORE: How to protect your small business from COVID-related lawsuits Officials in Virginia and Oregon have taken steps to enact their own heightened worker-protection rules related to the virus. The effort to pass an OSHA rule to protect workers from infectious diseases dates to 2010, when regulators saw the need to better protect health-care workers after the H1N1 flu pandemic. Michaels, the former OSHA director under President Barack Obama, said the effort has stalled out under the Trump administration. Trump administration OSHA officials have defended their track record, saying adequate rules are in place to protect workers. But a similar push succeeded in California in 2009. State officials passed a plan requiring health care employers to create a plan to protect health care workers from airborne viruses. The California measure went further, requiring hospitals and nursing homes to stockpile or be prepared to supply workers with an N95 respirator or an even more protective device if treating patients with a virus such as COVID-19. Workplace safety experts in California, though, said it hasnt worked as intended. FAQ: Your coronavirus questions, answered. As more than 17,600 health-care workers have become sick and 99 have died in the state, its become apparent that health-care employers did not have plans in place, said Stephen Knight, executive director of Worksafe, a nonprofit focused on workplace safety. This was just a massive missed opportunity and one that cost people their lives, Knight said. People are just dying with frightening regularity. Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service that is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. (Bloomberg) -- TikTok has become one of the worlds most popular apps by serving up a steady beat of lip-syncing videos and viral memes. But behind the scenes the company, owned by one of Chinas biggest tech firms, is also scooping up massive amounts of data on Americans and tracking users every move. Security researchers say TikToks information-collection practices are consistent with Facebook Inc., Google and other U.S. tech companies looking to tailor ads and services to their users. The bigger issue lies in what TikTok does with the intel it gathers. Some groups, like the Democratic and Republican national committees and Wells Fargo & Co., have discouraged or banned people from using the app. The problem here is not the quantity of data thats being collected, but rather who else can access it. And those problems exist on the end of data transmission that no one but TikTok can see, said Oded Vanunu, head of products vulnerability research at Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., who discovered a security hole in the app last year that has since been resolved. Theres little doubt the backlash against TikTok stems in part from the ongoing economic and political rivalry between Washington and Beijing. When U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said that they were considering banning the app last week, both indicated such a move would be one way to retaliate against China over its handling of the coronavirus. The company, part of ByteDance Ltd. and incorporated in the Cayman Islands, has consistently denied that it hands over data to Beijing and has taken measures to try to distance itself from its Chinese roots. ByteDance is considering changing TikToks corporate structure to include a new management board and a separate global headquarters, people familiar with the plans said last week. In June, former Walt Disney Co. executive Kevin Mayer became TikToks first American chief executive officer. Story continues U.S. officials havent provided any proof publicly that TikTok is sharing information with the Chinese government. The company says American user data is stored in servers in the U.S. and Singapore, not China. TikToks terms of service do, however, stipulate that the company may share information with its parent, subsidiary or other affiliate. Previous versions of TikToks privacy policy warned users it could exchange information with its Chinese businesses, law enforcement agencies and public authorities, if legally required to do so. Another reason why TikTok prompts more concern than other social media sites is that the app, which counts more than 2 billion users worldwide including 165 million American users, has attracted a large proportion of young people. TikTok starts collecting data the minute you download the app, according to researchers. It tracks the websites youre browsing and how you type, down to keystroke rhythms and patterns, according to the companys privacy policies and terms of service. The app warns users it has full access to photos, videos and contact information of friends stored in the devices address book, unless you revoke those permissions. Even when youre not singing and dancing around your living room, the app tracks everywhere you go using your IP address and GPS coordinates, providing the app with your precise location while working, voting, attending protests, traveling, or simply picking up milk from the grocery store. You can disable all GPS collection on your devices, but, in some cases, that would shut off access to apps that need location data to function, like Google Maps. Devices running Apple Inc.s iOS block TikTok from tracking web browsing and keystrokes done on other apps. Although this monitoring still happens inside the TikTok app on iPhones. Apples operating system also requires apps to ask permission to access user photos, videos and contacts, and users can choose to share their location just once, only while using an app, or never. Once you use TikTok for a few days, the app has a good idea of what you look like, how you hold your phone, who your friends are, what videos you like to watch, what topics youre interested in and what websites you visit. It reads the messages you compose and exchange on the app. TikTok can then match this data to other information collected about users from third-party services and publicly available sources. TikToks iPhone version verifies users and their devices using an authentication tool researchers have identified as vulnerable to a malicious cyber attack, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Zimperium Inc. TikTok hasnt been used as a platform to launch such an attack, according to ZecOps, a sister company to Zimperium. American tech companies have also been accused of bending data privacy rules to enhance information gathering. In June, Google was sued for illegally collecting users browser history even when set to incognito mode, a claim it denies. We know that Google and Facebook collect a lot of the same data, but they use it to make more money, said Kirsten Martin, professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dames Mendoza College of Business. The problem lies in not knowing what TikTok is doing with the data, if they are manipulating it and whether the data is going into the hands of an adversary. Most recently, researchers found that TikTok had access to the words and images users had cut and paste on their devices, whether it was an innocuous shopping list or sensitive passwords. Researchers identified 56 other apps doing the same thing, including AccuWeather and The New York Times. TikTok has said it has since disabled the function on iOS. TikTok collects much less U.S. user information than many of the companies in our space and stores it in the U.S. and Singapore, a company spokesman said. We have not, and would not, give it to the Chinese government. The ability to track a persons every move and assemble a behavioral profile is a key reason the Pentagon warned U.S. military personnel in January to delete TikTok from their phones. That precise data could be deadly in the wrong hands, said Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who has introduced a bill to ban TikTok on all government-issued devices. Amazon.com Inc. last week sent a notice to employees to delete TikTok, but later said the email was sent in error. TikTok was also among the dozens of apps from Chinese companies banned by India last month over security and privacy concerns. ByteDance is already under a U.S. national security review for its 2017 acquisition of Musical.ly, a startup it later merged with TikTok. Critics say the app could be used for foreign influence campaigns and that it censors videos in line with Beijings priorities. TikToks data practices are also the subject of inquiries by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and at least two class action suits. Experts question why TikTok would be treated any differently than any other company expected to give Beijing whatever data it asks for, as required by Chinas cybersecurity laws. At the end of the day TikTok is a Chinese company, said Kiersten Todt, a former Obama administration official and resident scholar at the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security. And in any case, TikTok doesnt necessarily have to hand over data to Beijing for China to gain access to it, Todt said. U.S. intelligence officials have documented decades of Chinese espionage, including a massive 2017 hack of U.S. credit reporting agency Equifax and the personal data of about 145 million Americans, she said. The prevalence and saturation of TikTok gives the Chinese government tremendous access. (Updates with details on Apple iOS data limitations in 10th paragraph.) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. The decisions are another sign that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to wreak havoc on fundamental aspects of American life, and the economy, well into fall. Many parents who need to work will be left scrambling for child care. And while some schools found success with virtual school in the spring, it was a disaster for many, with little indication it will be drastically better in the new school year. In some ways, it may more challenging, as students will be starting with new teachers who do not know them. Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B, has denied the allegation that he flouted safety protocols put out by authorities to keep senior high school students safe. The Youth Organiser of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) was seen in an image that has gone viral on social media addressing some senior high school students in a classroom despite a government directive that no outsider including parents should be allowed to visit students. However, speaking in an interview on Kumasi-based Hello FM, Nana B said he was only monitoring the registration of the students. "I didn't go there to campaign" he rebutted. He said, "I have accreditation from the Electoral Commission (EC) to monitor the registration and that was what I went there to do". Listen to him in the video below Source: Peacefmonline.com Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera is seeking to ban construction firm AzulWorks from doing any business with the city for the next five years, given the firms alleged links to the widening City Hall corruption scandal and ex-Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru in particular. Last month, federal officials filed criminal charges against the firms CEO, Balmore Hernandez a former Public Works employee for allegedly supplying Nuru with $250,000 worth of building materials for his vacation home in Stonyford (Colusa County) from late 2016 to 2018 in exchange for inside information and favoritism on city contracts. Among the alleged gifts: A tractor valued at around $40,000. Hernandez faces a decade in prison if convicted. The city attorneys office was able to independently confirm that Hernandez and AzulWorks gave Nuru more than $20,000 in unlawful labor and material for construction work, which prompted Herrera on Tuesday to launch a process to prevent AzulWorks from bidding on or receiving city contracts for the next five years. Herreras move is aggressive: Ordinarily, such a process would be started after a person or firm is convicted of a crime. The people of San Francisco, including its taxpayers, deserve the assurance of clean contracting and a level competitive playing field now, Herrera said in a filing to the city controllers office requesting a formal hearing over the matter. The controller will appoint a hearing officer to oversee the administrative process of barring AzulWorks, which is known as a debarment. Nuru has been charged with fraud over an alleged scheme to bribe an airport commissioner in exchange for a vote to approve a lease for a chicken restaurant at San Francisco International Airport owned by Nick Bovis, who was arrested along with Nuru but has since agreed to cooperate with the U.S. attorneys office. AzulWorks will be entitled to plead its case to remain in good standing with the city. A representative of the company refused to comment. The company obtained 16 city contracts worth nearly $23 million combined between July 2017 and June 2020, according to the city attorneys office. They covered a range of work at parks and other public properties. Nine of those contracts were secured with Public Works. Late last month, a sweeping report on Public Works contracting processes from the controllers office cited the allegations against Hernandez and AzulWorks as evidence of the need for greater external oversight of the agency. 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. Citing court documents tied to the federal corruption investigation, which has extended to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Herrera said Hernandez has already made damning admissions to the FBI about the scope of his bribery schemes, allegedly admitting that his donations for Nurus vacation home were done as a friend. In a Jan. 27 meeting with the FBI, Hernandez admitted only to reviewing construction plans and paying two invoices for lumber and electrical work totaling $20,000. That is approximately $20,000 in admitted gifts from Hernandez to Nuru for Nurus personal benefit, Herrera said. Federal officials claim Hernandezs gifts to Nuru are valued at more than 10 times the amount he admitted to. As a public contractor, Hernandez had no legal basis to provide tens of thousands of secret payments for the personal benefit of the head of a department that was providing and overseeing his company contracts, Herrera said. This collusion undermines public trust in city contracting, is unfair to the taxpayers and unfair to legitimate contractors competing for public contracts. In return for his contributions to Nurus vacation home, Hernandez also allegedly sought help getting a contract to operate an asphalt plant owned by the Port of San Francisco and assistance in appealing a Public Works order that prevented AzulWorks from removing trees at a job site on Van Ness Avenue. Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa Humanitarian, business woman and Nigerian actress Tonto Dikeh has shared an inspirational quote on her social media page. The 35 year old stated that we usually put too much expectations on individuals, leaving little or no room for humanity. Expecting too much can sometimes lead to disappointment. Check on her write up here. Dikeh who hails from Port Harcourt started a project The Tonto Dikeh Foundation in August 2000. She lives in Abuja with her son King Andre, from her estranged husband Olakunle Churchill. Related Demopolis will be home to a $95 million wood pellet production plant opening in 2021. Alabama Pellets, a subsidiary of Pinnacle Renewable Energy, announced plans for the project this morning, which should begin production in the middle of next year. The company plans to hire 45 workers initially at an average wage of $20 an hour. Vancouver-based Pinnacle is the worlds third largest manufacturer and distributor of industrial wood pellets, which are used as fuel for renewable electricity generation in large-scale thermal power generators. The industry touts pellets as a greener alternative to coal-generated power. The company currently operates a production facility in Alabama and one under construction here, as well as seven industrial wood pellet production facilities in western Canada. Pinnacle holds a 70 percent stake in Alabama Pellets, with Tuscaloosa-based Westervelt Co. holding 20 percent and Demopolis Two Rivers Lumber Co. with 10 percent. Incentives for Alabama Pellets include a tax credit for job creation totaling $848,000 over 10 years, as well as an investment credit totaling $9.5 million, also spread over 10 years, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. Gov. Kay Ivey, in a statement, said the project will have a significant economic impact on Marengo County and create meaningful new opportunities for many citizens there. Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said the project will spark the creation of direct and indirect jobs. West Alabama has attracted several wood pellet operations recently. Last October, Maryland-based biofuel company Enviva announced it will build a $175 million wood pellet production plant at the Port of Epes in Sumter County, creating at least 85 jobs and 180 incidental jobs in logging, transportation and local services. The projects are aided by a high demand internationally for the product. Pinnacle has entered into long-term take-or-pay contracts with utilities in the U.K., Europe and Asia that represent an average of 99 percent of its production capacity through 2026. A wannabe playboy fleeced more than $1million from his father and blew it all on a lavish lifestyle filled with drugs, women, flashy cars, video games and other 'random s***'. Kyle Kepkey, 30, pleaded guilty to multiple fraud charges when he appeared at Victoria's County Court on Monday. His father sold his home for $1,181,792 in 2017, but he now struggles to survive on Centrelink payments after Kepkey left him with less than $20 to his name. The court heard the father moved to Victoria from New South Wales in early 2017 and estimated he could live off $70,000 a year from the money he made on the sale of his property. Kyle Kepkey (pictured) blew $4,000 a week stolen from his father's bank account on drugs But Kepkey gained access to his father's online account and over the next two years made almost 300 transactions to steal $1,001,330, the Herald Sun reported. Kepkey also earned $2000 a fortnight working for two tech companies at the time, the court was told. His father had no idea of Kepkey's deceit until he discovered his account had insufficient funds when he tried to withdraw money from an ATM. The court heard Kepkey was first interviewed by police in April 2019. A month later, Kepkey and his father lost everything when the house they rented together in Melbourne's north-west was destroyed in an electrical fire. Friends raised $3,855 to help the pair through an online fundraising page which described them as 'two of the most kind-hearted, compassionate and generous people you will ever meet'. Kyle Kepkey fleeced more than $1million from his father to blow it all on a lavish lifestyle. He's pictured as a boy with his dad, which he posted as a Father's Day tribute last September Kepkey later posted he was moved to tears by his friends' efforts to help. 'I can happily say nothing can take away my sense of humour,' he wrote on Facebook in May 2019. 'A lot of people said I had too much stuff anyway. Importantly just want to reassure everyone that Dad and I are okay. The amount of support is more than we could ever ask for. 'Home isn't things or a place it's a feeling.' He uploaded several fire-related memes in the months that followed. 'Just want to reassure everyone I'm making the best out of horrible situation. If you can't laugh you just cry,' he posted. Kepkey was eventually charged with fraud in December 2019 after a detailed confession to police on how he blew his father's money. The court heard Kepkey admitted to spending $4,000 a week on drugs and paid for his then-girlfriend's $20,000 shopping spree from his dad's funds. He described his extravagant spending habit as 'living the Rockefeller lifestyle on someone else's dime'. Kyle Kepkey (pictured) has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date 'It was just me more being the big man of things, providing money that wasn't mine,' Kepkey told police. 'My dad's not very tech savvy, so it almost became too easy. 'The moment that I could figure out a way to actually access it and take it without even anyone questioning or knowing it, it just became, like, a golden pass to me.' The court heard Kepkey withdrew more than $200,000 in cash and spent nearly $300,000 to buy 'random sh**' - including $15,000 on Uber, $22,000 on online gaming, $13,000 at Bunnings, $17,000 at JB Hi-FI and nearly $15,000 at EB Games. He also blew more than $2,000 on 'premium purchases' on dating app Tinder and almost $3000 on Deliveroo because he 'did not really cook'. Kepkey's extravagance didn't end there. The court heard he gave $12,000 to his best mate towards his upcoming wedding, helped another mate out by paying his rent and gave an ex-girlfriend $10,000 as 'remuneration for the break up.' Kepkey continued to steal from his dad, who at the same time showered him with gifts. He spent $26,000 modifying a Honda Civic his dad bought him and then stole another $14,000 after the father paid for his holiday to Tokyo, the court heard. Kepkey withdrew more than $200,000 in cash and spent thousands on other things including $15,000 on Uber, $22,000 on online gaming and almost $13,000 at Bunnings Kepkey paid tribute to his dad last year by posting a childhood throwback photo of him as a little boy at the beach in the Philippines holding his father's hand. 'Happy Father's Day,' the photo was captioned. Bizarrely, he posted in late 2017 that 'dreams don't work unless you do'. Kepkey was remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a later date. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) - The Department of Health said Tuesday that Metro Manilas critical care capacity is now at danger level as more than 70 percent of isolation and ward beds for COVID-19 patients are already occupied. Health Spokesperson Ma. Rosario Vergeire explained that being in the danger zone means the utilization rate of COVID-19 facilities is at 70 to 100 percent. Vergeire said 73.7 percent of isolation beds and 77.4 percent of ward beds for COVID-19 patients of the capital region are already occupied as of July 12. On the other hand, 61 percent of intensive care unit beds are occupied while 36.3 percent of mechanical ventilators are currently being used by patients. The DOH said that it is already coordinating with hospitals and treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) in case there is a surge of cases in the country. Nakikipag-ugnayan din po kami sa mga LGUs at TTMFs para magkaroon ng maayos na referral system upang ang mga mild na kaso mula sa ospital ay i-refer na lamang sa TTMFs para ma-decongest ang ating mga ospital, said Vergeire. [Translation: We are coordinating with local government units and TTMFs in order to have an orderly referral system, so that those with mild symptoms confined in hospitals can be referred to TTMFs in order to decongest our hospitals.] Vergeire announced earlier that there are currently nine hospitals in the country that have reached maximum bed capacity for COVID-19 patients. They are University of Santo Tomas Hospital, FY Manalo Medical Foundation Inc., Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center, Qualimed Health Network Sta. Rosa, UPH-Dr. Jose G. Tamayo Medical University Foundation Inc., Tricity Medical Center Inc., Westlake Medical Center, Antipolo City Medical Hospital, and Ortigas Hospital and Healthcare Center Inc. READ: St. Lukes, Makati Med COVID-19 facilities already at full capacity The DOH today reported 634 new COVID-19 infections, raising the countrys total to 57,545. Overall, the country has 14,945 ICU, isolation, and ward beds for COVID-19 patients with 49-percent utilization rate. Vergeire said that the utilization rate of these beds is still at warning zone, which means that the countrys health system is still operating at normal capacity. However, Vergeire said that being in the warning level is also an indicator that hospitals should prepare for sudden increase of cases. As such, the DOH is requesting hospitals to convert 30 percent of their beds into COVID-dedicated beds based on Administrative Order 2020-0016. READ: DOH: Private hospitals show low compliance rate for COVID beds amid reports of full capacity Moreover, DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega suggested that public and private hospitals should collaborate in order to provide more access to COVID-19 patients. One way of doing this is to come up with a good network and collaboration between the public and private. With one hospital command, wherein we will see in a dashboard where the free ICUs are free and where we can refer these patients, Vega told CNN Philippines. What we are trying to do here is not just to expand the number of beds in the private [hospitals]...but also making a system out of the public and private institutions to give more access to patients with Covid, he added. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) has started testing the different uses of the four-legged Spot Robots in its internal operations, becoming the first utility in the region to use this robot, developed by Boston Dynamics. The move supports Dewas strategy to use the latest Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) in its different operations. Dewa intends to use Spot Robots in detecting faults, testing connection points of high-voltage cables, detecting leakage in water pipes, conducting security and monitoring patrols, ensuring construction works are aligned with specifications using multiple-angle cameras, and managing different facilities such as warehouses, in addition to helping people of determination. Adopting the Spot Robots in Dewas internal operations is part of our strategy to use the latest AI and robotic technologies. This contributes to achieving the UAE Strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which aims to strengthen the UAE's position as a global hub for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and increase its contribution to a knowledge-based national economy that depends on innovation and future technological application, said Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of Dewa. It also supports the Dubai 10X initiative, which mandates the Government of Dubai to become a global leader that is 10 years ahead of all other cities through government innovation and reshaping traditional work mechanisms. TradeArabia News Service Farrukh Dhondy OF CABBAGES AND KINGS Being struck by an arrow of Cupid Often results in very stupid Behaviour, but nevertheless The poets say the arrows caress Is an awakening of the heart. Then jealousy hitches a ride Coupled with love like Jekyll and Hyde. From Much Urdu About Nothing by Bachchoo All through my short, happy and intellectually engaged life, gentle reader, I have expressed a committed partiality to social justice. I have belonged to and worked my coccyx off for organisations which some would label left wing. I have on occasion, by those whom I would, in imitation of Donald Trump, call losers, even been labelled a communist. I have been known to tread the streets of several continents shouting slogans such as Hamara naam, thoomara naam, Vietnam, Vietnam!, Margaret Thatcher, Milk Snatcher and get the tax-dodging billionaires to pay their fair share and die!. You may have guessed by now that I dont hold the craft and skill of entrepreneurship in high esteem, but but gentle reader I must admit a sort of creeping, even creepy, admiration for people whove thought of ways of using the relatively-new technologies of the internet and social media to make billions. There is, at the top of that list, Jeff Bezos who started out by thinking hed sell books by receiving orders for them through the internet and then went on to sell any and every consumer article known to humankind on his broad, and torrential, Amazon. And he pays his workers in, I suppose, branded peanuts. Then there is Zuckerberg who realised that the human ego craves publicity for its insignificant existence and consequently made zillions from getting people to photograph their breakfasts on Facebook. Then someone recruited idle people to be taxi drivers and pick up people who wanted to return from B to A, and invented Uber. And there are then those who had the idea of using the internet for lust and loneliness entrepreneurs all! I must now, possibly to my eternal shame, confess that in between thinking socialistic thoughts my mind wanders to searching for gaps in this market. I have come up with nothing. Even my patented culinary inventions such as Marmite lassi have been failures and have earned me nothing but the obloquy of eccentricity. And now, dear friends, my acute analysis of recent reports and speculations in the newspapers have led me to a winning formula. Yes, Bezos worked the human drive to consumerism. Zuckerberg exploited natural vanity. Tinder went for compelling baser instincts. The one that no one has as yet tapped is ah! Let me save it for when I tell you about how it came to me: Recent reports in the British press, the first one satirical, have claimed that Boris Johnson is just a figurehead and the real Prime Minister, taking all the decision is a weirdo called Dominic Cummings, an unelected advisor to the government. Then there have been articles characterising the home secretary Priti Patel as how shall I put it not very astride an intellect. One report said that the chancellor Rishi Sunak is a potential leader of his party and so a prime ministerial candidate. The article said BoJo should watch him carefully. These articles revived old memories; the time I had introduced the serial killer Charles Sobhraj who had a possibly sensational political story to sell to BoJo who was then the editor of The Spectator. Another memory was meeting BoJo, who was the MP for the constituency in which my youngest daughter went to school. I went to pick her up at the end of the school day and there was BoJo who said he was surprised to see me. I remember asking him why he wasnt challenging the pretty insignificant Michael Howard for the leadership of the Tory Party. He frantically told me to shut up. Oh! The stratagems of ambition! And the reports and memories put together suggested the paved path to my own entrepreneurship. Here was the gap in the market. Uber had exploited the human necessity to get from one place to another. I would start an enterprise which exploited what Nietzsche called The Will To Power. Not any old power, but the top. I would, under the title PMPOSS, provide an assessment for all comers about their chances to be Prime Minister. Just as Bezos started Amazon by limiting himself to books and then going wild, I am starting with the possibility of Prime Ministership of The UK (while it lasts). I genuinely intend to move on to India, Pakistan and maybe in the end Ecuador, once Ive mastered their political landscapes. There are undoubtedly millions of people wanting to be Prime Ministers of their countries and now they can turn to PMPOSS for an informed assessment of their chances. I suppose one starts with a sample or two to encourage the millions who will see the possibilities exploding in hope before their ambitious eyes. On first examination BoJo seems to have passed the test but then fails hopelessly. The first qualification, which Winston Churchill sailed through is have you written more than three books? BoJo has. So, tick. Do you write a regular column for newspapers which would demonstrate that you are in touch with the world? Tick. He passes that one. Have you ever worked as an executive in television? Well no, though he has appeared on several shows quite regularly. So, half marks. Have you been part of a government whose bungling caused the death of a lot of people in a national crisis? the answer for BoJo and Winston would have to be yes, which of course wipes out most of their positive points. And lastly Were you born in Pune and did you go to school and college there? Again both BoJo and Winston and for that matter Rishi Sunak, Priti clueless Patel and even the Opposition leader Kier Stamer fail that test. So, gentle reader, the search goes on. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. San Francisco, 14 July 2020: The Report Baby Safety Products Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product Type (Car Seats, Monitors), Distribution Channel (Offline, Online), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2025 The global baby safety products market size is anticipated to reach USD 132.2 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 5.0% over the forecast period. Rise in government initiatives regarding infant safety has been driving the global market. In 2017, out of 3,600 Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome (SUID) in U.S., 38% of the deaths were due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as crib or cot death. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), launched an initiative named Protect the Ones You Love to raise awareness among parents about the causes of child injury, SIDS, and SUID and how they can be prevented. These factors have been contributing to the demand for baby safety products. Baby safety products such as monitors, cribs, and strollers provide safety and comfort to the babies either while travelling or when the parents are not around. To keep these products safe for infants, the governments around the world have taken certain initiatives. For instance, in Europe, the United Nations Economic Commission of Europe (UNECE) Regulation No. 44 and Regulation No. 129 have set standards for child restraint systems and every baby car seat must meet these standards. In 2018, the car seats segment held the largest share of 70.6%. Rising incidents of fatal car accidents is increasing the demand for baby car seats and is one of the prime factors accountable for the large market share. For instance, in China, more than 18,500 children under the age of 14 die annually due to road accidents. To control the number of accidents, manufacturers in China are coming up with new products through online and offline stores. For instance, Alibaba.com offers more than 32,000 baby car seat products. The offline distribution channel held the largest share of over 70.0% in 2018. The online distribution channel is anticipated to expand at the fastest CAGR of 5.3% from 2019 to 2025. Product comparison feature, detailed product overview, and easy exchange and refund options are making customers comfortable with shopping online. Asia Pacific is expected to expand at the fastest CAGR of 5.8% from 2019 to 2025. The market in this region is primarily driven by an increase in birth rate and number of working mothers in countries such as China and India. According to EPRA International Journal of Economic and Business Review, the female labor participation rate has increased by 4.1% over the last three decades. Rise in the number of new births in this region and large population are the major factors contributing to the baby safety products market growth in this region. For instance, according to The National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), the average number of new births in China each year is estimated to be 17 million to 20 million from 2016 to 2020. The companies are coming up with new products to cater to consumer needs. For instance, Silver Cross Jet Ultra Compact Stroller folds down to a small size and is ultra lightweight. The industry is dominated by leading players such as Britax Child Safety, Chicco, Dorel Industries, Baby Cache, Babys Dream Furniture, Baby Jogger, Baby Trend, Combi, Cosatto, Graco, and Land of Nod. Access Research Report of Baby Safety Products Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/baby-safety-products-market Further key findings from the report suggest: Offline distribution channel held the largest baby safety products market share of more than 70.0% in 2018 The online distribution channel is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.3% from 2019 to 2025 due to features such as product comparison, detailed product overview, and easy exchange and refund options By product type, the monitors segment is anticipated to expand at the highest CAGR of 6.6% from 2019 to 2025 Asia Pacific is expected to witness the fastest growth over the forecast period due to increase in birth rate and number of working mothers in countries such as China and India, along with growing awareness about infant safety. Browse more reports of this category by Grand View Research at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry/homecare-and-decor Grand View Research has segmented the global baby safety products market on the basis of product type, distribution channel, and region: Baby Safety Products Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025) Car Seat Monitors Strollers Others Baby Safety Products Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025) Offline Online Baby Safety Products Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Billion, 2015 - 2025) North America Europe Asia Pacific Central & South America Middle East & Africa Access Press Release of Baby Safety Products Market @ https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-baby-safety-products-market About Grand View Research Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare. For More Information:www.grandviewresearch.com The court also said Duhar no longer needed to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. A Kyiv court has eased pretrial restrictions for one of the suspects in the high-profile 2016 killing of journalist Pavel Sheremet in the Ukrainian capital. The Kyiv Court of Appeals on July 13 agreed to lift curfew restrictions for military paramedic Yana Duhar, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. The court also said Duhar no longer needed to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. But the court said she is still banned from communicating with witnesses in the high-profile case and must be present when summoned by investigators or prosecutors. The court on July 13 also remanded Andrii Antonenko, another suspect, in custody. Read alsoSheremet case: Appeals court rules to keep Antonenko behind bars The third suspect, Yulia Kuzmenko, a pediatric surgeon, is also being held in pretrial detention. Vladyslav and Inna Hryshchenko, a married couple who are suspected in another unrelated case, have been declared persons of interest in the case. All five took part in military operations in different capacities in Ukraine's east, where government forces are fighting against Russia-backed forces. The Interior Ministry and the National Police said in December that the group's goal was "to destabilize the political and social situation in Ukraine" by killing Sheremet. As UNIAN reported earlier, Sheremet was assassinated in a car blast in the center of Kyiv on the morning of July 20, 2016. On December 12, 2019, police said they suspected five persons of complicity in the crime: former Donbas war volunteer and musician Andrii Antonenko, army volunteer and pediatric surgeon Yulia Kuzmenko (nom de guerre "Lysa," or "Fox"), nurse with a paratrooper unit Yana Duhar, and a family couple of army volunteers Inna Hryshchenko ("Puma") and Vladyslav Hryshchenko ("Bucha"). Law enforcers claim that the goal of the Sheremet assassination was to destabilize the social and political situation in Ukraine. Antonenko, Kuzmenko and Duhar were notified of suspicion on December 12, 2019. Ukrainian investigative journalists with the Slidstvo.info project said they had found the forensic analysis report used in the probe into the murder of Sheremet far from being unambiguous, while evidence presented by the police was unconvincing. What is more, many Ukrainian activists consider the proof collected by the investigators to be insufficient. The coronavirus pandemic has inadvertently launched a massive remote working experiment, with many office employees were forced to work from home overnight. But now that more businesses including pubs and restaurants have been allowed to reopen their doors, companies are being urged to get workers back into the office - with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying 'people should start to think about getting back to work'. However, do companies and their workers want to return to the office? And how will offices and working arrangements look post-Covid? Smaller offices: 44% of firms said they are considering a reduction in the size of their premises A survey of over 2,000 companies around the world, including the UK, has found that nearly half of British firms are considering to shrink their offices in a bid to cut costs. Remote working, aided by Zoom conference calls, has been judged a success by some businesses, who are now questioning the need for huge office buildings. In light of this, and the opportunity it offers to save on costs, quite a few companies are looking to downsize - with 44 per cent saying they were considering a reduction in the size of their premises. The report by recruitment firm Robert Walters says downsizing could be a workplace trend in the aftermath of Covid-19. It says: 'Some experts say that the open floor plan can be redesigned to ensure employees' safety. Others say the pandemic is the final straw for the open office. 'Health risks aside, for those workers that feel more productive when working from home, a move away from open office plans could be beneficial.' It comes as the majority of employees want to work more often from home anyway. Only 13 per cent of office workers want to go back to the office full-time, according to Robert Walters, which also interviewed over 5,000 employees who were made work from home in the wake of the pandemic. The remaining 87 per cent of employees want more flexibility to work remotely, of which 21 per cent would rather never go back to the office. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pictured with chief executive London Ambulance Service Garrett Emmerson, said workers needed to get back to the office Tom Stevenson, investment director for personal investing at Fidelity International, says we may have experienced 'five years of change in five months' as the pandemic brought forward trends that may have emerged anyway, but over a much longer time horizon. 'For many office workers, and their employers, the lockdown in March was an eye-opener', he says. The death of the office has probably been exaggerated because we are naturally social beings. But the new approach will be much more flexible and varied. Tom Stevenson - Fidelity 'The ease with which work could be transplanted from office to home surprised many, and the few hours a day we've gained back in place of commuting are very welcome. For some, work will never be the same again. 'The death of the office has probably been exaggerated because we are naturally social beings. But the new approach will be much more flexible and varied. And few will complain about that,' he adds. Another trend could be lower salaries in exchange for 'softer benefits' like more flexibility to work remotely, according to the report. As all meetings moved online during the lockdown, nearly half of firms - 46 per cent - are planning to cut costs also by slashing travel budgets and switching to virtual meetings instead. Lucy Bisset, director at Robert Walters, said: 'It is too early to tell whether cost saving tactics will result in a reduction in salaries or bonuses, but any freeze of the sort will likely be compensated by the increase in softer benefits such as flexi-hours, wellbeing perks, and remote working.' Working from home: A fifth of workers would happily continue to do so and never go back to the office However, the lack of numbers in the offices spell disaster for High Street shops, who are already on their knees from buyers staying away during the pandemic. While most companies - 83 per cent - say they will look into allowing people to work remotely more often, the report claims they still want people to go back. However, it found that a third of companies are yet to consider what a return to work will actually look like. Of those who have thought about that, half are planning to stagger return to work based on employees' own health risks in relation to Covid-19, having those least at risk coming back before those more at risk. A similar proportion, 46 per cent, will be staggering employees return depending on how critical their role is to the business. The next most popular strategy is the creation of smaller work groups, likely to be adopted by 40 per cent of businesses, followed by changing work hours, a voluntary return scheme and splitting shifts. More than a quarter of businesses have stated that they will base their return-to-work strategy on local infection rates. Some 46% of firms plan to slash travel budgets and switch to virtual meetings instead It comes as some companies, including accountancy giant Deloitte and law firm Slaughter and May have already allowed employees back. Goldman Sachs has let staff return to its London headquarters, but only 600 of its 6,000 strong workforce took up the offer. And it has emerged that 30 biggest employers in the City of London said they only intend to bring a maximum of 40 per cent of their workforce back to obey two-metre social distance guidelines to stop the virus's spread. Bisset added: 'A return to office brings about many perks, including social inclusion, better workplace collaboration, a separation of homelife, and a reinforcement of company values. 'What employers need to do is merge the perks of office-life with what people have been enjoying about working from home; for example - flexi-hours, a relaxed atmosphere, and avoidance of busy commute times.' Employers have been often reluctant to have staff working permanently from home because of they worried about productivity, with nearly two thirds of firms citing such concerns. However, half employers said so far, workers had been as productive at home as in the office, with a third actually noticing an increase in productivity and only 13 per cent seeing a decrease. But more than half bosses (57 per cent) also said they preferred traditional ways of working, with a third citing the nature of the business, such as face-to-face sales, as key barrier to allowing people working from home all the time. No karaoke rooms, no standing. Keep tables six feet apart, with a maximum of 50 people. Absolutely no dancing (unless youre dancing by yourself for everyone else). Thats the new reality at bars across the province that will be allowed to reopen Friday as part of Ontarios Phase 3 of COVID-19 recovery, outside of the GTA and a handful of other areas. With surges of cases in several U.S. states and Montreal that public health officials are blaming on 20- and 30-somethings gathering in crowded bars, all eyes are on these high-risk settings, with the hope that a careful approach can avoid the pitfalls of other places. And in Toronto, officials say theyre open to considering even more cautious measures. The virus that causes COVID-19 thrives in crowded bars. Its spread primarily by droplets, which means even if someone doesnt seem sick, they can easily pass it on. This disease, its signature is that it just loves mass indoor gatherings, said Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the faculty of health sciences at the University of Ottawa. Youre going to be standing near each other, youre going to be breathing near each other, youre going to be spending a lot of time close to strangers, in an environment where the air is not circulating. And after a few drinks even the most vigilant people start to slip up. Its a recipe for spread. Nightclubs are not allowed to open under Phase 3 in Ontario. This is also the approach B.C. took, along with social distancing inside bars, and capping numbers, and other measures. Its good that theyll stay closed for now, said Deonandan. Bars are trickier, but if you prohibit standing, enforce distancing and minimize the number of people inside, then youre on the path to management. It would make more sense though, he said, to make rules more around capacity and space, instead of just making an arbitrary one-size-fits-all cap. Bars should also collect names and phone numbers of customers to help with contact tracing. Thats something thats now required in Quebec, as of late last week. Over the weekend authorities in Montreal asked everyone who has visited any bar in the city since July 1 to get tested, as people were infected at least five bars since then across the city and the client registers werent yet in place to help with tracking cases. Deonandan is not alone in being concerned. Toronto Mayor John Tory also told reporters Monday that hes very worried about bars, given whats going on in Quebec and south of the border, and the thousands of such establishments in the city. He noted restaurants do not seem to pose the same risks. The city and Toronto Public Health are studying the provinces framework to see what moving into Stage 3 will look like in the city, said Councillor Joe Cressy, who chairs the board of health. As we look in Toronto to other jurisdictions, whether its the state of California, or Seoul, Montreal just recently, or even Detroit or Pittsburgh, this trend is being seen in real time, he said in an interview. This doesnt mean that we cannot or should not reopen bars in indoor settings, but it does mean that we need to be extremely cautious, that we need to have protocols in place to ensure and rigorously enforce physical distancing. Cressy, while acknowledging he does not want to sound like the dad in Footloose, said we need to avoid being Pittsburgh. That city successfully flattened the curve but then there was a rush on bars when they reopened. Because there was a sense that the light had switched and they were back to normal, he said. This means talking to young people in ways and on platforms that they respond to, to make sure messages about ongoing risk are clearly communicated. The answer, then, is not to shame younger people but rather to work with them. Asked if she would consider even stricter measures in Toronto than what the province is planning, Dr. Eileen de Villa, Torontos medical officer of health, said the citys unique and complex circumstances mean shell consider everything that is reasonable, based on the data, science and whats happening in other places. Im keeping my mind quite open, she told reporters. Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti, an infectious diseases physician at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, said its clear that overlapping risk factors combine for elevated risks in bars, and new cases are expected. This is a situation where enforcement makes sense, he said. A bar that disregards regulations can be fined, or lose its liquor licence. This already happened earlier this month with Goldie, a bar on King Street West that lost its licence after allegedly holding a secret indoor party. But Chakrabarti said a key difference between Ontario and the U.S., is that here cases are trending downward, and in many states they are already out of control again. Many bars south of the border reopened too soon and all at once, Chakrabarti said. In South Korea, Seoul managed to squash a cluster at a few nightclubs in May, through the classic public health measures of testing, tracing and isolating. Although homophobia against members of the LGBTQ community who frequented the gay bars and clubs involved did complicate contact tracing. We are going to see cases and thats expected, as long as we can identify them quickly and curb those fires before they become the big ones, said Chakrabarti. Its all part of the hammer and dance. The first phase, or the hammer, was to get cases down as much as possible using blunt measures like lockdowns. The dance is now that were at this low level, a slow crawl of transmission, youre tying to keep it in control by really aggressive contact tracing, tracking and testing, he said. I do think much of Ontarios ready for it. The attitudes of most people in Ontario also seem to differ from those in parts of the U.S such as Florida, added Deonandan, where more are refusing to wear masks or take the threat seriously. Were at the stage of the epidemic now where its no longer about governments making rules and doctors holding down the fort, or epidemiologists making models. Its entirely in the hands of the citizens to do their part. And it looks like Ontarians are willing, so Im very optimistic. CLEVELAND, Ohio A 28-year-old man is dead and a 43-year-old man injured in a shooting in the citys Glenville neighborhood, police said. Donald Vinson, 43, is charged with aggravated murder in the shooting. He is not in police custody and a warrant was issued Tuesday for his arrest. Vinson is accused of killing Dontrell Deonte Hill of Cleveland, according to police and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner. The shooting happened about 12:45 p.m. Monday on East 124th Street near Superior Avenue. Both men were in a car when Vinson walked up an opened fire, according to police. Officers reported hearing gunfire and found Hill dead of multiple gunshot wounds outside the car. The 43-year-old man was found shot in the back nearby, police said. Vinson is currently charged in connection with an August 2019 armed robbery and pistol-whipping. In that case, he and another man are accused of attacking a 33-year-old man on Ohio Avenue near East 153rd Street in the citys Lee-Seville neighborhood. The duo stole $800 from the man after slamming him to the ground, pistol-whipping his head and repeatedly kicking him. The man suffered heavy blood loss from multiple gashes on his head and a broken nose, according to court records. Vinson posted $15,000 bond in the case shortly after he was charged in 2019. Cuyahoga County prosecutors dropped the charges in March and re-indicted him for the same offense, according to court records. Vinson was scheduled to be arraigned several times in the new case, but shutdowns caused the coronavirus pandemic pushed the hearing back until July 27. Read more from cleveland.com: Unconscionable: Ex-Cleveland Safety Director failed to fire officer whose lies kept a man falsely imprisoned for eight months Cleveland bar, property owners to pay $22 million to family of woman who fell from second-floor balcony on St. Patricks Day 2017 Man in critical condition after shooting in West Akron home, police say Electrical engineer and roboticist, Grant Imahara, who rose to fame as a host of the television show MythBusters, died on Monday at 49, the Discovery Channel has confirmed. In a statement released on Monday night, Discovery confirmed the death of Imahara, an enthusiastic influence in the popular science world best known for building robots and operating electronics on the hit show for a decade. Former Mythbusters host Grant Imahara is being remembered by colleagues and fans. Credit:Getty "We are heartbroken to hear this sad news about Grant. He was an important part of our Discovery family and a really wonderful man," the statement said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family." A cause of death was not immediately released by the company. The Hollywood Reporter reported that Imahara died of a brain aneurysm. Advertisement China's ambassador yesterday hinted at retaliation over the 'disappointing and wrong' decision to strip Huawei out of Britain's 5G network - adding it was 'questionable' if the UK can be an 'open and fair' business environment for firms from other countries. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said all of the firm's existing 5G technology will be stripped out by 2027 in a move which represents a major U-turn after the Government said in January that Huawei would be allowed to help build the infrastructure. Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, tweeted: 'Disappointing and wrong decision by the UK on Huawei. 'It has become questionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries.' The reaction from China signals a reversal in relations since former prime minister David Cameron heralded a 'golden era' between the two countries less than five years ago. Huawei labelled the move 'disappointing' and said it was 'bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone' as the company argued its future in Britain had become 'politicised'. Under the Government's plans telecoms firms will be prohibited from purchasing any new Huawei 5G equipment after December 31 this year and all of its hardware will be removed from the network over the next seven years. The decision, agreed by the National Security Council this morning, will delay the completion of the rollout of the network by more than two years and increase costs by up to 2 billion. The decision was made by the NSC after an assessment of the impact of new US sanctions imposed on Huawei. The US has long urged its allies not to use Huawei's technology because of national security concerns - concerns which have always been rejected by the company. Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK, welcomed the decision to exclude Huawei from the 5G network and tweeted: 'Britain's decision to protect its national security by banning Huawei from its 5G network is also a win for fair trade and human rights.' Mr Dowden said the sanctions imposed by the US meant the UK can 'no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment'. The announcement came on the same day it emerged Huawei's UK chairman is to step down early. Lord Browne's term was due to end in March but the former BP boss is now expected to depart in September. The decision to ban Huawei will spark Chinese government fury with Beijing having already warned Downing Street it would face 'consequences' if it pressed ahead with excluding the company. But the change in tack delighted Tory MPs who have been pressuring the Government for months to reverse the decision it made in January. However, Conservative backbenchers immediately called for ministers to go even further as they said the seven year timetable for removing equipment must be speeded up. They also expressed concerns after the Government said Huawei equipment in the UK's 3G and 4G networks will not be stripped out because it is not judged to be a security risk. The firm's technology will also not be removed from the UK's full fibre broadband network but there will be a technical consultation conducted on moving away from using Huawei in full fibre in the future. Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, tweeted yesterday: 'Disappointing and wrong decision by the UK on Huawei' Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden today announced that Huawei technology is to be stripped out of the UK's 5G network by the end of 2027 The Huawei ban follows intense pressure from Donald Trump to deny China a foothold in the West's critical infrastructure. Tough American sanctions have prevented the firm from using any US-patented technology in its microchips Trump suggests HE convinced Boris Johnson to ban 'unsafe' Huawei from Britain's 5G telecoms network Donald Trump said at the White House last night (pictured) that he 'convinced' countries such as the UK to cut ties with Huawei Donald Trump has taken credit for the UK's decision to dump 'unsafe' Huawei from its 5G plans claiming he personally intervened to block it. The US President has welcomed Boris Johnson's call to enforce a partial ban on the Chinese telecoms giant and begin ripping out its technology. Mr Trump said last night: 'We convinced many countries, many countries - and I did this myself for the most part - not to use Huawei because we think it's an unsafe security risk, it's a big security risk'. The President spoke out as he ordered an end to Hong Kong's special status under US law to punish China for what he called 'oppressive actions' against the former British colony. Advertisement That 'transition period' on full fibre is not expected to last more than two years. The reason for the slow move away from Huawei in full fibre has been blamed on the fact that it is currently one of only two available suppliers in the UK, along with Nokia. The two year transition will be used to try to secure other viable alternative suppliers which could be used in the full fibre network. New sanctions imposed by the White House stop Huawei from using US technology in its 5G equipment. And US President Donald Trump's national security adviser has praised Britain's decision to remove Huawei from its 5G network. Robert O'Brien, who is in Europe this week, said: 'The reported UK action reflects a growing international consensus that Huawei and other untrusted vendors pose a threat to national security, as they remain beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. 'We look forward to working with the UK, as well as our many other partners and allies, to spur innovation, promote vendor diversity in the 5G supply chain, and ensure 5G security free from dangerous manipulations.' US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said the UK's Huawei decision would protect 'free-world values'. He tweeted: 'Today's decision by the UK to ban Huawei from its 5G networks advances trans-Atlantic security in the 5G era while protecting citizens' privacy, national security, and free-world values.' Mr Dowden told MPs that the National Cyber Security Centre had assessed the impact of the sanctions and as a result had 'significantly changed their security assessment of Huawei's presence in the UK's 5G network'. Chairman of Huawei UK to quit early as Government bans firms from 5G network Lord Browne will step down from his role in September of this year Huawei's UK chairman is to step down earlier than planned, it emerged today, as the Government announced it is banning the firm from Britain's 5G network. Lord Browne's term was due to end in March but the former BP boss is now expected to depart in September. A Huawei spokesman said: 'When Lord Browne became chairman of Huawei UK's board of directors in 2015, he brought with him a wealth of experience which has proved vital in ensuring Huawei's commitment to corporate governance in the UK. 'He has been central to our commitment here dating back 20 years, and we thank him for his valuable contribution.' Advertisement The NSC, led by Boris Johnson, weighed up the NCSC's conclusions this morning before agreeing to exclude Huawei from the 5G network. The Culture Secretary said the 'uncertainty' over the status of Huawei's supply chain meant the UK could 'no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment'. He said the 'best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UK's future 5G networks'. As a result it will be illegal for telecoms operators to buy Huawei 5G equipment from the end of this year. On the issue of then completely removing Huawei technology from the network, Mr Dowden said: 'I know that honourable members have sought a commitment from the Government to remove Huawei equipment from our 5G network altogether. 'This is why we have concluded that it is necessary and indeed prudent to commit to a timetable for the removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G network by 2027.' Mr Dowden said the removal of Huawei from the 5G network will be 'irreversible' as he admitted it will impact the roll out of the technology across the UK. He said: 'This will delay our roll out of 5G. Our decisions in January had already set back that roll out by a year and cost up to a 1billion. 'Today's decision to ban the procurement of new Huawei 5G equipment from the end of this year will delay roll out by a further year and will add up to 500 million to costs. 'Requiring operators in addition to remove Huawei equipment from their networks by 2027 will add hundreds of millions of pounds further to the cost and further delay roll out. 'This means a cumulative delay to 5G roll out of two to three years and costs of up to 2billion. This will have real consequences for the connections on which all our constituents rely.' The decision to exclude Huawei from the 5G network will lead to a further deterioration in relations between the UK and China, with tensions already strained because of coronavirus and a row over the imposition of a new national security law on Hong Kong. Mr Dowden told MPs that the Government is 'clear eyed' on its approach to China and that 'what we want is a modern and mature relationship with China based on mutual respect'. Why has the Government banned Huawei from the UK's 5G network? What did ministers announce today on Huawei? The Chinese tech giant's equipment must be completely removed from the UK's 5G networks by the end of 2027. Ahead of this, there will be a total ban introduced on the purchase of any new 5G hardware from Huawei after December 31 this year. Telecoms firms will also be ordered to shift away from the purchase of Huawei's equipment for full-fibre broadband networks over a period lasting up to two years. What is Huawei and why is it controversial? Huawei is a Chinese telecoms company which describes itself as a private company 'fully owned by its employees'. But it has been criticised over its alleged close ties to the Chinese state. The country has a history of state censorship and surveillance, and under Chinese law, firms can be compelled to 'support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work'. As a result, critics of Huawei have expressed concerns that Beijing could require the firm to install technological 'back doors' to enable it to spy on or disrupt Britain's communications network. Huawei has always denied any suggestions of close links with the Chinese state or that it has ever been asked by Chinese authorities to help spy on others. Why has the Government changed its mind now? The UK made its decision after US sanctions were imposed on Huawei. Those sanctions effectively banned the firm from using US technology in its 5G equipment. The Government said that means it can 'no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment'. How will this affect me? The US sanctions and subsequent UK move does not directly affect existing Huawei devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets. But as seen with more recent Huawei releases, such as the P40 handset, restrictions on dealings with US firms means it can no longer provide the full Android experience from Google on future devices, meaning core apps such as YouTube and the Google Play Store cannot be provided. What about an impact on the rollout of 5G? Today's decision means the completed rollout of the 5G network could be delayed by two to three years. Advertisement Ed Brewster, a spokesman for Huawei UK, said: 'This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. 'Instead of 'levelling up' the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. 'We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK. 'Regrettably our future in the UK has become politicised, this is about US trade policy and not security.' Arun Bansal, president of Europe and Latin America for Ericsson said the decision 'removes the uncertainty that was slowing down investment decisions around the deployment of 5G in the UK'. The National Cyber Security Centre's technical director Ian Levy said today's decision is 'necessary for the long-term security and resilience of the UK networks' but that the move comes with 'significant risks and costs'. 'The long-term health and diversity of supply in the telecoms sector is a critical issue for all, and it will take concerted, sustained, international effort to fix it,' he said. The Government had faced sustained pressure from Tory MPs to rethink its decision in January to grant Huawei a role in the 5G network. And while today's move was welcomed, Conservative backbenchers said ministers needed to go further and faster as they questioned why Huawei's 3G and 4G technology was being allowed to remain in place. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the seven year deadline for the removal of Huawei 5G technology should be brought forward to five years as he said there is 'no reason why' action could not be speeded up. He added: 'Having said he is getting rid of them in 5G, 4G and 3G Huawei apparently are fine and they can go on for as long as anyone and they will be upgraded in software upgrades for the next decade. 'If they are a risk in 5G why are they not a risk to us generally?' Tory backbencher Bob Seely, the co-ordinator of the 60-strong Huawei Interest Group of Conservative MPs - said the move by ministers is a 'good first decision' but expressed concerns about the pace of plans to remove equipment. 'I believe that MPs will have concerns about elements of the statement, including no ban on 3G and 4G and a rip-out date for 5G far into the distance,' he said in a statement. 'It does mean Huawei's glide path out of our critical national infrastructure will be slow. It also means that BT and others could be installing already-bought Huawei kit for well after 2020. 'Huawei is, by Government's own definition, a high-risk vendor. We should not, on principle, have high-risk vendors in our critical national infrastructure.' Industry sources said yesterday the decision not to ban Huawei until Christmas left open the chance that US policy could change if President Trump fails to secure re-election in November Government claims Huawei 5G decision will not lead to mobile phone signal blackouts Mobile phone customers will not suffer signal blackouts as a result of the decision to strip Huawei equipment from the UK's 5G network, the Government has claimed. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the timetable to take such action by 2027 was partly influenced by a desire to avoid people suffering disruption to their service. Executives from Vodafone and BT last week warned they would need at least five years to completely remove the Chinese firm's equipment without causing people to lose phone signal for several days. Labour's Tulip Siddiq highlighted these concerns in the House of Commons this afternoon and asked for assurances that this will not happen. Mr Dowden replied: '(Ms Siddiq) is absolutely right to raise the risk of that kind of disruption and blackouts, and that's one of the reasons that led us to the timetable we've set out. 'Put bluntly, the shorter the timetable for the removal, the higher the risk of that happening. 'But I can give (Ms Siddiq) and indeed her constituents and people up and down the country, (the assurance) that this risk will not materialise in relation to the proposals that we have outlined today.' Mr Dowden also told MPs: 'I would caution that cyber attacks will not be prevented by removing Huawei equipment from the system. 'There are vulnerabilities across the network and that's one of the reasons why we're introducing the Telecoms Security Bill to start to address some of those.' Advertisement Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee as well as the China Research Group (CRG) of Conservative MPs, tweeted that the Huawei decision was a 'major victory for Parliament'. He wrote: 'Huawei's position in the UK's phone networks is now in reverse and our future prosperity will not be tied to a company linked to Chinese state. There's no point in taking back control from Brussels only to hand it over to Beijing.' Mr Tugendhat had said overnight that the Government should now take the opportunity to distance itself even further from Beijing. In a column in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Tugendhat said it was time for the UK to kick its 'addiction to Beijing tech'. He said: 'To keep power distributed and trade on the basis of law, not force, we need a new alliance. Going further than the World Trade Organisation and recognising the importance of India and Nigeria, would reinforce the interdependence of democracies against authoritarian regimes. 'We have the innovations and size that could create a market for companies that share our values. The majority won't be British but they'll share our values, and that will protect us all.' His sentiment was echoed by former Conservative leader William Hague, who wrote in the Telegraph: 'What matters is that we should not be strategically dependent on Chinese technology for the future, and that will require building up the production of alternative companies. 'It is not essential to rip everything out immediately - we just have to be able to maintain our own critical infrastructure for the long term.' Lord Hague warned Beijing's 'ludicrous attempts to shift blame or cover up' over the coronavirus crisis would harden opinion. He cautioned there was currently 'no sign' that the US and China could find a way of defusing tensions. 'If that continues, the Government's retreat on Huawei will be the beginning of a very long march indeed,' he added. Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Commons defence committee, warned there would be repercussions from China but said it was right to reset relations. JOHANNESBURG, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- MiX Telematics (JSE: MIX,NYSE: MIXT) a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions, has announced that the national milk buyer, Dairy Farmers of South Africa (DFSA), will be renewing their contract with MiX Telematics Africa for another 30 months. DFSA has been a MiX client for the past 16 years. The company relies upon MiX Telematics to provide vital fleet management solutions for their 85 trucks which collect milk from farmers in virtually every province of South Africa and deliver trusted products, including those of the iconic Clover brand, to stores countrywide. Karel Koen, the Milk Procurement Logistics and Planning Manager says, "Closely monitoring mileage and driver behaviour with the MiX Fleet Manager suite of online and app-based solutions is vitally important for DFSA. This system helps us to constantly evaluate vehicle utilization, an extremely important parameter for us to increase efficiencies and reduce the costs of the operation." "We are very pleased that the Dairy Farmers of South Africa organisation have once again placed their trust in MiX Telematics as a result of our partnership approach, proven results and industry specialist expertise," states Gert Pretorius, Managing Director of MiX Telematics Africa. About MiX Telematics MiX Telematics is a leading global provider of fleet and mobile asset management solutions delivered as SaaS to more than 818,000 subscribers in over 120 countries. The company's products and services provide enterprise fleets, small fleets and consumers with solutions for efficiency, safety, compliance and security. MiX Telematics was founded in 1996 and has offices in South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States, Uganda, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and the United Arab Emirates as well as a network of more than 130 fleet partners worldwide. MiX Telematics shares are publicly traded on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: MIX) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MIXT). For more information, visit www.mixtelematics.com. For further information contact: Monica O'Neil MiX Telematics Africa Marketing Manager Monica.O'[email protected] SOURCE MiX Telematics TULSA, Okla. - Nearly a century after a brutal race massacre left as many as 300 black people dead, this city began to dig Monday for suspected mass graves from the violence. A team of scientists, archaeologists and forensic anthropologists watched as a backhoe moved dirt from an 8-by-10-foot hole at the city-owned Oaklawn Cemetery, where ground-penetrating radar last year detected anomalies consistent with mass graves. Several descendants of massacre survivors bore witness to the moment outside the graveyard's wrought-iron fence, standing in a light rain after the work was briefly delayed by booming thunder and lightning. J. Kavin Ross, whose great-grandfather owned a business that was destroyed in the massacre, said he had waited a long time for this day. "I've waited for this day for over two decades to find out the truth of Tulsa's public secrets," said Ross, a photojournalist and teacher in Tulsa who spent years of his own time interviewing survivors of the massacre. "A lot of people knew about it but wouldn't tell about it." Tulsa Republican Mayor G.T. Bynum, who ordered the investigation reopened after a Washington Post story detailed the unresolved questions surrounding the violence, told reporters that he once thought it was incredible that there could be mass graves in Tulsa. "You hear about mass graves in authoritarian regimes," he said. "You don't hear about them in the United States and definitely shouldn't be hearing about them in Tulsa." The excavation was delayed for three months by the coronavirus pandemic. It comes weeks after President Donald Trump appeared in Tulsa at a campaign rally that drew more than 6,000 people to an indoor arena, where few wore masks. Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart said last week that a spike in new coronavirus cases in Tulsa may be linked to Trump's rally and the protests it generated. But Bynum decided not to postpone the work at Oaklawn a second time. He called the investigation personal for him. "I don't want my kids growing up in a city where we might be walking around on mass graves, and we haven't done everything we could to find them and identify the victims," he said. Although the scientists said their radar findings are promising, the only way to determine precisely what lies beneath the ground is to dig. The excavation will take up to two weeks. In the trench, archeologists found pottery pieces, glass items, metal bowl, an oven door and buttons dating back to 1920s. Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist from the University of Florida, said she's hopeful that any bones found will be preserved well enough to "allow us to extract DNA from remains" that could help identify the victims and connect them to descendants. She said she would be looking for intact bones. She will also be looking for any signs of violence or trauma, or charred remains. The backhoe is moving slowly so as not to crush any bones that may be in the trench. Stubblefield said she expects the backhoe to dig 4 to 5 feet before hitting any potential remains. The rest of the excavation will be done by hand. If the city finds unmarked human remains at the site, the state medical examiner's office will begin an investigation to determine how the person died. "The cause of death determination would be an important step to the investigation as remains will be close to 100 years old and a Spanish Influenza outbreak occurred in Tulsa in 1919 prior to the Race Massacre in 1921," city officials said in a statement. The city is expected to issue daily updates on the excavation. The work comes nearly seven months after a team of forensic anthropologists and archaeologists, led by the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey at the University of Oklahoma, announced that they had found "possible common graves" at two sites in Tulsa. They identified the sites as the Canes, located on a bluff along the Arkansas River near Highway 75, and the Sexton area of Oaklawn Cemetery, which is a few blocks from Greenwood, the black community that was destroyed during one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history. The massacre began May 31, 1921, after a black teenager, who was working as a shoe shiner in downtown Tulsa, was accused of assaulting a white woman in an elevator. A white mob marched on Greenwood, one of the most affluent black communities in the country. Historians believe that as many as 300 black people were killed, and 40 square blocks of what was known as Black Wall Street were destroyed by fire. The destruction included more than 1,250 homes, churches, schools, businesses, a hospital and library. Survivors reported seeing bodies tossed into the muddy Arkansas River or loaded onto trucks or trains, making it difficult to account for the dead. For decades afterward, people in Tulsa avoided discussing what had happened. No one was ever arrested for the violence. But Bynum has said it is time to find out whether there are mass graves, especially as the city prepares to mark the 100th anniversary of the massacre. "There was a concerted coverup by city leaders and business leaders" to hide what happened, he said. "Anytime a terrible event occurs, there are two inclinations. One is to find out what happened and why. The other inclination is to cover it up. Unfortunately, the leaders in Tulsa in 1921 chose that second option. You had generations who never heard about the massacre because the conspiracy of silence was strong." After the Associated Press and APM Reports highlighted flaws in the investigation that pointed to a possible wrongful conviction, Klobuchar called for a review, saying justice was not only about punishing the guilty but protecting the innocent. She and the Hennepin County Attorneys Office expressed support Monday for the new panel, which hopes to release its findings by the years end. The senator has also said she would like to see the formation of a Conviction Integrity Unit and a Sentencing Review Board to look into other potentially flawed cases. Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media WESTPORT As part of the towns effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, Town Hall and indoor facilities will continue to be closed to walk-in services. All town services are being conducted on site or remotely and telephone and emails are monitored, First Selectman Jim Marpe said in a statement Monday. Appointments may be made on an as-needed basis. Mumbai: Digging in his heels after being ousted as Chairman of Tata Sons, Cyrus Mistry plans to continue as Chairman of all Tata group firms, including Tata Steel, TCS and Tata Motors. According to sources close to Mistry, he has no plans to quit as Chairman of these firms. Instead, the reports suggest that, Mistry is set to chair the board meeting of Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), a Tata Group firm, at Bombay House, the corporate headquarters of the group, on Friday. According to media reports, the meeting may be crucial given that the board members include Cyrus Mistry as chairman, his elder brother Shapoor Mistry, Industry veteran and HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and Godrej Industries Managing Director Nadir Godrej. The other members may include Keki Bomi Dadiseth, Ireena Vittal, Vibha Paul Rishi, Gautam Banerjee, Rakesh Sarna, Managing Director and CEO and Mehernosh S Kapadia, Executive Director Corporate Affairs. The Tata group has been hoping that Mistry will step down from the positions he occupies in the group firms after being replaced as Chairman on October 24. At present, he is the Chairman of Tata companies such as Tata Steel, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL), Tata Power Company, Tata Global Beverages, Tata Chemicals, Tata Industries and Tata Teleservices. Mistry is also slated to chair the upcoming board meeting of Tata Chemicals on November 10 to approve quarterly results.In a surprise move, Tata Sons board had ousted Mistry as Chairman of the company and replaced him with Ratan Tata as interim Chairman. The group has said it would find a successor within four months. A day after Mistry wrote a letter to the board members of Tata Sons levelling a series of allegations against Ratan Tata and contended that he was pushed in to a position of lame duck chairman and changes in decision making process created alternate power centres in Tata group. Since then there has been a continuing war of words between Mistry and the Tatas. On Monday, in a letter to group employees, Tata had termed the decision to replace Mistry as a well-considered but difficult and a serious one which was absolutely necessary for the future success of the Tata Group. Mahindra Defence has revealed its latest high-tech 'Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Speciality' vehicle. Commenting on the launch, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra said in a tweet that this "Mean Machine" embodies the real spirit of Mahindra Defence. Anand Mahindra retweeted the photos of the vehicle posted by senior Mahindra Defence executive SP Shukla. Mahindra wrote, "That looks like a Mean Machine, @Prakashukla It embodies the real spirit of #MahindraDefence which is about keeping peace keepers safe". Mahindra also joked about how the heavily armoured vehicle would be perfect for Mumbai traffic but it is illegal to drive such a vehicle on normal streets. That looks like a Mean Machine, @Prakashukla It embodies the real spirit of #MahindraDefence which is about keeping peace keepers safe. ( And if it was street legal, it would be perfect to drive in Mumbai traffic! YS) https://t.co/dBrlPP9GfB - anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) July 14, 2020 The mine-resistant ambush-protected speciality vehicle has been designed, manufactured and exported by Mahindra Defence. It will be deployed for United Nations Peacekeeping operations soon, according to SP Shukla. The truck-like vehicle is heavily armoured. It has interrogation arms which can lift roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The vehicle will be used to safeguard troops from mine blasts. The United Nation Peacekeeping forces are troops deployed by the UN to re-establish peace in an area of armed conflict. Mahindra Defence is the defence systems subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra group. It has been providing military and paramilitary solutions to its customers for over 70 years. Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have all worked with Mahindra Defense in the past. Also Read: Localisation of over 600 items to cut trade deficit with China by $10 billion; lamps, furniture may see duty hike Also Read: Mukesh Ambani surpasses Google co-founder Larry Page to become world's 6th richest WASHINGTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On August 17, 2020, the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) and Twitter will present a live virtual event with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commemorating 100 years of the 19th Amendment and women's right to vote. Hillary Rodham Clinton The event, titled "Women's Fight for the Vote: Celebrating 100 Years of the 19th Amendment," will feature a conversation between Secretary Clinton and Elaine Weiss, author of The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote. Weiss's book is currently being adapted into a television series by Steven Spielberg's production company Amblin Partners, with Secretary Clinton as an Executive Producer. The discussion between Secretary Clinton and Ms. Weiss on August 17th will be moderated by Dr. Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress and both the first woman and first African American to lead the national library of the United States. Americans across the country can commemorate the centennial by tuning in for the free livestreamed event on Twitter on August 17th at 12 p.m. Eastern Time. During this keynote conversation, Secretary Clinton and Ms. Weiss will explore the history of women's fight for the vote and discuss how the victory of the 19th Amendment forged the path for women's political gains over the following century, including Secretary Clinton becoming the first woman nominated for president by a major party in 2016. "I'm excited to join the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission in commemorating this historic moment, and grateful to Congress for recognizing the importance of the centennial by creating the commission to ensure the anniversary is honored nationwide," said Secretary Clinton. "The centennial provides the perfect opportunity to reflect on this history and ensure that the next generation carries the legacy of the suffragists forward." "This is an ideal moment to explore the lessons of American women's long fight to win the ballot, and to consider our ongoing struggle to protect voting rights and promote equality today," said Elaine Weiss. "I'm thrilled to have this important and timely discussion with two distinguished and thoughtful women whom I greatly admire." "It is an honor to moderate a conversation between these two brilliant women as we celebrate the centennial of women's suffrage," said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. "At this transformative time of national reflection, it is fitting to commemorate women's history and pay tribute to the legacy of the great women who paved the way for our right to vote." Colleen Shogan, WSCC Vice Chair and the Library of Congress's appointee to the commission, said, "The commission is thrilled to bring Secretary Clinton, Ms. Weiss, and Dr. Hayden together for this invaluable conversation and to share the story of the suffrage movement with Americans across the country through this virtual commemorative event." The WSCC was created by Congress to coordinate the nationwide commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which was officially signed into the Constitution on August 26, 1920. The U.S. Senate and the WSCC have officially declared August 2020 as National Women's Suffrage Month, and "Women's Fight for the Vote" will serve as the signature event of this month-long celebration. Learn more about the commission, the centennial, and "Women's Fight for the Vote" at www.womensvote100.org. Contact: Kelsey Millay Email: [email protected] SOURCE Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission Related Links https://www.womensvote100.org With novels like The Shining and The Stand, Stephen King has been captivating readers for over 40 years. The horror guru still has plenty of stories to tell, and hes written a number of riveting titles in the last decade. Here are 11 thrilling Stephen King books from the last decade that prove hes still a master of his craft. Stephen King | Jim Spellman/WireImage 1. Full Dark No Stars (2010) Kings award-winning collection of novellas, Full Dark No Stars features four stories 1922, Big Driver, Fair Extension, and A Good Marriage. The first Novella, 1922, is set in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, which also served as Mother Abigails hometown in The Stand. The story was also adapted into a film for Netflix. 2. The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012) Todays the day for what @StephenKing calls Dark Tower 4.5: The Wind Through the Keyhole. #DarkTowerRead19 pic.twitter.com/gfE57VRBgd Albert W Dubreuil (@AWDubreuil) June 19, 2019 Despite being the eighth book of Kings The Dark Tower series, The Wind Through The Keyhole chronologically falls between volume four and five. It is part of a larger series, but the novel can be read as a standalone book, Roland Deschain and his ka-tet Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies, the books synopsis reads. As they shelter from the howling gale, Roland tells his friends not just one strange story but twoand in so doing casts new light on his own troubled past. 3. 11/22/63 (2011) A riveting time-travel story, 11/22/63 follows a man named Jake Epping who discovers a portal that takes him back to 1958. Hoping to change history for the better, Jake embarks on a quest to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which is set to happen on November 11, 1963. J.J. Abrams adapted the book into a miniseries for Hulu, starring James Franco in the lead role. RELATED: 5 Stephen King Movies You Can Watch On Netflix Right Now 4. Doctor Sleep (2013) Stephen King | Tobias Hase/picture alliance via Getty Images In Doctor Sleep the sequel to Kings 1977 thriller, The Shining Jack Torrances son, Danny returns as a troubled adult who lives with the shine he inherited from his father. But just as he is settling into a better life, Danny connects with a mysterious young girl named Abra. He soon discovers that shes being hunted by a group of vampire-like beings, and sets out to help her. Doctor Sleep was recently adapted as a film, starring Ewan McGregor as Danny Torrance. 5. Mr. Mercedes (2014) Mr. Mercedes is the first book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy. It follows retired police detective Bill Hodges, who is still plagued by an old unsolved case. But when Bill gets a letter from the killer, he sets out to find the psychopath before someone else gets hurt. Mr. Mercedes was adapted into a series by David E. Kelly, with Brendan Gleeson in the role of Bill Hodges. 6. Finders Keepers (2015) No time to read? On the road? May I suggest @StephenKing Finders Keepers books on cd! (Gotta throw some love to our @MrMercedesTV family!) pic.twitter.com/NS6wUD0w1B Bill Kelly (@billkellyactor) December 13, 2017 Finders Keepers is the second book of the Bill Hodges Trilogy. It picks up with Bill and his associates, Holly Gibney and Jerome Robinson. After the team unearths mysterious clues, they must track down strange leads that could help solve a decades-old cold case. 7. End of Watch (2016) #FridayReads Now rereading END OF WATCH by Stephen King. pic.twitter.com/kWLtpootjk Kurt Busiek Resists (@KurtBusiek) January 10, 2020 The final book of the Bill Hodges Trilogy, End of Watch, finds Bill and his colleague Holly Gibney once again entangled with the Mercedes Killer. The psychopath is somehow driving people into madness, and Bill must stop him before he becomes the next victim. 8. Sleeping Beauties (2017) Next book to read, Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King#readingforpleasure pic.twitter.com/IPZ6ZtNNS4 paperbackjane (@paperbackjane) October 7, 2019 Written by King, and his son, Owen King, Sleeping Beauties tells the story of Lila Norcross, a local Appalachian Sheriff who finds herself in the middle of a mysterious illness that is causing women to fall asleep in cocoon-like webs, only to wake up in a murderous rage. 9. The Outsider (2018) RELATED: How HBOs The Outsider Differs From the Stephen King Book Centered on his Mr. Mercedes character Holly Gibney, The Outsider follows a mysterious pattern of murders in which killers are discovered to be in two different places at the same time. The Outsider was adapted into a series for HBO in 2019 and stars Cynthia Erivo, Ben Mendelsohn, and Jason Bateman. 10. The Institute (2019) @StephenKing got the institute yesterday started reading it pretty good so far Stephen king amazes to this day pic.twitter.com/Z7rGNxrtt1 Diego Cruz (@DiegoCr68836723) September 11, 2019 One of his most recent novels, The Institute tells the story of a group of children with extraordinary abilities who are kidnapped and taken to a mysterious facility called the Institute. As ruthless researchers try to extract their powers, the kids must band together and find a way out. 11. If It Bleeds (2020) Kings latest work, If It Bleeds, is a collection of four novellas Mr. Harrigans Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and If It Bleeds. The latter features the authors recurring character Holly Gibney, who finds herself investigating a mysterious reporter she believes is connected to a recent school bombing. London, July 14 : Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho said that the Court of Arbitration for Sport's decision to reverse Manchester City's two-year ban from European competitions was "disgraceful." Mourinho said that if City were truly innocent they should not have accepted the 10 million Euro fine that has also been slapped on them. "In the case it's a disgraceful decision because if City are not guilty of it then you are not punished with 10m," Mourinho told reporters. "If you're not guilty you shouldn't have a fine. If they are guilty the decision is also a disgrace and you should be banned from the competition. I don't know if Manchester City are guilty or not but either way it's a disgraceful decision. "Spurs is Spurs and I don't think Spurs change this mentality and in this aspect it's more than correct. I'm happy with the way we act here. I think it's the end of Financial Fair Play." Earlier, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp also voiced his concerns over the decision. UEFA had banned City in February for breaching their Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations between 2012 to 2016 and they couldn't have taken part in Champions League or the Europa league for two years if CAS hadn't ruled in their favour on Monday. By Nacho Doce and Joan Faus LLEIDA, Spain/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain's Catalonia approved on Monday a decree giving it legal backing to place restrictions on the city of Lleida and its surroundings to stem a surge in coronavirus infections, defying a judge's earlier ruling that such an order was unlawful. After an extraordinary late night cabinet meeting, the regional government said it would seek legal authorisation allowing it to limit people's movements, adding that on Tuesday it could confine Lleida area inhabitants at home. Earlier on Monday, Catalonia leader Quim Torra urged the 160,000 people living in an area where coronavirus cases have increased to stay home, defying a court ruling which rejected a mandatory home confinement. By Nacho Doce and Joan Faus LLEIDA, Spain/BARCELONA (Reuters) - Spain's Catalonia approved on Monday a decree giving it legal backing to place restrictions on the city of Lleida and its surroundings to stem a surge in coronavirus infections, defying a judge's earlier ruling that such an order was unlawful. After an extraordinary late night cabinet meeting, the regional government said it would seek legal authorisation allowing it to limit people's movements, adding that on Tuesday it could confine Lleida area inhabitants at home. Earlier on Monday, Catalonia leader Quim Torra urged the 160,000 people living in an area where coronavirus cases have increased to stay home, defying a court ruling which rejected a mandatory home confinement. The contradicting orders sowed confusion and anger in the area. Businesses feared for their survival and the mayor said he was at a loss about what to tell people. Spain, which has been one of the European countries worst affected by the coronavirus, lifted a strict nationwide lockdown last month as the pandemic seemed to have come under control. But with dozens of new clusters, local authorities across Spain are scrambling to take new measures, confining small areas or making it mandatory to wear a mask in public. "We don't agree with this court ruling. We don't accept it," Torra, who leads Catalonia's pro-independence regional government, told a news conference on Monday after Judge Elena Garcia-Munoz Alarcos threw out the planned mandatory lockdown. In Lleida, which lies about 180 km (110 miles) west of Barcelona, the streets were half empty and some shops and bars closed. People were angry about the uncertainty. "They don't know what they're doing," said Anna, a bar manager. "It's one step forward and one step back, and it's hurting our businesses, 100 percent." City mayor Miquel Pueyo told Reuters he was "perplexed" by the judge's ruling, but also felt unable to tell people whether to stay at home or follow the legal decision. He himself supported home confinement if it came with more doctors, virus tracking measures and financial aid for the most-hit sectors. 'UNCERTAINTY' Another Lleida resident, store manager Lidia, said she did not agree with calls to stay home. "It isn't fair to close shops again and to be full of uncertainty," she said. People in Lleida have been banned from leaving the area since July 4 because of a surge in cases there, except for specific reasons such as going to or from work. That travel ban will not be lifted, but the judge said home confinement was a step too far and had not gone through the right channels. The dispute comes as the number of coronavirus cases is on the rise in Spain, in particular in Catalonia, and reflects the broader debate in Europe and beyond over what measures to take to tackle localised clusters. More than 28,400 people have died in the Spain from COVID-19. Since dropping to an average of 132 in June, the number of coronavirus cases diagnosed every day has accelerated in July, reaching 333 on Friday. There are more than 100 active clusters, many of them in Catalonia. Also reacting to new clusters, the regions of La Rioja, Navarra, Aragon and Andalusia plan to make it compulsory to wear face masks indoors and outdoors, following a similar move in Catalonia, the Balearic Islands and Extremadura. In the rest of the country, masks are compulsory when it is impossible to be at least 1.5 meters away from other people. Senior health ministry sources said the government had no plans to make them mandatory everywhere nationwide. "If you walk the dog at 7 a.m. and there is no one around it doesn't make much sense to wear a mask," one of the sources told reporters, adding that most outbreaks started in families and homes, weddings and celebrations, rather than on the street. (Reporting by Joan Faus in Barcelona, Nacho Doce in Lleida, Enrique Calvo in Mallorca, Clara-Laeila Laudette, Emma Pinedo, Inti Landauro, Ingrid Melander and Nathan Allen in Madrid; Writing by Ingrid Melander; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Matthew Lewis) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. A health worker attends to a baby with COVID-19 at the Wuhan Children's Hospital in China on March 6, 2020. Not the case mentioned in this story. China Daily CIC/Reuters Doctors in France have reported the first confirmed case of an unborn baby contracting COVID-19 from their mother while still in the womb. The case was published in Nature Communications journal on Tuesday. The authors said the baby's brain bore evidence of inflammation caused by the coronavirus. They also said they found sufficient evidence that it had crossed into the baby via the placenta. Several prior studies indicated that placental or cervical transmission was possible, but the case study from the Antoine Beclere hospital in Paris now serves as proof. However it is very rare. The paper's lead author said "pregnant women should be reassured" because "in most cases there will be no damage to the baby." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Video: 6 months of the coronavirus pandemic reviewed in 6 minutes Doctors in France have reported what they say is the first confirmed case of an unborn child contracting the coronavirus from their mother while still in the womb. The case was the subject of a paper titled "Transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection," which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications on Tuesday. Details of the paper were first reported by The Guardian. Until now, there has been some limited evidence suggesting that an unborn child could catch the coronavirus from inside the womb, but the paper's authors, from the Antoine Beclere hospital in Paris, confirmed "transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2" was possible. They said that a 23-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with a fever and cough on March 24 when she was more than 35 weeks pregnant with a boy. A doctor holds the newborn son of a coronavirus patient at Monica Pretelini Maternal Hospital in Toluca, Mexico, on May 29, 2020. Not the case mentioned in this story. Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Getty Images The mother tested positive for the coronavirus, gave birth via Cesarean section, and the baby was immediately taken to the natal intensive care unit of the hospital. The baby tested positive for the virus. He later recovered and was discharged from hospital 18 days later, the doctors wrote. Story continues The doctors said the baby's brain bore evidence of inflammation caused by the coronavirus, which had crossed the placenta into the baby's bloodstream. They ruled out the chance that the baby caught the virus after birth via viral or bacterial means. "The placenta showed signs of acute and chronic intervillous inflammation consistent with the severe systemic maternal inflammatory status triggered by SARS-CoV-2 infection," the authors said. A pregnant woman wearing a face mask walks past a mural in Hong Kong on March 23, 2020. ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP via Getty Images) The doctors pointed out that there have been similar cases of babies being born with the coronavirus in the past, but until now, they had not been able to say definitively whether babies could contract the virus in utero. A small study done on 31 women in Italy in March and April had found some evidence showing that unborn babies could catch the virus from their mothers. Three other studies published in March had also found evidence that it was possible. The doctors in France wrote: "We have demonstrated that the transplacental transmission of SARS-CoV-2 infection is possible during the last weeks of pregnancy." "Other cases of potential perinatal transmission have recently been described, but presented several unaddressed issues," the authors said. A pregnant woman seen during an ultrasound at a perinatal center in Tatarstan on June 5, 2020. Yegor Aleyev\TASS via Getty Images However, Daniele De Luca, the lead author and medical director of pediatrics at the Paris hospital, told The Guardian that cases like this are very rare. "Pregnant women should be reassured," he said. "Pregnancy is very controlled and if you have something like this, it can be controlled. In most cases there will be no damage to the baby." "There are many things we can do, but we can't close our eyes and say this is never going to happen." The long-term effect of the coronavirus on coronavirus-positive pregnant women and their unborn children remains unknown. Read the original article on Business Insider Reacting to the Nepal PM's bizarre 'Ayodhya is in Nepal' claim on Tuesday, VHP working president Alok Kumar opined that the statement was given under the pressure of a foreign power. This assumes significance at a juncture when China has been reportedly trying to save Nepal PM KP Sharma Oli's government amid internal fissures within the Nepal Communist Party. Maintaining that Lord Ram was the binding force of Indo-Nepal relations, Kumar asserted that Hindu scriptures had no other view than the present Ayodhya being the birthplace of Lord Ram. Terming this as attempt to break the ties between the Hindu community of both nations, the VHP contended that Oli's statement cannot be relied upon by anybody except himself. Read: Nepal PM's 'Lord Ram Isn't Indian' Claim Sparks Memes, Netizens Say 'best Joke In History' Read the VHP's statement here: "The working president of Vishva Hindu Parishad advocate Shri Alok Kumar today said that Bhagawan Shri Ram & Bhagawan Pashupati Nath ji are the bounding force of Indo-Nepal religious, cultural & spiritual relations. VHP working president said that Hindu scriptures, janshruti, customs, traditions and history has no different view about Shri Ram Janm-bhumi (birthplace) Ayodhya. The present Ayodhya is the only birthplace of Bhagwan Shri ram. Shri Ram Barat proceeds to Janakpuri from Ayodhya every year. Its impossible to misguide on the issue. The latest statement of Shri KP Sharma Oli, the prime minister of Nepal regarding Ayodhya and Shri Ram is seems have been given under the pressure of a foreign power. Its an unsuccessful attempt to break the unbreakable ties between the religious Hindu communities of both countries. His statement probably cant be relied upon by anybody except himself, he added." Read: Unbalanced Or A Puppet-parrot: Cong's Singhvi Incredulous At Nepal PM Oli's Ayodhya Claim Bizarre claim Addressing the media on Monday evening, the Nepal PM claimed that the birthplace of Lord Ram- Ayodhya is in Nepal. According to him, Lord Ram is Nepali and India had encroached upon the country's cultural heritage by setting up a "fake Ayodhya". On the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti, he alleged that the real Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal. Elaborating on his hypothesis, he reportedly questioned why Lord Ram would travel as far as Janakpur to marry Sita if Ayodhya was in India. As per the Nepali media, he said, "Both Lord Ram and Sita would have married nearby if the place claimed by India is real Ayodhya." Real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India. Lord Ram is Nepali not Indian: Nepali media quotes Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (file pic) pic.twitter.com/k3CcN8jjGV ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2020 Read: 'May Lord Ram Give You Wisdom': Sena's Chaturvedi Unsurprised By Nepal PM's Ayodhya Claim Click here to read the full article. Neiman Marcus Group, in bankruptcy proceedings since May 7, is moving forward on disposing stores. Neimans is already in talks to vacate its store in Manhattans Hudson Yards and is now working with A&G Real Estate Partners to market four other locations, according to A&G. A&G said Tuesday that the Neimans locations being marketed are the 87,608-square-foot unit in Walnut Creek, Calif.; the 126,296-square-foot unit in Mazza Gallerie in Washington D.C.; the 48,661-square-foot unit on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Fla., and the 124,637-square-foot unit in the Shops at Bravern in Bellevue, Wash. Its expected that Neimans list of store closings will grow, but the retailer is not commenting on any potential closings. The company also emphasized that assessment of stores could involve ways to monetize locations and not necessarily close them. Decisions would depend on Neimans outlook on the stores, their profitability, bankruptcy proceedings and negotiations with landlords. We are always assessing our store footprint to ensure it is optimal to enhance revenues, overall profitability, and our omnichannel strategy, Amber Seikaly, vice president of corporate communications for the Neiman Marcus Group, said Tuesday. This ongoing assessment may include marketing of leases for certain locations. This is not necessarily an indication that we are closing a particular store, but rather a way to monetize the value of the leases at these properties and allocate the proceeds toward investments that drive profitable and sustainable growth. Ongoing discussions with landlords are private and confidential. One possibility is closing the downtown Dallas unit, which is said to be an underperformer. Its also where Neiman Marcus has its headquarters. Sources also have said the list of locations being eyed for possible closures includes St. Louis; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Natick, Mass., and Westchester, N.Y. Story continues A&G disclosed the locations it is working with on behalf of Neiman Marcus. Bankruptcy enables retailers to get out of leases without penalty. Offering long-term, multiple-option leases, the buildings are situated in prime, high-visibility retail districts or shopping centers, said Emilio Amendola, co-president of Melville, N.Y.-based A&G. A&G is a major player in retail real estate, and is particularly active this year in large part due to the pandemic and retail companies deciding to streamline their brick-and-mortar fleets, or go bankrupt. A&G has worked with Dress Barn, Toys R Us, and Bon-Ton which have liquidated. However, A&G also works with healthy retailers seeking to maximize their real estate. The company engages in real estate due diligence, valuations, dispositions, lease restructurings, acquisitions, structured investment sales, and growth opportunities. Real estate is a long-term play. These (Neimans) leases represent an incredible opportunity for retailers and investors to gain a foothold in markets that, under normal conditions, are renowned for their traffic and sales as well as for their high barriers to entry, Amendola said. Additionally, some of these locations are particularly promising for conversion to hotel, office or residential use. Neiman Marcus entered its bankruptcy proceedings with intentions to restructure and come out as an ongoing business. As part of the process, Neimans secured debtor-in-possession financing of $675 million from creditors. Since temporarily shutting down its entire fleet in mid-March due to COVID-19, Neiman Marcus reopened most of its locations for curbside pickups and by appointment shopping, with a couple of locations Northpark Center in Dallas and Lenox Square mall in Atlanta reopened for full in-store shopping. The Neiman Marcus Group luxury retail fleet includes 43 Neiman Marcus stores and two Bergdorf Goodman stores. The Related Companies, owner of the massive Hudson Yards mixed-used development on the west side of Manhattan, has begun marketing Neimans three-level, 188,000-square-foot space, and is in talks with Facebook, sources have said. Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2020) - Generic Gold Corp. (CSE: GGC) (FSE: 1WD) ("Generic Gold" or the "Company") announces the resignation of Mr. Kelly Malcolm as President and Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") of the Company, effective immediately. Mr. Malcolm will remain a director of Generic Gold. The Company would like to thank Mr. Malcolm for his valuable contribution to the Company over the years as the CEO of Generic Gold. Generic Gold is pleased to appoint Mr. Richard Patricio to the role of President and CEO of the Company, effective immediately. Richard Patricio is President and CEO of Mega Uranium Ltd. ("Mega Uranium"), and has served in this capacity since February 2015, having been Mega Uranium's Executive Vice President since 2005. Mega Uranium is a Toronto-based mineral resources company with a focus on uranium properties in Australia and Canada, and holds a portfolio of uranium-focused equity investments. Mr. Patricio previously served as the CEO of Pinetree Capital Ltd., a Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") listed investment company specializing in early stage resource investments. Mr. Patricio is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario. He previously worked at a large Toronto-based law firm before moving in-house at a TSX-listed manufacturing company. Mr. Patricio has been involved with the founding and growth of many resource-based issuers, and presently sits on the Board of several TSX-listed issuers, including NexGen Energy Ltd. Mr. Patricio commented, "In this exciting gold environment, Generic Gold prospects in the Yukon and now in the Abitibi, presents a platform that I quickly became excited about being a part of. I am happy to join a strong board and shareholder group and look forward to working with the team at Generic Gold." Generic Gold is also pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Jessica Whitton as Corporate Secretary of the Company, effective immediately. Ms. Whitton practices general corporate and securities law for both public and private issuers. Ms. Whitton previously served as interim Chief Executive Officer of QcX Gold Corp. (formerly, First Mexican Gold Corp.) ("QcX Gold") from October 2019 to April 2020, and currently serves as Corporate Secretary of QcX Gold since October 2019. Generic Gold also announces the grant of an aggregate of 1,100,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.39 per share for a period of five (5) years from the date of grant, to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company. The common shares issuable upon exercise of the options are subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the original date of grant. About Generic Gold Generic Gold is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold projects in the Tintina Gold Belt in the Yukon Territory of Canada and the Abitibi Greenstone Belt in Quebec, Canada. The Company's Yukon exploration portfolio consists of several projects with a total land position of greater than 35,000 hectares, all of which are 100% owned by Generic Gold. Several of these projects are in close proximity to significant gold, including Goldcorp's Coffee project, Victoria Gold's Eagle Gold project, White Gold's Golden Saddle project, and Western Copper & Gold's Casino project. The Company's Quebec exploration portfolio consists of three properties covering 8,148 hectares proximal to the town of Normetal. Generic Gold's board of directors and management team is led by experienced mining industry professionals, with expertise in exploration, finance, capital markets, and mine development. For information on the Company's property portfolio, visit the Company's website at genericgold.ca. For further information contact: Richard Patricio, President and CEO Tel: 416-456-6529 rpatricio@genericgold.ca NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR THEIR REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDERS ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE. Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon the current belief, opinions and expectations of management that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and other contingencies. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein. We seek safe harbour. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59738 Advertisement The UK could be in for 40 days of either rain or sunshine depending on how St Swithin's Day dawns tomorrow after Britons enjoyed the last of a brief warm spell yesterday. The weather through the end of July and August is said to be determined by the whim of one of Britain's medieval Anglo-Saxon saints who is venerated on July 15. St Swithin was a ninth century bishop of Winchester and tutor to a young King Alfred the Great who is best known today from a weather proverb which predicts 40 days of either rain or sun. The UK could be in for 40 days of either rain or sunshine depending on how St Swithin's Day dawns tomorrow after Britons enjoyed the last of a brief warm spell yesterday (pictured, St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay today) The weather through the end of July and August is said to be determined by the whim of one of the UK's medieval Anglo-Saxon saints who is venerated on July 15 (pictured, Comet Neowise passes St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay today) St Swithin was a ninth century bishop of Winchester and tutor to a young King Alfred the Great who is best known today from a weather proverb which predicts 40 days of either rain or sun (pictured, St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay today) Meteorologist Alex Burkill from the Met Office said: 'For many it's going to be a largely cloudy day. There will be a rain that could be a bit heavy at times, particularly across parts of Scotland and then western areas of the UK - so north-west England, Wales, south-west England' (pictured, Comet Neowise passes St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay today) Who was St Swithin and will it rain for 40 days? St Swithin gave his name to the tradition that rain on July 15 will go on for 40 days St Swithin was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester, who died in 862. When he was made a saint in 971, his body was dug up and moved to an indoor shrine in the city's cathedral. Some writers claimed this outraged the heavens, causing rain to pour on the church and continue uninterrupted for 40 days. But the Met Office said there had not been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days following St Swithin's Day since records began in 1861. Advertisement Little is known about the saint, but he is said to have requested he be buried outside Winchester Cathedral so his grave would be exposed to both the footsteps of worshippers and the elements. But in the 10th century, after some priests moved his tomb inside, a great storm hit, which was taken as a sign of St Swithin's displeasure. It sparked the proverb: 'St Swithin's Day if thou dost rain, for forty days it will remain, St Swithin's Day if thou be fair, for forty days will rain na mair.' So what can the UK expect for the next 40 days? Probably cloudy and a bit of drizzle, according to the Met Office. Meteorologist Alex Burkill said: 'For many it's going to be a largely cloudy day. 'There will be a rain that could be a bit heavy at times, particularly across parts of Scotland and then western areas of the UK - so north-west England, Wales, south-west England. 'So cloudy with outbreaks of rain that will be heavier towards the north, and further east the clouds could be thick enough for a few spots of rain but mostly dry.' Can we expect the weather to stay fixed for the next six weeks? In a word, no. Asked if we will have 40 days of rain, Mr Burkill said: 'I think in the history of anything that has never happened, and that's not going to happen this time, fortunately.' While the gloomy picture will remain into Thursday, by the end of the week the UK could be in for much warmer temperatures and sunny skies, especially in the south. Mr Burkill added: 'It's a drier and brighter picture as we go into the start of August - it does look like we're going to see more prolonged dry spells than really we've had this month. 'So quite a different story from what many of us can expect on quite a cloudy and damp St Swithin's Day.' St Swithin's Day has certainly never been a particularly reliable source of meteorological predictions. In 1913, July 15 was hit by a 15-hour rainstorm, but 30 days of sunshine came after. In 1924, 13 and a half hours of glorious sunshine were followed by 30 days of rain out of the next 40. The outlook for the rest of the week suggests outbreaks of rain and drizzle from today, becoming confined to the North on Thursday and Friday, as weather gets hotter in the south. The weekend saw temperatures reach as high 77F at Heathrow, with a low of 34F in Sennybridge. What is Comet Neowise and how far away is it? Comet Neowise passes St Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay today Comet Neowise, also known as C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), is a comet which was discovered in late March. It will be closest to Earth on July 23 and will be visible to the naked eye as it approaches the Sun, but will be around 64million miles away - 400 times farther away than the Moon. The comet was spotted soaring over Stonehenge at the weekend. Advertisement Revellers were seen enjoying beaches and rivers in Lyme Regis, Barry, Straford-upon-Avon and Red Bay harbour in Country Antrim. Shoeburyness enjoy just under 16 hours of sunshine, while there was 5.4mm of rainfall in Harris Quidnish, off the coast of Scotland. Flying ants descended on parts of the country yesterday, but today's wet weather is likely to bring an end to the wave of insects. There's a glimmer of hope for a heatwave heading into the weekend and next week, but it may come with heavy downpours and 'unsettled weather'. The Met Office forecast for Friday onwards reads: 'More unsettled conditions with spells of rain and strong winds are likely to affect the north and northwest at times. 'There is chance that these wetter interludes could spread more widely and affect much of the UK. 'Temperatures are likely to be mostly around normal, although it may become warm for a time in the south and perhaps very warm in the southeast. 'Towards the end of the period, more settled conditions are likely to develop, across many parts. 'Spells of wetter and windier weather are possible across northern and western areas at times.' July is still on track to be the coolest for 32 years as part of what forecasters have dubbed a 'payback summer'. This month last year saw an average temperature of of 75F (24C), but the average for this July has been 68F (20C). Weathermen said this summer's disappointing weather is 'payback' after 2019's record high temperature and 2018's hottest summer on record. July is on course to be the coolest since 1988, Met Office figures for the month so far show. Rainfall is also close to double the normal so far, at 30mm in England and Wales, Met Office data showed. Cool Atlantic winds and a lack of continental heat are blamed. June was one of the wettest for 89 years - wetter than all but eight Junes since 1931, with UK rainfall up almost 50 per cent at 106mm. Wesley Anak Juntan, better known as Wesley Hilton on social media, is an Iban descendant from Sarawak, Malaysia, who dresses Barbie and Ken dolls in traditional Borneo attire. A flight attendant by trade, the 33-year-old started dressing Mattels most popular doll in intricate, traditional Borneo outfits to honor the gawai (harvest) festival in East Malaysia which falls annually on June 1. The Borneo area in Southeast Asia refers to the third largest island in the world, which covers the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as Indonesias Kalimantan and Brunei. Due to the national pandemic lockdown, Wesley was among many Malaysians who couldnt go home for gawai celebrations. So, he decided to celebrate it in his own way. Since were not allowed to go home for the celebration this year, I thought it would be a great idea if I made an Iban-inspired doll, he told Coconuts KL in an interview. His well-dressed dolls feature highly elaborate headdresses and painstakingly beaded dresses, complete with little traditional accessories like earrings and bangles. After I posted the first traditional costume on social media, I received a lot of comments and requests to create more looks with different Borneo ethnicities, and thats when it all started, he said. A self-taught artist who started out sewing wedding dresses when he wasnt on flight duty, Wesley was initially surprised by the massively positive response to his Borneo Barbies. My community is so proud to see these dolls dresses in our traditional costume, he said. This is a great way of me to represent the culture and bring it to other parts of Malaysia, and then the world. Wesley is also creating dolls on-demand and selling them for an average price of RM400 (US$90). He has sold 10 Borneo-inspired dolls so far. Hard work recognized Wesleys artistry has recognized on Thursday by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture in Malaysia. Wesleys dolls have given me an idea where his artwork could become a new tourism product based on arts and culture, Tourism Minister Nancy Shukri wrote on social media. Story continues Wesley, at left, presents Tourism Minister Nancy Shukri with a Borneo Barbie doll. Photo: Nancy Shukri/Facebook While the dolls are original Barbies and Kens from Mattel, Wesley says coming up with ideas for their costumes is the toughest part of his process because hes forging new territory. My only reference was pictures and articles on the costume, he said. No one has ever made the doll accessories for Sarawaks traditional costume before. I would spend hours in the arts and crafts store looking at all the possible material that I think I could use. Basically its trial and error until I get the right materials, and methods to make every single accessory. Malaysian doodle artist reimagines Disney characters in traditional attire Meanwhile, the Sarawak native from the Sibu district said he works hard to get every minute detail of the traditional clothing right, down to the last little bead. The most challenging part for me is to maintain the authenticity of the costume, each ethnic (group) in Borneo has its own unique costume, he added. I have to do it right, from the color, shape, and even the number of accessories. Like, the number of bangles on each hand has to be at a specific count. The process of creating a new Barbie-sized Borneo outfit takes about a week. At the moment, Wesley has created 12 different designs, but the intricate Kumang doll remains a fan favorite, with her elaborate headdress and beaded, knee-length skirt. The intricate Kumang doll. Photo: Wesley Anak Juntan/Instagram Wesley hopes his Borneo Barbies will shine the spotlight on the various ethnicities in East Malaysia. According to 2016 statistics, there are nearly 60 different ethnic groups in East Malaysia. Through my Borneo inspired dolls, I hope that Malaysians realize that our nation is built from various ethnicities, especially in East Malaysia, he said. He hopes they will inspire others to appreciate the beauty of homegrown culture. I wish to expose more minority ethnicities to the world with traditional costumes of Borneo, so that the new generation would know its beauty and play their part to preserve our culture, he added. Other stories to check out: Malaysian doodle artist reimagines Disney characters in traditional attire Johor designer makes snacky handbags from recycled plastics This article, Iban man gives Barbie a Borneo makeover, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters! Common Threads offers hands-on cooking and nutrition programs through schools and nonprofit partners across the country. Ive seen firsthand the inspiring work Common Threads is doing to promote healthy eating and foster an interest in cooking. Im pleased this federal funding will allow them to continue and expand their mission to improve access to local foods in Chicago Public Schools, said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. Common Threads, a nonprofit organization that provides hands-on, cooking and nutrition education to children, parents and educators in under-resourced communities, was just awarded a two-year Farm to School Grant Award for $100,000 from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Farm to School grant will allow Common Threads to develop the programmatic infrastructure needed to begin sourcing fresh food from community-based urban farms for its school-based cooking and nutrition education programs in Chicago. The funding will allow the nonprofit to enhance its curriculum with greater emphasis on seasonality and local food systems, while also increasing awareness of local and agricultural education resources for the community. The Farm to School grant will be transformational for our organization, said Linda Novick OKeefe, Common Threads co-founder and CEO. Too many Chicago families have limited access to nutritious food, and urban farms present a unique way to solve this challenge. Were thrilled to deepen our collaboration with Chicago Public Schools, while also having the opportunity to explore urban farms as a food access solution in our other markets. Over the next two years, Common Threads will implement the Farm to School program with three schools from Chicago Public Schools, each matched with a nearby urban farm location such as Windy City Harvest. Ive seen firsthand the inspiring work Common Threads is doing to promote healthy eating and foster an interest in cooking. Im pleased this federal funding will allow them to continue and expand their mission to improve access to local foods in Chicago Public Schools, said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who visited a Common Threads Cooking Skills & World Cuisine class in February at Jungman Elementary. Since Common Threads was founded in Chicago in 2003 by Chef Art Smith, Jesus Salgueiro and Novick OKeefe, the organization has reached nearly 180,000 children, parents and educators throughout Chicago, and more than 580,000 people nationwide in its 12 markets. The organization is currently receiving USDA funding through its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education program (SNAP-Ed) in Texas, New York and Pennsylvania. ABOUT COMMON THREADS Common Threads is a national nonprofit that provides children and families cooking and nutrition education to encourage healthy habits that contribute to wellness. We equip under-resourced communities with information to make affordable, nutritious and appealing food choices wherever they live, work, learn and play. We know that food is rooted in culture and tradition, so we promote diversity in our lessons and recipes, encouraging our participants to celebrate the world around them. Common Threads was founded in 2003 and currently operates in 12 major cities including Austin, Texas; Chicago; Dallas-Ft. Worth; El Paso, Texas; Erie, Pa.; Houston; Los Angeles; Miami; New York City; Pittsburgh, Pa.; San Antonio, and Washington D.C. To learn more, visit http://www.commonthreads.org or on social media, @CThreads on Facebook and @Common__Threads on Instagram and Twitter. About the USDA Farm to School Grant Program Since 2013, the USDA Farm to School Grant Program has offered annual grants to schools, school districts, nonprofits, state agencies, agricultural producers, and Indian Tribal Organizations to plan, implement, or provide training on farm to school activities. FNS is committed to working with schools and agricultural partners to ensure healthy habits take root in early childhood. For more information, visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/cfs/grant-awards. On the face of it, there seemed to be no immediate threat to the Gehlot government. New Delhi: The fate of the Congress government in Rajasthan remained in a limbo on Monday as deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot dug in his heels and chief minister Ashok Gehlot paraded and then holed up his MLAs at the luxury Fairmont resort on the outskirts of Jaipur. On the face of it, there seemed to be no immediate threat to the Gehlot government as the chief minister claimed the support of more than 100 MLAs, but Mr Pilot seemed determined to jump ship, refusing, it is understood, even a meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi with whom he is known to have a personal rapport. The day began on a negative note for the Congress with Mr Pilot, who has been on a warpath with his boss and arch rival Mr Gehlot, refusing to attend the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. Though there was no official word on the number of MLAs who attended the meeting at Mr Gehlots home, party leaders claimed 106 legislators were there. Mr Pilot had claimed on Sunday night that he had the support of more than 30 MLAs. In the 200-member Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. Later, when the CLP began after a delay of three hours, it adopted a resolution urging strong disciplinary action against any party office-bearer or CLP member who does anything to weaken the government or the party. The resolution stopped short of naming Mr Pilot but blamed the BJP for the crisis. On Saturday, Mr Gehlot had accused the Opposition party of trying to lure away Congress MLAs. Sources in the Congress told this newspaper that the Congress central leadership has offered Mr Pilot the state home and finance ministries and withdrawal of FIR filed against him in the state. Officially reaching out to him before the CLP meeting, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, adopting a conciliatory tone, said Mr Pilot and other MLAs could still attend the CLP meeting from which they had distanced themselves. When a member of the family gets annoyed, he does not make the family fall but sits with family members and resolves the issue, he said. Doors are open for Sachin Pilot and other MLAs. They will be heard and solutions will be found. This is the discipline of the party, the AICC spokesperson said. Sources also claimed that Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was in touch with Mr Pilot and was making efforts to broker peace between the two warring factions. China and Iran have negotiated a deal that would see massive investments flow into Iran, oil flow out, and collaboration increase on defense and intelligence. Why it matters: If the proposals become reality, Chinese cash, telecom infrastructure, railways and ports could offer new life to Irans sanctions-choked economy or, critics fear, leave it inescapably beholden to Beijing. The deal has not yet been finalized, but both sides acknowledge its in the works (though China has been more circumspect). A leaked draft envisions Chinese-built "airports, high-speed railways and subways," as well as "free-trade zones" in regions of Iran, per the NYT. The deal extends to cyberspace with China offering "greater control over what circulates" as well as to defense. The projects total an eye-watering $400 billion over 25 years. Reality check: If that figure sounds implausibly high, thats because it probably is. This sounds like a wishlist of all the projects that could conceivably be in play, rather than a realistic estimate of anything that Chinas been able to do anywhere, says Andrew Small of the German Marshall Funds Asia Program. China is already running into problems in innumerable locations trying to do project clusters on a much smaller scale than this, Small says, referring to elements of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative. Between the lines: Both sides have clear incentives here: China locks in a cheap oil supply and deepens its strategic links in the Middle East, while Iran which has virtually nowhere else to turn for foreign investment gets economic benefits and a big flashing sign that its not as isolated as America claims. But such a dramatic bet from Beijing would be a surprise. It's been dialing back on controversial Belt and Road mega-deals, has historically been careful to balance its relationships in the Middle East (including with Saudi Arabia), and may see uncomfortable parallels with Venezuela, which can't pump enough oil to cover its debts to China. Meanwhile, while Iran does need Chinese cash, they've found recent reliance on China "a painful experience" and "they absolutely dont want to have the economy so beholden to the Chinese over that kind of time frame," Small says. The latest: Domestic critics are already sounding the alarm in Iran, with former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accusing the government of handing Iran's purse to other countries without informing the nation." Foreign Minister Javad Zarif defended the deal, while denying that Iran would offer discounted oil or sell Kish Island, as some critics had claimed. What to watch: Even if only a fraction of what has been proposed comes to fruition, this a clear challenge to the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign towards Iran, and another sign of America's geopolitical foes aligning. Flashback: Tuesday marks the five-year anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal. While President Trump is nowhere near replacing it with a broader deal, a potential President Biden would also struggle to wind the clock back to 2015 and put a deal back together again. With pressure intensifying to slash Oaklands police budget in half, the department released a startling message early this month that seemed to complicate the debate. Oakland police see spike in homicides, the advisory said, listing seven killings that occurred between June 24 and July 2, mostly in the flatland neighborhoods of East Oakland. Police officials sent the notice to media and posted it on Twitter, adding fuel to an already fiery dispute between activists who want funds and duties shifted away from law enforcement, and others who want to keep officers on the streets. The City Council is set to discuss possible cuts on July 21, weeks after passing a budget that stripped $14.3 million from the $330 million department an amount that some critics saw as paltry. Though most City Council members support the goal of taking $150 million from the police and spending it on social services or other public safety models, they disagree on the process: Some seek to make deep cuts immediately, while others want a plan in place. There are two different camps, said City Councilman Loren Taylor, whose district spreads through East Oakland. One is, Lets just pull away funds right now, and it will work itself out. And the other is, Lets be more deliberate and have a plan before we take away those funds. Taylor places himself in the latter group, but acknowledged hes facing demands from all sides. While a powerful coalition of progressive groups has called for swift and dramatic defunding, residents of high-crime neighborhoods still rely on police for protection. And police officials warned him that lives will be lost if their budget is decimated. The spike in homicides advisory prompted new questions. Was Oakland reeling from a violent crime wave just as city leaders considered proposals to defund the police budget? Or were the police sowing fear because they saw their budget threatened? UC Berkeley law Professor Franklin Zimring said hes suspicious that police were motivated to draw conclusions from early numbers to prevent further cuts to their budget. Oakland has gradually chipped away at its homicide rate since 2006, the year it saw a stunning high of 148 killings. By 2018, the number was down to 68, the lowest figure since 1999. It rose to 74 in 2019, and the numbers remained steady this year, despite the cluster in late June and early July. Thirty-seven people have been killed in Oakland since the beginning of January, fewer than the 40 slain by this time last year. Its very early, statistically, to suggest there has been an upsurge, Zimring said, adding that he understands why, in this particular moment, the Police Department might make the suggestion anyway. The fear of violence is good for police budgets, Zimring said. Interim Police Chief Susan Manheimer said the advisory was not related to political calls for defunding. The burst of violence in Oakland reflects a national trend, she said, citing other cities Nashville, Denver, Chicago, New Orleans, New York City that saw similar waves. The spike has been pretty tremendous, Manheimer told The Chronicle on Monday, speculating that it could stem from angst and hopelessness. Since COVID-19 hit, Oakland has seen a 32% increase in shootings alone, the chief said. Seven people were shot on the Fourth of July. Like other city leaders, Manheimer stressed her commitment to reimagining policing, harnessing all the momentum and rage following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In Fruitvale, an area long burdened by violent crime, residents appear divided. One of the citys recent homicides occurred at 25th Avenue and International Boulevard , where officers responded to a ShotSpotter alert detecting gunfire around midnight on July 1. They arrived to find a man dead at the scene. Police have not released his identity. In the days that followed, the victims friends and family turned a lamp post on International Boulevard into a memorial, decorating it with balloons, votive candles and flowers in empty wine bottles. Abdul Nassimi, a neighborhood resident, said the area does feel dangerous sometimes. Nassimi, who was walking down International Boulevard on Monday morning, works late shifts for a medical devices company, and said he feels uneasy driving home at midnight. Hell sometimes circle the block several times before parking his car. D.J. Brooks had a different perspective. A counselor for the Youth Employment Partnership, he oversaw a group of teenagers Monday who were laying tiles for a storefront mosaic at the corner of 23rd Avenue and International Boulevard. We need the police its a fact, Brooks said, noting that he doesnt believe in dismantling the force altogether. But I do agree with spreading out the funding (to pay for) programs that are beneficial to our youth, and to troubled citizens in our community. 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. Sergeant Barry Donelan, who heads the Oakland Police Officers Association, said that everyone in the department is frustrated by the defund conversation, whether theyre pushing a squad car or (holding) a senior position. He described the surge of violence in early July as pretty spectacular and recalled a point on the Fourth of July when everything seemed to devolve. Late that night, Donelan remembered hearing a weary officer on the scanner, responding to a stabbing on 71st Avenue. The officer had to clarify that it was not related to a nearby shooting on 72nd Avenue, Donelan said. Donelan said he agrees with some ideas from city leaders, such as the proposal to divert mental health emergencies over to civilian experts instead of police officers. But he hopes the city can do that without reducing the size of the force or lacerating the budget. The last time Oakland significantly pared back its force, laying off 80 officers and 21 cadets in 2010, crime shot way up. By 2012, Oakland recorded 15.3 violent crimes for every 1,000 people a higher rate than other major California cities. Response times to 911 calls had slowed from 15 to 17 minutes. With a force of 732 officers and command staff, our numbers are a fraction of what they need to be, Donelan said. But City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas argues that Oakland can do more with less if it redirects many police responsibilities to civilians, allowing officers to focus on violent crime. Early this month Bas and City Councilman Dan Kalb ordered an analysis of Oaklands 911 calls, due in October, to determine how many could be resolved by a mental health counselor or trained mediator instead of a police officer. On July 21, the City Council may review proposals to shift other responsibilities such as traffic enforcement or permits and security for special events away from the police, Bas said. Other cities are testing similar ideas: The Berkeley City Council will vote Tuesday on whether to put unarmed civil servants in charge of traffic laws. Bas credits the national reckoning for shining a light on more cost-effective ways to prevent crime and promote public safety, even if it forces cities to rethink the methods they have used for years. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan A woman who returned to her home in Heilongjiang Province in China, after a trip to the United States on March 19, accidentally spread the disease to 71 people according to researchers, the Independent reported. She used the lift in her tower block. She tested negative for the disease and opted to stay in self-isolation despite the results, said researchers in Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Preventions journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. While the woman did not take the lift with anyone else, on March 29 a downstairs neighbour's mother and her boyfriend visited her at her residence. They then attended a party with a group of people. On April 2, one member of this group suffered a stroke and was taken to the hospital, where there was no obvious connection between the person who travelled and the patient. Later, researchers came to the conclusion that the traveller had contaminated the lift in the building. 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 Researchers conclude that the downstairs' neighbour by using the lift had contracted the virus. The neighbour then passed it onto the mother and the boyfriend, who visited the traveller in her apartment. This couple then passed it onto the stroke patient and his two sons at the party. The boys, who took care of their father, were moved to a different hospital on April 6. It was later discovered that this family had infected 28 people in the first hospital, including five nurses and one doctor, after which they passed it on to 20 more people in the second hospital. Researchers also found that the boyfriend of the downstairs neighbours mother displayed COVID-19 symptoms and became the first case in the cluster to test positive for the disease. Nearly a month after the ministry of social justice and empowerment sought suggestions to the draft rules of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2020, a new draft was issued Monday that offered 30 days to submit further suggestions or objections. The new draft has incorporated some of the changes submitted by members and activists of the transgender community in May, including the definition of discrimination based on the internationally recognized human rights proposition laid down by the Yogyakarta Principles, a provision on equal opportunities in employment, and formulation of state and Central schemes on social security, health and welfare for trans communities. The draft offers a list of suggested welfare schemes that the government could consider in access to health, education, housing, welfare measures, and economic support. Some of the suggested measures included providing zero-interest and other micro-finance schemes, inclusion in employment guarantee schemes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, universal access to food security schemes, free gender affirmative surgery, old age homes and shelters for at risk transgender youth. We need reservation, and without it any guarantee of protection is empty. But the draft rules dont even mention a word of reservation, said Tamil Nadu-based trans and Dalit rights activist, Grace Banu. The new draft removed the previous documents provision to penalize false declaration to obtain certificate of identity and further defined discrimination as: Any distinction, exclusion or restriction on the basis of gender identity and expression, which has the purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal basis with others, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field and includes all forms of discrimination, including denial of reasonable accommodation. However, the draft retained the provision to differentiate between certifications of the transgender identity and the male or female identity. While the former would require the submission of a form, the latter would require proof of medical intervention to change gender. The 2014 Supreme Court verdict, National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) vs Union of India, which granted legal recognition to the transgender identity stated that self-identification was central to gender identity, and that government cannot ask for any medical certification. The new draft rules have made minor modifications in response to our considerable suggestions, but they retain the core of the Act which strips us of the right to self-determination and self recognition that Nalsa [judgment of Supreme Court] granted. The bill continues to rely on medical interventions to grant binary gender identities, said Bittu Kondaiah, an associate professor at Ashoka University, New Delhi. Members of the community from around the country held consultations over video calling applications to build consensus on modifications and additions to the first set of draft rules which were released earlier this year, and were required to be submitted by May 18. The United Nations Development Programme as well as non-profit organisations like SAATHII, which works towards universal access to health care and social welfare held sessions with trans persons from around the country to formulate the feedback to the draft rules. LAS VEGAS, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- LMBPN Publishing, a global leader in indie digital book publishing, announced today that it has entered into an exclusive multi-division agreement with leading independent audiobook publisher RBmedia to produce a new, nine-book series, The Great Insurrection, co-authored by best-selling authors David Beers and Michael Anderle. The original series will be simultaneously published by two of RBmedia's brands: its flagship Recorded Books audiobook publishing imprint and GraphicAudio, a leader in immersive, dramatized audio. RBmedia Corporate Logo LMBPN Corporate Logo This effort will make The Great Insurrection stories available to readers and audio fans through multiple formats on the publication day of each new book. Consumers will have their choice of ebook, print, single narrator audiobooks, and full-cast audio recordings for each story in this highly anticipated science fiction series. Michael Anderle, President/Chief Executive Officer at LMBPN, said, "This is an exciting time for our company as we extend our working relationship with various publishing brands of RBmedia. By combining LMBPN's proven ability to deliver great stories, Recorded Books' successful track record in single-voice audio and Graphic Audio's "A Movie in Your Mind" proprietary process of dramatized adaptations, our new series The Great Insurrection will continue to deliver on our promise to provide readers with stories they want to read and listen to over and over again." "Sci-fi/fantasy continues to be an area of high demand and great editorial innovation. LMBPN is an entrepreneurial originator of this kind of content. We are pleased to enter into this partnership," says Troy Juliar, Chief Content Officer for RBmedia. "As the world's largest independent publisher of audiobooks and a leader in the sci-fi/fantasy audio market, RBmedia is eager to bring these new titles to these discerning fans in audiobook format." Under the agreement, GraphicAudio will produce dramatized audio content for The Great Insurrection series, featuring a full cast of actors, sound effects, and cinematic music. "GraphicAudio's unique ability to deliver high-quality, fully immersive audio experiences and original scripted works is unparalleled," said Anji Cornette, Vice President at GraphicAudio. "This unique partnership will enable us to bring this innovative audio storytelling approach to scores of sci-fi fans around the world." The first title published under the agreement will be available in early 2021 on Audible, iTunes, Google Play, Audiobooks.com, and many other sites that provide digital audio. About LMBPN Publishing Founded in 2015, LMBPN has rapidly become an industry leader in the digital sci-fi and urban fantasy genres. The company has gained a loyal global fan base that consistently propels LMBPN's books into Amazon.com, Inc. top ranks and has made founding author Michael Anderle a #1 ranked sci-fi author. LMBPN's digital catalog presently includes over seven hundred titles, many of them in the top 1,000 on Amazon.com*, and over two hundred titles on Audible.com* through LMBPN Audio and approximately another two hundred titles licensed for audio through partners such as Dreamscape Media*, Tantor Media *, Podium Audio * and now excited to include RBmedia. Combined, the current series in the company's portfolio have sold over 4,000,000 books, and over a billion pages have been read on Amazon's Kindle Unlimited*. Visit http://LMBPN.com or contact [email protected] *Brands are the property of their respective owners. About RBmedia RBmedia is a global leader in spoken audio content and digital media distribution technology that reaches millions of consumersat home, in the car, and wherever they take their mobile devices. RBmedia produces exclusive titles and delivers the finest digital content through its platforms, including Audiobooks.com. Headquartered in Landover, Maryland, the company is the largest producer of audiobooks in the world with a catalog of more than 45,000 exclusive titles through its content brands: Recorded Books, Tantor Media, HighBridge, Kalorama Audio, ChristianAudio, Gildan Media, GraphicAudio, W. F. Howes in the United Kingdom, and Wavesound in Australia. RBmedia is owned by KKR, a leading global investment firm. Find out more at www.rbmediaglobal.com. Press Contact: Judith Anderle Chief Commercial Officer e-mail: [email protected] phone: +1-626-827-4549 SOURCE LMBPN Publishing Related Links http://LMBPN.com A quartet of $23,000 Grassroots divisions for two-year-old trotting fillies was featured at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Monday, July 13 and all four winners delivered the kind of professional performance typically seen in far older horses. You Will Be Queen took the opening division with a 1:59 effort that saw her leave well from Post 5, occupy the front end briefly before letting two rivals go around, and then step back out in the stretch and sprint home to a three and one-quarter length victory. Fan favourite A Blue Blood settled for second and Darling Please finished third. You couldnt ask for better. She left to the front and let one go, let a couple go, and come back out and come wide and win easy, said trainer Dustin Jones of the trip engineered by driver Chris Christoforou. What you saw on the track tonight was about how she trained all winter. If she made a break it was just because she wasnt paying attention or something like that. Waterdown, ON resident Jones bred and owns You Will Be Queen in partnership with Hebert Horses Inc. of Montreal, QC. The partners raced the fillys dam, Dewdle All Day, who earned $382,000 racing in the same Ontario Sires Stakes class as million dollar earners Emoticon Hanover and Caprice Hill. She raced against Emoticon Hanover and all them good fillies and still ended up making almost $400,000, so she was a pretty good mare, said Jones, noting that Royalty For Life daughter You Will Be Queen is the mares first foal. This filly, shes been good all along. We probably could have went to the Gold, but we wanted to race her on the big track to start. In the second $23,500 division fan favourite Imextraspecial had to circle out three wide heading for the three-quarters to find her way to the lead, and still powered home to a one and one-half length victory in 2:01.1. Jones and Can You Swing It finished second and Top Of The Bar was third. Owen Sound resident Paul Walker trains and drives Imextraspecial for Keith Coulter of Mono, ON, who offered up $95,000 for the Muscle Mass daughter at last falls London Selected Yearling Sale. Less than one week after her arrival in Ontario, Ban Ban Deo took the third division, getting a confident steer from Sylvain Filion who sent the favourite to the lead heading for the half and let her cruise home to a three-quarter length victory in 1:59.1. Tipsy In Dixie finished second and Snowfalla completed the top three. Owned by John Fielding and Clay Horner of Toronto, ON, Ban Ban Deo learned her early lessons in the Richard Nifty Norman stable and will spend the Ontario Sires Stakes season in the barn of Tony OSullivan, who said she has been flawless since her arrival. Shes completely professional. The first time I took her out on the track at Classy (Lane) nothing seemed to faze her, at Mohawk here tonight nothing fazed her whatsoever. Shes smart, said O Sullivan of the Kadabra daughter. Shes a decent sized filly; shes got a lot of leg, shes long. You could actually see shes a little bit bigger than what she raced against tonight, and I think that factored into the decision to put her in the Grassroots, just to let her come along at her own speed. But shes a beautiful filly and I would imagine, as long as everything goes well, I think by the end of the year shell be a big strong filly, shell fill into herself. Charmbo Princess also got a confident steer from Mike Saftic, who left smarty with the filly from Post 2 and then pointed her back toward the front heading by the three-quarters. Charmbo Princess kicked home smartly to post a one and one-quarter length victory in 2:00. Fortune Tellers K finished second and Mag N Lady was third. She is a very nice filly. Her mother was a very professional mare and this mare just takes the bit and says, Lets go! And apparently she did everything right tonight, said Randy Rier, who bred and owns the daughter of Royalty For Life and Hetties Charm in partnership with his brother Jack Rier of Kitchener, ON. I was surprised when he moved her the first time, and then he got out, I thought, early enough and I thought oh well, I guess he knows what hes doing. And then he tried to pull the ear plugs and they wouldnt come out and I said to him later, I said, Thats okay, because she runs right in when they pop, added the Hanover, ON resident with a chuckle. But they never got out so its good. He said she went right on by herself anyway. The highly capable two-year-old trotting fillies will make their second Grassroots start at Grand River Raceway on July 29. Complete results from Monday nights event are available at Woodbine Mohawk Park Results. On Tuesday evening Woodbine Mohawk Park welcomes back the three-year-old pacing fillies for the second Grassroots event of their season. The fillies open the program at 7 p.m. in the first race and will also be featured in Races 3, 7, 9 and 11. (OSS) To view results for Monday's card of harness racing, click the following link: Monday Results Woodbine Mohawk Park. New Delhi: The CBI has filed a charge sheet against three accused in a case related to its probe in the Vyapam scam of Madhya Pradesh. The supplementary charge sheet, a CBI spokesperson said, was filed before a court in Gwalior against a solver, identified as Dilip Kumar Pathak, candidate Deshraj Singh and alleged middleman Suresh Jat. The spokesperson said the agency had registered a complaint in this regard in December last year after the Supreme Court directed the agency to take over probe in Vyapam cases. ALSO READ: (Mayawati demands judicial probe into encounter of 8 SIMI activists in MP) It was alleged that during reconciliation and matching of photograph in PCRT Examination on September 30, 2012, the invigilators at the examination centre at Gwalior found that photograph and signatures in the application form of candidate were not matching with the candidate who was appearing in the said examination conducted by Vyapam. It was revealed during investigation that the candidate (Singh) approached a middleman (Jat) to arrange a solver for appearing in the PCRT Examination, 2012 on his behalf, the agency said. It added that Jat arranged a solver (Pathak) who impersonated in the examination on behalf of Singh. The state police had earlier filed charge sheet against the three accused persons. During CBI investigation, forensic opinion was obtained from the CFSL regarding fingerprint examination and handwriting which conclusively proved that the solver had allegedly impersonated candidate in the said examination fraudulently, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson said the agency also collected additional evidence and added certain sections of IPC and MPRE Act, 1937 in the supplementary charge sheet. ALSO READ: (Vyapam Scam: CBI files charge sheet against two accused) All the three accused persons appeared before the court at the time of filing of charge sheet on notice. The court cancelled their earlier bail and sent them to judicial custody, the spokesperson said. At least 155 FIRs have been registered by the CBI to look into the scam, which relates to alleged massive irregularities in recruitment to government jobs and selection for various professional courses like engineering and medical done by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB), abbreviated in Hindi as Vyapam. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A TV company has apologised sincerely after mistaking actor Richard Blackwood for comedian Dane Baptiste. Baptiste tweeted about the incident on Monday without revealing the firms identity. He wrote: TV production company just sent me press shots of myself to approve before they start the press run. This is the picture the sent ME of ME. I swear on my mothers soul they sent it. The post received more than 18,000 likes within a day, with scores of Twitter users urging Baptiste to publicly shame those at fault. He declined to do so, instead taking the opportunity to call for improved diversity within British comedy and using his platform to promote bald black male comics/people Im not. But on Tuesday, NBCUniversal-owned Monkey Kingdom admitted to the error, which they acknowledged as deeply offensive and inexcusable. The production company said they had spoken to both Baptiste and Blackwood privately and would be redoubling their efforts to uphold the highest standards of inclusivity. It a statement, shared with Deadline, a Monkey Kingdom spokeswoman said: We are sincerely sorry for our error, which was deeply offensive and inexcusable. As a production company, we are very proud of our work contributing to greater diversity on screen and behind the camera, and know that today we have unintentionally undermined important and much needed progress. We have apologised privately to Dane and Richard. We have also committed to redouble our efforts to be a production company that upholds the highest standards of inclusivity. In May 1928, an 18-year-old woman from Mexico made history after winning the title "Miss Mexico" in the first contest held to crown the most beautiful woman in the country. Maria Teresa Landa was born on October 15, 1910. She was the daughter of a middle-class family who sent her to pursue her studies in a state school. As a student, she was a beautiful and intelligent young girl. At a young age, Maria Teresa graduated from La Escuela Normal and became a qualified orthodontist. On March 8, 1928, the young woman's grandmother passed away. Maria Teresa and her family attended the funeral, where she met General Moises Vidal-a 34-year-old revolutionary. Vidal and Landa began an intimate relationship soon after their first meeting. They were often seen out and about in the city and frequented fashionable restaurants in the capital. The teenager's parents were against their relationship, citing their age gap and the general's lower class level. Winning Miss Mexico On April 28, 1928, the Mexican newspaper Excelsior announced a beauty pageant in Mexico City. The winner would be crowned and sent to Galveston, Texas, to represent the country in an international beauty contest. Maria Teresa's participation caused a grand commotion after she posed in a bathing suit for a photo shoot. Mexican conservative groups called her "shameless" and "ambitious." The uproar caused by her picture earned her the coveted title of Miss Mexico. She was paraded around the city in a float despite facing disputes within her family. Her father stopped talking to her after seeing her photographs, while General Vidal became increasingly jealous of her attention. She was sent to Texas but failed to secure the crown. However, she was offered multiple job offers, which she rejected. She quickly returned home to Mexico, where she and Vidal secretly married on September 24, 1928. Murder and Trials On August 25, 1929, the same newspaper that announced the contest published a story that revealed the husband's bigamy and adultery. According to Excelsior, the general had married a woman in Veracruz in 1923 and had two children. The first wife was also named Maria Teresa. On the morning of August 25, 1929, the beauty queen, heartbroken, confronted the general. She took her husband's Smith & Wesson 44-caliber pistol and threatened to end her life. "I can't take it anymore. I'll kill myself," she shouted. Vidal tried to persuade his wife to put the gun down. Carried away by anger, she fired six shots at the general. Two bullets hit the general's face, and four others hit his body. She was arrested shortly after the crime. But she would only speak to a federal judge or her lawyer. Jose Maria Lozano, the former Minister of Public Instruction, defended Landa despite the aggravating circumstances. Their defense presented the young woman as a victim of society and abuse. In court, she always wore an all-black garb-thousands of people tuned into Miss Mexico's trials. The prosecutor painted Maria Teresa as an immoral and shameless killer. He showed those present photos of the defendant that showed her wearing minimal clothing. Lozano, also known as the Prince of Speech, claimed the shooting was self-defense. He also said Landa was consumed by grief by the dishonor Vidal's adultery brought her. According to reports, Maria Teresa's beauty had a hypnotic effect on the people who attended her hearing. No one could look away as she addressed the court and the jury, where she acknowledged murdering her husband. After her short speech, the public started cheering and clapping, with many bursting out into tears. The jury decided that the former beauty queen was not guilty. Miss Mexico walked free. Despite being acquitted, Maria Teresa retired from public life. Instead, she never remarried and devoted her life to teaching history at a school in Mexico City. Want to read more? Iran informs JCPOA Joint Commission of Europeans' violation of commitments: Senior diplomat Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 2:54 PM Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araqchi says the three European signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran have not abided by their commitments and this is why Iran has requested activation of the deal's dispute resolution mechanism in a letter to the European Union's foreign policy chief. The EU foreign policy chief said on July 3 that he had received a letter from Iran that demands triggering the dispute resolution mechanism of the nuclear deal over the failure of the three European signatories to the agreement to honor their commitments. Josep Borrell said the letter written by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif referred Iran's concerns regarding the implementation of issues on the part of France, Germany and Britain to the Joint Commission of the nuclear deal -- officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) -- for resolution through the dispute process set out in the agreement's paragraph 36. The international nuclear deal had been reached between Iran and the P5+1 group -- the US, Britain, France, Russia and China plus Germany -- in 2015. However, in May 2018, US President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled his country out of the JCPOA and later re-imposed the sanctions that had been lifted against Tehran and began unleashing the "toughest ever" fresh sanctions. "We believe that what the three European countries did is in contravention of their commitments under the JCPOA, and we have informed the Joint Commission of this issue and the Joint Commission will decide on the reactions," Araqchi said on Monday. He added that Borrell is in consultation with the remaining signatories to the JCPOA on a session that is necessary to be convened to make a decision about the Iranian foreign minister's letter. The senior Iranian diplomat emphasized that Tehran has triggered the dispute resolution mechanism to inform the Joint Commission of its stance on the trio's lack of commitment to their obligations under the JCPOA. "If a member of the JCPOA fails to fulfill its commitments or violates its obligations under the JCPOA, the opposite side can file a complaint with the Joint Commission based on the dispute resolution mechanism," Araqchi said. The Iranian foreign minister said earlier this month that he has triggered the dispute resolution mechanism of the 2015 nuclear deal. "Don't believe the hype: Iran triggered JCPOA DRM (Dispute Resolution Mechanism) on at least 6 occasions (in ref to US AND E3 violations)," Zarif tweeted on July 4. Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov later warned the participants to the JCPOA against engaging in "fruitless and potentially damaging disputes," urging them to do their best to preserve the agreement. "#E3 and #Iran try to launch from different perspectives Dispute Resolution Mechanism. Not a good idea," the Russian diplomat said, advising all parties to the JCPOA "to think together how to preserve the nuclear deal, which is in a very bad shape," instead of engaging in "fruitless and potentially damaging disputes of this kind." It was in mid-January that Germany, Britain and France said they planned to trigger the dispute resolution mechanism, which could restore UN Security Council sanctions against the Islamic Republic. Reuters cited unnamed European diplomats as saying that the trio would notify the European Union that they were triggering the dispute resolution mechanism whose subsequent mechanism can ultimately lead to a "snapback," which refers to the re-imposition of anti-Iran sanctions in place under previous UN resolutions. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Many malls and High-streets are working on several measures to promote safety and kickstart withheld shopping sprees. With appropriate measures such as social distancing and thorough sanitization, it appears to be safer in shopping and eating out again. On speaking about going to the malls again, a female shopper Suchi Desai, said, I am slightly worried about the COVID-19 and its after-effects, but I cant wait to shop like before. The happiness of roaming in malls, trying and buying new things is nonpareil and it cant be felt shopping online on a couch. Even in tier-2 cities, operators have geared up in taking up all the necessary precautions during these tough times. One of the industrial hubs of Gujarat Vapi, which is surrounded by Surat, Mumbai and Daman, houses a commercial shopping centre Galaxy High Street, owned and operated by Arete Group. The Arete management has fastened their belts to prepare not only to provide shoppers a delightful shopping experience but an experience that will ensure customers safety as they train their staff as corona warriors taking top level measures to ensure virus free zone in complex simultaneously providing you a brilliant and fear free shopping experience as per Virender Kumar, Marketing Head of Arete Group, who talked about their preparedness at the shopping centre Galaxy High Street. The new normal in the post-pandemic era Keeping in view the upheaval in the world, owing to this pandemic, Galaxy High Street, Vapi has taken extensive steps towards making the premise a safe place for shopping and dining. To maintain social distancing, retail outlets are working at limited staff capacity with constant use of face mask and hand gloves by the staff along with mandatory temperature check in the morning. The staff maintains a minimum 6 feet distance inside the retail store as well as in the premises. Exhaustive cleaning and sanitization of entire place especially touchpoints such as doorknobs, chairs, tables, handrails, benches, washroom fixtures, etc. are frequently carried out to achieve safety and preparedness for everyones well-being. The working staff has been briefed about their responsibilities and they have done mock drills for various situations on the premises. There are designated teams appointed for inspection of the measures frequently. The team will go around the centre to ensure people are maintaining social distancing, are wearing a mask and following other norms to keep the virus at bay. In-stores sitting is only allotted at special dedicated places so that a proper social distancing can be achieved. Also, proper marking ensures that people dont sit on the seats that are meant to be remained empty due to social distancing measures. Ms Prachi Srivastav customary shopper at GHS added, I buy some stuff online, but prefer to try on the outfits and footwear where someone guides me on the specifications. I really appreciate the High Street management for taking up all necessary safety pre-cautions especially setting up Sanitization stations at designated places like entrances, elevators as well as stores cash counter alongwith limiting the number of customers at each floor providing ease of shopping. The best thing is I can safely shop from a plethora of Brands at single place. Implementing social distancing Virender Kumar added, Before re-opening our high-street, we kept 3 priorities in mind: Protecting our people, serving our customers in a secured environment, and helping the community against Covid19. by working towards the preparedness and mitigating challenges to be faced in the post-pandemic era. We love the word distance. Our team continuously gauges that everyone is following social distancing norms so that others safety is intact. Not only is it mandatory to wear a facemask inside the premises, but hand sanitization is of utmost importance. At various entry points, our staff will make sure that your hands get sanitized before entering the premises along with a proper thermal screening of each individual. There are strict instructions to security on prohibitions of Group gatherings of more than 5 people. Roaming in the campus / common area without any purpose is not allowed. All the 30+ national and international brands including Westside, Only, Global Desi, Vero Moda, Pizza Hut, Apple Store etc. housed in Galaxy High Street are taking utmost care inside their store and following the new normal guidelines. Shopping sprees after normalcy prevails On spreading awareness, Galaxy High Street, Vapi has installed signages with the guidelines and illustrations to provide awareness about the pandemic. Audio visuals of precautionary measures and regular updates are shared on their social media channels and on website as well. Due to the vastness of the place they have developed a convenient customer check-in app for contact tracing which just requires customers name and contact details. They ensure that all their customers strictly abide by all norms for everyone to have a delightful and hassle-free shopping experience. The steps taken will definitely promote safe shopping and comfortable experience among the visitors until we all get over the fear. We hope that the vaccine is out soon and that normalcy prevails. Everyone wishes to go out again without fear which was once normal, now with added responsibility. While shopping centres and malls are doing their best to help buyers enjoy their shopping sprees as soon as they can, everyone needs to be careful about their safety. Disclaimer: This content is released by Digpu News Network. No HT journalist was involved in the creation of this content. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Two of his loyalists ministers, too, have been sacked from their posts. In a dramatic development, Congress leader Sachin Pilot was on Tuesday removed from posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister, state unit president after he rebelled against the Ashok Gehlot-led government. Two of his loyalists ministers, too, were sacked from their posts. Addressing the media, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that Gobind Singh Dotasara would be the new Rajasthan state Congress chief. Tribal leader and MLA Ganesh Ghogra would be the new president of the Youth Congress, he said. Till now, the post was held by Pilot loyalist Mukesh Bhakar, who on Monday had tweeted that the loyalty to the Congress meant the "slavery" of Gehlot. The party also appointed Hem Singh Shekhawat as the new state president of the Congress Seva Dal, replacing Pilot loyalist MLA Rakesh Pareek. After the Congress Legislature Party meeting, boycotted by the Pilot faction, the chief minister met the governor, Kalraj Mishra, with a list of his supporting MLAs. He reportedly also informed the governor about the sacking of Pilot and his two loyalists. Coming out of the meeting, Gehlot told mediapersons that the Congress party was forced to take the decision to sack Pilot. "We knew about the conspiracy for the last six months. The BJP was using money power to topple the government, just like it did in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. The BJP tried to poach our MLAs. The deputy CM was involved in the whole process, playing into the hands of the BJP which is now making all the arrangements But I am happy we have succeeded to foil this plan," he said. Gehlot also claimed that 122 MLAs, both of Congress and other smaller parties and Independents, continue to support of the government. However, Pilot seemingly defended himself on Twitter, tweeting that truth can be troublesome but it cannot be defeated. He has also removed all mentions of Congress and Rajasthan government from his Twitter profile. Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 The development came after the Pilot faction demanded a floor test, with state Food and Civil Supply Minister Ramesh Meena, one of the two sacked ministers, saying this would make it clear how many MLAs are with the Ashok Gehlot faction. Meena and Vishvendra Singh, another minister who was sacked by the Congress, were among the Congress legislators who skipped both the Congress legislature party meetings on Monday and Tuesday. "Floor test should be conducted in the assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs," Meena said on Tuesday. Congress MLA Deependra Singh Shekhawat too had raised the same demanded on Monday. "We want a floor test at the earliest, which will make the situation crystal clear. We are with the Congress and Congress (state) president Sachin Pilot," Singh had told reporters yesterday. Another Congress MLA Murari Lal Meena, who is close to Sachin Pilot, alleged that Chief Minister Gehlot neglected party leaders and workers who had worked hard for five years. In a tweet, he claimed that the communities in eastern Rajasthan which cast votes in favour of the Congress were being neglected and promises made in elections not fulfilled. Improvement is necessary to saving the Congress. Otherwise the party will get only 11 seats in 2023 (assembly elections), Meena said. T he Glee cast joined together for a powerful moment of remembrance as their co-star Naya Riveras body was identified at a California lake. The 33-year-old actress went missing at Lake Piru lake after hiring a boat with her four-year-old son last week. Police announced on Monday that they had found a body at just after 9am local time and as they awaited confirmation of the identity, Riveras former colleagues, including Heather Morris, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer and Kevin McHale, joined together for an emotional show of solidarity. The cast was pictured holding hands and looking out across the lake where Rivera, who played cheerleader Santana Lopez in the hit show, is believed to have drowned. In mourning: The Glee cast joined hands by the lake where Rivera's body was recovered / ABC Just hours later, it was confirmed that the body was Riveras with authorities stating they do not suspect foul play. The sad news came on the seven-year anniversary of the death of Riveras fellow Glee star, Cory Monteith. Naya Rivera - In pictures 1 /24 Naya Rivera - In pictures Getty Images Naya Rivera Naya Rivera Getty Images Glee Glee Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey at The UNICEF Dia de los Muertos Black & White Masquerade Ball 2014 Getty Images Glee Glee Glee Naya Rivera attends the Women's Guild Cedars-Sinai Annual Gala 2019 Getty Images Naya Rivera of 'Step Up: High Water' speaks onstage during the YouTube portion of the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour Getty Images Naya Rivera arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards 2013 Scott Gries/Invision/AP Glee FOX Image Collection via Getty Images Naya Rivera and Ryan Dorsey attend the March Of Dimes Celebration Of Babies Luncheon Getty Images Glee Glee Glee Monteith, who starred as Finn Hudson, tragically died from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 31. McHale and Colfer were among those who posted tributes to Rivera online when the tragic news of her death was confirmed. Colfer, 30, wrote on Instagram: How can you convey all your love and respect for someone in one post? How can you summarize a decade of friendship and laughter with words alone? If you were friends with Naya Rivera, you simply cant. The actor added that her brilliance and humor were unmatched. Her beauty and talent were otherworldly. She spoke truth to power with poise and fearlessness, he continued. She could turn a bad day into a great day with a single remark. She inspired and uplifted people without even trying. Being close to her was both a badge of honor and a suit of armor. Naya was truly one of a kind, and she always will be. [sic] Its blazing hot, and were all struggling with the frustrations of this pandemic. Voting might not be at the top of your list of priorities, but Texas is having a runoff election today for Democratic and Republican candidates who didnt get a majority of votes in the March primary. These races are important, and they need your vote to decide which candidates face off against each other in the November election. This is also a good trial run for the general election, for both voters and election clerks. Masks are not mandatory to vote today, but theyre always a good idea in public. Polling sites are taking special precautions to guard against spreading the virus. Please do your part by wearing a facial covering. Because this is a primary runoff, you can vote only in the party elections you chose in March Democrat or Republican. But if you didnt vote in March, this time you can vote for either partys candidates but not both. Related: Early votes are in; Election Day is Tuesday In the early voting period for these runoffs, only 5% of registered voters in Jefferson County made it to a polling site. Thats embarrassingly low and probably typical for most counties, even though an extra week of early voting was added because of the pandemic. Low numbers like these make your vote even more important. This is a chance for average citizens to have the impact and influence they sometimes complained about lacking. All you have to do is vote, a right that that people in oppressed countries would love to have. Below are our endorsements in several key races: Jay Wright, Republican nominee for chief justice of the Ninth Court of Appeals headquartered in Beaumont. Wright and Scott Golemon are both seasoned attorneys, but Wright has more experience with the types of cases that will be heard by this appeals court. Wright has handled more than 117 appellate cases, more than four times Golemons total, over his 34-year career. Wright has considerable experience in criminal law (both prosecution and defense) and civil law (both plaintiff and defense) as well as juvenile and probate work, handling hundreds of non-jury trials. Royce West for Democratic nominee for U.S. senator: West is running against Mary MJ Hegar for this job, and she has run a energetic campaign. But West would be a better candidate for Democrats, who will need a strong contender to take on Republican John Cornyn, the No. 2 member of his party in the Senate behind Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. West has 26 years of experience in the Texas Senate, and he has been a strong advocate for many Democratic causes from better health care to criminal-justice reform. He has been particularly active in efforts to improve higher education in Texas, working to get more funding for the states colleges and universities to make them more affordable. Chrysta Castaneda for Democratic nomination for Texas Railroad Commission. Castaneda has more experience in the oil and gas industry that this panel regulates (despite its misleading title) than her opponent, former state Rep. Roberto Alonzo. Shes been in the business for 30 years, starting as an engineer designing software systems for oil and gas companies and then as an oil and gas attorney. Castaneda realizes the need for better control over flaring, when natural gas from oil wells is usually burned instead of collected and used. Thats a growing issue in the Texas energy industry, and the Railroad Commission needs to keep working on ways to minimize it, if not end it. The polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Please show up at one during that 12-hour span. Our democracy depends on people like you to make these choices. A sign outside Cedar Meats Australia abattoir in Melbourne, Australia on May 4, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST/Getty Images) Victorian Virus Outbreaks Continue Victorian authorities are scrambling to suppress a second wave of COVID-19 as new outbreaks pop up across Melbourne. Of 177 new COVID-19 cases reported on July 13, 151 remain under investigation, a trend that has become a constant in the last week as health authorities work hard to establish links between cases. Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the latest infection tally followed three consecutive days of case numbers exceeding 200. Im not going to be complacent about todays number, it is great that it is lower than our peak, but we may not have reached our peak yet, he told reporters. I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I say I have greater confidence about the direction were going in. More than a month after the state tackled its first major outbreak at Cedar Meats in Brooklyn, two abattoirs have closed following positive tests for workers. An outbreak at Somerville Meats meatworks in Tottenham has grown to 12 people, a day after five workers at JBS Meats in Brooklyn tested positive for COVID-19. Cedar Meats has given way to Al-Taqwa College as the states biggest single outbreak at 144 cases, besides the 242 cases already identified in public housing towers in North Melbourne and Flemington. Sutton said the state was seeing about four to five new outbreaks daily and the virus was shining a light on social and economic inequality. People in insecure work were more likely to go to work with symptoms of coronavirus, he said. Theres a number of people who have to make that very difficult choice between what is good for public health and the survival of their own family, Sutton said. His comments came as a staff member at the Mantra Hotel in Preston tested positive to COVID-19. The hotel holds about 60 refugees and asylum seekers brought to Australia almost a year ago from Manus Island and Nauru under medevac legislation. No other staff or detainees had shown symptoms or tested positive to COVID-19 and the hotel had undergone a deep clean, a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said. Footy star Bachar Houli on Monday announced his mother Yamama was being treated in ICU for COVID-19. Meanwhile, outbreaks in aged care facilities have increased concern for elderly Victorians who are more likely to die from the disease. The infection at Menarock Life residence in Essendon has spread to 26 staff and residents, becoming the largest aged-care cluster of coronavirus in Victoria to date. An outbreak at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee has grown to 13 cases, while Japara Central Park Aged Care in Windsor has two positive cases. Health Minister Greg Hunt on Monday announced masks would be mandatory for staff workers at aged care centres in Melbourne. The measure follows recommendations from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and will involve four million masks being sent to more than 800 aged care facilities and home care providers through Melbourne and Mitchell Shire. About 1000 Australian Defence Force personnel are heading to Victoria to help enforce the states lockdown and testing. Melbourne Kochi, July 14 : The Kerala high court on Tuesday asked the state government to provide information on the number of protests staged in the state since the roll out of the covid-19 restrictions. The court also sought to know whether these protests were staged in compliance with the covid-19 protocol. And if not, then how many cases had been registered against protestors for violating regulations. The court was hearing a writ plea seeking to declare as unconstitutional and illegal protests and public gatherings in the state by political parties in violation of covid-19 protocol. Political parties in Kerala had been staging largescale protests and demonstrations, flouting covid-19 regulations. Such protests will sabotage efforts to contain covid-19 and would result in community spread in the state, the plea stated. The plea also charges that the state machinery had chosen not to clamp down on the protests by political parties due to political reasons despite having legal instruments at their disposal to do so. The petition cites section 126 of the representation of the people act, 1951 to argue that political parties do not have an unfettered right to stage protests. The petition was filed by John Numpeli Junior, a lawyer practicing in the high court. The state has been witnessing huge protests recently by opposition political parties and their youth wings seeking the resignation of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Opposition parties have accused the chief ministers office of having links to the accused in the case of smuggling gold in a diplomatic baggage. The chief ministers principal secretary and former IT secretary M Sivasankar has been sent on leave following allegations that the key suspects in the case enjoyed proximity to him. A major controversy broke out in Kerala over the recent seizure of 30kg of gold from a diplomatic baggage addressed to the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. Two former employees at the UAE consulate emerged as the key suspects in the case. The case, however, took a political turn as one of the accused was a contract employee associated with the state governments prestigious space park project under the IT department. The Delhi High Court on Tuesday gave out a set of fresh dates for the Delhi University online Open Book Examination (OBE) setting August 10 as the starting date of the exams. A bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Subramonium Prasad compressed the schedule given by the varsity stating that the future prospects of the 2.7 lakh students would be affected with the delay. The University filed an affidavit in the court on Tuesday stating that the first set of mock tests would start from July 31. However, the court modified the date to July 27. The varsity had also said that the 2nd set of mock test would commence from August 4 and then the OBE exams would start from August 17. However, the court during the hearing changed it and said that the second set of mock test should start from August 1 and the OBE would commence from August 10. The court said that the varsity would declare the date for evaluation and result keeping the schedule in mind and considering that no delay is being commenced. According to the varsity affidavit, the evaluation and declaration of result would have completed by November 30. However, the court asked it to give fresh and shorter dates. The University also told the court that the students can also appear for offline exams that would be held two weeks after the OBE exams. Schedule for the exams: 1st mock test--July 27 2nd mock test--Aug 1 OBE exams--Aug 10 Conclusion of exams-- Aug 31 Investors have once again shown interest in condotels as the legal issues for this kind of real estate product have been clarified. However, the market remains cool. DKRA Vietnam predicted that the supply would increase in Q2 with 200-300 beachfront villas and 600-800 condotels to be marketed. It said the projects would be located mostly in the developed markets of Binh Thuan, Khanh Hoa, Phu Quoc, Ba Ria Vung Tau and Da Nang. Investors are returning as Covid-19 has been controlled in Vietnam and tourism is expected to recover soon. The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE) earlier this year sent a dispatch to local authorities guiding the granting of certificates on non-housing construction work ownership to some new types of real estate, including condotels, tourism villa and officetels. Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon quoted experts as saying that favorable legal policies and high-quality projects would create a firm foundation for the resort real estate market to develop after Covid-19. Le Hoang Chau, chair of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the market fell into difficulties because investment projects violated the laws, causing losses to secondary investors. However, as the problem has been settled and the state management agency will grant red books (land use right certificate), the market will become busy again, especially when tourism recovers. Worries still exist Though the legal framework for condotel has been created and the market is expected to grow rapidly in the time to come thanks to tourism development, investors are still hesitating to pour money into condotels. Though the legal framework for condotel has been created and the market is expected to grow rapidly in the time to come thanks to tourism development, investors are still hesitating to pour money into condotels. Investors are concerned about the commitments about profits, guidance about the granting of red books, and complicated procedures for project transfer. In recent months, FLC Homes sent a document to clients informing them about the delay in the payment of committed profits. The move has raised questions about the real recovery of the condotel market. Dang Quynh Nhu, an investor, said her condotel in Nha Trang has been receiving guests since early 2019. Many foreigners who cannot return to home countries because of Covid-19 have shifted from short-term to long-term leasing. However, Nhu is concerned about her business because condotels heavily depend on tourism development. Le Vu Phuong, an investor in HCM City, said he is still undecided about whether to invest in a condotel in Vung Tau City. A representative of MONRE said the granting of a red book to a condotel is not the same as the granting of a red book to apartments. So the legal status of condotels remains unclear, he said. Thanh Mai New regulations the first step towards condotel resurgence Several years ago, a large wave of condotels was introduced to the market across Vietnam. Mumbai Hours after former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot was sacked from the post of Rajasthan deputy CM and party unit chief, former Mumbai North Central parliamentarian Priya Dutt expressed her solidarity with her former Congress colleague and termed his exit from disappointing. The two-term MP tweeted, Another friend leaves the party, both Sachin [Pilot] and Jyotiraditya [Scindia] were colleagues and good friends, unfortunately, our party has lost two stalwart young leaders with great potential. Dutt also hinted that she stood by Pilots move. I dont believe being ambitious is wrong. They [Pilot and Scindia] have worked hard through the most difficult times, her tweet further stated. Former South Mumbai parliamentarian Milind Deora reportedly refused the partys request to convince Pilot to remain in Congress, while former Union minister Jitin Prasada, too, praised Pilot and expressed hopes that he can be brought back to the Congress. Scindia quit Congress and joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March over differences with the then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath. The young leaders who played a role at the national level believably share a cordial bond with each other. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON American actress Naya Rivera, who played a singing cheerleader Santana Lopez in Glee, was found dead at a Southern California lake on Monday. Ventura County Sheriff's officials confirmed the news and revealed that the body was found by the search crew in the northeast corner of Lake Piru. According to reports, Naya Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru where her son was found on July 8. The surveillance video showed Rivera and her son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, leaving on a rented boat. The authorities believe the following day rivers had drowned and had began search for her body rather than finding her alive. Sheriff's Capttain Eric Buschow said the autopsy will be conducted in the coroner's office in Ventura. Josey Hollis Dorsey was found safe and healthy and was quickly returned to his family. He revealed that he had fallen asleep on the boat three hours after it was taken out. He told the investigators that he had been swimming with his mother, he got back to the boat but she didn't. The vendor found the boat drifting in the northern end of the lake last week, late Wednesday. Dorsey later told the investigators that his mother had helped him on to the boat, "he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water," revealed the sheriff. Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a press conference, "The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting -- it was unanchored -- and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself." Naya Rivera's family was notified of the discovery on Monday. "I can't imagine what it's like for her parents, her family," Buschow said. "It takes an emotional toll on the search teams too." Incidentally, Naya Rivera is the third major cast member from the show to have passed away in her thirties. Seven years ago on July 13, Glee star Cory Monteith had died at 31 from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin. Another Glee actor, Mark Salling died by suicide, at the age of 35 in 2018 after pleading guilty to child pornography charges. John Travolta's Wife Kelly Preston Passes Away After Battling Breast Cancer For 2 Years RIO GRANDE NATIONAL FOREST Near the end of a long, hard path, we were camped in a meadow cast in an otherworldly glow by the setting sun, which along with the evening drizzle created a perfect rainbow. By morning, the moon still hung high, big and bright another phenomenon suited for this remote, mystical place. From a distance, rock walls could be seen above the trees, hinting at some fortress. But nothing, not even the pictures across the internet, can prepare one for what lay deep in the forest, hidden and protected indeed: Wheeler Geologic Area. GETTING TO WHEELER ATVs or high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicles needed for the rough 14-mile road, ending before a foot-only trail stretching about a mile to the area. The 7-mile (one way) East Bellows Creek Trail is another option for hiking only. Either on foot or vehicle, plan on two to three hours to get to Wheeler and two to three hours back. Camping at Wheeler trailhead, but not within the geologic area. More information at Forest Service website: https://bit.ly/31Uv0sY As white men began populating this valley in southwest Colorado, they heard talk of a peculiar domain. The Sandstones, the native Utes called it. No record has been found of George M. Wheeler coming by it during his influential surveys in the area in the late 19th century. Nor is it believed John C. Fremont came across the scene earlier during his railroad prospecting. Though, in the wild vicinity in the winter of 1848, there was one ill-fated expedition, resulting in men perishing and mules being eaten. Rumor has it survivors resorted to their own flesh. No, this was no place for a railroad. Finally, in 1907, one Frank Spencer managed to complete the gritty trip to the site tucked in the La Garita Mountains. A truly remarkable site, went the forest supervisors report. Before us, enhanced by the rays of the setting sun, lay the vista of what seemed to us an enchanted city. Spires and domes, castles and cathedrals, mosques and temples, with their fluted columns and wonderfully carved friezes, were arrayed in a confusing panorama of form and color. The report was enough for President Theodore Roosevelt the next year to proclaim Colorados first national monument: Wheeler National Monument. Wheeler was found to be a masterpiece of erosion and ancient time. The San Juan region was once home to one of the worlds most ferocious volcanic activities, several eruptions over the millennia bursting and covering the land in ash, rubble and magma. With wind, rain and cold, the debris warped and hardened, creating the formations seen today. The descriptions have been many. The City of Gnomes. Dantes Lost Souls. Phantom Ships. A parade of pale soldiers or huge ghosts, reads an informational webpage by the town of South Fork, one town nearby but not exactly. No matter the mode of travel, Wheeler is multiple hours away. As it is from Creede, the once-booming silver town that foresaw Wheeler National Monument becoming an economic lifeline after the bust. Early after Roosevelts proclamation, it was sure enough a popular attraction. Waves of horses and buggies made the arduous journey. Wheeler rivaled Pikes Peak in popularity. But things changed as motors began roaring in America. Twenty three million automobiles were counted in the country in 1930, up from 8,000 in 1900. And with the National Park Service and the Bureau of Public Roads coming to a broad agreement in 1926, roads were being built across natural wonders. National Park Service designers during the 1920s tended to perceive roads and buildings as necessary evils, wrote Laura Soulliere in her 1995 history paper compiled for the agency. Colorado National Monuments Rimrock Drive was finished in 1931. The year after, Trail Ridge Road opened at Rocky Mountain National Park. Great preserves were well on their way to this loved to death age as we know it, this age of overcrowding. Meanwhile, with all of its lingering, rugged difficulties, Wheeler fell out of favor for a vehicle-crazed nation. Wheeler remained reserved for the strong-willed traveler on horseback. It was a lack of funds or a sense of environmentalism or a combination of both that kept the U.S. Forest Service from constructing a road to Wheeler. Why? asked the local newspaper. Other places have secured appropriations to build highways over more difficult places, opined the Creede Candle. In 1933, the Forest Service transferred the area to the National Park Service, which also held back on a road. In the 1940s, annual visitation was reportedly a few dozen. In 1950, the monument status was abolished, and the land returned to the Forest Service due to the isolation and very limited visitation. Later, it seemed Wheeler could no longer resist development. There was talk of a resort-style setup, lodging and a restaurant. A logging road was built toward the boundaries in the 1960s the rocky, rutted track marked as 14 miles long today. But the road stops short of the dreamscape, still out of view from a meadow. Thats because Wheeler was deemed worthy of the hallowed, motorless mandate of the 1964 Wilderness Act, protecting sanctuaries where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. From that meadow, visitors must hike about a mile uphill through La Garita Wilderness to the geologic area. At the trailhead, signs provide scientific background. However, one reads, the fantasy of Wheeler is in allowing your imagination to run wild. So we did before the stark, astonishing beauty. We watched the rising sun color the spires and pinnacles. Watched the shadows play between the cracks and crevices of crags stacked like pyramids, or like the spine of a dragon. We watched from the gray surface of an overlook, like the surface of the moon, we imagined. We were on another planet, we presumed. Somewhere far from this world. For hours, we saw not another soul. While there were saddening sights at the trailhead a cigarette butt, a beer cap, a discarded face mask we found none of it around the volcanic tract. Estimates in this decade suggest about 15 people a day make it all the way to Wheeler. ATVs are most popular. On the way back, a driver stopped us, a tourist from Oklahoma. Is it still there? he asked. Yes, we were pleased to report. It was still there. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sudibyo M. Wiradji (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14 2020 Married couples have their own ways of building a long-lasting marriage, through which both the husband and wife can grow personally and professionally. As most married couples face challenges and go through ups and downs, through joys and sorrows, the division of labor at home requires balance. Each married woman has their own way of working toward a successful long-term marital life. According to Liliana Tanoesoedibyo, the wife of political party leader and businessman Hary Tanoesoedibyo, honesty, loyalty and the ability to respect one another are of principal importance in a marriage. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login This service will not begin until all required certifications are in place for Global Crossing Airlines, according to the resolution. Lauren H. Moore, executive director of the Atlantic County Economic Development Alliance, said Monday that his organization helped facilitate the deal, which could also eventually include GlobalX leasing 53,000 square feet of airport land to build a 24,000-square-foot maintenance hangar. The maintenance operation would bring about 75 good-paying jobs to the region, Moore said. We are thrilled GlobalX has chosen ACY, said Dougherty, in the company press release. We look forward to working with GlobalX on developing a presence at the airport, within Atlantic County, and throughout the South Jersey region. An SJTA spokesman said Monday that all airlines who utilize ACY are required to pay airport use charges. There are no subsidies; however, if an air service incentive program is in place when Global X operates, and if they qualify for those incentives, than they would be entitled to receive incentives, said SJTA spokesman Mark Amorosi. About 153 locals in host communities where Abosso Goldfields Limited (AGL) is doing mining business in the Western Region have benefitted from the company's job creation initiatives. Though the COVID-19 continues to impact negatively on businesses, the mining company has been able to employ the locals from January 2020 to date. Abdel Razak Yakubu, Regional Manager, Sustainable Development Project of AGL, described the initiative as a point of pride for the company. Razak Yakubu was speaking at the first consultative committee meeting organized this year for the company's host communities at Huni Valley in the region. It was attended by chiefs, queenmothers, assembly members and unit committee chairpersons from about nine host communities of the company. We can build the schools and roads, but if we dont make the community part of the company, the community members will see Goldfields as foreign. So since we started operations in Ghana, we made it a point to always have engagements with people in our host communities, Razak Yakubu indicated. He said the method of employment was to pass the vacancies to the people through the consultative committee to ensure transparency. He mentioned that the company was constructing a 350-bed capacity dormitory for the Huni Valley Senior High School to help deal with the double track system. The company continues to offer scholarships and bursaries to students and also assist teachers in diverse ways, he added. Mrs. Gladys Sarkpoh, Plant Metallurgist of the company, took the participants through the safety concerns with regard to the use of cyanide in extracting gold. Because we transport the hazardous product through the roads in the communities, it is necessary that the people be aware of the dangers associated with cyanide, she stressed. She explained that from time to time officials from the company visited the communities to educate them on what to do in case there was cyanide spillage. The Municipal Chief Executive for Prestea Huni Valley, Isaac Dasmani, commended the company for consistently supporting its host communities and improving the living standards of the people. ---Daily Guide Flevo Hospital partnership with Philips Flevo Hospital partnership with Philips July 14, 2020 Amsterdam, the Netherlands Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Flevo Hospital today announced they have signed a 10-year strategic partnership agreement to continuously innovate and optimize patient care in the Almere region of the Netherlands. The collaboration has four strategic priorities: 1) Achieving the strategic objective of 'the right care in the right place' by means of innovations and the optimal use of (medical) technology; 2) Modernizing care and strengthening communication between Flevo Hospital and its patients and partners; 3) Increasing the enthusiasm and involvement of hospital employees by unburdening care professionals and modernizing work processes; and 4) Saving costs and improving the efficiency of technology. We are confronted with many new challenges, but want to keep providing a high standard of affordable care not only within the hospital but also increasingly outside the hospital, said Anita Arts, CEO of Flevo Hospital, Almere, the Netherlands. We want to involve our patients even more closely in their care. This is possible with the help of technological solutions. Philips is a partner for the future with whom we want to innovate and develop new solutions for our strategic challenges. Thanks to our broad portfolio, we can help Flevo Hospital achieve its ambitions and overcome the challenges it faces, said Henk Valk, CEO at Philips Benelux. In this collaboration, we will work as partners to realize a future-proof hospital. Innovation is the most important part, but good education, together with the maintenance and service of our technology, are also enormously important for the Flevo Hospital to be able to deliver high-quality patient care. In every way, we can strengthen each other and help to improve care, making cooperations like this crucial now and into the future. During the term of the contract, Philips will act as the preferred supplier of imaging systems, such as MR, CT and ultrasound, and patient monitoring systems. The purchase of equipment is organized through a multi-year medical technology plan to reduce costs for the hospital and make it more transparent. Flevo Hospital will gain early insight into new Philips solutions to ensure that the right equipment is purchased at the right time. The ambition of Flevo Hospital is to be able to quickly use new innovative Philips solutions to optimize workflows, patient pathways and patient experiences while driving efficiencies and cost optimization. Story continues Under the agreement, Philips and Flevo Hospital will also work on innovation programs aimed at introducing innovative technologies and ensuring their optimal use, such as expanding patient monitoring in the hospital, as well as facilitating care outside the hospital. Another goal focuses on further enhancing the staff experience to foster passionate and committed employees. Each year, an education plan will be agreed on for the development and education of healthcare providers and medical technicians in the hospital, so that Philips' technology can be used optimally and efficiently for patient care. For further information, please contact: Joost Maltha Philips Global Press Office Tel.: +31 6 10 55 81 16 E-mail: joost.maltha@philips.com Pieter de Meer Philips Benelux Tel.: +31 6 25 26 90 65 E-mail: pieter.de.meer@philips.com About Royal Philips Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) is a leading health technology company focused on improving people's health and enabling better outcomes across the health continuum from healthy living and prevention, to diagnosis, treatment and home care. Philips leverages advanced technology and deep clinical and consumer insights to deliver integrated solutions. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company is a leader in diagnostic imaging, image-guided therapy, patient monitoring and health informatics, as well as in consumer health and home care. Philips generated 2019 sales of EUR 19.5 billion and employs approximately 81,000 employees with sales and services in more than 100 countries. News about Philips can be found at www.philips.com/newscenter . Attachment The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Bosiako popularly known as Chairman Wontumi has strongly alleged that most parliamentarians representing the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have contracted the novel coronavirus. According to him, about 48 members of the Minority in Parliament have tested positive for cornavirus. Speaking on Kumasi-based Wontumi FM, the controversial politician allegedly said that the leaders of the NDC are trying to cover up the news. I have been informed that 48 NDC MPs have the coronavirus in Parliament, he alleged. Adding that, The NDC leadership is hiding the test results because thats their way of doing things, however, I have gotten the information. He also disclosed that about 45 NPP Members of Parliament have also tested positive for the deadly virus. Akufo-Addo goes into self-isolation President Akufo-Addo has decided to go into self-isolation after at least one person within his close circle tested positive for Covid-19. The statement did not name the member of the Presidents inner circle who has tested positive. A statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said on the advice of doctors, the President is from July 4, 2020, taking a 14-day precautionary self-isolation measure in compliance with Covid-19 protocols. The statement, however, stated that the president himself has tested negative as at today [July 4]. Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Investor Kevin O'Leary started his first business out of his basement in 1986. In 1999, O'Leary and his co-founders sold the company to the Mattel Toy Company for $4.2 billion. But even if the business had failed, O'Leary says he would have persisted as an entrepreneur. "If starting my first company hadn't worked out, I would have started my second company. If that failed, I would have started my third company. If that failed, I would have started my fourth company," O'Leary tells CNBC Make It. "The point is, you only need one hit. And you just don't know which one it's going to be." Of course, O'Leary has had several hits since. In addition to investing in successful companies via ABC's "Shark Tank," O'Leary founded businesses including O'Shares ETFs, O'Leary Financial Group and O'Leary Wines. And even from a place of success, if he lost it all today, O'Leary says he would still start again as an entrepreneur. "My motivation, and probably [the same] for most entrepreneurs, is to control my own destiny," he said. "You can't make it work every time, but you have to keep trying." O'Leary's "Shark Tank" co-star Mark Cuban also says "it doesn't matter how many times you f--- up" in business. "You only gotta be right once," Cuban said on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take" podcast in February. Self-made billionaire Cuban was persistent in starting multiple companies, even after many failures. Today, Cuban is worth $4.3 billion, according to Forbes. Working for yourself and starting a business is a difficult route, O'Leary admits, but to him, it's worth it. "You're going to fail a lot more. But when it works, it really works," he says. And it's not just about money. "You're going to get [money] if you're successful that's one of the derivatives," he says. But it also "gives you that personal freedom to pursue things that you really want to do." For O'Leary, what he really wants to do is work more. "That's what I like to do. That's the whole point. I enjoy what I do. That's entrepreneurship," he says. "If you get up in the morning at 5:30 and get back to work, you know you're doing something you love." Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to "Shark Tank." Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years Don't miss: Credit: CC0 Public Domain Emergency rooms in Barcelona were collapsing under the pressure. Hundreds of patients were arriving in desperate need as they struggled to breathe, while intensive care units struggled to cope with the sudden influx of respiratory problems. Epidemiologists scrambled to trace the source of the outbreak. This epidemic in the 1980s might bear some striking similarities to the coronavirus pandemic, but there was no infection to blame. The city was suffering from outbreaks of asthma. Between 1981 and 1989, 26 outbreaks of asthma were reported in Barcelona with many cases centered around the harbor. Local scientists eventually discovered that the cause was soybean dust released into the air when cargo was unloaded. The solution was simple enoughfilters to cover the soybeans siloshowever, the episode left a remarkable legacy in the scientific community in Barcelona, which could now help clinicians to identify a significant risk to brain development in children. The asthma epidemics were initially thought to be due to air pollution from burning fossil fuels, so the researchers created a register to map its potential impact. This became the basis for the local researchers to continue to monitor the effects of dirty air over the decades since. Although the immediate effect of air pollution on asthma was much weaker than the soybean dust, it was affecting the population on a daily basis. Over time, air pollution appeared to be responsible for more emergency room admissions for asthma than the acute soybean-related epidemics. Professor Jordi Sunyer from ISGlobal, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, was one of the researchers who discovered the link to soybeans, and now investigates the effects of air pollution. "In the 80s, home combustion of coal was a major problem, and the levels of sulfur oxide were very high. This was controlled, but now, especially in Europe, there is a dramatic increase in traffic and diesel combustion," he said. As well as changes in the type of pollution, he says that we now better understand the extent of damage caused by air pollution beyond the lungs. "In the 90s, it appeared that the cardiovascular system was a major target of air pollution. Then in 2008, there were studies in animals that showed an effect on the brain," he said. "This was because the size of the particles of pollution was so small that they could go into the brain and cause neuroinflammation." In 2015, Prof. Sunyer and his colleagues published research showing that higher pollution levels were linked to a 5% decrease on tests of working memory in children aged seven to 10. "This is the same amount of change that was found several years ago between children with high levels of lead in the blood and children with lower levels in the blood," said Prof. Sunyer. When the lead pollution from petrol was found to be causing widespread harm, unleaded petrol was introduced from the 1970s. At an individual level, a 5% decrease on a test would not be enough to make an obvious impact, but on a population level, it could have a significant economic cost, says Prof. Sunyer. He adds that 90% of brain development happens by the age of four, so he is now following up on his previous study to understand the effects of air pollution at the earliest stages of life. He is leading the AIR-NB study to monitor the exposure to air pollution before the child is even born. The research team is recruiting 1,200 pregnant women in Barcelona to the study and measuring the pollution levels in their homes. Taking into account other possible factors, such as physical activity, noise pollution and the mother's stress hormones, they will try to identify differences between the children as they develop. The researchers will be imaging their brains at the third trimester of pregnancy and from one month after birth using MRI scans. Autism Another concern is that air pollution can raise the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder. Several studies in the U.S. suggested that there is a link to air pollution, but the results from a big European project found no connection. However, this research brought together results from multiple studies using different methods, which may have affected the results. Dr. Juana Maria Delgado-Saborit, a visiting researcher at ISGlobal, hopes to investigate this issue by using data on 18,000 children in the U.K. These children are all part of the Millennium cohort study and have been regularly monitored and tested over the past two decades. "I thought that maybe with that big cohort, there might be the chance to see if there is a real problem in U.K. and Europe, or if the Americans are seeing a difference because of the composition of the pollution," she said. For a project called COGNAC, Dr. Delgado-Saborit is using health information collected on the children up to the age of 14 to look for diagnoses of autism spectrum disorder or traits of the condition. By overlaying this information with maps of pollution during pregnancy and in their early years, she hopes to identify any potential links. The analysis of the data is ongoing, but her early results suggest that there is a connection with levels of ozone in the air. Ozone is an irritant that is formed by a reaction involving nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, common pollutants from road traffic. Change Both Dr. Delgado-Saborit and Prof. Sunyer draw parallels to the change in perspective of the damage caused by air pollution following the thousands of deaths from the Great Smog of London in 1952. "From the industrial revolution, we knew that we were making our environment dirty, but we didn't have the evidence (of harm). When we started measuring the changes, we started to realize that something was happening, especially when we had the episode of London smog. That kick-started (the realization) that the air is having an impact on our health," said Dr. Delgado-Saborit. "After the Clean Air Acts, the air was cleaned. In the 80s, it was thought that the levels (of pollution) were safe for health," said Prof. Sunyer. Just like the 1950s, there is widespread understanding today that polluted air is not safe, but researchers still do not know how great an impact it has. While there is acceptance that children at school should not be exposed to high levels of air pollution, Prof. Sunyer says, the results of their research could have far-reaching consequences: "If we found pregnancy and early life is a more vulnerable period, I think this would force society to find new ways to live in cities that also protect the health of children." However, compared to putting a lid on soybean dust, this may prove to be a big challenge. Explore further Nearly half of all childhood asthma cases in Barcelona are attributable to air pollution More information: Horizon brings you the latest news and features about thought-provoking science and innovative research projects funded by the EU. Our articles are written by independent science journalists and are designed to appeal to both scientists and non-scientists alike. We mix stories on the latest EU-funded research with interviews with leading scientists, all written in a clear, accessible style. Each month we also take an in-depth look at a particular area of research, from 3D printing to Europe's obesity epidemic. Our content is updated daily and access is free. Horizon is published in English, by ICF Next on behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. The anti-inflammatory and other beneficial effects of meditation and yoga practices make them potential adjunctive treatments of COVID-19, according to the peer-reviewed journal JACM, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. Deepak Chopra, University of California, San Diego and William Bushell of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-authors from Harvard University and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health describe the anti-inflammatory effects associated with meditation and yoga. The "brief overview of key subjects" found "there is evidence of stress and inflammation modulation, and also preliminary evidence for possible forms of immune system enhancement, accompanying the practice of certain forms of meditation, yoga, and pranayama, along with potential implications for counteracting some forms of infectious challenges." The authors also "readily acknowledge that in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the ideas put forth in this article must be put to further rigorous scientific investigation." The paper is another in a series in JACM and in other integrative medicine journals suggesting that research agencies in the United States and Europe would serve their citizens by upping their exploration of the potential contributions of natural health practices, especially amidst the present dearth of conventional treatments." John Weeks, Editor-in-Chief, JACM New Delhi: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Monday announced an investment of Rs 75,000 crore in India over the next 5-7 years through 'Google for India Digitisation Fund'. Addressing Google for India event, Pichai asserted that the latest move is a reflecion of the company's confidence in future of India and its digital economy. "Today, I am excited to announce Google for India digitisation fund. Through this effort, we will invest Rs 75,000 crore or USD 10 billion in India for next 5-7 years," Pichai said in a tweet. Today at #GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B digitization fund to help accelerate Indias digital economy. Were proud to support PM @narendramodis vision for Digital India - many thanks to Minister @rsprasad & Minister @DrRPNishank for joining us. https://t.co/H0EUFYSD1q Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) July 13, 2020 Investments will focus on four key areas of India's digitisation, he said. This includes, enabling affordable access and information to every Indian in their own language, building new products and services relevant to India's unique needs, empowering businesses as they continue to embark in digital transformation, and leveraging technology and Artificial Intelligence for social good in areas like healthcare, education and agriculture. (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. told employees at a New York warehouse, where workers have sued and gone on strike over safety concerns, that they wont be punished for insufficient productivity or extra time washing their hands. In a message Amazon sent recently to employees and posted in bathrooms at the Staten Island facility, the e-commerce giant said workers wouldnt be disciplined for falling short of quotas based on how many tasks they complete each hour. Time spent on safety measures like handwashing also wont be counted against them under Amazons Time Off Task policy, which limits the number of unproductive minutes allowed in their day. The company also said that the more lenient policy, instituted in response to the coronavirus pandemic, had been in place since mid-March. Amazons legal team shared the message on Monday with the judge handling a lawsuit, filed by warehouse employees and family members, that claims the companys oppressive and dangerous policies have exacerbated Covid-19 risks. Jason Schwartz, an attorney representing Amazon, wrote that the companys policies were already clear to workers, but that it reiterated the message in an abundance of caution. The plaintiffs disputed that Amazon had already told workers about this. In a declaration also filed Monday, employee Derrick Palmer said that prior to that mornings email he hadnt received any communication from the company about such a policy change. I have continued to work as fast as I did before the outbreak of COVID-19, and I have continued to do things like rush back to my workstation following breaks or skip trips to the bathroom to wash my hands, in order to keep my rate up and to limit my TOT, he wrote. Amazon has denied wrongdoing. Lisa Levandowski, a company spokesperson, declined to comment on pending litigation. The largest U.S. internet retailer has said that its made over 150 process updates to protect employees, and expects to spend more than $800 million on coronavirus safety measures including masks, hand sanitizer, thermal cameras, and additional handwashing stations. Story continues The company also provided the court a list of talking points which it said was given to managers earlier this year so they could inform employees of the more lenient Covid policy. The document specified that it was for verbal use only. Amazon is trying to have it both ways -- to say that they had a policy protecting workers without those workers actually knowing about it, David Seligman, the executive director of non-profit Towards Justice, said. Seligman, whose organization brought the lawsuit along with fellow advocacy groups Public Justice and Make the Road New York, said Mondays message from Amazon was a tremendous victory. The lawsuit, which accuses Amazon of purposeful miscommunication with workers and sloppy contact tracing as well as a culture of workplace fear, remains ongoing. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. A second man has been charged after an Omani student was stabbed to death near Harrods in Knightsbridge. Arseboon Dilbaro, 22, was charged on Tuesday with murdering 20-year-old Mohammed Al-Araimi on December 5 last year. Dilbaro was arrested earlier the same day after arriving at Heathrow Airport on a flight from Egypt. Mr Al-Araimi was attacked as he walked home from a restaurant. The Kings College politics and economics student was knifed in the back and collapsed beneath a Christmas tree in Hans Crescent, near an entrance to Harrods. A friend of the victim - also aged 20 - was also found suffering injuries. He was taken to hospital for treatment and was later discharged. Mr Al-Araimi was the son of Sheikh Abdullah Al Araimi who founded one of the Middle Easts biggest property empires. Sheikh Al Araimis Al Raid Group opened the 130 million Al Araimi Boulevard shopping centre in Muscat in 2018, which was modelled on Westfield London in Shepherds Bush. The family, said to be close to Omans ruling dynasty, reportedly spend much of the year in London and own a number of apartments in a block in Knightsbridge opposite Hyde Park. Dilbaro was also charged on Tuesday with grievous bodily harm with intent, attempted robbery and threatening a person with a blade in a public place. He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. It comes months after Badir Rahim Alnazi, 24, was charged with murder, attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article on January 9. Rahim Alnazi appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in January and was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey. His next court appearance date is yet to be set. A local judge has denied a motion to suppress in the case of the former Supervisory Border Patrol agent accused of fatally shooting four women and kidnapping another in Laredo during 2018. According to online court records, 406th District Court Judge Oscar J. Hale Jr. signed an order on July 10 denying a motion filed by Juan David Ortizs attorney, Joel Perez, requesting to suppress the defendant's confession. The order states that the court concluded that at the time when police initially approached Ortiz there existed reasonable suspicion for his detention. ...the moment that (Ortiz) fled from police and away from his vehicle, after his initial and lawful detention, he abandoned any expectation of privacy for any property inside his vehicle and the automobile exception to the warrant requirement was triggered, according to the order. It adds that the court found that prior to Ortiz making his statement to authorities, the interviewing officers ensured that Ortizs rights under Texas law were explained to and understood by Ortiz. The court also found that Ortizs statement to police was made voluntarily and was the product of a free and deliberate choice. ...Ortizs conduct and calm demeanor during the interview together with his desire to share details of what had occurred demonstrated a gree and deliberate choice to make an intelligent and voluntary statement and inferred, by clear and convincing evidence, a willingness to waive his rights, the document states. The order ends stating that the court concludes that Ortizs interview was not unreasonably long, and therefore the length of the interview did not render an otherwise voluntary statement involuntary. The court finds and concludes that sufficient probable cause was contained within the four corners of the affidavit in support of, and attached to, the search warrant issued on September 15, 2018 for the search of (Ortizs) residence and the search of (his) residence was therefore, valid, the document states. Perez filed two ex parte motions in December and March, respectively, on behalf of his client. An ex parte motion is a sealed record filed with no advanced notice. The motion is only discussed between the court and the party that filed it. Perez argued to Hale that whether deliberate or not, Ortiz was read his Miranda Rights at approximately 3:21 a.m., and eight hours later, a confession was given. There is an attenuation from the reading of his rights to the statement given, Perez argued. Without all those promises and inducements, Ortizs free will would not have been moved, Perez said. For all those reasons, we submit to the court that at least the part where he talks about the offenses that that would be inadmissible for all the reasons stated, Perez said. Alaniz respectfully disagreed with the defense counsel as he stated the officers were not aggressive or coercive. As far as duration, 10 hours is not something that is unusual, Alaniz said. At the time they brought him in, theres two murders they know of. Investigators received information on another murder, and finally Ortiz voluntarily gives information on Janelle, the last victim, Alaniz argued. We believe in this case, the state has met all of its requirements, Alaniz said. The confession was obtained voluntarily and at no time during the 10 hours did (Ortiz) explicitly request an attorney. Hearing On June 29, prosecutors challenged the motions filed by Perez by calling Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Abel Obregon and Webb County Sheriffs Office Captain of Criminal Investigations Federico Calderon to testify. Testimony revealed that Ortizs interview began on the night of Sept. 14 and 15 shortly after 3 a.m. It took approximately 10 hours and ended around noon the next day. We provided restroom breaks, water breaks, asked him if he was hungry, got him snacks and food, Calderon testified. Ortiz was agitated during the interview, he said. However, Calderon said that neither he nor Texas Ranger E.J. Salinas had to get aggressive with Ortiz. Calderon testified that Ortiz was given three restroom breaks and was given Whataburger toward the end of the interview. Calderon said that Ortiz was advised that a weapon was found. Calderon testified that Ortiz described the location of the bodies, how he killed the women and how the women knew each other from their work. He told us about victims we hadnt discovered yet, Calderon said. He confessed he killed four victims by shooting them with a .40 caliber pistol. A government issued pistol with government issued ammunition. Obregon testified that he saw Ortiz going into a Stripes convenience store located on the corner of Jefferson Street and San Bernardo Avenue. He added that Ortiz fled on foot and ended up at Hotel Ava where he was arrested on an evading arrest on foot charge. He added that Ortiz was arrested an hour after the encounter at the convenience store. Webb County Sheriffs Office and three state troopers found Ortiz laying in the bed of the white Dodge Ram. Ortiz was arrested and transported to the Webb County Sheriffs Substation on Highway 59. Hale scheduled a status hearing for Oct. 15 in the 406th District Court. Democrats will all but finalize their roster of candidates for a Senate takeover bid in Tuesdays primaries. They will pick a candidate to take on Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, with state House Speaker Sara Gideon the heavy favorite to win that states ranked-choice primary. Democrats will also pick a nominee in Texas amid a push to turn the state blue in 2020, two years after Beto ORourke nearly knocked off Sen. Ted Cruz. Meanwhile, President Donald Trumps involvement in GOP primaries all around the country faces more major tests including two races in which he has personal stakes in the outcomes. Trumps former attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is running in a GOP primary runoff for his old Senate seat in Alabama. But Trump, still aggrieved by Sessions 2017 decision to recuse himself from the Justice Departments investigation into the 2016 election, has piled on Sessions not only endorsing his opponent, Tommy Tuberville, but openly mocking Sessions comeback attempt. Trumps endorsement has made Tuberville the favorite in Tuesdays runoff, but its less clear if the presidents backing will boost Ronny Jackson, his former White House physician, who is locked in a tight race for a Republican-heavy House seat in the Texas Panhandle. Here are seven things POLITICOs campaign team is watching on Tuesday: Jeff Sessions last stand Trump has made it clear how much he despises Sessions. But will the Alabama Republicans who voted for Sessions for decades abandon him for Trumps candidate? Sessions made a last-minute entrance into the GOP primary for his old Senate seat last fall, hoping there was enough remaining goodwill from his two decades serving the state to propel him to another term and rehabilitate his image. But since then, little has gone to plan. Trump endorsed Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, a week after Tuberville edged Sessions for first place in the March 3 primary. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, what was supposed to be a March 31 runoff was postponed until July 14 Story continues Since the primary, Tuberville has done little to engage with Sessions, keeping the focus of the race for the most part on the former senator and the president. Sessions has called Tuberville weak for refusing to debate and framed him as a carpetbagger for moving to the state to run for office. Tubervilles allies have brushed off those attacks as unlikely to move voters more than Trumps endorsement. The race is critical to Republicans hopes to keep the Senate. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, who won the 2017 special election to fill Sessions old seat, is the most vulnerable senator on the ballot this fall. But he has a massive financial advantage and has been running positive ads focused on his record, while the Republicans battle it out for months. If Sessions pulls off the upset, hell need to quickly repair his relationship with Trumps most ardent supporters and potentially with the president himself, if that remains possible. If Tuberville wins, hell need to prepare for a general election against a tough opponent who was the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the state in decades. Can Democrats get their candidate in Texas? Senate Democrats have faced a handful of primaries in recent months testing their preferred candidates in battleground states. Texas is the final competitive intraparty clash before the party can turn its full attention to the fall. MJ Hegar, a combat veteran who narrowly lost a 2018 House race, won the March 3 primary but fell far short of a majority needed to win the nomination against GOP Sen. John Cornyn. Hegar faces a runoff Tuesday against state Sen. Royce West, who narrowly finished in second place in the primary. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and EMILYs List endorsed Hegar, who has outraised and outspent West. But the longtime state lawmaker has influential endorsements in the state that could help propel him in a tight contest. The race has turned bitter in the final stretch, with West and Hegar exchanging significant attacks, according to the Dallas Morning News. Theyve also gotten a push from Cornyns campaign, which has been meddling in the race by boosting Wests profile with attacks calling him too liberal for Texas, which could be viewed as a positive attribute for primary voters. If Hegar wins Tuesday, the DSCC will have a perfect record this year in primary endorsements after an aggressive strategy of backing candidates in nearly every single competitive primary. But the general election could prove an uphill battle, even as Texas shows signs of being vulnerable for Republicans. Cornyn starts the campaign with $14.5 million in the bank, compared with just $1.6 million for Hegar (and far less for West), giving the incumbent a major edge over his emerging opponent. And even polling that shows Joe Biden running neck and neck with Trump in a state that hasnt voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976 also shows Cornyn with leads over both Democrats. A huge clash a major windfall for Gideon awaits in Maine Gideon and Collins have been running general election campaigns against each other for months but on Tuesday it will all-but-certainly become official. And her fight for a fifth term will easily be the toughest and most expensive campaign of Collins career. Gideon still has to dispatch Betsy Sweet and Bre Kidman, two other Democrats who have failed to gain significant traction. Gideon has taken criticism from her opponents and from Republicans for not debating more during the primary, but the race has never appeared to be particularly close. Gideons campaign announced she raised more than $9 million in the second quarter, which is more than the Democrats who ran against Collins in 2008 and 2014 raised for their entire campaigns combined, according to Federal Election Commission records. Collins has also significantly upped her fundraising from previous campaigns, which she won without much trouble. Both campaigns have been in full-scale, general-election mode for months, running millions of dollars in TV ads and airing a mixture of positive spots about their own record and early attacks against each other. Major outside groups in both parties have also been on the air, though Democrats have outspent their GOP counterparts. All that amounts to what is likely already the most expensive race in Maine history. Still, the money is going to increase after Wednesday. In 2018, a crowd-funding effort to support Collins future opponent was created to fund her opponent if she voted to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. After Collins dramatic vote for Kavanaugh, Gideon stands to be the recipient of that money, which will be a significant boost for her campaign coffers. Is Trumps former doctor heading to Congress? The primary runoff for this deep-red swath of the Texas Panhandle pits Trumps former White House physician against Josh Winegarner, who is endorsed by the outgoing incumbent, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas). Jackson a retired Navy rear admiral famous for his effusive praise of the presidents health caught two big breaks in his attempt to break out in a massive field ahead of the first round of the primary: He nabbed a coveted Twitter endorsement from Trump and then found a national platform on cable news, using his medical background to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Ronny Jackson is seen on the White House grounds in April 2018. Yet Winegarner has a large head start over Jackson; he beat him in the March 3 primary by 19 points. And he has outspent Jackson by about $200,000 as of late June. A Jackson loss would be a tough blow for Trump, whose near-perfect record in congressional endorsements has taken a hit in recent weeks. He waded into a North Carolina congressional primary runoff to endorse his chief of staffs pick only to see her routed by a 24-year-old, first-time candidate. He also backed GOP Rep. Scott Tipton of Colorado, who lost his seat last month in a shocking upset. House Republicans pick candidates in Texas and Maine targets The GOP will finally crown nominees in what are expected to be two of the most competitive House races in the country. Three Republicans are vying for a chance to take on Democratic Rep. Jared Golden of Maine: former state Rep. Dale Crafts, 2018 Senate nominee Eric Brakey and Adrienne Bennett, a former aide to then-Gov. Paul LePage. But the contest is very likely heading to a ranked-choice runoff, which is required by law if no one hits 50 percent on the first ballot. At least one independent public poll suggests Crafts is in a commanding position to win the nomination. Brakey is the top fundraiser, but Crafts has a compelling personal story a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the waist down and an endorsement from LePage. It will be a top battleground no matter who emerges from the primary. Trump carried this rural Maine district by 10 points in 2016, and Golden won it last cycle in a ranked-choice runoff after the votes of two third-party candidates were redistributed. Meanwhile, Republicans are locked in a vitriolic runoff for a suburban Houston seat that is among the most diverse in the nation. GOP megadonor Kathaleen Wall has spent millions on TV ads tarring Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls for his response to the sex trafficking crisis in his community. (Another ad says China "poisoned our people" with the coronavirus.) Nehls, who won the March primary by 21 points, is favored to nab the nomination but hell emerge from the race with no money and high negatives. Meanwhile, Democrat Sri Kulkarni avoided a runoff and is sitting on $1.1 million in his campaign account. Democrats tap nominees in two Texas battlegrounds House Democrats will choose nominees in two competitive Texas seats that will have big implications on the House majority. The primary runoff for retiring GOP Rep. Kenny Marchants seat in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs has become especially heated. The Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and some progressives have lined up behind Candace Valenzuela, a former school board member who was homeless as a child. Veterans groups have coalesced behind Kim Olson, a retired Air Force colonel who ran statewide in 2018. Olson took first place in the March primary, but a recent Data for Progress poll showed Valenzuela ahead by double digits. The seat has all the trappings of a Democratic pickup. Marchant barely won this seat in 2018 against an underfunded challenger, and Trumps 2016 victory margin was 16 points smaller than Mitt Romneys in 2012. FILE - In this May 17, 2013 file photo, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Republican establishment hopes an overhaul of immigration laws will help the party run stronger presidential races. But that goal is about to hit big hurdles in the form of House Republicans. Many House Republicans are hostile to the bipartisan immigration bill before the Senate. Even substantial changes to it may do little to placate those who demand strict crackdowns on unlawful border crossings and no amnesty for people here illegally. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File) In a sprawling central Texas seat, which spans from Austin to the Houston suburbs, 2018 nominee Mike Siegel will face off against physician Pritesh Gandhi. 314 Action, an outside group that supports Democratic scientists and doctors, has been spending to boost Gandhi, but Siegel won the first round by 11 points and has residual name ID from his last run. And because Gandhi is a practicing doctor, the pandemic has hampered his ability to campaign and fundraise. Yet some national Democrats worry that Siegel, who supports "Medicare for All" and the "Green New Deal," is a poor fit for Rep. Mike McCaul's seat that Trump carried by 9 points. Safe red seats and a potential Pete Sessions comeback bid Former Rep. Pete Sessions, a former chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, is attempting a comeback bid 100 miles south of the Dallas-area seat he lost in the 2018 midterms. That has put him at odds with the retiring incumbent, GOP Rep. Bill Flores, and other local officials who are aligned behind businesswoman Renee Swann. Sessions led the crowded primary field in March, beating Swann 32 percent to 19 percent. But he has yet to post the prolific fundraising for which he was renowned and is facing accusations of carpetbagging. Two seats are open this cycle after retirements by Republican Reps. Bradley Byrne and Martha Roby in Alabama. Both of Tuesdays runoffs quickly turned into a race to see who is the Trumpiest. In Robys district, the contest is between businessman Jeff Coleman and ex-state Rep. Barry Moore, who claims to be the first elected official in the country to back Trump. Former state Sen. Bill Hightower faces Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl for the nomination to replace Byrne, who finished third in the Senate primary behind Tuberville and Sessions. Tuesday will be a big test for the Club for Growths influence, which has backed Hightower and Moore. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of Candace Valenzuela, a Democratic candidate in Texas' 24th Congressional District. DALLAS, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alternet Systems, Inc. (USOTC: ALYI), an innovative electric vehicle company concentrating on the African market, today published a bulletin outlining in further detail the company's recently announced development project to construct an advanced electric mobility site in Africa covering approximately 100 acres. The site is a key component of an overall $300 million initiative designed to expand rapidly beyond the initial $300 million scope. ALYI has executed a $2.5 million investment deal intended to fund the design and engineering of the advanced electric mobility site. The $2.5 million is an advance on a $25 million investment currently committed under a letter of intent. The bulletin is included below in its entirety within this release: Bulletin: Advanced Electric Mobility Site Supporting $300 Million Initiative ALYI in an innovative company dedicated to electric mobility. The company was founded on developing a patented portfolio of lithium battery technologies and has evolved into its current focus on developing complete electric mobility solutions for the African market. ALYI CEO, Dr. Randell Torno, contends that the immediate opportunity for electric powered transportation growth in Africa by far exceeds the electric powered transportation opportunity anywhere else in the world and that the electric mobility technology innovations that will be developed for Africa will ultimately form the foundation of commercial electric powered transportation everywhere. In short, Africa is the global proving ground for electric powered transportation. Long-Term Corporate Sustainability Strategy ALYI's evolutionary approach to developing electric mobility solutions was designed for sustainability. Separate from ALYI's innovative, paradigm changing, electric mobility initiative, management maintains a residual consulting business leveraging the team's extensive operational experience in Africa. The consulting operations cover fundamental expenses and have permitted the company to endure its way through to the prevailing investment market acceptance of electric vehicle innovation. CEO Dr. Torno has been working on the ground in the Middle East or Africa since 2007. He was recalled to active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army and deployed to Iraq in 2007. He received the Bronze Star in the course of his combat tour. After finishing his tour in Iraq, Dr. Torno was requested by name for duty in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a deployment lasting 3 years. He retired from the Army in 2011 and was shortly thereafter contracted by Northrop Grumman and other companies to work in Africa on a myriad of projects in countries from Senegal to South Africa. He holds a PhD in Public Policy and Political Economics from the University of Texas. Ed Bollen, the President of ALYI served 30 years with the U.S. Government, first as a U.S. Marine and then working within the U.S. intelligence community. Since then, Mr. Bollen has worked on management consulting projects in North America, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean and South America. He has supported military and law enforcement operations, as well as aviation and maritime services. Mr. Bollen has worked on projects with Boeing, Bell Helicopter, Sikorsky Aircraft, Raytheon, General Electric, Lockheed, Marin Marietta, L-3 Communications, Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding. He has trained United Nations' international arms inspectors; established a counterterrorism task force in Ethiopia; worked directly with the Palestinian Authority in Gaza and Jericho, and been the boots on the ground in Liberia at the height of its second civil war implementing counter insurgency measures. Mr. Bollen has an undergraduate degree in history from Florida State University and graduate degree in comparative religion and religious history from The College of William & Mary. ALYI's Initial $300 Million Electric Mobility Initiative And Beyond From its founding in patented lithium technology commercialization, ALYI has evolved into an innovative electric vehicle company with an initial $300 million electric mobility initiative in Africa designed to rapidly expand beyond the initial $300 million scope. The $300 million initiative includes a key customer for ALYI's Revolt Electric Motorcycle, and a comprehensive annual electric mobility event designed to both fuel the branding and marketing of ALYI's current and future electric vehicles in addition to serving as a catalyst in the development of all ALYI's future electric mobility solutions. ALYI's Revolt Electric Motorcycle is a rugged design that has now endured two rounds of prototyping and testing and is ready for production. The Revolt Electric Motorcycle will be manufactured in Kenya initially for the Kenyan ride-share market. Motorcycles are already widely accepted and in use as taxi's in Africa. The branding and marketing for ALYI's current and future electric mobility solutions will be built on the company gaining recognition for its annual electric mobility conference and symposium that includes an already branded anchor event. The anchor event is part of an existing and well established $6 billion industry. The annual electric mobility conference and symposium and anchor event is expected to contribute significantly to both ALYI's top and bottom line, in addition to providing a catalyst to the development of future ALYI mobility solutions. The annual electric mobility conference and symposium and anchor event will have a dedicated facility in Kenya. The advanced electric mobility center will host the annual event and the facility itself will serve as a key component of generating revenue and advancing electric mobility technology. As currently contemplated, the facility is anticipated to span approximately 100 acres as necessary to support its intended function. The company is containing the release of any further specifics regarding the facility or the anchor event at this time, to maintain competitive advantage and in respect to certain disclosure restrictions. ALYI has executed a $2.5 million investment deal intended to fund the design and engineering of the advanced electric mobility site. The $2.5 million is an advance on a $25 million investment currently committed under a letter of intent. Cryptocurrency Partner's $25 Million Investment And $50 Million Valuation On June 30, 2020 ALYI entered into a letter of intent (LOI) for a $25 million first tranche investment to fund ALYI's overall $300 million electric mobility initiative in Africa. The planned ALYI investment is one component of the investor's overall $100 million initial cryptocurrency offering (ICO) strategy. The investor is independently launching an ICO dedicated to funding ALYI's overall $300 million electric mobility project in Africa with future plans to fund additional electric mobility initiatives in Africa. The investor has already partitioned a cryptocurrency on the Ethereum Blockchain in advance of the planned ICO. The $25 million first tranche investment is structured at a $50 million pre-money valuation of ALYI in consideration of the company's $300 million electric mobility initiative. The $25 million first tranche investment represents a valuation of ALYI common stock at approximately $0.05 per share. The first $25 million tranche is structured to result in a change of control with the investor becoming the controlling shareholder. A management change is not part of the planned investment. Randell Torno will remain as the Chief Executive Officer. A second tranche at a valuation calculated after the first $25 million investment is planned before the end of the year. $2 Billion Niche Expected To More Than Double To $5 Billion By 2024 "Africa is urbanizing faster than any other continent, at a rate of 4% every year, compared to the global average of 2%. Its rapidly growing urban population continues to strain existing infrastructure - transport and energy, in particular." - World Economic Forum "In 2017, 77% of Kenya's electricity demand was met through renewable energy. - Kenya Power 2017 Annual Report The growth opportunity to provide net new transportation solutions in Africa is much higher than in any developed region where most electric vehicle companies are currently concentrating market development efforts. Within developed economic regions, the electric vehicle opportunity requires replacing combustion engine transportation rather than simply providing a net new transportation opportunity. With leading urbanization and sustainable energy statistics, Africa is arguably better positioned for electric vehicle growth than other developing economic regions. With the current strain on existing infrastructure in Africa combined with the advance and acceptance of ride-share technologies, it is unlikely the African economy will ever grow to accept the individual consumer vehicle owned transportation paradigm that most electric vehicles are being produced to serve. Africa is much more likely to evolve and grow its existing $2 billion in annual sales ride-hailing and taxi market expected to grow to $5 billion by 2024, than change courses and adopt an induvial consumer owned vehicle transportation model. ALYI's $300 million initiative is centered on penetrating that $2 billion market and leading its evolution into the adoption of electric vehicles and ride-sharing applications. ALYI management has carefully and deliberately identified and carved out a substantial niche for itself within the overall electric vehicle market. That niche is only the start of ALYI's long-term plans. ALYI management expects to leverage the African electric vehicle ride-share niche as a foothold to expand into the overall electric vehicle market expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2027. For more information and to stay up to date on the latest developments, please visit: http://www.alternetsystemsinc.com Disclaimer/Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Among others, these risks include the expectation that any of the companies mentioned herein will achieve significant sales, the failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of the companies' contracts, the companies' liquidity position, the companies' ability to obtain new contracts, the emergence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive pricing. In the light of these uncertainties, the forward-looking events referred to in this release might not occur. Alternet Systems, Inc. Contact: Randell Torno [email protected] +1-800-713-0297 SOURCE Alternet Systems, Inc. Related Links http://www.alternetsystemsinc.com New Delhi: Congress leader Sachin Pilot was sacked on Tuesday (July 14) from the post of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state Congress chief by his party, as he raised the banner of revolt against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot along with MLAs loyal to him. In this political battle with Gehlot, Pilot lost all that he had achieved in the last 6-7 years through his hard work. The DNA analysis today tries to explain how the loyalty factor played a key role in Rajasthan's latest political drama. In politics, everything revolves around power and there is no right or wrong. Loyalty is greater than any ability. Ashok Gehlot maintained his loyalty to the Gandhi family and was saved him today as he was earlier rewarded. On the contrary, Sachin Pilot's wings were clipped. He has not been removed from the party, but his ouster in coming days may not surprise us. The strict action against Sachin Pilot is because of two things: firstly, the Congress leadership appears to have confidence in Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot that he will somehow save his government while assessing that despite the revolt, Sachin Pilot may not be able to destabilise the Gehlot government, even if he joins hands with the BJP. Secondly, Congress might have thought that if Sachin Pilot's demands are accepted in his fight against a senior leader like Ashok Gehlot, then young leaders in the party will manipulate in the coming days. Such leaders may emerge in other states too and make the Congress leadership redundant. Although the Congress is claiming that Sachin Pilot became an MP at the age of 26, was given a ministerial position at the centre at 32, and was made the state president of Rajasthan at 40, along with the post of Deputy Chief Minister, Pilot wandered off and got involved in the BJP's conspiracy to topple the state government. In a way, Congress has now closed its doors for Sachin Pilot. It, however, claimed that the party's central leadership tried to talk to Sachin Pilot, at least six times, but he did not agree. In the second meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Jaipur on Tuesday, Sachin Pilot and his supporters did not turn up. Congress said that Pilot was given a second chance to attend the CLP meeting but he did not, therefore, the party decided to to take action against him. The Congress today announced action against Sachin Pilot and those close to him and appointed the new state president of Rajasthan. After being removed from the post of Deputy Chief Minister and the state president, Sachin Pilot merely said that truth can be disturbed but not defeated, indicating perhaps that he is ready to wage a lone battle as he has no chance of defeating Ashok Gehlot by staying in the party. Sachin Pilot has so far not said anything in front of the camera, but it is being said that he can hold a press conference on Wednesday to indicate his future plan. This is very clear that he would not accept the leadership of Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan. He should either put all his strength in toppling the Gehlot government or wait for the opportune moment. Ashok Gehlot may appear in a weak position now, but it is not easy to topple his government. In 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, 101 MLAs are needed to save the government, and Ashok Gehlot's camp claims that the majority figure is in their favour. Till now, Ashok Gehlot's government was running with the support of 123 MLAs, including 107 Congress MLAs, 2 MLAs from the Tribal Party of India, one MLA from the RLD and 13 independents. Out of 123 MLAs, Gehlot is now left with only 101 MLAs while the remaining 22 MLAs are stated to tilted in the favour of Sachin Pilot. The BJP and their allies, however, have 75 MLAs. The Ashok Gehlot is not facing a threat that the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh was facing after Jyotiraditya Scindhia left the party and toppled the Kamal Nath government. Political scientists opine that this fight within the Congress is a fight between senior leaders and young leaders, but the reality lies somewhere else. After losing the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had resigned as the party chief and there was a lot of drama after that. Most leaders requested Rahul Gandhi to withdraw his resignation, and some of them even resigned from the party posts in his support, but Rahul Gandhi remained adamant. A young Congress leader from Maharashtra, Milind Deora, suggested the names of Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot to Rahul Gandhi and said that these youth leaders have the capacity to hold the party's top post, but that led to the commencement of countdown against Scindia and Pilot as well as the leader from Maharashtra. First, Jyotiraditya Scindia was forced to leave the party, then came the turn of Sachin Pilot and Milind Deora has already been marginalised in the party, while they were once considered close to Rahul Gandhi. Leaders who were considered close to Rahul Gandhi were sidelined one by one or forced to compromise with senior Congress leaders who are known to be close to Sonia Gandhi, who is currently the party's interim president till the Congress gets a new head. The confrontation between Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot is not just a fight for power in Rajasthan, rather, it was a fight within the Congress for the past one year. Many Congress leaders have expressed sympathy with Sachin Pilot, and they also expressed sorrow on this whole issue besides cautioning the party. These leaders include Jitin Prasad, Priya Dutt, Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Shashi Tharoor. Leaders like Jitin Prasad and Priya Dutt have openly supported Sachin Pilot as no one can deny the hard work that he has done for the party. And there is nothing wrong in being ambitious, but who will ask the Congress leadership why young leaders are being sidelined. In the given situation, options before Sachin Pilot are either to join the BJP or to form a regional party. However, it would not be easy for Sachin Pilot to take this decision. He hails from the Gurjar community from Ghaziabad, not from Rajasthan, where Gujjar vote bank accounts for about 5 per cent. The politics of Rajasthan, however, depends upon Jat vote bank which comprises about 10 per cent. The path will not be easy for Sachin Pilot as he has to feel the pulse of Rajasthan and become the leader of farmers. He is also not capable of bringing down the government like Jyotiraditya Scindia, hence lacks the bargaining power. The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) on Tuesday announced guidelines for online classes by schools and recommended a cap on screen time for students. The online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes, asserted HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank. On the appropriate screen time, he added that two online sessions of up to 45 minutes will be held each for classes 1-8, and four sessions for classes 9-12. He said that COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools and has impacted over 240 million children of the country who are enrolled in schools. Recommended screen time: 1) Pre Primary: On a given day for interacting with parents and guiding them, not more than 30 minutes; 2) Classes 1 to 12: Recommended to adopt/adapt the alternative academic calendar of NCERT at http://ncert.nic.in/aac.html , 3) Classes 1 to 8: Online synchronous learning may be undertaken for not more than two sessions of 30-45 minutes each on the days the states/UTs decide to have online classes for primary sections; 4) Classes 9 to 12: Online synchronous learning may be undertaken for not more than four sessions of 30-45 minutes each on the days as decided by States/UTs. Extended school closures may cause loss of learning, he said, adding that to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools will not only have to remodel and reimagine the way teaching and learning have happened so far but will also need to introduce a suitable method of delivering quality education through a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school. Pokhriyal released PRAGYATA guidelines on Digital Education through an online medium in New Delhi in the presence of Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre was also present through online medium. The Minister informed that PRAGYATA guidelines have been developed from the perspective of learners, with a focus on online/blended/digital education for students who are presently at home due to lockdown. He added that these guidelines on Digital/ Online Education provide a roadmap or pointers for carrying forward online education to enhance the quality of education. The minister highlighted that the guidelines will be relevant and useful for a diverse set of stakeholders including school heads, teachers, parents, teacher educators and students. The guidelines stress upon the use of an alternative academic calendar of NCERT, for both, learners having access to digital devices and learners having limited or no access. The PRAGYATA guidelines include eight steps of online/ digital learning that is, Plan- Review- Arrange- Guide- Yak(talk)- Assign- Track- Appreciate. These steps guide the planning and implementation of digital education step by step with examples. Speaking on the occasion, Dhotre said that the PRAGYATA guidelines have been prepared by the Ministry of HRD to ensure the safety and academic welfare of the students. He said that online education has filled a lot of gaps during the pandemic but utmost care has to be taken while using digital technologies to educate the students. He hoped that these guidelines will help students, teachers, parents, heads and other stakeholders to learn online safety practices. Dhotre also lauded the efforts of the Ministry to bring out PRAGYATA guidelines which will provide a safe and secure digital learning environment. The guidelines outline suggestions for administrators, school heads, teachers, parents and students in the following areas: * Need assessment * Concerns while planning online and digital education like duration, screen time, inclusiveness, balanced online and offline activities etc level-wise * Modalities of intervention including resource curation, level-wise delivery etc. * Physical, mental health and wellbeing during digital education * Cybersafety and ethical practices including precautions and measures for maintaining cyber safety * Collaboration and convergence with various initiatives These guidelines for school heads and teachers describe the need assessment, planning and steps to implement digital education while ensuring cyber safety and privacy measures. It also outlines the support to be provided to students with special needs. The main emphasis is on balanced online and offline activities keeping the screen time as an essential parameter in accordance with the level of students. For parents, the guideline helps to understand the need for physical, mental health and wellbeing along with the cyber safety measures for children at home. Guidelines for physical health and mental wellness is stressed across the guidelines for all stakeholders measures so that children do not get overly stretched or stressed, or get affected negatively (postural defects, ophthalmic issues, and other physical problems) owing to prolonged use of digital devices. Also, it provides sufficient dos and donts regarding ergonomics and cyber safety. The Guidelines also emphasize the need to unify all efforts related to digital/ online/on-air education, benefitting school-going children across the country. The initiative includes DIKSHA, SWAYAM Prabha, SWAYAM MOOCS, Radio Vahini, Shiksha Vaani, Special content for children with special needs and ITPAL. In a country like India characterized by multifarious diversity, switching over to digital modes of education needs various States/ UTs level organization and National level organizations to join hands for a change that will sustain post-COVID-19 also. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli air force jets have struck Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip after rockets were fired on Friday from the territory towards Israel, the army said. The exchange came after Hamas, an Islamist movement, warned that Israel's planned annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank amounted to a "declaration of war". Israel jets struck ammunition and rocket "factories" in the southern Gaza Strip, the army said. Security sources in Gaza confirmed to AFP there were strikes in the area of Khan Yunis, at the southern tip of the Palestinian territory of two million inhabitants. Two rockets were fired on Friday from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory, the army said earlier. "Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," the Israeli military said in a statement, after saying "sirens sounded in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip". Medics said the sirens sounded in the Israeli district of Sderot. It was the first reported rocket fire from the Gaza Strip since early May. Israel's proposal to annex its settlements in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley form part of a broader US peace plan released in January. The proposals foresee the ultimate creation of a Palestinian state on the remaining West Bank territory and the Gaza Strip. But the plan falls far short of Palestinian aspirations, with a state on reduced territory and without east Jerusalem as its capital. Hamas and Israel have fought three wars in recent years, with the latest conflict in 2014 killing 2,251 Palestinians and 74 people on the Israeli side. There are no official relations between the two sides. The Palestinian Authority, a separate administration based in the West Bank, cut its cooperation with Israel last month. HOLLYWOOD, Fla. Reynold Renny G. Barnes, 71, of Hollywood died Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, at his home. Memorial service is 11 a.m. Wednesday at Doniphan (Neb.) United Methodist Church with military honors and the Rev. Scott Evans officiating. Apfel Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Reynold Guy Barnes was born Jan. 11, 1949, to Reynold and Kathryn (Roberts) Barnes. Renny grew up in Doniphan where he attended Doniphan Public School and graduated with the class of 1967. Following graduation, Renny attended Kearney State College for two semesters and helped his father with construction until he was inducted into the U.S. Army on May 13, 1969. He was honorably discharged on Nov. 21, 1970, serving during the Vietnam era. He was in the 101st Airborne Division and received the Bronze Star, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal with three Bronze Stars, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Ribbon with Device in 1960, and the sharpshooter badge with rifle bar. A total of 1,207 people had been investigated for allegedly flouting the infectious disease control act as of Monday. Investigation is underway for 606 people while 56 people have been forwarded to the prosecution with non-indictment recommended, the agency said. Courtesy of Gyeonggi Provincial Office South Korean police have referred 545 people to the prosecution seeking indictment on charges of violating rules related to the new coronavirus since late February, the National Police Agency said Tuesday. Of them, 10 suspects were arrested. A total of 1,207 people had been investigated for allegedly flouting the infectious disease control act as of Monday. Investigation is underway for 606 people while 56 people have been forwarded to the prosecution with non-indictment recommended, the agency said. By charge, 506 people have been investigated for allegedly violating self-isolation rules. Of them, 317 have been referred to the prosecution for indictment, including seven arrested, and 158 are still being investigated. "These cases include going to work, visiting restaurants or karaoke rooms during the periods of self-isolation, and inviting acquaintances to isolation sites to eat and drink together," an official of the agency said. Minor violations, such as going out alone by driving their own car or taking a walk alone near home while in self-isolation, are also subject to punishment, the agency said. Police probed 530 people on charges of breaching the prohibition of gatherings. Of them 131 have been sent to the prosecution for indictment and 389 are being investigated. Health authorities have banned some high-risk venues, such as bars, karaoke rooms and door-to-door sales businesses, or ordered such facilities to implement strict disease prevention measures. Those who continue operations of banned facilities or enter such venues are subject to punishment. Forty-six people have been probed for allegedly obstructing epidemiological surveys, including by lying about places they visited. Of them, 18 have been referred to the prosecution for indictment, including three arrested. Investigation is underway for 23. (Yonhap) Join the fight to defend workers health and safety! For help starting a rank-and-file safety committee at your factory, send an email to the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter at autoworkers@wsws.org to learn more. With the United States setting daily records for new cases of COVID-19, hospitals, meatpacking plants, auto factories and other large workplaces have become a battlefield between workers demanding safe conditions and corporations demanding maximum production and profits. On Friday, hundreds of meatpacking workers conducted a wildcat strike at the JBS beef processing plant in Greeley, Colorado, the deadliest workplace in the state, with at least eight COVID-19 deaths and 287 workers who have tested positive. JBS workers walking off the line and out of the plant Workers said the strike, which was held in defiance of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, was initiated by black hats on the fabricating floor, angered over the lack of hazard pay. However, workers who perform other duties in the plant and wear different colored hats quickly joined the job action. Now isnt like before, one worker, not a black hat, told the Greeley Tribune. Before, there were many Latinos who were fearful and there was a lot of separation between the people. Today, what we showed is it doesnt matter where youre from, if youre Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Mexican, El Salvadoran, were all united today. And we all left together. Despite threats by management personnel who began confiscating employee badges, workers refused to continue to work and stood with their hands clasped in front of their waists in unity. Someone told me return to my line, and I said no, the worker said. I put my hands like this, and I stayed. Ive never seen anything like this before. Workers at the Greeley plant, which employs 3,000 workers, are paid less than workers in other beef processing plants in Colorado and have been forced to work in unsafe conditions, wearing the same masks for long periods of time and being forced to work sick or next to a co-worker with symptoms. Brazilian multinational JBS has also been hit by strikes in Brazil, which trails only the United States for the most COVID-19 deaths in the world. After a series of earlier walkouts and job actions, including at the Greeley plant, President Trump used the Defense Production Act in late April to order meat processing plants to stay open. Since then, the number of deaths and infections in the industry has more than doubled, with more than 30,000 meatpacking workers testing positive nationally and at least 100 deaths, according to data compiled by the Food and Environment Reporting Network. Strikes and protests are also continuing in the health care industry. Nearly 800 frontline health care workers have died and at least 100,000 have been infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the weekend, 720 striking nurses in Joliet, Illinois rejected a contract proposal from AMITA Health because it did not address their demands for increased staffing to address dangerously high patient-to-nurse ratios. Opposition is growing in the auto assembly and parts plants as well. The auto industry reopened in mid-May after a two-month shutdown, which workers forced through a series of wildcat strikes in March. Workers assemble Ford trucks at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, KY (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) The automakers are ramping up production, regardless of the risk to workers lives, to pay off increased debts incurred over the last decade even as they funneled profits to their largest shareholders. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who defied lockdown orders to reopen his Fremont, California plant in May, is due to collect the second portion of his pay award from the companys 200 percent rise in share value this year, adding another $2.4 billion to his $70.5 billion fortune. Global automotive supplier DENSO confirmed Friday that one worker at its thermal manufacturing facility in Battle Creek, Michigan died after contracting COVID-19 and 18 others have tested positive at its Michigan plants, including seven during the last two weeks alone. General Motors has rejected demands for the temporary closure of its assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, where 23 cases were reported over 10 days ago. No updates have been provided by the company, which refuses to release details about infections at any of its plants. The Arlington plant, the companys most profitable, is located in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex, one of the major COVID-19 hotspots in the US, with nearly 23,000 confirmed cases. GM announced Saturday that it would end the third shift at its Wentzville Assembly Plant near St. Louis, Missouri on July 20 due to high absenteeism among workers concerned about contracting the disease. Over the weekend, officials in St. Charles County, where the plant is located, reported 494 new cases of the coronavirus, a 266 percent increase over the previous 14 days. Wentzville workers estimate that there are at least 24 cases at the plant, a five-fold increase over the past month. A veteran worker at the factory told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, The people who go to medical [GMs internal medical department] and get tested, those are the ones theyre counting. Theyre not counting the ones tested outside the plant. We figure there are 30 or more cases. She added, Ive been doing 12 hours because almost nobody is there on third shift. They had to shut down the stamping plant the other day and bring those people over to general assembly to help. The exhausting schedule for first- and second-shift workers would only get worse when the third shift, which has 1,250 workers, was cut, she said. The safest thing would be to close the plant for several weeks. Our jobs are so close together. Cases have been going up fast in St. Charles County. Its crazy. Workers are increasingly taking up the call by the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter and the Socialist Equality Party to form rank-and-file safety committees, independent of the UAW. Workers at Fiat Chryslers Jeep assembly complex in Toledo, Ohio, where at least 31 workers have tested positive, have been the latest to form a rank-and-file safety committee. They have issued a list of demands, which include the immediate release of information about infections, the shutting down of any affected plant for at least 24 hours for deep cleaning, and the right of workers to halt production due to unsafe conditions. Fiat Chrysler workers at the Jefferson North (JNAP) plant in Detroit and the Sterling Heights (SHAP) plant just north of the city have also formed rank-and-file safety committees. In late June, workers in both plants carried out work stoppages following the refusal of management and the UAW to release information about infections or provide safe working conditions. Describing conditions in the Toledo plant, one Jeep worker told the WSWS, Weve had 30 cases in the past couple of weeks. Water stations were disinfected in May and never disinfected again. Workers, he said, had organized a Facebook page to let people know voluntarily who is testing positive because the company and UAW are not giving any information. The company makes up reasons to say that workers who are in contact with others testing positive dont need to quarantine. The union is not doing anything. Because of absenteeism, managers are working on the line without wearing masks, elbow to elbow with workers. The UAW is a joke! a young temporary part-time worker (TPT) at the plant added. I want to help my fellow union brothers and sisters stand up and do what the union isnt doing for us! Being a TPT I get crapped on by the same union I pay full dues to, even though Im working 50-60 hours a week. I will do all I can to show love and support to all those fighting for safe working conditions! Calling on all workers to form rank-and-file committees, a worker at Fords Dearborn Truck Plant near Detroit said: We want to protect ourselves and our families. Were not going to negotiate with management, they dont have our same interests. Were not going to compromise with anybody because this is our safety. We need to inspire some change that is going to have a lasting effect for future generations. Enoughs enough; we need to say were going to run things. Operations at US assembly plants are wholly dependent on keeping supplier plants running at full speed in Mexico, which has now surpassed Italy for the fourth highest number of COVID-19 deaths in the world, with 35,000 deaths, according to official counts widely suspected to be gross underestimations. A worker at GMs complex in Silao, Mexico told the WSWS: So far, six workers have died from COVID-19 at the plant, including one recently. Neither the local authorities, company or union have shown their faces. We confirmed the cases with notes from doctors and documents from workers themselves. Supposedly, corporations should be working at 30 percent of full production, but at Silao were working at 90-100 percent." I think its necessary that all workers organizations make the call to try to control production, the worker continued. I hope there can be a show of solidarity from workers. Were trying to coordinate workers within different areas who have a list of demands we can fight for. Workers at the Nakamura Engineering Works Mexico auto parts plant in Zacatecas walked off the job July 7 to demand the payment of a profit-sharing bonus owed to them since May. The workers, who labor for 12 hours a day and are paid 1,500 pesos (US$67) a week, are also demanding adequate masks to protect them from COVID-19 and toxic fumes from industrial furnaces. When asked by a La Jornada reporter what their union has done for them, one worker replied, We have a charro [company] union, the union is not with us, its with the company. This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it weekdays. Anne Borden King had already battled online health misinformation as a parent of a child with autism. Then, as a patient, she was barraged on Facebook by bogus cancer cure advertisements after posting about her diagnosis. Borden, a co-founder of the Campaign Against Phony Autism Cures, talked to me about what we and Facebook can do to stamp out the worst kinds of junk health information that preys on peoples fears. It requires us to have some uncomfortable conversations, and for Facebook to fundamentally change how it works. Stories like Bordens feel distressingly familiar. Internet grifters looking to make money have been responsible for spreading false vaccine conspiracies online or selling illegal drugs. And because our health is a perennial anxiety, theres a big market for false hope. You cant get rid of the impetus for pseudoscience, but you can stop a lot of vulnerable people from being exploited, Borden said. TICKERS: AGN; AGNPF; AGW Source: Streetwise Reports (7/14/20) Small-cap Algernon Pharmaceuticals is about to begin a multinational Phase 2b/3 trial for Ifenprodil, a repurposed drug with a known safety record. Algernon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (AGN:CSE; AGNPF:OTCQB; AGW:FSE), a firm that specializes in finding new uses for approved drugs, has received clearances to begin a Phase2b/3 trial for Ifenprodil for Covid-19 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Canada Health, and also plans to run the trial in Australia, Romania and the Philippines. If the data for the Phase 2b trial look positive, the company can seamlessly move into Phase 3 with a larger number of patients. "For a company like ours, when you start a Phase 2 study under normal circumstances, that's really one of the most important periods of time where you can get the greatest delta in value creation. Not that you don't get value creation with positive Phase 3 data or on marketing approval, but the greatest change can occur during the Phase 2 period," Algernon CEO Christopher J. Moreau told Streetwise Reports. Ifenprodil, an NMDA receptor antagonist, is approved in Japan and South Korea for treating vertigo and dizziness. Algernon has been investigating its potential treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic cough. "Then we came across an independent research study that Ifenprodil had done very well in an animal study of the world's most lethal flu, avian flu H5N1. In an animal study with a mice, Ifenprodil significantly improved survivability, by 40%, and reduced inflammation in the lungs," Moreau said. "Our Chief Science Officer looked at the H5N1 data along with the additional fibrosis data we acquired and hypothesized that we might see similar results in humans with Covid-19. We began work three and a half months ago to get a Covid-19 trial going to test our drug. This was really a Herculean task because we're a tiny company, but in that short time, we ended up getting clearance from both Health Canada and the FDA to run a Phase 2b/3 trial for Ifenprodil for Covid-19 and we are supporting an investigator-led Phase 2 study in South Korea," Moreau explained. The Phase 2b trial will involve three groups of 50 patients: one 50-patient arm will receive existing standard of care plus a daily dose of 60 mg Ifenprodil, a second arm of 50 patients will receive existing standard of care plus a daily dose of 120 mg Ifenprodil, while the third 50-patient arm will receive existing standard of care. Algernon decided to add the higher-dose arm after more closely working with the U.S. FDA. "Ifenprodil is a very old drug; it was approved in the early 1970s," Moreau explained. "The literaturetoxicology data, animal data and also off label studies for other disease indicationsshowed that higher doses are very well tolerated by humans. We decided that we'd hate to do a trial and wonder if we would have seen a signal with a higher dose. So we rewrote our protocol, but we think will be quite beneficial in the long run to have a high dose and a low dose." Moreau highlighted an advantage of the drug's known safety profile. "Some 50% of clinical trials at the Phase 2 level fail; of the 50% that fail, 35% fail due to safety. We don't have a safety issue. So 35% of 50% is another 15% that one might muse we could add to our side of the equation. We think we have a 60% to 65% chance of success in our trial." With no effective therapy for Covid-19, Moreau points out the approval bar has been lowered. "In a typical study, you'll usually get one of three results: your drug really worked well, your drug didn't work at all, or your drug kind of worked. In a normal world, "kind of worked" is almost as bad as it didn't work at all. But in these Covid times, the FDA recently approved a drug called remdesivir, and if you look at the data, it kind of didn't work, it shortened hospital stays from 15 to 11 days, but because it's all they have at the moment, it was approved as an emergency treatment." The company anticipates it will take a few months to enroll all the patients. The treatment lasts two weeks, and another two weeks are needed for follow up, and then time for data collection, so within three to four months Algernon expects to have data about the drug's efficacy as a treatment for Covid-19. If the Phase 2 data look good for the 150 patients, Algernon could automatically turn it into a Phase 3 trial, the trial that is needed to be conducted before receiving regulatory approval. "We don't know yet how many patients we will need for the Phase 3; that will be determined by the data from Phase 2. What's nice is we would seamlessly move into a Phase 3 trial, which would be quite a positive situation to be in," Moreau said. [NLINSERT] Disclosure: 1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. 2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Algernon Pharmaceuticals. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees. As of the date of this article, an affiliate of Streetwise Reports has a consulting relationship with Algernon Pharmaceuticals. Please click here for more information. 3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. 4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports. 5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Algernon Pharmaceuticals, a company mentioned in this article. 6) This article does not constitute medical advice. Officers, employees and contributors to Streetwise Reports are not licensed medical professionals. Readers should always contact their healthcare professionals for medical advice. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:41:56|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENTIANE, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL), the central bank, has come up with a new administrative rule to administer currency exchange businesses amid the appreciation of international currencies against the Lao kip. The Bank of the Lao PDR made a strong commitment at the recent session of the National Assembly that it would try its best to maintain the value of the Lao kip against major international currencies within a 5 percent range, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Tuesday. According to the new decision on currency exchanges, which is accessible on the central bank's official website, individuals and legal entities, who want to operate a currency exchange business must obtain a license from the central bank. Only legal entities which conduct business in connection with hotels and tourism and meet the requirements are eligible to obtain the currency exchange business licenses from the central bank under this new rule. Once approved, the businesses must strictly comply with rules and orders imposed by the central bank or face serious penalties, including fines and cancellation of their business operating license. According to the rules, currency exchanges must not offer services outside of their declared business venues. Money exchange service providers are also banned from engaging in direct currency exchanging with commercial banks. Another rule the businesses must follow is setting their exchange rates in line with the regulations and the central bank's rate. Under the bank's Decision on Currency Exchange Business, the Bank of the Lao PDR has made the business licensing and approval process transparent as part of measures to encourage money exchange service providers to obtain an operating license. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Fidan Babayeva Trend: The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) and the Deposit Insurance Fund are taking all necessary measures to ensure the return of funds in the manner prescribed by the law to depositors who have problems in closed banks such as AtaBank OJSC, Amrahbank OJSC, AG Bank OJSC and NBC Bank OJSC, Trend reports referring to the CBA. As known, the licenses of AtaBank OJSC, Amrahbank OJSC, AG Bank OJSC and NBC Bank OJSC were canceled by CBA due to the complete loss of capital, their failure to fulfill obligations to creditors and false accountancy. In accordance with the decisions of the administrative board of the Baku Court of Appeal dated April 28 and May 14, 2020, these banks were declared bankrupt. The Deposit Insurance Fund was appointed as their liquidator. "The register of transactions on closed banks was transferred to the Deposit Insurance Fund, the message said. The process of paying compensation on the deposits was launched in a short period of time. Kapitalbank OJSC was chosen for paying compensation on deposits of AtaBank OJSC, Amrahbank OJSC upon the decision of the board of trustees of the Deposit Insurance Fund while Azerbaijan International Bank - for paying compensation on deposits of AG Bank OJSC and NBC Bank OJSC. The process of paying the compensation on deposits in AtaBank OJSC and Amrahbank OJSC up to 30,000 manat ($17,647) has been launched since June 1, 2020, and the compensation on deposits worth more than 30,000 manat ($17,647) - since July 1, 2020. The compensation on deposits worth up to 30,000 manat ($17,647) in AG Bank and NBC Bank have been paid since June 16, 2020, and the compensation on deposits worth more than 30,000 manat ($17,647) will be paid from July 15, 2020, the message said. The CBA stressed that as a whole, as of today, compensation worth 229.7 million manat ($135 million) was paid to 12,900 depositors. The CBA and the Deposit Insurance Fund found violations in the process of revoking the licenses of banks and their liquidation, the message said. A corrective measure was applied on January 27, 2020, to completely stop accepting deposits from individuals. However, NBC Bank did not comply with the order on additional corrective measures and these facts were revealed by the interim administrator appointed by the CBA. Along with the lack of capital and other factors, this factor was taken into account when revoking the banks license, CBA added. ---- Follow the author on Twitter: Fidan_Babaeva The Covid-19 outbreak has created a considerable impact on the global Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market. Moreover, the solutions segment has an exponential share in the forecast period. The integration & deployment segment will have rapid market growth, in the analysis period. The oil & gas segment is anticipated to foresee newer heights in the global marketplace. The Asia-Pacific region will lucrative investment opportunities, during the projected period. The key players of the global internt of things (IoT) in energy market are concentrating on effective strategies to acquire a prime position in the global industry. New York, USA, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The outbreak of COVID-19 has positively impacted the global internt of things (IoT) in energy market. The sustainability of this market is mainly driven by the extensively increasing cyberattacks. Furthermore, the majority of government authorities across the world, are focussing on the implementation of supportive policies that may drive the global market. For instance, in June 2020, the Andhra government set to install IoT devices in medium & small-scale industries (MSMEs) for the energy saving, amid COVID-19 pandemic. This initiative would help to save around 11,000 units per cluster annually. In addition, due to the critical situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are more concerned with customer confidence, optimism, and loyalty. Therefore, numerous organizations can go for the adoption of the Internt of Things (IoT) in Energy; and this will significantly impact the global marketplace, after the outbreak situation. Our reports include the following: Technological Impact Social Impact Investment Opportunity Analysis Pre- & Post-COVID Market Scenario Infrastructure Analysis Supply Side & Demand Side Impact As per the latest publication of Research Dive, Global Internt of Things (IoT) in Energy Market is set to generate a revenue of $41.2 Billion by 2027, at a healthy CAGR, throughout the analysis period. The segmentation of the market has been done based on network technology, services, component, application, solution, and region. The report offers valuable insights on drivers, future opportunities, segments, restraints, and market players Story continues Download Exlusive Summary of COVID-19 Impact on IoT in Energy Market: https://www.researchdive.com/connect-to-analyst/324 Factors Affecting the Growth As per our analyst estimates, the significance of artificial intelligence(AI) in internt of things (IoT) in Energy fuelling the global internt of things (IoT) in Energy market growth. On the other hand, the legal issues coupled with stringent government regulation are anticipated to obstruct the growth of the global tnternt of things (IoT) in energy industry, during the analysis period. Cellular Networks will have a significant Market Share over the projected Period Based on the network technology, the global market for Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market is classified into satellite network, cellular network, radio network, and others. The cellular network will register substantial revenue and is anticipated to have rapid growth, in the forecast period. The presence of large manufacturers along with heavy invstments in the R&D and innovations may be predicted to propel the growth of the segment, throughout the analysis period. Access Table of Content (TOC) of IoT in Energy Market Report: https://www.researchdive.com/request-toc-and-sample/324 The solutions segment will be the Most Lucrative Based on the solutions, the global market is fragmented into platform, solution, and services. The Solutions segment will have substantial market growth at a healthy growth rate, during the forecast period; mainly owing to the great importance of solutions in remote monitoring, operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The integration & Deployment Services shall have Rapid Market Growth, in the analysis Period Depending on the services, the global Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market is broadly categorized into asset management, security, compliance & risk management, connected logistics, data management and analytics, supervisory control and data acquisition, mobile workforce management, and energy management. The growth is mainly attributed to the growing emphasis on increasing productivity and quality of the operational process. Agriculture sector shall have a Major Market Share in the Forecast Period on the basis of application, the global market for Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market is classified into oil & gas, smart grid, and coal mining. The oil & gas held the largest market share and is anticipated to generate revenue with noteworthy CAGR in the analysis period mainly due to the growing adoption of process improvements and technological innovations in the energy sector. Geographical Analysis and Major Market Players Based on the region, the Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and LAMEA. The Asia-Pacific Internt of Things (IoT) in energy market is expected to increase at a healthy CAGR over the projected period. The extensively rising government spendings in Internt of Things (IoT) in Energy solutions and the growing number of emerging organizations, particularly in China, India, and South Korea, are anticipated to bolster the growth of Asia-Pacific Internt of Things (IoT) in Energy market. Top 10 Companies in IoT in Energy Market: Altair Engineering, Inc. Intel Corporation ABB IBM. Rockwell Automation, Inc smartGAS Trimble Infosys SE HCL. CONTACT: Mr. Abhishek Paliwal Research Dive 30 Wall St. 8th Floor, New York, NY 10005 (P). +1 917 444-1262 +1 917 444-1263 + 1-888-961-4454 Toll-Free support@researchdive.com UPDATE: Oregons congressional delegation: Portland demonstrator wounded by U.S. Marshals Service tactical unit member Two days after a demonstrator was critically wounded by a federal law enforcement official who fired an impact munition at the mans head, President Donald Trump praised federal authorities here for doing a great job. Portland was totally out of control, and they went in, and I guess we have many people right now in jail and we very much quelled it, and if it starts again, well quell it again very easily, said Trump during a public appearance Monday at the White House. Its not hard to do, if you know what youre doing. The incident Saturday left Donavan La Bella, 26, with skull and facial fractures, his mother said. She said her son underwent facial reconstructive surgery early Sunday. Though the president said many people have been jailed here as a result of protests, U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy J. Williams on Monday estimated that a dozen people have been arrested on federal charges, including arson and assaulting a federal officer. Trump did not address how federal authorities plan to approach Portland protests as they continue. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler on Monday said he remains deeply concerned about the actions of federal law enforcement officials and said La Bellas injuries at the hands of a federal officer were unacceptable. Wheeler said that while he doesnt want federal law enforcement officials to complicate already tense nightly protests, he lacks the authority to tell them to stay away. They report to the federal government and they have jurisdiction throughout the United States, he 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. The U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General will investigate what led Marshals Service deputies to shoot impact munitions at La Bella, said Williams. That investigation needs to be thorough, and it will be, said Williams, Oregons top federal law enforcement official. Like Williams office, the U.S. Marshal Service in Oregon is part of the U.S. Department of Justice. The agency, which serves as the enforcement arm of the federal courts, provides protection for judges and other court officials, arrests federal fugitives and operates the federal witness protection program. The Mark O. Hatfield federal courthouse in downtown Portland sits next to the Multnomah County Justice Center, the heart of nightly protests since late May. The courthouse was fenced off from protesters for weeks. Protesters tore down the chain link fence several times in June. Federal officers did not pour out of the courthouse and use force during those incidents. In recent days, federal officers have staged inside the courthouse and emerged from it to deploy stun grenades or shoot impact munitions. Videos posted to social media over the weekend appear to show a federal officer shooting a protester in the head with an impact munition outside of the courthouse. One video shows La Bella holding a speaker while standing across the street from the courthouse between two parked cars. Federal officers throw a canister that lands at his feet, which he lightly tosses away from him back in the direction it came. It lands partway across the street. A few seconds later, a firing sound can be heard, and La Bella 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. Another video shows La Bella bleeding on the sidewalk and apparently unconscious after being struck in the face. Several protesters rush to check on him and carry him away, revealing the splatters of blood on the sidewalk. The officers are shown standing across the street and are not reacting. The top U.S. Marshals official in Oregon is Russell Burger. Burger was appointed in 2011 and was retained in 2017 for another four years by President Donald Trump. He previously served as Lane County sheriff. Burger answers to the director of the U.S. Marshals Service, Donald W. Washington, a former U.S. attorney in Louisiana who was appointed by Trump to lead the service three years ago. The U.S. Marshals Service in Washington, D.C., on Monday referred questions about the incident to the agencys Portland office. Burger on Monday did not respond to an email from The Oregonian/OregonLive. The news organization sent questions to a spokeswoman for the agency but did not get an immediate response. In addition to the U.S. Marshals Service, law enforcement from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have also been present at the protests. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to multiple requests about the role of its officers at the protests. Wheeler on Monday said he doesnt have a problem with federal law enforcement policing federal buildings from inside. What I have a problem with them is leaving the facilities, going onto the streets of this community and then escalating an already tense situation like they did the other night, Wheeler said. 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. Those restrictions do not, however, apply to federal law enforcement. During an appearance in Portland on Monday, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat, accused Trump of dispatching federal authorities into cities as if they are enemy stronghold requiring an occupying army to suppress. Wyden said he plans to press Trump and federal authorities to answer the question about why he sent federal law enforcement in the first place to our community and we are going to insist on answers as to what their orders were and who they answer to. On Monday, Williams in general defended the federal response to the protests, calling it a very conservative approach. He said that response had been largely limited to keeping tabs on federal buildings to ensure no one tried to enter them. He said the approach, however, shifted more than a week ago when someone broke the courthouse doors. We cant have people entering the federal courthouse hellbent on destruction, he said. That is not going to happen. Williams said a teen who aimed a laser at a federal law enforcement official was apprehended and was turned over to the Multnomah County juvenile court for prosecution. Early Saturday morning, a 23-year-old man allegedly assaulted a U.S. Marshals Service deputy with a hammer. According to court records, Jacob M. Gaines used the tool to damage the entrance of the courthouse and struck U.S. Marshals Service deputy when confronted. Gaines, who told authorities he is homeless, is accused of assaulting a federal officer. Williams on Monday said he told Wheeler that city and civic leaders need to make a concerted effort to end violent aspects to nightly protests in Portland. He characterized the actions of some demonstrators as mindless lawlessness. They are agitators, he said. They are anarchists, they are people engaged in unlawful behavior and violent, unlawful behavior toward Portland police officers, toward federal agents, towards buildings of all kinds public and privately owned. Oregonian reporter K. Rambo contributed to this report. -- Noelle Crombie; ncrombie@oregonian.com; 503-276-7184; @noellecrombie Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Ampol trial winner Wilf Murrell (Peugot No 32) is greeted by his wife on arrival at Bondi, July 29, 1956. Credit:Ronald Leslie Stewart Late last night trial organisers said that a check of floodwaters at Oallen's Ford, 30 miles from Goulburn, showed the water had fallen to a "passable" 18 inches. Shortly after they leave Prince's Highway at Nowra, crews will face a "horror" stretch over Sassafras Mountain and the Shoalhaven River to Goulburn. Only spell provided is 15 minutes for hot coffee at Canberra, where the first car is due at 7.56 p.m. "Gelignite" Jack Murray, winner of a Redex trial, lost 70 points between Nowra and Goulburn yesterday in the Ampol car trial. Drivers expect a "nightmare" run in darkness through Nimmitabel, Bombala, and down the narrow winding Bonang Forest road to Orbost in eastern Victoria. Cars are due at Nowra at 3.30 p.m. and Goulburn at 5.52 p.m. From Goulburn there is a fast run over rough roads through Tarago to Queanbeyan (due at 7.14 p.m.). After the 15-minute spell at Canberra, crews will head into the snow country at Cooma (due 9.51 p.m.). Murray said, "We were 13 miles out of Nowra when we did a kingpin. A chap in a utility towed us back to Nowra. The local radio station put over a special call to the Ford dealer. He raced down to unlock the garage and we all hoed in." Car No. 38, a 1949 Ford V8, entered by Adams Motors, rolled off the road into a creek about five miles from Goulburn. A crew member said, "We managed to get a tow out from a passing motorist and he towed us all the way to Goulburn. We will continue as soon as we have done repairs." Cars left Canberra in a temperature of 34 degrees for the snow country. Several drivers lost their way in Canberra's circles, crescents, and one-way streets. A taxi driver piloted one lost car to the control point. Only a few had lost points on the run from Goulburn to Canberra. Two Punctures, But On Time Hundreds of San Francisco property owners will have an extra year to meet the citys seismic retrofit requirements under an ordinance Supervisor Rafael Mandelman introduced Tuesday. The measure, which will delay the soft-story retrofit deadline until Sept. 15, 2021, is meant to provide a bit of relief to the owners and tenants of 415 buildings at a time when small businesses are reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, Mandelman said. The buildings are all residential, and most have ground-floor commercial spaces. Even before the pandemic, many retailers failed to reopen after closing for a seismic retrofit, Mandelman said. With many businesses just starting up again after months of closure, the idea of having to close for another month or two could be a significant setback for them, he added. If you have ground-floor businesses hanging on by their fingernails, the last thing you want to do is cut off the ledge, Mandelman said. A Small Business Commission survey of 180 soft-story retrofits completed in 2018 and 2019 found that 46% of the ground-floor businesses did not reopen after the work was completed, according to commission director Regina Dick-Andrizzi. She said that the Small Business Commission recommended a two-year deadline delay, but that the one-year extension would be helpful in giving property owners and their commercial tenants time to figure out a retrofit schedule that would do the least damage. We want to ensure that we are providing extra time so there is flexibility for both the property owner and the business, she said. Mandelman said the one-year delay could be extended another year depending on what happens with the pandemic and the economy. Introduced in 2013, the Department of Building Inspections mandatory soft-story retrofit program applies to wood-frame residential buildings that contain a soft ground floor typically a retail space or garage that makes the building susceptible to earthquake damage. Most of the citys 115,000 soft-story buildings have been strengthened or have filed plans to do so the department says it has a 99% compliance rate. Mandelmans extension would apply to buildings comprising the fourth and final tier of the program, located in designated liquefaction zones. Those zones include the Marina, Dogpatch, Mission Bay, Bayview, North Beach, and parts of the Mission, the Haight and other neighborhoods. It also includes buildings near Ocean Beach. Yaser Awadalla, who owns Nizarios Pizza, called the reprieve a very good idea. He had been expecting to have to shut down his Valencia Street location for more than a month before the September deadline. One of his familys three pizza parlors on 18th Street in the Castro recently went out of business. 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. It gives small businesses like ours a chance to recover from COVID, he said. We are not in good shape right now. If I had to close again, Id lose a lot of business. Mandelman said the retrofits are important in preparing for the next big earthquake, but that the September deadline was going to be tough to meet for businesses fighting for survival. Giving the folks another year makes a lot of sense, he said. DBI Interim Director Patrick ORiordan said the department supports the extension. We understand the challenges property owners are facing during this health crisis and acknowledge they may need more time to meet this important deadline, he said. J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen WATERLOO REGION Moving into Stage 3 brings both trepidation and optimism for Waterloo Regions top medical official, and she urges everyone to be careful as we take this big step. We must move forward with the utmost vigilance, acting medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said during Tuesdays briefing. On Friday, the region is allowed to move into Stage 3 of the provincial plan which will reopen nearly all businesses and public spaces. But Wang cautioned that the new freedoms also come with an ongoing responsibility. We are able to move to Stage 3 because of your efforts to date. But we continue to have a collective responsibility, each of us to do what we can to continue to slow the spread of COVID-19. We must continue to protect each other. She worries that the lifting of more restrictions in Stage 3 means a lot more social interaction and with that comes a greater risk of spreading COVID-19. But Im also encouraged by the fact that residents in our region have been very responsible. Theyve followed guidance, theyve brought us to the stage where were at, and so Im also optimistic that were going to be able to continue on the right track, Wang said. While the size of allowed indoor and outdoor gatherings have grown, physical distancing is still required with anyone outside a persons social circle or bubbles, which remains at a limit of 10. Our new normal of physical distancing, handwashing, wearing a mask in indoor settings and on transit will remain, even as we move forward, Wang said. As a community, we have to not take this sign as a sign that the risk of COVID has gone away. We need to take this as a sign that weve done a very good job and we need to continue to do the things that weve been doing in order to allow us to continue to move forward. Regional Chair Karen Redman said its vital for more businesses to reopen to recoup lost revenues from the past few months, and she expects theyll ensure the reopening is safe. COVID-19 stabilizes at slow growth 8 New cases in the last three days 3 New cases per day, averaged over 7 days 7 Days without change in average growth 49 Active cases, up 2 from the previous day Updated July 14 Source: Region of Waterloo public health Its a really important step but it does come with risk, Redman said. I think businesses will be very keen to make sure that theyre doing everything to keep community spread low. Mandatory masks This is the first week for the regions mandatory mask bylaws for indoor public spaces and on public transit. Redman said so far the majority seem to be following the rule and already 2,000 free masks have been handed out to transit users. As we go forward, we anticipate compliance because thats been the track record to date, Redman said. People with a medical condition or disability, as well as children under five, are exempt. Proof of exemption is not required a stipulation regional council felt strongly about before unanimously passing the bylaws, Redman said. The onus should not be on the individual. They should be taken at their word, said Redman, asking people to be kind if they see someone not wearing a mask and to assume they are exempt. They should not be challenged, she said. Wang said a face shield is not a substitute for those who can wear a face covering. A face covering helps to contain the wearers respiratory droplets, while a face shield only protects the wearer from others droplets and thats why people wearing a shield should also wear a face covering. For those who cannot wear a mask, however, a face shield is better than no covering at all, Wang said. Neighbourhood data Public health did a more in-depth analysis of COVID-19 rates by neighbourhood since the data was publicly released earlier this month, finding a moderate correlation with recent immigrant status and, to a lesser extent, with low income. Not all neighbourhoods with low income or with higher proportions of immigrants have higher COVID rates, Wang said. Its important to note that these results do not necessarily indicate an increased risk of COVID at the individual level. She said the local results are not surprising and are consistent with whats been found elsewhere across Ontario during the pandemic. Individual data, including race, income, household size and language, will begin to be collected in the region starting this week as part of a provincial initiative. Wang said that information may help increase the understanding who is at greater risk for acquiring COVID-19. RELATED STORIES Free Digital Access No link found yet between socioeconomic factors and COVID-19 rates Wang said its long been known that social determinants affect a range of health conditions, and these factors go beyond public health interventions. They just add to the body of evidence that work needs to continue to be done to try to address the inequities that we see in our society. Numbers COVID-19 cases in the region reached 1,346 in the Tuesday morning update by public health, up two from the previous day. No new deaths were reported. A total of 118 people have died, following a COVID-related death being reported on Monday and last Friday. This weeks death was a woman over 80 in the community. Almost a month went by in June with no deaths reported. One was reported in the June 3 update to reach 115, and then not another until June 29. One outbreak is active at a long-term care or retirement home after an outbreak was declared on Monday at a Cambridge home, where one employee tested positive. No tickets were handed out for not following emergency orders from July 7 to 13. During that week, 92 site visits required education or warnings and 18 required no action. TORONTO, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hampton Financial Corporation (Hampton or the Corporation) (TSXV: HFC) (TSXV: HFC.PR.A) is pleased to announce that Mr. Duncan Webb will be joining the firm as President, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Webb has a long history as a senior executive in Canadas financial services industry. Prior to Joining Hampton, Mr. Webb served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Administrative Officer with CIBC Mellon. Prior to this he served as Senior Vice President Finance & Technology for the Ontario Pension Board. As well, he has served as Chief Compliance Officer for Credit Suisse Securities (Canada), and Chief Financial Officer for CT Securities Inc. Mr. Webbs appointment adds significant depth to the Hampton management team and we look forward to his new leadership. This appointment is subject to exchange and regulatory approval. Mr. Webb will be replacing Sharon Castelino who has left to pursue other opportunities and Patrick Michaud who will be retiring as CFO. Hampton also announces the resignation of Sharon Castelino as a director. About Hampton Financial Corporation Hampton Financial Corporation is a unique private equity firm that seeks to build shareholder value through long-term strategic investments. Through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hampton Securities Limited (HSL), Hampton is actively engaged in family office, wealth management, institutional services and capital markets activities. HSL is a full service investment dealer, regulated by IIROC and registered in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Ontario and Quebec. In addition, the company provides investment banking services, which include assisting companies with raising capital, advising on mergers and acquisitions, and aiding issuers in obtaining a listing on a recognized securities exchange in Canada. Story continues For more information, please contact: Peter M. Deeb Executive Chairman & CEO Hampton Financial Corporation (416) 862-8651 Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Humble ISD has decreased the amount of guests students are allowed to invite to graduation ceremonies next week. The district reduced the capacity at Turner Stadium to 25% to improve social distancing at the ceremonies, Humble ISD officials said in an email to parents this week. The capacity was originally set at 50%. According to the email, the current growth of COVID-19 cases in Houston caused the district to consider a reduction. PARKS: Harris County sets $10K aside for SPARK Park at Humble ISDs Lakeshore Elementary The district used data from each schools 2020 class to determine the ticket amounts for individual families. Kingwood High School and Atascocita High School will be provided four tickets per student while Summer Creek High School and Humble High School families will be provided with five tickets. Kingwood Park graduates will be provided six tickets per family while Quest Early College High School students will have 15 tickets each due to a smaller class size. While there is a decrease in the number of guests, there is still an option to watch graduation ceremonies online through video service platform TexanLive.com. The livestream will be available on the districts website, www.humbleisd.net/graduation2020. Guests will be asked to sit with family members in their own household and leave space between themselves and others, according to the email. We understand this reduction is disappointing, the email statement said. The well being of all participants makes this change necessary. Graduates do not need a ticket. The tickets are for family and friends. The tickets will be in each packet that students pick up from their schools. EDUCATION: Some Texas schools may not reopen for in-person classes in August. Heres how. Humble ISD is a family and we appreciate your patience and support as we work to make this special event possible, the email statement said. It is going to take all of us working together to keep our friends, family, and community safe and still celebrate our graduates. More Information Humble ISD students, staff and parents will hold their in-person graduation ceremonies at Turner Stadium from July 20-25. All will be held at 8 p.m. except Quest Early College, which will begin at 9 a.m. Monday, July 20: Kingwood High School - 4 tickets Tuesday, July 21: Kingwood Park High School - 6 tickets Wednesday, July 22: Summer Creek High School - 5 tickets Thursday, July 23: Humble High School - 5 tickets Friday, July 24: Atascocita High School - 4 tickets Saturday, July 25: Quest Early College (9 a.m.) - 15 tickets See More Collapse To find out what to expect for graduation, Humble ISD provided a Graduation 2020 video that can be viewed here. savannah.mehrtens@chron.com NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Brightflag, the AI-powered legal spend management platform, today announced Syngenta, one of the world's leading agriculture innovation companies, as its latest customer. The new partnership marks an important milestone in the evolution of Syngenta's legal operations and extends Brightflag's reputation as the go-to choice among enterprises with global legal functions. With 48,000 employees working across 100 countries, Syngenta manages a complex portfolio of global legal matters. Its existing e-billing and matter management system had become a limiting factor, however, routinely delaying essential tasks for both internal staff and outside counsel. Syngenta evaluated several alternatives before ultimately selecting Brightflag as the comprehensive solution for taking control of its legal spend. As the only legal spend management software with AI at its core, Brightflag will provide Syngenta's legal department with powerful tools to diligently manage costs, strategically resource work, and consistently deliver value to the business. "We are an ambitious team that knew it was time for us to move into a new league of legal operations," said Laurent Giezendanner, Head of Corporate Security and Legal Operations at Syngenta. "Brightflag will help us become a department defined by data-driven decisions, fast responses, and consistently high customer satisfaction." "We're thrilled to partner with Syngenta, an innovative enterprise with a global impact and exacting requirements," said Kevin Cohn, Chief Customer Officer at Brightflag. "We'll pair our powerful technology and personalized support to guide the team through the challenges that accompany all meaningful organizational changes." At a time when many global businesses are struggling to adjust to the realities of remote work, Brightflag's cloud-based technology and consultative approach have helped Syngenta maintain its aggressive transformation timeline. And as familiarity with Brightflag's advanced automation and analytics grows, Syngenta's legal department is excited to identify new areas where it can deliver measurable business value. About Brightflag Brightflag enables organizations to take control of their legal spend with AI-powered software that's easy to use and backed by proactive customer support. Brightflag processes billions of dollars of legal spend annually on behalf of its customers, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in savings and tens of thousands of hours in avoided administrative work. Founded in 2014, Brightflag serves a global community of in-house legal teams and their vendors from its offices in Dublin, New York, and Sydney. SOURCE Brightflag Inc. Related Links www.brightflag.com Xtalks Life Science Webinars This informative webinar will provide insight into the current state of diabetic kidney disease prevalence and recent data on a widespread lack of compliance with accepted clinical management guidelines. Diabetes is the most common cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD), potentially leading to renal failure and the need for dialysis or transplantation. This informative webinar will provide insight into the current state of diabetic kidney disease prevalence and recent data on a widespread lack of compliance with accepted clinical management guidelines. The voice of the patient will be explored with current research exploring attitudes and challenges facing clinical care for patients with diabetes and renal impairment and their caregivers as well as concerns they have towards participating in clinical research trials. In addition, state-of-the-art approaches using tools of precision medicine to better understand the causes of renal disease in people with diabetes will be discussed. Join Barry Goldstein, MD, PhD, FACE, Vice President & Therapeutic Area Head, Cardiovascular, Metabolic, Endocrine & Renal, Covance, Mala Puri, MD, Senior Medical Director, CVMER Project Physician, Kelly L. Close, Founder, The diaTribe Foundation; President, Close Concerns and Kumar Sharma, MD, Hillis Endowed Distinguished Chair in Medicine; Director, Center for Renal Precision Medicine; Chief, Division of Nephrology in a live webinar on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 11am EDT (4pm BST/UK). For more information or to register for this event, visit Diabetes and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD): The Patient Experience, Clinical Research and the Promise of Precision Medicine. ABOUT XTALKS Xtalks, powered by Honeycomb Worldwide Inc., is a leading provider of educational webinars to the global life science, food and medical device community. Every year thousands of industry practitioners (from life science, food and medical device companies, private & academic research institutions, healthcare centers, etc.) turn to Xtalks for access to quality content. Xtalks helps Life Science professionals stay current with industry developments, trends and regulations. Xtalks webinars also provide perspectives on key issues from top industry thought leaders and service providers. To learn more about Xtalks visit http://xtalks.com For information about hosting a webinar visit http://xtalks.com/why-host-a-webinar/ UK selling spyware to 17 repressive regimes, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 5:26 AM Britain is providing more than a dozen repressive regimes around the world with wiretaps, spyware and other telecommunications interception equipment likely to be used to spy on dissidents, according to public records. The rules are quite clear on this. The UK should not export security goods to countries that might use them for internal repression. However, ministers have quietly signed off more than 75 million in such exports over the past five years to states rated "not free" by the NGO Freedom House. Recipient countries, 17 in all, including Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, as well as the United Arab Emirates, which was the biggest recipient of licenses totaling 11.5 million alone since 2015. The UK has been accused of systematically failing to conduct proper checks on who it sold arms to, while Labour called on the government to show it is working to prove that it is complying with its own rules against arming dictators. The UK has also exported such goods to other states that are not officially rated "not free" but where supplying spyware could cause concern. Hong Kong, while repressing protests, had a 2 million shipment approved last year, and the Philippines, where police extrajudicial killings are rampant, has also provided steady business for British firms peddling surveillance systems. Labour's shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry told The Independent, "The government has a legal and moral duty to ensure exports from Britain are not used by other countries for the purposes of internal repression, and that risk should clearly be at the forefront of their mind when those countries have a track record of harassing political opponents and undermining democratic freedoms, and when the equipment concerned is ripe to be abused in that way. "The government needs to show urgently how those risks were assessed in these cases, and how this equipment was ultimately used." A government spokesperson said, "The government takes its export responsibilities seriously and assesses all export licenses in accordance with strict licensing criteria. We will not issue any export licenses where to do so would be inconsistent with these criteria." But Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK's program director for military, security and police affairs, was alarmed that the UK did not seem to be undertaking proper risk assessments when selling such equipment and said the government's controls were becoming "notorious" for their "faulty decision-making". "These figures are cause for real concern, unless and until UK ministers can demonstrate that proper safeguards against repressive misuse were in place when this equipment was dispatched," he said. "With numerous human rights defenders arrested and jailed in countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey in the past five years, there's a greater need than ever for the UK to be absolutely scrupulous in assessing the risk of UK telecoms technology being used unlawfully against human rights activists, journalists, and peaceful opposition figures. "It's just not clear that the UK is undertaking proper risk assessments when selling this equipment, and it's not clear whether UK officials are making any effort to track how the equipment is used in one, two or three years' time. "With the UK's licensing of arms exports already notorious for its faulty decision-making, these figures are yet another reminder of why we need a complete root-and-branch overhaul of the UK's failing arms and security equipment export control system. This overhaul should include the introduction of a far more coherent and comprehensive system of reporting that clearly shows exactly what we are selling, to whom and why." Earlier in the week, international trade secretary Liz Truss announced the UK would be resuming arms exports to Saudi Arabia, despite a court having previously ordered that they be suspended. The government said it had reexamined claims that Saudi forces in Yemen had breached international humanitarian law, and that any possible breaches were "isolated incidents" because they had happened in different places and different ways. Andrew Smith of Campaign Against Arms Trade, a UK-based campaigning organization working towards the abolition of the international arms trade, said the sale of the spying equipment raised "serious questions and concerns". "These sales are symptomatic of a dangerous and hypocritical foreign policy that has consistently prioritized arms exports over human rights," he said. "Spyware and surveillance equipment is often used against human rights defenders. Many of the regimes buying the technology have a long history of inflicting brutal and repressive laws and targeting campaigners and activists. "Policing in the UK and around the world is becoming even more militarized, and surveillance is becoming even more intrusive. For companies and arms-dealing governments like the UK to be promoting and selling this kind of equipment is extremely irresponsible and reckless. It could fuel abuses for years to come." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 02:39:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close An employee serves customers at a restaurant after its reopening in Sanaa, Yemen, July 14, 2020. The Houthi-controlled health authorities eased restrictions designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in northern Yemen, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Tuesday. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua) SANAA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Houthi-controlled health authorities eased restrictions designed to curb the spread of COVID-19 in northern Yemen, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported on Tuesday. The decision came after the imposed measures have resulted "positive impact" related to control the spread of the coronavirus, said the television, citing a statement by the local health authorities. The Houthi-controlled areas have never gone into either partial or total lockdown since the pandemic hit the northern provinces in early May and life has continued largely as normal. In Sanaa and the other northern provinces, most people don't maintain social distancing and many don't wear face masks. Yemen has been mired in civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of much of the country's north and forced the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. The more than five years of war has destroyed more than half of the country's health system and triggered the spread of many epidemics, such as cholera and malaria. The war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced over 3 million and pushed more than 20 million to the brink of starvation. Nailah Ellis, maker of Ellis Island Tea, meets with Kevin Hart, who is now an investor in her Detroit-based beverage company. You're supposed to set up for the next generation. Superstar comedian Kevin Hart is investing in Detroit beverage maker Nailah Ellis and Ellis Island Tea. Ellis Island Tea is an all-natural beverage, handcrafted from a recipe inspired by Elliss Jamaican great-grandfather, who came to America through Ellis Island more than 100 years ago. Made with real herbs, including hibiscus, Ellis Island Tea is rich, red, smooth and flavorful. The story always matters to Hart. An artist and an author, Hart knows an audience looks for truth and a way to connect. So, when Ellis introduced him to her family tea, he was intrigued. The teas history and Elliss own backstory of starting with nothing at the age of 20, brewing tea in her mothers kitchen and selling it from the trunk of her car around Detroit resonated with Hart. Harts own story is one of resilience and perseverance working small clubs and honing his craft for years before becoming a bankable star who commands $10 million-plus a movie. There were a lot of people pulling for Nailah, said Hart, who was impressed by the Detroiters determination and hustle. Her name just kept coming up and coming across my radar. So, I figured there had to be something to it. Ellis won BETs Queen Boss business competition and her companys growth has been chronicled in national media, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, MSNBC, The Financial Times, The Root 100 and Black Enterprise. Accolades and awards have poured in, but Ellis has always focused on building a business that endures. Today, Ellis has her own Detroit beverage production facility and is the largest Black female beverage manufacturer in the United States. Her tea is an emerging national brand sold by retail giants Sams Club and Costco and airport concessioners across the country. Harts investment comes at a critical time Ellis Island Tea will be rolling out in Walmart this month and will soon debut in Target and CVS. With Harts backing, sleek new packaging, competitive pricing, and new e-commerce options, Ellis expects rapid growth. Ellis has always given a nod to the man who inspired the recipe for Ellis Island Tea her Jamaican Great-Grandfather Cyril Byron. Cyrils story is one of a true risk taker. He came here with nothing but his dreams, Ellis said. He went on to become a head chef on Marcus Garveys Black Star Line and then the owner of Byron Caterers, one of the most successful Black-owned catering businesses in the Bronx. Cyril was an optimist, an activist, an entrepreneur and a pragmatist, she said. When he passed down his tea recipe for future generations, Cyril said This recipe is to be sold, not told. Hart also is a big believer in building for the future. The soon-to-be father of four has said that Youre supposed to set up for the next generationif youre not doing that, youre not doing your part. Ellis takes that seriously as well. She is building upon the dreams of her ancestors, hoping to pass on a legacy to her two young daughters. Shes also proud to be providing jobs for Detroiters like herself. We all need opportunity, she said. Ive been given mine and now Im paying it forward and providing that for others. ABOUT ELLIS ISLAND TEA Ellis Island Tea is the only Jamaican Sweet Tea made in America. It is an all-natural bottled tea made from hibiscus with a smooth, refreshing flavor. Ellis Island Tea comes sweetened with pure sugar cane and honey or in an unsweetened version that is crisp and tart. When she founded her company back in 2008, Nailah Ellis realized a lifelong dream to become an entrepreneur. Brewing Ellis Island Tea continues a family legacy. The tea is based on a recipe created by her Great-Grandfather Cyril Byron, a Jamaican immigrant, chef and entrepreneur who told his family the recipe was to be Sold, not told. Ellis-Brown honors those words every day working from her company headquarters in Detroit where the tea is brewed. http://www.ellisislandtea.com Finance Ministry has started consulting with various industry leaders and the banks about the necessity of extending the loan moratorium beyond August. The Supreme Court verdict awarding rights to manage affairs of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple to the royal family of Travancore will set a precedent for legal battles over religious matters. A white paper published by The Technology, Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) has called for creation of technology clusters across the country for homogenous job creation. Read for more top stories from the world of business and economy: 1. Loan moratorium may continue for select sectors post August; check out details The RBI had, on March 27, allowed commercial banks, co-operative banks, financial institutions, and non-banking finance corporations (NBFCs) to offer moratorium on payment of instalments of all term loans outstanding as on March 1 to help alleviate hardship of borrowers. 2. BT Buzz: What Padmanabha temple verdict means for 'religious' battles with government As per an old estimate by the World Gold Council, gold holdings in India could be about 3,000-4,000 tonnes in the form of coins, jewellery and gold articles, besides diamonds, which are not segregated by value. It is also impossible to measure the value of many of these due to its antiquity. 3. How idea of saving the planet is influencing Indian consumers' choices Capgemini's report called "Consumer Products and Retail: How sustainability is fundamentally changing consumer preferences" revealed that many consumers were following sustainability-led practices in their daily life. 4. Why tech intervention is a critical need for economic growth Titled 'Focused interventions for Make in India Post COVID-19', the paper also calls for the promotion of import substitution and indigenous innovation in association with academic institutions and research centres and collaboration with Incubation mentoring platforms from Germany, USA. 5. Flipkart raises $1.2 billion in funding from Walmart Indian e-commerce major Flipkart on Tuesday said that it will raise $1.2 billion funding from investors led by Walmart. The Kano PC, built by London-based startup Kano in partnership with Microsoft. Kano Microsoft is betting that a British computing start-up can take on Google in the educational technology industry, which has thrived during the coronavirus pandemic. London-headquartered Kano, which is focused on teaching kids how to code, raised more than $1 million in an investment from Microsoft, with the tech giant taking a minority stake. The company has raised a total of about $45.5 million to date from investors including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. The deal, announced Tuesday, expands on an existing partnership with Microsoft on Kano's bright orange Windows-powered PC. It also sees Kano join the ranks of large IT players like Lenovo and Dell in obtaining original equipment manufacturer licensing from Microsoft. That means Kano is now able to ship its PCs with Windows 10 Pro a premium version of Microsoft's operating system to schools and has also formed a co-selling agreement with Microsoft. Kano has received a tender from the Japanese government to sell 3 million of its devices in the country and is in talks to sell thousands of units in the United Arab Emirates. The firm's PC retails at $299, cheaper than Microsoft's Surface Go hybrid PC and on par with some of Google's cheaper Chromebook computers. Growing demand for 'edtech' It comes as demand for educational technology, or "edtech," has surged amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Lockdowns across the world caused nationwide school closures in 190 countries at the peak of the pandemic in mid-April, impacting 90% of the world's pupils. Meanwhile, the global PC market has recently returned to growth after suffering its worst decline in sales since 2013. According to Gartner, worldwide PC shipments grew 2.8% in the second quarter, as demand for laptops and tablets increased and vendors recovered from coronavirus-related supply chain disruptions. Kano started out in 2013 as a venture aimed at teaching kids how to build their own computers and code. It gained traction selling easy-to-build computer kits based on compact Raspberry Pi circuit boards that came with the open-source Linux operating system. While it hasn't retired the Raspberry Pi kits altogether, CEO and co-founder Alex Klein told CNBC that the company has increased investment into the PC it built in partnership with Microsoft. Klein said the Linux-based computers created an "accessibility barrier" for some users but stressed his firm hasn't forgotten the "punk rock spirit" it embraced in its early days of existence. Competing with Google A big part of the deal, Klein said, is helping his company compete with Google in the multi-billion dollar educational computing market. Google's Chromebooks have swiftly become the top-selling computers in U.S. schools over the years. In 2018, they made up 60% of all laptops and tablets in K-12 classrooms, up from just 5% in 2012, according to data from consulting firm Futuresource. Microsoft accounted for 22% of the market in 2018, while Apple trailed behind on 18%. Willis is now getting a second chance both to earn her associate degree and wipe out that debt. She is one of more than 21,000 former students of the City Colleges of Chicago system who Mayor Lori Lightfoot says could benefit from a debt forgiveness program she announced on Tuesday, with Willis at her side. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Shang-Su Wu (The Jakarta Post) Singapore Tue, July 14, 2020 The recently announced deal of eight MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft to Indonesia, the first in Southeast Asia, signifies an attempt to improve its airlift capability with certain challenges ahead. The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,500 islands represents a significant demand for military airlift, especially for time-sensitive missions, such as disaster relief, search and rescue. Regarding the demand for airlift, the Indonesian armed forces have established certain capacities, and its indigenous aerial industry has become an important supplier for rotary and fixed-wing transport aircraft. However, there is a gap between fixed-winged and rotary airlift in terms of speed. The fixed-winged aircraft is faster than its rotary counterpart but airfields or at least a certain size of flat ground is indispensable. Although most models of transporter aircraft in the Indonesian service, from C-130 to NC-212, are capable of short take-off and landing (STOL) to accept airfields with poor conditions, there are still many areas unsuitable for them, except airdrop with parachutes. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. What if the facts you learned in history class were wrong? Historians dedicate their whole careers to uncovering and understanding our past, but behind every well-known fact, there is information that gets lost or buried. Here are some common historical facts that are false. 10. Christopher Columbus did not discover America Explorer Christopher Columbus is believed by many to have discovered America when in truth Indigenous people had already been living in the Americas for thousands of years. It was the Viking explorer Leif Erikson who first landed in the Americas, almost 400 years before Columbus. And while Columbus' voyages took him to Central and South America, he never quite made it to the present-day United States. 9. Marie Antoinette did not say Let them eat cake. The last French queen is credited to have uttered the famous words Let them eat cake in response to being told her peasant subjects were starving. However, there is no actual evidence she said this. Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau used the phrase in his book Confessions, which was written around 1767. Marie Antoinette was only a child at the time. Others have speculated that French revolutionaries falsely credited the quote to the royal as propaganda against the excess of the monarchy. 8. Napoleon Bonaparte was not short Napoleon is known as one of the worlds iconic military leaders; often depicted as a short man in a waistcoat leading his army. In fact, Bonaparte was likely of average height, and the belief that he was short could be due to the discrepancies between the French and British measurement system. While the French inch was 2.7 centimeters, the Imperial inch was 2.54 centimeters. Converted to modern metrics Napoleons height of 5 feet 2 inches is the equivalent of 5 feet 6.5 inches. 7. Cleopatra was not Egyptian Cleopatra is famously known as the Queen of the Nile, but she had very little, if any, Egyptian blood. Born in Egypt, Cleopatras family origins trace back to Macedonian Greece and Ptolemy I Soter, a general under Alexander the Great. Although not Egyptian by blood, she embraced many of their customs and traditions and was the first member of the Ptolemaic line to learn the Egyptian language. 6. People in the Middle Ages did not think the Earth was flat A common misconception regarding the dark ages is that it was an era of savagery and ignorance when people believed the world was flat. The idea that the Earth was round had been around since at least the 6th-century B.C, and by the Middle Ages, most scholars and educated people understood that the world was spherical. Historians believe this mix-up originated from 19th-century writers who criticized the medieval church by claiming that medieval people believed the Earth was flat. 5. Salem Witches were not burned at the stake In 1692, a doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts, believed a mysterious illness affecting young girls was the work of black magic. Allegations of witchcraft spread throughout the settlement. While the belief those found guilty of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials were burned at the stake is widespread; none of them faced that fate. The burning of Salem witches may have been confused with the European witch hunts that occurred between the 15th and 18th centuries. Following the Holy Roman Empires Constitutio Criminalis Carolina law, the punishment for witchcraft was death by burning. 4. Benjamin Franklin did not discover electricity while flying a kite Benjamin Franklin was a Founding Father, an inventor, and a scientist. But Franklin is wrongly credited with discovering electricity through his famous kite-and-key experiment. The concept of electric charges has been around for thousands of years. Some scientists doubt if Franklin even performed the experiment, believing that had lightning struck his kite, he would have died on the spot. Instead, experts believe the kite picked up ambient electric charges from the storm, creating a spark when Franklin moved his finger near the key. 3. Vikings did not wear horned helmets Horned helmets have become synonymous with Vikings, but historians have yet to discover one. The only Viking-era helmet in existence was found in 1943 and has a rounded iron cap and no horns. Viking warriors between the 8th and 11th centuries were often depicted either bareheaded or in simple helmets made of iron or leather. It is believed that costume designer Carl Emil Doeplers designs for the 19th-century opera Der Ring des Nibelungen are responsible for the persistent stereotypical image of the Vikings. 2. Sir Isaac Newton did not discover gravity when an apple fell on his head You might be familiar with the story of a young Isaac Newton, sitting under an apple tree when he is hit on the head by a falling apple, which inspires him to come up with his law of gravity. While there is no evidence supporting that legend, apples did play a role in Isaacs discovery. Newtons colleague, William Stukeley, published a biography in which he recounts a time when the two men sat under an apple tree and Newton pointed to a nearby branch and wondered why apples always fell straight down, instead of sideways or upwards. 1. Thomas Edison did not invent the first lightbulb Thomas Edison is one of Americas greatest inventors. He held more than a1,000 patents and is credited with key inventions of the 19th century. But there is much debate as to whether Edison was the first person to invent the light bulb or not. In the early 1800s, English chemist Humphry Davy produced the worlds first electric lamp. Subsequent inventors improved on Davys design, but none were able to make the lightbulb long-lasting and inexpensive. While he may not be the first to invent it, Edison did create a lightbulb that was practical, long-lasting, and affordable. Indian railways telecom arm RailTel has issued a fresh tender for thermal CCTV cameras meant for Covid surveillance changing the specifications following allegations by Indian firms that the earlier tender favoured one Chinese company. It has also made it mandatory for firms to list the country of manufacturing of the equipment. Railways had scrapped the tender for thermal cameras meant for Covid surveillance after Indian firms alleged that artificial intelligence technology - DeepInMind - which is specified in the tender is a proprietary feature of Chinese firm Hikvision, a company partly owned by the Chinese government, Hindustan Times reported on July 1. In a letter written to RailTel, one of the vendors had said the pre-qualification criteria laid down for the OEM and bidder had some anomalies and ambiguities. Under the specifications mentioned in the tender for temperature screening with facial recognition and mask detection, RailTel mentioned Special interface in DeepinMind NVR. According to Hikvisions technology, Network Video Recorder (NVR) has a mind of its own and can analyse and classify human and vehicle targets from video streams. The fresh tender issued on Monday has removed this technical specification as a requirement and has asked vendors to name the country manufacturing the equipment that they supply. Bidder shall mention country of manufacturing against each item in SOR (schedule of requirement). In case country of manufacturing is not mentioned by the bidder, RailTel Reserves the right to reject his offer. Moreover, GoIs Present as well as Future Guideline regarding foreign country material will be applicable, the new tender document said. The PSU has retained one significant specification of the blackbody temperature -- the ability of the cameras to accurately measure temperatures emitted by a person to say whether a person has fever or not. It has also listed features of the cameras to include software with simultaneous temperature screening for multiple persons with alarm (indoor), contact-free mask detection, alarms on people without masks, identity verification and stranger alarm, that is confirming identity, even with a mask. This comes at a time when India and China are involved in a tense border stand-off along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. A brutal brawl in Galwan Valley on June 15 led to 20 Indian and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers being killed. India has also decided to ban 59 mobile phone apps, mostly having Chinese links. The apex traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) last week also objected to the bid placed by a Chinese joint venture company for a global tender by the railways for manufacturing Vande Bharat trains. The traders body has written to railway minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday urging him to not allow the bid placed by the Chinese joint venture company CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited which is one of the six bidders for the project. UP assembly polls will be about '80 per cent vs 20 per cent'; BJP will win: Yogi Adityanath Vikas Dubey encounter: UP to file status report, SC to hear pleas on July 20 India pti-PTI New Delhi, Jul 14: The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court Tuesday it would file a status report detailing the steps taken by the authorities on encounter killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it may consider appointing a committee headed by a former judge to probe the encounters of Dubey and his aides as also the killing of eight Uttar Pradesh policemen by the gangster. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the bench that he would file the status report by July 16. Vikas Dubey encounter: ED all set to register money laundering case against family, associates Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News The apex court said it would hear on July 20 the pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters of Dubey and his associates. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3. Dubey was killed in an encounter on the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. They have been linked romantically since April 2018 and have been isolating together stateside. And Chris Pine and Annabelle Wallis enjoyed a day of leisure together as they stepped out in Agoura Hills, Los Angeles on Monday. The Star Trek actor, 39, and his British thespian love, 35, were relaxed and happy while strolling in the sunshine. Couple: Chris Pine and Annabelle Wallis enjoyed a day of leisure together as they stepped out in Agoura Hills, Los Angeles on Monday Chris looked summer ready in a pastel pink shirt which displayed his muscular arms, as he snacked on sunflower seeds. He paired this with white trousers and cream loafers as he walked. Peaky Blinders star Annabelle looked stylish in a black summer dress and matching mules. She added a pop of colour with a green handbag and a red tote as she chatted with Chris. Happy couple: They have been linked romantically since April 2018 and have been isolating together stateside (pictured June 2019) Pine, who is best known for playing Captain Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek movie franchise, has recently been tipped to breathe new life into the iconic Simon Templar in a remake of The Saint. It was reported in April that he is in negotiations to headline Paramount's new version of The Saint to be directed by Rocketman helmer Dexter Fletcher. The character, created in the 1920s, by novelist Leslie Charteris was last played on the big screen by Val Kilmer in 1997. Before that, Roger Moore starred as Templar in a long-running British TV series from 1962 to 1969. Pine has plenty of other projects lined up too. He has signed on to join the cast of Olivia Wilde's film Don't Worry, Darling, her directorial follow-up to last year's Booksmart. Pine is attached as well to the biographical drama Newsflash in which he'll play Walter Cronkite opposite Mark Ruffalo as Don Hewitt. The actor returns next to the big screen in Wonder Woman 1984, reprising his role as Steve Trevor opposite Gal Gadot's superhero. The sequel is scheduled to be released on October 2, 2020. Meanwhile, Wallis, who played Jane Seymour in The Tudors and starred opposite Tom Cruise in the reboot of The Mummy, has several films in the can including the sci-fi thriller Boss Level with Mel Gibson, the comedy Silent Knight with Keira Knightley and the horror flick Malignant. Dont take it from just the Democrats even actual Republicans, including some of his own White House advisers, are unhappy about Donald Trump pardoning one of his former campaign helpers, Roger Stone. U.S. Senator Mitt Romney and PAs usually circumspect Senator Pat Toomey both criticized the move, with Romney tweeting: " Unprecedented, historic corruption: an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president. Editorial cartoons from this week include: For more editorial cartoons, visit inquirer.com/opinion/cartoons/. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Joanna Plucinska and Marcin Goclowski (Reuters) Warsaw, Poland Tue, July 14, 2020 14:15 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406662c1db 2 World Poland,Andrzej-Duda,president,election,European-Union,Europe Free Polish President Andrzej Duda has won five more years in power on a socially conservative, religious platform in a closely fought election that makes renewed confrontation with the European Commission likely. Nearly final results from Sunday's presidential election runoff showed Duda, 48, on over 51%, giving him an unassailable lead over liberal Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, who won almost 49% of the votes, the National Election Commission said. Duda is allied with the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, and his victory reinforces the government's mandate to pursue reforms of the judiciary and media which the European Commission, the European Union executive, says subvert democratic standards. Duda has largely backed the PiS policies. "To a large extent, the policy of Brussels, or rather Berlin, had focused on supporting the opposition," Arkadiusz Mularczyk, a PiS lawmaker, told Reuters. "Polish society is not accepting this." Duda ran an acrimonious campaign in an election that was held despite the pandemic and was laced with homophobic language, attacks on private media and accusations that Trzaskowski serve foreign interests instead of Poland's. Trzaskowski, who had said he would repair Poland's relations with Europe and use the presidential veto to block any legislation that would subvert democratic norms, dismissed the accusations. PiS and the EU have been divided on climate change and migration, in addition to democratic norms. Rifts are likely to be evident this week when EU leaders discuss the bloc's long-term budget, with Brussels facing growing calls for funding to be made conditional on respect for the rule of law. "EU institutions and the broader international community must now be vigilant to ensure ... minority rights in Poland are upheld in the coming years," said Dacian Ciolos, former Prime Minister of Romania and President of the Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament. Brussels did not immediately comment on the election outcome. One EU country swiftly welcomed Duda's re-election -- Hungary, which is also among anti-liberal voices in central Europe. "The international liberal mainstream once again tried everything but the central European right wing is up 3:0," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook, referring to recent conservative triumphs in Croatia, which is an EU member state, and Serbia, which is not in the EU. Enemies Trzaskowski had said that, if elected, he would seek a more tolerant Poland and abolish state news channel TVP Info, which critics say gave overt support to Duda in its programming. "The public broadcaster was used as a campaign tool for the incumbent," said Thomas Boserup, Head of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) special election assessment mission. "This is the clearest misuse of public resources we have seen in this election." To many religious conservatives in the predominantly Catholic nation, Trzaskowski came to represent the threats facing traditional values when he pledged to introduce education about LGBT rights in Warsaw schools. "I chose someone who represents the same values as I do. Christian values, family values," said Jarek Sieczka, a 25-year-old municipal official who lives near Zyrardow, outside Warsaw. However, many members of the LGBT community fear discrimination under a Duda presidency. "We feel powerless," said Dawid Mycek, 35, a LGBT activist and Youtuber. "This is the first presidential campaign I know, which was based on hate, hate speech and dividing Poles." Duda painted himself as a guardian of generous PiS welfare programs that have transformed life for many poorer Poles. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro suggested late on Sunday that PiS could push on quickly with its conservative agenda, and with its ambition to spur change in private media ownership towards outlets more favorable to its ambitions. A war of words was heating up Tuesday in oil-rich and conflict-torn Libya, where two rival administrations are battling for control and tensions have risen between outside forces Egypt and Turkey. The Libyan parliament aligned with strongman Khalifa Haftar issued a statement late Monday giving in-principle support to a threatened Egyptian military intervention against what it termed a "Turkish occupation". Libya has been torn by violence since the 2011 ouster of long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a NATO-backed uprising, and the conflict has since drawn in multiple foreign powers. The Turkish-backed and UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) based in Tripoli in the west has been fighting Haftar's forces, which are supported by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and others. The GNA, with stepped-up Turkish support, in June repelled a 14-month siege of the capital by Haftar and launched a counter-offensive that is now stalled outside the coastal city of Sirte, Kadhafi's hometown. Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, alarmed by Haftar's setback, warned last month that Cairo could send troops into Libya. He threatened to send in his army if GNA forces capture Sirte, which is located more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) from the Egyptian border and now held by Haftar's troops backed by a local Salafist militia. The pro-Haftar parliament said Monday on its website that it would back an Egyptian intervention if necessary "to protect the national security of Libya and Egypt if they see an imminent danger to both our countries". Libya and Egypt should work together, the assembly said, "to guarantee the occupier's defeat and preserve our shared national security" in the face of "the dangers posed by the Turkish occupation". - 'Drums of war' - Sisi's warning was perceived as a "declaration of war" by the GNA but received the full support of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Jordan, all members of the pro-Haftar axis. GNA spokesman Mohamad Gnounou pledged Tuesday that their forces would advance toward the "cities taken hostage" and "eradicate all outlaw groups", an allusion to the pro-Haftar forces. Egypt's military said Saturday it had carried out exercises involving navy, airforce and special forces near the Libyan border in response to the "severe and rapid changes" in the region. The UAE on Tuesday issued an implicit warning to GNA forces advancing on Sirte. "The drums of the war raging around Sirte in Libya threaten serious developments and dangerous humanitarian and political consequences," tweeted its minister of state for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash. "We in the UAE call for an immediate ceasefire and for wisdom to prevail," he added, calling for inter-Libyan dialogue "within clear international frameworks". Years of international efforts have so far failed to bring a lasting peace to the North African country which has the continent's largest proven oil reserves. Sisi in June called Sirte a "red line" for Egypt, while Ankara has urged Haftar to withdraw from the strategic city and negotiate a ceasefire. Relations between Cairo and Ankara have been deteriorating since 2013, when Sisi led the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a Muslim Brotherhood figure close to Turkey. Libya expert Jalel Harchaoui of the Clingendael Institute in The Hague said Tuesday that, despite the rhetoric, he did not see the imminent risk of major military escalation. "The military reality around Sirte has not changed significantly in the past two weeks," he said. Sirte remained well-defended by pro-Haftar Russian and Syrian mercenaries with UAE logistical support as well by dangerous minefields to the west of the city. "Cairo's political desire for a visible and official Egyptian intervention remains very tenuous," he added. At a time of regional economic and pandemic woes, he said, "Egypt has other problems at the moment". Convoy of the "Tripoli Brigade", a militia loyal to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), parade through Martyrs' Square at the centre of the GNA-held Libyan capital Tripoli People wave flags of Libya (R) and Turkey (L) during a demonstration in Tripoli Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A Long Island wholesaler told dozens of investors from Staten Island and elsewhere he could earn them a lot of money by buying jewelry at closeout prices and reselling the merchandise for a high profit, said authorities. But the only cash Gregory Altieri made was for himself through a two-year $200 million Ponzi scheme in which he bilked over 80 clients, including retired or current police officers and firefighters, prosecutors allege. Altieri, 53, was arrested and arraigned Tuesday on a federal wire-fraud charge. He pleaded not guilty and was released on $750,000 bond. The bust was announced by Seth D. DuCharme, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBIs New York Field Office. As alleged, Altieri defrauded investors, including retirees living off their pensions, by representing that he was buying and reselling jewelry for big profits, which was a lie, said DuCharme in a statement. The scheme started in August 2017, said an indictment filed in Brooklyn federal court. Altieri, who ran LNA Associates in his hometown of Melville, L.I., solicited between $75 million and $85 million from scores of investors from Staten Island, Queens and Long Island, said the indictment. A breakdown was not immediately available. Altieri told clients he would buy jewelry in bulk at closeout prices and resell it at a higher cost, alleges the indictment. The defendant pledged returns on investments ranging from 30% to 70% in a matter of months, the indictment said. Altieri initially purchased some jewelry. Around May 2018, he began paying earlier investors with new investors money, prosecutors allege. Altieri told the first group they were receiving returns on their investments, said prosecutors. He then convinced those investors to roll over their original investments into new investments, pledging to use that cash to buy more jewelry, said the indictment. However, he didnt purchase any merchandise, the indictment said. Altieri communicated with investors in person and on the phone, among other ways, said the indictment. To further the scam, he sent clients jewelry lot sheets, which contained bogus information about purchases LNA purportedly made and returns investors could expect, the indictment said. By January of this year, Altieri stopped paying investors, said authorities. At that time, he owed clients around $200 million based on his inflated claims about their investments value, the indictment said. In May, some of the investors filed a petition forcing Altieri and LNA into an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding, said the indictment. Altieri faces up to 20 years behind bars if convicted at trial. Pretrial detention leads to an 18% increase in the rate of conviction and a 42% increase in the length of sentence, said Edward V. Sapone, Altieris lawyer. Mr. Altieri is grateful not to be part of those statistics and that he will be fighting this case from our law offices, and not from the MDC (Metropolitan Detention Center) Brooklyn. Dear Roger, I'm a new Christian, and I've always associated the word rapture with something romantic or earthly. Can you help me understand, why is the word rapture associated with the return of Jesus? What does it mean to experience the rapture the Bible talks about? Jerry Dear Jerry, When I think of the word rapture or enraptured, Im a lot like you. I think of being deeply in love with someone, perhaps captivated by their personality or their looks. When we are enraptured, many deep feelings overwhelm us in a good way. The word can also refer to a memorable, dramatic experience. As followers of Jesus Christ, the word rapture has a very special, specific meaning. While the word rapture is never specifically found in the Bible, the concept is deeply embedded in Gods Word. Rapture is from the Latin word rapturo, which means to catch away. The Rapture: Christians Meet Him in the Air! In biblical terms, the rapture is an event near the end times, when Jesus will secretly come in the air to gather His followers up into heaven. Those Christians who are already in their graves will be resurrected and join with Christians who are alive and be taken straight into heaven. rapture is from the Latin word rapturo, which means to catch away. It is used here to describe this moment, when we will be caught up togetherto meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Those people who do not know Christ as their Savior will be left behind. Jesus explained the nature of the rapture in Matthew 24:39-41: That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. Later, Paul expanded on Jesus teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18: Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death...For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lords word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. I imagine that Jesus will shout the same words that he shouted when he called Lazarus up out of the grave in Bethany: Lazarus, come forth! (John 11:38-44). Have you ever thought about the fact that if Jesus had not specifically shouted the name Lazarus, the entire graveyard may well have emptied? What a sight the rapture will be! His shout will penetrate every grave, pierce the deepest seas, and be heard by every one of His followers on earth. Christian bodies will resurrect from all over the world. Many will be in manmade graves. Others have gone down at sea; some were burned to death; some were cremated; some died in deserts and their bones were left to scorch in the heat; some were torn to bits in explosions. It doesn't matter to Jesus. He knows everything; He knows where they are. After all, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. I suppose that He can create bodies out of dust as often as He likes. What About Those Left Behind After the Rapture? Woe to those non-Christians who are left behind. They will enter a world of horrible hell on earth dominated by plagues, trials, tribulations, famine, and death. I need to give you a little contextual overview of the end times for you to understand just how and where the rapture fits. You need to know that rapture and the second coming of Christ are NOT the same. The rapture happens first, before the tribulation begins (or possibly at the halfway mark). The second coming of Christ comes at the end of the seven-year tribulation, before God creates a new heaven and a new earth. I just threw a lot of terms at youthe end times are pretty complicated and filled with mystery. But I can share with you some of the highlights: When the tribulation begins, a wicked man known in the Bible as the Antichrist will come to power and control ten countries which once occupied the area of the old Roman Empire. This area is essentially present-day Western Europe. He raises an enormous army with which he intends to invade Israel and conquer the earth. The seven-year clock starts when the Antichrist signs a peace treaty with the nation of Israel. After three-and-a-half years, he breaks the treaty and desecrates the Jewish Temple by putting a small image of himself inside. Scripture calls this moment the Abomination of Desolation. The small statute speaks ungodly blasphemies. At that point, the Antichrist breaks the treaty, and the countries with him make war against Israel. When the Peace Treaty Is Broken, All Hell Breaks Loose Tormenting pains and destruction devastate the earth as described in the book of Revelation chapters 6 to 19. Seven seals reveal mans destruction upon himself. Seven trumpets sound out Satans dastardly deeds against mankind. Seven bowls depict Gods wrath and subsequent great destruction upon earth. Many activities occur during the seven years. Like the German Holocaust in which six million Jews were slaughtered, the Antichrist will practice genocide on those Christians who remain. These were non-Christians who missed the rapture. When they realize whats happened, they turn their lives over to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In Revelation 5, John gives us a good look at the martyrs from the Great tribulation who are begging God to avenge their sacrifice by the Antichrist. Next, famine, pestilence, disease, earthquakes, war, incredible heat, darkness and worldwide oceanic pollution devastate the seas. The pictures of the sky rolling back upon itself likely describes a nuclear holocaust. Demonic forces are released from the pit to bring all sorts of suffering and misery to mankind. Then the Antichrist receives a mortal wound and comes back to life, which deceives the entire world into identifying him as God. He sets up an economic system by which the followers of Jesus cannot buy or sell anything unless they bow down to worship Him. A clue to the Antichrists identity is found by adding up the Greek numbers corresponding to his name, which will add up to the sum of 666. Photo Credit: GettyImages/ismagilovjpg Why Does God Let These Things Occur? God will use these tragedies in the hope that they will encourage men and women to come to him for help and salvation. He utilizes all sorts of evangelistic tools to bring people to salvation. In fact, the end will not come until every person on earth has had the chance to hear the gospel! When that finally happens, near the end of the seven years, Antichrist and his forces face an army of 200 million soldiers from the East for the battle of Armageddon. At that moment the second coming of Christ occurs. The leaders of the two armies quickly recognizes that the real battle is not against each other; the real battle is against Jesus. Christ destroys both armies and conquers the earth. Man is no longer in charge. Jesus is the eternal Victor! Shortly thereafter, Christ begins a reign of a thousand years of peace and harmony on earth. Scripture doesnt reveal much more about that time, but it is clear that those alive at the end of the tribulation will be subject to Jesus. At the end of His thousand-year reign, a series of judgments occur in which Satan and his forcesand all of those who are not Christians, are cast into the lake of fire. Afterward, Jesus creates a new heaven and a new earth...then we will spend eternity in heaven with Him! Jerry, I know this sounds very complex, and it is. But youll discover in your studies of the end times great insights into the character, life, and power of Jesus Christ! The Big Question: When Will the Rapture Happen? The timing of the rapture in relation to the tribulation is one of the most controversial issues in the church today...and it has always been so. While no one knows the exact time of Jesus return for His followers, the Bible does give us some insights as to when it might occur. There are three basic options. The first interpretation is called pre-tribulation. This position declares that the rapture of the church will occur before the seven years of tribulation begin. I suppose that most Christians hold this view, which guarantees that Christians will avoid all of the suffering and trauma that will occur during the seven-year tribulation. Historians tell us that the early Christians topped every hill looking for Jesus. They were constantly looking for His return. They expected Him to be right around the corner. Its important to note that no prophetic events remain that must be fulfilled before the rapture can occur. None! His return is imminent. Jesus could come for you and me at any moment. According to this viewpoint, we are not looking for the second coming of Christ or for the signing of a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel. We are looking for the rapture. It will happen in the twinkling of an eye. The second possibility is called mid-tribulation, where scholars posit that the rapture will occur three and a half years after the peace treaty which guarantees Israels safety. The book of Revelation teaches that the first three and half years will be peaceful. Again, Christians will not have to suffer through the punishments of the great tribulation. So, in that order of events, the rapture happens, the peace treaty is broken, and all hell breaks loose as the seals, trumpets, and bowls of Gods wrath are unreleased. I believe that both the pre-tribulation and mid-tribulation viewpoints are possible according to Scripture. Finally, the third position is called post-tribulation, which postulates that the rapture will occur at the actual second coming of Christ. This viewpoint equates the two events. I do not believe that the post-tribulation scenario is viable, because there are important differences between the rapture and second coming: 1. At the rapture, believers meet the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). At the second coming, believers return with the Lord to the earth (Revelation 19:14). 2. The second coming occurs after the great and terrible tribulation concludes (Revelation 6-19). The rapture occurs before the tribulation begins (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Revelation 3:10). 3. The rapture is the removal of believers from the earth as an act of deliverance (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, 1 Thessalonians 5:9). The second coming includes the removal of unbelievers as an act of judgment (Matthew 24:40-41). 4. The rapture will be secret and instant (1 Corinthians 15:50-54). The second coming will be visible to all (Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:29-30). 5. The second coming of Christ will not occur until after certain other End-Times events take place (2 Thessalonians 2:4; Matthew 24:15-30; Revelation 618). The rapture is imminent; it could take place at any moment (Titus 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:50-54). A Final Word of Encouragement Jerry, let me encourage you to seek out these and other related verses across the Bible and compare/contrast the timing of the rapture. Youll be able to make your own determination about which side makes the most senseand its important to remember that this is a true mystery in Scripture. We will only know the complete answer when the rapture occurs! Im so glad you asked this question. As a new Christian, you are beginning a great adventure! There is much that you will learn. Best of all, the rapture is one of the greatest hopes for all Christians. I hope you find this answer helpful. If you have more questions, please feel free to ask. Love, Roger Recommended for You: Rapture Bible Verses What Is the Rapture? What Are Signs of the End Times and the Rapture? What Are the Seven Seals and Trumpets in Revelation? What Is the Difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming? Photo Credit: GettyImages/Ekaterina Simonovajpg Dr. Roger Barrier retired as senior teaching pastor from Casas Church in Tucson, Arizona. In addition to being an author and sought-after conference speaker, Roger has mentored or taught thousands of pastors, missionaries, and Christian leaders worldwide. Casas Church, where Roger served throughout his 35-year career, is a megachurch known for a well-integrated, multi-generational ministry. The value of including new generations is deeply ingrained throughout Casas to help the church move strongly right through the twenty-first century and beyond. Dr. Barrier holds degrees from Baylor University, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Golden Gate Seminary in Greek, religion, theology, and pastoral care. His popular book, Listening to the Voice of God, published by Bethany House, is in its second printing and is available in Thai and Portuguese. His latest work is, Got Guts? Get Godly! Pray the Prayer God Guarantees to Answer, from Xulon Press. Roger can be found blogging at Preach It, Teach It, the pastoral teaching site founded with his wife, Dr. Julie Barrier. Editor's Note : This Ask Roger article features insights from Roger's daughter, Brie Barrier Wetherbee, a sought-after Bible teacher and conference speaker, author, analyst, and Christian theologian. Pastor Roger Barrier's "Ask Roger" column regularly appears at Preach It, Teach It. Every week at Crosswalk, Dr. Barrier puts nearly 40 years of experience in the pastorate to work answering questions of doctrine or practice for laypeople or giving advice on church leadership issues. Email him your questions at roger@preachitteachit.org. Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country. U.S. sanctions have driven Venezuelas oil exports to their lowest levels in nearly 80 years, starving President Nicolas Maduros socialist government of its main source of revenue and leaving authorities short of cash for essential imports such as food and medicine. The sanctions are part of U.S. efforts to weaken Maduros grip on power after Washington and other Western democracies accused him of rigging a 2018 re-election vote. Despite the countrys economic collapse, Maduro has held on and frustrated the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Maduros government says the United States is trying to seize Venezuelas oil and calls the U.S. measures illegal persecution that heap suffering on the Venezuelan people. Washington has honed in on the maritime industry in recent months in efforts to better enforce sanctions on the oil trade and isolate Caracas, Washingtons special envoy on Venezuela Elliott Abrams told Reuters. Not Worth the Risk What you will see is most shipowners and insurance and captains are simply going to turn away from Venezuela, Abrams told Reuters in an interview. Its just not worth the hassle or the risk for them. The United States is pressuring shipping companies, insurers, certifiers and flag states that register vessels, he said. Ship classification societies, which certify safety and environmental standards for vessels, are feeling the heat for the first time. Lloyds Register (LR), one of the worlds leading ship classifiers, said it had withdrawn services from eight tankers that were involved in trade with Venezuela. The United States is pressuring classifiers to establish whether vessels have violated sanctions regulations and to withdraw certification if so as a way to tighten sanctions further, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. Without certification, a vessel and its cargo become uninsured. Ship owners would also be in breach of commercial contracts which require certificates to be maintained. In addition, port authorities can refuse entry or detain a ship. London-headquartered Lloyds Register (LR), one of the worlds leading ship classifiers, said it had withdrawn services from eight tankers that were involved in trade with Venezuela. In accordance with our program for complying with sanctions laws, where we become aware of vessels operating in breach of relevant sanctions laws, LR classification has been withdrawn, a Lloyds Register spokeswoman said. Abrams said the pressure on the maritime industry was working. We have had a number of shippers that come to us and say, We just had our insurance company withdraw the insurance, and the ship is on the high seas and weve got to get to port. Could you give us a license for one week?, Abrams said. In June, the United States designated six shipping companies two of them based in Greece and six tankers they owned for participating in proscribed Venezuelan trade. Another leading ship classifier, Hamburg-headquartered DNV GL Maritime, said it had suspended services for three of those vessels in June. The company resumed services when the United States removed those vessels from the list of sanctioned entities after the shipping companies that own and operate the vessels agreed to cease trade with Venezuela. Chilling Effect The United States has threatened sanctions on any company involved in the oil trade with Venezuela, and that has had a chilling effect even on trade permitted under sanctions. Some oil companies are refusing to charter vessels that have called at Venezuelan ports in the past year, even if the voyage was exempt from sanctions. The shipping sector has been at the receiving end of U.S. action on Venezuela and it has caused much uncertainty as no one knows who will be next, one shipping industry source said. Insurers are also in a bind. They have been conservative in their interpretation of U.S. sanctions to avoid any potential violations. Insurers are also in a bind. They have been conservative in their interpretation of U.S. sanctions to avoid any potential violations, said Mike Salthouse, chairman of the sanctions sub-committee with the International Group association. The group represents companies that insure about 90% of the worlds commercial shipping. If there is ambiguity as to what is lawful and what is unlawful it makes it almost impossible for an insurer to say whether someone has cover or not, he said. Even after ships and companies are removed from the sanctions list, they may face difficulties, Salthouse said. The stigma associated with a designation may last some time, he said. Oil majors, for example, may review relationships with companies that own or manage vessels that the United States had designated and then removed to avoid any possible problems with other vessels, he said. Real Threat Venezuela is on the list of high risk areas set by officials from Londons insurance market. If a vessel sails to Venezuela they have to notify the underwriter and it may be that the underwriter will not be able to cover them, said Neil Roberts, head of marine underwriting at Lloyds Market Association, which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in Londons Lloyds market. The industry faces the direct and real threat of having its trade stopped by a watchful U.S. administration because of an inadvertent infringement, he said. This risk alone is enough to fuel the multiplication of compliance checks. Some of the biggest global flag registries including Panama and Liberia are also looking more closely at ships that were involved in Venezuela trading as they come under U.S. pressure to withdraw registration for ships violating sanctions. Maritime lawyers in Panama said its registry is fining vessels that do not comply with the U.S. maritime guidance issued in May. The registry is mostly de-flagging vessels targeted by multilateral sanctions rather than unilateral U.S. sanctions, the lawyers said. Officials at Liberias registry did not respond to requests for comment. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a former investor in shipping, helped craft the strategy targeting the maritime sector, sources said. A Commerce Department spokesperson acknowledged Ross had worked with other government agencies to determine how to best hold accountable those who are evading U.S. sanctions on Venezuela. Abrams vowed to keep up the pressure. There are people who dont cooperate Well go after the ship, the ship owner, the ship captain. (Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga in Mexico City and Elida Moreno in Panama City; Editing by Simon Webb and Daniel Wallis) Topics Carriers USA Excess Surplus Washington Energy Oil Gas Lloyd's London The woman who was allegedly assaulted by three Myanmar soldiers talks to reporters in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, July 10, 2020. A grandmother from a village in Myanmars volatile Rakhine state has filed a rape complaint against three Myanmar Army soldiers she accused of assaulting her last month, people assisting her with the charges said. The 36-year-old mother of four children told police that she was repeatedly raped at gunpoint by the soldiers during an army sweep of U Gar village in Rathedaung township on June 30, the sources told RFA. The soldiers had found her and several relatives hiding in a bomb shelter in their home as they searched for rebel Arakan Army (AA) troops in a campaign that displaced 20,000 people. The woman, whose name RFA has withheld to protect her safety and privacy, filed charges at the police station in Rakhines capital Sittwe on Friday. The police accepted the complaint and opened cases on charges of rape, abduction with the intent to rape, and abetting a rape offense, those assisting her said. I filed these charges because I want justice, the woman said, speaking to reporters in Sittwe. I have given my testimony of what happened at the police station. I still have many concerns about my security and the security of my family because of what happened. It was very traumatic, she added. Mya Thuzar, an attorney from the Legal Clinic Myanmars Sittwe office who is assisting the woman with her case, said police registered her compliant and questioned her on July 10. The following day, they questioned her daughter, who was spared from assault by the same men because she had given birth six days earlier. The victim wants justice and proper punishments for the assault, so we are mainly providing legal aid in filing the charges, she said. We will do our best to help her get justice. The woman told police that four Myanmar soldiers entered the housing compound and instructed her to come out of the bomb shelter alone so they could check her ID card. The three of them who then assaulted her wore uniforms with insignias on their sleeves indicating that they were from Army Division No. 22, the woman told police. The Myanmar military has rejected the accusation as a fabrication intended to tarnish its reputation. Military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told RFA in an earlier report that the army investigated the incident and found evidence that the accusation was false. Myanmar's military says the army investigated the allegation that three soldiers had raped a village woman on June 30 in Rakhine state, but found evidence that the accusation was false. Credit: Rebel Pepper Support from women's rights groups Nyo Aye, chairwoman of Rakhine Womens Network, a civil society group, said all womens rights activists in Sittwe support the woman in her quest for justice. Womens rights organizations are all helping the victim to boost her confidence, she said. We are all devoted and working together to bring this case to the court and see justice delivered for the victim. Nyo Aye added that the woman and her relatives feel stigmatized that she has been labeled a rape victim and by the fact that they are going up against the military. RFA could not reach officials at the Sittwe Township Police Station for comment. A local police officer who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss the matter said the case will be transferred to Rathedaung Township Police since the alleged crime occurred there. Myanmar troop movements in Rathedaung township forced tens of thousands of civilians to flee their homes in late June and early July following reports of clearance operations against soldiers of the AA, which is fighting for more autonomy for ethnic Rakhines in the state. The fighting in northern Rakhine and in Paletwa township of adjacent Chin state has killed 266 civilians and injured 576 others between December 2018 and June 29 of this year, according to figures compiled by RFAs Myanmar Service. Rights groups say as many as 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting. Reported by RFA Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. The Susquehanna School District announced it would consider discussing possible changes to its mascot, the Indians, on Monday evening after a working group of alumni and community members raised concerns over its offensive presence at the school. James Crews, member of the working group and the Shinnecock tribe in Long Island, New York, said the group hopes to change the mascot and update the districts curriculum to better reflect Native American history and contemporary life. He said the mascot puts Native Americans on the same plane as inanimate objects and animals and should be changed. When you think of mascots, usually you see inanimate objects, animals and things like that. I just dont want native people equated on that level, Crews said. It feels disrespectful, its always felt disrespectful. Dr. Tamera Willis, superintendent of the district, said the board is open to discussions on the mascot in the future, offering a survey for feedback from the community at its virtual board meeting Monday night. She said the district's main focus right now is how to safely reopen in the fall. Weve actually had similar conversations about this in recent years, Willis said. A decision of this magnitude requires a very careful and comprehensive planning, and we must consider the perspectives of multiple stakeholder groups and as this conversation continues to evolve on national and local levels, we will remain open to the possibility of a collective dialogue. Allyn Rosenberger, the organizer of the working group, said the group plans to present a proposal to the board at its Aug. 3 meeting. They released an online petition to support the cause. It has 638 signatures as of Monday evening. She said many people have the misconception that the mascot is celebrating Native American heritage. When a schools mascot is an Indian, it just sets the Indian up to be mocked at sporting events by opposing teams, she said. When people show up to sporting events in red paint and war paint, theyre red-facing, and demeaning an entire group of people, which is unconscionable anywhere, but especially in a school as diverse as ours. The group chose to speak out now because of the national conversations about racial injustice and, more specifically, the attention drawn to change the name of the Washington Redskins. Rosenberger said the group hopes to inspire other schools in the state to do the same. There are still at least 66 schools in Pennslyvania with offensive mascots, she said. Big crowds and a lack of social distancing at some Jersey Shore beaches which prompted at least one town to partially close access this weekend have state officials concerned about the coronavirus spreading in those settings, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday. The ability to social distance is somewhat related to how many bodies there are in a given plot of real estate, Murphy said during his latest coronavirus briefing in Trenton. If we dont manage capacity at beaches and we cant get social distancing, were probably playing with fire. With ideal weather, beachgoers flocked to the Jersey Shore on Sunday. It got so crowded in Long Branch that local police temporarily blocked access to the beach. Many people were crammed together less than 6 feet apart without masks. Some of what we saw over the weekend concerned us, Murphy said, noting that many New Jersey residents are not traveling out-of-state for vacations this summer due to the outbreak and are hitting the states beaches instead. We have, particularly when the weather is good, we have a lot more folks staying at home and going to the Shore and going to our lakes, the governor said. Murphy said he continues to have an ongoing conversations with county and local officials on how to execute his state-wide guidelines. He said he spoke with the mayors of Long Branch and Point Pleasant Beach along with Monmouth County officials after seeing the reports of surging crowds. The governor has left the management of crowd control to local authorities for public beaches and has urged restrictions on parking capacity and the sales of beach tags. The state manages Island Beach State Park, which regularly closes to new visitors on weekend after hitting parking capacity. Murphy also called on residents to keep social distancing and wearing face masks. New Jersey is now requiring people to wear masks outdoors in public when they cant practice social distancing. Dont be a spreader, he said. We must take precautions. State officials have said multiple times there is no evidence yet that large outdoor gatherings at the beach or protests have caused spikes in new cases. And Murphy has said repeatedly the virus remains more dangerous indoors. But the governor also cautions that doesnt mean its harmless outdoors. New Jersey on Monday reported 22 more deaths attributed to COVID-19 and 231 more positive tests. The state has now reported 15,560 deaths 13,613 lab-confirmed and 1,947 considered probable with 175,522 known cases since its first case was announced March 4. Once a coronavirus hotspot, New Jersey has seen its daily figures drop dramatically since peaking in April and remain relatively steady in recent weeks, while dozens of other states have reported major spikes in new cases. But officials were alarmed earlier this month when New Jerseys rate of transmission jumped back above the key figure of 1 meaning, on average, every newly infected resident was passing COVID-19 to at least one other person. The number is now below that mark again. The latest rate was 0.91, officials said Monday. CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage Still, the state is calling on people traveling from 19 states with rising cases to voluntarily self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving in New Jersey, including residents returning home. Meanwhile, Monday marked was the first time since May that a week did not begin with some sort of reopening in New Jersey. More than 1.3 million New Jersey residents have filed for unemployment benefits as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the economy. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Losing a near and dear one can never be easy. In the days and months that tend to follow, the period of time can get really lonely. An elderly widow who lost her husband thought she would spend her final days alone, but an unlikely friendship with a wild stag changed everything. Mette Kvam, a pensioner, lived alone at her mountainside home in Aurland, Norway, after her husband passed away. A few days went by as she lived in isolation, then one day a hungry wild stag that was wandering in her neighborhood visited her. Mette was immediately taken aback by the wild stags sweet appearance that she fed it some snacks. The animal, named Flippen, then started to show up beneath her house window for pieces of bread not once but twice every single day, according to a description posted on YouTube by Caters News agency. Their adorable bond blossomed over the years as Flippen always returned for some head rubs and snacks. Luckily, one day in 2017, Britt Haugsevje Vangen, who witnessed the heartwarming moment as she was walking across the mountain, decided to film it. The resulting footage shows Flippen climbing up the wall beneath Mettes window and stretching his neck for a little snack. The then-81-year-old, who doesnt seem afraid of the huge animal, offers some nibbles and gently strokes him. While feeding the hungry wild stag, Mette is heard saying, You are so lucky today, yes so lucky. She further continues by adding, Youre so kind.. Britt told Caters News according to Inside Edition, [Mette] says that they are so lucky for having each other. She further added: [She] has no kids and since her husband passed away she has no oneshe only has Flippen in her life now. Flippen has no problem keeping the old widow company. Hes found sleeping sometimes outside her house. It seems like they are best friends, Britt said. The hunters in the area have decided not to shoot him because of their friendship. This endearing moment between the two has touched netizens hearts after a video of it was posted on Facebook. Many Epoch Times readers left their appreciation for the kindhearted elderly woman in the comments section. So beautiful to watch how this wonderful bond between these two has progressed so well that this totally wild and usually timid animal can form this trust, one social media user wrote. I wish this could happen more often that these wild animals could truly trust humans like this how it would change the world for the better. While another commented: That is so sweet and such a great relationship. Think of how happy that deer makes her every day. Love it! However, some viewers have raised their concerns about feeding wild animals. This is wrong on so many levels. This wild animal is losing the natural instinct to search for food on its own, one of them wrote. Watch the video: DEER VISITOR Flippen the deer visits his grandma everyday!Credit: Caters News Posted by The Epoch Times on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 We would love to hear your stories! You can share them with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.nyc Facing scrutiny over a racist social media post that calls the Rumors of War statue in Richmond a "coon on a horse," the president of the Danville Historical Society resigned Monday. The resignation came during an emergency meeting by the society Monday evening closed to the public to address the matter. Steve Mand, vice president of the group, called the comment "repugnant." Historical society president Mark Joyner said the post was made on Facebook on Friday night by a friend who was visiting from Tennessee and had borrowed his phone and had accessed Joyner's Facebook account without his permission. "Somebody else was using my phone," Joyner said when contacted by the Danville Register & Bee on Sunday. Joyner would not identify his friend on the record and said he did not have contact information for him. He said his friend asked to use his phone twice that day and that he didn't find out about the statements posted under his name until Saturday. The racist post was made Friday night. "He needed to call home," Joyner said when asked why he let his friend use his cellphone. "He doesn't have a cellphone." The Danville Historical Society posted the following statement on its Facebook page Saturday, "It has been brought to the Danville Historical Societys attention that racist remarks have been attributed to the DHS. We are investigating this thoroughly. We are a community organization and we believe in being accountable to you, our community. Thank you for holding us accountable. Please stay tuned." Responding to public questions, the historical society posted another statement on its Facebook page Monday: "We hear you. We are meeting this evening to make determinations around this very serious matter and we will post updates following." In a statement sent to the Register & Bee after Monday's meeting, the society said: "After discussion with the DHS Board about the posts and their probable effect on the DHS moving forward, Mark offered his resignation. It has been accepted, and now we hope we can continue with our mission." Tommy Bennett, president of the Danville branch of the NAACP, said the statements are a reminder why everyone must stand together and fight racism. "That's why we have to stay organized," Bennett said Monday. "Our organization is for equality of all people and his statement is totally against what we stand for." The Rumors of War statue sculpted by Kehinde Wiley in Richmond was unveiled Dec. 10, 2019, and depicts a young Black man on a horse dressed in urban street clothes. The post from Joyner's account an incoherent statement riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors in response to a friend's Facebook post states, "It's time yo gey rid off the rumors of war statie put up of an urban black on dreadlocks riding a horse. A piece of "" art that represents NO history other than coon on a horse which we know don't ride horsrs." Joyner's friend, William H. Hairston, responded, "this is a very ugly and despicable statement." Alluding to the tearing down of Confederate statues in Virginia and other states, Joyner's account responds, "will i know it's outrageous but to destroy othe works of art from 100 plus years ago just to rewrite history is a down fall in socially to attempt to be complacent to a race that none of our generation had any control over." But that is not the first post from Joyner's account. Another Facebook comment he made from a post on June 15, 2019, states, "Start shooting that race on sight." But Joyner said that was taken out of context and that he was referring to rioters, gang members and members of Antifa, not Black people. "It wasn't the Black race, it was the race of thugs," Joyner said. "Most of them [Antifa] are white anyway." In his defense, Joyner pointed out historical society projects under his leadership as president over the last two years. The group has been trying to get James Street Holiness Church, a historic Black church, refurbished. Also, he said the society has worked with the Rosenwald schools survey and spoke during the opening of the Williams Community Resource Center last year. The Rosenwald schools were built in the early 20th century for the education of Black children. The Danville Historical Society is a nonprofit whose purpose is to collect historical objects relevant to the history of Danville and to maintain them for their history, Mand said. The group gets its money from contributions, grants from organizations and an annual Christmas ornament fundraiser. Its board members, including the president, are unpaid volunteers. Karice Luck-Brimmer, program coordinator with History United, pointed out that historical societies have a vital role in educating the public about all aspects of history, especially during tumultuous times. "The Rumors of War is a work of art created as a response to the oppression of the Confederate Monuments lining Monument Avenue [in Richmond]," she said. "I am appalled at the comments allegedly made by DHS president Mark Joyner. He should be using his knowledge of history to bring us together and not divide. We all owe it to humanity to dismantle the systemic racism practices that have been deeply ingrained in every facet of society for so long." Crane reports for the Register & Bee. He can be reached at (434) 791-7987. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Josiah Davidson, a graduate student in Mohit Verma's Purdue University lab, collects a nasal swab from a calf to test for bovine respiratory disease. Verma received a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to develop a biosensor that will rapidly test for the costly cattle disease. (Photo courtesy Suraj Mohan) WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Bovine respiratory disease (BRD), one of the most prevalent and costly illnesses in the beef and dairy industries, accounts for about half of all feedlot deaths in North America and costs producers as much as $900 million a year. Quickly diagnosing the illness could improve the well-being of animals and save producers significant money. Current tests dont offer results for four or more days. Purdue University researchers, led by Mohit Verma, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, are developing technology to reduce diagnosis time to about 30 minutes. Their work is being funded by a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems (IDEAS) grant. Bovine respiratory disease can be triggered by a number of bacteria and viruses, making treatment decisions difficult. By the time a test comes back in four or five days, the disease may have killed the calf or spread to many others in the feedlot, Verma said. Over the next three years, we will develop a test that addresses the bacterial side and have a prototype to use in the field. Jennifer Koziol, a clinical assistant professor in Purdues College of Veterinary Medicine and co-investigator on the project, said veterinarians currently treat BRD with antibiotics that are effective against the most common bacteria that causes the disease. But its possible the bacteria is resistant to the chosen antibiotic, making treatment ineffective. Expediting quick and accurate diagnoses while aiding in choosing the correct antibiotic the first time can save calf lives and reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage. When we have BRD going through multiple animals in the herd, we need to know exactly what bacteria we are up against and exactly which antibiotics will be useful quicker than four to five days so we can make good choices about the antibiotics we use the first time, Koziol said. Having a rapid test that we can use is good for the animals and good for antibiotic stewardship. Verma learned about the need for better BRD testing from Aaron Ault, a senior research engineer in Purdues School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who farms 3,200 acres of corn and soybeans and manages 3,000 head of cattle near Rochester, Indiana. Ault, who will work with the team on engineering components of the technology, said he may spend weeks pulling two or three dozen sick calves per day from his herd for treatment during a bad BRD outbreak. The No. 1 struggle I have in farming is BRD. I believe its the biggest problem in the beef industry, Ault said. This technology can change that. But theres also an opportunity to collect much better data about the health of our cattle through machine learning, looking at the types and amounts of bacteria normally present in a calfs respiratory system and using that information to predict potential issues down the road. Verma believes the biosensor technology his team is developing for BRD could be the base technology for detecting other animal and human illnesses. Prior to receiving the USDA-NIFA IDEAS grant, Verma had started adapting the platform to identify the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. To accurately diagnose a BRD infection, our sensors will need to be versatile enough to identify many bacteria and viruses, Verma said. Its entirely possible well be able to adapt these sensors rapidly to address other health issues, potentially even new viruses that require quick detection to prevent global pandemics. In addition to Verma, Koziol and Ault, the research team includes Jacquelyn Boerman, Candace Croney, Timothy Johnson and Jon Schoonmaker from the Purdue Department of Animal Sciences; Deepti Pillai from the Purdue Department of Comparative Pathobiology; and Hwanseok Song from Purdues Brian Lamb School of Communication. The preliminary research Vermas team conducted to obtain the $1 million USDA-NIFA grant was funded by a startup Agricultural Science and Extension for Economic Development (AgSEED) grant. AgSEED was established through Crossroads funding from the Indiana legislature to foster the states leadership in plant and animal agriculture and rural growth. Verma also received seed funding from the Disease Diagnostics INventors Challenge, created by the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease in partnership with the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, which contributed the funds to realize the pilot project, the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute and the Indiana Consortium for Analytical Science and Engineering. Writer: Brian Wallheimer; 765-532-0233; bwallhei@purdue.edu Sources: Mohit Verma: 765-496-3687; msverma@purdue.edu Jennifer Koziol: 765-494-8548; koziol1@purdue.edu Aaron Ault: 765-494-3530; ault@purdue.edu PHOTO: Josiah Davidson, a graduate student in Mohit Verma's Purdue University lab, collects a nasal swab from a calf to test for bovine respiratory disease. Verma received a $1 million U.S. Department of Agriculture grant to develop a biosensor that will rapidly test for the costly cattle disease. (Photo courtesy Suraj Mohan) A publication-quality photo can be downloaded at: https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2020/verma-bovine.jpg PHOTO: Mohit Verma. A publication-quality photo can be downloaded at: https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/2020/verma-mohit.jpg Agricultural Communications: 765-494-8415; Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page Twitch banned Donald Trump's account late last month for two weeks for racist statements made by the US president at two separate rallies that were broadcast on his account. Twitch had banned US President Donald Trump from the platform end of last month and had suspended his account for hateful conduct. Trump has finally been unbanned now. Trumps account, which was used to broadcast past campaign rallies and new ones, was banned for racist comments made by the US president on two separate occasions. At a recent rally in Tulsa, Trump referred to criminals as hombre(s) and in a rebroadcast of a 2015 event where he announced his candidacy, Trump called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists. Twitch banned Trumps accounts days after the platform promised to crack down on harassment as streamers on Twitch began to share stories on harassment and assault. Banning the US presidents account sent out a clear message - no one was above the platforms rules. Now that Trump has been allowed back in, the bigger question is - how long can Trump last on Twitch. If his account continues to be used to broadcast rally streams, it is highly probable that he is going to make some more disturbing racist comments again. Ones that are bannable offenses under Twitchs guidelines. Twitch guidelines prohibit any language that harass people based on race, gender and personal characteristics. The platform has previously said that like everyone else even politicians must adhere to Twitchs service and community guidelines and they do not make exceptions. Action will be taken on content reported if it violates Twitch rules. Banning Trump for two weeks sets Twitch apart from other social networks that have allowed Trump to get away with racist and violent comments. Social media platforms like Twitter have started to highlight fake and racist comments made by Trump and have flagged some of his tweets while Facebook is still struggling to find proper ground as it has promised to take appropriate measures. Facebook has also been heavily criticised by its employees for failing to act up. Davidson Kempner is taking a risk because the value of the takeoff slots and aircraft against which its loan is secured is uncertain, but at least it has some fallback. Its Virgin Atlantics customers who have gone the extra mile. Blaming the difficulty of processing such a high volume of refund requests, the airline has taken up to 120 days to give customers their money back when their flights were cancelled, thereby turning its passengers into unsecured creditors. Military medical and support teams have begun deploying to sunbelt states hit hard by the resurgence of COVID-19, in an effort to relieve overburdened local hospital personnel as they did in New York and New Jersey in the early stages of the pandemic. At the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the states, about 740 military personnel from the Army, Navy and Air Force have been sent to Texas and California in recent days to help contain the spread of the virus, U.S. Army North said in a release Monday. Read next: Camouflage Uniforms, Flight Suits Now Off-Limits for Marines and Sailors at the Pentagon "We are committed to assisting those in need as part of the ongoing whole-of-America response" to COVID-19, Lt. Gen. Laura J. Richardson, commander of U.S. Army North, said in a statement. For some on the medical teams, it is their second time on a backup mission to civilian hospitals. "It's an honor to be in San Antonio, Texas, providing care to patients alongside local hospital staff," said Army Capt. Sarah Kopaciewicz, a critical care nurse. "I was doing similar work, treating COVID-19-positive patients, at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state before being employed here" on an embed to the Christus Westover Hills Medical Center in San Antonio, she added, according to the U.S. Army North release. About 580 medical and support personnel from the Army and Navy are deploying to Texas, while another 160 from the Air Force are being sent to California, said U.S. Army North, which is overseeing the operation. The emergency has become more acute in Texas, which reported 5,655 new cases Monday. Texas has recorded a total of 264,000 positive novel coronavirus cases and 3,235 deaths since the pandemic began. In addition, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner on Monday requested permission from the state to order a two-week, stay-at-home shutdown. California reported 8,460 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing its total to more than 320,000, resulting in 7,017 deaths. In a statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, "Texas is grateful to the U.S. Department of Defense for providing these additional resources to Houston and San Antonio as we work to slow the spread of COVID-19 and care for our fellow Texans". The first of the 580 military personnel sent to Texas arrived July 6 and included an 85-member enhanced Urban Augmentation Medical Task Force (UAMTF) from the 627th Hospital Center at Fort Carson, Colorado, U.S. Army North said. "Our soldiers train daily to maintain clinical skills so we can save and sustain lives wherever and whenever the nation calls," said Lt. Col. Jason Hughes, UAMTF-627 commander. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Related: Hundreds of Army and Air Force Recruits Have Tested Positive for COVID-19 Since March A health warning has been issued in Colorado after a squirrel tested positive this weekend for the bubonic plague in what is being described as 'an increase of reported plague activity.' The sick squirrel was found in the city of Morrison, southwest of Denver, although it is the first case of the plague ever to have been recorded in Jefferson County. 'Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions are not taken,' Jefferson County Public Health said. The health officials reassure that so long as proper precautions are taken, the risk of getting plague is 'extremely low.' A squirrel has tested positive for the bubonic plague about 18 southwest of Denver (file photo) The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is reporting there has been an increased amount of plague activity in the state having already been found in Broomfield, northwest of Denver. Humans are able to be infected with plague by getting flea bites or from being coughed on by an infected animal. The bubonic plague is a bacterial disease spread by fleas living on wild rodents. It kills in less than 24 hours if not treated promptly. Cats in particular are susceptible to the plague and may die if not treated promptly with antibiotics. Jefferson County Public Health, whose building is pictured above, said that it was the first case of the plague recorded in the county Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is carried by fleas and transmitted between animals. The picture above is a 3D illustration of the bacterium What is plague? Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague and is spread by the bite from an infected flea. The infection spreads to immune glands called lymph nodes, causing them to become swollen and painful and may progress to open sores. Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions are not taken. Human-to-human transmission of bubonic plague is rare and is usually caught from animals. Humans may be infected with plague through bites from infected fleas, by the cough from an infected animal or by direct contact (e.g., through a bite) with blood or tissues of infected animals. Symptoms of plague may include sudden onset of high fever, chills, headache, nausea and extreme pain and swelling of lymph nodes, occurring within two to seven days after exposure. Plague can be effectively treated with antibiotics when diagnosed early. Advertisement Cats similarly can also contract the plague from flea bites, or that of rodents. Dogs are less susceptible to contracting the plague but they are able to pick up fleas which could be carrying the disease. Symptoms of plague are known to include a fever, chills, headache, nausea and extreme pain and swelling of lymph nodes, occurring within two to seven days after being exposed. However, plague can be treated effectively with antibiotics if diagnosed early. Jefferson County Public Health recommends the following precautions to protect against plague: Eliminate all sources of food, shelter and access for wild animals around the home. Do not feed wild animals. Maintain a litter and trash-free yard to reduce wild animal habitats. People and pets should avoid contact with sick or dead wild animals and rodents. Use precaution when handling sick pets. Have sick pets examined by a veterinarian. Consult with your veterinarian about flea and tick control for your pets. Keep pets from roaming freely outside the home where they may prey on wild animals and bring the disease home with them. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was 'carefully' monitoring a case of bubonic plague in China after being notified by the authorities in Beijing. A WHO official claimed the situation was being 'well managed' by China and not considered to represent a high risk. An illustration from 1656: A plague doctor in protective clothing. The beak mask held spices thought to purify air, the wand was used to avoid touching patients Two other cases were confirmed in Khovd province in neighboring Mongolia at the end of June involving brothers who had eaten marmot meat, China's state news agency Xinhua said. Bubonic plague is one of the most devastating diseases in history, having killed around 100 million people in the 14th century. 'Bubonic plague has been with us and is always with us, for centuries,' WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters at a virtual briefing. 'We are looking at the case numbers in China. It's being well managed. 'At the moment, we are not considering it high-risk but we're watching it, monitoring it carefully.' The widow of Tony nominee Nick Cordero, Amanda Kloots, revealed the 'really good advice' about the mourning process she received Monday night from a girlfriend. 'She said, "You know Amanda, I think it would be a great thing for you if you found something that was new for yourself right now - that you haven't done before, that doesn't have any attachment to your past with Nick and your past as Nick and Amanda,"' the grieving 38-year-old said Tuesday via Instastory. '"You have so much in your life that is with Nick and will always be with Nick, but maybe something to help you through this grief is to find that something that is new - that's your experience and your's alone that can make you feel comforted during this transition." And I just loved that idea. And I don't know what that will be, but I loved that idea and I'm going to try really hard to find that for myself.' 'Find something new': The widow of Tony nominee Nick Cordero, Amanda Kloots, revealed the 'really good advice' about the mourning process she received Monday night from a girlfriend Amanda - who met Nick in 2014 while performing in the Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway - said she'd 'continue to share' her grief with her 567K Instagram followers. 'Some days are better than others. Sometimes it just hits you in the weirdest times and at the weirdest moments. Then sometimes you're totally okay. Sometimes you're laughing and you feel bad for laughing, because you're like, "Why? I shouldn't be laughing right now." And sometimes you're in tears and you're like, "You know what, Nick wouldn't want me to be crying right now,"' Kloots confessed. 'I think my goal right now is just to take one day at a time and do what feels right on that day. So far I have found that keeping busy helps to a degree, keeping working helps, it keeps my mind going. 'Spending time with [our 13-month-old son Elvis Eduardo] helps and playing music helps and also quiet helps. Quiet around the home.' The grieving 38-year-old said Tuesday via Instastory: 'She said, "Find that something that is new - that's your experience and your's alone that can make you feel comforted during this transition." And I don't know what that will be, but I loved that idea and I'm going to try really hard to find that for myself' 'Our last family photo before Nick got sick': Amanda - who met Nick (R) in 2014 while performing in the Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway - said she'd 'continue to share' her grief with her 567K Instagram followers Kloots confessed: 'Some days are better than others. Sometimes it just hits you in the weirdest times and at the weirdest moments. Then sometimes you're totally okay...I think my goal right now is just to take one day at a time and do what feels right on that day' The fitness trainer said: 'So far I have found that keeping busy helps to a degree, keeping working helps, it keeps my mind going. Spending time with [our 13-month-old son Elvis Eduardo] helps and playing music helps and also quiet helps. Quiet around the home' Cordero passed away, age 41, on July 5 following a 94-day battle with heartbreaking coronavirus-related complications at the ICU in LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. On Saturday, the fitness trainer held a small memorial for the Waitress thespian in Los Angeles with close family and friends. To pay the substantial medical bills, Amanda plans on refinancing the mortgage on their new Laurel Canyon home and she'll receive the $1.04M raised on Nick's GoFundMe page. RIP: Cordero passed away, age 41, on July 5 following a 94-day battle with heartbreaking coronavirus-related complications at the ICU in LA's Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (pictured June 19) 'Nick would have wanted this to be a celebration': On Saturday, Amanda held a small memorial for the Waitress thespian in Los Angeles with close family and friends The cost: To pay the substantial medical bills, Kloots plans on refinancing the mortgage on their new Laurel Canyon home and she'll receive the $1.04M raised on Nick's GoFundMe page Keeping busy: The Irishman dancer also launched a $9.99/month subscription service for her workout videos via her website and Instagram Live as a way to make money Kloots also launched a $9.99/month subscription service for her workout videos via her website and Instagram Live as a way to make money. And over 33K people have signed Robert Neary's MoveOn petition to rename Broadway's Longacre Theater the Nick Cordero Theater in his memory. As of Tuesday, there have been over 136K confirmed COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County leading to 3,324 deaths - according to Johns Hopkins University. Scientists have discovered potential target points on the genome of the novel coronavirus, an advance which they claim may lead to the development of new treatments for the deadly disease. The researchers, including Ali Hosseini and Alex McLellan from the University of Otago in New Zealand examined previously unrecognised weak points on the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2s genome -- its RNA -- that may be used to destroy the virus, or help create new vaccines. According to the study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, these regions on the viral genome are target sites recognised by host miRNA -- which are nucleic acid-based immune system operating inside the bodys cells. The scientists said these miRNAs are essential for controlling the activity of genes within cells, and are also important players in the recognition and destruction of viruses. They said one target site on SARS-CoV-2 matches an abundant miRNA -- miR197 -- present in very high levels in patients with cardiovascular complications or with respiratory viral infections. The study noted that the miR197 binding site on SARS-CoV-2 had been independently mutated nearly 40 times since March this year with this mutation present currently in more than 75 percent of SARS-CoV-2 global isolates. Patients with cardiovascular complications have been shown to be at risk from COVID-19, McLellan said. Our study suggests that a normal defence pathway in these patients may have been blocked through this mutation in the virus, he added. However, the scientists cautioned that it is too early to say if such mutations will help the virus, or are simply neutral hitchhikers that confer no advantage to the virus. We need direct experimental approaches using live virus, as well further study of the transmission of such mutants around the world, they said. Our study just says: lets keep an eye on these sites and see what happens to these in future, McLellan said. Hosseini said many miRNA are different between species, adding that the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2 may face signature human miRNA attack, not those the virus previously experienced in its suspected species of origin, bats. The researchers believe their findings also open up the possibility to engineer in artificial miRNA sites. They said this may be useful for weakening the virus for vaccine research and had been successfully performed experimentally for other respiratory viruses. Such strategies, according to the scientists, could contribute to worldwide vaccine efforts. Britain could have avoided thousands of coronavirus deaths in the first wave of the crisis if it took Cuba's approach, a public health expert has claimed. Fewer than 100 people have been killed by Covid-19 on the Caribbean archipelago, which is famed for being a communist state. An expert has said the country's success has been down to its door-to-door screening of every home known as 'shoe-leather' epidemiology. Thousands of doctors, nurses and students carried out testing and tracing on foot, quarantining all suspected cases in state-run isolation centres for 14 days. Professor John Ashton, an ex-regional director of public health in England, said Cuba's efforts against Covid-19 had been 'outstanding'. And he praised the nation home to 11million people for having a system 'grounded in public health', investing in local workers. In comparison, the UK works from a centralised system run by Public Health England which gives orders from the top down and which Professor Ashton said is 'flawed'. Professor Ashton claims that the UK's 'dramatic failure' could have been averted by adopting the same methods, which could have saved up to 30,000 lives. Only Leicester in the East Midlands has used the door-knocking strategy in response to being the worst hit Covid-19 spot in the UK and under a 'local lockdown'. Britain could have avoided thousands of coronavirus deaths in the first wave of the crisis if it took Cuba's approach (pictured, Cuban woman wearing a mask, July 1) Thousands of doctors, nurses and students carried out testing and tracing on-foot, quarantining all suspected cases in state-run isolation centres for 14 days (pictured, a health worker in Cuba on June 18) Cuba has only recorded 87 coronavirus deaths so far, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In comparison, the British government has reported 44,830 laboratory-confirmed fatalities while national statistical bodies have reported 55,706 based on both suspected and confirmed cases of Covid-19. Professor John Ashton told MailOnline: 'Cuba has had hardly any deaths at all. 'For a comparable sized country like Germany, weve had twice as many deaths. I think it's reasonable to say 30,000 deaths could have been avoided based on the failure to get a grip, which was largely to do with testing.' DOOR TO DOOR TESTING - IS THE UK CAPABLE? Shoe leather epidemiology was actually first invented in Soho, London, in the 1850s. It was proved worthy to control a cholera epidemic because local health officials were able to trace cases to drinking water from a specific street pump. The practice was used for generations until invention of the 'flawed agency' PHE in 2013, according to Professor John Ashton a former regional director of public health in the north west of England. He told MailOnline sources to control the Covid-19 crisis were available at a local level to help control the spread of the disease, but these were 'neglected'. 'We should have made more use of primary care, local government and volunteers,' he said. 'Almost everyone is registered with a GP. For first point of contact, it might have been useful to use that. 'We failed to make use of the environmental health officers who do this kind of work in response food poisoning outbreaks, for example. 'The third arm is volunteers, the 750,000 who responded to the NHS. The volunteers could have been enlisted to help out how they have in China or Hong kong, taking temperatures outside schools and supermarkets.' Professor Ashton said local public health directors are used to handling highly sensitive data. For example, professionals use contact tracing to warn people they have an STI after asking the infected person for details of their sexual partners. But Professor Ashton noted that local public health directors have accused PHE of withholding important intelligence on rising cases. For example, Sir Peter Soulsby, the mayor of Leicester, told the BBC local health officials had been trying to get 'information about the level of testing in the city and the results of that testing in the city' from the Government for weeks. But a lack of knowledge led to the sudden lockdown of Leicester on June 30. A door-to-door coronavirus testing scheme has since been launched in Leicester. It's the first time testing like this has been implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic - and the NHS Test and Trace chief Baroness Dido Harding, said it is where testing is 'needed most'. Sir Peter, who has been vocal about his dismal at the communication between PHE and local experts, said increased testing was the only way to reduce the infection rate in the city and get it back on its feet. NHS teams and volunteers are knocking on doors, dropping off home test kits for people even if they do not have symptoms, and picking them up later in the day. Advertisement Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Professor Ashton, based in Liverpool, praised Cuba for reacting quickly to the emergence of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The country's communist government drew up plans before the WHO had declared a pandemic. Throughout February, medical facilities across the nation were reorganised and staff trained to control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Then, when Cuba's first three cases were discovered on March 11 three tourists from Italy the plans were put in immediate action. Tens of thousands of healthcare workers started screening every house resident on foot, Professor Ashton said. It is not clear if every single citizen has been tested. Seeking out cases quickly helped prevent the outbreak from spiralling out of control unlike what happened in Europe with no more than 100 cases detected on the worst day. A total of 2,428 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Cuba so far a rate of 214 cases per million. By comparison, the UK has been hit 20 times worse, recording 4,356 cases per million. Cuba went into lockdown on March 20, when it reported five new cases in one day, and shut its borders on April 1, despite it being a huge holiday destination. In comparison, the UK kept its borders open from March to June. It only advised against non-essential travel and took a more relaxed approach to screenings at airports. Professor Ashton said: 'Cuba has long been renowned for its ability to turn in world beating health statistics while continuing to struggle economically. 'With a health system grounded in public health and primary care, the country invests heavily in producing health workers who are primarily trained to work in the community. Their efforts with Covid-19 have been outstanding.' The difference between Cuba and the UK is that the latter's handling of the crisis has fallen into the hands of top health chiefs, rather than local ones, Professor Ashton said. Public Health England (PHE), a branch of the Department of Health, was at the forefront of testing when cases of Covid-19 arrived on British soil. But it stopped doing this on 12 March because the coronavirus had become too widespread to control. Instead, PHE shifted testing to prioritise the sickest patients leaving millions with mild symptoms untested. When it finally ramped up testing to reach all people with symptoms on May 18, it involved private companies Deloitte and Serco setting up testing sites - which Professor Ashton said was a 'complete failure'. He told MailOnline: 'The local public health level has been neglected. I think weve missed an opportunity because we should have made more use of primary care, local government and volunteers. 'Almost everyone is registered with a GP. For first point of contact, it might have been useful to use that. 'We failed to make use of the environmental health officers who do this kind of work in response food poisoning outbreaks, for example. 'The third arm is volunteers, the 750,000 who responded to the NHS. The volunteers could have been enlisted to help out how they have in China or Hong kong, taking temperatures outside schools and supermarkets. 'Instead what we did was a very top-down, London-centric approach.' Cuba has only recorded 87 deaths. In comparison, Britain has reported 44,830 fatalities. Pictured, people wear face masks the day Havana came out of lockdown, July 3 Cuba went into lockdown on March 20, when it reported five new cases in one day, and shut its borders four days later, despite its huge economic dependence on tourists. Pictured: People in the city of Havana, July 3 Professor Ashton, former president of the Faculty of Public Health, said the strengths of a local skilled workforce was 'run down' by the top dogs at PHE. 'The inability to undertake large-scale testing for the coronavirus and to follow through with contact tracing, triaging, isolation and treatment followed as light follows day,' he wrote. He said Number 10's approach was 'no substitute for hands-on experience with local knowledge'. Other experts have lambasted the government for only recently becoming involved with local councils in the contact tracing strategy. Contact tracing is a critical part of the effort to contain Covid-19 and aims to keep on top of flare ups at a local scale. Thousands of contact tracers have been hired to phone infected cases, identify their contacts, and get in touch to advise them to self-isolate. Information is then passed to government-paid contact tracing teams working at a local level to control outbreaks. Professor Sir Chris Ham, a former chief executive at The King's Fund, told MailOnline: 'Test and trace is best done by public health staff working in local communities. 'Local government has much expertise to bring to contact tracing and this should have been recognized much earlier. 'The most effective work now in responding to local outbreaks is being done by public health teams working for councils and for Public Health England. This is where resources should be concentrated not in telephone based contact tracing undertaken by people working remotely.' Shoe leather epidemiology was first used in Soho, London, in the 1850s to control a cholera epidemic because local health officials were able to trace cases to drinking water from a specific street pump. The practice was used for generations until invention of the 'flawed agency' PHE in 2013, Professor Ashton claimed. In response, PHE said: 'The roll-out of PHEs COVID-19 diagnostic PCR test across the network of PHE and NHS laboratories was the fastest deployment of a novel test in recent history, across over 40 NHS labs by the end of March. 'PHEs role in the overall UK Testing Strategy was to provide an assured testing capability for a novel infection while commercial partners worked to develop their own capability. Under the UK Testing Strategy it was always the intention to move to commercial test kits once available, as is standard practice for any diagnostic test.' The beginning of the school year when you got to show off your new duds, new cars, new looks! Sports! Playing, cheering, watching high school athletics. The arts: Dramatic arts, musical groups and shows, graphic arts groups, debate, etc. The prom! No dancing the night away or punch bowl antics. The daily interactions. Just being with the group, hanging with friends and classmates. Access to college recruiters and advisors its harder to line up higher education. Walking onstage to get a diploma while all the family is watching with everyone elses family. Vote View Results Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are currently in LA, avoiding the spotlight and planning their next move. The two made a very public exit from the royal family earlier this year, and moved to California not long after, in the wake of tabloid scrutiny and media speculation. There have been many rumors regarding Prince Harry and Meghans next moves, and what their next big project will be. But as the public waits to see what will happen, sources are revealing some startling news regarding the couples last days in the royal ranks, and what they did to separate themselves from other senior royals like Prince William, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and even Queen Elizabeth. Meghan was criticized for her spending habits RELATED: Prince Harry Royal Rift With Prince Williams Is Reportedly Rooted in Duke of Sussexs Sensitivity to Criticism From the very beginning, Meghans entrance into the royal family was not well-received. Tabloids published stories that consistently portrayed the Duchess of Sussex in a negative light, slamming everything from her family history to some of her B-list acting roles. While many of these stories were mean-spirited in nature and based on nothing at all, one story that gained a lot of traction was the one involving Meghans extravagant spending habits. According to reports, Meghan spent more money on clothes than any other female royals, including Kate. Her maternity wardrobe, in particular, was full of designer dresses and custom pieces, and Meghan was never seen in anything less than the very latest fashion. In fact, her maternity wardrobe was reported to cost seven times more than Kates. She also received criticism for her expensive baby showers, one of which reportedly cost around $200,000. Prince Harry and Meghan were slammed by palace critics Prince Harry and Meghan Markle | Karwai Tang/WireImage Meghan wasnt the only one to receive criticism for her spending habits. Prince Harry, once known as the most relatable member of the royal family, became embroiled in the controversy when he and Meghan decided to move their household to Frogmore Cottage, a ten-room estate located at a more secluded spot on the palace grounds. Prince Harry and Meghan had planned to move to Frogmore prior to the birth of their son, Archie Harrison. However, they lined up a long list of renovations prior to their move. It was the costly renovations that caused the public to take issue with their spending. According to reports, the royal couple had a laundry list of expensive updates to the house, including adding a home yoga studio and repainting the baby nursery with eco-friendly paint. All in all, taxpayers who were responsible for covering a portion of the renovation costs, were not thrilled. Did Prince Harry and Meghan Markles spending make the other royals angry? Even though Prince Harry and Meghan left their roles as senior royals in the spring, their spending is still making headlines. According to a recent report, it was their spending that caused a huge rift with the rest of the royal family. Two investigative journalists claimed: Harrys [spending] transformation is revealed as one of the fundamental factors behind the deep fissure that opened between him and his brother, Prince William. The report states that in addition to the costs of their home renovations and Meghans maternity wardrobe, Prince Harry and his wife shelled out big bucks for spa sessions, massages, and private jets. The report claims that the rest of the royals, including Prince William and Queen Elizabeth, were disturbed and upset by the couples spending. After all, the royal family is known for their restraint. According to the report: The fact that Meghan splashed so much cash rang alarm bells with the traditionally conservative Queen Elizabeth. Growing up in the war left the monarch with a built-in sense of frugality and economy, despite being one of the richest women in the world. While the royal family has not weighed in on the report, this latest report lines up with what has been reported for months regarding Prince Harry and Meghans budget and spending habits. Booker has said he was pinned to a tree at the lake just south of Bookers hometown of Bloomington and that the group of five men accused him of trespassing on private property. After he tried to apologize, he said the situation got physical. Booker said the men threatened to break his arms and said, get a noose, while telling his friends to leave the area. Booker also said one of the men had a hat with a Confederate flag on it and that the men made statements about white power. A worker wearing a face mask to protect against the new coronavirus guides the loading of a shipping container at a container port in Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong Province, Thursday, July 9, 2020. China's imports of U.S. goods rose 10.6% in June over a year earlier and its global trade also increased in a fresh sign the world's second-largest economy is gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, customs data showed Tuesday July 14, 2020. (Chinatopix via AP) China's trade improved in June in a fresh sign the world's second-largest economy is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. But its exporters face threats including tension with Washington and a possible downturn in U.S. and European demand. Chinese imports rose 3% over a year earlier to $167.2 billion, rebounding from May's 3.3% decline, customs data showed Tuesday. Exports edged up 0.4% to $213.6 billion, an improvement over the previous month's 16.7% contraction. Imports of U.S. goods surged 10.6% to $10.4 billion despite tariff hikes in a fight with Washington over trade and technology. Exports to the United States gained 1% to $39.8 billion. China, where the pandemic began in December, was the first economy to start the struggle to revive normal business activity in March after declaring the virus under control. Manufacturing is recovering, but consumer spending is weak. Forecasters say exports are likely to slump as demand for masks and other medical supplies recedes and U.S. and European retailers cancel orders. Leading indicators "suggest that exports will start to contract again before long," Martin Rasmussen of Capital Economics said in a report. Relations with the United States, China's biggest national export market, have deteriorated to their lowest level in decades. Disputes over Hong Kong, human rights and the South China Sea added to strains that began with a tariff war launched by the Trump administration in 2018 over Beijing's technology ambitions and trade surplus. The two sides have announced sanctions on some prominent Chinese and U.S. political figures in a dispute over abuses in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, though it is unclear whether those officials will be affected. President Donald Trump said Friday that work on the second stage of a deal aimed at ending the tariff war is a low priority because relations were "severely damaged" by Beijing's handling of the pandemic. The two sides signed a "phase one" agreement in January to postpone further penalties but tariff increases already imposed stayed in place. China's June imports were boosted by a 74% increase in purchases of U.S. soybeans under a pledge by Beijing in that January agreement to narrow its trade surplus with the United States by importing more food and other goods. "China's imports from the U.S. will likely remain elevated in the second half of this year," said Nomura economists in a report. Imports of U.S.-made semiconductors accelerated to 18.6% growth over a year earlier, which Citigroup economists suggested might have been motivated by concern U.S. export sanctions imposed on Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Ltd. will be fully enforced once a temporary postponement ends. Imports "should continue to ramp-up" as the government spends more to support economic recovery and consumer demand, Rasmussen said. China's global trade surplus narrowed to $46.4 billion from May's $62.9 billion. The Chinese economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter, its worst performance since at least the mid-1960s. The ruling party skipped announcing an annual economic growth target, but private sector forecasts range from low single digits to a small contraction. Some forecasters raised their outlook slightly after factory activity in May improved more than expected. Explore further China exports plunge on coronavirus epidemic 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Stateless is a worthy effort to underline the unfair means taken up by the Australian government to treat its immigrants Cate Blanchetts debut as a television producer needed to have a compelling subject at its core and Netflixs new drama, Stateless, delivers. Charting the contentious history of Australias mandatory detention structure for immigrants without visas, the series sheds light on the scenario that asylum seekers need to face while waiting for their cases to get processed. Stateless is a worthy effort to underline the unfair means taken up by a government to treat its immigrants. With equal proportions wry humour and disturbing backstories, the Netflix series moves forward with a four-pronged narrative each about a displaced soul who ends up at the detention centre. Ameer (Fayssal Bazzi) is an Afghan citizen who comes in search of shelter; Clare (Asher Keddie), is an Australian woman appointed as the centres new director; Cam (Jai Courtney), takes up the job as one of the guards in hope of its monetary benefits for his loving family and Sofie (Yvonne Strahovski) is an Australian citizen who ends up in the centre after a series of mishaps which force her to lie about her nationality. Leading the cast is Blanchett as Pam, the head of a cult that masks itself under the garb of a dance school. She gets a window to showcase her talents towards the performing arts, but for a criminally short period. Dominic West, who plays her husband Gordon, shines equally in his cameo-length role. Inspired by true events surrounding Cornelia Rau, an Australian citizen whose 10-month unlawful detention in her own countrys camp brought out the racquet under public eye, Stateless reveals the sorry state of affairs that haunt immigrants while staying in the camps. The six-episode run is a worthy watch, well-performed, well-made and even well-intentioned. But, by placing a large section of the narrative on the shoulders of Sofie, a white, privileged-by-birth character, Stateless does compromise its aim to confront the bureaucratic paralysis faced by displaced detainees across the world. Bazzis portrayal of Ameer, an Afghan tricked on his way into the country, in a desperate search for his estranged family, is the most authentic in the show. A worthy attempt at showcasing the fate of immigrants of colour, Bazzi is quick to assess the nerve of his character and is enthralling in his haplessness. Having said that, the show cannot be exempted from leaning on the go-to trope that many international shows/films having South Asian characters use -- Ameer and his family members speak in halted English, almost as if they are visually tracing the words in their minds before uttering them. Cams storyline serves as an interesting contrast to the abject negativity around him. His need to bring in serious change with dollops of idealistic theories comes crashing down when he sees the workings of the detention centre up-close and personal. Jovial and laidback, Cam is forced to choose between what he knows is right as opposed to what he is instructed to do. Clare, too, brings in her share of optimism while enrolling as the camps immigration director. She struggles to discipline the inmates at first, rushing towards a group of Tamil refugees protesting on a rooftop. But gradually, her problems take a more serious turn. She tries her level best to keep the detainees away from the hard facts that she knows threaten to mar their already-dreary future. Amidst all of this is Sofie, the shows almost-protagonist. Her protests within the camp and her movement to demand freedom, somehow always comes under the shadow of Blanchetts Pam. Though the show may have intended otherwise, Sofie served just as a narrative parallel to Ameer. Her acute need to desert her family against Ameers fight to reunite with his; her submission to delusions as opposed to his endeavours to retain his sanity; her birth privilege to his second-class citizenship make the disparity even more obvious. Where Stateless scores completely is its portrayal of its antagonists in that, none is portrayed as one. Harrowed by the mechanical structures that supersede their noble intentions, each character, whether the strugglers or enablers, runs in circles within a vicious cycle that refuses to give way for change. Noone is evil, just a wonderfully realistic mix of emotional and problematic. Stateless presents the scenario at hand but is realistic in not providing any lofty, sermonising solutions. Its self-aware in its goal that way. If only, it could have averted using a white narrative mouthpiece to highlight an issue largely faced by people of colour. Stateless is currently streaming on Netflix. (All images from Twitter) How did the Congress party go from reaching out to Rajasthans deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and Rahul Gandhi expressing his affection for him, to removing him as the deputy chief minister in under 24 hours? Hindustan Times has spoken to several key Congress leaders to piece together the events that led to Pilots exit as deputy CM and also as the Pradesh Congress Committee chief. According to a senior Congress leader who spoke on condition of anonymity, Pilot placed three conditions before the party leadership that simply couldnt be met. The first was that Pilot would be made chief minister in 2022, a year before the elections. He wanted a public committment right away that in the last year, he would be the Chief minister. He wanted us to announce it to all , added the leader, who is involved in the partys decisions at the highest level. Also read: Congress ejects Pilot from power; CM Gehlot still in Rajasthan cockpit The second demand was that all of Pilots supporters would be given some position in the government -- not necessarily as ministers, but rewarded in some way, this person said -- made heads of corporations or any other bodies. The third and final demand was that Avinash Pandey, the general secretary in-charge of Rajasthan should be removed from his post. Pilot believes that Pandey is biased towards chief minister Ashok Gehlot and that the situation could return to normal only if another person was brought in his place. We really tried to bring him around but we couldnt accept his condition. What if other leaders in other states started asking for this as well? asked the senior leader. Also read: How Ashok Gehlot retained support, made inroads into Sachin Pilot camp Pilot didnt respond to queries on whether he laid down these conditions, but one of his supporters said: But the Congress is not in power in other states. So why do they have this fear? However, the senior Congress leader insisted that the party tried its best. He added that Congress President Sonia Gandhis brief to the mediators was simple -- try to bring Pilot around. Even till this morning, till before the CLP (Congress Legislative Party) meeting began, we kept talking to him. All of us spoke to him-- his well wishers within and outside the party but he wouldnt listen, said the leader. Hindustan times has confirmed that while Rahul Gandhi did not speak to him, Priyanka Gandhi did make a call to Pilot. Also read: Numbers behind Rajasthan story When the last call from the emissaries was made at around 1030 am on Tuesday and Pilot still wouldnt budge, the party went ahead with its meeting and passed a resolution against him. Thats when Randeep Surjewala announced , ``We are sorry that Sachin Pilot and some of his ministers have gotten involved in a BJP conspiracy to bring down a democratically elected government. I have never said or done anything in my life against the Congress party, a second supporter quoted Sachin Pilot as having said soon after the decision. All I wanted was that the public humiliation that Ashok Gehlot put me through should also be publicly acknowledged and set right. North Adams Owner Appealing 'Dangerous Dog' Ruling Dog owner Luis Torres, top, speaks during the Public Safety Committee's hearing on his animals that was held on Zoom with committee members Benjamin Lamb and Robert Moulton Jr. NORTH ADAMS, Mass. The fate of two dogs deemed dangerous after attacking several people is on hold after the owner appealed their being put down. The Public Safety Committee last week ordered Piglet and Pretty Boy euthanized after taking testimony of how they had bitten three people, including a child. A third dog, Crook, was ordered evaluated for possible retraining and rehoming. But on Monday, owner Luis Torres submitted documents he had filed with Northern Berkshire District Court asking that the ruling be overturned. Gregg Corbo, an attorney with city solicitor KP Law, recommended the committee vote to have the dogs kenneled at the owner's expense during the appeal process. "These two dogs were involved in several extremely violent incidents at least one of which caused significant injuries to an individual that she is still suffering from," he said. "These owners have demonstrated a pattern of failing to properly control these dogs." He said there could be significant risk of additional incidents during the period of appeal, which could last for several months because of the current status of courts because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first step, he said, would be to the clerk magistrate of the court, who would look at the evidence and make a decision. "Proceedings before the clerk magistrate is an up or down decision, it's either affirm or deny," Corbo said. "If they are not satisfied with the findings of the clerk magistrate, then there is an opportunity for a hearing before a judge of the district court and, at that point, the judge has more discretion." Corbo asked Torres for the name of his attorney but Torres declined to provide it. The committee also postponed Crook's fate until members could review a letter from a Connecticut trainer saying he could take him. Torres had been ordered to have the dog evaluated for possible rehoming before making a decision whether to declare Crook as dangerous. Animal Control Officer Carrie Loholdt confirmed she had received the letter given to the Police Department from a trainer who had gone to the house and confirmed he would be able to take Crook. She did, however, have some questions as to whether there was liability insurance required by the city and with the trainer, noting he had not signed the letter and it wasn't clear what rescue he was associated with. Corbo noted that the committee couldn't force the owners to give up the dog but rather it was a compromise to remove Crook from the city and he had written up a form agreement. "If the owners are in agreement with this arrangement, there would be a three-party agreement between the owners, the city and the party receiving the dog," he said. "That party would then become responsible for the dog, on the condition that cannot be brought back to the city of North Adams under any circumstance, and the person taking the dog agrees to assume all liability, with respect to that dog." Torres, when asked, affirmed that he would be willing to give up Crook. The committee voted to postpone the matter to its next meeting to give members time to read the letter and draft agreement and for Loholdt to make some queries. During this time, Crook is still ordered to be kept on the property and not be allowed around any children who do not already live there. He must be muzzled if outdoors and muzzled and leashed if taken off the property to a veterinarian or evaluation. They were still left with the fact that none of the dogs on the property were properly licensed and some had not been vaccinated for rabies. Corbo said the committee had three options: file a criminal complaint and go through the court process; take the noncriminal disposition through police enforcement to issue a maximum of $300 per day per dog in fines; or ask the court to enforce the licensing requirement within a certain number of days or surrender the dogs to the city. There are five dogs total, three of which have had their shots and two that still require them. None of the dogs are licensed. Torres said he had not been able to set up appointments for vaccinations because of the pandemic. He said he had called several different places and had been told he could be put on a waiting list. "If somebody to help us get them in so they can get their shots we have no problem with doing it," he said. "But it's the fact that we can't get them in." He claimed he didn't know that dogs had to be licensed and vaccinated. "The only reason I didn't do it before is I never knew about it. I really honestly never knew about the licenses, I never really never did," he said. "I never had a license on the dog ever, I just never knew about." Dog licensing has been required for more than a century. Loholdt said dogs have to be licensed by May 1 and Corbo noted that this was after the governor's emergency order regarding the pandemic. There had been a stay on many statutory deadlines after the March order, including Registry of Motor Vehicles licensing and income tax filing. "I think that they should still be vaccinated because that's a significant public safety issue, but hold off on licensing until after the state of emergency," Corbo said. The committee agreed and voted to postpone but at member Benjamin Lamb's request, added a time period: Torres would have to make a veterinary appointment within 48 hours and provide documentation of vaccination within 24 hours of the appointment. Neighbor Michelle Richardson wanted to know where the dogs are at the moment. "Am I safe in my yard right now?" she asked. Torres responded that the dogs are on the property but she was safe. Corbo later said, in response to questions from the committee members, that could require the owners to provide more concrete detail as to how they are keeping the neighborhood safe and what restraints were being used. The owners had left at that point. "I have serious doubts of compliance right now," Lamb said. "I'm not comfortable with voting on this in a positive light in that vein. I want either a written document or I want a sworn statement." Chairman Jason LaForest also indicated he was not comfortable with the current situation and asked Corbo to address the need for documentation in his motion. "I am not comfortable with the fact that we're using a COVID loophole for refusal to vaccinate animals that are several years old," he said. "I'm not comfortable that the animals are still in a heavily populated neighborhood ... too many people have been hurt already and ... At this point, I have no further patience for this process." He asked Corbo to act swiftly and judiciously in petitioning the court to intercede "in every aspect of this matter." The committee will meet Monday, July 20, at 4 p.m. to continue the hearing on Crook. JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Florida Blue Foundation has recognized individuals, programs and organizations that are addressing issues of poverty and opioids/substance abuse with its annual Sapphire Award for excellence and innovation in community health. Those recognized represent communities throughout the state of Florida. A total of $470,000 was awarded to six winners and a finalist. As the 2020 Sapphire Awards dinner did not take place due to coronavirus concerns, the honorees will be recognized at the 2021 dinner, part of the Foundation's annual Community Health Symposium that brings together health advocates from across the country to discuss major health issues. "Although we could not gather to award Sapphire trophies to these excellent community organizations this year, the outcomes and results achieved by these honorees are stellar and we didn't want to delay their recognition," said Florida Blue Foundation Vice President Susan Towler. "These honorees represent the best in community health in our state." Since 2005, more than $5.5 million has been invested and 114 Sapphire Awards given to 29 individuals and 85 programs and organizations that effectively address health issues in their Florida communities. 2020 Florida Blue Foundation Sapphire Awards: Individual category: Winners Sergio Palacio , Immediate Past Executive Director and Board Member, Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County Award focus: Poverty Award amount: $50,000 Kathryn Thomas , Founder and Executive Director, Yoga 4 Change, Duval County Award focus: Opioids/Substance Abuse Award amount: $50,000 Program category: Winners Medication Assisted Treatment for People With Opioid Use Disorder, Memorial Foundation, Broward County Award focus: Opioids/Substance Abuse Award amount: $70,000 IDEA Syringe Services Program, University of Miami , Miami-Dade County Award focus: Opioids/Substance Abuse Award amount: $70,000 Finalist: Miami Hope Clinic, Chapman Partnership, Miami-Dade County Award focus: Poverty Award amount: $30,000 Organization category: Winners Gateway Community Services, Duval County Award focus: Opioids/Substance Abuse Award amount: $100,000 Metropolitan Ministries, Hillsborough County Award focus: Poverty Award amount: $100,000 About Florida Blue Foundation Florida Blue Foundation enables healthy communities by making grants, building coalitions and rewarding best practices. More than three million people in Florida have received direct health services as a result of grants made to nonprofit organizations since our founding in 2001. Florida Blue Foundation is a trade name of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Foundation, Inc., an Independent Licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. Photos available upon request. SOURCE Florida Blue Foundation Related Links http://www.floridablue.com Regional Medical Centers chief executive Monday urged the Jacksonville City Council to consider an ordinance requiring masks to be worn in public to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. A growing number of municipalities across the state have enacted or are considering a mandatory mask ordinance. The neighboring city of Anniston discussed the possibility in a council work session last week. Somebodys gotta be first, RMC CEO Louis Bass said. We would love to see Jacksonville step forward and be the first city in the county to put forth a citywide mask ordinance. The call from Bass to enact a mask ordinance comes as the number of COVID-19 cases in Calhoun County has more than doubled in the past two weeks. On July 6, there were seven patients hospitalized at the Regional Medical Center. A week later, that number rose to 25, with five of those on ventilators, Bass said. Bass said that he wants people to understand that COVID-19 does not just affect the senior citizens. We actually just had a patient that was admitted and put on a vent that is 24 years old, he said. Councilwoman Sandra Sudduth explained that the council needs to do something about the rising cases of the virus. If you go to the store or anywhere today, you dont see that many people with masks on, Sudduth said. Its scary. I agree, Councilman Jerry Parris said to Sudduth. If we can be the first ones, thats good. Parris, in reference to a resolution on the councils agenda to recommend masks, said he wants to go a step further than that and require masks. I think we have to be strong that we want this done, he said. Councilman Tony Taylor said that he does agree with an ordinance to mandate citizens to wear a mask. Us trying to mandate or require, I just dont see how we can police that, Taylor said. The same citizens were trying to protect, were gonna fine them? Were gonna throw them in jail? Councilman Coty Galloway did not comment on the discussion, instead asking Jacksonville police Chief Marcus Wood for his input. I would have some concerns on being able to enforce it, Wood said. I could very well see the Police Department being inundated with Joe Blow citizens standing outside of Walmart calling every time someone walks in Walmart without a mask on. I just have concerns about the workload that it would put on the police officers. You said the workload, Sudduth responded. Im thinking about the workload put on the healthcare people too. Councilman Terry Wilson said that the council needs to be aggressive on the issue of masks because somebodys gotta start helping draw the line. Look at it this way: If it made 100 people wear a mask, then have we not helped the situation besides just sitting back and saying, Well, you dont have to wear one. Go crazy, Wilson said. Mayor Johnny Smith raised concerns about enforcement, but did not outright oppose the idea. You stop somebody on the street that doesnt have a mask on, you gonna fine them? Smith asked. I think its something we need to think through. Sudduth said that she will oversee organization of a committee designed to put together a mask ordinance to be introduced to the council. I think once that committees had time to talk about that, theyll bring a recommendation back, Smith said. I expect well probably do something next meeting. The next meeting of the council is set to take place July 27 at 7 p.m. 2020 The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.) Visit The Anniston Star (Anniston, Ala.) at www.annistonstar.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Number of new international students in the US by country of origin. Credit: UC San Diego Uncertainties around the trade war between the U.S. and China have hurt businesses and weighed on the global economy. However, new research from the University of California San Diego also shows lesser known consequence: up to $1.15 billion in reduced tuition to U.S. universities. According to the authors of the new working paper from the Center for Global Development, the recent guidelines from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) barring international students from having online classes could have the same chilling effect on universities. Their study is the first to demonstrate how increased trade with China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001when Normal Trade Relations tariff rates were made permanentwas a crucial determinant of student flow from China to the U.S. for acquiring higher education. "We show that trade-driven growth raised wealth among upper-income families, shifting the composition of demand to U.S. services, and higher education in particular," said Gaurav Khanna, assistant professor of economics at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. "However with the recent trade wars, for the first time, growth in students from China has stopped, hurting American universities." The revenue from international students also aids domestic students as their tuition has helped stabilize U.S. universities, especially public schools, suffering large, adverse shocks from state budget cuts. Trade wars disrupt a crucial aspect of U.S. services exports: higher ed U.S. President Donald Trump has long accused China of unfair trading practices and intellectual property theft. In China, there is a perception that America is trying to curb its rise as a global economic power. Amid these U.S-China business relations tensions, tariffs policies adopted by the White House have aimed to encourage consumers to buy American products by making imported goods more expensive. For example, in 2018, tariffs on Chinese goods increased by nearly 20 percentage points. "Such accusations miss that money which flows out of the U.S. when they buy goods from China flows back, as Chinese students pay for higher education in the U.S.," Khanna explained. "Thus, the U.S. trade deficits cycle back to the U.S. in with exports surplus of higher education services." Direct evidence of this in the study shows that cities in China that grew faster because of trade are also the ones that sent more and more international students to the U.S. For instance, cities in China that were more dependent on textile production grew more quickly in the 2000s as textile tariffs fell. As residents of such cities grew richer, they sent more students to the U.S. Such cities, which include Nanjing and Tianshiu led to an increase in Chinese student enrollment in the U.S. of around 32 students per one million city residents. However, with the tariff increase of 20 percentage points in 2018, the researchers calculate it could cost U.S. universities around 30,000 Chinese students over the next 10 years, a loss of equivalent of $1.15 billion in tuition revenue. Signs of this alarming trend are already showing. The year-on-year growth rates for the number of Chinese students in the U.S. averaged about 22 percent between 2007 and 2013; since then it has fallen to less than five percent per yeara dramatic deceleration. Universities serve as an economic engine to all parts of the U.S. Khanna and co-authors underscore foreign tuition revenues are a crucial aspect of U.S. services exports. The U.S. Commerce Department estimates that in 2017, educational exports added about $34 billion to the country's current account; about as large as the combined total exports of soybeans, coal and natural gas. Increasing education exports has the potential to lift all regions, as universities expand nationwide, the authors write. Hurting the market for higher education would imply a further negative shock to localities most exposed to the fall of manufacturing. "Revenue and jobs from universities in smaller Midwestern towns, in places like Indiana and Michigan, can provide stability while other forms of employment have been falling," Khanna said. "The trade restrictions will hurt them in a year that the Midwest is an important part of the election." Khanna's co-authors include Kevin Shih, Ariel Weinberger, Mingzhi Xu, and Miaojie Yu. Explore further Chinese tariff rate quota policy severely impacted US wheat exports The United Nations' Security Council is doing the "bare minimum" in helping Syrians according to Paulo Pinheiro, Chairman of Independent Commission of Inquiry on Syria. Last week Russia and China vetoed a UN resolution that would maintain two border crossing points from Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria's mainly rebel-held northwest for a year, which the United Nations says is crucial to save millions of lives. Instead, the Security Council approved one border crossing through the Bab al-Hawa for only 12 months. "It must do more. All aid must flow on the basis of need not of politics. Anything else is a shameful failure which can result in further and entirely unnecessary loss of life. Pandemics know no borders, nor should lifesaving aid," he said in a United Nations' meeting on the inquiry in Geneva. Pinheiro also called for an "immediate return to negotiations to end this conflict." Facemasks will become compulsory in shops and supermarkets in England from next week, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Tuesday, marking a U-turn on previous policy. The new legislation will come into force in England on July 24, Hancock told parliament after weeks of wrangling from ministers about their effectiveness. "We want to give people more confidence to shop safely and enhance protections for those who work in shops," Hancock told MPs. "Both of these can be done by the use of face coverings." The move brings England into line with Scotland, and several other European countries which are gradually reopening after lengthy periods locked down. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent several days battling COVID-19 in intensive care, said the measure was "extra insurance" against the spread of the virus. "I do think in shops it's very important to wear a face covering if you're going to be in a confined space to protect other people, and receive protection," he said Monday. People who fail to cover their face risk a fine of up to 100 ($123, 109 euros), with enforcement to be carried out by the police. The government has been under pressure for weeks to give clear guidance about the use of facemasks in shops, as many re-open after more than three months of lockdown restrictions. Johnson's senior cabinet colleague, Michael Gove, on Sunday appeared to rule it out, saying ministers instead trusted people's "good sense". Facemasks have been mandatory on public transport across the country since June 15, and Scotland has already made the coverings compulsory for shoppers. UK Environment Secretary George Eustice earlier said Tuesday the government was changing its advice in accordance with developments in scientific thinking. But there are already concerns from the police who have called it "nigh on unenforceable", with calls for shops themselves to take on the job. "They can quite easily put signs up on their doors 'No mask on, no entry, this is private property'," said Ken Marsh, of the Metropolitan Police Federation representing officers. The main opposition Labour party accused the government of "days of ministerial muddle" and a "shambles" on the issue and asked why the policy was coming into effect in 11 days. - 'Slow the spread' - Medical experts back the change in approach. David Strain, from the British Medical Association, said it would help slow the spread of the virus. "There is clear evidence that a cloth face covering will reduce up to 84 percent of droplet spread, the main source of transmission of COVID," he said. Hancock also said it was designed to protect shopworkers, as the death rate among those in retail was higher than in the general population. Public opinion was split between those in favour and those against, particularly online, where #NoMasks trended on Twitter. But many social media users were responding to those opposed, after a similar campaign in the United States. On the streets of London, some members of the public said the new rule would provide reassurance and protection but expressed concern about enforcement. The threat of a fine is "the only time that people will listen", one passer-by told AFP. "It's about time," said another. "We're probably two to three weeks behind in doing it." Britain has been one of the countries worst hit by the virus, with nearly 45,000 deaths from positive coronavirus cases, according to an official government tally. Broader statistics taking into account suspected cases puts the death toll at more than 50,000. The government was also warned on Tuesday that a second wave of infections could see 120,000 deaths in hospitals alone in a "reasonable worst-case scenario" if no action was taken now. The Academy of Medical Sciences said the government needed to prepare immediately to prevent the state-run National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed from September. Search Keywords: Short link: What is fracking? Fracking is a process of blasting water, chemicals and frac sand deep into the earth to break up sedimentary rock and access natural gas and crude oil deposits. The fracking industry, which has sought to promote the practice as safe and controlled, has preferred the term hydraulic fracturing. Fracking emerged as an unconventional, relatively new and extremely popular technique only about 20 years ago in the U.S., after advances in technology gave it an unprecedented ability to identify and extract massive amounts of resources efficiently. Fracking is one of the most important environmental issues today, and its a prime example of how a new technology that offers immediate economic and political benefits can outpace (often less obvious) environmental and health concerns. Why is fracking so controversial? Modern fracking emerged so quickly, faster than its impacts were understood. Just as importantly, once scientists, health experts and the public started to object with evidence of harm it was causing, business and government succeeded in perpetuating a message of uncertainty, that more research was necessary, further enabling the full speed ahead fracking juggernaut. How does fracking impact the environment? Frackings supporters have pushed an environmental angle, insisting that natural gas can be a bridge fuel, a cheaper, cleaner option than coal before we have a large-scale transition to renewable energy. This claim has some merit, as natural gas does emit much less carbon dioxide than coal or oil. However, it is still a fossil fuel, adding harmful emissions while the climate crisis worsens. Moreover, fracking wells leak methane, a greenhouse gas more than 25 times more potent than CO2. Water In order to break up rock formations one to two miles deep, a fracking operation requires millions of gallons amount of water. After its used, the resulting wastewater, which contains chemicals is pumped back into injection wells, sent to treatment plants, or can be dangerously dumped or spilled. In 2016 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report skewed friendly to industry in its language: Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States. The EPA acknowledged that drinking water contamination was possible, but ultimately came to this conclusion: Data gaps and uncertainties limited EPAs ability to fully assess the potential impacts on drinking water resources locally and nationally. Earthquakes According to the U.S. Geologic Survey, disposal of wastewater has caused an increase in earthquakes in the central U.S. Seismologists have reported that frackings initial blasting process can trigger earthquakes. Air Pollution In addition to methane, fracking releases many toxic contaminants into the air. EPA has acknowledged the public health threat, but a lack of urgent political pressure has sidelined the agency into advising on ways to control and reduce, rather than eliminate, the danger. Toxic Chemicals Fracking fluids contain unknown chemicals and known carcinogens such as benzene. Fracking companies havent been required to disclose their proprietary formulas, however. This is yet another example of how uncertainty serves as an enabling force. The EPA has identified more than 1,000 different chemicals used in fracking fluid. Wildlife Fracking can destroy wildlife habitats, pollute rivers and fisheries, poison birds, and use up water supplies that animals need to survive. How does fracking affect the economy? The fracking boom made the U.S. the worlds largest producer of oil and gas, reducing its energy imports from 26% to less than 4%. It has lowered oil and gas prices and created thousands of industry jobs. While fracking companies profited greatly at first, as prices dropped their margins collapsed. Many are now going bankrupt. How is fracking regulated? Congress has enabled the oil and gas industry to be exempt from such regulations as the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. Fracking surged during the Obama administration, which moved to protect water from fracking on federal lands in 2015. Subsequently, the Trump administration sought to roll back protections and expand fracking on federal lands. Key Examples of Fracking in the United States Pennsylvania Pennsylvanias Marcellus Shale is the source for about 40% of shale gas production in the U.S. New York While the Marcellus Shale also runs through New York, the state has banned fracking. Texas Texas produces more crude oil than any other state. North Dakota The Bakken Shale in North Dakota has been one of the main sites for the fracking boom and subsequent bust, leaving behind extensive environmental damage. A recent report found that all 50 states could provide 100% (or even greater) in-state renewable energy. Other Countries Outside the U.S., only Canada, China and Argentina have commercial fracking operations. A UN report in 2018 said that other countries were highly unlikely to produce at such a large scale as the U.S., due to political and cultural factors, and existing infrastructure. The Future of Fracking While renewables were considered a solution for peak oil only a decade ago, fracking changed the terms of the debate, with a new focus from environmentalists to keep it in the ground starting in 2015. The Biden administration now stands at a pivotal moment in the climate crisis. Bidens stance on fracking is not yet entirely clear, but he has rejoined the Paris agreement and appears to take climate seriously. At the same time, he is sympathetic to workers in fossil fuel industries, was vice president during the fracking boom years under Obama, and may be more inclined to seek a gradual transition than one fast enough to help solve the crisis. N. Korean fishing boats head out to sea from Sinuiju by Ha Yoon Ah July 14,2020 | Source: Daily NK North Korean fishermen are reportedly grumbling that there is no fish left to catch in North Korean waters. North Korean vessels were observed heading out to sea from Sinuiju on June 26, a source in China told Daily NK on July 9. North Korean authorities had issued a prohibition on fishing due to COVID-19, but it appears that the ban was lifted at the end of June. The source explained that the movement of fishing vessels signifies that North Korean trading companies are trying to catch fish to earn foreign currency, and that the companies are having to do whatever it takes to fill their quotas. It remains to be seen, however, whether trading companies will be able to turn much of a profit from fishing. The source pointed out that Chinese fishing boats have already entered North Korean waters and have snapped up most of the fish. Its not fishing season right now, but [North Korean fishing boats] have been ordered to catch fish at all costs, the source said, noting, People are saying that North Korean vessels wont be able to catch as much as they would like because Chinese boats have already depleted the fish stocks. In May, Daily NK reported that so many Chinese fishing vessels had entered North Korean waters illegally to fish that North Korean patrol vessels were having trouble pushing them out. The Chinese were taking advantage of the fact that North Korea had ordered its fleet to stop fishing as part of efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19. Daily NKs source in China noted that fish stocks in North Korean waters had increased because North Korean fishing activities had been cut by around compared to pre-pandemic levels. North Korean fishermen are reportedly grumbling that there is no fish left to catch in North Korean waters because of Chinese fishing activities, so they may have to head to South Korean waters to catch anything. North Korean trading companies dont just want to catch fish they want to sell their catch to the Chinese, the source said, adding, The Ministry of State Security [MSS] is cracking down more on smuggling, so Im not sure how they would be able to do this. North Korean fishing crews have long met up with Chinese boats in open waters at night to illegally sell their catch to earn extra cash. They now face more difficulties in doing this because North Korea recently intensified its crackdowns on smuggling across the Sino-North Korean border. Daily NK reported last month that all vessels traveling on the Yalu River must have an MSS agent on board. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un also called on the MSS to strengthen surveillance over illegal activities, including smuggling, on the border at a politburo meeting held earlier this month. The source speculated that fish caught by North Korean ships will nonetheless show up soon at markets in Dandong or other nearby Chinese cities. 2019 DAILY NK. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Theme(s): Others. NEW HAVEN City police are investigating a shooting that left one person injured Tuesday night, police said. Police and fire units responded to a report of a person shot outside a home on Munson Street around 6:05 p.m., according to Capt. Anthony Duff. Medics also responded to Munson Street, near Sherman Parkway in the Dixwell neighborhood, and transported a male gunshot wound victim to the hospital, Duff said. There was no further information immediately available regarding the victims condition. This story will be updated as more information becomes available. Anyone with information is asked to call the New Haven police at 203-946-6304, call in an anonymous tip to 1-866-888-8477 or text NHPD and the tip to 274637. Experts say the 'whole of New South Wales' is now a coronavirus hotspot, as the NSW premier warns Victoria's COVID-19 outbreak has 'no doubt' reached Sydney. Gladys Berejiklian made the grim declaration on Tuesday night after the number of cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's southwest hit 30. Of these cases, 14 are people who attended the pub. While the source of the outbreak has yet to be identified, Ms Berejiklian said investigations confirm the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW. 'It's highly likely that given the evolving situation in Victoria that NSW was exposed to underlying community transmission from that state,' she said in Sydney on Tuesday. Two men in their 20s were tested after a positive patron from the Crossroads Hotel was found to have visited the nearby Planet Fitness gym - which has been shut for deep cleaning. Anyone who visited the gym from July 4 to July 10 should self-isolate and get tested immediately. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the investigation demonstrates there is 'no doubt' the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW The number of COVID-19 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's southwest hit 30 on Tuesday evening A cleaner dressed in Personal Protective Equipment is seen leaving the Crossroads Hotel on July 11 It comes as Australian Medical Association Northern Territory branch president Dr Robert Parker called for all of NSW to be considered a 'hotspot'. He said NSW residents shouldn't be allowed to enter the NT when it opens up its borders on July 17. Queensland announced it would ban residents from 77 suburbs in Sydney's south west from entering the Sunshine State. But Dr Parker said all of NSW should be prohibited from entering the NT, and not just select postcodes and suburbs. 'I think it's very dangerous, we still don't know the effect of this particular location and because it was a crossroads, and particularly because people were passing through, what the carry-on effect of this is,' he told the ABC. The NT will open its borders this Friday to all states and territories, except Victoria, with visitors not required to quarantine upon entry. Dr Parker said given the state's growing number of cases, it would be safer to put off allowing NSW residents to enter the NT for the foreseeable future. 'It's far safer just to delay NSW for a further week sure, open up to South Australia, Western Australia, whatever delay NSW for a further week, just to see what the effect of this particular location is and how far and wide the virus spreads rather than having a fairly confident response,' he said. Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home Pictured: The Sydney venues feared to be at the centre of COVID-19 outbreaks Tests are carried out at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic at Victoria Park in Picton, south of Sydney Victoria recorded 270 new cases on Tuesday, tipping total cases nationwide over 10,000, with 21 people on ventilation in intensive care. NSW has 13 new cases and WA one, a 10-year-old boy in quarantine. Ms Berejiklian was asked if she would consider locking down the suburbs near the Casula pub after the Queensland government declared Sydney's Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas as COVID-19 hotspots. The NSW premier said the measure wasn't being considered 'at this stage'. Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home. Ms Berejiklian also announced a tightening of restrictions in response to the Casula outbreak with a limit of 300 people at pubs and hotels, and group bookings to be capped at 10 people. It will be mandatory for pubs and hotels to download and register the COVID-19 safe plan and take down contact details of all patrons. Venues with a capacity of more than 250 people will be required to have a full-time marshal on site to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines. The changes don't apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino and will come into effect from 12.01am on Friday. The new changes came a day before the Lake Jindabyne Hotel and Motel, near the Snowy Mountains, was fined $5000 for breaching public health and safety rules. Police were forced to shut the venue down on Tuesday after issuing three formal and seven informal warnings between July 5 and July 11. The warnings were for patrons' intoxication levels and large groups of people failing to social distance, the Daily Telegraph reports. The pub will close for three days. NSW recorded 13 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday with two in hotel quarantine, one a contact of a returned traveller and 10 linked to the Crossroads Hotel. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant on Tuesday said since 3pm on Monday seven additional cases had been confirmed - all linked to the Casula pub. Another case is under investigation. Police are working with Liquor and Gaming to investigate if the hotel breached any guidelines. All patrons of the Crossroads Hotel between July 3 to 10 must self-isolate and are being urged to get tested. One of the cases linked to the hotel is a person who visited the Prestons Lodge Advantaged Care nursing home which has been placed into lockdown. Another case worked at the Kmart store in Casula Mall on July 10. The employee and all of his coworkers are self-isolating. Dr Chant said other venues across Sydney may have been exposed to the virus between June 27 and July 10 after visits from people linked to the outbreak. COVID-19 drive through testing clinic at The Crossroads Hotel - where 30 cases have now been linked Picton Hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood could be affected by the Crossroads Hotel outbreak. Pictured: tests at a pop-up clinic in Picton, south of Sydney People wearing face masks are seen at the entrance of the Menarock Life aged care facility, where a cluster of some 28 new infections had been reported, in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon These include The Star casino in Sydney, Picton Hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood. The NSW Australian Hotels Association supports the stricter COVID-19 measures, and chief executive John Whelan said the industry had to do its part in halting the spread of the virus. Acting Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke warned businesses that any breaches in public health orders will be treated 'extremely seriously'. Police are also ramping up compliance checks with officers making about 300 home visits in the past 24 hours to ensure people who returned from Victoria are self-isolating for 14 days. Meanwhile, South Australia will delay its border opening with NSW, which was set down for July 20. Australia's total coronavirus cases soared to more than 10,000 and the death toll reached 110 on Tuesday. Delinquencies Spike in April as Pandemic Data Rolls In April's data is here, and CoreLogic is reporting that early stage delinquencies, that is mortgages 30 to 59 days past due, soared to levels even higher than those seen in the Great Recession. That delinquency bucket now contains 4.2 percent of active mortgages, up from 1.7 percent in April 2019. Further, the company's Loan Performance Report says the share of mortgages that transitioned from current to past due reached the highest level in at least 21 years, 3.4 percent, exceeding any statistics from the Great Recession. In January 2007, just before the start of the financial crisis, the current- to 30-day transition rate was 1.2 percent and it peaked in November 2008 at 2 percent. The company notes that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation's overall delinquency rate had declined for 27 consecutive months, and serious delinquency and foreclosure rates stood at record lows. However, the business closures and stay-at-home orders pushed unemployment rates to the highest level in more than 80 years in April, reducing affected homeowners' ability to make monthly mortgage payments. The national delinquency rate jumped 2.5 percentage points in a single month to 6.1 percent. This is the highest level since January 2016 and up from 3.6 percent a year earlier. The CARES Act, passed by Congress in March, provides forbearance for homeowners who were economically impacted by the pandemic if their mortgages are backed by the GSEs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the FHA, or the VA. CoreLogic's delinquency numbers include those loans in forbearance even if the loan has not been reported as past due to credit reporting agencies. "The resurgence of COVID-19 infections across the country has created economic uncertainty and leaves those who are unemployed concerned with their ability to make monthly mortgage payments," said Dr. Frank Nothaft, chief economist at CoreLogic. "The latest forecast from the CoreLogic Home Price Index predicts prices declining in all states through May 2021, erasing some home equity and increasing foreclosure risk." The increasing delinquencies have not yet begun to impact later stage buckets. The rate of 60 to 89-day delinquencies rose from 0.6 percent in April 2019 to 0.7 percent while serious delinquencies, including loans in foreclosure, were down slightly, from 1.3 percent to 1.2 percent on an annual basis. It was the fifth consecutive month that the serious delinquency rate set a record low for the current century. The Foreclosure Inventory Rate (the share of mortgages in some stage of the foreclosure process) also eased back, from 0.4 percent in April 2019 to 0.3 percent, the lowest for any month since January 1999. "Despite the scale and suddenness of the pandemic, mortgage delinquency has yet to emerge as a major issue, thanks to government COVID-19 relief programs and other housing finance industry efforts," said Frank Martell, president and CEO of CoreLogic. "As the true impact of the economic shutdown during the second quarter of 2020 becomes clearer, we can expect to see a rise in delinquencies in the next 12-18 months - especially as forbearance periods under the CARES Act come to a close." All states logged increases in overall delinquency rates in April. New York and New Jersey were both hot spots for the virus and experienced the largest overall delinquency gains of 4.7 and 4.6 percentage points respectively in April on an annual basis. Nevada, Florida and Hawaii were hit hard by the collapse in business travel and tourism, posting spikes of 4.5, 4.0 and 3.7 percentage points, respectively. Disengagement site No. 2 Zolote was under fire. Three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another two were wounded as Russia-led forces mounted 18 attacks in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, on Monday, July 13. "The Russian Federation's armed formations violated the ceasefire 18 times in the past day," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation Headquarters said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 Kyiv time on July 14. The enemy opened fire from proscribed 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers of various systems, heavy machine guns, and small arms. Hot spots were Ukrainian positions near the town of Avdiyivka, and the villages of Sartana, Vodiane, Pyshchevyk, Kamianka, Slavne, Pervomaiske, Luhanske, Krymske, Khutir Vilny, and Mayorsk. Read alsoUkrainian military medic killed in Donbas in enemy shelling on July 13 Disengagement site No. 2 Zolote was also under attack, as one 120mm mortar shell was lobbed in there. What is more, while attempting to evacuate the body of a serviceman killed near the village of Zaitseve, the evacuation team got into an enemy ambush. A military medic was shot dead almost at point-blank range, one soldier was wounded, and another sustained combat-related injuries. The evacuation operation could not continue amid ongoing firing from grenade launchers and heavy machine guns. The bodies still remain at the site of shelling and need to be removed. "In total, three of our courageous defenders were killed in action, one was wounded in action, and another one sustained combat-related injuries The Joint Forces Command expresses deep condolences to the families and friends of the dead Ukrainian heroes," the JFO HQ said. The Joint Forces returned fire to each enemy attack. According to intelligence reports, one member of Russia-led forces was killed and another two were wounded on July 13. "Since Tuesday midnight, Russia-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions once, near Avdiyivka, using grenade launchers of various systems and heavy machine guns," the update said. There have been no Ukrainian army casualties since Tuesday midnight. Egypt is experiencing a renewed social media movement against sexual abuse that led to many accusations against a single man. Cairo police arrested 21-year-old Ahmed Bassam Zaki at his home 10 days ago. The case has captured the countrys attention, partly because those involved come from rich and powerful families. Womens rights activists say they hope the governments quick action signals a change in how the country deals with accusations of sexual wrongdoing. More than 100 girls and women describe meeting Zaki in person and online. Their individual accusations include rape, assault, and blackmail. Some of the accusers were children when the reported crimes took place. Activists say the case shows that sex abuse is widespread in the country. Many in Egypt had argued in the past that only poor and uneducated people carried out sex crimes. Whats before this case is totally different from whats after, said Nihad Abuel-Komsan. She is head of the Egyptian Center for Womens Rights and a lawyer representing some of the reported victims. Sexual wrongdoing is a complex problem in Egypt. The countrys conservative culture ties female sexual innocence to a familys social image. In courts, the responsibility of proof lies heavily on the victims of such crimes. In a statement, the public prosecutors officer said the accused man admitted to blackmailing at least six girls. He reportedly threatened to send sensitive images of them to their families if the girls cut off contact with him. Several attempts by The Associated Press to contact Zaki or his lawyer were unsuccessful. Amr Adib, Egypts popular television show host, reported on the case recently. He said he had talked with Zakis father, a high-level official at a telecommunication company. The man reportedly said that his son dismissed the accusations. Abuel-Komsan says at least 10 women have filed official reports with the police. Activists created an Instagram account, @assaultpolice, to gather accusations, said Sabah Khodir, a United States-based writer who helps run the account. She said there are more than 100 reports so far. We are demanding to be listened to We are just using what we have, lending our voices to hopefully create some kind of change, she said. A court has ordered that Zaki remain in jail while an investigation continues. The prosecutor has urged any other possible victims to make official reports. Last week, Egypts government proposed a measure to increase protections of the identities of victims of sexual wrongdoing. Parliament is to consider the proposal. If approved, it will be sent to President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who can approve or reject the measure. The charges against Zaki cover suspected crimes carried out over at least three years. Many of the accusations on social media appear to be from students at the American International School, one of the countrys costliest private high schools. Many others appear to be from students at American University in Cairo. Zaki went to both schools. University officials said Zaki left the school in 2018. He apparently was admitted to the European Union Business School in Spain, in an online program, last year. In February, he traveled to Barcelona to study at EUBS on site. Three weeks later, school officials suspended and later expelled him after learning of accusations against him, including some by students at the school. EUBS has since filed a criminal report in cooperation with @assaultpolice to demand Spanish police fully investigate Zakis reported actions. The head of the American University in Cairo, Francis Ricciardone, said university policy treats sexual abuse of any kind as unacceptable. However, he said he would not comment on an ongoing case. The recent reports against Zaki led Egypts Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim worlds top religious center, to speak out about sexual crimes. Im Caty Weaver. The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies reported this story. Caty Weaver adapted it for Learning English. Ashley Thompson was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words In This Story assault - n. the crime of trying or threatening to hurt someone physically blackmail - n. the crime of threatening to tell secret information about someone unless the person being threatened gives you money or does what you want prosecutor - n. a lawyer who represents the side in a court case that accuses a person of a crime and who tries to prove that the person is guilty host - n. a person who talks to guests on a television or radio show Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday lowered Napa Countys COVID-19 dimmer switch and turned out the lights on indoor barber shops, hair salons, fitness centers, worship services and offices in non-critical sectors. Newsom announced during a noon press conference he was taking the step for 30 counties on the states COVID-19 monitoring list. Napa County is on the list, which Newsom said comprises 80% of the states population. Napa Countys Office of Emergency Services said Monday evening that the closures were to take effect immediately. The county said in a Nixle alert it was awaiting further details from the state but anticipated the order will last at least 3 weeks. Stacie Harrold, owner of Whirlwind Blow Dry Lounge in downtown Napa, learned of this latest turn of events from a customer who called to see if the salon was still open. Then came eight or 10 calls in the wake of the governors announcement. Its absolutely devastating, Harrold said. We just got back on track, we were trying to get everybody employed. Its a bit of a surprise, too, because we all thought we were being so diligent with our cleanliness and keeping everybody safe with masks. Napa County Board of Supervisors vice chairman Alfredo Pedroza said Monday afternoon the county must protect public health. But he advocated for a surgical approach based on information, as opposed to one-size-fits-all. I think were all frustrated by the position were in right now, Pedroza said. Those are difficult decisions being made that impact the livelihood of so many families, so many businesses, so many individuals. At this point, the route available to the county to reopen the affected businesses is to get off the states monitoring list. We are going to try as hard as humanly possible to get off that list, Pedroza said. It is a priority we owe to local residents. Napa County went on the states monitoring list last week for having 138.7 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over 14 days. The state threshold is 100 cases. The immediate impact was closing indoor restaurant and indoor tasting room activities and breweries and bars both indoors and outdoors. They were to close for at least three weeks. Newsom said during his press conference the positive COVID-19 testing rate for the state is 7.4% for 14 days, up 21% over two weeks. Hospitalizations have risen 28% and ICU admissions 20% in two weeks, he said. Were seeing an increase in the spread of the virus, so thats why its incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon until there is a vaccine and/or an effective therapy, Newsom said. Newsom on Monday closed indoor restaurant dining for all 58 California counties. He then added activities such as hair salons and fitness center for Napa County and other counties on the state monitoring list. The goal is to keep trend lines from becoming headlines, Newsom said. Other counties on the list are Colusa, Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tulare, Yolo, Yuba and Ventura. As always, I want to remind you, limit your mixing with people outside of your households, Newsom said. Its just common sense. But the data suggests not everybody is practicing common sense. You can reach Barry Eberling at 256-2253 or beberling@napanews.com. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. If you watched in disbelief as Donald Trump commuted the sentence of convicted felon Roger Stone his unjust reward for thwarting the justice system to protect the president you werent alone. Its not just Americans or Canadians who were shaking their heads over the injustice of it all. In Beijings leadership compound, and in Huaweis halls of power, they likely had a similar reaction last week. And a pointed question: Why should Canadas earnest claims about the impartiality and integrity of the justice system not ours, but Americas be taken seriously by China, or us, if Trump now treats it as a joke? Which raises another question: If many Americans no longer have faith in their own system, and China clearly doesnt, why are we putting the Canadian justice system and the lives of our fellow citizens on the line? When the Mounties arrested Huaweis Meng Wenzhou in transit at Vancouver airport at Americas request, China responded by ransoming the two Michaels diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor on trumped-up charges. While Canada saw only injustice at the trading in human lives, Trump jumped at the opportunity for horse-trading musing publicly about a quid pro quo where he would drop the case against Meng if China acquiesced to a trade deal on favourable terms. Washington later walked back Trumps incriminating talk. But in the months since, the U.S. has never gone beyond mere finger-wagging over Chinas actions. Between offering to release Meng and announcing the release of Stone, the president has dropped any pretense of legality in the justice system over which he presides. In so doing, he has only deepened Chinas political conviction that a judicial conviction in Trumps America is a matter of political expediency, not impartiality with Canada acting as an accessory. Canada has limited leverage with China, but we are not without options in both Beijing and Washington. With extradition cases, Canadas justice minister has the legal right to intrude or upend it at anytime, though this has never been done for blatantly political reasons (notably foreign bullying), lest our justice system be held hostage again in future. But we must also admit that the administration of justice has already been brought into disrepute by this case, which is utterly unlike any other. It involves a powerful defendant and two superpowers jockeying for position in a bipolar world while Canada a mere middle power tries to triangulate on behalf of two powerless Canadians. Watching our citizens interrogated in harsh conditions while Meng lives in the lap of luxury bankrolling a private security force to satisfy her bail conditions regarding the risk of flight offends our sense of justice. Quite apart from the asymmetry between Meng and the two Michaels, she enjoys privileges not afforded to or affordable for ordinary Canadians lacking her money and means. In light of those inequities, Ottawa could convey to the Chinese that it will instruct Justice Department lawyers to challenge Mengs bail conditions on the grounds of security (never mind reciprocity). The crown could cite the case of former Renault boss Carlos Ghosn who overcame strict bail conditions in Japan to flee to his native Lebanon arguing that it has given Canada cause to reconsider (that it might give China pause to recalibrate can be left unspoken). Would a judge agree? If China remains convinced that our judiciary abides by political agendas, perhaps a quiet signal that we are considering such a move could serve as a perfectly justifiable and just thought experiment. We must admit, however, that a middle power like Canada has limited leverage with the Chinese. The same cannot be said of the Americans, who are both powerful and vulnerable. Ottawa would be well within its rights to give the Americans an ultimatum quietly at first, publicly if necessary, framed as a choice for them to make leaving the ball very much in their court (if not a court of law): Canada must now consider Mengs release, due not to Chinese actions but American inaction. That Trump mused last year about releasing Meng for a trade deal imperilling the two Michaels by signalling that Canada was in cahoots on a contrived case was itself indefensible. Whats truly unconscionable, however, is that the president has said almost nothing consequential since then about Chinas pressure tactics. Imagine for a moment that an American diplomat were arrested in China in retaliation over the Meng case: Trump and Congress would be taking dramatic measures, escalating until China chose to de-escalate. It would surely impose painful sanctions against China as it has on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and others with whom it has grievances, rightly or wrongly. Beyond empty words few and far between what has Washington done to make China pay for its transgressions against Canada as we act as Americas jailer? If Chinas rulers can violate international norms with impunity, while an American president flouts his own judicial system with alacrity, what and whose rule of law is Canada upholding? Why take the heat for the Trump administration if it is unwilling to generate heat on our behalf? Time for Ottawa to send signals to both Beijing and Washington: The Chinese and Americans cannot fight their grudge match to the last Canadian. Read more about: Glanbia Ireland will pay its member milk suppliers a base milk price of 29.68c per litre for June. This is a 1.68c/l base price increase from May, which included a 0.20c/l weather-related payment. Farmer members will also receive a 0.42c/l payment from Glanbia Co-op on all milk supplied this month as their 'Share of GI Profit'. This brings the total Glanbia milk price for June to 30.10c/l (inc VAT) for creamery milk at 3.6pc fat and 3.3pc protein. Glanbia chairman Martin Keane said dairy markets had strengthened in recent weeks, helped by the re-opening of some food service outlets. "However, given the weak economic data and high rates of coronavirus in many key importing regions, the short- and medium-term market direction remains uncertain," he said. He added that "as the largest milk supply month of the year", Glanbia's June milk payment will deliver "over 120m to rural communities". Meanwhile, Lakeland Dairies has announced that it is paying 30c/l for June milk supplies, an increase of 1c/l on May. US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chatted by phone today as regional tensions threaten to escalate the already volatile situation in Libya. President Trump and President Erdogan discussed positive trade issues between the United States and Turkey and underscored our belief in the need for a negotiated settlement of regional issues, the White House said in a readout of the call. Why it matters: The Trump-Erdogan call comes as the United States has shown heightened interest in pushing Libyas warring factions and their foreign backers, including Turkey, to the negotiating table in recent weeks. On Sunday, the US Embassy in Libya threatened sanctions against those who undermine the Libyan economy and cling to military escalation after the Tripoli-aligned National Oil Corporation accused the United Arab Emirates of obstructing the oil exports of the Government of National Accord. Turkey supports the UN-backed Government of National Accords forces as they threaten to advance on oil fields in Sirte controlled by the UAE-backed Libyan National Army. Libyas eastern parliament has also invited Egyptian forces to intervene against the Turkish-backed offensive. The presidential-level discussion also comes after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Erdogan earlier this month against his bid to turn the historic Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque in Istanbul. Whats next: The United States continues to urge a diplomatic solution to the Libya war. US diplomats have recently pushed militias loyal to both the Government of National Accord and the Libyan National Army to disband in order to jump-start the long-stalled UN peace process. Know more: Metin Gurcan examines the myriad of foreign actors fueling the war and the recent strike against Turkish assets in Libya. And be sure to read Al-Monitors Week in Review for more on Erdogans increasingly assertive regional ambitions. LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Grainger plc (GRI.L), on Tuesday, said it agreed to forward fund and acquire a 98-home PRS development at Guildford Station in Surrey for about 37 million. The developer is Solum Regeneration, a joint venture between Network Rail and Kier. The investment builds on Grainger's cluster of PRS investments nearby in Hampshire and is located next to extensive transport links provided by Guildford Railway Station. The scheme forms part of the wider 150 million station redevelopment scheme, which would comprise about 25 million of station improvements, about 440 new homes in total, a 412 space multi-story car park, 36,000 sq/ft of retail space and about 20,200 sq/ft of office space. The company expects this investment to generate a gross yield on cost approaching about 5.5% once stabilised, with completion anticipated in early 2023. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. SHANGHAI, CHINA / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / On July 12, BYD announced the official launch of its Han EV series, the brand's long-awaited flagship offering for the global mid-to-large luxury sedan market, including three pure electric models and one hybrid model. BYD's long-awaited Han EV series The Han series sets new standards for EVs worldwide with its safety, performance, and luxury The Han EV will be sold in China at first. Its extended-range version will sell at 229,800 RMB, the extended-range variant of the premium model will be priced at 255,800 RMB, and the 4WD high-performance version will sell at 279,500 RMB. Besides, the PHEV version, Han DM, will sell at 219,800 yuan. Integrating the most advanced technologies in the electric vehicle industry, the Han boasts formidable performance combined with stylish craftsmanship. As the world's first mass-produced model that uses BYD's ultra-safe Blade Battery, the Han EV sets new standards for EVs worldwide in terms of safety, performance and luxury. With BYD being no stranger to pioneering in the industry, the Han series continues to break new ground. The Han EV's long-range pure electric version has a remarkable single-charge range of 605 kilometers (376 miles) based on the NEDC test cycle. The four-wheel-drive high-performance version possesses an acceleration of 0 to 100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, making it China's fastest EV in production, while the DM (Dual Mode) plug-in hybrid model offers 0 to 100km/h in 4.7 seconds, making it the country's fastest hybrid sedan. The Han series will create a new global standard for EV technology and quality, shaking up the traditional luxury car market while accelerating the global shift to electric vehicles. Named after one of the most celebrated dynasties in Chinese history, the Han series also demonstrates the country's growing manufacturing prowess. Mr. Wang Chuanfu, President of BYD Co., Ltd., said, "The Han has taken ten years from the concept stage to formal mass production," which he likened to "ten years of sharpening a brilliant sword". He added, "Through our leading technologies, we have created three benchmarks for flagship EVs in terms of safety, performance, and luxury." The Han EV has redefined safety standards for energy vehicles as it is the world's first vehicle to use BYD's ultra-safe Blade Battery, making it twice as safe compared to EVs using traditional ternary lithium battery packs. The Han's DM is powered by a "seven-dimensional quad-layer" safety matrix that offers the world's safest battery safety system with its ability to remain stable at high temperatures. The Han's roof uses advanced laser brazing technology, while its 1500HS thermoformed steel is the most ever used for any comparable Chinese automobile. Other notable safety features include 11 standard airbags and six cameras, highly-efficient air purification filters, and more. In terms of performance, the Han series comes with the world-first MOSFET motor control module, which fuels the car's record-breaking 3.9 second 0-100km/h acceleration. At the same time, Han's braking distance requires only 32.8 meters from 100km/h to a standstill. The Han EV's extended-range version's impressive 605-kilometer cruising range also gives it the world's highest energy recovery rating, while a double silver-coated windshield and other energy-saving measures meet the real needs of users over its lifetime. The Han DM hybrid model comes with 81 kilometers of pure-electric cruising range and over 800 kilometers of integrated range, along with five different power modes. The Han also sets a new benchmark for EV luxury. BYD's new Dragon Face design language blends the best of Eastern and Western design aesthetics. From its striking front grille, its Dragon Claw tail lights and other features, the car's stylized design creates a striking, confident vehicle that defines a new era for Chinese-made luxury vehicles. The interior is equipped with solid wooden panels, high-quality Napa leather seats, aluminum trims and other high-end materials rarely used in other high-end luxury vehicles. The Han's luxury is matched by its intelligence, with smart features like the NFC mobile phone key function, allowing users to easily unlock the vehicle even if their phone is out of power or has no signal. Moreover, the Han comes with the latest version of BYD's DiPilot intelligent driving assistance system, including a wide array of safety features like an adaptive stop-and-go cruise-control system (ACC-S&G), a forward-collision warning system (FCW), a pedestrian identification and protection system, a lane departure warning system (LDWS), traffic sign identification, and much more. The Han can be upgraded with even higher-level functions including BYD's ICC Intelligent Navigation System, the ICA Integrated Adaptive Cruise System, and the TJA Traffic Congestion Assistance System. In addition, the extended-range premium and 4WD high-performance models provide blind spot monitoring, lane-change assistance, rear collision early warning and other leading functions, which can be upgraded to a comprehensive automatic parking function. DiPilot also comes with the DiTrainer mode, which selectively turns on assisted driving based on factors such as driving behavior, road conditions, weather, and even driving age. The DiLink 3.0 Smart Network system comes with smart voice upgrades and a DiUI upgrade, with a 15.6-inch Ultra HD 8-core adaptive rotary suspension PAD, bringing the even smarter luxury sedan. The Han EV reflects not only some of the world's top automobile technology but also the benefits of BYD's rich experience in the research and development of EVs. This has allowed the brand to not only break into China's high-end sedan market but also other fiercely competitive markets. With its formidable performance, fantastic safety and its representation of a new generation of luxury, the Han is a powerful offering that upgrades the standing and capabilities of Chinese automobiles and electric vehicles around the world. About BYD BYD Company Ltd. is one of China's largest privately owned enterprises. Since its inception in 1995, the company quickly developed solid expertise in rechargeable batteries and became a relentless advocate of sustainable development, successfully expanding its renewable energy solutions globally with operations in over 50 countries and regions. Its creation of a Zero Emissions Energy Ecosystem - comprising affordable solar power generation, reliable energy storage, and cutting-edge electrified transportation - has made it an industry leader in the energy and transportation sectors. BYD is listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges. More information on the company can be found at http://www.byd.com Contacts: In Asia-Pacific: Richard Li Pr@byd.com tel:+86-755-8988-8888-69666 In North America: Frank Girardot frank.girardot@byd.com tel: +1 213 245 6503 In Europe: Penny Peng penny.peng@byd.com tel: +31-102070888 SOURCE: BYD COMPANY LIMITED View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597434/BYDs-Flagship-Han-EV-Series-Officially-Goes-on-Sale Face masks could soon become compulsory in France, Emmanuel Macron has said. The French president used a rare TV interview on Bastille Day to come out in favour of a law that would compel people to wear face coverings in indoor public spaces - such as in shops and bars. Macron said he would like the law to come into effect from August 1, but it would still need to be approved by parliament. He warned that there are signs coronavirus cases are on the rise again in France, as the R number jumped above one following the end of lockdown. Macron spoke just hours after agreeing to a 7billion investment in France's health service, including pay rises for workers and the hiring of 15,000 more staff. Emmanuel Macron has said face masks could become compulsory in France by August, amid evidence that coronavirus cases are starting to rise again France has agreed to give its health workers a 7billion payrise for helping to tackle the coronavirus crisis following weeks of protests (pictured, marchers in Bordeaux) The majority of the money will be spent on hiking wages for nurses, care workers and non-medical staff. Doctors at public clinics would also be in line for a payout. The move comes after two months of negotiations that were launched by Emmanuel Macron amid protests over his handling of the crisis. It is likely to increase calls for other hard-hit European countries - such as the UK, Spain and Italy - to follow suit. Health workers were regularly honoured during France's first wave of coronavirus with people applauding their efforts from their doorsteps. But medics demanded concrete reward for their sacrifice, and took to the streets demanding investment after years of cuts to the health system. The demonstrations sometimes descended into rioting amid fears they were being hijakced by Antifa, with police using tear gas and baton charges. But on Tuesday negotiations yielded a deal that a majority of unions have now signed up to. New French Prime Minister Jean Castex hailed the deal as an 'historic moment for our health system' at a signing ceremony on Monday. 'This is first of all recognition of those who have been on the front line in the fight against this epidemic,' he said. 'It's also a way of catching up the delay for each and every one - including perhaps myself - has their share of responsibility.' The pay rise was announced a day before Bastille Day celebrations, which will see traditional military parades side-lined so health workers can be honoured instead. Supermarket cashiers, postal workers and other essential staff will also be honoured, along with former President Charles de Gaulle, eight decades after the historic appeal he made to opponents of France's Nazi occupiers that gave birth to the French Resistance. French Health Minister Olivier Veran (left) and French Prime Minister Jean Castex (right), announced the deal at a signing ceremony on Monday But the battle against the virus, which has claimed more than 30,000 lives in France, is expected to be the main focus of the official event in central Paris, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to highlight France's successes in combating its worst crisis since World War II. 'This ceremony will be the symbol of the commitment of an entire nation,' Macron said in a speech to military officials Monday. 'It will also be the symbol of our resilience.' Across town from the the Place de la Concorde, protesters plan to highlight France's failures during the pandemic. Medical workers and others who decried mask shortages and cost cuts that left one of the world's best health care systems ill-prepared for the galloping spread of the virus are expected to demonstrate. The destination of their protest march wasn't chosen by chance: They're set to head to Bastille plaza, the former home of a royal prison that rebels stormed on July 14, 1789, symbolically marking the beginning of the French Revolution. At Tuesday's main ceremony, fighter jets will paint the sky with blue-white-and-red smoke and will be joined by helicopters that transported COVID-19 patients in distress. A military band will sing the Marseillaise national anthem to 2,000 special guests. This year, instead of world leaders or other dignitaries, those guests will be nurses, doctors, supermarket and nursing home workers, mask makers, lab technicians and others who kept France going during its strict nationwide lockdown. The deal comes ahead of French Bastille Day celebrations which will see traditional military parades side-lined in favour of honouring health workers and other essential staff Families of medical workers who died with the virus also have a place in the stands. 'Exceptionally, this year, our armies ... will cede the primary place to the women and men in hospital coats who fought' the virus and who remain 'ramparts in the crisis,' Macron said. He hailed the French military for building a field hospital and carrying patients in cargo jets or specially fitted high-speed trains, and paid tribute to the volunteers who allowed 'our nation to hold on.' Ordinary French citizens won't be able to honor front-line workers in person, however, because the Paris ceremony is closed to the public, to prevent new virus infections. And the usual military parade down the Champs-Elysees is being truncated to a smaller affair. Even the annual fireworks display over the Eiffel Tower will be largely restricted to television viewers only, since City Hall is closing off the heart of Paris, including embankments of the Seine and other neighborhoods where crowds usually gather on Bastille Day. France has one of the world's highest virus death tolls, and scientists are warning of a potential resurgence as people abandon social distancing practices, hold dance parties and head off on summer vacations. United Nations, July 14 : The UN Security Council (UNSC) will hold an in-person meeting on Tuesday, the first since mid-March when the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to convene virtually. Tuesday's meeting will be held in the larger Economic and Social Council Chamber instead of the Security Council Chamber, where the it usually meets, according to announcements by the UN Secretariat. The change of venue is obviously out of the need for social distancing, reports Xinhua news agency. The Security Council Chamber, with a horseshoe-shaped table in the centre, is less desirable for such purpose. The UNSC is expected to adopt two resolutions on Tuesday, plus discussions on Colombia and the Council's annual report to the General Assembly. It began to convene via video teleconference in mid-March after restrictive measures were implemented at UN Headquarters in New York in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Security Council had to shift to interim procedures for the conduct of its business, including how meetings are convened and how resolutions are adopted. No interpretation between languages was made available in the meetings via video teleconference. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text A former New York City restaurant hostess who has worked in some of Manhattan's trendiest eateries is sharing her candid thoughts on celebrities she has encountered. Julia Carolan, 23, only just joined TikTok but a video she posted two days ago has already been watched 6.1 million times, thanks to its fun celebrity gossip. Julia said that while 'working as a hostess in a fancy Manhattan restaurant,' she came face-to-face with plenty of stars and while Gigi and Bella Hadid were 'so nice', Kylie Jenner was a shockingly cheap tipper. Spill! Julia Carolan, 23, has worked as a hostess at Nobu Downtown and a TAO Group restaurant (which include LAVO and Beauty & Essex) and met a lot of stars Love them! She said Gigi and Bella Hadid were 'so nice' and 'super polite and friendly' 'These two are literally so nice, I cannot say enough things about them. They're super polite and friendly with staff, which unfortunately, is rare for celebrities,' she said Julia doesn't specify which Manhattan restaurant she is referring to in the video, but while she attended college, she worked for 10 months as a hostess at one of TAO Group's restaurants, which include TAO, LAVO, and Beauty & Essex, among quite a few other hot spots. She followed that with another 10 months at Nobu Downtown. In her celebrity-rating video which she promises is the the first of several she rated Gigi and Bella Hadid 10/10. 'These two are literally so nice, I cannot say enough things about them. They're super polite and friendly with staff, which unfortunately, is rare for celebrities,' she says. Ride" Cameron Dallas only rated 4/10 for being demanding and entitled Yikes! Of Hailey Bieber, she said: 'I've met her a handful of times and every time she was not nice' Cameron Dallas, however, only rated 4/10 for being demanding and entitled. 'I kind of had a bad experience with him. Him and his friend called after we were closed and insisted on a table and kind of pulled a 'do you know who I am' moment,' she says. 'He was rude.' Hailey Bieber scored even worse, rating just 3.5/10 based on multiple encounters. 'This is gonna be controversial,' Julia says. 'I've met her a handful of times and every time she was not nice. 'I really wanna like her, but I have to give her a 3.5 out of 10. Sorry,' she says with a cringe. Cheap? Worst of all, though, was 'billionaire' Kylie Jenner who, despite reportedly raking in boatloads of cash, was a shockingly bad tipper 'She was fine but she tipped $20 on a $500 dinner bill. Do with that information what you will,' Julia said Worst of all, though, was 'billionaire' Kylie Jenner who, despite reportedly raking in boatloads of cash, was a shockingly bad tipper. 'She was fine but she tipped $20 on a $500 dinner bill. Do with that information what you will,' Julia says, rating Kylie 2/10. Julia, who has yet to post part two, likely encountered many more stars during her time as a hostess. Nobu Downtown counts Beyonce, Rihanna, the Kardashians, and many more as fans, while TAO Group fans include Sofia Vergara, Katie Holmes, Naomi Campbell, also the Kardashians, and many more. Caitlin Lynch (right) and Anna Kirkwood wearing face masks as they browse in Stradivarius in Belfast City Centre. Photo credit: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Retail leaders have said shop workers cannot be expected to enforce the mandatory wearing of face coverings, should it be introduced in Northern Ireland. It comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced face coverings must be worn in all shops in England from July 24. Read More The Northern Ireland Executive has yet to announce any changes to its policy in shops, but a spokesperson said the matter was being kept "under continuous review". It is mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport and Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon has said it should be extended to include shops. Read More Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts said the policy should be enforced by police if it's to be introduced here. Mr Roberts said that staff were already coming under pressure as they attempt to enforce social distancing guidelines. He said Retail NI had received reports of scuffles between customers in shops after rows had broken out due to a lack of social distancing. There have also been reports that shop staff had received threats for trying to enforce the rules. "While these may be a small number of incidents and the vast majority comply with the rules, never the less it is important to highlight them," Mr Roberts said. "We shouldn't forget that shop staff have been working throughout this pandemic to keep people supplied with essential goods and putting their own health at risk." Expand Close Glyn Roberts / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Glyn Roberts He said the onus should not be on shop owners and their staff to enforce the rules. "It would add to an already tense and difficult situation," Mr Roberts said. If it is introduced in Northern Ireland, like England, the police should enforce the regulations Mr Robers said shopkeepers union Usdaw shared the view that it was "unfair" to put staff in this position. "It's up to the public to realise the responsibility they have," he said. The Retail NI chief also called on the Executive to provide clarification around face coverings to allow shop owners the time to prepare. "We will be led by the science and if it has to be introduced then it does," he said. "However there will need to be intensive promotional campaigns to update the public to the changes and shops may need to make alterations as a result. Mr Roberts said the main threat to Northern Ireland businesses remained complacency leading to a second wave of the virus. He said that Northern Ireland's economy was already up against it and another wave leading to a second lockdown would be a "catastrophic", particularly for the retail and hospitality sectors. Read More Aodhan Connelly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, told the BBC that Northern Ireland is different to England because of a lower infection rate. "However, it needs to be realised that retailers and our staff aren't there to do the enforcement of it and also we are going to need time to bring it in. "The priority is always the safety of our staff and the safety of our customers." An Executive Office spokesperson said that the public would be informed of any changes to the current policy. The use of face coverings is now mandatory on public transport, except where an exemption applies. They are also strongly recommended in indoor environments where social distancing may be difficult," the spokesperson said. The Executive keeps the issue of face coverings under continuous review and any changes to the advice will be communicated to the public. Nigerian blogger, Noble Igwe has taking to social media to give his opinion about women from Eastern Nigeria. The 41-year old father of two shared a long thread, stating that Igbo girls are always looking out for wealthy men to marry them. This is so that they can inherit his properties, instead of striving to build their wealth themselves. He further revealed that Yoruba and Hausa women are more hardworking. What he wrote; The Igbo women are lazy, does not like to work and just want to sit back and enjoy their husband hard earned money. They want to inherit their husbands property and then inherit from their fathers house as well but do nothing but answer Ori Aku See Yoruba women. Hard working,building houses and not really trying to fight for fathers house in Ibadan. When they want to make changes, they do but Igbo women will come and make it seem like someone is holding them down. The Yoruba woman is a go getter. Breaking boundaries, doing new things every day and she does not even need a law to back her. Just her belief and living life on her terms. Guess what? They dont need anybodys permission. Everyday you are seeking for permission from your village to thrive in Lagos ? Build a house and inherit it, nobody from your village will come to take it. Theres no culture holding you back from achieving things, why are so in on inheriting something when you can build yours ? Why is the topic always on inheritance? Cant you work for your own? You dont need a husband to inherit . Have you seen Hausa women fighting for inheritance ? No, they go out and build No wonder most people think that Igbo women are greedy. The argument can never be how my Igbo culture stopped me from buying land in Lagos, its always about what to gain from the patriarchy ridden people. Kings, find you a woman that is ready to work hard with you to leave things equally for your children, not the Igbo woman that is waiting on you to die first so that she can inherit and be called the head of home just by being Ori Aku Tomorrow, youd see other women tweet about how their mother willed things to them and how it helped them do better. These tweets dont come from Igbo women, them and their mothers are waiting for their father to die first. Ask yourself, what have you done to change the life of the girl child in your community? Is it Igbo men too that are stopping you? In conclusion, any gender can hold any agenda. While some of our concerns are true, the real change comes from doing and not holding the sins of fathers over all Igbo men. Discuss issues as it relates to particular people, communities, villages and the Igbo land at large. The Igbo man is flawed, just like every other man but you cant deny the work that the new generation Igbo man is doing towards changing some of these narratives. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates A staff writer and editor for the most prominent newspaper in the United States, The New York Times, resigned on Tuesday alleging that she has been bullied by her colleagues and subjected to a hostile work environment because her views are not aligned with the prevailing progressive orthodoxy at the newspaper. In a scathing resignation letter to Times publisher AG Sulzberger, writer Bari Weiss said she joined the papers opinions section with gratitude and optimism three years ago as part of an effort to bring in the voices of centrists and conservatives and others who would not naturally think of The Times as their home. The reason for the effort, she said, was the papers failure to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 election and its lack of understanding about the country it purports to cover. Dear @bariweiss thank you for your courage, your voice and never ceasing to challenge us and make us think. You are an incredible role model!https://t.co/KFTI247PYG pic.twitter.com/IxT4dWpryM Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) July 14, 2020 But the lessons that ought to have followed the election lessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society have not been learned, she said. Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isnt a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else, she added. The Bari Weiss resignation letter has so much wrong with it, but what stands out is the claim "centrists" are discriminated against. Centrists? They're the majority at @nytopinion! There are no pro-Bernie, pro-Palestinian or dare I say it pro-Trump columnists at the paper. Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) July 14, 2020 Weiss, a self-professed centrist politically, said she is the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with her views. She said she has been called a Nazi and a racist by co-workers, and frequently belittled on company-wide messaging platforms in full view of the papers editors. She said co-workers insist that she needs to be rooted out if the newspaper is to be inclusive. I do not understand how you have allowed this kind of behavior to go on inside your company in full view of the papers entire staff and the public, she wrote to Sulzberger. Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery. The New York Times was once a great paper. Not anymore. It is now held hostage by a small group of censorship terrorists. Yesterday they hounded out James Bennet and today it is Bari Weiss who must leave. Who is next? Ayaan Hirsi Ali (@Ayaan) July 14, 2020 Weisss departure follows the resignation last month of editorial page editor James Bennet, who recruited her to the newspaper. Bennet was forced out after publishing an opinion article by US Senator Tom Cotton advocating the use of military force against anti-racism protests that turned violent in some US cities. Black staffers at the newspaper said the Republican senators article put them in physical danger. In her resignation latter, Weiss lamented that opinion articles that would have been published without controversy only two years ago can now get writers and editors fired. She said intellectual curiosity is now a liability for people who write for the newspaper as a new McCarthyism takes over. If a persons ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinised, she said. Everyone else lives in fear of the digital thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets. If someone like @bariweiss feels like she cant do her best work at the @nytimes they should make some real changes over there. Andrew Yang (@AndrewYang) July 14, 2020 All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what theyll have to do to advance in their careers, Weiss wrote. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril, she added. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, the editor will get fired or reassigned, and youll be hung out to dry. A masked robber threatened a McDonalds employee with a knife before escaping with cash in Sydney's north west. NSW Police were called to McDonald's West Ryde at the BP fuel station at the intersection of Marsden and Victoria roads at about 1.20am on Thursday. A man, between 25-30 years old, entered the restaurant armed with a knife and grabbed a staff member, 19, around the neck and demanded cash. He took money from the register and was last seen running north up Marsden Road. NSW Police were called to McDonald's West Ryde BP (pictured) at the intersection of Marsden and Victoria roads at about 1.20am on Thursday after they received reports of a robbery A man, between 25-30 years old, entered the restaurant armed with a knife and grabbed a staff member, 19, around the neck and demanded cash The employee threatened was shaken but uninjured and contacted police about the robbery. Officers from Ryde Police Area Command attended and established a crime scene. Police are now trying to locate the attacker and have released CCTV of a man who may be able to assist in their inquiries. They have also a description of the man in the CCTV footage. Hes described as being 160cm to 170cm tall, average build and olive skin. He was seen wearing a grey hoodie and a mask covering his face. He took the money from the register and was last seen running north up Marsden Road Police described the man as being 160cm to 170cm tall, average build and olive skin. He was seen wearing a grey hoodie and a mask covering his face A McDonald's spokesperson said the safety of their staff and customers was their number one priority. 'We have offered our full support to our colleagues involved in this incident,' the spokesperson said. 'We have a number of security measures in place, such as CCTV, and are assisting the police with their investigation.' Map of SD. Peaks with SD 4 in the region 2 jbj 20; jlj 20 shown as crosses. 4FGL sources shown in red circles of size 0.31 for 9 TS 4949 TS. We find 8 sources (numbers 1 and 39) that have no 4FGL counterpart and one (number 2) that is sensitive to association proximity cut. The inner dashed lines show the angular regions used in Fig. 2; the outer dotted line shows the maximum extent of a region of projected galactocentric distance 3 kpc. See text for details. Credit: Zhong et al. Over the past decade or so, a number of astrophysics studies have detected an excess of gamma-ray radiation at the center of our galaxy. Despite the many attempts to understand this unexpected surplus of radiation, now known as the galactic center excess (GCE), its source and the reasons why it exists remain unknown. Initially, astronomers hypothesized that the GCE was associated with dark matter annihilation. More recent evidence, however, suggests that this excess in gamma-rays could be produced by a population of point sources (i.e., sources of energy), some of which may have already been observed in the past. Researchers at University of Chicago, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Oakland University recently carried out a study aimed at investigating this possibility further by comparing past theories and observations with items within a point source catalogue compiled by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT) Collaboration. The results of their analyses, published in a paper published on Physical Review Letters, place new constraints on the ability of any previously detected point sources to underpin the GCE's smooth gamma-ray emission. "Along with many of our colleagues we have been interested and intrigued by the galactic center excess (GCE) since it was first discovered almost 10 years ago," Yi-Ming Zhong, Samuel Mc Dermott, Ilias Cholis and Patrick Fox, the four researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org via email. "This excess of gamma-ray emission towards the center of the Milky Way may be a signal of dark matter annihilation or originate from more conventional astrophysical mechanisms. For instance, a prominent astrophysical explanation for the GCE is that we observe the collective emission from remnants of massive stars that Fermi, with enough sensitivity, would observe as gamma-ray point sources." The study carried out by the researchers builds on some of their previous works investigating the physical underpinnings of GCE. The key motivator behind their paper was that the Fermi collaboration recently updated its catalog of point sources (4FGL), which is essentially a list of all the light-emitting regions or bodies in the sky and the measurements associated with each of them. The researchers had previously tested the hypothesis that the GCE originates from point sources by analyzing the Fermi collaboration's dim point sources database. Once the updated version was released, they set out to repeat their analyses on the newly collected data. "We, and others, have applied the data analysis technique of wavelet decomposition to FERMI data in the past, usually focusing on information at large angular scales (large objects on the sky)," the researchers explained. "This time we wanted to apply it to small objects with the new catalog in hand." Our best fit GCE with 2FGL mask (blue dashed curve) or 4FGL mask (orange solid curve), compared with the stacked spectra of 4FGL sources from our matched-filter search with S > 4, which are possibly members of a CSP (green dot-dashed curve). Credit: Zhong et al. Understanding what phenomena take place at the center of the Milky way is an arduous and complex task, as many processes are going on at once, including formation of stars, supernovae that are extinguished, and the dynamics of central black holes. All these concurrent phenomena make determining the underlying structures of our galaxy via the analysis of gamma-ray measurements particularly challenging. Wavelet decomposition is a technique that can separate various cosmological contributions based on the amount of space they take up in the sky. While it has often proved to be a very effective tool for analyzing a variety of images taken by telescopes, so far, very few research teams have applied it to the analysis of gamma-ray data. In their study, Zhong, McDermott, Cholis and Fox revisited an analysis carried out by three researchers at University of Amsterdam, who used wavelet decomposition to pick apart small objects in the sky (i.e., point sources) from other cosmological phenomena. "More is known now about point sources in the direction of the Galactic center, both where they are and what they are," the researchers said. "In fact, the location of many of the newly measured point sources in the FERMI catalog were first uncovered by Bartels et al using wavelet techniques. History has repeated itself in that we have also found a few new bright spots in the sky that are not presently in other catalogs." Previously, researchers suggested that some newly spotted point sources could offer an explanation for the GCE. As more information is gathered about these point sources, such as their spectra and whether they are located in the proximity of known astrophysical objects, this hypothesis can be tested further by comparing this data with GCE observations. The new analyses carried out by Zhong, McDermott, Cholis and Fox show that none of the point sources included in the Fermi collaboration's updated 4FGL catalog can explain the GCE. Moreover, they suggest that if the GCE was actually made up of dim point sources, these would need to be a new class of cosmological objects and there would need to be several of them. "We tried to determine the range of possibilities for the luminosity function for the dim point sources," the researchers said. "The range for parameters that would still fit the data are pretty extreme and not something one would have expected from the beginning. Thus, it seems to us unlikely that the GCE is coming from dim point sources and if it is, it would be coming from a new type of astrophysical source." The new paper by Zhong, McDermott, Cholis and Fox presents new valuable results that somewhat limit the possibility of point sources underpinning the GCE, as suggested by a number of previous studies. These findings could serve as a basis for future research investigating the nature of the excess gamma-rays at the center of the Milky Way. "We have some interesting ideas of how to use wavelets to help remove some of the more annoying backgrounds," the researchers said. "There is a healthy scientific discussion taking place in the field at the moment and based on feedback we have received we continue to refine our analysis of the point sources." Explore further Coronae of supermassive black holes may be the hidden sources of mysterious cosmic neutrinos seen on Earth More information: Yi-Ming Zhong et al. Testing the Sensitivity of the Galactic Center Excess to the Point Source Mask, Physical Review Letters (2020). Journal information: Physical Review Letters Yi-Ming Zhong et al. Testing the Sensitivity of the Galactic Center Excess to the Point Source Mask,(2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.231103 2020 Science X Network The Trump administration on Tuesday backed down from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement rule change requiring foreign students on visas to attend some classes in-person this fall or be forced to leave the country. The news came during a court hearing over a lawsuit brought by Harvard and MIT, which argued the decision was made recklessly and would pressure schools to open their doors amid the coronavirus pandemic. MORE: Loss of international students could damage US economy, experts say, as Trump seeks visa restrictions ICE policy now reverts back to guidance the agency issued in March, Massachusetts District Court Judge Allison Burroughs said. ICE had extended flexibility to international students early in the COVID-19 outbreak, allowing schools to comply with public health guidance and modify plans for instruction. At the time, the agency did not provide assurances about the fall semester. Government attorney Ray Farquhar conceded the move in a brief session before the Boston federal court Tuesday. The rule posed a threat to more than 1 million students studying in the U.S. from abroad. According to the Institute of International Education, there were 1,095,299 international students in the U.S. in 2019, the fourth consecutive year that sum reached more than 1 million. The decision to reverse course came just before the government's Wednesday deadline for universities to submit a change of plans. PHOTO: A view of the statue of John Harvard on the campus of Harvard University, July 8, 2020, in Cambridge, Mass. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) Last week, ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program announced it would resume in-person requirements. It meant a student would be forced to leave the U.S. or transfer schools if their university planned to move course work entirely online. The announcement ignited a firestorm of backlash from across the country with Harvard and MIT among the first to file legal challenges. MORE: Harvard, MIT sue Trump administration over international student visas "The order came down without notice -- its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness," Harvard President Larry Bacow said in a statement last Wednesday. "It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others." Story continues While noting the possibility that the administration still might try to issue some restrictions, Bacow on Tuesday called the reversal "a significant victory" in a note to students, parents and faculty. "This means we expect that the 2020-2021 academic year will proceed as we have carefully planned, in our effort both to protect the health and safety of our students and others and to ensure that learning can go on in the best possible way under the current unprecedented circumstances," Bacow wrote. PHOTO: A view of the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, July 8, 2020. in Cambridge, Mass. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) Several other lawsuits followed, including a challenge from a group of 18 states led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. New York, California and Washington each filed separate challenges in addition to Johns Hopkins University and the University of California public school network. Hours before the hearing, The Wall Street Journal reported White House officials were considering backing down from the newly announced change while leaving open the option of applying the rules only to incoming students. ABC's Sophie Tatum and Jack Arnholz contributed to this report. Trump administration rescinds in-person requirement for international students originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:34:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close NAIROBI, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Tuesday lauded parties to the South Sudan peace process for the security progress achieved in recent months despite the health and economic difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kenyatta said it was encouraging that the permanent ceasefire is holding but cautioned against an increase in communal violence, saying the insecurity risks worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in the country. "If the situation remains unchecked, these seasonal and perennial conflicts could have wider repercussions on the larger security environment," he said during a virtual meeting of the 36th Assembly of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Heads of State and Government. A statement issued by the presidency said Kenyatta appealed to South Sudanese leaders to work towards strengthening institutions of governance so as to attain sustainable peace and stability in their country. He commended the setting up of the executive arm of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), the agreement on responsibility-sharing at the state level as well as the appointments of state governors as key success indicators in the peace process. "I wish to note that in the last five months, we have witnessed a positive political momentum in the South Sudan peace process. Through significant compromises made by the parties, a number of important milestones and breakthroughs have been achieved," Kenyatta said. The summit was convened by the Prime Minister of Sudan Abdalla Hamdok who is also the current Chairperson of the IGAD Assembly of Heads of State and Government to among other matters assess the South Sudan peace process and review regional COVID-19 response measures. Workneh Gebeyehu, IGAD executive secretary, applauded the steady progress achieved by South Sudan despite the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Gebeyehu said the region's socioeconomic stability has been strained by several current challenges, including the desert locust invasion, floods and the COVID-19 crisis. He said the multilateral approaches adopted by IGAD member states were helping alleviate adverse effects of these challenges on regional economies. During the meeting, Kenyatta commended joint response measures adopted by IGAD member states for helping slow down the spread of the virus in the region. Enditem Employees and customers of a Massachusetts Whole Foods are boycotting the store after staff were reprimanded for wearing Black Lives Matter face masks. The staff at the Cambridge Whole Foods have been walking off the job for more than 21 days, protesting in front of the grocery store with some of their loyal shoppers. 'We've been told to take our mask off or leave without pay,' Whole Foods employee Savannah Kinver, explained to WBZ. Staff at a Cambridge Whole Foods have been protesting against a dress code policy that does not allow them to wear face masks Employees at the Massachusetts grocery store have been joined by local residents Another employee, Yaxeny Colon, was told to go home early by management. 'I think they should let us support any movement that supports human rights and equal rights,' said Colon. Cambridge residents have been standing in solidarity with the staff at the grocery store. 'I feel completely uncomfortable giving them any of my dollars, so we've stopped shopping here,' said Cambridge resident Vivha Pingle. Customers and employees could be seen boycotting side by side outside of the Cambridge Whole Foods, some holding images of Breonna Taylor Demonstrators at the Whole Food protests in Massachusetts hold signs supporting Black Lives Matter 'We've been told to take our mask off or leave without pay,' Whole Foods employee Savannah Kinver (pictured) In a statement, Whole Foods said all staff have to adhere to the company's dress code policy. 'In order to operate in a customer-focused environment, all Team Members must comply with our longstanding company dress code, which prohibits clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related,' Whole Foods said in the statement. 'Team Members with face masks that do not comply with dress code are always offered new face masks. Team members are unable to work until they comply with dress code.' But staff at the Whole Foods say they've been able to wear other symbols of support for causes they hold dear. A Whole Foods customer holds a sign telling the grocery store to let their employees wear masks Several customers expressed feeling 'uncomfortable' shopping at Whole Foods if they did not allow BLM masks 'In order to operate in a customer-focused environment, all Team Members must comply with our longstanding company dress code, which prohibits clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising that are not company-related,' Whole Foods said in the statement 'We wear gay pride pins,' Kinver declared. 'We wear Red Sox masks. We wear Bruins masks we're encouraged to!' Pingle, the local resident, felt that the policy was 'small' and needed to be changed. As more Americans call for an acknowledgment of Black Lives Matter following the death of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, companies have struggled to meet the demands of their customers and of their staff. In Hamden, Connecticut, activists have rallied around a black man who works at DiBellas Subs after he was told remove his mask but refused. In Hamden, Connecticut, activists have rallied around a black man who works at DiBellas Subs after he was told remove his mask but refused Andre Alexander, a shift manager, was told to go home after he refused to remove his mask. Local activists have since protested at the eatery on three occasions, causing the sub shop to close early on two of those. Niko Bracy left his job at a Louisville, Kentucky, Costco after they made several employees remove their BLM masks 'DiBellas Subs feels very strongly about equality and social justice, and we take this accusation very seriously. This incident has nothing to do with the Black Lives Matter message on this individuals mask. Employees are not allowed to wear ANY masks other than the company-issued masks,' the restaurant said in a statement to WTNH. 'DiBellas Subs requires all employees to wear company-issued uniforms, including company-issued masks. The original company mask policy was implemented in April 2020, which allowed employees to wear their own masks as long as they did not have symbols or words. In June of 2020, we were able to source enough masks to consistently provide them to all employees as part of their uniform. Our mask policy of company-issued masks is critical to ensure that every mask is clean, safe, and hygienic.' An employee at a Louisville, Kentucky, Costco has decided to quit their job after numerous employees were told to remove their Black Lives Matter protests. Niko Bracy, the employee, released a scathing statement to HR and to CEO Craig Jelinek and decried the decision to not let employees wear the masks. He said that Jelinek had responded to the letter and was willing to come to meet with him to discuss further, the Courier Journal reports. Beekeepers in the southeast have been urged to be on the lookout for American Foul Brood (AFB) disease after an affected hive was identified in Waterford. A notifiable disease, AFB is a bacterial infection which kills the hive's young bees. The disease is highly contagious and affected hives have to be burned or otherwise destroyed in order to prevent its spread. The Irish Beekeepers Associations confirmed that AFB had been identified in an old hive of wild bees which was being removed from a house in the southeast. Brendan Murray of the Irish Beekeepers Associations explained that AFB spores can remain viable for up to 50 years, as they are remarkably resistant to heat and cold. As there is no treatment for the condition, the only way of eliminating the disease is to destroy affected hives. "There's no alternative but to kill all the bees and burn the frames. It is suggested that you can re-use the boxes after charring with a blow torch, but to be safe, it's probably best to burn everything," Mr Murray said. Controlling this latest outbreak of AFB could be particularly difficult, Mr Murray maintained, because it is wild bees that are infected. There could be a lot of infection for 20 miles around the site near Portlaw where ithe AFB was discovered, Mr Murray said. He urged bee keepers in Waterford, south Tipperary and Kilkenny to be vigilant. He added that the Honey Bee Health Protection Programme at the Department of Agriculture's Backweston Laboratory Complex in Dublin should be contacted if further suspected outbreaks are identified. KYODO NEWS - Jul 14, 2020 - 02:06 | World, All, Coronavirus JAKARTA - Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said Monday that the new coronavirus outbreak in his country is expected to peak in August or September, three or four months later than earlier estimated. "Taking a look at data, the peak is estimated in August or September, that's the latest estimate," Jokowi was quoted as saying in local media reports. "But if we don't do something, the numbers can be different (and) therefore, I asked my ministers to work hard," he added. The president had earlier predicted that the virus outbreak would peak by the end of May and flatten by this month. Based on that projection, the government relaxed its large-scale social restrictions. A few weeks after the restrictions were eased, however, the numbers of confirmed coronavirus infections in the country have continued to rise without any sign of leveling off. Last Thursday, the daily tally of new confirmed cases hit a record at 2,657. On Monday, Indonesia reported 1,282 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total up to 76,981 infections with 3,656 fatalities. SpaceX is now inviting new users and those who have already registered their interest in the Starlink satellites and the internet services they will provide, to share their address and service location details as well. This comes as the company prepares to roll out the beta tests for the Starlink low-earth orbit (LEO) internet service later this summer. In an updated email sent to those who have already signed up, Starlink says that a private beta starts later this summer followed by a wider public beta test. The Elon Musk-owned aerospace company intends to provide high speed internet connectivity from the Starlink constellation of satellites. It is expected that there will be gigabit speeds on offer, which for the rest of us means up to 1Gbps internet speeds, with the fairly low latency of up to 25ms. Starlink plans to offer these internet services for around $80 per month, which is priced at par if not lower than similar speed broadband plans in most countries, including India. You can head to the Starlink website to get updates on Starlink news and service availability in your area. Here, you can sign up with your email ID and service address. Starlink says they target to launch the internet services across the US and Canada this year itself, and a near-global footprint at least covering populated areas, by the end of next year. Each Starlink satellite weighs about 250kg, which is significantly lighter than even the smallest hatchback car out there, and each satellite has 4 powerful phased array antennas. Starlink pushed back the launch of as many as 57 more satellites a couple of days ago for additional rocket checks One of the most recent additions to Starlinks constellation happened on June 13, when 58 new Starlink satellites were launched into space. That means there are now 540 Starlink satellites in orbit. It is planned that the Starlink constellation will have a total of 12,000 LEO satellites. Late last month, SpaceX wrote to the US FCC for permission for 30,000 satellites as part of the Gen2 System. Starlink pushed back the launch of as many as 57 more satellites a couple of days ago for additional rocket checks. More than 85% of this system will operate at very low altitudes below 400 km, using eight total orbital altitudes ranging from 328 km to 614 km. Just as large deployments of new densified 5G networks are helping those in more urban environments, the densified satellite constellation SpaceX proposes will substantially increase capacity and drive up the number of consumers even in rural and remote areas with access to truly robust broadband, the company said in the application. There are now 540 Starlink satellites in orbit. The Starlink constellation is expected to have a total of 12,000 LEO satellites The Starlink team is now accepting addresses (instead of just zip codes) at starlink.com, which will improve our ability to provide location specific updates as our network develops, reads the email. If you do sign up for the beta tests, you will be provided with an antenna, which measures just 0.48 meters in diameter, which will link with the nearest StarLink satellite and provide internet connectivity for your home or office. The wait may just be worth it. The Shiv Sena on Tuesday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government for destabilising governments of Opposition parties. In an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena alleged that BJP engineered the collapse of the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh and is now working to ensure that the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan also loses power. When the country is facing a Covid-19 crisis, the BJP is creating a different mess. During this period, the BJP demolished the Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh, and is now looking to demolish the Ashok Gehlots government in Rajasthan. However, it is not possible, the editorial said. Gehlots government is witnessing turbulent times after former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot launched an open rebellion against the CM. Pilot claimed that 30 legislators are supporting him and thus the Rajasthan government is in a minority now. The editorial said that pro-Pilot legislators were present in the meeting with Gehlot on Monday, and that actual strength of the claims made by the rebel leader will only be known after a head count on the floor of the House. It said that the BJP will not make a move openly until the numbers are counted, though it continues to work from behind the curtains. Launching an attack on its former ally, the Sena said such acts will turn the parliamentary democracy into a desert. It questioned what the BJP will achieve by conducting the misadventure in the desert state. The BJP is ruling the entire country. It should leave some houses [states] for their opponents [to rule]. That will be the pride of democracy, the editorial read. The Sena also criticised the two Congress leaders. Pilots arrogance and malice are destabilising a state like Rajasthan, but this is not possible without the support of central power, which is working on a formula to destabilise the Opposition government. Pilot has an aspiration to become the Rajasthan CM. He is young and has a chance in the future, but due to Gehlots malice, he wants to win the CMs post now. This step, however, may not prove beneficial to him. It is true that Pilot has worked hard for the partys victory in the state. But when the party is in trouble, he should not run away like a mouse from a boat. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON New Delhi, July 14 : The sacking of senior Congress leader Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister and state unit chief has brought to the fore the fighting spirit and rebellious streak he has inherited from his late father Rajesh Pilot who had also dared the party leadership in his political life. Sachin, who was sacked as Deputy Chief Minister and state unit chief post, in a single line targeted the party and said, "Truth can be troubled but cannot be defeated." Sachin, who entered politics in 2004 and served twice as a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament and was also a minister in the Congress-led UPA 2 government, seems to have followed in the footsteps of his father. He was one of the youngest MPs in 2004 and became Union minister at the age of 31. After losing in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Sachin was made the Rajasthan Congress chief. His father Rajesh Pilot became a Union minister at an age of 40 after two Lok Sabha election victories. In early 1990s, Rajesh Pilot openly dared Congress veterans like Arjun Singh, SB Chavan and others and asserted that if he had been in charge, the Babri Masjid debacle would never have taken place in Uttar Pradesh. Rajesh Pilot was also among the leaders who challenged then Congress chief P.V. Narasimha Rao. Similarly, a soft spoken Sachin brought the Congress back to power in Rajasthan in 2018 and he was hailed as the architect of the victory. But he remained adamant on his stance despite Congress leaders like Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, P. Chidambaram and many others who tried to persuade him to return to Jaipur and attend the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. Following the sacking of Sachin, many party leaders sided with him. Former Union minister and senior party leader, Jitin Prasada tweeted, "Sachin Pilot is not just a collegues but my friend. No one can take away the fact that all these years he has worked with dedication for the party. Sincerely hope the situation can still be salvaged. Sad it has come to this.." Priya Dutt, daughter of late Congress leader and Bollywood actor Sunil Dutt also took to Twitter and wrote, "Another friend leaves the party both Sachin and Jyotiraditya (Scindia) were colleagues and good friends unfortunately our party has lost two stalwart young leaders with great potential. I don't believe being ambitious is wrong. They have worked hard through the most difficult times." Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid said that he was sad because the son of his dear friend Rajesh Pilot is at a vortex. "Sad to see events unfold in Rajasthan. Sad particularly because the son of my dearest late friend, Rajesh Pilot is at the vortex. We have challenges ahead that make personal ambitions and expectations insignificant. Let us rededicate our vision and energy," Khurshid said in a tweet. This is the second big jolt to the Congress in the last four months. Earlier in March former Union minister and Gwalior royal Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party and joined the BJP leading to the fall of the Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh. Ericsson ERIC recently secured a contract for an undisclosed amount to deploy private mobile networks across three airports in Paris, France. The deal will enable the company to facilitate a seamless transition to Industry 4.0 that will likely help make processes less wasteful, production lines more flexible and productivity higher through industrial automation. A private cellular network refers to a local mobile network comprising cell sites and core network servers. It aims to supplement the connectivity requirements of a business enterprise by plugging the cellular performance gaps of an existing public network. This dedicated business network allows businesses to interconnect using 4G or 5G technology with secure and reliable connectivity to support mission-critical applications. This, in turn, helps businesses in various industries, dealing with sensor data monitoring, location and tracking, robotics, augmented reality and connected workers such as airports, factories, warehouses or ports, enjoy improved connectivity that is ultra secure compared with a public mobile network. Leveraging such enhanced capabilities, Groupe ADP, Hub One and Air France have decided to utilize Ericssons state-of-the-art technologies to deploy a private mobile network covering Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly and Paris-Le Bourget airports. This private mobile network will serve a professional ecosystem of more than 120,000 people who work at the three airports on a daily basis. Ericssons equipment will augment terminal operations with new wireless sensors and IoT devices and utilize 5G to stream high-definition security video and edge computing to process streams in real-time. In addition, the equipment will offer superior wireless connectivity to the airport ecosystem for voice and data communication, while streamlining billing, charging, settlement and customer care to monetize ecosystem relationships. While the network will be effective across all outdoor spaces at the airports by the end of 2020, the indoors will become operational by the end of 2021. Notably, Ericsson has achieved a significant milestone with the commercial availability of its Standalone 5G NR software for service providers in the 5G mid and low bands. With this, the company has taken the next big step in the evolution of the 5G ecosystem to make it more pervasive across the globe. Ericsson currently has 97 commercial 5G agreements with operators (of which 55 are publicly stated) and includes 45 live 5G networks on four continents. Owing to the wide proliferation of the smartphone market and subsequent usage of mobile broadband, user demand for coverage speed and quality has increased. Further, to maintain a superior performance with traffic increases, there is a continuous need for network tuning and optimization. Ericsson, being one of the premier telecom service providers, is much in demand among operators to expand network coverage and upgrade networks for higher speed and capacity. The Sweden-based telecommunications equipment provider is arguably the worlds largest supplier of LTE technology with a significant market share and has established a large number of LTE networks worldwide. The company continues to focus on its restructuring plan to cut costs and streamline focus areas, as well as explore options for the media business. Ericssons cost and efficiency program has been devised to generate higher cost savings. The company is focusing on structural changes that will help generate lasting efficiency gains and boost cost competitiveness. It intends to increase investments in certain core areas to develop the product portfolio. Ericsson is also focusing on stabilizing its IT, cloud and project portfolio, and re-establishing profitability in managed services by managing its existing contracts as well as investing in automation. Meanwhile, the impending deployment of 5G networks is expected to boost the adoption of IoT devices, with technologies like network slicing gaining more prominence. Currently, Ericsson is investing in its competitive 5G-ready portfolio to enable customers to seamlessly migrate to 5G. AI and automation remain key enablers for its business development, while recurrent contracts ensure a steady revenue stream. The stock has gained 7.1% in the past six months against the industrys decline of 3.6%. Story continues We are impressed with the inherent growth potential of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock. Some other similar-ranked stocks in the industry are Juniper Networks, Inc. JNPR, Nokia Corporation NOK and Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. CCOI. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Juniper has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%. Nokia has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 15.6%. It delivered a positive earnings surprise of 129.1%, on average, in the trailing four quarters. Cogent has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 10.6%. It delivered a positive earnings surprise of 12.3%, on average, in the trailing four quarters. Today's Best Stocks from Zacks Would you like to see the updated picks from our best market-beating strategies? From 2017 through 2019, while the S&P 500 gained and impressive +53.6%, five of our strategies returned +65.8%, +97.1%, +118.0%, +175.7% and even +186.7%. This outperformance has not just been a recent phenomenon. From 2000 2019, while the S&P averaged +6.0% per year, our top strategies averaged up to +54.7% per year. See their latest picks free >> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Nokia Corporation (NOK) : Free Stock Analysis Report Juniper Networks, Inc. (JNPR) : Free Stock Analysis Report Ericsson (ERIC) : Free Stock Analysis Report Cogent Communications Holdings, Inc. (CCOI) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research MADRID An Egyptian dissident whose online videos ignited a flurry of rare antigovernment protests last year is fighting against extradition from Spain, as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt campaigns to silence his most vocal critics abroad. The dissident, the construction magnate Mohamed Ali, has been living in self-imposed exile in Spains northeastern region of Catalonia since 2018. Last year he posted a series of videos about corruption in Mr. el-Sisis circle, driven by his own complaints of being cheated, that set off a powerful wave of street protests in Cairo and several other cities. Several thousand young protesters clashed with the police and chanted slogans in an unusual show of defiance against Mr. el-Sisis oppressive rule. Now Mr. Ali faces the prospect of being sent home to face charges of tax evasion and money laundering. He appeared before a Spanish judge via videoconference for a preliminary hearing on July 9, and has been given 45 days to present a case for why he should not be sent back. Furious neighbours have been forced to wait more than two years for a disgusting hoarder home to be cleaned up. The house in Rocklea, south Brisbane, was first complained about in January 2018 as it was surrounded by a collection of rubbish and rodent faeces. Two two semi-trailers, a car, two shipping containers and a caravan were among the items found in the home's yard, Holland Park Magistrates Court heard on Friday. The Worthley family failed to remove their piles of waste and a vermin infestation despite being issued with three Public Health Orders, The Courier Mail reported. A hoarder home in Rocklea, south Brisbane, (pictured) was given two weeks to clean up after Holland Park Magistrates Court heard the Worthley family had ignored council orders Pictured: The yard was filled with metal sheets, timber beams and two shipping containers The court heard the yard also contained a rusty car and the inside of the house was full of termite damage, rotting food and rodent faeces on the floor and inside the pantry Brisbane City Council inspections, made in February and September 2018 and March 2019, also uncovered a range of strange items including timber beams, a dismantled Hills hoist and a cement mixer. The yard even housed a kitchen sink, large stacks of sheet metal, car parts, part of a spa, a trampoline and two rotten lounge chairs. Council documents alleged the inside of the home was full of 'termite damage' and 'termite-damaged structural timber'. 'There were holes in the walls, the fridge did not have power and food in the fridge had rotted. 'There was pet food on the floor, rodent faeces in the pantry, food packaging in the pantry had been attacked by rodents, rodent faeces and food waste was on the floor.' One of the owners, Teresa Margaret Worthley, allegedly denied council officers permission to enter to the home in December 2018. The family failed to clean up the home despite being issued three Public Health Orders One owner said she tried to clean the home but ran into problems with her former husband This prompted council to seek a warrant to enter the house in March 2019 and issue the third Public Health Order in April 2019. Ms Worthley's lawyer said the owner had tried to remove some of the rubbish but ran into difficulties with her former husband. Magistrate Simon Young said he was sympathetic to Ms Worthley's position. He found that the order had not been fully carried out due to the 'intransigence' of Ms Worthley's ex-husband. Mr Young ordered the pair to comply with the Public Health Order and asked for the vermin infestation to be addressed. He said the semi-trailer and timber beams must be removed as they were the main spots that could harbour rats and mice. Mr Young gave the Worthleys a July 27 deadline to clean up the home and determined council would inspect the progress on July 24. If the family fails to take action then council will have until August 14 to clean the property. With more than 60,000 cases reported across all its sub-districts, the Western Cape Government is currently rolling out an awareness campaign targeting the province's population with specific coronavirus messaging aimed at influencing and reinforcing appropriate behavioural patterns and safety protocols surrounding the threat posed by Covid-19. Western Cape Premier Alan Winde The importance of washing your hands Keeping a safe distance from other people when out in public areas If you feel unwell stay at home and isolate from other people Do not socialise/visit family and friends especially ones that are most vulnerable including grandparents The Western Cape Government has realised the need to utilise an advertising medium that would ensure an effective reach to each person in every community throughout the city of Cape Town, West Coast and Overberg regions. To assist authorities in the quest to reach as many people in the province as possible, experts in outdoor media New Wave Outdoor Media have been tasked with this important communication printing and flighting over 9,500 posters with decisive messaging on safety protocols. It was determined that street pole posters would provide the best means to achieve this goal and reach the objective which is to put the sanctioned posters on all street poles that are legally allowed to be utilised in this manner.This messaging includes the below aimed at keeping family and friends safe from the threat of Covid-19:New Wave Outdoor Media deemed it an honour to be able to contribute and provide this particular poster solution with its critical education to as much of the provinces population as possible.The Covid-19 poster awareness campaign will run until 31 August 2020. For more information on Covid-19 safety and communication messaging visit: https://coronavirus.westerncape.gov.za New Wave Outdoor Media has been providing national and international brands with transit media, billboards and building wraps for 10 years.New Wave Outdoor Media has an extensive service portfolio that includes stand-out brand placement on advertising platforms such as billboards, airport advertising and transit media solutions. The company also offers wrapping, printing and production services to companies looking to brand their fleets of vehicles or truck fleets. By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE (Reuters) - A Malian Islamist rebel accused of being central to the "persecution" of residents of Timbuktu and the destruction of the city's holy grounds refused to enter a plea Tuesday as his lawyers argued he was not mentally fit to stand trial. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, which opened the trial on Tuesday, say the Ansar Dine Islamist group that Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz belonged to controlled every aspect of public life in Timbuktu after seizing part of the north of Mali in 2012 along with Tuareg separatists. Timbuktu's inhabitants were "belittled, humiliated and assaulted, subject to a veritable persecution on religious and gender grounds to which they saw no end and in which Al Hassan, the acting embodiment of the Islamic police, played a leading role", ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told judges. As well as trying to impose sharia Islamic law across divided Mali, the al Qaeda-linked fighters used pick-axes, shovels and hammers to shatter earthen tombs and centuries-old shrines reflecting the local Sufi version of Islam in what is known as the City of 333 Saints. This kind of Sufi worship was anathema to Islamists like the Ansar Dine fighters who adhere to a puritanical branch of Sunni Islam. The attacks, which drew international condemnation, were an echo of the 2001 dynamiting by the Taliban of two 6th-century statues of Buddha carved into a cliff in Bamiyan in Afghanistan. The ICC, the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal, has been examining events in Mali since 2012. French and Malian troops pushed the rebels back the following year. Al Hassan faces 13 charges for rape, torture, sexual slavery and directing attacks against religious and historical buildings. According to his defence team, restrictions related to the coronavirus outbreak meant they had not been able to see their client in person for four months. He has been held in ICC custody since March 2018. Story continues When they finally did this month they were "alarmed" at his state and cited a defence health expert report that Al Hassan was "experiencing disassociation" due to post-traumatic stress from "severe maltreatment" he suffered earlier while in jail in Mali before his transfer to The Hague. While the judges ordered a medical examination of Al Hassan to determine his fitness to stand trial, they also ruled they would not delay the hearing. Al Hassan was asked to enter a plea to each of the charges but refused, telling judges 13 times: "I cannot answer that question." He is the second suspect from Mali to appear before the ICC over crimes suspected to have been committed by Ansar Dine. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi pleaded guilty to the destruction of cultural heritage for his part in smashing the mausoleums. He was sentenced to nine years in 2017 after apologising for his actions. (Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Alison Williams) The release of the new album RTJ4 breaks the silence that rap duo Run the Jewels had maintained since shortly before the inauguration of Donald Trump. This silence is noteworthy, considering the groups reputation for being outspoken and political. While the comparative uniformity of tempo and tone made the previous album (Run the Jewels 3, 2016) feel stuffy, the group has opened a window on RTJ4 and let in some fresh air, at least in a musical sense. Killer Mike and El-P in 2014 (Photo: Tyler Garcia) However, rather than offering any social insight or clarity, the groups lyrics demonstrate a good deal of confusion. Members Killer Mike and El-P match every healthy statement with several backward ones. The groups form of rebellion is not always left-wing, and they adapt themselves comfortably to the violence, misogyny and money-grubbing much of hip hop celebrates. The jackhammer beat of the albums opener, Yankee and the Brave, is typical of the groups sound. But El-P, an established producer, has introduced more color to this album than he did to the last one. The most striking example is The Ground Below, which samples Ether, a song by British post-punk group Gang of Four. The chorus that El-P applies to the beginning of the song is the audio version of an iris wipe. The pounding overdubbed drums smooth out but complement the samples herky-jerk rhythm. More color comes from the sampled female vocal harmony that brightens Out of Sight. Legendary producer DJ Premier graces Ooh La La (which needs his help) with an off-kilter piano sample and siren. The finale, A Few Words for the Firing Squad (Radiation), employs saxophone and synthesized strings effectively in a slow crescendo. Guest appearances yield mixed results. Rapper 2 Chainz brings a joke, but little else, to Out of Sight. It might have been better for rhythm-and-blues great Mavis Staples to decline the invitation to sing on this album; her voice gives out several times during her few lines on Pulling the Pin. But Zach de la Rocha, former vocalist and lyricist of Rage Against the Machine, steals the whole album when he raps at the end of JU$T. His quick and effortless shifts in rhythm, tempo and intonation put Killer Mike and El-P to shame. El-P does not vary his staccato cadence much. His flat timbre recalls a hectoring gym teacher or rookie cop. Nor are his lyrics particularly memorable, largely because he prefers generality over specificity. Killer Mikes technical range is broader than his partners, and his sometimes-nasal drawl is distinctive. He also uses concrete images and occasionally makes explicit political statements. But what kind of statements does he make? Killer Mikes rebellious lyrics are tonic, but superficial. He hurls an expletive at the king and queen and sneers at people with an attitude of Beverly Hills. He refers to a country ran by a casino owner. These jabs hit their targets, but do not transcend the obvious. RTJ4 Religion also clouds Killer Mikes vision. Never forget, in the story of Jesus, the hero was killed by the state, he scolds. The identification of the state as the enemy and the implicit rejection of anti-Semitism are positive, but choosing Jesus as a hero is not much of a help in 2020. In fact, he rejects the political and declares, The mission is spiritual. Not only is this a retreat, most of his other lyrics contradict it. In fact, Killer Mike has become a spokesman for or identified himself with various sections of the Democratic Party, Bernie Sanders in 2016 and 2020, and more recently, Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a possible choice for Joe Bidens running mate. Killer Mike celebrates violence, seemingly for its own sake. On the opening song, he thunders, I got one round left, 100 cops outside. / I could shoot at them or put one between my eyes. It is hardly necessary to point out that nothing progressive can come of this. Other examples abound. He calls himself the Mike Meyers murder-rapper for hire and brags that his Uzi weighs a ton. As an infant, he musta suckled up crime. Opinion dont matter, stick to your plan, Killer Mike urges. But the plan merely seems to be make money! Looking back on his career, Killer Mike boasts, Made dollar, made cent, made money, money, money. / Got a wife built like a Playboy bunny. He gloats about his big ol house and big ol car. How does he square this with his supposed scorn for the wealthy? Why does his professed respect for his late mother not extend to other women? In the context of protests involving monuments to the American Revolution, the albums most memorable lyric is Look at all these slave masters posing on your dollar. This line promotes a racialist and ignorant view of history. It aligns perfectly with the campaign to obscure and even reject the democratic and egalitarian principles of the Declaration of Independence. RTJ4 also must be seen in the context of the George Floyd protests. In Atlanta, Killer Mikes hometown, outraged protesters fought with police, broke windows and vandalized CNN headquarters. Days before the albums release, a visibly upset Killer Mike appeared at a press conference alongside Mayor Bottoms. When he was given the floor, he first expressed his love and respect for the police officers, including his father and two cousins. It is your duty not to burn your own house down for anger with an enemy, he said, while framing police violence in purely racial terms. While he spoke with legitimate anger and passion about Floyds brutal killing, Killer Mikes political message, and here he was addressing a mass audience, was weak and empty. Where was the socialism now? He urged protesters not to burn down Atlanta because this citys cut different. By that he presumably meant Atlanta has been run by African-American politicians for years. He went on, In this city, you can find over 50 restaurants owned by black women, as though that did anything for the mass of the working class and the poor. In the end, Killer Mike had only miserable advice for the great numbers of young people hoping for some radical ideas. He proposed that people fill out their Census forms and vote in November and that the Atlanta police department bring back the community review board. He concluded by praising the police chief and mayor. The speech exposed Killer Mikes previous rebellious statements as largely a sham or only going an inch deep. On Run the Jewels 3, he rapped approvingly about People yellin, screamin at polices. / Burnin, lootin, shootin, takin, thievin. His judgment was that You can burn this system and start again. The song in question sampled Martin Luther King, Jr.s statement that a riot is the language of the unheard. Another song on that album derided the evening news giving you views, telling you to pick your master for president. Although these lyrics lacked coherent political perspective and provided only an initial response to social reality, they expressed justified opposition to the powers that be. But as an advocate of black capitalism, which the television show Trigger Warning with Killer Mike reveals its star to be, he increasingly needs the authorities to protect his financial interests. Hence, when the chips are down, Killer Mike finds common cause with the police and the parties of the rich and powerful. London: Boris Johnson's government has banned the use of new Huawei equipment in Britain's 5G rollout from the end of the year in a stunning about-turn after the Prime Minister's green light just seven months ago. Announcing the National Security Council's new decision after a furious backlash from Conservative MPs and the Trump administration, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said 5G networks would be required to be free of all Huawei equipment by 2027. Boris Johnson has reversed a decision on Chinese telco Huawei's involvement in the 5G network. Credit:Getty Images Dowden said new sanctions imposed by the US Department of Commerce forbidding US companies from supplying Huawei was the cause of the change. "Many members of this House have considered the government's policy on high-risk vendors in the context of the UK's wider relationship with China," Dowden said. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said policymakers should consider requiring face coverings to reduce the spread of the coronavirus after studying two Missouri hair stylists who had Covid-19 but didn't pass it on to their clients, the agency said in a new study published Tuesday. "With the potential for presymptomatic and asymptomatic transmission, widespread adoption of policies requiring face coverings in public settings should be considered to reduce the impact and magnitude of additional waves of COVID-19," the study published by the CDC says. Some governors, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, have issued requirements to wear face coverings in public or in certain environments when people are unable to practice social distancing. However, there's no U.S. nationwide mandate like in China and other countries. Not all states in the U.S. have issued mask mandates and some with surging outbreaks, including Florida, have left it up to local cities and counties. That's left U.S. businesses to enforce face covering requirements on their own, as CNBC previously reported. In an interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association's Dr. Howard Bauchner later Tuesday, Redfield stressed the importance of masks. He said the U.S. could get the coronavirus pandemic under control in one to two months if every American wore a mask. "I think we're being very clear now," Redfield said. "Now's the time to wear a mask." The CDC tracked two infected hair stylists in Springfield, Missouri, who worked while they were contagious, but it appears they didn't transmit the virus to any of their 139 clients. One of the stylists developed symptoms on May 12, the researchers said, and continued to work until May 20, when they received a positive Covid-19 test result. In that time, the infected person passed the virus onto another stylist who also continued to work until May 20, despite developing symptoms on May 15, the researchers wrote. The two stylists worked on 139 clients in the eight-day period, the researchers wrote, but after follow-up testing and interviewing, none of them tested positive for Covid-19 or reported having any respiratory symptoms. The researchers concluded that the citywide ordinance that both limited the business to 25% capacity and required everyone in the salon to wear masks helped to prevent the spread of the virus. She has jetted to Ibiza to shoot a fashion campaign with Charlotte Crosby and Billie Faiers at a luxury villa. And Jacqueline Jossa continued to soak up the Spanish sun in a sizzling social media snap uploaded on Tuesday. The former EastEnders actress, 27, put on an eye-catching display in an orange cut-out swimsuit that flaunted her toned midriff. Flawless: Jacqueline Jossa put on an eye-catching display in an orange cut-out swimsuit as she continued to soak up the sun in a sizzling social media snap on Tuesday She finished the look with a white sarong tied around her waist, a pair of statement sunglasses and gold wedge heels. Jacqueline wore her brunette tresses in two braids across her scalp before styling the rest in loose beach waves. The soap star posed up a storm on a set of steps leading to the villa with large letters spelling 'amor' in the background. Wow: On Monday Jacqueline was one of the guests of honour at a villa party held by clothing brand InTheStyle and debuted a stunning new look Beaming: Charlotte Crosby, Jacqueline and Billie Faiers have all jetted out to Ibiza as they prepare for a luxury photoshoot at a sprawling seaside villa On Monday Jacqueline was one of the guests of honour at a villa party held by clothing brand InTheStyle and debuted a stunning new look. Jacqueline wore her caramel flecked brunette tresses in a intricate waist-length braided style as she enjoyed a glass of wine. The beauty sported smoky shadow, fluttery lashes and rose gloss as she posed. The star looked stylish in rose and white floral co-ords, with a crop-top teasing a glimpse of her toned midriff. Cheers: Jacqueline clearly had a fabulous time at the beachside villa as she enjoyed some fruity cocktails Jacqueline clearly had a fabulous time at the beachside villa as she enjoyed some fruity cocktails, a grazing platter and a live DJ set. She also took to Instagram to model a variety of summer dresses. Billie, 30, was joined by her husband Greg Shepherd at the soiree, while Charlotte, 30, posted some sultry snaps of her own. The trio headed out to the Spanish Island on Sunday evening ahead of a shoot with the clothing brand. Earlier this month Jacqueline and husband Dan Osborne proved their relationship was firmly back on track despite speculation as they enjoyed a day of strawberry picking with daughters Ella, five, and Mia, two. The star beamed with happiness as she posed for sweet pictures with her husband and their girls. Espresso martinis: The star sipped on some more cocktails by the pool Food time: The star shared a video of a grazing platter at the dinner table Style star: Jacqueline modelled a selection of dresses on her Instagram Back in May, it was reported that Dan 'begged' Jacqueline to return to their marital home after she moved out amid their marriage issues. She revealed she had moved back into their abode part-time amid claims they had been 'fighting non-stop'. It was then reported that Dan 'begged' Jacqueline to come home and she is adamant they can 'make it work' as they make a 'good team'. The actress was said to have missed her husband and wants to take things 'really slowly' now she has returned part-time. She will split her time between their marital home and her parents' house. Shots o'clock: There were fruity shots at the glittering party Smitten: Billie was joined by husband Greg Shepherd at the villa Pouty: Billie blew a kiss as she posed up at the villa in Ibiza A source said: 'Dan begged her to come home and she's admitted she missed him. They had been fighting non-stop but together they make a good team. It won't be easy but Jacqueline's sure they can make it work. She wants to take it slowly.' MailOnline contacted Jacqueline and Dan's reps for comment at the time. The couple's relationship has been plagued with cheating allegations and tensions between the pair have reportedly been taking their toll. But Jacqueline recently took to Instagram to clear up the rumours, stating: 'I need some time. There is no split. No divorce. We are working together not against each other', before she returned to their home, where they now remain. Camera traps placed in the Mbe Mountains of Nigeria have captured stunning photos of a group of Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli) with a number of infants. The Cross River gorilla is a subspecies of the western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) found only in an isolated region along the Nigeria/Cameroon border. It is the most endangered gorilla subspecies, numbering only around 300 individuals. Once presumed extinct in Nigeria and only rediscovered in the 1980s, approximately 100 Cross River gorilla individuals live in Nigeria in three contiguous sites in Cross River State: the Okwangwo Division of Cross River National Park, Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary and the Mbe Mountains Community Forest. Extremely shy of humans due to a long history of persecution, these gorillas prefer a dense forest habitat in the most rugged and inaccessible parts of their range. Their presence can be detected mainly by indirect signs such as nests, dung and feeding trails. The Mbe Mountains forest, which is home to about a third of the Nigeria gorilla population, has been managed jointly by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the Conservation Association of the Mbe Mountains as a community wildlife sanctuary since 2005. It is extremely exciting to see so many young Cross River gorillas an encouraging indication that these gorillas are now well protected and reproducing successfully, after previous decades of hunting, said Inaoyom Imong, Director of WCS Nigerias Cross River Landscape. While hunters in the region may no longer target gorillas, the threat of hunting remains, and we need to continue to improve the effectiveness of our protection efforts. It is wonderful to see images of gorillas from the Mbe Mountains that show so many young animals, indicating that the population there is in good health, said City University of New Yorks Professor John Oates. I am very happy to see these wonderful pictures of Cross River gorillas with many babies in our forest, said Otu Gabriel Ocha, the head chief of one of the surrounding villages (Kanyang I). This shows that our conservation efforts in partnership with WCS are yielding fruits. I hope that we can continue these efforts so that we can pass the heritage to future generations. Seeing these photos of Cross River gorillas with many infants makes me very happy because they tell me that the population is increasing, said Chief Damian Aria, the village head of Wula I. I feel honored to be part of the efforts that are producing these results and I commend WCS for their support to protect the natural resources God has blessed us with. Seeing this today rekindles my hope that our communities will benefit from ecotourism in the future, said Otu Bernard A. Eban, clan head of Abo Clan. We will further strengthen our local laws to protect Cross River gorillas in the Mbe Mountains. I wish to take this opportunity to appeal to our partners to support us more to find sustainable economic alternatives to bushmeat hunting and other activities that destroy our forest. _____ This article is based on a press-release provided by the Wildlife Conservation Society. By Agency Reporters COVID-19 cases rose above 13 million across the world on Monday, climbing by one million in just five days, with over 570,000 people dead. The Reuters global tally, which is based on government reports, shows the disease is accelerating the fastest in Latin America. The Americas account for more than half the worlds infections and half the deaths. Parts of the world, especially the United States with more than 3.3 million confirmed cases, are seeing huge increases in a first wave of COVID-19 infections while others flatten the curve and ease lockdowns. California, one of the states witnessing a surge in cases, announced fresh restrictions on Monday, shutting bars and restaurants, among others. Other places, such as the Australian city of Melbourne and Leicester in England, are implementing a second round of shutdowns. Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, albeit with a low 1,522 cases, is to tighten social distancing measures again amid growing worries about a third wave. The United States reported a daily global record of 69,070 new infections on July 10. In Brazil, 1.86 million people have tested positive, including President Jair Bolsonaro, and more than 72,000 people have died. The U.S. state of Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases in 24 hours on Sunday, more than South Koreas total since the disease was first identified at the end of last year. Coronavirus infections were rising in about 40 U.S. states, according to a Reuters analysis of cases for the past two weeks compared with the prior two weeks. Yet U.S. President Donald Trump and White House officials have repeatedly said the disease is under control and that schools must reopen in the autumn. The president and his administration are messing with the health of our children, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on CNNs State of the Union programme. We all want our children to go back to school, parents do and children do. But they must go back safely. STAY AT HOME Hungary has imposed new restrictions on cross-border travel as of next Wednesday in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus after a surge in new cases in several countries, Prime Minister Viktor Orbans chief of staff said on Sunday. The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia called on residents of an area that has seen a surge in coronavirus cases to stay at home despite a ruling by a judge who threw out a mandatory lockdown order for the district of 160,000 people. Spain, which has been one of the European countries worst hit by the coronavirus, lifted nationwide confinement last month, when the pandemic seemed to have come under control. The first case was reported in China in early January and it took three months to reach one million cases. It has taken just five days to climb to 13 million cases from 12 million recorded on July 8. The number of cases is around triple that of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually, according to the World Health Organization. There have been more than 568,500 deaths linked to the coronavirus so far, within the same range as the number of yearly influenza deaths reported worldwide. The first death was reported on Jan. 10 in Wuhan, China, before infections and fatalities surged in Asia, Europe and later in the United States. India, the country with the third-highest number of infections, has been contending with an average of 23,000 new infections each day since the beginning of July. In countries with limited testing capacity, case numbers reflect only a proportion of total infections. Experts say official data likely under-represents both infections and deaths. Related NORTH MUSKEGON, MI There were countless times throughout Michigans months-long stay-at-home order when 4 Corners Cafe owner Tresha Kidder considered closing up shop for good. The small restaurant, at 1900 Ruddiman Drive in North Muskegon, was just celebrating its one-year anniversary on March 18 when restaurants and bars across the state were ordered to close dine-in services to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As business waned, Kidder struggled to keep her restaurant afloat, leading her to temporarily close the business in mid-March. I was constantly weighing, you know, is this becoming more of a hassle than happiness? Kidder told MLive. It was a struggle. But one thing inspired the small restaurant owner to push through the tough times and reopen: The love and support from her community. Since the restaurant reopened May 18, Muskegon residents have put their weight behind 4 Corners Cafe, showing Kidder that she isnt the only one who cares about her business. Im brought to tears at least once a day by some of the people that come in here and how generous they are, she said. Ive had citizens from surrounding areas just walk in and give me checks, I had a lady leave me a $200 tip saying, you know, heres for your utilities. People are just very, very generous. Through an online fundraiser, 4 Corners Cafe has raised almost $3,000 since July 2. Although the business had to shortly close again on June 30, Kidder was soon able to bounce back and reopen, hiring back all the employees she had to lay off using the donations from the Muskegon community. People must have gotten the message that we werent going to make it without some support, because they didnt just donate monetarily they decided to support us even more when we reopened, she said. Kidder said shes eternally grateful for the communitys love and support, which is one of the key reasons she has decided to stay open despite the ongoing pandemic. I could give up tomorrow and, you know, say, Oh well I tried, that that was fun, she said. I mean, a pandemic is the perfect out if you dont really have the heart for it. But I just couldnt do it. The restaurant, on the corner of Ruddiman Drive and Center Street, was previously home to Keefes Pharmacy. After the pharmacy closed, Kidder said she would drive by the location and hated seeing the building vacant. I just love this building, she said. After retiring from her career as a probation officer and social worker, Kidder decided she wasnt yet ready to fully retire, and purchased the beloved shop last year to fulfill her dream of running a small business. Ive always wanted to run a little cafe, she said. I just thought it sounded really fun just to have a little coffee shop cafe. Kidder renovated the shop with her husband into a sleek, modern coffee shop. The restaurants menu offers clean and healthy foods for breakfast and lunch, specializing in soups, sandwiches, pastries and specialty coffee. It almost feels like being in some big city where they offer this kind of healthy stuff, not a small town like Muskegon, she said. I just think its a cool little addition to this area. Because the restaurant primarily offers brunch options, 4 Corners Cafe closes by 3 p.m. each day. But the business will soon be revamped after Kidder got her beer and wine license last week. She plans to change the menu to begin offering dinner options and Michigan beer and wine. Hopefully that will help us grow a little more, Kidder said. Every Tuesday, well be spotlighting one local eatery. Have a suggestion for a featured Muskegon Local Eat? Email MLive reporter Anya van Wagtendonk at anya@mlive.com. Read more on MLive: After 107 years, historic Whitehall inn has closed Local Eats: How Dr. Rolfs in Muskegon kept moving during the stay-at-home orders Local Eats: Muskegons Pigeon Hill Brewing got lucky during long shutdown More than a million people on Madagascars parched southern tip are on the brink of famine, global rights group says. Ghislaine Maxwell is accused of luring underage girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them. A judge in the United States on Tuesday denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins longtime associate charged with luring young girls so the late financier could sexually abuse them, after she pleaded not guilty at a hearing in which women who accused her of enabling their abuse decried her heinous actions. US District Judge Alison Nathan rejected Maxwells bid for bail after prosecutors portrayed the wealthy socialite as an extreme flight risk and set a trial date for July 12, 2021. Prosecutors have accused Maxwell of helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse girls as young as 14 from 1994 to 1997 and lying about her role in depositions in 2016. Maxwell, 58, was charged with six criminal counts, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts and two for perjury. Prosecutors argued at the hearing against Maxwells bid for bail, describing her as an extreme flight risk. Maxwell appeared by video from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held. Alison Moe, a federal prosecutor, said the governments investigation is continuing, but did not currently anticipate seeking an amended indictment expanding the charges against Maxwell. Moe said the prosecution would take no more than two weeks to present its case and recommended three weeks for the trial. The wealthy socialites lawyers sought a bail package including a $5m bond and home confinement with electronic monitoring. Prosecutors wanted Maxwell to remain in detention and opposed her bid for bail, calling her an extreme flight risk with no reason to stay in the United States. Prosecutors said her wealth and multiple citizenships American, French and British also supported the need for detention. Maxwell, Epsteins former girlfriend and longtime associate, was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre (63 hectares) property she bought in December in an all-cash transaction with her identity shielded. Annie Farmer, who has accused Maxwell of enabling her abuse, said during the hearing that the defendant has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes and told the court the danger Maxwell poses must be taken seriously. She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women, Farmer told the court. This ratchets up the pressure on Maxwell to cooperate. Its easier to delay or fight a case on bail. But now shes staring at the cold, hard reality of a year in the miserable MDC until trial (and likely much more after). Ive seen hardened career criminals flip in this spot. https://t.co/myv5fs8VeZ Elie Honig (@eliehonig) July 14, 2020 Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did, an unidentified accuser added in a statement. This accuser said she knew Maxwell for more than 10 years and still felt threatened, adding, If she is out, I need to be protected. Maxwell has been held since July 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Center, a Brooklyn jail. Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He hanged himself on August 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail. Prosecutors accused Maxwell of luring girls as young as 14 by asking them about their lives, schools and families and taking them shopping or to movies acts, they said, that served as the prequel to Epsteins abuse. Epstein has been linked socially to several powerful figures including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britains Prince Andrew. Lawyers for Maxwell also said bail was justified because she might contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in jail. Protesters hold up a sign outside Manhattan Federal Court during the arraignment hearing of Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the alleged sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, in Manhattan [Mike Segar/Reuters] Lawyers for Maxwell said she moved to the New Hampshire property and changed her phone and email address to escape unrelenting and intrusive media coverage. Prosecutors said on Monday that when FBI agents went to arrest Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection. Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said. Her lawyers have previewed Maxwells possible defences. These include that her alleged misconduct occurred long ago and would be hard to prosecute, and that she was shielded by Epsteins 2007 plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Miami, which covered any potential co-conspirators. B lackburn could see tighter lockdown restrictions imposed by the end of the month following a surge in coronavirus cases, it has been reported. The towns public health director said stronger measures would be enforced in two weeks if the number of cases did not fall, according to the BBC. Mass testing was introduced over the weekend after 61 new cases sprang up within a week. The latest Public Health England figures show Blackburn with Darwen has 41 new cases per 100,000 up from 29.5. In Leicester, the first city in the UK to be put under local lockdown, the rate has fallen slightly from 117.7 in the seven days to July 3 to 114.3 in the seven days to July 10. Director of public health for Blackburn with Darwen, Professor Dominic Harrison, said there had been "cluster infections", particularly with "families in small terraced houses". He told the BBC: "If the numbers aren't coming down within a two-week period, we will probably need to go into a reversal of some of the lockdown measures." "One of the things we don't want to do is to get in a situation like Leicester where everything is open to where everything is shut," Prof Harrison added. Local lockdown in Leicester during Coronavirus pandemic 1 /41 Local lockdown in Leicester during Coronavirus pandemic Leicester has seen 866 cases in the past two weeks PA A city council worker carries rubbish from a coronavirus testing centre at Spinney Park which will be incinerated Getty Images Leicester could be the site of the UK's first local lockdown PA The Government says it is supporting officials in Leicester in their battle against Covid-19 PA Members of the military set up a walk-in mobile Covid-19 testing centre at Spinney Hill Park in Leicester PA A worker for Leicester City Council disinfects public toilets PA A man cleans the windows of a launderette in Leicester PA A member of military personnel uses a tub to collect used a self-test kit from a member of the public at a COVID-19 drive-through mobile testing unit set up at Evington Leisure Centre in Leicester, AFP via Getty Images Members of the military operate a walk-in mobile Covid-19 testing centre at Spinney Hill Park in Leicester PA People queue at walk-in mobile Covid-19 testing centre at Spinney Hill Park in Leicester PA A man wearing a protective visor crosses the road on mobility scooter in Leicester PA Members of the military operate a walk-in mobile Covid-19 testing centre at Spinney Hill Park in Leicester PA People walk by an electronic billboard displaying a government message AFP via Getty Images Robin Dignall and Maria Demetriou-Clamp disinfect chairs at their hair salon Hair@1RD in Leicester as the city may be the first UK location to be subjected to a local lockdown after a spike in coronavirus cases PA A woman wearing a PPE mask walks past social distance advisory singns in Leicester's North Evington neighbourhood Getty Images People walk by an electronic billboard displaying a government message AFP via Getty Images Soldiers from the Royal Logistics Corp operate a mobile coronavirus (Covid-19) testing site at Evington Leisure Centre Getty Images A youth cycles past a sign telling local residents to "Social Distance" and advising on how to help "Prevent the Spread" of coronavirus, in the North Evington district of Leicester AFP via Getty Images Gallowtree Gate in Leicester after the Health Secretary Matt Hancock imposed a local lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases in the city. PA A man sits on a bench, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Leicester Reuters A worker disinfects a bin following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Leicester, Reuters A worker disinfects a McDonald's restaurant Reuters A police car on Gallowtree Gate in Leicester PA Shops open their shutters in Leicester after the Health Secretary Matt Hancock imposed a local lockdown following a spike in coronavirus cases in the city PA AFP via Getty Images Reuters PA AFP via Getty Images Getty Images PA PA He also said "targeted work" would be carried out following a rise in infections within the South Asian community. Prof Harrison said that when "one person gets infected in a multi-generational household, all the household members are getting infected". Other areas reporting notable week-on-week jumps, according to the Government data, include Pendle where the rate of infection has gone up from 14.2 to 67.8. This has been caused by a spike in new cases recorded on July 6 and 7. Braintree has also jumped from 2.6 to 19.8, due to 18 new cases being recorded on July 8. And Peterborough has seen a rate rise from 13.4 to 29.8, with 60 new cases recorded in the seven days to July 10. Both major political parties in the US are warning staffers against using the social media app, TikTok. According to a report from CNN, the Democratic National Committee warned staffers as well as committee and state parties against using the app over privacy concerns and connections to the Chinese government. 'We continue to advise campaign staff to refrain from using TikTok on personal devices. If you are using TikTok for campaign work, we recommend using a separate phone and account,' said a copy of the warning according to CNN. China-based ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has come under scrutiny for its transmission of data back to China A separate memo from the Republican National Committee has also warned against using the app for similar reasons. Press secretary for the committee, Mandi Merritt, told CNN that there is a longstanding guidance in place from the RNC, saying: 'The RNC has advised employees and stakeholders to not download the TikTok app on their personal devices.' In response to the guidance from both committees, a spokesperson from TikTok told CNN: 'We are fully committed to protecting our users' privacy and security. Under the leadership of our American CEO, along with our Chief Information Security Officer and Head of Safety, TikTok's growing US team works diligently to develop a best-in-class security infrastructure and uphold our Community Guidelines which prohibit misleading and inauthentic content and accounts. 'We welcome a dialogue with anyone who has questions about TikTok so that we can ease concerns they may have.' TikTok has long been a magnet for skepticism by US entities, including the Army and Congress. ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A neglected site where the Alaska territorial flag was designed, sewn and first flown will be demolished despite last-minute efforts by Alaskans and a preservation group to save it. The Seward City Council voted Monday to raze the Jesse Lee Home, once a Methodist-run facility where orphans and other displaced children from Alaska Native villages were sent, many after the Spanish Flu epidemic of a century ago. The homes most famous resident was Benny Benson, a 13-year-old Aleut who won a territory-wide contest in 1927 with his flag design seven gold stars forming the Big Dipper, pointing to the larger golden North Star, all on a field of blue. The design became the state flag after Alaska was admitted into the union in 1959. Benson is believed to be the only Indigenous person to design a state flag. Seward is being painted in a light that we dont respect our history, Seward Mayor Christy Terry said before the council voted to spend a $1 million state grant for demolition. We have the opportunity to preserve the history and the legacy of a very important structure to the Alaska people, but it doesnt mean that we have to preserve the building, she said. The plan is to raze the two remaining rundown buildings of the Jesse Lee Home and eventually build a memorial at the site with community input. Terry has said her idea would be to have a pavilion using some of the salvaged wood from the property along with storyboards detailing the history and historical importance of the home. She also envisions a playground after closing another one nearby so that space could be opened up for housing. The childrens home was moved to Seward from Unalaska and opened in 1925. It operated there until it was heavily damaged in the 1964 Alaska earthquake, and the children were moved to Anchorage in 1966. The Seward site sat unused for more than five decades, and efforts to revitalize the home by private and public groups sputtered over the years. Its a very sad outcome after many years of concerted effort and kind of lost opportunities, but I do respect their decision, said Judy Bittner, who has worked with Seward many times on the Jesse Lee Home since she became the state historical preservation officer in 1984. More than 20 letters were read at the council meeting, many calling for the city to save the historical structure. Were definitely disappointed, said Trish Neal, president of the Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, a group that hoped for a reprieve for the structure. I think we made a great effort to show the council and the community that there are a lot of people out there who supported saving the building. One resident said she will be happy to see the home gone. The funds are available and there is opportunity to beautify the area while still respecting the Jesse Lee Home history, Rhonda Hubbard wrote to the council. We need to demolish this old building, a building that is beyond repair, serves only as a hazard and visual blight to Seward. Hubbard said the community has Jesse Lee Home fatigue, and it is important we not allow it to take up more of our time and energy. Seward-born Jackie Pels, who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, is publisher of Family After All: Alaskas Jesse Lee Home. Im wistful, but I think its the only sensible decision at this time of statewide economic pain worsened by pandemic, Pels said in an email to The Associated Press. The prospect of a story pavilion on the site, commemorating the lives of hundreds of people as well as the birth of the beloved flag, is greatly appealing, and who better than Sewards community of artists and historians to bring it about? she said. Summers for many in the Gulf states are usually a time for travel to cooler climates. With temperatures reaching as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) and the school year ending, many people leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and return in time for the new school year. But with the latest UAE government travel announcement for citizens and residents, many people are opting to stay put. After months of low occupancy and closed doors, many hotels are carefully curating relaxing getaways for guests who want a staycation but are hesitant due to fears about the coronavirus pandemic. Dubai, the commercial capital of the UAE, has seen a rise in staycations. Olivier Louis, managing director of the One and Only Royal Mirage and the One and Only Palm, told Al-Monitor, Although the recent few months have been interesting, we are pleasantly surprised with the number of guests who come to our properties. We have two properties in Dubai that we have kept open the entire time. On our Palm property, there are four villas with pools and 10 suites with pools, so those are very popular and over the weekends we have reached up to 70% occupancy. These are mostly families with children. Louis said one of the biggest rises has been in room service, noting, We are up 200% as many people are choosing to dine in their rooms. He added, The Palm location is a boutique hotel, so we are small; we only have 90 rooms and four two-bedroom beach front villas. So its contained. We have a 5-star environment with international standards. The first few hours we notice that guests are nervous but quickly they start to relax; everything is sanitized. Even our menus are simplified and step by step within a couple of days they feel more relaxed. These are mostly returning customers. We are lucky also to have a private beach at one of our properties that is 1 kilometer [0.6 miles] long. I must say local and expat families who could not go out and opted not to travel this summer have liked this option, and it has worked well." Zeina Khayat, a Lebanese mom of five, told Al-Monitor, "[For the last 20 years] we have always traveled in the summer. When COVID-19 happened, we could not travel and also I did not want to. My first staycation was at the Waldorf Astoria in Ras Al Khaimah. Ras Al Khaimah, one of the seven emirates in the UAE, is a 45-minute drive from Dubai Airport. Khayat said, The drive was lovely, and we got to see all the camels and sand dunes something I never saw in 20 years. We chose to get out of town and head to Ras Al Khaimah as the beach is open and spread out, and we had a balcony with a sea view. Just seeing the sunset every day changed my mood and made me appreciate how important nature is. It grounded me and gave me my positive energy after weeks. Even though it was hot outside we did not feel the heat, Khayat said. Alessandro Redaelli, managing director of the Waldorf Astoria, told Al-Monitor, We never closed the hotel. Obviously April was very quiet, but we had a mix of customers who could not return to their home countries; some guests have stayed three months. They were so happy to stay, and even though they could travel they wanted to stay longer. During the height of the pandemic, the UAE had one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world. After the rules were lifted many people took advantage of a much-needed getaway. We had a lot of residents in the UAE coming [on the] weekend. Over the last four to five weeks we have had an increase in people staying; weekends are very busy and weekdays are also quite busy. The regulations have changed; we are still not allowed to operate at 100%, but we also want to keep it limited and more containable for health and safety reasons as our guests well-being is most important. We want to keep occupancy at a lower level to maintain quality over quantity. Redaelli said. He added, I think that the domestic market [UAE residents] until two to three weeks ago was hoping to return to their home countries like they do every year, but then they decided to stay in the UAE and opt for a staycation. They do not want to risk traveling abroad and not being able to return to the UAE. The Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai, never completely closed during the pandemic either. The hotel, which is the first Mandarin Oriental resort to open in the Gulf, is fully functioning, offering many staycation options and many daycation options. Of course, we always did well with the local business, but now with the pools open we are seeing more demand for day passes. With regard to dining, our restaurants have been extremely busy since the opening, Ashraf Amaani, director of marketing communication at the Mandarin Oriental Jumeirah, told Al-Monitor. Following the guidelines of the local authorities, we are using social distancing measures with 2 meters [6.5 feet] between tables. It has reduced the capacity of the restaurants, but it has not limited it too much. For example, our popular brunch restaurant is booked for the next two weeks. This is a big deal because usually during summer months in Dubai its very quiet. Usually people travel for weeks or months. Unlike other parts of the world, Dubai has slowly opened up. We have not had many challenges; everyone is abiding by the rules and people are very respectful, Amaani added. For Abu Dhabi residents, one of the regions favorites is the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, which is part of the Marriott International group. The hotel is located on an island on the exclusive Saadiyat Beach enclave, which sits on the Arabian Gulf. The lockdown in Abu Dhabi took effect June 2, and residents are only allowed to travel within the emirate. Only vehicles transporting goods, mail carriers and specific government workers are exempted from the travel restrictions. Police checkpoints have been set up on the borders. Anyone not based in Abu Dhabi is still prohibited from entering unless they have a negative coronavirus test result that is valid for 48 hours only. Twitter posts stated the rule would remain in place until further notice and until the conclusion of the National Disinfection Program. Mark Mainz/Getty Images A federal judge denied bail to Jeffrey Epsteins accused madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls in the financiers sex-trafficking scheme. On Tuesday afternoon, Maxwell appeared at the arraignment, initial scheduling conference, and bail hearing remotely via video conference from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She pleaded not guilty. U.S. District Judge Alison J. Nathan set Maxwells trial for July 12, 2021 and said that given Maxwells significant wealth and foreign connections, no combination of conditions could reasonably ensure her presence at court. The risks are too great. Assistant U.S. prosecutor Alison Moe argued the 58-year-old British socialite has the ability and willingness to live off the grid indefinitely and wasnt candid with the court or a pretrial services officer about her financial means, listing less than $1 million in her accounts and zero monthly income. She has not earned the courts trust, Moe said. Moe said that Maxwell proposed to stay at a luxury hotel in Manhattan upon release but provided no detailed accounting of her finances. But Maxwells lawyer, Mark Cohen, said his client has been the target of endless media spin and is being portrayed as a monster by both the press and the government. Cohen argued Maxwell has proven shes not a flight risk because she stayed in the country after Epsteins arrest and has litigated civil cases, brought by accusers, in the district since 2015. He said Maxwells legal team has been in contact with the government eight to 10 times in the last year and would have surrendered her to prevent the New Hampshire bust. (Moe disagreed, telling the court Maxwells contacts with the feds have not been substantial and didnt include information on her whereabouts.) When you take off the spin and take off the media, theres no case, Cohen said. Judge Nathan disagreed, saying the nature of the alleged crime weighs in favor of detention, and that Maxwell has demonstrated sophistication in hiding her finances and herself in several locations throughout New England. Story continues Maxwell was arrested July 2 at a luxurious New Hampshire hideaway shed purchased for nearly $1 million in cash last December, while allegedly dodging the feds. She faces four counts related to child sex trafficking and two counts of perjury in a bust that came a year after Epsteins own arrest on a New Jersey airport tarmac. The charges relate to incidents involving three victims as young as 14, between 1994 and 1997. If convicted, Maxwell could spend 35 years behind bars. According to the indictment, Maxwell recruited and groomed underage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse. Prosecutors say she befriended the victims first, asking about school and their families, and took them on outings that included movies or shopping trips. Maxwells presence during minor victims interactions with Epstein, including interactions where the minor victim was undressed or that involved sex acts with Epstein, helped put the victims at ease because an adult woman was present, the indictment states. Ghislaine Maxwell Foolishly Tried to Evade Detection by Wrapping Cell Phone in Foil: Prosecutors Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Maxwells trial would take about two weeks, including another week set aside for jury selection. Moe said discovery in the case would include search warrant returns, subpoena returns including business records, photographs, and searches from electronic devices. It also will include prior investigative files from the FBI, relating to Epsteins 2007 criminal case in the Southern District of Florida. When Judge Nathan asked if the government expected additional defendants or charges in their probe, Moe replied that the investigation was ongoing but at this point, we do not anticipate seeking a superseding indictment. Two victims shared comments at Tuesdays bail hearing. Moe read a statement from one victim, identified only as Jane Doe, who said shes known Maxwell for more than a decade. The woman claimed Maxwells calculating and sadistic manipulation led her into the hands of Epstein. Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not do what he did, the woman stated. Jane Doe said she feared that if released, Maxwell could silence anyone testifying in the criminal case, and that Maxwells international connections would allow her to evade justiceor help to ensure that witnesses disappear. Another victim, Annie Farmer, read a statement of her own: I met Ghislaine Maxwell when I was 16 years old. She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women. She has never showed any remorse for her heinous crimes or the devastating, lasting affects her actions caused. Farmer added that Maxwell has associates across the globe, some of great means and is a significant flight risk. We may never know how many people were victimized by Ghislaine Maxwell but those of us who survived implore this court to detain her until she is forced to stand trial and answer for her crimes, Farmer concluded. In a court filing last week, Maxwells attorneys argued the media was wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein after his jailhouse suicide in August 2019. They claimed shed had no contact with the financier for more than a decadethough The Daily Beast reported civil court filings reveal they emailed each other as recently as 2015. But sometimes the simplest point is the most critical one: Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein, her lawyers wrote, adding, Ms. Maxwell vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. They argued Maxwell should be granted bail because shes not a flight risk and has been in regular contact with the government, through counsel, since Epsteins arrest. (Prosecutors claim Maxwell tried to run from them when they arrived to arrest her, and that shed wrapped her cell phone in tinfoil, apparently to evade government detection.) 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, the lawyers alleged. Maxwells attorneys also argued shes not a danger to the community and that shes at risk for contracting COVID-19 while in custody at Brooklyns Metropolitan Detention Center, which has seen a few dozen coronavirus cases. The lawyers proposed bail conditions for Maxwell including a $5 million bond, co-signed by six people including two of Maxwells sisters, and secured by a $3.75 million property in the U.K.; travel restricted to the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York; and home confinement at a New York residence with electronic GPS monitoring. Maxwell also claimed the criminal case is subject to significant challenges in light of Epsteins non-prosecution agreement, which was secretly inked in Florida in 2008 and shielded any potential co-conspirators of the financier from prosecution. On Monday, prosecutors replied that Maxwell didnt deserve any special treatment, and argued Epsteins plea deal doesnt bind prosecutors in New York. For years before her arrest in this case, [Maxwell] likely believed she had gotten away with her crimes. That illusion has now been shattered, and she has a host of new reasons to use her considerable resources to flee, the feds stated in a pleading supporting her detention. The government argued Maxwell posed a flight risk, in part because of her tremendous wealth and her French citizenship, which would prevent her extradition. Her pleading, they added, failed to indicate the identities of her bail co-signers or their assets, where she planned to live in New Yorks Southern District, or even a rundown of her own assets. Prosecutors said the British heiress failed to provide financial information, despite allegedly having access to more than $20 million across at least a dozen bank accounts since 2016. To the extent [Maxwell] now refuses to account for her ownership of or access to vast wealth, it is not because it does not existit is because she is attempting to hide it, prosecutors wrote. She does not have a job that would tie her to the United States, much less the Southern District of New York, and she does not appear to depend on any jobor to have depended on any employment in the past 30 yearsfor the privileged lifestyle she has maintained for the entirety of that period, the government stated. [Maxwell] clearly has the means to flee. The feds also hinted at the strength of their case, saying victims testimony is corroborated by other witnesses and documentary evidence including diary entries, flight records, and business records. They said theyve been in touch with additional individuals who have expressed a willingness to provide information on Maxwell, and that has the potential to make the governments case even stronger. The governments filing disclosed more details on Maxwells alleged hideout, too. When FBI agents arrived at the Bradford estate, they discovered the property was blocked off by a locked gate and monitored by a private security guard. The guard allegedly told authorities that Maxwells brother hired a security firm staffed with former members of the British military to take shifts guarding her New England home. Through a window, the agents saw [Maxwell] ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her, the pleading states. Agents were ultimately forced to breach the door in order to enter the house to arrest [Maxwell], who was found in an interior room in the house. Moreover, as the agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk, a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement. On Tuesday, Moe said Maxwells opulent lifestyle and the financial assets she listed for the court dont add up. Maxwell was allegedly not very forthcoming, telling pretrial services that her New Hampshire property was owned by a corporation, whose name she didnt know, and that she was allowed to live in the sprawling estate. Moe also indicated she spoke with an FBI agent who interviewed Maxwells real estate agent for the property. According to the officer, the buyers for Maxwells home introduced themselves as Scott and Jen Marshall and both had British accents. The man claimed he was retired from the British military and wanted to write a book, while the woman said she was a journalist who wanted privacy, Moe said. For his part, Cohen tried to toss cold water on the governments claims that Maxwell was in hiding and decried prosecutors for trying to throw dirt on our client. Cohen said the front door was unlocked, and that Maxwell ran into an interior room because she was in her pajamas when authorities appeared at her doorstep. As for the tinfoil-wrapped phone, Cohen argued Maxwells device had been hacked and she was preserving it as required as part of civil litigation. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. (Alliance News) - A temporary abolition of stamp duty on properties worth up to GBP500,000 has been supported by MPs, amid Tory calls to make the change permanent. The Stamp Duty Land Tax (Temporary Relief) Bill cleared all stages in the Commons on Monday although it still needs to be examined by peers. The legislation is focused on UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak's policy to remove stamp duty on the first GBP500,000 of purchases made by most home buyers in England and Northern Ireland between July 8 and March 31. Interim authority for the change was granted last week, with the Bill allowing Parliament to debate it. Treasury minister John Glen told MPs the move will inject "new confidence and certainty" into the housing market and help save buyers up to GBP15,000. But Labour said the stamp duty holiday is "unnecessary" for second homeowners and the benefits will be "concentrated" in London and the South East. Several of the 2019 intake of Conservative MPs suggested the government should go further with the change, with Greg Smith (Buckingham) proposing it should be made permanent. Smith said: "This Bill is enormously welcome. It is bold in its aim of boosting our housing market and supporting people to achieve home ownership. "And who knows, perhaps this tax-cutting pilot, once proved so successful, could become a more permanent feature of the housing market going forward." Ben Spencer (Runnymede and Weybridge) went further, telling the Commons: "While I welcome these bold changes, I would ask my honourable friend if we could be even more, just a little bit more bold, and not just cut stamp duty, but scrap it entirely." Rob Roberts, MP for Delyn, mooted extending the stamp duty holiday beyond March to encourage those who are not yet in the process of purchasing a house. Felicity Buchan (Kensington) warmly welcomed the cut, adding: "Alongside some of my colleagues on these benches, I'd urge my right honourable friend to be bolder and broader and to look at a fundamental reform of stamp duty. "Stamp duty is ultimately a tax on social mobility and aspiration." Anthony Browne (South Cambridgeshire) said: "I urge the government to look at increasing over time a not now when we're in the middle of the financial crisis, but when we get back a bit to normality a increasing the rate for second home owners, make it a flat rate. "There is no social-economic reason why people buying second homes or homes for investment should get discounted rates on lower value properties." Treasury minister Jesse Norman was unmoved despite the ideas, saying of Spencer's proposal to scrap stamp duty: "I do always take it with an additional measure of credibility when colleagues come forwarda with a specific suggestion for how the gap could be filled." Earlier in the debate, shadow Treasury minister Dan Carden said: "We don't oppose the principle of additional support for home owners and buyers and actions to stimulate the housing market. "Estate agent Savills identified the local authorities that will see the biggest fall in tax receipts as a result of the change a Wandsworth, Bromley and Wiltshire will see falls of GBP40 million, GBP35 million and GBP29 million respectively. "But Rightmove estimate that the average saving in the North East will be just GBP646 compared to GBP15,000 in London. "Once again the government seems to be prioritising the needs of London and the South East over those of the rest of the country." source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. President Donald Trump delivers a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on July 14, 2020. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images) Trump Signs Law to Sanction Chinese Officials, Banks Over Hong Kong Abuses U.S. President Donald Trump on July 14 signed into law a bill that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials and entities responsible for extinguishing Hong Kongs freedoms, as well as banks that do business with them. He also signed an executive order to end the United States preferential treatment of Hong Kong. The measures, Trump said, were enacted to hold China accountable for its oppressive actions against the people of Hong Kong. Trump described Beijings tightening control over the city as not a good situation. The communist regime recently imposed a national security law over Hong Kong, which critics say marks the end of the citys autonomy. Their freedom has been taken away, their rights have been taken away. And with it goes Hong Kong, in my opinion, because it will no longer be able to compete with free markets, Trump said. A lot of people will be leaving Hong Kong I suspect. Congress in early July unanimously voted for the Hong Kong Autonomy Act that would impose sanctions on a broad range of people and entities tied to the Chinese Communist Partys subversion of the citys autonomy. In May, Trump announced the administration would start the process of stripping Hong Kong of its special trading privileges with the United States, deeming the city no longer sufficiently autonomous from mainland China. Since then, it has limited defense equipment exports to the city, and said it would impose visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party officials involved in suppressing freedoms and rights in Hong Kong, as well as their family members. Beijings new security law has brought Hong Kong under firmer authoritarian control from Beijing. The legislation imposes a maximum of life imprisonment for acts deemed by Beijing as subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces. The regime has also set up a national security office in the city to oversee its enforcement. Since the law came into effect two weeks ago, books by some pro-democracy activists and politicians have been removed from public libraries; the protest slogan Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times has been deemed illegal; activists have disbanded their organizations or fled the city; and shops have removed protest-themed products and decorations. Trumps announcement comes as the administration takes a tougher stance against the Chinese regime on a range of issues, from its human rights abuses in the region of Xinjiang to its military aggression in the South China Sea. The United States on July 13 formally declared that it opposed nearly all of Beijings territorial claims in the South China Sea. The regime has increased its presence in the strategic region by building military outposts on artificial islands. It has also deployed coast guard ships and Chinese fishing boats to intimidate foreign vessels and block access to waterways. Last week, Washington announced sanctions on several Chinese officials, including a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party involved in rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the region of Xinjiang. An estimated one million Uyghur Muslims and other Muslim minorities are detained within internment camps, as part of the regimes purported clampdown on what it calls extremism. AMSTERDAM, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AfterPay Insights' mid-June research - now covering more 7.400 interviews with Norwegian online shoppers - indicates that Norwegian consumers will reduce their overall purchases in July (i.e. both online and offline purchases). If Norwegian consumers act on their intentions in July, this will break the trend that AfterPay Insights saw in mid-June, when online purchases increased as an effect of consumers shifting purchases from brick and mortar stores to online.! In June, 8% of Norwegian consumers say they shopped more in physical stores, compared to 17% who say they shopped more online. Norwegian consumers are less worried and have a positive outlook on their personal financial situation in July AfterPay Insights' research shows that 16% of Norwegian online shoppers say that their financial situation has become more stressed. The data also shows that Norwegian shoppers are generally more worried about their personal financial situation than their health (note that worries have decreased overall since mid-March). So, it is no surprise that the most important reason for fewer overall purchases is the need to save money, although this is especially evident in the younger age groups. Secondary motivations are the int! ention to change lifestyle by reducing overall consumption, along with having general worries about the future. And third tier motivations include the risk of becoming unemployed, as well as wanting to pay off mortgages and loans. At the same time, 12% of Norwegian consumers say that their financial situation has improved in June. And 17% say that they expect this to further improve in July; this means that Norwegian shoppers have a positive short-term outlook on their financial situation. Norwegian shoppers project that they will make more online Fashion purchases in July When looking at the development of online product categories, Fashion stands out in Norway, as it is the leading category in acquiring new consumers: in the second half of March, 14% of Norwegian shoppers made at least one purchase in online Fashion, and this share has grown to 21% by mid-June. Price and convenience become more important motivations to purchase online In Norway, finding cheaper prices online has become increasingly more important over time, along with the fact that online shopping offers more convenience. Norwegian consumers also motivate e-commerce purchases with saying that it is easier to find what they need online. It looks like the functional benefits of online shopping have increased in impact, and are possibly leading to a lasting change. AfterPay Insights will monitor consumer behavior throughout the summer and r! eport bac k with an updated analysis at the end of July. This article is a summary, read the full article here: "Norwegian consumers have a positive financial outlook for July, but are hesitant when it comes to further increasing purchases" View the interactive dashboard with e-commerce behavior and attitudes from more than 24.000 consumers. About AfterPay Insights AfterPay InsightsA is a knowledge platform for e-commerce professionals. From mid March, AfterPay Insights has researched consumers' e-commerce behavior during the corona outbreak and intend to continue this study through out the pandemic. This article is an abstract. About AfterPay AfterPay, developed byA Arvato Financial SolutionsA is the biggest payment-after-delivery service in The Netherlands and Belgium, and is also available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. About Arvato Financial Solutions As part of Bertelsmann,A Arvato Financial Solutions provides professional credit management solutions across all segments of the customer lifecycle in around 20 countries. By revealing the advantages of predictive analytics, leading-edge platforms and big data, provided solutions result in optimized financial performance and empower clients to fully concentrate on their core business. Research contact Aida Beelaerts van Blokland a.beelaertsvanblokland@afterpay.nlA +31657321095 This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/afterpay---arvato-financial-solutions/r/afterpay--norwegian-consumers-have-a-positive-financial-outlook-for-july--but-are-hesitant-when-it-c,c3153367 The following files are available for download: Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey today claimed Ghislaine Maxwell used her as 'bait' to entertain Jeffrey Epstein's friends, saying the paedophile 'kind of sat back and sort of waited for her to sort of go fishing'. The 44-year-old socialite and former 'It Girl', who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and the Duke of York's former love interest, first met the pair 20 years ago and said she was 'really young and naive' at the time. ITV released a clip to MailOnline ahead of tonight's 'Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile' documentary which also featured Lady Victoria describing Maxwell and Epstein as like 'Batman and Robin' and a 'double act'. She said: 'Jeffrey was really the frontman and Ghislaine was the accomplice. It was kind of like a Batman and Robin, and they were a double act. I don't think Jeffrey could have done any of it without Ghislaine.' Presenter Ranvir Singh said: 'And Ghislaine was crucial to getting those girls, was she, do you think to those dinners?' Lady Victoria replied: 'I think he just kind of sat back and sort of waited for her to sort of go fishing and go find however many girls were needed, you know, to entertain his friends. I think I was pretty much used as bait. You know, looking back at, you know I was really young and naive, and she's entertaining these, you know, big businessmen. So I didn't realise it of course at the time, but looking back...' Also pictured: Lady Victoria with Prince Andrew in London in 2002, and with Ghislaine Maxwell in Hollywood in 2004. Gemini Observatory's quick reflexes capture fleeting flash Rapid follow-up of the optical afterglow from one of the most distant confirmed short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB), thought to be the merger of two neutron stars, is casting new light on these enigmatic objects. The observations, made by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, confirmed the object's distance and placed it squarely in the epoch of cosmic high noon, when the Universe was in its "teenage years" and rapidly forming stars. The appearance of an SGRB so early in the history of the Universe could alter theories about their origin, in particular how long it takes two neutron stars to merge to produce these powerful events. Precisely-localized SGRBs are rare, typically only 7-8 are detected per year, and this is the most distant high-confidence SGRB with an optical afterglow detection. Researchers have used the 8.1-meter Gemini North telescope to measure the optical afterglow of one of the most distant short gamma-ray bursts (SGRB) ever studied. Thought to result from the merger of two neutron stars, SGRBs are cataclysmic events that are almost unfathomable in terms of their basic properties, emitting huge amounts of energy in about one second [1]. Gemini observations of a new, distant SGRB now suggest that this process could occur surprisingly quickly for some systems -- with massive binary star systems surviving supernova explosions to become neutron star binaries, and the binaries then spiraling together in less than a billion years to create an SGRB. The research will be published in he Astrophysical Journal Letters. This object, named GRB181123B because it was the second burst discovered on 23 November 2018 -- Thanksgiving night -- was initially detected by NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. When the alert of an event from the Swift satellite was broadcast around the world, several telescopes trained their view on it. Within hours, a team from Northwestern University used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), which is also an imager, on the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea in Hawai'i to record the very faint afterglow of the object. "We took advantage of the unique rapid-response capabilities and exquisite sensitivity of Gemini North and its GMOS imager to obtain deep observations of the burst mere hours after its discovery," said Kerry Paterson of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University, USA, who led the research team. "The Gemini images were very sharp, and allowed us to pinpoint the location to a specific galaxy." "This is a wonderful example of time-domain astronomy, involving extremely rapid follow-up of a quickly evolving event," said Hans Krimm of the US National Science Foundation. "Gemini's rapid response was critical to catching this event swiftly, and the optical and infrared data add to the excitement of multi-messenger astronomy -- where observations of light, gravitational waves, neutrinos and cosmic rays come together to tell a compelling story." Along with the Gemini observations, the team made follow-up observations using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawai'i and the Multi-Mirror Telescope (MMT), located at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins in Arizona. The researchers then utilized the Gemini South infrared camera and spectrograph, FLAMINGOS-2, in Chile to obtain a spectrum of the host galaxy to pin down the SGRB's distance. The object was found to be some 10 billion light-years away, making it the second most distant confirmed SGRB, and the most distant high-confidence SGRB with an optical afterglow detection [2]. Compared to the detections of gravitational waves from merging neutron stars in the very nearby Universe, SGRBs are distant analogs. "The identification of certain patterns in the spectrum, together with the colors of the galaxy from the three observatories, allowed us to precisely constrain the distance and solidify it as one of the most distant SGRBs to date in 16 years of Swift operations," said Paterson. Rapid follow-up of the burst discovery from Swift was essential. Many SGRBs cannot be observed with a telescope in time to catch the optical light. The light from the afterglow fades quickly and it can take a correspondingly long time for a large, sensitive telescope to interrupt its normal observing plan and move to the new target to begin its follow-up observations. Once the optical detection of the SGRB was made with Gemini, and its host galaxy was identified, the team was able to determine key properties of the parent stellar population within the galaxy that produced the SGRB. "Performing 'forensics' to understand the local environment of SGRBs and what their home galaxies look like can tell us a lot about the underlying physics of these systems, such as how SGRB progenitors form and how long it takes for them to merge," said Wen-fai Fong of Northwestern University and co-author on the study. "We certainly did not expect to discover an extremely distant SGRB, as they are very rare and faint, but we were pleasantly surprised! This motivates us to go after every one that we possibly can." The majority of the 43 high-confidence SGRBs used in the study that have had their distances measured to date have been found closer to home. Distant SGRBs offer a unique way to study the same types of events when the Universe was much younger -- a busy period in the Universe when stars were rapidly forming and galaxies were growing fast [3]. The addition of another very distant SGRB to the population could change astronomers' understanding of these events -- in particular, how long it takes two neutron stars to merge, and the rate of neutron star mergers during this epoch of the Universe's history. "Finding an SGRB so early in the Universe's history suggests that at least some neutron star pairs might need to come together relatively rapidly," according to Fong. "With the proper telescopic resources and dedicated follow-up facilities, such as the Gemini Observatory, we can open a new era of discovery of distant SGRBs, motivating further follow-up studies of past events and similarly intense follow-up of future ones," said Paterson. ### Notes [1] Despite their spectacular nature, the formation pathway to a SGRB is unknown. Astronomers believe they are likely formed from a pair of massive stars that were born together and "die" together as neutron stars before merging. [2] The measured redshift is z=1.754. [3] This era is analogous to the Universe's teenage years -- a lot is happening, everything is kind of messy, and galaxies are growing fast and haven't settled down into the maturity of their later years. More information This research was presented in a paper to appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The team is composed of K. Paterson (Northwestern University), W. Fong (Northwestern University), A. Nugent (Northwestern University), A. Rouco Escorial (Northwestern University), J. Leja (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), T. Laskar (University of Bath), R. Chornock (Ohio University), A. A. Miller (Northwestern University and The Adler Planetarium), J. Scharwachter (Gemini Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab), S. B. Cenko (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and University of Maryland), D. Perley (Liverpool John Moores University), N. R. Tanvir (University of Leicester), A. Levan (Radboud University and University of Warwick), A. Cucchiara (College of Marin and the University of the Virgin Islands), B. E. Cobb (The George Washington University), K. De (California Institute of Technology), E. Berger (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), G. Terreran (Northwestern University), K. D. Alexander (Northwestern University), M. Nicholl (University of Birmingham and University of Edinburgh), P. K. Blanchard (Northwestern University), and D. Cornish (Northwestern University). NSF's National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Du'ag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawai?i, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachon in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono O'odham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively. Contacts: Kerry Paterson Northwestern University Cell: +1 224-714-0900 Email: kerry.paterson@northwestern.edu Wen-fai Fong Northwestern University Cell: +1 617-372-6237 Email: wfong@northwestern.edu Peter Michaud NewsTeam Manager NSF's NOIRLab Gemini Observatory, Hilo HI Cell: +1 808-936-6643 Email: pmichaud@gemini.edu Amanda Kocz Press and Internal Communications Officer NSF's NOIRLab Gemini Observatory, Hilo HI Cell: +1 626 524 5884 Email: akocz@aura-astronomy.org This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. Bhopal: An SIT formed by Madhya Pradesh Police Wednesday inspected the site of alleged encounter where eight SIMI men were gunned down on Monday while a separate investigation began into the jailbreak by extremists by recreating the scene. The CID team led by SP Anurag Sharma also examined some people about the encounter, which has come under scanner with opposition parties and the lawyer of the slain SIMI activists pointing to several alleged smoking guns to claim that it was fake. ALSO READ: (Undertrials get chicken biryani in jail, we should consider setting up fast-track courts: MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan) Former Director General of Police Nandan Dubey, assigned by the state government with the task of investigating the daring jail break, visited the Central Jail here. The jail break scene was recreated as part of the probe and Dubey examined some prisoners also. Yes I spent more than three hours in the jail. I have started the investigation, Dubey told PTI. Asked about the lapses that led to the SIMI activists escape, he said it was too early to jump to any conclusion. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also inspected the Central Jail here and directed strengthening of security measures. The lawyer of the eight SIMI activists today claimed that they had sustained gun shots in the head and chest. He claimed that he had seen the autopsy reports of the slain men. ALSO READ: (Bhopal Encounter: 7 SIMI men buried in MP; body of 8th one taken to Gujarat) They were fired upon from the front and all of them sustained injuries in their head and chest, above the waist, lawyer Parvez Alam told PTI. Repeating his claim that it was a fake encounter, he said that according to a Supreme Court ruling, police should fire below the waist. The SIMI activists were killed on the city outskirts at Malikheda following their escape from the high-security jail after slitting the throat of a security guard and scaling the 32-ft wall using bedsheets in the wee hours of October 31. Meanwhile, state Home Minister Bhupinder said any video or evidence about the encounter should be submitted to the SIT. The minister said the slain men were dreaded terrorists who had killed policemen earlier. ALSO READ: (Bhopal Encounter: Dead SIMI activists suspect in Pune Bomb Blast case too) The swiftness with which the police acted against then should be appreciated, he said, adding that, Ending terrorism is a pripority for our government. We will not compromise at any cost when dealing with terrorism. On claims that the SIMI men were unarmed, he said, It could have been so when they escaped from the jail. But they had lot of time after that (to get hold of weapons). ATS Chief Sanjeev Shami maintained that the police was well within the law to resort to maximum force if they see the possibility that dreaded criminals who are a threat to society may escape. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Fake consulate seals, funding terror, Kerala gold smuggling case gets murkier India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, July 14: The gang involved in the Kerala smuggling case had faked documents of the UAE consulate, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has said. The accused had fake seals with the emblem of the UAE Consulate and were using the same to smuggle gold through diplomatic channels, the NIA also said. Kerala gold smuggling case has rocked the Vijayan govt| Know the full story | Oneindia News The purpose was also to raise funds for terror, the agency has learnt. On Friday, the NIA registered an FIR in the Kerala Gold Smuggling Case. The case has been registered under sections 16, 17 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, against 04 accused persons including Swapna Prabha Suresh The case relates to the seizure of 30 kg of 24-carat gold worth Rs.14.82 crores at Trivandrum International Airport. Kerala Gold Smuggling: Swapna Suresh, Sandeep Nair arrested by NIA in Bengaluru The aforesaid consignment was found camouflaged in diplomatic baggage from UAE that is exempted from inspection as per the Vienna Convention. The said consignment was to be received by Sarith P S who had worked in the UAE Consulate earlier as Public Relations Officer. Initial investigation by Customs Department has revealed that Sarith had received multiple such consignments earlier as well. As the case pertains to smuggling of large quantity of gold into India from offshore locations threatening the economic stability and national security of the country, it amounts to a terrorist act as stated in section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Further, as the case has national and international linkages and as the initial enquiries have revealed that the proceeds of smuggled gold could be used for financing of terrorism in India, NIA has taken up the investigation of the case. Terror funding a major possibility in Kerala Gold Smuggling case The NIA informed the Kerala High Court that the UAPA which deals with various provisions of terror had been invoked. The submission was made before the court which was hearing the anticipatory bail plea filed by Swapna Suresh. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:43:48|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close CAPE TOWN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A majority of creditors on Tuesday voted in favor of a rescue plan to salvage the debt-ridden South African Airways (SAA). At a virtual meeting, 86 percent of creditors favored the proposed business rescue plan, 11 percent greater than the minimum requirement of 75 percent. This paves the way for the government or a strategic equity partner to prevent the national carrier from being liquidated, provided that an additional 16.3 billion rand (about 970 million U.S. dollars) in funding can be obtained. Speaking before the vote, Kgathatso Tlhakudi, Acting Director-General of the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), said the proposed restructuring of SAA is fundamental and will create a solid base for the emergence of a competitive, viable and sustainable national airline for South Africa. "We need an SAA which will emerge from this restructuring and its subsidiaries to be attractive assets that will attract strategic equity partnerships and other business partners," he said. The new SAA will be a worthy partner to those that choose to support the process that is represented by the business rescue plan that is being put before the creditors committee, Tlhakudi said. According to Tlhakudi, the South African cabinet has expressed its support for the concerted effort to mobilize funding from various sources to finance the business rescue plan, including from potential equity partners for the uptake of the new airline. In the coming days, the DPE will be announcing an interim board of the new SAA, with the interim CEO for the airline being Phillip Saunders, who has a credible track record of leading airlines around the world, Tlhakudi said. The South African Communist Party (SACP) welcomed the overwhelming vote, saying the outcome dealt a blow to "unpatriotic elements and groupings" that have relentlessly been campaigning against South Africa continuing to have its own national airline. "The SACP expresses its sincere appreciation to all SAA workers who worked tirelessly and to the labor movement for waging the struggle to save SAA, protect employment, minimize job losses and safeguard the interests of the workers," the party said in a statement. The national airline went into business rescue in December last year due to heavy financial losses. SAA has relied on government bailouts for continued operation mainly due to poor management. Over the past 13 years, the airline has incurred over 28 billion rand in cumulative losses. The government has allocated about 30 billion rand to bail out the airline over the past decade. Enditem A map of scallop fishing and wind energy recommendations in the NY-NJ Bight. A secondary recommendation is considered to be slightly more conflicted than a primary recommendation. The Mid-Atlantic Access Area, Mid-Atlantic Exemption Area, and Georges Bank / Southern New England Scallop Dredge Exemption Area are designated for scallop fishing by the NEFMC. Credit: NOAA Fisheries; BOEM. Map: Carolynne Hultquist Offshore wind is considered one of the most promising forms of renewable energy to expand this decade. According to the nonprofit World Forum Offshore Wind, technological advancements, global government support, and cost reductions have allowed the industry to play a greater role in electricity generation. Offshore wind is currently most prevalent in Western Europe, but this source of energy production is rapidly growing in countries such as China and the United States. In New York State, Governor Cuomo's 2018 Offshore Wind Master Plan outlines steps for offshore wind development until 2030. A first-of-its-kind document in the United States, the plan delineated a study area known as the New York Bight Call Area for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the agency responsible for energy projects in federal water, to consider for future projects. BOEM has recommended several areas of interest (see map below), and the oil and gas company Equinor secured an approximately $3 billion lease next to the area for its Empire Wind project. While the Offshore Wind Master Plan can help New York secure 2.4 gigawatts of carbon-free electricity by 2020 (enough to power 1.2 million homes), the projects could also potentially compete with other activities, such as fishing, vessel traffic, conservation, and ocean science research. In the NY-NJ Bight, scallopers are concerned about offshore wind projects negatively impacting fisheries. Examining the spatial proximity between the region's scallop fishery and offshore wind industry highlights the need for wind development companies to take fishermen's concerns more seriously, so that both parties can coexist successfully. The NY-NJ Bight Call Area is valuable to the Atlantic sea scallop fishery, the largest wild scallop fishery in the world. In 2016, the scallop industry generated $486 million in landings revenue. As a point of comparison, the American lobster was the top species fished in 2016, with $667 million in landings revenue. The New England Fishery Management Council (NEFMC) and NOAA Fisheries have managed the resource under the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan since 1982. Sea scallops were declared overfished in 1997, but actions to limit the amount of vessels at sea, update fishing equipment, and periodically close off certain fishing areas led to the sustainable management of the resource. Every year, the NEFMC publishes "framework adjustments" to its plan. These frameworks delineate new areas for scallopers to fish in depending on the vessels' permit. Some areas are closed off for research or to protect young scallops. The proximity (and sometimes overlap) between rich scallop beds, scallop vessel activity, and the offshore wind proposal has provoked conflict between the two industries. In the NEFMC's most recent framework submitted in March 2020 (Framework 32), a section discusses how offshore wind energy is expected to have a negative impact on scallop habitat and fishing activity in the future. An article in City & State notes that in 2018, scallopers and supporting advocacy groups sued BOEM for having failed to evaluate alternative options for Equinor's Empire Wind lease. While the Offshore Wind Master Plan requires wind developers to work with community, environmental and fishing groups, tensions between regional marine stakeholders persist. Scalloper concerns can be grouped into three categories: 1) Negative effects of turbine construction and underwater grid connection on scallop habitat; 2) Risks and restricted fishing activity from wind farm infrastructure; and 3) The consequences of restricted fishing activity, which is the increased competition for the same resources within smaller areas. For the first concern, BOEM published a report in 2015 highlighting the negative effects of wind farm construction on scallop filter feeding abilities and larval dispersal from changes in sedimentation and currents. An article for the Poughkeepsie Journal states that fishers are also worried that the process of burying connection cables into the ground will disrupt habitats. In response to this concern, an offshore wind representative said that placing the cables underground would actually help preserve fishing grounds in the long run. Scallop fishing areas and biomass in relation to the wind energy areas. While the richest scallop beds do not exactly coincide with the wind energy areas, their closeness has caused concern. Source: NOAA Fisheries; BOEM; Virginia Institute of Marine Science, School of Marine Science and Technology at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Credit: Carolynne Hultquist There is an overall lack of information on the environmental impacts of offshore wind farms in the United States. Where the sector is more established in Northern Europe, results of ecological impact studies are still unclear and it is difficult to distinguish long-term from short-term effects. In regards to the second concern, there are risks of vessels striking a turbine or getting fishing gear caught in underwater infrastructure, which can damage gear or capsize the boat. To address this risk, BOEM identified a five-mile wide corridor across the New York Bight for vessel traffic. For a site on the New England coast (north of the NY-NJ Bight), wind developers proposed building appropriate spacing between the rows of turbines. Lastly, fishermen are concerned that the potential displacement of fishing activity from the wind farms could increase competition for the same scallop resources in the NY-NJ Bight and drive smaller vessels out of business. It is also worth evaluating how increased fishing activity in confined areas could affect the sustainability of the resource. Given the absence of data for the region, "perceptions" and "opinions" make up some of the literature on these issues. Nevertheless, social science studies provide key insights for policymakers and offshore wind developers to consider in their research and planning processes. To address the conflict between the Mid-Atlantic region's scallop and offshore wind industries scientific data is needed to 1) understand the ecological impact of offshore wind farms; 2) understand the effects of offshore wind farms on vessel traffic; and 3) concretely address the concerns of the fishing community. In essence, fishing and offshore wind energy are not at odds with each other. Green energy can contribute to a healthier environment, which is important for all fisheries. However, offshore wind represents a new use of marine resources that can disrupt existing activities. As such, this conflict represents an inefficiency in the integration process required for the industry's development. It is also important to consider the alternatives. Offshore wind can help to solve graver issues affecting the region's valuable scallop beds, such as ocean acidification from climate change. According to the United Nations, acidification is a looming threat for ocean ecosystems around the world. Research by NOAA shows that acidic waters dissolve scallop shells, and such stress forces scallops to allocate more energy to maintaining their shells than to growth and reproduction. In late 2019, a huge scallop die-off in the Peconic Bay was linked to a coccidian parasite. Although the victims were the Peconic Bay scallops (a species different from the Atlantic sea scallop), current research is determining whether the presence of the parasite was triggered by environmental factors like warmer bay waters linked to climate change. While there is a risk of getting fishing equipment caught in underwater offshore wind infrastructure, the NY-NJ Bight is full of dredging spoils, industrial waste, sewage sludge and chemical weapons that scallopers can unintentionally haul onto their vessels. Offshore wind is part of a larger shift away from this poor treatment of marine ecosystems and towards more sustainable ocean and coastal management through spatially aware marine planning. The New York State Offshore Wind Master Plan's mandate to form a strong link with the fishing community is a crucial component of the holistic solutions needed to achieve these sustainable development outcomes. Yet, this conflict suggests that greater collaboration is needed in the NY-NJ Bight area. On this front, progress is being made: on March 11th, 2020, the NEFMC announced that one of its 12 research projects (Research Set Aside Program led by Rutgers University) will analyze the economic impacts of offshore wind energy development on the commercial sea scallop fishery. On May 20th, 2020, a $1.1 million grant was awarded to four institutions by BOEM and others to support regional fisheries studies that are important for the development of offshore wind in the Northeastern U.S. Explore further Floating wind turbines on the rise Provided by State of the Planet The global death toll from the coronavirus is over 574,000, with more than 13.1 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions as governments continue to try to slow the spread of the respiratory illness. Here's a roundup of COVID-19 developments in RFE/RL's broadcast regions. Serbia, Montenegro The European Union will remove Serbia and Montenegro from a nonbinding safe list of countries whose citizens are allowed to enter the bloc for nonessential visits, according to several EU diplomats. The officials told RFE/RL on July 14 that recent spikes of coronavirus cases in the two Balkan countries as the reason behind the decision, which is expected to take effect later this week. More than 1,200 people have officially been infected by the coronavirus in Montenegro and 24 people have died from COVID-19 -- the illness caused by the virus. Authorities in Serbia have reported nearly 19,000 cases, with 418 deaths. After the exclusion of Serbia and Montenegro, 13 countries will remain on the EU list: Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, and Uruguay. On June 30, the EU announced that citizens from 15 safe countries would be allowed to enter the 27-member bloc and four other nations in Europe's visa-free Schengen travel zone for business or leisure. The move is aimed at supporting the EU's tourism industry, which has been dramatically affected by travel restrictions imposed to stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Afghanistan The Red Crescent Society says Afghanistan faces "catastrophes" as growing coronavirus cases are pushing hospitals and health clinics in the war-ravaged country "to the limit." More than 34,700 people have officially been infected by the coronavirus in Afghanistan and over 1,000 people have died from COVID-19 -- the illness it causes. "Afghanistan is on the edge of potential health, social and economic catastrophes caused by COVID-19 as the disease places a crippling burden on one of the 10 most fragile states in the world," the Afghan Red Crescent Society said in a statement on July 14. It said the real toll of the pandemic on the Afghan population "is expected to be much higher and remains under-reported due to limited testing and weak health systems." According to the World Health Organization, Afghanistan has one doctor for every 3,500 inhabitants -- less than a fifth of the global average. Nilab Mobarez, secretary-general of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, said a "major shortage" of personal protective equipment and difficulties in accessing remote regions were hampering the organizations coronavirus response. But he said the Red Crescent Society was expanding mobile health teams and adding thousands of community volunteers to try detect and prevent the disease, which it said it expected to spread over the coming weeks. "Afghanistan has been reaching a peak of infections and we fear this will continue over coming weeks. We are urgently scaling up our response with 39 mobile health teams, 31 immunization teams, 46 health clinics and more than 4,000 trained community volunteers to intensify case detection," Mobarez said. Turkmenistan Turkmenistan, the only country in Central Asia that has not officially registered any coronavirus cases within its borders, has suspended the operation of passenger trains amid reports of COVID-19 infections across the tightly controlled energy-rich nation. Turkmen Railways issued a statement on its website that all trains will be suspended from July 16 to July 23 without giving any detailed explanation. A day earlier Turkmen health officials urged citizens to wear medical masks outdoors "to prevent lungs from dust." Although Turkmenistan has not officially registered any coronavirus cases, RFE/RL correspondents reported that local hospitals have been overwhelmed with patients with pneumonia symptoms, some of whom, including medical personnel, have died. In some parts of the country, so-called quarantine zones have been established, and some industrial facilities are being shut down, RFE/RL correspondents said. On July 6, a long-delayed mission from the World Health Organization arrived in the country for a 10-day visit to assess the situation and work with Turkmen officials to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Kazakhstan In neighboring Kazakhstan, Prime Minister Asqar Mamin, announced on July 14 that a second two-week coronavirus lockdown introduced on July 5 has been extended until August 2. Education Minister Askhat Aimaghambetov told reporters in Nur-Sultan that schoolchildren in Kazakh towns and cities will start this academic year on September 1 online. "Children in remote villages will be allowed to attend schools, while in towns and cities they will be taught remotely via the Internet and will gradually start attending schools depending on the situation," Aimaghambetov said. Kazakh Defense Ministry officials told RFE/RL that Deputy Defense Minister Baqyt Qurmanbaev died on July 14 from COVID-19. As of July 14, the number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan was officially reported as 61,755, including 375 deaths. Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan In Kyrgyzstan, health authorities said on July 14 that 11,538 coronavirus cases were officially registered in the country, of which 149 were fatal. The numbers do not include individuals who died of pneumonia with a negative COVID-19 test. In Uzbekistan, the latest official data shows that the total registered number of coronavirus cases has reached 13,360, including 62 deaths. In Tajikistan, as of July 13, the number of coronavirus cases was 6,595, including 55 deaths. With reporting by Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL's Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek Services Is Queen Elizabeth's nightmare coming true? Is her favorite son Prince Andrew destined to be jailed? According to InTouch magazine, July 20 edition, Prince Andrew might be the next to be jailed after Jeffrey Epstein's confidante and sometimes girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell was put in handcuffs. Hours after Maxwell was arrested, she was immediately sent to court to explain and defend herself against accusations that she was part of Epstein's modus to lure young women to be abused. One of Jeffrey Epstein's reported victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre accused Maxwell of helping Epstein trafficked her. She then said she was also forced by the two to have sex with the Duke of York, not once, or twice, but thrice! With Maxwell's arrest, analysts claim that the end game is near for Prince Andrew and it might even be inevitable. Maxwell reportedly knows all the ins and outs of Epstein's shady business and if she can save herself by divulging all the information in her possession, she would. Insiders believe she would not even think twice of dropping Prince Andrew like a hot potato. That said, Maxwell's arrest is literally the worst-case scenario for Prince Andrew. Now his world is becoming smaller. If he was truly running and hiding from the FBI, then he'll likely to feel the world is already closing on him. The insider revealed that Maxwell, with her tendency to save herself and throw Prince Andrew under the bus, means the royal might face arrest, and then jail, soon enough. Insiders believe that Maxwell, facing 35 years in jail at least, because of six total charges, including luring a minor to do illegally sexual activities, will find the thought unbearable. Given that, she'll likely to do everything in her power to escape her fate. She even attempted to escape during arrest - to no avail. She might strike a plea deal next, one that would include letting the authorities know the true extent of Prince Andrew's involvement in Jeffrey Epstein's crimes. With Epstein dead (by suicide), he would not be able to concoct lies to hide the royal's involvement. The police would likely give in to Maxwell's plea demands since she has all the information they want and need. An insider told In Touch USA that no one really knows what kind of evidence Maxwell has and what kind of damage this can do to not just Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth, but also the whole royal family. Prince Andrew has daughters too, one of whom is Princess Beatrice, set to marry maybe once the COVID-19 crisis is over. If Prince Andrew's involvement in sex crimes is proven, that would be a massive shame. It's not only Prince Andrew who is likely feeling the terror of Maxwell's arrest. An insider shared that she might also reveal other big names involved with Epstein's ring of crimes. There is no denying that Epstein is close with elite figures and powerful figures. It's quite impossible for all of them not to have an idea what Epstein was up to/ Maxwell probably knows them and can drop them anytime now. Ghislaine Maxwell is due to appear in a bail hearing via video. Given what insiders revealed, Prince Andrew might be starting to shake. READ MORE: Royal Question: What Happens If Prince Charles Dies Before The Queen? Your Colleagues Dannenhoffer receives AMSNY service award Raymond Dannenhoffer, associate dean for support services in the Jacobs School, supervises operation of the gross anatomy lab and serves as director of the UBs Anatomical Gift Program. Photo: Sandra Kicman By DIRK HOFFMAN He cares deeply about teaching medical students and keeping their needs first. His respect for donors and their families is exemplary and shows in his actions and words, and I feel I remind myself of what I should do by thinking of his example. Raymond P. Dannenhoffer, associate dean for support services in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, has received the inaugural Associated Medical Schools of New York (AMSNY) Anatomical Committee Award for Outstanding Service and Leadership. Dannenhoffer has supervised operation of the gross anatomy lab at the Jacobs School and served as director of the UBs Anatomical Gift Program since 1986. UBs Anatomical Gift Program is the largest in New York State. I want to express my deep appreciation of Dr. Dannenhoffers many years of dedication to the needs of anatomical programs around New York State, says Sally R. Frenkel, module director of living anatomy at New York Universitys Grossman School of Medicine. His receipt of this award could not be more appropriate, as his stewardship of the allocation and distribution of cadavers for medical and allied health programs (as well as mortuary science) is a difficult and complicated job, Frenkel adds. Ray does it efficiently and has created a method for equitable distribution of the precious donor materials that takes into account everyones needs. The logistics alone make my head spin! Brian Beatty, associate professor of anatomy at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, says faculty members at other medical schools in New York feel Dannenhoffer is someone they can count on to do what is right. He is very much the person that keeps this community of medical educators together. He is consistent, reliable and fair, Beatty says. He cares deeply about teaching medical students and keeping their needs first. His respect for donors and their families is exemplary and shows in his actions and words, and I feel I remind myself of what I should do by thinking of his example. Dannenhoffer says he was surprised to receive the award because it had never been given before, and a little embarrassed because I feel like I am just doing my job. It does tell me that my colleagues appreciate what I do, he says. Its nice to know you are appreciated for doing your job. The mission of AMSNY is to be the voice of medical education in New York State, advancing biomedical research, diversity in medical school and the physician workforce, and high quality and cost-efficient care. The Covid-19 pandemic has had 'very different impacts' across the global beef market, according to analysis by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS). In the United Kingdom, beef processors faced increased absences and had to immediately adapt to new physical distancing rules. At the same time, the overnight loss of orders from the hospitality sector and a change in the balance of retail demand meant that stocks of higher value steak cuts built quickly. Iain Macdonald, senior economics analyst at QMS, said: Prime cattle prices fell by 3% between the end of March and beginning of May, while slaughter numbers declined by 3.4% year-on-year through April at Scottish abattoirs. However, in May, retail demand surged for higher value cuts again, helped by marketing campaigns and warm weather. According to QMS, processors had adapted successfully and slaughter numbers exceeded year-earlier levels by 1.9 percent. Farmgate prices began to climb and by mid-June had reached their highest levels since 2018. Moving into July, though starting to stabilise, R4L steers were priced 12.4% higher than in the first week of May, at 384p/kg, Mr Macdonald added. Meanwhile, slaughter numbers were 4% higher year-on-year at price reporting abattoirs in the four weeks to July 4th. European Union Across the EU, demand losses from the catering sector resulted in problems with carcase balance in April. The EU Commission introduced a Private Storage Aid scheme in May, paying support of just over 1,000 per tonne of hindquarter taken off the market. Mr Macdonald said: Male prime cattle prices across the EU fell by an average of 6% between mid-March and the end of April and, as July began, prices were still 4.5% below mid-March levels. In Italy and Spain, the market has fallen further, with prices now around 9% lower than in mid-March, QMS explained, adding that companies in both countries claimed PSA support in early July. In Ireland, by mid-April, steer prices had slumped by 8 percent and slaughter numbers declined in response to weak demand. At their lowest point, between mid-April and mid-May, numbers ran 15 percent below year earlier levels. Mr Macdonald said: Although production has been back above 2019 levels since early June, prices are still lagging mid-March by 2%, at a time when Irish prices tend to be towards their highest of the year. In addition, the differential with Scottish prices has been around 17% in recent weeks, compared to a 5% discount at the same time in 2019. United States One of the largest impacts globally has been in the United States, Quality Meat Scotland said. Outbreaks of Covid-19 in the meat processing workforce led to plant closures in April, and reduced slaughter capacity throughout April and May, down more than a third at its peak. With a highly concentrated slaughter sector, reduced competition for cattle placed considerable pressure on farmgate prices, which subsequently fell by more than 11% between mid-March and late April. However, at the same time, the combination of strong retail demand and tight beef supply saw wholesale prices effectively double. By the end of May, slaughter had approached year-earlier levels again and the supply pressures began to ease, said Mr Macdonald. Farmgate prices had recovered 5-6% ahead of mid-March levels, while wholesale prices began to slide quickly. However, two months of reduced capacity had resulted in a considerable backlog of cattle waiting to be processed," he explained. In addition, cattle being sold by US feedlots were now older and heavier than usual, boosting production volumes further. "As a result, the downwards pressure returned, and as July began, farmgate prices were down slightly on the previous low. As a result of tight beef supplies in the US, exporters from Australia and Uruguay have been filling some of the gap by increasing shipments, despite a sharp reduction in local production. China Meanwhile, the sharp contraction in pork production in China in 2018 and 2019 has led to continued growth in imports of beef, up 45% year-on-year in the January to May period, to help close the countrys overall meat shortage. With pork wholesale prices double 2019 levels and beef 17% dearer, at the equivalent of 5.40/kg and 8.10/kg respectively, beef no longer looks as expensive as it used to. Exporters from Brazil and Argentina are benefitting most from Chinese demand, helped by an improvement in their export competitiveness, as global financial market movements caused by the pandemic have lowered the value of their currencies, said Mr Macdonald. However, both countries would look very exposed if Chinese meat production was to recover in the coming years. Given ongoing trade deal negotiations between the UK and US, QMS said it was interesting to compare market prices, particularly given debates around methods of production and food safety standards. In early July 2020, recent declines left US steers at the equivalent of 274p/kg, working out at 71.3% of the 384p/kg paid by Scottish abattoirs for an R4L steer. Over a longer period, US steers have averaged around 12% below Scottish levels since 2015, ranging from 30% lower to 10% higher, said Mr Macdonald. Seasonality in the US means that US prices tend to be closer to Scottish levels in the spring and further away in the autumn and, between 2015 and 2019 the average gap was 7% in the first half of the year and 17% in the second half, he said. West River Democratic Socialists a local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America created its legal fund through Venmo and PayPal the evening of July 2, the night before the protest near Mount Rushmore, according to a post on its Facebook page. The group started sharing its Venmo and PayPal pages with a small group of supporters that night in case there were arrests and protesters needed bond money the next day. The next morning, the group learned that NDN Collective was planning its own fundraising page but its website wasnt ready yet so Democratic Socialists began sharing its fundraising pages on social media once it learned that arrests were imminent. Meyer said Venmo and PayPal dont have metrics that show the number and average amount of donations. But based on email notifications he received, he estimates there were between 30,000 and 40,000 individual donors and the average donation was less than $30. Kansas City Tech Help Improves Local Life For Everyone Kansas City digital divide hampers with school online learning KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) - The city manager's office in Kansas City is working on a plan to provide low-cost or free internet connection for everyone in Kansas City. The council passed that resolution last month. But the first day of school is only a month away and there are still thousands of students without the means to learn from home. Show-Me Freebie Tests Missouri Governor Mike Parson signs bill for free COVID-19 testing COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Monday signed a number of bills into law, including legislation to ensure free COVID-19 testing and a requirement that hospitals perform rape kits when needed. Here's a glance at what Parson approved: ALLERGY MEDICINE Local governments soon will no longer be able to require prescriptions for allergy medications including pseudoephedrine and ephedrine. Kansas Rejoices Oldest church bell in Kansas rings again over downtown Lawrence LAWRENCE, KS (KCTV) - A welcoming party just seemed right for something like this. The belle of the ball if you will, a 150-year-old ringer as old as the Lawrence United Methodist congregation itself was taken down for restoration nearly a year ago. "We had planned a big block party," Marc Ridenour said. Demi Stands Proud Demi Rose flaunts her ample assets as she poses in a skimpy bikini She is no stranger to posting sizzling bikini snaps on Instagram. And Demi Rose was delighting her fans once again on Saturday as she posed in a skimpy two-piece. The model, 25, said she was 'ready for the summer' as she donned the tiny multicoloured swimwear. New Moguls Face Scrutiny As Fast Fashion Gets Faster and Cheaper, the Giants Behind it Are Facing Scrutiny | The Fashion Law Thanks to Nasty Gal, PrettyLittleThing, and its namesake Boohoo brand, among others, Boohoo Group has garnered itself the title of one of the fastest growing fast fashion groups in the world since it first set up shop in 2006. Top Doc Shares Regret Dr. Anthony Fauci says U.S. coronavirus cases are surging because nation didn't totally shut down White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said the United States is seeing a surge in new Covid-19 infections because the country never shut down entirely. Early in the outbreak, U.S. coronavirus cases peaked at around 30,000 new cases a day before falling and plateauing at roughly 20,000 new cases per day, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. TV Game Show Hosts Often Go Wrong On Social Media At least this Chuck Woolery tweet controversy isn't about antisemitism On Sunday, original Wheel of Fortune host Chuck Woolery alleged that "everyone is lying" about the COVID-19 pandemic, including the media, "most" doctors and the Center for Disease Control-a false accusation lent credence by a retweet from President Donald Trump, who is ostensibly in charge of the federal agency he's accusing by proxy of participating in a conspiracy to destroy the U.S. WHO Shares Scary News Coronavirus crisis may get "worse and worse and worse," WHO chief warns The World Health Organization warned Monday that there could be no return to normality any time soon as too many countries were bungling their response to the coronavirus pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that if public health guidelines are not followed, the crisis will get "worse and worse and worse." China Crackdown Beijing's South China Sea project illegal, says US China's pursuit of offshore resources in parts of the South China Sea are "completely unlawful", US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. Mr Pompeo said he wanted to make clear that Beijing's "campaign of bullying to control" the disputed waters was wrong. Local Taco Winning Longtime Taco Via worker leaving after 50 years A longtime worker at Taco Via at 95th Street and Antioch Road is leaving her job after 50 years.In 1971, a 16-year-old Debbie Izard started work at Taco Via in Overland Park, a job that she's held for a half century. Corona Party Consequences Cass County reports 'largest virus cluster thus far' after high school party HARRISONVILLE, Mo. - The Cass County Health Department is still adding up all of the numbers after identifying a cluster of COVID-19 cases from a July 3 house party. Andrew Warlen, director of the county's health department, says the cluster likely started from a party hosted by area high schoolers on July 3 just south Harrisonville. Warmup This Week Tuesday temps top out in low 90s Hide Transcript Show Transcript AND YOU CANNOT GET RAIN OF A CLEAR SKY. THIS EVENING, SUNNY AND 86 DEGREES. NOT BAD IF YOU HAVE TO DO THINGS OUTSIDE OR AROUND THE HOUSE. OVERNIGHT, CLEAR SKIES AND FALLING TO 72 DEGREES. THE WIND WILL PICK UP TOMORROW. HERE IS YOUR HOUR-BY-HOUR FORECAST. Right now, hottieinspire another quick peek at the discourse for right now . . .And this is thefor tonight . . . Four million, four hundred and forty-five thousand, three hundred and forty-six (4,445,346) Ghanaians have so far registered as voters since the exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) started on June 30. Dr. Eric Bossman Asare, Deputy Chairman in charge of Corporate Affairs, disclosed this while addressing the media during its third session of the 'Let The Citizen Know' series in Accra yesterday. Greater Accra Leads He said the Greater Accra Region leads with 20.9% of the registered voters followed by the Ashanti Region with 18.4%. The Eastern Region is at distant third at 9.5% and the Central Region at 9.4%, he added. The North East Region is, however, at the bottom with 1.7% registered voters. Regional Breakdown of Registered Ghanaians The Greater Accra region tops with a figure of 929,366 followed by the Ashanti Region which has so far recorded 816,481. The Eastern Region has recorded 421,467, followed by the Central Region, with 415,799. The rest are the Western Region, 287,222 ; Volta Region, 274,063; Northern Region, 254,575 ; Bono, 177,434; Bono East, 163,680; Upper East, 147,365; Western North, 117,062; Upper West, 115,281; Ahafo Region, 86,498; Oti, 83,799; Savannah, 78,410; and North East, 76,854. Challenged Cases The Greater Accra Region he said topped in terms of challenged cases. He, however, said as a percentage of the total registered voters in each region, the Oti Region leads with 0.5%, followed by Ahafo at 0.42% and Volta at 0.39%. The region with the least percentage of challenged cases is Bono with 0.02%. Should the current trend continue, the deputy chairperson said the Greater Accra Region alone will constitute more than 20% of the total registered voters in the country, adding that the increasing numbers from the Central Region are a clear indication of population shift from Greater Accra towards the Awutu, Effutu and Gomoa areas of the Central Region. Though the commission still has another four weeks of registration period, there are patterns that are clearly pointing to regions where population is declining and those that are seeing an increase in population, Dr. Bossman indicated. He stressed that the 4,445,346 registered Ghanaians constitutes almost 30% of the projected figure of 15 million the EC is likely to register, explaining that in the next few weeks we are anticipating to register about 10.5 million people. Overview With the average time for registering applicants being about four minutes, he said these points to improvement by officials engaged in this segment of the exercise. COVID-19 Protocols He announced that the commission is satisfied with the significant improvements in the adherence to the Covid-19 safety protocols, especially social distancing. This has been achieved through the provision of chairs for queue management in all our registration centres. Party Anomalies He said the commission had observed a trend by which some agents of political parties at the registration centres collect the voter ID cards of applicants and take some details from the cards including asking for applicants' phone numbers. The deputy chairperson stressed this is not part of our electoral laws, and the agents of political parties should desist from doing that. Members of the general public are also advised not to give their voter ID cards issued to them by the commission to the agents of the political parties at the registration centres. Transporting People Parliamentary candidates and operatives of political parties should desist from transporting people from one district to the other to register when they know very well that these people are not residents of the districts where they want to register, Dr. Bossman said. He also asked operatives of political parties not to defend people who are not Ghanaians, adding the commission needs the support of all our stakeholders for a clean register. Registration in Secondary Schools Following the recent registration of SHS students by the commission, he said it is still looking at the option of going back to these schools in the course of the week to register those who did not have the chance to register. This is because reports coming to the EC indicate that in most of the schools the team could not even register 50% of them. Mop-Up The mop-up segment of the exercise, he said, would ensure that qualified persons who could not be registered during the main phases are given the opportunity to do so. More Centres The current phase which began on Sunday and will end on Friday has registration taking place in 6,728 registration centres and in the 267 district offices of the commission. This is a ramped-up effort which has seen the doubling of registration centres. Daily Guide Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot, his loyalists likely to skip second CLP meeting today, say Reports India oi-Madhuri Adnal Jaipur, July 14: Rajasthan Deputy CM Sachin Pilot and his loyalists are unlikely to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Tuesday. Notably, the grand old party has convened a second meeting with its legislators to end the ongoing power tussle between CM Ashok Gehlot and Deputy CM Sachin Pilot. The meeting will be held at a hotel on the Delhi highway near Jaipur where the party MLAs are currently lodged. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Doors still open for Pilot as Congress MLA remain behind closed doors ''We are giving a second chance to Sachin Pilot,asked him to attend today's CLP meet.I hope today all MLAs come & give solidarity to leadership & for which ppl of Rajasthan voted, we all want to work for development of state: Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande said. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. On Sunday, he claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and "some independents". Those close to him disputed Gehlot's claim that his government had a majority, and said this is proven in the assembly and not at the CM's house. Sources close to him have also ruled out the possibility of Pilot joining the BJP. In the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bharatiya Tribal Party, and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal. New Delhi: 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 tourism sector in the state-converting into two UTs has started after a gap of almost four months. Jammu and Kashmir are open for tourism but only for air travellers. Tourist players welcomed the step. Tour and travel operator Fayaz Ahmad Shala said, "Toursim have not started. We have come ot know about out through media and we welcome the step. However, we doubt that when airline people will come to know about it, they would hike the airfare, which will again imapct the number of travellers. We request the government to consider this." Tourist players, be it tour operators, houseboat owners or boat man have welcomed the step to open tourism in the region as they are most suffers since august 2019 when the central government scrapped Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state in to two Union Territories. During this time, tourists in Jammu and Kashmir were advised to leave the area. One boat man quipped, "We would be more than happy if Amarnath Yatra starts and pilgrims are allowed to visit the tourist spots too." Another boat man, Ali Mohammad said, "It will be great for us if tourists start visiting here. We have suffered a lot." Taxi operator Adil Ahmad said, "Its very good step. It will boost trade in Kashmir and people will benefit." The decision to reopen tourism was taken by the Jammu and Kashmir government in a high-level meeting that was held a few days ago. There will be a partial opening of the tourism sector for visitors from outside J&K, and for now, has been limited to tourists arriving by air only. The official release read, "In the view of the COVID-19 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." Thus, the government has decided to open the Union Territory in a phased manner and is allowing entry to only those tourists arriving by air in the first phase of reopening. Following are some of the highlights from the guidelines for J&K tourism: In this phase, tourism is limited to those arriving by air only. COVID-19 test of all tourists is compulsory on arrival and tourists need to have confirmed hotel bookings. All tourists must have confirmed hotel bookings for the duration of their stay. It is mandatory to pre-book accommodation online in hotels, houseboats or guesthouses. The proof of this will be checked at the time of arrival. All tourists must have their return tickets too. Upon arrival, all the tourists will have to undergo COVID testing (mandatory). And until the test result shows a negative for COVID-19, tourists will stay in their hotel rooms and shall not be permitted to move out. Tourists will have to sign a form at the airport. Even if a tourist comes with COVID negative report, he/she will still have to take the COVID test on arrival at the airport. However, they will not be required to remain isolated in hotels. If a tourist test positive for the virus, he/she will be immediately sent for treatment to a medical facility as per the protocol. Taxis or transport service have to be pre-booked through hotels and travel agencies. Tourists above the age of 65 should avoid travelling. Only tourists coming by air shall be permitted. Aarogya Setu app is a must and all tourists should have it installed on their phones and shall be checked for safe status at the time of arrival. The reopening of pubs and unrestricted travel from the US presents a perfect storm for a surge in Covid-19 cases according to one Irish scientist. Tomas Ryan, Associate Professor at Trinity's School of Biochemistry and Immunology, says they could crush our efforts to stop the virus spreading. Professor Ryan says: "Right now we are engineering a perfect storm. With the combination of unrestricted effective travel from the USA with pubs opening, "The tourists are the arrows and then the pubs are the bows that are going to send them flying. "If you are getting a lot of tourists into pubs, this is where everything is going to fall down. "And the lockdown will have been for nothing so we need to get serious about this." The government has resisted calls to ban international travel so far. Speaking this evening at a government press conference, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said visitors should not come into Ireland unless they restrict their movements for 14 days. Mr Coveney said the Government is still warning against all non-essential travel, but that a green list of countries where it will be safe to fly to and from will be published by the Government next week. The Government will also introduce new measures to strengthen self-isolating by people who come to Ireland from abroad. Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said anyone thinking of a trip to Ireland that does not include staying in place for the first 14 days breaks health guidelines related to the passenger locator form. Under current guidelines, anyone found to have wrongly filled out the form is liable to be fined up to 2,500 or imprisoned for up to six months. Mr Donnelly said: "What matters to us is compliance with the public health guidelines. We will be announcing next Monday a 'green list.' "We will also be announcing additional measures at the ports of entry and exit to maximise compliance with those guidelines." London: The Trump administration has warned British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that allowing Huawei to continue building Britain's 5G networks could become a "tremendous threat to national security". The warning, delivered by US Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, came on the eve of a crunch meeting of the National Security Committee which will reconsider banning the Chinese firm. "Clearly this is a big decision for the United Kingdom," McCarthy said. "You need to have reliable carriers ... ones that cannot be easily manipulated, or create disruption, or the potential for espionage. VALLEY FORGE, Pa., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Vanguard today announced it will partner with Infosys (NYSE: INFY) as part of its ongoing strategy to enhance and evolve its full-service defined contribution (DC) business. This strategic partnership will deliver a technology-driven approach to plan administration and fundamentally reshape the corporate retirement plan experience for its sponsors and participants. Vanguard is the largest1 DC asset manager in the U.S. and has been recognized by trade organizations and research firms for its retirement services and thought leadership.2 Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, with deep expertise in helping companies deploy transformative technologies to enhance their businesses. "For decades, Vanguard has propelled best practices and innovation within our DC business and across the industry to steward the financial futures of millions of Americans saving for retirement," said Martha King, managing director of Vanguard Institutional Investor Group. "Our partnership with Infosys will embolden these efforts, enabling a groundbreaking approach to plan administration. Coupled with Vanguard's increasing investment in advice capabilities and client experience, we will set a new bar for personalization, ease, and efficiency for sponsors and participants alike." Through the partnership, Infosys will assume day-to-day operations supporting Vanguard's DC recordkeeping business, including software platforms, administration, and associated processes. Plan sponsors will continue to be served by Vanguard's relationship management teams, strategic plan design, and communication experts. Additionally, Vanguard will oversee all aspects of its investment management and guidance for both sponsors and participants, including ongoing development of its accessible, holistic, and personal advice services. Participant phone calls will be serviced by both Vanguard and Infosys. Together with Infosys, Vanguard will provide a cloud-based recordkeeping platform, enabling greater insights and unprecedented personalization to help deliver better outcomes for nearly five million participants and 1,500 sponsors. Planned enhancements for sponsors include AI-enabled analytics capabilities, improved visibility of participant behavior, and ubiquitous operational support. In addition, the partnership will accelerate Vanguard's ongoing efforts to build a state-of-the-art participant experience, including a redesigned participant website, integrated advice, and intuitive technologies. "Infosys is excited to partner with Vanguard in the digital transformation of its defined contribution business," said Mohit Joshi, president of Infosys. "Our platform will create a new standard for the industry as we seek to drastically improve the retirement savings experience for plan participants and sponsors through the use of cutting-edge digital technologies." Approximately 1,300 Vanguard roles currently supporting the full-service recordkeeping client administration, operations, and technology functions will transition to Infosys. All Vanguard employees currently performing these roles will be offered comparable positions at Infosys in close proximity to Vanguard's offices in Malvern, PA, Charlotte, NC, and Scottsdale, AZ. Transitioning employees will receive the same salary, comparable benefits for a transition period of 12 months, plus meaningful incentive opportunities. Infosys is dedicated to this business and the transition offers prospects for long-term career growth and development. Ms. King, currently head of Vanguard Institutional Investor Group, will also transition to Infosys to head the firm's Mid-Atlantic Retirement Services Center of Excellence and serve as the firm's Chief Client Officer. The transitioning Vanguard crew will report up through Ms. King and Mr. Joshi. "The experience and expertise of Vanguard's technology and operations teams, along with our shared, relentless client-first focus, will help ensure a seamless experience for participants and sponsors," said Ms. King. Leveraging global expertise for sustained leadership Infosys currently serves half of the top 20 retirement service firms in the U.S., helping clients to manage risk, improve participant experience, and deliver better retirement plan outcomes through business transformation, technology services, and digital solutions. The firm offers end-to-end, enterprise-wide insurance and retirement business-process solutions across five core businesses: life insurance and annuity services, producer services, retirement services, employer sponsored services, and functional BPO services. "Infosys has deep expertise serving leading retirement services firms in the U.S. and, as part of this strategic partnership with Vanguard, we look forward to transforming the retirement industry while helping clients manage their retirement needs leveraging advanced digital solutions," said Salil Parekh, Infosys CEO. "We are also delighted to welcome Vanguard employees joining the Infosys team as a part of this transition." Vanguard has a rich history of strategic partnerships, leveraging top talent, industry-leading expertise, and innovative technologies around the globe to help fulfill its mission of giving investors the best chance for investment success. For decades the firm has leveraged outside investment managers to run flagship actively managed funds, including Wellington Management Company LLP and PRIMECAP Management Company. Within the institutional business, Vanguard has continued to capitalize on industry-leading external expertise to augment its proprietary services for plan sponsors and their employees. Most recently, Vanguard announced a new partnership with EQ to provide integrated stock plan administration for sponsors. "Partnerships can accelerate improvements for clients, and we have a long and successful history of drawing on world-class external expertise across our investment management, technology, and client service functions," said Vanguard CEO Tim Buckley. "Vanguard has revolutionized investing, making it more accessible and affordable, and our partnership with Infosys will help us transform the retirement industry for the benefit of all investors." Vanguard: A DC plan leader With more than $1.3 trillion in DC assets, Vanguard helps millions of Americans save for a secure retirement. Vanguard currently serves as a strategic partner to nearly 1,500 plan sponsors, providing world-class investment management capabilities and industry-recognized retirement and investment thought leadership. Vanguard's strategic plan design and consultative services, fueled by robust analytics, helps inform plan sponsors' decisions and provide better insights into their plans. About Vanguard Vanguard is one of the world's largest investment management companies. As of May 31, 2020, Vanguard managed $5.9 trillion in global assets. The firm, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, offers more than 425 funds to its more than 30 million investors worldwide. For more information, visit vanguard.com. About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. We enable clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With nearly four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Infosys Safe Harbor Statement Certain statements in this release concerning Infosys's future growth prospects, financial expectations and plans for navigating the COVID-19 impact on Infosys employees, clients and stakeholders are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding COVID-19 and the effects of government and other measures seeking to contain its spread, risks related to an economic downturn or recession in India, the United States and other countries around the world, changes in political, business, and economic conditions, fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, Infosys's ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those factors which may affect cost advantage, wage increases in India, the ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration, restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, Infosys's ability to manage international operations, reduced demand for technology in key focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, the ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions, liability for damages in service contracts, the success of the companies in which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts, legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, unauthorized use of Infosys intellectual property and general economic conditions affecting the industry and the outcome of pending litigation and government investigation. Additional risks that could affect our future operating results are more fully described in Infosys's United States Securities and Exchange Commission filings including Infosys's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in Infosys company filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and reports to shareholders. Infosys does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the company unless it is required by law. All asset figures as of May 31, 2020, unless otherwise noted. Advice services are provided by Vanguard Advisers, Inc., a registered investment advisor, or by Vanguard National Trust Company, a federally chartered, limited-purpose trust company. All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest. _________________________ 1 Pensions & Investments, June 1, 2020. 2 Cogent Syndicated, Retirement Planscape, Escalent, 2019. SOURCE The Vanguard Group Related Links http://www.vanguard.com/ An 'arrogant' lawyer has been ordered to pay her tradesman neighbour $300,000 after a bitter row over a fence ended in a rant on national TV. Lawyer Vanessa Hutley accused builder Anthony Cosco of bullying her and her family and making their lives 'hell' during an A Current Affair segment called 'Vent Attack' in June 2016. The neighbours' dispute hit the New South Wales Supreme Court this week, when Justice Stephen Rothman ruled that Ms Hutley, of Balmain in Sydney's inner west, had bullied Mr Cosco and defamed him in the TV segment. She was ordered to pay more than $300,000 in damages. Vanessa Hutley (pictured) first took issue with builder Anthony Cosco when he and his family moved into the house next door in Balmain in 2013 The pair live in an exclusive part of Balmain, which has been gentrified and now home to some of Sydney's most elite In the ACA episode she accused him of bullying her and her family, endangering their lives, threatening her with physical harm, and a host of other claims. Mr Cosco launched defamation proceedings against Ms Hutley following the segment, and Justice Stephen Rothman rejected all of Ms Hutley's defences, including truth. He said on Monday that the lawyer had 'displayed an abysmal arrogance and sense of privilege'. The court heard the dispute began when Mr Cosco moved into his $1.75million home in 2013 and began making changes to the property, including erecting a tall fence between the properties. Vanessa Hutley, pictured left in 2002 destroying pirated software CDs, told builders they didnt belong here, the court heard In the years to follow, their dispute escalated to the point that both parties took out Apprehended Violence Orders against each other. Mr Cosco had pleaded guilty to malicious damage after he sprayed expanding foam into a vent which led to Ms Hutley's property. He claims he warned Ms Hutley he would block the vent if she refused to move it, and Justice Rothman said he had no reason not to believe him. However Justice Rothman said he had 'absolutely no doubt that [Mr Cosco]... did not bully the defendant'. "Rather, it was [Ms Hutley] ... and her family that bullied the plaintiff and the workers on site." Mr Cosco (pictured) launched defamation proceedings against Ms Hutley after she accused him of bullying and putting her life in danger during a 2016 episode of A Current Affair The court heart the dispute began when Mr Cosco moved into his $1.75million home in 2013 and began making changes to the property On a separate occasion, the court heard Ms Hutley told Mr Cosco 'we're going to roast you, we're lawyers'. Maurice Cornielje, a builders labourer who has worked full time for Mr Cosco for about five years but known him for more than 20, gave evidence in court. He revealed Ms Hutley had verbally abused him and his colleagues on the worksite since 'day one'. At one point, she suggested they 'don't belong here, that we're foreigners'. "Maybe we're all a bit tan, but I was born in Balmain, lived in Balmain my whole life. I went overseas once," Mr Cornielje said. In another incident, Mr Cornielje accused Ms Hutley of 'acting like a bigot', to which she replied 'you can't even spell the word,' Justice Rothman recounted to the court. Ms Hutley was ordered to pay $300,000 in damages plus about $60,000 in interest and legal costs. Mr Cosco chose not to sue A Current Affair for the broadcast. (Natural News) Breitbart News Senior Editor-at-Large Joel Pollaks new book Red November: Will the Country Vote Red for Trump or Red for Socialism? provides a fascinating and disturbing account of the Democrat Partys lurch to the hard left during its 2020 primary. (Article by John Hayward republished from Breitbart.com) It also tells the tale of how crybully culture spread from college campuses to infect mainstream American culture and politics. A rough beast slouches from academia to the polls to be born, its hour come round at last. Crybully tactics are a disease that, like so many other hideous ideas of the hard left, grew in the petri dishes of our overpriced universities for years before infecting the general public. It no longer takes an entire generation for these thought-viruses to become epidemics. The Wall Street Journal warned about the rise of the college crybullies in 2015. Five years later, theyre vandalizing national monuments, shutting down cities, destroying our common language, and unleashing a wave of crime and murder against terrified voters. The crybully exploits victimization to gain totalitarian political power, fusing victim and oppressor into a single malign sado-masochistic political entity. The demands of duly accredited victims cannot be refused. They have the divine right to erase history, censor our speech, and ignore the law to achieve their sacred ends. Disagreeing with them is a hate crime. Resisting them is an invitation to violence and destruction that might not be policed or prosecuted, if the victims have the misfortune to live in a Democrat-run city. Pollaks book finds the beginning of the crybully moment in the sense of frustrated idealism surrounding Sen. Bernie Sanders failed campaign for the 2020 presidential nomination and the inexorable shift of frontrunning candidate Joe Biden toward the hard left. Pollak notes: On every single issue, Biden had been forced, by his rivals and by his partys voters, to adopt policies far to the left of his lifelong positions. He endorsed almost every democratic socialist priority and program. He wanted Medicare for All to be a choice, and proposed a Green New Deal with more generous deadlines than those demanded by the far left. Otherwise, there were few distinctions. Like Sanders, Biden saw the 2020 election as an opportunity to fundamentally transform America. The thing about fundamental transformation is that it requires compulsive force to execute. The fundamentally transformed must be given no say in the matter, no option to decline the demands of those who would impose a new way of life upon them. If the left gives conservatives any chance to speak, they would probably go running around and conserving stuff, and we cant have that. Pollak recalls feeling the messianic fervor at a Sanders rally on March 1, just a few days before the coronavirus lockdown hammer came crashing down, sufficiently in touch with his left-wing inner child to remember how excited his college-liberal self would have been to watch an avoid socialist come within striking distance of a major-party presidential nomination. The theme of the rally was Fight the Power, the title borrowed from a song by Public Enemy which was in attendance except for exiled member Flavor Flav, who became the public enemy of Public Enemy by snorting that he didnt want to join the Sanders crusade by providing the soundtrack of a fake revolution. There you have the central contradiction of left-wing thought, the difference between liberal and leftist, and the womb of cognitive dissonance from which the crybully movement sprang: the understanding that a real revolution requires power, force, violence, and usually killing. Bernie Sanders sincerely wanted a socialist takeover, but he was too wedded to the old political model of persuasion and consensus-building. He worked within the system of Democrat Party politics in 2020, even though the nomination was plainly stolen from him by Democrat power brokers in 2016. Sanders is not nearly stupid enough to believe his beloved socialist system would be devoid of compulsive force once it was implemented he visited all the commie hot spots in his youth but he was old-fashioned enough to think the American people should get one last vote before their lives were changed irrevocably. There would never be any coming back from programs like Medicare for All or the Green New Deal, but Sanders was fairly open about where he wanted to take the country, and he wanted the American people to consecrate their transformation by voting for it. The crybullies have no patience for any of that. Nobody gets to vote on whether time-honored monuments should be torn down, or the English language purged of every term that accredited victim groups find offensive. In their minds, putting their righteous crusade up for a vote would be blasphemous. By definition, if you dont agree with them, you lack the moral standing to vote against them. Pollaks account of the 2020 Democrat primary touches on the internal contradictions of an ideology that claims the system is broken and must be fixed by Democrats, even though they have dominated and controlled that system for generations, with very little practical resistance during the brief moments when Republicans held the White House and congressional majorities. Pollak takes it as a sign of left-wing frustration that a fair number of disappointed Sanders voters pulled the lever for Donald Trump in 2016, registering their profound disgust with a broken system by voting for the man who promised to ride into Washington, D.C. on a wrecking ball. The crybully movement brewing on the hard left thinks mainstream Democrat patter about a broken system is a cowardly dodge, an effort by softer left-wing politicians to wheedle votes from a fundamentally conservative population that is excited by promises of bold change and utopian visions, but not terribly eager to actually blow up the entire system and allow their lives to be disrupted. Serious left-wingers think its time to admit the people themselves are the problem and overthrow them for their own good. This conviction radiates palpably from the pronouncements of Antifa and Black Lives Matter. It is the basis for all those theories of systemic, inherent, and even unconscious racism that animate BLMs political theorists. Its also deeply woven into the radical environmentalist movement that has been gaining strength on campus since before the crybullies matriculated. Global warming cultists are not shy about describing democracy as a problem that must be overcome, because the people must not be allowed to cast votes against the urgent needs of the Earth. Pollak describes the 2020 election as a clear choice between the Tea Party and Occupy between the restoration of [Americas] ideals or a democratic socialist revolution in the style of the rivals America had defeated. Occupy Wall Street was actually the second effort by the left to co-opt and counter the populist energy of the Tea Party movement, which absolutely terrified left-wingers for a few years. (They didnt really need to worry they long ago terrorized Republican leadership into developing severe allergies to populist energy, so it was inevitably the GOP Establishment that killed the Tea Party.) The first Democrat Tea Party was a brief, embarrassing, long-forgotten effort called the Coffee Party that was essentially a snotty jeer at the Tea Party folks for being uneducated red-state rubes who didnt understand the magnificence of the Obama transformation of America. Occupy was the second pushback, and it embraced the use of compulsive force in a way the toothless snark of the Coffee Party never did. Occupy was defined by the use of force. They squatted on public property and refused to leave, unlike the Tea Party, which scrupulously applied for permits and cleaned up after its brief demonstrations. Occupy wanted to make people listen to them. Occupy was a dry run for the violent left-wing insanity that erupted after the coronavirus lockdowns. Version 3.0 of the hard lefts populist movement added the dose of righteousness that was missing from Occupy, and its target is the people of the United States, not just their corporate and government systems. Occupy accused corporate-political partnerships of exploiting the people. Antifa and Black Lives Matter accuse, convict, and sentence the people themselves. With corporate and Big Tech power harnessed to the lefts agenda, the people will not be allowed to make wrong choices any more, even if those choices are not explicitly illegal. There will be no votes on these new unwritten laws, no legislative process to grind along for years, no obstructionism from dissidents. Pollak writes extensively about The Resistance, the political cult of left-wingers that play-acts at being resistance fighters against the tyranny of the Orange Hitler, that sees themselves as the rebel army in the Star Wars sequels. (Which brings up an interesting cultural side note: the recent Star Wars sequel trilogy differs from the original in that the evil First Order is never really defined. Its structure makes no sense, its goals are murky, the inability of good people to halt its rise to power is inexplicable, its troops are brainwashed robots instead of volunteers who thought they were doing the right thing, and its leader turns out to be a puppet who was grown in a laboratory. Its like the oppressors are a fever dream of the Resistance, as the good guys call themselves a vague evil sketched in to provide a justification for the heroics of the main characters. Thats an intriguing parallel to how the Resistance movement of 2016-2020 sees itself and its adversaries.) The Resistance mindset was a major force in pushing the Democrat primary to the left, as Pollak chronicles. The post-pandemic riots of 2020 were not dissimilar to the Not My President! street theater staged by left-wingers after Trumps election. The less physically active cogs in the Democrat machine churned out countless editorials challenging the legitimacy of the 2016 election, featuring such ideological fetishes as getting rid of the Electoral College, and of course the Russian collusion hoax that utterly consumed the Democrat media for years. This, again, is an attack on the American people, not the broken system Sanders and most of the Democrat primary contenders wailed about. The people voted wrong, so their choice must be erased, and they must never be allowed to vote wrong again. Pollak points out that the Resistance is very keen on silencing its opponents, including constant efforts to deplatform dissidents and shut down conservative news organizations like Breitbart News by bullying their advertisers away. The people must not be given the option of listening to such dangerous voices. The Resistance gave the left a narrative of heroic victimhood to embrace. Heroic victimhood is an important idea in American culture today. There is an active campaign against the old, outmoded, masculine, and patriarchal notion of a hero as a brave man or woman who takes bold action against threats and dangers. Heroism is now better understood as victims who suffer bravely and inspire others to push back. Think again of those new Star Wars movies, where the heroes somehow became victims in a situation the story never even bothers to explain, erasing the triumphant ending of the original saga. From the dark side of heroic victimhood come the crybullies, who believe they have an absolute moral right to rule, and no one has the moral stature to disagree with them. Their critics are all villains who must be defeated, not well-meaning people with a sovereign right to disagree. At last, the crusading leftism embodied by Bernie Sanders has a battle flag it can march under. Pollak tells fascinating tales about the collapse of once-formidable 2020 contenders like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris, who were ultimately judged too phony and opportunistic to march at the head of the crybully crusade. Warrens fake-Indian claim to heroic victimhood is a transparent farce, the subject of widespread mockery, and if there is one thing crybullies cannot stand, it is the sound of hearty laughter from their enemies. Pollaks Red November is a story about the 2020 Democrat primary that inevitably tells a story about the four years that preceded the contest. The rise of the crybully crusader mentality could be glimpsed in such warm-up acts as Brett Kavanaughs confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court and the debate over the Green New Deal. The rising stars of the hard left, the people who would really be running a Joe Biden administration, are radicals like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar who loudly disdain the notion of understanding what their opponents think or listening to the facts advanced in their arguments. For those radicals, inconvenient facts are an enemy to be defeated through political acts of faith and devotion. They are not interested in hearing any critics explanation of how things are, because everything will change once they are in power. The law, the people, and even the natural world will be beaten into shape after theyre in charge. They demonstrate their commitment to their narrow vision by studiously ignoring everything outside of it. Pollak patiently chronicles the defeat of one 2020 Democrat also-ran after another, discarded by mainstream primary voters who thought they were too soft to take on Donald Trump and by Resistance leftists who thought they were too soft to take on the American people. If Joe Biden wins in November, his only real job will be disabling the last effective barriers to power, the last protections of representative republicanism afforded to American citizens who disagree with the party in power. The crybullies will take it from there. Read more at: Breitbart.com or Crybullies.news Many owners of small and medium-sized hotels in Da Nang are offering to sell their properties in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a research by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper. A steep drop in occupancy, worsened by hefty bank loan interest, has caused them to bear the brunt of the global health crisis. Tourism and hospitality are among the industries hit the hardest by the virus, which has infected over 13 million people and claimed more than 575,000 lives around the world. Hoteliers in Da Nang, located on the central coast of Vietnam, are putting their hotels up for sale en masse, at a time when the Southeast Asian country still seals its borders to foreign visitors and domestic tourism is slowly improving. Many of the sale offers come from small and medium-sized properties situated along the beach in Son Tra and Ngu Hanh Son. A quick search by Tuoi Tre found above 70 hotel sale advertisements to be published on a website only on Tuesday. One case in point is an eight-floor hotel on Vo Van Kiet Street in Son Tra District, on sale for VND29 billion (US$1.25 million). Boasting enclosed apartments, the hotel is located at a prime location near a tourist street, the beach, and the iconic Dragon Bridge, according to the advertisement. Another owner demands VND33 billion ($1.4 million) for a six-floor hotel on Le Quang Dao Street in Ngu Hanh Son District. Many other hotels are now on sale on such touristy streets as Ha Bong, Tran Bach Dang, Ho Nghinh, Vo Nguyen Giap, and Ho Xuan Huong. These hoteliers are struggling so they have to sell their properties, said Cao Tri Dung, chairman of the Da Nang Tourism Association. Vietnams tourism is suffering even though the country has contained the COVID-19 epidemic, Dung remarked. The Southeast Asian country has reported less than 400 coronavirus cases out of a population of almost 100 million people, with most having beaten the virus and zero deaths. The association has proposed many solutions for helping lodging businesses but all have failed to prevent hoteliers from selling their hotels because of high operation costs and bank interest, the chairman admitted. Lodging facilities have filled just 50-60 percent of their rooms even when Da Nang is in peak tourism time, according to data pooled by Tuoi Tre. Occupancy rates are forecast to continue plummeting from August, when far fewer people travel. Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam! NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. ("Herbalife" or the "Company") (NYSE: HLF). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980. The investigation concerns whether Herbalife and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices. [Click here for information about joining the class action] On May 7, 2020, Herbalife filed its quarterly report for the first quarter of 2020 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). In its quarterly report, Herbalife advised investors that the Company had "reached an understanding in principle" to resolve bribery investigations by both the SEC and Department of Justice ("DOJ") in connection with Herbalife's China operations. Per the agreement, Herbalife stated that it "would enter into an administrative resolution with the SEC with respect to alleged violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA [Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]"; "would separately enter into a deferred prosecution agreement ("DPA") with DOJ, under which DOJ would defer criminal prosecution of the Company for a period of three years"; and "would agree to pay the SEC and DOJ aggregate penalties, disgorgement and prejudgment interest of approximately $123 million." As media outlets reported on the Company's settlement over the following days, Herbalife's stock price fell $1.61 per share, or 3.9%, to close at $39.62 per share on May 11, 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 [email protected] 888-476-6529 ext. 7980 SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com By PTI CHANDIGARH: Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Tuesday said the state government may impose a curfew or seal borders of its worst-hit four districts falling in the National Capital Region. The state has so far reported 22,628 coronavirus cases, of which 15,425 have been detected in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar, which fall in the National Capital Region (NCR). So far, 238 of 312 fatalities in the state have been reported from the districts adjoining national capital Delhi. Gurgaon and Faridabad are the hardest hit as 7,126 and 5,665 cases, respectively, have surfaced there so far. Both districts have reported 109 and 101 fatalities, respectively. "We can think of sealing the boundaries of these four districts; we can think of imposing a curfew in these four districts," Vij said in Chandigarh, where he attended his office at the Civil Secretariat after a gap of 35 days following recovery from a fractured thigh bone. For the past three weeks, the 67-year-old BJP leader had been carrying out official work from his residence in Ambala Cantt. Earlier in the day, while talking to reporters in Ambala, Vij, who is also the state's Health Minister, had said the state's recovery rate is over 75 per cent, which is quite good. He said adequate arrangements, including isolation facilities, doctors and medicines are there to deal with coronavirus cases. "We are conducting over 15,000 tests per million. I have issued orders for two lakh rapid antigen testing kits, which will help us scale up our testing," he said. "Eighty per cent of our cases come from these districts (Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Jhajjar). "If need arises, in the interest of Haryana, if we have to impose stricter curbs to contain the spread of the infection, we will not hesitate to do so," said Vij. When asked if the state government could impose a lockdown in the worst-affected areas, Vij replied, "In Haryana's interest, whatever is required to be done, I will do that." Later in Chandigarh, Vij said one thing is clear that the surge in infections in the districts adjoining Delhi is linked to the national capital. He said any decision on imposing stricter measures will be taken after due consultations with all concerned. Vij said states have come up with different measures to contain the spread of the virus and the Haryana government will study which one can be implemented in the state. Earlier two months ago, while citing a sharp increase in coronavirus cases in Haryana districts adjoining Delhi, Vij had ordered sealing of borders with the national capital. Recently, Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had said the government will increase testing, hospital beds and ventilators to tackle coronavirus in some of the NCR districts. Special attention will be paid to the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak and Jhajjar, Chautala had told reporters after a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and attended by chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde observed that monitoring of investigation is something which the court is very reluctant to do New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court Tuesday that it would file a status report on encounters of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde said it may consider appointing a committee headed by a former judge to inquire into the encounters of Dubey, his aides as well as the killing of eight Uttar Pradesh policemen by the gangster. The apex court said it would hear on 20 July the pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters. The bench, also comprising Justices RS Reddy and AS Bopanna, observed that monitoring of investigation is something which the court is very reluctant to do. The top court said it may consider doing something similar to what was done in the case of encounter of four accused in the gang-rape and murder of a veterinarian in Telangana, in which the apex court had appointed inquiry commission headed by a former apex court judge. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the bench that the state has taken the matter seriously and would file a status report by 16 July detailing the steps taken by the authority. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on 3 July. Dubey was killed in an encounter in the morning of 10 July when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. Four policemen, including an inspector posted in Nawabganj, were injured in the accident, IG, Kanpur Range, Mohit Agarwal had said. The police claimed that Dubey, the prime accused in the ambush in which cops were killed, was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead. Prior to Dubey's encounter, five of his alleged associated were killed in separate encounters. One of the pleas filed in the apex court by advocate Ghanshyam Upadhyay has sought registration of an FIR and an apex court monitored probe by the CBI into the encounter of five co-accused, who were alleged to be associated with Dubey in the killing of policemen. Another petition was filed by Delhi-based lawyer Anoop Praksah Awasthi, who has sought a court-monitored probe by CBI or NIA to "investigate/probe and prosecute the police-criminal-politician nexus in the killing of 8 police personnel in Uttar Pradesh...and every killing in encounter by police of the gang members of Vikas Dubey including his own killing on 10 July". The petitions filed by Upadhyay, Awasthi and another plea related to the matter was listed for hearing before the bench on Tuesday. The plea, filed by Upadhyay, has referred to media reports and claimed that encounter of five co-accused by the police is "not only extremely illegal, inhuman, but also it is shocking to the conscience of the court and is nothing but Talibanisation of the country, which cannot be countenanced at all". It has also sought a direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the police to register FIR for demolition of residential building, vehicles and other properties of Dubey and also regarding encounters of the co-accused. Besides these petitions, a police officer, who has been suspended and arrested for his alleged role in passing on crucial information about the raid to nab Dubey, has also approached the apex court seeking protection citing the spate of encounters in which the gangster and his aides were killed. The plea, filed through his wife Vinita Sirohi, apprehended that her husband Krishn Kumar Sharma may be eliminated through illegal and unconstitutional means. Sub-inspector Sharma, along with three others, was suspended on 5 July for his alleged involvement in passing on information to Dubey about police movement towards his house in Kanpur district to arrest him. Separately, an NGO, People's Union for Civil Liberties, has also moved the top court seeking an SIT probe into the killing of Dubey and his two aides in Uttar Pradesh, saying the police version of the encounter of the gangster "raises many serious questions". PUCL, which had earlier moved the top court seeking an SIT or CBI probe into UP police encounters between January 2017 and March 2018, has filed a fresh interim plea in its pending PIL urging the court to set up a panel headed by a former SC judge to probe the encounters and the nexus between criminals and politicians. While on 3 July, two of Dubey's alleged associates, Prem Prakash Pandey and Atul Dubey, were killed by police in an encounter in Kanpur, on 8 July the police killed Amar Dubey, who carried a reward of Rs 50,000, in Maudaha village in Hamirpur district. On 9 July, two more alleged aides Kartikeya alias Prabhat and Praveen alias Bauwa Dubey were killed in separate encounters in Kanpur and Etawah districts. In a bid to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership between the UK and Vietnam, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab exchanged dialogues over a phone call on July 13. Expressing their belief that the two nations had a huge potential to enhance mutual cooperation mechanisms, Minh proposed that UK and Vietnam shall felicitate the talks at deputy ministerial level and increase the visits in near future, claim reports. UK has exempted the travellers from Vietnam from undergoing the mandatory 14-day quarantine protocol amid COVID-19 pandemic. As per local media reports, Minh hailed the British governments efforts to promote international collaboration and assistance in the global fight against the pandemic. He also pledged strong cooperation with the British government to contain the pandemic. Stressing on the need for mutual support in citizen protection, Hinh said that the two nations must relax regulations for foreign investors, experts, managers, and labourers and look towards the restriction-free movement. The two ministers also lauded their countries diplomatic relations and called for more efforts towards signing of the Vietnam-UK free trade deal. Talked on the phone today w/ Foreign Secretary & First Secretary of State @DominicRaab, expressed my pleasure at the strong Viet Nam-UK Strategic Partnership, pledging that as ASEAN Chair, Viet Nam advocates foreign partners, including the UK, to strengthen cooperation w/ ASEAN. https://t.co/6quwpPdQIp PhamBinhMinh (@FMPhamBinhMinh) July 13, 2020 Read: Vietnam Plans Lung Transplant For British COVID-19 Patient Read: Vietnam Hosts Online ASEAN Summit Amid Pandemic UKs key ally in Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia While British minister Raab highlighted that Vietnam was the UKs key ally in Asia-Pacific and Southeast Asia, he emphasized that the UK would strengthen economic and trade ties with Vietnam. Reportedly, he added, the UK would enhance Vietnams involvement in its international relations and foreign policy to deepen the strategic partnership. Raab acknowledged Vietnams ASEAN Chairmanship and non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and thanked Mihn for ensuring the recovery of the British pilot Stephen Cameron from COVID-19 and arranging his safe return to home. Valuable conversation today with Vietnam Foreign Minister & Chair of @ASEAN @FMPhamBinhMinh to discuss UK / Vietnam relations. I look forward to deepening the UK partnership with ASEAN & collaborating on important global issues like #COVID-19, trade, security, health & #COP26 Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) July 13, 2020 Stressing on the reinforcement of the ASEAN-UK relationship, Raab endorsed his country's support in maintaining peace, security, and stability, as well as respect for international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS) for Vietnam. Earlier, last month, Vietnam ratified a significant trade deal with the European Union nations in order to bolster its manufacturing sector and exports in a National Assembly where lawmakers approved a Vietnam-EU cooperation agreement. Read: UK Tries New Campaign To Prepare Public For Brexit Read: UK Works On National Action Plan To Ensure Safety Of Journalists (Image Credit: Twitter/@FMPhamBinhMinh) The crisis brought upon by COVID-19 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, Save the Children warned. The British charity cited UNESCO data showing that in April, 1.6 billion young people were shut out of school and university due to lockdown measures undertaken to contain the spread of COVID-19 - about 90 percent of the world's entire student population. ANI "For the first time in human history, an entire generation of children globally have had their education disrupted," it said in a new report, Save our Education. It said the economic fall-out of the crisis could force an extra 90 to 117 million children into poverty, with a knock-on effect on school admissions. With many young people required to work or girls forced into early marriage to support their families, this could see between 7 and 9.7 million children dropping out of school permanently. AFP At the same time, the charity warned the crisis could leave a shortfall of $77 billion in education budgets in low and middle income countries by the end of 2021. "10 million children may never return to school" "Around 10 million children may never return to school -- this is an unprecedented education emergency and governments must urgently invest in learning," Save the Children chief executive Inger Ashing said. "Instead we are at risk of unparalleled budget cuts which will see existing inequality explode between the rich and the poor, and between boys and girls." The charity urged governments and donors to invest more funds behind a new global education plan to help children back into school when it is safe and until then support distance learning. "We know the poorest, most marginalised children who were already the furthest behind have suffered the greatest loss, with no access to distance learning -- or any kind of education -- for half an academic year," Ashing said. Agencies Education crisis Save the Children also urged commercial creditors to suspend debt repayments for low-income countries -- a move it said could free up $14 billion for education programmes. "If we allow this education crisis to unfold, the impact on children's futures will be long lasting," Ashing said. "The promise the world has made to ensure all children have access to a quality education by 2030, will be set back by years, " she said, citing the United Nations goal. The report listed 12 countries where children are most at risk of falling behind: Niger, Mali, Chad, Liberia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Mauritania, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Ivory Coast. Before the crisis, an estimated 258 million children and adolescents were already missing out on school, the charity said. Months after Congress lost Madhya Pradesh, a political thriller is being played out in Rajasthan where Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot are fighting a battle for political supremacy. Tension has been brewing in the Rajasthan Congress since Gehlot assumed the chair of Chief Minister with the central leadership giving the handle of power to the veteran leader. Pilot now openly rebels and claims the support of 30 MLAs and believes Gehlot is leading a minority government. Gehlot, on the other hand, played swiftly, calling a meeting of Congress Legislature Party and claiming the presence of 104 of the 107 Congress MLAs in the meeting. DH's Shemin Joy spoke to veteran journalist Rasheed Kidwai, a specialist of Congress politics and author of authoritative books on the party, about the political crisis and what could be in store. Q. Congress lost Madhya Pradesh only months ago. Now, there is a war of attrition in Rajasthan. How do you view this? A. I think it is a combination of realpolitik and leadership issues. Let us not forget that Jyotiraditya Scindia has left the party. Possibly, Sachin Pilot may go ahead with breaking with the Congress and joining hands with the BJP. This shows that the investment the party made in these young leaders is not paying dividends. They became MPs soon after the death of their fathers. In Pilot's case, he was only 24 years old when his father Rajesh Pilot died and was not eligible to fight an election. So his mother fought the election and won. He followed his mother and was later rewarded with posts and positions. Obviously, he is feeling suffocated now. What the Gandhi family did was that they forced two unhappy people into a marriage in Rajasthan. It was not a secret that Gehlot and Pilot do not get along. But both were made to compromise. It has now taken an ugly turn. This also tells you about the failure of a Chief Minister to carry his No 2 or the Council of Ministers along and the restlessness of a promising young leader. The leaders see the appointment of their loyalists in key positions as a matter of prestige. It becomes a prime reason for confrontation. Scindia had problems with (former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister) Kamal Nath, regarding Gwalior-Chambal region. Then there is the 2019 Lok Sabha election defeat, which had a psychological impact on average Congressmen. Scindia lost. Even Rahul Gandhi lost in Amethi. Then there was the complete decimation of the Congress in Rajasthan in Lok Sabha polls. This happened a year after the 2018 Rajasthan Assembly elections when they won nearly 100 seats. This loss had a psychological impact on these people. They started thinking that they are no match for Narendra Modi. More importantly, then you will not blame Modi for it. Then you will start thinking because of Rahul, we lost. Because, the election became Rahul versus Modi. As long as there is an election in which it is Rahul versus Modi, then the Congress will not win. So this kind of narrative has caught on. So, these leaders who are decorated and rewarded started looking for greener pastures outside. Q. There is an argument that Sachin Pilot steered the party to 100 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections. But the Congress has done injustice to him. Do you agree with such a proposition? A. See, this is a loaded proposition. In Parliamentary democracy, the cardinal principle is that the newly elected MLAs decide who will be the Chief Minister. Don't forget, Sonia Gandhi was earlier criticised for choosing Ajit Jogi as Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh in 2000, accepting the sentiments. He did not have much support at that time in the legislature party while the claims of senior leaders like V C Shukla were disregarded. Some sort of informal headcount was done in Madhya Pradesh where Kamal Nath was chosen over Scindia and in Rajasthan where over 60 out of the 100 MLAs were supporting Gehlot. If it was a close contest, then it would have been different. But the gap was glaring. I don't think blaming Congress leadership is entirely correct. Democracy is all about numbers. Q. Has the Congress central leadership, especially the Gandhi leadership, had not intervened effectively in the crisis? A. Their hands were tied because increasingly in recent times, they have started investing in Chief Ministers who are given a free hand. It is not like the times of Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi when rival factions will come to Delhi to brief the leadership. Now, the leadership does not have inputs from various sides. The General Secretary in-charges are now more in the hands of the Chief Ministers. You don't get independent inputs. At the same time, you need money to run the party and for that you need to rely more on Chief Ministers. Any internal opposition is actively discouraged. Q. How do you think the crisis will pan out? A. If Pilot had any inclination to stay in this, there would have been efforts to get out a statement that he has full faith in the leadership of the Gandhis. That statement has not come. The fact that there were raids in some places in Rajasthan, the timing of it and Pilot's meeting with Scindia, all these things point to a plot. When it happened in Madhya Pradesh, it happened in two-three stages. It did not happen in a single day. Something happened on March 1, then something happened later, Scindia joined much later and so on. There is a pattern and there seems to be a plot. We will have to wait how it pans out. Pilot is not Scindia, who comes from an RSS or Hindu Maha Sabha background. Pilot does not come from an RSS background. His political DNA is not that of Scindias. Then, it also depends on how Vasundhara Raje accepts it. In Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan played a big role in bringing in Scindia. We do not know Raje's attitude towards Pilot. Q. There is this constant chatter about the battle between the old guard and the younger generation in Congress. Why is there this kind of animosity between the two groups? A. I think this is exaggerated. Nobody is young. We are talking about leaders who are above 45 years or 50 years. You look at BJP. You have B S Yeddyurappa in Karnataka and you have Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh and you know how both handled the Covid-19 crisis. So, it is not much about age. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who is in his 70s, is doing well. The key point is the Gandhis are at the centre. Those who are close to them have a premium. So anybody who is close to them becomes a target for others. Nobody is questioning the Gandhis. It is the people near Gandhis who come under question within Congress. The blame is always on the people around them. Seldom the leader is blamed. Sonia is at the helm of affairs from 1998 and Rahul from 2004. All those people who are now unhappy with the Gandhis, when did they discover that Sonia's leadership has weakness or she is not able to strike a balance. Obviously, this did not happen between 2004 and 2014 when the UPA was in power. Nobody left the party then. Only when you are out of power, you lose that self-belief. The magnitude of the 2019 defeat has an explanation. Q. An argument is that there is a leadership crisis at the central level. Some say Rahul Gandhi should be blamed. Leaders are divided about Rahul at the helm. How do you see that? A. Somebody has to take the leadership. An average Congressman has reconciled to the fact that the Gandhis are first among equals. There is no hierarchy as per merit. For instance, the Congress Working Committee has very few directly elected lawmakers. Other than the Gandhis, there will be just a couple of them. Under PV Narasimha Rao, the Congress lost power and under Sitaram Kesari's presidentship, there was not much hope. Between 1998 and 2004 also, there was no hope for Congress. Outside world blames the Gandhis for everything but within the party, there is not much criticism against the Gandhis because they know that only the Gandhis can deliver. Where is the revolt against the Gandhis? The revolt comes from people like Shehzad Poonewala in 2017 or Sanjay Jha in 2020. These are very low-level rebellions. One should recall that Rao faced a rebellion from leaders of stature like Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari. Q. Do you think under the present circumstances, Sonia Gandhi is the best bet and her continuation as the party president would help Congress? A. I don't think the continuation of Sonia will help. The return of Rahul can help because there is one leadership. Sonia had been there in the coalition era and managed its contradictions. Now, it requires a different approach in an era of hyper-nationalism. It will be slightly more difficult for Sonia. For Rahul, it is a lot easier. Q. Several Congress leaders are facing corruption charges and being questioned by several agencies. Has the dent in Congress' image a problem for the party to bounce back? A. I think that dented image is there but it cuts across all parties. You look at electoral bonds and all kinds of things (under the BJP). We know that during elections, candidates of all parties spent more than the permitted Rs 70 lakh for a campaign but the Chartered Accountants help them in keeping these expenses below the permitted mark. At one level, everybody is corrupt. It is only a matter of how much. This is a very carefully curated narrative that the BJP has been able to build that the Congress is a corrupt party with allegations like those against the functioning of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation etc. Congress is losing the battle of communication. While in Opposition, the general trend is that you are more accessible to the media. Today, it is far easier to interview Modi or Amit Shah or J P Nadda. But it is very difficult to get an interview with Sonia, Rahul or Priyanka Gandhi. Add Sen. Ted Cruz to the list of airline passengers shamed for not wearing a mask on a flight. The Texas Republican was spotted without a face covering on a flight Sunday, according to a post on Twitter. In a photo of Cruz, holding a cup of coffee in a first-class seat on a regional jet operated by an American Airlines partner, a mask is not visible. The photo was posted by Hosseh Enad, a marketing compliance associate at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He said in a subsequent tweet that he'd gotten it from an acquaintance. He also posted photos of an unmasked Cruz sitting in the gate area before the flight. Captured today at 10:45am @TedCruz on a commercial flight, refusing to wear a mask. pic.twitter.com/h8DM7J4CMi Hosseh (@hossehenad) July 13, 2020 Cruz spokesperson Lauren Aronson said the senator wears a mask when traveling and practices social distancing where possible. "Consistent with airline policy, he temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking,'' she said in a statement. "Yesterday, during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward. We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus. American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said in a statement early Monday, We are committed to protecting the health and safety of all those who fly with us, and we are reviewing the details of this matter." Late Monday, in the wake of calls on Twitter to #banTed and #banTedCruz from flying on American, Feinstein said, "As we do in all instances like these, we reviewed the details of the matter, and while our policy does not apply while eating or drinking, we have reached out to Sen. Cruz to affirm the importance of this policy as part of our commitment to protecting the health and safety of the traveling public. Story continues In June, American banned a passenger from future flights for refusing to wear a mask. United said it would revoke travel privileges of maskless travelers. All U.S. airlines require passengers to wear masks during flight except when eating or drinking, but there is no federal mandate that airline crew members can cite when trying to enforce it. Airline executives, unions and consumer advocates urge the U.S. Department of Transportation to mandate mask use on planes and at airports. Last week, the spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots, expressed concern about the "creative ways'' passengers find to keep their masks off. A pilot speaks: Without a federal mask mandate on planes, it's hard for flight attendants to force compliance This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Coronavirus: American Airlines remind Sen. Ted Cruz about mask use In a sweeping turn of events, the UK government has banned Huawei from providing 5G infrastructure equipment to local carriers. Effective after December 31, British telecom operators will no longer be allowed to buy or use Huawei 5G components in their next-gen networks. The decision was signed off by Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a meeting with the National Security Council (NSC) and in addition orders all currently deployed Huawei 5G equipment to be removed by 2027. We have been clear-eyed from the start that the Chinese-owned vendors Huawei and ZTE were deemed to be high risk. The NCSC has now reported to ministers that they have significantly changed their security assessment of Huaweis presence in the UK 5G network. Given the uncertainty this creates around Huaweis supply chain, the UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment. The best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using new affected Huawei equipment to build the UKs future 5G networks. - Oliver Dowden The new resolution is based on advice from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in response to the latest US sanctions against Huawei and its chipset supply from earlier this May. Its also a reprisal of the UK governments previous decision from January to allow Huaweis 5G equipment. Huawei UK issued the following statement in regards to the new decision: This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of levelling up the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK. Regrettably, our future in the UK has become politicized, this is about US trade policy and not security. Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected UK. As a responsible business, we will continue to support our customers as we have always done. We will conduct a detailed review of what todays announcement means for our business here and will work with the UK government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better connected Britain. Source Bazaar Corporate Radar | Feb 22, 2021, 12:00 AM IST Bazaar Corporate Radar Bazaar Corporate Radar is your window into the minds of top CEOs, Boardrooms, global economists, fund managers and sector analysts. If it?s making news, you?ll find it on Bazaar Corporate Radar. More than half of vulnerable elderly people infected with coronavirus at US nursing homes have no symptoms, a new study has found. Long-term care facilities residents account for more than 40 percent of coronavirus fatalities in the US, according to a New York Times analysis. As a result, some homes have established universal testing. Johns Hopkins University researchers identified hundreds more covid-positive residents at long-term care facilities which collectively had 153 confirmed diagnoses. Of the additional cases, 55 percent had no symptoms, a clear signal that screening or isolating only those with symptoms of coronavirus is not enough - especially in nursing homes where the virus can spread like wildfire among vulnerable, elderly people. More than 50% of long-term care home residents who tested positive for coronavirus in Maryland had no symptoms at the time of testing, a new study found. Pictured: a nursing home resident in New York is wheeled to an ambulance after showing signs of coronavirus The research team looked at 11 long-term care facilities in Maryland that initiated universal testing for residents after cases were identified within their walls. Initially, the 11 homes had a collective 153 cases. The other cumulative 893 residents were also tested and 354 were positive for the virus, but less than half of them had symptoms. But being asymptomatic at the time of their positive tests did not mean that those residents were safe from getting severely ill. In fact, within two weeks, 20 of the 154 people who were asymptomatic at the time they tested positive had to be hospitalized. Seven of those patients were dead 14 days after testing positive. It's an astoundingly short timeline between infection and death, but there was a silver lining to the mortality-related findings of the study, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Tuesday. Those seven patients who died represented less than 20 percent of the cases identified within seven of the 11 care homes (follow-up data on the remaining four facilities was not available). That makes the odds of fatality in facilities with universal testing considerably lower than the national rate in such homes, where about a third of patients who catch coronavirus are estimated to die, according to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (right) has come under fire for a March executive order requiring nursing homes to allow coronavirus patients to be discharged to their care after becoming 'stable' at hospitals According to an analysis by The New York Times, at least 296,000 long-term care facility residents and staff members have been infected with coronavirus and 55,000 have died in the US. How these infections occur and the handling of these patients has become a subject of controversy, particularly in New York. In March, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a policy that prohibited nursing homes from turning away covid-positive patients who were 'stable' after being discharged from hospitals. Last week, the governor's health department published a report that claimed people allowed into or back into nursing homes after testing positive or being hospitalized for coronavirus were not a significant driver of the nearly 6,500 deaths in the state's long-term care facilities. The state's health department instead blamed the devastating outbreaks in such facilities on transmissions from staff members who unwittingly brought the virus into these homes. The report was met with skepticism and scrutiny and, on Monday, Governor Cuomo altered the March policy so that hospitalized coronavirus patients must test negative for the virus before they can be discharged to long-term care homes. Regardless, the authors of the new study argue that outbreaks will still be very possible in nursing homes until testing is universal within them. In New York, Governor Cuomo signed an executive order in May that required all staff members in long-term care facilities to be tested for COVID-19 at least twice a week - but no such universal testing requirement is in place for residents. 'Long-term care facilities have emerged as "hot spots" for SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality globally,' the Johns Hopkins researchers wrote. 'Using symptom-based testing alone to identify positive residents is not adequate to assess case burden and inform outbreak-control efforts in these settings. 'Additional testing resources are urgently needed to identify the true burden of COVID-19 and curb transmission in long-term care settings.' WINNIPEG - Manitoba's 13-day streak without new COVID-19 infections ended Tuesday as health officials reported five additional cases, including that of an airline passenger. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 14/7/2020 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Advertisement Advertise With Us Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister speaks during a COVID-19 press conference at the Manitoba legislature in Winnipeg Thursday, March 26, 2020. Pallister has written to his counterparts across the country, encouraging them to pressure the federal government to change the Canada Emergency Response Benefit. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods WINNIPEG - Manitoba's 13-day streak without new COVID-19 infections ended Tuesday as health officials reported five additional cases, including that of an airline passenger. The individual was on a WestJet flight from Winnipeg to Calgary on June 27 and on a return flight on July 2. All passengers on those flights are being asked to monitor themselves for symptoms, the Health Department said. Investigations into how the five contracted the novel coronavirus are continuing. Even with the new cases, Manitoba remains among the provinces with the lowest infection rates, with 330 confirmed and probable cases. No one was in hospital with the virus as of Tuesday and five cases were active. The Progressive Conservative government has relied on the low numbers to reopen most businesses and relax many restrictions on public gatherings in recent weeks. More recently, the province began a new tourism push to attract visitors from northwestern Ontario and the other western provinces. Provincial and Winnipeg tourism and economic development agencies released a video this week asking residents to promote the city as a place open for business and visitors. The announcement was criticized by some on social media who noted that COVID-19 numbers are much higher in Saskatchewan and Alberta. "We appreciate these concerns. Our marketing continues to align with current government travel restrictions and safety protocols and takes into consideration the advice of the public health officer," Travel Manitoba said in a social media post. Manitoba initially required anyone entering from other provinces to self-isolate for 14 days, but lifted that requirement last month for people coming from northern Ontario, the northern territories and provinces to the west. Premier Brian Pallister said it's a matter of balance. "None of us here in government or anywhere else, I don't think, are advocating that we stop being conscious of the (rules), and following them is really critical," Pallister said. "We have to stick to the fundamentals here, but we can't allow a continued shutdown of every aspect of our economy to threaten the very future of our quality of life." The Opposition New Democrats appeared to support the idea of boosting visitors. "By using the balanced approach where we prioritize the health and safety of Manitobans, as well as opening up our economy to tourists, (it) will allow us to be successful in Manitoba," New Democrat legislature member Jamie Moses said. Pallister also said he is looking to the federal government to help the economy by changing its Canada Emergency Response Benefit. The program offers $2,000 per month to people who have lost work because of the pandemic, but Pallister said it has become a disincentive for people to return to the job market because the benefit is cut off after people earn $1,000 a month. Pallister said the federal government should instead reduce the benefit gradually as people's incomes rise. He has written to other premiers in the hope of getting them to pressure Ottawa together. He also wants the other premiers to join him in asking the federal government to allow more businesses to qualify for wage subsidies during the pandemic. "As our recovery moves forward, our labour force must grow and we must help grow our labour force," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2020 Sachin Pilots entry into the Congress in 2002, two years after the death of his father Rajesh Pilot in a road accident, was marked by jubilation, and cheered , among others, by his current bete noire chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Now, 18 years later, the long-standing rivalry between Gehlot, 69, and Pilot, 42, has culminated in a bitter out-in-the-open feud, threatening to destablise the Congress govermment in Rajasthan. Pilot, was inducted into the Congress in February 2002 by then state chief Girija Vyas with much fanfare during a Kisan rally in Jaipur. Gehlot was also present at the rally. Two year later in 2004, he contested his first election and emerged victorious from the Dausa Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan. Also read: Congress ejects Pilot from power; CM Gehlot still in Rajasthan cockpit In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Pilot, then 32, contested and won from Ajmer and was appointed union minister of state for communications and information technology. In the 2012 union cabinet reshuffle, Pilot was elevated as a minister of state with independent charge and given the portfolio of corporate affairs. Barely few months before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Pilot, then 36, was named as the Rajasthan Congress chief. By then, the party had badly lost the assembly elections in 2013 with Gehlot as the chief minister. While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recorded its highest ever margin in Rajasthan winning 163 seats in that election, the Congress registered its worst ever poll performance with 21 seats. The grand old party repeated its performance in the 2014 national elections and failed to win any of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state. Pilot too lost from Ajmer. By then, the rivalry between Gehlot and Pilot had begun, with each blaming the other for the poll debacle. Since Pilot was considered close to Rahul Gandhi, the Gehlot camp viewed his appointment as state chief as an attempt to cut the veteran leader to size. Also read: How Ashok Gehlot retained support, made inroads into Sachin Pilot camp In 2017, Gehlot was brought to Delhi and made general secretary in-charge of BJP-ruled Gujarat just before the assembly elections. The appointment was seen as an attempt by the Congress high command to strike a balance of power in Rajasthan, with Gehlot being handed over a key position at the national level; the move also gave Pilot the much-needed political space in the state. Under Gehlots charge, the Congress fought a keenly contested election in Gujarat i. That period also saw Rahul Gandhi beginning to rely on the veteran leader. Soon after Rahul Gandhi became the Congress president in December 2017, he appointed Gehlot to the key position of general secretary in charge of organisation, replacing another veteran Janardan Dwivedi. In the run-up to the 2018 assembly elections and with Pilot at helm, the Congress had won by-elections to few assembly and Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan, and also performed well in local body elections. When the Congress won the 2018 assembly elections, Pilot staked claim to the chief ministers post arguing that he worked hard , reviving the Congress in the state. Also read: Numbers behind Rajasthan story But Pilots claim was overlooked and the Congress leadership once again opted for Gehlot, who became Rajasthan chief minister for the third time. Pilot, then 40, was named his deputy. The rivalry had by then turned into a bitter power tussle between the two with Pilot claiming that his authority was being repeatedly undermined by Gehlot. Both once again blamed each other for the debacle in the 2019 Lok Sabha when the Congress failed to open its account from the state. There were also frequent run-ins between the two. Pilot has commented critically on Rajasthans record in public health and law and order. In turn, Gehlot sidelined Pilot completely. The Congress central leadership was aware of the differences between the two but both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi ignored it. The flashpoint came late last week when Pilot received a notice from the special operations group (SOG) of the state police to record his statement regarding the alleged attempts to topple the Congress government in the state. Though the SOG also served similar notices to Gehlot, governments chief whip Mahesh Joshi and several legislators, Pilots loyalists termed it yet another move to humiliate their leader and undermine his authority. The police report to Gehlot. Pilot rushed to Delhi soon after receiving the notice along with some of his loyal legislators. The rebellion was now out in the open. Pilots refusal to attend the two Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meetings in Jaipur and to sort out the differences with Gehlot culminated in his sacking as the deputy chief minister and the state Congress president. Gehlot, who received Pilot in the Congress with warmth and enthusiasm in 2002, oversaw his removal from key positions 18 years later in 2020. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON OPEC Report Shows Declining Oil Revenues For Iran And A Massive Budget Deficit Radio Farda July 13, 2020 In its new annual report published on Monday, July 13, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced Iran's revenue from total crude oil exports and oil products in 2019 was just over $19 billion, less than a third of the previous year. Iran's income from selling oil and oil products amounted to 60.5 billion in 2018, while it was $110 billion in 2011. In the meantime, OPEC's new annual report says Iran's average daily crude oil exports last year were 651,000 barrels per day, of which about 60,000 barrels went to Turkey and the rest to Asia. In 2018, the figure was 1.85, and in 2017 more than 2.1 million barrels per day. Iran was able to export around one million bpd until May 2019, when the United States tightened its sanctions, banning all oil exports from Iran, cutting its exports in the second half of the year. Iran also exported about 285,000 BPD of oil products (diesel and fuel oil) last year. Iranian government officials say revenues from Iran's crude oil exports last year were less than $9 billion, excluding oil products, in the Iranian calendar year, beginning March 20, 2019. Based on data provided by Kpler, an international data intelligence company to Radio Farda Iran's crude oil exports in the second quarter of 2020 averaged 187,000 BPD, compared with about 294,000 BPD last winter, and 976 thousand BPD in the second quarter of 2019. If Iran's crude oil exports remain at the level of the second quarter of 2020, Tehran's oil revenues, given current prices, are expected to be just over $ 2 billion in the current Iranian solar year (March 20, 2020-2021). This means only eleven percent of Iran's targeted revenue will likely be realized, and the Islamic Republic's government will face a massive budget deficit. OPEC says Iran's total oil and non-oil exports reached $ 69 billion last year, down about a third from 2018. Simultaneously, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast shows that Iran's total exports will drop to $ 46 billion, and imports will be $ 64.6 billion in 2020. Consequently, for the first time, Iran's foreign trade balance is expected to be negative in 2020. With ten percent of the world's proven oil reserves and fifteen percent of its gas reserves, Iran is considered an "energy superpower." Source: https://en.radiofarda.com/a/opec-report- shows-declining-oil-revenues-for-iran-and-a- massive-budget-deficit/30724334.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address One of the most prominent pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, in the USA, Pastor Tola Odutola, has resigned from the ... One of the most prominent pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, in the USA, Pastor Tola Odutola, has resigned from the Church. Pastor Odutola, who is the senior Pastor of Jesus House Baltimore, cited lack of care from the church in his 30 years of service. Pastor Enoch Adeboye is the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. In a viral video, Pastor Odutola refused to divulge direct details of his reason for his decision, but revealed he had served RCCG for 30 years without receiving anything in return. Odutola announced on Sunday his church would run independently, attracting applause from the congregation, before adding he was prepared to face backlash on social media for his decision. Odutola was the founding Chairman of the Redeemers Leadership Institute, RLI, according to the website of Jesus House Baltimore RLI is the Leadership arm of the Redeemed Christian Church of God North America (RCCGNA) which provides continuous training for Religious Leaders worldwide. The Government has been pressured into issuing new guidance on 'do not resuscitate' orders after a woman threatened legal action over concerns ill coronavirus patients' human rights in care homes and hospitals are being ignored. Kate Masters had threatened to sue the Government over its failure to provide consistent advice on DNRs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She previously said the decision-making process around DNRs had 'become opaque, inconsistent and deficient' amid reports of poor practice, including elderly patients apparently being pressured into signing DNR forms, during the crisis. The Government has now said it will publish two documents to ensure patients and families understand how DNR decisions are currently being made. One document will be for patients and their families setting out matters such as the right to be involved in the decision and how to request a review, while the other is for NHS staff. Both will be published on the NHS website. Kate Masters said the decision-making process around DNRs had 'become opaque' in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ms Masters's late father David Tracey had brought a successful judicial review establishing a violation of his late wife Janet's human rights while she was treated in Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, after a car crash in 2011. Above, Mr Tracey at the Royal Courts of Justice in 2014, with Kate (r) and another of his daughters, Alison Noeland The family of Janet Tracey (left) won a landmark legal case over 'do not resuscitate' (DNR) notices. They have now threatened legal action against Health Secretary Matt Hancock (right) and the Government over fears ill Covid patients' human rights are being ignored What are Do Not Resuscitate orders and who can invoke them? What is a Do Not Resuscitate order? A DNR order is a legal order which tells a medical team not to perform CPR on a patient. However, this does not affect other medical treatments. Who can invoke a DNR? The British Medical Association and the Royal College of Nursing say that DNR orders should only be issued after discussions have been held with patients or their family. A patient may decline resuscitation if they have capacity as defined under the Mental Health Act 2005. If patients want to record this in a legally binding document they should plan to make an 'advance decision to refuse treatment' (ADRT), but it is often best to have it recorded on a CPR decision form as well, so that healthcare professionals will recognise it easily. Or they can simply ask your healthcare professionals to record your decision on a CPR decision form. When would it not be appropriate to attempt resuscitation? Not everyone wants to receive attempted CPR, so it is important to respect people's wishes and to make sure that they are offered a chance to make choices that are right for them. When someone's heart and breathing stop because they are dying from an advanced and irreversible condition, CPR will subject them to a vigorous physical intervention that deprives them of a dignified death. For some people this may prolong the process of dying and, in doing so, prolong or increase suffering. When there is a chance CPR may bring someone back from cardiac arrest to a length and quality of life that they would want, they should be offered: The chance to be given clear and accurate information about their condition and the likely risks and benefits from CPR if they should suffer cardiac arrest; The chance to express their beliefs and wishes and to make a shared decision with their health professionals on whether or not they should receive attempted CPR if they should suffer cardiac arrest. Advertisement A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman told MailOnline the decision to publish advice 'was already underway and is not a result of legal action'. 'We have made clear that it is completely unacceptable for DNR orders to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people,' the spokesman added. 'The Government has taken consistent action on a number of fronts to prevent this from happening and NHS England is currently creating patient-facing guidelines on how to challenge a DNR and access support. 'This work was already underway and is not a result of legal action.' Ms Masters' late father David Tracey had brought a successful judicial review establishing a violation of his late wife Janet's human rights while she was treated in Addenbrooke's Hospital, in Cambridge, after a fatal car crash in 2011. In June 2014, the Court of Appeal ruled that the human rights of 63-year-old care home manager Mrs Tracey, who had terminal lung cancer, were violated when a DNR order was placed on her medical notes without discussing it with her first. The case established there was a legal duty to consult with and inform patients if a DNR order was placed on their records except in very narrow circumstances. Ms Masters had signalled her intention to apply for permission for judicial review of Health Secretary Matt Hancock's failure to issue clear national guidance or a directive to ensure that patients' Article 8 rights in relation to DNRs are protected. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires that DNR decisions (also known as 'do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation', DNACPR) are taken in consultation with a patient or their family, that patients know in advance how decisions will be made and what to do in a disagreement. In her legal letter Ms Masters provided examples of DNRs being made without consultation and said concerns about blanket DNRs were a result of Mr Hancock delegating resuscitation policies to a local level during the pandemic. Initially, according to law firm Leigh Day, the Government maintained that this was a matter for local health bodies, before accepting after legal correspondence that clearer guidance was needed. However, a request for fuller information on the NHS website was denied, and for weeks Government lawyers 'maintained that other generic statements were sufficient to inform people about DNARs and the decision-making process required by law', Leigh Day said. Following further legal correspondence, the Government committed to taking action, the firm added. Ms Masters said: 'I am really pleased that, following correspondence with my legal team, Matt Hancock has informed us that he will be issuing patient-facing information on the NHS website. 'Previously, in response to many stories in the press, various regulatory and professional bodies including NHS England have issued letters aimed at clinicians to remind them that DNACPR decisions must be based on clinical need and individual circumstances. 'There has however to date been no such national initiative to ensure that patients have the information to hand to ensure that they can engage in these discussions.' Ms Masters said her lawyers had 'provided specific information that needs to be made available which is based on what people have told us they are confused about and what legal rights they need to know about'. She said she would take further action if this was not set out in the Government guidance. Janet Tracey had told doctors she wished to be included in conversations about her care, and even wrote a note to one consultant from her hospital bed which said 'Please do not exclude me' and 'I will do my damnedest'. So she was 'distraught' and 'horrified' to discover that a DNR order had been placed on her notes without her knowledge (file image, Addenbrooke's) 'Please do not exclude me!': The tragic case of Janet Tracey's DNR Despite Janet Tracey's poor prognosis after the car crash in 2011, her family said at the time that she had 'a strong will to live' and 'wanted to have every minute of every day' for her four daughters and seven grandchildren. Mrs Tracey, 63 - who already had terminal lung cancer - had told doctors she wished to be included in conversations about her care, and even wrote a note to one consultant from her hospital bed which said 'Please do not exclude me' and 'I will do my damnedest'. So she was 'distraught' and 'horrified' to discover that a DNR order had been placed on her notes without her knowledge. When Mrs Tracey objected, it was cancelled by Addenbrooke's staff, but it was reinstated days later following discussions with the family after her condition deteriorated, and she passed away on March 7, 2011. Advertisement Leigh Day partner Merry Varney said: 'It is fundamentally important that at such a crucial stage in the care of people who may be approaching the end of their life, that people know and understand how the DNR process works, and what authority the medical profession may have, outside of a patient's and family's wishes. 'Since the start of the pandemic, we have been inundated with requests for help from confused and distressed patients and families about do not resuscitate decisions. 'Many appear to have had their right to respect for private life infringed, just as Kate's mother had, with evidence of DNRs being implemented without consultation, without families being told, and without any clear explanation of the process for making these decisions.' Davina Hehir, director of policy and legal strategy at Compassion in Dying, which supported the move, said: 'This is a victory for common sense. 'Coronavirus has highlighted and exacerbated ongoing problems concerning accurate and accessible national guidance regarding CPR, the lack of which has contributed to a proliferation of poor and unlawful practice during the pandemic. 'We know that many patients who express a wish to protect themselves from potentially harmful or futile CPR are not supported to do so, and equal distress is caused when a DNACPR decision is not thoroughly and sensitively explained to a patient and their family. 'Both scenarios completely undermine person-centred care at the end of life, and risk jeopardising sensible efforts to demystify CPR decisions and improve communication between doctors, patients and families around end-of-life decisions.' In a letter before legal action formally commenced, Ms Masters called on Mr Hancock to ensure that patients' human rights were protected by reminding NHS trusts that blanket DNRs were unlawful. She said without action from the Government, Covid-19 patients were 'at a considerable risk of having a DNR imposed on them without full information being given in advance, without a proper consultation and without any information as to what to do if the decision is disagreed with'. The letter, from legal firm Leigh Day on behalf of Ms Masters, said: 'Trusts and staff are under unprecedented burdens with the day-to-day management of healthcare provision, giving rise to a real risk of local inconsistency and arbitrariness as to decision-making procedures in the absence of clear national policy.' Illustration: Xia Qing/GT The US State Department has approved a request from the island of Taiwan to recertify the US' Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles for an estimated cost of $620 million, according to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Thursday. This is not a large amount compared with the US' previous arms sales to Taiwan. It's an upgrade for Taiwan's PAC-3 missiles, and does not seem that much of an irritant. But analysts have noticed the normalization trend of US arms sales to Taiwan. In the past, the US and Taiwan would save up to make a larger transaction, but now Taiwan buys on demand, and the US approves it. Most military observers believe that with the overwhelming improvement in the Chinese mainland's military power, Taiwan's purchase of any military equipment from the US has lost the actual significance of defense. Taiwan's annual defense budget is only around $11 billion. Deducting personnel and training expenses, the rest of the budget is not even worth mentioning compared to the PLA. Once a war breaks out, the PLA is capable of destroying Taiwan's overall military capabilities within a few hours and capturing the island hours after that. From the army to the people, the mainland has such confidence. Thus, the military issue in the Taiwan Straits is no longer between the mainland and Taiwan, and is not about what military equipment Taiwan buys from the US. For the mainland, US arms sales to Taiwan is one major move to undermine the one-China principle. It is an important sign of the US and Taiwan colluding to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and also Washington's way to convey its attitude to Beijing - that it will try to dominate the Taiwan question. By purchasing weapons from the US, Taiwan is paying protection fees to the country. The Taiwan military is not determined to really defend Taiwan's security. Taiwan's defense cannot be judged in a traditional way. It is only the result of a strategic balance. Such a balance has become increasingly sensitive because of the mainland's rapidly growing power, the US' unreasonable suppression of the mainland, and turning Taiwan into a pawn to curb the mainland's rise. In the foreseeable future, the most important thing for Taiwan is to properly handle such a special balance. Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority has a serious misjudgment. It wrongly believes that it can get everything it wants by purchasing weapons from the US and being a pawn of the US. In a Crisis Watch report published by the International Crisis Group in June, the Taiwan Straits was in the list of "deteriorated situations." Taiwan suffers the most if the situation in the Taiwan Straits deteriorates. Once the situation erupts, the mainland and the US will both be harmed, but it may be a complete disaster for Taiwan. We believe that the mainland, the US and Taiwan do not want the Taiwan Straits situation to spark because it benefits nobody. But China-US relations are tense and Taiwan island is hijacked by the Tsai Ing-wen authority's radical policies. The mainland almost has no mutual trust with the US or Taiwan, and all sides are showing their determination to respond to the worst situation. The risk of military conflicts in the Taiwan Straits is the highest in decades. Once the first shot is fired, there is very likely to be large-scale military conflicts caused by strategic misjudgment. Here we warn the US and Taiwan: Do not play with fire in the Taiwan Straits. Once a war breaks out in the region, the mainland will be determined to defend national sovereignty at all costs. Such determination from the mainland overwhelms US attempts to benefit from the situation and Taiwan dissidents' will to seek so-called independence. No one wants a war, but compared to the US and Taiwan, the mainland is less afraid to fight in the region. The US and Taiwan should ease the situation in the Taiwan Straits, instead of pushing the situation to the extreme. Otherwise, just wait for military conflicts to break out one day. A woman had a live worm pulled out of her tonsil by medics in Japan after the parasite latched on to her throat while she was eating raw fish. The 25-year-old woman, who was not named, went to medics back in March with a sore throat and tonsil pain five days after eating sashimi at a restaurant. Medics quickly found the problem - a 1.5inch roundworm living inside her left tonsil which had likely been inside the fish and then latched on to her as she ate it. Doctors in Tokyo pulled a 1.5inch roundworm out of a woman's left tonsil, five days after it implanted itself there while she was eating raw fish Doctors then used tweezers to pull the animal out, which was still alive and writhing around after being removed, according to the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Roundworms are commonly found in fish, and while cooking kills them off, they can infect humans eating raw or lightly cooked fish. Worms typically live in human intestines where they feed on nutrients that filter through the stomach and into the host's gut. They develop slowly but can reach very large sizes, given time to grow. Symptoms of a worm infection can include sickness, diarrhea, skin rashes, or weight loss - and can occur up to two years after initial infection. Roundworms are routinely found in raw fish and while cooking kills them, eating raw fish such as sushi and sashimi can sometimes lead to infections (file image) Sometimes, worms can become lodged in the throat instead of making it to the gut, where they can cause pain and irritation, including a persistent cough. Three people in Chile coughed up still-living worms after becoming infected while eating ceviche, another dish involving raw fish. Medics say at least 700 cases of roundworm infection linked to sushi and sashimi have been reported, as its popularity continues to grow. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 10:08:44|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese health authority said Tuesday that it received reports of three new confirmed COVID-19 cases on the Chinese mainland Monday, and all of them were imported. No new suspected cases or deaths related to the disease were reported Monday, the National Health Commission said in its daily report. The three imported cases were all reported in Shanghai. On Monday, a total of 26 people were discharged from hospital after recovery. As of Monday, the overall confirmed cases on the mainland had reached 83,605, including 297 patients who were still being treated, with three in severe condition. Altogether 78,674 people had been discharged after recovery, and 4,634 had died of the disease, the commission said. With the three new imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, the total number of imported cases was brought to 1,982. Of the imported cases, 1,897 had been discharged from hospital after recovery, and 85 remained hospitalized. No deaths from the imported cases had been reported. The commission said five people, including two from overseas, were still suspected of being infected with the virus. According to the commission, 3,267 close contacts were still under medical observation after 508 people were discharged from medical observation Monday. Also on Monday, five new asymptomatic cases, all from overseas, were reported on the mainland and no asymptomatic cases were re-categorized as confirmed ones. The commission said 110 asymptomatic cases, including 87 from overseas, were still under medical observation. By Monday, 1,521 confirmed cases including eight deaths had been reported in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), 46 confirmed cases in the Macao SAR, and 451 in Taiwan including seven deaths. A total of 1,217 patients in the Hong Kong SAR, 45 in the Macao SAR, and 440 in Taiwan had been discharged from hospitals after recovery. Enditem The COVID-19 pandemic is still with us, and with it some renewed interest in the oft-considered obscure contract provision better known as the force majeure clause. Force majeure clauses are found in a number of agreements from leases, vendor contracts, licensing agreements and of course subcontracts to include those found in government subcontracts. According to Blacks Law Dictionary (yes there is a dictionary just for lawyers), the term force majeure comes from the French phrase meaning superior or irresistible force. Many have referred to this type of clause as an Act of God clause. And, of course, Blacks defines that as well: An act occasioned exclusively by violence of nature without the interference of any human agency. In plain English, a force majeure in a contractual sense is where an extraordinary or unforeseeable event beyond the control of one party prevents it from performing the contract. Put another way, if that event occurs, it may alter the contractual parties obligations. Although there can be dozens of circumstances or events that may constitute a force majeure event, typical examples include war, riots, earthquakes, weather events, labor strikes, and of course epidemics. Depending on its specific language, force majeure language may allow for delay in performance or excused performance, either partially or completely. Or it may provide a party the ability to outright terminate the contract. The latter remedy is less common. Usually the force majeure clause will buy some time that is, allow for a delay of performance or a slip in a delivery schedule. It typically is not (but can be) a get out of jail free card in terms of overall performance obligations. Ive seen many a lawyer and contract manager just skip these clauses as not worthy of review because, well, what are the chances that the Almighty will reign down with a seismic disaster, a devastating tsunami or a global pandemic? But in the world of COVID, which apparently is not going away anytime soon, we are now paying more attention to this language. So, tying this in to the GovCon world, you wont see a classic force majeure clause in a government prime contract. (And if you do let me know and Ill retire after 35 years on the job not seeing one). These clauses are normally found in subcontracts and other commercial agreements such as vendor agreements, leases and some consulting and professional services agreements, among others. For something at least conceptually similar in Government prime contracts look for the standard (and mandatory) FAR 52.249-14 clause, also known as the Excusable Delays Clause or EDC. The EDC, which is used for cost reimbursement, time-and-materials and labor-hour type contracts, provides that contract performance delays may be excusable if they are beyond the control and without the fault or negligence of the contractor. The clause uses the following examples: (1) acts of God or of the public enemy, (2) acts of the Government in either its sovereign or contractual capacity, (3) fires, (4) floods, (5) epidemics, (6) quarantine restrictions, (7) strikes, (8) freight embargoes, and (9) unusually severe weather. Is the COVID-19 pandemic an event that would trigger this clause? I doubt this has been an issue fully tested in the courts but consider this: an epidemic (covered by the EDC) is defined as a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time. A pandemic is that same infectious disease prevalent over a whole country or the world. So, a pandemic is an epidemic on steroids. You bet it triggers the EDC, or at least it should. But whether COVID-19 is a qualifying event under a commercial force majeure clause and if so how it affects future contract performance depends on the particular language of that clause, and how that clause squares with other clauses included in the subcontract or other agreement. The best tip here is to carefully review your subcontract agreements to assure that (as a prime) your subcontractor is not able to completely escape its performance obligations under a broad force majeure clause and that (as a sub) your rights are spelled out in the event that performance may be delayed or subject to outright termination under such a clause. The bottom line is that, especially with COVID, conflicting provisions in any agreement are a recipe for litigation. A few other things to consider about the EDC and its comparison with the commercially drafted force majeure clause: First, the EDC provides that the contractor (or subcontractor) will not be in default where a failure of timely performance is caused by any of the above-stated (or perhaps similar) events. Thus, it allows a delay in performance; it does not excuse performance itself. It can, however, be the basis of a later claim against the government for delay-related costs incurred. Also, a prime contractor cannot invoke this clause if it or its subcontractor has defaulted for other reasons. Second, considering the limited reach of the EDC, it may be ill-advised for a Government prime contractor to allow for a subcontract force majeure provision that may be interpreted to excuse performance or allow termination of the subcontract due to a force majeure event, like COVID-19, while the prime can only delay performance under the EDC. A subcontract may (and Ive seen more than a few that do) contain a broad force majeure clause while at the same time incorporating the EDC, causing the subcontract to contain conflicting and potentially ambiguous language, especially if the subcontract contains no order of precedent provision that elevates incorporated FAR clauses over conflicting subcontract language. Third, in any proposed agreement containing a force majeure clause, it is prudent to review it carefully to determine whether it serves your particular business interests. There may (and I underscore may) be a situation where a subcontractor should seek a robust force majeure clause that provides more protection than the EDC, such as one that may provide for a contract revision or termination. This may be especially warranted where a particular extraordinary event like COVID or any similar event will completely prevent performance or delivery by the subcontractor, or where the non-occurrence of such an event is a basic assumption upon which the agreement was made. That will depend on the circumstances of the subcontract and its deliverables. But in the end consider the fairness of that when the prime is stuck with the more limited EDC and may be on the hook if the subcontractor fails completely to perform. Finally, there are some common-law (i.e., the ones made by the courts) remedies that may be available even absent a force majeure clause, such as frustration, impracticality or impossibility of performance. These issues are way beyond the scope of this commentary but suffice it to say that they are not a simple as they sound and their application can be limited. With COVID-19, force majeure clauses are now getting their just due. Just as your business is nuanced, there are a number of different force majeure clause variations. In fact, there are more variations of these clauses than opinions on wearing PPE to prevent COVID. Stay safe. By calling Chinas claims to off-shore resources in South China Sea (SCS) unlawful and championing a free and open Indo-Pacific, the United States has reversed its perceived isolationist policy and has reaffirmed its strong commitment to its ASEAN partners and key allies Japan and Australia. The statement on US Position on Maritime Claims in South China Sea by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo comes at a time when two US nuclear powered aircraft carriers - Nimitz and Ronald Reagan - with 120 fighters are exercising in South China Sea. The two super carriers are openly challenging the unproven might of PLA Navy by exercising near Paracel Islands off the Vietnam coast and north of Chinese nuclear submarine base at Hainan Islands. Secretary of State Pompeos statement is not only a demonstration of enormous political will of US to stand by its allies in Indo-Pacific region but also reinforcement of SCS frontline. The statement has turned the perception that Trump administration was only inward looking and isolationist on its head. By spelling out its SCS position in black and white, it is a doctrinal recommitment from the American side to this region. It indicates that US is standing firmly with its allies like Philippines and Vietnam and recognising the claims of Indonesia and Malaysia against Chinese bullying in the area, said a China watcher. Pompeo rejects Chinas SCS claims World wont allow Beijing to treat South China Sea as its maritime empire US stands with Southeast Asian allies to protect their rights Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them There are clear cases where China is claiming sovereignty over areas that no country can lawfully claim Pompeos statement is a shift from previous US policy that asked all sides to resolve disputes peacefully The US statement that Xi Jinpings predatory world view has no place in 21st century comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his July 3 Ladakh speech made it clear that there was no space for expansionist regimes and future only belonged to those who believed in development. The Indian position of free and open South China Sea also synergises with Secretary Pompeos statement on Indo-Pacific. India is expected to expand on its view about right to free navigation when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte visits New Delhi later this year as his March trip had to be postponed due to coronavirus global pandemic. The US statement has revived the Arbitration Tribunal at Hague rejection of Chinas SCS claims on July 12, 2016. To remind China of its hubris, Secretary Pompeo has recalled a 2010 statement of then Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who told his ASEAN counterparts that it was a fact that China is a big country and others are just small. The US has openly taken sides with Philippines on Scarborough Reef, Spratly Islands, Mischief Reef and second Thomas Shoal and called the Chinese claims unlawful and unilateral. The Chinese PLA has virtually declared the SCS as its backyard by contesting claims with ASEAN countries and exploiting the exclusive economic zone by simply bullying these countries militarily into submission. Beijing has also used its closeness with Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to ensure nothing adverse comes out against China in the so-called Asian tiger forum. Secretary Pompeo has totally rejected Chinas claim over James Shoal near Malaysia and made it clear that the world will not allow Beijing to treat South China Sea as its maritime empire. The US SCS statement has not only challenged China but also given steel injection of support to countries like Japan, Australia and South Korea, who haver decided to look the other way to Beijings expansion in the past. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Jaipur: After sacking Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, two other ministers, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra here on Tuesday (July 14) and submitted the proposal to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM, and Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena as ministers. The Rajasthan Governor accepted Gehlot's proposal with immediate effect. Talking to media persons, Ashok Gehlot said that there is nothing in Sachin Pilot's hands, it is the BJP which is running the show, adding "BJP has arranged that resort and they are managing everything. The same team which worked in Madhya Pradesh is at work here." Gehlot said that "the party High command was compelled to take the decision because since a long time BJP was conspiring and resorting to horse-trading." The Rajasthan CM further said "I have not complained against them, the party was forced to remove them because their attitude was not good for the past six months," adding "We knew it was a big conspiracy, and now some of our friends went astray because of it and went to Delhi." Earlier in the day, the Congress sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief, besides removing his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. The decision was taken after a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting at the Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara will be the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. Surjewala said Sachin Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy. Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks, said Oliver Dowden, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. (Photo | AFP) London: Huawei will be completely removed from the UKs 5G networks by the end of 2027, the UK government announced on Tuesday after a review by the countrys National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the impact of US sanctions against the Chinese telecommunications giant. In the lead up to this complete removal of all Huawei kit from UK networks, there will be a total ban on the purchase of any new 5G kit after December 31, 2020. The decision was taken at a meeting of the UKs National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in response to new US sanctions against the telecom major imposed in May which removed the firms access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. 5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon, said Oliver Dowden, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks. No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK, he said. The minister, who laid out the details of the UKs ban on Huawei in the House of Commons, said the government will now seek to legislate with a new Telecoms Security Bill to put in place the powers necessary to implement the tough new telecoms security framework. By the time of the next election (2024) we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks, said Dowden. The new law will give the government the national security powers to impose these new controls on high risk vendors and create extensive security duties on network operators to drive up standards, DCMS said. Technical experts at the NCSC reviewed the consequences of the US sanctions and concluded that Huawei will need to do a major reconfiguration of its supply chain as it will no longer have access to the technology on which it currently relies and there are no alternatives which we have sufficient confidence in. They found the new restrictions make it impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future. After a ban on the purchase of new Huawei kit for 5G from next year, the aim is to completely remove the Chinese vendors influence on 5G networks across the UK by the end of 2027. The DCMS said Tuesdays decision takes into account the UKs specific national circumstances and how the risks from these sanctions are manifested in the country. The existing restrictions on Huawei in sensitive and critical parts of the network remain in place, it highlighted. The DCMS said the US action also affects Huawei products used in the UKs full fibre broadband networks. However, the UK has managed Huaweis presence in the UKs fixed access networks since 2005 and we also need to avoid a situation where broadband operators are reliant on a single supplier for their equipment. As a result, following security advice from experts, DCMS is advising full fibre operators to transition away from purchasing new Huawei equipment. A technical consultation will determine the transition timetable, but it is expect this period to last no longer than two years. The government said its new approach strikes the right balance by recognising full fibres established presence and supporting the connections that the public relies on, while fully addressing the security concerns. It stressed that its new policy in relation to high risk vendors has not been designed around one company, one country or one threat but as an enduring and flexible policy that will enable the UK to manage the risks to the network, now and in the future. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. As factories start bringing back workers laid off at the beginning of the pandemic, some are retooling to meet coronavirus-related demands. Designetics, a firm near Toledo, Ohio, that makes windshield coating systems, now has about half its 73 workers trained to make custom protective barriers to prevent coronavirus transmission. The switch started when a local hospital asked for a particular size barrier for ultrasound sessions with expectant mothers. Orders flowed in from grocery stores, restaurants and beauty salons. Even a Tucson, Ariz., art gallery ordered transparent barriers to keep its artwork visible. "It's really the big thing right now," said Designetics President Sydney Spraw. "It's been a nice addition to what we've lost on the automotive side." While the company still ships its windshield coating system to more than 60 countries, that part of the business has become unpredictable, Spraw said. "You can make something and ship it and then the country closes down and it can't be delivered because there's literally nobody there to accept it," Spraw said. "Or the delivery person refused to be screened so they won't accept it. That's happened. We have to switch to a different service." Manufacturing jobs nationwide are starting to come back from their pandemic nosedive. Falling by more than 1.3 million between February and April, they hit 11.4 million, the lowest number since March 2010, after the Great Recession. Manufacturing jobs increased in May and June by about 700,000, but remain 6 percent below the same point in 2019 about the level they were five years ago as the recovery took hold, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Other factory layoffs could still be coming as a result of new shutdowns in response to the latest wave of coronavirus cases. For instance, the Wisconsin-based small engine manufacturer Briggs & Stratton recently announced 228 layoffs plus 120 more by its supplier Adecco USA, effective in August, citing the pandemic's effect on its lawnmower and pressure washer business. Some states are trying to boost manufacturing job numbers by helping factories reach out to potential customers of barriers, masks and other personal protective equipment, or PPE. California helped create an online marketplace for that purpose in June, and similar markets were set up with state help in Missouri, Indiana and Ohio. Those states are some of the most dependent on manufacturing jobs. California has the largest number of manufacturing jobs, while those in Indiana make up the largest share of total jobs, 20 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. States are easing the path in other ways, too. As manufacturers look to make protective equipment on the side, many are worried about liability, said Linda Kelly, general counsel for the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group. "You now have digital printing facilities making face shields, or textile makers that now make masks and gowns," Kelly said. "If I'm making something I've never made before, am I going to be held to some obscure standard when I'm just trying to step up and do the right thing in an emergency?" At least eight states have passed laws or issued an executive order to limit liability during the pandemic, and three more are considering it. Iowa, where 17 percent of jobs are in manufacturing, behind only Indiana and Wisconsin, enacted a law in June shielding manufacturers of coronavirus-related protective equipment from personal injury or death lawsuits unless they're based on "recklessness or willful misconduct." Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Indiana has had many factory layoffs in the automotive industry. Pittsburgh Glass Works in Evansville, a subsidiary of Vitro Automotive, brought its 360 workers back in May after an eight-week coronavirus hiatus, only to notify them the same week that the plant had to close permanently at the end of the year. Its parent company cited oversupply in the market. Automotive manufacturers across the country, including makers of parts and supplies, are having the most trouble bouncing back. Jobs in that sector dropped by 40 percent or about 580,000 jobs between March and April, and increased by about 35,000 in May as some automakers started adding shifts again, according to a Stateline analysis of Current Population Survey data provided by the University of Minnesota. The slight improvement in automotive jobs will be hard to sustain because there's a worldwide glut of unsold cars, said William Spriggs, chief economist for the AFL-CIO and a former assistant labor secretary in the Obama administration. "The drop in demand has been more precipitous than the Great Recession," Spriggs said. "Unlike the Great Recession, the headwinds now are more like a hurricane." Ford Motor Company has called for a federal "cash for clunkers" program, similar to one in California begun in 2009 to get old cars off the road and boost demand. But that's not going to help much if other countries start dumping unsold cars in the United States, seeking better returns from the strong U.S. dollar, Spriggs said. At the same time, bankrupt Hertz put its fleet on the used-car market. States and cities will add to the glut when budget cutbacks force them to stop buying new cars for their own fleets, he added. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:50:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed deep concern over reports of deadly clashes along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, said his spokesman. The secretary-general called for an immediate end to the fighting and called on all involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric, Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. In the clashes on Sunday and Monday, four Azerbaijani soldiers were killed and at least two Armenian police officers were wounded, according to the defense authorities of the two countries. Guterres has taken note of Monday's statement by France, Russia and the United States, co-chairs of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Minsk Group, and reiterated his full support for their efforts to address this dangerous situation and search for a peaceful and negotiated settlement to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Dujarric said. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh since 1988. Despite a cease-fire in 1994, occasional minor clashes continued. The latest clashes, in which heavy weaponry was reportedly used, occurred outside Nagorno-Karabakh. Enditem "In this current business climate, companies need to look at all avenues for growth, and offering opportunities to these students leads to collaboration that can move companies forward, while developing the next wave of entrepreneurs." In the face of continued economic uncertainty, Rev1 Ventures, the startup studio that combines capital and strategic services, is sharing successes and lessons learned from its newly launched Innovation Internship Program. This summer, 40 college students and recent grads were placed as virtual interns supporting Rev1s startup clients, giving young people a chance to get their feet wet with startups. With grant support from the Ohio Third Frontier, Rev1 launched the Innovation Internship Program to its portfolio of entrepreneurs in March, in hopes of providing a spark of young talent to its clients, while fostering interest in the Midwest startup scene among nascent professionals. In this current business climate, companies need to look at all avenues for growth, and offering opportunities to these students leads to collaboration that can move companies forward, while developing the next wave of entrepreneurs, said Dionnica Gaston, Director of Talent, Rev1 Ventures. Our goal out of the gate this year was to establish a strong program known for the quality of its instruction, hands-on experience and unmatched networking connections, all while ensuring the effectiveness of a virtual program. The foundation of Rev1s program is to create valuable work experiences while fostering pathways into entrepreneurship. Interns report to senior leadership teams in industries ranging from IT to BioSciences to AgTech. The programs comprehensive scope ranges from interviewing, hiring and onboarding tutorials for startups to intern workshops covering networking, career assessment and finding a mentor. As a result, Rev1 Ventures has gathered valuable understanding of best practices and tips for entrepreneurs running an internship program: 1. Invest the Time. Great reward comes from much effort. Companies must be willing to devote significant time to building and maintaining an internship program. Unlike professional hires, most college interns are unaccustomed to a corporate position. They require more hands-on management from end-to-end. Set aside recurring meetings between senior leadership and interns to review work and brainstorm ideas for projects beneficial to the company. Use this opportunity to teach, lead, and model. 2. Consider Going Virtual: During a time when many internship programs are being cut, Rev1 accelerated efforts to place young talent with startups by leveraging a virtual program. While a virtual work environment is now commonplace, the flexibility (and safety) of this structure enables companies to recruit internship candidates from anywhere. It can also help teams learn ways to maximize the capabilities of remote working since young people often bring new ideas for the latest tools that can be used. That said, going virtual requires more preparation and connectivity to bridge the gap. 3. Chart the Course Early. Nothing is worse than scurrying for an assignment once the intern is onsite. Not only is it awkward for the intern who is there to work, but most importantly, it is a waste of resources, both professional time and budget. Before interns arrive, set aside engaging and useful projects for them to accomplish. Make sure there are multiple assignments that utilize a variety of skills. Ideally, interns will have completed a portfolio of work at the end of the summer. 4. Over Communicate No, Really. Communication has never been so crucial as the current situation in which so many are working from home and will continue to do so. Defined expectations, processes and deliverables create a pathway to greater results. Be available to answer questions that arise. Establish the best ways to interact with interns: email, face-to-face, text, phone, or Slack and be open to modifying your preferences. Schedule frequent touchpoints to keep each intern engaged. Monitor progress and provide praise as well as feedback for growth. 5. Listen and Learn. Summer is short, so building a relationship quickly makes a difference. Find out what interests them in the work and non-work worlds. Ask interns for opinions on big questions facing the company; most of them are likely to be members of Gen Z, a crucial segment from everything from purchasing power to election swings. Theyre the leaders of tomorrow - dont waste their valuable insights. 6. Evaluate and Improve. At the end of the program be sure to gather 360 degree feedback from both interns and their managers. Gen Z is known as a group whose opinions are driving the future. Their fresh ideas may provide perspective that those too close to a business may not see. Plus honest reflection gives companies a way to determine whether internship programs are a good fit and, if so, how they can be perfected year after year. Internship programs can be a springboard for both young professionals and the companies that hire them. Rev1s portfolio has already seen tremendous benefit from the program. As we navigate the ever-changing business climate right now, it is hugely beneficial to have eager students on board to support our needs, said Jeff Schumann, CEO of Aware, a security intelligence platform. Our interns have already made an impact and we see this as a win-win for both of us. For more information, visit http://www.rev1ventures.com. About Rev1 Ventures Rev1 Ventures is the startup studio that combines capital and strategic services to help startups scale and corporates innovate. Based in the Midwest, and in the number one city for scaling startups, Rev1 aligns innovators and founders with corporate and research partners to access customers and markets, helping entrepreneurs build great companies. With a proven track record of identifying, guiding, and investing in high potential startups, Rev1 helps companies solve real problems for markets in need of real solutions. Rev1 has $100MM in capital under management, providing a capital continuum from corporate and community partners, as well as the Ohio Third Frontier. Rev1 is the most active seed investor in Ohio for the past six years, according to PitchBook. For more information, visit http://www.rev1ventures.com. By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 13, 2020 | 10:49 PM | CALLOWAY COUNTY On Sunday, Calloway County Dispatch received a call from Graves County Dispatch, warning them of a pursuit involving Graves County deputies and a motorcycle heading into Calloway County. Calloway deputies joined the pursuit at Highway 464 and McCallon Mills Road. The pursuit continued onto Highway 299, then Lawson Road. On Jones Sparkman Road, deputies said the driver did not have brake lights and locked his brakes attempting a turn. A Calloway deputy wasn't able to completely stop, and reportedly hit the back tire of the motorcycle. The driver allegedly fled onto Old Lynn Grove Road and crashed into a ditch, then fled on foot. The man, identified as Derek Brown of Mayfield, was taken into custody a short time later. Deputies reportedly found 15.7 grams of methamphetamine and $4,272 in cash. Brown was taken to the Murray Calloway County Hospital for treatment of possible injuries. He was released a short time later and lodged in the Calloway County Jail. He is charged with speeding 26 miles per hour or more over the speed limit, first degree fleeing or evading in a vehicle, first degree fleeing or evading on foot, first degree wanton endangerment, second degree criminal mischief, first degree trafficking in a controlled substance (methamphetamine) second offense, driving on a dui suspended license first offense, disregarding a stop sign, failure to use proper signals, no brake lights, and failure to maintain insurance. A Mayfield man faces numerous charges after a high-speed motorcycle pursuit through Graves and Calloway counties. The painful experience of losing two babies, both in the first trimester of pregnancy, made Joy and Murray Webb determined to help others. At such a traumatic time, parents are faced with purchasing a coffin, which can cost around $500, Joy says. Theyve just set up things at home and purchased things for the baby and, for many, a nice coffin can be unaffordable, adding extra stress. Five years ago, Joy and Murray started a charitable group that builds, decorates and donates baby coffins to North Shore and Waitakere hospitals. The coffins come in four sizes and are made available to grieving parents free of charge. Murray, who is used to building work, makes the solid wooden boxes and the couple sand and paint them. Other volunteers then make the interior lining and decorate the lids with artwork. One volunteer who has been with the organisation since its early days is Lorraine Sanders of Orewa. Lorraine is a retired curtain maker who makes the mattresses by hand, using the wadding from inside old duvets donated by friends. The mattresses are made of beautiful fabric such as satin sometimes from donated wedding dresses. Lorraine says she got involved with the Waitakere Baby Coffin Club because she had always wanted to be part of creating her own coffin. She came around to our place and we measured her up, Joy says. Lorraines coffin, made by Murray, now sits in pride of place in her bedroom, covered with cushions so that it looks like a window seat. She made her own lining and is decorating her coffin with her life history, including memories from her 25 years as a Girl Guide volunteer. A couple of years ago, the group provided North Shore Hospital with 115 coffins and were told that more were needed. Joy says they are trying to produce around 100 a year, but it takes at least a week to make one from start to finish. Quality is very important, as well as attention to detail. We put a lot of love in every one, Joy says. Currently, the work is shared between nine members who are scattered around the Rodney, Hibiscus Coast and Waitakere regions. Mitre 10 New Lynn donates the wood but more sponsors are welcome. The demand is great and we need more members, particularly skilled chippies, Joy says. Info: email joymarywebb@gmail.com (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Sometimes, when Im particularly discouraged about how the U.S. is losing the battle against the coronavirus, I daydream about how much better off wed be if Gina Raimondo, the hard-charging two-term governor of Rhode Island, were the one leading the nations response to the pandemic instead of Mike Pence. She has wrestled Covid-19 to the ground in her state and demonstrated ideas and resolve that could help guide the rest of the country in moving forward. As a native Rhode Islander, I had long admired her penchant for solving difficult problems. Raimondo, the co-founder of Rhode Islands first venture capital firm, entered politics in 2010 when she ran for state treasurer. Why treasurer? Because, she once told me, she felt that her negotiating and business skills might allow her help fix the public employee pension system, which was both woefully underfunded and taking an increasing portion of the states budget. She was right. In 2012, her pension-reform plan passed the legislature with bipartisan support and helped pave the way to her run for governor. The coronavirus crisis wasnt exactly something Raimondo or any other governor planned for. But it very much played to her strengths. She believes that you gather good information wherever you can find it; not invented here is not in her vocabulary. Thus she studied countries such as South Korea and New Zealand, which had early successes against the coronavirus, and adopted their strategies as her own. If she had been in charge of a national effort, the country would already have a much better testing system. I had this moment of clarity very early on, at 2 a.m. when I was working in my home alone, she told Politico last week. Theres no way you can outrun this thing. You have to stay a step ahead. Thats when we said we need aggressive testing, very aggressive contact tracing and social distancing. We came to the realization earlier than some other places, because it seemed like the only way to keep a lid on the virus. Story continues Then she would have and these are her words, describing what the president should have done immediately gotten CEOs into the Oval Office early in the year, and used the Defense Production Act to mobilize all the best of what America has to offer innovation, testing, PPE, medical products. But with the White House missing in action, she had to figure out how to mobilize with the resources available to her. April was rough for Rhode Island, just as it was for other Northeastern states like Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. New positive cases peaked on April 27, with 430, with a 7-day average of 15 deaths a day. By then, she recognized the importance that private industry can play in combating the pandemic. She persuaded CVS, the states largest employer, to partner with Rhode Island in making tests widely available. She employed the National Guard to set up drive-through test sites across the state. (Rhode Island has tested 25% of its population.) Then she did something else that showed her willingness to come up with bold solutions to combat the pandemic. She reached out to Marc Benioff, the chief executive officer of Salesforce.com Inc., a man shed never met before. Raimondo realized that Salesforces bread and butter customer relationship management software could be adapted easily to conduct significant contact tracing. One Friday night in April, she cold-called Benioff. God bless him, she told Politico, they sent a whole team of people to Rhode Island, virtually, for free, and helped us build software for our contact tracers. She added, Im comfortable with calling business leaders and asking them to pitch in, and I knew technology was going to be vital. Benioff told me that hes never met a politician like Raimondo before. This is not a hands-off executive, he told me. She was in the middle of everything supervising the technology, constantly calling and texting me to tell me what needed to be changed. He added, She had a lot of clarity. The software was her inspiration. So she helped design the contact tracing tool? I asked him. No, he replied with a laugh. She designed it. Salesforce has since commercialized the technology and launched Work.com, a platform designed to help companies and other institutions mitigate the spread of the virus when offices begin to reopen. I was at a school yesterday, Benioff said. Schools are going to have to use this tool. What happens when someone in the school tests positive? You need to know where that person was yesterday and who they were in contact with. In other words, the governor of Rhode Island has been instrumental in developing a piece of software that is going to play a vital role in helping the U.S. get back on its feet. And you wonder why I imagine where we would be now if she had been the countrys lead pandemic-fighter? In the Politico interview, Raimondo talked about how important it was not be swayed by criticism that, for instance, she was violating freedoms by insisting that people wear masks. I felt so responsible to minimize the loss of life, she said. So the criticism never had any impact on me. I knew how bad this could get. Geographically, of course, Little Rhody is the smallest state in the U.S. Its population is a hair over 1 million. One could argue that it was easier to contain the pandemic in Rhode Island than in other parts of the country. But remember, all the nearby states were getting clobbered. And Raimondo couldnt stop people from other states from coming to Rhode Island, the way Jacinda Ardern could temporarily seal New Zealands borders. (Remember Raimondos dust-up with Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York when she threatened to quarantine anybody coming from New York? Raimondo backed down.) Besides, there are other states with as few or fewer residents than Rhode Island Alaska, North Dakota, Delaware that are experiencing a surge in positive cases now. Meanwhile, the 7-day average for Covid-19 deaths in Rhode Island has dropped to two. There are currently 4 people in ICU beds. Raimondo has now turned her attention to the next big task: making sure that the states public schools can open safely in the fall. Its a lot of detail-oriented issues, a lot more testing and tracing, mask wearing for older kids, a lot of creativity around transportation, a lot more Plexiglas, she said. She is devoting $50 million to the effort. Other states with brewing battles among parents, teachers and politicians about plans to open schools could do worse than look to how Raimondo is handling it. Raimondo is said to be among the women Joe Biden is considering as his running mate. (George Will is among those promoting her candidacy.) In terms of star power or geography, she wouldnt add much to the ticket. But she has something the country truly needs now something that its yearning for as it muddles through this crisis. She is supremely competent. And competence is what its going to take to finally beat this virus. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Joe Nocera is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business. He has written business columns for Esquire, GQ and the New York Times, and is the former editorial director of Fortune. His latest project is the Bloomberg-Wondery podcast "The Shrink Next Door." 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. Lady Amelia Windsor showcased her fashion prowess in a very colourful tie-dye dress when stepping out in Notting Hill yesterday. The royal, 24, who is 39th in line to the British throne, appears to have returned to her London home after spending lockdown at her parents' Cambridge property. Looking ready for summer, Lady Amelia paired her eye-catching, thin strap frock with an oversized straw beach bag. Lady Amelia Windsor showcased her fashion prowess in a very colourful tie-dye dress (pictured) when stepping out in Notting Hill yesterday The royal (pictured), 24, who is 39th in line to the British throne, appears to have returned to her London home after spending lockdown at her parents' Cambridge property She completed her trendy ensemble with a pair of brown ankle boots, which left her toned legs on show. Adding a little glitz to her low-key outfit, Lady Amelia donned a gold chain as well as a matching necklace, featuring different coloured stones. The royal also opted for two bracelets of beaded crystals, while her other wrist sported a dark blue scrunchy. Looking ready for summer, Lady Amelia (above) paired her eye-catching, thin strap frock with an oversized straw beach bag Adding a little glitz to her low-key outfit, Lady Amelia (pictured) donned a gold chain as well as a matching necklace, featuring different coloured stones The royal (above) also opted for two bracelets of beaded crystals, while her other wrist sported a dark blue scrunchy Holding both a reusable coffee cup and her phone in one hand, Lady Amelia complemented her casual attire with a low-fuss hairdo, opting to leave her blonde locks down. The royal, who graduated with a degree in Italian and French from the University of Edinburgh last year, is the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent. She is regularly snapped out and about in her local neighbourhood of Notting Hill, where she enjoys a vast-array of hobbies including pottery and ballet classes. Holding both a reusable coffee cup and her phone in one hand, Lady Amelia (pictured) complemented her casual attire with a low-fuss hairdo The royal (pictured), who graduated with a degree in Italian and French from the University of Edinburgh last year, is the granddaughter of the Duke of Kent Lady Amelia has a blossoming following of 83,700 followers on Instagram, where she regularly posts snaps from glamorous fashion events, as well as her adventures exploring trendy parts of the capital. Despite backlash over Londoners escaping to visit their second homes at the start of the UK's coronavirus-related lockdown, Lady Amelia fled to her parents' home in Cambridge in late March. She shared a snap of the city dated 23 March, a week after the government advised against all non-essential travel and fears mounted that capital dwellers could be spreading the disease across the country. Despite backlash over Londoners escaping to visit their second homes at the start of the UK's coronavirus-related lockdown, Lady Amelia fled to her parents' home in Cambridge in late March. Pictured: A snap of the area, shared by the royal to her Instagram in April Lady Amelia also revealed in April, that she invested in a multi-coloured tie dye face mask (above) while in lockdown, and encouraged her fans to 'support small businesses' during the pandemic Lady Amelia also revealed in April, that she invested in a multi-coloured tie dye face mask while in lockdown, and encouraged her fans to 'support small businesses' during the pandemic. Posting on her Instagram stories, she wrote that it was an 'opportunity to support small businesses who are also donating to key workers.' She went on to tag the brand Florence Bridge in her post, writing: 'Beautiful face masks, with 50 per cent going to @fuelourfrontline.' By Peter Nurse Investing.com - European stock markets traded sharply lower Tuesday, with weak U.K. economic data adding to concerns about the U.S. economy after California reversed much of its reopening in response to rising Covid-19 cases. At 3:45 AM ET (0745 GMT), the DAX in Germany traded 1.8% lower and the U.K.'s FTSE index was down 1%. France was on holiday, celebrating Bastille Day. The British economy grew 1.8% in May, a slight rebound after the deep fall caused by the coronavirus shutdown, but much weaker than the expansion of 5.5% widely expected. Despite the reopening of construction and manufacturing, the U.K.'s May GDP figures were underwhelming to say the least, said analyst James Smith at ING in a research note. Admittedly this is 'old news' now, and we should see a sharper rebound in June and July. But it does serve as a reminder that economic recovery from Covid-19 is going to be very protracted. In corporate news, HelloFresh (DE:HFGG) stock rose 4% as the German meal kit provider reported a surge in demand during the lockdown period. Staying with food, U.K. online retailer Ocado (LON:OCDO) stock fell 3.7% despite reporting 27% growth in revenue and a narrower pretax loss in its first-half report. The stock has almost doubled in value since early March. Elsewhere, industrial technology group Hexagon (ST:HEXAb) jumped 5% after forecasting second-quarter profit above market expectations. The Covid-19 virus continues to wreak havoc. The total number of cases has climbed over 13 million cases globally, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, surging by a million in five days. In the U.S., the most populous state California reshuttered bars and ordered restaurants and movie theaters to cease indoor operations. The move is the clearest signal yet that the worlds economic driver will have to reimpose economically damaging measures to bring the spread of the virus back under control. Eyes will turn later in the session to the start of the U.S. earnings season, with big banks beginning to report second-quarter results. FactSet expects S&P 500 companies in general to report a 10% drop in revenue and a 45% drop in earnings in the quarter. Story continues Oil prices weakened sharply on the Californian news, ahead of a meeting of OPECs technical staff on Tuesday and Wednesday. The meeting is expected to recommend the group and its allies, including Russia, stick with the current plan to taper its record supply cut of 9.7 million barrels per day to 7.7 million barrels a day from August. American Petroleum Institute inventory data are also due later. At 3:45 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 2% lower at $39.30 a barrel, while Brent fell 1.6% to $42.03. Elsewhere, gold futures fell 0.7% to $1,801.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded at 1.1333, down 0.1%. Related Articles China says to sanction Lockheed Martin over Taiwan arms sale Chongqing city district says it discussed projects with Tesla Nokia rolls out software upgrade to 5G Protesters take a knee and raise their fists during a "Black Lives Matter" demonstration in front of the Brooklyn Library and Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, New York, on June 5, 2020. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images) Our Educational System Makes US Land of Useful Idiots Commentary When I was young and just arrived in Los Angeles to make my way in the movie business, a friend, a recent graduate of UCLA film school, was writing a screenplay improbably entitled Stalins Children. It was a sympathetic view of the struggles of the young people of that time (196970) still devoted to Comrade Stalin, if you can believe that. (Well, maybe now you can.) Not surprisingly, the script was unreadable and I dont recall making it beyond page 10, but Ive been thinking about it recently for its prescience. The author was no threat to John Huston or Francis Ford Coppola, to put it mildly, but he was a progenitor of something relatively rare in those days but becoming pervasive today: the useful idiot, American style. Sometimes attributed to V.I. Lenin, useful idiot is a term of murky provenance. Nevertheless, its meaning is clear: an ill-informed, easily gulled individual, often of the bourgeoisie, who can be manipulated by the left to support their most nefarious and bloody causes. These days, useful idiots are all around us. The seemingly-endless proliferation of unquestioning followers of Black Lives Matters is an obvious example. You would think this would have been executed with some stealth, but that wasnt necessary for the ultra-naive useful idiots whose cluelessness knows no bounds. BLM isnt a covert communist organization, its an overt one. Its leadership advertises itself as trained Marxists (their words). One of their leaders recently proudly took no sides on the violent destruction and escalating black-on-black murder going on across the country, tantamount to giving it all a nod of approval. Of perhaps greater importance, ultimately, much of their significant financial support comes via Susan Rosenberg, a convicted domestic terrorist and wannabe cop killer once allied with the Weathermen whose near-life sentence was commuted by Bill Clinton on the last day of his presidency. Ironically, along with the traditional communist crowd, some white (but no black) Democratic politicians are also raking it in from BLM fundraising. Its interesting who profits from Black Lives Matter. But almost no one seems to care, useful idiots especially. (One of the rare exceptions being whoever just sprayed the Fifth Avenue Black Lives Matter mural with deserved red paint.) But nobody can care if nobody knows, or even begins to understand, what is happening to them. The cause of this extraordinary naivety is our wretched educational system, which teaches nothing, while it endlessly inculcates leftist cant into the minds of our innocent youth. We are a nation of useful idiots because of that system that gets worse, more extremely biased, every year. In fact, our educational system is a useful idiot manufacturing machine. This machine has worked for years in a top-down manner. As our most renowned colleges and universities became progressively leftist in faculties and administrationsmore than 90 percent of professors are now Democrats, mostly left Democratsso naturally do their students follow suit, almost all of whom have become indoctrinated by the system to one degree or another from the first week of their freshman years. Of course, they want to please their professors, get a good grade, and so forth. And the courses they are taking in the first place are almost always rigged for indoctrination. (Go and look at the required general education courses of almost any university if you think Im exaggerating.) These same students go on to teach at other, sometimes less prominent, colleges and universities, but also at our elementary, middle, and high schools, even at our kindergartens and nursery schools, forming a perfect system of uniform bias. Nothing is questioned. Little is examined. We have endless diversity classes and administrators, but whats known as viewpoint diversity (diversity of ideas) has virtually disappeared. We are a capitalist society with a socialist educational system. (Stalins Children, but not in a movie. In life.) No wonder so few look under the hood at what makes Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and their allies tick, what their real intentions are. (Its certainly not saving black lives. So many are dying, its hard to keep up.) This indoctrination lingers on after college, enhanced by the media and by increasingly timid corporations worshipping at the altar of political correctness. No one is encouraged to think for themselves. Its too risky. The free mind has been captured and imprisoned, ironically, by their schooling, the very thing that was supposed to liberate it. For now, the excessive violence and destruction coupled with absurd socialist legislation that could have been written in Caracas may prevent the left from assuming immediate power and keep Trump in office for one more term. But give this educational system a few more years (with most of the GOP continuing to behave like court eunuchs) and we will be past the point of no return. We will fully be a nation of useful idiots. No matter who wins the election, whats needed now is a movement to take the schools back from the teachers unions, the politicians, and the so-called educational experts and return them to the people they are meant fortheir consumersthe students and their families. Otherwise, they should be out of business. Roger L. Simon is a prize-winning novelist, Oscar-nominated screenwriter, and the co-founder of PJ Media. His most recent books are I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasnt Already (non-fiction) and The GOAT (fiction). Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:33:22|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Matthew Rusling WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Some U.S. media has reported that the United States and Israel are involved in a joint strategy to conduct clandestine strikes on Iran's nukes sites and carry out hits on certain generals. It remains unclear if this assertion from a recent New York Times report is accurate. But if it is, that could lead to increased ire between Washington and Tehran -- at a time when tensions are already running high. Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday said during a press conference that Iran would "react decisively" if it is found that any government was involved in the recent explosion at the country's Natanz nuclear facility. Speculation is rife over who masterminded the strike, and whether the United States or Israel were involved. The New York Times reported Friday that some officials said a "joint American-Israeli strategy was evolving -- some might argue regressing -- to a series of short-of-war clandestine strikes, aimed at taking out the most prominent generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and setting back Iran's nuclear facilities." A fire broke out at a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran city of Mahshahr on Sunday, according to the ISNA news agency. Local officials said the fire was caused by an oil leak and did not lead to casualties and damage. One day before the blaze, a gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, leaving one person injured, the ISNA quoted the city's fire department as saying. While the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has not announced a more aggressive stance against Iran, Brian Hook, the State Department's special envoy for Iran, said last month that "timidity and weakness invite more Iranian aggression." "It sounds plausible," David Pollock, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Xinhua, speaking of the possibility of a U.S.-Israeli joint strategy, such as the one the Times reported. The Stuxnet cyberattack, revealed in 2010, has caused substantial damage to the nuclear program of Iran. Although neither country has openly admitted responsibility, the computer worm is widely believed to be a cyberweapon built jointly by the United States and Israel. Recent attacks are similar to what happened a decade ago with the Stuxnet attack, "so I think that's probably what we're seeing here," Pollock said. Speaking of the recent explosion in the Natanz nuclear facility, Clay Ramsay, an Iran expert at the University of Maryland, citing the possibility of cyberattacks, which means "the source of attacks might be outside Iran." Ramsay said the attacks were probably meant to provoke Iran into an unmeasured response that can then invite retaliation. According to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal reached by relevant countries in Vienna five years ago, Iran, for the next 15 years, would only enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent and could not build any new heavy-water facilities. Iran has always maintained that it abides by the commitments. However, the current U.S. administration announced Washington's withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions against Iran, a widely criticized movement has thwarted other parties' implementation of the agreement and led to continued tension over the Iranian nuclear issue. About 40% of jobs in the U.S. can be done entirely from home, according to an April analysis published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. (That includes teaching, which, the report points out, was generally not thought possible before the pandemic.) Theres been a tendency to lowball what is feasible. Verizon Communications Inc. initially projected about 45,000 of its 120,000 U.S. workers would be able to work from home. By April the actual number was 115,000. Whats become known as WFH is not an option in many blue-collar professions such as construction and agriculture and in lower-paid services such as restaurants and retail another reality highlighted by the pandemic. The disparity played out on an international level, too: NBER researchers found more than 40% of workers could do their jobs from home in the U.K. and Sweden, compared with less than a quarter in Mexico and Turkey. The autocratic regimes in Beijing and Tehran are feeling the heat from Washington. The former is locked in a bitter, damaging trade war with the United States; the latter has seen its country's economy mauled by sanctions reimposed by the Trump administration after it broke from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. But the tariffs and sanctions have yet to yield President Donald Trump the acquiescence from both parties he seeks. And recent developments suggest these two putative American adversaries may be finding greater common cause. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif acknowledged in a parliamentary session that his government is, "with confidence and conviction," in negotiations with China over a 25-year strategic partnership that could involve about $400 billion in Chinese investment through various sectors of the Iranian economy. An outline of the accord's details surfaced in an 18-page leaked document online, whose provenance is unclear though it roughly aligns with mooted plans previously announced by the Iranian government. According to the New York Times, a version of the document dated in June that its reporters obtained is a draft of a pending agreement with China. The pact between the two countries would be far-reaching: It would increase intelligence sharing and security cooperation, including in possible missions in Syria and Iraq. It would also see Chinese companies expand their footprints in Iranian railroads, ports and telecommunications, while securing for Beijing a steady and discounted Iranian oil supply for the next quarter-century. China would develop free-trade zones in strategic locations in Iran, further binding the country into Beijing's sprawling Belt and Road global trade and development initiative. Even though it has been in the works since 2016, before Trump was elected, the timing of this potential agreement is conspicuous. It's a reminder of how unlikely it was that Trump could cajole Tehran to sit down for new negotiations after scrapping U.S. commitments to the nuclear deal, a diplomatic agreement that was years in the making and involved the efforts of major powers, including China. Now, with their economy in tatters, the Iranians are seeking a lifeline from Beijing. And Chinese officials, given their own tussle with Washington, seem willing to take the risk. "At a time when the United States is reeling from recession and the coronavirus, and increasingly isolated internationally, Beijing senses American weakness," wrote Times reporters Farnaz Fassihi and Steven Lee Myers. "The draft agreement with Iran shows that unlike most countries, China feels it is in a position to defy the United States, powerful enough to withstand American penalties, as it has in the trade war waged by President Trump." It is unclear when an actual deal will get pushed through. When asked about it by reporters last week, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian offered a customarily anodyne response. "China and Iran enjoy traditional friendship, and the two sides have been in communication on the development of bilateral relations," he said. "We stand ready to work with Iran to steadily advance practical cooperation." China is also playing a key role at the U.N. Security Council in blocking the Trump administration's efforts to extend an arms embargo on Iran that is set to expire later this year. Last month, China's ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, rebuffed U.S. attempts to use the terms of the nuclear deal to reimpose the weapons ban, scolding the Trump administration for not holding up its end of the bargain in the first place. Some analysts abroad saw hypocrisy in Tehran's courtship of Beijing. "An Iranian regime whose revolutionary identity is premised on countering U.S. imperialism and Islamophobia is about to ratify its total economic and strategic dependency on a Chinese government that keeps over 1 million Muslims in re-education camps," tweeted Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Within Iran, the matter is hardly settled. It will require a vote in a parliament now dominated by hard-liners who are already furious with President Hassan Rouhani over both his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the failure of the nuclear deal. Rouhani's signature diplomatic triumph has effectively turned to ash, with his country's economy asphyxiated by U.S. sanctions once more and the prospect of an opening to the West seemingly dashed. But Iran's turn toward countries like Russia and China has raised concerns about the inequitable price it may have to pay. Last month, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned in a speech of the country's current leadership discussing a monumental pact "away from the eyes of the Iranian nation." Some critics, reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Liberty's Golnaz Esfandiari, likened the proposed deal to "the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay between Persia and tsarist Russia, under which the Persians ceded control of territory in the South Caucasus." Zarif said there was "nothing secret" about the ongoing negotiations, and media outlets linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps - an occasional political adversary of Rouhani and Zarif - seemed to back the diplomatic process. "However, neither Zarif nor IRGC mouthpieces openly admitted why the Islamic Republic is compelled to orient itself toward China," wrote Ali Alfoneh, a senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. "In the face of the U.S. administration's 'maximum pressure' campaign, the Islamic Republic is turning toward China to secure its survival." Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:19:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KAMPALA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN World Food Program (WFP) and the Ugandan government have started the distribution of take-home food to school children in the northeastern region after schools were closed to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. A joint statement by WFP and government issued here on Tuesday said the take-home food rations are aimed at supporting home-learning while schools remain closed. "Nearly 130,000 children will each receive a ration of maize, dry beans and fortified vegetable oil," the statement said, noting that the distribution in the nine districts in the region also known as Karamoja will go on throughout the month. WFP has since the 1980s been providing school meals in Karamoja in a bid to encourage children to enroll and finish school. The meals were halted when schools countrywide had to close to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Besides the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected the whole country, semi-arid Karamoja was hit by floods, desert locusts and diseases that have left the region vulnerable. With food stocks running low, many families are forced to reduce the frequency and size of meals until the harvest season from August to December, according to the statement. "Take-home rations are working for WFP around the world in these unprecedented times enabling us to maintain the gains we have made through decades of school feeding, including keeping girls consistently enrolled in school," said WFP Uganda Country Director El-Khidir Daloum. "Because of take-home rations, we believe parents will see the direct impact of food on learning and therefore will be encouraged to send their children back to school once they reopen." Enditem CARLINVILLE Carlinville will receive a $250,000 state grant to improve its police station. State Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, said the grant will allow the city to more than double the size of its police department building. The grant will be issued through the states Rebuild Illinois plan. The city will use the money to buy the Frontier Communications property at 225 N. Broad St., Carlinville, for use by the police department. The existing Carlinville Police Department building includes 2,800 square feet; the new property will more than double the departments space, with 6,800 square feet. The police department has outgrown its current space, and has needed a larger building for quite some time, Bourne said. This expansion will provide better conditions for staff, officers, and the public. As there are pushes across the nation to strip our law enforcement of essential resources, I remain committed to getting our law enforcement and first responders the resources and training they need to keep our communities safe, she said. The city councils approval of the building purchase is conditional upon receipt of the grant funds within 90 days. At the same time, investment in research and development means that profitability has also dipped. Paring back such spending could lead to a rapid increase in profit that would boost the IPO financials. But cutting back too quickly would also risk wasting the spending to date. Some new chip architecture is overdue by Arms standards (the last generation was released in 2011). The next offering will likely include features geared towards machine learning, and augmented and virtual reality. For now, investors buying in this time around are taking more of a bet that Arms R&D will bear fruit. From TikTok to the NBA, U.S.-China tensions are getting harder to ignore. While the relationship hasnt exactly been chummy for some time now, the past couple of weeks feel like something of a turning point, not so much because of any individual event but because of several simultaneous events over a wide range of issues and locations. The current bad blood between the two powers is feeling less like a periodic flare-up than the underlying dynamic behind a slew of geopolitical developments. Advertisement Heres a look at just a few of them. Sanctions and Xinjiang On Monday, Beijing announced sanctions against four U.S. politiciansSen. Marco Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Chris Smith, and ambassador for religious freedom Sam Brownbackwhove been particularly critical of the Chinese government and its human rights record. This was in retaliation for Magnitsky Act sanctions that the Trump administration announced last week against four officials for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, including the Communist Party secretary for the region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Chinese government is accused of detaining more than a million people from the Uighur and other ethnic groups in reeducation camps and prisons in Xinjiang. According to an AP report last week, China has been forcing IUDs, sterilization, and abortion on ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, even as it encourages many members of the majority Han ethnic group to have more children, a practice that has been described as demographic genocide. Advertisement Advertisement Not everyone in the U.S. is so bothered by this. According to former national security adviser John Boltons recently published book, President Donald Trump told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that building concentration camps for the Uighurs was exactly the right thing to do. South China Sea Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that the U.S. sees most of Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea as unlawful. China claims nearly the entire sea as being within the nine-dashed line of its maritime territory, and has sought to bolster those claims through a campaign of island-building. Beijing has stepped up the political and military pressure behind its claims in recent months, while much of the world has been distracted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinas claims conflict with those of five other Asian countries, and while the U.S. has opposed Chinas overall position in the past, Pompeos statement marks a shift in that Washington is now rejecting specific Chinese territorial claims. What this means in practice is a little unclear, though the Wall Street Journal suggests it could portend tougher U.S. efforts to challenge disputed Chinese claims through military, diplomatic or other means. The day after Pompeos statement, a U.S. destroyer sailed near the Chinese-claimed Spratly Islands, challenging Chinese attempts to limit the passage of ships through the area. Huawei The U.S. campaign against the Chinese technology firm Huawei notched a major victory on Tuesday, when the British government announced that U.K. mobile providers would be forbidden from buying Huawei 5G equipment and must remove existing Huawei equipment from their networks by 2027. The U.S. government accuses Huawei of maintaining a backdoor to allow the Chinese government to extract data from the networks it maintainswhich Huawei denies. The Trump administration has also been campaigning with mixed success to get European countries to bar the company from their networks. The U.K. had previously rejected U.S. concerns and agreed to allow Huawei equipment into part of its telecommunications network in January, but Washington ramped up pressure in May with new rules barring Huawei from using U.S. technology and software. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. is also currently fighting to have Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis CFO and the daughter of its billionaire founder, Ren Zhengfei, extradited from Canada to face charges related to violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Hong Kong The Trump administration is considering suspending the U.S. extradition treaty with Hong Kong, reports Foreign Policy, in the latest escalation in a showdown over Beijings challenge to the citys political autonomy. In May, the Trump administration responded to the passage of a controversial new security lawwhich would criminalize much of Hong Kongs political oppositionby announcing that the State Department no longer considered Hong Kong to have significant autonomy under Chinese rule, opening the door to tariffs and other measures. In early July, Congress passed new sanctions on Chinese officials involved in the crackdown on protests in Hong Kong. Pompeo also announced new visa restrictions on Chinese officials involved in undermining Hong Kongs high degree of autonomy, prompting Beijing to threaten retaliatory measures against U.S. officials. Students In late May, the Trump administration issued an order canceling the visas of Chinese students and researchers with ties to universities affiliated with the Peoples Liberation Army. While this order affected only a small percentage of Chinese students in the U.S., many saw the move as part of a campaign to ostracize and demonize the 370,000 Chinese citizens currently studying at American universities, the highest of any country. A much wider swath of these students could be affected by new rules revoking visas for students whose universities move classes online in the fall. While there are some legitimate concerns about espionage and Chinese government influence on U.S. campuses, much of the rhetoric around this subject has grown dangerously xenophobic. On the extreme end, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton has suggested Chinese students be barred entirely from studying STEM subjects in the U.S. COVID-19 U.S.-China tensions continue to overshadow the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Trump began the formal process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization, which he has accused of being overly beholden to and influenced by China. (The withdrawal wont take effect until next year, so as with the Paris climate agreement, whether it actually happens depends on Novembers election.) WHO experts are in China this week to investigate the origins of the virus. While the organization publicly praised Beijing for its virus response early on, an AP investigation from June showed that privately officials were frustrated by the lack of Chinese cooperation and information-sharing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, Trump administration officials are doing everything in their power to discredit those raising legitimate questions about Chinas conduct. Trade representative Peter Navarro suggested last week that the fact that the virus did not disappear in the summer heat is evidence that COVID-19 is in fact a Chinese-designed bioweapon. Trump has continued to use the racist term kung flu at campaign rallies. Arms Control Last week, a Chinese foreign ministry official rejected a U.S. suggestion that China join nuclear arms control talks, saying it would only do so if the U.S. was ready to come down to the Chinese level [of nuclear weapons]. The Trump administration has suggested that its only interested in renegotiating the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, with Russia, which expires next year, if it also includes China. (This is a weird demand. China has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads. America and Russia both have more than 6,000hence the foreign ministrys snarky response.) Advertisement China is also defying U.S. nuclear policy by negotiating a sweeping economic and security partnership with Iran, the New York Times recently reported. Its tempting to assume that this is all part of a temporary flare-up in tensions brought on by the coronavirus and the impending U.S. election. For one thing, Joe Bidens campaign has been accusing the Trump administration of being too soft on China. And while a future Biden administration may feature less unfocused belligerence and fewer conspiracy theories than the Trump team, certain issuesthe genocide in Xinjiang, Chinas territorial conflicts with its neighborsare going to remain, no matter who is president in the fall. (As for Xi Jinping, he could theoretically be president for life.) Whether you attribute it to conflicting ideologies or strategic interests, the new cold war is looking more and more real, and its unlikely to fade away quickly. On Sunday, New York City hit a major milestone: its first day without any new deaths caused by COVID-19. Gov. Andrew Cuomo celebrated the end of the states outbreak on Monday, by unveiling a poster detailing its strides during the height of the coronavirus crisis, drawing eyerolls on Twitter. The city saw its first known COVID-19 death on March 11, and now 32,075 New Yorkers have died from the virus, according to The New York Times. New Yorkers arent prepared to let their guard down just yet. In a new Siena College poll of New York residents released on Monday, 82% of the individuals polled believe that it is somewhat or very likely that the state will see another COVID-19 outbreak in the fall. The poll also found that 62% of the New Yorkers feel that they havent seen the worst of the pandemic yet, while 27% feel they have. Despite his onslaught of celebratory artwork this follows the coronavirus mountain and his previous posters Cuomo himself acknowledges the pandemic isnt over. On Friday, Cuomo remarked that he feels as though the state will soon see an increase of coronavirus cases, due to the huge surge in cases currently happening in the southern and western states. The number of coronavirus-infected individuals has been extremely low in the city and state recently, thanks to New Yorks prolonged shutdown. But preparations have begun in case the state sees another uptick in cases, which several experts have pointed out is a distinct possibility as the state has embarked on reopening and suppression efforts such as testing, tracing contacts and quarantining the infected are hampered by lack of federal investment. Im not sure how long this progress is going to hold, Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University, told the Associated Press regarding New York. Cuomo recently initiated a 14-day quarantine for people coming in from a select number of states, such as Arizona, Florida and Texas, that are currently seeing high numbers of COVID-19 cases, in an effort to prevent another outbreak. The states practical ability to enforce this new rule, however, remains uncertain. However, on Monday, the governor announced that any individuals coming to New York from states with bad outbreaks will need to contact New York authorities to inform them of their visit, where theyre coming from and where they're going. If they do not comply, out-of-towners could face a $2,000 fine and a court summons. Those travelling by plane will also be required to fill out a form detailing this information that they are expected to fill out before leaving the airport. Many nursing homes in New York, which saw over 6,400 residents succumb to the coronavirus, have been prepping for new coronavirus cases. Nursing home employees are also required to get COVID-19 tests twice a month. And some homes have created separate wings for infected residents to help them contain the virus in the event of another outbreak, although they will no longer accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals. Hospitals are also creating new coronavirus protocols for their employees and are more prepared to tackle the next outbreak. 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 didnt know six months ago, Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, an epidemiology professor at Columbia, told AP. Cuomo has said that he would order the states hospitals to have at least a 90-day supply of personal protective equipment on hand for future emergencies, after New York City hospitals became desperate for supplies during the peak of its coronavirus crisis. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has also said that the city would build up its own reserve of supplies, including ventilators, PPE and shelf-stable meals from local vendors. Nepal Airlines has decided to ground six Chinese planes bought under a government-to-government pact from July 16, according to a report in The Kathmandu Post. The newspaper, which cited an order by the Nepal Airlines Corporation, said the airline board had cleared the move because it couldnt afford to fly the 17-seater Y12e and the 56-seater MA60 and wanted to cut its losses. Nepal had been nudging China to gift it planes but came around to buying the six planes after Beijing told the government that it would need to buy aircrafts from them before it could expect the gift. Kathmandu agreed to buy six and got two more as gifts. The first of two Chinese MA60 landed at Kathmandus Tribhuvan International Airport in 2014 while the first batch of four Y12e arrived in November 2014. As part of the deal, the Post reported, Nepal received one MA60 and Y12e respectively worth Rs 2.94 billion as a gift in 2014. The decision to ground the planes comes six years after the first batch landed in Kathmandu. It was the first acquisition by Nepal Airlines in 28 years. Also read: Lord Ram born in Nepal - PM Oli ignites new row with stunning claim on Ayodhya Achyut Pahari, a board member at Nepal Airlines, told the Post that the plane wasnt fit for Nepal but had been forced upon the airline in a government-to-government deal. The newspaper said when teams from Bangladesh and Nepal travelled to China to inspect the aircraft back in 2011, the team from Bangladesh rejected the aircraft. Kathmandus experts, however, recommended it. Pahari called the decision to buy the aircraft, Nepals worst decision and claimed the decision was prompted by greed for commissions. Nepal Airlines is paying the price now. Flying these planes means throwing good money after bad, Pahari said, according to the Post. An audit report last year said the Chinese planes had been incurring heavy losses to Nepal ever since they were first purchased. The decision to buy the planes, according to the report, wasnt the only flawed call by the airline. The airline hasnt been able to ensure that it has pilots trained to fly the Chinese aircraft. Sanjiv Gautam, former director general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, told the Post blamed the managerial problems for the problem. In the last six years, it has not produced any captains, and those who were promoted to captain have been transferred to fly Airbus jets in the same company, he told the Post. For a long time, historians dismissed the idea of a Cold War between the U.S. and China. But the relationship between the superpowers is increasingly imbued with deep distrust and animosity. The disagreements span cyberspace and outer space, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, and even the Persian Gulf. Beijing and Washington are pushing other countries to take sides. The coronavirus pandemic has turned existing fissures into chasms that could be difficult to overcome, no matter the outcome of this years U.S. presidential election, our correspondents write. Quotable: U.S. policy toward China is fraught with emotions and whims and McCarthyist bigotry, Chinas foreign minister, Wang Yi, said last week. It seems as if every Chinese investment is politically driven, every Chinese student is a spy and every cooperation initiative is a scheme with a hidden agenda. Go deeper: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Monday that Chinas expansive maritime claims across most of the South China Sea were completely unlawful, setting the stage for potential American military confrontations with Beijing. By Online Desk Over a dozen American technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, on Monday joined a lawsuit filed by the Harvard University and MIT against ICE's latest rule that bars international students from staying in the US unless they attend at least one in-person course. They were also joined by at least 17 states in the US including New Jersey, Colorado among others and the District of Columbia, in filing another lawsuit against this new temporary visa policy for international students announced by the Trump administration as part of its efforts to restrict international travel in view of the coronavirus pandemic. Seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, these companies, along with the US Chamber of Commerce and other IT advocacy groups, asserted that the July 6 ICE directive will disrupt their recruiting plans, making it impossible to bring on board international students that businesses, including amici, had planned to hire, and disturb the recruiting process on which the firms have relied on to identify and train their future employees. ALSO READ | Indian students concerned about deportation, dropping out semester as US announces new visa rules The July 6 directive will make it impossible for a large number of international students to participate in the CPT and OPT programmes. The US will "nonsensically be sending these graduates away to work for our global competitors and compete against us instead of capitalising on the investment in their education here in the US", they said. Closing off more than half of all international students from participating in the recruiting pipeline for American businesses will thus harm companies and the entire economy, and disrupt reliance expectations based on prior policies permitting international students to remain in the US, the firms said. "International students are an important source of employees for US businesses while they are students and after they graduate. Finally, they become valuable employees and customers of US businesses whether they remain in the United States or return to their home countries," the companies said. According to the IT companies, international students residing in the US make a substantial contribution to the country's GDP and have a particularly significant impact in towns and cities where colleges and universities are located. Meawhile, the states that have also joined this fight are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. In their lawsuit filed their lawsuit in the US District Court in Massachusetts against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and challenges what the 18 attorneys general call the federal government's "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States". Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing the lawsuit, in a statement alleged that the Trump administration did not even attempt to explain the basis for this "senseless" rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses. Massachusetts hosts tens of thousands of international students each year -- there are currently 77,000 with active student visas -- and they are estimated to bring more than USD 3.2 billion to the economy each year. (With PTI inputs) As many as 17 United States states and the District of Columbia have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's new visa policy for international students, calling it a "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel them amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In its July 6 order, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement declared that the nonimmigrant students with F-1 and M-1 visas attending schools operating entirely online or taking only online courses will not be permitted to remain in the United States. The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Massachusetts against the Department of Homeland Security and the ICE, seeks an injunction to stop the entire rule from going into effect. It challenges what the 18 attorneys general call the federal government's "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action to expel international students amidst the pandemic that has wrought death and disruption across the United States". The modifications also limit many students at normally operating schools from taking more than one class or three credit hours online in order to remain in the country. In the 2018-2019 academic year, there were over 10 lakh international students in the US. According to a recent report of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, there were 1,94,556 Indian students enrolled in various academic institutions in the US in January. The states that have filed the joint lawsuit are Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who led a coalition of 18 attorneys general in filing the lawsuit, in a statement alleged that the Trump administration did not even attempt to explain the basis for this "senseless" rule, which forces schools to choose between keeping their international students enrolled and protecting the health and safety of their campuses. "Massachusetts is home to thousands of international students who make invaluable contributions to our educational institutions, communities and economy. We are taking this action to make sure they can continue to live and learn in this country," she said. The lawsuit has been filed days after Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit against ICE's latest rule that bars international students from staying in the US unless they attend at least one in-person course. It challenges an abrupt policy change by the ICE to reverse the guidance issued on March 13 that recognised the COVID-19 public health emergency, provided flexibility for schools and allowed international students with F-1 and M-1 visas to take classes online for the duration of the emergency. The lawsuit also alleges that the new rule imposes a significant economic harm by precluding thousands of international students from coming to and residing in the US and finding employment in fields such as science, technology, biotechnology, healthcare, business and finance, and education, and contributing to the overall economy. Massachusetts hosts tens of thousands of international students each year -- there are currently 77,000 with active student visas -- and they are estimated to bring more than USD 3.2 billion to the economy each year. The state is also home to 92 private colleges and universities and operates 29 public institutions of higher education -- 15 community colleges, nine state universities and five separate campuses of the University of Massachusetts system. The lawsuit also includes 40 declarations from a variety of institutions affected by the new rule, including the Northeastern University, the Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts, the Boston University, the Massachusetts Community Colleges, the Massachusetts State Universities, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts among others. In California, seven international graduate students -- six Chinese nationals and a German -- have filed a federal lawsuit in the Central District of California. "The ICE policy requiring foreign students to attend in-person classes, even where their universities have determined that to do so will cost lives and endanger the campus community, in keeping with the judgement of public health experts, treats them as pawns for the president's politically motivated decision. "It is the latest in a series of irrational actions that is deepening the pandemic crisis in our nation and it comes as no surprise that the lives being threatened in the first instance are those of immigrants, lawfully studying here to contribute productively here and abroad, said Mark Rosenbaum, directing attorney of the Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law project. Google, Facebook, Microsoft join lawsuit against new student visa rule More than a dozen top American technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Microsoft, on Monday joined a lawsuit filed by the Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's latest rule that bars international students from staying in the United States unless they attend at least one in-person course. Seeking a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, these companies, along with the US Chamber of Commerce and other IT advocacy groups, asserted that the July 6 ICE directive will disrupt their recruiting plans, making it impossible to bring on board international students that businesses, including amici, had planned to hire, and disturb the recruiting process on which the firms have relied on to identify and train their future employees. The July 6 directive will make it impossible for a large number of international students to participate in the CPT and OPT programmes. The US will "nonsensically be sending...these graduates away to work for our global competitors and compete against us...instead of capitalising on the investment in their education here in the US", they said. The Curricular Practical Training programme permits "alternative work/study, internship, cooperative education or other type of required internship or practicum offered by sponsoring employers through cooperative agreements with a student's school". On the other hand, the Optional Practical Training programme allows up to one year of temporary employment that is directly related to an international student's major area of study, which can occur either before the student graduates and/or after his studies are complete. Students in STEM fields may obtain a two-year extension of their post-graduate OPT, they said. Closing off more than half of all international students from participating in the recruiting pipeline for American businesses will thus harm companies and the entire economy, and disrupt reliance expectations based on prior policies permitting international students to remain in the US, the firms said. Asserting that international students contribute substantially to the US economy when they reside in the United States, the legal brief said the departure of these students threatens the ability of US educational institutions to sustain critical mass -- which they need in order to maintain their standards of excellence, to train the American students who will make up the talent pool available to amici and other US companies in the future, and to perform the research that keeps US businesses on the cutting edge of innovation. "International students are an important source of employees for US businesses while they are students and after they graduate. Finally, they become valuable employees and customers of US businesses whether they remain in the United States or return to their home countries," the companies said. According to the IT companies, international students residing in the US make a substantial contribution to the country's GDP and have a particularly significant impact in towns and cities where colleges and universities are located. During the 2018-2019 academic year, there were more than 10 lakh such students attending institutions of higher education in the US. Reducing by half or more the number of international students residing in the United States -- even for a single school year -- will hurt the economy, amplifying the adverse economic effects of the ongoing pandemic. International students contribute billions of dollars to the US economy each year. In the 2018-2019 academic year alone, "international students at US colleges and universities contributed nearly USD 41 billion to the US economy and supported 458,290 jobs", the companies said. Observing that for every seven international students living in the US, three jobs are supported due to their presence, the companies said international education "ranked as the country's fifth-largest service export" in 2019. Small businesses -- from coffee shops to bookstores -- in communities around the country benefit significantly from the presence of international students, they said. The companies told the court that if these students are barred from studying in the US until the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic ends, many of them will not return: they will switch to programmes of study elsewhere in the world. And without international students, many the US STEM programmes will contract sharply and ultimately cease to exist. The world of higher education, already struggling to cope amid the COVID-19 pandemic, was rocked last week when the Trump administration issued a regulation that would prevent international students from entering the country in addition to compelling thousands already in the U.S. to leave if enrolled in schools that plan to teach exclusively online in the fall. "These students and their families have invested so much hope and money -- in some cases, their families' life savings -- to get an American education," Kavita Daiya, an associate professor of English at George Washington University, told ABC News. "By being here, they bring so much talent and knowledge to our communities. To force them to leave is to betray the promise of opportunity and fairness that undergirds American higher education." Implementation of the order could cost the U.S. tens of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs, but on Tuesday the administration reversed itself during a court hearing tied to a lawsuit filed by two major universities. MORE: Harvard, MIT sue Trump administration over international student visas The Immigration and Customs Enforcement decision threatened to severely disrupt life for the more than 1 million international students, about 5.5% of those enrolled in higher education. Some students, fearful of losing their visa status, were considering risking their own health by transferring to schools that will be offering in-person instruction. PHOTO: A sign promoting social distancing of the campus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology on July 8, 2020 in Cambridge, Mass. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) According to the 2019 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange, in 2018-2019 the largest number of international students in the U.S. came from China (369,548), followed by India (202,014), South Korea (52,250), Saudi Arabia (37,080) and Canada (26,122). Fewer students enrolling in the fall could further damage the U.S. economy. MORE: ABC News Exclusive: Harvard Law student sues university over tuition prices as classes remain online In a statement, Dr. Esther D. Brimmer, executive director and CEO of the Association of International Educators, wrote: "At a time when new international student enrollment is in decline, our nation risks losing global talent with new policies that hurt us academically and economically." Story continues Foreign students are a critical economic asset for the United States, and the financial damage of the ICE policy to the institutions they attend, as well as to local economies, could be considerable, Daiya added. Economists at the UC Davis Global Migration Center agree, arguing in a policy brief that the decision to block international students could result in "immediate" and "devastating" economic consequences "in both the short and long run." MORE: Bringing America Back: The role of masks in the fight against COVID-19, rising new cases and more International students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, much of it from tuition, fees and living expenses. These students typically pay higher tuition than domestic students, making many American universities dependent on the revenue streams. PHOTO: The Harvard University campus is shown, March 23, 2020 in Cambridge, Mass. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images, FILE) International students also were responsible for more than 458,000 jobs in the 2018 academic year. According to NAFSA, "For every seven international students, three U.S. jobs are created and supported by spending occurring in the higher education, accommodation, dining, retail, transportation, telecommunications and health insurance sectors." In 2018-2019, foreign students contributed $6.8 billion to California's economy while supporting 74,814 jobs, while in New York, they contributed about $5.3 billion and supported 59,586 jobs, and in Massachusetts, about $3.2 billion and 38,799 jobs. Such an order "is misguided and it hurts America and American colleges financially," said Daiya. "To force them to leave the country right now would be to lose the revenue they contribute in the midst of the biggest recession since the great Depression, and to lose the American jobs that they support through their presence here." Many of these international students also contribute to the U.S. economy after graduation. According to the National Foundation for American Policy, a non-profit, non-partisan organization, one-quarter of the founders of $1 billion U.S. startups were international students. Among these are Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, who studied at the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School of Business. His company has just been valued at $36 billion and employs about 8,000 people. Noubar Afeyan, founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, which has $34 billion in aggregate value, went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Among Flagship's portfolio companies is Moderna Therapeutics, which is developing an experimental COVID-19 vaccine. MORE: Trump insists schools 'must open' in fall, but local authorities still hold control French-born Cornell graduate Renaud Visage is one of the founders of Eventbrite, a ticketing and experience technology platform valued at approximately $1 billion and which employs over 900 people. According to a report from the National Foundation for American Policy, a dearth of international students also could stymy scientific progress because so many are STEM students. More than 80% of full-time graduate students in electrical and petroleum engineering programs, and over 75% of those in computer science and industrial engineering, are foreign students. PHOTO: People stand on the lawn outside Building 10 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus in Cambridge, Mass., April 20, 2020. (Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE) Most institutions of higher education are still sorting out their fall programs -- some may move all courses online, while some may offer hybrid models. Jenny Lee, a professor of educational policy studies and practice at University of Arizona, told ABC News the ICE policy "is a cruel attempt to strong-arm universities to fully resume on-campus instruction this fall, while placing a million U.S. international students at great risk. Forcing them to return to their home countries is not only infeasible, a surge in international travel will most certainly increase the risk of spreading of COVID-19 globally." Last week, Harvard and MIT filed a lawsuit to block the new visa policy, backed by more than 200 universities. MORE: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern suggests 4-day workweek to recover from pandemic "We will not stand by to see our international students' dreams extinguished by a deeply misguided order. We owe it to them to stand up and to fight -- and we will," wrote Harvard University President Larry Bacow. More than a dozen top American technology companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Spotify and Paypal, also joined the lawsuit. PHOTO: A view of Harvard Yard on the campus of Harvard University is shown on July 8, 2020, in Cambridge, Mass. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) In a court brief on Monday, the coalition argued that "without international students, American educational institutions face a sudden loss of critical mass -- jeopardizing their ability to maintain their standards of excellence; produce research that helps keep U.S. businesses on the cutting edge of innovation; and provide the training that makes American students a strong talent pool for their future employers." The group argued that this would ultimately threaten the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, because it "depends on attracting and retaining talented international students." Similarly, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy had announced on Monday that she would be leading a coalition of 18 attorneys general in a multi-state suit against the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, calling the recent policy a "cruel, abrupt, and unlawful action." "Massachusetts is home to thousands of international students who make invaluable contributions to our educational institutions, communities and economy," Healey said in a statement. "We are taking this action today to make sure they can continue to live and learn in this country." In light of the fierce opposition it faced, the US Department of Homeland Securitys surprise retraction of the order means that ICE policy now reverts back to guidance the agency issued in March, which allows students using F-1 visas for academic study to remain in the country while taking classes entirely online, Massachusetts District Court Judge Allison Burroughs said. Loss of international students could damage US economy, experts say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com KEAM 2020 Date | KEAM 2020 will be held as per schedule on 16 July (Thursday), confirmed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. Some students demanded that KEAM be postponed after Centre decided to defer JEE Main and Advance and NEET. KEAM 2020 Date | KEAM 2020 will be held as per schedule on 16 July (Thursday), confirmed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday. Some students had started demanding that KEAM should be postponed after the Union government decided to defer JEE Main and Advance and NEET. Kerala Engineering Architecture and Medical (KEAM) is conducted for admission to professional degree courses in the state's institutes. "The entrance examinations would be held as scheduled. Special test centres are being opened in hot spots/containment zones so that students in those areas can take the entrance exam without going out," news agency PTI quoted the chief minister as saying. According to news agency PTI, more than one lakh candidates will take KEAM at 342 centres located in Kerala, Delhi, Mumbai and Dubai on 16 July. Vijayan also said that special arrangements would be made for those residing in red zones. The Kerala government had also earlier assured that special bus services would be arranged for the students. The decision to hold KEAM 2020 as per schedule was taken at high-level meeting chaired by Vijayan on 13 July, reported The Hindu The national daily reported that the question papers for KEAM 2020 have already been dispatched to the Dubai and Mumbai. Exam centres will be identified within containment zones so that students from such areas do not have to travel elsewhere, The Hindu quoted an official as saying. The Commissioner for Entrance Examinations (CEE) last week released the KEAM 2020 admit card. Those who have registered can download the hall ticket from the official website of the CEE at cee.kerala.gov.in by providing their KEAM 2020 application number and password. KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A former Missouri pharmacist who pleaded guilty in a scheme to dilute tens of thousands of prescriptions for seriously ill patients to boost profits is being released from prison early because of the coronavirus, according to an attorney for the victims. Michael Ketchmark, an attorney whose office was involved in more than 275 wrongful death lawsuits against Robert Courtney, called on officials to reverse their decision, The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday. Robert Courtney, a 67-year-old former pharmacist in Kansas City, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in December 2002 and projected to be released in May 2027. But Ketchmark told the newspaper he was informed that Courtney could be released as early as this week to a halfway house and then to home confinement. Courtneys release was part of a review by the U.S. Department of Justice in response to the pandemic. I think its one thing as a society to show compassion to certain nonviolent criminals who are at risk of catching COVID, but it is horribly misplaced to allow Robert Courtney out of prison. He admitted to diluting over 98,000 prescription drugs, Ketchmark said. He is a vicious monster who belongs in jail until the very last day of his sentence. Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, told The Associated Press that the office has received no information and has opposed Courtneys separate efforts to be released early. He referred questions to the Bureau of Prisons. The agency said in an email that it doesnt discuss release plans for specific inmates because of safety and security reasons. The agency noted that it was asked this spring to immediately maximize appropriate transfers to home confinement of all appropriate inmates held at facilities with increased infections. Jeremy Gordon, who is representing Courtney, declined through someone who works in his office to comment. Kurt Benecke, another attorney for Courtney, didnt immediately return a phone message from the AP. During an investigation that began in mid-2001, Courtney admitted to diluting 72 different medications over nearly a decade. Most were cancer treatment drugs, but others could have been used to treat AIDS, multiple sclerosis, arthritis and other diseases. Authorities estimated his scheme could have touched 4,200 patients. Courtneys insurance company agreed to pay $35 million to victims, and two pharmaceutical makers paid $71 million in settlements. After he was denied a motion for a sentence reduction in April, Courtney filed another motion this month asking for compassionate release from the federal prison in Colorado, citing his age, health concerns and the COVID-19 pandemic. Courtney has suffered from hypertension, a stroke, three heart attacks, cancer and internal bleeding while in prison, according to the motion. Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on social media Monday that it was sad how humane we are only to some, saying Courtney misled thousands of patients and profited, while thousands of others continue to serve sentences for drug offences. A man who used his influence to get away with the worst crimes surrenders and is shot dead in custody before he can reveal his secrets. PTI Photo The United Nations defines the rule of law as a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. India is a rule of law state and Article 21 of our Constitution says no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to the procedure established by law. The government is bound by law to follow this. To break this rule is to break the law and commit a crime. In his dissent against the Supreme Court sanctioning of Indira Gandhis power grab, Justice H.R. Khanna said: Without such sanctity of life and liberty, the distinction between a lawless society and one governed by laws would cease to have any meaning. In that case, then attorney-general of India Niren De is said to have made the claim that during the Emergency, even the right to life under Article 21 was at the mercy of the state. To this, Justice Khanna asked: Supposing some policeman for reasons of enmity, not of state, kills someone, would there not be a remedy? De said: Consistent with my position, My Lord, not so long as the Emergency lasts. It shocks my conscience, it may shock yours, but there is no remedy. Decades later, Justice Khannas view was upheld by a nine-judge bench which said: No civilised state can contemplate an encroachment upon life and personal liberty without the authority of law. Neither life nor liberty are bounties conferred by the State nor does the Constitution create these rights. The right to life has existed even before the advent of the Constitution. In recognising the right, the Constitution does not become the sole repository of the right. What is happening in India today is not the rule of law. We are a lawless nation, and I do not say this in anger or in frustration. I am saying it as an objective statement of what is going on around us. A man who used his influence to get away with the worst crimes surrenders and is shot dead in custody before he can reveal his secrets. He is not tried as the Constitution requires him to be but executed without due process. This is not the basis on which I am saying that we are a lawless state. This is not the first encounter in India or even in Uttar Pradesh. Since Yogi Adityanath took charge of UP there have been 119 such executions and there have been thousands elsewhere, as there will continue to be. A father and his son can be tortured and murdered by the police for keeping their shop open. This happens in India. It also happens in other lawless states, and that is a fact. Those who have power will use it against those they can in lawless states. In lawless states like India, even the government does not know the law. The Narendra Modi government passed a law banning the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter at animal markets. Mr Modi loves cows but did not know that he had no authority to do this. This is because the subject is on the State List of the Constitution, and not the Central List. The Union government did not know this before it wrote the law. When the Supreme Court pointed this out, the law was withdrawn. This is what happens in lawless states. Governments dont even know the law so how are they supposed to follow it? State governments dont know the law either and sometimes even the Supreme Court doesnt know. Odisha passed a law banning conversions in 1967, which is in clear violation of Article 25. The right to propagation with the specific meaning of conversion is guaranteed in Article 25 as the Constituent Assembly debates show. The Odisha high court struck down the law but the Supreme Court, using faulty, illogical, unsound and barely literate reasoning, overruled the high court judgment. What has resulted is that 10 states have now legislated anti-conversion laws (deceitfully titled Freedom of Religion Laws), and Uttar Pradesh is poised to be the 11th. The body of a Greater Noida-based businessman, who went missing on July 5, has been found in the Gang canal and two of his friends have been arrested for allegedly killing him, police said on Monday. Aditya Soni had left his house in Omnicron-1 Sector on July 5 to visit a relative in Delhi who had tested positive for COVID-19 but never returned home, they said. Sonis mother on Monday approached the local Kasna police station with a complaint and told officials that her son was last seen with his friends Dev Bhati and Pankaj Bhati, who are brothers. An investigation was taken up and the brothers questioned. Sonis car, some jewellery and his mobile phone were recovered from them, after which they revealed the entire episode of killing their friend," a police spokesperson said. Pankaj told police that he and Soni had a fight over some joke on July 5 after which he had abused him. Pankaj and Dev then hit Soni with sticks and then strangulated him. The body was then dumped in the Gang canal," the spokesperson added. Based on information from the accused, the body was found from the canal and it was identified by family members, the official said. An FIR was lodged at the Kasna police station under Indian Penal Code sections 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) and 394 (causing hurt in committing robbery) and the brothers were arrested, police said. Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Telegram. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration says it has arranged with Emirates to evacuate more stranded Ghanaians back to Ghana. The flight will depart from Dubai at 0930 hours on Friday, July 17, 2020, and arrive in Accra at 13:35 hours. A statement issued in Accra by Ghanas High Commission in London said, it should be noted that persons, who wished to take advantage of the flight are to make a reservation to enable them to arrive in good time to join the flight in Dubai at the scheduled date and time for the flight to Accra. It said it should be noted that affected persons must have paid for the cost of hotel reservation directly to any of the 145 hotels available. The statement further said interested persons, who were willing to pay for the cost of travel should contact Emirates through the email [email protected] for fares and other details. It said passengers were to carry appropriate Personal Protective Equipment like face mask before boarding the flight. The statement asked all passengers to note that they would cover the cost of the mandatory 14-day quarantine with a possible extension to 21-days depending on individual cases. Eligible nationals and resident permit holders, who are prepared to pay for their cost of travel to Ghana from Dubai must submit their details specifics to the Commission, it added. The statement said the details should be submitted not later than noon on Thursday, July 16, 2020. It said details specifics should include name, passport number, telephone contact (UK and Ghana), attached copy of the Emirate ticket, attached evidence of hotel payment for the cost of quarantine, current location, and final destination in Ghana after quarantine. 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 The Facebook page of a young mom who was shot dead after she said: 'All lives matter' to a group of Black Lives Matter supporters in Indiana has been flooded with hateful messages from trolls. Jessica Doty Whitaker, 24, was killed early on the morning of July 5 while out on a walk with her fiance, Jose Ramirez, and two friends in Indianapolis. Ramirez said someone in their group used a 'slang version of the N-word' before they were confronted by strangers passing by and an argument broke out. He claimed that the group began shouting 'Black lives matter' - prompting Whitaker to respond: 'All lives matter.' Ramirez said both groups brandished guns at each other, but eventually talked through the issues, fist bumped and walked away. Moments later he said someone opened fire on their group from a nearby bridge, fatally striking Whitaker before they ran off. News of the shooting made headlines nationwide this week as police continued searching for the person or people responsible. Over the past few days hundreds of people have commented on posts on Whitaker's Facebook page, several of them sharing scathing messages accusing her of being racist over her alleged 'All Lives Matter' remark. Jessica Doty Whitaker's Facebook page has been flooded with hateful comments in the days since the 24-year-old mother was shot dead after she said: 'All lives matter' to a group of Black Lives Matter supporters in Indianapolis on July 5 Over the past few days hundreds of people have commented on posts on Whitaker's Facebook page, several of them sharing scathing messages accusing her of being racist over her alleged 'All Lives Matter' remark. One person wrote: 'Can't feel bad for you when you used a racial slur' Another commenter noted that the people Whitaker was with were also armed, writing: 'She brought a gun to a fight and then started saying racist s**t. What did she think would happen?' One man dubbed Whitaker 'Racist Racial' and said the streets are safer after she was killed 'I can't feel bad for a racist who used a racial slur. Now you'll have plenty of time to think about your horrible actions,' one woman wrote. Another man added: 'Black lives matter. The rest of you are next.' That comment was followed by a man who wrote: 'Can't feel bad for you when you used a racial slur and acted a f**king fool' and a woman who shared a sarcastic crying emoji with the words: 'Oh I'm sorry, did someone get what they f**king deserved?' After a friend commented that they hoped cops find the people who killed Whitaker, one man wrote: 'She should not of been racist and ran her mouth she's shot dead that's what she got BLM [sic].' One of the commenters took aim directly at Whitaker's mom, Arlene Doty, after she told WTHR: 'I just want the people who are responsible to be held accountable.' The troll responded on Facebook by writing: 'I got some bad news for you Arlene. You are the one responsible for raising your daughter to hand out with racists.' Many of the hateful messages sparked arguments between the Black Lives Matter supporters and people who had come to the page to pay tribute. One woman wrote that Whitaker now has 'plenty of time to think about [her] horrible actions' Several commenters suggested that more people should be killed for being racist Many of the messages sparked arguments between the Black Lives Matter supporters and people who had come to the page to pay tribute Whitaker was killed early on the morning of July 5 while out on a walk with her fiance, Jose Ramirez (pictured together), and two friends in Indianapolis. Ramirez said someone in their group used a 'slang version of the N-word' before they were confronted by strangers passing by and an argument broke out Ramirez said that Whitaker (pictured with her three-year-old son Greyson) told the other group 'all lives matter' during their argument, which ended after both groups brandished guns Moments after the other group left a shot rang out and fatally struck Whitaker (pictured). Ramirez said he believes the group waited on a bridge for them to pass by More than a week after Whitaker was killed police are still on the hunt for the people who shot her. Ramirez is convinced that the group of people who confronted them and yelled 'Black Lives Matter' are responsible. He said that the group - which reportedly included four men and one woman - left them alone after the initial argument and then waited for him, Whitaker and their friends to pass by. 'It was squashed and they went up the hill and left we thought, but they were sitting on St Clair [street] waiting for us to come under the bridge and that's when she got shot,' Ramirez told FOX59. Ramirez said he had his arms around Whitaker when she was struck. 'I was actually holding her when it happened. She just fell,' he told WTHR. He admitted that he opened fire in the direction where the original shot came from, but said it was 'just a reaction'. 'I didn't see nobody. I didn't hopefully I didn't hit nobody,' he said. Whitaker was rushed to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead. Before her death, Whitaker was a home health nurse who planned to attend school in August and get married next year. She left behind a three-year-old son named Greyson. Ramirez was overcome with emotion as he spoke about his fiancee in the interview with FOX59. 'She shouldn't have lost her life,' he said. 'She's got a three-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 three-year-old boy doesn't even understand really.' Ramirez was overcome with emotion as he spoke about his fiancee (pictured together) in an interview with FOX59. 'She shouldn't have lost her life,' he said 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 supporting her son. It has already raised more than $75,000 as of Tuesday afternoon. 'Jessica, was a wonderful mother, sister, daughter, fiancee, friend, aunt, cousin and coworker,' the GoFundMe description reads. '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.' A GoFundMe campaign for Whitaker (pictured with her fiance Ramirez and son Greyson) has already raised more than $75,000 as of Tuesday afternoon Whitaker's father Robert Doty got a tattoo of his daughter's name last week after she died 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. 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). Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:21:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on June 11, 2020 shows the city view of Hong Kong, south China. (Xinhua/Li Gang) BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said Tuesday that it will never allow any illegal manipulation in the Legislative Council (LegCo) election in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The spokesperson condemned the so-called "primaries" recently organized by the opposition camp in Hong Kong, saying that such acts have constituted illegal manipulation of the LegCo election and posed a blatant challenge to the HKSAR Basic Law and the national security law for the HKSAR. The spokesperson expressed resolute support for punishing such illegal acts in accordance with the law. Hong Kong is scheduled to hold a general election for the seventh-term LegCo in September. The so-called "primaries" sought to hijack public opinion under the pretext of a "referendum," said the spokesperson, noting that they posed a grave threat to the constitutional order of the HKSAR and harmed the democratic electoral system in Hong Kong. The so-called "primaries" and "referendum" are not stipulated in the Basic Law or any existing law on an election in Hong Kong, rendering such acts organized by any group or individual illegal, the spokesperson said. Also, the so-called "primaries" have severely disturbed the election order and may have violated the national security law for the HKSAR, the spokesperson added. Hong Kong citizens celebrate the passage of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in Causeway Bay of south China's Hong Kong, June 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Shen) The HKSAR government has received a large number of complaints regarding the so-called "primaries," said the spokesperson, stressing the need for serious investigation and severe punishment in accordance with the law. The so-called "primaries" are an extension of the turbulence that has lasted more than a year following the proposed ordinance amendments in Hong Kong, the spokesperson said. Benny Tai Yiu-ting, the major plotter and organizer of the so-called "primaries," was also a key mastermind behind the 2014 illegal "Occupy Central" movement, an advocate of both "Hong Kong independence" and the terrorist suicidal tactic of "burn with us," and a political proxy of foreign and external forces in Hong Kong, the spokesperson said. Tai and other like-minded people are among the culprits of the chaos which has jeopardized Hong Kong and the wellbeing of its residents, the spokesperson added. They used "safeguarding Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy" as a disguise to create chaos, attempting to turn Hong Kong into a base for waging a "color revolution" against the country and conducting infiltration and subversive activities, the spokesperson said. With the national security law for the HKSAR in place, Hong Kong is embracing a turnaround to end the chaos, restore order and bring itself back to the right track, said the spokesperson. "We sincerely hope that people in Hong Kong can tell right from wrong and resolutely say 'no' to any acts challenging the bottom line of 'one country, two systems' or undermining prosperity and stability in Hong Kong," the spokesperson said. VANCOUVER, BC, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ - Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. ("Pinnacle" or the "Company") (TSX: PL) today announced its subsidiary, Alabama Pellets, LLC ("Alabama Pellets"), has signed an agreement with the State of Alabama that provides Alabama Pellets with incentives for job creation under Alabama's Job Act Incentives program. Pinnacle holds a 70% interest in Alabama Pellets with The Westervelt Company and Two Rivers Lumber Co., LLC each holding 20% and 10%, respectively. The incentives relate specifically to a new industrial wood pellet production facility that Alabama Pellets is constructing in Demopolis, Alabama with a planned capital investment of US$95 million. The facility is expected to have an annual production volume of 360,000 metric tonnes per annum and will start initial industrial wood pellet production by mid-2021. Chief Executive Officer of Pinnacle, Rob McCurdy commented: "Pinnacle and Alabama Pellets have been part of the Alabama business landscape since October 2018 and are proud to be part of the economic growth of this community. Our commitment as a good corporate citizen in the communities where we operate is to think local, hire local, and use local vendors and contractors. The Alabama Job Act Incentives supports our approach to doing business and we are pleased to be part of the state's 'Made in Alabama' program." Governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey said, "We welcome the growth plans of Pinnacle and Alabama Pellets in our state. My administration has made it a priority to develop rural Alabama and this manufacturing facility under construction in Demopolis will have a significant economic impact on Marengo County and create meaningful new opportunities for many citizens there." Incentives for Alabama Pellets include a tax credit for job creation totaling $848,000 over 10 years, as well as an investment credit totaling $9.5 million spread over 10 years. The incentives are offered to businesses that provide benefit to the State and its citizens through positive economic impacts in the community and tax revenue to the state. In order to receive the wage incentive, Alabama Pellets' facility in Demopolis will target employing a minimum of 45 employees that earn an average hourly wage of $20. "We're committed to helping create jobs in our state's rural areas through strategic economic development, and the plans by Pinnacle and Alabama Pellets to locate a facility in Demopolis is a positive development for Marengo County," said Greg Canfield, Secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. "Alabama Pellets is making a major investment in this plant, which will drive economic growth in the region and spark the creation of direct and indirect jobs." About Pinnacle Pinnacle is a growing industrial wood pellet manufacturer and distributor and the third largest producer in the world. The Company produces sustainable fuel for renewable electricity generation in the form of industrial wood pellets. This fuel is used by large-scale thermal power generators as a greener alternative to produce reliable baseload renewable power. Pinnacle is a trusted supplier to its customers, who require reliable, high-quality fuel supply to maximize utilization of their facilities. Pinnacle takes pride in its industry leading safety practices. The Company operates eight industrial wood pellet production facilities in western Canada and one in Alabama, with two additional facilities under construction in Alberta and Alabama. The Company also owns a port terminal in Prince Rupert, B.C. Pinnacle has entered into long-term take-or-pay contracts with utilities in the U.K., Europe and Asia that represent an average of 99% of its production capacity through 2026. Forward-Looking Information This release may contain forward-looking information about Pinnacle's future financial outlook and anticipated events or results and may include information regarding its financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, budgets, operations, financial results, plans, objectives and other information that is not historical fact. Particularly, information regarding the Company's expectations of future results, performance, achievements, prospects or opportunities or the markets in which it operates is forward-looking information. In some cases, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of such words as believe, expect, intend, forecast, plan, target, budget, outlook, opportunity, risk, strategy or variations or comparable language, or statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, should, might, or will occur or not occur. Readers are urged to consider risks, uncertainties and assumptions carefully in evaluating the forward-looking information in this release and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. See "Forward-looking Information" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form and its Management's Discussion & Analysis for Q1 2020, which are available on www.pinnaclepellet.com and www.sedar.com for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. We caution that the list of risk factors and uncertainties is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. Material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information in this release include assumptions regarding the payment of all of the incentives. Unless otherwise indicated, the forward-looking information is based on the Company's expectations at the date of this release. Pinnacle has no obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. SOURCE Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. Related Links http://www.pinnaclepellet.com/ Tale of the tape: Sticky bits make better batteries HOUSTON - (July 14, 2020) - Where things get sticky happens to be where interesting science happens in a Rice University lab working to improve battery technology. Using techniques similar to those they employed to develop laser-induced graphene, Rice chemist James Tour and his colleagues turned adhesive tape into a silicon oxide film that replaces troublesome anodes in lithium metal batteries. For the Advanced Materials study, the researchers used an infrared laser cutter to convert the silicone-based adhesive of commercial tape into the porous silicon oxide coating, mixed with a small amount of laser-induced graphene from the tape's polyimide backing. The protective silicon oxide layer forms directly on the current collector of the battery. The idea of using tape came from previous attempts to produce free-standing films of laser-induced graphene, Tour said. Unlike pure polyimide films, the tape produced not only laser-induced graphene from the polyimide backing but also a translucent film where the adhesive had been. That caught the curiosity of the researchers and led to further experimentation. The layer formed when they stuck the tape to a copper current collector and lased it multiple times to quickly raise its temperature to 2,300 Kelvin (3,680 degrees Fahrenheit). That generated a porous coating composed primarily of silicon and oxygen, combined with a small amount of carbon in the form of graphene. In experiments, the foamy film appeared to soak up and release lithium metal without allowing the formation of dendrites -- spiky protrusions -- that can short-circuit a battery and potentially cause fires. The researchers noted lithium metal tends to degrade fast during the battery's charge and discharge cycles with the bare current collector, but no such problems were observed in anodes coated with laser-induced silicon oxide (LI-SiO). "In traditional lithium-ion batteries, lithium ions are intercalated into a graphite structure upon charging and de-intercalate as the battery discharges," said lead author Weiyin Chen, a Rice graduate student. "Six carbon atoms are used to store one lithium atom when the full capacity of graphite is used. "But in a lithium metal anode, no graphite is used," he said. "The lithium ions directly shuttle from the surface of the metal anode as the battery discharges. Lithium metal anodes are considered a key technology for future battery development once their safety and performance issues are solved." Lithium metal anodes can have a capacity 10 times higher than traditional graphite-lithium ion batteries. But lithium metal batteries that are devoid of graphite usually use excess lithium metal to compensate for losses caused by oxidation of the anode surface, Tour said. "When there is zero excess lithium metal in the anodes, they generally suffer fast degradation, producing cells with very limited cycle life," said co-author Rodrigo Salvatierra, an academic visitor in the Tour lab. "On the bright side, these 'anode-free' cells become lighter and deliver better performance, but with the cost of a short life." The researchers noted LI-SiO tripled the battery lifetimes over other zero-excess lithium metal batteries. The LI-SiO coated batteries delivered 60 charge-discharge cycles while retaining 70% of their capacity. Tour said that could make lithium metal batteries suitable as high-performance batteries for outdoor expeditions or high-capacity storage for short-term outages in rural areas. Using standard industrial lasers should allow industry to scale up for large-area production. Tour said the method is fast, requires no solvents and can be done in room atmosphere and temperature. He said the technique may also produce films to support metal nanoparticles, protective coatings and filters. ### Co-authors are graduate students Muqing Ren and Jinhang Chen and postdoctoral researcher Michael Stanford. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the project. Read the abstract at https:/ / onlinelibrary. wiley. com/ doi/ 10. 1002/ adma. 202002850 . This news release can be found online at https:/ / news. rice. edu/ 2020/ 07/ 14/ tale-of-the-tape-sticky-bits-make-better-batteries/ Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews. Related materials: Better red than dread: Barrier keeps batteries safe: http://news. rice. edu/ 2019/ 02/ 14/ better-red-than-dread-barrier-keeps-batteries-safe-2/ Tour Group at Rice: https:/ / www. jmtour. com Department of Chemistry: https:/ / chemistry. rice. edu Wiess School of Natural Sciences: https:/ / naturalsciences. rice. edu Image for download: https:/ / news-network. rice. edu/ news/ files/ 2020/ 07/ 0720_ADHESIVE-1-WEB. jpg At left, a copper current collector with a laser-induced silicon oxide coating created at Rice University. At right, a scanning electron microscope image of the coating created by lasing adhesive tape on the copper collector. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University) Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Jeff Falk 713-348-6775 jfalk@rice.edu Mike Williams 713-348-6728 mikewilliams@rice.edu This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. France will soon announce an "exceptional package" for India, including ventilators and expertise, as part of its efforts to jointly combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the French envoy to India said on Tuesday. In his message on the French National Day -- Bastille Day, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the two countries have shown exceptional solidarity. "India has provided much needed equipment and drugs to French hospitals. Friendship is a two-way road and France has reciprocated," Lenain said. The French development agency AFD has granted an exceptional loan of 200 million euros (Rs 1,600 crore) to provide social services to the most vulnerable population in India, he said. "We are going to announce soon an exceptional package comprising serological test (kits), ventilators and some expertise," the French envoy said in the message posted on all social media handles of the French Embassy here. Solidarity has been exceptional in the way the India government has lent support to the operation to repatriate stranded tourists, he said, thanking Indian authorities for it. Another great way to express solidarity is the involvement of French companies in corporate social responsibility, he said. Lenain cited the example of French firms partnering Indian companies for producing ventilators and a French firm contributing 65 ICU beds. The initial public offering (IPO) of Mumbai-based speciality chemicals maker Rossari Biotech has entered its second day of subscription today. The firm plans to raise to raise Rs 500 crore through the share sale. On July 13, the first day of subscription, the IPO was subscribed 60% against the total issue size. Rossari Biotech IPO received bids for 49,30,030 shares against the total issue size of 8,173,530 shares. The portion of shares reserved for qualified Institutional buyers was subscribed 41%, non-institutional investors 11% and retail investors 92%. The company raised Rs 149 crore from anchor investors. The issue will close on July 15. The IPO comprises fresh issue of shares to the tune of Rs 150 crore and sale of more than 1 crore equity shares by the company's promoters through offer-for-sale route. The issue size is expected at around Rs 494-Rs 496 crore. The face value of each share is Rs 2. Company's market capitalisation is pegged at Rs 2,207 crore. In terms of offer ratio, 50% of shares are kept for Qualified Institutional Buyers, 15% for NII and not less than 35% for retail investors. The minimum bid quantity stands at 35 shares in one lot and maximum quantity allows investment up to 470 shares in 13 lots. Net proceeds from the issue will be utilised for funding working capital requirements, repaying certain debt availed by the company and for general corporate purposes. The equity shares will be listed on the NSE and BSE. Rossari Biotech IPO subscribed 60% on Day 1 The IPO has been launched after a lull of four months. On March 2, SBI Cards and Payment Services floated its IPO which saw weak response amid a volatile market. BusinessToday.In spoke to analysts on whether the IPO is a good option for investors to park their money at a time when market has not recovered fully from the coronavirus crisis. Here's what they said. Analysts at Geojit gave a subscribe call to the issue for long term. "Current capacity of the firm stands at 1,20,000 MTPA with 82% utilisation while new facility setting up Dahej at Gujarat with a proposed installed capacity of 132,500 MTPA and is expected to start operations in FY21, which will support revenue growth. Post IPO, cash flow of the company expects to improve with reduced debt and capex getting completed by FY21. At the upper price band of Rs 425, the firm is available at price to earning of 33.8 times FY20 which seems expensive when compared to peers. However, considering return on equity at 44% (last 3-year average), strong revenue growth and expanding margin profile support our 'SUBSCRIBE' rating for long term, " they said. Keshav Lahoti, Associate Equity Analyst at Angel Broking has given a subscribe call to the issue. "At the upper end of the price band, Rossari demands PE multiple of 32 times FY20 fully diluted EPS. None of the listed chemical companies has the same business as Rossari. Its specialty chemical peers such as Galaxy Surfactants, Fine Organics, Aarti industries, Atul and Vinati Organics are currently trading at FY 2020 P/E multiples of 24 times, 36.6 times, 30.5 times, 20.6 times and 30.9 times, respectively. We believe Rossari will command a premium over most of its chemical peers as it is net debt free as well as it has better asset turnover, working capital days, ROE and ROCE better than most of its peers. In the last three years, Rossari has reported 32% and 66% revenue and PAT CAGR due to the strong promoter and management team. As we are positive on the future outlook for the industry as well as the company, we recommend 'Subscribe' to the issue." Rossari Biotech is a specialty chemicals manufacturing firm with focus on home and personal care, performance chemicals, textile specialty chemicals and animal health and nutrition products. Its main product categories include; (a) Home, personal and performance chemicals, (b) textile specialty chemicals and (c) animal health and nutritional products. The firm has presence in 17 foreign countries including Vietnam, Bangladesh and Mauritius. Week ahead in share market: 5 things you need to know for upcoming week By Aseem Thapliyal There have been more than 120 companies that declared bankruptcy in 2020 and blame COVID-19 for their downfall. Although many of these businesses were in financial trouble prior to the pandemic, the loss in revenue made those issues more evident. With many other companies holding billions of dollars in debt, it is likely we will see even more COVID-19 bankruptcies before the end of the year. Which Companies Are Filing? 24 Hour Fitness Brooks Brothers Chesapeake Energy Frontier Communications GNC Golds Gym Hertz J Crew J.C. Penny Latam Airlines Neiman Marcus New York & Co. Sur La Table True Religion Apparel Some pretty big names are already among those filing for bankruptcy and closing doors. Here are some of the most recognizable names on the list. More than 100 other businesses have filed or announced they will be filing for bankruptcy due to COVID-19. This includes American Addiction Centers, a Tennesse-based addiction recovery organization, who started suffering financially when patients simply werent coming in after the pandemic. Even the Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of New Orleans filed for bankruptcy due to a lack of collections as many mass gatherings have been canceled. How COVID-19 Bankruptcies Will Impact The Economy Over 6,800 businesses filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. last year. This year will undoubtedly have many more. Companies that have filed, or plan to file, are huge players in the American economy. Some, like Hertz, even have billions in assets to sell-off. Others simply saw no way to continue in the COVID-19 social distancing era. Weve survived through wars, recessions, terrorist attacks, political upheaval, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards and more, Sugarloaf Craft Festivals wrote on its website. With no cash flow coming in, even a well-managed company cannot survive indefinitely. The good news is many medium-to-large size companies declaring bankruptcy will likely be able to work out a payment plan to manage their debts moving forward. If they cannot, then the company is liquidated and the assets are sold to pay off those debts. Small businesses may never recover though. We anticipate that a significant fraction of viable small businesses will be forced to liquidate, causing high and irreversible economic losses, a group of academics wrote to Congress. Workers will lose jobs even in otherwise viable businesses. In many cases, however, COVID-19 bankruptcies are revealing already troubled business models and staggering debt. Many of these companies were struggling before disaster struck. Hertz, for instance, has debt accrued from over 10 years ago. So, it is safe to say that, in many cases, a complete business reform will be the only thing to prevent this from happening again. It is also easy to assume there are still many other businesses who will file before the year is out. The overall economic impact is likely to be seen for decades to come. Read More Viola Davis says a part of her feels like she 'betrayed' herself by starring in The Help. The Academy Award-winner explained her mixed feelings about the 2011 film in a profile for the August issue of Vanity Fair, telling the magazine while 'there's no one who's not entertained' by the movie, it was created 'catering to a white audience.' Viola, 54, said she has regrets about being in the movie because it 'wasn't ready to [tell the whole truth]' about racism. Regrets, I have a few: Viola Davis says she sometimes feels like she 'betrayed' herself by appearing in 2011's The Help in a new profile for Vanity Fair. Above she's seen in a stunning blue Max Mara gown and earrings by Pomellato for the cover The film follows the story of two Black working as maids for a white family in Mississippi in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and has been critiqued for having an oversimplified take on race relations . Others have called The Help out as a 'white savior' story for the ways it centers on the feelings of its white characters more than the struggles of the Black leads. But Viola said The Help was the right part for her at that point in her career. 'I was that journeyman actor, trying to get in,' she explained. And Davis relished working with the powerful female-focused cast of Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jessica Chastain lead by writer-director Tate Taylor. Wrong focus: The Academy Award-winner explained her mixed feelings saying while 'there's no one who's not entertained' by the movie, it was created 'catering to a white audience' Too simple: The film follows the story of two Black working as maids for a white family in Mississippi in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement and has been critiqued for having an oversimplified take on race relations More human: 'Not a lot of narratives are also invested in our humanity,' said Davis. 'They're invested in the idea of what it means to be Black, butit's catering to the white audience' 'I cannot tell you the love I have for these women, and the love they have for me,' she says. 'But with any movieare people ready for the truth?' Still, she was discouraged by the oversimplified way the film dealt with racism and the inner lives of the Black characters. 'Not a lot of narratives are also invested in our humanity,' said Davis. 'They're invested in the idea of what it means to be Black, butit's catering to the white audience. She went on: 'The white audience at the most can sit and get an academic lesson into how we are. Then they leave the movie theater and they talk about what it meant. They're not moved by who we were.' 'Theres no one whos not entertained by The Help. But theres a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasnt ready to [tell the whole truth],' Viola admitted. In this way, Viola said that The Help was 'created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism' that pervades society. Complicated feelings: 'Theres a part of me that feels like I betrayed myself, and my people, because I was in a movie that wasnt ready to [tell the whole truth],' Viola admitted. She's seen with castmate Octavia Spencer at the 2011 SAG awards Dark: Viola said that The Help's problems stem from being 'created in the filter and the cesspool of systemic racism' that pervades society This isn't the first time Viola's been frank about her work on The Help. In 2018 she told The New York Times: 'I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasnt the voices of the maids that were heard. I know Aibileen. I know Minny [Jackson]. Theyre my grandma. Theyre my mom.' 'And I know that if you do a movie where the whole premise is, I want to know what it feels like to work for white people and to bring up children in 1963, I want to hear how you really feel about it. I never heard that in the course of the movie.' Since, the How To Get Away With Murder actress said she's seen her entire career as an exercise in liberation. 'I feel like my entire life has been a protest,' Viola - the first Black woman to win an Emmy for lead actress in a drama - revealed 'My production company is my protest. Me not wearing a wig at the Oscars in 2012 was my protest. It is a part of my voice, just like introducing myself to you and saying, "Hello, my name is Viola Davis."' Advertisement Villages that kiss mountaintop clouds, hamlets of wedding-white houses that overlook the sea, settlements where the streets are lined with millions of mosaic tiles - these are just a few of the calendar-worthy sites that you'll find in the official list of Spain's most beautiful villages. Composed by Los Pueblos mas Bonitos de Espana - aka The Association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Spain - the list now features 94 settlements. The entries are spread across the length and breadth of the country and include villages in the Canary and Balearic islands. The association was set up in 2011 and it has 40 strict criteria concerning the places it considers for inclusion in its list. Villages must demonstrate care of heritage and green areas, for example, to make the cut. Here we present some of the most seductive sirens from the collection. Castellar de la Frontera crowns a hillside within the cork oak groves of Los Alcornocales Natural Park in Cadiz. The village of whitewashed buildings is belted up inside the walls of a Moorish fortress. On clear days the views stretch out over to Gibraltar and the North African coast El Castell de Guadalest is only 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Benidorm, but it's a world apart in terms of looks. This Valencian village teeters on top of one of the limestone cliffs of the Sierra d'Aitana and peers out over the teal waters of the Guadalest Reservoir. Despite being remote, its cobbled streets are lined with cafes and souvenir shops and there are the ruins of an 11th-century castle to explore Behold the historical nugget of Miranda del Castanar in the heart of the Sierra de Francia mountain range in Salamanca Province, which is home to around 400 people - and Spain's oldest bullring. The atmosphere is distinctly medieval, with Google reviewer Andreas Serna proclaiming that visiting there 'is like travelling centuries back in time'. Click here for mesmerising YouTube drone footage It looks like the cliffside that surrounds Setenil de las Bodegas has slowly leaked back into the settlement. The buildings of this Cadiz-based village have been purposefully built into the overhangs of the mountains though. Head to one of the abrigos bajo las rocas - aka shelters under the rocks - for a cup of coffee, or something stronger The whitewashed buildings of Capileira drape down the side of one of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Andalusia. At 1,436 metres (4,711ft) above sea level, it's one of the highest villages in Spain, and clouds often garland its church tower Potes, which dates back to the 9th century, stands at the confluence of the rivers Deva and Quiviesa in the middle of a valley where grape, cherry and walnut trees grow. With wood-framed balconies and windows, some of the buildings have an Alpine look to them. You can climb to the top of the village's six-storey Tower of Infantado to look down on the red-tiled roofs of the village and out to the mountains in the distance Albarracin is a town of blush-coloured buildings that's tucked up inside the limestone mountains of the Sierra de Albarracin, two hours' drive from Valencia. An independent mini-state in Medieval times, it's home to a 16th-century cathedral, has impressive perimeter walls and was declared a Historic-Artistic Site in 1961. Unesco is keen to make it a World Heritage Site The china-white buildings of Mojacar crest the top of a steep hill on the south-east coast of Spain and overlook the Mediterranean Sea. The once Moorish town has its own good luck symbol, the Mojacar Man or Indalo, and all sorts of souvenirs linked to this stick-limbed figure can be bought in the town's souvenir shops Set against the backdrop of the Pyrenees in northern Spain, Ainsa is a village of stone-built houses, cobbles, cast-iron lanterns and balconies brightened with potted plants and hanging baskets. One of the highlights of a visit is the 11th-century Santa Maria church, where you can creep around the crypt and climb the bell tower The buildings of Vejer de la Frontera look like a snowdrift on the side of one of the Andalucian mountains, 50 kilometres (31 miles) from Cadiz. Climb the castle for views of the surrounding orchards, orange groves and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance, duck into the village's churches, and claim a table in one of the tapas places on the Plaza de Espana to try the local cured meats and cheeses There's a look of Middle-earth's Shire to Lierganes, a half-hour drive from Santander on the north coast of Spain. The Miera River babbles by the side of the village and green hillsides envelop it. There are a few churches to amble around here and the main photo point is the moss-covered Medieval bridge Frigiliana is a village of wedding-cake-white houses and mosaic-lined streets. One of the big draws of this place is the views it delivers over the Costa del Sol and the Mediterranean Sea. It's also popular with walkers thanks to its proximity to the vast gorge-filled sierras of Tejeda, Almijara and Alhama Natural Park Thought Majorca was all beaches and bars? Think again. Close to the north-east coast of the island lies charming Alcudia, which is corralled by a Medieval city wall. Inside, the streets are laid out in a scribble shape and the buildings are either bare brick or painted in canary yellows and terracotta. At the heart of it all, theres the 17th-century Church of St Jaume The salt-white houses of Zahara drift down the hillside at the foot of a sheer rocky outcrop with a Moorish castle on top. Visitors can do the steep climb past cacti and wildflowers to the top part of the castle, known as Homage Tower. Those that dont have the inclination to climb can mooch around the shops and cafes in the photogenic town square Alquezar in northern Spain is coddled by a national park and there are viewpoints and lookouts at almost all of the villages compass points to the surrounding Sierra de Guara mountain range. Its sublime Collegiate Church was declared a National Monument in 1931, says The Association of the Most Beautiful Villages A massive 13th-century castle stands sentry over the hilltop town of Morella in eastern Spain. One of the highlights of a visit here is hiking up to the castle and exploring its ruined ramparts. Other must-sees include the aqueduct, the Convent of St Francis and St Mary's Church A clifftop castle and whitewashed houses that trickle down the hillside make up the village of Zuheros, in Cordoba province. It's also right on the edge of Las Sierras Subbeticas Natural Park with its 320 square kilometres (123 square miles) of craggy limestone cliffs, caves, streams and walking routes The white-walled, rusty-roofed houses of Llastres are set out in tiers on a sloping hillside overlooking the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain. There's a clock tower and a church to take in and a handful of sea view restaurants selling locally caught seafood The honey-hued village of Ujue crowns a hillside in northern Spain, an hour's drive from Pamplona. Highlights of a visit here include seeing the Romanesque-Gothic church, sponging in the views from the lookout point and dining in one of the mountain-view restaurants Betancuria appears like a mirage in the middle of an arid rocky region in western Fuerteventura, the second-largest Canary Island. Palm trees sprout out of the ground and the houses are bright white. There's a 17th-century church and an archaeological museum to explore here and you can visit as part of a day tour of the island South-west of the city of Badajoz, near the border with Portugal, lies whitewashed and fortified Olivenza - and its eye-catching churches and castles. Its origins can be traced back to the 12th century and up until 1801, it was actually Portuguese. To add to the intrigue, some of the older residents still speak the language The imposing 13th-century Romanesque bridge is one of the obvious attractions in tiny Ponte Maceira in A Coruna province, which has a population of just 60. Delve a little deeper and you'll discover amazing cheesecake in the local restaurants and cobbled streets time seems to have forgotten Pastrana in the Castile region is, according to Lonely Planet - 'not to be missed'. Why? 'Twisting cobbled streets flanked by honey-coloured buildings', for starters. And then there are the 'atmospheric bars with tables on the cobblestones'. To these plus points we can add artisanal shops and the Renaissance-style Ducal Palace, which has been a Spanish Property of Cultural Interest since 1941 Maderuelo, north of Madrid in the Segovia province, lines a hilltop over a reservoir. Just 149 people live here - and this drone footage, along with the picture above of its medieval streets and Church of Santa Maria, shows how very lucky they are Delightfully boutique-y Vilafames, in the Castellon province in the east of Spain, is one of the country's premier spots for simply wandering hither and thither. Gaze upon the surrounding countryside, stroll the quaint streets and admire the 14th-century castle ruins Pictured here is the impossibly cute village of Fornalutx, which lies in the bosom of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains on Majorca Perched on a slab of limestone rock at an altitude of 4,265ft (1,300 metres), Cantavieja, in the province of Teruel, is striking to say the least. Don't miss the restored Templar castle The 105 inhabitants of Anento, in the province of Zaragoza, keep their village well groomed and the Association says that it's interesting to visit this charming hamlet at any time of the year New York Times opinion writer Bari Weiss, who attracted considerable controversy both internally and externally, resigned from the newspaper this week, the company confirmed Tuesday. In a lengthy note about her Monday departure, Weiss criticized The Times for caving to the whims of critics on Twitter and for not standing up for her after she said she was "bullied" by Times staffers. "The paper of record is, more and more, the record of those living in a distant galaxy, one whose concerns are profoundly removed from the lives of most people," she wrote. "Nowadays, standing up for principle at the paper does not win plaudits. It puts a target on your back." Weiss came to The Times in 2017 from The Wall Street Journal as part of former opinions editor James Bennet's vision to show the "many shades of conservatism and many shades of liberalism." But she quickly became a lightning rod for both her social-media posts and her published writings, including a large feature on the "intellectual dark web" - a collection of media personalities and thinkers whom she described as "locked out of legacy outlets" - and an essay criticizing college protest movements, in which she cited a hoax Twitter account. She blamed a far-left "mob" for attacking her following several errors she made. "Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor," Weiss wrote in her resignation letter. "As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions." Hours after The Times confirmed Weiss's departure, writer Andrew Sullivan announced that he was leaving New York Magazine by the end of the week. He, like Weiss, has lamented that the current cultural and political climate stifles open debate. "I have no beef with my colleagues, many of whom I admire and are friends," Sullivan tweeted. "The underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident." But he expressed solidarity with Weiss: "The mob bullied and harassed a young woman for thoughtcrimes. And her editors stood by and watched." During her tenure at The Times, Weiss became a social media lightning rod and provocateur. She attempted to position herself as a reasonable liberal concerned that far-left critiques stifled free speech. She wrote about anti-Semitism and the Women's March, praised cultural appropriation and warned of the limits of #MeToo in a widely discussed column about Aziz Ansari, which inspired a "Saturday Night Live" sketch. Weiss has long complained about "cancel culture" - she signed an open letter published by Harper's this month on the subject. Her critics have accused her of hypocrisy, accusing her of singling out a writer in attempt to get her fired, and have noted her own history as a campus activist who took aim at professors.. In her resignation latter, Weiss wrote "my forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views," some of whom, she said, had called her "a Nazi and a racist." "What rules that remain at The Times are applied with extreme selectivity," she wrote. "If a person's ideology is in keeping with the new orthodoxy, they and their work remain unscrutinized. Everyone else lives in fear of the digital thunderdome. Online venom is excused so long as it is directed at the proper targets." Weiss's letter drew concern from many readers with her claim that some Times colleagues have "openly demeaned" her on the company's internal Slack messaging platform. "It's one thing that many of our readers and staff disagree with @bariweiss' views - fine," tweeted Times correspondent Rukmini Callimachi. "But the fact that she has been openly bullied, not just on social media, but in internal slack channels is not okay." Trump supporters and conservative lawmakers also seized upon Weiss's resignation letter - "eloquent, profound, incisive - and true," wrote Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas - as evidence that the newspaper stifled views that veered from the left. Atlantic staff writer Caitlin Flanagan tweeted that the way The Times treated Weiss "is unconscionable. It's not civil, It's not in the reader's interest, and the well-documented culture of extreme harassment will, I hope, now come to light. This is the biggest media story in years." Talk show host Bill Maher wrote: "As a longtime reader who has in recent years read the paper with increasing dismay over just the reasons outlined here, I hope this letter finds receptive ears at the paper. But for the reasons outlined here, I doubt it." In a statement Tuesday, acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said, "We appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion." A spokesperson for The Times said publisher A.G.Sulzberger does not plan to issue a public response to Weiss's letter. Kingsbury assumed the role previously occupied by Bennet, who resigned last month after staffers revolted against the paper for its decision to publish a controversial op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that argued for military incursion into U.S. cities racked by protests against police violence. Many staffers argued that it was dangerous to give Cotton's argument the platform of The Times's opinion page, and that it would put black people in particular danger. They also noted Cotton included claims debunked by the Times's own reporting. The internal drama played out on social media, and many staffers took exception with Weiss's characterization of it as a "civil war inside The New York Times between the (mostly young) wokes the (mostly 40+) liberals," noting that the criticism came from a range of Times employees. Bennet and Sulzberger initially defended the decision to publish the essay as part of the section's mission to present a range of opinions. But following the considerable outcry among staffers, the newspaper abruptly announced the Cotton opinion article had gone through "a rushed editorial process" and "did not meet our standards." On Tuesday, Kingsbury said she is "personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report. We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the outsized influence The Times's opinion journalism has on the national conversation." Amaravati, July 14 : The Andhra Pradesh Police, here on Tuesday, launched Muskaan Covid-19, an initiative aimed at controlling spread of the pandemic among street and homeless children. Originally, Operation Muskaan focused on eradicating child labour. In the backdrop of the pandemic and it's impact on health of children, the initiative will also include testing for Covid-19 and treating homeless children who usually inhabit railway stations, bus stand and places of their employment. DGP Gautam Sawang flagged off the initiative that will help test and treat one of the most vulnerable section of society. Apart from the police, the CID, the Women and Child Welfare Department, ICDS and the municipal administration, various NGOs will be involved in the operation. All children traced during the operation will be tested for Covid-19. Those requiring medical attention will be referred to the nearest hospital and the rest will be shifted to state-run rehabilitation centres. The authorities will provide free education, apart from taking care of their needs. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing blistering criticism after an internal report agreed with his claims that a state directive to send recovering elderly coronavirus patients back to care facilities did not drive the deadly nursing home outbreaks that killed more than 6,000. Scientists, health care professionals and officials blasted the report released last week saying it used flawed methodology and handpicked stats to back up his insistence that his policy did not cost thousands of lives. Cuomo has been widely praised for his handling of the pandemic in what rapidly became the global virus epicenter and where, at its peak, almost 800 died in a single day. But his decision to send vulnerable patients back to nursing homes at the height of the crisis has marked a stain on his tenure. The state's report last week aimed to put this criticism to bed, concluding that the directive was 'not a significant factor' in some of the nation's deadliest nursing home outbreaks. Instead it laid blame firmly at the door of the 37,500 nursing home workers who became infected while risking their own lives working on the frontline. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (pictured) is facing blistering criticism after an internal report agreed with his claims that a state directive to send recovering elderly coronavirus patients back to care facilities did not drive the deadly nursing home outbreaks that killed more than 6,000 Cuomo has come under fresh fire following the report's publication, with experts slamming the findings and saying the state is using the veneer of science to absolve him of responsibility for thousands of deaths. They point to a number of concerns with the study, including that the state's death toll ignores any nursing home residents who died at a hospital, that a significant number of homes had no cases of the virus before the directive and that thousands of patients were released to homes at a time when they were likely to be highly contagious with the virus. 'I think they got a lot of political pushback and so their response was, "This isn't a problem. Don't worry about it,"' said Rupak Shivakoti, an epidemiologist at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. 'It seems like the Department of Health is trying to justify what was an untenable policy,' added Charlene Harrington, a professor emerita of nursing and sociology at the University of California at San Francisco. The 33-page state report refutes concerns that ordering nursing homes to take back sick patients sparked outbreaks. 'Nursing home admissions from hospitals were not a driver of nursing home infections or fatalities,' the report read. Instead, it says the virus' rampant run through New York nursing homes was propelled by the 37,500 nursing home workers who became infected between mid-March and early June and unknowingly passed the virus on. Medical workers put a patient into an ambulance outside Harlem Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in May. 6,500 people have died in the state's nursing home and long-term care-facilities during the pandemic A man is moved him from a nursing home into an ambulance in Brooklyn. A 33-page state report last week concluded Cuomo's directive ordering nursing homes to take back COVID-19 patients was 'not a significant factor' in some of the nation's deadliest nursing home outbreaks The report noted that the number of residents dying at nursing homes peaked on April 8, around the same time as COVID-19 deaths statewide, but nearly a week before the peak of coronavirus patients being transferred from hospitals. It also said 80 percent of the 310 nursing homes that admitted coronavirus patients already had a confirmed or suspected case among its residents or staff before the directive was issued. It also states the median number of coronavirus patients sent to nursing homes had been hospitalized for nine days, the same period it says it likely takes for the virus to no longer be contagious and so meaning patients were of low risk of infecting others. State officials pointed to the report as evidence of their innocence. 'If you were to place blame, I would blame coronavirus,' Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, told reporters last week. Cuomo said in a later news conference that 'ugly politics' were behind 'this political conspiracy that the deaths in nursing homes were preventable. And now the report has the facts, and the facts tell the opposite story.' But several experts who reviewed the report at the request of The Associated Press said it has fatal flaws, including never actually addressing the effect of the order. Several point out that if 80 percent of the 310 nursing homes that took coronavirus patients back already had cases before the order, this also means 20 percent of homes did not. The study has key gaps in addressing what the effect of the released patients was on these other homes that had previously been virus free. They also raise concerns that, if the median number of patients were released into nursing homes after nine days, this means that - by the study's own count - more than 3,000 patients were also released within nine days, meaning they were more likely to have been infectious. Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York School of Public Health, also noted that New York's nursing home death toll doesn't include nursing home residents who died at a hospital - a 'potentially huge problem' that undercounts the virus' toll and could 'introduce bias into the analysis.' Among the holes in the study highlighted by University of Texas, Houston, epidemiologist Catherine Troisi was a lack of data on what happened at dozens of nursing homes that had no COVID-19 infections before those sick with the virus were sent to them. 'Would this get published in an academic journal? No,' Troisi said. Shivakoti said he thinks the report may be correct in concluding that the major drivers of the outbreaks were nursing home workers who were sick without knowing it. But that's not the same as saying the discharges played no role. 'If they didn't infect other patients directly they still could have infected a worker,' Shivakoti said. Dr. Mark Dworkin, a former Illinois state epidemiologist, also cast doubt on the finding that people don't transmit the virus after nine days of illness. He said this applies in the population at large, but it's not clear whether that's true of nursing home residents who may have weaker immune systems and shed the virus longer. He said the state's report also used 'overreaching' language. 'They really need to own the fact that they made a mistake, that it was never right to send COVID patients into nursing homes and that people died because of it,' said Dr. Michael Wasserman, president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine. New York Department of Health spokesman Gary Holmes said the study was intended to 'measure the strength of the variables... The strongest factor in driving the nursing home infections was through staff infections.' The saga around the nursing home directive is likely to rumble on for some time. New York's Legislature plans to hold joint hearings next month, and Republicans in Congress have demanded Cuomo turn over records on the order and its effects. 'Blame-shifting, name-calling and half-baked data manipulations will not make the facts or the questions they raise go away,' Louisiana US Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican leader of a House subcommittee on the COVID crisis, wrote in a letter to Cuomo last week. Asked to respond, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said: 'We're used to Republicans denying science but now they are screeching about time, space and dates on a calendar to distract from the federal government's many, many, embarrassing failures. No one is buying it.' On March 25, Cuomo issued an order that patients recovering from COVID-19 be sent back to their nursing homes. A patient is prepared to be loaded into the back of an ambulance by emergency medical workers outside Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn. Scientists, health care professionals and officials have slammed the state's study saying it used flawed methodology and stats to back up Cuomo's claims Emergency services leave Midway Nursing Home in Queens in April. Several experts point out that, based on the study's data, 20 percent of the 310 nursing homes that took coronavirus patients did not have cases before the order Cuomo told state homes they could not refuse to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals as long as the patients were 'medically stable' and even barred homes from testing such patients to see if they still had the virus. The aim was to help free up hospital beds for the sickest patients as cases surged uncontrollably across the state. Over a month later, on April 29, the Health Department clarified that homes should not take any new residents if they were unable to meet their needs, including a checklist of standards for coronavirus care and prevention. On May 10 Cuomo reversed the directive and pushed the blame onto Donald Trump - marking just one of a series of public bust-ups with the president. 'Why did the state do that with COVID patients in nursing homes?' Cuomo said at the time. 'It's because the state followed President Trump's CDC guidelines. So they should ask President Trump.' By this point, New York's death toll in care homes had already climbed to among the highest in the nation and relatives, patient advocates and nursing home administrators blamed the directive for spreading the virus among vulnerable residents. Nearly 6,500 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus in the state's nursing home and long-term care-facilities. ATLANTA, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading international expert services firm Secretariat today announced that Global Arbitration Review (GAR) has recognized the company as the second ranked firm globally in its annual GAR 100 Expert Witness Firms' Power Index, rising an impressive seven spots from the previous year. Secretariat's ranking was driven by a strong performance in multiple categories that influence the rankings. The firm led the field with the largest number of cross-examinations faced by members of the firm and the highest average value of dispute claims a figure nearly 50% higher than any other firm in the index. Additionally, Secretariat ranked second in the categories of total number of hearings accumulated by members, total number of commercial arbitrations and number of construction hearings. Secretariat's impressive firmwide performance is bolstered by a highly acclaimed team. This includes eight professionals listed in the 2020 edition of Who's Who Legal: Arbitration with three designated as Thought Leaders, giving the firm the highest percentage of listings relative to its size. "GAR's Expert Witness Power Index is highly respected for showcasing the top players across the international arbitration industry. Having the Secretariat name included in this class is an honor in its own right," says Secretariat Managing Director Don Harvey. "Earning the second-place ranking is worth celebrating, but more importantly, it demonstrates just how impressive the firm performs when stacked up against some of the largest consulting firms in the world. It validates the hard work and sterling reputation our people are dedicated to earning every day and shows how we make 'Experience Above All' come to life." GAR's Power Index is based on aggregating the activity of expert services firms over a two-year period across multiple categories. The Index's model considers the average value of a firm's hearings, the number of hearings it took part in, and the number of experts featured in the 2020 editions of GAR's Who's Who Legal: Arbitration and Who's Who Legal Thought Leaders: Arbitration. The Power Index was released in conjunction with the 10th Annual GAR Awards Ceremony celebrated virtually on July 9. About Secretariat Secretariat is a leading global independent expert services and litigation consulting firm with more than 160 professionals. The firm serves a wide range of global clients, specializing in international arbitration and litigation; large scale construction disputes with a focus on delay and quantum analysis; forensic accounting; economic damages; and government contracting. Headquartered in Atlanta, Secretariat operates from 19 offices across North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. For more information, visit secretariat-intl.com, connect with us on LinkedIn, or contact us at [email protected]. SOURCE Secretariat Related Links https://secretariat-intl.com Exclusive billionaires' playgrounds an hour's drive from Sydney and Melbourne have Australia's highest rental vacancy rates. The beachside peninsulas on the Northern Beaches and Victoria's Mornington Peninsula have an even more dramatic proportion of empty investment properties than the centre of Australia's biggest cities struggling with COVID-19 shutdowns. Portsea, at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, had Australia's highest rental vacancy rate of 38.1 per cent in June, SQM Research has revealed. Exclusive billionaires' playgrounds an hour's drive from Sydney and Melbourne have some of Australia's highest rental vacancy rates. Pictured is Palm Beach on Sydney's Northern Beaches Portsea, at the mouth of Port Phillip Bay, had Australia's highest rental vacancy rate of 38.1 per cent in June, SQM Research has revealed. Pictured is a house being leased for $1,850 a week This upmarket area south-east of Melbourne is home to transport and logistics billionaire Lindsay Fox and takes in Cheviot Beach, where Liberal prime minister Harold Holt drowned in December 1967. Palm Beach, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River on Sydney's Northern Beaches, had Australia's third highest rental vacancy rate of 18 per cent, despite the likes of billionaire arts patron Gretel Packer having a weekender there. The Pittwatter peninsula enclave, where Home and Away is filmed, saw its rental vacancy rate increase from 16.7 per cent in May. Median weekly rents in Palm Beach have also dived by 33.8 per cent during the past year, falling from $1,369 to $906. SQM Research's head of property data analytics Anthony Ishac said Australia's border closures and COVID-19 travel restrictions had seen 'top end' holiday destinations 'take a massive hit' as AirBnD and short-stay accommodation demand dried up. Palm Beach, at the mouth of the Hawkesbury River on Sydney's Northern Beaches, had Australia's third highest rental vacancy rate of 18 per cent 'If we think about these markets, particularly Palm Beach and Portsea, and some other coastal markets, they're more lifestyle holiday markets,' he told Daily Mail Australia. Billionaire arts patron Gretel Packer owns property in Palm Beach 'There's apprehension about whether it's the right time to take an extended holiday.' Another beachside town, Middleton an hour's drive south of Adelaide on the Fleurieu Peninsula, has Australia's second highest rental vacancy rate of 24.5 per cent. Portsea, Palm Beach and Middleton had even higher rental vacancy rates than the centre of Sydney and Melbourne where coronavirus shutdowns caused double-digit job losses. Sydney's city centre last month had a vacancy rate of 13.8 per cent, down from 16.2 per cent in May as COVID-19 restrictions were eased. Melbourne's Southbank precinct had a rental vacancy rate of 16.2 per cent. Brisbane's central business district had a vacancy rate of 14 per cent in June, up from 13.3 per cent. CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Boeing (BA) has won about $1.2 billion contract from the U.S. Air Force to build the first lot of eight F-15EX advanced fighter jets to help the service meet its capacity requirements and add capability to its fighter fleet. The new contract also covers support and one-time, upfront engineering costs. In addition, the U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing with the overall Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contract worth upto $23 billion for F-15EX. The first eight F-15EX aircraft would be fielded at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, to support testing efforts. The delivery of the first two aircraft is scheduled for the second quarter of fiscal 2021. The remaining six aircraft are scheduled to deliver in fiscal 2023. The F-15EX would replace the oldest F-15C/Ds in the service's inventory. The Air Force has planned to purchase a total of 76 F-15EX aircraft over the five-year Future Years Defense Program. Eight F-15EX aircraft were approved in the fiscal year 2020 budget and 12 were requested in the fiscal 2021 budget. 'The F-15EX is the most affordable and immediate way to refresh the capacity and update the capabilities provided by our aging F-15C/D fleets,' said Gen. Mike Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command. 'The F-15EX is ready to fight as soon as it comes off the line.' The company boasted that the F-15EX carries more weapons than any other fighter in its class, and could launch hypersonic weapons up to 22 feet long and weighing up to 7,000 pounds. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de Mumbai, July 14 : Ayushmann Khurrana says he has always opted for films that have no reference point and that he has done so deliberately. "I have always tried to choose films that have no reference points and I have done this deliberately. I have gravitated towards handpicking social dramas in my quest to give the audiences films that can hopefully impact change in mindset, communities and of course attitude," Ayushmann said. In his eight-year Bollywood journey, Ayushmann has played a sperm donor in his maiden film "Vicky Donor", a man with erectile dysfunction in "Shubh Mangal Saavdhaan", a strong headed police officer in "Article 15", a gay lover in "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhaan", highlighted body shaming in "Dum Laga Ke Haisha" and spotlighted premature balding in "Bala". "These so-called taboo topics were hardly touched upon by our industry because we generally, consciously, like to shy away from speaking publicly about these issues," he said. Ayushmann wants society and Bollywood to be more vocal about important issues that can help promote diversity and inclusivity in India. "We aren't very vocal about some important and real issues that we should actually be talking about and discussing more often. I have always felt that bringing such topics out in the open will help us grow as a country," he said. Ayushmann says he will continue with his journey to usher as much "positive change" around him as possible. "That's my biggest motivation as an artist," he summed up. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Yomi Otubela, has said that the Federal government has agreed to pay the salaries of private school teachers that are being owed by their school management since the lockdown started in March. A number of private school teachers have come out to cry for help as they have not been paid by their management since March when schools were shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The school management insists they cannot pay salaries since they have also not made money by way of school fees. Speaking on TVC on Monday morning, July 13, Otubela said the association forwarded a proposal to the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, for the government to pay the salaries of the private school owners and that an approval has been granted to the proposal by the Federal Executive Council. We have written to the Federal government to understand that these teachers are teaching Nigerian children and that they need to keep them and their families together during the lockdown. So the Federal government has listened to our request. We requested that the teachers salaries in private schools should be taken over by the government during the months of the lockdown. We also requested for a single digit loan for private schools to cushion the effect of the COVID19. We requested for support for schools that have existing loans, that they (FG) should liase on our behalf with the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and CBN will liase with commercial banks and other financial institutions to ensure that they give them soft landing in terms of moratorium to repay and deduction in the interest loan. The Federal government has approved that they will take over the payment of teachers salaries. The proposal was sent to the Economic Sustainability Committee headed by the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and it was approved by the Federal Executive Council. We are already talking to them to know the modalities for the disbursement. He however pointed out that it is only private schools registered under its association that will benefit from the Federal governments bailout. Britain will ban Huawei equipment from the countrys high-speed 5G network, the government said Tuesday, delivering a victory to the Trump administration, which has been pushing allies to eschew the Chinese technology giant. The British government announced it would bar the purchase of new Huawei equipment for 5G networks beginning in December and ordered existing equipment to be removed from the networks by 2027, saying that Huawei created too high a risk for such a critical, multibillion-dollar project, but that imposing restrictions any faster would increase the risk to the security and resilience of the network. As facts have changed, so has our approach, Oliver Dowden, the government minister in charge of telecommunications, told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the U.K.s telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run. Critics of Huawei in the U.S. and abroad have called on countries to shun the firm, citing its close ties to the Chinese government as a security concern. They allege Beijing could use the companys equipment for espionage or to disrupt telecommunications, though the company insists that is not the case. While the U.S. had imposed restrictions disrupting the firms access to important components in May, Britain had previously been one of the companys most welcoming markets and had said in January that Huawei equipment would be allowed in its new 5G network on a limited basis. The countrys about-face comes after months of political pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to take a firmer stance with Beijing. Western countries have increasingly begun confronting China since it adopted a new law increasing its power over the semi autonomous city of Hong Kong last month. This government is cleareyed about China, Dowden said. What we want is a modern and mature relationship with China based on mutual respect. Story continues The costly decision is expected to delay Britains 5G rollout by around two years. However, the government said there is no need to remove Huawei equipment in 2G, 3G and 4G networks or to discontinue use of Huawei products. Huawei called the ban a disappointment and bad news for anyone in the U.K. with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide, Ed Brewster, a spokesman for Huawei U.K., told the New York Times. Regrettably our future in the U.K. has become politicized; this is about U.S. trade policy and not security. Over the past 20 years, Huawei has focused on building a better connected U.K. He said Huawei would continue to support its customers and work with the U.K. government to explain how we can continue to contribute to a better-connected Britain. More from National Review A fundraiser has been launched to cover the funeral costs of a British champion fighter who was stabbed to death at his birthday party. Welterweight MMA star Jahreau Shepherd , nicknamed Nightmare, was murdered in Kennington, south London, on Saturday. The 30-year-old was found with stab wounds on the Black Prince Estate shortly after 10pm. His managers have now created a GoFundMe campaign to raise 12,000 to help his relatives and "give the champion the send-off he deserves". It read: Alpha Talent Management (ATM) are raising money for funeral costs and to support his family during this time. We are reaching out to the UK MMA fraternity to come together and show some love for Jay, who has been such an integral part of this industry. If he has ever fought on your show, supported you, been in your corner, trained you, inspired you or simply blessed you with his infectious energy please show some love and support and donate today no matter how big or small. Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends. RIP Jay, we love you, will always miss you and will keep your memory alive forever. Scotland Yard has launched a murder investigation into his death. A second man, aged 26, was also treated for stab wounds, but his injuries were not life-threatening. Anyone with information can call police on 020 8345 3775 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. On Mondays edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the popular Fox News host addressed the resignation of his shows head writer, who was identified on Friday as the author of a years-long series of racist, sexist and homophobic internet posts under a pseudonym. Carlson acknowledged the posts were wrong, but did not offer an apology on behalf of the show or the network, saying his longtime associate had paid a very heavy price in losing his job. Over the weekend you may have seen stories about a writer on this show called Blake Neff, Carlson told his audience. For years, since he was in college, Blake posted anonymously on an internet message board for law school students. On Friday, many of those posts became public. Blake was horrified by the story and he was ashamed. Friday afternoon he resigned from his job. Carlsons brief remarks came near the end of his hour-long program. We want to say a couple of things about this. First, what Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We dont endorse those words, Carlson said. They have no connection to the show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. But Carlson, who spent the broadcast going after Democratic politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, repeating his assertion that there is no evidence that wearing a mask helps slow the spread of COVID-19 and referring to Black Lives Matter protesters as the mob, also took aim at commentators who he said were celebrating Neff losing his job. Blake fell short of that standard and he has paid a very heavy price for it. But we should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs, Carlson said. We are all human and when we pretend we are holy, we are lying. Tucker Carlson. (Richard Drew, AP) We want to make abundantly clear that Fox News Media strongly condemns this horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said in a written statement released Sunday. Neffs abhorrent conduct on this forum was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation. Make no mistake, actions such as his cannot and will not be tolerated at any time in any part of our workforce. Story continues The timing of the revelations about Neff, who had worked for Fox News for four years, after a stint at the conservative opinion website Daily Caller, co-founded by Carlson in 2010, comes as growing number of advertisers have joined a boycott of Carlsons program. Companies like Papa Johns Pizza, T-Mobile and Disney have all pulled ads from the show in response remarks the host made in early June about the Black Lives Matter movement. Mondays show had four commercials for a mail-order company selling pillows and bedding, and for an inspirational book by the companys founder. This may be a lot of things, this moment were living through, but it is definitely not about Black lives, Carlson said during a broadcast last month. Remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will. But Carlson has lost advertisers before. In 2018, during a segment in which he railed against immigration to the U.S., the host complained, We have a moral obligation to admit the worlds poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer, and dirtier and more divided. Carlson retains his audience, however, one that includes President Trump. At the end of Mondays show, Carlson announced that he would be going on vacation trout fishing for the remainder of the week. _____ Read more from Yahoo News: WASHINGTON -- The United States on Monday rejected Chinas disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the East Vietnam Sea, a move that Beijing criticised as inciting tensions in the region and which highlighted an increasingly testy relationship. China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the East Vietnam Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other Southeast Asian coastal states, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the [East Vietnam Sea] are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them, said Pompeo, a prominent China hawk within the Trump administration. The U.S. has long opposed Chinas expansive territorial claims on the East Vietnam Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Mondays comments reflect a harsher tone. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the [East Vietnam Sea] as its maritime empire, Pompeo said. The Chinese embassy in the United States said in a statement dated Tuesday that Washingtons accusation is completely unjustified. Under the pretext of preserving stability, (the U.S.) is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region, it said. Regional analysts said it would be vital to see whether other nations adopt the U.S. stance and what, if anything, Washington might do to reinforce its position and prevent Beijing from creating facts on the water to buttress its claims. The relationship between the United States and China has grown increasingly tense over the past six months over Beijings handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its tightened grip on Hong Kong and its crackdown on Chinas Uighur Muslim community. China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich East Vietnam Sea, through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year. Beijing has built bases atop atolls in the region but says its intentions are peaceful. Beijing routinely outlines the scope of its claims with reference to the so-called nine-dashed line that encompasses about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer East Vietnam Sea on Chinese maps. This is basically the first time we have called it illegitimate, said Chris Johnson, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Its fine to put out a statement, but what you going to do about it? Political pressure from the White House and a series of crazy in the middle of the night texts, emails and phone calls caused top federal weather officials to wrongly admonish a weather office for a tweet that contradicted President Donald Trump about Hurricane Dorian in 2019, an inspector general report found. Commerce Department Inspector General Peggy Gustafson concluded in a report issued Thursday that the statement chastising the National Weather Service office in Birmingham, Alabama, could undercut public trust in weather warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for a short time even hindered public safety. Agency officials downplayed and disputed the findings. Instead of focusing on NOAAs successful hurricane forecast, the Department unnecessarily rebuked NWS forecasters for issuing a public safety message about Hurricane Dorian in response to public inquiries _ that is, for doing their jobs, the report concluded. Former Obama NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, a scientist at Oregon State University, said in an email that high-level officials put politics and their own jobs above public safety. In my view, this is shameful, irresponsible, and unethical. At issue was a Sept. 1 tweet from the Birmingham weather office that Alabama will NOT see any impacts from (hash)Dorian. The tweet came out 10 minutes after Trump had tweeted that Alabama was among states that will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Forecasters in Alabama said they didnt know about the presidents tweet, which was based on outdated information, and that they were instead responding to calls from a worried public. By the time the two tweets were posted, Alabama was no longer in the hurricane centers warning cone, although it had been in previous days. One hurricane center graphic at the time showed a non-zero chance of tropical storm force winds for a tiny corner of Alabama, something NOAA officials later scurried to highlight, according to the report. However, NOAA acting chief Neil Jacobs told the inspector generals office that he was baffled by Trumps reference to Alabama: (T)hat was the first time when I was wondering why are we still talking about Alabama, you know? The dust-up came to be referred to as Sharpiegate after the president later displayed a National Hurricane Center warning map that had been altered with a black marker to include Alabama in the potential path of the storm. The president is known for his use of Sharpies. Four days after the tweets, then acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney sent Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross an email after 9 p.m., saying it appears as if the NWS intentionally contradicted the president. And we need to know why. He wants either a correction or an explanation or both. That triggered a series of texts, emails and phone calls involving Ross underlings, especially Department of Commerce Chief of Staff Michael J. Walsh Jr. from 1 a.m. to 3:43 a.m., laying the groundwork for a NOAA statement that came out the next day. Jacobs said things went crazy in the middle of the night. Then-NOAA communications chief Julie Kay Roberts told the inspector generals office that Walsh told her there are jobs on the line. It could be the forecast office in Birmingham. Or it could be someone higher than that. And the higher is less palatable. Walsh denied that to the inspector general. The report said there was no credible evidence found to say that jobs were threatened. However, Jacobs told the inspector generals office he definitely felt like our jobs were on the line but that nobody told me I was going to get fired. The eventual unsigned statement from NOAA said: The Birmingham National Weather Services Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time. Dorian made landfall in North Carolina and had no major impact on Alabama, which is about 600 miles (965 kilometers) away. By requiring NOAA to issue an unattributed statement related to a then-5-day-old tweet, while an active hurricane continued to exist off the east coast of the United States, the Department displayed poor judgment in exercising its authority over NOAA, the inspector general report said. The report also criticized Roberts for deleting text messages, which is contrary to government document retention rules. In a statement attached to the report, Walsh said the reports conclusions are completely unsupported by any of the evidence or factual findings that the report lays out. The Inspector General instead selectively quotes from interviews, takes facts out of context. The White House declined to comment. The Department of Commerce attached a letter to the report saying the report doesnt dispute the accuracy of the Sept. 6 statement that criticized the Birmingham office nor does it find that the agency suppressed scientific communication. Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, said she could not support Jacobs nomination to be the full-time chief of NOAA, saying the report shows Jacobs failed to protect scientists from political influence.4 Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. New Zealand is set to finally open its travel bubble within a week, but Australians will not be the first to get into the the neighbouring country. The country closed its borders to the rest of the world on March 19 after the coronavirus pandemic quickly spread across the globe. The Cook Islands government was due to announce a relaxation of rules on Tuesday, meaning New Zealanders could travel to Rarotonga quarantine free. But without a rule change, those returning home to New Zealand will still have to undertake mandatory quarantine in a hotel. The Cook Islands (pictured) government was due to announce a relaxation of rules on Tuesday, meaning New Zealanders could travel to Rarotonga quarantine free There are reports Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (pictured) intervened on Monday evening and asked to push back the announcement for a week There are reports Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern intervened on Monday evening and asked to push back the announcement for a week, according to Stuff. It is believed the announcement was delayed until quarantine-free travel could be announced between both countries. Cook Islands Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown told the AM Show an announcement is expected next week. However, there is currently no detail on when flights will begin to the Cook Islands. 'It's imperative that it does start sooner rather than later,' Mr Brown said. The travel bubble is expected to open up before September to boost the economy as 45 per cent of Cook Islands population are having their wages subsidised. 'That's going to run out in September, so we really need to get some motion in terms of economy activity,' he said. 'We've got a few little things to iron out with the protocols in terms of crossing the T's and dotting the I's. We're confident we will be able to open [announce] an air bridge between our two countries within the next week.' It is believed the announcement was pushed back until quarantine-free travel could be announced between New Zealand (pictured) and the Cook Islands Mr Brown said officials were working with Auckland Airport and Air New Zealand to ensure people could fly between the Cook Islands with no interactions with other countries. But Mr Brown said the islands are looking forward to welcoming New Zealanders. A travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand has been on the table since May but has since been held back after a massive outbreak in Victoria plunged Melbourne into lockdown. Regular travel between the two allies has been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, and there is no shortage of people eager to see it return. Last week, Ms Ardern breathed fresh life into the plan by saying that she is prepared for it to go ahead on a state-by-state basis. She refused to give a time frame but has previously said September is realistic. Cook Islands (pictured) Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown told the AM Show an announcement is expected next week The plan would allow residents in states with no outbreaks to enter New Zealand without having to quarantine - but Victorians would still be banned from the country. The scheme would also depend on states keeping their borders closed to Victorians to make sure they cannot get to New Zealand by driving to another state and then getting a flight. Ms Ardern said she has set out her requirements and the ball is in Australia's court. 'If states continue to have their own border controls... then it is possible. But that's actually Australia's call not ours,' she said last week. 'It comes down to decision-making by Australia itself. We've got our criteria for what we need to see either as the country as a whole or state-by-state in order to open up. 'Whether they choose to go state-by-state is a matter for them,' she said. Mr Brown said officials were working with Auckland Airport and Air New Zealand to ensure people could fly between the Cook Islands (pictured) with no interactions with other countries New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said last month that he wanted to open up travel bubbles with some Australian states as soon as possible to revive the economy. 'Let's not restrain the movement between our two countries based on the slowest state in Australia,' he said. Australia's federal government is in charge of border controls which currently ban Australians from leaving the country. Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham has also said September is a realistic target date for the travel bubble to commence. New Zealand is Australia's second-biggest international tourism market after China with 1.4 million visitors a year while 1.5 million Australians go to New Zealand every year representing the county's biggest market. Before coronavirus stuck, tourism supported 924,600 jobs in Australia and 229,566 jobs in New Zealand - around eight per cent of the workforce in each country - but almost all of these roles have been affected by the crisis. For Cory Monahan, the small clearing off the rail trail where he and three others have their pitched tents presents two advantages. The ground is flat and people leave them alone, says Monahan as pedestrians and cyclists pass by the cluster set up beside the escarpment-hugging trail in Corktown. I can do this indefinitely. Im a Boy Scout, said Monahan, who, all joking aside, is homeless. Earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic, he joined others at the former Sir John A. Macdonald school property before the city dismantled the encampment. Hes been forced out of other sites, too. But living together outside offers security and peace that shelters dont, says Monahan, who like others, eschews the dormlike settings. Ive got all kinds of reasons, he says, noting theft and drug use are chief among them. Monahan said about half of the people sleeping outside in Hamilton have mental-health issues. In his case, all he can afford on a disability pension is a bug-infested rental, after his landlord moved family into his longtime home forcing him out. Monahan and others have found allies in a group of lawyers, doctors and street outreach workers pressuring the city to stop dismantling encampments, especially during the pandemic. In written delegations, the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, Keeping Six, a harm-reduction advocacy group, and the Hamilton Community Legal Clinic urge the city to leave the encampments be unless inhabitants are given acceptable alternatives. Doctors Tim OShea and Jill Wiwcharuk say clearing away people can severe crucial ties outreach and health-care workers have established with vulnerable patients who dont stay in shelters. People dont cease to exist when they are told to move along, said Wiwcharuk. In fact, an encampment outside FirstOntario Centre on York Boulevard now a temporary overflow shelter springs, in part, from smaller ones in green spaces that were broken up, she said. In a separate letter, Jody Ans and Lisa Nussey of Keeping Six suggest the city adopt a policy of sanctioned encampments so people arent forced to regularly find other places to stay and replace lost possessions. And in another letter, legal clinic lawyers Sharon Crowe and Nadine Watson, along with Wade Poziomka, a partner with Ross & McBride, say there are precedents in law to make the case, pointing to two cases in British Columbia that focused on encampments. Given the significant risks people who are forced to move face, dismantlement infringes on their right to life, liberty, and security of the person, the Hamilton lawyers contend. In an interview, Crowe said the group has raised legal action as an option if the city displaces people from another encampment without providing acceptable alternatives. We are hoping for a negotiated resolution. We dont want to pursue litigation against the city. The lawyers point to London, Ont., where that citys manager of homeless prevention says a more compassionate approach was taken in the early days of the pandemic to allow people sleeping rough to stay on city property. The encampers had to maintain a level of health and safety for themselves and others around them in the space and they had to maintain physical distancing between themselves and their tents, Craig Cooper said in an email. The approach has been helpful during the public health emergency, but with more services reopening, the opportunities for encampers to stay on city property are diminishing, he added. Two housing outreach teams are working with them to help find housing or get connected with other services. In Hamilton, advocates cite three larger camps that were dismantled recently: Sir John A. Macdonald, one at Jackie Washington park on Wellington Street North, and a group on Ferrie Street East near the railway tracks. Wiwcharuk notes smaller encampments have also been broken up. The citys outreach team made efforts to set people up with housing plans and support services well in advance of clearing the Sir John A. Macdonald and Jackie Washington encampments, Edward John, housing services director, told councillors Monday. Thats not always easy with housing and mental-health programs in short supply, added Paul Johnson, general manager of healthy and safe communities. The amount of fully supportive housing in this community does not meet the demand thats there. But Johnson described a shift to services at sanctioned encampments as a major departure that would demand changes to bylaws, staffing and funding. It might not appear that theres any headway, he said, but the city has seen successes in moving people from tents to housing, he said. Coun. Terry Whitehead argued against a change in practice, warning Hamilton could become like San Francisco, which amid the pandemic and a homelessness crisis, has sanctioned an encampment. I can tell you if we put this to a vote that we want camp cities, theres no question where that votes going to land. Coun. Nrinder Nann said exploring a shift isnt necessarily advocating for permanent tent cities year after year. Its asking what could be put in place in a temporary way to prevent the disruption of outreach work that occurs when encampments are broken up. KEY HIGHLIGHTS Passenger vehicle sales crash nearly 50% in June, two wheelers down 38.6% Industry endures worst ever quarter in Q1 with overall sales down 75.5% SIAM says government should cut GST across the board by 10%, roll out scrappage policy at the earliest "No case for fresh investments, lay offs maybe inevitable," says SIAM Sale of automobiles in India crashed by over 40 percent in June as a broken supply chain impaired the ability of companies to manufacture cars and two wheelers. Sales have crashed by a steeper 75.5 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal, the worst performance for a three-month period, as no business could be conducted for the full month of April and for almost half of May. Industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) stuck to its earlier projection of 26-45 per cent decline in sales this fiscal, the steepest ever in a year. It also played down expectations of a quick revival adding that it will take at least till 2023-24 for industry to recover to peak levels of 2017-18. "The industry saw peak levels in 2017-18 and we saw a 18-19 percent decline in 2019-20. This year we will see another reduction of 26-45 percent across categories. So in just two years we would have seen a near 50 percent fall in volumes," says Rajan Wadhera, President, SIAM. "I am being very optimistic when I say we may return to peak levels by 2023-24. That itself would mean a strong double digit growth beyond 2020-21 which is not a given right now". Passenger car segment registered a 58 per cent decline at 55,497 units, while utility vehicles showed a bit more resilience declining by 31.2 percent at 46,201 units. Two wheelers that account for a majority of automobiles sold in the country in terms of volumes, also declined by 38.5 percent at 10,13,431 units. In the first quarter, passenger vehicles saw a 78.4 per cent decline in sales while two wheelers registered a 74 per cent dip, commercial vehicles by 84.8 per cent and three wheelers by 91.5 per cent. Overall industry domestic sales crashed to under 1.5 million units from over 6 million units last year. "We need a direct fiscal stimulus that encourages customers to return to showrooms. In the past whenever there has been a slowdown or a recession, the government has helped. Be it in December 2008 or September 2012. This time too we are in constant discussion with the government but nothing has happened so far," Wadhera said. Automobiles attract one of the highest taxes in the country ranging between 28 and 60 percent. The industry has been asking for a 10 percent across the board reduction in GST since August last year. Another long standing demand has been for a scrappage policy, wherein old vehicles can be phased out and owners incentivised so they replace them with new vehicles. "We are staring into a very deep slowdown now. World-over we have seen governments in Europe and the US and even in developing economies in South East Asia pitch in with direct fiscal incentives to support the industry," he said. "There is very limited scope now for the industry to spur demand with discounts as profit margins only range between 6-9 percent. There is much more headroom for the government to reduce taxes." While SIAM did not give out any figures for possible layoffs in the industry, Wadhera said retrenchments cannot be ruled out as the industry will be straddled with excess capacity for sometime now. "In the last few years, this industry has invested a lot in increasing capacity as well as for the new BS VI emission norms. Now we are looking at a capacity utilisation of not more than 60-70 percent at the maximum. There is no case for fresh investments now," he said. "Companies have not laid off employees yet as we are still coming out of the lockdown phase but as pressure to cut costs mount, rationalisation of workforce will be one of the ways to do that." Also read: Mukesh Ambani surpasses Google co-founder Larry Page to become world's 6th richest Also read: Atma Nirbhar Bharat, TikTok Ban: Here's what Google CEO Sundar Pichai has to say Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:33:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China has decided to impose sanctions on the U.S. company Lockheed Martin, the main contractor involved in the latest arms sales plan to Taiwan, as a necessary move to safeguard national interests, a foreign ministry spokesperson announced on Tuesday. According to a recent statement reportedly issued by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. State Department has approved the plan to provide the recertification package for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to Taiwan, worth 620 million U.S. dollars in total. "China is firmly opposed to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily press briefing. "We urge the United States to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the provisions under the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop arms sales to Taiwan and sever military ties with Taiwan, to avoid further undermining China-U.S. relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao added. Enditem You know about the CIA. And the FBI. The whole world knows that James Bond worked for MI6. Everyone knows the name of the Soviet Union's notorious foreign espionage service, the KGB, the training ground for today's Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Most people have heard of the ruthlessly efficient Israeli Mossad. Most Australians have heard of the domestic spy agency ASIO. And a few will know of Australia's overseas spy agency, ASIS. But can you name one of China's intelligence services? Just one? We've heard in recent years that Chinese spying and hacking in Australia is so rife that it's overwhelming our own intelligence agencies. The federal government in 2018 even introduced new laws to try to limit Chinese spying and interference. But we can't name the agencies doing it. Is it because they are so small and insignificant? Today, China has more people engaged in its spying effort than any other country, according to the 2019 book Chinese Communist Espionage: An Intelligence Primer by Americans Peter Mattis and Matthew Brazil. Illustration: Dionne Gain Credit: So how can we be so blind to such a big enterprise? A New Zealand sinologist, Anne-Marie Brady, in a new essay on China's spying, suggests a couple of reasons. One is what she calls "decades of post-Cold War complacency, of arrogance about the superiority of liberal democracies over communist systems". Another is a post-September 11 preoccupation with terrorism among Western intelligence systems including Australia's. A third is public sector cutbacks. An adenovirus infection can be potentially life-threatening, especially for children after a stem cell transplant. Virologists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the German Research Center for Environmental Health Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen have successfully shown that a previously approved medication used in cancer treatment could help inhibit this virus infection. Due to the special mechanism of action, the virus cannot develop defense strategies. Human adenoviruses cause conjunctivitis, gastrointestinal illnesses, and pneumonia, among other things. In most cases however an infection exhibits no symptoms or only mild symptoms in healthy adults. "Generally speaking, every adult has probably had several adenovirus infections already," says Dr. Sabrina Schreiner. She works at the TUM Institute of Virology and the German Research Center for Environmental Health Helmholtz Zentrum. In the past human viruses, of which more than 85 different variants are currently known, were not considered to be particularly dangerous. No medication or vaccine available as yet However, for individuals with immune system deficiencies, the course of the infection can have serious effects or even be fatal. Infection is particularly dangerous for children following a stem cell transplant. In this case, the mortality rate for infected patients can be as high as 80 percent. "We've known that adenovirus infections in healthy patients can also cause severe pneumonia ending in death since 2006," says Schreiner. However, as yet there is still no medication that is specifically effective against adenoviruses, and there is also no vaccine for the general population. Protein complexes with antiviral effects Schreiner and her team are investigating how the virus reproduces in the cell. They observed marked changes in what is called PML nuclear, complexes made up of several proteins within the cell, in cases of adenovirus infection. These structures, which are otherwise round, dissolve and form elongated fibrils. "We assume that the PML bodies have an antiviral effect," says Schreiner. "The viruses destroy the round structures of the protein complexes and then make use of this cellular manipulation for their own reproduction." Body's own defenses strengthened The scientists noticed in cancer patients that the structures of the PML bodies were also dissolved. But when the patients were treated with arsenic trioxide (ATO) the round structures reformed. "ATO is a known active ingredient which has already been approved and is currently in clinical use for leukemia patients," Schreiner explains. The researchers tested the efficacy of ATO in cell cultures infected with adenoviruses. Here too the PML bodies once again reformed into round structures and the virus concentration dropped. "So we can actually restore the endogenous antiviral factories which then fight the virus," says Schreiner. No direct attack Following laboratory testing, in the next step, the medication will be used on patients with adenovirus infections. The virologists are in close contact with pediatricians in Munich hospitals. Since the medication has already been approved, it can be used in treatment immediately. This compound contains arsenic, but there are no cytotoxic side-effects in the concentrations in which it is used and for which it has already been approved." Dr. Sabrina Schreiner, Institute of Virology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich The special thing about this medication is that it affects the cell's own structures instead of directly attacking the virus. "Viruses often become resistant to medications which attack them directly," explains Schreiner. "For example, they can mutate in such a way that they are no longer recognized by the medication. But in this case, since the virus has no direct interaction with the active ingredient, it can't develop any defense mechanisms." Kyle Sandilands has been criticised for making 'appalling' comments about Chinese women on his KIIS FM radio program on Tuesday morning. The radio host, 49, says he made a certain discovery about Chinese women after an experience with a sex worker years ago. On Tuesday evening, The National Council of Women Australia condemned Sandilands' remarks as 'totally unacceptable'. Kyle Sandilands has been criticised for making 'appalling' comments about Chinese women on his KIIS FM radio program on Tuesday morning 'The comments by Sandilands in my view are appalling and totally unacceptable for radio at any time,' NCWA President Robyn Nolan told The Daily Telegraph. 'Such a discussion warrants an immediate apology to all women and Sandilands should be taken to task for his behaviour yet again.' His 'offensive' comments concerned different types of human pubic hair. Drawing from his experience with a Chinese sex worker, Kyle said on air on Tuesday that many Chinese people have straight pubes, while white and black people have curly pubes. He did not suggest this was a bad thing, just that he had observed the difference. Kyle was actually correct: Experts on human hair agree that people of East Asian heritage have pubic hair that is typically black and wavy. By contrast, people of African heritage have highly curled pubic hair and people of European heritage also have curly pubic hair. The radio host, 49, says he made a certain discovery about Chinese women after interacting with a sex worker. On Tuesday evening, The National Council of Women Australia condemned Sandilands' remarks as 'totally unacceptable' 'The comments by Sandilands in my view are appalling and totally unacceptable for radio at any time,' NCWA President Robyn Nolan said. 'Such a discussion warrants an immediate apology to all women and Sandilands should be taken to task for his behaviour yet again The radio personality is no stranger to fallout from his often controversial remarks. In September 2019, Sandilands was the subject of formal complains and protests over his comments about the Virgin Mary. He said on air at the time: 'I thought Mary was his [Jesus Christ's] girlfriend but apparently it was the mother.' 'And the mother lied obviously and told everyone, 'Nah I got pregnant by a magical ghost'. Bulls**t. 'Someone chock-a-blocked her behind the camel shed... You might believe everything that's written down 2,000 years ago to be absolutely accurate and good on you, you're dumb. Dumb as dog s**t.' In September 2019, Sandilands was the subject of formal complains and protests over his comments about the Virgin Mary Radio watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority received more than 150 complaints about Sandilands' Virgin Mary statement Sandilands, who apologised for his joke, said at the time that he 'never meant to hurt anyone' with his 'joke'. 'Sometimes I just say things as a joke and it offends some people,' he said to media from outside his Los Angeles mansion, where he was hiding out at the time. 'You don't realise until you offend someone (and) when you hear about it, (you think): 'Oh f**k, that's pretty s**t'. 'When you're a comedian you say funny things and you think you're funny, but then you don't realise you piss some people off. 'I already put a statement out saying I never meant to p**s anyone off, I never meant to hurt anyone - I'm here to make people laugh, not to make them angry.' Police were also called to intervene as Muslim and Christians prayed in the street and called for Sandilands to be fired over his blasphemous comments His apology came after radio watchdog the Australian Communications and Media Authority confirmed it had received more than 150 complaints about Sandilands' Virgin Mary statement. KIIS FM, where Sandilands and Henderson have worked since 2014, was inundated with dozens of protesters outside their Sydney studios following the remarks. Police were also called to intervene as Muslim and Christians prayed in the street and called for Sandilands to be fired over his blasphemous comments. In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, an Australian Radio Network (ARN) spokesperson apologised for Kyle's comments. 'As we said last week, we echo Kyle's [apology] and unreservedly apologise for any offence that may have been caused,' they said. 'Last week when this content ran, we immediately recognised that it wasn't appropriate for distribution and it was removed immediately.' As the Bihar Assembly elections are due in October or November, several meetings were held in the recent past at BJP's headquarters in Patna. Seventy-five Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the poll-bound state of Bihar have tested positive for COVID-19, said reports. According to a report by Times Now, samples of 100 leaders and staff working at the state BJP headquarters in Patna were collected on Monday. Out of these, 75 leaders including Bihar BJP general secretary Devesh Kumar and MLC Radha Mohan Sharma have been found infected with the deadly virus. The Bihar Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in October or November. Therefore, several meetings were held in the recent past at the party's headquarters in Bihar. Virtual meetings and rallies were also organised from here, as per a report in Prabhat Khabar. A report in The Times of India quoted BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand as saying that several party workers and functionaries have given their samples for COVID-19 testing. The report said that a BJP MLA from north Bihar, a spokesperson from BJP, and a JD(U) functionary are the recent ones to have been infected by the virus. Till date, nearly 18,000 people in Bihar have tested positive for COVID-19. The virus has claimed lives of 160 people in the state. In the last 24 hours, 1,116 new cases and nine deaths have been reported from 38 districts of Bihar. With the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state, the Bihar government has announced a complete lockdown from 16 to 31 July. The decision to announce the lockdown was taken during a meeting that was held earlier today. During the lockdown in Bihar, only essential services will be allowed. U.S. crude production in April declined by the largest amount in more than a decade, according to a new report. The nations output was slashed by 670,000 barrels a day during the month, falling to about 12.1 million barrels a day from about 12.7 million in March, according to a report published Tuesday by the Energy Information Administration, which tracks monthly production levels. April was the first full month in the U.S. with business and travel restrictions to fight the spread of the coronavirus. Texas, the nations top oil producing state, saw the biggest decrease in crude production in the country during April, falling by 234,000 barrels per day in April to 5.2 million barrels a day, the EIA said. Production declines of that magnitude usually arise only in natural disasters such as hurricanes, the federal agency said in the report. Oil and gas companies in March began temporarily shutting down thousands of wells in response to the pandemic-induced demand destruction that sank prices to a record negative-$37.63 per barrel in April. That month saw the largest drop in crude production since hurricanes Ike and Gustav reduced production by more than 1 million barrels per day in September 2008. At the same time, crude producers have halted drilling new wells in response to the oil crash. Rystad Energy, a Norwegian research firm, on Tuesday said it expects energy companies around the world to drill about 55,350 wells this year, the lowest in at least 20 years and a 23 percent decrease from almost 72,000 wells drilled worldwide in 2019. RECOVERY: Energy secretary: Oil and gas will come back very, very strong Karr Ingham, a petroleum economist with the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, said he was surprised Rystads forecast for drilling activity this year was not worse, considering the number of operating rigs in the U.S. has fallen by more than 60 percent since mid-March. The figure has declined for 20-straight weeks to 258 from 791 in February, according to Baker Hughes, a Houston oil-field services company. If you spin that out, the decline in rig count alone in Texas might suggest the impact on number of wells drilled will be worse, Ingham said. The rig count is still going down, so the number of wells drilled will keep going down. In recent weeks, however, energy companies have begun to reopen closed wells and restart drilling as business restrictions eased and demand and the price of crude slowly increased. The price of West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, settled Tuesday at $40.29. Still, the EIA expects U.S. crude production to average 11.6 million barrels per day in 2020, down from an average of 12.2 million per day in 2019. The future of the oil and gas industrys recovery is tenuous, Ingham said. OPEC and Russia are to meet Wednesday to discuss new production levels, and the number of coronavirus cases has risen sharply in the U.S. and other countries recently. I have the sense that crude oil prices could be worse in the near term, Ingham said. It wont take us back to the catastrophic levels of low demand at the worst of the pandemic, but anything that slows the economic progress or sends it into a mild decline will have some effect on crude oil prices. Its a choppy process. The buy now, pay later behemoth Klarna has launched an advertising campaign asking users to consider whether what they're buying is necessary, despite boasting to retailers that it helps people spend more. The company, one of Europe's most successful start-ups with 8.6million UK users and a valuation of around $5.5billion, has faced criticism from some debt charities amid claims it encourages its often younger users to spend more than they can afford, pushing them into debt. The Swedish brand, backed by the rapper Snoop Dogg among others, launched a 'KlarnaSense' initiative this week, encouraging customers to ask themselves: 'Do I love it? Will I use it? Is it worth it?' before they use the buy now, pay later service. Klarna has come under increasing scrutiny over the recent past amid concerns it encourages people to spend money they can't afford Alice Tapper, the founder of the personal finance website Go Fund Yourself who launched a petition calling for more regulation of the industry's advertising and messaging, said the initiative was a start but called for more action. She said: 'Whilst I welcome the vocal promotion of responsible spending, it's important that this isn't a distraction from the urgent need for practical steps to protect consumers. 'Klarna and other buy Now Pay Later providers must take more responsibility for the financial welfare of their customers. Variations of the strapline: "Do I love it? Will I use it? Is it worth it?" have long been used, but Klarna leave out the fourth and arguably most important question: "Can I afford it?".' She added: 'A glossy TV advert is a start but is the information and warnings that consumers are provided at checkout and in ads, actually going to change. 'It's also not possible for a customer to 'think thrice' when Klarna has already been pre-selected, causing many consumers to use these products accidentally. Unknowingly accessing credit simply should not be possible.' Klarna's UK general manager, Luke Griffiths, said: 'We recognise that it's sometimes easy to get over-excited and carried away with impulse purchases and that Klarna also has an important role to play in helping our customers to purchase the right things, at the right time.' Mr Griffiths told the i newspaper last week the company was 'always listening to both commentary from within the industry and our actual consumers, and that's reflected in the way in which we have evolved our product.' But the campaign could be considered somewhat ironic given the company markets itself to partner retailers by detailing how users spend more, and more often. One section of its website aimed at businesses states: 'Ready to get more customers, who buy more and do it more often?' Klarna's new 'three questions' campaign comes despite the fact its business model is based on convincing shops that it can convince users to spend more, and more often It boasts letting customers pay using Klarna's pay later service leads to a '16 per cent increase in average order value' and a '20 per cent increase in shopper's purchase frequency', while customers who pay in instalments spend 55 per cent more. And another section of its website says 44 per cent of users would have abandoned their purchase if Klarna wasn't available, an attractive offer to retailers struggling with lower in-person footfall and dealing with the highly competitive world of online shopping. It says on the section of its website aimed at businesses that its pay later service leads to customers spending more and more often Klarna offers users three ways of paying for items from its more than 6,500 UK partner shops. They can pay for something in three monthly instalments, pay for something 30 days after buying it, or set up a formal financing agreement where they pay in a series of monthly payments over a period of between 12-36 months. Although Klarna published results from a survey of 5,000 users which found 67 per cent said Klarna helped them manage money and spread the cost of more expensive purchases, there has been growing concern over the last few years about the company and other buy now, pay later services. Buy now, pay later has been around for years, usually in the form of store and catalogue credit, but the likes of Klarna, ClearPay and Laybuy have introduced it to a whole new generation of shoppers. Klarna offers three ways of paying. Customers can pay for an item a month after buying it, split it into three monthly payments, or setting up a formal financing agreement And this has led to concerns that the slick advertising and friendly marketing of some of these companies, of which Klarna is by far the most well-known, is pushing people into debt by encouraging them to shop even if they have no money. The charity Payplan said close to three quarters of its clients aged 18-34 claimed pay later deals had contributed to their debt problems. Klarna says being able to split payments into three interest-free instalments means 44% of users who otherwise wouldn't have bought anything actually did spend In January this year two-fifths of 2,000 people surveyed by comparison site Compare the Market said they'd spend more than they usually would have done as a result of using buy now, pay later services, and more than half felt it contributed to higher levels of debt. And some 56 per cent of 18-34-year-olds surveyed by the company Hastee, which allows people to access earned pay early for a fee, said these schemes encouraged them to spend money they didn't have. More than 6,500 UK retailers offer at least one of Klarna's payment methods - including Asos 24-year-old Yasmine Ibrahin told our sister title Money Mail in February how she spent between 5,000 and 6,000 after she got hooked on buy now, pay later services like Klarna. She said her spending went up 'drastically' and that 'it becomes a vicious cycle. You use it once and then you have to use it the next time because the money for the last thing you bought has just come out of your account.' Klarna is worth around $5.5bn, and one of its backers is the rapper Snoop Dogg More recent research from Compare the Market found nearly a quarter of 18-24-year-olds had used buy now, pay later services to make purchases since the start of the coronavirus lockdown in March. John Crossley, head of money at the comparison site, said: 'Our research suggests that young people in particular may be turning to alternative credit schemes at a time of growing economic uncertainty. 'There remain serious concerns, however, over some people's ability to keep track of their debt and prevent bills from racking up.' Huawei Technologies Co. will be banned from the U.K.s next generation mobile networks, in a sweeping crackdown on the Chinese company that will delay 5G rollout and hit businesses with billions of pounds in extra costs. Under the blueprint agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, operators will not be able to add any new Huawei components to their 5G networks after Dec. 31 this year. All equipment made by the Shenzhen-based company and already installed will need to be removed from 5G infrastructure by 2027, the government said, confirming reports by Bloomberg on Monday. Ministers also warned operators to stop buying Huawei gear for their fixed full-fiber broadband networks. The government will consult with industry on a timetable for the tighter regime on fixed networks but said it is expected to come into force within two years. The ban on Huawei will cost U.K. operators as much as 2 billion pounds ($3.4 billion) to implement, and will delay the roll out of 5G networks by between two and three years, the government said. The decision to strip out Huaweis kit from British networks represents a major reversal by Johnson, and threatens to fuel a growing row between the U.K. and China at a highly sensitive time. China has warned Johnson will face consequences if the U.K. treats it as a hostile partner. The prime minister, his senior ministers and top security chiefs signed off on the plan at a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden set out the details in Parliament after the meeting. While 5G will be transformative for the U.K., confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon is vital. The government has decided it is necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks, Dowden said. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the U.K. In May the U.S. banned Huawei from sourcing microchips which use American technology, a move that forced British officials to reassess their view of the security and sustainability of using the companys equipment in 5G networks. This was a significant and material change, Dowden said. These sanctions have potentially severe impacts on Huaweis ability to supply equipment to the U.K, he said. The U.K.s National Cyber Security Centre led a review which concluded the new U.S. sanctions meant Huawei would have to use potentially insecure technology, making 5G security risks impossible to control. British operators now have a complex and expensive task to remove Huawei gear from their networks over the next seven years. Dowden warned the decision will inevitably delay the roll out of 5G networks in the U.K. Johnson gave the green light to Huaweis involvement in emerging mobile networks in January, subject to limits, but he came under intense pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to change course. At the same time, the prime minister has faced demands from within his own Conservative Party to take a tougher line with Beijing. Senior Tories demanded he should give firm deadlines for when Huawei will be blocked from Britain, amid concerns its equipment could be used by Chinese spies a charge the company denies. Johnson now faces several difficulties. Huawei is a huge global phone equipment maker which is already embedded in British networks. Removing it will be complicated for phone companies and risks undermining the premiers election promise to improve communications services across the U.K. In the short term, a ban on the company will inflame already heated relations between London and Beijing. Tensions have grown recently over Chinas new security law in Hong Kong, a former British colony, and the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week Liu Xiaoming, Chinas ambassador to the U.K., accused Johnsons government of gross interference in domestic policy and accused the U.K. of dancing to the tune of the U.S. over Huawei. Even in London, the prime minister may find his plans do not go far enough to satisfy some of his Conservative colleagues. Conservative Iain Duncan Smith said that while he welcomes the decision, the government should shorten the seven-year timetable. Let us bring it forward to five and lets do it quickly, he told Parliament. His colleague Bob Seely said in a statement that he too wants the government to move more quickly to a 2025 removal of the high-risk vendor. However, other Tories who might have rebelled appear to have been convinced by Tuesdays announcement. Damian Green tweeted that the decision is good and said in an interview he would not vote against the government on the issue in the fall. The company said it was disappointed by the ban and called on ministers to reconsider. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide, said Ed Brewster, a spokesman for Huawei. Regrettably our future in the U.K. has become politicized this is about U.S. trade policy and not security. Read more about: This study provides an overview of the characteristics of physicians who completed family medicine residency training from 1994 to 2017. It serves to update the only previous comprehensive national review of this kind, conducted in 1996, which covered family medicine graduates from 1969 through 1993. With only 10.9 percent of medical students entering family medicine residency training in 2016, and in light of the continuing shortage of family physicians, one goal of the new study was to determine whether family medicine residency graduates continue to practice in the field after residency. The study yielded moderately encouraging findings suggesting that family medicine residents are likely to remain in the primary care workforce. ### Characteristics of Family Medicine Residency Graduates, 1994-2017: An Update Mingliang Dai, PhD, et al American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky https://www.annfammed.org/content/18/4/370 Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:43:37|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that cooperation between China and Singapore in the fight against COVID-19 has become a new highlight of bilateral relations and added significant connotations to their all-round cooperative partnership. In a telephone conversation with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Xi congratulated Lee on leading the People's Action Party to victory in Singapore's recent general election. Xi said he is glad to see the positive results Singapore has achieved in its fight against the coronavirus epidemic, and confident that the Singaporean people, under Lee's leadership, will prevail over the disease and restore economic and social vitality at an early date. China, he added, will continue to provide Singapore with firm support. In the battle against COVID-19, China, upholding the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, has been sharing its experience unreservedly with other countries, and providing supplies and technical support for the international community to the best of its capacity, Xi said. China, he added, stands ready to work with Singapore to cement global solidarity in combating the pandemic, support the World Health Organization in better playing its role, and jointly build a global community of health for all. Since the COVID-19 epidemic broke out, the governments and various communities of the two countries have been helping and supporting each other, Xi noted, adding that they took the lead in establishing a "fast-track lane" for exchanges of essential personnel and have made concerted efforts to guarantee smooth operation of supply and industrial chains in the region. Bilateral cooperation in the fight against COVID-19, he stressed, has once again demonstrated that the relationship between the two countries is foresighted, strategic and exemplary. Noting that this year marks the 30th anniversary of China-Singapore diplomatic ties, Xi said that the bilateral relationship is standing at a new historical starting point, and that the two sides should hold celebrations in flexible and diversified forms, so as to deepen public support for their friendship. The two sides, he suggested, should strengthen anti-epidemic cooperation and ensure the safety and health of each country's citizens in the other. The two countries should make good and full use of the "fast-track lane" to speed up their resumption of production and work and boost the development of their economies, he added, also calling for closer cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and better collaboration concerning the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and third parties. China, Xi said, will continue to deepen reform and opening-up and improve the domestic business environment, and hopes that the Singaporean side will provide sound conditions for Chinese enterprises doing business in the country. China stands ready to work with Singapore to overcome distractions and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability, added the Chinese president. For his part, Lee said that the COVID-19 pandemic has exerted a profound influence on the world, and that China has successfully contained the disease under Xi's strong leadership. Noting that Singapore and China have been supporting and helping each other in the fight against the virus, he said that has played a positive role in Singapore's COVID-19 battle. Singapore, he said, is willing to work with China to promote high-level exchanges as well as strengthen exchanges and cooperation in various areas and within bilateral and multilateral frameworks. He added that Singapore looks forward to deepening cooperation with China in such areas as vaccine and medicine research and development, and working with China to continuously make good use of the "fast-track lane" and advance the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor, so as to steadily resume work and production and restore economic development. Singapore stands ready to work with China to safeguard free and open trade and keep supply and industrial chains in the region running smoothly, he said, adding that his country welcomes participation of Chinese enterprises in its economic construction. In addition, Lee conveyed his sympathies over the recent flooding along the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers in China, and Xi expressed gratitude for that. Enditem With all the things not going on and all, things worked out for us to take a little trip South with some other folks from around here to just get away. We went to the Dominican Republic, which is from Atlanta about a three-and-a-half-hour flight. Since no one else is going anywhere, the Atlanta airport was probably about as crowded as it was in the 50s and getting through all the different security procedures was a breeze. Our ride was a 737-900 ER, which is a good-sized plane, and there were about 25 passengers on board. It seats 180. I have no idea what things were like in the back, but in first class we got a couple of snack boxes and a couple bottles of wine. I watched the Ford v. Ferrari movie on the way down. I could watch that every day. We stayed in a fairly vast resort area called Casa de Campo, in an area about 40 minutes southeast of Puta Cana airport. It was a pretty nice 4-bedroom villa with a private pool. It came with staff that made breakfast every morning and cleaned up after us. On day three, the guys went deep sea fishing. We were picked up in a van at 8:30 a.m. and taken to the marina and to the boat. The boat was a 30-foot cabin cruiser and a three-man crew consisting of the usual captain, mate, and a boy who fetched beer out of the cooler for us. I dont know what his job really was. I was told he was to be an interpreter, but he couldnt do that at all. With the crew, there was barely room for us, and one of us had to sit in the fighting chair, which was a lawn chair facing aft and in a state of disrepair. One of our guys tied it together so it would support a person. Just like in Mexico, there was no safety equipment such as life jackets, fire extinguishers, radio, or radar. The fishing equipment however, was first rate: Penn Reels International. The bait was wahoo. We werent uncomfortable, but there was no room to move around, and the head was not useable. About halfway through what was supposed to be an eight-hour day, one of the rods had a fish on, and it really put up a protest. One of the other guys (who cannot be named) brought it to the surface, a 75-pound wahoo, about 5-feet long. It was not real happy being in the boat, and the mate had to beat it into submission with a short club. He tossed it into a compartment in the back of the boat and we continued on. We also hooked a barracuda, but it slipped off. Around 3 p.m. the boat headed back to the marina, so we got back at 4 p.m. We were supposed to be fishing until 5 p.m., but we really wanted off that little boat, so we didnt mind. We asked if someone would clean the fish for us and take it to our villa. They smiled, said yes and then just took off with the fish laying on the dock. The other two guys found a table and butchered the fish with what must have been a very sharp pocketknife, bagged it up and got it to the house. The carcass was given to a guy walking by who seemed thrilled to have it. The filets we bagged and took back with us amounted to over 30 pounds of fish. Michelle cooked wahoo steaks that night and made ceviche with it the rest of the week. We gave away over half of it to the house staff. Wahoo is a really meaty, rich fish so no one can eat much more than about eight ounces of it at a time. It was like all fishing experiences, worth doing. We had a great time and brought home dinner and then some. Like other Caribbean countries, the Dominican Republic is a dichotomy of cultures. The famous frequent the resort we were in, and some own homes there. The staff live differently, most taking public transportation to and from their own homes a fair distance away. Others have tiny living quarters in the back of the resort villas like ours. At the end of the week we were appreciative of the service rendered by our staff, so we exceeded the suggested amount for gratuity on our last day there just before we were taken to the airport, and paid in cash. Our staff was assaulted that afternoon and relieved of their cash. The trip home was just as trouble-free. This time the plane (the same one) had 15 passengers, with Michelle and I being two of the three in first class. I watched the same movie (I cant stop watching it), and we landed in Atlanta a half-hour early. It was indeed good to get home. Until the next adventure. Tight lines. New Delhi: BJP leader in charge of West Bengal unit affairs, Kailash Vijayvargiya submits a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan to demand a CBI probe into the death of party MLA Debendra Nath Ray, in New Delhi on July 14, 20 Image Source: IANS News New Delhi: A BJP delegation led by party leader in charge of West Bengal unit affairs, Kailash Vijayvargiya, party general secretary Arvind Menon, Union Minister Babul Supriyo and MPs Swapan Dasgupta and Raju Bista call on President Ram Nath Kovind a Image Source: IANS News New Delhi, July 14 : The BJP on Tuesday alleged that 'jungle raj' prevailed in West Bengal, after a delegation of senior state party leaders meeting President Ram Nath Kovind here to demand a CBI probe into the death of party MLA Debendra Nath Ray. BJP leader in charge of West Bengal unit affairs, Kailash Vijayvargiya, said: "Jungle Raj is prevailing in West Bengal. We do not trust any agency of West Bengal. So, the entire case should be investigated by the CBI." The senior BJP leader alleged that the MLA was "killed" and was not a suicide case as it is made out to be. Vijayvargiya told reporters that he had apprised the President of the situation and sought his intervention for the "sake of justice". Union Minister Babul Supriyo was also present on the occasion. The body of the BJP MLA was found hanging by a rope in West Bengal on Monday. The state BJP accused the ruling TMC for the death of Roy, who represents the Hematabad reserved seat in North Dinajpur. State police had recovered a suicide note from the pocket of the BJP MLA and dubbed it a case of suicide. The BJP is observing a 12-hour bandh across north Bengal on Tuesday to protest against this "mysterious" death of its MLA, which has become the latest BJP-TMC flashpoint in the state. People from here who flout face mask regulations while using public transport over the border could be jailed. Garda confirmed new legislation applies to cross-border travellers after it became compulsory for people to wear masks on public transport in the Republic except in specific circumstances. From yesterday people who refuse to wear a mask face fines of up to 2,500 and a possible jail sentence of six months. The wearing of face coverings on buses, trains and ferries, as well as in stations and terminals, became mandatory here last Friday. Those who are caught flouting the rules currently can only face receiving a fixed penalty of 60, which is reduced to 30 if paid within 14 days. Exemptions include those who cannot wear face coverings for medical reasons and children aged under 13. Yesterday at Lanyon Place station in Belfast cross-border rail travellers insisted Northern Ireland should follow the Republic's lead and toughen up the penalties for breaching the regulations. Alex Collins (22) and Noah Shively-Blinn (21), who were taking the Enterprise train to Dublin, said they had not been aware of the new rules in the Republic, but both gave the measure the thumbs-up. "In my personal opinion there isn't enough being done to get people to wear masks," Noah told the Belfast Telegraph. "Coming through the city, I only saw a few people wearing them." Alex said that while a six-month sentence may seem "a little harsh" he stressed more needs to be done to get people to cover their faces while on public transport. Co Antrim woman Sian Sutherland (23), who had just returned from a visit to see family, said the majority of people had been following the rules in Dublin. Sian also said she would welcome the introduction of a similar jail penalty for offenders here. "Definitely. I just think its about safety. It's not that hard to put a mask on," she insisted. It is not clear if the threat of jail time over the border has been communicated to passengers from here. Translink could not be reached for comment yesterday. The Garda said the mandatory rules regarding face coverings applied to everyone, no matter where they are from, while they are using public transport in the Republic. However, in a separate statement the Garda said enforcement will always be a "last resort". "In circumstances where a non-compliant passenger, without reasonable excuse, fails to accept the refusal or comply with a 'relevant person's' request, members of An Garda Siochana may be called to assist," it said. "Where potential breaches of the public health regulations are identified, and where a person does not come into compliance with the regulations, a file will be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a direction as to how to proceed." The PSNI said: "The Enterprise train is jointly run by Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail) and Northern Ireland Railway and it is for them to manage their service." NEW YORK, NY - July 14, 2020 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Breaking Tech / Telecom News - iQSTEL Inc. (OTC: IQST), a leading-edge 21st Century Enhanced Telecommunications Service Provider, today announced an SMS carrier agreement has been signed with Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) (Movistar), an NYSE Traded Corporation. Telefonica is a $50+ billion company with over $114 billion in assets. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadband and subscription television, operating in Europe and the Americas. Mr. Iglesias commented "Our initial focus will be the Latin American market, with future expansion to the 18+ countries serviced by Movistar. This direct interconnect will allow us to gain a significant competitive advantage versus our competitors. With over 10 years doing VoIP business with Telefonica, it was a natural progression to add our QGlobal SMS portfolio of products to the mix." "This agreement completes another major milestone for the iQSTEL team in 2020, and shows our strong relationship with Telefonica. This will be a launch pad for our pre-revenue initiatives with www.IoTSmartGas.com and our Blockchain Platforms with www.itsBchain.com" Mr. Iglesias finalized. About iQSTEL Inc.: iQSTEL Inc (OTC: IQST) www.iQSTEL.com is a US-based publicly listed company offering leading-edge 21st Century Enhanced Telecommunications Services with a focus on a wide range of cloud-based enhanced services to the Tier-1 and Tier-2 carriers, corporate, enterprise, as well as the retail market. iQSTEL through its subsidiaries Etelix, SwissLink, QGlobal SMS, SMSDirectos, IoT Labs, IoT Smart Gas Platform, itsBchain offers a "one-stop-shopping" for international and domestic VoIP services, IP-PBX services, SMS exchange for A2P and P2P, OmniChannel Marketing, Internet of Things (IoT) applications (IoT Smart Gas Platform), 4G & 5G international infrastructure connectivity, as well as blockchain-based platforms: Mobile Number Portability Application (MNPA) and Settlement & Payments Marketplace for VoIP, SMS and Data. About Etelix.com USA, LLC: Etelix.com USA LLC www.etelix.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. Etelix.com USA, LLC is a Miami, Florida-based international telecom carrier founded in 2008 that provides telecom and technology solutions worldwide, with commercial presence in North America, Latin America, and Europe. Enabled by its 214-license granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Etelix provides International Long-Distance voice services for Telecommunications Operators (ILD Wholesale), and Submarine Fiber Optic Network capacity for internet (4G and 5G). Etelix was founded in 2008 and has been profitable since inception. About SwissLink Carrier AG: SwissLink Carrier AG www.swisslink-carrier.com is a 51% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. SwissLink Carrier AG is a Switzerland based international Telecommunications Carrier founded in 2015 providing international VoIP connectivity worldwide, with commercial presence in Europe, CIS and Latin America. SwissLink Carrier AG is a Swiss licensed Operator, having a domestic Interconnect with Swisscom, allowing their international Carrier Customers direct terminations via SwissLink into all Switzerland Fix & Mobile Networks. Since the takeover from Swissphone in November 2018 and the rename into SwissLink, they operate on a profitable level. About QGlobal SMS LLC.: QGlobal SMS LLC www.qglobalsms.com is a 51% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. QGlobal SMS is a USA based company and a commercial brand founded in 2020 specialized in international and domestic SMS termination, with emphasis on the Applications to Person (A2P) and Person to Person (P2P) for Wholesale Carrier Market and Corporate Market in US. QGlobal SMS has commercial presence in US, Mexico, Latin America, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia) and Africa, through our SMS service providers based in Austin, TX and Miami, FL Our Austin-based SMS service provider is specialized in the SMS traffic exchange between US and Mexico, and our Miami-based SMS service provider is focused in the development of Latin America and the rest of the word. QGlobal SMS has robust international interconnection with Tier1 SMS Aggregators, guarantying its customers high quality and low termination rates, over more than 100 countries worldwide. About Alcyon Cloud SMS S.A.S (Commercial Brand SMSDirectos.com): Alcyon Cloud SMS S.A.S. (Commercial Brand SMSDirectos.com), is a whole subsidiary of QGlobal SMS, a Colombian-based Application and Content Provider. Alcyon Cloud SMS (SMSDirectos.com) is registered with the Secretary of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Colombia, offering services to government, enterprises, small and medium business, as well as end-users. Using SMSDirectos' existing network, they plan to expand services from SMS to offer omnichannel products and services such as: SMS, Emails, RCS (Rich Communications Services), Social Media Channels (Whats App, Messenger, etc), WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication), VoIP (IP-PBX, SIP Trunking) ChatBots (Artificial Intelligence Based), SMS to Email, and Email to SMS. About IoT Labs MX SAPI: IoT Labs MX SAPI www.iotlabs.mx , a subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc, is an Internet of Things (IoT) Mexican technology development company, creator of the "IoT Smart Gas" Platform and Application. The IoT Smart Gas platform www.iotsmartgas.com consists of an IoT field device installed on the LP gas tank (adaptable to virtually any gas or liquid storage tank) and, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT) technology via Sigfox or GSM network connectivity, allows remote managed and improved logistic processes of refilling, usage tracking and tank monitoring in real-time by the Smart Gas mobile app. The new GSM tracking feature allows for mobile use including ground, air, and sea tank monitoring. About itsBchain LLC.: itsBchain LLC www.itsBchain.com is a 75% owned subsidiary of iQSTEL Inc. itsBchain is a blockchain technology developer and solution provider, with a strong focus on the telecom sector. The company is the final stage of development of a series of blockchain solutions aimed at using the blockchain ledger and smart contract solutions to enable more efficiency, quickness in execution and fraud-prevention in the telco industry. Specifically, the company is developing a solution that will enable users and carriers to transfer mobile phone numbers with just a few clicks, allowing users and carriers the ability to transfer retail users from one mobile carrier to another instantly. Additionally, the company is finalizing a carrier-grade marketplace solution to procure payments between carriers for cross-traffic of VoIP, SMS and data realtime as traffic is crossed between carriers. This marketplace will allow for instant payment settlement as well as the prevention of fraud between carriers. Safe Harbor Statement: Statements in this news release may be "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements that express our intentions, beliefs, expectations, strategies, predictions or any other statements relating to our future activities or other future events or conditions. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about our business based, in part, on assumptions made by management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release and iQSTEL Inc. undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news release. iQSTEL Inc. IR US Phone: 646-740-0907, IR Email: investors@iqstel.com Source: iQSTEL Inc. and its subsidiaries: www.iqstel.com ; www.etelix.com ; www.swisslink-carrier.com ; www.qglobalsms.com ; www.smsdirectos.com ; www.iotlabs.mx ; www.iotsmartgas.com ; www.itsBchain.com Investorideas.com Paid news Disclaimer/Disclosure: Investorideas.com is a digital publisher of third party sourced news, articles and equity research as well as creates original content, including video, interviews and articles. Original content created by investorideas is protected by copyright laws other than syndication rights. Our site does not make recommendations for purchases or sale of stocks, services or products. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. All investing involves risk and possible losses. This site is currently compensated for news publication and distribution, social media and marketing, content creation and more. Disclosure is posted for each compensated news release, content published /created if required but otherwise the news was not compensated for and was published for the sole interest of our readers and followers. Contact management and IR of each company directly regarding specific questions. Disclosure : this news release featuring iQSTEL Inc. (OTC: IQST) is a paid for news release on Investorideas.com https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ More disclaimer info: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Disclaimer.asp Learn more about publishing your news release and our other news services on the Investorideas.com newswire https://www.investorideas.com/News-Upload/ and tickertagstocknews.com Global investors must adhere to regulations of each country. Please read Investorideas.com privacy policy: https://www.investorideas.com/About/Private_Policy.asp About Investorideas.com https://www.investorideas.com/About/ Sign up for free stock news alerts at Investorideas.com https://www.investorideas.com/Resources/Newsletter.asp FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A $194.7 million grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will establish the University of Arkansas Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R), transforming the research, innovation and economic development culture of the university. The grant is one of the largest single private gifts ever given to a university for advancing research and economic development and counts toward the $1.25 billion goal set for Campaign Arkansas, the university's capital campaign. "All transformational solutions start with questions," said University of Arkansas Chancellor Joseph E. Steinmetz. "How does the University of Arkansas distinguish itself as a great research university among a sea of great and distinguished universities? How do we do that in a way that drives economic development and creates clear avenues for industry involvement? How do we ultimately change the culture of collaboration in such a way that it advances the research and commercialization profile and production of the university? And how do we change the way we do science on campus? "The creation of an interdisciplinary and wholly integrative research institute was the answer." I3R is envisioned as a unique approach to research that will distinguish the University of Arkansas by creating a flexible, state-of-the-art collaborative framework designed to facilitate the integration of research across five overlapping clusters of innovation: Data science Food + technology: Food systems and the future of food Materials science & engineering Bioscience & bioengineering research in metabolism Integrative systems neuroscience The grant will grow the university's research engine and also drive commercialization and entrepreneurship education. "Arkansas has long been known for its entrepreneurial spirit and as a place where businesses thrive. This grant will support the University of Arkansas as it seeks to drive innovation and transform entrepreneurship and research to commercialization for industries nationwide," said Steuart Walton, chairman of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation Board. Gov. Asa Hutchinson said, "The enhancement of the University of Arkansas's focus on research to commercialization and entrepreneurship education will have a lasting impact on the state, its businesses, and economy. The funding is a clear position of confidence in the University of Arkansas and will strengthen their position as a leading public research university." "Even during this time of uncertainty - in higher education and beyond - we know the University of Arkansas is positioned to become a national leader in research and innovation," said Heather Larkin, president and CEO of the Arkansas Community Foundation and board member of the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation. "This grant is a step toward building a stable economy and a future where we are better equipped to respond to a changing environment." The grant from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation will be used support the construction of the university's new research facility, which will house the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research and to endow the I3R, which will serve as the hub for many activities. Not only will the building and institute add much-needed research space, and act as an interactive and integrated hub for the innovation clusters, it will drive innovation on the edges between identified research clusters. Funding will help attract and hire 20 new faculty with established research programs and a history of external support. These hires will seek to diversify the University of Arkansas faculty in experiential as well as demographic dimensions. "This grant will have an enormous impact not only on the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the region and state, but on our campus as well," said Charles Robinson, interim provost and vice chancellor for student and academic affairs. "This change will be accomplished through deep engagement of university faculty and students in research, discovery and innovation, entrepreneurship education and commercialization of research." The goals for this grant are to: 1. Increase external support for research and grow the research engine. 2. Increase industry collaboration. 3. Grow commercialization of university research as well as university-related entrepreneurship. 4. Align the university's productivity, expertise, and reputation to be competitive with the top public institutions in the country. "The difference to the Northwest Arkansas economy we expect to realize in the next 20 to 30 years includes a significant increase in the scale and scope of the university's research profile and reputation," Steinmetz said. "We will realize an increase in federal research dollars expended locally, which aids the overall economy of the region and state, and is a short-term multiplier. "The longer-term results will be seen through the attraction of a diverse group of people for whom an academic and entrepreneurial ecosystem is appealing, and who will add intellectual and creative talent to Arkansas. Increases in applied research, commercialization and resulting startups will also impact everything from regional quality of life to healthcare." In addition to establishing I3R, the grant also provides funding for the I3R Research Facility, entrepreneurship education and an expansion of the University of Arkansas' presence in Northwest Arkansas through the establishment of a physical presence in Bentonville, designed to serve as a spoke of the I3R hub. The Bentonville Campus is subject to approval by the University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees and appropriate accrediting agencies. Funding Overview Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R) - $88 million I3R Research Facility - $89 million Entrepreneurship Education - $3.5 million Bentonville Campus - $14 million Information about I3R programs and project support, and a more detailed funding breakdown are available as a part of the I3R Fact Sheet. Background This is the second major investment by the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation into research and commercialization at the University of Arkansas. In 2018, a "phase I" grant of $23.7 million provided the groundwork for some significant infrastructure needs at the U of A. "The Foundation has enabled the university to build our strategy and capacity in research, sponsored programs, signature faculty hires and technology transfer," Steinmetz said. "We have also made great strides in invention disclosures and patent productivity, offering funding for research with high potential for commercialization, a gap fund for emerging startups, and professional development and supports for would-be entrepreneurs both on and off-campus." The "phase I" grant was also instrumental in building the infrastructure to support the Technology Ventures Office, the Office of Economic Development, and the Office of Research and Innovation. These investments have resulted in many significant positive outcomes, including: Patent productivity reaching an all-time high of 130 Significant staffing up in Technology Ventures and research grant development specialists "Corporate concierge" to connect industry to campus R&D capabilities $180.2 million in total R&D expenditures; $5.1 million in industry-sponsored research expenditures 14 research projects with high commercialization potential funded 15 teams participated in regional NSF Innovation-Corps and 2 teams participated in national I-Corps experiential education providing valuable insight into entrepreneurship, starting a business $105,000 in gap funding was awarded to four teams Launched a Startup Village, providing supports and services to startups Three startup companies licensed U of A technologies Eliminated barriers to industry research connectivity by changing U of A System policies allowing industry to keep IP generated at the U of A Laid the infrastructure that enabled the university and Northwest Arkansas Council to launch the Small Business Emergency Assistance program in eight days in March 2020, from concept to first customer following the COVID-19 pandemic. ### About the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation: Established in 1987, the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation supports education initiatives and community initiatives in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among fewer than 3 percent of colleges and universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. About Campaign Arkansas: Campaign Arkansas is the soon-to-close capital campaign for the University of Arkansas to raise private gift support for the university's academic mission and other key priorities. The campaign's goal is to raise $1.25 billion to support academic and need-based scholarships, technology enhancements, new and renovated facilities, undergraduate, graduate and faculty research, study abroad opportunities and other innovative programs. CONTACTS: Amy Schlesing, executive director of strategic communications University Relations 479-575-3033, amys@uark.edu Experts are saying infected people are releasing aerosols when they cough and sneeze and also when they breathe, talk or sing, with some exertion. The coronavirus can stay aloft for hours in tiny droplets in stagnant air, infecting people as they inhale, mounting scientific evidence suggests. This risk is highest in crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation and may help explain superspreading events reported in meatpacking plants, churches and restaurants. Its unclear how often the virus is spread via these tiny droplets, or aerosols, compared with larger droplets that are expelled when a sick person coughs or sneezes, or transmitted through contact with contaminated surfaces, said Linsey Marr, an aerosol expert at Virginia Tech. Aerosols are released even when a person without symptoms exhales, talks or sings, according to Marr and more than 200 other experts, who have outlined the evidence in an open letter to the World Health Organization. What is clear, they said, is that people should consider minimizing time indoors with people outside their families. Schools, nursing homes and businesses should consider adding powerful new air filters and ultraviolet lights that can kill airborne viruses. Here are answers to a few questions raised by the latest research. What does it mean for a virus to be airborne? For a virus to be airborne means that it can be carried through the air in a viable form. For most pathogens, this is a yes-no scenario. HIV, too delicate to survive outside the body, is not airborne. Measles is airborne, and dangerously so: It can survive in the air for up to two hours. For the coronavirus, the definition has been more complicated. Experts agree that the virus does not travel long distances or remain viable outdoors. But evidence suggests it can traverse the length of a room and, in one set of experimental conditions, remain viable for perhaps three hours. How are aerosols different from droplets? Aerosols are droplets, droplets are aerosols they do not differ except in size. Scientists sometimes refer to droplets fewer than five microns in diameter as aerosols. (By comparison, a red blood cell is about five microns in diameter; a human hair is about 50 microns wide.) From the start of the pandemic, the WHO and other public health organizations have focused on the viruss ability to spread through large droplets that are expelled when a symptomatic person coughs or sneezes. These droplets are heavy, relatively speaking, and fall quickly to the floor or onto a surface that others might touch. This is why public health agencies have recommended maintaining a distance of at least two metres (six feet) from others, and frequent hand washing. But some experts have said for months that infected people also are releasing aerosols when they cough and sneeze. More important, they expel aerosols even when they breathe, talk or sing, especially with some exertion. Scientists know now that people can spread the virus even in the absence of symptoms without coughing or sneezing and aerosols might explain that phenomenon. Because aerosols are smaller, they contain much less virus than droplets do. But because they are lighter, they can linger in the air for hours, especially in the absence of fresh air. In a crowded indoor space, a single infected person can release enough aerosolized virus over time to infect many people, perhaps seeding a superspreader event. For droplets to be responsible for that kind of spread, a single person would have to be within a few feet of all the other people, or to have contaminated an object that everyone else touched. All that seems unlikely to many experts: I have to do too many mental gymnastics to explain those other routes of transmission compared to aerosol transmission, which is much simpler, Marr said. Can I stop worrying about physical distancing and washing my hands? Physical distancing is still very important. The closer you are to an infected person, the more aerosols and droplets you may be exposed to. Washing your hands often is still a good idea. Whats new is that those two things may not be enough. We should be placing as much emphasis on masks and ventilation as we do with hand washing, Marr said. As far as we can tell, this is equally important, if not more important. Should I begin wearing a hospital-grade mask indoors? And how long is too long to stay indoors? Health care workers may all need to wear N95 masks, which filter out most aerosols. At the moment, they are advised to do so only when engaged in certain medical procedures that are thought to produce aerosols. For the rest of us, cloth face masks will still greatly reduce risk, as long as most people wear them. At home, when youre with your own family or with roommates you know to be careful, masks are still not necessary. But it is a good idea to wear them in other indoor spaces, experts said. As for how long is safe, that is frustratingly tough to answer. A lot depends on whether the room is too crowded to allow for a safe distance from others and whether there is fresh air circulating through the room. What does airborne transmission mean for reopening schools and colleges? This is a matter of intense debate. Many schools are poorly ventilated and are too poorly funded to invest in new filtration systems. There is a huge vulnerability to infection transmission via aerosols in schools, said Don Milton, an aerosol expert at the University of Maryland. Most children younger than 12 seem to have only mild symptoms if any, so elementary schools may get by. So far, we dont have evidence that elementary schools will be a problem, but the upper grades, I think, would be more likely to be a problem, Milton said. College dorms and classrooms are also cause for concern. Milton said the government should think of long-term solutions for these problems. Having public schools closed clogs up the whole economy, and its a major vulnerability, he said. Until we understand how this is part of our national defense, and fund it appropriately, were going to remain extremely vulnerable to these kinds of biological threats. What are some things I can do to minimize the risks? Do as much as you can outdoors. Despite the many photos of people at beaches, even a somewhat crowded beach, especially on a breezy day, is likely to be safer than a pub or an indoor restaurant with recycled air. But even outdoors, wear a mask if you are likely to be close to others for an extended period. When indoors, one simple thing people can do is to open their windows and doors whenever possible, Marr said. You can also upgrade the filters in your home air-conditioning systems, or adjust the settings to use more outdoor air rather than recirculated air. Public buildings and businesses may want to invest in air purifiers and ultraviolet lights that can kill the virus. Despite their reputation, elevators may not be a big risk, Milton said, compared with public bathrooms or offices with stagnant air where you may spend a long time. If none of those things are possible, try to minimize the time you spend in an indoor space, especially without a mask. The longer you spend inside, the greater the dose of virus you might inhale. Apoorva Mandavilli c.2020 The New York Times Company This is the horrifying moment a clerk was shot dead in the back by a gang of machine gun-toting thieves outside a supermarket in Argentina before they escaped with $420. The disturbing incident took place Monday afternoon in the Buenos Aires town of Tres de Febrero when four armed men arrived outside the Chinese market and sent the two frightened workers running. As the employees fled, one of the suspects opened fire with his rifle, sending both men to the ground as they tripped over each other, a surveillance video showed. Employees react to the sight of armed men outside a supermarket in Argentina before one of the workers (first from left to right) was shot dead Two of the four suspects stand near one of the supermarket employees who was shot while he trying to escape from the assailants Once the assailants closed in, the worker who narrowly missed being shot raced across the street and disappeared as he around a building. A separate security camera showed how the suspects terrorized a bevy of shoppers trapped inside while they ransacked the supermarket and ripped out a laptop from the counter. A short while later, a suspect aimed his machine gun and then led two males to the counter. Argentine authorities had not made any arrests as of Tuesday afternoon following the deadly supermarket robbery in which an employee was killed A female worker, who was not named, told Argentine newspaper La Nacion that it appeared the thieves knew the layout of the store because some of them walked to the back area of the supermarket, which leads to the owner's home where they beat him. It took the suspects nearly five minutes to rob the supermarket. The attackers drove towards the town of San Martin and engaged the police in a shootout as they were pursued and abandoned their vehicle near a cemetery before fleeing on foot. No arrests had been made as of Tuesday afternoon. Qantas is testing a Boeing 787-9 to fly between New York and Sydney nonstop for the first time. Qantas has removed the inventory for nearly all of its international flights until March of 2021, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to batter air travel. The Australian flagship carrier will only maintain a few flights to New Zealand, travel website Executive Traveller wrote this week, which are currently grounded until mid-August of this year. Removing inventory means that the routes in question are no longer bookable, and typically precedes full cancellation, Conde Nast Traveler wrote on Monday. Previously booked flights have not been cancelled, but no new bookings can be made. Qantas did not reply to request from CNBC for comment at time of publishing. As pandemic lockdowns set in around the world and countries closed their borders to travelers, Qantas in March announced the suspension of all international flights until October, a date that now looks as though it has been extended to a full year. Alan Joyce, Qantas Airways CEO, told Australian media in June that he doesn't see a substantial restart in airline services until at least July of next year. The airline announced in June that it was retiring its six Boeing 747 planes immediately, six months before initially planned, and slashing 20% of its staff. It's also grounded its fleet of double decker Airbus A380s wide-body jets used for long haul travel for the next three years, Conde Nast wrote. The airline's stock price has fallen just over 50% year to date, trading at $3.49 a share at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, down 0.57% from the previous day. The Deputy MASLOC CEO, Hajia Abibata Shanni Mahama Zakariah, says media reports suggesting that she admitted to using state funds for political campaigning and vote-buying are completely false. She says she is not a custodian of any state money and therefore could not have used public money to run her campaign or buy votes in the parliamentary primary of the governing New Patriotic Party in the Yendi Constituency of the Northern Region. Corruption Watch last week published what they said were findings of alleged vote-buying during the NPP primaries weeks earlier. Hajia Abibata was accused of distributing state money under the MASLOC loans to delegates an allegation she flatly rejected as baseless. She said there are well-known laid down procedures for the disbursement of loans under the scheme. On the said date, an event was organized to present loans to 35 groups of 25 each, and as is the practice, and as someone from the area, I supervised the disbursement and addressed the gathering. I advised the beneficiary groups to utilize the loans judiciously and to invest in their farming activities. I explained that I had to plead with my bosses to release their disbursements ahead of time because it was the farming season and they needed to till the soil and sow their crops. This was a public event. How could I have organized such an event to distribute state money? She asked. Hajia Abibata, narrowly lost the slot to Farouk Aliu Mahama, said the beneficiaries were not chosen on political grounds as claimed by the publication. When the lady called me from Corruption Watch, she said from their information, delegates from the Yendi constituency were given MASLOC loans. In a very candid response I said, of course, there were delegates [as] part of the beneficiaries but they were not only delegates. The Deputy MASLOC CEO says despite this clear and unambiguous statement, Corruption Watch without any contrary evidence stated categorically that the beneficiaries were all delegates, which is patently false. I must emphasize that the beneficiaries were not delegates as claimed. Unless they were purposely excluded, some of the beneficiaries of a transparent loan scheme were always going to be members of the various political parties including the NPP and some would be delegates. So to generalize that all the beneficiary groups were party delegates because some of them may have been was utterly unfair, she said in a rejoinder issued in Accra. Explaining her comments that she secured early release of the loans to the beneficiary groups, the failed parliamentary aspirant said, I did that because it is in the interest of the scheme itself that beneficiaries get the loans when they need them. It is the only way they can repay. With May being the most critical period of farming in the northern parts, it was the most prudent thing to do to give them their loans at that time. ..And for the avoidance of doubt, many constituencies in the Northern Region and elsewhere had far larger number of MASLOC loan beneficiary groups than Yendi and this is verifiable. Tamale Central 117 groups; Tamale South 69 groups; Tamale North 56 groups; Yendi 35 groups, Hajia emphasized. Touching on the accusation of conflict of interest and abuse of office, Hajia Abibata said she does not determine who benefits from MASLOC loans and whose application is approved. I had no power to manipulate the process and I couldn't possibly say people whose applications have been approved by the Board should be denied because they are delegates. That would be an unfair and unconstitutional discrimination. She said the claim by Corruption Watch that when they contacted her for her response, she admitted to the findings but insisted that I didn't err in her decision to give state money to induce delegates, is most unfair and unethical. I made no such admission. I specifically refuted the claims that I gave state money to delegates. I said so repeatedly because I did not give, could not have given, any state money to delegates. And yet Corruption Watch unfairly claimed I made an admission. Hajia Abibata said residents of Yendi applied for loans as many other citizens and were assessed and granted the loans which they will pay back. I, therefore, did not buy any votes with state money. I didn't admit to giving state money to delegates to induce them because that did not happen. I couldn't possibly admit to something that didn't happen. I ran the campaign on my own meager resources and lost. If I were capable of, and minded to use state money for my campaign, I would not hold a public gathering and distribute the money on tables as the videos indicate. Corruption Watch simply picked publicly available information, distorted and sensationalized it, causing grave and unjustified injury to my reputation. citinewsroom AURORA, Colo. (July 14, 2020) - A study published earlier this year claiming the coronavirus may have jumped from dogs to humans is scientifically flawed, offering no direct evidence to support its conclusions, according to a collaborative group of international researchers, including scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. "During this time of Covid-19 we are seeing people publish things that make wild leaps to conclusions that are not justified by the evidence," said David Pollock, PhD, professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. "And this seems to be one of them." Pollock and CU Anschutz alumnus Todd Castoe, an associate professor of biology at the University of Texas Arlington, are lead authors of an academic letter published this week in Molecular Biology and Evolution aimed at refuting the earlier study published in the same journal. Pollock and his co-authors, including PhD student Kristen Wade and colleague Elizabeth Carlton, PhD, MPH, an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health at CU Anschutz, took issue with the April 2020 study by biology Professor Xuhua Xia of the University of Ottawa in Canada. Many scientists are interested in the origins of the novel coronavirus. The want to know which host the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for Covid-19, came from before making the leap from animal to human. The classic way to address this is by finding viruses with similar genome sequences in a particular animal host. Xia, however, focused on a feature of the coronavirus genome known as CpG content, and found that a distantly-related dog coronavirus had similar CpG content as SARS-CoV-2. Because this distant virus replicated well in the dog's digestive tract, he concluded that a dog's intestines were the ideal place to have affected the ancestral SARS-CoV-2's CpG content. "However, there is no evidence for the logical premise of Xia's argument, considering that all mammals have digestive tracts," the researchers wrote. They showed that dogs aren't special in their content of ZAP and ABOBEC3G proteins, which help safeguard humans from viruses and can interact with viral CpG content. "Additionally, a recent inoculation study found that while other domesticated mammalian hosts are highly susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, canines exhibited low susceptibility, and no traces of viral RNA were detectable in any dog organs," the scientists wrote. Pollock and his colleagues said that although the recent origin of SARS-CoV-2 is uncertain, the best current evidence makes it likely that it was passed to humans by horseshoe bats or possibly pangolins, a kind of spiny anteater in China. There is strong evidence that the virus has recently jumped between humans and these animals or other intermediate hosts. Bat and pangolin viruses also have CpG content similar to human SARS-CoV-2, so the environment that affected viral CpGs must have happened long ago and possibly in one of these two mammals. They noted that there are signs of prior recombination events among divergent viruses. That suggests that over the years relatives of coronaviruses found in bats and pangolins mixed and mutated to give rise to SARS-CoV-2. The proposition that dogs were likely recent ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 is not justified by the available evidence, the researchers concluded. "Xia did not demonstrate that the low CpG frequency in the SARS- CoV-2 genome was driven by a unique selective environment in dog digestive tracts," the authors wrote. "Dogs are not more plausible than most other potential host species, and based on current data, far less plausible than bats or pangolins." Pollock said determining how the virus jumped from animals to humans is critical in preparing for the next pandemic. Even so, he said, in the midst of a pandemic scientific results can be over-interpreted and misused, leading to misappropriation of resources and effort. Rather than promote the speculations of a study based on weak evidence, he noted, it is better to admit uncertainty. If not, the scientific community has an obligation to respond. "Considering the ramifications, scientists need to be particularly careful in interpreting findings, and avoid rushing to conclusions that are not well supported by solid evidence" co-lead author Castoe said. "We need to get this right." ### About the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is a world-class medical destination at the forefront of transformative science, medicine, education, and healthcare. The campus encompasses the University of Colorado health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked hospitals that treat more than 2 million adult and pediatric patients each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, together we deliver life-changing treatments, patient care, professional training, and conduct world-renowned research powered by more than $500 million in research awards. For more information, visit https://www.cuanschutz.edu New Delhi, July 14 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Madhya Pradesh High Court to consider reinstating a woman district judge, who had levelled allegations of sexual harassment against a High Court judge. A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices R. Subhash Reddy and A.S. Bopanna asked senior advocate Ravindra Shrivastava, representing the High Court: "Why is the High Court not open to our suggestion? You please communicate our views (to the High Court)." Shrivastava replied that what is troubling the High Court is that this is a case of voluntary resignation, and not termination, and the resignation was accepted in 2014. Conveying the final decision of the High Court on the matter, he said that the matter was placed before the full court, which examined it, and decided not to reinstate her. He added that it was the third time that this issue was considered by all the judges in the High Court. At this, the Chief Justice asked the High Court counsel to consider it as a fresh appointment and the court will ask her counsel to communicate it to her client. "We expect you to solve the difficulties, not tell us the difficulties," the bench said. Shrivastava contended that the woman judge resigned in 2014, and it is 2020 now. "Many appointments have taken place during this period... Besides, she is particular about her seniority, and wants it to remain uninterrupted as if she never resigned," he submitted. He suggested that the apex court can have a brief hearing on the matter on merits. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, representing the woman judge, contended that suggestions were made that she could be accommodated in some other state, but it did not happen due to the lockdown, and she is very keen to begin work. The Chief Justice told Jaising that their condition was being a judge and to work, but not seniority. "If priority is work, then why is it not possible to give up seniority?" he queried. As Jaising replied that the woman is 48 now, and "how can she begin at the bottom?", the Chief Justice replied many apex court judges, after their tenure, were appointed as ad hoc judges where they started from the bottom. Jaising replied that the woman aspires to be a High Court judge and then become a Supreme Court judge. "How can I ask her to give up her aspirations?" The Chief Justice then told Jaising, if her meeting with Shrivastava does not work out, then the top court will hold a hearing on the matter and posted the matter for further hearing after four weeks. In 2017, the High Court judge, against whom allegations were made, was given a clean chit by a Rajya Sabha-appointed inquiry panel. The woman moved the top court challenging the dismissal of her application seeking reinstatement into the Madhya Pradesh Higher Judicial Services. Sand said it's unclear why the Test Iowa results processed by the State Hygienic Laboratory in Coralville, Iowa, first go to Qualtrics and then Domo two other Utah-based companies contracted to help handle data as part of the Test Iowa contract and then to the Iowa Office of the Chief Information Officer before finally reaching the Iowa Department of Public Health. He said he's asked that question of state officials and received no satisfactory response. Sending the data to several different points not only violates the law but also creates pointless risk that it could be hacked and may be delaying the response of local officials to the spread of the virus, Sand noted. He also said it creates potential risk to taxpayers if someone sues the state for not following the reporting law. Each link in the chain is an area where the integrity, reliability, and timely transmission of information is put at unnecessary risk of error, equipment failure, maladministration, outright falsification, or any other cause, he wrote in the report. Sand said an attorney for Iowa Health Department told him that there is no delay and that the reporting methods meet the legal requirements of the law. "The abuses did not stop even while [the late mayor] saw the 'Me Too' scandals of former South Chungcheong Province governor Ahn Hee-jung and ex-Busan mayor Oh Keo-don," lawyer Kim Jae-ryon said. "Sexual harassment abusing his authority continued for the past four years." In a statement to the media read by her lawyer, the woman, who was Park's secretary at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, claimed that her complaints to other city officials fell on deaf ears. The woman accusing late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of sexual harassment said Monday that the abuse continued for about four years. It did not even stop after Park saw similar charges against fellow officials. The lawyer also listed the time, locations and details of the alleged abuses. The mayor allegedly touched the former secretary inappropriately in a bedroom adjacent to his office and also harassed her after work by sending her text messages and explicit photos. "The victim turned to city officials for help, but they either refused to believe her or passed off her role as catering to the mayor's moods," Kim said. "It came to a point where she could not complain any further." It appears the mayor was alerted as soon as she filed a police report last week. "Who can trust a system and come forward under such conditions?" Kim asked. Police said they briefed Cheong Wa Dae on the matter under regulations which require any misconduct of an official with a direct line to the president should be reported. But they denied they informed Park. "The reality that does not change despite the pleas of more than 500,000 people is the immense power that overwhelmed me at that time, and the thought of that leads to a feeling of suffocation," the woman said in her statement. The 500,000 people she was referring to signed an online petition on the Cheong Wa Dae website who opposed an official funeral for Park. Despite the online petition, the Seoul Metropolitan Government went ahead and declared a five-day mourning period. "During the long hours of silence, I was in pain, alone... To protect myself, so powerless and vulnerable against huge power, I wanted to guard myself through the protection of just and fair law," the woman added in the statement. Song Ran-hee, the head of feminist group Korea Women's Hot Line said, "The case must not be brushed under the rug by his death." Park killed himself last week at Mt. Bukak near his official residence. Advertisement The Queen's representative in Australia dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 'without informing the Palace in advance' as decades of rumours that Her Majesty ordered his sacking were quashed in 200-plus letters kept secret until today. Her Majesty's alleged role in the removal of Mr Whitlam, who had failed to pass a budget and then opted not to resign or call an election, was the biggest constitutional crisis in Australian history and has been the subject of ongoing speculation in the 45 years since. Campaigners had believed the letters between Buckingham Palace and Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr, Her Majesty's representative Down Under, would prove the Queen ordered Whitlam's sacking and show that modern Australia was still not totally autonomous from British rule. But the letters, which were released following legal proceedings lasting four years, showed then governor-general Sir John Kerr did not give Mr Whitlam a chance to call an election because he feared he would be sacked himself. In one of the letters, addressed to the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris, Sir John Kerr admitted to taking unilateral action to remove Mr Whitlam without first seeking the Queen's express permission to act. He wrote: 'I should say I decided to take the step I took without informing the palace in advance because, under the Constitution, the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is of course my duty to tell her immediately'. Though Australia became independent in 1901, the Queen is still head of state. A referendum on becoming a republic failed in 1999, but republicans hope recent royal scandals could help revive efforts to cut ties with the monarchy saying the letters still show a 'startling' amount of meddling in Australian affairs by Britain. Minutes after being sacked Mr Whitlam famously said on the steps of Parliament House in Canberra: 'Well may we say 'God save the Queen' because nothing will save the governor-general.' Sir John cut his five-year term as governor-general short and resigned in December 1977 and eventually moved to London. Historian Jenny Hocking, who is also Whitlam's biographer, led the legal battle costing more than 1million and wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald today: 'The Palace letters have proved to be every bit the bombshell they promised to be, and neither the Queen nor Sir John Kerr emerge unscathed. They show that the Queens responses, and at times even advice, particularly in relation to Kerr's concern for his own position and the possible use of the reserve powers, played a critical role in his planning and in his eventual decision to dismiss the government. In doing so the Queen breached the central tenet of a constitutional monarchy, that the Monarch is politically neutral and must play no role in political matters. The damage this has done to the Queen, to Kerr, and the monarchy is incalculable'. The bombshell letters also reveal: The Queen was not in favour of Prince Charles becoming Australia's governor-general, at least until he was married and had 'a lady by his side'; Sir Martin Charteris, the Queen's private secretary, had written to Sir John Kerr, Her Majesty's Governor General in Australia, to remind him he did have the power to removed a serving Prime Minister a week before Gough Whitlam was sacked; The letters between the Queen and former Governor-General Sir John Kerr (pictured together) during the dismissal of Gough Whitlam were released today A key letter to the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris after the sacking, released today for the first time, makes it clear there was no forewarning Gough Whitlam was dismissed as Australian Prime Minister on November 11, 1975. He is pictured above addressing reporters after his dismissal Why was Gough Whitlam dismissed? Gough Whitlam's Labor Government was elected in December 1972 after 23 years of Coalition rule, but only had a slim majority. The Senate, which in those days had separate elections, was still controlled by the Opposition, which held his government to ransom. Growing tired of the Opposition threatening to block supply, Whitlam called a double dissolution election in 1974. Labor lost two seats in the House and the balance of power in the Senate was held by two independents after dirty tricks by Liberal Party premiers. A series of scandals further weakened the government and it lost a by-election for a seat Labor had held for 60 years. By October 1975, Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser had Whitlam by the throat and demanded a new election or he would block supply in the Senate This would mean the budget wouldn't be passed and the government wouldn't have access to funds required to pay public servants, social security, or government programs. Whitlam refused to call yet another election and the two sides remained at an impasse before Governor-General John Kerr involved himself. After weeks of failed negotiations, Whitlam arranged to meet with Kerr on November 11 and call a half-Senate election for December, which Fraser opposed. Whitlam met with Kerr at Yarralumla House, the Governor-General's residence, and tried to hand him documents calling the election. However, Kerr instead informed him he was dismissed and handed him a statement outlining his reasons. Kerr said the pair would just have to live with the situation, to which Whitlam replied 'You certainly will'. Advertisement The letters have been released by the National Archives of Australia which tweeted its website was 'temporarily unavailable' on Tuesday due to high demand following a ruling in the Australian High Court which overturned an earlier decision that deemed the correspondence as 'personal' and not state records. In a letter more than a week after the dismissal, and dated November 20 1975, Sir John writes that Mr Whitlam had told him the crisis could end in a 'race to the Palace' and the governor-general 'simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy'. He said: 'If, in the period of say 24 hours, during which he (Mr Whitlam) was considering his position, he advised the Queen in the strongest of terms that I should be immediately dismissed, the position would then have been that either I would, in fact, be trying to dismiss him while he was trying to dismiss me an impossible position for the Queen.' The documents showed an almost constant dialogue between the pair, with Sir Martin writing on November 17 1975 to state the Queen had read 'your statement with close attention' and assure Sir John that his confidentiality would be protected. Sir Martin wrote that he considered Sir John's actions 'cannot easily be challenged from a constitutional point of view however much the politicians will, of course, rage'. He added: 'I have no doubt Mr Whitlam will try to make the constitutional issue the heart and soul of his campaign but as an extremely shrewd politician who does not live very far away from this house said to me on the 11th of November 'It is never possible to fight an election on one issue'.' Mr Whitlam had phoned him on the day of the dismissal at 4.15am, Sir Martin wrote. 'He spoke calmly and did not ask me to any approach to the Queen, or indeed to do anything other than the suggestion that I should speak to you to find out what was going on.' Sir Martin said Sir John had shown 'admirable consideration' for the Queen by not informing her prior to the dismissal. He wrote: 'If I may say so with the greatest respect, I believe that in NOT informing the Queen what you intended to do before doing it, you acted not only with perfect constitutional propriety but also with admirable consideration for Her Majesty's position.' The removal of Labour leader Mr Whitlam and his replacement by opposition leader Malcolm Fraser marks one of the most controversial moments in Australia's political history. The records released cover the period of Sir John's term in office, 197477, and include 212 letters with attachments across more than 1,000 pages. The players in the dismissal Sir John Kerr: Governor-General of Australia, acting as the representative of the Queen in Australia. His job was almost entirely ceremonial but the position holds never-used reserve powers for constitutional crises. Sir Martin Charteris: Private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II who exchanged more than 200 letters with Sir John, many in the leadup and aftermath of the dismissal. Gough Whitlam: Reformist Prime Minister of Australia who through not controlling the Senate, Australia's upper house of Parliament, couldn't get the budget passed. This meant the public service and government programs couldn't be paid or operate, leaving him vulnerable. Malcolm Fraser: Leader of the opposition Coalition who blocked the budget to force Mr Whitlam to call an early election he believed he could win. He was elected in a landslide after Sir John dismissed Mr Whitlam and called a snap election. Advertisement What do the letters say and why are they significant? Newly-released correspondence has revealed Her Majesty was not informed of her representative to Australia's decision to dismiss then-prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 and replace him with opposition leader Malcolm Fraser. - What do the letters say? The biggest revelation from the correspondence is that then governor-general to Australia did not give Her Majesty advance notice of his decision to remove Mr Whitlam. In one letter to the Queen's then-private secretary Sir Martin Charteris, Sir John wrote: 'I should say I decided to take the step I took without informing the palace in advance because, under the Constitution, the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is of course my duty to tell her immediately.' Sir Martin responded by informing the governor-general the Queen had read 'your statement with close attention' and he considered Sir John's actions 'cannot easily be challenged from a constitutional point of view however much the politicians will, of course, rage'. - Why are they significant? The letters are important because they add detail to one of the most pivotal moments in Australia's political history. The fall of Mr Whitlam's Labour government is the only time in the country's history a democratically elected federal government was dismissed on the British monarch's authority. The event also raised questions over Australia's political independence from Britain. - Why was Mr Whitlam removed from office? Mr Whitlam was dismissed as prime minister on November 11, 1975. Amid a troubled economy and turbulent political situation, a constitutional crisis was reached when the Australian senate refused to pass a national budget until an election was called. Mr Whitlam, who held a majority in the House of Representatives, refused. Following three weeks of a parliamentary stalemate, Sir John ultimately made the decision to sack Mr Whitlam and put Mr Fraser's opposition Liberal Party in power as a caretaker government - until they were elected to the position just over a month later. The correspondence has also revealed that Sir John acted out of fear of his own dismissal, and the position that would put the Queen in. Sir John wrote: 'If, in the period of say 24 hours, during which he [Mr Whitlam] was considering his position, he advised the Queen in the strongest of terms that I should be immediately dismissed, the position would then have been that either I would, in fact, be trying to dismiss him while he was trying to dismiss me - an impossible position for the Queen.' - Why was the correspondence not released earlier? Under normal circumstances, government documents held in the National Archives of Australia become public 30 years after being written. However the Archives had declared the letters 'personal' and not state records, meaning they were to remain private until at least December 2027 - though the private secretaries of both the sovereign and the governor-general in 2027 could still have vetoed their release indefinitely. - Why were the letters released? The correspondence was finally released following a legal battle launched in 2016 by historian Jenny Hocking, who had argued the correspondence should be released regardless of the Queen's wishes because Australians have a right to know their own history. In May, the Australian High Court overturned an earlier decision relating to the cache of letters and ruled the Archives should reconsider Ms Hocking's request to make the documents public. Why would it have been controversial if the Queen did interfere in Australian politics? Secret letters between Queen Elizabeth and Australia's Governor-General in the weeks before left-wing Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was sacked were released today following a lengthy high court battle Down Under Some speculated that the letters could reveal the Queen influenced governor-general John Kerr's decision to sack Whitlam in 1975 - but appears she didn't, and Her Majesty was only told after it happened. If the Queen had influenced it this could have caused a crisis because this would have shown that modern Australia was not totally autonomous from British rule. Jennifer Hocking - who had been fighting the million-dollar legal battle for four years - told The Guardian: 'As an autonomous post-colonial nation, we assume that the Queen exercises no residual monarchical power over our system of governance, much less over records held by our National Archives.'. Historian John Warhurst said: 'The British crown was interfering in the 1975 dispute in ways that should offend anyone who wants Australia to be a fully independent nation.' He added: 'The Palace did not stand above the fray.' A Buckingham Palace letter head is seen on a letter marked 'Personal and Confidential' during the Kerr Palace Letters release event in Canberra on Tuesday The Queen - as Australia's head of state - is represented by the Governor-General, who can make decisions on her behalf. She chooses who will fill the role on the advice of the prime minister. This is the Queen's only constitutional job. Under Australia's constitution, it is the Governor-General alone who can summon, dissolve and prorogue Parliament. Before Kerr sacked Whitlam and dissolved Parliament for a double dissolution election in 1975, upwards of 200 letters were sent between the Queen, her then-private secretary, Martin Charteris and Kerr himself. The National Archives of Australia have held the correspondence since 1978. As they have been deemed 'personal' Australian's were previously denied access to them until 50 years after Kerr ceased to be governor-general - and only then with the royal representative's approval. Hocking said it was absurd that communications between such key officials in the Australian system of government could be regarded as personal and confidential. 'That they could be seen as personal is quite frankly an insult to all our intelligence collectively - they're not talking about the racing and the corgis.' She added: 'It was not only the fact that they were described quite bizarrely as personal, but also that they were under an embargo set at the whim of the queen.' The British royal family is renowned for being protective of its privacy and keeping conversations confidential. The family went to considerable lengths to conceal letters written by Prince Charles - in a comparable case in Britain that was fought through the courts for five years - but lost in 2015. Advertisement In the last letter sent to Sir John before the dismissal, on November 4, Sir Martin makes it clear The Queen is staying out of her former colony's mess The Queen, in fact, refused to get involved Whitlam dismissal timeline December 2, 1972: Gough Whitlam's government is elected May 18, 1974: Whitlam wins a double dissolution election called after the Opposition threatened to block supply. He only has a five-seat margin in the House and independents control the Senate balance of power July 11: Sir John Kerr is sworn in as Governor-General after being promised a 10-year term. He was Whitlam's fifth choice after the others turned down the job August 7: Whitlam holds the only ever joint sitting of Parliament to pass six reform bills the Opposition had blocked in the Senate February 1975: Liberal Party NSW Premier Tom Lewis breaks with tradition and refuses to replace a retiring Labor senator with another, appointing an independent instead March 21: Malcolm Fraser becomes Opposition Leader June 6: Whitlam is forced to sack Treasurer Jim Cairns over the Loans Affair where the government tried to get a $4 billion loan from the Middle East via a Pakistani financier June 28: Labor is belted at the Bass by-election in Tasmania, losing the seat for the first time in 60 years July: Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen also refuses to appoint a Labor senator, further hurting Whitlam's ability to govern October 16: Opposition blocks supply bills in the Senate November 3: Fraser demands a general election in exchange for passing supply bills, which Whitlam rejects November 9: Kerr seeks advice from High Court Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, who the next day endorses the decision to dismiss the government. November 11: Kerr dismisses Whitlam and appoints Fraser as interim prime minister until an election December 13: The Coalition wins the election in a landslide and Fraser remains prime minister until 1983 Advertisement In the last letter sent to Sir John before the dismissal, on November 4, Sir Martin makes it clear The Queen is staying out of her former colony's mess. 'I think it is good that people should know that The Queen is being informed but, of course, this does not mean that she has any wish to intervene, even if she had the constitutional power to do so,' he wrote. 'The crisis, as you say, has to be worked out in Australia.' Sir Martin went on to give Sir John a pep talk on his ability to deal with the 'unenviable but certainly very honourable position' he was in. 'If you do, as you will, what the constitution dictates, you cannot possible (sic) do the Monarchy any avoidable harm. The chances are you will do it good,' he wrote. The two men appeared to have become good friends through their correspondence as Sir Martin insisted in the same letter that he visit England during his planned holiday to France. He said the Queen would be happy to receive Sir John and his wife in Norfolk 'at any time that suits your convenience'. Sir Martin said he would find a guest house for them as Sandringham House was undergoing renovations at the time. But, Her Majesty followed events with 'much interest' Though she refused to he involved, Sir Martin on many occasions made clear that The Queen was interested in reading what he wrote. 'Your letter has, of course, been seen by The Queen who is not at all disturbed by your 'bombardment of paper',' he wrote in a June 25, 1975, letter. 'Indeed, Her Majesty finds everything you write of the greatest interest.' Other letters as the crisis worsened also had a reassuring tone from Sir Martin that Sir John was not boring the Queen. On October 23 he made it clear the Queen was thinking of him as he agonsised about how to resolve the impasse. 'Your letter of 17th October has been read with the greatest interest by The Queen, who has you and your difficult problems very much in mind. She is closely following events as they unfold,' he wrote. Four days later Sir Martin conveyed that he hoped 'the mere act of writing these letters' helped him make decisions. 'In your letter of 20th October you question whether the material you are sending ont he crisis is too detailed. I can assure you that it is not,' he continued. 'The Queen is absorbing it with interest and is very grateful to you. for taking so much trouble to keep her informed.' Sir Martin in a handwritten addition mentioned the work of Canadian constitutional scholar Eugene Forsey, who said it was proper to dismiss a government if supply was blocked Governor-General worried Whitlam would sack him first Sir John in another letter on November 20 explained that he didn't warn Mr Whitlam in advance because he was concerned the PM would try to sack him first. 'As you know from earlier letters, on occasions, sometimes jocularly, sometimes less so, but on all occasions with what I considered to be underlying seriousness, he (Mr Whitlam) said that the crisis could end in a race to the Palace,' he wrote to Sir Martin. 'I could act, if necessary, directly myself under the Constitution. I am sure that he would have known this and the talk about a race to the Palace really constituted another threat.' Sir John said sparing The Queen from being in the awkward position of having to choose which one of them to sack was essential, so he launched a preemptive strike. Sir John Kerr (pictured) was the Governor-General who sacked Whitlam and documented his decision making in letters to Buckingham Palace 'History will doubtless provide an answer to this question, but I was in a position where, in my opinion, I simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy,' he wrote. 'If in the period of 24 hours in which he (Whitlam) was considering his position he advised the Queen that I should be immediately dismissed, the position would then have been that either I would be, in fact, trying to dismiss him while he was trying to dismiss me - an impossible position for the Queen. 'I simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy.' Mr Whitlam had in October joked about potentially sacking Sir John, but the Governor-General is believed to have taken it as a serious threat. 'It could be a question of whether I get to the Queen first for your recall, or whether you get in first with my dismissal,' Mr Whitlam said. Sir Martin discussed this possibility with Sir John as early as October 2 in another letter. 'In all these difficult matters I am sure you are right to keep your options open and not to decide now what you will do in any given circumstances,' he wrote. 'I hope you are right in believing that the crisis will probably be avoided and that something will 'give'. Gough Whitlam holds up the original copy of his dismissal letter he received (pictured above at a Sydney book launch in 2005) 'Prince Charles told me a good deal of his conversation with you and in particular that you had spoken of the possibility of the prime minister advising the Queen to terminate your commission with the object, presumably, of replacing you with somebody more amendable to his wishes.' Sir Martin admitted that though the Queen would not be pleased about Mr Whitlam demanding Sir John be sacked, she would have to go along with it. 'If such an approach was made you may be sure that the Queen would take most unkindly to it,' he wrote. 'But I think it is right that I should make that point that at the end of the road, the Queen would have no option but to follow the advice of the prime minister. 'Let us hope none of these unpleasant possibilities come to pass. I believe the more one thinks about them, the less likely they are to happen.' Whitlam's rage and fallout for Kerr Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him. 'Mr Whitlam's reaction after leaving Yarralumla turned out to be in fact, one of very great rage which came through in many of his public utterances, the earliest of which were made on the steps of (old) Parliament House at the time (of the proclamation of dismissal being read),' he wrote. Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation with one most famous lines in Australian political history. 'You may say God save the Queen, but nothing will save the Governor-General.' Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation (pictured) with one most famous lines in Australian political history Sir John also noted that Mr Whitlam referred to Mr Fraser as 'Kerr's Cur' and that the ousted PM was whipping up anger for his election campaign. 'The rage seems to be to some extent subsiding and could be, throughout the country, counter-productive,' he wrote. 'However, Mr Whitlam appears to believe the opposite and will, I think, try to keep the issue as the main one till the end.' This was in direct contrast to the cordial way Sir John claims he treated Mr Whitlam at the moment he dismissed him. 'When I dismissed Mr Whitlam, I said to him: 'The polls are going well in your favour. I have held up my decision to the last possible moment,' he wrote on November 17. ''You have campaigned well in the meantime. I think you could well win the election. Good luck.' I proffered him my hand and he took it.' The November 24 letter also explained the personal fallout for Sir John as battle lines were drawn among his social circles over his decision. 'Some people are asserting, including a very old friend of mine who has now, of course, broken off relations with me so far as I am concerned forever,' he wrote. Sir John said he was referring to Senator James McClelland, whom he said believed 'I have been in conspiracy with Mr Fraser from the beginning'. Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were hunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters He asserted this was 'false' because Senator McCellend was himself involved in failed attempts at a compromise Sir John made. 'However, I knew there would be a certain amount of execration and had to warn my wife about this in advance,' he admitted. Six months after the dismissal, Sir John wrote that Mr Whitlam was still pushing a smear campaign against him, and he was often accosted in public. 'I have not spoken to Mr Whitlam since 11 November. He has conducted quite a nasty campaign against me, both publicly and privately,' he wrote. 'This may be understandable from his point of view but I have been unable to reply. 'The campaign, though I have not mentioned this to you, includes a serious smearing by gossip and innuendo and much of this gossip, which could only have come from him and those around him, is reflected, indeed stated as fact, in the 'quickie' books so far written by Labor-oriented journalists.' Sir John wrote that he was less of a target of abuse than at the height of the fallout from the dismissal, but still encountered 'small and scruffy' protests. 'My tactic is to appear regularly, carry out my programme, put up with the demonstrations, which so far have been rather small and scruffy, as can be seen on television, and to wait. The next six months will tell,' he wrote. Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were bunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters. 'The security people are not anxious for me to leave Yarralumla, which they feel able to protect, and certainly do not want us to go into residence at Admiralty House which is more difficult from the security point of view,' he wrote. 'I do not think violence is feared so much as demonstrations or indignities which would not be good for the Vice-Regal office or the monarchy.' Whitlam: Back me or sack me In his final letter to Buckingham Palace before the dismissal, Sir John wrote on November 6 that Mr Whitlam made it clear he wouldn't go quietly. Sir John described how Mr Fraser met with him on November 3 and told him he would happy to have an election as late as June 1976. Mr Whitlam at the time was resolute in only having a half Senate with a full election waiting until his the three-year term was over. Sir John mentioned Mr Fraser's conversation to Mr Whitlam about half an hour later at a Melbourne Cup reception. In his final letter to Buckingham Palace before the dismissal, Sir John wrote on November 6 that Mr Whitlam made it clear he wouldn't go quietly Sir John at this point, just five days before the dismissal, had not yet decided what to do, but was afraid the situation was salvageable Mr Whitlam said he was aware of Mr Fraser's demands and had no intention of calling an election for the House. The PM in fact would not call one until he felt like it 'and certainly woukld not do it at the behest of Mr Fraser or the Senate'. 'He later said that the only way in which an election for the House could occur would be if I dismissed him.' Sir John at this point, just five days before the dismissal, had not yet decided what to do, but was afraid the situation was salvageable. 'The crisis is now a very serious one and if both parties and their leaders remain adamant, an important decision one way or the other may have to be made by me this month,' he wrote. Sir Martin had in the previous letter on October 27 noted that Whitlam was 'tremendously formidable' at political in-fighting. Whitlam refuses to accept defeat, calls Queen Sir Martin wrote that within hours of being dismissed, Mr Whitlam called him 'as a private citizen' and asked for the Queen to reinstate him as PM. Mr Whitlam claimed that since Labor senators, who were unaware of the dismissal, had managed to finally pass supply bills that day (while the Coalition didn't feel the need to oppose them as Mr Fraser had been appointed) he should be recalled. 'Mr Whitlam telephoned to me at 4.15am (our time) on 11th November,' he wrote. 'Mr Whitlam prefaced his remarks by saying that he was speaking as a 'private citizen'... and said that now supply had been passed he should be re-commissioned as prime minister so that he could choose his own time to call an election. 'He spoke calmly and did not ask me to make any approach to the Queen, or indeed to do anything other than the suggestion that I should speak to you to find out what was going on.' This gambit obviously did not work. Six months later in May 1976, Sir John wrote that Mr Whitlam was seeking an audience with the Queen. Sir John told Sir Martin it 'hardly seemed proper' for him to offer an opinion on such a meeting, but went on to complain about Mr Whitlam's smear campaign against him. Mr Whitlam got his audience a month later and by then had grudgingly accepted that Sir John acted within his constitutional remit. 'Mr Whitlam was in excellent form and the conversation at dinner range agreeably from Sir Harold Wilson's resignation honours list to the characters of politicians in thie country and in yours!' Sir Martin wrote. 'I had about half-an-hour's private talk with Mr Whitlam after dinner and he remained sweet and reasonable, spoke warmly of the Queen, and at least conceded that it could be argued that you had acted in accordance with the constitution! 'I said that whatever we were asked we would say nothing of what passed between the Queen and him next day, at which he threw up his hands and said the very idea of anyone saying anything about that was totally unacceptable. 'The actual audience with the Queen seems to have gone very well, and Her Majesty told me that she had spoken firmly about the use of violence. 'We must hope that some of this is reflected in the answers Mr Whitlam may give at this press conference today.' Dismissal discussed as early as July 1975 Sir Martin in various letters praised Sir John's handling of the constitutional crisis, and gave him advice on how to proceed. Sir John wrote to Buckingham Palace on July 3 raising the possibility of dismissing Whitlam after it was floated in an attached cutting from the Canberra Times. 'I have no intention of course of acting in the way suggested. There is ample room for the democratic processes still to unfold,' he wrote. 'So far the Canberra Times is the only paper, to my knowledge, to raise this point. The editorial may be of general interest as background.' Later on September 12 Sir John wrote to seek advice on the reserve powers available to him as Governor-General. Whitlam dismissal timeline December 2, 1972: Gough Whitlam's government is elected May 18, 1974: Whitlam wins a double dissolution election called after the Opposition threatened to block supply. He only has a five-seat margin in the House and independents control the Senate balance of power July 11: Sir John Kerr is sworn in as Governor-General after being promised a 10-year term. He was Whitlam's fifth choice after the others turned down the job August 7: Whitlam holds the only ever joint sitting of Parliament to pass six reform bills the Opposition had blocked in the Senate February 1975: Liberal Party NSW Premier Tom Lewis breaks with tradition and refuses to replace a retiring Labor senator with another, appointing an independent instead March 21: Malcolm Fraser becomes Opposition Leader June 6: Whitlam is forced to sack Treasurer Jim Cairns over the Loans Affair where the government tried to get a $4 billion loan from the Middle East via a Pakistani financier June 28: Labor is belted at the Bass by-election in Tasmania, losing the seat for the first time in 60 years July: Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen also refuses to appoint a Labor senator, further hurting Whitlam's ability to govern October 16: Opposition blocks supply bills in the Senate November 3: Fraser demands a general election in exchange for passing supply bills, which Whitlam rejects November 9: Kerr seeks advice from High Court Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, who the next day endorses the decision to dismiss the government. November 11: Kerr dismisses Whitlam and appoints Fraser as interim prime minister until an election December 13: The Coalition wins the election in a landslide and Fraser remains prime minister until 1983 Advertisement At this point he had not decided to use them, but had in the back of his mind the possibility of dismissing the Whitlam Government. 'My role will need some careful thought, though, of course, the classic constitutional convention will presumably govern the matter,' he acknowledged. Sir Martin replied: 'If supply is refused, it also makes it constitutionally proper to grant a dissolution.' Sir Martin in various letters praised Sir John's handling of the constitutional crisis, and gave him advice on how to proceed. He said it was often argued that when reserve powers are not used for many years, they no longer exist - but he didn't agree with that view. 'But to use them is a heavy responsibility and it is only at the very end when there is demonstrably no other course that they should be used,' he wrote on November 4. Sir Martin agreed with Sir John's view that the crisis had not reached that point yet - but Mr Fraser had a different view. 'Mr Fraser wants to believe it is already a 'constitutional' crisis because he wants you to bring about an election which he thinks he can win. 'If the tide of public opinion continues to flood against him he may well modify his view, and look for a way of retreat. 'Again, with great respect, I think you are playing the vice-regal hand with skill and wisdom. 'Your interest in the situation has been demonstrated, and so has your impartiality.' Sir Martin also noted: 'The Queen has read [his previous letter] with much interest and also with much concern for the pressures to which you are being subjected by the crisis.' Another letter from Sir Martin on November 25 was also full of praise for Sir John's handling of the situation, and noted the historical significance of the correspondence. 'I have received two letters from you both of these are individually of great historic interest and, when taken together, I think they provide a clear, full, and, if I may use the phrase with respect, most convincing account of the psychological and actual pressures to which you were subject when you took action on November 11, and of the reason why no other course was open to you,' he wrote. 'I have still not found anyone here with knowledge prepared to say what else you could have done.' Battle to release the letters Palace allies have battled for decades to keep the documents - which also include correspondence from her then-private secretary, Martin Charteris - secret, with the National Archives of Australia refusing to release them to the public. The letters had been deemed personal communication by both the National Archives of Australia and the Federal Court which meant the earliest they could be released was 2027, and only then with the Queen's permission. But the High Court bench earlier this year ruled the letters were property of the Commonwealth and part of the public record, and so must be released. Kerr sacked Labor Party prime minister Whitlam three years after his election in 1972 - causing a deep constitutional crisis that still scars Australian politics. One of Whitlam's key goals when he came to office was to loosen the colonial ties between Australia and Britain. He replaced God Save the Queen with the Australian national anthem and dubbed certain ties to Britain 'colonial relics'. Whitlam ended the British honours system and implemented Australia's own version, and removed God Save the Queen from the official announcement dissolving parliament. Whitlam - who died in 2014 - is still hailed as a champion of Australia's left. A broken seal is seen on a box containing letters between former Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr and Buckingham Palace during the Kerr Palace Letters release event in Canberra He had opposed Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, and sought to assert Australia's sovereignty. He ended conscription, established the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, tried to normalise relations with China, set up a free public health service, and made university free. But his detractors accused him of destabilising the economy, and Kerr fired him without warning on 11 November 1975 after political fighting that weakened Whitlam's government. In October that year the country's Liberal Party refused to pass the government's bills in the senate until an election was called - meaning the government would soon run out of money to provide things like pensions and pay public servants. Whitlam refused to call an election and Kerr swiftly dismissed him as Prime Minister. Kerr then appointed opposition Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as interim Prime Minister - without a confidence vote being held in parliament - and he went on to win a landslide election victory later that year. Spanish police have arrested two men on suspicion of killing a British pensioner in the Costa Blanca. The pair, a 49-year-old Dutchman and a 33-year-old Spaniard, were held after a lengthy investigation by the Civil Guard into the 70-year-old's death during a violent robbery at her home south of Alicante. Police say one of the men was a friend of the victim and she let him in before they stole cash he knew she kept in the house. She received a fatal blow to the chest as they fled the crime scene. Two men were arrested after a 70-year-old British pensioner died in Granja de Rocamora (file image, a nearby police station) The homicide happened on November 18, 2019 in Granja de Rocamora in the Vega Baja del Segura region south of Alicante. Both suspects are being held in prison on suspicion of homicide and robbery with violence. A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: 'Homicide squad officers in Alicante have resolved the death of a British woman aged 70 whose body was found on November 18 last year at her home in Granja de Rocamora where she lived alone. 'It was a female friend who alerted police after discovering her body on the floor with apparent signs of violence. 'There were no clues at the scene of the crime that helped officers. 'The only certainty was that she opened her door voluntarily because there was no forced entry. The Grupode Homicidios of the UOP of the Alicante Command identified and detained the two alleged perpetrators 'After months of analysis the theory that the victim knew her alleged killer gained ground. 'The alleged motive could not be established until the arrests took place.' The spokesman added: 'One of the detainees is a 49-year-old from Holland and the other a 33-year-old Spaniard. 'The police investigation has revealed both went to the property to rob her and one, a friend of the victim, knew she would open the door to him. 'Knowing she kept money at the property, they took 600 euros. As they fled, apparently to knock her out of the way, one of them delivered a fatal blow to her chest which ended her life.' A date for their trial has not yet been set. Filmed entirely in Columbia, South Carolina, from a story developed 8 years ago by Executive Producer Eric Warren Davis, of E. D. Legacy Films, Negative Exposure explores a community and residents navigating the atrocities of poverty, gang violence and police brutality. "This is a unique film about the dark side of the American story, yet an amalgamation of many stories. It encapsulates situations currently happening in our country," said Davis who stars as Pastor Robert Kingsley, a man at odds with his own biases. The screenplay, artfully crafted by Director Tony Tite, cleverly deals with issues of societal complexities while providing answers and solutions to today's racial, religious, and ethnic tensions. This independent feature spotlights the talents of actors already creating a buzz with their hard-hitting, passionate performances. Standouts include Taylor Katsanis, as Jayson Gresham, a struggling single father, and Darrell Snedeger is dangerously intense and chilling as Bones, a community gang leader. As Jayson's long-suffering mother, Rebecca Derienzo is compelling as a woman fighting to keep her son alive and thriving in a world stacked against him. Partnering with the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), an organization representing more than 50 million Americans of various racial backgrounds, Negative Exposure is the "clarion call"-to-action initiated by more than 700 legislators who are NBCSL members. Described as a "Parabolic Film," Negative Exposure uses life experiences to highlight spiritual principles. The collaboration with the NBCSL goes one step further, adding to the list of expected outcomes for legislation to transform policing into a model that is equitable and safe for communities of color. Negative Exposure will be available for download at www.negativeexposuremovie.com on August 8, 2020. SOURCE ED Legacy Films Related Links http://www.negativeexposuremovie.com Some private schools have complained that it will be a disaster if they cannot begin teaching before the new academic year opening day on September 5. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has decided that the opening day of the 2020-2021 new academic year is September 5 and requested schools not to organize teaching before that day. Schools can gather students to prepare for the opening day, but only from September 1. The news that schools cannot begin teaching has raised concerns among private schools. Private schools have been hit hard by Covid-19. Many of them are on the verge of bankruptcy. And their situation would be even worse if they cannot receive students during three summer months. Private schools are now in distress because of Covid-19. And the decision on a 3-month summer holiday will deal another blow on them, Nguyen Xuan Khang said, asking MOET to allow private schools to call students back to school four weeks earlier than state-owned schools. Agreeing with Khang, Nguyen Van Hoa, chair of the board of management of the Nguyen Binh Khiem Education System, said a big threat is hanging over private schools. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has decided that the opening day of the 2020-2021 new academic year is September 5 and requested schools not to organize teaching before that day. I myself have to use every minute I have to learn and work. Why do the students at the ages of 15-18 need a 3-month summer holiday? he said. According to Nguyen Thi Hien, chair of the board of management of Doan Thi Diem School, if private schools only provide the curriculum designed by MOET, they wont be able to attract students. We design special curriculums of our own and we need more time to implement our programs, she explained. Private schools need to begin new academic year sooner than state-owned schools, so they have time to implement their plans and organize international cooperation education programs. Representatives of some schools in Hanoi have signed a petition to MOET, asking the ministry to make reasonable adjustments on the time for summer holiday for private school students. Parents also think that it would better to let their children go back to school in August instead of September. Tuyet Mai, a parent in Hanoi, who has three children going to private school, said as parents are busy at work, it would be better to send their children to school. She would feel more secure if her children stayed at school with teachers. Linh Ha HCM City to hire more teachers, staff for 2020-21 academic year The HCM City Department of Education and Training plans to hire 514 additional teachers and educational staff for schools and continuing education centres in the 2020-21 academic year. The best bang for your buck! This option enables you to purchase online 24/7 access and receive the Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday print edition at no additional cost * Print edition only available in our carrier delivery area. Allow up to 72 hours for delivery of your print edition to begin. Print edition not available for Day Pass option. Caltrain, faced with financial ruin as it runs a near-empty commuter rail line along the Peninsula, may have to shut down altogether. Officials made the grim prediction Tuesday after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declined to introduce a 1/8-cent sales tax measure for the November ballot a vital lifeline that would have generated $100 million a year. It needed approval from four transit boards and Boards of Supervisors in San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. By opting not to support the measure, the San Francisco supervisors effectively scuttled it. Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Shamann Walton had previously voiced opposition to Caltrains governance structure, saying they want to separate the rail line from the San Mateo County Transit District, which manages and operates the rail system for a three-county Joint Powers Board. They say the two other counties served by Caltrain, San Francisco and Santa Clara, should have more control of its leadership and operations. Its taxation without representation, Peskin said Tuesday, adding that he disagrees with regressive sales taxes. He and Walton committed to find a policy or legislative solution by next year, possibly in the form of a state bill. But politicians on the Peninsula saw an instance of local control run amok. Its turned into something of a turf war, and I think thats totally unnecessary, said Assemblyman Kevin Mullin, a San Mateo Democrat. He stressed Caltrains importance to the economic recovery and said those trying to stymie the rail had defied the spirit of regionalism. San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine, who also chairs Caltrains Board of Directors, said San Francisco counterparts had left the agency with few options. Absent other revenue sources, Caltrain could ask for more money from its strained partner agencies. More likely, We may have little or no rail service on the Peninsula by the end of the year when federal (Cares Act) funding is exhausted. The political tussling comes just as Caltrain moves forward with its $2 billion electrification and a major expansion plan it announced last year. Executive staff at Caltrain put together a long-range service vision last year, which aimed to triple the number of riders on the rail system from 60,000 a day to 180,000 while swapping the diesel-belching locomotives for 10-car electric trains that would arrive at stations every 7 minutes. That $25 billion vision would serve a booming population of commuters, lured by housing and tech jobs along Highway 101. 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. Yet the COVID-19 pandemic upended the rail systems success, causing 95% of its riders to peel away. Unless it can restore roughly 30% of riders by the end of the year, its board will have to consider serious cuts in service, spokesman Seamus Murphy said. Pine said the system will still have full electric infrastructure even if its trains are suspended. Polling by EMC Research suggested the sales tax had a good chance of passing, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, the cratering economy, and the steep threshold of two-thirds of voters in three counties. People tend to turn out for presidential elections, Pine said, and many favor transit. It also would have provided an upside for San Francisco, which now pays $15.6 million a year from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agencys budget for Caltrains operations and capital costs. If the measure had passed, all of Caltrains partner agencies would be relieved of their funding burdens. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan The "Mobile Financial Services Service Portfolio Evolution and Positioning Strategies in Europe" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report provides an executive-level overview of the mobile financial services (MFS) market in Europe. It delivers qualitative insights into the mobile market, analyzing key trends and growth drivers in the region. It provides in-depth analysis of the following: Section 1: Mobile Financial Services Portfolio Definition and Evolution: This section provides an overview of the core portfolio and development of mobile network operators' mobile financial services. Section 2: Evolution and Positioning Strategies for Telcos in Europe: This section looks at the market conditions conducive to MFS adoption, recent developments, and the current state of MFS in Europe while also providing a closer look at the key players and partnerships enabling MFS success for telcos. Section 3: Case studies: This section looks three case studies from Europe giving insight into the successful implementation of MFS by mobile network operators. Section 4: Key findings: it consists of a summary of key findings and opportunities for the European MFS market. MFS adoption has accelerated in Europe in light of device, technology, and security improvements. Mobile wallet, mobile banking, and m-commerce have become widespread services among mobile money users in both Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe. In the past two years, European telcos have also been expanding into mobile banking white-labels/banking-as-a-service, partnerships, or by developing their own banking institutions. Key Highlights Due to the relatively high smartphone penetration in the vast majority of European countries, users can easily access mobile wallet, mobile banking, and m-commerce services through the use of mobile applications. Given the high number of competitors from the technology sector and financial institutions, European telcos often struggle to compete. Despite this, telcos are entering the market by launching their own m-wallet services and then potentially expand their range of MFS services. Telcos can compete effectively by offering MFS which have unique selling points and are differentiated in comparison to the competitors within a given European country. Reasons to Buy Offers a comprehensive and detailed understanding of mobile financial services (MFS) portfolios and positioning in the European markets. The report investigates MFS trends, development and competitive attributes, looking in particular at the various drivers and key players in the European region. To study Europe's most competitive mobile network operator MFS provisions, in order to inform strategical decision-making. The report discusses commercial and technical developments in the wider mobile money market and what these developments might mean for the future. Key Topics Covered Executive Summary Section 1: Mobile Financial Services (MFS) Portfolio Definition, Evolution, and Key Metrics MFS Portfolio Definition MFS Evolution MFS Key Metrics Section 2: MFS Evolution and Positioning Strategies for Telcos in Europe MFS Players Operator MFS Portfolios Latest Developments and Product Launches in MFS Section 3: Case Studies Orange France MTS Russia T-Mobile Poland Section 4: Key Findings and Recommendations Key Findings and Recommendations Appendix Acronyms Companies Mentioned Alfa Bank Alphabet Alior Bank Allianz Amazon Apple Assurant General Insurance Aviva AXA AZIMO Barclays Bank Beeline BNP Paeibas Bank BNP PaeibasCardif Facebook Deutsche Bank Google HSBC Bank Huawei ING Bank Kyaivstar Legal abd General Lifecell Lloyds Bank MAPFRE Master Card Money Gram Movistar MTS Orange Remitly Revolut Ria Money Transfer RURU Russian Post Samsung Santander Sber Bank SOGAZ Telia TIM T-Mobile TransferWise Unicredit Bank Vodafone Western Union Visa Worldremit Zurich For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7t6r4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005548/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:31:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Afghan men work at a cotton-processing factory in Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, July 13, 2020. The cotton-processing factory commonly known "Tasadi Bost Helmand" is the only industrial unit of its type in the troubled Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces that has been badly damaged and shut down due to the prolonged war. The government has rebuilt the factory recently to promote cotton cultivation in the militancy-battered province and provide job opportunities for the war-weary people. (Photo by Abdul Aziz Safdari/Xinhua) by Abdul Haleem HELMAND, Afghanistan, July 14 (Xinhua) -- "Revitalizing the cotton processing plant in Helmand is a welcoming step by the government that can encourage the farmers to grow cotton in their farmlands," whispered a farmer Abdul Khaliq from the restive Nad Ali district. The cotton-processing factory commonly known "Tasadi Bost Helmand" is the only industrial unit of its type in the troubled Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, Zabul and Uruzgan provinces that has been badly damaged and shut down due to the prolonged war. The government has rebuilt the factory recently to promote cotton cultivation in the militancy-battered province and provide job opportunities for the war-weary people. The poppy-growing and militancy-plagued Helmand has long been regarded as the hotbed of the Taliban in Afghanistan as the armed group has been ruling parts of the province over the past more than a decade. "If the government supports the farmers by providing fertilizer, seeds, and easy loans, and buying their products at a reasonable price, then the farmers would definitely replace poppy with cotton in their farmlands," Khaliq told Xinhua recently. Khaliq who has already begun cotton cultivation in his farmlands said that Helmand's cotton was popular in the past, saying he is hopeful that the government could support the cotton growers in the province to revive its reputation. Appreciating the revival of the cotton-processing plant, provincial governor Mohammad Yasin Khan has told reporters recently that some 300 workers would be hired by the factory in the first phase. In the meantime, thousands of farmers would be encouraged to cultivate cotton. According to the governor, the factory will buy 4,000 tons of cotton from the farmers this year. The factory, he said, will also produce cooking oil, soap and other goods, besides processing the soft fiber. Countless factories and plants including textile, cement and sugar plants have been destroyed or badly damaged by the protracted war, and the government, according to the official, is committed to reviving all the industrial units elsewhere in the country. "It is a good news for the farmers to plant cotton, I appreciate it, but water scarcity is an obstacle to develop cotton plantation," another farmer Khairullah, 35, told Xinhua. Khairullah also called on the government to improve irrigation system and provide enough water for the farmers to grow cotton. Enditem BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: The OSCE Minsk Group may mediate negotiations to resolve the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Polad Bulbuloglu, the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Azerbaijan to Russia, said in an interview to the Echo of Moscow radio station, Trend reports. "Yesterday, the Azerbaijani foreign minister was in talks for the whole day. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called him and as far as I know the Armenian side as well. Of course, Russia is the moderator which is able both to calm the situation and solve the conflict," said the ambassador. Azerbaijan does not want the conflict to escalate, we dont want people to die, neither for the hostilities to continue. We stand for peaceful solution of the issue. But the ten million [Azerbaijani] people cannot wait 30 years for the country of 2.5 million people withdrawing its troops from our territory," he noted. Bulbuloglu also noted that the protracted confrontation between Azerbaijan and Armenia is heating up the situation in society. "Yesterday there was a demonstration in Baku, at which about 200 young people demanded to give them weapons and send them to the front. The society is in full swing and requires decisive actions from the authorities. Our citizens have died. How long can this last? How long will we tolerate it? How long can the aggressor be patted on his back and talked about peaceful path? Withdraw the troops, and well resolve the issue peacefully. What peaceful way can we talk about if the enemy army is on your territory?" the ambassador concluded. HAMDEN Legislative Councilman Michael Colaiacovo Jr. resigned recently after nearly 15 years serving the town. Colaiacovo announced his resignation last week in a letter to the town clerk. He was elected in 2005 as a Democrat representing the 7th District. What I have enjoyed the most as a member of the Hamden Legislative Council has been constituent services, and I will truly miss interacting with so many wonderful people that I have had the distinct honor of serving since 2005, he said in the letter. I have also had the honor of serving with so many great fellow council members over the years, he said. Unfortunately, my declining health no longer allows me to fulfill my responsibilities to my constituents and to the Town of Hamden. Hamden Democratic Town Committee Chairman Sean Grace was one of Colaiacovos constituents. Mike is just a really good-hearted person and I appreciated his focus on public works and constituent services, Grace said. Anyone could call him up and he was very responsive. Grace said during Colaiacovos time on the council he was particularly focused on animal welfare and was involved in trying to bring an animal shelter to Hamden. Colaiacovo also worked on bringing the scale back online at the transfer station, Grace said. Grace said theyll look to pay tribute to Colaiacovos service to the town at an upcoming council meeting. Mike has been on there since 2005 and he was pretty universally liked, Grace said. I havent met anyone who didnt like him, even when things on the council got political. With Colaiacovos resignation, the council will need to vote on a candidate to fill the empty seat. Grace said traditionally the DTC district in which the council member resigned will put forth someone they want and the entire DTC makes its recommendation to the council. Grace said they will name a candidate at the end of the month during the committees meeting July 28, so the council can vote on the new member during its first August meeting. A simple majority vote is required to seat a new member when someone resigns, according to the charter. Editors note: This story has been updated to reflect that Colaiacovo served on the council nearly 15 years, having first been elected in 2005. mdignan@hearstmediact.com July 14, 2:45 p.m. Former Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes, currently with the Sacramento Kings, announced he tested positive for the coronavirus prior to departing for the NBA bubble in Orlando. He is currently asymptomatic and in quarantine. 1:30 p.m. Alameda County plans to apply for a regional variance that would allow the county to reopen outdoor dining and the Oakland Zoo. During a Tuesday county board of supervisors meeting, interim public health officer Nick Moss stated he hopes the variance will be approved in the coming days. The county was forced to shut down outdoor dining last week after the state issued a new guidance that only allows states that have gone through the attestation process for a regional variance to allow outdoor dining. 11:50 a.m. Over 35% of known COVID-19 cases in Santa Clara County are in individuals between the ages of 20-39, health officials reported Tuesday. Officials are warning residents to follow health guidelines regardless of their age, including maintaining a 6-foot distance and wearing face coverings. "While it is less likely that people of these ages will develop serious illness, they are not invincible," the county's Twitter account stated. "We have yet to learn the long-term health effects of COVID-19. But we do know that at least 25% of people will not have symptoms while they are infectious, so you could expose people you love without knowing." 11 a.m. Senator Dianne Feinstein rebuked Orange County's decision to reopen schools in the fall with no social-distancing precautions or mask requirements, saying the plan "isn't based on science and could be very dangerous." "I hope individual school districts in the county listen to health officials and take their advice," she continued. "The last several months have been difficult. But the resurgence of this virus across the country shows the coronavirus won't go away simply by ignoring it. We must continue physical distancing measures. We must keep wearing masks. And above all, we must make our decisions based on science and data, not politics." 10:50 a.m. Apple employees seeking to be tested for the coronavirus will now be able to do so without actually going to a testing center. Bloomberg reports the tech company will send testing kits to employees' homes so they may self-diagnose. Officer workers were also told they would not return to Apple's campus before the end of the year. 10:35 a.m. Alameda County will have to close indoor places of worship and indoor shopping malls on Wednesday after three straight days on the state watch list. If a county is on the state watch list for three straight days, it becomes subject to state-mandated business closures. The county was put on the list Sunday due to an increase in case figures, and will now have to abide by state restrictions. 10:20 a.m. Santa Clara County will officially have to close many of its newly reopened indoor businesses on Wednesday after appearing on the state watch list once again Tuesday. The county is on the list due to an increase in hospitalizations, and will now have to close indoor operations for hair salons, nail salons, other personal care services, gyms, malls, places of worship, and offices for non-critical sectors. Many of these businesses reopened on Monday. 7:33 a.m. The superintendent of Berkeley Unified School District announced Monday that he's recommending the 2020-21 school year begin with a distance learning model. Brent Stephens wrote in a letter to the community, "As you may know, school districts across the State are making a similar decision to begin in Distance Learning, but as your Superintendent, this is a heartbreaking recommendation to make. "I want so much more for our students than the slow, measured re-opening that I am describing below. "I know that this will come as difficult news for many families and students, and particularly for parents and guardians of younger children, as distance learning places them in a very challenging predicament. "We are making progress toward a phased reopening which could prioritize younger students and others who have specific needs for support, but as we take stock of our full situation and take seriously the alarming rise in COVID-19 in our region I know that this delay is the responsible thing to do. "I still see that a return to on-campus learning is possible; I just dont see that doing so on August 17th is feasible." This news came on the same day the two largest school districts in California Los Angeles and San Diego with a combined K-12 student population of about 720,000 said that they won't bring students back to classrooms next month because of rising coronavirus hospitalizations and infection rates. School leaders said there is too much uncertainty surrounding the safety of students and staff to try to return pupils to classrooms right away so they will continue the distance learning that was employed for the final months of the spring semester. Oakland and San Bernardino districts are among those that already have have said they'll start off with distance learning. In Contra Costa County, Brentwood Union Elementary School District and Oakley Union Elementary School District said they will start with a 100% online experience. Some districts are considering a mix of distance learning and classroom instruction with few students in the room. The Alum Rock district in San Jose said 90% of students will continue with online school while 10% will come to class. Students in foster care and with disabilities will be prioritized for on-site school. The Palo Alto Unified School District recently approved a plan for distancing learning for high school and middle school students and a return to classrooms for elementary school students. Newsom, a Democrat, applauded Los Angeles and San Diego but stressed that each district has unique needs. The power on whether to reopen rests with local districts and boards, but his administration has issued recommendations for schools. Schools across California closed in March as the state was ramping up virus-related restrictions. The move to distance learning was rocky for teachers, parents and students, particularly those who lacked the right technology or internet access. Newsom noted the state budget includes more than $5 billion to help students suffering from learning losses due to not physically being at school. Both the state Department of Education and Department of Public Health have released guidance for districts to follow when reopening, which include implementing temperature checks for students, remaking activities such as lunch and recess, and recommending cloth face coverings. Still, teachers are calling on the state to put clearer guidelines and rules in place for reopening. On Friday, leaders of the Los Angeles teachers union called for campuses to remain closed and for distance learning to continue due to the surging numbers of cases in Los Angeles County. We all want to physically open schools and be back with our students, but lives hang in the balance. Safety has to be the priority. We need to get this right for our communities United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz said in a statement last week. The states two largest teachers unions have expressed similar concerns. The California Federation of Teachers, which represents 120,000 teachers and school employees, said Monday it sent a letter to Newsom and the Legislature asking state leaders to delay the physical reopening of schools and provide stronger direction to counties that have been left on their own to make the difficult decision on whether it is safe to reopen schools. We urge the Governor to take action and delay the reopening of schools until we can guarantee our schools are safe. The stakes are as high as it gets, and we have only one chance to get this right, CFT President Jeff Freitas said in a statement. The California Teachers Association, which represents 310,000 members, said pointedly on Friday: We cannot reopen schools until it is safe. The Associated Press contributed to this story. Coronavirus in the greater Bay Area: Links you need COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENTS Alameda County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Contra Costa County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Lake County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Marin County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Monterey County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Napa County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. San Benito County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. San Francisco County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. San Mateo County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Santa Clara County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Santa Cruz County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Solano County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. Sonoma County: Find the latest COVID-19 numbers and health order. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Here are answers to your most frequently asked questions about coronavirus Overwhelmed California hospitals sending COVID-19 patients to SF Covid-19 is turning San Francisco's inequality gap into a chasm WHEN WILL THE BAY AREA REOPEN? One Bay Area county added to 'watch list,' another falls off Will Bay Area schools reopen in-class this fall? Confusion as Santa Clara County's reopening reportedly rejected Jeffrey Epsteins longtime friend Maxwell expected to appear in Brooklyn court via video conference on Tuesday. A former British socialite and longtime friend of Jeffrey Epstein will face a judge in New York on Tuesday. Ghislaine Maxwell has been charged for allegedly luring girls as young as 14 into having sex with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was found dead in his prison cell on August 10 last year while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Her defence is expected to try to get her out of jail, where prison officials have reportedly taken away her bedsheets and added extra security so she cannot harm herself, or in case other inmates wish to harm her. Al Jazeeras Gabriel Elizondo reports from Brooklyn, New York. Genomic sequencing that could reveal how many of Victoria's COVID-19 cases are linked to the state's quarantine hotel outbreaks will be kept secret until an inquiry into the hotel scheme's deficiencies begins. Sequencing to track the source of infections determined in early July that a significant proportion of new coronavirus cases in Melbourne's north and west were linked to cases traced back to hotels. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton revealed a new set of genomic testing had since been completed, but said it would not be revealed publicly at present as it would be examined in a judicial inquiry led by retired judge Jennifer Coate. The inquiry is to begin public hearings on Monday. The data would indicate how many people infected over the past fortnight are linked to outbreaks stemming from hotels. Police officers wearing personal protection suits implement quarantine rules and health protocols at the Baguio City public market in the northern Philippines, June 23 2020. Updated at 5:05 p.m. ET on 2020-07-15 The Philippine government should increase COVID-19 testing, then quarantine and isolate those exposed, the World Health Organizations representative here said Tuesday as the number of nationwide cases topped 57,000. Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe said the increasing transmission rate of COVID-19 was a worrying trend, adding that the government should improve its contact tracing methods. Its still imperative that we use the increased testing capacity, to use that information not only to identify patients but also to identify who has been exposed to it, who else is potentially infected. Then quarantine and isolate those people so that we can arrest for the spread, the WHO's representative here told members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines. What is worrying is that the proportion of positive cases is very slowly increasing, he said. This shows that there is continuing transmission. On Tuesday, the health department reported six deaths, bringing the toll to 1,603 while 634 people tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total to 57,545. The department said it had to adjust figures after some duplicates were removed from the total official count. In addition, the number reported can be subject to change as health officials continue with their validation. Globally, more than 13.1 million COVID-19 cases and more than 574,000 deaths have been recorded as of Tuesday, according to disease experts at U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. Abeyasinghe declined to compare Philippines to its neighbors in Southeast Asia. He did say that countries with good standards have test results available in a few hours, immediately followed by rapid identification of contacts and isolation. In the Philippines, by comparison, test results take a minimum of 48 hours to be released and patients provide incomplete data to the government, making tracing more difficult, he said, adding that strong coordination among local and national government units was critical. Abeyasinghe encouraged the central government to be more transparent and tell people the exact locations of outbreaks. Government reactions Meanwhile, President Rodrigo Dutertes spokesman said the government continued to seek ways to speed up testing so results could be available within 24 hours, including partnering with private companies. We are increasing testing capacity, spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday, adding the government had given PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests to 1 million people and was on track to achieving its goal of testing 30,000 people a day. In addition, private companies offer tests with one-day results. What we are doing is allowing the private laboratories to conduct tests, especially to those returning OFWs (overseas Filipino workers) and seamen because we could not afford to keep returning workers in hotels for two or three days while waiting for the PCR test, he said. So it is important that not only we increase the testing capacity, but also the speed by which results are released, he said. Also on Tuesday, Interior Scretary Eduardo Ano warned that police would search homes for COVID-19 patients while urging people to report cases in their neighborhoods, citing a 2019 law on disease reporting, according to Reuters news service. He said those infected who refused to cooperate could be sent to prison. We dont want positive patients to stay home in quarantine especially if their homes dont have the capacity, Ano told reporters at a news conference. So what we will do ... is to go house-to-house and we will bring the positive cases to our COVID-19 isolation facilities. Roque clarified that no one would be forcibly taken from their homes, but stressed only those with separate rooms with toilets who are not living with elderly people or pregnant women would be allowed to home quarantine. If they dont have a separate room, they would be picked up and taken to an isolation center. All the isolation centers are air conditioned, have free food and are equipped with Wi-Fi, he said. So all those who are asymptomatic or have mild cases ... are welcome at our isolation centers, he said. The Metro Manila region remains under a general quarantine even as the government has allowed certain public functions to resume while Cebu in the central Philippines is under an enhanced quarantine. CORRECTION: Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano was misidentified in an earlier version of this report. Theres a lot still missing from the reports that Russia paid for attacks on American and other coalition forces in Afghanistan. Thats why its critical that emotions and politics be kept at bay until the facts are in. Some important context might come from a hearing on the matter by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, even though Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declined to attend. The charges are explosive, and the public especially the families of fallen soldiers deserves some honest answers. The reports in The Times and other news media cite intelligence findings that a Russian military intelligence unit rewarded fighters linked to the Taliban for targeting American troops, possibly disbursing money through a shadowy Afghan middleman named Rahmatullah Azizi. The findings are said to have been relayed to the White House in a regular intelligence briefing that President Donald Trump says he never saw. The logical next step for the president should have been to acknowledge the gravity of the allegations and demand a full report. Instead, Trump dismissed the story in a tweet as just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party, even as he acknowledged that the information was contained in intelligence reports. Inevitably, the response resurrected speculation about Trumps unexplained affinity for Vladimir Putin, most recently displayed in attempts to include the Russian leader in a meeting of the Group of Seven. Robert OBrien, the national security adviser, said this month that the Justice Department was considering an investigation into whoever may have leaked the information. The Trump administrations response to this story raises critical questions about whether it is focusing sufficient attention on the plight of American soldiers deployed far from their homeland and on dangerous ground. John Boltons new book about his time as Trumps national security adviser is only the latest depiction of a president incapable of absorbing policy briefings. But this issue is not solely a question of Trumps competence. From the various news accounts, others in the White House and Congress were also apparently advised of the claims, yet no one reacted until the allegations were made public in The Times. Then theres the question of the motives behind the leaks and the solidity of the information. Afghanistan is a forbidding country that has repeatedly confounded invaders. There is no question that the war there has been rife with atrocities, shifting alliances and dubious sources of funds and arms. Trump is right to try to pull Americans out after more than two decades of inconclusive fighting. Yet the public anger aroused by the bounties story will not go away by claiming hoax or dismissing the payments as collateral damage of a dirty war. Legislators from both parties are already demanding explanations, and the House Armed Services Committee voted by a large bipartisan majority for an amendment to the defense bill to make any further withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan contingent on an assessment of whether any country has offered incentives for the Taliban to attack American and other coalition troops. It is unfortunate to connect the issue of possible Russian payoffs with the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The administration ought to provide more information to lawmakers, which is why it was a missed opportunity for Pompeo to decline to attend the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. But whatever those investigations reveal, the war in Afghanistan needs to be brought to an end. Putins intelligence services shouldnt get a say in what is in the best interests of the United States. The threat to Trumps withdrawal deal alone should encourage the president to get to the bottom of the issue, and if necessary to confront Russia with the numerous tools of statecraft at his disposal. Global school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic present an unprecedented risk to childrens education, protection and wellbeing-Framework for Reopening Schools (April 2020). Introduction There is no denying the fact that the 2019 strain of coronavirus (popularly known as COVID-19) is still devastating education, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and even lives on the globe. The question, however, is for how long would human movement and activities like schooling, trading, religious worship and social gatherings almost be shattered by COVID-19. With the stigmatisation, COVID-19, as a disaster and a pandemic, seems to have brought, in its wake, a wave of fear and panic with some consequences like stress and depression on citizens. This write-up gives some basics on COVID-19 and it tells the role of the counsellor in supporting students and staff against the virus as teaching and learning happens without any let. It narrates the cause, mode of transmission, effects and prevention as it looks at what counsellors should be doing to prevent any possible infection and transmission of the virus in our schools. Basics on COVID-19: cause, transmission, effects and prevention Branded as a novel virus, COVID-19 is wrecking education, economies and lives and it is also reported to have been interfering with the mental health and psychosocial integrity of some people. Due to its highly ravaging ability, the virus seems to have made life look abnormal. COVID-19, undoubtedly, is of public health significance with institutions and bodies like World Health Organisation (WHO), UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank, World Food Programme (WFP), Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service (GES) and in fact, Government and all of us involved in its fight. Handbook of UNICEF, WHO and IFRC on Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools (March 2020) stated that as a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus, originally called 2019-novel-coronavirus or 2019-nCoV, COVID-19 is linked to a family of viruses like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and some types of common cold. It is transmitted via direct contact with respiratory droplets from coughing and sneezing. Infection can happen when individuals use their hands to touch any part of their faces (i.e. eyes, nose and mouth) upon contamination through surfaces like tables, chairs, pens, bowls, dusters and chalk/marker boards. GES-Back to School Campaign: Frequently Asked Questions (June 2020) leaflet stated the signs and effects of COVID-19 as fever with high temperatures, cough, sore throat, breathing difficulties and in extreme cases, pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and death. Evidence says the effect of COVID-19 appears severe in persons with underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart diseases and hypertension. Fear and panic with related conditions like anxiety, stress and depression can also trigger the erosion of a persons mental health and psychosocial wellbeing as well as their immune response ability to the virus. The school is an organised, controlled and disciplined setting, where the movement and activities of students, teachers and other staff are sanctioned, monitored and regulated. The school is a good setting and channel for proper education and for emphasis on compliance with the tips and protocols against COVID-19. Effective partnership with schools can shield children, students and even the rest of us from the virus. UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank and WFP Framework for Reopening Schools (April 2020) stated that being out of school increases the risk of teenage pregnancy, sexual exploitation, child marriage, violence and other threats, such as anxiety and stress, which can also serve as an avenue for COVID-19 exposure, infection and transmission. COVID-19 and school counsellors Yes, it is true that COVID-19, as yet, has no vaccine. It is true that many of the symptoms can be treated and with early care from a healthcare provider, COVID-19 is less dangerous. It is true that simple safety measures exist to prevent the infection and spread of COVID-19. It is true that COVID-19 is no respecter of borders, ethnicity, disability status, age or gender (Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention and Control in Schools, March 2020). It is also true that education and other necessary routines of life must continue even in COVID-19. All the it is true and it is not true bits and pieces on COVID-19 should seriously engage the attention of the school counsellor, who is, him/herself, also a teacher and a helping professional, in the school system. As done always with the support of colleague teachers and staff, the counsellor makes visible, readable and understandable all tips on COVID-19. With creativity, research and collaboration, the counsellor can use varied media, such as notice boards, classroom walls and even tree barks on campuses to communicate the safety tips and measures to students and staff. In fact, the counsellor must be and be seen to be relevant and useful in this whole fight against COVID-19. With the approval of the school head and with the support of all staff, the counsellor should be seen advocating for effective use of platforms, like during lessons, to remind pupils and students of the need to obey the safety tips on COVID-19 at all times. The counsellor is relevant and useful in assisting students to use equipment and items like the thermometers, Veronica buckets, tippy taps, water, soaps and sanitisers in the school, after how they are used has been demonstrated by the experts and School Health Education Programme (SHEP) coordinators. Why should learners experience fear, panic, anxiety, stress and depression over COVID-19 when a counsellor or anyone assigned to act as a counsellor sits right with his or her colleague teachers and the school head? Why should a learner be helpless or feel so; or die when the counsellor and his or her colleagues know which healthcare facility to contact? For schools to remain welcoming, respectable, inclusive and supportive to All as they teach and insist on compliance with all precautions, including wearing of face masks, washing of hands with soap under running water, using alcohol-based sanitisers to wash hands and keeping to social distancing, and other protocols, counsellors also must strive to be committed to, proactive and effective on their tasks. Conclusion This write-up also does not believe that any system would want to see its children get infected with or live in pains or die through COVID-19, especially as they access education, and so, the more we, as stakeholders and partners, join our ideas, energies, time, money and other resources into preventing them, the better it would be in guaranteeing our continued survival as a people. NB: The writer is an educationist and a professional counsellor in Ghana Education Service. E-mail: [email protected] A new serum dubbed a 'neck-lift in a bottle' is flying off the shelves with one selling every two minutes - and happy customers have reported dramatic improvements to their sagging skin after just two weeks. British brand Instant Effects, whose celebrity fans include Nicole Scherzinger, launched its Neck and Chest Rejuvenating Serum this month. Women who trialled it before it hit shops have shown off impressive results after using the 35.99 cream on their neck and decolletage areas. Retired Essex secretary Emma Greentree, 60, from Chelmsford, Essex, tried the serum and says after two weeks she saw a radical difference. Retired Essex secretary Emma Greentree, 60, from Chelmsford, Essex, tried the serum and says after two weeks she saw a radical difference She told FEMAIL: 'I've been conscious about the lines appearing on my neck since my early forties, and over the years I've tried countless creams to try to reduce them. 'Whether they cost 30 or 250 I have never been overly impressed with any of them. 'As a result I was a little sceptical with this cream, but have to admit that within an hour of applying it for the first time my skin felt really hydrated and smoother to touch. 'After two weeks of applying it twice a day I noticed a vast improvement to the way my neck looked. The skin was tighter on my neck and chest area, so it's boosted my confidence as I'm no longer worried about looking wrinkled or having sagging skin. Emma said within an hour of applying the serum for the first time her skin felt really hydrated and smoother to touch. Pictured before (left) and after (right) using the Instant Effects Neck and Chest Rejuvenating Serum for two weeks 'It also smells lovely, goes onto the skin well, soaks in and isn't at all greasy. I'm absolutely amazed by the results and definitely plan to keep using it.' The product is being snapped up from Lloyd's Pharmacy by Generation X women, who grew up in the Eighties before the importance of sun protection against dangerous UV rays was fully realised. It has been clinically proven to reduce the appearance of sun damaged skin by 93 per cent. Emma said she's been conscious about the lines appearing on her neck since her early forties, and over the years she's tried countless creams to try to reduce them Harley Street skin ageing specialist Dr Ioannis Liakas told FEMAIL: 'The dermis on the neck - the layer of skin which contains the collagen - is very thin, making it more prone to aging than other parts of the body. 'A lack of sun-screen combined with cumulative sun exposure over a lifetime have always been the main culprits of premature aging on the neck. The product is being snapped up from Lloyd's Pharmacy by Generation X women, who grew up in the Eighties before the importance of sun protection against dangerous UV rays was fully realised 'Lots of people also forget the neck when doing their daily facial routines, which leads to dark spots, hyper-pigmentation and other signs of premature ageing. 'This new product is an excellent product to combat these signs of ageing.' Like the popular AM and PM Energiser face products which sold out instantly, the neck serum contains Instant Effects' patented OX2 technology which allows more oxygen to be delivered to the area, increasing blood-flow and skin nutrients. Consequently, the boost in elastin and collagen levels helps reducing lines, wrinkles, and age spots and firm the skin. Clinical trials at by the Princeton University lab in the US found improved skin firmness by 59 per cent in an hour, which increased to 93 per cent within six weeks, while wrinkles were reduced by 24 per cent in 15 minutes. Skin elasticity was boosted by 125 per cent within an hour and hydration was boosted by 23 per cent in 24 hours. Luminosity build was equivalent to laser treatment within 30 minutes. Harley Street skin ageing specialist Dr Ioannis Liakas told FEMAIL that lots of people forget the neck when doing their daily facial routines, which leads to dark spots, hyper-pigmentation and other signs of premature ageing Flamboyant Republican operative Roger Stone has accused Robert Mueller's team of pressuring him to change his story and implicate the president, in order to avoid a prison sentence. Stone, 67, was to begin a 40-month prison sentence on Friday evening when Donald Trump announced he was commuting Stone's sentence. Stone had been found guilty of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House investigation into whether Trumps campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election. In his first television interview since being spared prison, Stone on Monday described his battle against 'the horrific and deep-pocketed resources of the federal government, and these really sadistic, arrogant, politically-motivated prosecutors.' Roger Stone had his sentence commuted on Friday and three days later appeared on Hannity He added: 'And I had a biased judge, I had a stacked jury, I had a corrupt jury forewoman.' The self-proclaimed master of political 'dirty tricks', Stone alleged to Sean Hannity on Fox News that he had been pressured to lie, to save his own skin. He accused Jeannie Rhee, one of Mueller's prosecutors, of dangling the possibility of avoiding prison if he 're-remembered' events. Mueller's team questioned Stone multiple times throughout 2018. 'On July 24 Jeannie Rhee who was heading my prosecution on the Mueller team... she made it very clear to one of my lawyers, after a hearing, she asked to see him in private, that if I would re-remember certain phone conversations I had with candidate Trump; if I would come clean; if I would confess; they might be willing to recommend leniency to the judge. 'Perhaps I would not even serve any jail time,' he told Hannity. 'I didn't have to think about it very long; I said "absolutely not". 'There was no circumstance under which I would bear false witness against the president. I was just not willing to lie.' Jeannie Rhee, a member of Mueller's team, allegedly asked Stone to change his story Hannity said Mueller's case was 'the biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal in our history' Stone, who lives with his wife in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said that in the days since his sentence was commuted people had been shocked at his accusation. 'Now in the last two days, when I said that, people said: ah, you see, Stone had the goods on Trump, and he traded his silence for a commutation,' he told Hannity. 'That is patently false; I never said that, I never implied that. 'What I said has been consistent - that I would not lie against my friend of 40 years so they could use it for impeachment.' Stone, who is now considering whether to appeal and seek to have his sentence fully wiped, said that Mueller's team were desperate for him to change his story. 'They wanted me to be the ham in their ham sandwich, because they knew the Mueller report, particularly on Russia, was a dud,' he said. 'It was a goose egg.' Stone, a larger-than-life political character who embraced his reputation as a dirty trickster, was the sixth Trump aide or adviser to have been convicted of charges brought during Muellers investigation. Stone is pictured emerging from his Florida home Friday evening after his sentence commuted A longtime Trump friend and informal adviser, Stone boasted during the campaign that he was in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through a trusted intermediary and hinted at inside knowledge of WikiLeaks plans to release more than 19,000 emails hacked from the servers of the Democratic National Committee. But Stone denied any wrongdoing and consistently criticized the case against him as politically motivated. He did not take the stand during his trial, did not speak at his sentencing. His lawyers did not call any witnesses in his defense. Prosecutors had originally recommended Stone serve seven to nine years in prison. But in a highly unusual move, Barr reversed that decision after a Trump tweet and recommended a more lenient punishment, prompting a mini-revolt inside the Justice Department, with the entire prosecution team resigning from the case. Stone told Hannity that he believed Trump's commutation had saved his life, noting that he was 67 and being sent to 'a COVID-infested prison, in violation of current DoJ policies.' He said 60 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19. Stone told Hannity that he felt he had been saved from a possible death sentence in prison 'The most important thing here is the courageousness of the president's act,' he said, adding that he knew Trump was under pressure from within the White House not to show clemency for his friend. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, chief of staff Mark Meadows and attorney general William Barr were all said to be opposed to the commutation of the sentence. They reportedly urged Trump to wait until after the November election. 'I don't think I would have lived that long,' said Stone, praising Trump as 'a man of great justice and fairness, and a man of enormous courage.' And he suggested that he was leaning against seeking a full exoneration. 'I have to be convinced I could get a fair second trial,' he said. 'Because I definitely didn't get a fair first trial.' His interviewer agreed. Hannity observed: 'It's the biggest abuse of power, corruption scandal in our history.' Mueller himself over the weekend made a rare incursion into the debate, writing an op ed in The Washington Post defending the work of his team, and asking that Stone remain a convicted felon. He said that the investigation he led was of 'paramount importance' and asserted that Stone 'remains a convicted felon, and rightly so' despite the presidents decision to commute his prison sentence. The op-ed marked Muellers first public statement on his investigation since his congressional appearance last July. 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. The co-chairs of the Joint Ukrainian-Hungarian Commission on National Minorities, Svitlana Fomenko and Ferenc Kalmar, are set to interact and implement their international obligations. This was stated in their joint statement released by the press service of the Ukrainian Embassy in Hungary. On July 14, a meeting of the co-chairs of the Joint Ukrainian-Hungarian Commission on National Minorities, Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Svitlana Fomenko and Ministerial Commissioner for Hungary's Neighbourhood Policy Ferenc Kalmar, was held in Budapest. The co-chairs reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation to ensure the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine and the Ukrainian minority in Hungary, emphasizing the important connecting role that minorities play in strengthening and further developing Ukrainian-Hungarian relations, the statement reads. The parties confirmed that the steps taken to protect and ensure the rights of national minorities must comply with international obligations and the Basic Treaty between Ukraine and Hungary. At the same time, the co-chairs confirmed that during the next meeting of the commission they will strive for "a comprehensive consideration of urgent issues that need to be addressed, and achieving meaningful results." The parties praised the resumption of the work of the commission and agreed on further concrete steps to organize its meeting, which should be held in accordance with the priority principle in Ukraine. The meeting was held in pursuance of the agreements reached during the visit of Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to Hungary on May 29 and the visit of Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto to Ukraine on June 25. ish Two persons died on the premises of a state-run hospital in Kolkata on Monday allegedly after they were made to wait for a long time before being admitted, a charge denied by the hospital. A 28-year-old typhoid patient died on a trolley after he was refused admission by two other hospitals, while an elderly woman, who was suffering from body ache and swollen feet, succumbed inside a car in which she was taken to the KMCH. Family members of the two claimed that doctors were late in attending to them and that led to their deaths. A senior KMCH official denied negligence on the part of the hospital and claimed that the two were brought dead. One of them was Ashok Ruidas from Jaynagar in South 24 Parganas district. He was brought to the KMCH after two other state-run hospitals allegedly refused him admission. "He was under treatment for typhoid at a private hospital in Barasat (in North 24 Parganas district) for the last fortnight. He was not a Covid-19 patient. Two hospitals refused him admission and then we brought him here (KMCH)," claimed Ruidas' cousin. Even at the KMCH, he was made to wait for long and by the time the doctors came he already died, he said. An elderly woman, a resident of Baharampur in Murshidabad district, succumbed inside the van in which she was brought to the KMCH by her daughter. "We dont know if she was suffering from Covid-19, as she was never tested for the disease. She was having body ache and swollen feet. We did not get an ambulance to bring her here, and hired a car. But no one attended to my mother. Finally when someone came, she had already left us," her daughter said. On Saturday, a Class XII student, who has been suffering from diabetes and tested positive for COVID-19, has died at the KMCH. His family members had also alleged that he died mainly because of negligence. It is about putting yourself out there, Faught said. Its about learning how to express yourself and learn more about whats going on in current events and being able to tell people how you feel about certain situations or about different things that are going on our country, especially right now. They work on that among each other in small groups and they also practice it in an interview-type setting. The program is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased at the door for ages under 12 years old for $5 and 12 and over for $10. The winner advances to the state program in Montgomery. Last years winner, Ashley-Sinclair Curtis of Enterprise, said she is super excited that she participated in the program. I gained so much from it so much experience with interviews, talking in front of people, just different kinds of experiences that I wouldnt have had otherwise, Curtis said. I met incredible people along the way. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issues statement against China on aggression in South China Sea, calls China's claims on offshore resources unlawful as per decisions of an arbitral tribunal in 2016 while warning China against bullying neighbours in the Indo-Pacific region. The United States on Monday officially dismissed Chinas claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea and termed Beijings campaign of bullying to control them as completely unlawful. US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Monday issued a statement on the US position on Maritime claims in the South China Sea, saying that the Chinese government has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. Washington announced that it is aligning the US position on the Chinese governments claims in the South China sea with the 2016 Arbitral Tribunals decision. In a unanimous decision on July 12, 2016, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention to which the People Republic of China (PRC) is a state party rejected the PRCs maritime claims as having no basis in international law. The Tribunal sided squarely with the Philippines, which brought the arbitration case, on almost all claims. Also read: China questions India on app ban Also read: Unknown pneumonia in Kazakhstan could be Covid-19: WHO The United States champions a free and open Indo-Pacific. Today we are strengthening U.S. policy in a vital, contentious part of that region the South China Sea. We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them, the statement by Pompeo read. The South China Sea is grouped into three archipelagos. China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its sovereign territory, and it has aggressively asserted its stake in recent years. In the South China Sea, we seek to preserve peace and stability, uphold freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintain the unimpeded flow of commerce, and oppose any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes. We share these deep and abiding interests with our many allies and partners who have long endorsed a rules-based international order, the statement read. The PRC has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its Nine-Dashed Line claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009, it added. Pompeo said that Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal states in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion, and replace international law with might makes right. We stand with the international community in defense of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and reject any push to impose might makes right in the South China Sea or the wider region, the United States said. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire, Pompeo said in his statement. The move come as battle lines hardened between US and China over a range of issue including Hong Kong security law, atrocities on Uighurs Muslims by Chinese authorities and coronavirus. The United States has rejected any PRCs claims to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states sovereignty claims over such islands). As such, the United States rejects any PRC maritime claim in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank (off Vietnam), Luconia Shoals (off Malaysia), waters in Bruneis EEZ, and Natuna Besar (off Indonesia) Any PRC action to harass other states fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters or to carry out such activities unilaterally is unlawful, the statement read. Also read: China announces reciprocal sanctions against US lawmakers For all the latest World News, download NewsX App In the last week, Virji had panicked, worried that he would not be able to continue his education at Harvard Medical School. His parents in Tanzania, a former hairstylist and an electrician, were trying to find money for a flight home for him. He was worrying about the expense, the risk of exposing them to coronavirus and whether his education would be entirely disrupted. ANKARA, Turkey - Turkeys foreign minister on Tuesday chided the European Union over its condemnation of a Turkish decision to convert Istanbuls iconic Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, saying the matter is an issue of national sovereignty. Last week, Turkey cancelled the sixth-century former cathedral-turned-mosques 86-year status as a museum and said it would open for Muslim worship as of July 24. The decision sparked criticism in the United States, Greece, and other Western countries as well as from Orthodox Christian leaders. Pope Francis expressed sadness over the move. EU foreign ministers, holding their first face-to-face meeting in months on Monday, declared that they condemned the decision. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said there was broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently consider and reverse this decision. Asked to comment on the EU criticism, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with his visiting Maltese counterpart: We reject the word condemnation. This is a matter that concerns Turkeys sovereign rights, he said. He argued that there were several mosques in EU-member Spain that had been converted into churches. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, described the 1934 decision by the Turkish Republics secular, founding leaders that converted Hagia Sofia from a mosque into a museum as a mistake. We are rectifying a mistake. Its as simple as that, Erdogan said in a televised address, following a weekly Cabinet meeting. Erdogan maintained that the criticisms levelled against Turkey over Hagia Sophias return to a mosque were a pretext for enmity toward Turkey and Islam. He also said his country was determined to preserve the structures qualities as a cultural heritage. On Tuesday, Greece again expressed dismay at Turkeys decision. This decision is certainly painful to us as Greek Orthodox Christians but it also hurts us as citizens of the world, said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This is not a Greek-Turkish issue, it is not even a Euro-Turkish issue, it is global. It is a universal issue. Mitsotakis added: With this setback, Turkey is choosing to sever ties with the Western world and its values. It abandons a cultural direction of many centuries, preferring introversion. And it wraps with an artificial mantle of strength over its weakness. Meanwhile, officials from Turkeys religious affairs authority, said the landmark structure can remain open to visitors outside of prayer hours, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The Christian depictions inside are no obstacle to Muslim prayers, said the officials who are preparing the site for Muslim worship. They added however, that the figures would need to be covered with curtains or through other means during the prayers, in line with Islamic traditions that prohibit such representations. By Michael Erman and Carl O'Donnell (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies have ramped up clinical trials in the past month, rebounding from a steep decline in activity following the start of the coronavirus outbreak, though activity remains below pre-pandemic levels, according to new research shared with Reuters. The research, which was prepared by clinical trial technology company Medidata, shows that the number of new subjects entering trials increased 112% in June compared with the low point in April. New patient starts are still 30% below where they were before the pandemic, but that is significantly higher than the roughly 70% decline in new subject starts in April, according to the research. But even as trials ramp back up, the report anticipates that an increase in COVID-19 cases in the United States could affect clinical trial activity in the coming months. Drugmakers around the world, including Eli Lilly & Co and Galapagos NV have announced plans to delay clinical trials for some drugs because of difficulties recruiting, treating and monitoring patients during the pandemic. In response, regulators, including the U.S. Food and Drug administration, have eased rules around collecting data remotely using digital tools to try to help drugmakers continue to research new treatments. "Many [drugmakers] are shifting to more remote and statistical ways of monitoring the data that's coming in," said Fareed Melhem, a senior vice president at Medidata. "There's pretty broad acceptance that that should be used to maintain the oversight of the trials." Some of the biggest increases in new patient starts for trials were in Europe, with Italy, France and Spain returning to levels of activity roughly on par with where they were before the pandemic, the report said. Germany is around 23% below its pre-pandemic level. The United States saw the biggest decline in new subjects entering trials in April, but has rebounded more than 150% from that low, according to Medidata. Story continues An increase in COVID-19 cases, however, is casting a shadow on the trend. U.S. cases have reached more than 3 million and have risen rapidly in recent weeks, in some cases jumping by more than 60,000 cases in a day, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In its most recent investor call, Eli Lilly said it halted clinical trials in part to reduce the burden on hospitals, which were busy treating COVID-19 patients. "We'll make decisions along with them based on the burden of COVID-19 that they're having and how much time and attention they can devote to clinical trials," Eli Lilly's chief scientific officer said on the investor call. Clinical trials for cancer drugs saw the smallest impact from COVID-19, with new patient starts down 40% at their low point. They have since recovered to roughly pre-pandemic levels. Trials for cardiovascular drugs suffered the most, with activity dropping as much as 90% in April, but have since rebounded, increasing by nearly 900%, Medidata said. (Reporting by Carl O'Donnell; Editing by Leslie Adler) Fifteen international flights in three years, more than a dozen bank accounts totaling $20 million and a 156-acre property in New England paid for in all cash. This is or was the extravagant life of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epsteins madam who was arrested charged with four counts of sex trafficking a minor and two counts of perjury Thursday morning, the Miami Herald previously reported. The 58-year-old has been accused by many women of helping procure underage sex partners for Epstein, who died in a jail cell in August 2019 after being arrested a month earlier on sex trafficking charges himself. Loaded with money and moving frequently to avoid detection, a court filing paints a portrait of the life Maxwell was leading in the aftermath of Epsteins arrest last year. Previously, Maxwell had made frequent public appearances, according to the filing. But since his arrest, shes moved locations at least twice, changed her primary phone number and email address and ordered delivery packages under other peoples names. Shes become an international woman of mystery of sorts and her whereabouts have been the subject of much interest. At times, shes appeared to be playing a game with the public. In one instance, a photograph published in the New York Post last August shows her sitting at an In-N-Out Burger table in the Los Angeles area, holding a spy book, according to previous Miami Herald reporting. Most recently, Maxwell was hiding in the massive property acquired through a limited liability company called Granite Realty, LLC for more than $1 million in December 2019. The hideout is located in a sleepy New Hampshire town called Bradford and was where she was arrested. Maxwells name didnt appear on any of the documents connected to the transaction, according to someone with knowledge of the sale. Obviously whoever bought this property wanted privacy, and they got it, the person said. A property listing for the Bradford, N.H. home where Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested Thursday. The home had been purchased through a shell company in December 2019. The woman who runs the local Bradford inn said no one in the roughly 1,600-person rural community 30 miles east of the state capitol knew she was there. Story continues For this sort of town, its like oh my gosh, Sally Caravan told the Miami Herald. It is a close-knit community and usually people are aware if somethings up. So obviously, she mustve done a good job. On Thursday, the property was barred by a locked gate about a quarter of a mile up the long driveway. Reporters staked out the entrance Thursday afternoon, after some were escorted from the property by a man open-carrying a pistol. Vic Morris, who lives across the road, saw small, unmarked planes circling the property Thursday morning before he left for work. I thought they were doing a NASCAR up there, Morris said. Morris discovered later that day that Maxwell has been living at the property. But he said he had never actually met her. I could have seen her at the Market Basket and I wouldnt have known, Morris said. Several months ago he met a man who lived at the property. Though he didnt catch the mans name Morris said the man spoke with a British accent. Morris and his English neighbor first met one winter morning when the man was plowing snow from the long driveway, across the road, and up onto Morriss property. I could tell he was new at this, Morris said. Maxwell born in France and raised in England doesnt appear to have any connections to the area. Shes the daughter of former British media mogul Robert Maxwell, who died under mysterious circumstances in the early 1990s. She became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and has passports for all three countries, the court filing says. Records from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection show she traveled frequently over the last few years, including to the United Kingdom, Japan and Qatar. The court filing also says Maxwell appears to have significant financial resources that would enable her flight from prosecution. The government identified 15 different bank accounts held by or associated with her from 2016 to the present. During that same time period, Maxwell transferred massive amounts of money between the accounts. In March 2019, she transferred $500,000 from one account to the other. Four months later, Maxwell made another transfer this time $300,000, the filing says. She also reportedly owns at least one foreign bank account containing upwards of $1 million. In 2016, Maxwell appears to have reaped substantial income when she allegedly sold a New York City residence through a limited liability company for $15 million, the court filing says. Around the day of the sale, $14 million was deposited into an account for which the socialite is listed as the owner, according to the filing. Days later, more than $14 million was transferred from that account into another one opened in Maxwells name. In short, the defendants financial resources appear to be substantial, and her numerous accounts and substantial money movements render her total financial picture opaque and indeterminate, even upon a review of bank records available to the Government, the court filing says. Maxwell has no children, doesnt live with any immediate family members and doesnt appear to have a job that would require her to stay in the U.S., according to the court filing. Furthermore, she doesnt appear to have any permanent ties to the U.S. Maxwell appeared by video chat before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrea Johnstone in New Hampshire on Thursday and is being taken to New York where shell face a hearing on the governments request to deny her bail. Maxwells lawyer, Larry Vogelman, declined to comment on the charges or the governments request to deny her bail. A beer designed to serve as a symbol against racism has been pulled from a Connecticut bar after a couple on Facebook said it signaled the opposite in how it was served. A World of Beer, a chain bar and kitchen, in Hartford, Connecticut, will be pulling the Yellow Belly beer from its lineup after customers complained that it looked like a KKK hood, according to a report from Fox News. In a post on Saturday, a woman explained how her husband, who is Black, ordered the beer and received it without explanation about how it was meant to be anti-racist. This KKK bottle was brought over without warning about its appearance. At best, the server was ignorant, insensitive, and tone deaf. At worst...? Erika Davis-Pitre wrote in her post. I was so startled when an image from your establishment came across my news feed. I literally thought it was someone... Posted by Erika Davis-Pitre on Saturday, July 11, 2020 World of Beer responded to the post by saying that the beer would no longer be sold. Please accept our apologies for the lapse in judgment in serving. While we cant speak for the intent of the brewer, the visual representation does not have a place at our establishment. We appreciate you bringing it to our attention and welcome the opportunity for discussion, the World of Beer comment read. Yellow Belly is made by Swedish brewery Omnipollo and Buxton Brewery in the United Kingdom, according to the report, and on Omnipollos website, it says the beer is brewed to celebrate all things new, open-minded and progressive. Yellow Belly a person who is without courage, fortitude, or never; a cowed. To us, one of the most cowardly deeds is to act anonymously, hiding behind a group. A signifying trait of institutionalized racism, the Omnipollo website reads. W earing a face covering in shops and supermarkets is to be made mandatory in England in a fresh move to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Health Secretary Matt Hancock will say on Tuesday that anyone who fails to comply with the order, which comes into force on July 24, could face a fine of up to 100. The move follows a weekend of confusion over whether ministers intended to make face coverings compulsory after Boris Johnson said they were looking at "stricter" rules. The senior Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove said on Sunday he did not believe they should be mandatory and that it was better to "trust people's common sense". However, during a visit to the London Ambulance Service on Monday, the Prime Minister offered the clearest signal he was going down the route of compulsion, saying the Government was looking at the "tools of enforcement". Michael Gove says face masks should not be mandatory in shops Ahead the announcement by Mr Hancock, a No 10 spokesman said: "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus. "The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24." The move will bring England into line with Scotland, where face coverings are already mandatory in shops. The Government has been urging people to wear face coverings in confined spaces such as shops since early May and they have already been made compulsory on public transport in England since mid-June. The regulations will be made under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, with a maximum fine of 100 - reduced to 50 if it is paid within 14 days. Enforcement of the regulations will be the responsibility of the police. While shop workers will be asked to encourage compliance, retailers and businesses will not be expected to enforce them. As is the case on public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said the Government needed to issue detailed guidance on the new requirement "as soon as possible". "Businesses need clarity on the approach to the wearing of face coverings that is consistent and supported by public health evidence," said BCC co-executive director Claire Walker. "Updated guidance, including on enforcement, should be issued swiftly so firms can maintain their Covid-secure status and continue their operations successfully." For Labour, shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said ministers needed to explain why it had taken them so long to act. "The Government has been slow and muddled again over face coverings," he said. "Given the Government's own guidance issued on May 11 advised in favour of face masks, many will ask why yet again have ministers been slow in making a decision in this pandemic, and why it'll take another 11 days before these new guidelines to come into force." In the early days of the pandemic, ministers and the Government's scientific advisers repeatedly played down the value of face coverings, saying the evidence on the benefits was thin. There were also thought to be concerns stocks could be diverted from the NHS at a time of intense pressure on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) if the public were encouraged to wear them. However, speaking during his visit to the London Ambulance Service, Mr Johnson said he was now keen to make progress on the issue. "As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again," he said. The president of the Royal Society, Dr Venki Ramakrishnan, said the evidence was now "quite strongly in favour" of using face coverings in enclosed spaces where people are likely to come into contact with strangers. "I think that the Government should be very clear," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain. Loading.... "It's not consistent to make it mandatory on public transport and not make it mandatory in other enclosed and busy public spaces, because the behaviour of the virus is the same in all of these spaces." California law students, in healthier times, take a practice exam for the state bar UC Berkeley. (Sam Deaner / Associated Press) The state Supreme Court, the State Bar of California and about 9,000 recent law school graduates find themselves in a jam. It is almost the traditional time for the July bar exam, the annual hazing ritual that determines whether students have wasted three years of their lives or, instead, will be licensed and begin their legal careers. But were in the midst of a pandemic. Theres no way those thousands of prospective attorneys are going to be jammed into convention centers and hotel ballrooms around the state for two days of test-taking in close quarters, with face masks or without. The exam has been scrapped, so what now? Every option would heap additional headaches on the legal and testing industries and additional hardships on law graduates. Delayed exams mean additional months in which trained lawyers cant practice their profession, cant earn their living and cant begin paying back the student loans that many have amassed. Online exams pose a host of technical problems and, depending on how and when they are administered, call into question the validity of the results. October exams mean scoring wont be completed until mid-January too late for unsuccessful applicants to study effectively for the February do-over. The best of the bad options is to grant provisional licenses to members of the class of 2020 right away, without tests, and allow them to practice their new profession and earn their living under the supervision of lawyers who were licensed in the old-fashioned way. Their licenses would be valid until they could take an online bar exam in October or the traditional in-person exam next year, or whenever it can next be safely administered. Even then there are serious complications for example, what if they had already taken the exam but failed? What if they graduated from a non-accredited law school? Should they still get temporary law licenses? But first lets deal with a more fundamental question that may be on the mind of any Californian who isnt a recent law graduate: Who cares? Why should we worry that thousands more lawyers wont be plying their trade right away? These are not, after all, recently graduated medical or nursing students whose services we badly need on the front lines of the worsening pandemic. Do we really care whether the next generation of attorneys will have to wait a few months before pleading cases or drawing up contracts? Story continues We should care, and deeply. Millions of Californians need legal help because they have lost their jobs, or are in danger of losing their housing, or wonder about the quality of care their loved ones receive in nursing homes, or are accused of crimes, perhaps because they opened their businesses without proper clearance or because they blocked the wrong street when they protested racial inequities or police brutality. California has lots of lawyers, but most are beyond the reach of people who need them. To make a living while paying back their student loans and the thousands of dollars they spent on bar review courses (because law school oddly does not by itself prepare students to pass the licensing exam, any more than it leaves them ready to practice law without guidance from more experienced lawyers) what newly minted lawyer can afford to accept what most Californians in need can afford to pay? The class of 2020 no doubt includes many graduates with job offers at high-priced firms, but they and the many thousands of others without such offers presumably went to law school and prepared for the bar exam at least in part because of their passion for justice. And the justice system is in dire need of their skills. As the State Bar of California (the licensing agency) and the state Supreme Court (which has the ultimate rule-making authority) are pondering the 2020 bar exam, its worth remembering that there has been no study that demonstrates that the exam does anything to protect consumers from poor-quality lawyers. Without such a study, the exam is open to the criticism that it is indeed little more than a hazing ritual one that limits competition to practicing lawyers and supports an entire industry built on costly prep courses. Perhaps a diploma from an accredited California law school should be enough, at least in the short term. Meanwhile, yes, grant recent law school graduates a provisional diploma privilege to practice without taking this years exam, recognizing that their graduation from an accredited law school must surely count for something. Allow them to practice under the supervision of experienced lawyers. Perhaps help them stay their loan repayments, and help with their immediate expenses, in exchange for time representing their fellow Californians who have the greatest need. And then lets rethink the entire rationale for the bar exam. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday morning inaugurated the national capitals second convalescent plasma bank at the 2,000-bed Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital (LNJP), the citys biggest healthcare facility for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients. Earlier on July 2, the Delhi government had opened its first convalescent plasma bank at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in south Delhis Vasant Kunj. The third convalescent plasma bank is in the works at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, the biggest healthcare centre in the trans-Yamuna area and has been converted into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital amid the viral outbreak. Lok Nayak Hospital has started plasma collection. The first plasma bank in Delhi was at ILBS. Till the time a vaccine is developed, plasma is helpful in saving precious lives. It may not save 100% of the Covid-19 patients, but it can save some lives. It also had a role in reducing Delhis Covid-19 related death rate as well. Lok Nayak Hospital is located in the centre of the city. It will be easier for the public to get to the hospital and donate plasma, said Kejriwal at the hospital on Tuesday morning. The hospital has set up an apheresis machine, which is used to separate the blood components. The collection of plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients has started, hospital authorities said. Over 3,600 Covid-19 patients have recovered from the viral infection and have been discharged from the hospital to date and many of them are eligible to donate plasma. The plasmapheresis machine has been set up and we have started collecting plasma from recovered patients. We will be able to start banking it soon, said Dr. Suresh Kumar, medical director, Lok Nayak Hospital. Convalescent plasma therapy uses the blood component plasma rich in virus-fighting antibodies from patients who have recovered from the infection to aid the immune system of Covid-19 patients. It is still an experimental therapy that has been approved by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) for use in Covid-19 patients, whose need for oxygen increases despite being on oxygen support and steroids. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Poland's incumbent conservative President Andrzej Duda has narrowly beaten his liberal challenger Rafal Trzaskowski in Sunday's razor-blade tight presidential election. The National Electoral Commission said Duda won with 51.2 percent of the vote. By Stefan J. Bos Duda was welcomed at his headquarters by a crowd of enthusiastic supporters after exit polls showed him ahead by a tiny margin in the presidential run-off against Warsaw's liberal mayor. Official results later confirmed that he won with slightly more than half of the ballots cast. But it is Poland's slimmest presidential election victory since the end of its Communist regime in 1989. Listen to Stefan Bos' report Andrzej Duda's re-election came as a disappointment to those seeking to reset relations with the European Union. Under Duda, Poland was condemned by EU leaders over government measures to reduce the independence of the judiciary and media. Activists also claimed that the pro-traditional family and anti-abortion President discriminated against the gay and transgender community. He called LGBT rights an "ideology" more destructive than communism. But speaking to reporters, Duda made clear that Sunday's presidential vote showed that democracy is working in his heavily Catholic nation. High turnout "I am very grateful and proud that election turnout has really grown during my presidency," Duda said. "I am thrilled that so many people are participating." Turnout was 68.2 percent, according to official estimates. Duda added that democracy in Poland is "becoming increasingly mature". He said: "We are being serious about taking matters into our own hands. To decide who is going to govern in our country and who will represent us internationally." The 48-year-old President Duda, a friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, is a social conservative allied with the government led by the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party. Civic platform His rival Trzaskowski, had hoped to win the presidency with the backing of the main opposition Civic Platform party, which ruled the nation from 2007 to 2015. He had pledged to improve relations with the EU by introducing measures such as supporting local governments and free media. The mayor of Warsaw, a former European legislator, also wanted to prevent what he called "violations of the constitution" and to stop what he described as "the politicizing of independent institutions." Critics fear that President Duda's second 5-year term will be marked by further controversial reforms to the judiciary and other perceived autocratic policies. However, opponent Trzaskowski's party made clear it is investigating whether Duda's victory is what people wanted. It expressed concerns about reported voting "irregularities" after the polls closed on Sunday. In one of the incidents, Poles living abroad were allegedly not receiving voting packages in time to take part in the presidential election. And analysts warn the close result could lead to court challenges. Africas Covid-19 cases edge past 600,000 The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says there are currently over 609,000 confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in Africa. The regional office stated that South Africa had 287,796 cases and 4,172 deaths, followed by Nigeria with 33,153 confirmed cases and 744 deaths, while Ghana had 24,988 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. It added that Gambia, Seychelles and Eritrea were countries currently with the lowest confirmed cases in the region. A record number of Americans lost their health insurance during the coronavirus pandemic, with 5.4 million more Americans finding themselves uninsured between February and May, a study has found. Unprecedented job losses have caused the mass loss of coverage, with more people losing their health insurance during the time period than they ever had in a previous single year, according to the study from consumer advocacy group Families U.S.A. The data resulting from the study is likely to inform the on-going debate in Congress over the next round of virus relief funds, and comes during campaign season when the Affordable Care Act is a key campaign issue for both President Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden. The group said that this increase in the number of uninsured adults is 39 percent higher than any annual increase ever previously recorded, with the last record standing at 3.9 million losses taking place between 2008 and 2009. Unprecedented job losses has caused a record number of Americans to lose their health coverage during the Dovid-19 pandemic. Above, Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims on June 19, 2020 in Frankfort, Kentucky 'We knew these numbers would be big,' said author of the study Stan Dorn, who directs the group's National Center for Coverage Innovation according to the New York Times. 'This is the worst economic downturn since World War II. It dwarfs the Great Recession. So it's not surprising that we would also see the worst increase in the uninsured.' At the end of June, The New York Times reported that around 30 million Americans were receiving government financial assistance. According to the publication, 19.5 million people are on unemployment benefits, while 'over 11 million individuals are receiving federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance as of June 6'. Above, streets are pictured empty and businesses shuttered in Jersey City in April after lockdowns were implemented to slow the spread of coronavirus. Resulting job losses across the country meant that around 5.4 million people have lost health coverage between February and May Dorn's study examined the effects of the pandemic on laid-off adults under the age of 65, which is the age that U.S. citizens become eligible for Medicare. The data shows that 46 percent of the coverage losses resulting from the pandemic came in five states - New York, California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina - the first four also being the states that have seen the highest number of Covid-19 cases. In Texas alone, the number of uninsured people increased by roughly 700,000 people - from 4.2 million to 4.9 million - leaving three our of every 10 Texans without coverage, the research found. 'These record-breaking increases in the number of uninsured have taken place during the country's worst public-health crisis in more than a century and the sharpest and deepest economic downturn since World War II,' a statement from Families U.S.A said when giving an overview of the findings. Data from the study by advocacy group Families U.S.A. shows that 46 percent of the coverage losses resulting from the pandemic came in five states - New York, California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. Above, shops in New York's China town pictured closed in May 'Nevertheless, no federal COVID-19 legislation signed into law has attempted to restore or preserve comprehensive health insurance. Now is the time to fill that gap by including protections for comprehensive health insurance in the next COVID-19 bill,' the statement read. The full study is set to be released later on Tuesday. The 37 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw 23 percent of laid-off workers lose their insurance. In contrast, in the 13 states that did not expand medicaid saw 43 percent of laid off workers become insured - including in Texas, Florida and North Carolina - almost double the number in those who chose to expand. The study comes in the midst of campaign season ahead of the November general election which will see President Trump and the Republican party - who are working to repeal the Affordable Care Act - face off against Joe Biden and the Democrats, who are seeing to expand the law. Former Vice President and Presidential hopeful Joe Biden - pictured above speaking to families who have benefited from the Affordable Care Act - and the Democrats are seeing to expand the law, while current president Trump and the Republican are seeking to repeal it. The law was brought in during Barack Obama's presidential tenure Trump's administration has even asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law - colloquially known as Obamacare - which is seen as former President Barack Obama's crowning achievement during his tenure. The complete data of how many people across the U.S. lost coverage in 2020 will not be available until mid-2021, however Dorn said that 'policymakers need to know now what the approximate magnitude is of insurance losses to decide what they need to do. 'This is our best estimate for what the actual coverage losses have been.' The Voice of America building in Washington, D.C. on June 15, 2020. The new chief of U.S. global media is plowing ahead with changes to the Voice of America and other international broadcasters that are heightening concerns about their future as independent news organizations. Read more In the newest White House nod to neo-authoritarianism, President Donald Trump seems bent on remaking Voice of America into Voice of Trump. This U.S.-funded network was set up Washington in 1942 to broadcast news of America overseas. It was never intended to be a partisan propaganda tool, like state-run Russian or Chinese overseas networks. Nor was it meant to be the voice of one political party. Rather, its mission was to present foreign audiences with nonpartisan news coverage of our country, ranging from U.S. politics and foreign policy to American culture. Under veteran journalist Amanda Bennett (a former editor-in-chief of The Inquirer), a highly professional staff of U.S. and foreign journalists delivered TV and radio programs to 236.6 million people worldwide. However, in April, President Trump and his allies started attacking VOA over its (accurate) coverage of the pandemic. Last month, the GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Michael Pack, an ally of Steve Bannon, to head a new U.S. Agency for Global Media that will now oversee VOA and affiliated agencies such as Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Bennett resigned, and Pack immediately purged professionals atop every division, while putting low-level Trump political appointees on the new oversight board in place of bipartisan luminaries. But the story got even uglier last week, as Pack was reportedly ready to refuse renewal of visas for foreign staff who come from authoritarian states, putting them at grave risk if they are forced to return home. No doubt this will put people in danger, but this risk appears of no interest to the administration, says Ryan Crocker, a former ambassador to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other countries. (Crocker served on the Broadcasting Board of Governors that was replaced by Trumps new oversight board.) Many VOA foreign staff come from nations such as Thailand, Russia, China, or Zimbabwe, where the state controls most or all news outlets and represses any independent media. Many work at VOA because they cant do real journalism at home due to censorship, one VOA source told me. These journalists undergo rigorous scrutiny before they are hired by U.S. agencies. Their language skills and contacts at home cant be replaced by U.S. journalists. What is particularly sickening is the idea that the White House might send these journalists back to authoritarian countries where VOA is under vicious attack, and those who had worked for the agency would face grave danger. It takes my breath away, Crocker told me. Consider this: On the very day last week that the news broke about Packs signaling he wouldnt approve visa extensions, the Russian State Duma (parliament) was accusing VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty of disseminating destructive, misleading and provocative information, and its staffers of being foreign agents. That, no doubt, is because those outlets were providing Russian listeners with straightforward information about the recent Russian referendum that essentially confirmed Vladimir Putin as president for life and was reportedly rife with rigging. Yet, Pack would consider not renewing visas for Russian journalists, nor journalists from other countries where they might face arrest or worse. Perhaps that will gain him a medal from the Russian State Duma. Already, the Kremlin overseas media mouthpiece, RT (formerly Russia Today), has cheered on the White House attack on VOA. The White House crackdown on VOA is so egregious that even GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio have joined a bipartisan group of senators who are already questioning Packs methods. READ MORE: Trump's blame game with China can't hide his own COVID-19 failures | Trudy Rubin What really needs to be questioned is whether Trump wants to make VOA into a propaganda instrument to promote his personal agenda abroad. The way the White House attacked VOAs China coverage would seem to indicate this is the case. In April, the official White House website put out a news release charging that VOA spends your money to promote foreign propaganda. Trumps grievance appeared to be a link on a VOA video to an Associated Press news article that described the end of the Chinese lockdown in Wuhan, along with the factual info that the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. exceeded Chinas. (Never mind, as Bennett detailed in a news release, the long list of VOA reports on Chinese secrecy and misinformation on the pandemic.) If those facts that irritated Trump were propaganda, one can only imagine the misinformation on the coronavirus that Trump would like VOA to report to the world. That the U.S. has the best testing in the world and has crushed the virus? That Trump has handled the pandemic better than any other leader? Can you imagine how the world would react to such broadcasts, and how they would reflect on VOA and Trump? VOAs strength is its credibility, Crocker told me. You cant have global respect if you are going to act like every other authoritarian regime, and if the world sees us just like them. So watch future developments on VOA, and renewal of foreign staffs visas as a symbol of how far Trumps media mania will take him. And whether he will try to turn VOA into a version of Russias RT. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 09:33:42|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LAGOS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's defense chief Gabriel Olonisakin said Monday that the armed gunmen's activities in the country's northern regions would soon be "a thing of the past." The defense chief made the remark when he visited the troops of a new military exercise "Sahel Sanity" in Faskari, Katsina state. The launch of "Sahel Sanity" was a testimony to the army's commitment to addressing all security challenges facing the country, Olonisakin said. He said the real-time exercise would be transformed into operation aimed at attacking banditry in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna and Niger states. "There is no doubt in my mind that the scourge of the banditry will soon be a thing of the past and all law-abiding citizens would be able to resume their normal lives," he added. Banditry, kidnappings and other criminal activities have recently become rampant in some northern regions in Nigeria. The military said they are in control of the situation with multiple ongoing operations. Enditem To cure the annual examination malpractices menace, government is to procure 853,009 Kapek Scientific Mathematical Instrument to be used for the 2020 West Africa Examination Council organised examinations. Valued at GH63, 975,657, Parliament yesterday approved a US$3,214,538 tax waiver for the supply of the kits ahead of the examinations scheduled for August. Per the Finance Committees report on the deal, after chief government nominees of WAEC member countries met, it was agreed that candidates are required to use only customised WAEC mathematical sets. By this, all other mathematical sets and scientific calculators would be banned in the examinations and students would only be given the equipment after they have entered the examination hall. Apart from curbing the menace of examinations malpractices, the Committee observed that providing the mathematical sets would help improve rating of certificates issued by the Council and boost confidence in the countrys education systems. Moving the motion for the approval of the tax waiver, Finance Committee Chairman, Dr Mark Assibey-Yeboah, said given that the equipment are simple devices, they would last and be replaced when found to be obsolete. According to Dr Assibey-Yeboah, MP, New Juaben South, some of the sets would be distributed to schools to enable students get acquainted to them. The equipment, he said, were easy to use and that every examinee would be able to use them without difficulty. Seconding the motion, Kumbungu MP, Ras Mubarak, doubted the feasibility of the students using the equipment this year considering the fact that the examinations were scheduled for August. To him, the equipment alone was not the antidote to examination malpractices, as he suggested that a more structural approach was employed to nib the practice in the bud. North Tongu MP and a former Deputy Education Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, want the equipment in the future be produced in Ghana to enhance the capacities of Ghanaian companies. He questioned the unit cost of the equipment which works out to GH75, and asked that the pricing component be made public to the House. Mr Moses Anim, the Trobu MP, on his part lauded the government for the intervention, positing that it would ease pressure on parents during examinations. The House, meanwhile, approved a four-million South African rand tax waiver on equipment, tools and hardware in respect of the Ghana Radio Astronomy Project and collocation of the satellite earth observation ground receiving station at Kuntunse for the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute. Source: The Ghanaian Times Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Pregnant YouTube star Nicole Thea died along with her unborn son from a suspected massive heart attack, her family said today. Nicole, who was eight months pregnant with son Reign, passed away at home in Mexborough, Yorkshire, on Saturday morning after complaining to her boyfriend Global Boga that she was suffering chest and back pains. The tragic star said she was also having difficulties breathing in the weeks before the tragedy. Nicole had previously told her 250,000 followers she felt like something was killing her from the inside and that she was dying in the last few weeks. Now her uncle has revealed that the family believe she suffered a cardiac arrest. Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Charles Murray said: 'From what I heard at the moment, we think she had a massive heart attack. 'She had it in her house and she was telling her partner that she had pains in her chest and her back. YouTube star Nicole Thea, 24, died on Saturday along with her unborn son Reign. They leave behind Ms Thea's partner Global Boga, 20, real name Jeffery Frimpong Nicole had previously told her 250,000 followers she felt like something was killing her from the inside 'Nicole was saying that she was struggling to breathe. She was struggling with her chest - she had a pain in her chest. 'It is so surreal as she was so young. It is such a shock. It has really, really shaken us all up.' Mr Murray said his niece was a dancer and had no known health issues. 'She is a dancer and we don't think she had any underlying health problems,' he said. 'It is terrible. But we won't know for sure until we have the post-mortem.' Nicole's heartbroken mother Samantha Antoine confirmed the double tragedy on Sunday, saying 'Our hearts are truly broken'. In the post written on Instagram, she said: 'To all Nicole's friends and supporters it is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Nicole and her son she and [partner] Boga named Reign sadly passed away on Saturday morning. 'Nicole [had] pre-scheduled a few YouTube videos and Boga has made the decision to allow them to be aired. 'As a family we ask that you give us privacy because our hearts are truly broken and we are struggling to cope with what has happened. 'Thank you her mum RIP. A statement on her Instagram account said: 'Nicole and her son named Reign sadly passed away on Saturday morning' Nicole, who was eight months pregnant with son Reign, passed away at home in Hexborough, Yorkshire, on Saturday morning In a video posted on July 1, Nicole Thea spoke about 'the worst thing about my pregnancy' 'My beautiful baby girl Nicnac and my grandson Reign. 'I will miss you for the rest of my life until we meet again in eternal heaven.' Nicole had announced her pregnancy 12 weeks ago on Instagram, along with Boga, also known as Jeffrey Frimpong part of the group Ghana Boyz,, telling her followers: 'We can't hide this any longer, secrets outGod gave us the biggest blessing yet. 'I'm finally creating a beautiful little human inside of me. 'Can't believe this bubba will be half of me and half of the loml. 'Honestly, @global_boga has been the best support ever and God made no mistakes making him the father. 'We are already obsessed with you, our little miracle baby. 'Thank you for choosing us to be your parents and best friends.' On Saturday, 20-year-old dancer Global shared a video of himself dancing in the street with a pram. The last video posted to Miss Thea's Youtube featured her sharing a behind the scenes look at a pregnancy shoot in a bath full of milk - it was posted the hour before news of her death YouTube star Miss Thea along with her partner street dancer Global Boga, 20, whose real name is Jeffery Frimpong He said: 'If you believe children are BIG BLESSINGS from God drop some 'Rrrrrrr'. 'I Can't wait to be taking my son to the parks & Playground.' Mr Murray, warehouse worker, revealed how news of the tragedy reached him at his Manchester home. He said: 'I had gone to bed on Friday night when the phone rang. 'It was her mum crying to tell us about Nicole. I had to wake my wife up and tell her.' He revealed the family had also been hit by a series of tragedies in the last few weeks. Nicole's grandfather died recently as well as Charles' mother and last week his wife's her brother-in-law. 'It is a really sad time for this family,' he added. Earlier today, her devastated family revealed that she had not died during child birth, after days of feverish speculation on social media. The dancer, who had 105,000 followers on Instagram, was just weeks away from her due date The pair announced the pregnancy in April with an Instagram post captioned: 'We can't hide this any longer, secrets out..' A video on July 8 showed Miss Thea's boyfriend and brothers rating her maternity outfits YouTube star Nicole Thea posted a video about her 'emotional' pregnancy just days before her death, joking that it felt like 'the baby's eating me'. The street dancer turned influencer, who lived in London with her partner, died on Saturday morning along with her unborn son Reign. Miss Thea, 24, was eight months pregnant and was chronicling her baby journey to her 160,000 Instagram followers and nearly 90,000 YouTube subscribers. In a video posted on July 1, she spoke about 'the worst thing about my pregnancy'. In the clip, she told her followers: 'I'm more emotional. Literally I could be fine one minute and then the next second I'm crying. I'm having a good pregnancy, but emotions are just too much. 'I'm so out of breath 27/4. I would walk from here to the end of the room and feel like I'm dying. I feel like the baby's eating me.' A man dumps red paint on the "Black Lives Matter" mural in New York City on July 13, 2020. (NYPD) Black Lives Matter Mural Near Trump Tower in Manhattan Defaced A Black Lives Matter mural painted on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was painted red, according to cellphone video and Mayor Bill de Blasio. To whoever vandalized our mural on 5th Avenue: nice try. @NYC_DOT has already fixed it, the mayor wrote on Twitter. To whoever vandalized our mural on 5th Avenue: nice try. @NYC_DOT has already fixed it. The #BlackLivesMatter movement is more than words, and it cant be undone. pic.twitter.com/nlYTALCWxJ Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 13, 2020 The footage was captured early Monday, showing a man, who was wearing a mask, dumping a can of red paint over part of the letters. He then set down the can and fled the scene. New York City police are currently searching for the man, officials told WABC. I saw somebody out of the corner of my eye putting down a bagand I was thinking oh hes gonna get in my shot,' said Nikki Ross, who shot the video. And when I got to about the clock, he took out the paint and splattered it across the mural. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that de Blasio, a Democrat, and city officials are denigrating Fifth Avenue with the project, describing the Black Lives Matter slogan as a symbol of hate. He also took aim at City Council members for approving the slashing of $1 billion from the NYPDs budget in the midst of calls to defund the police. On July 9, de Blasio was joined by wife Chirlane McCray, Reverend Al Sharpton, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) to help paint the mural. Other details about the incident were not provided by police. Several murals across the United States have been defaced in recent days. In a Chicago suburb, one was changed to read, All Lives Matter before it was re-painted. The mural is considered a testament to community acknowledgment of the Black Lives Matter movement that has focused public attention on the inequities and systemic racism that have such a negative impact on people of color, Oak Park said in a statement on July 9. Nichole Anderson, 42, from California. (From Youtube/Kerry Leidich) In Martinez, California, two people were arrested earlier this month after splashing black paint on a mural that was recently painted on the street. Martinez, California, Police Chief Manjit Sappal said in a statement (pdf): The community spent a considerable amount of time painting this mural only to have the suspects destroy it by dumping and rolling paint over part of the message. Rajasthan Political Crisis Updates: According to ANI, top leaders of the Rajasthan BJP also held a meeting on Tuesday, however the details of it are not known, Auto refresh feeds Govind Dotra has been appointed in place of Pliot as the new Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Chief. The power tussle in Rajasthan between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot made a dramatic turn on Tuesday, with Randeep Surjewala announcing that the rebel party leader has been removed from posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister, state unit president. Along with Sachin Pilot, Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena have also removed as ministers, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala told PTI. Addressing media after the CLP meeting on Tuesday, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the BJP of misleading Sachin Pilot and other Congress leaders. "I regret that Sachin Pilot and some of his associates have been swayed by BJP's plot and are now conspiring to topple the Congress govt elected by 8 crore Rajasthanis. It is unacceptable," said Surjewala. Senior BJP leader Om Mathur, who is in charge of Rajasthan, has left for Jaipur, where a meeting is underway to discuss the situation, reports Scoll.in According to ANI, Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday met Governor Kalraj Mishra at Raj Bhavan in Jaipur after the sacking Sachin Pilot. The BJP said a floor test is the only way to prove the strength of Congress government in the state, according to NDTV. Sources told PTI Gehlot briefed the Governor on recent developments in the state, caught in the grip of a power struggle between him and Pilot. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Sachin Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy, he added. Sachin Pilot's nameplate has been removed from Congress headquarter in Jaipur after he was sacked as deputy chief minister and PCC chief, reports ANI. Govind Singh Dotasra has been appointed as state unit chief. Rajasthan governor Kalraj Mishra has accepted CM Ashok Gehlot's proposal to remove Sachin Pilot as Deputy CM, and Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena as ministers, news agency ANI reported Soon after being removed by Congress as Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress unit chief, Sachin Pilot on Tuesday changed his bio on Twitter to MLA from Tonk. There is nothing in Sachin Pilot's hands, it is the BJP which is running the show. BJP has arranged that resort and they are managing everything. The same team which worked in Madhya Pradesh is at work here, says Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. I am sad to see @SachinPilot leave @INCIndia . I consider him one of our best & brightest, and wish it had not come to this. Instead of parting, he should have joined the effort to make the Party a better& more effective instrument for his, and our, dreams. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said that he considered Sachin Pilot as one of the "best and brightest" leaders in the party and that he was sad over the current state of affairs. Reiterating the BJP's line of defence against Ashok Gehlot's accusation of against the party for the current crisis, Union minister Gajendra Shekhawat said that the presidents and workers of the four Congress units inclduing the Youth Congress, Seva Dal and student organisations turned against their own government. The Inspite of this, the saffron party is being blamed, he said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held a meeting today at their party office in Rajasthan over the current political situation in the state. Party's state president Satish Poonia and party leaders Om Mathur, Gulab Chand Kataria and Rajendra Rathore were present at the meeting, reports ANI. According to News18, the Cabinet ministers held discussions over vacancies after MLAs and ministers were sacked. The Cabinet meeting will be followed by another of the Council of Ministers. After the sacking of the three ministers, the 12 senior ministers, including the CM, remain in the Cabinet. The council of ministers has 10 ministers of state. Vishwendra Singh Bharatpur, who was sacked from his ministerial post today, took a shot at Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, saying " Today was just a 20-20 match, test match will begin from tomorrow." Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje will attend a meeting of BJP MLAs at 11am inJaipur tomorrow, reports News18 quoting sources. Sanjay Jha has been suspended from Congress party with immediate effect "for anti-party activities and breach of discipline." pic.twitter.com/ZLIkHvyn0A Jaipur: The state cabinet and Council of Ministers meetings at the residence of #Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot have now concluded. https://t.co/eHxvAiOsVL Jaipur: #Rajasthan ministers leave from the residence of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for Fairmont Hotel, after the state cabinet and Council of Ministers meetings concluded. pic.twitter.com/KvlSgkeSxu Rajasthan Congress in-charge Avinash Pande has dissolved the State Executive unit, all other departments and cells of the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee, reports ANI. , "The new State Executive unit, all departments and cells will be re-constituted after new PCC chief (Govind Singh Dotasara) was appointed today," the news agency quotes him as saying. Rajasthan Political Crisis Updates: Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje will attend a meeting of BJP MLAs at 11am in Jaipur on Wednesday, reports News18 quoting sources. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is holding a Cabinet meeting at his residence. Reports said that a reshuffle in ministerial berths is likely. 59 office bearers of Tonk unit of the Rajasthan Congress tender their resignations in protest against the removal of Sachin Pilot as the Deputy Chief Minister and Rajasthan PCC Chief, reports ANI. A meeting of the Rajasthan Cabinet will be held at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's residence at 7:30 pm today and a meeting of Council of Ministers is scheduled for 8:00 pm, reports ANI. "A vertical division can be seen in the Congress party in Rajasthan, with the sacking of the deputy chief minister. Now, if the chief minister wants to expand his Cabinet, he should first prove majority on the floor," said BJP leader Gulan Chand Kataria. According to reports, Cabinet expansion is likely to take place at 4.30 pm on Thursday. Speaking after the Congress announced the sacking of Pilot and his two aides from the state cabinet, Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh. The power tussle in Rajasthan between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot made a dramatic turn on Tuesday, with Randeep Surjewala announcing that rebel party leader Pilot has been removed from posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister, state unit president. Amid the infighting between the Congress-led state government, Govind Dotra has been appointed in place of Pliot as the new Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Chief. The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began Tuesday morning with Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot turning down appeals to participate. Ahead of the meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande made another bid to reach out to the rebel leader, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home on Monday. Eighteen other Congress MLAs had also not attended Monday's meeting, according to sources. But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot. Tuesday's meeting was said to be a second chance for Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party. But MLAs considered close to Pilot were again not seen there, and are calling for a floor test in the 200-member state assembly. Srimadhopar MLA Deepender Singh Shekhawat, who was Speaker in the assembly during the term of the previous Congress government, came out in the open Tuesday with the demand. The Pilot camp also released late at night a 10-second video clip of a group of Congress MLAs sitting together. There appeared to be 16 of them in the clip. Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh tweeted the video, captioning it as "Family". The latest Congress meeting is being held at a resort where Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. It was scheduled to begin at 10 am, but started at least an hour later. "I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting, Avinash Pande, who is the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC, tweeted in the morning. While expressing your faith in the ideology and values of the Congress, please make your presence felt and strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," he said. He told reporters that a second chance is being given to Pilot and hoped that all MLAs come and extend solidarity with the leadership for which people voted to ensure the state's development. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Monday night announced summoning of the second CLP meeting, amid attempts by the party's top leadership to woo back dissidents led by Pilot. Former party president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are among the senior leaders who had been in touch with Pilot, sources said. Party leaders had said 106 of 122 MLAs from Congress and the allies -- attended the first CLP meeting, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). But CPM and BTP have now indicated that their MLAs could stay neutral till the Congress settles its factional feud. In recent days, the Gehlot camp has also distanced itself from three of the independents, after their names surfaced in an alleged plot to topple the state government. The current crisis began Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over the alleged bid to bring down the government. The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The Special Operation Group (SOG) had sent out the notices after tapping a phone conversation between two men, who were allegedly discussing the fall of the Gehlot government. Gehlot had alleged that the opposition BJP was trying to lure Congress MLAs. The BJP had dismissed the allegation, saying that the developments only reflected a power struggle within the ruling party. Educators could use the COVID-19 outbreak to help middle-schoolers better understand the world, according to new research from faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. In the field of middle-grades education (grade 4-9), the COVID-19 pandemic may offer educators a perfect real-world scenario that invites students to critically examine how our global community's actions impact one another, according to Bogum Yoon, associate professor of literacy education at Binghamton University. "The outbreak of the coronavirus has affected individuals' lives and education around the world, including the United States," said Yoon. "This phenomenon invites educators to work with students for deepening their understanding about the interconnected world as global citizens." In her new paper, Yoon provides instructional suggestions on how educators can use the pandemic crisis as an authentic world-learning opportunity. The suggestions could naturally tie into several content areas: English language arts (e.g., reading about the virus and discussing it; critiquing news media content on the coronavirus); science (e.g., the nature of the coronavirus and its impact for individuals' health; discussing the impact of masks for their own and others' health); social studies (e.g., virus impact to different ethnic and SES groups; the restriction of individuals' rights and freedom under a ban); and mathematics (e.g., comparing U.S. death rates with other countries through graphs; reviewing the statistics on the shortage of essential goods in a given country and comparing them with other countries). Although Yoon focused on middle grade education, these instructional suggestions can be applied to any grade level. "The topic of the novel disease provides an excellent opportunity to recognize the global issue, extend school curriculum, and examine the role of the world," said Yoon. "Through the process of learning about the world, students can better understand their own identities, ideologies and situations." The paper, "The Global Pandemic as Learning Opportunities about the World: Extending School Curriculum," was published in Middle Grades Review. ### China has developed a reckless track record, of antagonising country after country, with little regard for consequences. The only country China is wary of acting against is the United States (US). This is why Washingtons announcement of measures against the Chinese regime in the past few weeks is noteworthy. The US formally announced on Monday that it did not recognise Chinas claims on submerged shoals and reefs in the South China Sea (SCS), diluting Washingtons traditional stance of remaining neutral in third party territorial disputes. The US foreshadowed this by its earlier statements blaming the Chinese aggression for the situation in Ladakh. Washington has also imposed sanctions against individual Chinese officials involved in its gulags for Uighur minority members. It also took measures, against Chinas repressive moves in Hong Kong. The US actions against China on the economic front are equally important. It is now expected that a bilateral US-China agreement on accounting standards will fall apart. This will result in many Chinese firms being forced out of US capital markets and stock exchanges, a form of financial decoupling. Superpowers on a collision course is a recipe for global war, which is why the US and China tend to pull their punches against each other. The US preferred to attack the Chinese claim on the SCS on a legal point, namely that international law does not allow countries to stake territorial claims on the basis of partially submerged reefs and rocks. It avoided going after the genuine islands that China has illegally captured. Nonetheless, the US has laid the basis for potentially more assertive warship movements inside Chinese-claimed waters. In the last 15 years, the world has seen Washington blow hot and cold in its responses to Beijings assertiveness. Barack Obamas administration was willing to sacrifice strategic interests in return for cooperation on issues such as the climate crisis. President Donald Trump has wobbled on the security side when China seemed willing to grant trade concessions. Now, the US is not interested in safeguarding any element of its relationship from the bitter strategic relations. However, there should be no doubt as to who is to blame for this Beijing. The international community has been more than accommodative of Chinas aspirations. Over the past few years, and especially the past few months, it is evident Beijing sees its interests best advanced by using its power to instil fear rather than admiration. Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan have announced they are setting up a college fund for Naya Rivera's four-year-old son Josey following the actress' death at age 33. Naya died at Lake Piru in what police have called an accidental drowning, and her young son whom she shares with ex husband Ryan Dorsey was found alone on the boat after the incident. The three producers announced the creation of a college fund for the child as they reflected on all the fond memories they had of their 'friend', who played cheerleader Santana Lopez on the hit series for six years. 'We are heartbroken over the loss of our friend Naya Rivera ... Our hearts go out to her family, especially her mom, Yolanda, who was a big part of the Glee family and her son Josey. The three of us are currently in the process of creating a college fund for the beautiful son Naya loved most of all.' Paying tribute: Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan have announced they are setting up a college fund for Naya Rivera's four-year-old son Josey following the actress' death at age 33 In the lengthy statement, the trio reflected on Naya's work ethic, talent, and commitment to her job. 'Naya wasn't a series regular when we cast her on 'Glee'. She didn't have more than a few lines in the pilot. But it didn't take more than an episode or two for us to realise that we had lucked into finding one of the most talented, special stars we would ever have the pleasure of working with. Naya could act, she could dance, and she could sing (could she ever sing!) She could nail a joke as well as she could crush you with an emotional scene. She could move between being scary tough and deeply vulnerable with ease. She was a joy to write for, a joy to direct and a joy to be around ... Naya was a real pro. 'Always on time, always knew her lines (which wasn't easy considering the giant mouthfuls of dialogue we often gave her), always kept everyone laughing on the set. She was warm and caring and fiercely protective of the rest of the cast. She was tough and demanding. 'She was fun. She was kind. She was generous. There were ups and downs during the wonderful and stressful years we spent making Glee. We disagreed, we fought, we made up, then we fought some more, than we made up again. The kinds of things that happen in a family. Naya was more than just an actor on our show - she was our friend.' Heartbreaking: Naya died following an accidental drowning at Lake Piru, and her young son whom she shares with ex husband Ryan Dorsey was found alone on the boat after the incident (pictured February 2019) The tragedy reached a heartbreaking turn on Monday, after Naya's body was finally recovered in the lake five days after she first went missing. Naya vanished on Wednesday on Lake Piru after taking a pontoon boat out on the water with her four-year-old son Josey. Josey was later found alone, sleeping on the boat, by another group who noticed it drifting. An adult-sized life jacket was also found on the boat, and statements from Josey to police that Naya had disappeared under the water led them to conclude that she had drowned. Paying tribute: In the lengthy statement, Ryan Murphy, Brad and Ian reflected on Naya's work ethic, talent, and commitment to her job On Monday, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub announced that her body had been found floating in the lake by divers. He speculated, based on the conditions and Josey's statements, that she had helped the boy to get back on the boat but had run out of energy to save herself in the current. 'It would be speculation to say at this point. There are a lot of currents on the lake that appear particularly in the afternoon,' he explained. 'We believe it was mid-afternoon when she disappeared, the idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting, it was unanchored, and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself.' Smash success: Rivera played Santana Lopez on the hit series Glee for six years Tributes have been pouring in for the late actress following her shocking death on social media. Naya's former Glee costars, Dianna Agron and Matthew Morrison, were among those remembering the actress online. Dianna, who played Quinn Fabray, shared a photo of the women dressed as maids while touching nose-to-nose. The actress remembered Naya being her 'first friend and ally' on the show, and reflected on their magical, spontaneous getaway to Paris. 'She was my first friend and ally': Dianna Agron, who played Quinn Fabray, shared a photo of the women dressed as maids while touching nose-to-nose. 'Naya and I fell into stride with such ease, she was my first friend and ally on our show. In the pilot, our characters came and went with such swiftness. Our enthusiasm brimmed with all of the unknown. We tried to grasp what the other cast members must be feeling as we were working in such separate manners. We dared to dream. What if this show worked? Wouldn't that be something? Something was brimming, it was palpable. And thank god it worked. Naya's magnetic talent was going to be unleashed, we just didn't know it yet. 'I've been revisiting Naya's performances on our show and it has brought me great joy. To work with her was a gift. There was a great deal to absorb - her work ethic, her fearlessness, her talent - supreme. Naya had a laugh that would envelop you and hold you captive. She was mesmerizing. That twinkle in her eye, her luminous smile. Naya lead with truth, humor, wit. I loved her for all of these reasons. 'I loved her sense of curiosity and wanderlust. I was lucky enough to be her travel partner for some of my most favorite adventures. As I write this, I'm grinning with swelling memories of a spontenaous 36 hour excursion - one might even say diversion - to Paris. With Naya, everything was possible and would often simply unfold before us, almost magically. 'On this particular jaunt, within ten minutes of checking into our hotel, we found ourselves strolling the halls of L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts, sipping wine from paper cups with students showcasing their latest work. It was fantastic. We were united in our commitment to discovery. And there was always a list of cleverly curated ideas in Naya's back pocket, should we need it. Costars: Agron and Rivera pictured on an episode of Glee 'I cannot make sense of this tremendous loss. I will hold onto her and these memories for the rest of time, alongside our Glee family. Please hold space for her, her family, her beautiful boy. In absolute, loving memory.' Matthew also remembered Naya as a 'powerful force' whom he bonded with over their shared roles as parents. 'Naya was a such a powerful force, in both her personal life and in her work. While so many of us were trying to find our voice, Naya's was clear and resolute. When she spoke, you would embrace every last word. And when she sang, she would let you into her soul. Glee acted as only a snippet of her life that we all, thankfully, had the honor of witnessing. 'But Naya would shine brightest when surrounded by her wonderful family. A common passion we both shared recently was that of our roles as parents. Naya was fervent about motherhood and had a steadfast love for Josey. It is that powerful love that ensures us that her story does not end here. I'm confident that her positive influence will be continuously felt, and that her beautiful spirit will carry on in the lives of so many. 'I'm devastated by this immense loss. This week has been long and trying with much praying and hope. I find some solace in closure, but the pain I feel for her and her family cannot be measured. Rest in peace, keep shining down on us with your bright light.' Naya was also hailed by her Step Up castmates including Lauryn Alisa McClain, who told People that the star 'was definitely a bright light for me when I was in a dark place.' Moving: Marcus Mitchell wrote 'Our sweet friend, we love you' in an online tribute Tribute: Terrence Green paid homage to his one-time co-star in an Instagram post, saying he was taking the incident hard She added, 'When I looked at Naya, I saw her spirit. She had one of the most innocent, purest spirits that I have ever come across to this day. She was so sweet. Its very easy to judge someone. She was definitely a bright light for me when I was in a dark place. She made things better when she was around. Step Up: High Water's Faizon Love said he nicknamed Rivera 'Slugger, because her love matched her toughness. 'She talked with her eyes. On tough days we would give each other a pound, As if to say, 'Lets keep it movin. On good days, she would hit me with the wink like she were saying, 'Im still fighting but today is a good day.' Opinion editor Bari Weiss resigned from The New York Times on Tuesday, penning a scathing letter of resignation in which she alleged that she was subjected to constant bullying from colleagues who deemed many of her ideas wrongthink. Weiss said she was hired by the Times in 2017 to bring in voices that would not otherwise appear in your pages, including centrists and conservatives, as part of an effort prompted by the Timess admitted failure to anticipate the outcome of the 2016 election meant that it didnt have a firm grasp of the country it covers. But the lessons that ought to have followed the electionlessons about the importance of understanding other Americans, the necessity of resisting tribalism, and the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic societyhave not been learned, Weiss said in her letter addressed to publisher A. G. Sulzberger. Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at this paper: that truth isnt a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else. Weiss said her work and character were openly demeaned and she was the target of unlawful discrimination in the toxic work environment she described at the Times. Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times, Weiss wrote. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how Im writing about the Jews again,' she said. During her three years with the paper, Weiss faced intense scrutiny and battled a string of controversies, including the opinion staffs recent decision to publish an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton that provoked backlash among Times staff members. Cottons op-ed, which the paper eventually said did not meet its standards, called for the military to be mobilized to quell the riots that erupted in cities across the country this summer. In response to the internal backlash over Cottons op-ed, Weiss wrote on Twitter that a civil war was underway at the paper between the (mostly young) wokes the (mostly 40+) liberals. The comment earned her swift condemnation from other Times staffers. Story continues In 2018, Weiss was accused of racism after she commented on U.S. Olympic skater Mirai Nagasus historic triple axel at the Olympics, writing in a tweet, Immigrants. They get the job done. Nagasu, the daughter of Japanese immigrants, became the first American woman to successfully perform the triple axel at the Olympic figure skating competition. Weiss deleted her tweet, which was also a reference to Hamilton, after online criticism. The opinion editor and writer also faced harsh criticism over the opinions she expressed in several of her columns, including one in which she described meeting in person and getting along well with Vice writer Eve Peyser despite their previous Twitter spats over politics. Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery, Weiss wrote in her resignation letter. In a statement on Weisss departure, acting editorial page editor Kathleen Kingsbury said, We appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion. Im personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum. More from National Review E xtra lockdown measures have been announced in Blackburn with Darwen after a rise in coronavirus cases. The Lancashire authoritys director of public health Dominic Harrison announced on Tuesday that new measures would need to be followed for the next month with the aim of avoiding a local lockdown. The restrictions include a limit of two people from the same household allowed to visit another home. Figures published on Tuesday showed Blackburn had 47 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to July 11, up from 31.6 cases per 100,000 in the seven days to July 4. The authority is third on the list of highest weekly rates, behind Leicester, which has a rate of 118.2 cases per 100,000 and is subject to a local lockdown, and nearby Pendle, with a rate of 76.6. Mr Harrison said, if rates were continuing to rise in a few weeks, the council would consider reimposing some lockdown restrictions. Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures 1 /81 Coronavirus hits the UK - In pictures A deserted Westminster Bridge PA A man wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, walks past customers sat outside a restaurant AFP via Getty Images Boris Johnson addresses the nation on the Coronavirus lockdown Andrew Parsons Runners pass cardboard cutouts of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince William during the London Marathon in London AP An empty escalator at Charing Coss London Underground tube station Jeremy Selwyn Electronic bilboards displays a message warning people to stay home in Sheffield PA A sign is displayed in the window of a student accommodation building following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Mancheste Reuters People take part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions, in Londo AP People sing and dance in Leicester Square on the eve on the 10PM curfew Reuters Hearts painted by a team of artists from Upfest are seen in the grass at Queen Square, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Bristol Reuters Graffiti reads 'good luck and stay safe', as the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases grow around the world, under a bridge in London Reuters A sign is pictured in Soho, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London Reuters Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures, during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street, London AP A person runs past posters with a message of hope, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Manchester REUTERS Riot police face protesters who took part in a 'We Do Not Consent' rally at Trafalgar Square, organised by Stop New Normal, to protest against coronavirus restrictions in London AP An image of The Queen eith quotes from her broadcast to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the Coronavirus epidemic are displayed on lights in London's Piccadilly Circus PA Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images Durdle Door in Dorset Reuters Captain Tom Moore via Reuters Mia, aged 8, and Jack, aged 5, take part in "PE with Joe" a daily live workout with Joe Wicks on Youtube to help kids stay fit who have to stay indoors due to the Coronavirus outbreak PA An NHS worker reacts at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital during the Clap for our Carers campaign in support of the NHS Reuters Goats which have taken over the deserted streets of Llandudno @AndrewStuart via PA Tobias Weller PA Novikov restaurant in London with its shutters pulled down while the restaurant is closed London Landscapes: Hyde Park and the Serpentine, central London. Matt Writtle A newspaper vendor in Manchester city centre giving away free toilet rolls with every paper bought as shops run low on supplies due to fears over the spread of the coronavirus PA Theo Clay looks out of his window next to his hand-drawn picture of a rainbow in Liverpool, as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continue Reuters A young man cuts another man's hair on top of a closed hairdresser in Oxford Reuters General view of the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, built to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London via Reuters Jason Baird is seen dressed as Spiderman during his daily exercise to cheer up local children in Stockport, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues Reuters A woman wearing a face mask walks past Buckingham Palace Getty Images A man holds mobile phone displaying a text message alert sent by the government warning that new rules are in force across the UK and people must stay at home PA Medical staff on the Covid-19 ward at the Neath Port Talbot Hospital, in Wales, as the health services continue their response to the coronavirus outbreak. PA Prime Minister Boris Johnson taking part in a virtual Cabinet meeting with his top team of ministers PA A shopper walks past empty shelves in a Lidl store on in Wallington. After spates of "panic buying" cleared supermarket shelves of items like toilet paper and cleaning products, stores across the UK have introduced limits on purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some have also created special time slots for the elderly and other shoppers vulnerable to the new coronavirus. Getty Images People on a busy tube train in London at rush hour PA Mia, aged 8 and her brother Jack, aged 5 from Essex, continue their school work at home, after being sent home due to the coronavirus PA Children are painting 'Chase the rainbows' artwork and springing up in windows across the country Reuters Social distancing in Primrose Hill Jeremy Selwyn A general view of a locked gate at Anfield, Liverpool as The Premier League has been suspended PA Homeless people in London AFP via Getty Images A piece of art by the artist, known as the Rebel Bear has appeared on a wall on Bank Street in Glasgow. The new addition to Glasgow's street art is capturing the global Coronavirus crisis. The piece features a woman and a man pulling back to give each other a kiss PA The Queen leaves Buckingham Palace, London, for Windsor Castle to socially distance herself amid the coronavirus pandemic PA A general view on Grey street, Newcastle as coronavirus cases grow around the world Reuters Matt Raw, a British national who returned from the coronavirus-hit city of Wuhan in China, leaves quaratine at Arrowe Park Hospital on Merseyside PA Britain's Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty (L) and Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance look on as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks during a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) news conference inside 10 Downing Street Reuters The ticket-validation terminals at the tram stop on Edinburgh's Princes Street are cleaned following the coronavirus outbreak. PA Locked school gates at Rockcliffe First School in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear PA A sign at a Sainsbury's supermarket informs customers that limits have been set on a small number of products as the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases grow around the world Reuters Jawad Javed delivers coronavirus protection kits that he and his wife have put together to the vulnerable people of their community of Stenhousemuir, between Glasgow and Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images A sign advertising a book titled "How Will We Survive On Earth?" Getty Images A man who appears to be homeless sleeping wearing a mask today in Victoria Jeremy Selwyn A pedestrian walks past graffiti that reads "Diseases are in the City" in Edinburgh AFP via Getty Images Staff from The Lyric Theatre, London inform patrons, as it shuts its doors PA A quiet looking George IV Bridge in Edinburgh PA A quieter than usual British Museum Getty Images A racegoer attends Cheltenham in a fashionable face mask SplashNews.com A commuter wears a face mask at London Bridge Station Jeremy Selwyn A empty restaurant in the Bull Ring Shopping Centre Getty Images A deserted Trafalgar Square in London PA Passengers determined to avoid the coronavirus before leaving the UK arrive at Gatwick Airport Getty Images Residents are being told to wear cloth face coverings in all enclosed public spaces, including workplaces, libraries, museums, health centres and hair and beauty salons. Mr Harrison also called for people only to bump elbows with anyone outside of their immediate family, instead of shaking hands or hugging, and said public protection advice for small shops was being stepped up to ensure measures including social distancing and increased ventilation were being followed. Targeted testing is taking place in the borough, with a mobile testing unit at Witton Park Academy as well as a facility at Royal Blackburn Hospital, and residents have been told they do not need to have symptoms to be tested. Blackburn with Darwen has see a spike in cases / Google Maps Mr Harrison said: These steps will help and we are appealing to everyone in Blackburn with Darwen to follow them to protect themselves and their loved ones. If we dont, a local lockdown, like in Leicester, becomes a very real possibility. The council is working with the NHS and the wider community on this, its up to us all to help each other stick to the advice thats been given. We can only avoid further lockdown measures if we work together. In the next week to 10 days, we will see a rise in the number of cases in the borough due to the increased targeted testing we are doing in communities most at risk, and because we have opened a Pillar 2 testing site next to the hospital last week. In another two weeks, if the rates are continuing to rise, we will have to consider reversing some of the national lockdown lifting measures locally one by one until we see a reversal in the current rising trend. Its up to everyone to make sure we dont have to do that. Seventy new cases of coronavirus were recorded in the local authority in the seven days to July 11, up from 47 in the previous seven days. Council leader Mohammed Khan said: I can reassure all local residents that the council is working with different agencies and organisations across the borough to help get the message out to everyone that life cannot go back to normal just yet, and we must all make sacrifices to avoid a local lockdown. We are doing everything we can to get a grip on the virus, and we need everyone in Blackburn with Darwen to pull together to help us. Please continue to do your bit to stick to the rules to protect yourself and your family. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday accused rebel leader Sachin Pilot of playing into the hands of the BJP. Speaking after the Congress announced the sacking of Pilot and his two aides from the state cabinet, Gehlot alleged that that the BJP wanted to repeat what it had done in Madhya Pradesh. The Congress government led by Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh had collapsed in March after a rebellion by Jyotiraditya Scindia. But the BJP's intentions will not fructify in Rajasthan, Gehlot said. The chief minister said that Pilot and other ministers as well as MLAs were given ample opportunities but they did not attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Monday and Tuesday. "There is nothing in the hands of Sachin Pilot. He is playing into the hands of the BJP which is making all the arrangements," he said after meeting Governor Kalraj Mishra. "I am very sad that horse trading was going on. It is for the first time in the country that democracy is under such grave threat." Gehlot that he had fulfilled the rebel leaders demands by making budget announcements and "their works were done but still they were like this". After attempts to assuage Pilot failed, the Congress on Tuesday removed him from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief. The party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. Gehlot met the governor immediately after the Congress Legislature Party meeting where the decision to remove the three ministers was taken. Five days of back-and-forth between authorities and angry anti-government protesters from the streets of Sofia to Bulgaria's Black Sea beaches underscores simmering public discontent that often spills over without dramatically reshaping events in this corner of the Balkans. The unrest began when thousands of protesters called for long-ruling Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his powerful top prosecutor to resign after investigators raided the offices of top presidential aides and detained others on July 9. The raids on the aides to President Rumen Radev are seen as the latest in a long history of abuses by governing elites and politicized prosecutors targeting Bulgarian institutions and rivals. The demonstrators included backers of an extraparliamentary opposition party outraged by special state security officers siding with a shadowy retired political leader in a dispute over public access to a small public beach on the Black Sea coast. Scenes of police striking and arresting demonstrators have fueled more protests, and a dizzying array of political attacks and counterattacks has followed. On its face, the standoff pits Borisov against his rival, Radev, a former military general who has spent much of his three years as president trying to escape perceptions that he is pro-Moscow and clashing with Borisov and what he and others describe as "mafia-style" government. Borisov has accused the president of using "hate speech" and trying to profit from police bloodshed, while Radev said there was "only one way out of the current situation: the resignation of the government and the prosecutor-general." But with such a wide array of grievances uniting protesters in the biggest round of public demonstrations against Bulgaria's status quo in seven years, some question whether Radev, whose presidential bid was supported by the Socialists, and other opponents of Borisov and his center-right GERB (Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria) party can stay united long enough to make a difference. "What is remarkable on this occasion is that you have people from very different parts of the spectrum coming together," Dimitar Bechev, a senior fellow at Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center, told RFE/RL. "Part of the reason is the political situation, of course, it has to do with the conjuncture of day-to-day politics, but on a broader level it also speaks volumes about the deep problems in the country." All Aboard In the beach episode that aroused public anger on July 7 -- two days before last week's first demonstration in Sofia -- former Interior Minister Hristo Ivanov livestreamed his amphibious trek to a secluded section of a rocky beach in Rosenets Park, next to a hulking residence and marina of influential ex-politician Ahmed Dogan, whose party has silently supported Borisov's governments for years. Once ashore, Ivanov and his colleagues were allowed to plant a Bulgarian flag but ordered by apparent bodyguards to leave and threatened with the destruction of their boat. Police arrived and demanded documents from Ivanovs group, despite his reminding them that the law grants public access to the beach. The president jumped into the rising furor over Ivanov's treatment the next day by confirming that the men who'd challenged him on the beach were from the National Protection Service (NSO), which is responsible for guarding the president, prime minister, and other senior officials. Radev added that Dogan was not entitled to such protection. While the protests continued in Sofia and other major cities on July 11, hundreds of people turned up to retake that public beach. Ivanov is a leader of the opposition coalition Democratic Bulgaria, which was shut out of parliament in national elections in 2017 and has since demanded early elections to bring a "radical democratization" of Bulgaria. To critics of the government, the beach confrontation illustrated a textbook example of "state capture" under a decade of Borisov's leadership. "[Radev] piggybacked on this dynamic, he didn't start it," Bechev said. "It started with this embarkation on this illegally privatized beach that has been [a thorn in the side of] many Bulgarians for a very long time." Record Of Scandal Borisov has been accused by critics of intensifying the "state capture" of Bulgaria's institutions and clamping down on free media in running the country for most of the past 11 years. Chants of "Mafia" have become a feature of public protests in the country for years, including after each of the last two elections won by Borisov, a second-generation firefighter and former private bodyguard to ousted communist dictator Todor Zhivkov as well as the ex-king and former prime minister, Simeon II. Borisov and his latest government have faced a laundry list of recent scandals including "apartmentgate," in which senior GERB officials appeared to get luxury apartments in Sofia at a fraction of the market prices; multiple investigations of suspected money laundering abroad, and using selective prosecutions against powerful political rivals. Borisov's near-constant public battle with Radev, an independent who was nominated for the presidency in 2017 by the opposition Socialists, was reignited last month when images of unclear origin appeared to show Borisov sleeping next to a handgun and a stack of cash on a nightstand. Borisov said it was him in the photos but said they had been doctored. He eventually accused Radev of using a drone to take them. Radev denied having anything to do with the photos. An economic underperformer whose rule-of-law problems have persisted since it joined the European Union more than a decade ago, Bulgaria is regarded by many observers as the bloc's most corrupt state. Sofia got a boost on July 10 when European Union finance ministers agreed to allow Bulgaria into the region's exchange-rate mechanism, leaving it poised to join the euro single currency within as little as three years if it meets other economic criteria. Borisov had clearly hoped that entry into the "waiting room" to join the euro would unite Bulgarians behind something that many see as a badge of progress. Coming on the heels of the raids on the presidential aides and the first night of protests, however, the achievement was overshadowed by the anti-government chants in the streets of "Mafia!" and "Resign!" and other comments targeting him and controversial Prosecutor-General Ivan Geshev. Government Overreach? Geshev has insisted investigators did nothing wrong by raiding Radev's aides' offices and questioning them, and said the probes are not politically motivated. But Bulgaria has a well-documented history of prosecutorial overreach and abuse recognized by the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, which advises on constitutional matters. It and other outsiders have long encouraged Sofia to amend its constitution, which gives top prosecutors seven-year terms that offer nearly unprecedented powers. Analyst Bechev described the Bulgarian prosecutor's post as "quasi-monarchical" and said the European Union "missed an opportunity in the accession process" to force the country to reform its prosecutorial structure. Bulgarians' trust in their justice system is among the EU's lowest. Radev weighed in against Geshev's appointment late last year, but Borisov's GERB allies rammed the nominee through without offering an alternative. After police made arrests and forcibly dispersed demonstrators overnight on July 11, the president again urged the European Union not to "look the other way" when it came to Bulgaria. "Turning the government into a mafia-style structure has pushed freedom-loving Bulgarians of all ages, irrespective of their political affiliations, to press demands for respect of the law," Radev told fellow demonstrators on day three of the current unrest. Borisov responded on July 11 in a discursive 13-minute live Facebook video in which he spoke in front of an icon of the Virgin Mary. "We will stay in power because the opposition will break the state," he said, adding that his government had been busy "building" highways and making other improvements. He also reminded Bulgarians that national elections are scheduled to take place by May. Whether Radev -- who has made almost daily speeches amid the protests -- can stay atop the fast-moving dynamics of the anti-government anger is unclear. Bechev cited evidence of "a remarkable realignment." But he also cautioned that the disparate composition of protesters looked like "a partnership of convenience" that could become "segmented" once again. So what might happen next is anyone's guess, and could include early elections if the situation spirals out of control. But GERB has consistently maintained the support of around one-third of the voters in each of the last three elections, suggesting that Borisov could once again emerge in a strong position following the next elections. "It's a Faustian bargainif you want to cooperate with Borisov," said Bechev, "because he's part of the problem of how you square the circle." *This article has been amended since its initial publication. SEATTLE, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Oscilla Power Inc. would like to announce that they are now in the planning stages of a demonstration of their 1MW 'Triton' ocean wave energy system in Southern India. The particular location targeted for this utility-scale project is adjacent to Vizhinjam International Seaport, near Thiruvanathapuram, in the state of Kerala. This region has been identified as having one of the highest wave energy intensities in India. As a whole, the annual average incident wave energy intensity in India is about 60 GW, and about 5-10 GW of this may be practically utilizable. The project will involve a number of key local and national agencies in India. Kerala's Agency for New and Renewable Energy (ANERT) will lead implementation of the project, while Dr. Jayakumar, the CEO of Vizhinjam International Seaport Ltd. (VISL) will act as the Principle Investigator. Mr. Rajesh Jha, Chief Executive Officer of Adani Vizhinjam Port Private limited (AVPPL) has also expressed support for the project. Senior researchers from the Department of Ocean Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (Chennai) will also participate in the proposed project. In 2019 India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) formally declared wave energy a renewable resource eligible for renewable purchase obligations (RPOs). Oscilla Power is seeking MNRE support for this Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) project. "A rapidly growing energy market, attractive local manufacturing costs, an energetic west coast, and a central government that is championing a transition to renewable energy options make India a very attractive location for early wave energy projects," said Balky Nair, President of Oscilla Power. Oscilla Power's Triton Wave energy Converter provides many unique elements that allow it to extract energy from the ocean at a much lower cost than has been achieved by others. Oscilla is currently finishing construction of a smaller 100kW version of this system which is expected to be installed in Hawaii next year. About Oscilla Power Inc.: Oscilla Power Inc. is an ocean wave energy technology company that is developing an advanced wave energy converter aiming to unlock the tremendous renewable energy potential of the world's oceans. http://oscillapower.com *PHOTO: https://www.Send2Press.com/300dpi/20-0706s2p-oscilla-power-300dpi.jpg *Caption: Expected view of a Farm of Oscilla Powers 'Triton' Wave Energy Converters. This release was issued through Send2Press, a unit of Neotrope. For more information, visit Send2Press Newswire at https://www.Send2Press.com SOURCE Oscilla Power Inc. Related Links http://oscillapower.com Bay of Plenty Our client has plenty of work in the pipeline and as such they are in need of qualified or experienced carpenters for an... View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz The North is relentlessly pursuing increasingly complex and diverse modes of attack and is steadily strengthening and improving its attack capabilities, the report said. It said North Korea since May 2019 has launched three types of new short-range ballistic missiles that use solid fuel and fly at lower altitudes than their conventional missiles that can breach Japanese missile defense system. Australia's largest dedicated coal miner, Whitehaven Coal, says the coronavirus-driven industrial downturn and uncertainty around China's plans to restrict cargoes in favour of domestic coal have dented the outlook for export prices. Whitehaven on Tuesday impressed shareholders after posting a better-than-expected 29 per cent rise in coal output in the June quarter a record high of 6.2 million tonnes, up from 4.8 million the year earlier. Australian coal miners are facing an uncertain outlook amid the threat of Chinese import curbs. Credit:Glenn Hunt "Despite drought, bushfires and COVID-19 it was great to finish the year so strongly and achieve our run-of-mine and managed sales guidance," chief executive Paul Flynn said. However export prices are on the nose, with the miner's accounts showing prices for NSW thermal coal had fallen from $US68 a tonne to $US55 in the June quarter on the back of virus restrictions in some of Whitehaven's top customer markets and concerns surrounding import curbs in China. Although Whitehaven coal fetched a 7 per cent premium on the benchmark, its average price of $US59 a tonne was far less than the average $US84 in the same period last year. A Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday rejected the bail petition of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoter Rakesh Wadhawan in the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank scam case. Wadhawan, an accused in the Rs 4,335 crore scam, had earlier asked for bail claiming he had not violated any banking regulations. He had also asked the court to listen to his plea as he was recently tested positive for coronavirus inside the jail. The bail petition was struck down by Special Judge Prashant P Rajvaidya, news agency PTI reported. HDIL promoters Rakesh Wadhawan, his son Sarang and others are accused in the Rs 4,355 crore PMC Bank scam which surfaced in September last year. The case is being probed by the Enforcement Directorate, along with the Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai police. The case stems from massive loans given by PMC Bank to the now bankrupt HDIL. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently extended its restriction on the crisis-hit PMC Bank for another six months. The central bank also enhanced the withdrawal limit for the bank's depositors to Rs 1 lakh from Rs 50,000 earlier. In March, the RBI had extended the regulatory restrictions on PMC Bank by another three months till June 22, 2020. With the relaxation in withdrawal limit, more than 84 per cent of the PMC Bank's depositors will be able to withdraw their entire account balance.Also read: Over 90 doctors on COVID-19 duty lost their lives so far, says IMA Also read: Coronavirus effect: Apple says return to US offices not possible till year-end Franch ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, right, and Italian prosecutor Michele Renzo pose next to the recovered artwork by Banksy (Domenico Stinellis/AP) Italy has returned to France a stolen artwork by British artist Banksy that was painted as a tribute to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks at the Bataclan music hall. The chief prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Michele Renzo, told the French ambassador that it was significant that the handover was occurring on Bastille Day, given the need to continue fighting for all freedoms. This door brings our minds back to the memory of the tragic and distressing event, and tells us that for liberty, for our individual liberties, we will always have to fight, Mr Renzo said at a ceremony in the French Embassy, where the artwork was being displayed for the holiday. French officials last year had announced the theft of the piece, a black image appearing to depict a person mourning that was painted on one of the Bataclans emergency exit doors. Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on November 13 2015 when Islamic extremists invaded the music hall, one of several targets that night in which a total of 130 people died. Expand Close Franch ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, unveils the recovered artwork by Banksy (Domenico Stinellis/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Franch ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, unveils the recovered artwork by Banksy (Domenico Stinellis/AP) Italian authorities had announced last month that they had discovered the painted door in an attic in a country home in Abruzzo. French ambassador Christian Masset said the door was a witness to the attack but also an escape route. Through this door which was an emergency exit, many people managed to escape, he said. Thanks to this door more lives were saved. Video of the Day Standing next to the piece after it was unveiled, Mr Renzo said Italy was proud to return the painting to its rightful owners. Recovering this symbol, handing it back to the publics emotion was for us a commitment and today is a great honour, said Mr Renzo, chief prosecutor in LAquila. Ghislaine Maxwell has been denied bail and will remain in prison ahead of her trial, which is scheduled to take place one year from now. Appearing by video link at a Manhattan court on Tuesday, the 58-year-old British socialite pleaded not guilty to charges of facilitating the abuse of minors by her boyfriend and former associate Jeffrey Epstein. The two and a half hours-long hearing was the first time since her arrest that Ms Maxwell has heard from alleged victims in the abuse case. Not guilty, your honour, said Ms Maxwell, who wore a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses as she spoke from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held. After hearing arguments from both sides, US District Judge Alison Nathan sided with government prosecutors to deny her bail, and set a trial date for 12 July next year. Judge Nathan said that Ms Maxwell has access to extraordinary financial resources which could provide her the means to flee the country, despite travel restrictions imposed to contain the coronavirus. No combination of conditions could reasonably ensure her presence at court. The risks are simply too great, she added. She said that Ms Maxwell has displayed sophistication in hiding her resources, and noted that her international connections increased the likelihood that she would flee. That conclusion largely matched the arguments that prosecutors had set out. Government prosecutor Alison Moe painted a picture of Ms Maxwell as a well-connected, wealthy individual with international ties that could allow her to evade extradition. She alleged that Ms Maxwell has not been transparent about her finances, and as such posed an extreme flight risk. There are serious red flags here, Ms Roe said, claiming that Ms Maxwell has not come close to thoroughly disclosing her finances to the court, she has strong international ties, few if any community ties, much less a stable residence, and a strong incentive to flee. Ms Roe further argued that Ms Maxwell has proven to be willing to lie to hide herself and disguise her identity, revealing that Ms Maxwell had purchased the new Hampshire property where she was arrested earlier this month using the alias Janet Marshall. The court also heard from two alleged victims of Ms Maxwell, who spoke in support of the prosecutions request to deny her bail. One of them, Annie Farmer, said she was 16-years-old when she met Ms Maxwell. She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other young women. She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors, she said. She added that Ms Maxwell has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes. A statement from another victim, who gave the alias Jane Doe, called her a predator and a monster. Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did. She was in charge, she said in a statement read by the prosecution. Mark Cohen, the attorney representing Ms Maxwell, said his client has been the target of endless media spin as he called for her release on $5m (3.9m) bail. Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein. She is not the monster made out by the media. Ms Maxwell was arrested on 2 July in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre property she bought in December. She has been held since 6 July at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn. Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He took his own life on 10 August at the age of 66 in a Manhattan jail. Prosecutors accused Ms Maxwell of luring girls as young as 14 by asking them about their lives, schools and families and taking them shopping or to movies acts, they said, that served as the prequel to Epsteins abuse. Epstein has been linked socially to several powerful figures including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. Prosecutors said on Monday that when FBI agents went to arrest Ms Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a cellphone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection. Ms Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said. With agencies A remarkable green meteor stunned people in Sydney on Monday as it was spotted shooting across the night sky. The meteor illuminated the city around 5.30pm, with some lucky witnesses sharing their incredible photos to social media. Others were able to capture the meteor shooting above the city on video and some on their car's dash cam. The meteor (pictured) illuminated the city around 5.30pm, with some lucky witnesses sharing their incredible photos to social media Sydneysiders were treated to a rare citing of a meteor on Monday night (pictured) as it shot across the sky in the early evening Social media users were in awe after spotting the meteor following massive thunderstorms moments earlier in the evening. 'Just saw a big meteor flash across the sky (looking south, Sydney). Green tinged, way bigger than your typical shooting star, hung in the sky for a good few seconds!' one person wrote. 'Just saw a green meteor streak across the sky over Sydney from the domain!' another commented. 'Not every evening that you see a thunderstorm and a meteor over Sydney,' another wrote. The meteor (pictured) was spotted shooting across the sky above the city about 5.30pm on Monday Minister Barry Cowen apologised in the Dail last week Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is refusing to say whether he thinks the Barry Cowen drink-driving scandal is an embarrassment for the fledgling Government. Mr Ryan said his personal view on the matter was irrelevant and called for "clarity", echoing comments made earlier by his deputy leader Catherine Martin. "I do fully agree that there are a range of issues that need to be explained," he said. "I hope he can provide that clarity in the coming days. I think we need to be clear on what actually happened, who said what and what the record is." Grilling Pressure is mounting on Mr Cowen to face a Dail grilling about his drink-driving. Sinn Fein has called on Taoiseach Micheal Martin to ask his Agriculture Minister to take questions from TDs. Mr Cowen apologised in the Dail last week for the 2016 incident, which saw him disqualified from driving for three months. His statement to the Dail was under rules that did not allow for questions. Mr Cowen denied at the weekend that he tried to evade a garda when he was caught drink-driving. He said the official garda record of the incident is "incorrect" and is demanding that it be changed. Gardai had launched an internal probe into the possible leaking of information about Mr Cowen's ban. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will refer the matter to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) for investigation. Senior Sinn Fein TD Louise O'Reilly said last night that Mr Cowen "needs to come into the Dail and answer questions". She said he has disputed a garda account of the incident, and this "points to the need for him to come in". She said the Taoiseach should ask him to do so. Elsewhere, Ms Martin also said more "clarity" is needed from Mr Cowen on the drink-driving incident. The Green Party has previously said there were outstanding questions on why he was still driving on a learner permit at the age of 49 when the incident occurred. Ms Martin told Newstalk Radio that Mr Cowen had made a "serious mistake" and he recognised that. She said he has "strenuously denied" allegations that he sought to evade gardai on the day. "None of this distracts form the actual fact that it was a very serious and dangerous mistake that Barry did," Ms Martin said. "More questions have arisen over the weekend and more clarity is needed." Mr Cowen declined an invitation from RTE to comment further on the disputed account of the drink-driving incident in garda records. Other ministers rallied around him. Fianna Fail Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath said Mr Cowen had made a "heartfelt" apology. Asked if he should address the Dail, Mr McGrath said Mr Cowen strongly contests the allegations that emerged at the weekend and that issue is now with GSOC. "I don't have anything to add to that," he said. Fairness Fine Gael Minister Heather Humphreys said Mr Cowen's drink-driving was "wrong", but stopped short of saying he needs to speak to the Dail about the issue again. She said he had "paid a price" and added: "In fairness, people do make mistakes and it shouldn't be held against them for the rest of their lives." Separately, Europe Minister Thomas Byrne denied being the source of the revelations about Mr Cowen's drink-driving and insisted he is on "good terms" with his Fianna Fail colleague. He issued the denial after an online claim by Fianna Fail activist Ken McFadden. Mr McFadden took to Twitter to claim it was Meath East TD Mr Byrne who was the source of the story. Seasoned SaaS advertising & marketing technology executive joins to accelerate product innovation Venu Goteti, CTO at Ripple Street Venu Goteti joins Ripple Street to accelerate product innovation. Venu Goteti joins Ripple Street to accelerate product innovation. TARRYTOWN, N.Y., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ripple Street , the leader in connecting brands directly to real consumers in-home, today announced Venu Goteti as their new Chief Technology Officer. Reporting to Ripple Streets CEO Mike Leo , who joined the company earlier this year , Venu will be responsible for overseeing the companys technology-driven strategy and platform innovation, where his extensive SaaS experience will accelerate Ripple Streets ability to identify and scale new product solutions for brand marketers and their agency partners. Having had the pleasure to work with Venu in the past, I am acutely aware of how he can significantly help Ripple Street crystallize and realize its untapped potential as a leader in product innovation, said Mike Leo, Ripple Streets CEO. Venu is one of the most inquisitive technologists I know who brings long-term sensibility and pure drive to solving marketers problems. These traits, combined with his ability to inject data-driven discipline and operational excellence, makes me excited to think of all the ways we can breathe innovation into everything we do. Venu joins Ripple Street with more than 20 years of experience leading global technology organizations. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Operative, a leading ad management company that serves some of the worlds biggest media brands, including NBCUniversal, Fox, Amazon, and Hulu. At Operative, Venu co-created and delivered many successful SaaS products that major media companies relied on for their Digital, Linear/TV, Programmatic, and Partner Management ecosystems. During his tenure, Venu built Operatives Research and Development from the ground up to a 450+ employee organization that spanned across APAC, Israel, Europe, and the US. Prior to Operative, Venu also developed numerous award-winning trading and compliance platforms at JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and the New York Stock Exchange. Story continues Ripple Streets value proposition to brands is unlike any other partner I have encountered in the advertising and marketing ecosystem. Im not surprised theyve accumulated an enviable roster of household name brand clients and been able to build and nurture a robust community of loyal ambassadors. These ambassadors clearly crave new products and love sharing their trial experiences with friends and family on Ripple Streets platform, said Venu Goteti, Ripple Streets new CTO. Having worked with Mike before at the helm, Im excited to dig in with him and the team to extend and scale our capabilities that will solve broader and bigger problems for our clients. ABOUT RIPPLE STREET Ripple Street is the leading in-home consumer engagement company, connecting brands directly to real consumers through shared product experiences. Brands engage our passionate community of 1.4M+ consumers, who we rigorously vet for specific campaigns through surveys and social and retail activities; and gain exclusive access to authentic, unpaid product reviews and user-generated content. That's why top marketers in CPG, Alcohol, Pets, and other categories like Mondelez, Molson Coors and Natural Balance rely on Ripple Street to drive lasting brand, retail, and e-commerce results. For more information, visit www.about.ripplestreet.com . Media Contact Nikki Reyes , VP, Marketing at Ripple Street nikki.reyes@ripplestreet.com (408) 499-0033 A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/71ebff45-38bd-4ab1-a8bc-168fba1a9deb Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-07 01:01:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MAPUTO, July 6 (Xinhua) -- The cumulative number of COVID-19 infections in Mozambique rose to 1,012, with 25 more positive cases registered in the past 24 hours, said the country's health authorities on Monday. The new cases reported are all of Mozambican nationality, according to the National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene, speaking at a press conference in Maputo to update information on the pandemic. These are results of surveillance in health units and contact screening for positive cases, said Marlene, adding that national laboratories tested a total of 911 samples in the last 24 hours. Marlene said that the number of recoveries rose to 277, as seven more people recovered in last 24 hours. Currently, the number of deaths from coronavirus in Mozambique is eight, she said. Health authorities are concerned about the discrimination against the virus carriers, which has created panic among people and is harmful to prevention efforts, said the health official. "It is important to note that to avoid being stigmatized or discriminated against, people may not adopt preventive measures, disguise symptoms, not seek health facilities for treatment or give wrong information so as not to be found, increasing the risk of infection for everyone," said Marlene. Enditem Rating Action: Moody's places the ratings of Royal Caribbean on review for downgrade Global Credit Research - 14 Jul 2020 New York, July 14, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") placed the ratings of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ("Royal Caribbean") on review for downgrade including its Ba1 Corporate Family Rating, Ba1-PD Probability of Default Rating, Baa3 senior secured rating, and Ba2 senior unsecured rating. The company's Speculative Grade Liquidity rating of SGL-2 is unchanged. "The review for downgrade will focus on Royal Caribbean's recovery prospects in 2021 given the recent resurgence of coronavirus cases in certain states increasing the uncertainty around the reopening of the US and the company's plans for the eventual return to service of its US operations, including what precautions will be put in place when sailings do resume and the associated incremental costs," stated Pete Trombetta, Moody's lodging and cruise analyst. On Review for Downgrade: ..Issuer: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. .... Probability of Default Rating, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba1-PD .... Corporate Family Rating, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba1 ....Senior Secured Regular Bond/Debenture, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Baa3 (LGD2) ....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Ba2 (LGD4) ..Issuer: Silversea Cruise Finance Ltd. ....Senior Secured Regular Bond/Debenture, Placed on Review for Downgrade, currently Baa3 (LGD2) Outlook Actions: ..Issuer: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ....Outlook, Changed To Rating Under Review From Negative ..Issuer: Silversea Cruise Finance Ltd. ....Outlook, Changed To Rating Under Review From Negative RATINGS RATIONALE / FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS Royal Caribbean's credit profile is supported by its good liquidity and solid market position as the second largest global ocean cruise operator based upon capacity and revenue which acknowledges the strength of its brands. Royal Caribbean is well diversified by geography, brand, and market segment. In the short run, Royal Caribbean's credit profile will be dominated by the length of time that cruise operations continue to be highly disrupted and the resulting impacts on the company's cash consumption and its liquidity profile. However over the long run, the value proposition of a cruise vacation as well as a group of loyal cruise customers supports a base level of demand once health safety concerns have been effectively addressed. The normal ongoing credit risks include the company's high leverage, the highly seasonal and capital intensive nature of cruise companies and the cruise industry's exposure to economic and industry cycles, weather incidents and geopolitical events. Story continues The rapid spread of the coronavirus outbreak, deteriorating global economic outlook, and asset price declines are creating a severe and extensive credit shock across many sectors, regions and markets. The combined credit effects of these developments are unprecedented. The cruise sector has been one of the sectors most significantly affected by the shock given its sensitivity to consumer demand and sentiment. More specifically, Royal Caribbean's credit profile, including its exposure to ongoing global travel restrictions and consumers health safety concerns, have left it vulnerable to shifts in market sentiment in these unprecedented operating conditions and the company remains vulnerable to the outbreak continuing to spread. We regard the coronavirus outbreak as a social risk under our ESG framework, given the substantial implications for public health and safety. Prior to the ratings being placed on review for downgrade, the factors that could lead to a downgrade include indications over the coming months that 2021 demand recovery may be weaker than expected resulting in lower profitability or an expectation that debt/EBITDA will remain above 4.5x or EBITA/interest expense was stabilized below 3.0x. Ratings could also be downgraded if free cash flow deficits deepen in 2020 or should liquidity deteriorate for any reason. Given the review for downgrade, an upgrade is unlikely over the near term. However, ratings could eventually be upgraded if the company can maintain debt/EBITDA below 3.5x, and EBITA/interest expense above 5.0x. A ratings upgrade would also require a financial policy and capital structure that supports the credit profile required of an investment grade rating through inevitable industry downturns. Royal Caribbean Cruises is a global vacation company that operates four wholly-owned or majority-owned cruise brands, including Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and Silversea Cruises. The company's brands operate a combined 61 cruise ships with an aggregate capacity of about 141,570 berths as of December 31, 2019. Net revenue for fiscal 2019 was $8.7 billion. The principal methodology used in these ratings was Business and Consumer Service Industry published in October 2016 and available at https://www.moodys.com/research/Business-and-Consumer-Service-Industry--PBC_1037985. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology. 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. Peter Trombetta Asst Vice President - Analyst Corporate Finance Group 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 Margaret Taylor Associate Managing Director Corporate Finance 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 2020 Moody's Corporation, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Moody's Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, "MOODY'S"). All rights reserved. CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE, INC. AND/OR ITS CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE MOODY'S CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S (COLLECTIVELY, "PUBLICATIONS") MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE MOODY'S RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS ("ASSESSMENTS"), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODY'S ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER. ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODY'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK. All information contained herein is obtained by MOODY'S from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODY'S is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODY'S. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information. NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODY'S IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER. Moody's Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Corporation ("MCO"), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moody's Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $2,700,000. MCO and Moody's investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moody's Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading "Investor Relations Corporate Governance Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy." Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODY'S affiliate, Moody's Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moody's Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to "wholesale clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODY'S that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a "wholesale client" and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to "retail clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODY'S credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors. Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. ("MJKK") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moody's Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moody's SF Japan K.K. ("MSFJ") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO"). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively. MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY125,000 to approximately JPY250,000,000. MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. Alphabet Inc's Google supports a multilateral solution for taxing digital services that is under discussion by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), its chief executive Sundar Pichai told Reuters in an interview. The OECD talks involve over 100 countries on a major rewrite of global tax rules to bring them up to date for the digital era, but they have so far not produced results as the negotiations have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. The United States has already initiated investigations of digital services taxes adopted or being considered by countries such as France, India and Turkey, saying it discriminates against U.S. tech firms. Pichai said it was important to rely on OECD frameworks, which he referred to as the "right approach". "It's not (an issue) for an individual company to solve," Pichai said in an interview from San Francisco via a video conference. "We would be supportive of the OECD engagement." Countries imposing digital service taxes see it as a way to raise revenue from the local operations of big tech companies which they say profit enormously from local markets while making only limited contributions to public coffers. Google and other companies have been concerned with India's recent decision to impose a 2% digital tax that also applies on advertising revenue earned overseas if the ads target customers in India, Reuters has previously reported. Pichai did not directly comment on the Indian tax. His comments came as Google announced a plan on Monday to invest $10 billion into Indian companies over 5-7 years, marking its biggest bet on the South Asian market and its fast-growing digital economy. Google and other tech companies also continue to face a raft of regulatory hurdles around the world as governments impose more controls over how big technology companies use and process data of millions of users. In terms of the data regulations being developed in India and other countries, Pichai called for a balanced approach of policy making that promotes innovation. "It's important you find the balance in protecting the privacy of your citizens but allowing for free flow of products and services," Pichai said. "That's the potential of a digital economy ... the strength of the internet comes in the fact that it works globally." Data storage rules, for example, have been criticised for hindering long-term growth of companies, while restrictions on cross-border data flows has been blamed for hampering innovation. Governments, however, say such controls are necessary for protecting user privacy and data abuse. Also read: Google to reinforce India investment with Rs 75,000 crore digitisation fund I love a coastal walking loop that clicks. Not every coastal loop does, of course. But when one gets it right, combining wild ocean views, soaring bird life and random heritage husks, there's a salt-on-the-lips immersion that really can be exhilarating. Ardmore's cliff walk is one of those - a short and sweet 4.5km circuit that dips into into the story of St Declan and throws up a shipwreck, coastal watchtowers and stunning wildlife en route, all in the space of an hour or so. The Co Waterford walk is one of the simplest and safest I've come across along the southern coast and, as I've gathered on social media, a loop that kept many locals from going loopy during the Covid-19 lockdown. Starting in the village, take the Cliff Road up past the town pier towards the Cliff House Hotel - walking past the front door towards the stone wall and 'St Declan's Hermitage' sign straight ahead. It doesn't take long for the time travel to begin - just a few steps, in fact, as you duck under the doorway of an ancient church shell within just a few hundred yards (see video, above). Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close St Declan's Way in Ardmore, Co. Waterford. Photo: Pol O Conghaile Ardmore Cliff Walk in Waterford Ardmore's monastic site. Photo: Pol O Conghaile A Napoleonic watchtower in Ardmore, Co Waterford. Photo: Pol O Conghaile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp St Declan's Way in Ardmore, Co. Waterford. Photo: Pol O Conghaile St Declan was the fifth century saint said to have brought Christianity to the southern part of Ireland. He set up his monastery in Ardmore - the ruin and well here, traditionally a pilgrimage site on his feast day of July 24, are just a taste of what's to come towards the end of the loop in Ardmore's monastic site. Read More Continuing on, the elevation slopes gently upwards and you gain sweeping views back across the bay. In summer, keep your eyes peeled for basking sharks; in winter, for whales. A fading sign near the Cliff House gives an indication of the birdwatching heaven ahead, too. I saw stonechats and kittiwakes, but you can also catch choughs, fulmars and peregrine falcons. Turning west around the bend, the path steepens slightly - and you'll use its only series of steps - before flattening and dipping again to pass a cinematic spread of cracks and folds in the coast. Looking down, past the swathes of purple heather and pink sea thrift, watch out for the wreck of the 'Samson' crane barge - which ran aground in a gale in 1988 (en route from Liverpool to Malta), and is now a rusty perching point for seabirds. Expand Close The Cliff House Hotel at Ardmore, Co Waterford. / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The Cliff House Hotel at Ardmore, Co Waterford. It reminds me a little of the 'Plassey' shipwreck on Inis Oirr. Further along, you'll come to two watchtowers - a Napoleonic structure prettily sat in a field, and a concrete station used to monitor the coast during World War II. You can step inside for a view through the boxy, rectangular windows - long since bereft of their glass, of course. Swinging around the coast, the walk passes the remains of another well, before looping back towards the village on a lovely, thin bohereen. When this hits a T-junction, take the left turn down toward the monastic site, steering through a gap in the wall for a closer inspection of the Round Tower and St Declan's oratory. It's a picture-perfect setting, with crooked gravestones and grassy trails leading from one lichen-splattered heritage site to another, and an easy place to get lost in the moment. The Romanesque cathedral ruin here dates from the 12th century, and the 29m Round Tower is perfect - a fairytale feature that is easily one of the best-preserved in the country. The saint's remains are said to lie in the little oratory. Stepping through a final stile, I tramped back towards the village, passing splashes of colour in gallery windows, flower boxes, and a lady painting the White Horses restaurant sign for the new season. This loop clicks, all right. Need to know Expand Close A Napoleonic watchtower in Ardmore, Co Waterford. Photo: Pol O Conghaile / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp A Napoleonic watchtower in Ardmore, Co Waterford. Photo: Pol O Conghaile Level: Easy. While there are some slopes and one series of steps, the path is clear, safe and should be within range of most fitness levels, as well as younger kids able to walk for an hour. Distance: 4.5km. Doable in an hour, or a little more with stops. Tips: If travelling at weekends or during holiday season, arrive early - Ardmore can be a busy little resort, with parking filling up quickly. Pack binoculars for bird-spotting, too. A bite nearby: A bite or drink on the terrace of the five-star Cliff House Hotel can be bliss in sunny weather, but make sure to call ahead for reservations. In Ardmore itself, White Horses is a local bistro doing a super line in locally-caught seafood (at the mid- to upper price range), or nab an ice cream from Beachcombers. More info: visitwaterford.com; stdeclansway.ie sportireland.ie Your walking checklist Safety comes first on a walk, no matter how easy. Check the weather, leave word of where youre going and when youll be back, and pack smart. And remember, never leave valuables visible inside parked cars. A fully charged phone, water and snacks, layers of appropriate clothing and sturdy footwear are essential for most walks. Bring a bag for rubbish, and clean shoes and socks in the boot for afterwards. Covid-19 measures: Avoid peak times at busy spots (going early, late or midweek), dont arrange to meet in large groups, observe social distancing, and park considerately leave room for farmers, locals and emergency services to pass. Check websites before travelling for the latest opening hours for restaurants and pubs, most require booking ahead, and have a Plan B in case your car park is full. Responsible walkers always respect private property. For more great walks, visit our Irish walks hub. Sign up for our free travel newsletter! Like what you're reading? Subscribe to 'Travel Insider', our free travel newsletter written by award-winning Travel Editor, Pol O Conghaile. When the United States was founded, it was legal for states to have their own official, taxpayer-funded churches. As far as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is concerned, state support of one or all religions is still legal, and now he has some company on the court. The court did not address that issue in its 5-4 ruling June 30 that said states that provide public funds to private schools must allow religious schools to share in the funding. But Thomas, part of the majority, added a concurring opinion arguing that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, prohibiting any establishment of religion by the government, binds only the federal government and not the states. Properly understood, the Establishment Clause does not prohibit states from favoring religion, Thomas wrote. He has stated the same view in a series of cases dating back to at least 2002. When the court in 2004 rejected a challenge by a Sacramento atheist to the addition of under God to the Pledge of Allegiance 50 years earlier, Thomas, writing separately, declared that the Establishment Clause originally protected states, and by extension their citizens, from the imposition of an established religion by the Federal government. But in the latest case, he was joined for the first time by another justice, Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Trump. That remains far short of a majority on the nine-member court, but the doubling of support was still noteworthy. I dont think its a coherent position intellectually, but the fact that Gorsuch endorsed it gives it some weight, said Joel Paul, a law professor at UC Hastings in San Francisco who has researched the issue. Some legal scholars have expressed views closer to those of Thomas and have criticized the court for rulings since 1947 that have barred states from granting any recognition or preference to religious institutions. Justice Thomas alone has approached the Establishment Clause with historical accuracy, Vincent Phillip Munoz, who teaches law and political science at Notre Dame, wrote in a legal publication in 2006. In the view of the Constitutions drafters, he said, states would be free to aid or not to aid religion. Thomas Jeffersons much-heralded wall of separation between church and state was actually a policy declaration that all governmental authority over religious matters was allocated to the states, Daniel Dreisbach, a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C., said in an academic article in 2002. Asked about Thomas recent opinion, Dreisbach said last week he agrees with the justice but doesnt expect the court to reverse its decades-long position. I suspect most of the other so-called conservative justices on the court would concede that Thomas is correct as a textual and historical matter but are reluctant to join him because to adopt this position would require undoing over 70 years of precedents, Dreisbach said, referring to the 1947 ruling. I think it highly unlikely that this particular jurisdictional argument will become a majority position anytime soon. Two more rulings on religious issues Wednesday did not address questions of church-state separation. But majorities in both cases supported arguments that regulations and laws designed to benefit employees insurance coverage for birth control, and anti-discrimination laws on hiring and firing can interfere with an employers freedom of religion. The text of the First Amendment, which also guarantees freedom of speech and the press, applies only to laws passed by Congress. But relying on the post-Civil War Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 that added a guarantee of due process of law, the Supreme Court has gradually extended most protections of the Bill of Rights to the states, starting with a free-speech ruling in 1925 and including provisions on police searches, jury trials, freedom of the press and gun ownership, as well as religion. Thomas view, however, is that a broad judicial interpretation of the ban on a government establishment of religion can interfere with another First Amendment right, free exercise of religion. Outlawing any official endorsement or favoritism of religion communicates a message that religion is dangerous and in need of policing, which in turn has the effect of tilting society in favor of devaluing religion, he said in his June 30 opinion. That message, he asserted, can lead to the repeated denigration of those who continue to adhere to traditional moral standards. As an example of such denigration, he cited the courts 2015 ruling declaring a constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Thomas dissent from that ruling said it threatens the religious liberty our nation has long sought to protect. Rory Little, a UC Hastings law professor and former Supreme Court law clerk, said Thomas makes some sense to me with his argument that the Constitutions Establishment Clause was originally intended to prevent the federal government from establishing a national religion and was not aimed at the states. But he said the logic of Thomas argument should apply equally to the First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. If you said that (freedom of religion) did not apply to the states, then states could interfere with the free exercise of religion, and Thomas certainly doesnt believe that, Little said. Thomas has contended there is no contradiction in his position that states are constitutionally required to respect religious freedom, even if they favor one religion over others. Paul, Littles Hastings colleague, said some states maintained their established churches for decades after the nations founding Massachusetts kept its affiliation with the Congregational Church until 1833, providing taxpayer funding to the church and increased rights to its members. But he said some of the nations founders had opposed state-established churches, notably future Presidents Jefferson and James Madison. They led a successful campaign in the 1780s to prevent Virginia from creating a tax-supported official church, winning passage of a Religious Freedom bill Jefferson sponsored as a legislator. Richard Katskee, legal director of the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the Virginia episode was evidence that the purpose of the Establishment Clause was to prevent official recognition of religious institutions by government at any level. But he said the endorsement of Thomas view by Gorsuch, who has just begun his service on the court, was still cause for concern. Given enough time, even complete outlier ideas on the court sometimes eventually become the law, Katskee said. Here, that would be exceedingly dangerous for religious freedom. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko A 30-year-old man, Abdul Abdulkadiri, on Tuesday appeared before an FCT High Court in Nyanya for allegedly causing his neighbours wife to miscarry. The police charged Abdulkadiri with causing the death of an unborn child. The prosecution counsel, Okokon Udo, told the court that the defendant and his co-tenant had an altercation in their house in Kabusa, Abuja. He alleged that the defendant threw a stone at his co-tenant which missed him and hit his wife, Ebere Adebayo, who was four months pregnant. The prosecution alleged that Mrs Adebayo had a miscarriage. The offence, he said, contravened the provisions of Section 236 of the Penal Code. The defendant pleaded not guilty to offence. The defendants counsel, Etta Effion, applied and argued for his bail which Udo did not oppose. Subsequently, the judge, Justice Peter Kekemeke admitted him to bail in the sum of N5 million with two sureties in the like sum. Mr Kekemeke ordered that one of the sureties must be a landowner in Abuja with a certificate of occupancy. He adjourned the case until October 15 for trial. In another development, the police also charged one Moses Anyaoha with nine counts, bordering on criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide and stealing. The police alleged that Mr Anyaoha and one Tony Mba, now at large, between 2010 and January 2011, conspired to commit the offence of culpable homicide contrary to Section 96 of the Penal Code. Prosecution counsel, Peter Amadi, alleged that the defendant injected one DCP Augustina Ihesiaba, with poison which caused her death contrary to Section 221 of the Penal Code. He also alleged that Mr Anyaoha stole N70 million from the various accounts of the deceased which is contrary to Section 287 of the Penal Code. The prosecution also alleged that the defendant disposed of several plots of land in Abuja entrusted to him by the deceased contrary to Section 312 of the Penal Code. The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty. His counsel, Mr Raeboh Sanami, could not argue his bail because he did not serve the prosecution with the motion for bail. After listening to both counsel, Mr Kekemeke ordered that the defendant be remanded at the Police facility at Garki, Abuja, until the next adjourned date. He then adjourned until Sept. 17, for the hearing of the defendants bail application. (NAN ) AFRICOM Commander talks security partnerships with Spanish Defense Leaders "As a NATO ally, Spain understands that enhancing global security and stability, especially in Africa, requires international cooperation," said Gen. Townsend. "Enhancing security and stability in Africa makes both Europe and the U.S. more secure." By U.S. Africa Command Public Affairs , United States Africa Command Stuttgart, Germany Jul 13, 2020 Stuttgart, Germany -- The commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), Gen. Stephen Townsend, traveled to Spain July 8 to 9, 2020, to discuss partnerships in Africa with senior Spanish defense leaders and the U.S. country team. Townsend met with U.S. Ambassador to Spain Duke Buchan; Gen. Miguel Angel Villarroya, Spanish Chief of Defense; and Adm. (ret.) Juan Francisco Martinez Nunez, the Spanish Secretary General for Defense Policy. "Spain is a valued NATO ally and an important partner in engagement and security in Africa," Townsend said. "Spain's willingness to host U.S. forces and their role in Africa provides mutual training benefits and opportunities to address threats of mutual concern." Spain's continued contributions to multilateral operations in Africa is an example of the international approach that is so critical to addressing shared security concerns in Africa. During discussions, both the U.S. and Spain expressed commitment to enhancing cooperation, promoting areas of mutual interest, and countering malign actors destabilizing Africa. "As a NATO ally, Spain understands that enhancing global security and stability, especially in Africa, requires international cooperation," said Townsend. "Enhancing security and stability in Africa makes both Europe and the U.S. more secure." The U.S. and Spain both participate in a number of security cooperation programs across the continent, and both countries have been working to help stem instability in Africa, with mutual cooperation on-going in the North Africa and Sahel regions. Spain has participated in U.S. Africa Command's military exercises across the continent, including Exercise African Lion, Obangame Express, Flintlock, and Phoenix Express. "Spain is a vital ally, partner, and friend of the United States," said Ambassador Buchan. "Gen. Townsend's visit highlights the close cooperation between our two countries on a range of global challenges, including the promotion of international peace and security." While in Spain, Townsend also had the opportunity to observe the U.S. Marine Corps Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Crisis Response Africa perform a full mission profile rehearsal in Moron. The SPMAGTF-CR-AF is responsible for crisis-response and theater-security operations in Africa and to promote regional stability by conducting military-to-military training exercises throughout Europe and Africa. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Has Jinger Duggar forgotten her familys famously thrifty ways? It sure seems so. In the July 14 episode of Counting On, the 26-year-old mom and her big sister Jana Duggar enjoy a shopping trip in Beverly Hills. The boutique they visit is a far cry from the Arkansas thrift stores where the Duggar girls shopped when they were growing up. Jinger Duggar falls in love with an expensive jacket RELATED: Counting On: Jinger Duggar Posts the Sweetest Family Photo to Mark 20 Weeks Pregnant In the episode, Jana travels to California to spend some quality time with her little sister. The fashion-forward Jinger decides the two should go shopping on ritzy Rodeo Drive, where they stop in at Boulmiche. The trendy boutique might seem familiar to some viewers its where Vivian (Julia Roberts) is famously snubbed by snobby shop girls in Pretty Woman, though the store has since moved to a different location. Jinger and Jana oohed and aahed over the racks of clothes, though practical Jana was taken aback by the high prices. But Jinger quickly found a number of items she loved, including a plaid blazer. Though the jacket came with a $300 price tag, she felt it was worth it. This one just fit like it was tailored for me, Jinger gushed to the saleswoman, who was a lot friendlier than the ones seen in Pretty Woman. This is gonna make Jeremy so happy, she added. The jacket may have been a little pricey, but I had been looking for a jacket like this for a long time. I knew it would be quality and last me for forever, she added. The rest of the Duggars react to Jingers big purchase While Jinger felt the stylish blazer was a wardrobe must-have, some of her family members were shocked by her purchase. Mom Michelle Duggar who coined the familys motto buy used and save the difference reacted with one word: Whoa. Ive never spent $300 on one clothing item, her dad Jim Bob said. It must be one nice jacket. Jana didnt end up buying anything at the store, but she said she understood why Jinger decided to splurge. I think if youre going to wear it every day and youre going to have it for years to come, then its probably worth it, she said. The Duggars style has evolved over the years Jinger, Jim Bob, and Michelle Duggar | Peter Kramer/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images In the episode, Jinger and Jana also reflected on how their style has changed over the years. When the older girls were younger, the family shopped at thrift stores to save money or wore homemade clothes. Their outfits always adhered to the familys modesty standards. But as Jana, Jinger, and the others have gotten older, theyve embraced their own style. Looking back on our old photos and how we dressed, oh my word, Jana says. We started out with the homemade prairie dresses, Jinger adds. Weve been through it. The Duggar girls might have updated their look, but at least one hasnt given up the cost-conscious habits she learned when she was young. I have branched out to buying a few new items here and there, Jana says. But its hard to because its a lot more expensive. I dont really like playing much for clothes. Counting On airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on TLC. CAMBRIDGE After living with severe jaw pain for over two years, Joyce Rendle was finally put on a short list to receive an MRI at Cambridge Memorial Hospital. The test was originally scheduled for August, but when Rendle received a call from the hospital a few weeks ago, she was optimistic there had been some cancellations and she would get in sooner. Instead, she was told that her test is currently deemed non-essential and the date had been cancelled indefinitely, due to the backlog caused by restrictions in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. I cant tell you how many nights Ive been awake with pain and got down on my knees and just said Please, I just need an answer. Then I have this MRI two months away and my hopes are crushed and theres no hope in sight, Rendle said. Im just desperate. This has really interfered with my quality of life. On May 26, Ontario said hospitals could resume elective and non-essential surgeries and clinical activities put on hold in March, providing the hospitals met certain criteria. This included appropriate staffing levels, sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and maintaining an adequate hospital occupancy level. While Cambridge Memorial Hospital is making a gradual return to resuming these services, Sandra Hett, vice-president of clinical programs and chief nursing executive, said its not business as usual yet. That will likely be the case across Ontario for what could be longer than a year, Dr. Samantha Hill, president of the Ontario Medical Association said. Hospitals cant get to the levels they were at before COVID because they still need to maintain precautions, Hill said. That means spacing patients farther apart, that means a deeper clean between patients, it means everything takes longer to be done safely, she said. So you started with a system that already had wait lists, hallway medicine, et cetera, and it keeps getting worse. In May, hospitals were to submit a plan to public health prior to resuming elective services, including a plan to book patients based on a prioritization scale. Hett said this scale is determined by Cancer Care Ontario Grand River and St. Marys hospitals confirm they are also undergoing similar processes. Lee Fairclough, president of St. Marys and Waterloo Wellington hospital lead for the pandemic response, said triaging and rescheduling will occur over many months and will be based on bed capacity. This process has always existed, and there are times when procedures and surgeries unfortunately need to be postponed to accommodate more urgent and emergent cases, she said. Under the new reality of COVID-19, some bed capacity must be maintained in case there is a surge in COVID cases, and hospitals must also have sufficient personal protective and other equipment, medications and human resources, Fairclough said. In an email to the Cambridge Times, Ontario Health said it recognizes this is a difficult and distressing time, especially for patients waiting to receive the services they require; however, addressing the backlog will require different timing from hospital to hospital. Hill said that the best course of action at this point would be to get the Ministry of Health, government officials and representatives from the Ontario Medical Association to come together to work through the current problem. Its a real crisis. Its not something that there is an easy answer for, she said. There are mitigating options that we can apply, but we need to figure it out together. With files from Perth Courier. Pepsi launched an emotional digital film on its #PepsiSaveOurRestaurants initiative, in association with the leading restaurant industry association, National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) and leading online food delivery aggregator Swiggy. With cause at the heart of it, the initiative aims at providing approximately 2.5 million meals to the workers of the restaurant community who are in distress. The new film relives priceless moments spent at restaurants with friends and family and the memories made. It highlights the role played by restaurant workers in making the eating out experience memorable for us, and how they have always been there to serve us, being a part of all our special moments. The film concludes by encouraging consumers to come together and support the impacted workers. Launched last month, as part of the #PepsiSaveOurRestaurants initiative, whenever any consumer adds any soft drink to his/her meal order on Swiggy from June 25, 2020 July 19, 2020, Pepsi will contribute part of the proceeds in respect of each soft drink ordered to the NRAI COVID-19 Relief Corpus. This fund will be further used to provide meals (dry ration) to restaurant workers who have served us and are suffering due to these challenging times. The offer is valid on any packaged soft drinks ordered from restaurants listed on Swiggy platform which includes carbonated soft drinks, packaged iced tea, packaged juices & packaged juice-based drinks and is not restricted to just the purchase of Pepsi. As soon as Republican-controlled states reopened, Fake News was reporting new infection spikes, while the numbers of new COVID-19 cases were dropping. Three weeks later, as if answering the prayers of the anti-Trump talking heads, 2019-nCoV positive rates began to increase. Every state in the Union showed the same pattern, a diminishing epidemic that got a second wind, shutdown or not. But while new cases increase, deaths continue to decline. How can this be? Epidemics follow a common pattern. They initially spread exponentially. The WuFlu showed a doubling in cases every 2.4 days. Genetic analysis and case history in China suggests that 2019-nCoV began in late October, so by the time it was hospitalizing elderly patients in early December, there would have been tens of thousands of infections. By the time the Chinese figured out what was going on in mid-January, there would have been 14 billion infections. Well, there arent that many people in the world. Epidemics do not grow exponentially forever. As people recover from infections and become temporarily immune, the numbers of people that can catch or spread the virus diminish. The rate of new infections bends down into a bell curve or Gaussian. After peaking, the number of new infections exponentially diminishes. The longevity of a respiratory virus epidemic is about 120 days; they vanish almost as fast as they come. For 2019-nCoV, we completely missed the rise. PCR testing from the USS Theodore Roosevelt showed positive for 1100 of the 4850 person crew, with 60% of those testing positive showing no symptoms. Antigen testing later showed that 60% of the crew, 2900 sailors may have been infected. That means 2019-nCoV produces no symptoms in 78% of infected people. Of the likely 2900 infections, only 9 (0.3%) were bad enough for hospitalization, and only 1 (0.03%) died. With 44,000 active cases in China by early December and only 130 hospitalizations, no wonder 2019-nCoV went by largely unnoticed. The WuFlu likely came to American shores in early January, and was probably around 33 million cases by March 1st. Even with that number of infected, there would have only been around 100,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths. But WuFlu would have already been into the bell after infecting 10% of the country, and was likely already tailing off when the shutdowns began in mid-March. Completely missing the rise, we completely missed the peak. Testing was far exceeded the day it began, and 2019-nCoV daily infections have been a reflection of the number of tests administered, until mid-May. We observed the tail. Despite expanded testing, daily new cases dropped from mid-May, in every state, irrespective of shutdown or full open. Shutdowns had no effect on influenza, and assuming that 2019-nCoV spreads in a similar manner, likely had no effect on the WuFlu. Testing was observing a clear tail-off to 2019-nCoV, even after states reopened. Until mid-June, when irrespective of partial shutdown or full open, every state began observing an increase in daily cases. But while cases increased, deaths continued to show the exponential tail of a vanishing epidemic. Anecdote time. There was a post on a closed FaceBook group from a nurse who claimed that her hospital tested the COVID test kits by returning opened, but unused swabs. Of the ten returned, all ten tested positive. There was another post by a man who claimed that he received a mail-order test kit. While preparing to use the kit, he got distracted. When he returned, his worried wife had already hurriedly packed it up and the postman had already picked it up. The unused test came back positive. An acquaintance related that a cousin visited a mobile testing center. The test returned positive, but the cousin never had a single symptom. No one in the cousins household developed any symptoms or ever tested positive. They only used the government-sponsored test because of curiosity, and are waiting on a chance to retest. Mums the word. In early June, attempting to address demands for expanded testing, the FDA approved antigen and antibody tests for 2019-nCoV, and the Chinese flooded the U.S. with garbage test kits within a couple weeks. The Chinese had already had several test kit scandals, but states and municipalities, panicked for testing, bought them anyway. All but one of the dozen brands of the defective tests tested by U.C. Berkeley showed high false positive rates, and high false negative rates. In a waning epidemic, false negatives arent a problem, but false positives can lead to the appearance of a flare-up, followed by foolhardy public policies, such as shutdown. It is highly likely that the Chinese sold as new the test kits that were rejected in the rest of the world, possibly rebranded. It is a common sales practice of the Chinese to sell brand name rejects as unbranded or off-name items on Alibaba. For example, my brothers latest headache is an American made pellet grill. The manufacturer bought the electromechanical parts, identical to those used in a large, national brand of pellet grills, off of Alibaba. The control board showed clear signs of rework and the igniter trips the GFCI outlet if it tries to ignite while the fire is already going. This is a common problem with Chinese-made pellet grills, but the Chinese engineers blame it on the over-current feature of GFCI outlets except that GFCI outlets offer no over-current protection. They operate on current imbalance (lost current). Its just poor quality manufacturing that puts too little insulation around the heating element, leading to shorts to ground. The Chinese must know this basic electrical engineering, but came up with that nonsense to avoid sending garbage replacements for garbage parts. At least, I find it hard to believe that they dont know this basic electrical engineering. Maybe Im just being kind? The replacement igniter element was also defective. The post-epidemic flare-up of 2019-nCoV cases with declining deaths is unprecedented and unexpected. The most reasonable explanation is defective testing. The lesson: China is garbage. Junk medicine and junk science made a mundane cold look like a weaponized super bug. Worse, that junk medicine has infiltrated our most esteemed institutions to twist and corrupt the minds of our experts, who now promote socialist agendas based on junk science. Every dollar Americans have spent on Chinese garbage over the last two decades has been used to purchase and corrupt iconic, formerly American corporations that now care more about social change and protecting China than turning a profit. Given that 2019-nCoV cannot even cause a sniffle in 78% of those it infects, the numbers of COVID-19 deaths must be bogus too. Could free money for COVID deaths have encourage nursing homes and hospitals to lie? Image credit: Pixabay public domain New York State Supreme Court Judge Hal B. Greenwald on Monday cleared the way for Mary L. Trump to publishand to promoteher much anticipated tell-all Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man. In a July 13 opinion, delivered just hours before the book's official July 14 release date, Greenwald denied the Trump family's efforts to block the author and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing the book, and vacated a temporary restraining order against the author in place since June 30. The decision is a resounding defeat for President Donald J. Trump. In filing suit this past June, lawyers for the president's brother, Robert S. Trump, who is represented in the case by President Trump's personal lawyer, Charles B. Harder, had maintained that the matter was "a mere contract dispute and argued that a sweeping confidentiality clause tucked into the 2001 settlement of Fred Trump Sr.'s estate precluded the signatories, including Mary L. Trump, from speaking in any way about the family, including by publishing a memoir. In the closely-watched legal drama that ensued, lawyers for Mary L. Trump and for publisher Simon & Schuster denied that the confidentiality clause in question was applicable, and argued that blocking publication would amount to an unconstitutional prior restraint on core political speech. And in his 20-page opinion and order, Greenwald soundly rejected virtually every argument offered by Robert S. Trump's legal team, including a finding that the broad confidentiality clause at issue was in fact "a stipulation" in the context of the 2001 estate settlement agreement, and not the broad prohibition the plaintiff claims it to be. "Simply put, plaintiff claims the goal of the agreement was to prevent confidential information from being released. Was that so? Wasnt the agreement a stipulation to settle multiple lawsuits? Make payments to several parties? There was no specific consideration given to anyone for confidentiality," Greenwald observes. "The consideration was provided to settle disputes. The parties agreed to keep the settlement under seal. Thats it." Calling the allegations in the Trump family suit "unsupported and conclusory," Greenwald held that there was simply no evidence showing that Robert S. Trump, the president's younger brother and the named plaintiff in the case, would suffer any "imminent, irreparable harm" if the book was published. "Irreparable harm must be demonstrated, it is not obtained via a contract clause," Greenwald held, saying the allegations put forth lacked "any specifics" as to how Robert S. Trump, as the named plaintiff, would be injured by the book. On the other hand, Greenwald did find that an injunction barring publication would cause harmto the public, to the author, and to the publisher, Simon & Schuster. "The real possibility here is for S&S and the public to be irreparably harmed if the book was enjoined," Greenwald wrote, concluding that barring publication of the book would in fact represent an unlawful prior restraint. "[To] impose an injunction herein upon S&S, a book publisher who received information from a potential author that may have violated an Agreement to which it was not a party," the opinion states, "would be found to be unconstitutional." The real possibility here is for S&S and the public to be irreparably harmed if the book was enjoined. In declining to block publication, Greenwald specifically acknowledged the political implications of the Trump family's change in profile since the 2001 settlement agreement was struck. "Remember, at the time the agreement was agreed upon, the Trump family were New York based real estate developers and not much else. They were not elected officials or TV personalities. The issues that were the subject of the agreement were intra-family issues, not of worldwide concern, or even national interest." But in 2020, Greenwald acknowledged, "the Trump family is global." In a statement, Mary L. Trump's lawyer, Theodore Boutros, praised the decision. The court got it right in rejecting the Trump familys effort to squelch Mary Trumps core political speech on important issues of public concern," he said. "The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy." Officials at Simon & Schuster also praised the decision. "The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions," an S&S statement reads. At press time, lawyers for Robert S. Trump had yet to comment, but in a previous statement, lead attorney Charles B. Harder insisted that short of "corrective action" his client would "pursue this case to the very end. Whether or not this is the end of the litigation remains to be seen. But the book is now published, and Mary L. Trump is now free to speak. Now that the unconstitutional gag order has finally been lifted," reads a statement from the author's reps, "we are sure the White House and America are looking forward to finally hearing what Mary has to say. Indeed, Simon & Schuster officials report that the book has set a new company record for first day sales, notching more than 950,000 on its first day of publication, no doubt fueled by the headlines stemming from the litigation. This story has been updated with further information. by Joseph Truong Tam Former South Vietnamese soldiers are among the most marginalised people in Vietnam today. The restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic have broken the chain of aid. A Buddhist organised an overseas fundraiser, and the money was given to Redemptorist Fathers to help almost 1,200 needy people. Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) Catholics and Buddhists have joined forces during the ongoing pandemic making it possible to bring help and comfort to ex-soldiers of the Republic of Vietnam, who are among the most isolated and marginalised people by Vietnams Communist regime. These veterans number in the thousands. In normal circumstances, they have to struggle to find the means to survive (materially and spiritually). With the emergency caused by the novel coronavirus, they have been pushed even further into the margins of society. The veterans are from different southern provinces, like Ben Tre, Anh Giang, Can Tho and Binh Duong. During the Vietnam War (1960-1975), they fought for the US-backed Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam), but lost when the North Vietnamese army reunited the country. Since then, the Communist regime has done very little for them. Because of the war, many have suffered serious battle injuries and are unable to earn a living. As a result, they are forced to beg. First a Buddhist group, then the Redemptorist Fathers in Saigon, have been caring for these marginalised men, around 1,400 in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) alone. However, COVID-19 has stopped the flow of aid and the rules introduced to combat the spread of the virus have further isolated the veterans. Reacting to the emergency, Truong Quoc Huy, a Buddhist, mobilised the Vietnamese community living in the United States at the end of April, raising US$ 60,000 to donate to priests to care for war veterans, as the Redemptorist Superior, Fr Giuse (Joseph) Ho ac Tam, notes. After discussing it in depth, we worked out an agreement with Truong Quoc Huy to bring aid to the wounded soldiers, said the clergyman. This is not an insignificant sum of money, even if the veterans are many "and help is never enough. "For this reason, we have decided to limit the distribution work to the Saigon area." However, the money transfer was initially held up, and only after a month, on 26 May, did the Redemptorists in Can Gio district receive it to start their aid campaign. Recently, Truong Quoc Huy said on his TV channel that collaboration between Buddhists and Christians turned "an act of solidarity" into concrete action, thanks to Fr Josephs precious work. The distribution of aid by priests and volunteers will continue until next Sunday, to benefit 1,181 veterans in 24 Ho Chi Minh City districts. This "act of love" was made possible by Christians and Buddhists working together, with the crucial contribution of Vietnamese living in the United States who gave money through Truong Quoc Huy. Tragedy: Naya Rivera, who played cheerleader Santana in Glee, went missing last week on a boat trip she took with her son. AP photo A body found in the search for Naya Rivera is that of the Glee actress, police have confirmed. The 33-year-old went missing last week while on a boating trip on Lake Piru in southern California with her four-year-old son, who was found safe and well. Ventura County Sheriff's Office announced last night that a body had been found floating in the northern part of the lake and has now confirmed it is Rivera. Sheriff Bill Ayub said police are "confident" the body found is that of Rivera. There is no indication of foul play or that Rivera took her own life, he added. Police said undergrowth in the water complicated the search and officers had scoured the portion of the lake where Rivera was later found. Investigators said they believe she was concealed by the shrubbery before floating to the surface after becoming buoyant during decomposition. The body looked like it had been in the water for several days, police added. Officers also shared more details on how Rivera may have died, but added it was "speculation" at this point. Mr Ayub said currents that typically appear on the surface of the lake in the afternoon may have caused the unanchored boat to drift away from Rivera and her son. She may have "mustered enough energy" to put the child back on board but not enough to save herself, he added. Mumbai, July 14 : With the aim of diversifying its portfolio beyond travel, online corporate travel platform Yatra.com on Tuesday said it had forged an alliance with upGrad Enterprise, the business-to-business arm of online higher education company upGrad. The development comes even as the Covid-19 pandemic hit the global travel industry hard. This partnership will enable Yatra's corporate clients to deliver advanced learning and skill development for their employees, the company said. "In a tough economic climate, it is important to develop and reskill the workforce to overcome the challenges being presented," Dhruv Shringi, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Yatra.com, said in a statement. "We are excited to join forces with upGrad to provide a platform to our clients who are looking to develop employees' potential specific to their businesses or a sector," Shringi added. From deployment-ready workforce within six months, to reducing employee attrition and aligning learning and development plans with business growth strategy, upGrad Enterprise will work closely with Yatra's corporate and SME clientele. The edtech major will be providing deep skilling programmes that align with the client's desired business outcomes to deliver impact at scale. Yatra.com said it services over 850 corporate and more than 20,000 SME clients. "The unprecedented rate of technology advancement is disrupting companies and jobs everywhere. Across verticals, enterprises face barriers to this adoption due to skill-gap in their talent pool," said Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder and MD, upGrad. "Such barriers can be crippling, hampering business growth. Our strategic partnership with Yatra, which is absolutely the first of its kind and creates a new milestone in the education industry, will be focused towards bridging this workforce skill-gap," Kumar said. May was supposed to be the first month of Britains economic recovery, when some restrictions on business activity were eased after the near-total lockdown of April. Some economists predicted the economy would grow by 5.5 percent after contracting by nearly 7 percent in March and a further 20 percent in April. But the data announced Tuesday was greeted as a disappointment, showing just a 1.8 percent increase from the month before. The British government allowed some manufacturing and construction activity to resume in mid-May, and output in both sectors rose by more than 8 percent. However, the larger services sector remained lackluster, growing by less than 1 percent from April, as about 16 percent of businesses reported having no revenue in the month. The outlook for the rest of this year remains bleak. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility laid out three scenarios for the trajectory of the British economy, all of which foresee an unprecedented increase in public borrowing to try to offset the economic shock of the pandemic. WASHINGTON - The Trump administration on Monday said it will maintain national air quality standards put in place in 2015, despite calls for more stringent regulations that advocates say are necessary to protect Americans in communities that are particularly vulnerable to a range of respiratory ailments. In a call with reporters, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler argued that the existing limits on fine particulate matter - otherwise known as soot - are sufficient, and that the decision was "based on a review of the scientific literature and recommendation from our independent science advisers." The EPA's staff scientists recommended lowering the annual amount of particulate matter allowed into the air in a draft report last year, citing estimates that doing so could save thousands of lives. The agency's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) was split on the question, with some members calling for tighter standards and others saying the current one is sufficient. On Monday, Wheeler said a majority of outside advisers recommended that the agency retain the existing standards. The agency also noted that ozone concentrations in the United States fell 4% between 2017 and 2019, and that numerous areas of the country that once had failed to meet air quality standards have come into compliance. In addition, the agency said, national average ozone concentrations have dropped 25% in recent decades, mainly due to reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, pollutants that contribute to the formation of smog. Soot can come from a variety of sources, including cars and trucks, smokestacks, incinerators and industrial operations. Fine particles of pollution can enter the lungs and bloodstream, causing inflammation that can lead to asthma, heart attacks and other illnesses. Poor and minority communities in the United States historically tend to faced greater exposure to air pollution, including soot, because they often are located closer to highways and industrial facilities. For instance, a 2019 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that on average, communities of color in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic breathe 66% more air pollution from vehicles than white residents. The uneven burden of air pollution borne by such communities and by people with chronic lung and heart problems, activists say, makes tougher standards essential. "In the midst of the worsening respiratory public health crisis with tens of thousands of people being sickened daily by the coronavirus, the Trump administration is yet again doing nothing to make it easier to breathe," Matthew Davis, legislative director for the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement Monday. "By not strengthening the ozone standards, the Trump administration is perpetuating environmental racism for communities of color and putting children's developing lungs at risk." Separately, a group of 15 health-based organizations, including the American Lung Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, said Monday that the current standards endorsed by the Trump administration are insufficient. "There is powerful, overwhelming evidence that shows that this standard is not adequate to protect the health of Americans," the group wrote in a statement. "EPA's proposal violates the core purpose of these standards under the Clean Air Act: to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety." The current rules limit ozone pollution to 70 parts per billion over any eight-hour period. But the group of public health experts said a growing body of scientific evidence suggests the threshold should be no higher than 60 parts per billion to adequately safeguard public health. Industry officials on Monday praised the EPA's decision to stick to the status quo. "Amid a global pandemic, manufacturers are serving on the front lines helping our nation respond to and recover from covid-19," Rachel Jones, vice president for energy and resources at the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement. "So at a time when we are facing record-breaking unemployment, a lower ozone standard could slow our economic rebound and threaten manufacturing competitiveness. We shouldn't have to choose between environmental protection and a strong economy." Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, which represents the nation's oil and natural gas sector, also said the Trump administration had struck a proper balance. "EPA's proposal to retain the current [standard] will help the U.S. continue to reduce emissions, protect public health consistent with the Clean Air Act, and enable economic growth," Macchiarola said in a statement . "The decline in U.S. emissions, which has led to the cleanest air in half a century, is due in large measure to cleaner-burning fuels and advanced technologies." EPA officials said the agency would accept comments on Monday's proposal for 45 days before the standards become finalized. - - - The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin contributed to this report. Filming crews are beginning to tentatively return to set in California, after a hiatus forced on the industry by the coronavirus pandemic. Filming crews are beginning to tentatively return to set in California, after a hiatus forced on the industry by the coronavirus pandemic. (Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak) State-designated safety protocols such as wearing masks, taking temperature checks, and crew members staying at least six feet away from each other are in place. Representational image. Twitter One of the first productions given the green light by acting union SAG-AFTRA is 7th & Union, a story about a Mexican ex-boxer and his unlikely friendship with a disgruntled African-American man. We are doing a lot of the smaller scenes, the scenes that require the least amount of cast members at first, said producer Christopher Acebo, from the set in Pomona near Los Angeles, with a bandana wrapped around his face. Were in open space and open locations so thats also been really, really helpful in terms of the shape of the film and how were able to keep safety, Acebo added. (Also read on Firstpost: Coronavirus Outbreak Hollywood resumes production with Jurassic World: Dominion; Avatar 2 back on floors in New Zealand) (Also read on Firstpost Coronavirus Outbreak: US TV shows to resume production with The Bold and the Beautiful Season 35 on 17 June) (With inputs from Reuters) Rainfall lashed parts of northern India and floods affected 89,000 people in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district, while IMD issued an orange alert for coastal districts in Maharashtra, stating 'heavy to very heavy rainfall' was likely in isolated areas. In Delhi, however, rains continued to play truant as hot and humid weather caused inconvenience to the residents in the national capital. The Safdarjung Observatory, which provides representative figures for the city, recorded a maximum of 38.5 degrees Celsius, three notches more than normal. Mercury oscillated between 37 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius in the rest of the areas. The maximum temperature is likely to remain in the higher 30s for the next few days, as only isolated light rains are expected during this period, the weatherman said. Despite the monsoon arriving early in the national capital, rains have remained subdued so far, with the city recording 46 percent rainfall deficiency. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Mumbai, Thane, Palghar and other coastal districts in Maharashtra stating it is very likely that 'heavy to very heavy' rainfall will occur in isolated places in this region. The orange alert by the the IMD's Mumbai centre is also for coastal districts like Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg as well as Pune in western Maharashtra. A yellow alert for Kolhapur, Satara, Aurangabad and Jalna districts has also been issued. "Orange and yellow alerts have been issued for Tuesday and Wednesday for central Maharashtra, Marathwada and Konkan regions," an IMD official said. "On Wednesday, in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, heavy to very heavy rainfall is expected. In some districts of central Maharashtra and Marathwada, heavy rainfall is expected," the official said. An orange alert means the authorities should "be prepared", while a yellow warning asks them to "be updated" Over 89,000 people have been affected by floods in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district. The Jinjiram river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra was overflowing, officials said. "The situation is bad and three blocks - Tikrikilla, Demdema and Selsella have been affected... The situation is being monitored," District Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh said. The deputy commissioner that a total of at least 16,400 households with a population of over 89,000 have been affected by the current floods. As per latest reports, the blocks of Tikrikilla, Demdema and Selsella have seen a huge surge in water levels. The villages of Charbatapara, Moulakandi, Patharkata under Demdema Block, Rajpur, many sections of Old and New Bhaitbari, Rajabala, Chokchokia, Selsella have been affected, according to the district administration. Many sections of the AMPT (Agia, Medhipara, Phulbari, Tura) road was also submerged as well as many PWD roads across the three blocks with Selsella - Tura road being amongst the worst affected, a PWD official said. Light to moderate rains lashed parts of Rajasthan where isolated areas also received heavy rains. Loharia in Banswara and Veja in Dungapur each recorded a maximum of 8 cm rains in the last 24 hours till Tuesday morning. Dausa, Chomu and Amer (both in Jaipur) recorded 7, 6 and 5 cm rains respectively during this period, according to the Met Department here. Ajmer, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh and Dabok (Udaipur) also received 25, 7, 4 and 1.6 mm rains till Tuesday evening since morning. The department has predicted light to moderate rains at several places, with the possibility of heavy rains at isolated areas in the state during the next 24 hours. Light to moderate rainfall occurred at many places in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, the Meteorological Department said. It said some isolated places in eastern UP even received heavy rain. The MeT Department has predicted rain or thundershower at several places in eastern UP and at a few places in western part of the state from Wednesday to Friday. Meanwhile, sultry weather conditions prevailed in Haryana and Punjab on Tuesday, with maximum temperatures settling one to three notches above normal, the Meteorological Department here said. Chandigarh, the common capital of the two states, recorded a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius. In Haryana, Ambala recorded a maximum temperature of 36.2 degrees Celsius, while Hisar registered a high of 37.4 degrees Celsius. Bhiwani experienced a hot day with the mercury settling at an uncomfortable 40.1 degrees Celsius. Karnal recorded a maximum temperature of 35.4 degrees Celsius, while Narnaul registered a high of 38.2 degrees Celsius. In Punjab, Amritsar recorded a maximum temperature of 37.4 degrees Celsius. Ludhiana registered a high of 36.1 degrees Celsius and Patiala's maximum temperature settled at 37.3 degrees Celsius. On Monday, Yelp Inc. (NYSE:YELP), a popular crowd-sourced reviews and recommendations company, announced that it plans to bring back "nearly all" of the 1,100 employees that it furloughed due to the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. The stock jumped more than 2% before closing 1.73% higher on Monday following the news. c07767e2043cee97ffbde5434a81fe3e.png In April, as the pandemic dramatically reduced the number of people looking up restaurants, hotels and other business reviewed on the site, the company laid off 1,000 workers and furloughed 1,100 more. In a further effort to reduce costs, it cut executive pay by 20% to 30% and reduced server costs. Yelp plans to bring back some of the furloughed workers by Aug. 10, with sales staff returning on a staggered basis over four months. It will be extending its office closures into 2021, laying off 63 employees in the process. CEO Jeremy Stoppelman stated the following regarding the company's plans to scale up its workforce again, revealing cautious optimism: "As local economies begin their recovery, we remain cautious but optimistic in the face of continued uncertainty. We expect to see a continued fluctuation in business openings and closures during the course of the pandemic as communities respond to local outbreaks. While the pacing and duration of the recovery are still unknown, the executive team and board feel confident in our ability to withstand the challenges and embrace the opportunities that lie ahead." Caution on reopening Yelp has historically avoided taking on debt for the most part, indicating that the cost-conscious company's plan to bring back roughly 20% of its workforce could very well be a response to an uptick in views, clicks and other interactions with its sites. Though Yelp expects the pandemic to keep earnings depressed for an uncertain amount of time, the U.S. government seems committed to pushing states and citizens alike to speed up the economy's reopening, downplaying the dangers of the virus and potentially leading to a wider variation in compliance with safety regulations than what might have been achieved with a more cautious reopening. Story continues Thus, as the virus continues to spread with increasingly little effort to inhibit it, review sites like Yelp could receive a boost not only from increasing restaurant and other business traffic, but also from a higher percentage of would-be customers looking to see the extent of a business's cleaning, social distancing and other safety measures. Is the traffic returning? Now, let's talk numbers. Have there been any measurable signs (at least for us non-insiders) that Yelp could soon see an increase in earnings? According to a shareholder letter, "By the end of March, page views and searches for Restaurants - our highest frequency category - had declined by approximately 60% compared to the beginning of the month, while page views and searches for Services - our largest revenue category - had declined by approximately 40%." In May, when the Yelp released its earnings for the first quarter ended March 31, the company reported that traffic had stabilized at approximately 50% of pre-pandemic levels, while the pay-per-click advertising budgets of its ad customers stabilized after declining 25% between March and April. The company plans to utilize business-to-business performance marketing to generate self-serve claims and advertising starts, reducing the costs associated with scaling advertising up and down on short notice. According to Alexa rankings, Yelp's traffic and engagement metrics are roughly flat over the past 90 days through July 13, with the daily pageviews per visitor up 1%, the daily time spent on site per customer down 4% and the traffic and engagement ranking at #445 (a few places higher than #439 three months ago). Some of the more permanent damage from restaurant closures will need to be regained further down the line as new businesses crop up. Approximately 49% of businesses listed on Yelp are restaurants, and the company reported that 24,000 of its listed restaurants were closed due to the pandemic at the end of June, with half of those closures being permanent. Another study by the National Restaurant Association found that by March, 30,000 independent U.S. restaurants had closed their doors permanently. All-in-all, the traffic seems to be stabilizing and maybe even slowly returning, and it will likely continue to do so in the future as the economy reopens, but people remain hesitant to frequent restaurants at the same rate they did before the pandemic. Valuation Given its recent difficulties and the fact that it seems to be planning for a recovery by re-hiring about a thousand furloughed employees, could Yelp be a potential value buy? According to GuruFocus data, the stock was a net buy of gurus during the first quarter, when shares traded at an average of $30.63 (or around $21.79 excluding pre-market-crash trading). Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio)' Renaissance Technologies were among the buyers, while Ken Fisher (Trades, Portfolio) and Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) reduced their positions in the stock. 56bf62f14afd7f60a20b6e5987ba83ed.png At the end of the most recent quarter, Yelp held $491 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities and no debt, giving it a strong advantage over competitors and other companies in general when it comes to recover speed and maneuverability. This is not a company that will be dragged down by excess leverage or expenses. Given these factors, it seems likely that Yelp's valuation will continue to go up unless the overall stock market turns bearish again. According to the Peter Lynch chart below, if the company can achieve the same level of earnings it did in 2018 within a decade or so, the stock will turn out to have been a good buy at current levels. However, the trailing 12-month price-earnings ratio of 71.06 might still give value-oriented investors pause, as disappointing earnings could cause the price to plunge further before it recovers. fa9ae2e12320367a7379e6da5d904dc4.png Conclusion As Yelp begins to bring back its employees, the company seems to be positioned for slow growth as traffic to its customers remains lower than pre-pandemic levels. The company's commitment to having no debt gives it a great amount of flexibility that it can use to lower costs and facilitate the turnover from bankrupt businesses to new players. However, unlike tech giants whose earnings were not materially impacted by the pandemic, Yelp's earnings rely on a mostly non-tech economy of restaurants, services, retailers and similar businesses. The company's earnings are thus likely to follow the underlying state of the U.S. economy, meaning that shareholders run the risk of facing more panic-selling due to missed expectations before things get better. Disclosure: Author owns no shares in any of the stocks mentioned. The mention of stocks in this article does not at any point constitute an investment recommendation. Investors should always conduct their own careful research and/or consult registered investment advisors before taking action in the stock market. Read more here: Video: Mastering the GuruFocus Site, Episode 2 Walgreens: Recovering With the People, Not the Economy The Anatomy of a Dip: How to Buy Low in Today's Markets Not a Premium Member of GuruFocus? Sign up for a free 7-day trial here. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. (Newser) Already in a horrible situation in its battle with the coronavirus, Florida has taken a turn for the worse. The state reported 132 deaths Tuesday, the most in one day yet, and 9,194 new confirmed cases. There were 15,300 cases Sunday, by far the highest one-day total for any state. An expert compared the disease's toll to that during the early days of the pandemic in China, where it began, NPR reports. "Miami is now the epicenter of the pandemic," said an infectious disease expert at the University of Miami. "What we were seeing in Wuhan ... five months ago, now we are there." Hospitalizations are up, as well. The outbreak's peak could still be another three weeks away, says Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health System, "and that is a very tough three weeks." COVID-19 has killed 4,409 Floridians, per WFLA. Florida was one of the first states to relax coronavirus restrictions. story continues below A nurse at a hospital near Miami said it's "been crazier than at the beginning of the pandemic," per the Daily Beast, adding, "Everybody is exhausted." Migoya says his hospitals are taking fewer patients for elective procedures as virus cases surge, in anticipation of greater demand. "We have the beds," he says. "We need the staff." Gov. Ron DeSantis is bringing in 2,000 more nurses from other states and is sending medical personnel to help Tampa-area hospitals. Another hospital CEO said Friday that "our ICU capacity is beyond 100%." On Monday, Leah Carpenter was no longer available for interviews. "While Leah is the CEO at Memorial Hospital West," a spokesman said, "she is also a nurse and currently taking shifts in the hospital during the surge." (Read more coronavirus stories.) Victorians are endangering the lives of Queenslanders by trying to sneak past strict border closures, according to a top cop. The Sunshine State eased border restrictions to all states except Victoria on June 10 with strict checkpoints set up to turn people away if they try to enter. Over the past four days more than 1,000 people travelling from Victoria were busted trying to get through the strict Queensland border force checkpoints. Gold Coast top cop, Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler, said he was frustrated by the behaviour of people blatantly ignoring border restrictions. Gold Coast top cop, Chief Superintendent Mark Wheeler (pictured), said he was frustrated by the behaviour of people blatantly ignoring border restrictions The Sunshine State eased border restrictions to all states except Victoria on June 10 with strict checkpoints set up to turn people away if they try to enter 'It's frustrating, it's disappointing and it's selfish, reckless behaviour that poses a danger to our community,' he told the Courier Mail. 'This is a perfect example of why we are having to have these border checkpoints. 'We're not trying to make people's live difficult we're trying to save them.' Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said police are going to remain at border checkpoints to ensure they do not become complacent. Victoria recorded another 270 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the state's second wave of infections spread to New South Wales. Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday said 28 cases are connected to known and contained outbreaks, while 242 infections are under investigation. There are more than 1,800 active coronavirus cases in the state. Cars are seen waiting to cross the border at Pacific Motorway checkpoint on the Gold Coast on July 10 (pictured) Premier Daniel Andrews (pictured on Tuesday) said 28 cases are connected to known and contained outbreaks, while 242 infections are under investigation Melbourne went into lockdown on July 9 after Victoria has seen an outbreak in cases (pictured, a man wearing a face mask in Melbourne on Monday) 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 'Obviously with such large numbers it's a real challenge to get to the bottom of exactly where those people have been, who they've spent time with,' Mr Andrews said. South-west Sydney is also attempting to control a coronavirus cluster connected to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula - which has grown to 28 people. A teenager, who works at a Kmart store in Casula, tested positive to COVID-19 after reportedly catching the virus from their 18-year-old friend, who works at the infected pub. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters on Tuesday the state had 13 new cases of coronavirus. Of the new cases, two are returned travellers in hotel quarantine and one is a known close contact of a previous overseas case. The further ten cases reported are related to the Crossroads Hotel and all people live in south-western Sydney. 'Of these, three attended the venue and seven are close contact of the cases,' Dr Kerry Chant said. 'So we have a total of 23 cases associated with this cluster.' The outbreak has led the Queensland government to ban travellers from Sydney's COVID-19 hotspots. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk (pictured) warned against those from infected areas entering the state, and has banned people from NSW hotspots Health workers are seen giving out tests at the Crossroads Hotel in Sydney's south-west on Monday (pictured) as the coronavirus begins to spread again in NSW The ban comes less than a week after the Sunshine State opened borders to their southern neighbours. South Australia on Tuesday announced they would delay the lifting of border restrictions with NSW and the ACT amid concerns over the rise in COVID-19 cases in Sydney. The NSW government announced stricter operating rules for pubs after 28 COVID-19 cases were linked to the Crossroads Hotel since July 3. The new rules for pubs and hotels include a limit of 300 people regardless of size, and group bookings capped at ten people. Casula Mall on Monday night (pictured) where a Kmart worker is believed to have tested positive for coronavirus The changes - decided during a meeting of senior government ministers on Monday night - will not apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star Casino. Ms Berejiklian reiterated life would not return to 'normal' until a vaccine was secured and refused to rule out tightening restrictions further. 'Life will not be normal during the pandemic and so the question we ask in New South Wales is what can we do to reduce the risk, to reduce the spread,' she said on Tuesday. 'New South Wales is always looking for opportunities to reduce the risk and we know from the health experts what that risk is. Victoria is currently dealing with a second wave of coronavirus cases by locking down certain areas in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire Two 19-year-old women and four men were fined $4,003 for failing to comply with the COVID-19 Border Direction when they tried to cross into Queensland on Monday 'It is mainly indoor venues with a number of people that are more likely to transmit the disease, which is extremely contagious, as we all know.' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced on Tuesday morning that residents within the local government areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown would be banned from entering her state at midday on Tuesday. The rule applies not only to residents of the LGAs but to anyone who has travelled through them in the past two weeks. 'Travellers who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days can't quarantine in Queensland and will be turned away at our borders,' she said. 'Queenslanders who have been in a COVID-19 hotspot within the past 14 days are required to hotel quarantine at their own expense.' Worst-Case UK Winter Could See 120,000 COVID Deaths in Second Wave LONDONBritain faces a potentially more deadly second wave of COVID-19 in the coming winter that could kill up to 120,000 people over nine months in a worst-case scenario, health experts said on Tuesday. With COVID-19 more likely to spread in winter as people spend more time together in enclosed spaces, a second wave of the pandemic could be more serious than the one weve just been through, said Stephen Holgate, a professor and co-lead author of a report by Britains Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS). This is not a prediction, but it is a possibility, Holgate told an online briefing. Deaths could be higher with a new wave of COVID-19 this winter, but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately. The United Kingdoms current death toll from confirmed cases of COVID-19 is around 45,000, the highest in Europe. Including suspected cases, more than 55,000 people have died, according to a Reuters tally of official data sources. Nurses care for a patient in an Intensive Care ward treating victims of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, Britain, May 22, 2020. (Steve Parsons/Reuters) The AMS said there is a high degree of uncertainty about how the UKs COVID-19 epidemic will evolve, but outlined a reasonable worst-case scenario where the reproduction numberor R valuerises to 1.7 from September 2020 onwards. The R valuethe average number of people an infected person will pass a disease on tois currently between 0.7 and 0.9 in the UK and daily case and death numbers are falling. An R value above 1 can lead to exponential growth. The modelling estimates 119,900 hospital deaths between September 2020 and June 2021, the AMS report said, more than double the number that occurred during the first wave. AMS vice president Anne Johnson said a bad winter flu season, combined with large backlog of patients suffering other diseases and chronic conditions, would add to huge pressure on health servicesunderlining a need to prepare now. COVID-19 has not gone away, she said. We need to do everything we can to stay healthy this winter. By Kate Kelland Countries are facing renewed social distancing regulations and increased isolation even after trying to reopen previously. Photo: Ngan Truong Last Wednesday, Melbourne went into a stage three lockdown for six weeks after the state recorded 191 new cases of coronavirus two days previously, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. State Premier Daniel Andrews said it was unsustainable to keep looser restrictions in place. It is simply impossible with case rates at this level to have enough contact tracing staff and enough physical resources in order to continue to suppress and contain this virus without taking significant steps, he said. If we were to fail to take those steps, then it wont be a couple of hundred cases per day, it will be many more than that and will spiral well and truly out of control. Around the same time, Italian authorities stopped 125 Bangladeshi people from entering the country after they landed in Rome airport on a flight from Qatar. The move came as Italy tried to contain an outbreak of coronavirus among the Bangladeshi community in the Lazio region. Italy had already suspended flights from Bangladesh for a week after 36 people who arrived the day before testing positive. Lazio authorities estimated that as many as 600 Bangladeshi citizens in Rome and the surrounding areas could potentially have the virus. Alesso DAmato, Lazios health councillor said, Our experts made calculations based on the data obtained from the sample of passengers on the flight that arrived from Dhaka on Monday in which 13 per cent of the passengers tested positive. It was also reported that several people on that flight arrived in Italy with fake certificates, purchased from medics in Bangladesh, declaring they had tested negative for COVID-19. The incidents in both Australia and Italy may seem light years away from Vietnams situation, but that can turn on a dime. Back in March, the country successfully contained the coronavirus for the first time, until the case known as patient 17 entered the country from Europe, causing a domino effect of cases which took longer to suppress. Blocked from progress Vietnam has now gone well over nearly 90 days without community transmission. The country is in a unique position that it can aggressively track down potential individual cases, but with the healthcare system not on the same level as more developed countries, Vietnam has little choice. That is why, surprisingly to some, the country still has not decided to reopen the borders to international tourists or most workers despite the virus being wiped out here. In turn, the reluctance to reopen, which would expose the country to a new wave of infections, is seriously harming the countrys attempt to capitalise on its pre-pandemic growth explosion and attraction of overseas investment. Simultaneously, the key EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), scheduled to come into effect on August 1, is out of reach for those it would benefit while the borders remain sealed off. Phan Huu Thang, former director of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said that the success in containing the spread of COVID-19 gave an advantage for Vietnam in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) and will help win the confidence of financiers from abroad. That, plus the EVFTA, has brought a golden opportunity to Vietnam to lure FDI as global supply chains have been disrupted and foreign capital flow is on the decline. But all the government can do right now, Thang said, is to accelerate investment promotion. While it is difficult to lure investment at this time, it would be better to help licensed investors to accelerate their project implementation, he said. We need to promote investment on the spot. It is necessary to survey the current situation of licensed investors to find out the problems they have and help them settle them. Vietnam is considering resuming flights with some countries, but the government insists that the number one concern is preventing the virus from seeping back in again. Vietnams point of view is to consider resuming routes and travel with some countries, but it must ensure the compliance with pandemic prevention measures in specific conditions, which shall not spread coronavirus, said a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson at a press conference on July 2. The statement was in direct response to a question about the EU calling for Vietnam to restore international routes in time for implementation of the EVFTA. Balancing act Vietnams commitment to the health of its people rather than placing top priority on the economy is at odds with countries worldwide that have struggled with the timing in loosening social distancing regulations. Israel was praised for its strict initial lockdown in March, but the reopening of schools, bars, and restaurants has seen the outbreak worsen and many restrictions have since been reimposed. The achievements in dealing with the first wave of infections were cancelled out by the broad and swift opening of the economy, said the countrys public health chief, Siegal Sadetzki, who was taking responsibility for the failures and resigning from the role. Spain, one of Europes worst-affected countries, last week put some 270,000 people back into lockdown after only two days, after a spike in cases in the northern regions of Galicia and Catalonia. More notably, coronavirus cases have mushroomed in several US states, especially those bordering Mexico such as Arizona and Texas, which both botched attempts at reopening. In an ironic twist after years of US President Donald Trump praising the creation of a border wall to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing over from Mexico, it is the Mexicans that are now pleading for Americans to not travel into their country. The events hindering the United States, Spain, Israel, and many others are being classified by some as part of a second wave of coronavirus cases, which scientists have warned about for months. In England, pubs and restaurants reopened last weekend for the first time since March, but there were immediate fears that as people venture out more and more as lockdown eases, coronavirus cases could rise. I think we are unlikely to see the number of new infections per day decreasing and, if this continues all the way through to the winter, we run the risk of a second wave, said Sir David King, the UK governments former chief scientific advisor. Speaking to ITV, King added, If we want what is best for the economy, we must focus on getting rid of the virus. We need to find every case, not every fifth case. We need to test and trace every contact that somebody has had, and make sure theyre isolated. We dont have a system like that in operation. Some countries are actively preparing for a winter-time second wave, and are looking at historic precedents for help. The question of what a second wave might look like depends in large part on everyones actions, wrote Melissa Hawkins, Professor of Public Health at American University for SciTech Daily. The 1918 flu pandemic was characterised by a mild first wave in the winter of 1917-1918 that went away in summer. After restrictions were lifted, people very quickly went back to pre-pandemic life. But a second, deadlier strain came back in fall of 1918 and third in spring of 1919. In total, more than 500 million people were infected worldwide and upwards of 50 million died over the course of three waves. It was the combination of a quick return to normal life and a mutation in the flus genome that made it more deadly that led to horrific second and third waves, Hawkins added. Thankfully, the coronavirus appears to be much more genetically stable than the influenza virus, and thus less likely to mutate into a more deadly variant. That leaves human behaviour as the main risk factor, she said. HANGZHOU, China, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On July 6, eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou launched the "Hangzhou Liangzhu Day" and the first Hangzhou Liangzhu Culture Week, which is also the exclusive festival for the "youngest" (latest selected) of Hangzhou's three world heritages, according to Hangzhou municipal government. At the 43rd World Heritage Conference held one year ago in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City was included in the World Heritage List. Hangzhou has decided to set July 6 as "Hangzhou Liangzhu Day" and June 24 as "Hangzhou West Lake Day". These two days are the dates when the two renowned sites in Hangzhou were officially included in the World Heritage List. From the West Lake to the Grand Canal and then to the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, Hangzhou already has three world cultural heritages, indicating that Hangzhou is an ancient city with different cultural heritages demonstrating the clear and complete context of Chinese history and culture. In Hangzhou, the three sites are all located in urban development centers. This also makes Hangzhou pay special attention to citizens' sense of participation and the symbiosis between human beings and nature in the process of comprehensive protection of the three world heritage sites. An integrated and symbiotic protection method that combines cultural heritage, urban development and urban residents has gradually been formed after years of exploration. "Liangzhu" means a beautiful continent in water in Chinese. City and water have always been symbiotic in development. The ancestors who laid the foundation of the city always lived by water, and Liangzhu ancient city is no exception. The peripheral water conservancy hub of Liangzhu ancient city is the earliest large-scale water conservancy project site discovered so far in China. It includes complicated irrigation systems and agricultural development and maintenance. It was of amazing significance in an era when human beings had not domesticated horses. After the inclusion into the world heritage list, it is the common responsibility of all parties to effectively protect these heritage sites. "The first priority is to protect, and the second is to share the fruits of conservation." This is the principle of the management team for the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City, which is responsible for contacting 24 villages in the reserve during the year to coordinate site protection and life and production. At the same time, Hangzhou has set up a "special zone" model for the protection of large sites, which has maintained the integrity and authenticity of the sites to the greatest extent, including the construction of the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City Park. Now the park has preserved and restored the original wetland ecosystem in a large area and restored the ancient country style at that time. Moreover, the routine inspection and technological early warning of 114 square kilometers of heritage areas and buffer zones are strengthened by means of scientific and technological assistance in data collection and analysis. This kind of shared growth and integration between heritage sites and cities, cities and people have also been shown in the protection of West Lake in previous generations. Today, when wandering in the mountains and rivers of the West Lake, the mark of harmonious coexistence between human beings and nature can be found everywhere. As early as 13 centuries ago, Bai Juyi, a famous poet and government official in Hangzhou, built water conservancy projects in Hangzhou, organized people to raise dams and store water to irrigate farmland. Su Causeway, a famous scenic spot in the West Lake, is also named in memory of Su Dongpo, a famous Hangzhou official and writer, who ruled the West Lake 10 centuries ago. Since 2002, the West Lake, also Hangzhou's most important scenic spot, has become the city's central park, with more than 130 scenic spots along the West Lake Park open to the public free of charge. Park So-Hyun, the chief examiner of the West Lake's world heritage application and an expert of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), marveled at the good coordination of Hangzhou's urban development and lake protection at the West Lake. She said that the aborigines themselves are the components of the cultural landscape, and they share the responsibility of heritage protection with the management team. The harmonious relationship between Hangzhou and the West Lake has never been broken since ancient times. Different generations of officials and locals in Hangzhou have a consensus to return the lake to the people and protect the West Lake, which is a collective conscious act that has lasted for thousands of years. In the final analysis, the protection of cultural heritage cannot be separated from the efforts of city residents. It can be seen that the protection of the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City and the West Lake has really become everyone's business in Hangzhou. In the harmonious coexistence of human beings, nature and cities, and in the continuous protection of cultural heritage, the philosophy of the Chinese nation, its unique aesthetic taste and traditional temperament have also been continuously inherited. SOURCE Hangzhou Municipal Government Turkeys foreign minister chided the European Union over its condemnation of a Turkish decision to convert Istanbuls Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, saying the matter is an issue of national sovereignty. Last week, Turkey cancelled the sixth-century former cathedral-turned-mosques 86-year status as a museum and said it would open for Muslim worship as of July 24. The decision sparked criticism in the United States, Greece, and other Western countries as well as from Orthodox Christian leaders. Pope Francis expressed sadness over the move. EU foreign ministers, holding their first face-to-face meeting in months on Monday, declared that they condemned the decision. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said there was broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently consider and reverse this decision. Expand Close People, draped in Turkish flags stand outside the now closed Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp People, draped in Turkish flags stand outside the now closed Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia (Emrah Gurel/AP) Asked to comment on the EU criticism, foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with his visiting Maltese counterpart: We reject the word condemnation. This is a matter that concerns Turkeys sovereign rights, he said. He argued that there were several mosques in EU-member Spain that had been converted into churches. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, meanwhile, described the 1934 decision by the Turkish Republics secular, founding leaders that converted Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum as a mistake. We are rectifying a mistake. Its as simple as that, Mr Erdogan said in a televised address, following a weekly Cabinet meeting. Mr Erdogan maintained that the criticisms levelled against Turkey over Hagia Sophias return to a mosque were a pretext for enmity toward Turkey and Islam. He also said his country was determined to preserve the structures qualities as a cultural heritage. On Tuesday, Greece again expressed dismay at Turkeys decision. This decision is certainly painful to us as Greek Orthodox Christians but it also hurts us as citizens of the world, said Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Expand Close Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia (Emrah Gurel/AP) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia (Emrah Gurel/AP) This is not a Greek-Turkish issue, it is not even a Euro-Turkish issue, it is global. It is a universal issue. Mr Mitsotakis added: With this setback, Turkey is choosing to sever ties with the Western world and its values. It abandons a cultural direction of many centuries, preferring introversion. And it wraps with an artificial mantle of strength over its weakness. Meanwhile, officials from Turkeys religious affairs authority, said the landmark structure can remain open to visitors outside of prayer hours, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The Christian depictions inside are no obstacle to Muslim prayers, said the officials who are preparing the site for Muslim worship. They added however, that the figures would need to be covered with curtains or through other means during the prayers, in line with Islamic traditions that prohibit such representations. Samsung is reportedly in discussions with rival LG Display in a bid to buy LCD panels. The former company is seeking to buy the panels from the latter, according to industry insiders. Samsung is also in talks with China Star Optoelectronics Technology, BOE Technology Group, and Sharp Corp, the reports indicate. But it hasnt managed to strike a deal with any of those companies just yet. Samsungs decision to take its time on any deals pertaining to LCD panels isnt entirely surprising either. Analysts have reportedly valued a potential deal between Samsung and LG at over $833 million. While that doesnt represent even half of one percent of Samsungs yearly revenue, it is a sizable figure. Why is Samsung looking to buy LCD panels from LG? As to the reason behind Samsungs alleged move, the decision isnt altogether surprising either. The company will soon cease production on LCD displays altogether. That comes as part of Samsungs shift toward QLED panels. Advertisement Short for Quantum Dot LED, QLED is a variation on LCD panels that effectively adds a quantum dot film between layers. That, in turn, allows a higher brightness and contrast. The response time of QLED isnt as good compared to OLED panels. But the displays are also more affordable. Thats helped drive the popularization of televisions made with the technology. As part of that move, Samsung will reportedly cease all production on LCD panels by the end of the year. But that doesnt mean it wants to stop selling LCD-based technologies. It just means that Samsung is downsizing its own operations on that front in anticipation of killing them off entirely at some point in the future. It also makes some sense for LG Display to be the partner-of-choice here too. Although the companies are rivals, LG has pulled Samsung out of the fire in the past on display technology. Most notably, LG came in to supply displays to Samsung after Sharp stopped supplying them back in 2017. Advertisement Diminishing returns are driving this Ultimately, Samsungs decision to move away from LCD panels is the result of diminishing returns. Its return-on-investment for LCD displays has dropped substantially over the past several years. And, in fact, their demise has been a long time coming. Samsung first started formulating its exit from the market back in 2016. (Newser) New York has expanded its efforts to keep out-of-state arrivals from bringing the coronavirus with them. People coming from 22 states that meet New York's standards for being a hotspot will have to fill out a form before leaving the airport. The form will include contact information to help officials ensure they quarantine for 14 days, WNBC reports. Penalties for noncompliance include a $2,000 fine and a mandatory quarantine. New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ohio have been added to the quarantine list, while Delaware's case count has improved enough for it to be removed. "Look at what's happening in the rest of the countryif we are not smart, if we don't wear masks and socially distance, cases will spike," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. "No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant." story continues below At the same time, Cuomo is dealing with criticism after an internal report appeared to largely clear him of blame in the major outbreaks in the state's nursing homes. New York concedes that a March order by the governor sent more than 6,300 patients recovering from the coronavirus to nursing homes when the pandemic was at its worst. The new report came to the same conclusion Cuomo has offered, that it was nursing home employees who didn't know they had the virus who sparked the outbreaks, per the AP. Health care professionals and scientists criticized the report, and experts found the study fatally flawed; it never directly considered the effect of Cuomo's order. "I think they got a lot of political pushback and so their response was, 'This isn't a problem. Dont worry about it," said a Columbia University epidemiologist. (Read more Andrew Cuomo stories.) Nepal's coronavirus tally crossed the 17,000-mark on Tuesday with the detection of 116 new cases in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. The virus has so far claimed 38 lives in the country. "With the detection of the 116 new cases, the total COVID-19 tally now stands at 17,061," health ministry spokesperson Jageshwo Gautam told reporters here. While 6,695 patients are currently undergoing treatment in various health facilities across the country, 10,328 have recovered, he said. The health authorities have conducted 2,93,739 coronavirus tests, including 4,361 in the last 24 hours, Gautam said. READ | Coronavirus Spreads To All 77 Districts Of Nepal, Total Cases Reach 12,772 READ | Nepal Reports 3 More COVID-19 Deaths, Cases Jump To 16,719 The schools and families learning department at Norwich Cathedral are holding two sessions morning and afternoon for a Family Activity Day at the Cathedral on Wednesday February 16. The schools and families learning department at Norwich Cathedral are holding two sessions morning and afternoon for a Family Activity Day at the Cathedral on Wednesday February 16. Churches prepare Queen's Platinum Jubilee plans Churches, Christian charities and youth organisations are working together to celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee over the four-day Bank Holiday from June 2-5 and a new website has been created to celebrate the Queen's 70 years of faith and service. Read more Eckling Grange cares for the elderly Despite some bad press, there are some Care Homes where 'Care' really does mean 'what it says on the tin', and a star example of this is the Norfolk Christian residential care home, Eckling Grange, at Dereham. Read more New Commission to look at use of Norfolk churches A new Church Buildings Commission has been launched with the purpose of looking at the church buildings across Norfolk and Waveney in terms of their use and sustainability. Read more Norfolk link to teaching opportunity with TCKs A Norfolk couple working in Asia have been helped by teachers of Third Culture Kids, and a programme is now inviting more people to get involved with it. Read more Norfolk charity seeks mentors for prison leavers Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) continues to provide a Both Sides of the Gate Mentor support service to people leaving prison in Norfolk. Read more Prayer and Worship week for Sheringham church Lighthouse Community Church in Sheringham has launched a Prayer and Worship week as they seek Gods guidance for 2022 Read more South Norfolk church schools are set to merge The Diocese of Norwich St Benets Multi Academy Trust has been given the green light to amalgamate Harleston CE Primary Academy and Archbishop Sancroft High School into one All Through School. Read more Norwich conference looks at how to tackle spiritual abuse Following a series of revelations about high-profile Christian leaders, a group of Norfolk churches is organising a conference to look at spiritual abuse and godly leadership. Read more Revelation vacancy for Centre Manager The Revelation Christian Resource Centre and Cafe is seeking to appoint a Centre Manager. Read more Gardening morning at N Norfolk Christian centre The Pleasaunce Holiday Centre in Overstrand is holding a work-party morning on Saturday February 5 and would like as many people as possible to join in to help get the gardens ship-shape. Read more Poringland Bible teachers look at a building project The Way of the Spirit is starting the New Year with a meeting in Poringland to explore the Book of Nehemiah. Read more House of Genesis needs part-time support worker The House of Genesis is seeking a part-time (20 hours per week) Support Worker to contribute to the day-to-day running of the charity, which provides accommodation to homeless adult men in Norwich. Read more Church marriage open to all? Regular contributor Philip Young shares with us his personal view on whether churches should marry same-sex couples. Read more Christian retreat centre has new Chair of Trustees Paul Dunning has recently been appointed as Chair of Trustees of the Quiet Waters Christian Retreat Centre. He explains how he got involved and how others can do the same. Read more Magdalene Group: Women's Specialist Practitioner The Norwich-based Magdalene Group needs a Womens Specialist Practitioner to provide gender and trauma-informed support to women experiencing multiple disadvantage and provide support to female sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation and coercion. Read more Ringsfield Hall offers residential trips on Norfolk border Ringsfield Hall provides children with outdoor residential opportunities through school trips. Activities relate to nature, care for the planet and very special care and respect for the physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of each child. Read more Ministers outreach at Sheringham model boat lake Local Christian, Graham Pickhaver has been sharing his testimony by giving out tracts at the model boating lake in Sheringham. Read more Covid-19 situation in Madhya Pradesh has witnessed an alarming spike in the positive cases particularly in four cities of the state- Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Morena much to worry of the state government that drove chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to visit Gwalior-Chambal region a couple of days back to review the situation over there, as per the governments data and officials. As the situation has aggravated Gwalior district administration announced on Monday night clamping curfew in the city for seven days while also ordering sealing of the border of the district. Indore on Monday announced rescheduling of opening of markets as per a left-right method meaning thereby the shops on one side of the road will be opened on one day to be followed by opening of shops on the other side of the road the next day, as per the administrative authorities in the districts. In Morena, collector Priyanka Das announced that until and unless positivity rate of samples was reduced to 4% from 10% the administration will not be able to allow opening of markets. In the past seven days sampling reports 42% were tested positive including 40% from the urban area, she said in a meeting. The grim and worsening situation in the state can be gauged from the fact that in the past 15 days the state has witnessed more than 5,000 new cases. On an average, this fortnight has seen almost 335 new cases every day or in other words almost 14 cases every hour. The exact number is 5021 to take the tally of the state Covid-19 cases to 18,207, as per the health departments bulletin released on Monday night. In comparison, the state had seen 13186 Covid-19 positive cases till June 28 night. Thus on an average, the period of 101 days since Corona cases were first reported in the state on March 20, almost 131 positive cases were reported daily or more than five cases per hour. Thus, growth of Covid-19 cases went up by more than 250% during the past fortnight, as per the governments data. Indore, Bhopal, Gwalior and Morena contributed 2903 Covid-19 positive cases to the total of 5,021 which is 57.81% of the total with Bhopal reporting the maximum number of cases- 850 followed by Indore with 737 cases, Gwalior- 665 and Morena-651. As per the health departments bulletin, Gwalior became the third district in the state with maximum number of Covid positive cases- 1016 after Indore (5352) and Bhopal (3590). Morena in Gwalior-Chambal region closely follows Gwalior with 976 cases. There are 21 more districts in the state out of the total 52 which have Covid cases in three digits from 101 in Vidisha to 896 in Ujjain. WORRYING DEATH RATE As per the health departments data, in the past one fortnight the state witnessed 106 deaths. Thus, seven deaths were reported daily on an average whereas earlier in the 101-day period the state reported more than 5 deaths every day. The total deaths reported so far in the state is 663, as per the health departments bulletin. Indore tops the death chart with 269 deaths followed by Bhopal (122), Ujjain (71), Burhanpur (23), Sagar (22), Khandwa (17), Jabalpur and Khargone (15 each), Dewas (10) and remaining in 29 districts. Though the death rate in the state has been reduced to 3.64% at present from once close to 5%, its still higher than the national average death rate- 2.61%. Ujjain continues to report the highest death rate among major cities in the state at 7.72% followed by Indore with 5.02%. Bhopals death rate among Covid-19 patients is 3.39%. Right to Information (RTI) activist Ajay Dubey said, The situation is alarming given the fact the state government is manipulating the data on the patients and deaths. It has been seen that the government withholds the data on death to be released later. Also, the fact remains that the number of tests being conducted on suspected Covid patients is much less in comparison to what is required. Thats why the real situation is hardly reflected in the governments bulletins. Public health expert Amulya Nidhi said, The state government claimed to have taken a number of measures to control the situation particularly in Indore and Bhopal but while situation is further aggravated in the two cities Gwalior-Chambal region became another big Covid hotspot. At the same time, Malwa-Nimad region and parts of Mahakoshal, Bundelkhand and central regions continue to pose a major challenge to the state government. The situation has worsened during the unlock period and the state government seems to have no idea how to control the situation. Admitting that the Corona infection was on rise in the state health minister Prabhuram Choudhary who was assigned the portfolio of health department on Monday said, This is why I have decided not to celebrate my birthday on Wednesday. However, the state government under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan started a Kill corona campaign from July 1 to control the situation in the entire state. I will review the situation and my priority is to upgrade the hospitals and other infrastructure of the public health system. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A couple of Mustang drivers are behind bars following a Sunday crash where a motorcyclist died after the pair were allegedly racing on a Conroe road. Joseph Ontario Amigliore, 19, and Franco Benjamin Muto, 20, both from Porter, are being charged with racing on a highway causing death, a second-degree felony, according to Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Andrew James. While allegedly racing southbound between the 17200 and the 17500 blocks of FM 1314, one or both collided with a Nissan pickup truck pulling out of the Busters Crawfish restaurant. One of the Mustang drivers then allegedly struck a motorcyclist who died on the scene, according to James. BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to your Inbox The victim is named Ross Reynolds, according to James. He is reportedly a 60-year-old Conroe man, according to the Montgomery County Police Reporter website. As of Monday afternoon, Amigliore and Muto are being held with no bond at the Montgomery County Jail, according to jail records. If convicted, Amigliore and Muto could face up to 20 years in prison. A case like this is a rarity in Montgomery County, said James, who serves as vehicular crimes chief at the DAs Office. He recalled a 2009 Conroe road wreck where two teenagers were racing against each other and an occupant of one died upon the vehicle crashing. Lazaro Millan was sentenced to 10 years and Johnnie Lewis ONeal, the driver whose occupant died, was sentenced to 60 days. His probation was later revoked after he received a DWI, according to court records. ONeal is now serving 17 years in prison, James said. Texas experienced 412 motorcyclist deaths in 2019, according to a press release made available Monday by the Texas Department of Transportation. jose.gonzalez@chron.com twitter.com/jrgzztx ST-APOLLINAIRE, QUE.The search continues today for the father of two girls whose bodies were found Saturday in a small town southwest of Quebec City. Provincial police spokeswoman Sgt. Ann Mathieu says officers on the ground and in the air are concentrating on a 50-square-kilometre area around St-Apollinaire, Que., where the bodies of Norah and Romy Carpentier, aged 11 and six, were located. The girls had last been seen Wednesday and became the subject of an Amber Alert the next day. Police have said they and their father, Martin Carpentier, are believed to have been in a serious crash on Highway 20 in St-Apollinaire on Wednesday evening at about 9:30 p.m. But police say they did not find any occupants inside the car when they arrived on scene. They say they have found pertinent elements in the area on Sunday that were sent to a laboratory for analysis to see if they are linked to Carpentier. Police did not specify what the items were, but as the search entered its sixth day, police have raised the possibility Carpentier could be unconscious or dead. Mathieu said it also cannot be ruled out that he remains alive. You know that someone who is healthy, someone who is mobile, can easily move by walking several kilometres a day, she told reporters. We also have to consider that he could have found a means of transport, something as simple as a bicycle. She said the area being searched was delineated based on reports from the public, and she urged people to remain on the lookout for Carpentier. Read more about: Cell invasion is a common characteristic of malignant cancers. This plays a central role in tumor metastasis and dissemination, and is largely responsible for deaths related to cancer (1, 2). Tumor cells have the ability to form a metastatic tumor, and this primarily involves cell morphological reorganization coupled with degradation of the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). The filter based transwell invasion assay (2D) is a conventional in vitro invasion model, and models like this are commonly utilized to assess tumor cell invasion. Their physiological relevance is, however, limited by a lack of thorough cell-ECM interactions. A more effective alternative is the use of three dimensional (3D) tumor invasion models - such as the one described in this white paper. These may usefully mimic key features of the metastatic phenotype, and better comprehension of this and other mechanisms related to tumor cell invasion may enable better limitation of tumor progression and, most importantly, reduce mortality rates in cancer patients. The use of such 3D tumor invasion models alongside automated image analysis technology means it is possible to achieve temporal high throughput analyzes of tumor invasion. The Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System is a fully automated brightfield, phase contrast and fluorescence image acquisition and analysis platform. It can be situated within a standard cell culture incubator, allowing for effective maintenance of physiological relevance and optimal cell viability. This instrument has been developed to allow for the scanning of tissue culture plates and flasks repetitively. This occurs over pre-determined time intervals, allowing users to continuously monitor cultures in order to produce quantifiable, kinetic information. Additionally, the Incucyte Spheroid software module functions as a high-speed, adaptable and effective control hub for continuous live-cell analysis incorporating the complete image acquisition, processing and data visualization process. Assay principle Within the example study below, the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis system and Incucyte 3D Single Spheroid Invasion Assay were used to examine the capacity and invasive potential of malignant tumor cells. The Brightfield (DF Brightfield) image acquisition offers a powerful depth of focus, enabling the real-time acquisition of kinetic imaging of 3D single spheroids embedded in an extracellular matrix (Matrigel). Thanks to the improved image acquisition offered, Brightfield images with high contrast can be captured, and these can be easily masked via built-in Incucyte processing definitions. Whole spheroid and invading cell areas are plotted automatically over time. These provide a substantial amount of information on both spheroid formation and invasive properties. The capability to run up to six 96-well plates in parallel means that thousands of images may be rapidly acquired, analyzed, and graphed. Validation methods are described, alongside data which demonstrates the ability to kinetically visualize and quantify invasive capabilities of a range of cell types, as well as evaluating sensitivity to cell invasion modulating compounds. Material and methods Quick guide Figure 1. Image Credit: Sartorius Please note that cell culture reagents were obtained from Life Technologies unless otherwise stated. U87-MG (ATCC), A172 (ATCC) and HT1080 (ATCC) cells were cultured in F-12K medium supplemented with 10% FBS, 1% Pen/Strep plus 1% Glutamax. These were grown to confluence in 75 cm2 tissue culture treated flasks. Cells were harvested and seeded into ULA 96-well plates (Corning #7007, SBio #MS-9096UZ, BRAND #781900) so that following 3 days post cell seeding, spheroids were formed with preferred size. Spheroid formation was monitored in an Incucyte at 6 hour intervals over a 3 day period. Spheroids were embedded in Matrigel (Corning #356234) once formed. This was done at varying concentrations (2.25 4.5 mg/mL) to induce the spheroid invasion assay. Compounds were purchased from Tocris Bioscience. Quantifying single spheroid invasive properties over time U87-MG spheroids which had formed for 3 days, were then embedded in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL), with actin polymerization inhibitor, Cytochalasin D (Cyto D), both present and absent. DF- Brightfield (DF-BF) images were acquired every 6 hours. The invasive properties of single spheroids were measured with Incucytes automated spheroid invasion software. This software was able to track and quantify changes in spheroid size either the whole spheroid area or invading cell area - over time. Figure 2. Quantification of single spheroid invasion using Incucyte real-time analysis. U87-MG cells were seeded in a ULA round bottom 96-well plate (2,500 cells/well) and allowed to form spheroids for 3 days. Spheroids were subsequently treated with vehicle or Cytochalasin D (Cyto D) prior to embedding in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL). Incucyte depth of focus brightfield (DF-BF) images (5 d post treatment) show effect of Cyto D on spheroid invasion (whole spheroid; yellow outline mask or invading cells; blue outline mask). Note extensive invasive phenotype of vehicle treated compared to Cyto D treated spheroids. Time-course plots show the individual well BF area (whole spheroid or invading cell areas, m2) over time (h). Data were collected over a 240 h period at 6 h intervals. All images captured at 4x magnification. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=4 wells. Image Credit: Sartorius Figure 2 demonstrates the softwares ability to precisely segment the invading cell area (blue outline mask) and the whole spheroid area (yellow outline mask) (Figure 2, images). With Matrigel present, U87-MG control spheroids quickly increased in overall size (whole spheroid area) and displayed notable invasive capabilities over time as much as a 7-fold increase in invading cell area. Cyto D however, triggered a marked inhibition of spheroid invasion (Figure 2, time-course plots). Cell type specific spheroid invasive potential In order to evaluate the metastatic potential of tumor cells in 3D, U87-MG (glioblastoma), A172 (glioblastoma) and HT1080 (fibrosarcoma) spheroids were formed for 72 hours in ULA round bottom 96-well plates. These were then embedded in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL). Variations in tumor spheroid invasive properties were kinetically monitored and quantified over a 7 day period. Invading cell area segmentation (highlighted in blue in Figure 3, images), allowed kinetic quantification of spheroid metastatic potential, while demonstrating the Incucytes ability to accurately differentiate between the invading cell area and spheroid body area throughout an array of cell types. In order to factor in variation in size after spheroid formation, the whole spheroid area was normalized to spheroid size at t = 0 h, and automatically plotted over time. Acquired DF-BF images and time-course plots showed cell type specific invasive capabilities. U87-MG spheroids displayed the highest invasive potential. After 168 hours, whole spheroid area of U87-MG spheroids (ratio: 32) increased to around 2x and 4x the size of HT1080 (ratio: 18) and A172 (ratio: 8) spheroids respectively (Figure 3, whole spheroid area ratio time-course). Figure 3. Assess cell type specific invasive capabilities over time. U87-MG, A172 and HT1080 cells were seeded in ULA round bottom 96-well plates (2,500 cells/well; U87-MG, HT1080 or 5,000 cells/well; A172) and allowed to form spheroids (3 d) prior to Matrigel addition (4.5 mg/mL). Brightfield images and timecourses of spheroid area (whole spheroid BF area normalized to t = 0h or invading cell area) show differences in invasive capacity across cell types. Invading cell area mask outline shown in blue, illustrates the extent of invasive capacity. Data were collected over 168 h at 6 h intervals. All images captured at 4x magnification. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=4 wells. Image Credit: Sartorius While they differed in overall size, A172 and HT1080 spheroids displayed similar invasive potential over time (~10 fold at 168 hours) (Figure 3, invading cell area time-course). Variations in invasive potential shown across cell types, could imply distinct mechanisms of cell motility and invasive modalities1. Further experimentation is needed to better understand mechanisms underlying these disparities. 96-well 3D single spheroid invasion assay for pharmacological analysis To illustrate the suitability of this specific 3D tumor spheroid invasion assay to anti-metastatic compound testing, a pharmacological study was undertaken in HT1080, U87-MG and A172 cells. Spheroids (formed 3 days, in ULA round bottom 96-well plates) were treated with a series of invasion modulating compounds before being embedded in Matrigel (2.25 mg/mL or 4.5 mg/mL) to induce invasion (up to 10 days). Figure 4. Rapid visualization and assessment of treatment effects using Incucyte vessel views. U87-MG cells were seeded in ULA round bottom 96-well plates (2,500 cells/well) and allowed to form spheroids (3 d). Spheroids were then treated with serial dilutions of anti-metastatic compounds and embedded in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL) to induce invasion (up to 10 d). Incucyte microplate vessel views show effects of treatments on spheroid invasion (whole spheroid area; yellow outline mask) 5d post treatment (A and B). Images captured at 4x magnification. Image Credit: Sartorius The Incucytes automated, real-time vessel views used alongside its time- course plate view allowed for fast assessment of compound effects on spheroid invasion. Cyto D and PP242 instigated a concentration dependent inhibition of U87-MG spheroid invasion, while minimal effect was noted by Blebbistatin (Figure 5 A, B). Elucidating treatment effects on single spheroid invasion and proliferation For 3D in vitro spheroid invasion models to be valid means of assessing the metastatic effects of treatments, they must be able to distinguish effects on both spheroid invasion and spheroid proliferation. The ability to differentiate between the area covered by cells within the spheroid body and the area covered by the invading cell region (invadapodia) is essential. The example below illustrates how this spheroid invasion application and its accompanying quantification and analysis approaches can achieve this. Figure 5. Effect of cell signalling inhibitors on spheroid invasion. U87-MG cells were seeded in a ULA round bottom 96-well plate (2,500 cells/well) and allowed to form spheroids (3 d) prior to treatment with a range of known inhibitors and embedded in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL). Incucyte brightfield (BF) images (A) (4 d post treatment) show treatment effects on spheroid invasion. Bar chart (B) represents the area under the curve (AUC) analysis of the whole spheroid and invading cell area (m2) time-course data (0 -162 h, post treatment). Note the inhibitory and stimulatory effects on invasion caused by Cytochalasin D (Cyto D) and Blebbistatin respectively. Data normalization (96 h post treatment) show effect of Cyto D and PP242 on invading cell regions (C). Subtraction of invading cell area from whole spheroid area (D). In a separate but identical study performed in the absence of Matrigel shows size (BF area) of spheroids 96 h post treatment with Cyto D and PP242 (D). Data were collected over a 162 h period at 6 h intervals. All images captured at 4x magnification. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=3. Image Credit: Sartorius A series of known anti-metastatic compounds were tested to ascertain their effects on U87-MG spheroid invasion. Representative DF-BF images uncovered a broad range of inhibitory effects on spheroid invasion (Figure 6A). Apart from Blebbistatin, which seemed pro-invasive, all compounds impeded spheroid invasion, showing a reduction in whole spheroid and also invading cell areas (Figure 6B, orange and grey bars respectively). While similar attenuation of spheroid size was noted with both PP242 (80% at 30 M) and CytoD (90% at 300 nM), a notable inhibition of the invading cell area (invadapodia) was only clear with Cyto D (Figure 6A, size of blue mask, Figure 6B grey bars). Normalization of the invading cell area to the whole spheroid area showed that while comparable in total size 96 hours after treatment, 30% (CytoD) and 80% (PP242) of the entire spheroid size was ascribed to the invading cell region (Figure 6C). By doing a basic subtraction of the invading cell area from the total spheroid area, it was possible to provide a measure for the size of the spheroid body and therefore, a measure for spheroid proliferation within this model of spheroid invasion. The reduction in the size of PP242 treated spheroids and the similar sizes of both Cyto D and vehicle treated spheroids where Matrigel was absent, provides extra support to the anti-proliferative rather than anti-invasive properties of PP242 (Figure 6D). In order to validate this approach to analysis, a different study was performed in the absence of Matrigel. This allowed for an assessment of compound effects on spheroid proliferation alone. After they had formed, U87-MG spheroids were treated with compounds for 96 hours. Effects on spheroid growth and differences in spheroid size (largest BF Area metric) were quantified using the Incucyte. As can be seen in Figure 6E, this supports and illustrates the inhibitory effects of PP242 (30 M) but not CytoD (300 nM) on spheroid growth. Figure 6. Effect of cell signalling inhibitors on spheroid invasion. U87-MG cells were seeded in a ULA round bottom 96-well plate (2,500 cells/well) and allowed to form spheroids (3 d) prior to treatment with a range of known inhibitors and embedded in Matrigel (4.5 mg/mL). Incucyte brightfield (BF) images (A) (4 d post treatment) show treatment effects on spheroid invasion. Bar chart (B) represents the area under the curve (AUC) analysis of the whole spheroid and invading cell area (m2) time-course data (0 -162 h, post treatment). Note the inhibitory and stimulatory effects on invasion caused by Cytochalasin D (Cyto D) and Blebbistatin respectively. Data normalization (96 h post treatment) show effect of Cyto D and PP242 on invading cell regions (C). Subtraction of invading cell area from whole spheroid area (D). In a separate but identical study performed in the absence of Matrigel shows size (BF area) of spheroids 96 h post treatment with Cyto D and PP242 (D). Data were collected over a 162 h period at 6 h intervals. All images captured at 4x magnification. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=3. Image Credit: Sartorius Cell type specific pharmacology The pharmacology of anti-metastatic compounds was assessed across numerous cell types. Concentration response curves (CRCs) representing the area under the curve analysis of time-course data were produced (invading cells area, 0 168 hours) for CytoD (actin polymerization inhibitor), PP242 (dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor) and GM6001 (MMP inhibitor) (Figure 7). Figure 7. Distinguish pharmacological profiles of anti-metastatic compounds through concentration response curve generation. U87-MG, A172 and HT1080 cells were seeded in ULA round bottom 96-well plates (2,500 cells/well; U87-MG, HT1080 and 5,000 cells/well; A172) and allowed to form spheroids (3 d) prior to treatment. Spheroids were subsequently embedded in 2.25 mg/mL Matrigel and spheroid invasion was monitored for 10 d. Representative concentration response curves (CRCs) of the area under the curve (AUC) analysis of the invading cell area (m2) (0 7 d). Data were collected over a 240 h period at 6 h intervals. Each data point represents mean SEM, n=3 separate test occasions. Image Credit: Sartorius Cytochalasin D was a potent inhibitor of invasion, providing equipotent values for inhibition across all the cell types tested: IC 50 30 nM for A172, 30 nM for U87-MG and 28 nM for HT1080. Concentration dependent inhibition of invasion was noted with PP242 across all cell types (IC 50 0.88 M for A172, 3.2 M for HT1080, 5 M for U87-MG). However, it should be noted that this inhibition was incomplete and partial in U87-MG spheroids (~60% at 30 M). GM6001 seemed to only trigger inhibition of HT1080 spheroid invasion (IC 50 6.3 M) with limited inhibitory effects on the other cell types examined. Conclusions This white paper saw the use of the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System and the Incucyte Spheroid Software Module, working in tandem to enable kinetic acquisition and quantification of 3D single spheroid invasion. In summary, the examples provided above have demonstrated: The capability of the Incucyte to kinetically quantify and visualize tumor spheroid invasion properties. That live-cell imaging and analysis is capable of revealing cell type specific temporal invasive potential. That live-cell imaging and analysis can demonstrate Matrigel concentration-dependent effects on spheroid invasion capacity. That the instruments suite of metrics and analysis approaches allow for the effects on spheroid invasion and spheroid proliferation to be probed. The usefulness of the Incucytes 3D tumor invasion model for real-time compound profiling in a 96-well format, allowing for the identification and distinguishing of new or existing compounds effects on tumor invasion. The Incucytes 3D Single Spheroid Invasion Assay and integrated imaging and analysis solutions are ideal for ensuring reproducible, high throughput analyses of tumor invasion. As there is no need to select a predefined end-point, the consistent quantification and segmentation of brightfield images facilitates kinetic assessment of single spheroid invasive properties and effects of anti-metastatic agents. The Incucytes fully automated image acquisition features, coupled with its user-friendly suite of analysis tools and lab tested protocols, means that non-expert users are able to generate reproducible data, perform analysis, and generate publication ready graphics with ease. When used together, the Incucyte Live-Cell Analysis System, Spheroid Software Module and reagents offer an effective and novel technical platform that can be easily incorporated into existing workflows. References Oraiopoulou, et al. Integrating in vitro experiments with in silico approaches for Glioblastoma invasion: the role of cell-to-cell adhesion heterogeneity. Nature: Scientific Reports. 2018. 8: 16200. Goertzen, et al. Three-Dimensional quantification of spheroid degradation-dependent invasion and invadopodia formation. Biol Proceed Online. 2018; 20:20. Ahmadzadeh, et al. Modeling the two-way feedback between contractility and matrix realignment reveals a nonlinear mode of cancer cell invasion. PNAS. 2017; 114 (9) E1617-E1626. Gandalovic^ova, et al. MIGRASTATICS, the anti-metastatic and anti-invasion drugs: the promise and challenges. Cell Press. Trends in Cancer. 2017. Vol. 3, No. 6. Acknowledgments Produced from materials originally authored by Miniver Oliver, Kalpana Patel, Sandra Perez, Nevine Holtz, Sanjana Udayashankar and Tim Dale from Essen BioScience About Sartorius Sartorius is a leading international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier. With our innovative products and services, we are helping our customers across the entire globe to implement their complex and quality-critical biomanufacturing and laboratory processes reliably and economically. The Group companies are united under the roof of Sartorius AG, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and holds the majority stake in Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. Quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange, this subgroup is comprised mainly of the Bioprocess Solutions Division. Innovative technologies enable medical progress A growing number of medications are biopharmaceuticals. These are produced using living cells in complex, lengthy and expensive procedures. The Bioprocess Solutions Division provides the essential products and technologies to accomplish this. In fact, Sartorius has been pioneering and setting the standards for single-use products that are currently used throughout all biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Making lab life easier Lab work is complex and demanding: Despite repetitive analytical routines, lab staff must perform each step in a highly concentrated and careful way for accurate results. The Lab Products and Services Division helps lab personnel excel because its products, such as laboratory balances, pipettes and lab consumables, minimize human error, simplify workflows and reduce physical workloads Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. As a celebrity, Khloe Kardashian is used to getting her fair share of bad press. For every fan that follows her blindly on Twitter or Instagram, there is at least one critic ready and willing to give their less than favorable opinions about the 36-year-old. These days, it seems that people have even less tolerance for Kardashian and her famous family. In fact, even some fans seem fed up with her behavior. Khloe Kardashian | Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Thanks to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, life had looked quite different for many Americans. This is especially true of California natives, as the state was the first to adopt a strict stay-at-home policy. When the news broke, Kardashian and her sisters urged fans to stay at home. But, as more time passed, they began to get more lax about practicing what they preached. Khloe Kardashian speaks out on Twitter Though California had slowly begun to reopen, Governor Gavin Newsom felt it prudent to backtrack and once again shut down movie theatres, museums, and indoor dining. Seeing the news, Kardashian took to her Twitter page to give her two cents about the escalating situation in her home state of California. People are not taking #COVID19 seriously! Everyone please stay safe and together we can stop the spread. Thank you @GavinNewsom for trying to protect our state. Sending you all my love and prayers! We will get through this, Kardashian wrote on her Twitter page. While some fans appreciated Kardashians sentiment, many people felt that Kardashian was being incredibly hypocritical. Fans and critics felt that the KUWTK star was being hypocritical Many people felt that Kardashian had no business proclaiming that people werent taking the virus seriously. Particularly since she, and her family, have been traveling, throwing and attending parties without wearing masks. In fact, the Good American co-founder recently celebrated her 36th birthday with a party. Though she claimed the party was family only, photographic evidence proved that she was lying and friends attended also. People are not taking #COVID19 seriously! Everyone please stay safe and together we can stop the spread. Thank you @GavinNewsom for trying to protect our state sending you all my love and prayers! we will get through this Khloe (@khloekardashian) July 14, 2020 RELATED: Rob Kardashian Fans Are Drooling Over Him After Seeing These Pictures Fans and critics alike began to shade Kardashian for her hypocritical tweet. Girl werent you just throwing a massive party at your house, sis? one person questioned. Yep. No masks and no distance, another person added. Sorry Im a fan but the whole family was partying and seeing friends. Kylie and Stass, party for Scott cmon Khloe, one fan wrote. Love you Koko but werent your sisters interstate a couple of days ago? yet another person questioned. Kardashian celebrated a new age with a huge birthday party People were particularly disgusted by the KarJenner clans propensity to throw lavish parties amidst a pandemic. But youre allowed to still throw your lavish bday parties and such?! Makes sense, one person wrote, addressing Kardashian sarcastically. Didnt you have a birthday party too? you gotta set an example too, thats not allowed, yet another person added. Yep. No masks and no distance. pic.twitter.com/T4clxvZ66b Trump's chins (@TrumpsChinFat) July 14, 2020 Kim hosted Norths birthday party for family and many others kids in Wyoming. Khloe hosted lavish birthday party, over 10 in attendance. Kylie flew bunch of friends to Utah. Kim & Kanye meeting strangers right now in Dominican Republic. No masks and no distance for any of it, another person added. Clearly, Kardashians fans are not interested in her hypocritical musings. Hopefully, she and her family will start practicing what they preach sooner rather than later. A survey found 63 percent of Vietnamese women live with physical, sexual, emotional, economic or behavioral abuse from husbands or partners. The results came from the second national study on violence against women in Vietnam, conducted last year by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs in collaboration with the General Statistics Office. The first survey was commenced in 2010. The study, released Tuesday, received technical and financial support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It aims to shed light on what still needs to be done to boost gender equality and eliminate gender-based violence in Vietnam. From a pool of nearly 6,000 women aged 15 - 64 across Vietnam, the survey found that nearly two in three, or 62.9 percent experienced one or more forms of domestic abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, economic violence, and controlling behavior from male partners in their life time. Nearly 32 percent of the women suffer the abuse within the year. According to the study, the ratio of women physically abused by husbands/partners in 2019 has dropped compared to 2010, at 26.1 percent against 31.5 percent. However, more women have reported being sexually abused in 2019 compared to 2010, with a ration of 13.3 percent versus 9.9 percent. According to the survey team, while this reflects an increase in sexual violence, it may also be the result of a social change in which women have become more open to talking about sexuality and sexual violence after one decade. Emotional violence by a husband/partner was the most common form of violence reported by Vietnamese women with nearly half (47 percent) having encountered such behavior. One in five of women experienced economic abuse by a husband/partner during their lifetime and more than one fourth (27.3 percent) suffered one or more acts of controlling behavior. Speaking on condition of anonymity, some women told the survey team the story of their life, during which they had suffered from violence perpetrated by their husbands. A 50-year-old woman now working as a volunteer to support women in her ward said she had been physically assaulted at various times by her husband during their 26-year marriage. "My face looks no different than a map," she said, referring to her scars. The husband had started beating her early on, even when she was two months pregnant with their first child. She had filed for divorce once but changed her mind after he had promised to change, only to enter a second, more deadly phase of marriage. Once, he even attacked her with a chopping knife, causing a deep incision that needed immediate stitching. Deep down she always hoped he would change, but in vain. Eventually, she gathered the courage to leave him three years ago. At 54, a law graduate recalled how she has been humiliated by her husband during their 10-year marriage since he forbade her to enter employment. "Where are you working as a prostitute?" he once asked her while at work. He had used the term many times, even in front of their son, besides beating and shaming her. When her son was five he asked her: "Dad said youre working as a prostitute. So what is a prostitute, mom?" Seven years later, it was her son who finally motivated her to end the marriage. "Break up with dad, mom," he urged her. In another instance, a 46 year-old-woman said her husband has always been obsessed thinking she would one day have an affair. With her being in perimenopausal and not interested in sex, her husband is now even more paranoid, demanding to know exactly where she is at all times. Sleeping in the same bed, he always grips her hands tight, worried she could run away. He had four knives hidden under the mattress and more than once, put one to her throat, threatening to kill her if she dared to have an affair. Nguyen Thi Ha, Deputy Minister of Social Affairs, said: "After almost a decade, positive change can now be seen among young women as they are stronger and more determined in fighting domestic abuse. Those with higher education tend to suffer less from domestic abuse than the rest, which proves that education plays a key role, helping women grow more confident, independent and stronger." However, it is a fact many stories of domestic abuse against women remain hidden by victims themselves. "Social and cultural silence and stigma is still prevalent, preventing the abused from raising their voice and reaching for help," she said. Malian authorities on Monday freed political opponents whom security forces had detained following recent violent protests against the president, in an apparent bid to calm seething tensions in the country. After three days of unrest in the capital Bamako, the situation remained tense as stone-throwing protesters clashed with police, who fired back tear gas. President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita is facing a mounting wave of protests sparked by the outcome of a long-delayed parliamentary poll, but whose underlying causes include discontent over his handling of Mali's jihadist insurgency. The 75-year-old has been in power since 2013. A rally on Friday urging Keita to resign turned violent after protesters blocked bridges, stormed the premises of the state broadcaster, and attacked the parliament building. Eleven people have died and 124 have been injured since then, according to a senior official at a major Bamako hospital. Witnesses said security forces fired live rounds during clashes with protesters, with the civil unrest the worst the country has seen in years. Clashes persisted over the weekend in Bamako and continued through Monday, with much of the tension focused in the opposition-supporting Badalabougou neighbourhood. The well-off neighbourhood is a stronghold of influential imam Mahmoud Dicko, who has emerged as a leader of the protest movement. Elsewhere in Bamako, a measure of calm returned as traffic began to circulate on two of the city's main bridges -- major choke points that protesters had targeted. All banks remained shut, however. The demonstrations are being driven by a disparate group of religious leaders, political and civil society members that calls itself the June 5 Movement. Security forces arrested some 20 opposition figures in the aftermath of unrest. 'Consensus government' Late Sunday, representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the African Union and West African bloc ECOWAS urged Mali to pursue political dialogue and to release the detained political opponents. Condemning "any form of violence as a means of crisis resolution", they also attacked the use of lethal force by the security forces. Mali's European allies and regional partners are anxious, given the country's poverty, ethnic mix and strategic location at the heart of the Sahel. Sunday's statement voiced support for proposals put forward by ECOWAS, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States of which Mali is a member. Mali. By (AFP) The proposals call for a "consensus government of national union" and for fresh elections in constituencies whose provisional results, in the March-April elections, had been annulled by the Constitutional Court, a move that enabled several members of Keita's party to be elected. Malian Prime Minister Boubou Cisse visited Dicko on Sunday night, according to officials close to the imam, in an indication of attempts at dialogue. No details from that meeting have yet emerged. And in an apparent bid to smoothe tensions, authorities freed all the detained opposition figures on Monday, their lawyers told AFP. Keita has already made several attempts to ease the anger, including a promise to dissolve the court. Special ops force 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. The UN has deployed 13,000 soldiers to Mali in one of its biggest peacekeeping operations, while France has 5,100 troops in its Barkhane anti-jihadist mission across the Sahel. A joint EU special ops force called Takuba is to begin deployment on Wednesday, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Sunday. 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. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:51:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close VIENNA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) predicts that global oil demand will register a historic high growth of seven million barrels per day (b/d) in 2021, although it will remain far below the pre-COVID-19 level. While the oil market is still ravaged by the COVID-19 crisis, gradual stabilization is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2020, prompting cautious forecasts of renewed growth in 2021, according to OPEC's monthly report published on Tuesday. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the non-OECD oil producers will contribute around 3.5 million b/d to growth separately in 2021, it said. Spot crude oil prices continued to rise in June for the second consecutive month, driven by a drop in global oil surplus, further improvements in oil market fundamentals, as well as expectations that the oil market would tighten further in the second quarter of this year, the report said. OPEC forecasts a 4.7-percent global economic growth in 2021 following a contraction of 3.7 percent this year, assuming that COVID-19 is contained, especially in major economies. Enditem The decision to move forward with the first execution by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 -- and two others scheduled later in the week drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and relatives of Lees victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about their attending during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide. The three Lekhi siblings drove from the crack of dawn Tuesday from Vancouver over a mountain pass to reach their family home in Summerland, where they were born and raised. But when they reached the driveway, it didnt feel like home anymore. The night before, their parents who live in the house alone heard the smash of rocks coming through their windows and called the police. When Ramesh and Kiran Lekhi surveyed the damage, it was worse than they couldve imagined. There was a red swastika, curse words and lewd images of penises all along the front and side of their home. Overnight, swastikas were also spray painted on a bandshell in nearby Memorial Park, but no other private homes were reportedly targeted. The saddest part is that my mom didnt even know what the swastika was and what it meant, said 32-year-old Shivali Lekhi, who works as a respiratory therapist at BC Childrens Hospital. To explain what it means and for her to comprehend it means they hate the colour of our skin. It made her so scared. I dont know how we can protect our parents since we dont live here, she told the Star. That was when Marty Van Alphen, a longtime family friend and city councillor, interrupted to say, Your parents can call me anytime. Ill be here in a flash, putting his arm around Shivali. Over at the front of the house, her mother was sitting in a circle of friends and famly members, wiping tears from her face. Someone had brought a carafe of coffee and was pouring out cups for people to drink. Her oldest son declined an interview, saying he was too angry to speak. But the youngest sibling, Abhishek Lekhi, who had just graduated from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, stood defiantly in front of the swastika graffiti. Theres vandalism that happens and then there is hate crime. What they drew here represents a lot of hate and racism and made us fearful. For someone to come to our home while our parents were inside shows that hate is real, the 23-year-old told the Star. His parents had immigrated to Canada from east India in the 1970s, working various jobs in the Okanagan Valley before buying a piece of farmland to grow apples and cherries. For decades since, Ramesh has managed the farm, while Kiran works as a fruit packing house supervisor. Ramesh appeared calm, as he studied the swastika on the house where he had raised his children, and pointed out the hole a rock made in a bedroom window and where a rock was still lodged in a living room window frame. Luckily, he and his wife werent in either room at the time. What can you do, about these kind of people? Whatever comes I will stay in this house. Were not going to go, he said. Summerland mayor Toni Boot, who is the first Black mayor in the towns history, spent the morning at the home and said she will convene an urgent meeting of the city council to discuss how they will respond. This is not just targeting one family. It is targeting our East Indian community and our town as a whole. Regardless of our backgrounds, we all have to band together to tell people this is not okay, she told the Star. Sgt. Dave Preston, of the Summerland RCMP detachment, said police are investigating the two vandalism incidents as suspected hate crimes. Because this is not something weve seen here before in Summerland, that makes it much more concerning, he said. We are asking if anyone who has information to give us a call. Abhishek and his brother plan to stay in the house to support their parents for as long as they can. We will repair the broken windows and get down this spraypaint as soon as possible. I cant even look at it for very long. It just brings so much heartache. With the support of their neighbours and friends, Abhishek thinks the home will be a safe place for them again. There are people who hate people like us, and think people of different colours and religions dont belong but we have to come together. Who we are should enrich us and not split us apart. Joanna Chiu is a Vancouver-based reporter covering both Canada-China relations and current affairs on the West Coast for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @joannachiu Read more about: A man accused of torture, rape and sexual slavery as well destroying ancient monuments in Timbuktu is going on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. ICC prosecutors said there were substantial grounds to convict Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud for crimes against humanity torture, rape, sexual slavery (and) other inhumane acts including, inter alia, forced marriages, persecution and war crimes. Al Jazeeras Nicolas Haque reports from neighbouring Dakar, Senegal. Visakhapatnam: A major fire broke out following an explosion at a pharmaceutical unit near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Monday (July 13, 2020) night leaving one worker was injured. The incident took place in JN Pharma City at Parawada in Visakhapatnam. According to Suresh Babu, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in -charge Visakhapatnam City, the fire was doused and one person was injured in the incident. Giving confirmation of the accident, the DCP said that the fire broke out at 10:30 pm on Monday. "At least 90 per cent of the fire has been doused. Fire fighting operations are underway. We will investigate the matter," he added. Ten fire tenders (7 state government and 3 local companies) were rushed to the incident site to douse the flames, according to officials. Earlier, on May 7 due to Styrene gas leak from LG Polymers plant near a village of RR Venkatapuram in Visakhapatnam over 11 people lost their lives and 600 others were hospitalised. (With agency input) Protesters chant slogans during a rally against Beijing's new national security law in Hong Kong on July 1, 2020. (Dale De La Rey/AFP via Getty Images) Australia May Provide Special Visas If Hong Kong Situation Were to Deteriorate Prime Minister Scott Morrison has discussed the option of providing specialised humanitarian visas for Hong Kong residents if the situation worsens under the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) rule. Speaking on July 13 in an interview with Ray Hadley on 2GB, Morrison said the federal government hoped things would not deteriorate in Hong Kong, saying he wanted to see peace and stability and liberty for those people who live in Hong Kong. But if the situation were to deteriorate, then the government is in a position to have people who are already here, said Morrison. Currently, the governments Department of Home Affairs provides humanitarian visas to those who face substantial discrimination or human rights abuses or are subject to persecution in their home country. Morrison also noted that the government has the option in dire circumstances, such as with the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, to convert a visa into permanent residency. So we have all of those options still available to us, and we havent taken the decision to move to that level at this point, the prime minister explained. The introduction of new draconian national security laws to Hong Kong by the CCP prompted Australia to extend an easier path to permanent residency for some Hong Kong passport holders. But the government stopped short of using its powers to create a particular round of humanitarian visas for people fleeing persecution in the Chinese territory at the moment. Instead, they focused on the estimated 10,000 students and skilled visa holders who were currently living in Australia. The Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services, and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge said on the ABC Insiders program on July 12 that the governments reasoning behind this decision was that Australia currently has a humanitarian visa system in place. And if people, no matter where they are, are genuinely facing persecution, they can apply for one of those humanitarian visas, said Tudge. Tudge then went on to say that the Morrison governments second reason was that they deliberately wanted to target serious talent which is in Hong Kong, and businesses which have their regional headquarters in Hong Kong. We know that many people will be looking for opportunities to relocate elsewhere in the world. And we want to grab some of that talent for Australia because they come here, they generate businesses, they create jobs, they create wealth for Australians. So thats the objective of what we outlined this week, Tudge said. Australia has also suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong after criticising the Chinese communist regime for implement the national security law, saying it undermined the One Country, Two Systems agreement, and represented a fundamental change of rules. The circumstances have changed, Morrison said. They are now materially different from what was understood with the basic law and those declarations that were made at the time, he said. WASHINGTON, D. C. - Freshman congressman Anthony Gonzalez on Tuesday joined a growing number of legislators who are questioning the wisdom of Chinese-government funded cultural and language exchange programs at American universities that critics decry as propaganda outfits. The programs, called Confucius Institutes after the famous Chinese philosopher, are intended to promote cultural studies of China on U.S. campuses, but a report released last year by an investigative subcommittee chaired by Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman found the Chinese government controls nearly every aspect of their operations in U.S. schools, including veto authority over events and speakers. Legislation that Gonzalez, a Rocky River Republican, on Tuesday introduced with Florida Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala, a Cleveland native who served as Health and Human Services Secretary during the Clinton administration, would give U.S. universities that host Confucius Institutes full control over what they teach, the activities they carry out, the research grants they give, and the individuals they employ. It would also bar applications of any foreign law on campuses that host the institutes, and would eliminate federal government funding for U.S. hosts of Confucius Institutes that dont comply with the law. Ohio universities with Confucius Institutes include Cleveland State University, University of Akron, Miami University of Ohio and University of Toledo, according to a 2017 National Association of Scholars report that criticized the institutes. Shalala noted that the Chinese government suppresses freedom of speech, academic freedom and other democratic values. As an educator, I understand the importance of academic independence and integrity in our institutions of higher learning, but through Confucius Institutes, the Chinese government is often able to coerce schools to follow a pro-Chinese Communist Party approach, said a statement from Shalala, who formerly served as president of University of Miami. The CONFUCIUS Act will support important cultural exchange with China while strongly protecting the values of American public higher education that have made it the envy of the world. A statement from Gonzalez said Chinas communist party has used these institutes to promote a pro-China image while actively working to steal American research and innovation and coerce our colleges and universities. It is time we hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for their actions and work to protect American institutions of higher learning. In May, former Cleveland Clinic researcher Qing Wang was charged with fraud for failing to disclose his ties to Chinese universities and its government when he applied for more than $3.6 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. Last week, an Ohio State University rheumatology professor and researcher was charged with grant fraud for not disclosing his commitments to China when he got $4.1 million in NIH grants, and for using his U.S. research to benefit China. The Ohio State researcher, Song Guo Zheng, 57, was arrested after he arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, aboard a charter flight and as he prepared to board another charter flight to China. When he was arrested, he was carrying three large bags, one small suitcase and a briefcase containing two laptops, three cellular telephones, several USB drives, several silver bars, expired Chinese passports for his family, deeds for property in China and other items, the U.S. Justice Department said. A bill authored by Gonzalez to fight academic espionage became law last year when it was included in the National Defense Authorization Act. His Securing American Science and Technology Act of 2019 requires the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to establish an interagency working group of science, intelligence, and security agencies to address the security needs of agencies and federal grant recipients. The bill Gonzalez and Shalala introduced Tuesday passed the U.S. Senate last month by a unanimous vote. More coverage: Republicans slam the Ohio Democratic Party for getting federal Paycheck Protection Program loan U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to skip Democratic convention over COVID-19 concerns Donald Trump and Joe Biden backers spar as Biden unveils his economic plan Ohio Democrats pleased with U.S. Supreme Courts decisions that Trump cant withhold his financial records from investigators Rep. Tim Ryan leads charge to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. Capitol Sen. Sherrod Brown wants Clevelands baseball team renamed the Buckeyes Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur tries to block Trump administration from conducting nuclear tests Ex-Cleveland mayor and congressman Dennis Kucinich still riffs on the he was right theme President Donald Trump slams possible Cleveland Indians name change in tweet President Trump plugs Christina Hagans congressional campaign on Twitter Presidential electors must vote as their states dictate, U.S. Supreme Court decides Coronavirus outbreak at Elkton prison is waning, says U.S. Sen. Rob Portman Ohios U.S. Senators back renaming Confederate-named military bases, despite Trump veto threat Sen. Rob Portman calls for sanctioning Russia if outrageous bounty reports are true U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Louisiana abortion law, similar to Ohios, requiring doctors to have agreements with nearby hospitals Senate Democrats including Ohios Sherrod Brown thwart consideration of GOP police reform bill Ohios U.S. Senators urge support for Asian tire dumping complaint Vice President Mike Pence to visit Lordstown on Thursday Ohio Congress members introduce bill to help hospitals financially hit by coronavirus India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement on the eve of a virtual summit, while Europol and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are negotiating a working arrangement to combat organised crime and terrorism. The agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community or Euratom and Indian authorities will focus on cooperation between EUs research programmes on new ways of using nuclear energy and similar activities on the Indian side, EU officials said during a briefing for journalists. The agreement is on research and development cooperation for peaceful uses of nuclear energy, which was negotiated for 13 years and finally can be cemented by the summit, said one of the EU officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The India-EU Summit, to be co-chaired on Wednesday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to focus on strengthening multilateralism and global institutions in the face of the rise of an increasingly assertive China. The leadership of both sides are expected to reiterate their strong commitment to combat terrorism in all forms during the summit, the EU officials said. The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation or Europol and CBI are negotiating a working arrangement that will support law enforcement authorities of EU member states and India to prevent and combat organised crime and terror, they said. Asked specifically about the India-China border standoff, the EU officials described the recent incidents on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) as a matter of considerable concern. We are pleased to see that since these very deadly clashes took place on the LAC, both sides have committed to show restraint, to engage in military de-escalation and to engage in dialogue, one of the officials said. Reports showed there has been a withdrawal of troops by both sides in key areas, and diplomatic and military efforts are having a de-escalatory effect and we trust that both sides will continue dialogue to find a peaceful solution to their differences, the official added. However, the EU officials said two sides are quite far apart on the issue of a Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA), negotiations for which were suspended in 2017. They were also critical of what they described as protectionist measures adopted by India and the termination of bilateral investment treaties with 25 EU member states. The trade relationship was far below the potential, with India accounting for less than 3% of EUs total trade, they said. They added EU wants an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement that brings in strong rules, removes barriers to trade in goods and services and investments and opens up human markets. India maintains a quite protectionist stance when it comes to negotiations on tariffs and on opening up its services sector, it goes backward in many areas, [such as] reducing access to the Indian procurement market for European companies, one of the EU officials said. At the moment, we are quite far apart in agreeing on joint operations we want to see in such an exercise. EU is looking forward to the launch of a high-level trade dialogue between the EU trade commissioner and Indias comer minister to address these issues, they said. Besides the trade dialogue and a cooperation roadmap for the period till 2025, other deliverables expected from the summit are a joint declaration on circular economy and resource efficiency, the renewal of a science and technology cooperation agreement, the launch of a new maritime security dialogue, and the development of security and defence consultations and military contacts, the officials said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump uses Facebook like a Swiss Army knife -- to raise money, amplify his message, and mobilize voters. His rival, Joe Biden, uses the increasingly controversial social platform primarily to stick his hand out for donations. As he did in 2016, Trump is taking advantage of the social media giants granular knowledge of its users interests to target specific ads to specific people, and is doing so much more often than Biden. This micro-targeting allows Trump to tap into Facebooks unique ability to rally his base of voters, who he needs to motivate as he trails Biden in most election polls. Since entering the presidential contest in April 2019, Biden has spent $21 million on Facebook ads compared to $33 million for Trump over the same period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. But the two campaigns are spending the money very differently. On Friday, people familiar with the companys thinking said Facebook was considering banning political ads ahead of the U.S. election, but for now it still allows candidates to narrowly target voters using its data. Micro-targeting is using all the data social networks have on a user, from location to political leaning to what brands they buy, to generate the perfect ad. Twitter Ad Ban Google has limited how political campaigns can target voters using its digital ad sales platform, and Twitter has banned campaign ads altogether. Twitter said it did so because of the potential for ads to spread misleading information, while Google said its policy means ads are more widely viewed and available for public discussion like ones airing on television and radio are. Facebook has also taken only limited steps to ban hate speech that infiltrates some users feeds, which has led some large companies like Unilever NV, Coca-Cola Co. and Starbucks Corp. to temporarily pull their ad dollars from the site. Users can be targeted based on all kinds of information, including search and travel history. And the ads can be tweaked over time to make them more effective. The Trump campaign does constant testing of its ads and makes small changes on a daily basis. Story continues Through the morning of July 8 Bidens campaign had bought about 23,000 distinct ads on the platform compared to more than 489,000 for Trump, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data made available by Facebook. About 68% of the presidents ads are seen fewer than 1,000 times compared to 34% for Biden, suggesting much more specific micro-targeting by Trumps campaign. Petition Drives Bidens campaign is focused on raising money and attacking Trump. So far he hasnt used Facebook to hone his message or mobilize supporters, but hes included appeals to sign petitions, which help him build up his list of email contacts, and to donate. Recent pitches asked for 2.5 million supporters to take a stand against Trumps hatred, division and calls for violence by signing an online petition. Offering less variation in his Facebook ads could hurt Bidens efforts to reach the voters he needs, said Damon McCoy, director of the Online Political Ads Transparency Project and a professor at New York Universitys Tandon School of Engineering. Its probably causing them to be less effective, he said, because the campaign isnt getting the same level of audience feedback. Trumps campaign used Facebook in February to motivate voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, even as he was virtually unopposed in those states Republican nominating contests. The campaign put out almost 1,200 ads, which included links to find caucus or polling locations, that were seen between 1.4 million and 2.8 million times. Voter Turnout Trump ran away with both contests, getting support of 97% of caucus-goers in Iowa and turning out 2.6 times more voters in New Hampshire than Barack Obama, another incumbent without a serious primary challenger, did in 2012. Trump used the outcome as evidence of the strength of his support. According to Facebook, which provides data on impressions, cost and other metrics in broad ranges, the total cost of the messaging was between $18,800 and $139,406. The focus on targeted ads likely helped Trump gain a big lead in early fund-raising, according to Will Bunnett, a principal at the progressive digital ad agency Clarify. But Trump may have another advantage over Biden in using the platform, he said, because of the way Facebooks algorithm puts ads in front of people wholl interact with them, often by getting riled up. The easiest way to get people to interact with your ads is to get them mad about something, Bunnett said. Facebook is a pretty natural fit for him in a way that it might not be for Joe Biden. Trumps Preoccupations A senior Trump campaign official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the campaign was constantly testing thousands upon thousands of ads so voters are hearing the facts about this president. The Biden campaign didnt respond to a request for comment. Some of Trumps Facebook ads reflect his rhetoric and preoccupations. There are more than 50,000 ads mentioning impeachment, preceded by the word bogus more than 1,000 times, followed by witch hunt more than 4,000 times. About 40,000 ads refer to fake news. Old campaign themes like build the wall and drain the swamp mingle with concerns about Antifa, a loosely-defined left-wing movement Trump said was involved in the June street protests, and which appears in more than 2,000 ads. Attacks on calls to defund the police have been in 715 ads so far, since the term made its debut in a June 19 fund-raising pitch. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Michigan topped 70,000 on Tuesday afternoon, with the state reporting 584 new cases. In the first two weeks of July, the state has reported more than 300 cases 12 times and more than 500 cases five times. In these two weeks, Michigan has added 6,436 confirmed cases, for a daily average of 460. The current seven-day average in Michigan is 526 cases. Also on Tuesday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order, extending the emergency and disaster declaration until the end of Aug. 11. The state added six deaths on Tuesday, pushing its total of confirmed deaths due to COVID-19 to 6,081. In issuing the order, Whitmer said that every region in Michigan has seen an uptick in new cases over the past three weeks. COVID-19 has now killed more than 6,000 people in Michigan. Thats more than 6,000 of our parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors. And the rising numbers weve seen over the past few weeks prove that this virus is still a very real threat in our state, Whitmer said in a statement. Today, I signed new emergency and disaster declarations using independent sources of statutory authority to continue saving lives and ensure that the brave men and women on the front lines of this crisis have the tools they need. With probable cases, Michigan has 77,864 cases and 6,326 deaths, ranking 13th in the nation in terms of cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. Michigan was recently passed by Louisiana and has about 3,000 more cases than Maryland. Ten states now have more than 100,000 cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Overall, the United States has about 3.4 million cases of COVID-19, with more than 136,000 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported. Worldwide, about 13.2 million cases have been confirmed, resulting in 575,000 deaths. #MaskUpMichigan The continued surge in Michigan there were no days with more than 400 cases reported in all of June comes as the state is under an intensified mandate to wear face masks when in indoor public placed or crowded outdoor environments. On Monday, the more strict order went into effect, adding a potential fine for violators. Businesses must require patrons to wear masks. One day later, Whiter continued to ask Michiganders to help curb the spread of infection by wearing the masks and practice physical distancing. If we all do our part now, there is a greater chance that schools can resume in-person learning in the fall, Whitmer said. Be smart, be safe, and mask up. Pushback is coming from some sheriffs, including the Macomb County Sheriffs Office and Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel, who treat the wearing of masks as optional, an option that businesses can implement if they want. If a business wishes to enforce this order, they may require patrons to wear a mask, the Macomb County Sheriffs Office posted on Facebook this week. If the patron refuses, the business may ask them to leave their establishment. If the patron refuses, the business may contact us and we will treat it as a trespassing complaint. In Grand Ledge, a man was shot by a police officer after a stabbing followed a disagreement over wearing a face mask, The Associated Press reported. Where cases are increasing The governor said the case counts now exceed 20 cases per million in the Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo regions. Wayne County, excluding Detroit, saw the largest increase in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, adding 134 to hit 11,185 confirmed cases, now only 810 behind Detroit. Detroit added just 34 cases to reach 11,995 cases. Oakland County added 60 cases to reach 9,645. Macomb County added 45 cases to reach 7,670. In western Michigan, Kent County was second in the number of new cases on Tuesday, adding 85 to reach 5,483. Ottawa County saw its second day with 28 new cases, pushing their total to 1,250. And just to the south of Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo County added 13 cases to reach 1,168. In mid-Michigan, Ingham County added 20 to reach 1,165 confirmed cases. To the north, Gratiot County stayed the same at 97 cases, while neighboring Isabella County added two to reach 139. And further north, Clare County added two cases to reach 33. Four counties have added more than 100 cases in the past two days, led by Wayne County, excluding Detroit, with 185, followed by Macomb County with 134, Ken County with 120, and Oakland County with 110. Together, we saved lives, but we cant let up, Oakland County Executive David Coulter tweeted this week. #MaskUpMI. He shared a graph showing seven-day averages of new cases in Oakland County, with highs of nearly 300 for much of the first part of April. That seven-day averages went from 200 down to 100 during the latter half of April. By mid-May and thru the end of June, that average was down to 20 cases, but for the first part of July, the number is back up to 60, where it had been in early May. Masks for kids? Schools confront the politics of reopening Man killed by police after mask dispute at Grand Ledge store Man sentenced for wiping nose on store clerk after being told to wear mask due to coronavirus Mark Hackel defers face covering enforcement in Macomb County to state Coronavirus cases in Michigan up nearly 400 TEL AVIV, Israel, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Seebo, the Predictive Quality and Yield solution for manufacturers, today announced the completion of a $9M funding round, led by Ofek Ventures, with the participation of Vertex Ventures, together with existing investors Viola Ventures and TPY Capital. Since its founding, Seebo has raised $31 million. Due to inefficiencies in their production processes, large manufacturers suffer, on average, tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in quality, yield and waste losses each year. Seebo will use the funding to further expand its global reach and continue enhancing its Process-Based Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution. Seebo's solution enables manufacturers to predict and prevent production losses and master complex production processes, saving customers significant money each year. Seebo's funding comes amid growing demand for the company's solution, as manufacturers seek new ways to prevent losses and optimize their processes. Current Seebo customers include industry leaders like Nestle, Barilla, Mondelez, ICL and PepsiCo. "We're really excited to be investing in Seebo," said Ofek Ventures partner, Itay Rand. "Over the past few years Seebo has cemented itself as a leader in the fields of Predictive Quality and Industrial Artificial Intelligence, with a growing roster of tier-1 manufacturers. Manufacturers today understand that in order to compete successfully they must adopt effective process optimization capabilities, and there is a clear recognition that Industrial Artificial Intelligence and a data-driven approach is fundamental to achieving that goal." "Manufacturers today realize that in order to prevent losses and continuously master complex production processes, they need a technological solution that truly understands the unique complexity of their production lines, and is both easy for production teams to use and scalable across various manufacturing lines." said Seebo CEO and Co-Founder Lior Akavia.. Additionally, the Coronavirus crisis has rapidly changed the face of manufacturing, as companies have had to adapt to shifting customer demand, forcing supply chain disruptions, new regulations for employees and a move towards optimization of remote processes. "The Coronavirus pandemic has spurred a search for more efficient, effective ways to identify and prevent process inefficiencies overall - which lies at the heart of what Seebo does," said Akavia. "Data-driven decision-making is critical in our new reality, as manufacturers must adapt quickly and implement changes effectively. Those manufacturers who meet this challenge today will gain a competitive edge in tomorrow's marketplace." About Seebo: Seebo is the Predictive Quality and Yield solution. Manufacturers use Seebo to predict and prevent quality, yield and waste losses. Seebo Process-Based Artificial Intelligence is designed to solve complicated process inefficiencies - revealing the hidden causes and recommending the right actions. By providing production teams with ready-to-use Artificial Intelligence, continuous process mastership becomes a reality. With Seebo production teams know why process inefficiencies happen, using Automated Root Cause Analysis; how to prevent process inefficiencies, using Predictive Recommendations; and when to act, using Proactive Alerts. Seebo's customers include leading manufacturers across multiple industries, including Barilla, Nestle, Mondelez, PepsiCo, Allnex and ICL. Seebo is backed by Viola Ventures, Ofek Ventures, Vertex Ventures and TPY Capital. For more information, please visit www.seebo.com Contact details: Ohad Pollak VP Marketing [email protected] SOURCE Seebo Depp also told Connolly that Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and Connolly confirmed he saw a mark. Heard, who appeared uninjured, came close to the car and said something like: "Are you just going to leave it like this, you f--ing coward?" (Natural News) 5G is the fifth-generation mobile network, and telecom companies are playing up its faster speeds and greater connectivity. In fact, it is said to be at least 10 times faster than the 4G LTE network in use now, although some experts say it could even be 100 times faster, allowing people to download a two-hour movie in under 10 seconds. They boast that it can connect virtually everyone and everything imaginable together, but it is precisely these qualities that make it so threatening. Concerns about the dark reality of this technology are growing as it starts rolling out across the nation. There have long been worries about the danger this network may post to human health, particularly given the number of powerful transmitters that have to be placed throughout neighborhoods to make this connectivity possible. A growing body of research shows that the EMF present in mobile technologies is amplified significantly with 5G, with experts like retired U.S. government scientist Dr. Ronald M. Powell warning that the 5G rollout will essentially irradiate everyone, with young children, pregnant women, the elderly and chronically ill being particularly vulnerable to its dangers. 5G poses serious privacy issues However, another dark reality about 5G is also raising concerns: privacy. The big tech giants like Google and Amazon who are behind so many of the smart home products on the market have unprecedented access into peoples homes and lives thanks to these devices. Given their track record, are we sure that we want to trust them with big databases filled with sensitive and highly personal information on all aspects of our daily lives? Of course, many feel that governments are all too happy about the prospect of having control over peoples data and lives. Intelligence agencies can use this data to spy on the public, and were not just talking about the Chinese and Russians but also the CIA, MI6, Mossad and any other agency you can think of. In fact, then-CIA director David Petraeus admitted in 2012 at a summit that not only was the CIA able use smart devices to spy on people but that they were actually eager to do so. In a 2016 report to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper admitted: In the future, intelligence services might use the IoT for identification, surveillance, monitoring, location tracking, and targeting for recruitment, or to gain access to networks or user credentials. Of course, we already know that the NSA collects all of the data that passes through the internet, including phone calls, emails, files and web searches. Its a situation that is only going to get worse as they gain even greater access into our daily lives thanks to the dragnet that is 5G. There is also the potential for hacking anything that you connect to the internet, which means people are giving hackers access to everything from their toaster to their door locks and their car. Weve already seen this in action, with a Wisconsin couple saying that a hacker got into their smart home devices and turned up the heat, spoke to them through a camera, and played vulgar music. A family in Northern California, meanwhile, experienced several minutes of terror after hackers used their Nest camera to warn them of an incoming missile attack from North Korea. As chilling as those incidents were, other hackings can be downright deadly, with hackers demonstrating their ability to take over a Jeep Cherokee wirelessly and control the vehicle. For all these reasons, there is a lot of public resistance to the use of 5G. A formal appeal to the European Union has been filed by more than 180 doctors and scientists from 36 different countries related to the serious health risks of 5G, while city officials in Portland, Oregon are now suing the federal government to stop transmitters from being installed on city property. Every time you hear someone hyping the great speeds offered by 5G, you might want to fill them in on the dark truth that this will create a global smart city infrastructure that may well be the biggest threat to privacy and freedom weve ever seen. Sources for this article include: WakingTimes.com BBC.co.uk BusinessInsider.com Amid the outpouring of tributes for Kelly Preston, her longtime friend Demi Moore shared a special message in honor of the actress on Monday. Preston died on Sunday, aged 57, following a battle with breast cancer, her husband John Travolta revealed in an announcement Monday. Moore, 57, took to Instagram and called Preston a 'tender-loving soul' while sharing a photo with her then-husband Bruce Willis, Preston and husband Travolta. 'We will miss you': Demi Moore paid tribute to Kelly Preston on Monday following news that the actress has died aged 57 from breast cancer 'The world has lost one of the most beautiful, kind, generous, tender-loving souls that has graced this earth. Rest easy @therealkellypreston, we will miss you' the Ghost actress wrote. Moore shared her tribute with a photo that captured a memory with Travolta and Preston from what appears to be 1991 or 1992 as the couples hung out. The newly married couple posed beside Moore and then-husband Willis who was holding one of his daughters while Preston playfully nibbled on the tot's feet. Friends: Moore and then-husband Bruce Willis hung out with Travolta and Preston at numerous social events. They are seen here in 1994 Girlfriends: Demi and Kelly are seen here chatting at the Golden Globes in 1997 Preston, who has appeared in films including Jerry Maguire and Twins, died on Sunday after secretly battling breast cancer for nearly two years. Travolta announced the sad news in an Instagram post late on Sunday 'It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,' the 66-year-old Grease actor said in his post. 'Kelly's love and life will always be remembered. I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don't hear from us for a while', Travolta wrote. Loss: Travolta announced on Monday the sad news that Kelly died on Sunday after secretly battling breast cancer for nearly two years Travolta and Preston met in 1988 when they appeared together in a film called The Experts. They married on September 5, 1991, in Paris. Preston is survived by her husband and their children - daughter Ella, 20, and 9-year-old son Benjamin. Their son Jett died at age 16 in January 2009 during a family vacation in the Bahamas. 'I have never met anyone as courageous, strong, beautiful and loving as you,' her daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, wrote in a tribute posted on Instagram. China has described a primary by Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties as a "serious provocation", warning that some campaigning may have breached a tough new security law it imposed on the city. "This is a serious provocation against the current election system," the Liaison Office, which represents China's government in the semi-autonomous city, said in a statement late Monday. More than 600,000 Hong Kongers turned out over the weekend to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections despite warnings from government officials that the event could breach Beijing's sweeping new law. Polls for the city's partially elected legislature are due to take place in September. Pro-democracy parties are keen to use seething public anger towards Beijing's increasingly authoritarian rule to win a majority within a chamber that has always been weighted in favour of pro-Beijing parties. Control could give them a greater ability to stall budgets and legislation, one of the few tactics left open to the opposition camp. But in its statement, the Liaison Office said campaigning to take control of the chamber is itself a breach of the new security law. "This is suspected of violating Article 22 of the national security law and other local election regulations," the statement said. Article 22 targets "subverting state power". It outlaws "serious interference and obstruction" of the central and Hong Kong governments, or any act that causes them to be "unable to perform their functions normally". Beijing's security legislation bypassed Hong Kong's legislature and its contents were kept secret until the law was enacted at the end of last month. It targets subversion, sedition, terrorism and foreign collusion with up to life in prison. But its broad phrasing -- such as a ban on encouraging hatred towards China's government -- has sent fear rippling through a city used to being able to speak its mind. Under the law, China has claimed jurisdiction over some serious cases and allowed its intelligence apparatus to set up shop openly in the city for the first time. Those provisions have ended the legal firewall that existed since the 1997 handover between the mainland's party-controlled courts and Hong Kong's independent judiciary. On the mainland, national security laws are routinely used to crush dissent, including subverting state power. China says the law is needed to return stability after huge and often violent pro-democracy protests last year. Opponents, including many Western nations, say the law has started to demolish the "One Country, Two Systems" model where China agreed to let Hong Kong retain key civil liberties, as well as legislative and judicial autonomy, until 2047. More than 600,000 Hong Kongers turned out over the weekend to choose candidates for upcoming legislative elections A full scale model of one of North Kerry's most historic monuments, which was destroyed more than 60 years ago by Kerry County Council, is to be constructed near the village of Lixnaw. A 50ft high mausoleum made of black limestone was erected in 1690 by the 20th Lord of Kerry, William Fitzmaurice, at a burial site for the Fitzmaurice clan members. It stood on top of Killbinane Hill, near Lixnaw, until 1958 when it was dynamited to smithereens by Kerry County Council, who wanted to use the stone for road building. Now a local heritage and historical group headed by Pat Joe Gilbert has drawn up a plan to restore the historic structure in a new park to be built in Lixnaw by Irish Water, which is installing a water treatment system. Mr Gilbert said, "The Fitzmaurices could not have picked a better site for their mausoleum. Killbinane Hill holds panoramic views of the whole central basin of North Kerry, with a view stretching from Kerry Head on the West to Cnoc an Oir on the North, near Ballybunion and the Stacks Mountains on the South." Mr Gilbert said the tower crypt had two doors, one of which was a blind door, which blended in with the wall surface. He said, "The other door could be opened to allow for an interment and could be sealed. The wooden coffins were enclosed in shrouds. Bone from human remains have been found over the years around the crypt." Kerry County Council, he said, commenced quarrying in the area in the mid-1950s. "On a damp September day in 1958, explosives were laid all around the base of the monument but the explosives would not detonate as they got wet. However, new cables were brought from Tralee and later that evening the whole monument went up. As it turned out the stone was useless for road building as the black limestone was not strong enough," Mr Gilbert said. Local businessman, Frank Quilter said they should have no difficulty raising money as there is tremendous support for the project locally. He said: "We have detailed photographs taken before the mausoleum was demolished and we plan to build it in a new park which will be laid out as part of a new Irish Water facility. We intend to have it built to the same measurements of the original mausoleum which stood 15.25m, approximately 50ft high with the internal diameter of 8.2 meters, approximately 27 ft. The Fitzmaurice families, Lords of Kerry were established in Lixnaw as early as 1250 and the family held sway in North Kerry for over 500 years." Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:07:39|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TEHRAN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A retired employee of Iran's Defense Ministry was hanged for spying for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday. The spy, named Reza Askari, was executed last week after trial for providing the CIA with information on Iran's missile program, Gholam Hossein Esmaili, the Judiciary spokesman, was quoted by Tasnim as saying. After retirement from the Defense Ministry's Aerospace Department in 2012, Askari was connected with the CIA and sold information on the production of Iranian missiles in exchange for money, according to Esmaili. Enditem Richard Branson has reached a 1.2 billion pound ($1.5 billion) deal with two credit-card payment processing companies and an American hedge fund to rescue Virgin Atlantic from financial collapse after the British government rejected the airlines request for a loan. Davidson Kempner Capital Management will put in 170 million, and Mr. Bransons Virgin Group will contribute 200 million using money raised from the sale of shares in Virgin Galactic, his space travel company. The deal came together after support from two payment processing companies, First Data and Cardnet. First Data had insisted on high levels of cash collateral, holding up the arrangement, Sky News reported. Delta Air Lines, which owns 49 percent of Virgin Atlantic, also agreed to defer marketing charges and other payments alongside majority owner Virgin Group, opening up about 400 million to Mr. Bransons airline. The pandemic had led the airline to ground most of its fleet and lay off more than 3,000 workers. The British government has resisted pressure to support individual companies, and told airlines that aid wouldnt be considered until the firms had exhausted all other options. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 13) World superpower China denied the appeal of the Philippines on Monday to recognize the 2016 arbitration ruling on the disputed South China Sea. In a statement, the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines emphasized the Permanent Court of Arbitrations decision favoring the Philippines over Chinas sweeping claims of the South China Sea is illegal and invalid. China does not accept or participate in the arbitration, nor does it accept or recognize the so-called award. China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea will under no circumstances be affected by this award, the statement reads. Beijing highlighted that both countries already have a compromise in handling the issue, with the establishment of the Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea. China also noted their strong bilateral relations with the Philippines for the past few years. Since assuming the presidency in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte promoted closer ties with the Asian superpower and even convinced by Chinese president Xi Jinping to have a joint and gas exploration in the South China Sea. In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, China-Philippines relations have maintained healthy and steady momentum, with exchanges and cooperation in various fields making continuous progress. This serves the fundamental interests of the two peoples and contributes to peace and stability in the South China Sea, the Chinese embassy said. On Sunday as the Philippines marked the fourth anniversary of the historic South China Sea ruling asserting the countrys claims on the sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. called on China to adhere to the ruling and that the arbitration award is non-negotiable. 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 said. The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled on July 12, 2016 that Beijings nine-dash line maritime claim, which covers 85 percent of the South China Sea and 80 percent of Manilas exclusive economic zone (EEZ), is excessive and encroached into the Philippines' 200-nautical mile EEZ. On July 1, the government issued an eviction notice to Priyanka Gandhi asking her to vacate the 35, Lodhi Estate bungalow before August 1. New Delhi: Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday claimed that a "powerful" Congress leader contacted him to request allotment of the government bungalow that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has to vacate to a parliamentarian from the party so that she could stay on. In her response, the Congress general secretary said she has made no such request and that she will be vacating the house by August 1 as asked by the government. On July 1, the government issued an eviction notice to Priyanka Gandhi asking her to vacate the 35, Lodhi Estate bungalow before August 1 as she was no longer eligible for it after her security cover was downgraded last year. "Facts speak for themselves! A powerful Congress leader with much clout in the Party called me on 4 July 2020 at 12:05 pm to request that 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another INC MP so that Priyanka Vadra can stay on. Let's not sensationalise everything please," Puri said on Twitter. Puri's tweet came after Priyanka Gandhi called as "fake news" a media report that she had sought more time to vacate the bungalow. "This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on the 1st of July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by the 1st of August," she said in a tweet. Following the union urban development minister's comments, Priyanka Gandhi reiterated that she will be vacating the bungalow by August 1 and that she has not made any request for extension of her stay in it. "If someone called you Mr Puri, I thank them for their concern, and thank you for your consideration as well but it still does not change the facts: I have made no such request, and I am making no such request," she tweeted. "As I said, I will be vacating the house by the 1st of August as required in the eviction letter," she said. Priyanka Gandhi's security cover was downgraded from elite SPG (Special Protection Group) cover to Z plus security by the CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force). Congress Spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala too commented on the issue following Puri's tweet, saying Priyanka Gandhi "fights for the cause of people and needs no favours from your ilk. So stop bragging unwarrantedly. The issue is closed." Smart screens are probably the future of smart speakers. For the moment, though, theyre a mixed bag in terms of functionality. Googles new Nest Hub is handy as a fancy bedside alarm clock or a kitchen countertop radio that plays YouTube videos and reminds you of lists youve made, but it misses out on some things that could make it a compelling home gadget. Its audio quality is relatively basic and, because it doesnt have a camera, you cant use it for things we really need to stay in touch right now, like video calls. It also falls victim to the turf wars between tech giants, meaning you cant get services like Netflix or Amazon Prime on it, let alone things like Disney Plus. Indeed, just about the only commonly-used third party service you can get on it is Spotify. Read More On the other hand, its very aggressively priced. Heres a 7-inch smart display with a creditably smooth, bright, vivid screen, a working speaker and very decent voice controls for 90. Thats at least 20 cheaper than its direct Amazon rival, the Echo Show 8, even if the Echo has better audio quality as an actual speaker. This is probably handiest for someone who already has a couple of other Google smart devices set up such as a security Nest, for example or who just wants something cheap and cheerful for a handful of specific purposes, like a radio that also plays YouTube videos. There are actually hundreds of physical devices, from lights to TV controls, that now work with the Google Assistant. Many of these are accessible directly from the Nest Hub (although theyre also usually accessible from your phones Home app, too.) For anyone who already has any Google smart devices set up, its a fairly seamless process to integrate this one. Switch it on and finish your settings within the Google Home app. Its a reasonably elegant little screen, too, with fairly thick white bezels. It has ambient lighting control, meaning it adjusts to the brightness of the room. I think it bears repeating, though, that in terms of audio quality, this is basic. Its fine, but not noticeably any better than Googles small Nest Mini or equivalent 50-ish smart speakers. Its not a patch on Amazons (slightly pricier) Echo Show 8. So if you plan on using it frequently for Spotify, Google Music or YouTube Music, or for internet radio stations through the likes of TuneIn, theres a low ceiling on quality. For those new to smart displays, there are also hard walls when it comes to the kind of content you might think of watching on a smart screen. For example, you cant play Netflix on it. Or Amazon Prime Video or Disney Plus or Apple Plus or any other major video services. (American buyers of the Nest Hub can watch some other video selections such as CBS, HBO Now or Starz.) Arguably the biggest disappointment of the Nest Hub is that it doesnt support some of Googles own video calling services. You cant participate in a Google Meet or Hangouts meeting on this device, mainly because it doesnt have a camera. Instead, you have to hope that others are using Google Duo (almost no-one I know uses this regularly) and start a group voice call within that application. So if this is an important part of what you want from a standalone large screen, the Nest Hub isnt really a substitute for a tablet. Instead, its more like a visual radio that can also remind you of things like shopping lists and alarms. Birmingham police are searching for a 24-year-old nonverbal, autistic man last seen Monday at the Walmart at 1600 Montclair Road. Gregory Charles Williams Jr., is a 24-year-old Black male, 5 foot 11 inches tall, and 250 pounds. Williams was last seen wearing a gray Chevrolet hat, black shirt, black shorts, and black Jordan flip flops. Gregory has a low haircut and was last seen walking westbound in the Walmart parking lot. Although nonverbal, Gregory can write his name. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Birmingham Police Department at 205-297-84313 or 911. If you have additional information on this investigation, contact Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777. New subscription-based platform puts software at the heart of the enterprise and includes new eLearning platform to bridge widening knowledge gap UTRECHT, The Netherlands, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Ultimaker, the global leader in professional 3D printing, launched today Ultimaker Essentials, a new software solution created to aid companies in overcoming major barriers in the adoption of additive manufacturing. Ultimaker Essentials enables companies to incorporate 3D printing in existing IT infrastructures and allows for seamless distribution and updating of 3D printing software. The paid subscription-based software offering addresses several glaring IT pain-points, including the need for improved management across workflows and the knowledge gap that exists in the manufacturing industry. A major concern within enterprise IT departments is the ability to successfully and centrally manage distribution 3D printing software. Ultimaker Essentials addresses this issue by ensuring updates and plugins are rolled out across users in an organization at the same time. This streamlines the process, providing better control across multiple 3D printers in an organization. Ultimaker Essentials also includes a brand-new direct support function and a catalogue of verified plugins to help effectively scale 3D Printing outputs. Subscribing to Ultimaker Essentials provides organizations with an enterprise grade solution for adopting a full 3D printing infrastructure. "As one of the core pillars of Industry 4.0, 3D printing is an essential part of progressive business solutions and processes," said Jos Burger, CEO at Ultimaker. "In the wake of the recent pandemic, companies need to quickly realize, if they haven't already, that global supply chains and manufacturing workflows can be easily disrupted. The transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing is now imminent and more imperative than ever. The Ultimaker Essentials launch is targeted at addressing these gaps and removing the final barriers in adoption of 3D printing." As part of the Ultimaker Essential package, users have access to three eLearning courses from the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy, which also launches today. Ultimaker's 2019 3D Printing Sentiment Index found that 69 percent of the professionals surveyed cited knowledge as the most frequent barrier, of which, 40 percent brought up a lack of necessary skillsets to properly leverage 3D printing. The Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy helps professionals overcome these barriers with curated and developed content catered specifically to the jobs of today. Courses in the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy, ranging from novice to expert level, will also be available separate from Ultimaker Essentials. "We are thrilled to roll-out the Ultimaker 3D Printing Academy as a premier platform for learning, which will significantly increase in value over time," said Nuno Campos, CMO at Ultimaker. "This is only the first step of our program as in Q4 we will expand the Academy by releasing multiple role- and topic-based courses, which will lead to additional certifications. We look forward to the continued adoption and education of 3D printing and are excited to help businesses uncover how 3D printing can benefit their business now and in the future." To learn more about Ultimaker Essentials, please register to join our live webinar on July 14, 2020 at 9pm SGT / 3pm CEST / 9am EDT / 6am PDT. Additional information can be found at https://ultimaker.com/software-launch. About Ultimaker Since 2011, Ultimaker has built an open and easy-to-use solution of 3D printers, software, and materials that enable professional designers and engineers to innovate every day. Today, Ultimaker is the market leader in professional 3D printing. From offices in the Netherlands, New York, Boston, and Singapore plus production facilities in Europe and the US its global team of over 400 employees work together to accelerate the world's transition to digital distribution and local manufacturing. Ultimaker.com SOURCE Ultimaker Related Links http://www.ultimaker.com Daniel Lewis Lee waits for his arraignment hearing for murder in the Pope County Detention Center in Russellville, Ark., on Oct. 31 1997. (Dan Pierce/The Courier via AP) Supreme Court Clears Way for Execution of Federal Prisoner TERRE HAUTE, Ind.The Trump administration was moving ahead early Tuesday with the execution of the first federal prison inmate in 17 years after a divided Supreme Court reversed lower courts and ruled federal executions could proceed. Daniel Lewis Lee had been scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital at 4 p.m. EDT Monday. But a court order issued Monday morning by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan prevented Lees execution. A federal appeals court in Washington refused the administrations plea to step in, leaving the hold in place, before the Supreme Court acted by a 5-4 vote. Still, Lees lawyers insisted the execution could not go forward after midnight under federal regulations. With conservatives in the majority, the court said in an unsigned opinion that the prisoners executions may proceed as planned. The four liberal justices dissented. Lees execution was scheduled for about 4 a.m. EDT Tuesday, according to court papers. A guard tower flanks the sign at the entrance to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind., on March 17, 2003. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy File) The Bureau of Prisons had continued with preparations even as lower courts paused the proceedings. Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, has had access to social visitors, visited with his spiritual adviser and has been allowed to receive mail, prison officials said. The witnesses for Lee are expected to include three family members, his lawyers and spiritual adviser. Lee 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 decision to move forward 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. Some members of the victims family argued they would be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend, and sought to delay the execution until it was safer to travel. Those claims were at first granted but also eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. Two more executions are scheduled this week, though one, Wesley Ira Purkey, was on hold in a separate legal claim. Dustin Lee Honkens execution was scheduled for on Friday. A fourth man, Keith Dwayne Nelson, is scheduled to be executed in August. Attorney General William Barr speaks during in a roundtable with law enforcement officials in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on June, 8, 2020. (Doug Mills-Pool/Getty Images) 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. 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 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. 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 also been given execution dates 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. 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 1988most 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 Department 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. By Michael Balsamo C alifornia has reimposed restrictions on public spaces and businesses due to a spike of coronavirus infections in the US state. Governor Gavin Newsom ordered an immediate halt to all indoor activities at places including restaurants, bars, zoos and museums. In the worst-affected counties of what is America's most populous state, churches, gyms and hairdressers will also close. More than 330,000 Covid-19 cases and 7,000 deaths have been recorded in California Earlier in the pandemic state authorities closed beaches, campgrounds and state parks as it sought to limit interactions of people from different households. But as data showed the virus was most likely to be transmitted indoors, the Newsom administration began modifying public health orders. Governor Newsom has repeatedly implored people to refrain from social gatherings and he expressed frustration that many aren't following the guidance. Loading.... "Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon, until there is a vaccine and or an effective therapy," he said. "Limit your mixing with people outside of your household. It's just common sense, but the data suggests not everyone is practicing common sense." The city of Los Angeles immediately implemented the mandated shutdowns and Mayor Eric Garcetti said he wouldn't hesitate to go further. Earlier this month the city created a colour-coded system to designate the threat level from the virus and corresponding shutdowns. Rising numbers of cases and hospitalisations now have it at orange the second-highest designation, when people are to minimise all contact with anyone outside their household. "Red is when everything shuts down again - everything, to our strictest level. And I do want to warn people that we're close to that," Mayor Garcetti said. The Trump administration told a US court Tuesday it was rescinding an order that made it mandatory for international students to be enrolled in universities that also offered in-person reaching in the upcoming fall semester or they will be either not allowed to enter the country or be deported. The administration conveyed its decision to a federal district court in Massachusetts that was hearing a lawsuit challenging the order from Harvard and MIT, joined by hundreds of other schools and colleges and some states. Im glad the Trump admin agreed to rescind this dangerous & xenophobic #StudentBan policy after we demanded they reverse course & MA schools sued them. Ill keep fighting to make sure it stays that way, Elizabeth Warren, Democratic senator and former presidential candidate, wrote on twitter. When we fight back, we can make a real difference. Foreign students enrolled in US institutions offering online-only classes for their fall semester will be not allowed to come to the US and if they are already here they may be forced to leave, unless a majority of their coursework was taught in-person, according to a proposed rule the Trump administration announced Monday, according to an announcement from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency last week. It was expected to be notified later this month. But foreign students of colleges and universities that were shifting to a hybrid model of mixed online and in-person classes will be allowed opt for more online classes than previously allowed. But these institutions had show to authorities that hey had indeed shifted to this model, also called blended. The Unites States has admitted an estimated 1 million international students every year, who generated around $41 billion worth of economic activity and supported 450,000 jobs, according to the American Council on Education, which represents US colleges and universities. Incomes generated from foreign students are critical to the financial health of many US colleges. China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada are the top-five sources of international students, in that order. Indian government has raised the issue with the United States at a meeting of senior officials, called Foreign Office Consultations. Wrexham primary school headteacher welcomes decision for pupils to return full-time in September This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jul 14th, 2020 The headteacher of a Wrexham primary school has welcomed the news that all children will be able to return in September. Education Minister Kirsty Williams announced last week that 100 per cent of pupils would be allowed to attend in the autumn, subject to coronavirus cases continuing to drop. It follows check in, catch up and prepare sessions being held for youngsters over the last fortnight. Richard Hatwood, headteacher at All Saints School in Gresford, said the classes had been well received by children and staff. While the school was originally expecting approximately 78 per cent of pupils to return, the proportion has since grown to nine out of ten. Mr Hatwood said many parents had been encouraged after seeing the stringent safety measures put in place. He said: Weve ended up having about 90 per cent of the children come back or due to come back over the period which is really good. Theyve been in their groups as we planned, using the staggered entrances and exits as wed organised around the school. The teachers have fed back that theyve been really glad to be back and been getting on with the activities theyve been doing, enjoying seeing their friends and following the approach around social distancing. The feedback from the parents has been very supportive and theyre sad its summer now. But what its done is given us the time to test the logistics of it, including the room capacities, the one way systems and how much hand wash were going to need for September. He added: Weve had parents who have seen how the children have settled in and then they contacted us to ask if there was any chance their children could come back. Wherever weve been able to accommodate that within our numbers then we have done that. Social distancing signs and one-way systems were just some of the sights that met youngsters when they returned to the school at the end of June. Children have gone back in three day blocks with no more than eight per group. Although pupils have been unable to meet their teachers for the next school year in person, videos have been made to let them see the face that will greet them in September. The school has been praised for its approach by parents, with one stating: After feeling particularly anxious about the return to school for my daughter, we were met with smiles, clear safety measures and a warm welcome. The three days flew and it felt well worth it. Consider us caught up, checked in and prepared. Mr Hatwood said he was awaiting the full guidance from the Welsh Government before making final plans for the autumn. He said: Weve had the announcement made so were waiting for the operational guidance. Were waiting for clarity around nursery children next year and after school and breakfast clubs. Were going to wait for the guidance so we know what the rooms will look like and if weve got all the hand washing stations we need in place with more children coming back. I think its better to delay it a little bit and give parents all the information, rather than give them a little bit of information that gives them more questions. By Liam Randall BBC Local Democracy Reporter A New York City cookout ended in tragedy Sunday, and police are searching for answers after a 1-year-old was killed in a shooting. The child, identified by police as Davell Gardner, was shot in the abdomen and taken to a hospital, police told USA TODAY. He was then taken to a second hospital, where he died. Two men one wearing all black, the other wearing black and white opened fire at the Brooklyn cookout at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, according to police. Both men had their faces covered and left the scene on foot. Four people were injured in the shooting, including Davell, according to the NYPD. A 36-year-old man was shot in the leg, a 35-year-old man was shot in the groin and a 27-year-old man, who walked to the hospital, was shot in the ankle. NYPD chief of community affairs Jeffrey Maddrey called on the police and the community to denounce the disgusting violence that took place Sunday. The baby was with his family enjoying a Sunday night in the summer when someone started shooting, Maddrey tweeted Monday morning. Three people were injured, and the baby was killed. This. Must. STOP! Commissioner Dermot Shea called the shooting senseless. A police official confirmed to USA TODAY that the shooting wasnt random. Mayor Bill de Blasio addressed the shooting during a Monday media briefing. He said the incident was horrifying and added that he was heartbroken over the death of Davell. He also mentioned a separate incident where a 12-year-old was shot in the leg. It's not something we can ever look away from, he said. It's something we have to address and stop. Relatives of the dead and wounded grieve near the scene in Brooklyn where a toddler was shot and killed on July 13, 2020, in New York City. The 1-year-old boy was shot near a playground during a Sunday picnic when gunfire erupted. Sunday was a particularly violent day for New York City. Two other minors, one 12 years old and the other 15, were injured in separate shootings, according to the NYPD. The New York Times reported that as of Sunday, there were 634 shootings in 2020 this year, up from 394 in 2019. This city is strong, de Blasio said Monday. We fought back through a lot before, we're going to fight back again. Remember this is a day where we can't celebrate, but we note that this city fought back from being the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, to having a 24-hour period with no deaths at all. This city has fought back from crime and violence many times before. Story continues Sunday afternoon, hours before the shooting, Maddrey tweeted photos from a community meeting in Harlem. Monday, de Blasio called the event "inspiring." "Cops and community joining together to demand a stop to the recent spike in violence," Maddrey tweeted. "Last night we met in Harlem, neighborhood leaders, and elected officials setting aside our differences for a bigger picture of PEACE." This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NYC cookout shooting leaves 1-year-old baby dead, 3 injured: NYPD Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai on a wide range of subjects, especially on leveraging the power of technology to "transform the lives of India's farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs" In the virtual meeting, the Prime Minister also discussed with Pichai the new work culture that is emerging during the Covid-19 crisis. Stressing that Indians are adjusting to and adopting technology at a rapid pace, Modi spoke about farmers benefiting from technology and the possible wide-ranging benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in agriculture. He also explored the idea of virtual labs that can be used by students as well as farmers. "This morning, (I) had an extremely fruitful interaction with Sundar Pichai. We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India's farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs," Modi said in a series of tweets. The Prime Minister said he was delighted to know more about the efforts of Google in several sectors, be it in education, learning, digital India, furthering digital payments and more. During the interaction, Modi said that he and Pichai also exchanged views about the new work culture that is emerging in the times of Covid-19 and also discussed the challenges the global pandemic has brought to areas such as sports. "We also talked about the importance of data security and cyber safety." The Prime Minister's interaction with Pichai is significant as it comes at a time when India is trying to make a big push to attract foreign investments. Pichai also apprised the Prime Minister about the efforts undertaken by Google to help spread awareness and provide reliable information about Covid-19. He said that the strong step of lockdown initiated by the Prime Minister set up a very strong foundation of India's battle against the pandemic. Modi appreciated the proactive role played by Google in battling misinformation and conveying information about necessary precautions. He also stressed on further leveraging technology in providing healthcare services. Pichai also briefed the PM about new products and initiatives by Google in the country and mentioned about the launch of AI Research Lab in Bengaluru, while also highlighting the benefits of Google's flood forecasting efforts. As he was informed about Google's plan to launch a large investment fund and develop strategic partnerships in India, Modi noted that India is amongst the most open economies in the world and cited the recent steps taken by the government towards reforming agriculture and about the campaign to create new jobs, while also highlighting the importance of re-skilling. On the issues of data security and privacy, the Prime Minister said that tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit and also talked about cyber crimes and threats in the form of cyber attacks. Other areas of discussion included technological solutions to expand the scope of online education, access to technology in native language, use of AR/VR (augmented reality and virtual reality) to give a stadium-like viewing experience in the field of sports, and progress in digital payments. Women and girls deserve more protection in emergencies, UN rights council hears 13 July 2020 - The collective impact of climate change, COVID-19 and conflict mean that well over 200 million people will likely need humanitarian assistance by 2022, the UN's deputy rights chief said on Monday. Nada Al-Nashif, Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the UN Human Rights Council that the situation is especially worrying for women and girls. They face additional hardships from the pandemic including sexual abuse - Ms. Al-Nashif warned, particularly those displaced by war. "Experience demonstrates that insecurity and displacement fuel increases in sexual and gender-based violence, as well as other crimes and human rights violations such as child, early and forced marriages, or denial of access to sexual and reproductive health services." According to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 212 million people may need humanitarian assistance by 2022. This year, it's believed that nearly 168 million people are in need of such protection, representing around one in 45 people in the world, the highest figure in decades. At a discussion on how to improve accountability for women and girls in emergencies, the deputy rights chief urged Member States at the Geneva forum to consider adopting a new approach. Swift and thorough justice In addition to the current practice of ensuring criminal prosecution for abusers, she called for specific laws to be enacted that would prevent or eradicate a "continuum of human rights violations", by addressing the root causes of the lack of accountability for women and girls. This was the only way to restore their full equality and rights in dignity, she said. Highlighting recent human rights Council investigations into Myanmar, Venezuela and South Sudan, Ms. Al-Nashif noted that all countries shared systemic discrimination against women and girls that enabled violations to persist. Failings from Myanmar to Venezuela In Myanmar, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar reported on wide-ranging gender inequality and the denial of freedom of movement faced by ethnic Rohingya women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence, the UN official said. It also found the denial of access to education, basic health care and other economic and social rights. Turning to Venezuela, the deputy rights chief pointed to a 2019 UN human rights office (OHCHR) report that documented limited access to sexual and reproductive health services, "with zero contraceptives available in several cities, alongside severe restrictions on abortion". The resulting high rates of teenage pregnancies "have been a major factor driving many girls to leave school", Ms. Al-Nashif added, while preventable maternal mortality is also increasing, she said, with an estimated one in five maternal deaths linked to unsafe abortions. South Sudanese sorrow In South Sudan, where sexual violence has been a widespread and pervasive feature of the conflict since 2013, an investigation into health care for victims of such abuse indicated that there was only one health facility per 10,000 people, and many did not have enough qualified personnel to treat survivors. "As a result, victims may only seek assistance when they develop serious medical conditions and, of course, stigmatization forces many to continue to suffer in silence," the UN official added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China mass producing advanced J-20B warplanes as tensions rise with US Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 8:24 AM Beijing has reportedly begun mass producing a modified version of its fifth-generation Chengdu J-20 stealth fighter jets amid escalating China-US tensions, which have given rise to fears of a military conflict between the two sides. Chinese media cited military sources as saying Sunday that the new fighter known as the J-20B was officially unveiled at an inauguration ceremony held on July 8. "The most significant change to the (J-20) fighter jet is that it is now equipped with thrust vector control," an unnamed source told the South China Morning Post, without elaborating on other upgrades. The J-20 made its formal debut at the 2016 air show in southern China. A first batch of the state-of-the-art aircraft entered service a year later, when the US decided to deploy over 100 F-35 fighter jets to allied regional countries Japan and South Korea. The Chinese fighter the only non-American fifth-generation fighter jet to enter active service boasts a wide range of features including a heads-up display, AESA radar guided air to air missiles and a distributed aperture system. The twin-engine military aircraft is considerably heavier and more specialized than the US-made F-35 fighter jets. The news comes amid heightened military tensions between China and the US over the American military's increased military activities in regional waters which have long been at the center of territorial disputes between Beijing and its neighbors. The tensions saw a spike earlier this month after the US, in a highly provocative move, deployed a strike group centered on two enormous nuclear-powered aircraft carriers to the disputed waters of the South China Sea, where Beijing was holding naval drills. The move drew a warning from Beijing, which claims sovereignty to most of the sea. Observers have raised the alarm at the growing risk of a military conflict as communication channels between the countries' militaries are said to have fallen largely silent as two world powers remain locked in disputes in multiple spheres. "If situations get out of control and a crisis happens, the impact on bilateral relations could be devastating. And that's why dialog is needed," Wu Shicun, president of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the South China Morning Post late last month. On Sunday, a US lawmaker predicted that a conflict between the two countries in the near future was inevitable. "I would predict there will be a clash within the next three to six months," Republican lawmaker Ted Yoho told the Washington Examiner. Yoho, who is on the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee for Asia, claimed China would try to provoke a conflict with the US. The Chinese warships would ram into a US warship patrolling near Chinese territorial waters "and say it was a mistake," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address DES MOINES Iowas state auditor maintains the reporting process for results from new coronavirus tests conducted under Iowas $26 million program is illegal and creates opportunities for fraud and errors. The auditors claims were disputed by the state attorney generals office. Auditor Rob Sand issued a report Tuesday and spoke to reporters during a virtual press conference, in which he expressed concern that the programs results reporting process is unnecessarily complex. The fact that we are in a pandemic right now, the cases are rising, and that the importance of getting this information right from a public health aspect is paramount, Sand said. We should not be taking unnecessary risks with data related to the pandemic. Nearly 36,000 Iowans have contracted the new coronavirus and 756 Iowans have died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to state public health data as of Tuesday afternoon. In April, Iowa contracted with a Utah-based health care company to expand the states coronavirus testing capacity. Results from the testing program Test Iowa are processed at the University of Iowas State Hygienic Lab and sent to Utah-based software companies Qualtrics and Domo, then to the Iowa Chief Information Officer. Then the test results are delivered to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Any number of things because of that long reporting chain can complicate or potentially end the ability of those results to actually get to the Department of Public Health and get to public health officials, said Sand, who said he conducted the review at the urging of county-level public health officials. Sand recommended that Test Iowa results be simultaneously reported directly to the state public health department while also being sent to the software companies and Chief Information Officer. A state public health department spokeswoman issued a statement defending the Test Iowa program. Test Iowa has been a huge success for Iowans throughout the state, providing widespread access to testing and supporting the states contact tracing efforts, department spokeswoman Amy McCoy said. Sand, a former assistant attorney general who was elected state auditor in 2018, also claimed the reporting process is in violation of Iowa law, which requires health care providers or laboratories to report infectious disease cases immediately to the state public health department. In a written response to Sands concerns, the state attorney generals office wrote the results reporting process complies with the departments reporting procedures and that the department considers the reporting process to be timely. The AGs office wrote that the Test Iowa results reporting process is automated and takes 3 to 10 hours, and an office spokesman said that timeframe is equal to or faster than reporting timeframes for tests performed by hospitals and national reference laboratories. The AGs office spokesman also said the use of intermediaries in the electronic reporting process is very common in electronic lab reporting in Iowa and other states, and is consistent with guidelines established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Use of these common pathways helps to ensure the reported data is accurate, automated, protected, and timely, AG spokesman Lynn Hicks said in an email. Implementing the auditors recommendations would require the State Hygienic Laboratory to manually re-enter Test Iowa data, leading to increased burdens on the Lab and delays in reporting. A spokesman for the state board that oversees the states public universities also said a direct reporting requirement would create tremendous inefficiencies and require additional employees at the state lab. Overall, requiring additional, duplicative data entry for the Test Iowa program would lead to fewer Iowans being tested and a general slowdown in statewide COVID-19 testing efforts, Iowa Board of Regents spokesman Josh Lehman said in an email. Sands office responded to the pushback later Tuesday, saying the attorney generals office has a primary due defend state agencies regardless of their legality, and that while data integration engines are common, comparing them to wholly separate private entities is like comparing apples to bacon. It is notable that only now, after this examination is completed, is any reason at all provided for the lengthy reporting chain despite our asking twice, Sand said in the afternoon statement. If it is true that changing the Test Iowa reporting system to be legal would require hand entry of data by public lab technicians, then taxpayers probably should not have paid $26 million for that system. Asked at her press conference Tuesday in Webster City why Test Iowa results are not delivered directly to the state public health department, Gov. Kim Reynolds pointed to the response from the attorney generals office. Sand and Miller are Democrats, and Reynolds is a Republican. Of course, Collins is the first to admit hes not quite raking in the dough or fielding calls for venture capital just yet. His startup is mostly a one-man show. On a really good day, he brings in about 10 orders, he says, which nets him roughly $70 to $80. For now, hes living with his parents in the East Village and studying for the LSAT. Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow expressed her condolences for the accidental drowning death, at age 33, of her former Glee castmate Naya Rivera in a touching post on Tuesday. 'Remembering beautiful @nayarivera today,' the 47-year-old Goop founder - who boasts 11.7M social media followers - wrote. 'Getting to sing in this trio with her was such a special moment. I am in utter shock and disbelief that someone so full of life and passion and talent is no longer with us. And completely heart broken for her family.' 'Remembering beautiful @nayarivera today': Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow (R) expressed her condolences for the accidental drowning death, at age 33, of her former Glee castmate Naya Rivera (L) in a touching post on Tuesday Gwyneth posted a clip of herself, Naya, and Heather Morris covering Fleetwood Mac's 1975 song Landslide for a scene from the second season of the Fox musical series. Paltrow had a recurring role as substitute teacher Holly Holliday over five episodes spanning 2010-2014 on the teen show co-created by her second husband Brad Falchuk. Rivera's body was discovered Monday - two days after she rented a pontoon boat in Lake Piru, and Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub said: 'She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself.' The SAG Award winner's Glee co-star Heather Morris and Step Up: High Water co-star Terrence Green were among the 12 people who gathered at the water's edge on Monday to pray for her return. The 47-year-old Goop founder wrote: 'Getting to sing in this trio with her was such a special moment. I am in utter shock and disbelief that someone so full of life and passion and talent is no longer with us. And completely heart broken for her family' RIP: Gwyneth posted a clip of herself, Naya, and Heather Morris covering Fleetwood Mac's 1975 song Landslide for a scene from the second season of the Fox musical series Spanning 2010-2014: Paltrow had a recurring role as substitute teacher Holly Holliday over five episodes on the teen show co-created by her second husband Brad Falchuk California Senator Kamala Harris tweeted about Naya's 'unquestioned impact growing up onscreen' and how she 'inspired countless young LGBTQ+ people.' US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was also 'deeply saddened' and praised Rivera's 'rich, complex talent' portraying Latina, Santana Lopez. Coincidentally, Monday marked the seventh anniversary of the passing of her former Glee co-star Cory Monteith, at age 31, from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin. Rivera's body was discovered Monday - two days after she rented a pontoon boat in Lake Piru, and Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub (M) said: 'She must have mustered enough energy to get her son back on the boat, but not enough to save herself' 'We called out to you this morning... you answered': The SAG Award winner's Glee co-star Heather Morris and Step Up: High Water co-star Terrence Green were among the 12 people who gathered at the water's edge on Monday to pray for her return 'Keeping her son and family in my heart': California Senator Kamala Harris tweeted about Naya's 'unquestioned impact growing up onscreen' and how she 'inspired countless young LGBTQ+ people' 'I'm not religious by any means, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that Cory didn't help find our girl today,' Kevin McHale - who played Artie Abrams in Glee - tweeted. 'These 2, in many ways, were the male and female versions of one another. So nice, cared deeply, were stupidly talented, the most fun, and really really good people.' Some whisper the Glee cast is 'cursed' considering that on top of everything, Mark Salling - who played Noah 'Puck' Puckerman - died, age 35, from suicide in 2018. the way naya and cory always took the time to meet fans and talk with them. they were so kindhearted and they loved and appreciated us so much pic.twitter.com/d2vStDvBuW aaliyah (@obrienzendaya) July 14, 2020 'Que descanse en paz': US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was also 'deeply saddened' and praised Rivera's 'rich, complex talent' portraying Latina, Santana Lopez Coincidence? Monday marked the seventh anniversary of the passing of her former Glee co-star Cory Monteith (R), at age 31, from a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin Kevin McHale - who played Artie Abrams in Glee - tweeted: 'I'm not religious by any means, but you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that Cory didn't help find our girl today' Naya also received tributes from Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer, Darren Criss, Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shum Jr., Dianna Agron, Melissa Benoist, Adam Shankman, and ex-boyfriend Tahj Mowry. The Grammy nominee is survived by her four-year-old son Josey Hollis with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey as well as her parents George and Yolanda and siblings Mychal and Nickayla. Over 38K people have signed Erin Jordan's Change.org petition to put up signs warning swimmers about the 130ft-deep SoCal lake known locally for unpredictable currents and 'bad whirlpools.' Grieving: The Grammy nominee is survived by her four-year-old son Josey Hollis (R) with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey (L) as well as her parents George and Yolanda and siblings Mychal and Nickayla (posted June 21) The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Pakistan's air safety rating after the agency raised concerns about pilot certifications. The decision, disclosed on an FAA spreadsheet dated July 15 that was posted on an agency website and confirmed by an agency official, means the U.S. air safety agency determined Pakistan does not achieve international standards and now has a Category 2 rating. Pakistan last month grounded almost a third of its pilots after discovering they may have falsified their qualifications. The Pakistani embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The new rating means Pakistan airlines could be subject to additional inspections at U.S. airports and could not add additional flights. A company spokesman told Reuters last week 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. On Friday, the U.S. Department of Transportation said it has revoked permission for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to conduct charter flights to the United States. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has suspended PIA's authorization to fly to the bloc for six months in a blow to the carrier's operations. Pakistan's grounding of pilots with dubious credentials followed the crash of a PIA jet in May that killed 97 people. Also read: Coronavirus fallout: Air travel demand to tumble by 49% for Indian airlines in 2020, says IATA The family of a student who was brutally murdered by her housemate claim the killer wanted to be jailed in Australia because he was going to be deported to China. Chinese student Qi 'Kathy' Yu, 28, was murdered by her housemate Shuo Dong, 21, at their sharehouse in Campsie, south-west Sydney, on June 8, 2018. Dong pleaded guilty to murder in the NSW Supreme Court in December, with the victim's devastated parents believing he killed her in an attempt to avoid deportation. Her parents issued a victim impact statement to court on Monday where they claimed Dong's visa had recently been cancelled. Chillingly, the killer had even checked there wasn't a death penalty before committing the horrific murder, ensuring he would sit safely in an Australian prison. Ms Yu's body was found wrapped up and dumped on the side of the M1 motorway near Mount Ku-Ring-Gai in Sydney's north-west 47 days after she disappeared. Shuo Dong (pictured), 21, killed a young Chinese student to 'ensure he was jailed in Australia' and not deported to China, the victim's family have claimed Ms Yu's parents, Zhihe Yu and Qin He, claim Dong murdered their 'intelligent, beautiful, lovely, lively and innocent' daughter to ensure he stayed in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. 'We believe he preferred to go to prison rather than return to his hometown,' the statement read. The parents claim the 21-year-old told Ms Yu that his visa had been cancelled by the Immigration Department. 'He was afraid that our daughter would report his illegal immigration status, and feared being repatriated to China,' the statement said. 'He learned from the internet that there was no death penalty in Australia, so he decided to do premeditated murder.' Ms Yu told her mother that Dong had planned to move out of the apartment the day after she was killed and refunded him rent immediately, according to documents seen in court. Police recovering Ms Yu's body which was found in bushland (pictured) in north-west Sydney on July 25, 2018 Dong's chilling Google searches were also revealed in court on Monday, showing he had searched the kind of sentence he'd receive. Two days before killing Ms Yu, Dong visited a number of web pages between 3.44pm and 3.52pm 'A Google search was made for 'How would Homicide be sentenced in Australia',' agreed court facts state. He then searched 'legal knowledge, how many years would intentional homicide be given in Australia' and 'the sentencing criteria for intentional homicide. What expenses must be compensated for after intentional homicide.' He also typed into Google: 'What are the characteristics of intentional homicide? And how to properly determine intentional homicide?' Dong pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Yu in the NSW Supreme Court on December 4, 2019. Ms Yu's parents (pictured) issued an emotional plea for information in June 2018 and now believe their daughter was murdered so the killer could avoid deportation Agreed facts stated he also made 18 online searches for bushland areas like the Royal National Park and Ku-Ring-Gai. The court heard Dong spent the evening of June 8 bickering with Ms Yu over cutting the lease short and bond money he owed her. Ms Yu's parents, who were speaking to her from China via WeChat, could hear the argument in the background when the power to the unit was shut off. The parents later contacted a neighbour to check on their daughter and Dong informed the neighbour that Ms Yu was out for dinner. Dong and Ms Yu's third housemate said she arrived home and noticed blood-like stains in the home. Dong's phone was used to search for directions back from Mount Colah to Campsie at about 10.30pm that night. Police found Ms Yu's body near that section of the motorway on July 25, 2018 using data from Dong's phone. The Campsie unit (pictured) where Ms Yu lived with her killer and another female housemate She was discovered in a gully at Mount Ku-Ring-gai and a shirt containing Dong's DNA was wrapped tightly around her neck. Ms Yu's parents spoke out at his sentencing hearing on Monday and said their daughter believed Australia was a safe country with no bad people. 'She did not know much about the evil phenomena in society,' they said in their victim impact statement presented to the NSW Supreme Court. 'Qi's weakness was that she had no sense of threat from other people. 'Her experience from years of Australian life was that Australia was good for everything, good people, good air, good food, good environment, and good others.' Chilling pictures have emerged of a woman happily posing around Sydney before she was murdered and dumped next to a highway. The pictures were submitted as evidence in the Supreme Court of NSW and showed Ms Yu smiling with a hat and ice cream in front of Bondi Beach. She also posed with a large cone of gelato inside an ice cream shop. Another image showed Ms Yu wearing a graduation cap and gown at the University of New South Wales. The 28-year-old arrived in Australia in 2009 and completed a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and and a Masters in Telecommunication at UNSW. A final image saw Ms Yu posing with two soft toys in front of a pen of cattle, resembling the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The sentencing hearing will continue before Acting Justice Peter Hidden in August. Boris Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds today revealed she has had to rely on Amazon deliveries for baby essentials since her son Wilfred's arrival as she blasted the internet giant for using too much plastic packaging. Miss Symonds, 32, said she was 'dismayed' at the amount of plastic packaging used by Amazon for their baby products. The senior adviser for Oceana, an organisation which campaigns for policies to protect and restore the world's oceans, also shared a petition calling for the online retailer to provide a 'plastic-free' option at checkout. Boris Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds today revealed she has relied on Amazon deliveries for baby essentials since giving birth to her son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson Miss Symonds tweeted: 'Since having Wilf and not being able to get to the shops during lockdown, I've relied on Amazon for lots of baby essentials but I've been dismayed at the amount of plastic packaging. 'Please sign this petition to ask Amazon to give us plastic-free options too.' In a series of earlier tweets, she explained: '94 per cent of Amazon customers surveyed in the UK by YouGov for Oceana are concerned or very concerned about plastic pollution and the impact on the environment. It's time we are given plastic-free choices. 'UK customers are by far the most in favour of a plastic-free check-out option (81 per cent), with half of them willing to shop elsewhere to be given a plastic-free option (52 per cent).' The petition, which has gained over 487,400 signatures at the time of writing, reads: 'Since Amazon ships over 50 per cent of the packages in many countries, we are asking them to set an example and offer materials that are more easily recycled and reused so consumers can feel better about the need to shop online and gain more control over what arrives on their doorstep.' It adds: 'Please grant consumers the choice to go 'Plastic-free'. 'It's not acceptable for major businesses to leave consumers with so few choices and we are fed plastic we didn't ask for that later ends up in landfills or in our rivers and oceans. 'Plastic-free choices should be accessible and plentiful if we want to see lasting change and a dramatic decrease in plastic waste. 'Let's take a big step forward and make 'Plastic-free' a regular option on all checkout forms.' It follows Miss Symonds also demanding that British retailers stop selling coconut products that use monkey labour in their production. Miss Symonds pictured returning to Downing Street via the backdoor last week, where she is living with the Prime Minister and their almost three-month-old son The senior adviser for Oceana, which campaigns for policies to protect and restore the world's oceans, shared a petition calling Amazon to provide a 'plastic-free' option at checkout She welcomed pledges by four firms including Boots and Waitrose to take the goods off their shelves, adding it was 'time ALL supermarkets to do the same'. A keen conservationist, she called on all other supermarkets to stop selling the products, which include certain brands of coconut water and coconut milk, and named three chains. Within hours of posting about the use of monkey labour on social media, the huge supermarkets began to respond. Miss Symonds is living at Downing Street with the Prime Minister and their almost three-month-old son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson. Carrie gave birth in London on April 29 with the Prime Minister at her side, days after he himself had been released from medical care following a lengthy battle with coronavirus. A courier has previously been spotted carrying two boxes to the Prime Minister's official residence with the eco-friendly range Kit & Kin labelled across one of the deliveries. Kit & Kin sells organic and non-irritable baby skincare products, including nappies, wipes and cotton clothing. The range was created in 2017 and co-founded by Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Christopher Money. A Hermes delivery courier carries two boxes, one labelled with the eco-friendly range Kit & Kin, as he makes a delivery to 10 Downing Street on May 5 The courier seen wearing a face mask as he makes a delivery to the Prime Minister's official residence. Kit & Kin sells organic and non-irritable baby skincare products A spokesperson for Amazon said: 'Amazon continues to innovate and find new ways to protect the environment by developing fully recyclable packaging that also helps minimise carbon emissions. 'Amazon is also moving to packaging material options that are fully compatible with paper or plastic recycling streams. 'In North America, Amazon is currently working to double the number of fully recyclable cushioned packages that are recyclable in paper recycling streams in place of plastics and other packaging, and in Europe we are expanding our use of paper mailing bags and paperboard envelops.' The spokesperson added: 'Since 2015, sustainable packaging initiatives at Amazon including Frustration-Free Packaging (FFP) have eliminated more than 880,000 tonnes of packaging materialsthe equivalent to 1.5 billion shipping boxesby promoting easy-to-open, recyclable packaging and shipping products in their own packages without additional shipping boxes. 'Our packaging programmes have reduced packaging weight per shipment by 33% since 2015. We have identified collection agencies to help us collect plastic waste generated from usage across the Amazon fulfilment network. 'We expect to recycle more 7,000 tonnes of plastic film per year globally, in addition to the 1,500 tonnes of plastic already being recycled annually in Europe.' The company said they are also 'exploring alternatives solutions for less common materials that cannot be recycled' and are looking to incorporate 'more of our own recycled plastics' in products, packaging and operational processes. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:31:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Representatives of non-profit organization Diaspora Chinese In Ukraine meet with Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Health Igor Ivashchenko (1st R) during a donation ceremony at the Ministry of Health in Kiev, Ukraine, July 13, 2020. The Ukrainian Health Ministry on Monday received a batch of medical supplies donated by the Chinese community in Ukraine to fight the COVID-19. The cargo will be distributed among healthcare institutions, higher education institutions and regional state administrations. (Photo by Sergey Starostenko/Xinhua) KIEV, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian Health Ministry on Monday received a batch of medical supplies donated by the Chinese community in Ukraine to fight the COVID-19. The humanitarian aid included medical masks, N95 respirators, protective glasses, suits, gloves, as well as 200 sets of testing reagents and 150 bottles of antiseptics. The cargo will be distributed among healthcare institutions, higher education institutions, and regional state administrations. "The Chinese side not only carries out the transfer of humanitarian aid, but we also have online meetings to exchange experiences on countering the virus since China has demonstrated a clear and very good approach," Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Health Igor Ivashchenko said during the donation ceremony, expressing gratitude to China for providing active assistance. The collection of donations was organized immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in Ukraine, said Li Xuegang, head of the non-profit organization Diaspora Chinese In Ukraine, adding that several hundred Chinese people have joined this initiative. "These medical supplies embody the deep feelings that ethnic Chinese and Chinese immigrants living in this country have cherished for Ukraine," said Li. "We hope that these medical items will help Ukraine effectively fight the spread of the virus." China has repeatedly provided humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to combat COVID-19. The largest batch, with a volume exceeding 125 cubic meters, was transferred to the Ukrainian side at the end of June. ALBANY Travelers flying into New York airports from states with high rates of coronavirus infections will now be mandated to fill out forms disclosing their travel plans or face being immediately given a summons that carries a $2,000 fine, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Monday. The new mandate, which will be issued by the state Department of Health, comes after tens of thousands of airline travelers have been refusing to sign the forms and brushing past tables in airports that are staffed by health officials tasked with collecting the information. "You must give officials at the airport your form as to where you came from and where you're going before you leave the airport," Cuomo said. It will be enforced at every airport in the state of New York." 'UNTENABLE SITUATION': Houstonians weigh in on Turner's proposed 2-week shutdown The Port Authority will enforce the new regulation at downstate airports but Cuomo did not say who would be responsible for enforcement at upstate airports, or whether that would be handled by State Police. "You can then be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete mandatory quarantine," Cuomo said. "We can't have a situation where we have people coming from other states bringing the virus again." The state Department of Health two weeks ago said government workers had collected more than 6,600 questionnaires from travelers who have landed at New York airports since Cuomo imposed a 14-day quarantine last month for people coming to New York from states with high rates of coronavirus infections. 'MASK UP!': Rockets' Russel Westbrook has COVID-19 The effort to monitor the travelers and mandate compliance was not seamless, with thousands of travelers declining to fill out the forms and at least one airline JetBlue initially declining to distribute them to their passengers aboard inbound New York flights, according to state workers who have taken part in the work. JetBlue has since begun distributing the forms along with all other airlines, Cuomo said. The state does not have authority to compel airlines which are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration to distribute the forms. The state had initially been paying overtime to investigators with the Health Department's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement to join other employees stationed at airport deplaning exits to gather the forms and people who did that work said most travelers would brush past the makeshift informational checkpoints without stopping. The BNE investigators have since been reassigned to other duties. The two-page forms carry the header "New York State Traveler Health Form" and ask participants to list their personal information, including name, phone numbers, email and residential addresses and destination. It asks travelers to list states they have visited and the dates, as well as to disclose any information about COVID-19 symptoms. The form ends with a warning above the signature line stating the person submitting the form is providing truthful information "under penalty of law." "Upon entering New York, if you are a traveler and do not have a suitable dwelling for your 14-day quarantine period, you must find appropriate accommodations at your own cost," the form states. "If you are a NYS resident returning from travel and do not have appropriate accommodations for quarantine, please call your local health department." Many other governors have imposed similar mandatory quarantines for people visiting or returning to their states, but New York's order imposes hefty civil penalties up to $10,000 for anyone who violates the requirement. Other states have made the orders "advisory." In order for someone to face penalty in New York, Public Health Law had required that they first be notified by a local health department official that they are subject to quarantine and being ordered to isolate themselves or their family. But under the mandate announced by Cuomo, someone can now receive a summons immediately for non-compliance. There is no timetable for how long New York's quarantine requirement will remain in effect and Cuomo imposed it at a time when tens of thousands of people are beginning to embark on summer vacations, including to locations that include the Carolinas and Florida, which are the list of states flagged as high-risk. States are included in the advisory if 10 per 100,000 residents or 10 percent of the total population tests positive on a seven-day rolling average. Someone who passes through a high-risk state, and may visit a few rest areas along the way or have a layover at an airport, they are not required to self-quarantine upon entering New York. Shanghai, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Arctic Vision, a clinical-stage biotechnology company incubated by Nan Fung Life Sciences and Pivotal BioVenture Partners China in 2019, today announced its $32mn Series A financing led by Morningside Ventures, together with its existing investors. Arctic Vision focuses on the development and commercialization of innovative ophthalmology therapies in China and Asia. The three investment institutions are actively investing in leading life science companies in the world with long term commitment. Arctic Vision will use the proceeds to gear up the clinical trials for ARVN001. ARVN001 is a proprietary suspension of the Triamcinolone Acetonide formulated for Suprachoroidal Space (SCS) administration via proprietary SCS Microinjector (known as XIPERE in the US). The first pursued indication in China will be macular edema associated with uveitis (UME). This innovative therapy is developed by Clearside Biomedical, Inc. Arctic Vision has exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the product in Greater China and South Korea. Arctic Vision also plans to use the proceeds to expand its innovative product portfolio in ophthalmology, while building in-house R&D capabilities at the same time. The company's goal is to address unmet medical needs in the ophthalmology field, and to bring in cutting-edge drug delivery technologies and treatment options to the Asian market, especially China. Dr. Eddy (Hoi Ti) Wu, Founder and CEO of Arctic Vision, commented: "We welcome the investments from the leading biotech-focused venture capital firms. The Series A financing is an important step for us as an emerging biotech company to become an ophthalmology leader in the China and global markets. We see huge unmet clinical needs in ophthalmology in China. Therefore, we hope to bring more innovative and breakthrough treatments to our markets and continue to develop them for our patients. In future we will further explore gene therapies, innovative drug delivery systems and other cutting-edge technologies for the ultimate benefit of patients with eye diseases." "We have great confidence in and expectations of Arctic Vision to advance clinical trials of ARVN001 in China, since patients with uveitis urgently need an innovative therapy," said Ms. Lily Shen from Morningside Ventures. "We are also impressed by the management team at Arctic Vision. The Founder and CEO Dr. Eddy Wu has extensive experience in ophthalmology industry globally and in China, as well as managerial experience in start-up company. The core leadership team is extremely experienced as they previously worked for top global ophthalmology companies such as Alcon and Allergan, and demonstrated outstanding capability in launching ophthalmology products in China. We are very pleased to invest in Arctic Vision team, led by Dr. Eddy Wu. Morningside Ventures is devoted to fostering healthcare innovation in a variety of therapeutic fields. We will fully leverage our funding and resources to support Arctic Vision to grow rapidly and help more patients." "We are very pleased to continue supporting Arctic Vision. Since the very beginning, Nan Fung Life Sciences and Pivotal BioVenture Partners China have chosen a specific therapeutic area like ophthalmology to create a first-class company. We hope that Arctic Vision will become a role model in advancing innovative ophthalmology therapies in China and even Asia." Ms. Dianna Qian, partner of Pivotal BioVentures Partners China, an affiliate of Nan Fung Life Sciences, commented, "Ophthalmology is a hot sector closely followed by global biotech players, but the existing ophthalmology technologies and therapies in China are significantly lagging behind those in developed markets. Physicians often do not have the latest cutting-edge tools to treat patients, and patients find themselves in dire need of innovative drugs and therapies. We expect Arctic Vision to score great accomplishments in the field of ophthalmology." About Arctic Vision Arctic Vision is a China-based clinical stage specialty ophthalmology company with a leading portfolio of breakthrough technologies. The Company's vision is to address ophthalmology's unmet needs through innovative therapies in China, Asia and globally. Arctic Vision is established by top-tier life sciences investors and led by an elite team of ophthalmic industry veterans with substantial and compelling China and global experiences in R&D and commercialization of eye care products. For more information, please visit www.arcticvision.com. About Morningside Ventures Morningside Ventures was founded in 1986 in Boston by the Chan Family of Hong Kong. Since its establishment, Morningside has been focusing on trends of the forefront life science and healthcare industries over the world, spreading its business scope and investment footprint over North America, Europe and Greater China. Morningside comprises a group of investment professionals who are entrepreneurial, have deep industry knowledge and profound experience in venture capital management. It is devoted to venturing revolutionary life science technology and service model at early stages. To date, Morningside Ventures has funded over a hundred life science and healthcare startups in China. For more information, please visit http://www.morningside.com About Nan Fung Life Sciences (NFLS) Nan Fung Life Sciences, a global life sciences investment platform with a long-term capital commitment from the Nan Fung Group. The team possesses diverse experience with long track records in company formation, venture capital, growth/buyout investments, and drug discovery and development. Through direct investments via Pivotal BioVenture Partners US and Pivotal BioVenture Partners China as well as fund investments, NFLS cover the full spectrum of the life sciences industry including therapeutics, medical devices, and diagnostics and across all development stages. For more information, please visit https://www.nanfunglifesciences.com About Pivotal BioVenture Partners China Pivotal BioVenture Partners China, a member of Nan Fung Life Sciences, is a venture capital firm specializing in venture building in the life sciences industry. Its investment strategy is centered on identifying promising innovative products and technologies and bringing them to build new companies in China. The Pivotal team includes experienced life science investors and entrepreneurs with a track record of venture building and scientific acumen. For more information, please visit http://www.pivotalbiovp.cn For more information, please contact: Arctic Vision Chris Fang, Senior Director, Corporate Development [email protected] / [email protected] Further Reading Interview with Dr. Eddy Wu, Founder of Arctic Vision by PharmaBoardroom: https://pharmaboardroom.com/interviews/eddy-wu-founder-ceo-arctic-vision-china/ SOURCE Arctic Vision Related Links http://www.arcticvision.com Not even a week into summer vacation, Ron DeGregorios students were asking to be back in the virtual classroom. As protests unfolded following the May 25 death of George Floyd, DeGregorio, 31, who teaches Government at a high school in the Toledo, Ohio, area, began to get messages from students who wanted to talk about the relationship between current events and what theyd learned in school. But no such extra session has yet taken place, in part because of the teachers hesitation when it comes to broaching the subject in a classroom setting. Im not exactly sure what the best route is on a sensitive subject currently unfolding, DeGregorio says. Its a double-edged sword; if you dont bring it up, then youre almost as guilty in a different way. Im thankful theres a buffer of the summer to figure that out. His hesitancy isnt new. In a 2017 survey by the Southern Poverty Law Center, 90% of American teachers claimed they were comfortable talking about slavery in the classroom, but open-ended follow-up questions revealed a profound unease around the topic. But this summer, hell have some extra help figuring out how to be have those tough discussions when school resumes: the National Constitution Center (NCC) is taking its annual Summer Teaching Institutes online this July. As teachers face a new sense of urgency when it comes to teaching topics related to current events, the Philadelphia-based NCC hopes to arm middle- and high-school teachers like DeGregorio with the knowledge needed to ground their discussions in a deeper understanding of the history of topics ranging from slavery and Reconstruction to federalism and womens suffrage. And in doing so, the effort also offers a window into difficult conversations happening worldwide. One factor is on their side: teachers say students are suddenly more interested than ever. During its spring programs for students, held against the backdrop of the battle over reopening states, the NCC noticed more student interest than usual in learning about how local and state government powers differ from federal government powers. Five years ago, it would have been like pulling teeth to talk about federalism,' says Kerry Sautner, Chief Learning Officer at the National Constitution Center. Were always teaching the core pieces of the Constitution but the interest and current conversations around it are so much more heightened. Story continues It started to click, echoes Lauren LeBato, 26, an AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher in Lake Charles, La., of her students realizing, amid stay-at-home orders, how national and state policies can compete with one another. Sure enough, a workshop held July 7 during the first week of the summer programs focused on the theme of teaching federalism; like all the planned sessions, it included a mix of current-events-inflected lesson planning tips and lectures from a scholar on the topic. During the session, teachers discussed the importance of showing students the difference between constitutional questions (Does the president have the power to enact a national mask requirement?) versus political questions (Should a president enact a national mask requirement?). When teachers were asked to list constitutional questions they had, the queries were all related to the current pandemic. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter Another thing thats changed in recent months is who is demanding more context for the current movement, says Hasan Kwame Jeffries, host of the podcast Teaching Hard History and a professor of history at The Ohio State University whos lecturing for an NCC session on Slavery and the American Identity on July 27th. Before the pandemic and recent protests, when he got questions about sensitively teaching the histories of underrepresented groups in American society, those questions came mostly from teachers and school diversity offices. Now, theyre also coming from both senior school officials especially in the wake of Black students sharing open letters detailing the emotional abuse theyve suffered at predominantly white schools and from students themselves. Youve had educators and parents saying teach this, but not a sense of urgency coming from the kids because the kids dont know what they dont know. Now students, and not just Black students, are applying the pressure. We havent seen that before, he says. And you know whos the most prepared to have these conversations? The students! We project onto them our discomfort with these issues, so by the time they get to high school, they pick up on our Hey, lets not talk about that cues and signals. Part of what teachers have to do is help our students develop empathy in addition to pointing out what critical knowledge they need. And especially with this falls Presidential election approaching, student interest seems likely to remain high. Who will vote in November of 2020 by what means, by what terms was going to be an interesting question and now becomes the question, says Martha S. Jones, author of Vanguard: How Black Women Broke Barriers, Won the Vote, and Insisted on Equality for All, who will be leading an NCC lecture on Black Women & the Womens Suffrage Movement on July 29. In her upcoming lecture, Jones, who is also a professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, hopes to debunk the idea that the 19th Amendment gave all women the right to vote, as most states continued to disenfranchise Black people with tactics like literacy tests, grandfather clauses and the threat of violence. Shell also speak about how Black women persisted in fighting for their rights an idea that has current-events links that go beyond this summers 100th anniversary of the 1920 ratification of the amendment. As Jones points out, voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams has invoked Shirley Chisholm and Sojourner Truth, giving teachers an opportunity to talk about the history of the tradition that Abrams is working within. At the root of that struggle for voting rights is white supremacy, the enduring impact of which is also the main point Jeffries wants to get across in his lecture. White supremacy can be one of the most difficult topics for teachers to bring up in a middle- or high-school classroom, but, he says, no American history curriculum can be complete without acknowledging it. The belief in white supremacy and African American inferiority doesnt dissipate when Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox, he says. That legacy still informs policy decisions and personal behavior today. That impact is why its so important for teachers to feel comfortable not just broaching the subject, but discussing it in depth a fact thats clear to the educators who have signed up for the NCC sessions. As Nick Hegge, 33, a high school Government teacher outside of Omaha, puts it, learning is a lifelong process for both the teacher and the student. He notes that the lynching of Will Brown during the Omaha race riot of 1919 has become more widely discussed in recent years, and hes very aware of the fact that he didnt learn about it when he was in high school. That dynamic can be a source of anxiety for teachers, but also an opportunity. Ive been seeing a lot on social media and in the news about people saying well, I cant believe I didnt learn about this in History class or Government class. Its a lot of pressure. Students usually have one American History class in middle school and high school and its hard to get to everything. We teach some core facts, but then the learning must continue for the rest of our lives, he says. Give students the skills for civil dialogue, and hopefully theyll find that spark where they want to keep learning about history and government and how our country works and how it has worked in the past. I think the curriculum needs to be reframed as citizenship.' Algerian doctors and nurses say they have paid a heavy price in the country's coronavirus response and have warned of worse to come, urging respect and enforcement of hygiene rules. "We're working non-stop. We're totally exhausted. Some (medics) are dead, may they rest in peace, and several members of my team have been infected," said Dr Mohamed Yousfi, head of infectiology at the Boufarik hospital near Algiers. Boufarik was the first town in the North African country to register cases of the COVID-19 illness in February, after Algerians returned from France and attended a wedding and infected an entire family. "The epidemic started here, and it's getting out of hand. The hospital is full," Yousfi said. Some staff are so tired they have fainted or had car accidents, he said. Doctors and nurses have been particularly at risk since the outbreak in February. Local media report that 31 medical workers have died -- including four since the start of the week. Professor Abdelkrim Soukehal, a member of the National Scientific Committee, said some 1,700 doctors, nurses and other medical workers have been infected. Some doctors have taken to social media to voice anger and desperation, among them a doctor from second city Oran. The doctor, signing with the initials M.A., tweeted about his pride for "my team, who were giving it their all" but also anger "at all those ignorant people who pay the price for their foolishness." Others bemoaned the lack of ventilators and personal protective equipment, demanding more help from the state. After peaking for a first time in April, coronavirus infections were markedly down during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. But after it finished in late May, authorities began easing strict lockdown measures -- and the caseload surged again in hospitals across the country. Yousfi said his hospital was full and that dozens of people, sometimes entire families, arrive each day with COVID-19 symptoms. Around half are declared positive. "We're heading for disaster. Cases keep increasing," Yousfi said. - 'Denial' - The Pasteur Institute of Algeria, which carries out the tests, said it is overwhelmed, more than quadrupling its workload to more than 2,000 tests per day. But Yousfi said many Algerians were not accepting the reality of the situation, with some continuing to deny the virus exists. "As long as there are citizens in denial, selfish and unaware of the fact they're infecting people around them -- and of what the doctors are enduring because of them -- the situation can only get worse." The worst-affected country in North Africa, Algeria has officially reported nearly 18,000 cases of COVID-19, including about 1,000 deaths. A month after easing its initial lockdown, the government in late June urged local officials to act tougher against those breaking hygiene rules. Algerians are required to wear masks in public and gatherings are banned. Yousfi called for "targeted lockdowns" of areas with new outbreaks of the virus -- and more support for medical staff. "The day the front line doctors can't do their work because of exhaustion, there will be no one left to care for the sick." The Internet has left no stone unturned to prove that doggos are probably the kindest and most loving angels in a four-legged furry body. Well, sometimes the furry angels can be a bit too nice and friendly to other beings and that can result in some rather unfortunate situations. No, we are not talking about the age-old feline, canine derpy rivalry. We just wanted to grab your attention towards Finn, a doggo who extended his paw of friendship to a bee and the situation kind of went downhill after that. Please keep your hugs ready for the very kind and loving good boi Finn. Two pictures, posted on Twitter by wholesome doggo content provider We Rate Dogs, show Finn, the puppy. In the first picture, Finn is seen with a swollen mouth, looking at the camera sadly. The second picture shows the heart-broken doggo lying on a couch. The story behind Finns sad state is described in the caption. This is Finn. He tried to kiss a bee today. Knew it was a little early in the relationship but took a chance anyway. 12/10 gonna take a while to rebuild his confidence, reads the text. If youre ready to declare war against the rude bee that broke this good bois heart, we are with you too. This is Finn. He tried to kiss a bee today. Knew it was a little early in the relationship but took a chance anyway. 12/10 gonna take a while to rebuild his confidence pic.twitter.com/rBVkOV9UGu WeRateDogs (@dog_rates) July 14, 2020 Posted on July 14, the tweet has garnered over 75,900 likes and tons of condolences as well as confidence-boosting comments from netizens. Some netizens shared pictures of their doggos stung by bees proving that doggos and bees are too far from living in harmony. This is Brody. He tried to play with a bee yesterday pic.twitter.com/wbnBQ37uVH Samantha Nardella (@snards33) July 14, 2020 This is also Fin. He was just trying to play with the bee. Bees are rude. pic.twitter.com/iOuvagU21W MotherofGlaciers (@BloodyPromQween) July 14, 2020 Maka feels for ya Finn. She too tried to pic.twitter.com/qioRvzrXdF Tenacity (@TenaciousD47) July 14, 2020 Heres how others reacted: He protec, he attac, he kissed a bee and it stung him back, writes a Twitter user. I can see the regret in his eyes. Poor baby, sending love, comments another. No more jalapeno sky raisins for you, Finn! says a third. Did you feel sorry for this good boi too? Also Read | This swimming doggo is here to brighten your Monday with its cuteness. Watch DENVER, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- General Cannabis Corp. (OTCQB: CANN), a leading publicly traded Colorado cannabis company, announced today that Adam Hershey, the companys largest strategic investor and the managing member of Hershey Strategic Capital and Shore Ventures III, is joining the Companys Board of Directors. Mr. Hershey has over 25 years of investing experience in the public and private markets. He is currently the Founder, Managing Partner and Portfolio Manager of Hershey Strategic Capital, LP an opportunistic, alternative asset manager focused on active investing in small cap, public companies, since inception in July 2009 to the present. As previously announced by the Company, Mr. Hershey led an equity investment round into General Cannabis in May and June. The Company believes that by adding Mr. Hershey to the Board now, it can leverage his company-building experience as it continues to execute on its business plan. Mr. Hershey replaces Michael Feinsod on the General Cannabis Board. Mr. Feinsod resigned from the Board on July 9, 2020. About General Cannabis Corp General Cannabis Corp offers a comprehensive national resource for the highest quality service providers available to the regulated cannabis industry. The Company is a trusted partner to the cultivation, production and retail sides of the cannabis business. The Company's website address is www.generalcann.com. Forward-looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as anticipate, believe, expect, estimate, plan, outlook, and project and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management in light of managements experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors relevant in the circumstances. Although General Cannabis believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, caution must be exercised in relying on forward-looking statements because General Cannabis can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, current and future market conditions; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on General Cannabis, risks related to federal, state, local and foreign government laws, rules and regulations, including changes in the regulation of medical and recreational cannabis use; as well as those risks and uncertainties discussed from time to time in General Cannabis's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q under the heading "Risk Factors" and in subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release. General Cannabis undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made herein. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:54:53|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution to promote youth's role in peace and security. Resolution 2535, which was adopted unanimously by the 15-member council, calls on all relevant actors to consider ways to increase the inclusive representation of youth for the prevention and resolution of conflict, as well as in peacebuilding, and to ensure the full, effective and meaningful participation of youth. It urges UN member states to protect youth from violence in armed conflict, and urges all parties to eliminate all forms of sexual and gender-based violence as well as human trafficking. It urges all parties to armed conflict to protect civilians, including those who are youth, and to comply strictly with their obligations under international law. The resolution calls on member states to take appropriate measures to promote the physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of young survivors of armed conflict and survivors of sexual violence in conflict, by providing access to quality education, socio-economic support and skills development. It stresses the importance of providing opportunities for young people to strengthen resilience against radicalization to violence and terrorist recruitment by creating policies for youth as an essential part of successful counter-terrorism efforts. It encourages member states to consider increasing, as appropriate, funding for the implementation of the youth, peace and security agenda, including accessible resourcing for youth-led and youth-focused organizations. Enditem Mark and Patricia McCloskey standing in front of their house holding firearms as activists walk through the gated neighborhood in the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri, on June 28, 2020. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) Missouri Man Who Guarded Home With Rifle Says He Will Be Indicted Soon The St. Louis lawyer who was seen guarding his home with a rifle as Black Lives Matter protesters allegedly broke down a gate and marched on a private street said that both he and his wifewho was seen brandishing a pistolwill be indicted in the near future. Mark McCloskey told Fox News on Monday that last week authorities executed a search warrant. The officers didnt want to have to be there. They were doing their job. [His wife] Patty wanted to take a picture to document it and she asked if they wouldnt mind facing away from the camera so that people wouldnt get mad at them if their faces were shown on TV, the longtime lawyer said. They all did so. He added: They, unfortunately, are stuck between a circuit attorney [Kim Gardner] that wants to prosecute us, and their own belief that we did absolutely nothing wrong. Now, McCloskey said, the rumor is that we are going to be indicted shortly. I didnt shoot anybody, McCloskey said. I just held my ground, protecting my house, and Im sitting here on television tonight instead of dead or putting out the smoldering embers of my home. In the interview, he criticized the legacy news coverage of the incident, stressing that he has received messages of support from around the world. Security personnel stand on the balcony of the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey as protesters gather outside their neighborhood in St Louis, Missouri, on July 3, 2020. (Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images) The traditional media is right behind the mobI mean, were not allowed to use that word anymorea loud crowd of angry people and they are supporting these entities which are, from my understanding, Marxist and oppose everything that I stand for and I hold dear and near, he said. He added: Weve gotten tremendous support from ordinary peopleWeve gotten calls from all over the world, I got a nice letter from a lady in Ireland congratulating us for taking a stand against the violence, and so I think the vast majority of Americans wish they could do something. Over the weekend, when the arrest warrant was served, McCloskeys rifle was confiscated, he said. Joel Schwartz, their lawyer, told KSDK that he doesnt believe charges are warranted and hopes to meet with St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardners office next week. A couple brandished guns as a group of activists moved into their gated neighborhood in St. Louis, Mo., on June 28, 2020. (Daniel Shular via Reuters) Following the viral incident, Gardner, a Democrat, asserted that we must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican, told news outlets that under Missouri law, under the Castle Doctrine, an individual has a really expansive authority to protect their own lives, their home, and their property. No charges have yet to be filed against the couple. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:21:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KABUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Five civilians were killed and 11 others injured as a roadside bomb struck a mini-bus in Sarobi district outside Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Tuesday, district governor Gohar Khan Babari said. According to the official, the deadly incident took place at noon, and all the victims were civilians. Babari blamed Taliban militants for carrying out the bombing to terrorize the people. The armed outfit, however, has yet to claim responsibility. A deadly bombing in the northern Samangan province on Monday for which Taliban claimed responsibility left over a dozen dead and injured more than 60 others. Enditem The most prominent criticism against the campaign for the legalisation of same-sex marriage is that it doesn't top the list of priorities for the queer community, as opposed to job reservations or providing shelter to those abandoned by their birth families. The landmark Supreme Court judgment of 6 September, 2018, which struck down parts of Section 377 and decriminalised homosexuality, opened up a new range of possibilities for the LGBTQIA community. Considering how family-oriented Indian society is, one progressive step in mainstreaming queer rights is legalising same-sex marriage. Twenty-nine countries across the world, including Taiwan, South Africa, Portugal and the UK, have already done so. A few days ago, when lawyers Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju spoke about their 'Marriage Project' at the Oxford Union, it garnered both support and criticism from the queer community. In her address, Guruswamy described the project and spoke about how in India, the law has been about policing love, whether it is inter-racial, inter-caste relationships etc historically. Enabling diverse marriages has been a project of modern contemporary constitutional India, but that has not been the norm when it comes to the social, religious and civilisational India, she said, adding that same-sex marriages also fall within the purview of this constitutional, moral and legal arc. An ongoing battle in Kerala This isnt the first time that the issue of legalising same-sex marriage has been raised in India. In fact, the Kerala High Court began hearing a case petitioned by Nikesh Usha Pushkaran and Sonu MS in January 2020. Sonu and Nikesh got married in a Kerala temple in July 2018 and have been living together since, but they feel discriminated against as they dont have the same legal rights as other couples do. They also feel they lack social acceptance. We want to be included in society. In my apartment building, there are heterosexual individuals and some queer people as well. We dont want to feel as though we are any different from straight people. Societal acceptance is important, especially in a country such as India, where excessive weightage is given to marriage and it is considered sacred. When two heterosexual people get married, they are accepted as a couple from that day onward, but that hasnt been true for us. After the 2018 judgment, we have the right to have sex and live together, but none of the other rights enjoyed by married couples. We filed this case because we want those same rights, Nikesh said to Firstpost. The couple's case found mention in Katju and Guruswamy's address. The rights Nikesh referred to include the right to inherit each others property, nominate one's spouse as a partner in life insurance schemes, becoming a co-signer on a lease, get medical insurance together, open a joint bank account, and so on. Nikesh describes the daily struggles he faces. When I go to the bank or have to fill any form, I still have to tick the box that says I am 'single', not married." Speaking about their case, their lawyer Manu Srinath says that they sought a legal remedy because they were aggrieved by their situation. "The law cannot allow only a certain section of people to get married. This is essentially a censure of equality, which is why I have reservations when people say, there is another side to it. I cannot appreciate the 'other side' to legalising same-sex marriage. Anyone who believes in this basic aspect cannot put across such an argument, he says. Beyond social acceptance But it is not as though queer couples havent got married in India thus far. Trans couples can opt for a Civil Union under the Special Marriages Act (1954). There is an arranged gay marriage bureau located in Secunderabad, which helps gay people to find matches. They have successfully helped 21 gay couples to get married. However, these marriages are only customary. Essentially, same-sex married couples who live together in India are denied rights because the Constitution fails to recognise them as being married in the first place. Suresh Ramdas, who won Mr Gay India 2019, weighs in on the benefits of legalising same-sex marriage. Once it becomes law, then your insurance, bank account, loan account or whatever it is that the couple wants to do jointly becomes possible. It will also push for laws that will deal with discrimination and harassment in a queer marriage, so the benefits of this are significant. The push for companionship rights, instead of marriage A lot of queer people prefer the term 'right to companionship', rather than 'right to marriage'. Queer rights activist Harish Iyer notes, Marriage is nothing more than a legal document, but the other spousal rights that come with it matter a lot. More than the customary marriage, legal companionship rights are important. Nothing is stopping anyone from having a customary marriage even now, and it has been happening since before Section 377 was read down. Sonal Giani, another queer activist, also has similar views. Personally, I would push for a common-law partnership which is a reality in Canada, where when two people live together for a year, they can legally recognise each other as a common-law partner. But the ground reality is such that people want same-sex marriage rights in India, and that would push religious bodies to also incorporate changes, which is what my dilemma is. People want all the rights that come with marriage, so the law should give people all the options and allow them to choose for themselves," she said. An inter-religious gay couple, who have been living together in Mumbai for over 15 years now (who wished to not be identified), said, We worry about our future. Whats ours should rightfully go to the surviving spouse, if anything were to happen to one of us. This is why we want to push for the legalisation of same-sex marriage. They acknowledge that if such partnerships have to be called a marriage within existing frameworks, then a lot of reworking is necessary. There is an archaic approach towards the institution. Marital partnerships have evolved a great deal. This has a lot to do with religion and a persons caste etc, and the Marriage Act involves several parameters which are primitive. It should just be about the union of two people who have decided to live together for the rest of their lives, they said. Arguments opposing the push for legalisation The most prominent criticism against this campaign for legalisation is that it doesn't top the list of priorities for the queer community in this current moment a community which is abused and discriminated against every single day. A young queer person from Mumbai (who wished to remain anonymous) said, Marriage is literally a drop in the ocean of problems that we have, and this is appeasement of gay people. If we do bring this law into motion, everyone will be happy, but what about our trans folks who are fighting against a regressive Trans Rights Bill? We dont have queer people in our mainstream workplaces or public spaces in general, so focusing on marriage right now will lead to trans erasure. It doesnt mean that the queer people dont want to get married, but thats not a top priority. The more urgent issue is getting job reservations, so queer folk dont have to beg on the streets." Trans advocate Swati Bidhan Baruah of the Guwahati High Court is of the opinion that the queer community must flourish and sustain itself before the fight for marriage rights can start. There is a huge employment crisis. So many people are thrown out of their homes by their parents for coming out as queer, and they need to be provided with shelter. We need to fight for the upliftment of queer people by providing them with opportunities for higher education, and so on. There is no dearth of challenges within the community, and legalising gay marriage is certainly not paramount, Baruah said. Constant Killer Views of Three Capes You Don't Know on N. Oregon Coast, Video Published 07/13/020 at 6:24 PM PDT By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff (Pacific City, Oregon) On the northern Oregon coasts Three Capes Route, the views are legendary from those capes. Yet theres much more to the route than just those promontories (Above: Andersons Viewpoint). The Three Capes Tour starts at Pacific City, and its here where youll find the tall, ragged and golden cliffs of Cape Kiwanda. It all begins at the parking lot, where its about an eighth of a mile walk to the majestic cliffs of Kiwanda and its towering dune overheard. Here, folks love to slide or tumble down the steep incline on purpose. (Complete Guide: Cape Kiwanda State Natural Area) The dune towers a few hundred feet, but the cliff is reachable after about only 40 feet of plodding up a sandy incline. Once on top, youll spot an enormous landscape of all sorts of oddities. On its wildly diverse surface come the numerous secrets and incredible views. Hidden coves beckon, often completely unreachable. From certain angles, some structures resemble human fists, giant faces or maybe the surface of another world. Peek over the fences on the ledges to witness enormous, wind-carved cliffs getting battered by monstrous waves. Just beyond Pacific City, youll find a tiny place you didnt know about but likely whiz past all the time: tiny Tierra Del Mar. This unincorporated village merely arrives in sight as a gathering of homes in the trees next to the beach accesses. Its in here youll find two stunning vacation rental homes: Idyllic Beach Houses. Theyre rustically upscale and individualistic in style, including an enormous wrap-around deck, with both providing that constant whisper of the ocean in the background. Theyre two minutes drive from that gravel pullout a little over a mile north of Pacific City, where the ocean and distant Cape Lookout suddenly spring into view, and you may catch a hang glider or two launching from these cliffs. Farther up, the entire miles-long hiking loop of Cape Lookout makes for non-stop ocean expanse action. One formerly completely hidden spot a quarter mile from the parking lot is now turned into an official viewpoint, with breathtaking glimpses of Sand Lake Recreation Area far below. Heading north, now youre on the way to Oceanside, but theres a must-see detour that pops up. By far one of the most soaring viewpoints on the Oregon coast is still somewhat unknown, and having two names doesnt help. Its called both Andersons Viewpoint and Cape Lookout Viewpoint. The view is giddiness-inducing as youre a few hundred feet above the sea, with nothing but ocean to the north and south. Oceanside has its jaw-dropping yet secret viewpoint atop Maxwell Point, which is increasingly difficult to find these days as some access points have been cut off. Here, youre hundreds of feet above everything and youre actually looking down on Three Arch Rocks.(Oceanside, Cape Meares) Theres more semi-secretive views atop the entrance to Short Beach just north of Oceanside with its basalt blob that looks intriguingly similar to Neskowins Proposal Rock. The final massive viewpoint of the Three Capes unfortunately cant be reached from the Three Capes Route road: you have to go back into Tillamook then drive another nine miles back along Tillamook Bay to get to Cape Meares. There, youll find soaring cliffs that plunge suddenly into a dramatic ocean. It can be a bit intimidating to watch winter storms from here as the big piles of waves look so enormous they seem as if they might make it up beyond the clifftop. That never happens of course, but its a fascinating illusion. Hotels in Three Capes - Where to eat - Three Capes Maps and Virtual Tours More About Oregon Coast hotels, lodging..... More About Oregon Coast Restaurants, Dining..... Coastal Spotlight LATEST Related Oregon Coast Articles Back to Oregon Coast Contact Advertise on BeachConnection.net All Content, unless otherwise attributed, copyright BeachConnection.net Unauthorized use or publication is not permitted Under fire for his controversial remarks on Ayodhya and Lord Ram, the Nepal government on Tuesday launched a damage control act to clarify that the statements of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli were "not linked to any political subject" and have no intention at all to "hurt" the feeling and sentiment of anyone. Several top Nepalese political leaders from different parties slammed Oli for making "senseless and irrelevant" remarks that Lord Ram was born in Thori near Birgunj and the real Ayodhya lies in Nepal. They have asked him to withdraw his controversial statement. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday clarified that the remarks made by Prime Minister Oli are not linked to any political subject and have no intention at all to hurt the feelings and sentiments of anyone. It further stressed that his remarks "were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears." "As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization," the ministry said. It underlined that the tradition of celebrating Bibaha Panchami where a marriage procession coming from Ayodhya, India to Janakpur, Nepal takes place every year. "The Prime Ministers of Nepal and India launched the Ramayana Circuit in May 2018, of which Janakpur-Ayodhya Passenger Bus Service is an important component. These facts signify the bond of time honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples," the ministry added. The clarification comes at a time when there is public outcry in India and Nepal over Prime Minister Oli's controversial remarks on Ayodhya. BJP national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri condemned Oli's remarks and said that the Left parties even in India played with people's faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here. "Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody, be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this," he said on Monday. Commenting on Oli's remarks, Nepal's former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai said, "PM Oli's statements have crossed the limit. Extremism only creates trouble." In his sarcastic remark, Bhattarai said, "Now let's hope to hear the new Ramayan of Kaliyug from PM Oli." "Such silly, unconfirmed and unproven remarks by the Prime Minister was not desirable. PM Oli's attention seems to have been drawn towards damaging Nepal's relations with India instead of improving them, which is not appropriate," said Kamal Thapa, former foreign minister and president of the pro-Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Senior leader of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (NCP) Bam Dev Gautam said that Prime Minister Oli should withdraw his controversial remarks on Ayodhya. "The statement made by Prime Minister Oli was without any evidence and it has only created controversy within and outside the country, so he must withdraw the statement and apologize for that," Gautam wrote on his facebook page. There are large numbers of devotees of Lord Ram both in Nepal and India, and no one should hurt people's religious faith," Gautam said. "For a realistic communist it makes no difference whether Lord Ram was born here or there." "Such senseless and irrelevant remarks made by a person of high position will damage the country's prestige," said Bishnu Rijal, deputy chief of the Publicity Committee of the ruling party. "It was folly for PM Oli to wade in and raise controversy on the placement of Ayodhya, home of the mythological Lord Ram," tweeted senior journalist of Nepal Kanak Dixit. "This creates a schism with a section of India's population when earlier it was only with the Indian Government." H ealth Secretary Matt Hancock said shop workers should call the police if customers refuse to wear a face mask. Mr Hancock told the Commons face coverings can help to protect shop assistants and restore the confidence of shoppers. However, he said those who do not have a valid reason not to wear a face mask should be expelled from shops. He told MPs: Just as with public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt. The liability for wearing a face covering lies with the individual. "Should an individual without an exemption refuse to wear a face covering, a shop can refuse them entry and can call the police if people refuse to comply. "The police have formal enforcement powers and can issue a fine." It comes after the Government ended days of confusion on face masks yesterday, with Boris Johnson signalling they would be mandatory in stores from July 24. However, the delay was slammed by the British Medical Association, the head of JD Sports, scientific experts and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Loading.... Mr Hancock added: Sadly sales assistants, cashiers and security guards have suffered disproportionately in this crisis. The death rate of sales and retail assistants is 75 per cent higher amongst men and 60 per cent higher amongst women than in the general population." The top US diplomat for East Asia said on July 14 that the United States could respond with sanctions against Chinese officials and enterprises involved in coercion in the South China Sea. "Nothing is off the table ... there is room for that," David Stilwell, the assistant secretary for East Asia, told a Washington think tank when asked if sanctions were a possible US response to Chinese actions. Stilwell spoke a day after the United States rejected China's claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea as "completely unlawful," a stance Beijing said raised tensions in the region. The killing of George Floyd was an affront to us all. It awakened Americas collective consciousness to the systemic racism that pervades our society, from education and housing to employment, and of course, policing. That, in turn, has led to calls to defund the police, a movement and, simultaneously, a lightning rod. To some, the defund movement means shifting resources from policing to mental health and substance abuse treatment, education and other social services in order to reimagine community safety. For others, defunding the police is about abolition. Whatever defund the police means to you, this movement, and this moment, is an important opportunity to innovate. And its an opportunity we must meet to secure a sustainable future. Even though crime is at rates not seen since the 1960s, police budgets have continued to swell rapidly to unsustainable levels. In fact, a recent report found police department budgets consume between 20 and 45 percent of discretionary funding in metropolitan areas. Here in Berkeley, had we not taken the steps we took last week to cut our police departments budget, the figure would have neared 50% of our discretionary general funds over the next five years. Like all mayors, I have a responsibility to be a thoughtful steward of taxpayer resources, and to simultaneously ensure the safety of our citizens. But despite my being a longtime social justice advocate, it was this movement, and this moment, that forced me to recognize that we cannot rely on dated and expensive policing models to build the future of public safety. The defund the police movement has forced me to recognize that we can no longer invest in one approach to safety at the expense of others, and that we must innovate to achieve true safety, equity and to resolve the most pressing problems of the 21st century. In Berkeley, my colleagues and I defunded $9,251,458 from the Berkeley Police Department, or 12% of the agencys annual operating budget. Despite this concrete initial step, some members of my community are attached to the idea of cutting the Police Department by a specific arbitrary number. In reality, we do not yet know what the right size of our department should be and jumping to a number now is premature and could undermine public safety. Whatever changes we arrive at must be achieved through data, community conversation and a transition to a new model. In many jurisdictions, police are responsible for myriad tasks that do not require a badge and a gun, like traffic and even building code enforcement. It makes zero sense to have a police officer who receives nearly a quarter-million dollars annually in compensation and benefits to be circling the neighborhood doing traffic stops. Its this reality, that we have unnecessarily ceded so much responsibility to police, that presents an awesome opportunity to modernize, innovate, and safely reinvest precious taxpayer resources. To respond and meet this challenge, Berkeley is already exploring the creation of a city department of transportation with unarmed officials who would conduct parking enforcement and traffic enforcement. Other changes and innovations, however, will be more complex and necessitate a process of engaging our community, experts and police. For example, I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to advocate for getting cops out of the business of responding to homelessness and mental health calls. Roughly 40 percent of 911 calls in Berkeley are related to persons experiencing homelessness or in a mental health crisis. Absent a weapon or someone turning violent, the utility of dispatching persons with a gun and a badge is questionable at best, yet for decades that has been common practice both here and across the country. The Berkeley City Council, and other jurisdictions considering reforms, could simply pull the plug on police responding in these situations. But such a move would ignore the complexity of a subset of these situations, such as those in which a mentally ill person is armed or turns violent. Like many progressive leaders, I feel the sense of urgency and I hear the calls for systemic change. We must heed these calls and innovate for reform, and we must do so both thoughtfully and safely. The failure to balance these priorities risks harm to members of our community, harm that opponents to reform would hold up to stall the reimagination of our system of justice. That is harm that poses too grave a risk to this vitally important movement, and this moment. Jesse Arreguin is the mayor of Berkeley. London: The world's population is expected to peak at around 9.7 billion in 2064 before falling back by almost a billion by the start of the next century, according to a study published today in The Lancet. The report's projected global population of 8.8 billion in 2100 is around 2 billion lower than some previous estimates, and contrasts with the UN's consistent projections of continued global growth. It represents a huge challenge to world leaders to rethink policies to cope with changing demographics and their consequences. Nigeria - where a polio vaccine is pictured being administered to children - is predicted to become an economic powerhouse. Credit:AP Scientists cite the key factors in generating widespread, sustained declines in fertility are improvements in access to modern contraception and in the education of girls and women. All but seven of 195 countries surveyed are predicted to have falling fertility rates by 2100, according to estimates at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington's school of medicine. The over-80s will outnumber under-fives by two to one, say researchers. Immigration will be key to the health of most economies. (Alliance News) - UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has urged the public to wear face coverings in shops, and said an announcement on whether their use will be compulsory in England will be made in the coming days. The PM said that ministers are considering what "tools of enforcement" could be employed as he described the evidence to support their use to slow the spread of coronavirus as "growing". Downing Street said on Monday that a formal review was under way after the government faced calls for clarity on the subject. But Labour called on the government to address the "confusion" around the use of non-surgical masks "without delay". Stricter measures for shoppers in England could bring the nation into line with Scotland, where First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made their use compulsory in shops as of Friday. The PM, wearing a covering during a visit to the London Ambulance Service, said they "have a great deal of value in confined spaces" where people are coming into contact with those they do not normally meet. He said: "Yes face coverings, I think people should be wearing in shops and in terms of how we do that, whether we will be making that mandatory or not we will be looking at the guidance, we will be saying a little bit more in the next few days. "We will be looking in the next few days about exactly how, with what tools of enforcement, we think we want to make progress. "As the virus comes down in incidence and we have more and more success, I think face coverings are a kind of extra insurance we can all use to stop it coming back and stop it getting out of control again." After the PM's interview, Labour wrote to Health Secretary Matt Hancock calling for him to urgently address the issue amid mixed messages from the Westminster Government. Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove had said on Sunday it was "best to trust people's common sense" rather than force them to adopt coverings despite the PM earlier saying he would support "stricter" measures. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth wrote: "Conflicting advice and conflicting statements from the government only hinder our fight against the virus. Clear communication is vital in combating the spread of Covid-19. "For the public to know that they are doing the right thing in shops, restaurants and other crowded places, I am asking that you urgently set out the position on face coverings. "As lockdown rules are further relaxed this week, it is vital that updated guidance on this issue is published by the government without delay." Justice Secretary Robert Buckland also suggested he could support the use of face coverings being made compulsory as an expert advising the government as part of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) acknowledged the evidence has "shifted". Royal Society president Dr Venki Ramakrishnan told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "It's now quite strongly in favour of using face coverings in enclosed spaces where we're likely to come into contact with strangers. "I think that the government should be very clear. It's not consistent to make it mandatory on public transport and not make it mandatory in other enclosed and busy public spaces, because the behaviour of the virus is the same in all of these spaces." An alternative group of scientists calling itself Independent Sage urged the government to quickly legislate to include the mandatory wearing of face coverings in public spaces with limited ventilation, including shops. It believes some studies "strongly suggest" mandatory use "can substantially reduce infection rates". The Usdaw union representing shop workers joined the calls for the government to set out its position, saying the early signs are that the measure has been "working well" in Scotland. General secretary Paddy Lillis said: "We welcome anything that helps to keep customers and shop workers safe, but the most important measures to help stop the spread of Covid-19 are to maintain proper social distancing and hygiene. "We need clarity from the government, the mixed messaging and indecision is not helpful for shop workers." Meanwhile, Wales's First Minister Mark Drakeford said the nation would be brought into line with England and Scotland when face coverings are made compulsory on public transport in Wales from July 27. And Johnson urged the public to consider returning to workplaces as the lockdown further eased in England on Monday with the reopening of beauty salons, nail bars and tattoo parlours. The PM said: "Where businesses have made a huge effort to make the workplace safe, I do think people should start to think about getting back to work but provided we all continue to follow the precautions." The work-from-home guidance currently in place was under review, No 10 added. source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Argentina is trying to solve a medical mystery after 57 sailors were infected with the coronavirus after 35 days at sea, despite the entire crew testing negative before leaving port. The Echizen Maru fishing trawler returned to port after some of its crew began exhibiting symptoms typical of COVID-19, the health ministry for the southern Tierra del Fuego province said Monday. According to the ministry, 57 sailors, out of 61 crew members, were diagnosed with the virus after undergoing a new test. Doctors are trying to work out how 57 out of 61 sailors on board this fishing vessel caught coronavirus, after they spent 35 days at sea and tested negative before they left However, all of the crew members had undergone 14 days of mandatory quarantine at a hotel in the city of Ushuaia. Prior to that, they had negative results, the ministry said in a statement. Two of the other sailors have tested negative, and two others are awaiting test results, the province's emergency operations committee said. Two sailors were hospitalized. 'It's hard to establish how this crew was infected, considering that for 35 days, they had no contact with dry land,' said Alejandra Alfaro, the director of primary health care in Tierra del Fuego. 'Supplies were only brought in from the port of Ushuaia.' A team was examining 'the chronology of symptoms in the crew to establish the chronology of contagion,' she said. Argentina now has more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus with 1,859 deaths from the disease (pictured, a mask-wearing woman in Buenos Aires) The head of the infectious diseases department at Ushuaia Regional Hospital, Leandro Ballatore, said he believed this is a 'case that escapes all description in publications, because an incubation period this long has not been described anywhere.' 'We cannot yet explain how the symptoms appeared,' said Ballatore. The crew was placed in isolation on board the ship and returned to the port of Ushuaia. Argentina exceeded 100,000 total cases on Sunday, and the death toll rose to 1,859. The majority of infections are in the Buenos Aires area. HOUSTON, July 14, 2020 /PR Newswire/ -- With news of the coronavirus' airborne droplets being able to be neutralized via advanced filtration, Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical is responding by affording Houston homeowners state-of-the-art HVAC testing and Next-Gen products to combat the pandemic. Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical As the virus re-surges throughout Texas and parts of America, infectious disease experts are learning that COVID-19 can be contracted by inhaling tiny, invisible particles that hang in stagnant air for hours. A recent investigation by ABC's Good Morning America revealed that a combination of HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters and UV light are homeowners' best defense against the virus droplets. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said recently that large malls should be required to install HEPA systems before re-opening. Delta Airlines is also equipping its fleet of aircraft with HEPA filters, while American Airlines said its planes have been using the systems since the 1990s. The licensed HVAC professionals at Abacus Plumbing can inspect current residential systems and suggest a solution from their extensive line of HEPA and UV products . "Obviously cleaning surfaces is still important but cleaning the air that recirculates through homes and buildings is now a huge focus," industrial hygiene specialist Nancy McClellan told GMA. HEPA systems such as the REME HALO - can remove 99.7% of particles as small as .3 microns. Says Dr. Rajat Mittal, a professor studying the dynamics of COVID-19 particles, "That is potentially good news, because almost all the droplets that are going to be carrying viruses are all within that range." Abacus Plumbing so trusts the REME HALO that it's installed in the company's own HVAC systems. "To help keep our employees as healthy as possible, Abacus installed the same air filtration equipment in our offices that we install in our customer homes," says Abacus Founder & CEO Alan O'Neill. "In an essential business like ours, we have to do everything possible to help prevent our team members from allergies, germs and viruses. We owe it to our employees to invest in their health, and our customers who depend on us to be ready to serve 24 hours a day." The HALO purifies air in homes its source: the HVAC system. Its patented technology is hospital tested and military approved to reduce allergies, fight odor and kill bacteria, mold and viruses. "We haven't come across anything that it can't handle," says Rene Luna, whose company The Partner Group has been selling HALOs to Houston distributors like Abacus since 2006. "It doesn't wait to clean the air in the equipment, it actually cleans your air and your living space. It's by far the leader in the industry." With COVID-19 finding new ways to harm Houstonians, Abacus is ready to help homeowners protect the health and safety of their family by installing the best defense available. ABOUT ABACUS Abacus Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical is a full-service residential contractor serving greater Houston since 2003. Abacus is a member of the Greater Houston Women's Chamber of Commerce and has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau of Houston. Abacus is licensed, insured and offers 24/7 emergency service. To learn more about Abacus Air Conditioning, Plumbing & Electrical, visit www.abacusplumbing.net . License Numbers: ALAN O'NEILL M-20628 | TACLB82488E | TECL 39119 Media Contact: Michelle J. Lamont C. (214)228-9135 [email protected] SOURCE ABACUS Plumbing, Air Conditioning & Electrical Related Links http://www.abacusplumbing.net With Pride having arrived in Nova Scotia this July, COVID-19 precautions require a different approach to a time of celebration. In Dalhousies case, that means shifting most of its Pride activities online, including attendance at a flag-raising ceremony in Halifax on Monday. A small contingent of representatives from the Dalhousie community gathered in person on Studley Campus in a physically distant way to speak as part of the kick-off event, which was livestreamed for viewers on Instagram. While Pride is a time that we typically get together, this year its a time to be physically distant and stand together but six feet apart, said Tami Meredith, an instructor in Dal's Masters of Applied Computer Science program and member of the Queer Faculty & Staff Caucus (QFSC), in remarks at the event. Dr. Meredith, a queer woman and trans person, spoke about the continued power of Pride in fostering recognition of the uniqueness and diversity of LGBTQ2SIA+ communities and in spurring action. Pride is a time to reflect on how each of us can help in the fight towards making our world better and safer for those who identify as 2S, LGBTQ, as Black, as Aboriginal, or as a member of any other marginalized community, she said. To watch the full flag-raising ceremony, click here or see bottom of this article. Frank Harvey, Dals acting provost and vice-president academic, welcomed individuals to the event on behalf of the university. A different climate for conversation If the pandemic has changed the way events are being held this year, recent protests against anti-Black racism and police violence have altered the types of conversations being had. OmiSoore Dryden, James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies and an associate professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, provided a snapshot of past and present examples of how race, gender and sexual orientation intersect in sometimes tragic ways. She mentioned the recent killing of Tony McDade, a trans man, by police in Florida and his subsequent misgendering in the press, and of the killing of two Black trans women in the U.S. last month. But she also spoke of times when a bit of progress was achieved, such as when Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for Bayard Rustin a gay Black man and one of his close advisors who helped plan the March on Washington in 1963. Although Martin Luther King Jr. received a lot of pressure to distance himself from Bayard Rustin, Mr. King refused and in this act Mr. King also demonstrated that all Black lives matter. Dr. Dryden said progress requires more recognition of racisms impact on queer communities. We must acknowledge and be committed to understanding that racism is a queer issue and there is a necessity to address anti-Black racism in queer spaces, scholarship, research and workplaces, she said. Driving positive change Jasmine Walsh, Dals vice-president of human resources, invited viewers to join her in thinking about concrete ways we can use privilege to help drive positive change. Pride is political. It has always been political, she said. I consider this a real call to action for us to learn about and reflect on the way that Black queer voices and Black queer activists have been instrumental in the development of Pride. Walsh spoke about some of the initiatives she has led during her time at Dal that she believes have made the university a better place to be for queer and trans faculty and students, such as the inclusion of data collection of queer and trans identification information within the Be Counted census, amendments to the employment equity policy to include queer individuals as a recognized equity group, and the development of Dals first Gender Affirmation Policy, to mention a few. Other changes at Dal have been more symbolic, such as the raising of a version of the Rainbow Pride flag over the past few years that includes brown and black stripes in recognition of the diversity of the LGBTQ2SIA+ community. As Theresa Rajack-Talley, Dals vice-provost of equity and inclusion, noted in remarks before the flag was hoisted this year, this simple but important act teaches us what creating a more diverse Dal should look like because it recognizes the uniqueness of individuals and groups. I would like to use this opportunity to rededicate and commit to transforming Dalhousies efforts to creating more accessible and inclusive programming that supports our LGBTQ2SIA+ communities, to educate allies and to continue to create opportunities for the visibility of the LGBTQ2SIA+ members, she said. Different, but wonderful Trulee Love, president of the LGBTQ2SIA+ student society DalOUT, encouraged her fellow students to look for new ways to celebrate Pride this year. If youre anything like me, sitting at home, it might feel kind of weird for how to celebrate Pride this year," she said. "It might almost feel wrong or as if we shouldnt because of everything that is going on. But ... its really important to remember how Pride started. Pride is a protest and always has been. It is to commemorate the fight for our rights, the fight that we still have to continue, and the fight for communities that may not be our own. "I think one of the best ways we can celebrate Pride this year is to reach out, to support others, whether they are in our community or not. To stand together, to educate ourselves, to radicalize ourselves in the ways that those who came before us in the fight had to." She said people should reach out in their online communities and join in virtual events. "Just because its different, doesnt mean that its not wonderful and that we cant celebrate who we are and the community that we belong to. A flag raising event was also held on the Agricultural Campus last Friday. "The Agricultural Campus is once again proud to raise the Pride flag as we have done in recent years to show our support for LGBTQ+ members of our community and, with our new flag, people of colour," said David Gray, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and principal for the campus. "As a place of learning we embrace and encourage diversity in all forms. Diversity is our strength and we are truly stronger together." Watch the full flag-raising ceremony below. By Online Desk JAIPUR: The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began Tuesday morning with Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot turning down appeals to participate. Congress sources say that in the meeting of MLAs at Fairmont hotel, a unanimous resolution has been passed to initiate disciplinary action against Pilot and his supporting MLAs for staying absent from the meeting. Ahead of the meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande made another bid to reach out to the rebel leader, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home on Monday. Eighteen other Congress MLAs had also not attended Monday's meeting, according to sources. But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot. Tuesday's meeting was said to be a second chance for Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party. But MLAs considered close to Pilot were again not seen there, and are calling for a floor test in the 200-member state assembly. Srimadhopar MLA Deepender Singh Shekhawat, who was Speaker in the assembly during the term of the previous Congress government, came out in the open Tuesday with the demand. ALSO READ | BJP looking to demolish Congress govt, Sachin Pilot shouldn't run away like a mouse: Shiv Sena The Pilot camp also released late at night a 10-second video clip of a group of Congress MLAs sitting together. There appeared to be 16 of them in the clip. Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh tweeted the video, captioning it as "Family". The latest Congress meeting is being held at a resort where Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. It was scheduled to begin at 10 am, but started at least an hour later. #WATCH Rajkumar Roat, BTP (Bhartiya Tribal Party) MLA from Chorasi in a video, alleges police not letting him move, have taken his car keys and it's a hostage like situation. #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/FBbBXCCQoy ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 "I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting" Avinash Pande, who is the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC, tweeted in the morning. "While expressing your faith in the ideology and values of the Congress, please make your presence felt and strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," he said. He told reporters that a second chance is being given to Pilot and hoped that all MLAs come and extend solidarity with the leadership for which people voted to ensure the state's development. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Monday night announced summoning of the second CLP meeting, amid attempts by the party's top leadership to woo back dissidents led by Pilot. ALSO READ | Rajasthan political crisis: Pilot-led Congress camp releases video showing 16 MLAs sitting together Former party president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are among the senior leaders who had been in touch with Pilot, sources said. Party leaders had said 106 of 122 MLAs, from Congress and the allies -- attended the first CLP meeting, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the CPM and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). But CPM and BTP have now indicated that their MLAs could stay neutral till the Congress settles its factional feud. In recent days, the Gehlot camp has also distanced itself from three of the independents, after their names surfaced in an alleged plot to topple the state government. The current crisis began Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over the alleged bid to bring down the government. #WATCH Rajasthan: Inside visuals of MLAs attending the ongoing Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting at Fairmont Hotel in Jaipur. As per sources, 102 MLAs are present & have unanimously demanded that Sachin Pilot should be removed from the party. pic.twitter.com/FZxIUYVgq7 ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The Special Operation Group (SOG) had sent out the notices after tapping a phone conversation between two men, who were allegedly discussing the fall of the Gehlot government. Gehlot had alleged that the opposition BJP was trying to lure Congress MLAs. The BJP had dismissed the allegation, saying that the developments only reflected a power struggle within the ruling party. (With ENS and PTI Inputs) SNWOT at the Bamenda Municipal Stadium last year Facebook Members of the South West North West Women Taskforce (SNWOT) say they are alarmed at the upsurge in violence in the conflict-prone regions despite a UN Global call for a ceasefire. Irked by the killing of a nursing mother on July 3 in Ntarinkon Bamenda, two days after the UN Security Council call for a worldwide ceasefire to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, and the murder of a community health worker on July 10 in Kumba, SNWOT insists that the safety of civilians and their general wellbeing remain a priority to be upheld by all stakeholders involved in the ongoing armed conflict in the North West and South West regions of Cameroon. The South West North West Women Taskforce-SNWOT observes with disapproval the continuous killing of the civilian population even after the UN Global call for a ceasefire, the women said in a statement yesterday. They say they have been following keenly the actions of parties to the conflict towards a possible peace negotiation and would like to encourage all parties to prioritize talks over guns. SNWOT says they are aware that recovery is an integral part of a peace process but based on their analysis of the current situation in the conflict-prone regions, and the Governments decision to start recovery, they proposed as follows: The increasing humanitarian needs have greatly collapsed the communities and continues to have a negative impact on vulnerable groups. As a result, responding to this bad situation is primordial. This will ensure the recovery of communities and enhance the support and contributions of the population to any further moves towards peace. Parties in conflict should immediately stop smoking the guns and respect the call for a ceasefire. This will provide an enabling environment for recovery and mutual understanding towards a peace negotiation. We recognize at this point that Recovery is crucial; as it would help the masses get the much-needed humanitarian assistance. We, therefore, pinpoint this as a common priority to parties in conflict to relieve the suffering masses. Lastly, we urge parties to observe a mutually respected ceasefire through a negotiated settlement. We call on all parties to realize that reconstruction, which is physical, systemic, and structural, and will be highly beneficial if it is supported and approved, by all parties in conflict. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 15:18:32|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MAIMANA, Afghanistan, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Four worshippers have been killed and three others wounded after armed militants opened fire on a mosque in Afghanistan's northern Faryab province, provincial police spokesman Abdul Karim Yurash said Tuesday. "Militants affiliated with the Taliban group sprayed bullets on a mosque in Faryab's provincial capital Maimana city on Monday evening, killing four worshipers and wounding three others," Yurash told Xinhua. However, the spokesman added the attackers fled away with a car after the attack but were intercepted by the police nearby. Two attackers including Qari Naqib, a member of Taliban spy agency in the restive province, were killed. The Taliban outfit has yet to make comment on the incident. Enditem Sending kids back to school in September is going to be a disaster, no matter what happens, and the fact each district is putting into place their own plans is just going to complicate matters. Lets look at Ewing, Hamilton, and Hopewell. These are not set-in-cement plans, but theyre close to it. Ewing is planning full-day, everyday, all day for the elementary age students. For middle and high school, half-days and an A/B schedule. Hamiltons plan at least the one supported by the superintendent calls for all kids to be on a A/B/C schedule, meaning in a classroom once every three days. Hopewell wants their elementary kids in every day, grades 6-12 every other day. Already, three districts, three wildly different plans. Its crazy to consider that if things go off the way the planners say a 2nd grader in Ewing will be in school all day every day, and a 2nd grader in Hamilton will be in school once every three days. Already, I suppose you see the issues. Parents in Ewing might think every day, all day is too much, and Hamilton parents might think once every three days is too little. Conversely, some Ewing parents are probably freaking knowing their kids will be school all day, every day, and Im sure some Hamilton parents are breathing a sigh of relief they only have to deal with a every-third day scenario. Additionally, all three districts and every other district I glanced at will be offering a full, online-only course of study for kids who arent going back to school. Oh, one other thing: All the districts Ive looked at are also mandating masks for everyone, students included. Almost makes you wonder if this is you know going to work, or if wed all be better off just sticking to the online-only model until such a time theres a vaccine, a treatment, or neither. Honestly, we may end up in that scenario anyway, as there is zero doubt Gov. Phil Murphy will pull the plug on the reopening of schools if coronavirus cases in New Jersey start ticking back up. Thankfully, well have some data for Murphy to determine dates with, as most states send their kids back to school before we do. For instance, North Carolina goes back about three weeks before most New Jersey districts. Hawaii starts back up again August 4. Well be able to see how these states are doing before we make any final decisions. Are there easy answers here? Hell no. Do we all want our kids to get back to life-as-semi-normal? Hell yes. Do we want them learning and socializing and growing? Hell to the hell to the hell yes. But the fact of the matter is we dont know if its prudent. Is sending kids back to school the right move? Or will it help re-ignite the coronavirus fire in New Jersey? The questions dont stop there. How many teachers are going to sit out? How many parents arent going to send their kids? If one kid in Mrs. Joness class tests positive, to they shut down the class? The grade? The school? The district? The county? The state? Can kids actually keep masks on all day? What about lunch? What about bussing? What about dismissal? What about everything? No easy answers. Were all navigating this for the first time. Right now, I plan on sending my kids to school in September. I expect our curve to remain flat. I expect it to be reasonably safe to send them back. But Ill do a 180 on that in .2 seconds if I deem it necessary. And even though Im saying now Ill send them back, two months is a long way away, and as I sit here typing, there is a thought ticking around the back of my brain: Would I sit in a room all day with 8, 10, 12, 15 other masked strangers right now? The answer is almost certainly not. But Im hoping Id say yes, with reservations come September, otherwise well, otherwise I guess I need to make sure all the Chromebooks are charged up and ready to go. A Sekondi High Court is insisting on legal representation for the suspected killers of the kidnapped Takoradi girls after the accused persons were committed to a crime of murder. Justice Adjei-Frimpong who was presiding over the case for the first time after the two suspects, Sam Udoetuk Wills and John Orji, told the court they had no representation from the beginning of the case. He reminded that the current criminal law demands they get legal representation after their committal to murder. The judge thus said he would write to the Legal Aid Scheme for it to assess the accused and arrange representation. That should have been the case previously but now they have been charged fully and committed to the crime of murder, they should be given legal representation. I would write to order Legal Aid to access them and arrange representation for them. The prosecuting State Attorney, Patience Klenogo also admitted to the court that the accused persons are yet to get legal representation and asked the court for advice. The presiding judge also asked two lawyers who were present at the proceedings to represent the accused persons for proceedings to kick-off but he was turned down. The two lawyers said they have a personal interest in the matter which could amount to a conflict of interest. His Lordship Adjei-Frimpong told the State Attorney that since the case against the accused Takoradi kidnapped girls' suspected murderers was a matter of public interest, there is the need for the matter to be discussed with the Attorney General for special concessions to expedite proceedings. Before the presiding Justice could adjourn the case, the second accused, John Orji told the court his handlers are not taking care of his health despite being Asthmatic. I'm Asthmatic but my health is not been taken care of. The medicine I'm been given requires certain adequate food but I'm not getting that Justice Adjei-Frimpong referred the matter to the prisons to take care of him. His Lordship also raised issues with the absence of alibi in the account of the second accused hence asked Orji to provide investigators with information on his whereabouts when the murder took place. The lawyer representing families of the Kidnapped Takoradi girls, Nana Abeka, and father of one of the girls, Alexander Kuranchie, who spoke to Citi News after proceedings agreed with the court's decision for the accused to be given representation for the case to proceed. The case was adjourned to July 29, 2020. The proposed mine is in a protected national forest some 90 km from the capital. China is financing the US$ 2 billion, project building roads and bridges in exchange for access to bauxite. Environmental groups warn that rare species and water supply for millions of people are at risk. Increasingly, activists are turning to the courts to stop polluting activities in Africa. Accra (AsiaNews/Agencies) Ghanaian environmental activists are taking their government to court in order stop a China-backed project to mine for bauxite in a protected national forest. Activists warn that the new mine would endanger the forests delicate ecosystem, harming the health and well-being of local communities. In 2018, China pledged to build US$ 2 billion worth of roads and bridges in Ghana in exchange for access to the bauxite from a proposed mine in the Atewa Range Forest. Bauxite is used in making aluminum. China's policy towards Africa, considered by many to be a form of neocolonialism, is based on buying raw materials in exchange for investments and loans for infrastructural projects (largely with Chinese labour and materials) in target countries. According to the China Global Investment Tracker, China has invested US$ 211 billion in Africa over the past 15 years. Johns Hopkins Universitys China Africa Research Initiative estimates that China lent US$ 143 billion to 49 African states between 2000 and 2017. Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo has promised that mining activities will be environmentally sustainable. Ghanaian authorities say that the project will create 35,000 new jobs. Conversely, environmental groups note that the forest is home to very rare animal and plant species. It is also the source of three important rivers that supply water to millions of people, including the residents of the capital, Accra, which is only 90 km away. According to Global Forest Watch, the rate of deforestation in Ghana rose by 60 per cent between 2017 and 2018, the highest in tropical countries. In Africa, local groups are increasingly turning to the courts to block the polluting activities of mining companies. They demand that economic development be reconciled with forest protection. MARQUETTE, MI Jonathan Collins, 41, was sentenced on July 10, to serve 324 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney. Collins pleaded guilty in December 2019 to possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine. Marquette City Police pulled over Collins vehicle in November 2018. During that encounter, investigators found approximately 50 grams of methamphetamine in the car and a double-edged dagger concealed in the driver-side support handle, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office. The Upper Peninsula Substance Enforcement Team then took over the investigation and learned that Collins had been making frequent trips to the Grand Rapids area and had brought ounces of crystal methamphetamine back to the Upper Peninsula for redistribution. After being charged by the Marquette County Prosecuting Attorneys Office and being released on bond, Collins conspired to obtain additional methamphetamine and made threats against a co-conspirator. The U.S. Attorneys office charged Collins in August 2019. Upon his release, Collins will be subject to 5 years of supervision. Alabama Senate Runoff Pits Failed AG Sessions Against RINO Tuberville Publisher's note: The Rant & Rave section is a public forum offered as a service to readers. Postings are not edited without approval by the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the staff, management, owners or advertisers of Beaufort County NOW. Alabama's Senate runoff is today, and the choices are a super-RINO who is in bed with the globalist US Chamber of Commerce or the man who failed President Trump as his first Attorney General. Jeff Sessions had a record as a standout conservative in the US Senate, but was a huge disappointment as Trump's first Attorney General. Sessions trademark is a strong opposition to illegal immigration, which is why he was the first US Senator to endorse Trump. Tuberville is a former Auburn football coach recruited by the RINOs. Last August, he told a GOP group "There are people coming across the border that need jobs, okay, and we want them to come over here, we just need to know who's here, okay. Put the wall up, then we let them come in, and become citizens like we all became citizens." President Trump, still miffed at Sessions failures as AG, has endorsed the swamp creature Tuberville, in spite of Sessions declarations that he will support the Trump agenda in the Senate. Volunteers test Delaware County residents for the coronavirus on July 9 at the Providence Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center on the Mercy Fitzgerald Campus in Yeadon. Read more Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine warned Monday that a cycle seen at the start of the coronavirus pandemic may be repeating: A wave of sickness among younger people that can lead to more severe infections and death among older people. When the virus first began to circulate in the spring, more people aged 19 to 49 got sick and then older people fell ill, and the virus spread quickly and killed thousands. Even though Pennsylvania is not seeing the dramatic virus surges plaguing some other states, the number of cases among people under 50 here has risen again, now making up 45% of the commonwealths cases, Levine said. There are things we can do right now to stop this cycle, Levine said, speaking at the states first formal news conference in several days. We need to make important choices to lower our risk. We have to adapt our activities to protect against COVID-19. In addition to wearing masks and practicing social distancing, Levine asked residents to avoid situations that seem risky people who show up to a crowded restaurant or a supermarket where others arent wearing masks should simply leave. And, she added, If you are in a situation where you are considering whether or not you need a mask, and youre thinking about it, then the answer is yes, you need a mask, she said. Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which experienced early surges of the virus and remain in the top six states with the highest death tolls, continue to avoid the dire case increases in states such as Florida and Texas and officials are trying to keep it that way. California rolled back its reopening plan Monday, closing all indoor dining, all bars, and other indoor operations amid rapidly increasing cases. Florida reported nearly 28,000 new cases on Sunday and Monday alone, with Sundays tally breaking the one-day record set in New York in April. The United States has confirmed more than 3.3 million cases, meaning more than one million people got the virus in the last month. In contrast, New Jersey reported 231 new cases and Pennsylvania reported 328 new cases on Monday. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said the seven-day rolling average of new cases was declining, and the transmission rate was still below 1.0, which means not every person who gets the virus is infecting another person. But case counts increased in 43 of Pennsylvanias 67 counties over the last week, compared with the previous week, and the percentage of tests that are positive was on the rise in 28 counties, Levine said. Still, the statewide positivity rate has decreased slightly to 4.4%, and Pennsylvania hospitals have plenty of capacity. Levine said state officials were not currently considering moving any counties back to the more restrictive yellow or red phases of reopening. READ MORE: Tracking the latest spread of the coronavirus Health officials continued to ask people to avoid congregating indoors. New Jersey officials said some of the spread of the virus there was being driven by indoor gatherings, such as parties at beaches. But Murphy and one of his leading health experts said Monday the state had not seen evidence that people gathering outdoors at beaches or participating in the large outdoor protests that have occurred in the wake of the death of George Floyd are causing significant spread of the virus. Having said that, if we dont manage capacity at the beaches, if we cant get social distancing, were probably playing with fire, Murphy said. Aside from a few hot spots including Long Branch Beach in Monmouth County, where officers prohibited access Sunday due to capacity limits Murphy said compliance with the states rules regarding social distancing and masks was good in beach areas and on the boardwalk over the weekend. READ MORE: Airborne coronavirus transmission raises new questions and worries The governor cleared NJ Transit buses, trains, and light rail to resume operating at full capacity on Wednesday, lifting the 50% capacity limit on the transit system and private-carrier transit. Face masks are required. Murphy also said all upcoming special elections will be postponed until Nov. 3, the day of the general election, in order to avoid the public health and logistical challenges of in-person and mail-in voting. Pennsylvania officials released new statistics: 77% of the states confirmed coronavirus patients 95,742 people so far have now recovered. Since the start of the outbreak, about 9% of Pennsylvanias population has been tested for the virus, Levine said. The state is testing well more than 2% of the population per month and is aiming to test 4% per month and continue increasing that number, she said. More than 1.1 million tests have been performed in Pennsylvania since March. Some delays in results are occurring because national companies, such as LabCorp and Quest, are being inundated with samples from states across the country. Pennsylvania officials have a call scheduled with those companies to discuss the delays, but this is a national issue, Levine said. READ MORE: COVID-19 test rates are still low in Pa., and high in N.J. How much is enough? Officials nationwide are watching the positivity rate the percentage of people whose test results come back positive. That rate is a key indicator of how prevalent the virus is in the community, Levine said. Even when the number of tests being done goes up, that percentage wont rise unless the spread of the virus is increasing. Levine said the state considers a positivity rate under 5% to be a very good sign and watches rates above 5% very closely. If a rate nears or exceeds 10%, thats a bad sign. Philadelphias rate of positive tests was about 4.1% over the past week. The area of greatest concern in the state is Allegheny County, where officials reported a 9.6% positive test rate on Monday. Philadelphia recorded 234 new cases from Friday through Sunday. Thats an average of 78 cases per day for the three days, below the citys recent trend, though weekends often cause delays in reporting. READ MORE: Philly expands summer children's program PlayStreets Pennsylvania officials remain concerned about the case rises in states including Florida, Texas, South Carolina, Arizona, and California. Thats one of the ways that COVID-19 can increase in Pennsylvania is if a lot of people have come from those hot zones, Levine said Monday. Anyone traveling into Pennsylvania or New Jersey from those states and others with high case rates is asked to quarantine for 14 days. Neither state has enforced the directive, and Levine said Pennsylvania had no plans to do so because the state doesnt track peoples movements. You have to make your own choice of whether youre going to put yourself and your family and your community at risk, Levine said, and if we all make the right choices, then we wont have to worry about our hospital capacity. Staff writer Rita Giordano contributed to this article. How Discovery of Fresh Water Bolsters China Claims in Disputed Sea By Ralph Jennings July 13, 2020 Discovery of a rare freshwater reserve under one of its land holdings in a widely disputed sea gives China a boost in occupying the islet and offers it a new defense for its sovereignty claims if they land in international court. A freshwater lens is forming under Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, Chinese researchers said in the peer-reviewed publication Hydrology Journal. The lens created by tidal activity will take 20 years to become "stable" at 15 meters thick, the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology researchers in Guangzhou said in the May 2020 study. "Having this freshwater access evidently will change the quality of life and change their ability to station people on the artificial island," said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center research organization in Washington. Most among the hundreds of islets in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea are semi-submerged or too small to support freshwater supplies. China used reclaimed land to build up Fiery Cross Reef to its current 274 hectares and now operates an airbase there with several hundred personnel. The presence of water could mildly help China in any international court case to argue that Fiery Cross deserves a 370-kilometer-wide ocean exclusive economic zone, analysts say. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam contest all or parts of China's claims to the sea. They prize the waterway for its fisheries plus undersea reserves of oil and gas. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea considers an islet's ability to sustain life or economic activity when deciding whether a country can draw up an exclusive economic zone, but in 2016 the Permanent Court of Arbitration rejected that right for Taiping Island, a Taiwanese-controlled Spratly feature with its own water supply. China leads the other claimants in firepower, technology and scientific research. It may have explored other South China Sea holdings for freshwater as well but found some only on Fiery Cross Reef, Sun said. Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines claim sovereignty over the same reef. Finding water will at least boost Chinese morale, said Alexander Huang, strategic studies professor at Tamkang University in Taiwan. "These are somewhat psychological building blocks," Huang said. They imply, he said, that the Chinese "are making progress, they are moving on, but I don't think in real terms they can actually use the limited freshwater to do anything so strategically." A local freshwater source will cut the costs of shipping water to Fiery Cross Reef or desalinating it, analysts note. That advantage would make it easier to station troops there. Woody Island, a Chinese-held South China Sea feature with about 1,000 long-term residents, collects rainwater and gets additional water shipped in. But the freshwater lens won't give China enough water to support a "sizable" fighting force on the ground, Huang said. "It doesn't change the balance of power in the region," said Carl Thayer, Southeast Asia-specialized emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia. "It doesn't give China a stronger leg up in any aspect. You could catch rainwater and store it and treat it and drink it, if you have the space." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address FLINT, MI -- A federal court has denied Rick Snyder qualified immunity for a second time, an action that once again blocks requests to delay certain depositions of the former governor and ex-state Treasurer Andy Dillon in lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis. After losing his qualified immunity appeal a few months ago, Snyder asked all appellate judges who sit on the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a three judge panel ruling earlier ruling. The request was denied Tuesday, July 14. MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach the Department of Attorney General, which represents state defendants in the case, for comment on the ruling. However, Theodore J. Leopold, a partner at Cohen Milstein and co-lead counsel in the Flint case, issued the following statement: We are pleased that the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has again denied former Governor Snyders latest appeal in his constant attempts to avoid responsibility for his role in the Flint water disaster. Not only are we pleased with this latest ruling but we strongly feel that it is time for the former Governor and all of the States bad actors to be held accountable for their decisions that have caused so much anguish to the people of Flint. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied requests to delay deposition in a Tuesday, June 2, opinion. Former Gov. Snyder subject to deposition in Flint water case, federal court rules Snyder and Dillion have claimed they cannot be deposed in such cases because they are immune from all discovery until they have exhausted every opportunity to appeal the district courts denial of their motions to dismiss the claims against them based on qualified immunity. Qualified immunity means elected officials cannot be held civilly liable for actions they took in the normal course of doing their jobs. Luke Waid, Michelle Rodriguez and other Flint residents claim in the federal lawsuit that they were harmed as a consequence of lead and other toxic substances in the citys water supply. The residents are seeking to recover monetary damages for gross negligence of the defendants, including various employees of the state and city of Flint. The claims are based on the citys use of improperly treated water from the Flint River for 17 months in parts of 2014 and 2015. Researchers have said the corrosive water caused lead to leech into the citys water supply while Flint was being run by emergency financial managers appointed by Snyder. The case is one of many civil lawsuits pending in state and federal courts related to the water crisis. U.S. District Court Judge Judith E. Levy has already ruled in a separate case that a bodily integrity claim can move forward under the U.S. Constitution because the conduct of many of the individual governmental defendants was so egregious as to shock the conscience and violate plaintiffs clearly established fundamental right to bodily integrity. In the same case, a claim against Snyder was dismissed initially but later reinstated after new information was filed by attorneys for the Flint residents. Read more: Former Gov. Rick Snyder could be deposed in Flint water crisis case As Flint was slowly poisoned, Snyders inner circle failed to act Flint water crisis lawsuits for kids 6-12 go to front of the line in federal court Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:25:38|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close LISBON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Researchers from the Coimbra Institute of Engineering (ISEC) presented on Tuesday an "innovative device" that makes it possible to open and close doors without the use of hands in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to the ISEC, which is part of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, the hands-free door opener was designed "primarily for hospitals and health centers," but it can be installed in any place with a large movement of people. According to the creators, the equipment allows users "to activate door handles with parts of the body less likely to come into contact with the face," thereby avoiding a major source of infection without proper hand hygiene. In a press statement, ISEC President Mario Velindro said that the device is "versatile" and can "adapt to any type of door handle.". It is also "easy to install" and is "low maintenance," which makes it an "affordably priced" product. "As the fight against COVID-19 requires safe behavior, this device will be a strong response to this pandemic," Velindro said. The project's coordinator, Luis Roseiro, explained that the equipment uses mechanical elements that can be used "intuitively." It associates dynamic movement with "comfort and ergonomics," he said. "This device will respect all safety standards, favoring design and mechanical strength, ensuring a harmonious framework with the environment in which it is inserted, and will also allow safe use by citizens with mobility limitations," Roseiro said. The hands-free door opener will be "produced on a large scale for the national and international markets" by the company Shapetek in association with CENTIMFE, the Portuguese technological center for the mould-making, special tooling and plastic industries and the company Sandredy. Enditem ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy Florida will continue assisting customers experiencing economic hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic as the company begins returning to standard billing and payment practices in mid-August. However, the earliest disconnections for non-payment under regular credit and notice timelines will not begin until Sept. 1 for customers. In March, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company immediately launched a sweeping series of steps to help customers, including suspending disconnections for non-payment, as well as late-payment fees and fees for credit card payments and other payment types. The company also has donated $1 million to assist COVID-19 relief efforts in Florida. For more information on how Duke Energy Florida has helped local communities through rapid-relief funding during the pandemic, click here. Now, as the company prepares to resume standard billing practices, Duke Energy encourages customers to take advantage of the company's payment programs to help manage electric bills and avoid service disconnection. "Our customers remain our top priority. Many of them are facing unprecedented adversity during this pandemic. We want to be thoughtful and provide extended payment options to avoid power interruptions during the pandemic," said Catherine Stempien, Duke Energy Florida president. "As financial assistance has become available for qualified customers, we believe now is the right time to begin resuming more traditional operations. We will, however, continue to help our customers access resources to assist them and provide additional information that can help reduce their bills." Enhanced customer care Duke Energy Florida has been proactively working with customers who are accumulating past-due balances on their utility bills, offering payment plans to mitigate potentially more significant financial challenges in the future. "If you are facing a financial hardship, we are here to help," said Malcolm Barnes, Duke Energy's general manager for regional customer care operations. "Our customer contact specialists are prepared to support our customers through these challenging times and provide manageable solutions so customers can keep their lights on." Expanded assistance options Duke Energy Florida will continue to provide assistance to residential and business customers whose accounts have fallen behind due to illness or lost wages. Support for these efforts include: Online tools so customers can directly choose an extended payment arrangement that meets their individual needs. Customers who need additional assistance can visit the Energy Neighbor Fund webpage to learn how community agencies can help pay energy bills. Professional guidance for small business customers to help analyze their energy usage, discuss energy rates and identify solutions to help lower their energy bills as they are reopening. To make it easier to pay, the company will continue waiving credit/debit card and walk-in payment fees for residential customers for an additional two months once billing and payment practices resume. These fees will resume in November. What customers can expect Duke Energy Florida customers will return to standard billing and payment practices in mid-August, which means customers in arrears will receive notices about their past-due balances and the earliest possible date their service could be interrupted. That change could result in disconnections for non-payment under regular credit and notice timelines during the month of September for customers. The company anticipates higher than normal call volume as standard operations resume and encourages customers to consider using the online self-service options now to avoid long wait times. Customers should download the company's mobile app or visit duke-energy.com for information and most service transactions. Customers who are unable to self-serve can contact the customer contact center at 800.700.8744. Duke Energy's customer service specialists are available Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to assist customers with customized payment plans that meet their specific situations. Customers who need financial assistance are encouraged to visit 211.org to locate available resources. The free service can help customers find local community agencies that provide assistance to meet a wide range of needs, including: Utility bills Housing, food and other essentials Child and elder care Medical expenses and health counseling To get started, simply visit 211.org or dial 211 from your phone. Service orders, field operations The company also suspended some of its field operations and non-emergency work inside customers' premises. However, as a provider of an essential service, the company continues working hard to deliver the reliable power customers need while following CDC guidelines to protect the health and well-being of our communities. The company has been methodically resuming some activities, consistent with its commitment to safely and reliably serve customers. As the company continues to resume service orders previously suspended, personnel will continue following CDC guidelines to complete work. Duke Energy Florida employees and contractors who may interact with customers or engage in field work have access to necessary personal protective equipment and will maintain social distancing to the extent practical. For work that must be scheduled, the company will contact customers in advance to inform them of the nature of the work and the safety protocols that will be used. Customers will have the right to refuse and reschedule the work for a later date, unless an immediate safety issue exists. If you have questions regarding work that needs to be scheduled, please call us. The company anticipates that all previously delayed, deferred, and suspended non-essential operations will have resumed by Sept. 1, 2020. Home Energy Checks can still be completed online. To learn more about Duke Energy's response to the COVID-19 virus, please visit the company webpage. Duke Energy Florida Duke Energy Florida, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, owns a diverse generation mix of natural gas, coal and renewables, providing about 10,200 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 1.8 million customers in a 13,000-square-mile service area. Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S. It employs 30,000 people and has an electric generating capacity of 51,000 megawatts through its regulated utilities, and 3,000 megawatts through its nonregulated Duke Energy Renewables unit. Duke Energy is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing the energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve approximately 7.7 million retail electric customers in six states North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to more than 1.6 million customers in five states North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects. Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2020 "World's Most Admired Companies" list, and Forbes' 2019 "America's Best Employers" list. More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter , LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook. Media Contact: Ana Gibbs Office: 813.928.7263 l 24-Hour: 800.559.3853 SOURCE Duke Energy Related Links www.duke-energy.com Both of those meetings were open to a limited number of attendees. To attend the meeting, members of the public and the board of trustees had their temperatures checked, answered questions about potential exposure to COVID-19, and wore masks and maintained social distancing during the meeting. Pipkins reportedly arrived too late to be screened before the June 25 meeting. O'Malley said he did not know anything about the planned watch party and that the planned party, therefore, did not play into the decision to move the meetings back online. He added that the decision was made after a review of Gov. Henry McMaster's latest executive order that continued the state of emergency declaration issued in March. O'Malley added that district staff, including a nurse and security officers, had expressed concerns about the sizes of the crowds attending the meetings and the size of the crowd could exacerbate the spread of the virus. He also said, that with the items on the agenda, the district felt it could move Thursday's meeting back online. By Express News Service NEW DELHI: THE International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Monday said that airlines in the Asia-Pacific region will be the hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis, with losses expected to be about $29 billion for 2020. This is more than a third of the $84.3 billion industry losses estimated globally this year. IATA, in its revised review, estimated Indias passenger demand to fall by 49 per cent year-on-year in the calendar year 2020 due to Covid-19 and slow recovery of the sector. Revenue impact of the pandemic on Indias aviation sector is estimated at $11.6 billion. Furthermore, the potential jobs impact on aviation and sectors dependent on aviation is now pegged at 30.60 lakhs by IATA. In the past few months, every airline has started rationalisating its workforce and sending a large number of its employees on leave without pay. Salary cuts continue to remain rampant in the sector. Brokerage firm Centrum pointed out that IndiGo may report loss to the tune Rs 2,670 crore for the June quarter, while SpiceJet losses to be at Rs 1,000 crore. 2020 is the worst year in aviation history and airlines are in survival mode. The carriers in Asia-Pacific will experience the largest losses. Thats a loss of $30.09 per passenger, Conrad Clifford, IATAs regional vice-president for Asia Pacific said. BIRKERD, Denmark, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Reapplix announces that it has successfully received Medicare reimbursement coding instructions from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) with a national average payment rate of USD 1,622.74. The rate covers each patient visit to Hospital Outpatient Departments to receive 3C Patch therapy for hard-to-heal diabetic foot ulcers. Reapplix also announces that it has successfully closed a USD 22.6M (DKK 150M) equity financing round, primarily to accelerate the US commercialization of 3C Patch (www.3cpatch.com). Reapplix President, US, James G. Wetrich commented: "We are delighted that the Reapplix US team can offer our unique, autologous wound care technology with an appropriate reimbursement rate to allow health care professionals to help patients with diabetic foot ulcers who are still in need of novel therapies. Reapplix has invested in a substantial body of evidence supporting the use of 3C Patch, including a Randomised Controlled Trial published in The Lancet, which led to the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) recommending the use of our technology." The reimbursement coding instructions received from CMS were provided under the Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) framework. Access to the procedure is granted nationally via a CMS-approved claims-based program. In parallel, CMS has re-opened its National Coverage Analysis (NCA) process for Autologous Blood-Derived Products for Chronic Non-Healing Wounds with a stated, expected NCA completion date of January 2021. Reapplix expects that the CED framework arrangement will be replaced by a positive National Coverage Determination decision with a permanent future coding and reimbursement rate at the beginning of 2021. The equity financing round was completed with new investors including North East Health Care, Lauxera Capital Partners and MK Ventures, private life science investors Bo Jesper Hansen and Jan Struve as well as existing investors, including Novo Holdings and Vkstfonden (The Danish Growth Fund). Chief Executive Officer, Graeme Brookes said: "We are very pleased to have obtained sufficient capital to drive revenue growth and strengthen our value proposition in the fast-growing US advanced biologic wound care market. Now that we also have the US reimbursement rate and coding confirmed, we can execute on our plans to provide our proven and effective technology to address the unmet medical need for diabetic foot ulcer patients and to help healthcare professionals achieve their treatment goals. Finally, I would like to welcome our new investors, who further strengthen the knowledge base and commitment already in place with our highly supportive existing investor group." Samuel Levy, Founding Partner at Lauxera Capital added: "Approximately every 20 seconds, a limb is lost as a consequence of diabetes. Lauxera Capital is delighted to partner with Reapplix to transform the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers with our 3C Patch therapy. Reapplix's US commercial organization is extremely talented and is poised to launch a true innovation in the fast-growing 1.4 billion dollar advanced biologic wound care market." About Reapplix Founded in 2008, with SEED Capital as its first institutional investor, Reapplix specializes in the biological treatment and management of diabetic foot ulcers. Diabetic foot ulcers have a debilitating impact on patients. Despite numerous treatment options, about 60% of all patients experience a wound that does not heal. If the severity of the wound progresses to grade 4 or 5, the cost of treatment is eight times higher than a grade 1 or 2 wound. For about 20% of patients, treatment ends in amputation within one year. Reapplix has established that one of the keys to successful wound treatment lies in the body's capacity to heal and each patient is central to that process. The patented 3CPatch System is an innovative, evidence-based biological wound therapy made entirely from the patient's own blood nothing else. The 3C Patch is thus personalized and targeted towards the treatment of the individual patient's diabetic foot ulcer. Using just a small sample of the patient's blood, the 3C Patch System separates, coagulates and compacts the blood components into a solid patch comprising a concentration of proteins, active cells and growth factors. Each 3C Patch takes about 20 minutes to produce and is applied directly to the wound at point-of-care. One of few evidence-based wound treatments, the 3C Patch is clinically proven to significantly accelerate wound healing, nearly doubling the chance of healing, and improve wound reduction of hard-to-heal diabetic foot ulcers (Randomized Controlled Trial data published in The Lancet in September 2018). The outcome is a personalized wound treatment that draws on each patient's unique ability to help their own healing process. Headquartered in Denmark with US subsidiary Reapplix Inc. established in Texas, Reapplix is poised for commercial launch, with particular focus on the US market. Every wound is personal. http://www.reapplix.com Further information: Graeme Brookes, Chief Executive Officer, +45-53-77-74-47, [email protected] SOURCE Reapplix A mortgage lender says he is 'beyond sorry' for making a series of 'inappropriate, lewd and hurtful comments' about the wife of a business rival. Anthony Casa, who serves as a chairman at AIME mortgage lenders in Philadelphia, took to Facebook Monday to apologize for slurs he made about Teresa Niemiec. Niemiec is the wife of Austin Niemiec, the Executive Vice President of Detroit-based Quicken Loans and one of Casa's competitors. The Niemiecs filed a defamation lawsuit this month against Casa, accusing him of 'crowd shaming' her by making the lewd and untruthful comments and sending them to other mortgage lenders. A copy of the lawsuit alleges that 'on July 2, while at a social gathering with many people in the vicinity, Casa filmed and then widely distributed and published defamatory video clips and drafted and sent defamatory text messages directed to Mr Niemiec wherein Casa disparaged and demeaned Ms Niemiec.' According to The Detroit Free Press, 'Casa falsely accused Ms Niemiec of being promiscuous in college with United Wholesale Mortgage CEO Mat Ishbia'. One text sent from Casa to Mr Niemiec read: 'Austin, great to see you're having a great time. Love to meet your wife. It's amazing that's the girl who sucked Ishbia's d*** in college. Way to marry up,' However, Ms Niemiec did not attend college with Ishbia, and does not know him. Anthony Casa (left) took to Facebook Monday to apologize for slurs he made about Teresa Niemiec, the wife of his business rival, Austin Niemiec (right) Austin and Teresa Niemiec are pictured. The pair have filed a lawsuit against Anthony Casa, calling for him to ap Casa later sent more demeaning messages to Mr Niemiec about his wife in a group thread that included business rivals Kevin Peranio, who is the chief lending officer at PRMG, and Ramon Walker, the owner of Mount Diablo Lending. 'I'll do that no lip kisses, that is Ishbia's d*** on her breath,' one of Casa's texts purportedly read. 'You never trusted her anyway; right?' another text sent to Mr Niemiec stated. A text sent on July 7 read: ''How's Teresa. Give her my best.' Casa then added sexually suggestive emojis, including an eggplant. Through her lawsuit, Ms Niemiec is now requesting a 'a full retraction via video', as well as special damages in excess of $25,000, exemplary damages in excess of $25,000 and the cover of court costs. In his apology video, released on Monday, Casa claimed his passion was to blame for the derogatory comments. 'I'm a passionate person, extremely committed and competitive when it comes to the broker movement... I'm from New Jersey, I'm vocal, I'm gritty,' he stated. However, he added: 'I'm going to be embarrassed about this for the rest of my life. As the father of two daughters, I have to live with this, This is just not who I am ... I am sorry that these words came out of my mouth ... I need to make sure that moving forward this never happens again ... I'm going to own this.' A major fire broke out after an explosion at a pharmaceutical unit near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Monday night. The incident occurred at the Coastal Waste Management Project, a unit of Ramky Solvents. According to deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Suresh Babu, there was no loss of life in the incident. A total of 4 workers present at the premises during the incident fled soon after the explosion. One of the workers sustained burn injuries, while three others escaped to safety. The injured was rushed to a nearby hospital. "90 per cent of the fire has been doused. Fire fighting operations are underway. One person has been injured in the incident. We will investigate the matter," Babu said. At least ten fire tenders (seven state government and three local companies) were pressed into service to douse the blaze. The cause of the incident is not known yet. The development comes days after a major fire and an explosion due to styrene gas leak at the LG Polymers plant near RR Venkatapuram village in Vishakapatnam claimed 11 lives on May 7. And, on June 30, benzimidazole gas leak at a Sainor Life Sciences unit in the same Parawada area killed two workers and affected 4 others. Also read: US has better coronavirus testing programme than India, Russia and China: Trump Also read: Coronavirus drug: Cipla ramps up production of antiviral remdesivir amid demand spurt Group of 2,000 citizens urge for release of Varavara Rao India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Hyderabad, July 14: A group of about 2,000 concerned citizens urged that poet and activist Varavara Rao, an accused in the Elgar-Parishad-Maoist links case, be immediately released on bail from a prison in Maharashtra, due to his deteriorating health condition. "The health of poet, litterateur and political rights activist P Varavara Rao, incarcerated for nearly two years in the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case, has significantly been deteriorating since he had a fall on May 28 in the Taloja jail, a statement issued by them said. They quoted his family as saying that he is hallucinating, unable to walk and even brush his teeth. Elgar Parishad: Navlakha, Teltumbde in NIA custody, following SC order The citizens, including activists, teachers, journalists, students and advocates, urged that Rao be immediately released on bail so that he can receive appropriate medical care and recover from his current illness. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Rao on Monday approached the Bombay High Court seeking temporary bail owing to his deteriorating medical condition and the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Varavara Rao, another activist Anand Teltumbde and eight other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, which was initially probed by the Pune police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency in January this year. The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. Rajasthan crisis: Gehlot gives list of 104 MLAs to Governor India oi-Deepika S Jaipur, July 14: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot handed over a list of 104 MLAs to Governor Kalraj Mishra claiming a majority in the state Assembly. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News The move came after his party sacked Sachin Pilot as the deputy chief minister for his revolt as he skipped the second meeting of MLAs in two days. Two ministers who joined him in his revolt have also been dropped. The Ashok Gehlot camp has been saying that they enjoyed the support of 109 MLAs, a claim contested by the Pilot loyalists. Rajasthan Assembly numbers: Here is how it stands In the run-up to the Congress Legislature Party meeting in Jaipur on Tuesday, Pilot loyalist Ramesh Meena said, "A floor test should be conducted in the assembly. This will expose the claim that the Ashok Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs. Meena is among the MLAs who skipped the Congress Legislature Party meetings on Monday and Tuesday. He, along with Sachin Pilot and Vishvendra Singh, was removed from the state cabinet later in the day. The Congress has also sacked Pilot from the post of the party's state unit chief. (HealthDay)With several potential COVID-19 vaccines now in clinical trials, U.S. policymakers need to plan for the next hurdle: Ensuring Americans actually get vaccinated. That's according to a new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. It lays out recommendations for winning the public's trust of any future vaccine, and helping them access it as easily as possible. The U.S. government's so-called Operation Warp Speed has laid its goal out: Deliver 300 million doses of a safe, effective COVID-19 vaccine by January 2021. As of July 11, 22 vaccines were in some stage of human clinical trials, according to The New York Times coronavirus vaccine tracker. The race to develop a safe, effective vaccine against the new coronavirus has been record-setting. Normally, vaccines take years to move from initial research to approval. In this case, scientists got a boost from having the genetic makeup of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in hand early in the pandemic. Some of the leading vaccine candidates, including the Moderna Inc. vaccine now in clinical trials, are based on that genetic information. "But it's one thing to make a clinically successful vaccine," said Monica Schoch-Spana, a senior scientist with the Hopkins center. "It's another to make it socially acceptable." Exactly how Americans will greet a COVID-19 vaccine is unknown, but polls have suggested many will be wary. In an Associated Press survey in late May, only half of respondents said they would get vaccinated. Polls, of course, can be wrong. But, Schoch-Spana said, past experience has some lessons, too: In 2010, during the H1N1 flu pandemic, many Americans refused to be immunizedeven though that vaccine involved only a modification of the existing flu shot, and no new technology. "Because there was a rush to production, some people had safety concerns," Schoch-Spana said. This time, she added, with both the disease and any vaccine being entirely new, the public's misgivings could be amplified. Add to that a general erosion of trust that has come with the government's response to the pandemic. "We need to earn back the public's trust," Schoch-Spana noted. It is easy to imagine resistance to a future COVID-19 vaccine, agreed Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "When the first vaccine comes out, we will have some safety data from clinical trials," said Offit, who was not involved in the new report. "But we won't have data on enough people to detect any rare side effects." Beyond that, most people infected with SARS-CoV-2 do not become seriously ill. So younger, healthy people might decide their personal benefit from vaccination is not worth any unknown risks. But vaccination is not only about yourself, both Offit and Schoch-Spana stressed. It's about creating the "herd immunity" that protects the most vulnerable people in a community. To "stop the spread of this disease and get our lives back," Offit said, most of the population will need to be vaccinated. He said it will be critical to communicate clearly about any vaccine's effectiveness and safetyand its allocation. No COVID-19 vaccine will be immediately available to everyone. Both U.S. government planners and the World Health Organization have begun discussing "strategic" allocation. Vaccination would likely first be open to health care workers, and then to other essential workers and people who are at higher risk of severe COVID-19 complications, including the elderly and those with certain medical conditions. "It will be very important that allocation is fair, and that there's public recognition of that," Schoch-Spana said. Reaching out to minorities, particularly Black Americans, will be crucial. They have not only been hard-hit by the virus, Schoch-Spana said, but have long faced institutional racism in the health care system. So messages should come not only from national agencies, but local health authorities and community groups, according to the Hopkins recommendations. Schoch-Spana said that kind of collaboration has been happening with coronavirus testing: "Non-traditional partners," like Black churches, have helped to reach people. And any allocation plan, the Hopkins report said, needs to consider more than which groups are prioritized. The vaccine also has to be available at no cost, and accessible in convenient, familiar placeslike the neighborhood drug store. "Sometimes people's decisions [about vaccination] boil down to, is this convenient enough to fit into my life?" Schoch-Spana said. More information: The COVID-19 Prevention Network has more on The COVID-19 Prevention Network has more on COVID-19 vaccine development Copyright 2020 HealthDay. All rights reserved. (Alliance News) - China has hit out at the government's decision to strip Huawei equipment from its 5G network, questioning whether the UK can provide a "fair" environment for business as tensions with Beijing deepened. Boris Johnson on Tuesday ordered telecoms firms to strip equipment from the Chinese tech giant out of 5G networks by 2027. The move, which will delay the deployment of 5G technology by up to three years and add billions to the cost, came after the UK's experts warned that highly restrictive US sanctions meant the security of Huawei's equipment could not be guaranteed. Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador to the UK, tweeted: "Disappointing and wrong decision by the UK on Huawei. "It has become questionable whether the UK can provide an open, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for companies from other countries." The reaction from China signals a reversal in relations since former prime minister David Cameron heralded a "golden era" between the two countries less than five years ago. The decision, taken by the National Security Council, led to concerns being raised in the Commons about the possibility of retaliation from Beijing, but ministers insisted they would not be "cowed" by China. Huawei said it was disappointed by the move and claimed decisions on its future in the UK had become politicised. From next year, telecoms firms will be banned from purchasing new 5G equipment from Huawei and will have to remove all the Chinese company's kit by 2027. They are also expected to be ordered to shift away from the purchase of Huawei's equipment for full-fibre broadband networks over a period lasting up to two years. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the NSC, chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, on Tuesday morning. It followed an assessment of the impact of US sanctions by experts from the National Cyber Security Centre. In January, the firm had been given permission to play a limited role in the 5G network, but Downing Street insiders said the sanctions imposed in May were a "game changer". The restrictions imposed by Donald Trump's administration removes Huawei's access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. The National Cyber Security Centre's technical director Ian Levy said products adapted to cope with the restrictions "are likely to suffer more security and reliability problems because of the massive engineering challenge ahead of them" and it will also be "harder for us to be confident" in their use within the mitigation measures already in place for the "high risk" firm's equipment. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said the decisions taken in relation to Huawei could delay the roll-out of 5G by two to three years and potentially add GBP2 billion to the overall cost. There had been a "global market failure" which meant that there countries including the UK had become "dangerously reliant on too few vendors" leaving few clear alternatives to Huawei, Dowden said. The government had faced pressure from Tory backbenchers for a quicker approach to removing Huawei equipment, but Dowden insisted that the changes would mean that, by the time of the next general election a expected in 2024 a the UK would be on an "irreversible path" to a network free from the firm. The move takes place as the relationship with Beijing was already under strain over the imposition of a new national security law in Hong Kong. Dowden said the government is "clear-eyed about China" but wanted a "modern and mature relationship" based on mutual respect. Defence Select Committee chairman Tobias Ellwood said the government should "expect repercussions from China". Tory former Cabinet minister David Jones highlighted a warning from China's ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, of "consequences" if Huawei was banned. Dowden said: "This Government will not be cowed by the comments of any other country. "This decision has been made in the national security interests of this nation." Meanwhile, GCHQ's protective signals intelligence network is on stand-by to detect and disrupt any attempt by China to mount cyber attacks on the UK in retaliation for the decision. Officials say they are already dealing with a sustained high tempo of hostile cyber activity by state-sponsored actors including both China and Russia. Huawei UK spokesman Ed Brewster said the "disappointing decision" is "bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone". "We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK," he said. "Regrettably, our future in the UK has become politicised a this is about US trade policy and not security." The decision was welcomed by the US, which has called for members of the Five Eyes alliance a which also includes the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand a to avoid Huawei kit. Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who is visiting Europe this week, said: "The reported UK action reflects a growing international consensus that Huawei and other untrusted vendors pose a threat to national security, as they remain beholden to the Chinese Communist Party." Shadow digital, science and technology minister Chi Onwurah accused the government of an "incomprehensibly negligent" approach and questioned whether the UK's security policy was now being led by the US. Huawei's UK chairman Lord Browne is to step down six months early, the firm announced shortly before the government's decision was made public, leaving the company in September. source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. As event planning professionals, we need to lead the way in educating attendees Fort Lauderdale-based ScaleUp Executives announces the launch of ScaleUp Learning Protective Measures COVID-19 employee training. The interactive courses are focused on helping attendees and exhibitors stay safe while attending B2B events, conferences and trade association meetings in these difficult times. One of the hardest-hit industry areas is the event planning community, Janet Ahlgren, M.Ed., ScaleUp Executives Principal, and course developer, says, It is important that attendees and exhibitors are educated on the variety of protective measures they can embrace to stay safe at an event. According to Christina Condos, President of Kentwood Partners, For live events to be successful in the new normal, it will be crucial to reconfigure event environments and requirements to help all attendees feel comfortable. As event planning professionals, we need to lead the way in educating attendees and exhibitors, so all involved feel safe to come to events again. These Protective Measures courses are a good tool to help everyone understand how to stay safe and healthy by preparing and taking specific actions now and into the future. ScaleUp Learning has developed their Protective Measures library of COVID-19 training courses for B2B event attendees and exhibit staff. These courses deliver the key COVID information that event attendees and exhibitors need to know about safely interacting with others at large events. Correct information can allay everyones fears and help attendees and exhibitors confidently face the ongoing threat of coronavirus, armed with knowledge of what is true and, more importantly, what isnt true. COVID-19 Training courses convey what is currently known about COVID-19, staying healthy in the pandemic, and Fact vs. Fiction Myth-busting of urban legends. According to Condos, With training, everyone can come to the event, confident that they can protect themselves and those they interact with, and keep everyone healthy. Protective Measures definitely work to mitigate risk. Protective Measures course content is grounded in evidence-based research published in prominent American and British medical journals, NGOs and government agencies, such as US and European Centers for Disease Control, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic, and the World Health Organization. These interactive courses are some of many topics explained by the ScaleUp Learning library, and their training and education experts. ScaleUp Executives provides COVID-19 Protective Measures training for a variety of businesses and government entities. All courses provide Closed Captioning and are offered in English, Spanish, and other languages on request. They are also available as SCORM files for standard learning management systems. Visit https://scaleup-learning.com to learn more. About: ScaleUp Executives help businesses identify the next steps needed to create sustainable growth in the time of COVID for people, profits and the planet. The new normal means reimagining most business processes to accommodate the worldwide disruptions caused by the pandemic. The ScaleUp team is agile, creative, and compassionate in its search for the most profitable course of action and is focused on creating plans for businesses and government entities to not just survive, but thrive. https://scaleupexecutives.com To business leaders facing a new normal after COVID-19, ScaleUp Executives is a group of highly skilled experts who will help analyze the viability of their current and future markets, identify weakness and threats to the internal infrastructure, and review the robustness of their business model. The result is to recommend a reimagined path to ongoing profitability and success, as ScaleUp has done for other companies in healthcare, durable goods, logistics, technology, professional services, and government emergency response agencies around the world. About Kentwood Partners, in existence since 2010, is an event management and marketing consultancy specializing in working with associations, media companies and corporations on successfully producing their events. Areas of expertise include conference management, logistics and operations, attendee and exhibitor marketing, telemarketing and over all event management. https://www.kentwoodpartners.com/ The coronavirus cluster at Crossroads Hotel in Sydney's southwest has grown by 10, taking the total number of infections linked to the venue to 28. New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday announced an additional 13 new cases of COVID-19 had been identified overnight. The state has now recorded a total of 3,316 cases since the pandemic began. Of the new infections, just two were from returned travellers completing their mandatory hotel quarantine, while another one was a contact of an overseas case. All 10 other diagnoses were linked to the cluster at the hotel in Casula, which first broke out on July 3. Any patrons who visited the hotel between July 3 and July 10 have been urged to self isolate immediately and seek out coronavirus testing. The Crossroads Hotel, Casula, on Monday - the epicentre of the latest coronavirus cluster Pictured: The Sydney locations at the heart of the second outbreak of cases New South Wales Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said officials were particularly concerned about people who visited the hotel on July 4, July 5 and July 9. All 10 of the new cases have been identified in people living within southwest Sydney. Three of the new infections came from people who directly visited the hotel on July 3, including a 40-year-old woman, a 30-year-old man and a 50-year-old man from Melbourne. From there, seven people who were in close contact with those patrons have since tested positive, including a teenager who went on to work at Kmart in Casula. A child has also been diagnosed with COVID-19 from the cluster. A teenager, who works at a Kmart store in Casula, tested positive to COVID-19 after reportedly catching the virus from their 18-year-old friend, who works at the infected pub. The Kmart store in Casula Mall underwent a deep clean on Monday night. A man waits in his car at the COVID-19 testing center at the Crossroads Hotel in southwest Sydney NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant on Monday said the employee worked at the store from 5pm to midnight on Friday July 10. 'People were at that store at that time and are urged to watch for symptoms, self-isolate and get tested,' she said. Casula Mall Centre Management said the Kmart worker tested positive to coronavirus on Monday. 'We have been in contact with both our Kmart store and their head office and this case has been confirmed. The Kmart employee and fellow staff are now isolating,' the centre said in a statement. 'Kmart closed as of 6pm Monday 13 July 2020 and has been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. 'Throughout the centre our focus remains on regular and diligent cleaning, we also undertook a further deep clean of the general mall which included all key areas such as hard surfaces, food courts and bathrooms.' Police stop motorists crossing the Qld-NSW border to check to for permits Casula Mall on Monday night (pictured) where a Kmart worker is believed to have tested positive for coronavirus The NSW government on Tuesday announced stricter operating rules for pubs. The new rules for pubs and hotels include a limit of 300 people regardless of size, and group bookings capped at 10 people. The changes - decided during a meeting of senior government ministers on Monday night - will not apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian reiterated life would not return to 'normal' until a vaccine was secured and refused to rule out tightening restrictions further. Earlier on Tuesday, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced New South Wales local government areas of Liverpool and Campbelltown would be considered COVID-19 hotspots from midday. Cars queued for hours to enter Queensland when the borders finally reopened after months of being shut Anybody from those areas, or who has travelled within the regions, will not be permitted to enter Queensland. Since the Crossroads Hotel cluster was announced, 18 people who are currently in Queensland have presented for testing after revealing they had visited the hotel in July. They are all awaiting their results in quarantine. Deputy Premier and Minister for Health and Ambulance Services Steven Miles said that number was likely to grow. 'Any Queenslanders who have been to the Crossroads Hotel from July 3 to July 10 inclusive should get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible and then immediately self-isolate,' he said. 'The hotel is a busy stopover for many travellers, so it is very likely that there are a number of Queenslanders who have been there during this period.' Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced her state had declared suburbs within the two local government areas 'COVID-19 hot spots'. Ms Palaszczuk pictured addressing the media on Monday Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks at McGregor Industries in Dunmore, Penn., on July 9, 2020. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) Biden Quotes Mao During Virtual Fundraiser Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden quoted Mao Zedong, the former communist leader of China, during a virtual fundraiser on July 13. Weve got to get real economic relief into womens hands now, Biden said, before telling people on the call that he wanted to cite an old Chinese proverb. Women hold up half the sky, Biden said. The quote was first presented by Mao in a bid to reinforce supposed government support for equality between men and women. Maos rule resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese due to purges and disastrous policies. The Biden campaign didnt reply when asked whether Biden was aware of the phrases provenance. The former vice president and U.S. senator said during the fundraiser that the economic crisis is hitting industries dominated by women. Unless you take advantage of half or more of your brain power, you are never going to be in the position where youre going to be able to compete internationally, he added. Women. Women. Women. Paramilitary police officers marching past the portrait of late communist leader Mao Zedong on Tiananmen Gate, as it undergoes renovations in Beijing, on May 18, 2019. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images) Steve Guest, a rapid-response director for the Republican National Committee, highlighted Bidens quoting of Mao. REMINDER: Joe Biden is in the pocket of China, he wrote in a social media statement. Chairman Mao would approve, added Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaigns director of communications. Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to Bidens campaign, praised Mao in 2009, describing the dictator as one of her two favorite political philosophers. Mao and Mother Theresa were the two people that I turn to the most to basically deliver a simple point: which is, youre going to make choices, youre going to challenge, youre going to say why not, Dunn, who was President Barack Obamas communications director at the time, told an audience of high schoolers. The Mao quote is one I picked up from the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater from something I read in the late 1980s, so I hope I dont get my progressive friends mad at me, Dunn told CNN after receiving criticism for what she said. The use of the phrase favorite political philosophers was intended as irony, but clearly the effort fell flat. Another investor backing as many as 7 Indian companies is UK-based Steadview Capital. Dream11, Nykaa and Lenskart are among some of its investees. (Image: Reuters) The UK government ended days of speculation and declared on Tuesday that wearing a face mask or face covering will become mandatory in shops across England from July 24, as part of efforts to control the spread of coronavirus as the country eases out of lockdown. The enforcement powers for the new policy will be handed to the police and anyone failing to wear a face covering while shopping will be subject to a fine of up to 100 pounds, or 50 pounds if paid speedily within 14 days. "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus," a 10 Downing Street spokesperson said. "The Prime Minister [Boris Johnson] has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24," the spokesperson said. While shop workers will be encouraged to prompt customers to comply, they will not be expected to enforce the rules, allaying retail union concerns about their involvement in the enforcement process. 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 British Retail Consortium said it hoped the announcement "will make shoppers feel even more confident about returning to the High Street". The decision will be fully outlined by UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock in a House of Commons statement following days of conflicting statements from Cabinet ministers. The confirmation follows Johnson's intervention over the issue on Monday, when he called on people to wear masks while the government considers enforcement measures. "I think people should be wearing [face masks] in shops. And, in terms of how we do that, whether we make it mandatory or not, we'll be looking at the guidance we'll be seeing a little bit more in the next few days," he had said. The Opposition Labour Party, which has been in favour of stricter enforcement of face coverings as a measure to curb the transmission of coronavirus, had called for more clarity after some contrary messages on compulsory face coverings. "The government has been slow and muddled again over face coverings, said Labour's shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth. "Given the government's own guidance issued on May 11 advised in favour of face masks, many will ask why yet again have ministers been slow in making a decision in this pandemic, and why it'll take another 11 days before these new guidelines to come into force," he said. London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been campaigning for the move for some time, called the government's "confused communications" on the subject a "disgrace". "We can't afford to wait another day and the government should bring this policy in immediately further delay risks lives," he urged. At present, it is mandatory to wear face coverings only on public transport in most regions of the UK, but there has been a growing debate around a wider mandatory approach as Britain undergoes a phased return to business as usual after the lockdown imposed on March 23. In Scotland, face masks in shops have been mandatory since July 10 and while shoppers in Wales and Northern Ireland are not currently required to wear them, both regions have said this will be kept under review. In line with the rules on public transport, children under 11 and those with certain disabilities will be exempt from face coverings in shops. Many scientists have been keen on a rethink over face masks as the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations on the issue were also updated in favour of their use in enclosed spaces to curb the transmission of the deadly virus. UK-based Indian-origin Nobel laureate Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was among those who had warned that the UK was lagging behind other countries in the mandatory use of face masks to prevent the rapid spread of coronavirus. "Just treat it as another item of clothing that is part of the new normal and wear it whenever you cannot socially distance safely. It is the right thing to do, and a small price to pay, to help keep infections down and the economy open in the pandemic," he said. The latest move will bring England into line not only with Scotland but also other major European nations like Spain, Italy and Germany. Copyright 2020 Albuquerque Journal SANTA FE Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tightened New Mexicos mask mandate, banned indoor dining at restaurants and imposed tougher limits on gyms Monday as part of a new public health order. The regulations are set to expire July 30, though the Department of Health may revise or extend them. Lujan Grisham had warned New Mexicans last week that a more stringent health order was on the way, but the scaling back of gym capacity part of the new order didnt come up in her briefing. Mondays order limits gyms to 25% capacity, down from 50% earlier. Its part of a broader strategy to combat a resurgence of COVID-19, the disease thats killed 548 in New Mexico since March and hospitalized more than 2,200. In an online interview with The Washington Post, Lujan Grisham said Monday that quick action is required to keep infections from spinning out of control. The mask requirement, she said, shouldnt be political. The virus does not care whether youre Republican or Democrat, young or old, whether youre independent or decline to state, Lujan Grisham said. It will attack you indiscriminately. The new regulations come as New Mexico and neighboring states endure strong growth in new COVID-19 infections. New Mexicos daily average case count hit an all-time high last week, and hospitalizations have jumped in recent days, though not near their mid-May peak. About 172 virus patients were hospitalized in New Mexico on Monday, a 33% increase from a week ago. The state also reported 264 new coronavirus infections Monday led by Dona Ana County, in southern New Mexico and three more deaths. Gyms adjusting The owner of Albuquerques Liberty Gym said the reduced capacity is unlikely to make a difference at his business. Doug Gaylor said his facility is rarely crowded enough to approach 50% of its total capacity something that is true even outside of a pandemic, but even more pronounced now as clients have invested in home fitness equipment, dropped off due to financial hardship or stayed away just to avoid others. I consider myself lucky that she kept us open (at all), Gaylor said of Lujan Grishams new order. I think we dodged a bullet. Gaylors larger concern is the mask mandate. The state no longer grants an exemption for exercise, so Libertys clients must wear a mask even while working out. Because many oppose wearing masks, Gaylor worries about potential conflict when reminding members to cover their faces while inside. As of midday Monday, however, he said he was pleasantly surprised at his customers willingness to comply. Defined Fitness, a New Mexico chain with seven locations, is not sweating the capacity change, according to marketing director Maria Lamar. Thats mostly because its clubs are large the biggest among them, the Juan Tabo NE location, has a maximum capacity of 939, meaning that it can still host over 230 members at a time. Given the gyms size and that member visits have been more spread throughout the day than before, Lamar said, the chain has been able to accommodate customer demand despite the state restrictions. We have not turned anyone away at our club for capacity reasons, she said. New mask order Lujan Grisham told Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart in an interview Monday that more New Mexicans are adhering to the states mandate to wear masks in public settings. Scientists at a national laboratory, she said, analyzed social media posts, and the share of people wearing masks appears to have jumped from 30% to 55%, closer to the states goal of over 80%. This will make a huge difference in our state, Lujan Grisham said. The states new mask order requires the wearing of a mask in all public settings except when eating, drinking or swimming. The order doesnt define public setting, but it directs New Mexicans to wear masks anytime they leave home. Some law enforcement agencies including the sheriffs offices of Bernalillo and Cibola counties say they arent enforcing the mask mandate. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says masks can help slow the spread of COVID-19. The agency recommends wearing them in public settings and when around people who dont live in your household, especially when social distancing is difficult. Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! Bathurst Resources Limited (ASX:BRL) shareholders might understandably be very concerned that the share price has dropped 33% in the last quarter. But that scarcely detracts from the really solid long term returns generated by the company over five years. Indeed, the share price is up an impressive 257% in that time. So while it's never fun to see a share price fall, it's important to look at a longer time horizon. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it's cheap now. Unfortunately not all shareholders will have held it for the long term, so spare a thought for those caught in the 58% decline over the last twelve months. Check out our latest analysis for Bathurst Resources To paraphrase Benjamin Graham: Over the short term the market is a voting machine, but over the long term it's a weighing machine. One imperfect but simple way to consider how the market perception of a company has shifted is to compare the change in the earnings per share (EPS) with the share price movement. During the last half decade, Bathurst Resources became profitable. Sometimes, the start of profitability is a major inflection point that can signal fast earnings growth to come, which in turn justifies very strong share price gains. You can see below how EPS has changed over time (discover the exact values by clicking on the image). We know that Bathurst Resources has improved its bottom line over the last three years, but what does the future have in store? If you are thinking of buying or selling Bathurst Resources stock, you should check out this FREE detailed report on its balance sheet. What About Dividends? As well as measuring the share price return, investors should also consider the total shareholder return (TSR). The TSR is a return calculation that accounts for the value of cash dividends (assuming that any dividend received was reinvested) and the calculated value of any discounted capital raisings and spin-offs. So for companies that pay a generous dividend, the TSR is often a lot higher than the share price return. As it happens, Bathurst Resources' TSR for the last 5 years was 268%, which exceeds the share price return mentioned earlier. And there's no prize for guessing that the dividend payments largely explain the divergence! Story continues A Different Perspective We regret to report that Bathurst Resources shareholders are down 57% for the year (even including dividends) . Unfortunately, that's worse than the broader market decline of 8.4%. Having said that, it's inevitable that some stocks will be oversold in a falling market. The key is to keep your eyes on the fundamental developments. Longer term investors wouldn't be so upset, since they would have made 30%, each year, over five years. It could be that the recent sell-off is an opportunity, so it may be worth checking the fundamental data for signs of a long term growth trend. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 4 warning signs with Bathurst Resources , and understanding them should be part of your investment process. Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies we expect will grow earnings. Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on AU exchanges. 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. Martina Purdy is a former journalist, former trainee nun and now public relations officer for the St Patrick Centre in Downpatrick. Q. Can you tell us something about your background? A. I was born in Belfast in 1965. My father, Albert (Al), was from Eastwood in Nottinghamshire and he met my mother at a dance in Belfast in 1962 when he was doing his national service in Holywood, Co Down. My mother, Margaret (nee Logan), a Belfast woman, was a full-time homemaker and my father was an elevator mechanic. I am one of four children and have three brothers, all of whom live in Toronto, Canada. My family emigrated there in 1971 due to the Troubles. I briefly attended Holy Child school in Andersonstown, but most of my education was completed in Canada. I went to Holy Redeemer School, then St Joseph's Morrow Park (secondary school). I earned a BA in international relations at the University of Toronto and a post-grad diploma from the Ryerson School of Journalism in Toronto. Q. How and when did you come to faith? A. I was a cradle Catholic. My parents gave my brothers and I an amazing example of self-sacrificing Christian love, commitment and faith. My father was an Anglican, but converted to Catholicism when he married my mum in 1963. My mother is a walking Catechism, so she instructed us and we attended Mass regularly. My late father was a very committed Catholic, often booming out his favourite hymns, How Great Thou Art, and Amazing Grace. He had a great faith in almighty God and the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Q. Does this faith play a real part in your life, or is it only for Sundays? A. I do my best to live my faith at all times of the day, but due to human weakness, I fail regularly. Having had a life of prayer during five years of the Adoration Convent, I try to maintain some of that life by praying the Divine Office and attending daily Mass. My house has a little prayer room and I try my best to always be aware of God's presence and to meet His gaze, whatever I am doing. I committed to working for the St Patrick Centre because of its dedication to educating people about the life of Ireland's patron saint. Q. Have you ever had a crisis of faith? A. No. I have always believed in God, but at some point that intellectual faith went from my head to my heart. Q. Why did you leave journalism and enter the Adoration Convent in 2014? A. It was a surprise to me. If you had told me I would be entering a Falls Road convent two doors away from the Sinn Fein offices, where as a journalist I interviewed Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, I'd have laughed in your face. In fact, I had felt that my life was too self-centred and I had a growing sense that I must give life to God. This became a burning desire and I fell in love with the Lord, the risen Jesus. Q. Why did you leave the convent a few years later? A. The Adoration Sisters Congregation had grown too small to meet governance in Canon Law. Three other sisters and I still had several years to conclude our nine-years' Formation, so it was decided it would be better to release us rather than wait and be told we could not complete our Final Vows. It was shocking and painful and a cross for us all. It was an adjustment going in and also coming out. I was quite disorientated at first, but gradually I've found a balance between work, prayer and leisure. None of us are built for more than a 24-hour segment and I try to live each day in the present moment and in the presence of the Lord. Q. Have you ever been angry with God? And, if so, why? A. Yes, the Lord sees flashes of my quick temper, but being perfect, He is always right, so He wins every argument. Sometimes, I'm angry over something stupid, like when I am hiking and fall flat on my face. Other times, I shout, "Why don't you do something when I see injustice?" Then I'm reminded of the phrase: "What are you doing?" I was rather mad at Him briefly when I realized I would have to leave the convent, but I worked through it in prayer. Q. Do you ever get criticised for your faith? A. Sometimes on Twitter, yes, especially when I take a rational position in favour of life in the womb. I try to remember that these insults, for the sake of God's Kingdom, are a blessing. Q. Are you ever ashamed of your own Church? A. I'm ashamed when I fail, or when priests, or consecrated persons, fail. And I am ashamed when the Church, as an institution, fails, especially over issues of child sexual abuse. Q. Are you afraid to die? A. I'm not afraid to die, though I wouldn't like to drown. I see death as a change, not the end; a door that opens to the deeper mysteries of God. Q. Are you afraid of hell? A. I don't think anyone goes to hell who wants to be with God. I would dread going to hell, but I take comfort in the words of John's Gospel that God is love; also St John's words that "perfect love casts out fear". I trust that Jesus, who was tortured, died and rose for me, will shield me from hell. A holy man once said to me: "Love is not a coward." Love and life are inextricably linked. Q. Do you believe in a resurrection? And, if so, what will it be like? A. For me, Heaven is life, love and joy without limit. St Basil described Heaven as "luxuriating in the inconceivable beauty of paradise". But, in truth, we can't conceive of it. Q. What do you think about people of other faiths or denominations? A. Every faith has some truth in it, but obviously I believe that my Catholic faith offers the fullness of truth and I long for the day when all Christians can share a common Eucharist. Q. Would you be comfortable in stepping out from your own faith and trying to learn something from other people? A. There's always something to learn. I met a lovely Muslim doctor in Paris called Rauda and I remember her saying: "It is sometimes very difficult to live with God. But it is impossible to live without him." Words to live by. Q. Do you think that the Churches here are fulfilling their mission? A. If they were, the churches would be packed. Q. Why are so many people turning their backs on organised religion? A. One reason is that people think God wants to take their freedom, when, in fact, He offers us perfect freedom from our own selfish addictions, our disordered desire for money, pleasure, power and prestige. The message of love and life, that God loves us so much He sent His only son, Jesus, to save us and to offer us a share in his divine eternal life, is often overshadowed by the rules. The message is mind-blowing. Q. Has religion helped, or hindered, the people of Northern Ireland? A. Christianity is always a help, when it is truly lived. In terms of the Troubles, the problem was not religion per se; the problem was that our cultural and political ties were stronger than our ties to Christ Jesus. Q. Your favourite film, book and music, and why? A. I love Anne of Green Gables, because it is about the transformative power of love. One of my favourite songs is Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen. I love films too many to mention. Q. Where do you feel closest to God? A. Eucharistic Adoration when I kneel before the Living Bread, Blessed Sacrament in silence and know that I am in the presence of the Living God, body, blood, soul and divinity. I am just still and I let Him breathe His Divine life into me, just like Adam in Genesis. And, whenever I experience beauty, or goodness, usually on a mountain top, by the sea, or watching the sun set or rise. Q. What inscription would you like on your gravestone? A. John 3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whomsoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Q. Finally, have you any major regrets? A. Yes, regrettably. I rely on God's mercy and thank God for the sacrament of confession. Do we? Just pick her, already. Its July! McCain waited until just minutes before the Republican Convention in late August that year. And, it must be said, Palin delivered with a remarkable speech crafted by the masterful Matthew Scully. Biden has promised to pick a woman, and pressure is mounting for him to pick an African American woman. This is in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, but also because of his obvious debt to the black women voters of South Carolina, who, upon the endorsement of the states elder statesman, Rep. James Clyburn, are credited with handing him the Democratic nomination. Biden suffers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to choosing a running mate. Most of the African American women reported to be in contention have been prominent long enough for their names to be familiar nationally. Many already hold public offices or came very close, as in the case of Stacey Abrams, almost-governor of Georgia, who insists she would have won if not for voter suppression. Wipro will announce its Q1 result today, 14 July 2020. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) said that first ever containerized cargo export from India to Bangladesh using Inland Waterways has reached its destination Pangaon International Container Terminal, Dhaka on 12th July 2020. Godrej Industries said that the management committee of the board of directors of the company approved issuance of upto 7,500 Rated, Listed, Unsecured, Redeemable, Non-Convertible Debentures having face value of Rs ten lakh each, aggregating to Rs 750 crore on private placement basis. Sobha said that post easing of lockdown in first week of May, all offices, sites and factories got operational in line with respective state rules and regulations. However, the company also started witnessing labor migration issues across all states. This had an adverse impact on the company's operations at project sites and factories. During April and May months, the company have seen dip in sales but from June onwards, inquiries are at the pre-Covid levels and sales numbers has improved. Adani Green Energy said it has increased its capacity by 50MW to 2,595 MW for the first quarter of fiscal 2021, on a sequential basis. Phoenix Mills board approved raising of funds up to Rs 1,100 crore through issuance of equity shares, nonconvertible debt instruments along with warrants and convertible securities other than warrants or Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) or Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs), to eligible investors including Foreign Institutions, Corporate Bodies, Mutual Funds, Banks, Insurance Companies, Pension Funds or individuals, either through Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP) and/or on a Preferential basis and/or Private Placement and/or any other permissible mode(s), in one or more tranches. 5Paisa Capital reported consolidated net profit of Rs 2.81 crore in Q1 June 2020 as compared to net loss of Rs 0.52 crore in Q1 June 2019. Total income rose 85.17% to Rs 42.44 crore. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Nursing home resident turns 89 GLENS FALLS Glens Falls Center resident Kathleen Reynolds celebrated her 89th birthday at the nursing home July 1. Reynolds, originally from Queens, celebrated distantly with her family members, including her son Steve Reynolds, daughter Karen Bauer, Karens husband Bryan Bauer, brother-in-law Andy Bauer and granddaughters Jessica Bauer and Chelsea Bauer. Kathleen is such a loving, great woman, said Marijo Natale, recreation director at Glens Falls Center. Her family is so warm and full of life, they would come from anywhere to be with Kathleen on her special day. Adopt A Soldier efforts highlighted GLENS FALLS The Chapman Museums exhibit honoring the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II will also highlight todays efforts of Operation Adopt A Soldier, an all-volunteer group that provides free comfort kits for U.S. military personnel serving in areas of conflict. Lets All Fight, an exhibit of 54 World War II-era posters donated to the museum by collector Linc Cathers before his death a few years ago, opens on July 14 and runs through Sept. 20 at the 348 Glen St. location. The full-color posters carry themes ranging from encouraging Americans at home to invest in war bonds to taking actions stateside that save the countrys resources for the war effort. It marks the reopening of the museum after it closed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Likewise, OAAS ceased most operations in mid-March and resumed when allowed under New York states Phase 3 reopening mandates. The nonprofit uses monetary and product donations to assemble and ship the kits. OAAS is providing brochures near the museum entrance that explain the groups mission. Visitors to the museum exhibit are encouraged to bring material donations to or make monetary donations at the OAAS display. Acceptable items include non-perishable food, snacks, gum, candy, energy bars/drinks, cookies, toiletries, CDs, DVDs, puzzle books and stationery. A detailed list is available by visiting www.operationadoptasoldier.org. Monetary donations are used to defray the cost of shipping and to purchase items when donated supplies dwindle. Each kit carries a $12 shipping fee. The museum will be open from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, beginning July 14. The suggested museum donation is $5 for adults and $4 for seniors and students. Children under 12 get in free. Visit www.chapmanmuseum.org for exhibit details and reservations, as well as required safety procedures in effect during the pandemic. Fire Department to host blood drive HARTFORD The Hartford Fire Department and the American Red Cross will host a blood drive from noon to 6 p.m. Aug. 3 in the community room at routes 149 and 40. Go to redcrossblood.org to make an appointment. The Red Cross will be taking extra precautions by testing everyones blood for antibodies, taking temperatures, disinfecting and setting up tables to promote social distancing. Masks will be required. Some will be provided if needed. Fairgrounds hosting truck corrals EASTON The Washington County Fair will host a Fantastic Food Truck Corral from 4 to 8 p.m. on Fridays and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays at the fairgrounds. The fairgrounds will be welcoming food vendors from around the area for an evening of fair food to enjoy at socially distanced picnic tables. Bring a lawn chair or blanket or take food to go. Masks, hand-washing and social distancing are required to visit the food truck event. Hand-washing stations with water and soap and hand sanitizer dispensers will be available throughout the corral. This Friday will feature musical guest Swamp Foot. Saturday will feature antique and classic cars, trucks and tractors. Historical Society to reopen Aug. 4 QUEENSBURY The Warren County Historical Society, at 50 Gurney Lane, will reopen to the public Aug. 4 with reduced hours, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Following all state Phase 4 COVID-19 safety guidelines, the society will welcome back members and visitors to its full-service history center, including museum, resource library, research and genealogy, book and gift shop, archives and collections, community history and student internship program. Chartered in 1997 by the New York State Education Department, the organizations headquarters offers an innovative permanent display, Warren County 360: Celebrating Place and People, that depicts the influence of natural resources and geography on the evolution of culture and heritage of the region. Rotating exhibits, such as the current display Suffragists of Warren and Washington Counties: 1883 1917, are also featured. For more information, call 518 -743- 0734, or visit the website www.wcnyhs.org. Hometown is compiled by Gretta Hochsprung. If youd like to let her know about an upcoming event, email ghochsprung@poststar.com or call 518-742-3206. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 O nline fashion retailer Asos attempted to triple its UK manufacturing operations using more Leicester factories two years ago but quietly scrapped the plan amid concerns over poor working conditions in factories there. In the subsequent three years, it has dropped two factories in the town due to poor ethical standards. The proportion of its supplies from the UK have actually halved to less than 1.5% as it sourced more from foreign companies. The revelations shine a new light on Boohoo and Quizs apparent failure to spot poor working conditions at suppliers there. In 2017, Asos chief Nick Beighton and then-New Look boss Anders Kristiansen visited Leicester to meet manufacturers, Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, HMRC and the Home Office's Gangmasters And Labour Abuse Authority in the hope of massively expanding their UK sourcing. However, they ended up reporting concerns to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, they reported that they had been concerned about illegal wages, right to work, poor health and safety standards, subcontracting and vulnerable workers. A person buys an Asos dress on their mobile / Getty They wrote: Those factories operating outside of legal standards are undermining our efforts to improve standards in UK manufacture and increase our sourcing in the Leicester area. The seven trusted suppliers in the city it has retained are compliant with its standards and have seen bigger orders as Asos has grown. However, a bigger proportion of Asos's growth has gone to other countries. Asos and the now-struggling New Look had been trying to encourage Leicester firms to sign up to its Fast Forward programme, which it launched in 2014 with other retailers to audit the conditions at its supply chains. New Look, which is now fighting for its survival, said at the time that it wanted to double Leicester production but Kristiansen said he was afraid of using these units because what is going on is just so plainly wrong. It is a ticking time bomb. Fashion sources said more UK retailers and designers need to seek domestic suppliers to give manufacturers here the critical mass to run at Fast Forward standards. Asos has quarterly profit figures due on Wednesday. Company sources said part of the reason it had moved to more overseas suppliers was the expertise there, rather than just ethics. Its big push into part dresses, for example, was naturally going to be supplied from India which has the best skills for embellished products. In London, Asos uses the ethical manufacturer Fashion Extra in Haringey. To date, the economic damage wrought by the pandemic has been mostly hidden by massive government subsidy. That's about to change. And so the next few months will reveal the underlying economic impact of covid-19 across the globe more clearly than we've seen so far. My bet: As governments withdraw fiscal support, the economic picture is going to look worse than commonly appreciated. Getting a sense of what's about to happen requires that we first be clear about how and why the pandemic has affected the economy: Is it because governments have required people to stay home, or is it because of the virus itself? New research shows that economic losses have come mainly from fear, not government mandate. So eliminating the mandates without ending the fear does very little. Lori Loughlin will soon face jail time after pleading guilty to her involvement at the college admissions scam. As countdown to her prison sentence starts, she's reportedly terrified. After being reported that she's worried about contracting coronavirus inside the prison, a new claim is that she's also worried about being bullied inside. According to an insider, who spoke with Life and Style Weekly, July 20 edition, Lori is daunted by the thought of being imprisoned because she might be the subject of bullying, given her celebrity status. The source added that the actress is so scared and anxious that she cries every night these days until she falls asleep. She's reportedly overwhelmed with fear. She's so afraid of jail time that many people think she'll do everything to escape her fate - including fleeting. This is why there's a million bond on her and her husband's head Mossimo Giannulli. Their $18 million home is also a collateral. The couple is now asking the federal judge to reduce their bond, from the massive $1 million to just $100,000, claiming that they are not flight risks anyway. They also want the lien on their house removed. "There is no indication that Defendants will flee rather than face sentencing," Loughlin's legal camp wrote, according to the Boston Herald. "An unsecured bond, coupled with sufficient assets to collect upon, provides the same incentive for Defendants to appear in this case, which they will of course continue to do." Prosecutors did not object their request, saying they do not believe the couple will flee before they start their sentences the next month. Given that the pandemic is still raging on, fleeing is highly unlikely. Moreover, it can be seen that Lori has resigned to her fate given what she and her husband did. otherwise, she would not be that scared of being bullied or getting COVID-19 in prison. It can be recalled that after a lengthy period of not admitting her and her husband's involvement in the controversial college admissions scandal, Loughlin eventually pleaded guilty. The same for Giannulli. The actress pleaded guilty to one account of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud while her husband pleaded guilty to the same, plus to honest services wire and mail fraud. Their punishments have already been met out. Loughlin would get two months of jail time and they pay $150,000 fine. She would also have to engage in 100 hours of community service and then two years of supervised release. Needless to say, her life has taken a significant turn. Meanwhile, Giannulli will be completing five months in prison and also pay $250,000 fine. He would serve 250 hours of community service and then like his wife, he would be undergoing two years of supervised release. Essentially, the court deemed Giannulli has a greater role on the scandal. Last month, before her sentence was established, according to Vanity Fair, the actress is "scared to death of catching COVID-19, as the virus is ravaging the federal prisons in California." VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / FIORE GOLD LTD. (TSXV:F)(OTCQB:FIOGF)(FRA:2FO) ("Fiore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the start of a program of resource expansion, metallurgical, geotechnical and condemnation drilling in support of a Feasibility Study ("FS") targeted for completion in the second half of 2021. The drilling program will consist of a mix of HQ and PQ diamond core holes, as well as reverse circulation ("RC") and sonic holes. Total footage for this phase of the drilling program will be approximately 198,000 ft (60,000 m), with approximately 115,000 ft (35,000 m) focused on resource expansion to add Measured and Indicated resources for inclusion in the FS. The Company is also very pleased to welcome Mr. Steve Cashin as Director, Technical Services. Stephen (Steve) Cashin is the former Operations Manager at Barrick's Pueblo Viejo Operation in the Dominican Republic. He has 26 years of industrial experience including 5 years as a Metallurgical Engineer with BHP Copper, and 19 years with Barrick Gold in various engineering and line management positions at the Goldstrike, Cortez and Pueblo Viejo operations. Steve's experience is primarily in the engineering, operation and optimization of gold oxide milling and heap leaching processes, gold sulfide autoclaving, gold sulfide roasting, and copper flotation and oxide heap leach Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Metallurgical Engineering and a Master of Science of Metallurgical and Mineral Processing Engineering from Montana Tech of the University of Montana in Butte Montana U.S.A. Fiore Gold CEO, Tim Warman, commented: "We're very pleased to welcome Steve to our team, where he will take on responsibility for driving the Feasibility Study at Gold Rock. His extensive experience in project development, operations and evaluation in Nevada and globally will be a real asset to Fiore and we're all looking forward to working with him. We are also excited to have begun a major drilling program at Gold Rock aimed at growing the mineral resource base leading into the Feasibility Study. With resource growth and operational optimizations, we believe Gold Rock can deliver significantly improved returns as we progress. Assuming continued success with our efforts to extend the mine life at our adjacent Pan Mine, Gold Rock has the potential to more than double Fiore's current gold output in Nevada and organically increase our total production above 100,000 ounces per year for a modest capital investment." Gold Rock Project and PEA Highlights The federally permitted Gold Rock gold project ("Gold Rock", or the "Project") is located approximately 8 miles southeast of the Pan Mine in White Pine County, Nevada. The recently released Gold Rock Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") provides an updated mineral resource estimate and a base case assessment of developing the Project as a satellite open pit operation that will share significant infrastructure and management with the adjacent Pan Mine. The PEA also identifies a considerable number of opportunities to enhance the project economics as Gold Rock advances to the Feasibility stage by drilling to increase the mineral resource, further metallurgical testing aimed at optimizing recoveries, and geotechnical drilling aimed at reducing the stripping ratio. The PEA was prepared in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). A Technical Report with the details of the PEA is available on SEDAR under the Company's profile. Gold Rock PEA Highlights Pre-tax NPV5% of US$49.7M and a 22.8% IRR (after-tax NPV5% of US$32.8M and a 17.8% IRR) at base case gold price of US$1,400/oz Au, with a life of mine cash flow of US$77.2M Based on a sensitivity analysis at approximately US$1,700/oz Au the Project returns a pre-tax NPV5% of US$135.3M and a 47.5% IRR (after-tax NPV5% of US$99.4M and a 39.1% IRR) The updated resource estimate shows a 69% increase in Indicated resource to 403,000 gold ounces, in addition to the Inferred resource of 84,300 gold ounces, with excellent potential to grow the resource with next phase of planned drilling Mine life of 6.5 years with life of mine ("LOM") total gold production of 362,750 oz, averaging 55,800 oz annually LOM cash costs of US$903/oz Au and LOM all-in sustaining costs ("AISC") of US$1,008/oz Au Pre-production capital expenditures of $64.6 million, sustaining capital expenditures of $7 million and reclamation costs of $16 million. The foregoing PEA highlights are based on the following: 1. Cash costs are inclusive of mining costs, processing costs, on-site general and administrative ("G&A") costs, treatment and refining charges and royalties 2. AISC includes cash costs plus estimated corporate G&A and sustaining capital The reader is advised that the PEA summarized in this press release is preliminary in nature and is intended to provide only an initial, high-level review of the Project potential and design options. Readers are encouraged to read the PEA in its entirety, including all qualifications and assumptions. The PEA is intended to be read as a whole, and sections should not be read out of context. The PEA mine plan and economic model include numerous assumptions and the use of Inferred Resources. Inferred Resources are considered to be too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and to be used in an economic analysis except as allowed for by NI 43-101 in PEA studies. There is no guarantee that Inferred Resources can be converted to Indicated or Measured. Project Opportunities and Value Enhancements The PEA demonstrates that Gold Rock has the potential to become an economically viable project. Additional opportunities to enhance project value and next steps include: Further drilling between the currently defined pits to potentially add resources that may merge the pits and reduce the overall strip ratio. Previous attempts to drill this area were complicated by having to avoid the decommissioned leach pad from the former Easy Jr mine. We have since received permission to drill through the pad and will be targeting this area in our next drilling program. Additional drilling along strike and on parallel structures to additionally grow the resource base. The current resource occupies only about 3 km of a more than 16 km long trend of favourable geology, structure, and alteration with superimposed gold and pathfinder element anomalies. Geotechnical drilling and testing to optimize pit slope designs. This is an area of significant potential value enhancement, with every degree of pit wall steepening resulting in a material reduction in stripping and a corresponding improvement in project economics. Additional metallurgical testing on existing and pending large diameter core to further refine process flowsheet and potentially reduce reagent consumption. Further optimisation of the methods for waste stripping, taking advantage of the fact that most of the waste is external to the mineral resource. The review of waste mining options will include in-pit crushing and conveying, larger loading and hauling equipment, and other options to increase mining efficiency. Mineral Resource Estimate The Company's updated Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE"; effective date of March 31, 2020) was completed by APEX and forms the basis for the PEA. A summary of the MRE is highlighted in the table below. Pit-Constrained Mineral Resource Summary Resource Classification Cut-off opt/gpt Tons/Tonnes Gold opt/gpt Gold Ounces Total Indicated 0.003/0.09 20.9/19.0 0.019/0.66 403,000 Total Inferred 0.003/0.09 3.0 /2.7 0.025/0.87 84,300 Key Assumptions, Parameters, and Methods related to the Mineral Resource Estimates: Mineral Resources were prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the CIM Definition Standards (2014). Mineral Resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Troy ounces per short ton ("opt") / grams per tonne ("gpt") This estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues. Open pit Mineral Resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.003 opt/0.09 gpt gold that is based on a gold price of US$1,500/oz. The Mineral Resources are constrained by a pit shell with appropriate mining costs, processing costs, metal recoveries, and pit slope angles. Rounding may result in apparent summation differences between tonnes, grade, and contained metal content. Contained gold ounces are in troy ounces. Technical Report & Qualified Persons The scientific and technical information relating to Fiore Gold's properties contained in this news release was approved by J. Ross MacLean (MMSA), Fiore Gold's Chief Operating Officer and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101. References to the Gold Rock project PEA are taken from the "Technical Report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Gold Rock Project, White Pine County, Nevada, USA" (the "Technical Report"). The Technical Report, which is dated April 30, 2020 with an effective date of March 31, 2020, was prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and is available under Fiore's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at fioregold.com. The report is authored by Michael B. Dufresne, , M.Sc., P.Geol., P.Geo., Gregory B, Sparks, B.Sc., P.Eng., Sam J. Shoemaker, Jr., B.S., SME Registered Member, Warren E. Black, M.Sc., P.Geo., and Steven J. Nicholls, BA.Sc., MAIG. Corporate Strategy Our corporate strategy is to grow Fiore into a 150,000 ounce per year gold producer. To achieve this, we intend to: grow gold production at the Pan Mine while also growing the reserve and resource base; advance exploration and development of the nearby Gold Rock project; and acquire additional production or near-production assets to complement our existing operations On behalf of FIORE GOLD LTD. "Tim Warman" Chief Executive Officer Contact Us: info@fioregold.com 1 (416) 639-1426 Ext. 1 www.fioregold.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Non-IFRS Financial Measures The Company has included certain non-IFRS measures in this document, as discussed below. The Company believes that these measures provide investors an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company and the Gold Rock project. The non-IFRS measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers. We have adopted "all-in sustaining costs" measures for the Gold Rock project, consistent with guidance issued by the World Gold Council ("WGC") on June 27, 2013. We believe that the use of all-in sustaining costs is helpful to analysts, investors and other stakeholders in assessing our operating performance, our ability to generate free cash flow from current operations and our overall value. These measures are helpful to governments and local communities in understanding the economics of gold mining. The "all-in sustaining costs" measure is an extension of existing "cash cost" metrics and incorporates costs related to sustaining production. The WGC definition of all-in sustaining costs seeks to extend the definition of total cash costs by adding reclamation and remediation costs, exploration and study costs, capitalized stripping costs, corporate general and administrative costs and sustaining capital expenditures to represent the total costs of producing gold from current operations. All-in sustaining costs exclude income tax, interest costs, depreciation, non-sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining exploration expense and other items needed to normalize earnings. Therefore, these measures are not indicative of our cash expenditures or overall profitability. "Total cash cost per ounce sold" is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but has no standard meaning under IFRS. The Company reports total cash costs on a sales basis. We believe that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measure, along with sales, is considered to be a key indicator of a Company's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. "Costs of sales per ounce sold" adds depreciation and depletion and share based compensation allocated to production to the cash costs figures. Total cash costs figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, which was a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products and included leading North American gold producers. The Gold Institute ceased operations in 2002, but the standard is considered the accepted standard of reporting cash cost of production in North America. Adoption of the standard is voluntary, and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measure of other companies. "Total cash costs per ounce", "all-in sustaining costs per ounce", "Corporate G&A per ounce", are intended to provide additional information only and do not have any standardized definition under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measures are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate the measure differently. The following table reconciles non-IFRS measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measure. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward looking information" (as defined under applicable securities laws), based on management's best estimates, assumptions and current expectations. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements with respect to any future mining operations at Gold Rock, including those described in the PEA, the resource expansion and drilling program, Gold Rock Feasibility Study, anticipated results of drilling and studies, future costs and financial metrics for the Gold Rock Project, mineral resource estimates expectations that the Company will add additional mineral resources, improve mineral recoveries and economics of Gold Rock, future capital requirements, future gold production, company outlook, goal to become a 150,000 ounce producer, goal to acquire additional production or near production assets, and other statements, estimates or expectations. Often, but not always, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "expects", "expected", "budgeted", "targets", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "scheduled", "estimates", "aims", "will", "believes", "projects" and similar expressions (including negative variations) which by their nature refer to future events. By their very nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Fiore Gold's control. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, as well as a number of assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company concerning, among other things, anticipated geological formations, potential mineralization, future plans for exploration and/or development, potential future production, ability to obtain permits for future operations, drilling exposure, and exploration budgets and timing of expenditures, all of which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Fiore Gold to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward looking statements include, but not limited to, risks related to the Pan Mine performance, risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including government restrictions impacting the Company's operations, risks the pandemic poses to its work-force, impacts the virus may have on ability to obtain services and materials from its suppliers and contractors; risks related to the company's limited operating history; risks related to international operations; risks related to general economic conditions, actual results of current or future exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; increases in market prices of mining consumables; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results, test results and the estimation of gold resources and reserves; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the possibility that capital and operating costs may be higher than currently estimated; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in the work programs; availability of financing; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of exploration, development or construction activities; the possibility that required permits may not be obtained on a timely manner or at all; changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Fiore Gold operates, and other factors identified in Fiore Gold's filings with Canadian securities authorities under its profile at www.sedar.com respecting the risks affecting Fiore and its business. Although Fiore has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Fiore disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as require by law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. SOURCE: Fiore Gold Ltd. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597334/Fiore-Gold-Begins-Gold-Rock-Feasibility-Study-Drilling-Program-Adds-Senior-Technical-Staff While airline shares were buoyed in early June by those capacity announcements, that simply set them up for a fall as the outbreak expanded in the U.S. and forced carriers to reconsider their plans. Delta rival United Airlines Holdings Inc. dialed back its August flight schedule last week, announcing it would operate at 35% of last years capacity compared with a plan announced mere days earlier to fly roughly 40% of the flights it operated a year ago. The carrier expects its schedule for the rest of the year to look similar to August, warning that any recovery in air travel will not follow a linear path. Trimming capacity is the right thing to do if demand doesnt support it and over the longer term, it speaks to the discipline that made airlines a more interesting investment in the pre-virus times. Airlines spent the better part of the last decade swearing up and down that things had changed in the industry and that consolidation had made the fare wars that exacerbated the boom-and-bust cycle to the point of bankruptcies a thing of the past. It was enough to convince even Warren Buffett to abandon his aversion to investing in airlines. In hindsight, these arguments had a gaping, coronavirus-sized hole that scared Buffett off from the sector yet again. But its encouraging that even amidst the current, unprecedented crisis, some airlines havent entirely forgotten their recently discovered religion on capacity expansion. Its something. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, the U.S. State Department said, following media reports Russia offered money to militants to kill Americans in Afghanistan. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed the situation in Afghanistan with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, the U.S. State Department said, following media reports Russia offered money to militants to kill Americans in Afghanistan. Pompeo also raised the issue of election security, the department said in a statement. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Mohammad Zargham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:44:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close COPENHAGEN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- An international Museum of Happiness opened its doors for the first time here in the Danish capital Tuesday. "We Danes often hear that we are among the happiest people in the world, and with the museum we want to convey what that really means," Meik Wiking, CEO of The Happiness Research Institute (HRI) and founder of the Happiness Museum, told the Danish News Agency Ritzau. Fully financed by HRI, the 240-square meter museum provides an array of interactive activities, thought experiments, and a display of artifacts of happiness donated by people around the world as reminders of their happiest moments. "Whether you live in South America, Europe or Asia, the notion of happiness is largely the same," said Wiking, who is also a bestselling author of "The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living." On the intellectual dimensions of happiness, the museum also offers an international history of happiness, examines the politics of happiness, investigates the anatomy of smiles, and attempts to explain why Nordic countries are considered "happiness superpower." "We hope that people are in there for an hour and come out a little wiser on how they can create greater well-being for themselves, and at the same time make the world a slightly better place," said Wiking. Enditem British Environment Secretary George Eustice also did not rule out the possibility that mandatory face coverings would become compulsory in offices and other workplaces in the future. He told the BBC that the government was taking one step at a time and weve taken the view in this next step that we should make it mandatory in retail environments. Soofuu Yakr, 26, admitted assaulting Nine News Australia's Sophie Walsh An Algerian asylum seeker who assaulted an Australian reporter on live television in London has had his sentencing delayed and moved to Newcastle. Soofuu Yakr was armed with a screwdriver when he grabbed Nine News correspondent Sophie Walsh around her waist and made stabbing motions while shouting 'Allahu Akbar' during a live cross from a Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park on June 3. The 25-year-old was due to be sentenced in London's Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to possessing an offensive weapon, possessing cannabis and assault by beating. But Judge Sally Cahill adjourned the case as Yakr was still awaiting trial in Newcastle Crown Court for alleged conspiracy to steal 25 mobile phones from women. She said sentencing him for his attack on Walsh could trigger a deportation recommendation before he faced trial for conspiracy. Nine News' Europe correspondent Sophie Walsh was seen clearly shaken after the attack while covering the Black Lives Matter protests in London After the incident on London's Park Lane, Ms Walsh told her colleague: 'Sorry, I just had someone come up and try and... yeah. A man just came up and grabbed me' 'It seems to me it is appropriate this should be adjourned and this should be sent to Newcastle so it can be dealt with once and for all,' Judge Cahill ordered. Yakr is expected to make a plea in the conspiracy hearing on August 20. Earlier, Crown Advocate Carol Summers told the court Yakr had pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity and Walsh hadn't been physically hurt during the incident. 'Although that was a stabbing motion she felt nothing sharp and suffered no injuries as a result,' Summers said. Footage showed a man being detained by two police officers, above, and held against a car bonnet. Ms Walsh later wrote on Twitter she is 'shaken but okay' The cameraman, Jason Conduit, is pictured chasing the man with a light stand. Senior producer Michelle Taverniti tweeted: 'Incredibly brave. We're all thankful they're alright' She explained that after the attack the Algerian lingered around with his hands in his pockets continuing to say: 'Allahu Akbar'. Summers said only when a police car on patrol arrived did he start running away. She said Nine News camera operator Jason Conduit then chased Yakr, who the officers in the car promptly arrested. He was taken for questioning at Charing Cross Police Station, but Summers said Yakr only made a single statement: 'I completely deny making any threats to kill anybody whilst I was in attendance in Hyde Park today'. The crown advocate said he answered "no comment" to any further questions asked of him. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend: Nikol Pashinyan's government carried out a provocation on Armenian-Azerbaijani border to protect its dictatorial regime from the growing anger of the Armenian people, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister, Deputy Executive Secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party Ali Ahmadov said in an interview to the local REAL TV channel, Trend reports. He pointed out that Azerbaijan's army gave a worthy response to the Armenian armed forces. Our soldiers inflicted devastating strikes on the Armenian army. I think that the Armenians at least regretted attempting this provocation, as our martyrs were revenged, Ahmadov noted. The deputy prime minister pointed out that Armenia cannot reconcile with the strengthening of Azerbaijans position in the international arena, the growth of Azerbaijan's prestige, its direct participation in the implementation of various international projects. According to him, the decision to convene a special session of the UN General Assembly on the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev also shows importance of Azerbaijan for the international community. However, Armenia is trying to weaken the position of our country in the world community by making provocations on the border and blaming Azerbaijan for this, although it is a lie, he said. He reminded that President Ilham Aliyev also touched upon Armenia's provocation during the online meeting of the Security Council. "This is a message to the international community, including the OSCE Minsk Group, that Azerbaijan will never allow the creation of a second Armenian state on its territory, using all means to free its lands, Ali Ahmadov said. The Azerbaijani society and government repeatedly expressed concern over the OSCE Minsk Groups activity. The fact that the conflict is still unresolved is clear evidence of the groups inability to adequately fulfill its responsibilities. Despite the military aggression, the occupation of part of our lands and the fact that a million people became internally displaced persons, the Minsk Group did not name the aggressor by its name. In the case of aggression, its impossible to eliminate it without identifying the perpetrator. Therefore, the OSCE Minsk Group should clearly state its position," Ahmadov added. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. 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. By Choi Sung-jin When I was in fifth grade, one of my classmates was poor but seemed to have some pride at heart. Some friends said his grandfather had fought against Japanese imperialism. When I told my father, he replied by quoting a famous saying, "Independence fighters are poor for three generations while pro-Japanese collaborators are rich for three generations." That memory from longer than 50 years ago came back to me recently watching the ongoing controversy over how to treat the late General Paik Sun-yup. Few public figures in Korea might be more divisive than Paik, who died last Friday at age 99. Often hailed as the builder of the modern Korean Army and the savior who defended this country from Communist invaders during the Korean War, he was a national hero at least to nearly half of South Koreans. People who liked and respected the deceased general call for the government to bury him at Seoul National Cemetery, not Daejeon. "Can the Republic of Korea be called a country if it fails to enshrine its most revered hero at Seoul National Cemetery?" right-wing politicians and journalists say. They would not accept the government's explanation that Seoul's cemetery had been filled with no more plots left since ago. The conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper, in an editorial, urged President Moon Jae-in to offer a condolence. However, Moon sent his chief of staff instead. The President would not, or could not, go. He used to say, "It is justice to call for Japanese collaborators to reflect on themselves and treat independence fighters with respect." Other leaders in the liberal camp paid their respects. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea spared its breath, probably conscious of the conservative voters. It was a splinter opposition party that spoke on behalf of the majority of Koreans. How can we bury a pro-Japanese collaborator in the vanguard of suppressing patriotic independence fighters at the national cemetery where only patriots should be laid to rest?" the Justice Party said. As is widely known, Paik served the army in Manchukuo, a puppet regime that imperial Japan set up in Manchuria, in 1941. He served in a unit specializing in searching and destroying Korean guerillas fighting for independence. "It was as if we Koreans although we had different ideas and principles had fallen into the Japanese scheme of catching enemies using enemies," Paik recalled in his memoir written in Japanese and published in Tokyo, according to the progressive Hankyoreh newspaper. "However, I do not think Korea's liberation was delayed because we did our best to crack down on independence fighters. Nor could its liberation have come earlier if we had joined the guerillas and fought together against Japan," he added. It was a confession. Paik either had given up and decided to collaborate with the colonialists or did so out of personal conviction (that imperial Japan would not collapse) and ambition for success. In Korea, however, Paik made no similar remarks, just saying he was not directly engaged in combat against independence fighters. The Chosun Ilbo said in the same editorial that when Paik joined the Japanese army, Koreans had no concept about the Republic of Korea. Still, it was long after the Independence Movement of March 1, 1919, which declared this republic's birth. "Real" patriots Ji Cheong-cheon, Kim Jun-yup, and Chang Jun-ha also started in the imperial army but deserted it to join the Korean Liberation Army later, braving enormous hardships. Can anyone put Paik in the same league with the other three soldiers? I cannot. Some military experts compare Paik to Henri Petain, the general who led the French army during the first half of the 20th century. Petain became a national hero by repelling the invading German army in World War I. After World War II, however, he was sentenced to death for collaborating during Nazi Germany's occupation of France. What's the difference between the two soldiers except for the reversed sequence of the services for their nations and betrayals of them? It would be fair to consider well-known figures' merits and demerits or their accomplishments and errors. It is also true historical assumptions could be meaningless. However, would the Korean War have occurred had it not been for the Japanese colonization of Korea in the first place? A brainless right-winger even described Paik as "Admiral Yi Sun-sin of the Korean War." Admiral Yi, who changed the world's war history by defeating the Japanese aggressors and dying a heroic death in the middle of combat in 1598, would roll over in his grave. Upon leaving Korea after WWII defeat in 1945, Japanese colonial rulers said two things that they will come back by all means and that Koreans will be unable to get over the scars of colonization by perennially fighting among themselves. To the chagrin of most Koreans, these predictions could come true, or almost have done so. This peninsula has been divided for 72 years, more than double that of 35 years under colonial rule. Right- and left-wingers in South Korea can hardly be further from each other. Japan denies its imperial history, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, supported by ultra-rightists, is set to revise his country's constitution to make Japan wage war once again. The first theater of Japan's military muscle-flexing will be this peninsula if the Koreas enter into another war. There are currently about 60 pro-Japanese collaborators buried at the two national cemeteries, mainly for their military merits during the Korean War. I don't care much if the government adds General Paik to the list if only that helps calm the noisy ideological dogfight even for a moment. On the other hand, some liberal lawmakers are pushing to move these former collaborators' graves out of the national cemeteries by enacting a law. That will spark another fierce battle between rightists and leftists if not splitting the nation into two. How about creating a third national cemetery for controversial figures, who both served and betrayed the country, with tombstones describing conflicting records, and enshrining the late Paik at its head? Choi Sung-jin (choisj1955@naver.com) is a Korea Times columnist. Critics are denouncing new media laws in Jammu and Kashmir State as measures to suppress government criticism. They also argue that the laws violate the countrys constitution. India announced the new policy last month. It empowers officials to accredit the reporters and news organizations it considers acceptable. It also permits Indian officials to declare what is false news, and what are incitements against the government. Kashmir and Jammu has been under tight controls for almost a year. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi seized powers from the state government following fighting between Kashmiris and security forces. Thousands of people have been arrested in that period, including members of the press. The government also has severely restricted internet service in the area. Those 2G services are also shut down at least once or twice a week under the pretext of militant encounters or COVID-19, says Sheikh Showkat Hussain, a Kashmiri human rights and international law expert. The new media policy targets Kashmir only. It gives the Department of Information and Public Relations the power to legally accuse media organizations and their employees of misinformation, fake news, plagiarism and anti-national activities. Reporters and news groups accused of such wrongdoing can face a loss of accreditation and money from advertisers. Srinagar-based reporter Gowhar Geelani told VOA the policy makes the DIPR, the judge, jury and the executioner, and leads to self-censorship. Geelani and other reporters have been charged with glorifying terrorism in the Kashmir Valley and putting anti-national material on social media in recent months. They believe those charges will result in a denial of their accreditation. VOA asked the Jammu and Kashmir state public relations director for comment on the new rules. The official did not answer the email. The government says it enacted the measures to stop Pakistani attempts to damage peace and security in Jammu and Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of aiding terrorism in the state. Pakistan denies the accusations. The new policy began in May. The DIPR says it will consider media protests about its decisions. Several reporters said they were worried about the accreditation process, which includes investigations by security forces. News organizations need accreditation to be able to publish legally and to receive government advertising contracts, a large part of their financial security. The Indian government stopped advertisements to at least three large newspaper groups last year. Critics called the move likely retaliation for critical reports about the government. Shuja ul Haq is president of the Kashmir Press Club. He said that permitting government officials to judge media reports as acceptable or unacceptable violates the constitutional right of free expression. Reporters in Kashmir already face COVID-19 and internet restrictions, says Srinagar-based reporter Bilal Hussain. "This new policy has made me to think tens of times before writing, he said. Im Susan Shand. VOAs Iala Mohammad reported this story. Susan Shand adapted it for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story 2G - adj. the second generation of internet speed pretext - n. an excuse for doing something encounter - v. to meet a person or to find a situation plagarism - n. to steal the writing of another person censorship - n. government imposed restrictions on what can be written glorify - v. to make something seem grand or important retaliation - n. to act against someone in response to their first action A man from Northern Ireland has told of his pride after his 11-year-old son became the youngest person to climb the Matterhorn, one of the world's most formidable mountains. Chris Molyneaux's youngest son Jules hit the 14,692 feet summit alongside his father in around four hours last Wednesday, July 8, and is already planning an assault on another challenging Swiss peak, the Eiger. The 43-year-old told the Belfast Telegraph how the preparatory school pupil spent most of the lockdown building up his fitness so as to be allowed to try the complex climb, which is usually reserved for the over-16s. Speaking from Switzerland, Co Down native Chris, who makes gin at a distillery in the Highlands with Scottish wife Mignonne (43), said he was "unbelievably proud" of Jules' achievement. "I found some of the sections we were doing technically very challenging and I was wondering how Jules would manage, but he was very good and very sensible, not taking any risks," he said. "Climbing is a lot of fun. But you also need to really concentrate and focus and Jules did that too." The Matterhorn Museum in Zermatt told Chris that Jules is the youngest person ever to climb the mountain, but it's not something that the youngster is "hugely bothered" about. "Jules is just happy to have successfully climbed a mountain that has claimed the lives of adults and professional climbers," the Skettrick Island man said. "Just to have done it is incredible. It's a nice thing that he's the youngest but he's not fixated on that." The Matterhorn, shaped like a pyramid, is the sixth highest mountain in Europe. It's also the equivalent height of five 'Munros' (Scottish mountains that are more than 3000ft high). Over 500 people have died while attempting to climb the peak. Tragically, a 55-year-old man lost his life during the Molyneauxs' climb. "The Matterhorn is one of the deadliest peaks in the world," the father-of-two said. "On the day of the climb it was dangerous. There was more snow than our guide has seen in 30 years, and there were lots of falling rocks. "There was always a question mark as to whether it would be possible to reach the summit, because it's not easy. "A lot of people try and fail, and a lot of people obviously die on the mountain. "One of the 10 climbers who left the hut with us was coming behind us on the way down and he slipped and fell 400m. "He died and had be collected by helicopter. It's so treacherous." For two years Jules had been dreaming of tackling the Matterhorn, ever since he competed a school project on the famous mountain. "Ardvreck School in Perth and Kinross, which Jules attends, is outdoor-focused and it has been so supportive," said Chris. The former professional snowboarder, who has an older son Louis (12), said he still spends a lot of time in Northern Ireland when he's not at his Scottish distillery base, where Daffy's Gin is made. "I was born and lived most of my life on Skettrick Island and we were always outdoors in the countryside," he said. "Growing up, I spent a lot of time in the Mournes. I loved climbing trees and I also used to climb Skettrick Castle." The Campbell College past pupil said his love for climbing was nurtured "the whole way through school" as a member of the mountaineering club, meaning he's well-placed for his son's next goal. "Jules is talking about tackling the north face of the Eiger, which is one of the most extreme climbs in the world," he said. When asked if Jules is a bit of a "daredevil", Chris replied: "I wouldn't say that. He loves climbing. But for now we'll just chill out, enjoy the summer and see what happens." Gladys Berejiklian says the people of New South Wales will have to accept 'we are living in a pandemic' and insisted the state 'can't shutdown every time we have a cluster'. The premier on Tuesday said NSW would not close its economy despite the number of coronavirus infections linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's south-west climbing 30. Pressure has mounted on the state government to follow Victoria's lead and order another lockdown to prevent the outbreak from spiralling out of control. Gladys Berejiklian says the people of New South Wales will have to accept 'we are living in a pandemic' and going to have outbreaks Tests are carried out at a pop-up COVID-19 clinic on the southwest outskirts of Sydney at Victoria Park in Picton on July 14, 2020 'Until we have a cure, we have to live with it. We cannot shut down every time we have a cluster of cases,' Ms Berejiklian told A Current Affair. 'We cannot keep shutting down, reopening, shutting down and reopening. That is not a good way for us to manage the pandemic because it creates chaos for people. 'It creates chaos for businesses who are employing people and it makes us lose confidence in the future.' The state leader said it was 'unrealistic' to assume that there would be zero COVID-19 cases in New South Wales. 'I think what we are going to have to accept during the pandemic is that we are always going to have cases. We are always going to have outbreaks,' Ms Berejiklian acknowledged. 'I don't ever want to be in a situation again where we have to lockdown NSW. We've done that, we did it well, we came together and now what we need to do is keep working together. 'Take the health advice, get tested, stay home keep everybody safe.' The number of coronavirus infections linked to the nearby Casula Hotel has now reached 30 Although Ms Berejiklian made it clear she has no intention of shutting down NSW for a second time, she warned that everyone would need to make 'sacrifices'. 'I had not hugged my parents for months. That is a decision I have taken because I'm extra careful,' she said. 'All of us have to make sacrifices, all of us have to take actions to protect the wider community 'But we also need to accept that children need to be educated, people have to go to work we cannot be in lockdown forever and no community could be.' Her comments come as a leading epidemiologist argued Sydney was less at risk of a large-scale outbreak than Melbourne. World Health Organisation adviser Professor Mary-Louise McLaws told the ABC there were differences in how the virus is spreading through the respective cities. 'We had highly interconnected family clustering (in Melbourne). And that clustering was very big, with many people living in high density with close social and family connections,' she said. 'Sydney is at less risk than Melbourne. 'And given that the numbers have been relatively low, I hope they (NSW authorities) will be able to control it.' Meanwhile, other experts suggested the 'whole of New South Wales' should be considered a coronavirus hotspot following the rising number of cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel. The number of COVID-19 cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel in Casula in Sydney's southwest hit 30 on Tuesday evening The source of the outbreak has yet to be identified, but it has been confirmed that community transmission from the Victorian outbreak has now reached NSW. Two men in their 20s were tested after a positive patron from the Crossroads Hotel was found to have visited the nearby Planet Fitness gym - which has been shut for deep cleaning. Anyone who visited the gym from July 4 to July 10 should self-isolate and get tested immediately. Australian Medical Association Northern Territory branch president Dr Robert Parker called for all of NSW to be considered a 'hotspot'. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the investigation demonstrates there is 'no doubt' the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW A cleaner dressed in Personal Protective Equipment is seen leaving the Crossroads Hotel on July 11 He said NSW residents shouldn't be allowed to enter the NT when it opens up its borders on July 17. Queensland announced it would ban residents from 77 suburbs in Sydney's south west from entering the Sunshine State. But Dr Parker said all of NSW should be prohibited from entering the NT, and not just select postcodes and suburbs. 'I think it's very dangerous, we still don't know the effect of this particular location and because it was a crossroads, and particularly because people were passing through, what the carry-on effect of this is,' he told the ABC. The NT will open its borders this Friday to all states and territories, except Victoria, with visitors not required to quarantine upon entry. Dr Parker said given the state's growing number of cases, it would be safer to put off allowing NSW residents to enter the NT for the foreseeable future. 'It's far safer just to delay NSW for a further week sure, open up to South Australia, Western Australia, whatever delay NSW for a further week, just to see what the effect of this particular location is and how far and wide the virus spreads rather than having a fairly confident response,' he said. Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home Pictured: The Sydney venues feared to be at the centre of COVID-19 outbreaks Victoria recorded 270 new cases on Tuesday, tipping total cases nationwide over 10,000, with 21 people on ventilation in intensive care. NSW has 13 new cases and WA one, a 10-year-old boy in quarantine. Ms Berejiklian was asked if she would consider locking down the suburbs near the Casula pub after the Queensland government declared Sydney's Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas as COVID-19 hotspots. The NSW premier said the measure wasn't being considered 'at this stage'. Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home. Tests are carried out at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic at Victoria Park in Picton, south of Sydney Ms Berejiklian also announced a tightening of restrictions in response to the Casula outbreak with a limit of 300 people at pubs and hotels, and group bookings to be capped at 10 people. It will be mandatory for pubs and hotels to download and register the COVID-19 safe plan and take down contact details of all patrons. Venues with a capacity of more than 250 people will be required to have a full-time marshal on site to enforce COVID-19 safety guidelines. The changes don't apply to clubs, restaurants or The Star casino and will come into effect from 12.01am on Friday. The new changes came a day before the Lake Jindabyne Hotel and Motel, near the Snowy Mountains, was fined $5000 for breaching public health and safety rules. Police were forced to shut the venue down on Tuesday after issuing three formal and seven informal warnings between July 5 and July 11. COVID-19 drive through testing clinic at The Crossroads Hotel - where 30 cases have now been linked Picton Hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood could be affected by the Crossroads Hotel outbreak. Pictured: tests at a pop-up clinic in Picton, south of Sydney The warnings were for patrons' intoxication levels and large groups of people failing to social distance, the Daily Telegraph reports. The pub will close for three days. NSW recorded 13 new COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday with two in hotel quarantine, one a contact of a returned traveller and 10 linked to the Crossroads Hotel. NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant on Tuesday said since 3pm on Monday seven additional cases had been confirmed - all linked to the Casula pub. Another case is under investigation. Police are working with Liquor and Gaming to investigate if the hotel breached any guidelines. All patrons of the Crossroads Hotel between July 3 to 10 must self-isolate and are being urged to get tested. One of the cases linked to the hotel is a person who visited the Prestons Lodge Advantaged Care nursing home which has been placed into lockdown. People wearing face masks are seen at the entrance of the Menarock Life aged care facility, where a cluster of some 28 new infections had been reported, in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon Another case worked at the Kmart store in Casula Mall on July 10. The employee and all of his coworkers are self-isolating. Dr Chant said other venues across Sydney may have been exposed to the virus between June 27 and July 10 after visits from people linked to the outbreak. These include The Star casino in Sydney, Picton Hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood. The NSW Australian Hotels Association supports the stricter COVID-19 measures, and chief executive John Whelan said the industry had to do its part in halting the spread of the virus. Acting Assistant Commissioner Tony Cooke warned businesses that any breaches in public health orders will be treated 'extremely seriously'. Police are also ramping up compliance checks with officers making about 300 home visits in the past 24 hours to ensure people who returned from Victoria are self-isolating for 14 days. Meanwhile, South Australia will delay its border opening with NSW, which was set down for July 20. Australia's total coronavirus cases soared to more than 10,000 and the death toll reached 110 on Tuesday. Exports shrank 1.7 percent on-year in early July. According to the Korea Customs Service on Monday, exports amounted to US$13.3 billion in the first 10 days of the month, down 1.7 percent or $230 million a year earlier. But that is a much smaller decline than the accumulated 8.6 percent from January to June. "It seems that exports hit rock-bottom in the second quarter and are poised for a recovery," said Moon Byung-ki, a senior researcher at the Korea International Trade Association. But it is hard to predict when exports will bounce back to previous growth levels because of the coronavirus epidemic and the U.S.-China trade war. Exports of semiconductors, cars and ships increased by 7.7 percent, 7.3 percent and a whopping 307 percent respectively. But those of petroleum products, wireless devices, and auto parts declined 42.2 percent, 9.7 percent, and 34 percent. By region, shipments to China increased 9.4 percent, followed by the U.S. (7.3 percent) and Vietnam (4.1 percent). But exports to Japan, Hong Kong and the Middle East fell by 20.8 percent, 6.9 percent and 32 percent. Meanwhile, imports during the first 10 days of this month amounted to $14.1 billion, down 9.1 percent or $14.1 billion on-year. THE Securities and Exchange Commission issued on July 10, 2020 its pre-effective approval of AREIT Inc.s registration for a Real Estate Investment Trust (Reit) Initial Public Offering (IPO)with an offer of up to P15 billion. The base offer is up to 456,883,000 common shares at an offer price of up to P30.05 per share, with a stabilization option of up to 45,688,700 common shares. In total, this represents up to 49 percent of AREITs capital stock. Ten percent of the proceeds from the offer shares will be used by AREIT to fund the acquisition of the fourth commercial leasing asset in its portfolio, Teleperformance Cebu, a Grade-A, Peza-accredited business process management (BPM) development located in Cebu IT Park. A Reit is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. AREIT is a subsidiary of Ayala Land Inc. (ALI). Meanwhile, 90 percent of the proceeds will be used by ALI for reinvestment into its real estate projects in the Philippines, within one-year from the receipt of proceeds, pursuant to the revised implementing rules and regulations of the Philippine Reit Act of 2009. AREITs portfolio consists of investment grade commercial assets in very prime business locations in Makati City. All properties are occupied by diverse high-quality tenants consisting of large BPM companies, top multinationals and local headquarter offices, together with amenity retail, food and essential stores. Properties Its first property, Solaris One, is located along dela Rosa St., and is one of the pioneer BPM buildings in the country which continues to command prime rental rates and healthy tenancy to this day. The second property at the northern end of Ayala Avenue is Ayala North Exchangea mixed-use commercial development, completed in 2019, with two office towers, a retail podium and Seda Residences Makati, a serviced apartment covered by a long-term lease with a subsidiary of ALI. The third building, which AREIT leases from ALI, is McKinley Exchange Corporate Center located at the very prominent corner of Edsa and McKinley Road. Together with the acquisition of Teleperformance Cebu post-listing, AREIT will have a total gross leasable area of over 170,000 square meters, providing its investors with stable cash flows and opportunities for growth. With the SEC pre-effective approval, AREIT is closer to launching the countrys maiden Reit. It shall be securing approval from the Philippine Stock Exchange of its listing application, and its order of registration and permit to sell from the SEC. (PR) Sheep farmers have revealed China is buying 78 per cent of the wool Australia produces, sparking warnings our primary producers are too reliant on the communist nation. A parliament committee in Canberra is currently holding meetings to examine how Australia can diversify its trade networks. Wool Producers Australia told the hearing on Tuesday that only two per cent of Australia's fleece remains in the country, with China snapping up $3.2billion worth a year. 'Many take the view that the Australian wool industry is over-reliant on China,' the wool industry representative told the meeting. Sheep farmers has revealed China is buying 78 per cent of the wool Australia produces, sparking warnings our primary producers are too reliant on China 'What must be appreciated is that the Australian wool industry's relationship with the Chinese wool textile industry has been built and strengthened over several decades.' The spokesperson explained wool exports were a successful example of how trade connections could be formed without government intervention but rather with direct negotiations supported by policies such as free trade agreements. The huge demand for Australia's high quality wool is fuelled by China's increasingly affluent middle class, the spokesperson said. 'We have witnessed increasing domestic consumption of wool garments and products within China and as this grows, so does the opportunity to sell more wool. ' The representative argued diversifying markets was important - but new markets would need the infrastructure required for processing and ability to afford the wool, which China already has. In May, wool prices in Australia, the world's dominant exporter, plunged more than 25% since early March after trade routes to Europe were abruptly cut amid the coronavirus pandemic, leaving Chinese wool mills in control over bidding. The slowdown was so severe that wool auction houses across Australia cut the number of trading days after the usual demand from high-end European tailors dried up. Wool broker David Hart, from Nutrien Ag Solutions, said that Chinese buyers were therefore able to control pricing. In 2018-19, China bought more than 60 per cent of Australia's barley exports, according to the Department of Agriculture Also in May, China issued an 80 per cent tax on Australian barley being imported into the country. The move was widely seen as payback for Australia's push at the World Health Forum for an inquiry into COVID-19. Farmer Brent Sheahan, who has a property on the Avoca River in northern Victoria was in the process of planting 1,200 hectares of barley when the tax hit. 'Overnight, the price dropped $50 a tonne,' he said. Another farmer said they had lost $100,000 in potential profits in 24 hours. In 2018-19, China bought more than 60 per cent of Australia's barley exports, according to the Department of Agriculture. At about 2.5million tonnes that amount more than triples the next highest market of Japan which is closely followed by Thailand and Vietnam. While the tariff has been seen as a warning to Australia over calls for an international inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic, China has said it is because of Australia's unfair trade practices. Particularly a tariff Australia imposed on Chinese steel imports. By bringing together Thermo Fishers automation systems and the Genedata Biopharma platform, all molecule, sample, assay, and analytics data across both instruments and processes are fully integrated, giving researchers the power to make data-based decisions and uncover insights not possible before. Genedata, the leading provider of enterprise software solutions for biopharmaceutical R&D, today announced a collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific, a leading international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier, to integrate the two platforms to provide seamless automation of biopharma R&D operations. The combined platform directly imports raw instrument data from Thermo Fisher Scientific instruments into the Genedata platform, where the data can be processed and interpreted with all other data collected along the entire biopharma R&D workflow. The centralized platform makes it possible for scientists to integrate and digitalize automation systems for sample handling, lab operations, and testing, and digitally trace all results for every sample to make data-driven decisions that expedite R&D breakthroughs. Our collaboration with Genedata will enable biopharma companies to fully integrate R&D automation platforms for the direct capture, processing, and analysis of the large amount of data being produced by todays high-throughput robotic systems. Scientists can now do more experiments in a shorter time and maximize their lab automation investments, said Hansjoerg Haas, Senior Director, Lab Automation, Thermo Fisher Scientific. By bringing together Thermo Fishers automation systems and the Genedata Biopharma platform, all molecule, sample, assay, and analytics data across both instruments and processes are fully integrated, enabling traceability for molecules, samples, results, and processes. This gives researchers the power to make data-based decisions and uncover insights not possible before. Thermo Fisher and Genedata are implementing standard integration interfaces to easily set up and operate Thermo Fishers lab equipment and robotics with the Genedata Biopharma platform, which acts as a workflow backbone connecting all information from early discovery to development. The newly integrated platform supports complex sub-workflows such as cherry picking, plasmid construction, antibody expression and expansion, and plasmid and antibody purification, and drives significant efficiency gains along the full biopharma R&D workflow. The integration includes both Thermo Fisher laboratory instruments and Thermo Fisher Momentum software. We are pleased to welcome Thermo Fisher as our latest lab automation Ready-to-Run partner, said Othmar Pfannes, Ph.D., CEO of Genedata. Biopharmaceutical and biotech companies already automate complex laboratory workflows using our seamless integration with lab equipment from many major instrument providers. Our customers expect data traceability across the entire biopharma R&D workflow and by further automating integration of lab instrument data, we are providing a central and structured database for every experimental sample, result, and process. This supports the growing demand for data-driven drug discovery. About Genedata Genedata transforms data into intelligence with innovative software solutions and domain-specific consulting services that automate complex, large-scale experimental processes and enable organizations to maximize the ROI in their R&D, spanning early discovery all the way to the clinic. Founded in 1997, Genedata is headquartered in Switzerland with additional offices in Germany, Japan, Singapore, the UK, and the US. http://www.genedata.com LinkedIn | Twitter | YouTube Contact Miles Fisher-Pollard Genedata Public Relations Phone: +41 61 511 85 61 pr@genedata.com Disclaimer The statements in this press release that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including risks associated with uncertainties related to contract cancellations, developing risks, competitive factors, uncertainties pertaining to customer orders, demand for products and services, development of markets for the Company's products and services. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. All product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Islamabad, July 14 : The Pakistan government has decided to re-open the Wagah border, allowing Afghan exports to India from Wednesday. According to a Foreign office statement, the decision has been taken after Afghanistan government requested for facilitating its transit trade, adding that the trade would be conducted under the COVID-19 protocols. "With this step, Pakistan has fulfilled its commitments under the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA). Pakistan has restored bilateral trade and Afghan transit trade at all border crossing terminals to pre-Covid-19 status," the statement said. The trade route was suspended in March, after the spread of novel coronavirus with Islamabad closing down all land border crossings with its neighbours, including India. Under the 2010 bilateral trade agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Afghan exports to India are allowed through the Wagah border. However, the agreement does not allow Indian exports to Afghanistan through the Pakistani territory. Pakistan recently reopened the Angor Adda Border Crossing with Afghanistan for bilateral trade while Kharlachi crossing was also opened for traffic. "Trade should be the mainstay of Pak-Afghan relations and prosperity of region on both sides of the border," said Pakistan's Special Envoy for Afghanistan Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq. "We are moving ahead with promoting economic activity on both sides of the border. The COVID-19 SOPs are slowing us down a bit but our direction is right." The decision has come as a positive relief to the Afghan Traders, who were blaming Islamabad for taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic for one-sided trade benefits. The Afghan Traders Union said: "exports from Afghanistan, mainly perishable agricultural products, were barred from entering Pakistan amid the coronavirus outbreak since March. Goods from Pakistan, however, continued to be exported to Afghanistan." "Restrictions cost Afghan traders losses worth more than $100 million," said Omaid Haidari, Trade body Chairman. "Hundreds of trucks loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables destined for Pakistan and then India remained stranded at the main Chaman Torkham crossing points for months." On the other hand, the opposition political parties are questioning the timing of the decision of the Imran Khan-led government as it has been taken on a day when the country marked "Kashmir Martyrs Day" against what they call New Delhi's ongoing oppression of the people of Kashmir. "It was unfortunate that the announcement, which would also benefit India, was made on a day when the Kashmir Martyrs Day was being observed across the country", said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member Aisha Ghaus Pasha, while speaking at the National Assembly session. "The government should have taken the parliament into confidence before taking such a decision," she added. Advertisement The Duchess of Cambridge joked she is a 'feeding machine' constantly giving food to her three children as she spoke to young families in an interview that aired on BBC Breakfast today. Kate Middleton, 38, revealed George, six, Charlotte, five, and Louis, two, have 'bottomless pits' and are always on the lookout for food, as she spoke to parents of toddlers in the grounds of Sandringham House, Norfolk. Sporting a 1,500 Emilia Wickstead polka dot dress, and a new lighter 'bronde' hairdo, the mother-of-three also admitted Louis struggles to understand social distancing and still wants to 'cuddle everything' when they go out. Scroll down for more videos The Duchess of Cambridge joked she is a 'feeding machine' constantly giving food to her three children as she spoke to young families on a BBC Breakfast segment today, pictured Kate Middleton, 38, revealed George, six, Charlotte, five, and Louis, two, have 'bottomless pits' and are always on the lookout for their next snack or meal as she spoke to parents of toddlers in the grounds of Sandringham House, Norfolk. Pictured, with William and the children in April She said: 'My children have bottomless pits. I feel like a constant feeding machine for them. Louis doesn't understand social distancing, he goes out wanting to cuddle everything, particularly any babies younger than him.' She later added that Prince Louis has taken to running everywhere, saying: 'If you put Louis down, he's off'. Kate was on hand to speak to families and BBC Breakfast's Louise Minchin about the BBC's Tiny Happy People initiative, which provides free resources to parents and is supported by the Royal Foundation. Kate described the resources on the Tiny Happy People online platform as gold dust for parents, adding she wished something similar had been available when she had Prince George. She said: 'So much focus, particularly during pregnancy and when you have a newborn baby, is the physical development. But what I found was missing was the support on how to further their emotional and mental development... And it's that bit that I think you really need the support.' The Duchess of Cambridge put on a stylish display as she marked the national launch of Tiny Happy People, a BBC Education initiative providing a range of free digital resources The Duchess spoke to the families about the ways in which they have used the resources, and how they have seen their children's language and communication develop as a result Kate Middleton, 37, looked chic in a patterned 1,565 Emilia Wickstead monochrome shirt dress, cinched in at the waist, which is currently on sale for 469, and appears to have had its sleeves altered She also spoke on how her family has navigated lockdown, revealing it has been 'positive' but 'tough' at the same time. She said: 'It's been challenging. Some parts have been really positive, spending extra time with the kids, everything like that, but it is equally stressful. You are in confined spaces... And having to home school, that was a challenge. I always had a respect for teachers before, but now I have a newfound respect for them. She added she is now faced with the challenge of balancing a return to work with wanting to spend more time together as a family. 'How do you extend that umbilical cord from having had that precious time together? I know from a personal perspective, having all that extra time together as a family, but then being able to step back again and go back to how things were. It's really hard for lots of families.' The mother-of-three also appeared to have had a post-lockdown hair makeover, sporting honey-coloured highlights and a layered fringe around her face Teaming the dress with tan wedges, Kate put on an animated display as she met with families who worked on the project, keeping a safe distance To mark the launch, last week The Duchess met three families who have been involved in the creation and piloting of Tiny Happy People (seen with with Abu, Henrietta and their 11 month daughter Amirah) The Duchess has been involved with the project for a number of months, having visited the Tiny Happy People team at Broadcasting House in London last November to take part in a creative workshop, during which she worked with the team on some of the video resources and social media content. Kate even contributed to two cartoon films - one on the science of singing to bump while pregnant, and another on how eye contact is key to a babys language learning. The BBC said the duchess helped with the character and background development for the two animations. To mark the launch, last week the Duchess met three families who have been involved in the creation and piloting of Tiny Happy People. Kate was seen chatting with Kerry, Darren and their son Dexter, two, whom she met outside The Duchess spoke with Ryan and his eight-month-old daughter Mia, as well as parents Henrietta, Abu and their 11-month-old daughter Amirah; and Kerry, Darren and their son Dexter, two. The Duchess spoke to the families about the ways in which they have used the resources, and how they have seen their children's language and communication develop as a result. Kate said of the project: 'Families and carers are at the heart of nurturing the next generation of happy, healthy adults, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to turn to for advice. 'Tiny Happy People is an invaluable resource which provides parents and carers with support and tips, as well as simple activities to ensure children develop the language skills they need to have the best possible start in life. 'I am delighted to have been part of its journey and hope families across the UK will enjoy exploring the resources.' The New York City Health Department has issued a warning after discovering Culex mosquitoes infected with West Nile Virus on Staten Island and in the Bronx. The department announced the infestation on Tuesday, reporting that there had not yet been any human cases. However they warned city dwellers to take precautions amid mosquito season, which typically runs from April to September. The return of the virus, first detected in NYC 21 years ago, comes just after the city had its first 24 hours on Saturday where no coronavirus deaths. New York City has detected its first cases of West Nile Virus this year, the Health Department said on Tuesday. A Culex mosquito is pictured Culex mosquitoes were discovered on Staten Island (pictured) and in the Bronx and authorities have begun to spray larvacide over marshlands and other areas with standing water Meanwhile cases around the country are spiking predominantly in states that reopened too soon. West Nile virus is a neuroinvasive disease that can cause mild or moderate febrile illness but 80 percent of cases as asymptomatic and people 50 years or older tend to be most at risk, as well as those with a weakened immune system. People with certain medical conditions, such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, and people who have received organ transplants, are also in the high risk category. At worst it can infect the brain and spinal cord and be fatal. Out of the 353 people who have contracted the virus 46 (13%) have died. Clear standing water, wear long sleeved clothing and wear an insect repellent to help avoid getting bitten this summer WEST NILE VIRUS SYMPTOMS MILD TO MODERATE Fever Headache Tiredness/weakness Body aches and joint pain Vomiting Diarrhea Rash SEVERE High fever Headache Neck stiffness Muscle weakness Tremors or shakes Confusion Numbness and paralysis Coma Advertisement On average three to 47 people get the virus each year in NYC and authorities have detected it in anywhere from 40 to 1,010 mosquitoes each year since 1999. While there are about 40 types of mosquito in New York, West Nile Virus tends to be carried in Culex salinarius and Culex pipiens species. Authorities have been installing mosquito monitoring traps in the city and there are currently 53 in place. The Health Department said it has already conducted larviciding from a helicopter over marsh areas in Staten Island, Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn. The plan is to apply larvidcide in catch basins, marshlands and other areas with standing water so they can kill larvae before the mosquitoes can bite. There is no treatment for West Nile Virus but generic medicine, like acetaminophen, can help relieve symptoms. The Health Department advises to contact a doctor if symptoms develop. 'New Yorkers can take a few simple steps to protect themselves this summer, including by wearing insect repellent or covering their arms and legs,' said Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. 'We also encourage everyone to remove any standing water that may harbor mosquitoes or call 311 for standing water they cannot manage themselves.' Authorities remind New Yorkers to keeps screens on windows or repair them if they are torn. Eliminate any standing water from your property, dispose of containers containing standing water and keep areas such as pools covered or empty when not in use. Approved insect repellents containing picaridin, DEET, oil of lemon eucalyptus (not for children under three), or the active ingredient IR3535. Paris Hilton rang in her niece's fourth birthday with a opulent Trolls-themed birthday on Monday. The 39-year-old socialite, who lit up the occasion in a ruffled rainbow dress with a plunging neckline, proved to be a doting aunt, as she documented every detail of Lily-Grace's party on Instagram. 'Celebrating my beautiful nieces birthday with my girls,' Paris captioned a snap of herself next to pals Allison Melnick and Caroline D'Amore, who held her young daughter Isabella. Party time: Paris Hilton rang in her niece's fourth birthday with a opulent Trolls-themed birthday on Monday Additionally, the hotel heiress snapped a picture with her younger sister Nicky, 36, who tenderly held hands with her mini-me. Nicky, who also shares a two-year-old daughter with husband James Rothschild, sported a chic, thigh-skimming dress and white trainers. On social media, the fashion designer posed with her eldest under a colorful array of balloons in the backyard and her blonde tresses in loose waves. Cute! The mother-of-two expertly photographed her little one from behind, next to a friend, who was also wearing a Trolls-themed headband, which was wrapped with bright pink tulle to resemble the hairstyle of the film's lead character Adorable: The 39-year-old socialite, who lit up the occasion in a ruffled rainbow dress with a plunging neckline, proved to be a doting aunt, as she documented every detail of the preschooler's party on Instagram The mother-of-two expertly photographed her little one from behind, next to a friend, who was also wearing a Trolls-themed headband, which was wrapped with bright pink tulle to resemble the hairstyle of the film's lead character. Her aunt, Kyle Richards, who has starred on ten seasons of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, gushed that the event looked 'amazing' in Nicky's comment section. Among the over-the-top decorations was an incredible array of desserts from Dip'd N Drip'd and a massive Poppy-inspired Trolls cake, made by Hansen's Cakes Bakery. 'Celebrating my beautiful nieces birthday with my girls,' Paris captioned a snap of herself next to pals Allison Melnick and Caroline D'Amore, who held her daughter Isabella High praise: Her aunt Kyle Richards, who has starred on ten seasons of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, gushed that the event looked 'amazing' in Nicky's comment section Happy: Paris made sure to credit and thank the event's photographer, Arbo Shah, who she applauded for 'capturing all the beautiful memories' for the Hilton family to 'cherish' forever 'Thank you to @nickyhilton for trusting me to get as creative as I wanted with this theme! I had a blast with it!' Dip'd N Drip'd wrote on Instagram with several close-up pictures of the customized 'arylic cake pops and cakesicles.' Paris also made sure to credit and thank the event's photographer, Arbo Shah, who she applauded for 'capturing all the beautiful memories' for the Hilton family to 'cherish' forever. The birthday festivities come just one month after Paris talked about recently reuniting with her sister during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in the Hamptons. Unforgettable: Among the over-the-top decorations was an incredible array of desserts from Dip'd N Drip'd and a massive Poppy-inspired Trolls cake, made by Hansen's Cakes Bakery At the time, Paris shared a series of photos of herself on the lush grounds with Nicky, her sister-in-law Tessa Hilton and her three nieces. In one group shot, Paris stood in between Nicky and Tessa as each of the moms snuggled up with their respective children. Seemingly overjoyed with her role as an aunt, Paris also shared a couple of adorable snaps of herself holding hands with Nicky's two little blonde girls, who were equally cute in their respective white and red-patterned dresses. With drastic increases in cases of COVID-19 across Northeast Tennessee, Ballad Health officials warned Friday the pandemic could worsen quickly. More than 760 new cases of the virus have been reported across 10 Northeast Tennessee counties during the past two weeks a 53.7% increase in total cases according to the Tennessee Department of Health. Both Sullivan and Washington counties each registered more than 110 new cases during the past two weeks while Hamblen County continues to be this regions hot spot with 277 cases over the same period. Cases are also increasing across Southwest Virginia, but at much slower rates. Were really on the brink, in this area, of the pandemic becoming much worse, Jamie Swift, Ballads corporate director of infection prevention, said during a news briefing. We need for our communities to see what is happening and to partner with us. We are certainly starting to see this disease spread. It is spreading rapidly, and its spreading in various groups. Its no longer clusters, its no longer certain groups we can identify and limit that. We are seeing lots of community spread, various avenues; various groups. There is COVID anywhere you go, at this point. On Friday, Ballad was treating 29 COVID-positive patients in its hospitals the most since the pandemic began and those numbers are increasing daily, she said. Everyone is at risk. I just want to remind you this is a novel virus. We certainly do not know how its going to affect every single individual. Were seeing a vast array of symptoms so please do not get comfortable in the fact youre young and healthy. Eric Deaton, Ballads chief operating officer, said COVID-positive patients currently range from pediatric to elderly, with the average age about 60. About a dozen are being treated in intensive care units. Our COVID-19 inpatients are doubling about every week, Deaton said. If this continues to spread at the rate it is today, well have well over 100 patients with COVID-19 across our system. That would stress the system greatly. Ballad forecasts between 5% and 10% of area cases will require hospitalization. The ICU at Johnson City Medical Center is currently at capacity, but the system has additional capacity and plans to create more if needed, according to Dr. Clay Runnels. Ballad presently has about 125 beds dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients. If cases continue to rise, Ballad may take steps to increase capacity by again stopping elective surgeries and procedures, Deaton said, plus possibly limiting public visitation to its facilities. Patients contracted the disease through travel, in large and small business settings, from large gatherings, churches, among athletes and a fairly large spread among restaurant workers, Deaton said. As our numbers continue to climb, well have more and more hospitalizations in the future, Deaton said. This data is very real, and its very alarming. We need everyone, regardless of how you feel about this whether you support it or not its really important you wear a mask and you physically social distance and youre very vigilant about washing your hands and using hand sanitizer appropriately. Ignoring whats happening and acting like youre not going to be impacted is not going to make it go away; its only going to make it worse. Harvard issues risk rankings Tennessee currently ranks 10th among U.S. states for risk of contracting COVID-19, according to the Harvard Global Health Institute. Tennessee has a seven-day rolling average of 21.9 new cases per 100,000 people. Arizona has the nations highest risk at 48.1 cases per 100,000, followed by Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas. Virginia ranks 28th with an average of seven new cases per 100,000. In Tennessee, Hamblen County ranks fourth out of 95 counties with an average of 29.5 new cases per 100,000. Nearby tourist destination Sevier County ranks among the top five at 29.1. Most Northeast counties, including Washington, 7, and Sullivan, 6.1, presently rank well down the state. Vanderbilt tracking transmission rate A July 6 memo from the Vanderbilt University Department of Health Policy shows Tennessees average virus transmission rate the number of uninfected people who catch the virus from someone who is infected is between 1.15 to 1.3. An average of well below 1.0 for an extended period of time is needed to suppress an epidemic, according to the memo. The most recent Vanderbilt model assumes 95% of cases are mild enough to avoid hospitalization and 0.7% of infected cases result in death. At that time, the statewide transmission average was 1.13, which forecast 1,000 concurrent statewide hospitalizations in late July or early August. Should the transmission number rise to 1.25, the 1,000-hospitalization threshold would be reached earlier in mid-July, according to the document. Only in a scenario where the transmission number is reduced to 1.0 or below would the state avoid 1,000 hospitalizations in 2020. Southwest Virginia cases also rising The 10 counties and two cities of Southwest Virginia experienced a 25.3% increase in cases over the past two weeks with 86 cases reported. Bristol, Virginia reported six cases during the period, Washington County, 13 cases, and Smyth County, 10. We still are seeing regular increases in cases across our district, according to Breanne Forbes Hubbard, population health manager of the Mount Rogers Health District. We hope that our communities are continuing to take good protective measures for themselves and their neighbors social distancing, wearing face coverings, avoiding crowded places, hand washing and staying home while sick. We know that these steps are helping us stay as safe as we can be. The only hot spot in Southwest Virginia is in Galax and Carroll County, at the eastern end of the Mount Rogers service area, with more than 500 combined cases. Galax has 63 cases per 100,000 the highest risk average in Virginia while Carroll Countys is 10.1, according to Harvard. In the Twin County area, cases started in a few large families that had social gatherings and those who became ill worked in several different industries. From there, cases have spread throughout the community, Forbes Hubbard wrote in an email. Galax has the highest rate of cases per 100,000 in the entire Commonwealth. It is really important for residents of the rest of Southwest Virginia to understand that COVID-19 can spread quickly and easily through large groups of contacts and that the only things preventing the rest of the region from high numbers of cases like what the Twin County area has been experiencing are social distancing, face masks, avoiding crowds, hand washing and staying home when sick. Other cities and counties in far Southwest Virginia rank well below the state average on the Harvard risk map, ranging from Nortons 0, Scott Countys 0.7 and Bristols 0.9 rolling seven-day average to Lee Countys 3 and Wythe Countys 3.5 active cases per 100,000 average. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Coronavirus precautions have vastly changed workplaces for both dairy farmers and their employees, an important part of the nations critical infrastructure. Farmers are proactively implementing workforce best practices during the pandemic and learning lessons from other sectors. Meanwhile, evolving government guidance is informing dairy industry decisions. Although much remains unknown about COVID-19 and its effects, protecting dairy employees remains essential. Dairys action steps Dairy farmers nationwide are taking the initiative to protect workers, with producers adjusting their operations and developing protocols to mitigate risk and prevent and control the spread of coronavirus. Among the changes: Farmers are ensuring access to personal protective equipment (PPE) and engaging in practices to keep workers safely distanced from others by enacting social distancing policies and eliminating nonessential farm visits while making changes to break rooms, employer-provided housing, and shared transportation. Managers are training employees in coronavirus precautionary protocols, promoting virus-killing hygiene, increasing sanitation practices and procedures, and regularly updating posted notices and information around the farm to keep materials current and employees informed. Some producers are maintaining regular, socially distant communication to provide updates to their workforce through group chats and virtual meetings, staggering breaks, and even coordinating grocery deliveries to reduce the risk of coronavirus exposure. As seen in other sectors that have dealt with well-publicized outbreaks, early detection and open communication are crucial to managing an outbreak. Management thats unapproachable and inconsistent in responding to employees who test positive or are exposed to COVID-19 may jeopardize the health of employees, their families, and the community. Dairy farmers who have not already done so need to craft action plans that integrate government guidance and industry best practices for both preventing coronavirus on their farm and for managing a case, should one arise. Resources to help The Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are providing information to employers on how to protect employee health as they navigate COVID-19. Recent guidance specific to agriculture includes FDAs Use of Respirators, Facemasks, and Cloth Face Coverings in the Food and Agriculture Sector During Coronavirus Disease Pandemic and CDCs Interim Guidance for Agriculture Workers and Employers and Agricultural Employer Checklist for Creating a COVID-19 Assessment and Control Plan. The National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) also has created several resources, including a Dairy Farmer Handbook on Coronavirus Prevention and Management (available in Spanish) and Recommended Protocols for Dairy Farms When an Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19, to help dairy farmers design action plans tailored specifically to their operations. The documents combine government guidance with dairy expertise, helping farmers craft effective plans. More COVID-19 resources for dairy can be found on NMPFs coronavirus resource page. Americans have been upended since March, with more challenges expected in the months ahead. Uncertainty will continue to revolve around COVID-19 for the rest of the year. But regardless of how guidance may evolve, the dairy sector will continue to respond proactively to protect its workforce. That has not, and will not, change. To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com. (c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2020 July 13, 2020 Liaison office of China's central gov't in HKSAR condemns opposition camp for damaging fairness of LegCo election HONG KONG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Monday strongly condemned the opposition camp for holding illegal "primaries" and damaging fairness of the upcoming Legislative Council (LegCo) election. The office also said foreign interference in Hong Kong's political affairs will never be allowed. A spokesperson of the office expressed firm support for the HKSAR government to investigate illegal acts in the so-called "primaries" and safeguard a fair LegCo election in a statement. The LegCo election due in September has strict legal procedures and a fair election concerns the well-being of the Hong Kong society and residents, the spokesperson said. The so-called "primaries" organized by some opposition figures, who were backed by external forces, seriously challenged the existing election system and jeopardized the fairness of the election, the spokesperson said, adding that personal information of many residents were collected, which is suspected of violating the law on privacy. The spokesperson said Benny Tai Yiu-ting, a major coordinator of the "primaries," is suspected of violating the law. Tai and his accomplices and the opposition camp attempted to seize the governance power of Hong Kong and wage a Hong Kong version of "color revolution," the spokesperson said. Some even claimed that their goal is to control the LegCo, veto the budget of the HKSAR government, paralyze the government, destroy Hong Kong and subvert the state, which is suspected of breaching the national security law and Hong Kong's election law, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson expressed strong condemnation and noted Tai is still on bail pending appeal after being sentenced to 16 months of imprisonment for his involvement in the 2014 illegal "Occupy Central" movement. The spokesperson hoped the upcoming LegCo election will be held in a fair and orderly manner and stressed that the so-called "primaries" go against the will of Hong Kong residents to have a fair election. Anyone who colluded with external forces to oppose the country, harm "one country, two systems," and separate Hong Kong from the motherland is doomed to fail, the spokesperson said. Taliban Attack on Afghan Spy Agency's Office Kills 11 By Ayaz Gul July 13, 2020 Officials in Afghanistan say a Taliban suicide assault on a provincial headquarters of the Afghan spy agency has killed at least 11 people and injured 63 others. The insurgent raid in Aybak, the capital city of northern Samangan province, comes amid a string of Taliban attacks in the last week that killed a number of Afghan forces, posing fresh challenges to U.S.-led peacemaking efforts. Provincial governor Abdul Latif Ibrahimi told VOA that civilians, including women, were among the victims of Monday's attack on the National Directorate of Security (NDS). The Taliban confirmed three of its fighters carried out the "martyrdom" attack, saying they killed dozens of NDS personnel and injured many more. The insurgent group's claims are often inflated. Officials in Samangan said the attack began with a suicide bomber detonating an explosives-packed car at the main entrance, enabling other attackers to storm the NDS compound and engage Afghan forces in an hours-long gunfight. The attack inside the major Afghan urban center comes after the United States signed a peace-building agreement with the Taliban in February to end nearly two decades of war in Afghanistan. The deal binds the insurgents not to attack American and coalition forces in the country. U.S. officials have also noted repeatedly that the Taliban has pledged to reduce battlefield violence and stop bomb attacks inside Afghan cities. "Today's attack on an intelligence nest in Samangan province carries a message to those who do not understand the language of diplomacy," the Taliban said in a statement published on its official website. The group went on to justify the violence, saying the Taliban must resort to such actions to punish NDS operatives for inflicting injustices on Afghans. The insurgent warning was apparently also directed at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government, which is calling on the Taliban to cease hostilities ahead of proposed intra-Afghan peace negotiations. The intensified violence and a disputed prisoner swap between the Taliban and the government have stalled efforts aimed at pushing the warring sides to the table to negotiate a permanent cease-fire and power-sharing deal before U.S.-led foreign troops withdraw from the country by mid 2021 under the agreement. The U.S.-Taliban deal calls for Afghan rivals to open peace negotiations immediately after concluding the prisoner exchange process, with Kabul releasing up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for 1,000 Afghan security personnel held by the insurgents. Afghan officials say they have so far released around 4,200 inmates while the Taliban says it has set free fewer than 800 government detainees. The Kabul government, however, has refused to free several hundred of the remaining prisoners, saying they have been convicted of serious crimes such as drug trafficking, abducting citizens, sexual assault, stoning of women, and assassinations. "However, we have given the Taliban the choice to submit to us another 592 names for consideration for release," Javid Faisal, a spokesman for Afghanistan's National Security Council, said in a statement he tweeted last week. The Taliban on Sunday rejected as "illogical" calls for the insurgents to stop the fighting before the negotiations, and insisted it would only accept those prisoners who are listed in a document the group shared with American interlocutors. "It is of utmost importance that those prisoners who are to be released, must be in accordance with the list of the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) as decided upon in Doha," said Suhail Shaheen, who speaks for the Taliban's political office in the capital of Qatar, where the U.S.-Taliban deal was inked. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Following a coronavirus outbreak in southwest Sydney, a top doctor from the Northern Territory is calling for the entire state of NSW to be declared a coronavirus hotspot. On Tuesday, Queensland declared two south-west Sydney council regions hotspots, meaning the state will restrict visitors from those areas, however, Australian Medical Association NT branch president Dr Robert Parker doesnt think that is enough. NT Health Minister Natasha Fyles said an announcement is expected tomorrow whether or not borders will reopen to NSW residents, adding authorities are monitoring the situation in NSW. "We are watching the case numbers there as well as the transmission," Ms Fyles told reporters on Tuesday. "We want to make sure that we put the lives of Territorians first." Australian Medical Association NT branch president Dr Robert Parker says the territory should not reopens its border to NSW travellers amid the outbreak in southwest. Sydney. Source: AAP Speaking to the ABC, Dr Parker said all of NSW should be declared a hotspot, just like the NT government has with Victoria. The NT is expected to lift most border restrictions on Friday, dropping the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for anyone travelling to the region. However, the requirement to self-isolate for two weeks will remain in force for anyone coming from a designated hotspot. Dr Parker says the NT should hold off on welcoming NSW visitors for another week to evaluate the threat of coronavirus spreading in the territory. It's far safer just to delay NSW for a further week, he said, according to the ABC. Sure, open up to South Australia, Western Australia, whatever delay NSW for a further week, just to see what the effect of this particular location is and how far and wide the virus spreads rather than having a fairly confident response. Victoria no doubt caused NSW outbreak, says Premier There are now 30 coronavirus cases linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster in southwest Sydney 14 of which had been at the pub. On Tuesday evening, NSW Health said in a statement two additional cases linked to the hotel have been identified. Both men, aged in their 20s, came forward for testing after it was established a case from the Crossroads Hotel visited a gym in Casula. Story continues NSW Health urges anyone who visited the Planet Fitness gym in Casula between July 4 and 10 to immediately self-isolate and come forward for testing following the confirmation on Tuesday. Today, NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian conceded Victoria's coronavirus outbreak has "no doubt" impacted the state. The Northern Territory will consider not opening its borders to NSW, following the outbreak in southwest Sydney. Source: AAP While the source of the outbreak linked to the Crossroads Hotel is yet to be identified, the investigation demonstrates there is "no doubt" the Victorian outbreak has affected NSW, Ms Berejiklian said. "It's highly likely that given the evolving situation in Victoria that NSW was exposed to underlying community transmission from that state," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday. Ms Berejiklian was asked if she would consider locking down the suburbs near the Casula pub after the Queensland government declared Sydney's Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas as COVID-19 hotspots. The NSW premier said the measure wasn't being considered "at this stage". NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at this stage the state was not considering putting the area where the outbreak is under lockdown! Source: AAP Residents of Liverpool and Campbelltown will be barred from entering Queensland, while Queensland-based visitors will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine once they return home. The outbreak at the pub resulted in NSW tightening restrictions at pubs, with patrons only allowed to book in for a group of ten and venues restricted to less than 300 people. - 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. An independent journalist writing about alleged links between Facebook, a local fact-checking organisation, and far-right groups has been forced to flee Kiev after receiving death threats. Ekaterina Sergatskova, 32, a Russian-born, Ukrainian nationalised citizen, is editor of the well-regarded Zaborona publication, which focuses on matters often ignored by Ukrainian media, including nationalism and the far right. On 3 July, Ms Sergatskova co-authored an investigation alleging links between neo-nazi groups and StopFake, a Ukrainian NGO working as a Facebook fact-checking partner. The report detailed several instances of one of the NGOs public faces appearing alongside musicians from Holocaust-denying, white power bands. It suggested the alleged links could have served as a reason for Facebook removing an earlier Zaborona article about far-right activist Denis Nikitin. StopFake responded to the allegations with a statement saying it was never authorised to block materials, and rejected the associations as a pro-Russian conspiracy. The article also brought an immediate reaction from the hard right both publicly on social media and privately, in messages sent to the journalist. On Saturday, Roman Skrypin, a popular, nationalist-leaning journalist, dramatically upped stakes by publishing pictures of Ms Sergatskova and her five-year-old son, together with photographs of what he believed to be her home. He accused the journalist of being an agent of the Kremlin, a description friends of the journalist dismiss as absurd. Recommended Journalist killed in car bomb attack in Ukraine In comments responding to Mr Skrypins Facebook post, users threatened all kinds of retribution, and published details of her supposed address. The original Facebook post and comments by far-right figures have been deleted following multiple complaints. But additional offensive posts by the same journalist remain untouched. You block one post, Mr Skyrpin wrote, and Ill write 10 more. Ms Sergatskova left the Ukrainian capital with her family on Monday evening, citing fears for her life. Those fears are not inconsistent with a history of extreme violence from Ukraines far-right fringe, and concerns about links between neo-nazi groups and law enforcement. In 2015, Oles Buzyna, a pro-Russian journalist and writer was murdered a day after his address was leaked, along with that of hundreds of other journalists, by Myrotvorets, a website that has been linked to the Ukrainian interior ministry. A year later, journalist Pavel Sheremet was assassinated in his car in central Kiev. An official investigation has so far failed to produce convincing suspects, though another investigation conducted by his colleagues implied the security services may have known something about it. Ms Sergatskova told The Independent she has reported the threats to police, but does not expect real protection. We dont feel safe and the bureaucrats are silent, she said. How can you feel secure knowing just how closely the far right are connected to the police and security services? Anton Shekhovtsov, an external lecturer at the University of Vienna, and expert on far-right movements in eastern Europe, agreed the Ukrainian state was not systemically pushing back against nationalist movements. But it was sometimes difficult to disentangle active participation in an organisation from infiltration, he said. Its not always clear the government is doing something, but they do infiltrate and they do take some of the more extreme organisations down, he said. The Ukrainian far right was also a varied group: The groups that the Interior Ministry is involved with are not the same as the groups like C14 mentioned in the Zaborona piece. C14, a far-right organisation included in the Israeli and American anti-terrorist bases, has been suspected of several serious crimes, including violence against the Roma community and murder of Oles Buzyna. Zaborona suggested the StopFake fact-checking NGO had links to the group via Marko Suprun, a regular presenter on its YouTube channel. Mr Suprun, the Canadian husband of Ukraines former health minister, was shown sharing platforms with former C14 members and other far-right figures, including one convicted of a racially-motivated murder. Yevhen Fedchenko, director of StopFake and the journalism school at Kievs Mohyla Academy, has also previously tweeted in defence of C14. Speaking with The Independent, Mr Fedchenko said he had no official comment to make, given that he intended to take the case to court. That will be the place for clarification, he said. These are serious allegations. The Supreme Court Tuesday said it may consider appointing a committee headed by a former judge to inquire into the encounters of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates as well as the killing of eight policemen in Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh government told a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde that it would file a status report by July 16 detailing the steps taken by the authority on the matter. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor Music television is returning to Sunday nights on ABC with a new series, The Sound, from Mushroom. The one hour show, which starts at 5:30pm this Sunday, profiles musicians and songwriters, and features exclusive pre-recorded live performances, collaborations and artist interviews. Hosting is Jane Gazzo (ex-triple j, Recovery, The State Of Music) with Double J Mornings host Zan Rowe presenting music news. Special guests each week will also take on co-hosting responsibilities -starting with Bryan Brown. The Sound is produced by Saul Shtein, former Head of Sport at Seven, and the man who first bought MTV to Australia. Michael Gudinski from Mushroom Vision says, Im incredibly excited to realise my dream to see a music show featuring contemporary Australian music in a prime spot on free-to-air television. The Sound will feature artists from all walks of our incredible local industry, with more than two thirds of each episode focused on showcasing new songs. Im thrilled that ABC, the home of iconic programs like Countdown, Recovery and rage, have partnered with us to support local music in such difficult times. ABC Head of Music Chris Scaddan says, As COVID-19 restrictions continue and the Australian music industry works to get back on its feet, were very happy to be working alongside the passionate team at Mushroom Vision on The Sound. Australian music needs to be heard and Australian artists have never stepped back from their creativity. The Sound enhances the ABCs unrivalled support for Australian music in 2020, via our radio networks, video segments, TV programs, live concert streams and digital content. If music be the food of love then no better place to dish it out than on our ABC Bryan Brown This is a fantastic idea, I love that The Sound is getting the Countdown timeslot Its going to continue that history Countdown had of supporting Australian talent, which is something Ive always been passionate about. I support this show all the way, and its great to see it get the support of the ABC too. Molly Meldrum ABC TV has a proud history of exposing local talent and its great to see them stepping up again at a time when live Australian music really needs some extra support. Jimmy Barnes At last! A new music show on national tele. Long have we waited for this. It will be a game changer and a much needed platform to get Australian music back into homes across the country once again! Mark Seymour Its only when you start travelling outside of Australia that you realise how incredible the quality of Australian music is. The world is starting to clock on. We have a wealth of good music and some Australians dont even know it. We need more all over free-to-air TV, because our quality musicians need to be heard. Lime Cordiale For over 50 years the ABC has been showcasing Australian music and artists on the small screen. The Sound will continue a music TV tradition started by ABC programs such as GTK in the 60s, through Countdown in the 70s and 80s, Recovery in the 90s and most recently The Set. The new series, licensed to air on our much-loved national broadcaster, is filmed and created by Mushroom Vision, the same team who brought viewers the TV ratings hit Music From The Home Front (watched by 1.4 million people on Anzac Day) and livestream The State Of Music (two million+ audience). Each week The Sound will feature segments From The Vault (a curated historical clip); Tribute (artists collaborating on iconic Aussie tracks) and Introducing (where Australias next hottest talent is showcased). Episode One boasts a stellar line-up including a few big names: As the world awaits the global live streaming event of IDIOT PRAYER: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Place on July 23, The Sound viewers will be treated to an exclusive preview performance by the great man himself. Caves performance was filmed by award-winning cinematographer Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, Marriage Story, American Honey) in Alexandra Palaces stunning West Hall, and edited by Nick Emerson (Lady Macbeth, Emma) Sydney trio DMAS smashed it in the UK and just released their huge third album, THE GLOW selling out 18 Sydney shows last week, and announcing four in Brisbane! Hunters & Collectors frontman and all round legend Mark Seymour & The Undertow, celebrating their latest release, Slow Dawn Aussie favourites Kate Ceberano, Steve Kilbey & Sean Sennett will serve up a slice of their recently released album The Dangerous Age Sydney brothers Lime Cordiale, who also just dropped a new album in 14 Steps To A Better You Perth trio Eskimo Joe are back with their first song in seven years, Say Something Breakout New Zealand indie pop phenomenon BENEE is behind the excellent Supalonely and scored four tracks in this years Hottest 100 + 1.7 billion streams! Talented writer Jerome Farah will be The Sound s first Introducing artist, performing his politically-charged debut single I Cant Breathe 5.30pm Sunday July 19 (repeat Saturday 12.30pm) on ABC. Bryan Medical Center CEO John Woodrich said Tuesday that the hospital system had nine hospitalized COVID-19 patients, eight of whom are from Lancaster County. That was up from only five, three of whom were from Lancaster County, on Monday. Only one is on a ventilator, Woodrich said, and that person is the only one in intensive care. Woodrich said Bryan is seeing more testing demand, although he said it has not maxed out its available testing slots at its drive-thru site, and people still generally can get an appointment the same day. He added that Bryan also has seen the wait time for results come back down to an average of three to four days after it rose to a week or more. "There are spaces available if (people) feel they need to get tested," he said. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services reported an increase of 318 cases statewide Tuesday, the highest one-day growth since late May, bringing the state's total to 21,717, in addition to 286 deaths, two less than were reported Monday. The state also reports 16,205 recoveries. Photos: Lincoln under the pandemic Concerned about COVID-19? Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Sofia Saric News intern Summer news intern Sofia Saric is a Los Angeles native studying journalism at Boston University and has previously written stories for the Boston Globe, the Brookline TAB, the Daily Free Press and Spindle. Follow Sofia Saric 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 (Oslo, Norway, 14 July 2020) StrongPoint ASA (StrongPoint, OSE: STRONG) reported revenues of NOK 287.9 million in the second quarter of 2020, up from NOK 287.1 million in the same quarter in 2019. The EBITDA improved to NOK 25.6 million (22.1). StrongPoints Retail Technology business area continued a strong performance in the quarter despite volume effects, primarily in Spain and the Baltics, from the COVID-19-situation. "This second quarter and most of this first half of 2020 has obviously been turbulent. Whilst our primary objective has been safeguarding employees, customers and business partners, we have in parallel done our upmost to deliver our business critical products and services to our customers. Focusing on serving the resilient grocery retail market, we have both mobilized our work force and served our customers in ways I am proud of. We are stronger positioned than ever to deliver true value to our customers and achieving our 2025 strategic ambitions", says Jacob Tveraabak, Chief Executive Officer of StrongPoint. StrongPoint reported revenues of NOK 287.9 million (287.1) in the second quarter of 2020 and an EBITDA of 25.6 million (22.1). Retail Technology delivered a growth of two per cent compared to same quarter last year, Labels delivered a growth of 21 per cent, and the volatile Cash Security business were highly influenced by the COVID-19 measures and declined by 43 per cent. Reported operating profit was NOK 13.4 million, up from NOK 8.3 million in the corresponding quarter in 2019, while the cash flow from operating activities ended at NOK -11.0 million (46.5). The company had disposable funds of NOK 97.5 million at the end of the quarter to cover short-term changes in working capital. "In this choppy quarter, we have had some parts of the business coming to an almost complete stand-still at times, like our Retail Technology operations in Spain and Cash Security. At the same time, we have experienced a very high demand for our e-commerce logistics solutions, growing more than 70 % vs. same quarter last year, and constituting 10 % of total revenue this quarter, up from 5 % in the full year 2019. Also, our adhesive labels business grew by more than 20 % growth vs. same quarter last year. The demand for our in-store solutions and services has mostly been maintained. In total we have managed to uphold our top line and improve our profitability this quarter. Our operating cash flow is reduced compared to same quarter last year, however our balance sheet and finances have remained solid throughout the entire period.," Tveraabak continues. Story continues In a strategy update session in the first quarter of 2020, StrongPoint outlined the strategy and ambitions for the company towards 2025. As a foundation for creating shareholder value, the growth strategy is based on profitable and organic growth, cost control and a solid balance sheet, targeting revenues of NOK 2.5 billion and EBITDA margins of 13-15% in 2025. "The COVID-19 pandemic has marked a shift in shopping behavior, with e-commerce and precautionary in-store solutions booming, both now during the pandemic, but also likely creating lasting customer behavior changes. StrongPoint is very well positioned with its world-class solutions for the grocery retail sector in general. Combined with a very strong customer base, relationships and partners in defined key countries, we have the right starting point for further deepening our service with these customers. With this backdrop I truly believe we have all the reasons to be optimistic about the future as StrongPointers," Tveraabak concludes. StrongPoint ASA will present the financial results for the second quarter and first half 2020 at 08:15 CET Tuesday 14 July 2020. The presentation will be streamed live and can be followed at the company website. EBITDA and other alternative performance measures (APMs) are defined and reconciled to the IFRS financial statements on page 22 in the attached quarterly report. For additional information please contact: Jacob Tveraabak CEO, StrongPoint ASA Phone +47 90 82 13 70 Hilde Horn Gilen CFO, StrongPoint ASA Phone +47 920 60 158 About StrongPoint | www.strongpoint.com StrongPoint is driving productivity for European retailers by providing innovative, integrated technology solutions for multi-channel retailing based on long-standing relationships with customers and partners. StrongPoint is also a leader in IBNS solutions for Cash-In-Transit (Cash Security), and Labels for customers in Norway and Sweden. StrongPoint offers best-in-class service and consultancy expertise through its team of 512 employees in Norway, Sweden, the Baltics, France, Belgium, Spain and Russia. StrongPoint is headquartered in Rlingen, Norway, and listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (ticker: STRONG). This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. Attachments Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! This article will reflect on the compensation paid to Dorian Gonsalves who has served as CEO of Belvoir Group PLC (LON:BLV) since 2010. This analysis will also look to assess whether the CEO is appropriately paid, considering recent earnings growth and investor returns for Belvoir Group. View our latest analysis for Belvoir Group Comparing Belvoir Group PLC's CEO Compensation With the industry According to our data, Belvoir Group PLC has a market capitalization of UK43m, and paid its CEO total annual compensation worth UK321k over the year to December 2019. That's a fairly small increase of 6.3% over the previous year. In particular, the salary of UK188.0k, makes up a huge portion of the total compensation being paid to the CEO. On comparing similar-sized companies in the industry with market capitalizations below UK159m, we found that the median total CEO compensation was UK209k. Accordingly, our analysis reveals that Belvoir Group PLC pays Dorian Gonsalves north of the industry median. What's more, Dorian Gonsalves holds UK592k worth of shares in the company in their own name. Component 2019 2018 Proportion (2019) Salary UK188k UK183k 59% Other UK133k UK119k 41% Total Compensation UK321k UK302k 100% Talking in terms of the industry, salary represented approximately 54% of total compensation out of all the companies we analyzed, while other remuneration made up 46% of the pie. Although there is a difference in how total compensation is set, Belvoir Group more or less reflects the market in terms of setting the salary. If salary dominates total compensation, it suggests that CEO compensation is leaning less towards the variable component, which is usually linked with performance. A Look at Belvoir Group PLC's Growth Numbers Belvoir Group PLC's earnings per share (EPS) grew 33% per year over the last three years. In the last year, its revenue is up 43%. Story continues This demonstrates that the company has been improving recently and is good news for the shareholders. It's great to see that revenue growth is strong, too. These metrics suggest the business is growing strongly. Moving away from current form for a second, it could be important to check this free visual depiction of what analysts expect for the future. Has Belvoir Group PLC Been A Good Investment? Belvoir Group PLC has generated a total shareholder return of 33% over three years, so most shareholders would be reasonably content. But they probably wouldn't be so happy as to think the CEO should be paid more than is normal, for companies around this size. In Summary... As previously discussed, Dorian is compensated more than what is normal for CEOs of companies of similar size, and which belong to the same industry. However, the earnings per share growth over three years is certainly impressive. We also note that, over the same time frame, shareholder returns haven't been bad. So, considering the EPS growth we do not wish to criticize CEO compensation, though we'd recommend further research on management. While CEO pay is an important factor to be aware of, there are other areas that investors should be mindful of as well. That's why we did some digging and identified 2 warning signs for Belvoir Group that investors should think about before committing capital to this stock. Switching gears from Belvoir Group, if you're hunting for a pristine balance sheet and premium returns, this free list of high return, low debt companies is a great place to look. 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. SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the North American small and mid-sized business (SMB) mobile worker apps market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Zendesk with the 2020 North American Product Leadership Award for its Sell sales force automation (SFA) solution. The solution stands out for its ease of use, affordable pricing, creative bundling, ongoing support, and emphasis on the customer experience. "Zendesk Sell is tailored to the needs of SMBs and offers a tiered selection of capabilities. Unlike legacy sales management tools, it supports an omnichannel strategy; provides an easy-to-use, mobile-first experience; and prioritizes integration with both internal company systems and external services," said Jeanine Sterling, Frost & Sullivan Industry Director. "Significantly, Zendesk is able to leverage the product usage data from over 40,000 Zendesk customers and combine it with information from its Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report for well-rounded insights regarding customer needs." Zendesk Sell is available as a standalone offering and as a part of a competitively priced bundle called the Sales Suite. This bundle includes the Zendesk Sell, Chat, Reach, and Voice, which are core tools used by sales representatives to prospect, communicate, and sell. Zendesk Sell is available in a cloud-based as-a-service format, and its subscription pricing model makes it affordable to smaller businesses and allows customers to scale the solution easily. The company is looking to make the most of its rising brand awareness with creative go-to-market strategies that target existing Zendesk users that need SFA software and value the integration of Sell with other Zendesk products and that target new prospects that are searching for SFA software that is powerful yet easy to use and affordable. These two strategies can potentially tap customer segments that are new to SFA and either seeking to upgrade to a more advanced SFA or replace a legacy or homegrown product. "The SMB mobile worker applications sector is expected to continue growing, and mobilized SFA solutions, such as Sell, will be key contributors to this trend. The company also continues to forge technology and reseller partnerships, thereby building an ecosystem of apps and alternate channels that open up new global markets," noted Sterling. "As Zendesk expands into the enterprise sector, its Sell offering and tiered plans will continue to offer SMBs flexibility, scalability, integrations, and the capabilities that smaller businesses need to succeed." Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed a product with innovative features and functionality that is gaining rapid market acceptance. The award recognizes the quality of the solution and the customer value enhancements it enables. Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analyses, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry. About Frost & Sullivan For over five decades, Frost & Sullivan has become world-renowned for its role in helping investors, corporate leaders, and governments navigate economic changes and identify disruptive technologies, Mega Trends, new business models, and companies to action, resulting in a continuous flow of growth opportunities to drive future success. Contact us: Start the discussion . Contact: Kristen Moore P: 210.247.3823 E: [email protected] About Zendesk Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds support, sales, and customer engagement software designed to foster better customer relationships. From large enterprises to startups, we believe that powerful, innovative customer experiences should be within reach for every company, no matter the size, industry or ambition. Zendesk serves more than 150,000 customers across hundreds of industries in over 30 languages. Zendesk is headquartered in San Francisco, and operates offices worldwide. Learn more at www.zendesk.com. Contact: Courtney Blake P: 888-670-4887 E: [email protected] SOURCE Frost & Sullivan Related Links www.frost.com A 15-year-old girl from Michigan is currently in a juvenile detention facility for failing to complete her homework amid the coronavirus pandemic. The teen, who is referred to as 'Grace' in a ProPublica article published about the incident, was sent to the Children's Village detention center in Detroit on May 14 after a judge declared that the youngster's failure to complete school work had violated the terms of her parole. Last year, Grace was charged with stealing another student's cellphone and assaulting her own mother during a row. Grace's mother, referred to by the pseudonym 'Charissa' in the ProPublica article, told the publication that her daughter immediately expressed remorse over her actions. A 15-year-old girl from Michigan is currently inside the Children's Village detention center after she failed to complete her homework and violated the terms of her parole Charissa explained that Grace suffers from ADHD, and that the pair had begun family therapy after the assault. During sentencing in April, Grace tearfully begged judge Mary Ellen Brennan not to send her to a juvenile detention facility. 'My mom and I do get into a lot of arguments, but with each one I learn something and try to analyze why it happened,' the teen sobbed. 'My mom and I are working each day to better ourselves and our relationship, and I think that the removal from my home would be an intrusion on our progress.' Judge Brennan instead sentenced her to strict probation that included the completion of all schoolwork. However, with schools ordered closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Grace's routine was upended, and her caseworker, Rachel Giroux, soon became concerned that classwork was not being done. Judge Mary Ellen Brennan initially sentenced Grace to probation after the teen begged her not to send her away In an email penned to Giroux, Grace's teacher wrote: 'Let me be clear that this is no one's fault because we did not see this unprecedented global pandemic coming. 'Grave has a strong desire to do well... [and] is trying to get to the other side of a steep learning curve mountain and we have a plan for her to get there'. However, Grace failed to complete all schoolwork in the subsequent weeks, prompting Grioux to file a violation of probation. 'She clearly doesn't want to abide by the rules in the community,' Giroux wrote. On May 14, Judge Brennan ordered Grace to Children's Village. She claimed the sentence was not intended to be a punishment, but would rather be an opportunity for the teen to get treatment and services. However, Grace was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs and ankle shackles. Charisse said watching her daughter being taken away was particularly traumatic given that they are both black. Charisse shared this heartbreaking letter penned by Grace with ProPublica 'For us and our culture, that for me was the knife stuck in my stomach and turning,' Charisse told ProPublica. 'That is our history, being shackled. And she didn't deserve that.' Charisse shared a heartbreaking letter handwritten by Grace inside the detention center. 'I want to change. I want to be a better person. Here I've realized how much you care and love me. I'm sorry I took that for granted. Please continue to send me pictures of me and you or just with anyone. I love you mommy and I miss you,' the letter reads. Grace will remain inside Children's Village until a new hearing is held on September 8. NEW YORK New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing blistering criticism over an internal report that found a controversial state directive that sent thousands of recovering coronavirus patients into nursing homes was not a significant factor in some of the nations deadliest nursing home outbreaks. Scientists, health care professionals and elected officials assailed the report released last week for flawed methodology and selective stats that sidestepped the actual impact of the March 25 order, which by the states own count ushered more than 6,300 recovering virus patients into nursing homes at the height of the pandemic. And some accused the state of using the veneer of a scientific study to absolve the Democratic governor by reaching the same conclusion he had been floating for weeks that unknowingly infected nursing home employees were the major drivers of the outbreaks. I think they got a lot of political pushback and so their response was, This isnt a problem. Dont worry about it,' said Rupak Shivakoti, an epidemiologist at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health. It seems like the Department of Health is trying to justify what was an untenable policy, added Charlene Harrington, a professor emerita of nursing and sociology at the University of California at San Francisco. Cuomo, who has been praised for leadership that helped flatten the curve of infections in New York, has also been criticized over his handling of nursing homes, specifically the order that told homes they could not refuse to accept recovering COVID-19 patients from hospitals as long as the patients were medically stable. The order barred homes from even testing such patients to see if they still had the virus. The directive was intended to free up hospital beds for the sickest patients as cases surged. But relatives, patient advocates and nursing home administrators have called it a misguided decision, blaming it for helping to spread the virus among the states most vulnerable residents. Cuomo reversed the order under pressure May 10, long after New Yorks death toll in care homes had climbed to among the highest in the nation. To date, nearly 6,500 deaths have been linked to the coronavirus in the states nursing home and long-term care-facilities. But the 33-page state report flatly says that nursing home admissions from hospitals were not a driver of nursing home infections or fatalities. Instead, it says the virus rampant run through New York nursing homes was propelled by the 37,500 nursing home workers who became infected between mid-March and early June and unknowingly passed the virus on. The report noted that the number of residents dying at nursing homes peaked on April 8, around the same time as COVID-19 deaths statewide, but nearly a week before the peak of coronavirus patients being transferred from hospitals. It also said 80% of the 310 nursing homes that admitted coronavirus patients already had a confirmed or suspected case among its residents or staff before the directive was issued. And it contends the median number of coronavirus patients sent to nursing homes had been hospitalized for nine days, the same period that the study said it likely takes for the virus to no longer be contagious. If you were to place blame, I would blame coronavirus, Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, told reporters last week. Cuomo said in a later news conference thatugly politics were behind this political conspiracy that the deaths in nursing homes were preventable. And now the report has the facts, and the facts tell the opposite story. But several experts who reviewed the report at the request of The Associated Press said it has fatal flaws, including never actually addressing the effect of the order. Among the questions not answered: If 80% of the 310 nursing homes that took coronavirus patients already had cases before the order, what was the effect of the released patients on the other homes that were virus free? If the median number of patients were released into nursing homes for nine days, that means that by the studys own count more than 3,000 patients were released within nine days. Could they have been infectious? Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York School of Public Health, also noted that New Yorks nursing home death toll doesnt include nursing home residents who died at a hospital, a potentially huge problem that undercounts the virus toll and could introduce bias into the analysis. Among the holes in the study highlighted by University of Texas, Houston, epidemiologist Catherine Troisi was a lack of data on what happened at dozens of nursing homes that had no COVID-19 infections before those sick with the virus were sent to them. Would this get published in an academic journal? No, Troisi said. Shivakoti said he thinks the report may be correct in concluding that the major drivers of the outbreaks were nursing home workers who were sick without knowing it. But thats not the same as saying the discharges played no role. If they didnt infect other patients directly, Shivakoti said, they still could have infected a worker. Dr. Mark Dworkin, a former Illinois state epidemiologist, said the finding that people dont transmit the virus after nine days of illness applies in the population at large, but its not clear whether thats true of nursing home residents who may have weaker immune systems and shed the virus longer. He said the states report used overreaching language. They really need to own the fact that they made a mistake, that it was never right to send COVID patients into nursing homes and that people died because of it, said Dr. Michael Wasserman, president of the California Association of Long Term Care Medicine. New York Department of Health spokesman Gary Holmes said the study was intended to measure the strength of the variables. The strongest factor in driving the nursing home infections was through staff infections. The Cuomo administration report will likely not be the last word. New Yorks Legislature plans to hold joint hearings next month, and Republicans in Congress have demanded Cuomo turned over records on the March 25 order and its effects. Blame-shifting, name-calling and half-baked data manipulations will not make the facts or the questions they raise go away, Louisiana U.S Rep. Steve Scalise, Republican leader of a House subcommittee on the COVID crisis, wrote in a letter to Cuomo last week. Asked to respond, Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said: Were used to Republicans denying science but now they are screeching about time, space and dates on a calendar to distract from the federal governments many, many, embarrassing failures. No one is buying it. _____ AP investigative news researcher Randy Herschaft and reporter Jennifer Peltz in New York, and reporter Marina Villeneuve in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report. Workers fix electric cables in Bac Lieu Province, southern Vietnam, May 9, 2020. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Nhi. Vietnam is seeking a return to nuclear power after 2035 amid warnings that dwindling natural resources could lead to electricity shortages. A draft power plan by the Ministry of Industry and Trade envisages building nuclear power plants with a capacity of 1,000 MW by 2040 and 5,000 MW by 2045. The Vietnam Energy Association recently exhorted the government to reconsider nuclear power. In 2009 Vietnam had planned to build two nuclear power plants in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan at a cost of several billion dollars, but the National Assembly shot down the proposal in 2016 on cost grounds. Nguyen Quan, former Minister of Science and Technology, had warned in 2018 that traditional energy sources were dwindling, posing a need to look at alternative sources like nuclear power. In its plan, for 2021-30, the ministry also rules out building coal-fired power plants after 2030, instead prioritizing renewables and liquefied natural gas (LNG). It has warned of power shortages between 2021 and 2025 after construction of new thermal and gas-fired plants fell behind schedule. Coal plants accounted for 36.1 percent of electricity supply last year, followed by hydropower at 30.8 percent, according to the Vietnam Energy Association. As Katy Abbott was patiently reading through the huge pile of letters, a simple paragraph caught her eye: not particularly profound, but just perfect. "Im writing to you even though we've never met because its nice to receive letters. Letters are like a piece of someone in a moment where all they were thinking of was you sometimes just a connection with someone can be a powerful change in itself." Dr Katy Abbott has composed a new work for Flinders Quartet. Credit:Chris Hopkins This excerpt, among many, will be part of a new work Abbott has written for Flinders Quartet, to be performed by live stream on July 23. Hidden Thoughts II: Return to Sender, for a string quartet plus mezzo soprano and narrator, is inspired by and features words and phrases from the almost 2000 letters written by ordinary Australians to asylum seekers detained on Nauru in 2013. The letters were returned to barrister Julian Burnside unopened. The U.S. formally rejected most of Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea on Monday in the latest escalation of tension between the rival nations. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the decision a strengthening of U.S. policy, saying in a statement that Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them. The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. The Chinese embassy in the U.S. said the move is completely unjustified, adding that the U.S. is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region under the pretext of preserving stability. The U.S. and China have faced off over the coronavirus pandemic and Chinas actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang in recent weeks, creating an increasingly strained relationship between Washington and Beijing. China claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea under its self-proclaimed nine-dash line and has built up military fortifications on several islands in the sea over the past few years. The Trump administration has been increasing naval operations in the area to challenge the claims, this month sending two aircraft carriers to take part in one of its largest naval exercises in the area in recent years at the same time that China was holding drills. The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim all or part of the sea, which sees $5 trillion in goods ship through each year. The United States had previously urged a peaceful resolution to the dispute through UN-backed arbitration. Pompeos announcement came a day after the fourth anniversary of an international arbitration tribunals ruling that found there was no legal basis for Chinas claims to historic and economic rights in most of the South China Sea. Last month Southeast Asian leaders released a joint statement insisting that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea should be the basis for determining sovereign rights and entitlements in maritime areas, the Wall Street Journal reported. Story continues America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law, Pompeo said. We stand with the international community in defence of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and reject any push to impose might makes right in the South China Sea or the wider region. More from National Review AUSTIN, Texas Military investigators searching for the body of U.S. Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen overlooked evidence that could have led to the discovery of her remains a week sooner and brought resolution to her heartbroken family, the leader of a team of civilian searchers said Friday. The 20-year-old soldier disappeared from Fort Hood in Texas on April 22, sparking international attention. Tim Miller, founder of the civilian group EquuSearch, said his crew discovered a pile of burned debris June 21 at a rural highway intersection about 20 miles away from Fort Hood and steps from the Leon River. Miller said he pleaded with Army officials to search the site more thoroughly that day. Military investigators, he said, instead focused their search on the nearby river. More than a week later, construction workers came upon Guillens remains in the very spot Miller said military investigators overlooked. Mellisa Mendoza places flowers at a mural for Vanessa Guillen in Austin, Texas, on July 6, 2020. Investigation under scrutiny Guillens family has criticized Army officials investigation since she disappeared from Fort Hood, alleging they failed to thoroughly search on and off post. Army officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding Millers account of the search. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy ordered an independent review of the command climate at Fort Hood after Guillen's death raised questions about the treatment of women and Hispanic service members. Vanessa Guillen: Army to conduct review of Fort Hood command after Guillen murder, handling of her disappearance If the review finds wrongdoing, action will be taken against officials at "any echelon," McCarthy said. Among the items Miller said his crew found in the burn pile was the charred remains of a Pelican case, a hard-sided, watertight storage container commonly used in the military. Army investigators suspect that Spc. Aaron David Robinson of Fort Hood used a Pelican case to carry Guillens body off post after he killed her with a hammer in an armory room April 22. Robinson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound July 1 after Killeen police confronted him in their investigation into Guillens disappearance. Story continues If we had used ground penetration, we would have likely seen anomalies and stuff in the ground and found her one week prior to when she was found, Miller said. It would have been one week less of decomposition. Miller said his team pleaded with officials from the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, an organization more commonly known as CID, on June 21 to take a closer look at what his searchers found. Army CID said the (burned) case is not the kind they use and that it doesnt have anything to do with anything, Miller said. Officials called in the Texas Rangers after the civilian searchers showed them photos of a Pelican case on Google, Miller said. Authorities dug directly under the burn pile but did not find Guillens body, Miller said. They did not search areas around the pile of burned evidence. Miller said CID officials were uninterested in continuing to search near the pile because a dog trained to help find body parts, tissue, blood and bone walked right over it and did not alert handlers of any signs of human remains. The dog walked to the Leon River bank and alerted its handlers that it smelled something, he said. They relied on that one dog, and instead of searching the area a little more, they were sure (Robinson) threw (Guillen) into the river, Miller said. 'I just really hope they are doing their job' Army officials defended their search efforts, saying that by May 21, more than 500 soldiers from the 3rd Cavalry Division searched daily while the 1st Cavalry Division provided more than 100 hours of flight time to search on and off the installation. A criminal complaint filed July 2 against Cecily Aguilar the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier and Robinsons girlfriend who is charged with conspiracy to tamper with evidence in Guillens case says she and Robinson attempted to dispose of Guillens body in multiple ways, including burning it and covering it in cement. She told authorities they used a machete-type knife to dismember the body, then buried it in several holes. Miller said the ground did not appear to be disturbed, nor did he smell any odor. The EquuSearch leader said the smell was probably contained by concrete and other substances Robinson and Aguilar used to cover up the remains. More than a week after the burn pile was discovered, odor led civilians who were building a fence on a property near the pile to Guillens remains. Miller said the fence workers smelled the decomposing remains after animals dug up three shallow graves less than 15 feet from the burn pile. Authorities confirmed last week the remains were those of Guillen. The soldiers family has for months complained that the military bungled the investigation. The family said that Guillen was the victim of sexual harassment on base and that the Army was not transparent about its search. I just really hope they are doing their job because, from my point of view, it looks like they are not, Mayra Guillen said during a news conference in mid-June. Attorney Natalie Khawam, who represents the Guillen family, announced the proposal of a bill named #IAMVANESSAGUILLEN, which would help protect military victims of sexual harassment and assault. Khawam, who worked on similar legislation in the past, will introduce a draft of the bill during a congressional news conference July 30 in Washington, which will be followed by a protest from the Capitol to the White House. Military officials said their investigation has not produced any evidence of sexual harassment against Guillen in relation to her death. Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty: Ordered held without bond in case tied to Epstein child sex trafficking ring 'Didn't even know where to begin': College students left 'frozen' by job market are forced to pivot This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Vanessa Guillen: Civilian search group says Army overlooked evidence Fianna Fail minister Mr O'Brien said officials have told him that they expect that 80pc of the social homes build target of 7,736 will be delivered.. Photo: Gareth Chaney, Collins Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien has said he still wants a target for the delivery of almost 8,000 social homes to be met despite the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Overall house building completions - both public and private - have been estimated to be less than 14,000 in 2020. That's far short of the target of 25,000 set by the last government. The situation has been blamed on the halt in construction during lock-down and safety measures that now have to be in place on sites. Fianna Fail minister Mr O'Brien said officials have told him that they expect that 80pc of the social homes build target of 7,736 will be delivered. He said he wants to deliver the 7,736 target and is looking at ways to "bridge the gap so we're not going to fall behind". He suggested this can be done through acquisitions, including purchases of properties that had been used for short-term lettings on platforms like Airbnb. Mr O'Brien said he has asked organisations like the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) to provide data on the impact Covid-19 has had on work practices and productivity to inform a revised projection for the overall number of house completions this year. He said he believes 25,000 units will be possible next year if construction is fully back up and running and there isn't a second coronavirus wave. Mr O'Brien said: "Whilst we're working with the virus we've got to deliver as much as we can". Separately, Mr O'Brien would not commit to banning controversial co-living housing developments. Planning applications have been made for apartment complexes where residents would have their own bedrooms but share facilities like kitchens. Mr O'Brien said there is a review of such schemes. He added: "Were reviewing it. None have been built. Im not a fan of it. I havent changed my view on it. I dont think its a housing solution. Pressed on if he would like to ban such developments he said he should be allowed to review the matter. The Dublin Fingal TD said: "It's not an immediate threat because none have been built. "I think actually the market, people themselves will decide that they're not going to see it as a solution for their housing needs." But he also said he doesn't want to ban something if it would impact on the provision of student accommodation. Mr O'Brien was speaking at the launch of an affordable housing scheme in Dublin. Thirty-seven houses are being built by the O Cualann housing organisation in Ballymun on land provided by Dublin City Council. Mr O'Brien said some of the homes are to be sold for less than 200,000 and he plans to develop a national scheme on affordable housing. Spokesman for the Iranian judiciary Gholam-Hossein Esmaeeli had a busy briefing on Tuesday detailing the death penalties of political prisoners including anti-government protesters, a missile spy and Kurdish separatists. Esmaeeli confirmed that the execution verdicts earlier handed down to three men Amir-Hossein Moradi, Mohammad Rajabi and Saeed Tamjidi involved in anti-government protests last year have now been upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court. In their indictment, the three protesters had been accused of acting as riot leaders during mass street rallies that rocked Iran in mid-November after the government announced a contentious fuel price hike. Based on the official account, the states ensuing crackdown left at least 200 dead, including many children, while sending thousands more behind bars. According to human rights organizations, two of the three men had sought refuge in neighboring Turkey following the unrest but were extradited to Tehran by Turkish officials. In his presser, however, the judiciary spokesman offered yet another narrative. Two of them were arrested at an armed robbery scene. They had also attempted to kidnap a woman, he said. It was not immediately clear if the new version was a push to demonize the convicts and soothe the public fury against the verdicts. Then videos were recovered from their phones of moments they had set fire on public properties during the [November] protests. They had captured the best evidence against themselves, the spokesman added. Still, he hinted at a special law that could leave a last-minute chance for the convicts to be saved from execution. The case of the three protesters all in their 20s came under the spotlight earlier this month when their lawyer complained about unfair proceedings and the defendants lack of access to proper legal assistance. Retired Defense Ministry employee Reza Asgari was another name brought up at the briefing. Asgari was executed last week following a trial over espionage for the CIA. According to the judiciary spokesman, Asgari had sold important intelligence on Irans controversial missile program to the American spy agency. In a similar case last year, Iran executed another Defense Ministry expert over espionage. We will never compromise our countrys security. We are firm in our response and we do maintain strict surveillance, Esmaeeli said in reference to infiltration by foreign intelligence organizations into sensitive Iranian institutions. In recent weeks, rights activists had also been campaigning to convince Iranian officials to revoke death penalties against two Kurdish political prisoners held in the countrys southwest. The judiciary spokesman confirmed in the same briefing that both have been executed. Saber Sheikh Abdullah and Diako Rasoulzadeh were found guilty of waging war against God through advocating a Kurdish separatist group and involvement in a bombing in the city of Mahabad. In a statement only hours before the execution, Amnesty International urged the Iranian judiciary to halt the verdicts that were issued following an extremely unfair trial and confessions that were coerced under torture. Congress Leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for the release of Telugu poet Varavara Rao who was arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case in Maharashtra. Rao at 81 years of age "cannot be a threat to one of the strongest countries" in the world, Chowdhury said. "A person of 81 years of age has been languishing in jail for years without knowing his offence, now he has been mentally disoriented, having no medical assistance. "You may please intervene into this matter and save his life, otherwise our future generations will not forgive us (sic)," he wrote in his letter to Modi. Rao and nine other activists were arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case, which was initially probed by the Pune police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency in January this year. The case pertains to the alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. The poet was admitted to JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Monday night after he complained of dizziness. This time last year, more than a few of us would be jetting off somewhere warm, or at least living vicariously through friends' social media feeds who are on holiday. 'No, not again. I can't.' Credit:Dionne Gain Instead, Melburnians are in lockdown for six weeks after recording the country's biggest increase in coronavirus cases. Meanwhile NSW is doing its best to contain the clusters already popping up in Sydney's south-west. The official nickname is Lockdown 2.0, but thats a jovial spin on hope deferred. Javaid Waseem's store, the Minit Gas Station, was shaken by the July 4 and 5 earthquakes in 2019 in Ridgecrest, Calif. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) A new study suggests that last year's Ridgecrest earthquakes increased the chance of a large earthquake on California's San Andreas fault. The study, published in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America on Monday, says there is now a 2.3% chance of an earthquake of magnitude 7.5 or greater in the next 12 months on a section of the 160-mile-long Garlock fault, which runs along the northern edge of the Mojave Desert. That increased likelihood, in turn, would cause there to be a 1.15% chance of a large earthquake on the San Andreas fault in the next year. Those odds may seem small. But they're a substantial jump from what the chances were before last year's Ridgecrest, Calif., earthquakes, whose epicenters were about 125 miles northeast of downtown L.A. The new odds mean a large quake on the Garlock fault is now calculated to be 100 times more likely rising from 0.023% in the next year to 2.3%. And the chance of a large quake on the San Andreas has roughly tripled, from 0.35% in the next year to 1.15%, said Ross Stein, a coauthor of the study and the CEO of Temblor, a catastrophe modeling company in the Bay Area that has built a free earthquake hazards app for smartphones. One plausible scenario involves the Ridgecrest, Calif., quakes triggering a large temblor on the Garlock fault, which then triggers a seismic event on the San Andreas. The chances of such an event happening are small. Another plausible scenario, not mapped, involves a rupture of faults southeast of the Ridgecrest quakes. (Jon Schleuss / Los Angeles Times) Seismologist Lucy Jones, who did not play a role in the report released Monday, called the study "elegant science" but added that its conclusions are not confirmed. "It's really interesting science, and I like the way they've been able to increase the complexity of how they do their modeling. That's a real advance. But it's not yet proven," Jones said. That said, Jones said that government officials in California should be prepared for a scenario in which an earthquake occurs that immediately raises the risk of a large quake on the San Andreas fault. "If the Garlock happens, yes, we will be saying the San Andreas is at increased risk," Jones said. "What do you do when there's an earthquake that could be a foreshock to the San Andreas? What do you say? What do you do?" Story continues The study is the latest suggestion of a plausible scenario in which last summer's earthquakes in a remote part of California might have started a chain of events that could result in a devastating earthquake on the San Andreas fault that has not been seen in Southern California in 163 years. At its closest, the San Andreas fault comes within 35 miles of downtown Los Angeles. "Now, you can think of the Ridgecrest earthquake as being so far from Greater Los Angeles ... that it is nearly harmless," said Stein, an earthquake scientist emeritus of the U.S. Geological Survey and adjunct professor of geophysics at Stanford University. "But the problem is that ... the Ridgecrest earthquake brought the Garlock fault closer to rupture. If that fault ruptures and it gets within about 25 miles of the San Andreas then there's a high likelihood, maybe a 50/50 shot, that it would immediately rupture on the San Andreas," Stein said. Stein's coauthor on the study is Shinji Toda, of Tohoku University in Japan. If the Garlock fault did rupture close to the San Andreas fault but the San Andreas did not immediately rupture Los Angeles would face the prospect of having a metaphorical sword of Damocles hanging over its neck, Stein said, with the prospect of L.A. facing a larger risk of a San Andreas quake within a matter of months, or perhaps decades. "In a way, if the fault ruptures all at once, life is simpler. It's done," Stein said. "But if it doesn't if it hangs, and plenty of faults do hang that would put the city in a really difficult ... position." A hypothetical magnitude 7.8 quake on the San Andreas could cause more than 1,800 deaths, injure 5,000, displace some 500,000 to 1 million people from their homes and hobble the region economically for a generation. A quake of that magnitude produces 45 times more energy than the 1994 magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake. Out of the many faults in California, the San Andreas is singularly poised to be the one that unleashes a megaquake in our lifetime because it is the main tectonic plate boundary between the Pacific and North American plates, and because of how fast the fault accumulates seismic strain. Another troubling scenario Jones has mentioned before was a hypothetical magnitude 6 earthquake at the Cajon Pass north of San Bernardino. It's a particularly vexing scenario because such a quake could trigger large quakes on three major faults: the San Andreas, the San Jacinto and the Cucamonga. The last time scientists in California warned about an increased risk of a big earthquake on the San Andreas fault, however, the initial statewide response was flatfooted. In 2016, state officials didn't issue a statement of the increased threat of a big quake on the San Andreas fault until about 39 hours after the first concerning quake hit in the Salton Sea. Even when state officials finally put out a statement, they inserted an error that inaccurately downplayed the increased seismic risk. It was corrected after an inquiry from the Los Angeles Times. The study published Monday is not the first time scientists have suggested the Ridgecrest earthquakes could be the first domino to fall that eventually leads Southern California's section of the San Andreas fault to rupture in a significant way for the first time since 1857, when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake ruptured 225 miles of fault between Monterey County and the Cajon Pass in San Bernardino County. A year ago, the U.S. Geological Survey the nation's primary earthquake science agency calculated that there was an extremely remote chance the San Andreas could be triggered by the Ridgecrest quakes. And a USC professor of earth sciences, James Dolan, articulated the same Ridgecrest-to-Garlock-to-San Andreas scenario in an interview with The Times last year. The Garlock fault ruptures on average every 1,300 years, said Tim Dawson, senior engineering geologist with the California Geological Survey, but earthquakes can occur as often as every few hundred years or have a drought between large quakes of as long as 3,000 years. The last big earthquake on the Garlock fault happened about 500 years ago, Dawson said. Big quakes on the southern San Andreas fault along the Grapevine section of Interstate 5 can happen on average every 100 years, although there's wide variation in how often they can happen; there has been a time when it was just 20 years between major quakes, and another when there was a gap of 200 years between huge quakes. Though it's far from a sure bet the Garlock fault will rupture in our lifetime, the southern San Andreas is a likely candidate for such a big quake in our lifetime. "It's really the fastest moving fault in California," Dawson said of the San Andreas, meaning it accumulates strain far faster than other faults. "It's always going to play the most significant role in earthquake hazard in California." There's a popular conception that earthquakes relieve seismic strain they do but they also increase seismic strain in other areas. "An earthquake will relieve stress on the fault that it occurs on. But by relieving that, you're transferring the stress onto something else," Dawson said. "For every action, there's a reaction." Scientists and the public have long been fascinated about the prospect of triggered earthquakes. It was a main plot point in the movie "San Andreas," starring Dwayne Johnson in 2015. It's for a good reason. Last year's Fourth of July Ridgecrest quake, a magnitude 6.4 temblor, imparted greater stress on a fault that eventually ruptured a day later, causing the more powerful magnitude 7.1 quake on July 5. The most powerful earthquake in California of the last 68 years, the magnitude 7.3 Landers earthquake that hit the sparsely populated Mojave Desert on June 28, 1992 and a magnitude 6.3 aftershock hours later near Big Bear was believed to be related to the Joshua Tree earthquake, a magnitude 6.1 event, that occurred two months earlier. The trio of quakes raised concerns that the San Andreas was next. The theory at the time was that the Joshua Tree-Landers-Big Bear sequence of quakes essentially unclamped a section of the San Andreas fault. That made it plausible the San Andreas fault might be next to rupture, said Ken Hudnut, geophysicist with the USGS. But the southern San Andreas fault has remained as quiet as it has since the 1850s. Instead, the next big quakes in Southern California occurred where few scientists were expecting them to hit the magnitude 6.7 earthquake that struck Northridge in 1994, and the magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine earthquake in 1999 that was located even deeper in the remote Mojave Desert. "What has been actually happening in the real world is quite different than what we thought was a plausible scenario back at the time in 92," Hudnut said. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. People walk past a mural reading "Justice for Breonna" on a Prince Street storefront, on June 19, 2020. Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Attorneys for the family of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, alleged in a new filing that officers were operating under information from an aggressive gentrification campaign in targeting Taylor's residence. Three Louisville Metro Police Department officers entered the apartment in the early hours of March 13 with a "no-knock warrant," before Taylor was shot eight times. The warrant was connected to a suspect who did not live at Taylor's apartment, and no drugs were found at the residence. "While there is no doubt that gentrification of west Louisville neighborhoods could be a very good thing, the methods employed to do so have been unlawful and unconscionable," attorneys said in the complaint. Visit Insider's homepage for more stories. Attorneys for the family of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician who was killed by police at her home in Louisville, Kentucky, is alleging that officers were acting as part of a larger gentrification plan that targeted residents in the area. In a criminal complaint filed in Jefferson Circuit Court last week published by Louisville CBS affiliate WLKY, the lawyers for Taylor's family alleged that a plan to revamp the city's Russell neighborhood was responsible for "radical political and police conduct" that resulted in Taylor's death during a narcotics raid. Three Louisville Metro Police Department officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove entered the apartment in the early hours of March 13 with a "no-knock warrant," Insider previously reported. The warrant was connected to a suspect who did not live at Taylor's apartment, and no drugs were found at the residence. Taylor's family later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit. A complaint filed late last month by attorneys representing Taylor's family said that Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one round in self-defense while officers raided the apartment and Taylor "was shot at least eight times by the officers' gunfire and died as a result," even though she "had posed no threat to the officers and did nothing to deserve to die at their hands." Story continues In the newest filing, attorneys allege Louisville Metro Police operating in the same area as at least eight homes the city bought and demolished with plans for "a high investment, high dollar real estate deal" resulting in a development that is slated to include "modern, futuristic-looking homes, a cafe, an amphitheater, a state-of-the-art fitness center and more." According to the filing, the department developed a specialized squad, called Place-Based Investigations, formed to "to address systemically violent locations and complement LMPD's existing focused-deterrence strategy." But after time, the squad "deliberately misled" narcotics officers to target a remaining residence on Elliott Avenue in west Louisville. "While there is no doubt that gentrification of west Louisville neighborhoods could be a very good thing, the methods employed to do so have been unlawful and unconscionable," the attorneys alleged in the complaint. Instead of the squad taking aim at ongoing violence, "the reality was that The Occupants were not anywhere close to Louisville's versions of Pablo Escobar or Scarface," the complaint said. "They were not violent criminals," the complaint added. "They were simply a setback to a large real estate development deal and thus the issue needed to be cleaned up." Local authorities and nonprofit groups in Louisville who are involved with community development plans dismissed the filing. Paul Stillwell, also known as Rev. Bo Stillwell, the founder of Keeping it Real, a nonprofit working with the city since 2016 to lead community engagement efforts on Elliott Avenue, told The Louisville Courier-Journal that the attorneys had described "a false narrative." The Courier-Journal also reported that the renderings of buildings included in the complaint by the attorneys to illustrate the upmarket neighborhood they claimed was in the works were produced by four University of Kentucky students for a first-year College of Design graduate class. A spokeswoman for Mayor Greg Fischer told the outlet that any notion that the city would force homeowners or renters to move from the area in question is "without foundation or supporting facts." Taylor, whose 27th birthday would have been on June 5, has become a symbol for ongoing demands for legal action against Mattingly, Hankison, and Cosgrove, in addition to racial justice for Black Americans. Attorneys Sam Aguiar and Lonita Baker did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Read more: Calls to 'arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor' have been turned into an online meme that some say has gone too far Breonna Taylor's family claims in a new court filing that she did not receive medical attention for up to 6 minutes after being shot Celebrities demand justice for Breonna Taylor on her 27th birthday Read the original article on Insider - Burkina Faso is building a postmodern society where gender equality is not rare but a reality with its School For Husbands - Married men in Hounde come together to talk about issues in their homes in the presence of a facilitator with the view to be better partners - Since the inception of the school, testimonies of improved marriages abound as some of the husbands admitted they have become better lovers Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in There is a school for husbands in Burkina Faso as a way to have healthy marriages and homes. Tagged the School for Husbands, it was founded in Mamboue in the Hounde in the western part of the country. It should be noted that idea was sponsored by the International Development Association via the Sahel Womens Empowerment and Demographics Project and a bit of support from the United Nations Population Fund, World Bank reports. A safe space to discuss without fear Every week, 15 husbands congregate to discuss peculiar and common issues in their homes and proffer solutions to how things can be better. The meeting is supervised by a resource person. A female facilitator of the meeting, Ouanibaouie Bonde, said the meeting affords the men the opportunity to speak without the fear of being judged as they talk on issues like family planning, prenatal consultations, among other things. Since I started attending, I've become better Waimbabie Gnoumou, a participant at the event, said that before the school came into being, there was always tension in his home as he binged on beer. A collage of some of the men who attend the school. Photo source: World Bank Source: UGC His wife, Martine, testified to the efficacy of the school, saying her husband now assists with home chores like bringing cooking things from the market and fetch water. She added that when she was pregnant, he accompanied her to the maternity centre for antenatal. The school really works Dofinta Gnoumou, a village chief, said that the school is a blessing to them, adding that since its launch, husbands in the community have greatly improved in their behaviors at home. Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that the Tuareg tribe gives much power to women as they are allowed to decide their fate without the so-called supreme power of men. Their men wear a blue indigo veil as a protective measure to keep their face safe from the dust of the desert. It was gathered that the tribe never dumped their tradition of allowing men to wear veil instead of women despite their adoption of Islam. In the case of divorce, the women get to keep all the tents and the animals as the man is chased out to return to his mothers home with just a camel in his possession. "One hour for church and more hours for voter registration doesn't make sense" - Pastor laments: Got a national or human interest story you think we should know? Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: YEN.com.gh 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-functional engineering detachment to Lebanon ready to set out People's Daily Online (People's Daily Online) 11:14, July 13, 2020 On the morning of July 10, a gathering was held to mark the establishment of the 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-functional engineering detachment to Lebanon. At the request of the United Nations (UN) and in accordance with the order of the Central Military Commission, China's 19th peacekeeping force to Lebanon will fly to the country in two groups from late July to mid-August, and undertake shift work with the 18th peacekeeping force in Lebanon, implementing missions for one year including mine-sweeping, removing explosives, setting up boundary markers along the Blue Line that separates Lebanon with Israel, building and maintaining military defense works, and delivering medical treatment and humanitarian relief. The force reportedly consists of a multi-functional engineer detachment, construction engineer detachment and medical detachment, totaling over 400 members. According to reports, through the unremitting efforts of past peacekeepers, the multi-functional engineering detachment has not suffered a single casualty while mine sweeping for 14 years in a row, and has hit four international records in completing the mine sweeping tasks entrusted to it by the UN, namely, sweeping mines with the greatest speed, highest quality, lowest cost and lowest casualty rate. To date, about 2 million square meters of suspected minefields, explosive-scattered areas and 14,000 meters of patrol roads have been searched and cleared, and more than 14,000 mines and all kinds of unexploded materials have been found and removed. Du Jia, the commander of the 19th batch of peacekeeping forces to Lebanon and leader of the multi-functional engineering detachment, said that for the last four months that he has been in charge of the peacekeeping mission, all peacekeepers have been working hard and conscientiously. During the training period, peacekeepers have conducted systematic training for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) qualification certification, emergency defense, war trauma treatment, commonly used English and foreign affairs etiquette, and so on, greatly enhancing their capabilities in carrying out peacekeeping missions. As the only post-00s female soldier of the multi-functional engineering detachment, Zhou Hui, a minesweeper, is very proud to be able to participate in this international mine-sweeping mission. Ahead of her upcoming journey, she said with a smile: "The intensive training has given me the confidence to deal with challenges, and I will certainly live up to my mission." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PITTSBURGH--Kitchen robots are a popular vision of the future, but if a robot of today tries to grasp a kitchen staple such as a clear measuring cup or a shiny knife, it likely won't be able to. Transparent and reflective objects are the things of robot nightmares. Roboticists at Carnegie Mellon University, however, report success with a new technique they've developed for teaching robots to pick up these troublesome objects. The technique doesn't require fancy sensors, exhaustive training or human guidance, but relies primarily on a color camera. The researchers will present this new system during this summer's International Conference on Robotics and Automation virtual conference. David Held, an assistant professor in CMU's Robotics Institute, said depth cameras, which shine infrared light on an object to determine its shape, work well for identifying opaque objects. But infrared light passes right through clear objects and scatters off reflective surfaces. Thus, depth cameras can't calculate an accurate shape, resulting in largely flat or hole-riddled shapes for transparent and reflective objects. But a color camera can see transparent and reflective objects as well as opaque ones. So CMU scientists developed a color camera system to recognize shapes based on color. A standard camera can't measure shapes like a depth camera, but the researchers nevertheless were able to train the new system to imitate the depth system and implicitly infer shape to grasp objects. They did so using depth camera images of opaque objects paired with color images of those same objects. Once trained, the color camera system was applied to transparent and shiny objects. Based on those images, along with whatever scant information a depth camera could provide, the system could grasp these challenging objects with a high degree of success. "We do sometimes miss," Held acknowledged, "but for the most part it did a pretty good job, much better than any previous system for grasping transparent or reflective objects." The system can't pick up transparent or reflective objects as efficiently as opaque objects, said Thomas Weng, a Ph.D. student in robotics. But it is far more successful than depth camera systems alone. And the multimodal transfer learning used to train the system was so effective that the color system proved almost as good as the depth camera system at picking up opaque objects. "Our system not only can pick up individual transparent and reflective objects, but it can also grasp such objects in cluttered piles," he added. Other attempts at robotic grasping of transparent objects have relied on training systems based on exhaustively repeated attempted grasps -- on the order of 800,000 attempts -- or on expensive human labeling of objects. The CMU system uses a commercial RGB-D camera that's capable of both color images (RGB) and depth images (D). The system can use this single sensor to sort through recyclables or other collections of objects -- some opaque, some transparent, some reflective. ### In addition to Held and Weng, the research team included Oliver Kroemer, assistant professor of robotics at CMU; Amith Pallankize, a senior at BITS Pilani in India; and Yimin Tang, a senior at ShanghaiTech. The National Science Foundation, Sony Corporation, the Office of Naval Research, Efort Intelligent Equipment Co. and ShanghaiTech supported this research. Manmohan Vaidya By Bharat was in the midst of fighting the corona pandemic situation when the news of the Chinese attempt to encroach into Ladakhs Galwan region and the ensuing struggle of our armed forces rattled the country. Twenty warriors of our Army made a heroic sacrifice to safeguard their motherland. Some elements have questioned the gallant efforts of the Army and blamed Bharatiya leadership for lacking alertness and rigour. A microscopic examination of the history of these same elements reveals an interesting pattern. Coincidentally, this force comprises those very elements that went all out to defeat Narendra Modi and prevent the BJP from securing a majority in the Centre. After 1962, China has been regularly exerting encroachment efforts that were not met with a planned and forceful opposition till recently. It is a synchronous effort of the political leadership and the armed forces wherein strategic thinking at the leadership level is paramount. For instance, Bharatiya nuclear atomic scientists had completed their nuclear weapons development way back in 1994. Still, they failed to conduct the tests as the then leaders of the country could not show the same courage that the late Atal Bihari Vajpayeeji displayed in 1998. Since 2014, apart from China, there is a fundamental change in the way Bharat has been dealing with state-sponsored terrorism by Pakistan. Surgical strike, Balakot, Doklam, Galwan and resisting Pakistan-supported terrorism in Kashmirall these events evidently testify to the same change. Speedy constructions in previously ignored border regions and a display of wisdom in reclaiming the rightful Bharatiya areas of Ladakh are indicators of firm, courageous and far-sighted national leadership. All these factors may have infuriated China, and therefore, it is not surprising that the anti-national forces within our country are feeling unsettled with our current unnatural dealing with China. In the Bharat-China war of 1962, despite the incomparable bravado and sacrifice of the soldiers of the armed forces, we lost. Critical analysis of that defeat points out two evident reasonsfirstly, a lack of foresight on the part of the then Bharatiya top leadership; and second, unpreparedness for war. Well aware of Chinas expansionist tendencies, the then Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Guruji Golwalkar, and several other prudent political leaders of the country had warned of the impending danger in embracing the enemy and parroting Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai slogans. In the aftermath of the defeat, military reforms were being contemplated. However, merely strengthening the military base alone is insufficient. A mature and determined national leadership is essential in dealing with such conflicts. Recently, a video has resurfaced where the then defence minister A K Antony was addressing Parliament on 6 December 2013. He is noted saying: China is much advanced in the area of building infrastructure in comparison to India. Their infrastructure development is superior to India. We are only catching them. That is also history. What is it? Independent India had a policy for many years that the best defence is not to develop the border. Undeveloped borders are safer than developed borders. So, for many years, there was no construction of roads or airfields in the border areas. By that time, China continued to develop their infrastructure in the border areas. So, as a result, they have now gone ahead of us. Compared to us infrastructure-wise, capability-wise in the border areas, they are ahead. I admit that. It is a part of history. Soon after Independence, Bharats foreign, economic and defence policies were headed in the wrong direction. Post-Independence economic policies grossly ignored farmers and the agriculture sector. Even today, agriculture and agro-based industries have the potential to generate the highest employment, which is being explored through the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Where foreign policy is concerned, non-alignment was flagged as the countrys policy. The two superpowers (the US and Russia), with reference to whom non-alignment was being deliberated, are comparatively young nationshad been less than 500 years into their existence. On the other hand, Bharats history and its life as a unified civilisation dates back to 10,000 years at the very least. Spirituality-based Bharatiya view of life is inherently holistic, integral and universal.But the first prime minister of Bharat was under the spell of communism. In the name of modernisation, enticed by fancy Western terminologies, this spirituality-based holistic view of life was disregarded, setting a different tone for the policies of our country. Consequently, Bharat was alienated from its self. However, due to perennial awakening of social and national consciousness, which was simmering below the surface all along, a non-Congress government got the full majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This movement bloomed with a repetition of the success story of 2014 in 2019, this time with a greater majority, marking a milestone in the revival journey of Bharat. In this hour, when the whole country is determined to defeat the corona pandemic, the challenge posed by the expansionist and dictatorial Chinese regime requires the Bharatiya society to unify and set an example for the enemy. So far we have been successful in doing so. It is important that all the people and the leaders of all political parties have belief in the armed forces and the decision-making ability of the government in matters of national security and defence strategy. It is not the time to do a cost-benefit analysis or to plot for wins or losses at the political level. Manmohan Vaidya Joint General Secretary of the RSS As people across the globe are reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic situation, many celebrities are doing their part to help the needy and less privileged during this difficult time. In Mumbai, the famous dabbawalas who deliver lunch boxes to working people day in and day out are going through a difficult time and actors Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty have come to their aid without thinking twice, according to a report in HT. In coordination with Aslam Shaikh, Cabinet Minister for Textiles, Port, Fisheries & Guardian Minister-Mumbai City, the two actors have come forward to help Mumbais much-loved dabbawalas, who have been hit hard by this coronavirus pandemic. As per the report, the actors and the minister are providing food to affected families. Its an initiative started by Aslam Bhai and Sanju, I had no hesitation in joining hands with them. Prema Cha Dabba becomes even more beautiful when everyone gets together, Suniel said. He also said that food trucks have already been sent to Pune, where a bulk of these dabbawalas have camped themselves. In addition, as per the report, so far 800 kits of rice, dal, sugar, atta and oil have been delivered to Khed and Malval. An NGO named Save The Children India has been active in the area. The NGO has staff on ground to look into everything. We have a three-month plan in place, said Suniel, adding that they intend to reach 5000 families. Besides, of late, Sanjay has been sharing throwback posts on his social media account during the lockdown period. Recently, the 60-year-old actor shared a post remembering his famous parents whose birth (Sunil Dutt) and death (both Sunil and Nargis) anniversaries fell in this period. The actor also recalled his film Dus as it completed 15 years on July 8. The film also featured Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel, Dia Mirza, Bipasha Basu and Zaayed Khan. He wrote, #15YearsOfDus. Working on this film was an absolute delight. Reminiscing those days when we used to have so much fun on the sets that it never felt like work. Had a great time with all the people who were a part of this film. On the work front, Sanjay will be next seen in Mahesh Bhatts directorial comeback Sadak 2 , which also stars Pooja Bhatt, Alia Bhatt and Aditya Roy Kapur. Besides, he will also feature in Ajay Devgns war drama Bhuj: The Pride of India. He had unveiled a poster from the film, featuring him, in June end and had written, Checkout my first look from Bhuj: The Pride of India! Taiyaar raho doston, aa raha hai Bhuj: The Pride of India jald hi. First Day First Show Ki Home Delivery on @DisneyPlusHotstarVIP Suniel, meanwhile, was last seen in Kannada film Pailwaan last year. According to reports, he has a couple of Telugu and Malayalam films lined up. He will also be seen in John Abrahams Mumbai Saga. Its hard for me to make sense of accusations such as those of Emmanuel Olawale, the Nigerian emigre whose July 8 opinion article, I lived through various coup attempts in Nigeria. Could the United States be on a similar path?, charges President Donald Trump with acting like a dictator for seemingly trying to do his job. Where are the violations of court orders that demonstrate lack of respect for the rule of law? President Trump has appealed some decisions to the Supreme Court, and won some of them. Many would say the Obama administration politicized the Justice Department with wingman Attorney General Eric Holder and an FBI that fudged FISA warrants and spied on an opposing campaign. And who can forget some of President Barack Obamas and President Bill Clintons questionable pardons? How about the constitutionality of Obamas pen and a phone executive orders? Finally, isnt the president allowed to replace people who undermine his authority and block his agenda? Funny how one sides duly elected leader is another sides dictator. But Im certain I didnt hear all the dire warnings of authoritarianism during the previous administration. Kevin McArthur, Cleveland Painting with Fashion Model Brana Dane This webinar will specifically show people the transformative nature that painting can have to an individual's mental wellbeing. It will prove that self-expression through this art form can be enjoyed, regardless of experience or skill-set. Past News Releases RSS Self-expression can take many forms, but regardless of the format it is an essential part of human nature. It is the best way to feel truly understood. However, some people can struggle with finding the right means to showcase their expression. Painting may, specifically, be overlooked in thinking it cant be done without a specific set of talents. This webinar will specifically show people the transformative nature that painting can have to an individual's mental wellbeing. It will prove that self-expression through this art form can be enjoyed, regardless of experience or skill-set. As a New York based fashion model featured in Vogue, among others, Brana has a unique perspective of how to use art as an expressive outlet. She is also an avid painter herself and an advocate of art therapy. She will walk through her own journey to talk about how painting and art has impacted her life, both in and outside of her career. Join Brana Dane, Fashion Model & Sustainability Activist, in a live webinar on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at 5pm CST. For more information or to register for this event, visit Lets Paint - The Art in Expression. ABOUT BEFUN BEKIND BeFun BeKind creates events that inspire others to be the best version of themselves, with the belief that every person has value and something to offer the world. BeFun BeKind works with community leaders and influencers to create live virtual events and in-person events that enable attendees to gain a better understanding of the world and ways to work better together. To learn more about BeFun BeKind visit https://befunbekind.com For information about hosting a webinar or event visit https://befunbekind.com/add-event/ New Delhi: After the Tata-Mistry feud, Government is keeping a close watch on it as developments at the USD 100 billion conglomerate can have implications for the economy, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said on Wednesday. The government, said Meghwal, who is also incharge of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) - where corporate disputes eventually land up, will steer clear of the row as it is an internal affair of Tata Sons. The government has nothing to do with it, the minister told PTI, adding that Tata is a USD 100 billion group and the developments can have implications for the economy.We are keeping a close watch on the basis of whatever is coming in the media and whatever information we are getting from sources, he added. Meghwal further said the matter has so far not been referred to MCA. Nothing in writing has come to Ministry of Corporate Affairs.MCA looks after the affairs of non-listed companies while for listed firms, there is market regulator Sebi, he said.Tata Group is a very big group and naturally has a bearing on the economy, he said. But so far there is nothing to be concerned about. There is no cause of alarm.Asked about the interest of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation which is among the biggest stakeholders in Tata Group firms, he said not just LIC but lot of people are involved. There are concerns of investors, global investors because they have a major role in economy. There is no need to be worried. Tata group itself is a respectable group and they will solve their internal issues themselves, Meghwal said.And if the issue comes up before the government and regulators, (they) will take action whatever rules are there. We are still keeping watch, he added. LIC owns 7 per cent in Tata Motors, 13.91 per cent in Tata Steel, 13.12 per cent in Tata Power and 8.76 per cent in Indian Hotels.Cyrus Mistry, who was unceremoniously removed as Chairman last month, has sought a meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, possibly to explain his side of the story. But the finance minister has so far decided not to meet either side as the government does not want to get embroiled in the Tata Group turmoil. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. A top medical adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday the states coronavirus surge is rampant enough to warrant lockdowns in at least the hardest hit regions. In an interview, Dr. Mark McClellan said Texas is not meeting key requirements that would need to be in place for a safe reopening, especially with the school year set to convene next month. Those include declining cases and adequate hospital capacity. Its clear that the state has not been on a sustainable course and its worth considering a regional approach, said McClellan, a physician and economist at Duke University and a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He added, Its so hard to stay ahead of the pandemic when its in a growth phase. COVID BLOWBACK: Republican committees in 8 Texas counties vote to censure Abbott over COVID response On Tuesday, Texas reported a record 10,745 new confirmed infections, and the hospitalizations climbed to a new high of 10,569. While the growth of hospitalizations has begun to slow, McClellan said its too soon to know if that indicates a weakened surge. Abbott again refused Tuesday to issue lockdowns, even as a growing number of local officials pleaded for the ability to impose stay-at-home orders. The governor had reasoned on Monday that its unlikely lockdown orders would be enforced. On Tuesday, he said in a TV interview that infections would spike again as soon as the orders are lifted. Right now, public health officials say they are simply trying to contain the massive outbreak in the state. Tools that can be help prevent outbreaks, including aggressive testing and contact tracing, are not as effective during a surge like the one Texas is now undergoing. McClellan said current restrictions, including a statewide mask order and limits on large gatherings, would be enough to reverse the states trajectory if there was perfect adherence. But several counties have refused to enforce the mandates, many citing the need for personal liberty. These approaches do work, but it does take everyone being in it together, McClellan said. Restaurant chain Sizzler has announced a huge change which will help it survive the coronavirus pandemic's devastating impact on the restaurant industry. The all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant has been forced to change its design since the crisis began, with concerns self-service dining could spread the virus. With nine restaurants left around Australia, patrons will now be served by waiters from the buffet to help slow the spread of COVID-19. With nine restaurants left around Australia, patrons will be served by waiters from the buffet to help slow the spread of COVID-19 (pictured, staff serve customers at a Sizzler) Sizzler's Head of Operations Don Crilly said it was a significant change in order to slow the spread of the virus. 'It's full table service, almost like a Sizzler silver service, you could say,' he told A Current Affair. 'This won't be the end of Sizzler at all, we will adapt. We'll do whatever we have to do to make sure we can continue serving guests for many years to come.' Germ expert Glenn Pinna said it is highly unlikely buffets would return to self-service due to fears of how the deadly virus spreads. COVID-19 is spread from person-to-person and if diners were to continue to use the same tongs as others, it increases the risk of contracting the disease. Wes Lambert, CEO of Restaurant & Catering Australia acknowledged that 'buffets will be off the menu' for the time being as the industry adapts. 'Ultimately, dining in Australia will likely never return to exactly what it was before,' he said. Sizzler's Head of Operations Don Crilly (pictured) said it was a significant change in order to slow the spread of the virus Diners will be served by waiters at the all-you-can-eat buffet to slow the spread of coronavirus (pictured, a salad bar at Sizzlers) Earlier this year, the chain announced another closure of its store in Rockhampton in central Queensland. 'Collins Food Limited has confirmed it will close its Rockhampton Sizzler restaurant with the closure coinciding with the redevelopment of the Stockland shopping centre,' a spokesperson said in a statement. 'Sizzler Rockhampton will trade as usual until its last day, Sunday March 1, 2020. 'The announcement relates to Sizzler Rockhampton only and all other Sizzler restaurants remain open for business.' Sizzler's latest store closure follows the shut down of four of its stores - Brookside, Toowong, Kogarah and Annerley in Brisbane - in 2017. The first Sizzler restaurant was opened in California by founders Del & Helen Johnson in 1958. But it was not until 1985 that it arrived on Australian shores, with its first restaurant Down Under opening in Brisbane's south-side in Annerley. Over the years, Sizzler built up an arsenal of 25 restaurants across Australia. A man allegedly planned to have his daughter's boyfriend murdered because he did not approve of the relationship. Residing in Pune, the accused is a builder and his name is Yashwant Kamble. Police have taken 3 people into custody for their role in the crime. The boyfriend who was killed is Amit Milind Sarode. The two who were Kamble's accomplices are Adesh Nanavare and Ayush Kale alias Bomblya. Police say both have been arrested in the past. Shutterstock Sarode hailed from was a driver for a catering business. The murder was revealed when his body was found. Police discovered that both Kamble and Nanavare were not happy about the affair. Nanavare considered the girl has his sister. Along with Kale, they decided to get rid of Sarode. Shutterstock One of them shot at Sarode and the other two assaulted him with sharp weapons. Police began the search when Saurabh Mohol, Sarode's friend, filed a complaint according to a report in Hindustan Times. Shutterstock Two of them were trying to get away when they were caught. They have been charged under sections of the IPC, Arms Act and Arms Maharashtra Police Act. Woodside earned the sympathy of federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt as it asked for production licences over key Browse gas field tenements that expired at the end of June. Woodside was first granted a retention lease over five key Browse tenements in 2003 and two more state leases in 2009, but is yet to pull the trigger on the $30 billion project after years of stalled negotiations with partners of its various Australian projects including BHP, Chevron and BP. Woodside's Karratha gas plant. Credit:Aaron Bunch Retention leases are granted by state and federal authorities if it seems likely they will be developed within 15 years. The coronavirus pandemic has played havoc with energy prices and saw a $6.3 billion writedown of Woodside's assets announced on Tuesday. Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa state, has condemned those opposed to the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to nominate... Seriake Dickson, former governor of Bayelsa state, has condemned those opposed to the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari to nominate Nimi Akinkugbe as the non-career ambassador nominee from Ondo state. Akinkugbes nomination elicited debate because she is from Rivers state. Some persons have argued that the president should not have nominated her because of her state of origin Nimi, who is currently a non-executive director at Standard Chartered Bank, is married to Yinka Akinkugbe from Ondo. In an article entitled In Defence of The Nigerian Woman, Dickson said these kinds of sentiments are what have held Nigeria and Africa from achieving its true potentials. While commending Buhari for the appointment, the former governor expressed dismay that ladies do not get the needed support when they are nominated in their states of origin. I wish to commend President Buhari for the appointment of Mrs Nimi Akinkugbe as the ambassadorial nominee representing Ondo state, the state she is married to, the state of her husband and her children and the state she will spend the rest of her life in hopefully, he said. I condemn the voices that have risen in opposition to her nomination not on account of her competence, experience, capacity or character but only on the basis that she is parentally from Rivers state. Those who constantly oppose our daughters believe that whereas their children, grandchildren and descendants can be anything in those states, the women have to go back to sender and cannot derive any benefit from the states of their husbands. We must all unite against this mindset and I am glad that the president nominated Mrs Akinkugbe and has ignored all opposition to her nomination so far. I hope it remains so. Nigerian women leaders should organise themselves for positive change and these are the sort of issues in addition to several others they should tackle with our support. According to him, the primitive mindset that women are properties is what has encouraged rape and other forms of violence against women. If highly educated, enlightened women known locally and around the world can suffer this discrimination in Nigeria, then one can imagine the daily discrimination, indignity and oppression that our women who are not privileged are subjected to in their rural communities across Nigeria and in the developing world, he said. This is the reason why people in leadership must do more for girl child education and involvement and empowerment of women. The former governor said opposition to appointments of females must be on the basis of superior qualification or competence. I consider it my duty and the duty of every well meaning man and leader to take a public position on this issue and to also galvanize public opinion to stop this endless, meaningless and primitive discrimination against our own daughters, sisters, friends and mothers, he added. The president has since asked the senate to confirm the nominees. A key limitation when investigating diseases that affect the human nervous system is the ability to quantify, monitor, and analyze the activity of neuronal cell populations that precisely represent human phenotypes. These restrictions are the result of the limited access to cells from human patient tissue, along with a lack of purpose-built tools allowing functional measurements of neuronal cells at adequate throughput to enable complete phenotypic characterizations. With the emergence of cellular reprogramming technologies, there has been a wealth of research focusing on the development of protocols to differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into several cell populations residing in the brain (such as immunological, glial, neuronal, and more). This has led to the production of a wide range of neuronal cell models (such as peripheral, glutamatergic, GABAergic, dopaminergic and more), most of which continue to be insufficiently characterized. This signals a need to better comprehend in vitro cellular models and determine ways in which they could be refined. The Incucyte S3 Live-Cell Analysis System for Neuroscience applications, technology, and methodology outlined in this white paper was produced to correct these challenges. That is, to give researchers a range of automated tools as a means to enable the validation, evaluation, and characterization of complex neuronal models. Assay principle While the quantification of the morphological characteristics of neurons (such as neurite outgrowth) can offer information about their structure, neuronal activity assays offer a superior and more advanced understanding of how neurons respond to their environment, how they function, and how they form synaptic connections with other neurons. This white paper outlines an integrated solution for long-term neuronal activity measurements founded on a new neuronal specific, live-cell genetically encoded calcium indicator (GECI) named Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange and the Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience. Along with new analysis tools and system capabilities offered by the Incucyte S3 Neuronal Activity Analysis Software Module, this system provides automated measurements of calcium oscillations and morphological observation of thousands of functional neurons inside a culture over an extended time period, days, weeks, and months (Figure 1). This technique gives scientists the ability to better comprehend when and how network connections are created amongst cells in culture, and how the context of the environment (for example media formulations, stromal cells, drug treatments, and more) can modify their behavior. Figure 1: Assay Workflow. Image Credit: Sartorius Materials and methods Incucyte NeuroBurst transduction A GECI is encoded by the lentiviral-based reagent Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange, under the direction of the neuronal specific synapsin promoter. The transduction protocol for expression of Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange in astrocyte/neuronal co-cultures is outlined in Figure 2a. Biomatrix was utilized to coat tissue culture plates, astrocytes and neurons were plated in sequence, before the NeuroBurst Orange Reagent (Essen BioScience Cat. No. 4736) was introduced after two days in culture. The NeuroBurst Orange Reagent was removed on the next day, before anti-proliferative compounds were included to limit glial cell division, and Incucyte scans were performed to evaluate neuronal activity. Cell plating methods Plate coating primary rat co-culture model: 0.1 mg/mL Poly-D-Lysine was used to coat 96-well plates for 20 hours at room temperature. Sterile water was used to wash the plates twice, which were allowed to dry prior to plating. Plate coating iPSC-derived neurons: 2.2 mg/ml polyethlenimine (PEI, Sigma Cat. No. 408727) in 0.1 M sodium borate solution (Thermo Fisher Ca. No. 2834) were used to coat 96-well plates for 20 hours at room temperature. PEI was removed the next day, and the wells were washed with sterile water three times (cell culture grade). 100 l of 3.3 g/mL laminin was subsequently included to each well and incubated for a minimum of 1 hour at 37 C. Laminin (Sigma Cat. No. L2020) was removed immediately before cell seeding. Primary rat forebrain neurons: 20,000 rCortical or rForebrain neurons (Essen BioScience Cat. No. 4753) per well were plated in 1 mL NeuroCult SM1 Neuronal Supplement (Stemcell Technologies, Cat. No. 05711), Complete Plating Medium (48.5 mL NeuroBasal Medium Thermo Fisher Cat. No. 21103-049), and 0.5 mL 100X GlutaMAX Supplement (Thermo Fisher Cat. No. 35050061). After two hours of incubation, rAstrocytes (Essen BioScience Cat. No. 4586) were introduced at a density of 15,000 cells per well. The next day, 15 l per well of NeuroBurst Orange reagent was introduced. After 16 to 24 hours, the plating medium was taken away and replaced with Complete Maturation Medium (49 mL BrainPhys Neuronal Medium (Stemcell Technologies Cat. No. 05790), 1 mL NeuroCult SM1 Neuronal Supplement (Stem Cell Technologies Cat# 05711) including 5-FdU/U. Half of the assay media was replaced every three days throughout the experiment. iCell iPSC-derived neurons (Cellular Dynamics Cat. No. R106): 20,000 cells were plated per well in accordance with the media instructions of the manufacturer without pen/strep or laminin. rAstrocytes were added at a density of 15,000 cells per well after two hours of incubation. The subsequent day, 30 l per well of NeuroBurst Orange reagent was introduced. A complete media exchange was completed after 16 to 24 hours, including 5-FdU/U. A 50% media exchange was performed every three days throughout the investigation. Ncardia iPSC-derived neurons (Ncardia): Culture conditions and cell plating were carried out according to the suggestions of the manufacturer unless otherwise stated in particular figure legends. Briefly, 25,000 Peri.4U (Ncardia Cat. No. Ax-B-HZ02-2M) or 20K CNS.4U neurons were plated. After an incubation period of two hours, rAstrocytes were added to cultures of Peri.4U neurons at a density of 15,000 cells per well. CNS.4U neurons did not have rAstrocytes added to them. On the second day, cells were infected with NeuroBurst Orange (Peri.4U - 15 l per well; CNS.4U - 3 l per well). A full media exchange was performed after 16 hours. FdU/U was added to the media exchange for Peri.4U cells, excluding the CNS.4U cells. A 50% media exchange was performed every three days throughout the experiment. Incucyte S3 for neuroscience user interface The user interface of the Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience is produced to visualize neuronal activity in every well within a 96-well plate. Every scan includes a 30 to 180 second Stare Mode recording of the activity of cells at a speed of three frames per second. Each movie acquired via the Stare Mode is translated into a single range image to enable easy viewing (Figure 2b). This image shows the array of intensities that are identified from each cell inside the culture during the selected scan time. Automated image segmentation tools are employed to find active objects (cells) inside of each well (Figure 2c) utilizing this image. Established on the dynamic fluorescent intensity of each distinct cell, intensity traces are shown for each active cell within the culture (Figure 2d). Scanning is normally performed once every 24 hours. As illustrated in these sample traces of iPSC-derived iCell GlutaNeurons (Cellular Dynamics), the activity inside of these cultures can dramatically vary each day with the maturation of the network. In this example, there is minimal activity on the fourth day, a gradual increase on the seventh day, and highly synchronous activity can be observed on day 12 and day 17. Once the data has been acquired, multiple automated metrics are determined at each scan time and for each well. This enables easy visualization of dynamic metrics over the total duration of the experiment (Table 1). Figure 2. Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience and Neuronal Activity Application. Quick guide workflow of NeuroBurst Orange infection protocol (A). The Neuronal Activity user interface is capable of displaying object traces, viewing movies, and longitudinal data of neuronal activity from each well (B). Fluorescent range image and automated segmentation mask of each active object represents a snapshot of activity over the complete scan (C). An example of iCell GlutaNeuron calcium traces from each 3 min scan indicate changing neuronal activity (fluorescence intensity) over 17 days in culture (D). Image Credit: Sartorius Table 1. Neuronal Activity Analysis Metrics. Source: Sartorius Metric Description Active Object Count (1/image) The number of objects (cells/cell clusters) that burst at least once above the Minimum Burst threshold over the total scan time. Mean Intensity (OCU) The mean intensity of an object over the total scan time. All objects within the image are calculated individually, then values are averaged. Mean Correlation Every object is compared to every other object in the image to generate a value between -1 and 1, with 0 being completely random and 1 being highly synchronized. This is a measure of network connectivity. Mean Burst Duration (sec) The duration of each calcium burst over the total scan time is calculated individually, then values are averaged. Mean Burst Rate (1/min) The number of calcium bursts over the total scan time divided by the scan time in min. Mean Burst Strength (OCU) The area under each calcium burst divided by the duration of that burst is calculated individually. then values are averaged. Results Optimization of Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange Primary rat neurons (E18) co-cultured with primary rat astrocytes present a well-validated model for the investigation of neuronal activity. In this investigation, E18 rat forebrain neurons were plated at declining cell densities (5 to 40,000 per well) in co-culture with a set amount of rat astrocytes (15,000 per well). As presented in Figure 3a, fluorescence intensity inside the range image strongly corresponds with cell density. The greatest amount of activity can be seen at 40,000 neurons per well. The range image additionally gives the user a qualitative evaluation of toxicity, morphology, and transduction efficiency. Summary traces of neuronal activity offer a quantitative evaluation of the activity inside of each well. The density of the tested neurons was ideal for the visualization of neuronal activity inside of each scan (Figure 3b) and the identification of active objects through the entire duration of 12 days (Figure 3c). Figure 3. Functional activity of primary neurons. Primary rat forebrain neurons were seeded at 40K (rows A and B), 20K (rows C and D), 10K (rows E and F), and 5K (rows G and H) cells / well. All densities of neurons were plated in a co-culture with primary rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well and transduced with the NeuroBurst Orange Reagent. 96-well vessel view of the range image over the course of the scan provides a snapshot of active wells at each time point (A). Summary traces of fluorescence intensity across all active objects for the 96-well plate at day 12 provide an overview of activity and display metrics of bursting intensity, active object number and mean correlation (B). 96-well throughput with high kinetic reproducibility over 12 days in culture (C). Image Credit: Sartorius Long term expression of NeuroBurst GECI does not impact functional measurements of neuronal activity In a live-cell, long-term experiment, it is crucial that the reagents employed for cell analysis do not disturb the functional biology of the culture. This verifies that any observed fluctuations are a consequence of the experimental conditions instead of the reagent utilized to identify them. To confirm that long term expression of the GECI does not negatively affect synchronicity or activity of iPSC-derived neurons, co-cultures of iCell GlutaNeurons were infected 3 or 21 days following culture initiation to establish if variations in activity could be monitored as a function of length of GECI expression. No measurable variation in neuronal activity was observed (Figure 4). Acute toxicities related to viral transduction was also not observed given that a careful exploration of ideal viral concentration was carried out (data not shown). This data shows that the presence of the GECI does not buffer calcium to the degree that an influence on the biology is noted, and that acute toxicities related to viral infection can be mitigated with accurate experimental optimization. Figure 4. Long term expression of NeuroBurst Orange GECI does not alter neuronal activity. iCell GlutaNeurons were seeded at 30K cells/well with a co-culture of primary rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well on 96- well culture plates. Neurons were infected with NeuroBurst Orange reagent at either day 3 or 21 following plating. Active object number (A) and mean correlation (B) was monitored and analyzed over a period of 27 days. Data points represent Mean SEM. Image Credit: Sartorius Culture conditions impact neuronal activity Neuronal function can be affected by cell culture conditions. Complete BrainPhys Neuronal Medium is a neurophysiological, serum-free basal medium specifically produced for optimized neuronal function. Peri.4Ucells were cultured, iPSC-derived peripheral neurons supplied from Ncardia, in either the media provided by the manufacturer or BrainPhys medium (Neuro.4U; Figure 5) to evaluate whether the media could influence the function of iPSC derived neurons. Qualitative evaluation of cell morphology did not show significant variations in neuronal network structure or cell health. Quantitative measurements of neuronal function show that each of the media types assisted neuronal activity with significantly increased activity noted during the first three days of culture. The quantity of active objects noted in the Ncardia medium were greater than in complete BrainPhys medium. Interestingly, while the synchronicity of cells in both culture conditions continued to be low for the duration of the 25 day investigation, higher synchronicity was observed in co-cultures developed in BrainPhys medium in contrast with Ncardia medium. While variations in environmental factors (supplements and media) do not seem to influence qualitative assessments of network complexity and neuronal morphology, this data shows that there were noticeable changes in neuronal connectivity and function. Figure 5. Culture conditions impact neuronal activity. Peri.4U neurons were seeded at 25K cells/wells with a co-culture of primary rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well on 96-well culture plates. Neurons were infected with NeuroBurst Orange reagent at day 2. Cells were then cultured in Complete BrainPhys Medium or Neuro.4U Medium Morphology of the neurons was not affected by media differences (A and B). Active object number (C) and mean correlation (D) were plotted over 25 days in culture. Data points represent Mean SEM. Image Credit: Sartorius Kinetic profile of different iPSC-derived neurons Utilizing the NeuroBurst Orange Reagent and the Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience, four different kinds of iPSC-derived neurons were investigated during 30 to 50 days in culture. These were iCell GlutaNeurons (Figure 6a), iCell GABANeurons (Figure 6b), iCell DopaNeurons (Figure 6c) co-cultured with primary rat astrocytes, along with CNS.4U neurons (Figure 6d). iCell GlutaNeurons, classified as human glutamatergic-enriched cortical neurons derived from iPSCs, demonstrated a quick induction of calcium burst activity in less than 1,500 cells that became strongly correlated during 10 days of co-culture. iCell GABANeurons, described as a culture of less than 95% pure population of GABAergic (inhibitory) neurons, additionally showed an efficient increase in the quantity of cells with calcium burst activity during the first week of co-culture. iCell GABANeurons did not exhibit strong correlation at any tested duration of time, in accordance with their inhibitory phenotype. A more detailed evaluation of cellular activity at day 14, presented as object traces during the complete 3 minute scan (Figure 6a and b), supports the identification of a large number of active cells in the iCell Gluta- and GABANeurons; the former showing a stronger calcium burst synchronicity and intensity in comparison with the latter. Interestingly, the kinetics of iCell DopaNeuron activity was very similar to iCell GlutaNeurons, demonstrating a highly efficient induction of strongly correlated, highly active networks during the first 10 days of culture. The CNS.4U cells from Ncardia signify an in vitro co-culture model of hiPSC-derived astrocytes and neurons. These cells demonstrated a high amount of activity from almost 1,200 cells during the first week of culture and an increase in correlated activity (network connectivity) at around day 34 in culture, attaining a correlation of 0.7 at day 45 when the investigation ended. Figure 6. Functional activity of different iPSC-derived neurons. iCell GlutaNeurons, iCell GABANeurons, iCell DopaNeurons (Cellular Dynamics International) and CNS.4U neurons (Ncardia) were all seeded at 20K cells/ well. iCell GlutaNeurons, iCell GABANeurons and iCell DopaNeurons were also plated with a co-culture of rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/ well. Neurons were infected with NeuroBurst Orange reagent, and active object number and mean correlation were quantified for up to 45 days. Example calcium oscillation traces and kinetic graphs of activity metrics over time for iCell GlutaNeurons (A) and iCell GABANeurons (B). Mean correlation and active object number were quantified for iCell DopaNeurons (25 days) (C) and CNS.4U neurons (45 days) (D). Data points represent Mean SEM. Image Credit: Sartorius Measurements of neuronal structure vs. function Peripheral neuropathies are a widespread side effect of chemotherapeutic drugs like paclitaxel (Taxol) and are related to loss of sensory function and numbness. To examine the possible neurotoxic effects, primary rat cortical neurons were initially co-cultured with primary rat astrocytes for 11 days, helping the cultures to stabilize and mature. Baseline measurements of morphology and activity were taken each day utilizing Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange and Incucyte Neurolight Orange respectively (Figure 7). Cultures were treated with various concentrations of Taxol on day 11. Morphology and activity were observed for an additional 11 days in culture. Figure 7 shows that by day 21, at sub-nanomolar (less than 10 to 9 M) concentrations of Taxol, only small variations in neurite length were noted, while a decrease in neuronal activity arose (Figure 7c). Separate well traces demonstrated both time- and concentration-dependent responses of neuronal activity after Taxol treatment, as presented in Figure 7d. Figure 7. Measurements of neuronal structure vs. function. Rat cortical neurons seeded at 30K cells/well were co-cultured with rat astrocytes seeded at 15K cells/well and transduced with NeuroBurst Orange or NeuroLight Orange at day 3 in culture. Live-cell analysis measurements were made each day using Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience. After 11 days, neural networks had fully formed and stabilized. Taxol or vehicle control was then added, and cultures were monitored for an additional 11 days. Time-courses of neurite development (A) and neuronal activity (B) prior to, and after the addition of, control or increasing concentrations of Taxol are shown. Potency (IC50 values) plotted against time post-treatment for neuronal activity (grey) and neurite length (orange) (C). Data is expressed as % neurite length or active object count, normalized to the pre-treatment value. Data points represent Mean SEM. Neuronal activity summary traces at pre-treatment and at 5, 10- and 15-days post-treatment display decreased activity levels over the course of the experiment (D). Image Credit: Sartorius Conclusions In this white paper, data was presented to demonstrate the use of the Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience to develop and characterize a range of neuronal phenotypes and their maturation to model their function in vitro. This single live-cell imaging platform enables researchers to evaluate calcium flux kinetics and consistently track the morphology of neuronal populations over the long-term. This is achieved by utilizing non-invasive reagents, tested protocols that are cell-sparing, and a guided, built-in interface for non-experts offered by the Incucyte S3 Neuronal Activity Analysis Software Module. The system can be employed within the incubator of the operator under physiological conditions. The Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange reagent was also introduced, which is a genetically-encoded fluorescent calcium sensor that is non-disruptive, robust, and can be utilized with a range of neuronal cell types (for example iPSC-derived models and primary neurons). This reagent allows scientists to establish when neuronal activity begins and how this activity consistently alters over time, with minimal disturbance and quantitative observation of morphological differences. Random Ca2+ oscillations can be recorded and captured directly from thousands of neurons during weeks and months. Evaluation is thoroughly assisted with cell-by-cell data via segmentation, and turnkey real time visualization of both compressed and raw data. As outlined above, the reagents and the system can offer beneficial, real world kinetic information regarding neuronal network connectivity and activity in neurological models that may be overlooked by conventional end-point analysis. The Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience was employed to evaluate the influence of supplements and media on the function and morphology of iPSC-derived neurons in the context of calcium bursting. As outlined, greater quantities of active cells were detected inside Peri.4U cultures with the use of the Ncardia Medium opposed to the Complete BrainPhys Medium, but there was a higher synchronicity in co-cultures with BrainPhys Medium. This demonstrates how the quantification of calcium bursting with real-time imaging can identify small functional modifications in response to variations in supplement and media. Understanding when iPSC-derived neurons are functionally active, how to enhance their activity, and receiving knowledge about the synaptic connectivity of cultured neurons has eluded neuroscience researchers in the past. Utilizing mainly GABA and Gluta iPSC-derived neuronal models, the Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience has been shown to offer a way of evaluating a range of cell models utilizing suitable quantitative metrics (such as cellular activity and neurite length.) The research on CNS.4U neurons, which generate spontaneous activity within days but take less than 30 days to show synaptic connectivity, strongly shows how these models can significantly vary from one another. Finally, the throughput and robustness offered by the Incucyte system allows scientists to focus on the isolation of variables in order to enhance the development of iPSC-derived neuronal models. The Incucyte S3 for Neuroscience offers a total end-to-end solution for the evaluation of neuronal phenotypes and their maturation. Along with neuronal cell function, it additionally provides crucial data for a broad range of neurological questions that may be overlooked by other techniques. Resources Discover more information on the Neuroscience Literature and Resource page. Further information can be found online from www.sartorius.com/incucyte Related protocols Incucyte S3 Neuronal Activity Assay Reagents Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange Instrumentation Incucyte S3 Live-Cell Analysis System for Neuroscience Information on instruments, reagents, and software Reagents, Software and Consumables for Neuroscience Research Neuronal activity reagent ordering information Table 2. Source: Sartorius Product Description Cat. No. Incucyte S3 Live-Cell Analysis System for Neuroscience Includes image acquisition and analysis system with 4x, 10x, and 20x objectives Controller with 16.4 TB storage HD Dual Color Orange/NIR Optical Module 4763 Incucyte S3 Neuronal Activity Analysis Software Module Enables microplate analysis of neuronal activity via fluorescent calcium detection and movie mode acquisition. 9600-0032 Incucyte NeuroBurst Orange Lentiviral Reagent Live-cell neuronal labeling reagent for long-term expression of a fluorescent genetically-encoded calcium indicator. 4736 Incucyte NeuroActive Orange Cell Kit One kit: IncuCyte NeuroBurst Orange Lentiviral Reagent IncuCyte rAstrocytes IncuCyte rCortical Neurons 4761 Acknowledgments Produced from materials originally authored by Aaron Overland1, John Rauch1, Libby Oupicka1, Susana Lopez Alcantara2, Nevine Holtz1, Nicholas Dana2, Eric Endsley1, Dave Rock1, Jill Granger1, Del Trezise2, Tim Dale2, and Daniel M. Appledorn1 from: 1. Essen BioScience, Inc., USA 2. Essen BioScience, Ltd., United Kingdom About Sartorius Sartorius is a leading international pharmaceutical and laboratory equipment supplier. With our innovative products and services, we are helping our customers across the entire globe to implement their complex and quality-critical biomanufacturing and laboratory processes reliably and economically. The Group companies are united under the roof of Sartorius AG, which is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and holds the majority stake in Sartorius Stedim Biotech S.A. Quoted on the Paris Stock Exchange, this subgroup is comprised mainly of the Bioprocess Solutions Division. Innovative Technologies Enable Medical Progress A growing number of medications are biopharmaceuticals. These are produced using living cells in complex, lengthy and expensive procedures. The Bioprocess Solutions Division provides the essential products and technologies to accomplish this. In fact, Sartorius has been pioneering and setting the standards for single-use products that are currently used throughout all biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. Making Lab Life Easier Lab work is complex and demanding: Despite repetitive analytical routines, lab staff must perform each step in a highly concentrated and careful way for accurate results. The Lab Products and Services Division helps lab personnel excel because its products, such as laboratory balances, pipettes and lab consumables, minimize human error, simplify workflows and reduce physical workloads Sponsored Content Policy: News-Medical.net publishes articles and related content that may be derived from sources where we have existing commercial relationships, provided such content adds value to the core editorial ethos of News-Medical.Net which is to educate and inform site visitors interested in medical research, science, medical devices and treatments. The economic destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and extended lockdown has created difficult trading conditions for many companies in South Africa. With thousands of businesses closing their doors, South African IT and telecoms companies have lost many of their clients during the lockdown. To compensate for the lost revenue, companies have to sign up new clients which in the current economic environment is easier said than done. Many companies and consumers are under financial pressure and selling new products to them is difficult. The marketing and sales process is further constrained by smaller advertising budgets and less resources. It is therefore no surprise that most ICT companies are moving their marketing budgets to online and digital advertising, which produce a much higher return-on-investment. The fact that South Africans are now spending more time online than ever before especially consuming online news further explains the rapid move to online advertising. Creating a sustainable lead-generation campaign Many companies who contact MyBroadband for advertising campaigns are only interested in generating leads. This is understandable, because of pressure on companies to generate sales, but it is not an optimal or sustainable solution. The best way to explain it is to see a potential client as a person you want to marry. Nobody walks up to a stranger and asks them Will you marry me?. Instead, you first introduce yourself, give them a chance to know you, create a bond, and then, when they are ready, you ask them to marry you in the hope that they will say yes. This is the same with new clients. They should get to know your company first and have trust in the brand before you ask them to buy your products or services. Introduce your company using articles and social media promotions Create brand awareness and trust using display advertising and case studies Launch a content marketing campaign to generate leads This tried and tested method to build a sustainable marketing campaign has proven to be very successful for many MyBroadband clients. Great tools to help you One of the questions which many people have is how they know where potential clients are in the marketing and sales cycle. The good news is there are now tools available to help companies to accurately track a potential customers full online journey. From the moment that you publish your first article and it is posted to social media, you can track who interacted with your content. After they read your article or saw your social media post, you can start to display advertising to them and show them case studies to build trust. You then track their reactions to these campaigns, and when you are confident they know and trust your company, you target them with lead-generation campaigns. The whole process is automated, which means you design and set up your campaign once and let it run. Learn more To learn more about these tools and how to launch a comprehensive marketing campaign with tracking, contact Kevin Lancaster [email protected] Sure, have it your waybut at least know which rules you're breaking when you do While fast food isnt the hamburgers only venue, it was engineered for life on the go from the very first prototype. According to the official hamburger creation story, as certified by the Library of Congress, the era began in 1900, when a customer rushed into Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. He needed some fast food he could grab and go, long before those terms had been coined. Louis Lassen, whod opened the place five years earlier, served him a ground beef patty between two pieces of sliced bread, and the burger was born. Louis Lunch, the birthplace of the American burger, in New Haven, Conn. (F11photo/Shutterstock) This hot, juicy, tender steak sandwich would find its way onto almost every restaurant menu in America, including some of the fanciest. But because the burger is at its best when eaten one-handed, it was the burger and not apple pie that built the drive-thru, just as Babe Ruth built Yankee Stadium. And the lifestyle that the drive-thru enabled, for better or worse, has become as American as ketchup. Have It Your Way Louis Lunch could have had the first-movers advantage in this growth industry, but opted for a simpler path. A sign on the wall announces, This isnt Burger King. You cant have it your way. The website explains this defiant approach: We want you to experience the meats true flavor, so we serve it on white toast and only offer cheese, onion, and tomato as garnishes. All the usual condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, mayo, and hot sauce, not to mention extras like pickles and lettuce, are forbidden. The original burger on white toast with cheese, onions, and tomatoesand nothing elseat Louis Lunch in New Haven, Conn. (ZhengZhou via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0) Call me too American, but I resonate with Burger Kings have it your way philosophy. And I am in awe of what the Big Mac accomplishes, at a squeezable 2.75-inches high, bringing together two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on not one but three sesame seed buns, so that each bite contains all of the elements. Its masterful. But who am I to tell Louis Lunch to not do it their way? Inventing the burger has earned them that right. They have managed to stay in business for more than 120 years, too. And they even serve apple pie. Whatever hamburger you make or get served, here are some rules to eat it by. Follow them or not, but at the very least, I believe its helpful to know the rules youre breaking. Rules of the Burger Rule No. 1: The first rule of eating a hamburger is we dont talk about eating, or anything else, while chewing our burgers. Along these lines, there is a good argument to be made that a burger is best eaten alone. Otherwise, see Rule No. 2. Rule No. 2: Dont offer anyone a bite of a half-eaten burger, no matter how much you want them to experience its deliciousness. Even under the best of circumstances, a hamburger, like a new car, drops in value the minute you drive it off the lot. A crumbling meat patty held together by soggy buns, with mayod tomato slices squeezing out the sides and juices dripping into a puddle on the plate is generally a sight that only appeals to the one who ate the other half. Rule No. 3: Dont get hurt. A snake can dislocate its jaws to ingest something larger than its head. You are not a snake. In 2010, Taiwanese dentists began sounding the alarm about an increase in jaw dislocations thanks to a hamburger arms race among Taipei burger joints, whose burgers were getting dangerously big. I can almost relate. In the passionate pursuit of burger-y gastronomic pleasure, I have also struggled against my own anatomy to open my mouth wide enough to take a proper bite. I remember feeling the bones on the sides of my face roll by each other, almost past the point of no return, before I came to my senses and realized it wasnt worth it. While the Taiwanese dentists targeted fast-food restaurants, here in the United States, the threat of jaw dislocation by hamburger lurks closer to home. Handmade patties tend to be rounder and thicker than their commercial counterparts. And while fast food buns seem designed to melt away at first bite, some buns will add dangerous inches to your burgers height. Thats why I actually appreciate the sliced bread they use at Louis Lunch. The embrace of the bun has been a mistake, because bread slices do a great job without making your burger taller. A pair of chewy pieces of sourdough toast wont wilt away and leave your hands full of burger mess like a flimsy fast-food bun might. Instead, those toasted slices can keep the contents contained and focused on your mouth. But if such decisions are out of your hands, and your burger arrives dangerously tall, ask for it to be cut in half. This gives you entry points to bite that wont send you to the emergency room with your mouth locked into a scream position. Louis Lunch, to its credit, serves its burgers sliced in half. If only they had aioli. Rule No. 4: Dont let go. While a pristine burger is a thing of beauty and balance, once the first bite is taken, it wants to explode. Putting that burger down increases those odds. Sometimes, of course, you have to readjust. Just do it carefully, with full awareness of the risks. Rule No. 5: Dont forget the fixings and condiments; its never too late. Sometimes, you get served a burger and realize something is missing. Or you make one at home and realize something is wrong. Or halfway through that burger, for whatever reason, you just arent getting enough ketchup in your bites. You need to make an adjustment, but cant risk putting it down, much less opening it up and rebuilding it on the inside. Instead, apply a modest amount of whatever condiment you need with surgical precision to the area you are about to bite. Maybe you dab some mayo with a spoon, spurt some hot or hoisin sauce, or dip the corner of the burger into a dish of aioli. Always ask if they have aioli. And always sip wine as you chew, not beer. A hamburgers greatness lies in being a perfectly embellished hot steak sandwich, and if anything demands wine, its steak. Ari LeVaux writes about food in Missoula, Mont. Gurugram: July 13th, 2020 - As India embarks upon rapid economic recovery post-COVID, it should not go back to grey hazy sky and grey waters in its rivers and water bodies that marked the kind of poor health of environment in the pre-Covid times, rather it should focus on Decentralization, Decarburization and Discipline as the three pillars of strength for economic recovery said Eminent Scientist Dr RA Mashelkar, past President of Indian National Science Academy and former Director General of CSIR while delivering the Amity Eminent Webinar today organized by Amity University Gurugram. The Post Covid world will be totally different than the world in which we have lived so far. The devastating impact of Covid Pandemic has made inequality to rise exponentially, it has badly disrupted livelihood throwing 49 million people from poverty to extreme poverty in just 3 months. As such we need new economic models based on the 3 Rs, Restart, Rebuild and Recover fast with blue sky and blue river waters that shall create the post Covid prosperous, healthy and happy world said Dr. Mashelkar while delivering his Keynote Address on Reinventing and Re-imagining the Post-Covid World. Deliberating in great details on the post- Covid world Dr. Mashelkar further opined that the need for physical distancing would have to continue for some more time and work from home shall become a new normal for hybrid workforce models for most industries and corporates that may be based on three days from home and two days of physical presence in the office. The skilled workforce of tomorrow shall also be able to perform multiple jobs and time sharing would become a new normal. Aatmasanyam, Self-discipline and Aatmabiswas should be an integral part of recovery from the Covid crisis, said DrMashelkar. Greatly admiring the call of the Honble Prime Minister of India for AatmaNirbhar Bharat Dr. Mashelkar said that AatmaNirbbharta should not be taken as isolation rather should be inclusive of integration with global supply chain. He further emphasized on 5 pillars for developing AatmaNirbhar Bharat that include Buy, Make, Make to Buy better, Buy to Make Betterand lastly Make it Together. For all this continuous innovation shall remain the key for success. India can do it and do it fast. He cited the example of the 1990s when India was denied Super Computer for its space research but within no time India developed its own super computer PARAM Super, making the advanced nations of the world to say that Angry India Does It. Indias scientist and technologist have great capabilities and during the challenging times they can surpass the imagination of the world in respect their scientific outcome. Today we are in times of great challenge and thus the call for Aatma Nirbhar Bharat must be taken in the right spirit, said Dr. Mashelkar. India can do it, it is doable and must be done. Placing his great emphasis on the three Ts namely, Talent, Technology and Trust Dr Mashelkar was of the opinion that great opportunities lie ahead for Indian Scientist and Technologist to take leadership position like they did in making IT as Indian Talent that surpassed the imagination of the advanced nations of the world, DrMashelkar however cautioned that our efforts to rebuilt post-Covid world should ensure that the marginalized do not become more marginalized, as such, we need to ensure that high technology is made to work for the advantage of the poor, creating both the employment as well as livelihood for over 80% population that lives in the villages of rural areas. Dr Mashelkar recalled his recent participation in the Higher Education Conclave organized by Secretary General of UN wherein he has shared his thought on how digital transformation could bring about a sea chance in improving both the quality and access of education including higher education. He even informed that among other thoughts that emerged at the UN Global Higher Education Conclave it was the view that beyond the 17 SDGs we now need the 18th SDG and that is of access to digital infrastructure for one and all. Responding to a question from the audience about the testing times for those Indian students who were desirous of going abroad for PG and PhDs but are unable to join their universities due to continuing Corona Pandemic, Dr Mashelkar said that look towards India and its great universities, and there is no dearth of such universities in India. Incidentally Dr Mashelkar had all his education in India including his PhD from the Institute of Chemical Technology of VJTI Mumbai under the illustrious mentorship of globally renowned scientist Dr MM Sharma. Dr Mashelkar gave five Mashelkar mantras to the young students. These are 1.Your Aspirations are your Possibilities, 2. Nurture Perseverance in you, 3.There is no substitute of Hard Work, 4. Keep Knocking on Opportunities and lastly 5. There is no limit to human ingenuity and imagination. You must be optimistic and say that the best is yet to come. Responding to another question on how could latest technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Data Science can benefit the poor Dr Mashelkar said that AI and Data Science will ensure a more robust planning of Atmanirbhar Bharat and shall also help in further refining our scientific tools of decision making to minimize waste and improve productivity of rural economy. We are currently sitting on a goldmine of opportunity to create a new wave of rural entrepreneurship powered by the innovative genius of young India, said Dr Mashelkar. In the words of reverence, the Founder President of Amity Education Group, Dr Ashok K Chauhan said the Amity Education group is aligned to Dr Mashelkars mantra of Innovate and Excel. In amity Innovation is the life current of our education and research pursuits. Declaring it as one of the most important lectures in his life, the Founder President expressed his profound happiness in having Dr Mashelkar for such a thought proving action packed webinar Honble Chancellor of Amity University Haryana, Dr.Aseem Chauhan further expressed his profound delight in listening to the globally renowned thought leader Dr Mashelkar who so deeply connected to Amity University. In line with your vision we in Amity are laying a great emphasis on research outcome, innovation and start-ups. Our Amity Innovation Incubator is the flagship of our commitment to cause innovations and start-ups in plenty said, Chancellor Dr Aseem Chauhan. The Moderator of the webinar Vice Chancellor AUH Prof PB Sharma thanked all the participants and expressed his gratitude to Dr Mashelkar for such an inspiring and motivation lecture. Prof Sharma also thanked Dr Sanjana Vij for coordination and Dr JS Sondhi and his team for excellent IT support of making the webinar so successful. Rapid City Regional Airport is seeing a slight increase in passengers, but it is nowhere near the number of people seen before the coronavirus swept across the nation. The airport is assuming a 65% reduction in travelers in and out of the airport for the rest of the year due to COVID-19, Deputy Director Toni Broom said Tuesday at an Airport Board meeting. According to airline data provided to the airport, 151,933 passengers arrived in Rapid City from January 2019 to June 2019. This year, 74,075 have arrived. Airport travel in January and February 2020 was up significantly over the previous year, but as the coronavirus began to spread across the nation, the number of people flying to Rapid City dropped dramatically. Rapid City Regional Airport had 1,844 passengers arrive in April 2020. In 2019, the number was 22,213. The trend continued in May and June, with a nearly 78% decrease in arriving passengers in May and an estimated 75% decrease in June. Broom also said the airport is expecting to recover slightly as more people are flying. "We are starting to see an uptick in the passenger numbers. It's difficult to measure because we don't get those numbers until the back end (of the month)," she said. "But those numbers are starting to pick up." Broom said some airlines are beginning to bring back a handful of seasonal routes to the airport and that many travelers come here to visit area attractions and enjoy social distancing opportunities. "This is primarily because we're Mount Rushmore, we're South Dakota. We have a lot of people coming here for the drive market because of the wide-open spaces out here," she said. Through the pandemic, Rapid City Regional Airport has been above the national average in traffic, according to Broom. Face-mask policy discussed With the upcoming Sturgis rally and other events in the Black Hills, Airport Board Vice President Rod Pettigrew voiced concern over travelers not taking precautions in light of the coronavirus. "I would like to see the airport adopt a face-mask policy," Pettigrew said. "We're going to have thousands of people here due to the rally and it's only respectful of your fellow human beings, people coming in from other parts of the country, to protect us that are here by wearing face masks." All airlines flying in and out of Rapid City require passengers to wear face masks while onboard the plane, but that requirement stops when passengers enter the terminal building. Airport Board President Darren Haar said requiring masks at the airport would be a challenge. "I don't know that we can require it because I don't know how we could enforce it," he said. Broom said most travelers are doing a "good job" of social distancing and wearing masks at the airport, but enforcement would be an issue since it is a public building and there is no ordinance requiring face masks in Rapid City. "We can certainly put up signs encouraging people to wear them," she said. Broom said the airport received face masks from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and staff will begin exploring ways to distribute them to travelers who wish to wear one. Contact Assistant Managing Editor Nathan Thompson at nathan.thompson@rapidcityjournal.com. You must be logged in to react. Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. If you have been following the RIL AGM since past couple if years, it shouldnt come as a surprise that the announcements made by the firm at its AGM also includes the unveiling of certain services, apps or hardware products. Reliance Industries Limited or RIL has already announced its 43rd Annual General Meeting (AGM) for July 15. And while we have told you what to expect from the event, in this one well tell you why is it important. If you have been following the RIL AGM since past couple if years, it shouldnt come as a surprise that the announcements made by the firm at its AGM also includes the unveiling of certain services, apps or hardware products. This is not something that just effects the firm and its shareholders but also effects the masses and reveals the direction in which the company is moving towards. At this years AGM, the company could talk more about its recent investment spree and how was this made possible. It may also talk about different segment where the effect of this deal might be visible in future. Also read: RIL AGM 2020: Jio Fiber trajectory could grab the spotlight Also, worth mentioning is that Reliance already has a massive crowd on its Jio connectivity and apps, and introducing new plans or a new hardware with certain Jio-specific offers will impact those millions of users. Its broadband fiber service comes bundled with a 4K set-top-box, console gaming, video calling, AR and VR support. So, announcing new plans and features on that front will also impact all those who are a part of the service. Not to forget, Jio has been delivering this at aggressive prices, beating Airtel and Vodafone plans something that helps it rope in more customers. Last year, the highlight of the 42nd AGM was the announcement of Jio Fiber service. Reliance also announced it will create the worlds largest blockchain network. It plans to use blockchain technology across industries and to off users data privacy. It added that it is setting up a pan-India edge computing network. But thats not all, Jio also makes announces that wont effect the end users directly but helps it expand its business more. For instance, Reliance Jio and Microsoft last year announced their partnership to accelerate digital transformation in India. The company said it will set up data centers across India with Microsoft powering them with its Azure services. There is only so much you can say in 400 or so words thats why I am going to dig deeper into the theme of my last column, which presented the general context and statistics for youth unemployment in the economic recession that is unfolding. While there is no silver bullet for fixing this difficult economic situation, there are a number of factors to consider regarding the needs of those disproportionately affected by this global pandemic young people. Its often the case that the voice of young people is not considered when it comes to decision-making. In this respect, its perhaps appropriate to begin by sending out a friendly reminder that we have an election around the corner. Unfortunately, the reality is that young people are the group in society least likely to engage in elections. This apathy needs to change and voting must be understood as an act that shows care for the wellbeing of our community and nation. This election is the time to press political parties on their policy addressing the Covid-19 consequences for youth. It is imperative that there is a targeted youth recovery plan to combat persistent youth unemployment and under-employment, which bring such harmful social and economic costs. A good start for any plan would be to engage. Engage with educators, employers, civil society, youth organisations, and local authorities to shape a policy framework that promotes the long-term needs of young people. And to give credit where it is due, the governments targeted training and apprenticeship scheme is a positive step in the right direction to help transition to a new pathway in critical industries with no burden of cost. Another point for consideration is encouraging and facilitating innovation. In recent times young people have demonstrated their passion for protecting and caring for our environment. Why not build on this enthusiasm by providing grant funding for youth- led innovation projects? Often youth have all sorts of ideas, but they need the support to activate them. Lets help our young change-makers to rise up. Furthermore, our local youth organisations are doing great work on the ground in our communities to support young people. They could benefit from extra support to further the reach of their valuable services. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Young people your voice is needed this election as we ride this road to recovery. Elections in their purest form are a contest of ideas. Lets make sure the ideas promoted are ones that will provide opportunity and inspire confidence in empowering youth for a changing future. At first glance, the Bonhomme Richard looks much like a smaller version of a Navy aircraft carrier: It has an 800-foot-long flight deck from bow to stern that carries helicopters and F-35 jets. But its primary mission is as a massive amphibious assault ship, capable of carrying about 1,200 Marines and landing them on a beach with amphibious vehicles while its aircraft simultaneously provide close-air support. Commissioned in 1998, the Bonhomme Richard, named for Benjamin Franklin using his pen name, is one of eight ships in its class, and was nearing the end of a lengthy period of shipyard repairs following a six-year deployment with the Navys Seventh Fleet in Sasebo, Japan. The exact cause of the blaze was unclear. But Admiral Sobeck said sailors on board said that it had started in a cavernous open area used for storing trucks and amphibious vehicles used by Marines and that it may have been fueled by heavy-duty cardboard boxes and other materials in storage. Admiral Sobeck said one of the ships methods of fire suppression, its halon system, was not operating because it was being worked on in the shipyard. But since halon is typically installed only in certain discrete compartments, such as in engine rooms, it was not clear whether that had an impact in fighting the fire. A pillar of smoke from the Bonhomme Richard has swept south with the prevailing winds, driving a plume carrying bits of paint, asphalt, plastic and ash across Imperial Beach, Calif., and into Mexico. In the opposite direction, residents have also reported smelling smoke from the fire as far away as Del Mar, 25 miles north. The San Diego County Air Pollution Control District warned on Monday that the thick smoke swelling from the ship could pose health risks because of rising levels of fine particulates. In areas of heavy smoke, assume that air quality levels are unhealthy for sensitive groups to unhealthy for all individuals, the district warned. In February, Li Hoi-wo, the owner of a restaurant in Hong Kong, started serving pudding to 30,000 Hong Kong police officers for free to express her gratitude for their efforts in safeguarding the city. (Photo/cctvnewscenter) Over the past year, I saw a lot of police officers cry when they were slandered, stigmatized, and attacked by violent radicals. But they chose to stay on duty. When I served the desserts, I told them that the food was an expression of kindness from Hong Kong citizens, Li said. Lis restaurant was thrust into the limelight last year when many people poured in to support her after she suffered online bullying for backing Hong Kong police. I do not regret supporting the police, Li insisted. (Photo/cctvnewscenter) As well as ordering food, patriotic Hong Kong residents also signed their names on posters supporting Hong Kong police. Mary Trump will break her silence with a tell-all interview on ABC's 'Good Morning America' after a judge ruled she is free to promote her memoir about President Donald Trump and their family. The interview is scheduled to air Wednesday morning and will be the first time the people can hear from the author herself about life in the Trump family. George Stephanopoulos sat down with Mary Trump on Tuesday. ABC News released a photo of the interview. Judge Hal Greenwald of the New York State Supreme Court stopped the Trump family's attempt to gag Mary Trump from talking about her book - 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man' - which is being released today. It's already topped Amazon.com's best seller list and the publisher sent out advance copies to several news outlets, including DailyMail.com. George Stephanopoulos interviews Mary Trump for ABC's 'Good Morning America'; the interview will air Wednesday Mary Trump's book about her famous family is published on Tuesday, despite family concerns Mary Trump, seen sitting at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office during a April 2017 visit to the White House, is scheduled to appear on ABC's 'Good Morning America' on Wednesday Mary Trump, a trained psychologist, explores in the book how the role President Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, played in his life and his development. She wrote in the book she has 'no problem calling Donald a narcissist - he meets all nine criteria as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' But Mary Trump had been unable to personally talk about it after Robert Trump, President Trump's brother, argued that the book violated a confidentiality agreement related to Fred Trump's estate. Mary Trump is President Trump's niece, the daughter of his eldest brother Fred Trump, who died in 1981 due to complications from alcohol. However the courts ruled in her favor - both in publishing the book and letting her discuss it. Judge Greenwald ruled that stopping publication was a 'moot' point because the book had already been distributed to sellers and publicized in the media. 'Notwithstanding that the book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot,' he wrote. Robert Trump, who is barely mentioned in the book, led the lawsuit that attempted to stop Mary Trump from publishing it, citing an agreement she signed following a financial settlement after her grandfather's death. Greenwald refused to apply a broad view of the estate settlement, saying that 'what was confidential was the financial aspect.' 'The parties agreed to keep the settlement under seal. That's it,' Greenwald wrote of the deal that was executed at a time when 'the Trump family were New York based real estate developers and not much else.' Mary Trump's book is the second insider account of Trump to be published this summer. Former National Security Adviser John Bolton published his memoir of working in the White House last month - a book the administration tried to stop from being published. Mary Trump, a trained psychologist, explores in the book how the role the president's father, Fred Trump, played in his life and his development. She wrote in the book she has 'no problem calling Donald a narcissist - he meets all nine criteria as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.' She also calls the president a 'sociopath' and claims his life work has been an effort o please his difficult father, Fred Trump. Mary Trump, in her book, calls Fred Sr a high functioning sociopath, marked by a lack of empathy, a facility for lying and a lack of interest in others The White House has disputed book's claims, which includes the charge that the president cheated on his SATs, paying a friend to take them for him so he could attend the University of Pennsylvania's famous Wharton School of Business A spokesperson said the book was written 'clearly in the author's own financial self-interest.' 'The President describes the relationship he had with his father as warm and said his father was very good to him,' White House spokeswoman Sarah Matthews said earlier this month. 'Also, the absurd SAT allegation is completely false.' The book paints a dark portrait of the Trump family and says that the President's father Fred Sr neglected him so much it amounted to 'child abuse'. The psychological damage was such that Donald became a sociopath, a narcissist and a threat to the entire country, according to Mary. Mary, 55, portrays the family as deeply damaged people, starting with Fred Sr and his wife Mary Ann and filtering down to their five children. Mary is the child of Fred Trump Jr, the President's older brother who died in 1981 after struggling with alcoholism Her own father Fred Trump Jr. died in 1981 aged 43 after battling alcoholism and the Trumps all but cut her out of the family estate. President Trump, who rarely admits mistakes, told The Washington Post last year that he regretted the pressure he and his father had put on Fred Jr to join the family business when his brother wanted to be a pilot instead. 'It was just not his thing I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it. That would be the biggest mistake There was sort of a double pressure put on him,' Trump said at the time. Yet as her father lay dying, Mary Trump claims: 'Donald went to the movies'. Mary writes: 'Donald, following the lead of my grandfather and with the complicity, silence and inaction of his siblings, destroyed my father. I can't let him destroy my country'. In another section of the 240-page book, Mary reveals Donald's eldest sister Maryanne, a now retired federal judge, scoffed at his presidential run, calling him 'a clown' and poked fun at his 'five bankruptcies'. She describes the president's childhood as a toxic environment where his emotional needs were not met, turning him into a man without empathy. She writes: 'Donald's mother became ill when he was two and a half, suddenly depriving him of his main source of comfort and human contact. His father, Fred Sr, became his only available parent.' 'But Fred firmly believed that dealing with young children was not his duty, and kept to his twelve-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week job, as if his children could look after themselves. 'From the beginning, Fred's self-interest skewed his priorities and his care of children reflected his own needs, not theirs. He could not empathize with Donald's plight, so his son's fears and longings went unsoothed. Mary's book paints a dark portrait of the Trump family and says that the President's father Fred Sr neglected him so much it amounted to 'child abuse' Mary portrays the Trump family as deeply damaged people, starting with Fred Sr and his wife Mary Ann and filtering down to their five children. Pictured from left to right Robert, Elizabeth, Fred Jr, Donald and Maryanne Trump 'Love meant nothing to Fred; he expected obedience, that was all. Over time, Donald became afraid that asking for comfort or attention would provoke his father's anger or indifference when Donald was most vulnerable. 'That Fred would become the primary source of Donald's solace when he was much more likely to be a source of fear or rejection put Donald in an intolerable position: total dependence on a caregiver who also caused him terror. Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life.' An evacuation SpiceJet flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) arrived at Chandigarh International Airport with 175 passengers on Tuesday as part of the Vande Bharat mission to bring home Indians stranded in various countries abroad. Another flight from Sharjah brought in 141 passengers on Monday. The evacuation flight from Dubai, which arrived at 4:39 pm, is the fourth one from the Emirates. With this, a total of 19 flights have arrived at Chandigarh International Airport under phase-2 of Vande Bharat from the US, Ukraine, New Zealand, Kuwait, and Sharjah and Dubai in the UAE, bringing home approximately 2,000 passengers. Mohali civil surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said that all the passengers arriving from Sharjah and UAE had been asked to undergo strict institutional quarantine at their respective districts. The administration had also taken their passports in its possession. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Matanat Nasibova Trend: The Israel-Azerbaijan International Association AzIz sharply condemns the military actions provoked by the Armenian side on the front line in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district, Lev Spivak, director general of the AzIz association told Trend. Spivak was commenting on the Armenian armed forces attack in the direction of Tovuz district. Our organization, on behalf of thousands of Azerbaijani immigrants living in Israel, addressed to the world community, the media outlets, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the OSCE Minsk Group, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament with an appeal to stop the Armenian armed forces aggression against the Azerbaijani civilians, stop provocations against the Azerbaijani armed forces not to jeopardize the lives of people, the director general said. "We also call on these organizations and the world community to condemn the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan by Armenia and to demand the immediate fulfillment of the UN resolutions on the liberation of all occupied territories for the civilians who become refugees to be able to return to their ancestral lands, Spivak added. Personally, on my own behalf and on behalf of the Israelis, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the killed servicemen and to the entire Azerbaijani people in connection with this loss, the director general said. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been lasting for many years and unfortunately, we do not see the end yet, Spivak said. Despite the ceasefire regime established in 1994, Armenia is still taking the provocative actions throughout the border zone. In this case, Armenia made a big provocation and Azerbaijan resolutely rebuffed by demonstrating high morale and military training. Unfortunately, in such cases, when a country shows its military strength and the ability to stand up for itself, young servicemen die, it is very painful and unacceptable, the director general added. Why does Armenia make such provocations? I think this question should be addressed to the OSCE Minsk Group, which is actually inactive and shows indifference, as a result of which the Armenians use the situation for making provocations. Obviously, the OSCE Minsk Group forgot about its function and turned into an amorphous structure." The inaction of the OSCE Minsk Group in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict leads to Armenias further provocations, Spivak said. Anuja Susan Varghese By Express News Service KOCHI: Anitha stares at the bleak seascape with a resigned expression on her face, as the waves continue their relentless assault on the shore. Its not fair, she sighs heavily. The gods must hate us so much to let this happen, to force us to get holed up inside our homes as the seawall crumbles around us. All the menfolk are out of work and are whiling away their days. Hunger is knocking at our doors as our savings run dry..., she rues. Anitha and other residents of Chellanam are no strangers to hardship. Every monsoon, they wage a battle with the merciless sea, as it tears down all defences with disdain to flood their dwellings. Yet, in this monsoon season, when the triple lockdown has been imposed, their hardships have been more severe and unprecedented. Most of the residents rely on the sea for their livelihood. To be forced indoors during the ongoing fishing season due to quarantine has taken the wind out of their sails. Many are already struggling to make ends meet and are staring at year-long penury if they cannot go to sea this season. With the help of non-governmental organisations and police officials, kits have been distributed among the families to provide some respite. They are holding on to hope and prayers to see them through, said Tinu, a volunteer in Chellanam. Lives have been thrown out of gear for the people of Chellanam, especially for those in wards 15 and 16, since July 3 when a woman tested positive for Covid-19. In addition to the loss of livelihood, fear has gripped the residents as the threat of Covid-19 spread, as at Poonthura in Thiruvananthapuram, looms large. On Sunday itself, 19 persons contracted the virus in Chellanam, 17 from unknown sources.There are residents who lived close by those who have tested positive. My children, studying in Classes 1 and 5, have come in contact with their families and we all have been put under quarantine. As part of the active surveillance measures, door-to-door swab sample collection is taking place in the wards and the Health Department has already collected our samples. The anxiety while waiting for the results bothers me the most, said Gracy George, a resident of ward 15. A Poonthura-like situation cannot be ruled out in Chellanam as it is also a close-knit community with houses lined very close to each other. As of now, wards 15 and 16 of the panchayat are bracing for the worst, and cases are expected to be identified in other wards as well. Even when people who have tested positive claim bravely that it is not a big deal and that medicines for a few weeks will cure them of the disease, the fear is palpable, said Tinu. More than $1 billion in forgivable loans issued by the federal governments Paycheck Protection Program for companies struggling with the coronavirus pandemic saved more than half of oil field jobs in Texas, an analysis of Small Business Administration figures shows. The federal government issued 6,610 PPP loans to oil and natural gas companies, their service providers and related equipment manufacturers headquartered in Texas, a Houston Chronicle analysis shows. Companies used their PPP loans to retain 93,117 jobs, or more than half of the 182,500 people employed by the industry in Texas, the analysis shows. Shutdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic have created record-low oil and natural gas prices that have resulted in 36,200 Texans losing their jobs since the beginning of the year. Federal officials used the loan amount of $150,000 as a dividing line when it came to the type of data released about the program. Company names were not released for loans below $150,000 but federal officials provided the exact amount of each loan. Federal officials released company names for loans between $150,000 and $10 million but listed the amounts borrowed in five different ranges, not exact amounts. The 4,877 oil and natural gas industry companies that received loans below $150,000 in Texas borrowed a total of $188 million. Based on the ranges given, the 1,733 companies that received loans above $150,000 borrowed somewhere between $1 billion and $2.3 billion. San Antonio-based Lewis Energy and Houston-based Grizzly Natural Gas were among the exploration and production companies that received loans between $5 million and $10 million. Enterprise Offshore Drilling, Evolution Well Services and Gyrodata were among the Houston oil field service companies that received loans between that amount. The smallest loan in Texas, which was for $285, went to an oil field service company in College Station that was not identified. sergio.chapa@chron.com Use the database below to search by city and see which local businesses received loans. In the wake of the police-involved killing of 62-year-old Ejaz Choudry, the Mississauga community where the Choudry family lives has become a focal point in the call for police reform. Not only has Choudrys death sparked conversation about racism in policing and responding to mental health crises in the region, its impact has spread throughout the province and country. For Peel Regional Police, that impact has come in the form of calls to defund police, implement body-worn cameras for officers and rethink how police respond to those in mental health crisis. Its not just a matter of concern for one community, its a matter of concern for the entire city and country, said Salman Tariq, a local resident who started the #JusticeForEjazChoudry Facebook page. On June 20, Peel Regional Police (PRP) responded to a mental health crisis call at Choudrys residence. His family claims that Choudry, who suffered from schizophrenia, threatened to harm himself before they called for help. Inside Choudrys Malton apartment, police fired a Taser and plastic projectiles before using lethal rounds. The father of four was pronounced dead on scene. The public was quick to draw parallels between Choudrys death and others involving racialized residents in crisis including DAndre Campbell in Brampton, Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto and Chantal Moore, an Indigenous woman who was killed by New Brunswick police. Its systematic racism. So many cases, just because of your colour, your race, youre treated differently, said Choudrys nephew Hassan Choudhary at a news conference following his uncles death. As outrage and anger began to intensify immediately after Choudrys death, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie announced she would be looking at the police budget through a different lens and would explore reforming community policing. There is a lot of frustration and disbelief overall on part of the general public. There is a deep, deep hurt and rage among racialized communities, said Rabia Khedr of the Peel Council of Muslims. Malton residents have been protesting in the streets almost every day since the June 20 death at police hands, rallying behind the Choudry and Campbell families. Some, including Choudhary, even travelled to police protests in Toronto to share their stories. Within days of Choudrys death Peel Regional Police Chief Nishan Duraiappah and the Police Services Board (of which both Crombie and Duraiappah are members) released statements offering their condolences. For Duraiappah, the calls for modernizing or adapting police services is not a new concept since he took on the role of chief eight months ago. The current paradigm for policing is we are not mental health professionals. Under current legislation with the Mental Health Act, if there is somebody in crisis that needs to be connected, the only legislative body that can take them to the hospital is the police, he said. According to Peel polices annual report, there were 6,360 calls for mental health assistance last year. Duraiappah agreed that PRPs framework is already rooted in the wrong system, and despite their several mental health initiatives, which includes the creation of a Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team composed of officers and crisis workers, the system is not at its best. Camille Quenneville, chief executive of the Canadian Mental Health Association-Ontario, echoed that message by saying in a release that its easy to point fingers and lay blame with police, but these tragic events are a painful reminder of how our health, justice and social systems are failing those living with mental health or addictions conditions. Having 911 as the de facto crisis line is problematic to begin with, but its the reality, she said. On July 9, Peel Regional Council voted to explore different ways to reduce the role of police in mental health calls. However, a motion to reduce police involvement was not passed as, the Mental Health Act only authorizes police to transport patients to hospital or psychiatric care. Khedr said that though police are trying to improve their services theres only so much that can happen at a municipal level. The substantive change has to come from the Attorney General or the Solicitor General, the provincial treasury and the premiers office, Khedr said. Nearly a week after Choudrys death, the police services board green-lighted a plan for Peel Regional Police to implement body-worn cameras throughout the force, something board members said was a first step to accountability. But that decision was also questioned by residents. Will police-body worn cameras stop incidents of police shootings and brutality or will they just continue to capture them? Another aspect of policing that has been questioned is the provinces Special Investigations Unit (SIU), which investigates any case where there has been a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault when police are involved. Choudrys friends and family have been calling for an independent public inquiry into his death, stating that the SIU has historically failed victims of police violence and brutality. Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has also advocated for a transparent investigation. We definitely need a public inquiry. This is bigger than Ejaz Choudry. We want to make sure his death is not in vain, said Khedr. Justice denied is justice delayed, said Tariq. We all deserve answers. Sabrina Gamrot is a reporter with the Mississauga News and Brampton Guardian. Reach her via email: sgamrot@mississauga.net Read more about: ALBANY Rudy Wilson was known as a person who did everything he could for others in need, and was a loyal employee at Popeyes for more than a decade. But it was ultimately the 57-year-old's job as manager at the Central Avenue fast food location that cost Wilson his life. The Guyana native died in April after contracting COVID-19, after a sick co-worker brought the virus into the restaurant. I was married to an angel, said Wilson's wife, Corietta. God sent him, and then when he fulfilled His work on the face of this earth, He took him back. On April 3, the Albany County Health Department warned the public about a COVID-19 case at Popeyes, after it said a cashier had the disease caused by the coronavirus and worked there between March 23 and March 25. Popeyes owner Peggy Savchik told WNYT at the time that their longtime employee who tested positive was doing well. No one in the general public knew the rest of the story, that it was Popeyes' general manager who would become seriously ill while at home, and ultimately die while on a ventilator. Im gonna breathe, my wife The employee of Wilsons came to the Central Avenue location in March sick, with some symptoms of COVID-19. Two weeks later, her COVID-19 test results came back positive. Popeyes shut down, and the stores workers were given emergency sick leave to quarantine. The day before Wilsons quarantine was supposed to end, his fever spiked to 104 degrees. His wife said health officials told her to give Wilson two Tylenol and keep him home, unless he started exhibiting shortness of breath. In the early days of the pandemic, sick people were told to stay home amid fears that hospitals would be overrun with patients; it was believed that most patients would get better on their own. Wilsons fever did go away, but the next day Corietta sensed something was off with her husband he wasnt talking straight. This time, the health department told Corietta it was up to her if she wanted to take him to the hospital but they wouldnt send an ambulance since Wilson didnt have shortness of breath. Corietta took her husband to Albany Medical Center Hospital. Upon admitting Wilson, a doctor detected his lungs had already started to fill with fluid. He told Corietta they would have to sedate Wilson in order to hook him up to a ventilator. Maam, I see patients come out of this all the time, do you understand me? Corietta recalled the doctor telling her. Wilson woke up from his sedation with the ventilator plastered to his face, uncomfortable and frustrated. You have to breathe better, and once you can breathe ok theyll take the tube out, Corietta told her husband. Ok, Im gonna breathe, my wife, Wilson told her. Corietta went home. The next night, Wilsons heart stopped. A half hour later, he was dead. The next day, his COVID-19 test results came back positive. Wilson became one of the thousands of people of color in New York who disproportionately lost their life to COVID-19 many of whom were also essential service workers, like Wilson. An angel on Earth The way Corietta and her husband first started getting close to each other was similar to many other people entered Wilsons life she needed help, and he was there for her. A single mom in Guyana, Corietta was a cook at a hotel Wilson managed, and she was dealing with financial woes. Wilson was always there to help her, giving her money to support her family and even renting her out an apartment at one point. They married in 2004. Shawn Rockford can tell story after story about the second (and third, and fourth, and) chances Rudy Wilson gave him. There was the time Wilson took out a $3,000 loan from the bank to help Rockford buy a car so he could become a manager at work, but Rockford an adolescent at the time spent the money elsewhere. There was the time Wilson bought a car for Rockford himself, but the car ended up breaking down because Rockford didnt keep up with maintenance. And there was the time Wilson asked Rockford to cover his newspaper delivery route while out of town, ultimately costing Wilson his job because a few papers didnt get delivered. Even after that, he still didnt hold a grudge against me, he still helped me out, said Rockford, who describes Wilson as a father figure. When Im thinking about Rudy, Im like, he had a big heart for people. Because I know it wasnt just me that he was looking out for in this manner. Since his death, friends, family and acquaintances remember Wilson in this way, the man who did everything for everyone. Wilson gave a nephew $1,000 so he could move out of his parents home in Guyana and in with the mother of his child. He gave another cousin in Guyana $500 to start his own farm. He paid for the education of most, if not all, of his nieces and nephews. He gave food to homeless people if they came into the restaurant, and would give the days leftovers to random passersby at the end of each day. He would buy clothes for his staff. If anyone needed anything, he would hand them his credit card. As the manager of Popeyes, he hired formerly incarcerated applicants, defending them when other employees voiced concerns. He paid for that already, Wilson would tell co-workers, Corietta said. Mark Bobb-Semple had known Wilson since 2004, because Wilson was like another son to Bobb-Semples mom. She used to always, if she had a problem, Lets go to Rudy, Bobb-Semple said. Anything my mother wanted, he would give it to her. He described Wilson as a giant in the community, always quick to donate food to community events Bobb-Semple would host, or help with various initiatives. Wilson was an extremely hard worker, friends and family say, but he always prioritized his family especially Corietta. When he took days off to spend with Corietta, he would make sure Rockford, who also works at Popeyes, would show up to work. Rebecca Joy, Coriettas best friend, described the couple as unbreakable. Ive never seen them have a serious argument, Joy said. And Wilson wasnt only financially supportive of friends, family and the community at large he was emotionally supportive, too. He treated me like family, said Rockford, who first met Wilson after his father had passed away when he was 14. Especially with the absence of my father, he made sure that I was guided right. Legacy lives on Rockford still has dreams that hes talking to Wilson. When he was alive, they would talk for hours about work, life and relationships. When he first passed, I was like, Now what am I going to do? Who am I going to get that guidance from? Rockford said. Rudy was one of the closest men in my life. What Im going to miss from him is the conversation, just to be able to sit down and talk with Rudy. Joy said she still cant believe Wilson is gone. Its still so hard for me to wrap my head around when I go over there and hes not there, she said. How is my best friend doing without her husband? Even customers, Rockford said, inquire about Wilson when they come to the store, and get sad when they learn the news. He had a smile of peace, life, joy, happiness, forgiveness, Corietta said. I cant find nothing to say that he ever messed up or did something wrong. How is this man so perfect? With Wilsons passing, Rockford is focusing on emulating the life he lived. I use him as an example for myself so when Im looking at people I try to think, Rudy did it for me, let me do it for them, Rockford said. Were gonna do better and we should. Try always to keep that memory and that legacy he had alive in our hearts. Global concern has risen around the "sustainability" of palm oil in terms of global exportation and the impact on the environment in recent years. Therefore, in 2004, stakeholders from palm oil industry sectors including oil palm producers, retailers, banks, investors, nature conservation and developmental NGOs, established the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) with "the objective of promoting the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and engagement of stakeholders." Some studies claimed that certification significantly reduced deforestation in plantations of RSPO members, but further analyses suggest that certified palm oil is not as sustainable as previously believed. This is because deforestation was usually evaluated in certified plantations that already contained little remaining forest at the beginning of the studies. A new study just published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, titled "Certified 'sustainable' palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years," conducted by Prof. Roberto Cazzolla Gatti, associate professor at the Tomsk State University in Russia and research fellow at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Austria, and Russian biologist Alena Velichevskaya, showed via a highly detailed analysis of satellite images that certified oil palm concessions and supply bases replaced the habitats of endangered mammals and biodiverse tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo over the last few decades. "In our previous study of 2019, we suggested that certified concessions do not differ much from non-certified ones. We used preliminary data of forest cover loss from 2001 to 2016 and found that certified palm oil production cannot be completely deforestation-free. This time, we further increased the detail of our research, enlarging the time series to the last 36 years and adopting a direct analysis of high-resolution satellite images to evaluate the impact of oil palm expansion on endangered mammals' habitat and tropical forests of Sumatra and Borneo," the authors write. Tropical forests of Southeast Asia are inhabited by endangered orangutans, rhinos, tigers, and elephants, and threatened by deforestation, including that caused by oil palm expansion. This new study, from a remotely sensed time series and imagery analysis (1984-2020), found that most of the currently certified grower supply bases and concessions in Sumatra and Borneo are located in large mammal habitats of the 1990s and in areas that were biodiverse tropical forests less than 30 years ago. The authors write, "We suggest that the phrase 'sustainable palm oil' must no longer be used to greenwash this tropical product's reputation, because it cannot certify that the production of palm oil comes from a non-recent degradation of tropical forests and endangered species habitats. In fact, we discovered that the current certified palm oil demand is almost fully supplied by those bases and concessions that, in less than three decades, replaced some of the most diverse tropical forests of the world and habitats of big mammals threatened by extinction." The new evidence from this study proved that certification schemes assert "sustainable" production of palm oil by neglecting a very recent past of deforestation and habitat degradation. In fact, Cazzolla Gatti and Velichevskaya estimated that in Borneo and Sumatra, more than 75% of all the current RSPO Members' Concessions took the place of the 1990s habitats of endangered large mammal species. Of the current 27 RSPO certified supply bases in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), 23 are located in an area that comprised an orangutan habitat up until 1999, the study found. Yet, three of these 27 RSPO certified supply bases were still fully covered by tropical forests up to 2003-2008 before being logged, transformed into oil palm plantations, and then certified as "sustainable." In Sumatra, the authors found that of the current 51 RSPO certified supply bases, nine are located in a Sumatran elephant habitat from 1985, 11 in Sumatran tiger habitat from 1990, and three are located in a 1991 Sumatran rhinoceros habitat. Moreover, of the current 173 RSPO-certified concessions in the Malaysian Borneo, 131 are located in an area that were orangutan habitats up to 1989, and 35 in orangutan habitats up to 1999. The study also provides a time-series analysis of high-resolution satellite images (with 11-page supplementary figures showing the pattern from an intact forest through deforestation to a "sustainable" plantation in each certified concession and base), which revealed that the area covered by forest in 1984 in the current RSPO certified supply basis and concessions were significantly reduced up to 2020. "Currently, only patched and highly disturbed forests remain in certified bases and concessions," said Prof. Cazzolla Gatti. "We discovered that about half of Sumatran and the almost totality of Bornean certified supply bases were completely covered by tropical forests still in the 1980s, before being converted in oil palm plantations from in the 1990s, and then received the 'sustainability' label in the 2000s, whereas almost no forest remains now in 2020." The authors write, "These results, providing evidence that higher portions of endangered large mammals habitats (like that of Bornean orangutan and Sumatran tiger, rhino and elephant) and almost intact tropical forests were depleted in very recent times (<30 years) to leave space for oil palm plantations, clearly show that certification does not ensure 'environmental sustainability' of palm oil production. In fact, these biodiverse forests [once] inhabited by endangered big mammals, were unreasonably certified as 'sustainable' a few years after their replacement with oil palm plantations. It seems meaningless to label as 'sustainable' a plantation only considering what it is at the time of certification, ignoring recent-time impacts on wildlife and the environment. In this way, every area that was a forest just yesterday, and logged today, can become a sustainable plantation tomorrow or the day after, replacing habitats and forests that seem easy to forget and trace back once disappeared." They continue, "What we fear is that labeling part of palm oil production as 'sustainable,' against the evidence of this study, will continue to reassure the public and allow the certification of other areas that were naturally forested just a few years before, as the demand increases. The 'sustainability' of palm oil, in the light of the findings we advanced in 2019 and confirmed with this new highly detailed study, seems just an illusion that could facilitate, with certification, the expansion of oil palm plantations all over the tropical world and its global trade. Satellite images cannot lie, and what we showwithout any doubtis that certifications do not stop, but just dangerously hide, habitat and forest destruction." Explore further Protecting natural forest in oil palm plantations crucial for conservation More information: Roberto Cazzolla Gatti et al. Certified "sustainable" palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years, Science of The Total Environment (2020). Journal information: Science of the Total Environment Roberto Cazzolla Gatti et al. Certified "sustainable" palm oil took the place of endangered Bornean and Sumatran large mammals habitat and tropical forests in the last 30 years,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140712 TheJakartaPost Please Update your browser Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below. Just click on the icons to get to the download page. Pilot may not settle for anything less than post of Rajasthan CM India oi-Vicky Nanjappa Jaipur, July 14: Even as an action proposal was passed against him, Sachin Pilot remains adamant and has asked the Congress top brass to declare him as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News With several Congress leaders reaching out to Pilot, he has demanded that he be made the next CM of Rajasthan. However the Ashok Gehlot faction remains firm and has sought for Pilot's expulsion from the party. In the Congress Legislature Party meeting, a proposal to remove Pilot as the state president and to expel the rebel MLAs was put forward. A proposal to expel all the rebels including Pilot was also sent to the AICC. A police notice at first and then the big rift in Rajasthan The AICC would now take a call on whether to remove Pilot and the other rebels from the party. The AICC could also decide on removing Pilot from the post of PCC Chief. Meanwhile Congress leader, Priyanka Gandhi has urged Pilot not to leave the Congress. Not attending the CLP was fine, but you should not leave the party, Pilot was told. The BJP on the other hand is deciding on when to meet with the Governor and seek a floor test. The BJP believes that the Ashok Gehlot government does not have the numbers and hence should take a floor test. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 13:58 [IST] We are pleased to recognize Dr. Michael Bernstein as a UroLift Center of Excellence for his commitment to providing consistent care to BPH patients using the UroLift System treatment, said Dave Amerson NeoTract, a wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX) focused on addressing unmet needs in the field of urology, today announced that Michael Bernstein, M.D., New Jersey Urology in Woodbury, NJ, has been designated as a UroLift Center of Excellence. The designation recognizes that Dr. Bernstein has achieved a high level of training and experience with the UroLift System and demonstrated a commitment to exemplary care for men suffering from symptoms associated with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), also known as enlarged prostate. Recommended for the treatment of BPH in both the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology clinical guidelines, the FDA-cleared Prostatic Urethral Lift procedure using the UroLift System is a proven, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to BPH. The UroLift permanent implants, delivered during a transurethral outpatient procedure, relieve prostate obstruction and open the urethra directly without cutting, heating, or removing prostate tissue. The UroLift Center of Excellence program is designed to highlight urologists who are committed to educating their patients on BPH and the UroLift System as a treatment option and consistently seek to deliver excellent patient outcomes and experiences. We are pleased to recognize Dr. Michael Bernstein as a UroLift Center of Excellence for his commitment to providing consistent care to BPH patients using the UroLift System treatment, said Dave Amerson, president of the Teleflex Interventional Urology business unit. This achievement has helped many patients experience durable, long- term relief from the burdensome symptoms of BPH while preserving sexual function*1,2. Over 40 million men in the United States are affected by BPH, a condition that occurs when the prostate gland that surrounds the male urethra becomes enlarged with advancing age and begins to obstruct the urinary system. Symptoms of BPH often include interrupted sleep and urinary problems and can cause loss of productivity, depression and decreased quality of life. Medication is often the first-line therapy for enlarged prostate, but relief can be inadequate and temporary. Side effects of medication treatment can include sexual dysfunction, dizziness and headaches, prompting many patients to quit using the drugs. For these patients, the classic alternative is surgery that cuts, heats or removes prostate tissue to open the blocked urethra. While current surgical options can be very effective in relieving symptoms, they can also leave patients with permanent side effects such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and retrograde ejaculation. About the UroLift System The FDA-cleared UroLift System is a proven, minimally invasive technology for treating lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The UroLift permanent implants, delivered during a minimally invasive transurethral outpatient procedure, relieve prostate obstruction and open the urethra directly without cutting, heating, or removing prostate tissue. Clinical data from a pivotal 206-patient randomized controlled study showed that patients with enlarged prostate receiving UroLift implants reported rapid and durable symptomatic and urinary flow rate improvement without compromising sexual function*1,2. Patients also experienced a significant improvement in quality of life. Over 100,000 men have been treated with the UroLift System in the U.S. Most common adverse events reported include hematuria, dysuria, micturition urgency, pelvic pain, and urge incontinence. Most symptoms were mild to moderate in severity and resolved within two to four weeks after the procedure. The Prostatic Urethral Lift procedure using the UroLift System is recommended for the treatment of BPH in both the American Urological Association and European Association of Urology clinical guidelines. The UroLift System is available in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada, Mexico and South Korea. Learn more at http://www.UroLift.com. About NeoTract | Teleflex Interventional Urology A wholly owned subsidiary of Teleflex Incorporated, the Interventional Urology Business Unit is dedicated to developing innovative, minimally invasive and clinically effective devices that address unmet needs in the field of urology. Our initial focus is on improving the standard of care for patients with BPH using the UroLift System, a minimally invasive permanent implant system that treats symptoms while preserving normal sexual function*1,2. Learn more at http://www.NeoTract.com. About Teleflex Incorporated Teleflex is a global provider of medical technologies designed to improve the health and quality of peoples lives. We apply purpose driven innovation a relentless pursuit of identifying unmet clinical needs to benefit patients and healthcare providers. Our portfolio is diverse, with solutions in the fields of vascular and interventional access, surgical, anesthesia, cardiac care, urology, emergency medicine and respiratory care. Teleflex employees worldwide are united in the understanding that what we do every day makes a difference. For more information, please visit http://www.teleflex.com. Teleflex is the home of Arrow, Deknatel, Hudson RCI, LMA, Pilling, Rusch, UroLift and Weck trusted brands united by a common sense of purpose # # # For Teleflex Incorporated: Jake Elguicze, 610.948.2836 Treasurer and Vice President, Investor Relations Media: Nicole Osmer, 650.454.0504 nicole@healthandcommerce.com *No instances of new, sustained erectile or ejaculatory dysfunction 1. Roehrborn, J Urology 2013 LIFT Study 2. McVary, J Sex Med 2016 MAC00968-01 Rev A KEY HIGHLIGHTS Operating margins expand 1.4% sequentially Company to provide guidance only when time is right, says CEO Thierry Delaporte Wipro acquires IVIA Servicos de Informatica Ltd for $22.4 million Bengaluru-based tech giant Wipro reported dollar revenue of $1,921.6 million for the first quarter of FY21, a sequential decline of 7.3 per cent (7.5 percent in constant currency). The company's operating margins expanded to 19 per cent, an improvement of 140 basis points from the previous quarter. Wipro also refrained from providing a guidance range for the upcoming quarter. Thierry Delaporte, CEO and Managing Director of Wipro, said it would be difficult to assess how the pandemic will shape out in the next quarter. "For sure we want to go back to normal course and provide guidance and we will do it, but when the time is right for that," he said. ALSO READ: Wipro Q1 consolidated profit flat at Rs 2,390 crore, revenue rises marginally Further sharing his vision for the company, Delaporte said with the quality of talents and clients all the right ingredients for growth were present. "I want to build on strengths and focus on some specific investments in order to have competitive advantage," he added. Explaining his vision of profitable growth for Wipro, Delaporte said companies can't choose between growth and profitability. There is no such thing as growth at all costs in our industry, he said. As margins allow companies to reinvest in future, if profitability is compromised, it would affect the ability to invest in ever changing technology capabilities, business and industry expertise, the Wipro CEO further added. Wipro said that there has been some uptick in order book compared to last year. With deal closures happening even during the first quarter, deals in businesses such as technology, consumer business unit and communication would gain positive momentum. ALSO READ: 'No plans to lay off anyone at Wipro,' says Rishad Premji; defends CEO's salary Breaking down the 1.4 per cent margin improvement, Wipro Chief Financial Officer Jatin Dalal said that while there was a 100 bps benefit from the currency and operational efficiency, improvement of another 1 per cent was offset by provision of large doubtful debt (expected credit loss). "It is not specific to any customer but it is just a reflection of the tougher environment we are dealing with," he said. Wipro also announced acquisition of Brazil-based IVIA Servicos de Informatica with a workforce of over 750 people for $22.4 million. The acquisition is expected to help the company expand its foot print in Latin America and Mexico. ALSO READ: Wipro to take 'bold steps' to tide over COVID-19: CEO Delaporte at AGM Islamabad, July 14 : Pakistan has decided to resume Afghan exports through the Wagah border crossing from Wednesday onwards, after implementing coronavirus-related protocols, it was reported on Tuesday. According to a statement issued by the Foreign Office on Monday, this measure was taken under the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA), and at the request of the Kabul government, reports The Express Tribune newspaper. "Pakistan remains fully committed to further strengthening its bilateral relations with Afghanistan in all areas including trade, and to facilitate Afghanistan's transit trade under APTTA," the statement said. In May, Islamabad has announced the opening of Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham and Chaman round the clock for six days a week after it was closed on March 27 as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of COVID-19. However, Afghan exports to India through the Wagah border had remained suspended. Pakistan has for long only allowed Afghan exports to India through its northeastern Wagah border, but it does not permit exports from India meant for Afghanistan to pass through its territory. Military helicopters at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, are seen in this April 1 photo. Yonhap By Jung Da-min The government has expressed concerns over the continued spread of COVID-19 among United States Forces Korea (USFK) personnel. According to the USFK, Monday, 11 more USFK service members tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Korea. This came three days after the USFK reported nine imported cases of coronavirus, with eight detected in military personnel and the other in a civilian employee. The USFK said its personnel who tested positive for COVID-19 all arrived on separate commercial flights or U.S. government-chartered flights and have been moved to isolation facilities on Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base, both in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. But questions have been raised whether virus check-ups are conducted properly for incoming USFK personnel before they leave the U.S. So far, the USFK has reported a total of 74 cases, 50 of which were detected in arrivals. The government delivered its message of such concerns to the USFK, according to sources. The USFK is reportedly exploring ways to thoroughly conduct check-ups for those newly assigned to bases in Korea before they depart from the U.S. "All service members, prior to their arrival in South Korea, abide by U.S. Department of Defense regulations and their respective state laws," USFK spokesperson Col. Lee Peters told The Korea Times. "As a testament to the USFK's aggressive preventative control measures to stop the virus' spread, all USFK-affiliated individuals arriving in South Korea from overseas will be immediately tested for COVID-19, quarantined for 14 days and must pass a second test with negative results prior to being released from quarantine." Col. Peters added, "Despite the confirmed cases, USFK remains at a high level of readiness with less than 1 percent of its active duty service members currently confirmed positive for COVID-19." There have been no new virus cases reported by the Korean military since July 2. Of the total reported 58 cases all patients have recovered. Advertisement German officials investigating Madeleine McCann prime suspect Christian Brueckner are preparing to end their investigation, as police today revealed they hoped to make a decision on whether or not to charge him 'within months', reports suggest. Lead prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters today warned his team had no plans to 'drag this out unnecessarily' and said they would 'draw a line under' the investigation at some point, the Sun reports. It comes as detectives are set to learn on Thursday if Brueckner will be released from jail. The serial sex offender is currently in prison in Germany serving a sentence for drugs offences - and should be starting a seven-year jail term for the rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal in 2005. But his lawyers have appealed the conviction on a legal technicality and the European Court of Justice is poised to give its verdict in two days' time. Today police said say they will decide whether to charge him or not 'within months', while Braunschweig's public prosecutor Mr Wolters told the Sun: 'Of course we have an interest in keeping our suspect in custody. 'This gives us access to interrogations in the event of an indictment. We have no endeavors to drag this out unnecessarily. We'll draw a line at some point and see.' It comes as Portuguese police continue their search after spending 12 hours over the weekend looking at three wells near Praia da Luz in the hunt for her remains, with up to 20 more expected to be targeted in the coming days. Lead prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters today warned his team had no plans to 'drag this out unnecessarily' and said they would 'draw a line under' the investigation at some point, the Sun reports Police in Portugal have been searching three wells (above) in the village of Budens near Praia da Luz in the Algarve in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann's remains. A 15-strong team of detectives and firefighters spent 12 hours looking at them Christian Brueckner, 43, (left) is the prime suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (right), who was three years old when she vanished while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz in 2007 in an abduction still unsolved 13 years later Prime suspect Brueckner, a serial sex attacker currently in jail in Germany for drugs offences, lived in this dilapidated hillside farmhouse in Praia da Luz for many years after he moved to the area in the mid 1990s until 2017 when he was extradited Bruckner also owned this Volkswagen camper van (pictured at Barranco Beach in an undated handout) which he often slept in alongside other campers in a hippy hangout a few miles down the coast at Boca do Rio beach A 15-strong team of Portuguese detectives, firefighters and divers spent 12 hours earlier this week searching three deep, remote wells amid fears Brueckner dumped her in one. Brueckner's appeal centres on whether his extradition from Portugal in 2017. Portugal extradited him to the German criminal justice system in June of that year so that he could serve a 15-month prison sentence for possession of child pornography. Brueckner was then released from jail by mistake in August 2018 before he had started a sentence for an earlier conviction for drug dealing. A 15-strong team of police officers and firefighters spent 12 hours at the weekend searching this well (pictured) plus two more nearby in the village of Budens, six miles west of the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, in the hunt for Madeleine's remains He fled the country but was arrested in Milan, Italy, in September 2018 and extradited back to Germany to serve that sentence. But now Brueckner's lawyers claim that the European Arrest Warrant which led to his transfer back to Germany only covered the charge of drugs offences and not rape. If successful, the rape conviction will be quashed and the Madeleine suspect will be released. Most legal experts in Germany do not believe Brueckner will be set free while the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine gains momentum. However there is a possibility the European judges will stick to the letter of the law and rule the rape conviction unsafe. One legal expert told Radio Bavaria: 'It is a legal technicality and it is unclear what side the European Court of Justice will come down on.' Meanwhile there is confusion over the new search in Portugal after the German prosecutor leading the probe into Brueckner revealed yesterday he had no idea why police in the Algarve were searching the wells. Hans Christian Wolters said the hunts at three sites close to Praia da Luz were not sparked by a tip-off from his team. And his officers have no idea what led them to the scene. He said: 'The action must be based on Portuguese investigations. We have not initiated it, nor have we heard anything about it from the Portuguese side.' The prosecutor refused to comment on the progress of the investigation. He said simply: 'In order to avoid unnecessary speculation we will not report any interim results.' The McCann family were renting this holiday apartment at the Mark Warner Ocean Club when Madeleine was abducted. Her parents Kate and Gerry were having dinner and drinks with friends at a tapas bar beyond the swimming pool at the complex Gerry McCann consoles devastated wife Kate after their daughter Madeleine disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday The three wells searched are located by a country road less than a mile from a remote beach, Praia da Boca do Rio, where Brueckner lived in a camper van at the time of the youngster's disappearance. His van has also been photographed at another beach Praia do Barranco, nearby. The German drifter also spent time at a farmhouse, known as the Yellow House, on the outskirts of the Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was on holiday with her family. Up to 20 wells and underground shafts are set to be examined in the coming days, it is claimed in Portuguese media. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:52:45|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close DHAKA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh reported 3,163 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the total to nearly 200,000, with over half of the patients having recovered. Nasima Sultana, a senior Health Ministry official, said in a briefing in Dhaka that "3,163 new COVID-19 positive cases and 33 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh." She said the total number of recovered patients in the country now stands at 103,227 including 4,910 new recoveries on Tuesday. The current recovery rate is 54.31 percent, she added. Sultana said the number of confirmed infections in the country Tuesday totaled 190,057 while fatalities stood at 2,424. According to the official, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is now 1.28 percent. She said 13,453 samples were tested in the last 24 hours in labs across the country. Bangladesh recorded highest 4,019 cases in a 24-hour period on July 2. The country reported the highest 64 deaths of COVID-19 patients in a day on June 30. Enditem A Male student of Suhum Technical Senior High School (SUTESCO) in the Eastern Region has been quarantined at the Suhum Government Hospital after being suspected of coronavirus. Initially, four students were rushed to the hospital when they were exhibiting the symptoms of the Coronavirus. Three were tested negative and one whose temperature was rising and was admitted after being suspected to be infected. The Municipal Director of Education, Esther Quaye- Sowah who confirmed the incident to DGN Online said the sample has been sent to Accra awaiting for the results. We cant confirm if its negative or positive, we are waiting for the outcome. His symptoms show he might be infected with the coronavirus, he has been quarantined at the hospital at the moment she explained. She also noted that two students of the Islamic Girls Senior High School also developed the symptoms and were rushed to the hospital but they were later tested negative. Even though fear has gripped the other students but the Education Director has assured that everything was under control to save the situation. So far Suhum has recorded seven Coronavirus cases as four persons have recovered. At Mpreaso Senior High School (MPASS) in the Kwahu South District, nine suspected cases of Coronavirus have been recorded. The nine students who were exhibiting symptoms relating to coronavirus have been isolated in a holding centre established in the school. Currently, the Eastern Region case counts are 960 as at 11th July 2020 in the 30 out of 33 Districts and Municipalities. Source: daily guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video The White House and Congress have done little to help. The Trump administration has imposed sharp cuts on the funding for outreach programs that assist people in signing up for coverage under the health law. And while House Democrats have passed legislation intended to help people to keep their health insurance, the bill is stuck in the Republican-controlled Senate. Rather than expand access to subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Trump has promised to directly reimburse hospitals for the care of coronavirus patients who have lost their insurance. But there is little evidence that has begun. Helping people keep their insurance through a public health crisis surprisingly has not gotten much attention, said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is the first recession in which the A.C.A. is there as a safety net, but its an imperfect safety net. The Families USA study is a state-by-state examination of the effects of the pandemic on laid-off adults younger than 65, the age at which Americans become eligible for Medicare. It found that nearly half 46 percent of the coverage losses from the pandemic came in five states: California, Texas, Florida, New York and North Carolina. In Texas alone, the number of uninsured jumped from about 4.3 million to nearly 4.9 million; three out of every 10 Texans are uninsured, the research found. In the 37 states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, 23 percent of laid-off workers became uninsured; the percentage was nearly double that 43 percent in the 13 states that did not expand Medicaid, which include Texas, Florida and North Carolina. Five states have experienced increases in the number of uninsured adults that exceed 40 percent, the analysis found. In Massachusetts, the number nearly doubled, rising by 93 percent a figure Mr. Dorn attributed to a large number of people losing employer-based coverage there. Across the country as a whole, more than one in seven adults 16 percent is now uninsured, the analysis found. To generate the estimates, Mr. Dorn examined the number of laid-off workers in each state and calculated how many had become uninsured based on coverage patterns since 2014, when the central provisions of the Affordable Care Act went into effect. The underlying data for those patterns comes from work published by the Urban Institute in April. The United States on Monday rejected China's disputed claims to offshore resources in most of the South China Sea, a move that Beijing criticised as inciting tensions in the region and which highlighted an increasingly testy relationship. China has offered no coherent legal basis for its ambitions in the South China Sea and for years has been using intimidation against other Southeast Asian coastal states, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "We are making clear: Beijings claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," said Pompeo, a prominent China hawk within the Trump administration. The U.S. has long opposed China's expansive territorial claims on the South China Sea, sending warships regularly through the strategic waterway to demonstrate freedom of navigation there. Monday's comments reflect a harsher tone. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," Pompeo said. The Chinese embassy in the United States said in a statement dated Tuesday that Washington's accusation is "completely unjustified." "Under the pretext of preserving stability, (the U.S.) is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region," it said. Regional analysts said it would be vital to see whether other nations adopt the U.S. stance and what, if anything, Washington might do to reinforce its position and prevent Beijing from creating "facts on the water" to buttress its claims. The relationship between the United States and China has grown increasingly tense over the past six months over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its tightened grip on Hong Kong and its crackdown on China's Uighur Muslim community. China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of it, through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year. Beijing has built bases atop atolls in the region but says its intentions are peaceful. Story continues Beijing routinely outlines the scope of its claims with reference to the so-called nine-dashed line that encompasses about nine-tenths of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea on Chinese maps. "This is basically the first time we have called it illegitimate," said Chris Johnson, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It's "fine to put out a statement, but what you going to do about it?" (REUTERS) New Delhi: India on Friday dismissed as totally speculative and nonsensical a Pakistani media report that the two countries were planning to recall their respective High Commissioners temporarily in the backdrop of continuing slide in the ties. Government sources were totally dismissive of the report in Pakistani daily Express Tribune which said Pakistan and India may temporarily recall their envoys and scale down the size of diplomatic staff in each others missions. It is totally speculative and nonsensical, a source said. The report comes in the wake of Pakistan pulling out six of its senior officials, including diplomats, after Pakistan High Commission staffer Mahmood Akhtar was expelled last week after being caught running a spy ring. He had also named four Pakistan diplomats as being part of the spying operations in India. India is also mulling withdrawal of eight of its diplomats from Islamabad as their security has been completely compromised. It had strongly protested against the manner in which their names and photos were published. According to sources, these diplomats were likely to return by Sunday. Pakistan had claimed that these Indian officials were involved in espionage, subversion and supporting terrorist activities in Balochistan and Sindh, especially Karachi, sabotaging China Pakistan Economic Corridor, and fuelling instability in the two provinces. Reacting sharply to Pakistans charge, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the allegations against Indian officials represent an after-thought and a crude attempt to target them for no fault of theirs, after the Pakistan High Commission staffer was caught. We completely reject the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations made by Pakistan against certain officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. The Government categorically denies those allegations. It is especially regrettable that Pakistani authorities have chosen to level these allegations after deciding to recall, on their own, six officials of the Pakistan High Commission, some of whom may have been named to Indian authorities by Mehmood Akhtar - Pakistan High Commission official caught red handed, Swarup had said. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Crime No charges will be filed against Omaha bar owner who fatally shot protester, Don Kleine says CHRIS MACHIAN/THE WORLD-HERALD A police officer walks west on Harney Street on Sunday in front of the Dubliner, The Hive and Gatsby on the 1200 block of Harney Street where a man was killed during the second night of protests. They were protesting the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. CHRIS MACHIAN/THE WORLD-HERALD In a change from Mondays comments, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Tuesday that he is weighing the potential for a grand jury to look into the killing of James Scurlock, saying its another way to clear the air. ANNA REED/THE WORLD-HERALD Justin Wayne, attorney for James Scurlocks family, called for a grand jury probe. ANNA REED/THE WORLD-HERALD People protest for the fourth day in a row in Omaha on Monday. James Scurlock A handful of grainy and graphic videos led Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine to conclude that a white bar owner acted in self-defense when he shot and killed a 22-year-old black Omaha man Saturday night. As a result, Jake Gardner, owner of the side-by-side Gatsby and Hive bars downtown, will not face charges in the death of James Scurlock. A surveillance video from Gardners bars, played Monday at a press conference, shows a group of young people, including Scurlock, approaching Gardner. Walking backward, Gardner lifts his shirt to show a handgun, then pulls it to his side and continues backing up. Two people from Scurlocks group a man and a woman tackle Gardner, who ends up on his back in a puddle in the street. He fires twice into the air he characterized them as warning shots in an interview with Omaha police. The two people run away from him. Four seconds after that, Scurlock rushes from the sidewalk and dives on Gardner. Kleine said Scurlock was on Gardners back and had his arm around the bar owners neck. Gardner could be heard on another bystanders video hollering, Get off me, get off me. His right arm pinned, Kleine said, Gardner switched the gun to his left hand and fired over his shoulder. The bullet hit Scurlock in the shoulder-neck area, killing him. Under Nebraska law, a person can be justified in killing another if he has a reasonable belief that deadly force is needed to protect himself or others. People are not allowed to use deadly force to protect property. Kleine said he and Chief Deputy Brenda Beadle spent Sunday breaking down videos and witness statements with all of the homicide detectives. CHRIS MACHIAN/THE WORLD-HERALD Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine talks about a video of the confrontation between Jake Gardner and James Scurlock. There was a consensus that the actions of the shooter were justified, he said. We certainly wish that none of this would have happened. Its a senseless death. No one in the room disagreed with the decision to not file charges, Kleine said. That wasnt the case outside the room. After Kleines press conference, Scurlocks father, James Scurlock II, said much more video exists of the incident. What I want is justice, he said. This was a quick answer. As he had Sunday, the elder Scurlock asked protesters not to be violent or loot in his sons name. Two mid-size cities Omaha and Louisville, Kentucky each has seen a death during protests of police killings of black men. Nebraska State Sen. Justin Wayne, an attorney who is representing the Scurlock family, said he was disappointed by Kleines decision. He and the family asked Kleine to turn the case over to a grand jury. Wayne said he thinks charges could be filed against Gardner, such as manslaughter, a concealed carry permit violation or firing a shot within city limits. Wayne said that he has clients who are facing such charges now and that he doesnt understand why those charges wouldnt be filed against Gardner. This was a rush to judgment, Wayne said. Kleine disagreed. He said he and Beadle were with Omaha police for nearly 12 hours Sunday reviewing video and interviews. Rather than rush, Kleine said, they methodically broke down about five videos. Both Kleine and Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer said Monday that they would be happy to receive more videos to determine if any other angles exist. But they said the current videos gave them a solid view of what happened. Father of slain Omaha protester urges peace; shooter identified as downtown bar owner A 22-year-old man was shot outside a downtown business by a private citizen during a second night of protests over police treatment of people of color. A timeline of Saturday nights events: 10:15 p.m.: A video obtained by The World-Herald shows a man identified as Scurlock and a friend vandalizing RDG Planning and Design, an architecture firm in the former Omaha Chamber of Commerce building at 12th and Harney. In it, Scurlock apparently has entered the office through a shattered window. He hoists an office chair and, using both arms, hurls it into two computer monitors, then rips what appears to be a phone from a desk and chucks it against a wall. It penetrates the drywall, lodging there with the phone cord hanging out. His friend smashes something into another monitor. Scurlock looks around, pulls a mask from his neck up over his face and the two hop out of the business onto the Harney Street sidewalk. Forty minutes later, Gardner and his father, David, are at Gardners bar half a block away. Also with them: a large, tall man wielding a bat who apparently works as a bouncer/security guard. Gardner has previously described himself as a libertarian ex-Marine who had deployed to Iraq and Haiti. He had commented on Facebook about having to protect his business. Just when you think, what else could 2020 throw at me? Then you have to pull 48 hours of military style firewatch, he posted. About 10:55 p.m., surveillance video shows people breaking out windows on the corner of 12th and Harney. Windows were shattered at the Hive and both Jake and David Gardner told police that they thought someone had shot out the windows. It turned out that the windows were broken when someone hurled rocks and an Old Market signpost at them. Gardner and his father rushed outside, past the bouncer, who was guarding the door. David Gardner, 68, exchanged words with people in Scurlocks group. He didnt push Scurlock but twice pushed someone in Scurlocks group. 10:56 p.m.: A man who appears to be the same person who was smashing monitors with Scurlock at RDG is on video pushing David Gardner to the ground, a law enforcement official said. At that, Jake Gardner rushes to his dad. Kleine said Jake Gardner can be heard asking people what happened and telling them to move along. 10:57 p.m.: Walking backward, with Scurlock and another man approaching, Jake Gardner lifts his shirt to show a gun in his waistband. He soon pulls it out and holds it down to his side. In one video circulating online, a cellphone user says: That (expletive) got a gun. Someone in Scurlocks group waves at Gardner, as if shooing him away. Its not worth it (expletive) you stu--, Two seconds before 10:58: Gardner is tackled from behind by an Omaha woman, Alayna Melendez. He ends up on his back in a puddle in the middle of Harney Street. 10:58: Gardner pulls out his gun and fires two shots into the air. Four seconds later, Scurlock jumps on Gardner from behind as he is attempting to get up. Authorities allege that Scurlock was on Gardners back and placed Gardner in what authorities alternately described as a headlock or chokehold. Gardner can be heard yelling, Get off me, get off me, Kleine said. His right arm pinned, Gardner switches his handgun to his left hand. He fires over his shoulder, killing Scurlock. The struggle lasted about 20 seconds. Gardner was kept in Omaha police custody for questioning, with his attorneys present. He was never booked into jail. He and his attorneys spent Saturday night and Sunday at police headquarters. He was released at 11 p.m. Sunday. Woman in 'powerful photo' of Omaha protest seeks to be voice for 'all the innocent lives' lost Kyra Parker attended Friday and Saturdays demonstrations "to peacefully protest something thats not going right in our world right now. And she intends to start to create positive change in her new career in the criminal justice system as a correctional officer at Tecumseh State Prison. Its easy to talk to somebody when theyre alive, said Wayne, the attorney for Scurlocks family. Its easy to get their version of the story when they can talk. We dont know what James would have said, but there are plenty of videos out here that can maybe help us figure that out. Kleine met Monday morning with the elder Scurlock and Wayne. Scurlock was quiet, telling Kleine he appreciated him showing him videos of what happened to his son. The countys top prosecutor said he doesnt think a grand jury is necessary. In a grand jury process, Kleine or his office would present evidence to 16 citizens and instruct them on relevant law. An attorney for 40 years and a prosecutor for 30, Kleine said its his job to make these calls and that he has long fought for justice for black victims. Kleine clarified that business owners cannot shoot just to protect property. Whatever led up to it, he said, Scurlocks pouncing on Gardner led Gardner to fire. It was important not to delay matters, Kleine said, especially if the decision was clear, even in the nations current climate. A Democrat elected in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018, Kleine condemned people on social media for distorting several facts including Democratic congressional candidate Kara Eastmans portrayal of the killing as cold-blooded murder. Authorities also disputed online accounts that the elder Gardner had displayed a gun. And a member of Scurlocks group told police that he had not heard anyone utter racial slurs that night. All that said, Kleine suggested that things easily could have turned out differently. He said he wishes Gardner and his father would have stayed home or behind their bouncer and let the night pass. I was hoping and praying to God (Saturday afternoon) that no one would pull out a gun and do something, and it happened, Kleine said. It saddens me to no end. Fourth day of protests in Omaha after James Scurlocks shooter not charged Related Cardinal George Pell says he was spat on and abused while in jail for alleged child sex offences and almost abandoned his appeal until a prison boss urged him not to give up. Pell has opened up for the first time about his 405 days behind bars during which he says he received the disdain of even murderers. Australia's highest-ranking Catholic was convicted in December 2018 of five charges of child sexual abuse relating to allegations he raped a 13-year-old choirboy and molested another at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996. Pell served 13 months in Barwon Prison, near Geelong and the Melbourne Assessment Prison and says he was a target of fellow prisoners. Cardinal George Pell in handcuffs as he left the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne (pictured June 6, 2019) 'All of us are tempted to despise those we define as worse than ourselves,' he told The Australian. 'Even murderers share in the disdain toward those who violate the young' Pell said the abuse, while unpleasant, reassured his belief in man and right and wrong. 'However ironic, this disdain is not all bad, as it expresses a belief in the existence of right and wrong, good and evil,' he said. Prisoners convicted of sexually abusing children are often attacked in prison and therefore tend to be separated from other inmates for their protection, but Pell said that didn't stop them from honing in on him. The 78-year-old said he was once targetted while in one of the two outdoor exercise areas. A high wall with a wire opening on top at head height separated him from other inmates. The cardinal said he walking the perimeter when someone in the other compound spat at him through the wire while hurling abuse. Pell said he thought about not appealing his six-year sentence at the High Court because of the media frenzy that would ensue and he believed the judges would 'close ranks.' The cardinal was convicted in December 2018 of five charges of child sexual abuse relating to allegations he raped a 13-year-old choirboy and molested another at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996 After his first appeal failed in August 2019, he said he thought he would never be a free man again but said he was convinced to continue from an unexpected place. 'The boss of the prison in Melbourne, a bigger man than I and a straight shooter, urged me to persevere. I was encouraged and remain grateful to him,' he said. Cardinal Pell and Pope Benedict XVI at an inter-fait meeting during World Youth Day in Sydney, NSW (pictured; July 18, 2008) Pell appealed to the High Court, which overturned the verdict in a unanimous 7-0 judgement and was released from jail after 405 days behind bars. He said his Catholic faith 'sustained' him and helped the cardinal get through his time in prison and the appeals process. Pell is reportedly under police investigation after a new accuser came forward with fresh allegations of child abuse. BRUSSELS, July 14 (Reuters) - The European Union is set to remove Serbia and Montenegro from its safe list of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed, while including the United States was not even discussed given its sharp rise in cases, EU officials said. The decision was proposed by Germany, which holds the EU presidency, at a meeting late on Monday and was supported by several states, including France, Spain and the Netherlands, officials told Reuters. It needs to be formally confirmed by EU diplomats at a meeting later on Tuesday. The list is only a recommendation. Not all EU countries are applying its provisions. The two Balkan countries were set to be removed because of spreading infections, officials said. EU countries also discussed removing Algeria and Morocco from the list due to a rise in cases, but most opposed the move because numbers there are still relatively low. The two north African countries are therefore set to remain on the safe list. Luxembourg and Cyprus supported the inclusion on the list of the United Arab Emirates based on data provided by Cyprus, but other countries opposed it, officials said. Proposals from Cyprus to add Israel, Libya and Jordan to the list were also dropped. After the exclusion of Serbia and Montenegro, 13 countries will remain on the list. They are: Algeria, Australia, Canada, China, Georgia, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay. Despite being on the list, travel from China will be allowed only if Chinese authorities also allow in EU visitors. The reciprocity requirement is not applied in the case of the other listed countries. (Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio; Editing by Nick Macfie) Teachers unions in Massachusetts are calling for a phased reopening of schools, suggesting a plan that mirrors the four-phased reopening of the states economy, as the calendar ticks closer to the start of the school year. Last month, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary education released guidelines asking districts to prepare three plans for the fall that include in-person classes, a hybrid of in-person and online classes, and complete online learning amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The push has been for students to return to the classroom with precautions like keeping desks at least 3 feet apart and wearing face masks. But, some teachers would rather see a phased approach. In a letter dated July 13, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Boston Teachers Union and the American Federation of Teachers of Massachusetts said returning to school is going to be accompanied by social, emotional and academic needs that educators dont fully understand, as coronavirus continues to spread across the country. The nearly 390,000 students whose families are at 185 percent of the federal poverty level under the Student Opportunity Act will have even more acute trauma than they carried before the pandemic. The intersection of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement compels us to examine and dismantle structures of racism and classism in society and in the institution of public education, the letter reads. Our schools cannot go back to the conditions under which they operated before COVID-19 or we will fail our students, families, educators and communities at the time of their greatest need. This moment provides us with an exciting opportunity to transform public education to adapt to our new reality. The phased plan offered by the unions includes: Phase 1: For teachers, education support professionals, substitutes and other school personnel with uninterrupted time together to prepare for the return of students and resumption of school in whatever model the local association and district deem best through negotiations. Phase 2: For educators to meet students and families either in person or remotely. Time will be used for things including but not limited to meeting one-on-one with families and students, preparing them for the new health and safety protocols like mask-wearing. The time also would be used for social-emotional wellness checks, basic needs assessments, an evaluation of technology needs and reconnecting with students, families and school communities. Phase 3: The resumption of instruction/learning, either in-person, remote or hybrid, focusing on the first six weeks of learning. Phase 4: Will be based on an assessment of where things stand, both in terms of public health data and educational progress under the initial reopening plan. This assessment will be led by the joint labor management committee and will seek input from students, parents and the community. New skills are going to be needed in order to return to the classroom, the unions wrote. School buildings across the commonwealth are not yet equipped to meet environmental health and safety standards. To be ready to return, we need time to prepare buildings and physical settings; plan and learn new skills; and welcome and acclimate our students and families, the letter reads. And we need full funding and staffing to address the myriad facets of teaching and learning during a global pandemic. The unions wrote that there should be no MCAS, as the test obstructs the goals of reimagining curriculum and instruction. They said that educators who are at a high risk of becoming severely ill from coronavirus should be prioritized for remote teaching plans. The letter also calls for more consideration on other safety precautions, like personal protective equipment, or PPE. There should be consideration when distributing PPE to special needs populations, the letter reads, including clear masks for the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as gloves and gowns for teachers who engage in diapering and toileting. Districts should evaluate and upgrade windows and HVAC systems to allow for proper air filtration as a condition of reopening, the unions contend. Additionally, the unions want to see technology available for all students and staff, including paraprofessionals, with districts offering support and training in English and other languages. Related Content: The maiden edition of Stonebwoys Bhim Skills Training Workshop was held last Friday at the St. Augustine Catholic Church premises at Ashaiman in Accra. Under the auspices of the Livingstone Foundation, a charity organization founded by dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy, the training workshop offered training to those who wanted to equip themselves to become entrepreneurs. Over 40 participants from various parts of Accra attended the training workshop. Dubbed The Bhim Skills Workshop, it covered areas such as small scale farming, entrepreneurial development training, food & agro food processing, fashion accessories production, production of household cleaning products, natural cosmetics production and fashion designing. Speaking at the workshop, the award winning dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy, said this initiative was inspired by the recent scourge that the coronavirus outbreak had left on businesses the world over and leaving most people unemployed. According to him, This is our contribution to also support each other, especially during these difficult times when the coronavirus pandemic is taking a toll on everybody. I hope that all that you have learnt today will be of great use to you some day if not today. This is how big companies that produce consumables started, he said. He revealed that periodically this charitable initiative would move into different spaces to where services of professional trainers who had knowledge in a particular field would be required to train us on the work culture and ethics to create an environment suitable for the labour force sector. He, however, added that the Livingstone Foundation would, on July 17, be giving a humanitarian aid to the visually impaired at the Eye of the Lord Orphanage Home at Nsawam in the Eastern Region. The foundation has been very instrumental in advancing social responsibility activities like donating to the accident victims at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, opening of the Bhim Shop and the one house one toilet project in Ashaiman among others. Stonebwoy recently released his fifth studio album titled Anloga Junction, which is already making positive waves on the international music market. Source: daily guide Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video GENEVA, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- iOnctura SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, developing a pipeline of next generation molecules targeting cancer and fibrosis, today announces that it has raised an additional EUR 5.1 million bringing the total Series A financing to EUR 20.1 million. New investor 3B Future Health Fund, previously known as Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR joins the existing blue chip investor syndicate of M Ventures, INKEF Capital, VI Partners, and Schroder Adveq, which all participated in the extension. The funding will enable iOnctura to accelerate development of its next generation dual immune and tumour targeting therapies. Data emerging from early clinical evaluation of its lead molecule IOA-244, a highly selective PI3K-inhibitor, in solid tumours is expected to enable progress into a Phase Ib trial earlier than anticipated and preclinical development of its second program, IOA-289, an ATX-inhibitor with dual utility in organ specific and cancer associated fibrosis will be expedited into human testing in early 2021. iOnctura has recently strengthened its team with the appointment of Dr. Joanna Horobin as Chair. Joanna is an accomplished drug developer and biotech leader with over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector in Europe and the US. Catherine Pickering, Chief Executive Officer of iOnctura, said: "I am pleased to welcome 3B Future Health Fund to our strong investor syndicate. This oversubscribed Series A round provides further validation and support of our strategy as we progress our novel, highly selective, PI3K inhibitor and our differentiated ATX inhibitor through clinical development." Riccardo Braglia, 3B Future Health Fund Chairman and Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We look to invest in early-stage companies which are developing novel treatments in areas of high unmet patient need. We have been very impressed with the world class team at iOnctura and the potential of its next generation molecules targeting cancer and fibrosis." About iOnctura iOnctura SA, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, was founded in June 2017 as a spin out from Merck and seed funded by M Ventures. It is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of next generation, differentiated molecules that are at the forefront of pioneering new therapies for the treatment of cancer. Each of iOnctura's programmes harness the combined effect of immune-mediated and direct anti-tumour activity and aim to deliver molecules with superior clinical efficacy and safety in oncology. The company's lead programme, IOA-244, entered the clinic in Q1 2020. The study is aimed to clinically demonstrate for the first time that a highly selective PI3K inhibition not only drives an immune-mediated response but also a direct anti-tumoural effect in a stratified patient population across multiple solid tumour indications. The company's second molecule is a novel autotaxin (ATX) inhibitor at IND stage for patients with solid tumours burdened with cancer-associated fibrosis. For more information, please visit www.ionctura.com. About 3B Future Health Fund S.A. SICAR, formerly known as Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR 3B Future Health Fund is focused on investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinn's core values of quality, integrity and respect, 3B Future Health Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients. Drawing on Helsinn's over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions. About M Ventures M Ventures is the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. Its mandate is to invest in innovative technologies and products with the potential to significantly impact the company's core business areas. From its headquarters in Amsterdam and offices in the US and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in transformational ideas driven by great entrepreneurs. M Ventures takes an active role in its portfolio companies and teams up with entrepreneurs and co-investors to translate innovation towards commercial success. M Ventures has a significant focus on early stage investing and company creation, including the creation of spin-offs to leverage the company's science and technology base. For more information, visit www.m-ventures.com. About INKEF Capital INKEF Capital is a venture capital firm based in Amsterdam, backing promising early stage companies in Europe. INKEF takes pride in being a patient, long-term investor with the ability to support companies through several rounds of funding. From the early stages of being a technology or life science venture, INKEF Capital supports entrepreneurs building their ideas into successful international businesses. For more information www.inkefcapital.com. About VI Partners Venture Incubator is unique evergreen fund that had been created by McKinsey & Company and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) in 2000. Ten of Switzerland's leading global corporations backed the project both financially and with active engagement. The mission is a blend of stimulating and cultivating Switzerland's start-up ecosystem as well as creating successful companies that would benefit Switzerland. We partner with start-up management teams as constructive Board members, with our syndicate partners to source the most promising opportunities and ensure their success, with our corporate shareholders who recognize the strategic importance of knowing what lies on the horizon. About Schroder Adveq Management AG Founded in 1997, Schroder Adveq Management AG ("Schroder Adveq") is a leading asset manager investing in private equity globally. It offers specialised investment solutions, which allow Schroder Adveq's clients to access private equity investments globally through primary, secondary and co-investments. Schroder Adveq has investment programs focused on the US since 1997, Europe since 1998 and Asia since 2006. SOURCE iOnctura Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the US, on March 13, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued an exemption to its requirement that international students studying in the US on F-1 visas must attend classes in person. At that time, the government said the arrangement was in effect for the duration of the emergency. However, on July 6, ICE made an abrupt announcement reversing the exemption. The change in policy means that over 900,000 international students attending American colleges this fall will be required to take at least one in-person class to remain in the US. The announcement was made last week, just as the pandemic was hitting record numbers of cases in the US, over 375,000 coronavirus cases in a single week, more than the number of cases reported in February, March and the first week of April combined. The measure is part of a broader attempt to force universities and grade schools to fully reopen for the fall semester. The ICE rule reversion came the same day Trump tweeted, SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!! The rule is also seen as an opportunity for Trump to appeal to his fascistic base by whipping up a hostile anti-immigrant environment. A number of lawsuits have been filed against the ruling. One filed jointly by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has received the support of over 50 amicus briefs from other universities. An initial decision by the judge is expected on Wednesday, July 15. Another suit has been filed by the University of California system, which enrolls over 40,000 international students. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has also filed a lawsuit on behalf of California State University and the California Community Colleges system. On July 13, seventeen mostly Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia joined the universities in suing the Trump administration. In response to this lawsuit, the government defended its action on the basis of national security concerns, stating, A solely online program of study provides a nonimmigrant student with enormous flexibility to be present anywhere in the United States for up to an entire academic term, whether that location has been reported to the government, which raises significant national security concerns. The invocation of national security concerns is completely baseless. Rather, it is part of the Trump administrations broader efforts to stoke extreme nationalism by targeting immigrants and refugees. The Harvard and MIT lawsuit provides no safeguard against future attacks on international students. It seeks only a temporary restraining order on ICEs July 6 rule, an order setting aside the rule and a declaration that the rule is unlawful. Nowhere in the lawsuit are future guarantees for international students residency requested by the universities. Even if the judge grants every request, the short- and long-term future of international students in the US remains perilous. The lawsuits undertaken by the coalition of mostly Democratic-controlled states and the capital territory are perhaps even more blatant in their disregard for the democratic rights of international students. Commenting on his decision to back the lawsuit, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal derided the Trump administration for using international students and the tuition they pay as leverage [to return to in-person classes]. The Democratic-led lawsuits notion that the rights of international students should be defended on the basis of the tuition they pay is particularly foul. It detracts from the fact that many international students are from working class and lower-middle class backgrounds who attend colleges in the US on scholarships or through years of saving and sacrifice by their parents. Indeed, international students face food insecurity at a higher rate than their American counterparts. The harsh reality is that if the money can be sourced elsewhere or if state contracts are at risk, then these universities will have no qualms sending international students on their merry way. The states lawsuit also represents the interests of a section of the ruling class who are concerned about the damage the ICE ruling will cause American imperialisms foreign policy interests. As of last year, 62 of the worlds heads of state had spent a portion of their higher education in the US. There is also no doubt a deep concern among Democratic Party officials of a massive backlash by students and workers against this measure which threatens to break out of the confines of the state-sanctioned opposition. Already dozens of petitions have been signed by thousands of students, American and international alike, who understand that the move represents an attack on democratic rights more broadly. Both the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump administration and the back-to-work campaign have been facilitated and supported by the Democratic Party. Just last month, the Supreme Court suspended habeas corpus and due process rights for asylum seekers. The darling of the progressive wing of the Democratic party, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, voted in favor of the reactionary ruling. This is the logical conclusion of Obama-era immigration policies, which saw record numbers of migrant deportations. Other measures taken in the past two months include the realization of long-term policy goals of the right wing of the Trump administration, particularly fascistic ex-adviser Stephen Miller. These include the crackdown on H-1B work visas and the vicious reprisals against Chinese graduate students. Indeed, over 370,000 Chinese students on F-1 visas face deportation following the ICE ruling. Following Trumps victory in the 2016 election, the US was rocked by mass protests in a number of major cities against his xenophobic and nationalistic policies. The role of the Democratic Party has been to nullify that anger with token resistance, or, in many cases, to actively participate in the crackdown. Their actions have given the Trump administration carte blanche to carry out widespread attacks against asylum seekers, foreign workers and international students alike. The lawsuits filed by the mostly Democratic-controlled states and state-aligned university administrations will not buck this trend. International students should not have any illusions in these or any future legal actions. As anti-immigrant measures are enforced at an ever greater pace by all sections of the American ruling class, it will ultimately be in the arena of a political struggle of the working class armed with a socialist perspective that the right to equal and high-quality education regardless of nationality will be secured for all. Ulaanbaatar, July 14 : A suspected case of bubonic plague reported in Mongolia's Govi-Altai province has been confirmed as positive, the country's Health Ministry said on Tuesday. "The result of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test revealed on Monday night that bubonic plague caused the death of a 15-year-old boy," Xinhua news agency quoted Dorj Narangerel, head of public relations and surveillance department of the Ministry, as saying to the media. The teenager on Sunday died in Tugrug district on the way to a hospital. He was found to have eaten marmot meat with two of his friends three days before his death, according to the health ministry. His two friends and 15 others who had contact with them have been isolated and treated at local hospitals, the official said, warning citizens not to eat marmot meat. Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease spread by fleas living on wild rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not treated in time, according to the World Health Organization. In May 2019, two people in the country of Mongolia died from the plague, which they contracted after eating the raw meat of a marmot - the same type of rodent the second suspected case came into contact with. Bubonic plague was responsible for one of the deadliest epidemics in human history - the Black Death - which killed about 50 million people across Africa, Asia and Europe in the 14th Century, a BBC report said. There have been a handful of large outbreaks since. It killed about a fifth of London's population during the Great Plague of 1665, while more than 12 million died in outbreaks during the 19th Century in China and India. But nowadays it can be treated by antibiotics. Left untreated, the disease, which is typically transmitted from animals to humans by fleas, has a 30-60 per cent fatality rate. Symptoms of the plague include high fever, chills, nausea, weakness and swollen lymph nodes in the neck, armpit or groin. Bubonic cases are rare, but there are still a few flare-ups of the disease from time to time. Madagascar saw more than 300 cases during an outbreak in 2017. However, a study in medical journal The Lancet found less than 30 people died. The United Kingdom has a unique opportunity to start rebuilding its fish stocks by taking advantage of the slowdown in commercial fishing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing Brexit negotiations, new research has shown. A study by the University of Southampton, the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research and the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia sets out how the UK Government can take a new approach to managing its fishing waters. After Brexit the UK will no longer be bound by the Common Fisheries Policy and therefore has the chance to develop a new policy focused on sustainability and preserving the livelihoods of fishing communities. Furthermore, the reduction in fishing activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has seen pressure on some threatened species fall to levels not seen since World War II, giving opportunities to help fish populations recover and increase the potential economic returns for fishers. "Several stocks targeted by UK fishers are in a degraded and precarious state, with around 40 per cent that will continue to be overfished when normal activity resumes," said Professor Paul Kemp, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Southampton. "One of the reasons for this is that fishing quotas - or how much of each species can be caught in a certain area by each country - are set by the EU at levels higher than those that would enable the recovery of the populations." To regulate the ongoing harvest beyond sustainable limits, the researchers propose fishing targets be set to levels in which fishers leave more fish in the water than the minimum required to generate maximum sustainable yields. "Maximum Sustainable Yield or MSY is defined as the highest catch that can be continuously taken from a stock under existing environmental conditions," said Rainer Froese, co-author of the study and senior scientist at GEOMAR. "Smart fisheries management, such as applied in Australia, aims for a little less than MSY. That reduces the risk of unintentional overfishing and ensures close to maximum catches, year after year." "This will allow fish populations to recover to levels that are higher than those that can produce MSY to ensure large and diverse populations that will be better prepared for climate change, stabilize ecosystems, and at the same time maximize fishers' profits," said Daniel Pauly, co-author of the study and principal investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative at the University of British Columbia. "The opportunity to do this is now because of the slowdown caused by COVID-19 and because after Brexit, the UK will be in a position to insist in its negotiations with the EU that fishing quotas advised by scientists not be exceeded." As an additional safeguard for sustainable and highly profitable fishing in the post-Brexit and post-COVID-19 world, the researchers propose further creation of a "blue belt" of Marine Protected Areas around the UK coast, and enforcement of their protected status, something that up until now has been seriously lacking. "The establishment of MPAs is one of the most cost-effective ways to restore overexploited stocks and habitats on which fish depend, to the mutual benefit of the fishing industry who experience increased catches in grounds immediately outside of MPAs," Pauly said. The researchers warn that strong conviction will be required to ensure these areas are suitably protected as there are likely to be disputes with EU members who may regard this as a challenge to their perceived historic fishing rights. "Brexit divided the UK and the whole world has been challenged by the global health pandemic" added Professor Kemp. "However, regardless of how people voted, UK politicians have the chance to bring people together over a common goal that supports fishing communities, wider society and environmental sustainability. The opportunity is there but it will require political vision; with the necessary strength of character the negotiators can deliver a positive outcome from the combined systemic shocks of Brexit and COVID19." ### Notes to editors 1) For interview requests, please contact Peter Franklin, Media Relations Office, University of Southampton. p.franklin@southampton.ac.uk M 07748 321087 2) The paper "COVID-19 provides an opportunity to advance a sustainable UK Fisheries Policy in a post-Brexit brave new world" has been published in Marine Policy: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0308-597X(20)30103-2. 3) The University of Southampton drives original thinking, turns knowledge into action and impact, and creates solutions to the world's challenges. We are among the top 100 institutions globally (QS World University Rankings 2019). Our academics are leaders in their fields, forging links with high-profile international businesses and organisations, and inspiring a 24,000-strong community of exceptional students, from over 135 countries worldwide. Through our high-quality education, the University helps students on a journey of discovery to realise their potential and join our global network of over 200,000 alumni. http://www.southampton.ac.uk Sundar Pichai, the India-born CEO of Google, has said that the tech giant will take a long-term view on how the TikTok ban in India will pan out for it. Commenting on whether Google will gain from the ban, Pichai clarified in an interview with The Economic Times that "we take a long-term view and definitely don't see it that way. He went on to add that as the company runs platforms like Android, it also wants to support all developers. Pichai further stated that "we want to support all developers. We obviously do comply with local laws and in the countries we operate in." Also Read: Sundar Pichai-led Google sets up $10 billion India digitisation fund Talking about the government's push to build a local app ecosystem under its Aatma Nirbhar Bharat scheme, Pichai expressed that India can see this through as the country has "a strong entrepreneurial and venture capital foundation, local talent, and access to a large market." He articulated that Google is trying to develop apps in India and also wants to invest in companies that are doing that. Betting big on the country's digital future, Google on Monday announced an investment of $10 billion in India. The tech giant announced that a Rs 75,000 crore or $10 billion digitalisation fund will be utilised over the next five to seven years. This will be done via a mix of equity investments, partnerships, operational infra, and ecosystem investments. Also Read: PM Modi holds e-meet with Google CEO Sundar Pichai; discusses coronavirus, new work culture The development came after a virtual meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pichai earlier in the day. According to Google, this investment will help realise PM Modi's vision of a Digital India. "Today at #GoogleForIndia we announced a new $10B digitisation fund to help accelerate India's digital economy. We're proud to support PM," Pichai announced in a tweet on Monday. "This morning, had an extremely fruitful interaction with Sundar Pichai. We spoke on a wide range of subjects, particularly leveraging the power of technology to transform the lives of India's farmers, youngsters and entrepreneurs," Prime Minister Modi also tweeted earlier. Protesters In Russia's Far East Demand Release Of Regional Governor Charged With Murders By Siberia Desk, RFE/RL's Russian Service July 13, 2020 KHABAROVSK, Russia -- Hundreds of demonstrators have continued to peacefully protest in Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, demanding the release of the region's governor Sergei Furgal, who was arrested last week on charges of attempted murder and ordering the killings of two businessmen in 2004-2005. The protesters marched across the city on July 13 demanding Furgal's release. They had planned to hold a big gathering on the central Lenin Square, but local officials started washing the cobblestones and therefore the protesters decided to march across the city. After police asked them not to block the streets for public transportation, the protesters began marching on sidewalks, holding posters saying "We Are For Furgal," "Freedom To Furgal," "We Are The Power Here." Some protesters chanted slogans against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other people were joining the protesters as they marched, while drivers of vehicles signaled their support. The number of protesters was less than that at previous rallies, where tens of thousands gathered in support of Furgal over the weekend in Khabarovsk. Following the rallies, the presidential envoy to the Far East Territory, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, arrived in Khabarovsk and met with local authorities. Reports in the Kommersant daily said Trutnev had accused local officials of organizing the mass protests over the weekend. According to some estimates, as many as 35,000 people participated in the rallies. After the meeting with local officials, Trutnev told reporters that he arrived to the region "to check on the work of regional officials in the governor's absence." Trutnev said that law enforcement structures would not arrest Furgal "without a 100 percent reason," adding though that ordinary citizens "have a right to express their opinions freely." On July 12, thousands of demonstrators in Khabarovsk, the capital of the Khabarovsk region, marched to the regional headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB), chanting "Free Furgal." 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 Putin to remain in power until 2036. 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 Furgal to be held in pretrial detention for two months. The 50-year-old member of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), led by nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of businessman Aleksandr Smolsky and ordering the murders of two businessmen, Yevgeny Zorya and Oleg Bulatov in 2004-2005. Zhirinovsky wrote on Telegram on July 13 that Furgal's arrest was linked to his being a member of "an opposition party [and] one of the five most popular regional governors in Russia." In another post, Zhirinovsky wrote his party supports the protesters in Khabarovsk, but added that the LDPR would never call on people to take part in unsanctioned demonstrations. Furgal won a surprise victory over the Kremlin favorite Vyacheslav Shport in 2018 in a major upset for the ruling United Russia party. With reporting by Kommersant Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/protests- continue-in-russian-far-east-demanding- release-of-regional-governor-charged -with-murders/30723786.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Congress sacked Sanjay Jha as its spokesperson after After he publicly criticised the Congress at the time of Sachin Pilot's rebellion last month The Congress, on July 14, suspended senior leader Sanjay Jha from the party citing anti-party activities and breach of discipline. The move came after he was suspended as the AICC spokesperson last month. The move comes the same day as when the Congress passed a resolution to remove Sachin Pilot from the party, and as Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state unit chief. For five years Sachin Pilot gave his blood , tears, toil and sweat for the Congress party between 2013-18. The Congress came back from a wretched 21 seats to 100. We just gave him a performance bonus. We are so meritocratic. We are so transparent. Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) July 14, 2020 To this development, Jha responded by taking to Twitter and saying, "For five years Sachin Pilot gave his blood , tears, toil and sweat for the Congress party between 2013-18. The Congress came back from a wretched 21 seats to 100. We just gave him a performance bonus. We are so meritocratic. We are so transparent." Last month, Jha had penned an open letter in The Times of India suggesting that the party was "hurtling towards political obsolescence". In the letter, Jha had gone on to say, "The Congress has demonstrated extraordinary lassitude, and its lackadaisical attitude towards its own political obsolescence is baffling." "I would like to call a spade a spade here and a shovel: there has been no serious effort to get the party up and running with any sense of urgency." There are many in the party who cannot comprehend this perceptible listlessness. For someone like me, for instance, permanently wedded to Gandhian philosophy and Nehruvian outlook that defines the Congress, it is dismaying to see its painful disintegration," Jha had said. In a tweet he posted on June 11, Jha had said that the Congress needed an "organisational renewal" and that time was slipping by. The Centre had issued an eviction notice to Vadra on 1 July, asking her to leave the bungalow where she had been staying since 1997. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said she will vacate the government bungalow allotted to her within the stipulated deadline, refuting Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puris allegations that she was seeking to extend her occupancy tenure. Puri had claimed in a tweet that he was requested by a powerful Congress leader on 4 July to allot the bungalow to a Congress MP so that Vadra could stay on. However, Vadra said in response: If someone called you Mr Puri, I thank them for their concern, and thank you for your consideration as well but it still does not change the facts: I have made no such request, and I am making no such request. As I said, I will be vacating the house by the 1st of August..1/2 https://t.co/jeHSZAf4MR Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 14, 2020 She also said that a report which claimed that her request for more time to vacate the 35, Lodhi Estate bungalow beyond the 1 August deadline was accepted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fake news. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on 1 July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35, Lodhi Estate by 1 August, she tweeted. Just when people thought there is witch hunt against the erstwhile first family of Indian politics, the PM's move once again validated his large heartedness, the report read. This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on the 1st of July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by the 1st of August.https://t.co/GkBO5dkaLs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 14, 2020 The Centre had issued an eviction notice to Vadra on 1 July, asking her to leave the bungalow where she had been staying since 1997. According to the notice, she was no longer eligible for a bungalow after her security cover was downgraded last year from the Special Protection Group, and she was asked to vacate by 1 August. Hours after the notice was served to her, Vadra paid off all her pending dues, amounting to Rs 3,46,677, until 30 June, Hindustan Times reported. She is planning to move to the house of late Sheila Kaul, her grand-mother Indira Gandhis maternal aunt, in Lucknow. However, BJP leader and Union Minister Smriti Irani further alleged that Vadra had not cleared the dues. Facts and CONgress can never go hand in hand. The fact that a notice had to be served and dues were not paid speaks for itself, she tweeted. Facts and CONgress can never go hand in hand... The fact that a notice had to be served & dues were not paid speaks for itself...The congress leader called you @HardeepSPuri ji coz high command ka order hai https://t.co/5k8SrIt29o Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 14, 2020 Meanwhile, the bungalow in which Vadra has been staying till now has been allotted to BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni. FORT WORTH, Texas The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association is endorsing the introduction of two bills that will expand options for meat processors and increase the availability of beef to consumers. The Direct Interstate Retail Exemption for Certain Transactions (DIRECT) Act of 2020, introduced by U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, would allow meat processed at state-inspected facilities to be sold directly to consumers across state lines through e-commerce. The Requiring Assistance to Meat Processors for Upgrading Plants (RAMP UP) Act would provide federal grants for existing meat processors to move from state to federal inspection, which will similarly allow for increased interstate meat sales. The supply chain challenges brought about by COVID-19 left many consumers hungry for beef they could not find, Robert E. McKnight Jr., president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said in a statement. A former staffer at a veterans hospital in West Virginia is being charged with killing seven patients by giving them fatal doses of insulin, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday in a sweeping probe into a series of mysterious deaths. Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, is being charged with second degree murder in the deaths of seven people and assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person between 2017 and 2018. Robert Edge Sr., Robert Kozul, Archie Edgell, 84, George Shaw Sr, 81, Felix McDermott, 82, and Raymond Golden are six of the veterans Mays is accused of killing and she is expected to plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday. The seventh killed veteran is identified by initials, W.A.H. USA TODAY reported last year that William Alfred Holloway, 96, died after suffering severe hypoglycemia. Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia is where the veterans died. Reta Mays (not pictured) is being charged with second degree murder in the deaths of seven people and assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person between 2017 and 2018 Felix McDermott (pictured) is one of seven killed victims named. Others include Robert Edge Sr., Robert Kozul, Archie Edgell, George Shaw Sr and Raymond Golden The veteran she is accused of assaulting was identified only by initials the R.R.P. The unsealed court records, which name Mays publicly for the first time, come after multiple families initiated civil lawsuits against VA leadership alleging a widespread system of failures at the hospital. The families state that the victims were wrongfully injected with insulin and suddenly died. The widow of George Nelson Shaw Sr. said the 81-year-old retired Air Force member was given four insulin shots without a doctor's order in March 2018. Her lawsuit accuses the hospital of failing to securely store insulin and prevent its access by unauthorized personnel. The suit stated that he died at the hospital in April 2018 from a wrongful insulin injection. By the time the incidents were reported in June 2018, eight people all on the same ward had died from an unexplained drop in sugar levels. A federal judge was informed of the charges by U.S. Attorney Bill Powell's office ahead of Mays' plea hearing set for Tuesday afternoon at U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. Powell had described the probe of at least 11 patient deaths at the hospital as a top priority. However not all of the cases have been ruled a homicide. Robert Wilkie, the Veterans Affairs secretary, had called for an expedited investigation into the deaths. Robert Kozul (left) and John Hallman (right). John Hallman, 87, was cremated, although his daughter said he had an unexplained drop in blood sugar levels before he died Pictured) George Shaw Sr. (left) Archie Edgell (center) and William Alfred Holloway (right) U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who previously expressed 'grave concerns over the pace of the investigation' to Attorney General William Barr, told reporters last year that the FBI was involved and that the bodies of victims were being exhumed. However one suspected victim, John Hallman, 87, was cremated, although his daughter said he had an unexplained drop in blood sugar levels before he died. Manchin said then that the VA inspector general told his office that the probe was opened in July 2018, after at least nine patients were diagnosed with unexplained low blood sugar. 'My heart goes out to the families and loved ones who tragically lost a Veteran and have had to endure this injustice. While overdue, today justice is finally being served. I hope todays announcement brings some semblance of peace to their hearts and to the families who are still uncertain about the fate of their Veterans,' Manchin said in a statement on Tuesday. 'Todays news confirms that the nursing assistant at the Clarksburg VA Medical Center murdered Veterans under her care. 'As a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, I will not stop until we determine how this could have happened, and ensure it never happens again. Our Veterans deserve world-class care and their families deserve peace of mind at every step of the way.' U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (pictured August 2019) had called for an expedited investigation into the suspicious deaths at the hospital. Court documents unsealed Tuesday finally named Reta Mays The VA is the government's second-largest department, responsible for 9 million military veterans. The agency's former director was fired in 2018 in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency, and the doctor who Trump nominated to replace him had to withdraw his nomination amid accusations of misconduct. US Senator (R-WV) stated: 'Our veterans should always feel safe and cared for at our VA hospitals. Period. The situation at the Clarksburg VA was sickening and deeply troubling. It is unacceptable in any setting. 'My heart breaks for the families of these veterans, and I know I speak for all West Virginians when I say that we are astounded that something like this could happen. The families of these victims deserve answers, and todays news will help bring some closure to what has been a long and painful journey. 'Going forward, it is important that we make sure our veterans receive the best care possible, feel safe while receiving care at our West Virginia VA medical facilities, and tragedies like this never, ever happen again.' Melanie Proctor filed a lawsuit this March against Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie. She said 'widespread system of failures' at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center led to the death of her father, former Army Sgt. Felix Kirk McDermott. Proctor's lawsuit said McDermott, 82, was admitted to to the hospital for shortness of breath and concern for food aspiration pneumonia on April 6, 2018. He was placed on antibiotics. He had no medical history of diabetes and there was no order for insulin to be administered to him. On April 9, McDermott was found restless and in pain, and a test revealed he had severe hypoglycemia. He died later that day. The lawsuit said McDermott's body was not referred to a state medical examiner for an autopsy. An autopsy performed more than six months later at an air base in Dover, Delaware, determined McDermott had received an insulin injection and his death was ruled a homicide, the lawsuit said. Proctor's lawsuit said at least four other veterans died at the hospital in the two months following McDermott's death, including two the next day. This March, attorney Tony O'Dell contended that a lone employee serial killer could be responsible for the deaths. LONDON Britain on Tuesday backtracked on plans to give Chinese telecommunications company Huawei a role in the U.K.s new high-speed mobile phone network amid security concerns fueled by rising tensions between Beijing and Western powers. Britain said it decided to prohibit Huawei from working on the so-called 5G system after U.S. sanctions made it impossible to ensure the security of equipment made by the Chinese company. The U.S. had also threatened to sever an intelligence-sharing arrangement with Britain because of concerns that Huaweis involvement could allow the Chinese government to infiltrate U.K. networks. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told Parliament the decision would delay the rollout of 5G technology and increase costs by up to 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion), but that it had to be done. This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one, he said. The decision forces British telecoms operators to stop buying 5G equipment from Huawei by the end of this year but gives them until 2027 to remove Huawei gear that has already been used in the network, which is currently under construction. Fifth generation, or 5G, networks are expected to usher in a new wave of wireless innovation, with super-fast speeds and low signal delay that will help the development of self-driving cars, remote surgery and factory robots. Critically for telecoms operators, the government opted not to order them to rip out equipment manufactured by Huawei and used in earlier systems, such as the existing 4G network. Such a decision might have caused havoc in U.K. telecoms systems. Still, the decision marks a major retreat for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who in January sought to balance economic and security pressures by agreeing to give Huawei a limited role in the 5G network. Under the earlier ruling, Huawei would have been limited to providing 35% of equipment such as radios and antennas, with the company barred from supplying core components of the system. But the move set up a diplomatic clash with the U.S., which is involved in a wide-ranging trade dispute with China and threatened to cut off security cooperation unless Britain dumped Huawei. Amid continued pressure to remove Huawei from communication networks entirely, the U.S. in May imposed new sanctions that will bar companies around the world from using American-made machinery or software to produce chips for the Chinese company. U.S. officials claim that under Chinese law the government could force Huawei to give it access to foreign networks it has helped build. Huawei denies this, saying that countries such as Britain have already developed oversight procedures to ensure there are no security breaches. President Donald Trumps national security adviser applauded Britains decision. The reported U.K. action reflects a growing international consensus that Huawei and other untrusted vendors pose a threat to national security, as they remain beholden to the Chinese Communist Party, said Robert OBrien, who is in Europe this week. We look forward to working with the U.K., as well as our many other partners and allies, to spur innovation, promote vendor diversity in the 5G supply chain, and ensure 5G security free from dangerous manipulations. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that with the decision, the UK joins a growing list of countries from around the world that are standing up for their national security by prohibiting the use of untrusted, high-risk vendors. Johnson also came under pressure from rebels in his own Conservative Party who criticized Chinas new Hong Kong security law and its treatment of ethnic Uighurs in Chinas far west Xinjiang region, as well as Huaweis links to the Chinese government. Two weeks ago, members of Parliament debated Huaweis entanglement in Xinjiang following an Associated Press report on forced birth control measures in the region, pressing the government to cut ties with the company on human rights grounds. Ten Conservative lawmakers this week sent a letter to Johnson demanding that he remove Huawei from the U.K.s critical national infrastructure. The Labour Partys spokeswoman on communications issues, Chi Omwurah, decried the governments flip-flop approach and said it would have a dire impact on the future. It has been clear for some time that there are serious questions over whether Huawei should be allowed to control large sections of our countrys telecoms networks, yet the government refused to face reality, she said. Their approach to our 5G capability, Huawei and our national security has been incomprehensibly negligent. Huawei expressed disappointment, saying that the decision threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. The American motive for these activities is one of protecting American jobs, Huawei UK Vice President Jeremy Thompson told The Associated Press, arguing that the United States., despite its global might, is behind the curve when it comes to wireless technology. The U.S. have under-invested in wireless consistently since the second generation. Here we are in the fifth, he said. Theyve under-invested. And as a result, theyre behind the rest of the world. The controversy has put Huawei at the vortex of tensions between China and Britain. Last fall, the U.K. called on China to give the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights free access to Xinjiang. More recently, Johnsons government has criticized Chinas decision to impose a sweeping new national security law on Hong Kong. Britain accused the Beijing government of a serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration under which the U.K. returned control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, and announced it would open a special route to citizenship for up to 3 million eligible residents of the city. Chinas ambassador to Britain, Liu Xiaoming, last week decried what he described as gross interference in Chinese affairs. Britain can only be great, he said, when it has an independent foreign policy, adding that it sets a bad precedent to make your policy in the morning and change it in evening. It also sends out a very bad message to the China business community, Liu said, suggesting Chinese companies might think twice about investing in Britain. They are all watching how you handle Huawei. Rana Mitter, an Oxford University history professor specializing in China, said that the security law combined with broader resentment about the way China handled information about the coronavirus created increased wariness among Britains politicians and the public. But for China, its the way Britain has handled the Huawei issue that is the major problem. Even if Britain decides that buying Huawei isnt a good idea, this could have been done more discreetly, Mitter said. I think the immediate reaction from China is going to be pretty incandescent, he said. Theyre going to be very, very angry about the reversal of the decision, not just because of the decision itself, but because in a sense, it has made them lose face. Having said yes, back in January, the British government has now done a pretty exact U-turn and said absolutely no. But I think that China will maybe made to feel as if its been made essentially to suffer the consequences of that U-turn in public. ___ Associated Press Writers Deb Reichman in Washington, and Kelvin Chan and Pan Pylas in London, contributed to this report. In mid-March, as the coronavirus raged across New York, Washington state, California and New Jersey, and the crisis in personal protection equipment shortages grew, Dov Charney of Los Angeles Apparel was one of the first US clothing retailers to step into the void. In reopening his Los Angeles factory to produce face masks, Charney, the former chief executive of American Apparel who was ousted amid allegations of misuse of funds and knowingly allowing sexual harassment, was transformed from industry pariah to champion. Los Angeles Apparel, his new company, was deemed an essential business. The federal government became a client, Charney said. The long road to redemption seemed, suddenly, much shorter. But on Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered Charney's manufacturing facility to close: An investigation found more than 300 confirmed infections among the garment workers, and four deaths. Three of the deaths were in June and one in July. A Rehab Support worker checks on patient notes as the first patients are admitted to the NHS Seacole Centre at Headley Court, Surrey, a disused military hospital, which has been converted during the coronavirus pandemic. The U.K. government must prepare for a potential new wave of Covid-19 infections that may be more serious than the first, a group of scientists has said, warning that the country could see nearly 120,000 further coronavirus deaths this winter. In a report published Tuesday, an advisory group of 37 experts from the Academy of Medical Sciences stressed that "intense preparation" was urgently needed throughout the rest of July and August to reduce the risk of the National Health Service being overwhelmed this winter. Their modeling suggests Covid-19 infections in the U.K. will rise again in the fall and peak in January and February, the busiest time of year for the NHS. In a worst-case scenario, the experts said there could be 119,900 additional hospital deaths this winter at least double the number from the first wave. The models do not consider the use of drugs, treatments or potential vaccines. It also excludes deaths in care homes and the community. To date, the U.K. has recorded more than 291,000 cases of the coronavirus, with 44,915 related deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The "Preparing for a challenging winter 2020/2021" report was requested by Patrick Vallance, the British government's chief scientific adviser, to model a "reasonable" worst-case scenario. "The modelling suggests that deaths could be higher with a new wave of Covid-19 this winter, but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately," Stephen Holgate, a respiratory scientist from University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, said in the report. "With relatively low numbers of Covid-19 cases at the moment, this is a critical window of opportunity to help us prepare for the worst that winter can throw at us," he added. Holgate, who chaired the report, said the findings were not a prediction of what is likely to happen, but a scenario of what may happen if the virus is allowed to surge and little is done to protect the NHS and social care services. The Tel Aviv District Court dismissed July 12 Amnesty Internationals petition to revoke the export license of Israeli spyware firm NSO Group, in an attempt to prevent the company from selling abroad its surveillance technologies. The human rights group had claimed in its petition that governments across the globe have used NSO cellphone hacking software Pegasus to spy on journalists and activists, and in particular spy on a member of Amnesty International. The court ruled in response that Amnesty International did not provide sufficient evidence to back up its claim of an attempted espionage by hacking the phone of one of its members, nor that such an attempt had been carried out by NSO. The judge also said that the Defense Ministry has put in place enough restrictions and limitations on its export licensing process to reasonably protect human rights. From the beginning, NSO had fiercely denied the allegations. The company stated after the ruling, The judgement is irrefutable evidence that the regulatory framework which we operate in is of the highest international standard. It also pledged to continue to supply technology to countries and intelligence agencies that is meant to save lives. A look at its website reveals great efforts on its part, to fight rumors of that type and avoid negative publicity. The case against NSO was first brought up by Amnesty International last January. The group called on the court to prevent the company from selling its technology abroad, especially to repressive regimes. On May 14, the group officially submitted a complaint to the Tel Aviv court. "In August 2018 an Amnesty staff member was targeted by a particularly invasive piece of NSO Group software called Pegasus, also linked to attacks on activists and journalists in Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates. The NSO Group sells its products to governments that are known for outrageous human rights abuses, giving them the tools to track activists and critics. The attack on Amnesty International was the final straw, said Danna Ingleton, the Amnesty tech deputy director at the time. On June 22, Amnesty International claimed that NSO cybertechnologies were used by the Moroccan government to spy on journalist and activist Omar Radi. Amnesty published a statement saying that the cyberattacks on his phone "occurred over a period when Radi was being repeatedly harassed by the Moroccan authorities, with one attack taking place just days after NSO pledged to stop its products being used in human rights abuses and continued until at least January 2020. Morocco has denied these accusations, claiming that it has never had contacts with NSO. The company denied any wrongdoing. - Scientist have issued out a new warning, stating that the disease that has been killing elephants in Bostwana could become contagious to humans - Though the virus is yet to be identified, elephants have been spotted dying mysteriously after they appeared befuddled and fell - There is presently a possibility that they were poisoned or poached but no one can say for certain until results of samples are known Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Scientists have warned that the new and yet-to-be-identified disease killing African elephants in Bostwana could start affecting humans if care is not taken. Sun UK reports that the virus has killed a total of 400 elephants in Okavango Delta in the country since May 2020. An aerial shot has shown the massive carcasses of elephants doting the area in a way that shows that the unidentified pathogen is not affecting other animals. READ ALSO: Sandra Sarfo Ababio: Lil Win's 'girlfriend' gives 'free show' in new video Should humanity prepare for another outbreak? According to the same media, before the elephants died, they always looked disoriented, wandered in circles, and hit the floor hard. Elephants of all ages have been affected since the issue was first reported. Niall McCann, the director of National Park Rescue, said what is one is so big that such has never been seen in a very long time. READ ALSO: Kwaku Manu flaunts his all-grown-up children in new photo This picture is only used for illustrative purposes. Photo source: WildLife Source: UGC He said aside drought, he does not know anything that could elephant in such massive numbers, adding that we are currently living with a zoonotic spillover event. READ ALSO: Delay professes love for Donald Trump; says she is his African wife "The absolute worst case is that this could turn into another one. It is incredibly important to rule out the prospect of this crossing over into people. "Yes, it is a conservation disaster - but it also has the potential to be a public health crisis, he said. Test results could possibly say otherwise Another worthy of note is that sample of the area and from the carcasses have been taken to Zimbabwe for proper analysis. Poaching and poisoning have been considered as a possible cause but experts cannot say for sure until the results of the samples arrive. READ ALSO: Zynnell Zuh stuns fans with beautiful photo ahead of her birthday When the Bostwana government contacted the officials in other African countries like Angola, Namibia, and Zambia, they said they have not witnessed similar death. Meanwhile, it was earlier reported that a kindhearted dog was dubbed a hero after helping a blind man walk without tripping over an obstacle that lay in his path. A police commissioner from Pune City drove Twitter users to tears when he posted a video of the black, fluffy dog doing its act of kindness without caring who was watching. The canine beauty was walking with someone who appeared to be its owner and at first, it minded its business until it spotted a blind man coming its way. In other news, monkeys are known to be very cheeky animals. One monkey decided that a birthday celebration had to come to an end by stealing the cake. The daring monkey attacked just when a member of the family had just cut the cake while others were singing a birthday song. It grabbed the sumptuous cake with both hands and ran with it up the tree. Ghanaians express fear over final year students in school | #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 Former Vice President Joe Biden has launched his first 60-second television and digital ad in Texas one that sounds almost more like a public service announcement calling on Texans to wear masks to help fight the coronavirus. The ad features 15 different people wearing masks at various points, including Biden himself at the end with the words Stay safe, wear a mask flashing across the screen. This virus is tough, but Texas is tougher, Biden said. Later he tells viewers to wear a mask, wash your hands, stay home if you can. Details on where the ad is running and how often have not been made public, but it represents the first foray into Texas in the general election for Biden. Biden has acknowledged hes getting pushed by Democrats in Texas to invest more in campaigning here, convinced that close public polling suggests Texas could flip to Democrats in a presidential election for the first time since 1976. I think we have a real chance to turn the state blue because of the work all of you have done, Biden said at the Texas Democrats virtual convention last month. Were building a diverse coalition to win up and down the ballot in the fall. But Texas, with 20 big television markets, is a huge and expensive state for any presidential campaign. Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told the New York Times he was recently on a phone call with top Biden advisers and other Texas Democrats talking about the state of the race in Texas. Their hesitation is that its so big and there is no history of this state ever being in play like it is now, Hinojosa said, conceding that the high costs of a state with 20 media markets make it a scary proposition for a national campaign. Bidens new Texas ad will also be adapted for use in Arizona, Florida and North Carolina. In all, the Biden campaign said the buys would be in the mid-six figures and would run in top markets and on local cable. There is also a version with captions in Spanish that is expected to play on YouTube, Facebook, and Univision. The ad never mentions President Donald Trump directly. Trumps campaign officials scoffed at the idea that Biden may have a shot at turning Texas blue in 2020. Despite investing in a TV ad, the Democrats perpetual pipe dream of turning Texas blue is still out of reach, said Samantha Cotten, Regional Communications Director for Trump Victory. Cotten said the Trump campaign has been investing for years in Texas in preparation for 2020. That has included volunteer outreach programs and online training programs to help get out the vote in the fall. Public polls have shown Texas is close. In a CBS News/YouGov poll of 1,212 registered Texas voters, Trump was the choice of 46 percent, while 45 percent were for Biden. Trump has questioned the accuracy of those polls. Im not one point up in Texas, Trump said on Monday. Were many points up. Trump is scheduled to return to Texas for a fundraiser in Odessa later this month. Trump won Texas in 2020 by just over 800,000 votes the narrowest vote margin for a Republican presidential candidate in Texas since 1996 when Republican Bob Dole won by just over 270,000 votes in Texas. Texas has added 2.1 million more voters since the summer of 2016. (Alliance News) - The UK government will decide later this week whether to make changes to Leicester's local lockdown after examining the latest coronavirus data, the Health Secretary has said. Matt Hancock said information covering the 14 days since the local measures were introduced will be looked at on Thursday followed by a public announcement "as soon as is reasonably possible". Leicester became the first place in the country to have tight restrictions reimposed on June 30 following a rise in coronavirus infections. Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Hancock said: "We will look at 14 days of data, it is today 14 days since the measures were introduced and we'll look at that on Thursday of this week and make a public announcement as soon as is reasonably possible about whether and if any changes can be made to the situation in Leicester. "Thankfully the numbers have been coming down in Leicester and we've put in that extra testing, but the number of positive cases in Leicester is still well above the rest of the country and I won't prejudge the decision that we'll take on Thursday and we'll take into account all of the data." His comments follow claims from Leicester Mayor Peter Soulsby that data being provided to local health officials is not detailed enough and up to two weeks out of date. But one of the government's deputy chief medical officers, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, has said that "the local authority is getting absolutely granular postcode-level data". According to data released on Monday, the rate of new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 population in Leicester had fallen slightly from 117.7 in the seven days to July 3 to 114.3 in the seven days to July 10. It was 156.8 in the seven days to June 26. Only two other local authorities had a rate of more than 40 new cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to July 10 a Pendle on 67.8 and Blackburn with Darwen on 41.0. In Nottingham, the rate of new cases in the seven days to July 10 was 3.9 and in Derby it was 8.9. Earlier on Tuesday, local NHS officials said the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown in Leicester had highlighted the need to tackle health inequalities. Issues around deprivation, ethnicity and numbers of people registered with GPs were raised at a meeting of the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Groups governing body. Prof Azhar Farooqi, clinical chair of the Leicester City CCG, said the recent local "spike" of Covid-19 had triggered an "extraordinary" response from the NHS during a "tough time". He added: "One of the learningsa from this lockdown is really the impact of deprivation and ethnicity on health inequalities. "I think as a CCG this has really brought to us a focus around the barriersa social, cultural and language to accessing health, and the impact of health beliefs."' Prof Mayur Lakhani, clinical chair of the West Leicestershire CCG, said the health inequality agenda was "very, very key", adding that "racial inequalities" were "notable" in the wider CCGs' area. Andy Williams, LLR CCGs chief executive, said: "Once again we see the impact of illness, in this instance Covid-19, impacting asymmetrically on our population". He explained that there were "structural in-built inequalities" in general society which meant disease impacts "asymmetrically the poorest or most disadvantaged". A report by Williams presented to the meeting called for a "big conversation" between local statutory and public sector bodies as part of a bid to reduce health inequalities. He labelled it as one of the "most persistent and stubbornly difficult" issues in society which "remains in strategic health terms probably the key challenge". Prof Farooqi acknowledged that Leicester's lockdown had caused a "delayed recovery to a degree, certainly in primary care" and said efforts were needed to ensure the city was not left behind. Meanwhile, Zuffar Haq, an independent lay member of the Leicester City CCG, said he was "shocked at the number of patients that don't have a GP registered in the city". source: PA Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved. Weather Alert ...Bitterly cold temperatures expected starting Wednesday Afternoon... ...Slick Roads possible late Wednesday Afternoon and Night... An Arctic blast of cold air will move into the Quad State region Wednesday afternoon, pushing the entire region below the freezing mark by 7 pm Wednesday. Once the cold air moves in, temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing until early Saturday afternoon. Gusty north winds will produce very low wind chills Thursday into Friday morning. Wind chills below zero will be likely over southern Illinois and southeast Missouri, with barely above zero wind chills over west Kentucky and southwest Indiana. Wind Chills will remain in the single digits for parts of the area all day on Thursday and into early Friday morning. Anyone traveling or working outdoors should bundle up in layers to protect yourself from developing hypothermia and frostbite. Consideration should also be given to protect pets and livestock left outdoors. For those with water systems vulnerable to an extended period of sub-freezing temperatures, be sure to keep a trickle of water running through those systems. A Winter Weather Advisory is currently posted for part of southwest Indiana and the Pennyrile region of west Kentucky late Wednesday afternoon and night, where the best accumulation of wintry precipitation is expected. However, with temperatures expected to plummet and remain below freezing, any wintry precipitation still left on roadways and sidewalks across the Quad State late Wednesday afternoon and night will freeze. Travelers should use caution while traveling and be watchful for any slick spots on roadways, especially elevated bridges and overpasses. Please stay tuned to the National Weather Service in Paducah for the latest forecasts and statements associated with this winter event. A 50-year-old citizen of the Dominican Republic was part of an international drug trafficking organization that brought heroin into Connecticut, according to federal authorities. Jose Luis Reyes, also known as Roberto Camacho Figueroa, Joselito and Gordo, a Dominican Republic citizen who last resided in Bronx, N.Y., was sentenced this week to nearly 6 years in prison on a charge of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram of heroin, according to federal authorities. In addition to the total of 71 months in prison, Reyes also was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson in Hartford to four years of supervised release, for trafficking heroin, federal authorities said in a release from the office of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John H. Durham. Reyes faces deportation proceedings when he completes his prison term, the release said. The case stems from a DEA Hartford Task Force investigation of a heroin trafficking organization that was operating in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and the Dominican Republic, the release said. The investigation included court-authorized wiretaps, and revealed that Reyes oversaw the drug trafficking organizations drug distribution and cash collection activities when the organizations leader was residing in the Dominican Republic. On multiple occasions in 2017, Reyes was observed traveling from New York to meet with associates at a suspected narcotics stash location in Connecticut, the release said, attributing the information to court documents and statements made in court. Reyes has been in custody since his arrest on related New York state charges on April 12, 2017, the release said. On that date, a search of his residence revealed more than 1.4 kilograms of heroin and more than 750 grams of cocaine. A federal grand jury in Connecticut returned an indictment on April 27, 2017 charging Reyes and nine other people with heroin trafficking offenses stemming from the investigation, according to federal authorities. Reyes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute and to possess with intent to distribute one kilogram of heroin on Oct. 3, 2018, the release said. The DEAs Hartford Task Force includes personnel from the DEA Hartford Resident Office and the Bristol, Hartford, East Hartford, Manchester, New Britain, Rocky Hill, Wethersfield, Windsor Locks and Willimantic police departments, according to federal authorities. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey M. Stone. State_and_regional New data shows Hispanics make up nearly 60% of coronavirus cases in Nebraska New data released by the state confirms what doctors, workers and community activists have long been saying: The coronavirus has hit Nebraskas Hispanic community particularly hard. While Hispanics make up about 11.2% of Nebraskas population, they account for nearly 60% of the coronavirus cases in the state for which ethnicity data was collected. Of the 233 Nebraskans whose deaths have been attributed to the virus and whose ethnicity is known, 26.6% one in four were Hispanic. In addition, nearly half of those hospitalized with COVID-19 have been Hispanic. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services this week released the long-awaited data on how the coronavirus has affected people of different racial and ethnic groups. As of mid-June, Nebraska and North Dakota were the only two states not tracking coronavirus cases and deaths by race and ethnicity, according to the American Medical Association. "As the state public health authority, this information is important to us and can help drive decisions during the COVID-19 pandemic as we work to address disparities and better serve communities of color," HHS spokeswoman Leah Bucco-White said in a statement Wednesday. The ACLU of Nebraska and the COVID Tracking Project filed a records request with the state in May seeking a racial and ethnic breakdown of COVID-19 cases and deaths. The data shows that this public health crisis is clearly a racial justice issue, said Rose Godinez, the legal and policy counsel for the ACLU of Nebraska. It makes it increasingly apparent that people of color are most at risk. Thats largely due to inequalities we see with black and brown people who are particularly vulnerable to contracting and dying from COVID-19. Dr. Kristine McVea, the chief medical officer of South Omaha-based OneWorld Community Health Centers, said the state and health care providers need to target information and resources to high-risk groups. Theyve almost been an afterthought, she said, when they should be the first thought. Bucco-White said the state has shared and created coronavirus-related written materials and videos in multiple languages, including Spanish, Arabic, French and Karen. HHS works with health care providers and local health departments serving vulnerable populations, including those who speak a language other than English. "With specific respect to disparities among the Hispanic population, we have supported the Governors Spanish-language news events, hired Spanish-speaking contact tracers, and local public health departments have used bilingual community health workers to engage members of their respective communities," she said. Numbers in other cities and states have shown that black, Latino and Native American people have been diagnosed with COVID-19, hospitalized or died at higher rates than white people. Long-standing systemic health and social inequities have put some members of racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting COVID-19 or experiencing severe illness, regardless of age, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. People in those groups have higher rates of underlying health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease, all of which can lead to more severe cases of COVID-19. People of color also are more likely to work jobs that require more close contact with other people, at places like meatpacking plants, grocery stores or nursing homes. Godinez said one survey showed that only 20% of black workers and 16% of Latino workers in Nebraska are able to work from home. Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans also are more likely to live in multigenerational homes where the coronavirus can spread. In Nebraska, coronavirus outbreaks have occurred at a number of meatpacking plants, where many workers are immigrants or refugees from Central America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. Areas such as Grand Island, Lexington and Dakota County home to meatpacking plants and sizable Hispanic populations became coronavirus hot spots. McVea said some gyms and restaurants in Omaha shut down quickly if one employee fell ill. Meanwhile, many meatpacking plants remained open, even as dozens or hundreds of workers were testing positive for the virus. The packinghouses were on fire with COVID cases, and nobody stepped in to do anything, she said. Meatpacking companies have said they tried to stop the spread by conducting health screenings, handing out masks and spacing out workers when possible. They also noted that meatpacking workers and plants have been deemed critical by President Donald Trump to keep Americas food supply well stocked. Nebraskas population is mostly white, and the race of the majority of those who became ill or died was white, according to HHS data. Ethnicity is a separate category, broken down into Hispanic and non-Hispanic groups. The majority of coronavirus-related deaths in Nebraska have been among residents of nursing homes or long-term care facilities. The state data isnt complete. State officials tried to track race and ethnicity categories for roughly 17,400 coronavirus cases, but the race of 3,100 people nearly 18% of the total cases was not known. The ethnicity of 3,400 people was not known, either. Early in the pandemic, some local health departments said they didnt ask about race or ethnicity or didnt have the staff to collect and track that information. And more Nebraskans have since tested positive as of Monday, the state counted 19,042 cases since the pandemic started in March. But black, Asian and Hispanic residents have contracted the coronavirus at higher rates than their share of the states population. Sign up for World-Herald news alerts Be the first to know when news happens. Get the latest breaking headlines sent straight to your inbox. Roughly 5% of Nebraska residents are black, but black people accounted for 7.7% of confirmed coronavirus cases and 7.8% of deaths in cases in which race was known. Asians also made up about 7.7% of people with coronavirus and 5.4% of coronavirus-related deaths, but Asians make up only 2.7% of Nebraskas population. Native Americans, who make up 1.5% of the states population, make up about 1.3% of positive test results. The Douglas and Lancaster County Health Departments are among the few county departments that have been tracking race. Census estimates show Lancaster Countys population is 80% non-Hispanic white, but a majority of those infected with the coronavirus 64% are minorities. Similar disparities exist in Douglas County, where 69% of residents are non-Hispanic white. Twenty-three percent of people who have tested positive for the virus were white and 50.8% were Hispanic, although Hispanics make up only about 13% of the county population, and 13.3% were Asian, though Asians represent about 4% of the population. Black Douglas County residents account for 8.7% of coronavirus infections, while 11.5% of county residents are black. Andrea Skolkin, the chief executive officer of OneWorld, said its not clear whether that relatively low infection rate means that Omahas black community is faring better compared to other cities, or just being tested less. The statewide disparities show that more work must be done when it comes to connecting with diverse communities and making sure everyone has access to coronavirus testing and medical care, Skolkin and McVea said. Information about the coronavirus and its spread was slow to be translated into other languages or shared on non-English news outlets, Skolkin said. Gov. Pete Ricketts later added coronavirus briefings in Spanish. Godinez agreed: Interpreters werent always available to steer non-English speakers through testing sites. Not everyone has Internet access or an email address, which are needed to sign up for the TestNebraska initiative. And while its relatively easy to find people who can speak English and Spanish, local health departments sometimes struggled to translate flyers or COVID-19 updates into less-common languages locally like Somali or Karen, which is spoken by some groups from Myanmar. Coronavirus cases in Nebraska and Douglas County have been trending downward, but Skolkin said OneWorld still is seeing a high number of sick patients 32% of those tested last week had the coronavirus. The whole community, the state, the nation, we were and are still learning as we go, she said, which is problematic in and of itself. Our best staff images from June 2020 New York, July 14 : Accusing China of posing an "unprecedented threat" to the Indo-Pacific region, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has declared that the US was strengthening its policies there and dismissed Beijing's maritime claims against its neighbours. He said on Monday, "The United States champions a free and open Indo-Pacific. Today we are strengthening US policy in a vital, contentious part of that region -- the South China Sea." "In the South China Sea, we seek to preserve peace and stability, uphold freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintain the unimpeded flow of commerce, and oppose any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes," his statement said. He said that Washington was making clear to Beijing that its claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea "are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them". Pompeo categorically dismissed all the various claims China has made in south-east Asia involving Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei. With the failure to make progress before the November elections in the trade negotiations on which President Donald Trump had expended a lot of diplomacy and the China-originated Covid-19 economic catastrophe, Washington is on the offensive, especially because under the cover of the pandemic Beijing has become more aggressive towards its neighbours. Pompeo has put several Chinese officials under a visa ban over Beijing's crackdown on Hong Kong, human rights violations of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, interference in the South China Sea and trade restrictions. He has launched a campaign to stop its technology inroads into countries, particularly the advanced 5G cell phone system, and warned of the dangers of its aid programmes that in reality push the recipients into a debt trap that forces them to hand over their resources. Washington has imposed restrictions on Beijing's access to US technology. The US has also sent three aircraft carrier strike groups that include other ships to the Indo-Pacific zone in a show of force. Pompeo said last week that the Chinese confrontation in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh was a part of a pattern of Beijing's aggressiveness and said the world must unite to confront it. In his statement on Monday, Pompeo said the 2016 decisions of the arbitration tribunal set up under the Law of the Sea Convention, which China has signed, should stand. In recent months, China has sunk a Vietnamese fishing boat, interfered with a Malaysian exploration vessel and intrusions by Chinese boats in Indonesian maritime economic zone. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter at @arulouis) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Representative image Crude oil futures dropped to Rs 2,991 per barrel on July 14 as participants increased their short positions on concerns over rising coronavirus cases in the US and other parts of the world as well as OPEC+ pre-announced plan to bring back additional 2 million barrels per day of oil supply from August. Participants will take a further cue from the weekly inventory data released by the American Petroleum Institute later in the day. Crude oil prices ended down for the week after some buying before the weekend, after a bullish monthly report by IEA along with data from Baker Hughes showing that US energy firms cut the number of oil and natural gas rigs operating to a record low for a 10th week in a row, said Navneet Damani, VP Commodities Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. While the oil market has undoubtedly made progress since 'Black April', the large, and in some countries, an accelerating number of COVID-19 cases is a disturbing reminder that the pandemic is not under control and risk to their market outlook is almost certainly to the downside to levels of WTI $35, Damani said. Tapan Patel, Senior Analyst (Commodities), HDFC Securities said, crude oil prices traded lower on speculation over expectations of ease in output cut from OPEC. The OPECs joint technical committee will meet for two days starting from July 14 to review the oil market situation. In the futures market, crude oil for July delivery touched an intraday high of Rs 2,995 and an intraday low of Rs 2,944 per barrel on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX). So far in the current series, black gold has touched a low of Rs 1,655 and a high of Rs 3,153. Crude oil futures for July delivery slipped Rs 60, or 1.96 percent, to Rs 2,995 per barrel at 15:03 hours IST on a business turnover of 5,855 lots. The same for August delivery edged lower by Rs 62, or 2.01 percent, to Rs 3,021 per barrel on a business volume of 163 lots. The value of July and August's contracts traded so far is Rs 1,160.26 crore and Rs 7.79 crore, respectively. Patel expects oil prices to trade sideways to down for the day with support at $38 and resistance at $41. "MCX July Crude Oil futures has support at Rs 2,920 and resistance at Rs 3,040." West Texas Intermediate crude slipped 0.85 percent at $39.76 per barrel, while Brent crude, the London-based international benchmark, was down 0.66 percent to $42.44 per barrel. BOSTON Facing eight federal lawsuits and opposition from hundreds of universities, the Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a rule that would have required international students to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was announced at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the July 6 directive and return to the status quo. A lawyer representing the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said only that the judges characterization was correct. The announcement brings relief to thousands of foreign students who had been at risk of being deported from the country, along with hundreds of universities that were scrambling to reassess their plans for the fall in light of the policy. With the policy rescinded, ICE will revert to a directive from March that suspended typical limits around online education for foreign students. ICE did not immediately comment on the decision. Harvard President Lawrence Bacow called it a significant victory. While the government may attempt to issue a new directive, our legal arguments remain strong and the Court has retained jurisdiction, which would allow us to seek judicial relief immediately to protect our international students should the government again act unlawfully, Bacow said in a statement. MITs president said his institution also stands ready to protect our students from any further arbitrary policies. This case also made abundantly clear that real lives are at stake in these matters, with the potential for real harm, President L. Rafael Reif said in a statement. We need to approach policy making, especially now, with more humanity, more decency not less. Under the policy, international students in the U.S. would have been forbidden from taking all their courses online this fall. New visas would not have been issued to students at schools planning to provide all classes online, which includes Harvard. Students already in the U.S. would have faced deportation if they didnt transfer schools or leave the country voluntarily. Even if an outbreak had forced colleges to move all their classes online during the semester, international students would have been forced to transfer to a school with campus instruction or leave the country. Immigration officials issued the policy last week, reversing the earlier guidance from March 13 telling colleges that limits around online education would be suspended during the pandemic. University leaders believed the rule was part of President Donald Trumps effort to pressure the nations schools and colleges to reopen this fall even as new virus cases rise. The policy drew sharp backlash from higher education institutions, with more than 200 signing court briefs supporting the challenge by Harvard and MIT. Colleges said the policy would put students safety at risk and hurt schools financially. Many schools rely on tuition from international students, and some stood to lose millions of dollars in revenue if the rule had taken hold. Harvard and MIT were the first to contest the policy, but at least seven other federal suits had been filed by universities and states. The unexpected decision was welcome news to students across the nation who had been on edge. I feel relief, said Andrea Calderon, a 29-year-old biology graduate student from Ecuador. It would have been a very big problem if I had to leave the country right now. The City College of New York student said returning home would have made it much harder to finish her thesis and pursue a Ph.D. Internet access at home in Ecuador is spotty, she said, and going through the process to come back to the U.S. in the future would be too expensive. Rahul Lobo, 19, from Goa on the west coast of India, said he feels an immeasurable amount of relief. As it is, were living in very uncertain times, and the recent ICE policy just made things even more uncertain, said Lobo, a rising junior at the University of Notre Dame. Suddenly I wasnt worrying about whether I could get back to campus, but more whether I would even be able to finish my degree in four years. The American Council on Education, which represents university presidents, applauded ICEs pullback of the rule. The group called the policy wrongheaded and said it drew unprecedented opposition from colleges. There has never been a case where so many institutions sued the federal government, said Terry Hartle, the groups senior vice president. In this case, the government didnt even try to defend its policymaking. Many opponents, however, were hesitant to call it a closed case. Massachusetts Democratic attorney general, who is leading a separate lawsuit against the policy, warned that the Trump administration may attempt again to impose limits on international students. This is why we sue. The rule was illegal and the Trump Administration knew they didnt have a chance, Maura Healey said on Twitter. They may try this again. We will be ready. Harvard and MIT argued that immigration officials violated procedural rules by issuing the guidance without justification and without allowing the public to respond. They also argued that the policy contradicted ICEs March 13 directive telling schools that existing limits on online education would be suspended for the duration of the emergency. The suit noted that Trumps national emergency declaration has not been rescinded and that virus cases are spiking in some regions. Immigration officials, however, argued that they told colleges all along that any guidance prompted by the pandemic was subject to change. They said the rule was consistent with existing law barring international students from taking classes entirely online. Federal officials said they were providing leniency by allowing students to keep their visas even if they study online from abroad. ___ AP reporters Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) authorities informed the Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday that 30 common facilities have been set up for scientific disposal of the bio-medical waste generated by coronavirus disease (Covid-19) generated across the state, which has emerged as the worst-affected in the country as far as the viral load and death toll are concerned. In an affidavit filed in the HC, Shankar Waghmare, MPCBs regional officer at Kalyan, has stated that the waste generated at Covid-19 treatment centres, isolation and quarantine facilities are being disposed of in accordance with provisions of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2000, by burying them in deep pits at civic dumping grounds. Contaminated bio-medical waste from these centres is being collected by the common treatment facility operators for scientific disposal at separate, dedicated sites, the affidavit further stated. It added that 82 of urban local bodies in Maharashtra have set up separate teams for the collection of contaminated Covid-19 waste. The affidavit was filed in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Dombivli resident Kishor Sohoni, who had complained that though prevailing rules mandate scientific disposal of bio-medical waste, those generated at a Covid-19 facility in Kalyan was being dumped at Adharwadi landfill site by garbage collectors. The PIL, filed through advocate Sadhana Kumar, expressed concerns about the discriminate dumping of contaminated bio-medical waste at the landfill waste amid the rapid spread of the viral infection. During this pandemic, the direct disposal of bio-medical waste from Covid-19 hospitals is a serious threat to human life and should be stopped immediately, it said. Rigorous monitoring is required to ensure such waste does not end up infecting others, including garbage collectors, it added. However, MPCB has maintained that no Covid-19 bio-medical waste was found dumped at Adharwadi landfill site in Kalyan, when Waghmare along with his colleagues and Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) officers made an inspection of the spot. The civic body has set up a dedicated site for disposal of bio-medical waste at Umbarde, where the contaminated waste is also disposed of in a scientific manner, and MPCB has created a mechanism to monitor its collection and disposal generated within the limits of the municipal corporation, the affidavit added. A two-member HC bench, comprising Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, will hear Sohonis plea next week. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to file charges against police officers involved in the killing of four Army Intelligence officers in Jolo, Sulu. This was announced by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, who said NBI agents have their initial report which included witness accounts and forensic findings, as well as affidavits from the families of the officers who died. "The ballistic report clearly indicated that the shells and slugs found at the scene of the crime matched the firearms of the police officers involved, and that the bullet wounds were mostly on the back of the body, with one soldier sustaining eight wounds," Guevarra said. While Guevarra did not know when the filing would take place, he said unless the NBI intends to file a supplemental report, he expects the criminal complaint to be filed "very soon." "The NBI has not informed me as to what charges will be filed," he said. "It will depend on the totality of the evidence gathered." Four Army officers were killed in a police operation in Jolo, Sulu on June 29. Initial reports from the Sulu Provincial Police Office said the cops involved claimed self-defense, after the soldiers supposedly lifted and pointed their firearms first at the police. However, the Philippine National Police has ruled out the misencounter angle. Lenovo has started teasing gamers with features of the upcoming Legion gaming phone. The new teaser highlights the refresh rate of the display - 144Hz. A Pro version of the phone could be in the works featuring 16GB RAM. The first smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 865 Plus are just around the corner. Both Lenovo and Asus will unveil their Snapdragon 865 Plus powered devices on July 22. Lenovo has teased the fact that the smartphone will come with a 144Hz display for a smooth gaming experience. Other specifications and features of the smartphone have been making the rounds on the internet. It looks like the Lenovo Legion gaming phone will have the Legion OS, which is based on Lenovos ZUI 12 running on top of Android 10. Lenovo Legion gaming phone specifications and features Not all the specifications of the Lenovo Legion gaming phone are known. What is known is the fact that it will have a 144Hz display and also that it will run on the Snapdragon 865 Plus platform. If information circulating the internet is to be believed, then we could see one version of the Lenovo Legion phone sport 6GB RAM and 128GB USF 3.0 storage and there could be a pro version with 16GB RAM and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. The Lenovo Legion phone is expected to sport 90W fast charging for the 5000mAh battery that powers the device. It also looks like the device will have an interesting design. The smartphone will have a popup camera, and while the concept of a pop-up camera isnt new, the position of the front camera on the Lenovo Legion smartphone is. The popup camera is mounted on the side which will make it the ideal position when the smartphone is held in landscape mode. This could be great for those looking to use the front camera when streaming games from their smartphone. The position of the rear camera is also interesting. Instead of the standard top left corner, the camera on the Lenovo Legion gaming phone is in the centre. It looks like Lenovo will be catering to users who shoot landscapes more than portraits. Further, the camera module can be better used for AR games, where the camera position wont change going from landscape to portrait. But here too, theres a chance your hands might end up covering the lens, or worse, smudging it. Lenovo will announce the Legion phone on July 22 5 PM IST. Source For the second time this year, Hong Kong Disneyland Park is closing temporarily following the city's decision to ban public gatherings of more than four people because of the coronavirus pandemic, Disney officials said Monday. Disney officials posted on the resort's website that the Hong Kong park was closing Wednesday until further notice. The resort's hotels will remain open with adjusted levels of service, Disney officials said. The resort is closing "as required by the government and health authorities in line with prevention efforts taking place across Hong Kong," Disney said on the website. Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, announced new coronavirus-related restrictions Monday and she urged the private sector to put in place work-from-home arrangements for employees. On Monday, 41 out of 52 coronavirus infections reported in Hong Kong were locally-transmitted cases. Since July 6, Hong Kong has reported 250 new cases, with Monday's tally being the highest since March. The Hong Kong park and Shanghai Disneyland closed in January because of the virus. Tokyo Disneyland closed the following month and Disney parks in the United States and Europe shut their doors in March. Shanghai Disneyland reopened in May, as did Hong Kong Disneyland Park last month. Two of Walt Disney World's theme parks in Florida reopened last Saturday, and the other two are set to reopen this week, despite a spike in coronavirus cases in the state. Disneyland Paris also is welcoming back visitors this week for the first time since March. The reopening of Disney's California parks was postponed pending the issuance of state guidelines. Explore further Shanghai Disneyland reopens with anti-virus controls 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. The Confederation of All Indian Traders (CAIT) has called for boycott of all Chinese products during Raksha Bandhan festivities. According to the traders' body, this boycott will see Chinese traders lose over Rs 4,000 crore worth of business. The body wants to celebrate a "purely Hindustani Rakhi Festival", according to a statement released by the body. CAIT is the largest trader's body in India. It is made up of more than 40,000 trade associations and has over seven crore members spread across the country. The CAIT has also decided to send over 5,000 rakhis to Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. These rakhis would then be handed over to soldiers defending the country's borders. "This time any rakhi made by China or any rakhi-related product from China will not be used! In order to encourage the brave soldiers who are guarding the borders of the country, the women's wing of the CAIT will give 5,000 rakhis to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for the soldiers," the traders' body said. CAIT has provided some statistics of trade over Rakhsha Bandhan. They say that every year trade of over Rs 6,000 crore takes place over the festival. China's portion of this trade is around Rs 4,000 crore. It is this business that the traders' body is planning to bring down to zero. "Not only is finished rakhi imported from China but also rakhi-making products like foam, paper foil, rakhi thread, pearls, drops, decorative items for rakhi are also imported. Due to CAIT's campaign to boycott Chinese goods, no Chinese goods will be used in rakhi this year and we are confident that China is set to lose about Rs 4,000 crores of business," Sushil Kumar Jain, the Delhi-NCR unit convenor of the CAIT, said. The CAIT has already sent out a message to all its state chapters and major associations working at the state level. The message instructs all members that Chinese rakhi or other Chinese products should not be sold over Raksha Bandhan. The CAIT is encouraging small businesses to manufacture their own rakhis and sell them in markets to fill up the space that would be left vacant by the boycott of Chinese goods. Also Read: Localisation of over 600 items to cut trade deficit with China by $10 billion; lamps, furniture may see duty hike Also Read: Mukesh Ambani surpasses Google co-founder Larry Page to become world's 6th richest Due to rising coronavirus cases in Bengaluru, Karnataka's Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced a 7-day comprehensive lockdown in both Urban and Rural districts of the city starting 8 pm today. Yediyurappa also said that the government has no plans to extend the lockdown beyond July 22. "The lockdown is being re-imposed to control the number of COVID-19 cases in the city, which have been spiking daily since July 1," said Yediyurappa. He also advised doctors to conduct rapid antigen tests with the 1 lakh kits the state has procured. The CM said that "Strict measures will be taken to reduce the caseload in the containment zones in all districts across the state. Health workers can be hired on a contract basis for six months to contain the virus spread." According to the orders issued by Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar, here's what's allowed and not allowed in Bengaluru during the lockdown: The state government will allow essential services providers to sell food, groceries, fruits, milk and other items, but for only seven hours starting from 5 am to 12 noon. This decision is aimed at minimising the movement of individuals outside their homes. Home delivery of essential items will be allowed. Hotels and restaurants shall be permitted to operate kitchens for take-away or home-delivery of food items only. Movement of inter-state and intra-state vehicles are allowed only in case of emergencies, through registration and after obtaining a valid pass from the Seva Sindhu portal. Flights and trains already scheduled will continue to operate during the lockdown period, and the tickets shall serve as passes for movement of the passengers. Public transportation services will remain suspended during the period, which include KSRTC, BMTC and Private buses, Metro rail services, Taxis - including auto-rickshaws - and services of cab aggregators, except those for emergency, and as permitted in these guidelines. Opening of theatres, malls, bars, gyms, swimming pools is not permitted. All religious places of worship shall remain closed to the public. Religious congregations are strictly prohibited. All educational institutions will remain shut, while online education is allowed. However, students appearing for exams can use admission tickets as travel passes and use the mode of transport available to them. Banks, insurance offices, ATMs and food processing and related industries will remain open, except in containment zones. All large industries, such as those manufacturing essential goods, drugs, special economic zones (SEZs) and export-oriented units outside containment zones, can remain open. During the lockdown, most government offices will be closed except those providing essential services and engaged in COVID works, while Secretariat Offices in Vidhana Soudha and Vikas Soudha will work with 50 per cent strength. Those going to work for permitted activities can use their organisation ID cards to commute. Regarding construction activities, the continuation of works would be allowed in projects, where workers are available on site. All the exceptions in the guidelines are applicable only in areas that are outside the containment zones. (With PTI inputs) Also Read: Centre to earn Rs 2.25 lakh cr more from new petrol, diesel taxes Also Read: Best invention of 2020! Cuddle curtains for coronavirus-hit families to hug Also Read: Google in advanced talks to invest $4 billion in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms: report (Newser) Ireland will consider tougher coronavirus restrictions after anger has risen over US tourists breaking the rules. Visitors are supposed to quarantine for 14 days, but owners of pubs, hotels, and restaurants took to Twitter over the weekend to say they'd sent Americans away, SkyNews reports. "Had to cancel guests booked on guided tour today who just arrived from the US and didnt think 14 days self isolation was mandatory,'" a bike rental tweeted. "These people are in the country and socialising." A pub in Galway posted, "We refused a group of Americans yesterday who admitted that they had just flown in." One restaurateur tweeted that he backs a petition to stop flights from the US until it gets the outbreak under control. He served a group from Texas, he said, though "we have no way of knowing if they just arrived and should be self-quarantining. Staff very uncomfortable. We need a decision on this particularly if people are coming from places with high cases." story continues below Irish health officials reported that 17 of 23 new coronavirus cases last week were "travel-related," per the Irish Post, as horror stories multiplied. Gregans Castle Hotel in County Clare reported sending away two Americans for dinner: "They were renting a house in the area and had flown straight in from Denver." And more tourists are arriving: Roughly 4,000 people landed daily at Dublin's airport last week, after 1,200 a day the week before. "There's work to be done," Ireland's tourist minister said. "The cabinet will be discussing measures this week that may be needed, such as strengthening measures at airports, ahead of issuing a possible green list of countries." An opposition leader called the existing sytem dangerous because "that system does not distinguish between safe countries and countries like the US." (Matt Damon spent his quarantine in a small coastal town.) Huy Nhat, director of Horizon Property Group One Member Co., Ltd. and former legal representative of Huy Viet Nam Ltd. The spokesmen of four foreign investors, including Gifted Wisdom Ltd. (Gifted), Harvest Investment Advisory Co., Ltd. (Harvest), Fenghe Harvest Ltd. (Fenghe), and MF Holding Inc. sent the petitions to Vietnamese authorities. In these petitions, the foreign investors denounced Huy Nhat for appropriating $25 million by cheating them into contributing investment to implement a 162ha resort located at Lang Co, Phu Loc district, Thua Thien-Hue province. The Investigation Police Agency of the Ministry of Public Security has initiated the criminal case on "fraudulent asset appropriation" occurring at Horizon Property Group One Member Co., Ltd. The foreign investors urged authorities to arrest and prosecute Huy Nhat for several reasons. First, Huy Nhat has not only fraudulently appropriated $25 million from the four investors, but has also cheated many foreign investors. Instances include the appropriation of more than $70 million from investors Huy Vietnam (Hong Kong), ADV Partner, AIF Capital, F&H Fenghe, Fortress Investment, Gryphus Capital, and Welkin Capital through Huy Viet Nam Ltd. Second, these foreign investors said that Huy Nhat's cheating was very dangerous as he took advantage of foreign investor's trust in the business environment of Vietnam to create sizeable projects such as the real estate project in Lang Co, Hue or the Nha Hang Mon Hue chain, mobilising large investments which he then appropriated. According to these foreign investors, Huy Nhat has been cleverly transferring money among the relevant parties via banks in Singapore, Vietnam, and the US. Huy Nhat himself has both Vietnamese and US nationalities with several valid identification papers such as two passports, ID, and citizenship cards which he used to open many companies to facilitate his fraudulent activities. Third, it has been three months since the decision to initiate the criminal case, but the investigation agency has not prosecuted him, only temporarily detained him to then release him. Meanwhile, Huy Nhat had dispersed most of the appropriated assets by transferring the real estate to his family, instructed his accountant Nguyen Thi Hue Phuong to withdraw cash from the accounts of Horizon Vietnam and Mon Hue and then deposit the amount to Huy Nhat's personal account. The four foreign investors believe that the asset dispersion will continue until Huy Nhat is prosecuted and arrested. Huy Nhat could even escape the country as he has appropriated $100 million from foreign investors. Advertisement The Abbott Lab found that quercetin, a plant-derived bioflavonoid, modulates potassium ion channels in the KCNQ gene family. These channels are highly influential in human health, and their dysfunction is linked to several common human diseases, including diabetes, cardiac arrhythmia, and epilepsy.The study revealed that quercetin modulates the KCNQ channels by directly regulating how they sense electrical activity in the cell, suggesting a previously unexpected mechanism for the therapeutic properties of capers. The mechanism may extend to other quercetin-rich foods in our diet, and quercetin-based nutritional supplements."Now that we understand how quercetin controls KCNQ channels," said Abbott, "future medicinal chemistry studies can be pursued to create and optimize quercetin-related small molecules for potential use as therapeutic drugs."The Abbott Lab screened plant extracts for the ability to alter the activity of KCNQ channels and found that one percent extract of pickled capers activated channels important for the normal human brain and heart activity. Further studies revealed the molecular mechanism - quercetin from the caper extract binds to a region of the KCNQ channel required for responding to electrical activity, and in doing so, tricks the channel into the opening when it would normally be closed."Increasing the activity of KCNQ channels in different parts of the body is potentially highly beneficial," said Abbott. "Synthetic drugs that do this have been used to treat epilepsy and show promise in preventing abnormal heart rhythms."Archaeological evidence for human caper consumption dates back as far as 10,000 years, according to archaeological findings from Mesolithic soil deposits in Syria and late Stone Age cave dwellings in the Greece and Israel. Capers have traditionally been used as a folk medicine for hundreds if not thousands of years and are in current use or study for their potential as anti-cancer, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, and their possible circulatory and gastrointestinal benefits.Source: Eurekalert Virtual reality (VR) tour of the Deoksu Palace is available through Jump VR application provided by SK Telecom. / Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration By Kwon Mee-yoo Amid the COVID-19 pandemic which is preventing visits to cultural heritage sites, Deoksu Palace, one of the remaining royal palaces from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), is available for virtual visits. The Deoksugung Palace Management Office under the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA), joined hands with Korea's largest mobile operator SK Telecom to provide a virtual reality (VR) application that allows a 360-degree view of the palace's main Western-style building Seokjojeon Hall. The palace is best known as the venue where King Gojong proclaimed the founding of the Daehan Empire. Deoksu Palace has a mix of Korean traditional and Western architecture, reflecting the wave of modernization that hit Korea in the late 19th century. The name of the palace means "Palace of virtue and longevity" in Korean, in the spirit of praying for a long life for King Gojong. According to the management office, 470,000 people visited the palace located in the heart of Seoul in the first half of the year, which is about one-third of that of last year. Deoksu Palace is currently in a temporary close-down to prevent the spread of COVID-19, along with other Joseon royal palaces and the Jongmyo Shrine. The reopening date remains unknown. "Due to COVID-19, Deoksugung Palace has remained closed for several months. Through Deoksugung Palace VR content, we hope everyone will have the opportunity to virtually tour Deoksugung Palace and experience the historical spaces where the emperor strolled a long time ago," said Bang Hyun-ki, director of the Deoksugung Palace Management Office, in a statement. Users can see a 360-degree panorama of the palatial building while moving around their mobile phone and listen to a guide speak of the historical value of each room or item, similar to an actual on-site visit. The VR tour offers close-up views of details in the palace such as the ceiling decoration with two dragons in the Junghwajeon Hall and the British antique furniture placed in the emperor's bedroom in the Seokjojeon Hall. More VR content on other buildings including Daehanmun Gate, Junghwajeon Hall, Hamnyeongjeon Hall, Jeukjodang Hall and Seogeodang Hall are slated for July 17 release. Among them, the inside of Hamnyeongjeon Hall and Seogeodang Hall are not open to the public, but will be available for virtual tours through this application. The VR tour is free of charge and available through the Jump VR application, provided by SK Telecom, regardless of mobile carrier. Currently, the application is only available for the Android platform. In addition to the VR service, SK Telecom and CHA introduced "AR Deoksu Palace," a service which allows users to view 12 palace buildings in 3D augmented reality (AR) in March. The United Arab Emirates and its allies want Libya to return to oil production as soon as possible, said a senior Emirati official on July 13 after Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) accused the UAE of ordering self-styled Libyan National Army to block oil sales. Anwar Gargash, the Emirates' minister of state for foreign affairs, didnt respond to the accusations but acknowledged the shutdown of Libyan oil exports. The UAE, alongside its partners, wants to see a return to oil production in Libya as soon as possible, with safeguards in place to prevent the proceeds fuelling further conflict. We continue to work for an immediate ceasefire and return to a political process. . (@AnwarGargash) July 13, 2020 Earlier, NOC had condemned the renewed blockade on Libyan oil exports and called for the states, responsible for the blockade, to be held to account by the United Nations Security Council. NOC said that it has been forced to declare force majeure on all oil exports from Libya to limit its contractual liabilities. NOC stated that Libyan oil exports restarted on July 10 but the next day, Khalifa Haftars Libyan National Army ordered a halt to further exports, reversing their cooperative posture in negotiations. The oil company said that the instructions to shut down production were given to Haftars forces by the UAE. Read: Russian FM Hosts Speaker Of Libya's East-based Parliament 'Undermining international order' The company expressed grave disappointment over the blockade even after statements by senior UAE officials in support of international efforts to restart oil production in Libya. It urged all mercenaries to withdraw from Libyan oil facilities and warned of consequences for undermining the rule-based international order. NOC Chairman Eng Mustafa Sanalla appreciated the efforts of the United Nations and the US to restart Libyan oil production and avert an escalation in the conflict. In a statement released on July 12, Sanalla said that if the efforts fail, there must be consequences for the actions of the handful of states that are destroying Libya. He added that NOCs position during the negotiations was to support all measures that undermine Libyan sovereignty. "The renewed blockade demonstrates the urgent need for moves to improve financial transparency to be accompanied by reform of security at oil installations, he said. Read: UN: Libyan Coast Guard Intercepts 83 Europe-bound Migrants Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 07:42:10|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday expressed solidarity with China in its fight against floods, said China's permanent mission to the United Nations. Guterres has conveyed through Ambassador Zhang Jun, the permanent representative of China to the United Nations, deep solidarity and sympathies to the affected families and to the people and government of China following the devastating consequences of floods in China, which caused tragic loss of lives and material damage, said the Chinese mission. Enditem Theres no way the global economy will come roaring back without the engine of tourism behind it. For obvious reasons, though, many people are reluctant to travel. Short of a vaccine, what can restore their confidence? Theres no real answer to that question that doesnt take into account the latest technology that can make it safe for us to get moving again. Theres no way the global economy will come roaring back without the engine of tourism behind it, writes Zurab Pololikashvili (pictured) Many nations have had success in containing the pandemic by using national-scale test, track, and trace systems. These systems whether performed manually at the level of local public health infrastructure, or with the help of technologies like new privacy-friendly apps help us see the spread of Covid-19 in real-time. If countries know where outbreaks are taking place, how theyre spreading, and how fast theyre spreading, they wont have to lock down their entire populations. Instead, authorities can focus shutdowns very precisely in affected areas only. Thats better for peoples health - and better for a countrys economy. Its also critical if we want to kickstart national and international travel for tourism. Not every government has made equal progress in tracing procedures and technology. But those that have - like South Korea or Singapore - could be models for the rest of the world Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO Secretary-General Economic revival is possible, but only by reopening borders with confidence. This requires scaling up best practices in national test, track and trace systems, and implementing them internationally. The world needs reliable, global standards which can form the foundations for who can travel and where. But for this to happen, governments first need to collaborate to develop test, track and trace standards that can be implemented nationally and with a degree of reliability. After all, there cannot be an international standard without national versions first. Nations would then be in a position to form joint agreements with countries they can be confident are implementing these systems effectively. That, in turn, would give them confidence that citizens travelling across borders are bringing much needed economic benefits - not disease. Unfortunately, not every government has made equal progress in tracing procedures and technology. But those that have - like South Korea or Singapore - could be models for the rest of the world. A standardised process would also have immense ancillary benefits. For one, standardised test, track and trace procedures allow governments to share other kinds of anonymised relevant health data, which may help in developing, distributing and verifying the efficacy of a vaccine. Mr Pololikashvili praised South Korea's track and trace model While these dividends of a test, track and trace system are increasingly better understood particularly in the countries where it has been successfully implemented nationwide their critical importance for the revival of global tourism has been largely overlooked. Given that global travel and tourism contributes some 10 per cent of global GDP, we literally cannot afford not to do this. After all, in some countries - especially developing and more vulnerable nations - tourism supplies some 50 per cent of gross domestic product. Sometimes more. Its often tourists who patronise green and sustainable business, or whose cash goes towards making conservation efforts financially viable. Should that tap run dry, what happens to all the projects that seek to protect and preserve our environment for future generations? Tourism means jobs, too, especially for younger people and for women. These patterns, broadly speaking, hold true across the world. Tourism revenue in London contributes some 10 per cent of the citys gross value-added income. Thats why the bigger picture is so worrisome. In 2020, we might see over one billion missing travellers, which means 120 million jobs that might disappear, and $1trillion (0.8trillion) in earnings vanished. To prevent a bad recession from turning into a major depression, we are going to have to make it easy for people to travel with confidence. Globalising test, track and trace methods will play a key role in getting us there. As a specialised agency of the United Nations, the UNWTO can encourage cooperation between governments. But it cannot create or guarantee the political will necessary for governments to make the substantial investment for national test, track and trace systems. That task is left to governments themselves, who are beginning to realise that in the age of pandemics, wealth and health go hand-in-hand. Execution of Daniel Lewis Lee goes ahead after late-hour US Supreme Court ruling ended legal challenges. The United States government on Tuesday carried out the first federal execution in 17 years, putting to death a man who killed an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest. The execution came despite the objection of the victims family. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, of Yukon, Oklahoma, died by lethal injection at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. I didnt do it, Lee said before he was executed. Ive made a lot of mistakes in my life, but Im not a murderer Youre killing an innocent man. The decision to move forward with the execution the first by the Bureau of Prisons since 2003 drew scrutiny from civil rights groups and the relatives of Lees victims, who had sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Critics argued that the government was creating an unnecessary and manufactured urgency for political gain. The government has been trying to plough 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 developments are likely to add a new front to the national conversation about criminal justice reform in the lead-up to the 2020 elections. Lees execution took place after a series of legal volleys that ended when the Supreme Court stepped in early on Tuesday in a 5-4 ruling and allowed it to move forward. Four scheduled federal executions had been suspended by Judge Tanya Chutkan of the US district court in Washington, DC, on Monday to allow for legal challenges to the lethal injection that was to be used. Chutkans order came less than seven hours before the former white supremacist Lee, who was convicted along with another man of murdering a family of three during a robbery intended to help fund the founding of an Aryan Peoples Republic, was scheduled to be executed. The prisoners have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a Federal Court, the Supreme Court said in a ruling released in the early hours of Tuesday. We vacate the District Courts preliminary injunction so that the executions may proceed as planned. Attorney General William Barr originally scheduled five executions for last December, but was ordered to delay them by Chutkan while long-running lawsuits challenging the governments lethal-injection protocol played out. In staying the executions, Chutkan ruled that the use of a single drug, pentobarbital, to carry out the executions could cause extreme pain and needless suffering and may violate a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Reverend Sylvester Edwards kneels as other protesters hold signs near a Federal Correctional Complex to show their opposition to the death penalty and the execution of Daniel Lewis Lee [Reuters] Lee became the first federal inmate to be executed in the US since 2003 and the first since President Donald Trump announced plans to resume federal executions. There have been just three federal executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Lee and another man, Chevie Kehoe, were convicted in Arkansas in 1999 of the 1996 murders of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, and her eight-year-old daughter. Lee, who had since renounced his white supremacist beliefs according to his lawyers, was sentenced to death while Kehoe received three life sentences without the possibility of parole. Earlene Peterson, 81, whose daughter and granddaughter were killed, has campaigned against Lees death sentence, saying she wants him to spend the rest of his life behind bars. Its an easy way out, Peterson told The New York Times. He should have to live through this. Like I did. Peterson and relatives of other victims also filed a lawsuit seeking to delay the execution, arguing that it was dangerous for them to travel to Terre Haute to witness Lees execution because of the coronavirus pandemic. An appeals court dismissed the suit on Sunday, but Baker Kurrus, a lawyer for the families, said he would take it to the Supreme Court. The federal government has put this family in the untenable position of choosing between their right to witness Danny Lees execution and their own health and safety, Kurrus said. The Supreme Court, however, denied their application. The Bureau of Prisons said Sunday that a member of the Terre Haute prison staff had tested positive for COVID-19. Theres no reason for anybody to be carrying out executions right now because of the pandemic, said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. More than 1,000 US religious leaders urged Trump last week to abandon plans to resume federal executions and Dunham accused the president of political use of the death penalty. Only a handful of US states, mainly in the conservative South, still carry out executions. In 2019, 22 people were put to death. Most crimes are tried under state laws, but federal courts handle some of the most serious crimes, including terror attacks and hate crimes. No new Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health has announced. The death toll remains at 556. There have been two positive tests for the virus out of the 875 people tested. The total number of confirmed infections in Northern Ireland is 5,790. There are 10 people with Covid-19 in hospital, with one patient in intensive care. And there are 12 care homes dealing with an outbreak. Read More It comes as face masks are to become mandatory in shops across England from Friday July 24 with 100 fines for non-compliance. The move will bring England into line with Scotland and other major European nations such as Spain, Italy and Germany. While the NI Executive recommends shoppers wear masks inside stores it is not yet mandatory. Infrastructure Minster Nichola Mallon has said it should become mandatory in shops if that is what the science advises. Read More Aodhan Connelly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, told Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster if the measure comes it, retailers and staff should not be expected to enforce the policy. Read More Check out our live blog below to see how Tuesday's developments unfolded: Protesters against police brutality converged Monday night outside the police union headquarters in North Portland, where demonstrators faced off with officers for hours. Police ultimately labeled the gathering a riot. About 120 people marched from Kenton Park to the Portland Police Association building around 7:30 p.m. The one-story building sits in a commercial and residential area of North Lombard Street. The crowd soon grew beyond 200 people, who chanted George Floyd and Quit your job. At least two dozen police officers in riot gear surrounded the building near Campbell Avenue. Soon after demonstrators gathered there, officers detained at least one protester. Police ordered the crowd to stay out of the street and not block traffic. By 8:30 p.m., hundreds of people remained in the westbound lanes of Lombard Street. Two eastbound lanes separated protesters and police. Cars drove between the two groups, honking as they made their way past. Marie Tyvoll, 59, stood near the front lines of the protests and walked from officer to officer. She held the framed photos of a young man she said was her son. Im here as a parent, Tyvoll said. I am here as everyones parent. This has to stop. No one else can get hurt. Protesters eventually filled all of Lombard and stood feet away from officers. Portland police again ordered people to leave the street around 8:50 p.m., saying demonstrators gathered in the street had threatened physical violence at police. A line of officers pressed the crowd away from the police union building. After officers backed away, demonstrators filed back into the street. Within minutes, officers again pressed the crowd back toward the sidewalk. At least one officer used a baton to force people to move. One person appeared to be detained. The crowd eventually moved back into Lombard and remained there for more than an hour. Together, they chanted, Dominique Dunn! Dunn was killed Thursday in a shooting outside a Southwest Portland strip club. His family believes the shooting was racially motivated, although police have said they found no evidence of that. Demonstrators also chanted the names of Black men killed by Portland police, including Keaton Otis and Patrick Kimmons. At 9:55 p.m., Portland police said on Twitter that officers had issued multiple unheeded warnings to leave Lombard. Police said they had arrested one person and tried to arrest a second one, but others interfered and struggled with police to free the arrested subject. The person who was freed is still subject to arrest and faces additional charges related to escape, police said. The people who interfered are also subject to arrest, according to police. By 11 p.m., about 200 protesters remained in or near Lombard Street, feet away from officers. Police announced that demonstrators had thrown some things toward police, including something that hit a construction worker who was boarding up windows at the police union building. Officers warned they might use crowd control munitions, such as stun grenades, if people did not stop throwing things. Police later said broken pieces of brick, ball bearings, paint-filled items, bottles and rocks were among the items thrown at officers during the protest. One officer suffered a minor hand injury from a thrown brick, police said. Just before midnight, police used a loudspeaker to order protesters to clear Lombard Street. Police pressed people toward the sidewalk and detained at least one person. The crowd flowed back into the street, and officers again ordered people to leave. Get out of the street or you are subject to arrest, force or munitions, Portland police tweeted at 12:07 a.m. Police followed up to say someone had tried to light a mattress on fire in the street. At one point, an officer swatted a cell phone out of a demonstrators hand, reportedly breaking a window at the union building. A Portland police spokeswoman said the agency is aware of the encounter, which was captured on video. Officers are permitted to take actions to protect themselves or others and to keep themselves safe, Lt. Tina Jones said in an email. Obscuring an officers vision and advancing on them after continued warnings to get back and clear the street likely contributed in this circumstance. If this individual wishes, they can contact the Independent Police Review to have the full incident investigated. At 12:15 a.m., Portland police declared the gathering to be a riot and ordered people to leave immediately. They later cited the life safety risk presented by many members of the crowd as the reason for the riot declaration and dispersal orders. Police told people to walk east past Interstate 5 or be subject to tear gas or impact weapons. Most people stayed. Tear gas will be used in this area, police announced at 12:22 a.m. Leave now. As officers forced people to walk east, they detained at least two people. Police later said they did not deploy tear gas during the demonstration. A large group of protesters walked north from Lombard into a residential neighborhood on Fenwick Avenue. Police used a loudspeaker mounted on an SUV to order people to leave. By 12:45 a.m., police had pressed people more than two blocks away from the headquarters. Officers announced that they would leave, but remained near the Fenwick Avenue crowd and ordered people to keep walking north, away from Lombard Street. Police used a loudspeaker to describe individual people subject to arrest and to tell them their photographs had been captured. Dozens of people made their way back from Fenwick to Lombard, where a line of officers blocked people from returning west toward the police union building. By 1:15 a.m., many people in the crowd danced to music as officers watched from feet away. Dozens of protesters and police remained gathered at the intersection of Lombard and Fenwick around 1:45 a.m. Officers stayed in the area until workers finished boarding up the union building windows about 2:45 a.m. A group of demonstrators later returned, firing pyrotechnics at the building, according to police. Officers came back and dispersed the demonstrators. Police arrested five people Monday night on charges of interfering with police and disorderly conduct, police said Tuesday afternoon. One of the five was also arrested for four counts of unlawful pointing of a laser, police said. Until midnight, the police response had been a sharp contrast to a June 30 demonstration outside the headquarters, when officers almost immediately pressed protesters away from the building. The clash led officers to use tear gas. Drivers, passersby and residents in their home along a mile-long stretch of the roadway were caught in the fray. Mondays demonstration is the latest in seven weeks of Portland protests of police brutality in the wake of George Floyds death in Minnesota on May 25. In the weeks since, nightly protests have take place throughout Portland, most often downtown near the jail and federal courthouse. The Monday night face-off in North Portland came hours after President Donald Trump praised federal officers response to weekend demonstrations as great. An impact munition shot by a U.S. Marshals Service officer critically injured a 26-year-old protester Saturday. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler responded to Trumps statements on Twitter Monday night. The President did not quell it, he escalated it, Wheeler said. His heavy-handed tactics led to a serious injury and enflamed an already tense situation. -- Beth Nakamura bnakamura@oregonian.com Jim Ryan of The Oregonian/OregonLive contributed to this report. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. New Delhi, July 14 : Expressing readiness to work together with Australia in healthcare, Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said that in India, this sector is expected to achieve the $275 billion mark by 2030. In a digital interaction with his Australian counterpart Gregory Andrew Hunt to discuss bilateral health co-operation, he noted that "while Australia has one of the best healthcare systems of the developed world, healthcare in India is one of the fastest growing sectors expected to hit a $275 billion mark in the next 10 years". "India's domestic demand is expected to engine the growth regardless of any turbulence in the global economy. India also offers vast opportunities in R&D and medical tourism," he said. Harsh Vardhan also noted that India's traditional holistic medical systems like ayurveda and yoga can help Australia curb obesity and related diseases. Elaborating on "health as a social movement" approach of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said India's universal healthcare coverage (under Ayushman Bharat) covers a massive 100 million families and that 10 million individuals have benefitted in the last year alone. "India is committed to eliminating TB by the year 2025 and has also undertaken efforts for mass screening of non-communicable diseases like hypertension, cancer of breast, lung, throat and mouth. "India has also made strides in implementing the Digital Health Blueprint to modernise the health sector and enable streamlined delivery of services to the last citizen; affordable medicines that treat cancer and cardio-vascular ailments and cardiac implants are made available to the poorest of the poor under the (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) programme," Harsh Vardhan said. He also said that India's drug manufacturers have also enabled the country to supply hydroxychloroquin to 140 countries. Hunt stated that Australia's Universal Telemedicine has helped tackle 19 million cases so far. Acknowledging India's huge role in supplying inexpensive generic drugs supplying 60 per cent of the world's medicine, he expanded on how India could help Australia in researching new medicines for rare diseases using genomics and stem cell technology. Both the Health Ministers agreed to continue to jointly work in the area of health and other common interests. India and Australia had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on co-operation in the field of health and medicine on April 10, 2017. Covering areas like the management of communicable diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, mental health and non-communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance, regulation of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and medical devices and digitisation of health infrastructure, the MoU also covers response to public health emergencies like the present Covid pandemic. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Chinese industrial policies benefit the world, should not be complained: US expert Screenshot of the report by Project Syndicate Chinas industrial policies did not come at the expense of the rest of the world, and the US and Europe should not try to undercut Chinas economic progress, according to an opinion piece published by Project Syndicate in July 9. In the article, Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government, highlighted though Sino-US tensions are real, economics should not become hostage to geopolitics or reinforce and magnify the strategic rivalry. The article illustrated Chinas strength in the production of medical supplies. By the time the crisis erupted, China had become the worlds largest supplier of key products, accounting for half of all European and US imports of personal protective equipment. China has laid the groundwork to dominate the market for protective and medical supplies for years to come, according to a recent report by the New York Times. Noting the fact that the strategic and geopolitical tensions between the US and China are real, the author stressed that economics should not become hostage to geopolitics or, worse, to reinforce and magnify the strategic rivalry. One-half of Chinas economic miracle, it cited, reflects its turn to markets after the late 1970s, the other half is the result of active government policies that protected old economic structures while a wide array of industrial policies boosted new industries. [T]hese gains did not come at the expense of the rest of the worldThe growth policies that today arouse other countries ire are the reason China has become such a large market for Western exporters and investors. In regards to some complaints that Chinese industrial policies are unfair to competitors elsewhere, the author suggested outsiders to exercise caution before reaching such a verdict. Noting that Chinese policies are a case of fixing market failures, the author said, [I]f Chinese policymakers effectively targeted activities where social benefits exceed private benefits, producing improved economic performance, then it is not clear why foreigners should complain. The article cited an example of Chinas policy on the renewable energy industry, saying Chinese subsidies for solar panels and wind turbines have produced a decline in the cost of renewable energy, which is an enormous benefit for the rest of the world.. Other countries should not stand idly by while China progresses to ever more sophisticated industries, the author warned. Meanwhile, the US and Europe are recommended to focus on building more productive, more inclusive economies at home, not simply to outcompete China or try to undercut its economic progress. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Reuters) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 18:45 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066641fe5 2 Business Garuda-Indonesia,Airbus,citilink,Airlines,aviation Free Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is in talks with Airbus to delay deliveries of four aircraft this year, its chief executive said on Tuesday, as the coronavirus outbreak restricts travel and dampens demand. This year we should receive four Airbus planes, but we are negotiating to delay that, CEO Irfan Setiaputra said in a parliamentary hearing. Read also: Garuda books $120m net loss in Q1 as travel industry hit hard by COVID-19 Garuda has nine A330neos on order with Airbus that have yet to be delivered, according to the Airbus order book, while its low-cost arm Citilink has 25 A320neos on order. An Airbus spokesman decline to comment on the companys commercial discussion. Garuda faces financial difficulties after the coronavirus outbreak caused major disruption to global travel, resulting in a 90 percent drop in passengers volume at Garuda, the airline said last month. The company was forced to seek maturity extension to its US$500 million Islamic bonds that were due in June and seek new government loans. Read also: Garuda plans to open direct flights to Bali from US, France, India to boost tourism Garuda, meanwhile, is also restructuring its aircraft leasing by seeking a lower leasing price or extending the period, Setiaputra said, adding that it also seeks to terminate unsuitable contracts. Twelve of its lessors have agreed to a restructuring, according to Garuda presentation material in parliament, while six have declined to give rent deferral. It is still in negotiations with 13 other lessors. Today there are a number of lessors who grounded our planes because our incapability to make payments, Setiaputra said. USA, Brazil, and India are the worlds worst Covid-19-affected countries. The daily infection rates are accelerating in these countries, and they account for almost half of the world's total infections of more than 12 million. The scientific analysis of the daily growth trend in the three worst-affected countries shows no signs of peaking any time soon. Hence flattening the infection curve and containing the pathogen is also out of sight for these countries. USA, India and Brazil are also the world's most socio-politically divided and polarised democracies in the world. The top leaders in these countries were elected on a conservative nationalist political agenda and by sharply dividing their secular democracies. All three of them stoked fear, and used management by fear (MBF) to sell their message of imminent chaos if they were not elected. They projected themselves as the lone saviours of their respective countries from grave threats such as immigrant-invasion, minority religions taking over the country, and sharp social inequality disrupting the peace and prosperity of their nations. All three leaders branded and positioned themselves as individuals above and different to their respective political parties, government structures and process. (Photo: Reuters) All three leaders branded and positioned themselves as individuals above and different to their respective political parties, government structures and process. It was all about them as individuals to save the society. While campaigning during his run for Presidency, Donald Trump said in 2016, I alone can fix the dark, violent, weak America. Trump and Modi ignored their respective countries intelligence agency briefs in January 2020. While their state governments were battling to contain the eruption of the Covid-19 pathogen in late January and early February 2020, Trump and Modi organised the biggest rally in India that Trump had ever addressed in his life. The rally was held in Ahmedabad, India on February 24, 2020. Before leaving for India, Trump told reporters, I am (going to India). He (Modi) said we will have millions and millions of people. He thinks we will have 5-7 million people just from the airport to the new stadium. With around 43 per cent of Americans dependent on Facebook for their daily newsfeed, every sharply divided day in America is a festival for Mark Zuckerberg. (Photo: Reuters) Another winner benefitting from the polarised communities of the world is Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg owns 60 per cent of Facebook one of the most profitable companies on the planet, with annual revenue of approximately USD 70 billion. The social media platform gets data supply from nearly a third of humanity a total connected community of around 2.5 billion. Data from the connected communities is the critical fuel of Facebooks business engine. Its computer algorithms are designed to divide community opinions and thoughts to maximise the data supply to the platform. Facebooks own recent internal business strategy documents concluded that their algorithms exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness (by securing more data feeds into the platform). With around 43 per cent of the Americans dependent on Facebook for their daily newsfeed, every sharply divided day in America is a festival for Mark Zuckerberg. For Facebook, a divided world is the best fodder for data. The connected world community is highly polarised on opinions and facts on the origin of the virus, its containment and prevention strategies prescribed by epidemiologists and scientists battling the pathogen, and the social cost versus economic costs of the ensuing lockdown. Since the Covid-19 pathogen started killing human beings in the connected world in January 2020, and as most of the world businesses suffered from an economic lockdown, Facebook's share price hit an all-time high of USD 230.75 on May 27, 2020, delivering a market value of around USD 640 billion. Which are the top three countries that supply Facebook with the free supply of uninterrupted data fuel every nanosecond? India, USA, and Brazil the worst affected by Covid-19 and highly polarised countries in the world. Also Read: Can we even delete our Facebook account? The June figure topped the previous single month deficit record, $738 billion in April, as the coronavirus began to spread across the country. The deficit occurred as the White House and Congress authorized trillions of dollars in massive relief programs to combat the coronavirus, even as more than 40 million workers have been laid off and curtailed consumer spending, thus cutting tax revenues. The U.S. government, faced with a surge in COVID-19 cases and their economic impact, said it incurred its biggest monthly deficit ever in June, an $864 billion figure that is more than the country usually has recorded annually throughout its history. Now, even as the government's ledger sheet shows month after month of red ink, the country is faced with a soaring number of coronavirus infections, more than 60,000 a day on some recent days. While the White House and Congress are deliberating over how much more aid to dispatch to unemployed workers, if any, they also are considering how much assistance to send to hard-pressed businesses and state and local governments. Some conservative Republican lawmakers have voiced concern about adding more to the country's burgeoning long-term debt, now totaling more than $26 trillion. For the first nine months of this budget year which began last Oct. 1, the deficit now totals $2.74 trillion -- also a record for three quarters of a budget year. The Congressional Budget Office is predicting that for the year, the deficit will reach $3.7 trillion, easily topping the previous annual record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009, a time when the government approved relief programs to fight the recession that started a year earlier. In most years, the U.S. has worried about the ballooning long-term debt when its annual deficit has topped $1 trillion. But the U.S. spent about $2 trillion more than it received in tax revenue from April to June alone. Congress approved, and President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion coronavirus aid package in March. It included a $600-a-week boost in aid for unemployed Americans that is expiring at the end of July and one-time $1,200 stimulus payments to most adults in the country. The aid was aimed at propping up the economy and helping Americans weather the effects of the pandemic. By Ayya Lmahamad Five Azerbaijani servicemen, including a major general and colonel, have been killed during the Armenian attack on the border on the night leading to July 14, Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Kerim Veliyev told local media on July 14. "On the night of July 13-14, fierce battles continued on the territory of Tovuz region. Within two days, crushing blows were made on the enemy. Up to 100 units of manpower, a large number of military equipment and important enemy facilities were destroyed, he said. The fallen Azerbaijan servicemen are Major General Polad Gashimov, Colonel Ilgar Mirzaev, Major Ahmedov Namig, Major Novruzov Anar, Ensign Zeynalli Ilgar, Ensign Babayev Yashar, Superintendent soldier Mustafazade Elchin. An Azerbaijani civilian in Tovuz regions Aghdam village, Aziz Azizov, was killed as a result of artillery shelling by the Armenian armed forces. The cross-border fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan started on July 12 with Armenia's firing artillery at Azerbaijan's positions in the direction of Tovuz region. The attack killed four Azerbaijani servicemen and injured four others. Azerbaijan responded by destroying a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit using artillery, mortars and tanks on the night leading to July 13. The ministry said Armenia was hiding its casualties. Earlier, today, the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry reported that Armenia's military and combat equipment for various purposes, command post, reserves in the depths of defense, and its forces were destroyed as a result of punitive measures undertaken to suppress Armenia's activity. 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. However, final peace deal has not been reached yet. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Children in an elementary school class wear masks and sit as desks spaced apart as per coronavirus guidelines during summer school sessions at Happy Day School in Monterey Park, California on July 9. A study of 2,000 children and teachers at a school in the German state of Saxony has found very few coronavirus antibodies among them, suggesting that schools and young people do not play as big a role in transmission as previously feared. The study was carried out in May by the Medical Faculty of the TU Dresden and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus and the results of the first test phase were released Monday. The results showed that out of 2,045 blood samples collected from students and teachers from across 13 secondary schools in the region only 12 samples were found to contain antibodies against Covid-19. Tests were carried out in several schools where there had been known outbreaks of the virus, and 24 of the participants had at least one confirmed coronavirus case in their household. Nonetheless, only one of those 24 participants was found to have antibodies, the study noted. It is the largest study in Germany to date and was carried out after the country reopened schools after lockdown, with the aim of assessing how many students and teachers carry antibodies against the virus and how its spread changes over time. The results showed that "the dynamics of virus spreading have been overestimated," the universities said, adding that the study suggested that schools did not become the coronavirus "hotspot" after reopening, as had been feared. "The numbers provide information about the current immunity status of teachers and students ... (and) provide important clues as to how school operations can continue after the summer holidays," the Medical Faculty of the TU Dresden said in a statement Monday. "Corona cases were confirmed in three of the schools examined. Nevertheless, above average antibodies were not detectable among the teachers and students of the institutions concerned, which suggests that the schools have not developed into hotspots," the statement noted. Professor Reinhard Berner, director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, said the study suggested that children did not spread the virus as much as had been believed. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 15:21:06|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close GUANGZHOU, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Gongbei customs in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai has cracked a case involving the smuggling of electronic products and cosmetics worth 150 million yuan (about 21.44 million U.S. dollars). The suspects illegally shipped products from Macao and secretly unloaded them at ports with no customs inspection in Zhuhai, according to the customs. Police started to investigate the suspected vessel last year. They found correlations between the case and four previous ones that took place in the sea area between Zhuhai and Macao in the past three years. On June 10, Gongbei and Macao customs conducted a joint raid, arresting 21 suspects and seizing a batch of laptops, cosmetics and other goods. Further investigation is underway. Enditem ST. LOUIS COUNTY Aerospace manufacturer R&S Machining Inc. has committed to a $13.5 million expansion and the addition of 60 jobs to its workforce of about 48, the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership announced Tuesday. The support they received from the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and other economic development partners was highly impactful in their decision to expand locally, Doug Rasmussen, consultant to R&S Machining Inc., said in a statement. The Partnership said the company had been encouraged to relocate to Texas or Kansas to shorten its supply chain. The Missouri Department of Economic Development, AllianceSTL and Ameren worked with the Partnership to retain the business. In October, R&S Machining purchased a new building at 6245 Lemay Ferry Road, near its headquarters at 4800 Baumgartner Road. Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission [Sign up for the Well Family newsletter] Reading other narratives can help children think about their stories, and writing things down is powerful. Dr. Amy Shriver, a general pediatrician in Des Moines, Iowa, has daughters who are 9 and 12. Her older daughter is reading Anne Franks The Diary of a Young Girl, she said, and talked about feeling trapped. Since I was asking these questions around the July 4 holiday, Hamilton, which premiered in film form over that weekend, was a reference point for a number of children. Dr. Radesky said it had helped her family through what would otherwise have been a difficult holiday, and Dr. Shrivers 12-year-old, a fan, said to her, Mom, this is what its like when the world turns upside down. Dr. Shriver said in an email, Im encouraging my kids to journal every night about life during the pandemic. Im telling them how incredible it is that *everyone* in the world is experiencing the same stress and worries at the same time. Even though we are physically distanced, we all feel closer to one another due to this shared experience. Dr. Ken Haller, a professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University, said in an email that he has been asking parents versions of this question since 2014, when many of his patients were affected by the Ferguson uprising after Michael Brown was killed. I was especially asking parents of babies and very young children what they would tell their children in 10 or 15 years about what life was like during the protests. At that time, he said, most parents would say they hadnt had time to think about it, but when he asks the question now, parents are interested in keeping track writing in a diary, saving social media posts, maybe even making videos talking to their children when theyre older. As pediatricians and people who care for children, its been a fascinating time in our history, said Dr. Ruchi Gupta, a professor of pediatrics and the director of the Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research at Northwestern and Lurie Childrens Hospital. How can one virus stop the world? She wanted her children to tell me their own stories of this time. There were disappointments: Her 18-year-old son missed out on his senior year festivities and his in-person graduation, her 14-year-old daughter on her eighth-grade graduation after spending 11 years in the same school. But her son, Rohan Jain, talked about how important its been to write every day about whats going on in the world and what my thoughts are. It was important to him to march for racial justice, he said. Kosovo President Hashim Thaci arrived on Monday for questioning by war crimes prosecutors in The Hague, saying that nobody can rewrite history over his role in the 1990s war. Thaci, 52, was indicted by a special tribunal in late June for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1998-99 conflict with Serbia that won the province its independence. Thaci and others are charged with being criminally responsible for nearly 100 murders in addition to other crimes against Serb, Roma and Kosovo Albanian victims while he was leader of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). Today I am here to respect what I dreamt and fought for, a free independent Kosovo based on equal rights, multi-ethnic society and rule of law, Thaci told reporters outside the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. I am ready to face the new challenge and succeed for my son, my family, my people and my country. Nobody can rewrite history. This is a price of freedom. Around two dozen Thaci supporters gathered outside the court for his arrival, chanting his name, holding up Kosovo flags and waving banners with slogans including Hashim is not simply a name it is a symbol of an honourable epoch. A spokesman for the prosecutors at the court declined to comment when asked by AFP for details of the questioning. A number of Thacis former KLA colleagues have previously been interviewed by the court. Reconciliation and justice President since 2016 and prime minister before that, in recent years Thaci has taken part in talks aimed at normalising ties with Serbia, which still rejects the independence of its former province. Kosovo is a success story, I am very proud, Thaci said before entering the heavily secured court building. I believe in peace through reconciliation and justice. I believe in dialogue and relations with all nations. A judge will decide later this year whether to formally charge Thaci, Kosovos most powerful politician. He has previously said he would resign if the charges were confirmed, insisting he is innocent. He said on Sunday before his departure for The Hague that our war was clean and just and that Kosovo was a victim. Its true that we violated the laws of Slobodan Milosevic, he said referring to Serbias former leader. But that was something he was proud of, he added. The Kosovo conflict, which claimed about 13,000 lives most of them Kosovo Albanians was only ended when NATO forces launched a bombing campaign against Serbia that forced them to quit the territory. After the 1990s war, several Serbian military and police officials were convicted of war crimes. Milosevic died in custody in The Hague in 2006 while awaiting trial by a UN-backed tribunal. 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. Among the others indicted last month were Thacis closest political ally Kadri Veseli. The charges were announced as Thaci was preparing to fly to the United States for a meeting with Serbian representatives, a meeting which had to be postponed until Sunday in Brussels. The Santa Cruz County Public Health Division is hosting a virtual community conversation to discuss the impacts and prevention measures of COVID-19 in the Latinx community on Tuesday evening. The 6 p.m. meeting will also be hosted by the Thriving Immigrants Collaborative, an alliance of organizations in Santa Cruz County that provides direct services and advocates for immigrants, as well as Salud Para La Gente, a non-profit health care organization. Fresh automobile sales figures from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) suggest a sputtering economy. On Tuesday, the automotive body released data for June, a month that marked the start of our unlock" phase after a long corona lockdown. Hopes had arisen of a burst of pent-up demand, helped along by a new wave of demand for personal wheels, given the infection risks of public transport. The offtake of passenger vehicles, however, was only half the figure of June 2019. SIAM does not expect to see a new sales peak for several years. This bodes poorly for Indias manufacturing sector and the rest of its economy. While July sales may be slightly better, given signs of an economic pickup, the expectation that seems to have fallen flat is that of people adopting personal vehicles in a big way to avoid corona exposure. Even if many more Indians would like their own set of wheels, they do not seem confident of being able to pay for it. Two-wheelers have performed relatively better, but this is probably because our rural sector has held up better than the rest of the country. All considered, a broad revival looks disappointingly distant. Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. BEIJING The Trump administrations rejection of broad Chinese claims to much of the South China Sea came across in Asia as an election-year political move, with some appealing for calm amid fears of greater tensions. China accused the U.S. on Tuesday of trying to sow discord between China and the Southeast Asian countries with which it has long-standing territorial disputes in waters that are both a vital international shipping lane and home to valuable fisheries. The United States is not a country directly involved in the disputes. However, it has kept interfering in the issue, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said on its website. Under the pretext of preserving stability, it is flexing muscles, stirring up tension and inciting confrontation in the region. Other governments avoided direct comment on the U.S. announcement. The Philippine presidential spokesperson, Harry Roque, noted that the two powers would woo his country as they escalate their rivalry, but what is important now is to prioritize the implementation and crafting of a code of conduct to prevent tension in that area. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a statement released Monday, said the U.S. now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate. The new position does not cover land features above sea level, which are considered to be territorial in nature. Previously, the U.S. had only insisted that maritime disputes between China and its smaller neighbors be resolved peacefully through U.N.-backed arbitration. Pompeos statement was a major shift in Americas South China Sea policy, said Zhu Feng, the director of a South China Sea studies center at Nanjing University. He said other countries challenging Chinas claims may take a more aggressive stance because of Americas openly stated support. The U.S. didnt use to comment on the sovereignty issue in the South China Sea, because it itself is not a claimant, Zhu said. But this time it has made itself into a judge or arbiter. It will bring new instability and tension. He advised against a strong response from China, saying that current U.S. policy is being driven in a significant way by President Donald Trumps reelection considerations. Trumps current China policy is insane, Zhu said. He is making the China issue the most important topic for his election to cover his failure in preventing the epidemic and to divert public attention. I have no idea how far he will go in fully utilizing the China issue. An Indonesian analyst agreed that the announcement was a political one to divert attention from Trumps weaknesses at home. A.A. Banyu Perwita, an international relations professor at President University, predicted it would focus more attention on the Indo-Pacific corridor but not have dramatic consequences. It will be not more than a political diplomatic statement, he said, adding that we need to make the atmosphere calm now. The best position for all now is the current status quo. James Chin, head of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania in Australia, said the U.S. stance was nothing new because it has always rejected Chinas nine-dash line, as its claim to the South China Sea is known. What is new is that Trump has sort of made the South China Sea a new focus point for his confrontation with China, he said. Both Indonesia and the Philippines joined Pompeo in calling on China to abide by an international arbitration court ruling in 2016 that disqualified many of Chinas claims. Malaysias foreign ministry declined to comment. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian reiterated Chinas position that it has had effective jurisdiction over the islands, reefs and waters of the South China Sea for more than 1,000 years. He said at a daily briefing Tuesday that China is not seeking to build a maritime empire. Chinas emergence as a military power and its ambitions to extend its offshore reach have come into conflict with the U.S., which has been the dominant naval power in the western Pacific in the post-World War II period. Two U.S. aircraft carriers drilled together in the South China Sea last week in a show of force. Zhao, in a lengthy response to Pompeos statement, criticized Americas frequent dispatch of large-scale advanced military vessels and aircraft to the waters. The U.S. is indeed a troublemaker that undermines regional peace and stability, he said. ___ Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing and writers Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report. Yeoh: Anwar, Shafie and Dr Ms united front was 'silver lining' to speaker change The one silver lining to come out of the disastrous changing of the Dewan Rakyat speaker yesterday was the united front put up by opposition leaders Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and Shafie Apdal, said Hannah Yeoh. The Segambut MP said the three statespersons had been united in speaking against the controversial swearing-in of former Election Commission (EC) chief Azhar Azizan Harun as the House speaker without going through a vote. This despite going into the proceedings amidst soured relations between Anwar and Mahathir - former rivals turned allies under the previous Pakatan Harapan government - over the choice of prime minister candidate should Harapan succeed in removing the new Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. After briefly nominating himself to the role, Mahathir and his Bersatu faction now throw their support behind Shafie, who is Warisan president, to be the candidate for prime minister, while the Harapan presidential council has named Anwar as their choice. The silver lining for me was seeing something I only knew in theory, which sealed the hope and assurance that what is needed to challenge this awful PN government is a combined force of Anwar, Shafie, and Mahathir. They were united in one common purpose yesterday. In taking on the loud taunts and jeers by the opponents, they spoke in measured calmness and defended the importance of an independent speaker and a Parliament that is beyond reproach. It was evident they emerged from the loud chaos as respected statespersons of Malaysia, the DAP MP said in a statement. Yeoh, who served as the speaker of the Selangor legislative assembly for five years prior to GE14 described yesterdays Dewan Rakyat proceedings as an unprecedented disastrous transition of power for the head of the highest law-making institution in this land. Opposition parliamentarians are objecting to the swearing-in of Azhar (above) as no vote was taken. Azhar swore in after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassins motion to oust former speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof was narrowly passed. Story continues No vote was taken either to replace former deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming with Umno Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said. Nga had resigned in solidarity with Ariff. The PN government is accused of bypassing parliamentary proceedings by foregoing the voting process and not allowing the opposition to nominate their own speaker candidate. Yeoh also alleged that the motion to remove Ariff was unjustified by any reason and was made despite the former high court judge having done no wrong. She also criticised the actions of various PN lawmakers who purportedly heckled and jeered attempts by opposition representatives to speak during the Parliament sitting yesterday. It is evident for the world to see and more importantly, for Malaysians to watch the proceedings of this august House and distinguish the statespersons from the pretenders, her statement read. The ongoing sitting, slated to end on Aug 27, is the first full Parliament sitting since the change of government. The previous sitting in May was limited to just one day to listen to the Yang di-Pertuan Agongs address due to safety considerations in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Anwar said on Sunday that despite the impasse reached by the unofficial Harapan Plus parties which comprised of Harapan coalition members, Mahathirs faction of Bersatu, as well as Warisan, he did not have anything personal against the former premier. Participants trained on fair trial standards CHRDA At least 25 lawyers and human rights advocates across Cameroon left Buea over the weekend after attending a Trial Observation Training for Lawyers and Human Rights Advocates on Regional and International Fair Trial Standards, an initiative of the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights, in partnership with the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA. Aimed at sharpening the skills of lawyers and human rights advocates in observing and monitoring fair trials following international standards, Friday and Saturdays training was co-facilitated by Barrister Nkongho Felix Agbor alias Agbor Balla and Barrister Nkea Emmanuel Aleambong. Agbor Balla is Founder/President of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, CHRDA and currently serves as vice president of the African Bar Association in charge of Central Africa. The former president of the Fako Lawyers Association, FAKLA, and leader of the outlawed Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium (CACSC) shared his years of legal experience with his peers. Agbor Balla said the training, which is an initiative of the American Bar Association Centre for Human Rights and CHRDA, was aimed at assisting the government of Cameroon and the courts in the dispensation of justice. It will also go a long way to clarify the public perception that justice in Cameroon is sold for money, and works only to the interest of a stronger party. 25 lawyers, human rights defenders, and trial observers from all over Cameroon have been trained to monitor and report on the conduct of trials in Courts in their communities to ensure that justice is not only done but should be seen to be done. This would help do away with the public perception that there is no justice in the country. A judge who knows that he is being monitored for every action or decision he takes in Court would do only what is right, he said. On his part, Barrister Nkea, also shared his rich and diverse experience in legal practice and research; as a Trial Lawyer, Company Secretary, State Counsel, University Law Lecturer, Principal Magistrate, High Court Judge and Justice of Appeal. With in-depth experience in qualitative legal analysis and proven ability to develop cooperative working relationships and resilience, Barrister Nkea said fairness means getting justice and justice means getting peace. To him, if everyone is treated fairly and equally, there would be no chaos in society and everyone will be at peace with each other. He looked at the constitution of Cameroon the criminal procedure code and the military justice code as the relevant domestic legal instruments which guarantee the right to a fair trial. At the end of the training, the participants expressed gratitude to the organizers saying they were able to horn their skills in the domain of trial monitoring and trial observation methods. They all expressed willingness to work as a team to promote the course of justice in Cameroon and also called on the organizers to always come up with such refreshing training like this to keep them abreast with knowledge in the human rights and trial monitoring domain. It was my pleasure to have been part of this great initiative. I thank the organizers and the facilitators Barrister Nkongho and Barrister Nkea. But like Oliver Twist, I shall be waiting for more to come, said Buea-based lawyer, Barrister Awungjia Tets. Attending the training all the way from Yaounde, Barrister Dorcas Nkongme expressed her gratitude to the initiators of the training. I want to thank the organizers and facilitators for the rich knowledge shared with us. Barrister Arrey Collins thanked the trainers for sharing their wealth of knowledge with them. I thank Barrister Nkongho and Barrister Nkea for such an opportunity. Their excellent mastery of the subject matter has immensely armed me with new skills in the protection of human rights. I trust in your expertise and looking forward to more as my drive and passion in the protection of the rights of persons remains unstoppable. More than 100 scientists have written to the Andrews government backing highly regarded Australian ecologist Professor David Lindenmayer after the head of Victoria's logging agency refused to accept his published opinions or "consider him an authority". The high-profile Australian and international scientists who include the head of the Australian Academy of Science, a former CSIRO chief research scientist and eminent ecologists from Canada and the United States expressed "shock and dismay" at the comments by VicForests chief executive Monique Dawson. Salvage logging north of Dargo. Credit:Goongerah Environment Centre Ms Dawson had refused to accept Professor Lindenmayer's published opinions on the impact of logging on bushfire risk in native forests. "We are concerned Ms Dawsons comments represent an unacceptable dismissal of the knowledge, expertise and perspective of a world-renowned and well-documented expert in the field of forest ecology," writes Professor John Shine, president of the Australian Academy of Science. The Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Tuesday released Pragyata guidelines for digital learning of students in the national capital through online medium. The guidelines include eight steps of online education--Plan, Review, Arrange, Guide, Yak(talk), Assign, Track, Appreciate. These steps guide the planning and implementation of digital education step by step with examples. PLAN: Lesson Plan for the following is prepared by the teacher in great details REVIEW: Teacher conducts a brief survey with the children via mobile about their access to digital devices and finds that:1) 15 Households have a Television, Smartphone with internet connectivity and also a Laptop; 2. 10 Households have a Smartphone with internet connectivity and a Television but no Laptop; 3. 4 Households have a basic mobile; 4. 1 Household does not have even a mobile ARRANGE: After this survey teacher may make arrangements in the following manner. Giving immediate attention to children belonging to households at (c) and (d). For children belonging to households at (c), teachers may plan calls early morning on the mobile as there is a possibility that the parent who will go out for work may take the mobile along with him/her. Teachers select a theme (Example - a theme from EVS, i.e. family) So, she/he will call the parent or student and ask them to discuss with their family members (their age, what work they do, etc.). For a child belonging to a household at (d), teachers may explore contacting them via the childs friends. After getting the contact of a student residing nearby, the teacher may explore communication channels with the household at (d) such as identifying his/her accessibility to a mobile belonging to a neighbor. The teacher will guide the parents, child or guardians. For children belonging to households at (a) and (b), she may plan to call them via Google Hangout or WhatsApp calls, etc. Teachers may create three groups of eight students each, and guide on the same theme - family by asking them to discuss and make a chart as discussed above. GUIDE: Teachers may also ask parents to show a video on the theme family to their children and encourage them to discuss it. This may be an individual activity, wherein parents may also participate and may be motivated to discuss and talk to their children about the family. YAK/TALK: Teachers will arrange doubt clearing sessions and remain available at pre-specified times to talk to the learners. ASSIGN: She/he will guide the child to draw portraits of her/his family members, write her/his relationship with them, prepare a family tree, list their work and also write one thing about them that they like. Learning of a language may also be made an integrated part of this activity, wherein students may be asked to write a poem on their family, or share an experience from within the family, etc. TRACK: The chart or poster or datasheet that children have made may be sent to teachers through email or WhatsApp by the parents. Teachers will track the progress of students on each of the assignments and give constructive feedback to the learners. APPRECIATE: Teachers need to attend to each and every group for a few minutes. Teachers need to appreciate children and parents by sending some good words on the completion of the assignment. This will sustain the interest and motivation of children and parents both. Teachers will also inform parents and students that participating in this activity has made them progress as per the learning outcome already identified for the above class Speaking on the occasion, Pokhriyal said that COVID-19 pandemic has led to the closure of schools and has impacted over 240 million children of the country who are enrolled in schools, adding that the extended school closures may cause loss of learning. He said that to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, schools will not only have to remodel and reimagine the way teaching and learning have happened so far but will also need to introduce a suitable method of delivering quality education through a healthy mix of schooling at home and schooling at school. The Minister informed that Pragyata guidelines have been developed from the perspective of learners, with a focus on online/blended/digital education for students who are presently at home due to lockdown. He added that these guidelines on Digital/ Online Education provide a roadmap or pointers for carrying forward online education to enhance the quality of education. He highlighted that the guidelines will be relevant and useful for a diverse set of stakeholders including school heads, teachers, parents, teacher educators and students. The guidelines stress upon the use of an alternative academic calendar of NCERT, for both, learners having access to digital devices and learners having limited or no access. Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for HRD Sanjay Dhotre said that the Pragyata guidelines have been prepared by the Ministry of HRD to ensure the safety and academic welfare of the students. He said that online education has filled a lot of gaps during the pandemic but utmost care has to be taken while using digital technologies to educate the students. He hoped that these guidelines will help students, teachers, parents, heads and other stakeholders to learn online safety practices. Dhotre also lauded the efforts of the Ministry to bring out Pragyata guidelines which will provide a safe and secure digital learning environment. The guidelines outline suggestions for administrators, school heads, teachers, parents and students in the following areas: Need assessment; Concerns while planning online and digital education like duration, screen time, inclusiveness, balanced online and offline activities etc level-wise; Modalities of intervention including resource curation, level-wise delivery etc.; Physical, mental health and wellbeing during digital education; Cybersafety and ethical practices including precautions and measures for maintaining cyber safety; and Collaboration and convergence with various initiatives. These guidelines for school heads and teachers describe the need assessment, planning and steps to implement digital education while ensuring cyber safety and privacy measures. It also outlines the support to be provided to students with special needs. The main emphasis is on balanced online and offline activities keeping the screen time as an essential parameter in accordance with the level of students. For parents, the guideline helps to understand the need for physical, mental health and wellbeing along with the cyber safety measures for children at home. Guidelines for physical health and mental wellness is stressed across the guidelines for all stakeholders measures so that children do not get overly stretched or stressed, or get affected negatively (postural defects, ophthalmic issues, and other physical problems) owing to prolonged use of digital devices. Also, it provides sufficient dos and donts regarding ergonomics and cyber safety. The guidelines also emphasize the need to unify all efforts related to digital/ online/on-air education, benefitting school-going children across the country. The initiative includes DIKSHA, SWAYAM Prabha, SWAYAM MOOCS, Radio Vahini, Shiksha Vaani, Special content for children with special needs and ITPAL. In a country like India characterized by multifarious diversity, switching over to digital modes of education needs various states/ UTs level organization and National level organizations to join hands for a change that will sustain post-COVID-19 also. (CNN) Wearing face masks in shops and supermarkets in England will be compulsory from July 24, with those failing to comply with the new regulation facing fines of up to 100 ($125), the UK government will announce Tuesday. "There is growing evidence that wearing a face covering in an enclosed space helps protect individuals and those around them from coronavirus," a Downing Street spokesperson said. "The Prime Minister has been clear that people should be wearing face coverings in shops and we will make this mandatory from July 24." The new measures come as a report from the Academy of Medical Sciences warned that the UK must now prepare for a potential new wave of coronavirus infections in the winter more serious than the first, with a "reasonable worst-case scenario" of 119,900 Covid-related hospital deaths between September 2020 and June 2021. The UK is one of the worst hit countries by coronavirus, with almost 45,000 fatalities, putting it third behind Brazil and the United States. Report authors warn that Covid-19 is "more likely to spread in winter with people spending more time indoors and the virus able to survive longer in colder, darker winter conditions." In the document, experts warn that "intense preparation" is urgently needed in the remaining summer months to reduce the risk of the health service being overwhelmed and to save lives this coming winter. Scientists said that a combination of the possibility of a flu epidemic, a backlog of patients needing treatment and the disruption already created in the health system by Covid-19 posed a "serious risk to health in the UK." Modeling suggested that there would be a peak in hospital admissions and deaths in January and February 2021 similar or worse than the first wave of the virus this spring, which would coincide with peak demand on the UK's health service. "This is not a prediction, but it is a possibility," Professor Stephen Holgate, a respiratory specialist from University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, who chaired the report, said in a statement. He said the modeling suggested deaths could be higher with a new wave of Covid-19 this winter, "but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately." Minimizing community transmission, reducing transmission in hospitals and care homes, increasing testing capacity and vaccinating against flu were all needed to avoid such a scenario, the report said. Last week, the head of Britain's national academy of sciences, the Royal Society, Venki Ramakrishnan said the UK was "way behind" many countries in terms of wearing masks. Scotland, Germany, Spain, Italy and Greece have already made it compulsory to wear face coverings inside shops. Ramakrishnan added that not wearing a mask should be regarded as antisocial as drink driving and reasoned that there is a "growing body of evidence that wearing a mask will help protect others -- and might even protect you." Earlier on Monday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was "important" to wear a face covering in a confined space. Johnson's comments came after senior government minister Michael Gove said Sunday that he does not believe the use of face masks should be enforced as a compulsory measure. Downing Street's statement added that shop employees and retailers should encourage customers to comply, but enforcement will be carried out by the police. Children under 11 and people with disabilities will be exempt. The regulations will indicate that those who fail to wear a mask can face a fine of up to 100 ($125). Still, questions have been raised as to why face masks in shops have not been made compulsory as soon as possible, with fines being enforced from July 24. In June, the World Health Organization updated its recommendations, calling for nations to encourage the general public to wear fabric masks in areas where there continues to be intense spread of the novel coronavirus -- and for all health workers and caregivers to wear medical masks throughout their shift while in clinical areas. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now says everyone "should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public, for example to the grocery store or to pick up other necessities." UK government guidance since May has advised the public to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces where they may come into contact with people they wouldn't usually meet. Face masks have been mandatory on public transport in England since mid-June. This story was first published on CNN.com, "Face masks in shops to be compulsory in England, as experts warn of 120,000 winter deaths." The fact that we have to affix a stamp to our envelope when we mail in our absentee ballot does not mean as Democrats claimed in their lawsuit seeking absentee ballots for all during the pandemic that South Carolina levies a postage tax on voting. Thats like saying we have a gasoline tax on voting because people have to drive to their polling place. But it can be a challenge to figure out how much postage you need, and some people dont realize how easy it is to buy stamps. So the decision by Gov. Henry McMaster and the State Election Commission to use federal coronavirus relief funding to send postage-paid envelopes out with the absentee ballots people request for the November election will likely mean that some votes get counted that otherwise wouldnt; thats a good thing. It also will settle one of the issues in the lawsuit another good thing. But it wont solve the real problem with voting this year: Most of us who are younger than 65 could be forced to cast our November ballots in crowded polling places in the middle of a still-raging pandemic. Only the Legislature can fix that problem, by changing the state law that limits absentee voting to people who are 65 or older or cant make it to the polls for one of a handful of specific reasons, such as being out of town for vacation or work or being in the hospital. That restriction hasnt made any sense since South Carolina started buying voting machines: Its ridiculously wasteful to purchase enough equipment which is used an average of once or twice a year to allow everybody to cast their ballots in person in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, the states response has been to just make people wait in ever-longer lines, which forces them to give up their right to vote if they dont have an employer who lets them take off hours in the middle of the day to wait in those lines. With COVID-19 still among us, the limit on who can vote absentee is also dangerous, to all of us. Charleston Republican Sen. Chip Campsen crafted an obvious solution in May, with a bill that allowed any voter to cast an absentee ballot if the governor declares a state of emergency within 45 days of an election. But in order to get it passed during an abbreviated legislative session, he had to limit it to the June primaries and runoffs. It has become painfully clear since May that standing in too-long lines with too many of our neighbors will still be dangerous in November. So when the Legislature returns for its special budget session in September, it needs to extend that law. At the least. Not only is it smart policy; its also a smart insurance policy. We doubt a judge would have found it unconstitutional to require people to pay for their own stamp to mail in their absentee ballot. But it might be easy to find one who says its unconstitutional to allow a perfectly healthy 65 year old to mail in her ballot during a pandemic while requiring a medically vulnerable 64 year old to stand in line to vote, which is what our current law does. Firefights have broken out between federal Somali soldiers and troops from the Jubaland region. A heightened confrontation could embolden Al-Shabaabs Islamist insurgency. The African Union should press Ethiopia and Kenya, which back Mogadishu and Kismayo, respectively, to coax the two sides into negotiations. Whats new? Hundreds of troops loyal to the Federal Government of Somalia, on one side, and Jubaland regional state, on the other, are locked in a tense showdown in the Gedo region of southern Somalia. Clashes between them have already resulted in fatalities and uprooted thousands from their homes. Why does it matter? Neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya, which are both troop contributors to the African Unions peacekeeping mission in Somalia, seek to avoid direct confrontation but respectively support the opposing federal and Jubaland administrations. The situation plays into the hands of the Al-Shabaab Islamist insurgency, which is further entrenching its presence in Gedo. What should be done? The African Union, along with the eastern African sub-regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority for Development, and Somalias bilateral partners, should lean on Ethiopia and Kenya to push the two sides to de-escalate tensions. Talks would allow the sides to refocus energies on stemming Al-Shabaabs gains. I. Overview A standoff between forces loyal to Somalias federal authorities and those allied to the southern state of Jubaland could trigger a wider Horn of Africa crisis. Clashes between the two sides in February and March 2020 displaced 56,000 people and killed at least ten, including civilians. The warring parties have since settled into an uneasy stalemate but discord is rife among clans in Jubalands Gedo region, the epicentre of the violence. Mogadishu and Jubaland leaders, and their respective backers Ethiopia and Kenya, need to compromise. The African Union (AU), working with the sub-regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), and in concert with others such as the UN, European Union (EU), United States and United Kingdom, should push for revival of tripartite talks among Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Those talks should aim to ease regional tensions and pave the way for the federal government and Jubaland leaders to end their dangerous altercation before it escalates further. The frictions in Gedo reflect political fault lines that cut from national politics down to local clan tensions and constitute a major source of instability for Somalia. The principal conflict is a standoff between the Jubaland state, notably its leader, Ahmed Mohamed Islam Madobe, and the federal government led by Somalias president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo. The dispute was triggered by Mogadishus refusal to recognise what it and Madobes local rivals argue was a flawed August 2019 vote that saw the Jubaland president win a second term. But it reflects deeper disagreement between Farmajo and Madobe over how Somalias political system should allocate power. Their differences have fuelled local tensions via clan and sub-clan alliances and rivalries that characterise the countrys often fractious politics. The bitter divisions are worrying, given the need for national and local consensus on key issues, such as how to organise Somalias next election, due by the end of 2020. The frictions in Gedo reflect political fault lines that cut from national politics down to local clan tensions and constitute a major source of instability for Somalia. The situation is worsened by tensions between external actors serving as part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is mandated to support efforts by federal and state governments to combat the Al-Shabaab insurgency. Ethiopia, which has a contingent of troops in the contested region of Gedo in the north of Jubaland, backs Mogadishu, the result of Addis Ababas pivot over the past two years in favour of a centralised Somali state. In contrast, Kenya, whose troops are based farther south in Lower Juba, supports Jubalands incumbent president. Nairobi sees him as critical to a buffer zone in that region protecting Kenya from militant incursions. Neither of the two regional heavyweights seeks a direct confrontation. But absent a resolution, their rivalry could feed a damaging conflict in Somalia that would have repercussions for regional stability. It will take efforts by all sides to avert renewed hostilities. The AU should lean on Kenya and Ethiopia to back down and afford their Somali allies space to make concessions. As a first step, the AU Commission chairperson should urge the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali leaders to convene a tripartite summit they had called in March to de-escalate tensions but postponed due the COVID-19 pandemic. In turn, the AU, IGAD, the UN, the EU and Somalias key bilateral partners, chiefly the U.S. and UK, should press Farmajos government and Madobe to craft a compromise. Such a deal could entail Mogadishu recognising Madobes administration in return for Madobe pledging not to seek another term as Jubaland president, reconciling with other Jubaland leaders to address grievances over his re-election and his governance more broadly, and cooperating on national priorities, notably how to hold national elections due in late 2020. A bargain would allow them to dedicate troops and resources to their shared goal of rolling back Al-Shabaabs insurgency. II. A Divisive Vote and Its Fallout Since coming into office, President Farmajo has moved to assert the central governments control over semi-autonomous regions known in Somalias federalised system as federal member states. Though he has installed compliant allies as presidents in some states, Farmajo has struggled to do the same in Jubaland, where opposition to Mogadishu both his administration and its predecessors has been particularly pronounced over the years. Ahead of elections for Jubalands presidency, held in August 2019, tensions accelerated, leading to a crisis that evolved into todays military standoff. Control of Jubaland, an economic centre of gravity in Somalia, has long been and will likely remain contentious. The countrys southernmost region is potentially one of Somalias wealthiest, with abundant seasonal rainfall, lush farm and rangeland, and possibly huge offshore oil and gas deposits. Its port of Kismayo is one of Somalias largest cities and a much sought-after asset. Previously held by Al-Shabaab, Kismayo is now controlled by troops loyal to Madobe. He and Farmajo, however, hail from two different clan groupings that have contested power in the region for decades. The two men hold diametrically opposed visions of the proper balance of power between the centre and member states, with the more centralist Farmajo bitterly opposed to Madobe, who seeks greater regional autonomy. Planning for the 2019 election proved heated from the start. Jubaland resisted attempts from Mogadishu to impose controls over the conduct of the poll organised by the Jubaland electoral authority, which opponents say was dominated by Madobe allies. Mogadishu subsequently rejected the outcome, which saw Madobe re-elected to another four-year term.Moreover, an anti-Madobe alliance under the banner of the Jubaland Council for Change (JCC) held its own parallel vote due to what it said were concerns regarding manipulation, despite pleas from the AU, IGAD and the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia to avoid competing polls. This parallel process itself proved divisive: two rival opposition candidates, Abdirashid Mohammed Hiddig and Abdinasir Serrar, claimed victory. As a result, three men declared themselves Jubalands president-elect. Tensions accelerated ahead of elections for Jubalands presidency, leading to a crisis that evolved into todays military standoff. 'No update' can be provided on the long-term future of Debenhams department store in Derry, according to a spokesperson for the company. In April of this year Debenhams announced that administrators had been appointed to 'protect the business'. It aimed to open as many stores as possible once Coronavirus restrictions were lifted. However, the company said that it would liquidate all 11 stores in the Republic of Ireland and they were not expected to reopen. More than 1,000 Debenhams workers in Ireland were notified that theyd lost their jobs. The Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the company has treated its Irish workers in a 'very shabby way' in depriving them of redundancy entitlements and he believes the law must be re-examined. The Foyleside store reopened once permitted to do so by the government. Today, the Derry News asked Debenhams if the long-term future of the store in Derry has been secured at this stage and whether it expects any jobs to be lost due to the COVID-19 crisis. In response a spokesperson simply said there have been 'no updates' since the store reopened. At the weekend, Debenhams workers from as far afield as Cork protested outside the Debenhams store on Foyle Street in Derry to make consumers aware of what they described as their employers 'despicable' actions. However, Mandate Trade Union says the company didnt set aside finances to pay the workers their agreed redundancy package, having transferred valuable assets to the UK parent company. Valerie Conlon who worked in the Debenhams store on Patrick Street in Cork for 24 years said: We are not going to let this company just walk away and not pay. Weve given decades of service and helped make huge profits for Debenhams so for them to just abandon their responsibilities is a disgrace. She added: We will be making everyone aware of how Debenhams treats its workers, and if that means traveling six hours to Derry, so be it. If they can do this to us and get away with it, how do we know it wont be the workers in Derry next? John Douglas, Mandate General Secretary said: I have to commend these workers for standing up and fighting back against their despicable treatment. Theyve travelled to Belfast, theyve protested outside the Dail, theyve stood on picket lines all across the country and theyre not going to back down. These workers have a combined service of over 10,000 years. They deserve a satisfactory resolution to this dispute and the company knows what it needs to do. Pay the workers the redundancy they are owed. If they dont, Mandate Trade Union will continue to support the workers as they campaign for justice. Niall McCarroll of Derry Trades Union Council (DTUC) recalled Clerys Department store in Dublin closing in 2015 leaving nearly 400 workers 'out in the cold, with no redundancy package'. "Fast forward to 2020 and another 2000 workers face the same situation as Debenhams retail Ireland closing 11 stores. "Retail workers will face growing uncertainty over jobs as we attempt to come out the other end of COVID-19. "DTUC encourages all retail workers in the city to get organised, join a trade union and begin to strengthen the resistance against the self interests of big business. "The demand to strengthen workers rights through more effect legal frameworks must also be met. "In the meantime it is imperative everyone stands with the Debenhams workers, in their fight for a decent redundancy package and to be treated with respect and dignity." Stoking a potential controversy, embattled Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli on Monday claimed that the "real" Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India and that Lord Ram was born in Thori in southern Nepal. Condemning Oli for his remarks, BJP national spokesperson Bizay Sonkar Shastri said that the Left parties even in India played with people's faith, and the Communists in Nepal will be rejected by the masses in the same way they have been here. "Lord Ram is a matter of faith for us, and people will not allow anybody, be it prime minister of Nepal or anyone, to play with this," he said in New Delhi. Speaking at an event on the birth anniversary of Nepalese poet Bhanubhakta at the Prime Minister's residence in Kathmandu, Oli said that Nepal "has become a victim of cultural encroachment and its history has been manipulated." Bhanubhakta was born in 1814 in Tanhu of western Nepal and is credited for translating Valmiki's Ramayan into Nepali language. He died in 1868. "Although the real Ayodhya lies at Thori in the west of Birgunj, India has claimed the Indian site as the birthplace of Lord Ram, Oli said. We also believe that deity Sita got married to Prince Ram of India. Actually, Ayodhya is a village lying west of Birgunj, he said, adding that the marriage between bride and bridegroom at such a distance was not possible at the time when there was no communication and transportation system. "The place called Thori, near Birgunj is the real Ayodhya, where Lord Ram was born. In India there is great dispute on Ayodhya. But, there is no dispute in our Ayodhya," Prime Minister Oli was quoted as saying by his press advisor Surya Thapa. Valmiki Ashram is also in Nepal and the holy place where King Dasharath had executed the rites to get the son is in Ridi, which is in Nepal, he said. As Dasharath was the ruler of Nepal, it is natural that his son Ram was also born in Nepal, Oli argued. Therefore, real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, he claimed. Many scientific inventions and knowledge originated in Nepal, but unfortunately such a rich tradition could not continue later, Oli said. Prime Minister Oli, under growing pressure to resign amidst a rift in the ruling Nepal Communist Party over his style of functioning, has alleged 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 of Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura. His allegations have been criticised by senior NCP leaders, including former prime minister 'Prachanda', who demanded Prime Minister Oli's resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were "neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate." The India-Nepal bilateral ties came under strain after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a 80-km-long strategically crucial road connecting the Lipulekh pass with Dharchula in Uttarakhand on May 8. Nepal reacted sharply to the inauguration of the road claiming that it passed through Nepalese territory. India rejected the claim asserting that the road lies completely within its territory. Later, Nepal updated the country's political map through a Constitutional amendment, incorporating three strategically important Indian areas. India termed as "untenable" the "artificial enlargement" of the territorial claims by Nepal. India has handed over a diplomatic note to Nepal over the map issue, Nepalese media reports said. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday (July 14) refused to grant interim relief to Army officer, who challenged the decision to ban the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram for the Army personnel. The HC said that no relief could be granted to petitioner Lieutenant Colonel PK Choudhary as it is the matter concerning the security and safety of the country. A division bench of Justices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Justice Asha Menon, however, listed the matter for further hearing on July 21. The court was hearing the petition, challenging the Central government`s decision to bar personnel of the security forces from using social media platforms. The petition urged the High Court to issue directions to the Director-General of Military Intelligence (DGMS) to withdraw its policy dated August 6, 2020. Choudhary sought directions to the respondent authorities to withdraw its policy to delete their accounts from social networking platforms like Facebook and Instagram.' The petitioner, who currently serving in the Indian Army and posted in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed to be an active user of Facebook and uses the platform inter alia to connect with his friends and family. He said that he finds social media platforms, particularly Facebook as an important tool to connect with his family, adding that through Facebook, he maintains his social relationships with friends, family, and other acquaintances in the absence of opportunities to physically interact with them. "The petitioner has used his Facebook account responsibly in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Indian Army from time to time and has never shared any classified or sensitive information pertaining to his role and duties as an Indian Army officer over Facebook or any other social networking platform," the plea said. He added that the ban and order to delete accounts if imposed would amount to an abrogation of the fundamental rights of the soldiers, including the right to freedom of speech and expression, and the right to privacy. The High Court also asked the Central government to file a copy of the policy in a closed envelope under which Indian Army personnel, officers were directed to delete their accounts from social networking platforms. Cecil Rhodes, pictured, who died in 1902, was the founder of the De Beers diamond company who was accused of exploiting his black miners. He was also a proponent of racial segregation which led to the Apartheid strategy in South Africa Cecil Rhodes was born in Bishop Stortford, Hertfordshire in 1853. He was the son of a vicar. Rhodes left England in 1870 for South Africa to work on his brother's cotton farm. Though he later moved into the diamond business - co-founding De Beers - which at one stage controlled more than 90 per cent of the world's supply. The tycoon had wanted to build a railway from Cairo to Cape Town in order to colonise much of the continent of Africa. He had even plans to bring the United States back under Crown control. It wasn't until the 1880s that he attended Oriel College, Oxford, which he left a substantial fund upon his death in 1902. He was supported by Queen Victoria in expanding British territory in southern Africa, colonising Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia - now Zambia and Zimbabwe. He once claimed: 'Why should we not form a secret society with but one object, the furtherance of the British Empire and the bringing of the whole world under British rule, for the recovery of the United States, for making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire?' He was the Prime Minister of Cape Colony - now South Africa - between 1890 and 1896 and is credited with creating the conditions for the second Boer War. In 1895, Rhodes sent British troops into Transvaal, which was an independent Republic, in order to overthrow it's prime minister Paul Kruger and seize the area's gold mines. The Jameson Raid failed miserably. Though, the battle over gold rights in the region led to war in 1899, which lasted for more than three years. British troops operated a scorched earth policy, burning farms and placing women and children into concentration camps where thousands died. Some 500,000 troops - including soldiers from Australia, New Zealand and Canada were involved in the conflict. The conflict claimed the lives of 25,000 Afrikaners - many of them in concentration camps. Some 22,000 British troops as well as a further 12,000 Africans died in the conflict. Tellers wearing face masks attend to customers observing social distance as a preventive measure against the coronavirus in a bank in Phnom Penh, March 31, 2020. Debt relief measures by micro-lenders in Cambodia have failed to alleviate the financial burdens facing indebted families, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday, urging the government to suspend loan collections for borrowers who are no longer able to meet payments during the coronavirus pandemic. HRW said in a statement that the governments response to the outbreak has been insufficient to protect borrowers, who have increasingly been forced to sell land and property to make payments, while micro-loan providers have also failed in their human rights responsibilities to those in debt. Many Cambodians fear losing their land more than catching the coronavirus because they cant pay back their loans and the government has done little to help them, said Phil Robertson, HRWs deputy Asia director. The Cambodian government should immediately order a freeze on debt collection and interest accruals of those harmed by the pandemic, and hold financial institutions that fail to comply accountable. Late last month, Cambodian rights groups Licadho, the Center for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights (CENTRAL), and the Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) issued a joint briefing paper entitled Worked to Debt, which said that tens of thousands of garment workers will struggle to repay microfinance debts during work stoppages and factory suspensions caused by the virus. There are approximately 2.6 million microloan borrowers in Cambodia, who together held more than U.S. $10 billion in microloans at the end of 2019, the paper said. Cambodias average microloan size far surpasses that of the rest of the world at U.S. $3,804. Regardless, the National Bank of Cambodia, which licenses and regulates micro-loan providers, has never issued strong consumer protection regulations to protect borrowers from unethical lending practices andwhile encouraging relief for workers impacted by the coronavirushas largely left it to individual financial institutions to determine which of their clients should be granted leniency. But beyond simply failing to regulate the industry, Cambodias government has gone so far as to threaten borrowers who have struggled to repay their debts while unable to draw an income during the coronavirus shutdown. On June 24, Prime Minister Hun Sen told loan providers to confiscate properties of those [borrowers] who follow the oppositions appeal not to pay back the loans. Sam Rainsy, the acting chief of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), had earlier urged villagers to stop their loan payments for at least six months in messages posted to social media from self-imposed exile. He said such a move is warranted because the government has failed to provide borrowers with adequate assistance during the outbreak. Sam Rainsys calls were met with rage by Hun Sen, who threatened to respond to the attempt to sabotage his government by adding to the nearly 20 CNRP opposition officials or activists who authorities have arrested and thrown in prisonmost without arrest warrantssince the beginning of the year. Preventing homelessness Meanwhile, the government in April refused to accept petitions from more than 100 community, union, and civil society groups demanding an urgent response to the debt crisis exacerbated by the outbreak, and even detained some of the representatives, interrogating them about who was behind the action and compelling them to sign pledges promising not to advocate. The authorities harassment of peaceful protesters simply trying to hand over a petition shows that the government is unwilling to even consider the demands of those trying to prevent homelessness during a pandemic, Robertson said. Instead, HRW said, Cambodias government should be implementing measures such as direct financial assistance for, or deferral of, mortgage payments and suspension of debt collection, as well as economic support for those who face losing essential services because they have lost their jobs, face pay cuts, and are struggling to pay off loans. Without a moratorium on debt collection, indebted Cambodians will have little choice but to take on more debt from micro-loan providers, Robertson said. The government should immediately end coercive practices that result in people losing land and housing, and effectively regulate microfinance lending to ensure financial institutions act to benefit their clients rather than plunge them further into debt. Response to statement Responding to HRW, government spokesperson Phay Siphan dismissed the rights groups statement as inaccurate and of little interest, telling RFAs Khmer Service that Cambodias National Bank has already developed a plan to assist those in need. The government instructed the National Bank governor to draw up policies to provide relief to debtors, he said. The banking sector is also very active in helping [people], so what is in the HRWs report does not reflect the actual situation in Cambodia. Cambodia Microfinance Association spokesman Kaing Tongngy told RFA that microfinance institutions (MFIs) have restructured loans to customers impacted by the coronavirus, including by granting special payment plans for between three and six months. He said such assistance would continue until late this year, but that debts will not be forgiven. We cannot do thatit is against the law, he said. In June, Licadho, CENTRAL, and CATU warned in their joint briefing paper that the outbreak was creating a mounting human rights crisis in Cambodia and warned that without relief from debts owed to MFIs, many of workers would resort to selling their land or homes, eating less food, or taking out even more loans to repay what they borrowed. Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes. The global crisis, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, has underscored the indispensability of a strong public healthcare system. As is the case with many other countries, in India too, the crisis exposed the weakness of the health system. Due to systemic challenges that have perennially crippled the government health system, the response has been grossly inadequate. But the public sector and particularly the brave frontline health workers have been the only respite for people. However, the role of private sector has been inadequate in overcoming the national crisis. Several news reports have exposed the regressive nature of the private sector. Either patients are being denied care, or charged high fees or being subjected to unnecessary tests to make money. There are also reports that patients' families are being beaten up for non-payment. Here we would like to discuss some key features of private health care delivery in India, with an attempt to demystify some conceptions related to private health care delivery and point out some key concerns. Also Read: Coronavirus pandemic leaves private healthcare sector in financial distress We would primarily use the two latest NSSO rounds Household Social Consumption: Health, the 71st (2014)[i], and 75th rounds (2017-18) and complement them with some other data sources. Myth one: Private sector delivers care where government does not reach The National Health Policy 2017 recognised private sector as an engine of growth. Several other policy pronouncements have been made with the understanding that the private sector complements government health services. Although the sector has grown significantly in the last three decades as an outcome of a series of reforms, much of this growth took place in metropolitan cities. The government funded health insurance (GFHI) schemes, like the Prime Minister's Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), are fuelling further expansion of for-profit private hospitals through transfer of public resources to ensure a reasonable market in smaller towns. At the outset, the plurality of the private health sector must be emphasised upon. The private sector is not a homogenous entity. It has both formal and informal providers as well as for profit and not for-profit entities under it. The non-corporate private sector comprises of single doctor dispensaries, 2-10 bed nursing homes, medium-sized facilities. Additionally, India has the facilities of the recognised traditional systems of medicine. Meanwhile, the formal sector comprises large corporate hospitals, diagnostics chains, and stand-alone super specialty facilities. There is hardly any comprehensive data available on the size and composition of the private sector. However, a census of health facilities in 63 major cities conducted in 2012 suggests that the distribution of private facilities favours metropolitan cities. Distribution is most skewed in case of corporate hospitals as around 67 per cent of them are located in big cities. Some of the notable big cities include the four metros--Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, and upcoming metros such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Pune. Mumbai has shown the highest presence of health facilities among all the big cities. Out of 13,413 private facilities across all cities, Mumbai alone has 2,119 facilities - contributing to around 16 per cent. As per the Periodic Labour Force survey (2017-18) data, out of every seven doctors only one is located in rural areas, rest of the six are located in urban areas. In the context of COVID-19, a key requirement for critical cases is the ICU beds. Approximately there were around 49 thousand ICU beds in private sector across all the cities. However, half of these beds are in 10 major cities, where the shortage of tertiary care facilities are less acute as many government medical colleges are located in these cities. As per the 2012 data, there were more than 27 thousand ICU beds in public sector in these top ten cities. Thus, the private sector, rather than complementing the services of government, mushrooms around the tertiary government institutions to draw from the health care ecosystem created by public investment. Another key feature of private hospitals is that most private facilities have less than 10 beds in their ICUs, which makes these places unviable for effective management of critical cases. Majority of the private sector outside these metro cities is much smaller in size, often equipped with five or less ICU beds. Rather than complementing public institutions, the private sector mushrooms around big government institutions. Myth two: Private sector delivers 80% of care Any discussion on health care delivery in the country starts with this emphatic assertion that private sector delivers 80% of care in the country. Though it is partially true that the majority of health care is delivered in the private sector, there are certain important trends to be noted. First, private provisioning is more in case of out-patient (OP) care, however in the last 15 years, there has been a continuous decline in the utilisation of private care for OP care. Out of every 100 outpatient visits in rural areas, more than 67 took place in various types of private-both for-profit and not-for-profit facilities during 2017-18. However, this is a decline from 72 in 2014 and from 78 in 2004, meaning that over the years an increasing proportion of people are moving away from private facilities. In urban areas, the overall utilisation of private facilities is more compared to rural areas, but there seems to be a gradual decline since 2004. The use of private facilities is less for hospitalisation care compared to OP care. Out of every 100 hospitalisation cases, 54 and 65 are treated in private hospitals in rural areas and urban areas respectively. In rural areas, the utilisation of private facilities has declined since 2004. In 2014 out of every 100 hospitalisation cases, 58 were treated in private hospitals. In 2017-18, this has declined to 54. Though the utilisation of private facilities is more common in urban areas, there was some decline between 2014 and 2017-18. Reliance on private sector for child birth has also declined since 2004. The most significant decline is in the rural areas. During 2004, almost half (47.6%) of the institutional deliveries were happening in the private sector. Thanks to initiatives like the National Rural Health Mission to promote institutional delivery and strengthen services in public facilities around child birth, now more than three-fourth of the institutional deliveries in rural areas happen in public facilities. In urban areas too, there has been a decline in private sector utilisation for child birth. The utilisation of facilities varies considerably by economic class. With increasing well-being (measured in terms of consumption expenditure), people tend to utilise private facilities more and less of government facilities. In the bottom three quintiles, half or more people go to public facilities in rural areas. In urban areas, even among the poorest groups, more than half of the hospitalisation cases are treated in private facilities. Apart from inadequate expansion of public sector hospitals and complaints about poor service quality (which is not the same as clinical quality), there has been a continuous push towards the private sector through the plethora of GFHI schemes, the latest Avatar being the PMJAY. All of this together creates a situation where people, even from the economically vulnerable groups, are left with no other choice but to access private institutions. Myth Three: Private care is free with insurance A lot of people get drawn towards private sector and health insurance schemes because of the promise of free care. Free care through insurance is another major myth. Apart from GFHIs, there are other insurance schemes that are sometimes organised by employers on behalf of their employees. Then there is private voluntary health insurance (PVHI) that households buy for themselves. Also Read: Coronavirus Lockdown XI: Why India's health policy needs a course correction COVID-19 experience has shown that there is very little that private sector can offer in terms of reducing costs of care. Let us first start with how much households were paying on average for each hospitalisation episode in 2017-18 compared to 2014. In order to do this effectively, we need to adjust the average expenditure of 2017-18, taking out the effect of rise in prices between the two periods. Out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) for hospitalisation has declined during this time period in terms of constant prices. The decline is steeper in urban areas compared to rural areas, though costs are generally higher in urban areas. How much households would have to pay would depend on whether they choose to go to public or private hospitals for similar care needs. Public sector costs have decreased considerably in both urban and rural areas. Private sector costs on the other hand have increased in rural areas while declining marginally in urban areas in real terms, while it has increased in nominal terms. In urban areas, people had to pay 3.6 times more in private sector compared to public hospitals in 2014. In rural areas this ratio is 3.3 times. In 2017-18, cost ratios increased to 5.8 and 5 for urban and rural areas respectively. Thus private sector costs are increasing rapidly while the public sector has been able to reduce the burden on households to some extent. It is understandable that household costs in private sector would be higher compared to public hospitals. In public hospitals care is heavily subsidised, whereas in private sector, unless one has insurance coverage, the costs and profits are recovered basically digging into peoples' pockets. Then is it the case that people with insurance coverage pay less compared to others? Clearly there is heavy expenditure incurred by households even if they have access to insurance and end up going to the private sector. Policymakers at the National Health Authority and the NITI Aayog, who have so far been very vocal about handing over health care delivery to the private sector, have acknowledged in a recent press statement that PMJAY utilisation has gone down drastically during the lockdown phase. As per the NHA report, between February and April, the number of treatments for essential non-covid procedures by both private and government hospitals across the country dropped by more than 20 per cent, mostly due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. During this two-month period, the number of procedures performed in those packages dropped to 1,51,672 from 1,93,679, the report said further. Between February and April, cancer-related procedures fell by about 57 per cent; cardiology by 76 per cent, and procedures in obstetrics and gynaecology fell by nearly 26 per cent, the report added. As per news reports, the hospital bill for a COVID-19 patient with a five-day stay along with ICU facility usually crosses Rs 5 lakh. As per the latest PLFS data, only 5% population has an annual income of more than Rs 5 lakh. Therefore, either the vast majority would not be able to afford these rates, or resort to selling assets or borrowing. Out of every three rupees spent on health, two rupees come from peoples' pockets in our country. Four out of ten rupees spent from pocket is on account of hospitalisation. High health care costs cause financial hardship for households, push them below poverty, and force them to borrow or sell assets. Around 10.6 crore people are impoverished because they had to pay out of pocket for hospitalisation in 2017-18. Of these there are 6.8 crore people who live in rural areas. In the current context, while every household of the country is facing hardship and crores of people have been impoverished due to lockdown, the situation would be worse. Thus the private sector neither complements the care provided by public sector, nor is it the dominant provider beyond OP care; nor could the claims of free care be substantiated. On the other hand, with relatively less amount of investment, the public sector provides a significant part of clinical care along with an entire range of preventive care and public health services. At the same time, dependence on private sector is essentially iniquitous and impoverishing. Myth four: private sector is efficient and it just needs regulation It has been observed historically that for-profit private hospitals fail to ensure mechanisms that can provide effective treatment in case of public health emergencies. There are certain typical market failures that define the functioning of private sector. Creme skimming, where more critical cases are refused and relatively safe patients are admitted, is quite common. Induced demand where information asymmetry is used to induce unnecessary care to patients and thereby charging high fees is another way through which the private sector makes money. In times of public health emergencies, these tendencies become more prominent as people are more desperate and thus bring out more severe consequences on their lives. At this juncture any engagement with the private sector should strictly be in non-commercial terms where ensuring free care to patients and strict adherence to treatment protocols becomes key. Waking up to the plight of people and denial of care, the Supreme Court and some state governments have attempted to cap the COVID-19 treatment prices. However, there are problems with partial price regulation. The experience of capping stent prices suggests that the private sector would switch the burden to other charges and reap profit. The same is likely to happen in case of COVID-19 treatment. There is a need for comprehensive price regulation for all kinds of services. If care can be delivered at regulated prices through PMJAY, CGHS or other insurance package rates, there is no reason similar care cannot be delivered at similar costs to individuals who do not have any protection of insurance. The very first step towards this would be full disclosure of costs and prices under the Clinical Establishment Act and that a health care price index is developed which is sensitive to location and type of facility for the types of care provided. Such an effort would also help in better pricing of insurance packages. The Union and state governments must evolve a comprehensive, evidence-based mechanism to bring in private health services in a systematic and coordinated care model. Any attempt to bring private sector hospitals into the net of publicly provided care should be on the basis of needs, competence and complementarity, rather than ad hoc arrangements. Closing observations To overcome the current challenges faced by the health system, a lot needs to change. First and foremost would be to build a strong pro-people non-commercialised public system as an alternative to the dominant for-profit sector. This is the only way rational and good quality care can be delivered to the majority of the people. A strong public sector also works as the most effective means to regulate prices and practices in the private sector. However, none of this can be achieved if we do not invest adequately in health. The current public spending of 1.15% of GDP on health is clearly suboptimal. Unless we increase public investment in health to at least three per cent of GDP in the medium term and strengthen the government health system starting from primary care, peoples' miseries would continue and healthcare will continue to result in hardship and unbridled profit simultaneously. Taliban forces have bombed an Afghan intelligence compound in the provincial capital and continued to exchange gunfire with personnel, resulting in 11 deaths. Taliban attacks continue On Monday, the Taliban engaged in a sustained gunfight against personnel of an Afghan intelligence complex located in the city of Aybak where they killed at least 11 while wounding more than 60 other individuals, the most recent of a surge of violence in the northern part of the country, as reported by The New York Times. The incident undermines the ongoing peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government that has been delayed for months. Since then, the insurgency has increased their assaults, branding the year as the long war's deadliest period. The forces used a bomb installed inside a vehicle that was parked next to the entrance of the provincial headquarters of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security complex. The province's Deputy Governor Sefatullah Samangani said the resulting blast also affected a nearby municipal compound and paved the way for armed forces to invade the complex and proceeded to exchange gunfire with Afghan forces for several hours. The governor noted 11 intelligence agency officers were killed in the battle and 63 other individuals have been injured. Out of the 63 wounded, 15 were officers while the rest were civilians. Samangani revealed the strength of the blast was so powerful it destroyed the windows of buildings located three kilometers away. He also noted the amount of damage and destruction the explosion resulted in the intelligence agency as well as the municipality building becoming unusable. Also Read: Former MI6 Chief Hints Chinese Military Might Use Huawei for Espionage Taking responsibility A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed the insurgency initiated the attack that lasted for hours. According to the Wall Street Journal, the attack was part of a series of bloody assaults the Taliban conducted amid the stalled peace talks between the insurgency and the government. An agreement in February between the Taliban and the US government aimed to reduce the violence in the country and has become in questionable position after the recent wave of attacks by the insurgency. The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, said on Monday the Taliban desired to gain advantage within the negotiations by assaulting the government's personnel. In a statement, Ghani noted the recent attack in Aybak suggests the Taliban are still predominantly fuelled by violence and are driven by war. In the early 1990s, the Taliban made its name known to the world after Soviet troops retreated from Afghanistan, shortly after the Soviet Union's defeat. The insurgency continued to dominate the country between 1996 and 2001 before US troops drove them away from power after the 9/11 attacks. The US government accused Al-Qaeda of being responsible for the attacks, which the Taliban hosted, as reported by BBC. Since 2014, the Taliban's power and influence in the country have continued to increase after the retreat of foreign combat troops that sought to undermine their forces. Related Article: Pressure Mounting on US as China, Iran Moves Closer to Trade and Military Partnership @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Two local RE/MAX firms participated as a sponsor in the Pop Up Day of Hope hosted by several organizations to aid students and families at Spring Creek Elementary School in East Ridge on Friday. Realtors Hunter Denton and Wanda Vogt of REMAX Properties quickly purchased 100 masks while Team Purcell of REMAX Renaissance of Hixson partnered with Fly Wheel to donate over 200 large bottles of hand sanitizer. The agents were quickly able to pull these donations together in less than five hours. The Pop Up Day of Hope idea emerged during a meeting of the United Ways COVID-19 task force emotional health focus group. The goal of the event was simple- to spread hope and happiness and reduce isolation during a time where many are self-quarantining at home and experiencing more stress. Thanks to the leadership of Eve Nite with Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital and school staff, the event coordinated with a Hamilton County school food pick up site to reach families driving up in their cars. Volunteers carried handmade signs with messages of hope and togetherness and handed out free resources bags including masks and hand sanitizer. Thanks to sponsors, families also got to visit with psychotherapy horses and receive free Kona Ice treats. Several local organizations participated in the event, including Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network, NAMI Chattanooga, and Hamilton County Coalitions. Mental health service providers involved included Village Behavioral Health, Mental Health Cooperative, Erlanger Behavioral Health Hospital, The Middle Path, and Parkridge Valley. Mr. Denton said, "It so important to keep health and safety foremost when supporting families." Organizers said they see Pop Events as a quick way to deliver resources and hope to participate in other such events. For more information on how to partner, please contact Brenda Purcell, at REMAX Renaissance at 648-8200 or 322-001. The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 has r e c o m m e n d e d testing of all Nigerians as a way to track the prevalence of COVID-19 infection and understand how to tackle it. This is at it says that it has increased testing capacity by establishing more sample collection centres around the country to enable more citizens to get tested. The chairman of the task force and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha, who stated these at its briefing in Abuja on Monday said: As we progress in this phase and acknowledge that testing capacity has to be increased, we encourage as many Nigerians as possible to get tested as we have expanded the network of sample collection centres. In Abuja, a sample collection centre has been set up at Thisday Dome and all government hospitals in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been designated as sample collection centres. While noting that the minister of health will provide details on this in due course, Mustapha further stated: Getting tested is the only sure way of making sure we know the prevalence of the virus and understand how to tackle it effectively. He said the visit of some media houses, over the weekend, to the Asokoro Observation Centre, Abuja and their interactions with some patients should give Nigerians the comfort to get tested and treated if necessary. He reiterated that contracting COVID-19 is not a death sentence but not presenting yourself for testing or treatment when symptoms become observable could likely lead to avoidable death. The SGF maintained that government meetings should be conducted virtually until further notice while all unnecessary travels for meetings by government officials are also suspended till further notice. Mondays briefing followed the PTFs review of its last three months (midterm) since setting up of the national response strategy. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Fresh capital will help Flipkart further grow its e-commerce marketplace in India as the world's second-largest internet market begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis. US retail giant Walmart will lead a $1.2 billion (about Rs 9,045 crore) investment in Indian e-commerce company Flipkart to give it extra firepower to compete with Amazon and billionaire Mukesh Ambani's JioMart. The fresh equity round values Flipkart, where Walmart acquired a majority stake for $16 billion two years ago, at $24.9 billion post-money, the two companies said in a statement. Flipkart was valued at $20.8 billion two years ago. The investment is led by Walmart along with a group of existing shareholders, the statement said. The other shareholders investing in Flipkart were not identified by the company. Fresh capital will help Flipkart further grow its e-commerce marketplace in India as the world's second-largest internet market begins to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, Flipkart said. "The investment is led by Walmart, Flipkart Group's majority owner, along with a group of existing shareholders and values the company at $24.9 billion (about Rs 1.87 lakh crore) post-money. It will be funded in two tranches over the remainder of the fiscal year," it added. In 2018, Walmart Inc had invested $16 billion for acquiring 77 per cent stake in the group. Flipkart's other investors include Tiger Global, Accel, Tencent, Microsoft and others. "Since Walmart's initial investment in Flipkart, we have greatly expanded our offer through technology, partnerships and new services. "Today, we lead in electronics and fashion, and are rapidly accelerating share in other general merchandise categories and grocery, all while providing increasingly seamless payment and delivery options for our customers," Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy said. The company will continue innovating to bring the next 200 million Indian shoppers online, he added. Both Amazon and Flipkart have pumped in billions of dollars over the past few years - ramping up warehousing and delivery logistics - as they aggressively expanded their footprint in India, a market where brick-and-mortar stores still account for a lion's share of the retail sector. The fresh infusion also comes at a time when billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries is making deeper inroads into the e-commerce segment with JioMart. Founded in 2007, the Flipkart Group includes Flipkart, digital payments platform PhonePe, fashion specialty site Myntra and logistics and delivery services provider eKart. Flipkart offers 150 million products across more than 80 categories and has recently surpassed 1.5 billion visits per month. It had reported 45 per cent growth in monthly active customers and 30 per cent growth in transactions per customer for FY20. Flipkart continues to leverage its culture of innovation to accelerate growth and enable millions of customers, sellers, merchants and small businesses to prosper and be a part of India's digital transformation, Judith McKenna, president and CEO of Walmart International, said. "Kalyan and team have a clear vision and are relentlessly focused on giving Indians frictionless choice in how they shop and sell online. We're excited to see what the future holds as they continue their journey to become India's most trusted e-commerce marketplace," McKenna said. HARPER WOODS, MI A 34-year-old Detroit-area school official was shot and killed while waiting at a red light. Kelvin Wheeler Jr., dean of students at Triumph Middle School in Harper Woods, died in his vehicle in Detroit on July 8, The Associated Press reports. Wheeler "served our school and district family with dignity and distinction, enjoying the respect and admiration of parents, peers and students for the selfless time and energy he invested to contribute towards the success of each child," the school district said in a statement. Wheeler, a Black man, was a father, an alumnus of the University of Michigan and was studying counseling at Ashland Theological Center, according to his Facebook profile. "When a guy like Kelvin, who is the pillar of your community doesn't reach 35, and is a father that affects the Black community," said friend Eric Pate. "This was a good brother. And his killer needs to be brought to justice." Wheeler owned properties across the Detroit area. He stopped his Jeep Cherokee at a red light around 11:40 p.m. when a man approached on foot, fired shots into the windshield and then fled, the AP report said. No arrests have been made. READ MORE: Pronto Pups owner issues social media rant against coronavirus masks and Black Lives Matter Michigan man arrested for allegedly pulling a knife on Meijer employee over mask request Tuesday, July 14: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan Man pleads guilty to killing girlfriends toddler daughter in bathtub incident Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 12:05:59|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WELLINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand reported one new case of COVID-19 on Tuesday, with the number of active cases in the country remaining at 25, according to the Ministry of Health. It has been 74 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source, said a ministry statement. Tuesday's case was a woman in her 60s who arrived in New Zealand on June 30 from Pakistan via Doha and Sydney. She has been in managed isolation at the Novotel in Christchurch, and tested negative at her first test around day 3 of her stay before testing positive around day 12 of her stay in isolation, the statement said. "The second test around day 12 is needed because the infection may take longer to develop in some people, and is one of the checks used to find out if a person can leave managed isolation," it said. This case brought the country's total number of confirmed cases to 1,195, which is the number reported to the World Health Organization. One previously reported case is now considered to have recovered from COVID-19, as the total number of active cases in New Zealand remains at 25, according to the ministry. There is no one in New Zealand receiving hospital-level care for the virus, and the number of COVID-19 related deaths remained at 22. Enditem A newborn lamb was saved by an animal shelter after being abandoned and left to die by her mother. Lily the lamb was rescued by South Australia's Freedom Hill Sanctuary on July 6 after a farmer found her bleeding from puncture wounds on her back and tail. The helpless lamb had been pecked mercilessly by crows before she was discovered hiding under a lily bush, which is how she got her name. Freedom Hill Sanctuary Founder and Adelaide Hills woman Kym Henley said they believe Lily was abandoned because of a disability. A newborn lamb named Lily (pictured) was found bleeding, cold and alone after being abandoned by her mother and left to die When Lily was found she had a number of wounds on her back and tail after being pecked mercilessly by a murder of crows 'Upon arrival Lily was unable to hold her mouth together, dribbling profusely and what appeared to be swelling in the mouth,' she wrote to her Facebook page. Ms Henley said it had sadly become obvious Lily was suffering from a neurological issue. The vet told the carer Lily was what is known in the field as a 'dummy lamb'. 'The terrible name meaning a lamb who may have suffered a long birth and deprived of oxygen,' Ms Henley continued. The neurological issues also prevent Lily from being able to feed or walk properly and also causes her to suffer seizures. 'Lily is still with us and under veterinary guidance we are doing all we can to manage her disability,' Ms Henley wrote. 'She is not in any pain and is an alert little girl who loves being cuddled.' Lily (pictured) was handed to the Freedom Hill Sanctuary in South Australia where it was concluded she was abandoned by her mother because of a neurological disability Amazingly the same farmer found another lamb, named Ava (pictured), in a similar spot the following day and its now believed Ava and Lily are twins and were both abandoned The animal shelter has also been using herbal remedies, relaxing music, massage and fresh lavender in Lily's bed to help aid in her recovery. Amazingly the same farmer who found Lily contacted Ms Henley the following day saying he found another lamb who they now believe is Lily's twin. Ms Henley said the farmer had heard the lamb, now named Ava, crying in the night before rescuing her. 'Ava is obviously exhausted from a night of crying but appears to be in good health,' Ms Henley wrote. Ms Henley said the two young lambs had finally been reunited over the weekend. It was concluded Lily and Ava were likely the first lambs born from their mother before being abandoned. New York, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Open Society Foundations today announced the 2020 cohort of the Soros Arts Fellowship, including 10 artists, curators, cultural organizers, and researchers working at the intersection of migration, public space, and the arts. From Brazil, Botswana, Jamaica, Nigeria, Palestine, St. Croix, Syria, Tlingit Aani, the United States, and their respective diasporas, the fellows selected each receive an $80,000 stipend to realize an ambitious project over the next 18 months. "We are honored to support this extraordinary group of artists and cultural producers, whose work explores the realities of migration, diaspora, and indigeneity from a range of perspectives," said Rashida Bumbray, director of the Open Society Culture and Art program. "The COVID-19 pandemic and the current global reckoning with systemic injustice magnifies inequities in our societies that marginalized communities have faced for generations. That's why the work of our fellows is so urgent, as they work on the frontlines of culture to advance self-determined narratives and inspire collective change." Now in its third year, the Soros Arts Fellowship builds on the Culture and Art program's focus on the aesthetic, political, and capacity needs of arts leaders, individual artists, and cultural activists. Beyond supporting specific projects, the fellowship advances the broader practice of socially engaged artists and cultural producers through opportunities for personalized professional development and mentorship. Working in diverse forms and global contexts, fellows will pursue projects of their own design. These include: collaboration between performing artists and social activists to document an alternative history of Syrian migration; sustainable sculptures in Jamaica's Cockpit Country, an area of historic Maroon resistance now threatened by environmentally destructive policies; and performances exploring connections in Brazil between colonization, slavery, and the sugar cane trade and today's struggles for racial justice. The 2020 fellowship selection committee included Aicha Diallo, researcher and cultural producer; Carmen Hermo, Brooklyn Museum; Leslie Hewitt, The Cooper Union; Carin Kuoni, Vera List Center for Art and Politics; Bertan Selim, Prince Claus Fund; Culture and Art staff Rashida Bumbray, Tatiana Mouarbes, Lauren Agosta, Yukiko Yamagata, and Veronika Chatelain; and colleagues from the Open Society Foundations and other philanthropies. 2020 Soros Arts Fellows Basel Abbasand Ruanne Abou-Rahme(Brooklyn, New York, United States / Ramallah, Palestine) will examine how people bear witness to and narrate experiences of violence, loss, displacement, and forced migration through song and dance. Abullah Alkafri(Beirut, Lebanon) will work with artists and social actors to amplify unheard Syrian stories and champion new narratives about migration and the creativity of Syrians in exodus. Deborah Anzinger(Kingston, Jamaica) will create community sculptures where personal histories, cultivation, and ecological records are shared within Jamaica's Cockpit Country, a site of historic resistance and fugitivity. Nicholas Galanin(Sitka, Alaska, United States) will explore the relationship between migration and land from an Indigenous perspective, while considering the environmental, social, and political consequences of climate change and its effect on human/non-human migration. Rachele Magloire(Ouest, Haiti) will organize Haitian and Dominican artists in exploring the border area, cultural commonalities between the two nations, and the shared-yet often competing-visions for the island held by its inhabitants. Paloma Mcgregor(New York, New York/St. Croix, United States) will develop a series of public performances, interventions, and engagements in spaces deemed "abandoned," or in danger of cultural erasure, in Christiansted, St. Croix. Meleko Mokgosi(New York, New York, United States) will create a series of artworks and a digital archive that engage histories of Pan-Africanism in popular southern African photo novels and advocate for a reconceptualization of Black consciousness, as a necessary instrument to fight institutionalized racism and build trans-continental alliances. Olu Oguibe(Vernon, Connecticut, United States) will address themes of flight and refuge, and recognize activists, sanctuary communities, public officials, and citizens for their hospitality towards strangers and refugees. Tiago San'tana(Salvador-Bahia, Brazil) will explore the sugar cane trade and its intersection with forced migration and colonial violence in Brazil, drawing links between historical sugar production and inequalities today. By Khaled Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan declared a state of emergency in the conflict-ridden western region of Darfur after violence and unrest in two towns, state news agency SUNA said. The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said it had sent a team to Kutum town in North Darfur following the reported burning of a police station and cars by unidentified protesters. It gave no details. By Khaled Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan declared a state of emergency in the conflict-ridden western region of Darfur after violence and unrest in two towns, state news agency SUNA said. The African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) said it had sent a team to Kutum town in North Darfur following the reported burning of a police station and cars by unidentified protesters. It gave no details. Protesters demanded on Sunday better security and a civilian state government, a resident said. State governor positions are held in Sudan by military officers despite the toppling of autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April. Separately, another resident told Reuters an unidentified militia had attacked on Monday another sit-in in Fatabarno, a village in the same area. No more details were available about the two incidents. Peaceful sit-ins have sprung up in towns across Darfur and in other parts of Sudan, which also protesting the presence of armed militias. Conflict started in Darfur in 2003 after mostly non-Arab rebels rose up against the Khartoum government. Government forces and mainly Arab militia, which moved to repress the revolt, were accused of widespread atrocities. Some 300,000 people were killed in the conflict, according to U.N. estimates. There has been no serious fighting for years but the conflict remains unresolved as Arab militias are still present and have control over land they seized. The transition civilian Khartoum government, in power with military since Bashir's toppling, has vowed to end the conflict and is holding talks with some of the rebel groups that had fought Bashir's government in Darfur and elsewhere in the country. (Reporting by Khaled Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. What happens when you walk into your banks branch and ask for mutual funds to invest in? You would expect your banker to sell you the scheme that is best suited to your needs, after proper risk profiling. The reality is that many banks may well be offering schemes that belong to their own group or those of subsidiary fund houses. Data on the commissions that fund houses paid to distributors in the year 2019-20 indicates that a lions share has gone to banks and other in-house distributors. Public-sector banks are particularly fond of their own groups funds. Canara Bank almost entirely sold only schemes of Canara Robeco mutual fund. The effort was well-rewarded. Of Rs 92.94 crore commission that the fund house paid to its distributors, nearly 35 percent of this was paid to Canara Bank; the highest recipient of its commissions. Take the case of State Bank of India. Nearly 99 percent of its mutual fund sales were of SBI mutual funds schemes. In return, 55 percent of the overall commissions that SBI mutual fund paid to all its distributors went to SBIs coffers. Some private banks arent too far behind. ICICI Bank and Axis Bank sold 68 percent and 56 percent of their own groups schemes. Axis Bank has been especially rewarded well for such sales. HSBC mutual fund paid Rs 20 crore to HSBC, or almost 62 per cent of its overall commissions paid to all distributors. HSBC MFs second largest earning distributor got a mere Rs 3.1 crore. Regulations governing commissions Every year, the MF industry discloses the commissions paid to top distributors. In 2011, the capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), had mandated that all AMCs should conduct due diligence of their top distributors. Distributors present in more than 20 locations across India or those whose assets under management from retail and high networth investors exceed Rs 100 crore or those who received commission of over Rs 1 crore across firms or Rs 50 lakh from a single house, would need to adhere to the due diligence. The commissions that a fund house pays to any of these distributors must be publicly disclosed. For the year 2019-20, 852 distributors made it to this list. Predictably, the top commission earners are large institutions such as banks and national distributors. Moneycontrol picked banks and brokerage firms from the 100 largest commission earners that had fund house arms and asked them this: -If the banks sold their in-house schemes purely on merit; -If the majority or significant proportion of schemes sold belong to the groups mutual fund, then isnt that mis-selling; and -Does the bank conduct detailed risk-assessment of its customers before recommending any mutual fund. What distributors say There were 17 such large distributors and Moneycontrol sent a list of questions to all of them. Only Kotak Bank, Kotak Securities, ICICI Securities, HSBC and Bank of Baroda responded. Moneycontrol also reached out to a few of these fund houses to check if they were satisfied with the risk profiling processes that the banks claim they have put in place. D.P. Singh, Chief Business Officer, SBI MF says that the reason why a large proportion of its sales come from State Bank of India is because of the banks wide reach. He says that SBI has 25,000 branches across India and more than 14,000 of these have brought in inflows. The per-branch contribution is less than Rs 1 crore in gross inflows, he says. In smaller towns, an SBI customer is most likely to find comfort with SBI MF. Curiously, the bank, like many other top commission earners from their in-house funds, has reported net inflows of just about 12,699 crore, as opposed to a gross inflow of Rs 62,725 crore. Has the bank churned the assets? No, there has not been a churn. Most of the money that goes out quickly is short-term money. Besides, 80 percent of SBIs inflows are in debt schemes, says Singh. Raghav Iyengar, Chief Business Officer at Axis mutual fund says that his groups schemes have done well and that is one reason why distributors, particularly Axis Bank, have sold its funds. This has also helped us achieve a leadership position across all distributor categories, including in those such as fintech, which are mostly driven by investors, says Iyengar. Curiously, Axis Bank has reported a net outflow (outflows exceeded inflows) for Axis MF schemes. Iyengar too points to the large liquid fund outflows as well as weak sentiments in the markets. At the same time, it has been our (Axis MFs) strategic imperative that we improve our distribution coverage across all categories of distributorswe have significantly expanded the number of distributors that we work with over the last 2-3 years and today we enjoy strong market share across all channels, he adds. An ICICI Prudential MF spokesperson says that one reason why inflows through the groups bank are substantial is because investors have tended to prefer larger fund houses such as ours, given the events in the recent past, which have impacted the confidence of investors. Flows not necessarily backed by performance Not all large inflows from a group entity (bank) gets backed by strong performance. Take the case of HSBC. Of its overall MF assets under management, more than a fifth are those of HSBC mutual fund. Yet, of the total commissions that HSBC MF paid out to its distributors, nearly 62 per cent went to HSBCs pockets. Ramakrishnan S, HeadWealth and Personal Banking, HSBC India, insists that the fund house sells select funds from 13 fund houses and has a well-diversified AUM across AMCs. Why, then, has HSBC not been able to retain the amounts it got for HSBC mutual fund? In 2019-20, HSBC got gross inflows worth Rs 2085 crore for HSBC mutual funds. But it reported a net outflow of Rs 734 crore. The decision of investment / redemption rests with the investor and the flow of assets under management is reflective of the same, says Ramakrishnan. Fund houses such as IDBI and Baroda continue to garner a sizeable chunk of their assets from their respective own group banks and in-turn pay them a lions share of their total commissions. IDBI Bank did not revert to our queries. Purshotam, Chief General ManagerRetail Liabilities, Bank of Baroda, says that in these last two years, Bank of Baroda has revamped its business model for mutual fund distribution and has tied up with leading 20 mutual fund companies for distribution of their products. Earlier in 2018, Baroda MF constituted around 94 percent of our average AUM, which has dropped to 78 percent as of March 2020. As investors, you need to exercise caution when your distributor, particularly your bank, recommends in-house mutual funds. Remember, your banks get a commission on every sale, but you need to grill your relationship manager about the choice of schemes. Three-quarters of Ontarians say universities should give students a tuition discount if they are learning online this fall because of COVID-19, says a new poll. The survey, conducted by Campaign Research for the Star, found that just 13 per cent of those polled thought tuition should remain the same. I think everybody is looking for a bit of a discount, said Campaign Research principal Nick Kouvalis. Its partly a reflection of how people feel about online learning, he said, and if people think they are not going to get the full experience of being on campus, spending thousands on tuition doesnt sit well. A number of student groups have also been pushing for a break on tuition for this fall. Campaign Research polled 1,434 people across Ontario last week, using the Maru Blue opt-in online panel. The equivalent margin of error for a random sample of the same size is plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey found the public is split on universities offering in-person classes this fall, with just over one-third supporting the move and 31 per cent opposing it. The remaining third were unsure. However, if classes were smaller, some 67 per cent of respondents feel it would be safe for students to be learning on campus. But when it comes to living on campus, just 27 per cent of those surveyed said it is safe to reopen residences, with 39 per cent saying its not. However, if universities only allow for one student per room, 55 per cent agree residences could safely operate this fall. About 50 per cent of respondents felt January 2021 to the best time to reopen residences. Some Ontario colleges and universities are planning for online-only learning this fall, with others promising a hybrid of remote and in-class sessions where possible. Some have closed residences or are planning for one to two students per room depending on the size of the space. Last month, the province announced a summer pilot project allowing post-secondary institutions to partially open their campuses to allow academically stranded students to complete lessons or labs they missed during the COVID-19 shutdown. Schools across the province including all 24 public colleges are taking part in the pilot, targeted at students studying health care, nursing or the trades, which call for practical, hands-on experience to graduate. Colleges and Universities Minister Ross Romano said the pilot will help guide schools as they plan to reopen safely this fall. The Tripura government has decided to impose a week-long lockdown in areas bordering Bangladesh from Friday to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, minister Ratan Lal Nath said Tuesday, as the coronavirus cases in the state rose to 2,094. The lockdown will be in force in rural areas within one kilometre of the Indo-Bangladesh border and within half a kilometre from the border in urban areas, he said. Nath said the government will decided whether to extend the lockdown to the entire state after assessing the situation after a week. "Only grocery and medical shops and essential services will open in these areas. People will be allowed to move for emergencies like need for hospitalization," he told reporters. He said Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar has issued a circular mentioning that social and political activities will remain suspended, and private and government-run auditoriums like Agartala Town Hall, Rabindra Shata Varshiki Bhawan, Nazrul Kalakshetra, Mukta Dhara will remain closed during the lockdown. About social functions and activities, Nath said all activities including political programmes will remain suspended during the period. "There is no alternative to this ban as we have to save the lives of people. Marriage ceremonies can be organised with a maximum of 50 people with appropriate social distancing norms and 'shradh' can be organised only with 20 people," Nath said. He said containment zones in the state have increased to 59 on Tuesday. Sudhir Suryawanshi By Express News Service MUMBAI: The 81-year-old Hyderabad-based poet and activist Varavara Rao, who was accused in the Elgar Parished case has been vitally stable, said the doctors at Sir JJ hospital on Tuesday. Rao was brought in at JJ hospital in Mumbai from Taloja jail after complaints of giddiness. Dr Ranjeet Mankeshwar, Dean of Sir JJ hospital told the New Indian Express that the health of Rao is stable. He has been doing fine there is no cause of concern. He has been admitted in the neurology department of the hospital and his health is under evolutions, said Dr Mankeshwar. READ| Varavara Rao at 81 cannot be threat to nation: Congress MP writes to PM Modi The activist has been kept in the transit ward number 11 of the JJ hospital. He has been kept in the transit ward. We have taken his various tests including COVID-19. After the report, we will decide whether he has to shift in the COVID-19 ward or another normal ward. The investigation of health is on. Other medical reports are normal. The age is major issue therefore he has been suffering from giddiness and hallucination and memory loss, said the doctors who was treating Rao at the hospital on condition of anonymity. Raos wife, Hemalatha, and daughters, Sahaja, Anala and Pavana, were worried about his health after a phone call with him on last Saturday. His wife Hemlata said, her husband 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. There was huge demand from the eminent people including writers to shift the Rao from jail to hospital and extend all possible medical treatment. Maharashtra housing minister Jitendra Awhad had also requested to Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh to relocating Mr Rao in hospital from Taloja jail. Earlier also Rao was admitted to Sir JJ hospital after a complaint of giddiness but later he was discharged. The jail authority in Taloja refused to admit that Rao is unwell and need urgent medical help. Governor Nyesom Wike-led Rivers State Government on Tuesday warned that no harm must come to former acting Managing Director of the Ni... Governor Nyesom Wike-led Rivers State Government on Tuesday warned that no harm must come to former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Dr. Joy Nunieh, in the ongoing probe of the commission. Nunieh had been engaged in accusations and counter accusations with the Minister of the Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, who supervises the NDDC. But the government in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Paulinus Nsirim, called on forces behind the probe to ensure the security of Nunieh. According to the government, they would never support any action capable of jeopardizing the laudable intentions of President Muhammadu Buhari to reposition the commission for optimum performance. The statement said Rivers State Government had viewed with concern, the recent developments at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in which the name of her daughter, Dr. Joy Nunieh, the immediate past Acting Managing Director of the Commission, had been dragged into. We hereby call on those involved in the ongoing investigations in the NDDC to ensure that Dr. Joy Nunieh does not suffer any harm in the course of their undertakings. We wish to state categorically that the Rivers State Government will never support any action that will prevent or jeopardize the laudable intentions of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, to positively reposition the NDDC and fulfill the yearnings and aspirations of the people of the Niger Delta, it said. The statement added that we wish to state that while we are not interested in identifying with the present unfolding drama in the NDDC, we will not however fail to protect our daughter from actual harm or perceived danger. The government said it owed it as a duty to protect her citizens from danger no matter their political affiliation and that it could not fold its hands and watch anyone harm her or indeed any Rivers citizen. Burger King employee Angela Martinez Gomez, 42, died on July 6, days after she started showing symptoms of coronavirus A Burger King restaurant in California has been accused of keeping a transgender employee on the clock despite her showing symptoms of coronavirus, and later blaming her death on her 'hormone injections.' Angela Martinez Gomez, from Oaxaca, Mexico, died last Monday after working her last shift at the fast food chain on Pico Blvd in Santa Monica on June 29. Her death has sparked outrage among co-workers, including one woman who has since filed a complaint with the LA Department of Public Health, claiming restaurant managers failed to take action when Angela continued to work while ill. Yolanda Garcia says she is now the third worker to develop symptoms of COVID-19, but claims Burger King is yet to contact any employees about quarantining or getting tested after managers allegedly said Angela had died from injecting herself with hormones. She also accused management of failing to enforce social distancing in the workplace and not providing workers with new face masks for each shift. According to the complaint, obtained by The Santa Monica Daily Press, Angela had shown up to her job coughing, feeling nauseous and was frequently taking bathroom breaks. The 42-year-old was reportedly treating herself with cough medicine, before finally leaving work sick early on her last day. Employees have claimed Burger King failed to take proper health precautions at the Santa Monica location and say the company has blamed her death on 'hormone injections' Co-worker Yolanda Garcia (pictured) has since filed a complaint with LA Department of Public Health, saying she is now the third employee to begin showing symptoms of COVID-19 Garcia claimed another female employee, identified as Mariela, soon after started displaying symptoms and a fever, but was again allowed to continue working. 'Burger King has not told us there are COVID-19 cases or suspected cases at the store and they are not being honest about what happened with Angela and Mariela,' Garcia states in her complaint. 'Angela had COVID-19 symptoms at work, but Burger King blamed her sexuality instead of COVID-19 as the cause of her death. 'I told [the manager] I was going to get tested for COVID-19, and she said she was going to get tested too, but she also said she didn't think Angela died of COVID-19, she said Angela died of injecting hormones. That doesn't make sense to me,' Garcia added. In a statement to CBS LA on Saturday, a Burger King spokesperson said the company never received reports of coronavirus symptoms from that location and they are yet to confirm that Angela died from the respiratory disease. Angela's death have triggered protests outside the restaurant. Pictured: A woman holds up a white rose while driving by a demonstration on Friday Family members have launched a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise money to cover the costs of her funeral 'We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Angela Martinez Gomez, who had worked at Burger King for more than fifteen years,' the spokesperson said. 'The restaurant will undergo a deep disinfection this evening.' Burger King said it is also investigating the reports of 'transphobic comments' and vowed to take 'swift action' in the case. 'They do not align with our values and are unacceptable. Creating an inclusive and welcoming environment is a priority for us and we will be sure to take swift action in this case.' Meanwhile, employees have staged protests outside the fast food restaurant in the wake of Angela's death. Photos showed grieving co-workers holding up placards with her photo reading 'Say her name'. Family members have also launched a Go Fund Me campaign hoping to raise money to cover the costs of her funeral. 'Angela left a mark on all the people that met her, she was always a very happy and humble individual', the page states. 'Her friends, family and acquaintances will always carry her in our hearts. She taught us to fight for our dreams and to be ourselves. For those reasons and for many more, we will miss her so much for the rest of our lives.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 02:37:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Tuesday called for the promotion of multilateralism and international cooperation for the sake of sustainable development. The world is undergoing major changes unseen in 100 years, Zhang Jun, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Globalization has contributed greatly to the development of the world economy and material prosperity. Scientific and technological progress has been pushing the boundaries of human knowledge and activity. The collective rise of emerging markets and developing countries has changed the international political and economic landscape. Meanwhile, unilateralism, bullying, protectionism and anti-globalization sentiments are eroding the very foundation of multilateralism and worsening the environment of international development cooperation. COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on economic and social development, said Zhang. In the face of the grave and complex situation, it is more important than ever to achieve common development and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, he said. All parties should effectively combat COVID-19, promote sustainable and inclusive economic recovery and growth, and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda with confidence, resolve and intensified efforts, he said. Zhang asked for the strengthening of solidarity and cooperation to jointly tide over the difficulties. As the United Nations is marking its 75th anniversary, the international community should firmly uphold multilateralism, abide by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, support the United Nations' central role in international affairs, and oppose all forms of unilateralism and protectionism, he said. It has been proven that solidarity and cooperation is the most powerful weapon for humankind to tackle global challenges. There is no exception for implementing the 2030 Agenda. Countries need to work in solidarity toward a community with a shared future. That is the only way to overcome the difficulties and achieve common development, said Zhang. He asked countries to prioritize development. Development is the master key to solving all problems. The international community should prioritize development in global macroeconomic policy coordination, and increase investment in development to give sustained impetus to the cause of international development, he said. "We must put people at the center of our efforts, and focus on major goals and targets of sustainable development, including poverty reduction, hunger eradication, health, education, employment and infrastructure, to ensure and enhance the well-being of the people. Special attention should be given to the difficulties and challenges of developing countries in the midst of COVID-19 to help them recover better and faster," Zhang said. Enditem Asserting that the "Chinese predatory world view" has no place in the 21st century, the Trump administration, in a major policy decision on Monday, categorically rejected the territorial claims made by Beijing in the South China Sea, stating that it has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a major policy announcement. The United States, he said, stands with the international community in the defence of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and rejects any push to impose "might makes right" in the South China Sea or the wider region. Pompeo said China cannot lawfully assert a maritime claim -- including any exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims derived from Scarborough Reef and the Spratly Islands -- vis-a-vis the Philippines in areas that a tribunal found to be in the Philippines' EEZ or on its continental shelf. The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands). Also, China has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to (or derived from) James Shoal, an entirely submerged feature only 50 nautical miles from Malaysia and some 1,000 nautical miles from China's coast, Pompeo said. "We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," he said. In the South China Sea, the US seeks to preserve peace and stability, uphold the freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintain the unimpeded flow of commerce and oppose any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes, Pompeo said. He alleged that Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal nations in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion and replace international law with "might makes right". Beijing's approach has been clear for years, Pompeo said. In 2010, then Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi told his ASEAN counterparts that "China is a big country and other countries are small and that is just a fact", he said, adding that the Chinese predatory world view has no place in the 21st century. China "has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region", the secretary of state said. Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its "Nine-Dashed Line" claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009, he added. In a unanimous decision on July 12, 2016, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 law of the sea convention -- to which China is a state party -- rejected the country's maritime claims as having no basis in international law. The tribunal sided squarely with the Philippines, which brought the arbitration case, "on almost all claims", Pompeo said. The announcement by the Trump administration was welcomed by several top American lawmakers. The announcement makes clear that the US will support its regional allies in the defence of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, said Senator Marco Rubio. The People's Republic of China (PRC) cannot be allowed to illegally assert control over maritime territory in the region and the US has rightly rejected all of Beijing's spurious claims, he said. "China's unlawful actions will not be tolerated and I urge my colleagues in Congress to swiftly pass my bipartisan South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act (S.1634) to impose costs on Chinese individuals and entities for their flagrant violations of international law," Rubio said. President Donald Trump once again countered Chinese aggression by rejecting its absurd claims in the South China Sea, said Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. "The US must continue to oppose PRC bullying, deception, IP theft and human rights abuses," he said. This is a "smart move", said Senator Jim Inhofe. "The PRC's claims in the South China Sea are unlawful, plain and simple. The U.S. stands against Beijing's bullying, and with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region," he said in a tweet. The Trump administration defended new rules barring visas for foreign students taking only-online classes at US colleges. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a brief Monday opposing a lawsuit by Harvard University and MIT against a government policy requiring international students to take at least one in-person class, despite the risks of the coronavirus pandemic. The colleges, supported by dozens of states and cities and some of the countrys largest tech corporations, argue the policy violates the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to adequately consider the ways its enactment could harm students. The government wrote in its brief that if ICE had not considered the schools impacted by its decision, or the vast differences among them regarding plans for reopening in the fall, perhaps the agency would have completely rescinded its March 9, 2020 broadcast message that students could take all their classes online during the pandemic. Instead, ICE now requires at least one in-person class for schools under a hybrid model but permits more online classes than it normally would. The new directive was announced last Monday, after Harvard announced a reopening plan involving almost exclusively online classes. MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2020) Russia is rapidly developing a new nuclear propulsion system that will be used to power large spacecraft during exploration missions to the outer reaches of the Solar System and beyond, Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said on Monday. "Only this kind of powerful system, which makes it possible for ion thrusters to work, will allow for spacecraft to reach the planets of the Solar System, and maybe in the future, go beyond the Solar System itself," Rogozin said during an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda radio broadcaster. The Roscosmos head noted that traditional chemical rockets, which either use hydrogen or a mix of oxygen and kerosene, cannot travel to the far reaches of the Solar System. "We are on the path to the development of nuclear space energy," Rogozin commented. At present, Roscosmos scientists are developing a new transport and energy module (TEM) that will utilize a nuclear propulsion system. The space agency intends on launching a new space tug equipped with a nuclear propulsion system into orbit in 2030, Roscosmos First Deputy Director General Yury Urlichich said this past January. Vikas Dubey was by no account a good man. He had been running a crime syndicate for three decades, and the world is probablyalmost certainlybetter off without him. He has been accused of killing at least 15 people, of whom the last 8 were policemen. With 7 murder cases, 9 attempts to murder, three cases under the Arms Act, at least one under the National Security Act, and several other offences quoted in 61 First Information Reports, there ought to have been plenty of evidence to put him away for a long, long time. And yet, he was killed in a police encounter under the most bizarre circumstances, as were several of his henchmen in separate encounters. He was being escorted to Kanpur from Ujjain where he was arrested, in a police convoy which was being followed by a media convoy. For some unexplained reason, the roads were barricaded, preventing the media from going in and shortly after, his vehicle alone overturned and he alone got off unscathed, grabbing a firearm from a police officer en route to a foiled bid at escape. A series of improbable coincidences which left the police with no option but to shoot him. Well, then, why not shoot him in the leg? Or in the shoulder? Was the bullet finding a fatal mark coincidental too? According to media reports, there have been 119 such coincidences in Uttar Pradesh under the current government, of which 74 have been investigated and found to beindeedcoincidences. The police, the magisterial probes have found, had no option but to kill the gangsters involved. The Supreme Courts guidelines of 2014 mandate that a probe must be held in this case too, but with no witnesses but the police escort, what can the district magistrates expect to hear other than the version we have heard so far? It is not simply gangsters who are put away, but policemen too who lose their lives when operations play out like they do in the movies. Media reports stated that 6145 operations had been held in the state since 2017, a staggering number, in which 13 policemen have been killed. What guidelines exist on the conditions under which the police carry out a risky operation? I had written recently about the ways in which encounters are glorified, in both reel and real life. In January 2019, not long after the Supreme Court called the encounters in UP a very serious issue, the state boasted at the Republic Day celebrations of the number of criminals who had been killed in this manner. Yes, criminals should be caught and punished. Yes, the streets should be free of crime. Yes, it is terribly inconvenient for the law enforcement authorities that most crime occurs without witnesses, and it is almost worse when witnesses suddenly turn hostile. But the law enforcements responsibilities include protecting witnesses, and getting to the bottom of why they have turned hostile. Their responsibilities also include rooting out crime. And one cannot get to the roots of criminal networks when those who could talk are lying six feet under. Criminals are not simply bad eggs that society should be saved from, but also precious resources who could lead to others in the nexus. And these others are often powerful people with clout in the very system that governs us. This is precisely why we have three branches of governmentthe legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. When monsters are taken off the streets, I cant deny a feeling of relief. I felt it when the perpetrators of the Telangana rape and murder case were killed in an encounter, I felt it when child abusers and murders in Coimbatore were killed in an encounter. But I would have been far more relieved if they had been locked up and had the key thrown away by a court. That would have been a guarantee that my rights as a citizen are protected. It is proof that every citizen, criminal or not, has a right to be judged by the authorities. In a democracy, when there is a legal system in place, the state cannot make up for sloppy investigation with street justice. We have a tendency to endow men in uniform with the aura of superheroes when they carry out encounters. But we must remember that superheroes tend to be vigilantes. The law enforcement brings criminals in by the book. And just because not every Commissioner Gordon has a Batman at hand, it isnt all right for Commissioner Gordon to turn into Batman every now and again. There have been several encounters across the country which have been ruled fake by the courts, and the policemen involved have been sentenced. A case in point was the 2006 encounter of Ramnarayan Gupta, an alleged aide of gangster Chhota Rajan. Twenty-one accused, including 13 policemen, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013. It is important to remember that India is among the party states that adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, of which the presumption of innocence is a crucial legal principle. The onus is on the law enforcement authorities to prove the guilt of the suspects or accused, and it is for the judiciary to interpret the law and bring them to book. There are extenuating circumstances, but these exceptions cannot become the rule. More Columns by Nandini Krishnan: Nobel for economist, tailspin for economy Why the Diaspora has so much love to give Hindi debate: We are all obsessed with homogeneity We are choking the earth The delusionary Indian intellectual India's culture of worship has to end Nandini is the author of Invisible Men: Inside India's Transmasculine Networks (2018) and Hitched: The Modern Woman and Arranged Marriage (2013). She tweets @k_nandini. Her website is: www.nandinikrishnan.com It's been five years to this date since Sandra Bland was found hanging in her Walker County, Texas, jail cell. Bland, a 28-year-old Chicago-area woman, was found hanging on July 13, 2015, just three days after she was arrested following a confrontational traffic stop. The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) in 2015 coined the hashtag #SayHerName to draw awareness to Black women and girls who were victims of police injustice. SB 1849, better known as the Sandra Bland Act, was proposed in 2017 by State Sen. John Whitmire and State Rep. Garnet Coleman. The bill was signed into law on June 15 of that year. According to HoustonTX.gov, the Sandra Bland Act aims to improve and correct Texas' criminal justice system to make it better for all people and prevent tragedies like Bland's case from happening in the future. Under the law, among other things, officers are to be trained on limiting use of force and understanding implicit bias; county jail are to transport people with mental health and substance abuse issues to treatment; officers are prohibited from searching a person without consent and county jails are ordered to install electronic sensors or cameras to better monitor inmates. SAY THEIR NAMES: From Trayvon Martin to Breonna Taylor, other names besides George Floyd that make the case for Black Lives Matter Video frame grab courtesy of Investigative Network / Video frame grab courtesy of Investigative Network Today, Texas lawmakers are still fighting for more police reform. The Texas Tribune reported in June that Whitmire and Coleman are now pushing to reinstate the police reforms stripped from their original bill, like increasing restrictions on when law enforcement officers can stop and search a vehicle and prohibiting officers from stopping drivers for minor traffic violations to give them a chance to investigate their own personal suspicions. The Houston Chronicle reported in 2019 that Bland's death still has a strong impact on the City of Prairie View, where Bland had returned in 2015 after she found work at Prairie View A&M, her alma mater. Authorities released the dash cam video footage of Bland's arrest a week after the original traffic stop. Bland's own dashcam video of the incident surfaced in 2019, showing, from her perspective, Trooper Brian Encinia trying to pull the her out of her vehicle while aiming his stun gun at her. Attorneys at the time declined to reopen Bland's case when the video was made public. Some people allege Bland was murdered and already dead when she took her mugshot photo. At the time, USA Today had forensic pathologist Michael Baden examine the photo. He said he saw no evidence that would indicate Bland is not alive in the mugshot. Encinia was fired from the department and agreed to never work in law enforcement again. Grant Masaru Imahara was born in Los Angeles on Oct. 23, 1970. He saw science fiction, namely the droids in Star Wars, as an inspiration for creating and engineering robots. He never wanted to be James Bond growing up, he told Machine Design magazine in 2008. Instead, he preferred Q, Bonds colleague and the head of research and development, because he was the guy who made all the gadgets. Columbia-Greene Media has recently teamed up with the US Postal Service to provide same-day delivery of your local newspaper with your mail. Our expanded daily delivery of your local news reaches into the following areas: Daniel Lewis Lee waits for his arraignment hearing for murder in the Pope County Detention Center in Russellville, Ark., on Oct. 31 1997. (Dan Pierce/The Courier via AP) US Carries Out First Federal Execution in 17 Years The first federal execution in the United States in nearly 20 years took place on Tuesday after the Supreme Court overruled a lower courts order. Daniel Lewis Lee, 47, who murdered a family of three in Arkansas in 1999 as part of an effort to get money for a white supremacist group, was put to death by lethal injection at FCI Terre Haute, a federal prison in Indiana. I didnt do it. Ive made a lot of mistakes in my life, but Im not a murderer, Lee said just before he was executed, according to The Associated Press. Youre killing an innocent man. Lee was pronounced dead at 8:07 a.m. Today, Lee finally faced the justice he deserved. The American people have made the considered choice to permit capital punishment for the most egregious federal crimes, and justice was done today in implementing the sentence for Lees horrific offenses, Attorney General William Barr said in a statement. An attorney for Lee, Ruth Friedman, said the choice to carry out the execution during the COVID-19 pandemic was shameful. Lee spent four hours on a gurney as the final clearance from a judge was finalized, the attorney said, claiming she was not given notice of the execution. We hope that upon awakening, the country will be as outraged as we are, Friedman said in a statement. A sign stands outside the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, as Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted in the killing of three members of an Arkansas family in 1996, is set to be put to death in the first federal execution in 17 years, in Terre Haute, Ind., on July 13, 2020. (Bryan Woolston/Reuters) The execution was scheduled for July 13 but was delayed because a lower court issued an injunction based on a claim that the execution could violate the Eighth Amendments prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, appointed by President Barack Obama, issued the injunction, prompting the Department of Justice to file an appeal. In their ruling issued early Tuesday, Supreme Court justices in the majority said plaintiffs did not establish that they were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim. Using pentobarbital sodium to execute inmates doesnt appear to violate the Eighth Amendment, the justices said, pointing to five states using it for executions and the drug being utilized for over 100 executions without incident. Pentobarbital sodium has been repeatedly invoked by prisoners as a less painful and risky alternative to the lethal injection protocols of other jurisdictions, the justices wrote. The use was upheld by the Supreme Court last year and by numerous courts of appeals. Against this backdrop, the plaintiffs cite new expert declarations suggesting that pentobarbital causes prisoners to experience flash pulmonary edema, a form of respiratory distress that temporarily produces the sensation of drowning or asphyxiation, the majority wrote. But the government has produced competing expert testimony of its own, indicating that any pulmonary edema occurs only after the prisoner has died or been rendered fully insensate. The plaintiffs in this case have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a federal court. A guard tower sits along a security fence at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., on July 13, 2020. (Scott Olson/Getty Images) Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh, all nominated by Republican presidents, were the majority. In a dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburgboth nominated by former President Bill Clintonclaimed that the death penalty itself may violate the U.S. Constitution. Breyer argued that keeping Lee on death row for 20 years undermines the rationale for the penalty, which is often imposed arbitrarily. He pointed to the co-defendant of Lee being sentenced to life in prison despite committing the same crime. President Barack Obama nominee Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan, another Obama nominee, wrote in a separate dissent that the court hastily disposed of the Eighth Amendment challenge. In doing so, the court accepts the governments artificial claim of urgency to truncate ordinary procedures of judicial review. This sets a dangerous precedent, she wrote. The government is poised to carry out the first federal executions in nearly two decades. Yet because of the courts rush to dispose of this litigation in an emergency posture, there will be no meaningful judicial review of the grave, fact-heavy challenges respondents bring to the way in which the government plans to execute them. Two other men are scheduled to be executed this week. Wesley Ira Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl before dismembering and burning the girls body. He was also convicted of murdering an 80-year-old woman. Dustin Lee Honken fatally shot five peopletwo men who planned to testify against him and a single mother and her 10-year-old and 6-year-old daughters. Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped and raped a 10-year-old girl before strangling her to death, is slated to be executed next month. MINNEAPOLIS, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- IRET (NYSE: IRET) announced today that it will release its second quarter 2020 operating results after the market closes on Monday, August 3, 2020 and provided a business update related to the impacts of COVID-19 on its multifamily operations. Operating Performance Update IRET provided the following updates regarding June operating performance: Collections were 100% of total revenues for June 2020 and 99.1% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 . and 99.1% for the three months ended . In June 2020 , IRET entered into a total of 16 rental deferral agreements representing $23,000 of scheduled rent. For the three months ended June 30, 2020 , IRET entered into a total of $212,000 , or 0.50%, of scheduled rent. As of June 30, 2020 , $68,000 or 0.16% of second quarter revenues remained outstanding under the rental deferment agreements. , IRET entered into a total of 16 rental deferral agreements representing of scheduled rent. For the three months ended , IRET entered into a total of , or 0.50%, of scheduled rent. As of , or 0.16% of second quarter revenues remained outstanding under the rental deferment agreements. Weighted average occupancy across our portfolio was 94.0% for June 2020 and 94.5% for the three months ended June 30, 2020 versus 93.8% and 94.3% for the respective comparable periods for the prior year. Conference Call Management will host a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2020 operating results on Tuesday, August 4, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The company expects to be able to report not only second quarter results, but also provide an update on July results. Interested parties may access the live conference call via the following: Live webcast: http://ir.iretapartments.com Live Conference Call Conference Call Replay Tuesday August 4, 2020, at 10:00 AM ET Replay available until August 18, 2020 USA Toll Free Number 1-877-509-9785 USA Toll Free Number 1-877-344-7529 International Toll-Free Number 1-412-902-4132 International Toll-Free Number 1-412-317-0088 Canada Toll Free Number 1-855-669-9657 Canada Toll Free Number 1-855-669-9658 Conference Number 10145476 About IRET IRET is a real estate company focused on the ownership, management, acquisition, redevelopment, and development of apartment communities. As of March 31, 2020, we owned interests in 70 apartment communities consisting of 12,135 apartment homes. IRET's common shares and Series C preferred shares are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE symbols: "IRET" and "IRET-PC," respectively). IRET's press releases and supplemental information are available on its website at www.iretapartments.com or by calling Investor Relations at 701-837-7104. Contact Information Emily Miller Investor Relations Phone: 701-837-7104 E-mail: [email protected] SOURCE IRET Related Links https://www.iretapartments.com The U.S. Census Bureau and a downtown Fredericksburg brewery want people to come to their senses about the need to fill out the 2020 Census form. Fredericksburgs participation rate lags behind that of other localities in the George Washington Regional Commission, and George Millsaps, with the Bureaus Philadelphia regional office, said he was at a loss to figure out why and how to encourage people to comply. I was sitting in Spencer Devon Brewery off duty and looking at the different names they came up with for the different beers. When I saw that, I was like, those are cool names. Wouldnt it be cool if there was a Census beer, and you had some cool Census name beer? he said. Millsaps discussed the idea with owner Shawn Phillips, who said that he had a limited-edition tropical stout in the tanks that would work. Come to Your Census, with its undertones of toffee and chocolate, was born. As of July 9, only 62.2 percent of Fredericksburg households had responded to the Census, Millsaps said. Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties have all exceeded their participation rate in the last census. NEW YORK - A state court on Monday issued an eleventh-hour ruling affirming Simon & Schuster's right to publish a new book by President Donald Trump's niece, issuing a decision that prioritizes the First Amendment over a dated confidentiality agreement among members of the Trump family. The book by Mary Trump - "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man" - is slated for release Tuesday. Some copies already have been distributed, and it's already considered a best seller. "The court got it right in rejecting the Trump family's effort to squelch Mary Trump's core political speech on important issues of public concern," her lawyer Theodore Boutrous said in a statement. "The First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy." Mary Trump, 55, was sued by her uncle Robert Trump, the president's brother, in an effort to block publication. He had accused her of violating a confidentiality agreement in an inheritance case that was settled two decades ago. An attorney for Robert Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He could attempt to seek monetary damages from his niece, but it is unclear whether he intends to do so. In Dutchess County, N.Y., Justice Hal Greenwald said that Simon & Schuster had no obligations under the family's nondisclosure agreement and that constitutional law "trumps contracts." The agreement was signed as the family settled the estate of Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump. Attorneys for Mary Trump had argued that it was meant to keep details of the settlement private and does not bar Mary Trump from telling her famous family's story outside of that. They had said, too, that the book's content was vital to the country's democratic process, saying in court filings that "the speech at issue concerns vital political discourse directly relating to an ongoing national election." The book has struck a nerve for the president and his family. Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., the president's brother, who died in 1981 when she was 16 years old. A clinical psychologist, she has said she employed her professional training in analyzing the president and the "toxic" environment in which he was raised. In his ruling, Greenwald reasoned that Mary Trump, under her contract with Simon & Schuster, had no ability to halt publication, saying it would have been "moot" to order her to stop publication of a book that "has been published and distributed in great quantities" already. The judge refused to apply a broad view of the estate settlement, saying "what was confidential was the financial aspect." "The parties agreed to keep the settlement under seal. That's it," Greenwald wrote of the deal that was executed at a time when "the Trump family were New York based real estate developers and not much else." The Trumps "were not elected officials or TV personalities," Greenwald said in the ruling. "The issues that were the subject of the Agreement were intra family issues, not of worldwide concern, or even national interest." Greenwald suggested that the case to stop publication was also weak because it was brought by Robert Trump, even though the book focuses largely on the president. In a statement, Simon & Schuster said that, "The unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions." Mary Trump's book, the publisher added, is "a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse." The book, an advance copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, depicts Fred Jr.'s death as a defining moment for the president, who was said to have dealt with his brother harshly as he pushed him into the family real estate business. Fred Jr. was preoccupied with pursuing aviation as his family, including the future president, pressured him to focus on the family business. Mary Trump labels the president a "sociopath" in the book, citing his efforts to win over his difficult father. The memoir paints the family patriarch as a malignant figure who largely created and shaped the future president. Both men's business reputations have been questioned extensively, dogged by a number of cheating accusations spanning decades. The Trump administration on Tuesday dropped its plan to require foreign college students to leave the United States unless they are enrolled in the fall term for at least one face-to-face class. The abrupt reversal, disclosed in a federal court in Boston, came a little more than a week after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an edict that stunned U.S. higher education leaders and students worldwide. Under the July 6 policy from ICE, foreign students enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities for the fall semester faced a mandate to take at least one course in person. Those students, ICE said, "may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States." That mandate posed a major obstacle to plans for online teaching and learning that colleges are developing in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. In the spring, the federal government had given schools much more leeway to teach foreign students online. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had sued to block the new policy. In a hearing in that case on Tuesday, held before U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, the court announced that the schools and the federal government had reached an agreement that made the lawsuit moot. "The government has agreed to rescind the July 6, 2020, policy directive and the frequently asked questions, the FAQ's, that were released the next day on July 7," Burroughs said, according to a transcript of the hearing. "They have also agreed to rescind any implementation of the directive." The judge said the agreement reverted policy to "the status quo" that had been developed in March, when schools in much of the country halted in-person teaching because of the pandemic. Campuses have been sparsely populated in the months since. An assistant U.S. attorney who participated in the hearing, Rayford Farquhar, confirmed the judge's understanding of the agreement, according to the transcript. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE, a unit of the department, had no immediate comment. Harvard has about 5,000 foreign students and MIT, about 4,000. In their suit, Harvard and MIT argued that the Trump administration's action violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies make rules. They also claimed the ICE decision was a political move calculated to force universities to reopen campuses and hold classes in person despite the soaring toll of the coronavirus in death and illness. Scores of universities supported their lawsuit, along with more than 70 higher education associations. So did Google, Twitter, Facebook and more than a dozen other tech companies. Separately, 20 state attorneys general had challenged the guidance in court in recent days. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a leader in that effort, celebrated the outcome. "This ICE rule was senseless and illegal the minute it came out, and the Trump Administration knew it didn't have a chance," Healey said in a statement. "This is why we take action in court, why we stand up for our values, and why we will remain vigilant in protecting our international students from these harmful disruptions." Other universities had pushed back as well. Last week, Johns Hopkins University filed suit in federal court in the District of Columbia, arguing that the ICE rule was illegal and unconstitutional. A coalition of 20 universities in the Western United States, including Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California and the University of Oregon, had filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn the order. "We are deeply grateful that the administration agreed to drop this poorly designed, counterproductive policy regarding international students," said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. The council represents college and university leaders nationwide. "The administration just had a clunker," Hartle said. "At the end of the day, they decided they didn't even want to try to defend it." There are hundreds of thousands of foreign students in the United States. Tuesday's news signaled a reprieve from a policy that threatened to disrupt their education. "Oh man, I'm ecstatic," said Azan Zahir Virji, 25. "I'm so glad to hear it. I'm so thankful." In the last week, Virji had panicked, worried that he would not be able to continue his education at Harvard's medical school. His parents in Tanzania, a former hairstylist and an electrician, were trying to find money for a flight home for him. He was worrying about the expense, the risk of exposing them to coronavirus and whether his education would be entirely disrupted. "It was always their dream to see me become a physician," he said. "To get so close to it and almost lose it all, that was scary for them." So when Virji saw the news, through a tweet from another foreign student popping in at the end of an online class Tuesday, he raised his arms in the air, thrilled and relieved. Even in the midst of his celebration, he still had a worry, he said. When he came to the United States in 2013 to attend Yale University, the idea of a visa being revoked or a student being deported seemed all but impossible, he said. Now, he feels differently. "I think this sentiment against immigrants is going to continue to grow. That's in the back of my mind, thinking, 'Am I still welcome here?' " Mumbai, July 14 : Maharashtra notched 213 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday while Mumbai's tally of fresh cases fell below the 1,000-mark, providing some relief, health officials said here. Tuesday's tally of new cases at 6,741 was down from a peak of 8,139 (July 11), but increased by 244 compared to Monday's 6,497. The number of fatalities in the state again went above the 200-mark from the July lowest of 125 to 213 on Tuesday, though considerably lower than the previous record toll of 295 notched on July 4. With the fresh fatalities, the state's death toll went up to 10,695 while the total cases touched 267,665, both highest in the country. According to Tuesday's figures, one death was recorded in roughly every 7 minutes and a staggering 281 new cases every hour in the state. The recovery rate in the western state increased marginally from 55.38 per cent a day earlier to 55.67 per cent on Tuesday, while the mortality (death) rate stood at 4 per cent. The Health Department said that of the total cases till date, 107,665 are active cases, which is lower vis-a-vis the number of patients cured, indicating a positive sign. On the positive side, 4,500 cured patients returned home on Tuesday, taking the total number discharges to 149,007, considerably higher than the 107,665 active cases in the state. In the most cheerful news, a 100-year retired schoolteacher, Arjun G. Naringrekar, taught a 'lesson' to coronavirus and returned home to Kandivali suburb after celebrating his birthday with doctors, nurses and other care-givers outside the BMC's HinduHridaySamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital in Jogeshwari on Tuesday evening. Of the 213 fatalities, Mumbai alone accounted for 70 deaths, taking the city's toll to 5,405, while the number of corona cases increased touched 95,100 on Tuesday. Besides, Thane recorded 64 fatalities, followed Pune (25), Palghar and Jalgaon (8 each), Nashik and Solapur (6 each), Ahmednagar and Aurangabad (4 each), Raigad and Nanded (3 each), Ratnagiri, Latur and Parbhani (2 each), and Satara, Sangli, Akola, Buldhana, Bhandara and Nagpur (1 each). The MMR (Thane Division) remains on the edge as deaths spiral and cases pile up, with the current toll at 7,543 and a staggering 2,893 new patients, pushing up the number of cases to 179,760 on Tuesday. Thane cases have touched 65,324 with 1,769 fatalities to emerge as the second worst-hit district after Mumbai in the state. Pune district continues to zoom ahead by notching 42,092 cases, with the death toll increasing from 1,127 a day earlier to 1,152 on Tuesday. The Pune Division's (comprising Pune, Solapur and Satara districts) death toll reached 1,578 with 48,425 patients, but remains far behind MMR and Thane district. The next major region of concern is Nashik Division with 782 fatalities and 16,890 positive cases, followed by Aurangabad Division with 401 deaths and 10,314 cases, and Akola Division with 168 fatalities and 3,958 cases. Next on the list is Kolhapur Division, which has notched 76 deaths and 3,148 patients, Latur Division had 86 fatalities and 2,048 cases, and Nagpur Division recorded 30 deaths and 2,912 cases. All the eight divisions in the state recorded fatalities on Tuesday, but only Chandrapur (out of total 36) remains a zero Covid death district, though all have notched fresh cases. Meanwhile, the number of people sent to home quarantine increased from 687,353 earlier to 698,854 now, while those in institutional quarantine went up from 41,660 to 42,350 on Tuesday. School Board, public to see 'Return to Learn' Plan B next week Schools may open for in-person instruction under a plan that requires face coverings for all K-12 students, fewer children in the classroom, measures to ensure social distancing for everyone in the building and other safety protocols, Gov. Roy Cooper announced today. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen and education and health leaders joined Cooper in the announcement of the health and safety plans. The most important opening is that of our classroom doors. Our schools provide more than academics; they are vital to our childrens health, safety and emotional development, Cooper said. This is a difficult time for families with hard choices on every side. I am committed to working together to ensure our students and educators are as safe as possible and that children have opportunities to learn in the way that is best for them and their families. Henderson County public schools officials will present the Return to Learn Plan B model to the School Board at a specially called meeting at 2 p.m. Monday, July 20, at 2 p.m. Families can view the live board meeting on YouTube. The Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit outlines the updated requirements for what has been known as Plan B, one of three options Cooper and state leaders were considering. Districts may choose to operate under Plan C, which calls for remote learning only, and health leaders recommend schools allow families to opt in to all-remote learning. Modifications have been made to Plan B since it was released in June to make it more protective of public health. After looking at the current scientific evidence and weighing the risks and benefits, we have decided to move forward with todays balanced, flexible approach which allows for in-person instruction as long as key safety requirements are in place in addition to remote learning options," Cohen said. We will continue to follow the science and data and update recommendations as needed. We ask every North Carolinian to do their part to slow the spread of COVID-19 and follow the three Ws: Wear a face covering when in public, Wait 6 feet apart, Wash your hands. Cooper also announced that the state will provide at least five reusable face coverings for every student, teacher and school staff member in public schools. In June, the state provided packs of personal protective equipment to schools that included a two-month supply of thermometers, surgical masks, face shields and gowns for school nurses and delegated staff who provide health care to students. "In-person education is important for children, and it happens in the context of a community," said Dr. Theresa Flynn, a practicing pediatrician who serves on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Pediatric Society and joined todays announcement. "This plan strikes the right balance between health and safety and the benefits of having children learn in the classroom. We must all continue with proven measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission like wearing a face covering, keeping distance between people, and frequent hand and surface cleanings so we can move closer to safely re-opening public schools." Under Plan B, schools are required to follow key safety measures that direct schools to: Require face coverings for all teachers and students K-12 Limit the total number of students, staff and visitors within a school building to the extent necessary to ensure 6 feet distance can be maintained when students/staff will be stationary Conduct symptom screening, including temperature checks Establish a process and dedicated space for people who are ill to isolate and have transportation plans for ill students Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces in the school and transportation vehicles regularly Require frequent hand washing throughout the school day and provide hand sanitizer at entrances and in every classroom Discontinue activities that bring together large groups Limit nonessential visitors and activities involving external groups Discontinue use of self-service food or beverage distribution In addition, schools are strongly recommended to: Designate hallways and entrance/exit doors as one-way Keep students and teachers in small groups that stay together as much as possible Have meals delivered to the classroom or have students bring food back to the classroom if social distancing is not possible in the cafeteria Discontinue activities that bring together large groups Place physical barriers such as plexiglass at reception desks and similar areas More details can be found in the Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit, the Screening Reference Guide for schools and the Infection Control and PPE Guidance. In addition to the announcement about school plans, Governor Cooper shared that North Carolina will remain paused in Safer At Home Phase 2 after the current Executive Order expires on Friday, July 17. As we continue to see rising case numbers and hospitalizations, we will stay in Safer At Home Phase 2 for three more weeks, said Governor Cooper. Our re-opening priority is the school building doors, and in order for that to happen we have to work to stabilize our virus trends. 2 Brothers Convicted of Killing Utah Officer out of Jail Early, Arrested Again Teenage brothers convicted of murdering a 25-year-old Utah police officer were released from prison early, and they were stopped while speeding in a stolen car on Monday. According to police in West Valley City, one of them was wanted in connection with a separate shooting in a motel last week, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Lawrence Boggs, 17, was shot several times and was critically injured, police told the Deseret News. Officials confirmed that he may have been involved in a shootout on Saturday. Both he and Christopher Boggs, his brother, were convicted as teenagers in the death of West Valley police officer Cody Brotherson, 25, in November 2016. In the motel incident, a 17-year-old male was shot in what police said may have been gang-related, KUTV reported, citing police spokeswoman Roxeanne Vainuku. Mr. Boggs reportedly invited his own associates to come to the hotel, after which, a fight with the rival group broke out that led to the gunfire incident, Vainuku said. West Valley City police Officer Cody Brotherson. (West Valley City Police Department) Brothersons mother, Jenny Brotherson, said she wasnt surprised with their arrests. Were still processing all the information weve gotten, she told the Deseret News. This is exactly what we predicted would be the case. We were sure their gang affiliation would continue. Both brothers were released from Utah Department of Corrections Custody early to create capacity within correctional facilities as confirmed cases of COVID-19 continued to increase throughout the state, said Kaitlin Felsted with the Department of Corrections, according to KUTV. She said the two were each within 180 days of their scheduled release date when they were released. Police said Christopher Boggs was released in March, and Lawrence Boggs was released in May. They said they were released due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tribune reported. 'This is the first time there has been an attempt to use market forces to counter disinformation on social media,' notes Devangshu Datta. Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com The advertising boycott of Facebook and its subsidiaries, like Instagram, has gathered momentum with some speed. Over 600 brands have publicly pulled back from advertising on Facebook in the last few days. The boycott was triggered by Facebook's refusal to proactively remove hate content and fact-check misleading information or lies in political advertising. It happened in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests. Facebook (along with Google) is one of the two largest consolidated global media platforms. Facebook earned $70 billion in 2019 as advertising revenues and that amounted to 98 per cent of its total revenues. The network, or rather its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is hanging tough in the refusal to adopt a stronger moderation policy. There is support within the ranks of its employees (many of whom are also shareholders) for the boycott. But unlike most listed companies, Mr Zuckerberg is the only decision-maker here. The equity structure leaves him with voting control. Analysts estimate the current boycott will be limited in financial impact, reducing Facebook's annual revenues by about 5 per cent. Mr Zuckerberg seems ready to forego that, and suffer whatever wealth-erosion may occur due to shares being sold down. He believes advertisers will return. Outreach on Facebook is foundational to the Trump re-election campaign. Facebook has been a key platform for political campaigns since Barack Obama leveraged it back in 2008. The 2016 US presidential campaign, along with the Brexit referendum earlier the same year, involved massive manipulation of voters on Facebook. As Cambridge Analytica demonstrated, it is easy to generate cross-referenced information to micro-target Facebook users. This is as true for selling timeshare holidays, or mango pickles, as it is for selling political viewpoints. A large number of Facebook users get their news largely, or solely, from what they access on the platform. The number varies from region to region. Supposedly 44 per cent of Americans use their respective Facebook feeds as a primary news source. In India, a lot of people get their news from WhatsApp (another Facebook subsidiary) but fewer Indians get news directly from Facebook. The content, including the news and opinions and ads, you see on your Facebook feed is specifically curated to fit your tastes, interests and inclinations. The news feed is a bubble -- any poison injected into it is likely to have a good strike rate because it fits with something in your online personality. IMAGE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Menlo Park, California. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters Facebook fact-checks non-political ad content, and it removes some hate speech. For example, it recently pulled out Trump campaign content, which contained a Nazi symbol of coloured inverted triangles. It's well-known that the Nazi regime marked out Jews by forcing them to wear a yellow Star of David. It's less well-known perhaps that it also used inverted triangles with colour-codes to identify various categories of political prisoners. But White Supremacists who worship Hitler are aware of it, so this is useful dog-whistling. A lot of hate content slips through the Facebook moderation process. The Black Lives Matter campaign, for example, was incensed by hateful racist content on Facebook. It generally doesn't fact-check content in political ads either. This allows the Trump campaign and other political campaigns too, to splice in their own mixtures of disinformation, racism and any other rubbish they push. On Facebook's part, doubling down makes sense if Mr Zuckerberg thinks the money from political advertising will compensate for the loss of corporate ad-revenue. This is peak season for generating political revenue as the 2020 US presidential election draws closer. It's reasonable to assume the corporates will return, given no alternative in terms of targeting, or reach. On their part, the corporates may be trying to do many different things. They may be virtue signalling when they were going to cut marketing budgets anyhow. They may be gambling the Trump administration is on its way out, and trying to build bridges with the successor. Some may, of course, be genuinely horrified by hate speech and misinformation. This is the first time there has been an attempt to use market forces to counter disinformation on social media. Whatever the motivations may be, it will be interesting to see outcomes. Feature Production: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The White House is urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reinstate its emergency use authorization (EUA) for hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug touted by U.S. President Donald Trump to combat COVID-19, media reported. Weeks ago, the FDA revoked the EUA that allowed for hydroxychloroquine used to treat certain hospitalized patients with COVID-19, after the agency determined that hydroxychloroquine is "unlikely to be effective in treating COVID-19 for the authorized uses in the EUA," while highlighting potential serious side effects. "White House trade adviser Peter Navarro is leading a Trump administration effort to demand the Food and Drug Administration reverse course," the Washington Post reported. "A reversal (on hydroxychloroquine) would be widely seen as bending to the political will of the White House," the Washington Post quoted Steven Joffe, a medical ethicist at the University of Pennsylvania, as saying. As the agency will take the lead in approving a vaccine for the coronavirus in the country, "health experts say it is important for the agency, which was criticized for its initial decision to okay hydroxychloroquine in March, to guard its credibility as it prepares to make these landmark decisions for a public sometimes skeptical of vaccines," the report warned. Danielle Geathers and her running mate, Yu Jing Chen, were deemed the "diversity ticket" in student body elections at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this past spring. Classmates told them they were naive and didn't know how student government worked. On the anonymous Facebook page "MIT Confessions," people wrote comments like, "I'm not going to vote a social justice warrior into office." "It's like if a Black woman is talking about diversity, that's all she cares about," Geathers, 20, told TODAY by phone. "And I don't think that would've happened if I was a white male." Despite the skeptics and naysayers, Geathers is now the first Black female student body president in MIT's history. The rising junior and mechanical engineering major is part of the 6.2% of undergraduate students who identify as Black and African American at the school; a representative from MIT told TODAY that an additional 3.9% of students identify as Black and one or more other races. More from TODAY: How to talk to kids about race and racism 12 movies to watch about race in America 9 books on racism and racial justice to read right now "In exploring MIT, one thing I feared was that my social life would be in jeopardy," Geathers, who hails from Miami, said about the diversity of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, school. "I visited the campus a lot, and one thing I didn't notice was Black women. I was welcomed into the Black women community, but it's small, and I think it's honestly decreasing." Danielle Geathers That instinct is generally supported by data from MIT's registrar over the past 15 years. Since 2005, Black or African American students have made up roughly 6% of the student body going as high as 8.46% in 2010 and as low as 5.28% in 2014 (the school began categorizing two races or more as a separate category in 2011, which could explain the drop in Black or African American students beginning that year). In that same time period, the number of Hispanic or Latino students has generally trended upward, from 11.51% in 2005 to 15.43% in 2020. The number of Asian students, meanwhile, stood at 27.78% of the student body in 2005 and generally trended downward until 2014, when a steady climb eventually gave Asians a plurality in 2020 at 29.58%, eclipsing the number of white students for the first time at 28.72%. While Geathers said she hasn't experienced racism in the form of overt hate at MIT, she sees it on a systemic and historical level rooted in MIT's composition. In comparison with the overall U.S. population, Black students are underrepresented among the school's undergrads. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau from July 2019, Black or African Americans make up 13.4% of the population, while Hispanics or Latinos represent 18.3%; another 2.7% identify as belonging to two or more races. On the highly represented end of the spectrum, Asians make up only 5.9% of the U.S. population. Geathers said that while MIT sees performance as the ultimate metric for students' success, Black students must cope with "systemic barriers in society" a notion that many Americans are waking up to in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd and the sweeping protests across the U.S. and around the world. And that's in addition to keeping up with the rigorous course load at a No. 3-ranked national university, according to U.S. News & World Report. "It's going to translate into a different academic performance," Geathers said. "I think as long as we are clearly acknowledging that, there will be separation. Personally, I feel like I am able to fit in on campus, but I don't think I fully belong on campus in terms of MIT's society and society in general in America." Addressing diversity on college campuses The university is aware of the need for change. "MIT has made some progress, but much more remains to be done," John Dozier, MIT's institute community and equity officer, told TODAY in an email on June 12. "As I wrote, today, to the MIT faculty, a coordinated, strategic, well-resourced, highly visible action plan for diversity, equity, and inclusion is what MIT urgently needs now. The plan alone, of course, will not address these issues by itself, but it will provide a fresh push for accountability and give us a baseline for continually measuring and assessing our progress." Diverse groups get things done better and faster. They are a way to push innovation. And MIT is far from alone in its struggle to achieve diversity, which goes beyond race, ethnicity and tribal affiliation to include culture, geography, gender, religion, income level, sexual orientation, first-generation status and more. Almost every major American college and university has a diversity initiative or task force, though what diversity actually means is still up for debate. Many universities even those located in regions where many people of color live also have demographics that don't necessarily align with the local population. The University of Michigan's campuses at Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint are located in communities with large Black populations; 78.6% of Detroit residents and 53.7% of Flint residents are Black or African American alone, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Out of 30,318 undergrads welcomed to the University of Michigan's 2019 class, 58.2% were white, 14.6% were Asian, 6.3% were Hispanic or Latino, 4.2% were Black or African American, and 4.4% identified with two or more races. California State University, the nation's largest public university with 23 campuses across the Golden State, recorded 481,210 students enrolled in the fall of 2018. Of that group, 41.5% were Hispanic or Latino, 23% were white, 15.9% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 4% were African American, and 4.4% identified with two or more races. Its student body more closely aligns with California's demographics, which is 39.4% Hispanic or Latino, 36.5% white, 15.5% Asian, 6.5% Black or African American, and 4% identifying with two or more races according to the Census Bureau. And challenges to affirmative action still linger. Last fall, Harvard University won a lawsuit, filed by a group called Students for Fair Admissions, which claimed that the university intentionally discriminates against Asian American applicants. Although Geathers' election win at MIT is historic, she chose not to mention it at all during her campaign to avoid race-baiting. Instead, she focused on the need to elect someone who has personally dealt with racial injustices in order to help others who might be having similar experiences. "If you just think about how lonely you feel, it's going to affect your academics," Geathers said. Making a change at MIT As the student body president, Geathers has already taken action. She founded Talented Ten, an internal program aimed at attracting more Black female students to MIT. "I have created the Talented Ten because I understand the value that black females bring to campus while also understanding the tremendous loss the MIT community experiences when a qualified, underrepresented minority student chooses to not enroll," Geathers writes on the program's website. As student body president, Geathers will be working directly with the head of the MIT mental health department and the counsel a legislative body of student government to work toward creating an inclusive atmosphere for students of all underrepresented groups. "Diverse groups get things done better and faster," she said. "They are a way to push innovation." At the top of her classand alone Some 550 miles away, just north of the Canada-U.S. border, Chika Stacy Oriuwa knows what it's like to be different. Graduating from the University of Toronto's medical school and a separate master's program in May, the 26-year-old became the only woman nominated and the first Black woman to be selected sole valedictorian. When she started at the university, she was the only Black student in her class. Oriuwa recalls that on her first day of medical school, a fellow classmate questioned if she received preferential treatment to get into the school because she was Black. Outside the classroom, Oriuwa further experienced racial prejudice when working in the clinical wards. Chika Stacy Oriuwa "I was donned in my stethoscope and my scrubs and I had patients who told me to leave the room because they did not believe I was a part of the medical team," she told TODAY by phone. "They would say, 'Whoever is not a doctor needs to leave,' and then pointing to me and saying, 'She's not a doctor.'" Throughout her time at the University of Toronto, Oriuwa was disappointed in the curriculum that did not address Black health appropriately and failed to be inclusive. It's a topic receiving more attention in the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic, with recent surveys showing that 11% of African Americans have a family member or close friend who died of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. That's compared with 5% of Americans overall, and 4% of white Americans. They would say, 'Whoever is not a doctor needs to leave,' and then pointing to me and saying, 'She's not a doctor. Chika Stacy Oriuwa Professor Lisa Robinson, the associate dean of inclusion and diversity at the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine, told TODAY via email that progress for support and inclusion of Black students is being made. "As a Faculty of Medicine, we are working with our hospital partners to shine a light on what anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism looks like in the clinical environment, the deep harm it causes, and what we all need to do to create the accountability needed to effect change," she wrote. Robinson said that in 2016, the school appointed Dr. Onye Nnorom as the Black Health Theme Lead to work with physicians who focus on Indigenous health and LGBTQ patients to support the development and integration of Black health into the curriculum of the medical program. But there's another element missing for people from underrepresented groups: community. "There were times that I would experience discrimination or someone would make a racially insensitive comment or I would experience microaggression or macroaggression, and during those times where I felt not necessarily safe to speak up and defend myself, or I would do so and I would struggle to find allies," Oriuwa said. "Those were the times that I felt most alone." Robinson said, "The Faculty of Medicine has been working to change a problematic history in the number of Black doctors in training and we know that we have to do better." According to the university, more than 20 Black students will be enrolled in its medical program in the 2020-2021 school year. 'Living the systemic issue' She welcomed her first child just two months ago, but Iggy Azalea is already focused on putting together a new album. The Fancy rapper, 30, shared a video to Instagram Stories late on Sunday night of herself working hard in the recording studio. In the footage, Iggy looked sensational in an all-black ensemble, which she teamed with a large pair of headphones. Back to work! On Sunday, Iggy Azalea (pictured) shared footage to Instagram of herself in a recording studio working on her new album, just two months after welcoming her first son The Australian hitmaker showed off her trim physique, just weeks after welcoming her son, in a fitted long-sleeved sweater. Sporting a glamorous look, Iggy wore a full coverage foundation, with a touch of bronzer, pink lipstick and lashings of mascara. She wore her luscious long blonde locks in a ponytail, which was tied up with a scarf, while framing her face with two bangs. Busy times! The glimpse of Iggy back in the studio comes after she excited fans by hinting that she might be teaming up with Old Town Road rapper Lil Nas X The glimpse of Iggy back in the studio comes after she excited fans by hinting that she might be teaming up with Old Town Road rapper Lil Nas X. After Iggy, whose real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly, announced on Twitter on Friday that she was recording new music, Lil Nas X, 21, tweeted her directly and asked her to direct message him. Iggy responded to the tweet: 'Wait a min, are we about to become two hit wonders?' Coming soon? Iggy excited fans on Friday by teasing she could be collaborating with Lil Nas X 'Yes,' Lil Nas X responded, followed by two smiling emojis with stars in their eyes. Earlier that day, Iggy confirmed that she had just returned to Los Angeles to start recording her next album. While she has remained coy about her collaborators on the project, she has confirmed she is working with producer J. White again. Reaching out: After the Fancy rapper, 30, announced on Twitter on Friday that she was recording new music, Lil Nas X, 21, tweeted her directly and asked her to direct message him Joking: Iggy responded to the tweet: 'Wait a min, are we about to become two hit wonders?' J. White was behind many of her recent hits, including Sally Walker and Lola. Speaking to Popcrave last month, J. White said that Iggy was 'laser focused' on bringing her fans some new music. 'Iggy is definitely working!' he said. 'We got some special things coming.' 'She's so laser focused on getting the people something fresh, something new': Iggy's producer J. White has been working with the rapper on new music He continued: 'I don't really know as far as a release date for a single, but what I do know is that with me and Iggy, she's so laser focused on getting the people something fresh, something new. 'We had a conversation on where we need to go as far as sound and how she feels. I really, for months now, have been working on the perfect taste for Iggy. 'She's one person I know who works really hard. I love her work ethic. She's with with me 12 hours a day, 13, 14 hours a day. And all just all for one song. We're laser focused in to create something that's so amazing.' VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Dimension Five Technologies Inc. (CSE:DFT) ("D5" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding letter of intent (the "LOI") with Aduro Energy Inc. ("Aduro" or "Aduro Energy") to acquire 100% of the issued and outstanding shares of Aduro from the shareholders of Aduro (the "Transaction"). About Aduro Energy Aduro Energy, established in 2012, is an Ontario-based private company that has developed a highly flexible clean energy platform featuring three water-based technologies: Hydrochemolytic Plastics Upgrading ("HPU"); Hydrochemolytic Renewables Upgrading ("HRU"); and Hydrochemolytic Bitumen Upgrading ("HBU"). New Technology, New Solutions Originally conceived to radically enhance aspects of petroleum processing, the patented Aduro Energy solutions leverage unique properties of water to upgrade renewable oils as well as waste plastics and rubber to higher value products - cheaply and quickly. The approach is significantly more environment-friendly than established alternatives like energy-intensive pyrolysis, gasification, and decades-old methods applied to petroleum. Aduro Energy instead uses hydrochemolytics, a smart chemistry approach developed by the company. It bypasses traditional methods' reliance on high temperatures from 400 C to as high as 1100 C, and on hydrogen produced by conversion of natural gas at between 700 C and 1000 C. Although hydrochemolytics operates at only 260 C - 390 C, it achieves the same benefits by activating and tuning water to beneficially transform diverse feedstocks. Aduro Energy Solutions HPU. The Hydrochemolytic Plastics Upgrading technology was developed to address the mounting global problem of post-consumer plastics, foam, and rubber from used tires. These materials consist of large, durable molecules called polymers whose properties make them both useful to society and problematic to nature. Aduro Energy applies insights from its original work with petroleum to use HPU to disassemble polymers into smaller molecules, converting waste to resource. It does this through hydrochemolytics, a water-based green chemistry method that accomplishes in an hour what can take decades in nature. In some cases, the products can be purified and reused as feedstocks in the circular economy for producing new plastics or foams. Or, the polymer resource can instead be converted into hydrocarbon fuels. Either way, the application of HPU to recovered plastics, foams, and tire rubber serves to reduce the demand for crude oil while also diverting end-of-life and single-use waste materials from landfills and oceans. HRU. The Hydrochemolytic Renewable Upgrading technology offers the possibility to transform renewable oils into renewable motor fuels, bio-jet fuel, and specialty chemicals. At the heart of this novel, patent-pending process is a highly scalable continuous-flow reactor that hydrochemolytically upgrades lipids regardless of fatty acid content. Feeds may include the inedible corn oil by-product from ethanol plants; oils from non-food seed crops grown on marginal lands; off-spec canola and soybean oils; tallow; and yellow and brown grease from restaurants that often flows into wastewater treatment plants. The products obtained may also be diverse: besides renewable fuels, the core conversion technology can be configured to produce renewable specialty chemicals such as vegan saturated fatty acids for personal hygiene and industrial applications. HRU also presents a pathway to renewable resins for coatings, adhesives, sealants, and foams for seat cushions or mattresses, replacing raw materials traditionally derived from petroleum. HBU. The Hydrochemolytic Bitumen Upgrading technology is a completely new approach for transforming heavy crude oil and bitumen into lighter crude. Covered by four patents and patents pending, HBU takes direct aim at asphaltenes and related "heavy" components in petroleum. Their presence at levels up to 25% in Alberta bitumen make it extremely dense and viscous, precluding transport by pipeline unless modified by traditional approaches. By applying hydrochemolytics, HBU efficiently deconstructs the heavy components into lighter molecules, some even being in the diesel range. The upgraded crude has superior properties compared with Western Canadian Select (WCS), including reduced values for sulfur, metals, and acid number. Reduced viscosity means it can be transported through pipelines without dilution by light hydrocarbons. Compared with alternative upgrading technologies, the additional benefits of reduced emissions and low resource demands of HBU gives environmental and competitive advantages to Alberta producers of heavy oil and bitumen. The Industry The annual global market for the production and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel was sized at over 136 billion US dollars. By 2024, the market is expected to grow to almost 154 billion U.S. dollars. Market growth is projected to be driven by capacity additions and higher prices for alternative fuels. Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/217179/global-biofuels-market-size/ The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects that world energy consumption will grow by nearly 50% between 2018 and 2050. Most of this growth comes from countries that are not in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and this growth is focused in regions where strong economic growth is driving demand, particularly in Asia. Source: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=41433 The Transaction a. The Transaction is to be a share exchange or three-cornered amalgamation pursuant to which D5 will purchase all of the Aduro Shares from the Aduro Shareholders, and the Aduro Convertible Notes from their holders, in exchange for an aggregate of 40,000,000 D5 Shares and 80,000,000 Special Warrants. The Special Warrants will automatically convert on a one for one basis into D5 common shares upon the achievement of certain milestones in the development of the Aduro business. The Parties are to negotiate the Definitive Agreement and to use all commercially reasonable efforts to complete ancillary agreements, apply for and obtain CSE approval of the Transaction, and, in particular, take the following steps: (i) as soon as is reasonably practicable, D5 will apply to the CSE for the consent to complete the Transaction described in the Letter of Intent; (ii) as soon as is reasonably practicable, D5 will complete a financing of at least $500,000, a portion of which will be lent to Aduro prior to Closing to assist Aduro in its ongoing business development; (iii) before or contemporaneous with Closing, Aduro will ensure that all Aduro options, Aduro Warrants any other rights to acquire Aduro Shares (other than the Aduro Convertible Notes) are converted or exercised, so that no rights to acquire Aduro Shares exist as at the Closing; (iv) before or contemporaneous with Closing, Aduro will ensure that all Aduro Convertible Notes have been amended such that such notes will automatically be exchanged for a portion of the 80,000,000 Special Warrants on achievement of the first milestone described in the Letter of Intent; and (iv) at the Closing Date, nominees of Aduro will be appointed as 4 of the 5 directors of D5, the publicly listed parent company of Aduro, and D5 will change its name to "Aduro Energy Inc." The $500,000 financing mentioned above will be comprised of D5 shares to be issued at $0.05 per share and a substantial portion is intended to close within the next 30 days. Subscribers must acknowledge that $150,000 of the funds raised will be lent to Aduro prior to closing of the Transaction with limited security, to be repaid within one year only if the first milestone is not achieved. Subscribers in this $0.05 financing will have to acknowledge that there is no assurance the Transaction will be completed. Additional Information The LOI regarding the proposed Transaction and the Resulting Entity will be filed on SEDAR and will be available for viewing by all shareholders. If completed, the Transaction will constitute a "Fundamental Change" pursuant to CSE policies. The LOI incorporates the principal terms of the Transaction described herein, and in addition, such other terms and provisions of a more detailed structure and nature as the parties have agreed. However, there is no guarantee that the Transaction will close. And if it does close, the Resulting Entity will have to qualify to list its shares for trading on the CSE under a Listing Application or similar disclosure document. Trading Halt Under CSE rules, trading in the Company's shares will remain halted until the Company either closes the Transaction or terminates the LOI. (Not for dissemination in the United States of America) About Dimension Five Technologies Inc. Dimension Five Technologies Inc. based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a public company listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange that has signed an LOI for an amalgamation transaction with Aduro Energy Inc. For further information, please contact: Chris Parr, CEO Chris@dimensionfive.ca Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, execution of the LOI by Aduro shareholders, financings by both Aduro and the Company, CSE acceptance and, pursuant to the requirements of the CSE, shareholder approval by a majority of the minority of shareholders. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All information in this news release concerning Aduro has been provided for inclusion herein by Aduro. Although the Company has no knowledge that would indicate that any information contained herein concerning Aduro is untrue or incomplete, the Company assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any such information as the Company has not completed due diligence on Aduro. Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the listing statement or information circular to be prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Statements about the execution of the LOI, closing of the Transaction, expected terms of the Transaction, the number of securities of the Company that may be issued in connection with the Transaction, the ownership of the Company, the requirement to obtain shareholder approval, the terms of and the completion of the Financing, the agreement of all Aduro noteholders and the parties' ability to satisfy any and all other closing conditions, and receive necessary regulatory and CSE approvals in connection therewith and anticipate costs and the ability to achieve goals are all forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, failure to negotiate the substantive business terms, items of due diligence presenting challenges to closing that cannot be overcome, failure to get financing as required, failure to get required shareholder approval, failure to get a majority of the minority shareholder approval, failure to get Aduro noteholder approval, failure to obtain regulatory approval, the continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions, changes in legislation and regulations, failure of counterparties to perform their contractual obligations, litigation, the loss of key directors, employees, advisors or consultants and fees charged by service providers. The Company assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. Readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. SOURCE: Dimension Five Technologies Inc. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597454/Dimension-Five-Technologies-Inc-Enters-into-Letter-of-Intent-with-Aduro-Energy-Inc GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas Police in suburban Dallas say a 13-year-old boy was driving a vehicle that struck three adults and two children, killing one of the adults. Grand Prairie police said teen was driving the sedan Sunday night without his parents consent when he hit the people. Police say two women and a man were pushing a 1-year-old boy and 2-year-old girl in strollers when they were all hit on a highway frontage road. Police say the teen did not see the pedestrians walking in the same direction he was traveling. Maria Hernandez-Gonzalez, 52, died at the scene. She was the legal guardian of the 1-year-old boy. The two toddlers and the two other adults were taken to Dallas hospitals with injuries that werent life-threatening, police said. If youre looking for signs of hope in these challenging times, look no further than teenagers who are leaders in our communities. I had the opportunity to meet 18 remarkable Gold Award Girl Scouts in early July. Traveling from town-to-town in Southern Illinois, I visited the homes of this years award recipients. I presented them with their Gold Award, put a sign in their yard and posed for pictures. Being around these girls assured me we can look forward to a brighter future. The 18 Gold Award Girl Scouts have shown exceptional dedication to improving their communities and world. To earn a Gold Award, a Girl Scout in grades 9 to 12 tackles an issue that is dear to her. Her actions drive meaningful and lasting change in their communities and beyond. For example, Sydney McAuliffe of OFallon organized Fitness Fairs. Sydney had gotten into great shape and loved how she felt. Knowing many children and teens do not exercise enough and are obese, Sydney decided to share her knowledge of the impact of exercise on our minds and bodies. She organized two Fitness Fairs, one for Girl Scouts and one for the public. I am mentally stronger than I originally thought, says Sydney. I was able to complete my project with few issues, and I learned I am capable of managing big events with a lot of different things going on at the same time. I also visited with Gold Award Girl Scout Colleen McCracken, of Edwardsville. Colleen addressed the lack of awareness about Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a disorder of the autonomic nervous system affecting one in 100 teenagers. The disorder is often misdiagnosed. Colleen is aware of the challenge misdiagnoses cause because she herself has POTS. Colleen educated current and future healthcare professionals about POTS with presentations throughout Edwardsville. A kinesiology professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville heard Colleens talk then added a unit on POTS to future classes. The Edwardsville City Council proclaimed October Dysautonomia Awareness Month and Colleen gave a speech to the council. I have had other POTS patients who have seen my advocacy work reach out to me for advice and in gratitude, Colleen says. Through my Girl Scout Gold Award service, I have learned how to make an effective presentation to educate people and how to make a difference in their lives. I am so proud of our Gold Award Girl Scouts. If you have a Girl Scout consider encouraging her to continue through high school. I know, they are busy with sports, debate and whatever. So are the 18 award winners. I encourage you and your daughter because when a girl stays in Girl Scouts to earn her Gold Award, she receives a head start on the path to success. As parents, teaching our children values is one of our most important jobs. Girl Scouts learn kindness and generosity as they serve the community. I look forward to seeing this years Gold Award Girl Scouts put their values into action. Loretta Graham is the CEO of the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois Police officers walk past a plaque outside Beijing's new national security bureau office after its official inauguration in Hong Kong, on July 8, 2020. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images) Hong Kongs 3rd COVID-19 Wave: 42 New Cases Coincide With Opening of Beijings New National Security Office Hong Kong has excelled at preventing a mass CCP virus outbreak amid the worldwide pandemic. But a recent uptick in cases coincidentally occurred following Beijings formal implementation of its national security law. We can see Hong Kong has had a COVID wildfire after the implementation of the National Security Law, said Kalvin Ho, vice president of the Hong Kong Association for Democracy and Peoples Livelihood (ADPL), a pro-democracy political party, during a press conference. He raised concerns that there was a lack of information about the COVID-19 testing for mainland Chinese staff who are working in the newly established national security bureau in Hong Kong. Beijing formally enacted the law after ceremonial votes on June 30. The law criminalizes individuals for any acts of subversion, secession, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Then, on July 8, Beijing turned a hotel near Victoria Park in Causeway Bay into the new headquarters of its Office of Safeguarding National Security. The office was set up under a provision of the national security law. The office has sweeping power with immunity from local jurisdiction. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most densely populated cities. A daily high-speed train runs between Hong Kong and Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 pandemic originated. As of July 14, Hong Kong has 1,469 confirmed cases and 7 confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Despite being one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Hong Kong successfully prevented community transmission, until Saturday, July 4. A 59-year-old man with no recent travel history tested positive for COVID-19. By July 9, 42 new confirmed COVID cases appeared in Hong Kong. The virus resurgence coincided with the implementation of the Chinese Communist Partys controversial national security law, which has been met with protests and fear by city residents. During the ADPL press conference, the group raised concerns about the lack of COVID testing and quarantine for officials and staff who are working in the new national security bureau in Hong Kong. They are coming from mainland China. Do they have any tests to see whether they are healthy or not? We dont know any information about the officials inside, said Ho. We have witnesses saying these national security law staff are coming out of the building and coming into contact with our residents. Were raising public concern to get the Hong Kong government to publicize the health of [the bureaus staff], he added. Under the law, Beijing appointed hardliner Zheng Yanxiong to lead the new security office. Local media reported that the new office has 200 to 300 staff members. Meanwhile, Epoch Times reporters discovered that there were mainland Chinese citizens loitering near the newly set-up office on the day of its inauguration ceremony. On July 8, a reporter with this publications Hong Kong edition spoke with a man who was standing outside the office, with his face mask pulled down. Are you a tourist or do you work here? the reporter asked. I dont work here, the man blurted in Mandarin Chinese. Local Hongkongers speak a different Chinese dialect, Cantonese. The reporter then asked if he was visiting Hong Kong. The man replied, Yes, here for travel, here for travel. Currently, there is a strict travel entry ban on all non-Hong Kong residents. The reporter proceeded to ask how he was able to travel to the city from mainland China. The man responded, I cant go back, I cant go back. After realizing the reporters affiliation with The Epoch Times, the man hurriedly picked up his cellphone call. He left and walked right into the new officeand no police officers or security guards stopped him. In other media footage of the inauguration ceremony, the same man is seen standing by the stage with prominent local pro-Beijing lawmakers. Once again, his face mask was pulled down. After the discovery of new cases this week, 13 educational institutions have suspended classes. Visits to elderly care centers were restricted after a few cases were discovered at the Kong Tai Elderly Care Center. The Hong Kong government also mandated that restaurants return to capping customers parties to eight maximum. Health experts said that the increasing number of infections signaled that Hong Kong was experiencing a third wave of COVID-19 infections. A batch of the new cases remains untraced. TROY, N.Y. Three members of the Democratic Minority caucus of the Rensselaer County Legislature, submitted a resolution Tuesday night on racial justice. Democratic Minority Leader Peter Grimm, Deputy Minority Leader Cindy Doran, and Legislator Mark Fleming all backed the resolution which supports the Black Lives Matter movement, calling for racial justice for black people and people of color. Other minority legislators, including Carole Weaver, Bobby Burns, and Erin Sullivan-Teta did not endorse the resolution prior to Tuesday nights meeting. According to Grimm, the amended resolution has enabled more voices to be heard and acknowledged. The content and the intent has stayed consistent. The acknowledging of the Black Lives Matter movement, the enlightenment that this country has, that there is systemic racism and there has been situations of brutal treatment by law enforcement and unfair treatment within many agencies, that we are still addressing that in the resolution, Grimm said. Our resolutions intent was to support all of these institutions, judicial, law enforcement, all of these agencies, because they need help, Grimm added. During a Tuesday morning press conference, Rensselaer County Sheriff Pat Russo voiced his criticism with the initial resolution. The [initial] resolution was one the most decisive and hate-filled resolutions directed at law enforcement and the criminal justice system that weve witnessed. Its a slap in the face to all dedicated professionals who put their lives on the line every day to protect the citizens of this county and the quality of life in our communities, Russo stated. We all agree that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy and should never have happened and that theres a need for some reforms in the criminal justice system, Russo continued. Were united in the belief that all lives matter. Changes can be accomplished by sides coming together and talking, not by hate-filled resolutions, Russo added. Grimm countered that the focus should be looking forward and not back. If hes referring to the first resolution and not to the resolution that is on the table, thats a problem, because we have evolved on this already and we have brought lots of people to the table on this and like I said until it goes to the floor, this is a work in progress, Grimm remarked. Bringing up the past right now after weve identified how people interpreted it and what it meant to some people and then talked to them and listened to them and put their voice into this, if thats not progress, I dont know what is. So, bringing up the past certainly is not going to get us to the future, Grimm added. One of those voices at the table was Troy Police Chief Brian Owens, who also spoke during the press conference, thanking the community for their input. We realize that there is a difference of opinion at times, we realize theres a lot of emotions at times and we respect that, Owens said. We also realize we have to deal with reality and unfortunately in the city of Troy crime continues, violence continues and we need to address that. The men and women of the Troy Police Department are dedicated to our community. We live by our motto of service, trust, and professionalism. Our partners here also serve their communities every day, Owens added. Grimm also further elaborated on the need for racial justice and systemic change as outlined in the amended resolution. We need to change the way weve been doing things and this is a trans-formative time and everyone needs to be on board for that, Grimm said. This isnt something that we can sit back and hope it goes away. This is not what Americas all about. This is in no way or form an attack on the honorable public servants of our community or any other community. This is simply recognizing the problems that we have had that have been brought to our attention of late and something needs to be done with them, Grimm noted. Grimm also spoke more to the amendments made in the resolution, adding as many voices as possible. The original resolution, I heard from civic leaders, I spoke with community leaders, elected officials, constituents and leaders of law enforcement and many of them felt that there were parts where their voices werent heard. The amendments are putting their voices into it, Grimm said. Thats how you get through things, you begin the conversation and then you bring everyone to the table. Resolutions, until they go to the floor, are simply drafts. Im happy that weve gotten where we have gotten with this. Law enforcement is the first one to agree with me that there is a systemic problem here and they need help to move forward to change the way things are done, Grimm continued. Thats what this resolution is all about, its calling upon every facet of government to get on board to address this problem and to become I think trans-formative, that we need to change the way that we do things and you know I dont know how anyone can be against this. It simply identifies the problem, it includes how the problem has affected certain people, it identifies what we need to do and who needs to do it and thats all of us, Grimm added. AdHoc Troy also gathered with community residents outside the County Legislative Office Building prior to the meeting to voice their support for the resolution. Waving fronds of seaweed form a peaceful underwater scene, with dappled sunlight pouring down. Hidden in the organisms genes, however, may be evidence of the planets past geological violence. In a paper published last week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, researchers say that the genes of bull kelp along the shore of the South Island of New Zealand bear marks of an earthquake that occurred 800 years ago, when part of the ocean floor rose upward and wiped out its inhabitants. That made way for newcomers of a different genetic background, the ancestors of todays kelp. The finding suggests that moments of cataclysmic change in an environment can be revealed by comparing genes across populations of some organisms. New Zealand lies atop a nest of fault lines. After a quake four years ago, the edge of a fault near the town of Kaikoura shot more than six feet out of the water, and Jon Waters, a professor of zoology at University of Otago, and his colleagues began to wonder what happened to kelps after such destruction. Those stranded above the high tide line die swiftly, but as the ecosystem below the water shifts into a new normal, theres suddenly a lot of free real estate, where new individuals can sweep in and take over. And because of the way that a population of kelp carpets an area for the long term and makes little room for new arrivals, Dr. Waters said, the algae provided an ideal test bed for seeing whether a disasters effects on the gene pool persist over time. About 800 years ago, according to the geological record, there was a similar quake in New Zealand along the coastline near Dunedin. The scientists took samples of kelp along a 60-mile stretch of that shore. Each individual kelp looked much the same as the others of its species. However, when the scientists examined the genetics, there were large differences linked to where the kelps had been collected. Bull kelp that lived along a 15-mile stretch that had been forced into the air during that long-ago earthquake were distinct from their neighbors of the same species on either side, whose homes had long lain undisturbed. BADEN Wilmot township council decided Monday to take more time before voting on a motion that would pause the controversial project installing statues of Canadas prime ministers. Coun. Angie Hallman had proposed a motion to pause development and investment in the project until after there has been consultation with Indigenous people. She proposed a report to be made to council on the consultation by March 1, 2021. But after hearing passionate views from many sides of the issue, councillors agreed to defer her motion to a future meeting. Earlier, at a lengthy meeting on Monday night, township councillors heard from Indigenous people, residents of Wilmot, and the two men who created the Prime Ministers Path project Dave Caputo and Jim Rodger. Caputo reminded council that 150 people, most from Wilmot, participated in fundraising for the project, which has brought in $800,000. The statues were donated to the township, which has given zero funds for it, he said. Meanwhile, thousands of students have used the educational resources provided by the project, and tens of thousands of other visitors have come to see the statues as well. Thousands of hours of volunteer time were invested as well on the project and on the educational resources that were developed. The project has brought five life-size statues already to the park area around the township offices at Castle Kilbride, a combination museum and municipal office. Four more statues are waiting to be installed in a ceremony and symposium that was to have taken place in June, but was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The five statues already installed include one of Canadas first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. It was defaced with red paint several times in the past month, in a move thats widely understood as a protest against Macdonalds treatment of Indigenous peoples. Lori Campbell, an Indigenous activist and educator who is director of the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre at St. Pauls University College in Waterloo, spoke about the particular pain caused by Macdonalds statue when Indigenous people encounter it. Macdonald began the education system that forced Indigenous children away from their families and into the deeply harmful environment of residential schools. He implemented a passport system forbidding Indigenous people from leaving the reserves without permission, and starved Indigenous people to help clear them out of the way for white settlement, she said. He knew what he was doing, and the Indigenous people were simply an obstacle in the way of his national dream, she said. She said the statue should be removed from its outdoor location. Education should happen in classrooms and museums, not in our parks, Campbell said. Glen Mathers, who also spoke, urged councillors to make a rational decision, and consider what legal and financial obligations it has if the project is placed on hold. Im asking council to not make a quick and emotional decision on this matter, he said. Hallman was rewriting and revising her original motion during the meeting, before it was agreed to defer the decision until another meeting. Im hoping I can bring something back that encompasses a path forward, she said. China's commerce ministry said on Tuesday that the United States' "warning" to US companies working in the western Xinjiang region had destabilised the global supply chain. The US State Department told top American companies including Walmart Inc, Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc this month that there were risks in maintaining supply chains associated with what it described as rights abuses in Xinjiang. China's commerce ministry said the US move had also affected the global economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. China would take necessary measures to ... A Michigan man refused service for not wearing a mask amid the coronavirus pandemic early Tuesday morning stabbed another customer before he was shot to death by a sheriff's deputy, police said. Sean Ernest Ruis, 43, walked into Quality Dairy in Windsor Township just outside Lansing and 100 miles west of Detroit at about 6:45 a.m. without wearing a mask. Officers with the Michigan State Police and Eaton County Sheriff's Department respond to a stabbing incident at a Quality Dairy store in Delta Township, Mich., on July 14, 2020. (Michigan State Police Lansing) A 77-year-old customer asked Ruis to cover his face and the store refused service before asking him to leave, Michigan State Police said in a statement. He then stabbed that customer who asked him to put on a mask, authorities said. Police issued an alert with a description of Ruis' car and his license plate number, authorities said. A short time later, an Eaton County Sheriff's deputy pulled over Ruis on a residential street in neighboring Delta Township at 7:13 a.m., leading to the brief, fatal encounter, official said. "The suspect immediately exits his vehicle and walks towards the deputy with a knife in hand to attack the deputy," according to a statement from state police. "The deputy attempted to increase distance by backing up and subsequently shot and injured the suspect. The suspect was transported to a local hospital and died during surgery." Both the Eaton County Sheriff's Department and state police released graphic video of the deadly confrontation, which appeared to show a man approaching the deputy. The deputy could be heard screaming "Drop the knife!" and "Drop the weapon!" several times in the footage. The sheriff's 10-second video appeared to be from the deputy's body camera and she could be seen backing up while ordering, "Drop the weapon, drop the weapon!" The deputy appeared to fire several times at the man, who kept approaching despite being shot. "She backed away from him while repeatedly ordering him to drop the weapon, but he continued to advance and attack and she acted in defense of her life," according to a sheriff's statement. Story continues "Our thoughts and prayers are for the full recovery of the victim who was stabbed at the Quality Dairy and for his family, and are with our deputy who was subsequently violently attacked. They are also with the family of Mr. Ruis who was killed in this senseless, tragic incident." The sheriff also released a picture that seemed to show the man with a stabbing weapon in each hand. And just before the deputy opened fire, the man was well within reach, Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich said. "You can see in that one photograph I gave you, how close the assailant came to her," Reich told reporters. "You can't see the deputy's weapon but it was covered by the assailant's hand." The deputy has been placed on administrative leave as standard practice in an officer-involved shooting, according to the department. Ruis lived in nearby Grand Ledge and the Eaton County Sheriff's Department did not immediately identify its deputy though state police called her a 22 1/2-year veteran of the force. She was not injured in the confrontation, officials said. Ruis had been employed as a transportation technician for the state Department of Transportation since 2008, the agency said. "He was a transportation technician in mix design, which is responsible for pavement design procedures, investigation, training and testing," according to a statement by DOT spokesman Aaron Jenkins. The man stabbed at the store was taken to a local hospital and is expected to survive, state police said. Tuesday was the second day of a state order, in light of the ongoing pandemic, making face coverings mandatory in any indoor public setting or any outdoor location in Michigan where there cannot be proper social distancing. WBBSE Madhyamik Result 2020: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday offered her best wishes to students of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Educations Class 10 or Madhyamik examination the results to which will be announced on Wednesday. Banerjee was called up on her mobile phone by home secretary Alapan Banerjee while he was addressing a press conference at Nabanna, the state secretariat, on Tuesday afternoon. The chief secretary put his phone on speaker mode and placed it before a microphone so that the chief minister could address the media. Follow WBBSE Madhyamik 10th Result 2020 LIVE Updates I congratulate those whose results will be announced tomorrow. Some students may not do well. I want to tell them in advance there is no reason to lose hope. They should prepare themselves and appear for the examination again, said the chief minister. Read More: WBBSE 10th Result 2020 to be declared today, how to check scores online Most reputable schools in Kolkata and the districts are affiliated to Central boards. Only schools run by the Ramakrishna Mission and state-funded institutions in the districts are under the state board. The results will be announced on the boards website. Around 10 lakh students appeared for the examination this year. The examination ended in February but the results have been delayed because of the nationwide lockdown. "Joe Biden's supporters are fighting to defund police departments. Violent crime has exploded. You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." - Text of a Trump campaign ad, "Abolished," over images of violence and a recording of a police answering machine, released July 2, 2020. --- The Trump campaign has a problem. Former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has firmly rejected calls from left-wing activists to "defund police." But clearly the Trump campaign wants to tag him with the somewhat confusing slogan. So it produced an ad that slickly tries to get around this uncomfortable fact. The Trump campaign must think the effort is a winner. Ben Taber, an account manager at Advertising Analytics, says that as of July 13, the Trump campaign had spent $6.7 million placing the ad on network television and on local stations in Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Arizona, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nevada, Iowa, New Mexico and Michigan. But, factually, the ad is a loser. --- The scenes of mayhem in the ad come from some of the recent looting that took place after George Floyd's death in police custody in Minneapolis. Okay, so these images are technically Donald Trump's America, not Joe Biden's. But we will leave that aside. The ad is framed around an unanswered phone at a police station. "You have reached the 9-1-1 police emergency line," a voice says on an answering machine. "Due to defunding of the police department, we're sorry but no one is here to take your call. If you are calling to report a rape, please press one. To report a murder, press two. To report a home invasion, press three. For all other crimes, leave your name and number and someone will get back to you. Our estimated wait time is currently five days. Goodbye." Toward the end of this hellish fantasy, the text reads: "Joe Biden's supporters are fighting to defund police departments. Violent crime has exploded. You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America." Note the "Joe Biden's supporters"? The Trump campaign can't tag Biden, so it tries guilt by association. The line about supporters is attributed to a Fox News report on June 6. But it turns out the article is only about one supporter: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. The article says she wants to reduce the $6 billion budget of the New York City Police Department. But it also notes that her position is not in the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Among other Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Karen Bass, D-Calif., have not supported defunding the police. (The Trump campaign says the citation was only illustrative and provided a list of other Biden supporters who back defunding police, such as 54 Democratic National Committee members, convention superdelegates and members of a criminal justice task force convened by Biden, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti - who cut $150 million from the police budget - and others.) We should pause a moment and explain what "defund the police" means. It generally does not mean eliminating the police. Instead, advocates want to redirect some funds now spent on police forces to items such as education, public health, housing and youth services. The idea is that low-income communities would become stronger - and less in need of police - if root problems were addressed. Under this concept, some police officers would be replaced with trained social workers or specialized response teams in an effort to let police focus on violent crime, not drug overdoses or homelessness. The theory is that police would be better positioned to deal with rapes and murders if they were not required to deal with other social ills that sometimes lead to community confrontations with police. At The Fact Checker, we obviously take no position on the issue. But this is a catchphrase that can be easily twisted to mean something else. In New York City, for instance, Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to a budget deal that would divert about $1 billion, or 17%, of the police budget to fund projects for youth living in public housing projects. The Trump ad then claims "violent crime has exploded" and sources that to an ABC News report titled, "Why some police officials believe crime is on the rise in US cities." The answer, according to a survey of four cities by the Police Executive Research Forum, is that the coronavirus pandemic led to the release of offenders in jails and the closure of courts to process new crimes. The report also said that police had less time to investigate crimes because they were monitoring protests. That's a pretty slim reed on which to rest this claim. (The Trump campaign also provided references to articles about increases in violence in June in New York, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Los Angeles.) The tag line - "You won't be safe in Joe Biden's America" - gets no citation because, well, it's ridiculous. The Trump campaign might have a case for this ad if Biden were a strong supporter of eliminating police departments. But, instead, as Fox News reported as far back as June 8, Biden opposes the concept. "No, I don't support defunding the police," Biden said in a CBS interview cited in the Fox report. "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." Biden, in fact, has come under fire from the left for his position and for proposing to spend an additional $300 million a year on the community policing program started in the Clinton administration. (That would effectively double the budget for the program.) "More than 50 liberal groups signed a letter Monday to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden criticizing his response to the emerging protest movement against police brutality, warning that failing to embrace a more aggressive agenda risks alienating the African American voters he needs to win the election," The Washington Post reported in June. "It is a slap in the face to black folks," lamented LaTosha Brown, the head of Black Voters Matter, an Atlanta-based civil rights group that signed on to the letter. Biden has argued that the correct response to prod police departments is to get closer to their communities and undertake reforms. "The vast majority of police are decent, honorable people, but there are bad apples, man. And we have to change the way in which we teach police. We have to release all the information," he said at a recent fundraiser. "We have to make sure that we deal with an entire new set of standards at the federal level like Barack [Obama] and I were doing before we left office. There's so much we can do, the country is ready to do it. We don't have to defund the police departments, we have to make sure they meet minimum basic standards of decency. And the vast majority of police, they want that to happen." The Trump ad first appeared July 2. The Trump campaign says the interview Biden had with activist Ady Barkan - and an edited version posted by NowThis on July 8 - has bolstered their case. During the interview, Barkan said, "We can reduce the responsibilities assigned to the police and redirect some of the funding for police into social services, mental health counseling and affordable housing." He asked Biden, "Are you open to that kind of reform?" In the video, Biden replies, "I've proposed that kind of reform." At another point, Barkan again asks: "But so we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?" The video shows Biden saying: "Yes, absolutely." The Fact Checker obtained an audio tape of the full conversation and Biden's responses were much more nuanced, though as usual a bit disjointed. The NowThis video does not include Biden adding that his response was not the same as "defunding all the police." He also speaks about increasing funding for mental health, which is different from saying that he would fund mental health aid out of redirected funds from the police. In effect, Biden appears to say he would condition aid on police reforms as an incentive on the one hand, while simultaneously providing additional resources for mental health, homelessness and other kinds of community support. (A Biden campaign aide confirms that this is Biden's position.) Here's the transcript of the key portions of the interview that were snipped. We highlighted in bold what appears in the video. BARKAN: (BEG BOLD)Are you open to that kind of reform?(END BOLD) BIDEN: (BEG BOLD)I've proposed that kind of reform.(END BOLD) And by the way, the idea, though, that's not the same as getting rid of or defunding all the police. There are certain things you cannot send. My daughter, who has her master's degree in social work, she, she is one who engages in dealing with all those problems, many of which you, you talk about. When you have - I've been very involved in holding over 1,000 hours of hearings on violence against women. And so many women, women are being killed by their, their spouses and/or their so-called lovers. When you get a call to a third-story walk-up in a domestic dispute, you can't send a social worker, because a social worker may get shot, too. So what happens - you, what do you do? You can send along a social worker with a police officer. We need significantly more help. That's why I call for significant increases in funding for mental health clinics and mental health providers. We are desperately in need of that now . . . [Biden continues talking, some of which appears in the video, such as when he advocates for having "access to the records of police when they had misconduct charges" and dismisses the need for police to have access to surplus military equipment.] BARKAN: (BEG BOLD)But so we agree that we can redirect some of the funding?(END BOLD) BIDEN: (BEG BOLD)Yes, absolutely.(END BOLD) And by the way, not just redirect, condition them. If they don't eliminate chokeholds, they don't get Byrne grants. If they don't do the following, they don't get any help. If they don't do - because you know as well as I do, the vast majority of all police departments are funded by the locality, funded by the municipality, funded by the state. It's only the federal government comes in on top of that. And so it says you want help, you have to do the following reforms, you have to make sure you have no-knock warrants eliminated. If you have them, you don't get Byrne grants. If you have them, boom. (BEG BOLD)And one of the things that we also need to be doing is fundamentally changing the way - and I've been pushing it for years - changing the way we deal with our prison system . . . (END BOLD) The Trump campaign defended the ad. "Joe Biden has failed to stand up to his supporters and the far-left elements of his Democratic Party who have called for defunding the police," Trump campaign spokesman Zach Parkinson said. "Just last week, when Biden was pressed by an activist on whether he supported radical efforts to 'redirect' police funding, Biden didn't hesitate in saying he 'absolutely' did. There can be no misunderstanding what 'redirect' means in this context - it means taking money originally budgeted for police and moving it elsewhere. At a time when crime is surging across the country, the American people need a president who will stand up to lawlessness and support the brave men and women in blue who keep our communities safe, not one who wants to cut their budgets. As the Trump campaign's ad makes perfectly clear, they would have no such support under a Biden administration." --- This ad tries to have its cake and eat it, too. Biden, to the dismay of activists on the left, has refused to back proposals to defund police and, in fact, has called for increased federal spending to bolster the number of police. So the Trump campaign uses slippery language of how "Biden supporters" back defunding and the result will be unchecked violence in "Biden's America" that would leave Americans unsafe. We think most viewers of this ad, if they were unaware of Biden's real position, would come away believing he supports defunding the police. The Trump campaign would be on more solid ground if it acknowledged that Biden opposed the idea but then argued he won't stand up to liberal activists. But instead, it tries to suggest that Biden is a supporter of defunding the police. That's simply false and, with its "Joe Biden's America" line, tips us to Four Pinocchios. A week-long initiative has commenced today looking to champion the work done on farms to provide habitat for bees and other pollinators. Bees Needs Week, taking place from 13 to 19 July, is an annual event coordinated by Defra working alongside farming and conservation groups. Bees and other pollinators play a crucial role in food production and agriculture, and are also vital to wider ecosystems in the UK. Scientists say pollinators contribute the equivalent of more than 500m a year to British agriculture and food production, by improving crop quality and quantity. The NFU, Championing the Farmed Environment (CFE) and the Nature Friendly Farmers Network (NFFN) are now highlighting guidance and resources to get more farmers involved. Success stories include David Butler, a mixed farmer from Wiltshire, who has dedicated 8 percent of his crop area to wildlife habitats. Surveys have shown increases in species numbers. Flowering crops, like spring beans, depend on pollinators for their success and by encouraging these species on the farm, yields and productivity have increased. And in Oxfordshire, mixed farmer Sally-Ann Spence has a nectar margin, pollinator strips and 100 acres of grassland on her farm. These important habitats for pollinators have increased beneficial insects, which in turn supports other important wildlife species on the farm, such as farmland birds. Martin Lines, UK chair of the NFFN said pollinators provide an important role in the UK's ecosystem: "They also provide enormous benefits to the food system, farming businesses and peoples wellbeing," he added. The week-long campaign is also encouraging the public to spend 10 minutes to count insects for the UKs Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). The authorities geared up for the day of total lockdown today. Last Sundays lockdown, was quite successful, according to the authorities, who expect the people to remain indoors and only medical services and milk supply would be allowed. The increase in number of cases in the districts Kallakurichi 102, Kanchipuram 119, Kanyakumari 133, Madurai 277, Salem 136, Theni 119, Thiruvallur 346, Thoothukudi 175, Tiruchy 128 and Vellore 135 has come as a challenge to the officials to ensure that the Sunday lockdown was implemented fully in places outside Chennai, too. Chennai can be delivered from the shackles of Covid-19 with peoples cooperation, said the State Health Secretary, J Radhakrishnan, even as new infections in the city went down to 1185 against a State total of 3965 on Saturday. An additional 500 beds would come up for Coronavirus patients in Chennai, Radhakrishnan said after inspecting medical facilities at Athipattu near Ambattur and added that the fatalities were brought down because of the proactive efforts made by the government to combat the pandemic. He denied the charge that the government was ignoring Siddha system of medicine in trying to figure ways to handle the Coronavirus crisis and said that formulations of Indian systems of medicine were being given to patients at the institutional centres. The State had even set up isolation centres in localities that were far away from hospitals and all efforts were being made to take the facilities to more number of people, he said. Chennai Corporation Commissioner G Prakash, who was at Injambakkam in connection with the launching of a free dialysis centre, told media persons that 81 groups had been formed to keep an eye on social distancing and face mask wearing by the people. He said all markets were being monitored through CCTV cameras and other means to ensure that there was no breach of norms on social distancing in crowded places. The series of awareness campaigns carried out in the city had led to 80 per cent of the people wearing face masks while stepping out. If the entire population could be made to wear masks, the spread of Covid-19 would well come under control, he said. The Commissioner said that clear instructions had been given to food delivery staff to maintain social distance while in crowded places and also while making deliveries. There are about 7000 food delivery staff in Chennai, he said. Banks had been instructed to put on hold non-essential services with a view to keeping as many people as possible from visiting the branches, he said. Acceding to a demand from the community of physically challenged people to appoint their members as monitoring staff, four persons had been recruited, he said. Meanwhile, the government decided to hold a Cabinet meeting, headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy, to discuss the lockdown, pandemic and related issues like holding of examinations for college and university students and come up with plans for the future on Tuesday. FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida (AP) - Florida surpassed its daily record for coronavirus deaths Tuesday amid rising global worries of a resurgence, even as researchers announced that the first vaccine tested in the U.S. had worked to boost patients' immune systems. Florida's 132 additional deaths topped a state mark set just last week. The figure likely includes deaths from the past weekend that had not been previously reported. The new deaths raised the states seven-day average to 81 per day, more than double the figure of two weeks ago and now the second-highest in the United States behind Texas. The worrisome figures were released just hours before the news about the experimental vaccine, developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc. "No matter how you slice this, this is good news," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. governments top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press. Key final testing of the vaccine will start around July 27, tracking 30,000 people to prove if the shots really work in preventing infection. Tuesday's announcement focused on findings since March in 45 volunteers. A health worker performs a COVID-19 test at a Test Iowa site at Waukee South Middle School, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Waukee, Iowa. Iowa state Auditor Rob Sand said Tuesday that a coronavirus testing program brought to the state under a $28 million no-bid contract by Gov. Kim Reynolds on recommendation from actor Ashton Kutcher is violating state law in the indirect way it handles test results data. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) With the virus spreading quickly in the southern and western U.S., one of the country's top public health officials offered conflicting theories about what is driving the outbreak. "We tried to give states guidance on how to reopen safely. ...If you look critically, few states actually followed that guidance," Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday in a livestream interview with the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Redfield said people in many states did not adopt social distancing and other measures because they hadnt previously experienced an outbreak. But he went on to say, without explanation, that he didn't believe the way those states handled reopening was necessarily behind the explosive rise in virus cases. He offered a theory that infected travelers from elsewhere in the country might have brought the virus with them around Memorial Day. CDC officials said that there are various possible explanations, and that Redfield was offering just one. Doctors in Florida have predicted more deaths as daily reported cases have surged from about 2,000 a day a month ago to a daily average of about 11,000, including a record 15,000 on Sunday. The state recorded 9,194 new cases Tuesday. Marlyn Hoilette, a nurse who spent four months working in the COVID-19 unit of her Florida hospital until testing positive recently, said hospitals are so desperate for staff to return to work they are not following guidelines that call for two negative tests first. "Nurses are getting sick, nursing assistants are getting sick and my biggest fear is that it seems we want to return folks to work even without a negative test," said Hoilette, who works at Palms West Hospital in Loxahatchee. Florida. "Its just a matter of time before you wipe the other staff out if youre contagious, so that is a big problem." Word of the rising toll in Florida came as Arizona officials tallied 4,273 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state, which became a virus hot spot after Gov. Doug Ducey relaxed stay-at-home orders and other restrictions in May, reported 3,517 patients hospitalized because of the disease, a record high. Arizonas death toll from COVID-19 rose to 2,337, with 92 additional deaths reported Tuesday. Redfield urged Americans to wear masks to help contain the virus. "At this critical juncture when COVID-19 is resurging, broad adoption of cloth face coverings is a civic duty, a small sacrifice reliant on a highly effective low-tech solution that can help turn the tide," he and two colleagues wrote, in an editorial published online Tuesday by the journal of the American Medical Association. In Britain, officials announced they will require people to wear face masks starting July 24, after weeks of dismissing their value. "We are not out of the woods yet, so let us all do our utmost to keep this virus cornered and enjoy summer safely," British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told lawmakers in the House of Commons. French President Emmanuel Macron said masks will be required by Aug. 1, after recent rave parties and widespread backsliding on social distancing raised concerns the virus may be starting to rebound. Even Melania Trump, whose husband President Donald Trump resisted wearing a mask or urging anyone else to do so, called on people to step up precautions. "Even in the summer months, please remember to wear face coverings & practice social distancing," she said Tuesday in a posting on her Twitter account. "The more precaution we take now can mean a healthier & safer country in the Fall." Meanwhile, officials in the Australian state of Queensland said those breaking quarantine rules could face up to six months in jail. With higher fines and the threat of jail time, "I hope that will demonstrate to the public just how serious we are about enforcing these measures," Queensland Deputy Premier Steven Miles said. Queensland shut its state borders to successfully contain the coronavirus outbreak, but reopened to all but residents of Victoria, Australia's worst affected region, two weeks ago. The city of Melbourne in Victoria recorded 270 new coronavirus infections overnight, with more than 4,000 cases now active across the state. Melbourne is one week into a six-week lockdown. Disney officials announced that Hong Kong Disneyland Park is closing Wednesday until further notice following the citys decision to ban public gatherings of more than four people to combat newly spreading infections. In Thailand, where there have been no reports of locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, authorities have revised rules governing visitors from abroad after a breakdown in screening led to two infected foreigners posing a possible risk to public health. The government said Tuesday that diplomats will be asked to stay in state-supervised quarantine for 14 days, instead of self-isolating. And it is postponing the recently allowed entry of some foreign visitors so procedures can be changed. India, which has the third-most cases after the U.S. and Brazil, was rapidly nearing 1 million cases with a jump of more than 28,000 reported Tuesday. It now has more than 906,000 and accumulated more than 100,000 in just four days. ___ Geller reported from New York. Associated Press reporters from around the world contributed. Hundreds of people lineup at the COVID-19 testing clinic Tuesday, July 14, 2020 in Montreal. The city has recommended that anyone who has been in a bar since July 1, 2020 to get tested. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP) Amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, Aiden Trabucco, right, wears a mask as he raises his hand to answer a question behind Anthony Gonzales during a summer STEM camp at Wylie High School Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Wylie, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Shoppers walk along Oxford Street in London, Tuesday, July 14, 2020.Britain's government is demanding people wear face coverings in shops as it has sought to clarify its message after weeks of prevarication amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein) Museum visitor Bill Starkel, of Atlanta, Ga., left, examines artwork at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Boston. The museum reopened for the first time Tuesday, July 14 since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, and is open Tuesday, July 14, and Wednesday, July 15, to those with membership. The ICA is to be open with free admission to the public July 16 through July 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Steven Senne) A voter, right, pulls down her mask for a Harris County election clerk before voting, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) France's President Emmanuel Macron, center, and his wife Brigitte Macron, right, with France's Prime Minister Jean Castex, left, look at the Bastille Day military parade, Tuesday, July 14, 2020 in Paris. France are honoring nurses, ambulance drivers, supermarket cashiers and others on its biggest national holiday Tuesday. Bastille Day's usual grandiose military parade in Paris is being redesigned this year to celebrate heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) A construction worker rides a scooter past a mural by Hiero Veiga of billionaire businessman Moishe Mana, left, and City of Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez wearing masks Monday, July 13, 2020, in the Wynwood Arts District of Miami. Florida's rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases is turning Miami into the "epicenter of the pandemic," a top doctor warned Monday, while an epidemiologist called the region's situation "extremely grave." (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) People wait in their vehicles in line at a COVID-19 testing site, Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) A mirror reflects the image of an activist wearing a mask and protective face shield as a precaution against the new coronavirus outbreak during a small protest outside the parliament in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. About a dozen activists staged the protest opposing the government's omnibus bill on job creation that was intended to boost economic growth and create jobs, saying that it undermined labor rights and environmental protection. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) An employee at the Clevelander bar and restaurant on Ocean Drive stacks chairs as they have shut down due to public health concerns caused by COVID-19 during the coronavirus pandemic, Monday, July 13, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) People line up for the coronavirus test in Rayong province, Thailand, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. Authorities set up testing for anyone concerned they might have come into contact with an Egyptian soldier who visited a shopping mall in Rayong last week and then tested positive for COVID-19. In Thailand, where there has been no reports of locally transmitted cases for seven weeks, health authorities were rushing to trace the contacts of two recent foreign arrivals in the country who were infected with the coronavirus and may have violated quarantine rules.(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit) A couple wearing protective masks from coronavirus walk by a closed hair salon in the Panorama City section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. As the coronavirus swept California with renewed ferocity, the governor once again closed bars, inside dining and, for much of the state, gyms, indoor church services and hair and nail salons in an effort to prevent COVID-19 cases from swamping hospitals. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel) A woman wearing a face mask to protect against the new coronavirus waits at a bus stop in Beijing, Tuesday, July 14, 2020. Health experts are warning that outbreaks brought under control with shutdowns and other forms of social distancing are likely to flare again as precautions are relaxed. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) Amid concerns of the spread of COVID-19, science teachers Ann Darby, left, and Rosa Herrera check-in students before a summer STEM camp at Wylie High School Tuesday, July 14, 2020, in Wylie, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero) As the Edo state gubernatorial elections draws close, top members of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, have openly pledged their commitment to support and ensure that the party wins the election in the state. One notable voice in the party is a chieftain of party, Okharedia Ihimekpen who has expressed optimism that the nothing can obstruct the reelection of the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki. Ihimekpen who had earlier cautioned the party not to take for granted the strength of the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Osagie Ize-Iyamu, hence he advised the govenor as well as the party not to leave any stone unturned. He noted that Ize-Iyamu is a strong and tactical politician with a strong grassroots presence that shouldnt be underrated by anyone in the PDP. In a detailed statement by Ihimekpen titled Who Can Stop Obaseki he described the governor who is the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate for the September 19 gubernatorial election as one with a good passion for the future of Edo State despite interference from powerful members of his former party the All Progressives Congress, APC. The statement reads in full; During the past four years, Edo State has made enormous economic progress. This can be seen most clearly in the rising trend for incomes and consumption: Between 2016 when Godwin Obaseki took over as the governor of the state and 2020, consumption capital in the state went up by almost 20 per cent. Broader measures of well-being confirm this picture as life expectancy, job and wealth creation and educational attainment have all improved remarkably. Viewed from either perspective, either from income and consumption on the one hand, or broad social indicators on the other, apart from Lagos State, Edo is advancing much faster than most of its contemporaries, when measured at a comparable stage. Against this background of achievement, it is all the more staggering and shameful that a percentage of his former party leaders, All Progressives Congress (APC) are in cruel indignation they queried that, the total economic activities of the state ought to have been in their hands and their whims and caprices. Ironically, state development report 2020, estimates that virtually all the sectors of the economy have been touched by the Obaseki administration. Complaints from the style of Obaseki administration however welcome, must not distract attention from this massive and continuing burden of underdevelopment in the state, which he has come to arrest. Edo State development report today states that the poor masses, artisans, market men, women and the poorest of the poor are happy and at peace with the state of development, especially with the elimination of double taxation, Agberoism touts and other extortions. The state and the local governments can now pay salaries as at when due. Before 2016, local governments, like the cosmopolitan local government in the state, that could hardly realize 10 million naira monthly from their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), today now gets about 100 million naira on the average every month from the same I.G.R. This has rendered state change revolution of previous administration, a poor incidents Small fractures and tissues in the dry crust of Edo Society. Though, they announced the abyss. Beneath the apparently solid surface, however they betrayed oceans off liquid matter, only needing expansion to rend into fragments. Mistakenly and confusedly, they have proclaimed the emancipation of the peoples government of Godwin Obaseki. Like what his predecessor Adams Oshiomhole said, All positive and progressive changes in human endeavour goes with pains and perhaps stepping on toes. Obasekivowed to put his life on the line for the development of ,yhis Edo and to erect his administration on a tripod; of urban renewal, Agricultural infrastructure and Industrial template. To this end, Obaseki has so far done noble, in his implementation and execution of this will. Within the first three years of his administration he took the mantra of Urban renewal and environmental discipline to the door steps of the ordinary Edo citizen. He outlawed the Naira of crass insubordination and hooliganism otherwise called, Agberos from the state revenue collection, built and replaced them with human relation, friendly and modern technology models. He gave the land transfer transaction a human face with a deliberate policy that crashed the certificate of occupancy C of O from over one million naira (N1m) to fifty thousand naira (N50,000). These actions no doubt, may have made him step on the toes of some privileged powerful few, but the people are happy with their governor. On infrastructural development, he engaged on complete reconstruction of the Sam Ogbemudia Stadium, rehabilitated schools and established 3 other technical colleges, one in each Senatorial District to complement with the newly built Benin Technical College, among many others too numerous to mention. If Obaseki is to be commended for these giant strides, his passion for the future of Edo State will write his name in gold and for redirecting our direction to our natural and human resources. The thought that crude oil and the not too consistent Federal Allocation will not be with us forever and that we must start thinking of technology and Agriculture as a fallback position to Edo State without oil. Contrary to the uninformed critics, its with the support of the Presidency, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and DangoteRefineries, that the Obaseki administration embarked on the construction of Edo Seaport, a project which is aimed at decongesting the Lagos, Warri and the Port-Harcourt Seaports and making the Bight of Benin a Cargo Ship-belting destination. On Agriculture, he has facilitated the return of the Michele Rubber Estate to UronigbeRubber Plantation Reserve, revitalized the Ikpeshi Rice Farm and flagged-off the 78 billion palm plantation investment in the state. These gestures have brought and ushered into the economy the associated benefits of employment opportunities for our youths and women. In contrast some seemingly powerful members of his party, (APC) felt the developmental strides though noble, ought to have been executed differently where majority of them would have been on the drivers seat. No matter how you dislike a messenger; it is good to accept the good message. Its on the side of wisdom for all to accept the message of the good tidings in the overall interest of Edo People. Today, this same Obaseki is seeking a second term ticket to complete his unfinished business, the question is who can stop Obaseki? Drawing Vaginas Can Get You Jailed in Russia "My body is not pornography. These are the words that are captioning many of the posts circulating Russias feminist social media right now. Theyre written in support of Yulia Tsvetkovaa twenty-seven-year-old Russian artist and activist whose drawings of vaginas have landed her with criminal charges. If she is found guilty which more than 99 percent of people who face court in Russia are she will face six years in prison. Yulia Tsvetkova has become a symbol of the consequences of Russias push for traditional family values at the expense of free expression. Her case is sparking resistance across Russia and beyond, @samberkhead reportshttps://t.co/i5332bYf3V The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) July 11, 2020 Tsvetkova faces charges of spreading pornography for promoting body-positive artwork on her social media group, Vagina Monologues. Mostly flowery imagery of vaginas and women displaying their pit hair captioned with phrases like Real women have hair on their bodiesand thats normal, the groups mission was to celebrate the female body and protests taboos around it. Seems innocuous enoughbut in Russia, not so much. ADVERTISEMENT As an outspoken LGBTQ+ activist and feminist, Tsvetkova has been battling gender oppression since her beginnings as a director of youth theater. In 2019, police started an investigation of her play The Blue and The Pink, which explored gender stereotypes. The artist was arrested on November 20 2019 and put on house arrest two days later, charged with production and dissemination of pornographic materials. She was also accused of spreading homosexual propaganda to minors and was later fined $730. I am from a small Russian city in a remote region, the whole place is censored by the city administration, Tsvetkova said in an article with The Art Newspaper. I set up a theatre and community center, and have actively spoken out on social media, so I went against their censorship. The persecution of activists, LGBTQ people, and feminists is a state policy, its happening all over Russia. When prosecutors confirmed on June 9 that Tsvetkova was still due to stand trial, a fiery wave of feminism befell Russia. On June 27, the national day of youth in Russia, over 50 media outlets organized a Media Strike for Yulia, demanding Tsvetkovas prosecution be stopped. In Moscow, 40 people were detained for holding peaceful protests in solidarity with Tsvetkova. Influential artists, activists, actors, and journalists flooded social media with posts with the hashtag #forYulia and #FreeJuliaTsvetkova. Now, close to 233,000 people signed an online petition calling on authorities to drop the case against her. If youre looking to mobilize with the Russian, you can sign the petition here. Header image via of Change.org More from BUST Aisha Dee Of The Bold Type Talks The Power Of Female Friendships And Her New EP: BUST Interview Valentina Sampaio Becomes The First-Ever Trans Woman To Appear In "Sports Illustrateds" Swimsuit Issue It's Time To Stop Stanning Politicians Riley Mayes is a student at Smith College where she is pursuing her BA in English. She currently lives in Brunswick, Maine, where she loves to go hiking, take care of her plants, and read the heaps of books on her bedside table. New to the twitter game https://twitter.com/RileyMayes3 SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- In 2020, "white glove service" has taken on a whole new meaning. In this, their 40th Anniversary Year, San Francisco's McCalls Catering & Events is cooking up something new: MCmarket (www.mccallsmarket.com) bringing all the high-end elegance, world-class cuisine and international flair direct to your door from their kitchen with the highest standards of hygiene that are the "new normal." MCmarket is an exciting and encouraging new play for the well-known legacy company and introduces a fresh twist to the current world of food delivery, and all with contactless delivery by McCalls superior and well-trained staff. "It takes more than a global pandemic to stop San Francisco society, philanthropy and our need to party," said Lucas Shoemaker, McCalls President. "Until our clients can once again come to our world- class tables, we bring our world-class cuisine to them. From our kitchen to your home or office with all the style that has made McCalls synonymous with good taste for four decades." As the hospitality industry came to a screeching halt and events quickly dropped off the calendar, the McCalls team spent the lead up to their big 40th anniversary brainstorming new ways to best utilize their fine-tuned skills and keep their hard-working employees. Catering and event production for the foreseeable future wouldn't look the same. In late March, McCalls was contacted by the San Francisco Human Services Agency (SFHSA), who were searching for a company that could help safely feed individuals in hotels who had been displaced due to COVID-19. Up for the challenge, McCalls dove head-first into the delivery business, shifting into a new business model, while striving to retain the company's core values: make food with the freshest ingredients and a lot of heart. They learned to implement an array of clean and safe practices during this time as well as adapt to the demands of a delivery-focused business. Through this work with the city, the idea for MCmarket was born. "MCmarket brings the McCalls mindset to new life, providing chef-prepared meals to your dinner tables, backyard get-togethers, and office lunches," explains Lee Gregory, Executive Vice President for McCalls and also a member of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce board of directors and herself a mainstay on Northern California's society pages. "McCalls culinary team is creating beautiful and delicious menus for daily dinners that will change weekly to utilize the freshest, most seasonal ingredients." Also available are party platters for gatherings of 10-12 guests, perfect for hosting a micro-event or just reconnecting safely with loved ones. According to Gregory, there are lots of options and all with contact-less delivery. For those returning to the office and looking for an easy, healthy lunch option, MCmarket has a wide variety of fresh salads and grain bowls to feel nourished and taken care of. "Keeping connected to the community and supporting small businesses has also been a priority for McCalls during this time, " says Gregory. "So MCmarket has partnered with local farmers, breweries and wineries to bring customers the best quality product on a hyper-local level." MCmarket's offerings are adaptive and all-encompassing. Whether you're seeking family weeknight dinners after weeks of cooking fatigue, or hosting a small backyard get together, micro or virtual event, MCmarket is there to meet that need. All packaging is compostable or recyclable and delivered via no-contact delivery to your doorstep by a friendly McCalls face. What MCmarket Offers Weekday meal deliveries Weekday meal subscriptions Office lunch catering Large-format Party Platters & Holiday Menus Safe, no-contact delivery as well as pick-up Packaging compostable or recyclable Fresh locally sourced ingredients Partnerships with local food and beverage providers Same-day preparation and delivery Media contact: David Perry & Associates, Inc. / David Perry (415) 676-7007 / [email protected] SOURCE McCalls Catering & Events Briefing: Dr Ronan Glynn yesterday said that its too early to commit to the widespread reopening of pubs. Photo: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin Travel to exotic locations such as Malaysia has led to people picking up Covid-19 and testing positive for the virus after returning home. Since June people who have travelled to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Sudan, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and the United States have come back with the virus, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn revealed. Read More The extent of the global reach of the virus and its impact here - leading to clusters of infection in some instances - exposed how an infection contracted in a far-flung location can end up being spread in a family or community in Ireland. It comes amid ongoing concern at the rise in cases of the virus reported here in recent weeks. No new deaths from the virus were reported yesterday. But Dr Glynn said over the past 14 days, the total number of confirmed newly diagnosed cases notified has reached 165. Of these 59pc are women and the median age is 31. There were new cases in 20 counties, 47pc in Dublin, 16pc in Kildare and 6pc in Wicklow. Of these as many as 12pc were travel related, he said. Public health doctors are continuing to investigate a large cluster of cases arising out of a house party held in Killarney, Co Kerry last week. Some of those people who were infected have since returned to other parts of the country. He said the people of Kerry "do not need to worry unduly". There have been clusters in many counties around the country and public-health teams are on top of those. He urged people who have been identified as being a close contact of someone confirmed as having Covid-19 to "please go and get tested". People in their 20s and 40s who have tested positive tend to have the highest number of close contacts. They average around six close contacts, compared to three or four for other groups, Dr Glynn added. The aim remains to stop people carrying out as much non-essential travel abroad as possible. Referring to the proposed green list of countries to be published next week, which will detail which locations people can travel to without recourse to quarantine when they return, he said from a public health perspective there would be less concern about a small list of countries than those areas of the world which people are returning from which are not on it. The advice remains to avoid non-essential foreign travel. He said the message was not that people from other countries are not welcome but "they are just not welcome at this moment". "People should not assume that an accent is necessarily associated with a tourist," he said. "There are people from all nationalities living in this country so people should not make inappropriate assumptions." Questioned on whether pubs which only serve alcohol will be allowed open on July 20 he said there was still a week to go and the spread of the virus in terms of new cases was being monitored in the meantime. "It is too early to commit to pubs reopening. We are concerned about the increase in cases in the past five days." He said guidelines around their operation would be similar to those already in place for pubs which serve food. Vintners bodies have expressed concern at the failure to publish the guidelines with so little time to go before the planned reopening. Dr Glynn said: "Our research shows that 38pc of the population now believe the worst of the pandemic is ahead of us. This does not have to be the case. Simple measures like hand washing, physical distancing, face coverings in appropriate settings, cough and sneeze etiquette and watching out for symptoms are the crucial elements in suppressing Covid-19." The weekly Department of Health poll showed 81pc of people who use public transport say they wear a face covering every time with 13pc claim they wear a face most of the time. Around 26pc of people say they wear a face covering every time they are shopping and 29pc claim they wear a face covering most of the time when shopping. More than three-quarters think that there will be a second wave - up 30pc since June. And 38pc of the population now believe the worst of the pandemic is ahead of us, with 33pc thinking it is behind us. Dr Siobhan Ni Bhriain, consultant psychiatrist and integrated care lead at the HSE, said: "As we see more cases and clusters emerge it is important that anyone experiencing symptoms isolates and contacts their GP. The aim is to find all cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and to isolate and contact trace them. Early reporting of symptoms and prompt testing helps us achieve this." Director general of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday the reality is that there is no return to the "old normal" for the foreseeable future. Too many countries are going in the wrong direction in dealing with the pandemic, he said. Test if cough persists, say no to steroids: New COVID-19 guidelines India reports dip in Covid infections with 2,38,018 new cases, positivity rate at 14.43% Failure to vaccinate everyone will give rise to new variants, says UN chief Faith vs safety in burials: COVID-19 remains in dead bodies for 9 days says Centre Fact check: Has Russia actually found coronavirus vaccine India oi-Briti Roy Barman New Delhi, July 14: The world today is desperate for a vaccine with over 13 million cases and 5,70,000 deaths and the numbers keep surging to the worst. As WHO says, there will be no change of the infection in the foreseeable future, a University of Russia claims it has found the vaccine. Sechenov University in the country claims it has successfully completed clinical trials of what it describes as the world's first coronavirus vaccine but in all likelihood, that vaccine has only cleared phase-1 of human trials. Human trial of world's first coronavirus vaccine completed, claims Russian embassy It should be called a potential vaccine, which is still in trials and needs scientific calls. WHO said the vaccine was still in Phase-1 trials, that means it must undergo 3-4 more trials to be declared safe. The Russian university claims all human trials of the vaccine have been completed, but, only 40 volunteers were involved in the clinical trial. While according to WHO, Phase-2 requires at least 100 volunteers and thousands across regions and countries in Phase-3. This means that the Russian vaccine has only completed Phase-1 of the human trials. According to researches, a coronavirus vaccine may take upto 10 years to be developed completely. The recent vaccines for malaria, ebola, and dengue took at least four years to be developed. No COVID-19 vaccine possible before 2021, officials tell parliamentary panel Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News While inventing a vaccine scientists go through 6 phases of clinical trials. Phase 0 In phase 0 of a clinical trial, investigators do tests with less number of people, usually fewer than 15. Investigators use a very small dose of medication to make sure the vaccine will not be harmful to humans. Phase I Phase I aims to figure out the highest dose humans can take without serious side effects. Investigators spend several months looking at the effects of the medication. Phase II Phase II involves more participants, but still not large enough to demonstrate the overall safety of a medication. They are usually given the same dose that was found to be safe in the previous phase. Phase III Phase III usually involves up to 3,000 participants. In a case of utter callousness by the authorities at the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, the body of a Covid-19 victim was left unattended on the bed for nearly eight hours on Tuesday, triggering protests from other patients undergoing treatment in the ward. The incident came to light in the evening when some of the patients in the ward complained to their family members that the body of a Covid-19 victim had been lying on the bed since morning and that the entire ward was stinking. Apparently, the inmates in the ward brought to the notice of the hospital authorities about the death of a patient in the morning, but nobody bothered about it. Unable to bear the stench coming from the dead body, some of the patients moved out of the ward, a relative of a Covid-19 patient said. It was only after the other inmates raised a hue and cry that the hospital authorities shifted the body to the mortuary. Gandhi Hospital is the designated government hospital for Covid-19 and has been declared as centre of excellence. Later in the night, superintendent of Gandhi Hospital Dr Raja Rao issued a statement acknowledging that there was delay in shifting the body from the ward and attributed the same to the strike by outsourced staff, sanitary workers and security personnel since the morning. Rao, however, said the delay was not up to seven or eight hours as claimed by the other patients. The patient expired at around 1 pm. As per the protocol, we had to take the Electro Cardio Gram (ECG) to confirm the death and document the same. This exercise was delayed, he said. The superintendent further said the clearance of the dead body was also delayed because only a few regular staff members were available because of the strike by other staff. With the available workers, we were forced to manage 6 Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and all other wards. As we concentrated more on patient care and treatment, clearing the body got delayed, he explained. Rao also denied the reports that the body was decaying. The dead body does not putrefy and emanate stench in a few hours. But, in this big pandemic, where so many people are fearing even to enter Gandhi Hospital, every one of us is working hard. Anyway, we will see that it will not happen again, he said. Meanwhile, the outsourcing, sanitation, security and patient care staff have called for indefinite strike demanding settlement of their pending demands. A Chief Magistrates Court in Kano State on Tuesday sentenced a 30-year-old man, Umar Abdulrahman, to 24 months imprisonment for sodomising three boys. Mr Abdulrahman, who resides at Layin Yankifi Maidile Quarters Kano, was convicted after he pleaded guilty to one count charge of unnatural offence. The Chief Magistrate, Muhammad Idris, sentenced the convict to 24 months without an option of fine. Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Badamasi Gawuna, told the court that the complainants, Umar Tanko and Ahmed Bello, all of Mundadu Quarters Kano, jointly reported the case at Kumbotoso Police Division Kano, on April 23. Mr Gawuna said that sometime in April, the convict deceived and lured the complainants, three young boys into his room situated at Mundadu Quarters Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano. He said that the convict sodomised the boys, who are minors and gave them N50 each. He said that the offence contravened the provisions of Section 284 of the Penal Code. (NAN) The Trump administration's move to brand most of Beijing's claims in the South China Sea a violation of international law doesn't mean much on its own: China has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the 2016 tribunal ruling that the U.S. finally just endorsed. But analysts fear it could lead to a miscalculation at sea if it prompts the Communist Party to become more aggressive in asserting its claims, both to rebuff the U.S. and to deter other claimants in Southeast Asia to avoid taking action. China's campaign to build artificial structures intensified after the Obama administration announced a "pivot" to Asia in 2011. "This may not necessarily change the texture of what the U.S. military is already doing in the South China Sea," said Collin Koh Swee Lean, research fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. "The concern we have is the Chinese may decide to step up their challenge against these U.S. activities in the SCS, thus increasing the risk of incidents." While the U.S. and China are sparring on everything from trade to covid-19 to Hong Kong, the South China Sea remains the most likely spot for the two powers to have their warships and fighter jets actually collide. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said he wants to deploy more U.S. forces to confront China, and the U.S. Navy appears to be stepping up freedom of navigation operations challenging Beijing's territorial claims. Earlier this month two U.S. aircraft carriers conducted exercises in the South China Sea. "The Trump administration is trying to find all the nails they can to hammer into the coffin," said Zhu Feng, executive dean of the Collaborative Innovation Center of South China Sea Studies at Nanjing University. "On the one hand it's exploiting the China factor for the elections, but in general the U.S. has fundamentally changed its attitude towards China." Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's statement on Monday denouncing what he called a "completely unlawful" campaign by China over fish and energy deposits across most of the sea, which is vital for global trade and has territorial disputes involving six governments, marked the fourth anniversary of a ruling by a United Nations tribunal in favor of the Philippines against Beijing. China has said the tribunal had no jurisdiction, as Beijing had earlier said it wouldn't abide by dispute settlement mechanisms for under the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea, known as Unclos. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire," Pompeo said. "America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law." China immediately fired back, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Tuesday rejecting Pompeo's statement and accusing the U.S. of "doing all it can to stir up trouble in the South China Sea and drive a wedge between regional countries and China." Another spokesperson, Hua Chunying, said China has no working oil rigs in disputed areas of the South China Sea and said the country is committed to upholding freedom of navigation and overflight. The risk of an accident in the South China Sea leading to a larger standoff has risen "as de-escalation will be complicated by the deteriorating relationship," the Eurasia Group said in an analysis published Tuesday. It also said that China might be more likely to declare an air defense identification zone over the waters, "which would attempt to force international commercial and military jets to recognize China's sovereignty." "The U.S. and China do not want to have an open conflict or a war over this issue, but the problem is on the ground," said Zheng Yongnian, director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore. " If there is no effective communication between top leaders on the issue, it is easy for the situation to get out of control." The South China Sea encompasses an area roughly the size of India, and China claims more than 80% of the waters. So far, Beijing has reclaimed some 3,200 acres (1,290 hectares) of land on seven reefs or rocks in the Spratly archipelago, constructing ports, lighthouses and runways. It has installed missile batteries and other military equipment. The U.S. stance marks the first time it has explicitly endorsed the substance of the tribunal ruling and declared that China has no right whatsoever to waters and seabed off its neighbors' coasts, according to Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative in Washington. That should lead to stronger objections to China's moves to intimidate on fishing and oil and gas drilling, he said, as well as adding pressure on other countries to speak up more. "It's a bigger deal than it might seem at first," he said. "The U.S. is still neutral on who ultimately owns which disputed island, but it's now firmly on the side of the Southeast Asians when it comes to most of the waters." Still, at least one key claimant didn't see things spinning out of control. Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin, whose country has moved closer to China in recent years, said on Twitter that the world's biggest economies still needed each other to recover following the global pandemic. The U.S. move would only be effective if it follows up with claimant states in the region to find ways to exert more pressure against China, Murray Hiebert, BowerGroupAsia's head of research and a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies's Southeast Asia Program, said during a virtual briefing on the South China Sea. "It's stronger than what was said before, but one of the problems we have with the current administration is they make very strong statements on an issue and disappear for months at a time," he said. "That means it's really not that effective." In a nutshell: If you see a shady character playing with a Game Boy near your car, beware: they might be a thief. Rather than being one of the beloved retro consoles, the device is used to trick a car into thinking its a key fob, allowing the user to unlock and start the vehicle. Keyless entry and ignition systems may be convenient, but they offer criminals a high-tech way of stealing cars. One popular method is the relay box technique, which involves holding one box to the wall of a house so it can pick up the signal from an owners key fob. This is transmitted to a second box that is held close to the vehicle. Once a car detects the signal from the second box, its sensors are tricked into believing the key fob is present. With one of these devices, which look a lot like a Game Boy, theres no need to relay a signal from a nearby fob. As per the Daily Mail, they record the cars data and act as a responder that the vehicle recognizes as an authorized proximity remote. The car will then open and start as if the user had a valid key fob. A Bulgarian firm called SOS Auto Keys sells the gadgets under the promise of being the most advanced locksmith tool. The company does warn that the device should not be used by anyone with unlawful intentions, which should definitely dissuade hardened criminals. One piece of good news for those worried about their vehicles is that the gadgets are costly: 20,000 (around $25,000). As fast as car technology evolves, criminals are working just as hard to cheat these systems. What is most worrying is that something sold decades ago has been repurposed to help thieves. With plenty of old gadgets collecting dust, some will tinker with them in the hope they can unlock a car, said Jack Cousens, of UK motoring association AA. Thieves have leveled up from playing Grand Theft Auto on a console to using the console to commit Grand Theft Auto. Image credits: Daily Mail and tuaindeed WATERLOO REGION The lights were off, the signs said closed, and the streets were empty. After nearly four months living under strict COVID-19 protocols, Waterloo Region will now begin life under the new normal of Stage 3 on Friday. The third and final phase of Ontario Premier Doug Fords COVID-19 economic action plan, branded as the Recover stage of the provincial framework, will see the province move toward a reopening of most businesses in approved regions. Nearly all businesses and public spaces will be able to gradually reopen in Stage 3, with public health and workplace safety restrictions in place, while some high-risk venues and activities will remain closed until they can safely resume operations, the provincial framework reads. Physical distance requirements of two metres will remain in place, but new protocols allow for groups of 50 to gather inside and groups of 100 to gather outside. Restaurants, gyms, bars, movie theatres all will be given the opportunity to follow the new framework to reopen to the public. And for businesses that have been bleeding cash for months, the announcement comes just in time. We are so excited to finally be able to reopen our doors, said Brittany McLean, co-owner of the fitness studio F45 Kitchener Sportsworld. Like anything, there are some worries but we know that happens when moving through uncharted territory. We have some incredible systems in place to be able to provide a safe workout environment for our community, and right now thats all that matters. Their studio will utilize individual squares, socially distanced, with no two people sharing the same equipment at any time. Masks will not be required for anyone working out. At Innocente Brewing Company in Waterloo, owner Steve Innocente is preparing for a Friday reopening with three to five tables. The bar will also be open to customers, with two spots at the end reserved for his regulars. That should bring him to about 45 per cent of his pre-pandemic capacity, but he hopes the patio will make up the difference for the summer months. For other businesses, like AOK Craft Beer + Arcade, owners Dani Stock and Steve Jenereaux said they will be pushing back their opening to get things ready with the short notice. With the premiers announcement coming just four days before the intended move to Stage 3 on Friday, implementing the necessary changes and bringing back staff who were let go in March could take some time. Minto Schneider, chief executive officer of Waterloo Regional Tourism Marketing Corporation, will host a panel discussion Thursday on best practices for restaurants in the region. Nick Benninger of the Fat Sparrow Group, Alex Kastner of Cambridge Mill, Jody Palubiski of the Charcoal Group, as well as representatives from public health and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, will participate. But as has become customary with government announcements in the time of COVID-19, Palubiski said they are still awaiting specific guidelines on how restaurants can resume service inside. All of his restaurant locations in the region will reopen on Friday. As it stands now, Palubiski said patrons will be expected to wear masks while waiting to be seated and while moving around the restaurant. Disposable masks will be provided to those who dont have their own. He said they are planning to reopen with the assumption they will be allowed to have more than 50 people if they properly space the tables, and will scale that plan down if the province states 50 is the maximum regardless of space. Restaurateurs will then look to regional guidance for further compliance protocols. We definitely will open to whatever capacity is allowed, whether thats 50 people or spaced appropriately, Palubiski said. Were going to be prepared either way, but were anxiously awaiting the clarity. In the eyes of longtime food critic and writer Andrew Coppolino, the question now turns to whether customers will show up. Theres two different things at play here, he said. On the one hand, of course restaurants are going to be excited to reopen so they can pay the bills. But will customers use a month to watch and see what happens? We just dont know how they are going to react. Palubiski is hoping trends will continue. Based on what he has seen with patio attendance, customers have been turning up in higher numbers week over week with the increased patio space. Im optimistic, he said. Weve been so gratified by the level of support weve received. I think people are going to want to go out and connect. I think people are going to want to feel normal again. After Friday, public health officials will continue to monitor the spread of the virus, advising when more regions can enter Stage 3, and if public health restrictions can be further eased, or need to be tightened or reapplied. Read more about: Karnataka PUC 2nd year result : 68K students pass with distinction Of the total 4.4 lakh students who appeared in the Karnataka 2nd PUC exam this year, 68,866 have passed with distinction. Students who score above 85% are considered to be passing with distinction. Karnataka 2nd PUC result 2020 now available on website Students can now check their results at karresults.nic.in. The minister has said that the result will be uploaded on the website at 12 noon. Students should try refreshing the login page. Karnataka 2nd PUC Results 2020: Girls outscore boys Girls have outperformed boys in Karnataka 2nd PUC exam. 68.73%girl students have passed as against 54.73% boys Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020: 69.2% students pass This year, 69.20% students have passed the 2nd PUC or Class 12 exam this year. In Science stream a total of 76.2% of the students have passed while in Commerce and Arts, the pass percent is 65.52% and 41.27%, respectively. Education minister congratulates PUC team for managing exams well Education minister S Suresh Kumar congratulated the PUC team for managing the exams well and processed the results. There were 70 valuation centres in Karnataka. Karntaka 2nd PUC Result 2020: How to check results Visit the official website of Karnataka PUC result at karresults.nic.in On the homepage, click on the link for Karnataka 2020 PUC result Key in your credentials and login Your Karnataka 2020 PUC result will be displayed on the screen Download and take its print out for future reference. How to get Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020 on SMS Students can get their results via SMS also. Type KAR12 Registration number and send it to 56263. Karnataka 2nd PUC Results to be available on website after 12 pm Students will get their result on their registered mobile number via SMS. The result will be uploaded on the website at karresults.nic.in after 12 noon. Read more Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020 declared Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020 has been declared. Candidates have to key in their registration and submit to check their scores. Direct link to check Karnataka PUC 2nd year results. Karnataka PUC 2nd Result 2020: Be ready with admit card Students are advised to keep their admit card handy. The login details are given in the admit card that will be required to login on the result page. Karnataka PUC 2nd Result 2020: Toppers answersheet to be released on website Department of Pre-university Education (DPE) Karnataka will upload the answersheets of the topper of Karnataka 2nd PUC exam, on its official website after the results are declard. Colleges wont display result on notice board This year, school/ colleges will not display the results on their notice boards due to coronavirus. Students to get digital marksheet on DigiLocker Students will get the marksheet, pass certificate and migration certificates in DigiLocker app. Register or login using your login credentials and select Karnataka PUC marksheet. DigiLocker is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) under the Digital India initiative Karnataka PUC 2nd Result 2020: Know the passing mark Students have to secure a minimum of 35 per cent marks to pas the PUC exam. Candidates must score a minimum of 70 marks in the language papers and 30 marks each in all subjects making a total of 210 out of 600 marks to pass. Karnataka PUC 2nd result: How the students will be promoted Instead of giving general promotion to the 10th and 12th standard students as the Central Board of Secondary Education and other states have done, the Karnataka government decided to hold the examination defying the coronavirus scare. Career options after Karnataka PUC 2nd result 2020 Students who pass the 2nd PUC (Class 12th) exam will be eligible to apply for admissions in any undergraduate courses of any university in India. How to check Karnataka 2nd PUC Result on SMS Students can get their results via SMS also. Type KAR12 Registration number and send it to 56263. Karnataka 2nd PUC result 2020: English paper was postponed due to Covid- 19 Karnataka had scheduled to conduct the class 12th or 2nd PUC exam from March 3 to 23. However, some papers were postponed due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The exam for English paper was then conducted on June 18 after the lockdown was lifted in the state. Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020: Last year pass percent In the year 2019, the overall pass percentage was 61.73%. The pass percentage in arts was 50.53% in commerce it was 66.39% and in science the pass percentage was 66.58%. Karantaka 2nd PUC Result 2020: Websites to check result Students who have appeared in the examinations can check the PUC 2nd Year Results 2020 online at the official websites: karresults.nic.in, kseeb.kar.nic.in, pue.kar.nic.in or at the Suvidya portal at result.bspucpa.com. Read More Karnataka 2nd PUC result 2020: 6 lakh students took exam in 2019 In 2019, 6.71 lakh students appeared in the PUC II year exam, out of which 4.14 lakh passed. Over 6.5 lakh students to get Karnataka 2nd PUC Results Nearly 6.5 lakh students have registered for the Karnataka 2nd PUC examination this year. They will get their results today at 11:30 am Karnataka 2nd PUC result 2020: How to check Visit the official website of Karnataka PUC result at karresults.nic.in On the homepage, click on the link for Karnataka 2020 PUC result Key in your credentials and login Your Karnataka 2020 PUC result will be displayed on the screen Download and take its print out for future reference. Karnataka first in South to announce PUC Result Our state is the first in south India to announce the PUC result.The results of 6.75 lakh students will be announced on Tuesday, Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said. Where to check Karnataka 2nd PUC results 2020 Students can check their Karnataka 2nd PUC results at karresults.nic.in after 12 noon. Karnataka PUC exam was conducted from March 4 to 21 Karnataka PUC exam was conducted from March 4 to March 21 but due to the coronavirus related lockdown, the last paper, which was to be conducted on March 23, was postponed and was taken up on June 18, he added. Karnataka 2nd PUC Result 2020 today Karnataka 2nd pre university certificate (PUC) exam result will be declared today at 11:30 am. Students will be able to check their scores from 12 noon onwards at karresults.nic.in. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A Delhi court on Tuesday allowed foreign nationals from five countries who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nizamuddin Markaz to walk free after they entered into a plea bargaining agreement and accepted milder charges. Another court also granted bail to 150 foreigners from Indonesia. A plea bargain is an arrangement between the prosecutor and accused, whereby the latter pleads guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for a more lenient sentence, or an agreement to drop other charges. Metropolitan Magistrate Dev Choudhary allowed foreigners from Djibouti, Mali, Kenya and 17 Sri Lankans to walk free on payment of a fine of Rs 5,000 each, said advocate Ashima Mandla, who appearing for them. Metropolitan Magistrate Akash allowed a few Myanmar nationals to walk free on payment of a fine of 5,000 each, while others claimed trial before the court, their counsel Fahim Khan said. Three Sri Lankans and other foreigners from Nigeria and Tanzania claimed trial before the court, the lawyer said. Meanwhile, another court granted bail to 150 foreign nationals from Indonesia who were charge-sheeted for attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation here, allegedly in violation of visa norms and violating government guidelines issued in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted relief to the foreigners on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each. To date, 682 foreign nationals from 35 different countries, who were charge-sheeted in the case, have been granted bail by the court. The police had in June filed 59 charge sheets, including supplementary ones, against 956 foreigners belonging to 36 different countries in the case. The accused, who was granted bail on Tuesday, will file their plea bargaining applications on Wednesday, said advocates Ashima Mandla, Mandakini Singh and Fahim Khan, appearing for them. During cognisance of the charge sheets on July 6, the court was informed by the Investigating Officer (IO) that the 956 accused were investigated for charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, and criminal conspiracy to endanger life or personal safety of others.However, to date, no evidence has come against the foreigners for these, the investigation officer told the court. The police had filed charge sheets against 956 foreigners from 36 countries, including 122 Mayalsians, for violating visa rules, violating government guidelines issued in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and regulations regarding Epidemic diseases Act, Disaster Management Act and prohibitory orders under section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure. They were accused of offences under sections 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 271 (Disobedience to quarantine rule) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Foreigners Act. Viewers tuning into the latest series of University Challenge have expressed their dismay at what they say is an ongoing lack of diversity amongst contestants, with the latest two teams fielding seven white men out of eight possible contestants. The much-loved academic quiz was back on screens on BBC 2 last night, with regular host Jeremy Paxman at the helm. However, there was some criticism on social media after the opening match saw the University of Glasgow and Exeter University teams dominated by white male contestants. Gravett, who appeared for Exeter, was the only female contestant. Scroll down for video The latest series of BBC student quiz University Challenge, which was filmed before lockdown, left viewers disappointed by the lack of gender and race diversity amongst the teams fielded in the first episode by Glasgow and Exeter Universities One viewer wrote on Twitter that 'Plus ca change (nothing changes)' with University Challenge, writing with sarcasm that the show was a 'model of diversity.' Others also vented their frustration that the programme, which sees students from UK universities battle it out over a series of rounds, doesn't have more diversity amongst the contestants. @bridgetevans42 raged: 'Only one woman and only one northerner, plus one from Northern Ireland. What a sad indictment of our universities and our nation.' @caoilfhionnanna wrote: 'Good to see #UniversityChallenge back, but yet again its almost all men. Really, not a single woman in Glasgow University who could add value to this team? 'And not a single person of colour across both teams... I love the programme in many ways but this has just got to change.' Some viewers called for change, saying it wasn't good enough that the show didn't have 'a single person of colour' across both teams @sammibmcg added: 'Shame on both institutions competing in #UniversityChallenge. At least Exeter managed to recruit one woman to Glasgows four white men, but not a person of colour in sight. Must do better!' A University Challenge spokesperson told MailOnline: 'While the make-up of each team is ultimately decided by the university it represents, we encourage all teams who apply to reflect the diversity of their student population, and we will continue to look at how we can work with universities to help them with this.' The final of the last series, aired in April, also faced criticism from viewers - and even a contestant who appeared in it, after all eight finalists were male. Cambridge brainbox Ian Wang, who appeared in a University Challenge final in April, spoke out afterwards on Twitter to argue the show should do more to stop all-male finals Ian Wang, 21, starred in the final for the quiz show alongside his all-male team from Corpus Christi of Cambridge and rivals Imperial College London. After his team lost the prize, scoring just 105 points while their opponents earned a whopping 275, Wang tweeted: 'All-male finals are just straight up Bad and team selectors have a big say in making sure the show is less male-dominated.' The final marked the first time in three years that a female competitor has not played on the top two teams in the University Challenge competition. NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Key takeaways Enticing shell-shocked U.S. consumers into the new vehicle market post-recession will be hard-fought as 37% of U.S. respondents are delaying large purchases . . Nearly half of U.S. consumers (47%) plan to keep their current vehicles longer. plan to keep their current vehicles longer. There is increased consumer anxiety around shared mobility options with 56% planning to limit the use of U.S. public transit during the next three months. Why this matters With U.S. figures staying worryingly consistent since April, consumer distress regarding near- and longer-term financial well-being may outlast current health concerns, directly impacting the automotive supply and demand chain. According to Deloitte's study titled "How the pandemic is changing the future of automotive," U.S. consumers are rethinking their relationship with personal vehicles, digital transactions and transportation, including mobility services. The growing use of digital tools could be supportive of overall demand, but a growing affordability issue may cause consumers to stay out of the market longer than expected. At the very least, consumers may be recalibrating their expectations relative to which new vehicle segment and/or option package they can afford. As a global health crisis starts to morph into an economic one, Deloitte is conducting a series of biweekly surveys around the globe to better understand the interplay between personal safety and economic vulnerability as a driver of purchase decisions and consumer behavior. The multi-wave "Deloitte State of the Consumer Tracker" first launched on April 19, 2020, draws insights from over a dozen countries and queries 1,000 consumers in each market with insights available on an interactive dashboard. Financial well-being is shaping relationships with personal and public transportation Financial concerns in the face of a potentially lengthy recession magnified: 37% of U.S. consumers are delaying large purchases, such as a new car, and 21% are worried about making upcoming payments. Job security anxiety still lingers: 30% of currently employed U.S. consumers are fearful they will lose their job; this number is even higher across the globe, including Chile (74%), India (71%) and Mexico (65%) which are even more worried about a potential loss of employment. (74%), (71%) and (65%) which are even more worried about a potential loss of employment. Consumer pullback impacts their vehicle ownership: 47% of U.S. consumers are planning to keep their current vehicle longer than expected. This trend also can be seen in other large automotive markets around the globe including China (65%), Japan (48%) and Germany (40%). (65%), (48%) and (40%). Near term vehicle expenses on delay: 25% of U.S. consumers are putting off regular vehicle maintenance, and it is even higher in other parts of the world with nearly 8 in 10 consumers in India actively redeploying funds originally slated for vehicle maintenance, followed by Chile (45%), China (43%) and Mexico (41%). actively redeploying funds originally slated for vehicle maintenance, followed by (45%), (43%) and (41%). Whether fully digital vehicle sales will be prevalent, remains to be seen: Most consumers are not looking to buy their next vehicle online. Other than India (71%) and China (45%), interest in a fully online purchase process is limited to 1 in 4 consumers or less in other markets around the world. Key quotes "Automotive companies should maintain manufacturing discipline, focusing on the vehicles consumers want to buy. Exploring strategic partnerships will also be increasingly necessary to maintain key innovation programs while deploying enhanced digital capabilities to identify and prioritize critical cost-saving opportunities. Clearly, industry stakeholders that can use this situation to significantly restructure their operations will likely be in the best position possible to thrive going forward." - Joe Vitale, principal and global automotive sector leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP "Although the full impact will remain unclear for several months, the global automotive sector was already experiencing a downshift in demand. As the focus of public concern continues to shift from health to financial well-being, understanding how consumer expectations are changing will be critically important for auto companies to remain engaged. Moreover, there is a clear need for industry stakeholders, including manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, financial institutions and governments, to come together in a focused dialogue to understand exactly what actions are needed to tackle the incredibly complex issues faced by the sector and get the global automotive engine running smoothly again." - Karen Bowman, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. automotive sector leader Are consumers changing the way they think about mobility? Lingering health concerns make the idea of owning a vehicle very attractive: 74% of U.S. consumers agreed that the idea of vehicle ownership is valuable to them. This trend is being seen globally, including France (79%), UK (69%) and South Korea (63%). (79%), UK (69%) and (63%). Personal vehicles serve as a way to maintain physical health barriers: Over half of U.S. respondents plan to limit public travel, including rideshare services for the next three months. For those in the market for a new vehicle, used vehicles may give cash-strapped consumers an interesting option to consider. For those consumers that remain intent on acquiring a new vehicle, expectations may shift in terms of either downgrading to a more affordable vehicle segment, and/or reducing the number of features included on the vehicle. Connect with us on Twitter at @DeloitteCB or on LinkedIn @JoeVitale @KarenBowman. About the Center Deloitte Consumer Industry Center provides a forum for innovation, thought leadership, groundbreaking research and industry collaboration to help companies solve the most complex industry challenges. Technology is changing at a rapid pace, and so are consumers. How will these changes impact the way our clients do business in the future? The Center provides premiere insights based on primary research on the most prevalent issues facing the Consumer industry to help our clients run effectively and achieve superior business results. The Center is your trusted source for information on leading trends and research that connect insights, issues, and solutions for Deloitte's four Consumer sectors: automotive; consumer products; retail; wholesale and distribution; and transportation, hospitality and services. About Deloitte Deloitte provides industry-leading audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to many of the world's most admired brands, including nearly 90% of the Fortune 500 and more than 5,000 private and middle market companies. Our people work across the industry sectors that drive and shape today's marketplace delivering measurable and lasting results that help reinforce public trust in our capital markets, inspire clients to see challenges as opportunities to transform and thrive, and help lead the way toward a stronger economy and a healthy society. Deloitte is proud to be part of the largest global professional services network serving our clients in the markets that are most important to them. Now celebrating 175 years of service, our network of member firms spans more than 150 countries and territories. Learn how Deloitte's more than 312,000 people worldwide make an impact that matters at www.deloitte.com. Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a U.K. private company limited by guarantee ("DTTL"), its network of member firms, and their related entities. DTTL and each of its member firms are legally separate and independent entities. DTTL (also referred to as "Deloitte Global") does not provide services to clients. In the United States, Deloitte refers to one or more of the U.S. member firms of DTTL, their related entities that operate using the "Deloitte" name in the United States and their respective affiliates. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting. Please see www.deloitte.com/about to learn more about our global network of member firms. SOURCE Deloitte Related Links www.deloitte.com Businesswoman Declares Intention To Run For Douglas South Keys Seat Claire Christian (Twitter) A local businesswoman has announced she intends to stand in a by-election for the House of Keys. Claire Christian who runs a fashion outlet in Douglas, announced she will contest the South Douglas constituency when the date of the poll is announced. South Douglas is now without an MHK, since Kate Costain announced her resignation yesterday. The other seat was left vacant after the death of Bill Malarkey earlier this year. A by-election was due to be held, but the covid-19 pandemic has meant no date has yet been fixed for the election. Mrs Christian, who has lived in the constituency for 6 years, says she is currently working on her manifesto and is very much looking forward to meeting with the electorate to gain an even better understanding of the key issues and concerns of those living in Douglas South You can read Mrs Christian's full media release below: Claire Christian on Twitter - @claire4MHK MEDIA RELEASE Claire Christian Announces Candidacy for Douglas South Seat at the Forthcoming By-Election Claire Christian is formally announcing her intention to stand as an independent candidate for MHK at the next election in the Douglas South constituency, where she has lived for the last 6 years (although no date for the election has been promulgated). As a Manx born local business woman she has influenced, shaped, changed and enhanced government economic support for the Manx people by using both direct engagement with government ministers, and the Facebook social media platform Local Companies Isle of Man. She has given a unified voice and created a more representative, fair and balanced approach from government throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic, in order to ensure jobs were protected, businesses survived and Manx people were financially secure. I have always had an interest in politics, and during the Covid 19 pandemic, when businesses went into lock down, I publically fought for the interests of our national workers from the small to medium business and self-employed sectors who make up the life blood of the Isle of Man. I would like to continue my endeavours with a key focus on the interests of the Douglas South constituents at a national level in the House of Keys. This leadership has led me to be invited by the Chairman to sit as a volunteer on the Business Agency Board for the Department of Enterprise, as the Sector Champion for Small Businesses. Representing initiatives and developing strategy to support economic growth and help address the economic crisis created by Covid 19. The Isle of Man Government have done an exemplary job of getting us through the Covid 19 Pandemic, protecting our island and health service, and putting measures in place to ensure the island has become virus free. But the next period before the General Election is crucial to ensure the decisions taken are both appropriate for short and long term economic recovery and stimulus. Tynwald needs someone with a depth of understanding of the local economy to get us out of this economic crisis; strong, decisive and empathetic leadership is needed now more than ever, if Manx jobs and opportunities are to be protected and created. I have learned first hand about the economic pressures facing working families. As a representative of the various sectors, I have grown to better understand the pressures of sustaining a family through hard times, and the impact this can have on mental and physical health; I have been supporting people struggling to put food on the table and trying to keep their heads above water, and worked tirelessly to ensure the Government understands the seriousness and impact on those already struggling to make ends meet. The added pressure of schools being closed, associated childcare issues and a significant drop in income for many cannot be under-estimated, and the government must continue to support these hard-working families in particular in the medium and longer term. This will be a continuing focus for me. I am currently working on my manifesto, and I am very much looking forward to meeting with the electorate to gain an even better understanding of the key issues and concerns of those living in Douglas South. Unity has never had a stronger voice It all started when leading European politicians, towering amongst them the German chancellor Angela Merkel, openly criticized the extraterritorial nature of U.S. sanctions against Nord Stream 2, stating that the latest round of sanctions that would target any entity involved in the construction of the subsea gas conduit go beyond international norms of law. Then came EU gas companies and lobby groups, calling for quick and decisive measures vis-a-vis the openly antagonistic U.S. government. The genuine surprise after all this came on July 06 when the Danish Energy Agency agreed to the usage of anchor positioning for pipelaying ships, paving the way for new pipelaying options for Gazprom, the Russian gas export monopoly. By answering 5 basic questions, we will analyze the current prospects and challenges of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, amid intense pressure from the US government to stall its construction and a hardening European stance to counter it: Why is the Danish decision surprising? Previously the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) have insisted on using vessels with dynamic positioning (DP) exclusively, claiming that anchoring vessels could sideswipe chemical warfare agents and ammunition dumped at the Baltic Sea. Generally speaking, a vessel with DP would boast a higher pipelaying speed. Gazprom has two vessels available, one with DP and one without, however both come with several roadblocks and would work ideally if could function concurrently. For this end Gazprom has done its homework to provide the utmost of information to DEA this year it has used the Stril Explorer vessel to carry out subsea monitoring operations, claiming that Nord Stream 2 anchor-based pipelaying and bottom trawling carries no risk. Why is the previous pipelaying candidate, Akademik Cherskiy suddenly out of the picture? The attentive reader would remember that several months ago another vessel (equipped with dynamic positioning) was considered to be the key Gazprom asset required to finish the pipelaying part, Akademik Cherskiy. The vessel was moved from the Pacific Ocean port of Nakhodka all the way to the German city of Mukran on the Baltic coast, circumnavigating the African continent and continually changing the arrival port to perplex the Gazprom watchers. There has been no official communication on the prospects of Akademik Cherskiy, yet the travails of the tender issued by the vessel owner Gazprom Flot (unsuccessfully seeking an insurance coverage for its retrofitting) point to decreasing chances of us seeing it in exclusive action. On the other hand, Akademik Cherskiy might play an important role in laying the Nord Stream 2 pipes together with Fortuna. Related: Chinese Oil Imports Surged In H1 2020 Despite COVID-19 What would Fortuna bring to Gazprom? Fortuna need not be retrofitted for Nord Stream 2 pipelaying as it has been already used for the purpose in 2019 then it covered the German section as its average pipelaying speed of 1km per day was 3-4 times slower than that of Allseas vessels. Akademik Cherskiy is reportedly only equipped to lay pipes up to 32 inches in diameter, whilst Nord Stream 2 is 48 inches in diameter. With anchoring vessels allowed to work along the suggested NS2 route, Fortuna can be physically attached to Akademik Cherskiy and thus lay the pipes to the Baltic seabed. This constellation creates a rather straightforward path towards Nord Stream 2s completion as both vessels are Russian assets (Cherskiy belongs to Gazprom Flot, Fortuna belongs to MRST), hence the sanctions threat would not work that well, being already sanctioned for a plethora of other reasons. When can Gazprom start to lay the pipes? DEAs decision to allow anchoring vessels came on July 06 and would come into force 4 weeks following that, provided that there will be no appeals towards the Danish Energy Board of Appeal in the meantime. This means that in July 2020 Gazprom can still use Akademik Cherskiy, which is apparently still not retrofitted for the objective, but would need to wait with the incorporation of Fortuna, effectively bringing us to a preparatory lull before the two can work together on pipelaying. This will be a jittery wait for Gazprom and all the other Nord Stream 2 stakeholders, however the project entity will have a plenitude of tasks to keep itself busy including but not limited to the final route of the pipeline in Danish waters (some 120km) which shall also specify the assumed timeframe of pipelaying. What would the United States do? The tone in the political discussion between the European Union and the United States concerning Nord Stream 2 has palpably changed in the past couple of months now Brussels is not merely voicing its opposition but preparing the ground for the adoption of an enhanced sanctions mechanism that could shield Europe from extra-territorial punitive measures. Although little is known of its technicalities, Brussels and especially Berlin have raised the stakes for the U.S. to up the sanctioning ante. If the Protecting Europes Energy Security Clarification Act (PEESCA) does make its way into the 2021 Defense Authorization Act, there will be little more the U.S. can do sanctioning Gazprom outright or European majors like Shell or Total is still hard to imagine. Thus, if the current sanctions regime is the one to stay, Gazprom can still finish Nord Stream 2 by the first months of 2021. By Viktor Katona for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: A concreter who allegedly tried to drown a two-year-old girl by drowning her in a bath had a history of domestic violence offences against loved ones. Alex Clements was arrested at a home in Sydney's south-west on Monday night after he allegedly attempted to kill the toddler earlier this year. Daily Mail Australia has been told the man is not the child's biological father. Clements, 24, was due to face Campbelltown Local Court on Tuesday, but an issue with the audio visual technology meant he could not be seen. Police have charged him with attempted drowning with intent to murder and allege he abused the child on at least two occasions in April and May. Alex Clements (pictured) was arrested at a home in Sydney's south-west on Monday night after he allegedly attempted to kill the toddler between January and July this year. Police will allege the 24-year-old abused the child on at least two occasions in April and May this year by trying to drown her in the bath The child's mother was allegedly also attacked on seven occasions by Clements, but when approached by Daily Mail Australia she did not want to comment on any of the alleged incidents. In addition to nine charges, two apprehended violence orders were also taken out against Clements to protect the girl and her mother. A former colleague of Clements' said he had been looking for work in recent months after only getting out of prison on unrelated domestic violence offences last year. 'He told me he got out of jail last year and I got him some work,' the tradie, who did not want to be named, told Daily Mail Australia. 'Then I sent him some more numbers to see if he could get some more work. 'I heard a couple of weeks ago something was not good about the way the girl had been treated, now today we've got this. 'I tried to help him all I could, but he'd rung me on a couple of occasions saying: "I'm going back to jail", but he was always blaming other people.' Court documents revealed that during one alleged rage attack at the girl's mother's place he put a hole in the kitchen wall. In another he smashed up a bedroom inside the home. In a recent Facebook post Clements told friends he was experiencing some 'personal issues', but did not elaborate on what he was referring to. Clements, 24, was due to face Campbelltown Local Court (pictured) on Tuesday, but an issue with the audio visual technology meant he could not be seen. Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad detectives arrested him inside a Campbelltown home about 9pm on Monday. The owner of the home said Clement had only moved in as a rent-paying tenant last week and was shocked to find police at his door. 'Other than what I saw on face value I couldn't really tell you much about him, he was here for just seven or eight days,' home owner Peter said. 'I was here (last night) but I didn't ask questions. I felt like they already had a rapport, like he and the police knew each other.' He was taken to Campbelltown Police Station and charged and is expected to move to Silverwater Prison on Monday evening. Clements is due to reappear in the same court on September 16. Toby Antony By Express News Service KOCHI: In a major revelation, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic channel has found that the racket had brought in 150kg of gold over the past 10 months. The NIA Court on Monday remanded suspects Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair in the agencys custody till July 21. It has also come to light that the smuggling was undertaken not primarily for jewellers but for terrorist activities, the agency told the court. The accused also forged the UAE Consulates emblem to send the consignments. The preliminary investigation carried out by multiple agencies showed that the gang had been smuggling gold since September 2019. They had smuggled around 150kg of gold till now. The interrogation of the suspects will shed more light on their modus operandi and the other people involved, a source said. Moving the custody application, the agency told the court that the Ministry of Home Affairs had conducted an initial probe and found that the smuggled gold was used for terrorist activities. According to NIA, a detailed probe is required as it involves the India-UAE bilateral relationship. The UAE has also launched a probe into the incident. On Monday morning, the NIA Court decided that the custody application would be heard in the presence of the accused persons, following which they were brought from the Covid First-Line Centres in Thrissur and Angamaly to the court in the afternoon. Swapna arrived around 3pm and Sandeep Nair around 3.30pm. After some initial hiccups about the counsel to represent the accused, the court heard NIA prosecutor Arjun Ambalapatta. The counsel said that the gold was smuggled through the diplomatic channel by the accused. Sandeep says consignment was addressed to a UAE diplomat Both Swapna and Sarith were employees of the UAE Consulate and resigned due to unknown reasons. However, they came to learn about movement of the diplomatic baggage while working there. Later, they conspired with the other suspects, including Sandeep, and started smuggling gold in 2019. In two previous attempts through the same channel, they had smuggled 9kg and 18kg of gold, before the bid to sneak in 30kg which was foiled at Thiruvananthapuram airport. They forged the UAE Consulates emblem to send the consignments. The NIA said it has seized a bag from Sandeep, which is suspected to have evidence that can give valuable information about the people who have links with the gang and their operations. The NIA submitted that the bag would be opened in the court later. The court asked as to how the agency could link the smuggling incidents and terrorism, to which the NIA counsel said such illegal activity is a threat to the nations financial stability. Unlike hawala and counterfeit money, a huge amount can be garnered through a single gold smuggling bid. After this, the court asked the accused whether they had any objection to sending them to NIA custody. Swapna, who was shivering, complained of chest pain. The court asked the agency to provide her the required medical treatment. Sandeep said the facts were different from what the NIA had told the court. He said the consignment was addressed to a UAE diplomat named Rashid Al Sheimeili. A diplomatic baggage can be sent only if the copies of the diplomats identity card and passport are attached with the papers. He asked why the diplomats role is not being probed. Besides, there is a clearing agent whose role has not been probed. The NIA also filed a petition to rectify the name and address of third accused, Faisal, of Puthanpally in Thrissur. In the FIR filed earlier, he was mentioned as Fazil of Ernakulam. He is suspected to be the one who sent the consignments from the UAE. A petition was also filed seeking a non-bailable arrest warrant against him. I received a new book recently - Why Science and Faith Need Each Other: Eight Shared Values that Move Us Beyond Fear by Elaine Howard Ecklund. Elaine Ecklund is a sociologist - a professor at Rice University and the director of the program in religion and public life. She has worked in the area of science and religion for something between 15 and 20 years now. I've read and/or posted on several of her books over the last 10 years. This latest book is somewhat different. It is based on her research, but is less academic. It is directed to lay Christians and pastors.This is the kind of book that can make for a good group study. Each chapter ends with questions for discussion. Elaine begins the book with a discussion of fear and the need to overcome fear to think clearly. What fears does science raise in your church? Why does it raise these fears? The church I attend right now (online these days unfortunately ... ) is fairly open to science and discussions about science and faith. It hasn't always been this way though. Not so long ago, a graduate student at our University was treated abysmally by some of the leaders of the church for daring to broach the topic. (Well OK, perhaps 20 years ago ... so not recently either.) We were members of the church at the time and didn't know this had happened, but it doesn't surprise me. On several occasions I sat in the audience while a speaker warned us to beware of the Godless professors at the University next door,especially, but not only, the scientists, who were seeking to destroy our children. I was safe in the church as long as I stayed under the radar - known as a wife and mother rather than as a scientist and professor. More recently, I've had the opportunity to teach some classes on science and Christian faith. They've been rewarding, but it is always necessary to consider the fear the subject can raise among some in the church. The discussion has to be approached with concern for each other and a commitment to avoid pushing buttons and provoking each other. Elaine Ecklund suggests that an understanding of virtues shared by science and religion could help to bridge the gap; virtues such as curiosity, honesty, and humility. She writes: I believe the core virtues of science and religion are more similar than we think; yet there are some key differences. I am proposing a new approach to discussing the relationship between science and faith: I see science and faith not just as sets of ideas but as groups of people, and I am convinced that scientists and Christians share common virtues that, if brought to light, will lead to common ground. I am also convinced that by recognizing the common virtues between our faith and science, and where our values differ, we Christians can begin to develop a more effective and meaningful relationship with science and scientists. (p. 21) As a Christian and a scientist - active in teaching and research for more than 30 years - I like where she is coming from. There are shared common virtues I see in the practice of science and of Christian faith. There are also common human failings that distort the picture and stand in the way of meaningful communication. Join us as we work through the book and consider the possibility that there are shared values in science and faith that can help move us beyond the warfare model. If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net You may comment on this post at Musings on Science and Theology if you wish. The Thiruvananthapuram region maintained its dominance in the CBSE class 12 exams, whose results were announced on Monday, registering a high pass percentage of 97.67. Earlier, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had announced the results for Class XII exams and the overall pass percentage stood at 88.78, with girls outshining boys. A total of 11.92 lakh candidates had appeared for the examination. The Thiruvananthapuram region of the CBSE congratulated all the students, teachers and school authorities on registering the high pass percentage. The region has been topping the charts from its very inception (in 2014). Hearty congratulations to all the school managements, principals, teachers and students for these meritorious achievements for grade 12 results, Dr Indira Rajan, Secretary-General of the National Council of CBSE schools, told PTI. The region comprises schools in Kerala and Lakshadweep Islands. A total of 35,439 students registeredfor the exam in Kerala, out of which 35,359 appeared and 34,536 passed. At least 17,960 girls and 17,399 boys appeared for the exam in Kerala out of which 17,676 girls and 16,860 boys passed the exam. Meanwhile, in Lakshadweep, all nine students - two boys and seven girls - who appeared for the exam passed. The exams were held for 649 schools in Thiruvananthapuram region with 214 examination centres. PTI RRT SA NVG NVG SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON 'When Yogi took over, in the first few months he went after the criminals.' 'Everybody thought he will do it, cutting across party, caste divisions.' 'Gradually, the situation started slipping out of his hand.' IMAGE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath during a surprise visit at the Hazratganj police station in Lucknow six days after he took charge of the state government, March 23, 2017. Photograph: Nand Kumar/PTI Photo "The Vikas Dubey episode starkly reminds us that not only has this (neta-criminal) nexus not broken, but has gained in strength in the last three-and-a-half years because of considerations like caste. If the criminals belong to a particular caste or if he belongs to a particular party, then he is no more a criminal," Dr Surya Pratap Singh, a retired IAS officer and social activist, tells Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore in the final segment of a revealing multi-part interview: When the Yogi Adityanath government was formed, the people of UP believed he would take on organised crime, the hardened criminals. How, according to you, is the law and order situation in UP under the present chief minister compared to what it was under earlier chief ministers Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav? It is really bad. It has gone worse (under this government). People really had high hopes from the government when it came to power in 2017, and it had a huge majority. People really had very high expectations from this government, but they could not do it (crack down against organised crime). It's so unfortunate, in spite of such a huge mandate, and people's support who believed that Yogi is an honest person, and he would do it. But it now feels like Yogi proved himself as a bull in a China shop. He was just going around and didn't know the outcome of his actions (the controversial encounters that took place in UP in the first year of his coming to power). That's my perception. I too had very high hopes, but the perception after three-and-a-half years has changed. Initially when he took over, in the first few months he went after the criminals. He had a free hand and everybody thought he will do it, cutting across party, caste divisions. But what happened gradually, the situation started slipping out of his hand. The situation now is such that the whole system of governance has collapsed due to the conniving and deep-rooted nexus among the police, bureaucrats, criminals and politicians, which we thought that Yogi would break. The Vikas Dubey episode starkly reminds us that not only has this nexus not broken, but has gained in strength in the last three-and-a-half years because of considerations like caste. If the criminals belong to a particular caste or if he belongs to a particular party, then he is no more a criminal. The partisan attitude of the system to catch the criminals has sent a strong signal to them that they can live by switching their political allegiance. When the system sends such signals, it emboldens criminal elements. The criminals in UP have become very sharp and astute. They don't owe allegiance to any political party; they owe their allegiance to the government of the day and by default whichever party is the ruling party. If he is on the other side of the table, then they are dispensable. That kind of signal has been sent by the system to the criminals. And that is what even the police and bureaucrats are following. The moment you start doing it, you start losing the trust of the people in the system and even if they are victimised, they hesitate to go to the police thinking that the police and the system will always side with the criminals and gangsters. The same thing has happened in Chitrakoot where a large number of girls have been molested by the contractors in the mining area there. These kinds of incidents where the police tries to hide the crimes doesn't leave a good impression on the people. Victims of such crime understand this system very well that the government is trying to hide bitter facts. IMAGE: Police inspect the encounter site where gangster Vikas Dubey was killed, 30 kilometres from Kanpur, July 10, 2020. Photograph: PTI Photo As you point out, the criminal doesn't belong to any political party; the criminal belongs to the government. Is that what happened after the first few months of the Yogi Adityanath government coming to power? When the government starts changing, the criminals sense it quickly. For the criminals belonging to higher and upper castes, it was easier to cosy up with this government. The upper castes are their vote bank. It was easier for them to get hold of a local MLA or MP or a local influential party person, and seek protection from the system. That's what happened; the majority of those criminals belonging to the upper castes changed their allegiance to the BJP, and then the government became helpless because they are the vote banks. In the rural areas, these gangsters would influence voters and seek favours and protection from the local politicians. People normally get swayed away by these bahubalis (strongmen). People really don't vote by choice. They either vote on caste lines or get influenced by a powerful person in the village. They understand such opportunities better because criminals are criminals. They can't survive without their source of income. So they need income, so they need that contract, they need to influence the engineers, they need to exert pressure on local industries and extort money from them to share part of the bounty with the ruling party. Do you think Adityanath now intends to repair the law and order machinery in UP? The mood in UP, one would assume, would naturally be in favour of finishing off the bahubalis. Initially, when he took as chief minister, the party (the BJP) was very supportive of his actions against the organised mafia. And he went all out after them. Gradually, he started realising that the party is full of the same elements. Almost all the criminals changed sides and joined his party. And he knows that because he is a politician. He knows that votes are important to win and criminals guarantee votes and victories. So, saying that he is a gentle man or an honest person and he really wants to do it (finish organised crime), it will be a far cry. I won't buy this idea. I also believed he would do it, but now I have started realising that Yogi Adityanath is not helpless. He is knowingly overlooking the activities of criminals. The anti-Romeo squads that he started are no more. He banished them because he knows it sent wrong signal to the youth. They don't like it. Slowly, he's losing his grip over the system. At the same time, the legal system, the administration, the bureaucracy and cops have realised that he doesn't mean what he says. Everything is in shambles now and things are going out of his hands. I will not say he is helpless. He is more like the same kind of breed of politicians, which we thought he is not. I really don't have high hopes for him now. People are really angry with him; they are not in favour of Adityanath now. They were initially saying that he is a great politician and a honest person; but the way things are going on now, he is losing people's faith. The crime rate against women in UP is the highest in this country. During the time of the SP and BSP, there used to be 14 rapes per day. Today, it is not less than 14; it is even more. There would be 15 murders per day during the earlier regimes; it is way more than 15 today; nothing has changed. People have realised that Yogi made tall claims, but when push came to shove, he could not walk the talk. Law and order is really bad in UP today; this instance (the Vikas Dubey incidents) has really exposed the whole system. I had been part of the system, but in the last 10-15 years, law and order has gone down the drain. Who is responsible for this situation in UP? All of us; all our systems, Systems means what? The bureaucracy has succumbed to politicians for their petty interests. The IAS and IPS, which are the part of the system, which are the backbone of the system. They have made this system in such a way that it becomes easier to be accountable to a politician, rather than be accountable to the people. Being accountable to the people requires lot of effort, but being accountable to a politician, you just have to please one person and the problem is solved. You stay in that state, on your feet. So, the system has collapsed and it suits both the politicians and bureaucrats. In a democracy, a politician is at the helm of affairs. And politicians are supposed to be a check on the bureaucracy and vice versa. What has happened is both have joined hands and manipulating the system to their advantage. It started 10-15 years ago in this state; it may have existed earlier too, but the scale has grown huge today. It has reached a point of no return. Feature Production: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com 13.07.2020 LISTEN The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has indicated that the governments decision to adopt a new Recovery and Discharge Policy is partly responsible for the increasing number of Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in the country. The new policy adopted in June de-isolate asymptomatic cases 14 days after an initial positive test. For symptomatic cases, de-isolation is scheduled to take place 14 days after onset of symptoms plus at least 3 days without symptoms. Basically what that means is that the initial protocol of 2 mandatory tests on patients who test negative after recovering from the disease has been abandoned. Speaking at a press conference today, National Communications Officer of the NDC Sammy Gyamfi has stressed that governments review of our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory tests to zero (0) as a result of the lack of test kits, isolation facilities, among others, is partly responsible for our ever-worsening situation. According to him, it is the view of the main opposition party that, the new recovery and discharge policy under which persons who have tested positive for the virus are declared as recovered and discharged when they become asymptomatic without any confirmatory tests, is very dangerous. The NDC says that the policy adopted by the government has the potential to further jeopardize the countrys already-failing COVID-19 fight. It must be noted that although the risk or degree of the spread of the virus by asymptomatic persons is relatively lower as compared to persons showing symptoms, it cannot be said that there is absolutely no risk or possibility that asymptomatic cases can spread the virus. In other words, fact that the WHO has said that asymptomatic cases are less likely to pass the virus on than symptomatic cases does not mean that asymptomatic individuals cannot spread the virus as has been suggested in Ghana, Sammy Gyamfi added. In addition to the concerns on the recovery and discharge policy by the government, the NDC has insisted that Ghana is in a state of quagmire because of the sloppy and clueless leadership of H.E Nana Addo. Read the full speech read by Sammy at the NDC's press conference below: SPEECH DELIVERED BY COMRADE SAMMY GYAMFI, NATIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC), AT THE 7TH EDITION OF THE NDCS WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING, HELD AT THE PARTYS HEADQUARTERS ON MONDAY, 13TH JULY, 2020. GHANAS COVID-19 FIGHT FAILING; URGENT REMEDIAL ACTIONS NEEDED NOW. Good morning distinguished friends from the media. Once again, I welcome you with gratitude to the Headquarters of the National Democratic Congress, as we continue to engage you on vital policy issues and other critical national conversations that border on the well-being of Ghanaians, as well as the development and forward-match of our dear Republic. Today, we have invited you here to discuss the precarious COVID-19 situation that our nation presently finds itself in; where this all started and how we have arrived at this present juncture. Indeed, our present COVID-19 situation, which clearly is getting worse by the day, calls for a deep and candid introspection and soul-searching by the nation. To do this, we must ask ourselves; What is Ghanas current COVID-19 situation? Where are we now in the COVID-19 fight? Are we winning the fight? or is the deadly virus triumphing over us? And we intend to be honest and objective about these basic questions this morning. Friends of the media, without mincing any words or making bones about this indisputable fact, Ghana is fast-losing the COVID-19 fight, due to the careless and directionless leadership of President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo. And, I shall outline ten (10) facts that accurately describe our current COVID-19 situation and bear out this assertion. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, as we speak: 1. Ghana has recorded over 24,000 positive cases with 139 deaths, whiles the insensitive and inept Akufo Addo-government looks on helplessly. Our astronomically high and ever-increasing positive case count is putting huge pressure on the already-constrained health system of the country. Indeed, many health facilities across the country, including the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have been compelled to suspend other critical emergency health services due to the overwhelming cases of Coronavirus on their hands. 2. Another fact that lays credence to the assertion that our COVID-19 fight is failing is that, the long-standing problem of lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our patriotic and hardworking health workers, who are sacrificing their lives to keep us safe, has not been addressed by President Akufo Addo and his government contrary to the countless and persistent assurances we have been given. This has occasioned an alarming rate of COVID-19 infections among health workers, leading to the loss of several precious lives, including some renowned health experts. So far, over 779 health workers made up of 190 doctors, 410 nurses and midwives, 23 hospital pharmacists and 156 allied health workers, have caught the virus, with 10 deaths, while the insensitive Akufo Addo-government continues to pay lip service to this critical issue. This is sad and completely unacceptable. 3. Also, the alarming COVID-19 infections among top NPP/government officials, some of whom have died, doesnt inspire any confidence in the ordinary man on the street, that this fight is anywhere near being won. As you may be aware, our Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Forestry Commission CEO, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (may God bless his soul), the late Takoradi Mayor, another sad casuality, K.K Sam, the BOST MD, the NHIA Director-General and her Deputies, the Minister of Regional Re-organization, Dan Botwe, the Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, The Ghana Education Service (GES) Director-General, the former deputy minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah and the Volta Regional Minister, Archibald Yao Letsa, are but a few of the bigwigs on the tall list of Government Officials who have either battled, are battling or succumbed to COVID-19 in the last few months. This phenomenon clearly bears out our worsening COVID-19 situation. 4. Again, the rising phenomenon of shutdown of key state institutions such as, COCOBOD, GNPC, BOST, NHIA, Ministry of Finance, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Education, the National Health Insurance Authority among several others, further accentuate the alarming rate of community spread of the novel coronavirus in the country and terrifying situation we presently find ourselves in. Only God knows which other state institution is playing host to this deadly virus, and whether at this rate, the entire government machinery will not be brought down on its knees in the coming weeks. 5. Furthermore, the significant reduction of testing and contact tracing being spearheaded by the failed Akufo Addo-government, is a major setback to our COVID-19 fight. Governments refusal to pay contact tracers their meagre motivational allowances, despite Parliament making financial provision for same, has led to the complete abandonment of contact tracing, thereby letting loose the ravaging virus in our communities. Also, our severely constrained testing capacity and shortage of test reagents and other vital supplies, which accounts for the huge backlog of samples waiting to be tested at both the Noguchi Center for Medical Research and the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR), is further exacerbating our failing fight against the virus. 7. Additionally, the lack of isolation facilities to contain our positive cases is very worrying. Currently, most of our hospitals and health facilities are full and overstretched, leading to the suspension of other critical emergency health services, while our ICUs are also getting full. This situation that has led to an increase in self-isolation of positive cases is undermining our COVID-19 fight, as the evidence on voluntary self-isolation, show relatively low compliance to safety protocols as compared to mandatory isolation. 8. Another serious problem confronting us, is the inadequacy of health personnel to manage COVID-19 cases, as was admitted by Dr. Nsiah Asare, Presidential Advisor on health in the media few weeks ago. 9. Also, the inconsistent and doubtful data on our COVID-19 situation, leading to loss of public confidence is a major problem. The several instances of manipulation of data by government to create a false sense of security, instead of reporting the true facts as they pertain to our situation has gradually chipped away public confidence in governments management of the pandemic. 10. Lastly, the non-adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols by majority of Ghanaians, particularly by the ruling New Patriotic Party reflects the our failing fight against the pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen, the ten (10) facts I have enumerated, accurately describe our current COVID-19 situation and show that our situation is increasingly worsening and getting dire as the days go by. Indeed, international reputable organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), has been alarmed by our current situation, leading to their recent assessment of Ghana as one of the countries driving the spread of the virus in West Africa, whilst the European Union also recently placed Ghana among countries whose nationals have been given restricted access to the EU zone due to our terrifying COVID-19 situation. As it is now, the center can no longer hold. Things appear to have fallen apart. Our health system and response plan have been completely overwhelmed by the pandemic. Our leaders, the President, his talkative Vice and our health minister, are no where to be found. No wonder the Minister of Health recently said that he and the President are tired of the COVID fight. How low we sunk! Whilst other countries have stepped up their fight against the pandemic, we have taken our foot off the pedal, with our authorities almost but conceding defeat. But the biggest question is, why Ghana? How did we get here? Distinguished friends from the media, since a problem well-stated is half-solved, permit me to enumerate ten (10) sins of President Akufo-Addo that have brought us here. 1. Firstly, President Akufo Addos refusal to close our borders and airport, as well as adopt containment measures on time, is the main reason why we find ourselves in this severe and alarming COVID-19 malaise. This is grounded by the high number of imported cases that precipitated the astronomical community spread of the virus across the country, due to the lack of implementation of any proper containment measures right from the outset. It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo ignored all calls for him to close our borders and airport from health professionals, the NDC and other citizens, and rather went frolicking in Europe at a time the coronavirus was ravaging several European and western nations. In fact, you would recall that it was upon his return from that unproductive European tour, that one of our very first cases was recorded by a high-ranking diplomat, specifically the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, who was with the Presidents in Norway. 2. Secondly, governments poor management of the Coronavirus Alleviation program, including misappropriation of relief funds, particularly free food and water distribution to the vulnerable, which led to a premature easing of lockdown restrictions on the basis of political reasons other than medical, epidemiological or any scientific considerations, further worsened our wobbly COVID-19 fight. 3. Thirdly, governments failure to adopt mass/community testing and to resolve our inefficient testing regime is part of the reasons why we find ourselves in this quagmire. In fact, the problem of delayed release of test results, as a result of lack of PCR test kits, reagents among others, still remains a major challenge. 4. Also, the non-payment of contact tracers by the Akufo Addo-government, leading to strike actions by the poor workers who have placed their lives at risk and those of their families for our collective good. As I have already indicated, this is very unacceptable, as it betrays the lack of sensitivity, seriousness and candor in President Akufo-Addos promises, even in this time of coronavirus crises. 5. Again, the deliberate misreporting and suppression of data on positive, death and recovered cases, by the Akufo Addo-government, thereby giving a false sense of security to the people has partly accounted for our failing COVID-19 fight. 6. Furthermore, Akufo Addos failure to provide adequate PPEs to protect health workers, despite financial provision being made for same by Parliament has been one of the bane of our deplorable COVID-19 position. The President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Frank Ankobea and other allied medical unions have had occasion to lament governments failure to provide basic PPE and how this has impacted negatively on our COVID fight, leading to loss of morale and medical personnel, as I have already indicated. It is worthy to add, that President Akufo-Addos deliberate exclusion of several other health workers from the list of frontline health workers is demotivating a lot of our health workers who have been excluded from the list of frontline health workers. And this must be addressed as a matter of urgency. 7. Additionally, Akufo Addos failure to establish adequate isolation centers for the management of positive cases has further exacerbated our worsening COVID-19 situation. This is a reflection of the general failure of President Akufo Addo to make any meaningful contribution to health infrastructure in Ghana, in the last three (3) and half years, despite being the most resourced President in Ghanas history. This has cemented his place as a President who talks much and does very little. 8. Again, Akufo Addos failure to ensure the observation of COVID-19 precautionary protocols during the NIA registration and card distribution exercises, the NPP Parliamentary primaries, as well as the ongoing new voter registration, despite several warnings from the Ghana Medical Association and other health professionals, is another major contributing factor to our failing COVID-19 fight. This is very worrying, particularly given the fact that some Pastors and other citizens have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed for breaching the same COVID-19 restrictions and protocols. President Akufo Addos refusal to hold his own appointees and party members, such as Carlos Ahenkora to the same standard of discipline, has further exposed him as a man who preaches virtue and supervises vice. The wanton disregard for COVID-19 protocols by government officials, which was again displayed at the recently-held confirmation of President Akufo-Addo as flag-bearer of the NPP, has set a bad tone for what has been a return to business as usual for members of the public and is undermining our already failing COVID-19 fight. 9. More importantly, the premature reopening of Senior High Schools by President Akufo Addo without mass testing of students, teachers and workers, as well as a failure to put in place and enforce appropriate safety measures in the reopened schools, which is leading to the spread of the virus among SHS students is yet another major setback for our COVID-19 fight. Today, it is sad and annoying to note, that apart from the disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols in our Senior High Schools, the schools have become centers for political campaigns by the NPP, as was seen over the weekend, when the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye led a team to campaign in some Senior High Schools in the Ashanti region. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, is it not cruel, that at a time over 10 of the reopened Senior High Schools have recorded infections on their campuses, and parents have been prevented from visiting their wards as a so-called COVID-19 precautionary measure, President Akufo Addo has opened the same schools, for his party NPP and the Electoral Commission, who prioritizes political power than human lives, to go in there and engage in political activities which have the tendency to endanger the lives of our innocent SHS students. This show of total disregard for the lives of our innocent SHS children by President Akufo Addo is unconscionable and reprehensible to say the least, and must he condemned by all voices of conscience. 10. Finally, governments review of our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory tests to zero (0) as a result of the lack of test kits, isolation facilities, among others, is partly responsible for our ever-worsening situation. We hold the view, that the new recovery and discharge policy under which persons who have tested positive for the virus are declared as recovered and discharged when they become asymptomatic without any confirmatory tests, is very dangerous, and has the potential to further jeopardize our already-failing COVID-19 fight. It must be noted that although the risk or degree of the spread of the virus by asymptomatic persons is relatively lower as compared to persons showing symptoms, it cannot be said that there is absolutely no risk or possibility that asymptomatic cases can spread the virus. In other words, fact that the WHO has said that asymptomatic cases are less likely to pass the virus on than symptomatic cases does not mean that asymptomatic individuals cannot spread the virus as has been suggested in Ghana. Indeed, the WHO has acknowledged that, there is a "minimal residual risk" that patients discharged under their new policy may still be infectious and this must inform our adoption and implementation of the new policy in Ghana. Even more bizarre, ladies and gentlemen, is the conflicting signals government is communicating to the public on this matter. Whereas, government has told the public that we have reviewed our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory and confirmatory tests to zero, the same government few days ago informed us that one of the appointees of President Akufo Addo who contracted the virus, Carlos Ahenkora, has recovered, after testing negative in two consecutive confirmatory tests. The question we would want to ask is that, if the new recovery and discharge policy under which asymptomatic persons are discharged without any confirmatory tests is good, then why was Carlos Ahenkora made to undertake two (2) confirmatory tests before he was declared as having recovered? What is government hiding from the nation? Dont they believe in their own recovery and discharge policy? On what basis are they determining who deserves confirmatory tests and who doesnt? Why does Carlos Ahenkora deserve two confirmatory tests, but the ordinary Ghanaian who has contracted the virus dont deserve same? Is it because the Akufo Addo government values the lives of their officials over the lives of ordinary Ghanaians? Friends from the media, this lack of consistency in the application of governments new recovery and discharge policy, casts serious doubts about its validity and viability and shows that same cannot be relied upon by the nation if we are serious about the COVID-19 fight. In addition to above-enumerated points, the crass intolerance and headstrong refusal of the Akufo-Addo government to heed good counsel is also a major cause of our worsening COVID-19 situation. Whereas foreign embassies saw what the NDC was seeing from the outset and moved to evacuate their nationals months ago, President Akufo-Addo and his men were busy pursuing political expediency, the reason why we are here. In short, ladies and gentlemen of the media, Ghana finds herself in this quagmire because of the sloppy and clueless leadership, as well as the politically-driven decisions of President Akufo-Addo. THE WAY FORWARD Distinguished friends from the media, the NDC reckons that our current situation calls for decisive and forthright leadership to stem the tide of the marauding virus which now threatens all of us. This is not the time for weak and tired loins, as the Health Minister and President Akufo-Addo have developed, neither is it time to place politically-driven decision ahead of public health. Clearly, our national response plan and strategy have failed, and we need to re-strategize and take some critical remedial actions to salvage our failing fight, as a matter of urgency. The NDC therefore demands that the Akufo-Addo government adopts and implement the following far-reaching measures to protect Ghanaian lives. First, we demand the immediate closure of all reopened schools which were hurriedly reopened under the guise of facilitating the writing of WASSCE, just to make room for the Electoral Commission to register SHS students on their school campuses. The Ghanaian Times newspaper reports today, that ten (10) more Senior High Schools have recorded cases of COVID-19. As we speak, Nigeria, a major participant in the WASSCE exam has rescinded its decision to reopen schools, while Kenya has also decided to close schools until 2021. We urge President Akufo-Addo to prioritize human lives over electoral fancies. Also, we call on all and sundry to condemn the action of the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye for leading the shameful agenda of making SHS their hotbed of political activity during these perilous times. We further demand that in consonance with GES regulations, the Headmaster of that Senior High School in Kumasi should be interdicted immediately in order to serve the ends of justice. Secondly, we demand that government deals urgently with high infection rate among health professionals by providing the required type and number of PPE for health workers. As a matter of fact, government must heed to calls to revise its narrow conceptualization of frontline health workers, and immediately provide the required PPEs to aid our gallant health workers in combating this virus. Let me add, that the need for the adequate provision of PPE for health workers must be situated within the work of a bipartisan committee, because we can no longer allow them to get infected and die when money has been voted for that purpose by our representatives in Parliament. Thirdly, government must review the new discharge and recovery policy that allows the discharge of people with positive cases after just one test. Much as government may be in a hurry to make our picture look good, a further worsening of this situation will completely overrun our health system, hence the need to tread cautiously. The new policy which appears to be shoring up or recovery cases is creating a false sense of security amongst the people. And, our implementation of same against the caution of the WHO that there is a "minimal residual risk" that patients discharged under their new policy may still be infectious, has the tendency to jeopardize further our failing fight. Also, we call for the immediate adoption of mass and efficient testing regime to be able to go after the virus. Our current reactionary approach to the virus is actually what is precipitating its further rapid spread. Apart from the absence of testing, the time lag between when tests are conducted and when the results are ready gives room for the virus to spread inadvertently to those who hitherto did not have it. We further demand the establishment of more isolation centers by the Akufo Addo government to effectively manage our rising number of positive cases. The current situation where people who have been confirmed positive are let loose due to lack of facilities to accommodate them is unacceptable. Government must also enhance its contact tracing by paying all outstanding allowances due contact tracers in order to motivate them to work hard. The virus has obviously overtaken us, and if we must get ahead of it, then we ought to run faster, and be proactive. Additionally, we demand that government intensifies public awareness - through mass, purposeful and deliberate public education. This will further awaken all of us to the reality of the virus which has become a clear and present danger with us. Last, but not least, government must ensure accountability in the expenditure of COVID-19 funds. There is the need for a special and forensic audit into all already expended COVID-19 funds, as a matter of urgency. Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot end by urging government to reduce fuel prices, instead of the recent consistent increments at a time crude prices have plummeted on the world market. The need to reduce fuel prices comes at a time government has directed all commercial drivers to reduce the number of passengers they take in line with social distancing protocols. This has drastically reduced the incomes of transport owners who are still being asked to pay more for fuel. This is unacceptable, and prices must go down immediately. We urge all Ghanaians to hold the Akufo-addo Government accountable for its handling of this pandemic. All over the world, countries are still battling and re-strategizing against what looks like a continuous wave of the virus. Ghana alone cannot let down our guard for the sake of Akufo Addos quest for political power. Ghana deserves better! Thank you for your attention. The marathon fourth round of Lt Gen-level talks also focussed on steps for pulling back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Indian and Chinese military commanders on Tuesday held over 10-hour-long intense negotiations on finalising a framework for a 'time-bound and verifiable' disengagement process from all the friction points in eastern Ladakh including Pangong Tso and Depsang, people familiar with the developments said. The marathon fourth round of Lieutenant General-level talks also focussed on steps for pulling back large number of troops and weapons from rear bases along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) in eastern Ladakh, they said. The Indian side insisted on 'total restoration' of status quo ante in all areas of eastern Ladakh prior to May 5 when the standoff began following a clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Pangong Tso, sources said. It also conveyed concerns over China's 'new claim lines' in the region and demanded immediate withdrawal of Chinese troops from a number of areas including Pangong Tso, they said. There was no official word on details of the meeting. The talks began at around 11 am at a designated meeting point in Chushul on the Indian side of the de-facto border between the two countries and continued beyond 9 pm. The Indian delegation was led by Lt Gen Harinder Singh, the commander of the Leh-based 14 Corps, while the Chinese side was headed by the commander of the South Xinjiang military region. The key focus of the talks was learnt to be on rolling out the phase two of the disengagement process besides firming up modalities for withdrawal of forces and weapons from the rear bases in a time-bound and verifiable manner, the sources said, adding they were aimed at further de-escalation of the situation at various friction points. The third round of military talks on June 30 lasted for 12 hours. The talks are taking place days after implementation of the first phase of the disengagement process from the friction points. 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. In line with a mutually agreed decision, the two sides created a minimum buffer zone of three kilometres in most of the friction points where they were locked in a standoff. The formal process of disengagement of troops began on June 6, a day after a nearly two-hour telephonic conversation between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on ways to bring down tension in the area. The two countries have already held three rounds of Lt General-level talks 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. At Tuesday's meeting, the sources said the two sides are also expected to finalise a roadmap for overall restoration of peace and tranquility in the high-altitude region that witnessed an eight-week bitter standoff between the troops of the two countries. 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 on June 15 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 were locked in a bitter standoff in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5. The tension escalated manifold after the violent clashes 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. Following the Galwan Valley incident, the government has given the armed forces 'full freedom' to give a 'befitting' response to any Chinese misadventure along the LAC. The Army has rushed additional troops to forward locations along the border following the deadly clashes. The Indian Air Force has also moved air defence systems as well as a sizeable number of its frontline combat jets and attack helicopters to several key air bases. We are in the midst of a national outcry for reform of a policing and criminal justice system that has had devastating consequences for many Black Americans. Though outrage has been sparked by current events, a broader reckoning with the deep roots of racism is also being demanded from many quarters. One of those roots is a sharp inequity in K-12 education. Evidence amassed by the Learning Policy Institute makes the case that schools in low-income neighborhoods, particularly those with majority Black and Latinx families, are disproportionately staffed by teachers who are new to the profession, many of whom are underprepared for the challenges they face. Research shows that teachers are least effective when they are new to teaching and that several ineffective teachers in a row make it nearly impossible for a student to catch up to peers who have had more effective teachers. While not the only inequity in schooling, it is one with profound implications. The fault does not lie with teachers. Throughout the United States, we have failed to give new teachers the intensive support they initially needperhaps explaining why 1 in 10 teachers leaves the profession after their first year. In a country with the prowess of the United States in higher education and research, we have neglected the challenges that prevent us from effectively educating all our students, particularly those who are most reliant on education as a path out of poverty. What can be done to create fundamental changea change that is built into the functioning of our education system? We propose the creation of educations equivalent of teaching hospitals , the places where the most advanced practices are developed and where new professionals are trained under the guidance of experts. More specifically, we propose that school districts close to universities designate a set of schools in the most underserved area of the district as an Innovation and Induction (i2) Cluster. Master teachers would be recruited to these schools and specifically trained in mentoring and in research-based teaching practice. They would be attracted not just by premium pay but also by the opportunity for professional growth and advancement. All evidence suggests that during the first two years of teaching, both teachers and their students suffer." New teachers would be placed as residents in these master teachers classrooms for an entire year. They would receive regular mentoring the following year when they would have an independent classroom in close proximity to their mentor before moving to schools elsewhere in the district in Year 3. Importantly, researchers from neighboring universities would support mentor training and work collaboratively with the teachers in these schools to develop and test innovative practices that support students success. A network that links the i2 Clusters in different districts would help spread what works. What would such an investment get us as a nation? It would put two teachersone a master teacherin classrooms that are now often underserved. It would ensure that new teachers are not on their own during the first two years of teaching when all evidence suggests that both they and their students suffer. And it would create school sites where many of our most accomplished teachers would work in partnership with university researchers to design solutions that will give students in our lowest-performing schools a high-quality educationsolutions that would then be shared. Each element of our proposal exists somewhere now: Teacher-residency programs increase new-teacher support, innovations in practice spring from charter schools, and research-practice partnerships engage researchers in solving problems of practice. But i2 Clusters would provide much more than the sum of these partsintegrating teacher induction, evidence-based innovation and evaluation, and attention to equity into a coherent whole. Our proposal could channel the energy invested in many different valuable initiatives into a stable nationwide effort capable of continuous improvement. The i2 Clusters would be initiated by school districts since they are responsible for the education of students and the quality of teachers. Moreover, it is district and school leaders who feel the strain of high teacher turnover and poor performance in these schools year after year. The funding would also support a local i2 Center responsible for coordinating the whole, including nonprofit organizations that would share in the work. What would such an initiative cost? The answer depends on the scale of the enterprise. The Chula Vista Elementary school district in California serves 30,000 students and hires 30 to 40 first-year teachers annually. It has begun planning for an i2 Cluster in three of its lowest-performing schools. That estimated cost, assuming a modest number of innovation and evaluation initiatives, is $5.7 million a year. Rough estimates for a district twice the size in another urban area exceed $20 million annually because the proportion of new teachers is much higher. Were we at some point in the future to have i2 Clusters in 150 districts spread across all 50 states and costing on average $20 million each, the annual cost would be $3 billion. We might compare such an investment with the $16 billion dollars in annual federal funding to subsidize the training of new doctors. Smartly, Medicare and Medicaid were identified as stable mechanisms through which that funding flows to teaching hospitals year after year. Titles I and II of the Every Student Succeeds Act could similarly serve to fund the training of new teachers and innovations in practice in high-poverty schools. Estimates by many economists suggest that increasing teacher quality would give taxpayers a high return on investment in the form of increased future tax revenuesas better educated students become employed adults and as costs are reduced for social services and incarceration. And an expected drop in teacher attrition by half, because of increased support during the first two years, would reduce the investment required almost immediately. When students return to school, we should expect that those who have the least will have lost the most ground during the COVID-19 pandemic. We see the disparity in summer learning loss and we have now greatly magnified that effect. It will be no surprise if the primary changes in schools are the distance between desks and the presence of sanitizing wipes. But if we are serious about addressing the inequities that are now so visibly on display, we should invest in more fundamental changechange that tugs at one of the deepest roots of the inequality in our education system. I realize that it is tacky to be an I-told-you-so. But we conservative activists have been fighting on the front lines of the culture war for many years, warning the masses. Wake up, America...leftists are turning our kids into sleeper cells. At the proper time, leftists will unleash our kids to launch a violent no-holds-barred war against their parents, God, and country! Black disciples of socialism disguised as civil rights activists have also been allowed to sow their seeds of anti-American hate in public education for decades. In the 1970s, I was a student at the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art via scholarships. The Black Panthers showed up, angrily demanding a platform on campus to protest. College management humbly complied. As a black student, I never understood what I was supposed to be angry at the college about or how the college was abusing me. Dad was a civil rights pioneer. He pressured me and my four younger siblings to always vote and join the NAACP. Upon attending my first NAACP meeting, I was stunned. They actually joined in a circle; held hands; and sang, "We Shall Overcome". Their rhetoric sounded as though I had stepped through a time warp back to 1950. Leftist institutions of indoctrination are still selling students, black and white, the absurd lie that America has not progressed racially beyond the 1950s. I wrote about public elementary schools teaching white kids to hate themselves and feel guilty for being born white about pre-K students being taught to embrace homosexuality and to consider attempting to change their sex. The children's book I Am Jazz about a boy whose parents insanely began preparing him to pretend to be female at age 3 is read to kindergartners without parental consent and even mandatory in schools' curricula. Pediatricians along with Pope Francis say teaching transgender ideology causes child abuse. I wrote about a white friend who said her middle school son came home in tears after being taught how cruel his ancestors were to women, blacks, and American Indians. Today, her son is an adult member of the Communist Party. She cannot display an American flag for fear of retaliation by her son. I wrote about how when I suggested that a Millennial relative visit Mt. Rushmore while vacationing in South Dakota, the relative's venomous response was "I wouldn't go across the street to visit those guys!" I wrote about the Dancing Waters at Bellagio Fountain in Vegas doing a breathtakingly beautiful presentation set to Whitney Houston's spectacular version of our National Anthem. At the end, I expected thunderous cheers and applause. Shockingly, the mostly young audience of thousands responded with a yawn. I wrote about Michelle Obama telling students to report their parents who make racist statements at the dinner table. I wrote about the powerful documentary, Waiting For "Superman" which exposed urban black parents' desperate, heartbreaking efforts to get their kids out of violent, failing schools and into good schools. Democrats' loyalty to the teacher unions is keeping black students stuck in bad schools. I wrote about leftists' PSA telling kids to steal their parent's guns and turn them over to their teachers. I caught holy hell for writing about LGBT activists infiltrating the Boy Scouts of America. Once inside, LGBT activists insisted that "morally straight' be removed from the oath. They also changed the name. The historic heroic Christian organization has been destroyed. I wrote about how Planned Parenthood, which was founded by a racist, targets black babies while illegally selling the body parts for profit. I wrote about public schools recruiting students for Islam while banning Bibles and Christian clubs. I wrote about schools assisting students with genital mutilation surgery and abortions without parental knowledge or consent. I was told, "Lloyd do not put your divisive articles on my Facbook page." Everyone was wimpish, content with being politically correct, keeping their heads buried into the sand. Then, along came the perfect political storm of COVID fear and the unfortunate death of George Floyd. Leftists commanded their sleeper cells, "GO! GO! GO! Seek, kill, and destroy all things American and Christian!" As my late momma would say, "no sense crying over spilled milk. What's done is done." Due to passively allowing counter-culture old hippies to control public education, we have a lost generation infected with severe anti-Americanism and anti-Christianity. The question is, how do we take back our kids? President Trump made a major step in the right direction with this tweet. "Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education. Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues. Our children must be Educated, not Indoctrinated!" I say, "Right on, bro!" (a little 1970s lingo). Leftists have aggressively sought to criminalize homeschooling. Ironically, in forcing an unnecessary COVID lockdown, leftists have forced parents to homeschool. A refreshing exchange at Walmart: I spotted a white twenty-something-year-old wearing a MAGA cap. "Excuse me, sir, why do you support Trump?" The young man replied, "He's honest. He always tells the truth." I asked, "What do you think about the Marxist war taking place in our streets?" He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh well, that's their opinion." I said, "If only anarchists had the same tolerance for various opinions." The good news is that the Marxist war against America unfolding in our streets has awakened millions to how public education has transformed our kids into an army of leftist walking brain-dead zombies. Finally, parents are saying, "We must take back our kids." Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American Help Lloyd Spread the Truth https://www.trumptrainusa2020.com/ http://LloydMarcus.com For the first time in 17 years, the United States federal government has carried out an execution, killing an Oklahoma man convicted of murdering an Arkansas family in the 1990s. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, allowed the execution to move forward. The Associated Press reported that 47-year-old Daniel Lee Lewis, who had a plan back then to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest, was killed by lethal injection Tuesday morning. He was convicted of murdering gun dealer William Mueller, his wife, Nancy, and her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell, in 1996. I didnt do it, AP reported Lee as saying. Ive made a lot of mistakes in my life, but Im not a murderer. Ruth Friedman, one of Lee's lawyers, said it was shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution during a pandemic. And it is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this execution in haste, he told the Associated Press in a statement. The victims' families asked that the execution be halted until a coronavirus treatment or vaccine was made available, saying they were being put at risk by traveling to attend the execution in the middle of a pandemic. According to CBS News, the family also wanted to counter any claims that that the execution was being done on their behalf. COVID UPDATES: Medical military reinforcements battle COVID-19 surge in Houston They instead wanted Lee to be granted a life sentence like his co-defendant and reputed ringleader Chevie Kehoe. Kehoe recruited Lee to join his white supremacist organization, the Aryan Peoples' Republic, in 1995. The two were arrested two years later for the killings of Mueller, his wife and her daughter. Attorney General William Barr disagreed with those who sought to stop Lee's execution saying he, finally faced the justice he deserved. The American people have made the considered choice to permit capital punishment for the most egregious federal crimes, and justice was done today in implementing the sentence for Lees horrific offenses. Barr said its the Justice Department's duty to carry out sentences imposed by the courts, including the death penalty, and provide closure for families and communities where the killings took place. Lee's final words were: Youre killing an innocent man. Before Lee, the last person to be executed on a federal level was Louis Jones in 2003. Jones was convicted of the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a young female soldier. According to the New York Times, Jones was a Persian Gulf war veteran who claimed exposure to Iraqi nerve gas made him rape and kill 19-year-old Pvt. Tracie Joy McBride. He had kidnapped McBride from an Air Force base in Texas. The Times reported that Jones' final moments, he looked toward the people in the room and mouthed the words, ''I love you.'' The leaders of the European Union (EU) and India will meet for the first ever-virtual EU-India summit today (July 15). This 15th EU-India summit comes at a crucial time just as India is dealing with a major military crisis on the border with China, and the EU is coming to its own reckoning of China as an aggressive power. That the summit is even taking place, given the coronavirus crisis and the domestic preoccupations of both partners, is a sign of how far the EU-India relationship has come. For India, this shouldnt be a business-as-usual meeting. As India tries to develop a comprehensive response to Chinese power by strengthening partnerships, economic decoupling and diversification, and as attitudes in Europe shift decisively away from China, the EU can be a crucial partner for India on several fronts. This meeting follows on the heels of a strained EU-China summit, which didnt even yield the customary joint statement, but a rather pointed statement from Brussels on defending EU interests and values in a complex partnership with China. In stark contrast, the meeting with India is set to produce a new road map for the partnership and a slew of initiatives on security, trade and investment, digital economy, infrastructure connectivity, coronavirus crisis response, and the climate crisis. This difference between the two summits is no coincidence. In fact, Europes perception of India has been changing in tandem with increasing tensions with China. In 2018, the EU released a new strategy for cooperation with India, calling it a geopolitical pillar in a multipolar Asia, crucial for maintaining the balance of power in the region. Paris and Brussels have been actively pushing Europe to see India as a truly strategic partner. Yet, in the public eye and in strategic circles in New Delhi, the value of the EU as partner is constantly underestimated. Since it is not a traditional hard power, many cannot imagine a role for Europe in dealing with the pressures New Delhi is facing. There are perennial misunderstandings on capabilities where Brussels can deliver to Indian interests as opposed to areas where Paris or Berlin would be better partners. But as India deals with the China challenge, the EU can be a valuable partner in several strategic areas. For example, on 5G technologies, as India reconsiders Huawei due to security concerns, European companies such as Ericsson and Nokia will be important players. Also, as India looks to check Chinese investment in its technology sector, Europe will be an important alternative. It is crucial for India to plug into the debates in Brussels on their 5G toolbox and the digital agenda to discuss mutual security concerns. Next, as India grapples with rising Chinese influence in its neighbourhood, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investments and infrastructure connectivity are in the spotlight. The EU has its own connectivity strategy, providing around 414 billion in aid globally, and is already partnering with Japan and the United States (US) to provide alternatives to BRI. This is a crucial opportunity where Brussels can deliver what India needs. Entities such as the European Investment Bank are active in India, investing in metro and other infrastructure projects. India should explore this partnership with the EU to not only fill domestic infrastructure needs but also as part of Indias neighbourhood diplomacy. On the pandemic and Chinas response, India and the EU have similar concerns. There is huge apprehension in Brussels on the disinformation campaign led by China around the origin and responses to the virus. There is also an increasing recognition that Chinese influence in international organisations needs to be countered. The EU and Australia coordinated to push for an independent enquiry into the origins of the virus at the World Health Assembly. As India takes the chair of the World Health Organizations executive board, the EU can be a powerful ally in checking Chinese influence at WHO and beyond. With troubles in EU-China relations, debate on the Indo-Pacific is also picking up in European capitals besides Paris. The EU has several programmes on maritime domain awareness and information-sharing in the Indian Ocean, which are now expanding to include South and Southeast Asia. The German navy has shown an active interest in contributing to Indian Ocean security and collaborating with partners. Japan and Australia are active diplomatically in pushing to get Europe on board the Indo-Pacific. India should actively advocate its vision of the region and explore avenues for cooperation with the EU, particularly to check Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean. Finally, as India looks to shore up domestic capabilities and strengthen its economy, it cannot afford to ignore the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Europe which is languishing after many rounds of failed negotiations. The EU is Indias largest trading partner and the second-largest destination for Indian exports. As Europe looks to diversify supply chains and move away from China, India shouldnt miss the opportunity to attract investments and deepen its relationship with the worlds largest trading bloc, which has already negotiated FTAs with Vietnam, Japan and Singapore. Europe doesnt face a territorial threat from China, and the push and pull of European policy towards China will continue. Imperfect alignment on China shouldnt limit Europe-India cooperation. Europe has decisively moved away from a China policy based solely on economic engagement to checking Chinese influence domestically and internationally, with the tools Brussels knows best economics, technology, and diplomacy. India needs to rethink what it wants its partnership with Europe to look like and yield. Europe can be an unlikely but useful partner as India deals with the China challenge. Garima Mohan is fellow, Asia Program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States The views expressed are personal MIAMI Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson plans to travel this week to Venezuela to urge President Nicolas Maduro to free several jailed Americans as a goodwill gesture aimed at easing tensions with the U.S. The Richardson Center, which seeks freedom for Americans held by hostile foreign governments and criminal organizations, announced Monday the planned meeting with Maduro on social media. Richardson didnt say on whose behalf he was traveling to Caracas or what day he would meet with Maduro, who was recently indicted on U.S. drug trafficking charges. But among the U.S. citizens jailed in Venezuela are two former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry arrested in May while participating in a botched raid organized from neighboring Colombia to oust Maduro. Also being held are six oil executives from Citgo five Venezuelan Americans and one a permanent U.S. resident who were lured to Caracas for a meeting in late-2017 at the offices of the Houston-based companys parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA, when masked security agents swarmed a boardroom and hauled them away. While Richardsons visit is a private mission, he coordinated with the State Department and has kept U.S. officials briefed of his plans, according to someone familiar with the trip. The face-to-face diplomacy stands in contrast to U.S. policy of maximum pressure on a leader considered by Washington to be a dictator and drug kingpin. The Trump administration closed the U.S. Embassy in Caracas in March 2019 after it recognized Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-controlled congress, as Venezuelas rightful leader. Lately, however, President Donald Trump has shown signs of losing faith in Guaidos ability to remove Maduro, who has shown a surprising degree of resilience amid ever-tougher U.S. sanctions that have accelerated the OPEC nations economic collapse. He seems to be losing a certain power, Trump said of Guaido Friday in an interview with Telemundo. We want somebody that has the support of the people. I support the person that has the support of the people. Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Clinton presidency, has opened diplomatic backchannels to several hostile governments, including Iran, Cuba and North Korea, to win the release of some 40 Americans. They include former U.S. Navy veteran Michael White, who was released last month by Iran after two years in jail as part of a deal that spared an American Iranian physician any more time in jail in the U.S. Richardsons relationship with Maduro stretches back to when the Venezuelan would travel to the United Nations as Hugo Chavezs foreign minister. The two also crossed paths at the 2018 inauguration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Richardson also worked behind the scenes to bring home another American jailed in Caracas, former Mormon missionary Joshua Holt, who won his freedom in 2018. Maduros government last month released a video showing the six American oil executives in relatively good condition after their loved ones expressed fear about the mens health amid the coronavirus pandemic. Given limitations, our conditions here have been good, one of the men, former Citgo President Jose Pereira, said between clips of the men dressed in orange jail garb playing ping pong and lifting weights. They treat us with respect regarding our human rights. Less is known about the condition of the former U.S. special forces soldiers. The two appeared in videos shortly after their capture and said they had been hired by a Florida-based company run by a former special forces colleague, Jordan Goudreau, to train a volunteer army of Venezuelans to carry out an assault. The Trump administration has denied any involvement in the attack, which consisted of a small contingent of lightly armed men who were easily subdued when they arrived at Venezuelas coastline on a few skiff boats. Saudi Arabia commended Iraq for implementing almost all its pledged oil-production cuts and Nigeria told the kingdom it was committed to hitting its target, in further signs that disputes among OPEC+ members over cheating of quotas are being resolved. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman spoke to his Iraqi counterpart Ihsan Abdul Jabbar, according to a joint statement from their offices on Monday. The prince said he was satisfied with Baghdads improved compliance in June. Prince Abdulaziz also had a call with Nigerias de facto oil minister, Timipre Sylva. The Saudi minister stressed the importance of all countries adhering to their commitments to cut oil output, while Sylva said Nigeria would compensate until September for producing more than its quota allowed in May and June, according to a separate statement. OIL CRASH: OPEC readies next move in bid to avoid oil taper tantrum Iraq, Nigeria and other nations such as Angola have came under fire from Saudi Arabia and Russia -- the effective leaders of the OPEC+ alliance -- for over-production. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies agreed in April to cut supply by almost 10 million barrels a day to prop up prices in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, OPEC produced 22.7 million barrels a day, the lowest amount in almost three decades. Brent crude has more than doubled since April to $42.28 a barrel thanks to the cuts and an easing of virus lockdowns in many countries. But its still down 36% this year, putting huge strain on the finances of oil producers. Iraq, OPECs biggest producer after Saudi Arabia, implemented almost 90% of its pledged supply curbs in June and will reach full compliance at the beginning of August, it said in the statement. FUEL FIX: Now more than ever, you need our energy news in your inbox OPEC+ will hold a video conference on Wednesday to review the deal. Delegates have suggested they will stick with a plan to begin tapering their historic output reductions in August. Iraq and Nigeria are among members that have promised additional production curbs from July to September to make up for failing to hit their targets earlier. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Five-thousands heart attack sufferers in England missed out on life-saving hospital treatment due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a study has claimed. Researchers analysed NHS hospital data to show that around the peak of the crisis, in late March, admissions were 35 per cent lower than usual. Up to a quarter of people who suffered the most severe heart attack a complete blockage of an artery did not seek help, figures suggest. Admissions are now picking back up again because the coronavirus is fizzling out, according to researchers at the University of Oxford. But patient confidence is nowhere near pre-Covid levels as Brits still fear catching the coronavirus if they go to hospital. Experts warned the risk of death from delaying heart attack treatment is higher than picking up Covid-19 at hospital. University of Oxford found NHS hospital admissions for any 'acute coronary syndrome' a sudden reduction of blood to the heart dropped from a monthly average of 13,075 during the pandemic. Overall between January and May, there had been around 8,000 fewer admissions for acute coronary syndromes than would be expected. Some 5,000 of these were for heart attacks specifically Dr Marion Mafham, lead researcher, said: 'Our study shows that far fewer people with heart attacks have attended hospital during this pandemic.' In a plea to the nation, she added: 'It is important that anyone with chest pain calls an ambulance immediately. 'Every minute of delay increases the risk of dying or experiencing serious complications from a heart attack.' Senior author Professor Colin Baigent said: 'Some people may still be worried about going to hospital because they fear encountering the coronavirus. 'But the truth is that, by delaying or not going to hospital, people with heart attacks are at much greater risk of dying from their heart attack than catching the virus.' He added that the NHS 'is ready and able to provide excellent cardiological care'. The Oxford team used data regularly collected by NHS Digital from hospital trusts in England to get up-to-date information about admissions. They found admissions for any 'acute coronary syndrome' a sudden reduction of blood to the heart dropped from a monthly average of 13,075 to 10,118 in March. They plummeted to 8,739 in April before slightly increasing to 9,756 in May, findings in the Lancet revealed. Overall between January and May, there had been around 8,000 fewer admissions for acute coronary syndromes than would be expected. 1.4 MILLION WAITING FOR A ROUTINE OP ON NHS Some 1.45million patients have had to wait at least 18 weeks to start hospital treatment for routine operations such as hip and knee replacements the worst since 2007 and more than double last May, NHS figures have revealed. Shocking NHS England data that laid bare the strain Covid-19 has put on hospitals showed only 54,550 patients were admitted for treatment in May a fraction of the 295,000 recorded this time last year. Hospitals in England were told to postpone all non-urgent elective operations from 15 April at the latest, for a period of at least three months. Joint replacements, cataract removals and hernia repairs were all among the elective surgery postponed in order to free up beds. As the health service faces a huge backlog of operations, the waiting lists have soared, figures show. And those facing delays for their operation could see their condition worsen while they wait, which could lead to a whole host of other problems. Professor Neil Mortensen, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, said: 'We have been concerned since the start of this pandemic that suspending elective surgery for a period of months placed a time bomb under what was already a crisis in NHS waiting times. 'That time bomb has now detonated, with the numbers of those waiting more than a year for treatment spiralling out of control to the worst levels since September 2009. 'And the supposed legal right for patients to be treated within 18 weeks looks more like a vague aspiration, with two in five now waiting longer.' Advertisement Some 5,000 of these were for heart attacks specifically, which is medically known as a myocardial infarction. The researchers looked at a certain window, March 23 to March 30, and found hospital admissions for heart attacks fell 35 per cent. Some 1,335 came in during this period compared with the 2,061 that would be expected in a given week. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said it was 'extremely concerned' about the estimates. 'These troubling statistics point to people delaying seeking care for their heart attack, risking death or long-term heart damage,' Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, associate medical director at BHF said. Senior researcher Professor Barbara Casadei, of the British Heart Foundation, said today's findings 'must be taken into serious consideration' in the event of a second wave of coronavirus. There are more than 200,000 UK hospital visits each year are due to heart attacks, and around three in ten people die, according to the British Heart Foundation. Heart and circulatory diseases, including heart attacks, cause 170,000 deaths each year - more than a quarter of all deaths in the UK. During an attack, the heart muscle is starved of oxygen, most commonly caused by a blockage of one of the coronary arteries. Urgent treatment to get the blood flowing back to the heart muscle is important to avoid permanent damage to the organ, or death. Patients with heart attacks caused by a complete blockage of an artery to part of the heart called 'ST-elevation' fell by 23 per cent according to the study. It can lead to life-threatening cardiac arrest within hours of the major artery being blocked, which is why it is a medical emergency. It usually needs an urgent procedure where a stent is inserted into the blood vessel to open it up. Rates of admission for heart attacks caused by a partial blockage of blood supply to the heart 'non-ST elevation', which may also need a stent fell by 42 per cent. Fewer patients attending hospital with heart attacks has also been observed in other European countries, as well as in the US. And it has been reported that patients presenting to hospital often do so much later, threatening chances of survival. One study of a 28 per cent increase in life-threatening complications among patients with heart attacks during the pandemic. Commenting on the study, Professor Naveed Sattar, an honorary consultant in cardiovascular medicine at University of Glasgow, said heart failure may become more common as a result of people delaying care. He said: 'It's a sad reality than a proportion of people with symptoms of heart attacks have been put off seeking medical care that could have lessened the damage to their hearts. Heart failure rates may increase as a result.' A heart attack usually causes severe pain in the centre of the chest. But it may only cause slight discomfort. Professor Sattar said: 'Most would be expected to have some symptoms but a minority do have minimal symptoms and some heart disease can be "silent". 'It does appear that a lot more people than normal were hesitating to come into their doctors or A&E despite having some quite noticeable chest pain. 'The message is that they must come in going forwards. This is another part of the pandemic harm - "indirect" medical harm - to add to delayed cancer tests etc and many other things.' The NHS faces a huge backlog in routine operations and diagnostic tests as a result of postponing them. But it has urged people to use the national health service as much as possible, including for emergencies, despite the coronavirus circulating. Ayodhya/Lucknow, Jul 14 (UNI) Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's statement that the real Ayodhya was in Nepal and Lord Ram was a Nepali drew condemnation from various quarters in India. In a series of tweets, Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that Nepal was earlier the part of Aryavrat rule and Mr Oli should have known it. "The statement of Nepal PM was an insult to the people of India and it shows the mental derangement of the Nepal PM," he further said. Mahant Raju Das of Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya has sought an apology from Nepal PM. "Though Nepal is a Hindu country but since Communist party has taken over the rein, they are doing everything to insult the Hindu religion," the saint alleged. He said religious books, scriptures along with history says clearly about Ayodhya and where it exists. "But by raising such an unnecessary controversy, Nepal is trying to insult the Hindu religion and i urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask his Nepali counterpart to give an unconditional apology over his statement,' the saint alleged. Mahant Jagatguru Parhamansacharya of 'Tapasvijee ki Chavni' too condemned the statement of Nepali PM, saying that, 'I challenge Nepali PM to prove his claim,". The Mahant said the Ramayan clearly describe that Ayodhya is situated on banks of river Saryu and there are ample evidence of Lord Ram's birth here. "It seems that the communist PM was following the path of extremists by giving such statements just to please China and Pakistan, " he further alleged. Mr Oli had made the remarks during a cultural programme at his residence in Nepal on Monday. He said ,"Ayodhya, the ancient city believed by millions of Hindus to be the birthplace of Lord Ram, is actually a small village near Kathmandu." Mr Oli then accused India of cultural oppression and encroachment, and said Nepal's contribution to science had been undervalued. "We still believe we gave Sita to Prince Ram but we gave the prince too, from Ayodhya, not India. Ayodhya is a village a little west of Birgunj, a district in Nepal that is around 135 km from capital Kathmandu," Prime Minister Oli said. Prime Minister Oli's contentious remarks come amid a row between the two countries over a revised political map that sees Nepal claim Indian areas- the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand and the Limpiyadhura and Kalapani. Last year, the Supreme Court cleared the way for a Ram Temple at the disputed site at Ayodhya where the work for a grand temple has started. UNI MB SV 1515 New Delhi: At a time when India is alert to the possibility of two front war, Army chief General MM Naravane on Monday visited forward areas in Jammu-Pathankot (Punjab) region to review the current security situation and operational readiness of the troops deployed on ground along the international border with Pakistan. When tensions with China are all time high, the visit of Army chief to forward areas at the international border in Jammu-Pathankot (Punjab) is significant as it signals that the army does not want to take any chance at the border with Pakistan. This area comes under Western Command of Indian army. Army chief said that there should be zero tolerance against the ceasefire violations by Pakistan and infiltration attempts by terrorists. He asked troops to continue to defeat the nefarious design of proxy war being fueled by our adversaries. Army Chief was received in Jammu by Western army command chief Lt Gen RP Singh, GoC Rising Star Corps Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi and Maj Gen VB Nair, GoC Tiger Division. Army chief was briefed by Lt Gen Dwivedi on the operational preparedness, up-gradation of security infrastructure and the internal security matters. Army Chief accompanied by GOC Tiger Division reviewed operational preparedness in forward areas. He interacted with the field formation commanders and troops on ground during forward area visit. Army chief also visited the forward areas of Gurj Division and was briefed by Maj Gen YP Khanduri, GOC Gurj Division. Gen Naravane addressed all ranks of Western Command through video conferencing and lauded the morale of the troops. He expressed complete confidence in Indian Armys capabilities to thwart any misadventure by the enemies of our country and handle any situation. A Russian influencer has married her 20-year-old stepson after divorcing his father, and has announced they are expecting their first baby. Marina Balmasheva, 35, hit headlines when she shared a picture in May of herself with her ex-husband's son Vladimir Shavyrin when he was seven, alongside a snap of them together now. But instead of persuading people to support her, attracted a storm of protest when she shared the before-and-after photo on Instagram with her 420,000 followers. Marina, who hails from the western Russian region of Krasnodar Krai, lived with her husband Alexey, 45, from 2007 for over 10 years before the relationship ended in divorce. This week she shared a video as she married Vladimir at a local registry office, revealing they are expecting a baby boy together. Russian influencer Marina Balmasheva has married her 20-year-old stepson after divorcing his father, and has announced they are expecting their first baby This week she shared a video as she married Vladimir at a local registry office, revealing they are expecting a baby boy together Marina shared a picture of the couple on their wedding day along with a heart picture, writing: 'We drove to the registry office, I didn't even have a hairbrush with me. The rings were in the car. There was a good mood and a little embarrassment. 'After the registry office, we dressed in typical wedding attire and enjoyed a nice reception at a local restaurant with several guests. 'We are expecting a baby and we now want to move to a bigger city.' She also revealed that they weren't on speaking terms with her ex-husband, writing: 'I think he does not like what we have done.' Marina Balmasheva, 35, hit headlines when she shared a picture in May of herself with her ex-husband's son Vladimir Shavyrin when he was seven, alongside a snap of them together now She also revealed that they weren't on speaking terms with her ex-husband, writing: 'I think he does not like what we have done.' Pictured, with her former husband Alexey, 45 In May Balmasheva shared a snap of her posing next to little Vladimir 13 years ago when he was just seven-years-old. Alongside the photo, she included a more recent picture of the happy couple cuddling. 'You never know how life will turn out and when you will meet a person who makes you smile,' Maria commented. 'I know that some will judge us, others will support us, but we are happy and wish you to be as well.' Marina shared a picture of the couple on their wedding day along with a heart picture, writing: 'We drove to the registry office, I didn't even have a hairbrush with me. The rings were in the car. There was a good mood and a little embarrassment.' Sharing a video as they exchanged vows, she said: 'After the registry office, we dressed in typical wedding attire and enjoyed a nice reception at a local restaurant with several guests' The blogger recently said: 'I know that some will judge us, others will support us, but we are happy and wish you to be as well.' Pictured, with her 20-year-old stepson Marina added she is very much in love with Vladimir, and the couple are helping to raise three of his five siblings, according to reports. She reportedly adopted her ex-husband's five children when they were together, but the youngest one, who has Down syndrome, continues to live with the father. Marina revealed that she wants to have children with Vladimir and that they are currently planning their wedding. Many were left outraged following the post and said it was immoral to start a relationship with the child that she had helped to raise. Netizen 'SvetlanaNakhshumova' commented: 'What shocks me most is that this boy grew up before her very eyes.' Others went on to make crude comments about her ditching an older man for a younger model. The deal was first announced in August 2019. In addition to acquiring SulAmericas auto and P&C business, Allianz will also take control of the standalone insurance company NewCo. This represents our largest investment in Brazil, said Allianz SE member of the board of management and chief business transformation officer for insurance Ibero-LatAm region Ivan de la Sota. De la Sota noted that with the acquisition of SulAmericas P&C business, Allianz has attained a leading position in the growing property-casualty market in the largest economy of South America. It is also a great opportunity to deploy digital technologies and deliver first-class solutions for local brokers and customers, the chief business transformation officer added. Today, a new Allianz is being born that combines the best of both worlds. In a challenging moment, professionals from both sides have shown exemplary quality, professionalism and performance in this operation, commented Allianz Brazil CEO Eduard Folch. Azebaijan has claimed that one of its general and seven more officers have been killed in a three-day clash against Armenian troops on the countries' border. According to the reports, the border skirmishes between the two South Caucasus nations began on July 12, Sunday. The new losses bring the number of Azerbaijani troops killed to 13. As per reports, Armenia earlier reported five of its soldiers were wounded. READ: Armenia-Azerbaijan Border Fighting Escalates, 13 Killed READ: India And China Hold Fourth Round Of Military-level Talks At Chushul Border Near LAC Crossfire between both nations The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh has resulted in both nations to involve in clashes and international efforts to settle the conflict have been stalled. Armenian and Azerbaijani forces have frequently engaged in clashes. The current outburst of fighting appears to be the most serious spike in hostilities since 2016 when scores were killed in four days of fighting, as per reports. According to the reports, Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries are blaming each other for the start of the clash and said that heavy shelling has continued. The latest incident began Sunday when Armenian and Azerbaijani troops exchanged fire in the northern section of their border. Officials in both countries blamed each other for starting the fighting and said that sporadic shelling has continued. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday accused Azerbaijan of provoking the clashes and warned that it would bear responsibility for the unpredictable consequences. Azerbaijani President Ilhan Aliyev denounced what he described as another provocation of Armenia and vowed to protect Azerbaijans national territory. READ: Trudeau Speaks To Trump On Trade, Border Closure READ: 3 Azerbaijani Troops Die In Border Clashes With Armenia Image: AP By Express News Service NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Monday granted bail to 85 Tablighi Jamaat members from Kyrgyzstan, who were chargesheeted for allegedly violating visa norms and government guidelines issued in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak. So far, 532 foreigners from 34 countries, who were chargesheeted for attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Nazimuddin, have been granted bail by the court. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur granted the relief on furnishing personal bond of Rs 10,000 each. The police had in June filed 59 charge sheets, including supplementary chargesheet, against 956 foreigners belonging to 36 different countries in the case. According to the accuseds advocates, those who were granted bail on Monday will file their plea bargaining applications on Tuesday. Under plea bargaining, the accused plead guilty to the offence, praying for a lesser punishment. The CrPC allows for plea bargaining in cases where the maximum punishment is 7-year imprisonment; offences dont affect the socio-economic conditions of society and the offence is not committed against a woman or a child below 14 years. During the hearing, the foreign Tablighis were produced before the court through video conferencing. The investigating officer had earlier told the court that the investigation was complete against the 956 foreigners in the case and each has been allegedly found to have independently committed the offence for which he/ she has been chargesheeted. According to the charge sheets, all the foreigners have been booked for violation of visa rules, guidelines issued in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, Epidemic Diseases Act, Disaster Management Act and prohibitory orders under section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure.The Tablighis have also been charged for the offences under sections 188, 269, 270 and 271 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Foreigners Act. SC to hear pleas against blacklisting of foreigners The Supreme Court Monday said it would hear on July 24 the pleas filed by foreigners challenging the Centres orders that blacklisted more than 2,700 citizens of 35 countries from travelling to India for 10 years for alleged involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta requested a bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar that the matter be adjourned for a week as pending cases against the concerned members of Tablighi Jamaat are likely to be disposed of in due course. The Moises Itzkowich Hospital was the result of efforts between the State and Municipality and the citys steel manufacturers, Quality Tube, PYTCO, and the Moises Itzkowich Foundation. Throughout my fathers life, he supported the countrys educational system as well as other noble causes, said CEO Rick Itzkowich. It is fitting that his foundation steps up and supports helping the government get ahead of the pandemic. Past News Releases RSS On July 7, 2020, the governor of the State of Coahuila, Mexico, Miguel Angel Riquelme Solis, presided over the dedication and opening of a new 60-bed, 11,269 square feet mobile hospital in the City of Monclova, the Steel Capital of Mexico. The Moises Itzkowich Hospital was the result of efforts between the State and Municipality and the citys steel manufacturers, Quality Tube, PYTCO, and the Moises Itzkowich Foundation. The hospital will be used for SARS-CoV-2 testing and infections. It has an innovative virtual visit module, which allows family members to see and talk to their isolated family members live via FasTime technology. If the citys local IMSS (Mexican Institute of Social Security) hospital reaches its COVID-19 patients maximum capacity, the new mobile healthcare facility is ready with equipment and staffing. The facility consists of five canvas-tubular domes on concrete. The site was determined by its proximity to the IMSS hospital for the ease and speed of transferring patients. Quality Tube and PYTCOs founder, Moises Itzkowich, died in 2018 after a five-year battle with Alzheimers. His son, Rick Itzkowich, a San Diego-based entrepreneur, author, and Vistage Chair, became and serves as the CEO of Grupo MOIS a holding company owning Quality Tube and PYTCO located in Coahuila, Mexico and Regiomontana de perfiles y Tubos located in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. He serves as President of the Moises Itzkowich Foundation. Also, of note is that all the proceeds from Itzkowichs Amazon business book, The Referral Playbook, go to the Alzheimers Foundation of America. Throughout my fathers life, he supported the countrys educational system as well as other noble causes, said Itzkowich. It is fitting that his foundation steps up and supports helping the government get ahead of the pandemic. Our 1,000+ employees at our manufacturing facilities are considered family, and I know my father would have supported this effort 100% to provide life-saving medical care to those in need. During the dedication, the steel manufacturers groups COO, Luis Miguel Lopez Bravo, announced that the foundations investment was approximately 8 million Mexican pesos or $350,000 USD. In addition to State of Coahuila, Mexico Governor Miguel Angel Riquelme Solis, other respected officials in attendance were Monclovas Mayor Alfredo Paredes Lopez, Saltillos Mayor Manolo Jimenez, Piedras Negras Mayor Claudio Bress, and Sabinas Mayor Julio Long. They all agreed if Coahuilas businesses unite in the fight against COVID-19, the communities can stay ahead of the pandemic. The State Delegate of the Mexican Institute of Social Security, Leopoldo Santillan Arreygue; and Mayors of the Centro-Desierto Region and elements of the National Guard were also present for the hospital opening. Founded in 1998 by Mexican industrialists with more than 20 years of experience in the manufacture of tubes and steel profiles, PYTCO manufactures carbon steel pipes and profiles with electrical resistance longitudinal seams for the oil and gas industry. Launched in 2017, Quality Tube manufactures a variety of conduit steel tubes. For more information visit PYTCOs website at https://www.pytco.com.mx/ and Quality Tubes website https://www.qualitytube.com.mx. About the Moises Itzkowich Foundation The Moises Itzkowich Foundations mission is to solve social problems at their source, partnering with key allies to foster their institutional capacity, responsibility, and accountability, through proven methodologies and financial support that strengthen their impact on improving the quality of life in Mexico. Foundation projects include education, health, and basic needs. The Moises Itzkowich Foundation annually operates a scholarship program offering more than 700 scholarships spanning from kindergarten to college for the children of employees of Quality Tube and PYTCO located in Coahuila, Mexico and Regiomontana de perfiles y Tubos located in Nuevo Leon, Mexico. For more information visit the Moises Itzkowich Foundation's website at https://fundacionmi.org/ 'Great honour' to pick up the Inspire, Support and Achieve award Newbury Colleges degree and postgraduate engineering course leader Dr Tim Coole has been awarded The Gerald Frewer Memorial Trophy by The Council of the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED). The award, also known as the Inspire, Support and Achieve Award, has been awarded to Dr Coole for his work in the promotion of engineering and design and in recognition of his extensive work in education. He has gone above and beyond to encourage and inspire the next generation of engineering designers, with his development of degree and postgraduate apprenticeship programmes, alongside his work with the IED. The award is given in memory of Gerald Frewer, a designer at the Kennedy Space Centre. Dr Coole said: Im delighted to be receiving this award. It is a great honour to be recognised for helping to inspire the next generation of engineers and designers for the UKs modern industries and to pass on my experience to the engineering industry through graduates and apprentices. Newbury Colleges director of business and partnerships Jo Houghton said: We would like to congratulate Tim on receiving the Gerald Frewer Memorial Trophy. He is a skilled and highly-qualified engineer and this award highlights his dedication to teaching and mentoring the next generation of engineers. Tim is a great asset to the team, and we are delighted he will be delivering the product design and development engineer degree and postgraduate engineer apprenticeships when the University Centre Newbury (UCN) opens in September. UCN will provide degrees and higher-level qualifications in engineering, digital technology, business and finance and health and social care. To find out more about UCN, the courses on offer and to apply online, click here. Sometimes Big Friendship can be assured on a level of paperwork. Most commitments on paper are reserved for family and romantic relationships. Things like marriage licenses, birth certificates, and adoption paperwork have no equivalent in friendship. But there are some ways to declare a friendship in terms that major institutions understand. Years ago, when Ann had a will drawn up, she named her friend Bridget as the recipient of all her worldly possessions. When the lawyer asked her who Bridget was and Ann replied, My oldest, best friend, his eyebrows shot up. Aminatou designated her friend Shani as her medical proxy, the person who makes health-care decisions for her if and when she is unable to make them herself. In a friendship, this is about as concrete as assurances get. And finally, we werent surprised when Langan told us that openness is another important way of staying attached in a friendship. The need for transparency arises when one of you is feeling stretch or strain because of a change thats affecting the friendship. Usually the only way through it is to acknowledge its happening. And yes, its hard. Especially if a cold silence has become the friendship norm, initiating a classic discuss-the-relationship talk about the ways youre feeling out of sync in a friendship can feel extremely risky. I can call my spouse out on something because the assumption is they have to stay, Langan says. In friendship theres pretty strong fear of abandonment, fear of loss, because theres nothing holding you in. And so a lot of people are tentative, because you dont know necessarily that the persons going to stay with you. Because they dont have to. Being vulnerable about all the ways youre feeling disappointed or unhappy in a friendship also opens up the potential that your friend is going to say, You know what? I havent been present for this friendship because I actually dont want to be in it anymore. And what could be more painful than that? No wonder most of us opt for silence and allow the friendship to slide into a dormant or commemorative category. For us to begin addressing our own friendship-threatening problems, the feeling of our silence had to get so bad that we were sure we had nowhere to go but up. That was what it took to force a transparent conversation. Now it seems pretty clear to us that if wed never exposed our troubles to the light, they would have eaten away at the friendship until there was nothing left. Thats not to say the process has been easy. But we are, as we said to each other in many difficult times, still here for each other. Langan adds that being transparent also means opening up about how important someone is to you as a friendmaking sure you are saying to them that you value their presence in your life. Dont just occasionally think of your friend fondly. Tell them that your life would lose meaning if they disappeared from it. Tell them you love them. Tell them exactly why you want to hold on to this friendship and make it last for the long haul. * You dont want a friendship to be resilient just so it endures. You want a big, resilient friendship so you, as a human, can be resilient when youre presented with the horrible stuff that life will most definitely throw your way. We think of Big Friendship as a way to deepen and diversify the community of support that will see you through the hard times. If you prioritize only your romantic relationships, who is going to hold your hand through a breakup? Relying on your spouse to be your everything will definitely undo your marriage. No one human can meet your every single emotional need. If you only prioritize your kids, what happens when theyre grown and living far away, wrapped up in their own lives? Or if you only prioritize work? Wow, thats too sad to even contemplate. Friendship can definitely survive, simmering on the back burner, in a way that some other relationships cant. But not indefinitely. Whats in it for your friend if you are not equally invested? If you tune into the friendship again only after a divorce or once your kid is in preschool? Absence might not make the heart grow fonder. You run the risk of realizing that theres not as much there as you remembered. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 13:05:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ULAN BATOR, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 13 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking its total tally to 243, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Tuesday. "A total of 168 tests for COVID-19 were conducted across the country yesterday and 13 of them were positive," the NCCD's head Dulmaa Nyamkhuu told a daily press conference. Ten of the newly confirmed cases are servicemen of the Mongolian Armed Forces who returned home from Afghanistan on a chartered flight on Sunday, Nyamkhuu said. The remaining three are Mongolian nationals who returned home recently from abroad and had been isolated at designated facilities, he said. Meanwhile, one more patient recovered in the past 24 hours, raising the total to 204, 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 Boyd in May posted notice under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 that it might let go 25% to 60% of its workforce. It said Monday layoffs were at the lower end of the projection. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Haydar Indhar (Agence France-Presse) Afak, Iraq Tue, July 14, 2020 16:45 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a406663a922 2 World Iraq,FoodSupply,self-sufficiency,agriculture,agricultural-commodities Free Unlike in years past, Iraqi farmer Ahmed Mohsen now walks past his local market with a smile on his face. The pale green melons he harvested are selling fast, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Iraq, in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, shut its 32 border crossings to goods and people coming from Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in mid-March. That helped Iraq's agriculture ministry accelerate a campaign to make Iraqi food markets self-sustainable, after they had spent years relying on foreign imports for half of their supply. The land fit for farming in Iraq is roughly 9.3 million hectares (23 million acres) -- much less than Iran's nearly 46 million or Syria's almost 14 million hectares. "For years, farmers have been working at a loss with little support from the state," said Mohsen, who lives in Iraq's agricultural heartland, the southern province of Diwaniyah. "But with the new coronavirus, the authorities have begrudgingly been forced to close the border." Every year, Iraq would buy $2.8 billion in goods from regional trade giant Turkey, with Iranian imports coming in second with $2.2 billion in products sold to Baghdad. It was a grim reality for a country whose ancestral civilization, Mesopotamia, has been hailed for its pioneering agricultural and irrigation technologies for thousands of years. The land of two rivers is now making a small comeback. Every day, Mohsen's melons make their way from his home village of Afak to be sold en masse to the rest of the country. "The authorities didn't want to help farmers, but in the end they allowed us to prove that we can provide for the nutrition needs of Iraqis," said Mohsen, a 32-year-old farming engineer. 'The state is late' A third of Iraq's 40 million people still rely on farming to live, but the industry is riddled with inefficiencies. As a holdover from the socialist era of ex-dictator Saddam Hussein, the government provides subsidies in water, fertilizer and equipment and purchases certain products -- particularly wheat, barley and lentils -- from Iraqi farmers at a price above the market rate. But the state usually also imports cheap foodstuffs from Iran and Turkey at huge volume, causing an imbalance in the market, experts wrote in the "Sustainability" environmental magazine last year. Their research found that Iraqi farmers often opted not to work their land because they did not expect to sell the harvest, given the oversupply from neighboring countries. Local farmers usually provide about five million tons of wheat products yearly, complemented by around three million tons imported from neighboring countries, mostly flour. Those who did sell their harvest to the government reported months-long delays in getting paid, which are still ongoing today. That's why the coronavirus, despite bringing death and suffering to many, was also a blessing in disguise for their sector, farmers told AFP. "Each year, the state is late in paying farmers and this slaps us with losses," said Khashan Karayiz, 70. He comes from a long line of wheat farmers and this year, for the first time he can remember, he has already sold all of his harvest by July. With little competition from Turkish or Iranian rivals, he was able to sell directly to the private sector, earning more money more quickly. "I hope Baghdad will stop imports, in order to financially and morally support Iraqi farmers," Karayiz said. A little further on at the market, Hani Shayyer offers melons, aubergines, cucumbers and tomatoes. It is the first time, he told AFP proudly, that his produce has been able to reign supreme in local markets. With no competition, his wares -- which he insists "are much better quality than imports" -- can be sold at lower prices. Reaping what you sow Already, Iraq's agriculture ministry has placed bans or new tariffs on 25 fruits and vegetables. Across the border, Syria and Turkey have also stopped selling their agricultural goods abroad due to COVID-19. That has helped Iraq become self-sufficient in 28 food products for the first time in years, said Mohammed Kachach, who heads Diwaniyah's Farming Confederation. Egg production, for example, steadily grew from 11 million eggs a month in January to 17 million in April, May and June, according to Iraq's agriculture ministry. But structural problems remain. According to a government source, wheat and barley is still being smuggled in from Syria, Iran and Turkey and then being mixed into Iraqi farmers' harvests to pass them off as local and therefore win government subsidies. And according to a recent report by the United Nations' World Food Program and the Farming and Agricultural Organization, the lower prices in the market do benefit consumers, but still hurt local producers. Finally, Iraq continues to face chronic water shortages. Its two mighty rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, risk are being slowly choked off by dams and overuse upstream by the very trade partners that have long brought the most agricultural goods, Turkey and Iran. New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2020) - Elvictor Group, Inc. (OTCQB: ELVG) is a sophisticated and technology-oriented crew management company. It proudly announces the following additions to the New Board of Directors of Elvictor Group. The four personalities that are joining us are Lampros Theodorou, Lambros Chahalis, George Xiradakis and Theodoros Nikolopoulos. Elvictor Group Logo To view an enhanced version of this logo, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6876/59804_7bafacd224d25a35_001full.jpg All of them have risen to great renown in the Maritime Industry, each in their own respective field, carving their name into its annals through merit and grit, having helped and counseled many a player throughout the decades. Them joining our new venture is a testament to their wholehearted support of the vision of Elvictor Group and they are now here to lend their collective wisdom to ensure that the aforementioned vision comes to fruition and, as such, we are now more confident than ever of the robustness of the road we are now paving. Lambros Chahalis To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/a8aa8b46d1528b10014780b193a088dc Lambros Chahalis BOARD MEMBER - Independent Director, Bureau Veritas, Orion & Global of the Goulandris Brothers, International Propeller Club of the United States, Troodos Shipping Lambros Chahalis has 54 years of experience in the shipping sector. He joined the Board of Directors of Elvictor Group in 2020. The period from 1966 to 1980 was that of his professional career at sea, starting as an apprentice engineer and rising all the way to chief engineer with the same shipping company, Orion & Global of the Goulandris Brothers, on board a number of their oil tankers. From 1980 to 1983, he served as superintended engineer with Troodos Shipping, in charge of VLCCs. From 1983 to 2016, he served in Bureau Veritas, Piraeus Branch, in a number of roles, getting gradually promoted through various managerial positions, examples being Marine Quality Manager, Piraeus Marine Manager for Greece, Malta, Cyprus & the Black Sea Region, Regional Marine Manager Delegate and Marine Department Manager for the aforementioned regions. He topped his career by becoming Regional Chief Executive for the Hellenic, Maltese, Cypriot and Black Sea Regions as well as the position of Vice President within the Marine and Offshore Division of Bureau Veritas. In December 2016, Mr. Chahalis moved to pension. In June 2017, he was elected Governor of the International Propeller Club of the United States in the port of Piraeus, and upon his selection, he was entrusted with the position of Chair of the Club's Maritime Committee. He is a fellow of SNAME, the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. In addition to those, Mr Chahalis has received a number of awards by various Shipping and Other entities, like the Lloyds List Greek Shipping Award and the French Government Silver and Gold Medals. In 1966, he graduated from the Archimedes Marine Academy for Merchant Marine Engineers. He is married with three children and currently resides in Piraeus, Greece. Story continues George Xiradakis To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/43e5b8836c651b732755728e30cf8d24 George Xiradakis BOARD MEMBER - Independent Director, XRTC Business Consultants Ltd., Banque Franco-Hellenique de Commerce Internationale et Maritime., Credit Lyonnais, Natixis, Association of Banking and Financial Executives of Hellenic Shipping, International Propeller Club of USA, International Propeller Club of Piraeus, DryShips Inc, Aries Maritime SA, Paragon Shipping Inc. George Xiradakis has more than 35 years of experience in the marine and maritime fields with specialisation in shipping finance and marine policy. He joined the Board of Directors of Elvictor Group in 2020. The period from 1984 to 1989 was that of his professional career at sea, serving as a deck office onboard various types of dry cargo vessels. From 1991 to 1994 he served as Credit Officer for Banque Franco-Hellenique de Commerce Internationale et Maritime. When the aforementioned bank was acquired by Credit Lyonnais in 1994, he became an Account Manager, a position he held for a year before moving to the HQ in Paris, where he rose to Vice President of the bank's Shipping Group, assuming responsibilities as the Head of European Shipping Finance until 1997. In 1997, he returned back to Greece as Deputy General Manager of Credit Lyonnais Greece and Head of Shipping for Greece, the Middle East and India. In 1999 he founded his own company, XRTC Business Consultants Ltd., which he runs to this day as Managing Director. His company has offered its services and represented a variety of International Banking and Shipping Institutions and Organizations, examples include Credit Lyonnais and Natixis. Immediately after the credit crisis of 2008, Mr. Xiradakis started involving himself and his company with the Chinese Ship Finance Market. His pioneering relationship with the China Development Bank led to the first international Chinese shipping loans to the Greek Market resulting in XRTC winning the Greek Shipping Financier of the Year by Lloyd's List Greek Shipping Awards 2010. He serves as a Vice Presidency of the Greece-China Chamber and the Greece - China Friendship Association. Mr. Xiradakis is also the General Secretary of the Association of Banking and Financial Executives of Hellenic Shipping, the 3rd Vice President of the International Propeller Club of USA and Honorary President Emeritus of the International Propeller Club of Piraeus. He is also a member of the Marine Club of Piraeus and the Mediterranean Committee of the China Classification Society. He was a member of the Board of Directors of DryShips Inc. (DRYS) from 2008 to 2015, Aries Maritime SA (RAMS) from 2008 to 2009 and Paragon Shipping Inc. (PRGNF) from 2009 till 2020. In 1984, he graduated from the Nautical Marine Academy of Aspropyrgos, Athens, and received a Postgraduate Diploma in Commercial Operations of Shipping in 1990 from the City of London Polytechnic (currently London Metropolitan University) and an MSci in Maritime Studies in 1991 from the College of Cardiff, University of Wales. He is married with two children and currently resides in Athens, Greece. Lampros Theodorou To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/38f73e1cb2133cc0ab1df8a99b6238eb Lampros Theodorou BOARD MEMBER - Independent Director, Garnet & Associates Inc., EFG Eurobank S.A., The Chase Manhattan Bank N.A., Paragon Shipping Inc., Navios Maritime Partners LLP. Lampros Theodorou has 38 years of experience in the banking sector. He joined the Board of Directors of Elvictor Group in 2020. He has held executive positions in various banks in Athens, Greece. From 1994 to 2013, Mr. Theodorou served as the Deputy General Manager and head of the Shipping Unit of EFG Eurobank S.A. Prior to this, Mr. Theodorou held the position of Vice-President and Piraeus Shipping Manager of the Shipping Department of The Chase Manhattan Bank N.A., while before, held various managerial positions in the corporate departments of the bank, in Frankfurt, London and Athens. From 2014, he is involved with Garnet & Associates Inc., whose purpose is consulting shipping companies on an array of matters. From 2015 to 2016 he served in the Board of Directors of Paragon Shipping Inc. (PRGNF) as a non-executive director as well as a member in the Audit committee. From 2016 to 2019 he served as a non-executive Director in the Board of Directors of Navios Maritime Partners LLP (NM) and as a member of the Audit, Conflicts and Compensation committees. In 1971, Mr. Theodorou graduated from the University of Piraeus in Greece with a Bachelor in Business Administration, while in 1973 he was granted with a diploma in Management from the Graduate School of Commerce and Business Studies of Athens in Greece. In 1975, Mr. Theodorou was awarded a Master of Science in Business Operations from the University of Arkansas in the United States of America. He is married with three children and currently resides in Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco. Theodoros Nikolopoulos To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://media.zenfs.com/en-us/newsfile_64/b4396ef4f3f555b35a7131708b2323dc Theodoros Nikolopoulos BOARD MEMBER - Independent Director, AKTOR SA, Frigoglass S.A.I.C., Vermantia, SRH Marine SAIT Theodoros Nikolopoulos has 20 years of experience in the finance sector, with 14 of those in managerial positions. He joined the Board of Directors of Elvictor Group in 2020. From 2006 to 2011, he served as the Head of Finance, Operations and Treasury of AKTOR SA, a role which involved a number of important responsibilities including strategic direction setting for the Middle East and overseeing its financial and risk related activities, ensuring favorable business conditions. From 2011 to 2012, he worked in Frigoglass S.A.I.C. as a Group Commercial Manager, where he was effective in sourcing prospective clients establishing new banking facilities and refinancing existing loans, among others. From 2012 to 2017, Mr Nikolopoulos served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Vermantia, where increasing the gross profit, reducing the debt, developing and implementing an effective risk management policy, are a few examples of his achievements. In 2017, he joined SRH Marine SAIT as the Group's CFO, rising in 2020 to the position of Managing Director (MD) of the Group. In 2005, Mr. Nikolopoulos was awarded a BA in Economics from the University of the West of England, Bristol, receiving the Keith Bones memorial prize and in 2006 an MSc in Finance from Imperial College Business School, London, receiving the ABN-AMRO Entrepreneurship Prize 2006. He is married with three children and currently resides in Athens, Greece. Elvictor Group Crew Management & Training ("Elvictor") was established in 1977. Its core services include Crewing, Crew Management and Training and testament to the quality of its services is the fact that Elvictor's clientele consists of sophisticated and respectable shipping houses. The headquarters manage contractual arrangements with clients while controlling and coordinating activities of the branch offices. Elvictor has been active across various value-adding activities of the shipping sector such as ship management, technical management, ship agency, crewing and crew management. Mr. Galanakis, over the past few decades, has managed circa 35 vessels being a major shareholder in most of them. The strategic intent of Elvictor has gradually been consolidated towards specific activities revolving around the field of crew management, training of seafarers and digitalization of shipping in general, through the creation of software, thus creating a dedicated crew management company, which keeps reshaping the crew-related agenda. The Company has an established network scattered across seafarers' supplying countries. About Elvictor Group, Inc: Elvictor Group, Inc. (OTCQB: ELVG), a Nevada corporation, is an international business services organization currently focusing on expanding its shipping crew management services and geographical coverage. Forward-Looking Statements Non-historical statements included in this press release are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements relating to the Company's future performance are subject to many factors including, but not limited to: working capital and availability of capital, implementation difficulties, impacts involving key vendors, lenders, competitors, and other risks detailed in the Company's Form S-1 and other subsequent SEC filings. Such statements are based upon management's current beliefs and expectations subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the terms "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "may", "should", "plan", "possible", "potential", "project", "will", and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. There is no guarantee that the Company will enter into the agreements referenced herein, nor if we do, will successful implementation transpire. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date hereof, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information, or otherwise. Investor and Public Relations Contact Panagiotis Tolis Chief Investor Relations Officer ciro@elvictorgroup.com +1 (646) 491-6601 www.elvictorgroup.com To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59804 State Sen. Randy Price of Opelika is in East Alabama Medical Center with COVID-19, the Opelika-Auburn News reported on oanow.com. The newspaper spoke to Prices wife, Lee County Revenue Commissioner Oline Price, who also has COVID-19 but had a milder case. Oline Price said the senator was in intensive care but seemed to be recovering. She said he has not been on a ventilator. Randy Price was elected to the Senate in 2018. He is a business owner and farmer, according to his biography on the Senate website. The report marks the first publicly confirmed case of an Alabama lawmaker having COVID-19. The pandemic continues to surge in Alabama, with 1,860 new cases reported overnight. Edited at 8:32 p.m. to correct Oline Prices title. Criminals from New Zealand who have spent months under COVID-19 lockdown at Australian detention centres will be deported as early as Tuesday. Up to 30 inmates will be sent to a secret CBD hotel under police and military escort for 14 days of quarantine before being flown out of the country, according to the ABC. Deporting criminals has been a simmering issue between the two Trans-Tasman neighbours with New Zealand's prime minister catching Scott Morrison off-guard with the topic at a February 28 meeting. Jacinda Ardern criticised the coalition government policy to send Kiwis who commit crimes back to New Zealand no matter how long they have lived in Australia. She claimed the policy was 'corrosive' to the friendship of the two nations and argued those who have lived in a country for ten years should remain there if they run foul of the law. NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian PM Scott Morrison (pictured) attend a meeting before their February 28 press conference in Sydney where the issue was raised Shane Martin (pictured, right) the father of AFL star Dustin Martin (left) was deported to NZ in 2016 over drug and assault convictions Filipa Payne, co-founder of advocacy group Iwi in Australia which supports New Zealanders in the country, told the ABC she was aware of prisoners being informed to be ready to leave the country on Tuesday. She said: '30 people will be removed from Australia, from Villawood Detention Centre, Melbourne Detention Centre and Brisbane Detention Centre.' Ms Payne claimed the prisoners had received notes telling them to be ready to fly out of the country on Tuesday or Wednesday but no further information. 'The men deserve to have some information given to them. What services are going to be provided to them, what is expected of them?,' she asked. Australian Border Force said COVID-19 had not stopped the deportation of people out of Australia though it had slowed the process. 'The Australian Border Force continues to work closely with New Zealand authorities to return eligible New Zealand citizens currently accommodated in immigration detention in Australia,' a spokesperson said. The latest round of deportations appears to have triggered renewed debate over the issue with New Zealand's Health Minister Chris Hipkins addressing the policy on Radio NZ on Monday. 'These are people who have committed crimes in Australia, they've lived in Australia, many of them only have a very minor connection to New Zealand, and our view is that the Australian Government shouldn't be deporting them,' he said. 'We're receiving them because we're obliged to receive them, but it would be wrong to say we're happy about it.' New Zealander Joel Morehu-Barlow (pictured) spent five years behind bars after he pleaded guilty in 2013 to stealing money from his employer, Queensland Health, over four years Deporting criminals has been a simmering issue between the two Trans-Tasman neighbours with New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern catching Scott Morrison off-guard with the topic at a February 28 press conference (pictured) His arguments echo those of Ms Ardern who told the February press gathering in Australia, where she spoke alongside Scott Morrison, that she was against the policy. 'Send back genuine Kiwis, do not deport your people and your problems,' she told Mr Morrison and reporters during the tense conference. 'You have deported more than 2,000 individuals, and among them will be genuine Kiwis who do need to learn the consequences of their actions.' 'But among those 2,000 are individuals who are too young to become criminals on our watch, they were too young to become patched gang members, too young to be organised criminals. 'We will own our people. We ask that Australia stops exporting theirs.' 'I want to conclude by just reaffirming something I have said often. We will continue to maintain rights for Australians in New Zealand.' Mr Morrison shot the Kiwi PM an awkward glance, before responding: 'We deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia.' 'If you've committed a crime and you're not a citizen of Australia then you have no right to stay.' 'We deport non-citizens who have committed crimes in Australia against our community.' Hardeep Puri calls out Priyanka Gandhi on request to stay on for longer at Lutyens bungalow India oi-Madhuri Adnal New Delhi, July 14: Congress leader, Priyanka Gandhi said that she would vacate her Lodhi Estate bungalow in Lutyen's Delhi within the stipulated period of one month. She also rubbished claims that she had requested Prime Minister, Narendra Modi for an extension of her tenure beyond August 1. It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs had cancelled the government accommodation allotted to her on the ground that she is ineligible for the entitlement as she no longer enjoys the security cover of the Special Protection Group. "This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on July 1, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by August 1," Priyanka said in a tweet. Priyanka Gandhi to shift out of her Lutyens bungalow by month-end Her husband Robert Vadra said, " this is completely incorrect!! We have not asked for any extension of stay. We were sent a notice on July 1 to leave in 30 days. We at a time of Covid-19 have packed our entire household, and will leave a week before time/" Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News Shortly after her tweet, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri sought to set the record straight. Facts speak for themselves! A powerful Congress leader with much clout in the party called me on July 4 at 12.05pm to request that 35, Lodhi Estate be allotted to another Congress MP so that Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra can stay on. Let's not sensationalise everything please," Puri said in response to Priyanka Gandhi's tweet. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Tuesday, July 14, 2020, 13:35 [IST] Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson (C), wearing a face mask or covering due to the COVID-19 pandemic, talks with CEO of the London Ambulance Service Garrett Emmerson (R) and Chair of the London Ambulance Service Heather Lawrence (L) during his visit to the headquarters of the London Ambulance Service NHS Trust in central London on July 13, 2020.(Ben STANSALL / POOL / AFP) The Academy of Medical Sciences report, commissioned by the government's chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, urged immediate action to mitigate a second wave. With hospitals also battling seasonal flu cases, a second wave could eclipse the current outbreak resulting in up to 120,000 deaths between September and June next year. The modelling does not include deaths in care homes or the wider community, and assumes no government action to prevent a fresh surge in cases. Britain has seen almost 45,000 deaths so far in the first wave -- the highest toll in Europe and third only to the United States and Brazil. The latest predictions are based on an assumption that the R rate -- which measures how many people an infected person is expected to infect -- rises to 1.7 from September. The scientists also modelled for an lower increased R rate of 1.5, which would lead to 74,800 deaths. The R rate is currently between 0.7 to 0.9 across the whole country, according to the latest government figure published last Friday. Stephen Holgate, who led the study Academy of Medical Sciences study, said the 120,000 figure was "not a prediction but it is a possibility". "The modelling suggests that deaths could be higher with a new wave of COVID-19 this winter, but the risk of this happening could be reduced if we take action immediately." - 'Intense preparation' - The group of 37 scientists involved in the report said the government needed to prepare immediately because of the "serious risk" to health of a potential surge in cases. A winter outbreak could be worse due to people spending more time indoors, where the virus can spread more easily, added Azra Ghani, from Imperial College London. The report calls for "intense preparation" this month and next to prevent the country's state-run National Health Service (NHS) from being overwhelmed. That includes work to minimise community transmission, a public information campaign and ensuring enough protective equipment for frontline medical and social care staff. The government's test, trace and isolate programme also needed to be scaled up, along with surveillance and ensuring at risk individuals, health and care workers get flu jabs. The government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent several days in intensive care with COVID-19, has been criticised for an initially relaxed response to the outbreak. Critics said a national lockdown should have been imposed earlier and contact tracing maintained, while there have also been questions about testing capacity. Stay-at-home restrictions are now being eased in a bid to kickstart the country's stalled economy but there remains concern about rising numbers of cases in some areas. Johnson said last Friday he was in favour of localised responses to outbreaks rather than again having to order the whole country to be shut down. Ambassador of Greece in Cairo Nikoaos Garilidis says that the maritime demarcation agreement between Greece and Egypt is being finalised Nikoaos Garilidis is the new ambassador of Greece to Egypt, the country where he was born in July 1958 and where he lived until the early 1970s when he went back to Athens to study law and join the Greek diplomatic service. This is his first year in Cairo as ambassador, and during it he is hopeful that he will see the completion of a long-negotiated deal on the demarcation of maritime borders between Egypt and Greece. We are close, very close, to a deal, Garilidis said in an interview with Al-Ahram Weekly at his office in Cairo earlier this week. The process of negotiating exclusive economic zones (EEC) between Egypt and Greece was launched over three years ago during a visit of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to Athens, where he and then Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras agreed that to help each country benefit from the possible resources of its national waters an agreement needed to be signed. A proper negotiation process on the demarcation of maritime borders between Cairo and Athens had never been seriously initiated before, as Cairo had wished to accommodate Ankara whose dispute with Athens and Nicosia over Cyprus had prohibited a maritime demarcation between Turkey and both Athens and Cyprus. Given the 2016 decision by Cairo to bypass this matter, political directives were issued for the negotiating teams to start the process. According to Garilidis, during the past three plus years 13 rounds of negotiations have been held between Cairo and Athens. The last round of talks ended in Athens on Tuesday, he added. Garilidis said that there might be another round or two of talks between technical delegations, but that at the end of the day both sides will have to depend on the wisdom of the respective political leaderships to get the deal done. Last month, Nikos Dendias, the Greek foreign minister, was in Cairo for talks on the matter and on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean. President Al-Sisi met with Dendias, who also met with Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri. Shoukri and Dendias attended the 12th round of talks on the EEC agreement. Dendias visit to Cairo came a little over a week after Greece and Italy signed an agreement on maritime boundaries on 9 June, establishing an EEC between the two countries and resolving long-standing issues over fishing rights in the Ionian Sea. Such agreements will pave the way for the Mediterranean countries to embark on the full use of their EECs, including for gas drilling and fishing. Egypt has already signed an EEC agreement with Cyprus, but it has no agreement with Turkey. In the assessment of the Greek ambassador to Egypt, the EEC is a matter that should be done this summer. He said there could be electronic signing, or the empowerment by the countries respective leaders for their ambassadors or foreign ministers to sign. Once the text is agreed, the detailed protocols will be decided, he said. The signing of an EEC agreement between Greece and Egypt will not be to the liking of Turkey, which has for months been sending messages to Egypt indicating its wish to sign an agreement on the demarcation of maritime borders, especially after last years signing of an agreement between Ankara and the Islamist-dominated Government of National Unity (GNA) in Libya. Greece has criticised the agreement signed in November 2019 and said it grants Turkey more than its legitimate rights. The position of Turkey on this deal, Garilidis argued, was part and parcel of a bigger question on the role of Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean. Garilidis previously headed the Turkey desk at the Foreign Ministry in Greece for three years before arriving in Cairo to replace Michael-Christos Diamessis, who is now representing his country in Ankara. Diamessis was recently summoned by the Turkish Foreign Ministry in protest against alleged Greek violations of Turkish national waters. According to Garilidis, an agreement between Cairo and Athens will help manage unresolved EEC issues in the Eastern Mediterranean. He spoke before Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu suggested in press statements that there were behind-the-scenes talks between Turkey and Egypt over the issue of maritime borders after the agreement that Ankara and the GNA signed between Turkey and Libya, Egypts western neighbour, over a year ago. Garilidis said that no country in the Mediterranean wanted to pick a fight with Turkey. Greece, he added, had been on-and-off pursuing an agreement on maritime borders with Turkey. He said it was up to Turkey to pursue good relations with its neighbours. The underlying problem between Turkey and many of its neighbours, he said, was that the current political regime in Ankara perceived the vast majority of these as former Ottoman wilayats (provinces). It is better for all of us to cooperate Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, the Palestinians, Syrians and everyone else, Garilidis said. But this cannot happen if somebody wants to control us. This would not be good because it would turn everybody [else] against them, he added. If Turkey were to abandon its Ottoman ideas, Garilidis said, Greece would help Ankara find a way forward on further economic cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean, including on natural gas projects. Turkey is not a member of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, which brings together the other Eastern Mediterranean countries, including Israel and the Palestinians. The latter still have a long way to go on the demarcation of their maritime borders and those between them and their Mediterranean neighbours. Garilidis added that what Turkey is doing in Libya, for example, is not just about its wish to pursue natural-resource cooperation with Libya, but more about its wish to establish itself as a top player in the region. This would not be accepted by most countries in the Mediterranean, he said. For example, Egypt has legitimately said that it cannot let Libya be a toy for the militias brought into Libya [by Turkey] and that is fully understood, Garilidis said. Clearly, this is an issue that influences security not just for Egypt, but for all of the countries of North Africa and all the countries around the Mediterranean. What Turkey needed to do was to pursue agreements with its neighbours according to international law, Garilidis said. On Monday, the European Union criticised Turkeys drilling for natural gas and oil in the Eastern Mediterranean. The warning came after Ankara announced that the drilling would start soon. On 9 July, Karalambos Petrides, the Cypriot minister of defence, discussed the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Cyprus EEC during meetings with the ambassadors of Greece, France, and Italy. Garilidis said that his mandate as Greek ambassador in Egypt would be based on enhancing all forms of cooperation on as many fronts as possible and not just the natural resources that the two countries are committed to through their membership of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum and possibly the Eastern Mediterranean gas pipeline. Garilidis is particularly keen on boosting cultural cooperation, and he is considering options to enhance cooperation in archaeology, among other joint projects. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: Touching, sweating, holding hands, heavy breathing. No, it's not an episode of Normal People. It's set-dancing, and it's the coronavirus's dream. Not far behind, and another potentially dangerous endeavour, is the trad session. Hordes of sputtering whistlers, salivating flute players and warbling singers project their spittle into the air while playing shoulder to shoulder in a tight circle as punters shout "hup" across a crowded bar. It all looks different in the shadow of a pandemic. Yet nothing beats the energy of a live music session, and musicians and dancers across the country are champing at the bit, waiting for the day they can get back to the familiar nooks and crannies of their local pub to play music together. But how will our cultural pursuits move forward safely in this post-lockdown era? Co Longford set-dance teacher and former nurse Mairead Casey is among those who have concerns. "They're holding hands, and close enough to be breathing on top of each other as well, so it's a no-no," she says. This is even more pertinent considering it's mostly an older generation who carries on the set-dancing tradition in Ireland. Will they want to be in such proximity after cocooning? Dancing with scarves to elongate the arms, or with dummies, have been proposed as alternatives. "But then the whole love of dancing goes out the window - the music and the contact, the enjoyment of all being together in that small group," says Casey. "We danced at a festival last summer in a marquee and the walls were weeping with condensation, just dropping down. So that was everybody's breath in that moisture coming back down on top of us. If you think about those things, no way - you can't do it," she adds. "But that's the reality - other people's sweat is getting on to you no matter what you do. So I don't know how you'd prevent that, every time you go to dance with someone - spray them with disinfectant first? I don't think so." "It'd be fantastic if we could get to September and know that we're clear. But I can't see it happening this year. I can't see us going back until there's a vaccine or there's none of it in Ireland." Padraig McEneany, who teaches set-dancing in the Cobblestone in Smithfield, Dublin, says a lot of people involved in dancing would be in the at-risk category. "Half of our dancers would be over 60. It is a worry," he says. McEneany adds many dancers are reluctant to return before a Covid-19 vaccine is available, "whereas others are very keen and will say 'if we're washing our hands and following our coughing and sneezing etiquette, we should be able to go back'." Video of the Day He hopes to get back dancing next January. "I see it going back to the older way, house dances where you only had eight dancers and they were all closely related or friends, part of the pod," he says. "So you're containing the numbers like that and you wouldn't have outsiders." He has done a masterclass online to help people brush up on neglected steps. "People were learning all their dancing at ceilis and the standard would have gone down in the last 20 years," he says. Expand Close Concerns: Co Longford set-dance teacher Mairead Casey. Photo by Brian Farrell / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Concerns: Co Longford set-dance teacher Mairead Casey. Photo by Brian Farrell "They'd be shuffling and jumping and they're putting a bang in here and a jump in there. The niceties of the steps were being lost, so this is an opportunity to practise the technique. So that might be something good that does come out of it." Is there the risk that over the span of a year, people will forget about set-dancing? "Certainly, there will be some people who will not come back," he admits. "And there will be older people that might bow out of it completely. But I would be hopeful. People have missed it, there will be people raring to go." Tom Flaherty hosts a regular Thursday night trad session at Na Fianna GAA Club in Glasnevin. Their group quickly turned to Zoom to fill the gap sessions left, though time lags means it is not ideal for musicians playing together, often leading to a garbled mess of sound. "But the quality was reasonably good if one person played," says Flaherty. The rest muted and played along. "We had to explain the rules of muting. We were making sure that people realised that if you do say something that you don't want people to hear, you could be in trouble." They have done 14 sessions with about 20 participants every week. "People joined from abroad, from Germany, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. The amount of people coming from around Europe was brilliant to see, to know that people were touching base with Ireland. And hopefully it gave them a little bit of solace abroad." He thinks social distancing might be hard to police at sessions. "It won't be too bad placing seats a metre or two apart but it's keeping that distance as the night goes on. Nobody wants to be saying 'well, you can't really do that any more, sit down and just play the fiddle'." "But what we want to do is get back playing and I think all musicians will obey any rule if it means that they're allowed perform. The alternative is absolutely terrible." Flaherty is more than looking forward to getting back to live sessions. "I can't wait for the day that we're back like that. I'd say it'll be quite emotional, actually. But it's going to be a funny summer, I think. I don't know how welcoming publicans will be to people coming in with instruments. The whole idea of a load of people going into a small bar inside - it looks fairly doubtful for this year anyway." Tig Choili, the celebrated Galway trad music pub, usually has an impressive 14 sessions a week. "We're still awaiting guidelines from the Government on what the deal will be with music," says publican Aonghus O'Flaherty. "But as soon as we are allowed have a session, we will have a session." There is the danger that once the music starts, dancers and musicians alike will dive straight in, social-distancing forgotten. "They might not let us have music straight away because, as Gloria Estefan says, the rhythm's going to get you," he says. "We get a lot of dancers coming in here, they'd have a pint, they'd be just listening to the music and the foot'd be going and then there'd be a bit of a space and they'd tear off and do a bit of a set. "Everything will be cautious when we first get back into it, and understandably so. If everything's going the right way, I suppose people's confidence would be up a bit more." For Comhaltas, everything came to a standstill. All its fleadhanna have been cancelled, leaving 25,000 competitors disappointed. "We've been trying to keep people's frame of mind, their mental health, in a good place and try to give them a bit of support as we move along," says Tomas O Maoldomhnaigh, general secretary of the cultural organisation. Some good news comes in the form of a virtual All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil, to be broadcast early next month by TG4. There is the possibility of a move forward, with 100 people permitted inside from July 20, according to the Government roadmap. Whether sessions will return straightaway is anyone's guess. Will this be Ireland's first ever summer without music? "It's the six-million-dollar question really," says O Maoldomhnaigh. "It's such a strange situation that nobody actually knows what will be in line for us next week or the week after, we really don't know." Probably a case of play it by ear. Advertisement By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 14, 2020 | PADUCAH By West Kentucky Star Staff Jul. 14, 2020 | 11:22 AM | PADUCAH A dispute at a home on Sunday led to a man's finger being shot and charges against three other people. The Paducah Police Department was called to a home on Shelbourne Street but before they arrived they learned that a gun had been fired. When they arrived, the resident, Brandon Johnson, told officers that his daughter and her boyfriend, Levi Thorn, had come to the home to get their personal property. Thorn's mother and stepfather, Cassie Scott and Mark Lamb, has also come to the home. Johnson told police that he asked them to wait outside until police arrived so there would be no problems, but he said the four people pushed their way inside. When Johnson's wife mentioned the current pandemic, Scott allegedly began coughing and spat in her face. This prompted Johnson to get his handgun from the bedroom and tell the four people to leave the home. Johnson told police that Lamb and Thorn tackled him and began assaulting him, and the gun went off, with the bullet hitting his ring finger. His wife was allegedly knocked down and kicked by Scott. Johnson was taken to Baptist Health Paducah for treatment of his injuries. Thorn was interviewed Monday at the the police station and was arrested for second-degree assault. Because he is an employee at McCracken County Jail, Thorn was booked into Marshall County Jail. Scott was cited on a charge of harassment with physical contact but no injury. Lamb turned himself in to Paducah Police on Tuesday morning. He reportedly admitted hitting Johnson in the face, which resulted in him losing a tooth. Lamb was arrested for second-degree assault. No charges were filed against Johnson's daughter. A fter months of back and forth, not to mention the constant rumours, the UK government has ordered that Huaweis tech be removed from the countrys 5G network. The Chinese tech giant offers telecoms products and services that make up the infrastructure needed to be able to provide the next-generation mobile tech, along with excellent phones and gadgets. However, the UK government has ordered mobile network operators such as EE, O2 and Vodafone, to remove Huaweis tech from their 5G networks. Buying new Huawei 5G equipment is to be banned after December 31 2020, and all equipment needs to be removed from the network by the end of 2027. How did we get here and what does it mean? Huawei and 5G: whats the issue? Last year, US President Trump accused Huawei of fraud, along with stealing trade secrets and violating US sanctions against Iran. As a result, the US banned the companys equipment from US networks in a bid to protect national security. There have been concerns that Huawei would be ordered to put in backdoors to allow the Chinese government to spy on the US. Huawei has refuted these claims. This is also the reason you cant get Google's Android services on Huawei phones anymore: the US government blocked US companies from working with the tech giant. A Chinese technician wears a protective mask as he installs a new Huawei 5G station on a tower in a business district on April 23, 2020 in Beijing, China / Kevin Frayer/Getty Images What has the UK said? Despite the USs security concerns, earlier this year UK prime minister Boris Johnson said Huawei could be involved in the UKs 5G rollout. The UK marked the company as a high-risk vendor, limiting it to a minority presence of no more than 35 per cent in the periphery network which connects devices and equipment to mobile masts. This meant Huaweis tech would not be included with safety-related and safety-critical networks in critical national infrastructure. It would also be excluded from sensitive geographic locations including nuclear sites and military bases. The removal order Following advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, Huawei will be completely removed from the UKs 5G networks by the end of 2027, the UK government has announced today, July 14. According to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport, technical experts at the NCSC reviewed the consequences of the US sanctions and concluded Huawei will need to do a major reconfiguration of its supply chain as it will no longer have access to the technology on which it currently relies. The NCSC said there are also no alternatives which it has sufficient confidence in, meaning the new restrictions make it impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future. DCMS added that the decision takes into account our specific national circumstances and how the risks from these sanctions are manifested in the UK. This doesnt just affect the 5G network but also the UKs full-fibre broadband networks as Huaweis products can be found here too. As a result, the UK government is advising full-fibre operators to transition away from purchasing new Huawei equipment. Oliver Dowden makes a statement to MPs in the House of Commons / House of Commons/PA Wire In a statement, digital secretary Oliver Dowden said: This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK. "By the time of the next election we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks." Whats the reaction? Huawei is, unsurprisingly, unhappy about it. Huawei UKs spokesperson Ed Brewster called the decision bad news for anyone in the UK with a mobile phone. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide. Instead of levelling up the government is levelling down and we urge them to reconsider. We remain confident that the new US restrictions would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply to the UK. On the other hand, digital privacy advocates are pleased about the decision. Ray Walsh, digital privacy expert at ProPrivacy, said the move was a win for digital privacy and national security. Huawei has long been criticised for engaging in espionage for the Chinese government, and the decision to remove Huawei from the UK's networks will ensure that there is no potential backdoor being exploited. At the end of the day, the concerns about Chinese espionage are legitimate, and while this is going to end up costing the UK more money - the reality is that we can at least rest assured in the knowledge that the Chinese Communist Party doesn't have a direct footing to potentially perform covert surveillance. What impact will removing Huaweis 5G equipment have on the UK? The main issue with stripping out Huaweis 5G tech resides with the effect it will have on the mobile operators. Many of them have pledged to remove Huaweis equipment from their networks already, such as BT which has said it will have stripped it out of its core network by 2023. Indeed, Dowden said the decision will delay the UK's 5G roll-out by two to three years and cost up to 2 billion. "This will have real consequences for the connection on which all our constituents rely," said the cabinet minister. At the moment, more than 70 towns and cities have access to 5G tech but the coverage can be patchy depending on if youre inside a building or outside, and the costs are fairly high to access for the tech for consumers and small businesses. Huawei's new P40 Pro+ smartphone was released earlier this year without Google apps / Huawei As a result of the decision, developments have been pushed back a few years as things are now going to be slower and more expensive, says Dan Ridsdale, global head of tech, media and telecoms for Edison Group, the investment research and advisory company. The number of viable 5G network equipment vendors available to UK operators now reduced to two. With the majority of EU countries expected to allow Huawei to be deployed in a limited fashion, meaning that the UKs mobile infrastructure may well fall behind that of the EU at least in terms of capability if not security. The writer is an Omaha trial lawyer and a Vietnam combat veteran. Independence Day is one of our most important national holidays. This holiday weekend, as race threatens to divide our country again, we should remember the real significance of July 4. While it is perhaps the noisiest of our holidays, it is our most democratic. We salute all our soldiers, without regard to their race, religion, color or creed, who have assured our independence. We pay tribute to these men and women, not because they were black or white or yellow or red, but because each of them was courageous as hell and each was American through and through. From different neighborhoods and diverse cultures, they joined together to serve under a common flag pursuing common ideals with a unified purpose. These citizens went to war because they were guided by the powerful idea that liberty and equality are worth fighting for liberty and equality for all people, regardless of color or country. When they fought, they fought in the name of America a country which proudly proclaimed, in a magnificent document at the moment of its birth, that all men are created equal. Melania Trump renewed her call for people to wear masks as coronavirus cases spike throughout the country. The first lady posted the reminder to her social media accounts with a photo of her wearing a mask that was taken back in April. 'Even in the summer months, please remember to wear face coverings & practice social distancing. The more precaution we take now can mean a healthier & safer country in the Fall,' she wrote. Melania Trump renewed her call for people to wear masks as coronavirus cases spike throughout the country President Donald Trump wore a face mask on Saturday when he visited injured soldiers at Walter Reed hospital Melania Trump joined President Trump for an education round table last week as part of the administration's push for schools to reopen this fall She joins other Republicans who have asked Americans to wear masks as the number of coronavirus cases in the United States topped 3.43 million and more than 138,000 people have died. Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have urged people to wear them and have been seen wearing masks in public. Her reminder also comes after President Donald Trump wore a face mask in public on Saturday for his visit to wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital. The president had previously resisted wearing a covering - he was caught wearing one backstage during a visit to a Ford factory in Michigan in May but otherwise has said he doesn't need to wear one as he's frequently tested for the coronavirus. Melania Trump was an early embracer of the mask and urged people to wear one in social media posts in April - long before the White House staff began wearing them. The first lady was also caught wearing a face mask when she flew on Marine One and she wore one last week when she visited The Mary Elizabeth House - a women's and children's shelter - in Washington D.C. to visit with residents and deliver lunches. Melania Trump also has joined President Trump in his push for schools to reopen this fall. She sat beside the president at an event at the White House last week. Melania Trump was one of the first members of the administration to advocate mask wearing First lady Melania Trump was captured wearing a mask on Marine One in May 'When children are out of school, they are missing more than just time in the classroom. Theyre missing the laughter of their friends, learning from their teachers, and the joy of recess and play,' she said. 'For children with disabilities, without access to technology or whose homes are not a safe place, the situation can be even worse,' she noted. The first lady also has held zoom calls with teachers and students during the pandemic as part of her Be Best initiative. But she also has kept herself away from the media, holding her events without press coverage and posting the information on her social media accounts. Many of these activities were held while she was urging people to follow CDC guidelines and wear a face mask even as President Trump said he wouldn't wear one. The first lady also was the subject of a detailed biography that came out this summer from Washington Post reporter Mary Jordan that said Melania Trump renegotiated her pre-nup after Donald Trump won the 2016 election. Melania Trump was subject to a biography earlier this year that detailed how she renegotiated her prenup after Donald Trump won election Melania Trump's office blasted the book as 'fiction.' 'The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump' also addressed the plastic surgery rumors and detailed Melania's relationship with Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's eldest daughter. Additionally, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a close friend of Melania Trump and a former adviser to the East Wing, will release a memoir this fall detailing her friendship with the first lady. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a close friend of Melania Trump and a former adviser to the East Wing, will release a memoir detailing her friendship with the first lady on Sept. 1 It's the latest in a spat of book about President Donald Trump, the first lady and the administration. The publishing date for the tell-all by Mary Trump, the president's niece, was moved up two weeks due to high interest in the book, which the Trump family tried to stop from being published. The administration also tried and failed to stop former National Security Adviser John Bolton from releasing his tell-all about his time in the White House. Wolkoff's 'Melania and Me: My Years as Confidant, Advisor and Friend to the First Lady' will be released on September 1. It promises a 'revealing and explosive portrayal of Stephanie Winston Wolkoff's fifteen-year friendship with Melania Trump and observations of the most chaotic White House in history,' according to a summary posted on Google books. And 'people with knowledge of the project say that the content of the book is largely negative, and that the manuscript heavily trashes' Melania, the Daily Beast reported. It is the second book about the notoriously private first lady to come out after Jordan's book. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff came under investigation for her role in planning Donald Trump's 2016 presidential inauguration - she's seen with Melania Trump and Rachel Roy at a January 2017 dinner ahead of the inaugural Winston Wolkoff - a New York socialite who had previously helped plan the Met Gala - served as an informal, unpaid adviser to Melania Trump in the East Wing of the White House until February 2018 when she left the position amid controversy. She was in the news at the time after reports showed that her firm, WIS Media Partners, received a $26 million payment for its work on the inaugural. BOTTOM OF THE BARREL Donald Trump commuted the sentence of Roger Stone. So thats another Trump crony convicted of crimes running around loose at the same time Bill Barr fired another prosecutor from New York investigating more corruption by Trump and his cronies. I have been around for 65 years and never in my life have I seen such blatant corruption. They are saying to the American people we are going to do what we want and nobody can do anything about. FORWARD TOGETHER Here we go again. Will Richans letter (July 12) interpreting Christine Flowers as being biased. We have enough tension, racial or otherwise, in this nation. Theres no need to add fuel to the fire. Everything should not be viewed as black and white. There is racism on both sides of the fence. To think otherwise is delusional. We generalize and stereotype others and conjure erroneous thoughts in our mind. Thats how racism is born. Instead of looking back at peoples mistakes, why cant we improve on ourselves today to create a better history for tomorrow? GET WITH IT, TOM Like President Trump, Tom McGarrigle does not know the difference between a protester and a looter. And like President Trump, Mr. McGarrigle doesnt understand the importance of an independent legal system. Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who does not work for Mayor Kenney, has decided not to enforce citations that were issued to peaceful protesters for things like curfew violations. As to the criminals who used the protests as cover , We intend to vigorously prosecute, Krasner said. Some of these burglaries, at the most extreme end, involve things like burglarizing a gun shop and trying to go out the front with enormous quantities of guns. I recall very well a comment made here several weeks ago from one of Delcos astute citizens saying how stupid Joe Biden looked wearing that mask as shown in a news photo. I wonder how this person and others who feel similarly feel now that their vaunted tough-guy president wore a mask while visiting Walter Reed Hospital. Because its Trump wearing a mask, does he look dapper? Does he look manly? Does he look smarter than Biden? I, for one, commend the president. It shows that maybe just maybe he is not as stupid as he looks and acts with or without wearing a mask. And maybe just maybe he prevented one or more patients from infection, regardless of how often he claims he gets tested. JB GET THE FACTS After reading the opinion piece on education indoctrination, I had to let everyone know the big picture, as only one side is presented here (either unknowingly or purposely). The Koch brothers through their foundations have been funding hundreds of colleges & universities with millions of dollars to teach liberatarian views (see The Atlantic, Oct 30., 2015). So you could say that colleges/universities are either left or right. So, if you desire to only hear one view, choose that college. But, the best idea would be to choose one with both. INFORMED PARENT LOVE OF THEIR LIVES In response to the everyone who speaks negatively about the educators. I wish that you could spend just one day in a classroom to see what challenges they face every day, not even including the pandemic requirements. They dont work just 180 days/year. When they are not physically in the classroom, they are planning and preparing during their evenings, weekends, school holidays, and, yes, during the summer as well. They have been working through this pandemic, teaching children virtually now theres a real challenge. I know whereof I speak. I witness first-hand the challenges and stresses they endure as they give their lives to their first love, educating your children. Double their pay, and it is still not enough! VOTE WITH YOUR HEAD I cant believe all the people who say theyre going to vote for Mitt Romney this fall. He lost to Barack Obama and hell lose again. LOSER LOSER Bamako, Mali (PANA) Calm returned to the Malian capital, Bamako, on Monday after three days of chaos and clashes during which 11 people were killed and more than 120 others wounded, according to hospital sources Syracuse, N.Y. The coronavirus news today offered a glimmer of hope after what Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon described as a discouraging week. He said more and more residents appear to be ignoring advice to wear masks in public and to avoid large gatherings. Those actions threaten progress the county has made in containing the virus, he warned. We were on a seven-game winning streak,' McMahon said, describing the countys success at fighting the virus and resuming business activity. And then we went on a three-game losing streak over the past week. Unforced errors cost us those games.' McMahon said the unforced errors included several parties earlier this month that produced clusters of Covid-19 infections. He said he is working with local school districts to encourage teenagers to get tested if they socialized at graduation parties or other events. McMahon also said he has gotten reports of people going out in public when they should be in quarantine. There are currently 490 county residents in mandatory quarantine. McMahon said he would discuss with the district attorneys office whether any of the people allegedly breaking quarantine should be fined. A reminder we are still in a state of emergency,' McMahon said. That said, todays numbers were not as bad as last weeks. The county had a total of 12 new Covid-19 cases since Sunday. That was an improvement over the previous six days, which averaged 26 new cases a day. All told, the county has had 3,024 cases since March. Of the new cases announced today, three occurred in senior living facilities (among residents or staff); two occurred in households with previous infections; one was still under investigation; and six were attributed to community spread. There were no new deaths since Sunday. A total of 191 county residents have died from Covid-19. There are 48 coronavirus patients in local hospitals, up one since Sunday. Twelve are awaiting discharge. Five patients are in intensive care, McMahon said. There are currently 288 active cases in Onondaga County, down 54 since Sunday. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Out-of-state travelers must tell NY authorities where they came from or face fine, Cuomo says Cuomo: New York schools will reopen based on a formula similar to economic reopening Whats the greatest health risk in coronavirus era: Kids at school or at home? Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:11:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- "The Hunting," a film depicting China's operation "Fox Hunt" about pursuing economic crime suspects who flee overseas, is set to hit the big screen in early 2021, the film's official social media account said when releasing the first trailer on Tuesday. Based on real events from the campaign that was launched by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in 2014, the upcoming film is co-produced by Shanghai Film Group and the economic crime investigation bureau of the MPS. The film stars renowned actors Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Duan Yihong. In April this year, "Hunting," a TV drama on the same operation, was released in China, with a cast led by popular young actor Wang Kai. Enditem Girls fared better than boys in Karnataka's Pre-University Course (PUC) board exams whose results were declared across the southern state on Tuesday. "As in the past, girls secured an overall 68.73 per cent compared with 54.77 per cent by boys in the second-year PUC board exams, which were held from March 4-24 and the last paper (English) on June 18 due to Covid-induced extended lockdown to contain the virus spread," an official told IANS here. Of the 5,56,26 students who wrote the exams at around 1,000 centres across the state, 3,8,947 passed, taking the overall pass percentage to 61.80, marginally better than 61.73 per cent in 2019 during normal times. "As papers in all subjects except English were held before the lockdown was enforced from March 25, the performance of students has been consistent and marginally better than last year," asserted the official of the state PU Education Department. Science students topped the list, with 76.2 per cent followed by Commerce stream with 65.52 per cent and arts stream with 41.27 per cent, which is a drop of 8 per cent over the last academic year. "As in the past, Udupi district on the west coast retained its top position among the 30 districts across the state with 90.71 per cent overall," said the official. Due to lockdown guidelines and restrictions on movement of people and vehicles, the department has advised the students to download their scorecard from the board websites (Awww.karresults.nic.in) as their colleges are closed till further notice. "Students who did not appear for the exams in March or June can appear in the supplementary exams in early August along with the failed students and avoid missing an academic year," added the official. San Antonio police are searching for the person responsible for shooting a 28-year-old man Tuesday on the West Side. Officers arrived at the 2200 block of El Paso Street just before 1 a.m. to find a man suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Nagaland assembly Speaker Sharingain Longkumer on Tuesday dismissed a disqualification petition against seven legislators of the opposition Naga Peoples Front (NPF). Two NPF MLAs, Imkong L Imchen and Chotisuh Sazo, had filed the petition against the 7 MLAs-EE Pangteang, Eshak Konyak, Kejong Chang, BS Nganglang Phom, Toyang Chang, NT Konyak and CL John. The seven MLAs had been suspended from the partys membership in April last year for defying the NPFs decision to support the Congress candidate KL Chisi in the Lok Sabha polls and instead voting for the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) candidate Tokheho Yepthomi. It is established beyond any reasonable doubt that there is no sufficient ground for presuming that respondents had voluntarily given up membership of the original political party (NPF). Hence, I decide the respondents are not liable to be disqualified, Longkumer said in an order dismissing the petition. Despite being the largest party in the 60-member state assembly with 26 MLAs, NPF had not fielded any candidate during last years Lok Sabha polls and instead supported the Congress candidate. NDPP, which had secured 18 seats in the 2018 assembly polls, had formed government with support from 12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and other smaller parties. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON ABOUT THE AUTHOR Utpal Parashar Utpal is an assistant editor based in Guwahati. He covers all eight states of North-East and was previously based in Kathmandu, Dehradun and Delhi with Hindustan Times . ...view detail Help.org, a trusted online resource for individuals who struggle with addiction and their loved ones, has announced the Best Rehab Facilities in Grand Rapids, Michigan for 2020. The informational guide recognizes the top 5 rehab facilities based on cost, treatment options, location, accompanying services and more. According to recent studies, drug overdose is the leading cause of death among people under age 50. In Grand Rapids, deaths related to opioid abuse increased significantly from 2011 to 2015. Substance abuse among adolescents is also escalating in Grand Rapids with 55 percent of high school students reported using alcohol, 38 percent reported using marijuana, 8 percent reported using prescription drugs without a valid prescription, and 2 percent reported using heroin. With the growing need for accessible and high-quality rehab programs, Help.org has developed a unique ranking process to help connect individuals with treatment providers that meet their needs. The Help.org research team analyzed thousands of facilities across the country and then identified the most cost-effective and highest rated programs in larger cities like Grand Rapids. Each facility was evaluated based on rehabilitation services, treatment approaches, cost, special programs for unique demographics and ancillary services. The website also provides information about drug use and side effects as well as educational articles. For a detailed listing of the Best Rehab Facilities in Grand Rapids, Michigan please visit https://www.help.org/drug-and-alcohol-rehab-centers-in-grand-rapids-mi/ 2020 Best Rehab Facilities in Grand Rapids, Michigan (in alphabetical order) Cherry Health 100 Cherry Street SE Grand Rapids, MI 49503 616-965-8200 Wedgwood Christian Services 3300 36th Street SE Grand Rapids, MI 49512 616-942-2110 Ottagan Addictions Recovery 700 Washington Avenue, Suite 220 Grand Haven, MI 49417 616-842-6710 Quies Christian Counseling Services 318 South Bridge Street, Suite A Belding, MI 48809 616-902-9007 ABOUT HELP.ORG Help.org is an online resource for individuals who struggle with addiction and their loved ones. The website provides the latest research through scientifically proven methods, community recovery resources as well as information about local financial assistance. Help.orgs team of researchers, activists and writers work together with addiction counselors and other professionals to offer useful and accurate resources to help individuals seeking recovery. To learn more, visit https://www.help.org/. This year alone, major players including Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm and others have ploughed some $15 billion into Jio Platforms. (Photo | Instagram - Reliance Jio) New Delhi: Google is in advanced talks to buy a $4 billion stake in Jio digital platforms, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, as major tech firms race to tap into the massive nations market. The US technology giant has been in talks to invest in Reliance Industries Jio Platforms, Bloomberg said citing sources, with an announcement as soon as in the next few weeks. The report came a day after Googles chief executive Sunder Pichai said it would invest $10 billion in the country of 1.3 billion people over the next five to seven years. Foreign firms have spent tens of billions of dollars in India in recent years as they fight for a piece of the Asian giants burgeoning digital economy. This year alone, major players including Facebook, Intel, Qualcomm and others have ploughed some $15 billion into Jio Platforms. Ambani is aiming to take on US giants Amazon and Walmart in Indias growing e-commerce space. The tycoon said in mid-June that his Reliance conglomerate was net debt free after raising more than $22 billion in a rights issue and selling stakes in Jio Platforms. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Healthcare staff have protested in France as the country celebrated Bastille Day, marked by a ceremony celebrating frontline workers during the coronavirus outbreak. Unions called for demonstrations after they said a new deal that gives a pay rise to health and care workers did not go far enough to help the sector. Protests for improved wages and investment in public hospitals took place in Paris on Tuesday, where nurses in white coats replaced the usual uniformed soldiers in the capitals Bastille Day celebration, as the country paid tribute to frontline workers in the fight against Covid-19. In the 14 July ceremony, medical staff stood silently as lengthy applause rang out over the Place de la Concorde from around 2,000 guests, including Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. A military choir sang the Marseillaise national anthem, and troops unfurled an enormous French tricolour flag across the plaza. However, as the event unfurled in central Paris, activists flew banners overhead which read: Behind the tributes, Macron is suffocating hospitals and Savings cost us lives. Elsewhere in the capital, thousands of people took part in a protest calling for greater support for healthcare workers and the sector, proceeding towards Bastille plaza, where the French Revolution was born on the same day in 1789. Medical workers unions marched to decry cost cuts, and equipment and staff shortages that plagued public hospitals as the virus raced across the country. One woman dressed in hospital gear held a sign saying: Devoted, but underappreciated. Sylvie Pecard, a protester and nurse in Paris, said: We are enormously short of personnel. She described colleagues falling ill with the virus as Covid-19 patients filled its wards. Its because we havent recruited nurses, she said. I came here 20 years ago and there were no empty positions. Now all the services are short of personnel, and its worse and worse. Some unions have not thrown their support behind Frances new deal for healthcare workers, which has promised to dedicate nearly 8bn (7.2bn) for pay rises. A woman holds a sign saying drop the act in a demonstration on the Bastille Day in Paris (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes) Jean Castex, the new prime minister, branded the agreement a historic moment for the health system. However, a group of unions called for people to mobilise on 14 July against the sham deal, which they suggested does not go far enough to fix problems in the health service. Health and care workers will see their wages rise by an average of $183 (165) each month under the plan. These salary increases do not match our demands, Thomas Laurent, a nurse at a Lyon hospital and Inter Urgences union member, told France24. Mr Castex said the deal which was signed by union leaders was first of all recognition of those who have been on the frontline in the fight against this epidemic. He added: It is also a way of catching up for years of delay, for which each and every one including perhaps myself has their share of responsibility. French health workers attend a demonstration on the Bastille Day in Paris, with a sign saying: Devoted, but underappreciated. ( REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes) (REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes) France has seen more than 207,000 coronavirus infections over the course of its outbreak, and had a death total of around 30,000 as of Tuesday. Mr Macron has said wearing masks will become compulsory in all enclosed public spaces in the next few weeks, as the country continues its fight against the spread of the disease. Lockdown measures have started being eased across the country, however there are signs that Covid-19 is returning somewhat. Additional reporting by agencies Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, departing after speaking during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, DC.(AFP) Beijing: China on Monday slapped retaliatory sanctions on three senior Republican lawmakers and a US envoy in a deepening row over Beijing's treatment of Uighurs in the western Xinjiang region. Some of the most outspoken critics of China -- Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz along with Congressman Chris Smith -- were targeted by the action, as well as the US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Sam Brownback. The unspecified "corresponding sanctions" were announced days after the US imposed visa bans and asset freezes on several Chinese officials, including the Communist Party chief in Xinjiang, Chen Quanguo, over rights abuses in the region. The move was "in response to the US's wrong actions", foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing. "We urge the US to immediately withdraw its wrong decision, and stop any words and actions that interfere in China's internal affairs and harm China's interests," she said. "China will make a further response depending on the development of the situation." Sanctions will also be applied on the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, an agency that monitors human rights in the Asian country. The two countries have traded barbs and sanctions on a slew of issues since President Donald Trump took office, from trade to more recent spats over the coronavirus pandemic, a security law in Hong Kong, and Chinese policies in the far west regions of Tibet and Xinjiang. 'Horrific' abuses Witnesses and human rights groups say that China has rounded up more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang in a vast brainwashing campaign aimed at forcibly homogenising minorities into the country's Han majority. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week the United States was acting against "horrific and systematic abuses" in the western region including forced labour, mass detention and involuntary population control. China rejects the accusations, but it has acknowledged sending Uighurs to "vocational education centres" to learn Mandarin and job skills in a bid to steer them away from terrorism and separatism following a spate of deadly violence in the fractious region. "I have to point out that Xinjiang affairs are purely China's internal affairs. The US has no right or basis to interfere," Hua said on Monday. China is "unwavering in its determination to fight against forces of violence and terrorism, forces of separatism, and that of religious extremism," Hua said. "Its determination to oppose any external forces' interference in Xinjiang affairs and China's internal affairs is unwavering as well." ALAMOGORDO, N.M. The pilot of an F-16C jet fighter successfully ejected and suffered minor injuries when the single-engine aircraft crashed while landing at Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico, base officials said. A board of officers will investigate the crash that occurred Monday evening, officials said in a brief statement. The pilots identity was not released and the statement provided no additional details about the circumstances of the crash. In advance of a hearing Thursday on a proposed rule that would ban the sale of flavored electronic smoking products, a legislative interim committee voted to object to the rule, though it's not clear whether that will have any meaning beyond the symbolic. In June, the state Department of Public Health and Human Services proposed a rule that would ban selling flavored vaping products, saying the flavored products are "targeting youth users and inflicting grievous health effects on Montana's youth." The 2019 Montana Youth Behavior Risk Survey found that an estimated 22,500 Montana middle and high schoolers reported currently vaping. A federal study published in 2019 found that youths are four times more likely to try cigarettes if they had previously vaped. According to a survey done by the FDA, about 70% of youth e-cigarette users said they used the products "because they come in flavors I like." The FDA also found nearly all, 97%, of youth users had used a flavored product in the prior month. Some examples of flavored products are Cotton Candy, Slammin Pink Watermelon, Strawberry Rolls and Cherry Skittles. The rule proposed by the health department says that products "are also packaged in a manner that appeal to youth by closely resembling the packing of candy." But vaping shop owners say that banning the sale of flavored products would seriously harm their bottom line and that the use of tobacco products by those under the age of 21 is already illegal. In 2019 the state health department issued an emergency rule that banned the sale of flavored vaping products. During the ban, which expired in April, shop owners say their bottom lines suffered dramatically. A few of those vaping shop owners testified before the state Legislature's interim Economic Affairs Committee at the end of June, asking that committee to object to the rule. That came after the Legislature's interim Children, Families, Health and Human Services Committee declined to take any action on the proposed rule. The human services committee has rule oversight authority over the health department, not the economic committee. State Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Republican from Hamilton, contended that the interim Economic Affairs Committee on which he sits should have a say because of the anticipated business effects if the proposed rule moves forward. The state health department can finalize or change the rule after a public hearing and comment. The Health and Human Services Interim Committee, however, has rule oversight authority over the state health department, and a legislative attorney told the Economic Affairs Interim Committee before they voted on the rule that their action could be found out of order. The economic affairs committee's vote means it will have its staff draft a letter to the state health department notifying it of the objection. Normally those objections mean that adopting the rule would be delayed, but it's unclear whether that would happen in this case because the committee does not have oversight over the agency. The state health department issued a statement Monday saying it is following the administrative rule process and will continue to do so. "The purpose of this rule is to protect Montana kids, who are being specifically targeted with flavored e-cigarette products at an alarming rate. Six times more high school students use e-cigarettes than legal-age adults, and youth use increased by 243% in the last two years alone," a spokesman said. "The vote by the Economic Affairs Interim Committee has no legal effect on the proposed rule. We refer you to the comments of the committee's own attorney before the recent vote, which speak for themselves." Before the committee's 7-3 vote to object to the rule, several people testified about the harm flavored vaping products pose to children and young teens. Dr. Lauren Wilson, a pediatrician in Missoula and secretary treasurer of the Montana Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the vaping industry targets children to create new tobacco users. "These are in the hands of children, children who I see in my practice, who are using these as young as 9-10 years old," Wilson told the committee. Others who supported the rule pointed to the cost of dealing with the medical conditions of those who smoke, and research showing that flavors both entice children to use the products, and their ties with smoking later in life. "We keep flavors off the market and we can really keep kids from starting a lifetime of nicotine addiction," said Amanda Cahill, the government relations director for the American Heart Association. Deanna Marshall, an owner of Freedom Vapes and a member of the Montana Smoke Free Association, a group of about 20 vaping shops, told the committee that if the rule is finalized, it would be "devastating" to stores around the state. Ron Marshall, another owner and vice president of the Montana Smoke Free Association, said he felt the Legislature was the proper body to enact the ban, not a state agency. Freedom Vapes has shops in Hamilton, Bozeman and Belgrade. Keith Bowman, who owns Ecig Vapor Juice in Missoula, said that his business slowed by 65%-75% during the four-month ban and that it put half of his employees out of work. While vaping shop owners pointed out it was already illegal for them to sell to those under 21, Annie Tegen, the western region director for Tobacco Free Kids, said that Montana youths are still using the product whether they're intentionally sold it at a vape shop or not. Other vape shop owners said they sell flavored products to adults who are trying to stop using cigarettes, but Carrie Nyssen, the senior director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, said the products are not approved smoking-cessation devices, nor is there proof that they work as such. The hearing on the rule will be conducted remotely on Thursday at 3 p.m. A link to participate over Zoom can be found on the state health department's website. People may also submit comments in writing to Heidi Clark, Department of Public Health and Human Services, Office of Legal Affairs, P.O. Box 4210, Helena, Montana, 59604-4210; fax (406) 444-9744; or e-mail dphhslegal@mt.gov, and must be received no later than 5:00 p.m., July 24, 2020. Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 2 Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Portland Public Schools has set a tentative start date for the 2020-21 academic year: Sept. 14. But the states largest district will only have students attend in-person classes two days per week, if at all. And students and families should be ready to go online beginning Sept. 2, as teachers will offer individualized consultations and technology checks ahead of the academic schedule launch. District officials have outlined a plan for the coming year, but warn families their children may not be allowed to physically return to classrooms unless public health officials give the go-ahead. It is important that our students, families, and employees understand that we will only reopen school buildings if public health experts say it is safe to do so, district officials wrote over the weekend. If we are not able to safely open school buildings, all teaching and learning for every student will take place virtually. Under the proposed reopening plan, educators will spend two weeks training in how to use online learning tools and helping students and their families adjust to a long-term distance learning model. If in-person learning gets the green light, classes from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade will be split into two cohorts. One group will attend class on Mondays and Tuesdays while the second group attends Thursdays and Fridays. Each group will attend classes virtually on the two days the other group is physically in school. Portland Public Schools is also developing a full-time distance learning program for families who opt to keep their children home. District officials warn that all of its students may need to move back to digital learning if coronavirus cases spike. We are preparing for this real possibility and are putting plans in place to move in an agile fashion in and out of online learning as needed for a classroom, a school building and district wide, they said. The district is considering cutting high schoolers course loads in half. The typical high school student takes eight classes per semester. Instead, district officials say they will likely schedule students to take only four courses at a time, allowing them to finish a yearlong class in one semester. We believe that allowing students to focus on fewer classes will help them be more successful in an environment that is, at least for part of the year, a hybrid model of in-person and online learning, officials said. Portland Public Schools released its plans as district officials and the union representing its teachers prepare to negotiate working conditions for educators ahead of the school years start. It also comes amid a national debate over whether its safe for students to return to school buildings. President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have threatened to pull federal funding from schools that dont physically reopen, although such a move would require congressional approval. A national coalition of pediatricians, teachers and superintendents has cautioned against opening schools in areas with high coronavirus infection rates while calling on Congress to provide federal aid for local districts. And in California, the Los Angeles and San Diego districts which enroll some 700,000 students between them, about 200,000 more than in all of Oregon announced Monday that students will not return to classrooms in the fall citing rising case numbers in the state. Although children have a lower infection rate than adults and suffer less serious symptoms, surveys find that nearly one-third of the nations public school teachers are over the age of 50. Metro-area superintendents pressed Gov. Kate Brown to close schools back in March in part over pressure from educators wary of providing in-person instruction at the beginning of the pandemic. The Portland districts tentative Sept. 14 date for students to return would come 62 days after Brown renewed her call for Oregonians to limit indoor gatherings to 10 people or fewer. Churches and businesses are exempt from the order, which the governor issued as the states daily count of new coronavirus cases continues to hover around 300. Brown told reporters that shes not looking to draw a bright red line on conditions that would lead her to issue another school closure order. My hope is that all our school districts can reopen, she said. --Eder Campuzano | 503-221-4344 | @edercampuzano Do you have a tip about Portland Public Schools? Email Eder at ecampuzano@oregonian.com or message either of the social accounts above. Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. COVID-19 makes clear the need to address social determinants of health University of Michigan public health experts Julia Wolfson and Cindy Leung argue that the COVID-19 pandemic has made glaringly apparent the structural conditions that underlie inequities in our nation's health. Race and ethnicity, housing, income, occupation and chronic health conditions are all key factors that influence one's ability to safely weather highly infectious disease pandemics like COVID-19. Unlike the novel coronavirus strain, these social, economic and structural factors are not new. The authors argue, "An opportunity exists to use the unfolding crisis to advocate for structural changes to a system that has long perpetuated disparities." Wolfson and Leung draw together four articles in the July-August 2020 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine that emphasize social determinants of health and highlight the calls to action for primary care. ### An Opportunity to Emphasize Equity, Social Determinants, and Prevention in Primary Care Julia A. Wolfson, PhD MPP, et al University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Departments of Health Management and Policy and Nutritional Sciences, Ann Arbor, Michigan https:/ / www. annfammed. org/ content/ 18/ 4/ 290 This story has been published on: 2020-07-14. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. MasterChef frontrunner Callum Hann was eliminated from the competition on Tuesday night. The 30-year-old presented coconut poached snapper with crispy ginger and shaved fennel along with a roasted chilli oil and a coriander dressing. However, it simply wasn't enough to impress the judges over co-star Laura Sharrad's technical take on a strawberries and cream dessert. Eliminated: MasterChef star Callum Hann, 30, (pictured) was eliminated from the series on Tuesday night - as the final three contestants were revealed Judges praised the dish, but chef Jock Zonfrillo was the first to admit that the fish struggled to meet the standard. 'The texture of the fish is really off-putting, which is a shame because all the flavours that are going on there, he's really nailed it.' Judge Melissa agreed: 'There's no getting around that the fish is mushy.' Not up to standard: Judges praised the dish, but chef Jock Zonfrillo was the first to admit that the fish struggled to meet the standard It was an emotional night for the beloved South Australian chef, who struggled to get his emotions in check during the cook. After finishing his cook, Callum struggled to fight back tears: 'I think it is starting to hit me,' he said. 'This is very real, there's a 50-50 chance I'm going home or getting to the semifinal, which means I'm sending Laura home. Presented: The 30-year-old presented coconut poached snapper with crispy ginger and shaved fennel along with a roasted chilli oil and a coriander dressing 'This has definitely been the toughest cook for me out of anything we've done in the competition.' Laura presented a modern take on strawberries and cream with her saying she thought it was the perfect dish to plate up. The layered dish comprised sweetened ricotta, strawberry sorbet, macerated strawberries, fresh strawberries, brown sugar crumble and a little granita. Tough: Laura presented a modern take on strawberries and cream with her saying she thought it was the perfect dish to plate up. However, it was an emotional night for her, too The judges acknowledged the simplicity of the dish but praised her techniques. Jock said: 'It starts with that sorbet, which has got a good old whack of strawberry flavour. 'And then the whipped ricotta really starts to come into play and coat your palate.' Melissa agreed, after taking a bite she said: 'My mouth is still zinging with brightness and freshness. You have [all] these different textures.' Winner: Laura's layered dish comprised sweetened ricotta, strawberry sorbet, macerated strawberries, fresh strawberries, brown sugar crumble and a little granita Laura, Callum, and Reynold each competed in the first cooking round, with Reynold winning with his bonito fish, securing his semi-final place early. On Callum leaving, Melissa said: 'The name Callum Hann is synonymous with this competition. And so many people around this country - and the world - love your food and what you represent.' She continued: 'Ten years ago, you might have walked into this competition as a boy, but this time, you've returned as a dad. Sweet: 'Every time you walk through those doors, humility and integrity has always followed. We are so proud of you,' Melissa said of Callum 'And every time you walk through those doors, humility and integrity has always followed. We are so proud of you.' The semi-finalists are Laura, Emilia Jackson and Reynold Poernomo. MasterChef: Back to Win continues Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel Ten A Mexican man became the third undocumented immigrant to die in custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after testing positive for the coronavirus, the federal agency announced Monday. Onoval Perez was declared dead Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Medical Center in Belle Glade, Florida. The 51-year-old had been under observation since July 1 and was receiving inpatient treatment for the deadly bug. As of Monday evening, 3,183 undocumented immigrants held by ICE had tested positive for COVID-19. Another 949 detainees are being treated or in isolation. According to an ICE statement, Perez was rushed to the hospital after complaining about shortness of breath to officials at Glades County Detention Center in Moore Haven. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that a Mexican man identified as Onoval Perez, died Sunday after he was infected with COVID-19 while he was held at the Glades County Detention Center in Belle Glade, Florida. At least two other undocumented immigrants held by ICE have died from the coronavirus 3,183 undocumented immigrants held by ICE had tested positive for COVID-19 as of Monday. Another 949 detainees are being treated or in isolation On July 2, medical workers at the jail alerted the staff at Lakeside Medical Center that Perez had tested positive of the coronavirus. Perez was taken into ICE custody June 15 after he was released from federal prison in Massachusetts, where he had served 12 years of a 20-year sentence for cocaine distribution following a February 2008 conviction. Perez, a felon, was subject to mandatory detention by the immigration enforcement agency under federal law. Carlos Ernesto Escobar Mejia became infected with COVDI-19 at Otay Mesa Detention Center in California and died May 6. The 57-year-old native from El Salvador became the first undocumented immigrant in custody of ICE to die from the coronavirus in the United States The Mexico native is the first ICE detainee to die from the ravaging coronavirus since May 26 when Guatemalan migrant Santiago Baten Oxlaj was pronounced dead at Piedmont Columbus Regional Hospital, in Columbus, Georgia. Oxlaj, 34, contracted COVID-19 while incarcerated at the privately-operated Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, and spent five weeks receiving treatment at the hospital. On May 6, Carlos Ernesto Escobar, a 57-year-old native of El Salvador, became the first undocumented immigrant to died in custody of ICE after testing positive for the coronavirus. Escobar, who up until the time of this death was treated for the virus at a San Diego hospital, was infected with the bug at Otay Mesa Detention Center, a for-profit penitentiary run by CoreCivic. West Bengal residents on Monday reacted sharply after a young bureaucrat who was overseeing the movement of migrant workers died of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Debdutta Ray, who was in her mid-thirties, was a West Bengal Civil Service (Executive) officer and posted as deputy magistrate at Chandannagore in Hooghly district. She is survived by her husband and a four-year-old son. Ray was the first senior civil servant in the state to die of the coronavirus disease. She died at a hospital in Serampore where she was admitted on Sunday. Click here for full Covid-19 coverage Though she tested positive last week at a hospital in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, where she lived, the bureaucrat opted to stay in quarantine at home, officials said. Her condition suddenly deteriorated on Sunday and she was rushed to the hospital. The news went viral on social media with people circulating the news and Rays photographs in thousands. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted her condolence message on Monday night. Grieved to hear about the untimely passing away of Debdatta Ray, who was posted as Deputy Magistrate & Deputy Collector in Chandannagar. A young WBCS (Exe) Officer, she was at the forefront fighting the pandemic & displayed outstanding devotion in discharge of her duties, Banerjee wrote. I, on behalf of the Govt of West Bengal, salute her spirit & the sacrifice shes made in service of the people of #Bengal. Spoke to her husband today & extended my deepest condolences. May the departed soul rest in peace & lord give her family strength to endure this loss, the chief minister added. Ray was known to be very active in the ongoing combat against the pandemic. She was overseeing the movement of migrant workers housed at a transit camp in Dankuni after they arrived in Shramik Special trains from different states. No place for ability in Congress party: Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sachin Pilot sacking India oi-Deepika S New Delhi, July 14: Former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, who jumped ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier this year, slammed the party former party for sacking Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot. "In present circumstances, there is no place for ability in the Congress party. This can be seen in every state," said Jyotiraditya Scindia, according to news agency ANI. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Jyotiraditya Scindia slams Congress, says Emergency imposed in 1975 was a lockdown on democracy Rebel Sachin Pilot's removal from the posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and Congress state unit chief on Tuesday evoked mixed reactions from the party leaders, with a section of them still hoping for resolution of the matter and the rest blaming the young leader for his haste. Most of the leaders, however, described the turn of events as "unfortunate" and "sad". A day after the Congress said the "doors are open" for Pilot and gave him a second chance, the party virtually closed them for him on Tuesday, sacking him as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state party chief, three days after he mounted a rebellion against his state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The political crisis in Rajasthan began on Friday when the police sent a notice to Sachin Pilot, asking him to record his statement over the alleged bid to bring down the government. International Website Debuts, Translated into Record Ten Languages NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Since officially launching sales of luxury condominium residences this spring, The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria has received an unprecedented number of inquiries from all over the world. The building's newly released international website has been translated into ten languages: French, Spanish, Russian, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Japanese, Arabic, and Hindi. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria will introduce an unparalleled residential lifestyle to the heart of Midtown Manhattan, offering residents a world of exclusive private amenities, along with access to best-in-class services and a glamorous lifestyle found only at the globally renowned Waldorf Astoria New York. Waldorf Astoria New York has been a beacon of timeless glamour for nearly a century-home to Hollywood's elite, host to countless world leaders, and the site of famed cultural events and galas. The property is undergoing an unprecedented restoration, undertaken with care by developer Dajia Insurance Group and renowned architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The sophisticated residential interiors and amenities by internationally renowned designer Jean-Louis Deniot create a truly modern experience within the building's historic framework. The residences range from gracious studios to opulent four-bedrooms and penthouses, many with unique floorplans and private outdoor spaces. Privacy and security are paramount, with a discrete residential experience separate from the hotel, two fully staffed entry lobbies, a porte cochere with 24-hour valet service, and concierge closet at the entryway of every residence-allowing for secure delivery of packages and room service. Residents will have access to over 50,000 SF (4,645 SQM) of private residential amenities, ranging from health and wellness to entertaining and business spaces including a stunning 25-meter pool with skylight, state-of-the-art fitness center, opulent private spas for men and women, and numerous spaces to host private events. Waldorf Astoria New York will set the international standard for luxurious hotel service, and future residents will enjoy priority access to the unrivaled services of the 375-key hotel. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria will offer 375 condominium residences starting from USD $1,700,000. Douglas Elliman Development Marketing is the exclusive marketing and sales agent. Initial occupancy is projected for 2022. Please visit waldorftowers.nyc, follow the building's Instagram @WaldorfNYC, or call +1 212.872.1210 for a private appointment at the residential gallery. The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria International Website Languages: English Spanish / Espanol French / Francais Russian / ??????? Traditional Chinese / ???? Simplified Chinese / ???? Korean / ??? Portuguese / Portugues Japanese / ??? Arabic / ???? Hindi / - ???? Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1213835/The_Towers_of_the_Waldorf_Astoria.jpg Kerala nun rape accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal tests positive for Covid-19 India oi-Madhuri Adnal Kottayam, July 14: Former Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, against whom a court issued a non-bailable warrant yesterday in connection with the alleged rape of a Kerala nun, has tested positive for Covid-19. According to reports, Mulakkal's PRO Father Peter said the health of the bishop is not so good. 80 Metro Rail workers test positive, shifted to COVID centre A local court had cancelled the bail granted to Bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of raping a nun in Kerala, for failing to appear for the trial in the case and issued a Non Bailable Warrant against him. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News The Bishop was not present in the Additional Sessions Court during the hearing. Mulakkal''s counsel informed the court that his client could not appear as he had been in self quarantine due to his primary contact with a COVID-19 infected person. During the previous hearing on July 1 also he had failed to appear before the Court. His counsel had then submitted that the priest could not appear as he was stuck in a COVID-19 containment zone at Jalandhar in Punjab. The prosecution on Monday countered the claim by the accused, saying the place where he lived in Jalandhar was not a COVID-19 containment zone on July 1. The Court cancelled his bail, considering the prosecution argument that the accused was trying to delay the trial, and posted the case to August 13. The Kerala High Court on July 7 had dismissed a petition seeking to discharge Mulakkal from the sexual assault case filed against him by the nun. It had directed the deposed Bishop of Jalandhar diocese to stand for trial in the rape case, which was registered on a complaint filed by the nun of same diocese in Kerala. The court dismissed the plea by the bishop, admitting the prosecution argument that there was prima facie evidence against Mulakkal in the rape case. The senior priest of the Roman Catholic Church had filed the revision petition following the dismissal of his discharge plea by the trial court in Kottayam in March this year. The rape case against the Bishop was registered by police in Kottayam district. In her complaint to the police in June 2018, the nun had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Bishop between 2014 and 2016. The bishop, who was arrested by the Special Investigation team which probed the case, has been charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation. The Congress on Tuesday cracked down on Sachin Pilot, stripping the dissident leader of the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit president and sacking two loyalists from the state cabinet. Though the party seems to have the numbers for now to hang on to power in Rajasthan, the development deepens the crisis in the Congress which has lost two major states -- Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh -- over the past year. Ministers Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena were also removed from the Cabinet after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), its second in the last two days. The meeting was billed as a 'second chance' for Pilot, who had turned down appeals from the party's top leadership -- including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi -- to return to the fold. Pilot has been upset since the Congress picked Ashok Gehlot as the chief minister after the 2018 assembly polls, while his own supporters insisted that he deserved credit for the party's victory as its state unit president. His next move is not immediately clear. During the run-up to Tuesday's CLP meeting, his supporters insisted that he had no plans to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. They said their aim was a leadership change in Rajasthan. 'Truth can be rattled, not defeated,' Pilot tweeted in Hindi soon after he was sacked. Gehlot accused his former deputy of playing into the hands of the BJP. "I am very sad that horse-trading was going on," he said. Pilot had kept away from the first CLP meeting on Monday and sources said 18 other Congress MLAs had also skipped it, giving an indication of the dissident leader's strength. A video clip circulated by the Pilot camp appeared to show a group of 16 Congress MLAs. In a statement issued Sunday, Pilot had claimed the support of 30 Congress MLAs and 'some independents'. The numbers are large enough to keep the Gehlot camp on edge, even if most of the 107 Congress MLAs and independents have expressed confidence in his leadership. The state assembly has 200 MLAs and those close to Pilot are already calling for a test of strength on the floor of the House. As soon as the meeting ended, All India Congress Committee spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced the sacking of Pilot and the two ministers close to him from their posts. He said Pilot enjoyed the blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a 'BJP conspiracy'. "This cannot be acceptable to any political party. Therefore, the Congress took the decision with a heavy heart," he said. Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara, a leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) is the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. Tribal leader and MLA Ganesh Ghogra was appointed the new president of the state Youth Congress, a post held so far Pilot loyalist Mukesh Bhakar. Hem Singh Shekhawat replaced another Pilot supporter, MLA Rakesh Pareek, as the state president of the Congress Sewa Dal. Abhimanyu Poonia, the president of the state unit of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), resigned. 'We cannot work with a chief minister who has worked to send heads of Jat and Bishnoi families to jail. Our honesty and conscience is still alive,' he said on Twitter. Ashok Gehlot met Governor Kalraj Mishra immediately after the CLP meeting, recommending the removal of the three ministers from his cabinet. He also chaired two ministerial meetings at his home -- that of the senior ministers who for the state Cabinet, and another of the ministers of state -- where the recent developments were discussed and administrative decisions taken. The ministers, like other Congress MLAs in the Gehlot camp, were holed up at a resort on the outskirts of the city since Monday. Police were put on alert across the state against any fallout of the political developments. The Bharatiya Janata Party accused Gehlot of putting the blame for the crisis on the opposition. 'Dear Ashok Gehlot, closing your eyes does not make the sun disappear. There is weakness in the structure of your house, and you are blaming the BJP national leadership for this,' party vice president Om Prakash Mathur said. Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande had made another bid to reach out to the rebel leader. 'I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting,' Pande, who is the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC, tweeted. The Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72 in the 200-member assembly. In the past, the ruling party has claimed the support of 13 independents, two MLAs each from the Communist Party if India-Marxist and the Bhartiya Tribal Party (BTP), and one from the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). But CPM and BTP have now indicated that their MLAs could stay neutral till the Congress settles its factional feud. The current crisis erupted last Friday when the Rajasthan Police sent a notice to Pilot, asking him to record his statement over the alleged bid to bring down the government. The same notice was sent to the chief minister and some other MLAs, but Pilot's supporters claimed that it was only meant to humiliate him. The Special Operation Group (SOG) had sent out the notices after tapping a phone conversation between two men, who were allegedly discussing the fall of the Gehlot government. The program is designed to provide quick wins and long-term digital marketing strategies that will ensure your business goals are met. Propel Marketing & Design, Inc., a South Florida based Marketing Agency, is pleased to announce its SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Program Ready. Set. Rank! at a discounted price to help struggling businesses during the COVID pandemic. This class is designed for entrepreneurs, small business owners, consultants, and marketers looking to generate more leads, website traffic, and brand recognition online. In todays current climate, now is a great time to work on reaching your target audience through the accessibility of this program, explained Darcy Sullivan of Propel Marketing & Design. Sullivan continued, The program is designed to provide quick wins and long-term digital marketing strategies that will ensure your business goals are met. Through Ready. Set. Rank! students will be able to experience the best of online learning from the comforts of home and at a lower price than ever before. The program is designed to radically propel a brands online presence and websites organic rankings in just 12 weeks with a proven 3-step program. The program comes in three stacks, each section building on top of the other: Stack #1 Ready. Students clarify their business-offering and wrap their head around what digital marketing tactics are working for them and against them Spy on their competition to find out whats driving traffic form their brand Discover how and where to find ideal customers with clarity Learn how advancing technologies like mobile, social media, voice search, Rank Brain, AI, and others are a driving force for search engines and how to leverage them (without feeling like youre in a tech tizzy) Stack #2 Set. Set their website up to perform in a way thats appetizing to website visitors and in a Google-friendly style Complete a step-by-step website audit to find where SEO improvements can be made Follow the foolproof formula to improve website rankings Stake claim on the right social media sites to gain maximum exposure Develop an easy-to-implement content strategy to ramp up webpage rankings Learn how to write content in a way that both Google and your audience will love Stack #3 Rank! Find which online directories are worth students time and how to submit information to online directories properly Come up with a simple plan of action to start generating rave reviews online Get high-quality website backlinks Learn the process of creating external distribution channels to get in front of potential new customers Learn whats important to measure through website analytics, without drowning in data During this program, Propel Marketing & Design will highlight some of the core elements of creating an SEO plan that truly works for all types of organizations. This program is ideal for any business that is just getting started with SEO or currently running an active campaign. To avoid missing out on this course at its lowest price ever, it is suggested to register as soon as possible. Registration details can be found at http://www.propelyourcompany.com/ready-set-rank. About Propel Marketing & Design, Inc. Propel Marketing & Design, Inc. is a full-service internet marketing agency, located in Boynton Beach, Florida, that specializes in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social media, website design, email campaigns, search engine marketing, public relations, graphic design, and marketing workshops. Propel works with clients to create effective and unique marketing strategies to help raise their online profile and support their business objectives. For more information please visit http://www.propelyourcompany.com. Contact: Propel Marketing & Design, Inc. (800)943-2346 533 E. Ocean Ave. Suite #1 Boynton Beach, Florida 33435 COLUMBUS, OhioGov. Mike DeWines new color-coded coronavirus warning system is designed to advise residents of each of the states 88 counties about what they should and shouldnt do based on the status of the virus in their area, but the difference between the two highest alert levels purple and red, respectively isnt that clear-cut. The map devised by DeWine assigns colors and alert levels to counties based on several risk factors. However, the map only functions as a guideline, with DeWine saying he wanted to leave most of the decisions up to local officials. RICHMOND -- Father Mark White of Martinsville, along with about 50 supporters, traveled to Richmond on Friday where Bishop Barry Knestout celebrated the ministry of his priests at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart without him. White was not invited to this annual event because his priestly duties have been suspended by Knestout based on a high-profile difference between the two about White's criticism of church hierarchy in his blog. And after Friday's trip to the home of the Diocese of Richmond, White said his next stops could be Washington and perhaps even Rome as he continues his fight to resume his priesthood. Some of White's supporters made the trip Friday in vans, others in their personal vehicles, and after everyone arrived, they gathered at the entrance to the cathedral with signs that read "Justice for Father Mark." "Usually there is a procession of the priests, and they are greeted by the bishop as they enter," White said. "It doesn't look like that's going to happen this year." Maybe the presence of White and his supporters caused a change in the way the celebration was carried out. White surmised it may have been because of restrictions required by the coronavirus. Regardless, the sidewalk that is normally lined with more than a hundred priests, White among them, was empty, and a tent had been erected in front of an opened back door to provide a means of entry that was mostly out of sight. "We go to Richmond today because we hope and pray that our church could live as a loving family, not a cruel and faceless bureaucracy," White wrote in a blog that is at the core of the contentiousness between priest and bishop. "We will keep a peaceful vigil of Christian love, hoping for a good outcome. "We focus on justice and openness in our beloved Church." White has been removed by Knestout as priest of St. Francis of Assisi in Rocky Mount and St. Joseph in Martinsville because of White's personal blog, to which White has been contributing for almost 12 years. It has drawn a million eyeballs to commentaries on a variety of topics, including highly critical comments about how the Catholic Church has handled cases of sexual abuse by priests. Late last year Knestout insisted White take down the blog from the web and cease his contributions to it. White complied, but when the coronavirus pandemic hit, he asked to be allowed to resume his online writings as a means of keeping in communication with his parishioners. When Knestout failed to respond to Whites request, White returned his blog to the web and began writing again. As a result, over the next few months Knestout removed White as the priest, and, when White failed to relocate to Abingdon for a new assignment serving in the prisons, Knestout stripped White of his priestly duties. Message from the bishop Knestout responded late Saturday to a request for comment on White's uninvited presence in Richmond: "During this Mass, I ask the lay faithful to pray that our priests become more like our High Priest and Good Shepherd, the teacher and servant of all, and so be a genuine sign of Christ's loving presence among you. "I ask those who have joined Father White to pray for him and for all priests and bishops that they recommit themselves to be a genuine sign of Christ's loving presence." White hired a canon lawyer and made his complaint known to the Vatican, only to have it dismissed without being considered because White failed to name his lawyer the procurator in the process. White has personally appealed to the Vatican to reconsider his complaint, but the letter of dismissal he received states the allowed window for registering a proper complaint has closed. 'Going to be a martyr' Joe Kernan is a parishioner, and on Friday this 82-year-old logging truck driver was driving one of the vans headed to Richmond. "I used to be an airline pilot," Kernan said. "I retired in '92, and several years ago a neighbor told me he knew someone that needed a logging truck driver. "I said, 'I can do that.' Kernan has lived in Washington D.C., not far from where White grew up, and said he feels a kinship with White. He also has a unique understanding of White's predicament. "Father Mark is going to end up being a martyr," Kernan said. "That's all there is to it. "The older priests in the Richmond Diocese are sympathetic to Father Mark, but the younger ones won't do or say anything that will displease the bishop." On to Rome? The event held on Friday in Richmond is the Chrism Mass, a time when the priests are invited to renew their commitment of service during Mass and receive the prayers and support from the faithful. Only those invited were allowed to enter the cathedral and witness the event, but the website of the Richmond Diocese described what was to occur: "Bishop Knestout will bless three oils that will be used throughout the diocese in the coming year; the oil of the catechumens the oil of the sick and the sacred chrism, or consecrated oil, which is used during the confirmation and the ordination of priests." While Knestout was inside the cathedral blessing the oils, White was outside blessing his flock. "Do not disrupt this service," White said. "There is nothing to be accomplished by being disruptive." White spoke to the group of supporters in front of the majestic Cathedral of the Sacred Heart late Friday as the sun beamed through the trees casting shadows along the steps leading to the entrance of the church where the sounds of Mass could be heard wafting through the air outside. "I've been asked, where do we go from here? White said. "We will petition the bishop again to sit down and talk about this, and if he does not agree, then we will go to him, to his office. "And if he doesn't see us then, we will go to Washington [to see Papal Nucio Archbishop Christophe Pierre]. "And if he refuses to meet with us, then we go to Rome." UPDATE: This article was updated with comments from the Bishop. Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at 276-638-8801, Ext. 236. Follow him @billdwyatt Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Parth Samthaan has had his own ups and downs as his journey isnt a smooth ride. People know him as the new generation, Anurag Basu, from Ekta Kapoors second instalment of the popular series, Kasautii Zindagii Kay. As its said that every success story is about a lot of struggles that came in the journey of becoming famous and so was the case of the TVs heartthrob. He started his journey on the small screen with the show Gumrah in the year 2012. He has been in the spotlight because he has been infected with Coronavirus. He announced it on Twitter and wrote, Hi guys, I have tested Positive for COVID 19 and I would urge and request everyone whose been with me in close proximity over the last few days please go and get yourself tested. am in self-quarantine and I thank BMC for all their support, Please be safe and take care! His fans are wishing for his speedy recovery and are terming him as a fighter. Hi guys ,I have tested Postive for covid 19 and I would urge and request everyone whose been with me in close promitixy over the last few days please go and get yourself tested . am in self quarantine and I thank BMC for all their support ,Please be safe and takecare ! Parth Samthaan (@LaghateParth) July 12, 2020 He has been enjoying all the fame now but he has seen a lot of ups and downs in his entire career. Heres all we know: 1. Before starting his journey in the TV industry, he was working hard on his fitness and it was his determination that changed his fate. In an interview he revealed that he weighed 110 kg and that the doctors had warned him that if it continued, he could get a heart attack. 2. Sharing his struggles while losing weight, he told a portal that he is an extremist and how he became finicky and used to count calories while drinking a glass of water. I took it seriously. I am a very extreme person so when I did lose weight, I became very finicky, I used to even count my calories when I drank a glass of water. I lost around 32 kg in 4 months which isnt easy. Even my trainer told me, said Parth. 3. The man who many young women have a crush on didnt get any attention when he was overweight. Girls never looked at me, honestly but I never got offended by it. I also remember the transformation phase where the same girls texted me asking if I am the same guy who used to be chubby, said Parth. 4. For those who remember, he made his debut with the show Gumrah in the year 2012. Things started changing for the actor as people loved his chocolate boy image and he was seen in another Channel V show Best Friends Forever. He kept trying and took single episodes to keep going in shows like Savdhaan India, MTV Webbed. 5. As fate had it, he finally got a break with the show Kaisi Yeh Yaariyan and his character of Manik Malhotra made him a star overnight. His chemistry with co-star Niti Taylor became the talking point and people fell in love with the duo. 6. The idea of fame can destroy successful careers and it happened with Parth. Parth had allegedly created a WhatsApp group called "Wh*res And More Wh*res" wherein he talked about his sexual conquests with women. According to reports, an audio message from the message leaked wherein he could be heard abusing and foul mouthing co-star Niti Taylor. She posted a long message on Twitter and he apologized for behaving this way. 7. He became the controversys favourite child when he filed a police complaint against the producer of Kaisi Yeh Yaariyaan, Vikas Gupta, alleging him of molestation, defamation, non-payment of dues, and extortion. He also accused of him ruining his career and asked a ransom of Rs 50 lakhs. 8. Things took an ugly turn when Ekta Kapoor revealed that Parth and Vikas were in a relationship and the former pressed charges after the two ended their relationship on a sour note. 9. In 2017, the actor was accused of molesting a 20-year-old model. Parth was booked under Section 8 and 12 of the POSCO Act on April 23, 2017. He denied all the allegations and said that the model is getting the attention she wants. He told India Today, To start with, the case is completely false and baseless .. went to the police station today, gave my statement .. and I am out of it ... and yes it was a dispute among friends .. and she complained after almost 1.5 years ...at the station, we also got to know from the cops that the girl Sushmita Chakraborty had come with Vikas Gupta to the station and hence plotted all those false accusations without any proof and filed the case... the very next day she called me and said she realized what she had done and wanted to take the case back .. but since she filed an FIR, cops could not take the case back ... today, I gave all my call recordings and WhatsApp conversations to the cops which I had with Sushmita where it is clearly mentioned that she wants to take the case back and did all this in the heat of the moment .. and then requested me to sort it out as soon as possible..... time and again Vikas Gupta has been trying to demean me and that everyone is aware of .. don't need to say more as I know the audience is sensible enough of what's happening as they have already witnessed me getting into stupid controversies before ....also given the fact that women are given special rights by law over men in such situations .. to which I completely respect .. but does not mean that they should take undue advantage of it and stoop so low in order to demean me or anyone ....thank you. 10. He was completely off the radar and kept battling with all the controversies. He got hate from all his fans. But, fate changed for him when Ekta Kapoor offered him the role of Anurag Basu in the second installment of the popular series, Kasautii Zindagii Kay. He gained his lost respect again and well, he now has more fan-following than he ever had. TOKYO - The liftoff of the United Arab Emirates Mars orbiter was postponed until Friday due to bad weather at the Japanese launch site. The orbiter named Amal, or Hope, is the Arab worlds first interplanetary mission. The launch was scheduled for Wednesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan, but the UAE mission team announced the rescheduled date on Twitter. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA rocket will carry UAEs craft into space. Mitsubishi launch official Keiji Suzuki had said on Monday a postponement was possible as intermittent lightning and rain were forecast over the next few days. Heavy rain has fallen for more than a week in large areas of Japan, triggering mudslides and floods and killing more than 70 people, most of them on the southern main island of Kyushu. Hope is set to reach Mars in February 2021, the year the UAE celebrates 50 years since its formation. A successful Hope mission would be a major step for the oil-dependent economy seeking a future in space. Hope carries three instruments to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change and is scheduled to circle the red planet for at least two years. Emirates Mars Mission Project Director Omran Sharaf, who joined Mondays briefing from Dubai, said the mission will provide a complete view of the Martian atmosphere during different seasons for the first time. Two other Mars missions are planned in coming days by the U.S. and China. Japan has its own Martian moon mission planned in 2024. ___ Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi Ploss could not be reached for comment. In a live stream on her Facebook page on Monday evening, she said she's not going to "back down," "give in" or "give up" after being fired for her comments. "You have not silenced Dianna Ploss, I am not going away," she said, while standing in front of a cutout of President Donald Trump and a poster that read "MA 4 TRUMP 2020." She said she "had to hire security" because she has been threatened via text, voicemail and email, by people across the US. She called her critics "cowards," "fake Republicans" and "leftists." Her Facebook live stream comes after more than 10,800 people had signed a petition demanding Ploss to be removed from WSMN's radio lineup. She also defended her comments in posts on Facebook Saturday where she wrote: "So, if you want people in America to speak English, that makes you a 'racist'" and said she was not "backing down." The landscaping company that employs the workers who were harassed by Ploss issued a statement thanking their team and the "concerned citizen who handled this challenging situation with the utmost of class and professionalism." This study might be the first to insist that skin rash is a predictive symptom of COVID-19 infection, but its not the first to state the symptom itself. Fever, dry cough and shortness of breath -- since the COVID-19 infection was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation in March 2020, we have come a long way in understanding the symptoms of this viral infection. As more information about COVID-19 has come to light, new symptoms have been listed as being associated with the disease and are now helping healthcare professionals diagnose and treat the disease even better. A new study by researchers at Kings College London and Zoe Global Ltd indicates that skin rashes should also be added to the list of symptoms. Whats more, this study which has not yet been peer-reviewed and is available on the server medRxiv in its pre-print version actually states that skin rashes are a valuable predictor of COVID-19 infection in untested patients showing just one other classic symptom of the disease. Early reports of skin rash as a symptom of COVID-19 This study might be the first to insist that skin rash is a predictive symptom of COVID-19 infection, but its not the first to state the symptom itself. Studies since March 2020 have suggested that COVID-19 patients have been showing up with skin rashes and that this symptom can often be confused with that of other diseases. A study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology in March said that a COVID-19 positive patient presented with a skin rash that looked like the ones that appear in dengue. The dermatologists behind this research not only noted that such a skin presentation of COVID-19 can lead to misdiagnosis but also observed that there might be other, yet-unknown forms of COVID-19 skin rashes since the disease is so new. In April, the Cleveland Clinic compiled reports of skin rashes in COVID-19 patients from all over the world. Dermatologists in Italy found that 20 percent of their COVID-19 patients had developed rashes of different varieties, including patchy red rashes, hives and chickenpox-like blisters in their trunk area. Doctors in Thailand observed dengue-like rashes on positive patients, while those in other countries also noted mottling. Current research on skin rashes The researchers at Kings College London used data collected through the UK COVID Symptom Study app, collecting evidence from 336,847 eligible users. They observed that 8.8 percent of the subjects whose swab tests revealed they were COVID-19 positive reported either a body rash or an acral rash (a type of rash associated with viral fevers). Among those who tested negative, 5.4 percent showed rashes too. This shows an odds ratio of 1.67 for being swab positive, meaning that odds of someone with a rash being COVID-19 positive is higher than them being negative. The study further revealed that skin rashes were also predictive in 8.2 percent of the untested group of subjects who showed at least one classical symptom of COVID-19. The researchers corroborated their findings with an independent online survey and found that 17 percent of their swab positive cases also showed skin rash as an initial symptom. The study, therefore, concluded that skin rashes cluster with other COVID-19 symptoms, are predictive of a positive swab test and occur in a significant number of cases, either alone or before other classical symptoms. These new findings, and other studies, underline the need to recognise skin rashes as an important symptom in identifying new and, possibly, predictive COVID-19 cases as early as possible, so that proper and timely treatment can be provided to all patients worldwide. For more information, read our article on COVID-19: Symptoms, causes, transmission and prevention. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, Indias first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health. Syracuse, N.Y. The Common Council today unanimously approved a law allowing city code inspectors to test homes for lead paint and issue violations when they find it. The new law marks the culmination of more than three years of legal work by activists and lawmakers who want tougher lead paint laws on the books. Hundreds of children in Syracuse are newly poisoned by lead paint each year, mostly in low-income Census tracts. Councilor Joe Driscoll, who has advocated for the new lead law since joining the council in 2018, thanked a handful of people who helped make the law a reality. During brief remarks at the councils virtual meeting Monday, Driscoll thanked South Side neighborhood organizers Jamie Howley and Palmer Harvey, Councilor Latoya Allen and Council President Helen Hudson, among others. After the measure passed, Driscoll could be seen snapping a photo of his computer screen to commemorate the moment. In normal times, such a vote would likely have been met with applause from supporters in the council chambers. In the online meeting, however, it came with minimal fanfare, aside from some relieved smiles. The law will work in conjunction with several other pieces of legislation passed in recent years. A stricter rental registry allows city inspectors to inspect the interior of all one- and two-family rental properties. And a state law lets the city add unpaid code violations to a property owners tax bill. Now, the city can cite landlords if inspectors find lead paint in a home and issue a fine if the problem isnt fixed. If those fines arent paid after a year, the city can seize the property. Mayor Ben Walsh lauded the legislation, calling it a historic step forward for the health and safety of our children, especially those in low-income neighborhoods. He singled out Councilor Driscoll for praise, along with the Central New York Community Foundation, which has devoted time and money to the cause. Walsh used the legislation to again call on the federal government for aid. Without relief money, he said, the city may have to delay the start of lead testing. We have the resources ready to bring on a lead paint program coordinator; continue to get our inspectors certified; and identify a laboratory to be our testing partner, Walsh said Monday. Our goal is to be ready to start testing this fall, but without direct aid from the federal government as soon as possible, the fiscal impact of Covid-19 on city government will affect the timing of full implementation of the program. Russia on Tuesday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to show restraint after a deadly escalation in fighting along their shared border. "We are deeply concerned about the exchange of fire on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Moscow was calling on "both sides to show restraint". The ex-Soviet Caucasus nations have been in a decades-long conflict over Azerbaijan's southwestern separatist region of Nagorny Karabakh, which was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives. Peace talks mediated by the "Minsk Group" of diplomats from France, Russia and the United States have been going on since the 1994 ceasefire. Peskov told reporters that Russia was "ready to provide mediation efforts as a co-chair of the Minsk Group" after the latest flare-up. Eleven Azerbaijani military personnel have died since border clashes on Sunday reignited, while Yerevan has so far denied any losses. Search Keywords: Short link: Ray's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village. Kolkata: West Bengal BJP leader and Hemtabad MLA Debendra Nath Roy died due to hanging and no other injury mark was found on his body, according to the post-mortem report released on Tuesday. Ray's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village in North Dinajpur district on Monday. The post-mortem report stated, "Death was due to hanging. No other injury was detected." The West Bengal Police said a suicide note was found in his shirt's pocket where he blamed two people for his death. Ray's family and the BJP, however, claimed he was "murdered by the TMC", a charge denied by the ruling party in the state. Ray's family members and the saffron party demanded a CBI inquiry into his death. Ray had won the Hemtabad (reserved) seat on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016 but later joined the BJP. He had, however, not quit his assembly seat. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Rizki Fachriansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 16:08 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066638062 1 National AJAR,Humanity-Youth-Festival,1965-mass-killing,MissingPerson,KontraS Free As part of a multi-faceted effort to highlight oft-overlooked perspectives on unresolved human rights violations in Indonesia through intergenerational dialogue, the Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) non-profit has organized the 2020 Humanity Youth Festival in collaboration with local volunteers, activists and artists. The online festival, which runs for three weeks from July 12 to Aug. 2, aims to preserve the recollections of people who have survived human rights atrocities, as well as the aspirations of marginalized groups in the country, including the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. AJAR Indonesia program director Dodi Yuniar said he expected the event to be a platform where young people could connect with each other and discuss the countrys history of impunity and violence in the human rights context. This project will be developed further to reach more people. All online materials on the website will be [distributed] directly to survivors, since some of them still do not have internet access, Dodi said during the festival's opening ceremony on Sunday. He said that 18 university students from across the archipelago had volunteered to gather survivors' stories in an AJAR-sponsored program. Among the focal issues of the festival is the 1965-66 persecution and massacre of hundreds of thousands of alleged sympathizers of the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in nationwide anti-communism operations. To this day, survivors of the so-called communist purge are still haunted by the atrocities that occurred then, and even more so by the fact that many officials involved in the mass killings have never been brought to justice. The Humanity Youth Festival also sheds light on the "Labarik Lakon" (stolen children) community in East Timor (present-day Timor-Leste) under Indonesian occupation from 1975 to 1999. Thousands of East Timorese children were taken to Indonesia during that period without their families consent. Many of these "stolen children" would later question their identity and face stigmatization, according to a report commissioned by the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) in East Timor. Coordinator Fatia Maulidiyanti of Indonesia's Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said that the survivors' stories could be preserved only by open-minded youth who were willing to speak truth to power. The youth are positioned as both an object and subject of history. There has been a renewed sense of skepticism among young people regarding the widely accepted version of history, she said. Festival curator Ika Vantiani said that the event emphasized the intersection of art and politics to counteract decades of state indoctrination through cultural products, including film and music. My hope is that, from this day on, young people wont regard human rights issues as a heavy subject matter, she said. The festival showcases a series of short documentaries offering alternative perspectives on past rights violations, such as Kacamata 65 (65 Lens) and Jarak (Distance), which can be viewed on the website. At the opening ceremony, musician and activist Ananda Badudu said that art could motivate youth to contribute in bringing about structural change, and that culture was therefore a vital component of change. Art exists within the domain of moral politics. It is inseparable from education, he said. People are now planting bombs in the tramways of Algiers. My mother might be on one of those tramways. If that is justice, then I prefer my mother. Albert Camus, 1957 The great French intellectual said those words at a student debate in Stockholm, days after accepting his Nobel Prize in Literature. At the time, the French-speaking world was being torn apart by the Algerian War, a calamitous conflict between two kinds of nationalism: The chauvinistic persistence of the French, who wanted to preserve their colonial grip over North Africa, and the rising resentment of the Algerians, who were fighting for national emancipation. Both sides had committed atrocities in the name of justice, both sides had hidden their turpitude under the convenient veil of virtue, and both sides demanded absolute loyalty. Yet Camus, born and raised in Algeria, refused to pick a side. Justice was nowhere to be found among ideologues and extremists; if these choices were the only two on the table, then Camus would leave the room and go back to his beloved mother. His remark, partly because it was reported to the world in a simplified, paraphrased form Between justice and my mother, I choose my mother. earned the ire of the Parisian intelligentsia. From Jean-Paul Sartre to Simone de Beauvoir, the members of the French intellectual establishment buried Camus under a mountain of admonishments, denouncing what they perceived as his unforgivable cowardice. Who would dare to sublimate grand questions of ethics and geopolitics to something as quotidian as filial piety, and what did Camuss mother have to do with the war in Algeria, anyway? For the burgeoning existentialist movement, as for so many subsequent radicals, to refuse to choose a side was to be complicit. But Camus was far from indifferent. He vehemently opposed violence from both the pro-Algerian FLN (Front of National Liberation), which routinely endorsed murderous mutilations and torture, and from the French Gaullist forces, who did not mind targeting innocents to destabilize their opponents morale. Far from the front pages of affluent newspapers, Camus acted behind the scenes, in secret: Throughout the war, he sent more than a hundred underground letters urging French public officials to save members of the FLN from the then-commonplace death penalty, despite his disdain for the movement. The likes of Sartre and de Beauvoir, meanwhile, made a big public show of the virtue of their politics. Faced with the contempt of an attention-seeking milieu, Camus chose to preserve the purity of his actions by staying unnoticed. Story continues By elevating his mother above abstract conceptions of justice, Camus by no means renounced the pursuit of the good. Instead, he shifted his attention away from grand causes and conceptual battles and onto the quotidian, the concrete, the tangible. For Camus, to reject the centrality of local attachments was to abstract away the suffering of those in ones own community. Hiding their non-action behind grandiloquent speeches, books, and articles about conflicts far away, Parisian intellectuals dressed themselves in the garb of heroes whose virtue they had never actually possessed. They cared very little about making a difference for the masses, and very much about the deference of the masses. Their socialist convictions were artificial, their engagement manufactured, their contributions non-existent. In contrast to this media-savvy procession of illustrious virtue-signalers, Camus evinced a simple desire to change lives one at a time, an almost provincial aspiration to remain true to the basic principles of his rural upbringing. To paraphrase the British philosopher Michael Oakeshott, Camus preferred the actual to the possible, the limited to the unbounded, the near to the distant, the sufficient to the superabundant, the convenient to the perfect, present laughter to utopian bliss. Unlike Oakeshott, Camus was no conservative. In fact, he frequently satirized traditions, faith, and established hierarchies. But what set him apart from Sartre and the other influential French intellectuals of his time was not so much the content of his beliefs as the purpose of his philosophical engagement. Where most stood ready to adopt pre-packaged ideologies that fit the preferences and incentives of the era, Camus embodied a refreshing attempt to transcend unidimensional worldviews. To understand this fundamental difference, it is useful to compare the lives of Camus and Sartre during World War II, which was, for both men, what President Reagan would have called a time for choosing. Despite living in Germany in the 1930s, Sartre, like many foreign observers, failed to notice the rise of Nazism. Though he would later refuse to go to the U.S. because of human-rights violations, the same qualms did not seem to bother him when he embarked on a short trip to fascist Italy and Berlin in 1933, or when he paid a visit to the terrorist Andreas Baader in 1974, or when he dined with Fidel Castro in 1960. In his later writings, Sartre would argue that passive complacency vis-a-vis totalitarian forces is by definition inauthentic and cowardly. But his complacency was not merely passive. After the German invasion of France and the establishment of the murderous Vichy regime in 1940, he did not join the Resistance; instead, he published articles in Comoedia, a Vichy-approved journal, from 1941 to 1944. His mistress, de Beauvoir, worked at Radio Vichy, the official radio-station of the Vichy regime. Unsurprisingly, she would also defend her ethical commitment to self-liberation in the face of all kinds of oppression in her 1947 work The Ethics of Ambiguity we can only suppose that the Vichy regime was an exception to the rule, albeit an unforgettable one. But these contradictions did not ultimately matter. Sartre and de Beauvoir wanted to be thought-leaders, as indeed they were throughout their lives. Who cared about the consistency of their thoughts and actions? The rules and rulers could change, but the armor provided by their virtue-signaling would never fail to hold up. Meanwhile, Camus did everything he could to enroll in the Free French army as soon as 1939. Officers would not let him serve because he suffered from tuberculosis, a disease which he was prepared to overcome in order to assist his country in the fight against Hitler. He tried to enroll three times and sent countless letters to officers across the country, in vain. Frustrated, he left to Oran, where he gave clandestine lessons to Jewish children whom the Vichy regime had ostracized. Later, he joined the Resistance, edited an underground anti-Nazi journal, and wrote multiple pamphlets attacking the Vichy regime. In short, while Camus and Sartre might have shared extensive common ground at the abstract philosophical level, their attitudes when faced with a concrete, monumental ethical dilemma were about as diametrically opposed as one could imagine. Camus practiced genuine engagement; Sartre, performative radicalism. Nietzsche captured this very distinction in Zarathustra by comparing a certain brand of resentful intellectuals to vengeful tarantulas: You preachers of equality. To me you are tarantulas, and secretly vengeful. But I shall bring your secrets to light. . . . Therefore I tear at your webs, that your rage may lure you out of your lie-holes and your revenge may leap out from behind your word justice. For that man be delivered from revenge, that is for me the bridge to the highest hope, and a rainbow after long storms. The tarantulas, of course, would have it otherwise. What justice means to us is precisely that the world be filled with the storms of our revenge thus they speak to each other. We shall wreak vengeance and abuse on all whose equals we are not thus do the tarantula-hearts vow. And will to equality shall henceforth be the name for virtue; and against all that has power we want to raise our clamor! You preachers of equality . . . your most secret ambitions to be tyrants thus shroud themselves in words of virtue. Aggrieved conceit, repressed envy . . . erupt from you as a flame and as the frenzy of revenge. Unlike Camus, Nietzsche did not grasp the value of equality and justice, but we need not agree with his refutation of conventional morality to see his point. He grasped, perhaps prophetically, the ways in which good causes can be usurped by ideologues in search of influence. Where Camus stood ready to pay the price for his heterodox ideas, others took the path of least resistance, accepting the comfortable embrace of prefabricated Theories of Everything. For decades, a large proportion of Frances intelligentsia vehemently supported the USSR. It took the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyns Gulag Archipelago to almost single-handedly shift the French intellectual mainstream from enthusiastic Marxism to pro-American neo-liberalism. Overnight, large numbers of the Parisian elite abandoned their entire belief system. But it did not matter: Servile thinkers were in search of recognition, be it as leftists or as anti-Soviet liberals. They wanted to think boldly, and they wanted to think against: against unchaperoned capitalism at first and then against Communism. Financially privileged, they did not concern themselves with the impact of their ideas on everyday people. In the end, like Nietzsches tarantulas, they did not care about the content of their indignation as much as they cared about appearing indignant. There is nothing so bourgeois as such radicalism. Those who can sacrifice incremental improvements on the altar of utopian bliss do not wake up with an empty stomach. Sartres intellectual descendants, confined to affluent Parisian salons, can re-imagine societies and wait for a great revolution to save us all. Camuss know that every inch of justice is worth capturing now, no matter how insignificant it may seem. In the U.S., the best example of their mind-set lies in the African-American community, which has remained remarkably moderate and policy-focused over the years despite the leftward shifts of the party to which its political fortunes are wedded. After the fall of Bernie Sanderss 2020 campaign, convinced progressives wondered why black people had unambiguously supported Joe Biden. Why would those who have been economically ostracized, socially terrorized, and culturally stigmatized for centuries choose reform over revolution? Perhaps because grand promises have never accomplished much for the most vulnerable, who prefer actual change to thunderous, unpredictable upheaval. Today marks the 231st anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille, the culmination of what has become the radical project par excellence: the 1789 French Revolution. Naturally, there is much to praise in the legacy of this event that remains celebrated by some and abhorred by others. Symbolically, 1789 represented and continues to represent the triumph of Enlightenment values, the affirmation of the fundamental equality of men, and the birth of republicanism. But let us leave the realm of abstractions to focus on what actually happened. As Marx himself aptly observed, the French Revolution was not a fundamentally popular enterprise; it was first and foremost the putsch of an envious bourgeoisie eager to capture the privileges of the nobility. In less than two years, the supposedly noble intentions of the Jacobins gave way to the Reign of Terror, during which 17,000 people counter-revolutionaries as well as dissident thinkers within the revolution were executed by the guillotine, and another 40,000 were killed by other means, according to the estimates of historian Timothy Tackett. In the long run, all the revolution did was kill Louis XVI, a king who was more progressive than all his predecessors, and replace him with Napoleon, a much more totalitarian and imperialist autocrat. In fact, the Jacobins did not even manage to end the monarchy as an institution; in 1814, the Bourbon Restoration turned France into an English-style constitutional monarchy. Though it is easy to romanticize the radicalism of 1789, we should hope that most people do not see the revolution as a blueprint for progress and sound policy-making. But it is undeniable that radicalism permeates all sides of American politics at the moment and that our current national predicament could both grow the ranks of its adherents and make its effects worse. Traversing a deadly pandemic, a devastating economic downturn, and a divisive battle over history and culture, Americas disbanded national body is in search of political renewal. In the streets, monuments and statues find themselves defaced. On the right, President Trump is a perpetual risk to cross previously uncrossable lines at any point. On the left, after defending neo-liberalism for forty years, Joe Biden just announced that a curious mixture of social progressivism and economic nationalism might actually be the way to go in 2020. In the face of these turbulent political winds, the performative radicalism that is enjoying yet another moment will either triumph or disappear. Like Oakeshott, we may want to inject into the activities of already too passionate men an ingredient of moderation; to restrain, to deflate, to pacify and to reconcile; not to stoke the fires of desire, but to damp them down. Ultimately, for civil order to persist, we will have to put less vigor into our denunciations, and more rigor into our demonstrations. More from National Review Brazil's Business Sector Demands Action from Government on Sustainability Agenda in the Amazon Region The main objective of Brazil's business sector is to highlight the participating companies' "attention and concern with the business impact of Brazil's current negative image abroad related to socioenvironmental issues in the Amazon region. July 14, 2020 (Press Release) - On July 6, the Brazilian business sector filed a bulletin with the Vice-President and the National Council of the Legal Amazon Region (chaired by Hamilton Mourao) communicating its support of the sustainable development agenda and the fight against deforestation in the Amazon. The document contains signatures from CEOs of approximately 40 companies and business groups in the industrial, agricultural, and service sectors, as well as four organizations: the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development (CEBDS), the Brazilian Agribusiness Association (ABAG), the Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba), and the Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE). The document will also be filed with the Federal Supreme Court, the Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Federal Public Prosecutors Office (PGR). The main objective of this letter is to highlight these signatories "attention and concern with the business impact of Brazil's current negative image abroad related to socioenvironmental issues in the Amazon region," and also indicates immediate actions to be taken to address negative reactions seen among foreign investors and consumers in the country. The executives note that this negative image has enormous potential to damage Brazil, not just in terms of its reputation but also by affecting business and projects that are essential for the country. "The federal government must present assurances to the Brazilian business sector that some of the following actions and commitments we are presenting here will get put into action," says Marina Grossi, president of CEBDS. As for the Amazon and other Brazilian biomes, the group supports rigid and comprehensive action to fight illegal deforestation. "For the business sector that operates within the law and does the right thing, in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, there is no discrepancy between production and preservation. Even the Forest Code, which was built after wide-reaching dialog between academia, environmentalists, the private sector, and government, establishes conservation and production as premises. Illegal deforestation is a crime," summarizes Iba president Paulo Hartung. In the letter, the business sector notes that some of the signatory companies are already developing business solutions that involve the bioeconomy, with added value and traceability for products, even in the Amazon region. "Good practices can be scaled up through consistent policies to promote the environmental, social, and governance agendas," states Marcello Brito, president of ABAG. Besides effectively fighting illegal deforestation, the document notes additional priorities: (I) social and economic inclusion of local communities to ensure that forests are preserved; (ii) minimizing environmental impacts from the use of natural resources, pursuing efficiency and productivity in economic activities that use these resources; (iii) respecting and preserving biodiversity as an integral part of business strategies; (iv) adopting mechanisms for trading carbon credits; (v) funding and investment for a circular, low-carbon economy; and (vi) economic stimulus packages to recover from the coronavirus pandemic that are conditional upon a circular and low-carbon economy. The document ends with a message of optimism, recalling that Brazil has a unique opportunity, resources, and the expertise to scale up good practices, and to strategically plan the sustainable future of the country. It also adds that investments to address and recuperate the Brazilian economy must be redirected into a circular, low-carbon, and inclusive economic model. SIGNATORY COMPANIES Ambev Agropalma Alcoa Amaggi Bayer Bradesco BrasilAgro Cargill Cosan DSM Ecolab Eletrobras ERM Grupo Vamos Igua Itau Jacto JSL Klabin LVMH Marfrig Maua Capital Michelin Microsoft Movida Natura Rabobank Santander Schneider Eletric Shell Siemens Sitawi Stefanini Sunew Suzano Ticket Log TozziniFreire Vale Vedacit WeWork The Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba) is the association responsible for institutionally representing the planted tree production chain, from the fields to the factory, with its main stakeholders. Iba was created in April 2014, and represents 48 companies and 9 state entities for products originating from planted trees, most notably wood panels, laminate flooring, pulp, paper, energy forests, and biomass, as well as independent producers of planted trees and financial investors. For further information, visit: www.iba.org . SOURCE: Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba) Ashok ji ko 100 se zyada speed mein gadi chalana pasand nahi hai, said a close confidante of Ashok Gehlot as results of the last assembly polls in Rajasthan started pouring in. Just one short of 100, the half way mark in the state assembly, Gehlot was back in the drivers seat for the third time. And every time he has taken oath as CM, Gehlot had managed to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat. In 1998, he trounced the Jat strongman from Jodhpur, Paras Ram Maderna, with a little help from the central observer and former LS speaker Balram Jakhar. It was obvious a section of the local Jat leadership backed Gehlot, the then Pradesh Congress President to thwart Madernas prospects. In 2008, Gehlots closest challenger was CP Joshi. Considered a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Joshi lost his own seat and chief ministership by a single vote. He is now the speaker of the state assembly. In his third innings, Gehlot had a shaky start. He was up against a young and tenacious Sachin Pilot. As Pradesh Congress Chief, Pilot had built his own team of loyalists and pushed their nomination in Central Elections Committee meetings. Congress list for Rajasthan was delayed by almost a week in November, 2018. The bone of contention remained Sardarpura seat in Jodhpur held by Gehlot for more than two decades. Pilot group demanded the prime contenders for CMs post- Gehlot and Pilot- should not contest elections and focus on campaign instead. Gehlot, who was then general secretary organisation at the AICC, prevailed to retain his ticket from Sardarpura. Pilot got a nomination from Tonk. So the battle lines between Gehlot and Pilot were already drawn even before the first vote for the Rajasthan assembly polls was cast. Post the Lok Sabha debacle, and quite unlike Kamal Nath, Gehlot was quick to grasp the danger to his leadership- both from within and outside. In an interaction with this reporter before the counting on votes, the generally under-stated Gehlot was candid on his claim for the chief ministership. Jab Sachinji PCC president bane woh mujhse milne aye. Unko maine ye baat kahi thi aap is bare mein dhyaan rakhna ki PCC president bante hi kuch log CM bana dete hain (When Sachin Pilot became the PCC president, he came to meet me. I asked him to be cautious of friends who make the PCC president chief minister in waiting), Gehlot said pulling at the cuff of his white kurta. With 99 on the scoreboard for Congress in the elections, it was advantage Gehlot when it came to picking CM in the legislature party meeting. Congress needed a few more to make up for the numbers and a seasoned hand to run a government resting on a wafer this majority. In a truce struck after a hard bargain, Pilot became the deputy chief minister and retained the PCC presidents post. Gehlot was sworn in the state chief minister for the third time: the fourth politician to achieve this feat in Rajasthan after Mohan Lal Sukhadia, Hardev Joshi and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The rapprochement between warring factions remained tenuous. After presenting his first budget last year, Gehlot reiterated that people wanted him to be the chief minister. Gehlot underscored that the last elections were won and contested in his name and face, and hence, he should continue to lead the government for its full five-year term. Respecting sentiments of the people, Rahul Gandhi as Congress president gave me this opportunity to work, he added. Pilot also did not shy away from criticising his own government. He sought accountability after reports of high infant mortality in a hospital in Kota hit media headlines. The drubbing in 2019 general elections, especially in the three states which Congress had won just ahead of general elections were an embarrassment for both Gehlot and Kamal Nath. Gehlots sons loss from Jodhpur put a question mark on the premise over which the veteran leader was chosen to lead the state: delivery in Lok Sabha polls. Post the debacle, and quite unlike Kamal Nath, Gehlot was quick to grasp the danger to his leadership- both from within and outside. Scindias successful revolt in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh was a warning sign. The dress rehearsal for the show of strength happened during Rajya Sabha polls. MLAs were taken to safe houses to prevent horse-trading, Gehlot alleged. In the last one month, his supporters have been seeking appointment of a new PCC President, invoking one man- one post principle. A Gehlot aide, cabinet minister Harish Choudhary, camped in Delhi for a few days to apprise central leadership of the demand. Amidst the wrangling, Gehlot at the first sniff of dissidence decided to throw the gauntlet. Special Operations Group of Rajasthan made arrests and send notice to Pilot and Gehlot over allegations of alleged horse trading to topple the government. A cornered Pilot was forced to strike back. The crisis was also an opportunity for Ashok Gehlot to call for a show of strength and demonstrate his support base in the Congress Legislature Party and in the assembly. On Saturday he was asked to respond to Pilots claim on CMs post. There are 5-6 people in our party who have the ability to become Chief Minister. But once the CM has been decided, we all work together, Gehlot responded. Around 48 hours later, amid claims and counter-claims, he buttressed his claim by parading 107 MLAs in Jaipur and whisked them away to a safe-location. Pilot continues to dig in his heels despite attempts by Congress leadership to placate the dissident groups. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: On the night of July 13-14 and in the morning, fierce fighting continued on the site of the Tovuz region of the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, Trend reports citing Azerbaijans Defense Ministry. As a result of retaliatory measures taken by Azerbaijani units during the fighting in the direction of the Tovuz region, Armenia, suffering numerous losses, was forced to retreat. Major General Major General Polad Hashimov had heroically died being on the forward defense line. The following servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army also died in repelling an enemy attack: - Colonel Mirzoyev Ilgar Anzor; - Major Ahmadov Namig Hajan; - Major Novruzov Anar Gulverdi; - Warrant officer Zeynalli Ilgar Ayaz; - Warrant officer Babayev Yashar Vasif; - Non-commissioned officer, soldier Mustafazadeh Elchin Arif. 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! There are also wounded servicemen. They immediately received medical aid, and nothing threatens their life. Gold held firm above the $1,800 per ounce level on Monday as uncertainties surrounding the impact of surging coronavirus cases continue to steer investor attention towards safe-haven assets. On Sunday, the World Health Organization reported a record increase in global coronavirus cases, with the total rising by 230,370 in 24 hours. The biggest increases were from the United States, Brazil, India and South Africa. THE UNCERTAINTY RELATED TO THE CONTINUED INCREASE IN THE VIRUS COUNT IS ADDING SOME UNDERLYING SUPPORT TO THE MARKET Ole Hansen, SAXO BANK ANALYST Fears of a prolonged impact on global economies carried over into the new week, which combined with escalating US-China trade tensions added further support for gold prices. Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,807.96 per ounce by noon EDT, close to the new eight-year high it set last week. US gold futures were also up 0.5% at $1,811.30 per ounce. The uncertainty related to the continued increase in the virus count is adding some underlying support to the market Theres absolutely no reason not to hold on to long positions for at least as long as we stay above the $1,765 area, Saxo Bank analyst Ole Hansen told Reuters. Related: Tesla Faces $20 Billion In Short Interest However, the emergence of a viable vaccine to treat the virus could prompt profit-taking in gold, Hansen cautioned. The precious metals recent surge also came despite equity market gains in Asia and Europe. Gold price is consolidating above $1,800 with bullion holding onto this significant threshold despite stocks in green, ActivTrades chief analyst Carlo Alberto De Casa said in a note. This confirms investors huge appetite for the yellow metal in this uncertain phase on markets. By Mining.com More Top Reads From Safehaven.com: Haiti - DR : More than a hundred Haitians intercepted at the Dominican border Sunday in the region of Dajabon, members of the Specialized Corps of Security of Land Borders (Cesfront) intercepted more than a hundred Haitians who were trying to enter Dominican territory illegally. All were handed over to the Directorate General of Migration (DGM) for identification before their repatriation to Haiti. One of these groups of Haitians, consisting of men, women and children, crossed this part of the border at night, but they were detected by Cesfront drones which are equipped with thermal cameras. Other groups entered in the early hours of the day and were intercepted by motorized patrols. It should be noted that in recent days, several hundred Haitians in an irregular migratory situation have been intercepted by the Cesfront as they entered the Dominican territory irregularly. It should be noted that if a certain number of Haitians continue to want to enter the Dominican Republic illegally, a very large number voluntarily leave Dominican territory because of the loss of their job and the Covid-19. From May 16 to mid-June 57,669 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic returned to Haiti https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31118-haiti-dr-more-than-17-000-haitians-voluntarily-returned-to-the-country-in-2-weeks.html . For the week alone from June 29 to July 5, 5,898 Haitians returned voluntarily to Haiti, 3,446 of which by the border crossing at Ouanaminthe (source International Organization for Migration) https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-31249-haiti-news-zapping.html HL/ HaitiLibre Top officials in Houston are calling for the city to lock back down as area hospitals strain to accommodate the onslaught of patients sick with the new coronavirus. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, both Democrats, said this weekend that a stay-at-home order is needed for Americas fourth largest city to cope with the surge of COVID-19 cases. Not only do we need a stay home order now, but we need to stick with it this time until the hospitalization curve comes down, not just flattens, Hidalgo said on Twitter 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 call comes after a week in which Texas continued to break records for confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths linked to the disease. State health officials reported 8,196 new cases Sunday, another 80 deaths and a total of 10,410 people hospitalized due to the virus. The true number of cases is likely far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected and not feel sick. The decision over a lockdown, however, rests with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott_ who has resisted this step, saying it should be a last resort. Abbott led one of Americas swiftest reopenings following earlier closures in Texas. But in recent weeks, he reversed course amid swiftly climbing cases. Ahead of Independence Day, the governor ordered bars to close back down and, after undercutting local leaders power to do so, required people to wear face coverings in public in much of the state. On Friday, Abbott extended a statewide disaster order that warned Texans another shutdown might be needed if the virus spread isnt contained. He announced Sunday that the federal government will continue to fund large testing centers in Dallas and Houston through the end of July. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics COVID-19 Leadership The decision by the Bureau of Prisons to move forward with executions the first since 2003 has drawn scrutiny from civil rights groups and the wider public. Relatives of Lees victims sued to try to halt it, citing concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 135,000 people in the United States and is ravaging prisons nationwide. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:59:15|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HANGZHOU, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua has stressed efforts to keep foreign trade and foreign investment stable. Hu, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour to east China's Zhejiang Province from Monday to Tuesday. Hu visited foreign trade firms in the cities of Hangzhou and Yiwu to learn about challenges facing enterprises as well as local policy implementation. Targeted measures should be made to better serve local firms and help them tide over the difficult period, Hu said, adding that authorities should explore new business forms such as cross-border e-commerce to boost trade. Enditem The Bombay high court (HC) on Tuesday refused to interfere in two public interest litigations (PILs) seeking relief against the inflated electricity bills for June, which consumers across the city received. The court held that as the petitioners have an alternate remedy in the form of the grievance redressal forum of the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC), it was not inclined to pass orders. The court further directed the forum to act and decide on the complaints expeditiously and disposed of the PILs. A division bench of justice PB Varale and justice Milind Jadhav, while hearing the PILs filed by citizens Ravindra Desai and Mahibub Shaikh through advocates Vishal Saxena and Ranjit Shinde, was informed by the state that the petitions were not maintainable as an alternate remedy was available to the them. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan, while arguing against the PIL by Desai, said that as he already lodged a complaint with MERCs grievance redressal forum, he should await its response. She further submitted that if he was not satisfied with the forums response, he could appeal against it and only if he was not satisfied with the appellate authoritys response, could he approach the HC. Responding to Shaikhs PIL, government pleader Priyabhushan Kakade, along with advocate Nisha Mehra, said that the PIL was premature, as the petitioner claimed to be representing the common man but as different power companies have their respective redressal mechanism in place, without knowing if the petitioner has availed of the same, it would not be appropriate for the court to interfere. Shaikh also prayed that the court should issue directions to electricity companies asking them not to resort to coercive steps to recover their dues from consumers. Responding to this plea, advocate Deepa Chavan on behalf of MERC submitted that a proper code in this regard was mentioned in the Electricity Act and hence if the petitioner was aggrieved, he could take the legal recourse as per the procedure laid down in the Act. After hearing all the sides, the bench observed that as the petitioners did not fully exhaust the alternate remedies available to them, it was not inclined to interfere. The court also directed MERC to decide on the complaint already filed by Desai in eight weeks and asked MERC to ensure that Shaikhs grievance, if he made one, was addressed in the manner prescribed in the Act. Advertisement Madeleine McCann suspect Christian Brueckner is set to learn on Thursday if he will be released from jail. The serial sex offender is currently in prison in Germany serving a sentence for drugs offences - and should be starting a seven-year jail term for the rape of an elderly American woman in Portugal in 2005. But his lawyers have appealed the conviction on a legal technicality and the European Court of Justice is poised to give its verdict in two days' time. It comes as Portuguese police continue their search after spending 12 hours over the weekend looking at three wells near Praia da Luz in the hunt for her remains, with up to 20 more expected to be targeted in the coming days. Police in Portugal have been searching three wells (above) in the village of Budens near Praia da Luz in the Algarve in the hunt for missing Madeleine McCann's remains. A 15-strong team of detectives and firefighters spent 12 hours looking at them Christian Brueckner, 43, (left) is the prime suspect over the disappearance of Madeleine McCann (right), who was three years old when she vanished while on holiday with her family in Praia da Luz in 2007 in an abduction still unsolved 13 years later Prime suspect Brueckner, a serial sex attacker currently in jail in Germany for drugs offences, lived in this dilapidated hillside farmhouse in Praia da Luz for many years after he moved to the area in the mid 1990s until 2017 when he was extradited Bruckner also owned this Volkswagen camper van (pictured at Barranco Beach in an undated handout) which he often slept in alongside other campers in a hippy hangout a few miles down the coast at Boca do Rio beach A 15-strong team of Portuguese detectives, firefighters and divers spent 12 hours earlier this week searching three deep, remote wells amid fears Brueckner dumped her in one. Brueckner's appeal centres on whether his extradition from Portugal in 2017. Portugal extradited him to the German criminal justice system in June of that year so that he could serve a 15-month prison sentence for possession of child pornography. Brueckner was then released from jail by mistake in August 2018 before he had started a sentence for an earlier conviction for drug dealing. A 15-strong team of police officers and firefighters spent 12 hours at the weekend searching this well (pictured) plus two more nearby in the village of Budens, six miles west of the holiday resort of Praia da Luz, in the hunt for Madeleine's remains He fled the country but was arrested in Milan, Italy, in September 2018 and extradited back to Germany to serve that sentence. But now Brueckner's lawyers claim that the European Arrest Warrant which led to his transfer back to Germany only covered the charge of drugs offences and not rape. If successful, the rape conviction will be quashed and the Madeleine suspect will be released. Most legal experts in Germany do not believe Brueckner will be set free while the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine gains momentum. However there is a possibility the European judges will stick to the letter of the law and rule the rape conviction unsafe. One legal expert told Radio Bavaria: 'It is a legal technicality and it is unclear what side the European Court of Justice will come down on.' Meanwhile there is confusion over the new search in Portugal after the German prosecutor leading the probe into Brueckner revealed yesterday he had no idea why police in the Algarve were searching the wells. Hans Christian Wolters said the hunts at three sites close to Praia da Luz were not sparked by a tip-off from his team. And his officers have no idea what led them to the scene. He said: 'The action must be based on Portuguese investigations. We have not initiated it, nor have we heard anything about it from the Portuguese side.' The prosecutor refused to comment on the progress of the investigation. He said simply: 'In order to avoid unnecessary speculation we will not report any interim results.' The McCann family were renting this holiday apartment at the Mark Warner Ocean Club when Madeleine was abducted. Her parents Kate and Gerry were having dinner and drinks with friends at a tapas bar beyond the swimming pool at the complex Gerry McCann consoles devastated wife Kate after their daughter Madeleine disappeared shortly before her fourth birthday The three wells searched are located by a country road less than a mile from a remote beach, Praia da Boca do Rio, where Brueckner lived in a camper van at the time of the youngster's disappearance. His van has also been photographed at another beach Praia do Barranco, nearby. The German drifter also spent time at a farmhouse, known as the Yellow House, on the outskirts of the Praia da Luz, where Madeleine was on holiday with her family. Up to 20 wells and underground shafts are set to be examined in the coming days, it is claimed in Portuguese media. Circuit Breakers revealed that would trigger lockdown rollbacks Test Trace Protect system has over 80% success rate This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jul 14th, 2020 Welsh Government have published new data and a new report giving insight to the processes taking place to manage and monitor the pandemic in Wales. The Test Trace Protect (TTP) system is based off people who receive a positive result engaging with the process, by reporting their recent contacts to the local contact tracer so that they can be contacted and notified to self-isolate (and take a test if they too are displaying symptoms), to help stop the spread of the virus. New data for Wales states that between 28 June and 4 July: of the 253 positive cases that were eligible for follow-up, 206 (81%) were reached and asked to provide details of their recent contacts of the 540 close contacts that were eligible for follow-up, 461 (85%) were successfully contacted and advised accordingly, or had their case otherwise resolved In total, since 21 June: of the 582 positive cases that were eligible for follow-up, 480 (82%) were reached and asked to provide details of their recent contacts of the 1,156 close contacts that were eligible for follow-up, 1,011 (87%) were successfully contacted and advised accordingly, or had their case otherwise resolved The data contains a note, The majority of cases not eligible for follow-up by local contact tracers occur in closed settings such as hospitals, care homes and prisons. These cases are escalated to regional teams for onward management. The number of cases referred for contact tracing is different to the number of new cases published by Public Health Wales due to differences in timing and the level of validation carried out. Raw data from the laboratory testing system is fed into the contact tracing system that can, for example, include previously identified positive cases. In Wales, during the period from 1 to 21 June 2020, 1,905 positive cases were referred to local and regional contact tracing teams. This resulted in 2,616 contacts identified for follow-up, of which 2,117 have been successfully contacted and advised accordingly. We asked the First Minister Mark Drakeford about the latest TTP stats, and asked if the figures were seen as satisfactory, and how can they be improved. The First Minister replied, The figures as a percentage are above the threshold that the system was designed to achieve. So the safe threshold is youve got to manage to get more than 75% of people contacted and although the numbers are, as youve said, I think that is over 80% of all contacts are within the safe threshold for it. We still rely on a voluntary regime. So nobody has to cooperate in this. Almost everybody does. Thats because most people in Wales understand that their actions have consequences for themselves and for others, and I am very grateful as ever, for the evidence over the weeks that our TTP system has been going, that we continue to have the confidence of people in Wales for it, and that most people, most of the time, come forward give their contacts and those contacts when contact is made with them do the right thing. If we were to see the figures fall below the threshold levels, then wed have to think again, but we do rely on the willingness of Welsh citizens to take part in the system for their own benefit and for the benefit of others. A second document was released by Welsh Government, the latest from the Technical Advisory Cell, detailing Circuit Breakers and early warning indicators on what can trigger rollbacks and lockdowns. The data being looked at includes looking at the R figure and hospital data for Covid-19 related occupancy, general and ICU, to monitor the prevalence of the virus. Other data includes the ZOE app information, 111 call information, monitoring the number of active lineages of Covid-19 in Wales as well as monitoring PPE stock levels. In what has become regular questions over data and methods of release, we asked the First Minister if tracking of the indicators will be done via an easy to view dashboard so the public are aware at a glance at the ongoing situations. We also noted currently there is lots of data, but the majority is buried in separate spreadsheets that cover different reporting windows. The First Minister said, As I have said to you before, we are very keen to make as much information available as possible. That sometimes does mean that its complex, because theres a lot of it and you have got to find your way to different places to get hold of it. But, the circuit breakers are intended to be used publicly, so that the wider public in Wales has a sense of where the virus would need to be, if we were to have to roll back some of the easing of lockdown that weve been able to achieve over the last 9 to 12 weeks. So yes, its intended for public use, well try and make sure that its done in a way that is easy for people to get hold of rather than having to search for it and we hope they will never need to be used, because our ambition is to go on working together to keep coronavirus below the level where those circuit breakers would end up being engaged. The coronavirus has caused isolation, stress and financial hardship across the country. These effects can be felt even more intensely by people dealing with alcohol and drug addiction recovery. In our area, at least, because some small group interaction is permitted with certain social distancing guidelines, in-person meetings for people in recovery are now available. Virtual meetings have certainly been helpful, but they lack the face-to-face communication of live meetings. According to Mark Dombeck, Ph.D., a psychologist based in Alameda, California, most drug- or alcohol-dependent persons who enter treatment are referred to what are known as twelve-step programs. The most well-known of these programs is the one used by Alcoholic Anonymous. This and similar programs are offered in regular meetings, comprised of people in various stages of recovery, with those who have been sober the longest serving as facilitators and sponsors for others in the program. Jay Westbrook, of Recovery.org, an American Addictions Centers resource, says attending meetings regularly, or daily if necessary, is critical to recovery. Alcoholism/addiction is a disease of loneliness and isolation; meetings overcome loneliness and isolation, meetings provide the opportunity for connections of depth and weight and meetings are instrumental in helping keep one sober and preventing relapse. Westbrook also put responsibility on regular attendees for the support of each other and for new members attending their first meeting. Some people put off going to meetings for many reasons, such as fear, anger or hopelessness. If someone finally summons the courage to go to a meeting and no one else is there, it may be a while before they want to try again. Kathlene Tracy and Samantha P. Wallace, in an article for the Substance Abuse and Recovery Journal, discovered that people who participated in treatments, including peer support groups, showed higher rates of abstinence, significant reduction rates and returns to homelessness. Alcoholic Anonymous was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, both serious alcoholics at a time when alcoholism was considered a moral or personal failing rather than a disease. The two men developed the format that was the beginning of todays established program. In 1939, Bill Wilson wrote a book about the program, which is often referred to as The Big Book. In the more than 80 years since the first edition of the book was published, research and experience has shown that support groups consisting of peers are a powerful factor in the success of a persons recovery. There are typically two types of meetings: open and closed. Open meetings are open to alcoholics, but also their friends, family or other supporters. Closed meetings are only for alcoholics, and this type of meeting is recommended for anyone new to the format. By attending regular meetings, they meet with others who know personally what they are going through and can offer support and coping strategies. These support groups also help the members to become or remain motivated. Rehab.com says, The hardest part of finding an appropriate support group isnt finding it. The hardest part is in staying committed, attending meetings and opening ourselves up to the process. I know how important meetings continue to be to my own recovery, and as a certified recovery peer advocate, I want to help people in whatever stage of recovery they are. Please reach out for help if you need it. It is available. Here are some helpful local numbers or websites for more information on finding support groups or other recovery assistance: Service center/Syracuse AA Intergroup: aasyracuse.org for information and schedules of in-person and virtual meetings in the area, or call the service line at (315) 463-5011 Al-Anon: al-anon.org; for local meetings (315) 471-0191 Alateen: Meetings at 7:30 p.m. Fridays at St. Michaels Lutheran Church, 110 Hinsdale Road, Camillus Finger Lakes Area Narcotics Anonymous: For Nar-Anon in person or virtual meeting information and schedules, visit flana.net or call 1-877-266-3660 Addiction peer services: Nicks Ride 4 Friends at 12 South St., Auburn, or call (315) 246-6485 Friends of Recovery New York: for-ny.org (details the importance of meetings to recovery) Behavioral health support groups and meeting schedules: NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness): nami.org; meetings 6-7:30 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of every month on the second floor of Auburn Community Hospital, 17 Lansing St., Auburn Anxiety, Depression and Panic Attack Support Group: Meetings 7-8:30 p.m. the second and fourth Tuesday of every month on the second floor of Auburn Community Hospital, 17 Lansing St., Auburn. Call (315) 252-5861. Lifeworks Of Cayuga County recovery community: Meetings for members of the program at 5 p.m. the second Tuesday of every month at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 10 Prospect Street, Auburn A free pamphlet, Alcohol Substance Abuse Support in and around Cayuga County, which lists meeting schedules and contact information for area support groups, is available from the Cayuga Community Health Network, 2119 W. Genesee St. Road, Aurelius. Call (315) 252-4212. Timothy Donovan, of Auburn, is a member of the Cayuga County Alcohol and Substance Abuse Subcommittee, a certified recovery peer advocate and a Cayuga County alcohol and substance abuse recovery advocate. He can be reached at timmy5710@yahoo.com. Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Advertisement The Queen was not told Gough Whitlam was about to be dismissed as Australian Prime Minister to protect her from a constitutional crisis. Governor-General Sir John Kerr sacked the Labor PM on November 11, 1975, after protracted in-fighting between him and Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser. In the leadup to his decision, Sir John exchanged dozens of letters with Buckingham Palace advising Queen Elizabeth II of his deliberations. A key letter to the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris after the sacking, released today for the first time, makes it clear there was no forewarning. The letters between the Queen and former Governor-General Sir John Kerr (pictured together) during the dismissal of Gough Whitlam were released today A key letter to the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris after the sacking, released today for the first time, makes it clear there was no forewarning The players in the dismissal Sir John Kerr: Governor-General of Australia, acting as the representative of the Queen in Australia. His job was almost entirely ceremonial but the position holds never-used reserve powers for constitutional crises. Sir Martin Charteris: Private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II who exchanged more than 200 letters with Sir John, many in the leadup and aftermath of the dismissal. Gough Whitlam: Reformist Prime Minister of Australia who through not controlling the Senate, Australia's upper house of Parliament, couldn't get the budget passed. This meant the public service and government programs couldn't be paid or operate, leaving him vulnerable. Malcolm Fraser: Leader of the opposition Coalition who blocked the budget to force Mr Whitlam to call an early election he believed he could win. He was elected in a landslide after Sir John dismissed Mr Whitlam and called a snap election. Advertisement 'I should say I decided to take the step I took without informing the palace in advance because, under the Constitution, the responsibility is mine, and I was of the opinion it was better for Her Majesty not to know in advance, though it is of course my duty to tell her immediately,' he wrote. This letter is one of 211 released between Sir John and the Palace by the National Archives that finally shed light on The Queen's role in the dismissal. It has long been speculated whether Her Majesty tried to influence Sir John's decision, and thus undermined Australia's independence. The letters appear to indicate that the Queen and Sir John did not communicate, at least not directly, and correspondence was only with Sir Martin. Though Sir Martin gives Sir John advice over what he can and can't do with his reserve powers, he does not appear to advocate for Mr Whitlam's dismissal. Sir Martin replied with his own letter later that day, praising Sir John's decision not to inform The Queen and agreeing with his reasoning. 'I believe that in NOT informing the Queen what you intended to do before doing it, you acted not only with perfect constitutional propriety but also with admirable consideration for Her Majesty's position,' he wrote. Sir Martin also joked that if Mr Whitlam ended up winning the ensuing election he 'ought to be extremely grateful to you'. Sir John in his November 11 letter appeared fully prepared to be sacked in retribution should Mr Whitlam win the election - which he did not - and was at peace with that. 'I realise of course, that if he wins the election and he may well do so, he will have advice to tender to Her Majesty. I accept all consequences,' he wrote. The Queen, in fact, refused to get involved In the last letter sent to Sir John before the dismissal, on November 4, Sir Martin makes it clear The Queen is staying out of her former colony's mess. 'I think it is good that people should know that The Queen is being informed but, of course, this does not mean that she has any wish to intervene, even if she had the constitutional power to do so,' he wrote. 'The crisis, as you say, has to be worked out in Australia.' Sir Martin went on to give Sir John a pep talk on his ability to deal with the 'unenviable but certainly very honourable position' he was in. Gough Whitlam was dismissed as Australian Prime Minister on November 11, 1975. He is pictured above addressing reporters after his dismissal In the last letter sent to Sir John before the dismissal, on November 4, Sir Martin makes it clear The Queen is staying out of her former colony's mess 'If you do, as you will, what the constitution dictates, you cannot possible (sic) do the Monarchy any avoidable harm. The chances are you will do it good,' he wrote. The two men appeared to have become good friends through their correspondence as Sir Martin insisted in the same letter that he visit England during his planned holiday to France. He said the Queen would be happy to receive Sir John and his wife in Norfolk 'at any time that suits your convenience'. Sir Martin said he would find a guest house for them as Sandringham House was undergoing renovations at the time. But, Her Majesty followed events with 'much interest' Though she refused to he involved, Sir Martin on many occasions made clear that The Queen was interested in reading what he wrote. 'Your letter has, of course, been seen by The Queen who is not at all disturbed by your "bombardment of paper",' he wrote in a June 25, 1975, letter. 'Indeed, Her Majesty finds everything you write of the greatest interest.' Other letters as the crisis worsened also had a reassuring tone from Sir Martin that Sir John was not boring the Queen. Sir Martin in a handwritten addition mentioned the work of Canadian constitutional scholar Eugene Forsey, who said it was proper to dismiss a government if supply was blocked On October 23 he made it clear the Queen was thinking of him as he agonsised about how to resolve the impasse. 'Your letter of 17th October has been read with the greatest interest by The Queen, who has you and your difficult problems very much in mind. She is closely following events as they unfold,' he wrote. Four days later Sir Martin conveyed that he hoped 'the mere act of writing these letters' helped him make decisions. 'In your letter of 20th October you question whether the material you are sending ont he crisis is too detailed. I can assure you that it is not,' he continued. 'The Queen is absorbing it with interest and is very grateful to you. for taking so much trouble to keep her informed.' Governor-General worried Whitlam would sack him first Sir John in another letter on November 20 explained that he didn't warn Mr Whitlam in advance because he was concerned the PM would try to sack him first. 'As you know from earlier letters, on occasions, sometimes jocularly, sometimes less so, but on all occasions with what I considered to be underlying seriousness, he (Mr Whitlam) said that the crisis could end in a race to the Palace,' he wrote to Sir Martin. 'I could act, if necessary, directly myself under the Constitution. I am sure that he would have known this and the talk about a race to the Palace really constituted another threat.' Sir John said sparing The Queen from being in the awkward position of having to choose which one of them to sack was essential, so he launched a preemptive strike. Sir John Kerr (pictured) was the Governor-General who sacked Whitlam and documented his decision making in letters to Buckingham Palace 'History will doubtless provide an answer to this question, but I was in a position where, in my opinion, I simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy,' he wrote. 'If in the period of 24 hours in which he (Whitlam) was considering his position he advised the Queen that I should be immediately dismissed, the position would then have been that either I would be, in fact, trying to dismiss him while he was trying to dismiss me - an impossible position for the Queen. 'I simply could not risk the outcome for the sake of the monarchy.' Mr Whitlam had in October joked about potentially sacking Sir John, but the Governor-General is believed to have taken it as a serious threat. 'It could be a question of whether I get to the Queen first for your recall, or whether you get in first with my dismissal,' Mr Whitlam said. Sir Martin discussed this possibility with Sir John as early as October 2 in another letter. 'In all these difficult matters I am sure you are right to keep your options open and not to decide now what you will do in any given circumstances,' he wrote. 'I hope you are right in believing that the crisis will probably be avoided and that something will give. Gough Whitlam holds up the original copy of his dismissal letter he received (pictured above at a Sydney book launch in 2005) 'Prince Charles told me a good deal of his conversation with you and in particular that you had spoken of the possibility of the prime minister advising the Queen to terminate your commission with the object, presumably, of replacing you with somebody more amendable to his wishes.' Sir Martin admitted that though the Queen would not be pleased about Mr Whitlam demanding Sir John be sacked, she would have to go along with it. 'If such an approach was made you may be sure that the Queen would take most unkindly to it,' he wrote. 'But I think it is right that I should make that point that at the end of the road, the Queen would have no option but to follow the advice of the prime minister. 'Let us hope none of these unpleasant possibilities come to pass. I believe the more one thinks about them, the less likely they are to happen.' Whitlam's rage and fallout for Kerr Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him. 'Mr Whitlam's reaction after leaving Yarralumla turned out to be in fact, one of very great rage which came through in many of his public utterances, the earliest of which were made on the steps of (old) Parliament House at the time (of the proclamation of dismissal being read),' he wrote. Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation with one most famous lines in Australian political history. 'You may say God save the Queen, but nothing will save the Governor-General.' Sir John recounted the immortal moment Mr Whitlam followed up the 'God save the Queen' ending to the proclamation (pictured) with one most famous lines in Australian political history Sir John wrote on November 24 that he'd had a 'difficult time' in the two weeks since dismissing Mr Whitlam, who was waging war against him Why was Whitlam dismissed? Gough Whitlam's Labor Government was elected in December 1972 after 23 years of Coalition rule, but only had a slim majority. The Senate, which in those days had separate elections, was still controlled by the Opposition, which held his government to ransom. Growing tired of the Opposition threatening to block supply, Whitlam called a double dissolution election in 1974. Labor lost two seats in the House and the balance of power in the Senate was held by two independents after dirty tricks by Liberal Party premiers. A series of scandals further weakened the government and it lost a by-election for a seat Labor had held for 60 years. By October 1975, Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser had Whitlam by the throat and demanded a new election or he would block supply in the Senate This would mean the budget wouldn't be passed and the government wouldn't have access to funds required to pay public servants, social security, or government programs. Whitlam refused to call yet another election and the two sides remained at an impasse before Governor-General John Kerr involved himself. After weeks of failed negotiations, Whitlam arranged to meet with Kerr on November 11 and call a half-Senate election for December, which Fraser opposed. Whitlam met with Kerr at Yarralumla House, the Governor-General's residence, and tried to hand him documents calling the election. However, Kerr instead informed him he was dismissed and handed him a statement outlining his reasons. Kerr said the pair would just have to live with the situation, to which Whitlam replied 'You certainly will'. Advertisement Sir John also noted that Mr Whitlam referred to Mr Fraser as 'Kerr's Cur' and that the ousted PM was whipping up anger for his election campaign. 'The rage seems to be to some extent subsiding and could be, throughout the country, counter-productive,' he wrote. 'However, Mr Whitlam appears to believe the opposite and will, I think, try to keep the issue as the main one till the end.' This was in direct contrast to the cordial way Sir John claims he treated Mr Whitlam at the moment he dismissed him. 'When I dismissed Mr Whitlam, I said to him: "The polls are going well in your favour. I have held up my decision to the last possible moment,' he wrote on November 17. '"You have campaigned well in the meantime. I think you could well win the election. Good luck." I proffered him my hand and he took it.' The November 24 letter also explained the personal fallout for Sir John as battle lines were drawn among his social circles over his decision. 'Some people are asserting, including a very old friend of mine who has now, of course, broken off relations with me so far as I am concerned forever,' he wrote. Sir John said he was referring to Senator James McClelland, whom he said believed 'I have been in conspiracy with Mr Fraser from the beginning'. He asserted this was 'false' because Senator McCellend was himself involved in failed attempts at a compromise Sir John made. 'However, I knew there would be a certain amount of execration and had to warn my wife about this in advance,' he admitted. Six months after the dismissal, Sir John wrote that Mr Whitlam was still pushing a smear campaign against him, and he was often accosted in public. 'I have not spoken to Mr Whitlam since 11 November. He has conducted quite a nasty campaign against me, both publicly and privately,' he wrote. 'This may be understandable from his point of view but I have been unable to reply. 'The campaign, though I have not mentioned this to you, includes a serious smearing by gossip and innuendo and much of this gossip, which could only have come from him and those around him, is reflected, indeed stated as fact, in the "quickie" books so far written by Labor-oriented journalists.' Sir John wrote that he was less of a target of abuse than at the height of the fallout from the dismissal, but still encountered 'small and scruffy' protests. 'My tactic is to appear regularly, carry out my programme, put up with the demonstrations, which so far have been rather small and scruffy, as can be seen on television, and to wait. The next six months will tell,' he wrote. Protesters rally outside old Parliament House in the days after Mr Whitlam was dismissed. Police were so worried about protests they wouldn't let Sir John and his wife leave the house Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were hunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters Sir John in his November 24 letter explained he and his wife were bunkered down in Yarralumla as police were concerned about protesters. 'The security people are not anxious for me to leave Yarralumla, which they feel able to protect, and certainly do not want us to go into residence at Admiralty House which is more difficult from the security point of view,' he wrote. 'I do not think violence is feared so much as demonstrations or indignities which would not be good for the Vice-Regal office or the monarchy.' Mr Fraser was so concerned about protests, still going on more than six months later, against Sir John that he got Australia's security services to disrupt them. Sir John wrote on June 10, 1976, of a 'pretty nasty' scene where his car was attacked for about 400 demonstrators. 'The front side of the Rolls was broken with a brick and the flying glass cut the face of my Aide, Flight Lieutenant Fox, who had to have medical attention,' he wrote. Mr Fraser called him when he returned to the hotel and assured him he had ordered a detailed report on the protest efforts by ASIO. 'I am to see him tonight at 6.00pm after the despatch bag goes, so further comments on his attitude must await a later letter,' he wrote. Whitlam: Back me or sack me In his final letter to Buckingham Palace before the dismissal, Sir John wrote on November 6 that Mr Whitlam made it clear he wouldn't go quietly. Sir John described how Mr Fraser met with him on November 3 and told him he would happy to have an election as late as June 1976. Mr Whitlam at the time was resolute in only having a half Senate with a full election waiting until his the three-year term was over. Sir John mentioned Mr Fraser's conversation to Mr Whitlam about half an hour later at a Melbourne Cup reception. In his final letter to Buckingham Palace before the dismissal, Sir John wrote on November 6 that Mr Whitlam made it clear he wouldn't go quietly Sir John at this point, just five days before the dismissal, had not yet decided what to do, but was afraid the situation was salvageable Mr Whitlam said he was aware of Mr Fraser's demands and had no intention of calling an election for the House. The PM in fact would not call one until he felt like it 'and certainly woukld not do it at the behest of Mr Fraser or the Senate'. 'He later said that the only way in which an election for the House could occur would be if I dismissed him.' Sir John at this point, just five days before the dismissal, had not yet decided what to do, but was afraid the situation was salvageable. 'The crisis is now a very serious one and if both parties and their leaders remain adamant, an important decision one way or the other may have to be made by me this month,' he wrote. Sir Martin had in the previous letter on October 27 noted that Whitlam was 'tremendously formidable' at political in-fighting. Whitlam refuses to accept defeat, calls Queen Sir Martin wrote that within hours of being dismissed, Mr Whitlam called him 'as a private citizen' and asked for the Queen to reinstate him as PM. Mr Whitlam claimed that since Labor senators, who were unaware of the dismissal, had managed to finally pass supply bills that day (while the Coalition didn't feel the need to oppose them as Mr Fraser had been appointed) he should be recalled. 'Mr Whitlam telephoned to me at 4.15am (our time) on 11th November,' he wrote. 'Mr Whitlam prefaced his remarks by saying that he was speaking as a "private citizen"... and said that now supply had been passed he should be re-commissioned as prime minister so that he could choose his own time to call an election. 'He spoke calmly and did not ask me to make any approach to the Queen, or indeed to do anything other than the suggestion that I should speak to you to find out what was going on.' This gambit obviously did not work. Why would it have been controversial if the Queen did interfere in Australian politics? Secret letters between Queen Elizabeth and Australia's Governor-General in the weeks before left-wing Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was sacked were released today following a lengthy high court battle Down Under Some speculated that the letters could reveal the Queen influenced governor-general John Kerr's decision to sack Whitlam in 1975 - but appears she didn't, and Her Majesty was only told after it happened. If the Queen had influenced it this could have caused a crisis because this would have shown that modern Australia was not totally autonomous from British rule. Jennifer Hocking - who had been fighting the million-dollar legal battle for four years - told The Guardian: 'As an autonomous post-colonial nation, we assume that the Queen exercises no residual monarchical power over our system of governance, much less over records held by our National Archives.'. Historian John Warhurst said: 'The British crown was interfering in the 1975 dispute in ways that should offend anyone who wants Australia to be a fully independent nation.' He added: 'The Palace did not stand above the fray.' A Buckingham Palace letter head is seen on a letter marked 'Personal and Confidential' during the Kerr Palace Letters release event in Canberra on Tuesday The Queen - as Australia's head of state - is represented by the Governor-General, who can make decisions on her behalf. She chooses who will fill the role on the advice of the prime minister. This is the Queen's only constitutional job. Under Australia's constitution, it is the Governor-General alone who can summon, dissolve and prorogue Parliament. Before Kerr sacked Whitlam and dissolved Parliament for a double dissolution election in 1975, upwards of 200 letters were sent between the Queen, her then-private secretary, Martin Charteris and Kerr himself. The National Archives of Australia have held the correspondence since 1978. As they have been deemed 'personal' Australian's were previously denied access to them until 50 years after Kerr ceased to be governor-general - and only then with the royal representative's approval. Hocking said it was absurd that communications between such key officials in the Australian system of government could be regarded as personal and confidential. 'That they could be seen as personal is quite frankly an insult to all our intelligence collectively - they're not talking about the racing and the corgis.' She added: 'It was not only the fact that they were described quite bizarrely as personal, but also that they were under an embargo set at the whim of the queen.' The British royal family is renowned for being protective of its privacy and keeping conversations confidential. The family went to considerable lengths to conceal letters written by Prince Charles - in a comparable case in Britain that was fought through the courts for five years - but lost in 2015. Advertisement Six months later in May 1976, Sir John wrote that Mr Whitlam was seeking an audience with the Queen. Sir John told Sir Martin it 'hardly seemed proper' for him to offer an opinion on such a meeting, but went on to complain about Mr Whitlam's smear campaign against him. Mr Whitlam got his audience a month later and by then had grudgingly accepted that Sir John acted within his constitutional remit. 'Mr Whitlam was in excellent form and the conversation at dinner range agreeably from Sir Harold Wilsons resignation honours list to the characters of politicians in thie country and in yours!' Sir Martin wrote. 'I had about half-an-hours private talk with Mr Whitlam after dinner and he remained sweet and reasonable, spoke warmly of the Queen, and at least conceded that it could be argued that you had acted in accordance with the constitution! 'I said that whatever we were asked we would say nothing of what passed between the Queen and him next day, at which he threw up his hands and said the very idea of anyone saying anything about that was totally unacceptable. 'The actual audience with the Queen seems to have gone very well, and Her Majesty told me that she had spoken firmly about the use of violence. 'We must hope that some of this is reflected in the answers Mr Whitlam may give at this press conference today.' Dismissal discussed as early as July 1975 Sir Martin in various letters praised Sir John's handling of the constitutional crisis, and gave him advice on how to proceed. Sir John wrote to Buckingham Palace on July 3 raising the possibility of dismissing Whitlam after it was floated in an attached cutting from the Canberra Times. 'I have no intention of course of acting in the way suggested. There is ample room for the democratic processes still to unfold,' he wrote. 'So far the Canberra Times is the only paper, to my knowledge, to raise this point. The editorial may be of general interest as background.' Later on September 12 Sir John wrote to seek advice on the reserve powers available to him as Governor-General. Whitlam dismissal timeline December 2, 1972: Gough Whitlam's government is elected May 18, 1974: Whitlam wins a double dissolution election called after the Opposition threatened to block supply. He only has a five-seat margin in the House and independents control the Senate balance of power July 11: Sir John Kerr is sworn in as Governor-General after being promised a 10-year term. He was Whitlam's fifth choice after the others turned down the job August 7: Whitlam holds the only ever joint sitting of Parliament to pass six reform bills the Opposition had blocked in the Senate February 1975: Liberal Party NSW Premier Tom Lewis breaks with tradition and refuses to replace a retiring Labor senator with another, appointing an independent instead March 21: Malcolm Fraser becomes Opposition Leader June 6: Whitlam is forced to sack Treasurer Jim Cairns over the Loans Affair where the government tried to get a $4 billion loan from the Middle East via a Pakistani financier June 28: Labor is belted at the Bass by-election in Tasmania, losing the seat for the first time in 60 years July: Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen also refuses to appoint a Labor senator, further hurting Whitlam's ability to govern October 16: Opposition blocks supply bills in the Senate November 3: Fraser demands a general election in exchange for passing supply bills, which Whitlam rejects November 9: Kerr seeks advice from High Court Chief Justice Sir Garfield Barwick, who the next day endorses the decision to dismiss the government. November 11: Kerr dismisses Whitlam and appoints Fraser as interim prime minister until an election December 13: The Coalition wins the election in a landslide and Fraser remains prime minister until 1983 Advertisement At this point he had not decided to use them, but had in the back of his mind the possibility of dismissing the Whitlam Government. 'My role will need some careful thought, though, of course, the classic constitutional convention will presumably govern the matter,' he acknowledged. Sir Martin replied: 'If supply is refused, it also makes it constitutionally proper to grant a dissolution.' Sir Martin in various letters praised Sir John's handling of the constitutional crisis, and gave him advice on how to proceed. He said it was often argued that when reserve powers are not used for many years, they no longer exist - but he didn't agree with that view. 'But to use them is a heavy responsibility and it is only at the very end when there is demonstrably no other course that they should be used,' he wrote on November 4. Sir Martin agreed with Sir John's view that the crisis had not reached that point yet - but Mr Fraser had a different view. 'Mr Fraser wants to believe it is already a "constitutional" crisis because he wants you to bring about an election which he thinks he can win. 'If the tide of public opinion continues to flood against him he may well modify his view, and look for a way of retreat. 'Again, with great respect, I think you are playing the vice-regal hand with skill and wisdom. 'Your interest in the situation has been demonstrated, and so has your impartiality.' Sir Martin also noted: 'The Queen has read [his previous letter] with much interest and also with much concern for the pressures to which you are being subjected by the crisis.' Another letter from Sir Martin on November 25 was also full of praise for Sir John's handling of the situation, and noted the historical significance of the correspondence. 'I have received two letters from you both of these are individually of great historic interest and, when taken together, I think they provide a clear, full, and, if I may use the phrase with respect, most convincing account of the psychological and actual pressures to which you were subject when you took action on November 11, and of the reason why no other course was open to you,' he wrote. 'I have still not found anyone here with knowledge prepared to say what else you could have done.' Battle to release the letters Palace allies have battled for decades to keep the documents - which also include correspondence from her then-private secretary, Martin Charteris - secret, with the National Archives of Australia refusing to release them to the public. The letters had been deemed personal communication by both the National Archives of Australia and the Federal Court which meant the earliest they could be released was 2027, and only then with the Queen's permission. But the High Court bench earlier this year ruled the letters were property of the Commonwealth and part of the public record, and so must be released. Kerr sacked Labor Party prime minister Whitlam three years after his election in 1972 - causing a deep constitutional crisis that still scars Australian politics. One of Whitlam's key goals when he came to office was to loosen the colonial ties between Australia and Britain. He replaced God Save the Queen with the Australian national anthem and dubbed certain ties to Britain 'colonial relics'. Whitlam ended the British honours system and implemented Australia's own version, and removed God Save the Queen from the official announcement dissolving parliament. Whitlam - who died in 2014 - is still hailed as a champion of Australia's left. A broken seal is seen on a box containing letters between former Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr and Buckingham Palace during the Kerr Palace Letters release event in Canberra He had opposed Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War, and sought to assert Australia's sovereignty. He ended conscription, established the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, tried to normalise relations with China, set up a free public health service, and made university free. But his detractors accused him of destabilising the economy, and Kerr fired him without warning on 11 November 1975 after political fighting that weakened Whitlam's government. In October that year the country's Liberal Party refused to pass the government's bills in the senate until an election was called - meaning the government would soon run out of money to provide things like pensions and pay public servants. Whitlam refused to call an election and Kerr swiftly dismissed him as Prime Minister. Kerr then appointed opposition Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser as interim Prime Minister - without a confidence vote being held in parliament - and he went on to win a landslide election victory later that year. By Express News Service PATNA: There will be a total lockdown in Bihar from July 16-31 to contain the spread of COVID-19, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced. On his official Twitter handle, Modi said the 15-day lockdown will remain in force at all municipal, district, sub divisional and block headquarters level and that guidelines were being prepared. According to a notification by the state home department, offices of the government of India, its autonomous or subordinate offices and public corporations will remain closed throughout the lockdown period while the offices of defence, central armed forces, treasury, public utilities including petroleum, CNG, LPG, disaster management, power generation, post offices, national informatics centre and early warning agencies will remain open. Offices of state government will remain closed with exception to police department, home guards, civil defence, fire and emergency, elections and prisons, district administration, treasury, I-T services, electricity, sanitation, health, food and civil supplies, water resources, agriculture, and animal husbandry. FOLLOW CORONAVIRUS LIVE UPDATES HERE These offices will be allowed to function with minimum number of employees, sources said, adding that the offices of judicial work will run as per the guidelines issued by the administration of Patna High Court. Besides, medical dispensaries, chemist and medical equipment shops, laboratories, clinics, nursing homes, and ambulances will be functional. Private and commercial establishments will remain closed. In the fields of general utility services, local administration will ensure that the shops dealing with foods, grocery, vegetables, dairy milk, meat and other services for home delivery will function with a minimum movement of people outside their homes. Banks, insurance offices, and ATMs, print and electronic media will function as usual along with petrol pumps, LPG, and gas retail outlets. The restaurants and Dhabas have been allowed to remain open only for home delivery or take way facilities. The official notification has stated that industrial establishments would remain open with strict implementation of precautions and social distancing measures. Train, flight, taxi, and autorickshaw services have been allowed to run. The private vehicles have also been allowed only for permitted activities. All government vehicles or private vehicles carrying government office staff have been allowed to ply. The government has ordered closure of all education and research institutes, offices related to academics activities, parks, and places of worship. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:39:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close MANILA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief-of-staff Felimon Santos have decided to self-isolate on Tuesday after they were exposed to a military aide who tested positive for COVID-19. Lorenzana and Santos accompanied Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte during a visit to a military camp in the southern Philippine Sulu province on Monday. In a statement, Lorenzana said one military aide, who was with him during the trip in Sulu province, tested positive for the disease. The military aide learned that he was COVID-19 positive upon arriving in Sulu province on Monday and he was immediately isolated. "I had myself swabbed this morning and will self-quarantine to await the results," Lorenzana added. AFP spokesperson Edgard Arevalo said on Tuesday that Santos also "will be on a strict, doctor-supervised quarantine" after being exposed to the same military aide. Moreover, Lorenzana made it clear that the infected military aide was nowhere near the president during the event in Sulu province. This is the second time the defense secretary will undergo self-quarantine after coming into close contact with a COVID-19 positive person. In late March, Lorenzana also went on self-quarantine after he had contact with Santos, who had tested positive for COVID-19. Lorenzana COVID-19 test yielded a negative result that time and Santos has since recovered from the disease. The Philippines now has 57,006 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Monday, including 1,599 deaths and 20,371 recoveries. Enditem S cotland Yard today said it would not apologise for using vital stop and search powers, despite admitting that some of its own black officers are worried about whether the force is racist. Deputy Commissioner Sir Stephen House said the Met was working to address concerns that it sometimes targets people because of their skin colour. He conceded some black and minority colleagues are deeply worried about the organisation they work for and whether it is racist, or whether they were being seen as traitors to their heritage. Sir Stephens comments, in an article for the Standard, follow the stop and search of athletes Bianca Williams and Ricardo dos Santos. Their car was stopped and they were handcuffed in an alleged example of racial profiling. The Met said it had good grounds for the search, during which nothing unlawful was found, because of the way the car was being driven. Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has apologised to the couple for the distress caused by the incident, which the force has referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. Sir Stephen said: I have huge confidence that officers are using stop and search every day politely, professionally and entirely in accordance with their training. It cannot be the case that any officer should be discouraged from stopping and searching any individual with reasonable grounds because of a fear of criticism. He said that the force was listening intently to the citys black and minority ethnic communities, including more than 7,000 black and minority ethnic officers and staff inside the Met, but added: Stop and search is a vital tactic to reduce violence. "This violence disproportionately affects young black men. Recent Government research tells us black men are four times more likely than average to be a victim of homicide and eight times more likely to be a suspect for homicide." A city employee from Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, dispatched for disaster relief efforts to Kumamoto Prefecture, has been found to be infected with the novel coronavirus, the Kumamoto government said Monday. The employee from the city of Kagawa, a public health nurse in his 30s, had been assisting the management of evacuation centers set up at a junior high school in the city of Hitoyoshi and at a former high school in the town of Taragi, according to the Kumamoto Prefectural Government. He is not showing any symptoms. Kumamoto suffered widespread flood damage due to downpours caused by a seasonal rain front. The Takamatsu municipal employee was always wearing a face mask, so we believe the chance that he infected others at the evacuation centers is low, a Kumamoto official said. F rench doctors have reported what is believed to be the first case of a pregnant woman passing Covid-19 to her baby in the womb. Within days of being born, the newborn boy developed inflammation in the brain. This condition occurred when the virus crossed the placenta and infected the fetus before birth. The baby has since made a good recovery. The case study was published in Nature Communications, and tracks the birth of several babies who are suspected to have caught coronavirus in the womb.Until now, doctors were not able to rule out the possibility that the babies caught the disease delivery, or soon after birth. Unfortunately there is no doubt about the transmission in this case, said Daniele De Luca, medical director of paediatrics and neonatal critical care at the Antoine Beclere hospital in Paris. Clinicians must be aware that this may happen. Its not common, thats for sure, but it may happen and it must be considered in the clinical workout. The mother, 23, was admitted to the hospital on 24 March with a fever and severe cough. Shortly after being admitted, she tested positive for Covid-19, having caught the virus late in the third trimester. Three days after she arrived in hospital, doctors monitoring the baby noticed signs of distress. They performed an emergency caesarean with the mother under general anaesthetic. The baby was immediately isolated in a neonatal intensive care unit and intubated due to effects from the general anaesthetic. After babys blood and lung fluid were tested, he was diagnosed with Covid-19, and other viral, bacterial and fungal infections were ruled out. After further tests, it was revealed that the virus had spread from the mothers blood into the placenta. In the placenta, the virus replicated and caused inflammation, and infected to the baby. The reason this has not been demonstrated before is that you need a lot of samples, De Luca said. You need the maternal blood, the newborn blood, the cord blood, the placenta, the amniotic fluid, and its extremely difficult to get all these samples in a pandemic with emergencies all around. There have been some suspected cases, but they remain suspected because nobody had the opportunity to test all of this and check the pathology of the placenta. The virus was most present in the placenta, which is rich in the same receptors found in the lungs that Covid-19 uses to enter human cells. The baby initially seemed healthy, but three days after birth he became irritable and started feeding badly. He developed muscle spasms that made his head, neck and back arch backwards. MRI scans revealed signs of gliosis, a side effect of neurological injury, which can cause brain scarring. When the boy was born, there was no clinical guidance for treating babies with coronavirus. The doctors considered administering remdesivir, an antiviral drug, but as the baby since was gradually recovering by itself, they decided not to administer specific medication. De Luca said a recent follow-up scan was almost normal. You can see the glass as half empty or half full. The bad news is that in this case history, the virus is attacking the baby, reaching the baby and causing symptoms. The good news is that at the end of the day, the baby very much recovered. The baby is clinically fine, he said. Pregnant women should be reassured, De Luca added. Pregnancy is very controlled and if you have something like this, it can be controlled. In most cases there will be no damage to the baby. There are many things we can do, but we cant close our eyes and say this is never going to happen. Although is very rare for babies to catch coronavirus from their mothers, De Luca said that social distancing and hand washing is very much common sense and important whether you are pregnant or not. PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio Several dozen employees on Put-in-Bay have tested positive for coronavirus, the result of widespread testing on the island last week. Ottawa County Health Commissioner Jerry Bingham said he was relieved by the results. We can manage this, he said. We had anticipated larger numbers. The county health department last week coordinated voluntary testing for all Put-in-Bay workers after a coronavirus outbreak emerged on the island in late June. Numerous visitors and employees tested positive as a result of that outbreak and Bingham feared the virus might be more widespread on the small Lake Erie island, a popular summertime destination for Ohioans and others. Social media posts from late June and early July featured crowds of revelers packing bars and public pools, ignoring social-distancing and face-mask guidelines. Nearly 1,000 workers showed up Friday and Saturday for the testing, conducted in conjunction with Magruder Hospital and the Ohio Army National Guard. Of the 984 workers who were tested, 66 were positive for a 6.7% positive rate. (Results for 33 tests had not been confirmed as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Bingham.) The overall positive rate for Ohioans getting tested in recent days is 6.2%, according to state figures. Bingham said workers are being notified of their results; those who test positive will be required to quarantine for 14 days. In addition, the health department will conduct a case investigation for those who test positive to determine close contacts, who also will be required to quarantine. Bingham said the health department would not advise businesses to close, but some island businesses may choose to temporarily shut down, depending on how their employees are affected. Several Put-in-Bay businesses, including the Boardwalk, Frostys and Topsy Turveys, closed temporarily in recent weeks after employees were exposed to the virus. Asked if he thought Put-in-Bay was a safe destination for tourists, Bingham said it was as safe as the state of Ohio as a whole. If everyone does what theyre supposed to do, its a relatively safe place, he said. Wear a mask. Stay away from crowds. There are a lot of outdoor places to dine on Put-in-Bay. Stay outside if you can. Read more: Put-in-Bay vs. the pandemic: Island fun will look different this summer, with social distancing requirements, ban on live entertainment The city is flat. There are no scenic overlooks on which to view downtown sparkling on a clear, humidity-free night. There is always that shot of downtown in movies set in Los Angeles; where is Houstons? I think I found it on a mountain top. My family is from Denver. I was born in Seattle but moved to Houston as an infant. My parents put one of those I Wasnt Born In Texas, But bumper stickers on my stroller. When we would visit the aunts, uncles and grandparents in Colorado, my parents would reminisce about being able to reference the Rocky Mountain Foothills to determine their cardinal directions. The Rockies are to the west, they would say. What grand point of reference do we have in Houston? Our highways are nicknamed after cardinal directions: North Freeway, Southwest Freeway, and the lot. And Im not saying they do not have official names like Texas Highway 288, Interstate 10, or U.S. 59 that they use in news copy at the Houston Chronicle. My most humble of apologies, Dug. What I am saying is, where we lack mountains, we have highways. But what if our highways were mountains? As a kid, I used to imagine the silhouettes of clouds as mountains blocking the setting sun. Seven-year-old Jay would soon dismiss this possibility, realizing that the ability to move mountains is largely a metaphor. The only geography Houston has is in our human-made mountains, spaghetti bowl statues to this citys foundation on the automobile and fossil fuel industry. I'm talking about highway interchanges. And the latest addition to the citys numerous highway flyover interchanges provides for the best and most cathartic view of the city. It's the South Loop eastbound ramp to the Gulf Freeway northbound near Gulfgate on the citys southeast side. The ramp is part of several changes to the interchange, including this brand-new direct connector. Its not even on Google Maps yet! The ramp will get you where you need to go, but it took me to a place I was not expecting. For almost two miles, your wheels are off the ground as the pavement rises for the overpass, an elevation not many Houstonians experience but for the plentiful chances we get to drive over highway interchanges. You will immediately pass the tall marquee for Spankys Homemade Pizza (and youre going to want to high-five it for their wings), and if youre lucky you can spot a Southwest Airlines flying out of Hobby Airport to your right. Thats when the ride gets fun. The first full-view structure is the Ship Channel Bridge, where East Loop 610 passes over the Houston Ship Channel. A reminder of the commerce that reinforces Houstons oil-driven identity. Out the driver's window are the bright colors of the Gulfgate shopping center and the white tents cooling the entrance to the H-E-B that anchors the shopping center. As the flyover curves toward downtown I cannot stress this point enough every skyline in the city of Houston is visible. From left-to-right, the blinking lights off Life Flight landing on top of Memorial Hermann Hospital showcase the Texas Medical Center. On a night drive, the whirling inland lighthouse on top of the Williams Tower brings attention to Uptown and its growing number of high-rises and office buildings. Then, there it is: The easterly face of downtown, a view that rivals the fairly photogenic western side. An often-overlooked vantage point for downtown Houston, the drive along this stretch of the overpass offers a beautiful view of the East End back-dropped by a different view of the citys Central Business District. Thats your overlook. Blink and you'll miss it. jay.jordan@chron.com Summerville, SC (29483) Today A few clouds. Low around 30F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight A few clouds. Low around 30F. Winds light and variable. Officials sink claims fishermen arriving from international waters allowed into Phuket unchecked PHUKET: Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong this afternoon (July 14) sunk claims posted online that a Thai fisherman had returned from Indonesia and was allowed to come ashore in Phuket without serving a 14-day quarantine. COVID-19healthimmigration By The Phuket News Tuesday 14 July 2020, 06:20PM Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong today (July 14) blasted the claims online as untrue. Photo: PR Phuket The news follows a pharmacist at a government hospital dispensary in Phang Nga posting the claims online, and accusing officials of not enforcing the mandatory quarantine for all persons arriving in Thailand from abroad. It is not true, said Vice Governor Pichet, who was tasked immediately with investigating the claims. The fact is that the man had gone to a public hospital [in Phang Nga] for his medical appointment to receive his diabetes medication, he said. Before seeing the doctor, the fishermen, who has not been named, explained his medical history to a nurse, as is standard procedure for all people seeking medical attention, V/Gov Pichet explained. However, the post online claimed that the fishermen had explained that he had just returned from Indonesia. V/Gov Pichet refuted that claim. He is a fisherman who works in Ranong and Phang Nga, he never worked in Indonesia, V/Gov Pichet said. He explained to the nurse that he used to fish in Indonesian waters 10 to 20 years ago, he added. The nurse shared the information with the hospital dispensary, and the pharmacist shared an opinion on social media that Phuket province likely does not enforce the policy to quarantine international arrivals for 14 days. It is not true. We have already confirmed that none of the crew who were on the same boat as the Thai fishermen were infected with COVID-19, V/Gov Pichet added. Please, people should think carefully before posting comments online. Please check that the information is accurate before sharing it online, he said. Untrue information will cause damage to society. I confirm that Phuket Province has not had a new COVID-19 case for more than 50 days, he concluded. Albany, N.Y. Hospitalizations due to the coronavirus in New York rose to 820 on Monday, up from 792 the day before. And the states rate of positive tests for the virus was 1.5%. Thats slightly higher than most days in recent weeks, when the percentage of positive tests has typically been around 1% or even lower. Both numbers remain far below their high points earlier in the pandemic. Hospitalizations reached a peak of more than 18,000 over multiple days in April. And when New York was conducting fewer tests on more limited groups of people, as many as half were coming back positive at one point. Positive testing rates in several regions also moved higher on Monday. The positive rate rose to 2% in both Western New York and Long Island. Central New Yorks positive rate increased to 1.3% on Monday, up from 1% on Sunday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has cautioned not to read too much into minor, daily fluctuations in the metrics the state uses to track the virus. Overall, the news remains good. New Yorkers showed incredible courage and resiliency throughout this pandemic, and nowhere is their work more evident than in the numbers we release every day, including in New York City, once a global hotspot, Cuomo said in a press release. However, the success of our efforts depends on citizens willingness to comply with state guidance, socially distance, wear masks and wash their hands. Cuomo said contact tracing efforts have found that many of the recent cases in the state are the result of gatherings that took place over the July 4 holiday weekend. That shows how fast the virus can spread, he said. State and local contact tracing found one July 4 party in Suffolk County where 35% of the people who attended became infected with the virus. Cuomo also noted that rising cases in other states could harm New Yorks progress against the virus if travelers end up spreading the illness here. Thats why four new states were added to New Yorks quarantine list today, he said. I cannot be more clear: Look at whats happening in the rest of the country if we are not smart, if we dont wear masks and socially distance, cases will spike, Cuomo said in the release. No one wants to go back to the hell we experienced three months ago, so please stay vigilant. A total of 71 people were newly admitted to hospitals with the virus on Monday, up 11, and 167 people are in intensive care units, down eight. A total of 101 people are intubated due to the virus, down two. Another five people in the state died due to the virus on Monday, bringing the statewide death toll to 24,994. New York now has 403,175 confirmed cases of the virus, including 912 new cases on Monday. The state conducted 60,045 tests for the virus yesterday. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Out-of-state travelers must tell NY authorities where they came from or face fine, Cuomo says Cuomo: New York schools will reopen based on a formula similar to economic reopening Whats the greatest health risk in coronavirus era: Kids at school or at home? Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 The NRL will ask players and officials residing in south-west Sydney to move out of their homes if the Queensland government doesn't provide the code with a travel exemption after new restrictions came into effect on Tuesday. ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys wrote to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday after she declared Liverpool and Campbelltown COVID-19 hotspots and banned those residing in the suburbs within those two LGAs from entering the state. The NRL has about 20 players and officials who fall into that category, but has taken the proactive step of forcing all teams outside of Queensland back into isolation to ensure they are not in contact with the community. The NRL hopes that will be enough for its players and staff, regardless of where they live, to continue travelling into Queensland to play. Flossie Wong-Staal, a molecular virologist who led research that helped produce seminal findings about HIV - its genetic structure, the insidious manner in which it invades the immune system, and ways of detecting and treating it, died July 8 at a hospital in La Jolla, Calif. She was 73. The cause was complications from pneumonia not related to the novel coronavirus, said her daughter Stephanie Staal. Wong-Staal came to the United States from Hong Kong as a university student and joined the National Cancer Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., in 1973 as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory led by virologist Robert Gallo. Over the next 17 years, she became a section chief in the laboratory of tumor cell biology and one of NIH's leading female researchers. In 1990, the publication the Scientist identified her as the most cited woman in science of the 1980s, with 7,772 citations in academic journals during that decade. "She was on the forefront of molecularly defining" the human immunodeficiency virus and explaining "how this virus caused AIDS and what was needed to combat it," Beatrice Hahn, a molecular virologist who worked under Wong-Staal as a postdoctoral fellow and is now a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in an interview. "This was a man's world at the time - this was 40 years ago - and she certainly held her own." When Wong-Staal joined NIH, Gallo was engaged in groundbreaking research on retroviruses, a group of viruses that infect their victims by inserting their genetic material into the host's DNA. Healthy immune systems can attack and vanquish a standard virus, such as influenza, by recognizing and attacking it as a foreign invader. A retrovirus, on the other hand, becomes part of the host's genome and is therefore much more difficult to defeat. Gallo made scientific headlines by discovering the first human retrovirus, the leukemia-causing HTLV-1, for which he said Wong-Staal provided molecular analysis. "At the time, there was no indication that such viruses existed in humans. Most of the hardcore scientists didn't believe in human retroviruses and called them 'human rumor viruses,' " Wong-Staal told the publication Genomics and Proteomics in 2003. "It wasn't a very pleasant atmosphere at the time, but we persisted." The study of retroviruses took on extreme urgency in the early 1980s as AIDS - a disease soon shown to be caused by the retrovirus HIV - emerged and grew quickly into an epidemic. Gallo and the French virologist Luc Montagnier, the principal figures in a long-running dispute over whose laboratory deserved greater credit for identifying HIV, are today recognized as its co-discoverers. Working under Gallo, in concert and in competition with scientists in the United States and around the world, Wong-Staal led a team of scientists who produced a string of breakthroughs in the study of HIV in the 1980s. In an NIH oral history, she recalled it as a "dizzying" time - a period of "intense discovery" that was the "highlight"of her career. Under Wong-Staal's leadership, researchers including Hahn were the first to clone HIV. "To have in hand a pure copy of the genetic information of that virus," Hahn said, "was a critical first step in understanding the molecular biology - the genetics of the virus, if you will." Wong-Staal described HIV as a disease that "breaks many rules." She and her colleagues were among several groups of scientists who performed nucleotide sequencing on HIV to map its entire genetic makeup, or genome, and to elucidate its many variations. Such research helped lead to second-generation HIV tests and provided the scientific basis for the so-called drug "cocktails" that have significantly improved the medical outlook for millions of HIV/AIDS patients around the world. Yee Ching Wong was born in Guangzhou, China, on Aug. 27, 1946. Her father worked in the import-export business, and her mother was a homemaker. In the wake of the Chinese Communist Revolution, the family moved to Hong Kong, where Wong-Staal attended an all-girls school run by English-speaking nuns. She credited her parents with encouraging her studies, even though few Chinese women of her generation had the opportunity to pursue higher education. She was initially interested in literature, she said, but decided to study science because it was considered a more prestigious field. Wong-Staal changed her first name on the suggestion of the nuns at her school. "Since I did not want to be another Mary or Theresa, I asked my father to choose something unusual," she told the publication Psychology Today in 2010. "He saw a list of names for typhoons that hit Southeast Asia, and picked Flossie." She came to the United States to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received a bachelor's degree in bacteriology 1968 and a doctorate in molecular biology in 1972. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, she joined Gallo's lab, where, in addition to her work on HIV/AIDS, she contributed to research on cancer-causing oncogenes. In 1990, Wong-Staal left NIH and returned to UC-San Diego, where she led the Center for AIDS Research and investigated approaches to gene therapy as a treatment for HIV/AIDS. She later became co-founder, chief scientific officer and vice president of Immusol, a pharmaceutical company now known as iTherX, where she pursued treatments for hepatitis C. She retired in 2017. Her marriage to Stephen Staal ended in divorce. Survivors include her husband of 18 years, Jeffrey McKelvy of San Diego; a daughter from her first marriage, Stephanie Staal of Brooklyn; a daughter from a relationship with Gallo, Caroline Vega of San Diego; a sister; two brothers; and four grandchildren. Wong-Staal received numerous honors, including induction into the National Academy of Medicine and the National Women's Hall of Fame. George N. Pavlakis, a scientist at the National Cancer Institute who collaborated with Wong-Staal in the 1980s, compared the international mobilization against HIV/AIDS at that time to the current battle against the coronavirus. "There was a sense of urgency, it was a collective effort and Flossie was at the center of it," he wrote in an email. "Flossie and all of us benefited from this early spirit and there were a lot of great discoveries and advances done in record time (with much more primitive technology)." Pavlakis is among the researchers who continues today to pursue possibilities of a vaccine for HIV, which so far has proved elusive. "We still use the lessons we learned through Flossie's work," he said. Fuel poverty, which is described as spending at least 10% of a household income on keeping a home warm, has traditionally been tackled by providing fossil fuel supports to families. Despite the attempts to tackle it, fuel poverty has become worse as health deteriorates through repeated problems in homes such as damp and cold draughts. An event hosted by Cork City Council featuring members of housing software firm RetroKit heard that 157,000 homes across Cork city and county could be upgraded to a BER rating of B2 or better. A BER rating is an energy label for homes, rating from A to G on a scale. A-rated homes are the most energy efficient and will tend to have the lowest energy bills, according to the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI). Under the mass retrofitting plan, 25% of those homes would be lifted from fuel poverty, Susan O'Flaherty and Shay Kavanagh of RetroKit told the virtual audience. While it would require major investment and funds, it would also have a massive impact on overall health and well-being, they said. Fuel poverty can exacerbate health conditions such as asthma, and cost the health services of a country in the hundreds of millions every year. Some 380 million a year would be required over 10 years to retrofit homes to a higher BER standard, but the cost would be offset by the creation of 7,000 new jobs, which would also become sustainable roles, Mr Kavanagh said. There were scales of doing so, he said. A shallow upgrade and heat pumps could achieve a B2 rating, was cost effective but risky in terms of thermal comfort and running costs. The most expensive method would bring homes to A2 standard and fuel would cost a fraction from what it was before the work took place, he said. It comes as official figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) found homes built between 2015 to 2020 were vastly more energy efficient than those built in the past 20 years. Some 97% of homes built in the past five years have been given an A rating compared with 35% in 2010 to 2014, and just 1% in 2005. Mains gas was the main space heating fuel used in 50% of the dwellings completed during 2015-2020 and with a BER audit. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: The Kremlin expresses concern about the shootings on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, calling on the parties to restraint and ceasefire, Spokesman for the Russian president Dmitry Peskov said, Trend reports referring to RIA Novosti. "We express concern about the shootings on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Peskov said while answering a question about the Kremlins assessment of the situation on the border of these countries. We urge both parties to restraint and to comply with their obligations within the ceasefire regime." "Being a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, as we have already announced at various levels, is ready to exert its mediation efforts to resolve the conflict, the spokesman said. You know that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held phone talks to his colleagues from Yerevan and Baku. Therefore, once again we urge both sides to restraint." Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. Azerbaijan's sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov, died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Another serviceman, Khayyam Dashdemirov died from severe wounds despite the doctors' efforts. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Senior lieutenant of Azerbaijani army Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. 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. Elyse Knowles has started renovating her new $2.3million Byron Bay beach house with boyfriend Josh Barker, after purchasing the property on February 27. The couple, who won The Block in 2017, are living in the 1960s built property while fixing it up, similar to the time they starred on the Channel Nine construction show. Daily Mail Australia's exclusive pictures show the street out the front of their new home in the 'hippy capital' taken over by a large skip bin, cement mixer and other power tools on Saturday. EXCLUSIVE: Pictures taken by Daily Mail Australia show that Elyse Knowles has started renovating her new $2.3million Byron Bay beach house with boyfriend Josh Barker The building supplies stand out against the perfectly green lawns and tranquil surroundings of their neighbours' properties in the quiet suburb. Elyse and Josh are yet to file any building permits with Byron Shire Council, suggesting their renovations to the property will only be minor. The property boasts four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a tropical veranda surrounded by palm trees and a huge backyard for their beloved Weimaraner dogs. Lifestyle: The young couple relocated from Melbourne to Byron Bay early last year It is in walking distance to Byron Bay town and the popular main beach. Australian model Elyse has previously gushed over her dream of living a more sustainable and positive life in Byron Bay, after leaving Melbourne in 2019. 'Everyone always smiles and always says hello. That was one of the first things I noticed living [in Byron],' she told Daily Mail Australia in September 2019. Bins: Daily Mail Australia's exclusive pictures show the street out front of their new home in the 'hippy capital' taken over by a large skip bin, cement mixer and other power tools Tranquil? The building supplies stand out against the perfectly green lawns and tranquil surroundings of their neighbours' properties in the quiet suburb 'The community is more environmentally conscious. It is conversations that people have every single day talking about the ocean and the marine life. Elyse bought the $2.3million beach house in Byron Bay back in late February. The model moved to the New South Wales coastal town early last year with boyfriend Josh. They were renting until they recently found their forever home. 'The community is more environmentally conscious,' Elyse said last year. 'It is conversations that people have every single day talking about the ocean and the marine life' The 1960s built property is located in the old part of Byron Bay town, just a short walk from the main beach and surrounded by tranquil greenery. The house boasts four bedrooms, two bathrooms, two levels and spacious veranda. Elyse and Josh became household names after winning the blockbuster thirteenth season of The Block. Location: The 1960s built property is located in the old part of Byron Bay town, just a short walk from the main beach and surrounded by tranquil greenery Lisa Krantz /Staff photographer Roadmap Brewing Co. is launching a special beer this week to help the San Antonio Food Bank keep fridges stocked throughout the COVID-19 surge. The craft brewery will release "Canned Goods," a New England India Pale Ale at 9 a.m. Wednesday. According to social media posts, Minnesota-based BSG Craftbrewing donated the ingredients for the special NEIPA. Roadmap will donate all profits from the beer to the San Antonio Food Bank. YEREVAN, July 13 (Xinhua) -- China's adoption and enforcement of the law on safeguarding national security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will guarantee Hong Kong's autonomy and prosperity, and no foreign country has the right to interfere, a renowned expert on international issues has said. Hong Kong is an integral part of China, and any foreign interference in Hong Kong affairs is unacceptable, Dr. Mher Sahakyan, director of the China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research in Armenia, told Xinhua in a recent interview. He refuted claims by some Western politicians that the national security law for Hong Kong will undermine the principle of "one country, two systems," saying that such claims are exaggerated and biased. Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, which has been bringing great benefits to Hong Kong and China as a whole, will be fully guaranteed by the law, he said. The law would strengthen security in Hong Kong, and in China at large, the scholar said, adding that "the harmful external forces, which have been trying to endanger the situation in Hong Kong and turn it into a battlefield, will be eliminated." Sahakyan criticized some U.S. politicians' interference in Hong Kong affairs, saying they have been doing so to divert public attention from protests against racism and police brutality in U.S. cites and Washington's mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. "The Hong Kong issue is an internal affair of China; no foreign country has the right to interfere," Sahakyan said. PARAMUS, N.J., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, smoking doubles the progression of COVID-19. That sobering statistic is among the reasons more people are willing to give up cigarettes and vaping or at least trying to quit than before the pandemic. If there is a silver lining to the spread of the coronavirus, it may be that it is providing that extra nudge for giving up a health risk that can also lead to heart disease, cancers, blocked arteries and pulmonary disease. Mary Battaglia Transformation Through Hypnosis: Relax, Clear Your Mind & Step Into Your Power Hypnosis is one of the tools they are using. "One of the best things you can do for your health is to quit smoking," says Certified Clinical Hypnosis Practitioner Mary Beth Battaglia. "Anyone can quit on their own but it is challenging because with cigarettes you are breaking a habit and an addiction to nicotine. Hypnosis helps you be mindful in understanding why you are smoking. Nicotine can create an urge but oftentimes it is stress and boredom that become the triggers for a cigarette." Battaglia, who is based in Oradell, N. J., adds that a cigarette can have an emotional component for some people, too. "A lot of people don't realize that cigarettes serve as an old friend that is always there for them throughout the good and bad times," she says, "and jettisoning an old friend is never easy." She finds that most motivated individuals can quit after four or five hypnosis sessions. For those who want to extinguish their cigarette habit Battaglia offers these six tips: Practice distraction. Before smoking a cigarette, pause and try to focus on something else. The urge to smoke may pass. Before smoking a cigarette, pause and try to focus on something else. The urge to smoke may pass. Put obstacles in the way. Create extra steps to get the cigarettes and keep the pack where it is not easily accessible. For example, keep cigarettes in the trunk when driving Create extra steps to get the cigarettes and keep the pack where it is not easily accessible. For example, keep cigarettes in the trunk when driving Go gradual. Each day smoke one less cigarette until there are none left to smoke Each day smoke one less cigarette until there are none left to smoke Consider the money. Think about the difference an extra $3,000 a year (the average yearly cost of smoking) could make Think about the difference an extra a year (the average yearly cost of smoking) could make Pick the right time. Smokers who quit because others want them to don't fare as well as those who quit for themselves Smokers who quit because others want them to don't fare as well as those who quit for themselves Enlist others' help. Create a positive support system to help you get through it About Mary B. Battaglia Mary Beth Battaglia is a speaker, Certified Clinical Hypnosis and Sound Practitioner who works with people who want to break habits as well as those with traumas, grief, health and confidence issues who want to make transformational changes. She offers online sessions for clients across the country. She is the author of Transformation Through Hypnosis: Relax, Clear Your Mind & Step Into Your Power. An audiobook version can be purchased at www.metrohypnosiscenter.com. Battaglia is a life-strategist on CYACYL and her hypnosis tips can be heard on the radio program "Conversations With Joan" on New York's AM-970 The Answer. She offers free online consultations for individuals who would like a short induction of hypnosis. Contact: Mary Beth Battaglia, (201) 477-0265; [email protected]; www.metrohypnosiscenter.com SOURCE Mary Battaglia Related Links http://www.metrohypnosiscenter.com The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused President Akufo-Addo of being behind the reasons why the country is currently losing the fight against COVID-19. The party believes Ghana is fast losing the COVID-19 fight because the Akufo-Addo-led administration is paying what it calls lip service to the fight against the virus. Addressing the Media in Accra today, July 13, 2020, National Communication Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi outlined what he described as 10 sins of President Akufo-Addo that have brought us here. Mr. Gyamfi said some of the sins included the failure of President Akufo-Addo to close the countrys borders on time and the poor management of the Coronavirus Alleviation program. Below are the 10 sins outlined by Sammy Gyamfi: 1. Firstly, President Akufo Addo's refusal to close our borders and airport, as well as adopt containment measures on time, is the main reason why we find ourselves in this severe and alarming COVID-19 malaise. This is grounded by the high number of imported cases that precipitated the astronomical community spread of the virus across the country, due to the lack of implementation of any proper containment measures right from the outset. It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo ignored all calls for him to close our borders and airport from health professionals, the NDC and other citizens, and rather went frolicking in Europe at a time the coronavirus was ravaging several European and western nations. In fact, you would recall that it was upon his return from that unproductive European tour, that one of our very first cases was recorded by a high-ranking diplomat, specifically the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, who was with the President in Norway. 2. Secondly, government's poor management of the Coronavirus Alleviation program, including misappropriation of relief funds, particularly free food and water distribution to the vulnerable, which led to a premature easing of lockdown restrictions on the basis of political reasons other than medical, epidemiological or any scientific considerations, further worsened our wobbly COVID-19 fight. 3. Thirdly, government's failure to adopt mass/community testing and to resolve our inefficient testing regime is part of the reasons why we find ourselves in this quagmire. In fact, the problem of the delayed release of test results, as a result of lack of PCR test kits, reagents among others, still remains a major challenge. 4. Also, the non-payment of contact tracers by the Akufo Addo-government, leading to strike actions by the poor workers who have placed their lives at risk and those of their families for our collective good. As I have already indicated, this is very unacceptable, as it betrays the lack of sensitivity, seriousness and candour in President Akufo-Addo's promises, even in this time of coronavirus crises. 5. Again, the deliberate misreporting and suppression of data on positive, death and recovered cases, by the Akufo Addo-government, thereby giving a false sense of security to the people has partly accounted for our failing COVID-19 fight. 6. Furthermore, Akufo Addo's failure to provide adequate PPEs to protect health workers, despite financial provision being made for same by Parliament has been one of the banes of our deplorable COVID-19 position. The President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Frank Ankobea and other allied medical unions have had occasion to lament government's failure to provide basic PPE and how this has impacted negatively on our COVID fight, leading to loss of morale and medical personnel, as I have already indicated. It is worthy to add, that President Akufo-Addo's deliberate exclusion of several other health workers from the list of frontline health workers is demotivating a lot of our health workers who have been excluded from the list of frontline health workers. And this must be addressed as a matter of urgency. 7. Additionally, Akufo Addo's failure to establish adequate isolation centres for the management of positive cases has further exacerbated our worsening COVID-19 situation. This is a reflection of the general failure of President Akufo Addo to make any meaningful contribution to health infrastructure in Ghana, in the last three (3) and half years, despite being the most resourced President in Ghana's history. This has cemented his place as a President who talks much and does very little. 8. Again, Akufo Addo's failure to ensure the observation of COVID-19 precautionary protocols during the NIA registration and card distribution exercises, the NPP Parliamentary primaries, as well as the ongoing new voter registration, despite several warnings from the Ghana Medical Association and other health professionals, is another major contributing factor to our failing COVID-19 fight. 9. More importantly, the premature reopening of Senior High Schools by President Akufo Addo without mass testing of students, teachers and workers, as well as a failure to put in place and enforce appropriate safety measures in the reopened schools, which is leading to the spread of the virus among SHS students is yet another major setback for our COVID-19 fight. 10. Finally, government's review of our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory tests to zero (0) as a result of the lack of test kits, isolation facilities, among others, is partly responsible for our ever-worsening situation. ---citinewsroom Ryanair will cut up to 1,000 flights in August and September between the UK and the Republic of Ireland because of the latter's quarantine policy, the airline has announced. This will result in the loss of more than 200,000 passengers travelling to and from Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry, the low-cost carrier said. The Republic of Ireland requires all travellers except those from Northern Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival. Ryanair has announced it will cut 1,000 flights between the UK and Ireland in August and September Ryanair said in a statement: 'Last week when the UK and Northern Ireland removed travel restrictions on short-haul flights to/from the European Union, Ireland became the only country in the EU with a blanket 14-day quarantine restriction on all arrivals from EU countries, most of which have lower Covid case rates than Ireland. 'It makes no sense when governments all over Europe have opened up EU flights since June 1 and removed travel restrictions on intra-EU travel that the Irish Government continues to treat countries like Germany, Denmark and Greece as if they were suffering similar levels of Covid as the USA, Brazil and India. 'Air travel between Ireland and the UK is being badly damaged by this ineffective 14-day quarantine. 'Ryanair will significantly reduce its flights between Ireland and the UK in August and September, to reflect this suppressed demand.' The Republic of Ireland requires all travellers except those from Northern Ireland to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival Ryanair's announcement comes on the same day Virgin Atlantic unveiled a 1.2billion bailout package involving only private funds. The plan to secure its future includes 200million being provided by founder Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. Support has also been given by Delta Air Lines - which owns 49 per cent of Virgin Atlantic - new private investors and existing creditors. The deal must secure approval from creditors. Virgin Atlantic is due to resume flights on Monday after suspending passenger services as a result of coronavirus. VANCOUVER, BC, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout the month of June, leading global spa brand, Eminence Organic Skin Care, produced 50,000 government compliant hand sanitizers to their team-members, hospitals, medical facilities, nonprofits and community organizations combating COVID-19 in Canada and the United States. The charitable initiative to produce a limited run of 50,000 non-retail sanitizers was made possible by using the brand's global supply chain capabilities to produce personal protective equipment in a time of need, strengthening Eminence Organic Skin Care's commitment to serve communities affected by the worldwide pandemic and support the global storage of sanitizers. "Over the past several weeks, Eminence has been working directly with hospitals and medical centers around the world to offer our support. We're proud to be a part of this charitable giving for first responders and wish to extend our gratitude to those planning their own compassionate initiatives during this time, as well," says President of Eminence Organic Skin Care, Boldijarre Koronczay. Lestonnac Free Clinic of Orange County, Keck Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, and Briar Place Nursing Center of Indian Head Park are just a few of the community medical facilities that received a portion of the hand sanitizers created by Eminence Organic Skin Care. Karen Tsao, Co-Founder of Donate PPE and one of the recipients of the Eminence hand sanitizer donation shares her thoughts on the impact of this charitable endeavor. "I want to say on behalf of DonatePPE.org and a physician on the frontlines, we are extremely thankful to be able to work with Eminence Organic to donate these hand sanitizers to areas hospitals, clinics, nursing facilities, and homeless shelters throughout the United States. When I saw the first email from Eminence Organics asking to donate more than 10,000 hand sanitizers, my heart filled with so much gratitude and joy. For the last couple of months, our organization found it difficult to buy sanitizers to donate due to increased demand, so this donation was a huge surprise. These hand sanitizers come at a perfect time where services such as blood drives, in-person clinics, and elective surgeries and procedures are starting to open back up. We thank Eminence Organics for equipping frontline and essential workers with the hand sanitizers we need to fight against COVID-19." Here are a few of the medical facilities and organizations who received donations of hand sanitizers from Eminence Organics: For more information about Eminence Organic Skin Care, visit Eminenceorganics.com. About Eminence Organic Skin Care Eminence Organic Skin Care, an award-winning provider of the most effective, professional skin care products, is sold in leading spas in 50+ countries worldwide. Eminence Organics blends herbal craftsmanship, innovative skin rejuvenation techniques unique to Hungary and hand-picked ingredients to craft premium natural, organic and Biodynamic skin care that is both good for the earth and the skin. Eminence Organics is proud to be a Certified B Corporation, the leaders of the global movement using the power of business to solve social and environmental problems, held to rigorous standards of performance, accountability and transparency. Eminence Organics plants a tree for every retail product sold. Visit www.eminenceorganics.com andhttps://www.bcorporation.net/community/eminence-organic-skin-care-inc for more information. Instagram:@EminenceOrganics PRESS CONTACT: Pierce Mattie Communications Stephanie O'Quigley [email protected] 212 - 243 - 1431 SOURCE Eminence Organic Skin Care Related Links https://eminenceorganics.com By Lisa Lambert and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday took a swipe at health experts in his government leading the U.S. response to the coronavirus, and one of them, Dr By Lisa Lambert and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday took a swipe at health experts in his government leading the U.S. response to the coronavirus, and one of them, Dr. Anthony Fauci, answered with an appeal for states to stick to guidelines to snuff out a surge in cases. The Republican president, seeking re-election in November, has been increasingly critical of government health officials and their guidance as a steady rise in infections threatens the easing of shutdown restrictions across the country. Trump retweeted to his 83 million followers the accusations of a former game show host that "everyone is lying," including the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "The most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19. Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust," Chuck Woolery wrote Sunday night without citing evidence. Last week, Trump said he thought CDC guidelines for schools reopening were too tough, impractical and expensive. On Monday, Trump also retweeted an April post from Woolery's podcast co-host that Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, wants to require "an ID card to go shopping." As the spread of the coronavirus accelerated months ago, Fauci said it was possible the United States could in the future issue a certification of immunity. The White House did not respond to questions on whether the president believed the CDC was lying. Trump told reporters later at the White House: "I have a very good relationship with Dr. Fauci." "I find him to be a very nice person. I don't always agree with him," Trump said. Fauci on Monday ascribed the surge in coronavirus cases to the country's failure to shut down completely, then a rush to reopen too soon, and urged a commitment to guidelines to rub out the disease. "All you needed to do was look at the films on TV of people in some states who went from shutdown to complete throwing caution to the wind - bars that were crowded, people without masks," Fauci said during a Stanford University event. Fauci said he was confident the United States would get a handle on the virus "if we step back. You don't necessarily need to shut down again, but pull back a bit, and then proceed in a very prudent way of observing the guidelines, of going from step to step." TENSIONS FLARETensions with Fauci have risen with the decline of Trump's popularity in the polls over the president's handling of the outbreak. Fauci said in a Financial Times interview last week he had not briefed Trump in two months. Fauci's emphasis on protections including physical distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds and washing hands have put him at odds with a president eager to get people back to work to boost the economy. The White House over the weekend distributed a list of statements Fauci made early in the pandemic that turned out to be wrong as understanding of the disease developed, according to media reports. But the White House said that it only sent responses to dozens of questions it had received from the Washington Post. Health officials and the CDC have pleaded with the public to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, but the issue has become a politically divisive issue in the United States unlike in many other countries which have seen far lower rates of infection and death. Trump wore a mask for the first time in public when he visited a Washington D.C.-area military medical center 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. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert, Doina Chiacu and Jeff Mason; Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Makini Brice and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. You don't have to be an experienced trailblazer to know that if you choose to hike in the heat, you better be hydrated. Yet scientific literature on the subject reports that roughly 25% of heat-related illness cases are a result of a fluid imbalance, rather than heat exposure alone. New research out of Arizona State University seeks to understand exactly what is going on in the body as it responds to heat stress, looking in particular at hydration levels, core temperature and sweat loss, in the hopes of developing interventions and best practices for those whose mountainous wanderlust just can't be quenched. The findings of one such related study, recently published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, show that compared to moderate weather conditions, hikers' performance during hot weather conditions was indeed impaired, resulting in slower hiking speeds and prolonged exposure to the elements, thus increasing their risk of heat-related illness. Perhaps most telling, though, the research team found that most hikers did not bring enough fluid with them on their hike to compensate for their sweat loss. They also found that less aerobically fit participants were most negatively affected by heat stress and performed worse overall compared to their more aerobically fit counterparts. "The current guidelines for hikers in general are very broad and geared more toward safety than quantifying the adequate amount of fluid they need," said ASU College of Health Solutions Assistant Professor Floris Wardenaar, corresponding author on the paper. "The guidelines also do not take into account fitness levels or the importance of incremental exposure to the heat, which can be affected by acclimatization to specific environments and weather conditions." Former College of Health Solutions master's degree students Joshua Linsell and Emily Pelham are the first and second authors of the paper, followed by School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning Assistant Professor David Hondula and Wardenaar. In their study, 12 participants -- seven women and five men in their 20s -- were asked to hike "A" Mountain on a moderate day (68 degrees Fahrenheit) and then again on a hot day (105 degrees Fahrenheit). They were told to prepare as they normally would, bringing however much fluid they thought they would need, and were asked to hike as quickly as possible without becoming uncomfortable. Each time, they hiked up and down the mountain four times, which adds up to roughly the same distance and incline as Camelback Mountain, one of the most popular hiking destinations in the Phoenix area that sees its fair share of heat-related illness cases. Before their trek, participants' resting metabolism was recorded to estimate their energy production during the hike. Their weight, heart rate, core temperature and hydration status were measured before and after the hike, and their drinking behavior - how much or how little fluid they consumed - was monitored throughout. Using that data, researchers were able to calculate participants' rate of sweat loss through their bodyweight reduction, which averaged out to about 1%, whether conditions were hot or moderate. "The 1% bodyweight reduction had different reasons," Wardenaar said. "During hot conditions, participants' sweat rates were higher while drinking more, often resulting in consuming all of the fluid brought, whereas during moderate conditions, sweat rates were lower, but participants drank less. A 1% bodyweight loss is considered manageable and not likely to result in detrimental performance decline. My concern is that when people hike longer than 80 to 90 minutes in hot conditions that they will not bring enough fluid, resulting in larger bodyweight losses." Overall, compared to moderate conditions, hot conditions significantly impaired hiking performance by 11%, reduced aerobic capacity by 7%, increased rate of perceived exertion by 19% and elevated core temperature. On average, participants took about 20 minutes longer to complete the hike during hot conditions than during moderate conditions, which theoretically could exponentially increase the chance of developing heat-related illness. "Heat slows you down," Wardenaar explained. "This means that what you normally can hike in 75 minutes under moderate conditions may take up to 95 minutes in the heat. That is something that people should take into account, especially when their hike will substantially exceed the 90 minute cut-off." Based on their findings, Wardenaar suggests preparing for a hike by familiarizing yourself with your personal hydration needs. You can do so by multiplying your weight before the hike by .01, then subtracting your weight after your hike from your starting weight. If the difference between your starting weight and your ending weight is greater than the product of your starting weight multiplied by .01, you need to be drinking more fluid during your hike. It's also important to be well-hydrated before you even get out on the trail, Wardenaar said. And avoid alcohol, as it can contribute to dehydration. ### Living up in space away from your family is not all fun and games. Just as there are issues that you have to deal with on Earth, there are also issues that astronauts need to handle while they are in space. And one of them is the constant maintenance of the International Space System (ISS). In an effort to finish upgrading the power system of the ISS which has already taken 3.5 years, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) astronauts Chris Cassidy and Robert Behnken will conduct a pair of spacewalks Thursday, July 16, and Tuesday, July 21 as noted by a press release from NASA. If you want to watch the coverage, you can start tuning in at 6 a.m. EDT on NASA Television and the agency's website. However, the spacewalks will begin by 7:35 and could last up to seven hours. The purpose of their spacewalk will be to replace the 5 nickel-hydrogen batteries with 3 new lithium-ion batteries that will be on the starboard 6 truss' 3B power channel on Thursday, July 16, and on July 21 which falls next Tuesday. In all, 12 spacewalks will have been performed since January 2017 to change out batteries for eight power channels used to route electricity on the station. After completing the upgrades, both Cassidy and Behnken will be removing two lifting fixtures used for ground processing of the station's solar arrays prior to their launch. They'll also begin preparing the Tranquility module for the installation of a commercial airlock provided by NanoRacks and scheduled to arrive on a SpaceX cargo flight later this year. These will be the 230th and 231st spacewalks in the history of space station assembly, maintenance, and upgrades. For these two, it will serve as their ninth and tenth time. Read Also: Bullied Dreamer Lands NASA Internship After Being Told It Was "Impossible" Due to Her Ethnicity and Gender NASA, China, and the United Arab Emirates will be conducting missions to Mars Business Insider reports that China and the United Arab Emirates and NASA will be sending the following in order to search for underground water that is connected to extraterrestrial life. They hope to create the first global map of the Martian climate and send rock samples to Earth using two rovers, two orbiters, and one helicopter. However, the real work will begin by this time next year as soon as it makes contact with the Red Planet. NASA may have sent their own rovers to Mars in the past, but for China and UAE, this will be their first attempt. The reason for selecting the launch dates this month is that Mars will be close to Earth. Should this opportunity be missed, they can always try again in 2022. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia and the European Space Agency have backed out of the launch. However, they will attempt to launch again in two years. Read Also: Elon Musk Liked a Twitter Post About 3D Concept Comparing Crew Dragon and Starship Size: Sign of Approval? In his latest guidelines, The HRD ministry recommended that the online classes for pre-primary students should not be more 30 minutes. The guidelines aim to cap the duration of online classes to limit students' screen time. As classroom learning shifts online in view of Covid-19 pandemic, The HRD ministry on Tuesday has issued a set of new guidelines for schools, in a bid to regulate the screen time for students. In its latest circular, the ministry said that the online classes for pre-primary students should not be more 30 minutes. There should be two online sessions of up to 45 minutes each for classes 1-8 and four sessions of 45 minutes each for classes 9-12. The move comes after the CBSEs decision to reduce syllabus for academic session 2020-2021 by up to 30% as a one-time measure. This was followed by a controversy as several key chapters like Democratic rights, Federalism, Citizenship and Secularism were dropped. Reacting to the criticism, HRD Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tweeted that there has been a lot of uninformed commentary around exclusion of some topics. He alleged that these comments resort to sensationalism as efforts are made to portray a false narrative. Online classes for pre-primary students should not be for more than 30 minutes: HRD Ministry guidelines Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 14, 2020 Two online sessions of up to 45 minutes each for classes 1-8, four sessions for classes 9-12: HRD's guidelines on appropriate screen time Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 14, 2020 Also Read: CBSE 10th Result 2020: List of official websites and alternative links to check CBSE Board class 10 result online Also Read: CBSE class 10 Result 2020: Check results via Digilocker, Umang App on mobile phones Ahead of HRD Ministers clarification, WB CM Mamata Banerjee had also slammed CBSEs decision to drop some of the key topics. She tweeted that she is shocked to know that Centre has dropped topics like citizenship, secularism and others in the name of reducing CBSE course. Also Read: DU Final Year UG Exams to begin from August 10, DU informs High Court For all the latest Education and Jobs News, download NewsX App Four new appointees to the Adirondack Park Agency board of directors which include a Central New York man will participate in their first meeting Thursday. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the meeting will be a Webcast beginning at 12:15 p.m., which the public can watch live online, but not participate in. See the meeting agency on the APA website. The four new members to the board, appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this year and approved by the state Senate last month, include Ken Lynch, of Onondaga County; Zoe Smith of Franklin County; Andrea Hogan of Warren County and Mark Hall of St. Lawrence County. The Agency was created in 1971 by the state Legislature to develop long-range land use plans for both public and private lands within the boundary of the Adirondack Park. Its a state agency with an 11-member board, and a staff consisting of 54 people. The Agency meets monthly to act on Adirondack Park policy issues and permit applications. The board positions are non-paying. Five of the board members are required by law to live within the park; three, outside of it. Ken Lynch, who retired as deputy executive commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation, was named 2019 Environmentalist of the Year by the Oneida Lake Association. *Lynch, who lives in Elbridge, has a law degree from Syracuse University. He retired last year as executive deputy commissioner at the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the number 2 position in the department under Commissioner Basil Seggos. He was the former regional director of the DEC in Region 7 for 20 years and over saw the remediation and restoration of Onondaga Lake. The Oneida Lake Association in 2019 honored him as its Conservationist of the Year. Lynch is currently director of strategic growth initiatives for Ramboll (formerly OBrien & Gere). He is responsible, according to the APA website, for developing and executing strategy for some of the nations most complex environmental and natural resource programs. This includes climate change and resiliency, brownfield redevelopment, water quality improvements, and renewable energy project development. Zoe Smith, was among the four new board members appointed to serve on the Adirondack Park Agency Board. *Smith, who lives in Saranac Lake, is an experienced conservation professional with expertise in managing community-based research initiatives and building partnerships to advance conservation in the Adirondack Park, the APA website said. Shes currently, deputy director at the Paul Smiths College Adirondack Watershed Institute. Her responsibilities include increasing the Institutes capacity to protect natural resources and expanding programs to benefit the public, students and partner organizations, the website said. Andrea Hogan was among the four new members appointed to serve on the Adirondack Park Agency board. *Hogan, who lives in Johnsburg, has been town supervisor there since 2018. She has worked on broadening the towns economic base through business recruitment plans and an emphasis on increasing broadband infrastructure. She also sits on the Warren County Board of Supervisors, and is a member of the countys committees of economic development, environmental concerns and real property, tourism, human services, public works committees. She is chair chair of the support services committee.' Mark Hall was among the four new members appointed to the Adirondack Park Agency board. Finally, Hall, a resident of Star Lake, is currently water superintendent for the Town of Fine. He was elected to the Town of Fine Town Board in 2002 and served as town supervisor from 2007 -2015. During his tenure he spearheaded efforts with the St Lawrence County IDA and the Clifton-Fine Economic Development Corporation to remove hazardous waste and industrial blight at the former J&L Iron Ore facility, according to the APA website. He participated on the St. Lawrence County IDA effort to rehabilitate rail infrastructure from Carthage to industrial properties including J&L and the former Newton Falls paper mill. In addition, he helped to improve telecommunication and broadband coverage and secure Waterfront Revitalization and Smart Growth grants. MORE: Governor calls for investigation into racist graffiti in Adirondack village Coronavirus: U.S. -Canadian border to remain closed through July 21 to non-essential travel 2 experts give advice about camping, hiking in Upstate NY bear country Credit: CC0 Public Domain Addressing potential threats from predators has not slowed the dramatic decline of mountain caribou in British Columbia and Alberta, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Alberta and two other western Canadian universities. Biologists reassessed data from research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2019. The original research has been cited as showing that killing wolves and fencing pregnant caribou are solutions to saving the endangered animals. The scientists looked closely at the data provided in the 2019 study, and found that when routine statistical tests were included, predator control lacked statistical support. They found that some of the steepest declines in caribou populations were in southern British Columbia, areas where wolves are not major caribou predators. "No matter how you calculate it, the statistics don't back up culling wolves or fencing in caribou," said Viktoria Wagner, assistant professor in University of Alberta's Department of Biological Sciences and co-author. Instead, the authors found that statistically caribou declines tracked closely with specific mountain caribou ecotypes. The deep-snow mountain caribou found from Wells Gray Park into the Kootenays experienced the steepest declines despite having a low number of caribou killed by wolves. "This means something is going on that's killing off an endangered species and it isn't being addressed by predator management," said Toby Spribille, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and co-author on the study. He noted that although focusing on predator threats is simple and easy to communicate, it does not capture the interactions that are causing mountain caribou to go extinct. For instance, the loss of habitat to logging, snowpack variation and snowmobiling are factors that need to be addressed, the authors say. "This is an uncomfortable conversation to have but it should not be left out of scientific models," noted Spribille."If decision-makers are going to be serious about species conservation, it's really critical that they get all the information." "Forests provide caribou with refuge from wolves and separation from other prey animals, including elk, moose, and deer," said Lee Harding, retired Canadian Wildlife Service biologist and lead author on the study. "Without them, caribou must constantly be on the move to find food, exposing them on all sides. Predators are just one of the hazards." Chris Darimont, professor at University of Victoria, Mathieu Bourbonnais, assistant professor at University of British Columbia Okanagan, and Andrew Cook, Ph.D. student in UAlberta's Department of Biological Sciences, collaborated on this research. The study is published in Biodiversity and Conservation. Explore further Habitat restoration alone not enough to support threatened caribou: study More information: Lee E. Harding et al. No statistical support for wolf control and maternal penning as conservation measures for endangered mountain caribou, Biodiversity and Conservation (2020). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Lee E. Harding et al. No statistical support for wolf control and maternal penning as conservation measures for endangered mountain caribou,(2020). DOI: 10.1007/s10531-020-02008-3 Kolkata: West Bengal Police on Tuesday (July 14) arrested one person in connection with the death of Hemtabad MLA Debendra Nath Ray. This is the first such arrest made by the police. Ray was found hanging at a shop near his home in Bindal village on Monday (July 13) morning. His family alleged that he was killed and then hanged. The BJP demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the death of Debendra Nath Roy. On Tuesday, a post-mortem report stated that Ray's death was due to hanging and no other injury marks were found on his body. A BJP delegation also met President Ram Nath Kovind and cited 'political killings' in West Bengal. The delegation sought the dismissal of the ruling Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee in the state, confirmed party MP Raju Bista. Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh called it a 'cold-blooded murder' which 'is shocking and unfortunate'. He asked for a CBI investigation as the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) 'will not do fair enquiry.' "The cold-blooded murder of Hemtabad BJP MLA is shocking and unfortunate. We demand a CBI investigation as State Government will not do fair enquiry. We will do protests all across the state...," he tweeted along with a video. A suicide note was found from the pocket of Ray. The note mentions the names of two persons and reads, "these two people are responsible for my death". The names are not being shared by the police as their role need to be investigated. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 22:45:02|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BAGHDAD, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Health Ministry on Tuesday said that 2,022 new COVID-19 cases were reported, bringing the total infections in the country to 81,757. The ministry also reported 95 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 3,345. It also said that 3,784 people recovered during the day, the highest single-day recoveries so far, bringing the total recoveries from the disease to 50,782. The new cases were recorded after 15,540 testing kits were used across the country during the day, and a total of 713,552 tests have been carried out since the outbreak of the disease, according to the statement. In a separate statement, the Health Ministry said it has started to provide its institutions with more than 300 ventilators to enhance the ability of health institutions to contain the pandemic. The ministry frequently attributed the recent increase of COVID-19 infections to the lack of public compliance to the health instructions, and stronger testing capacity with the increase of labs in Baghdad and other provinces. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Iraq has been taking measures to contain the pandemic. China has been helping Iraq fight the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 7 to April 26, a Chinese team of seven medical experts spent 50 days in Iraq to help contain the disease, during which they helped build a PCR lab and install an advanced CT scanner in Baghdad. Since March 7, China has sent three batches of medical aid to Iraq. Enditem Gardai found 1.2m worth of cocaine hidden in an air compressor following an alleged drugs hand over from a truck to a van at a business park, a court has heard. Andrew Lawlor (35) and John Reynolds (62) appeared on drugs charges after they were arrested following the seizure at the weekend. Judge Anthony Halpin granted Mr Lawlor bail subject to conditions, but Mr Reynolds made no bail application yesterday and was remanded in custody. Mr Lawlor, of The Paddocks Grove, Adamstown, Lucan, and Mr Reynolds, of Caltragh, Dromard, Sligo, are both charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell or supply at Ashbourne Business Centre on July 11. Detective Garda Gavin Curran told Dublin District Court he arrested Mr Lawlor for the purpose of charge at 8.36pm on Sunday at Ashbourne Garda Station. He made no reply after caution at 8.46pm. Objecting to bail in Mr Lawlor's case, Det Gda Curran said gardai received confidential information that there was a consignment of drugs concealed within a white Scania truck that was due to arrive in the country from Northern Ireland on July 11. Undercover At 9am on Saturday, a white Scania was seen heading southbound on the M1 and was followed by undercover gardai. It parked at Ashbourne Business Centre, and a short time later a Volkswagen Caddy van arrived and parked to the rear. Both drivers got out and were seen to interact while gardai watched from a distance. Both vehicles left separately and were stopped by officers. Searches proved negative, and Mr Lawlor, the sole occupant of the Caddy, was released. The vehicle was searched at Ashbourne Garda Station and an air compressor was found in the rear. It had been adapted to conceal a large amount of drugs, and Det Gda Curran said 17kg of cocaine with a potential value of 1.2m was found in it. The accused had left the station by then, so gardai informed Mr Lawlor's partner he was wanted for questioning and he returned to the station and made admissions, the court heard. He was "caught red-handed", the garda said. The judge granted bail in the accused's own cash bond of 1,000, with a 10,000 independent surety. He is to appear in Trim District Court on September 8 for the directions of the DPP. Det Gda William Armstrong said Mr Reynolds was charged at 5.53pm on Sunday and his reply to each charge after caution was "no". Judge Halpin remanded him in custody to appear before Trim District Court on Thursday. With all eyes on rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot's next political move, several senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Rajasthan said on Tuesday that their party's doors are open for anybody who expresses trust in its ideology. "If anybody with a mass base joins the BJP or any political party, everybody welcomes him. Expressing trust in our ideology, if anybody joins us we will welcome him with open arms. This is a normal procedure," Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat told reporters in New Delhi. Shekhawat also took a swipe at Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, saying he is behind all this 'propaganda' to cover up the failures of his government which is now in 'minority'. Gehlot had been working on this plan for over six months and 'succeeded' with the ouster of Pilot from his government, he claimed. Another BJP leader, P P Chaudhary, echoed Shekhawat and said the Congress government in the state has been reduced to a minority. A young leader has been marginalised in the Congress as the party has no place for young faces, he said about Pilot. "So many people joining Sachin is a big thing, and I believe more will join him. BJP's doors are open for everybody if he believes in our ideology. If Sachin Pilot joins us, I don't think there will be any problem. Our national leadership, though, will take the final call," he said. The Congress on Tuesday cracked down on Pilot, stripping the dissident leader of the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit president, and sacking two loyalists from the state cabinet. Though the party seems to have the numbers for now to hang on to power in Rajasthan, the development deepens the crisis in the Congress which has lost two major states -- Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh -- over the past year. BJP vice president Om Prakash Mathur said the political crisis in Rajasthan has been caused by 'weakness' within the Congress. "Dear Ashok Gehlot, closing your eyes does not make the sun disappear. There is weakness in the structure of your house, and you are blaming the BJP national leadership for this," Mathur, who is a senior party leader from the state, said. Another BJP vice president Baijayant Jay Panda, who is also a party spokesperson, set tongues wagging with his tweet, 'In aviation, every flight plan includes an alternate airport or airstrip to divert to in the event of technical problems or severe bad weather. Every experienced pilot knows this.' Though the BJP has made no official comment about any political negotiation with rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot, sources said he has spoken to some leaders from the saffron party. Sources close to Pilot had though insisted earlier that he would not join the BJP. The BJP, the sources said, is keeping a close watch on numbers of Congress MLAs who are supporting Gehlot and those who are with Pilot. Taking a dig at the crisis-hit state government in Rajasthan, Shekhawat said that the dispensation is on autopilot as the chief minister is 'busy chasing a Pilot'. "Sad to see Rajasthan Govt on auto-pilot because the CM is busy chasing a Pilot," Union Jal Shakti Minister Shekhawat tweeted. He is an MP from Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. Shekhawat also made a veiled attack on the Gandhi family without taking its name. 'Looking at the rebellion clearly indicates that there is a lot of suffocation in the King's palace,' he tweeted. In the 200-member assembly, the Congress has 107 MLAs and the BJP 72, with Gehlot claiming support of several independent and other parties' MLAs as well. Pilot's camp has claimed that he enjoys support of around 30 MLAs. Regional Specialist, Insurance and Risk Finance, Bangkok, Thailand Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme Country: Thailand City: Bangkok, Thailand Office: UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok Grade: P-4 Closing date: Friday, 24 July 2020 Job ID: 31609 Practice Area - Job Family: Capacity Development Vacancy End Date: (Midnight New York, USA) 24/07/2020 Duty Station: Bangkok, Thailand Education & Work Experience: I-Masters Level Degree - 7 year(s) experience Languages: English Grade: P4 Vacancy Type: FTA International Posting Type: External Bureau: Development Policy Contract Duration: 1 Year with possibility for extension Background UNDP and the Global Policy Network UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDPs policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan. Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDPs Strategic Plan. BPPSs staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDPs Crisis Bureau (CB) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDPs development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts. Finance Sector Hub Within the context of SDG Financing, UNDP has launched an Finance Sector Hub which is conceptualized as a finance and innovation platform that draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to support the mobilization and leveraging of resources for the SDGs, supports COs with technical advise and tools and products, lead the implementation of the new UNDP private sector strategy and other global flagships initiatives, which fully supports the implementation of the Strategic Plan and supports governments to align public and private sector investments and activities with the 2030 Agenda. The Hub operates as an integral part of the Global Policy Network as well as the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), and works with colleagues from GPN, BERA and across all Bureaux, as well as, with external stakeholders and partners. The Hub serves as a connector, broker and global coordinator among internal and external actors; curates and manages UNDPs catalogue of service offers on SDG financing to governments, investors and companies, via the COs, to significantly enhance the scale and impact of UNDPs work. UNDPs Work on Insurance and Risk Financing The collaboration between the insurance industry and the development sector has grown significantly over the last five years. Key initiatives, such as the Insurance Development Forum, InsuResilience Global Partnership and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, have evolved into significant policy and standard setting partnerships, bringing together countries, the development sector, and the private and mutual/cooperative sectors of industry. Increasingly, these partnerships are moving beyond policy to programming, with a strong focus on not only delivering insurance and risk financing solutions to countries and communities, but also on long-term transformational change of insurance markets. UNDPs growing work in this space has led to the creation of a flagship initiative on insurance and risk finance, and the creation of a dedicated facility for supporting UNDP Country Offices and country partners worldwide, within the newly created Finance Sector Hub. This work covers a range of critical areas where insurance and risk transfer solutions and collaboration with the industry can add significantly to achieving and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.) Covering inclusive insurance, sovereign risk financing, insurance investments, natural capital, health, SME development and more, UNDPs work will look to not only develop and deliver insurance solutions together with countries and communities, it will also look to work with partners to transform insurance markets, working on legislation, regulation and institutional capacity. UNDPs dedicated team working on insurance, risk and resilience financing, is now being enhanced with additional capacity to deliver on the promise and commitment at the core of this flagship initiative. Regional Specialist Delivery: 2 Positions, one covering Regional Bureau of Asia/Pacific and the other covering the Regional Bureau of Africa The role of the regional specialist is a critical function in UNDPs growing Insurance and Risk Finance Facility team, with an overall role of being a catalyst for increasingly more risk-aware and resilient regions. Working across a diverse portfolio of work in development and already financed, the regional specialist will lead on the Facilitys work, together with the UNDP regional team, country office, development partners, government partners and regional organizations, as well as with the full range of private and civil society entities. In collaboration with the Central Team and country offices, they will be responsible for the delivery of the Facility strategy areas across the relevant region: Inclusive Insurance Sovereign Risk Natural Capital and Risk Insurance Investments Integration into Development Specifically, they will be responsible for a set of four inter-locking deliverables through which they will deliver this work: Policy Support and Representation. Direct Support to Country Office and Regional Programming Programme Identification, Development and Resource Mobilization External Engagement, Knowledge Management, Advocacy, Research and Evidence In addition to these core areas of delivery, UNDP also welcomes applicants with specialisations in related areas within insurance and risk finance work, such as work within fragile and conflict affected settings, gender and womens empowerment, natural capital and risk, SME products and services etc. Duties and Responsibilities 1)Lead on Policy Support and Representation Provide regional leadership on UNDPs work across insurance and Risk Finance Represent UNDP and its work on insurance and risk finance across a range of regional and country fora, and actively promote and position UNDPs work. Work across UNDP teams of the Global Policy Network to ensure coherent representation across issues of financing, risk and development, including, but not limited to those working in disaster risk reduction, climate adaptation, health, social protection and economic growth. Support UNDPs Central team on insurance and risk finance by providing strategic advice, advocacy support, and critical analysis and information to enhance UNDPs overall positioning on insurance and risk finance, including the preparation of briefing notes, presentations, speeches etc Support the integration (both regionally and at a country level) of UNDPs financing and investment work as part of its Finance Sector Hub. Where appropriate manage resources that may be delegated as part of overall policy and programmatic work. 2)Direct support to Country Office and Regional Programmes: Support country offices in the delivery of all Insurance and Risk Financing Programmes within the region, especially programmatic work that has long-term sustainability. Develop and deliver work-plans in collaboration with country offices and industry partners. Provide direct technical advice to Country Offices and Programme Countries, especially for the implementation of country-level programmes, and where appropriate jointly manage the delivery of specialized insurance/risk finance staff at the country level. Liaise with both public and private sector delivery partners together with country offices, and actively work with members of key insurance/development partnerships, such as the Insurance Development Forum and InsuResilience Global Partnership. Develop and implement a robust lessons-learnt programme across countries which will be supported by UNDPs Insurance and Risk Finance Facility. Where appropriate develop and implement regional initiatives. 3) Programme Identification, Development and Resource Mobilization Identify new and scalable opportunities for UNDP across the region and within countries and develop them to concept stage. Maintain a pipeline of all work in all stages and regularly follow up on all initiatives in development. Proactively seek to resource all projects in development, and actively support country offices in their task of securing financing for Insurance and Risk Finance work. Actively explore and develop strategic alliances with key partners for joint fundraising and service-delivery. Tags capacity development collective action development finance development policy disaster risk disaster risk reduction economic growth financial inclusion financial institutions financial management fundraising human resources immigration law knowledge management natural capital project implementation public sector regional organizations regional programmes resource mobilization results based management risk management sdgs social inclusion sustainable development sustainable development goals Contribute significantly to the development of strategic programmatic partnerships with both internal and external partners to advance the implementation of UNDPs Insurance and Risk Finance Facility. Develop strong relationships with donor financing and technical teams where they exist, at the regional level but also increasingly at the country level (in support of UNDP Country Offices.) 4) External Engagement, Knowledge Management, Advocacy, Research and Evidence Lead on regional KM, advocacy and research issues for the Insurance and Risk Finance teams in the region. Where appropriate lead upon and support the development of marketing, policy, learning and advocacy materials related to the teams work, as well as in support of both the Finance Sector Hub and wider GPN. Ensure that all training materials, tools and advocacy work are disseminated across country offices and programme countries. Where appropriate represent UNDPs Insurance and Risk Finance Facility across regional media, and actively contribute to its work through a strong social media presence supported by regular expert articles. Competencies Core Innovation Ability to make new and useful ideas work Leadership Ability to persuade others to follow People Management Ability to improve performance and satisfaction Communication Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform Delivery Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement Technical/Functional Global Development Finance Knowledge of global development financial trends, global financial institutions and processes, and ability to apply in strategic and/or practical situations Social Inclusion Knowledge of inclusive growth, decent employment and social protection concepts, principals and issues, and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations. Disaster Risk Management Knowledge of disaster risk management concepts and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical settings. Required Skills and Experience Education: A Masters degree, preferably in public financial management, disaster risk management and/or financing, financial inclusion or development financing. Experience: A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in either the public sector (national or multilateral, including UN), private (academia, non-governmental sector, corporate), with an increasing level of responsibility; Demonstrable experience working in insurance and risk financing, especially in developing countries, with specializations in key areas welcomed, such as in womens empowerment, natural capital, inclusive insurance etc. is highly desirable; Experience at international level and with developing countries is desirable; Experience in results-based and results-oriented project implementation and management is desirable; Experience in managing teams, inspiring and mentoring staff, facilitating their capacity development, and resolving conflicts is desirable; Experience managing projects across issues of strategy, financing, administration and human resources is desirable; Experience in overseeing and guiding the development of communications and knowledge management strategies and products is an asset; Experience in overseeing implementation of projects involving government, NGO/CSO, private sector, academia and/or intergovernmental stakeholders is an asset; Working experience in UN or other international organization, and knowledge of UNDP policies, procedures and practices is an advantage. Language Requirements: Excellent knowledge of the English language, with exceptional writing, presentation and communication skills is required; Competency in other UN languages is an asset. Other: Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advanced knowledge of web-based management system is mandatory. Disclaimer Important information for US Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment. UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications. Applicant information about UNDP rosters Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements. Workforce diversity UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence. Scam warning The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web. Police Captain Ca Van Nghia in the northern mountainous province of Son Las Van Ho District has earned a reputation as the nemesis of local criminals, especially drug smugglers. Police officer, Captain Ca Van Nghia (standing) is speaking at a meeting with his teamates at the Van Ho Police Office in Son La Province. VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Cuong With his outstanding record in fighting crime, the captain has set a fine example in a provincial movement called Vi an ninh To quoc (For Homeland Security) in the 2015-2020 period. Always on the front lines in tackling drug crime, Captain Nghia has received a host of awards from the Ministry of Public Security, the State and the Government, including a Third-Class Victory Medal in 2016 and a Certificate of Merit in 2019. He said these awards encourage him to redouble his efforts as a police officer and be more active in fighting all types of crime. Some 300km west of Hanoi, Son La is notorious as a drug hot spot, with a thousand or so cases a year involving the seizure of hundreds of kilograms of narcotics. Van Ho District is a crime hot pot in Son La, especially drug smuggling, Nghia said. Because of economic difficulties, local people are easily bribed to become cogs in drug-dealing networks. They are attracted by the substantial sums to be made and blindly do whatever drug dealers tell them to do. They dont understand that their lives and the lives of others can be destroyed in just one day. Smugglers use every means at their disposal to transport and trade narcotics, with large quantities coming through areas with rough and tough geographic conditions, like jungles and rivers. The money to be made makes these criminals reckless, and when they are discovered and the police close in they are too quick to use weapons, even guns, as they attempt to escape, Nghia explained. Under the robust direction of provincial and district police, from 2015 to 2019 Nghia and his colleagues in the Van Ho District anti-drug smuggling force uncovered 457 drug crime cases, arrested 725 criminals, and seized 120kg of heroin, more than 100,000 synthetic drug tablets, and a variety of weapons, including nine guns and 159 bullets. Their achievements in fighting drug crime have made a major contribution to maintaining political and social security in the area. A typical case in the fight against drug crime Capt Nghia remembers well occurred in the early hours of April 17, 2019 in Long Luong Village, Long Luong Commune. He and his fellow officers successfully broke up a large drug smuggling network and arrested its mastermind -- Giang A Cau, a local man aged 37. Cau was arrested while transporting a large amount of drugs, including 20 bars of heroin and 198 methamphetamine tablets, while police also seized drug paraphernalia and a motorbike. Drug busts like this depend very much on the bravery and determination of the police, according to Nghia. To discover and arrest criminals, the police officers must adopt a strong political stance, be proficient in their professional skills, have a solid grasp of the law, and, especially, follow orders from superiors, he said. They should always be enthusiastic and go about the job with wisdom and courage." Nghia went on: "Officers should also focus on securing the trust of the public, particularly in the local community, as their support is crucial in fighting crime, and on helping them understand the importance of protecting national security and encouraging them to play their part. The police need to get the public involved in combating crime in their local area, because sometimes they provide valuable information. Many of his successful cases resulted from solid police work and thorough investigations, and its also important to know the geographical conditions where crimes are taking place and learn what you can about the criminals youre chasing after, including their life and character. To be successful in closing down a drug network, a police officer must establish a plan, receive advice from his superiors, and mobilise support from local people and authorities, Nghia explained. He or she must also ensure the absolute safety of their fellow officers as well as the community and people who support them. Lt Col Mua A Cua, leader of the police investigation team on criminal/economic/drug crime with Van Ho District Police, praised Nghia as a shining example for local police officers to follow. Nghia is never afraid of hardship and has proven to be brave in every case hes been involved in, he said. He is always at the forefront in taking on criminals. The man himself has found that the key to success in anti-drug campaigns is to limit the involvement of local people in the crime, so he works on programmes to raise awareness about the States laws. He also tries to understand local peoples needs and what their general attitude is, so he and his superiors can adopt appropriate policies on fighting crime, particularly drug-related crime. A resident of Pa Che Village in Van Ho District, Mua A Senh, said many local people didnt really understand the danger of using drugs in the past and ended up becoming addicts. They would often use drugs together in groups, but since Capt Nghia started talking to them about the harmfulness of drug addiction, many vowed to go clean and live an honest life, according to Senh. Since Nghia began coming to our village, drug crime and theft are much less common and local people feel safer than they did before, he said. Son La Province, especially the districts of Moc Chau and Van Ho, has become an entry point in recent years for illegal drugs trafficked from Laos to Vietnam. To fight drug criminals, especially armed traffickers, the Border Guard High Command, the police, and other forces in the neighbouring province of Dien Bien as well as Lao police have strengthened their cooperation in the implementation of large-scale anti-drug campaigns. Investigations have been carried out and officers mobilised, which raises awareness among local officials and people in border areas about preventing and fighting drug crime and also cements the grassroots political system. The fight against drugs has seen positive outcomes and coordination between local border guards and the police has become closer and more effective. VNS Comprehensive approach needed in fight against drugs Director of the Ministry of Public Securitys Investigation Police Department of Drug-related Crimes, Pham Van Cac, talks to Nhan Dan (People) newspaper about measures needed to fight drug crimes. The occupying authorities plan to call up about 3,000 Crimean residents to the Russian army as part of the spring-summer conscription campaign. Communications Manager of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center (CTRC) Elvir Sagirman says Russian authorities continue conscripting residents in the annexed Crimea to the Russian army in violation of international law. Read alsoRussia violates Geneva Convention by forcing Crimeans to serve in army MFA Ukraine "Russian authorities in Crimea have conducted 10 conscription campaigns and are already carrying out or preparing for the 11th one. For example, they announced their intention to call up about 3,000 people to the Russian army in the spring and summer of 2020," he said during an online press conference on July 14, which was devoted to the analysis of human rights violations in Crimea in the first half of 2020. According to Sagirman, in such a way the occupying authorities violate Article 51 of the Geneva Convention and UN General Assembly resolutions, which call on Russia to stop the practice of forcing Crimean residents to serve in the Russian army or auxiliary forces. Sagirman says that despite the spread of the coronavirus, the CTRC continues to record mass military exercises, systemic militarization, regular propaganda of military service and illegal conscription into Russia's armed forces on the territory of the occupied peninsula. As UNIAN reported, since the occupation of Crimea, the occupying authorities have illegally called up for military service about 22,000 residents of the peninsula, according to the Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea (ARC). Despite record increase in deaths, Florida still plans for its schools to resume in-person learning in August. With coronavirus infections and deaths rising in many parts of the country, United States educators from California to Wisconsin are opting for online learning rather than a return to classrooms when the school year begins in a few weeks. Florida reported a record increase in COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday with 133 more lives lost, raising the states total deaths to more than 4,500. The previous record increase was 120 on July 9. The state recorded more than 9,000 new cases on Tuesday, down from 12,000 on Monday and a record increase of 15,000 on Sunday. Mayor of Tampa Jane Castor blamed the recent surge on the recent easing of economic restrictions, adding that test results often take as many as 7-10 days, complicating data-collection efforts and delaying critical decision making. [W]eve had tremendous surge in positive cases, among our younger population from 25 to 34, actually 21 to about 30 weve seen a huge surge, and that corresponded with the opening of bars which have been shut back down, Castor said in an interview with local media on Tuesday. Bar patrons attend the reopen Florida maskless rally and dinner held at 33 & Melt restaurant to protest against mandatory face mask requirements in Windermere, Florida, US [Octavio Jones/Reuters] Schools from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Fort Bend County, Texas, joined Californias two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, in announcing plans to keep teachers and students from the close contact that classrooms demand. The decision puts the districts at odds with US President Donald Trump, who has threatened to withhold federal funds or remove tax-exempt status if they refuse to reopen classrooms, even though most schools are financed by state and local taxes. Trumps campaign views the reopening of classrooms, enabling parents to get back to work, as a key to economic recovery and a boost to his re-election chances on November 3. Los Angeles and San Diego schools said in a joint statement on Monday that countries that have safely reopened schools have done so only after establishing declining infection rates and on-demand coronavirus testing. US coronavirus cases rose in 46 of 50 states last week and the number of deaths rose nationally last week for the first time since mid-April and about six weeks after cases began to increase, according to a Reuters analysis. With more than 3.3 million COVID-19 cases, the US ranks first in the world in cases per capita, according to a Reuters analysis, and with 135,000 deaths, ranks seventh in deaths per capita among the 20 countries with the most cases. Long waits for tests, results Testing in several states has been plagued by long lines and waits of more than a week to learn the results, according to numerous posts on social media and videos at test locations. Teachers in Loudoun County, Virginia, protested outside school headquarters on Monday with one woman fully enclosed in a white lab suit and face shield holding a sign that said, Our new school uniform. To keep physically distant, the teachers honked their car horns in unison, according to a video. Faculty members were protesting a school board plan for hybrid instruction that would include two days of in-person teaching, according to local media. Floridas National Guard directing vehicles at a COVID-19 testing site in Miami Beach, Florida [AP Photo/Lynne Sladky] After experiencing nearly 16,000 new cases in the last two days, California further retreated from reopening its economy. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ordered bars to close and restaurants, cinemas, zoos and museums across the countrys most populous state to cease indoor operations. Gyms, churches and hair salons must close in the 30 hardest-hit counties. Its incumbent upon all of us to recognise soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon, until there is a vaccine and/or an effective therapy, Newsom said at a news briefing. An increase of 20 to 30 per cent of invasive non-native (alien) species would lead to dramatic future biodiversity loss worldwide. This is the conclusion of a study by an international team of researchers led by Franz Essl and Bernd Lenzner from the University of Vienna. It has been published in the journal Global Change Biology. Human activities intentionally and unintentionally introduce more and more plant and animal species to new regions of the world - for example, via commodity transport or tourism. Some of these alien species have negative consequences for biodiversity and humans well-being, for example by displacing native species or transmitting diseases. However, while we have relatively good information on the historical spread of alien species, there is still little knowledge about their future development. "At the moment it is not yet possible to generate precise predictions based on computer models as to how the spread and impact of alien species will change in the future. Therefore, expert assessments via standardised surveys are an important tool to obtain a better understanding of the causes and consequences of the spread and impact of alien species for the coming decades," says Franz Essl. The study shows that an increase of 20 to 30 per cent in the number of newly introduced alien species is considered sufficient to cause massive global biodiversity loss - a value that is likely to be reached soon, as the number of introduced species is constantly increasing. Climate change and trade drive increase Furthermore, humans are the main driver of the future spread of alien species. The experts identify three main reasons, primarily the increasing global transport of goods, followed by climate change and then the impacts of economic development such as energy consumption and land use. The study also shows that the spread of alien species can be greatly slowed down by ambitious countermeasures. The researchers additionally investigated the influence of the increase of alien species on different regions of the world: For example, tourism is a major driver of biological invasions in tropical and subtropical regions, while climate change favours the survival and establishment of alien species in the future, especially in polar and temperate regions. "Our study illustrates the option space we currently have to reduce the future impacts of alien species," says Bernd Lenzner. "The results form an important scientific basis for the further development of international agreements such as the Sustainable Development Goals or the Convention on Biological Diversity. This way we will be able to reduce the negative impacts of alien species on global biodiversity and our society." The study involved 38 researchers from across Europe, North and South America, New Zealand and South Africa. Helen Roy of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, one of the co-authors, says: "There has been a rapid escalation in the number of non-native species being transported and introduced by humans around the world; the adverse effects of some of these so called invasive non-native species on biodiversity and ecosystems has been extensively documented. "It is now critical that we work collaboratively to predict future patterns so that we can inform appropriate action going forward - such as improved biosecurity to prevent further introductions of the most damaging invasive non-native species." ### Notes to editors Essl, F et al. 2020. Drivers of future alien species impacts: An expert-based assessment. Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.15199 Lead authors: Ass.-Prof Mag Dr Franz EsslDepartment of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna,1030 Wien, Rennweg 14/1 Dr Bernd Lenzner Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, 1030 Wien, Rennweg 14/1 bernd.lenzner@univie.ac.at Farmers, builders and outdoor workers are urged to be SunSmart due to their high risk of skin cancer. Healthy Ireland, HSE, and the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) are joining forces to urge outdoor workers to follow the 5Ss of skin protection. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in Ireland with over 11,000 cases diagnosed annually, and it is predicted that this number will more than double by the year 2045. Outdoor workers are particularly vulnerable to developing skin cancer. Due to spending long periods of time outdoors, they are exposed to high levels of UV rays from the sun even on a cloudy day. Recent CSO figures suggest that up to one-in-four skin cancer deaths in Ireland are among workers in the construction, outdoor and farming sectors. Dermot Carey, Director, Safety & Training, CIF said: Whilst Covid-19 remains to the forefront of our thinking about wellbeing, we must not lose sight of other hazards in the workplace, not least the potential for skin cancer. Persons working outdoors need to be aware of these hazards, the associated risk, and the precautionary measures they should take to protect their skin, from Spring through Autumn. We all need to monitor the UV index throughout the day, to cover-up exposed skin and to apply sunscreen lotion accordingly. The SunSmart Code: -Slip on clothing that covers your skin such as, long sleeves, collared t-shirts. -Slop on sunscreen: Use sunscreen SPF 30 or higher. Apply 20 minutes before going outside and re-apply every two hours more often if perspiring. -Slap on a wide brimmed hat. -Seek Shade especially if outdoors between 11am to 3pm when UV rays are at their strongest. If possible schedule outdoor work before 11am or after 3pm. -Slide on wraparound sunglasses. CALGARYThe case has sent shockwaves through Albertas political system. Its sparked a review to see whether criminal charges are needed against two police officers. And, because of an outdated and weak police oversight system, experts say, it might never have become public knowledge. I just think it is just another symptom that police oversight in Canada needs to be rethought, said Doug King, a professor in justice studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary. At the heart of the matter are the actions of two officers with the Lethbridge police service who photographed and surveilled an Alberta cabinet minister in 2017 without any kind of authorization. The officers were apparently unhappy with then-NDP environment minister Shannon Phillipss plan to protect nearby wilderness. On Monday, it emerged that Sgt. Jason Carrier and Const. Keon Woronuk have been demoted their ranks bumped down for one and two years, respectively after a recent disciplinary hearing found them guilty of multiple counts of misconduct. The incident was revealed to the public when Chat News Now in Medicine Hat obtained a copy of the disciplinary report. That disciplinary report has not been made public. The justice minister, who says he only learned of the incident himself Monday night, after news broke, has now directed Albertas police watchdog to launch a review, including whether or not there are grounds for a criminal investigation. The case emerges at a time when police forces around the world have found themselves grappling with new expectations of accountability, as the Black Lives Matter movement and high-profile Indigenous deaths and arrests have dragged police conduct into the spotlight. But criminologists say Alberta, in particular, is hamstrung by outdated legislation the Police Act dates from the late 1980s that is currently being reviewed. Currently, most complaints are directed to each individual force, which then investigates itself. While Alberta does have a police watchdog the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) its mostly reserved for cases in which police may have caused serious injury or death, or very serious allegations of police misconduct. Further, not just anyone can refer a case to ASIRT. In Ontario, members of the public can advise the Special Investigations Unit of a situation they think needs investigating. But in Alberta, police departments refer files that are assigned to ASIRT by the provinces director of law enforcement, King said. Im not surprised the minister didnt find out about this, said King. How something gets into ASIRT is that it has to be brought to ASIRTs attention by the police agency. There is no kind of independent process for it to get into ASIRT, he added. Sgt. Carrier and Const. Woronuk surreptitiously took photos of then-environment minister Phillips as she took a meeting at a Lethbridge cafe. Afterwards, Carrier watched her leave the cafe from his vehicle, while Woronuk set up to surveil the place, and followed one of the diners though its not clear who and ran their plates. They both admitted later that theyd been upset about Phillipss plan to protect nearby land. They were ATV enthusiasts. For his part, the Lethbridge police chief implied Tuesday the repercussions are fair. While he declined to answer questions from media, in a emailed statement Chief Scott Woods said he was deeply disappointed in the actions and attitudes of the two officers, but took some consolation in knowing that they have been held accountable. In the statement, Woods said, although these matters had been conducted in public hearings and those notices are posted on the police website the service is limited in what information it can release to the public. The misconduct and discipline regime under the Police Act and Police Service Regulation incorporates a significant human resources element into the process it is not purely punitive in nature, he wrote. Police Services do not have clear authority to release the full details of discipline hearings and outcomes. There is a mention of the outcome on the police website that notes two officers had been sanctioned, though it doesnt include details of the incident or names of the officers involved. Now that the events have been reported on publicly, Woods said in the statement, he had more leeway to speak about them publicly. Kelly Sundberg, an associate professor in the same department at Mount Royal, says the chief is not wrong, because the Police Act does not set out a clear process for public disclosure, so many departments are left stuck between the need to safeguard privacy as any employer is required to and the need for public accountability. Its one of the many issues he hopes is addressed with a new Police Act, but he said there are other ways that police should think about modernizing. In my view, and theres a growing body of support for this ... what the police need is a professional college, in the same way doctors or lawyers or accountants or architects have. The professional body could set out more defined criteria for who could be an officer and how they would be trained, and could also address allegations of misconduct, he said. Woods statement goes on to say that Lethbridge police took the initiative in referring the incident for investigation. It was investigated thoroughly by an outside agency, and outside counsel was retained to vigorously prosecute the charges. An experienced, well-respected retired senior officer from another Services presided over the hearings. The sanctions that were imposed against the officers were, to use the words of the Presiding Officer, significant and on the high end of what may be considered appropriate. The fact that the officers have kept their jobs has ignited anger online, though Sundberg says that within the context of possible repercussions laid out in the Police Act, the penalties are fair. Demoting an officer is the second more serious outcome. The most serious, of course, is termination, but King said that is mostly reserved for officers who are convicted of a criminal code offence. Woronuk admitted to five counts of misconduct, according to a notice posted to the Lethbridge police website, including using his position to his personal advantage and discrediting the reputation of the police service. He is being demoted two grades to a Constable Level 1 for two years. Carrier was found guilty of two counts, including neglecting his duties as a police officer, and is being demoted one grade to Senior Constable, Level 2, for one year. Both demotions also mean a temporary reduction in pay. Omar Mosleh is an Edmonton-based reporter covering inner-city issues, affordable housing and reconciliation for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @OmarMosleh Read more about: Michael B. Jordan took to Instagram to mark the seven-year anniversary of Fruitvale Station while also calling for 'systemic change' amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter campaign. The 33-year-old actor posted behind-the-scenes pictures and video from Fruitvale Station on Sunday on the anniversary of the film's release in the United States in 2013. '7 years ago today, Fruitvale Station shed light on the story of Oscar Grant, a young black man who was shot by a BART police officer on January 1, 2010. Over a decade later, the fight for black lives to matter is not over,' Jordan wrote in the caption for his roughly 13.7 million followers. Seven years: Michael B. Jordan took to Instagram to mark the seven-year anniversary of Fruitvale Station while also calling for 'systemic change' amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter campaign. He continued: 'Our voices cannot be silenced. We needmore black storytellers to bring our darkness, our pain, and our purpose to light. Thank you Ryan Coogler without you, this film wouldn't have been made.' Coogler, 34, directed Jordan in Fruitvale Station, which won the top audience and grand jury awards in the US dramatic competition at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Jordan concluded his caption by writing: 'And our demands cannot be derailed. We need systemic change, and to defund bloated police budgets to get funds to education, jobs, and health professionals. Thank you Miss Wanda, mother of Oscar Grant because of you, this movement has a mother's love. #oscargrant #oscargrantfoundation #defundthepolice #blacklivesmatter'. Fruitvale Station showed the story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III from Hayward, California, and his experiences on the last day of his life before being fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning of New Year's Day 2009. Still relevant: The 33-year-old actor, shown last September in Canada, posted behind-the-scenes pictures and video from Fruitvale Station on Sunday on the anniversary of the film's release in the United States in 2013 Police shooting: Fruitvale Station showed the story of 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, played by Jordan, and his experiences on the last day of his life before being fatally shot by BART Police in the early morning of New Year's Day 2009 Jordan portrayed Grant who was killed by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale district station of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system in Oakland. The actor last month participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in Beverly Hills, California following the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minnesota. He gave an impassioned speech in which he demanded more diversity in Hollywood studios and agencies. Peaceful protest: The actor last month participated in a Black Lives Matter protest in Beverly Hills, California following the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minnesota 'Anybody that deals with me, if you have racist beliefs, if you have a racist bone in your body, if you're not with me, if you don't stand with me and people that look like me, you don't need to be with me,' Jordan stated. Jordan starred in the 2015 Rocky sequel and spin-off Creed directed by Coogler and also had a starring role in the 2018 Marvel Studios superhero film Black Panther, also directed by Coogler, as main antagonist Erik Killmonger. He had a short, but pivotal role in 2002 as teenage drug dealer Wallace in the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 05:50:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ALGIERS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The total COVID-19 cases in Algeria exceeded 20,000 on Tuesday after 527 new cases were added in the past 24 hours. The tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases rose to 20,216, while 10 new fatalities were reported, bringing the death toll to 1,028 in Algeria. Algeria has resumed economic and commercial activities since June 7 as part of the efforts to return to normal life. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced last Thursday to implement new measures to curb the outbreak of COVID-19 amid the resurgence in COVID-19 cases in several provinces. 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 Police make arrest in Isla Mujeres murder Isla Mujeres, Q.R. The Office of the Attorney General has reported an arrest in the June 7 murder of a man in Continental Isla Mujeres. Homicide police officers were successful in the arrest of Christian Y, implicated in the homicide of a male person. The FGE reports that according to their investigation, the events in which the defendant is related occurred on June 7 of this year on a dirt road at the second entrance to the Amaite neighborhood in the Continental Zone of Isla Mujeres. On that road, police found the lifeless body of a male who had a series of injuries. The accused was arrested on July 9 by investigative police while walking on a street in SM 237 of Isla Mujeres. Upon his arrest, he was found carrying a prohibited weapon. "We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them" Asserting that the "Chinese predatory world view" has no place in the 21st century, the Trump administration, in a major policy decision on Monday, categorically rejected the territorial claims made by Beijing in South China Sea, stating that it has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire. America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a major policy announcement. The United States, he said, stands with the international community in the defence of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and rejects any push to impose "might makes right" in the South China Sea or the wider region. Pompeo said China cannot lawfully assert a maritime claim -- including any exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims derived from Scarborough Reef and the Spratly Islands -- vis-a-vis the Philippines in areas that a tribunal found to be in the Philippines' EEZ or on its continental shelf. The US, he said, rejects any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from islands it claims in the Spratly Islands (without prejudice to other states' sovereignty claims over such islands). Also, China has no lawful territorial or maritime claim to (or derived from) James Shoal, an entirely submerged feature only 50 nautical miles from Malaysia and some 1,000 nautical miles from China's coast, Pompeo said. "We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," he said. In the South China Sea, the US seeks to preserve peace and stability, uphold the freedom of the seas in a manner consistent with international law, maintain the unimpeded flow of commerce and oppose any attempt to use coercion or force to settle disputes, Pompeo said. He alleged that Beijing uses intimidation to undermine the sovereign rights of Southeast Asian coastal nations in the South China Sea, bully them out of offshore resources, assert unilateral dominion and replace international law with "might makes right". Beijing's approach has been clear for years, Pompeo said. In 2010, then Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi told his ASEAN counterparts that "China is a big country and other countries are small and that is just a fact", he said, adding that the Chinese predatory world view has no place in the 21st century. China "has no legal grounds to unilaterally impose its will on the region", the secretary of state said. Beijing has offered no coherent legal basis for its "Nine-Dashed Line" claim in the South China Sea since formally announcing it in 2009, he added. In a unanimous decision on July 12, 2016, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted under the 1982 law of the sea convention -- to which China is a state party -- rejected the country's maritime claims as having no basis in international law. The tribunal sided squarely with the Philippines, which brought the arbitration case, "on almost all claims", Pompeo said. The announcement by the Trump administration was welcomed by several top American lawmakers. The announcement makes clear that the US will support its regional allies in the defence of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, said Senator Marco Rubio. The People's Republic of China (PRC) cannot be allowed to illegally assert control over maritime territory in the region and the US has rightly rejected all of Beijing's spurious claims, he said. "China's unlawful actions will not be tolerated and I urge my colleagues in Congress to swiftly pass my bipartisan South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act (S.1634) to impose costs on Chinese individuals and entities for their flagrant violations of international law," Rubio said. President Donald Trump once again countered Chinese aggression by rejecting its absurd claims in the South China Sea, said Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. "The US must continue to oppose PRC bullying, deception, IP theft and human rights abuses," he said. This is a "smart move", said Senator Jim Inhofe. "The PRC's claims in the South China Sea are unlawful, plain and simple. The U.S. stands against Beijing's bullying, and with our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region," he said in a tweet. The delays and denials must end. It is time for Gov. Greg Abbott to give elected officials in the Houston region and other parts of Texas being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic the power to issue stay-at-home orders. COVID-19 deaths in the state are rising, hospitals are running out of ICU beds, respirators and other crucial supplies are running low again and the U.S. military announced last week that it is deploying medical and support personnel to the state to try to deal with a growing health-care crisis. Even Gov. Abbott conceded last week that the worst is yet to come. If this isnt evidence of the need for a stronger response, what will it take? Urging people to stay at home and to avoid large gatherings, and even the governors welcome but belated decision to issue a mandatory mask order, havent been enough. No one wants to close the economy again, but the alternatives are worse. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turners call for a two-week shutdown is a good first step. Lets look at the numbers, look at the data, see where things are, Turner said Saturday. And then gradually, move forward again. Harris Countys stay-at-home order in March closed most businesses and directed residents to stay home unless they were going to grocery stores, running essential errands or exercising outside. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, whose earlier calls for caution and a more deliberate reopening process showed true leadership, endorsed Turners call and made the case for urgency in a Tweet on Saturday. Not only do we need a stay-home order now, but we need to stick with it this time until the hospitalization curve comes down, not just flattens, she said. Many communities that persevered in that way are reopening for the long haul. Lets learn from that & not make the same mistake twice. Separate studies published last month say that early stay-home orders and closings likely saved millions of lives during the pandemic. States that reopened quickly in late April and early May including Texas, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Arizona are experiencing major increases in cases and in deaths. Other states that were more cautious in reopening also are facing coronavirus spikes and are reinstating restrictions. A shutdown doesnt mean an end to the pandemic, but it would help reduce the pressure on hospitals and provide better care. Hidalgos stay-at-home and masking order was overruled by Abbott who played to his Republican base and dismissed such mandates as an overreach by Democratic officials, going on Fox News Sean Hannity show to blast their efforts. Hidalgos office petitioned the governor in late June for power to issue more restrictions as COVID-19 hospitalizations spiked but has been rejected. If Abbott isnt willing to take that political risk, he should yield that authority to local officials who are concerned with protecting their communities. The governor did finally concede last week that a lockdown might be necessary as a last resort while warning that the worst is yet to come if his face mask order doesnt stop the spread. With an estimated 11,188 ICU beds in all of Texas, only 930 are available for new patients at the end of last week, the lowest number of available ICU beds since the Houston Chronicle started tracking the data in mid-March. The Texas Medical Center reported Monday that 35 of 373 ICU beds available in Phase 2 of its emergency plans were filled with a move into Phase 3 expected in about two weeks. Phase 3 will mean additional medical and surgical beds would have to be converted to ICU beds at a rate that hospital officials said is not sustainable. If the worst is still to come and theres no reason to doubt the governor on that the time to act is now, not when all of the ICU beds are gone. While we await the governors leadership, its important to remember, as the editorial board has long urged, it is up to each of us to behave responsibly to protect the life and health of others: Stay at home whenever possible, wear a mask in public and wash your hands frequently. That is still the best possible medical advice but that isnt enough for this moment. The governor must give local officials the power to declare a stay-at-home order and to enforce it. The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) is calling on the government to as a matter of urgency see to the reduction in fuel prices. In fighting the deadly Coronavirus (Covid-19) disease, commercial vehicles were not allowed to load at full capacity in line with social distancing protocols. After pleas from the Transports Unions for the government to reduce fuel prices to help cut the losses failed, they finally settled on increasing transport fares by 15 percent last Saturday, July 11, 2020. Addressing a Press Conference in Accra on Monday, July 13, 2020, the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi has stressed that the government needs to immediately reduce fuel prices. We cannot end by urging the government to reduce fuel prices, instead of the recent consistent increments at a time crude prices have plummeted on the world market. The need to reduce fuel prices comes at a time government has directed all commercial drivers to reduce the number of passengers they take in line with social distancing protocols. This has drastically reduced the incomes of transport owners who are still being asked to pay more for fuel. This is unacceptable, and prices must go down immediately, Sammy Gyamfi said. Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress has attributed the countrys high number of Coronavirus cases to what they say is sloppy and clueless leadership, as well as the politically-driven decisions of President Akufo-Addo. Read full speech below: SPEECH DELIVERED BY COMRADE SAMMY GYAMFI, NATIONAL COMMUNICATION OFFICER OF THE NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS (NDC), AT THE 7TH EDITION OF THE NDCS WEEKLY PRESS BRIEFING, HELD AT THE PARTYS HEADQUARTERS ON MONDAY, 13TH JULY, 2020. GHANAS COVID-19 FIGHT FAILING; URGENT REMEDIAL ACTIONS NEEDED NOW. Good morning distinguished friends from the media. Once again, I welcome you with gratitude to the Headquarters of the National Democratic Congress, as we continue to engage you on vital policy issues and other critical national conversations that border on the well-being of Ghanaians, as well as the development and forward-match of our dear Republic. Today, we have invited you here to discuss the precarious COVID-19 situation that our nation presently finds itself in; where this all started and how we have arrived at this present juncture. Indeed, our present COVID-19 situation, which clearly is getting worse by the day, calls for a deep and candid introspection and soul-searching by the nation. To do this, we must ask ourselves; What is Ghanas current COVID-19 situation? Where are we now in the COVID-19 fight? Are we winning the fight? or is the deadly virus triumphing over us? And we intend to be honest and objective about these basic questions this morning. Friends of the media, without mincing any words or making bones about this indisputable fact, Ghana is fast-losing the COVID-19 fight, due to the careless and directionless leadership of President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo. And, I shall outline ten (10) facts that accurately describe our current COVID-19 situation and bear out this assertion. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, as we speak: 1. Ghana has recorded over 24,000 positive cases with 139 deaths, whiles the insensitive and inept Akufo Addo-government looks on helplessly. Our astronomically high and ever-increasing positive case count is putting huge pressure on the already-constrained health system of the country. Indeed, many health facilities across the country, including the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital have been compelled to suspend other critical emergency health services due to the overwhelming cases of Coronavirus on their hands. 2. Another fact that lays credence to the assertion that our COVID-19 fight is failing is that, the long-standing problem of lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for our patriotic and hardworking health workers, who are sacrificing their lives to keep us safe, has not been addressed by President Akufo Addo and his government contrary to the countless and persistent assurances we have been given. This has occasioned an alarming rate of COVID-19 infections among health workers, leading to the loss of several precious lives, including some renowned health experts. So far, over 779 health workers made up of 190 doctors, 410 nurses and midwives, 23 hospital pharmacists and 156 allied health workers, have caught the virus, with 10 deaths, while the insensitive Akufo Addo-government continues to pay lip service to this critical issue. This is sad and completely unacceptable. 3. Also, the alarming COVID-19 infections among top NPP/government officials, some of whom have died, doesnt inspire any confidence in the ordinary man on the street, that this fight is anywhere near being won. As you may be aware, our Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang Manu, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, the Forestry Commission CEO, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (may God bless his soul), the late Takoradi Mayor, another sad casuality, K.K Sam, the BOST MD, the NHIA Director-General and her Deputies, the Minister of Regional Re-organization, Dan Botwe, the Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, The Ghana Education Service (GES) Director-General, the former deputy minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah and the Volta Regional Minister, Archibald Yao Letsa, are but a few of the bigwigs on the tall list of Government Officials who have either battled, are battling or succumbed to COVID-19 in the last few months. This phenomenon clearly bears out our worsening COVID-19 situation. 4. Again, the rising phenomenon of shutdown of key state institutions such as, COCOBOD, GNPC, BOST, NHIA, Ministry of Finance, the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Education, the National Health Insurance Authority among several others, further accentuate the alarming rate of community spread of the novel coronavirus in the country and terrifying situation we presently find ourselves in. Only God knows which other state institution is playing host to this deadly virus, and whether at this rate, the entire government machinery will not be brought down on its knees in the coming weeks. 5. Furthermore, the significant reduction of testing and contact tracing being spearheaded by the failed Akufo Addo-government, is a major setback to our COVID-19 fight. Governments refusal to pay contact tracers their meagre motivational allowances, despite Parliament making financial provision for same, has led to the complete abandonment of contact tracing, thereby letting loose the ravaging virus in our communities. Also, our severely constrained testing capacity and shortage of test reagents and other vital supplies, which accounts for the huge backlog of samples waiting to be tested at both the Noguchi Center for Medical Research and the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research (KCCR), is further exacerbating our failing fight against the virus. 7. Additionally, the lack of isolation facilities to contain our positive cases is very worrying. Currently, most of our hospitals and health facilities are full and overstretched, leading to the suspension of other critical emergency health services, while our ICUs are also getting full. This situation that has led to an increase in self-isolation of positive cases is undermining our COVID-19 fight, as the evidence on voluntary self-isolation, show relatively low compliance to safety protocols as compared to mandatory isolation. 8. Another serious problem confronting us, is the inadequacy of health personnel to manage COVID-19 cases, as was admitted by Dr. Nsiah Asare, Presidential Advisor on health in the media few weeks ago. 9. Also, the inconsistent and doubtful data on our COVID-19 situation, leading to loss of public confidence is a major problem. The several instances of manipulation of data by government to create a false sense of security, instead of reporting the true facts as they pertain to our situation has gradually chipped away public confidence in governments management of the pandemic. 10. Lastly, the non-adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols by majority of Ghanaians, particularly by the ruling New Patriotic Party reflects the our failing fight against the pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen, the ten (10) facts I have enumerated, accurately describe our current COVID-19 situation and show that our situation is increasingly worsening and getting dire as the days go by. Indeed, international reputable organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), has been alarmed by our current situation, leading to their recent assessment of Ghana as one of the countries driving the spread of the virus in West Africa, whilst the European Union also recently placed Ghana among countries whose nationals have been given restricted access to the EU zone due to our terrifying COVID-19 situation. As it is now, the center can no longer hold. Things appear to have fallen apart. Our health system and response plan have been completely overwhelmed by the pandemic. Our leaders, the President, his talkative Vice and our health minister, are no where to be found. No wonder the Minister of Health recently said that he and the President are tired of the COVID fight. How low we sunk! Whilst other countries have stepped up their fight against the pandemic, we have taken our foot off the pedal, with our authorities almost but conceding defeat. But the biggest question is, why Ghana? How did we get here? Distinguished friends from the media, since a problem well-stated is half-solved, permit me to enumerate ten (10) sins of President Akufo-Addo that have brought us here. 1. Firstly, President Akufo Addos refusal to close our borders and airport, as well as adopt containment measures on time, is the main reason why we find ourselves in this severe and alarming COVID-19 malaise. This is grounded by the high number of imported cases that precipitated the astronomical community spread of the virus across the country, due to the lack of implementation of any proper containment measures right from the outset. It would be recalled that President Akufo-Addo ignored all calls for him to close our borders and airport from health professionals, the NDC and other citizens, and rather went frolicking in Europe at a time the coronavirus was ravaging several European and western nations. In fact, you would recall that it was upon his return from that unproductive European tour, that one of our very first cases was recorded by a high-ranking diplomat, specifically the Norwegian Ambassador to Ghana, who was with the Presidents in Norway. 2. Secondly, governments poor management of the Coronavirus Alleviation program, including misappropriation of relief funds, particularly free food and water distribution to the vulnerable, which led to a premature easing of lockdown restrictions on the basis of political reasons other than medical, epidemiological or any scientific considerations, further worsened our wobbly COVID-19 fight. 3. Thirdly, governments failure to adopt mass/community testing and to resolve our inefficient testing regime is part of the reasons why we find ourselves in this quagmire. In fact, the problem of delayed release of test results, as a result of lack of PCR test kits, reagents among others, still remains a major challenge. 4. Also, the non-payment of contact tracers by the Akufo Addo-government, leading to strike actions by the poor workers who have placed their lives at risk and those of their families for our collective good. As I have already indicated, this is very unacceptable, as it betrays the lack of sensitivity, seriousness and candor in President Akufo-Addos promises, even in this time of coronavirus crises. 5. Again, the deliberate misreporting and suppression of data on positive, death and recovered cases, by the Akufo Addo-government, thereby giving a false sense of security to the people has partly accounted for our failing COVID-19 fight. 6. Furthermore, Akufo Addos failure to provide adequate PPEs to protect health workers, despite financial provision being made for same by Parliament has been one of the bane of our deplorable COVID-19 position. The President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Frank Ankobea and other allied medical unions have had occasion to lament governments failure to provide basic PPE and how this has impacted negatively on our COVID fight, leading to loss of morale and medical personnel, as I have already indicated. It is worthy to add, that President Akufo-Addos deliberate exclusion of several other health workers from the list of frontline health workers is demotivating a lot of our health workers who have been excluded from the list of frontline health workers. And this must be addressed as a matter of urgency. 7. Additionally, Akufo Addos failure to establish adequate isolation centers for the management of positive cases has further exacerbated our worsening COVID-19 situation. This is a reflection of the general failure of President Akufo Addo to make any meaningful contribution to health infrastructure in Ghana, in the last three (3) and half years, despite being the most resourced President in Ghanas history. This has cemented his place as a President who talks much and does very little. 8. Again, Akufo Addos failure to ensure the observation of COVID-19 precautionary protocols during the NIA registration and card distribution exercises, the NPP Parliamentary primaries, as well as the ongoing new voter registration, despite several warnings from the Ghana Medical Association and other health professionals, is another major contributing factor to our failing COVID-19 fight. This is very worrying, particularly given the fact that some Pastors and other citizens have been arrested, prosecuted and jailed for breaching the same COVID-19 restrictions and protocols. President Akufo Addos refusal to hold his own appointees and party members, such as Carlos Ahenkora to the same standard of discipline, has further exposed him as a man who preaches virtue and supervises vice. The wanton disregard for COVID-19 protocols by government officials, which was again displayed at the recently-held confirmation of President Akufo-Addo as flag-bearer of the NPP, has set a bad tone for what has been a return to business as usual for members of the public and is undermining our already failing COVID-19 fight. 9. More importantly, the premature reopening of Senior High Schools by President Akufo Addo without mass testing of students, teachers and workers, as well as a failure to put in place and enforce appropriate safety measures in the reopened schools, which is leading to the spread of the virus among SHS students is yet another major setback for our COVID-19 fight. Today, it is sad and annoying to note, that apart from the disregard for COVID-19 safety protocols in our Senior High Schools, the schools have become centers for political campaigns by the NPP, as was seen over the weekend, when the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye led a team to campaign in some Senior High Schools in the Ashanti region. Ladies and gentlemen of the media, is it not cruel, that at a time over 10 of the reopened Senior High Schools have recorded infections on their campuses, and parents have been prevented from visiting their wards as a so-called COVID-19 precautionary measure, President Akufo Addo has opened the same schools, for his party NPP and the Electoral Commission, who prioritizes political power than human lives, to go in there and engage in political activities which have the tendency to endanger the lives of our innocent SHS students. This show of total disregard for the lives of our innocent SHS children by President Akufo Addo is unconscionable and reprehensible to say the least, and must he condemned by all voices of conscience. 10. Finally, governments review of our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory tests to zero (0) as a result of the lack of test kits, isolation facilities, among others, is partly responsible for our ever-worsening situation. We hold the view, that the new recovery and discharge policy under which persons who have tested positive for the virus are declared as recovered and discharged when they become asymptomatic without any confirmatory tests, is very dangerous, and has the potential to further jeopardize our already-failing COVID-19 fight. It must be noted that although the risk or degree of the spread of the virus by asymptomatic persons is relatively lower as compared to persons showing symptoms, it cannot be said that there is absolutely no risk or possibility that asymptomatic cases can spread the virus. In other words, fact that the WHO has said that asymptomatic cases are less likely to pass the virus on than symptomatic cases does not mean that asymptomatic individuals cannot spread the virus as has been suggested in Ghana. Indeed, the WHO has acknowledged that, there is a "minimal residual risk" that patients discharged under their new policy may still be infectious and this must inform our adoption and implementation of the new policy in Ghana. Even more bizarre, ladies and gentlemen, is the conflicting signals government is communicating to the public on this matter. Whereas, government has told the public that we have reviewed our recovery and discharge policy from two (2) mandatory and confirmatory tests to zero, the same government few days ago informed us that one of the appointees of President Akufo Addo who contracted the virus, Carlos Ahenkora, has recovered, after testing negative in two consecutive confirmatory tests. The question we would want to ask is that, if the new recovery and discharge policy under which asymptomatic persons are discharged without any confirmatory tests is good, then why was Carlos Ahenkora made to undertake two (2) confirmatory tests before he was declared as having recovered? What is government hiding from the nation? Dont they believe in their own recovery and discharge policy? On what basis are they determining who deserves confirmatory tests and who doesnt? Why does Carlos Ahenkora deserve two confirmatory tests, but the ordinary Ghanaian who has contracted the virus dont deserve same? Is it because the Akufo Addo government values the lives of their officials over the lives of ordinary Ghanaians? Friends from the media, this lack of consistency in the application of governments new recovery and discharge policy, casts serious doubts about its validity and viability and shows that same cannot be relied upon by the nation if we are serious about the COVID-19 fight. In addition to above-enumerated points, the crass intolerance and headstrong refusal of the Akufo-Addo government to heed good counsel is also a major cause of our worsening COVID-19 situation. Whereas foreign embassies saw what the NDC was seeing from the outset and moved to evacuate their nationals months ago, President Akufo-Addo and his men were busy pursuing political expediency, the reason why we are here. In short, ladies and gentlemen of the media, Ghana finds herself in this quagmire because of the sloppy and clueless leadership, as well as the politically-driven decisions of President Akufo-Addo. THE WAY FORWARD Distinguished friends from the media, the NDC reckons that our current situation calls for decisive and forthright leadership to stem the tide of the marauding virus which now threatens all of us. This is not the time for weak and tired loins, as the Health Minister and President Akufo-Addo have developed, neither is it time to place politically-driven decision ahead of public health. Clearly, our national response plan and strategy have failed, and we need to re-strategize and take some critical remedial actions to salvage our failing fight, as a matter of urgency. The NDC therefore demands that the Akufo-Addo government adopts and implement the following far-reaching measures to protect Ghanaian lives. First, we demand the immediate closure of all reopened schools which were hurriedly reopened under the guise of facilitating the writing of WASSCE, just to make room for the Electoral Commission to register SHS students on their school campuses. The Ghanaian Times newspaper reports today, that ten (10) more Senior High Schools have recorded cases of COVID-19. As we speak, Nigeria, a major participant in the WASSCE exam has rescinded its decision to reopen schools, while Kenya has also decided to close schools until 2021. We urge President Akufo-Addo to prioritize human lives over electoral fancies. Also, we call on all and sundry to condemn the action of the National Youth Organizer of the NPP, Henry Nana Boakye for leading the shameful agenda of making SHS their hotbed of political activity during these perilous times. We further demand that in consonance with GES regulations, the Headmaster of that Senior High School in Kumasi should be interdicted immediately in order to serve the ends of justice. Secondly, we demand that government deals urgently with high infection rate among health professionals by providing the required type and number of PPE for health workers. As a matter of fact, government must heed to calls to revise its narrow conceptualization of frontline health workers, and immediately provide the required PPEs to aid our gallant health workers in combating this virus. Let me add, that the need for the adequate provision of PPE for health workers must be situated within the work of a bipartisan committee, because we can no longer allow them to get infected and die when money has been voted for that purpose by our representatives in Parliament. Thirdly, government must review the new discharge and recovery policy that allows the discharge of people with positive cases after just one test. Much as government may be in a hurry to make our picture look good, a further worsening of this situation will completely overrun our health system, hence the need to tread cautiously. The new policy which appears to be shoring up or recovery cases is creating a false sense of security amongst the people. And, our implementation of same against the caution of the WHO that there is a "minimal residual risk" that patients discharged under their new policy may still be infectious, has the tendency to jeopardize further our failing fight. Also, we call for the immediate adoption of mass and efficient testing regime to be able to go after the virus. Our current reactionary approach to the virus is actually what is precipitating its further rapid spread. Apart from the absence of testing, the time lag between when tests are conducted and when the results are ready gives room for the virus to spread inadvertently to those who hitherto did not have it. We further demand the establishment of more isolation centers by the Akufo Addo government to effectively manage our rising number of positive cases. The current situation where people who have been confirmed positive are let loose due to lack of facilities to accommodate them is unacceptable. Government must also enhance its contact tracing by paying all outstanding allowances due contact tracers in order to motivate them to work hard. The virus has obviously overtaken us, and if we must get ahead of it, then we ought to run faster, and be proactive. Additionally, we demand that government intensifies public awareness - through mass, purposeful and deliberate public education. This will further awaken all of us to the reality of the virus which has become a clear and present danger with us. Last, but not least, government must ensure accountability in the expenditure of COVID-19 funds. There is the need for a special and forensic audit into all already expended COVID-19 funds, as a matter of urgency. Ladies and gentlemen, we cannot end by urging government to reduce fuel prices, instead of the recent consistent increments at a time crude prices have plummeted on the world market. The need to reduce fuel prices comes at a time government has directed all commercial drivers to reduce the number of passengers they take in line with social distancing protocols. This has drastically reduced the incomes of transport owners who are still being asked to pay more for fuel. This is unacceptable, and prices must go down immediately. We urge all Ghanaians to hold the Akufo-addo Government accountable for its handling of this pandemic. All over the world, countries are still battling and re-strategizing against what looks like a continuous wave of the virus. Ghana alone cannot let down our guard for the sake of Akufo Addos quest for political power. Ghana deserves better! Thank you for your attention. SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) A 106-year-old woman died in a fire in San Francisco's Presidio Heights neighborhood on Sunday morning, according to the city's medical examiner's office. Cathryn Canida died in the two-alarm fire reported at about 11:20 a.m. at 3740 Sacramento St. RELATED: Fire under control in Pacific Heights One other person at the home was rescued from the blaze and taken to a hospital in stable condition, San Francisco fire Lt. Jonathan Baxter said. The cause and origin of the fire remain under investigation, Baxter 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. Comedian Shaun Micallef has made audiences laugh for more than three decades on shows like Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation and Full Frontal. But in his new ABC documentary series, On The Sauce, he takes a serious look at Australia's relationship with alcohol. The 57-year-old funnyman told TV Week he had his first drink on his 18th birthday and kept drinking at university and through his early career as an insurance lawyer. Embarrassed: Comedian Shaun Micallef has revealed the 'humiliating' incident that inspired him to give up alcohol. Pictured at the Logie Awards on the Gold Coast on July 1, 2018 But he became a teetotaller in 1986 after his fiancee and her mother found him passed out, which left him feeling 'humiliated'. The Mad as Hell host said: 'I was supposed to meet my fiancee, but I didn't turn up - because I was unconscious.' He said that another reason why he decided to stop drinking alcohol was because he didn't like the taste or how it made him feel. Embarrassing: He became a teetotaller in 1986 after his fiancee and her mother found him passed out, which left him feeling 'humiliated' However, the father of three hasn't told his teenage sons - who are, or close to, the legal drinking age - to abstain from alcohol, because that would be unrealistic advice. In his three-part ABC series, Shaun explores why Australians choose to drink and the social impact of alcohol consumption. 'The last thing I want to do is wag a finger because I'm not qualified to make any judgements,' he said. But he still hopes Aussies will watch the show and learn from the people he interviews. Parents: Shaun married wife Leandra in 1988, and they share three sons, Joseph, 20, Gabriel, 19, and Elias, 16. Pictured together at the Logie Awards in Melbourne May 2, 2010 Shaun married wife Leandra in 1988, and they share three sons, Joseph, 20, Gabriel, 19, and Elias, 16. His admission comes after fellow comedian Ed Kavalee revealed that Shaun used to go out of his way to cause chaos on set of improv show Thank God You're Here. '[Shaun] would pick up things, he would flip pieces of the set and he would try and open doors on the set that weren't meant to open,' Ed told News.com.au last month. Shaun Micallef's On The Sauce premieres Tuesday at 8.30pm on the ABC In this Aug. 30, 2019, photo, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin talks to reporters outside the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, W.Va. Manchin had called for an expedited investigation into the suspicious deaths at the hospital. Read more A former staffer at a veterans hospital in West Virginia is being charged with killing seven patients by giving them fatal doses of insulin, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday in a sweeping probe into a series of mysterious deaths. Reta Mays, a former nursing assistant at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, is being charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of seven people and assault with the intent to commit murder of an eighth person between 2017 and 2018. She has a plea hearing scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. Mays attorney did not immediately return a voicemail seeking comment. The unsealed court records, which name Mays publicly for the first time, come after multiple families initiated civil lawsuits against VA leadership alleging a widespread system of failures at the hospital, where victims were wrongfully injected with insulin and suddenly died. The widow of George Nelson Shaw Sr. said the 81-year-old retired Air Force member was given four insulin shots without a doctor's order in March 2018. Her lawsuit accuses the hospital of failing to securely store insulin and prevent its access by unauthorized personnel. A federal judge was informed of the charges by U.S. Attorney Bill Powell's office ahead of Mays' plea hearing. Powell had described the probe of at least 11 patient deaths at the hospital as a top priority. Robert Wilkie, the Veterans Affairs secretary, had called for an expedited investigation into the deaths. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, who previously expressed grave concerns over the pace of the investigation to Attorney General William Barr, told reporters last year that the FBI was involved and that the bodies of victims were being exhumed. Manchin said then that the VA inspector general told his office that the probe was opened in July 2018, after at least nine patients were diagnosed with unexplained low blood sugar. The VA is the governments second-largest department, responsible for 9 million military veterans. The agencys former director was fired in 2018 in the wake of a bruising ethics scandal and a mounting rebellion within the agency, and the doctor who Trump nominated to replace him had to withdraw his nomination amid accusations of misconduct. Amritsar: As many as 174 Indians, who had been stranded in various parts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because of the closure of companies where they were employed due to the coronavirus pandemic, were brought back by a chartered flight at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport on Monday night. The flight, which was organised by Indian businessman and philanthropist SP Singh Oberoi, departed from Ras al Khaimah in the UAE on Monday. This was the second of the four chartered flights arranged by Oberoi to bring back the Indians from the UAE. On July 7, a chartered plane brought back 177 Indians to Chandigarh airport. According to Oberoi, the third and fourth flights will land in Chandigarh and Amritsar on July 19 and 25, respectively. He said, Thousands of Indians still want to return. Many companies in the UAE have been closed due to the pandemic and the Indians who had been working with them have been left in the lurch. Some of them are not even able to arrange two square meals. Oberoi said few passengers had bought their tickets, but the tickets for most were purchased by his Sarbat Da Bhala Charitable Trust. He said his trust will also pay for the passengers Covid-19 tests. He announced that his trust will soon open skill development centres in all districts of the state with the motive of providing free training to those who are returning from the UAE. The year 2020 has been a year we will not forget. One area that has been in the news is long-term care. The COVID-19 virus has attacked the oldest and most frail of all Americans, with many of them living in nursing homes. American families are wondering if there is a better way to take care of family members. In an online town hall, Matt McCann, a leading expert on long-term care planning, explained families should be thinking about future long-term care needs before they get older and require care. People need long-term care services due to illness, accident, or the impact of aging. Advances in medical science are pushing lifespan, and our longevity is increasing the need for extended care. "Most people I speak with are looking to have a choice. They want a choice of how and where they will be taken care of when they need extended care. People don't want to place the future responsibility of caregiving or managing their care on their families. Without advance planning, that responsibility usually falls on a daughter or daughter-in-law. The fact is you can arrange to have control and independence while preserving lifestyle and legacy. The solution, for many American families, is affordable Long-Term Care Insurance," McCann said. McCann was asked how much insurance is needed to take care of their needs in the future. He explained that Long-Term Care Insurance is custom designed. Even a small policy can provide a choice of quality care, including care at home where most people will want to be if at all possible. "We have seen that home care is desirable. This is not new news. People have been telling me for over 20 years that they ideally would like to stay in their own homes when they need care. Most Long-Term Care Insurance claims start at home. When you have a policy, you maintain control over the type of care you wish to have at home or in a facility," McCann explained. In 45 states, Partnership Long-Term Care Insurance is available. McCann said the partnership program is one of the biggest kept secrets in retirement planning. The Partnership Long-Term Care Insurance plans provide dollar-for-dollar asset protection. The policyholder will be able to shelter part of their estate, so if they ever exhaust their insurance benefits they can access the Medicaid Long-Term Care benefit without being impoverished. "You need just enough to safeguard a chuck of assets. Couples can also have shared spousal benefits, which add even more flexibility at a low cost. The problem is most insurance agents, and financial advisors have little or no knowledge of how this works. They tend to give up on Long-Term Care Insurance because they have little understanding of underwriting criteria and policy design. Also, they think LTC Insurance is expensive. It's not, it is very affordable," McCann added. Premiums can vary over 100% between insurance companies for the same benefits. McCann says that when you work with a Long-Term Care Insurance specialist, like himself, they work with the top companies. A specialist will design an appropriate plan and shop to find the best coverage at the lowest cost. "The time to plan is not during a crisis when you need care. At that point, you have few, if any, options. You plan ahead of time. Most of my clients are in their 40s or 50s when premiums are low, and the consumer has the most affordable options," he said. The problem, according to McCann, is too many people think Long-Term Care Insurance is expensive. While it can be expensive if you choose the wrong company or you are much older or have health issues, a specialist can custom design a plan that easily fits your budget. "The financial costs and burdens of aging will impact you, your family, your savings and income, and your lifestyle and legacy. With planning, you can enjoy peace-of-mind, and your family will have the time to be family. We can ignore the problem or think it won't happen, but that goes against facts and common sense," McCann said. Licensed in every state, McCann represents the major insurance companies to find the best coverage at the best value. He uses a unique approach where a consumer can talk with him on the phone while viewing his computer screen on their own computer or tablet. This is an easy, safe, and pressure-free way to get educated and see your various options as you shop for an affordable LTC policy. McCann recommends these reference websites for research: LTC News offers news and resources. You can find both the current and future cost of extended care services by using the cost of care calculator: https://www.ltcnews.com/resources/states His website has many resources as well: www.mccannltc.net CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his staff members have tested negative for coronavirus COVID-19 on Tuesday. According to reports, the COVID-19 test results of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his staff members have returned negative. The CM was tested after he came in contact with a minister who had tested positive earlier. The state government is giving special attention to coronavirus testing, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said adding that following protocol "without any exception, the chief minister subjected himself to the coronavirus testing and today we have the good news that he is negative." He maintained that the government was transparent in tackling coronavirus and no information was concealed and daily bulletins, district wise data are also being released. As many as 4,328 cases of fresh coronavirus infection were registered in Tamil Nadu over the past 24 hours, said the state Health Department on Monday. In a statement issued here on Monday, the Department said the state recorded new coronavirus infections of 4,328 persons, taking the total tally to 142,798. The total number of Covid-19 patients who died over the past 24-hours was 66 taking the death toll to 2,032. The good news was, 3,035 Covid-19 patients were cured and discharged from various hospitals in the state. The total number of Covid-19 cured persons in the state goes up to 92,567. The number of active Covid-19 cases in the state after taking into account the cured and dead stands at 49,969. The number of infected children in the state in the age group 0-12 went up to 7,065. State capital Chennai continued to head the Covid-19 infection table with 1,140 persons testing positive for the virus and the total tally stands at 78,573. The active cases in the city stand at 16,601 while the total number of Covid-19 patients discharged in Chennai on Monday stood at 2,079. Bengaluru, July 14 : Karnataka has made changes to the Land Reforms Act 1961 through an ordinance to allow non-agriculturists to buy and own farmland for farming, according to an official here on Tuesday. "The Land Reforms Act has been amended through an ordinance and notified after Governor Vajubhai R. Vala gave his assent to it on Monday night," a Revenue Department official told IANS. It now permits non-farmers to buy farmland and grow food crops. But they can't use it for other activities. "Sections 79 A, B and C of the Act have been repealed, paving way for bona fide citizens to invest in farmland and take to farming as a hobby, passion or additional occupation, which is rewarding," the official said. The amended Act will enable the state to attract investment in the farm sector and boost food output. The farm sector's contribution to the state's gross domestic product (GDP) has been less than manufacturing and services sectors over the last two decades. Criticism by farmers, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) since the cabinet approved changes on June 11 forced the state government to retain section 80 of the Act, with an amendment, to prevent sale of the dam water irrigated farmland. "The ordinance has also added a new section (80A), which says relaxations under the Act will not apply to land given to farmers under the Karnataka SC and ST Act 1978," the official said. The changes permits mortgage of farmland only to the state-run institutions, firms, cooperative societies as specified in the Act. The ordinance also makes legal cases pending in courts against the sections amended redundant as the new Act addresses the concerns raised in them. "Besides generating substantial revenue for the state government, the Act will now allow farmers who find the occupation non-remunerative and risky due to droughts/floods and labour shortage to sell their surplus land to urban buyers," the official said. Hundreds of people who have been in diverse professions, like business, services, manufacturing, hospitality, education, health and teaching, will get an opportunity to take to farming and serve the nation. Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Rajya Sabha member K.C. Ramamurthy from Bengaluru said the amended Act would allow any citizen to buy farmland. "Though hundreds of people petitioned successive governments since 45 years to abolish the 'draconian' sections, they were ignored. I compliment Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa and Revenue Minister R. Ashok for the decision to allow everyone to buy farmland irrespective of their occupation or profession," Ramamurthy had told IANS. This combination photo shows the cover art for "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Worlds Most Dangerous Man", left, and a portrait of author Mary L. Trump, Ph.D. The book, written by the niece of President Donald J. Trump, was originally set for release on July 28, but will now arrive on July 14. (via AP) New York: President Donald Trumps niece offers a scathing portrayal of her uncle in a new book, blaming a toxic family for raising a narcissistic, damaged man who poses an immediate danger to the public, according to a copy obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Mary L. Trump, a psychologist, writes that Trumps reelection would be catastrophic and that lying, playing to the lowest common denominator, cheating, and sowing division are all he knows. By the time this book is published, hundreds of thousands of American lives will have been sacrificed on the altar of Donalds hubris and willful ignorance. If he is afforded a second term, it would be the end of American Democracy, she writes in Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created The Worlds Most Dangerous Man. Mary Trump is the daughter of Trumps elder brother, Fred Jr., who died after a struggle with alcoholism in 1981 at 42. The book is the second insider account in two months to paint a deeply unflattering portrait of the president, following the release of former national security adviser John Boltons bestseller. In her book, Mary Trump, who is estranged from her uncle, makes several revelations, including alleging that the president paid a friend to take the SATs a standardized test widely used for college admissions in his place. She writes that his sister Maryanne Trump did his homework for him but couldnt take his tests and he worried his grade point average, which put him far from the top of the class, would scuttle his efforts to get accepted into the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he transferred after two years at Fordham University in the Bronx. To hedge his bets he enlisted Joe Shapiro, a smart kid with a reputation for being a good test taker, to take his SATs for him, she writes, adding, Donald, who never lacked for funds, paid his buddy well. White House spokesperson Sarah Matthews called the allegation completely false. Mary Trump also writes, in awe, of Trumps ability to gain the support of prominent Christian leaders and white evangelicals, saying: The only time Donald went to church was when the cameras were there. Its mind boggling. He has no principles. None! White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany slammed the book Tuesday, saying, Its ridiculous, absurd accusations that have absolutely no bearing in truth. Mary Trump traces much of her pain to the death of her father when she was 16. The president, who rarely admits mistakes, told The Washington Post last year that he regretted the pressure he and his father had put on Fred Jr. to join the family business when his brother wanted to be a pilot instead. It was just not his thing. ... I think the mistake that we made was we assumed that everybody would like it. That would be the biggest mistake. ... There was sort of a double pressure put on him, Trump told the paper. Yet as her father lay dying alone, Mary Trump claims, Donald went to the movies. She says that, as a child, Donald Trump hid favorite toys from his younger brother and took juvenile stunts like Fred Jr. dumping a bowl of mashed potatoes on his then-7-year-old head so seriously that he harbored resentments even when his eldest sister, Maryanne, brought it up in her toast at his White House birthday dinner in 2017. She paints Trump, who often called her Honeybunch, as a self-centered narcissist who demanded constant adulation even from his family and had little regard for family members feelings. Trumps crude rhetoric on the campaign trail, she said, was nothing new, reminding her of every family meal Id ever attended during which Donald had talked about all of the women he considered ugly fat slobs or the men, usually more accomplished or powerful, he called losers. The book is, at its heart, a lengthy psychoanalysis of the Trump family by a woman trained in the field, who sees the traits of her uncle that critics despise as a natural progression of behaviors developed at the knees of a demanding father. For Donald Trump, she writes, lying was defensive not simply a way to circumvent his fathers disapproval or to avoid punishment ... but a way to survive. Publisher Simon & Schuster announced Monday that it would be publishing the book two weeks early, on July 14, after a New York appellate court cleared the way for the books publication following a legal challenge. Robert Trump, the presidents younger brother, had sued Mary Trump, arguing in legal papers that she was subject to a 20-year-old agreement between family members that no one would publish accounts involving core family members without their approval. A judge last week left in place a restraint that blocked Mary Trump and any agent of hers from distributing the book, but the court made clear it was not considering Simon & Schuster to be covered by the ruling. In the book, Mary Trump writes that she didnt take her uncles run for the presidency seriously in 2016 an opinion apparently shared by Trumps eldest sister, a retired federal appeals court judge. Hes a clown, my aunt Maryanne said during one of our regular lunches at the time. This will never happen, she recalls her saying. She said she declined an invitation to attend her uncles election-night party in New York City four years ago, convinced she wouldnt be able to contain my euphoria when (Hillary) Clintons victory was announced. Instead, she found herself wandering around her house a few hours after Trumps victory was announced, fearful that voters had chosen to turn this country into a macro version of my malignantly dysfunctional family. Mary Trump wrote that she considered speaking out against her uncle at various times, including the summer of 2016, but was reluctant to do so for fear of being painted as a disgruntled, disinherited niece looking to cash in or settle a score. After the events of the last three years, she writes, I can no longer remain silent. Johnny Depp has finished giving evidence but was present at the High Court on Tuesday. A member of Johnny Depp's security team has told the High Court he was contacted to "extract the boss" from an argument with Amber Heard in Australia, and that the star was "panicking" as his finger had been sliced open. Malcolm Connolly, who has worked for the Hollywood star and his family for about 16 years, gave evidence on day six of the actor's high-profile libel action against the publishers of The Sun. He told the court in London he never saw Depp, 57, hitting Heard, and that he would never tolerate any man striking a woman, even if he was "the Pope". The court also heard from Tara Roberts, who has worked for Depp as the estate manager on his island in the Bahamas since December 2008, and Samantha McMillen, his stylist of around 18 years. Both described Depp as "kind". Mr Connolly was asked about what Heard, 34, has described as a "three-day hostage situation" in Australia in March 2015. It is one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour against Depp, who has previously told the court his finger was wounded during that incident when his then wife threw a vodka bottle at him. Giving evidence, Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the rented house the couple were staying in, while Depp was filming a Pirates Of The Caribbean film in Australia, he could hear a "ruckus" and the actor was in a state of distress. In his witness statement, Mr Connolly said that Depp told him: "Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle." Mr Connolly said Depp also told him that Heard had put a cigarette out on his face, and confirmed he saw a mark. He said he did not see any injuries on the actress. Mr Connolly said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the late Jerry Judge, the head of Depp's security team at the time, who told him: "Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation." He continued: "I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house." Story continues The security guard said that Depp and Heard were "screaming at each other". When Mr Connolly got Depp out of the house, he said: "I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of, 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. "I saw his finger and it was a mess." In his statement, Mr Connolly said Heard came close to the car and said something like: "Are you just going to leave it like this, you f***ing coward?" Mr Connolly denied a suggestion in court that he might have been "pressured to lie and come on Johnny's side" when giving his evidence. He said he does not "depend" on the actor for his income. Later in the hearing, Ms Roberts - who described Depp as "an unusually kind man" - was asked about two alleged incidents in the Bahamas. One incident on the actor's island in August 2014 is one of the 14 allegations against the actor, who was there at that time to "cure his dependence on painkillers" - although Heard claims he was trying to give up other drugs, too. She alleges that he slapped, kicked and grabbed her by the hair during the trip. Appearing via video-link, Ms Roberts told the court she had never seen the actor being violent towards Heard. She also responded to the suggestion that she might be dependent on Depp for her livelihood, saying: "No... I have other sources of income." In her witness statement, Ms Roberts claimed Heard shouted insults at Depp, calling him "washed up" and "fat", during a separate visit to the island in December 2015. She also said she had seen a "red, swelling gash" on the actor's nose, and alleged he had told her that the actress had thrown a can of lacquer thinner into his face. The estate manager said in her statement that she "observed" during that trip that Heard was "a 'thrower', someone who threw projectiles". She alleged she saw Heard "lunge violently at Johnny, pull his hair, and commit other aggressive physical acts against him". In her statement, Ms Roberts said Depp responded to "verbal attacks" by Heard by saying "go away" and "just leave me alone". Appearing as a witness via video-link in the afternoon, Hollywood-based stylist Ms McMillen told the court she has worked for Depp since 2002, and worked as a stylist for Heard too while they were in a relationship. Ms McMillen was asked about an alleged incident of violence in December 2015. The court heard the stylist saw Heard the following day but did not notice any injuries. Asked by Sasha Wass, representing The Sun, if there was a "conflict" as Ms McMillen's might loyalties lie with Depp due to their long-standing working relationship, the stylist said: "I was close with [Heard] at the time. "I don't know what you are insinuating but I would not perjure myself for anyone. I'm obviously loyal because [Depp's] kind and loyal back, but without any other reason than that." The alleged violent incident is said to have happened the night before Heard appeared on James Corden's The Late Late Show. Ms McMillen claims that Heard said to her after recording the programme: "Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?" However, the stylist said: "I never noticed anything like that when I saw her. I never noticed her having two black eyes." She said she saw Heard at close range and wearing no make-up, and did not see any injuries. After being shown pictures of the actress's alleged injuries, Ms McMillen said her statement and recollection of seeing Heard at that time remained the same. Depp is suing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an article published in April 2018, which labelled him a "wife beater". The actor denies allegations of violence against him. The trial continues. live bse live nse live Volume Todays L/H More Many textile or garment companies had got into the business to make a quick buck and compensate for the losses in their core operations Lucknow-based Karam Industries, which manufactures industrial personal safety products like helmets, goggles, face shields, and work boots, started making coveralls and masks, to take advantage of the huge demand for personal protection equipment (PPE), especially for healthcare workers. Karam and many other firms which took advantage of COVID-19 are now facing a glut in supply and fall in prices. Karam's two factories in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) and Sitarganj (Uttarakhand) have been on an overdrive, churning out PPEs in thousands per day. It is among top-10 PPE suppliers in India. A PPE mainly includes non-reusable items like coverall that covers from head to toe, reusable face shields and goggles, and triple- layered medical masks and N95 respirator masks. 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 "We can scale up our coverall manufacturing to 10,000 units per day, but we are confining ourselves to 2000, as per the demand-supply situation," Sandeep Arora, national sales head, Karam Industries, said. Everyones busy making PPEs Karam isnt alone. Around 500-600 manufacturers of all hues -- from cottage-sized garment makers to big textile companies, such as Arvind Mills and Welspun, have all started making PPEs. Predictably, some of these manufacturers, which are seeing a huge slump in their textile or garment business, got into the PPE business to make a quick buck and compensate for the loss of their core business. According to the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD), the pre-COVID-19 manufacturing capacity was 6.24 million units per annum. By the end of June, it has risen 43 times to 250.98 million pieces per annum. In the same period, the manufacturing capacity of N95 masks increased from 13.82 million pieces per annum to 799.24 million -- an increase of 57 times. The supply glut has led to the prices of PPEs falling almost by half, say manufacturers. Earlier, they used to cost around Rs 1200- Rs 1500, but now a good quality, genuinely certified medical coverall cost about Rs 700- Rs 800," Arora said. PPE prices have further fallen and are now quoting as low Rs 400 - Rs 500. Industry insiders say that the government has enough buffer stock that could last till October. Under a lot of pressure from the textile lobby, the government, towards June-end, allowed the export of PPE medical coveralls with a monthly quota of 50 lakh. But manufacturers say this is too little, too late. The government had banned exports early this year. "Manufacturers have to compete with zero duty imports flooding the market and restrictions on exports manufacturers are staring at non-remunerative prices, unsold inventories, and overburdened loans," said Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator of AiMeD. Nath calls on the government to free up exports as well as increase custom duties on imports to 15 percent to save the industry. Sanitizers too face oversupply The story isn't any different for sanitizers. Hundreds of brands have flooded the market. For instance, Indus Health Plus, which is into preventive health check-up, launched its own hand sanitizer in May to meet "urgent consumer needs". "The product Indus is mainly aimed at organisations, and institutions to ensure safety and prevention from the virus," said Amol Naikawadi, Joint Managing Director, Indus Health Plus. But he says there is tremendous pricing pressure due to competition. The prices of sanitizers, too, were hitting the roof, when the government capped the prices of pharmaceutical grade. Finally, with the glut in the market, the government removed the cap early on July. Now, a 100-ml sanitizer is available for Rs 50. Indus Health says as the market is brimming with different brands, there will be a negligible impact on pricing. Quality is still a problem Even as the domestic industry is producing more than enough PPE kits and sanitizers, experts say quality remains a problem. "For PPEs, there were no specifications or standards during the initial months. The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) was still working on specifications, and we were taking reference from US and European standards," Arora of Karam said. Eight labs, including the South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), Defence Research & Development Establishment (DRDO), and Ordnance Factory Board and Textiles Committee, can validate samples of coveralls and issue certificates. Still it remains a huge challenge to verify the quality of the products supplied in the market are the certified grades. Hospitals like Hinduja at Khar, Mumbai, do their own quality check before buying coveralls. "During the first 15-20 days of COVID-19, we had problems of which one is good and bad, but now we have standardised our testing. We buy only whatever is good," said Joy Chakraborty, Chief Operating Officer, Hinduja Hospital. Arora of Karam says now there is more awareness among hospitals and doctors, and manufacturers who focus on quality and capacity, would survive, the rest would perish. Due to Turkish insistence to remain militarily involved in Libya, the south of the Mediterranean is full of tensions, on both the political and military levels. Egypt, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus have all taken steps to ensure the security of the region and their strategic interests in it. Perhaps Egypt, Italy and France are not only concerned with their interests in the Mediterranean; they are mainly concerned with the Libyan file. Other countries like Greece, Cyprus and even Israel are concerned with their gas and oil interests in the region that Turkey is starting to threaten and violate. The south of the Mediterranean is an extremely rich spot in natural gas, and naval military powers within it are quite significant. Egypt has been for almost three weeks keen to bring back a political process to the scene in Libya, one that is built upon Libyan-Libyan negotiations between legitimate parties. But Turkish persistence to intervene in the region made the Government of National Accord (GNA) in West Libya quite adamant to resort to military solutions or in other words to secure the maximum limit of military gains before going back to a political process. After several efforts, Egypt had to resort to other tools than the political course. Egypt announced its willingness to start a series of military manoeuvres under the title Hasm 2020 a display of naval military exercises to prove its power within the south of the Mediterranean. In similar manner, Italy, France, Greece and Cyprus followed the same course, and joint manoeuvres were declared and naval components started to move. But if Egypt is interested in the Libyan file due to border security issues and millions of Egyptian labourers that used to work in Libya, and if Italy is interested in the Libyan file due to its battle against illegal immigration and its investments in the Libyan oil sector that are worth billions of dollars, other countries are involved because of the regional security of the Mediterranean. Turkish intervention in Libya, and military presence in the south of the Mediterranean, is making the state of security in the region very vulnerable, and is escalating political and military tensions between the various countries involved. Both the United States and Russia have taken vague positions towards what is happening in the region. The United States is consumed within its own internal problems, mainly the coronavirus, mobilisation on an anti-racist platform, and the upcoming presidential elections. However, the US has refused a Turkish request for purchasing a missile defence technology, and stated that it will participate in joint military manoeuvres with Cyprus in the Mediterranean. This means that the US started to believe that the bet on Ankara is a losing one amid these tensions. Russia, on the other hand, is in quite a dilemma. Moscow is very careful to maintain its Turkish ally, mainly for political and military support in the Balkans region. Politically, Russia refused any foreign intervention in Libya, via its spokesman in the Security Council, and indeed Russia does not want to lose a strategic ally like Egypt in the Middle East and North Africa. The Mediterranean at this moment is a scene of potential conflict between countries that have significant naval military powers. If one single shot is fired within this tension filled scene, the whole region will pay a very high price. Egypt has stated more than once its refusal of any foreign intervention or any violations of UN decisions. But it also stated that its national security is top priority that Egypt will not ignore, neither now nor in the future. Similarly, European countries declared that they have a vested interest in the south of the Mediterranean, one that Turkish intervention currently threatens. As tensions rise between regional powers, the Libyan interior is not calm. The ongoing fight over legitimacy between the east and the west in the country is still active. The current scene puts Libya several steps further from a political solution. Military influence seems to be the determining factor within the Libyan interior. The foreign fighters that Turkey managed to smuggle into Libya complicates the problem more. There is a new genre of militias emerging, exercising their rule over cities like Tripoli, Misrata and Zintan. The Mediterranean as a region is in a state of doubt. Egypt is between a rock and a hard place because it does not want to violate the mechanisms borne of the consensus of the international community, but at the same time it will not underestimate its national security priorities. The overall scene in Libya is not promising, and its the Libyan people who will eventually pay the price. The writer is a senior researcher and director of the Programme for Mediterranean and North African Studies at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. *A version of this article appears in print in the 16 July, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Search Keywords: Short link: The Trump administration was moving ahead early Tuesday with the execution of the first federal prison inmate in 17 years after a divided Supreme Court reversed lower courts and ruled federal executions could proceed. Daniel Lewis Lee had been scheduled to receive a lethal dose of the powerful sedative pentobarbital at 4 p.m. EDT Monday. But a court order issued Monday morning by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan prevented Lees execution. A federal appeals court in Washington refused the administrations plea to step in, leaving the hold in place, before the Supreme Court acted by a 5-4 vote. Still, Lees lawyers insisted the execution could not go forward after midnight under federal regulations. With conservatives in the majority, the court said in an unsigned opinion that the prisoners executions may proceed as planned. The four liberal justices dissented. Lee's execution was scheduled for about 4 a.m. EDT Tuesday, according to court papers. FILE - In this Oct. 31 1997, file photo, Daniel Lewis Lee waits for his arraignment hearing for murder in the Pope County Detention Center in Russellville, Ark. (Dan Pierce/The Courier via AP, File)AP The Bureau of Prisons had continued with preparations even as lower courts paused the proceedings. Lee, of Yukon, Oklahoma, has had access to social visitors, visited with his spiritual adviser and has been allowed to receive mail, prison officials said. The witnesses for Lee are expected to include three family members, his lawyers and spiritual adviser. Lee 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 decision to move forward 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. Some members of the victims family argued they would be put at high risk for the coronavirus if they had to travel to attend, and sought to delay the execution until it was safer to travel. Those claims were at first granted but also eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. 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. Two more executions are scheduled this week, though one, Wesley Ira Purkey, was on hold in a separate legal claim. Dustin Lee Honken's execution was scheduled for on Friday. A fourth man, Keith Dwayne Nelson, is scheduled to be executed in August. A guard tower flanks the sign at the entrance to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy File)AP 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 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 also been given execution dates 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. The guard tower flanks the sign at the entrance to the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)AP 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 Department 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. It was yet another funeral for yet another young man killed in yet another drive-by shooting. But this time the violence didn't wait while others mourned. Even before the service ended, gang conflicts erupted into gunshots and a stabbing within the sanctuary of Morning Star Baptist Church in Mattapan, Massachusetts. This flagrant disruption of religious observance impelled the African-American clergy of Boston to act in a way they never had before--as a group. In May 1992, ministers Eugene Rivers '83, Ray Hammond '71, M.D. '75, A.M. '84, and Jeffrey Brown, Dv '90, published a "Ten-Point Proposal for Citywide Mobilization to Combat the Material and Spiritual Sources of Black-on-Black Violence." Within weeks, the Ten-Point Coalition was born. Now numbering 42 churches, the Ten-Point Coalition has been instrumental in creating what has been billed as the "Boston Miracle"--a 77 percent drop in annual homicides from 1990's record high of 152 to only 35 in 1998. Although several major cities' murder rates have dropped in recent years, Boston's dramatic decline leads the nation. An unusual partnership between the coalition and Boston law enforcement has made a major contribution, according to Jenny Berrien '98 and sociology professor Christopher Winship, Ph.D. '77, who have coauthored four articles on the topic. The ministers, Winship says, are "critical in pushing the police to follow a set of policies that the inner-city community is willing to support and sees as beneficial and helpful." Adds Berrien, "That's the whole idea of the 'umbrella of legitimacy'"--which she and Winship posit as Ten-Point's chief contribution to reducing youth violence. "In Boston, youth violence has come to be seen as a joint problem," Winship says. "Cops and ministers meet with troublemakers and send a direct message--either stop the gang-banging [gang violence] or we're going to put you in jail." These efforts are built on a few shared assumptions: (1) youth violence must be dealt with as crime, not simply as a symptom of poverty and broken homes; (2) only 1 percent of youths are responsible for the greatest violence, and the ministers will help identify them; (3) some kids need to go to jail, not only for the sake of the community, but for their own sake; (4) the Ten-Point ministers will have a voice in who gets arrested and how they are sentenced; (5) if police act indiscriminately or abusively, they will be held accountable. The ministers, police, and probation officers now "talk off-and-on on a daily basis," says Berrien, adding that such a "stable and standardized level of communication" is rare in law enforcement. New York City, which has also brought down its crime rates, has taken a different approach, with aggressive "stop and frisk" tactics. But its police department and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani have come under increasing attack for instituting what some have called a "police state." "Community-police relations there are at an all-time low," says Winship. "Is that a politically sustainable approach?" A decade ago, the Boston police had their own "kick butts and crack heads" policy (as one captain put it) to combat gang violence, before the racially charged Carol Stuart murder case of 1989 prompted a change. Police had accepted husband Charles Stuart's story of a black male assailant (the Stuarts were white), and blanketed the African-American neighborhood of Dorchester, coercing statements in their search for suspects. These rights abuses outraged the African-American community. Ultimately, the investigation suggested that Stuart himself had murdered his pregnant wife. Such incidents, past and present, lead "inner-city minorities to see the criminal justice system as totally lacking legitimacy," explain Berrien and Winship in an article in the forthcoming Brookings Institution book Managing Youth Violence. Residents, they write, "become increasingly unwilling to cooperate with police or support police activities." Hostile mistrust on both sides of the police-community equation has been a major obstacle in the fight against inner-city crime. In fact, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Boston's black clergy were among the most severe and public critics of police excesses. How, then, did they become allies? Following the Carol Stuart fiasco, the Boston police department recognized its need for community support and began overhauling its policies. It publicly weeded out "bad-seed" cops, undertook "squeaky-clean" policing, and started experimenting with an innovative multiagency approach to violence prevention. Probation officers, for instance, had deserted the streets out of fear for their safety. Now, "Operation Night Light" enables them to join police officers on patrol to enforce probation restrictions--and consequently, probationers no longer view probation as a meaningless slap on the wrist. Over time, Boston police have earned greater respect in the inner city. And the program is now rolling out nationally: nine other cities, including Philadelphia, Tulsa, and East Chicago, are putting the coalition's principles into action. Invitations have arrived from overseas, with London, Durban, South Africa, and Kingston, Jamaica, among the cities interested. In collaboration with the Kennedy School's Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, the coalition is planning a national Ten-Point Training Institute. There have even been discussions with representatives of the World Bank about "the role of faith communities as nongovernmental organizations that can assist in crime prevention," says the Reverend Eugene Rivers. "Ministers have a unique moral authority," Winship says, "and I think they've been able to hold that moral authority over both the police and the gang members. Second, they bring a religious language and perspective to understanding these problems. They can talk about individual responsibility in a way that avoids the argument between the left and the right." Indeed, both Texas governor George W. Bush Jr. and Vice President Al Gore have endorsed the program. Even more important are the results. For 29 months, not a single funeral was held in Boston for a teenage homicide victim, and during the following 20 months, between January 1998 and August 1999, there were only four--a quadrennial average of less than one a year. At the moment, Russia is testing electromagnetic weapons. The range of destruction of some samples is from two to ten kilometres. According to Russian media, during the tests, the EMP cannons destroy electronics both on the ground and in the air, shooting down drones. As Forbes writes in the article Russia Working On Directed Energy Weapon, since humans have bent electricity to war, there has been a hunt for a special weapon that renders the technology particularly useless. Lurking in the annals of weapon design, and periodically re-emerging as a novel solution to some new machine, exist tools that target electronics, and electronics only. Early in July, Russian media described a weapon that roughly fits into this tempo, using the phrase EMP cannon. EMP, or electro-magnetic pulse, is a real, observable phenomenon, but the primary way to produce the effect at scale is to use a nuclear weapon.When the nuke is detonated low to the ground, an electromagnetic pulse is one effect of many, limited in range and whose effect is largely overshadowed by the fire and death of the nuclear blast. When the nuke is detonated at high altitude, in the lower reaches of space, the pulse can travel quite a distance, though the effect is mitigated by hardening of second-strike nuclear weapons and the almost certain nuclear retaliation that would follow. This Russian EMP-cannon is neither of those effects, which makes the moniker vexing. Instead, the weapon as described more closely resembles microwave guns, a kind of directed energy weapon thats seeing modern usage as an anti-drone tool. In that sense, the weapon can be seen as an extension of Russia's pledge to develop breakthrough capabilities to counter what they perceive as the current Western overmatch in hi-tech and [Precision-Guided Munition] weapons, says Samuel Bendett, adviser to CNA Russia Program who specializes in Russian unmanned military systems. Creating a directed energy weapon that can specifically disable drones is one way to leap-frog into the future of war, as human-piloted and robotic aircraft look to contest skies filled with hostile machines. TASS notes that such a weapon is expected to be incorporated in the remotely piloted version of any sixth-generation fighters produced. The cannons as described would also fit into Russia's overall counter-drone research, development, testing, and evaluations, says Bendett, a CNAS Adjunct Senior Fellow who researches applications of Russian military unmanned system and AI. This work is carried out as an extension of Russia's counter-drone lessons learned from its Syria experience, as well as part of defense against Western high-altitude drones that currently conduct surveillance missions near Russian borders. Whatever the nature of the anti-electronics weapon actually being developed, the future of war is likely to see far more new energy weapons, put to familiar use. Rating Action: Moody's affirms Baa1 senior unsecured of Analog Devices following Maxim acquisition agreement; outlook stable Global Credit Research - 13 Jul 2020 NOTE: On July 13, 2020, the press release was corrected as follows: The second paragraph was changed to In addition to the acquisition's strong strategic fit, the rating is supported by governance considerations, specifically a conservative leverage policy that targets net debt to EBITDA (company calculated) of less than 2x and our expectation for a balanced capital allocation policy over the longer term. Revised release follows. New York, July 13, 2020 -- Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") affirmed Analog Devices, Inc.'s ("Analog") Baa1 senior unsecured rating following today's announcement that it will acquire Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. ("Maxim") in an all-stock transaction that values the combined enterprise at over $68 billion. The credit positive transaction, unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both companies, will strengthen Analog with increased breadth and scale across multiple end markets. Subject to regulatory approvals, the transaction is expected to close in mid-2021. Upon closing, current Analog shareholders will own approximately 69 percent of the combined company, while Maxim stockholders will own approximately 31 percent. The outlook remains stable. In addition to the acquisition's strong strategic fit, the rating is supported by governance considerations, specifically a conservative leverage policy that targets net debt to EBITDA (company calculated) of less than 2x and our expectation for a balanced capital allocation policy over the longer term. Affirmations: ..Issuer: Analog Devices, Inc. ....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Affirmed Baa1 Outlook Actions: ..Issuer: Analog Devices, Inc. ....Outlook, Remains Stable RATINGS RATIONALE The acquisition would combine two very profitable analog semiconductor companies with complementary technologies, products, and capabilities, solidifying Analog's very strong position in the high performance analog market, with $7.7 billion of combined revenue and $3.3 billion of EBITDA as of the LTM period ending the first calendar quarter of 2020. Reflecting very high quality earnings and efficient business models, the combined companies convert over 80% of EBITDA into cash flow after capital spending. Both companies have strong positions in very diversified end markets with Maxim having relative strength in automotive and data center markets, while Analog excels across the broad industrial, optical communications and digital healthcare markets. The combined entity will have highly differentiated products across similar end-markets in industrial (44% of combined revenue in the most recent quarter), communications (22%), automotive (19%), and consumer (13%).The ratings are constrained by semiconductor industry cyclicality, although less pronounced with broadening end markets, strong although fairly predictable competition from analog semiconductor players and integration risks related to the Maxim acquisition. Story continues In addition to modest cost synergy expectations ($275 million) that Moody's views as achievable, the broader portfolio and revenue base over which the company will be able to leverage research and development spending, should improve profit margins and cash flow from already strong levels. Moody's projects leverage will be modest at closing, with adjusted gross debt to EBITDA around 2x and free cash flow after dividends to adjusted gross debt near 30%. With a suspension of share buybacks until closing and Maxim agreeing to suspend its dividend payment during the approval process, Moody's projects combined cash balances will grow to over $3 billion by the expected closing in mid-2021. Analog maintains excellent liquidity, with $785 million of cash and short term investments at April 2020. The company has been free cash flow positive every quarter over the last decade, and over the last 16 years, Analog has had only two quarters of negative free cash flow ($20 million each). Over the next year, we anticipate the company will use its free cash flow to repay a $450 million debt maturity in January 2021. Analog also maintains an unused $1.25 billion unsecured revolving credit facility that matures in June 2024 under which it has full access, same day availability, no requirement to re-represent as to no material adverse change, and significant cushion under its financial covenant. The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that Analog will sustain strong profit margins although revenue will be pressured by COVID-19 driven weakness in 2020. The outlook also embeds our expectations that the company will continue to pay down debt with free cash flow while maintaining excellent liquidity. FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS The ratings could be upgraded if Analog demonstrates market share gains while maintaining operating margins of 30% beyond a cyclical recovery. Adhering to conservative financial practices, including the maintenance of solid liquidity and a modestly leveraged capital structure (adjusted gross debt / EBITDA less than 2.0 times), could result in an upgrade. Post-closing, Analog would also need to demonstrate the successful integration of Maxim. The ratings could be downgraded if Analog experiences a deterioration in business fundamentals resulting in sustained market share loss and operating margins that trend below 25%. Ratings pressure could develop if management adopts a more aggressive use of financial leverage such that adjusted gross debt / EBITDA exceeds 2.5 times on a sustained basis. The principal methodology used in these ratings was Software Industry published in August 2018 and available at https://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1130740. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology. Analog Devices, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad portfolio of standard linear analog semiconductors. Headquartered in Norwood, MA, the company reported revenues of $5.5 billion for the twelve months ended April 2020. 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. Richard J. Lane Senior Vice President Corporate Finance Group 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 Lenny J. Ajzenman Associate Managing Director Corporate Finance 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 2020 Moody's Corporation, Moody's Investors Service, Inc., Moody's Analytics, Inc. and/or their licensors and affiliates (collectively, "MOODY'S"). All rights reserved. CREDIT RATINGS ISSUED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE, INC. AND/OR ITS CREDIT RATINGS AFFILIATES ARE MOODY'S CURRENT OPINIONS OF THE RELATIVE FUTURE CREDIT RISK OF ENTITIES, CREDIT COMMITMENTS, OR DEBT OR DEBT-LIKE SECURITIES, AND MATERIALS, PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND INFORMATION PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S (COLLECTIVELY, "PUBLICATIONS") MAY INCLUDE SUCH CURRENT OPINIONS. MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE DEFINES CREDIT RISK AS THE RISK THAT AN ENTITY MAY NOT MEET ITS CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS AS THEY COME DUE AND ANY ESTIMATED FINANCIAL LOSS IN THE EVENT OF DEFAULT OR IMPAIRMENT. SEE MOODY'S RATING SYMBOLS AND DEFINITIONS PUBLICATION FOR INFORMATION ON THE TYPES OF CONTRACTUAL FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS ADDRESSED BY MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE CREDIT RATINGS. CREDIT RATINGS DO NOT ADDRESS ANY OTHER RISK, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: LIQUIDITY RISK, MARKET VALUE RISK, OR PRICE VOLATILITY. CREDIT RATINGS, NON-CREDIT ASSESSMENTS ("ASSESSMENTS"), AND OTHER OPINIONS INCLUDED IN MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT STATEMENTS OF CURRENT OR HISTORICAL FACT. MOODY'S PUBLICATIONS MAY ALSO INCLUDE QUANTITATIVE MODEL-BASED ESTIMATES OF CREDIT RISK AND RELATED OPINIONS OR COMMENTARY PUBLISHED BY MOODY'S ANALYTICS, INC. AND/OR ITS AFFILIATES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT CONSTITUTE OR PROVIDE INVESTMENT OR FINANCIAL ADVICE, AND MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT AND DO NOT PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS TO PURCHASE, SELL, OR HOLD PARTICULAR SECURITIES. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS DO NOT COMMENT ON THE SUITABILITY OF AN INVESTMENT FOR ANY PARTICULAR INVESTOR. MOODY'S ISSUES ITS CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS AND OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLISHES ITS PUBLICATIONS WITH THE EXPECTATION AND UNDERSTANDING THAT EACH INVESTOR WILL, WITH DUE CARE, MAKE ITS OWN STUDY AND EVALUATION OF EACH SECURITY THAT IS UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR PURCHASE, HOLDING, OR SALE. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY RETAIL INVESTORS AND IT WOULD BE RECKLESS AND INAPPROPRIATE FOR RETAIL INVESTORS TO USE MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS, ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS OR PUBLICATIONS WHEN MAKING AN INVESTMENT DECISION. IF IN DOUBT YOU SHOULD CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVISER. ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROTECTED BY LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, COPYRIGHT LAW, AND NONE OF SUCH INFORMATION MAY BE COPIED OR OTHERWISE REPRODUCED, REPACKAGED, FURTHER TRANSMITTED, TRANSFERRED, DISSEMINATED, REDISTRIBUTED OR RESOLD, OR STORED FOR SUBSEQUENT USE FOR ANY SUCH PURPOSE, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, IN ANY FORM OR MANNER OR BY ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER, BY ANY PERSON WITHOUT MOODY'S PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT. MOODY'S CREDIT RATINGS,ASSESSMENTS, OTHER OPINIONS AND PUBLICATIONS ARE NOT INTENDED FOR USE BY ANY PERSON AS A BENCHMARK AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED FOR REGULATORY PURPOSES AND MUST NOT BE USED IN ANY WAY THAT COULD RESULT IN THEM BEING CONSIDERED A BENCHMARK. All information contained herein is obtained by MOODY'S from sources believed by it to be accurate and reliable. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error as well as other factors, however, all information contained herein is provided "AS IS" without warranty of any kind. MOODY'S adopts all necessary measures so that the information it uses in assigning a credit rating is of sufficient quality and from sources MOODY'S considers to be reliable including, when appropriate, independent third-party sources. However, MOODY'S is not an auditor and cannot in every instance independently verify or validate information received in the rating process or in preparing its Publications. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability to any person or entity for any indirect, special, consequential, or incidental losses or damages whatsoever arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information, even if MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers is advised in advance of the possibility of such losses or damages, including but not limited to: (a) any loss of present or prospective profits or (b) any loss or damage arising where the relevant financial instrument is not the subject of a particular credit rating assigned by MOODY'S. To the extent permitted by law, MOODY'S and its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors and suppliers disclaim liability for any direct or compensatory losses or damages caused to any person or entity, including but not limited to by any negligence (but excluding fraud, willful misconduct or any other type of liability that, for the avoidance of doubt, by law cannot be excluded) on the part of, or any contingency within or beyond the control of, MOODY'S or any of its directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, licensors or suppliers, arising from or in connection with the information contained herein or the use of or inability to use any such information. NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO THE ACCURACY, TIMELINESS, COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE OF ANY CREDIT RATING, ASSESSMENT, OTHER OPINION OR INFORMATION IS GIVEN OR MADE BY MOODY'S IN ANY FORM OR MANNER WHATSOEVER. Moody's Investors Service, Inc., a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Corporation ("MCO"), hereby discloses that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to Moody's Investors Service, Inc. for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from $1,000 to approximately $2,700,000. MCO and Moody's investors Service also maintain policies and procedures to address the independence of Moody's Investors Service credit ratings and credit rating processes. Information regarding certain affiliations that may exist between directors of MCO and rated entities, and between entities who hold credit ratings from Moody's Investors Service and have also publicly reported to the SEC an ownership interest in MCO of more than 5%, is posted annually at www.moodys.com under the heading "Investor Relations Corporate Governance Director and Shareholder Affiliation Policy." Additional terms for Australia only: Any publication into Australia of this document is pursuant to the Australian Financial Services License of MOODY'S affiliate, Moody's Investors Service Pty Limited ABN 61 003 399 657AFSL 336969 and/or Moody's Analytics Australia Pty Ltd ABN 94 105 136 972 AFSL 383569 (as applicable). This document is intended to be provided only to "wholesale clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. By continuing to access this document from within Australia, you represent to MOODY'S that you are, or are accessing the document as a representative of, a "wholesale client" and that neither you nor the entity you represent will directly or indirectly disseminate this document or its contents to "retail clients" within the meaning of section 761G of the Corporations Act 2001. MOODY'S credit rating is an opinion as to the creditworthiness of a debt obligation of the issuer, not on the equity securities of the issuer or any form of security that is available to retail investors. Additional terms for Japan only: Moody's Japan K.K. ("MJKK") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of Moody's Group Japan G.K., which is wholly-owned by Moody's Overseas Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCO. Moody's SF Japan K.K. ("MSFJ") is a wholly-owned credit rating agency subsidiary of MJKK. MSFJ is not a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO"). Therefore, credit ratings assigned by MSFJ are Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings. Non-NRSRO Credit Ratings are assigned by an entity that is not a NRSRO and, consequently, the rated obligation will not qualify for certain types of treatment under U.S. laws. MJKK and MSFJ are credit rating agencies registered with the Japan Financial Services Agency and their registration numbers are FSA Commissioner (Ratings) No. 2 and 3 respectively. MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) hereby disclose that most issuers of debt securities (including corporate and municipal bonds, debentures, notes and commercial paper) and preferred stock rated by MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) have, prior to assignment of any credit rating, agreed to pay to MJKK or MSFJ (as applicable) for credit ratings opinions and services rendered by it fees ranging from JPY125,000 to approximately JPY250,000,000. MJKK and MSFJ also maintain policies and procedures to address Japanese regulatory requirements. Addressing potential threats from predators has not slowed the dramatic decline of mountain caribou in British Columbia and Alberta, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Alberta and two other western Canadian universities. Biologists reassessed data from research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in 2019. The original research has been cited as showing that killing wolves and fencing pregnant caribou are solutions to saving the endangered animals. The scientists looked closely at the data provided in the 2019 study, and found that when routine statistical tests were included, predator control lacked statistical support. They found that some of the steepest declines in caribou populations were in southern British Columbia, areas where wolves are not major caribou predators. "No matter how you calculate it, the statistics don't back up culling wolves or fencing in caribou," said Viktoria Wagner, assistant professor in University of Alberta's Department of Biological Sciences and co-author. Instead, the authors found that statistically caribou declines tracked closely with specific mountain caribou ecotypes. The deep-snow mountain caribou found from Wells Gray Park into the Kootenays experienced the steepest declines despite having a low number of caribou killed by wolves. "This means something is going on that's killing off an endangered species and it isn't being addressed by predator management," said Toby Spribille, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and co-author on the study. He noted that although focusing on predator threats is simple and easy to communicate, it does not capture the interactions that are causing mountain caribou to go extinct. For instance, the loss of habitat to logging, snowpack variation and snowmobiling are factors that need to be addressed, the authors say. "This is an uncomfortable conversation to have but it should not be left out of scientific models," noted Spribille."If decision-makers are going to be serious about species conservation, it's really critical that they get all the information." "Forests provide caribou with refuge from wolves and separation from other prey animals, including elk, moose, and deer," said Lee Harding, retired Canadian Wildlife Service biologist and lead author on the study. "Without them, caribou must constantly be on the move to find food, exposing them on all sides. Predators are just one of the hazards." Chris Darimont, professor at University of Victoria, Mathieu Bourbonnais, assistant professor at University of British Columbia Okanagan, and Andrew Cook, PhD student in UAlberta's Department of Biological Sciences, collaborated on this research. ### The study, "No statistical support for wolf control and maternal penning as conservation measures for endangered mountain caribou," is published in Biodiversity and Conservation (doi: 10.1007/s10531-020-02008). By Dennis Levinson With all the issues currently facing our state, I find it remarkable that replacing the title of county freeholder is a top priority. There is state legislation pending, now supported by the governor and legislative leaders, to change the name of county legislators from freeholders to commissioners. Evidently, some people find the name freeholder confusing, while others claim it is racist and misogynistic. What I find perplexing is why anyone would be less confused or have a greater understanding of what a freeholder does simply by calling them commissioners. Those who care can easily find out the fundamental responsibilities of county government and its elected officials. Referencing the term freeholder as racist or misogynistic demonstrates a lack of knowledge of New Jerseys rich history. New Jerseys definition of freeholder was actually very inclusionary during a time when every other state excluded women and Black people. The facts are clear. In 1776, New Jerseys first constitution defined eligible voters as all inhabitants who were of age, owned property and had resided in a New Jersey county for one year. The phrase all inhabitants was remarkable because it ignored gender and racial barriers. New Jerseys use of the phrase was also deliberate, the only one of the 13 original states to use this description. It ensured that all New Jersey citizens, regardless of race or gender, could vote, provided they met the property ownership requirements. New Jersey went further and explicitly reaffirmed its commitment to voter equality by referring to voters as he or she in its 1790 election law. With the inclusion of the pronoun she, the Legislature left no doubt about its intent. This election law also included the phrase all free inhabitants. These terms were reiterated by the Legislature in 1797. This not only cleared up any confusion, but also firmly established the intent of the Legislature to include eligible women and free Black persons. It is estimated that as many as 10,000 women voted in New Jersey between 1790 and 1807. We dont know the number of Black voters, but we do know there was no law specifically prohibiting them from voting. This was unlike other states that used terms such as free white men, white males, etc,. to exclude certain groups. In 1807, New Jersey changed its voting rights law, restricting it to land-owning white men. This restriction remained until 1870, when the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave Black men the right to vote and, for women, until 1920, when the 19th Amendment was ratified. Freeholder is unique to New Jersey. It reflects a time when, for 30 years, New Jersey was the only state to truly demonstrate inclusion. As a former history teacher, I took pride in sharing with my students New Jerseys position of standing tall when others did not. The term freeholder is only confusing, racist or misogynistic to the misinformed. I understand and support efforts to address racism, but I also urge our elected officials to make their decisions based upon facts rather than an emotional rush to judgment. Dennis Levinson is the Atlantic County executive. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at sjletters@njadvancemedia.com Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Sachin Pilot on Tuesday changed his profile on Twitter minutes after he was dropped as the chief of Congress Rajasthan unit and removed from the state cabinet. Pilot was the deputy chief minister and also held the portfolios of public works department as well as the panchayati raj ministry. The 42-year-old leaders profile now describes him as MLA from Tonk and former minister of IT, telecom and corporate affairs in the government of India. Truth can be harassed, cannot be defeated, Sachin Pilot also tweeted in Hindi. Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 Pilot, Ramesh Meena, the states food and civil supplies minister, and tourism minister Vishvendra Singh were dropped after they along with others kept away from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in Jaipur on Monday as well as Tuesday. Congress members of legislative assembly (MLAs) recommended action against him and other members of his camp during both the meetings. ALSO WATCH | Sachin Pilot sacked: Watch Congress charge & Pilots response l Key details After Tuesdays CLP meeting, senior party leader Randeep Singh Surjewala announced Rajasthans education minister Govind Singh Dotasra will replace Sachin Pilot as chief of the Congress Rajasthan unit. The Congress party has taken some decisions with a heavy heart, he said. The party also sacked Mukesh Bhakar and Rakesh Pareek as presidents of the partys frontal organisations--Youth Congress and Sewa Dal. Ganesh Ghoghra, an MLA from Dungarpur, and Hem Singh Shekhawat were given the posts. After Pilots removal, the police has increased security in the Gurjar dominated areas of the state. The removal of Pilot may disturb law and order situation in some parts of the state, especially eastern Rajasthan. Hence, the security has been increased and we are doing strict patrolling in selected areas, a police official said. With the number of COVID-19 cases exploding in some North American jurisdictions, Manitobans can take comfort the novel coronavirus appears virtually non-existent in the province. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. With the number of COVID-19 cases exploding in some North American jurisdictions, Manitobans can take comfort the novel coronavirus appears virtually non-existent in the province. On Monday, Manitoba extended its impressive streak of days without a new case to 13 zero-for-July while the number of active cases fell to just one. In a day or two, that could be reduced to none. The province last reported a death due to the virus its seventh on May 5. The last time a patient was in a Manitoba hospital due to COVID-19 was May 22. Yet, Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, urged Manitobans not to become complacent in the face of this streak of really good news. "We can't let our guards down. The low numbers does set us up for people to think that we're done with this virus or that this virus is done with us and I can assure Manitobans that that is not the case," he told a Monday news conference. Roussin said there is evidence folks are becoming less careful. "We can't let our guards down. The low numbers does set us up for people to think that we're done with this virus or that this virus is done with us and I can assure Manitobans that that is not the case." Dr. Brent Roussin "We have seen more and more reports of larger (than-permitted) gatherings, of people not adhering to physical distancing," he said, referring to reports of crowds at beaches, parks and some restaurants. However, Roussin did admit the province is doing better in containing the virus right now than he expected in spring. "Looking at things back in April or May, we're probably a lot more ahead than I thought we'd be at this point," he said. Newfoundland and New Brunswick also reported just one active case of the coronavirus Monday. Only Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories had no active cases. In the country as a whole, there are still 27,503 active COVID-19 cases, including 25,082 in Quebec and 1,454 in Ontario. Neighbouring Saskatchewan has 90. Visitors at Birds Hill park beach soak up the sun on a hot summer day in June. (Daniel Crump / Winnipeg Free Press Files) "We have seen more and more reports of larger (thanpermitted) gatherings, of people not adhering to physical distancing." Roussin hinted there could be a loosening of some of the restrictions on gatherings as a result of the province's performance recently. He said the size of groups allowed outdoors, currently set at 100, may be expanded. "We don't have a specific date, but that's something that we're working on." Roussin said the province is also continuing to work with faith-based organizations to see how restrictions may be eased for them. "We're trying to find ways to increase their capacity safely, because we know how important that is," he said. What the province does not want to do, he said, is to open things up too swiftly and then have to backtrack and reinstall restrictions. "There's going to be restrictions in place for pretty much any type of business for the foreseeable future, but we're going to look how we can further loosen things up in a safe way," he said. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Shared Health, said one of the government's priorities is to increase the percentage of Manitobans getting vaccinated for influenza this year. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files) Asked about the possibility of future Winnipeg Jets' Whiteout outdoor parties downtown or the city being used as a possible hub for CFL games, Roussin was cautious, saying the health of Manitobans was his main priority. The absence of new COVID-19 cases this month is even more remarkable as the number of tests in recent weeks has averaged around 700 per day. The province can now test up to 2,000 a day. Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. On Friday, there were 798 laboratory tests conducted; on Saturday, 1,149 tests were performed; on Sunday, a further 573 were done. Lanette Siragusa, chief nursing officer with Shared Health, said provincial planning is now turning to the fall, when flu season could coincide with a new round of COVID-19 cases. She said one of the government's priorities is to increase the percentage of Manitobans getting vaccinated for influenza this year. Meanwhile, with an absence of the coronavirus, the occupancy of intensive care beds in Winnipeg is less than 75 per cent. Hospital bed occupancy in the city is below 80 per cent. Outside Winnipeg, hospital bed occupancy is under 70 per cent, Siragusa said. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca Opinion writer and editor Bari Weiss is leaving the New York Times claiming she has been bullied and harassed by colleagues over her often controversial opinion articles, and alleging that Twitter is the paper's 'ultimate editor'. Ms Weiss has been a polarising figure for the paper and she frequently generated backlash on social media for her opinions. She is leaving the paper amid a debate in the elite media over the role of journalists and the prevalence of "cancel culture" within the industry. In a resignation letter posted to her website, she accuses the New York Times of being a paper where "truth isn't a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else." She goes on to claim that Twitter is the New York Times' "ultimate editor" and complains that the paper has become a "kind of performance space." Ms Weiss claims she was bullied for her views and complained that colleagues who criticised her on Twitter weren't punished. Recommended JK Rowling among 150 figures to sign letter denouncing cancel culture "They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I'm "writing about the Jews again." Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly "inclusive" one, while others post ax emojis next to my name," Ms Weiss wrote. "Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are." Social censorship through shaming and "cancel culture" was a common theme in Ms Weiss's editorials. She frequently wrote about perceived threats to free speech on college campuses - usually as responses to high-profile center-right speakers having their campus speaking engagements cancelled by protesting students - and argued more broadly that dissenting political voices weren't given the prominence they deserved. Ms Weiss called the perceived oppression of ideas the "new McCarthythism," comparing her Twitter harassment to the government systemically blacklisting and destroying the lives of people who were thought to be Communists. She suggested that her exit from the paper was, in part, a result of the resignation of the paper's former opinion editor, James Bennet. "All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what they'll have to do to advance in their careers," she wrote." "Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, the editor will get fired or reassigned, and you'll be hung out to dry." In early June, The New York Times published an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton in which he called on the US government to use the US military against Black Lives Matter protesters. The op-ed was criticised on social media for essentially calling for the use of violent, military force to suppress protesters' First Amendment rights and presenting disinformation - like the false claim that Antifa organised the protests - as fact without challenge. Following the op-ed's publication, staffers at the Times began sharing the sentence "Running this put Black @nytimes staffers in danger," on their Twitter accounts. This apparently led to a company wide discussion about the piece by Mr Cotton and the Times' role as a journalistic entity. Ms Weiss described this meeting as a "civil war" between the Times staff. She said the conflict was between the "mostly young wokes" and "mostly 40+ liberals." In the days after the discussion, Mr Bennett resigned from his position at the Times. Kathleen Kingsbury, the acting editorial page editor at the Times, issued a statement Tuesday regarding Ms Weiss' departure. "We appreciate the many contributions that Bari made to Times Opinion. I'm personally committed to ensuring that The Times continues to publish voices, experiences and viewpoints from across the political spectrum in the Opinion report. We see every day how impactful and important that approach is, especially through the outsized influence The Times' opinion journalism has on national conversation," she wrote. Kyle Sandilands pushed his friendship with longtime co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson to the limit on Tuesday. The 49-year-old radio presenter surprised Jackie, 45, when he arranged for her first husband, 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil, to surprise her live on air. Jackie - who split from her second husband, Lee Henderson, in 2018 - threatened to walk out after her colleague smuggled Phil into the KIIS FM studio in a large box. Remember him? Radio host Kyle Sandilands surprised Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) on Tuesday when he arranged for her first husband, 'Ugly' Phil O'Neil, to surprise her live on air Before the big reveal, Kyle made Jackie guess who was in the mystery box. After Phil, 57, came out of hiding, he and Jackie exchanged pleasantries, and it was clear they were still on good terms despite their divorce. But things became awkward when Kyle jokingly suggested that the pair play The Kyle and Jackie O Show's popular segment Am I the Best Sex You've Ever Had? The game involves listeners calling their exes and asking if they're 'the best sex' they've ever had, often with embarrassing results. Surprise! Jackie threatened to walk out after her colleague smuggled Phil into the KIIS FM studio in a large box. Pictured: Jackie and Phil with a Michael Jackson impersonator in the late '90s, when they were married and working together at the Hot30 Countdown 'Shut up, get it off, get it off, stop it!' Jackie said, angrily. 'Don't be an a**hole. You're a real a**hole today!' Kyle then attempted to make a crude joke about the exes 'coming across each other' every so often as they both work in the same building. At this point, Jackie firmly told him to 'settle down'. A step too far: Things became awkward when Kyle jokingly suggested that the pair play their popular segment Am I the Best Sex You've Ever Had? After Phil left the studio to begin his shift at WSFM, Kyle and Jackie reflected on the surprise reunion. But Jackie threatened to walk out when her colleague asked once again if Phil was a good lover. 'I'm not even going there, Kyle. Goodbye. I will walk out if you keep going with this. It's not happening,' she snapped. Don't ask! After Phil (pictured) left the studio to begin his shift at WSFM, Kyle and Jackie reflected on the surprise reunion. Jackie then threatened to walk out when her colleague asked once again if Phil was a good lover An 18-year-old Jackie first met Phil when she called in to his Gold Coast radio show trying to win concert tickets in 1993. The pair married a year later, and by 1996 she was his co-host on the Hot30. But Phil abruptly quit his job in 1999, ended their marriage, and moved to London for another radio position. Their story: An 18-year-old Jackie first met Phil when she called in to his Gold Coast radio show trying to win concert tickets in 1993. The pair married a year later, and by 1996 she was his co-host on the Hot30. But their marriage abruptly ended in 1999 when Phil returned to the UK Ugly Phil was replaced by Kyle Sandilands, and he and Jackie went on to form the successful and long-lasting Kyle and Jackie O partnership. Speaking on the You've Gotta Start Somewhere podcast in 2017, Phil revealed he'd left the country and his marriage in 1999 due to the stress of work and exhaustion. 'It became all-consuming. I was tired of doing the Hot30,' he said. 'I was like, ''Hey, I'm 37 years old and I'm mates with the guys from Hanson who are 15. I'm too old for this." Moving on: After their divorce, Jackie married British photographer Lee Henderson in 2003 After stints in London and Birmingham, Phil returned to Australia permanently in 2008 and now works at WSFM, which is broadcast from the same building as KIIS. Following their divorce, Jackie married British photographer Lee Henderson in 2003. Jackie has remained single since splitting from Lee two years ago. The former couple share custody of nine-year-old daughter Kitty. These new lease options, along with our changes in management, will help us appeal to everyone who wants to live in our centrally located facility in Jacksonville. Kernan Oaks Apartments has announced they are under new ownership and have made changes to their on-site senior management. This announcement comes on the heels of a $10 million community renovation that first began three years ago. This renovation has encompassed modern upgrades and renovations in select apartments, as well as upgrades to the Kernan Oaks Apartments community amenities, such as a new 24/7 fitness center, new Pet Park, business center, package concierge locker system and much more. Beginning in Summer 2020, Kernan Oaks Apartments will be under new senior on-site management, including a New General Manager, Assistant General Manager, Leasing Manager, and new customer service representatives. Were excited to begin the process of transitioning the on-site Senior Management at Kernan Oaks Apartments, said Erin Heck, a spokesperson for WE Communities, which manages nearly 4,000 beds and 1,500 units nationwide. With new management and a renewed focus on customer service, well fulfill our goal of making Kernan Oaks Apartments the premier apartment community in Jacksonville. As part of the transition to new ownership, Kernan Oaks Apartments has begun offering new lease options for residents. These include conventional leases, where individuals rent an entire apartment, and co-living leases, where residents have their own private bedroom and bathroom, and share common apartment spaces like living areas, patios, kitchens, and laundry rooms. Co-living is ideal for young professionals and students who may be new to the Jacksonville Areas. This new leasing option allows them to have privacy yet remain connected to friends and roommates at Kernan Oaks Apartments. At Kernan Oaks Apartments, we offer a contemporary, upscale lifestyle thats ideal for any renter in Jacksonville, said Brian Cron, General Manager of the Kernan Oaks Apartments in Jacksonville. These new lease options, along with our changes in management, will help us appeal to everyone who wants to live in our centrally located facility in Jacksonville. Kernan Oaks Apartments is located near Jacksonville Beaches, Florida State College of Jacksonville, Jacksonville University and the University of North Florida, as well as Kernan Square Shopping Center and a variety of convenient nearby stores including Sprouts Farmers Market and Publix. Prospective renters who would like to learn more about changes in management, co-living and traditional leasing options, and the recent renovations and upgrades made at Kernan Oaks Apartments may learn more on its website at http://www.KernanOaksApartments.com. Questions may also be directed to Kernan Oaks Apartments by phone at (904) 564-6400. Smoke rises from a fire on board the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard REUTERS/Bing Guan The US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard has been burning for more than 24 hours, and there is the possibility the fire will continue for days. These photos capture the intense fight to get the fire under control as it tears through the big-deck amphib currently at port in San Diego. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) has been burning for a day, the first of what could be a multi-day fight to get the fire under control. A fire broke out on the USS Bonhomme Richard at around 8:30 am Sunday (local time) at Naval Base San Diego, California. A fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3, told reporters Sunday evening that while "there was a report of an internal explosion," the Navy is still unclear on the cause of the fire. He insists the ship will sail again. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Lt. John J. Mike Source: USNI News When the fire broke out, only 160 of the 1,000 crew members that normally man the big-deck amphib were on board. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Ross The Bonhomme Richard is an amphibious flattop that can launch jump-jets like the AV-8B Harrier, as well as attack helicopters. It also has a well deck that can be flooded to transport Marine vehicles to shore for a beach assault. The 22-year-old ship is powered by boilers. The Navy said Monday morning that 57 people, to include Navy sailors and civilians, have been treated for minor injuries, to include heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. Five people remain hospitalized. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Ross Navy and local firefighters were on the scene and responding to the fire shortly after the reports came in. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Ross The San Diego Fire-Rescue Department released footage of the response, as well as a video shot from the air of the fire burning aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard on its Twitter page. Story continues The USS Bonhomme Richard, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship commissioned in 1998, was in a maintenance availability, one which involved retrofitting the ship to carry the short take-off/vertical landing F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, at the time of the fire. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jason Kofonow The fight to get the fire under control continued into the evening, as the ship continued to burn. Images from the scene appeared to show the fire burning in the superstructure after tearing through the lower levels of the ship. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Austin Haist Fires are dangerous to fight aboard ship, especially if they near fuel reservoirs or magazines where ammunition is stored. They also can cause damages extensive damage to many of the ship's critical systems. It took firefighters 12 hours to extinguish a 2012 shipyard fire on a submarine, which had been set by a civilian contractor. The repair estimates, of up to $700 million, were so high the service opted to decommission the USS Miami. At 10:30 pm Sunday, helicopters outfitted for firefighting operations from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Three dumped water on the burning warship. Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Christina Ross The ship was still on fire Monday morning. San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell said Sunday that it is very possible that the USS Bonhomme Richard could burn for days "down to the waterline." Firefighters battle a fire aboard the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Austin Haist Source: CNN Read the original article on Business Insider Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 18:32:12|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close COLOMBO, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China has donated nearly 300,000 face masks to Sri Lankan schools, universities and the country's Election Commission, as the island nation prepared for school reopening and the Aug. 5 parliamentary election, a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka said here Tuesday. The embassy handed over 189,000 face masks to 26 schools and five universities across the country with the coordination of the ministries of education and higher education, according to the statement. Upon the suggestion of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the embassy also donated 100,000 face masks to the Election Commission ahead of the upcoming parliamentary election. "China and Sri Lanka are true friends sharing weal and woe," the embassy said in a statement. The Chinese side will always remember the strongest solidarity and support extended by people from all walks of life in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 outbreak, it said. As a reciprocal response, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka till June, the central and local governments, enterprises, organizations and individuals from China have donated more than 73,000 test kits, over 3 million disposable masks, 210,000 KN95 masks, 54,000 PPE gowns, 41,000 eye goggles and 145,000 medical gloves, among others, to Sri Lanka to fight against the pandemic, the embassy said. It is strongly believed that these donations from China will contribute to the health and well-being of the Sri Lankan people, and enhance the historical friendship between the two countries, the statement said. Enditem By SA Commercial Prop News Each apartment at Newgate is pre-fitted DSTV aerials, Internet WI-FI and private telephone line. Supplied by metered water, and the hot water supply is heated by economical, energy efficient heat pumps. Image gallery Johannesburgs inner city continues to show signs of rejuvenation, as Standard Bank JV's with Afhco to launch the Newgate building, an affordable residential precinct anchored by a 7500m Retail Centre located on the lower levels. Over the past few years, Joburgs inner city has gradually changed from a grimy, unsafe place filled with dilapidated buildings to one that is drawing business and residents back. Slowly but surely the streets really are being taken back by a number of dedicated and insightful players. In that vein, the first of approximately 500 residential tenants have moved into Newgate, the latest affordable residential precinct to take root in Johannesburgs inner city. Newgate originally served as an office building for a number of years and also housed a retail centre which included a cinema complex. Refurbishment of the eleven storey, 25 000m building got underway at the beginning of 2012. The building now comprises a healthy mix of retail and residential space explains Lael Bethlehem, Head of Real Estate Investments at Standard Bank. The residential component is divided between eight residential floors situated in the north facade of the building and six residential levels in the south facade which collectively amount to 216 bachelor and one bedroom rental units. Most of these units enjoy expansive views over the city. Originally wholly owned by Standard Bank, the decision was taken to revitalise the building through an R80 million Joint Venture with Afhco (the Affordable Housing Company). Standard Bank and Afhco each own 50% of the building and are partners in the development. Mr Renney Plit, Chairman and COO of Afhco, says: We are excited around the opportunity that comes with a development of this nature. There is a lot of demand for secure and reasonably priced rental housing in this market. Newgate is a prime example of where this can be successfully met. We were pleased to have partnered with Standard Bank on this development. Afhco is part-owned by Old Mutual and its gross portfolio is worth R1.5 billion. Standard Bank, which maintains head offices in the Johannesburg CBD, has been a long-time champion of the CBD and its immediate surrounding areas and has been involved in a number of restoration projects in the inner-city. Ms Bethlehem says the units are well designed and each unit boasts quality, modern fittings such as granite kitchen counter tops, fitted cookers, built in cupboards and high- end sinks, baths and taps. Every unit also comes with pre-fitted window blinds. Each apartment is supplied by metered water, and the hot water supply is heated by economical, energy efficient heat pumps. Prepaid electricity meters have been fitted in every unit and tenants are able to plug into pre-fitted DSTV aerials, log into wireless internet, or make use of the private telephone provided in each unit. Ms Bethlehem says low energy ambient lights have been fitted in the apartments and common areas and light sensors have been installed in the passages which will help reduce the buildings costs. Energy efficient lifts have also been installed. In terms of security arrangements, Ms Bethlehem says Standard Bank and Afhco take this aspect very seriously as the success of such projects rides heavily on their ability to keep tenants safe and prevent overcrowding. Tenants will be able to access their units via a guarded, biometric access area located on the first floor. Rentals are attractive, especially given the excellent location of the building. Rentals start at R1750 for the smallest unit, rising to around R3000 for the largest unit. Standard Bank and leading inner city housing and commercial developers Afhco have partnered to make Newgate a reality. Standard Bank is seeing a lot of demand for affordably priced accommodation of this nature in the city centre. As such, we wanted to provide units which not only meet this requirement but will provide tenants with a sense of belonging and dignity. Newgate also boasts 616 parking bays and a 7500m2 retail centre located on the lower levels. The Centre includes a 2200m2 Cambridge Supermarket which has been very well supported by commuters and shoppers in the area. The Centre also offers medical suites, a post office and will soon have a 1700m2 brand new gym. We were really thrilled to have Cambridge as a retail anchor because they are very much in tune with the emerging market which includes many of our tenants. Standard Bank expects the entire residential component to be fully let by April 2013, says Ms Bethlehem. Newgate is located between Jeppe and Bree Streets opposite Bree Street Taxi Rank, on the periphery of Newtown. HOUSTON - (July 14, 2020) - Where things get sticky happens to be where interesting science happens in a Rice University lab working to improve battery technology. Using techniques similar to those they employed to develop laser-induced graphene, Rice chemist James Tour and his colleagues turned adhesive tape into a silicon oxide film that replaces troublesome anodes in lithium metal batteries. For the Advanced Materials study, the researchers used an infrared laser cutter to convert the silicone-based adhesive of commercial tape into the porous silicon oxide coating, mixed with a small amount of laser-induced graphene from the tape's polyimide backing. The protective silicon oxide layer forms directly on the current collector of the battery. The idea of using tape came from previous attempts to produce free-standing films of laser-induced graphene, Tour said. Unlike pure polyimide films, the tape produced not only laser-induced graphene from the polyimide backing but also a translucent film where the adhesive had been. That caught the curiosity of the researchers and led to further experimentation. The layer formed when they stuck the tape to a copper current collector and lased it multiple times to quickly raise its temperature to 2,300 Kelvin (3,680 degrees Fahrenheit). That generated a porous coating composed primarily of silicon and oxygen, combined with a small amount of carbon in the form of graphene. In experiments, the foamy film appeared to soak up and release lithium metal without allowing the formation of dendrites -- spiky protrusions -- that can short-circuit a battery and potentially cause fires. The researchers noted lithium metal tends to degrade fast during the battery's charge and discharge cycles with the bare current collector, but no such problems were observed in anodes coated with laser-induced silicon oxide (LI-SiO). "In traditional lithium-ion batteries, lithium ions are intercalated into a graphite structure upon charging and de-intercalate as the battery discharges," said lead author Weiyin Chen, a Rice graduate student. "Six carbon atoms are used to store one lithium atom when the full capacity of graphite is used. "But in a lithium metal anode, no graphite is used," he said. "The lithium ions directly shuttle from the surface of the metal anode as the battery discharges. Lithium metal anodes are considered a key technology for future battery development once their safety and performance issues are solved." Lithium metal anodes can have a capacity 10 times higher than traditional graphite-lithium ion batteries. But lithium metal batteries that are devoid of graphite usually use excess lithium metal to compensate for losses caused by oxidation of the anode surface, Tour said. "When there is zero excess lithium metal in the anodes, they generally suffer fast degradation, producing cells with very limited cycle life," said co-author Rodrigo Salvatierra, an academic visitor in the Tour lab. "On the bright side, these 'anode-free' cells become lighter and deliver better performance, but with the cost of a short life." The researchers noted LI-SiO tripled the battery lifetimes over other zero-excess lithium metal batteries. The LI-SiO coated batteries delivered 60 charge-discharge cycles while retaining 70% of their capacity. Tour said that could make lithium metal batteries suitable as high-performance batteries for outdoor expeditions or high-capacity storage for short-term outages in rural areas. Using standard industrial lasers should allow industry to scale up for large-area production. Tour said the method is fast, requires no solvents and can be done in room atmosphere and temperature. He said the technique may also produce films to support metal nanoparticles, protective coatings and filters. ### Co-authors are graduate students Muqing Ren and Jinhang Chen and postdoctoral researcher Michael Stanford. Tour is the T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of computer science and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the project. Read the abstract at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202002850. This news release can be found online at https://news.rice.edu/2020/07/14/tale-of-the-tape-sticky-bits-make-better-batteries/ Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews. Related materials: Better red than dread: Barrier keeps batteries safe: http://news.rice.edu/2019/02/14/better-red-than-dread-barrier-keeps-batteries-safe-2/ Tour Group at Rice: https://www.jmtour.com Department of Chemistry: https://chemistry.rice.edu Wiess School of Natural Sciences: https://naturalsciences.rice.edu Image for download: https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2020/07/0720_ADHESIVE-1-WEB.jpg At left, a copper current collector with a laser-induced silicon oxide coating created at Rice University. At right, a scanning electron microscope image of the coating created by lasing adhesive tape on the copper collector. (Credit: Tour Group/Rice University) Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Jeff Falk 713-348-6775 jfalk@rice.edu Mike Williams 713-348-6728 mikewilliams@rice.edu "Wow, there are that many Black-owned businesses around here?" That's how Jasmine Sampson said her parents, who are Black business owners in New Haven, reacted was when she showed them a website listing Black-owned businesses in Connecticut. Her parents own Integrity Cleaning and Integrity Commercial Cleaning; they went into business about 15 years ago. Sampson, who works at the family company, said she received a message from a fellow business owner in Middletown who showed her shopblackct.com, a new site launched on July 1 that aims to become a comprehensive business directory and resource for Black-owned businesses in Connecticut. Sampson liked the idea and decided to submit her family's business to be listed. "I think it's awesome because we've never really had a website like this for Connecticut; I think it's a game changer" she said. "There are a lot of Black-owned businesses out there and some may not know how to get their name out onto a platform." Calls to action to support Black-owned businesses started popping up on social media feeds after the May 25 death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests across the country. In Connecticut, lists of Black-owned businesses in the state have emerged, but shopblackct.com is aiming to become not only the go-to business directory in the state, but also a free marketing resource for Black business owners. The site is not-for-profit and is run by 23 volunteers and always looking for more, founders said. As of now, the site has about a few hundred businesses listed, primarily in the Hartford area, but it is in the midst of merging with existing site ctblackowned.com. Sarah Thompson, a co-founder and co-contributor to shopblackct.com, said the site will have roughly 700 listings around the state once the merger is complete. The site also provides a link for business owners or community members to submit listings. Tyler Wrenn of Waterbury started the site ctblackowned.com after joining in on Black Lives Matter protests around the state. "It became evident that something that needs to come out of this movement is, not only a realization of the current situation, but also that we, as society, need to support each other and particularly those who are suffering the most in this climate and culture," he said. Along with some people he met at the protests, Wrenn created a website listing about 200 Black-owned businesses in Connecticut; it has since grown to about 400. When he saw shopblackct.com, Wrenn said he realized the two sites had the same mission and shopblackct.com had more volunteers and better graphic design, whereas Wrenn had more listings. They decided to merge. "We have the same goal, which is to provide a free resource," said Wrenn. "There's no egotistical motive. We're not looking for glory or personal gain. Wrenn, whose passion is neuroscience and who will begin a job as a lab technician, will continue as a volunteer on the project researching new businesses. "I love this state and I want to remain involved and always active, he said. Thompson, an Avon resident who is the senior marketing and communications director at a nonprofit in Hartford called The Village for Families and Children, said she started the site as a way to provide marketing resources to Black businesses in Connecticut. One way the site is doing this is through a blog section for which professional photographers volunteer to shoot photos of the businesses to accompany volunteer-written articles. The photographs are gifted to the business owners free of charge so they can be used for promotional material. Yvette Young of Windsor, who works with Thompson at The Village for Families and Children as the VP of programs and advocacy, joined the project early on. She said the marketing piece is what sets them apart from other business listings in the state. "If you don't have the means and resources to fully market your business, how are you getting foot traffic or online traffic?" said Young. "A lot of places have the list element, but when you're looking at a list, if you don't have a story or emotionally connect to a product, you may not decide [to bring your business there]. With the blog post, pictures and a story, that makes us very unique. Now it's a marketing tool for free for these businesses." Young and Thompson both said the project is a group effort fully dependent on its volunteers. "That's the beauty of the project," said Young. "It takes a village to allow for the site to function optimally." Sampson said she plans on staying involved with shopblackct.com and hopes it will serve to spread awareness as well as become a networking tool, which she said is lacking for Black business owners in Connecticut. When her family's business started, she said it was hard to "tap into other resources to mingle with people, bounce ideas off other people and come together to talk about some of the challenges." Young said the main objective right now is to expand the site to include businesses all over Connecticut as well as get volunteers around the state to be able to provide the marketing piece. Thompson hopes to even expand into Massachusetts and New York and hopefully inspire other states to start similar sites. Young said the volunteers all have day jobs but spend their free time working on the site and creating content for it simply out of passion for the cause. "I think people are [passionate about] the mission we have to dismantle systemic racism in light of the issues we have been dealing with," said Young. "You see so much pain and turmoil and you ask yourself 'What can I do?'" Here's a way to leverage the gifts and talents they have and help people." Wrenn echoed this sentiment. "As a white person, I identify as an ally during the Black Lives Matter movement," he said. "It's not about centering yourself but rather letting people most affected lead...I saw this vacuum and this hole and I stepped in and helped as best I could, and I hope I amplified as best I could, and I hope to continue." The Texas Republican Party is moving its convention online after the state Supreme Court rejected its appeal of Mayor Sylvester Turners move to cancel the in-person event that was initially planned this week for downtown Houston. The GOPs executive committee approved the change on a 53-4 vote Monday evening, hours after the high court rejected the partys appeal of a lower court decision. A Harris County judge also denied the partys request for an injunction that would have allowed it to proceed with the convention. Turner, who last week ordered Houston First Corp. to cancel the convention last week, applauded the courts decisions on behalf of the city of Houston and the employees who would have worked at the convention. The mayor, who is a Democrat, repeatedly has said he called off the event to reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Houston, while Republican Party officials have alleged the move was politically motivated. The fate of the convention remained in limbo over the weekend, before the Supreme Court issued an unsigned per curiam opinion Monday morning denying the partys request for a writ of mandamus, which would have blocked Turner from canceling the convention. The court found that while the Texas GOP has the constitutional right to hold a convention, those rights do not allow it to simply commandeer use of the convention center, where the event was set to take place Thursday through Saturday. Houston Firsts only duty to allow the party use of the center for its convention is under the terms of the parties agreement, not a constitution, the opinion stated. Even before the legal proceedings began, the Texas GOP had approved a contingency plan to hold the convention online if needed. Still, the party sought to reverse Turners move to cancel the in-person event, suing the mayor and Houston First, the city nonprofit that operates the convention center. A Harris County judge last week denied the temporary restraining order sought by the GOP. Mondays Supreme Court ruling came in response to the partys appeal of the lower courts decision. The high court also rejected a petition for a writ of mandamus a court order requiring the city to reverse the cancellation from Steve Hotze, a Houston Republican activist who challenged the convention cancellation along with three other plaintiffs. Justice John Devine filed the lone dissenting opinion for the Supreme Court, arguing that the high court had standing to rule on the Texas GOPs case and that Houston First breached its contract with the party by canceling. Devine also dissented from the courts decision to deny Hotzes petition. Meanwhile, Justice Jeff Boyd did not participate in the decision. He is one of four justices the Texas Democratic Party had called on to recuse from the case, due to their sponsorship of the convention. The other three justices Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and Justices Jane Bland and Brett Busby opted not to recuse themselves. The courts ruling came after the Texas Attorney Generals Office filed a brief in which Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins, the states top appellate lawyer, argued that the court should side with Turner and Houston First. Dickey said the Supreme Court dismissed the GOPs case on narrow technical grounds. In spite of the obvious politically-motivated efforts of the mayor to disrupt our convention, we will duly elect our national delegates and the presidential electors for our President Donald J. Trump on time as planned, Dickey said in a statement. Harris County Democratic Party Chair Lillie Schechter noted her party moved its convention online in March after it originally was scheduled to take place at the George R. Brown. The state Republian Party either didnt believe the warnings of public health officials, were more willing to put lives in jeopardy than to heed those warnings, or knew the risks but needed someone else to make the correct call for them, Schechter said in a statement. Whichever it is, its a grave indictment of their judgment. jasper.scherer@chron.com A popular travel company has left holidaymakers $50,000 out of pocket after it went in to liquidation. Viaggio Italia Travel in Queensland was expecting a popular year for holidaymakers to head over to Europe. but suffered a massive hit due to the coronavirus crisis. With a travel ban implemented since March 20, Australians are not allowed to leave the country in order to slow the spread of the virus. The measure has put a huge strain on the travel industry, with a dramatic drop in bookings and requests for refunds. The company announced that it had gone into liquidation last month, leaving travellers a huge $50,000 out-of-pocket. Viaggio Italia Travel was expecting a popular year for holidaymakers to head to Europe but suffered a massive hit due to the coronavirus crisis (pictured, a woman in Rome on June 26) With a travel ban implemented, Australians are not allowed to leave the country in order to slow the spread of the virus (pictured, a man riding a scooter in Rome on July 11) A total of 34 travellers who placed a deposit for their holidays are owed between $950 to $5,861, The Courier Mail reported. Gary Francis, the company's director, is also owed $14,340 in travel allowance as the business struggled to stay afloat. Those looking to seek out their refund will find the website and their Facebook page has been taken down and the phone disconnected. Their Instagram account is still active, describing themselves as a 'family-owned travel company, specialising in easy-paced fully-escorted small group tours of Italy'. Before their website was taken down, the company offered travellers an opportunity to book a spot for a trip to Europe in 2021 without placing a deposit. 'We understand that because of the coronavirus you may feel uncertain about paying a deposit for a tour in 2021,' its website noted. 'Therefore, until otherwise notified, you can secure your place on a 2021 tour without paying a deposit.' Damien Lau has been appointed as liquidator. Those looking to seek out their refund will find the website and their Facebook page has been taken down and the phone disconnected (pictured, a woman enjoying the view in Venice) As Australia continues to record more coronavirus cases, Qantas announced that it has pulled all international flights until further notice. Qantas' decision comes just weeks after the airline slashed 6,000 jobs - 20 per cent of its workforce - and chief executive Alan Joyce predicted international flights were unlikely to resume until July 2021. 'We have never experienced anything like this before - no-one has. All airlines are in the biggest crisis our industry has ever faced,' he said in June. 'Revenues have collapsed, entire fleets are grounded and the world biggest carriers are taking extreme action just to survive. 'IATA the peak body for airlines says it will take more than three years for global travel to return to 2019 levels.' Counties across Washington will not be allowed to advance to the next phase in their reopening for at least the next two weeks, Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday. Inslee's pause on letting counties move beyond the phase they are currently in comes as cases of the novel coronavirus continue to rise across the state. Inslee first announced a freeze on the state's reopening earlier this month. "This pandemic is still raging in the state of Washington. It's growing...and we do not intend to yield to that growth," Inslee said during a news conference Tuesday. "We have made too much progress, we've paid too dear a price to allow us to withdraw from this threat, so we're not going to allow the sacrifices that have been made to be made for nothing." Inslee also warned he could put more restrictions into place if cases continue to grow across the state. Several states across the country, including California and Texas, have added more restrictions after seeing surges in cases. "People should not be surprised if more gets rolled back depending on the course of this pandemic," Inslee said, "and that's going to be influenced by how many people wear masks and how many people decide to socially distance." When pressed on the likelihood he would once again have to put more restrictions into place, Inslee said there is a "significant chance" the state will have to take some further actions because the state is seeing a "significant spread" in the virus. But he said there still remains a lot of uncertainty in the situation. "I would categorize it as a significant risk," Inslee said. "I am simultaneously hopeful that we're going to see an increase in social distancing and masking and recognition that that may not be enough given the numbers that we are seeing. We simply cannot and will not accept a situation where our hospitals are overwhelmed." Cases of the coronavirus have continued to rise across Washington over the past few weeks as counties have moved forward with their reopening. Most counties across the state are in either Phase 2 or Phase 3 of the state's reopening plan, meaning they are allowed to have certain businesses open, including restaurants, retail stores and hair salons, at limited capacities. According to an analysis using data from the Washington State Department of Health, the vast majority of counties in the state had more cases per 100,000 people between June 22 and July 5 than they did when they applied for and entered Phase 2. Public health officials have said they have seen a recent rise in cases among younger people in their 20s and 30s. Officials are warning young people that even if they are not showing symptoms, they can spread the virus to parents, grandparents and others who are more vulnerable to the virus. On Tuesday, Inslee urged people to continue wearing masks, social distancing and avoiding large gatherings. The state is "heading to big trouble if we do not figure out a way to knock this pandemic down," Inslee said. As of Monday, the Washington State Department of Health reported 41,757 confirmed cases of the virus, including 1,399 deaths. RELATED: FALLS CHURCH, Va., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Iraqi Children Foundation (ICF), the United States' largest charity devoted exclusively to advocacy and support for Iraq's children, premiered today a fresh, impactful design and message for the cause. Iraqi Children Foundation "Today, we reintroduce ourselves to Americans and the international community with a fresh voice," explained ICF Board Chairman Mohammed Khudairi. "For over a decade, ICF has intervened with love and hope in the lives of children who are vulnerable to abuse, neglect, and exploitation by criminals, traffickers, and extremists. We have invested in life-changing education, legal protection, psychosocial services, nutrition, and other support for the most marginalized children: orphans, street kids, children displaced by war, child laborers, and disabled kids. We are now standing with them in the face of new dangers from COVID-19." ICF's voice for Iraq's children is reflected in the visual identity the organization debuted today. It reflects a modern, bright, optimistic and inclusive outlook, focused on the deepest needs of children to belong to their family, community, and nation. The idea is presented in a graphic pattern with four elements around the map of Iraq: sunshine symbolizing hope, growth reflected in the date palm leaf and fruit of Iraq, and water marking the Euphrates and Tigris rivers which represent the historic position of Iraq as the seat of civilization. The tagline Protect. Nurture. Empower codifies ICF's core mission to ensure all children are safe, have a voice, and are empowered to reach their full potential. That mission is manifested in ICF's projects in recent years. Street Lawyers have provided legal protection to more than 1,200 children and secured legal identity documents for 1,300. Social services have been delivered to 1,006 children. Two Hope Buses provide tutoring and nutrition to an average of 100 orphans and street kids. ICF is a non-partisan, non-sectarian tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity, rated Platinum on Guidestar and listed with the U.S. government's Combined Federal Campaign (#95191). Board and Advisor leadership includes veterans, former Ambassadors, child welfare experts, Iraqi-American professionals, and business executives. ICF initiatives are executed with competent, trusted Iraqi NGO partners. ICF relies on private and corporate donations to make this work possible. To learn more or donate, visit www.iraqichildren.org, or contact Executive Director Elizabeth McRae at [email protected], 701 W Broad St., #301, Falls Church, VA 22046. Phone: 703-635-7990 SOURCE Iraqi Children Foundation Related Links https://www.iraqichildren.org/ South African Airways (SAA)s current chief commercial officer Philip Saunders has been appointed as the acting chief executive of the airline which will come out of the SAA rescue process. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) said that in the coming days it will announce the Interim Board of the New SAA. The interim CEO for the airline will be Philip Saunders, an experienced airline executive with a strong commercial background, the department said. Saunders has extensive experience in the airline industry, having served in C-level positions at Kuwait Airways, Air Malta, and Caribbean Airlines before joining SAA. Department of Public Enterprises acting director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi said that the new version of SAA has piqued the interest of various possible investors both locally and internationally. This follows Tlhakudi telling Radio 702 that government is happy to give up management control of SAA to investors while retaining a minority shareholding within the national airline. We are not obsessed with control. If we find the right partner who is prepared to inject the technology and access to markets that we require for the airline, and they are assuming management control, we are quite comfortable to let go of that, said Tlhakudi. Tlhakudi said this arrangement would allow the government to protect certain imperatives while improving the management and governance measures needed to drive SAAs future success. The department hopes that a new SAA can reclaim market share while fighting to compete more in the emerging market space notwithstanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic that will constrain the aviation industry for some time into the future, said Tlhakudi. R26.7 billion required SAAs administrators have asked the government to provide at least R26.7 billion to rescue the national airline. This is over R10 billion more than the government had originally said it was willing to give to SAA in finance minister Tito Mbowenis annual budget. MyBroadband recently reported that the following could be purchased for South Africans for the price of SAAs restructuring: 169,200 RDP houses 205,385 University degrees 68,992 medical degrees 2.7 million laptops for students 14.8 million tablets for students 134 million 20GB data bundles for students. The DA has rejected the plan to rescue SAA from its current situation. SAA has been bankrupt for the past decade, relying on bailout after bailout as a succession of poor CEOs squandered all hope of profit and goodwill with poor business practice, said the DA. Liquidation is the only realistic option for SAA at this point. In no way, shape or form should the government be handing out bailouts to a bankrupt black hole of an entity. SAA business rescue plan accepted The DPE has announced that creditors have voted in favour of the business rescue plan for SAA, and applauded creditors and all stakeholders for the decision. According to the department, 86% of creditors voted to support a business rescue plan for the airline. The DPE believes that the favourable vote is a much better outcome for creditors and SAA employees than liquidation, and the government remains confident that the implementation of the business rescue plan will balance the rights and interests of all parties, it said. The priorities for the DPE are now to give effect to funding commitments by the government for the business rescue plan, [and]appoint a new and reconfigured interim board for SAA. Now read: SAA labour unions accept severance packages Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - July 14, 2020) - Palladium One Mining Inc. (TSXV: PDM) (FSE: 7N11) (OTC Pink: NKORF) (the "Company" or "Palladium One") is pleased to report that it is preparing to resume its drill program, in August, at the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") PGE-Cu-Ni Project, located in north central Finland. Initial drilling will be focused on expanding known mineralization to the east of existing drill intercepts in the Kaukua South zone, which hosts a greater than four (4) kilometer long Induced Polarization chargeability anomaly. (Figure 1) In March 2020, the Phase 1 exploration program was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see news release - March 24, 2020). Initiated in January 2020, the Phase 1 program completed several tasks prior to being suspended, including: 85 kilometers of high-resolution 3D Induced Polarization (IP) survey, covering 12 kilometers (5-survey grid areas) of the 38-kilometer favourable basal contact, 385 kilometers of high-resolution drone-based Magnetic (Mag) survey, covering 17 kilometers of the favourable basal contact, 1,920 meters of a 5,000-meter planned diamond drilling program. At the LK project, IP has proven very reliable in identifying PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization. During the winter program, multiple new and significant IP chargeability anomalies were outlined - see below for highlights. The high-resolution magnetic survey, which was also undertaken earlier this year, proved invaluable for structural interpretation and in outlining prospective peridotitic rocks, which commonly host PGE-Cu-Ni mineralization. Integration and 3D modelling of this data has produced numerous high-quality drill targets for testing. President and CEO, Derrick Weyrauch commented "To date our exploration program has been very successful. We identified an abundance of large, high-quality drill targets throughout the LK project. With the large number of excellent drill targets at hand, we are taking a very disciplined approach to drilling prioritization. A prime example is Kaukua South (Figure 1.), when we began the winter program this was an interesting but poorly understood zone. As multiple IP results demonstrated, we learned that Kaukua South extends for over 4 kilometers of strike length, of which 3.5 kilometers has never been drill tested. Considering that Kaukua South has known PGE-rich mineralization similar to the Kaukua deposit, it will be a primary focus of our resumed drill program". Story continues Figure 1. Plan view of the 2008 and 2020 (current) IP survey in the Kaukua Area. The 2008 IP survey area is outlined in blue, while the 2020 survey is outlined in green. The Kaukua deposit's optimised open pit is outlined by a dashed black line. The Kaukua deposit hosts 635,600 Pd_Eq ounces of Indicated Resources grading 1.80 g/t Pd_Eq* ("palladium equivalent"), and 525,800 Pd_Eq ounces of Inferred Resources grading 1.50 g/t Pd_Eq (see press release September 9, 2019). The newly expanded Kaukua South Zone is outlined by a dashed orange line. The 2008 IP survey was instrumental in identifying the Kaukua Deposit. Note that the 2008 survey used different equipment, consisting of a 3-line 3D system, whereas the 2020 survey used a 5-line 3D system, as a result the two surveys are not exactly comparable. To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/6502/59661_402812ef04ee28d8_001full.jpg Highlights of Phase 1 Exploration Program Results, Before Suspension Due to COVID IP Survey Grid #1 @ Kaukua South (~400 meters south of the Kaukua deposit) Discovered a chargeability anomaly over 4,000 meters long, including 3,500 meters which has never been drill tested ( Figure 1 ), (see news release -April 14, 2020). Extending the known PGE-rich mineralization is a top priority when drilling resumes (e.g. 32.95m @ 1.05g/t PGE (0.74g/t Pd, 0.24g/t Pt, 0.07g/t Au), and 0.17% Cu, 0.13% Ni ) in hole KAU08-035). IP Survey Grid #2 @ Murtolampi (~2,000 meters northeast of the Kaukua deposit) Discovered a 750-meter long chargeability anomaly the core of which has never been drill tested. This anomaly is associated with high PGE prospecting samples collected in 2019 (e.g. prospecting sample NP-LK-003 which returned 3.11g/t PGE (1.86g/t Pd, 1.11 g/t Pt, 0.14 g/t Au), and 0.78% Cu, 0.13% Ni ) (see news release August 12, 2019). The anomaly is proximal to limited, shallow (~40-meter deep), historic drill holes having high PGE values from the 1990's, that were never followed up with more drilling, (see news release - March 10, 2020). IP Survey Grid #3 @ Haukiaho (~12,000 meters south of the Kaukua deposit and host to the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered three new chargeability anomalies (see news release - May 7, 2020). The western anomaly corresponds with the 2013 historic Haukiaho resource. The central anomaly occurs underneath the bulk of the historic drilling in this area, suggesting the best mineralization has not been tested. The eastern anomaly is associated with sparse shallow historic drilling and occurs underneath 2019 prospecting sample NP-LK-002 which returned 0.96 g/t PGE (0.18 g/t Pt, 0.56 g/t Pd, 0.21 g/t Au) 0.51% Cu, 0.33% Ni (see news release August 12, 2019) IP Survey Grid #4 @ Haukiaho East (~7,500 meters east of the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered a 1,600-meter long chargeability anomaly (see news release - May 26, 2020) The anomaly is coincident with a strong magnetic high suggesting peridotitic rocks, which are characteristic of Haukiaho-style PGE-Ni-Cu mineralization. IP Survey Grid #5 @ Tilsa (~6,000 meters west of the historic Haukiaho resource) Discovered a new 1,000-meter long chargeability anomaly (see news release - June 11, 2020). The strongest part of the newly identified chargeability anomaly has never been drill tested. The survey also identified two other parallel chargeability and magnetic anomalies possibly representing fault repetitions of the favourable basal phase of the Koillismaa complex. Diamond Drilling The Company completed twelve (12) drill holes (1,920 meters), prior to the suspension of drilling in March 2020, located in the following zones: Kaukua Deposit Area, 6 holes. Kaukua South Extension, 1 hole. Murtolampi, 2 holes. Haukiaho, 3 holes All assay results are pending. Qualified Person The technical information in this release has been reviewed and verified by Neil Pettigrew, M.Sc., P. Geo., Vice President of Exploration and a director of the Company and the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. About Palladium One Palladium One Mining Inc. is a palladium dominant, PGE, nickel, copper exploration and development company. Its assets consist of the Lantinen Koillismaa ("LK") and Kostonjarvi ("KS") PGE-Cu-Ni projects, located in north-central Finland and the Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE and Disraeli PGE-Ni-Cu properties in Ontario, Canada. All projects are 100% owned and are of a district scale. LK is an advanced project targeting disseminated sulphide along 38 kilometers of favorable basal contact. The KS project is targeting massive sulphide within a 20,000-hectare land package covering a regional scale gravity and magnetic geophysical anomaly. Tyko is a 13,000-hectare project targeting disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly metamorphosed Archean terrain. Disraeli is a 3,100-hectare project targeting PGE-rich disseminated and massive sulphide in a highly productive Proterozoic mid-continent rift. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Derrick Weyrauch" President & CEO, Director For further information contact: Derrick Weyrauch, President & CEO Email: info@palladiumoneinc.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release is not an offer or a solicitation of an offer of securities for sale in the United States of America. The common shares of Palladium One Mining Inc. have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration. Information set forth in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, risks associated with project development; the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and mineral processing; fluctuations in palladium and other commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume; and tax consequences to Canadian and U.S. Shareholders. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/59661 Soeder has deflected questions about his future by saying that his place is in Bavaria. But he also raised eyebrows by suggesting recently that only someone who has proven himself in a crisis could run for chancellor and by inviting Merkel to Tuesdays Bavarian Cabinet meeting at Herrenchiemsee. No sitting chancellor had previously attended one. All international flights have been pulled from the Qantas website, including routes to New Zealand. Flights to New Zealand are now unavailable until September 1, despite expectations that the neighbouring countries were preparing to open a trans-Tasman bubble with Australia, while flights elsewhere are no longer available until March 28, 2021. Travel between the countries remained suspended after New Zealand closed its borders to the world on March 19. The international flight suspension follows Qantas grounding its fleet of double-decker A380 plans for at least three years as well, and retiring six Boeing 747s, Executive Traveller reported Flights to New Zealand are now unavailable despite rumour the country was preparing to open the trans-Tasman bubble. Pictured: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern A Qantas spokesman told Daily Mail Australia 'all international and sale flights have been removed from the website' until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic. He did not confirm whether flights to New Zealand would resume from September 1, just that they were able to be viewed on the Qantas website. 'There are some international flights in the system but they are not currently operating,' he said. Travellers looking to head overseas can still book trips through the Qantas website, however. Flights to the US, Asia and Europe will now be serviced through partner airlines, including Emirates, British Airways and Cathay Pacific. The move was designed to prevent new bookings being made with Qantas. All previously arranged flights will remain in place. Qantas' decision comes jusat weeks after the airline slashed 6,000 jobs - 20 per cent of its workforce - and chief executive Alan Joyce predicted international flights were unlikely to resume until July 2021. 'We have never experienced anything like this before - no-one has. All airlines are in the biggest crisis our industry has ever faced,' he said in June. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce (pictured) predicted international flights were unlikely to resume until July 2021 'Revenues have collapsed, entire fleets are grounded and the world biggest carriers are taking extreme action just to survive. 'IATA the peak body for airlines says it will take more than three years for global travel to return to 2019 levels.' The international flight suspension followed the carrier's decision to ground its fleet of double-decker A380 plans for at least three years, and also to retire six Boeing 747s, Executive Traveller reported. Airlines still travelling to and from Australia with cargo and essential travellers include Delta, United, Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways, the Australian Embassy confirmed. Airlines still travelling to and from Australia with cargo and essential travellers include Delta, United, Air New Zealand and Qatar Airways, the Australian Embassy confirmed Delta started its Los Angeles to Sydney route on July 1 and United has been operating its San Francisco to Sydney route throughout the pandemic, Executive Traveller reported. The later airline also hopes to fly 25 per cent of its international flights by August. Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said last month that Australia's borders were likely to remain closed for another four months. He said the government was unlikely to reopen the border to international travellers until next year - but would look to relax entry rules for students and other long-term visitors. 'We can simply work through the 14-day quarantine periods that have worked so well in terms of returning Australians to this country safely,' Mr Birmingham said in a speech to the National Press Club. By Bryan Woolston and Jonathan Allen TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge issued an injunction on Monday delaying what would have been the first federal execution in 17 years, scheduled for later in the day, thwarting at least for now the Trump administration's goal of reviving capital punishment at the federal level. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S By Bryan Woolston and Jonathan Allen TERRE HAUTE, Indiana (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge issued an injunction on Monday delaying what would have been the first federal execution in 17 years, scheduled for later in the day, thwarting at least for now the Trump administration's goal of reviving capital punishment at the federal level. Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. district court in Washington ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to delay four executions scheduled for July and August to allow continuation of the condemned men's legal challenges against a new lethal injection protocol announced in 2019. "The scientific evidence before the court overwhelmingly indicates that the 2019 Protocol is very likely to cause Plaintiffs extreme pain and needless suffering during their executions," Chutkan wrote in her order. She said the inmates were likely to succeed in their claim that the new one-drug protocol using pentobarbital, a powerful barbiturate, breached a constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual" punishments. Chutkan sided with a medical expert cited by the inmates who said that a high-dose injection of pentobarbital was caustic enough to rapidly fill a condemned man's lungs with bloody fluid, causing him to feel as if he were drowning for some time before losing consciousness. To make their deaths less painful, the inmates have proposed that the Justice Department add morphine or a similar painkiller to the lethal injection protocol, or arrange for them to be executed by firing squad, a method last used a decade ago by Utah's government. The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Chutkan's order, writing in its application that it was a "meritless injunction" that would "scramble" its plans to "administer a dignified and humane lethal injection." The Justice Department also challenged the injunction in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, saying in a court filing its extensive planning for the July and August dates, including training drills for the 40-member execution team and the booking of transportation and hotel rooms, "cannot easily be undone." A previous injunction issued by Chutkan on different grounds last year, postponing the original execution dates set in December, was overturned on appeal. Chutkan's new order came down less than seven hours before Daniel Lewis Lee was due to be put to death at 4 p.m. using a lethal injection at the Justice Department's execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana. Lee was sentenced to death for his role in the 1996 murders of three members of an Arkansas family, including an 8-year-old child. Relatives of his victims have opposed his execution. "The government has been trying to plow forward with these executions despite many unanswered questions about the legality of its new execution protocol," Shawn Nolan, one of the public defenders representing the inmates, said in a statement. Efforts to resume capital punishment at the federal level were underway within a few months of President Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017, ending a de facto moratorium that began under his predecessor, Barack Obama, due to problems getting execution drugs and while long-running legal challenges to lethal injections played out in federal courts. A European Union ban on selling drugs for use in executions or torture has led to pharmaceutical companies refusing to sell such drugs to U.S. prison systems. The Justice Department spent much of 2018 and 2019 building a secret supply chain of private companies to make and test its drug of choice, pentobarbital, which replaces a three-drug protocol used in previous executions. Some of the companies involved said they were not aware they were testing execution drugs, a Reuters investigation found last week. One laboratory has since announced it will refuse to test pentobarbital intended for executions. The Justice Department had scheduled two more executions for later in the week and a fourth in August, of Wesley Purkey, Dustin Honken and Keith Nelson, all convicted of murdering children. The coronavirus pandemic has prompted separate lawsuits from relatives of Lee's victims and Purkey's spiritual adviser to delay the executions until the pandemic has passed so they can safely attend. At least one employee involved in the executions has tested positive for COVID-19, the Justice Department said. (Reporting by Bryan Woolston in Terre Haute, Indiana, and Jonathan Allen in New York; Additional reporting by Andrew Chung in Washington; Writing by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Peter Cooney, Dan Grebler and Steve Orlofsky) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. An Illinois State Police trooper who had stopped to check on a semi truck parked along the shoulder where I-57 north meets Interstate 80 east at Exit 345A/B, discovered the man dead inside the vehicle, a state police spokeswoman said. At least one intruder interrupted a virtual meeting Friday between Sonoma County officials and displayed graphic images that included the lynching of Black men while yelling the n-word, horrifying those who gathered online to discuss issues surrounding homelessness, officials said. Home Sonoma County Leadership Council, the countys decision-making group on homeless care, was scheduled to meet Friday afternoon after a previous meeting scheduled for June 25 had to be canceled, said Tom Schwedhelm, the mayor of Santa Rosa and chair of the group. But soon after they started the meeting on Zoom, an online platform that has grown in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, Schwedhelm observed the meetings attendees and government officials were in the same virtual room. Government officials usually operate in a separate room to keep meetings orderly and allow members of the public to speak during specific moments. As the officials prepared to approve the meetings agenda, an intruder took control of the meeting. All of a sudden, my screen is showing this inappropriate stuff and I have no control over it, Schwedhelm told The Chronicle. We, or the host, Sonoma County, no longer had control. County officials had not released an official statement as of Monday afternoon. Santa Rosa police were conducting an investigation. A department spokesman did not return an email and phone call seeking more information. Although the incident might be considered a hate crime, the FBI was not involved in the probe as of Monday afternoon, an agency spokesman said. Supervisor Susan Gorin, who serves as the chair of the countys Board of Supervisors, declined to discuss the incident. Sorry COVID is much more important than a zoom bomb, Gorin wrote in an email Monday. Schwedhelm said he saw a video of the 9/11 terrorist attack being displayed on the call, as well as an image of a male without a shirt. The Santa Rosa mayor started making calls and ran down the hall from his office trying to find someone to stop the video. I cant put it into context, but I know someone dropped the n-word, Schwedhelm said. Obviously, its traumatic for anyone who watched it. 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. There were approximately 40 to 50 people tuned into the meeting when the attack occurred, he said. Michael Gause, a manager at the countys Community Development Commission, called the incident just a horrifying, terribly traumatic episode. He said there were several videos played of Black men being lynched, as well as images of beheadings. It really felt like a hate crime, Gause said. An attack of hatred. In a statement Monday, the countys Community Development Commission and Health Department denounced the attack. A foundational pillar of the work both groups do is to address racial disparities and inequities, and it begins by calling it out openly and emphatically, officials said. Black and other leaders of color in Sonoma County will not be intimidated by violent racist and sexist incidents, the statement continued. Unfortunately incidents this like are not isolated and have become ever more prevalent across the nation. There is no room for silence or insensitivity when it comes to responding to incidents like this and the abhorrent depictions of violent racist acts. Alejandro Serrano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alejandro.serrano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @serrano_alej New York, July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Oil Pump Market Research Report by Pump Type, by Displacement Type, by Lubrication System, by Vehicle, by Distribution Channel - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913441/?utm_source=GNW On the basis of Pump Type, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Electric Oil Pump and Mechanical Oil Pump. On the basis of Displacement Type, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Fixed Displacement Type and Variable Displacement Type. On the basis of Lubrication System, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Dry Sump Lubrication and Wet Sump Lubrication. On the basis of Vehicle, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Commercial Vehicle and Passenger Vehicle. On the basis of Distribution Channel, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Aftermarket and OEM. On the basis of Geography, the Automotive Oil Pump Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. Company Usability Profiles: The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market including Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., Delphi Automotive, Denso Corporation, Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas, Inc., Johnson Electric, Magna International, MITSUBA Corp., Robert Bosch GmbH, SHW AG, and TRW Automotive. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Oil Pump Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Oil Pump Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913441/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ China is pushing harder to make territorial claims in the regional seas and even using the coronavirus pandemic to expand its influence and take strategic superiority, posing a greater threat to Japan and the region, Japan's government said. The report highlighting the government's defence priorities was adopted by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet on Tuesday, less than a day after the Trump administration rejected outright nearly all of Beijing's significant maritime claims in the South China Sea in a statement likely to deepen the US-China rift. The Abe government's Defense White Paper 2020 highlights what are potential Chinese and North Korean threats as Japan tries to further increase its defense capability. Under Abe, Japan has steadily increased its defense budget and capability and purchased costly American arsenals. Defence Minister Taro Kono recently scrapped the deployment of a pair of costly US land-based missile intercepting systems due to technical issues, and Abe quickly announced his intention to revise Japan's defense guidelines, possibly allowing Japan to go beyond its conventional defense-only role under the Japan-US security alliance, including discussing a possibility of acquiring a preemptive strike capability. The White Paper accused China of using propaganda, including spreading disinformation, about the spread of the coronavirus. "The COVID-19 pandemic may expose and intensify strategic competition among countries intending to create international and regional orders more preferable to themselves and to expand their influence," the report said. "We need to closely watch their move with serious concern affecting the national security." As evidence, a Japanese Defence Ministry official noted that a Chinese Foreign Ministry official had posted on Twitter in March an accusation that the US military had spread the coronavirus in Wuhan and that Chinese media have touted herbal medicine as effective COVID-19 treatments. He spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing department rules. The annual report said China has "relentlessly" pushed to "change the status quo" in the Asian seas, including sending 3,000-ton class government vessels into Japanese waters around Japan-controlled disputed East China Sea islands called Senkaku in Japanese. Beijing also claim the islands and call them Diaoyu. China is also pursuing its unilateral attempt in the South China Sea even more aggressively and even expanding its area of activity into more distant seas, a concern shared by the international community, the report said. The South China Sea problem "directly affects peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region." "As China now boasts its capability and makes attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in many places, we must closely grasp what China's intentions are," Kono told a news conference on Tuesday. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Japan's defence paper is full of prejudice and false information against China, and that it tried its best to hype the so-called "China threat." "China has always firmly maintained its sovereignty, security and development interests. All attack or discredit on China are futile," Zhao said. He urged Japan to stop deliberately intensifying tensions and get along with China. The report also cited North Korea's continued development of its nuclear and other weapons programmes. The North is "relentlessly pursuing increasingly complex and diverse modes of attack and is steadily strengthening and improving its attack capabilities," the report said. It said North Korea since May 2019 has launched three types of new short-range ballistic missiles that use solid fuel and fly at lower altitudes than their conventional missiles that can breach Japanese missile defense system. As Japan's relations with South Korea have plunged to their lowest levels recently over wartime history, export control and territorial issues, the report prompted Seoul to protest Japan's claims over a set of small South Korea-controlled islets between the countries. The report mentions the islands as part of Japanese territories that remain unresolved. Foreign ministry spokesman Kim In-chul issued a statement urging Tokyo to "immediately" remove such claims from the report, saying that the islets called Dokdo in the Koreas and Takeshima in Japan are South Korean territory by international law. CNBC's "College Voices 2020" is a series written by CNBC summer interns from universities across the country about coming of age, launching new careers and job hunting during a global pandemic. They're finding their voices during a time of great social change and hope for a better future. What money issues are they facing? How are they navigating their student loans? How are they getting work experience, networking and applying for jobs when so many opportunities have been canceled or postponed? How important is diversity and a company's values to Gen Z job seekers? Tommaso79 | Getty Images Victoria Sheetz, a rising senior at the University of Michigan, spends 40-50 hours a week during the school year working at a job off-campus in addition to her studies. Then the pandemic happened. Sheetz hasn't worked since March, when Michigan and other schools across the country transitioned to remote learning, and while she's making enough to live on, she's worried it won't be when the extra $600 in pandemic unemployment assistance ends. She lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the student body skews wealthy and it costs more than $1,000 a month just to live minimally. "The rent and the cost of living is a lot," Sheetz said. "You have to be making enough to pay for that, especially if you're doing it all on your own. Unemployment is nice, but I don't know what I'll do when it stops." More From Invest in You: It's a tough outlook for graduates in the Class of 2020 He landed a job on Broadway right out of college. Then coronavirus hit This STEM graduate has been applying for five jobs per day and no luck yet Sheetz is worried about fall, when she still may not be working but the tuition will be 1.9% higher than last year. Sheetz hasn't been going out to eat or spending unnecessarily. She's been able to budget so she has money set aside for necessities for the next few months in case an emergency happens but she knows fall will be difficult. Sheetz's story is common on college campuses across the country. Four out of five college students surveyed by Student Loan Hero said they are facing financial difficulties due to the coronavirus crisis, with more than 25% reporting food insecurity or trouble paying the bills. Black and Hispanic students have reported higher levels of food and housing insecurity than their white peers. The survey also found more than one-third of students are taking on debt to cope with losses caused by the pandemic. Nearly 38% of students at four-year institutions reported food insecurity, according to a new report from the Hope Center, and 15% experienced homelessness. The report also found two-thirds of students who were employed before the pandemic face job insecurity, with one-third losing a job due to the pandemic. "By and large, students were struggling to afford college before the pandemic, and are now on the brink of survival," Max Lubin, CEO of Rise Inc., an organization that works to ensure money does not hold students back from pursuing higher education, said. "Students are facing evictions, hunger, and trying to stay healthy." Postponing school amid an uncertain environment Saving for graduate school is difficult for Anais Baptiste, a 2018 graduate of Purchase College who is deferring enrollment in Smith College. She feels grateful to even be able to afford food and rent considering she had two jobs that were canceled due to the pandemic. Anais Baptiste is deferring enrollment in graduate school amid uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Source: Skye Baptiste Unemployment is giving her enough money to afford rent, which is modest given the fact that she has two roommates, but she's also run into issues with the system and has not been receiving payments for two months due to concerns over identity verification, a common issue during the pandemic. Because her two roommates have income, she said the situation isn't as bad as it could've been, and she feels lucky to have a place to live and have the necessities without an income. But it's difficult to plan and save for the future, she said, when it is already so hard to get by. "I was already concerned about how I was going to be able to pay for school before the pandemic and now as each month goes by it seems less and less possible," Baptiste said. "I graduated two years ago with financial uncertainty, and now I truly wonder how my generation and I will get out of this." Students and recent graduates are worried about their job prospects and financial situation, they said in interviews with CNBC. For some, like Sheetz, it's about how she's going to pay for her bills and what she would do if an emergency were to happen. Baptiste is worried about being able to afford graduate school when getting by month to month has been a struggle. And the job prospects mean these students must try to navigate a market with open positions fewer and far between than they expected five months ago. Trying to find a job in industries that have been hit hard by coronavirus Take Amy Tullo, a recent graduate of the University of Delaware, whose dream was to work in hospitality, a sector uniquely impacted by a virus that spreads among groups congregating. Tullo had a job lined up but the offer was rescinded due to the effect of coronavirus on the economy. Amy Tullo, a University of Delaware graduate, had a job lined up -- then coronavirus hit and it was rescinded. Source: Amy Tullo Now, she's back to square one reaching out to alumni of her school and searching for open opportunities to apply to as they arise. She's comfortable right now and she feels pressure to find a job, but she also reminds herself there is a lot out of her control and to do as much as she can with what she has. "Instead of that being getting the job, a new success for me is reaching out to one person and having a conversation with them," Tullo said. "That's my new definition of success." Mary Ruddy, a recent elementary education graduate of Illinois State University, needs a job for fall. She luckily still has her job for summer working at a pool, but the pool opened behind schedule, so she's getting less income than she thought she would from that. She has also been unable to find a job for fall, which worries her even though she lives at home, she tries to pay for all her food and gas, and she wants to take over her car payment from her parents now that she graduated and move out. Before the pandemic, she felt like she was on the right track to meet all these goals, and wasn't worried about not being able to get a teaching job in her preferred age range. Ruddy's now looking at any grade she is certified to teach. She's also looking for substitute or teacher's aide jobs, but many of those are up in the air as schools try to prepare education plans for fall. She's been saving her money and working babysitting and other gig jobs to try to save up so if fall rolls around and she doesn't land a job, she'll have savings to fall back on. But without the job she thought she would have in March, she knows being able to move out and pay her car payments will be more difficult to do. "I definitely wasn't worried before the pandemic. I thought it would all work out," Ruddy said. "After the pandemic, with some of my friends getting jobs but a lot of us still not having any, I'm definitely starting to get more worried about how the future's going to look." A generation disrupted Colin Enzer, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder, has money issues on the back of his mind: he'd like to move out of his parents' house, and while he will be OK for the foreseeable future without a job, he knows he needs one within a year. But Enzer and his counterparts across the country share a willingness to adjust and change course they're ready to change their expectations and hustle. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologised for his mistake in not recusing himself from a cabinet decision to grant a nearly billion dollar project for administration to a charity which paid his wife, mother and brother fees to speak at its events. The controversy related to the contract given to the WE Charity, later aborted, has already led to the announcement of a series of inquiries. The Opposition has, meanwhile, sought a police investigation into the matter. It has also resulted in Trudeaus personal image taking a beating, as a new poll showed that his approval numbers had been impacted after having surged, thanks to the perception of effective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in Canada. During the course of a media interaction, Trudeau said, I made a mistake in not recusing myself. I am sorry. The furore over the grant of the contract to the WE organisation started after it was announced in June. Trudeau was known to have been involved with the charity but was never paid himself. However, it later emerged that it had paid his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau CA $1,400 in 2012 when it was called Free the Children. Reports in the Canadian media later revealed his mother Margaret had received CA $3,12,000 in speaking fees from a for-profit arm of the organisation, with his brother Alexandre billing CA $40,000. Trudeau addressed these revelations, as he said, I deeply regret that I have brought my mother into this situation. Its unfair to her, and I should have been thoughtful enough to recuse myself from this situation. Trudeau was not the only cabinet minister to have links to the charity. Finance minister Bill Morneau also apologised for not recusing himself from cabinet discussions relating to the issuing of the contract, since his one of his daughters had worked with the WE organisation and another featured as a speaker. The charity also took out full page advertisements in two national dailies as a manner of apology and to set the record straight. Canadas Ethics Commissioner is already looking into the matter as are two parliament committees. The Opposition has also sought an emergency meeting of the House of Commons Ethics Committee for a probe into the matter. Trudeau has been under attack continuously since the controversy first broke, with Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet dismissing his apology. The outlet CBC News quoted him as reacting, There comes a time when we do not trust anymore and when being sorry is not something you believe in anymore. Meanwhile, a new public poll from the Angus Reid Institute or ARI indicates that the issue is already taking a political toll on Trudeau. In a newly-released survey, it said Trudeaus approval has dropped five points in the first reading of public opinion since questions arose regarding his governments - and familys - ties to the WE group of organisations. That approval rating has declined from 55 per cent in May to 50 per cent. Some 373 orders for the 737 Max have been scrapped this year as pandemic complicates troubled jets comeback. Boeing Co.s order stockpile shrank further last month as more airlines and lessors backed out of commitments for the grounded 737 Max jetliner in a market devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. The planemaker recorded 60 Max cancellations in June, including 47 that were already announced, according to the companys website Tuesday. The tally excluded Norwegian Air Shuttle ASAs move to scrap all 97 of its remaining Boeing jets on order, since those deals havent been officially terminated. But the orders in peril from shaky buyers rose by 123 last month. Customers have scrapped 373 orders for the Max this year as collapsing travel demand complicates Boeings efforts to shore up a plane that is supposed to be a critical source of cash. The companys best-selling jet faces a long, slow comeback once regulators end a flying ban imposed in March 2019 after two fatal crashes. So far, about 2,480 deliveries of the Max have been postponed by at least a year due to disrupted production, according to Bank of America Corp. Once the aircraft is cleared to fly, the demand outlook for the product is uncertain, Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein said in a report last week, noting that the Max is strategically disadvantaged compared with its Airbus SE counterpart, the A320neo. When demand returns to commercial aerospace, we expect operators to choose the untainted program first, before opting to order a Max, Epstein said. Despite the sobering results, Boeing rose less than 1% to $176.07 at 1:11 p.m. in New York as the broad market seesawed. Lessor Cancellations Aircraft lessors have been working with Boeing to pare speculative orders as the planemaker revises its delivery schedules, spurring a big chunk of recent Max cancellations. Avolon Holdings Ltd. dropped 17 aircraft, while BOC Aviation scrubbed a deal for 30 and Aviation Capital Group trimmed five of its orders in June. We have and will continue to work with our customers on specific timing and adjustment to deliveries, Boeing Chief Financial Officer Greg Smith said in a statement. The order revisions will help dictate production rates to balance supply and demand. Net sales for all commercial aircraft have dropped by 323 planes so far this year or 784 after including an accounting adjustment for customers in poor financial health and those intent on revising contracts. Deliveries have also been hurt by the pandemic raging in the U.S. Many overseas customers are still unable to enter the country to take delivery of new planes, while Boeing temporarily shuttered factories in virus hot spots in Washington and South Carolina. The 20 aircraft delivered by the company in the second quarter is the lowest tally since at least 1980, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. The deliveries just dont surprise us, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson. We knew that this was going to be rough. Obviously with the Max down, it doesnt help. Faint Glimmers Still, there were faint glimmers of good news for Boeing. The company delivered 10 aircraft in June, including three of its 787 Dreamliners. Thats a slight improvement from the four total shipments Boeing recorded in May, when none of of its marquee wide-body jets were sold or delivered. And while the U.S. planemaker recorded just one gross aircraft order in June a 767 freighter for FedEx Corp. Airbus was shut out of new sales for a second consecutive month. And Boeings defense business, long overshadowed by booming jetliner sales, is now poised to help the Chicago-based company weather the market turmoil in civil aviation, Ferguson said. That point was underscored Monday, when the Pentagon and Boeing unveiled a $1.2 billion deal for the first eight souped-up F-15EX fighter jets. All told the F-15 contract awarded last year could be worth as much as $23 billion over the next 10 to 15 years, the U.S. Air Force said in an email. Its a reminder that theyre important to the Pentagon, Ferguson said of Boeing, which is the second-largest U.S. defense contractor. (Updates with analyst comment in 10th paragraph.) BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The central government has earmarked 600 million yuan (about 85.76 million U.S. dollars) to support flood control and relief in five provincial-level regions, the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) said on Monday. Designated for Jiangxi, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan and Chongqing, the funds were allocated by the Ministry of Finance and the MEM after a Level II emergency response, the second-highest in the response system, was activated for the flood-hit regions on Sunday. China is stepping up disaster relief efforts as the country continues to see more floods and unusually heavy downpours this summer. Floods that triggered alerts have been observed in 433 rivers nationwide since June. Of these rivers, 33 beat previous water level records, Ye Jianchun, vice minister of Water Resources, told a press conference on Monday. China's State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters have sent another six special work teams to key regions, hit hard by floods, to guide disaster relief efforts. A woman in a protective face mask walks through Brixton Market in South London, as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. Immunity to Covid-19 may last only a few months, according to a U.K. study that casts doubts over the longevity of potential coronavirus vaccines. Antibody responses to the coronavirus can peak three weeks after onset of symptoms, but then begin to decline after as little as two months, researchers at Kings College London found. The study, published Saturday on preprint server MedRxiv and not yet peer-reviewed, examined the antibody levels of 64 patients and six health-care workers who had tested positive for the virus at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS foundation trust (which runs several London hospitals) between March and June. It also monitored 31 other members of staff who volunteered to have regular antibody tests. Researchers found that levels of antibodies that can fight the coronavirus peaked three weeks after the onset of symptoms but then declined. While 60% of the people tested in the study had a "potent" level of antibodies after an average of 23 days following first onset of symptoms, only 16.7% had that level of antibodies 65 days after the first signs of symptoms. The levels of antibodies were higher in patients who had more severe disease, although it is not clear why, the researchers said, and some individuals who developed antibodies were asymptomatic. The researchers noted that their study found the antibody response to Covid-19 was similar to that of other human coronaviruses, such as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and seasonal coronaviruses associated with common colds, in which an individuals' antibody response tends to "wane over time, from as little as 12 weeks to 12-34 months after infection." The study was led by Katie Doores from KCL's School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences. She said the study highlights that the antibody responses circulating in the blood are declining after infection and that further research is needed to determine the level of antibodies required for protection from infection. "We need to continue to measure antibody responses in these individuals to see if antibody titres continue to drop or plateau to a steady state," she said. Antibody titres refer to the presence, and amount, of antibodies within a person's blood. The research calls into question how much protection individuals who have had the coronavirus have from subsequent reinfection, and the durability of any potential vaccine. World Health Organization officials said Monday that patients who recover from Covid-19 may be able to get the coronavirus again, citing similar studies that suggest immunity may wane after a few months. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of the WHO's emerging diseases unit, said patients "do mount some level of an immune response." Speaking at a news conference at the organization's Geneva headquarters, she added that, "what we don't know is how strong that protection is and for how long that protection will last." "So there are a number of studies under way that are trying to answer these questions," she said. A peer-reviewed study published in the Lancet medical journal last week claimed that Covid-19 antibodies in Spain's population were "insufficient to provide herd immunity," which refers to when a population is allowed some exposure to the virus in order to build immunity among the general population. DUBAI (Reuters) - State energy giant Saudi Aramco <2222.SE> said on Tuesday that it will be reorganising its downstream business to support its global growth strategy, aiming to complete it by the end of this year. The downstream model will be divided into four units: fuels including refining, trading, retail and lubes; chemicals; power; and pipelines, distribution and terminals, Aramco said in a statement. "This reorganisation is designed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Aramco's existing downstream assets, but does not represent a fundamental change in the overall business structure," Aramco said. Aramco, the world's biggest oil producing company, is expanding its downstream, or refining and marketing, business globally. It pumps around 8.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude, of which it exports about 6 million bpd. The company plans to raise its refining capacity - inside Saudi Arabia and abroad - to 8-10 million bpd, from around 5 million bpd now. Aramco is expanding its refining business at home as well as in new markets, particularly in Asia. In June, Aramco completed its purchase of a 70% stake in SABIC <2010.SE>, the world's fourth-largest petrochemicals company, for $69.1 billion (55.06 billion). (Reporting by Rania El Gamal, editing by Louise Heavens) Delhi Police on Tuesday told the Delhi high court that no actionable evidence has been found against several political leaders -- including the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and Parvesh Verma, and the Aam Aadmi Partys (AAP) Amanatullah Khan -- against whom public interest litigations were filed for allegedly making hate speeches and instigating people during the anti-CAA protests. In an affidavit filed before a bench of chief justice DN Patel and justice Prateek Jalan, the police said that the prima facie investigation has revealed that this is not the case of any sporadic or spontaneous violence but appears to be a part of a well-thought-out conspiracy to destabilise harmony in society, and that the petitions should be dismissed. It stated that investigation in the case is still on, and if anything incriminating is found, FIRs will be registered. The reply comes in a bunch of pleas that sought registration of FIRs against several political leaders for allegedly making speeches during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitation that, the petition said, eventually led to communal riots in north-east Delhi in February. On February 26, the Human Rights Law Network filed a plea on behalf of activist Harsh Mander seeking FIRs against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders such as Kapil Mishra and Anurag Thakur to be booked for making that speeches that purportedly triggered communal violence in northeast Delhi. The following day, an organisation named Lawyers Voice filed an intervention in the plea, making similar allegations against Congress's Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as well as leaders of AAP. It is submitted that during the investigations conducted so far in all the aforesaid matters related to north-east Delhi riots, no actionable evidence has yet surfaced indicating any role being played by the persons named in the writ petitions in instigating and/or participating in the riots, the police affidavit said. It added that the investigation conducted so far is pointing towards a wider and a larger conspiracy and concerted attempts of creating disruption of law and order situation in the city through violent means by disrupting communal harmony in the state and to perpetrate chaos in the society. On Monday, the court gave two days to the Delhi Police to file their replies to the pleas seeking various directions to speed up action in the case of violence at Jamia Milia Islamia that had broken out during the anti-CAA protests after some of the petitioners said they had not received the copy of the reply. Reacting to the affidavit, BJP leader Kapil Mishra said: Today it is clear that the entire propaganda campaign against me was fake. People who organised riots in Delhi are filling fake complaints against me and some urban Naxals tried to promote that. The fake campaign against me stands exposed. I am sure not only rioters but also their support groups in media and politics will be punished by the law. BJP leader Abhay Verma added that he was confident that nothing would be found against him. I was sure that whenever the investigation would be conducted; no evidence would be found against me. I am a public representative and had gone to the riots hit area because the residents and shopkeepers of the area were angry after the murder of IB official Ankit Sharma. I had not made any instigating speeches and it can be seen on the video. Rather, I had tried to stop some people when they raised slogans, Verma said. AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Amanatullah Khan did not respond to requests for a comment. While representatives of the Congress did not immediately respond to the police affidavit, the partys senior leadership has maintained that none of their speeches have incited communal violence. The police said in its affidavit that exercising the fundamental right of dissent should be respected, but no person can be allowed to commit a breach of law, indulge in violence, arson and riotous activity causing danger under the garb of exercise of the fundamental right of free speech and assembly. The matter will be now heard on July 21. Writer Dzifa Ametam examines COVID-19 present dangers amongst other related issues. Ghana has reached a crucial stage in its fight against coronavirus. The decisions we make about our seriousness in fighting the virus now, more than ever, will be the deciding factor between losing the battle or saving our lives. After four months, we have two choices: find the discipline to comply with the protocols or lose the fight. You can stop reading now if you were expecting a feel-good article because the rest of what I'm about to say will disappoint you. But it has to be said. Earlier this month, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service informed us that: we are doing an average of 400 cases a day and that is something we really need to take caution of and make sure we bring it down. We've gone from recording a few cases in our first few weeks in March to 400 cases each day in just four months. If that isnt a reality check enough, I have more. Our overworked, underpaid, and under-resourced health workers have been hit hard. According to the Ghana Medical Association and other allied health associations, 779 health workers have contracted the virus. Of the 779, 190 are doctors, 410 are nurses and midwives, 23 are hospital pharmacists, and 156 are allied health workers. 9 health workers have so far lost their lives to the virus. What this means is that if we keep going at the rate we are with the positive cases, limited resources, and health workers who are battling to survive, we are in for a rude awakening. Before the coronavirus, our doctor-to-patient ratio was nothing to write home about (1 doctor to 10,000 patients). The recommended World Health Organization doctor to patient ratio is 1 doctor to 1000 patients. Not only do we have fewer health professionals, but these same heroes are also battling to save themselves from the virus. I'm writing this piece in the third week of July, more than 25,000 Ghanaians have tested positive for the virus. The nation is not testing as aggressively as it once did so there is a possibility that the actual number of positive cases may be much higher than is being reported. We have sadly lost 139 precious lives to the virus. We've lost the Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Prof Jacob Plange-Rhule, Mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi, Anthony Kobina Kurentsi Sam, we've lost the former General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, we've lost one of our renowned surgeons, Dr. Richard Kisser, we've lost the Medical Superintendent of the Kwadaso SDA hospital, Dr. Boateng, to coronavirus. Families all across this country have lost mothers, fathers, children, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers and friends to this virus. And we are just four months in, we don't know what lies ahead and cannot afford to let our guard down. In less than one month, we've heard of high ranking members of government testing positive for the virus; the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, NHIA Boss, Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby, NPP's campaign manager, Peter Mac Manu, Former Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Carlos Ahenkorah, the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo. The Chief Justice is self-isolating due to coronavirus concerns, even the President is currently in isolation due to exposure to some people who tested positive. You would think that with all that is happening to those who have more resources to prevent contracting the virus, the rest of us would take more precautionary measures to safeguard our lives but no, we are roaming about with no sense of urgency. We have grown numb to coronavirus, we are tired of following the protocols, we miss our old lives, we want a bit of normalcy. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but we are at the tipping point and we are running out of resources, our medical professionals have been hit by the virus, and we still have no idea of whats to come. The way we have been relating to coronavirus lately is like the way that frog in the 'boiling frog' fable reacted to the water that was gradually boiling. Unlike other countries that saw the sudden and fatal effects of coronavirus, Ghana's relationship with the virus has been very gradual, almost tender but still deadly. The virus is increasingly disrupting our lives while we passively enjoy an illusion of normalcy that will be detrimental to our survival if not nipped in the bud. We owe it to our health workers and future generations to regain consciousness of the threats of living through a pandemic. Without this realization, we will sail through our deaths without any sense of urgency. All hope is not lost. Most of us will end up asymptomatic if we get the virus. We must be intentional about our survival. Please do everything you can to fight that fatigue, we must comply with the protocols and make it out. When this is all over, we will tell a glorious story about surviving. We will tell our children about the year we learnt about patience; enduring while planning for a better tomorrow. We will share how we survived when everything is crumbling around us. It will be one crazy story to tell. We must all be alive to tell it. The writer, Dziffa Akua Ametam, is co-host of Citi TV's Breakfast Daily program which airs between 7:30 and 10 am on weekdays. Boris Johnson is facing a grassroots Tory backlash over plans to require people to wear face masks when visiting shops in England. Conservative party members took to social media to post pictures of their cut-up membership cards and declare themselves "politically homeless" over the policy, which comes in on 24 July. The move, which is backed by scientific evidence and resembles similar approaches brought in in around 120 countries over the world, is overwhelmingly popular with the wider public. A snap poll by YouGov conducted on Monday before the announcement found that 60 per cent of people back making masks mandatory compared to 34 per cent who think they should be optional. But prominent Conservatives, some taking their cues from the United States where conspiracy theories about coronavirus have gone mainstream, took to social media to vent their frustration. Douglas Carswell, a former Tory MP, responded to the announcement by declaring he would no longer be shopping. "Oh well," he tweeted. "No more going to the shops for me." Longtime Conservative-supporting journalists Toby Young pledged ahead of the announcement that he was "never voting Tory again" if the ban came in. He described masks as "mandatory face nappies" Activists and party members posted pictures of their membership cards cut into pieces or with angry messages scribbled onto them. Francis Hoar, a Tory-supporting barrister, posted a photograph of his card online, stating: "It may only be one straw, but there comes a point where any association with this government must end. "This is not only the most incompetent government of my lifetime, it is the most authoritarian. It is not remotely conservative." Another member Alistair Haimes said merely: "Enough" next to a photo of his card as the news broke on Tuesday morning. He later told the PA news agency: "All it is, it's very transparently that they think that people will be more confident to go back to shops and offices if they wear them than if they don't. "I think people should be free to wear them. I just object to being told what to do." Dominey Jenner, a stay-at-home mother and former teacher from Wimbledon, south-west London, told the same agency that she had been "quite sceptical about the lockdown" but that the new policy on face masks was the "final straw". "If you look at the statistics regarding the cases and the death rate, which is plummeting ... why now you would bring in mandatory face masks?" she said. "The other strand for me is the libertarian strand. I think people should be trusted, I think we should be given a choice. "I'm really angry at how the Government has invoked fear in its population to control people I think that is the wrong way to manage a population and to govern." Outgoing member Lyndsay Hopkins, who posted a picture of her card, said: "I was disappointed in Theresa May but Boris Johnson is on another scale. I will never vote Conservative again. Am now politically homeless." One anonymous Twitter account going by "Lord Bob" posted a picture of Tory membership card with "Shove ur mask up ur a***, c***s" written on it in black felt tip pen. He later posted another picture of it cut into pieces. Another social media user posting a picture of their card said: "I only went back to the Tories, because of Johnson. Ill never vote for them again, because of Johnson." Tory voters are slightly more sceptical of the policy than the general public, polling shows though they still support it overall. 57 per cent of Tory voters want mask-wearing to be made compulsory compared to 40 per cent who think it should be optional. Labour voters support compulsion by 65 per cent to 27 per cent, according to a breakdown provided by YouGov. Leave voters in particular are somewhat sceptical, but again still clearly positive, with 55 per cent in favour of making wearing masks mandatory and 42 per cent against. One doctor at a London hospital told the PA news agency: "I wore an FFP3 [respiratory mask], some goggles, a hat, a full-length gown with the consistency of a bin bag and two pairs of gloves solidly for about two months. A bunch of Tories can wear a napkin over their face to go Waitrose." Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images The saga of alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has been defined by a mix of horrific accounts of his underage victims and absurd details about the lives of the financier and his alleged co-conspirators. Court documents filed by prosecutors on Monday suggest that dynamic will continue now that Epsteins alleged madame Ghislane Maxwell is in custody. On Monday, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys office in Manhattan asked Judge Alison J. Nathan to deny Maxwell bail, asserting that she poses a major flight risk. But the details of her arrest provided on Monday suggest she may not yet be a master of life on the run. On July 2, when FBI agents raided the house where Maxwell was staying, they found a cell phone wrapped in tinfoil, which prosecutors called a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection. After agents broke through the gate to the compound in Bradford, New Hampshire, they announced themselves at the door; upon seeing the law enforcement officers, she fled to another room in the house. (In a further effort to obscure herself, Maxwell recently changed her email address and registered a new phone under the name G Max.) Though details from the day of her arrest might not suggest that her father was a suspected spy, her wealth and web of connections bolster the argument that she could flee while out on bail. Prosecutors also stated that Maxwell has three passports and 15 bank accounts in her name, the total balance of which reportedly exceed $20 million. According to the filing, former British military members hired by Maxwells brother guarded her at the $1 million New Hampshire estate, purchased in cash via a limited liability corporation. Maxwell is facing six counts for her alleged involvement in Epsteins operation: conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two counts of perjury. She is scheduled to appear via video before Judge Nathan on Tuesday to request bail; according to CNN, one of her alleged victims, who is expected to ask Nathan not to grant bail, will also appear. Since July 6, Maxwell has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where she has reportedly been given paper clothes to deter a suicide attempt. On Monday, prosecutors wrote that Maxwells proposal that she be held pretrial in home confinement with GPS tracking, on $5 million bail is worth nothing. Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us. In a far-ranging new interview, the CEO of Airbus say he thinks it could be as late as 2025 before aircraft production rates return to 2019 levels. Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury, interviewed by Jens Flottau of Aviation Week, paints a generally optimistic picture. He says that the company remains committed to its internationally distributed manufacturing process, specifically mentioning its Final Assembly Line in Mobile. (The company has slashed production by around 40% and announced plans to cut about 15,000 jobs worldwide over the next year but hasnt specified how many of those cuts could be in the United States. The majority are expected to be in Germany and France.) Asked if it still makes sense for Airbus to assemble aircraft in five different locations, Faury says he thinks the approach will continue to be a strength in a more fragmented post-COVID world. Being very American in the U.S. in Mobile, Alabama, and being a strong partner in China in Tianjin will have value, he says. The full interview can be found at www.aviationweek.com. Some highlights: Faury predicts air travel will gradually increase to near-normal levels by summer 2021. He acknowledges a great deal of uncertainty, with continued ups and downs, small confinements and reopenings caused by coronavirus outbreaks, but doesnt expect a second wave with an impact comparable to 2020s virtual shutdown of air traffic. When air travel returns to previous levels, that will in turn drive a corresponding increase in production, with a return to normal between 2023 and 2025. It is likely that the recovery will see massive demand, so the ramp-up will have to be steep, he says. Faury predicts that demand will rise first for long-range variants of smaller jetliners -- including models Airbus assembles in Mobile. The A220 and the long-range versions of the A321neo should really make a lot of sense, he says. Other topics covered in the Aviation Week interview include whether Airbus will make gains over Boeing during the shutdown, and how the crisis may speed up development of new technology. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kent Mensah (Agence France-Presse) Accra, Ghana Tue, July 14, 2020 09:00 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066615332 2 Books library,Ghana,Africa,Literature Free A small group of visitors waits eagerly at the entrance to a single-story building in Ghana's capital Accra, looking to explore the literary treasure inside. This is the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora -- a passion project launched by Ghanaian-British writer Sylvia Arthur. Based around Arthur's personal book collection, the library provides a remarkable opportunity to bring literature from the global black community to a country considered a cradle of African civilization, and which was once a hub of the transatlantic slave trade. "Our work has been neglected, it's not been showcased, it's not been respected, it's not been archived and that's the purpose of this library," Arthur said as she guided her visitors around. The library was founded in 2017 when Arthur moved to Ghana after working in Europe. It was renamed and relaunched this year, welcoming its first guests again in July as restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus were eased in the west African nation. The library boasts around 4,000 books, from almost every country on the African continent. Many names will be familiar to those who have seen the growing international acclaim for African writers such as Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ben Okri, Mariama Ba and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. But this collection is a rarity in Africa. It not only spans the entire continent, including authors such as Assia Djebar from Algeria and Naguib Mahfouz from Egypt, as well as white authors from southern Africa such Doris Lessing, Nadine Gordimer and J.M. Coetzee -- it also includes black writers from across the world including the US, Caribbean and Europe. It also has a special collection of rare and out-of-print books, drawing historical links between the works of African and diaspora writers, and offers residences for authors from abroad. "We started off in one room and now we are in a whole house," Arthur said. Read also: Floating library spreads joy of reading in eastern Indonesia Black Lives Matter The library's aims have been made even more relevant by the Black Lives Matter protests that have swept the globe and sparked renewed debates on history and equality. "I definitely think what we do is very empowering," said Arthur. "It shows people that no matter what they've been taught in schools, and in Western schools, we actually come from a race of people who are intelligent, smart, literate." Ghana -- a beacon in Africa's struggle for independence -- has long played a role as a hub of thought and memory for the broader black community. American writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou lived in Accra in the early 1960s and the government has tried to attract black people to move to the country. In 2019 the authorities staged the "Year of Return" -- four centuries after the first slave ship landed in what is now the US -- urging African Americans to "come home". - 'Don't lose our identity' - But despite those official efforts, there is often little knowledge of writers from across Africa and the black community. Visitors said that the library, while small in the numbers of books it has compared with others, is a seed that can grow, filling those gaps. For an annual fee of 600 cedi ($100, 90 euros), members can borrow books or simply peruse the shelves lined beneath portraits of renowned writers of African descent. "I'm truly overwhelmed by the trove of materials I've seen here, especially such a brilliant and classical collection of pan-African writers," said Appiah Kusi Adomako, who works on regional integration. "These are great materials everyone should come and read to add to their knowledge of African history so we don't lose our identity." Young writer Nasirudeen Jabbaru agreed the collection offered a fantastic window into an often-neglected area. "Having all these books together in one place is special," he said. "Most of them are scarce on the market and this is a whole inspiration for me." Researcher Jeffrey Boadu described the library as a "good foundation for future writers". "I've really been inspired and I'll definitely come back to read some more," he said. Topics : library Ghana Africa Literature (Natural News) If you dare to point out the flaws in the notion of global warming, some climate activists would like to see you sent to prison, or at least fined. In an article penned by a group of professors from the University of Exeter that appeared in Carbon Brief, the authors call for those who publish what they deem climate misinformation online to be fined and imprisoned. They claim that pointing out science that contradicts their narrative causes significant harm. They opened their guest post entitled, How climate change misinformation spreads online by identifying vaccines and coronavirus as other topics that are laced with misleading information before singling out climate change as the topic most subject the organized spread of spurious information. Although there is misinformation on both sides of the debate, the authors predictably chose to focus on climate skepticism. They claim there are various groups of actors who are responsible for the funding, creation and spread of this so-called misinformation, including the fossil fuel industry, contrarian scientists, religious and political groups, and online groups using the cover of grassroots organizations. They put forth a number of solutions that could help combat the problem of people contradicting the global warming narrative. For example, they mention pre-emptively providing correct information and explicitly warning people they may be misinformed. They also suggest using algorithms for ranking and selection to reduce the misinformation that is circulating something that we know all too well is already going on. All of those ideas are concerning, of course, but the idea they put forth of an approach involving punishments like fines or imprisonment is the most outrageous of all. Apparently, our right to free speech goes out the window when exercising that right involves exposing climate alarmists for the frauds they really are. They conclude by saying that a combination of approaches is necessary for avoiding the disruption caused by misinformation to public debate. An inconvenient truth Of course, what they claim is misleading information that is created and spread with intent to deceive is just verifiable information based on proven science that they dont want people to hear, or inconvenient truths, if you will. As meteorologist Anthony Watts points out, the radical idea of imprisoning people is the result of a group desperate to hold onto its credibility in a world where social media can quickly expose lies like those in Al Gores film, An Inconvenient Truth. The film used an animated clip showing a polar bear nearly drowning while trying to make its way onto a small flow of ice that were led to conclude was caused by global warming. He then cited a study about drowned polar bears. The claim was quickly disputed by experts, and many people took to social media to try to spread the word of the inaccuracies. It was eventually revealed that scientists had only documented a single polar bear drowned at sea following an intense storm. An AP article later reported: A federal wildlife biologist whose observation in 2004 of presumably drowned polar bears in the Arctic helped to galvanize the global warming movement has been placed on administrative leave and is being investigated for scientific misconduct, possibly over the veracity of that article. This is just one of many claims in the film that have since been debunked, such as the one about Mount Kilimanjaro losing its ice cap because of global warming when deforestation around the mountain base ended up being the true culprit. And lets not forget that the Arctic ice cap that Gore claimed in 2009 would be gone within five years is still very much intact. Of course, in this scenario, it would be those who dared to point out the falsehoods in An Inconvenient Truth who deserve punishment, according to the authors, rather than those who told the lies in the first place. Sources for this article include: ClimateRealism.com CarbonBrief.org WattsUpWithThat.com SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMMO, Inc. (OTCQB: POWW) (AMMO or the Company), a premier American ammunition and munition components manufacturer and technology leader, has made additional investments in new machinery to further increase the Companys manufacturing and production capacity at its facility in Payson, AZ. In the coming weeks, AMMO will be adding new loading, inspection and priming machines, along with a new laser machine to be utilized for the Companys production of its proprietary STREAK ammunition offerings. Once the new machinery is up and running, the Company expects the following daily capacity increases by year-end of calendar 2020 compared to year-end of calendar 2019: Pistol loading daily capacity to increase by nearly 500% Rifle loading daily capacity to increase by nearly 170% STREAK ammunition daily production capacity to increase by nearly 600% Through the expansion of its current capacity with the new machinery, AMMO expects this investment to reduce costs, make the overall manufacturing process more efficient, and allow the company to increase production of its higher margin products. Further expanding our manufacturing and production capacity will allow us to continue meeting the heightened demand that our business has experienced over the past several months, said Fred Wagenhals, AMMOs CEO. With a minimum capital expenditure investment of $2 million, we have increased our machines maximum daily capacity and our year-over-year production output across nearly all of our channels. By making these investments in our equipment, we can ensure that we are providing the highest quality service and products to our customers while meeting their increased demands in a timely manner. About AMMO, Inc. AMMO was founded in 2016 with a vision to change, innovate and invigorate the complacent munitions industry. The Company designs and manufactures products for a variety of markets, including law enforcement, military, hunting, sport shooting and self-defense. AMMO promotes branded munitions, including its patented STREAK Visual Ammunition, /stelTH/ subsonic munitions, and O.W.L. Technologies. The Companys corporate offices are headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona. Manufacturing operations are based in both northern Arizona and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. For more information please visit: www.ammoinc.com . Story continues Forward Looking Statements This document contains certain forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements for purposes of federal and state securities laws, including, but not limited to, any projections of earnings, revenue or other financial items; any statements of the plans, strategies, goals and objectives of management for future operations; any statements concerning proposed new products and services or developments thereof; any statements regarding future economic conditions or performance; any statements or belief; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. Forward looking statements may include the words may, could, estimate, intend, continue, believe, expect or anticipate or other similar words, or the negative thereof. These forward-looking statements present our estimates and assumptions only as of the date of this report. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the dates on which they are made. We do not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the dates they are made. You should, however, consult further disclosures and risk factors we include in Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Reports filed on Form 8-K. In our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, references to AMMO, Inc., AMMO, the Company, we, us, our and similar terms refer to AMMO, Inc. and its wholly owned operating subsidiaries The Enlight Group (d/b/a Jagemann Munition Components), SNI, LLC and Ammo Technologies, Inc. Investor Contact: Cody Slach Gateway Investor Relations Phone: (949) 574-3860 POWW@gatewayir.com Cookie Preferences Cookie List Cookie List A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website when visited by a user asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes: Strictly Necessary Cookies We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a sale of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more. Functional Cookies We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a sale of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more. Performance Cookies We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a sale of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more. Sale of Personal Data We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website. Social Media Cookies We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website. Targeting Cookies We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated sale of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website. Human emerging respiratory pathogens bulletin: Issue 42, June 2020 Monthly situational analysis of emerging respiratory diseases affecting humans (data to June 30, 2020) In this bulletin COVID-19 update On December 31, 2019, cases of a pneumonia of unknown etiology were reported in Wuhan, China, which have since been determined to be due to a novel coronavirus (COVID-2019). On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Avian influenza updates Avian influenza A(H7N9) Figure 1. Temporal distribution of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9), globally, by month and year, January 1, 2013 to June 30, 2020 (n=1568). Note: Graph was prepared by the Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID) using data from the latest WHO Monthly Influenza at the Human-Animal Interface Risk Assessment. This graph reflects data available through these risk assessments as of June 30, 2020. Figure 1 - Text Equivalent The temporal distribution of avian influenza A(H7N9), globally, January 1st, 2013 June 30, 2020, has been displayed in Figure 1. The highest number of reports occurred in 2017, with a peak in January. Three cases were reported in 2018 and one case was reported in 2019. Dates Cases Deaths 2016 Jun 2 0 Jul 4 0 Aug 0 0 Sep 0 0 Oct 2 0 Nov 10 2 Dec 114 39 2017 Jan 197 29 Feb 93 13 Mar 70 12 Apr 72 24 May 50 6 Jun 19 4 Jul 2 0 Aug 3 2 Sep 1 0 Oct 0 0 Nov 0 0 Dec 1 0 2018 Jan 1 1 Feb 1 0 Mar 0 0 Apr 0 0 May 0 0 June 0 0 July 0 0 Aug 0 0 Sep 0 0 Oct 0 0 Nov 0 0 Dec 0 0 2019 Jan 0 0 Feb 0 0 Mar 0 0 Apr 1 0 May 0 0 June 0 0 July 0 0 Aug 0 0 Sept 0 0 Oct 0 0 Nov 0 0 Dec 0 0 2020 Jan 0 0 Feb 0 0 Mar 0 0 April 0 0 May 0 0 Avian influenza A(H5N1) As of June 30, 2020, 104,204 cases of COVID-2019 have been reported in Canada. The highest number of cases were reported from Ontario and Quebec (represent 87% of the national cases). The Public Health Agency of Canada is monitoring the situation closely No new H7N9 cases were reported to the WHO in June 2020. The last case was globally reported in April 2019. Two travel-related cases were reported in Canada in January 2015. A total of 1568 human cases of avian influenza A(H7N9), including at least 615 deaths, have been reported globally since 2013 (Figure 1). No new H5N1 cases were reported to WHO in June 2020. The most recent case was reported in March 25, 2019 in Nepal. A total of 879 cases including 461 deaths have been reported globally since 1997. One fatal travel-related case of H5N1 was reported in Canada in January 2014. Avian influenza A(H5N6) No new cases of H5N6 were reported to the WHO in June 2020. The most recent case of H5N6 was reported in China in August 2019. There have been a total of 24 cases, including 7 deaths, reported globally since 2014, all in China. Swine influenza updates Swine origin influenza A(H1N2)v On June 22, 2020, Brazil reported a human infection with A(H1N2)v. The case was a 22 year old female who worked in a slaughterhouse and developed influenza-like illness on April 13, 2020. She obtained medical care on April 16, at which point a respiratory specimen was collected for testing. Routine real-time RT-PCR identified the specimen as influenza A and on June 22, 2020, genetic sequencing results characterized the virus as A(H1N2)v. Prior to this case, Brazil had only reported one A(H1N2)v case in 2015, resulting in a total of two cases reported from Brazil thus far. Swine origin influenza A(H1N1)v A study published on June 29, 2020 identified a recently emerged genotype 4 Eurasian avian-like H1N1 (G4 EA H1N1) virus that has been predominant in swine populations since 2016 in at least 10 Chinese provinces. Swine workers have been found seropositive for the virus, indicating possible swine to human transmission. There have been two cases in humans, in 2016 and 2019, in a 46 year old and a 9 year old and there is no evidence of ongoing transmission from these cases. Figure 2. Spatial distribution of human cases of avian and swine influenza reported globally in June 2020 (n=4). Note: Map was prepared by the Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Infectious Diseases (CIRID) using data from the latest WHO Monthly Influenza at the Human-Animal Interface Risk Assessment. This map reflects data available through these risk assessments as of June 30, 2020. Figure 2 - Text Equivalent The spatial distribution of avian and swine influenza human cases in June 2020 has been displayed in Figure 2. Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) update Another influenza A(H1N1) infection was detected in a 2 year old case from Hesse, Germany in June 2020. This case presented with influenza-like illness on June 9, 2020 after contact with pigs during a farm visit. Whole genome sequencing results identified the virus as a Eurasian avian-like swine A(H1N1) virus. This virus is similar to the 1C.2.2 clade viruses that circulate in swine in Europe and differs from the 1C.2.3 clade viruses that circulate in Chinese swine according to the previously referenced study. To date, reported H1N1v infections have been associated with mild illness. In June 2020, no new cases of MERS-CoV were reported. A total of 2552 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV, including 871 deaths, have been reported globally since 2012 by the WHO. No cases have been reported in Canada. Micheal O Fiachra / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm A Houston man was charged with COVID-19 relief fraud after federal agents alleged he falsely obtained more than $1.1 million in emergency protection loans, according to U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patricks office. Instead of paying employees, 29-year-old Joshua Thomas Argires invested some of the funds into a cryptocurrency account and withdrew others from ATMs, the criminal complaint claims. New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday (July 14, 2020) said that India's 86% of COVID-19 active cases are limited to 10 states out of which Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have 50% of active cases. Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have been the worst COVID-19 hit states across India. While Maharashtra has 1,05,935 active cases out of its total 2,60,924 confirmed cases, Tamil Nadu has 48,199 active cases. Tamil Nadu has witnessed a total of 1,42,798 coronavirus infections. The Health Ministry informed that 36% of the active cases are in the following states - Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat and Assam. (Photo Credits: PIB) Currently, there are 3,11,565 active cases in India while the recoveries are 1.8 times of the number of active cases at 5,71,459. As on July 12, the national recovery rate stands at 63.02%. 20 States/UTs have a higher recovery rate than the national average. A total of 9,06,752 people have contracted the virus in India by Tuesday morning. The Health Ministry said that there is a progressive decline in the daily growth rate of new cases. In March 2020, the daily growth rate was around 31% while on May 31 it was 4.82%. The daily growth on July 12 has reduced to 3.24%. (Photo Credits: PIB) They stated that India has one of the lowest COVID-19 cases per million population in the world. Indias cases per million population is 657 while the global average is at 1638. India is also amongst the lowest in the world in deaths per million population. Indias death count per million population is 17.2 while the global average is at 73. #IndiaFightsCorona: Death per million population- India is amongst the lowest in the world. Indias cases of death per million population is 17.2 while the global average is at 73: @MoHFW_INDIA media briefing#StaySafe #IndiaWillWin @ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/GucMpQlAJb #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) July 14, 2020 According to the Health Ministry, 22 States are currently performing more than 140 tests per day per million population. The Housing Minister has refused to commit to banning co-living. Darragh O'Brien said he is "not a fan" of co-living spaces, in which numerous people live in one room flats sharing a kitchen and living area, and believes "the market and people themselves will decide" it is not a housing solution. "We're reviewing it, none have been built," the minister said at the unveiling of new O'Cualann Housing Development in Ballymun. "I'm not a fan of it, and I haven't changed my view on it. "I don't think it's a housing solution. "The only thing I want to just check and make sure is that purpose-built student accommodation, that it doesn't have the unintended consequences of a full ban because some of that is shared living spaces in purpose-built accommodation." The battle over co-living has reemerged after the Fumbally Lane development in Dublins Liberties, was given planning permission by Dublin City Council on March 30. The plans involve a 69 room co-living complex. In the same month, JSC Properties Ltd submitted a planning application to the council for a development above Dublin's Jervis Centre, with 127 18 square metre co-living spaces. The programme for government did not include a commitment to banning co-living however the Green Party, Sinn Fein and People Before Profit have all spoken out against such developments in the past, with some making comparisons to historical tenement living. "None have been built," the minister added. "My view hasn't changed but I think I should be allowed to do the review, to be fair, because that type is a decision that the cabinet sub committee on housing as well would have to make and that's a committee made up of the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste, myself and finance. "I am genuinely reviewing, it's not an immediate threat because none have been built. "I think actually the market, people themselves will decide that they're not going to see it as a solution for housing. "I don't want to ban something if it has an effect that it's going to affect student accommodation." The Minister says he does not regret saying that the eviction ban should run until October before he was appointed to the role. However he has not confirmed he will extend the measure, as he is awaiting advice from the Department of Health and the Department of Public Expenditure. "What I would like to do that hasn't changed, but I have to be mindful of the Act and the public health advice, which I haven't got yet," he added. He added that there are indications are from the sector, that Ireland will see under 14,000 house completions in both the public and private sector this year. The government is projecting that they will "probably" hit about 80% of the target this year on public housing delivery, which is 7,736 houses According to charity Focus Ireland, there were almost 9,000 people homeless in Ireland in May. It seems China is not willing to recognise the ultimate sacrifice made by its soldiers for the country as the government is pressuring the families of soldiers who died in Galwan face off to not conduct burials and in-person funeral ceremonies, according to a US intelligence assessment. The bloody brawl between Chinese and Indian troops took place on June 15 in which both sides suffered casualties. India, without any hesitation, accepted that 20 of its soldiers have been martyred in the clash. They are being hailed as heroes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly radio programme Mann ki Baat on June 28, conveyed condolences to the kin of Army personnel who lost their lives in the Galwan valley clash and said that the sacrifice of these families is worth worshipping. Even after the one month of the incident, China has still not disclosed how many of its soldiers were killed in the incident. The grieving Chinese families who have lost their loved ones in the clash are being mistreated by the Chinese government. First, the Chinese government refused to accept the casualties on its side following the incident and now it has denied burial of the fallen soldiers. According to the US intelligence assessment, China is not accepting that its soldiers have been killed in the showdown in order to cover up an episode that Beijing appears to consider a blunder, reported the U.S. News. The violent face-off occurred after China attempted to unilaterally change the status quo during de-escalation in eastern Ladakh. India has said that the situation could have been avoided if the agreement at the higher level been scrupulously followed by the Chinese side. The Chinese government has acknowledged the deaths of only a few officers so far. Indian intercepts have revealed that the Chinese side suffered 43 casualties including the dead and seriously injured. American intelligence believes that 35 of the Chinese soldiers were killed in the showdown. The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs has told families of those who died in the Galwan Valley clash that they must forgo traditional burial ceremonies and cremate the soldiers remains and that any funeral services should be conducted remotely, not in person, a source familiar with the assessment told U.S. News. Though the government has used the threat posed by the spread of the coronavirus as a pretext, the assessment concludes that the new rules are a part of a deliberate effort by Beijing to undermine public awareness and erase any enduring reminders of the violent clash. This decision of the Chinese Communist Party has upset Chinese families who lost their loved ones in the incident, US-based Breitbart News had reported. According to Breitbart, the Chinese government is struggling to silence the families of soldiers who are using Weibo and other platforms to vent their anger and frustration. China reportedly fears that images of gravestones for its fallen soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army, or PLA, could further stoke those sentiments if spread on Chinese or international social media. The reality is they dont want to create martyr soldiers, says the source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material. So they have banned functions where friends and families can pay their respects for the PLA deceased. Subscriber content preview The city could remove hazardous materials and demolish two buildings, then construct a memorial. By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska The fate of one of Alaskas most historic yet neglected structures was before city officials on Monday in Seward. The city was expected to 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. . . . Hathersage Capital Management LLC, a global macro investment manager specializing in G10 currencies and absolute returns, today announced that its dbSelect Hathersage Long Term Currency Strategy was named "Best Foreign Exchange Hedge Fund" at the Hedge Funds Review European Performance Awards 2020. The Hedge Funds Review European Performance Awards 2020 are the most prestigious event for the European hedge fund industry, attracting the top names from the industry and recognizing true performance, skill and expertise of managers according to Hedge Funds Review Expert judging panels review each entry, rigorously considering both quantitative and qualitative factors and drawing on the experience and knowledge of each judge to agree winners in each category. The judging panels, chaired by Hedge Funds Review awards editor Margie Lindsay, are impartial and unbiased. Hathersage was founded by Bill Lipschutz, who leads a team of highly experienced FX specialists, most of whom have worked together for more than two decades. Including this latest award, this is the 10th major award for Hathersage since 2016: 2018 Best Macro Hedge Fund US, Hedgeweek 2018 Best Foreign Exchange Hedge Fund Global, Hedgeweek 2017 Best Foreign Exchange Hedge Fund, Hedge Funds Review 2017 Best Foreign Exchange Hedge Fund Global, Hedgeweek 2017 Best Macro Hedge Fund US, Hedgeweek 2016 Global Macro Fund of the Year, Absolute Return 2016 Best Macro CTA US, Hedgeweek 2016 Best Foreign Exchange Hedge Fund, Hedge Funds Review 2016 Hedge Fund of the Year, Hedge Funds Review View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005331/en/ Contacts: Thomas Walek Peaks Strategies twalek@PeaksStrategies.com +1 917-353-7575 The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and others have joined a long list of personalities and organizations to pay tribute to Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor who turned 80 today. His 80th milestone is being marked today at his residence in Accra under Covid-19 protocols and guest restrictions although many would have loved to grace the occasion with him. The tribute to him by the GMA is one of the many that stood out. The GMA President, Dr. Frank Ankobia, recalled the outstanding services of the Physician Specialist who, as he put it, was a part-time lecturer at the Medical School of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, while he worked at Kufuor Clinic, Kumasi. Aside from the quality lecture he gave at KNUST, he supported Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as a Member of the University of Ghana Medical School Council and Inspector of Examinations for the final year Bachelor of Medicine students. He was appointed by the Medical and Dental Council as a member of the board of examiners for foreign trained doctors applying to work in Ghana, he recounted. For the outstanding services, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, younger brother of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, neither took salary nor allowances during the period. His election in 1992 to serve as the President of the GMA for three years as the 13th President to hold the position occasioned in his conferment of the highest honour of the GMA, Fellow of the GMA. As Defence Minister in 2003, he commissioned the GMA building at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The GMA tribute did not ignore Dr. Addo Kufuor's attraction of a Gold medal for his distinguished medical practice by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council and his later award of the Order of the Volta (Companion). The GMA added, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, as you celebrate your 80th Birthday, the Ghana Medical Association wishes you good health and long life. God bless you now and always as you continue to serve the medical fraternity and the nation at large. As Defence Minister he attracted a glowing tribute from the then Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Joseph Boateng Danquah, for his footprints in the development of the Ghana Armed Forces. His foresight led to the construction of the Burma Hall Complex, a legacy of an ICT Centre of Excellence and the refurbishment of the 37 Military Hospital that has assumed the status of a teaching hospital. In times of darkness you were a beacon of light; in times of uncertainties you were a shoulder to lean upon; in times of joy you beamed hope and encouragement for greater things to come. Your interactive durbars were some of the hallmarks of your administration, the then CDS, it read. Dr. Addo-Kufuor has composed a memoir Gold Coast Boy. Daily Guide Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:32:50|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close UNITED NATIONS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Tuesday condemned Monday's attack on UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR), in which a peacekeeper from Rwanda was killed and two others were wounded. In a press statement, the members of the council expressed their deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of the peacekeeper killed, as well as to Rwanda and to the UN peacekeeping force in the CAR (MINUSCA). They wished the injured a speedy recovery. The council members condemned in the strongest terms all attacks, provocations and incitement to violence against MINUSCA by armed groups and other perpetrators. They reiterated that attacks against peacekeepers may constitute war crimes and reminded all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law. They called on the CAR government to swiftly investigate this attack and bring the perpetrators to justice. The council members reiterated their full support for MINUSCA and expressed their deep appreciation to MINUSCA's troop- and police-contributing countries. The attack on a MINUSCA convoy by alleged Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation armed elements occurred in Gedze in the northwestern prefecture of Nana-Mambere on Monday. Enditem Health officials in Bengaluru are facing a big challenge on the home quarantine front amid rising COVID-19 cases as over 23,000 individuals have furnished wrong information about their place of residence. The Karnataka government has made it mandatory for people coming from other states to undergo 14 days of home quarantine. After this, the citizens quarantine squad was tasked with ensuring that the norms are not violated. However, the team is dealing with a huge problem as many have not given their correct residential address, says a report by The News Indian Express. About 69,297 people are in active home quarantine Bengaluru Urban district, said the report citing data available with the squad as on July 12. Of them, 46,113 people have given their correct address details while 23,184 individuals have not. This is creating difficulties in tracking those people, it said. COVID-19 Vaccine Frequently Asked Questions View more How does a vaccine work? A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine. How many types of vaccines are there? There are broadly four types of vaccine one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine. What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind? Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time. View more Show Also Read | Bengaluru goes into week-long lockdown from 8 pm: What is allowed, what is not People, who want to volunteer in citizens quarantine squad, can register on www.quarantinesquad.in and join a group on the Telegram app related to their respective wards. All the details regarding the people in home quarantine, along with their addresses and contact numbers will be available on the Quarantine Watch app of the State Government. The volunteers reach each house and conduct checks on people on the 2nd, 5th, 10th and 14th day, as per the report. As many as 13,036 volunteers have enrolled for the citizens quarantine squad as on July 12, the report stated. One of the volunteers shared how he ended up at the wrong house to check on home quarantined people. The security guard at the apartment pointed to a flat where a party was on. I went there along with Civil Defence personnel and told the residents that they cant host parties with so many people when they are supposed to be under home quarantine. They were shocked when they heard this and said they hadnt travelled anywhere for the past six months. Later, I realised that the wrong address was given, the volunteer said as per the report. Follow our LIVE blog for the latest updates of the novel coronavirus pandemic COVID-19 infections in Karnataka has breached the 40,000 mark as the state reported 2,738 fresh cases and 73 related fatalities, taking the death toll to 757 on July 13, the health department said. Out of 2,738 fresh infections reported, a whopping 1,315 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone, while 43 of the 73 reported deaths were from the state capital. The mortality rate in the state is 1.82 percent and 1.63 percent in Bengaluru. Follow our full coverage on COVID-19 here Sachin Pilot (File photo) The second meeting of Congress Legislature Party in two days began Tuesday morning with no sign of Rajasthan's Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot making an appearance. Ahead of the meeting, Congress general secretary Avinash Pande issued another appeal to Pilot, who had skipped the first CLP meeting at Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's home on Monday. Eighteen other Congress MLAs also did not attend Monday's meeting, according to sources. But independents and MLAs from other parties participated, expressing support for Gehlot. Tuesday's meeting was said to be a second chance for Pilot, who is also the president of the state unit of the party. But MLAs considered close to Pilot were again not seen there. Some of them have indicated that they would prefer a show of strength in the 200-member state assembly. The Congress meeting is being held at a resort where Gehlot and other MLAs are camping since Monday. "I appeal to Sachin Pilot and all his fellow MLAs to join today's Legislature Party meeting, Avinash Pande, who is the Rajasthan in-charge at the AICC, tweeted Tuesday morning. While expressing your faith in the ideology and values of the Congress, please make your presence felt and strengthen the hands of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," he said. He told reporters that a second chance is being given to Pilot and hoped that all MLAs come and extend solidarity with the leadership for which people voted to ensure the state's development. Congress leader Randeep Surjewala on Monday night announced the summoning of second CLP meeting, amid attempts by the party's top leadership to woo back dissidents led by Pilot. Former party president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi are among the senior leaders who had been in touch with Pilot, sources said. Party leaders had said 106 of 122 MLAs from Congress and the allies -- attended Monday's meeting, a claim contested by the Pilot camp. Pilot and his supporters claimed to have the backing of 30 Congress MLAs and some independents. Pilot has been upset since he was denied the Rajasthan chief minister's post after the December 2018 assembly elections. Syracuse, N.Y. A lawsuit from an absentee landlord over a demolished house backfired last month, with the landlord owing the city more than the house was worth. The landlord, Blake Global LLC, had accused the city of wrongfully demolishing a house at 1413 Butternut St. But attorneys for the city beat back that claim and instead forced the landlord to cover the cost of the demolition, which was $29,000. Edoardo Pesenti sued the city last month on behalf of his limited liability company, Blake Global. Blake Global bought a portfolio of 10 properties in Syracuse in 2018. Its managed by a group of overseas investors, including Pesenti, who lives in Dubai, according to his attorney. The company is on the citys list of top slumlords for routinely ignoring code violations. Last summer, the city obtained an emergency demolition order on the Butternut Street house after an inspection showed its load-bearing walls had separated from the roof and were buckling. A fire department inspector approved the demolition order, and the house was knocked down within 24 hours. Pesenti said the city hadnt given his property manager, Michael Hemmer, enough warning or enough time to try to fix the damage. In the lawsuit, he also alleged the citys inspection wasnt thorough enough to determine the property was dangerous. After Pesenti sued, however, the city counter-sued. Lawyers said Blake Global, in fact, owed the city $29,000 for the cost of the demolition. Blake Global purchased the house for $20,000 in 2018. Lawyers for the city described Blake Global as an absentee landlord whose house on Butternut Street was so ramshackle it was found to be in imminent danger of collapse on top of the family of tenants living inside. The two sides settled, with Blake Global agreeing to pay $29,000 and dismiss all claims against the city. Corporation Counsel Kristen Smith said the city received and deposited the money last month. It was a great victory, Smith said. The land lot at No. 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street, District 1, has been left deserted for years after Sabeco sold its entire stake in Sabeco Pearl Investment JSC PHOTO: TNO They were involved in the handover of a 6,000 square-meter land lot at No. 2-4-6 Hai Ba Trung Street in District 1, HCMC, to the private sector, which amounted to the violation of regulations on the management and use of State assets, causing losses and wastefulness. Hoang, 67, who headed the ministry between 2007 and 2016, and Phan Chi Dung, former head of the ministrys Light Industry Department, were charged with breaking rules on the management and use of State assets, which led to losses and wastefulness. Former Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Ho Thi Kim Thoa, who was banned from leaving her place of residence, has fled and is being pursued by the police. The Ministry of Finance gave the land lot to the State-run Saigon Beer-Alcohol-Beverage Company (Sabeco) to build its headquarters and a trade, service and office center. However, Hoang allowed Sabeco and three corporate shareholders Attland Corporation, Ha An Investment, Trade and Service JSC and Me Linh Invest JSC to set up Sabeco Pearl Investment JSC to carry out the Saigon Me Linh Tower project on the land lot. Under Hoang's and Thoas directives, Phan Dang Tuat, the then board chairman of Sabeco, signed an official dispatch in 2015 asking the HCMC Peoples Committee to allow Sabeco to transfer the land use rights on the land lot to Sabeco Pearl and allow the latter to become the investor of the project. In mid-2016, Sabeco divested its entire stake in Sabeco Pearl as it sold more than 14 million shares worth some VND195 billion (US$8 million) to the founding shareholders. The State Audit of Vietnam said Sabeco transferred the land at a artificially low price as each share was sold at VND13,347. At present, the land lot is owned 100% by privately invested Me Linh Square Investment Corporation, which was formerly Sabeco Pearl. According to auditors, the land use value of the lot was VND1,075 billion in 2015, VND2,505 billion in 2016 and is currently VND3,816 billion. Investigators said Hoang and his accomplices have caused massive losses for the State. The others implicated in the case and charged with breaking regulations on land management are: - Nguyen Huu Tin, former HCMC vice chairman - Dao Anh Kiet, former director of the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment - Truong Van Ut, deputy director of the Land Management Division under the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment - Lam Nguyen Khoi, former deputy director of the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment - Le Van Thanh, deputy chief of the secretariat of the HCMC Peoples Committee - Le Quang Minh, former director of the Infrastructure Development Division under the HCMC Department of Planning and Investment - Nguyen Thanh Chuong, head of the Urban Division under the HCMC Peoples Committee Office - Nguyen Lan Chau, a specialist at the Land Management Division under the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment. SGT Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire and record-breaking heat Monday on the North Side. Eight apartment units were destroyed and 16 others damaged in the blaze, which consumed a section of one building at the Parliament Bend Apartments at 11838 Parliament St. The first San Antonio Fire Department trucks responded at 2:35 p.m., Chief Charles Hood said, and more than 100 firefighters and support personnel would eventually arrive. The reinforcements were necessary because of the brutal conditions to fight fire in, Hood said, noting that firefighters were wearing 60 to 70 pounds of equipment. FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox Hot is hot, Hood said. You have to be mentally prepared to fight fire on a day like today. The National Weather Service said temperatures in San Antonio spiked to 106 degrees Monday, tying the previous record for the date. Firefighters shut off power to the entire apartment complex and prevented more damage by cutting the building in half, Hood said. The chief explained that the fire reached the attic on one side of the building. Firefighters stopped the flames from spreading across the attic and destroying the rest of the units below. From inside the strip mall behind the apartment building, Stephen Thompson could hear banging as people evacuated. You could hear somebody from the Fire Department knocking on all the doors, yelling to get them out, Thompson said. There were no missing people or injuries, Hood said. Some pets were reported missing. Justin Dawe, who lives in one of the complexs other buildings, was working at a liquor store around the corner when a neighbor came in and told him about the fire. He rushed home to check on his puppy. The cause of the fire was unknown and arson investigators were on scene. Officials brought in a rehabilitation bus for the firefighters and VIA buses to keep residents cool in the scorching heat. Firefighters were working to restore power to the complex and to find places to stay for the displaced residents of the 24 units. Kristen Doute opened up in a new podcast interview for the first time since being fired from Vanderpump Rules for racist actions toward ex castmate Faith Stowers. The 37-year-old former reality star told the 'Hollywood Raw' podcast with Dax Holt and Adam Glyn that she has 'so much to learn' after she and co-star Stassi Schroeder, 32, were fired in June for calling police on Black castmate Stowers, 31, for a crime she did not commit. 'I think the biggest thing that I've learned, is that I have so much to learn. And I know that's super cliche and a lot of people say that but it's absolutely true because I think that I thought that I understood racism but now I'm really learning about unconscious bias. Learning about anti-racism. Learning about how we can do things locally to really truly make changes and putting work into your community locally to make those changes I think (are) so important,' Doute said in an excerpt from her interview scheduled to be released in full Wednesday. New interview: Kristen Doute, shown in January in New York City, has opened up for the first time since being fired from Vanderpump Rules for racist actions toward Faith Stowers Doute spoke via Skype for about 30 minutes from her Los Angeles home and said it was the most she's talked 'in a month and a half'. The Michigan native took to social media in April 2018 to publicly imply that a Black robbery suspect was Stowers and Schroeder in a podcast admitted they made several attempts to call the police on her with the false accusation. 'It was definitely none of my business to take anything to social media (and) essentially send a mob out to this person. Especially because she's Black. It was really just not my place to go there,' Doute said in the Hollywood Raw interview. She also reiterated the proverb to err is human. Falsely accused: Stowers, shown in February 2017 in Los Angeles, was falsely accused by Doute and Stassi Schroeder of committing a crime and was reported to police by them 'At the end of the day I'm not a f***ing saint, I'm doing the best that I can. I'm human and I make mistakes all the time and I'm just trying to do something every day that makes this a little bit better for everyone,' Doute said. Doute was an aspiring actress working as a server at the SUR restaurant owned by British restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump, 59, when she was cast as an original series regular on the spin-off Vanderpump Rules that premiered on Bravo in January 2013. She was fired along with original cast member Schroeder on June 9 for their racist actions toward Stowers. Original cast: Doute, shown in a 2014 season three still with James Kennedy, Michael Shay and Scheana Shay was fired in June from Vanderpump Rules after being an original cast member Vanderpump Rules also fired show newcomers Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni for their past racist remarks on social media. Stowers recalled the incident in early June on Instagram Live following the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minnesota. Doute and Schroeder publicly apologized to Stowers before they were fired from Vanderpump Rules. NEW YORK, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Julia Petty has joined Vinson & Elkins as counsel in the firm's Executive Compensation and Benefits practice in New York. Petty, who comes to V&E from Kirkland & Ellis, focuses on executive compensation and benefits matters in connection with domestic and cross-border business transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs and divestitures, public offerings and restructuring transactions. She also counsels clients on a wide range of other compensation and associated securities, tax and corporate governance matters, including the design, disclosure and implementation of equity and cash incentive programs, executive employment and severance arrangements, change in control protections, deferred compensation plans and retention programs. "Julia has an impressive resume advising on complex compensation issues in a broad array of industries," said partner David D'Alessandro, head of V&E's Executive Compensation and Benefits practice. "She will be a valuable addition to our team as the firm continues to expand its offerings in the New York market." Petty's recent experience includes the following representations: GlaxoSmithKline in its $12.7 billion joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses joint venture with Pfizer to combine their consumer health businesses Vitamin Shoppe in its acquisition by Liberty Tax and in its defense against a full slate proxy contest by Vintage Capital and its agreements with Vintage Capital and Shah Capital regarding the composition of the Vitamin Shoppe board of directors Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec in its major investment in Allied Universal "V&E's outstanding reputation for strategic counseling on all aspects of compensation and benefits arrangements was one of the many factors that drew me to the firm," Petty said. "I am thrilled to start the next chapter of my career with such a talented group of lawyers." Petty is the latest of several key hires to join V&E's New York office in the past 18 months, including restructuring partner George Howard; commercial litigation partner Chris Duffy; white collar litigation partner Palmina Fava; international arbitration partner Camilo Cardozo and counsel Jose Sanchez; project finance partner Eamon Nolan; M&A/private equity partner John Kupiec; and a team of 15 real estate lawyers led by partners Wallace Schwartz, Adam Endick and Julia Sanabria. To facilitate its continuing growth and client needs, the firm relocated its New York office to the Grace Building in February. Vinson & Elkins LLP is an international law firm with approximately 700 lawyers across 12 offices worldwide. For more information, please contact Courtney Binick at +1.713.758.2333. SOURCE Vinson & Elkins LLP Related Links http://www.velaw.com Two men have been arrested after a 'bomb scare' on board a Ryanair flight caused a Krakow to Dublin flight to make an emergency landing at Stansted after crew found a note claiming explosives were on board. The security scare on a Ryanair flight which sparked the RAF to scramble two fighter jets was due to a note claiming there was bomb on board the plane, airline bosses revealed last night. The menacing note, found in the toilets of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft, said that explosives had been planted on board the flight from Krakow to Dublin. This morning Essex Police announced: 'Following investigations on the plane, we have been able to establish there is nothing suspicious on board. 'The aircraft has been handed back to Stansted Airport and the operator. 'Two men aged 47 and 26 have been arrested on suspicion of making threats to endanger an aircraft and are currently in custody. 'We appreciate the patience and understanding of everyone involved.' Ryanair say its pilot immediately alerted UK authorities before the plane was diverted to make an emergency landing at Stansted Airport. Two Typhoon fighter jets were scrambled from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire, and a Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) tanker scrambled from RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, shortly before 6.30pm yesterday evening. A security scare on a Ryanair flight which forced an emergency landing at Stansted Airport (pictured) was a note claiming there was bomb on board the plane, airlines bosses revealed The menacing note, found in the toilets of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft (pictured), said that explosives had been planted on board the flight from Krakow to Dublin Two RAF Typhoon fighter jets (like this one pictured) were scrambled from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire The RAF Typhoon jets are shown on a flight map leaving the area after the plane landed at Stansted Airport The Ryanair flight from Krakow in Poland to Dublin was diverted to Stansted Airport on Monday evening . Library image. The two RAF jets escorted the plane to Stansted Airport, where police are currently checking the aircraft and its passengers - all of whom are safe. Footage later emerged of armed police boarding the plane at around 7.35pm as it stood on the runway, the Sun reports. After five minutes onboard, two officers appeared to escort a man from the aircraft, it said. The man was said to be complying with police and was not wearing handcuffs. He was led to a police car on the runway which was then driven from the scene. Other passengers were then seen leaving the plane from 8.20pm. A spokesperson for Ryanair said on Monday: 'A Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin this evening discovered a note in one of the toilets claiming that there were explosives on board. 'The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport (Stansted) where the plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely. 'The aircraft and passengers are being checked by the UK police who will decide when they may travel onwards to Dublin on a spare aircraft. 'Passengers in Dublin waiting to depart to Krakow are being transferred to a spare aircraft to minimise any delay to their flight.' The spokesperson added: 'Ryanair apologises sincerely for the delay and inconvenience caused to those affected by this diversion". A spokesperson for Essex Police said: 'A flight from Krakow to Dublin was diverted to Stansted Airport at around 6.40pm today due to reports of a security alert. 'The plane is currently at the airport and officers are making enquiries.' The spokesperson added: 'Well bring you more information when we can.' A spokesperson for Stansted Airport told The Sun that police are in attendance and that 'everybody is safe on board'. Funan county in east Chinas Anhui province has taken measures to stabilize foreign trade since the beginning of this year, despite a decline in global trade due to the COVID-19 epidemic. As of May 31, the countys imports and exports totaled $110.81 million, up 4 percent year-on-year. Exports alone stood at $110 million, up 4.4 percent. The county has rolled out policies to help local enterprises, especially wicker cultural enterprises, to tide over difficulties in resuming work and production amid the epidemic. Exports of 112 local wicker cultural companies rose 10 percent year-on-year to $101 million, or 92 percent of the county s total exports. Funan has also boosted domestic sales by encouraging local businesses to cooperate with 1688.com, the countrys top domestic wholesale portal. Panic As 35 Doctors Test Positive For Coronavirus In Kwara The Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Kwara branch, has disclosed that 35 doctors have so far tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state. NMA Chairman, Dr Kolade Solagberu, while briefing newsmen on Monday in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, stated this while addressing events heralding the associations 2020 annual general meeting. Solagberu, however, noted that the association had not recorded any casualty among its members. He cautioned residents to disregard the beliefs that COVID-19 was not real and was only a money-making avenue for the government. For now, people should avoid visiting the hospital except for life-threatening issues. We advise people to engage in e-health service instead of physical consultation to avoid contact as much as possible. Solagberu also urged people to stop unnecessary visit to patients in the hospital. MENOMINEE, MI -- A 33-year-old woman has been charged with five felonies after she allegedly stabbed an 18-year-old woman at the Menominee Lighthouse Pier on July 7. According to Upper Michigan News Source, Julia Lynn Okafor is facing charges of two counts of assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, assault with a dangerous weapon and ethnic intimidation. The ethnic intimidation charge is the result of Okafor allegedly shouting an ethnic slur at a 14-year-old during the incident. Okafors bond was revoked during her court appearance Monday. Menominee County Prosecutor Jeffrey Rogg cited Okafors criminal history and mental health issues as evidence that she is a threat to the public safety. Okafor is due back in court on July 21 for a probably cause conference. The 18-year-old was stabbed in the leg during the altercation and was taken to a hospital for a non-life threatening injury. Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, told the UK Parliament on Monday that The UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment. They are deemed to be high-risk. The United Kingdom on Tuesday announced its decision to ban British companies from buying Huawei-produced equipment for 5G networks from the end of the year.We have been clear-eyed from the start that Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE were deemed to be high-riskThe NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has now reported to ministers that they have significantly changed their security assessment of Huaweis presence in the UKs 5G networkThe UK can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment, Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, told the UK Parliament. The government agrees with the NCSC advice that the best way to secure our networks is for operators to stop using the new affected Huawei equipment to build UKs future 5G networks, he said. He added, From the end of this year, telecoms operators must no longer buy any 5G equipment from Huawei. Once the security bill is passed, it will be illegal for them to do so. Dowden further said that no new kit is to be added from January 2021 and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. Also Read: Chinas claims on S China sea unlawful, US warns China Also Read: Lord Ram was Nepali, says Oli in bizarre anti-India rant This comes in the backdrop of US designating Chinese telecom companies Huawei and ZTE Corp as national security threats, saying they have close ties with the Chinese Communist Party and Chinas military apparatus. Also Read: Global Covid-19 tally crosses 13 million mark, death toll surpasses 500,000 For all the latest World News, download NewsX App Victims of a redemption fiasco by Lime Asset Management hold a rally in front of Shinhan Financial Group headquarters in central Seoul on July 10. Shinhan Investment and Shinhan Bank engaged in mis-selling of the risky fund products to investors. Yonhap By Lee Min-hyung Hana Bank, NongHyup Bank and Shinhan Bank three major retailers of a trade finance fund managed by a Korean fund operator are in growing anxiety over the potential suspension of the financial product's redemption. The concern comes as Fidelis Asset Management failed recently to pay early redemption fees over the fund sold by Hana Bank. The lender sold the fund worth 28.3 billion won ($23.44 million). The fund reached maturity at the end of May 2020. But with Fidelis suspending the early repayment of the fund, its expiration date will be delayed by six months to the end of November. "The coronavirus outbreak delayed the redemption plan," a spokesman at Hana Bank said, declining to comment further. This is putting an additional burden on the already-dismal fund market, here, after the "Lime fiasco," whose estimated damages to investors here could top 1.6 trillion won. Starting this year, Lime Asset Management received negative publicity by failing to provide proper information about its fund products' potential high risks before selling them to investors. Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank, two sellers of the Lime funds, face investigation from the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) for what the authority views as "reckless" selling of the risky financial products. The FSS is expected to finish its investigation in July at the earliest with the regulator considering imposing sanctions on the lenders in September. Even if the size of the fund managed by Fidelis is not as large as those from the Lime incident, worries are the latest redemption delay may similarly end up causing losses for its investors. The delay stemmed from the deteriorating market sentiment surrounding the trade finance fund due to the global shock from the pandemic. Shinhan Bank also sold the Fidelis fund worth 180 billion won. Its expiration has not arrived yet, but the lender is also facing a similar setback after selling another trade finance fund managed by Arumdree Asset Management due to a delay in its redemption of invested capital. "The expiration date for redemption of the Fidelis fund is yet to come," an official at Shinhan Bank said. "Even if the fund operator failed to pay redemption fees on time to some other sellers, it is too early to conclude that we may also similarly fall victim over the same issue." According to data compiled by the FSS, a total of 13 private equity firms (PEFs), against which the authority received requests for dispute settlement over risky funds, sold funds worth more than 5 trillion won to financial organizations. Banks were a major sales channel, accounting for a quarter of the total sales. Yun Chang-hyun, a lawmaker from the main opposition United Future Party, urged financial authorities to tighten its supervisory systems not to repeat the similar fund-related woes. "Financial supervisory authorities should self-reform and be more responsible for any consequences (from financial fiascos)," he said in a recent seminar. The PR World Alliance has added Communications Korea, headquartered in Seoul, and Minerba, based in Buenos Aires, to its network of independent communication consultancies. Minerba, which also operates in Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay, provides corporate communication solutions in crisis management, positioning, internal and external communication, corporate social responsibility, digital strategy and PR. It works with clients in sectors including media, health & hygiene, financial (traditional & fintech), cultural & educational, technology, pharmaceutical, OTC, hospitality and non-governmental organizations. Communications Korea was founded in 1987 by CEO and president Kyong-Hae Kim, a former correspondent for the Reuters news agency in Seoul and editor at the Korea Herald, an English language newspaper. The agency covers corporate & marketing PR, crisis management, public affairs, integrated marketing communications, media relations, digital PR, influencer marketing and destination marketing. Magrino has added five new services to its PR and social media offerings. 90 Days to Launch/Relaunch is designed for companies who need to quickly get the word out about their new service or product; Pick Our Brain, designed as a two- to three-week engagement, let companies meet with the agencys top creative thinkers and strategic minds to brainstorm a business challenge related to PR or social media positioning. All Hands on Deck offers short-term crisis PR and social media consultation. Virtually Anything is geared toward helping clients maximize events, product launches, media appointments and other initiatives which have transitioned to such platforms as Zoom. The Magrino Social Media Audit, which is typically included in longer-term social media engagements, is now being offered as a standalone service. Each service is designed, but all can also be combined for a full-service offering. Jeffrey L. Bowman Harrison & Shiftman co-founder and CEO Elizabeth Harrison is partnering with Jeffrey L. Bowman, the co-founder and CEO of enterprise software company Reframe, on an offering aimed at combating social injustice in the workplace. The Reframe People Operations Platform is a suite of services and strategies that includes a personalized learning curriculum, a diverse group of seasoned brand and media strategists, and a website, IAmAPeopleLeader.com, that serves as an online resource hub for those seeking to culturally transform their companies. This union with Reframe naturally aligns Jeffreys vision and proprietary operating system with H&S long history of championing justice, self-expression, inclusion and equity, said Harrison. BMF's Ed Starr, Brian Feit and Bruce Starr BMF, a New York-based agency with offices in Miami, Los Angeles and London, has fully absorbed LFB Media Group, the PR agency it acquired in 2017. LFB now operates as the earned media practice at BMF, which is launching with a new website and company communication materials. The earned media practice will work alongside BMFs audience engagement and brand experience practices to form a new creative integrated marketing proposition for existing and prospective clients. The updated BMF will provide business-specific recommendations that focus primarily on earned attention and audience engagement strategies in the near term while taking into account experiential marketing opportunities in the future. Ocado raked in half-year sales of 1billion for the first time ever as founder Tim Steiner declared 'the world has changed'. The coronavirus pandemic has pushed millions of families online to get their groceries, with uptake strongest amongst the over-65s. The group reported a 27 per cent jump in retail revenues to 1billion due to 'unprecedented' demand during the six months to May 31. Ocado reported a 27 per cent jump in retail revenues to 1bn due to 'unprecedented' demand during the six months to May 31 This helped retail profits jump 87 per cent to 45.7million, once extra costs from staff bonuses, testing and PPE were taken into account. Steiner, who founded the firm 20 years ago, said: 'The world as we know it has changed. As a result of Covid-19 we have seen years of growth in the online grocery market condensed into a matter of months and we won't be going back.' He added he was confident this would lead to a 'permanent redrawing of the landscape of the grocery industry worldwide'. The group still made a loss as it ramped up investment in high-tech robotic warehouses for supermarkets abroad. But the loss narrowed from 147.4million to 40.6million. It also opened its first robotic distribution warehouses for Casino in Paris and Toronto. Search to replace chairman Rose starts Stepping down: Lord Rose has been Ocado's chairman since 2013 Ocado has begun the hunt for a successor to Lord Rose, who has been the online grocer's chairman since 2013. The former boss of Marks & Spencer, who helped lead the campaign to keep Britain in the EU, is one of the City's best-known businessman. He plans to step down next year, and could concentrate on private business interests. Rose, 71, was an early victim of coronavirus. On recovery he said he 'felt like I'd been hit by a bus'. For Ocado the virus has been a boon, turbo-charging the online grocery sector. If Rose were to leave and sell his shares today, would make 8.9million 4millionm more than he would have in April. He sold 1.6million worth in February, following two sales worth around 7.3million in May 2019. Yesterday, Ocado founder Tim Steiner said: 'He's been with us for eight years, but we have no official comment.' During lockdown the proportion of groceries sold online has increased from 7 per cent to 14 per cent, and Steiner predicted it would double again in the next few years. Monthly online sales rose sixfold in the UK in August, compared to the same month last year, and doubled in China, according to Ocado. The rapid change across the globe has turbo-charged its share price and boosted Steiner's wealth. Although its shares fell 2.2 per cent to 1988.4p yesterday, they have gained 87 per cent since the end of February. Steiner's holdings are now worth 538million. The group raised more than 1billion last month issuing equities and bonds to support its growth. That will also be used to help sign up new partners to use its technology and to invest in innovation at a faster pace. Retail expert James Grzinic, at Jefferies, said: 'Ocado's first-half results show the benefits from the surge in online demand brought about by Covid-19, albeit one temporarily enabled by consumers' willingness to take very large deliveries in unusual slot times.' In the hour that Boris Johnson announced lockdown back in March, Ocado had as many visitors to its website as in the previous quarter. The company now has 1m customers on its waiting list ready for when it can build more warehouses and boost demand even further It is hiring 500 technology staff in the UK, and increasing capacity for domestic shoppers by 40 per cent next year with three new warehouses. The FTSE 100 firm has suggested that as the online grocery market expands, traditional supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's will be unable to compete with its robotic version. At the moment they use workers to gather goods for deliveries by walking around the store, placing a limit on the number of orders that can physically be picked. Regulatory News: Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE: PM) will host a live audio webcast at www.pmi.com/2020Q2earnings on Tuesday, July 21, 2020, at 9:00 a.m. ET to discuss its 2020 Second-Quarter results, which will be issued at approximately 7:00 a.m. ET the same day. During the webcast, Emmanuel Babeau, Chief Financial Officer, will discuss PMI's results and answer questions from the investment community and news media. The webcast will be in a listen-only mode. The audio webcast may also be accessed on iOS or Android devices by downloading PMI's free Investor Relations Mobile Application at www.pmi.com/irapp. An archived copy of the webcast will be available until 5:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at www.pmi.com/2020Q2earnings. Slides and script will also be available at www.pmi.com/2020Q2earnings. Philip Morris International: Delivering a Smoke-Free Future Philip Morris International (PMI) is leading a transformation in the tobacco industry to create a smoke-free future and ultimately replace cigarettes with smoke-free products to the benefit of adults who would otherwise continue to smoke, society, the company and its shareholders. PMI is a leading international tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sale of cigarettes, as well as smoke-free products and associated electronic devices and accessories, and other nicotine-containing products in markets outside the United States. In addition, PMI ships a version of its IQOS Platform 1 device and its consumables authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Altria Group, Inc. for sale in the U.S. under license. PMI is building a future on a new category of smoke-free products that, while not risk-free, are a much better choice than continuing to smoke. Through multidisciplinary capabilities in product development, state-of-the-art facilities and scientific substantiation, PMI aims to ensure that its smoke-free products meet adult consumer preferences and rigorous regulatory requirements. PMI's smoke-free IQOS product portfolio includes heat-not-burn and nicotine-containing vapor products. As of March 31, 2020, PMI estimates that approximately 10.6 million adult smokers around the world have already stopped smoking and switched to PMI's heat-not-burn product, available for sale in 53 markets in key cities or nationwide under the IQOS brand. For more information, please visit www.pmi.com and www.pmiscience.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005822/en/ Contacts: Investor Relations: New York: +1 (917) 663 2233 Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4666 Media: Lausanne: +41 (0)58 242 4500 Email: Iro.Antoniadou@pmi.com Tom Hiddleston and Zawe Ashton have 'moved in together' after months of romance rumours. The pair are now said to be living together in Atlanta, Georgia after they grew close while starring together in the West End production of Betrayal in London last year. Sources close to the duo claim The Night Manager star, 39, and the actress, 35, are 'very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life' - and may even spend the rest of the year in the US. Big step: Tom Hiddleston, 39, and Zawe Ashton, 35, have reportedly moved in together after friends of the actor insisted he wasn't dating her (pictured in October 2018) An insider told The Sun: 'Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US. 'They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world. 'Their lives are typically very busy, so spending time together while not working has been something they have both embraced. Tom has made a home in Atlanta during lockdown and he is expecting to spend the rest of the year there. MailOnline has contacted representatives for Tom and Zawe for comment. Tom relocated to Atlanta earlier this year to film his new Disney+ series Loki and has been forced to remain there due to the coronavirus lockdown. Moving in: According to The Sun, the pair are now living together in Atlanta, Georgia after they grew close while starring together in the play Betrayal (pictured in August 2019) After growing close during their run in Betrayal in both New York and London, Zawe is now said to have flown to the US city to join him. Fresh Meat star Zawe has reportedly been spotted with the A-list actor in the city in recent days, despite friends previously telling the publication the pair were not in a relationship. Production on Loki began in January, but was suspended in March due to the pandemic, and is set to resume filming next month. Zawe was due to fly to Toronto to film a role in the upcoming fourth series of The Handmaid's Tale, which has also been delayed due to the virus. A source said: 'Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US' (pictured with Charlie Cox in November 2019) Tom and Zawe were said to have struck up a romance as early as February 2019, however due to the attention his past relationship Taylor Swift drew, he has kept their relationship out of the spotlight. A source told The Sun: 'Tom really has fallen for Zawe in a big way. They've actually been together for more than six months. 'But he is so paranoid about his private life since his relationship with Taylor that he has gone to great lengths to keep this under wraps.' The source added: 'They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world' (pictured in November 2019) Their play Betrayal followed a seven-year extramarital affair between two characters, Emma and Jerry, with the latter character being Emma's husband Robert's friend. Tom played Robert in the play with Zawe starring as his on-stage wife Emma and Charlie playing Jerry. Along with his highly publicised relationship with Taylor in 2016, Tom also previously dated his Wallander co-star Susannah Fielding, with the pair splitting up in 2011. Divests Nanadie Well for $1.5M Cash and Shares Perth, July 14, 2020 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) is pleased to advise it has reached agreement with Cyprium Metals Limited ( ASX:CYM ) ("Cyprium") to divest the Nanadie Well copper project near Meekatharra in the Murchison District of Western Australia.Horizon took 100% control of the Nanadie Well in the December quarter 2019 following the withdrawal of its then joint venture partner. The divestment comprises exploration license E51/1040 and Mining License M51/887 covering 45km2. Under the Agreement, Cyprium will pay $1.5 million in cash and shares (priced on a 20 day VWAP basis) on the following terms:- $250,000 in cash and $400,000 in Cyprium shares on completion- $350,000 in Cyprium shares 12 months from completion- $300,000 in Cyprium shares 24 months from completion- $200,000 in Cyprium shares on a decision to mine from the tenureCompletion is expected in the next four weeks and subject to standard conditions precedent for a transaction of this nature including Ministerial consent, any third party assignments and provision of mining information.Commenting on the divestment, Managing Director Mr Jon Price said:"Horizon's core focus remains firmly set on developing a stand-alone gold project in the Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie regions and this divestment supports this objective while retaining exposure to both Nanadie Well and Cyprium's current copper projects in the Murchison as a substantial shareholder.""Cyprium have an excellent technical team which is actively exploring in the region and we look forward to further success at Nanadie Well as we continue growing our gold business."About Horizon Minerals Limited Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed. Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline. Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 15:31:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Internet and legal professionals have called for qualification standards to regulate the country's sprawling team of livestreaming hosts, China Daily reported on Tuesday. This came after a recent crackdown led by the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's top Internet watchdog, found that 10 of 31 livestreaming platforms, including gaming site Douyu and video-sharing platform Bilibili, were spreading vulgar content. Most platforms or operators are reluctant to deal with reports of such content because problematic hosts with many followers can help them attract views, "and views mean profit," Wang Sixin, a professor specializing in Internet rules and laws at Communication University of China, was quoted as saying in the report. However, it is impossible for authorities to constantly monitor the industry, and lightly punishing hosts is an ad hoc solution, he added. Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Communication Law Research Center at China University of Political Science and Law, suggested the authorities introduce a classification system for managing livestreaming hosts. If the levels or qualification standards of hosts can be clarified and regulated by authorities, supervision of these platforms would be more effective, he said. By March, China had 560 million livestreaming users, 163 million more than that in December 2018, said the China Internet Network Information Center in a report in April. Content related to gaming, e-commerce and reality shows are popular among them, it added. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 20:43:18|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- China's outstanding yuan funds for foreign exchange declined in June, central bank data showed on Tuesday. The funds stood at 21.17 trillion yuan (about 3.02 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of June, down by 6.02 billion yuan from the previous month, according to the People's Bank of China. As the Chinese yuan is not freely convertible under the capital account, the central bank has to purchase foreign currency generated by a trade surplus and foreign investment in the country, adding funds to the money market. Such funds are an important indicator of cross-border foreign capital flows and domestic yuan liquidity. China's foreign exchange reserves expanded to 3.11 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of June, up 0.3 percent from the end of May, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Enditem Lake Point Towers owners last year enacted new bylaws designed to make it harder for an investor to buy up blocks of condos and turn the building back into rental apartments, a process known as a deconversion. They said the defensive maneuver came after Evangeline Gouletas brother, Nick, made overtures to buy 100 to 200 condos in the building. A friend sent me a picture of a piece of red confetti last week. When I saw it, I cried. That confetti had found its way into her pocket during the last show I went to before lockdown, a faithful staging of the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Some of the countrys best comedic talent delivered the full hilarious, heartrending and regularly NSFW performance to a packed Clapham Grand, which ended with shiny red confetti exploding from the rafters. I cried because the same day my friend sent me the picture, the Save Live Comedy campaign launched. True, it doesnt take a lot to weep at the moment, but this isnt the first time comedy has brought tears to my eyes usually, theyre tears of mirth, but sometimes, when everything gets a bit much, the emotional release of watching someone bear their soul is enough to cleanse mine. Is that healthy? Who knows, but it works. And now comedy is in trouble. The campaign kicks off as things start to creep towards normalcy (or whatever this is). The arts as a whole are in dire straits, we know this; but comedy is at risk of being left even further behind than everything else. That 1.57 billion government rescue package is unlikely to cover comedy why would it when the Arts Council has never recognised it as an art form? Its clear that we need action, fast. Ive been going to the Amusical comedy night, which hosted the Buffy night for a while. We would pitch up, have a beer, catch up about our days and then spend the rest of the evening in pain from laughing so much. No matter what was going on in the world. The newly formed Live Comedy Associations survey found that a third of venues believe they will be forced to close in the next six months, with that statistic rising to more than three-quarters in the coming year. We cant underestimate what this would mean. We need to put pressure on to include comedy in arts rescue plans. Wed be in hell without it Our live comedy circuit is unique; people come from all around the world to perform here, creating a network that runs like an electrical current between every city in the UK. From the outside, its impossible to see how far-reaching it is. Yes, all of the comics you watch on telly started out doing live stand-up in small rooms but they are a teeny portion of the thousands performing night after night, in Brighton one day, Carlisle the next, traversing the country to entertain. What happens to them? Many are already considering leaving comedy completely. This would be a catastrophic loss. Comedians do more than make us laugh. They challenge us, teach us, embrace us, scold us, hold a mirror up to our ugliest and most incandescent selves. They tell us the truth about life packed neatly into an hour, or 15 minutes. If thats not art, I dont know what is. I have felt the greatest need for live comedy when Ive been at my most isolated, afraid and overwhelmed. Through break-ups, meltdowns and severe stress. Through days when I havent smiled once. No matter what, I could find a show to see at the last minute, pay a fiver, waltz in, and turn my day right around. I know Im not alone in this. The communities that emerge around comics and their shows are loyal, for the reason that people need them, feel seen by them, and are uplifted by them in such a primal way, often at times when absolutely nothing else will do. We need to put pressure on the powers that be to include comedy in their rescue plans. We owe it to our comics. Save live comedy. We have no idea what fresh hell wed be in without it. In this file photo the rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot (R) is seen with the then Congress President Rahul Gandhi during a rally in Jaipu The political crisis that flared up in Rajasthan late last week may not have any easy solution: the threat to chief minister Ashok Gehlots Congress government from his disgruntled deputy Sachin Pilot, also the state PCC chief, is real, and the Congress may have to work hard to save its ministry. Pilots open rebellion on Sunday, where he claimed the support of 30 MLAs and some Independents, soon after he met some senior central leaders in New Delhi, has only made it more difficult. The immediate reason behind the revolt was the state polices notice sent to him on Friday over the inquiry into the alleged attempts to destabilise the Gehlot government, under IPC sections related to sedition and conspiracy, but the real cause is Pilot feels his voice is not heard with respect in the Gehlot governments decision-making. Pilot had played a major role in ensuring the partys victory in the 2018 polls, defeating the BJP led by Vasundhara Raje, and though he was made deputy CM, he still feels his views arent considered adequately. Though Pilot claimed Sunday the Ashok Gehlot government is in a minority, it was apparent at the legislature party meeting at Gehlots residence on Monday, attended by at least 100 MLAs, that a majority of the states Congress legislators support the CM. Gehlots camp claims the support of 106 MLAs; while Mr Pilots camp disputes this, saying he has the support of only 93-94 MLAs. But that itself establishes many more legislators are backing the CM than the 30 MLAs whose support Pilot claims. Pilot aspires to be CM, true, but in a democratic set-up even he must recognise the numbers are stacked in the senior leaders favour. And as the nation faces a huge threat from China, and needs to tackle the snowballing coronavirus cases, on which the Rajasthan governments entire attention must be focused now, the timing Pilots revolt was extremely inappropriate. The Congress, through spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala, has said that despite his rebellion, the partys doors are always open to Mr Pilot, and all his grievances can be listened to and solutions found. Perhaps the offer of more portfolios of his choice could be a way out. Pilot, while floating suggestions that he may form a regional party, ruled out a move towards the BJP, which might jump at the chance to re-enter the government through the backdoor after being soundly rejected by voters. (The tax raids on two of Mr Gehlots backers at this juncture might indicate how dirty these games can get.) Pilot had a long chat with old friend Jyotiraditya Scindia, now with the BJP, in New Delhi Sunday, but he should remember that despite the latters comments about his talent and capability in a tweet, the political circumstances of the two are very different. At Mondays legislature party meeting, the MLAs formally adopted a resolution expressing support for the CM, but the matter is far from over. It is learnt the MLAs, accompanied by Mr Gehlot, have gone to a five-star resort in Jaipur, where they will stay some time, presumably to deter poaching attempts. Till the issue of Pilots rebellion is resolved, one way or another, political uncertainty will continue in Rajasthan. VICTORIA - British Columbias balanced budget has been shattered by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the province forecasting a deficit of $12.5 billion for 2020-21. Finance Minister Carole James said the numbers are staggering with job losses of 235,000 since February and a predicted GDP decline of 6.8 per cent by the end of this year. We were preparing for economic moderation, we were well-equipped to be able to weather the challenges, James said at a news conference Tuesday. What came next was unprecedented. Mere weeks after Budget 2020 was tabled, our entire world changed. The government has provided $6.26 billion in financial aid to businesses and individuals. Among the losses it anticipates this fiscal year because of the pandemic are close to $1 billion in personal income tax, $973 million in corporate income tax and $1.3 billion in provincial sales tax, James said. The projected GDP decline in 2020 would be the worst on record going back to the 1980s, although it is also projected to increase by 3.1 per cent in 2021. James said for context, B.C.s real GDP has only declined twice in the past 40 years, falling by 2.4 per cent in 2009 and 6.4 per cent in 1982. As those numbers remind us, this could be the worst downturn experienced in our province recent history, she said. B.C.s restart plan is showing signs of hope for the economy as consumer confidence increases, she said. The unemployment rate is slowly rebounding and fewer wildfires and floods have helped the bottom line. However, she warned that the provinces financial forecast could change depending on many risk factors, including the possibility of a second wave of infections, the possibility of a vaccine, as well as the success of relief measures and central bank policy. Regardless of how B.C. copes with the pandemic, James said its economy is also subject to the economic health of other jurisdictions, particularly those that buy from the province. James said it wouldnt help the economic recovery to pull back on spending, but the government will review every cent spent as it heads into the next budget year. The B.C. government has tabled legislation giving itself room for three years of deficits, which James said will be re-examined each year. James said she believes people care about provincial deficits because they understand its taxpayer money, but they also understand the emergency the pandemic created. She declined to predict how long the recovery would take, given the many moving pieces at play. There is no question that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on the economy of British Columbia and thats not short term, she said. The job losses have been widespread but some have been disproportionately affected, depending on a workers age, gender or which sector they work in, James said. Young workers are among the hardest hit, with the unemployment rate rising sharply from 9.1 per cent in February to 29.1 per cent in June for those aged 15 to 24. Women, who dominate the service industries and many of whom have also left jobs to care for family members, are another group more affected. Their unemployment rate rose from 4.8 per cent in February to 13.4 per cent in June. The hardest hit industries include wholesale and retail, accommodation and food services, construction, culture and recreation. The overall unemployment rate of 13 per cent remains at its highest level since 1987. While the job losses in March and April were record breaking, the figures for May and June have seen modest recovery as the economy started to reopen. The projected numbers are staggering but theyre not without hope. Things are getting better each and every day when we follow the provincial health officers advice, James said. The NDP governments fiscal update was met with calls for an economic recovery plan by its political opponents, with the Opposition B.C. Liberals asking what happens when federal benefits like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit run out. Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson also suggested the government should reconsider its pre-pandemic spending priorities. People in every corner of B.C. have had to adjust to a new normal and adapt their household budgets, so why is this government pretending its business as usual? he asked in a statement. The Green party said the province should transition to a green economy by helping traditional industries become more sustainable, spending on training and building local businesses into the supply chain. We can seize the once in a generation opportunity to strategically drive stimulus spending towards a future British Columbians want: an innovative, low-carbon, sustainable, just and inclusive economy for all, interim leader Adam Olsen said. By Amy Smart in Vancouver. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 14, 2020. This was reported by Dr. Cesar Carreno, who serves as Central Manager of Health Operations at the State-run Social Health Insurance System (EsSalud). The official specified that the contracts only support the transfer of insured patients who need ICU beds and emergency care due to COVID-19. On the other hand, patients with mild and moderate symptoms will remain at EsSalud-run hospitals. Carreno reported that through an integrated system the availability of ICU beds will be determined so that an EsSalud manager can be contacted for the referral of critically ill patients. He said that a second call is being worked on to expand contracts with other clinics nationwide to serve insured patients infected with the new coronavirus, within the framework of the benefit exchange policy. Contracts have so far been signed with the clinics San Gabriel, Congregacion Hijas de San Camilo, La Merced, Cerro Colorado, Vesalio, La Esperanza, San Pablo, Santa Martha del Sur, Jesus del Norte, Internacional, and San Felipe. The contracts were inked within the framework of Legislative Decree 1466, enacted to extend the protection of insured patients in their right to access health services, under conditions of quality in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. SIS Furthermore, it must be noted that more private clinics managed to sign similar contracts with the State-run Comprehensive Health Insurance (SIS) system to serve COVID-19 patients who need intensive care with mechanical ventilation. Thus, Clinics San Juan Bautista, Javier Prado (both in Lima), and San Pablo (Huaraz) join 14 other institutions that have already signed the agreements. Las clinicas San Juan Bautista, Javier Prado y San Pablo (sede Huaraz), se suman a otras catorce instituciones que ya suscribieron el acuerdo. Mas instituciones privadas de salud seran parte del intercambio prestacional. pic.twitter.com/2Yygbr0GZb Ministerio de Salud (@Minsa_Peru) July 14, 2020 (END) NDP/LIT/MVB Loading... Insured patients infected with the new coronavirus who are in critically ill and require ICU beds will be treated at 12 private clinics located in Lima, Arequipa, and La Libertad regions, where they will receive timely treatment supported by mechanical ventilation equipment. Publicado: 14/7/2020 By Ayya Lmahamad As in the events of April 2016, Armenia, by subjecting the densely populated territories of Azerbaijan to artillery fire, grossly violates all assumed obligations, fundamental norms and principles of international law, including international humanitarian law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service reported on July 13. The leadership of Armenia, behind that provocation is revealing its Nazi nature, the message reads. The ministry said that on July 13, Armenian armed forces opened a fire on the village of Dondar Gushchu in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan with large-caliber weapons, demonstrating by this action once again its aggressive and terrorist nature. As a result of the ongoing provocation of the Armenian armed forces, the Azerbaijani civilian population has not suffered losses and all enemy attacks are being adequately suppressed On July 12, a military provocation of the Armenian armed forces in the Tovuz direction of the Azerbaijani- Armenian border was prevented and the enemy forces faced adequate retaliatory strikes. During the day, the tense situation in the region continued and all attacks by the Armenian armed forces were responded with appropriate countermeasures. Let the leadership of Armenia be confident that every civilian in Azerbaijan shares and demonstrates the high tenacity and courage displayed by the armed forces of Azerbaijan on the battlefield. Because the position of Azerbaijan is the position of justice and is based on international law, the message states. Let the leadership of Armenia, which continues its aggressive policy and seeks to consolidate the results of the occupation of the internationally recognized territories of Azerbaijan, be confident that this policy promises it nothing but shame, collapse and self-destruction. Let the leadership of Armenia not think that their actions will go unpunished. As with any occupation, the occupation by Armenia is also temporary and the country will respond to all illegal actions, the statement reads. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz "The addition of Camille to our executive team brings extensive years of experience, both inside and outside of the hospitality space. We are looking forward to her driving our sales and marketing to new heights,"said Derek Fournier, President, and Chief Executive Officer, DeCurtis Corporation. DeCurtis Corporation, the premier provider of location and proximity enabled solutions in complex indoor environments with a focus on health, safety and security, operational enhancement, and experience evolution is pleased to announce the hire of Camille Olivere as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Olivere is formerly the Senior Vice President of Sales at Norwegian Cruise Line, where she was instrumental in building a world-class sales organization and strengthening relationships and revenue with partners. "I am excited to join an executive team that is working toward increasing the health, safety, security, and overall guest experience through innovative technology, " said Camille Olivere. "I look forward to leading the initiative to advance these company objectives to the travel industry and beyond." Olivere is an accomplished executive with over twenty years of experience in cruise, travel, and technology industries holding key roles in development and sales. Previously she held positions at several global companies, including Club Med North America, World Travel Holdings, Norwegian Cruise Line, and Oracle Corporation. In addition to her executive duties, Olivere finds time to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and was chosen as Fort Lauderdale's 2019 Woman of the Year, acknowledging her efforts. "The addition of Camille to our executive team brings extensive years of experience, both inside and outside of the hospitality space. We are looking forward to her driving our sales and marketing to new heights, "said Derek Fournier, President, and Chief Executive Officer, DeCurtis Corporation. "She has a proven track record of success which we are certain will support and advance our mission and vision for our clients across all sectors." Olivere will officially join DeCurtis Corporation as its Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing on July 13, 2020. About DeCurtis Corporation DeCurtis Corporation is the premier provider of location and proximity enabled solutions in complex indoor environments with a focus on health, safety, and security, operational enhancement, and experience evolution. Creator of Mobile Assembly Suite (MAS), the DeCurtis Experience Platform (DXP), and DeCurtis Shield, DeCurtis Corporation is the leader in providing transformational experience technology based on decades of deep industry knowledge in the cruise space that is applicable to other sectors. With a vast range of experience working with some of the worlds best, most-recognized brands, DeCurtis Corporation transforms the guest experience to be safer, secure and more efficient through the creative application of the latest technology. For more information on DeCurtis Corporation, please visit http://www.decurtis.com. Press Contact: Stephanie Casimiro, Director of Marketing DeCurtis Corporation Tel: (407) 965-1395 Direct: (386) 451-1194 Email: stephanie.casimiro@decurtis.com Web: http://www.decurtis.com New Delhi: Markets opened in red on Tuesday dragged by losses in financial stocks in tandem with global cues. The BSE Sensex fell 243.66 points or 0.66 percent to 36,450.03 in early trade while the NSE Nifty dropped 71.15 points or 0.66 percent to 10,731.55. Major gainers in the Sensex pack were HCL Tech, Infosys, TCS, ITC, Ultrachem, Asian Paint, Nestle, rising upto 0.78 percent. On the other hand, major losers were HDFC, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, Maruti, Bajaj Finserve, ICICI Bank, SBI, M&M and Powergrid, falling upto 2.50 percent. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday, purchasing equities worth Rs 221.76 crore, provisional exchange data showed. In the previous session on Monday, the BSE Sensex ended 99.36 points or 0.27 per cent, higher at 36,693.69. Similarly, the NSE Nifty closed 34.65 points, or 1.15 per cent, up at 10,802.70 -- losing about 80 points from the day's high. MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.2%. Japan`s Nikkei retreated from a one-month high touched on Monday, dropping 0.8%. A firm dollar put pressure on the Aussie and kiwi, a Reuters report said. Spot gold sat below recent peaks at $1.797.30 per ounce and U.S. Treasuries were firm. The yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. government debt was $0.6168%, Reuters added. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 2.06 per cent to USD 41.84 per barrel. Albany, N.Y. Travelers from four more states will now have to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving in New York. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this morning that people entering the state from Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin are now subject to the quarantine policy. New York first began requiring quarantines in June for travelers from a number of states where the coronavirus is still spreading rapidly. Cuomo has said repeatedly he is concerned that travelers from those states could spread the virus in New York and lead to a resurgence of the pandemic here. One state, Delaware, has been removed from the quarantine list. The full list of 22 states now includes Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. The quarantine applies to any state with a positive coronavirus testing rate higher than 10 people per 100,000 residents or with an overall positive rate of 10% or higher, both based on seven-day rolling averages. Cuomo said yesterday that travelers arriving in New York from any of the states on the list must fill out a form and turn it into authorities. The form records travelers contact information, where theyre coming from and where theyre going, Cuomo said. The form is available online. Anyone who doesnt fill it out will face a $2,000 fine and court summons under a new order Cuomo announced Monday. Travelers who dont fill out the form could eventually be ordered into mandatory quarantines. New York is sending quarantine enforcement teams to airports across the state to boost compliance with the policy starting today. Cuomo said the new actions were needed because not all travelers have been complying with the quarantine rule. The teams will meet arriving flights, greet passengers from states on the quarantine list and get proof those passengers filled out the required form. Teams will be at Syracuse Hancock International Airport daily, according to Cuomos office. Travelers entering by other methods, including cars and trains, must also fill out the form. MORE ON CORONAVIRUS Coronavirus in NY: Cases, maps, charts and resources Out-of-state travelers must tell NY authorities where they came from or face fine, Cuomo says Cuomo: New York schools will reopen based on a formula similar to economic reopening Whats the greatest health risk in coronavirus era: Kids at school or at home? Complete coronavirus coverage on syracuse.com Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-282-8598 The New South Wales government is tightening restrictions for pubs as a spike in coronavirus cases threatens to plunge the state back into lockdown. From Friday, the number of patrons for any pub, regardless of size, will be capped at 300 and bookings will be limited to 10 people. A ban on sharing plates and cutlery will be enforced and there will also be a crackdown on mingling at the bar or in communal areas, with only seated service allowed. Pubs will be told to better enforce social distancing in queues after the Golden Sheaf in Sydney was fined $5,000 for allowing hundreds of patients (pictured) to mingle The number of patrons for any pub, regardless of size, will be capped at 300 and bookings will be limited to 10 people What are the new rules in pubs? Under the new measures, pubs across NSW will be required to implement the following: The number of people per booking or table will be reduced from 20 people to 10; A cap of 300 people in a venue at any one time; Compulsory COVID-Safe registration through Service NSW; A dedicated COVID Safe Hygiene Marshall in distinctive clothing must oversee social distancing, cleaning and hygiene at the venue; o Large hotels with a capacity of greater than 250 people are to have a COVID Safe Hygiene Marshall on duty whenever the hotel is open. o Smaller hotels with a capacity of less than 250 are to have a COVID Safe Hygiene Marshall employed in peak periods (lunch 12pm to 3pm and dinner 5pm to 9pm). Paper sign-in will still be permitted, but hotels must create a digital record of patron names and phone numbers (excel or word) to be submitted within 24 hours; Ensure all patrons provide their name and contact details accurately; and Encouraged to strongly promote QR code sign-in. Advertisement Pubs will be told to better enforce social distancing in queues after the Golden Sheaf in Sydney was fined $5,000 for allowing hundreds of patients to mingle while waiting to enter. Any venue with more than 250 patrons must employ a full-time marshall to police social distancing. Customers must sign in to every pub they enter so they can be contacted in the event another patron tests positive. Previously only one person per group had to sign in. Any business breaking the rules can be fined $5,000 for their first offence, closed for a week for a second offence and shut for a month for a third offence. The new rules will only apply to pubs and not to restaurants, clubs and other venues. NSW reported 13 new cases of the virus on Tuesday, two returned travellers, one close contact and 10 people linked to the Crossroads Hotel cluster. Ms Berejiklian reiterated that life would not return to 'normal' until a vaccine was secured and refused to rule out tightening restrictions further. 'In a pandemic, many people indoors is a much higher risk than many people outdoors in a seated venue,' Ms Berejiklian told 2GB radio on Tuesday. A ban on sharing plates and cutlery will be enforced and there will also be a crackdown on mingling at the bar or in communal areas, with only seated service allowed Ms Berejiklian said she also wanted to see pub and hotel patrons restricted to seated service. Pictured: Queues for venues in King's Cross 'It's not necessarily the numbers - it's what they're doing and how they're doing it. Even five or six people mingling around the bar at a hotel is a huge no-no.' Ms Berejiklian said she also wanted to see pub and hotel patrons restricted to seated service, banned from use of cutlery stations and forced to socially distance in queues. It comes after a growing cluster of 28 cases developed from the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, south-west Sydney. All patrons of the pub who entered from July 3 to 10 must self-isolate and are being urged to get tested as a precaution. Investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection, with further test results expected this week. Police are working with Liquor and Gaming to investigate if the hotel breached any guidelines. An aerial view of traffic streaming into the Crossroads Hotel in south-west Sydney for coronavirus testing Medical staff at a pop-up COVID-19 testing clinic in Casula perform tests on drivers on July 11 One of the patients linked to the venue tested positive after also visiting The Star in Sydney on July 4. NSW Chief Health Officers Dr Kerry Chant said other venues across Sydney may have been exposed to the virus between June 27 and July 10 after visits from people linked to the outbreak. These include Picton Hotel, Planet Fitness gym in Casula, Canterbury Leagues Club, Narellan Town Centre and Zone Bowling in Villawood. People who visited between these dates have been urged to watch for symptoms and get tested. Victorian health authorities also on Monday confirmed two residents had tested positive in the southern state after recently travelling to Merimbula on the southern NSW coast. The Queensland government on Tuesday declared the Liverpool and Campbelltown local government areas as COVID-19 hotspots. Residents and visitors to those areas who seek to enter Queensland will be forced into 14 days of hotel quarantine. Mike Pompeo said that Beijing has failed to put forth a lawful, coherent maritime claim in the South China Sea, and so the United States was rejecting any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea Washington: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that Chinas expansive maritime claims across most of the South China Sea were completely unlawful, setting up potential military confrontations with Beijing and sanctions against companies as the United States seeks to push back Chinese activity in the region. Pompeo said Chinas years-long campaign of bullying to control offshore resources across much of the area was illegal. The announcement was the strongest and most explicit support by Washington of a ruling in 2016 by an international tribunal at The Hague that China had violated international law with its actions. Pompeos announcement aligns US policy directly with that ruling and puts Washington in a position to enforce the tribunals decision, even though China has rejected it. The statement is not explicit on US military aid, but leaves open the possibility that the United States might come to the defence of nations like Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines if clashes erupt because of Chinese aggression. The United States has a mutual defence treaty with the Philippines. The statement is a full-throated endorsement of the tribunals ruling, said M Taylor Fravel, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies Chinas territorial disputes and its military. But the United States is sticking to its policy of neutrality on competing claims to legitimate land features such as the Spratly Islands, he added. China and five other governments have competing claims to land features in the South China Sea, and China has also come into conflict with Indonesia over Chinese activity in waters by that large archipelago nation. China delineates its claims to the South China Sea with what it calls a nine-dashed line, a boundary that encompasses an area the size of Mexico and demarcates almost the entire region. The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement that the US government exaggerates the situation in the region and attempts to sow discord between China and other littoral countries. The accusation is completely unjustified, it added. The Chinese side is firmly opposed to it. The statement also said that China was committed to resolving disputes through negotiation. The area has potentially rich oil and gas resources, and governments often sign contracts with companies that do exploration and drilling in the region. There are also abundant fisheries. Fishing boats and coast guard vessels from various nations have clashed repeatedly in recent years across the sea. Pompeo said that Beijing has failed to put forth a lawful, coherent maritime claim in the South China Sea, and so the United States was rejecting any Chinese claim to waters beyond a 12-nautical mile territorial sea derived from land features or legitimate islands. Some features that are tiny atolls and rocks built up by China are not legitimate land features and cannot be claimed by the country, Pompeo said. These include Mischief Reef and Second Thomas Shoal, which fall under the territorial jurisdiction of the Philippines, and James Shoal, which is 50 nautical miles from Malaysia. The Philippines brought the case against China in The Hague, arguing that China had violated the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which Beijing is a party. The big question now is what the United States intends to do about the Chinese military presence in those areas and other parts of the vast sea claimed by Beijing. Starting around 2014, China used sand dredging to expand tiny features that were covered by water during high tide into larger outcroppings, and then built air strips and military posts atop those. Mischief Reef is one of those sites. The Chinese military warns U.S. military planes that pass close to the reef. Since the Barack Obama administration, the US Navy has been conducting what it calls freedom-of-navigation operations across the South China Sea to challenge Chinese claims to the waters. But in recent months, the US Navy has pushed back in other ways: In April, it sent two warships into waters near Malaysia as a show of force against a Chinese government ship that had been following a Malaysian state oil company ship doing exploratory drilling. Pompeos announcement could mean more such operations by the Pentagon. Washington could also take other actions based on its new, more forceful position. Will it also sanction companies that do business with China in what are now, in the US eyes, illegally occupied waters? said Julian G Ku, a professor of constitutional and international law at Hofstra University. I think it probably should, but it hasnt done so yet. In June, Kelly Craft, the US ambassador to the United Nations, sent a letter to the UN secretary-general that laid out Washingtons position on Chinas excessive maritime claims. That was a precursor to Pompeos announcement, and it built on a legal opinion that the State Department had reached at the end of the Obama administration, after the ruling in The Hague. The State Department, I think, was just looking for ways that we can more forcefully act and speak out in support of the smaller claimants who are getting bullied by China, said Bonnie S Glaser, a senior director for Asia at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. And I think that comes across loud and clear in the statements. Its all about supporting the actions of countries to fish and explore energy in maritime spaces that China has claimed. Daniel Russel, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and the Pacific in the second Obama term, said that the Obama administration had accepted the tribunals 2016 ruling as final and binding, and that Pompeos statement was more chest-pounding and angry invective about China than a change in policy. The Trump administration has been selective in its endorsement of international rulings from The Hague. It warned last month that international investigators looking into charges of war crimes by Americans in Afghanistan would face economic penalties and travel restrictions. Global Times, a nationalist Chinese newspaper, published an opinion essay Monday saying that the US desires to stir up troubles over the South China Sea and that it takes advantage of regional countries claims to sow discord between these countries and China. It portrays a bully image of China. While the essay was published before the State Department announcement, it seemed to anticipate US action, saying that Washington certainly wouldnt miss something like the anniversary of 2016 arbitration. Maritime claims are just one of several areas where the Trump administration has been applying greater pressure on China in recent months. Robert C OBrien, the national security advisor, will address others this week during a visit to Paris, including the security of new 5G networks that incorporate Chinese-made hardware. A White House official said he would meet with his counterparts from France, Britain, Germany and Italy. Last month, OBrien gave a speech in Arizona saying that Chinas president, Xi Jinping, saw himself as a successor to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and warned that China sought to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis to displace the United States as the leading global power. Edward Wong and Michael Crowley c.2020 The New York Times Company Robot dolphins: the cruelty-free 20m 'animal' you can't tell from the real thing. Creators say robot dolphins provide an alternative to keeping cetaceans in captivity and could be rolled out in Chinese aquariums. They can respond to questions, swim happily in shopping mall display tanks, and withstand close contact that would usually be harmful to real animals without any ethical problems, The Guardian writes in the article Robot dolphins: the cruelty-free 20m 'animal' you can't tell from the real thing. Entrepreneurs in New Zealand are working with American creators of some of Hollywoods most famous creatures to develop animatronic dolphins that look almost identical to their living counterparts. A robotic dolphin that can nod an answer to a child thanks to the human controlling it by remote might sound unappealing or disconcerting. But as marine parks around the world face increasing pressure to abandon exhibitions featuring real whales and dolphins, the creatures provide an appealing alternative, their creators say. The marine park industry has had falling revenues for over a decade due to ethical concerns and the cost of live animals, yet the public hunger to learn about and experience these animals is still as strong as ever, said Roger Holzberg, a California-based designer of the life-size robot bottlenose dolphins, and a former creative director at the Walt Disney Company. Holzberg is working alongside Walt Conti, responsible for some of cinemas best-known sea creatures including Free Willy and Flipper to build the animals. We believe that its time to reimagine this industry and that this approach can be more humane, and more profitable at the same time, Holzberg added. But with a price tag of about NZ$40m (20.8m) per dolphin, the biggest obstacle for the creators of the animatronic creatures is proving to potential clients that the robotic sea creatures will work out to be cheaper in the long run than the real thing. Li Wang, a business developer for Edge Innovation, the New Zealand-based company making the case for the robots, said they do cost four times more than normal dolphins but would last longer. We have to persuade them that it is a profitable business, even more profitable than live animals, he said, adding that the robots did not require the same expensive upkeep or carefully calibrated water temperature as real dolphins. Bottlenose dolphins, on average, live for less than 20 years in captivity, but 30-50 years in the wild. Before the Covid-19 pandemic stalled construction, at least 30 aquariums were being built in China, Li Wang said, and at least one large Chinese corporation had committed to replacing real dolphins with robots. Mike Wang, a vice president at Red Star Macalline Group a company with a portfolio including furniture retailers and shopping malls said it had sponsored the first phase of the dolphins development, and was considering the establishment of a lab for their expansion in China.The company would adopt robotic dolphins and other [animals] in our new aquarium projects and was eager to be part of the creatures distribution throughout the country, he said in a statement. The robotic creatures were born out of their New Zealand creators unease with endorsing the real things, said Melanie Langlotz, one of the entrepreneurs behind the project who has a background in augmented reality games. Langlotz had been commissioned to develop a digital component for the aquariums, but some of the companies she had assembled to participate were unwilling to be involved in a plan that would eventually supply live animals to captivity, she said. It became clear that any large aquarium in China, in order to compete with any other aquarium, would need to have all the big animals on display, such as beluga whales, dolphins and sharks, she said. The bigger, the better. Debates got more and more heated among her New Zealand-based suppliers about the use of captive animals, she said. Finally, the group decided to pitch animatronic animals instead of live ones, inspired by New Yorks National Geographic exhibition, which deploys 3D and digital technology. The prototype for the dolphin, Langlotz said, weighs more than 270kg and is indiscernible from the real thing the condition Red Star Macalline stipulated for proceeding with the project. A test audience had been unable to guess the dolphin was not real, she added. Animal rights advocates also welcomed the change. Elisa Allen the UK director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said in a statement she hoped robotic dolphins will replace real ones in marine parks worldwide. In nature, dolphins swim up to 40 miles a day and live in tight-knit family groups, she said, but in captivity animals were confined to concrete pools filled with chemically treated water and forced to interact with strangers. In 2020, cutting-edge technology allows us to experience nature without harming it, Allen said. Li Wang, the business developer, did not believe people would mind that the robots were not genuine. For people in New Zealand, for me, I liken authentic to natural, he said. But if we think about the younger generation, they spend far more time than us playing electronic games online. We actually need to ask ourselves what is real and what is fake. The Wichita, Kansas Five Guys Burgers and Fries franchisee is dealing with fallout from an incident at one of the chains restaurants in Alabama. Jeff Miller, who has three Five Guys restaurants in Wichita, has nothing to do with the Five Guys in Daphne, where some employees recently refused to serve police officers. Due to news reports and social media, though, people in the Wichita area have heard about the incident and responded. Weve had people call the stores repeatedly and ask if we serve police officers, Miller said. Some have gone so far just to assume that its happened here. He said others are really going over the top being rude to the (managers), accusing them of all kinds of reprehensible behavior. Its been really tough on them. Theyve done a good job and handled it well. Miller said hes purposely worked to build a relationship with the police. We have a really good relationship with the local police force. This isnt the only time social media has affected his business, Miller said. Apparently there was a rumor going around that we didnt take cash. We absolutely take cash. 2020 The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) Visit The Wichita Eagle (Wichita, Kan.) at www.kansas.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that he favours making face masks mandatory in public indoor spaces to curtail the coronavirus pandemic. He also said there were warning there were signs infections in France were picking up again. "I would like to make masks mandatory in all enclosed public spaces," he said in a televised interview for the national celebrations around Bastille Day on July 14. He said the measure could come into force as early as August 1st. Responding to concerns that infections are again on the up in France he added: "We have indications that (the outbreak) is accelerating a bit." He said in particular that the virus reproduction rate, the "R" ratio, had risen above one in France, meaning that a single person infected with COVID-19 is likely spreading the disease to others. Masks are already required on public transport across France, "but it's a little spotty in enclosed public spaces", Macron acknowledged. Prominent doctors urged the government this week to require masks in order to prevent a second wave of cases that could again overwhelm hospitals. The mayor of Saint-Ouen, a suburb just north of Paris, on Monday made masks mandatory after several coronavirus cases were discovered at a school. Asked if France had enough face masks in case of a new spike in cases, Macron said: "We will be ready." "We have secured both the stocks and the supply sources, and we are organised on the ground, to allow us to deal with an upsurge, if it comes," he said. By Trend The Israel-Azerbaijan International Association AzIz sharply condemns the military actions provoked by the Armenian side on the front line in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district, Lev Spivak, director general of the AzIz association told Trend. Spivak was commenting on the Armenian armed forces attack in the direction of Tovuz district. Our organization, on behalf of thousands of Azerbaijani immigrants living in Israel, addressed to the world community, the media outlets, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly, the OSCE Minsk Group, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament with an appeal to stop the Armenian armed forces aggression against the Azerbaijani civilians, stop provocations against the Azerbaijani armed forces not to jeopardize the lives of people, the director general said. "We also call on these organizations and the world community to condemn the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan by Armenia and to demand the immediate fulfillment of the UN resolutions on the liberation of all occupied territories for the civilians who become refugees to be able to return to their ancestral lands, Spivak added. Personally, on my own behalf and on behalf of the Israelis, I express my sincere condolences to the families of the killed servicemen and to the entire Azerbaijani people in connection with this loss, the director general said. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been lasting for many years and unfortunately, we do not see the end yet, Spivak said. Despite the ceasefire regime established in 1994, Armenia is still taking the provocative actions throughout the border zone. In this case, Armenia made a big provocation and Azerbaijan resolutely rebuffed by demonstrating high morale and military training. Unfortunately, in such cases, when a country shows its military strength and the ability to stand up for itself, young servicemen die, it is very painful and unacceptable, the director general added. Why does Armenia make such provocations? I think this question should be addressed to the OSCE Minsk Group, which is actually inactive and shows indifference, as a result of which the Armenians use the situation for making provocations. Obviously, the OSCE Minsk Group forgot about its function and turned into an amorphous structure." The inaction of the OSCE Minsk Group in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict leads to Armenias further provocations, Spivak said. This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. The United States has said its landmark deal with the Taliban has entered the "next phase" while urging the militants to reduce rising violence to allow Afghan peace talks to begin. The two sides signed an agreement in February that saw Washington pledge to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by the middle of next year, in return for the insurgents promising to hold negotiations with the Afghan government to end the decades-old war. Under phase one, the US said it would reduce troops to 8,600 within 135 days, while completely removing forces from five military bases. On the 135th day, US Special Representative on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated the deal for Washington, tweeted that both sides had reached a "key milestone". "The US has worked hard to carry out 1st phase of its commitments under the agreement, including to reduce troops & depart five bases," he said Monday. As the deal entered its "next phase", Washington's approach will be based on certain conditions, Khalilzad warned. "We will press for completion of prisoner releases, reduction of violence... & start of & progress in intra-Afghan negotiations," he said. The Taliban on Tuesday welcomed the cut in US forces, but claimed that American troops had frequently carried out bombings in non-combat zones and "offensives" in support of the Kabul government in several provinces. It also accused US pilots of carrying out airstrikes against civilians, mujahideen and public infrastructure in the past 10 days. "These all are blatant violations of the agreement and deliberate attempt at provoking the mujahideen towards large-scale attacks," the Taliban said. - 'Violence has been high' - The deal was signed after a lull in violence, but the Taliban have since stepped up attacks across much of Afghanistan killing hundreds, officials say. Khalilzad condemned the attacks, saying "large numbers" of Afghans continued to die without a reason, while acknowledging that no American had been killed since the deal. Story continues "Violence has been high, especially in recent days and weeks," Khalilzad said, condemning a Taliban attack on Monday on a rural office of Afghanistan's intelligence agency that killed 11 security personnel. "The Taliban's attack... contradicts their commitment to reduce violence until a permanent ceasefire is reached in intra-Afghan talks." US President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election in November, has said repeatedly that he wants to end America's longest war as soon as possible. Talks between the Taliban and Kabul hinge on a nearly-completed prisoner exchange agreed in the deal. The government has so far released more than 4,000 Taliban inmates, while the insurgents have freed more than 600 Afghan security personnel. Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, said in a report on Tuesday that in the first six months of this year, a total of 1,213 civilians were killed and another 1,744 wounded in 880 incidents across the country. It said the figures showed a drop of 11 percent as compared to the first half of 2019. The Taliban accounted for 48.5 percent of civilian casualties, while 15.5 percent were attributed to government forces, and 6.3 percent to the extremist Islamic State group. New York, July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market Research Report by Technology, by Component, by Vehicle - Global Forecast to 2025 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913425/?utm_source=GNW The Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market is expected to grow from USD 18,199.77 Million in 2019 to USD 34,995.50 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11.51%. Market Segmentation & Coverage: This research report categorizes the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets: On the basis of Technology, the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market is studied across Autonomous Parking System and Semiautonomous Parking System. On the basis of Component, the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market is studied across Camera, Ultrasonic Sensor, and Ultrasonic Sensor & Camera. On the basis of Vehicle , the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market is studied across Commercial Vehicles and Passenger Cars. On the basis of Geography, the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market is studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas region is studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The Asia-Pacific region is studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa region is studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom. Company Usability Profiles: The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market including Aptiv PLC, Blighter Surveillance Systems Ltd., Continental AG, HELLA GmbH & Co. KGaA, Hitachi, Ltd., Magna International Inc., NXP Semiconductors N.V., Robert Bosch GmbH, Toshiba Corporation, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG. FPNV Positioning Matrix: The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market on the basis of Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape. Competitive Strategic Window: The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth. Cumulative Impact of COVID-19: COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, so for and, the long-term effects projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlaying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report is delivering insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecast, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market. The report provides insights on the following pointers: 1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players 2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets 3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments 4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players 5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments The report answers questions such as: 1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market? 2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market during the forecast period? 3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market? 4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market? 5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market? 6. What are the modes and strategic moves considered suitable for entering the Global Automotive Intelligence Park Assist System Market? Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05913425/?utm_source=GNW About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. __________________________ But in the end, it wasnt enough. And in truth, after Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Sessionss opponent, it probably never was. On Tuesday, Mr. Sessions lost the Alabama Senate Republican runoff election to Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach whose platform was largely a blanket promise to support the president at all times. People in Alabama voted against Jeff Sessions because Donald Trump told them to, said Angi Stalnaker, a Republican strategist in Alabama. If it had been Donald Trump saying, Go write in Mickey Mouse, 50 percent of them would have gone to write in Mickey Mouse. They wanted to please the president, Ms. Stalnaker said. This was never about Tommy Tuberville. Mr. Tuberville now advances to the November general election, where he will face Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat. The loss most likely marks the end of Mr. Sessionss three-decade political career, which included four terms as a senator and less than two years as Mr. Trumps attorney general. With the National Investigation Agency (NIA) turning its focus on gold smuggling, conducting such activities is likely to become even tougher, at least for a couple of months, according to market and official sources. The NIA is currently investigating the Kerala gold smuggling racket, in which the accused Swapna Prabha Suresh and Sandeep Nair allegedly forged the seal and emblem of the UAE Embassy to commit the crime. Dear Reader, Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance. We, however, have a request. As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed. Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard. Digital Editor YOU know youve truly made it when youve been immortalised in action figure form. And thats the case for Limerick comedy and hip-hop duo The Rubberbandits. A one-of-a-kind custom-made set of Blindboy and Mr Chrome Rubberbandits figures are on sale on Etsy, the global online marketplace focused on handmade or vintage items and craft supplies. Priced at 58.45, the handmade figures are complete with the signature plastic bags covering the duos faces. These are custom figures and in no way professional. Not toys, meant for display purposes only, the description on the site states. Each figurine comes in a flexi case for shelf display. Please look at photos before you purchase. I can not be there to dry your tears when you yet again come to the realisation you purchased pure tat from off the internet, the description continues in jest, adding But it is one-of-a-kind tat to impress your easy to impress friends! The seller, MrCookeCustomz, has also made and sold a number of other action figures based on famous people including Tony Soprano who sells for 116.89. The Rubberbandits came to the attention of the public back in 2010 with the release of their Horse Outside video. Blindboy is enjoying great success with his podcast The Blindboy Podcast which features short fiction, interviews and comedy. And in recent weeks the mask wearing Limerick man has encouraged people to stay protected against Covid-19 by wearing a face covering. Wear a cotton face covering to protect others, not yourself. If you don't wear yours it makes another person's effort null, he tweeted. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Fri, July 17, 2020 President Joko Jokowi Widodos administration is developing Batang Integrated Industrial Park in Central Java to get foreign companies to invest in and relocate to Indonesia amid a foreign direct investment (FDI) slump. To develop the industrial zone, the government has established a team comprising the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) the State-Owned Enterprises Ministry, the Industry Ministry, the Public Works and Housing Ministry and the Transportation Ministry. State-owned construction company PT Pembangunan Perumahan (PP), state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga and toll road developer PT Waskita Toll Road will also join the team. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login STAMFORD Shots fired on a downtown street this weekend left four vehicles damaged but no one appears to have been injured, police said. Capt. Richard Conklin said the shots fired report came in to the 911 dispatch center at at 12:58 a.m. Sunday from Main Street, just across Washington Boulevard from Columbus Park. Officers sent to the scene did not find any signs of a shooting. Sgt. Kenneth Jarrett said a woman around the corner on Clinton Avenue called police at 8 a.m. the next morning to report finding two bullets had struck the left side of her car. When officers went to investigate, they found three other nearby vehicles damaged by gunfire and seven shell casings on the ground. Conklin said that residents reported hearing six to seven shots fired early Sunday morning. He said that no one appears to have been hit and police have contacted hospitals looking for gunshot victims with none found. He said investigators do not know what the motive was for the shots being fired. The incident continues a spate of unsolved shooting incidents in Stamford that began in the spring. On the night of April 19 emergency dispatchers received multiple calls of shots fired in the area of Colonial Road near Hope Street. While officers were responding they received a report of a gunshot victim at a home on nearby Pine Hill Avenue. There, police found a 20-year-old man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds to his pelvic area, police said. He was rushed to Stamford Hospital where he was later pronounced in stable condition. A month later, on the night of May 24, police received multiple calls reporting shots being fired at Lockwood Avenue and William Street. Police determined shots were fired from at least one car. Another shooter might have been on foot or in another car, police said. No one was reported injured in the gunfire. But on the next night, May 25, a man was shot in the leg at an incident on Connecticut Avenue. Police found about 20 shell casings from multiple semiautomatic pistols at the end of Connecticut Avenue near the border with Greenwich. And on May 31 a Bridgeport man was shot at the Southwood Square Apartments. Police were called to the emergency room at Stamford Hospital on the report of a shooting victim being brought there by a private vehicle. The gunman remained at large. jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com Egypt, UAE and France 'violating Libya arms embargo', Turkey 'We are not ambiguous, others playing a dangerous game' (ANSAmed) - ROME, 14 LUG - Turkish ambassador to Italy Murat Salim Esenli said Tuesday that Egypt, the UAE, and France are violating an arms embargo on Libya. Esenli made this claim during a press conference at the embassy in Rome during the commemoration of a failed coup d'etat in Turkey on July 15, 2016. ''We are not in an ambiguous position. For us it is very clear. The situation in Libya is clear for Turkey. If we are part of the international community, then we must comply with the rules of the international community,'' he said. ''All the others,'' he added, ''have no legal basis. Those acting in an ambiguous manner try to say that we are in an ambiguous position. The others are playing a dangerous game and there is a greta deal of awareness about these games among our partners, such as Italy, which knows what is happening. We do not want to fall into the trap of those violating the arms embargo.'' (ANSAmed). STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A 57-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman riding a moped were injured Friday when they crashed into a food delivery service truck in Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to a Cape Cod Times report. The man, who was reportedly driving the vehicle, crashed into a Sysco food-service truck at around 3:30 p.m., the report said. All parties were on scene when we arrived, said Nantucket Police Department Lt. Angus MacVicar, in the report. The male operator was injured and he was later transported to Nantucket Cottage Hospital and then, I believe, he was flown to a Boston-area hospital. The 55-year-old woman was also injured, the report said, but was not airlifted to the hospital. The extent of the pairs injuries was not immediately available, and the cause of the accident remains under investigation. The activist and his family members have claimed Rao has been unwell for some time and requested the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care Mumbai: Poet and activist Varavara Rao, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has been taken to the state-run JJ Hospital here after he complained of dizziness, his lawyer said on Tuesday. Rao, 80, has been behind bars for almost two years and lodged at the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai. The activist and his family members have claimed he is unwell for some time and sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care. "Rao was taken to the JJ Hospital on Monday night after he felt dizzy. The hospital is conducting a few tests on him, the activist's advocate R Satyanarayan Iyer said. On Monday, Rao filed two petitions in the Bombay High Court, seeking temporary bail owing to his deteriorating health and a direction to the jail authorities to produce his medical records and admit him to a state-run or private hospital. Rao's family members on Sunday sought the jail authorities to provide him immediate medical care and claimed that when the veteran activist, who hails from Telangana, contacted them last week he was in a "delirious state and hallucinating". Rao has been in jail for about 22 months and had earlier approached the special NIA court, seeking bail on medical grounds and the prevailing COVID-19 situation. On 26 June, the NIA court rejected his plea on the ground that he has been booked under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), following which he moved the high court. Rao and nine other activists have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, which was initially probed by the Pune Police and later transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in January this year. The case related to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which the police claimed triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial. The police have also claimed the conclave was organised by people with alleged Maoist links. (Newser) A group of 1,200 lawyers says it's about time a mural depicting KKK members is removed from a Florida courthouse. It symbolizes "everything a judicial system should oppose: racial discrimination, racial supremacy, terrorism and vigilantism," Mitch Stone, president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, tells the Florida Times-Union. The group is demanding the immediate removal of the 135-square-foot mural at the Baker County Courthouse in Macclenny, which depicts 43 scenes from local history. In one scene, three KKK members in white robes and hoods are shown on horseback. The mural was painted in 2001 by the late Eugene Barber, a founding member of the local historical society. In a guide to the mural, Barber noted the KKK "sometimes took vigilante justice to extremes but was sometimes the only control the county knew over those outside the law." story continues below The former chief judge of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court, Stan Morris, refused to allow the mural to be hung outside his second-story courtroom in 2001, reports the Washington Post. Despite heavy criticism, it was instead hung to face the first-floor entrance. But "it is not something people need to be reminded of as they enter the courthouse to judge or to be judged," says Stone. "This is not a museum." Protesters demanded the mural's removal earlier this month. "We're all here for protecting the integrity of the painting, and also compromising with those people who believe that it is their heritage," Da'Jah Roberts told WJCT. "That's why we're pushing so hard for it to be rehomed and not defaced." The protesters had hoped to appeal to County Commissioner James Croft. The lawyers' group has asked Chief Judge James P. Nilon to issue a ruling in its favor. (Read more Florida stories.) India set a new one-day record for its number of new coronavirus cases, while the United States continued to add to a surge in infections and Mexico surpassed Italy in terms of COVID-19 deaths. Indian health officials said Monday there were 28,701 new confirmed cases in the past 24 hours. The country trails only the United States and Brazil in total cases since the outbreak began late last year and authorities in several states are putting back in place lockdown restrictions to try to slow the spread of the virus. In a regular briefing streamed online, WHO head Tedros Adhanom said that "it's never too late to bring the virus under control," but warned that "too many countries are headed in the wrong direction." "Mixed messages from leaders are undermining the most critical ingredient of any response: trust. If governments do not clearly communicate with their citizens and roll out a comprehensive strategy focused on suppressing transmission and saving lives," he said. Nearly 13 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported around the world resulting in nearly 570,000 deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday that there would be "no return to the old 'normal' for the foreseeable future" as COVID-19 cases rise across the globe. Mexico's Health ministry announced Sunday the country's death toll had risen to 35,006, the fourth highest in the world, and it reminded people of the need to practice social distancing, wear a mask and wash their hands. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said the outbreak is "losing intensity" in Mexico and that the number of cases was rising in about one-fourth of the country's states. He cited the need for people to protect themselves, but also to keep the economy moving. The United States had more than 60,000 new confirmed cases again Sunday as cases surge in many states, including Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Arizona. Florida reported Sunday a 24-hour increase of 15,299, shattering the previous one-day high for a U.S. state by more than 3,500. The top U.S. health official is urging everyone to wear a mask when out in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19, but he stopped short of saying there needs to be a nationwide mandate. A day after President Donald Trump was seen for the first time wearing a face covering in public, Surgeon General Jerome Adams said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday that people need to be educated on why it is important to cover their faces instead of the "big brother" approach. "As surgeon general, I want people to understand why they should wear a face covering, and they are going to be more likely to do it and more likely to do it willingly, and they're going to be more likely to do it when we are not watching, which is important," Adams said. Trump has wavered between mocking those who wear face masks and saying he doesn't see anything wrong with it. He was pictured wearing one Saturday during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. "When you're in a hospital, especially... I think it's a great thing to wear a mask," he said. Monday brought mandatory orders for wearing masks in public in Croatia and in four Spanish regions -- Andalusia, Aragon, La Rioja and Navarre. Andalusian leader Juan Manuel Moreno said authorities there fear an influx of tourists who will walk through the streets and enter restaurants of the popular vacation spot mask-free. Spain has been one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus. It began easing lockdowns last month. But some local authorities are starting to reimpose restrictions as a growing number of new cases is sparking fears of a second wave. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a renewed ban on the sale of alcohol and a new nighttime curfew Sunday as the number of new COVID-19 cases grows. South Africa has the most cases in Africa. Ramaphosa said in a televised address that hospitals and doctors don't have the facilities and time to deal with alcohol-related injuries right now. In Honduras, officials announced a coronavirus curfew first imposed in March will remain in effect for another week to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. In a discovery with important implications for criminal justice, a team of scientists from USC and other Southern California research institutions has developed a unique way to measure the reliability of an eyewitness trying to pick a culprit from a police lineup. It's a new forensic approach that attempts to gauge the strength of witness memory while minimizing the influence of unwitting bias in an attempt to explain -- and solve -- why so many innocent people get convicted of crimes. The method challenges police lineup techniques that've been entrenched for nearly a century. "Our new lineup method uncovers the structure of eyewitness memory, removes decision bias from the identification process and quantifies the performance of individual witnesses. This study is a great example of using laboratory science to bring about criminal justice reform," said Sergei Gepshtein, an expert in perceptual psychology and neuroscience at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a corresponding author of the study. Gepshtein and collaborators from the University of California and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., where he is also a member of the Center for the Neurobiology of Vision, conducted the study, which appears today in Nature Communications. At its core, the new method accounts for mistakes in witness decision making, scores a witness' responses based on paired comparisons of photos instead of a traditional lineup and assigns a probability value to the testimony. Among the advantages, the technique minimizes biases that confound memory and inserts elements of the scientific method into eyewitness testimony. "What's at stake is the confidence people have in their criminal justice system. People want the criminal justice system to use the best methods available for prosecuting crime," Gepshtein said. When police round up suspects to appear in a lineup, the outcome isn't always accurate, as misidentification by eyewitnesses can lead to false arrests and imprisonments. In recent years, more than 350 people -- many serving lengthy prison sentences -- have been exonerated in the United States because their DNA was found to be incompatible with evidence collected from crime scenes. Eyewitness misidentification accounts for 70% of verified erroneous convictions, the study says. The study also comes at a time of increased racial tensions across the United States, as police practices come under scrutiny, mass protests support the Black Lives Matter movement and some municipalities consider defunding local law enforcement. In the experiment, the researchers used neuroscience and psychology to parse how the eyewitness's mind captures events and then retrieves impressions from memory -- two distinct brain functions that sometimes can lead to erroneous recollections. Like in the movies, lineups occur when a suspect and several other people, known as "fillers," are shown to a witness, either by photos or in person. But the process can muddle a correct identification because of ambiguity about two factors that underlie human decision-making: strength of memory and decision criterion. Decision criterion is the mental yardstick a witness uses to assess the resemblance of a suspect to the memory of the culprit; it's a measure of similarity that the witness deems sufficient for identification. An individual assured in their strong memory may make a selection using a rigid criterion, concluding there's a high similarity to identify the culprit. But another individual might have a weak memory and use a laxer criterion to claim that a suspect is the culprit, even if there's little similarity. In both instances, the witness could potentially finger a perpetrator erroneously. The problem is exacerbated by law enforcement's binary yes-or-no imperative that the witness identifies the bad guy, Gepshtein explained. To extract a more accurate memory, the scientists employed a science called sensory psychophysics. Their experiment involved 202 college students shown a movie clip of a single criminal act. Later, the scientists asked the subjects to view photos of possible culprits. Some subjects viewed photos in sequence and other subjects in a simultaneous batch, just like in a police lineup. Other subjects were presented the photos using a new method where the same photos were shown in pairs. The latter group of subjects reported which of images in a pair was more similar to the culprit in the film clip. Then the scientists tallied the scores, a method called "perceptual scaling." "It's like when you go to the optometrist and you're asked, 'which image is clearer: this one or that one?' as the optometrist flips the contrasting lenses," Gepshtein said. A similar technique is used in product marketing, preference testing and hearing aid tests. In the end, the researchers obtained a relative ranking for every photo -- rather than an absolute identification of a culprit -- and could assign a probability score to each image, thus quantifying the perceived similarity of each face to the perpetrator. Using this method, they found that the culprit's face was most consistently ranked correctly; the photo received more than double the positive identifications than could be expected by chance, the study says. Moreover, the new process led to significantly fewer rejections of the lineup than the traditional methods, which is important because it indicates the bad guy is less likely to go free. "Using these scaled measures of similarity to estimate recognition memory strength for each face in a lineup removes decision bias from the process of eyewitness identification and replaces the yes-or-no absolute identification by providing a more detailed relative judgment," Gepshtein said. The new identification method has profound implications for law enforcement investigations. It means that, for the first time, investigators can measure the strength of the memory of an eyewitness. It also helps to create a fairer lineup in which the fillers are similar to the suspect to a known degree, whereas traditional methods could not measure that, Gepshtein explained. In addition, the method is novel because it leads to a new manner of presenting eyewitness testimony in a court of law. It involves a forensic expert to interpret the reliability of an eyewitness, similar to how other experts weigh the value of other evidence such as DNA, ballistics or physical items from a crime scene. But whether the criminal justice system is ready to change an investigative practice embedded in cop culture and immortalized in pulp fiction and crime thriller cinema is another matter. "Generally speaking, criminal justice reform is an uphill battle, partly because there are many concepts and methods that are deeply embedded in the culture of those who work in our legal and law enforcement systems," said Thomas Albright, a study co-author, director of the Vision Center Laboratory at the Salk Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. "On the other hand, there are compelling principles of fairness at stake here and science is a largely unmined source of new ideas to mitigate injustice." ### The study's authors are Sergei Gepshtein of USC and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies; Yurong Wang and Fangchao He of UC San Diego and the Salk Institute; and Dinh Diep and Thomas D. Albright of the Salk Institute. The work was supported by awards from Arnold Ventures and from the Innovation Grants Program of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Express News Service NEW DELHI/ JAIPUR: In the eye of the storm in Rajasthan, Congress state chief Sachin Pilot was in touch with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership to topple the Ashok Gehlot government but retracted after he failed to garner support of MLAs. Unlike Jyotiraditya Scindia who switched over to BJP with 22 MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, the Pilot camp issued a statement late Sunday claiming support of 30 MLAs, including some Independents. In a show of strength, Gehlot, known as Jadugar for mastering political jugglery, on Monday paraded over 100 MLAs. According to Congress insiders, Pilot was in touch with senior BJP leaders from Rajasthan to negotiate a deal. He claimed to have told them that he has support of 30 MLAs. Some of his loyalists checked in at a Gurugram hotel on Saturday. The BJP reportedly asked him to provide a list and parade those 30 MLAs and that is when things took a different turn as many MLAs back tracked. ALSO READ | BJP looking to demolish Congress govt, Sachin Pilot shouldn't run away like a mouse: Shiv Sena He was probably left with 10-12 MLAs, including some ministers from the Gehlot Cabinet, backing him in his decision to switch sides. Until recently, Transport Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas was part of the Pilot camp. But Khachariyawas was seen in the Gehlot camp attending the meeting of MLAs on Monday. Congress is in our blood. We can never wear shorts and carry sticks. We are born in Congress and will die here, Niwai MLA Prashant Bairwa said, after attending the MLA meeting. We know that he was in contact with BJP and when the deal didnt work, he finally had to retract as BJP made it clear that having just 12 MLAs with him wont achieve anything, said a Rajasthan Congress leader. ALSO READ | Rajasthan political crisis: Pilot-led Congress camp releases video showing 16 MLAs sitting together Political experts said Pilot had 30-40 MLAs backing him in 2018, as he got them poll tickets. But in the last 18 months, Gehlot has used his position to sideline Pilot following which the MLAs began switching sides slowly. Any kind of compromise between Gehlot and Pilot will now be a face saver for the latter as the CM has managed to stop his government from collapsing in the state. Nurses Janil Wise, left, and Melinda Gruman, working in the OB triage tent at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, discuss testing options last week for a pregnant patient who was exposed to a person with COVID-19. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) Indicating the coronavirus surge is not slowing, Los Angeles County public health officials Tuesday reported the highest single-day count of COVID-19 cases and related hospitalizations since the pandemic hit. The worsening conditions come as California closes many businesses that had been allowed to reopen in May as officials try to slow the outbreaks. But Los Angeles said that if the trends don't change soon, even more restrictive measures will be necessary. Los Angeles County confirmed 4,244 new cases and 2,103 hospitalizations Tuesday. Of those hospitalized, 27% are in intensive care. The county also reported 73 additional deaths one of the highest single-day counts reported. It's possible that number may reflect a lag in reported deaths over the weekend, officials said in a statement. Mayor Eric Garcetti has warned that the city of Los Angeles is inching closer to the highest threat level and an imminent shutdown as dangers posed by the coronavirus continue to loom. While the city of Los Angeles COVID-19 threat level remains at orange, we are on the border of going to red, Garcetti said Monday night. It is up to all of us that we dont. The county is not facing a ventilator or intensive care bed shortage, but the number of hospitalizations is rising. And while the mortality rate has not skyrocketed, as younger people now account for the majority of new cases, the number of infections continues to rise. Garcetti says the city is not in red-level territory yet, but that could change if the situation worsens. Red is when everything shuts down again to our strictest level. I do want to warn people that were close to that, he said. The virus' toll is worse in Los Angeles County and throughout the state now than in the pandemics history. And while some parts of the country, such as former hot spot New York, have recently reported a decline in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, California has seen a continued surge. Story continues There have never been more infections or reported daily positive cases in Los Angeles than there are currently a reality that continues to affect the rate of hospitalizations. Weve never had as many people in the hospital as there are tonight in Los Angeles, Garcetti said. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Monday that while the mortality rate is stable, the increase in hospitalizations will probably result in increased deaths. The sharp rise in cases can be attributed to a variety of reasons, many linked to the state's reopening strategy. Officials have reported that outbreaks at indoor work settings and factories as well as private gatherings are major areas tied to the surge. Garcetti said the county is aware of certain clusters, such as those at garment manufacturer Los Angeles Apparel, where 300 employees contracted the virus and four have died. The mayor also said there are anecdotal reports of other outbreaks, such as one at an indoor dinner party for 30 people after a wedding that left half the diners infected. More than 140,000 coronavirus infections and 3,894 related deaths have been recorded in Los Angeles County, the bulk of the states totals. If we were an independent country, Los Angeles County would have the 20th most cases in the world. Put differently, we have more cases in Los Angeles County than all of Canada, Garcetti said. According to Johns Hopkins Universitys coronavirus tracker, Canada has recorded more than 110,00 cases of the virus. In the absence of a vaccine or medical therapies, officials have previously emphasized the need for testing as the only true barometer of the virus spread, and one of the few weapons available to fight against the illness. But amid a nationwide shortage in supply and high demand in Los Angeles County that has outpaced the availability of materials, officials are now shifting their message. Over the last week, officials have increasingly emphasized that because a test result accounts for only a single day, it is not foolproof in determining whether a person is truly negative for the virus. And in the time it takes for a person to receive a test result, the reality could change. This has always been true, but the message previously was one of widespread encouragement for the necessity of testing. California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Tuesday that the state is working on new guidelines for testing to ensure that the most vulnerable have prioritized access. "Although we want to maintain access for the general population to testing, focusing first on those whose clinical course or community can really benefit from this more targeted testing approach not as an exclusive but as an initial priority group is very important for us. Especially during this time where transmission is high and turnaround times have increased," Ghaly said. The state is testing about 105,000 people a day, Ghaly said, and the cost of a test is $100 on average. The shift in language and guidance around testing comes as California reverses course on reopenings. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order Monday for all counties to cease indoor operations of various businesses, including restaurants, wineries and zoos. More than 30 other counties, including Los Angeles, that had previously received that mandate were instructed to impose even stricter rules by shuttering indoor operations at hair salons and barbershops, nail salons and personal care facilities, fitness center, indoor malls and places of worship. "The virus is not going away anytime soon," Newsom said. Most people that know me well know that I will not vote to reinstate the $900,000 commissioners discretionary spending of taxpayer money. My reasons are: 1. There could not be a worse economic time for the government to spend additional money. Its time to tighten the belt of government spending and not expand it. All American families are having this conversation around their kitchen tables. Why would elected leaders do anything different? 2. Tax spending should be planned for and budgeted. If discretionary spending is right, then legislative bodies would enact this practice at the city, state, and federal levels. If it were the best way to spend taxpayer money, then we would see it practiced all over Tennessee. Today, there is only one county that has discretionary money - Shelby County. 3. To me, it makes more sense to save for our next big economic development project. What if some large company needs us to create additional infrastructure to lure them to our community? Nine hundred thousand dollars would go a long way in Hamilton County for economic development and job creation. 4. Discretionary spending is simply a way to curry favor with voters for the next election. It is a re-elect me fund to distribute favors in individual districts not based on the greatest needs, but the loudest and closest voices to the commissioner. We must never forget that all tax dollars belong to the people and not politicians. Elected officials are simply stewards of taxpayers money. In my opinion, discretionary spending is not the best way to be the best steward. 5. The government will never be able to meet all the needs of our communities no matter how hard we try or how much we tax our citizens. The question is simple: Is it appropriate for all of needs to be met by the government? I suggest that there are other groups who can help meet community needs. For example, parents, families, private groups, civic clubs, churches, the United Way, and other philanthropic people could help. The government is not always the best answer for every situation. In the past, when commissioners had discretionary money, there was seldom, if ever, a spending request that was rejected by the body. The truth is, this short sighted way of spending taxpayer money makes the commission and, in fact, the individual commissioner - the judge, jury, and executor of the tax dollars. There are no checks and balances with discretionary spending. By contrast, the regular budget is vetted over time with community input, presented by the mayor with the assistance of the Finance Department, and then voted on by the entire commission. For all of these reasons, I am going to do what I consider to be the right thing, the common sense thing, and vote no for Commissioner Discretionary Spending. Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Martin * * * Wow, what a thoughtful and timely statement from Greg Martin regarding the discretionary spending proposal some county commissioners want to reinstate. The $100K per commissioner fund to spend on pet proposals is a perfect example of government spending without accountability. I simply cannot write anything better than what Mr. Martin did in his explanation why he is not voting to reinstate the discretionary fund. It used to infuriate me when we would hear commissioners say I funded or I paid for this project or that project. Thank you, Mr. Martin, for a logical explanation on this important topic. Bob Linehart * * * I want to add my support to Commissioner Martin's opposition to commissioners doling out discretionary funds, a practice that had been correctly terminated years ago. It is very difficult to believe that commissioners supporting discretionary funds so readily would discount the appearance of impropriety. I hope those that claim a charitable motivation for this practice also would practice charity at home. Please put a stake in this horrible idea's heart, a nail in its coffin and bury it once and for all. Fred Decosimo Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has warned that people should not come to Ireland unless they will quarantine for two weeks when they arrive, saying the pandemic is "not a time for normal holidays". He said there was evidence at the weekend of tourists here who were not restricting their movements. Read More It comes as the Government faced Opposition calls to suspend flights from the US, where coronavirus cases are spiralling, and to draw up a 'red-list' of countries which would face travel restrictions. Mr Coveney signalled that the Government won't be banning flights from any particular country and would instead focus on strengthening the passenger locator form system and follow-up calls aimed at determining if people are quarantining. The Fine Gael minister said the penalties for providing incorrect accommodation details on the forms for arriving passengers are "severe" but also admitted he is not aware of anyone being found to be in breach of the rules. He said around 63pc of people have received follow-up calls - leaving almost 40pc who did not. Mr Coveney said the reason for this is mobile phones going unanswered or some people providing incorrect numbers. He said the Government is seeking to bring in greater accuracy in the form filling under plans to move them online as part of the process of booking flight tickets to Ireland. A new call centre is planned for follow-up calls. Labour's transport spokesman Duncan Smith has called on the Government to suspend flights from the US and other Covid-19 hotspots until there is a testing regime in airports for passengers from those locations. He also said there should be strong enforcement of the 14-day quarantine period. "There is huge public concern at the arrival into Ireland of visitors from the United States, and the total lack of enforcement of the 14-day mandatory quarantine period," he said. "The current rules are unworkable and unenforceable, and the public are rightly upset about this." Dublin Fingal TD Mr Smith added: "The line from the Government that they will tighten the rules is not sustainable when our current measures are unenforceable and the risk is already here." Mr Smith said there are five flights due into Dublin today - from New York, Boston, Chicago, Newark and Dallas - and four more tomorrow. "Our public health officials are rightly worried at the risk from travel into Ireland, and it is clear we need more effective control measures at our airports and ports," he said. Sinn Fein's transport spokesman Darren O'Rourke said there should be a 'red-list' of counties which would see restrictions on travel to Ireland. But Mr Coveney added: "I don't think we should prevent flights from landing in Ireland or ban international travel." He also said most people flying from the US are Irish people returning home. He said Ireland probably has the most restrictive system in Europe at the moment. International travel is to be discussed by the Cabinet again tomorrow. A 'green-list' of countries with coronavirus rates similar to Ireland is to be finalised by next week. People coming from countries on this list would not be required to quarantine upon their arrival in Ireland. BETHLEHEM Bethlehem police Chief Louis Corsi will be retiring at the end of the month, and there are three contenders for his replacement. The three applicants for the job are police Detective Sgt. Gina Cocchiara, Commander Adam Hornick and Sgt. Jim Rexford. Since police chief is a civil service position, all the applicants are taken from a civil service list, Town Supervisor David VanLuven said. They are all highly qualified, VanLuven said. Im very pleased with the options we have regardless of limitations of the civil service program. Corsi echoed this sentiment saying it needed to be brought into the "21st Century." "I think there is always room for improvement. The civil service system is antiquated," Corsi said. "It really should be looked at again." However, he does contend the chiefs exam is difficult, but he would like to see an additional exam that has more of an open dialogue. There is no timeline for when the new chief will be chosen, VanLuven said. The selection will be made by VanLuven and then ratified by the town board. Corsi said hes enjoyed his time as police chief, but is ready for someone else to fill the position. After you put 41 years into this business its time for a little rest and to spend time with your grandchildren, Corsi said. Corsi has been in law enforcement since 1979, and started at Bethlehem in 1985. He was chief for 17 years. He was initially going to leave in March, but decided to stay because of COVID-19. I thought I had something to offer. Im glad I stayed, Corsi said. I wouldnt have felt good about it if I left at that time. Hornick was promoted to commander in 2015, and at the time was considered likely to succeed Corsi, according to a previous Times Union report. Hornick was born and raised in New Scotland and attended Bethlehem schools. He was a Bethlehem police dispatcher for three years and an officer with the Albany County Sheriff's Department for a year before he joined the Bethlehem police about 20 years ago. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Jim Rexford is a South Bethlehem native and went to school in the Ravena Coeymans school district. He worked for the Coeymans Police Department before coming to Bethlehem Police Department in 1998. Cocchiara joined the department in 1998, and was named the department's head of detectives in 2015. She was the first female to hold the position. Cocchiara is also active in town politics, and up until at least last year was on the Bethlehem Democratic Committee. The town board is currently made up of 4 to 1 Democrats. Hornick declined to comment on the chief's job, and Cocchiara and Rexford did not immediately return the Times Union's request to comment on the town filling the top post. Corsi said Bethlehem has among the lowest crime rates and lowest officer complaint rates in the county. He adds that whoever assumes his role will have their work cut out for them, and encourages them to look at the bigger picture. These are challenging times. You have to be able to look at whats going on not only locally and nationally, Corsi said. If you block that out, youre not doing anything for the people you serve. Luis Casado, left, and Khyle Durham, both 21, were identified as the two intruders who were shot and killed by a homeowner in Wesley Chapel, Fla., on July 10, 2020. (Pasco County Sheriff's Office) Florida Homeowner Opens Fire, Kills 2 Home Invasion Suspects A Florida homeowner shot and killed two home invasion suspects on July 10 morning, officials said. The homeowner, who was not identified, was playing video games at 1 a.m. when he heard glass breaking, the Pasco County Sheriffs Office said. Three suspected armed robbers then entered the premises, located in Wesley Chapel. According to Sheriff Chris Nocco, the homeowner grabbed a gun and saw a suspect in his hall wearing a ski mask, pointing a gun at him, reported Fox35 in Orlando. The homeowner fired and the suspect went down, officials said. The homeowner then saw a second suspect pointing a gun at him, the sheriff said. Nocco said that at one point, the second suspect opened fire, causing the homeowner to return fire, killing the suspect. A third suspect was also shot by the homeowner, the sheriff said. At that point, the gun jammed, forcing the homeowner to find another weapon, the sheriffs office said. When he returned, he noticed the third suspect left his home. The homeowner said he got a phone call from a neighbor who informed him that he was holding the third suspect outside at gunpoint. Deputies arrived at 1 a.m., saying the two suspects died at the scene. The third suspect was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive, according to the report. The victim advised he shot all three intruders because they were armed and forced entry into his home and he believed they were going to kill him, said an arrest report, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The two intruders who died were identified as 21-year-old Khyle Durham and 21-year-old Luis Casado. Jeremiah Tramel, 19, was the third suspect who was shot and in the hospital, the report said. Both Casado and Durham had violent criminal backgrounds, Fox35 reported. Nocco said investigators believe that the homeowner might have been targeted, saying that he posted photos of his guns on social media. Nocco said that the homeowner appears to know the intruders. This is not a total random situation, he remarked. This is not out of the norm of their activities to use violence, he added. He didnt elaborate. Authorities told CBS Tampa that the homeowner was identified as a teenager. Tramel was arrested for two counts of felony murder and one count of home invasion robbery, according to the report. Nocco told the Fox affiliate that the State Attorneys Office is investigating. Shaddick said he doesnt believe the culture at his school is racist, but he does acknowledge that racism exists at his school. Its not something that we hear on a regular basis, but I think theres validity in what (Amoo and Gonzales) said, Shaddick said. To address it, Shaddick and SBPS Superintendent Rick Myles said the district has been working with several partners on the local and state level. Myles saidthe district also consulted speaker and consultant Vernon Wall. Wall describes himself on his website as a nationally known speaker in the areas of social justice and leadership styles" and is one of the founders and facilitators of the Social Justice Training Institute. Last winter, Wall met with SBPS to consult its diversity team, according to Myles. Shaddick said Wall was also consulted in the development of training at the high school. Wall did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article. If conversation is the first step, as Shaddick suggests, Gonzales and Amoo have moved to the second and third steps. Both teens have ideas about what should be done to address racism and discrimination in the district. Importers are convinced that the country will suffer a revenue shortfall this year but fear that the government will turn to the usual victim -- new taxes -- in an attempt to narrow the gap. At a time when the raging novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had weakened demand continuously threatening the survival of businesses, the trading community said any attempt to use new or additional taxes to boost revenue would be a nightmare to businesses. They have, therefore, called on the government to use the mid-year budget review due later this month to announce a comprehensive policy that will meaningfully expand the tax net to help increase revenue collection Shortfall The call comes in the wake of a decline in governments revenue and grants by GH3.59 billion as against a target of GH13.95 billion for the first quarter of 2020. An analysis of the first quarter provisional fiscal data on public finances showed that the government missed all the revenue target for the period under review. While a total of GH10.35 billion was collected for the period under review, the novel coronavirus broke out in the country in March 12, and so therefore, the second quarter data will rather provide a clearer picture on the impact of the pandemic on the governments revenue collection. Consequently, the government is seeking to rake in some GH67.07 billion in taxes and grant by the end of this year. Instead of bringing new taxes to bridge the differences in revenue collection, the importers said the government should rather focus on reviewing the whole tax structure to create what they described as an appropriate environment that will bring all business activities into the tax bracket, rather than exempting some. Expanding the tax net, they said, should include scaling-up of the tax stamp initiative, encouraging the issuance of value added tax (VAT), improving tax education, passage of the exemption bill and blocking all the loopholes in the countrys tax administration. Innovation In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on July 10 in Accra, the President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), Dr Joseph Obeng, observed that the government must be very innovative and bold in broadening the tax net in order to rake in enough revenue to support development projects. Given the impact of the pandemic on other economies, he said there was the need for a review of the whole tax structure to create the appropriate environment that would encourage tax compliance and inclusiveness. According to him, for a long time the country had paid lip-service to widening the tax net, while low hanging areas such as revenue from e-commerce business, property tax and attracting private capital into infrastructural development were left untapped. We have been speaking about tax expansion but had fallen on deaf ears and the few people paying the taxes have been the same people who are always overburdened. As businesses, we are not expecting new taxes in the mid-year budget and so, we believe that this is the right time for the government to introduce strong measures to expand the countrys tax net. "Although the second quarter data has not been made public yet, there was the need for the citizens to support the government, as revenue was likely to fall short under the current circumstances, he said. Tax structure In reviewing the tax structure, the President said the country should focus on scaling-up of the tax stamp initiative, encouraging the issuance of value added tax (VAT), improving tax education, passage of the exemption bill and block all the loopholes in the countrys tax administration. An improved tax stamp policy was a key initiative to capture the informer sector. The threshold on VAT must be removed. VAT payment should be compulsory in order to ensure that all citizens are captured into the tax net. This will encourage voluntary compliance. The current tax structure does not ensure parity and encourage people to pay their taxes, he said. With free education and other social interventions implemented, Dr Obeng stated that the government must take steps to enforce voluntary tax compliance by the citizenry. Exemptions For his part, the Co-Chairman of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association, Mr Clement Boateng, corroborated the views of the GUTA President, saying the government must take the needed steps to restructure the tax system to improve collection from areas that have been neglected for long. He asked for the immediate passage of the Tax Exemptions Bill, which seeks to lay out a clear criteria for giving tax holidays to businesses, to help streamline and address the shortfalls in revenue mobilisation. While the country missed all its revenue target, he said data available indicated that about GH43.08 million was lost to tax exemptions. Mr Boateng observed that the countrys tax system was unduly complicated and needed to be simplified to encourage compliance. He said a section of the public was not tax compliant because of the complicated nature of calculating tax under the current system. The Co-Chairman added that the government must also use the mid-year budget to review the extension of the two per cent special import levy. 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 Spox: China attaches importance to developing ties with Iran IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Beijing, July 14, IRNA -- Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying described Iran as a friendly country, saying China attaches importance to deepening relations with Iran. She made the remarks in reaction to a report by 'New York Times' claiming that draft agreement on China and Iran will expand China's influence in relevant sectors in Iran. "China attaches importance to developing friendly cooperative relations with other countries," Chunying said addressing the Regular Press Conference. "Iran is a friendly nation enjoying normal exchange and cooperation with China," she added. Earlier on Monday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the smear campaign against the 25-year draft document for comprehensive cooperation between Tehran and Beijing has foreign roots. Mousavi said that Iran has expressed readiness to sign the draft documents of agreement on cooperation with friendly states. In related developments, Head of Iran's Presidential Office Mahmoud Vaezi said on Saturday (July 11) that the enemies misportray the issue of Iran-China 25-year plan for comprehensive cooperation to put pressure on the country. Elaborating on the cooperation plan, the spokesman said Iran in West Asia and China in East Asia are two important countries with traditional cooperation in various areas. After the travel of Chinese president to Iran, the two presidents were determined to draw a roadmap for strategic cooperation, Mousavi said, adding that the latest draft for the 25-year comprehensive cooperation plan was brought by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to China. Iran has prepared a draft document, it should be sent to the other side to be finalized, then an agreement will be signed according to the drafts, the spokesman noted. 9376**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Ayya Lmahamad Member of the UK House of Commons Bob Blackman has condemned Armenias recent attack on Azerbaijans Tovuz region on the border and said that Armenian forces must be withdrawn from the occupied territories in line with the UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993, local media reported on July 14. Blackman who is Chairman of the UK- Azerbaijan inter- parliamentary friendship group, condemned the attack of Armenian armed forces on the Tovuz direction of the border, and proposed to discuss this issue in the UK House of Commons. Moreover, he called on the British government to condemn Armenias recent actions, which seriously impede the progress of the peace process and violate international law as well as the 1994 ceasefire agreement. He noted that the use of heavy artillery was a flagrant violation of international law, and called on the British government to support the OSCE Minsk Group in calling for a comprehensive investigation to prevent current military operations from turning into war. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Egypt will celebrate Eid Al-Adha, the second of two major annual religious holidays celebrated by Muslims globally, on 31 July, the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) said on Tuesday. In an official statement, the institute said that based on astronomical calculations conducted by its observers, the Day of Arafah will be on 30 July. The Day of Arafah marks the second day of the Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. However, this year, the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the annual Islamic hajj ritual, which sees around 2.5 million pilgrims every year. Saudi Arabia said last month it will go ahead with the hajj; however, it will be limited to around 1,000 domestic pilgrims amid strict health protocols to stem the spread of the virus in the country. The Day of Arafah precedes the start of Eid Al-Adha by 24 hours according to the Islamic calendar. Eid Al-Adha, which lasts for four days, honours the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his first-born son Ismail as an act of submission to Gods command. Search Keywords: Short link: CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland schools will finalize its reopening plans on July 24, but the district released some of the basic changes on its website Tuesday. The district will offer online, in-person and hybrid options for students, but the current threat level in Cuyahoga County will play a factor in reopening plans. Current public health guidance requires the District to focus primarily on restarting schools with a hybrid learning model to limit the number of people physically present in a building at any time and to accommodate social distancing, the districts website reads. The first day for year-round CMSD students will be Aug. 24, and the first day for traditional students will be September 8. The schools reopening plans are tied to county-by-county coronavirus risk levels categorized by color, the lowest being yellow and the highest being purple. Read the full flier from the district here. Some of the restrictions for the new school year already announced include that the district will not be able to transport 40-50 students on a bus, hold class with 25 students in a classroom or hold breakfast or lunch with large numbers of students in the cafeteria at once. The district also lists that teachers and staff will need more time to clean and sanitize, and that some students and staff will not be able to return to school. Officials are assessing spaces to see how to best arrange students to meet six-foot social distancing guidelines. That includes using libraries, cafeterias or outdoor spaces as potential classrooms. The information released Tuesday did not include the districts face covering policy, a component of reopening plans required by the state. Teachers and staff are required to wear face coverings in those guidelines. Take a look at how other Cuyahoga County school districts are handling reopening during the coronavirus. The organizers of the Guadalajara International Book Fair said they are considering a variety of scenarios for this year's fair, which is scheduled to run from November 28 to December 6. The main proposal is to divide the fair between the Expo Guadalajara, where the fair is traditionally held, and a second pavillion at the Cultural Center at the University of Guadalajara, which is approximately a 10 to 15 minute drive away. The intention is to minimize the density of people at the fair at any one time to meet limits that will be approved by Mexico's health authorities. Should the threat of the pandemic be too acute to hold a face-to-face fair, the organizers say they are considering holding a virtual fair or canceling the event altogether. Last year, the fair hosted 2,417 publishing houses from 48 countries and 828,266 visitors. The United Arab Emirate of Sharjah is the 2020 guest of honor, and the fair will have a special focus on Arabic language and culture. On the wall of our den hangs a framed picture, nearly 3 feet wide, of 108 members of Company C of the 2nd North Dakota Infantry. It was the fall of 1917, just a few months after the United States had declared war on the Kaisers Germany, and they were decked out in the finest dress wool uniforms after a couple months of training at the fairgrounds in Crosby and before boarding the train to report for active duty in World War I. The eighth soldier from the right in the picture is Grandpa Calvin Andrist, who was among the early enlistees of men hailing mostly from the Divide County communities of Noonan, Crosby, Ambrose and Fortuna. Also in the photo is a young man from Noonan, Jules VandeWalle, whose son, Gerald, continues as a North Dakota Supreme Court justice after serving as chief justice longer than any other chief in any other state. Jules was only 17 or 18 at the time, Jerry said recently, having been given permission by his mother to join the mostly 20- and 30-somethings from Divide County in the ultimate expression of patriotism. The dances and dinners and exhibitions and community speeches in advance of their ship-out date are testament to the high esteem in which the countys young men were held; the pride they felt for their country and the community felt for them. It was their turn to fight for their country and their community, and they did so without reservation. Their generation was as great as the Greatest Generation that would follow in a continuing effort to preserve liberty and justice for all. The greatest WWII generation was followed by young folks called to duty in Vietnam. Todays 20- and 30-somethings are called to a different sort of battle. They are the ones who hold a critical weapon in the war on COVID-19. Those of us who came of age in earlier generations pray fervently that they will meet the challenge. It is they who can accept the responsibility of keeping the rest of us safe from this new disease that has become a pandemic. Thats because it is mostly those young people who get the disease, but it is mostly older generations who get sick and sometimes die from it. At a meeting last week, members of the Physician Advisory Group suggested many of those young people are falling short. There is evidence that young people are showing resistance to prevention recommendations, resulting in clusters of positive tests, according to members of the group that advises the governor and state Department of Health on coronavirus issues. There was support at the meeting for the state to reach out more proactively to 20- to 40-year-olds and to work harder at convincing young people to take this fight seriously. As of Friday, there had been 4,154 cases of coronavirus in North Dakota, 72% of them in people under 50. Strikingly, almost 92% of those who have died from it are over 60. Mining the data further, the health department reports that nearly a quarter of all positive coronavirus tests are in 20-somethings. Another 20% are 30-somethings, and those in their 40s make up 14% of the positive cases. The data is telling a clear but grim story. Young people are getting and spreading the disease, and aging people are getting sick and dying from it. In many cases, those young people are asymptomatic. Often, they dont even feel sick. Among North Dakota 20- and 30-somethings who have tested positive, less than 3% were hospitalized. Among those over 60 who tested positive, more than 20% were hospitalized. Most North Dakotans who have had coronavirus got it from community-related exposure, meaning no one knows the source of infection. Likely it was at a bar or restaurant, at a party or funeral, at a ball game or retail store. A close second place for exposure, state data show, is close contact, meaning that contact tracing has revealed the infected person spent at least 15 minutes less than 12 feet away from someone who had or later tested positive. The good news in this data is that most of us are not going to get COVID-19. Those who do are mostly young people, many of whom wont be seriously bothered by it. But theyre passing it on to others, including older people, who are going to get sick and sometimes die from it. Like the young people of the World War and Vietnam War eras, we are calling on the young people of the COVID era to carry the patriotism torch. Health experts in the U.S. and worldwide, and increasingly politicians and business leaders, recognize the best weapons in this battle are face masks, good hygiene and social distancing. Like our young warriors of the past, young people today are being asked to use the weapons. Dont use them just for yourself. Use them to protect your country and your community. Please. Steve Andrist, Bismarck, is executive director of the North Dakota Newspaper Association. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Amber Heard hurled insults at Johnny Depp, calling him washed up and fat, and was aggressive towards the actor during a Christmas visit to the Bahamas, it has been alleged. Tara Roberts, estate manager at Mr Depps Caribbean home, claimed she had seen Ms Heard, 34, screaming and berating the Hollywood star as he yelled at the actress to go away. Ms Roberts also said she had seen a red, swelling gash on Mr Depps nose, and claimed he had told her Ms Heard had thrown a can of lacquer thinner into his face. The Pirates Of The Caribbean star is suing The Suns publisher News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an April 2018 article which labelled him a wife beater. Expand Close Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court in London (Yui Mok/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court in London (Yui Mok/PA) In her witness statement at the High Court, Ms Roberts, who has worked for the actor since December 2008, described Mr Depp as an unusually kind man and said she had never seen him be violent or aggressive with Ms Heard, or anyone else. I observed in December 2015 to my colleagues that Amber was a thrower, someone who threw projectiles, she said. She alleged she saw Ms Heard lunge violently at Johnny, pull his hair, and commit other aggressive physical acts against him. Ms Roberts said that on December 29 2015, when the couple were staying on the island with his two children and a friend, the pair had an argument. In her statement, she said: While I could not hear what caused the fight, Amber repeatedly berated him with increasing ferocity. Video of the Day She was insulting him, calling him names, and in the middle of this onslaught I heard her say specifically your career is over, no one is going to hire you, youre washed up, fat, you will die a lonely man, and also screaming things that were incomprehensible. Ms Roberts claimed Mr Depp tried to leave, repeatedly asking for the key to a vehicle, which Ms Heard refused to give back, adding it was later found in the couples house. In her statement, Ms Roberts alleged: He was responding to her verbal attacks by saying go away and just leave me alone. Ambers screaming and berating rose to a fever pitch, and Johnny continued to yell go away and leave me alone.' Ms Roberts went on to say she saw Ms Heard lunge at Johnny, clawing, tugging and aggressively pulling him. He continued to stand there yelling at her to stop and leave him alone, she said. When he stepped back to leave, her onslaught would start again. During this entire incident, I never saw Johnny hit Amber, or push her back, nor did he physically react to the attacks. She would calm down and hug and apologize. Then he would say he needs to leave and it would start again. Ms Roberts said she later walked Mr Depp to a cafe, adding that is when I saw that he now had a red, swelling gash on the bridge of his nose. Amber, Johnny then told me, had thrown a quart sized can of lacquer thinner into Johnnys face, causing a gash, her witness statement said. Ms Roberts claimed that the next morning, the bushes around their house were littered with art supplies, there was no damage to the house and Ms Heard made no mention of what had happened previously. She added that Ms Heard had removed her wedding ring and thrown in and had asked for help finding it. Expand Close Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in 2015 (Jonathan Brady/PA) / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in 2015 (Jonathan Brady/PA) The estate manager said: Amber was makeup free and unmarked throughout this Christmas visit to the island, as she was usually makeup free when on the island. I never saw her with any sign of injury on her face or body whatsoever. Ms Roberts statement also refers to an alleged incident in August 2014, during a detox trip for Mr Depp to the Bahamas, in which Ms Heard claims the actor attacked her, which he denies. In the document, Ms Roberts said nothing was broken during the visit and that there was nothing out of the ordinary that happened. Nor did I even witness a moment of discord, on a tiny island, she said. Ms Roberts also claimed that prior to the couples marriage, Mr Depp was outgoing, friendly and social, but that throughout their relationship there was a distinct change in the actor, and the once social and animated person spent most days sleeping, became withdrawn. She also alleged that general socialisation or moments to discuss island issues stopped as Ms Heard would randomly show up and that she would wiggle her way into discussions. A Marine master sergeant blasted his way into a building filled with at least eight Taliban fighters in an attempt to save an Afghan comrade during an hours-long fight in which he braved point-blank gunfire and grenade blasts, earning him the nation's third-highest valor award. The master sergeant was one of eight Marine Raiders recognized by Marine Forces Special Operations Command for their actions during the April 10, 2019, mission in southern Afghanistan. He received the Silver Star. Three other Raiders -- a major and two staff sergeants -- were awarded Bronze Stars with combat "V" devices for their roles in the raid. Four more on the team received the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal with Valor. The awards were presented during a ceremony Friday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina by Maj. Gen. James Glynn, MARSOC's commander. Read next: 'Sailors Using the N-Word': Navy Leaders Hear Painful Cases of Racism The Marines were serving with 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, according to their award citations. Their identities have been protected, given the secretive nature of their missions. The Raiders' actions "resulted in the complete destruction of a determined enemy, including three high-value enemy commanders," one of the award citations states. The heliborne raid launched the team into difficult enemy-controlled territory, where they faced "stiff resistance from fortified and barricaded fighters." Over four hours, the Raiders engaged in close combat against more than a dozen Taliban fighters. The master sergeant, serving as the team chief, led an assault across more than 30 yards of open terrain to attack an enemy bunker. Trading point-blank gunfire, he took out the fighters with hand grenades. As Afghan partners fighting alongside the Raiders went to clear another structure, the lead soldier was shot, leaving him lying helpless at the entrance. "Climbing onto the building, [the master sergeant] employed an explosive roof charge, and after it detonated, he jumped onto the terrace where the Afghan soldier lay," his Silver Star citation states. "While completely exposed to 8 barricaded fighters only a few feet away, he heroically pulled the wounded man to cover in a valiant attempt to save his life." The master sergeant's aggressiveness and indomitable fighting spirit were singularly responsible for the complete destruction of the enemy, including 14 fighters, with only a single friendly casualty, the citation adds. The major, through "sound tactical judgment and decisiveness under fire," employed air and ground assets to allow the assault force to clear the enemy stronghold, his Bronze Star with "V" citation states. And when the Afghan soldier was wounded, the officer also braved point-blank enemy fire to launch a pair of fragmentation grenades that detonated about five yards from his position. That "eliminated the threat and enabled his force to regain momentum," the citation states. One of the staff sergeants on the team, a dog handler, also braved enemy fire when the Afghan soldier was wounded. The partner force began to retreat immediately, but the multipurpose canine handler held his position just a couple yards from the doorway. He put himself in the line of fire multiple times to engage the enemy, once leaving his covered position and moving feet from one of the fighters to move the wounded Afghan soldier to safety. He showed initiative, courage under fire, and total dedication to duty, his citation states. The other staff sergeant took small-arms fire from a bunkered position, where stone and concrete fragmented around him. "Ignoring his pain, he assaulted across 30 meters of open terrain to [employ] a fragmentation grenade into a firing port of the enemy bunker," his Bronze Star with "V" citation states. "After suppressing the bunker, he received small-arms fire from another building, impacting only inches away." And when the staff sergeant saw his fellow Raiders and Afghan partners in the line of fire, he headed directly toward the building, suppressing the enemy until another Marine destroyed the threat with a shoulder-fired rocket. He, too, showed bold action, courage under fire and total dedication to duty, the citation states. -- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins. Related: Sailors and Marines Receive Heroism Medals, Purple Hearts for Pensacola Attack New Orleans public school families may want to start preparing now for a virtual first day of school in the fall, or for other significant adjustments in school schedules, as new coronavirus cases mount and city health and school district officials remain concerned. That was the takeaway Tuesday morning from NOLA Public Schools Superintendent Henderson Lewis, Jr. and Jennifer Avegno, the city's health director, who said during a news conference that they will assess the latest health data and make an announcement about whether to adjust the district's reopening plan next week. In New Orleans, schools are set to open between Aug. 4 and 14. +2 Will New Orleans public school students be in class in fall? 'Roadmap to reopening' released Unless a spike in coronavirus cases prompts another citywide shutdown, parents can expect New Orleans public schools to offer a mix of distanc Lewis repeatedly said that the "situation remained fluid" and that the "Roadmap to Reopening" plan the district released last month for the city's nearly 80 charter schools was designed to be flexible based on numbers of local coronavirus cases. Lewis and Avegno said they would meet next week to look at two-week trends since the July 4 holiday weekend, when some people held large gatherings, and possibly adjust the reopening plan if there are "current health threats." "We may have to keep buildings closed again if the critical health data trends require us to do so," Lewis said. After that, they would continue to hold weekly meetings and press conferences to continue to evaluate the best path forward, they said. The district had appeared to be headed to in-person school in the fall in mid-August, in at least some capacity for every grade, because the city remained in Phase 2 of reopening, and the clearest interpretation of the plan said that distance learning for all students would be implemented in Phase 1. These are a few new ideas New Orleans Catholic schools have for when students return As Catholic schools prepare for a return to class next month, preliminary plans from individual schools are sharpening the picture of what fal But on Tuesday Lewis underscored there was a clause in the plan -- Avegno called it the "escape clause" -- that would allow the district to implement a virtual first day of school even if the city were in a modified version of Phase 2. "We put a plan in place that could be very responsive to every changing situation," Lewis said. "We are going to be looking at critical health data, and if it says to pivot, thats what we will do." Avegno said the threshold for making that decision was "a million dollar question," and that "there really is no national standard." But she said concerning trends would include raw new case counts persisting above 50 a day, shortages in testing capacity and high positivity and hospitalization rates. Orleans Parish has reported at least 50 new cases per day since June 30, except for two days. Vaccine news in your inbox Once a week we'll update you on the progress of COVID-19 vaccinations. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up "I believe ideally children should be taught in person, and three weeks ago I would have said no question," Avegno said. "Now, we really need to look at the trends." District officials said Tuesday's news conference was the first of many to be expected as school prepare for a fall start. They said they plan to update the public weekly. They also reminded parents that they could opt for distance learning regardless of whether schools open their doors. The update came after thousands of teachers statewide, including hundreds in New Orleans, said they were anxious about an in-person return to school amid rising coronavirus cases. As Louisiana Department of Education officials have stressed, if COVID-19 cases are surging, statistically it's near certain that some school community members -- including students, staff and parents -- could get infected in a brick-and-mortar setting. In a digital town hall held last week by the United Teachers of New Orleans, the local union, more than 70% of about 200 participants said students shouldn't return to classrooms in the fall, citing health concerns, the challenges of enforcing social distancing among students and exhausting sick leave. On Monday morning, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers released a survey conducted in early July saying nearly half -- 45% -- of teachers and community members said they would prefer to "work from home" in August, while 34% said they preferred a return to school and nearly 20% were unsure. Seventy-two percent of respondents were parents, some of whom were also teachers. And then Monday evening, the Morris Jeff United Educators, who are one of the city's few unions for charter schools and represent Morris Jeff Community School, released a statement saying it has significant reservations about reopening schools next month. It asked for a delay of an in-person start. During the press conference Tuesday, Lewis and Orleans Parish School Board President Ethan Ashley said they had procured personal protection equipment for every school for when classes do resume in-person, and had hired Dr. Benjamin Springgate, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Louisiana State University, as the districts new medical advisor. The equipment includes personal face masks, face shields, nitrile gloves, hand sanitizer, no-touch thermometers and more. "The district is first and foremost concerned about the health and safety of students, educators and families," Ashley said. Editor's note: This story was changed to clarify the breakdown of Louisiana Federation of Teacher survey respondents. Regardless of how the company and others like it tailor their operations, there will be a need for additional outside assistance. Pointing to the $2 billion in aid that the British government has earmarked for the arts, Jennings observed that a financial rescue is just as crucial in this country. I really hope that Congress will see the value of the arts, and to find some support for our industry, he said. And I hope the donors will stand by us. The Duchess of Sussex sent royal fans wild when she debuted a sleek new hairstyle during a live speech at a digital global leadership summit yesterday. Meghan Markle, 38, appeared via video link from home to speak about the fight against gender and race inequality in an address to young women around the world for the UN initiative Girl Up. Followers were quick to take to Twitter to praise her 'flowing hair' and said it is part of her return to 'celebrity hotness' now that she is living in the US and has left royal life. Celebrity hairstylist James Johnson told FEMAIL that the stunning new look gives Meghan a 'professional' feel but maintains a level of 'coolness' befitting of her Los Angeles lifestyle. He also pointed out that the style is easy to do at home and makes her look more 'current' like an influencer, rather than a royal. Social media users were divided over how Meghan was able to achieve the latest look, with some speculating she might be wearing extensions. However others noted Meghan has naturally 'thick, long hair' and that straightening would give the appearance of additional length. Meghan Markle, 38, appeared via video link from home to speak about the fight against gender and race inequality in an address to young women around the world for the UN initiative Girl Up. Royal fans went wild over her sleek, long locks (pictured), which a celebrity hairstylist James Johnson said gives her a 'professional' yet 'current' look perfect for her LA lifestyle Social media users were divided over how Meghan was able to achieve the latest look, with some speculating she might be wearing extensions. However others noted Meghan has always had naturally 'thick, long hair' and that straightening would give the appearance of additional length. Pictured, Meghan wearing her hair down in January (left) and in September last year One tweeted: 'Meg has a thick, full head of hair. Its naturally curly so when she blows it out straight, its going to be much longer.' Another added: 'Meghan has always had long thick hair. I remember atter she had Archie her hair was so long. I do not believe those are extensions.' Disagreeing, one user posted: 'I love Meghan but shes def wearing extensions, which theres nothing wrong with that, her hair is shorter in those pics of them at the dentist a few days ago.' Offering his professional opinion, Mr Johnson said he thought it was likely Meghan had added extensions, explaining they're a brilliant way to enhance natural thickensss and add volume into the hair. He continued: 'Meghan's straight hair is the easy at home sleek look. Having like this is still elegant and professional yet still delivers a level a coolness to match her LA vibe! Keeping the ends blunt helps make the hair look thicker 'The hair makes her look more influencer than royal as its more youthful and current.' Overall the appearance was met with widespread excitement from fans, who said Meghan was a 'queen' and had returned to her 'celebrity hotness'. One tweeted: 'Meghan Markle bringing full Los Angeles celebrity hotness for the UN speech. No more royal hairstyles, covered shoulders or minimal make-up. She is back!'. Royal fans took to Twitter to debate whether Meghan had achieved her look with extensions. The majority seem to believe that it was simply her natural locks straightened Body language expert Judi James noted the engagement was significant as it represented the 'relaunch' and 'rebrand' of Meghan. Dressed in a cobalt blue top, Meghan spoke in front of a plain wall at Tyler Perry's LA mansion, where she is currently staying with Prince Harry, 35, and Archie, one. She told participants that they must challenge world leaders and executives to fight major issues including racial injustice and gender inequality, as well as gun violence, mental health awareness, and the reform of the criminal justice system. Quoting the Dalai Lama, Meghan said that she, her husband and Archie would be cheering change-makers on, as she continued: 'I challenge you to broaden that feeling. The Dalai Lama famously said, "Compassion is the radicalism of our time."' The duchess also addressed the 'power' of social media, noting that it has the potential both to 'aid' and 'impair' the fight for justice. 'Our online role has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm,' she noted. Speaking about dealing with negativity in all forms, Meghan shared her advice for how to handle it, both in person and online, telling the summit participants that they must learn to drown out the 'noise' of negative voices and prioritize positivity. Judi James described the LA native's appearance as redesigned and rebranded, describing her as 'fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track' (Meghan is seen with Harry at a final royal engagement in March at Westminster Abbey in a more demure look) Fans quickly shared their excitement over Meghan's impressive appearance, with one writing: 'Meghan Markle bringing full Los Angeles celebrity hotness for the UN speech 'We are not meant to be breaking each other down,' she said. 'Build each other up, support each other. 'There will always be negative voices. Drown out that noise. Because that's what it is, it is just noise. Your voices can and should be much louder.' Analysing the footage for FEMAIL, body language expert Judi James described Meghan as having 'fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track and on form as a confident and inspirational speaker in her own right'. She continued: 'This was a very redesigned and rebranded Meghan, with her body language suggesting she has now fully emerged from the royal experience and is back on track and on form as a confident and inspirational speaker in her own right. 'Meghans gesticulation was more guru than Hollywood actress and wife of a prince. 'The way her cheeks rounded in a calm smile at the start showed happy confidence to be there addressing her young audience and throughout her speech she avoided showboating or over-congruence, both of which are trait-traps that less experienced and less adept speakers often fall into, using over-exaggeration to try to hammer their messages home. Elsewhere one shared a meme of Rihanna wearing a crown, and remarked: 'She's just so effortless with it.. my goodness!' 'Instead Meghan spoke with a calm and warm tone, using long blinks and a raised index finger to suggest wisdom and empathy. Her finger pinch gesture flagged up precise thought and a desire to give advice from a place of experience and when she pulled her hands into fists she showed a desire to create change.' She continued: 'Her eye-gaze commanded the camera and when she told her audience to Chase your convictions with actions she coupled it with small but dramatic pauses and the slow, calm blink. 'This was possibly Meghans most important speech to date, alongside the likes of women like Michelle Obama, and it was clear she was more than up to the challenge. 'She was at her most confident here and the way she ended with a praying hand clasp pointed at the camera means her message of support should have inspired a whole new audience.' Meghan Markle's speech extracts 'Its such a joy to speak to you today. To young women around the world who arent just poised to change the world; but have already begun changing the world. Last month I had the chance to speak to the 2020 class at my high school alma mater, which is an all-girls school in Los Angeles. I said that they shouldnt see their graduation as an ending, but rather the beginning. The beginning of a journey where they can now harness their work, their values, and skills all the skills theyve learned to rebuild the world around them.' 'I say to you, keep challenging, keep pushing, make them a little uncomfortable. Because its only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to reimagine our standards, our policies, and our leadership; to move towards real representation and meaningful influence over the structures of decision-making and power.' 'Despite what some might say, this reimagining is not a zero-sum game, where one side wins and the other side loses. Not at all. It is mutually beneficial and better for everyone.' 'Your generation is often referred to as the digital natives, and you understand that our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm. But we are not meant to be breaking each other down; we are meant to be building each other up. So use your voice both on-and-offline to do just thatbuild each other up, support each other. 'There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because thats what it isjust noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder.' 'Believing in true equality is not enough its going to take more than belief, we have to work for it every day; even when it's hard, even when it makes others feel uneasy. We have to speak up for ourselves and we have to speak out for others who struggle to be heard.' 'Your gut will tell you whats right and whats wrong; whats fair and what's unfair. The hardest partand it was the hardest part for meis to chase your convictions with action.' 'I will be cheering you on, so will my husband, so will Archie, as you all continue marching, advocating, and leading the way forward.' Advertisement Girl Up, which has the motto 'uniting girls to change the world', revealed that the royal was set to appear at its virtual 2020 Global Leadership Summit last week, sharing the news on its social media platforms. Meghan was a keynote speaker at the online event, which began on July 13 and is set to continue until July 15. It is the latest in a series of public steps taken by Prince Harry and Meghan as they shift the focus of their royal work towards racial equality and social justice. The Girl Up Global Leadership Summit is part of an initiative started by the UN, which is 'dedicated to securing equal opportunities for underprivileged adolescent girls in developing countries such as Ethiopia, Malawi, Guatemala, and India'. A spokesperson for Girl Up confirmed to DailyMail.com that speakers are not paid for their time, and all take part in the summit on a volunteer basis. The US government raised the specter of sanctions on unspecified parties involved in Libyas civil war yesterday after Libyas oil authority accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of obstructing efforts to restore petroleum revenue sharing between the countrys warring sides. Libyas National Oil Corporation (NOC) on Sunday alleged the UAE was behind a failure of negotiations to restart the flow of oil from petroleum fields under the influence of forces aligned with rogue Libyan Gen. Khalifa Hifters Libyan National Army (LNA), which the UAE supports. The United States did not explicitly name the UAE in the statement, only saying it regrets that efforts supported from abroad have hindered the vital mission of the [NOC] and increased the risk of confrontation in Libya. The United States has doubled down on pressing for a cease-fire since Libyas United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), based in Tripoli, turned back a yearlong offensive by Hifters LNA in recent months. The door is still open to all who put weapons aside, refuse foreign manipulation, and meet in a peaceful dialogue to be part of the solution, the US Embassy in Libya said. However, those who undermine the Libyan economy and cling to the military escalation will face isolation and the risk of sanctions. The US statement also tacitly criticized the GNA for its refusal to allow an audit of Libyas banking system, one of the points of contention expressed by the LNA, which continues to block the flow of oil. LNA spokesperson Ahmed al-Mesmari called on Saturday for NOC oil money to be deposited in an unspecified foreign country and said a transparent mechanism should be established so the money can be distributed fairly between the two sides. Mesmari also called for guarantees that the money would not be used to support mercenaries an apparent reference to Syrian fighters introduced alongside the GNA by Turkey. The Tripoli-based NOC has the sole right to export the countrys crude under an international agreement. Facing a hostile counteroffensive, Hifters side apparently fears that restarting the flow of oil could lead Tripoli to pocket the money to support the assault against the LNA. The two sides have shared the oil revenue in the past. Sundays statement was an unusually clear display of Washingtons interest in the outcome of Libyas conflict, underscoring concern within the Trump administration that the war is devolving further into a foreign proxy conflict. Restarting the flow of oil and equitable revenue sharing would likely reduce the two sides dependence on foreign military support, which has escalated significantly over the past year. Russia recently introduced fighter aircraft to Libyas Jufra air base, raising concerns at US Africa Command as the GNA threatens to press the attack. Russia, France, the UAE and Egypt are Hifters largest backers, with Turkey supporting the GNA in Tripoli. The United States also recently criticized the presence of Russian Wagner paramilitary contractors at Libyas southern oilfields in an apparent move to keep pressure on the GNA. Over the past year, the Trump administration has vacillated between tacitly supporting Hifters offensive and rhetorically backing the GNA, while condemning both sides introduction of foreign mercenaries. Following the US statement, UAE Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash tweeted on Monday that his government was calling for a resumption of oil production in Libya as soon as possible and stressed the importance of guarantees to prevent oil revenues from prolonging and fueling the conflict. Gargash also called for a cease-fire and a return to the political process. Russias Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Hifter was willing to sign a cease-fire agreement. Turkish officials support the GNAs offensive and said last month that the Tripoli-based government would not stop until Hifters forces agree to withdraw from Sirte and Jufra. The NOC said on Sunday that Libyas warring sides had been negotiating with foreign governments under the auspices of the United Nations and the United States until Hifters side ended its cooperation, according to The Associated Press. Oil is a key source of revenue for both the GNA and the LNA. The NOC said last week it restarted foreign exports with a shipment to Italy. Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed Libya in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to Turkeys state-run Anadolu Agency. The electronics industry in the last six months of the year is forecasted to be still greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduces demand in the US and European markets. An assembly line of Samsung Electronics Viet Nam. Photo dantri.com.vn The report on industrial and commercial production in the first six months of the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that the production index of electronics and computers in the six months increased by 9.8 per cent over the same period last year. In detail, export value of computers, electronic products and spare parts increased by 24.2 per cent, reaching US$19.28 billion; mobile phones and components reached about $21.5 billion, down 8.4 per cent. The first six months have passed with a relatively high growth in production and exports, but the Ministry of Industry and Trade is still concerned that the situation in the last six months of the year may not be very satisfactory. The electronics industry may still suffer from serious effects due to the pandemic. In particular, Samsung's global sales and output are forecasted to decline due to the overall impact of the pandemic. Samsung Viet Nam is expected to reduce its export target to about $45.5 billion this year. However, the Ministry of Industry and Trade said that Viet Nams pandemic control has been highly appreciated by the international community. This is considered an important driving force to attract more foreign investment into the country after the pandemic. In addition, transnational corporations are considering shifting investment, so this is a great opportunity for Viet Nam to catch this wave of investment. VNS VN electronics industry put at disadvantage due to falling demand The Vietnamese electronics industry is anticipated to continue being hit by the challenges brought about by the increasingly complicated hurdles caused by the COVID-19 epidemic during the second half of the year, Thousands of educators across the nation have been laid off this summer as the result of the coronavirus pandemic and its historic economic fallout, according to an Education Week analysis of local media reports. And there are more to come. Layoffs notices have been sent across the countryincluding in California, Massachusetts, and Michiganas district administrators contend with how to safely reopen schools for the 2020-21 academic year and help students who have missed more than a half-year of in-person learning catch up academically. School and health officials have concluded that that process is going to require more educators, not fewer. If we have to physically distance in the classroom, that means youre going to need a larger teaching force, said Merrie Najimy, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, which has been hit particularly hard by teacher layoffs. Were going to need educators to manage the education of those who are home. You cant split the teachers class in half and have the teacher teach in two spaces at once. You cant have a teacher teaching kids remotely and in person at the same time. But state income and sales tax revenue has plummeted, and, without a sizeable Congressional bailout, tens of thousands of teachers are at risk of losing their jobs in the coming months. Georgias state legislature, for example, cut more than $950 million out of its K-12 budget last month. And Nevadas state legislature this month is debating a proposal to cut out of its budget more than $156 million, almost a quarter of the states K-12 public-school spending. The rest of the nations state legislatures are waiting to set their budgets after Congress decides later this month whether to provide another stimulus package to schools. That means an unusually large number of teachers could lose their jobs right beforeor possibly afterthe school year starts. Laying off teachers is an emotionally fraught and demoralizing process for a community. Layoffs often result in significantly lower academic outcomes, according to research by Katharine Strunk, a researcher at Michigan State University who has studied education labor markets. Layoffs create massive churn and mobility across schools and within schools, said Strunk. She pointed out that layoffs are more likely to occur in schools with high numbers of low-income, Black, and Latino students. A lot of these kids have experienced a lot of trauma coming out of this pandemic. They need to see familiar faces when they come back to the schools they left. Click here to enlarge this table. Layoff notices can be traumatizing for teachers, too, Strunk said, even if theyre later rehired. Her research has shown that laid-off teachers are less effective when they return to the classroom. Teachers right now need to spend the summer preparing for this hybrid [online and in-person] or online classroom model this fall, not worrying if theyll have a job or not, she said. A Last Resort Layoffs are usually the last resort for administrators after they have raided their savings accounts, issued furloughs and pay cuts, and shuttered extracurricular and after-school programs. State lawmakers and local school board members now are grappling with some of the same layoff debates that flared up during the last recession between 2007 and 2009, namely whether teachers should be laid off by seniority or merit . Because so many teachers of color have been hired in recent years as part of local diversity efforts, many civil rights advocates fret that their recent progress will be wiped out. While many districts now have the option of laying off based on merit, most have decided not to, said Chad Aldeman, a partner at Bellwether Education who has studied teacher pay issues. California last month banned districts from laying off classified staff and teachers. Instead, districts there are laying off paraprofessionals and other support staff. Elsewhere, district administrators have asked their unions to reopen contracts to renegotiate layoff processes or make concessions to avoid layoffs. Many teachers have been offered early retirement packages. Fiscal analysts now predict this recession will be much worse than the last, with districts facing budget cuts of more than $555 billion or 25 percent of their revenue over the next three years. Some K-12 experts predict the country could lose at least 320,000 teaching jobs if states continue to slash their education budgets . During the Great Recession, more than 300,000 teachers were laid off, according to some estimates. Those layoffs, according to a study published last year by the American Educational Research Association, are part of the reason that academic outcomes have stagnated in recent years. The nations public-school system employs about 3.5 million teachers. Tracking Layoffs In May, Education Week began tracking local media reports to better understand how many educators were being laid off because of the pandemic and where those educators worked. Education Week found nearly 100 districts that have sent layoff notices to more than 3,600 educators in the last several weeks. The dataset is not comprehensive and, in many instances, media reports did not distinguish between teachers and other educators inside school buildings. In almost every instance, administrators said they were forced to issue layoff notices because of the budget uncertainty at the state and federal level caused by the pandemic and the conclusion that they would not have enough cash on hand this upcoming school year to pay the salaries of all their employees. While many promised to rehire, the layoff notices, sent in the middle of a global pandemic and the height of a recession, struck a sense of panic among staff members. Thats the tragedy of thisthey cant put their lives on hold on the chance that the state is going to come through with the budget, said Najimy, of the Massachusetts union. Theyre going to find other jobs. They might leave the profession entirely. One way or another, if theyre not in their towns where they teach, weve weakened the community at a time when we need strong communities. The Massachusetts Teachers Association estimates that more than 2,000 teachers and education support professionals in that state have been laid off in about 50 districtswhich Najimy estimates is higher than the jobs lost during the Great Recession. State officials there are grappling with a more than $6 billion budget deficit. In Brookline, Mass., teachers last month staged a silent demonstration with empty chairs in front of the high school to protest the more than 350 educators who were laid off to fill a $6 million deficit. A teacher there was told she was laid off, told the layoff notice was a mistake, then told again that she was laid off before being rehired for a part-time job, according to local media . In Adrian, Mich., a rural farming town, the superintendent furloughed himself and the rest of the central office staff to avoid mass teacher layoffs. Grand Rapids, Mich., schools took more than $5 million out of its $6 million in savings before laying off 111 employees. In other districts, including St. Paul, Minn., and New Kensington-Arnold, Pa., administrators are predicting that hundreds of students wont show up for the coming school year, which will result in the state sending them significantly less aid. St. Paul schools got rid of more than 200 educators positions, and New Kensington-Arnold laid off 28 educators. Tacoma, Wash., board members laid off 86 of the districts paraprofessionals and reduced the hours or changed the schedules of about 350 more, saying they wont need as many support staff this coming school year since most classes will be held online. Glory Tichy, the president of the Tacoma Federation of Paraeducators, slammed the decision as shortsighted, saying that students will need more support than ever, as they cope with the anxieties associated with the coronavirus pandemic and the ramifications of the abrupt transition to remote learning this spring. Jami Witherell, a 3rd grade teacher who was laid off in Greenfield, Mass., said she worries that layoffs are dismantling the core of your school during an uncertain time when students are craving familiarity and comfort. To have teachers removed from the classroom really is to the detriment of our students, she said. Xinhua News Agency/Getty JERUSALEMIsraels unchecked resurgence of COVID-19 was propelled by the abrupt May 17 decision to reopen all schools, medical and public-health officials have told The Daily Beast. The assessment of Israels trajectory has direct bearing on the heated debate underway in the United States between President Donald Trump, who is demanding a nationwide reopening of schools for what appear to be largely political reasons, and health authorities who caution it could put the wider population at risk. Importantly, on May 17 in Israel it appeared the virus not only was under control, but defeated. Israel reported only 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the entire country that day. In the U.S., the debate often is about reopening schools where the disease is not only not in decline, but surging. On Sunday, for instance, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Theres nothing in the data that suggests that kids being in school is in any way dangerous. But that is not the case in Israel, where the data from June, the last month for which there is a full set of statistics, appear all too clear. The road from anti-coronavirus paradigm to rampant infection in this country of 9 million people followed two months of almost total lockdown. May 17 also was the day Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz swore in their corona emergency government, whose sole declared purpose is to fight the spread of the virus. Netanyahus decree that the nations entire school system would reopen was a political flourish to signal everything was under control. The announcement followed a more cautious experiment of several weeks in which only children in the first, second, and third grades were brought back to classrooms, and taught in small, non-intersecting groups called capsules. The Second Wave of COVID Hits Israel Like a Tsunami Hagai Levine, an epidemiologist at the Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and chairman of the Israeli Association of Public Health Physicians, said: There was no measurable increase in contagion while the capsules for young children were being tried out. Story continues The association even offered the government an investigation into school-based infections of COVID-19, but was turned down. Then, Levine says, contrary to our advice, the government decided to open the entire system all at once on May 17. What happened next was entirely predictable. On June 3, two weeks after schools opened, more than 244 students and staff were found to test positive for COVID-19. According to the education ministry, 2,026 students, teachers, and staff have contracted COVID-19, and 28,147 are in quarantine due to possible contagion. Just in the first two weeks of July, 393 kindergartens and schools open for summer programs have been shuttered due to cases of COVID-19. On July 2, Eric Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist and health economist at the Federation of American Scientists, tweeted a chart showing Israels rate of infection surging past Europe and fast approaching the disastrous rate in the U.S., noting that it was exactly one month since the reopening of Israeli schools. The level of school contagion became public last week during testimony provided to Israeli legislators by Udi Kliner, the health ministrys deputy director of public-health services, whose boss had just quit in protest against the governments mishandling of the crisis. Israel now surpasses 1,200 new cases of COVID-19 a day. On Tuesday, Israel reported 1,681 new cases of COVID-19 infection, its worst result since the outbreak began. The source of the infection explosion can be seen clearly in the numbers from June. As Kliner told the Knesset, 1,400 Israelis were diagnosed with the disease last month. Of those, 185 caught it at events such as weddings, 128 in hospitals, 113 in workplaces, 108 in restaurants, bars, or nightclubs, and 116 in synagogues, according to Kliner, while 657which is to say 47 percent of the totalwere infected by the coronavirus in schools. Not a single school was prepared, says Mohammad Khatib, who teaches public health at the Zefat Academic College and is the epidemiological expert on the health ministrys newly formed advisory committee on the coronavirus in the Arab sector. Adults, including teachers and other employees, brought it into schools, which are, in the end, closed spaces, he said, underscoring the finding that middle-school children proved to be the most dangerous vectors. The younger students were more obedient and easier to control in a classroom setting, Khatib said, and had more respect for their teachers. Among high schoolers, there was a greater ability to understand. But it is in the nature of middle-school kids to rebel, not to obey teachers, not to wear masks or keep apart. The ministry of health did not respond to questions regarding the breakdown of schools and infections, and accurate, detailed numbers have become harder and harder to come by. Levine, the Hebrew University epidemiologist, said that in general, There is no transparency regarding the statistics. The data is not being made available to epidemiologists, so it is impossible to gauge precisely, but we saw many confirmed cases of COVID-19 in middle schools it is very possible that caused the outbreak. The month of June, which began exactly two weeks after Israels school system was suddenly and shambolically reopened, caused the second wave, Khatib says. Whatever else we say, the fact is that schools were not prepared to take students back under the necessary conditions to contain the epidemic. The reopening happened too fast. It was undertaken so quickly that it triggered a very sharp spike, and the return to more conservative measures came too little, much too late, Khatib says, summing up Israels dilemma. Six weeks after forming an emergency government to handle the pandemic, and one week after promising that a corona czar would be appointed to take charge of the countrys haphazard response, Israel seems further than ever from its desired goal. Calls are mounting for a national commission of inquiry to be appointed to investigate the governments dereliction of duty, in the words of former Defense Minister Naftali Bennett. On Sunday, Roni Numa, a retired army general who was the only known candidate for the czar job, withdrew his name after realizing he would not be given the authority needed to coordinate a national response. Netanyahu devoted Monday to attempting to fire Yifat Shasha-Biton, chairwoman of the Knessets corona committee and a member of his own Likud party, for the crime of defying his directives regarding the reopening of public pools and gyms. The prime minister, who is struggling to keep ultra-religious coalition parties in line in the face of their demand to allow synagogues to admit up to 50 congregants at a time, ordered Shasha-Biton to keep gyms and pools closed. But without evidence proving that pools and gyms cause an uptick in contagion, Shasha-Biton allowed her committee to vote for opening. The health ministry has not released its own epidemiological findings on gyms and pools, if they exist, and the ministry of education indicated it intends to open schools as usual on Sept. 1, even though the numbers from June would seem to provide conclusive data about the risks. In any case, no strategy is in place to prevent a second round of school epidemics. Galia Rahav, who chairs the department of infectious diseases at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv, said in an interview that what happened in schools is just too much gathering, day after day, and kids come home and infect mom and dad. The top numbers of new infections were in kids. Due to the large number of infections among children, she noted, the average age of an Israeli with COVID-19 has gone down to between 20 and 39, while infections in citizens over 65 have held steady. In Jerusalem, the Israeli city with the highest rate of infection, most of the people with COVID-19 are under the age of 35. It is certainly not impossible that the second wave started in schools, Rahav said, carefully understating the case. Discipline is at an awful level. We know Israelis have terrible discipline, but now, its the leadership that is completely inconstant, with one leader saying one thing and another the contrary. Read more at The Daily Beast. Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Got a question or tip? Contact us at bizmojoidaho@gmail.com. Catering to the diverse needs of the customers, Ahli Bank is offering a unique scheme, Comfort Loan to enable customers realise their cherished dreams including owning a house. The scheme enables customers to avail personal and car loan up to 120 months (10 years) and home loan up to 300 months (25 years). Whats interesting about the scheme is that there is a grace period for the first 3 months of the loan tenure and zero payment for the first 3 months. This scheme will allow customers to pay comfortably (90 days No interest payment, 90 days No instalment payment and 90 days No Insurance payment). Targeted at retail and salary transfer customers, the objective is to provide convenient and hassle-free service to customers seeking loan for varied purposes. Commenting on the scheme, Muneer Al Balushi AGM- Head of Retail Distribution, Ahli Bank said: Ahli Bank always looks at providing new schemes and product offerings to its customers. Comfort Loan is yet another scheme, which is in sync with our retail customers lifestyle and provides them with added value. The scheme is aimed at getting closer to our customers and aligned with their day to day financial needs and provide them with the comfort to pay off the loan. Customers will be delighted with the scheme as it provides personal and car loan up to 120 months and housing loan up to 300 months. Customers can now dream of fulfilling their needs of constructing or buying homes or for their personal needs with this tailor-made scheme, he added. Ahli Bank, a leader in providing customised array of banking solutions, will continue to bring innovative schemes, technologies and collaborative partnerships aimed at providing a seamless and smooth experience and service to its clients. In line with its vision of being vibrant and an innovative centre of banking, the Bank offers top-class retail, commercial, investment banking solutions and is well-known for its customer-centricity.-- Tradearabia News Service Credit: Berhane Asfaw, University of Tokyo A team of researchers from Japan, Hong Kong and Ethiopia has found a hand ax that they believe was made by a possibly direct human ancestor in what is now modern Ethiopia. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes finding the hand ax, their study of it and what they believe it represents. In the past, scientists working in Africa have found hand axes made by members of Homo erectus, a possible direct ancestor of humans. In all such cases, the hand axes were made by chipping bits off of stones until the edge became sharp. In this new effort, the researchers have found a similar hand ax, except this time, it was made from bone. The hand ax was unearthed at a dig site in Ethiopia called Konso-Gardula, a site where previous researchers have found Homo erectus-made hand axes, all of which were made of stone. The location of the hand ax suggested it was approximately 1.4 million years old. It represents just the second bone-based Homo erectus-made hand ax ever found. Study of the hand ax showed it to have been made from the thigh bone of a hippopotamus. It was roughly 13 centimeters long with an oval shape, and one of its edges had been sharpened using another toollikely a hard rock. The researchers found that its design was similar to that of hand axes made of stone. Prior research has shown that such hand axes were made by a toolmaker using a single sharp blow to knock off a major part of the new tool edge. The edge would then be honed by repeated chipping with a bone or stone hammer. The researchers also found evidence that the hand ax had been usedthere were quasi-continuous flake scars, polish due to wear, rounding of edges and striae patches. They suggest the hand ax was likely used to butcher animals to make them easier to eat. They also suggest its construction shows that members of Homo erectus were quite skilled in tool making, a sign that they were reasonably intelligent. The researchers were not, however, able to explain why the toolmaker had chosen to use bone instead of the much harder stone, despite the presence of stones to choose from in the area. More information: Katsuhiro Sano et al. A 1.4-million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso, Ethiopia, shows advanced tool technology in the early Acheulean, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Katsuhiro Sano et al. A 1.4-million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso, Ethiopia, shows advanced tool technology in the early Acheulean,(2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006370117 2020 Science X Network Grounded Boeing 737 MAX aircraft are seen parked at Boeing Field in Seattle By Eric M. Johnson and Ankit Ajmera (Reuters) - Boeing Co customers canceled orders for 355 of its 737 MAX jets in the first half of 2020, the U.S. planemaker said on Tuesday, as the damage done by the jet's grounding and the coronavirus crisis to the airline industry continued to mount. The planemaker, which has now been striving to get its once best-selling MAX planes back in the air for more than a year after two fatal crashes led to its grounding, said airlines and leasing companies canceled another 60 orders for the jet last month. Deliveries in the first half of the year also sank by 71% to just 70 planes as customers canceled or deferred shipments due to the collapse in air travel from coronavirus-led travel restrictions. Deliveries are financially important to planemakers because airlines pay most of the purchase price when they actually receive the aircraft. Boeing said it handed over 10 aircraft in June, up from four planes in May, and six jets in April. The June cancellations came from aircraft-leasing firms, including U.S.-based Aviation Capital, Dublin-based Avolon and Singapore's BOC Aviation, which respectively scrubbed 5, 17 and 30 orders for the 737 MAX. Romanian carrier Blue Air also canceled six 737 MAX orders, with another two 737 MAX orders halted by unidentified customers. On the plus side, FedEx Corp booked an order for a 767 freighter, taking Boeing's gross orders for the year to 59 planes as of the end of June. After adjusting for jets ordered in previous years but unlikely to be delivered currently, Boeing has now lost 784 net orders this year, rising from a loss of 602 net orders as of May end. Boeing's shares were up about 1% at $177.24 in afternoon trading. The stock has fallen about 46% this year, compared with a 2% decline in the S&P 500 index. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle and Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has validated Algerias membership request, a first stage in the full acceptance of the North African country as member of the financial institution founded in 1991. The shareholders of the London-based institution have approved Algerias application submitted in March to become recipient of EBRD financing and advisory services. Jurgen Rigterink, the EBRDs Acting President in a statement indicated that he is looking forward to start working in the country as soon as a final decision by the shareholders is taken. Our goal will be to unleash the potential of Algeria, particularly in the private sector, to create jobs and support sustainable development. Similar to our support to Algerias neighboring countries, the EBRD can mobilize significant financial resources as well as technical expertise and advisory services, he added in the statement posted on the multinational financial institutions website. It remains set of other undisclosed conditions that the North African country is expected to fulfil. Upon final approval, EBRD would seek opportunities to support private sector competitiveness, promote sustainable supplies of energy and enhance the quality and efficiency of public services in the country. The bank has injected investments and provided support for policy reform in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and in the West Bank and Gaza. The investments went into projects including natural resources, financial institutions, agribusiness, manufacturing and services as well as infrastructure. General view during BioReference Laboratories hosts Grand Opening of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Antibody Testing Collection Event at the Miami International Mall with local Government Officials providing opening remarks in Doral, Florida on June 18, 2020. (Jason Koerner/Getty Images for BioReference Laboratories ) COVID-19 Data Accuracy Diluted by Different Ways States Count Cases, Deaths News Analysis The number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in the United States, harkening back to the weeks of hellish conditions in places with the most severe outbreaks, such as in New York and New Jersey. But this time, fewer people are succumbing to the disease and the case numbers are highest in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California. The difference indicates that case numbers are telling far from the full story. Given the myriad developments over the past several months, todays data is hardly comparable to the data from the early months of the pandemic. The data isnt only inconsistent over time, but also from state to state, undermining its validity on the national level. There are at least six factors that affect the case or fatality counts: Suspected Cases The nonprofit Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) instructed health authorities in April (pdf) to report not only confirmed cases based on COVID test results, but also probable cases, in which its sufficient at least to have some symptoms (such as a headache and a sore throat) and belonging to a risk cohort or having some risk of prior contact with other COVID-19-positive people, such as residence in an area with sustained, ongoing community transmission. Some states make clear on their dedicated web pages how many of the local cases and deaths have been confirmed by laboratory testing and how many have been ascertained by other methods. Some dont. The inconsistent approaches may be partly caused by the changing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For a time, CDC asked the states to count the probable cases among the overall counts for cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. More recently, CDC has asked states to separate that out again, said Av Harris, spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Public Health (CDPH), in an email to The Epoch Times. The Epoch Times contacted health departments in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among the 33 that responded, all except Georgia, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nevada, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia confirmed that they currently publicly report suspected or probable cases of either COVID-19 fatalities, infections, or both. All except Arkansas and Hawaii also indicate so on their COVID web pages, though sometimes one has to dig around for the information. None of the four most populous states (California, Texas, Florida, and New York) responded to The Epoch Times inquiries. Probable deaths from COVID-19 are tracked by epidemiologists but not reported publicly, said Nancy Nydam, staffer with the Georgia Department of Public Health, in an email to The Epoch Times. Some states, including Louisiana, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, reports probable COVID deaths, but lists them separately and dont include them in their publicly reported COVID death totals. In the national totals, however, the CDC does include the probable deaths in these states figures. Probable COVID deaths are generally defined as people who died while suffering from COVID-like symptoms, but werent tested for the virus. While COVID seems to be currently the dominant coronavirus disease, it shares symptoms with other viral diseases that may have caused at least some of the suspected cases. If someone who meets the CSTE case definition dies, then, in general, they are counted as a COVID-19 death, explained Danyelle McNeill, spokeswoman for the Arkansas Department of Health. However, COVID-19 must be a contributing factor. If someone with COVID-19 dies in a car wreck, for example, they would not be counted as a COVID-19 death. But different states have adopted this approach at different times and it isnt clear how far back in time each has gone to add the suspected cases and fatalities to their data. New York, for instance, has added more than 3,000 suspected COVID deaths to its data. New Jersey added about 2,000. The judgment calls on suspected COVID deaths can cut both waysofficials may mistakenly attribute COVID deaths to other causes. The issue can be resolved by testing deceased people for COVID, but it isnt clear to what degree states have done so. The CDC issued guidance on June 15 that all people suspected of dying of COVID should be tested. Moreover, the data is a work in progress, and sometimes cases get misclassified. Recently, North Carolina removed 10 deaths from the COVID count after determining that they were caused by other factors. Past Antibody Positive At least some states are including in their case totals people whove tested positive for coronavirus antibodies. People develop the antibodies within a few weeks after getting infected and retain them for months. Counting them in current totals skews the picture because they may have gone through the disease weeks or months earlier. In that case, they are probably no longer infectious and have little to do with the current state of the pandemic. Arizona has seen a massive spike in cases. More than 22 percent of its tests were antibody tests, its COVID data website indicates. Florida also counts antibody tests, which comprised about 11 percent of its testing total, the states COVID website indicates. Texas counts antibody tests, too, though they make up less than 8 percent of its testing total, its COVID data website indicates. In addition, Florida has had an issue with some smaller, private labs not reporting negative test results to state authorities. That has led to inflated positive test rates for those labs, sometimes as high as 100 percent, Fox 35 reported. Deaths With COVID At least some states count fatalities of persons whove tested positive toward COVID deaths, even though the people may have died of other causes. Sometimes, the primary cause of death is unclear because the patient suffered from multiple conditions. In others, the reason clearly wasnt the virus. Washington state has counted all deaths of people who tested positive for COVID. Since last month, it has vowed to work on changes to provide more context to death reporting and report death counts that reflect deaths where COVID-19 caused or contributed to the death, says its COVID web page. As such, it has removed 65 deaths. Of those 56, were natural deaths unrelated to COVID-19 and the rest were suicides, homicides, and accidents, according to the Washington State Department of Health July 14 report (pdf). In Colorado, a local coroner objected to the states health authorities classifying a mans death as COVID-19 after the coroner determined the man had twice the lethal dose of ethanol in his body and clearly died of alcohol poisoning. A CBS4 investigation found at least three other cases in the state where deaths were counted under COVID-19, even though attending physicians determined other causes. On its website, the Colorado health department reports both Deaths Among Cases as well as Deaths Due to COVID-19. But in the national data, CDC only uses the higher, Deaths Among Cases figure. There is a similar situation in Connecticut. Despite being one of the smaller states, it has reported the 8th highest COVID death tollmore than 4,300. About 20 percent of those are marked probable. But even some of the confirmed cases, may havent been caused by COVID, CDPHs Harris indicated. COVID-associated deaths are those where the individual tested positive close to the time of death. This is not an indication of cause of death, he said. North Dakota details on its website which deaths were due to COVID-19 and which list something other than COVID-19 as the official cause of death. It specifically says that its total represents individuals who tested positive and died from any cause while infected with COVID-19. Michigans COVID web page says that confirmed COVID deaths include people who die within 30 days of infection and their manner of death is listed as natural. That suggests some room for including unrelated deaths, but, even in these cases, there needs to be COVID-19 disease or SARS-CoV-2 as a cause of death or a significant condition contributing to death included, said Lynn Sutfin, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Testing One major factor that determines the number of detected cases is the number of tests. At the onset of the pandemic, test kits were in short supply and generally only people with COVID-like symptoms were tested, usually upon admission to a hospital. Gradually, the testing was expanded to all people suspected of coming into contact with somebody infected. Finally, some states, such as California, New Jersey, Kentucky, and Tennessee, now allow anybody to get tested for free. Experts generally believe that there have been many more infected people than those pinpointed by testspossibly many times more. But since most people go through COVID with mild or no symptoms, it may not occur to them to get tested. False Positive Depending on the type of test used, there is at least a small percentage of false positive and false negative test results. Medical personnel is instructed to look out for false negatives, such as by double-testing and being suspicious of negative results in people with symptoms. False positives, however, dont seem to be considered an issue, at least not from a better-safe-than-sorry health care perspective. For example, the rapid tests developed by Abbott and popular in the United States have a false positive rate of about 03 percent, according to data from one laboratory and two hospitals submitted to the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, a nonprofit. Trace Positive The tests may detect in ones body an amount of virus that is too low to cause symptoms or make one substantially infectious. This issue, however, is difficult to quantify as there seems to be no solid data on how much of the virus is needed to make one infectious. The CDC didnt respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. Update: The article has been updated with further information, including from the July 14 Death Category Report from the Washington State Department of Health and with further responses from states authorities. British airline Virgin Atlantic said on Tuesday it had agreed a private-only restructuring package with shareholders and creditors worth 1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) to secure its future beyond the coronavirus crisis. Virgin Atlantic said the restructuring plan was supported by a majority of shareholders, and is expected to come into effect in late summer 2020. How should educators respond to an unprecedented popular effort to remake American history? First, they need to understand that such a movement exists, what it wants, and how it operates. The history-reform movement calls for moving U.S. history beyond a focus on elite white males, exposing and analyzing systemic racism, and telling inclusive, complex stories across time. A broad spectrum of street-level protestors, teachers in grassroots networks, civil rights groups, academics, journalists, and social-media influencers are all working to remake the usable pastwhat we collectively remember, commemorate, learn in school, omit, forget. The recent successes of this movement are impressive. Advocates of reform have produced bold revisionist curricula (for instance, The New York Times 1619 Project), put pressure on the U.S. military to rename bases honoring Confederate leaders, persuaded authorities to remove statues of Confederates, encouraged NASCAR to excise the Confederate flag from sport-sanctioned iconography, and spawned hundreds of courses devoted to racism and civil rights. Educators should expect reformers to make similar demands of them. Parents, activists, and students are already insisting on curricular reforms. They will expect diversity hiring and training. They are challenging statuary, researching the histories of persons for whom public buildings are named, objecting to questionable mascots, and publicizing racism in schools. In our home state, Connecticut, over the last few weeks Black graduates of several elite private high schools have created Instagram accounts titled @blackat[school name] to document their experiences of racism. Students at other schools across the country have been similarly exposing past racist incidents on social media. School leaders should welcome these actions, and their history curricula is one place to take initiative on racial justice. Studies of history education in the United States make for dismal reading. James Loewens classic, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, lays out how textbooks provide a highly distorted image of the American past. The history taught in high schools, long dominated by great white men, emphasizes relentless progress for all and avoids nuanced discussions of race, class, or gender. Almost every year, new studies (some themselves controversial) expose Americans poor history awareness. The traditional approach to history has failed. There are certain curricular red flags. Historians Fred Anderson and Andrew Cayton observe that schoolbook history is anchored by three good wars for freedom: The Revolutionary War birthing Americans commitment to liberty; the Civil War extending freedom to enslaved people; World War II exporting American freedom worldwideso goes the sanitized classroom (and Hollywood) story. Wars not fitting the freedom themeincluding Vietnam, Korea, Spanish-American, and hundreds of nameless conflicts against Indigenous peoplesget relegated to the margins or glossed over. The expansionism and imperialism that have driven many American wars deserve a far more complex treatment, argue Anderson and Cayton. The cautionary lesson is to avoid oversimplifying the past into hyper-patriotic narratives. If your curriculum trends that way, it needs rewriting. The traditional approach to history has failed." Yet, some cultural forces conspire to shape history into hyper-patriotic narratives. As Gary Nash, Charlotte Crabtree, and Ross E. Dunn discuss in their 1999 book on the creation of national standards for American history , roiling conflicts exist between historians who dislike the politicization of their subject and conservative politicians and pundits who prefer a narrative of American exceptionalism. Exceptionalists embrace the idea that America is inherently superior to other nations and so normal rules of history do not apply here. They depict America as a land of opportunity for all, praise capitalism, downplay imperialism, and characterize protest as misguided, dangerous, or deranged. Scholars have challenged, and largely destroyed, this upbeat schoolbook tradition. Prize-winning studies of race, gender, foreign policy, war, capitalism, unions, immigration, cities, and politics paint a more inclusive, conflict-oriented picture of the past. But academic history rarely reaches high school history classrooms. Primary and secondary educators contemplating curricular reform would do well to partner with academic historians to bridge that gap. Curricular design must also acknowledge that history has a methodology. Too often, history gets taught and tested as facts. Standards might pay lip service to historical thinking, but teachers themselves often lack fluency in such skills. Challenging statues, activists have exposed troubling legacies. When students campaigned for Oxford University to remove a statue of British colonialist and apartheid architect Cecil Rhodes in 2015, some high-profile historians derided their efforts. Cambridge classics professor Mary Beard called the campaign a dangerous attempt to erase the past, urging Black students to view the statue with a cheery and self-confident sense of un-batterability. That same year, Beards university accepted only 38 Black studentsjust over 1 percent of Cambridges student bodyand had not a single Black professor in a senior position. Accomplished white historians like Beard suspended their own critical faculties about that statue while ignoring the effects of Rhodes violent legacyand the fact that he garnered moral condemnation and mass protest in his own lifetime. Americans can learn from these historians myopia. America today is a product of the past and not immune from its racist legacy. Combating racism, now, requires suspending overly optimistic narratives of its demise. This moment is an opportunity for white educators (as are the authors) to do critical work with our students, institutions, and ourselves. White readers are reaching for Michelle Alexanders The New Jim Crow, Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, and Ibram X. Kendis How To Be an Antiracist. Young protesters are demonstrating their vividly present understandings of the words of Malcolm X and Angela Davis and the complicated history of the raised fists of Black Power and labor unionists. These impulses exemplify a mass desire to act. White educators must now go beyond reading and private discussions to embody organizer Leslie Macs insistence that being anti-racist is a verb. Students are getting an extraordinary, vital insight into the doing of history, one absent from American history textbooks: a scholarship of activism. We have an obligation to meet them where they are, teach, listen, and learn from them. Industrial premises being disinfected in Kazakhstans capital, Nur-Sultan city. Credit: Turar Kazangapov Kazakhstan became the first country in the world to enter a second nationwide lockdown on July 5 following a spike in coronavirus cases. The two-week lockdown, which could be extended if the spread of the virus continues, restricts public gatherings and bans family and holiday gatherings. Citizens over 65 are expected to stay home, but others are allowed to exercise outdoors on their own. The number of coronavirus cases in Kazakhstan has grown tenfold since the first lockdown measures began to be lifted. By May 11, the last day of the state of emergency and lockdown, Kazakhstan had registered 5,207 coronavirus cases and 32 deaths. As of July 13, there were 59,899 confirmed coronavirus cases and 375 deaths in the country. But the situation is evolving quickly and could be a lot worse than this. On July 8, the Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan warned Chinese citizens that the country had an "unknown pneumonia" outbreak more deadly than COVID-19. The following day, the Kazakhstani health ministry acknowledged the presence of viral pneumonias of "unspecified" cause, but denied that the outbreak was new or unknown. The newly appointed health minister, Alexey Tsoy, declared that the claim published by Chinese media "does not correspond to reality". Serious concerns have been raised about the pneumonia data. Between July 1 and 8, Kazakhstan registered 56,809 cases of pneumonia on top of the confirmed cases of COVID-19. These pneumonia cases included the "usual pneumonia"viral (7,348) and bacterial (9,759) as well as well as 39,702 "unspecified" viral pneumonia cases which have a similar course of disease as coronavirus, according to the health minister. Pneumonia patients with negative coronavirus tests are not included in the government's official statistics of coronavirus. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's emergencies programme, suggested that many cases linked to the highly lethal pneumonia could be in fact "undiagnosed cases of COVID-19"which would show the government is nowhere near in control of the pandemic. How has Kazakhstan, referred to in May as "an anti-pandemic model for Central Asia" turned into such a bad example of how not to do COVID? A new normality for Kazakhstani citizens in Nur-Sultan city in June. Credit: Turar Kazangapov Success unravels Kazakhstan was quick to introduce a Soviet-style military lockdown and quarantine measureswhich included suppressing dissent. It also introduced a substantial package of financial measures to fight the pandemic, and monthly payments for people who lost their income during the state of emergency in April and May. But once the quarantine measures eased, many Kazakhstani citizens began to ignore social-distancing guidance. Many underestimated the risks of the virus: they hurried to offices, cafes, pubs, parks and fitness centres. Families gathered for large weddings, birthdays and funerals. Soon, initial optimism about the government's handling of the virus would be replaced with panic, helplessness and disillusion. In June, Kazakhstan's former president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, tested positive for coronavirus. Soon after, many ministers, MPs and local mayors tested positive and self-isolated. On June 25, the health minister, Yelzhan Birtanov, who developed pneumonia from a COVID-19 infection, announced his resignation. Following Russia's example, in June the Kazakhstani health ministry started recording asymptomatic infections separately from the official number of the coronavirus cases. The government claimed that this was justified because symptomatic patients pose a greater epidemiological danger to others and require clinical observation. But on July 1, the health ministry made a U-turn, and began updating COVID-19 statistics without dividing the cases into symptomatic and asymptomatic, which boosted the official number of cases. Disinfection of a public bus in Kazakhstans capital, Nur-Sultan city. Credit: Turar Kazangapov Rising anger As a result of the spike in coronavirus and pneumonia cases, citizens have complained about overcrowded hospitals, lack of COVID-19 tests, long queues for testing laboratories and pharmacies, and a deficit of medicines. Panic-buying of medicines has led to speculation and the sale of drugs on the black market at much higher prices. At the outbreak of the pandemic, Kazakhstan received international humanitarian support, including from the US, China and Russia. Now social media has been flooded with photos of medicines bought at pharmacies with stickers showing they were donated as humanitarian aid and so should not be for sale. Communication has never been a strong point of the Kazakhstani authorities. Amid the pandemic and citizens' mourning for their family members, online concerts and fireworks were organised on July 6 to celebrate Capital Day in Nur-Sultan city, which coincided with the 80th birthday of Nazarbayev, known as the "leader of the nation". The official authorities said that they hoped to cheer up front-line medical workers. In response to the overwhelming public criticism, the government declared July 13 a day of national mourning for COVID-19 victims. Such public acknowledgement of failure by a central Asian government is exceptional. The Kazakhstani president, Qasym-Jomart Toqayev, announced the possible dissolution of the entire cabinet if the situation does not improve by the end of July. The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses of a government built on endemic corruption, patronage and personal loyalty to politicians. Kazakhstan is now paralysed amid a crisis which requires strong and effective government institutions, evidence-based decision-making and public accountabilitynone of which are strengths of this authoritarian government. Explore further Kyrgyzstan sees jump in virus cases after restrictions lifted This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Survey Finds Telehealth Use on the Rise in Wyoming The COVID-19 pandemic has brought an unprecedented increase in the implementation of telehealth across Wyoming. In response to the shift in how health care is delivered, the Wyoming Telehealth Network (WyTN) recently surveyed telehealth providers across the state to assess their needs to better understand provider experiences implementing telehealth. Providers also were asked about their perceptions of patient experiences using telehealth and state-level changes needed to support telehealth implementation. WyTN serves as a statewide hub, connecting residents with an interest in telehealth by providing access to telehealth technology, resources and education. The network is a legislatively mandated activity of the Wyoming Telehealth Consortium and is financially supported through the Wyoming Department of Health, Office of Rural Health and the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences Wyoming Institute for Disabilities. The 295 providers who responded reported having an average of 19.7 years working as health care providers and an average of 1.8 years implementing telehealth services. Respondents indicated that 59 percent of their patients are being seen via telehealth; 24 percent of providers are using telehealth as the primary modality for service delivery; and 57 percent currently are at or above 50 percent telehealth usage. With providers indicating an already high use of telehealth, they generally anticipate continuing to provide high rates of services via telehealth for their current patients, and 35 percent of respondents indicated that they anticipated an increase in telehealth use. Providers indicated various successes and challenges in transitioning to telehealth. Implementation has been smooth for many participants, but time and training have helped support what has been a steep learning curve due to COVID-19, according to the survey. Challenges included coding and billing issues; technology and internet access; and difficulty engaging with patients, particularly during new patient consultations. Providers also indicated unanticipated benefits for their practices when using telehealth, including more flexible scheduling; the ability to see more patients in a day; and some patients being more comfortable and engaged during the appointments. Respondents identified technology needs, including additional training on videoconferencing tools and providing technical support for their patients, as well as improved internet access. Providers also indicated that patients could benefit from more information and education on the telehealth process, and access to technology devices. Asked about state-level changes that could support telehealth implementation, providers indicated ongoing insurance flexibility for coverage and reimbursement; increased internet and service access across the state; clear rules and regulations at the federal and state level; and ongoing financial assistance to patients and clinics. To view an infographic of survey results, click here. To learn more about WyTN, visit www.wyomingtelehealth.org. In 1997, Congress codified the federal 1033 program to transfer surplus equipment from the military to civilian law enforcement agencies for domestic counter-drug and counter-terrorism activities. Two decades later, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) created a fictitious agency to investigate the 1033 program and obtained approximately 100 items worth around $1.2 million. A repurposing program had grown into something else entirely. I couldve gotten anything I wanted, Charlie Mesloh, who used the 1033 program to secure equipment between 2000 and 2002 while working for the University of Central Floridas police department, told Yahoo Finance. You could fill out a form that was the size of a postcard and you can check off everything you wanted. A Miami Police officer watches protestors from a armored vehicle during a rally in response to the recent death of George Floyd in Miami, Florida on May 31, 2020. (Photo: Ricardo ARDUENGO / AFP) What was envisioned a win-win situation where the military could pass off equipment and local police departments could boost capabilities on the cheap evolved into a haunting behemoth fueled by the war on terror that militarized police patrolling largely peaceful civilian protests over police brutality. As of June 2020, according to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), there are around 8,200 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from 49 states and four U.S. territories participating in the program. Sometimes there is bidding for equipment, though the 1033 program allows the DoD to transfer the excess military equipment to local law enforcement free of charge (before shipping and maintenance). And when some police receive military-grade gear, they want to play soldier, Wayne McElrath, senior investigative advisor to the Project on Government Oversight, told Yahoo Finance. When they get this stuff, they want to use them in capacities that police departments are not [supposed] to use them in. Police departments have received lots of money for military gear since 2000. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance) I took advantage of it when I was chief of police Many transfers through the 1033 program are publicly available through the DLAs Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO), and Yahoo Finance analyzed hundreds of thousands of items transferred over the years. (The database, as noted by Wired recently, is likely not fully comprehensive given lax tracking and oversight by government agencies.) Story continues Many of the items transferred to police departments are run-of-the-mill office expenses such as screwdrivers, pens, shirts, bandage kits, sleeping bags, as well as trucks and furniture. Dean Esserman, senior counselor at the National Police Foundation and a former police chief of police departments in Connecticut and Rhode Island, said that he found the program useful. I took advantage of it when I was chief of police of Providence in 2003 to 2011, Esserman told Yahoo Finance. We weren't interested in military equipment or any type of weapons we got a truck which helped us when we had the floods in Providence. ... We also got some extra furniture for a new police district office. Then-Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman answers questions following a news conference on April 3, 2008. (AP/Stew Milne) A June report by the National Police Foundation also shows that the majority of transfers from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020 through the 1033 program involved items that were clearly not weapons, such as clothing, personal protective equipment such as gloves and face masks, and basic infrastructure needs such as wiring, tools, [and] generators. At the same time, some transfers were clearly military grade: Several police departments received batches of grenade launchers, others received various types of surveillance equipment, and many received Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles designed to withstand Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in war zones. Police departments in several states received particularly expensive items. The California Highway Patrol received what appeared to be a drone worth $22 million in 2016. The Howell Township Police Department in New Jersey received an MRAP worth $865,000 in 2016. An MRAP provided to the Payne County Sheriff Office in Stillwater, Oklahoma, cost $1.3 million. California has received $22 million for Highway Patrol. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance) The communication box was used for storage The 1033 program also leads to confusion: Local police departments in Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee apparently received communications equipment generally reserved for psychological operations abroad. But the deliveries were that they seem. Major Caleb Moritz at the Hocking County Sheriffs Office in Ohio said that the SOMS-B line item was actually a Humvee stripped of any communication equipment. The vehicle looks a normal Humvee with a large empty box shell on the back (looks like a Humvee/Uhaul truck combination), Moritz stated in an email to Yahoo Finance, adding that the Humvee was used to bust meth labs and the large storage capacity came in handy when they went out to remote areas. SOMS-B. (Source: psywarrior.com) The police department in Kirklin, Indiana, also received a Humvee stripped of communication equipment, and retired police chief John Faucett explained that the vehicle was mostly for rescues and the communication box was used for storage. These particular rescues were in the county and adjoining counties... our agency could not have reached these residents with our current vehicles, he said. During this particular winter, I remember leaving the military vehicles running for two weeks straight so we could respond accordingly and without delay due to the freezing temperatures. Faucett added that it if werent for the 1033 program, the department could not afford to purchase this type of equipment and successfully prevent fatalities. Police on an armored vehicle patrol downtown Walnut Creek, Calif., on Monday, June 1, 2020. (Photo: Jose Carlos Fajardo/Digital First Media/The Mercury News via Getty Images) Esserman noted that police departments receiving heavy duty military equipment first needed the approval of the county, the citys mayor, or the governor. Were not the military, were not the army, said Esserman, who did not receive such equipment at the police department he oversaw. Im sure there was a department that took advantage of it, and over-militarized, which is a shame. The temptation is to use it Amid calls to defund police, Esserman noted that the U.S. has 18,000 police departments with many different cultures and called for a nuanced discussion about police reform. The most important classroom in the building of every police station is the locker room, he said. And that it's hard to fight culture... when you bring in new ideas and new training, new rookies... they get often eaten up by the culture. So it's important that you set the tone for the culture. For too long the Moundsville police have been needlessly exposed to roadside bombs when patrolling the countryside. They're finally getting the protection they need https://t.co/PGEGjPQxW3 Tom Gara (@tomgara) June 19, 2020 Another issue that has arisen when local police received military equipment is that they often lack the training from the Department of Defense. This is typically stuff that they weren't buying on their own they wouldn't consider it a budget priority, Cato Institute Senior Fellow Walter Olson told Yahoo Finances YFi PM (video above). But once you've got the gear, the temptation is to use it... we have seen the results we have seen armored vehicles... we've seen grenade launchers, helicopters that turn protests into something closer to a war zone. Esserman stressed that police culture in a given locality is pervasive and persuasive. ... Providence or New Haven or Stamford would not look for access to military equipment because we don't believe in that. Some other departments that pride themselves on being very militaristic might very well be attracted to military weaponry. A man rides a bicycle up to a law enforcement checkpoint after the city endured a night of protests and violence on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) Internal controls processes for this program were really broken The GAO, known as "the investigative arm of Congress, analyzed the 1033 program in 2017 and found issues with LESOs internal controls whether people who shouldnt be involved in the program are kept out and whether people receiving the property comply with the existing rules. The congressional watchdog created a fictitious federal agency to conduct independent testing of the LESO program's internal controls and DLA's transfer of controlled property to law enforcement agencies. And the GAOs bogus agencies got access to the program, bid, and obtained approximately 100 items worth around $1.2 million. DLAs internal controls processes for this program were really broken, GAOs Zina Merritt, who co-authored the report, said on a podcast done by the agency. Items they got ranged from night-vision goggles, simulated rifles, and simulated pipe bombs, which could be potentially lethal items if modified with commercially available items. (SCREENSHOT: GAO 2017 REPORT) The GAO sting identified that DLA has deficiencies in the processes for verification and approval of federal law enforcement agency applications and in the transfer of controlled property Further, GAO found that DLA has not conducted a fraud risk assessment on the LESO program, including the application process. The report, titled Enhanced Controls Needed for Access to Excess Controlled Property, concluded that DLA lacks reasonable assurance that it has the ability to prevent, detect, and respond to potential fraud and minimize associated security risks. The flood of military gear and lack of oversight spilled over into abuse of the program. In 2012, the Arizona Republic reported that the Pinal County Sheriffs Office in Arizona had obtained more than $7 million worth of equipment and passed them on to non-law enforcement agencies while planning to auction off other items. Both are banned by the Pentagon under the 1033 progam. (Source: GAO) In 2014, the Department of Justice charged the former chief of the Rising Star Police Department in Lubbock, Texas, after he obtained more than $4 million worth of equipment from the 1033 program and allegedly sold, traded, pawned or attempted to sell, trade, pawn, several high-value military surplus items that he fraudulently obtained through the 1033 Program. (The case was dropped after the defendant, William Kelcy, died of melanoma.) You don't need that many MRAPs unless you're running a small army or militia, Wayne McElrath, who worked on the GAO report, told Yahoo Finance. The only way that I can see you needing that many means that you're cannibalizing an old one to fix one that you're currently using, or you're using it for parts. (MRAPs are Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected military vehicles.) Mesloh, now a weapons expert at Northern Michigan University, recalled buying pallets of laptops between $50 to $75, flat-bottomed boats for $15, M-16s, and even a grenade launcher. A cyclist rides pass an armored vehicle in Washington, DC on June 1, 2020. (Photo: Mandel NGAN / AFP) Louder calls to stop transferring weapons of war to police forces in 2014, after militarized police in Ferguson, Missouri, faced off against civilians protesting the killing of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old Black man, then-President Barack Obama signed an executive order to improve oversight over this program and prohibited the transfer of items like bayonets, tracked armored vehicles, and grenade launchers. President Donald Trump reversed that order in 2017 and fully restored the program. Calls to dismantle the program are growing louder amid protests over police brutality against Black Americans after George Floyd was killed by a law enforcement officer in Minneapolis. Some soldiers responding to resulting civil unrest in Washington, D.C., were issued bayonets upon being mobilized in the nations capital. Police confront demonstrators during a protest over the shooting of Michael Brown on August 15, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. County police shot pepper spray, smoke, gas and flash grenades at protestors before retreating. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) Former Vice President and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden recently called for the 1033 program to be ended, among other police reforms. There are other measures: to stop transferring weapons of war to police forces, to improve oversight and accountability, to create a model use of force standard that also should be made law this month, Biden said. No more excuses. No more delays. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) supported the sentiment, tweeting before Bidens speech that he planned to introduce an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to discontinue the program. There is now bipartisan support for the effort. And if the surplus equipment didnt go to American police, where would it go? McElrath noted that the departments could return the equipment to the DLA to be melted down, crushed, and destroyed. Mike Musselman, a retired Marine gunner, said that the cost to maintain the equipment was higher than the cost to get rid of the property. An electromagnet is used to pick up some of approximately 3,500 confiscated guns to be melted down at Gerdau Steel Mill on July 19, 2018 in Rancho Cucamonga, California. (Photo: David McNew/Getty Images) Mesloh, the weapons expert, argued that its a lot more efficient to repurpose the equipment than to recycle it though repurposing the equipment means militarizing local police. There is no simple solution, he said. Esserman, who spent decades in police departments on the East Coast, acknowledged that some police departments might've gone overboard with military equipment, and thats hurting the departments that did not take the surplus that way. Because at the end of the day, were not soldiers in occupation of the communities we work in, he added. We live in the communities, and were really guardians. Aarthi is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami. Michael is an editor and head of audience development. Follow him @MichaelBKelley. Read more: Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn,YouTube, and reddit. Bhubaneswar, July 14 : The COVID-19 positive cases crossed the 14,000 mark in Odisha with the detection of 543 new cases, informed the health department on Tuesday. The COVID-19 death toll increased to 74 after four more deaths from Ganjam, Bhubaneswar, Khurdha and Cuttack. A 71-year-old male from Cuttack, a 40-year-old woman from Khordha, a 71-year-old man from Bhubaneswar and an 80-year-old male from Ganjam succumbed to the infection. Besides, a 15-month-old baby from Sundargarh, who was also Covid positive, passed away due to 'GM 1 Gangliosidosis', said the department. Out of the 543 fresh cases, 354 cases have been detected from the quarantine centres while 189 are the local contacts. The total number of COVID-19 cases in Odisha reached 14,280. The number of active cases rose to 4,929 while 9,255 persons have recovered so far. Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text B oeing sold just one plane last month as the global aviation industry continues to face a widespread crisis prompted by the coronavirus pandemic. The Chicago-based aircraft maker reported that customers cancelled orders for 60 of its grounded 737 Max jets in June. But it also removed another 123 planes from its backlog over doubts that the deals would be completed. Meanwhile, the slump in aircraft sales extends across the Atlantic. European rival Airbus reported no new orders in June. Boeing, a leading US exporter, was struggling before the pandemic hit because of the grounding of the Max, once its best-selling plane, after two deadly crashes. Boeings lone sale last month was a cargo jet ordered by FedEx (file photo) / REUTERS Coronavirus has compounded the companys problems by causing a deep slump in air travel that has left airlines around the world with too many planes, not a need for more. American Airlines is demanding that Boeing help it find financing for 17 Max jets that the airline expected to receive at least a year ago. The World on Coronavirus lockdown 1 /60 The World on Coronavirus lockdown Getty Images A UK government public health campaign is displayed in Piccadilly Circus Reuters Chinese paramilitary police and security officers wear face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus as they stand guard outside an entrance to the Forbidden City in Beijing AP A usually busy 42nd Street is seen nearly empty in New York AFP via Getty Images Bondi Beach, Australia Getty Images Military vehicles cross Westminster Bridge after members of the 101 Logistic Brigade delivered a consignment of medical masks to St Thomas' hospital Getty Images View of the illuminated statue of Christ the Redeemer that reads "Thank you" as Archbishop of the city of Rio de Janeiro Dom Orani Tempesta performs a mass in honor of Act of Consecration of Brazil and tribute to medical workers amidst the Coronavirus (COVID - 19) pandemic Getty Images Rome AFP via Getty Images An Indian man paddles his bicycle in front of a mural depicting the globe covered in a mask, as India remains under an unprecedented lockdown over the highly contagious coronavirus Getty Images Aerial view of the empty 9 de Julio avenue in Buenos Aires in Argentina AFP via Getty Images A view of an empty Grand Canal Reuters Las Ramblas, Barcelona, Spain Getty Images Aerial view of the empty Central cemetery in Bogota, Columbia AFP via Getty Images The facade of the Palacio de Lopez (seat of the government palace) AFP via Getty Images Miami, Florida AFP via Getty Images Aerial view of the empty Simon Bolivar park in Bogota AFP via Getty Images An LAPD patrol car drives through Venice Beach Boardwalk AP Venice Beach, California Getty Images Los Angeles, California Getty Images Surfers Paradise is seen empty in Australia Getty Images Many shops stand shuttered on the Venice Beach boardwalk Getty Images Empty escalators are seen at a deserted train station during morning rush hour after New South Wales began shutting down non-essential businesses Reuters A nearly empty Times Square in New York AFP via Getty Images Caracas AFP via Getty Images Metropolitan Cathedral of San Salvador AFP via Getty Images A general view of an unusually quiet Midland Park in Wellington, New Zealand Getty Images A general view of an unusually quiet Civic Square at lunchtimein Wellington, New Zealand Getty Images A policeman rides his motorcycle wearing a face mask in front of a closed shopping mall in Buenos Aires, Argentina AFP via Getty Images Florida Keys AP The historic Channel 2 Bridge closed to fishermen, bikers and pedestrians in Florida Keys AP The Beach on Scenic Gulf Drive near Seascape Resort in south Walton County, Florida sits empty of tourists AP Surfers Paradise is seen empty in Australia Getty Images A deserted Rajpath leading to India Gate in New Delhi AFP via Getty Images A general view is seen of a closed Luna Park in Sydney, Australia Getty Images A general view is seen of a closed Luna Park in Sydney, Australia Getty Images Empty roads are pictured following the lockdown by the government amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Kathmandu, Nepal Reuters An empty New York Subway car i AFP via Getty Images The empty pedestrian zone is seen in the city of Cologne, western Germany, AFP via Getty Images Place de la Comedie in the city of Montpellier , southern France AFP via Getty Images An empty street in Kuwait city AFP via Getty Images A building is covered by the Portuguese message: "Coronavirus: take precaution" over empty streets in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, AP A general view shows an empty street after a curfew was imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters Parliament of Canada is pictured with empty street during morning rush hour AFP via Getty Images A near empty beach on Southend seafront in England PA Near empty Keswick town centre in Cumbria, England PA Last month, Norwegian Air Shuttle announced that it plans to cancel its remaining order for 92 of the planes, saying that it had not settled with Boeing over compensation for the grounding of its current Max jets. Boeings lone sale last month was a cargo jet ordered by FedEx. That compared with nine orders a year ago and 158 in June 2018. So far this year, Boeing has recorded 59 new orders. That figure is dwarfed, however, by 382 cancellations, most of them abandoned orders for the Max, and the downgrading of 323 other orders because of uncertainty about the deals going through. The companys backlog of unfilled orders for passenger planes fell to 4,552, including 3,595 for 737s, a figure which includes both the Max and an older version of the plane called the NG. Boeing Co delivered 10 planes in June, compared with 37 a year earlier. Chief financial officer Greg Smith said Boeings defence and other businesses will continue to provide some stability as we navigate through the pandemic and rebuild stronger on the other side. Airbus was shut out for new orders, but the European plane maker said it delivered 36 passenger jets in June, including 31 of its A320neo jets, which compete with the Max. Airbus said it ended June with a backlog of 7,584 planes. By Paul Sandle LONDON, July 14 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to ban Huawei from Britain's 5G network on Tuesday in a momentous decision that will delight Washington, dismay Beijing and signal the end of a two-decade long partnership with the country's biggest mobile operator. The United States has pushed Johnson to reverse his January decision to grant Huawei a limited role in 5G, saying the Chinese company is a security risk. The debate has played out against a backdrop of a crackdown in Hong Kong and questions about China's handling of coronavirus, damaging relations between London and Beijing. Britain's National Security Council (NSC), chaired by Johnson, will meet on Tuesday morning to discuss Huawei. Media Secretary Oliver Dowden will then announce a decision to the House of Commons later in the day. The immediate excuse for the about turn in policy is the impact of new U.S. sanctions on chip technology, which London says affects Huawei's ability to remain a reliable supplier. Huawei and its customers, who include BT, Vodafone and Three, are waiting to see how extensive the new ban will be and how quickly it will be implemented, with hundreds of millions of pounds riding on the outcome. BT boss Philip Jansen said on Monday the company needed at least five years, and ideally seven, to remove Huawei. "If we get to a situation where things need to go very, very fast, then you are into a situation where potentially service for 24 million BT Group mobile customers is put into question - outages," he said. If the ban were extended to all mobile and fixed-line networks, including legacy equipment, more than a decade would be needed, he said. Vodafone said removing all Huawei gear would cost it in the "single figure billions" of pounds. Huawei, which has always denied U.S. claims that it could spy for Beijing, has said the implications of the sanctions are not yet clear, and it has urged Britain to wait. China has indicated that banning one of its flagship global technology companies would have far-reaching ramifications. Its ambassador to Britain has said a U-turn on Huawei would damage Britain's image and it would have to "bear the consequences" if it treated China as a hostile country. (Reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by William Maclean) Avinash Tiwarys television soap starring Amitabh Bachchan may not have clicked, but even so, there has been no looking back since then for this young lad. His latest film, The Girl on the Train, extensively shot in London, is complete and ready for release. Girl on the Train was supposed to release on May 8. But because of the lockdown, it has been postponed. He does not know when the release will actually happen. There is Parineeti Chopra, Aditi Rao Haidri, Kirti Khullari and myself in the film. Its the adaptation of the book by the same name. I just keep joking with my mom, ki yeh mera Hollywood venture hai, says Avinash. Talking of his experience working with Parineeti, he says I believe she is the easiest actor to work with. I was on joking terms with her right after the first day. She has given me that space to feel extremely comfortable. I dare to call her a friend now. Our whole gang of actors watched concerts and relished dinner at some lovely restaurants. It was amazing working on this project. Avinash, who loved London not only as the setting of the film, but also for its serenity, went for long walks in that city, and also participated in unique debates that took place there. I loved talking to people there...connecting with them, he said. There are open spaces where people express their opinions on various topics and hold debates... one gets to know their culture better, he adds. He refuses to comment on whether he plays Dawood Ibrahim in Dongri to Dubai. All I can say is, its a war revenge drama, a story of the Mumbai mafia. Its all about the underworld from when it started to late 2000. Its an adaptation of the book of that name, he says. He signs off saying, I am playing something important right now and I cannot reveal anything owing to the publicity strategy. I am stuck w/ my housemate that I'm not close to and since i'm respecting the guidelines, I haven't been able to be hugged since march. I know it's hard being stuck with loved ones youre not used to spending so much time w/ but im jealous of ppl living w/ ppl they like and love. this is so miserable. Part of why i'm on here and twitter so much is bc i'm temporarily unemployed and haven't invested in my hobbies enough. I really wanted to start puzzling, but then June happened. everything is terrible. Edited at 2020-07-14 01:00 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link I'm so sorry. Wrap your arms around yourself and squeeze tight. Reply Parent Thread Link oh no! im sorry! im about to be reunited with a housemate that im on rocky terms with and have so much anxiety about it! hopefully your situation gets better!! Reply Parent Thread Link Im so sorry! Its easy to forget how wonderful a hug can be, and then all of this shit happens and its a rude reminder of how we truly are social creatures. Lots of love to you Reply Parent Thread Link Ughhhhh, this is all the worst and I feel you. For a month there, I was confident I was handling this well, but I definitely feel like I'm going back to the depression part of our current reality. I've been working from home, wearing a mask since late March, social distancing since "this is definitely a thing." I live alone (which used to be glorious, also very fun) and the last time I touched another human was in April when the credit card terminal at a market I went to didn't read the chip, nor did the swipe thingy, so he had to ring it up on the register and WE BRUSHED FINGERS WHEN I GAVE IT TO HIM. This is dystopian fanfic nonsense, except it's very real. I'm thankful I'm healthy and everyone I love is healthy, I'm thankful YOU are healthy, but holy shit this is going to fuck us up forever. It's gonna stick. Reply Parent Thread Link i just wish i lived in new zealand. so desperately. Reply Thread Link MeAgain was so annoying today like way extra then normal extra Reply Thread Link I agree! You never know when she is going to act like a brat!! Reply Parent Thread Link his head writer who wrote all his monologues made wildly racist and sexist and homophobic posts for years and this is all tucker had to say about it? pic.twitter.com/3r1xHdGpt4 John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) July 14, 2020 Really remarkable how all these Fox News hosts coincidentally always seem to have pre-planned vacations RIGHT when they ignite controversy! Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) July 14, 2020 Edited at 2020-07-14 01:36 am (UTC) LMAO Reply Thread Link the way the writer looks EXACTLY how you would think Reply Parent Thread Link The white in that flag definitely doesn't bring out his eyes. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link re: Naya for yall on twitter, did you see her name trending but misspelled 'Riviera'? That bothered me a lot. Names are important. I think that's why I get persnickety abt the Black/Latino/Asian/South Asian/Indigenous celebs tags. I want all of them to be included in their respective tags so when someone just wants to explore celebs from their racial or ethnic background, they can just peruse the tag. Edited at 2020-07-14 01:11 am (UTC) Reply Thread Link i did see that, it was so disrespectful. you're right, names are extremely important Reply Parent Thread Link I was watching this today though I usually tune out. Betty Devos is a piece of work and I agree with Meghan that she needs some media training, but hell it isn't like Trump has any. I don't really think children should go back to school with these numbers. Nothing about them indicates the virus is under control. I get that they are missing a school year, but miss me with that. I'd rather have the children alive. Fuck all that other shit. And I'm with Joy about them defunding education stuff like oh you really care about our children's education now bitch? Get the fuck out of here. Reply Thread Link I just worry so fucking much about the safety of young children during the epidemic who live in broken homes or are in need of special ed etc, when you see that even kids in normal homes are suffering. Reply Parent Thread Link There is always going to be that concern and I have students I am 100% terrified for because I know what their home life is like. I know other teachers and I have made extra efforts to reach out to those students and continue to check in with them. It's the best we can do but I am absolutely terrified about what will happen if they force us back into physical school. I have countless students who live in a household with their grandparents / their grandparents are their babysitters after school or on weekends. Going back is going to cost people's lives. Reply Parent Thread Link That is a valid point I agree. I didn't think of that, but I don't think the solution is going to be re-opening the schools with such a high possibility of death. Reply Parent Thread Link Do all of yall know how to swim? Idk how but I was planning on learning this summer. who knows when I'll even be able to take a class. Are chlorine pools safe if someone swimming in it has covid? Reply Thread Link Do you have any friends/fam that could teach you maybe? Live out that Moonlight beach swimming lesson fantasy. eta: dumb me assuming you must live near a beach lol Edited at 2020-07-14 01:25 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link Yes, the chlorine would kill the virus Reply Parent Thread Link Its due to most POC living either not living in areas close to the water or being allowed to attend public swimming facilities since they were usually white only. Im black but Im from Florida tho so I cant relate lol. Reply Parent Thread Link i learned in the ocean, but swimming in a pool is much easier to learn. if they're still open they're pretty safe, though i'd obviously avoid showering there or being there any longer than necessary. Reply Parent Thread Link Learned how to swim at school, hated it at the time but I'm really grateful now. The swimming class was mandatory for everyone who didn't have a "Seepferdchen" (some kind of swimmer's licence) in 5th / 6th grade. Later it was part of physed / gym class to make a "Freischwimmer" (advanced swimmer). Germany, Lower Saxony, late 80s / early 90s Edited at 2020-07-14 03:45 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Link my grandpa lived at the beach and my cousins had a pool, so I had to learn. chlorine is a component of Clorox, which is used to kill the virus. Reply Parent Thread Link I can't even float for some reason. In high school PE I was forever stuck on the foam tubes. Reply Parent Thread Link yep. i always lived near the beach/pool so i was a water baby. all the schools i went to also had swimming and life-saving classes. good luck with your future lessons! it's a great skill to have. Reply Parent Thread Link i was put in swimming lessons at the public pool near my house super young so i've been swimming forever. i would say i am a pretty good swimmer for a regular person and i used to swim laps all the time but even w the chlorine my neighbourhood is soooo densely packed i'm not going anywhere near a public pool Reply Parent Thread Link I had to unfollow Omar today, she's pushing that "Biden is lesser of two evils" garbage and I was especially disappointed at Angela Davis. Reply Thread Link I can see where they're both coming from but I think the way that Davis' comments have been framed are genuinely unfair to her. Her actual statements are much more nuanced. She's been explicit in saying that her decisions are her own and it is not an endorsement for Biden. It's infuriating to see liberals use her words as a bludgeon against leftists when that was clearly not her intent, especially when they ignore her calls to action immediately after. It's almost as infuriating as watching them try to give her the MLK treatment and "softening" her to a socialist when she's been an avowed communist for decades. Just a whole damn mess. Reply Parent Thread Link mte I'm still not voting for Biden but I don't live in a swing state so my vote doesn't matter anyways. If Biden wins liberals will be out to brunch and I'm going to be annoyed that no one learned a damn thing. Reply Parent Thread Link My thoughts, but said much better by you. Reply Parent Thread Link This is the not the election to try to fix the two party system. The reality is you can hate Biden but he is far less dangerous to marginalized groups than Trump is. He is what we have and we need to vote for him, especially in swing states. We cannot do 4 more years of Trump. Vote Biden in and then work on fixing this. This isn't even touching on the Supreme Court and the decades of damage that can be done by more Trump appointees. Edited at 2020-07-14 01:42 am (UTC) Reply Parent Thread Expand Link Everyone is allowed to make their own choices Reply Parent Thread Link But... he is? I said this in another post, but I get it. I understand the frustration with liberals and the DNC. I myself have a strong distaste for Biden as candidate. But ultimately, there are some people who will not survive a second term of Trump and republican-controlled Senate. I have the luxury of voting my conscience, but I know that's not true for everyone. And enough people 'voting my conscience' means Trump will likely win. Reply Parent Thread Link What black magic do we have to work to get the top Trump admin folks to just all get so violently ill they can never work again. I honestly don't remember the last time I hugged someone and honestly just thinking that is kinda choking me up a bit. And I'm not a touchy type of person. Reply Thread Link I'm so frustrated with work and lack of respect for my time. I should be thankful to have a job but I feel like being jobless might be less stressful at this point. Reply Thread Link Mary Trumps gag order lifted this evening. Should be interesting. Reply Thread Link I'm reading her book now - I knew going in it would be a hot mess of an account of 45, but it's that and more. Ugh. Reply Parent Thread Link I ordered a hard copy. Im waiting on it Reply Parent Thread Link i cannnoooooot STOP thinking about naya :( Reply Thread Link Mte. I dont normally do prayers especially at dinner especially being an agnostic Buddhist but I just did for her and everything else... its maddening out there. I just hope for all the best... Reply Parent Thread Link i know exactly what you mean :( it's really unbearable thinking about her last moments and her poor baby boy's last memory of her, while simultaneously being moved that her last act was saving him, and that he's alive is her last wish being fulfilled. sldkjfslkfjsd;jf Reply Parent Thread Expand Link I'm a teacher and I have so much anxiety for the fall because none of us have a clue what is going to happen. Reply Thread Link Has your school released any plans? We've been given 4 potential plans (and a possible 5th) and told to stay plan for each situation. Reply Parent Thread Link My husband and best friend are teachers and we're all pretty unsettled. We don't know if or when they will return, whether they'll get sick and bring it home and get their loved ones sick, how they'll handle it once their students and co-workers begin dying, etc. This whole thing is such a clusterfuck and it did not have to happen this way at all. Reply Parent Thread Link Meghan is honestly the most miserable person. Reply Thread Link Joy cannot make a single damn comment without Me-again jumping down her throat. Just like most privileged, conservatives white people she is so desperate to be a victim that she takes any general statement as a personal attack. It derails *so* many conversations, she isn't mature enough to be on the view, which is actually pathetic. Reply Parent Thread Link tbh, any conservative woman they have on there is going to be like that. I remember Elizabeth Hasselbeck(?) She was terrible. Reply Parent Thread Link She reminds me of Elisabeth Hasselbeck with her OTT reactions and pouting. Jedediah Billa and Nicolle Wallace never did that. Reply Parent Thread Link Thunderstorms are expected to continue to batter Massachusetts on Tuesday as a cold air mass moves into the state, cooling down temperatures for the next few days. The commonwealth was already hit with scattered thunderstorms Monday, which brought torrential rainfall, pea-sized hail and wind gusts of 40 and 60 miles per hour to Western and Northeastern Massachusetts respectively. Tuesday may see more intensely stormy weather. Forecasters again are warning of isolated strong to severe thunderstorms across the state and southern New England generally from the mid-morning through the evening. A hazardous weather outlook was issued for nearly the entire state, where there is a marginal risk of severe storms. The area that has the greatest chance for strong thunderstorms is from Central Massachusetts to the Merrimack Valley. The main threats with storms are damaging wind gusts, hail, frequent lightning and heavy rainfall, the National Weather Service said. The heavy rainfall may lead to localized flash flooding. A high surf advisory remains in effect on Marthas Vineyard and Nantucket, where forecasters are warning of large, 4-to-6-foot waves and dangerous swimming conditions. Inexperienced swimmers should remain out of the water due to dangerous surf conditions, the National Weather Service said. Any showers and storms will diminish in the evening. Drier conditions will arrive in southern New England on Wednesday The weather on Tuesday should feel cooler compared to the past several days, which saw temperatures rise to the 90s. However, high humidity will remain. Highs are expected to reach to the upper 70s and lower 80s across the state, according to forecasters. Similar, slightly cooler temperatures are forecast Wednesday and Thursday. High pressure then brings fair weather for Wednesday and Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Scattered showers and thunderstorms return early Friday and Friday night. (Bloomberg) -- Employees at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee, say the e-commerce giant erred in withdrawing unpaid leave and has failed to ensure their safety just as colleagues fall ill with Covid-19 and the surrounding region suffers an explosion in cases. Workers at Amazons MEM1 facility say managers require them to continue working even when experiencing symptoms. In one case, a worker told human resources he had headaches, a runny nose and loss of smell and taste, according to four people familiar with the matter. The worker got tested that day but kept working for five days until the results came back positive, the people said. In another instance, an Amazon employee training about two dozen new workers was pulled aside during a lunch break and told to go home because she had Covid-19, but those remaining werent immediately informed about their potential exposure, the people said. Earlier this year, about the time coronavirus cases began appearing at warehouses in New York, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, Amazon gave workers an extra $2 an hour and let them take leave with no questions asked. But as states in the Northeast and Midwest appeared to be getting the virus under control, the company ended those short-term programs and required workers to apply for sick leavea process some employees say has been plagued by confusion and delays. Now that cases are exploding in Tennessee and other southern states, Amazon workers must show up for work or risk being fired. The Memphis workers say they get conflicting instructions, forcing them to make difficult decisions without clear guidance from the company. A key point of aggravation is being told to continue showing up by someone whos allowed to work from home. We feel like sitting ducks, said one worker, who requested anonymity to speak freely without jeopardizing her job. We dont want to get sick or threaten our children and our families, and we feel like they are playing around with our lives. Story continues Its unclear how many workers have contracted the virus in Memphis, and Amazon has declined to provide a national or state-by-state tally despite pressure from several national politicians. A group of employees, who have been keeping their own spreadsheet of cases, said in June that there were more than 1,500 cases in Amazon warehouses around the country and more than a dozen in the Memphis warehouse. The company says the infection rate among workers at the facility is lower than the surrounding county. The company earmarked more than $800 million in the first half of the year on virus-related safety measures, including purchasing masks and hand sanitizer and installing thermal cameras and thermometers. Some employees have been redeployed to ensure workers are adhering to social-distancing guidelines among other safety-related tasks. In a statement, Amazon said: Temperature checks are mandatory and if an employee is found to have a temperature above 100.4 then they are sent home and paid for their scheduled shift, up to five hours. Associates need to stay home until theyve been fever-free for at least 72 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine. If anyone is experiencing symptoms, in addition to or separate of, a fever, they are instructed to stay home until their symptoms subside. Amazon Tells Staff Hand-Washing Time Wont Be Held Against Them While Tennessee hasnt been hit as hard as Florida, Texas and Arizona, the Memphis area began reporting a spike in Covid-19 cases at the end of June. Nearly 14,000 people have been infected and more than 220 have died from the virus in Shelby County, according to the Tennessee Department of Health. Shelby County, where the warehouse is located, had an infection rate of 33 per 100,000 people, among the highest infection rates in the state. Tennessee was among the first states to reopen its economy and paid for residents to get tested. But the recent surge in cases is forcing some cities to reimposes stricter measures because hospitals are overwhelmed. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland last week extended a state of emergency; local health officials ordered bars to close for the foreseeable future and restaurants to close at 10 pm. Workers at the Memphis warehouse say colleagues began getting sick about the time cases surged in the area. Like Amazon workers elsewhere, they say the company isnt providing enough information about new cases or how many people at the facility have tested positive or come down with Covid-19. Messages sent to workers are formulaic, vague and have arrived several days after workers were potentially exposed. One message sent to workers July 8 said: We were recently notified that individuals who work at MEM1 have received a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. They were last onsite on 07/03/2020. Employees interpret the lack of transparency as a deliberate attempt by the company to mask the prevalence of the virus among the workforce, forcing them to make difficult decisions about their safety and financial well-being without facts. When managers told the Memphis warehouse trainer to go home mid-shift, the workers say they werent told why. They learned she had Covid-19 only because the trainer told them herself, they said. The trainees were relocated to another part of the building, the workers said. The employees said they complained to the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration and reported the cases to a Shelby County Health Department hotline, but there is little regulators can do. OSHA doesnt have much oversight over the spread of germs in the workplace beyond making sure employees have access to soap and water for handwashing, agency spokesman Chris Cannon said. Joan Carr, a spokeswoman with the Shelby County Health Department, declined to comment on the workers complaints. Employees at the Memphis warehouse say they resent that unlimited unpaid time off is no longer available now that they could use it. Rather than creating a one-size-fits-all pandemic policy, they say, Amazon should tailor its response to local conditionsechoing the argument now being put forward by school districts opposed to a wholesale re-opening amid the surge in infections. Its very scary, one worker said. Theyre putting everyone at risk. (Updates with company spending on safety measures. ) For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com Subscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source. 2020 Bloomberg L.P. Silvercreek is also proud to announce that its facility has remained free of Covid-19 throughout the current crisis by maintaining the highest health standards. Eberharter's highest priority will be to maintain and support the policies that have made Silvercreek a safe and comfortable home for residents, while continuing to provide a welcoming environment for the existing community and new residents. Silvercreek recognizes the urgent need for quality care. While safety protocols are followed for new residents, move-in specials also offer flexibility in costs. Silvercreek puts our residents at the center of all we do. We are now seeking a full-time Wellness Director to work side-by-side with the Executive Director and staff to oversee residential nursing care. To learn more about this career opportunity and the Silvercreek Senior Assisted Living Community, please visit SilvercreekLiving.com . About Silvercreek Senior Assisted Living Silvercreek Living is a thoughtfully-designed senior living community offering assisted living, memory care, and respite care services to the Wood River and Sun Valley area. Resident health and well-being remain Silvercreek Living's top priority, as is providing innovative care with rigorous safety procedures in all of our facilities. The everyday experience of Silvercreek Living is one of being among family, with active and engaged residents in a supportive care environment. CONTACT: Lori Eberharter, Administrator [email protected] PH: 208-890-4322 For further information: http://www.silvercreekliving.com SOURCE Silvercreek Living Assisted Living & Memory Care Related Links http://www.silvercreekliving.com A 51-year-old Mexican immigrant died of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while being held pending his deportation, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced. Onoval Perez-Montufa was the third known ICE detainee to die of COVID-19 infection. He was brought to a south Florida hospital and had been hospitalized since July 1. ICE said Perez-Montufa was transferred after he had troubles breathing at the Glades County Detention Center in Clewiston, Florida. The facility is used to hold immigrants that would be deported. ICE said the Mexican immigrant has tested positive for COVID-19 on July 2. The immigration agency noted that Perez-Montufa was under "mandatory detention." The law requires this to be done on non-citizens, who were convicted of certain crimes. Perez-Montufa was taken into ICE custody last month after serving 12 years of a 20-year prison time due to a 2008 cocaine conviction. He was imprisoned at the Federal Medical Center in Massachusetts. This is for detainees who need specialized medical and psychological care. ICE did not specify any health issues that Perez-Monufa may have had. The agency said it has already informed Perez-Monufa's family of the death, and the Mexican consular officials, and the Department of Homeland Security. Other Cases Aside from Perez-Monufa, there were two other cases of immigrants who died of COVID-19 in ICE custody. They were Carlos Escobar Mejia and Santiago Baten-Oxlag, who also both died of COVID-19 complications in May. ICE also reported other detainees who have been brought to the hospital during the pandemic. However, the agency did not say how many were hospitalized. The four largest ICE detention contractors have over 880 of its employees that tested positive, it was revealed before Congress on Monday. These four detention centers were GEO Group, CoreCivic, LaSalle Corrections, and the Management & Training Corporation. Around 45 direct ICE employees at detention facilities have also tested positive. The agency said it has taken safety measures to protect immigrant detainees, staff, and contractors from COVID-19. The number of detainees has reduced from 38,000 in the middle of March, to less than 23,000 as of early June. ICE has deported tens of thousands of detainees during the pandemic, which some tested positive of COVID-19 after arriving in their home countries. ICE Visa Restrictions on International Students Meanwhile, more than 200 universities are backing a legal action to Trump's administration after ICE announced a new rule, threatening international students of deportation if their own schools choose to do online classes. The said policy puts students at risk and forces school to open in the fall semester. The legal action was started by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, when they filed a lawsuit on July 8 to block the directive. Other universities were also disappointed with ICE's new immigration rules. Yale President Peter Salovey said the possible disruption in the education of international students will weaken the strength of American higher education. Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber said the school would also look at a legal take on the new rule. ICE said the ruling aims to increase the students' flexibility to study, while reducing the spread of the disease. Want to read more? Check these out! Were just really excited to get families to come out together and spend some quality time with their families and still feel that theyre safe, said Nancy Eschker, of Glenview, recreation supervisor at the Northbrook Park District. Austria is expanding a list of countries from which planes aren't allowed to land to include six nations in the western Balkans, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Egypt. Austria currently bans flights from eight countries and one region of Italy. The Austria Press Agency reported that only the latter -- Lombardy, the Italian region worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic -- is being removed from the list starting on Thursday. The health ministry added 10 new countries in light of high coronavirus infection levels and kept the eight that were already on the list: Belarus, China, Britain, Iran, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine. There are exceptions for flights bringing in freight, repatriated Austrians, medical caregivers or agricultural workers. Search Keywords: Short link: At the end of May I received a letter claiming to be from Lloyds, my bank, saying they believe I have recently updated my details and that I am now a tax resident of Egypt. It says if this is true, I need to confirm it by sending them a passport, ID card or other documentation proving I am a resident of Egypt. I received a follow-up letter a month later at the end of June telling me I still hadn't signed it. London or Luxor: Our reader received an email out of the blue from Lloyds Bank asking if they were a tax resident of Egypt (right), despite them living at the same address in Bromley (left) for the last 35 years I am in my mid-seventies, am a British citizen, have lived in the UK for 74 years, including the same address in Bromley for the last 35 and have no links to Egypt. I am very worried about falling victim to a scam. Is this letter legitimate, and do I have to fill it in? M.V., via email George Nixon, This is Money, replies: This is not the first time someone has written to us having received a letter like this. In 2017 we were contacted by a reader who had received a letter from the same bank, Lloyds, and another from Halifax, asking them to confirm their tax information. In that instance, the letter from Lloyds was legitimate, even if the customer was no longer with the bank. This is part of something called the common reporting standard, introduced in 2017, designed to crack down on global tax evasion, by enabling countries to share tax information across borders. The UK was one of the first countries to sign up to it along with the rest of the European Union, although Egypt has not yet done so. The letter our reader received at the end of May, asking them to update their details as Lloyds believed they were now a tax resident of Egypt The letter asked our reader to confirm this situation by sending a copy of an Egyptian passport, driving licence or ID card by post to a PO Box in Leeds Under the rules, banks in this country must provide up-to-date tax information to HMRC about non-UK residents with financial accounts in the UK. But while that means these letters are sent out, it doesn't necessarily mean the one in your situation is legitimate. After all, fraudsters are adept at impersonating banks, the taxman, the police or other companies, whether that is by email, over the phone or by post. And of course, the Egypt element makes things even stranger. You phoned up Lloyds and said you had not updated your details and were unhappy about the idea of sending a copy of your passport or driving licence in the post, especially if you were worried you had been contacted by con artists. While they did tell you it was to do with HMRC, from the emails you sent us they didn't appear to explain why you had been contacted, and why they thought you had lived in Egypt. Although you told us you'd had a fortnight's holiday in 1990 to visit the Pyramids at Giza and Luxor, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes, you haven't been since and were very clear you'd never had any intention of living in the country. Nor did you have any family living there. We contacted Lloyds, who told us the letter was a genuine one, as in the case of our reader in 2017, but this time it was sent by mistake. Luxor, Egypt. We found out our reader had been contacted because someone at Lloyds had gotten their telephone number wrong and swapped the first two digits around. The area code for London is +020, the international dialling code for Egypt is +20 While you had not updated your details, someone at Lloyds Bank accidentally had. The letter itself gives an indication of this where it says the bank believed you were a tax resident of Egypt 'due to the following information we hold for you: telephone number'. The area code for Bromley, where you live, and the rest of London is +020. The international dialling code for Egypt, is +20. Got a question for the experts? Email us: experts@thisismoney.co.uk Someone had clearly accidentally made a mistake somewhere and got the first two digits of your telephone number the wrong way around, which explains why the letter was sent. A Lloyds Bank spokesperson said: 'All financial institutions that operate in common reporting standards participating countries are required to gather specific customer information and report it to HMRC or the relevant tax authorities and we may write to customers who need to confirm this information. 'We have apologised to the customer for the error in the classification of their details which resulted in her receiving the letter incorrectly and their data has now been updated.' No one will ever accuse New Jersey Rep. Andy Kim, a freshman elected in the 2018 Democratic wave, of complacency. "The last time a Democrat has won reelection in my district," he said cheerfully, "was before the Civil War." The 2020 election is all about President Donald Trump. But precisely because of this, it will also test the durability of the realignment in American suburbia inspired by the backlash against him. Former Vice President Joe Biden's substantial lead in the polls ignites Democratic hopes of winning it all - the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives - for the first time since 2008. A lot hangs on the ability of Democrats like Kim to survive and prosper in places where voters would once have shuddered at the thought of sending anyone but a Republican to Washington. For now, at least, the odds are that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will keep her gavel, perhaps even with an enlarged majority. Interviews with Kim and three other first-term Democrats who took formerly Republican seats - Kim's New Jersey colleagues Mikie Sherrill and Tom Malinowski, and Virginia's Abigail Spanberger - help explain why. All focus first on their own districts: the scores of town halls they have held, the local issues they have championed, the constituents they have assisted at a time when a pandemic and economic turmoil have threatened lives, livelihoods, businesses, and both state and local budgets. But when specifically asked about the president, they point to a sharpening of attitudes caused by the COVID-19 crisis that accounts for his slide in the polls. "A lot of what offended people about Trump in 2018 was stuff that didn't directly affect our lives," said Malinowski, "It was his tweets, his insults ... The difference now is we have well over 100,000 Americans dead." Sherrill contrasted what voters see as "a failure in leadership from the White House during this pandemic" to the response of local official "regardless of party" - "the dedication, the concern, the worry, the sleepless nights that so many of them have, trying to take care of people in North Jersey." They also give Pelosi high marks for the bills she brought to the House floor - and, perhaps more importantly, the fact that she rarely forced her members to take highly controversial votes. "We've got a record," Malinowski said, "and it's exactly the record we ran on in 2018." He highlights improvements to the Affordable Care Act, infrastructure, gun safety legislation, and restoring the state and local tax deduction, a big issue in high-tax New Jersey. Kim spoke of HR1, the political reform package that many Democrats will highlight this fall. "When it comes to campaign finance reform and fighting corruption in Washington and fighting corporate special interests in Washington," Kim said, "the vast majority of people in my district, whether Republicans or Democrats or unaffiliated voters, that is a top priority for them." It could prove to be a sleeper issue. As for Spanberger, she voted against Pelosi as speaker, as she promised she would in 2018, and has cast more votes against the party leadership than most Democrats. This should serve her well in a central Virginia district she describes as less "Trumpian" than "historically Republican and conservative, like legitimately conservative." Yet Spanberger also pointed to Pelosi's "pragmatism" in her willingness to "disappoint" her party's progressive wing in what the speaker brought to the floor. This has left Democrats in tough races with records they can more easily defend. There is a political paradox at work in competitive House races. On the one hand, Trump's unpopularity will power a great deal of straight-ticket Democratic voting that will lift all the party's candidates. But especially for Democrats such as Kim, who prevailed by just 1.3 points in 2018, and Spanberger, who prevailed by two, there is an imperative to hold onto the small but essential batch of 2016 Trump voters who helped them to victory. Polls show that some of those voters are now disillusioned, and Spanberger has some advice for how her party should appeal to them. A CIA veteran, she has been one of the toughest critics in Congress of Trump's shamefully feeble response to intelligence reports that Russia offered bounties for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan. 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 that's the argument that many of my colleagues will be making." Building a new majority requires converting voters who were once part of the old one. No one is more aware of this than the Democrats' suburban evangelists. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Idris Elba (Credit: PA) Idris Elba has said that getting the coronavirus affected him mentally, describing the ordeal as 'traumatic'. The Luther star tested positive for COVID-19 in March, and has said that he's 'lucky to be alive and thankful' for recovering. Read more: Idris Elba slams coronavirus conspiracy theory But the affects of the disease had a mental impact, he told the Radio Times. I was asymptomatic so I didnt get the major symptoms everyone else got, he said. Mentally, it hit me very bad, because a lot was unknown about it. I felt very compelled to speak about it, just because it was such an unknown. Sabrina Dhowre Elba and Idris Elba (Credit:John Nacion/STAR MAX/IPx) So the mental impact of that on both myself and my wife was pretty traumatic. I needed the lockdown to try to get over it. And it turns out the world actually probably needed the lockdown, too. Elba revealed his positive diagnosis at the end of March. Both he and wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba tested positive in the US, and self-isolated in New Mexico, before returning the UK in May. Speaking to the BBC in April, shortly after his recovery, he said that he felt 'humbled and thankful to be alive'. It's given me a little bit more perspective about the future, he added. There are things that I worried about before this time in our lives, and everyone's lives, that I'm less worried about now. What I'm really thinking about is what we do in the future. He's next up on screens in Sky One's In The Long Run on 22 July. Aboriginal Australians settled in the continents Riverland region 22,000 years earlier than previously thought, radiocarbon dating of ancient seafood remains reveals. The dated shell middens remnants of 'meals eaten long ago' capture a record of Aboriginal occupation that goes back 29,000 years in the Katarapko Riverland Floodplains, South Australia. They had to deal with unpredictable river flows and heavily-salted valley waters that may have limited their seafood options. The region is one of the oldest Indigenous sites along Australias largest river the 1,558-mile-long Murray, which runs through the states of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. The river has a rich history as an Aboriginal settlement spanning thousands of years, providing sources of food and water. The new study stretches the history of Aboriginal Australian occupation in this specific region back an extra 22,000 years to around 27,000 BC. This coincides with the Last Glacial Maximum a period when continental ice sheets reached their maximum total mass during the last ice age, and land near the ice sheets that escaped glaciation was cold and covered with tundra vegetation. Midden shell exposed on the Pike cliff line on the River Murray. Shell middens are refuse deposits composed solely or primarily of molluscan shells Modern humans are though to have arrived in Australia some 50,000 years ago, although previous research claims Kakadu National Park in Australias Northern Territory was home to some tribes at least 65,000 years ago. 'These results include the first pre-Last Glacial Maximum ages returned on the River Murray in South Australia and extend the known Aboriginal occupation of the Riverland by approximately 22,000 years,' said study author Craig Westell at Flinders University in Adelaide. The shell midden were taken from a site that overlooks the Pike River floodplain, downstream of the town of Renmark, nearly 160 miles northeast of the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Aboriginal shell middens consist primarily of concentrations of discarded shell and bone, botanical remains, ash and charcoal and contain evidence of past Aboriginal hunting, gathering and food processing activities. Researchers used radiocarbon dating methods to analyse river mussel shells from a midden site overlooking the Pike River floodplain downstream of Renmark. Study area is marked by a small red square, with the Murray-Darling Basin - the 400,000-square-mile geographical area that spans southeastern Australia - also highlighted A total of 15 samples, collected in April 2018 and May 2019, were analysed at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) Centre for Accelerator Science, a government facility at Lucas Heights in New South Wales. A further 16 samples were analysed at the University of Waikato Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory using both accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and conventional radiometric methods. AMS is a form of mass spectrometry that accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before analysis and reveals the presence of isotopes. Location map shows the areas studied by archaeologists and the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal community in South Australia WHAT IS AMS? In order to measure the age of carbon samples it is necessary to find the amount of radiocarbon in a sample. This measurement can be made either by measuring the radioactivity of the sample or by directly counting the radiocarbon atoms using a method called Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). AMS is performed by converting the atoms in the sample into a beam of fast moving ions (charged atoms). The mass of these ions is then measured by the application of magnetic and electric fields. Advertisement Specifically, the scientists were looking for traces of carbon-14, a carbon isotope that is commonly used by archaeologists and historians to date ancient bones and artefacts. The rate of decay of carbon-14 is constant and easily measured, making it ideal for providing age estimates for anything over 300 years old. More than 30 additional radiocarbon dates were collected in the region, spanning 15,000 years ago to the recent present. The calibrated age-determinations range across the period 283 to 0 years ago through to 29,470 to 28,720 years ago. The period represented by the radiocarbon results brackets the Last Glacial Maximum, commonly known as the last Ice Age. This period marks a time when climatic conditions were colder and drier and when the arid zone extended over much of the Murray-Darling Basin. The river and lake systems of the Murray-Darling Basin the 400,000-square-mile geographical area that spans southeastern Australia were under stress during this time, the team said. The Last Glacial Maximum is also the most significant climatic event to face modern humans since their arrival in Australia some 40,000-50,000 years ago. Shot of the shell samples in clumped deposits at the research site remnants of 'meals eaten long ago' that have had their ages estimated with radiocarbon dating In the Riverland, dunes were advancing into the Murray floodplains, river flows were unpredictable, and salt was accumulating in the valley. Salinisation of the floodplain waters are evident during the Last Glacial Maximum and it is likely that Aboriginal people would have had fewer and perhaps less reliable subsistence options. Throughout this extended period, the river was also characterised by a regime of high energy though short-duration flood events. The results, published in Australian Archaeology, used radiocarbon dating methods to analyse river mussel shells from a midden site overlooking the Pike River floodplain downstream of Renmark (pictured) The ecological impacts witnessed during one of the worst droughts on record, the so-called Millennium Drought, which extended from late 1996 to mid-2010. The dramatic collapse in floodplain ecology during this event provides a poignant reminder of the potential pace and scale of change, and the challenges posed to economic and social systems embedded within this seemingly bountiful, though ultimately fragile environment, the team write in their research paper, published in Australian Archaeology. This recent drought period, provides an idea of the challenges Aboriginal people may have faced along the river during the Last Glacial Maximum, and other periods of climate stress, researchers conclude. The results show that Aboriginal people had to respond and adapt to an ever-changing river landscape and managed to survive during times of hardship. Life adapted to a river unrecognisable in the modern system, an image far removed from the verdant shoestring oasis we imagine this river to be, they say. The dating forms part of a much larger and ongoing research program led by Associate Professor and study co-author Amy Roberts at Flinders University. The program is a broad-ranging investigation of past and contemporary Aboriginal connections to the Riverland region and the central River Murray corridor. Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) Amid the uncertain times, a digital signage solutions company fulfilled its part in adjusting to the new normal and helping the less fortunate directly affected by the pandemic. Avolution Inc. announced its pandemic-related solutions that will cater to todays customer behavior and develop socially relevant products. The AVO FACE or Facial Access Control System can check the persons temperature, integrated with a sensor to read it even if wearing a mask or glasses. The unit will decline entry if the person registers a temperature of more than 37.5 degrees Celsius. The AVO Safe-To-Touch Display features an internal auto-dispenser that can provide gel, foam, or liquid sanitizer, as well as a metal closing with an integrated commercial-grade 21.5-inch display that runs on a cloud-based digital signage software. The AVO Safe-To-Touch Display offers advertisements, messages, videos, news feeds, social media feeds, health information, and other content to customers as they wash their hands. It also comes in touchscreen and non-touchscreen variants. Avolution s E-vents Solutions is a virtual event solution to deliver a series of live, simulive, or on-demand presentations organized by tracks or categories. This concept was created in response to the observation of physical distancing amid the pandemic. The solution can also emulate a physical conference with event spaces, sponsorship opportunities, programmed sessions, and engagement tools. While AVO Studio supports E-vents Solutions through its studio that brings together on and off-site participants and permits the seamless combinations of individuals or other actual objects and computer-generated settings and objects in real-time. A camera that can move in virtual 3D space is offered by AVO Studio which can adapt for functions such as zooming, angle, pan, and other camera settings. The companys Digital Marketing Service is also timely as it offers digital strategies to help you achieve clients' business goals that will give cost-effective solutions through data-driven analytics and insights. Lastly, the Communication Strategy Solution service of Avolution is designed to help communicate effectively to reach organizational objectives. This newest offering will identify goals and target audience, and create a communication plan that discusses the roadmap of action plans. Other services that Avolution regularly offers remain like digital signage solutions, digital touchscreen solutions, technical maintenance, content creation and management, digital advertising billboard service, and digital events solutions. Aside from the new digital signage solutions in time for the new normal, Avolution Inc. remained true to its mission of shedding light and bringing a message of hope to less fortunate Filipinos even if the company itself is directly affected by the pandemic. The companys LED There Be Light program partnered with the Light of Jesus Ministries of Bro. Bo Sanchez, composed of Anawim, Grace to be Born, He Cares Foundation, and Jeremiah Foundation. It's the company's way of giving back to the community for the blessings received through the years. The LED There Be Light corporate social responsibility program of Avolution Inc. previously gave out solar rechargeable LED lamps to areas in the Philippines with limited access to electricity and that are fire-stricken areas. Equipped with over 13 years of unparalleled digital solutions experience, Avolution Inc. continuously satisfies their respected clients with customized digital signage solutions both indoor and outdoor delivered with precision and accuracy by its state-of-the-art technology and service par excellence. Avolution also commits to uplift the lives of Filipinos by providing employment opportunities locally through state-of-the-art equipment and services. True to its Digital: Powered by Humans brand message, Avolution remains true to its vision in transforming the lives of the Filipinos and the countrys landscape digitally. For more information, visit www.avolutionph.com to check on Avolutions wide array of products and services. New Delhi: Global issues and tensions are expected to figure on the agenda for the 15th India-European Union (EU) Virtual (video-conference) Summit on Wednesday, Government sources indicated on Monday. With tensions between the US and China at a global level, the virtues of multilateralism are expected to be acknowledged. It is therefore being seen as probable by observers that the recent Sino-Indian military tensions may well come up for discussion. But India and the EU are essentially expected to focus on their bilateral strategic ties including the important issue of trade at the Summit. Global responses to the Coronavirus pandemic will figure prominently during the Summit and this may well be significant, given the criticism in the West over Chinas initial handling of the pandemic at Wuhan. EU member nations like Italy, Spain and France were among the worst affected globally by the Pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent India while the EU will be represented by President of the European Council Charles Michel, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The Summit was to have been originally held in the Belgian Capital Brussels in March this year but was postponed due to the Covid pandemic. The previous (14th) India-EU Summit had been held in October, 2017 in New Delhi. It may be recalled that the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said last week that the Summit will review India-EU cooperation covering political & security relations, trade & investment and economic cooperation and is also expected to discuss developments around the Covid-19 pandemic and contemporary global matters of interest to both sides. Both sides may explore ways to once again begin talks on a free trade agreement on which a pause button had been pressed in the past. It may also be recalled that in February this year, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had travelled to Brussels and had met top EU functionaries as well as certain Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) during which he had strongly defended the Indian position on the Kashmir issue and situation in J&K as well as on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which could both be raised now by the EU during the Summit. The top EU dignitaries the EAM had met then included Mr. Michel, President of the European Council of Heads of Government of the 27 member states of the EU. The recent Sino-Indian military tensions at the border could also come up during the discussions. EU sources had said last week that the Summit will be an opportunity to strengthen the EU-India Strategic Partnership, based on shared principles and values of democracy, freedom, rule of law, and respect for human rights, aiming at delivering concrete benefits for the people in the EU and India. EU sources also said bilateral, regional and global issues are expected to be discussed and that leaders are expected to discuss (bilateral) cooperation in security, climate, environment, trade and investment, digital economy and connectivity. EU sources meanwhile also said the leaders would discuss global cooperation and solidarity to protect lives, to mitigate the socio-economic consequences and to strengthen preparedness and response capacities in view of the Coronavirus pandemic that also severely affected EU countries including Spain, Italy and France. Leaders will also discuss global and regional issues and are "expected to reiterate their determination to promote effective multilateralism and a rules-based multilateral order, with the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) at its core". Oil slipped for a second day on signs of a slower emergence from lockdown in some corners of the globe. Futures fell by as much as 2.6 per cent in New York. California, one of the largest gasoline-consuming states in America, announced on Monday that it would pull back on reopening efforts, the latest red flag for the return of oil demand. This isnt just happening in America Hong Kong imposed its strictest social distancing measures yet and Japan said a new state of emergency is possible if infections increase. Crudes drop was part of a broader downward move in markets, as the economic hit of rising virus cases continues to grow. European equity markets extended a global retreat. An OPEC+ committee meets Wednesday to discuss easing record output curbs that have helped the market recover. The group is expected to stick to its plan of tapering the cuts from August even as the coronavirus rages unabated in many parts of the world. An increase in supply from OPEC+ would hit a global economy thats still far from pre-virus levels of activity, with a range of indicators in the U.S. suggesting the recovery has slowed in the past few weeks. Everybody agrees its very early days, its not going to be a straight line recovery with the resurgence in cases in the U.S. in particular, Amrita Sen, chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects said in a Bloomberg TV interview. The OPEC+ committee will consider whether the alliance should keep 9.6 million barrels of daily output off the market for another month, or taper the cutback to 7.7 million barrels as originally planned. Members are leaning toward the latter, according to several national delegates who asked not to be identified. Meanwhile, compliance with the existing agreement seems to be improving. Saudi Arabia commended Iraq for implementing almost all of its oil production cuts last month, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Thick fire oozes out of the Ramky Group inside SEZ of Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma city following a fire accident at Visakha Solvent Lab at Parawada in Visakhapatnam on Monday. Murali Krishna Visakhapatnam: At least one worker was injured after a major fire broke out following an explosion at a pharmaceutical unit near Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Monday night, officials said. The incident triggered panic among the residents in the Paravada area as it came just over a couple of months after the styrene vapour leak in the LG Polymers plant in the region. An explosion was first heard at Pharma City, following which there was a huge fire. The incident is said to have occurred in the Coastal Waste Management Project, a unit of Ramky Solvents, according to sources. At least nine fire tenders were being pressed into service to put out the massive blaze and also prevent it from spreading to other pharma plants in the vicinity, Visakhapatnam District Collector V Vinay Chand said. A worker sustained burn injuries, while three others who were also at the unit when the incident occurred escaped to safety. The injured was rushed to a hospital in Gajuwaka in the city for treatment, Chand said. The cause of the incident is not yet known, and fire and emergency services personnel could not immediately reach the spot as the blaze has engulfed the area, police sources said. State Industries Minister M Goutham Reddy spoke to Visakhapatnam district Collector and enquired about the incident. He directed the district administration to first evacuate workers who were on night shifts at other units. Reddy asked the police, fire services and health officials to be on high alert and ensure that there were no loss of lives. Last month, a gas leak incident in one of the companies in the Pharma City left two workers dead and four injured. Cluster Reply today announced that it has won the 2020 Microsoft Partner of the Year Award for Italy. The Company, part of the Reply Group, was honored among a global field of top Microsoft partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology. "At Reply we are constantly committed to providing innovative services, distinguished by flexibility and efficiency. Our company Cluster Reply, which has been developing solutions based on Microsoft technologies for 24 years, is able to meet our customers' needs and bring an important advantage to their business. We are proud of this result, as it further confirms our expertise and capabilities" said Filippo Rizzante, CTO Reply The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards recognize Microsoft partners that have developed and delivered exceptional Microsoft-based solutions during the past year. Awards were classified in several categories, with honorees chosen from a set of more than 3,300 submitted nominations from more than 100 countries worldwide. Cluster Reply has been awarded for its outstanding solutions and services, for the extraordinary results achieved in the Italian market and for its ability to best support the growth of its customers. Cluster Reply's candidature for this exclusive award was backed by eleven projects carried out on behalf of leading clients across major industries, which confirmed the Company's focus on innovation as well as its expertise in all cloud technologies of the different Microsoft solution areas: ranging from Business Applications to Modern Workplace, from Infra&Apps to Data and Artificial Intelligence. "It is an honor to recognize the winners and finalists of the 2020 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards" said Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, One Commercial Partner, Microsoft. "These partners go above and beyond, delivering timely solutions that solve the complex challenges that businesses around the world face from communicating and collaborating virtually to helping customers realize their full potential with Azure cloud services, and beyond. I am proud to honor and congratulate each winner and finalist "We are particularly proud of this important recognition to Cluster Reply as it confirms a consistent effort in supporting Italian organizations in digital transformation projects and in fostering digital growth paths. A significant commitment that for the past 24 years followed the technological evolution of Microsoft's platforms and provided a strong expertise to meet the new innovation challenges of our companies" said Silvia Candiani, Country General Manager, Microsoft Italia. REPLY Reply [MTA, STAR: REY] specializes in the design and implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media. As a network of highly specialized companies, Reply defines and develops business models enabled by the new models of big data, cloud computing, digital media and the internet of things. Reply delivers consulting, system integration and digital services to organizations across the telecom and media; industry and services; banking and insurance; and public sectors. www.reply.com CLUSTER REPLY Cluster Reply is the Reply Group Company specialized in consulting services and systems integration on Microsoft technologies. The Company is focused on innovation and offers Microsoft solutions, both cloud and on-premise, in the areas of Modern Workplace, Business Applications, Applications and Infrastructure, Data and AI. With over 20 years of experience working with Microsoft, Cluster Reply is able to help its customers to choose the best Microsoft solutions, thanks to its Microsoft certifications and a distinctive knowledge of the market and its processes. www.cluster.reply.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005060/en/ Contacts: Media contacts: Reply Fabio Zappelli f.zappelli@reply.com Aaron Miani a.miani@reply.com China's surging demand for iron ore and coal worldwide has boosted Australian exports despite the rising animosity between the two countries. The surge illustrates a two-track trade relationship developing between the economies: imports critical to China's infrastructure stimulus are climbing while trade bans are imposed on beef, barley and education, which can be sourced from elsewhere. Chinese imports and exports beat market expectations in the first half of 2020. Credit:Bloomberg Iron ore imports into China grew by 10 per cent over the first half of the year, coal by 13 per cent and LNG by 3 per cent. Tuesday's data from China's customs department does not breakdown commodity imports by country but Australia accounts for up to 60 per cent of China's annual iron ore imports and more than 30 per cent of its coal imports. Overall imports across all sectors from Australia fell by 0.1 per cent in the year to June. The new figures also show China's textile exports including masks have jumped by 32 per cent during the first six months of this year, with medical devices jumping by almost 50 per cent, pointing to a growing demand for Chinese medical products during the pandemic. Both exports and imports beat market expectations to record a positive result, putting China on track to become the only G20 economy to grow in 2020. Right now, I put the chances of Israeli annexation of any part of the West Bank at low to nonexistent, a top Israeli security official told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. There are too many conditions and circumstances that have to occur and ripen before that can happen. The first condition is a green light from Washington, which is currently nowhere in sight. US President Donald Trump appears to have lost interest in the issue he so enthusiastically promoted in January, although he has not said the final word. In a few weeks, Trump might be persuaded that what he needs in order to erode the Democrats lead is more support of evangelical voters, and then he might suddenly restart the whole event, said the top Israeli official. Right now, we dont think that [restarting annexation move] will happen. However, annexation does not depend solely on Trump. Even if the US president renews the green light for the move that he gave as part of his plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a host of other obstacles to realization of his dream and hoped-for legacy. Some of them are homemade. The coronavirus crisis has completely reshuffled the deck, a senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Public interest in annexation which was low to begin with has waned further and no one can be bothered with it right now. People are focused on trying to make a living, avoiding economic collapse. Rarely have Israelis been so disinterested in other things and focused totally on the economy, and Netanyahu knows it. Annexation would also entail economic outlays at a time of skyrocketing budget deficits that show no sign of leveling off. However, the overriding consideration as is usually the case with Netanyahu has to do with his political standing. If he decides to forge ahead with new elections in the coming weeks, he might be persuaded that annexation would energize his base among the settlers and ideological political right and stem his continued bleeding in recent polls. Should that scenario pan out, he would take time off from dealing with the coronavirus crisis and renew his annexation push. In addition to the previous weighty considerations, Netanyahu must keep in mind the security threats emerging from his annexation plan. The heads of two security agencies Israel Defense Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi and Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman have presented him with strategic warnings. While neither argued that annexation would prompt a third Palestinian uprising (intifada) against Israel, both provided intelligence assessments indicating high probability of violence on the Gaza front or in the West Bank, or both. Even a local eruption of violence in the current situation could set off a chain reaction culminating in yet another round of high intensity fighting and a new intifada, a senior Israeli security source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. Netanyahu knows this and understands that the last thing he needs now with Israel collapsing into an unprecedented budgetary hole is to call up army reserves and deal with an intifada. The probability of such a conflagration between Israel and the Palestinians also depends on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. In a bid to head off annexation, Abbas declared in May a complete cut-off from Israel, and for a change, he went through with it. As of now, there are no official contacts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), the security coordination between the sides has been all but suspended save some low-level contacts, and the Palestinians are refusing to accept the tax and customs revenues that Israel collects for them. As a result, the PA is having a hard time paying salaries of its tens of thousands of employees. The PAs coronavirus cooperation with Israel has also been frozen, even as a renewed outbreak of the disease is sweeping the Palestinian territories. A senior military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, Given this situation, Abbas could lose control of the rank and file, undermining his ability to regulate anti-annexation protests should Israel go ahead with the move. Pay for the PAs security forces has been cut in half in light of the budgetary shortfall, while the power of the Tanzim, the armed wing of the Fatah movement, keeps growing. In principle, Abbas is not interested in an intifada and does not really want to hand Israel the keys to the PA, the official said, referring to repeated threats by Abbas to step back and let Israel run the affairs of over 2 million Palestinian residents. But because he is growing weaker, the public protest could be turned against him and he could find himself facing a wave of violence, which he will be unable to control or turn around. Given this current state of affairs, with the absence of an American green light for annexation, the economy galloping toward an unprecedented recession, unemployment that has surged almost overnight to some 20%, a wave of bankruptcies and business closures, and an exponential plunge in Netanyahus popularity, the prime minister is unlikely to undertake any kind of annexation. The warnings of violence, ongoing opposition by the Blue and White partner in Netanyahus government, and the cost Israel could be forced to pay in terms of its ties with Europe and with moderate official and unofficial Arab allies all argue against the likelihood of such a controversial measure. All these considerations lead to one conclusion: Trumps deal of the century, which includes approval for Israeli annexation of up to 30% of the West Bank, could end up being the fiasco of the century, born in sin and dying in agony shortly after coming into this world. The good news for Netanyahu is that the entire non-event, which generated resonating headlines for many months and engaged the public agenda, has been pushed to the outer reaches of the margins given the far more pressing problems he faces, chief among them the health and economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. He now has to decide whether to escalate tensions further over the budget with his government partner, the Blue and White party, and use the failure to reach agreement on the issue as an excuse to dismantle the partnership and call new elections, even as the once-flourishing economy disintegrates into chaos on primetime TV. As always with Netanyahu, these assessments all come with the warning that it is too soon to bury the greatest magician of Israeli politics ever, but it is also not a good idea to step into his shoes. The wife of a policeman based at the Machinery Police Station in Makueni County,Kenya sustained severe burns after reportedly setting herself on fire. Police Constable Joshua Makanga, in his report at the same police station, said that his wife, Dorina Luchera, set herself on fire after pouring paraffin on her body. Makanga, said that his wife, a detective based at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters in Nairobi, burned herself in reaction to a domestic dispute. Police officers rushed to the scene and found that the officer had sustained 52 percent burns all over her body, said the report filed by the husband. The DCI officer was taken to the Kibwezi Sub-County Hospital where she is admitted in fair condition. Follow Us on Facebook @LadunLiadi; Instagram @LadunLiadi; Twitter @LadunLiadi; Youtube @LadunLiadiTV for updates Despite calls from media and human rights organizations to lift the internet ban, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has extended 4G internet restriction until July 29. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Indian affiliate the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) condemn the prolonged shutdown and call on the Indian government to lift the restriction on 4G internet. The order was issued on July 8 by the principal secretary to the Home Department Shaleen Kabra. Defending the widespread criticism of the ban by human right and media rights quarters, Kabra claimed that the restrictions have not had a negative impact on government efforts to control Covid-19 , or on education and business activities. Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, monitors for freedom of expression and freedom of the media have raised concerns for Kashmirs seven million people. The current order stipulates that the prolonged ban is aimed at curbing misuse of data for provocative content on the social media and prevent or reduce rumour mongering and fake news among others. Although communications blockade have been gradually lifted since the January Supreme Court ruling, controls on high-speed mobile internet continues. On January 10, a judgment from Indias Supreme Court ruled the indefinite communications shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir as impermissible. The Indian government imposed the internet shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, following unilateral abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India. The IJU president Geetartha Pathak said: J&K administrations reasoning of not extending 4G services is untenable and reveals its intent on clamping down on freedoms in a digital society. It has also recently announced a new media policy which is draconian. It gives the administration powers to define and decide about fake, unethical or anti-national news. The policy may be used to silence the critical opinion and news- coverage. The IFJ said: Access to information is a fundamental right enshrined in the Indian constitution. Banning 4G internet service is against the constitutional spirit and a violation of the publics right to information. The IFJ calls on the Indian government to immediately lift the restrictive ban. Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for the United States by selling the CIA information on the Islamic republic's missile program. Reza Asgari, an Iranian citizen, was executed last week, regime spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaili was quoted as saying by the judiciary's official website Mizan Online. He had worked at the defense ministry's aerospace division for years but retired around four years ago, the spokesman added. Asgari had received large sums of money from the US Central Intelligence Agency 'after retirement by selling them the information he had regarding our missiles'. Iran has executed a man convicted of spying for the United States by selling the CIA information on the Islamic republic's missile program. Pictured: An Iranian missile being launched during a test in June Reza Asgari, an Iranian citizen, was executed last week, regime spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmaili (pictured) was quoted as saying by the judiciary's official website Mizan Online 'He was identified, tried, and sentenced to death,' Esmaili said. He added that the death sentence passed for Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, another Iranian who was found guilty of espionage last month, was also set to go ahead. Majd was accused of spying on Iran's armed forces and helping the US to locate Qasem Soleimani, the top Iranian general killed later in an American drone strike in Baghdad. Iran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq, but US President Donald Trump opted against responding militarily. The execution of Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, another Iranian who was found guilty of espionage last month, is also set to go ahead. Majd was accused of spying on Iran's armed forces and helping the US to locate Qasem Soleimani (pictured), the top Iranian general killed in an American drone strike in Baghdad While the attack on the western Iraqi base of Ain Al-Asad left no US soldiers dead, dozens suffered brain trauma. Iran in February handed down a similar sentence for Amir Rahimpour, another man convicted of spying for the US and conspiring to sell information on Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran announced in December it had arrested eight people 'linked to the CIA' and involved in nationwide street protests that erupted the previous month over a surprise petrol price hike. It also said in July 2019 that it had dismantled a CIA spy ring, arrested 17 suspects between March 2018 and March 2019 and sentenced some of them to death. Trump at the time dismissed the claim as 'totally false'. Iran retaliated by firing a volley of ballistic missiles at US troops stationed in Iraq, but US President Donald Trump opted against responding militarily Iran's attack on the Ain Al-Asad air base in January came on the same night it mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner. A report released last weekend alleged that a misaligned missile battery, miscommunication between troops and their commanders and a decision to fire without authorization all led to Iran's Revolutionary Guard shooting down the jet. The report, released late on Saturday by Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation, comes months after the January 8 crash near Tehran that killed all 176 people on board. 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 aircraft's black box flight recorder is due to be sent to Paris, where international investigators will finally be able to examine it. At the time, Iranian troops were bracing for a US counterstrike following their airbase attack and appear to have mistaken the plane for a missile. The Venezuelan people continue to suffer under an illegitimate regime intent on destroying democratic institutions. Most recently, the regime of Nicolas Maduro has moved to tighten its grip on power by thwarting the possibility of free and fair elections in Venezuela. The Maduro regime-controlled Supreme Court recently named a new, regime-aligned National Electoral Council, taking over the constitutional right of the National Assembly to fill these seats. The illegitimate National Elections Council then announced that elections for a new National Assembly will be held December 6. The Venezuelan legislative body is the only branch of the government not controlled by Maduro and is currently led by opposition leader and interim President of Venezuela Juan Guaido. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement, condemned Maduros puppet National Elections Committee for laying the groundwork for the Maduro regime to illegitimately remain in power without the consent of the Venezuelan people. Not satisfied there, the illegitimate Supreme Court, the TSJ, has also stolen the name and branding of three major political opposition parties and replaced their leadership with Maduros lackeys. Creating puppet opposition parties is yet another part of Maduro's plan to convince the world that Venezuelans have a choice in any future elections he supervises. The recent decisions by Maduros rigged Central Elections Committee and illegitimate Supreme Court only have one goal, said Secretary Pompeo, to deny the Venezuelan people their unalienable right to choose their government officials through free and fair democratic elections. The people of Venezuela and the international community will not recognize the outcome of fraudulent processes, declared Secretary Pompeo. All those who collaborate in denying the people of Venezuela their democratic and human rights may be held immediately accountable by the international community. The United States has proposed a democratic roadmap, known as the Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela that includes a transition to a broadly-accepted emergency government that can immediately address the humanitarian crisis and organize free and fair presidential and legislative elections, as well as a pathway to lifting Venezuela-related sanctions. The United States, said Secretary Pompeo, will continue to stand with the people of Venezuela who want their freedom. Web Toolbar by Wibiya Canadians ought to assume that, with coronavirus cases surging to record levels in the United States, and with over 80 per cent of Canadians in favour of keeping the Canada-U.S. border closed to non-essential travel, the current renewal deadline on our border will simply be extended. That's just common sense. But this is the same prime minister who thought it was right to allow his mom to be paid a considerable appearance fee through the WE Foundation in relation to a government-endorsed youth programme. This is also the same prime minister who has sold the interests of First Nations and our environment to billion-dollar U.S. Big Oil interests regarding a pipeline project in western Canada. This is also the same prime minister who has, according to CTV News, unbeknownst to Canadians, allowed roughly 400 U.S. troops to be stationed in Winnipeg in violation of Canadian sovereignty. The only way that we as Canadians can ensure that the Justin Trudeau minority Liberal government respects the desire of the overwhelming majority of Canadians to maintain the closure of the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential travel is to make our wishes loud and clear to this government. We must let them know that, if Trudeau once more capitulates to corruption and U.S. interests by opening the border to Americans, we will support the toppling of the federal Liberal government by opposition parties, in spite of the pandemic, on this life-and-death matter of protecting Canadians from a proliferating American disaster. When Canadians read in daily newspapers and watch on the TV news that there are "negotiations" taking place on the extension of the Canada-U.S. border closure, we Canadians ought to be very concerned. From the standpoint of protecting the lives of Canadians, this should be a "no-brainer" automatic extension, case closed. There should be no such "negotiations." The prevailing border arrangement has, to-date, worked well for us Canadians and protected us from the United States' complete mishandling of the pandemic which has led that country to become the coronavirus centre of the world. When we hear the word "negotiations," we can expect that the Trudeau government is now putting Canadian lives on the auction block to forms of political bribery and kickbacks. The continued closure of the Canada-U.S. border does not look good for U.S. president Donald Trump. He has already endured the embarrassment of being shut out of Europe. So, rest assured, Trump will be seeking to use the threat of aluminum tariffs and the so-called "USMCA" to pressure Trudeau to capitulate, along with his troops stationed in Winnipeg and other such threats. Trump is looking for some good public relations in his pandemic mess, and Canada opening-up its borders would give him some good PR toward his election bid. Of course, he will make sure Trudeau knows that he expects him to be a "good partner" if he wants to be in the good books of those big business interests which contribute to Liberal Party campaign coffers. Trudeau will also be seeking to appease 29 U.S. Congressional representatives led by Brian Higgins' Northern Border Caucus. This caucus is currently demanding that Canada open its borders to American property owners in Canada and other such travellers, and essentially turn a blind eye to the prospects of sharing Americas coronavirus problem, like an old lover that now wants to share their sexually transmitted disease. With all this said, can't you now envision a backsliding Trudeau capitulating to Donald Trump while also offering Canadians some specious promises about beefing-up our borders with health authorities to somehow screen vacationing Americans as the price Canadians have to pay to be a "good partner" in the USMCA? This is a wake-up call to Canadians. Let the Trudeau government hear your voices loud and clear. Silently relying on Trudeau continuing to use good judgement on safeguarding the lives of Canadians may be asking too much. The Trudeau government has sold-out First Nations. His government has failed to legally redress the murders of visible minorities at the hands of police. It is therefore not a far stretch to assume that Trudeau may sell out Canadians on the pandemic, in light of his governments lack of respect for human life in other areas of his public policies. The Delhi University will conduct the final year UG, PG examinations from 17 August. The examinations will conclude on 8 September. The Delhi University will conduct the final year UG, PG examinations from 17 August. The examinations will conclude on 8 September. According to a report by The Indian Express, the University of Delhi informed the Delhi High Court that it "shall conduct the examinations for the final semester/term/year students of all undergraduate and postgraduate courses, including the School of Open Learning (SOL) and Non-Collegiate Womens Education Board (NCWEB), in the online Open Book Examinations (OBE) mode "remotely". The report said that the varsity announced the new dates after the high court on 9 July directed it to file an affidavit, detailing the schedule of the final-year undergraduate (UG) examinations. The exams were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by news agency IANS, said that the Delhi University in over 160-page affidavit said that it would be conducting mock tests in two phases so that the students get familiar with the OBE mode. The first phase of mock tests would be held from 31 July to 4 August, while the second phase would be held from 8 to 12 August. A report by Careers 360 said that the University in its affidavit saying that for students who will not be able to appear for in the examinations in OBE mode remotely, it has been decided to conduct an additional phase of examinations through online/offline/blended mechanism. This is being done to provide another opportunity to the students, Delhi University said. According to news agency ANI, the Delhi University had postponed the online examinations of final year students of UG and PG course, which were scheduled to begin from 10 July. The Careers 360 report said that the university in its affidavit has said that the evaluation of answer sheets will commence from the first week of September and will continue till the first week of October. The University in its affidavit said that depending upon the number of students appearing for the OBE remotely, it is expected to declare the results for different courses from the first week of October and conclude latest by November end. Stolen US vehicle found in Mexico loaded with drugs Altar, Sonora Elements of the National Guard have seized 100 packages of marijuana that were found inside an abandoned US-plated pickup. The truck was found roadside in the municipality of Atlar in the state of Sonora during a foot patrol. National guards walking the dirt road in Altar came across the pickup, which was loaded with 520 kilos of marijuana. The packages were stacked in both the cabin and bed of the truck. After running the U.S. plates, Mexican authorities found the Arizona owner had filed a theft report. The vehicle and its contents were seized and handed over to the Attorney General for investigation. New Delhi: After actor Parth Samthaan of 'Kasautii Zindagi Kay' tested positive for coronavirus over the weekend, actress Bipasha Basu said that she feels all shootings should stop till the situation is better. She commented on a Mumbai-based paparazzo's post on Parth's diagnosis and said that actors are most vulnerable as they have to shoot without any protection and hence, the shootings should be stalled as of now as it's risky. "All shoots should stop till the situation is a little better. Actors are the most vulnerable.. most of the unit is protected with all PPE, gloves, masks, shields. But actors have to shoot without any protection. Its just plain risky," read Bipasha's comment. Parth is Bipasha's actor husband Karan Singh Grover's former co-star. Karan played Mr Bajaj in 'Kasautii Zindagi Kay' for a brief period. He has now been replaced by Karan Patel. 'Kasautii Zindagi Kay' is headlined by Parth and Erica Fernandes, who star as Anurag and Prerna. After Parth said he has tested positive for COVID-19, Ekta Kapoor, the producer of the show, said that all necessary precautions will be taken on the sets. Team 'Kasautii Zindagi Kay' resumed shooting last week after over three months due to the pandemic. New episodes have started airing from Monday. CORVALLIS, Ore. - Caspian terns feeding on young fish have a significant impact on runs of steelhead in the Columbia River, research by Oregon State University suggests. Through detailed analysis of steelhead survival and Caspian tern predation rates, the researchers found that the birds are not only preying on fish that would perish for some other reason, but are adding to the annual death toll by eating steelhead smolts that would have survived without tern pressure. In scientific terms, the findings indicate that the terns are having an "additive" effect on prey mortality rather than a "compensatory" one. The study was published in Ecological Applications. In the Columbia Basin, 13 of 20 populations of anadromous salmon and steelhead are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Caspian terns, a protected migratory bird species native to the region, have been the object of predator management in the Columbia Basin in an effort to protect smolts, especially steelhead smolts, from being eaten before they can swim downstream to the ocean. The largest breeding colony of Caspian terns in the world was formerly on a small island in the lower Columbia River estuary between Oregon and Washington. It hosted more than 10,000 breeding pairs in 2008, just prior to implementation of nonlethal management to reduce colony size to between 3,125 and 4,375 breeding pairs. "There has been little research, however, into whether reduced predation actually results in greater overall salmonid survival, either at the smolt stage, where the predation is taking place, or across the lifetime of the fish," said Oregon State's Dan Roby, professor emeritus in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife of the College of Agricultural Sciences. "Without clear evidence that reduced predation means greater survival to adulthood, management to reduce predator impacts would be a waste of time and resources." To tackle the question, Roby and collaborators at Real Time Research, Inc., of Bend and the University of Washington looked at 11 years' worth of mark-recapture-recovery data for almost 80,000 steelhead trout smolts from the Upper Columbia population that were tagged and released to continue their out-migration to the ocean. After release, the tagged fish were exposed to predation throughout multiple stretches of river on their journey toward the Pacific. The tag-recovery data made possible estimates of the weekly probability of steelhead survival, mortality from being eaten by birds and death from other causes. "This approach allowed us to directly measure the connection between smolt survival and tern predation," Roby said. Estimates of tern predation on steelhead were substantial for most of the years studied, he said. And increases in tern predation probabilities were connected with statistically significant decreases in steelhead survival for all of the years evaluated and both of the fish life stages studied: smolt out-migration and smolt-to-adult returns. "Our results provide the first evidence that predation by Caspian terns may have been a super additive source of mortality during the smolt stage and a partially additive source in the smolt-to-adult life stage," Roby said. "A persistent pattern was clear: For each additional 10 steelhead smolts successfully consumed by Caspian terns, about 14 fewer smolts from each cohort survived out-migration." Another pattern: On average, for every 10 steelhead smolts eaten by terns, one fewer individual from each cohort returned to the Columbia Basin as an adult. "Our model shows that mortality from tern predation was primarily additive and therefore has a credible, significant impact on prey survival," Roby said. "Predator-prey models need to consider additive effects of predation across life stages to avoid exaggerating potential benefits from management actions aimed at reducing predator populations to enhance prey populations. The primary value of the study is by analyzing the true effects of natural predators on populations of their prey, and thereby assessing the conservation value to prey of managing predators." Roby notes that the study by OSU, Real Time Research, and the University of Washington contradicts recently published research by scientists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Fish Passage Center, who found that steelhead mortality due to tern predation is compensatory. That paper, in the Journal of Wildlife Management, suggests that "management efforts to reduce the abundance of the [tern] colonies are unlikely to improve the survival or conservation status of steelhead." ### Collaborating with Roby were corresponding author Quinn Payton, who has a doctoral degree from OSU, and others from Real Time Research, and Nathan Hostetter of the University of Washington. The Public Utility District No. 2 of Grant County, Washington, the Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers funded the research. A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday rejected the bail applications of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) promoters Rakesh Wadhawan and his son Sarang Wadhawan, who are arrested in the multi-crore Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank fraud case. The Wadhawans had claimed they were ready to repay the banks loans and had provided enough collateral security in the form of immovable properties while taking the loan. However, the prosecution objected to their contentions, stating that the value of the properties, which were submitted as security, was far less than shown. The court rejected the bail plea after considering arguments from both sides. Meanwhile, lawyers of Rakesh Wadhawan, who recently tested positive for Covid-19, had pleaded to the court to consider his health before issuing an order. They had also moved an application to transfer him to a private hospital from GT Hospital, a government facility, where he is currently admitted. Police officials informed the court that Rakesh was first taken to JJ Hospital, but as it did not have a Covid-19 ward, he was transferred to GT Hospital. His lawyer, Subodh Desai, on Tuesday argued that Rakesh has been suffering from several serious ailments, including gastrointestinal bleeding. The lawyer requested the court for a report from GT Hospital, clarifying if they have all the facilities to treat his illnesses. The court asked for a report from GT Hospital and has scheduled the next hearing for Wednesday. Rakesh and Sarang were booked by the economic offence wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police after they defaulted on repayment of a loan taken from PMC Bank. The two allegedly conspired with senior bank officials to secure the loan without proper security. After the EOW case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), too, initiated a probe into money laundering allegations against the duo. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 By Leman Zeynalova Trend: The Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned by reports of exchanges of fire, including with heavy weaponry, along the Armenia-Azerbaijan international border, which reportedly resulted in fatalities, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General said in a statement, Trend reports. The Secretary-General urges an immediate end to the fighting and calls on all involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric. The Secretary-General has taken note of the statement issued by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs, and reiterates his full support for their efforts to address this dangerous situation and search for a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Several Azeri and Armenian soldiers have been killed or wounded in border clashes, both countries said on Monday, each accusing the other of encroaching on its territory. The two former Soviet republics have long been in conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, although the latest clashes occurred around the Tavush region in northeast Armenia, some 300 km (190 miles) from the mountainous enclave. The Azeri defence ministry said four of its soldiers had been killed and five wounded while Armenia's ministry said three of its soldiers and two police officers had been wounded in the clashes. BAKU/YEREVAN (Reuters) - Several Azeri and Armenian soldiers have been killed or wounded in border clashes, both countries said on Monday, each accusing the other of encroaching on its territory. The two former Soviet republics have long been in conflict over Azerbaijan's breakaway, mainly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, although the latest clashes occurred around the Tavush region in northeast Armenia, some 300 km (190 miles) from the mountainous enclave. The Azeri defence ministry said four of its soldiers had been killed and five wounded while Armenia's ministry said three of its soldiers and two police officers had been wounded in the clashes. The exchanges of fire began on Sunday and continued into Monday in. The two sides traded accusations of ceasefire violations and shelling. Azeri President Ilham Aliyev accused the Armenian leadership of a "provocation". Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the leadership of Azerbaijan would be responsible for "the unpredictable consequences of the regional destabilisation". The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a security watchdog that has tried to help find a solution to the conflict, urged the two countries to speak to each other to prevent any further escalation. Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous part of Azerbaijan, is run by ethnic Armenians, who declared independence during a conflict that broke out as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991. Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia continue to accuse each other of shooting attacks around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the separate Azeri-Armenian frontier. The frozen Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has concerned the international community in part because of its threat to stability in a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets. (Reporting by Nailia Bagirova in Baku, Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan and Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi; Writing by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Despite the continued coronavirus resurgence across the state, the state Labor Party government in Victoria decreed on Sunday the return of teachers and senior students to schools after a holiday break, directly endangering their health. The government announced only a limited resumption of remote learning from home for other school students in Melbourne. Far from protecting teachers, school staff and students, the announcement represents another half measure that will result in further preventable COVID-19 cases. Year 11 and 12 students have been told to return to classrooms, as have Year 10 students doing senior subjects for the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) or Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). In addition, students in many of the states 108 specialist schoolsfor children with additional needs such as autism and physical and intellectual disabilitiesmust return to classrooms. Also able to return are students in mainstream schools who are deemed vulnerable or who have any kind of disability, including those who receive no additional funding or support. This applies to tens of thousands of children. The government has said teachers must work from their schools, even when they deliver remote teaching. This contradicts the wider official lockdown recommendation that everyone who can work from home should do so. Principals have the authority to allow certain teachers to work off-site, but the stated default setting is for all teachers to work from school. Among other significant implications, this will mean that teachers children will join those compelled to attend their own schools each day. In addition to all these students, official guidelines state that children whose parents or caregivers cannot work from home should go to school. This applies not just for essential workers, for example in the hospitals and healthcare industry, but for workers in every sector. Throughout the pandemic, the priority for every level of government, Labor and Liberal-National, has been to ensure that big business can operate as closely to normal as possible, maintaining profits. The sweeping return to school represents a threat to public safety. Previous official claims that schools are safe, and that children are less vulnerable to coronavirus infection and also less contagious, have been further exposed during the latest infection surge. The largest single cluster in Melbourne is at Al-Taqwa College, in the working-class western suburb of Truganina, where 144 infections have been registered among teachers and students. The school is just one of dozens of high schools, primary schools, and kindergartens that have been closed temporarily in recent weeks after having confirmed coronavirus cases. There are 127,000 Years 11 and 12 students in Victoria, with the large majority in Melbourne. As a result of the governments decision, about 100,000 young adults will be travelling through the city every morning and afternoon, some catching crowded trains, trams and buses, on which wearing masks has not been made compulsory. Their teachers are likewise being put in danger, especially the numerous teaching and school staff who have, or their family members have, related medical risk factors. Teachers are permitted to wear masks in their classrooms, but are not being encouraged to do so and are not being provided with this personal protective equipment. Speaking alongside Labor Premier Daniel Andrews last Sunday, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton declared: Teaching is pretty tough with a mask on, they require those facial expressions, they need to be heard clearly. Teachers in specialist schools have been made especially vulnerable. Some students with significant disabilities have difficulty with behavioural issues including spitting, and others need assistance going to the toilet. A petition urging the government to afford equal health rights for staff and students in specialist schools has more than 4,200 signatures. Andrews provoked outrage among many teachers when he said that keeping these schools open was aimed at providing parents with respite. Teachers are not respite workers, yet are being forced to play this role as a result of chronic and ongoing funding shortages for children with disabilities. One teacher posted a video, asking the government: Why are our rights, and the rights of these students to their health and safety, being put at risk? Why are they seen as less valuable than the rights of parents to have a break from their kids? Why are we seen as collateral damage for getting the economy going again? Anger is evident across the teaching profession. There has been no clear explanation from the government as to why it is demanding teachers work on site, rather than from home, as occurred during the first lockdown period, in late April and early May. It appears to serve firstly as a disciplinary mechanismallowing principals to surveil staff more effectively than if they were working from homeand secondly to ensure there are enough teachers to cope with the large numbers of students exempt from the home study recommendation. Teachers have expressed their opposition on social media. One wrote: My school is in Keilor Downs [one of the worst affected suburbs] and was closed before the end of term 2 due to a child testing positive for COVID-19. We have a number of families in the school area testing positive. I do not live in Keilor Downs. Tell me why I have to go into work at a school that is in a hot spot zone potentially putting myself and my family at risk? Another added: If you can work from home, you must work from home, unless youre a teacher! In that case, sit in an office with five other people and do exactly the same thing you could do from home! Wheres the union? Do we have a union? The Australian Education Union (AEU) is, in fact, collaborating with the governments push to open the schools. From the beginning of the pandemic, the bureaucracy has functioned as the governments eager partner. The AEU has relayed every edict and worked to defuse teacher opposition. Union officials played an important role in preparing for the announcement that teachers would have to endanger their safety by working from school, even when their students were learning from home. Last Thursday, after this measure had been proposed by the states Principals Association, AEU Victorian deputy president Justin Mullaly offered his endorsement. If it can be done safely and reasonably I think there is a benefit to staff working together, he told the Age. Teachers need to organise independently to defend their safety and that of their students and families. The Committee for Public Education (CFPE) has urged educators and school staff to form safety action committees in every school, developing the widest discussion on the necessary measures that must be taken. The CFPE has demanded that Melbournes school system be closed and a raft of related emergency measures implemented to support the wellbeing of all school staff, students and their families (see: Organise teachers, parents and school staff committees to oppose reckless school reopening in Melbourne!). The CFPE encourages all teachers, school staff, and affected students and families to participate in our online public forum, being held this Saturday, July 18, at 4 p.m. (AEST). The details are available here. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Florida announced another 12,624 cases of COVID-19 Monday, the second-highest daily total for a state now known as one of the world centers for the disease. The number of people hospitalized continued to rise, going from 7,511 Sunday to 8,072 on Monday, according to the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration. The new case total fell short of the record-shattering 15,300 cases announced Sunday, a figure that generated headlines across the United States and maintained Florida's status as one of the states driving the disease's resurgence. There were 35 additional deaths, according to the Florida Department of Health, which puts out daily reports on the COVID-19 situation. This was the lowest daily death count in more than a week, although death totals fluctuate from day to day, and the two-week trend in deaths has been up. In one favorable sign, the positivity rate, a key figure to indicate the prevalence of the disease, continued a decline begun last week. The rate Monday was 12.9%, down from last Wednesday's peak of 20.7%. Experts say states should aim for a positivity rate of 10% or less. The World Health Organization has recommended a positivity rate of 5% before countries start to reopen. SOUTH FLORIDA South Florida, which accounts for 29% of Florida's population, reported 5,416 new cases in the past day, or 43% of the total. Broward County: 1,459 new coronavirus cases reported Monday, bringing the total to 31,484. A total of 487 people have died, with no more deaths reported since Sunday. Palm Beach County: 788 new cases were reported, bringing the total to 21,806. A total of 625 people have died, five more since Sunday. Miami-Dade County: 3,269 new cases, bringing the total to 67,713. A total of 1,158 people have died. That's four more than Sunday. HOSPITALIZATIONS An additional 574 people were reported hospitalized for COVID-19 Monday, an 8% increase over Sunday. The total hospitalized stands at 8,072. Miami-Dade County has the most people hospitalized, with 1,806, followed by Broward with 1,211, a 30% increase over the 931 people hospitalized Sunday. Palm Beach County with 622, one less than Sunday. TESTING TRENDS AND THE POSITIVITY RATE Since the pandemic began, 282,435 people have tested positive for the virus in Florida. So far, a total of 2.6 million people have been tested. The positivity rate for the 24-hour period is 11.5%. The daily positive test rate in Monday's report was 13.8% for Broward County, 20.2% for Miami-Dade and 11% for Palm Beach. DEATHS Statewide: The official COVID-19 death total for Florida stood at 4,381 on Monday. That figure includes 104 non-residents. Senior care: At least 2,114 of the state's deaths have occurred in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, a figure that represents 48% of the state's total for coronavirus deaths. Broward accounted for 169 deaths or 8%. Miami-Dade accounted for 553 deaths, or 26%, Pinellas County has 170, or 8% and Palm Beach County had 259 deaths, or 12%. GLOBAL VIEW U.S.: The coronavirus death toll in the United States reached 135,295 as of 1:30 p.m. Eastern time Monday, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center at Johns Hopkins University. The United States reported more than 3.3 million cases, the highest total in the world. Death tolls remained highest in New York State, with 32,350, and New Jersey, with 15,525. But those numbers have barely budged since Sunday, with New York, once the nation's worst-hit state, reported only two additional deaths, and New Jersey reporting none. Worldwide: The global total reached nearly 13 million cases Monday, with at least 570,259 deaths, Johns Hopkins reported. The U.S. has 4.3% of the worlds population and 26% of the worlds cases. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, chairs a symposium attended by economists and entrepreneurs to analyze economic situation in Beijing, capital of China, July 13, 2020. Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called Monday for efforts to enhance effective delivery of policies while stepping up reform and opening-up to keep the economic fundamentals stable. Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the remarks while chairing a symposium attended by economists and entrepreneurs to analyze the economic situation. Economists Ma Jun and Jiang Chao, as well as representatives from the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, household appliance manufacturer Haier Group and e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, made remarks during the meeting. Noting that the economy has encountered unusual headwinds this year, attendees at the meeting said that policies such as tax and fee cuts and inclusive financing introduced by the government have played an active role in keeping business operations and employment stable. Despite the unprecedented challenges posed by the COVID-19 epidemic and the global economic recession this year, China's economy has recently shown trends of rebounding, with a timely effort on the resumption of work and production, revealing the economy's strong resilience and huge room for maneuver, Li said. However, he urged efforts to prepare for the tough battle ahead, as international uncertainties continue to mount and employment pressure on the domestic front remains prominent. Efforts must be made to fully implement policies to support enterprises and stimulate market vitality, he noted, stressing efforts to accomplish economic and social development targets this year. Li underlined efforts to enhance the timeliness of macro-policy implementation, while focusing on securing employment, people's livelihoods and market entities. Proactive fiscal measures, prudent monetary policies and an employment-first policy must be fully implemented, and tax cuts and fee reductions will be promoted on a larger scale, Li said. Fiscal funds should go straight to grassroots levels to directly benefit businesses and people in need, according to Li. He also stressed efforts to keep liquidity at a reasonable and adequate level and further lower the financing costs of medium, small and micro-sized enterprises, while rolling out multi-pronged measures to help key groups, such as college graduates and migrant workers, to find jobs. The country should leverage reform and opening-up as an impetus to boosting market vitality and enhancing the resilience of development, Li said. The government should further delegate powers, streamline administration and improve services, so that it can perform its role better and the market can play the decisive role in resource allocation, he said. The ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation should be improved, Li said, calling for more efforts to develop the industrial Internet and foster new forms of business. The country's consumption potential shall be further unleashed via reforms, such as integrated sales of farm produce through both online and offline channels, Li said. The country will give better play to the role of government investments in driving social capital into new infrastructure, fresh urbanization initiatives and major projects, he said. Vice Premier Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the meeting. Photo credit: Facebook/Rosecastle at Deerwood From Country Living The COVID-19 pandemic has put a halt on visiting hours in nursing homes and other residential care facilities. For one Florida woman, this meant she was unable to see her husband, but she remedied the situation by taking a job as a dishwasher at his nursing home. After being barred from her husbands nursing home for 114 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 57-year-old Floridian Mary Daniel was looking for ways to get around the visitor ban. After having little luck, she got a call that a dishwashing job opened at his facility and she eagerly applied in hopes of being reunited with her husband, Steve, of 24 years. Thankfully, it worked! "I went to see him every single night, got him ready for bed," Mary told Today. "I went in on March 10 and on March 11, they called and said, 'You cant come back.' Then, out of the blue two weeks ago, they called and said, 'Do you want a job?' When I found out it was as a dishwasher, I thought, 'Well, okay! I guess I'm a dishwasher now. I had to have a background check, a drug test, a COVID test, 20 hours of video training on everything, including infectious diseases. It was 100 percent legit." While she shared with The Palm Beach Post that she was afraid that Steve, who had been living in the memory care unit with early-onset Alzheimers, wouldnt remember her, she was surprised that he cried and called her by name as soon as he saw her on her first day. In appreciation of her new jobwhere she gets to work 90-minute shifts on Thursday and Fridays and see Steve as a resultand not wanting to put members of Steves memory care facility at risk, Mary says that she refrains from going anywhere unnecessary and always practices social distancing when she is out. When the world is crazy, just to have an hour to sit with him, and talk with him. Hell lay his head on my shoulder, Daniel told the outlet. Theres something that comes with that comfort of just being together." You Might Also Like A cheeky, expletive-ridden private tourist campaign seeking to shock defiant travellers into staying at home during COVID-19 has taken off on social media and sparked the sale of online merchandise. Some residents have begged the creators to include their towns in the Do Not Visit Victoria project. Art director Guillermo Carvajal with the Apollo Bay image: "Stay the Absolute F*ck Away". Credit:Jason South But councillors and business leaders in some of the 10 towns showcased are not amused by slogans such as, for Apollo Bay, "Stay the Absolute F**k Away". Art director Guillermo Carvajal said he and copywriter Jess Wheeler, both of Melbourne and who used to work at the same advertising agency, initially planned to make postcards. A two-year-old boy who escaped from his family's motel room has been found 'safe and well' after a frantic search. The toddler, Albert, was reported missing to Western Australian police at 4.30am local time on Tuesday. He left the Stay Margaret River motel, 277km south of Perth, wearing a maroon Harry Potter pyjama set and was found after a search through the surrounding area. Two-year-old Albert (pictured) was reported missing to Western Australian Police at 4.30am on Tuesday after leaving his family's motel room in his Harry Potter pyjamas WA Police said Albert was found 'nearby to his accommodation' after a frantic search through Wallcliffe Road and the surroundings of the Stay Margaret River motel (google view pictured) The search effort focused on looking for Albert close to the motel on Wallcliffe Road. WA Police confirmed just after 8.00am that Albert had been found 'nearby to his accommodation'. 'We are very pleased to report that we have located Albert safe and well and he is now back with his mother,' the statement read. A woman from Perth also staying at the hotel, Rachel, was one of the first people to spot Albert amid the frantic search. 'We went for a walk, about 10 minutes from where we were staying we could just see him standing on the verandah of a property,' she told ABC News. 'We didn't actually go up close but he looked fine, probably a wee bit cold because it's freezing this morning, but yeah he looked alright.' Albert has been taken to Margaret River Hospital for a precautionary check up. WA Police thanked the local community for their quick response in coming to Albert's aid. 'A large number of resources from across the South West were quickly mobilised and committed to finding Albert and the community support was, as always, outstanding.' Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) A group of local banks sought to calm market concerns regarding their loan exposures to ABS-CBN, saying the industry was strong enough to weather the potential impact of the network's shutdown. In a statement, the Bankers Association of the Philippines expressed confidence in the capacity of local players to manage their portfolios following the denial of the legislative franchise of ABS-CBN, the country's biggest media network. "The Bankers Association of the Philippines expresses its confidence in the capacity of banks to manage their credit portfolio in relation to the non-renewal of the ABS-CBN broadcast franchise," the group said on Tuesday. According to September 2019 financial statements, ABS-CBN had outstanding loans worth 27.1 billion, which are owed to multiple institutions. The network borrowed from the following firms, as listed in the quarterly report: BDO Unibank, BDO Unibank - Trust and Investment Group, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Insular Life Assurance Company, Philippine National Bank, PNB Life Insurance (now Allianz PNB Life), and Security Bank which extended a 10-billion syndicated loan in 2010; the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company; and the Union Bank of the Philippines. In separate statements, Insular Life and Allianz PNB Life said they currently have no loan exposure to ABS-CBN, adding that the debt has already been settled in 2014. ABS-CBN said it was compliant with the terms of its loan agreements as of end-September. For its part, the BAP said the industry remains liquid and armed with enough capital to manage credit risks, adding that regulatory caps set by the central bank provide ample buffers during possible episodes of a crisis. "In the midst of todays pandemic and concerns on the non-renewal of the ABS-CBN broadcast franchise, we strongly believe that banks will continue to be steadfast as they are supported by strong financial conditions, robust risk management systems and a good corporate governance," the BAP added. "Most importantly, we are confident that our member banks are prudent and take the welfare of their depositors at paramount importance. Your deposits are protected." RELATED: PH financial markets strong amid COVID-19 pandemic Diokno On July 10, the House Committee on Legislative Franchises voted to deny the Kapamilya network's bid for a new 25-year franchise after a series of hearings into supposed issues lodged against the media giant. Prior to this, the network has stopped its usual TV and radio broadcasts since May 5 due to an order from the National Telecommunications Commission after its existing franchise expired. ABS-CBN shares have been placed on a trading halt since Monday following the news, with the Philippine Stock Exchange saying that the company must first disclose the full impact of the non-renewal of its franchise to its business operations, financial condition, and future plans. Its share price dropped ahead of Friday's historic vote, while the share value of its rival GMA Network soared by 10 percent yesterday. READ: Congress didn't shut down ABS-CBN, we simply ended one family's privilege Cayetano Luis Limlingan, managing director of brokerage firm Regina Capital, said it's still hard to say if banks will stop lending to ABS-CBN with its rejected franchise. He added that the network will have to "show proof" that it can pay its debts to those that will continue to lend, but added that there should be delayed payments. This article has been updated with a statement from Insular Life. Victoria's Chief Health Officer has warned the state's ongoing surge of coronavirus cases will result in at least 200 people requiring hospital care within the next fortnight. Announcing 270 new cases on Tuesday, another hike in numbers after an increase of 177 cases on Monday, Professor Brett Sutton said the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care had shot up by nine overnight, taking the total in Victorian intensive care units to 26. Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton on Tuesday. Credit:Joe Armao With 81 people in hospital with COVID-19 in Victoria, an increase of 13 from Monday, Professor Sutton said the impact of Victoria's second wave in triggering hundreds of hospitalisations would become clear over the next two weeks. "We have over 1800 active cases in Victoria. That's a really significant number of people with coronavirus, and it does mean that in the next fortnight we're going to see a number of people who will require hospital," the Chief Health Officer said. Hirohisa Soma, a senior official from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, walks into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul, Tuesday. The ministry summoned the official to complain about Japan's renewed claim to South Korea's easternmost island of Dokdo in Japan's latest defense white paper. Yonhap The foreign ministry called in a senior Japanese diplomat Tuesday to lodge a protest after Tokyo renewed its claims to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo in its latest defense white paper. Kim Jung-han, director general for Asia and Pacific affairs at Seoul's foreign ministry, summoned Hirohisa Soma, a senior official from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to express regret over the annual report and urge Tokyo to withdraw the claims. Soma entered the ministry building at about 11 a.m., without taking questions from reporters. The defense white paper, approved by Japan's Cabinet earlier in the day, describes the issue of Dokdo as a matter that "remains unresolved," along with its long-standing territorial dispute with Russia over the Kuril Islands. Regarding North Korea's nuclear threats, the policy report used stronger terms to explicitly state that Pyongyang is believed to be capable of attacking Tokyo with nuclear-tipped missiles. The foreign ministry in Seoul urged Japan to immediately withdraw its claims to Dokdo. "We strongly protest that Japan has repeatedly laid unjust territorial claims to Dokdo, which is clearly our inherent territory, historically, geographically and by international law, and we urge for an immediate retraction of the claims," ministry spokesperson Kim In-chul said in a commentary. "Japan should realize that repeating its unjust and absurd claims to Dokdo does nothing to help the bilateral relations between South Korea and Japan. Our government makes it clear once again that the claims by the Japanese government cannot affect our sovereignty over Dokdo and that we will sternly act against any provocation on the islets," he said. Tokyo has laid claims to Dokdo, known as Takeshima in Japan, every year in its diplomatic blue book and defense white paper since 2005, causing tensions with Seoul. Japan's renewed claims to the islets come at a time when their bilateral ties remain badly frayed over compensating Korean forced labor victims and Tokyo's export curbs on Seoul. South Korea rejects the claims because the country regained independence from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule and reclaimed sovereignty over its territory, including Dokdo and many other islands around the Korean Peninsula. Since 1954, South Korea has stationed a small police detachment on Dokdo. (Yonhap) A federal appellate court has cleared the way for a class-action lawsuit to proceed against State Farm Fire and Casualty Insurance Co. that may force the insurer to correct underpayments paid to some 65,000 policyholders. A 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed a district court ruling that certified a class of plaintiffs who may proceed with breach-of contract claims against State Farm. A key issue in the case has already been decided in 2018, when the 6th Circuit affirmed a trial court ruling that insurers cannot include labor costs when calculating depreciation to determine a propertys actual cash value (ACV) under Kentucky law. The improper handling of ACV obligations has been a problem for insureds across the country and has been an obstacle for people who have suffered catastrophic losses, and this is a positive step in the right direction, said Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders. Susan Hicks, one of two lead plaintiffs in the case, is a widow whos husband died when the couples home in Owingsville, Kentucky burned down in 2014. State Farm deducted more than $60,000 for depreciation when it determined the actual cash value of the home. The Xactimate calculator that it used included depreciation for both materials and labor. State Farm deducted more than $40,000 for depreciation of lead plaintiff Don Williams house in Monticello, Kentucky after it was damaged by fire. Williams chose not to repair the home and hasnt recovered the depreciated labor costs that were withheld from payment, the suit alleges. The appellate court decision continues a long losing battle for State Farm. The U.S. District Court for Eastern Kentucky ruled in 2015 that under Kentucky law, insurers cannot include depreciation of labor costs when calculating actual cash value. The 6th Circuit affirmed that ruling in 2018. State Farm changed its method of depreciation about three months after the district court ruled it was improper to deduct for labor costs. The plaintiffs attorneys say that the insurer needed only to unclick one of the boxes used by the Xactimate software to come up with the correct actual cash value. The plaintiffs filed suit in 2017 seeking to certify as a class of plaintiffs 65,575 policyholders who received payouts where labor costs were improperly calculated from Feb. 28, 2004 to July 25, 2015. Wystan M. Ackerman, with the Robinson & Cole law firm in Hartford, Connecticut, filed an amicus brief supporting State Farms position on behalf of the American Property and Casualty Insurance Association. He said state laws are not consistent on the issue of whether labor cost depreciation can be used when calculating actual cash value. While the 6th Circuit has ruled that insurers cannot include labor costs when deducting for depreciation in some instances, such deductions may still be proper in states where statutes allow insurers to present broad evidence to support their valuations. Ackerman said the 8th Circuit has ruled that insurers can deduct for depreciation of labor costs under Missouri law. A federal district court reached a similar conclusion in Ohio. In any case, Ackerman said that most Kentucky property insurers have stopped including depreciation of labor costs in their actual cash value calculations. Some jurisdictions, such as California, strictly forbid the practice, he said. The 6th Circuit ruling moves the case back to trial court, which must calculate the damages owed. The amount may far surpass the amount that was underpaid because of the Xactimate calculations. The plaintiffs are also seeking pre-judgment interest on the amount that was underpaid, which in Kentucky is 6 percent a year. The scope of the class of defendants may also change as the case moves forward. Circuit Justice David W. McKeague dissented to a part of the ruling. He said the district court judge certified an overly broad class of plaintiffs that includes claims by homeowners who repaired their homes and were paid those full costs. McKeague said State Farm did not breach the terms of its policies those cases. (In other words, State Farm was contractually obligated to be a good neighbor, not a great one,) McTeague wrote in dissent. He said he expects the trial court to address that question before a final order is issued. State Farm issued this statement: State Farm respectfully disagrees with the appellate courts decision affirming class certification in this case. We deny the allegations and are confident we have upheld our commitment to our policyholders. About the photo: A cellar is all that remains of this home in Morning View, Ky, which was in the direct path of the tornado in March 2012. File photo by Marilee Caliendo/FEMA By Trend Presently, fierce battles are underway in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district, Spokesman for Azerbaijans Defense Ministry Vagif Dargahli told reporters, Trend reports. The Armenian armed forces were forced to retreat by suffering huge losses as a result of the Azerbaijani armys retaliatory strikes, Dargahli added. At the moment, the situation is still extremely tense, the spokesman added. The Armenian side is shelling the Azerbaijani settlements. The Azerbaijani army fully controls the operational situation, the spokesman said. The Azerbaijani people must be sure that the Azerbaijani army is ready to fulfill any order of the supreme commander-in-chief. Starting from July 12 afternoon, while grossly violating the ceasefire regime in Azerbaijans Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border, the Armenian armed forces fired at the Azerbaijani positions by using artillery. As a result of the appropriate measures, the Armenian forces was struck back while suffering losses. Azerbaijani personnel sergeant of military service Vugar Sadigov and corporal Elshad Mammadov died while repelling the attack of the Armenian armed forces. Despite the efforts of the Azerbaijani doctors, severely wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijani army Khayyam Dashdemirov also died. The tension remained in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border on July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Azerbaijani serviceman, senior lieutenant Rashad Mahmudov was killed during the battles. The brazen Monday night slaying of Meechie Hoe, a Philadelphia-born sketch comedian who built a following with irreverent social media videos depicting him working numerous jobs, remained unsolved Wednesday. A gunman fired at least eight bullets at the comedian as he sat in the passenger seat of a car stopped at a traffic light in the citys Olney section Monday night. The driver survived the attack with minor injuries, police said. The entertainers name was Demetrius Green and he lived in the 1600 block of West Wyoming Avenue, police confirmed. He was gunned down just before 11:30 p.m. Monday in the 4800 block of North Fifth Street. No arrest had been made as of Wednesday morning, a Police Department spokesperson said Wednesday. In an interview last week, the 25-year-old from Nicetown told an interviewer: Im chilling, man. Im blessed. Im alive. On Twitter, a woman using the name @Tykeez posted: To yall Meechie was Mr. 1000 jobs but to us he was family! In a second post she said: Up at 4:30 drinking wine because haters wanted to take my uncle that just wanted to make people laugh and really do his acting thing. Philly so ruthless. Philly-born rap star Meek Mill was among fellow entertainers and fans who took to social media to mourn his slaying. They killed Meechie hoe thats Brazy! the rapper said in a post. Ahmir Questlove Thompson, drummer for the Philadelphia-based Roots band Tweeted: ....damn. rip meechie. In a brief statement, Philadelphia police said the victim had been shot in the arm and chest and was pronounced dead after being transported to Albert Einstein Medical Center. The driver of the car suffered a minor injury to his arm. Police offered no motive for the shooting and as of Tuesday afternoon no one had been arrested. In the Friday interview with Philly First 48 on YouTube, the comedian discussed his upcoming ventures and growing up in crime-plagued Nicetown. That s rough, man. You can be here one day and gone tomorrow. Nicetown, thats a rough joint. It aint nice where Nicetown is, he said. The entertainers slaying is part of an upward trend in homicides this year. As of last midnight, Philadelphias homicide rate was 26% higher compared with the same date last year, according to the Philadelphia Police Department. There have been 222 slayings this year, with the comedian being the 221st victim . There were 176 people slain through July 14 last year, according to the departments data. Gov. John Bel Edwards has ratcheted up Louisianas restrictions to combat the coronaviruss spread, instituting a statewide mask mandate, putting tougher limits on group gatherings and shuttering bars. The tightened requirements took effect on July 13. The order is aimed at trying to curb a sharp rise in infections of COVID-19 that is sparking troubling surges in hospitalization rates. Masks will be required when entering establishments statewide, though some parishes can opt out if they meet certain thresholds for the virus. Those parishes are Grant, Red River and West Feliciana, Edwards said. Bars will be closed to in-person consumption, regardless of whether they serve food. They will still be allowed to offer curbside pick up. He also banned gatherings above 50 people, except at churches. Thats down from a 250-person limit currently in effect. Its become clear to me especially after the numbers we saw yesterday that our current restrictions are not enough, Edwards said at a news conference on July 11. Closing bars are not a step I wanted to take, but bars have proven to be a hotspot for the spread of the coronavirus. The decision comes after coronavirus data has worsened across the state. Louisiana posted more than 2,000 new cases Friday and Saturday, and the share of tests coming back positive has risen along with hospitalizations. Louisiana in recent weeks has seen some of the worst spikes in COVID-19 infections since the early days of the states outbreak, when it was one of the nations hot spots for the coronavirus. Edwards stricter rules took effect the day before Vice President Mike Pences planned July 14 visit to Louisiana to discuss virus response. On Friday, the state reported a near-record increase in confirmed coronavirus cases, with 2,642 positive tests the second-highest daily increase on record since Louisiana saw its first positive test in March and the highest daily spike since early April. Another 2,167 confirmed cases were announced Saturday. This virus touches every corner of the state, said Dr. Joseph Kanter, director of the state health department region that includes New Orleans. We have to turn this around. We can get back on top of this and start driving cases down again, Edward said. We all have a role to play. Simply be a good neighbor. Wear a mask, physically distance, stay home when sick and wash your hands. If youre out and about, dont patronize a business thats not operating safely. We know then that the business will comply. We know that this wont be easy and it wont be quick; but it will be easier if more people comply. But unlike months ago, when the surge in cases centered on the New Orleans area, public health officials have warned they are seeing upticks in nearly every region of the state. At the end of the day, while I know it will be unpopular and controversial to some, we know that face masks work, Edwards said. They help limit the distance that particles will be spread. None of these steps are steps I wanted to take. None are easy. But I think theyre essential. The sizable boost in cases cant be explained solely by increased testing, because the percentage of tests coming back positive is growing and the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized is increasing as well, reaching 1,182 people. The state isnt near the height of its virus hospitalization rates, but Edwards has worried the trends could threaten overwhelming health care facilities if they continue their current trajectory. For months, Edwards has required employees interacting with the public to wear masks, but hed resisted enacting a statewide mask mandate for customers, saying he preferred to let municipalities make their own decisions. Several cities, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, already have issued requirements that people wear face coverings inside businesses though Shreveports mandate was put on hold by a judge. Edwards previously had tried to appeal to Louisiana residents personal responsibility, calling on them to be good neighbors. Beyond the new regulations, the governor is keeping other existing rules in place. That Phase 2 guidance allows churches, restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, hair and nail salons, museums, casinos and other businesses to operate at 50% occupancy. Live music and theater venues remain closed. Louisiana has nearly 77,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Public health experts say the actual infection rate is expected to be much higher because many people do not experience significant symptoms and others never get tested. The state health department says at least 3,295 people have died from COVID-19. For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up within weeks. But for some, especially older adults and those with existing health problems, it can cause more severe or fatal illness. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Louisiana The U.S. Army will open a 30- to 50-bed COVID-19 care unit within United Memorial Medical Center, the Acres Homes hospital serving one of Houstons hardest hit communities. An Army specialty unit of 85 doctors, nurses and other personnel will arrive at United Memorial this week and begin accepting COVID-19 patients transferred from other hospitals, according to the Southeast Texas Regional Advisory Council, which coordinates the regions emergency medical responses. This is certainly a step in the right direction, said Darrell Pile, the councils chief executive officer. While it will not solve our saturation problems completely, it will reduce the number of patients sitting in hospitals needing a higher level of care. A spokesman for U.S. Army North said team members began arriving in Texas Monday and should be deployed in Houston by the end of the week. He would not confirm the hospital was United Memorial. But Dr. Joseph Varon, United Memorials chief medical officer, said he will meet Tuesday with U.S. Army officials to hammer out logistics. While he said the beds his hospital is supplying is a good start to quell the rising crisis in Houston, it is not even close to enough. SETRAC will coordinate which patients will be sent to the new unit, Varon said. Varon added he has no idea why his small hospital was chosen. Maybe because I have been making so much noise, said Varon. The hospital has been the focus of local, national and even international press reports, including the Houston Chronicle, whose reporters and a photographer have been given access to the COVID-19 intensive care unit. As of Monday United Memorial has 60 admitted COVID-19 patients. And while it has another 20 beds that could be pressed into service, there is not enough staff to treat more patients, he said. Varon said his preference would be for the new unit to concentrate on those patients whose condition is less serious so they can be moved through quickly to make room for new patients. On Monday he said he and all of the staff at United Memorial were exhausted. But mostly what he feels is frustration as doctors for weeks have been warning of a coming spike in cases. Its going to get ugly before its nice, he said, this was a foreseeable story that no one wanted to hear. The private, for-profit hospital is situated in one of Houstons historically low-income neighborhoods, home to some of the regions highest numbers of cases. SETRAC Monday also announced that Houston-area rehabilitation facilities in Willowbrook, The Woodlands and Pearland will be utilized for the care of recovering COVID-19 patients. The facilities are three locations of the Medical Resort. todd.ackerman@chron.com jenny.deam@chron.com PHILADELPHIA A 32-year-old Haverford Township resident was killed in a hit-and-run accident about 8:30 Sunday evening on the 3800 block of Ridge Ave. in the Allegheny West section of the city. Police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that hit William Lindsay as he was riding his bicycle just around sundown near Laurel Hill Cemetery. However, police have no description of the vehicle. Lindsay was taken to Temple University Trauma Center where he died later that evening. At a Monday news conference Capt. Mark Overwise said officers are looking for video in an attempt to identify any vehicles that were in that area near the time of the accident. They believe the striking vehicle was heading north towards Roosevelt Blvd. Somewhere there is a vehicle with a broken window or windshield and somebody knows what they did and they need to come talk to us. Maybe they dont know who they hit or what they hit; now they do, said Capt. Overwise. Come talk to us and make it right. Police found traces of broken glass on Lindsays clothing and in his hair. The Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. To submit a tip via telephone, dial 215.686.TIPS (8477) or text a tip to PPD TIP or 773847. New Delhi: Calling a news report on her government accommodation 'fake', Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Tuesday clarified that she will vacate the 35, Lodhi Estate Bungalow by August 1 as per the eviction letter. "This is FAKE NEWS. I have not made any such request to the government. As per the eviction letter handed to me on the 1st of July, I will be vacating the government accommodation at 35 Lodhi Estate by the 1st of August," she tweeted. Her statement came after an IANS report said that "PM Modi has allowed Priyanka Gandhi to retain the Lodhi Estate bungalow for some more time". The report stated: "In a remarkably statesman like move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to a request to allow Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to retain the 35, Lodhi Estate Bungalow for some time. Just when people thought there is witch hunt against the erstwhile first family of Indian politics, the PM's move once again validated his large heartedness." The Centre had recently asked Gandhi to vacate her bungalow in Lutyens' Delhi within a month, following the withdrawal of the Special Protection Group (SPG) cover for her. Gandhi's tweet sparked a war of words between Centre and the Congress leader. While Union Minister for Housing and Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri claimed that a "powerful Congress leader with much clout called him up" with a request on the bungalow, Gandhi insisted that there was no plea by her and she would be vacating the government residence as per the eviction notice. ... as required in the eviction letter. 2/2 Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 14, 2020 According to a notice issued by the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, she has to vacate the bungalow by August 1, failing which it will attract damage charges/penal rent as per rules . The Centre in November replaced the SPG cover for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with Z-plus security by the CRPF. Season 2 of hit Irish comedy series Derry Girls has been removed from streaming platform Netflix after just five days. The show's cult following amassed thousands of worldwide additions since season one of the show debuted on Netflix last year, and there was quite a stir when the second season landed last Thursday, July 9. Derry Girls S2 is now on Netflix if you were looking for an excuse to watch it again. pic.twitter.com/CHNRNahCvA Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) July 9, 2020 Fan favourite Clare (Nicola Coughlan) even took to Twitter to announce the show's arrival to Netflix UK and Ireland. This is so class, thank you, thank you, thank you #DerryGirls Series 2 now streaming on @NetflixUK & Ireland Were Number One lads! pic.twitter.com/qmyKOGEUNK Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) July 10, 2020 In season two, the Derry Girls continue to get up to all their old tricks navigating parents, parties, love interests and school against the backdrop of a precarious peace process in Northern Ireland. But for those who had the self-control not to binge-watch the full season in a day, there's some bad news. UPDATE: it looks like we were a bit early with this one so have had to take season two down for now. We'll let you know when it's coming back as soon as we can. In the meantime, it's available now on All 4. https://t.co/UQR5dZvqeb Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) July 14, 2020 Netflix were forced into a u-turn on Monday night as the second season disappeared from the site's online catalogue. The company made an announcement via Twitter today stating: "UPDATE: it looks like we were a bit early with this one so have had to take season two down for now. We'll let you know when it's coming back as soon as we can. In the meantime, it's available now on All 4." While no details were given, it is believed to most likely be a rights issue. However, you can binge on the full two seasons in all their comedic glory on Channel 4's online player, All 4, by clicking here. 14.07.2020 LISTEN West Africa is facing a new era of opportunity. What will be by 2050 a region comprised of 810 million people, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is booming with human capital , diverse natural resources, arable lands and burgeoning blue economies . Brimming with such resources, the partner nations that comprise ECOWAS have every opportunity to unlock significant foreign direct investment (FDI) and drive autonomous growth for generations to come. Yet despite such regional potential, the world has taken note of groups with links to al Qaeda, Boko Haram and the Islamic State strengthening their foothold across the arid Sahel and Lake Chad . Bunkering and oil piracy has been widespread along the Gulf of Guinea . The region is also experiencing illegal, cross-border trafficking of people, drugs, false medicines and endangered wildlife. Moreover, many of these cross-border crimes have been proven to finance organised terrorist activity, which is spreading fast across the region and continent at large, destabilising the authority of governments and their defence capabilities. Make no mistake - The challenges of the ECOWAS will overwhelm its vast opportunities if not course-corrected and West Africa will be denied the future it so rightly deserves. However, there are solutions to the modern challenges of preserving both West Africas territorial integrity and its future potential. They require a fundamental realignment of the regions threat-assessment capabilities and a greater commitment throughout ECOWAS to implementing comprehensive and collaborative border security reform. West African militaries, naval forces, air forces, border-patrol units, customs and immigration enforcement agencies must seek inroads to greater intranational collaboration while embracing technological innovations, such as the use of readily-available situational awareness, communication and reconnaissance technologies. These are adoptable, surprisingly affordable solutions that are designed to help address what are today asymmetrical, transnational threats. Brutal Boko Haram attacks carried out in markets in Abuja or in Maiduguri, for example, were not necessarily executed by Nigerian citizens; many have in fact emigrated from the Sahel region, at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. This is a today violent territory, where farmer-herder and ethnic conflicts have been exacerbated by land degradation, droughts and food shortages. These are conditions causing extreme poverty, which often, perhaps out of desperation, foster the indoctrination of individuals and whole communities into militant organisations. Simply put, tackling the challenges of the day only within the country of immediate risk, will not necessarily affect lasting change. This requires a broader focus on the region at large, where such threats tend to propagate . The establishment of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) should be a key consideration when developing strategies to deal with border security. FOBs ensure greater control over geographically-transnational pressure points, keeping soldiers deployed and well equipped in hot-spots while enhancing warfighting situational awareness far from major cities or developed infrastructures. FOBs offer enhanced defence capability in theatres often within isolated, high-risk conditions. These bases will offer 24/7 wide-area surveillance technologies vital to mission success and personnel safety, addressing threats that are myriad, unexpected and emanating from all directions. Leveraging these intelligence systems with cross-border-complimentary competencies would allow for shared resources and efficacy in joint missions between armies and border security units. The utilisation of FOBs would dramatically improve reaction time to border crises, on land or by coastline, while deterring attacks in major cities from being carried out in future. Each country has its role to play in regional defence and national vigilance. Improvements in regional security such as the establishment of Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) cannot be achieved unless they are bolstered by international partnerships; with threats stopped long before they can impact at home. Technology has no doubt in recent history served a critical role in enhancing West African regional security. Take Operation Stop , for example, an Interpol-led border management initiative in West Africa showcasing the importance of strong security measures detecting individuals using fraudulent travel documents. Shared access to Interpols 24/7 secure police communication system was extended to militaries and law enforcement units outside the Interpol National Central Bureau (NCB), allowing direct access to criminal databases and encouraging cooperation regionally to positively impact border security across West Africa. Weve also seen similar technologies implemented at the regional level to help solve health crises, such as the Interagency Collaboration on Ebola, spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO). A myriad of humanitarian partners shared intelligence and leveraged cutting edge technologies to mitigate the Ebola crisis from what could have been a Pan-African epidemic. Their programme continues to monitor latest developments and manages response efforts in real-time. Effective border security relies heavily on aerial surveillance and light strike capabilities to engage criminal forces on the ground and/or provide close air support to friendly ground forces. Traditionally, the high costs of acquiring and operating strike aircraft has made it impossible for many air forces on the continent to deploy this capability. Scrambling a fighter jet at a cost of $20,000 per hour to engage a small group of terrorists hiding in hard to reach locations isnt sustainable over the long-term. Defence and security forces facing budget constraints must be capacitated with effective aerial surveillance and strike capability that is affordable (to acquire and operate) and designed for remote missions, taking off and landing on rough airstrips with little ground support and a small logistical footprint. Air forces should be able to opt for aerial solutions that are indeed force multipliers. What if you could use one aircraft, one airframe to conduct a range of missions that normally would take four aircraft to do so? Already we can start thinking about the opportunities that such an aircraft can present to regional air forces that are collaborating on border security. The sharing of resources in a way that saves money, enables more missions to be conducted by less aircraft, but ultimately having more aircraft in the skies that are specially designed for the type of threats and environments that west African forces are facing today. There is now such a solution that is also an African designed and produced aircraft. MWARI (the all seeing, all knowing deity in the Shona language) is such an aircraft. Equipped with cutting-edge intelligent sensors, the MWARI has been referred to rightly as an intelligent command centre in the sky, one that can communicate and direct land forces, border patrols and other aircraft in integrated and joint missions, and engage targets with precision and minimum collateral damage. Ultimately, a collaborative, multi-agency approach, sharing resources, skills and affordable, next-generation technological innovations along the ECOWAS borders, conjunctions and coastlines can decisively check ongoing violent conflict. Moreover, such an approach would critically help deter future instances from occurring. West Africa and the nations that comprise it must enact a renewed, collaborative commitment to cross-border security. Failure to do so may result in a lasting downturn for what would be a budding region, with only itself to blame. Eric Ichikowitz is Senior Vice President of African-based global technology and aerospace business, Paramount Group ( http://ParamountGroup.com ). The views expressed are his own. The ongoing political battle between Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot intensified on Tuesday. While the party is standing with Gehlot and even passed a resolution seeking action against the rebels, Pilots supporters have said they are fighting to protect their dignity. In a message circulated by the Pilot camp on WhatsApp, his supporters said their leader is threatened with notices from the SOG under the charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy. Calling it unprecedented in Indian democracy and the Congress party, the supporters further demanded that people who humiliated Pilot should be held responsible. We have toiled with sweat and blood for the Congress party. Under the leadership of Shri Sachin Pilot we have made every effort in the past sixyears to strengthen the party and bring it to power in Rajasthan at a time when it had been reduced to an insignificant number in the state assembly, the WhatsApp post said. It has been signed by cabinet ministers Vishvender Singh and Ramesh Meena, and former speaker Deepender Shekhawat. Gehlot, meanwhile, removed Pilot, Meena and Singh from the cabinet, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala announced after the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP). While Pilot held PWD and Panchayat Raj portfolios, Meena was the food and civil supplies minister and Singh the tourism minister. Pilot has also been removed as the chief of Congress Rajasthan unit. The second CLP meeting was held on Tuesday, and Pilot skipped it again. A resolution was passed in the CLP meeting to take action against Pilot and other rebel legislators who did not attend the meeting. The Congress leaders reasoned that if the party does not act against the rebels, it would send a wrong signal and demoralise loyal party workers. The face-off between Pilot and Gehlot came to the fore after Rajasthan Polices Special Operations Group (SOG) sent notices to the former and other leaders in connection with alleged attempts to topple Congress government in the state. The notices stated that the SOG had urged the leaders to provide a suitable date and time for recording their respective statements. Pilot then left the state along with his 16 MLAs. He has claimed that the Gehlot government is in minority as 30 lawmakers are with him. Kwesi Pratt has castigated NPP National Youth Organizer, Henry Nana Boakye and the Electoral Commission (EC) for moving into some Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country to campaign. The Electoral Commission (EC) last week went to some schools to register eligible students across the country. The two day special exercise targeted the final year students and those in form-two gold track who were 18 or more but cannot join the main registration exercise because they are in school. There have been calls from the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations of Ghana for the government to close down schools and allow students to return home. Some Senior High Schools have recorded Coronavirus in recent weeks, causing parents to panic. The Accra Technical University was the first to record a case after a National Service Personnel contracted the virus. The Ghana Education Service has also disclosed that 55 students and staff at the Accra Girls SHS have tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, over five secondary schools in the Western region have also had their students infected. Henry Nana Boakye, popularly known as Nana B was also spotted addressing some SHS students despite President Nana Akufo-Addo's directive that no outsider including parents should be allowed to visit students. Nana B has come under a barrage of criticisms for going to the schools. Coming to his own defence, Nana B explained why he went to the schools saying the Electoral Commission officials, Political Party representatives, and observer groups were permitted to enter the various Second Cycle institutions during the registration exercise which lasted for just two days. "Indeed, just like all other political party representatives and officials of the Electoral Commission, I visited the Senior High Schools with accreditation from the EC as a party official. It is important to note that my actions did not in any way flout laid down rules and regulations governing the exercise," he aded. He further stated, in an interview with Hello FM in Kumasi, that "I didn't go there to campaign", stressing "I have accreditation from the Electoral Commission (EC) to monitor the registration and that was what I went there to do". Kwesi Pratt is however unconvinced by the explanations by the NPP National Youth Organizer and the EC to justify their actions. Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', he wondered why parents and guardians cannot visit their wards but the Electoral Commission deemed it useful to conduct a registration exercise for the students which consequently saw political party members trooping into the schools. ''If the parents won't be allowed to go the schools because they're protecting the children. If they even were metal masks, they won't be allowed to go there; how come political party agents were able to enter the schools? Why do you give political party agents the chance to go to the schools? What are they going to do there? What triggered us to go to the schools to do voter registration? What's wrong with us?'' he questioned. Mr. Pratt fumed as he further asked; ''What sin have we, Ghanaians, committed against our leaders for them to treat us this way?'' Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video TORONTO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Eagle Eye Solutions, a global marketing technology company that helps retailers create one-to-one customer connections, and Ecrebo Inc, a global POS receipt marketing technology company, are partnering with Southeastern Grocers, Inc. (SEG), to support its business transformation strategy and goal of becoming a digitally-enabled, omnichannel retailer. One of the largest conventional supermarket companies in the US, Southeastern Grocers selected Eagle Eye in late 2019 to expand its media channels, as well as customer loyalty and CPG promotions. It also selected Ecrebo to enable full control over its paper and digital receipt communications. As it adapts to changing shopping behaviors and customer needs, Southeastern Grocers will rely on Eagle Eye's AIR Platform to grow its digital and channel marketing capabilities, and leverage customer interactions and data; and Ecrebo to communicate with its customers quickly and effectively. "What started as an initial strategy to improve our coupon marketing has evolved into a much larger and comprehensive strategy to become digitally connected with customers, better understand behaviors across different channels, and be able to serve each customer individually with the right offers and content," said Adam Kirk, SVP Marketing at Southeastern Grocers. Grocery operators have long struggled to connect all their marketing channels to collect customer data efficiently and use data to create new revenue opportunities. Through its technology and partnerships, Eagle Eye will provide Southeastern Grocers with a complete digital marketing and advertising solution to help the grocer reach new customers, interact with shoppers across different channels, and retain and reward customers based on their habits. Southeastern Grocers will use Eagle Eye's AIR Platform as a centralized hub for continuously capturing customer data and consumer interactions, and drive greater marketing efficiencies and return. Eagle Eye will also enable nine media channels that can be monetized and provide Southeastern Grocers with additional revenue streams. Grocery operators have also traditionally relied on third parties to manage targeted in-lane receipt communications, resulting in less control over the messaging and CPG revenues. Through its light-touch POS software technology, Ecrebo provides Southeastern Grocers with a comprehensive receipt marketing communications solution. This was launched alongside Eagle Eye in June 2020. Shoppers visiting Southeastern Grocers' stores will receive relevant coupons printed on each receipt at checkout, with variables including brand offers and availability according to location. If the shopper is already known, coupons can also be personalized and delivered to a customer's mobile wallet. Providing shoppers with coupons at receipt is a highly effective way for CPG brands to promote their products to more consumers, and target different customer segments. Grocers win as they earn additional revenues by offering that promotional space to brands, and consumers also win with offers and discounts on products they buy every day. Eagle Eye will roll out more media channels for Southeastern Grocers starting in July 2020. These include on and off-property paid media, connected-shelf digital coupons and targeted emails, as part of the grocer's broader focus to increase revenues, decrease marketing costs, and incentivize customer loyalty. "The importance of being able to digitally connect with customers in today's operating environment cannot be overstated," said Tim Mason, CEO of Eagle Eye. "For years, grocery chains have been challenged by siloed data and marketing channels, limited visibility of customers, missed opportunities to generate more revenues across media channels, and inability to drive transactional loyalty at scale. "Our technology help Southeastern Grocers overcome all of those issues. We're enabling the ability to have a single view of the customer and realize the full potential of being an omnichannel retailer." Ecrebo's CEO, David Buckingham, added "We are proud to provide Southeastern Grocers with the POS technology that enables them to communicate effectively to each customer." For more information about Eagle Eye's partnership with Southeastern, please contact Kelsey Dielman at [email protected]. About Eagle Eye Solutions Eagle Eye is a leading SaaS technology company transforming marketing by creating digital connections that enable personalised performance marketing in real time through coupons, loyalty, apps, subscriptions and gift services. Eagle Eye AIR enables the secure issuance and redemption of digital offers and rewards at scale, across multiple channels, enabling a single customer view. We create a network between merchants, brands and audiences to enable customer acquisition, interaction and retention at lower cost whilst driving marketing innovation. The Company's current customer base comprises leading names in UK Grocery, Retail and Food & Beverage sectors, including Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose and John Lewis & Partners, JD Sports, Greggs, Mitchells & Butlers, Pizza Express and in Canada, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart and Esso. Eagle Eye is headquartered in Guildford, United Kingdom and has offices in Manchester, Toronto, Canada and Melbourne, Australia. Web http://www.eagleeye.com Twitter @WeAreEagleEye About Ecrebo Ecrebo is a leading SaaS technology company whose solution enables retailers to directly control and manage all of its omni-channel receipt marketing campaigns through existing POS hardware without requiring POS application integration. The Company's current customer base comprises leading names in UK Grocery, Retail and Specialty sectors, including Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Franprix, Pandora, Uniqlo and Dunelm; and Albertsons Companies in the US. Ecrebo is headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom with US headquarters in Chicago. Web https://www.ecrebo.com/ Twitter - @ecrebo SOURCE Eagle Eye Related Links https://www.eagleeye.com Researchers have said that apathy rather than depression could be an early warning sign of dementia, following a years-long study involving participants in the UK and the Netherlands. The study, led by Cambridge University, suggests that late-life depression may be linked to dementia because tests for it partially assess apathy. The research, which was conducted over several years, analysed 450 people with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) at hospitals in London and the Dutch city of Nijmegen. Affecting up to one in three elderly people, SVD is the most common cause of vascular dementia, which occurs due to reduced blood flow to the brain. After accounting for other factors such as age and cognition, scientists found that apathy was connected to a greater risk of developing dementia among the participants, while depression was not. Jonathan Tay, the lead author from Cambridges department of clinical neurosciences, said: There has been a lot of conflicting research on the association between late-life depression and dementia. Our study suggests that may partially be due to common clinical depression scales not distinguishing between depression and apathy. Mr Tay added that monitoring apathy could help to assess changes in dementia risk and inform diagnosis. Of those who participated in the study, 20 per cent developed dementia in the UK, while only 11 per cent did in the Netherlands. It is thought the difference between the two cohorts was caused by the more severe burden of SVD across the UK group. The study, which is published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, is the first of its kind on patients with SVD, according to Cambridge University. Additional reporting by Press Association Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) The Department of Foreign Affairs said 50,577 Filipinos stranded abroad are expected to be back to the Philippines by the end of July, but its budget for the program is seen to run out by August. DFA Undersecretary Sarah Arriola said during the House committee on public accounts brieifing that the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines already approved 53 flights to United Arab Emirates, 42 flights to Saudi Arabia including five DFA-chartered flights, and 21 flights to Qatar including three DFA-chartered flights. Specifically for those in Qatar, Arriola said a flight is scheduled on July 17 for those with existing Philippine Airlines ticket, while those without can fly on July 19 through a chartered flight. As for those stranded in Vietnam, a repatriation flight is scheduled on July 25. The official previously said that the issuance of flight permits delay overseas Filipino workers from coming home. The number of Filipinos still stranded after July is seen at 117,049, DFA said. However, Arriola said this number may still rise if there will be more Filipinos who will request to be brought back to the country if a vaccine is not yet developed. As of July 13, DFA said there are 82,057 total repatriated overseas Filipinos from 60 countries and 132 cruise ships. Of this, 38,308 are sea-based, while 43,749 are land-based. On budget concerns, Arriola said the 1-billion assistance to nationals fund is now at 232.948 million, half of which will be used in the next two weeks, and by mid-August fund is expected to have been exhausted. She said DFA secretary Teodoro Locsin is already realigning the departments budget to ensure that the program will continue. Meanwhile, Iloilo First District Rep. Janette Garin said returning Filipinos should just be brought directly to airports in their provinces and have them tested and quarantined there to reduce costs. She said testing returning Filipinos in Manila, then having them stay in a quarantine facility is costly since they will still be tested in their province once they return there. It would be better to have them directly fly to the airport in their province, and be tested and quarantined there, Garin said. Belfast Harbour, which handles around two-third of Northern Ireland's seaborne trade. Photo: Getty The UK governments political approach to Brexit means it is gambling with the future of Northern Ireland, leaving many firms in the dark about how to prepare for the end of the transition period in January. In a new report, the cross-party Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the House of Commons said that the government has not provided the necessary clarity or detail for businesses to understand how the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement will be implemented. The committee is calling on the government to clarify what administrative requirements traders will face by October 2020 at the latest, to reimburse firms for any new costs they incur, and for it to report regularly on the effect of the new trade arrangements. The government needs to stop gambling with the future of business and of the people of Northern Ireland. Instead, it must set out detailed and realistic proposals on how customs processes will work and which goods will be affected, said Simon Hoare, the chairman of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, on Tuesday. READ MORE: UK government warns firms of Brexit crunch, with just 25% ready With less than six months to go, businesses are still in the dark about what they should be preparing for on 1 January 2021. The situation is now urgent, and the continued lack of detail risks Northern Ireland not being prepared for the new trading arrangements, the committee said in its report. Warning that political theory cannot trump commercial necessity, the committee said that the governments approach to Northern Ireland was apparently informed by limited understanding of how business works. In particular, the report calls attention to the fact that which goods should be subject to EU tariffs upon entering Northern Ireland will be decided by the Withdrawal Agreement Joint Committee, which is co-chaired by the UK and EU. The MPs said that information about how the joint committee and its sub-committees will work should be made available to both the UK parliament and the Northern Ireland assembly so that their decisions can be properly scrutinised. Story continues READ MORE: Intensified talks with EU fail to break Brexit deadlock A UK government paper released in May also does not fully outline the extent to which Northern Irish businesses will face new requirements from 1 January when moving goods across the Irish Sea. We are clear that UK businesses trading across the Irish Sea must not face new up-front or ongoing costs, as these would not be compatible with the governments commitment to unfettered access and to maintaining Northern Irelands integral place in the UK internal market, the report said. The MPs warned that swift clarification was needed, considering the short window available to expand and modernise port infrastructure, develop IT platforms, and recruit new staff. The added pressures of the coronavirus pandemic are also a concern, the committee said. One Drexel University student called news of the policy reversal "the highlight of my day." Read more The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a directive from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that some feared could have led to the deportation of thousands of international students enrolled at U.S. colleges if the pandemic prevented them from attending in-person classes. The decision was announced by a federal judge in Boston as she prepared to hear a challenge brought by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology to the policy that said international students who took only remote classes could be forced to transfer or leave the country. The July 6 ICE directive ignited panic on campuses across the country at a time when many schools are trying to balance the need to resume classes while keeping their students and staff safe. The lawsuit by Harvard and MIT condemned the agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for using the policy in a bid to encourage schools to reopen. It prompted other suits, including one filed by attorneys general from 18 states, saying the ruling was a threat to public health. The suits also alleged the ruling violated the Administrative Procedure Act for failing to provide rationale for the decision, defying the legal amount of time required for public response, and contradicting the agencys earlier policy regarding international students. At the start of the hearing Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said federal immigration authorities agreed to pull the directive and return to the status quo. She didnt elaborate and an ICE spokesperson didnt respond to a request for comment. But the announcement brought waves of relief to international students. I woke up my parents in the middle of the night and shared the news thats how important this decision was, said Aphrodite Biswas, a rising junior at Pennsylvania State University from Mumbai. It certainly brings a lot of relief to all of us because now I know that I will not be kicked out of the country if my university switches to remote learning halfway through the semester. Biswas added that she was not surprised things turned around so quickly after the lawsuits were filed, but expressed disappointment in the directive in the first place. In March, U.S. customs officials had announced a policy that allowed international students to remain in the United States for their education even as most schools moved instruction online due to COVID-19. The March 13 exemption stated that the policy would remain in effect for the duration of the Emergency. Last weeks abrupt change was announced without any advance warning or discussion, and left international students, faculty, and university administration blindsided. My first reaction was this must be a fake link; there is so much fake news going on, said Nikhil Parakh, a rising third-year student at Drexel University from Kathmandu, Nepal. He called Tuesdays reversal of that decision the highlight of my day and credited the efforts of students and universities who put pressure on the administration via lawsuits and petitions. Dipanshi Agarwal, a rising junior at Temple University from New Delhi, credited social media for the policy turnaround. The awareness people raised on social media says a lot about the power social media holds, she said. Oftentimes, it feels like were screaming into the void, but it really does yield results. University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann, who joined Harvard and MITs lawsuit, said she was pleased with the decision. We are unrelenting in our commitment to continue fighting for our international students to ensure that they are treated as equal members of our educational community, she said in a statement. Today we can celebrate an important step forward in that effort. This article contains information from the Associated Press. The best local coverage, unlimited Sign up for a digital subscription to The Press of Atlantic City now and take advantage of a great offer. Since its birth five years ago, the annual Julia Child Award has gone to a renowned chef: Jacques Pepin, Child's friend and collaborator, was its first recipient. Last year's went to Jose Andres. But this year, the jury from the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts chose a woman who spends more time with a microphone than a whisk in Danielle Nierenberg, a food activist and the founder of Food Tank, which convenes summits and other events focused on sustainability and equity in food systems. The award honors someone "who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats and drinks," and it comes with a $50,000 grant that Nierenberg plans to use to put on a series of events with the foundation called Food Tank Food Talk Live. The talks will kick off in Washington in October as part of the Smithsonian's Food History Weekend. We recently caught up with Nierenberg to talk about the time she didn't meet Julia Child, inviting people to have uncomfortable conversations, and her clutch quarantine meal. Q: It seems like many people who love food have a Julia Child moment or story. What's yours? A: I have two! When I was a kid we lived in the boonies. I grew up in a town called Defiance, Missouri, watching a lot of PBS, because it was one of the four channels we got. And she struck me because she was a woman, and the other chefs were men. So it was my parents' anniversary, and I made one of her chicken recipes. For a 10-year-old, it seemed so fancy to me. And that was always a fond memory for my parents. Then when I went to Tufts Friedman [the university's school of nutrition] in Boston, I worked at a pizza place, and one of the reasons was that they said that Julia Child lived nearby and that she would order from them. So every time I came to work, I would think, "Maybe it's tonight!" I kept waiting. She never did order from me, but it made going to work exciting. I could never have predicted that my name would ever be said in the same sentence as hers. I just hope I can continue her legacy in a small way. Q: This award has typically gone to a famous chef. What does it say about the moment that we're in that it has gone to an activist? A: As a recipient, I am a little intimidated. I know some of the previous recipients. I think it shows how the food culture in the United States has evolved, that it's not just about celebrity chefs. They paved the way for the work we're doing. It demonstrates a lot of forward thinking to choose someone like me and my organization. We are trying to bring together voices and amplify folks who haven't had their voices heard. I think it speaks to the recognition that there's a need for more equity and social justice in the food system. Q: The pandemic has laid bare so many flaws in the agriculture industry - problems with supply chains, the vulnerability of workers, and because of the economic downturn and school closures, widespread hunger. What should people learn? A: It's clear - the veil has been lifted. All the cracks have been exposed, whether it's with food workers or the supply chain. Most consumers didn't see them before, and now they can't not. One bright spot is that we cannot go back to normal. Normal left us very vulnerable. Now is our time to . . . what's that word everyone keeps using? To pivot - to really develop long-lasting solutions, to create more jobs and equity, and better nutrition, and really delicious food. Q: What can a consumer do to that end? A: Before, you had consumers who didn't even know what a CSA [community-supported agriculture program] was. But what's come out of this is that people know who they trust - they trust farmers - and they're seeking out local producers. Well, that is, consumers who can afford them. Another thing is the honoring and respecting of our food system workers. Knowing that your grocery clerk is someone who you should think about. Tipping your delivery guy. Showing kindness to them. Buying local still holds true - but one thing everyone can do is respecting these folks and honoring what they do. Q: A big part of your work is setting up conversations and conferences. It's easy to say, well you're preaching to the choir, and all the people you're inviting already agree with each other. But you've recently started bringing corporate entities into these discussions - how productive is that? A: Our role is to make people uncomfortable. Having food-justice advocates on the same stage as corporate food executives, and policymakers and legislative staffers can do that. If you had asked me 15 years ago, would I be talking to these companies, I would have said, "Heck no, they're part of the problem." But now I understand: If we're not talking to the people we disagree with, the food system will always be broken. Q: The protests over the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement have pushed racial inequities in the food system into the spotlight. What would a more racially just food system look like? A: If there's an underserved community, sometimes we think if we just pop in a grocery store, that will fix things. There's a tendency to go into communities and tell people what they need rather than asking them what they want and need. If you ask Karen Washington at Rise & Root Farm, what she says about her BIPOC community is they need investment. There needs to be investment in people who don't look like me. If we want a more socially just and racially just world, we must invest in entrepreneurs and leaders who are already there doing the work, and that's how you create sustainable systems. Q: So we're all cooking at home more these days. What's been the hero of your pandemic pantry? A: My husband and I live in Baltimore, and we usually eat out a lot, so this has been a big change. Honestly our go-to is pretty simple - it's Mexican food. I figure I can keep tortillas, cheese and beans around. New Delhi: Indian and Chinese Corps Commanders will be holding 4th round of military level talks on Tuesday to discuss further disengagement and re-location of troops in the areas of contesting claims. The meeting will take place at Chushul in Ladakh sector which is on the Indian side of line of actual control (LAC) and is likely to start at 11:30 am in the morning, said sources. The meeting on Tuesday will discuss the modalities of further disengaging Chinese troops from the Pangong Tso and other face-off points. It will also focus on how heavy build-up of troops on the both sides of the LAC could be brought down, said sources. In the last meeting on June 30, 14 Corps Commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and South Xinjiang Military Region, commander Maj Gen Liu Lin had agreed to mutually move back their troops in flash points by upto 2 kilometers in the Ladakh sector to bring down chances of a confrontation. Last week Indian and Chinese troops completed their initial phase of disengagement from flashpoints by mutually moving back from Galwan Valley, Hot Springs, Gogra Post and finger 4 area of Pangong Tso. Chinese troops have moved back from finger 4 area to finger 5 in Pangong Tso but are still occupying ridges in that area. Indian troops too have moved back and are not holding finger 4. Chinese troops still have to vacate area between finger 5 and finger 8, which India claims is its territory. In May 2020, Chinese troops in an aggressive move occupied the area between Finger 4 to Finger 8 and prevented Indian troops from patrolling the area. As per the agreement, a buffer zone of atleast 1.5 kilometers on both sides of the LAC has to be created in the areas of stand-off. There will be restriction on patrolling in these buffer areas for some time and these zones will be monitored through drones and satellites. While Indian and Chinese troops have moved slightly away from flashpoints, the bigger concern is presence of large number of troops from both sides with heavy weapons including artillery and tanks in the forward areas, along the line of actual control (LAC) in the Ladakh sector. China is reported to have deployed around 20,000 troops at the LAC on the Ladakh sector with another 12,000 in the reserves ready to be deployed at short notice. India too has done similar deployment to counter any Chinese aggression. Till these troops dont move from the LAC to their peace time locations tensions between India and China will remain high. Turkey Calls on Haftar's Troops to Withdraw From Sirte, Jufra Sputnik News 10:57 GMT 13.07.2020(updated 11:01 GMT 13.07.2020) ANKARA (Sputnik) - Units of the Libyan National Army, headed by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, must withdraw from Sirte and Jufra, and if they fail to do so a military operation against them will be launched, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday. "Haftar must withdraw from Sirte and Jufra. We have told this to the Russian side. Military preparations for an operation in Sirte are underway, although we still await some settlement at the negotiating table. But if he does not withdraw, we will show determination", Cavusoglu said, as aired by the TRT broadcaster. Turkey believes that the crisis in Libya can only be resolved politically, the foreign minister stressed. "Although the ceasefire is currently maintained, it does not serve the interests of the Libyan government, as it has concerns that Haftar may not be sincere. We believe he is trying to win time and is preparing an attack again. The Libyan government thinks it is necessary to see a road map first, and if the road map contains convenient conditions, then it will agree upon a ceasefire. This is a proper approach", Cavusoglu added. The North African country is now divided amid a war between the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and Haftar-led Libyan National Army. Turkey has previously provided extensive military support to the GNA after Ankara and Tripoli signed a military cooperation pact. In response, Haftar vowed to oppose the Turkish forces and accused Ankara of meddling in Libyan internal affairs. A Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The Lake Jindabyne Hotel has become the first pub in New South Wales to be shut down by police for breaching COVID-19 restrictions. The hotel in the Snowy Mountains, near the Victorian border, was temporarily closed for three days from 7.30pm on Saturday. The venue was hit with a $5,000 fine on Tuesday due to large groups of revellers failing to socially distance and warnings about intoxication levels. Managers of the pub, which is nearby popular ski resorts Perisher and Thredbo, have since been spoken to by police regarding COVID-19 safe arrangements. The Lake Jindabyne Hotel has become the first pub in New South Wales to be shut down by police for breaching COVID-19 restrictions The hotel in the Snowy Mountains near the ACT border was temporarily shut down for three days from 7.30 on Saturday night 'Between Tuesday 5 May 2020 and Saturday 11 July 2020, police issued a premises in Jindabyne with three formal and several informal warnings relating to intoxication levels and public health and safety issues, including large groups of people failing to social distance,' police said in a statement. 'About 7.30pm on Saturday 11 July 2020, officers from Monaro Police District attended the premises and forced closure of the venue.' The maximum penalty for breaching a Public Health Order is an $11,000 fine and up to six months in jail. Superintendent Paul Condon said police will continue to shut down any other venues breaching coronavirus restrictions. 'The safety of the Snowy Mountains community is paramount, and we will continue to take action against those businesses that choose to ignore ministerial directions,' he said. Testing for COVID-19 is undertaken at a pop up site in Picton, in Sydney's south-west 'When we launched Operation Snow Safe last month, we made it clear to the community that this season will not be business as usual. 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 'We have been working closely with our partner agencies and local businesses to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to the health and safety of our community.' Investigations are ongoing in relation to other alleged offences under the Liquor Act. It comes after the popular Golden Sheaf hotel in Sydney's Double Bay was fined $5,500. An investigation was launched after pictures emerged of a crowded line outside the venue on Wednesday night. Liquor & Gaming NSW believed up to 250 customers failed to comply with social distancing rules in front of the popular bar. NSW Police received multiple reports in regards to a large crowd outside the Golden Sheaf and confirmed officers were sent to disperse people waiting to gain entry. A statement from Solotel Group CEO Justine Baker, who runs The Golden Sheaf, said the venue understood and accepted the fine. 'Wednesday night showed us that we need to pay more attention to our guests and the queues outside the venue as well.' Mr Baker said the venue had employed more security and staff to assist with managing queues and introduced a bookings only policy from 8pm on Wednesdays. A Romanian who came to Ireland earlier this year in search of work was convicted of five counts of theft and of handling stolen property. Vastile Pintischi, 17 North Circular Road, Flat 10, Dublin pleaded guilty and was convicted of the offences at Kilkenny Circuit Court. Garda Francis Brennan told the court that on dates in March and April of this year the defendant and a co-accused travelled to a number of counties to carry out the crimes. The co-accused entered a number of premises and used a 200 note to purchase a small number of low cost items and in doing so received a large amount of change. Garda Brennan told the court that on March 30 the defendant was in possession of a car in Waterford and drove the co-accused to a store where the co-accused tendered a 200 note and a theft of 100 took place. The vehicle was later seized in Waterford and the defendant admitted that he was driving it on this occasion. CCTV also showed the vehicle in the forecourt of the premises in question. On the same date at the defendant was seen on CCTV driving a vehicle and stopping at the Mace shop in Freshford. A co-accused entered the store and took a number of items in her bag and attempted the same scam. The garda told the court that in this incident management refused to take the 200 note. The co-accused left the store without paying for the goods in her bag. Garda Brennan also gave evidence relating to an incident at a pharmacy in Kilkenny City on March 30. On this occasion the defendant also drove the co-accused who entered the pharmacy and tried to tender the 200 note. A member of staff went to a back room to ask the manager and the co-accused went behind the counter and stole a phone, valued at 350, which was not recovered. Evidence was also heard of an incident at the Tipperary Town Plaza on April 4 where the co-accused entered the store, tendered a 200 note and theft of 100 took place. On the same date the defendant also drove the co-accused to the EveryDay shop in Paulstown and the co-accused entered the shop and stole 70. Garda Brennan also told the court that on April 2 the vehicle was stopped and searched and a mobile phone was found concealed and wrapped in tin foil. The defendant was arrested and was co-operative. During interview he told gardai that he only been in the country since March. He knew his co-accused, who was from Romania and his role was to drive the co-accused and he received payment. The court heard that the crimes did not involve any violence or coercion and that the defendant did not enter any of the premises but drove the car. The defendant has been in custody since April 3. He came to Ireland in search of work in March. He couldnt have come at a worse time given the circumstances that pertain. He came in search of work and it was not available to him and he succumbed to temptation, his counsel said. The court heard that the defendant is undertaking to return to Romania as soon as is practicable. Judge Cormac Quinn described said it was a pre-planned spree and sentenced the defendant to seven months backdated to sentence to April 4. A Disney-obsessed YouTuber and her friend are being slammed as 'selfish,' 'dangerous,' and entitled' for staying at Disney World this weekend despite some coronavirus-like symptoms and the women now say they've even received death threats from critics. YouTuber Tonya Blakey, who is known as That Crazy Disney Lady on YouTube, returned to the Orlando theme park on Friday and Saturday for its grand re-opening with her friend Robin, and live-streamed over ten hours of footage from their day out. But at one point during the livestream, Robin started to feel ill with what she says was an allergic reaction, with some symptoms that are similar to those of COVID-19. Still, she stuck around at the park, which some social media users are criticizing as a terrible move. Back in action: YouTuber Tonya Blakey, who goes by The Crazy Disney Lady on YouTube, returned to Disney World for its grand reopening since the pandemic closed it (not pictured) Grown-ups' day out: The stay-at-home mom live-streamed hours of footage while there with a friend, Robin Covered: The pair wore masks for most of their outing in theme park this weekend Yikes: At one point, Robin started feeling ill and visited a medic while experiencing shortness of breath and severe vomiting but says it was an allergic reaction Tonya, who has 9,500 subscribers, lives nearby the theme park in Florida but wrote that she was excited to be back 'home' when the park reopened. Disney closed its doors in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. She and Robin returned to the Magic Kingdom on Friday and Saturday, where Tonya filmed much of their visit for her YouTube channel. Yahoo reports that at one point during the day, Robin suffered an allergic reaction and visited a medic station. She complained of several symptoms, including a cough, shortness of breath, high blood pressure, and severe vomiting. However, at the medic station, she opted for Benadryl instead of an EpiPen, and her condition worsened. Room: Tonya shared over ten hours worth of footage, showing a much emptier park than visitors are used to The two left the park for a break but returned later and came back the next day, too Ouch: When they got back, both complained of sore throats, though they blamed those on screaming on the rides The two decided to take a break from the park but not because of fears of the possibility that Robin's symptoms might indicate another illness. And soon the pair returned after a quick rest. When they got back, both complained of sore throats, though they blamed those on screaming on the rides. The live-stream has been watched by many YouTubers, but it got more attention when gamer Jenny Nicholson shared concerns on Twitter. 'She is attributing her symptoms to a tree nut allergic reaction but she took benadryl, saw no change after several hours, and never used her epi pen. The first aid nurses advised that she go to a hospital and she didn't. They've announced they're visiting Animal Kingdom tomorrow,' she wrote. They did, in fact, visit the Animal Kingdom the next day. 'I'm not saying the channel name and I'm not inviting anyone to go harass these ladies if they find it; I'm sure they're nice ladies who think they're invincible and everything's good. But this is why theme parks shouldn't be open in a pandemic,' she went on. What pandemic? They took their mask off to eat inside in a Tomorrowland eatery Re-opened: The park had closed in March as the pandemic hit the US (stock photo) Speaking to Insider, she added: 'I just wanted to point out: "Hey, when the park is open, it's always going to be operating on the honor system. And this is part of why it's not safe to be there right now."' More criticism quickly flooded in, with commenters calling them 'dangerous,' 'selfish,' and 'entitled.' 'You know how in Zombie movies theres always that one guy who gets bit but doesnt tell anyone until its too late and they end up biting one of their allies instead? Thats this lady,' wrote one. 'How they aren't escorted out and their magic bands flagged is beyond me,' said another, blaming Disney for non-action. 'This kind of minimizing and confirmation bias happens ALL THE TIME. Its why people die at home of sudden cardiac arrest when they've had chest pain for 2 days "that was just heartburn,"' said yet another. For their part, Tonya and Robin are denying any wrongdoing. Not impressed: Gamer Jenny Nicholson shared concerns on Twitter about the women's behavior Entitled: Others called the women 'selfish' and 'dangerous', though they deny any wrongdoing 'If anybody else asks about Robin having COVID-19, you're going to be not in the group anymore,' Blakey said. 'I've already clearly stated what was wrong with Robin. Robin would not be in this park if she had COVID-19.' Speaking to WESH, Tonya claims that they have received death threats from some critics. 'They were making it out as if we had COVID-19 and we were both sick and we were walking around Disney World, and that is all a lie,' she said. 'My YouTube channel is all about positivity and my love for Disney and we never wanted all this negativity to come our way,' she added. Shorter lines? Disney World in Orlando is celebrating its grand reopening at reduced capacity (stock photo) Safety first, sort of... Guests are required to wear masks, though there seems to be little social distancing among guests (stock photo) Shocking: Deaths related to COVID-19 have increased across the United States by 46 per cent in the past week with Texas, Arizona and Mississippi reporting the biggest weekly spikes Uptick: Florida added a record 132 fatalities to its death toll on Monday, bringing the statewide total to 4,409. The number of cases increased by 9,194, bringing the total to 291,629 More than 5,000 people died from COVID-19 between July 6 and July 12, which is an increase of 46 per cent compared to the previous week. A dozen states reported increases in deaths for at least two weeks, including Florida where deaths surged by more than 60 per cent last week. Florida recorded 514 deaths in the week ending July 12, bringing total to over 4,300, On Monday the state added a record 132 fatalities to its death toll. WASHINGTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the death of George Floyd and the overwhelming response nationwide, seven Black executives from destination marketing organizations across the country partnered on a video to share their experiences and encourage an open dialogue about race and racism throughout their lives and in the tourism industry. Running 8 minutes and 38 seconds, "5 Questions About Race" takes less time to view than the 8 minutes and 46 seconds that George Floyd had a knee on his neck when he was murdered on May 25, 2020. According to data from The Washington Post, Black Americans are killed by police at a rate of more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans. Since 2015, 96 percent of Black Americans killed by the police have been male. This video is intended to share the male perspective. "As a Black professional who has worked hard to be in a position of leadership in my industry, I have experienced and seen my share of racial inequality," said Cleo Battle, Chief Operating Officer, Louisville Tourism. "The time is now to make changes in our industry for the future and I proudly join my colleagues in helping to lead the conversation forward." "There are a few reactions as this public conversation continues: some people are concerned; some don't know what to say; some are scared; and some, unfortunately, will remain ignorant," said Elliott L. Ferguson, II, president and CEO, Destination DC. "But these are discussions we need to have and then follow them with action if we are to effect real change in our country, so I encourage everyone to have open and honest dialogue." In a shared statement, Al Hutchinson, president and CEO, Visit Baltimore and Charles H. Jeffers, II, chief operating officer, Visit Baltimore, said, "Visit Baltimore wants to do its part in eradicating racism in our city, industry and America. As Black destination leaders for a majority African American city, we make a special call to our White colleagues to help us confront racism. We can't do this alone; we'll only achieve positive, lasting change by working together." "The first step in making meaningful and lasting change is the acknowledgement that these inequities exist and are prevalent in our industry and society," said James Jessie, chief sales officer, Travel Portland. "Yet, this only where the journey begins. It must be followed with a dialogue resulting in changes we will all make today and hold ourselves accountable to tomorrow to ensure a brighter future for Black men and women in America." "We're at a tipping point for our community, our country and our industry," said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis. "We must heed the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who said we must act on racial injustice with 'the fierce urgency of now.' We must be ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It's important that everybody who needs to be at the table is included in this discussion. Otherwise, we'll find ourselves repeating this cycle once more." "We've watched as calls for social justice have swept the nation in recent weeks, and it's time for the tourism industry to step up," said Dan Williams, vice president, convention sales and services, Experience Columbus. "If history has shown us anything, it's that the Black community cannot do it alone, so we're asking for our industry's help. Yes, it starts with listening and learning; but we also have to have some tough conversations. We have to allow ourselves to see others' reality and get uncomfortable. We need you to stand beside us and use your voices to ensure equity in our industry, and our lives, starting now." The video premiered at Destinations International's 2020 Annual Convention on July 14. "A lot of conversations centered around race may be uncomfortable by many; but in order to grow, we must break out of our comfort zones and have an open dialogue with one another," said Don Welsh, president and CEO of Destinations International. "We are excited to debut this impactful video on race with our convention attendees and we are thankful for the travel and tourism leaders who opened up to shed a light on their experiences. Hopefully, we can all learn and start to make real change and put words into actions." To watch "5 Questions About Race," visit: youtu.be/GqfUrMMIa0U. Destination DC is the official destination marketing organization for the nation's capital, a private, non-profit membership organization of over 1,000 businesses committed to marketing the area as a premier global convention, tourism and special events destination with a special emphasis on the arts, cultural and historic communities. washington.org. SOURCE Destination DC Related Links http://www.washington.org British stocks closed higher yesterday, recovering from the previous week's losses as the focus turned to the upcoming second-quarter earnings season, although a continued rise in coronavirus cases kept sentiment subdued. The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed 1.3pc higher, pushed up by heavyweight mining stocks Rio Tinto and BHP Group. The two will be the first among their peers to release quarterly production data later in the month. A recent rise in metal prices has also improved the prospects of major miners. The mid-cap FTSE 250 added 1.2pc for the day. While second-quarter earnings are broadly expected to paint a dismal picture, markets will look to corporate guidance on how a post-Covid-19 recovery will pan out. Asian shares also began the week on an optimistic note, climbing toward five-month peaks even as some US states reported record new Covid-19 cases. "July and August are generally weaker months for markets, but this time they are being pushed higher on liquidity infusion, upbeat corporate earnings updates and positive news on the Covid-19 vaccine," said Keith Temperton, analyst at Lombard Forte. The FTSE 100 has rebounded about 26pc from its March lows on a raft of monetary and fiscal stimulus, but has struggled so far in July to extend its gains, owing to pressure from rising Covid-19 cases across the globe. Rating agency Moody's warned Britain will suffer the sharpest peak-to-trough economic slump of any major economy this year, while the health crisis will push up national debt as a share of GDP by nearly a quarter. Brexit negotiations are also back in focus ahead of the December 31 end of the transition period, when Britain will leave the EU. Cabinet minister Michael Gove flagged some progress was being made in talks. Reuters New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during the daily media briefing at the Office of the Governor of the State of New York in New York City, N.Y., on June 12, 2020. (Jeenah Moon/Getty Images) NY to Collect Contact Information From Some Out-of-State Visitors New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an emergency health order that makes it mandatory for out-of-state travelers from COVID-19 hotspot states to provide their contact details to the state when they arrive to New York. Out-of-state travelers from designated high-COVID states must provide their contact information upon arrival, Cuomo said on Monday. The order goes into effect on Tuesday. New York state has the most deaths linked to COVID-19, the disease the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus causes, in the country. As of July 11, the state recorded 25,979 deaths among patients with the disease and Cuomo said the state is serious about enforcing the quarantine. If you fail to provide it, you will receive a summons with a $2K fine, he said in a statement on Twitter. NY is issuing an emergency health order: Out-of-state travelers from designated high-COVID states must provide their contact information upon arrival. If you fail to provide it, you will receive a summons with a $2K fine. Were serious about enforcing the quarantine. Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) July 13, 2020 Cuomo, a Democrat, issued an executive order on June 25 requiring travelers from 19 states to quarantine upon arrival in New York. These include Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. Mondays order requires enforcement teams to be stationed at all state airports. They will be present at the gates to collect the State Department of Health traveler form that is distributed on the flight. The State Department of Health is going to issue an emergency health order today mandating that out-of-state travelers complete the DOH traveler form before leaving the airport, and we are launching an enforcement operation at airports across the state to help ensure travelers coming into New York are following this order, the governor said. Cuomo said New York faces two threats: non-compliance to his order and people arriving to New York from other states reporting surges in the CCP virus. New Yorks success in fighting the COVID-19 virus is under two threats: lack of compliance and the virus coming to New York from other states with increasing infection rates, he said in a statement. The decision comes at a time when the pandemic hotspots are shifting. New York City, which was considered the primary hotspot in the country for months, recorded no deaths on Saturday for the first time since March, according to preliminary data. Meanwhile that same day, Florida recorded at least 15,299 new cases, the highest number of new cases in a single day by any state since the pandemic started. The travel advisory includes guidance on how to safely self-quarantine and the traveler form is also available electronically. Opposition party leaders have questioned why Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney need additional staff and resources as the country faces an economic downturn. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was at a loss as to why Mr Varadkar needs an Aide-De-Camp his own personal military aide as he is no longer taoiseach. Speaking in the Dail on Tuesday, she asked Taoiseach Micheal Martin to explain why he needs one. What is the thinking behind that. The Tanaiste is not the taoiseach why would he require that, she said. She added: Im very concerned that we have a holy trinity of taoisigh or at least a holy trinity of very senior actors located in the Department of an Taoiseach at considerable cost to the taxpayer. Labour leader Alan Kelly criticised Mr Coveney for seeking to retain his State car and garda driver after being demoted from tanaiste. Mr Coveney was entitled to the security when he was Tanaiste, but there is no entitlement to this type of State security when he is a Minister. Let me say this straight up it is also a joke that the Minister for Foreign Affairs is going to cost taxpayers 200,000 euros because he wants a garda car and a garda driver. We are going through an economic crash of the likes we have never seen before, said Mr Kelly. Mr Kelly asked why Mr Marin is tolerating such high expenses in Government. Mr Martin said Mr Coveney is getting a Garda car for security reasons due to the nature of his work, while Mr Varadkar is getting an aide-de-camp to assist him in is duties as Tanaiste at occasions and events he will be attending. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald asks why Tanaiste Leo Varadkar needs an aide-de-camp when hes not Taoiseach - (for another two years). Aine McMahon (@AineMcMahon) July 14, 2020 He said 20 junior ministers have been appointed and none of them should have advisers. It would be wrong if youre going to put the taxpayer through that, he said. Mr Martin said the new coalition of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Green Party is a tri-partite government and requires more staff. He added: In fact the model for this goes back to the Labour Party back in 1992 to 1994. The Labour Party pioneered this idea of policy people coming in from the political world to ensure the implementation of the programme for government. The last government had 19 junior ministers, we have one more. I think there is a need as government is becoming more wide ranging and there are areas that need special attention. MISSION, Kan., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xact Data Discovery (XDD), a leading international provider of eDiscovery, data management and managed review services for law firms and corporations, announces the acquisition of LightSpeed Legal, an eDiscovery services company based in Washington, DC. David Moran, XDD President and COO states, As we continue to expand business operations nationwide, adding LightSpeed Legal to the XDD family further bolsters our physical presence in the DC market. Having served the DC market for many years, the agile LightSpeed team, technology and services mix complements our mission to provide exemplary services to law firms, corporations and government agencies. Tony Lehr, LightSpeed CEO states, Joining forces with XDD further expands our ability to serve the DC market across multiple facets of the EDRM. Coupled with XDDs focus on precision communication and exemplary customer service, the combined expansive mix of services, technology projects and talent will provide clients with a powerful mix of hands-on and remote capabilities that are second to none. We look forward to integrating our people, processes and clients into the XDD family. David Barrett, XDD Executive Vice President of Sales, adds, As XDD continues to expand our service mix in optimal markets, LightSpeed Legals centralized DC location provides us with prime real estate to serve the market more effectively. Coupled with XDDs traditional eDiscovery services, the new office location provides the flexibility to house multiple onsite managed review attorneys to complement our remote services capabilities. LightSpeed Legal will conduct business operations from its current DC location under the XDD brand. Arbor Ridge Partners served as the exclusive M&A advisor to LightSpeed and arranged this transaction. About Xact Data Discovery Xact Data Discovery is a leading international provider of eDiscovery, data management and managed review services for law firms and corporations. XDD helps clients optimize their eDiscovery matters by orchestrating precision communication between people, processes, technology and data. Story continues XDD services include forensics, eDiscovery processing, Relativity hosting and managed review. XDD has 16 offices throughout the United States and two locations in India. XDD offers exceptional customer service with a commitment to responsive, transparent and timely communication to ensure clients remain informed throughout the entire discovery life cycle. About Arbor Ridge Partners Arbor Ridge Partners is a business broker that focuses on mergers and acquisitions for Legal Technology and Legal Services companies; including, litigation support, computer forensics, eDiscovery, legal services, and software companies. With over 60+ years of combined industry experience, legal backgrounds, first-hand industry M&A experience, and deep relationships, Arbor Ridge Partners maximizes value in the purchase and sale of Legal Technology and Legal Services Businesses. XDD Press Contact Bob Lorum Xact Data Discovery 951.378.1991 blorum@xactdatadiscovery.com Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 23:56:20|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close KIEV, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine does not agree with Iran's claim that the downing of the Ukraine International Airlines passenger plane was due to human error, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Tuesday. "I want to emphasize today clearly: It is too early to say that the plane was shot down as a result of a human error, as the Iranian side claims. We have many questions, and we need a lot of authoritative, unbiased, as objective answers. At the moment, Ukraine cannot agree that the plane was shot down due to human error. We are convinced that this issue should be studied during the investigation," said Kuleba during an online briefing on Tuesday. Kuleba added that Iran would be responsible for the downing under international law, and the Foreign Ministry would do everything to ensure that Iran pays the highest price for what happened. The Boeing-737, en route from Tehran to Kiev, was shot down by two rockets shortly after takeoff from Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport on Jan. 8. The tragedy resulted in the deaths of all 167 passengers and nine crew members on board, who were citizens of Ukraine, Iran, Canada, Sweden, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom. Later, Iran's armed forces confirmed that an "unintentional" launch of a military missile by the country was the cause of the incident. According to Kuleba, the Iranian side expressed its readiness to visit Ukraine for negotiations regarding compensation between July 20 and July 30. Kuleba noted that the decoding of the "black boxes" from the downed plane will start in France next week, with experts from the United States, Canada, France, Britain and Ukraine taking part. Enditem Allentown, PA (18103) Today Partly sunny, brisk, and chilly. Winds should ease up later in the day.. Tonight Partly to mostly cloudy and cold. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:45:33|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close File aerial photo taken on Dec. 27, 2018 shows the renovated roads in Luanzheng Village at Long'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua) A remote karst village in south China "piggybacked" on the collective economy to head for a brighter future. NANNING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Wei Yuefang, who lives in south China's karst mountains, no longer needs to share her house with cattle and pigs. This is after she relocated the livestock to a barn built by the village, and jointly used by poverty-stricken farmers like herself. Wei had raised draught animals under the same roof with the family for decades, and bidding farewell to the old lifestyle has allowed the 62-year-old, from Luanzheng Village, Long'an County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, to dare think big. Luanzheng Village faces one of the most severe land degradation problems in karst areas. Rocky desertification has depleted arable lands and made the roads inaccessible. The younger generations moved to cities for a better life, while those who stayed struggled to make ends meet. Households relied on cattle to cultivate the land for farming, and transportation depended on human labor and horses. The lives of villagers, however, began to turn around in 2016 as the collective economy started reshaping the karst village. Tian Yi, a 39-year-old poverty alleviation official, can be credited for translating the ideas into reality. Tian came to the village in 2016 and soon noticed that villagers are experienced in raising livestock. He therefore encouraged them to adopt livestock farming. He helped forge an agreement among local government and villagers. File photo taken on March 18, 2019 shows a beef cattle husbandry center in Luanzheng Village at Long'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. (Xinhua) With the financial support of the government, a beef cattle husbandry center was established. Villagers were given an opportunity to become shareholders, and enterprises were introduced to run the business. Meanwhile, the local government renovated the infrastructure of roads, electricity, and water to facilitate cooperation. Over the years, the village of 380 households has participated in the business of four husbandry centers that raise hundreds of beef cattle. The village has also invested in the hog farming industry, having generated a total income of 100,000 yuan (14,280 U.S. dollars) as of October 2019. The second pig breeding center that was put into use in April this year is expected to reach an annual output worth 38 million yuan. Destitute villagers are also encouraged to work for the breeding centers as the job can ensure a steady income, said Long Fukang, with a beef farming company in the village. "In 2019, local businesses, including beef and pig farming, generated an income of nearly 250,000 yuan for the village and it is expected to reach 280,000 yuan this year," Tian said. Tokyo, July 14 : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the flood-hit Kumamoto prefecture to assess the devastation and pledged the central government's support to local municipalities. After arriving at Kagoshima Airport on an Air Self-Defense Force (SDF) transport plane on Monday, Abe visited a nursing home where 14 residents were killed after the Kuma River breached its banks, reports Xinhua news agency. Abe also met Kumamoto Governor Ikuo Kabashima. At least 64 people were killed in Kumamoto, with 14 other prefectures also being inundated amid torrential rain which led to 105 rivers flooding, while 27 prefectures saw 316 landslides. Abe responded to Kabashima's request for financial support for the crisis-hit region, pledging the central government's all-out efforts. "Under the policy of doing all we can, we will make utmost efforts to achieve early recovery," Abe told Kabashima, according to local reports. He added that work world be carried out swiftly to repair highways and the flood damage caused by the overflowing Kuma River. Abe also pledged the government's support for those displaced by the disaster, saying that temporary shelter for evacuees would be secured and more officials sent to the region to help its recovery. Abe said the central government will allocate 400 billion yen ($ billion) to be used for reconstruction and support small businesses in their recovery efforts from the disaster. In Tokyo later in the day, Abe, at a task-force meeting convened to respond to the disaster, told relevant officials to put together a rescue package. He said the package should be compiled by the end of the month and the Cabinet would officially decide on drawing on reserve funds to help finance it. A 15-year-old boy has died from the bubonic plague in Mongolia, health authorities said Tuesday, one of a handful of cases that recently emerged in the country and neighbouring China. The boy caught the rare bacterial illness after hunting and eating a marmot, according to the health ministry. "We quarantined the first 15 people who came into contact with the boy," who lived in the Gobi-Altai region of the country. "Those 15 people are receiving antibiotic treatment," Narangerel Dorj, head of public relations at the health ministry, told reporters. Five districts of the province were placed under six-day quarantine. Earlier this month two other cases of bubonic plague were registered in Khovd province. More than 140 people were tested, but no other cases were found. A herdsman also contracted the plague in China's northern Inner Mongolia region, prompting local authorities to ban the hunting and eating of animals that could carry the plague until the end of the year. Marmot kidney At least one person dies of the plague every year in Mongolia despite government campaigns to discourage people from eating marmot or approaching the animal. But many in rural areas grow up learning to hunt and eat the large ground quirrel, and some believe eating its innards is good for health. An ethnic Kazakh couple died of the plague last year after eating raw marmot kidney. The Moscow Times reports that the recent cases prompted Russia's eastern Siberian region of Burytia to test rodents for the bubonic plague and urge residents not to hunt or eat marmot. It also comes as Mongolia's borders remain closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Antibiotics Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation says that the Plague has an incubation period of between 3 and 7 days, but can easily be treated. "Although plague has been responsible for widespread pandemics throughout history, including the so-called Black Death that caused over 50 million deaths in Europe during the fourteenth century, today it can be easily treated with antibiotics and the use of standard preventative measures," the WHO says on its website. Macron dedicated day to essential workers who enabled public, social and economic life to continue during pandemic. France has held a scaled-down Bastille Day celebration, with none of the usual tanks and troops parading down Pariss Champs Elysees avenue, in a concession to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, President Emmanuel Macron, standing in the back of a military jeep, reviewed ranks of physically distanced troops on Tuesday in the Place de la Concorde square after a flypast by military aircraft. I wish, with all the French, with the armies themselves, to pay a vibrant tribute to health workers and those who, in all sectors, have enabled public, social and economic life to continue, Macron said in a message released before the parade. The dedication, tenacity, courage, solidarity that emerged strongly everywhere, in our cities as in our countryside, command admiration. It is the first time since 1980 that the annual parade has not been held along the Champs Elysees. Protest and celebration Spectators on Tuesday were not allowed near Place de la Concorde, Pariss largest square, to avoid the spread of the disease that has killed at least 30,000 people in France. The parade kicked off with the traditional flypast by the countrys air force, with acrobatic jets trailing blue, white and red smoke. Dignitaries in the stands were seated at a distance from each other. Across town from the Place de la Concorde, protesters demonstrated against Frances failures during the pandemic. Among those rallying were medical workers who decried mask shortages and cost cuts that left one of the worlds best healthcare systems ill-prepared for the galloping spread of the virus. It is the first time since 1980 that the annual parade has not been held along the Champs Elysees [Thomas Samson/AFP] Bastille Day commemorates the day in 1789 that French citizens stormed the Bastille fortress, which was used to detain prisoners and had become a symbol of the harsh rule of the French monarchy. Traditionally, the national holiday is rounded off with a fireworks display, with thousands of people gathering around the Eiffel Tower to watch. The fireworks will go ahead this year, but the parkland around the tower will be closed to the public. Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail for her role aiding Jeffrey Epstein to recruit and eventually abuse of minor girls, in Manhattan Federal Court, in New York, July 14, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. Jane Rosenberg | Reuters A federal judge on Tuesday denied bail for Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of facilitating the sexual abuse of young girls in the mid-1990s by her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, the now-dead investor. Maxwell, who will remain in jail pending trial, pleaded not guilty at the bail hearing in Manhattan federal court, where her lawyer had sought her release on a $5 million bond. Maxwell poses "a substantial risk of flight," said Judge Alison Nathan. "The risk is simply too great" for Maxwell to be released on bail, Nathan said. The judge noted Maxwell's wealth, her citizenship in Britain and France, other international ties, and her lack of strong family or business connections in the United States, as she denied the bail request. Nathan also cited the "seriousness" of Maxwell's alleged crimes as a reason she would have to flee and said no bail condition, or combination of conditions, would ensure she would willingly appear in court on the charges. Maxwell, 58, faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted of crimes that include enticing minors into traveling to have sex with Epstein, and perjury. The daughter of the dead crooked British media baron Robert Maxwell did not visibly react to the judge's decision, which she saw and listened to via a video teleconference from a Brooklyn, New York, federal jail. The bail denial came nearly a year to the day after Epstein was himself denied bail on child sex trafficking charges after his lawyers offered to post a whopping $100 million bond. A federal prosecutor who argued against Maxwell's bail request told Nathan that Maxwell had posed as "Jen Marshall," a "journalist" who was seeking privacy, last November when she looked at purchasing the New Hampshire house where she was found in her pajamas and arrested by FBI agents on the morning of July 2. Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing where she was denied bail for her role aiding Jeffrey Epstein to recruit and eventually abuse of minor girls, in Manhattan Federal Court, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S. July 14, 2020 in this courtroom sketch. Jane Rosenberg | Reuters Maxwell, according to a real estate agent involved in the purchase, posed as the wife of a man who identified himself as "Scott Marshall," a purported retired member of the British military who was writing a book, the prosecutor, Alison Moe, said. The $1 million house, which sits on more than 150 acres of land, later was bought by a legal entity set up for that purpose, and to hide the actual identity of the people who purchased the residence. The real estate agent realized that Maxwell was the British-accented "journalist" who used another name after she saw news stories about her arrest, Moe said. The prosecutor said that Maxwell's deception with the real estate agent, and other factors, warranted detaining her without bail, as did wealth of up to $10 million in assets, at least $4 million of which is in a Swiss bank account. Maxwell, who waived her physical appearance in court due to the coronavirus pandemic, spoke in a clear, firm voice as she denied the charges laid out in a six-count indictment against her. "Not guilty," Maxwell told Nathan early in the hearing, which lasted slightly more than two hours, and which was listened to on a conference call by more than 1,000 people. Nathan scheduled Maxwell's trial to begin on July 12, 2021. Moe estimated that the trial would take three weeks. Annie Farmer, one of three women whose claims are the basis for the criminal case against Maxwell, told the judge that she should deny the bail request, saying that "the danger Maxwell posed must be taken seriously." "She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women. She has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes or the devastating, lasting effects her actions caused," Farmer said, after telling the judge she first met Maxwell when she was 16 years old. Farmer, who requested to be identified by her real name during the court hearing, said, "Those that survived implore this court that she be detained pending trial." Another accuser, identified as Jane Doe, said in a statement read to the judge by Moe, that, "Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey could not have done what he did." Protestors gather outside court as Ghislaine Maxwell is set to make her first court appearance on July 14, 2020 at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, on a video link from her cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, over sex-trafficking charges tied to her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein in New York. Timothy A. Clary | AFP | Getty Images Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 16:16:35|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ISTANBUL, July 14 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and 11 others wounded in flash floods in Turkey's northeastern province of Rize on Tuesday. The two were killed by the flash floods triggered by massive rainfall in the province, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu told reporters while inspecting the rescue work on the scene. The evacuation of the residents in the risky locations is underway, he said. The NTV broadcaster put the figure of the wounded at 11. The downpour, which has been affecting the region since Sunday evening, caused flash floods and landslides, wreaking havoc in a wide range of areas. Several roads and bridges collapsed and vehicles were trapped in floods, according to videos aired by the NTV. A day earlier, at least four people were killed in flash floods in the neighboring province of Artvin. Enditem New York, July 14 : A one-year-old boy was killed during a shooting incident in New York City, authorities said. On Monday, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said that two men opened fire on a group of people who were having a cookout outside a playground in Brooklyn at around 11.30 p.m. on Sunday, reports Xinhua news agency. The victim, identified as Davell Gardner, was shot in the stomach while sitting in a stroller. He died in the hospital later. Three others were also injured during the shooting but are expected to survive, according to the NYPD. The suspects are still at large, and their motives are unclear, police said. Mayor Bill de Blasio mourned the death of Gardner on Monday's briefing with a moment of silence. "It's heartbreaking for so many reasons and it begins with the fact that there are so many guns out there, and that's a New York tragedy and a national tragedy," said de Blasio. "We have to heal. We have to bring our police and communities together. We have so much to do," he added. The city experienced another violent week with 43 shooting incidents, an increase of 231 per cent compared with the same week in 2019, according to NYPD database. It may be August before Dublin's hospitality hub Temple Bar reopens fully amid "huge uncertainty" in the industry post-Covid. Only a handful of venues in the Latin Quarter have opened their doors in recent weeks and most venues have indicated they will be waiting until next month before they resume business, as the sector's reopening meets with a mixed reaction. Read More There are mounting fears that phase four of the country's reopening roadmap on July 20 may be postponed amid concerns about the renewed spread of Covid-19. About six venues in Temple Bar have reopened - out of around 30 - and most of those are attached to hotels in the area. Despite all pubs being scheduled for reopening next week without having to serve food, publicans are opting to wait and see how much demand there is before pulling up the shutters for the first time since last March. Martin Harte, CEO of the Temple Bar Company, said many of its members will be holding off on reopening until around August. "There's a huge degree of uncertainty in the industry and people are erring on the side of caution. There was practically tumbleweed going through Temple Bar on Saturday night," he told the Irish Independent. "I'm not sure if there's an appetite for reopening in the city. "There's a lot of mixed messages out there and I think business owners want to wait and see what the Government says. "There's going to be caution because if there is a big spike, everything will be delayed." Scenes depicting large crowds of people gathering on the street drinking alcohol in places like Dame Lane only compounded the level of unease among bar owners. "Any of the publicans I spoke to were very annoyed with seeing those images as it damages the entire industry. "They were really appalled with what was going on in Dame Lane, but it was a complex thing. "People were drinking takeaways as well as taking pints out of pubs and it was going on for weeks, I believe. So there's a sense of nervousness around scenes like that; everyone's concerned," he said. He said huge challenges are now facing the hospitality industry, previously worth around 2bn. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The owners and operators of a now-defunct Warehouse District bar and the building that housed it have agreed to pay a combined $22 million to the family of a woman who suffered permanent, catastrophic brain injuries after she fell from the bars second floor on St. Patricks Day in 2017. The agreement finalized in April settled a lawsuit that Megan Keefes family filed against Spirits Bar on West 6th Street, the buildings owner WD Downtown and the property manager Dalad Realty. Keefe, a nursing student who was 20 years old at the time of her fall, now requires around-the-clock care and is dependent upon assistance to complete everyday tasks. Dalad Realty agreed to pay $20 million. The bar and WD Downtown agreed to pay $1 million each. Neil Viny is the president of both WD Downtown and Dalad Realty, according to court records. An emailed request for comment was not immediately returned Tuesday. More than $8 million will be put into a fund to help cover Keefes medical expenses, and her mother and father will each keep $2 million under the settlement approved by a probate court judge in April. The six attorneys who represented Keefes family will keep more than $8 million of the settlement. W. Craig Bashein, the lead attorney on behalf of Keefes family, did not return a request for comment Tuesday. The settlement bought to an end three years of litigation that has uncovered a series of failings and missteps by the companies in the year that led up to Keefes March 17, 2017 fall, and what her attorneys said amounted to a cover-up immediately after. The Keefes family had rented a hotel room downtown to celebrate Clevelands iconic St. Patricks Day parade, according to court records. Keefe and a few friends had some drinks at a friends apartment in the citys Little Italy neighborhood and then took an RTA train downtown to meet more friends at Spirits before going to the hotel, court records say. The group went to a second-floor bar at the restaurant and Keefe ordered a drink for her and a friend. They were dancing near the upstairs railing when the friend said she briefly turned her back to Keefe, and when she turned around Keefe was gone, records say. Lawyers for the bar and the womans family could not track down anyone who actually saw how Keefe tumbled. Customers on the bars first floor said that they looked up after Keefe fell and saw a panel in the middle of the railings had swung open directly above where she struck the granite counter and then landed on the floor. Spirits bartender Nick Urso flagged down an off-duty Cleveland police officer who was working security at the bar. Urso dragged Keefe outside to the street while the officer called for help, according to court records. A customer of the bar took a cellphone video of Urso dragging Keefes limp body out of the front door. Other customers and Spirits employees said they saw employees wiping Keefes blood off the floor, and bar manager Samir Nakhle went upstairs and fixed the swinging panel before police arrived, in what Keefes attorneys in court filings said amounted to a cover-up. Keefe suffered debilitating injuries from the fall, according to the court records. She was in a prolonged coma, suffered a traumatic brain injury and bleeding on her brain, and has been intubated and ventilated, documents say. She has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder and had a stroke and is anemic and requires multiple blood transfusions. Her family recently moved her out of a nursing home and into their home and are providing 24-hour care. None of the bars employees or owners told police investigating Keefes fall about the panel swinging open, a sergeant said in a sworn deposition. A Cleveland Fire Department battalion chief who responded that afternoon to inspect the area where Keefe fell said an employee came up to him and told him about the panel, and that several panels on the railing had a history of swinging open. The battalion chief, Greg Lightcap, testified that the panel had was shut with caulk and a screw. He said the panels on the second floor gave way to slight pressure and described them as grossly unsecured. The investigation revealed that Spirits did not have an occupancy permit to operate in the space. WD Downtown, which bought the building in 2016 and enlisted Dalad Realty as the property manager, never applied for an occupancy permit, according to court records. The last occupancy permit issued to the space was in 2014, when the former upscale restaurant chain Sushi Rock closed its doors and a bar called Pour House opened in its place. That permit expressly said that the bar was to not allow anyone upstairs due to the unsafe railing. Lightcap ordered the bar closed that day. It reopened after employees installed a barrier that prevented customers from going upstairs. The bar in June 2017 applied for its first occupancy permit and installed new railing on the second floor. State liquor agents cited the bar for serving alcohol to underage customers after the fall. Several employees of Dalad Realty testified in depositions that they believed it was a different employees job to get an occupancy permit, and they assumed someone else already did so. Police charged the bartender who served Keefe, Carissa Buehner, with providing alcohol to an underage person. She pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in 2018 and a judge sentenced her to probation and community service. Keefes family filed the lawsuit in June 2017. The care she required drained the family of their life savings, and they had to refinance their home to get cash to deal with medical and legal expenses, court records say. The family remains devoted to caring for Keefe, the court filing says. Read more stories Family of woman injured in St. Patricks Day fall sues Warehouse District bar Bartender sentenced for serving underage woman who fell from balcony on St. Patricks Day Bartender pleads no contest in case of woman who fell from balcony on St. Patricks Day in downtown Cleveland Bartender charged with serving alcohol to underage woman who fell from balcony on St. Patricks Day Liquor agents cite Cleveland bar where woman fell on St. Patricks Day, refuse to say why Cleveland bar cited with selling liquor to underage patrons after woman fell from balcony on St. Patricks Day Woman in critical condition after falling from Cleveland bars balcony on St. Patricks Day Amid rumours gaining ground that Charu Asopa and Rajeev Sen's marriage has hit a rough patch after they wed in Goa on June 7, 2019 post four months of dating, the former has opened up about her husband moving out of their home in Mumbai days before their first wedding anniversary. Rajeev had earlier said that he has not moved out of his home in Mumbai and that someone is 'brainwashing' Charu into believing that he had. Now, Charu hits back at Rajeev's claims saying (via), No one is brainwashing me. I am mature enough to make my own decisions." Read: Rajeev Moved Out, Flew to Delhi Few Days Before Our 1st Wedding Anniversary: Charu Asopa Superstar Salman Khan, who has been spending time at his Panvel farmhouse ever since the coronavirus lockdown commenced, took to Twitter to share a mud covered photo of himself. In the snap, Salman can be seen sitting with mud all over his body. Seems like he had a tough day on the farming turf. Along with the snap, Salman has expressed his gratitude towards farmers, who tirelessly work under scorching heat. Respect to all the farmers, read the post. Read: Salman Khan Wanted to Pay Respect to Farmers with a Pic But Netizens Trolled Him Actress Ankita Lokhande, who was Sushant Singh Rajput's co-star in daily soap Pavitra Rishta, has remembered the late actor in a social media post that she shared on his one month death anniversary on Tuesday. Sushant passed away on June 14. His body was found hanging in his apartment in Mumbai. Ankita took to social media for the first time since Sushant's death and posted an image of a lamp that she lit in memory of Sushant. She captioned the post, "Child of God." Ankita's last Instagram post was dated June 13, a day before Sushant passed away. Read: Ankita Lokhande Lights Diya on 1 Month Death Anniversary of Sushant Singh Rajput, See Pic Sonam Kapoor along with her entrepreneur husband Anand Ahuja are back in London and the actress can't control her excitement. Sonam took to the Instagram story section to share glimpses of her travel. In the first pics, the Neerja actress and Anand were donning face masks as they posed for the lens. Later, we got an aerial view of London through her post. One of the pictures had London I am back written on it with an heart eyes emoticon. Read: Sonam Kapoor Jets Off to London with Husband Anand Ahuja Brie Larson has recently started her YouTube channel amid the coronavirus lockdown. The actress has been vocal on social media about the virus spread and has been constantly urging fans to stay indoors and be safe by taking necessary precautions. She has also been voicing concerns of the Black community in the US during the George Floyd protests and now Brie's YouTube channel is gaining attention. Brie's channel has over 2,37,000 subscribers subscribers on YouTube already and the actress recently shared a video concept that her grandmother wants her to work on for the next video. Brie shared a snap of a message she received from her grandmother which read, "If you still looking for ideas I thought of this one if you haven't done it before. 'How do you prepare yourself physically and emotionally for each role you play'." Read: Captain Marvel' Brie Larson's Grandmother Has Suggestion for Her Next YouTube Video Rebel Sachin Pilot's removal from the posts of Rajasthan deputy chief minister and Congress state unit chief on July 14 evoked mixed reactions from the party leaders, with a section of them still hoping for resolution of the matter and the rest blaming the young leader for his haste. Most of the leaders, however, described the turn of events as "unfortunate" and "sad". A day after the Congress said the "doors are open" for Pilot and gave him a second chance, the party virtually closed them for him on Tuesday, sacking him as Rajasthan deputy chief minister and state party chief, three days after he mounted a rebellion against his state chief minister Ashok Gehlot. Soon after the Congress action, party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said Pilot was holding constitutional post and some of his actions may not be in sync with that position. "Some doors have to close if the open doors are not utilised for constructive closures. We still hope that closure of options will be an exception, and harmonious settlement the rule," Singhvi told PTI. "A constitutional government responsibility of deputy CM obviously sits uneasily with activities which are anti-party," he added. Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the development was "disappointing" for the party workers who have reposed faith in the Congress party. "It is not just disappointing for the party, but also for the grassroot workers, who want the party to progress and do well. The biggest blow is to the common workers who have reposed faith in the party.This has certainly hurt the common workers," he told PTI. Chowdhury said every party worker has aspirations to reach the highest post, but they should be kept within limits. He said when people see such things happening, with leaders aspiring for the top posts, they get hurt and disappointed. Senior party leader Salman Khurshid said, "the developments are sad. I don't want to go into the specifics of apportioning blame. I wish that we would all together be fighting the challenges rather than letting such things happen." Asked about the young leaders being unhappy and some even leaving like Jyotiraditya Scindia, he said: "I don't see young and old as a distinction. The only distinction you can make is those who go away and those who stay. We have to concentrate on fighting the BJP and it's sad that these developments have taken place." Noting that what has happened is "unfortunate", veteran Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said the BJP is exploiting the vulnerability of young Congress leaders who are ambitious. He also felt that Pilot should have had patience and perseverance and not been in haste. "Pilot was made deputy chief minister and given the reins of the party in Rajasthan and the next leg was the chief ministership. But he had no patience. The BJP made use of his vulnerability," he told PTI. Former Union minister and Pilot's 'colleague and friend' Jitin Prasada said no one can take away the fact that Sachin Pilot has long worked with dedication for the Congress. Considered a prominent leader of the party's 'young brigade', Prasada expressed the hope that the situation can be salvaged. "Sachin Pilot is not just a colleague but my friend. No one can take away the fact that all these years he has worked with dedication for the party," Prasada tweeted. "Sincerely hope the situation can still be salvaged. Sad it has come to this," he said. However, a senior leader said "patience never hurts" and alleged that there is a "sense of entitlement" among the young generation in the party. Another leader said what is happening in the party "is not good". "Some youngsters have got more than they deserved due to extraordinary circumstances. They should be grateful and not greedy," said a senior leader, who did not wish to be named. Shortly after he was sacked, Pilot said, "Truth can be rattled, not defeated". He also changed his profile on Twitter, deleting all references to his positions as deputy chief minister and Rajasthan Congress chief. He only described himself as MLA of Tonk and a former minister of IT, Telecom & Corporate affairs, Government of India. New Delhi: Congress Vide President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at the group of Delhi Police for detaining family members of an ex-serviceman who allegedly committed suicide over the OROP issue. Do you not feel ashamed? He is a son of an army veteran... and you are arresting them? an angry Rahul Gandhi asked cops. In a video shot inside Mandir Marg police station, where Rahul was taken following his detention after he tried to enter the RML hospital to meet the deceased Ram Kishan Grewals family, the Congress leader was seen lashing out at a group of Delhi Police personnel for taking into custody some relatives of Grewal. Pointing to Grewals father and brother, Rahul demanded their release and termed their detention as shameful. What is your name? You think the family of Indias martyr should be arrested? Do you not feel ashamed?, Rahul asked one senior police official when he turned down Congress Vice Presidents request to release the family members of the deceased. #WATCH: Inside visuals of the Mandir Marg Police station (Delhi), where Congress VP Rahul Gandhi has been detained. pic.twitter.com/Tr0F34XMTn ANI (@ANI_news) November 2, 2016 Grewal, an ex-serviceman from Haryanas Bhiwani district, ended his life yesterday by allegedly consuming poison on the lawns behind a government building in Janpath, the central area of the capital. Grewal, who was a familiar face of OROP agitation, left behind a suicide note, his son said. ALSO READ | Live updates on OROP suicide issue: Rahul Gandhi released after being detained in Delhi A family member of Grewal alleged that police manhandled them when the family was in trauma. Rahul was not allowed to enter Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital where Grewals body is kept while Delhis Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was detained outside the hospital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal too reached RML hospital and lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he was lying on the One rank, One Pension issue. ALSO READ | Police detain kin of ex-serviceman as leaders make a beeline at RML Hospital The Prime Minister says OROP has been implemented, and soldiers are dying demanding it to be implemented. It means the PM is lying across the country. Then why did he commit suicide? The Centre is deceiving the army. I have come to meet his family. If anyone commits suicide in my state, should I not meet the family? BJP is doing politics. They have detained the Deputy CM. We will have to postpone the Cabinet meeting. Why? Because the Centre has resorted to hooliganism, Kejriwal told reporters outside the hospital. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. She is expecting her second child, a daughter, with husband Kevin Hart, in the coming weeks. And Eniko Hart flashed her burgeoning baby bump during a relaxing day in the sun on Monday. The 35-year-old beauty shared a selfie of herself wearing a bikini while outside with her bump on show. Getting some sunshine: Eniko Hart flaunted her burgeoning baby bump on social media on Monday 'Skin tighter summer. Vitamin D,' she captioned the photo. Eniko sported a teal green colored triangular top that was tied up into a bow at the middle. She teamed the look with bikini bottoms of the same color that appeared to be getting lost beneath her growing belly. Secret to glowing skin! 'day & night on my belly only i use Egyptian magic. and on the rest of my body i LIVE by the Loccitane almond oil!' she spilled Nothing stopping her! Eniko has continued to keep extremely fit and healthy throughout her second pregnancy And with fans wanting to know how she was keeping her skin so hydrated and glowing throughout pregnancy, she revealed in the comments exactly what she was doing. 'day & night on my belly only i use Egyptian magic. and on the rest of my body i LIVE by the Loccitane almond oil!' she spilled. Eniko has continued to keep extremely fit and healthy throughout her second pregnancy. She recently took to social media to share one of her intense workouts, despite being in her third trimester. 'ok so third trimester is starting to kick my butt. Im slowing down a lot more these days.. but Im gradually becoming a fan of all shades of pink. cant you tell?' she captioned. Style: She was wearing stylish purple maternity workout gear from Fabletics, for which she is a brand ambassador The beauty and Kevin announced the sex of the baby via Instagram on Mother's Day, telling the world they are about to welcome a baby girl. Eniko and Kevin married in 2016 and share a two-year-old son called Kenzo, whom she was pregnant with when her husband cheated on her. A couple of years on from the adultery scandal Eniko shared on the Netflix docu-series Kevin Hart: Don't F*** This Up that she has put the matter behind her. 'It was a lot for me but we've been through it, we've gone through, we're past it and he's a better man now because of it,' she said. Luxury: While self-isolating amid the coronavirus pandemic she exercised at an at-home gym with plenty of equipment at her disposal Kevin also shares two children, Heaven, 15, and Hendrix, 12, with his ex-wife Torrei Hart whom he was married to from 2003 till 2011. Eniko announced she was expecting again on March 24 and shared with fans later that she is 'feeling really good about this pregnancy.' When she went public with the news she wrote on Instagram: 'baby #2 in the midst of all of this we're counting our blessings and couldn't be more grateful! soon to be a family of 6! #glowingandgrowing.' Mastercard Incorporated MA recently expanded its collaboration with EedenBull a fintech firm based in Norway, Scotland and Singapore. Prior to this deal, both the companies also expanded their alliance in Europe this month. Through this extended tie up in Asia Pacific, Mastercard will back EedenBull in rolling out a commercial cards platform. The new digital platform is intended to offer enhanced commercial payments services in Asia Pacific for banks and their business clients. Apart from the new platform, they will also get access to EedenBulls spend management platformQ Business. Notably, Q Business, which is provided by a network of banks in the Nordics, offers a seamless digital solution for easing the time-consuming processing of cash and checks. Furthermore, we believe the latest move by Mastercard highlights the companys constant efforts to strengthen presence in the Asia Pacific region. It has been investing heavily to embrace newer technologies and partnering with several organizations to capitalize on prospects present in the business-to-business (B2B) payments market of Asia Pacific. This month itself, Mastercard unveiled Soft POS in India by teaming up with Axis Bank and Worldline. Notably, Southeast Asias super app Grab launched a digital prepaid card in June backed by Mastercard in the Philippines. Apart from penetrating further into the Asia Pacific region, these initiatives definitely hint toward growing demand for cashless payments in Asia Pacific amid the COVID-19 pandemic, where homebound people find digital transactions convenient. Per a study by MasterCard, this trend is here to stay even in the post COVID-19 world. According to the same study, almost half of the respondents in the Asia-Pacific region confirmed that they are adopting cashless transactions more often. Notably, digital transactions have been gaining momentum globally for quite some time, with the pandemic accelerating the trend further. We believe that the growing popularity of contactless payments and the rising adoption of digital transactions worldwide are likely to position Mastercard well for long-term growth. Story continues Furthermore, the company is experiencing a revival in business volumes, driven by normalization in most markets courtesy of gradual reopening of businesses. The companys switched volume and switched transactions have been displaying an improving trend, partly backed by the easing of social-distancing measures in several markets and the positive impact drawn from the fiscal stimulus offered in the United States. We note that switched transactions, which were down 7% for the week ending on May 28, reported a rise of 1% in the week ending Jun 21. Zacks Rank & Share Price Performance Shares of the company have gained 8.5% in a year compared with the industrys growth of 2.9%. Other companies in the same space, namely, Global Payments Inc. GPN, The Western Union Company WU and Visa Inc. V have rallied 0.2%, 5.7% and 8.9%, respectively, in a years time. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. Theyre also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases. Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better. See these 7 breakthrough stocks now>> Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report The Western Union Company (WU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Mastercard Incorporated (MA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Visa Inc. (V) : Free Stock Analysis Report Global Payments Inc. (GPN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. A Pakistani anti-corruption court has given a final chance to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, currently in London for medical treatment, to appear before it on August 17 in a graft case, failing which he may be declared a proclaimed offender. The 70-year-old embattled three-time premier is currently in London for treatment after he was diagnosed with an immune system disorder. He left for the UK in November after the Lahore High Court granted him a four-week permission to go abroad for treatment. The notice issued by the Accountability Court of Islamabad in the Toshakhana (treasure house) corruption case was displayed at Jati Umra and Model Town residences of Sharif on Monday. "Nawaz Sharif committed offence of punishable under Section 9 read with Section 10 of the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 and it has been returned to a warrant of arrest thereupon issued that the said accused cannot be found and whereas it has been shown to my satisfaction that the said accused has absconded. "Proclamation under section 87 CrPC is hereby made that the said accused Nawaz Sharif is required to appear before this court to answer the said reference on Aug 17," the notice stated. The Accountability Court last month issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Sharif in the Toshakhana case. Sharif is accused of obtaining luxury cars from the treasury house by paying just 15 per cent of the price of these vehicles. Former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari and former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani are also accused of receiving luxury vehicles and gifts from the treasure house. According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Gilani had facilitated Zardari and Nawaz to obtain the vehicles. The court has directed the Foreign Office to execute the arrest warrants against Sharif through the Pakistan High Commission in London. Sharif left for London in November after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission to go abroad for treatment. He had submitted an undertaking to the court to return to Pakistan citing his record of facing the law and justice within four weeks or as soon as he is declared healthy and fit to travel by doctors. He was also given bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving a seven-year sentence in Kot Lakhpat Jail and in a money laundering case to facilitate his travel abroad. Sharif has been diagnosed with complicated coronary artery/ischemic heart disease. His daughter Maryam Nawaz had said her father was a high-risk patient and therefore, his cardiac catheterisation/coronary intervention had been postponed owing to the COVID-19. Last month, the country's anti-graft body filed a corruption case against Sharif, Jang/Geo media group owner Mir Shakilur Rahman and two others in a land case in Lahore's accountability court. According to NAB, Sharif in 1986, when he was the Punjab chief minister, allotted 54 kanal land in Lahore to Mir Shakilur Rehman in violation of rules. Rahman has been on judicial remand after his arrest by the NAB on March 12. Since Sharif did not respond to any of the NAB's summons and questions, his arrest warrants had already been issued and the bureau announced to have moved the accountability court to declare him a proclaimed offender. WASHINGTON - With a series of tweets, impromptu interviews and unscripted remarks, President Donald Trump has increasingly undermined the public health message of his own government, adding a sense of confusion to what has been a disjointed and ineffective response to the coronavirus pandemic. Public health experts say Trump's efforts to deflect blame for the surging virus have become yet another distraction making it harder to slow the spread of a covid-19, a highly contagious disease now infecting Americans at a record clip. On Monday, Trump retweeted a message from Chuck Woolery, a longtime game show host and conservative commentator, that accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of "lying" to the American public about the coronavirus that causes the disease. Trump in recent days has also accused Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious-disease expert, of making "mistakes," blasted CDC guidelines for opening schools as "impractical" and repeatedly undercut public health officials' recommendations by questioning the efficacy of masks and social distancing. Taken together, the president's efforts have led to a lack of clarity and consistency in the national response to the coronavirus, said Ben Sommers, a doctor who teaches at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "When the president is calling the guidance wrong and endorsing the view that these public health experts are lying, it makes it incredibly difficult for the public to know what to do," he said. "It erodes the long-term ability of our government to provide one of its basic goals which is to protect the public safety." While Trump has downplayed the virus and dismissed the warnings of public health experts for months, his recent push has come amid a fresh surge in cases and concern over how to safely reopen schools in the coming weeks. Trump has been primarily focused on trying to revitalize the economy, which has been devastated by the pandemic, seeing its resurgence as key to his reelection chances this fall. Trump's aides have amplified his statements promoting a return to normalcy and undermining government health expertise in the middle of a pandemic. White House officials disseminated negative talking points about Fauci to reporters over the weekend after The Washington Post reported that he had been sidelined by Trump in recent weeks. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany used the briefing Monday to defend those criticisms of Fauci, and to back up the president's attacks on the government's health experts. She accused "some rogue individuals" at the CDC of misleading the public and defended Trump's retweet of Woolery by saying he was calling out scientists for engaging in politics. "Overall the notion of the tweet was to point out the fact that when we use science, we have to use it in a way that is not political," she said. Woolery was less nuanced in his tweet, writing that "the most outrageous lies are the ones about Covid 19." "Everyone is lying," he continued in a post Trump shared with his 83 million followers. "The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think it's all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it." Trump also retweeted a post from Woolery, who hosted "The Love Connection" in the 1980s, pointing to "worldwide and overwhelming" scientific evidence that schools should reopen in the fall. Trump and his aides have tried to make school openings a simple choice of opening or not opening. Public health experts have said that while restarting schools should be a top priority, the issue is that without proper safety measures the reopenings could further spread the virus. Last week, the president publicly criticized the CDC guidelines for reopening schools, calling them "very tough & expensive" and "impractical" in a tweet. Trump's tweet - which ended with "I will be meeting with them!!!" - set off several days of confusion and inconsistent responses from administration officials, who struggled to explain the government's position on school openings, and whether anything had changed. Vice President Mike Pence said the CDC would issue additional guidance for schools, even as CDC Director Robert Redfield and other officials said they stood by the original recommendations but would release additional information. During an interview with CNN on Sunday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos struggled to answer basic questions about whether the federal government wanted schools to follow the guidelines. While McEnany did tell reporters Monday that Trump has confidence in the CDC, she spent more time criticizing health experts than amplifying their message for the public. She repeatedly referred to the spike in positive coronavirus infections as "embers" despite the fact that states across the country are setting records for new cases and deaths rates are rising. More than 3.3 million Americans have been infected, and more than 132,000 have died, the highest known totals in the world. The administration has accused China of underreporting the severity of the pandemic within its borders. "When you compare us to other countries, we have the most testing in the world. When you compare us to other countries on case fatality rate, other industrialized nations, we're very low and beating most countries, if not all, in Europe," McEnany said. "So we're doing a lot on the world stage and a lot right." The World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus criticized political leaders for downplaying the virus and not doing enough to enforce social distancing and mask-wearing. "Mixed messages from leaders are undermining the most critical ingredient of any response: trust," he said without naming leaders. "If the basics aren't followed, there is only one way this pandemic is going to go. It's going to get worse and worse and worse, but it does not have to be this way." The United States formally notified the United Nations last week of its withdrawal from WHO, which Trump has blamed for not doing more to stop the spread of the virus. It's one of several institutions Trump has undercut or jettisoned during the pandemic as he has increasingly relied on his own instincts. But even some Republicans are calling for a more focused federal response. Mick Mulvaney, the former acting White House chief of staff, wrote in an opinion article published Monday that the United States still has a "testing problem" and said policymakers need to realize that the "current economic crisis is public-health driven." "I know it isn't popular to talk about in some Republican circles, but we still have a testing problem in this country," Mulvaney, who left the White House in March to become the United States's special envoy for Northern Ireland, said in the piece published by CNBC. "My son was tested recently; we had to wait 5 to 7 days for results. My daughter wanted to get tested before visiting her grandparents, but was told she didn't qualify. That is simply inexcusable at this point in the pandemic." The assessment of Mulvaney is at odds with that of Trump, who has repeatedly touted the country's testing capacity and argued that U.S. coronavirus case levels are increasing because so much testing is being done. On Monday, Trump again contradicted Fauci and other health officials by claiming that testing for coronavirus was a "double-edged sword" and that the United States had "created" cases by doing so much testing. "We test more than anybody by far. And when you test, you create cases," he said. "So, we've created cases." Sommers said that kind of politicized rhetoric about a pandemic is "really damaging" to efforts to mount a coherent the public health response to the pandemic. "So much of our society right now is highly polarized," he said. "And when you take science and do the same thing with it, it means that essentially everyone feels entitled to their own facts. From a public health side and a medical side, that's just a tragedy." - - - The Washington Post's John Wagner contributed to this report. Hundreds of Villagers in Guangdong Province Welcome Back Hero Released From Prison Zhang Peng, a resident of Leizhou City in Guangdong Province, is hailed as an anti-corruption hero but was incarcerated in prison for nearly two years. On July 7, hundreds of his fellow villagers went to the prison to celebrate his release. Zhang reported to the Leizhou government multiple times that local officials have embezzled a huge portion of poverty relief funds. As there was no response, he then went to Beijing to appeal but ended up in prison for his brave actions. Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to quiz senior IAS officer M. Sivasankar in connection with the ongoing probe into the Kerala gold smuggling case, reports indicated on Monday. Even though Sivasankar has washed his hands off the matter in the past, the NIA is said to be probing the IAS officer's alleged role since he was reported to be very close to prime accused Swapna Suresh, who was put in a top post in the IT Department where Sivasankar was the Secretary before her arrest in the case. Sivasankar was ousted as Secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after the case came to light early this month. Vijayan has said he is not worried if the central agency reaches his office in connection with the probe. Meanwhile, the Congress-led United Democratic Front is set to move a no-confidence motion against the Pinarayi government in the Kerala Assembly in the wake of what it calls numerous scams in the IT Department, which is headed by Vijayan. The Congress-led opposition is also likely to move a motion to remove Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan since he had allegedly inaugurated a new business venture of Swapna in her presence. The NIA had arrested Swapna and Sandeep Nair from Bengaluru on Saturday for their alleged involvement in the Kerala gold smuggling case. On Sunday, the NIA brought them by road on a transit remand and presented them in a NIA court at Kochi, which remanded them in custody. The NIA took over the case on Friday and filed a FIR against the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Swapna, a former employee of the UAE Consulate in the Kerala capital, is among the four accused the NIA had booked for allegedly facilitating smuggling of 30 kg gold in the diplomatic baggage to Thiruvananthapuram from Dubai on July 5. Two other co-accused are PS Sarith and Fazil Fareed. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text The Lagos State Government has urged doctors under the umbrella of the Lagos Medical Guild who embarked on a warning strike to return to their duty posts saying their action is insensitive. The medical guild on Monday commenced a warning strike on issues bordering on safety of workers, non-payment of allowances, unceremonious disengagement of doctors, among others. All efforts by PREMIUM TIMES to reach Oluwajimi Sodipo, the chairperson of the guild, to confirm the commencement of the strike, were unsuccessful as calls and text messages were not answered. State reacts But reacting to the strike action, the Lagos State Government expressed disappointment that the guild proceeded with the strike despite several discussions with the government. According to a Monday statement released by Gbenga Omotosho, the information commissioner, a meeting was held on Sunday between government officials and stakeholders to address issues raised by the guild. Some of the issues are being attending to, he said. Mr Omotosho said the meeting was attended by Akin Abayomi, the Commissioner for Health; Hakeem Muri-Okunola, the Head of Service; Ajibola Ponnle, Commissioner for Establishments, Trainings and Pensions and all permanent secretaries of the aforementioned ministries. He added that the representatives of the Medical Guild, National Association of Residents Doctors (NARD), LASUTH branch and other relevant stakeholders were at the meeting to deliberate on the issues underlying the strike. The various issues outlined by the medical guild include: Shortage of doctors in the State, Heavy Taxation of Health Workers, Request for Residential Quarters, Entry Point Skipping Policy for Doctors, Hazard Allowance for Health Workers, COVID19 Insurance Cover, Medical Residency Programme, Personal Protection Equipment, Involvement of the Guild in COVID19 Response Committee amongst others. The commissioner registered the disappointment of the government at the warning strike embarked upon, saying it is insensitive. It is pertinent to note that the State Government expresses extreme disappointment that the Guild continued with their warning strike despite a series of engagements with the State Government aimed at resolving some of the grievances raised, noting that many issues have already been resolved, whilst unresolved issues are still being deliberated upon. READ ALSO: It is worrisome that some members of this noble profession would down tool at a time when their services are mostly required. We believe this action is insensitive and lacks empathy which our profession epitomises. The State Government therefore requests the members of the medical Guild who embarked on a three day warning strike today to return back to work, Mr Omotosho said. Dismissals, taxation While addressing the issue of health workers being unceremoniously dismissed from the isolation centres, Mr Omotosho said this is not true, rather, the workers are being rotated. He added that healthcare professionals are asked to return to their primary posting to reduce fatigue and burn out, to build capacity for treatment of COVID-19 across the health workforce and to ensure that as many health workers as possible benefit from the additional allowances. The commissioner further said payment of COVID-19 allowances for May and June have been approved and being received by the workforce, while disparity of salary for doctors is as a result of the new minimum wage effected by the state whereby state workers are now earning above those in the federal level. Addressing the issue of heavy taxation of health workers, Mr Omotosho said it was made clear to the Guild that the Personal Income Tax Act is standard to all and calculated on the basis of the tax table. A meeting has been scheduled with officials of LIRS for this week with a view to exploring ways of reducing the tax burden. Mr Governor has also approved the exemption of the hazard allowance from tax for state health workers. Lagos State is the currently the epicentre of coronavirus pandemic in Nigeria with 12,583 confirmed cases out of the 33,153 cases nationwide. A widely-shared photo on social media shows U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz on an American Airlines flight Sunday not wearing a face mask, which is in violation of the airline's policy requiring passengers wear to face coverings to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Hosseh Enad, who works for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, took the photo and posted it Sunday on his Twitter account, writing that Cruz was on a commercial flight and was "refusing to wear a mask." A spokesperson for Cruz emailed mySA.com a statement that the senator was drinking coffee at the time the photo was taken and did not need to have it on. The face mask policy for American Airlines does not apply to those who are eating or drinking, however, the airline does ask people to cover their faces as soon as they're done, according to its website. "To help promote safety, Senator Cruz wears a mask when traveling, and practices social distancing where possible," the spokesperson said in the statement. "Consistent with airline policy, he temporarily removes the mask while eating or drinking. Yesterday (Sunday) during his flight he removed his mask to drink and put it back on afterward. We should all practice common sense measures to slow the spread of the virus." Cruz, a Republican, was on his way to attend a rally for Jon Francis, a candidate for the Texas Legislature, according to a tweet from Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. READ ALSO: 'This is NUTS': Ted Cruz slams S.A. City Council over coronavirus hate speech ruling In the photo posted by Enad, Cruz is seen holding a beverage but it is unclear whether he removed his face covering before drinking the beverage. A face mask is not see in the photo posted by Enad, who responded to those who argued the senator was drinking his coffee by tweeting, "it's not hard to have a mask on and undo one side to take a sip then put it pack on." Enad also posted another photo of Cruz outside the gate without a face mask on, which is another violation of the airline's policy as the company stated on its website it will deny boarding customers who don't wear a face mask while at the gate. READ ALSO: Whataburger joins H-E-B in asking customers for help amid another national shortage Another account on Twitter (@ComfortablySmug) responded to Enad's photo by tweeting a photo of Cruz wearing a face mask while on a flight. It is unclear whether it is the same American Airlines flight Enad and Cruz were on together. American Airlines responded to Enad's photo, tweeting that the airline is "committed" to protecting the health and safety of all customers and that the company is reviewing the details of the matter. "We do require masks to be worn by everyone and assure you that this matter will be reviewed internally by our team," the airline commented. Enad's photo, which has more than 37,000 retweets and over 90,000 likes as of Monday, left many outraged, including Netflix's Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness. "This is @SenTedCruz on an @AmericanAir flight with no mask. People are dying in Texas & the leaders are out here doing this," the celebrity tweeted. Since the start of the pandemic, the spokesperson for Cruz said the senator has repeatedly said the country should listen to public health experts and take common-sense steps to slow the spread of COVID-19. "That includes wearing face masks, washing hands, and social distancing where possible," the spokesperson wrote in the statement. Priscilla Aguirre is a general assignment reporter for MySA.com | priscilla.aguirre@express-news.net | @CillaAguirre Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 03:00:41|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close TUNIS, July 14 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia said on Tuesday that 1,200 passengers arriving by a French ship from the port of Marseille will be placed in quarantine after eight cases of COVID-19 infection were found among its crew. The Tunisian authorities had to take precautionary measures, including refusing to unload passengers from the ship at the port of La Goulette until necessary places are found to put them in mandatory confinement, Nissaf Ben Alaya, director general of the National Observatory of New and Emerging Diseases, was quoted by Tunis Afrique Presse as saying. As of Tuesday, Tunisia reported four new COVID-19 cases, including one local case, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 1,306. The Tunisian government has imposed strict confinement measures shortly after the announcement of the detection of the coronavirus case on March 2. The North African country has received several batches of medical aid from the Chinese government, Chinese foundations and companies since late March to help its fight against the pandemic. Enditem Australian energy giant Woodside Petroleum has wiped billions of dollars off the value of its assets and reset price forecasts for the years ahead, giving the strongest indication yet of the severity and longer-term impact of coronavirus across the nation's oil and gas sector. Woodside on Tuesday revealed $US4.37 billion ($6.3 billion) in write-downs and charges that have left no parts of the business unscathed, with impairments on all its Western Australian oil and gas assets, liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and exploration licences. Woodside's Karratha gas plant in Western Australia. Credit:Aaron Bunch It follows a wave of similar revisions by some of the world's biggest oil producers including BP and Shell due to the crippling impact of coronavirus restrictions gutting oil demand and prices, and the growing realisation that the economic shock of the pandemic could last for years to come. ASX-listed Oil Search on Monday announced a $570 million write-down and indicated it could abandon some exploratory drilling projects in Papua New Guinea. But Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman told investors the company's balance sheet was "not materially impacted" by the revisions and insisted the fundamentals of the business remained strong, particularly the demand outlook for its core product, LNG, in Asia. Health authorities on both sides of the border should impose a stricter quarantine on travellers coming from foreign destinations such as the United States, where coronavirus is out of control, a leading public health expert has said. Belfast-born Dr Gabriel Scally, a former NHS doctor and professor of public health at the University of Bristol, urged Northern Ireland and the Republic to follow the example of other countries like New Zealand in its approach to accepting travellers. Nearly 30,000 people arriving in the country have successfully completed isolation periods overseen by its authorities since its borders were closed in March, it has been reported. Dr Scally told the Belfast Telegraph the matter should be looked at, given that flights between Dublin and parts of the United States have resumed. There is growing concern over the number of US arrivals in Ireland from areas such as Texas, which has witnessed a spike in coronavirus cases of 40,000 over the past seven days. It comes as the Republic's coronavirus reproductive number increased to 1. That means the virus is spreading in the population, and more cases linked to travel have been reported. In Northern Ireland recent estimates have placed the R-rate at between 0.5 and 1. TUV leader Jim Allister had previously raised concerns that flights arriving in Dublin from Covid-19 hotspots could pose a threat to the situation in Northern Ireland. The Department of Health on Monda said anyone travelling to here from countries which are not exempt from the quarantine rules, such as the US, must self-isolate for a fortnight. Those arriving from outside the Common Travel Area must fill in a form, providing details of where they are residing. The PSNI has said it is not responsible for vetting visitors from countries such as the US, stating the management of the regulations lies with UK Border Force. Dr Scally said regardless of the procedures in place, the quarantine rules on both sides of the border are currently difficult to enforce. "It should be done on an all-island basis because people can go back and forth across the border at will," he said. "I think the quarantine should be much more restrictive, and that might include partial testing, and anyone high risk (of having Covid-19) quarantining at a designated site before going on their way." He stressed tougher enforcement on international travellers is the only way to eliminate the virus in Ireland. "Remember that the first confirmed case was someone coming from Italy and travelling to Northern Ireland via Dublin," added Dr Scally. The Department of Health said any individual arriving here from outside the Common Travel Area must comply with the two requirements, namely to fill out forms and adhere to the 14-day quarantine. "Both of these requirements apply to anyone arriving into Northern Ireland regardless of the travel route used," it added. The PSNI said: "The management of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel) Regulations (NI) 2020 is a matter for UK Border Force and their associated partners. The police role is to respond to reports from the UK Border Force or any of their associated partners of potential breaches." OTTAWA Urban Indigenous people are not accessing the COVID-19 emergency benefit as much as the general population, despite similar job losses, according to data obtained by the Free Press. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA Urban Indigenous people are not accessing the COVID-19 emergency benefit as much as the general population, despite similar job losses, according to data obtained by the Free Press. Statistics Canada data analyzed by Finance Canada shows 13.4 per cent of off-reserve Indigenous people reported receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, when surveyed in late May as part of the Labour Force Survey. Thats compared with 18.7 per cent of non-Indigenous people. 'If they are asking about advice (on applying), we persuade them not to... because they're going to have to pay it back' Jarred Baker, Eagle Urban Transition Centre Finance Canada provided the data, which it had accumulated as part of the fiscal snapshot it released July 8. "Employment losses among the urban and off-reserve Indigenous population have been comparable to those of non-Indigenous Canadians. Despite this, the application rate for the CERB from the urban and off-reserve Indigenous population is lower than that of non-Indigenous Canadians," reads the report. The analysis did not specify the rate of applications for First Nations living on reserves. Statistics Canada said it assessed too little of a group to desegregate the situation or urban-Indigenous people in different cities. The findings did not surprise the head of one of Winnipegs largest Indigenous service centres. "These people have needs and they need to be supported," said Jarred Baker, program manager for the Eagle Urban Transition Centre. Many clients are already on provincial Employment and Income Assistance and would have their CERB cash clawed back later, despite a move by the province to categorize less of the CERB money as earnings that reduce EIA entitlements, he said. Some people dont have enough employment hours to qualify for CERB, while others were initially told by officials they qualified, only to find out they didnt meet the criteria. "If they are asking about advice (on applying for CERB), we persuade them not to do it because theyre going to have to pay it back," Baker said. "Everyones expenses during this time has increased. You have to be isolated, which means you have to stock up and not everyone has the bank account where you can do that." Jen Zoratti | Next A weekly look towards a post-pandemic future delivered to your inbox every Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which runs the Eagle Urban Transition Centre, has also used federal dollars to buy prepaid, AMC-branded credit cards to help First Nations people in Winnipeg with expenses, though the organization has faced scrutiny as fees eat up a substantial portion of the cards balance. Inadequate supports means people will get desperate, Baker said. "When youre in survival mode, youre going to do what you need to do," he said, adding it might also be hard for people without a computer to access CERB. That echoes testimony in May by the head of the National Association of Friendship Centres, who told the House finance committee charity staff across Canada were scrambling to provide the know-how and access to sanitized computers to help people apply for the benefit. "We have some friendship centre (heads) who are just exhausted from applying for small grants, and also helping community members apply, in a safe way, for CERB and other benefits they have access to," Jocelyn Formsma told MPs on May 19. dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca By Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's executive clemency to his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone not only commuted the veteran Republican operative's prison term but it also spared him a hefty fine and two years of supervised release By Sarah N. Lynch and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's executive clemency to his longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone not only commuted the veteran Republican operative's prison term but it also spared him a hefty fine and two years of supervised release. The details of the clemency arrangement were made public by the Justice Department and Stone's lawyer on Monday after the judge who presided over the case asked the Trump administration to explain whether the commutation announced on Friday meant he would not be supervised, as many convicted felons are after being freed. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson had set a Tuesday deadline to receive a copy of Trump's clemency order along with an explanation about whether it also commuted the period Stone was meant to be supervised after leaving prison. "I commute the entirety of the prison sentence imposed upon the said Roger Stone, Jr. to expire immediately," according to Trump's order. "I also commute the entirety of the two-year term of supervised released with all its conditions, and finally, I remit any unpaid balance of the $20,000 fine imposed." Congressional Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of abuse of power and an assault on the rule of law. Stone, 67, was sentenced to three years and four months in prison after being convicted by a jury in Washington last year of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Stone was found guilty of all seven counts against him. The commutation did not erase Stone's conviction as a pardon would have. Stone was due to have reported to a federal prison in Georgia on Tuesday. Trump's action marked his most assertive intervention to protect an associate in a criminal case and his latest use of executive clemency to benefit an ally. Stone's attorney Grant Smith, who tweeted out a copy of Trump's order, said it speaks for itself in answering the judge's inquiry. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball; Editing by Scott Malone and Will Dunham) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. The Covid-19 pandemic situation is getting grimmer in Andhra Pradesh with a record number of 99 deaths and 5784 positive cases being reported in a span of last three days. State deputy chief minister Amzath Basha Sheik from Kadapa, his wife and daughter have tested positive for Covid-19. After initial treatment at Sri Venkateshwara Institute of Medical Sciences at Tirupati, he and his family members were shifted to Hyderabad on Sunday for better treatment. While 19 deaths and 1933 Covid-19 cases were registered on Sunday, there were 37 deaths and 1935 cases on Monday. In the last 24 hours, a huge number of 43 deaths and 1916 cases were reported in the state, an official bulletin from the state medical and health department said on Tuesday. On Monday, YSR Congress Party MLA from Sullurpeta in Nellore district Kiliveti Sanjeevaiah also tested positive. He was rushed to a corporate hospital in Chennai. Out of the 43 deaths that were reported in the state on Tuesday, as many as 10 deaths were from Anantapur followed by nine from West Godavari, five each from Chittoor, East Godavari and Kadapa, three each from Kurnool and Prakasam, two from Visakhapatnam and one from Vizianagaram. With 1916 positive cases for Covid-19 being reported in the state in the last 24 hours, the cumulative number of positive cases rose to 33019. Kurnool continues to top the list with 3,823 cases, followed by 3651 in Anantapur, 3356 in Guntur, 3115 in East Godavari, 3074 in Chittoor, 2744 in Krishna and 2026 in West Godavari. Except Vizianagaram, which has 832 cases, all the other districts have already crossed the 1,000-mark. As of now, 15144 patients are still in hospitals, whereas 17467 patients have been discharged after being cured. Meanwhile, the state health department issued fresh guidelines with regard to quarantining people coming from other states and also abroad, in the wake of a sharp spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in the state. Stringent restrictions have been imposed on people coming from Telangana and Karnataka states, which have been included in the high-risk states, state nodal officer for Covid-19 Arja Sreekanth said on Tuesday. He said as per the guidelines issued by the Centre, all the foreign returnees would have to undergo institutional quarantine for a period of seven days. Earlier, those coming from the Gulf countries were asked to be in institutional quarantine for 14 days. Now, they, too, have to follow quarantine only for seven days. On the fifth or seventh day, they would have to undergo a test for Covid-19 and depending on the result, they would be either set free or shifted to hospitals, he said. For domestic passengers, the authorities would conduct Covid-19 tests randomly for 10 per cent of the passengers, who would be picked up on the basis of their seat numbers. Those passengers above 60 years and below 10 years would have to give samples for testing in the airport itself. Later, they would have to be in home quarantine for 14 days, Sreekanth said. Similar random testing would be done for 10 per cent of the train passengers also outside the railway station where they get down. All the others would have to follow self-quarantine for 14-days. For the people travelling by road, random testing would be done at the inter-state borders. All those coming to Andhra Pradesh, whether it is by road or air, would have to register their names in Spandana portal of the state government and get the electronic pass. They would be allowed to enter the state only after scanning the QR code on their e-pass, the nodal officer added. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10th results 2020 will be declared on Wednesday at 10 am. The results will be announced on the official CBSE websites - cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in and results.nic.in. The news was confirmed by the Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on Twitter. My dear Children, Parents, and Teachers, the results of class X CBSE board examinations will be announced tomorrow. I wish all the students best of luck.#StayCalm#StaySafe@cbseindia29 Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank (@DrRPNishank) July 14, 2020 The students can access their results via Digilocker App, UMANG App and IVRS telephone line in case the website crashes. Students can access documents such as pass certificate, migration certificate and marksheets via 'Parinam Manjusha', integrated with Digilocker. The Digilocker app is available on Google Play Store as well as Apple App Store. How to download marksheet via Digilocker App Step 1: Download the DIgilocker App from Google Play Store or Apple App Store Step 2: Enter the mobile number registered with CBSE Step 3: Enter the OTP sent to your registered mobile number Step 4: After this, enter the security PIN,i.e., the last six digits of your CBSE Roll Number Step 5: Students can now view their marksheets on Digilocker How to download CBSE Class 10 Marksheet using UMANG App Step 1: Create an account by registering mobile number Step 2: Log in Step 3: Click on the tab reading 'Class 10 marksheet' Step 4: Enter your credentials such as admit card ID, CBSE board roll number and date of birth The students are advised to keep checking the official CBSE website as well as the CBSE twitter handle for latest updates on Class 10 results. It is likely that the board will not announce the merit list for Class 10 students as they have been marked on the basis of the exams attempted and their performance in internal assessments. In the latest turn of events in the Rajasthan political crisis, the Congress on Tuesday sacked Sachin Pilot from the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit chief, two days after he openly revolted against the Ashok Gehlot-led government in the state. Cracking the whip on the rebel leader, the party also removed his loyalists Vishvendra Singh and Ramesh Meena from the state cabinet. AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala announced the decision after a Congress Legislature Party meeting held in Jaipur amid a tussle for power between Pilot and Gehlot. "Pilot was ensnared by the BJP to bring down the Congress government in Rajasthan. We have given him many opportunities. He has been an MP and MoS and a state party president. I am sad that Sachin Pilot and some of his colleagues have fallen for a trap laid by the BJP. This is unacceptable," Surjewala said. Soon after the decision was taken, chief minister Ashok Gehlot left the meeting venue to meet Governor Kalraj Mishra of the decision. The party is also expected to seek the disqualification of all the MLAs that supported Pilots rebellion. After the announcement, Pilot removed the Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister post, as well as State Congress unit chief from his Twitter bio. Sachin Pilot changes his bio on Twitter (pic 1) after being removed as Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress unit chief (Pic 2: earlier Twitter bio). pic.twitter.com/ro3UWqOdvN ANI (@ANI) July 14, 2020 Soon after, he tweeted in what can only be assumed as a reaction to the news. Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) July 14, 2020 This is the first tweet Pilot has posted since July 10th, during which the political crisis unfolded in Rajasthan. Surjewala said Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara will be the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief. A full Cabinet reshuffle is also expected in the next couple of days. Surjewala said Sachin Pilot enjoyed the affection and blessings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and was given political power at a young age. Yet, he and other ministers were trying to topple the state government as part of a BJP conspiracy, he added. GRAND HAVEN, MI - A controversial social media post authored by the owner of a popular waterfront snack shack did not appear to slow business the day after the tirade generated strong online comments. Carl Nelson, who co-owns Pronto Pups, was doling out his popular deep fried hot dogs beginning at 11 a.m. to customers who seemed largely unaware that, the evening before, a wide-ranging rant posted to the business Facebook page had attracted both angry denouncements and sworn support on social media. But some had come out on purpose: to support a local business, Nelson specifically, or the notion that he had the right to express his opinions. Nelsons post, which he later said was intended for his personal Facebook page, decried the COVID-19 pandemic as nothing more than a cold, and seemingly called for armed resistance to government efforts to quell its spread. He also denounced the Black Lives Matter movement, saying he would like to paint the words White lives matter down a nearby street, compared journalists to Adolf Hitler, and seemed to claim he saw a presumed-murdered Muskegon woman at his business. After the post began receiving hundreds of comments on Monday evening, the business page was briefly deactivated, before being reactivated, with an apology post from Nelson. Nelson declined to speak to MLive on Tuesday. By noon on Tuesday, the line had swelled to about 30 people, painting a familiar scene along the edge of the Grand River, with children running about clutching their snacks and cups of soda, families biking by, and construction workers on a lunch break. Nelson joked with customers, bringing up the controversy only when asked. The main indication that things were different were the presence of news cameras, and two young women on motor scooters, who passed by twice, shouting that the business was racist. Many in the line told MLive that they had not heard about the social media post. Three teenagers on bicycles, seeing news crews, asked Nelson if it was a special day. When informed of the posts content, one woman said she would not have visited if she had known that Nelson had spoken out against wearing masks, because she was in town to visit a newborn grandchild. RELATED: Pronto Pups owner issues social media rant against coronavirus masks and Black Lives Matter Although Nelsons post had begun by expressing frustration about wearing a mask while working over hot oil, both he and a coworker wore masks as they worked Two mothers from West Olive, children in tow, said they only learned about it while in line, adding that theyd tried to talk to Nelson, hoping for an explanation. Instead, they said, he defended his words. He wasnt ambivalent about what hed written, one woman said. The women declined to share their names, saying they did not want to be associated with the business. They would not return, they added, even though their children love to eat Pronto Pups. One added that, if were voting with our dollars, she would rather spend money somewhere that supports racial justice. Several people said they were longtime customers, and had come out to support the shop. Ive known Carl all my life, said Dan Ellis, of Grand Haven. Hes like me; I speak my mind. A man who gave his name as Todd, but declined to share his last name, said hed driven in from Hudsonville to support a small business owners right to express himself. I think its terrible that a business owner cant speak his mind without being threatened, he said. In his apology post, Nelson had written that he and his employees had received angry messages. Our staff is stellar and second to none. Please do not take out your anger with them, he wrote. Sorry friends, I had to kill the page for a short to gather my thoughts. The post on our Pronto Pup page was not... Posted by Pronto Pup on Monday, July 13, 2020 Todd said that he had not read the original message, only the apology, which he said that Nelson should not have had to write. He cant speak his mind, but BLM can? he said, using an acronym for the Black Lives Matter movement. Its hypocritical. As of Tuesday morning, two posts on the Pronto Pups Facebook page had racked up thousands of comments, from people saying they would never patronize the stand again, as well as people defending Nelson. Although the original post has been taken down, screenshots continued to be passed around social media. It had even reached as far as Oregon, to the originators of the Pronto Pup, which shared its own statement on Facebook on Tuesday, distancing itself from the Grand Haven shop. Read more on MLive: Pronto Pups owner issues social media rant against coronavirus masks and Black Lives Matter Local Eats: 4 Corners Cafe owner brought to tears by community support amid pandemic Tuesday, July 14: Latest developments on coronavirus in Michigan I just need a little more time: Unemployed workers hope lawmakers find way to replace expiring $600 benefit The Congress government in Rajasthan is facing a crisis after the long-standing differences between chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his deputy Sachin Pilot have tumbled out. Sachin Pilot has also been miffed over a police notice to him over a probe concerning an alleged attempt to topple the Ashok Gehlot government. Pilot, who is also the chief of the Congress state unit, has been camping in Delhi and has met senior leaders of the party over the weekend. The 42-year-old leader along with his supporters did not attend the meeting of Congress legislators on Monday in Jaipur. He has also turned down his partys invitation to attend the next meeting on Tuesday. Here is how the crisis in Rajasthan has boiled over: * It started with a July 10 notice of the special operations group (SOG) of the state polices anti-terror squad to Sachin Pilot and others. It asked them to appear for questioning in connection with the case registered by the ATS that there was a plot to bring down the Ashok Gehlot government started the current crisis. * The SOG had said on Saturday that it has arrested BJP members Bharat Malani and Ashok Singh for allegedly trying to topple the government by offering Rs 20-25 crore bribe each to unspecified legislators - a charge levelled by Gehlot. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against the two under Indian Penal Codes sections related to sedition and criminal conspiracy on Friday. * Gehlot had on Saturday accused the BJP of trying to buy legislators like goats and later said at a virtual press conference that the BJPs brazen attempt was thwarted by the Congress. The charge has been vehemently denied by the BJP. * Pilot came to Delhi on Saturday 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. Along with him were at least 19 Congress legislators who were lodged in various resorts, including an ITC Grand Bharat in Gurugram. * On Sunday, several legislators and ministers met Ashok Gehlot at his residence to convey that they were with the chief minister in the hour of crisis. * Late on Sunday, the Congress party rushed two central observers Randeep Singh Surjewala and Ajay Maken to Jaipur in a bid to iron out differences between Pilot and Ashok Gehlot, who have sparred on a number of issues since the formation of the partys government in 2018. * After a meeting which went late into the night, state in-charge Avinash Pandey said that 109 MLAs have signed their letters of support related to Ashok Gehlot. * Ashok Gehlot then called a meeting of Congress legislators on Monday morning and the party issued a whip to mandate the presence of all the its MLAs. * Pilots camp also said in a late-night statement released on WhatsApp that the deputy chief minister has the backing of about 30 legislators in the 200-member assembly, saying Gehlot government is in minority. * Ahead of the the Congress Legislature Party meeting, Randeep Singh Surjewala extended a public appeal by party leaders to talk things out with an open mind. Pilot turned that down too. * Ashok Gehlot showed off a number of legislators supporting his government, smiled for the cameras and even flashed the victory sign. The MLAs were then herded off to a resort on Delhi-Jaipur highway. * Sachin Pilots side too released a video late on Monday of his supporters at a hotel on the outskirts of Delhi. * He has also snubbed the Congress partys request to attend the second meeting of the legislature party on Tuesday. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 19:27:01|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BEIJING, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson Tuesday voiced firm opposition to U.S. arms sales to China's Taiwan region, as well as any other form of military contact between them. Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remarks when responding to a question about the U.S. State Department's approval of a plan selling weapons worth 620 million U.S. dollars to China's Taiwan region. Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authority will never succeed in its attempt to seek "Taiwan independence" by military means, she said. The DPP's attempts will only undermine the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and bring a greater disaster to people in Taiwan, Zhu added. Enditem Employees in San Francisco who are unable to work because they have COVID-19 or have been exposed to the coronavirus would enjoy beefed-up protections under an emergency ordinance introduced by Supervisor Hillary Ronen on Monday. Ronen said the law is aimed at protecting low-wage workers many of them essential who have been reluctant to get tested for the coronavirus because of fear of losing their jobs. The supervisor said that its vital that San Franciscans feel comfortable getting tested and that they wont be fired if they either test positive, show symptoms or choose to quarantine after exposure to someone with the virus. For many San Francisco workers, especially low-wage workers, there is a serious and legitimate reluctance to take a (coronavirus) test if they believe that a positive diagnosis and the need to quarantine could lead to them being fired from their job, Ronen said. During these times of economic uncertainty, people are unwilling to do anything that might put their ability to work and earn an income at risk, even if that means foregoing something as important as a (coronavirus) test. The ordinance would make it illegal for an employer to fire, threaten to fire, demote, suspend, discipline, reduce employee benefits, or in any manner discriminate against any worker who is unable to work, or who requests time off work, because they tested positive for (the coronavirus) or are quarantining due to exposure. It would also protect job applicants by forbidding employers from inquiring about or requiring coronavirus testing before extending a job offer. Employers would also have to accommodate new hires who must delay their start due to a positive test or the need to self-isolate or quarantine, and could not rescind a job offer because of coronavirus-related reasons. The San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement would investigate reported violations and could order any remedies including the reinstatement of a worker and payment of lost wages and penalties. Employers found to be in violation of the ordinance would pay a penalty of $1,000 for the first violation, $5,000 for the second and $10,000 for each additional violation. While various city, state and federal laws protect workers against coronavirus-related firing, Ronen called existing employment law protections fragmented and incomplete. While a coronavirus-positive worker in quarantine cant be fired while officially out on paid or unpaid leave, employees who lack leave benefits either because they used them up or never had them can still be fired. It is also confusing which local, state or federal agency a worker should contact if they feel they have been treated unfairly because of the virus. The impetus for the legislation grew out of a health study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco, in coordination with Ronen and the Latino Task Force on COVID-19. The study showed that many workers were not getting tested because they were fearful of losing employment. Dr. Diane Havlir, head of the UCSF research team that conducted the community health study in the Mission District, said that low-barrier testing is crucial to the citys response to the pandemic. This proposed legislation directly removes a key barrier we know discourages people from testing, she said. Eduardo Garcia, 39, is a Mission District resident who works as a landscaper. He said that he lives in fear that he could be laid off at any time. It has definitely impacted the workplace, Garcia said. Every day workers go to work with very little assurances. Workers are worried about being exposed to the virus at work. He said the legislation would give workers confidence to get tested without fearing repercussions. Many workers already face discrimination for being undocumented, and now they are facing it because of coronavirus, he said. The measure follows several state and federal laws addressing employment in the time of coronavirus. At the outset of the crisis, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act required some employers to give or expand sick leave to employees if they were exposed to the virus or needed to take care of their families. Locally, Bay Area cities including San Francisco and San Jose have passed legislation providing sick leave for employees impacted by the coronavirus who are not entitled to leave under the FFCRA. California food sector workers are also entitled to supplemental paid sick leave under an executive order signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, but only for two weeks and only if a worker is subject to a government or medical quarantine order or if their employer is prohibiting them from working. Questions of employment discrimination related to the virus have only just begun to arise. Companies have more leeway to delve into worker health during the pandemic, but there are limits. Normally employers are restricted from asking about a range of health issues to guard against unfair hiring and firing. But in March the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its rules, expanding the list of questions employers can ask workers about virus symptoms. That means employers can already take temperatures at work and require that workers stay home if they might be sick. Similar guidelines were issued in 2009 in response to the spread of the H1N1 flu. Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes The commission also said employers cannot ask an employee who does not appear ill whether they have other medical conditions that make them more vulnerable to an infectious disease. While the guidance focuses on existing employees, companies can request medical exams for people it intends to hire as long as everyone in a job group is treated the same. Rescinding an offer because someone has a condition that makes them more vulnerable to the effects of the virus would almost always run afoul of employment rules, however. Despite those protections, some workers have lost their jobs for refusing to return to work, highlighting where protections fall short as the coronavirus pandemic shows no signs of abating in the Bay Area and nationwide. Jay Chang of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce said that nobody has reached out to the business community about the measure. Broadly we appreciate that the supervisors and everyone concerned is working to make sure employees are treated fairly, he said. But I wish the supervisors would communicate more often with the business community when drafting these measures because we are seeing huge unintended consequences from legislation that has already passed. He said that earlier employment-related legislation the right to re-employment has created miles and miles of paperwork. Small business owners are wracked by administrative burden that they cant deal with because they are trying to keep their businesses afloat, he said. J.K. Dineen and Chase DiFeliciantonio are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com, chase.difeliciantonio@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen, @ChaseDiFelice A 30-year-old male died at a Texas hospital Friday after being infected with the coronavirus at a "COVID party." To test if the virus is real, the man purposely tried to catch COVID-19 by attending the gathering with an infected person, the New York Times reported. The man's final words just before he died at San Antonio's Methodist Hospital were, "I think I made a mistake. I thought this was a hoax, but its not," according to the New York Times. The man's identity has not been made public. Further details about his death, including how many people attended the party and how long the man was hospitalized with COVID-19, are also unavailable at this time. Dr. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer at Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, said she was sharing the story of the Texas mans death to warn others. Although "coronavirus parties" have been reported in states such as Washington, Kentucky and Alabama, some experts and public officials are skeptical that the parties are real. Texas on Sunday saw the eleventh-largest single-day increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began. Statewide, cases increased by 2.73 percent for a total of 262,753 cases, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis. An additional 57 new deaths were reported, bringing the state's death count to 3,213. The Houston region's count increased by 2.56 percent to 63,864 cases total. Four additional deaths were reported; the region's death count is now at 646. The Google logo outside if its New York City offices, which were closed on May 19, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Google is once again allowing financial web site Zero Hedge to make money using Google's ad platform. In mid-June, Google told CNBC it had banned Zero Hedge from using its ad platform because of the comments section of the site, which Google said consistently violated its policy against dangerous and derogatory material. Zero Hedge removed the content and implemented moderation on the comments section, then appealed Google's move. On Tuesday, Google said its team had re-reviewed the site, confirmed the material had been removed and began allowing it to begin running ads again on June 21. CNBC verified ads were running through Google on the site as of Tuesday. "We work with publishers to keep them aware of our monetization policies, which cover user comments on sites, and offer guidance on how to address policy violations if they wish to be reinstated," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "We have policies like these for many reasons, including to ensure companies advertising with us have confidence their ads aren't running against dangerous, derogatory or hateful content." In mid-June, NBC News reported Google had also warned conservative publication The Federalist about the content in its comments section and gave it an opportunity to address the issues to prevent removal from its ads platform. The Federalist said last month it had deleted its comments section. At the time, Federalist co-founder Sean Davis called the matter a "pretty terrifying example of the power that you have of the unholy union of corrupt media and monopolistic tech oligarchs." Zero Hedge didn't immediately return an emailed request for comment Earlier this year, Twitter banned the Zero Hedge account from the social media platform after it published an article linking a Chinese scientist to the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus last week, saying the account had violated "platform manipulation policy." The account was reinstated in June, with Twitter calling the removal a mistake. July 14 (Reuters) - Jimmy Fallon has returned to the television studio for his "Tonight Show," becoming the first late-night host to get back to something approaching normal production in almost four months. Fallon appeared from NBC's New York studio on Monday for a show in which camera operators wore masks, there was no audience, and house band the Roots played in a socially distanced space. "Any type of normalcy feels great. So hopefully we can put a smile on your face for an hour and let you sit back and relax," Fallon told the audience at home before breaking into a satirical ditty, "It's Beginning to Look a Bit like Normal." "New York is really open now that you're doing your show again," said Fallon's first guest, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who appeared remotely. New York was the epicenter of the disease in the United States and last month began to emerge from a strict lockdown. Television and film production was shut down nationwide in mid-March and is just starting to resume tentatively under strict guidelines aimed at containing the coronavirus. Fallon and other late-night TV hosts have been mostly filming short segments from their homes for months. Conan O'Brien last week began broadcasting some of his late-night talk shows from an empty Los Angeles comedy club. Soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" on CBS began filming new episodes last month in Los Angeles, and filmmaker Tyler Perry is shooting two of his series for the BET network at his vast studio complex in Atlanta, Georgia. Bradley Bell, executive producer of "The Bold and the Beautiful," told the Hollywood Reporter last month that actors on the daytime show remain at least 8 feet apart and camera tricks are used in editing to make them look closer together. As for romantic scenes, the partners of some of the actors are used as stand-ins for the screen love interests in an effort to contain the spread of the virus, Bell said. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles Editing by Matthew Lewis) A Communication Team member of the opposition National Democratic Congress has strongly advocated for the interdiction of the Headmaster of Anglican Senior High School, Kumasi. Speaking to newsmen in Kumasi, the Deputy Secretary of the Asante Akim Central NDC, Mr. Emmanuel Opoku Mensah explained that allowing the NPP's Nana Boakye to do party politics is in clear breach of the Ghana Education Service's directive issued regarding the registration exercise in senior high schools. "The third paragraph of the directive reads,' Management wishes to draw attention to the general public especially political party representatives who will be assigned by their parties to observe the process on the various campuses, that the schools should not be used as a place for partisan politician politicking', so what is the headmaster hanging onto his position for, having allowed Nana B to campaign?", Mr. Opoku quizzed. According to the NDC's communicator, it is ridiculous to hear the National Youth Organizer defend his behavior by telling journalists that accreditation was obtained from the electoral commission to monitor the ongoing registration exercise especially on how the general public is complying with the COVID-19 protocols. According to Mr. Opoku Mensah, the pictures of his meeting with the students at the school's assembly hall depict scenes of overcrowded students who were seated without recourse to the social distancing protocol with some, apparently seen wearing no nose masks. "We are aware of the fact that some of us politicians infected with the dreaded Covid-19, so parents are now overwhelmed with fear when they see politicians get closer to their children', Mr. Opoku said, and further questioned why same students are not allowed to be visited by their parents. The NDC communicator believes that the headmaster is an agent of the NPP seeking to help entrench his NPP in power. According to him, the same headmaster sacked a Kumasi-based Akoma FM's reporter, Baffoe when he wanted to enter the school's premises to monitor the registration process and report same. 'So just as the GES has asked the headmistress of KNUST SHS to step aside to allow an investigation into the unfortunate incident in the school, why can't the same be asked of the KASS headmaster? Or is it because the KNUST headmistress isn't a male?', the worried-looking communicator asked. A Victorian real estate agent turned video blogger has bragged about crossing the Queensland border to buy new tyres for his motorbike. Daniel Hayes, who describes himself as a 'Million Dollar Bogan' on his YouTube channel, recently uploaded a video boasting about his foray into Queensland. Footage from the escapade shows that despite being stopped at the Queensland border by a police officer - who tells Mr Hayes he has travelled from a COVID-19 hotspot - he is somehow allowed to proceed through the checkpoint. The video begins with Mr Hayes telling the camera he has to get across the border because he ordered new tyres for his Harley Davidson and they were shipped to Queensland. 'I've got to get across that border. If I don't get across the border, I am going to crack the s---s. Probably end up getting arrested,' he says. Daniel Hayes (pictured), who describes himself as a 'Million Dollar Bogan' on his YouTube channel, recently uploaded a video boasting about his foray into Queensland The video, understood to be filmed three weeks ago, then documents his journey from Victoria through New South Wales and to the Queensland border over the space of a few days. At his arrival at the checkpoint, Mr Hayes shows a police guard a note that he obtained online detailing how a Harley Davidson dealer in Queensland needed to change the rear tyre on his motorcycle. The police officer initially tells him he will be required to quarantine for 14 days because he had travelled from Victoria where there has been a surge in coronavirus cases. However, when Mr Hayes tells him he will 'be out today' the officer then remarkably lets him through. 'Alright, I will let you through. But technically you shouldn't because you might be full of the lurgy,' the officer can be heard saying on the video. The motorcyclist (pictured) after talking the police officer into letting him cross the Queensland border Mr Hayes (pictured) is a motorcycle enthusiast and has previously used his YouTube platform to raise money for the Movember charity by riding a bike across the Nullarbor Plain Despite his promise to leave Queensland that day, Hayes then stays overnight at the Gold Coast where he visits popular tourist spot Cavill Avenue and gets a tattoo at a parlour on the busy strip. But Mr Hayes said he had no regrets about crossing the border. 'No, I had a great time. It was wonderful to get out before we got locked down again,' he said. 'I don't feel like I broke the law. I felt that I was honest with him and he let me through. 'I don't know if I've done anything wrong. I gave him my excuse. I showed him the paperwork, which I filled out. I had a letter from Gasoline Alley, and I crossed the border, and he let me through.' Mr Hayes is a motorcycle enthusiast and has previously used his YouTube platform to raise money for the Movember charity by riding a bike across the Nullarbor Plain. The Queensland border has been shut since March to contain the spread of coronavirus with hundreds of police patrolling highway checkpoints and stopping thousands of cars. The state reopened its borders on July 10 to every state and territory except for Victoria which is currently dealing with a second wave of cases. Victoria reported 177 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with one a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, 25 connected to outbreaks and 151 under investigation. On Tuesday, this increased with a further 270 cases. Motorists are stopped at a checkpoint on the Gold Coast Highway at Coolangatta on the Queensland/NSW border border in March Victoria is dealing with a second wave of coronavirus cases as Melbourne and Mitchell Shire areas go back into lockdown Traffic is seen on the Pacific Highway in New South Wales near the Queensland Border Ange Branca, chef and owner of Sate Kampar, which closed in May 2020. Read more Sate Kampars Ange Branca, leading a nomadic culinary existence since giving up her lease on East Passyunk Avenue in May, has a new venue in Rittenhouse, at least for two months. Branca is setting up in the kitchen at The Goat the bar at 1907 Sansom St. from Fergies owners Fergus Carey and Jim McNamara which was open less than two months before it was shut down by the coronavirus pandemic. The Malaysian pop-ups soft opening will be Wednesday, July 15, with full operation expected by the weekend. Branca is keeping it simple: a Malaysian street-style burger (double patty, spiced and sauced with chili mayo and curry barbecue, cheese, and cabbage, wrapped in an egg omelette sandwich in Philly Bread sweet potato bun) and nasi kerabu (blue rice salad colored with butterfly pea flowers, with a side of toasted coconut and fish flakes, cucumbers, lettuce and sambal lemak optional lamb rendang), plus achat, sambal wings, and curry fries. Carey says the full bar will be available and outdoor seating is planned. US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo affirmed on July 13 that Chinas claims to offshore resources across most of the East Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them. US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo As such, the United States rejects any PRC maritime claim in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank (off Vietnam), Luconia Shoals (off Malaysia), waters in Bruneis EEZ, and Natuna Besar (off Indonesia), Pompeo said in a press statement about the US position on maritime claims in the East Sea (internationally called the South China Sea). He stressed that any action conducted by China to harass other states fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters or to carry out such activities unilaterally is unlawful./.VNA MEXICO CITY - Soon after arriving in Mexico in 2000, British journalist Jo Tuckman reported on what many Mexicans could scarcely have imagined: the election defeat of the political party that had governed autocratically for 71 years. Tuckman made Mexico her home for the next two decades, reporting, mainly for The Guardian, on drug violence, the disappeared, the struggles of women and migrants, and the uneven transition to democracy. In one of her last articles, published Jan. 2, she wrote about a new imprint of Mexican writer Tita Valencias 1976 novel Minotaur Fighting and other works by Latin American women who were once feted but have fallen out of print. Tuckman, 53, died in Mexico City on July 9 after being diagnosed with cancer last year. Colleagues remembered her as a committed journalist who mentored young writers. Jenaro Villamil, the head of Mexicos public radio and TV system, praised Tuckmans 2012 book Mexico: Democracy Interrupted and said she fell in love with Mexico, with its bright and its dark sides. Jos departure deeply saddened all of us who knew her, of her commitment to social causes, to her great work and to life in general, said Edgardo Buscaglia, an organized crime expert at Columbia University. Tuckman worked in the 1990s for The Associated Press as a freelancer in Guatemala, and then a staff employee in Spain. She also reported from Mexico for The Daily Telegraph and was an editor for Vice Mexico. A mother of two, she gravitated early toward Latin America, focusing on the region for a masters degree at the University of London. Journalist Lomi Kriel spent time with Tuckman in the Darien rainforest in Panama, near the border with Colombia, while reporting in 2013 on climate change. They travelled in dug-out canoes and stayed with an Indigenous Embera community, sleeping side by side in a thatched home on stilts. Tuckman generously shared knowledge about freelancing and working internationally in difficult situations as a woman, said Kriel, then a freelancer nervous about the assignment. She has always been a role model, both in how she treated everyone around her and the adventure and light with which she approached learning about the world as a journalist. She is deeply missed even by those who only met her once, Kriel, who now works for the ProPublica/Texas Tribune investigative unit, wrote in an email. Ahead of 2012 elections that returned Mexicos old ruling PRI party to power, Tuckman reported in The Guardian on documents purportedly showing that a unit of Televisa, Mexicos leading TV and radio broadcaster, supported and promoted Enrique Pena Nieto, the PRI candidate. Televisa denied allegations of political bias. Tuckman also covered the 2014 disappearance of 43 students from a teachers college in the southern state of Guerrero, one of the most horrific cases of violence and corruption during Pena Nietos government. The students were abducted by local police and then allegedly turned over to a local gang that killed them and burned some of their bodies. The challenge now is to make sure that interest is maintained in what is going on in Mexico so that the pressure that has been gathering around those issues of human rights, those issues of corruption, those issues of lack of accountability and transparency, dont just fade away, Tuckman said to Las Perlas TV, an online video service. Last week, Mexican authorities said they had identified the remains of a second of the 43 students who disappeared. It was a small step in a country haunted by impunity, corruption and extreme violence. Tuckman delivered plenty of humour and humanity in her reporting. On assignment for the AP, she interviewed a Mexican tequila industry regulator who displayed a bottle adorned with a vulture in dark glasses and said it gives you the message, `Lets go crazy.? In 2014, she wrote in The Guardian about violence driving Central American child migrants to the U.S. border and spoke to a man who said: My granddaughter was the apple of my eye... I cried for a month after she left, but it is the best thing. Honduras is not a place for children. The work, Tuckman said in a 2013 interview with Mexican journalist Blanche Petrich, is a privilege.? After contracting more than 25 percent over March and April, UK posts anaemic 1.8 percent growth in May. The United Kingdom crawled out of its coronavirus-induced recession in May, dashing hopes of a V-shaped recovery as government budget forecasters warned the countrys economy is on course for its worst year since pre-industrial times. UK economic growth rose only 1.8 percent in May after a record 20.3 percent slump in April when lockdown curbs were tightest, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. With activity in the dominant service sector not recovering as expected in May, Tuesdays data fuelled doubts about how strong a bounce-back Britain will see after more businesses were allowed to reopen in June and July. For anyone thinking the data were beginning to point to a sharp V-shape (recovery), today is something of a setback, HSBC economist Simon Wells said. The pound slipped to a two-week low against the euro and two-year British government bond yields fell to their lowest level on record after the data. Fallout from COVID-19 slashed economic output by more than a quarter over March and April. Around nine million Britons currently have their salary paid through a government programme supporting employers hit by the pandemic, which ends in October. Finance minister Rishi Sunak announced a further 30 billion pounds ($37.6bn) of funding to support the economy last week, but has accepted that joblessness will rise. The governments Office for Budget Responsibility said on Tuesday that unemployment was likely to surge to 11.9 percent this year under its central scenario, and exceed 13 percent under a downside prediction that assumed COVID-19 damage would be harder to recover from. Economic output in 2020 was likely to be 12.4 14.3 percent lower in the two scenarios, the biggest drop in more than three centuries, while government borrowing would surge to between 322 and 391 billion pounds. While this borrowing was necessary to support the economy, it seems likely that there will be a need to raise tax revenues and/or reduce spending to put the public finances on a sustainable path, the OBR said. W-shaped recovery? More than 44,000 people in Britain have died from COVID-19, the highest death toll in Europe, and a second wave of infections could bring a new round of lockdowns, derailing the rebound and damaging long-term confidence. Hopes of a V-shaped recovery are fading fast, and I suspect were looking at something resembling far more of a W a series of improvements and relapses, before a proper recovery takes hold, said Tom Stevenson, an investment director at fund manager Fidelity International. Britains government closed non-essential shops and other businesses to the public on March 23, shortly after ordering the closure of bars, restaurants and cinemas. Mays limited economic rebound was driven by just 0.9 percent growth in the services sector, well below economists forecasts. The wholesale and retail sector made the biggest contribution to growth after being the largest drag in April. Industrial output and construction also recovered strongly, in line with forecasts. Economists said they had based their more upbeat forecasts for growth as a whole in May on private-sector surveys and other fast economic indicators that pointed to a more broad-based rebound. Firms were more cautious emerging out of lockdown than consumers, Barclays economists Fabrice Montagne and Abbas Khan wrote, cutting their forecasts for GDP growth in 2020 and 2021. Especially activities in the field of artificial intelligence, like teaching robots to walk or precise automatic image recognition, demand ever more powerful, yet at the same time more economical computer chips. While the optimization of conventional microelectronics is slowly reaching its physical limits, nature offers us a blueprint how information can be processed and stored quickly and efficiently: our own brain. For the very first time, scientists at TU Dresden and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now successfully imitated the functioning of brain neurons using semiconductor materials. They have published their research results in the journal Nature Electronics (DOI: 10.1038/s41928-020-0412-1). Today, enhancing the performance of microelectronics is usually achieved by reducing component size, especially of the individual transistors on the silicon computer chips. "But that can't go on indefinitely - we need new approaches", Larysa Baraban asserts. The physicist, who has been working at HZDR since the beginning of the year, is one of the three primary authors of the international study, which involved a total of six institutes. One approach is based on the brain, combining data processing with data storage in an artificial neuron. "Our group has extensive experience with biological and chemical electronic sensors," Baraban continues. "So, we simulated the properties of neurons using the principles of biosensors and modified a classical field-effect transistor to create an artificial neurotransistor." The advantage of such an architecture lies in the simultaneous storage and processing of information in a single component. In conventional transistor technology, they are separated, which slows processing time and hence ultimately also limits performance. Silicon wafer + polymer = chip capable of learning Modeling computers on the human brain is no new idea. Scientists made attempts to hook up nerve cells to electronics in Petri dishes decades ago. "But a wet computer chip that has to be fed all the time is of no use to anybody," says Gianaurelio Cuniberti from TU Dresden. The Professor for Materials Science and Nanotechnology is one of the three brains behind the neurotransistor alongside Ronald Tetzlaff, Professor of Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering in Dresden, and Leon Chua from the University of California at Berkeley, who had already postulated similar components in the early 1970s. Now, Cuniberti, Baraban and their team have been able to implement it: "We apply a viscous substance - called solgel - to a conventional silicon wafer with circuits. This polymer hardens and becomes a porous ceramic," the materials science professor explains. "Ions move between the holes. They are heavier than electrons and slower to return to their position after excitation. This delay, called hysteresis, is what causes the storage effect." As Cuniberti explains, this is a decisive factor in the functioning of the transistor. "The more an individual transistor is excited, the sooner it will open and let the current flow. This strengthens the connection. The system is learning." Cuniberti and his team are not focused on conventional issues, though. "Computers based on our chip would be less precise and tend to estimate mathematical computations rather than calculating them down to the last decimal," the scientist explains. "But they would be more intelligent. For example, a robot with such processors would learn to walk or grasp; it would possess an optical system and learn to recognize connections. And all this without having to develop any software." But these are not the only advantages of neuromorphic computers. Thanks to their plasticity, which is similar to that of the human brain, they can adapt to changing tasks during operation and, thus, solve problems for which they were not originally programmed. ### Publication: E. Baek, N. R. Das, C. V. Cannistraci, T. Rim, G. S. Canon Bermudez, K. Nych, H. Cho, K. Kim, C.-K. Baek, D. Makarov, R. Tetzlaff, L. Chua, L. Baraban, G. Cuniberti: Intrinsic plasticity of silicon nanowire neurotransistors for dynamic memory and learning functions, in Nature Electronics, 2020 (DOI: 10.1038/s41928-020-0412-1) Additional information: Dr. Larysa Baraban Institute for Radiopharmaceutical Cancer Research at HZDR Phone: +49 351 260 2813 | Email: l.baraban@hzdr.de Prof. Gianaurelio Cuniberti Professor for Materials Science and Nanotechnology at TU Dresden Phone: +49 351 463 31414 | Email: office@nano.tu-dresden.de Media contact: Simon Schmitt | Science editor Phone: +49 351 260-3400 | Email: s.schmitt@hzdr.de Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf | Bautzner Landstr. 400 | 01328 Dresden / Germany | http://www.hzdr.de The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) performs - as an independent German research center - research in the fields of energy, health, and matter. We focus on answering the following questions: * How can energy and resources be utilized in an efficient, safe, and sustainable way? * How can malignant tumors be more precisely visualized, characterized, and more effectively treated? * How do matter and materials behave under the influence of strong fields and in smallest dimensions? To help answer these research questions, HZDR operates large-scale facilities, which are also used by visiting researchers: the Ion Beam Center, the High-Magnetic Field Laboratory Dresden, and the ELBE Center for High-Power Radiation Sources. HZDR is a member of the Helmholtz Association and has six sites (Dresden, Freiberg, Gorlitz, Grenoble, Leipzig, Schenefeld near Hamburg) with almost 1,200 members of staff, of whom about 500 are scientists, including 170 Ph.D. candidates. Bhopal, July 14 : Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Tuesday took a dig at the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi amid the Rajasthan crisis, saying that he and his family were to be blamed for the situation the opposition party was in. "Till Rahul Gandhi and his family are in the Congress, it will sink to the nether world," the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister remarked, claiming that the talented young leaders were not getting recognition in the Congress. Asked about Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's demand to reappoint Rahul Gandhi as the Congress President, she said the former would be in a better position to tell why he is demanding it. "I only know one thing -- like master, like pupil. Digvijaya and Rahul are the same," the BJP leader added. She said that Rahul Gandhi could not stand talented youth leaders who were were humiliated and downgraded in the Congress, leaving them no choice but to revolt. Bharti also said that the Congress leadership didn't want to work hard in politics. The BJP leader said that Congress leader Sachin Pilot was a self-respecting individual and that she had know the family closely. Her comments came after Uma Bharti met with BJP MP Jyotiraditya Scindia, who had switched his loyalties to the BJP after leaving the Congress that led to the fall of Kamal Nath government in the state. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 07:53:08|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, July 13 (Xinhua) -- U.S. top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said on Monday the United States is seeing a surge in new COVID-19 infections because the country never shut down entirely, according to a CNBC report. "We did not shut down entirely," said Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a webinar with the Stanford School of Medicine. "We need to draw back a few yards and say, 'OK, we can't stay shut down forever.' ...You've got to shut down but then you've got to gradually open," Fauci said. Fauci said the United States has not "even begun to see the end" of the coronavirus pandemic yet as scientists continue to work on potential drugs and vaccines for the virus, according to the report. He said he is "cautiously optimistic" scientists will be able to create at least one safe and effective vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021. More than 3,353,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States with the fatalities surpassing 135,500 as of Monday evening, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Enditem If you're shopping early for a birthday or an early holiday gift, there's a special book in the works about rural Vermont. The "Vermont Almanac: Stories from & for the Land" includes contributions from a cross section of Vermonters, from writers and photographers to hunters and loggers. It's being put together by the former editors of Northern Woodlands magazine. One of those editors, Patrick White, says like other almanacs, it will identify weather patterns, but it will also take a deeper, more local dive. "We're hoping to sort of put that to where the rubber meets the road and talk to farmers, to talk to loggers, to landowners, to scientists about what that changing climate means in real terms, what the growing season is like, what new insects and diseases may be coming up because of that climate change," White said. The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has advised Ghanaians to practise healthy lifestyles to stem the spread of COVID-19. The Service emphasized the need for regular exercising, reduction in alcohol and tobacco intake and eating of healthy meals to boost the immune system against the novel Coronavirus disease. Dr DaCosta Aboagye, the Director of Health Promotion at the GHS, who gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said that had become important because lifestyle diseases such as stroke, hypertension, and Kidney diseases accounted for latest COVID-19 deaths in Ghana. He said, postpartum infection - a disease, which could develop after childbirth, was also becoming major causes of deaths and must be watched. Dr. Aboagye said, 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 were contributing to Ghanas COVID-19 deaths. Ghanas current COVID-19 active cases are 3,782, with 24,988 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. Out of the total recorded cases, 21,067 have recovered. Mr Aboagye said the latest data added to 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, he said. The Director said his division was planning to roll out a new programme dubbed the Wellness Clinic to profile Ghanaians based on their health status and link them with appropriate institutions like Health Insurance Schemes for support. He said the Services attention was also on respiratory diseases and ways on how to reduce the number of persons dying from the non-communicable disease, he said. This programme will provide a platform for every Ghanaian to at least check their health once a year. This data can be linked to the National Health Insurance data and help us in reducing the non-communicable diseases before the next epidemic, he explained. In its latest report, the Ghana Health Service announced four new COVID:19 deaths, raising the countrys death toll from 135 to 139. Dr Aboagye said though no new death was reported from the Ashanti Region, it remained the region with the highest number of deaths, contributing nearly half of the countrys COVID-19 deaths. He said a high powered medical team, led by the Director-General of the Service, was investigating the trend in Kumasi. As we speak there is a team trying to investigate what is happening in the Ashanti region. The Director-General himself, Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye is there, he stated. 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 Officials at Bail's notorious Kerobokan prison fear a Byron Bay woman could be killed in a revenge attack as soon as she's released from jail. Sarah Connor, 49, is set to walk free on Thursday after spending the past four years behind bars for her role in the fatal assault of a local policeman at Kuta Beach in August 2016. Concerns were raised after a cop killer on the popular tourist island was recently murdered in Sulawesi upon their release from jail. Sarah Connor, 49, (pictured) is set to walk free on Thursday after spending the past four years behind bars for her role in the fatal assault of a local policeman at Kuta Beach in August 2016 Officials at Bail's notorious Kerobokan prison fear the Byron Bay woman could be killed in a revenge attack as soon as she's released from her cell after a similar incident in Sulawesi 'We want to ensure her safety when she is released from prison. We don't want another revenge killing,' Mr Suprapto, the corrections division head of the Law and Human Right ministry's Bali office, told The Daily Telegraph. 'Her safety is our consideration. Cases where victims are police officers can attract persecution.' With the number of flights between Bali and Australia drastically reduced during the coronavirus pandemic, the mother of two could become a sitting target. Connor may need to be held in a detention cell at Denpasar Airport until a flight can be made available. When she eventually arrives in Australia, she will then have to serve a further 14 days in a COVID-19 hotel quarantine. Prisoners serving time with Connor say she has grown paranoid in the weeks leading up to her release and will lash out at anyone she suspects is trying to take a photo of her. Connor is pictured in hand cuffs during her trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali on February 14, 2017 Although she has retrained as a hairdresser during her sentence and took up painting, insiders say she has grown very withdrawn and now rejects any jail activities including exercise, arts and even food. 'Sara keeps to herself and is not friendly. Not to anyone. She didn't participate in our recent fashion show and never gets involved with dance, or anything that the jail asks her to be part of,' a prisoner, who did not wish to be named, said. 'She thinks people will sell her photo and is crazy and paranoid about that. She loves her ciggies and coffee and hanging out in a quiet corner.' Connor's 'relaxing holiday' turned into a 'nightmare' when her then British boyfriend David Taylor, beat a police officer of 35 years to death with multiple objects. They included a mobile phone, the officer's own binoculars and a Bintang beer bottle. The holidaying couple were cuddling at the water's edge at Kuta Beach before the killing unfolded. An Indonesian court found that the now 38-year-old 'DJ Nutzo' confronted officer Wayan Sudarsa after Connor had lost her purse. He began to frisk Mr Sudarsa before the situation violently escalated. Connor's 'relaxing holiday' turned into a 'nightmare' when her then British boyfriend David Taylor (pictured) beat a police officer of 35 years to death with multiple objects Connor (pictured, left) holds a walkie talkie as she re-enacts the events leading up to the police officer's death, with boyfriend Taylor (right) nearby Connor was found to have put her arm around the policeman's neck and sat on his stomach an was convicted of fatal assault in company. The mum, whose children are now 13 and 15, claimed she was bitten by Mr Sudarsa when trying to separate the pair, and ran away, ending her involvement. Taylor claimed he was 'in fear of his life', when he struck Mr Sudarsa over the head with a beer bottle. When Mr Sudarsa was motionless, Taylor took the officer's identification cards. At Ms Connor's trial, the judges said she cut up Mr Sudarsa's ID cards not to protect his identity and stop them from being stolen, but because she panicked and felt guilty. Connor is a mother of two and has not seen her children now aged 13 and 15, since the incident Taylor later told Ms Connor the police officer was 'passed out' on the beach. They had no idea, they claimed, of the seriousness of Mr Sudarsa's injuries. Dr Dudut Rustyadi, who performed the autopsy on Mr Sudarsa, told their trials it would have taken him at least two hours to die and had someone intervened he might have been saved. Instead, Connor and Taylor returned to their hotel, cut up Mr Sudarsa's cards and left for nearby Jimbaran later that morning. Two days later, Connor turned on her mobile phone and learned of his death. She has since offered $2,500 in compensation offered to the policeman's widow, and has always maintained her innocence. Taylor is serving a six-year sentence for his part in the officer's fatal assault. A man walks past the main gate of the notorious Kerobokan Prison where Connor is currently being held No one should be turned away from hospital due to higher cost of treatment, the Supreme Court Tuesday said while asking the government to consider framing guideline on the issue of cost of treatment for Covid-19 infection. Though the apex court opined that cost of the treatment should not be higher at the present time," it also said that court is not equipped to either regulate cost of treatment or say what should be the best model of treatment for patients infected with coronavirus. A bench comprising Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices R S Reddy and A S Bopanna, was hearing ... Facebook says voter drive is non-partisan and it will not use ad targeting to determine who sees prompts to register. An ambitious voter registration effort from Facebook Inc. has rankled President Donald Trumps re-election campaign, which is complaining that the social networks goal of registering 4 million voters in time for Novembers election is an attempt to swing the election in favor of former Vice President Joe Biden. With knowledge of every users political ideology, Facebook is officially in the business of political advocacy and their efforts to silence conservative voices should be seen as nothing less than an attempt to ultimately benefit Biden and the Democrat Party, said Samantha Zager, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, when asked about Facebooks voter registration plans. Her comments follow on other grumbling from Republican strategists, including a prediction that Gary Coby, Trumps digital director, made last month on Twitter that Facebooks effort would focus on swing state voters likely to favor Biden. Facebook rejected the campaigns claims. Emily Dalton Smith, who is helping to lead the voter registration effort, said the company wont use ad targeting to determine who sees prompts to register; the only personal data Facebook will use are age and location, to make sure it is reaching eligible voters and directing them towards relevant local election information. She described the effort as non-partisan. A spokesman for the Biden campaign did not return a request for comment. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Facebook was considering a blackout on political ads in the days before the election, a common practice in other countries [File: Bloomberg] The reaction from the Trump campaign is an illustration that nothing Facebook does is ever viewed as politically neutral. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that Facebook was considering a blackout on political ads in the days before the election, a common practice in other countries. The move was immediately condemned by civil rights groups, which called it a distraction that could potentially exacerbate voter suppression. Facebooks political dilemma took shape during the 2016 election, when conservatives stepped up accusations that it intentionally disfavored right-wing messages. The attacks have only increased, despite evidence that right-leaning content consistently spreads further than political posts that lean left. In response, Facebook has taken a more permissive stance than rival social networks on content posted by the president and his campaign, leading to criticism that it is too willing to bend its rules to maintain an important political relationship. Last week, an independent audit of Facebook recommended the company implement stronger policies to prevent voter suppression. Such a move would likely force it to confront the presidents attacks on the legitimacy of basic aspects of the electoral process, like mail-in voting. The authors of the audit said the company was unwilling to commit. Republicans have supported higher barriers to voting in various ways, which has increasingly turned the mechanics of voting into a partisan struggle. Republican lawmakers are more likely to oppose efforts like same-day registration, and Trump adamantly opposes the expansion of mail-in voting, which he has attacked baselessly as illegitimate. Still, both parties want to register voters. On its face, voter registration should be far less controversial than, say, Facebooks policies on whether to take down certain politically-charged posts. It has run registration efforts with the goal of registering 2 million voters. In June, employees presented Zuckerberg with the choice or repeating those efforts, increasing them by 50%, or doubling the goal. He opted for the most ambitious option. After it went public with the initiative, Facebook bought advertisements in the Washington political press highlighting the efforts. The company plans to blanket its users across Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Messenger with prompts and posts encouraging them to register to vote, and is also working directly with state secretaries of state offices to coordinate its notifications to users about local elections. We just really want to help as many people as possible participate in the election, said Dalton Smith. Facebook has shown that even modest nudges on the social network can change voting behavior. In the 2010 midterm elections, researchers at the company studied the impact of using posts on Facebook to encourage people to vote. A study they published in the journal Nature showed that people were significantly more likely to vote if they saw a message from a close friend who had voted, in the form of a digital I Voted sticker. Providing the digital sticker, they wrote, led to 340,000 additional votes, the researchers wrote: The results show that the messages directly influenced political self-expression, information seeking and real-world voting behavior of millions of people. The design of Facebooks program could impact its specific effects. In its first round of voter registration notifications, for instance, Facebook prompted users on its main app to register to vote, but it didnt run a similar message on Facebook-owned Instagram. Most observers believe that Instagram, with its younger audience, is comparatively more likely to be the home to Democratic Party-inclined voters, while older suburban voters are more likely to use Facebook. (The company says it plans to include Instagram in other efforts this election season.) Online voter registration could have a particularly significant impact on this years election. Typically, state department of motor vehicles are the most common places for people to register. Some 25 million people registered this way in the most recent presidential election cycle. Every month, some 2 million people who normally would have registered are failing to do so because of the pandemic, according to National Voter Registration Day, a nonprofit organization. The unusual nature of this falls election will likely also require more forethought by voters. While many states allow voters to update their address in person on Election Day, people who vote by mail have to do so in advance in order to receive their ballot. Other technology companies, including Microsoft Corp. and Spotify Technology SA , are planning digital voter registration efforts. The messaging company Snap Inc. has built animations into its app meant to encourage people to share that they voted, a campaign that several voter registration experts say is some of the most innovative and high-engagement work this campaign season. But Facebooks effort is huge compared to any other digital voter registration efforts. Acronym, a nonprofit aligned with the Democratic Party, has an affiliated voter registration arm that is spending $6 million to register 100,000 people this election cycle. If Facebook had to spend the same amount for each of its 4 million voter registrations, its effort would be worth $240 million, although the company will almost certainly spend far less. The worlds largest social network is in a uniquely influential position, according Ashley Spillane, a voter registration consultant and former head of Rock the Vote. The amount of reach that the platform has is so significant that any call to action that helps people get to a voter registration form will have a sizable impact, she said. (Updates third paragraph with additional information about Facebooks voter registration efforts.) Newsflare The UK government suffered a defeat as it attempted to pass a policing bill that would have restricted protests outside parliament. Home Secretary Priti Patel's policing bill would crack down on protests in central London outside the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street and Whitehall. The bill deems any demonstration that makes "the passage of a vehicle more difficult" illegal, severely restricting the size of protests in these areas. Protesters would have been at risk of lengthy prison sentences by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill as actions such as making loud noise could be deemed as "serious annoyance." However, an amendment protecting ways to organise protests around parliament was passed in the House of Lords on Monday (January 17). Footage from January 17 shows protesters supporting the Kill the Bill movement gathering in Parliament Square, central London. The Kill the Bill movement has been strongly opposed to the policing bill and have organised a long series of protests across the UK. After spending the entirety of the coronavirus lockdown in India, actor Sonam Kapoor and her businessman husband, Anand Ahuja, have flown to London. Sonam took to Instagram to share videos of her arrival. London Im back, the actor wrote, over a video that showed the Thames from above. So beautiful, she added, on footage of the landing. Sonam followed it up with several more videos of herself, unpacking food. Sonam and Anand had returned from the UK, before restrictions on international travel were imposed. In an interview to Film Companion, Sonam explained that she and her husband returned to India because they wanted to be with their family in a potentially difficult time. I decided to come back to India right before the travel ban was imposed just because my father (actor Anil Kapoor) is 63. Hed hate to say this but he is 63, my mother is 63 as well. We all stay with Anands grandmother who is also around 80 years old. There was no one actually in my husbands house just in case something happened to be there and take care of everything. So Anand and I did the responsible thing to fly back even though we were so scared to fly, she said. Also read: Sonam Kapoor on why she returned to India from UK amid Covid-19 outbreak: Hed hate to say this but my father is 63 Sonam had lauded the authorities upon her return to India, and had written in an Instagram post, I just want to say that it is incredible the way the authorities are handling the situation. Its very commendable and laudable. We went to immigration; they again rechecked where we had been on our passports, which was extremely responsible. Then, Anand and I, had our gloves on and our masks on. Everybody also had their gloves and masks on. Sonam spent the lockdown in New Delhi, but flew to Mumbai once domestic travel was allowed. She marked the family reunion with a bunch of posts with sister Rhea Kapoor and the family. Follow @htshowbiz for more SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The magistrate said Marodzas actions subjected the women to psychological torture that some of them would not lead normal lives again as they were treated as slaves in a foreign land with no help or communication with relatives. Fair & Lovely to Glow & Lovely, Dunkin Donuts to Dunkin, Kraft and Heinz to KraftHeinz, UrbanClap to Urban Company, Hutch to Vodafone these are some well-known examples of rebranding in recent times. Adgullys latest edition of #TwitterChat, held on Friday, July 10, 2020, saw some leading industry experts discuss the merits of the brand strategies behind these decisions. The panel comprised of brand strategists and marketers. Moderator Vani Gupta Dandia, CherryPlumPeach Partners (@vani1501) was joined by panelists, Babita Baruah, Managing Partner, GTB India (@babitabaruah); KV Sridhar, Author and Global CCO, Nhilent and Hypercollective (@kvpops); Malvika Mehra, who recently put in her papers as Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu India (@themehragirl); Satbir Singh, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Thinkstr (@thesatbir); and Shashwat Das, Founder Director, Almond Branding (@shashwatdas_). Also Read: #TwitterChat - Track feelings, not revenues Recalibrating PR deliverables Businesses rebrand for various reasons, pointed the experts, sharing various examples. Home services company UrbanClap rebranded to Urban Company to reflect its broader positioning as a horizontal gig marketplace with a global footprint. The Godrej Group unveiled their new corporate identity in 2008 to project a modern and contemporary feel for a brand that has been in existence since 1887. GTBs Babita Baruah observes, To me, rebranding is a continuation of a lifecycle. The process of metamorphoses with each cycle as a transformation. Brands with successful rebranding have a long-term vision and hence, look at the process as a transformation. In fact I still remember the Godrej logo design. ( Got this off the Net) as part of the rebranding. #whywerebrand pic.twitter.com/8SacINaHnd Babita Baruah (@babitabaruah) July 10, 2020 Brand Guru KV Sridhar warns that if you do not change, youll cease to hold relevance to the changing audience. According to him, rebranding can help the brand get reappraised by non-users. Famous brands Liril and Onida that were built on the associations of the iconic Liril Girl and Onida Devil had to let go of those identities to create relevance in a new millennium. A successful rebranding exercise means to transform into a new existence seamlessly. Consumers have developed new associations with the acronym ITC. As Shashwat Das of Almond Branding recalls, The Indian Tobacco Company was renamed ITC Ltd in 1974 as the company wanted to become a diversified conglomerate, with businesses spanning FMCG, Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging, Agri Business, IT and more. Mergers and acquisition can also lead to new brand identities. For example, when Vodafone acquired a controlling interest in the telco Hutch-Essar. Top Guest Tweet The best rebranding in India imho was organe to hutch to Vodafone. Most important aspect in rebranding is not to lose the 'voice' and it was so seamlessly done with Vodafone Amit (@amitadilabadkar) July 10, 2020 As we can see, both internal and external factors can decide whether it is time to change. Once such a decision has been made, the tough part is to align stakeholders with the new direction the brand is taking. Dunkin Donuts. pic.twitter.com/XJcxOI2bJz Malvika Mehra (@themehragirl) July 10, 2020 Malvika Mehra lauds Dunkin Donuts tough call to drop the Donuts from their name in 2018. She says, I loved the fact that they took the bold plunge. Donuts was restricting the brand offering. The initial response by the public, especially rabid fans of the coffee chain, was negative. The brand had to stick to their guns and wait for the initial wave of public negativity to slowly die down. Dunkin' Donuts is dropping the Donuts and people are freaking out...I've only heard people call if Dunkin'. They are literally changing the name to what everyone calls it... Thomas Everett (@Thomas_Everett) August 27, 2018 Sridhar recalls, Sometimes people tell you to rebrand. Charminar was called Charms, so a new brand was born. FedEx (earlier called Federal Express) as well. Satbir Singh opines, Being obsessed with what people think allows you to serve needs, but may sometimes prevent you from surprising them with something totally new. Vani Gupta Dandia opined that the Frooti rebranding is an excellent example of offering something completely new that delighted consumers. However, Singh shared the cautionary tale of Gap, There could be many reasons for rebranding, but change for the sake of change shouldnt be one. Gap tried about 10 years ago and fierce customer backlash had them reverting back to the original in a week. Dont fix whats not broken. He further adds, Like with Gap, Burberrys logo changes too invited a fair bit of criticism. Uber. Instagram. We tend to identify so strongly with logos and graphics that any change rocks our world. Hence backlash. In most cases, people get over it. In some, companies blink first. Rebranding can be successful if its a transformation and not just a design job, emphasises Baruah. Though design has a key role to play. It is just the first step in signaling transformation. When 70-year-old airline, Air India, tried to do away with the iconic Maharaja mascot, the public outcry was unforgiving. The quote below encapsulates what happened. Interestingly, at one point in time, the mascots regal connotations triggered a controversy, with politicians expressing doubts about using such a symbol to represent a nation with socialist aspirations. As a result, Air India did away with the Maharajah in 1989. But there was such a hue and cry from various quarters that the popular mascot had to be brought back. How the Maharajah Got Its Wings: The Story of Air Indias Iconic Mascot Shashwat Das stressed on the importance of timing while undertaking a rebranding exercise. He describes proactive and reactive rebranding with some key examples. He said, In the backdrop of #BlackLivesMatter, Hindustan Unilever has renamed its best-selling 'Fair & Lovely' products as 'Glow & Lovely', days after it announced to remove all nomenclature that propagated racial stereotypes. He highlights this case as a marker of reactive branding, where the brand assumes rebranding alone will communicate the new narrative. Proactive branding, he opines, helps the brand stay relevant, prevent ageing and align with the needs of todays consumers. Top Guest Tweet UTI Bank to Axis bank back in 2007. One of the success stories of not just releasing the new communication but also ensuring that all branding material at various touchpoints was changed overnight. Kavya Dehulia (@Kdehulia) July 10, 2020 Getting Rebranding Right Experts debate on whether rebranding is more art or science, but they agree that if done right, it means growth for the brand. Das posits that, The core of the brand has to remain sacrosanct while it communicates the intended proposition in a lingo that adapts to the changing sensibilities of the consumer. If done wrong, Baruah states, Remember the story of the crow in peacock feathers. Every brands narrative will change as they march forward. Look at Google, Amazon, Apple, and Tesla. As their business models have changed, so have the narratives says Sridhar. He further adds, There is a theory called discontinuously continuous change. The point is while rebranding you should not forget what your core values are and must carry forward the relevant ones. There is no one answer to the rebranding. It can even come from packaging innovation, which rebrands and repurposes the category, recalling the examples of Paperboat and Indigo. Das recalls how Almond Branding helped rebrand Fruzzante Indias first fruit wine brand. He says, The rebranding clarified the brand positioning, brought alive the differentiation and made the brand relevant to the TG. While the old packaging did capture the fruity foundations, the uniqueness wasnt being communicated well. There was a confusion about whether its a fruit beer, flavoured wine or just another non-alcoholic fruit beverage. Fruzzante was none of these. While the old #packaging did capture the fruit foundations, uniqueness wasnt being communicated well A confusion whether its a fruit beer or a flavoured wine or just another non-alcoholic fruit beverage#Fruzzante was none of these#WhyWeRebrand pic.twitter.com/crbsPcEJhz shashwatdas_ (@shashwatdas_) July 10, 2020 It is important that the brand custodian does not have any preconceived notions on the acceptance of the new brand, according to Vani Gupta Dandia. She postulates, Never assume consumers would move with you. Never assume rebranding alone will communicate the new narrative; be clear on the new business metrics that rebranding must achieve. Branding For Digital The information age has created a new context for brands. It may not be enough for brands to be perceived as relevant and useful, but also cool as a younger generation of consumers convolutes the brands they use with personal identity. A brand has to stand out, according to Das, In a sea of sameness and endless social media scroll, a brand needs to have short and sharp impact. Mobile responsiveness is now a must have and no longer good to have. He shares the example of tech giant Google, Bringing down its logo size from 14,000 bytes to 305 bytes, made it possible for Google to use the same logo on all sorts of networks and on all types of screens. This is what digital legibility actually means in this era. Googles rebranding in 2015 was also in line with the trend of neomodern design in the digital world. The eradication of drop shadows, textures, embellishments and photographic logos are all intended to reduce screen clutter and achieve higher data flow speeds. Agreeing with him, Mehra says, Brands need to start looking at how to be best represented in their profile pics on social media. The whole brand name need not always be there. Sometimes the lead letter or symbol will do. There need to be edits to the logo just like they are for films! Given that we are in the age of new media, a lot of logos need a refresh to be relevant and have impact on social platforms. They need to dynamic enough for both print and digital today. Top Guest Tweets Very true! @themehragirl In fact, if we look at the automobile industry too, the recent big rebranding exercise was carried out by Volkswagen, where they shifted to a flat graphics logo from a formerly 3D pop logo. Making it simple and easy to use! @adgully #whywerebrand https://t.co/uQaTqNQgkY Kartik Mudliyar (@KartikMudliyar7) July 10, 2020 Absolutely @vani1501 Brands need to reinvent for the digital audience. Lack of brick and motor stores means reduced sensory stimulus. Quality, touch, smell, taste... all now have just the digital screen for making an impact! juhie gorwara (@juhieruby) July 10, 2020 Conviction is Key It is vital that all the stakeholders who are aware of the rebranding exercise are convinced and involved in the process. Conviction, Sridhar puts its succinctly, is key. He says, When you are in sync and have conviction and logic, you never have to fight with a client. Sometimes you need patience. When we rebranded Birla and L&C cement as UltraTech cement, it was perfect. Mehra states, Finally, the brand has to win. Not the agency or the client sitting across the table. Thats what decides stuff. Sometimes the pressure to be trendy leads to a design change that may not necessarily pass the test of time. Good rebranding is an opportunity to represent ones brand, but keeping it relevant even many years later is critical. Experts worry that COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a repositioning spree where Every food is being rebranded as an immunity booster and every cleaning agent as a germ kill agent. Thats the new normal, observes Das. We can see a lot of businesses attempting a pivot. Fine dining into home food experience. Travel portals into virtual travel. There will be cases that call for a rebranding if a business has to rejuvenate with a new proposition, according to Baruah. Rebranding Faux Pas Distilling the lessons from the discussion, experts put forth the key mistakes from rebranding disasters from the past. Forgetting existing equity Not understanding consumer pulse Clinging to the past Transforming only the visual identity not the brand identity Change without a long-term vision and purpose Give too much credence to appear trendy Our last rebranding error is captured in the guest tweet below: WOBURN, Massachusetts, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- EarlySense, the global leader in contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the healthcare continuum, announced today that Niznik Behavioral Health, a national provider of behavioral health services for adolescents and adults, will implement its continuous monitoring system in two of the company's Discovery Point Retreat detox and residential treatment Texas locations. Discovery Point Retreat offers medical detox and residential inpatient care, incorporating evidence-based therapies and holistic treatment alternatives to provide a well-rounded recovery experience. EarlySense sensors will be installed under bed mattresses at Discovery Point Retreat's residential centers located in Ennis and Waxahachie, and will help improve care by continuously monitoring client heart rate, respiratory rate and motion. The system will assist staff in monitoring individuals on detox and residential floors by non-invasively providing continuous updates of patient status and identifying potential changes or deterioration in client health status. "Detox clients going through the process of rehabilitation are in a constant state of adjustment, as their bodies adapt to new medications and simultaneously experience withdrawal symptoms," said Jared Hirsch, Discovery Point Retreat Executive Director. "The EarlySense system supports our mission to provide our clients with a supportive and comprehensive recovery experience, allowing our staff to continuously monitor client vitals non-invasively and take action when needed. This technology will assist in keeping clients healthy throughout their journey, while ensuring comfort and stability and enabling our clients to sleep soundly." "Niznik Behavioral Health's wealth of experience, knowledgeable and dedicated staff, and use of advanced care technologies has established the company as a national leader in addiction treatment and recovery," said Matt Johnson, CEO of EarlySense. "We are pleased to have been selected by Niznik Behavioral Health to provide its inpatient care programs with contact-free continuous monitoring. As adoption of our technology continues to grow exponentially across the healthcare continuum, we are proud to help facilitate greater levels of safety and care." About Discovery Point Retreat Discovery Point Retreat, a Niznik Behavioral Health facility, is a multi-disciplinary substance abuse facility with 3 locations in Texas: Dallas, Ennis and Waxahachie. At Discovery Point Retreat, the recovery process is not restricted to duration but instead on how clients effectively progress through individualized treatment plans. Our client-first priority ensures individuality within treatmentreinforced by a low staff to patient ratio. We believe in building sustainable and genuine relationships with our clients enabling a high program completion rate across all levels of care. Ultimately DPR's mission is to earn clients' trust by making them feel 'safe' under our care throughout the recovery process. https://discoverypointretreat.com/ About EarlySense EarlySense is the global leader in contact-free, continuous monitoring solutions for the healthcare continuum. Used worldwide in hospitals and post-acute care facilities, the EarlySense system assists caregivers in early detection of potential patient adverse events, including code blue events resulting from cardiac or respiratory arrest, patient falls, pressure ulcers, preventable ICU transfers and hospital readmissions. The EarlySense system captures critical information from the patient, alerting caregivers of potentially adverse events early on. The company has partnered with leading global technology companies including Hillrom, Philips, Welch Allyn, and Mitsui. EarlySense is based in Ramat Gan, Israel and Woburn, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.earlysense.com . Follow EarlySense on LinkedIn , Twitter and Facebook Media Contact: Ellie Hanson Finn Partners +1-929-222-8006 [email protected] Niznik Behavioral Health Contact: Amy Bernard Vice President of Marketing (404) 591-5505 [email protected] EarlySense Contact: Jaime Donahue (781) 373-3228 ext. 212 [email protected] SOURCE EarlySense Related Links http://www.earlysense.com WESTCHESTER, Ill., July 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food manufacturing industry, will release its 2020 second quarter financial results for the period ended June 30, 2020, before the market opens on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Jim Zallie (https://www.ingredionincorporated.com/AboutUs/executiveleadershipteam/Zallie.html), president and chief executive officer, and James Gray (https://www.ingredionincorporated.com/AboutUs/executiveleadershipteam/Gray.html), executive vice president and chief financial officer, will host a conference call on August 4 at 8 a.m. CT to discuss the Company's financial performance. The conference call and accompanying slide presentation will be webcast live at https://ir.ingredionincorporated.com/events-and-presentations (https://ir.ingredionincorporated.com/events-and-presentations). Participants are encouraged to log on to the webcast approximately 10 minutes before the start of the presentation. A replay of the presentation will be available on the Company's website. ABOUT THE COMPANY Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE: INGR) headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, is a leading global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries. With 2019 annual net sales of more than $6 billion, the Company turns grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing and industrial markets. With Ingredion Idea Labs innovation centers around the world and more than 11,000 employees, the Company co-creates with customers and fulfills its purpose of bringing the potential of people, nature and technology together to make life better. Visit ingredion.com (https://ir.ingredionincorporated.com/) for more information and the latest Company news. CONTACT: Investors: Tiffany Willis, 708-551-2592 Media: Becca Hary, 708-551-2602 He's the former Married At First Sight star who has made a name for himself as one the most loved contestants to appear on the show. And on Tuesday, Nasser Sultan, 52, landed a new television gig which will see the controversial reality star host his own talk show, Dab or Fab! Sharing exclusive behind the scenes photos, Nasser was seen getting his makeup and hair styled ahead of his return to television. He's back! Married at First Sight's Nasser Sultan, 52, (pictured) has landed himself a surprising new gig hosting new series television series called Dab or Fab! In the photos, he is seen wearing a Niall Horan shirt while he chatted to the hair and makeup team. Another photo shows the star sitting on a red lounge on the Sydney set. While it's unclear if the show will be picked up by any Australian television networks, Nasser tells Daily Mail Australia his show 'will air in Belgium, Italy and the UK'. Glam: Sharing exclusive behind the scenes photos, Nasser was seen getting his makeup and hair styled ahead of his return to the limelight 'It's raw and no scripted stuff,' he explained while he teased the project. The new series will see Nasser, who failed find love on reality TV, join two co-hosts each week while they discuss and debate trending topics. Earlier this month, Nasser shared a photo of his blink-and-you-will-miss-it moment he appeared on Channel 10's Bondi Rescue where he was seen going for a surf. Coming soon: While it's unclear if the show will be picked up by any Australian television networks, Nasser tells Daily Mail Australia his show 'will air in Belgium, Italy and the UK' 'Let's just add this to the list of TV appearances shall we? Bondi Rescue - the only way is up now,' Nasser wrote in the caption. He shared a photo of himself dressed up in a rescue uniform - the iconic yellow and red cap and rash shirt In the past, the part-time personal trainer has often been spotted at Bondi Beach enjoying the sun and surf. Nasser rose to fame in the fifth season of Married At First Sight. He was 'married' to Gabrielle Bartlett, but they called it quits before the finale. He was happy! The 52-year-old proudly shared a slightly blurry photo of his brief moment on the program in which he was seen going for a surf On a daily basis, chances are a woman is striving for excellence by joining the strong surge of women entrepreneurs with the vigor and determination to succeed. While Africa has the highest growth of female-run entrepreneurs according to World Bank, it is also very likely that her entrepreneurial journey will not be easy simply because of her gender. Women in the business industry have varied and unique social and financial challenges. The global economy surges towards an inevitable recession with the World Bank predicting a shrink of 5.2% by the end of 2020, culminating in economic and humanitarian crisis with slower economic growth, ongoing signs of lower investment, erosion of human capital through lost work and schooling and the fragmentation of regional and global trade. In spite of this, many African countries are showing signs of resilience with emerging opportunities. Growth of the female economy The female economy is the worlds largest emerging economy. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of female entrepreneurship with 26% of female adults engaged in entrepreneurial activity. In Ghana, approximately 46% of businesses are owned by women which is more than any other country in the region (MIWE (In full), 2018). The paradox is that the rise of women entrepreneurs is not necessarily in tangent with the grinding pace of the countrys economic development and so worth paying attention to the reasons. In addition to the already complex environment, the natural order of work is now severely disrupted with what is normal due process becoming constant improvisation. Sectors run prevalently by women include wholesale and retail trade especially in fast-moving consumer goods, food and beverage, hospitality, education, event management, fashion and arts, and wellbeing. Thus, it helps to better identify and understand the factors and conditions that are most conducive to women business owners in the country and address the challenges that limit women from opening or expanding their businesses. Challenges and bridging the gap Access to knowledge: There is the need for education and training, upskilling and re-skilling especially in the technology space which is currently male-dominated. The rapid technological and digital transformations affecting jobs means women have to keep up with the pace through training to be tech-savvy and among others take advantage of online presence. Thus, relevant education programmes and funded training opportunities should be created to eliminate the confinements to traditional sectors to enable market access to new sectors in science, technology and the circular economy. Access to funding: There is a requirement for financial inclusion - lack of appropriate financial and business strategy advice and access to credit to women entrepreneurs due to little or no collateral security puts them at a disadvantage. Why are women not given more control over family assets such as joint property rights, thus eliminating the need for collateral? So, despite the immense opportunity for economic growth and social impact by investing in women, the limited access to and lack of funding means that their businesses continue to suffer especially at this time when keeping employees is an expensive venture. Toyin Dania, Womens Entrepreneurship Day Ghana Ambassador said, My female clients have been concerned about their businesses but especially their staff and what the new normal will look during these uncertain times. Their businesses are more than just economics its about their staff who have the intellectual value of their training and understanding of their business, and their families. One of the solutions is to reduce working hours which is effective but only in the short-term. Social norms, cultural and gender biases: The socio-cultural structures in the society generally favour men in terms of inequalities in social norms, resources distribution, and supportive business networks. The unspoken, ugly reality of physical and emotional violence against women, especially during this crisis period, holds back family, individual and professional progress. Therefore, could there be a business case for essential social welfare services provided for women by women to cater to issues such as domestic abuse? Additionally, there is the misconception of technology being a mans world, leading to the digital divide where women are marginalised in getting educated about the significance of the digital economy on entrepreneurship. These business networks act as platforms for knowledge exchange, mentorship, as well as bridge the gap between women entrepreneurs and their support system such as the government, non-government organisations, financial institutions and investors, and so forth, creating initiatives, pro-activeness to decision-making including choice of new business sectors and innovative commercial practices. The saying, when women work, the economy grows becomes factual when women on the African continent are empowered with the said solutions thus, contributing to the achievement of the agenda for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 (bridging the gender equality gap) and SDG 8 (promote full, productive employment and decent work for all). Whilst the current global health situation continues to linger and influence business decisions, the tremendous impact will be more obvious as we emerge from the epicenter of the crisis. There is still optimism for women start-up business growth with ongoing pots of funding from Pan-African financial institutions and also access to new markets with the upcoming delayed implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is expected to come into effect in early 2021. The goal of this agreement between 54 African countries is to establish a single market to streamline trade, free movement of business travelers and attract long-term investment. This is a good time for higher education institutions, government and non-government organisations in Ghana and across African borders to work in partnership to co-develop and implement enabling targeted policies and national frameworks, support development programmes, and create and strengthen favourable commercial infrastructures to promote high growth women-owned businesses. 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 The vice-chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Akoka, Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, has ordered that the proposed physical emergency congress meeting of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), UNILAG chapter and others be suspended as a measure to avoid the spread of coronavirus. The vice-chancellor was responding to the unions earlier call for the meeting scheduled to hold on Wednesday at the foyer of the universitys council chamber, the same venue of a postponed universitys council meeting earlier fixed for the same time. Meanwhile, apparently as an opposition to the ASUU congress, another group of workers in the university under the umbrella of UNILAG non-teaching staff, had scheduled its meeting for the same time and venue. But in its letter to the workers unions on the campus, the vice-chancellor warned against gatherings that could violate the social distancing rules amidst the coronavirus pandemic. The vice-chancellors memo, which is signed by the acting director in the VCs office, Ademola Aliu, is entitled; Meeting of Unions at the University Campus Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic. The memo, which was dated, July 13, reads in part; Please recall that since the outbreak of coronavirus, the university has suspended all academic activities and placed restrictions on gatherings on campus to ensure the community is safe and secured. This is in line with the health advisories and guidelines issued by both the Lagos State Covid-19 response team and the presidential taskforce on covid-19. Consequent upon this, the vice-chancellor has directed that I informed all the unions that no meeting should hold at the council chamber foyer under any disguise. The memo also advised the unions and all other members of the university community to note the strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and wearing of masks in the university to prevent outbreak of the deadly coronavirus on our campus. Unions react Meanwhile, ASUU told PREMIUM TIMES that its various leadership structures are already reviewing the managements memo, and that its final decision will be communicated appropriately soon. We acknowledge the vice-chancellors memo and our layers of leadership are currently reviewing the situation. We are not oblivious of the pandemic and the danger it poses but we will communicate the unions position appropriately soon, Mr Ashiru told our reporter on the phone. In a similar development, a Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), has reacted to the managements directive. The JACs statement, which was addressed to the two unions members on the campus, was signed by their chairmen on both the main campus and its college of medicine located in Idi-Araba. The signatories are Kehinde Ajibade and Olushola Showunmi for the Akoka campus of NASU and SSANU respectively while those identified simply as T.S Aderibigbe and M.K Olofindiran respectively represented NASU and SSANU of the college of medicine. The JAC condemned the notice issued to its members. We, therefore, condemn such notice of meeting in totality. Our members are requested to disregard such illegal notice of meeting which has been circulated to members on social media platforms, the response reads in part. They also appealed to ASUU leadership on campus to ensure a peaceful atmosphere in and around the campus, so that the council can meet to address the workers welfare. Meanwhile, the organisers of the meeting of the non-teaching staff could not be reached for comment as the notice of the meeting was not signed by anyone. Courtesy JBSA-Fort Sam Houston / An investigation is underway after a U.S. Army Soldier was found dead at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston on Sunday. Identification of the soldier is being withheld until next of kin is notified, a U.S. Air Force news release says. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Tue, July 14, 2020 10:04 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066617fe0 4 News Ijen-crater,pandemic,COVID-19,tourism,travel,destination,coronavirus Free Ijen Crater, which lies on the border of Banyuwangi and Bondowoso regencies in East Java, reopened for tourism on Saturday. R Tjahjo Widodo, the head of the Jember V Regional Coordinating Agency (Bakorwil), said the opening would comply with the health protocols set by the Environment and Forestry Ministry. Tourism in the area had been on hiatus since March 16 to contain the spread of COVID-19. The reopening of the crater follows the reopening of other tourist destinations in the country, which have marched on with plans despite the ongoing pandemic. As quoted by kompas.com, Tjahjo said both the Banyuwangi and Bondowoso administrations had sent out teams to monitor the reopening and ensure that all tourist activities complied with COVID-19 prevention standards. Read also: More than 50 tourist destinations reopen in Semarang Before the pandemic, Ijen Crater attracted approximately 500 tourists daily. That number could increase to 4,000 visitors during long holidays. The destination is famous for its acidic, 1-kilometer-wide turquoise crater lake and its electric blue flames. It is one of only two places in the world where such flames occur. The other is Dallol mountain in Ethiopia. To reach the attractions, tourists hike for two hours to reach the rim of the crater and then descend for 45 minutes to the bottom of the crater. To reach the bottom at the most picturesque time, visitors usually start the hike at midnight. The pandemic has caused Indonesian tourism to suffer greatly as travel remains difficult and destinations remain closed. Local tour guides and businesses that rely on tourist arrivals have lost sometimes overwhelming portions of their income. (gis/kes) The logo of Chinese company Huawei at its main U.K. offices on January 28, 2020. Daniel Leal-Olivas | AFP via Getty Images The U.K. announced Tuesday it will ban Huawei from its 5G networks, in a significant U-turn by the government that could significantly dent relations with China while appeasing the U.S. Speaking in Parliament, U.K. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said mobile network operators in the country would be forced to stop buying equipment from Huawei by the end of the year. They will also be required to strip out Huawei gear from their infrastructure by 2027. It's a major reversal for the U.K., which in January gave Huawei restricted access to the country's next-generation mobile networks. Under previous guidelines, mobile network operators were required to reduce the share of Huawei kit in noncore parts of their infrastructure to 35% by 2023. But that decision was complicated by new sanctions imposed on Huawei by the U.S. in May. These restrictions mean the Chinese firm will no longer be able to source key chip equipment from trusted American suppliers. The U.K.'s National Cyber Security Center initiated an emergency review of Huawei shortly after the U.S. curbs were introduced. Dowden said the move will delay the U.K.'s rollout of 5G mobile internet, which promises super-fast data speeds and increased network capacity. Banning procurement of new Huawei gear and reducing the Chinese vendor's market share to zero by 2027 would result in an "accumulative delay" of up to three years and cost as much as 2 billion ($2.5 billion), he warned. "This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the U.K.'s telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy both now and indeed in the long run," Dowden told lawmakers. The decision is a significant blow to Huawei, which had been ramping up its investment into the U.K. with a new research and development center in Cambridge, and a push for developers at the start of the year to help it build an alternative to Google's Play app store. Huawei was cut off from licensed Google software last year due to U.S. trade measures. "This disappointing decision is bad news for anyone in the U.K. with a mobile phone," said Ed Brewster, a spokesperson for Huawei U.K. "It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide." Huawei urged the government to reconsider the move, adding it was "confident" the new U.S. restrictions "would not have affected the resilience or security of the products we supply." Brewster said the company "will conduct a detailed review" of what the decision means for its business in the U.K. National security concerns U.S. officials have warned of national security concerns around Huawei for years, amid worries that the Chinese vendor's equipment could enable Beijing to spy on sensitive communications. Huawei has frequently denied such claims, insisting it is independent from the Chinese government. Nevertheless, President Donald Trump's administration has urged "Five Eyes" allies Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the U.K. to block Huawei from their 5G networks. While Australia went ahead with a ban in 2018, other members of the alliance except the U.K. hadn't taken such action. But while the move will appease the U.S., it is likely to anger China. Relations between London and Beijing have already soured of late due to tensions over China's new national security law for Hong Kong. Dowden told Parliament that new U.S. sanctions meant the U.K. "can no longer be confident it will be able to guarantee the security of future Huawei 5G equipment." Huawei was designated a "high-risk vendor" by the U.K. in January. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government believed at the time that it could manage the risks associated with Huawei by excluding the Chinese firm from the sensitive "core" parts of the U.K.'s 5G infrastructure. But security officials now say that U.S. restrictions mean Huawei products are likely to suffer more security and reliability problems because of the massive engineering challenge ahead namely that the firm would have to find alternative chip suppliers for components used in its network gear. Shenzhen-based Huawei is the world's top telecommunications equipment maker. But it has been caught up in a tense geopolitical feud between the U.S. and China. More recently, that battle appears to have extended to include internet services, with Washington threatening to ban Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok last week. Huawei reported its slowest first-half revenue growth in seven years on Tuesday, as the company continued to grapple with the impact of U.S. sanctions and the global coronavirus pandemic. The firm reported revenue of 454 billion yuan or $64.23 billion in first six months of the year, up 13.1% from a year earlier. Industry reaction Tuesday's move will inevitably impact Britain's cellphone carriers. Three of the country's top mobile network providers BT-owned EE, Vodafone and Three have already deployed 5G in their infrastructure. Executives at Vodafone and BT said last week it would take at least five years to swap Huawei telecoms kit out for another vendor's. But the government has made sure to try to allay the operators' worries by committing to a seven-year timetable for phasing out the Huawei kit. This is in line with what carriers had been asking for ahead of the decision. A county health department in Morrison, Colo., announced a squirrel has been found to have the bubonic plague. In an announcement on its website, the Jefferson County Public Health department, said the squirrel tested positive on Saturday, July 11. The squirrel is the first case of plague in the county. Plague is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, and can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions are not taken. The department warned that humans can become infected with the plague through bites from infected fleas, by the cough from an infected animal or by direct contact (e.g., through a bite) with blood or tissues of infected animals. Cats are highly susceptible to plague and may die if not treated promptly with antibiotics. Cats can contract plague from flea bites, a rodent scratch/bite or ingestion of a rodent. Dogs are not as susceptible to plague; however, they may pick up and carry plague-infected rodent fleas. Pet owners who suspect their pets are ill should consult a veterinarian. All pet owners who live close to wild animal populations, such as prairie dog colonies or other known wildlife habitats, should consult their veterinarian about flea control for their pets to help prevent the transfer of fleas to humans. Symptoms of plague may include sudden onset of high fever, chills, headache, nausea and extreme pain and swelling of lymph nodes, occurring within two to seven days after exposure. Plague can be effectively treated with antibiotics when diagnosed early. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should consult a physician. The department advised residents to discourage wild animals around their homes by eliminating food and potential shelters, not feeding the animals, keeping their properties litter and trash-free, using cautious when handling pets who appear to be sick, not allowing pets to roam freely outside and providing flea and tick control for pets. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Humans usually get plague after being bitten by a rodent flea that is carrying the plague bacterium or by handling an animal infected with plague. Plague is infamous for killing millions of people in Europe during the Middle Ages. Today, modern antibiotics are effective in treating plague. Without prompt treatment, the disease can cause serious illness or death. Presently, human plague infections continue to occur in rural areas in the western United States, but significantly more cases occur in parts of Africa and Asia. READ MORE Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. The Australian national flag flies over Parliament House in Canberra in this file image. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images) Australia Begins Unprecedented Pushback Against Beijing The Australian government is boldly pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)a newborn strategic position held by a government facing an increasingly hostile and antagonistic Beijing. Recent aggressions by the CCP that in the past often failed to be directly addressedare now being met with counterblows by the Morrison government, and its not just simply stronger rhetoric. Australia was one of the first countries to call for an investigation into Beijings handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong over concerns around the new national security law. The country also is standing its ground against an escalating number of economic threats and intimidation from China. Australian senators told The Epoch Times the resistance from the current government is in response to Chinas growing contempt for international law, coupled with the gross mistreatment of its own people, and a seeping threat to the core values held by Down Under. China is starting to realise that not everyone will simply kowtow to their threats, be it geopolitical aggression, foreign interference or economic pressure, Eric Abetz, a Liberal senator, told The Epoch Times. In all the circumstances, it is appropriate, indeed necessary, for freedom-loving countries to take a stand, he continued. Abetz said the pushback against the regime has been spurred by a number of pressing concerns, including its ever-growing belligerence and bullying of its own peopleChristians, Uyghurs, Falun Gong. Chinas blatant disregard for international law through its South China Sea militarization is another concern, said Abetz, who pointed to Beijings intentional targeting of nations such as Australia that dare to seek accountability from China. It started to take shape months ago, when Canberra called for an independent probe into Beijings handling of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Australia was one of the first countries that called for a travel ban from China. Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne, who was first to signal the need for a transparent investigation, was soon backed by Australias Prime Minister Scott Morrison. In May, Morrison told Alan Jones on 2GB Radio: What the world over needs to knowand theres a lot of support for thisis how did it start and what are the lessons to be learned? Australias inquiry has since drawn the support of the European Union and a coalition of more than 100 nations. The move sparked anger from the CCP, which has since imposed an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley and a ban on four red meat processing plants. One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts said that although hes pleased with the Australian government for making noise in response to the CCP, he will hold his assessment until after the media headlines subside. He said he was doubtful the governments actions will follow its words. The [CCP] threat is enormous and affects every aspect of Australian life and lifestyles, he told The Epoch Times. National security, economic independence, ownership of land and essential infrastructure assets, control of services, control over Labor and Liberal/National Party members of parliament and backroom powerbrokers to name just a few, he said. Roberts noted that the world is awakening to the threat from the totalitarian CCP that has no regard for human life and freedom. (India, one of the latest countries to crack down on Beijing, recently banned 59 mostly Chinese-owned apps over their border crisis, and plans to more heavily scrutinize foreign direct investments). Meanwhile, Beijing also threatened to stop sending tourists and its students if Australia sticks to its call for a probe. We reject any suggestion that economic coercion is an appropriate response to a call for such an assessment, when what we need is global cooperation, Payne said in a statement to The Australian. She refuses to shy away when addressing China. In June, she criticized the CCP for creating disinformation amid the pandemic, adding that it contributes to a climate of fear and division when what we need is cooperation and understanding. Its been documented that the Chinese regime deliberately masked the total number of CCP virus cases in China in a bid to safeguard its image, both nationally and internationally. It has also been widely reported that China continues seeking to shift the blame away from its botched handling of the virus by launching a global disinformation campaign to manipulate narratives. Andrew Phelan, an Australian-based medical technology entrepreneur who has spent most of his career in Asia, much of it representing U.S.-based medical technology companies (two of which have successfully prosecuted PRC nationals for IP theft), said he has never witnessed Australia respond to the CCP threat in the way it has today. Im almost 54 and Ive been following China since my first visit as a 21-year-old in 1988, Phelan told The Epoch Times. The current [pushback] situation is unprecedented That courage has come with a cost and has put Australia in Chinese leader Xi Jinpings crosshairs. The significance of the pushback is that it is happening so fast, its involving so many countries and they are coalescing and forming alliances, he added. The recent pushback stems from a process of Australia waking up to Beijings plans and ambitions, according to Phelan. He noted that Australia is in a unique position, as no other country globally has benefited as much from the rise of China. Neither the prime ministers office nor the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade immediately responded to a request by The Epoch Times for comment. Beijings Influence Operations More countries across the world are beginning to stand up to Beijing as it ramps up its global aspirations through avenues that include United Front operations, the Belt and Road Initiative, and Confucius Institutes. The United Front unit coordinates with thousands of groups to carry out foreign political influence operations, suppress dissident movements, gather intelligence, and facilitate the transfer of other countries technology to China, according to a June report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Groups and individuals linked to that unit have attracted an unprecedented level of scrutiny for their links to political interference, economic espionage, and influence on university campuses, the report stated. In Australia, businessmen who were members of organizations with close ties to the United Front Work Department have been accused of interfering in Australian politics. The case of Huang Xiangmo was highlighted by the reports authors as one of the most informative cases of United Front-linked influence efforts. Huang arrived in Australia in near-total obscurity, until big spending and relentless networking behind closed doors has seen him swiftly ingratiate himself with Australias most powerful politicians, the report stated, citing an article. Huang was philanthropic and donated generously to universities, starting centers at two Australian universities. He also sought to mentor young Chinese Australians with political goals, organizing the Australia Young Leadership Forum for Chinese university students. His ACRI institute hosted a United Front official in 2016 and also organized trips to China, supported by the Propaganda Department, for Australian journalists, according to the report. In one case, Huang reportedly withdrew a promised $400,000 donation to the Labor Party after its defense spokesman criticized Chinas militarization of the South China Sea. Tim Xu, a former assistant to Huang, testified in 2019 that one of the councils Huang ran was a front for the CCP. The Australia Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) later concluded that Huang was amenable to conducting acts of foreign interference. Huangs citizenship application was denied and his residency rescinded. However, Huangs networks andUnited Front networks in generalare still active in Australia, the report stated. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, the CCP has begun more than 2,900 projects valued at $3.87 trillion. The BRI has been called a debt trap because Beijings predatory lending practices reportedly have left countries vulnerable to Chinas aggressive influence campaigns. In October 2019, Victoria formally signed onto the initiative under Premier Daniel Andrews and Chinese ambassador to Australia Cheng Jingye; Victoria is the only state in Australia to have joined the initiative. Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett told Sky News in a July 13 interview that the move would be the undoing of this government, labeling it as an expansionist policy. Meanwhile, the Confucius Institutes located across Australias educational institutions have also attracted controversy. Late last year, the New South Wales Department of Education banned the program from being taught at the states public schools. The institutes, overseen with heavy involvement from the United Front Work Department, have generated controversy for more than a decade for their effects on academic freedom and influence on universities, according to the Strategic Policy Institute report. China has claimed that the aim of the CIs is purely to strengthen Chinese language learning and culture. The institutes aim to push a foreign policy goal of making the regime not only an economic superpower, but also a cultural one. Abetz said unless the regime is brought to account early on, they will continue their unacceptable practices until their domination becomes too reprehensible that conflict ensues. Australias pushback is most certainly warranted, says Casey Fleming, chairman and CEO of intelligence and security strategy firm BlackOps Partners. It is the canary in the mine for the rest of the free world and democracy, he told The Epoch Times. The CCP poses an extreme and ongoing threat to Australias values and national security. The CCP works under stealth cover, leverages intense espionage, and maximizes infiltration and subversion to destroy democracy. Co Tyrone epilepsy sufferer Billy Caldwell has been referred to a new UK-wide service for considering difficult cases (Brian Lawless/PA) Co Tyrone epilepsy sufferer Billy Caldwell has been referred to a new UK-wide service for considering difficult cases. Charlotte Caldwell has campaigned for a change in the law which would allow her son to access medicinal cannabis on prescription. In November, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued guidance on the use of such products for people with severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. Great Ormond Street Hospital in London is hosting a new UK-wide clinical service to support paediatric neurologists considering prescribing cannabis-based medicines. Expand Close Charlotte Caldwell has campaigned for a change in the law which would allow her son Billy to access medicinal cannabis on prescription (Brian Lawless/PA) PA / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Charlotte Caldwell has campaigned for a change in the law which would allow her son Billy to access medicinal cannabis on prescription (Brian Lawless/PA) Ms Caldwell said: Billys legal case initiated this new process to be set up. I am so proud of Billy. He has been referred to the Refractory Epilepsy Specialist Clinical Advisory Service. It provides a forum for the discussion of difficult cases that have proven hard to treat. Ms Caldwell has taken legal action in a bid to secure long-term access to the medication. Recently rules were relaxed to allow some cannabis-derived medicines to be prescribed to patients in the UK by specialist doctors in limited circumstances. Despite the new guidelines access to the new treatment remains uncertain. Ms Caldwell said: This gives new hope to children like Billy. It is beyond valuable to me to know that as long as Billy gets his cannabis oil every day he will be safe. He wont have a seizure. It feels like a safety blanket. Billys case hit the headlines after a batch of a banned cannabis-based drug used to treat him was confiscated from his mother at Heathrow Airport. Billy was subsequently admitted to hospital after suffering seizures. The child, from Castlederg, started the treatment in 2016 in the US, where medical marijuana is legal. Ms Caldwell made the trip to Toronto and back with Billy to get a six-month supply to treat up to 100 seizures a day, but said border officials seized the oil. Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day will provide more than $1 million in funding, which winners will receive in the form of grants, interest-free loans and equity investments ranging from $30,000 to $200,000. The online audience will once again play an important role in the event by voting for three recipients of $25,000 "People's Choice" grants one per category. Finalists will be announced in September, and the finalists' video pitches will go live in October. At that time, viewers will be able to vote online for their favorite business in each category. "The ongoing pandemic has forced entrepreneurs across the world to be more adaptable and resilient than ever before," said Laura Grannemann, Vice President of the Quicken Loans Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of Rocket Mortgage. "While this year's Detroit Demo Day has also required transformation, during difficult times it is even more important that we provide local small businesses with the resources they need to adapt and persevere so that Detroit remains the ambitious, entrepreneurial city we all know and love." Categories and Requirements: Given the unique challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses will compete in two new and one reimagined category this year: Start, Build and Sustain. Start : These early-stage businesses are launching and finding traction amidst the current crisis, or have pivoted their business models to meet the needs of this moment. : These early-stage businesses are launching and finding traction amidst the current crisis, or have pivoted their business models to meet the needs of this moment. Build: These businesses have a unique business model and/or product that sets them apart as a business that is able to expand during the current crisis. These businesses have a unique business model and/or product that sets them apart as a business that is able to expand during the current crisis. Sustain: These longstanding, community anchor businesses have the aptitude to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain their original business model, but require additional funding to do so. Applicants must be a for-profit business with a product or service that is available for sale. Additionally, the business cannot have exceeded $2 million in annual revenue or raised more than $1 million in capital. To be eligible, companies must be based in Detroit or committed to relocating into the city. Once applications close on August 9, the Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day Team will review all submissions to determine the top 100 semi-finalists. A diverse panel of prominent Detroit-based business leaders and entrepreneurs representing a variety of industries will select the 17 finalists. Finalists will be featured in short video episodes hosted by James Chapman, Entrepreneur in Residence for the Quicken Loans Community Fund and CEO of Plain Sight, a mobile application that helps users connect in shared spaces in real time. Healthy Roots is a 2019 Quicken Loans Detroit Demo Day winner. Its founder, Yelitsa Jean-Charles had a vision of a toy company that creates dolls and storybooks that reinforce positive self-perceptions of the richly diverse, varying shades of complexion and natural hair textures among girls of color. "The funding and ongoing support from the Detroit Demo Day team helped Healthy Roots Dolls have our first incredibly successful holiday season, and build out our customer support and marketing efforts," said Yelitsa Jean-Charles. "When COVID-19 spread and social distancing measures went into effect, we were able to quickly pivot and double down on communication with our fans and customers leading us to sell out our stock and recently go viral." Ongoing Support and Community Impact: In addition to investing $3.4 million over the past three years through Detroit Demo Day, Rocket Mortgage's philanthropic arm has a dedicated Entrepreneurship Team that provides ongoing support, networking opportunities and mentorship to Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day winners, positioning them for long-term success. Rocket Mortgage and its affiliated companies have provided ongoing support during the COVID-19 pandemic by donating to food banks and emergency resources, sourcing critical PPE for area hospitals, contracting with private and cargo aircraft for supply delivery, vetting suppliers, forgiving rent of small business tenants for three months, launching a "thank you" campaign and providing food for frontline workers, helping small businesses adapt to do business online, donating call center operations and team members for appointment scheduling for the drive-up testing site at the Michigan State Fairgrounds, developing the technology for the testing site and providing critical logistical support for it. Since 2010, Quicken Loans Chairman Dan Gilbert and his affiliated companies have directly contributed more than $200 million to Detroit-based organizations and programming. Additionally, team members have tallied more than 400,000 hours of volunteer service in Detroit. 4th Annual Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day Timeline: Applications Open: Tuesday, July 14, 2020 Sunday, August 9 at 11:59PM EDT at Applications are submitted through an online entry form at www.DetroitDemoDay.com Vetting: Monday, August 10 Early September Early September All online applications will be reviewed, considered and narrowed to 17 finalists by the Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day Team, community partners and Detroit -based business leaders -based business leaders Finalists announced in September Rocket Mortgage Detroit Demo Day Finalist videos posted in late October "People's Choice" voting occurs Winners announced and winner videos posted in early December About Quicken Loans / Rocket Mortgage Detroit-based Quicken Loans, the nation's largest home mortgage lender, enables the American Dream of homeownership and financial freedom through its obsession with an industry leading digital-driven client experience. The company closed $145 billion dollars of mortgage volume across all 50 states in 2019. In late 2015 Quicken Loans introduced Rocket Mortgage, the first fully digital mortgage experience. Currently, 98% of all home loans originated by Quicken Loans utilize Rocket Mortgage Technology. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010. Today, Quicken Loans and the Rock Family of Companies employs more than 19,000 full-time team members in Detroit's urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Phoenix and operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit. Quicken Loans ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination by J.D. Power for the past 10 consecutive years, 2010 2019, and also ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past six consecutive years, 2014 2019. Quicken Loans was once again named to FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list in 2019 and has been included in the magazine's top 1/3rd of companies named to the list for the past 16 consecutive years. In addition, Essence Magazine named Quicken Loans "#1 Place to Work in the Country for African Americans." For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room. SOURCE Rocket Mortgage Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 11:33:57|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Mourners leave the City Hall after attending the funeral of late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in Seoul, South Korea, on July 13, 2020. The funeral for late Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was held on Monday. The 64-year-old mayor was found dead in the woods of Mount Bugak near his residence around midnight of July 10 local time. (Photo by Lee Sang-ho/Xinhua) Vineet Upadhyay By Express News Service DEHRADUN: In a first in Uttarakhand, to prevent human-animal conflict, 'Tentacle Solar Fencing' has been installed in Gaindakhali village in Haldwani forest division in the vicinity of Nandhaur Wildlife Sanctuary. Kundan Kumar, divisional forest officer, Haldwani forest division said, "The idea came to the fore after locals in the area shared their problems about attacks by elephants and other animals venturing into their fields and residential areas. We started working to find a way for the coexistence of humans with the wild. We humans share the planet with the wild and our policies should be such that they promote symbiotic relationship of the species." The area has recited over 100 incidents in which deaths, injury and destruction of crops and property was reported due to conflict. Different from conventional solar fencing which is designed like barbed wires on 4-5 feet iron poles supported by concrete on the floor, tentacle solar fencing is hanged from 15-feet pole atleast two to 3-feet above the ground. The fencing is designed to keep elephants venturing into human populations and crop fields. Officials of the state forest department said that the tentacle fencing cuts the cost to half and is 100% effective and damage-proof in comparison to conventional fencing. The fence electrified by solar panels renders a 12-volt non-lethal low intensity shock to animals trying to venture or cross into human populace. Residents of the village said that they have down paddy crop almost after six-years as elephants raids made it a business of loss. Devendra Sawant, a resident of Gaindakhal village said, "It's been more than five months now and incidents of elephants crossing and raiding our crops have drastically reduced. We can't recall any serious incident in last five months. We all look after the fencing and its maintainance. There are other areas and villages nearby which are affected by human-animal conflict. This installation would help them too if extended." The method is also being used in Bandipur Tiger Reserve which has proved a success, added the DFO. PM Dhakate, conservator of forests, Western Circle commenting on the issue said, "The innovative idea is an effective one and we are already conducting a study in the area about human-animal conflict. If results are favourable the same will be tried in other areas which are plagued by human-animal conflict." Over 71 per cent f land in Uttarakhand state is a forest land with diverse species of flora and fauna. The human-animal conflict claimed 58 lives in the year 2019, according to data of state forest department. Total 259 were left injured in conflict with the wild. The number of deaths in year 2018 stood 51 while 239 got injured. By Colin Packham SYDNEY, July 14 (Reuters) - Australian states on Tuesday tightened restrictions on movement as authorities struggle to contain a fresh outbreak of COVID-19 in the country's southeast that is starting to spill into other areas. With growing fears of a second coronavirus wave nationally, two states extended border restrictions and Australia's most populous state imposed limits on the number of people allowed in large pubs. The changes come as scores of new cases were uncovered in Victoria, the country's COVID-19 hotspot, despite a return to lockdown last week for nearly 5 million people in state capital Melbourne. Active cases in the state rose to nearly 2,000 after another 270 infections were detected in the past 24 hours, authorities said, taking Australia's total number of cases to about 10,000, with 107 deaths. "We haven't turned the corner yet. I hope to see that this week, but there are no guarantees," Brett Sutton, Victoria's Chief Medical Officer told reporters in Melbourne. Australia avoided the high COVID-19 casualty numbers of other nations with swift and strict measures, but a spike in community-transmitted cases in Victoria and a rise in new cases in New South Wales has worried other states. South Australia cancelled plans to reopen its border to New South Wales on July 20, while Queensland introduced a mandatory two-week quarantine for people who have visited two areas in Sydney's western suburbs. "Our primary responsibility in South Australia is to the health, safety and welfare of all South Australians," Premier Steven Marshall told reporters in Adelaide. New South Wales, which has seen several dozen cases linked to the outbreak in Victoria, said pubs will now be limited to no more than 300 people, responding to an outbreak centred at a large hotel in southwestern Sydney. Authorities believe 600 people visited the Crossroads Hotel on July 3, when the outbreak is believed to have begun. "Indoor activity, where people aren't seated is a huge health risk. It increases the chance of transmission," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters. (Reporting by Colin Packham; editing by Richard Pullin) 26TH MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT RETURNS FROM DEPLOYMENT US Marine Corps News 13 Jul 2020 | Capt. Melissa Heisterberg 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. -- The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit returned to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, marking the end of a seven-month deployment to the U.S. 2nd, 5th and 6th Fleets with the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. While forward deployed aboard the ships of the USS Bataan ARG, the 26th MEU served as a crisis-response force for combatant commanders in the Europe, Africa and Central commands. The 26th MEU supported operations and engagements, conducted theater security cooperation activities with bilateral partners, and executed sustainment training to ensure the force was postured and prepared to respond to crises and contingencies. "As a 'certain force in an uncertain world' the 26th MEU was flexible, resilient and adaptable while forward deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet and 6th Fleet areas of operation," said Col. Trevor Hall, commanding officer of the 26th MEU. "This deployment presented unique challenges, but the Navy-Marine Corps team prevailed and incessantly provided our fleet commanders with a responsive, sea-based Marine Air-Ground Task Force even during the global novel coronavirus pandemic." Having deployed in December 2019, the 26th MEU was one of the few Marine Corps units forward deployed during the COVID-19 epidemic. As seaports and airports around the globe closed, the USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group with embarked 26th MEU adapted and developed creative ways to maintain its readiness While operating in the Arabian Gulf, the MAGTF executed non-live fire and live-fire training in remote locations in the United Arab Emirates and on uninhabited Saudi Arabian islands. This training preserved the MEU's readiness while also reducing COVID-19 exposure, which allowed the ARGMEU to remain a COVID-free force for the duration of its seven-month deployment. Providing combatant and fleet commanders with sea-based aviation assets allows for versatility and extends the range of the ARGMEU's combat radius. In U.S. 6th Fleet, the ARGMEU conducted interoperability exercises with regional partners. UH-1Y Venoms and AH-1W Super Cobras assigned to the MEU's aviation combat element participated in a live-fire training exercise in Bize, Albania, and MV-22B Ospreys conducted deck landing qualifications aboard the French Navy ship Mistral while operating in the Mediterranean Sea. The 26th MEU is comprised of Battalion Landing Team 2/8, Combat Logistics Battalion 26 and Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365. Marines and Sailors assigned to the 26th MEU deployed aboard the flagship Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS New York (LPD 21) and the Harpers Ferry-class amphibious dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51). "I am tremendously proud of what the Sailors and Marines of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group and 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit accomplished during this deployment, during which our team worked tirelessly to remain fully mission ready during the unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic," said Capt. Lance Lesher, who served as commander of the ARG through its pre-deployment cycle and deployment until July 12, 2020. There are more than 4,000 Sailors and Marines across the Bataan ARGMEU of which approximately 2,000 were a part of the 26th MEU. ARGMEUs operate continuously across the globe and provide the geographic combatant commanders with a flexible, crisis-response force. The blue-green team is fully capable of conducting operations across a full spectrum of conventional, unconventional and hybrid warfare. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Trend Aggression by Armenia further escalates the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Trend reports with reference to the Early Day Motions #717 On Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan tabled July 13 in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. This House notes the acts of aggression by Armenia overnight on 12 July 2020 which further escalates the armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan which is rooted in Armenia's military control over Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh region and adjacent seven districts that in the early 1990s led to the death of 30,000 people and the fleeing of more than 1 million internally displaced persons from their homes. The House of Commons calls on the UK Government to condemn the recent actions of Armenia which represent a serious hindrance to the progress of the peace process and which have violated international law as well as the ceasefire agreement signed in 1994. It further notes that the military flare up along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan with the involvement of heavy artillery is a flagrant violation of international law as well as the ceasefire agreed in 1994 and represents a serious hindrance to the progress of the peace process. The House urges the UK Government to support the call for the OSCE Minsk Group to investigate thoroughly to prevent the current military action escalating into an all-out war; and further calls on the UK Government to urge for the withdrawal of Armenian military forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan as stated in UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1993. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz A beer belly reduces a mans chances of becoming a father by almost half, a study suggests. Harvard research shows that every extra two inches on a mans waist cut his odds of having a baby by nearly 10 per cent. And a pot belly was found to be especially dangerous. Having a beer belly could reduce a man's chance of becoming a father by 50 per cent, according to data from a new study Experts warned that fat produces a chemical that turns testosterone into the female sex hormone oestrogen. Professor Charles Kingsland, clinical director of Care fertility clinics, said: Pot-bellied men, beware. US doctors weighed and measured almost 180 men and women before they started IVF. Every two-inch (5cm) increase in a mans middle cut his partners chances of having a baby by 9 per cent at each IVF attempt, a medical conference heard. This means a man whose waist wobbled in at 40 inches was a third less likely to become a father than one with a trim 32-inch tummy. Beer bellies were particularly problematic. An additional two inches on the waist of a man of normal weight but with a spare tyre reduced his chances by 46 per cent. Research from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston states that every extra two inches on a mans waist cut his odds of having a baby by nearly 10 per cent The figures stood even when other information, including the mans age and whether he smoked and the womans age and weight, was factored in. Researcher Dr Jorge Chavarro said that flab stored around the middle pumps out more harmful chemicals than other fat. He told the European Society for Human Reproductions annual conference that it is not just women who need to prepare for pregnancy. Dr Chavarro, of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said: These results highlight that reproduction is a team sport and focusing exclusively on women may obscure an important part of the picture. Around one in seven couples have trouble conceiving and male infertility is to blame about half the time. Male infertility is to blame for around half of couples who have trouble conceiving and obese men are more likely to be impotent and they make less sperm Two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or obese. The average mans waistline is 38.2 inches (97.1cm ) 1.5 inches bigger than in 1993. Fertility experts said the warning about beer bellies doesnt just apply to men having IVF. Obese men are more likely to be impotent and they make less sperm. Their sperm is also poorer at swimming and its DNA more damaged. Professor Sheena Lewis, a fertility expert at Queens University Belfast, said that aromatase, an enzyme made by fat, can turn testosterone, which is key to sperm production, into oestrogen. So it looks like Ontario has the bar thing figured out. Schools, not so much. What else to think after Mondays announcement that most of the province all but the Golden Horseshoe and parts of the southwest where COVID-19 has hit hardest will enter Stage 3 of the post-pandemic recovery plan at the end of this week? That means people will be allowed to resume a host of activities, including dining indoors at restaurants, going to gyms, using playgrounds, seeing a movie at a theatre, and going to bars. Yes, physical distancing rules will be in force and gatherings will be limited to 50 people indoors and 100 outside. And with the number of new COVID cases low and falling throughout the province, its time to ease restrictions a bit more. But its hardly a stretch to think that reopening bars is the riskiest move of all. To expect dozens of mostly young, increasingly inebriated people to stay six feet apart shows a touching faith in human nature, or maybe just plain foolishness. More to the point, reopening bars has already been shown to be one of the drivers in the shocking resurgence of COVID-19 in many American states that reopened early and are now reeling from record numbers of new cases. Florida recorded its biggest one-day case number over the weekend 15,300, a number that Premier Doug Ford called staggering. The pandemic is surging across the U.S. sunbelt and elsewhere, too. Closer to home, public health officials are worried about scenes of young people mobbing bars in St. Johns, Nlfd., and Montreal, where at least five bars have reported cases of COVID-19. Authorities there want everyone who visited a bar since they reopened at the end of June to get tested. Its an obvious risk. Yet while Ontario is forging ahead with bar openings across most of the province with Toronto and neighbouring regions to follow, possibly by the end of next week the Ford government still has no clear plan for a sector thats a lot more important to the social and economic health of the population. That would be how to reopen public schools, due to resume in just eight weeks. On Monday, Ford himself said he wants to see every student back in school full-time. But thats a hope, not a plan. The message coming out of his government doesnt give parents confidence that will be the reality come September. The education minister, Stephen Lecce, says the government wants to be cautious, methodical and focused on safety when it comes to reopening schools. Various options are being discussed, such as sending kids back to school a couple of days a week and supplementing that with online learning. He promises more details soon. They cant come quickly enough. As weve said before, keeping kids out of school indefinitely is bad for everyone for them, for their parents, and for society as a whole. When the pandemic hit, everyone made sacrifices to contain the spread of COVID-19. But by September it will be almost six months since the lockdown, and its not sustainable. The government should spare no effort or expense to find a proper solution for reopening schools in September. That will be the key to getting back to something close to normal life, and ensuring that everyone is able to take part fully, especially working women. By comparison, gyms, movie theatres and bars are in the category of nice-to-have. And among all those, reopening bars comes with the most obvious dangers to our collective well-being. The government needs to get its priorities straight. Moving into Stage 3 is important, but there wont be a true recovery this fall if parents cant take jobs because they still have to keep their kids home two or three days a week. The key to that is figuring out how to safely reopen schools full-time. PLFI extortion: NIA arrests key accused in Jharkhand India oi-Vicky Nanjappa New Delhi, July 14: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an accused in the PLFI terror funding case in Jharkhand. The accused has been identified as Fuleshwar Gope. The case pertains to the seizure of Rs.25.38 lakh, belonging to Dinesh Gope, Chief of PLFI (People's Liberation of India), which were about to be deposited in SBI, Branch Bero, Ranchi in 2016. After taking over the investigation, the NIA arrested six persons. Further searches conducted by the NIA led to the seizure of properties worth Rs 90 lakh. NIA charges 17 ISIS terrorists for plotting attacks in South India The NIA also arrested the wives of Dinesh Gope Investigation also revealed that Fuleshwar Gope had conspired with accused Dinesh Gope and formed a dubious company namely, M/s Shiv Shaktisamridhhi Infra Pvt. Ltd, in partnership with Hira Devi (first wife of Dinesh Gope), for channelising the extorted levy amount into legitimate means by depositing it in the bank account of the said dubious company. M/s Shiv Shaktisamridhhi Infra Pvt. Ltd., became a frontal company to legitimize levy amounts collected by Dinesh Gope and to invest the same in properties. Rajasthan crisis: Sachin Pilot dropped as Deputy CM from Gehlot Cabinet | Oneindia News The profit earned by the said company was intended to be used for the furtherance of terrorist activities of PLFI. Rather than repudiating the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, it should be recognised as valuable tool. ATLANTA (AP) A federal judge on Monday permanently blocked Georgia's 2019 heartbeat" abortion law, finding that it violates the U.S. Constitution. U.S. District Judge Steve Jones ruled against the state in a lawsuit filed by abortion providers and an advocacy group. Jones had temporarily blocked the law in October, and it never went into effect. The new ruling permanently enjoins the state from ever enforcing House Bill 481. Georgia's measure sought to ban abortions once a detectable human heartbeat was present, with some limited exceptions. Cardiac activity can be detected by ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women realize theyre pregnant, according to a legal challenge. The bill narrowly passed the Georgia General Assembly amid intense lobbying for and against. Those who challenged the lawsuit said the ruling proves their contention that the measure was unconstitutional. Lead plaintiff SisterSong, an Atlanta-based group that fights abortion restrictions on behalf of African American and other women of color, called it a huge win for bodily autonomy. No one should have to live in a world where their bodies and reproductive decision making is controlled by the state, SisterSong Executive Director Monica Simpson said in a statement. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who has supported the restriction, immediately vowed an appeal. We will appeal the courts decision, Kemp said in a statement. Georgia values life and we will keep fighting for the rights of the unborn. The prospects of an appeal are uncertain, though, considering the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down other abortion restrictions from Louisiana. Women in Georgia can currently seek an abortion during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. Both the state and those challenging the law asked Jones to rule without a trial, saying there were no disputed facts. Jones granted the challengers' motions for summary judgment and denied the state's motions, finding the law violated the 14th Amendment. Story continues "The court rejects the state defendants argument that the statutory purpose solely concerns promoting fetal well-being,'" Jones wrote. Instead, HB 481s specific references to Roe v. Wade and established abortion related precedents ... lends support to plaintiffs argument that the purpose of H.B. 481 was to ban or de facto ban abortion. Jones refused to leave any parts of the law in effect, which would have also granted personhood to a fetus, giving it the same legal rights as people have after they're born. For example, a mother could have claimed a fetus as a dependent to reduce taxes. U.S. Supreme Court precedent has for nearly five decades held that states cannot ban abortion prior to the viability of a fetus, and since Georgias law does just that it is unconstitutional, the laws opponents argued. The state argued that the law promoted fetal well-being. It was widely considered as one of a number of attempts to create fresh legal challenges to abortion after two new conservative justices were confirmed to the Supreme Court. The high court, by a 5-4 ruling on June 29, struck down another of those challenges involving regulations from Louisiana. The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit, said any appeal would be fruitless. The district court blocked Georgias abortion ban, because it violates over 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and fails to trust women to make their own personal decisions," Sean Young said in a statement. This case has always been about one thing: letting her decide. It is now up to the state to decide whether to appeal this decision and prolong this lawsuit. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said he would appeal the ruling but declined further comment. At least eight states passed so-called heartbeat bills or other sweeping bans in 2019, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. South Carolina is still considering one. All of the new bans joined the fate of earlier heartbeat abortion bans from Arkansas, North Dakota and Iowa in being at least temporarily blocked by judges. Louisiana's ban wouldn't take effect unless a court upholds Mississippi's law. In a separate ruling Monday, a U.S. district judge in Tennessee blocked a Tennessee law that Republican Gov. Bill had signed hours earlier banning an abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and prohibiting abortions based on race, sex or diagnosis of Down syndrome. ___ Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jeffamy. Over the last several years, China has slowly but surely taken over the global electric vehicles industry. The country has indirectly controlled EV markets for years through their near-monopolization of lithium-ion battery production, producing about two-thirds of the worlds supply of this crucial EV component that represents a staggering 40 percent of an electric cars value. With so many individual EV components manufactured in China, it makes sense that many foreign car companies are shifting their entire production operations to Asia. but instead of enjoying an EV boom, Chinese-owned EV companies are struggling to get off the ground in their own country. One reason for this is intense competition from foreign companies. One of which is, of course, the ubiquitous Tesla. Tesla is not just pushing into Chinese manufacturing sectors, its pushing into Chinese markets, and its wreaking havoc for local companies. Tesla Inc.s new Shanghai plant has churned out super-popular Model 3 electric sedans for the past six months, catapulting the company atop the sales chart and piling the pressure on cash-strapped local rivals, Bloomberg reported last week. Just this month Chinas Byton Ltd. announced that it will be taking a six-month hiatus and furloughing its employees. The business attributed this announcement to economic difficulties due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, but its the third Chinese EV company to bite the dust since Elon Musk started his made-in-China offensive. Byton Ltd., a high-profile Chinese startup with big ambitions to enter the United States market, began its six-month break on July 1. The company followed in the footsteps of another two sizable Chinese EV companies, Bordrin Motors and Jiangsu Saleen Automotive Technology Co., who also shuttered their business this year as they fell victim to plummeting demand amid the trade war and coronavirus pandemic, and as the government scaled back the subsidies that turned China into the worlds biggest EV market with hundreds of producers. Related: Chinese Oil Imports Surged In H1 2020 Despite COVID-19 While the Chinese EV market has been diminishing, however, Teslas presence in the countrys market has only grown. Tesla, in just half a year, grabbed a hefty slice of that shrinking pie and its portion keeps getting bigger, writes Bloomberg. The market leaders sales now approach a quarter of the total tally for EVs, the China Passenger Car Association said July 8, as wealthier buyers are drawn to Teslas brand cachet. Thats making life difficult for the slew of local contenders and risks exposing the multibillion-dollar Chinese EV push as a bubble. While Tesla edges out Chinese companies in China, theyre also poised to revolutionize the global EV industry and expand their empire with a revolutionary disruption to the sector. As always with EV, its all about the batteries. Tesla is developing an ultra-durable car battery with a million-mile longevity and the ability to power a car for 400 miles between charges. This battery will not be the standard lithium ion battery, but lithium iron. Even more ambitiously, Tesla is also planning on finding a way to ditch cobalt--a hugely pricey component that significantly drives up the cost of electric cars. Not only will this catapult Teslas EV sales, its not hyperbole to say that this development will fundamentally change the global car market on the whole, as these million-mile batteries will have such a long lifespan that vehicles will be able to retain their value for much longer. If youre talking about batteries that can last twice as long for the same price, it completely changes the math for the consumer, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNN. All this is to say, X A-Xiis trust fund is about to get a whole lot bigger. By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the bench that he would file the status report by July 16. New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court Tuesday it would file a status report detailing the steps taken by the authorities on encounter killings of gangster Vikas Dubey and his associates. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it may consider appointing a committee headed by a former judge to probe the encounters of Dubey and his aides as also the killing of eight Uttar Pradesh policemen by the gangster. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told the bench that he would file the status report by July 16. The apex court said it would hear on July 20 the pleas seeking court-monitored probe into the encounters of Dubey and his associates. Eight policemen, including DSP Devendra Mishra, were ambushed in Bikru village in Chaubeypur area of Kanpur when they were going to arrest Dubey and fell to bullets fired from rooftops shortly after midnight on July 3. Dubey was killed in an encounter on the morning of July 10 when a police vehicle carrying him from Ujjain to Kanpur met with an accident and he tried to escape from the spot in Bhauti area, the police had said. Burma Myanmar Extends COVID-19 Restrictions Until July 31 Commuters at Yangon Railway Station / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy Mandalay Myanmar extended COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, social distancing and protective measures as the confirmed cases in the country reached 336. The governments Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment on COVID-19 on Monday, issued an order on restrictions and bans on gatherings and a curfew between 12 am and 4 am was extended until July 31. The restrictions include gatherings, social distancing in public and limiting passengers on highway buses and numbers in restaurants. The temporary bans on all kinds of visa, except for urgent diplomatic and United Nations visits, were extended until the end of July. International flights, apart from cargo and relief flights, are also banned until the end of July as all of the new COVID-19 cases have been imported. Vice-President Henry Van Thio said in Naypyidaw last week that international passenger flights are expected to resume in October, depending on the COVID-19 situation. Myanmar has eased some restrictions, such as stay-at-home restrictions in Yangons COVID-19 hotspots since May. Public gatherings of more than five at government offices, companies, factories, schools and training were also lifted. Restaurants and teashops are already allowed to open with limited customers. Highway buses and domestic flights are allowed with limited numbers. Domestic travel can resume with pagodas and monasteries reopening in recent weeks. Worship at mosques and churches is not yet allowed. Enrolment at high schools across the country began on Monday with high schools due to reopen on July 21. Middle and primary schools and universities and training schools are still closed. Myanmar imposed COVID-19 restrictions in March. Since June, COVID-19 cases have declined with very few domestic transmissions, prompting the government to ease some measures. Most new cases have been imported, with the country reporting six deaths and 261 recoveries on Monday. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has warned the public on Facebook to be careful and not to neglect protection measures as infections could rise again. You may also like these stories: Myanmar, China to Promote Cross-Border e-Commerce Systems Myanmar Issues COVID-19 Travel-Fit Certificates for Urgent Overseas Trips EU States Suspend US$100 M of Myanmars Debt Payments During COVID-19 Trudeau announces federal wage subsidy extended to the end of the year Canada wage subsidy policy spells good news for immigrants Trudeau announces federal wage subsidy extended to the end of the year Canada wage subsidy policy spells good news for immigrants Trudeau announces federal wage subsidy extended to the end of the year Canada wage subsidy policy spells good news for immigrants Trudeau announces federal wage subsidy extended to the end of the year Mohanad Moetaz Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Canadas prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has announced the extension of the federal wage subsidy program until December. The prime minister says that this should provide greater certainty and support to businesses as Canada plans to reopen its economy. The announcement should help to support the recovery of jobs that were lost following coronavirus lockdown measures. This should allow both Canadians and immigrants out of work land on their feet more quickly. In addition, there have been ongoing talks with the provinces and territories on the safe restart program. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) was introduced in March to help alleviate expected financial burdens on businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was also introduced to give incentive to businesses who were affected by COVID-19, to rehire laid off workers and avoid future layoffs. The government hoped to achieve this by providing a 75% wage subsidy for up to $847 weekly, to eligible businesses. Generally, businesses and non-profits were eligible to claim the subsidy if they saw a revenue reduction of 30%. For March, this was 15%. Coronavirus: Trudeau announces wage subsidy extension, addresses WE Charity controversy | FULL The federal government is extending the wage subsidy program until December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday. As of last week, that program Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs The business community, while welcoming the extension of the CEWS, are still critical of the eligibility requirements, and hope that even more businesses will be able to access it. Consequently, the government has said that eligibility requirements may be adjusted this week. This is the second time the CEWS is extended after 12 weeks were added to the program on May 15. Up until July 6, the federal government had paid just over $18 billion to employers through the federal wage subsidy. A total of 581,800 out of 587,060 (or 99.1%) applications were approved. Last week, the government increased the CEWS budget to $82.3 billion, considerably larger than the original budget of just $45 billion. As the economy begins to reopen, many people who had been receiving the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) are now choosing to return to work. In addition, many people are more optimistic about the potential of finding a job. In fact, the months of May and June saw an increase of 1.24 million jobs as unemployment rates across the country decreased substantially. These statistics along with the extension of the wage subsidy is good news for hopeful immigrants as they would expect a stronger job market once they become permanent residents. Canadas latest Express Entry draw spells more good news, as it was the first all-program draw since the beginning of the pandemic. This means that candidates for the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP) were also considered. Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs Update: Massachusetts Senate passes policing reform to ban chokeholds, limit use of tear gas by officers Several law enforcement organizations are calling for a suspension of debate in the Massachusetts Senate over a police reform bill that unions and community leaders say was put together without input from Black and Latino police officers. The legislation would create a certification process for police officers, and, among other things, prohibit officers from shooting at fleeing vehicles, make school resources officers optional and temporarily ban government use of facial recognition. Police unions have criticized the limits proposed in the legislation to qualified immunity, which shields police officers from civil lawsuits. Republican lawmakers last week moved to table the bill, citing a lack of a public hearing on all of its components. Today we stand with our brethren from the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers and demand that they and members of the black community be given an immediate seat at the table, said Lawrence Calderone, president of the Boston Police Patrolmens Association, according to the State House News Service. The Senate is missing a tremendous opportunity to create uniform guidelines and training standards to improve policing into the future. The sweeping reform package, S.2800, came out of a racial justice working group Senate President Karen Spilka created in early June in response to the deaths of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was fatally shot during a police raid of her Louisville apartment, and George Floyd, a Black man whose neck was knelt on for nearly nine minutes by a Minneapolis police officer. Sen. Dean Tran, a Fitchburg Republican, called the bill ill conceived and politically driven, saying that he felt he was rushed to review it. The bill circumvented the legislative process, void of any public hearings and lack the inclusion of dialogue from stakeholders, including communities of color and law enforcement, Tran said on Monday, the State House News Service reports. In a joint statement, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and Reps. Aaron Michlewitz, Claire Cronin and Carlos Gonzalez said that the House will be asking the public to weigh in on the legislation, noting the circumvention of the joint committee process. Lawmakers pledged action in the wake of recent officer-involved deaths of Black people, but the end of the two-year legislative session is fast approaching. House and Senate members are aiming to pass the reform package by July 20 giving the governor up to 10 days to review and sign the legislation into law. Given the time constraints, lawmakers hope to hold a virtual hearing on the bill this week. Despite a changed timetable, House leadership remains committed to working with the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and House colleagues to take decisive action through omnibus legislation, they said. We look forward to reviewing the Senates engrossed bill and the work ahead. - Material from the State House News Service was used in this report. Related Content: It was the single-most famous thing I ever said; it ended up on a Starbucks cup. So this is where the story comes from: I'm working on a PhD. My twins are between 1 and 2 years old. And other women would say to me, "Why aren't you at home with your children? Why are you in class?" And then, as the children got older: "Why aren't you in the carpool, waiting for your children?" "My hollandaise sauce is better than yours." And I thought: This is the problem, that women are very judgmental about each other; we're not supportive of each other. Another part I noticed was what I called the queen bee syndrome. You know, if there's only going to be one woman, then I'm going to be it, and I don't have room for you. I learned, in my own experience, that it was important to have more than one woman in the room. We need to support each other. And I think women have to learn to interrupt. Because, if you raise your hand, sometimes you don't get called on until it's not germane. And so when I went to teach, I told everybody because it's a coed class that nobody can raise their hand; everybody has to interrupt. Most of my classes were a bit of a zoo. On a Thursday morning in May, three days after Foroozan was freed from prison, she left her mothers house to go to the market. It was the first time in six years that she had set foot on the streets of Herat, the capital city of a province of the same name in western Afghanistan. As she made her way through crowds of men wearing masks, she became lightheaded, as if the world was revolving around her head. It was nothing like how she had imagined it. When I was in prison, I thought the outside world is heaven and those who are released, theyre on their way to heaven, she said. But now, finally experiencing it for herself, she found it alienating and even frightening. I thought everyone was staring at me, she said. Pointing their fingers toward me while whispering, as if they knew I was a prisoner, but of course it was all in my head. Foroozan was in the 10th grade when her family arranged for her to marry a man who was 25 years older. He was prone to violence, and for 15 years, she endured his physical and verbal abuse. One early morning, though, he directed his aggression at one of their two daughters. Foroozan grabbed a shovel and hit her husband repeatedly with the blade until he died. When she turned herself in to the police, her 12-year-old son, Maqsood, stepped forward, saying that he had helped his mother with the killing. Foroozan was charged and found guilty of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Maqsood was sent to a juvenile rehabilitation center for two and a half years, and his sisters, Mozhdah and Mahtab, 9 and 7 at the time, were sent to a safe house. Sixty two percent of employers are planning to stagger return to work based on employees own health risks related to COVID-19, whilst 49% will be staggering employees return depending on how critical their role is to the business. This is according to a recent survey from global recruiter Robert Walters, with the global findings published in a whitepaper: Returning to the New World of Work. The survey was conducted on 2,200 global companies. The next most popular strategy is the creation of smaller workgroups (46%), followed by a voluntary return scheme (41%), changing work hours (35%), and splitting shifts (35%). A third (32%) of Irish businesses have stated that they will base their return-to-work strategy on local infection rates, while 29% of companies have admitted to not yet considering what their return to work strategy may be. Ninety three percent of Irish employees would like more opportunities to work from home post-return, with 11% stating that they would like to work from home permanently. Whilst 79% of firms have stated that the experience of COVID-19 will encourage business heads to have employees to work from home more often, they also cite concerns over employee productivity (64%), senior leadership preferring traditional ways of working (57%), and the nature of the business e.g. face-to-face sales (36%), as the key barriers to achieving this. Some of the most popular instant measures Irish companies took in response to the virus included implementing headcount freezes (45%), utilising government unemployment schemes (30%) and voluntary annual leave (23%). It is thought that use of government schemes by employers has grown significantly in two months. Now as workplaces are able to re-open it seems that cost saving remains at the core of business strategy with a reduction in office space (50%), and a reduction in travel budgets by switching to virtual meetings (47%) being the key tactics considered by companies. Commenting on the research, Director at Robert Walters Ireland, Suzanne Feeney said, "It can be daunting for companies who have been going through a difficult period to consider spending money on their physical workspace, technical infrastructure or general operations. However, those who have been through previous periods of economic turbulence will know that investment at the early stages is crucial to remaining competitive and retaining good staff." She added, "Wed advise all employers to undergo a period of consultation with their staff to ascertain what they believe the future of their workplace and industry is going to be." Source: www.businessworld.ie Ukraine does not interfere in Serbia's internal affairs and sees as unacceptable the attempts by some Serbian politicians to interfere in Ukraine's internal affairs, the Ukrainian Embassy in Serbia has said in a statement posted on its website. "The Embassy of Ukraine in Serbia once again officially states that the state of Ukraine does not interfere in any way in the internal political situation in the Republic of Serbia. At the same time, the Embassy considers inadmissible attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Ukraine, primarily negative public assessments of the conscious European choice of the Ukrainian people by any foreign officials, including the mayor of Vozdovac," the statement reads. The embassy said it had "the honor to remind Aleksandar Savic that what he contemptuously calls the Ukrainian scenario represents the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their rights against the corrupt and totalitarian government." "This is the European choice of most Ukrainians, for which we paid a high price. Any assessment of this election, positive or negative, is exclusively a matter for the Ukrainian people, not foreign politicians," the statement said. The embassy also said it was surprised to hear criticism of Ukraine's European choice from an official of the political party leading Serbia to the EU. The reason was a statement by Vozdovac Mayor Aleksandar Savic, who spoke publicly about the "Ukrainian scenario" in a negative light, speaking about current protests in Serbia. Last week, the Ukrainian Embassy in Serbia denied information about the involvement of Ukraine or its citizens in the Belgrade protests after some Serbian media outlets wrote about the participation of "mercenaries from Ukraine" in the protests. op An Arkansas woman found one of the largest diamonds ever discovered at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. Mindy Pomtree of Benton spotted a glittering pebble on the ground near Beatty's Hill when she visited the park in June. She put it in her pocket, not sure what it was. New Delhi: Congress on Tuesday (July 14) cracked down on Sachin Pilot, stripping the dissident leader of the posts of Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and the party's state unit president and sacking two loyalists from the state cabinet. Though the party seems to have the numbers for now to hang on to power in Rajasthan, the development deepens the crisis in Congress, which has lost two major states - Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh over the past year. According to reports, Pilot has been upset since Congress picked Ashok Gehlot as Rajasthan Chief Minister after the 2018 assembly polls, while his own supporters insisted that he deserved credit for the party's victory as its state unit president. His next move was not immediately clear. During the run-up to Tuesday's CLP meeting, his supporters insisted that he had no plans to join the BJP. They said their aim was a leadership change in Rajasthan. "Truth can be rattled, not defeated," Pilot tweeted in Hindi soon after he was sacked. In another tweet, he said, " Gehlot accused his former deputy of playing into the hands of the BJP."I am very sad that horse-trading was going on," he said. Pilot had kept away from the first CLP meeting on Monday and sources said 18 other Congress MLAs had also skipped it, giving an indication of the dissident leader's strength. The state assembly has 200 MLAs and those close to Pilot are already calling for a test of strength on the floor of the House. Families of the nine cross-country skiers who died in a mysterious mountain tragedy in Russia in 1959 have rejected the official explanation that they froze to death - claiming that a Soviet rocket was involved. The grisly Dyatlov Pass incident has sparked decades' worth of rumours about aliens, yetis and links to the KGB, after the bodies were found in the Ural Mountains with unexplained injuries including skull fractures and broken ribs. Russia claimed on Saturday to have put the matter to bed after a new investigation found that the hikers had frozen to death following an avalanche which forced them from their tents in -45C conditions. But a lawyer for the victims' relatives says they 'strongly disagree' with the official version and claims there is 'evidence that this was a man-made disaster'. A group of nine skiers (pictured) were found dead with unexplained injuries after they embarked on an expedition through the Dyatlov Pass in the Ural Mountains The bodies were found in the Ural Mountains with unexplained injuries including skull fractures and broken ribs Lawyer Yevgeny Chernousov suggested the hikers might have died after 'an explosion in near space, an accidental crash of a rocket, or the fall of the booster stage' of a rocket. The group were 'covered by a poisonous cloud, a mixture of gases of rocket fuel, components and combustion products', he proposed. 'They were poisoned. It was impossible to breathe, so they panicked, half-blind, and fled down away from the focus of the incident. He claimed: 'With no force left, while dying, the three surviving men tried to get back to the tent, where warm clothes, food and medicines remained. 'But they frozein dynamic poses, gripped by total rigor mortis. 'We believe that they all died within six hours, and this happened at night. This is our version.' Chernousov said the relatives 'will never agree with these conclusions', adding that they were ready to exhume the victims# bodies to establish the cause. 'This is only the beginning of the struggle,' he said. 'We will not back down. Believe me, if we did not have evidence, we would not behave like this.' A new probe by the Russian prosecutor-general's office has concluded the group was killed by hypothermia Led by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, the skiers failed to finish their mission, sparking a huge manhunt Lyudmila Dubinina, 21, was also found without her eyes and mouth after the notorious Dyatlov Pass incident Oleg Arkhipov, an expert on the February 1959 incident, described the avalanche theory as 'extremely unsatisfactory'. Fragments of the internal organs of those who died - kept by the Soviet authorities - had been hidden, he said. If an avalanche had caused the massacre - which was not what Soviet investigators believed - the KGB would not have taken organ samples, he said. Eduard Tumanov, a leading forensic expert, told Komsomolskaya Pravda that 'thermal burns' on several bodies were not likely to be caused by an avalanche. 'Or that indented fractures of the skull bones would form an even snow cover.' Despite the objections, senior state prosecutor Andrei Kuryakov said his version of an avalanche was the end of the controversy. 'Officially, this is final. The issue is closed,' he said. Kuryakov said at the weekend that the men had died in 'a heroic struggle', adding: 'There was no panic. But they had no chance to save themselves under the circumstances.' 'The version about the avalanche has found its full confirmation, but it was not the only cause of their death,' Kuryakov said, according to RIA news agency. The group had cut their way out of their tent and left it to hide at a ridge 50 yards away, investigators claimed. 'When they turned back, they did not see the tents. The visibility was 16 metres (17 yards),' Kuryakov said. The group tried to climb down but froze to death in temperatures as low as -49C (-45F), according to the official account. The Ural Polytechnic students, seven men and two women, had made camp for the night at the foot of Kholat Syakhl, the Dead Mountain. Their tent had been mysteriously slashed from the inside, their camp was deserted and they had left their clothes and belongings behind. The empty tent baffled investigators, as it still contained items of clothing and pairs of shoes - implying that some of the students had ventured out into the wilderness barefoot and without coats. Days after investigators found the tent the first two bodies were discovered. Striking camp: The skiers setting up camp on February 2, 1959 in a snap taken from a roll of film found by investigators, which is the last known photo of them alive The tongue and eyes of Semen Zolotarev, 38, were missing, when investigators discovered his body Yuri Doroshenko and Yuri Krivonischenko were found lying in the snow on flat land near a river, a mile from the tent, next to the remains of a long burnt-out fire. Around 350 yards away lay the corpse of Dyatlov, the engineering student who had put the expedition together and was its leader. His name would later be given to the area where the tragedy took place, as well as the incident itself. Nearby, a search dog sniffed out the remains of Zina Kolmogorova, 22, under four inches of snow, and then that of Rustem Slobodin. The bodies were in a line 200 yards apart, as if they had been trying to crawl behind each other back up to the shelter of the tent, but never made it. The final bodies were not found until the snow melted two months later in a ravine, with fractured skulls and chest injuries. The tongue and eyes of Lyudmila Dubinina, 21, and Semen Zolotarev, 38, were missing. They were discovered under 15ft of snow in a den they had desperately hollowed out for themselves before succumbing to the cold. (Natural News) A chemical called necrosulfonamide may help inhibit cellular suicide linked to arthritis, a recent animal study showed. Published in Science Immunology, the study revealed that necrosulfonamide can prevent pyroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death that contributes to conditions like arthritis, live disease and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). (Related: Cannabis found to reduce the symptoms of IBD.) The undesirable effects of pyroptosis Cell death is an important and inevitable event for different kinds of cells. Over the past couple of decades, researchers have discovered several types of cell death patterns. These patterns are generally classified into two: necrosis and apoptosis. Necrosis pertains to cell death caused by a disease, infection or cell injury. Apoptosis, on the other hand, refers to programmed cell death. In apoptosis, cells undergo a kind of cellular suicide. The cell is first fragmented into smaller pieces, and the resulting debris is then left for immune cells called phagocytes to get rid of. Apoptosis is an important process since it helps eliminate pre-cancerous cells, as well as cells that have been infected by bacterial or viral pathogens. Pyroptosis, on the other hand, is a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death. It forms part of the immune systems antimicrobial response since it is activated upon infection with intracellular pathogens. Like apoptosis, pyroptosis depends upon the activation of a special enzyme called caspase-1, and it also plays an important role in eliminating cancer cells and stalling tumor development. But unlike apoptosis, pyroptosis inherently results in inflammation. Because of this, scientists agree that pyroptosis can, in some cases, exacerbate inflammation. During pyroptosis, long chains of a protein called gasdermin D cluster inside cells, causing the formation of pores on the cell membrane. Gasdermin D also releases molecules called interleukins that trigger inflammation. Together, these interleukins and the holes in the cell membrane contribute to the overactivation of the immune response, which results in chronic inflammation that causes arthritis. Pyroptosis is also associated with inflammation in liver diseases like hepatitis and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), as well as neurological diseases like Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease. Necrosulfonamide can ease inflammation A team of researchers from Case Western Reserve Universitys School of Medicine and the Lerner Research Institute in Ohio found that the chemical necrosulfonamide can prevent gasdermin D-mediated pore formation in cell membranes. According to Derek Abbott, one of the study authors, the lack of a verified mechanism that can inhibit pyroptotic pore formation in cell membranes convinced him and his team to find one that can be used to prevent disease-causing inflammation. Abbott said that they considered necrosulfonamide as a potential solution since previous research has shown that it can inhibit another kind of pore formation. Thus, the team hypothesized that necrosulfonamide may be an effective treatment for diseases worsened by inflammation. To test this hypothesis, the researchers exposed mice to bacterial proteins that cause inflammation and treated one group with necrosulfonamide. They found that the treated mice survived longer than the untreated mice. This led the researchers to believe that necrosulfonamide can help ease severe inflammation caused by bacterial infection. Immune cells remain intact The team also conducted an experiment on cultured human cells. Despite the presence of bacteria, immune cells exposed to necrosulfonamide remained intact. The cells did not release inflammatory molecules but continued to send signals like normal, healthy cells. In addition, the researchers found that necrosulfonamide attaches to gasdermin D, which stops the protein from clustering inside cell membranes. Joseph Rathkey, the studys lead author, said that the results highlight the potential of necrosulfonamide as a gasdermin D inhibitor. As such, the chemical can inhibit pyroptosis in individuals with arthritis, as well as those with IBD. Sources include: Immunology.ScienceMag.org LiveScience.com ScienceDirect.com CaseMed.Case.edu MOSCOW, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicists from NUST MISIS together with their colleagues from the Polytechnic University of Turin (Italy) and the Scientific and Technological Center of Unique Instrumentation of the Russian Academy of Sciences (STC UI RAS) have developed a technology that makes various elongated objects, such as antennas and various sensors, aircraft landing gears, ship masts and airport towers invisible. The invention is based on an innovative metamaterial that eliminates an object's electric type scattering. The result has been published in the Scientific Report international scientific journal. Any elongated metal object, for example, antennas or cell towers, including the 5G ones, has an electric response - a signal that appears in response to an impact. To hide such an object from radars, the object must begin to scatter light, like an object with a magnetic response, which is very weak. This was accomplished by scientists from the Russian-Italian scientific collaboration, in the framework of the "ANASTASIA" project (Advanced Non-radiating Architectures Scattering Tenuously And Sustaining Invisible Anapoles), named after the Grand Duchess of the Russian Empire Anastasia Romanova. "We came up with a special coating based on an ideal magnetic dipole scatterer that turns an elongated metal object with an electric response into an object with a magnetic response," said one of the researchers, associate professor at the NUST MISIS Superconducting Metamaterials Laboratory, Alexey Basharin. "This has become possible due to the anapole state of the coating material, which lowers the electric type scattering to the level of the magnetic one and even lower. As a result, the object becomes invisible." The first of the possible applications of the new coating will be STEALTH technology for military and civilian purposes - to hide various elongated objects, such as aircraft landing gear, antennas and various sensors, ship masts and airport towers. The developers emphasize, that if the task of hiding these objects from enemy radars is trivial, the task of electromagnetic compatibility of antennas on satellites is vital: antennas must not affect each other. And this will be possible only if they are invisible. The method will help hide the structures of airports, operator towers so that they do not interfere with radar and communications with pilots. Besides, the development will find application in the so-called "Magnetic light" tasks, where it is necessary to enhance various magnetic phenomena: in nano-antennas, nano-lasers, etc. "Another idea discussed in this work is that we were able to develop a coating that makes the impedance of the cylinder equal to the impedance of the surrounding space due to the special form of the sinusoidal metamaterial. It gives the following effect: the incident electromagnetic wave completely does not notice the cylinder object and passes through it without hindrance. Important progress of our work is that we have applied a flat coating, and not bulk heavy structures," added Alexey Basharin. The research of the team is a theoretical work and demonstrates new methods and open effects. The next stage of the project and the immediate goal, according to the researchers, is to learn how to reduce the magnetic response of elongated metal structures. "We have already deduced the theory for super-toroidal configurations earlier. Now we want to show it experimentally. Thus, we will come closer to solving the problem of complete invisibility. Although according to the optical theorem, it is impossible to create perfect invisibility, we can take a big step towards this," concluded Basharin. Source: https://en.misis.ru/university/news/science/2020-07/6738/ Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/955872/NUST_MISIS_Logo.jpg SOURCE The National University of Science and Technology MISiS Related Links https://en.misis.ru MADISON The University of Wisconsin System supports a multistate lawsuit filed Monday challenging the Trump administrations new restrictions on international students, interim system president Tommy Thompson said. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul is one of 18 attorneys general that joined the lawsuit, which is led by Massachusetts. More than 200 universities back the legal challenge, arguing that the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy jeopardizes students safety and forces schools to reconsider fall plans they have spent months preparing. Opponents contend that ICE calling for international students to be removed from the country because schools are closed due to a pandemic is xenophobic and also increases the risk of coronavirus spreading internationally. We fully support the attorney generals action today joining the lawsuit challenging the ICE rules regarding international students, Thompson said in a statement. While we provided background for the lawsuit, our belief is that our universities planned hybrid model of teaching delivery during the fall 2020 semester ensures our compliance with the rules if they are upheld. UW-Whitewater Chancellor Dr. Dwight C. Watson stated that the ICE order is troubling, noting that Whitewater students come from more than 40 different countries. UW-Whitewater deeply values and appreciates our international students and staff. Our campus is a more engaging and vibrant place because of our international Warhawk family members, Watson said in a statement. It is our hope that our international students and staff always feel that they belong on the UW-Whitewater campuses. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure their presence and success at UW-Whitewater. At UW-Madison, international students paid nearly $162 million in tuition and fees and nearly $19 million in housing last year, Kaul said. More than 26% of course sections at UW-Madison are taught by international teaching assistants. The potential budget loss at other campuses is large as well. International students paid more than $21 million in tuition at UW-Milwaukee, more than $2.2 million at UW-Stevens Point, $3.7 million at UW-Stout and $1.4 million at UW-Green Bay, Kaul said. Adam Rogan of The Journal Times contributed to this story. Its not like a QAnon supporter went down a path where they got into George Bush and then started to read Ronald Reagans speeches, and then bought Milton Friedmans Capitalism and Freedom, and then believed in satanic baby eaters, said Joseph Uscinski, a professor at the University of Miami who studies fringe groups. It doesnt work like that. Mr. Trump won by saying that he wanted to drain the swamp, Dr. Uscinski said. By doing that, he essentially built a coalition of people with anti-establishment views. Those who believe in QAnon, the professor added, are probably the most extreme part of that coalition. In Western Colorado late last month, Lauren Boebert, a gun-rights activist who has made approving comments about QAnon, beat a five-term Republican incumbent and will now defend the sprawling district in November. In recent weeks she told the QAnon-aligned web show Steel Truth that everything Ive heard of Q I hope this is real. In a recent interview, Ms. Boebert said she was not a follower of the group. But, she added, I dont believe thats a radical notion to want to get rid of people trying to undermine the president of the United States. In Southern California, Mike Cargile, who is challenging an incumbent Democrat for a House seat, includes #WWG1WGA in his Twitter bio, a shortened version of the QAnon motto Where We Go One We Go All. He has repeated many of the groups racist theories about Mr. Obama and Black Americans. In an emailed response to questions, Mr. Cargile said that he sought only to discover the truth and that Americans needed to resist Marxists efforts to deceive and divide. He said well see what becomes of the QAnon theories. But, he added, all Americans should be alarmed by the efforts of the presidents opponents in Washington, and even more so when we discover that the saboteurs and propagators are the very men and women tasked with safeguarding our system of Justice. Actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away a month ago on June 14. Remembering the late actor, his Pavitra Rishta co-star and ex-girlfriend Ankita Lokhande dedicated a post on her Instagram account. Though she did not mention his name, Ankita shared a pic of her house temple, which shows a lit diya (oil lamp) and a few flowers. The actress captioned the post as "Child of God". This is the first time Anikta shared anything on the photo-sharing app since Sushant's demise. Fans have also left supportive comments for the actress. One fan wrote, "Wishing you strength, love and light" while another wrote, "I hope you are fine, trust in that god." Take a look at the post: The news of Suhant's sudden demise left his family, co-stars and fans devastated, and many are still struggling to cope with the loss. According to reports, Ankita had visited Sushant's family while they were still in Mumbai. Her Pavitra Rishta co-star and friends had revealed that she was completely shattered, and was crying endlessly after hearing the news. The late actor and Ankita were in a committed relationship for six years when they were working together. Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide on June 14 at his Bandra residence. According to police reports, he was battling depression and no foul play was found in his death. The Mumbai police is still investigating, as the cause of his death is still unknown and no suicide note was found in the house. The actor will be seen on screen for the last time in the upcoming film Dil Bechara. The romantic drama based on John Green's book, The Fault In Our Stars will release on July 24, 2020. The film will be available to stream online for free on Disney+ Hotstar. Rhea Chakraborty Remembers Sushant Singh Rajput: 30 Days Of Losing You But A Lifetime Of Loving You Mukesh Chhabra Gets Emotional On Sushant's One Month Death Anniversary; Shares Unseen Photos Worried about your mental well-being or of someone you know? Help is just a call away. Reach out to the nearest mental health specialist at COOJ Mental Health Foundation (COOJ)- 0832-2252525, Parivarthan- +91 7676 602 602, Connecting Trust- +91 992 200 1122/+91-992 200 4305 or Sahai- 080-25497777/ SAHAIHELPLINE@GMAIL.COM The Buckingham Palace has always been prepared in case Queen Elizabeth II succumbs to death. Every royal aide has been informed to use the code "Operation London Bridge" and has practiced the series of events and protocols they need to follow when the 94-year-old monarch passes away. Under normal circumstances, the next heir to the throne, Prince Charles, will immediately be introduced as the head of the British monarchy and declared as the new King. Her Majesty will have a funeral at Westminster Abbey before being paraded on a slow horse ride through the streets packed with people wanting to pay their final respects. But when Prince Charles tested positive for novel coronavirus earlier this year, it has sparked the curiosity of many on what will happen to Britain's succession in case the Queen outlived the Prince of Wales. What Happens If Prince Charles Dies Before The Queen? While the death of the first in line to the throne sounds devastating and a total nightmare for the royal family, the monarchy will still follow the rule of succession. It only means that Prince Charles' eldest son, Prince William, will automatically become the next heir to the throne. But the Duke of Cambridge will not automatically be "promoted" and declared King. Prince William will still have to wait for his turn or wait until his grandmother passes away before he officially becomes King and his wife, Kate Middleton, becomes the Queen consort. "When the queen dies, Prince Charles will automatically become king," University College London professor Robert Hazell told the "Insider." "So, during William's lifetime, he will almost certainly see his father become King. Only if Charles dies before the Queen would William become King when the Queen dies." Next on the succession would be Prince William and Kate's eldest son, Prince George, who is now six-years-old. "If William were to die before Charles, then on the death of Charles, Prince George would become king," Hazell explained. The next on the succession would be George's siblings, namely Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. This puts Prince William's brother, Prince Harry, as the sixth heir to the throne. Harry is still in the line of succession even if he just stepped down as a senior member of the royal family. How Prince Charles' Funeral Would Look Like? In case the 71-year-old royal dies before the Queen, his death will be followed by a period of mourning and a moment of silence to honor his life. Moreover, BBC will be the first to announce his death. Just like the plan for Queen Elizabeth's funeral, Prince Charles' remains will also lie in state for 12 days before sending him to his final laying place. Changes In Royal Titles What happens if Prince Charles dies before the Queen -- particularly his title? If Charles dies before the Queen, the royal titles would also have a significant change. The title of Prince of Wales will immediately pass on to Prince William when he becomes King, but the title Duke of Cornwall will remain on Charles as it was reserved to him by the Queen. READ MORE: Royal Embarrassment: Meghan Markle Slaps Desperate BFF With Devastating Truth When last we heard from the Tesla CEO Elon Musk, he had just released the Tesla shorts which sold for $69.420 and sold out faster than hotcakes. The 420 cents in the price symbolized the stock price at which people can invest in, despite critics saying that Musk is short-selling the company. The release of the Tesla shorts come at a time where the Tesla will be giving out its stock report on July 22 or July 29 after the closing bell for the stock exchange day has been rung to determine whether or not the company will be able to achieve four profitable quarters in a row--a full year--for the first time in the company's history. However, it seems like that we don't have to wait till next week to find out that Elon Musk is officially richer than business tycoon Warren Buffett after a boom in Tesla stock, which rose as much as 14% on Monday, July 13. In a report from the Daily Mail, the stock's rise before a retreat into negative territory briefly increased the company's value to $321 billion making Tesla the 10th largest US stock by market value, ahead of Procter & Gamble. Thanks to this boom in the market, Musk is now the 7th richest person in the world. While Musk's fortune rose by $6.07 billion on Friday, Buffett's net worth dropped last week when he donated $2.9 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock to charity. Although Musk doesn't receive a salary from his own company because of his contract, he is entitled to bumper stock option payouts if the company reaches a series of targets which isn't surprising considering how much Tesla has been profiting. Read Also: Tesla Still Illegally Operates and Elon Musk Gets Away with It: Alleged "Intimidation Tactics" Used to Force Employees to Work Despite Coronavirus Elon Musk Bio Musk was born on June 28, 1971, in Pretoria, South Africa. At a young age, he was often so immersed in his daydreams about inventions that his parents took him to see a doctor in order to test his hearing. His mother was a Canadian model called Maye Musk who is known to be the oldest woman to be featured in a Covergirl campaign while his father Errol, was a wealthy South African engineer. He was 10 years old where he developed an interest in computers. He's a self-taught programmer and sold his first game called Blastar at age 12 for less than $1000. In order to avoid mandatory military service, he moved to Canada in 1989 and studied in Queen's University just to gain an American citizenship. 3 years after, he moved to the University of Pennsylvania to study business and physics. He launched his first company, Zip2 Corporation in 1995 at just 24 years old. Musk became a U.S. citizen in 2002. And they say the rest is history. Read Also: Elon Musk Claims Hydroxychloroquine was Actually Effective Vs. Coronavirus and that Current COVID-19 Numbers are "False Positives" Tiger King star Carole Baskin has been tricked into sending a fake birthday message to paedophile Rolf Harris and mentioning his 'best friend' Jimmy Savile. The animal rights activist, 59, even blew shamed TV star Harris, who was jailed for indecent assaults on schoolgirls, a kiss in the 'birthday' video message. Carole shot to fame earlier this year after featuring in Netflix's hit documentary series Tiger King, which followed exotic animal lover Joe Exotic - who was eventually sent to prison for plotting to murder Carole. Tiger King star Carole Baskin (pictured) has been tricked into sending a fake birthday message to paedophile Rolf Harris and mentioning his 'best friend' Jimmy Savile And she recently made an account on video message service Cameo - where celebrities charge fans certain amounts to record personalised videos for them. In the clip, the arch rival of Joe Exotic said: 'Hey you cool cats and kittens, it's Carole Baskin at Big Cat Rescue. 'Hi Rolf Harris, all your kids wanted to get together and tell you that you have really touched them and that they love all that you have done for them. 'I hear there's a lot of great stories about you and your best friend Jimmy Saville.' She adds: 'Can't wait to hear those. 'Happy birthday Rolf.' The animal rights activist, 59, even blew shamed TV star Harris (pictured), who was jailed for indecent assaults on schoolgirls, a kiss in the birthday video message Harris, 90, an artist and TV presenter was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in June 2014 for 12 indecent assaults on four teenage schoolgirls between 1968 and 1986. He was released on licence in 2017 after serving nearly three years in prison. The prank was carried out by Australian comedian Tom Armstrong. Carole revealed her fury in an interview with the Mirror and said: 'I am amazed at the lengths (and expense) people will go to in order to trash my reputation. Carole said: 'Hi Rolf Harris, all your kids wanted to get together and tell you that you have really touched them and that they love all that you have done for them. I hear there's a lot of great stories about you and your best friend Jimmy Saville' 'Of course, I have never heard of Rolf Harris, and would not have done the Cameo had I known. 'The signature line in my email reads, ''I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made - Franklin D. Roosevelt'', and I think that tells you all you need to know about the kind of people who abuse me in their efforts to make others hate me.' Carole, who shot to fame earlier this year after featuring in hit Netflix documentary Tiger King (which followed exotic animal love Joe Exotic who was subsequently jailed for plotting to murder Carole), said: 'I am amazed at the lengths (and expense) people will go to in order to trash my reputation' Harris was caught under Operation Yewtree which was sparked by fellow TV star Jimmy Savile being exposed as a paedophile. Hit Netflix show Tiger King told of how eccentric big cat zoo owner Exotic, 57, was jailed for plotting to kill rival Carole. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, accused Baskin (his rival in the exotic animal world) of murdering her husband. He was subsequently sentenced to 22 years in prison in April 2019 for trying to kill her in a murder-for-hire plot and for killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs, and falsifying wildlife records. Flash China has decided to impose sanctions on the U.S. company Lockheed Martin, the main contractor involved in the latest arms sales plan to Taiwan, as a necessary move to safeguard national interests, a foreign ministry spokesperson announced on Tuesday. According to a recent statement reportedly issued by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. State Department has approved the plan to provide the recertification package for the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missiles to Taiwan, worth 620 million U.S. dollars in total. "China is firmly opposed to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan," spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a daily press briefing. "We urge the United States to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the provisions under the three China-U.S. joint communiques, stop arms sales to Taiwan and sever military ties with Taiwan, to avoid further undermining China-U.S. relations as well as peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Zhao added. - Two best friends have warmed the hearts of South Africans with their inspirational relationship - The boy and girl are besties and spend all day together entertaining each other, and like many kids, they don't see race - Andriette Gore posted a pic of her daughter and Siah, her friend, saying that the two keep each other busy Our Manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in Andriette Gore posted moving series of pictures on Facebook of two adorable friends. The photos are so cute that they have stolen the hearts of Facebook users across South Africa. The photo are captioned with a message about how Andriette's daughter is kept busy by her friend, Siah, next door. Andriette is currently battling cancer and the extra help from Siah is appreciated. The post was uploaded to the Facebook group #ImStaying and quickly went viral for obvious reasons. "My little princess with her bestie Siah (right next door). I have aggressive cancer and my neighbours help me so much with keeping Kay busy so I can rest. Other days, Siah and Kay are playing at our house." READ ALSO: We have jobs but graduates aren't fit for them - Top Ghanaian employer explains (video) Photo credit: Facebook/Andriette Gore Source: Facebook Facebook users flooded the post with comments about the two adorable friends: READ ALSO: Adorable video of African boy singing with powerful voice goes viral Martine Prinsloo: "So glad you have someone right next door to be there for you. May you and your family and that family be blessed." Sharleen Kariem: "We serve a miracle-working God. We pray the healing Blood of Jesus over you." Linda Lentle: "May God bless your neighbour abundantly as she continues to love and support you." Jenny Bartlett: "Children don't see colour and gender unless they have been taught by parents. My elder son was the only white boy for a few years at Mooi River Primary, an excellent school. He was great friends with all the other boys. At pre-school he wanted to do ballet with the girls. I was OK with it but my husband said no." In other news, YEN.com.gh reported that Perez Chapel International founder, Bishop Charles Agyinasare, has responded to one Obotan, a herbalist, who has accused the renowned bishop of being a fake pastor. According to Classfmonline.com, Obotan had alleged on a TV programme that Bishop Daniel Obinim of the International God's Way Church was a mentee of Agyinasare, which makes the leader of Perez Chapel International a fake. Obotan explained that since Obinim has been exposed by lawmaker, Kennedy Agyapong, as a pastor who is not genuine, it shows that his mentor was the one who trained him on how to fake. Enjoy reading our stories? Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news! Vox pop: Which team Nana-Bawumia or Jane-John will win the 2020 election? Get interactive via our Facebook page Source: YEN.com.gh ARCHIVED - Spain reviewing EU list of safe countries: without reciprocation the list may be scrapped Covid confusion continues in spite of EU agreement! Hours after the EU agreed a list of 15 "safe countries" to which it will open its external borders starting on Wednesday, the Spanish Government has said that it is still reviewing how many of them will allow Spanish citizens to travel to their countries with a view to scrapping the agreement made between EU states just hours ago. The Spanish Government expects "reciprocity"and at the moment there are several countries on the list which will not admit Spanish citizens at the moment. Although the Twenty-seven adopted a unanimous decision about the list of external countries from which entry would be allowed, the pact they closed on Tuesday is nothing more than a recommendation, and is not actually binding, so each country has the right to veto the list and make its own decisions. Italy announced last night that it was not willing to accept any visitors from outside of the EU and will impose a quarantine on all of them, scrapping the agreement altogether. Greece has announced that all flights from the UK would be banned from entering the country until July 15th, expressing its concerns that case numbers in the UK were still too high. TUI, Ryanair, BA and Jet2 have all been forced to hastily cancel flights, throwing travel plans into chaos. Its clear that China will remain firmly off the Spanish list, as Beijing is not currently allowing European residents to enter. In the case of Morocco, the decision is bilateral between the two countries, as Rabat has already agreed that it will keep the Moroccan border closed until at least July 10th. The situation is the same with Algeria, which is also currently closed and other countries could also leave the list before it is published in the BOE. On Wednesday Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, affirmed during the ceremony to re-open the border between Spain and Portugal that agreements with other nations would be "based on reciprocity", in addition to the "strictly epidemiological" and not "diplomatic" criteria by which the EU has been guided to draw up its first list of 15 "safe countries". The Ministry of the Interior is reported to have not yet drafted the Ministerial Order to be published by the BOE for the reopening of external borders to take effect. In principle, it should have been this Wednesday, as agreed in Brussels, but the tight deadlines have delayed the administrative process. Government spokeswoman, Maria Jesus Montero, indicated yesterday that the reopening would be between this Thursday and this Friday. Right now the midnight option from Thursday, July 2 to Friday, July 3 appears as the most likely. What is going on with the UK green travel corridors????? In spite of the announcement last week by the British government that it would be creating travel corridors with a three tier traffic light system, UK travellers are still waiting to see which countries are involved in the agreement and if Spain is included. The UK government originally said that it would be making an announcement on June 29th about which countries would be involved in the scheme and from which holidaymakers would be permitted to return to the UK without having to quarantine for 14 days. Its now July 1st and no such announcement has been made. As a result, the Foreign Office is still advising British residents against all but essential travel, which means none of the British residents flying to Spain today are covered by their travel insurance as they are effectively ignoring the advice being given by the Foreign Office. British nationals are ONLY being allowed into Spain without quarantining because the Spanish Government was expecting a reciprocal agreement, and the British are reportedly booking holidays in Spain as though that agreement already exists in the belief that it will, so when will the travel corridor announcement be made????? "Last weekend I took some excited visitors from out of town up to the whale-watching platform at Gerringong headland," reports Michael Fox of Gerringong. "It was not working ... incredibly embarrassing. Not a whale to be seen. You'd expect the council to maintain these vital pieces of tourist-attracting infrastructure better. I have sent them a stern letter." Staying in the south, Nola Tucker of Kiama also has a whale of an issue: "Dear Sir/Madam. Please stop printing photos of whales breaching off Sydney; it is inconsiderate boastfulness. In Kiama our view of the Pacific remains empty except for cargo ships nary a cetacean. I am sure they breathe in and dive deep as they pass by waiting for sycophantic whale-watching boats further north. The Kim Kardashians of the water world!" "Not quite as disgusting as snot blocks (C8) and phlegm sandwiches is the Scottish fruit slice with currants, known as a fly cemetery," thinks Alastair Wilson of Balmain. It seems the terminology varied in the west. Michael Ward of Mosman grew up in Perth in the '70s and says at the school canteen, we ordered a snot between for morning tea". Nominative determinism (C8) was soooo last week, so David Gordon of Cranebrook presents an example of initial determinism: "At UNSW in the late '60s, two of my lecturers (in communications) were R. F. Brown (RF = radio frequency) and E. H. Fooks (EHF = extra high frequency). Seems they were on the right wavelength." "Penny Ransby Smiths memories of air travel in the 1950s (C8) reminded me of flying London-to-Sydney in 1949, in the Pan-Am Clipper, Glory of the Skies," writes Rosemary Seam of Kempsey. "The journey took five days, with overnight stops, refuelling at Shannon in Ireland, Gander in Newfoundland, New York, San Francisco, Suva and Fiji, where large fleas hopped about in the aerodrome's washroom. Ive done the journey since, in less than twenty-four hours, without the fleas." By its very nature, the telephone call needed to understand the life and death of a loved one is intrusive when a stranger is on the other end of the line. So, it made sense that Doris Mimnaugh paused for a moment to consider the invitation to talk about her husband, Gregory, who died in April, at age 74, because of COVID-19. Yes, she finally said. I want to talk. When he passed, a part of me went with him. A formal obituary is a resume that reduces a life to a list of jobs, accomplishments and places called home. But that has little do with living. The journey, one that comes to an inevitable end, is composed of small moments, nuances and interests known only by those close to a person. When the details of such a life are shared, we are reminded that the seemingly insignificant moments of our lives -- not the job, fancy estate or big bank account are significant, and how we will be remembered. The next time you see a Corvette, you will think of Gregory Mimnaugh. During the course of his life he owned, and sold, 35 of them. He never got a chance to see the last one. *** Greg, and his wife, Doris, with their daughters, Amy Savage, left, and Jill Larson, right. He and his wife met in what seems straight out of a black-and-white movie from the 1940s. After graduating from Oregon State University, she moved to Portland. She took an apartment, and soon Greg moved in to a unit next door. People tell you to never get involved with your neighbors, said Doris Mimnaugh. Well, that didnt hold true. They married in 1967. Greg Mimnaugh, who grew up in Eastmoreland, worked at a hardware company on Swan Island, wanted to go to OSU to earn a degree in engineering. The couple moved to Corvallis in 1968 and never left. He left college during his junior year to work at American Can, a company in Halsey, a town about 20 miles from Corvallis. The company eventually was folded into the Georgia-Pacific family. At the end of his career, Mimnaugh was the distribution and transportation manager. The couple had two daughters and four grandchildren. Mimnaugh, who didnt like eating fish nevertheless enjoyed deep sea fishing at Newport, giving his catch away to friends and family. His true love other than his family were Corvettes. He loved to wheel and deal, said Doris Mimnaugh. During his life, he bought and sold 35 of them. That was his hobby. In the spring, Greg Mimnaugh ordered a Corvette from a man who lived in Ohio. He didnt live to see that car, his wife said. I had let the man know Greg had died and to cancel the sale. *** He didn't like eating fish, but enjoyed fishing, giving away his catch to friends and family. Greg Mimnaugh got sick in March after returning from a vacation to Mexico. I believe he got that virus on the plane, said Doris Mimnaugh. The person in front of us was coughing and sneezing. I thought this wasnt good. Her husband, she said, was vulnerable. He had one kidney since he was 19, had diabetes, and underwent bypass surgery in 2018. You can put it all together, she said. We got home on the 20th. On the 24th, he had congestion, but had been working in the yard and that happens. Then the symptoms began. His wife took him to the emergency room on March 28. He was sent home. Things got worse and she brought him back to the hospital on March 31. He was on a ventilator for 8 days, she said. At the end of the eighth day he passed. And then Doris Mimnaugh was diagnosed with COVID-19. The only frame reference my daughters and I had was you go to the hospital, get on a ventilator and you die, she said. It was a horrible time. My guy was gone, and I came home to an empty house and had to be in quarantine. I wanted to just curl up in a fetal position. But my next thought was I had two daughters who were just destroyed because their father was gone. Now they were worried about their mother. I told myself I had to get off the couch and fight. It was a nightmare. I was in such a dark place that you cant believe it. Mimnaugh said her doctor called daily to check on her symptoms. She took her temperature and monitored her oxygen levels three times a day. It was so scary, she said. I had a cough, but no appetite. Shes never had a chance to grieve her husbands death. There was so much energy in trying to make sure I didnt end up the same way, she said. I just had to get through the day to stay alive for those two girls. There has been no funeral, and nothing yet planned because people cant gather in groups, a precaution to stop the spread of the virus that took the life of the man she so loved. She has found comfort in thinking about the last Corvette. Sometimes, she said, things just work out. *** In February, Greg Mimnaugh visited his cardiologist for a routine exam. Say, the doctor said, arent you the Corvette man? I am, Mimnaugh said. One of these days, the doctor said, Im going to have one. Doctor, I think I have your Corvette in my garage. Sure enough, said Doris Mimnaugh, the doctor bought that Corvette. Doris and her daughters think of their father and his love when they see a Corvette, recognizing a particular model that daddy once had. And that last one? The doctor who bought it lives in the neighborhood. That Corvette goes up and down our street each day, said Doris Mimnaugh. When I see it, it makes me smile and feel so close to Greg. -- Tom Hallman Jr; thallman@oregonian.com; 503-221-8224; @thallmanjr Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:51:17|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close ANKARA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A bomb attack took place Tuesday at the route of the joint patrol of Turkish and Russian militaries in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, Turkey's Defense Ministry said. "Terrorists launched an attack by bomb vehicle on the route of the 21st TR-RF joint patrol activity," the ministry said in a written statement, noting there were no causalities. Two vehicles of the convoy suffered partial damage, said the ministry, adding that joint patrols will continue with all necessary precautions. On March 5, Turkey and Russia sealed a deal to maintain a temporary cease-fire to "all military actions along the line of contact in the Idlib de-escalation area" and envisaged the establishment of a security corridor six kilometers to the north and six kilometers to the south of the M4 highway, after nearly 60 Turkish soldiers were killed in escalated tensions between the Syrian and Turkish troops in the region. The key M4 highway, located about 30 kilometers away from the southern border of Turkey, links Aleppo to Latakia in Syria. The joint Turkish-Russian patrols began on March 15 along the M4 highway as part of the deal. Enditem New Delhi: The Indian Army had used artillery guns to destroy four Pakistani posts in a massive assault across the Line of Control (LoC) in Keran sector of Kashmir's Kupwara district last month, government sources said on Friday. This is the first time the government sources have confirmed that artillary fire was indeed used by the army to launch a massive assault against Pakistan, something which was always suspected. It is the first case of artillery fire at the LoC since the 2003 ceasefire agreement was signed between the two countries. They said artillery guns were stealthy moved up and used in straight fire position to raze four positions of Pakistan army to avenge the mutilation of an Indian Army jawan's body by some suspected militants few days ago. Violating ceasefire, Pakistan had been firing 120mm heavy mortars to target civilian areas, to which India had responded strongly. Defence sources said while ceasefire violations by Pakistan was a regular feature "the intensity had never been so hard in the recent past." Meanwhile, on the One Rank One Pension issue, sources said that 95% of the cases have been "satisfactorily" resolved. Documents of around 96,000 ex-servicemen were missing, due to which the payment for some has been delayed, they said, adding remaining cases would be resolved in two months time. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. BUDAPEST, Hungary - Hungarian lawmakers passed a resolution Tuesday calling on Prime Minister Viktor Orbans populist government to ensure that the European Unions economic stimulus plan meets certain conditions, including the fair distribution of funds among richer and poorer countries and not tying funds to rule-of-law provisions. The resolution, while not legally binding, was seen by analysts as a political resource that Orban can tap during an EU leaders summit in Brussels this week on the proposed recovery package and the EUs long-term budget. The resolution was approved by 128 votes in favour to 16 against, with one abstention. Orban said last week that Hungary would veto a deal only as a last resort. The resolution also listed other principles that lawmakers want the Hungarian government to pursue during the two-day summit starting Friday. They include excluding from EU funding parties and organizations which carry out political activities under a civic disguise and ending the sanctioning procedures the EU initiated against Hungary and Poland because of concerns about the rule of law in those countries. At the same time, the resolution expresses support overall for the proposed 750 billion-euro ($855 billion) stimulus package, which includes 500 billion euros in grants and 250 billion euros in loans for EU countries. The grants would be backed by common debt among EU countries. The situation is grave, so we are forced to accept that the member states of the European Union take on common debt, the resolution states, calling for the funds to be distributed in a fair and balanced way and the moneys use must be made independent from political considerations. The resolution was introduced by National Assembly Speaker Laszlo Kover and the parliamentary leaders of Hungarys two governing parties, Orbans Fidesz and junior partner the Christian Democrats. Analysts said the it had both foreign and domestic political objectives. To a certain degree, Orban could use the resolution as a shield against pressure from the EU and fellow member nations and to justify any objections to an agreement on the recovery fund, said Peter Kreko, director of the Budapest-based Political Capital Institute policy research and consulting firm. But everyone in the West knows that the Hungarian parliament is not independent from the government, so such a ploy would be unlikely to convince politicians from Western Europe, Kreko said. Orban could also expose himself to criticism from the political opposition in Hungary if he isnt able to stick to the conditions outlined in the resolution and ends up voting for the EU deal, Kreko added. He noted that while Orban has often threatened to veto EU decisions requiring unanimity - and has even followed through several times - the prime minister has refrained from using such authority on highly important matters, such as sanctions against Russia for its 2014 annexation of Ukraines Crimea and support for a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. It's not often that an artist releases a new album that's actually decades old. But that's exactly what Doug Clifford did. Best known for his work with Creedence Clearwater Revival, his latest CD is "Magic Window" songs he wrote and recorded in the mid-80s. Splitting his time between Reno, Nevada, and Scottsdale, Arizona, Clifford said the vacations he has enjoyed in his adulthood (pre-coronavirus pandemic) are much better than his childhood road trips. "Any trip I took as a kid, I hated it," he said. "My dad smoked cigarettes and kept the windows rolled up." Fans may stay in touch with him on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/DougCosmoClifford/), Twitter (@DougCosmo) or his website, www.dougcosmoclifford.com. Dauphin County Commissioners Jeff Haste, Mike Pries and George P. Hartwick, III and the countys Northern Dauphin Human Services Center (NDHSC) are collecting school supplies and gift cards for their annual Fill the Bus campaign for students in need. The donations will be distributed at the free back-to-school yard sales and First Day, Fresh Impressions program, according to a press release. This year, items being collected are school supplies and Smart Style and Walmart gift cards. Donations will be accepted at the front desk of the NDHSC until Aug. 14. The annual three-day Fill the Bus event at Walmart in Elizabethville will not be held this year due to the pandemic. Were extremely grateful to the many generous donors, volunteers, community partners and school districts for making this annual back-to-school drive possible, Haste said in the release. Over the past several years, we have been able to help over 300 local students. First Day, Fresh Impressions has also helped many area students in need get ready for school. Students are taken shopping for clothes and shoes and can get a haircut or style using donated Walmart and Smart Style Salon gift cards, the release said. The free back-to-school yard sales and First Day, Fresh Impressions programs are scheduled for the following dates: For Halifax Area School District, the yard sales, organized by Valleys Evangelical Covenant Church, will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 14 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Aug. 15 at the Creekside building at Camp Hebron. Call Donna from Valleys Evangelical Covenant at 717.896.3118 to register for First Day, Fresh Impressions by Aug. 11. In Millersburg School District, call Pastor Justin Gruber at 71.-692.3904 to register for First Day, Fresh Impressions by Aug. 12. In Upper Dauphin School District, the yard sale, organized by Trinity United Methodist Church, will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon on Aug. 8 at the Elizabethville Borough Park. To register for First Day, Fresh Impressions, call Bonnie at 717.905.2700 by Aug. 10. For Williams Valley School District, the yard sale will be from 9 a.m. to noon. on Aug. 8 at the Ebenezer Church, 328 W. Market St., Williamstown. The rain date is Aug. 15. The back-to-school supply drive-through event will be from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Aug. 22 at Ebenezer Church. Call Lucinda at 717.647.2956 to register for First Day, Fresh Impressions by Aug. 15. According to the Census Bureau, 1 in 5 students live in poverty, Pries said in the release. Were grateful for everyone who is stepping up to help students and provide them with the tools they need to succeed in school. The NDHSC, which coordinates these programs, is located at 295 State Dr. in Elizabethville. For more information about this program or the center, please call 717.905-2700. The future of traditional farming on the Shannon Callows is under threat if the river floods again this summer, according to one local farmer. Pat Daly, who has 30 acres of land along the banks of the Shannon near Clonmacnoise, warned that the river is rising by a foot every day, and he fears that some two-thirds of his land there could be flooded. "The same thing happened this time last year," he said, adding that the flooding is resulting in the land becoming "no good" for farmers like him. "I use it for summer grazing, and that allows me to save fodder on the upland," he said. Expand Close The rising water level on the River Shannon / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp The rising water level on the River Shannon "If the Shannon does come in again so early - and all it would need is another few good lashes of rain like what's gone - people will need to bring back their cattle to the upland." Mr Daly warned that this could lead to a serious fodder shortage for the farmers who use the callows in this way. He believes that if the Shannon was managed differently, it wouldn't be flooding so frequently during the summer. "Some would say it has rained a lot, but in my eyes, it hasn't when you take account of the drought," he said. "The Shannon had been very very low, so I believe there has to be some bad management, be it on the gates or otherwise." Mr Daly is convinced that the issue has worsened in recent years. "I'm there now since I was a gossoon, for over 40 years. As much rain fell then as now, but the Shannon was never let out of hand, flooding all around it like it is now," he said. Independent Laois-Offaly TD Carol Nolan is seeking solutions on behalf of residents concerned over the river levels. "I have contacted the OPW and the Minister of State about this issue and have asked for urgent intervention to be taken to prevent flooding," she said. "It is my understanding that the gates of the weir at Meelick have been closed in recent days." According to Met Eireann, monthly rainfall values in June ranged from 62pc (monthly rainfall total of 51.2mm) of normal at Mace Head, Co Galway to 236pc (the month's highest monthly rainfall total of 170.3mm) at Finner, Co Donegal. June rainfall totals for the month were lowest at Oak Park, Co Carlow with 40.5 mm (67pc of its long-term average). The highest daily rainfall total was 53.6mm at Newport, Co Mayo on June 28 (its wettest June day on record). Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and earn a $40 gift card! In this article we are going to estimate the intrinsic value of City Chic Collective Limited (ASX:CCX) by estimating the company's future cash flows and discounting them to their present value. Our analysis will employ the Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model. Before you think you won't be able to understand it, just read on! It's actually much less complex than you'd imagine. Remember though, that there are many ways to estimate a company's value, and a DCF is just one method. For those who are keen learners of equity analysis, the Simply Wall St analysis model here may be something of interest to you. See our latest analysis for City Chic Collective What's the estimated valuation? We are going to use a two-stage DCF model, which, as the name states, takes into account two stages of growth. The first stage is generally a higher growth period which levels off heading towards the terminal value, captured in the second 'steady growth' period. To begin with, we have to get estimates of the next ten years of cash flows. Where possible we use analyst estimates, but when these aren't available we extrapolate the previous free cash flow (FCF) from the last estimate or reported value. We assume companies with shrinking free cash flow will slow their rate of shrinkage, and that companies with growing free cash flow will see their growth rate slow, over this period. We do this to reflect that growth tends to slow more in the early years than it does in later years. A DCF is all about the idea that a dollar in the future is less valuable than a dollar today, so we discount the value of these future cash flows to their estimated value in today's dollars: 10-year free cash flow (FCF) forecast 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030 Levered FCF (A$, Millions) AU$36.7m AU$38.4m AU$39.8m AU$41.0m AU$42.2m AU$43.3m AU$44.4m AU$45.5m AU$46.6m AU$47.7m Growth Rate Estimate Source Analyst x3 Analyst x3 Est @ 3.54% Est @ 3.15% Est @ 2.89% Est @ 2.7% Est @ 2.57% Est @ 2.47% Est @ 2.41% Est @ 2.37% Present Value (A$, Millions) Discounted @ 7.9% AU$34.1 AU$33.0 AU$31.7 AU$30.3 AU$28.9 AU$27.5 AU$26.2 AU$24.9 AU$23.6 AU$22.4 ("Est" = FCF growth rate estimated by Simply Wall St) Present Value of 10-year Cash Flow (PVCF) = AU$282m Story continues The second stage is also known as Terminal Value, this is the business's cash flow after the first stage. For a number of reasons a very conservative growth rate is used that cannot exceed that of a country's GDP growth. In this case we have used the 5-year average of the 10-year government bond yield (2.3%) to estimate future growth. In the same way as with the 10-year 'growth' period, we discount future cash flows to today's value, using a cost of equity of 7.9%. Terminal Value (TV)= FCF 2030 (1 + g) (r g) = AU$48m (1 + 2.3%) (7.9% 2.3%) = AU$873m Present Value of Terminal Value (PVTV)= TV / (1 + r)10= AU$873m ( 1 + 7.9%)10= AU$410m The total value is the sum of cash flows for the next ten years plus the discounted terminal value, which results in the Total Equity Value, which in this case is AU$692m. To get the intrinsic value per share, we divide this by the total number of shares outstanding. Relative to the current share price of AU$3.3, the company appears about fair value at a 4.4% discount to where the stock price trades currently. Remember though, that this is just an approximate valuation, and like any complex formula - garbage in, garbage out. dcf Important assumptions Now the most important inputs to a discounted cash flow are the discount rate, and of course, the actual cash flows. If you don't agree with these result, have a go at the calculation yourself and play with the assumptions. The DCF also does not consider the possible cyclicality of an industry, or a company's future capital requirements, so it does not give a full picture of a company's potential performance. Given that we are looking at City Chic Collective as potential shareholders, the cost of equity is used as the discount rate, rather than the cost of capital (or weighted average cost of capital, WACC) which accounts for debt. In this calculation we've used 7.9%, which is based on a levered beta of 0.931. Beta is a measure of a stock's volatility, compared to the market as a whole. We get our beta from the industry average beta of globally comparable companies, with an imposed limit between 0.8 and 2.0, which is a reasonable range for a stable business. Next Steps: Valuation is only one side of the coin in terms of building your investment thesis, and it shouldn't be the only metric you look at when researching a company. DCF models are not the be-all and end-all of investment valuation. Rather it should be seen as a guide to "what assumptions need to be true for this stock to be under/overvalued?" For instance, if the terminal value growth rate is adjusted slightly, it can dramatically alter the overall result. For City Chic Collective, there are three fundamental aspects you should look at: Risks: We feel that you should assess the 3 warning signs for City Chic Collective we've flagged before making an investment in the company. Future Earnings: How does CCX's growth rate compare to its peers and the wider market? Dig deeper into the analyst consensus number for the upcoming years by interacting with our free analyst growth expectation chart. Other High Quality Alternatives: Do you like a good all-rounder? Explore our interactive list of high quality stocks to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing! PS. Simply Wall St updates its DCF calculation for every Australian stock every day, so if you want to find the intrinsic value of any other stock just search here. 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. Huawei will be completely removed from the UK's 5G networks by the end of 2027, the UK government announced on Tuesday after a review by the country's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the impact of US sanctions against the Chinese telecommunications giant. In the lead up to this complete removal of all Huawei kit from UK networks, there will be a total ban on the purchase of any new 5G kit after December 31, 2020. The decision was taken at a meeting of the UK's National Security Council (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in response to new US sanctions against the telecom major imposed in May which removed the firm's access to products which have been built based on US semiconductor technology. 5G will be transformative for our country, but only if we have confidence in the security and resilience of the infrastructure it is built upon, said Oliver Dowden, UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Following US sanctions against Huawei and updated technical advice from our cyber experts, the government has decided it necessary to ban Huawei from our 5G networks. No new kit is to be added from January 2021, and UK 5G networks will be Huawei free by the end of 2027. This decisive move provides the industry with the clarity and certainty it needs to get on with delivering 5G across the UK, he said. The minister, who laid out the details of the UK's ban on Huawei in the House of Commons, said the government will now seek to legislate with a new Telecoms Security Bill to put in place the powers necessary to implement the tough new telecoms security framework. By the time of the next election (2024) we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks, said Dowden. The new law will give the government the national security powers to impose these new controls on high risk vendors and create extensive security duties on network operators to drive up standards, DCMS said. Technical experts at the NCSC reviewed the consequences of the US sanctions and concluded that Huawei will need to do a major reconfiguration of its supply chain as it will no longer have access to the technology on which it currently relies and there are no alternatives which we have sufficient confidence in. They found the new restrictions make it impossible to continue to guarantee the security of Huawei equipment in the future. After a ban on the purchase of new Huawei kit for 5G from next year, the aim is to completely remove the Chinese vendor's influence on 5G networks across the UK by the end of 2027. The DCMS said Tuesday's decision takes into account the UK's specific national circumstances and how the risks from these sanctions are manifested in the country. The existing restrictions on Huawei in sensitive and critical parts of the network remain in place, it highlighted. The DCMS said the US action also affects Huawei products used in the UK's full fibre broadband networks. However, the UK has managed Huawei's presence in the UK's fixed access networks since 2005 and we also need to avoid a situation where broadband operators are reliant on a single supplier for their equipment. As a result, following security advice from experts, DCMS is advising full fibre operators to transition away from purchasing new Huawei equipment. A technical consultation will determine the transition timetable, but it is expect this period to last no longer than two years. The government said its new approach strikes the right balance by recognising full fibre's established presence and supporting the connections that the public relies on, while fully addressing the security concerns. It stressed that its new policy in relation to high risk vendors has not been designed around one company, one country or one threat but as an enduring and flexible policy that will enable the UK to manage the risks to the network, now and in the future. Also Read: Localisation of over 600 items to cut trade deficit with China by $10 billion; lamps, furniture may see duty hike Also Read: Mukesh Ambani surpasses Google co-founder Larry Page to become world's 6th richest New Delhi, July 14 : In what could spell trouble for different Parliamentary committee meetings which have resumed after almost four months, all those who attended the Department Related Standing Committee for Public Accounts or PAC meet have been advised to go into quarantine after a staff who was present at the meeting tested positive for Covid-19. Most members like Congress' Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury or DMK's T.R. Baalu, who attended the meet and went back after meeting several people, have been informed about the official who was present at the PAC meet and later tested positive. The meeting took place on July 10, while the official tested positive on Tuesday, which essentially means that the 18 MPs who attended the meeting carried on with their normal life for the last few days. The PAC has a total of 20 members, out of which 15 are from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha. Among the 18 MPs who attended the meeting were the committee's chairperson Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, senior DMK leader and former Union Minister T.R. Baalu, BJP's Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Chandrashekhar, senior BJP leader Bhupender Yadav and Trinamool MP Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, among others. Now, calls are being made to all those who attended the meeting, asking them to remain quarantined as a matter of precaution. On Tuesday evening, Rajeev Chandrashekhar tweeted, "Ok, so I came to Delhi. Attended Parliamentary Committee meeting on 10th. Turns out one staff of Committee secretariat has tested COVID positive today. So I am headed to 7 days quarantine." With the gradual resumption of different committee meetings, the government is exploring the possibility of convening a short Monsoon Session of the Parliament. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have explored all the possibilities, including using a substitute venue like Vigyan Bhawan, to ensure seating with "do gaaz ki doori", but none were big enough to accommodate the entire Parliament together. With this incident, many parliamentarians believe that the fate of other parliamentary committees and even the Monsoon Session has now become uncertain. Earlier, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had complained about thin attendance, arguing for a virtual meeting, which both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats have turned down. Significantly, on Tuesday, two key BJP leaders -- MoS Jitendra Singh and party General Secretary Ram Madhav -- went into self quarantine after BJP's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina tested positive for coronavirus. Just two days back, Raina had accompanied both the leaders to offer condolences to the family of Wasim Bari, a local BJP leader who was killed along with his father and brother by terrorists in Bandipora town in north Kashmir. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Frankfurt am Main, Germany Tue, July 14, 2020 11:32 554 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a40666213df 2 News Mallorca,Germany,tourism,Tourist,travel Free Germany's health minister expressed concern on Monday after hundreds of German tourists were seen partying in Mallorca without masks or keeping a safe distance, fueling fears of another coronavirus wave. Local media on the Spanish island voiced outrage after video footage showed mainly German holidaymakers drinking, singing and dancing outside bars and terraces on Friday evening. One local newspaper dubbed it "chaos" while the German-language Mallorca Zeitung said "it was as if no one had ever heard of the corona pandemic". At a press conference in Berlin, Health Minister Jens Spahn said he understood that people wanted to cut loose on vacation, but said they risked undoing the progress made to contain the deadly virus by disregarding health measures. "The images we've seen from Mallorca this weekend worry me," Spahn said. Situations where people do not keep the recommended 1.5 meters apart, drink from the same bottle, hug and "seek closeness" while partying and consuming alcohol, "all this of course increases the risk", he said. "I'm not here to ruin the fun... but now is not the time for this." Mallorca's sun-soaked beaches and vibrant nightlife make it one of Germany's most popular holiday destinations. Thousands of Germans have flown there since EU countries reopened their borders to each other in June. But concerns that visitors could spark a fresh coronavirus surge on the Balearic Islands prompted the regional government last week to announce hefty fines for those caught organizing illegal parties or flouting rules on social distancing and face masks. Germany's Spahn warned that Mallorca "must not turn into a second Ischgl", referring to an Austrian ski resort that became a COVID-19 hotspot and contributed to the spread of the pandemic across Europe. Topics : Mallorca Germany tourism Tourist travel ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan has resigned, the presidency said on Monday, further unsettling the political outlook days after the sudden death of prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, President Alassane Ouattara's preferred successor. ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast Vice President Daniel Kablan Duncan has resigned, the presidency said on Monday, further unsettling the political outlook days after the sudden death of prime minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, President Alassane Ouattara's preferred successor. The death last week of Gon Coulibaly, hand-picked by Ouattara to run in October's presidential election, has left the ruling party scrambling to find a replacement candidate, a process likely to reveal internal divisions, analysts say. Duncan is leaving for "reasons of personal convenience", Patrick Achi, a top aide to Ouattara, told reporters, adding that Duncan had first tendered his resignation in February. "The president of the republic would like to pay tribute to a great servant of the state, a man of duty and commitment," Achi said. He said Ouattara had finally accepted Duncan's resignation last Wednesday, the same day Gon Coulibaly, who had longstanding heart problems, died after a cabinet meeting. Ouattara picked Gon Coulibaly in March to represent the RHDP party in the Oct. 31 poll after announcing he would not stand for a third term. Ouattara came to power in 2011 following an election the previous year that sparked a brief civil war when the defeated incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to concede. Despite several years of relative peace, ethnic and regional rivalries linger, and this year's election is seen as test of stability for Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa producer and one of West Africa's largest economies. Following Gon Coulibaly's death, Ouattara's RHDP party said last week that it may ask the president to rethink his decision not to seek another term. This could help to unify the party but would draw fierce criticism from Ouattara's opponents, who say the constitution does not allow him to run again. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly; Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Kevin Liffey) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. A Statement By The Human Rights Writers Association Of Nigeria (HURIWA) On The Continued Detention Of Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna; A Lawyer Arrested On The Orders Of Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State Governor, Over A Facebook Post. Introduction: Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria is a prominent civil rights advocacy group. It is a team of professionals who have come together to advance the single agenda of building a formidable and economically strong united Nigeria. The Issue: It has come to our notice that 74 days after Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna was rearrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) he is yet to be charged to court and also still being held in detention. Emperor Ogbonna; a lawyer, who was arrested on the orders of Okezie Ikpeazu; Abia State Governor over a facebook post, denied being the originator of the post but that he only reshared it, was granted bail by a Federal High Court sitting at Umuahia, the state capital, on April 29 but rearrested hours later by the DSS. Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna was initially arrested in his office by operatives of the State Security Service and armed policemen and had been in detention since March 24, 2020. He was first taken to the Abia State Police Command where he was confronted with a petition written against him alleging that he published falsehood against the governor of Abia State, and that the governor swore to an oath at the Ancient Harashima. He was eventually arraigned before the Magistrates Court which remanded him in custody. He was later charged before the Federal High Court, Umuahia, and was admitted to bail by the said court. Ogbonna perfected the conditions of his bail and was released from the correctional centre on April 28, 2020, but he was again arrested immediately by the Abia State Director of SSS who later transferred him to to the headquarters in Abuja. The DSS was reported to have claimed that Ogbonna was re-arrested for another complaint against him, different from his alleged false claims against the Abia State governor. But even if this were to be true, his continued detention beyond the constitutionally permissible duration still makes it unlawful and a flagrant violation of his constitutional rights to liberty, presumption of innocence, human dignity and due process. If the DSS believes they have any reasonable grounds to re-arrest him (assuming without conceding that they do have) or credible charges against him, they ought to have promptly handed him over to the police for prosecution, in accordance with due process. It is not only illegal, but also malicious and high-handed for the DSS to refuse to release Emperor Ogbonna or charge him to court and to also refuse his lawyers and family access to visit him despite his precarious health condition. Why we are Worried We, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria are concerned that state Governors are now in the race to becoming the most dangerous violators of human rights and disobedience to the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental freedoms enshrined in the chapter four of the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria of 1999 as amended and a plethora of other global human rights conventions and treaties which Nigeria is a signatory to including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR); International Covenant on civil and political rights; African Charter on people's and Human Rights and the international instruments prohibiting arbitraryvarrests abd detention and the use of torture which in this instance have been unleashed on this Nigerian citizen. Not too long ago, in Imo state, the incumbent governor Hope Uzodinma, who got into office from a verdict of the Supreme Court was reported to have used the DSS to whisk away into its dungeon, the Director General of Social media of the Imo state peoples democratic party; Mr. Ambrose Nwogwugwu on the grounds that he (Ambrose Nwogwugwu insulted him by calling him Supreme Court Governor Now in Abia State, the lawyer; Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna has been kept in detention for months for allegedly spreading rumours that the Abia State governor Okezie Ikpeazu took an oath in an Indian shrine to be faithful to the former governor Theodore Orji who railroaded him into office in 2015 as governor. Also, breaches of human rights of activists and journalists have happened in Kebbi, Kano, Kaduna, Cross Rivers States. We are now in a very disloyal time whereby officials of government have no regards for the Principle of the Rule of law and the respect to the fundamental human rights of Citizens. A governor or minister who uses the police to lock down opponents is resorting to self-help measures and this is absolutely condemnable because these predispositions are devaluing our constitutional democracy and making Nigeria a laughing stock before the global community of humanity. The wife had severally called on Abia State Government to release her Husband but they have refused to grant her request. HURIWA is hereby asking The Department of States Services to release forthwith citizen Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna from the dungeons and respect the constitutional freedoms of this Nigerian citizen since Nigeria is not a banana republic or are we? Our Position and Demands: The continued detention of Ogbonna is a scandalous disobedience of a court order calling for his release on bail. The DSS has now established itself as a lawless organisation with an ignoble pattern of engaging in politically-motivated arrests and indefinite detentions incommunicado of government critics and disobedience to court orders. The President must at this time intervene and save our democracy from being derailed by the DSS. It's time for the President to curtail the excesses of the SSS and call its leaders to order. More so, we want to restate it to the Abia State governor that political power is ephemeral but the legacies of fairness or the treacherous records of corruption and intolerance of divergent opinions displayed by the holders of political offices will far outlive them and their generations yet unborn will be visited with the historical misfortune of reading about what their father unleashed against the citizens whilst he presided over in government. Government positions are not for personal glorification nor is it for personal glorification. The decision to detain Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna for over three months without trial is not only absolutely unconstitutional, Illegal and lawless but is despicable, treacherous and reprehensible. We hereby call for an end to this show of brute force by the Governor of Abia state. Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna is innocent in the eyes of the law until proven guilty by the competent Court of law in accordance with section 36(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is entitled to enjoy the bail granted him by the Court since section 36(5) grants him right to fair hearing in any matter instituted by the government. SIGNED BY: COMRADE EMMANUEL ONWUBIKO; NATIONAL COORDINATOR. MISS. ZAINAB YUSUF, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF MEDIA AFFAIRS. HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA). A retired Met Police sergeant's ten-year affair ended after he called his mistress by his wife's name when they were in bed together, a court heard. Darin Birmingham, 60, suddenly exclaimed 'Karen', to the horror of lover Sharon Murphy, 49, who he was laying with. Birmingham, from Hailsham, East Sussex, became romantically involved with Ms Murphy while he was still busting organised crime networks for Scotland Yard. But she called time on their relationship after his bedroom outburst and severed all contact with Mr Birmingham, who had retired from the force in 2013. Yet Mr Birmingham begged for her back and bombarded her with emails, landing him before magistrates on a harassment charge, for which he was cleared. Darin Birmingham, 60, (left) said 'Karen' when he was in bed with Sharon Murphy (right) Mr Birmingham made the bedroom-based blunder just before they were about to have sex, Croydon Magistrate's heard. Ms Murphy said: 'That was that. All I could see was him on top of me naked, calling me "Karen".' After being dumped by Ms Murphy, Mr Birmingham sent her 36 emails to try to repair the relationship while on holiday with his wife, according to the Sun. But Ms Murphy reported him to police and he appeared in court charged with harassment. Mr Birmingham was cleared by JPs who said it was just part of the 'cycle of emotions' between the duo. Dismissing the charge, JP Keith Sillitoe said: 'There has been a long and fractious cycle of emotions between you for nearly ten years.' Ms Murphy reported Mr Birmingham to police and he appeared in Croydon Magistrates' Court (file photo) charged with harassment The former lovers met during a crack house bust in South London in 2009. Mr Birmingham, a father, is a highly decorated former Met Police Sergeant who won 23 commendations during his 30-years career. He started at Tooting in south-west London as part of the local crime squad and then later became a Detective Constable. In 2008, he launched Operation Aries in Croydon to break up organised criminals who dealt in extortion and drugs. He masterminded the well-recorded 2012 sting operation on eastern European con-artists operating on Westminster Bridge. Plain-clothes officers were waiting on a double decker bus which pulled up close enough to the Romanian gamblers for them to pounce. But after retiring in 2013, he has been outspoken about how gangs have been allowed to run riot in London. Shortly after, she got after me for knocking on the door while she was doing a mammogram. She said not to disturb her unless the building was burning down. I countered that she needed to have her temperature taken before she saw the patient as soon as she realized she had forgotten. A minute later, she took off her mask at the desk right next to me, opened a bag of corn chips and started to eat them. Not in the break room, but at the workstation. When she was finished, she continued to work next to me without a mask. Wayfair has responded to an online conspiracy theory accusing the e-commerce company of human sex trafficking. Business Insider reports a Reddit user suggested Wayfair was involved in sex trafficking because some expensive cabinets appeared to have human names on the products. A screenshot from Wayfairs website showed armoires that cost more than $12,000 each, with names like Samiyah 5-shelf Storage Cabinet and Yaritza Storage Cabinet; social media users shared the image alongside reports of missing women and children with matching names Samiyah, Yaritza, Alyvia and Neriah. So its 3A and Im down the #Wayfair sex trafficking rabbit hole. Something doesnt sit right. pic.twitter.com/7TJEfu6k2Y Darrian (@darrianperdue) July 10, 2020 Is it possible Wayfair involved in Human trafficking with their WFX Utility collection? Or are these just extremely overpriced cabinets? the user wrote Thursday. Wayfair, an online seller of furniture and home goods based in Boston, denied the rumors Friday. There is, of course, no truth to these claims, spokeswoman Susan Frechette told Fox Business in an emailed statement Friday. The products in question are industrial grade cabinets that are accurately priced. According to Newsweek, some conspiracy theorists also tried to claim a Russian search engine shows stock keeping unit (SKU) numbers corresponding with Wayfair products that allegedly return image results with children in bathing suits. However, the SKU searches dont show images of a single child, further debunking claims the sales are a front. Wayfair removed the product images from its website over the weekend and said it would rename them. Recognizing that the photos and descriptions provided by the supplier did not adequately explain the high price point, we have temporarily removed the products from site to rename them and to provide a more in-depth description and photos that accurately depict the product to clarify the price point, Frechette told Fox Business. Some social media users have continued to accuse Wayfair of wrongdoing, adding the hashtag #pizzagate. A North Carolina man pleaded guilty in 2017 to firing an assault rifle inside a Washington, D.C., restaurant after driving there to investigate unfounded internet rumors about Democrats harboring child sex slaves there; he was sentenced to four years in prison for the Pizzagate incident. WAYFAIR literally deleted the cabinets that were up for more than 10k to hide their sex trafficking scandal!! The internet busted a front line tracking operation right in front of our eyes SHARE SHARE SHARE, open you eyes people!!! This is bigger than yall even know. #pizzagate pic.twitter.com/Nye8eKJl5O Melissa Perez: (@NooRemorse) July 10, 2020 NEW YORK, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 [email protected] 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 nation's 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 Company's business, operational, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Brookdale's financial performance was sustained by, among other things, the Company's 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 Company's financial results and reputation; (iii) as a result, the Company's financial results were unsustainable; and (iv) as a result, the Company's 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, Brookdale's 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 [email protected] SOURCE Pomerantz LLP Related Links www.pomerantzlaw.com LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 14: Johnny Depp arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand on July 14, 2020 in London, England. American actor Johnny Depp is taking News Group Newspapers, publishers of The Sun, to court over allegations that he was violent towards his ex-wife, Amber Heard, 34. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage ) Johnny Depp's housekeeper was "horrified and disgusted" after finding "human faeces" in a bed at the star's penthouse in Los Angeles, the High Court has been told. Hilda Vargas appeared as a witness at the actor's libel action trial against The Sun and its publishers via video-link on Tuesday. She followed other members of his staff - security guard Malcolm Connolly, stylist Samantha McMillen and Tara Roberts, the estate manager on his island in the Bahamas - who gave evidence earlier in the day. Here are some of the key moments from day five in court: Both the estate manager and stylist described Depp as "kind", while his security guard said he would never tolerate any man hitting a woman Answering questions through a translator, Ms Vargas, who was speaking in Spanish, gave her account of cleaning Depp's home in April 2016 - the day after it is alleged the Pirates Of The Caribbean star was violent towards Amber Heard on the night of her 30th birthday party. The court has previously heard about the faeces being found, with Depp claiming Heard "or one of her friends" defecated in the bed - and saying his then wife described the incident as "a harmless prank". :: Listen to the Backstage podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker In her witness statement, Ms Vargas said she "pulled back the top sheet on the bed and saw a large pile of faeces". She continued: "I did not know what to think of what I had discovered. I was completely shocked." The housekeeper said she took photos, which were shown in her witness statement, and that the faeces showed a "lack of respect". Ms Vargas also said she "knew" the faeces could not have come from either of the couple's two dogs, saying she had "cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faeces are much smaller". Heard denies the claim, with a spokesperson for the actress saying in a statement sent to Sky News following Tuesday's hearing that Depp's team is "trying to grab headlines". Story continues Earlier on Tuesday, Mr Connolly gave evidence, answering questions about the alleged incident in Australia - one of 14 allegations of violent behaviour against Depp, who has previously told the court his finger was wounded during that period when his then wife threw a vodka bottle at him. Giving evidence, Mr Connolly said that when he arrived at the rented house the couple were staying in, while Depp was filming a Pirates Of The Caribbean film in Australia, he could hear a "ruckus" and the actor was in a state of distress. In his witness statement, Mr Connolly said that Depp told him: "Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle." Mr Connolly said he got to the property at about 1.30pm after receiving an urgent call from the late Jerry Judge, the head of Depp's security team at the time, who told him: "Malcolm, get in the car, extract the boss from the situation." He continued: "I could hear the ruckus inside. I opened the door, which wasn't locked, and saw Johnny in the foyer area of the house." The security guard said that Depp and Heard were "screaming at each other". When Mr Connolly got Depp out of the house, he said: "I had the car door open and when we were outside Johnny said to me words to the effect of, 'Look at my finger. She's cut my f***ing finger off. She's smashed my hand with a vodka bottle'. "I saw his finger and it was a mess." Mr Connolly denied a suggestion in court that he might have been "pressured to lie and come on Johnny's side" when giving his evidence, saying he does not "depend" on the actor for his income. Later in the hearing, Ms Roberts - who described Depp as "an unusually kind man" - was asked about an alleged incident in the Bahamas, when the couple were visiting in August 2014 as the actor was trying to detox. Appearing via video link, Ms Roberts told the court she had never seen the actor being violent towards Heard. She also responded to the suggestion that she might be dependent on Depp for her livelihood, saying: "No... I have other sources of income." Also appearing as a witness via video link, Hollywood-based stylist Ms McMillen told the court she has worked for Depp since 2002. The court heard that Ms McMillen was with Heard the day after an alleged violent incident in December 2015, but did not see any injuries on the actress. Asked by Sasha Wass, representing The Sun, if there was a "conflict" as Ms McMillen's loyalties might lie with Depp due to their long-standing working relationship, the stylist said: "I was close with [Heard] at the time. "I don't know what you are insinuating but I would not perjure myself for anyone. I'm obviously loyal because [Depp's] kind and loyal back, but without any other reason than that." The alleged violent incident is said to have happened the night before Heard appeared on James Corden's The Late Late Show. Depp is suing The Sun's publisher News Group Newspapers, and its executive editor Dan Wootton, over an article published in April 2018, which labelled him a "wife beater". The actor denies allegations of violence against him, and has spent more than four days giving evidence in the witness box at the High Court in London. Heard is due to give evidence later in the trial, which is set to last for three weeks in total. The trial continues. By Jennifer Okundia Cynthia Obianodo, wife of show host and media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu goes down memory lane to commemorate her hubby on his birthday today July 14th 2020. The mum of two lovely girls is undoubtedly proud of her man and lover as she highlights his successes and reaffirms her undying love for him which excludes any form of entanglement. Ebuka, 38, who is the host of the Big Brother Naija show, and the anchor of Rubbin Minds on Channels TV, married his wife in 2016. Happy birthday to my absolute best friend. Words are never enough to express my love for you. Youre an awesome father and great husband, the girls and I could never have asked for a better person to be in our lives. Im forever thankful to God for sending you to me. I bless the day I met you. Thank you for being a constant light in my life. My motivator and support system. You are my always and my forever. Your career keeps soaring to greater heights. Your intelligence and wit shines through in everything that you do. My ever so versatile host. From politics to sports, game shows, interviews, music shows, legal shows and of course the reality show. There isnt anything you havent done or cant do (well except read the news which youll kill if you wanted to do it). You do it all With so much grace. You are one person that knows a lot about everything. You speak effortlessly on any topic. They honestly dont make them like you anymore . You inspire me and everyone around you. Youre a man of your word, a man of dignity and a true friend. I hope this year brings you nothing but continuous happiness. May everything you touch turn to Gold. May God grant you all your heart desires. Thank you for everything. I love you dearly bubu. Cythia wrote. Obi-Uchendu is a Nigerian lawyer who hails from Okija in Anambra State, Nigeria. He is also known for co-hosting The Spot and Mens Corner on Ebonylife Television. He recently ventured into a soap opera titled Judging Matters where he acts as a lawyer. Related The global IV fluid monitoring devices market is expected to grow by USD 1,210.92 million as per Technavio. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005670/en/ Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global IV Fluid Monitoring Devices Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire) Request for Technavio's latest reports on directly and indirectly impacted markets Market estimates include pre- and post-COVID-19 impact on the IV fluid monitoring devices market Request free sample pages The global IV fluid monitoring devices market is expected to witness an upsurge due to the spread of COVID-19. The extension of containment efforts is leading to increased demand, which is leading to higher revenue growth for market players. Also, the prices are expected to remain elevated for the short term due to lower production caused by shutdowns. Technavio's custom research reports offer detailed insights on the impact of COVID-19 at an industry level, a regional level, and subsequent supply chain operations. This customized report will also help clients keep up with new product launches in direct indirect COVID-19 related markets, upcoming vaccines and pipeline analysis, and significant developments in vendor operations and government regulations. https://www.technavio.com/report/iv-fluid-monitoring-devices-market-industry-analysis The market is driven by an increase in the number of hospitalizations. In addition, the emergence of smart infusion therapy devices is anticipated to boost the growth of the IV fluid monitoring devices market. The growing global population and the rising prevalence of various acute and chronic diseases have increased the number of hospitalizations across the world. For instance, in 2018, about seven out of 10 people in the US had at least one chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. In addition, the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for intravenous access devices which are crucial in providing medication and fluids to hospitalized patients. Also, the high influx of patients increases the chances of errors in monitoring fluid transfusions. Hence, end-users are increasingly adopting IV monitoring devices to ensure patient safety. These devices use IR sensors, RF transmitters, receivers, and buzzers to inform the control room either to change the intravenous set or to switch it off. With the rising number of hospitalizations, the growth of the global IV fluid monitoring devices market will gain momentum during the forecast period. Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free. View market snapshot before purchasing Major Five IV Fluid Monitoring Devices Companies: B. Braun Melsungen AG B. Braun Melsungen AG operates its business through segments such as B. Braun Hospital Care, B. Braun Aesculap, B. Braun Out Patient Market, and B. Braun Avitum. The company offers various automated infusion systems such as Perfusor Space, Infusomat space, and SpaceControl. Baxter International Inc. Baxter International Inc. operates its business through segments such as the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. The company offers a wide range of IV fluid monitoring devices. Some of its key offerings include Spectrum IQ Infusion System and Baxter FloGard 6201. Becton, Dickinson and Co. Becton, Dickinson and Co. operate its business through segments such as BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional. The company offers BD Alaris Pump Module. It is a large volume infusion pump that continuously or intermittently delivers fluids, medications, blood and blood products to adult, pediatric, and neonatal patients. Fortive Corp. Fortive Corp. operates its business through segments such as Professional Instrumentation and Industrial Technologies. The company offers IDA-1S Analyzer through its subsidiary, Fluke Biomedical. It is a portable, high-performance infusion device analyzer designed for on-the-go testing. ICU Medical Inc. ICU Medical Inc. operates its business through a unified segment. The company offers the Plum 360 Infuser. It is a large volume infuser capable of delivering fluids for a variety of therapies such as parenteral, enteral, or epidural infusions. The Plum 360 infuser can deliver fluids over a broad range of infusion rates and is capable of Concurrent delivery from one or more rigid or flexible fluid containers Register for a free trial today and gain instant access to 17,000+ market research reports. Technavio's SUBSCRIPTION platform IV Fluid Monitoring Devices Market End-user Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024) Hospitals and clinics ASCs Home care IV Fluid Monitoring Devices Market Geographic Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020-2024) North America Europe Asia ROW Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report, such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more. Request a free sample report Related Reports on Healthcare Include: Global Intravenous Fluid Bags Market Global intravenous fluid bags market by end-user (hospitals, home healthcare, and others) and geography (North America, Europe, APAC, and South America). Global Paracetamol Market Global paracetamol market by type (powder and granules) and geography (North America, Europe, Asia, and ROW). About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200714005670/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 844 364 1100 UK: +44 203 893 3200 Email: media@technavio.com Website: www.technavio.com/ A rare item has hit the auction block: an investment guaranteed to pay as long as people fret over bad breath. Bids are being taken through Tuesday on a share of royalties backed by Listerine mouthwash sales. They stem from contracts signed 140 years ago by its inventor and still cited in business law classes that require the maker -- currently Johnson & Johnson -- to pay shareholders in perpetuity. That's a group that has at various times included the Archdiocese of New York, the Salvation Army and even former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. Money doesn't stink: The buyer of the Listerine royalty stake will profit from the mouthwash's sales in perpetuity. "It's a contract that says this royalty must be paid as long as Listerine is sold," said Gary Young, co-founder of Royalty Exchange, which is conducting the auction of a single share. "It's a crazy contract." By Trend Armenian armed forces have again opened fire at the Dondar Gushchu village in Azerbaijan's Tovuz region using large-caliber weapons and artillery installations, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Vagif Dargahli said, Trend reports. Dargahli said that the a residential building was damaged, yet no human casualties were reported. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. 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. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz T wo men have been arrested after a Ryanair flight was diverted to Stansted Airport following a bomb scare. RAF Typhoon jets were scrambled to escort the Boeing 737-800 to the Essex landing site on Monday at 6.40pm. A Ryanair spokesman said a note was found in the aircraft toilet during the flight from Krakow to Dublin claiming that there were "explosives on board". The pilot alerted UK authorities and the aircraft was diverted to the nearest airport. The plane was diverted to Stansted / REUTERS Essex Police said that, after the plane was escorted to the runway, "nothing suspicious" was found onboard. Two men, aged 47 and 26, were arrested on suspicion of making threats to endanger an aircraft, police said. They remain in custody. A police spokesman added: "The aircraft has been handed back to Stansted Airport and the operator. "We appreciate the patience and understanding of everyone involved." A Ryanair spokesman previously told the Standard: "A Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin this evening discovered a note in one of the toilets claiming that there were explosives on board," he said. "The captain followed procedure by alerting the UK authorities and diverted to the nearest airport (Stansted) where the plane landed normally, but was taxied to a remote stand where passengers disembarked safely." The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed that two Typhoons were dispatched to help, but have since returned to RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. A spokesman added: "It was all escorted safely and there were no issues after that point." The number of Covid-19 cases may be going up, but 86% of the total cases are confined to 10 states, officials on the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, citing government statistics. Of these, just two states -- Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu -- account for about 50% of the cases. Other high disease burden states include Karnataka, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat. Rajesh Bhushan, officer on special duty, health ministry, also spoke on the need to increase Covid-19 testing, which he said was being done across the country. Scaling up testing, along with focus on strict implementation of containment measures and improved clinical management of the disease, is the key to check the spread of Covid-19, Bhushan said. Also read| Covid-19: What you need to know today India has performed 10.2 million Covid-19 tests so far since January 22, with 1,206 laboratories approved for Covid-19 testing across the country. The more you test, the more number of people you will be able to track and treat. It is the only way to check the spread of Covid-19. Ramping up testing is important and we have come a long way since the start of the outbreak, Dr Lalit Kant, former head, epidemiology, ICMR, said. The health ministry official also spoke on the pending results of Delhis sero surveillance -- a blood test done to check the presence of antibodies that determine a past infection due to Sars Cov-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Click here for complete coronavirus coverage Sero surveys are fairly complex exercises and, therefore, they by definition take time. In the case of Delhi, originally, it was decided that for the sero surveillance we would collect 20,000 samples between June 27 and July 5, but eventually, the sero surveillance ended up collecting 22,823 samples. These are blood samples which are then subjected to ELISA (is a plate-based assay technique) tests. Now that the testing has finished, we are doing the stratification -- gender wise, district wise and age wise, among others -- of the data and analysis, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The body of actress Naya Rivera, known for her role in Glee, was found at at Southern California lake, Lake Piru. Ventura County Sheriff's officials confirmed at an afternoon news conference that the body that search crews found floating in the northeast corner of Lake Piru earlier in the day was that of the 33-year-old Rivera. The discovery came five days after Rivera disappeared on Lake Piru, where her son was found on July 8 asleep and alone on a rented pontoon boat, authorities said. Authorities said the following day that they believed Rivera had drowned, and they had shifted to working to find her body rather than find her alive. Her body has now been sent for an autopsy. On July 8, when news of the disappearance of Riveria at Lake Piru broke, several people came out on social media to describe how unsafe the lake was, and how despite multiple drownings in the past, nobody had bothered to put up signs. A viral thread on Twitter detailed how the lake had 'whirlpools' and the user commented how she lost a young family member in the lake, years ago. Please never come to lake piru to swim!! I lost my prima at an extremely young age while she went out for a swim when a sudden whirlpool dragged her 6 feet under. For years our family has been asking to have signs be put up warning visitors about these waters. https://t.co/pIubC74Mhk Spooky Spice BLM (@skelingtonn) July 9, 2020 I know I shouldnt have to justify my story; however, I didnt want people to think I was making it up. Please be safe around this lake:( pic.twitter.com/yy4ZnXcThg Spooky Spice BLM (@skelingtonn) July 9, 2020 Many people backed up her claim. She probably fell at the exact spot the whirlpool was because the kid said she jumped in and never came up . If she was drowning she would come up and start screaming and splashing around it would be a different case Hell (@foreverdepresso) July 9, 2020 I grew up here too (Fillmore technically) but yes Lake Piru is definitely bad vibes. I guarantee many of us from the area has known/heard of someone who has gone missing there. Also theres been more cases since 2008, its just not an easy google search away Dmitri (@dmitri_jonathan) July 9, 2020 There hasn't been a drowning since 2008, and from what I've read it's not more dangerous than other lakes. If you have a body of water that's popular for swimming in, drownings are bound to happen even if it's not exceptionally dangerous. Bootleg Mermaid (@BootlegMermaid) July 9, 2020 There is even an online petition on Change.org to put up warning signs. In Finnish and Spanish the word 'piru' is associated with the devil. So its like the devil or some kind of demon is really dragging people into the lake... Black lives matter (@Kingboozie_) July 9, 2020 The LA Times had reported on the high number of cases of drowning in the lake. Rivera had experience boating on the lake in Los Padres National Forest, authorities said. Surveillance video shows Rivera and her son, Josey Hollis Dorsey, leaving on the rented boat. When the boat failed to return, its vendor found the vessel drifting in the northern end of the lake late Wednesday afternoon with the boy asleep on board, about three hours after it was first taken out. The boy told investigators that he and his mother had been swimming and he got back into the boat but she didn't, according to a sheriff's office statement. The boy was wearing a life vest, and another life jacket was found in the boat along with Rivera's purse and identification. I n 2020, the pandemic made our hopes of hopping from festival to festival throughout the summer little more than a fantasy. But now there is hope that we could return to something close to normality this year. Festival organisers were looking forward to June 21, the day the Government had hoped to lift all restrictions on social contact. But that was pushed back to July 19, which has proved a risk too far for some events. WOMAD and Kendal Calling are among the latest festivals to call things off for 2021. Both were hoping to take place in late July, but with the roadmap still subject to change, neither felt it was possible to take the risk of another extension scuppering their plans. Other festivals in July are still set to go ahead. Latitude will take place as part of the Governments Event Research Programme, while Standon Calling will require proof of a negative Covid test before entry. Both are set to welcome full capacity crowds. Here, we've rounded up the biggest festivals to have confirmed a line-up for 2021. Tickets are on sale now, and if you're wondering whether or not to buy, remember that you'll be entitled to a refund if the event no longer goes ahead as planned, or if the dates are changed, which they may well be. Just make sure you buy from the official retailer, otherwise your consumer rights might be jeopardised. With fingers crossed, here's the best of the bunch. Latitude This idyllic countryside retreat prides itself on being more than just a music festival previous editions have brought in everything from comedy to stand-up paddleboarding. When? July 22-25, 2021 Where? Henham Park, Suffolk Whos on the line-up? Wolf Alice, Bastille, The Chemical Brothers, Bombay Bicycle Club and more. Tickets: from 226.80, latitudefestival.com Standon Calling Returning for its 15th edition in 2021, this festival is a crowd-pleaser for all the family, with a wide-ranging line-up and plenty to keep the kids entertained too. When? July 22-25, 2021 Where? Standon, Hertfordshire Whos on the line-up? Bastille, Hot Chip, Primal Scream, Craig David, De La Soul, Everything Everything and more. Tickets: from 169, standon-calling.com Tramlines Sheffields biggest city-based music festival is always a popular one, and as so many 2020 ticket holders carried over into 2021, only a few more tickets will be available from midday on April 30. When? July 23-25, 2021 Where? Hillsborough Park, Sheffield Whos on the line-up? The Streets, Royal Blood, Richard Ashcroft, The Kooks, DMAs, Dizzee Rascal and more. Tickets: from 45, tramlines.org.uk Kaleidoscope This multi-arts one-dayer is blessed with one of the best festival sites in London, set within the grounds of Alexandra Palace and offering panoramic views of the capital. When? July 24, 2021 Where? Alexandra Palace, London Whos on the line-up? Groove Armada, The Coral, Norman Jay MBE, Matt Jam Lamont, Irvine Welsh and more. Tickets: 44.95, kaleidoscope-festival.com Camp Bestival One for the family-sized festival-goers, this one caters to all ages with a programme of events to keep the kids occupied, as well as the adults. When? July 29-August 1, 2021 Where? Lulworth Castle, Dorset Whos on the line-up? Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada, Becky Hill, Kelis, Friendly Fires, Sophie Ellis Bextor feat. Sink The Pink and more. Tickets: from 185 for adults, from 62.50 for kids, campbestival.net Gala A dance music celebration down on Peckham Rye Park, the broad focus here is on house and disco, but expect a fair few curveballs chucked into the mix too. It expands to two days for the first time in 2021. When? July 30-August 1, 2021 Where? Peckham Rye Park, London Whos on the line-up? Jayda G, Gilles Peterson, Horse Meat Disco, Motor City Drum Ensemble, DEBONAIR and more. Tickets: Friday tickets on sale 10am, April 30, thisisgala.co.uk South Facing A new concert series taking place within the newly revived Crystal Palace Bowl, it will spread across almost the entire month of August. When? August 5-31, 2021 Where? Crystal Palace Bowl, London Whos on the line-up? Dizzee Rascal and the Outlook Orchestra, The Streets, Max Richter, Supergrass, English National Opera and more to be announced. Tickets: from 35, southfacingfestival.com 51st State The house music favourite, which always draws in some of the biggest names of the genre, returns to north London for 2021. When? August 7, 2021 Where? Trent Park, London Whos on the line-up? Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, Francois K, Joe Claussell, Danny Krivit, Roger Sanchez, Dimitri From Paris, Todd Edwards and more. Tickets: from 35, 51ststatefestival.com Beat Retreat Styled as a festival of both music and wellness, this one-dayer will take place within the splendid grounds of Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath. When? August 7, 2021 Where? Kenwood House, London Whos on the line-up? Tom Findlay (Groove Armada), Zero 7, Rob Da Bank, Phil Mison, Chris Coco and more. Tickets: from 70, beat-retreat.com Boardmasters Sun, surf and some excellent music: thats the offering at this beach-side festival down in Cornwall. When? August 11-15, 2021 Where? Newquay, Cornwall Whos on the line-up? Foals, Gorillaz, Jorja Smith, Sam Fender, Loyle Carner, Dizzee Rascal, Kano and more. We Out Here The brainchild of DJ and label boss Gilles Peterson, this festival does what hes been doing for much of his career: connecting the dots between jazz and club culture with electrifying results. When? August 19-22, 2021 Where? Abbots Ripton, Cambridgeshire Whos on the line-up? Ezra Collective, Gilles Peterson, Greentea Peng, Moses Boyd, Steam Down and more. Tickets: Sold out, weoutherefestival.com Creamfields Always one of the biggest dance music festivals on the calendar, Creamfields is a sure-fire gathering of some of the best-known DJs on the world circuit. When? August 26-29, 2021 Where? Daresbury, Cheshire Whos on the line-up? Peggy Gou, Carl Cox, Martin Garrix, Deadmau5, Carl Cox, Scooter, Tiesto, Anna, Andy C and more. Tickets: Sold out, creamfields.com Victorious Festival Down on the south coast, this Portsmouth festival always draws in some big names, covering rock, britpop, indie rock, and more. When? August 27-29, 2021 Where? Portsmouth, Hampshire Whos on the line-up? Madness, The Streets, Royal Blood, The Kooks, Richard Ashcroft, Supergrass, Fontaines D.C. and more Tickets: from 30, victoriousfestival.co.uk Reading and Leeds A rite of passage for British festival-goers, these dual-running festivals will rejig themselves slightly for 2021, with two main stages hosting six headliners from the worlds of rock, rap and beyond. When? August 27-29, 2021 Where? Reading, Berkshire and Leeds, West Yorkshire Who's on the line-up? Stormzy, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Post Malone, Disclosure, Liam Gallagher, Queens of the Stone Age and more. Tickets: from 232, readingfestival.com/leedsfestival.com All Points East One of the biggest festivals in London, with consistently impressive line-ups across a range of genres. It will take place across just one weekend in 2021, instead of the usual two. When? August 27-30 Where? Victoria Park, London Whos on the line-up? Jamie xx, Kano, Foals, Bombay Bicycle Club, Slowthai, Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Nubya Garcia and more. Tickets: from 59.95, allpointseastfestival.com Yam Carnival A new festival set for south London in 2021, this will be a celebration of Black culture from around the world, organisers say. When? August 29, 2021 Where? Clapham Common, London Whos on the line-up? Davido, Kehlani, Honey Dijon, Pa Salieu, Fatoumata Diawara, Yemi Alade and more. Tickets: from 59.50, yamcarnival.com Maiden Voyage Another new arrival on the London scene, this one is run by the same people who helm the Jazz Cafe in Camden. The venues focused eclecticism is matched on the festivals line-up. When? August 29, 2021 Where? London (exact location TBC) Whos on the line-up? Biig Piig, Habibi Funk, Moses Boyd, Roy Ayers, Donna Leake and more. Tickets: from 10, maiden-voyage.co.uk Field Day Originally set to take place at The Drumsheds in north London this July, the one-day festival will move back to its spiritual home in Victoria Park on the August bank holiday weekend. When? August 29, 2021 Where? Victoria Park, London Whos on the line-up? Bicep, The Blessed Madonna, Floating Points, Mount Kimbie, Josey Rebelle, Ross From Friends and more. Tickets: Sold out, fielddayfestivals.com Wide Awake A new festival that was meant to make its debut on the London festival scene last year, this one-dayer returns with a blend of cutting-edge sounds from leftfield indie to jazz. When? September 3, 2021 Where? Brockwell Park, London Whos on the line-up? Black Midi, Daniel Avery, Lena Willikens, Erol Alkan, Tropical F*** Storm and more. Tickets: from 29.50, wideawakelondon.co.uk Mighty Hoopla The LGBTQ-friendly festival always has one of the best vibes in London with a line-up that never takes itself too seriously. Its shifted to this slightly later date than usual for 2021. When? September 5, 2021 Where? Brockwell Park, London Whos on the line-up? Cheryl, Becky Hill, En Vogue, Eve, Gabrielle, Atomic Kitten and more. Tickets: Sold out,mightyhoopla.com Cross The Tracks The third in a trio of Brockwell Park festivals on this September weekend, Cross The Tracks takes us on a journey through jazz, soul, funk and beyond. When? September 5, 2021 Where? Brockwell Park, London Whos on the line-up? Lianne La Havas,The Cinematic Orchestra, Sister Sledge, Nubya Garcia, Jordan Rakei, Yussef Dayes, Greentea Peng and more. Tickets: Sold out, xthetracks.com Wireless Moving away from its usual home in Finsbury Park for the first time since 2014, the festival moves down south to Crystal Palace Park. When? September 10-12, 2021 Where? Crystal Palace Park, London Whos on the line-up? Skepta, Future, Migos, Megan Thee Stallion, AJ Tracey, Headie One, Rick Ross and more. Tickets: from 82.50, wirelessfestival.co.uk The Cambridge Club This family-friendly festival is expanding to the full weekend experience for the first time in 2021, offering up a wide spread of music, comedy, talks, food and more. When? September 10-12, 2021 Where? Childerley, Cambridgeshire Whos on the line-up? Van Morrison, Nile Rodgers and Chic, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Beverley Knight, Jack Savoretti and more. Tickets: from 56, thecambridgeclub.com TRNSMT This Glasgow festival is always one of the liveliest music events north of the border, with a guitar-heavy line-up. When? September 10-12, 2021 Where? Glasgow, Scotland Whos on the line-up? Courteeners, Liam Gallagher, The Chemical Brothers, Primal Scream, Little Simz, AJ Tracey, Dermot Kennedy and more. Tickets: from 62.50, trnsmtfest.com Naked City This south-east London one-dayer was a very welcome addition to the capitals festival scene back in 2019, with a strong focus on the relationship between new-age jazz and electronic music. When? September 11, 2021 Where? Beckenham Place Park, London Whos on the line-up? Hunee, Sherelle, Joe Armon-Jones, LTJ Bukem, Awesome Tapes From Africa and more. Tickets: from 31, nakedcityfestival.com City Splash Celebrating reggae music and all the genres its influenced over the years, this south London one-dayer will also feature a tasty selection of Caribbean street food vendors. When? September 12, 2021 Where? Beckenham Place Park, London Whos on the line-up? Barrington Levy, Lila Ike, Alicai Harley, Channel One, Heartless Crew and more. We Are FSTVL One of the capitals most impressive dance festivals, We Are FSTVL lands in a new location for 2021 but with a typically stacked line-up. When? September 11-12, 2021 Where? Central Park (Dagenham), London Whos on the line-up? Charlotte De Witte, Carl Cox, Andy C, Nina Kraviz, Jamie Jones and more. Tickets: Sold out, wearefstvl.com Parklife Manchesters biggest festival is also one of the biggest in the UK, boasting huge names from both sides of the Atlantic on its line-up. When? September 11-12, 2021 Where? Heaton Park, Manchester Whos on the line-up? Dave, Megan Thee Stallion, Disclosure, Skepta, Mabel, Jamie xx, Burna Boy, Peggy Gou, AJ Tracey and more Tickets: Sold out, parklife.uk.com Isle of Wight Traditionally one of the first big blowouts of the summer, Isle of Wight has moved itself to later on in the year, with hopes to see out the summer in spectacular fashion. When? September 16-19, 2021 Where? Seaclose Park, Isle of Wight Whos on the line-up? Liam Gallagher, Snow Patrol, David Guetta, Duran Duran, Tom Jones, Sam Fender and more. Tickets: from 185, isleofwightfestival.com Hospitality Weekend in the Woods Spread across eight stages in this south London park, the two-dayer will bring together a stellar cast of drumnbass favourites. When? September 18-19, 2021 Where? Beckenham Place Park, London Whos on the line-up? Netsky, Camo & Krooked, A.M.C, Noisia, Kings of the Rollers + Inja, My Nu Leng and more. Tickets: Sold out, hospitalityinthewoods.com Strawberries and Creem Spanning hip-hop, grime, dancehall, drumnbass and beyond, this two-day festival is always a lively one. When? September 18-19, 2021 Where? Childerley, Cambridge Whos on the line-up? PARTYNEXTDOOR, Bugzy Malone, Honey Dijon, Koffee, Pa Salieu, Denis Sulta and more. Tickets: from 62, strawberriesandcreem.com Waterworks Making its inaugural appearance on the London scene after a postponed arrival in 2021, this new one-dayer will draw in various strands of electronic music. When? September 25, 2021 Where? Gunnersbury Park, London Whos on the line-up? Ben UFO, Shanti Celeste, Call Super, Moxie, Craig Richards, Midland and more. Tickets: TBA, waterworksfestival.co.uk KISSTORY Festival Promising two days of old-school anthems, this throwback festival will tick all the best nostalgia boxes. When? September 25-26, 2021 Where? Streatham Common, London Whos on the line-up? Oxide and Neutrino, DJ Luck and MC Neat, Fatman Scoop, Majestic, Beverley Skeete and more. Tickets: from 30.80,kisstoryfestival.com Brixton Disco Festival A festival that very much does what it says on the tin: lots of excellent disco, with a few deviations into its related genres, in various venues around Brixton. When? October 9, 2021 Where? Brixton, London Whos on the line-up? Dimitri From Paris,Crazy P, Dave Lee, Jocelyn Brown, House Gospel Choir, John Morales and more. Tickets: Sold out, brixtondiscofestival.com Two fish caught during the coronavirus pandemic have broken Michigan records. The fish, caught in Mecosta County and Monroe County, respectively, have both been verified as state records by DNR personnel. During the first few months of the coronavirus emergency in Michigan, a lot of people turned to the outdoors for exercise, fresh air and a little peace of mind, a DNR news release reads. For two residents, that included time on the water that led to new state-record fish. Owen Seay of Big Rapids caught a record-breaking quillback carpsucker while baitcasting in the Muskegon River in Mecosta County on April 28. The catch weighing in at 9 pounds, 15 ounces measured 24.75 inches. It broke the previous state record, a 8.52-pound catch on Hardy Dam Pond in Newaygo County in 2015. Scott Heintzelman, the DNR's Central Lake Michigan Management Unit manager out of Cadillac, verified that new record. The second record came on May 25 when Garrett Rice of Athens caught a 33-pound bigmouth buffalo measuring more than 3 feet long while bowfishing on Lake Erie in Monroe County. Jay Wesley, Lake Michigan Basin coordinator with the DNR Fisheries Division, verified Rices fish, which replaced the 32-pound record-holder caught last year on the Shiawassee River in Saginaw County. Verification of state records usually happens quickly after a catch but was delayed due to COVID-19 public health and safety restrictions. These two records were recorded remotely on certified scales, then frozen, and later verified in person. State-record fish are recognized by weight only. To qualify, a fish must exceed the current listed state-record weight, and identification must be verified by a DNR fisheries biologist. See the current roster of record-setting fish at Michigan.gov/StateRecordFish. - 55,000+ signatories petition to amend UK Equality Act - All Things Hair interviews Don't Touch My Hair author Emma Dabiri - 95% of School Hair Survey respondents support hair-based legislation LONDON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- All Things Hair is supporting writer/broadcaster Emma Dabiri to petition for the protection of Afro textured hair in UK law, through an interview on the importance of natural hair. The petition calls for explicit protection for Afro hair under the 2010 Equality Act. The School Hair Survey 2019 reports that 95% of respondents are in favour of such legislation. 16.6% of children has had a bad/very bad experience at school with their Afro-textured hair and identity. 41% of children, meanwhile, prefer/want to have straight Caucasian/Asian hair. That compares to 68% for adult respondents. Attitudes are changing, but not fast enough. That's where Emma's petition comes in. The Don't Touch My Hair author discussed her natural hair journey with All Things Hair , commenting, "We've been conditioned for centuries to think that there is something wrong with our hair... that it's a flaw, something to disguise, to hide and be ashamed of." Emma's natural hair journey began when she was pregnant and decided to stop chemically straightening her hair. It took a year before she was comfortable with her natural hair, having to relearn how to style and care for it. It's a story that is familiar to many of those who have become part of the natural hair movement. Amra Markic, Digital Editor at All Things Hair, points out the issues of negative perceptions: "As a mixed-race person, being half black and white, you do struggle with accepting yourself and naturally feel at a disadvantage because of the past perceptions of race. You inherit the trauma that the generations before you experienced and feel like you aren't good enough. It's a constant battle, but luckily, we're living in a time where this trauma is being questioned and addressed." For further information and to see Emma's interview, visit https://www.allthingshair.com/en-uk/ , email or georgi.todorov@greenparkcontent.com . Editor's Notes All Things Hair is part of the Unilever group of companies. Through in-depth articles, inspiration galleries and step-by-step tutorials from its specialist team, the company delivers easily accessible tips from some of the world's biggest hair care brands, including Dove, TRESemme, Toni&Guy and VO5, along with up-to-the-minute hair news. Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / July 14, 2020 / Gold Terra Resource Corp. (TSX-V:YGT)(Frankfurt:TX0)(OTC Pink:TRXXF) ("Gold Terra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced bought deal financing (the "Offering"), including the exercise in full of the underwriters' over-allotment option. Pursuant to the Offering, a total of 12.7 million common shares of Gold Terra (the "Common Shares") were sold at a price of C$0.30 per Common Share and 8 million charity flow-through common shares of Gold Terra (the "Charity Flow-Through Common Shares") were sold at a price of C$0.415 per Charity Flow-Through Common Share, for aggregate gross proceeds of C$7,130,000. The Offering was made through a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Capital Markets and including Beacon Securities Limited and Stifel GMP (collectively, the "Underwriters"). The Underwriters received a cash commission equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of the Offering (other than from the issue and sale of the Common Shares and the Charity Flow-Through Common Shares to certain purchasers on a president's list, for which a 2% cash commission was paid). The Offering was completed by way of a short form prospectus filed in all of the provinces of Canada, except Quebec, and the Common Shares were sold elsewhere outside of Canada on a private placement basis. The net proceeds from the sale of the Common Shares will be used to advance exploration at the Company's wholly-owned Yellowknife City Gold project, for working capital, and for general corporate purposes. The gross proceeds from the sale of the Charity Flow-Through Common Shares will be used for expenditures which qualify as "Canadian exploration expenses" ("CEE") and "flow-through mining expenditures" both within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company will renounce such CEE with an effective date of no later than December 31, 2020. Four directors and officers of Gold Terra have participated in the Offering and were issued an aggregate of 1,080,000 Common Shares. Such participation in the Offering constitutes a "related party transaction" as defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("61-101"). The Offering is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the securities issued to related parties nor the consideration for such securities exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The Company did not file a material change report 21 days prior to closing of the Offering as the participation of insiders of the Company in the Offering had not been confirmed at that time. The securities offered have not been registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. About Gold Terra's Yellowknife City Gold Project The YCG project encompasses 790 sq. km of contiguous land immediately north, south and east of the City of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Through a series of acquisitions, Gold Terra controls one of the six major high-grade gold camps in Canada. Being within 10 kilometres of the City of Yellowknife, the YCG is close to vital infrastructure, including all-season roads, air transportation, service providers, hydro-electric power and skilled tradespeople. The YCG lies on the prolific Yellowknife greenstone belt, covering nearly 70 kilometres of strike length along the main mineralized shear system that host the former-producing high-grade Con and Giant gold mines. The Company's exploration programs have successfully identified significant zones of gold mineralization and multiple targets that remain to be tested which reinforces the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada. Visit our website at www.goldterracorp.com. For more information, please contact: David Suda, President and CEO Phone: 604-928-3101 | Toll-Free: 1-855-737-2684 dsuda@Goldterracorp.com Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information Certain statements made and information contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation ("forward-looking information"). Generally, this forward-looking information can, but not always, be identified by use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events, conditions or results "will", "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotations thereof. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information regarding the use of proceeds of the Offering, including the renunciation of CEE, and the Company's objective of re-establishing Yellowknife as one of the premier gold mining districts in Canada. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as the Company's actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in this forward-looking information as a result of the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section in the Company's most recent MD&A and annual information form available under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that would cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is based on information available to the Company as of the date of this news release. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. All of the forward-looking information contained in this news release is qualified by these cautionary statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Except as required under applicable securities legislation and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update this forward-looking information. SOURCE: Gold Terra Resource Corp. View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/597435/Gold-Terra-Resource-Corp-Announces-Closing-of-C713-Million-Financing A couple have sparked outrage after they threatened street vendors and ordered them to leave for making the place look 'ghetto'. Shocking video shows the man marching up to the La Palma Fresh Fruit stall in Santa Clarita, California, and telling the salesmen it 'looks like s***'. He folds his arms and tells them his partner has called the police before launching an expletive-ridden tirade. 'It needs to f****** go,' he says. 'We aren't the f****** ghetto, it needs to go'. Social media users have mocked the man for having his flies undone while he insulted the fruit salesman It has been alleged that he and his partner are the owners of Bergie's Bar and Grill, just feet away from where the vendors set up their stall. The car the woman was sitting in is registered to the business, reports ABC 7. It has been flooded with one-star reviews online, with people accusing its owners of 'wanting to misuse a policing system... against an immigrant just trying to survive during a pandemic'. Hundreds lined up to buy fruit from the La Palma stand yesterday, in a show of support for the business. This is the moment a couple insult fruit sellers in Santa Clarita, California. Social media users have mocked the man for failing to do up his flies The video begins with the man's partner yelling at the vendors before her husband arrives The video begins with the woman shouting intelligibly at the vendors before getting into her black vehicle. The recorder replies in Spanish: 'I want to bring my fruit. The people here want it to arrive.' When the man accuses the stall of being illegal, he says:'Ok, but it's not hurting anyone man. Look at the way that you're coming at people. The man yells in response: 'Get it the f*** out of here! This isn't the climate! It looks like s***.' A second clip shows the police arriving to give the vendors a warning for not having a permit, before considering purchasing some fruit. The first clip was posted yesterday with the caption: 'Karen and Brad who just left Bergie's attacked two hard working street vendors for making their area look 'ghetto'. 'These are the type of people that make this country the place it is today! 'They are so full of hatred and anger towards someone just trying to support their family in order to give them a better life, it just makes no sense.' It has since gone viral and been viewed more than 250,000 times. The pair insulted the La Palma Fresh Fruit stall. Yesterday more than 400 people turned up to buy the stall's product in a show of support Californian state guidelines say it is illegal for street vendors to sell without a valid health permit and providing access to hand-washing facilities and hand sanitizer. Social media users have attacked the man for failing to do up his trousers. One wrote: 'This dude out here saying it looks like s*** yet he can't even pull up his zipper like a big boy.' And a second added: 'He thought he'd shamed the poor guy for working and doing something right and he came out being shamed with his zipper down.' Bergie's Bar and Grill has since had to suspend its review function on Yelp and its Facebook page after it was inundated with a barrage of negative reviews. One reviewer said: 'Who do you think you are to harass a hard working man?! I'd rather eat from that vendor than you.' The couple that insulted the sellers reportedly own Bergie's Bar and Grill, which is near where they were selling fruit. It is pictured above on Google Maps More than 400 people came to buy fruit from La Palma Fruit Stall yesterday, reports The Signal. Owners Leobardo Ramirez and Sergio Medina told the publication: 'It feels so great to see all the support from the community. Thank you. 'We started this business because of the pandemic, and it's really important to us because we also have families to support.' A GoFundMe page established to support the business has so far raised $4,372 out of its $5,000 target. DailyMail.com has contacted Santa Clarita Police Department and Bergie's Bar and Grill for comment. A n American man who had been charging his younger brother rent saved up all the money and handed it back so he could buy a house. Todd Burkemper, an app designer and software developer, let his younger brother Alex live in his home in Wentzville, Missouri after he graduated in 2017. After the first six months, Alex began paying Todd rent each month. However, without Alex knowing, Todd put all the rent money straight into a savings account, and added some of his own money to the pot. When Alex was looking at putting an offer in for a deposit on his own property, Todd showed his younger brother a screenshot of the savings account. Todd Burkemper gifted his brother Alex his rent money back / Barbara Burkemper Their mother Barbara filmed Alexs emotional reaction as Todd told him he had saved the money for Alexs down payment and other home-owner expenses. Todd told us he was doing this from the start but asked us to please not let Alex know, Barbara Burkemper told the Standard. It's very hard for me to keep a secret, so every time Alex mentioned looking for a home, I would talk him down telling him it was not the right time to buy, etc. This time, I knew he was serious, so my husband and I could not wait until Todd told Alex (he waited until Alex actually got his contract accepted to tell him). Tim [the boys father] and I felt a mixture of pride and pure joy that Todd would do something this generous, coupled with love for both of these sons of ours, who have such a great love and respect for each other. Alex has now bought his own home, and, according to his mother, could not be happier. She shared the video online, and was overwhelmed by all the positive responses. She told Good News Network: "After posting this story on my Facebook page that evening, and reading all of the heartwarming responses, I felt compelled to share this story of brotherly love with a wider audience. "The generosity shown by Todd is just one of many amazing facets of his character. We are so very humbled by the awesome human being he has grown into." Making a bizarre and shocking claim on Monday evening, Nepal's Prime Minister KP Oli said that 'real Ayodhya' - that is the birthplace of Hindu God Ram is in Nepal and not in India. He was quoted by Nepali media saying that Lord Ram is Nepali and India has encroached upon the cultural heritage of Nepal by setting up 'fake Ayodhya', Nepali media reported. This comes amid rising tensions between India and Nepal and reports of China's meddling in Nepal's internal politics. Nepal has recently banned the transmission of all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan. The current tensions began when Nepal issued a new map claiming Kalapani, Lipu Lekh and Limpiyadhura - which are a part of India's Uttarakhand - as their territory. Addressing the media on the occasion of Bhanu Jayanti, KP Oli claimed that Lord Rama's kingdom Ayodhya is located west of Birgunj in Nepal, India has created the disputed Ayodhya. He argued that 'real Ayodhya' is in Thori. "Ayodhya is a village west of Birgunj," he claimed. Giving an equally bizarre explanation, Oli was quoted by Nepali media saying why would Lord Ram travel as far as Janakpur to marry Sita had Ayodhya been in India. He said that in that period there was no telephone or mobile phone, "so both Lord Ram and Sita would have married nearby if the place claimed by India is real Ayodhya," he added. Real Ayodhya lies in Nepal, not in India. Lord Ram is Nepali not Indian: Nepali media quotes Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli (file pic) pic.twitter.com/k3CcN8jjGV ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2020 READ | Nepal sends 'diplomatic note' after censoring Indian channels amid PM Oli's maneuvering Chaos in Nepal & China's role There has been infighting in the party ranks over the leadership of Nepal Communist Party and the government, Oli's unilateral style of functioning and his backing the Mahakali treaty signed with India in 1996. Senior Nepal Communist Party leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal aka Prachanda along with his party colleagues Madhav Nepal, Jhala Nath Khanal, and Bamdev Gautam officially demanded his resignation. Recently, the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Hou Yanqi has met a number of key stakeholders such as the Nepal PM and Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari. As per sources, China is actively trying to save the Oli government which has taken an anti-India stance. READ | Nepal's Ruling Communist Party Meet To Decide PM Oli's Future Deferred Again India opposes new map The Nepal government introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill to incorporate the Indian territories of Kalapani, Lipulekh, and Limpiyadhura in its map. It was passed by the House of Representatives and the Upper House on June 13 and June 18 respectively and subsequently ratified by the Nepal President. Opposing the new map, MEA official spokesperson Anurag Srivastava stressed that the "artificial enlargement of claims" is not based on any evidence. The MEA spokesperson added that it was violative of the current understanding between the two countries of holding talks on outstanding boundary issues. READ | Nepal's political crisis enters endgame; PM Oli-Prachanda to hold high-stakes party talks Last week, Nepal banned all Indian private news channels except Doordarshan, accusing them of airing reports hurting the country's national sentiment. It then sent a 'diplomatic note' to India, urging New Delhi to take steps against the broadcast of materials that it called "fake, baseless and insensitive as well as abusive" to the country. READ | India-Nepal Border row: BRM stages unique postage stamp protest along border SHANGHAI, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO) ("ZTO" or the "Company"), a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China, today announced that it will release its unaudited financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2020, after the U.S. markets closes on August 12, 2020. ZTO's management team will host an earnings conference call at 9:00 P.M. U.S. Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 or 9:00 A.M. Beijing Time on Thursday, August 13, 2020. Dial-in details for the earnings conference call are as follows: United States: 1-888-317-6003 Hong Kong: 852-5808-1995 Singapore: 800-120-5863 Mainland China: 4001-206-115 International: 1-412-317-6061 Passcode: 4219745 A replay of the conference call may be accessible through August 19, 2020 by dialing the following numbers: United States: 1-877-344-7529 International: 1-412-317-0088 Passcode: 10146155 A live and archived webcast of the conference call will also be available at the Company's investor relations website at http://zto.investorroom.com . About ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. (NYSE: ZTO) ("ZTO" or the "Company") is a leading and fast-growing express delivery company in China. ZTO provides express delivery service as well as other value-added logistics services through its extensive and reliable nationwide network coverage in China. ZTO operates a highly scalable network partner model, which the Company believes is best suited to support the significant growth of e-commerce in China. The Company leverages its network partners to provide pickup and last-mile delivery services, while controlling the mission-critical line-haul transportation and sorting network within the express delivery service value chain. For more information, please visit http://zto.investorroom.com . SOURCE ZTO Express (Cayman) Inc. Related Links http://zto.investorroom.com (Newser) Ghislaine Maxwell can't be trusted to stay at home while she awaits trial, prosecutors argued, saying she had a cellphone wrapped in tin foil in "a misguided effort to evade detection" when she was arrested. The allegation was included in a court filing Monday opposing a request by Maxwell, who's charged with helping financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls, for home confinement, CNN reports. "There will be no trial for the victims if the defendant is afforded the opportunity to flee the jurisdiction, and there is every reason to think that is exactly what she will do if she is released," prosecutors wrote. They say Maxwell has three passports, millions in several foreign bank accounts, and is a flight risk. Property in the UK she's offered to put up to secure a $5 million bond is worthless, prosecutors said. story continues below Maxwell tried to run when she was arrested July 2 at her house in New Hampshire, the filing said. Looking through a window, FBI agents "saw the defendant ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her," the filing says, per NBC. Agents reported arresting her in the house after breaking down the door. Maxwell was protected by a private security team of former British military members who used a credit card to buy things for her, enabling her to not leave the house while a fugitive. "As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding," the court filing says. Maxwell is scheduled to appear by video at a hearing Tuesday to decide on her release. (Read more Ghislaine Maxwell stories.) MICHIGAN The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is urging families to get children and adolescents caught up on their vaccinations. According to data from the Michigan Care Improvement Registry, the percentage of 5-month-olds in Michigan who are up to date on all recommended vaccines decreased from two-thirds during 2016-2019 to less than half in May 2020. Only 53.1% of Michigan children between 19 and 35 months old were fully immunized with the recommended vaccines. It is concerning that so many children are behind on their vaccinations and susceptible to preventable diseases, said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS in a statement. Vaccines are essential. It is important for caregivers to contact their healthcare provider to get children caught up on needed vaccines. According to the Centers for Disease Control, ensuring that immunization services are maintained is essential for protecting individuals and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases and outbreaks, and reducing the burden of respiratory illness during the upcoming influenza season. It will also be vital for everyone ages 6 months and older to get their flu vaccine this fall, said Khaldun. The influenza vaccine will help keep Michiganders out of the hospital for flu-related illnesses, saving lives and protecting our hospital capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Huron County Health Department has been holding an immunization clinic at its main Bad Axe location and outreach clinics held at the Harbor Beach Specialty Clinic and at Scheurer Primary Care in Sebewaing. When vaccinations are taking place, the staff completes a client health screening for appointments and clients are asked to wear masks while attending appointments. The Health Department staff wears Personal Protective Equipment during immunization appointments and those appointments are spaced out so there is extra time between in order to clean up. It is especially important that anyone in need of vaccinations receives them to prevent illness/outbreak of diseases, said Cindy Rochefort, the nursing director for the Huron County Health Department. Parents can contact their healthcare provider or local health department for more information. As health departments remain active dealing with the coronavirus, services may be limited. Paul Sandle, Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britains 5G network by 2027, risking the ire of China by signalling that the worlds biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer welcome in the West. Huawei logo is pictured on the headquarters building in Reading, Britain July 14, 2020. REUTERS/Matthew Childs The seven-year lag will please British telecoms operators such as BT (BT.L), Vodafone (VOD.L) and Three (0215.HK), which had feared they would be forced to spend billions of pounds to rip out Huawei equipment much faster. From the end of the year, it will be illegal for operators to buy any 5G equipment from Huawei, Britains Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Secretary Oliver Dowden told parliament. He said the decision would mean a delay to the roll-out of 5G by two to three years, and add costs of up to 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion). The United States had long pushed Johnson to reverse a decision he made in January to grant Huawei a limited role in 5G. London has also been dismayed by a crackdown in Hong Kong and the perception China did not tell the whole truth over the coronavirus. Dowden said the cyber arm of Britains GCHQ eavesdropping agency, the National Cyber Security Centre, had told ministers it could no longer guarantee the stable supply of Huawei gear after the United States imposed new sanctions on chip technology. Telecoms companies will also be told to stop using Huawei in fixed-line fibre broadband within the next two years. This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run, Dowden said. By the time of the next election, we will have implemented in law an irreversible path for the complete removal of Huawei equipment from our 5G networks. Huawei [HWT.UL] said the decision was a political one which was about U.S. trade policy and not security. It was bad for Britain and its phone users, it added. It threatens to move Britain into the digital slow lane, push up bills and deepen the digital divide, a spokesman said. In what some have compared to the Cold War antagonism with the Soviet Union, the United States is worried that 5G dominance could lead towards Chinese technological supremacy that could define the geopolitics of the 21st century. With faster data and increased capacity, 5G will become the nervous system of the future economy - carrying data on everything from global financial flows to critical infrastructure such as energy, defence and transport. After Australia first raised alarms about the risk of 5G being hijacked by a hostile state, the West has become steadily more worried about Huawei. here White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien is meeting representatives of France, the UK, Germany and Italy in Paris this week to discuss security, including 5G. Dowden said Britain was working with its intelligence allies to create a group of rivals to Huawei to build 5G networks, naming firms from Finland, Sweden, South Korea and Japan. The first thing we need to do is ensure that we protect the other two vendors in this market, so: Nokia (NOKIA.HE), and Ericsson (ERICb.ST), Dowden said. Secondly we need to get new suppliers in, that starts with Samsung (005930.KS), and it starts with NEC (6701.T). END OF GOLDEN ERA? Hanging up on Huawei, founded by a former Peoples Liberation Army engineer, marks an end to what former Prime Minister David Cameron cast as a golden era in ties, promoting Britain as Europes top destination for Chinese capital. Trump has repeatedly asked London to ban Huawei, which Washington calls an agent of the Chinese Communist state - an argument that has support in Johnsons Conservative Party. Huawei denies it spies for China and says the United States wants to frustrate its growth because no U.S. company offers the same range of technology at a competitive price. China says banning one of its flagship global technology companies would have far-reaching ramifications and last week Beijings ambassador to London warned that a U-turn on Huawei would send out a bad message to other Chinese businesses. Additional reporting by William James; Writing by Paul Sandle, Guy Faulconbridge and Michael Holden; Editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff Editor's Note: Get caught up in minutes with our speedy summary of today's must-read news stories and expert opinions that moved the precious metals and financial markets. Sign up here! (Kitco News) Russia made more money from its gold exports than from its gas exports for the first time in modern Russian history, according to the data released by the countrys Federal Customs Service and Russias central bank. Russia sold a total of 65.4 tons of gold abroad worth $3.55 billion in April and May. In comparison, gas exports dropped to just $2.4 billion during the same period, marking the lowest level since 2002. Gazprom has a monopoly on pipeline gas sales in Russia. This was the first time Russias gold exports beat the nations gas exports since 1994, local media quoted the head of the Sustainability Risk Assessment Group at ACRA, Maxim Khudalov, as saying. These are very surprising statistics for Russia, which has traditionally seen gas exports as the leading export commodity on the income scale. Russian gold exports jumped 14 times in comparison to the same period last year, when Russia exported just $247 million worth of gold in April-May. In 2019 as a whole, Russia exported $5.7 billion worth of gold, with the majority of it being sold to Britain. Part of the reason behind higher gold exports this year is said to be Russian central banks decision not to buy gold for now, Khudalov noted. The beginning of a gold mining season was also cited as another reason for rising exports. Gold prices have seen strong gains this year due to its safe-haven appeal amid all the economic uncertainty related to the coronavirus pandemic. Prices reached fresh nine-year highs this week, trading above $1,800 an ounce. At the time of writing, August Comex gold futures were trading at $1,811.90, down 0.12% on the day. India Alston, the 13-year-old daughter of Charlie Mack Alston, poses for a portrait with a T-shirt she created in Philadelphia, Pa. on July 13, 2020. Read more Im so sick of writing about all of the bad things that happen to children. So, Ive dedicated this column to a youngster doing all the right things for a change. Thats where 13-year-old India Alston comes in. Shes a budding entrepreneur selling two different T-shirts with racially conscious quotations. READ MORE: Gun violence is claiming too many of our children. Whats it going to take to stop it? | Jenice Armstrong I happened to come across one of her designs on social media and was intrigued by the message and its tie-in to Black Lives Matter protests as well as the national conversation about social justice taking place in the wake of George Floyds tragic killing by Minneapolis police in May. I messaged India and learned that she happens to be the daughter of Charlie Mack Alston, Will Smiths former longtime bodyguard and personal assistant. Alston and Smith have been friends for decades. Smiths 1988 rap song First Out the Limo is about Alston and how he used to protect Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff. To India, Smith is Uncle Will. READ MORE: Teens from these elite Philly schools were trading sexist, racist texts. Their parents need to do better. | Jenice Armstrong Shes so much wiser than I was at 13. The summer I was her age, I cleaned and babysat for pocket money. Granted, those were different times. In Washington, D.C., where I attended school, a now-defunct police program called Officer Friendly sent uniformed cops into our classrooms to foster trusting relationships between the police and community residents. We naively bought into it. My friends and I didnt discuss issues such as racial profiling the way so many young people do now. These days, they are leading conversations and also educating adults about the need for equity and social justice. They are getting teargassed for standing up and saying, No thats unacceptable and were not taking it. Indias barely into her teens but in her own way is helping people get woke, as they say. And shes doing it one T-shirt at a time. It all started last month when India and her dad were discussing demonstrations taking place around the nation decrying police brutality. At one point, she remarked: You can take off your uniform, but I cant take off the color of my skin. Her statement left Alston momentarily speechless. (If youve ever been around him, you know thats really hard to do.) That blew me away Alston recalled when we spoke on Monday. You never know what shes going to say. Shes always giving you jewels. When I heard it, I was like, hey, Thats powerful.' It actually pulled a tear out of my eye when she said it. A lot of folks would have left it at that. But if you know anything at all about Alston, thats not his style. Hes a promoter from way back even before Smith hired him for his security detail. Alston gave India the seed money and soon she had a side hustle. She now not only sells a T-shirt with her own thoughts on it but she also sells one quoting Smith, who famously remarked in 2016: Racism is not getting worse. Its getting filmed. He was referring to racially charged incidents in which police were seen killing Black men such as Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. On an Instagram video posted on her account, India shows off one of the shirts to Smith, who blows her kisses. I love that! That was your quote? Charlie, send me that. I love that. Out there in the struggle. I love what youre doing, he tells her. Let me know what you need. I deeply and desperately want to support you in all the things that you want to do. So let me know what you need. She hasnt sold that many T-shirts yet, but thats OK. Shes well taken care of by Alston as well as her mother and second dad, Maria and Kyle Horton. Available on quotesforjustice.com, the T-shirts sell for $28. India plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to an organization fighting systemic racism. Didnt I tell you she was something? 3B Future Health Fund announces new investment in iOnctura MONACO, PRINCIPALITY OF MONACO, July 14, 2020: 3B Future Health Fund, previously known as Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR, today announces that it has invested in iOnctura SA, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of next generation molecules targeting cancer and fibrosis. iOnctura has raised an additional EUR 5.1 million bringing iOncturas total Series A financing to EUR 20.1 million. 3B Future Health Fund joins the existing blue-chip investor syndicate of M Ventures, INKEF Capital, VI Partners, and Schroder Adveq, which all participated in the extension. The funding will enable iOnctura to accelerate development of its next generation dual immune and tumour targeting therapies. Data emerging from early clinical evaluation of its lead molecule IOA-244, a highly selective PI3K-inhibitor, in solid tumours is expected to enable progress into a Phase Ib trial earlier than anticipated and preclinical development of its second program, IOA-289, an ATX-inhibitor with dual utility in organ specific and cancer associated fibrosis, will be expedited into human testing in early 2021. iOnctura has recently strengthened its team with the appointment of Dr. Joanna Horobin as Chair. Joanna is an accomplished drug developer and biotech leader with over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector in Europe and the US. Riccardo Braglia, 3B Future Health Fund Chairman and Helsinn Group Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented: We look to invest in early-stage companies which are developing novel treatments in areas of high unmet patient need. We have been very impressed with the world class team at iOnctura and the potential of its next generation molecules targeting cancer and fibrosis. Catherine Pickering, Chief Executive Officer of iOnctura, said: I am pleased to welcome 3B Future Health Fund to our strong investor syndicate. This oversubscribed Series A round provides further validation and support of our strategy as we progress our novel, highly selective, PI3K inhibitor and our differentiated ATX inhibitor through clinical development. Story continues - END About iOnctura iOnctura SA, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, was founded in June 2017 as a spin out from Merck and seed funded by M Ventures. It is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of next generation, differentiated molecules that are at the forefront of pioneering new therapies for the treatment of cancer. Each of iOncturas programmes harness the combined effect of immune-mediated and direct anti-tumour activity and aim to deliver molecules with superior clinical efficacy and safety in oncology. The companys lead programme, IOA-244, entered the clinic in Q1 2020. The study is aimed to clinically demonstrate for the first time that a highly selective PI3K inhibition not only drives an immune-mediated response but also a direct anti-tumoural effect in a stratified patient population across multiple solid tumour indications. The companys second molecule is a novel autotaxin (ATX) inhibitor at IND stage for patients with solid tumours burdened with cancer-associated fibrosis. For more information, please visit www.ionctura.com . About M Ventures M Ventures is the strategic, corporate venture capital arm of Merck. Its mandate is to invest in innovative technologies and products with the potential to significantly impact the companys core business areas. From its headquarters in Amsterdam and offices in the US and Israel, M Ventures invests globally in transformational ideas driven by great entrepreneurs. M Ventures takes an active role in its portfolio companies and teams up with entrepreneurs and co-investors to translate innovation towards commercial success. M Ventures has a significant focus on early stage investing and company creation, including the creation of spin-offs to leverage the companys science and technology base. For more information, visit www.m-ventures.com . About INKEF Capital INKEF Capital is a venture capital firm based in Amsterdam, backing promising early stage companies in Europe. INKEF takes pride in being a patient, long-term investor with the ability to support companies through several rounds of funding. From the early stages of being a technology or life science venture, INKEF Capital supports entrepreneurs building their ideas into successful international businesses. For more information www.inkefcapital.com . About VI Partners Venture Incubator is unique evergreen fund that had been created by McKinsey & Company and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) in 2000. Ten of Switzerlands leading global corporations backed the project both financially and with active engagement. The mission is a blend of stimulating and cultivating Switzerlands start-up ecosystem as well as creating successful companies that would benefit Switzerland. We partner with start-up management teams as constructive Board members, with our syndicate partners to source the most promising opportunities and ensure their success, with our corporate shareholders who recognize the strategic importance of knowing what lies on the horizon. About Schroder Adveq Management AG Founded in 1997, Schroder Adveq Management AG (Schroder Adveq) is a leading asset manager investing in private equity globally. It offers specialised investment solutions, which allow Schroder Adveqs clients to access private equity investments globally through primary, secondary and co-investments. Schroder Adveq has investment programs focused on the US since 1997, Europe since 1998 and Asia since 2006. About 3B Future Health Fund S.A. SICAR, formerly known as Helsinn Investment Fund S.A., SICAR 3B Future Health Fund is focused on investments in areas of high unmet patient need. Backed by the Helsinn Group, and guided by Helsinns core values of quality, integrity and respect, 3B Future Health Fund aims to help companies with innovative technologies to transform new ideas into commercial solutions with the potential to impact health-related quality of life of patients. Drawing on Helsinns over 40 years of investment into research and development and commercial expertise, the investment fund selects companies with technologies in a range of areas including cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, cancer supportive care, metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders, and dermatology conditions. For more information: Helsinn Group Media Contact Paola Bonvicini, Group Head of Communication Lugano, Switzerland Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21 - Info-hhc@helsinn.com For more information, please visit www.helsinn.com and follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn and Vimeo . Beijing on Tuesday slammed Paris's decision to reduce the number of flights from Chinese airlines entering France from three to one per week. French officials said the decision matched the limit imposed on Air France. A diplomatic dispute between France and China has broken over mutual curbs on the number of international passenger flights between the two countries as air travel remains limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Three Chinese airlines Air China, China Eastern and China Southern have each been allowed one China-France flight per week, and Paris has been seeking a similar volume for Air France, its sole airline with services to China. Paris said that Air France had been been authorised to carry out three flights a week to China, but only one had been allowed in practice, and so began to limit flights from China to one per week on Monday, citing reciprocity. Discussions are underway between the two governments with a view to reaching a satisfactory conclusion, said a note on the website of the French embassy in Beijing, which also warned travellers of disruptions. The Chinese embassy in Paris was quick to respond to the curb, which obliges the three Chinese airlines to alternate their weekly flights to France. The unilateral decision to reduce flights is harmful for the Chinese airlines and the populations of both countries, read a statement posted on the embassy website. Disagreement over authorisation As the coronavirus pandemic was taking off in Europe and elsewhere in March, China reduced flights from the rest of the world, fearing the arrival of new cases as it recovered from the initial outbreak in Wuhan. Following pressure from the United States and elsewhere, China began to allow some foreign airlines, including Air France, to conduct one flight per week on its territory in June. Air France resumed one weekly flight between Paris and Shanghai on 18 June, the French embassy tweeted last month, hailing a first step to returning to a balanced relationship in terms of opportunities of Chinese and European airlines. International airlines have to obtain authorisation for the Chinese cities they wish to serve, and with access to the capital Beijing being restrictive and costly due to health measures, Air France and many others wish to arrive at Shanghai. But Shanghai already receives a large number of international flights and is under enormous pressure to assure public health, according to the Chinese embassy, which said it had been on the verge of granting an exception to Air France. Given the Franco-Chinese friendship and the need for bilateral human mobility, the Chinese party made an exception in agreeing to allow Air France to operate three flights per week to China, including one to Shanghai, the embassy said. With the authorities in Shanghai having authorised Air France's second weekly Paris-Shanghai flight, and with only administrative formalities in the Chinese central government remaining, it is incomprehensible that the French party decided to impose the reduction of flights of Chinese airlines. Apollo Tyres announced that the management and the Works Council (WC) of Apollo Vredestein B. V. (AVBV), Company's Netherlands based subsidiary, have reached an agreement on the specialization of the factory in Enschede marking the conclusion of consultation process. Under the agreement, AVBV will retain 737 job positions (against the initial 1265) and continue to focus on high value segment passenger car tyres and its earlier capacity for Agricultural & Spacemaster tyres. Powered by Capital Market - Live News (This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) So you've been trying to think of passive income ideas. And why not? It's practically the American dream. We all want to lie in a hammock and make money without actually doing anything. Unfortunately, unless you come into an inheritance or grow up with a trust fund, you're probably going to have to do something to generate a regular paycheck. [See: 35 Ways to Save Money.] Still, if you're industrious and innovative, you may be able to come up with some strategies that allow you to make money when you aren't actually working. To see what we mean, take a look at these ideas for creating passive income streams. -- Rent out a room. -- Affiliate marketing. -- Create an online course. -- Rent your old home. -- Write a book. -- Start an e-commerce business. -- Become a business partner. -- Design T-shirts. -- Invest in your retirement. -- Create YouTube videos. Rent Out a Room "A large percentage of Americans are finding themselves in financial straits and out of work amid the pandemic," says Wendi Burkhardt, CEO of Silvernest.com, a home-sharing website. "However, many own a home that they can leverage as an asset to generate passive income by renting out spare rooms to long-term housemates." She adds that a lot of empty nesters and retirees have "spare rooms gathering dust. Estimates show that they can earn an average of $10,000 a year to put toward mortgage payments, living expenses and retirement savings." Burkhardt cautions, though, that if you're going to share your home with a boarder these days, you'll need to do it carefully. Obviously, you wouldn't want to bring into your home somebody who eschews mask-wearing in public and isn't taking the virus seriously. Affiliate Marketing Hamna Amjad is an outreach consultant at Smith Thompson, a company based in Plano, Texas, that specializes in home security and home automation. But in Amjad's spare time, she has built a blog that can be found at Disruptionltd.com, where she promotes products and services of other companies, "known as affiliates," Amjad says. "When someone uses my affiliate link to purchase a product or sign up for a service, I get paid. The best thing about it is that you can have any type of website and find affiliates in your niche. You don't even need to have a website to earn via affiliate marketing -- you can do it using social media, podcasts and other platforms as well." Story continues Don't expect to get rich off this, but any extra money should help. And Amjad, who currently makes around $100 to $150 a month but made much less early on, suggests not making your website, whether it's a blog or a website that specializes in reviews and recommendations, too promotional. Because if readers sense that your website is all about making you rich, that isn't much incentive for people to stick around for long. [SEE: 10 Best Apps for Saving Money.] Create an Online Course This is Amjad's next goal. "It takes a lot of effort to develop a valuable course, but once you have done it, you'll earn money whenever there is a sale," she says. "Besides an online course, you can work on e-books, online instruction guides or any other digital products. Whatever product you choose, it should solve a problem or provide a service. Once you create it, you can sell it over and over and build a continuous revenue stream." Rent Your Old Home Yes, buying an apartment or rental home requires a significant down payment, but if you can buy a property -- or move into a new house and rent your old one instead of selling it -- that can be a very solid passive income. Alex Willen is an entrepreneur in San Diego, though for many years he was a product manager for several companies. But now he has a lot of passive income streams. He owns a few apartments in the San Francisco area, and he says that because he employs a full-time property manager, "those are almost entirely passive. ... I only get involved if there's a major expense or issue, and thankfully those are rare. The income fluctuates a bit depending on when recurring expenses come in, but the revenue is reliable every month." He says that he has taken a slight hit in that passive income, though, due to a tenant not being able to pay in full lately due to the coronavirus. And, of course, the great thing about having some passive income streams is that the money allows you to make money in other passive ways. Write a Book Willen has written a couple of short books and self-published them on Amazon. One of those books, for instance, is called "Buying Small Apartment Buildings: Become a Successful Real Estate Investor by Owning Duplexes, Triplexes and Quads." Obviously, that's a topic he knows something about. "In total they bring in about $150 to 200 a month, and I spend $20 to $30 in Amazon ads," Willen says of the two books. "They're truly passive; I do nothing whatsoever with either." Create a Product Again, like buying an apartment or writing a book, this isn't a simple task that you'll want to attempt tonight after dinner. But it is a classic example of a passive income stream. In fact, Willen recently started a frozen dog treat business called Cooper's Treats. "I'm currently in the early phase of doing all the production and logistics myself because sales numbers are still relatively small, but they're ramping up quickly," Willen says. "Soon I should be able to move production and logistics to a third-party manufacturer and a third-party logistics company. Once those are taken care of, I'll hire a (virtual assistant) to handle customer support and basic marketing -- mostly updating social media -- and from there it should be almost entirely passive." Become a Business Partner If you have money to invest, you could invest it in a business. This really only works if things happen to line up well, but just to put the idea in your head -- do you have any friends or family members who you believe are extremely competent and ambitious and who happen to be looking to start a business? And maybe they don't have much money, but you do? You could consider going into business with them -- but you'd be the one with the deep pockets, and your partner would be the one exerting all or most of the energy and time to run the business. You could come up with an equitable and fair way to split the profits, and as long as the business is a success, you'd have a passive income. [READ: A Guide to Launching Your Side Business.] Design T-shirts If art is your thing, there are a lot of companies out there that will help you sell your T-shirt designs. Spreadshirt, Designhill, Zazzle and Cafepress are a handful. Some websites charge fees to sell your designs; most don't. Generally, these companies take care of the marketing and shipping of T-shirts; if your design is bought, you'll receive a commission, usually around 10% to 15%. It may not make you a fortune, but once you've uploaded your design, anything you make from a sale is a passive income stream. Invest in Your Retirement If you're starting to get discouraged because you don't have any great ideas for frozen dog treats and don't exactly have the money to start a business or buy an apartment, keep in mind that every time you put money into your retirement portfolio, you're hopefully passively making money. A lot of investors will tell you to put your money into dividend-producing stocks versus, say, a certificate of deposit or an interest-bearing savings account, since the interest is likely to be so low. But you may want to stick with an IRA or a 401(k). The point is, while investing in your retirement accounts may not help you pay the bills right now, it will help you pay the bills in the future. Create YouTube Videos The nice thing about this idea is that even if you make next to nothing, you'll probably have fun doing it. Meanwhile, your friends and family will probably enjoy watching them. Ryan Scribner, a resident of Saratoga Springs, New York, is a good example of what you could become -- but probably not representative of what most YouTubers make. He started a YouTube channel in 2017 and between that and a personal finance blog, "Investing Simple," that he co-owns, he says he makes around $50,000 a month. He now has writers who create content for the blog, and he uploads a video a week. He estimates he works 15 hours a week, and in 2019, he made a little over half a million dollars. All of that said, Scribner says, "It took a lot of work to get this up and running. In the first few months of operating this channel, I earned less than $40. In fact, I actually calculated my hourly rate and it was around 17 cents per hour." So, these aren't get-rich-quick ideas, but more along the lines of get-rich-slowly ideas. But better slow than never, and so now might be as good a time as any to buy a hammock and start thinking of passive income ideas and ways to get rich while (mostly) not working. More From US News & World Report It is a "personal choice" whether drivers want to kneel or stand amid the new wave of racial politics that is sweeping through Formula 1, according to Daniil Kvyat. For the second consecutive Sunday, only a minority of the drivers refused to join the Lewis Hamilton-led gesture in support of Black Lives Matter in Austria. "I already expressed my position last week," Kvyat, who was one of the dissenting drivers, told Russia-1 television. "All of the drivers are united in the fight against racism," said the Russian, who joined all of his rivals in wearing black 'End Racism' t-shirts. "But I am against kneeling. It's against the Russian mentality," Kvyat added. "We don't kneel just like that, there must always be a very good reason." The intrusion of politics into Formula 1 has visibly divided the drivers, but Kvyat insists that gestures of that nature are a "personal choice". "Nobody pushes anyone to do anything. Every driver, every employee in Formula 1 does what he sees fit," said the Alpha Tauri driver. "I think there's no drama in all of this. "For some people, kneeling is fine, but I want to express my position in a different way, like some other colleagues. We are all calm, everyone is concentrated before the race, there are no serious disagreements. "We all fight against racism, but everyone does it in their way," Kvyat said. (GMM) Harrowing photos seen by Al-Monitor show decomposing bodies lying on mountain slopes, almost all of them naked or with only some thin clothes on. Some lie in the fetal position like an unborn baby in a mothers womb. Worse, many are dismembered. These are the remains of nameless refugees who froze to death in the mountains of Turkeys eastern province of Van after crossing clandestinely from neighboring Iran, their fates unbeknownst to their loved ones and, until recently, to Turkish authorities themselves. Local villagers incidentally discovered the bodies after snow in the mountains began to melt in spring, revealing the fate of the most unfortunate among tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who try to cross from Iran to Turkey each year in the hope of reaching Europe. The photos were taken by lawyer Mahmut Kacan, executive board member of the Van Bar Association in charge of migration and asylum issues, whom the villagers alerted about the bodies. According to Kacan, who shared the photos with Al-Monitor, refugees are often abandoned by human traffickers in the middle of nowhere, losing their way and perishing alone in snow-covered mountains. Kacan finds it hard to believe but cites a local prosecutor as saying that jewelry, wallets and even clothes and shoes have been stolen from the dead. The mutilation of the bodies, meanwhile, is the work of wild animals. Kacan said he was aware of at least 29 bodies recovered incidentally in the area in the past three years. Its such a gruesome sight. I could hardly eat anything for several days, he said. The state of the bodies makes identification almost impossible. No one has claimed remains thus far. Kacan has been contacted only by an Afghan family, which eventually failed to make it to Turkey. The bodies were so unrecognizable that the family was required to come to Van for DNA tests and identification. However, they were denied visas by Turkey. So there was only one attempt [to claim remains], and it failed because of red tape, he said. In line with legal regulations, the bodies are kept in morgues for 15 days and then buried in a potters field in Van. In some instances, Kacan said, the remains have been no more than a bag of bones. Amid an increase in illegal crossings in recent years, the potters field in Van has become the largest in Turkey. More than 200 nameless refugees are buried in the cemetery, which continuously expands. Last month, the municipality bought new land to enlarge the site. The burials are not limited to those who freeze to death in the mountains. In late June, the province became the scene of a fresh tragedy when a boat overpacked with dozens of migrants sunk in Lake Van, the largest in eastern Turkey. As of July 13, divers had recovered 29 bodies as the search in the lake continued, with the wreck lying at a depth of more than 100 meters (328 feet). Local journalist Rusen Takva was the first to break the news of the sunken boat, which embarked on its ill-fated journey on the night of June 27. Takva told Al-Monitor that locals and authorities became aware of the incident after co-skipper Medeni Akbas, the only survivor from the boat, managed to swim to the shore and reach his village. Speaking during a visit to Van July 1, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that 11 people suspected of involvement in the incident, including Akbas, had been detained. Based on interviews with Akbas and local villagers, the authorities estimate that up to 60 people were on board, he said. According to Takva, however, the number of passengers was probably higher. The journalist claimed that authorities kept Akbas testimony from the press and that he got information that 60 migrants had been locked in a secret compound in the boat, apart from others scattered in other parts of the vessel. Takva has watched underwater footage taken by the divers. There are bodies stuck between the rocks, he said. The actual death toll is expected to become clear once the wreck is pulled from the lake. Human traffickers use Lake Van to take migrants from the city of Van to Tatvan, on the opposite shore, in a bid to circumvent security controls on the 135-kilometer (84-mile) land route between the two cities, Takva explained. Seven migrants drowned in a similar disaster in Lake Van in December 2019, while a boat that capsized in October 2019 had all its clandestine passengers rescued. Others have died in road accidents while traveling in jam-packed vehicles. Turkey is a major route for migrants trying to reach Europe, many of them fleeing wars or persecution at home. Those who try to sneak in from Turkeys eastern borders are mainly from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran. Kacan and Takva said they were coming across migrants from African countries such as Nigeria for the first time. The interior minister also said that African migrants were intercepted in Van this year. Human trafficking is becoming an industry in Van, Kacan said, adding that some traffickers were so audacious that they advertised their services on social media. Many in Van sympathize with the plight of the migrants and expect the authorities to step up measures against the traffickers. After the latest boat tragedy, a group of women organized a commemoration at Lake Van, throwing flowers into the water to honor the dead. Women and children died in that boat. We wanted to give those refugees, who have nobody to seek after them, a funeral ceremony in absentia, said Deniz Oztekin, a senior member of the pro-Kurdish Peoples Democracy Party, who organized the event. Those people, who set off with hopes for a better life, should not be abandoned to death, and human traffickers should not be turned a blind eye, she added. According to Soylu, at least 21,000 migrants have sought to reach Van this year despite the coronavirus pandemic. About 16,000 were stopped at the border and not allowed to cross. The remaining 4,500 were caught after crossing the border, he said July 1. Official statistics show a marked increase in the number of migrants caught over the past three years in Turkey, which is already home to more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees. Security forces detained more than 454,500 migrants last year, up from 268,000 in 2018 and about 176,000 in 2017. Big Brother star Mat Garrick has entered into a feud with Married At First Sight's Nasser Sultan after he called the show's audience 'white bogans' for not taking bullying claims seriously. Nasser first hit out at Mat on Instagram on Monday, under an article titled: 'Dan and Matt's [sic] schoolyard bullying on tonight's Ep of 'Big Brother' was a step too far.' Nasser responded: 'So where's the stupid audience speaking out? Nowhere! Because the audience that are watching it is white and bogans.' Is this TV's biggest catfight? Big Brother's Mat Garrick (L) took on Nasser Sultan (R) after the 'groom' called the show's audience 'white bogans' for not taking 'bullying' claims seriously He later hit out at Mat and co-star Daniel Gorringe personally for their actions. Nasser wrote: 'Just like those two [to act like bullies].' The response prompted Mat to fire off: 'Come on mate. You of all people should know how heavily edited reality TV is. Cheers from white bogan Mat.' Feud: The two reality stars repeatedly went back and forth at each other online Nasser then hit back, holding him to account for his own actions: 'Only to a point but you say it or do it then [they] can't edit that.' Mat then appeared to backpedal: 'Completely agree. I said and did everything they've shown and I'll own it all. Easy to rip when you weren't there though. Have a great Tuesday.' Nasser managed the final word: 'Then you shouldn't have applied. So don't whinge.' Rough play: During the episode of Big Brother on Monday night, Mat and Dan repeatedly targeted Kieran during the episode. During the episode of Big Brother on Monday night, Mat and Dan repeatedly targeted Kieran Davidson. 'Thing about Kieran is that his biggest threat is he's so nonthreatening,' Daniel said, in response to the 21-year-old being proud to have it made it in the competition. The pair also deliberately messed up the kitchen in order to make him clean it up, after he was nominated to wash dishes following a challenge. The pair also deliberately messed up the kitchen in order to make him clean it up, after he was nominated to wash dishes following a challenge. Twitter viewers were quick to slam Mat and Dan for their actions. 'Dan is a Bully. That's how bullies operate. Time to let him go,' one irate viewer wrote. Another added: 'As annoying as Kieran is, I still prefer him in the house than the bullies Matt [sic] and Dan. Reaction: Fans were not happy with Mat and Dan's actions on Monday night Sweet: 'Love you Thiccc, so sad to see you g... WHATTTTT THE HELL IS HAPPENING.... EVERYBODY STAY CALM!' he wrote. Pictured: Kieran and Mat Yet another wrote: 'The latest challenge is simply an opportunity for the bullies to gang up against Kieran. Encouraging ugly behaviour.' Mat later posted a picture of himself and Kieran, defending his actions and their friendship. 'Love you Thiccc, so sad to see you g... WHATTTTT THE HELL IS HAPPENING.... EVERYBODY STAY CALM!' he wrote. Kieran was evicted. Only to be sent to the house's 'white room' and told by Big Brother he will remain in the competition. Big Brother continues Tuesday at 7.30pm on Channel Seven You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Trump Administration Plants 137,000 Corpses In Faucis Bed To Frame Him For Coronavirus Deaths The Onion Airshow canceled over concerns of being too boring Duffelblog Its going to be really ugly. Here come the big bank earnings CNN (MH) Inferno on San Diego Navy ship rages into second day San Diego Union Tribune The Bonhomme Richard fire deals a blow to the Navys designs in the Indo-Pacific Defense News The Tremendous but Secret Success of Socialist Vietnam Dissident Voice (jef ) Hoisted from comments. The Threat to Civil Liberties Goes Way Beyond Cancel Culture Jacobin (Judith). Hoisted from comments. Squirrel tests positive for plague in Colorado NY Post How Long Can You Hide a Dead Body in a Prison Cell? Marshall Project #COVID-19 Science/Medicine Class Warfare Health Care Always the fault of Feds, states, counties, cities, never the fault of our $4 trillion year mega-corporate healthcare systemhttps://t.co/y0uq6AM60k Joe Costello (@ofbyforbook) July 13, 2020 2020 Biden says theres only certain big things that government can do that the private sector by itself cant do. The assumption is the private sector needs to be supplemented by govt, rather than financiers are on a crime spree that needs to be stopped.https://t.co/EFMjutKIQr Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) July 13, 2020 Syraqistan The Renewed Dependency on Mercenary Fighters Der Spiegel Russia Russian space official Safronov charged in treason probe BBC India China? Australia Trump Transition Russiagate Hilarious/predictable/sad: Hey: you know that Russian bounty story that dominated national politics for 10 days & was used by Congress to ban troop withdrawal from Afghanistan? Turns it was (ahem) less than conclusive, but thats not what matters:https://t.co/ii1bnOKf3O pic.twitter.com/ymvhiEWxMz Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 13, 2020 Antidote du Jour (via): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Researchers have made a spectacular discovery a hand axe constructed from animal bones used by members of Homo erectus. Ancient stone tools have been previously unearthed in Africa, but the latest discovery was formed from a hippopotamus femur 1.4 million years ago -making it the oldest of its kind. The tool derives from the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia, where an abundant of ancient stone artifacts have been found. The oval-shaped instrument is about five inches long and appears to have been used to butcher animals for food. Researchers have made a spectacular discovery a hand axe constructed from animal bones used by members of Homo erectus. The ancient tool was found by the University of Tokyo, along with a team from Ethiopia and Hong Kong. Following an analysis of the hand axe, the team observed at least 44 secondary flake scars that were up to one inch long. Both the distribution pattern of flake scars and the high frequency of cone fractures are strong indicators of deliberate flaking, reads the study published in PNAS. The team believes this tool was used for butchering animals, according to the edge damage and polish throughout. Ancient stone tools have been previously unearthed in Africa, but the latest discovery was formed from a hippopotamus femur 1.4 million years ago -making it the oldest of its kind The combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions, such as in cutting and/or sawing, shares the team in the study. This bone hand axe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the Early Pleistocene. And it is only the second hand axe found from this period that is made from bone. The construction also shows that members of Homo erectus had the ability create more advanced tools, providing insight to their intelligence. However, the team is uncertain to why the toolmaker chose to use bone when stone, which is stronger, was available. About 1.7 million years ago early humans created hand axes some of the first stone tools but how their hands developed to be able to use them effectively has remained a mystery until recently. Prior to the development of stone axes, our ancestors had weak wrists which would not be able to grip small objects as powerfully as is necessary to use a hand axe. However, New Scientist reported in 2013 that a new hand bone had been discovered that helps to explain how human hands developed between 1.7 million years ago and 800,000 years ago. In 2010, a team from the National Museums of Kenya discovered a new hand bone in Kenya. Scientists at the University of Missouri identified the bone as a third metacarpal the bone which runs across the palm linking the middle finger with the wrist. In, 2013 a new hand bone had been discovered developed between 1.7 million years ago and 800,000 years ago. The bone, which is thought to be about 1.4 million-years-old, keeps the wrist stable while a person is holding a small object between their thumb and fingers. Hand bones of early Homo erectus are almost unknown, Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington told the New Scientist. Having such a well-preserved specimen begins to answer questions about hand evolution, he said. Dr Mary Marzke of Arizona State University explained to New Scientists that the bone proves that our ancestors hands were showing signs of evolution into their current form as much as 1.4 million years ago. It is thought that all humans eventually developed this bone as those who had it initially were at an evolutionary advantage over those who did not. Irans judiciary says a a former defense ministry worker convicted of selling information to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been executed. Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said on July 14 that Reza Asgari had been in touch with the CIA during his last years serving at the Defense Ministry and sold the agency information about Iran's missile program. Esmaili said Asgari was executed last week, adding that he had worked in the aerospace department of the Defense Ministry and retired four years ago. Separately, Esmaili said a death sentence for Mahmud Musavi-Majd, an Iranian accused of spying for the United States and Israel, is still to be carried out. Iranian authorities have said that Musavi-Majd passed on information about the whereabouts of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC), who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Iraq in January. The judiciary said last month that Musavi-Majds death sentence has been upheld by the Supreme Court and will be carried out soon. Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and ISNA Becky Jones broke down in tears after three maternity dresses were stolen A pregnant NHS worker broke down in tears after discovering that thieves had broken into her car and stolen her new maternity dresses while she was out to dinner with her boyfriend. Becky Jones, 30, who lives near Newark, Nottinghamshire, has been on the frontline throughout the pandemic at Nottingham City Hospital as a clinical biochemist responsible for coronavirus blood tests. She looks for any 'abnormalities' in patients blood and urine tests including those who have been diagnosed with coronavirus. But when she decided to go shopping and for a meal with her boyfriend in Nottingham city centre on Saturday, July 12, her day was ruined when thieves smashed into her black Audi A1. They hammered through the passenger window, rummaged through the boot, and stole three maternity dresses she had bought for work, gym clothes and headphones. Thieves smashed the window of Ms Jones car and stole the three dresses on Saturday In total, around 500 of items were taken. She told Nottinghamshire Live: 'I was absolutely gutted. I can't even put it into words. I felt violated. I have been going into work every day and I am pregnant. 'It is not just me that is at risk, it is the baby as well. I bought these clothes so I could go to work and I have been trying to keep fit and then for someone to take advantage like that. 'My NHS badge was left on the seat and they would have known that.' The incident happened at the Nottingham Arena (Brook Street) Car Park between 7.30pm and 8.30pm while the couple were enjoying a meal at Sexy Mamma Love Spaghetti in Hockley. She returned to her vehicle to find her gym leggings and the rest of her gym bag sprawled across the car park floor. She said: 'It's caused a lot of distress and I'm 23 weeks pregnant. The NHS worker was out with her boyfriend, Kyle Farrow, in Nottingham city centre when the incident happened 'I'm sickened and saddened by what has happened. I can't go into work because I need to contact the garage and insurance about the damage to my car. 'I have to think it is just possessions and I have got my health. 'But I would like to see someone put to account for it.' She was so devastated by what happened she put out a video on social media. Fighting through tears, she said: 'Whilst I have been going to work throughout this pandemic - and even though I'm pregnant - it is good to know there are still people out there who will take advantage of people like me - and take things that I have bought myself - on my weekend off. 'Thank you. You really are the Pride of Britain.' A black cap was left behind by the thief which will be examined by forensics and CCTV of the car park is set to be checked yesterday. Chief Inspector Kathryn Craner from Nottinghamshire Police said: 'We believe that people should be able to visit Nottingham city centre without the fear of criminals targeting them or their possessions while they are busy going about their business. 'That is exactly why we take incidents of this nature so seriously and, as has been the case here, why we will actively investigate reports of this kind as soon as possible to give our officers the best possible chance of identifying those responsible and, hopefully, reunite the victims with their stolen items. 'I would appeal to anyone with any information to call Nottinghamshire Police as soon as possible on 101, quoting incident number 739 of 11 July when they call.' The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 577,000 people worldwide. Over 13.2 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 3.4 million diagnosed cases and at least 136,440 deaths. Tuesday's headlines: Moderna reports success in vaccine trial Philadelphia banning large public events through February 2021 North Carolina schools will open for in-person and remote learning Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin added to NY travel advisory Here is how the news developed on Tuesday. All times Eastern. Check back for updates. 8:44 p.m.: NYC did not actually have zero COVID-19 deaths Saturday Saturday appeared to mark the first day since March that there were no COVID-19 deaths in New York City. But the latest data from the city's health department shows that at least eight people with confirmed or probable COVID-19 cases died that day. The health department's portal does note that "due to delays in reporting, recent data are incomplete." These delays are especially prevalent on weekends. On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio had celebrated the apparent milestone before warning that residents cannot let up the fight against the virus. The first COVID-19 death in New York City was on March 11. Since then, the city has had more than 23,000 deaths attributed to the virus -- far more than any state. PHOTO: A worker cleans the entrance to the Manhattan Federal Court, during the arraignment hearing of Ghislaine Maxwell for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein, in New York City, on July 14, 2020. (Mike Segar/Reuters) 8:11 p.m.: Washington governor warns more restrictions possible Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Tuesday that the return of certain restrictions is possible as COVID-19 cases have grown "fairly dramatically" over the past month. Story continues The pause of the state's reopening will continue until at least July 28, and "people should not be surprised if more gets rolled back," Inslee said during a COVID-19 press briefing. The governor said there is a "significant chance" that the state will need to take more measures. MORE: Doctors cry foul as White House targets Fauci, CDC "Over a thousand people have died," he said. "A thousand more will die if we do not act." Washington has 42,304 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,404 deaths, according to the state health department. One bright spot, the governor said, is Yakima County, where the number of new cases and test positivity rates have declined since a mask mandate went into effect on June 26. 7:22 p.m.: Mississippi seeing 'highest numbers of patients as we speak' Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told "World News Tonight" on Tuesday that the state is now in the worst of its battle with COVID-19. "We were a little bit slower or behind New York, behind the West Coast as far as seeing that real surge of patients, but we're seeing our highest numbers of patients as we speak," Woodward said. On Monday, the number of cases jumped 862 to a total of 37,542. The number is shy of two 1,000-case days in late June, but still overwhelming UMMC. "We are full. We are full in our med surge beds, we are full in our ICU beds," Woodward said. "As of some hours ago, we had a few open pediatric beds, but in fact in the adult bed count, at this moment, we're oversubscribed by 29." PHOTO: Dr. LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the school of medicine, left, discusses concerns with the state's spike in COVID-19 patients at hospitals across the state on Thursday, July 9, 2020, in Jackson, Miss. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP) 6:30 p.m.: LA County reports new record for deaths, cases The crisis in Los Angeles County is continuing to get worse. The county reported a new daily record for deaths (73) and cases (4, 244) on Tuesday. The county did qualify that the death total could be higher due to a lag in reporting from over the weekend. There are 2,103 people currently hospitalized in the county, 19% of which are on ventilators. The county already has rolled back some of its reopening plans in the wake of the rise in cases. 5:36 p.m.: Texas reports new record in cases Texas continues to be one of the hotspots for a surge in COVID cases, with a new record 10,745 since yesterday. There were more than 2,000 cases in Harris County -- home to Houston -- alone. The previous single-day high for cases was 10,351 on July 11. There were 87 fatalities in the state reported on Tuesday. 5:15 p.m.: Moderna says everyone in vaccine trial developed antibodies Moderna released data from its Phase 1 trial Tuesday, saying the trial was relatively safe and that all 45 people who were given the vaccine developed COVID-19 antibodies. These antibodies are believed to provide some level of immunization, but how much immunization and for how long is still to be determined. The trial was made up of three groups with 15 people in each group. Each group received a different dose of the vaccine -- low, medium or high. Side effects were minimal, Moderna said. 3:35 p.m.: CDC director says 'we can bring this epidemic under control' if everyone wears masks CDC Director Robert Redfield told JAMA on Tuesday, "I really do believe if the American public all embraced masking now and we really did it, you know, rigorously ... I think if we can get everybody to wear a mask right now, I really do think over the next four to six, eight weeks, we can bring this epidemic under control." PHOTO: Commuters arrive at South Station in Boston, MA on July 14, 2020. (Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) "Masking is not a political issue, it is a public health issue," he continued, calling it a "personal responsibility" for everyone. "I'm glad to see the president wear a mask this week, and the vice president," Redfield said. "We need them to set the example." Redfield said "the most powerful weapon we have" against the coronavirus is using face coverings, washing hands and "being smart about social distancing." "If we all rigorously did this, we could really bring this outbreak back to where it needs to be," he said. PHOTO: A healthcare worker gives another a shoulder rub before they go back into the the Covid-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas, July 2, 2020. (Mark Felix/AFP via Getty Images) PHOTO: Medical staff wearing full PPE wait for a car to pick up a deceased patient outside of the Covid-19 intensive care unit at the United Memorial Medical Center on June 30, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Go Nakamura/Getty Images) 3:08 p.m. North Carolina schools will open for in-person and remote learning In North Carolina, where there are over 89,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, schools will open with in-person and remote learning, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday. The beginning of the school year in North Carolina is about a month away, he said. MORE: Education secretary faces backlash after demanding schools reopen full-time amid pandemic Schools will have protocols in place including fewer children in classrooms, social distancing and required face coverings for all students and staff, Cooper said. The schools are also recommended to use one-way hallways and suspend large group activities like assemblies. Districts will have the option to conduct all remote learning if that is best for them, he said. "If trends spike and in-person school cannot be done safely with these safety protocols, then we will need to move to all remote learning like we did in March," Cooper tweeted. 1:30 p.m.: Philadelphia banning large public events through February 2021 In Philadelphia, large public events will be banned through Feb. 28, 2021, Mayor Jim Kenney announced Tuesday. Banned events include parades, concerts, fairs and block parties. The ban does not apply to demonstrations and first amendment activities. PHOTO: Runners participate in the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on Sept. 15, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) People under the age of 30 have accounted for 40% of new cases in the city, the mayor said. The city is allowing people to hold private outdoor events, like weddings, if there are fewer than 50 guests, the mayor added. "To bring people together in large groups ... would not be responsible. And that's why we're doing what we're doing," Kenney said at a news conference. PHOTO: Floats, marching bands and performers make their way past City Hall during the 6ABC Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, Nov. 28, 2019. (Michael Candelori/Sipa USA via AP) "We're going to have to live with the virus for a long time," said Dr. Thomas Farley, commissioner of the city's Department of Public Health. "We're gonna have to have some restrictions on our activities until we deploy a vaccine." Philadelphia held a parade during the 1918 flu pandemic, which prompted a massive outbreak. Farley said that is "still in the memory" of public health workers and "that weighs on all of our decisions." MORE: FDA expands list of potentially dangerous hand sanitizers Philadelphia has over 27,000 cases of the coronavirus. While the city is not facing the same rise in cases many states are seeing, Farley called this a "dangerous period." "The way for us to avoid similar increases ... is to have everyone follow the safety precautions," he said. 12:15 p.m.: Arizona sees 20% positivity rate In Arizona, where the pandemic has intensified, the state reported a positivity rate of 20% on Tuesday, a slight drop from the 21.7% rate on Monday. Nationally, the overall test-positivity rate stands at 9.4%, according to a FEMA memo obtained by ABC News. PHOTO: A healthcare worker wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) collects paperwork at an El Rio Health Covid-19 drive-thru testing site in Tucson, Arizona, on July 13, 2020. (Cheney Orr/Bloomberg via Getty Images) Arizona reported 4,273 new cases and 92 new deaths on Tuesday, according to the state's Department of Health Services. The state has 197 adult ICU beds available, the department said. On Monday officials said ICUs were 90% full. Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday he was expanding testing capacity and limiting indoor dining to 50%. 11:35 a.m.: Florida has 48 hospitals with no ICU beds Out of 309 facilities being tracked, Florida has 48 hospitals with no available ICU beds, and 31 hospitals with just one available ICU bed, according to the state's Agency for Healthcare Administration. These numbers will fluctuate throughout the day. MORE: Too little too late: The story of how Florida shattered the country's single-day COVID record Hard-hit Florida saw a record new 133 deaths bringing the fatality total to 4,513, the state's Department of Health said Tuesday. PHOTO: A crowd of people explore the newly completed St. Petersburg Pier in St. Petersburg, Fla., July 12, 2020. (ZACK WITTMAN/The New York Times/Redux) PHOTO: Crowds of people explore the newly completed St. Petersburg Pier in St. Petersburg, Fla., July 12, 2020. (ZACK WITTMAN/The New York Times/Redux) Miami-Dade County, which includes Miami, and Osceola County, home to the cities of Kissimmee and Celebration, are especially hard-hit. Miami-Dade is reporting a positivity rate of 22.1% while Osceola County's positivity rate stands at 22.8%. Duval County, home to Jacksonville, and Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa, both have positivity rates at 16%. 11:12 a.m.: Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Wisconsin added to NY travel advisory Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin have been added to New York's coronavirus travel advisory, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday. PHOTO: A group of Minnesota State University, Mankato students sit at The 507 in Mankato, Minn., July 8, 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. (Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via AP) Those four states join Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. Delaware has been removed from the list. MORE: Asymptomatic and presymptomatic people transmit most COVID-19 infections: Study Travelers headed to New York, New Jersey or Connecticut from those states must quarantine for two weeks. The quarantine applies to states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a one-week average, or any state with a 10% or higher positivity rate over a one-week average. 10:50 a.m.: Hong Kong launches new restrictions after sudden spike in cases Beginning at 12 a.m. Wednesday local time, Hong Kong is returning to stricter social distancing measures after seeing a new surge in cases. PHOTO: Passengers wear surgical masks in an MTR train in Hong Kong, July 13, 2020. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters) Hong Kong reported over 200 new coronavirus cases in the last week, following nearly a month without a single case. For at least the next week, Hong Kong is closing bars, gyms, playgrounds, pools and entertainment venues, including Hong Kong Disneyland. MORE: Hong Kong Disneyland to close shortly after reopening Public gatherings cannot exceed four people. Masks will be mandatory in taxis and on public transportation -- and those who do not comply can be fined. PHOTO: Commuters wear face masks as they travel on the top deck of a tram in Hong Kong on July 10, 2020, as the city experiences new local outbreaks of COVID-19. (Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images) Restaurants will be take-out only for dinner, while dining in will be permitted for breakfast and lunch. Also, travelers must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before boarding a flight to Hong Kong. 10:20 a.m.: Virginia Beach, Montana see new jumps Virginia Beach, Virginia, may be a new spot to watch, according to an internal FEMA memo obtained by ABC News. Virginia Beach reported 317 new cases for the week ending July 8 -- a 92.1% increase over the previous week. PHOTO: Beachgoers crowd the shoreline along the oceanfront on June 29, 2020, in Virginia Beach, Va. (Steve Helber/AP) Montana is also seeing a drastic jump. On July 9, the state reached a new single-day record of 96 new cases, according to the FEMA memo. There were 377 new cases reported in the week ending July 8 -- a 59.1% increase week-over-week. MORE: Without vaccine, we'll never reach herd immunity: Scientists Nationally, the overall test-positivity rate stands at 9.4%, according to the FEMA memo. PHOTO: People visit the Destiny USA mall during the reopening, as the coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions are eased in Syracuse, N.Y., July 10, 2020. (Maranie Staab/Reuters) Forty states reported an upward trend test-positivity rate over the last week. Nationwide death counts show a large increase in the last two days. From July 6 to July 12, there were 410,332 new cases reported and 5,073 new deaths in the U.S. Those figures represent a 20.4% increase in cases and a 47.4% increase in deaths. 9 a.m.: New Jersey governor: 'We've lived through hell' New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is "very concerned" about surges in other states because "we've lived through hell," he told ABC News' "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "We've lost over 13,000 confirmed fatalities to COVID-19 in our state. Over 15,000 if you include probable deaths," he said. "We don't want to have to go through that again." PHOTO: Medical workers load a body into an ambulance at Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center on April 16, 2020 in Andover, N.J. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images, File) New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday he was issuing an order requiring out-of-state travelers from states with rising coronavirus cases to give local authorities their contact information when they arrive. Cuomo said this would help enforce the mandatory quarantine for people traveling to New York from high coronavirus states. MORE: Anxiety, depression increasing among mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic When asked if New Jersey is considering a similar order, Murphy told "GMA," "we'll do it our own way, but were deadly serious about this." "We knew when we opened our state up we'd take on more risk of transmission of the virus, but there's an added element from folks who are coming in from out of state, from hot spots, and we'll take that very seriously," he said. PHOTO: Medical professionals work at a coronavirus walk-up testing site at Public Safety Headquarters on April 10, 2020, in Jersey City, N.J. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images, File) New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have a travel advisory in place for states with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a week average, or any state with 10% of higher positivity rate over a week average. Travelers arriving in the tri-state area from those states must quarantine for two weeks. Last week, Delaware, Kansas and Oklahoma were added to the travel list, joining Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. 4:22 a.m.: Russia lifts 2-week quarantine for arriving foreigners A 14-day quarantine will no longer be required for anyone arriving to Russia, according to a decree signed by the country's chief sanitary doctor on Monday. Starting from Wednesday, people entering Russia will need to provide a document -- in English or Russian -- that they have tested negative for the coronavirus in the past 72 hours. Alternatively, they can test in Russia and provide the document within three days. This news followed last week's announcement that Russia is looking to resume international air travel in mid-July. Russia confirmed 6,248 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday bringing the country's official number of cases to 739,947. Over the past 24 hours, 175 people have died bringing the total death toll to 11,614. A total of 8,804 people recovered over the last 24 hours bringing the overall number of recoveries to 512,825. What to know about coronavirus: How it started and how to protect yourself: Coronavirus explained What to do if you have symptoms: Coronavirus symptoms Tracking the spread in the U.S. and worldwide: Coronavirus map 3:17 a.m.: University of Miami infectious disease doctor: 'Miami is now the epicenter for the virus' A group of Miami-area medical experts joined Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez on a Zoom news conference Monday and made clear that South Florida is in a dire position when it comes to the spread of COVID-19. PHOTO: A health care worker signs people up for testing at a COVID-19 testing site at the Miami Beach Convention Center, during the coronavirus pandemic, Monday, July 13, 2020, in Miami Beach, Fla. (Lynne Sladky/AP) "Miami is now the epicenter for the virus," said Lilian M. Abbo, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Miami Health System and the chief of infection prevention for Jackson Health System. "What we were seeing in Wuhan [China] five months ago, we're now seeing here." The experts were speaking minutes after Florida announced 12,624 new cases of COVID-19 -- a day after Florida set a daily record for any state with 15,300 new cases. The experts stressed the need to restrict large gatherings of people in indoor spaces, and Gimenez said the biggest thing that needs to be done is residents following the safety guidelines. "The reason [for the spike] is us. There's no Boogeyman. The reason is us," he said. "We have to change our behavior. The no. 1 reason is our behavior." 1:59 a.m.: Hawaii delays reopening to tourists until Sept. 1 Hawaii Gov. David Ige announced that, in light of the surge of cases on the mainland, Hawaii is delaying its reopening to tourists until Sept. 1. The plan was to allow tourists who have tested negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours of their trip to Hawaii to bypass that mandatory two-week self quarantine starting in August. But with the increase of cases in the state and the growing number of cases nationwide, officials decided to delay it by a month. "I am announcing today that we will be delaying the launch of the pre-travel testing program until September 1," said Ige during the press conference. "The outbreaks on the mainland are not in control and we don't believe that situation will change significantly by Aug. 1st". Said Ige: "We did believe it would be in the best interest of everyone here in the state of Hawaii to delay the start of the program to Sept. 1. I know this increases the burden of businesses here in Hawaii we still believe in the pre-testing program and we will take actions to implement it safely." ABC News' Alex Faul, Marilyn Heck, Joshua Hoyos, Alina Lobzina, Josh Margolin, Bonnie Mclean, Scott Withers and Karson Yiu contributed to this report. Moderna says everyone in coronavirus vaccine trial developed antibodies originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Lockheed Martin does not appear to have much in the way of operations in China. The company generated 9.7 percent of its revenue in the Asia-Pacific region last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, almost all of it with U.S. allies and partners such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Ghislaine Maxwell appears via video link during her arraignment hearing in Manhattan Federal Court in New York - JANE ROSENBERG/ REUTERS Ghisaine Maxwell will spend the next year in prison after she was denied bail by a US judge who heard she was a predator and a monster from whom victims needed protecting. Ms Maxwell, a longtime associate of disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, wiped away tears on Tuesday as she pleaded not guilty at a New York court to charges of luring girls for him to sexually abuse. Ms Maxwell, 58, appeared via video link before US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan, who agreed with the prosecution that the British heiress was the definition of a flight risk due to her international connections, high-profile friends and vast hidden wealth. The daughter of media magnate Robert Maxwell is facing six criminal charges, including four related to transporting minors for illegal sexual acts and two of perjury. She will remain at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn until her trial starts on July 12, 2021. In ruling, Ms Nathan said the risk of Ms Maxwell fleeing was too great" to mitigate. Prince Andrew smiling as he stands with his left arm around the waist of a young Virginia Roberts - Capital Pictures She described the socialites "extraordinary capacity to evade detection, access to substantial finances, multiple citizenships, strong connections to the UK and France and lack of ties to the US. Alison Moe, assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), told the court Ms Maxwell had "the ability to live off the grid indefinitely," citing her access to millions of dollars in bank accounts and the scant information about her finances provided by her lawyers. Ms Nathan said even a larger bond package than the $5 million the defendant had offered would not be sufficient, nor would even the most restrictive of house arrest conditions. Ms Maxwell, who appeared virtually from prison due to coronavirus restrictions, was seen sporting a baggy brown prison uniform. She appeared tired behind her dark-rim glasses with her short hair scraped back into a bun - a far cry from her glamorous jet-setting image. Story continues She addressed the judge softly and politely in a well-spoken British accent. Two of the alleged victims identified in the indictment against Ms Maxwell appealed to the judge not to grant bail, saying they feared it would allow her to escape justice. Epstein and Maxwell with President Trump and Melania, back in 2000 - Getty Annie Farmer, waiving her right to anonymity, said: "She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and other young women. She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors. She has demonstrated contempt for our legal system by perjury. "The danger she poses must be taken seriously," said Miss Farmer, who has accused the defendant of enabling her abuse in the md-1990s. Another, who wished to remain anonymous for her own security, told Judge Nathan: "Without Ghislaine, Jeffrey couldnt have done what he did. Calling Ms Maxwell a monster, she said: "I have great fear she will flee. She has a sole motive of self-preservation." She added that should Ms Maxwell be released before trial that she would "need protection". It was an unusual spectacle with participants appearing by video on a screen in a large jury assembly room at a courthouse where the 60 or so spectators are tested for fevers and must answer questions related to Covid-19. Before Tuesday's hearing, Ms Maxwells lawyers submitted their appeal to the judge, arguing that she is at risk of contracting Covid-19 if she remains in jail. However, Judge Nathan ruled that the 58-year-old was not at exceptional risk and was confident in the Metropolitan Detention Centers prevention measures. Ms Maxwells lawyers had argued that she had no intention of trying to flee, pointing to the fact that she has not left the US since Epstein was arrested last summer. Epstein was charged last July with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He was ruled to have hanged himself last August 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail. Lawyers for her defence said she had not been hiding out at the $1.1m 156-acre property in Bradford, New Hampshire, she purchased in cash through a limited company when she was arrested by the FBI, but was simply escaping the "medias glare". They argued that Epstein's death left the media "wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein, even though she'd had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade, had never been charged with a crime or been found liable in any civil litigation, and has always denied any allegations of claimed misconduct." Ms Maxwell had put up a $5million bond offer, to be secured by property in the UK and six close family and friends. Her lawyers asked that Ms Maxwell be allowed out on house arrest at a luxury hotel in Manhattan, submit to electronic tagging and relinquish her three passports. Mark Cohen, her attorney, cited precedents for bail, naming Bernie Madoff, a financier who executed the largest Ponzi scheme in history, and Adnan Khoshoaggi, the Saudi arms dealer. However, prosecutors for the SDNY described Ms Maxwell as the definition of a flight risk" reflecting her wealth, multiple citizenships - American, French and British - and prior success in evading capture, and said she should remain detained. In documents submitted on Monday opposing Ms Maxwell's application for bail, she revealed that FBI officers discovered that she is "extremely skilled at living in hiding". She had reportedly wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil in a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection and hired former British soldiers to guard her hideout in New Hampshire. The prosecution claimed in court on Tuesday that when Ms Maxwell toured the mansion where she was ultimately arrested in December, she used an alias, telling a property estate agent her name was Jen Marshall and that she was a journalist seeking privacy. She is good at living under an assumed identity. There really can be no question that she can live in hiding, said Ms Moe. "It shows she is willing to lie about who she is, which should be extremely concerning to the court. Attorney Spencer Kuvin, who is representing six of Epstein's alleged victims, said: "The weight of money, power and influence has finally been overcome by the weight of justice and truth. This is a victory for my clients, the victims of Epsteins illicit sexual pyramid scheme, and as is the rest of the world, we will be eagerly watching as the scales of justice finally tip against Maxwell and other co-conspirators. By Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic has agreed a rescue deal with shareholders and creditors worth 1.2 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) to secure its future beyond the coronavirus crisis, the British airline said on Tuesday. The private-only deal removes the need for government support that had previously been sought by founder Richard Branson and is expected to be completed towards the end of this summer and be spread across the next 18 months. By Alistair Smout LONDON (Reuters) - Virgin Atlantic has agreed a rescue deal with shareholders and creditors worth 1.2 billion pounds ($1.5 billion) to secure its future beyond the coronavirus crisis, the British airline said on Tuesday. The private-only deal removes the need for government support that had previously been sought by founder Richard Branson and is expected to be completed towards the end of this summer and be spread across the next 18 months. The airline, which is 51% owned by Branson's Virgin Group and 49% by U.S. airline Delta, has had to close its Gatwick base and cut more than 3,500 jobs to contend with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has grounded planes and hammered demand for air travel. "The last six months have been the toughest we have faced in our 36-year history. We have taken painful measures, but we have accomplished what many thought impossible," Chief Executive Shai Weiss said in a statement, adding that the carrier is targeting profitability from 2022. "We greatly appreciate the support of our shareholders, creditors and new private investors and, together, we will ensure that Virgin Atlantic can emerge a sustainably profitable airline with a healthy balance sheet." The airline's high-profile billionaire founder Branson had attracted criticism after calling for government help for Virgin Atlantic to survive the downturn. The government had said that airlines needed to exhaust private avenues of investment before individual support for companies was considered. In the end, the airline clinched a deal without public funding. Virgin Group will invest 200 million pounds, with shareholders providing 400 million pounds of further support through deferrals and waivers. New partner Davidson Kempner, an investment firm, will also provide 170 million pounds in secured funding, while creditors are supporting the airline through more than 450 million pounds of deferrals. (Reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Stephen Addison and David Goodman) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. All 16 NRL teams may be forced to relocate to Queensland amid fears of a second coronavirus wave in New South Wales. The Australian Rugby League Commission met on Tuesday to discuss moving the entire competition to the Sunshine State and sending its players back into lockdown. ARLC Chairman Peter V'landys said relocating the whole competition was 'an option' but would be 'a worst-case scenario', The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The Australian Rugby League Commission held a COVID-19 meeting on Tuesday and may relocate all 16 NRL teams to Queensland (Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane pictured) Mr V'landys said prohibiting all non-Queensland players from leaving their homes, unless going to training and games, for the next two weeks should be enough to fight the virus. 'We believe that bringing in harsh and strict biosecurity measures now will ensure that there'll be no risk going to and from Queensland, especially when we fly in and fly out,' he said. He said he had written to Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to discuss the NRL competition after she declared 77 Sydney suburbs as COVID-19 hotspots. 'We're not making any rash decisions. We will be patient and see how this pans out,' Mr V'landys said. The contingency plan comes as Melbourne Storm were forced to relocate to the Sunshine Coast amid Melbourne's stage three coronavirus lockdown. New South Wales has also recorded an alarming coronavirus spike with 13 new cases reported on Tuesday and 28 cases linked to Crossroads Hotel in western Sydney. The return to lockdown and team bubbles will see players unable to attend any restaurants, pubs or beaches and visitors to their homes will also be restricted. The entire NRL competition (Raiders and Storm game pictured) could move to Queensland if coronavirus cases in NSW continue to rise, after the state recorded 13 new cases on Tuesday 'We won't take any risks with our players and the community. 'We are enforcing the original protocols to ensure our players are not mixing with the general community. We are doing everything we can to keep the playing group healthy during this period,' Mr V'landys said. He also thanked the players and clubs for adhering to the strict lockdown rules. 'The players have done the right thing and when there has been a mistake clubs have been very quick to report any breach.' Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould told the 100% Footy show on Monday that the NRL was ready to move all its teams to Queensland. 'What I do know is the NRL is prepared. 'They are ready to go, if in fact the borders shut again and we're in lockdown again, Peter V'landys will pick up the teams and move them to Queensland or anywhere else he has to do to keep the competition going,' he said. The NRL will play Round 10 this weekend and still has another 10 rounds to go followed by four weeks of finals. Under fire for his controversial remarks on Ayodhya and Lord Ram, the Nepal government on Tuesday launched a damage control act to clarify that the statements of Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli were 'not linked to any political subject' and have no intention at all to 'hurt' the feeling and sentiment of anyone. Several top Nepalese political leaders from different parties slammed Oli for making 'senseless and irrelevant' remarks that Lord Ram was born in Thori near Birgunj and the real Ayodhya lies in Nepal. They have asked him to withdraw his controversial statement. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday clarified that the remarks made by Prime Minister Oli 'are not linked to any political subject and have no intention at all to hurt the feelings and sentiments of anyone'. It further stressed that his remarks 'were not meant to debasing the significance of Ayodhya and the cultural value it bears'. 'As there have been several myths and references about Shri Ram and the places associated with him, the Prime Minister was simply highlighting the importance of further studies and research of the vast cultural geography the Ramayana represents to obtain facts about Shri Ram, Ramayana and the various places linked to this rich civilization,' the ministry said. It underlined that the tradition of celebrating Bibaha Panchami where a marriage procession coming from Ayodhya, India to Janakpur, Nepal takes place every year. 'The prime ministers of Nepal and India launched the Ramayana Circuit in May 2018, of which Janakpur-Ayodhya Passenger Bus Service is an important component. These facts signify the bond of time honoured cultural affinity between our two countries and peoples,' the ministry added. The clarification comes at a time when there is public outcry in Nepal over Prime Minister Oli's controversial remarks on Ayodhya. 'PM Oli's statements have crossed the limit. Extremism only creates trouble,' former prime minister Baburam Bhattarai tweeted. In his sarcastic remark, Bhattarai said, 'Now let's hope to hear the new Ramayan of Kaliyug from PM Oli.' "Such silly, unconfirmed and unproven remarks by the Prime Minister was not desirable. PM Oli's attention seems to have been drawn towards damaging Nepal's relations with India instead of improving them, which is not appropriate," said Kamal Thapa, former foreign minister and president of the pro-Hindu Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Senior leader of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (NCP) Bam Dev Gautam said that Prime Minister Oli should withdraw his controversial remarks on Ayodhya. 'The statement made by Prime Minister Oli was without any evidence and it has only created controversy within and outside the country, so he must withdraw the statement and apologize for that,' Gautam wrote on his Facebook page. 'There are large numbers of devotees of Lord Ram both in Nepal and India, and no one should hurt people's religious faith,' Gautam said. 'For a realistic communist it makes no difference whether Lord Ram was born here or there.' "Such senseless and irrelevant remarks made by a person of high position will damage the country's prestige," said Bishnu Rijal, deputy chief of the Publicity Committee of the ruling party. 'It was folly for PM Oli to wade in and raise controversy on the placement of Ayodhya, home of the mythological Lord Ram,' tweeted senior journalist of Nepal Kanak Dixit. 'This creates a schism with a section of India's population when earlier it was only with the Indian Government.' Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 03:27:46|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Manhattan, New York, to charges that she helped traffic young women for her former boyfriend and sex crime convict Jeffrey Epstein. "How do you wish to plead to the charges?" Manhattan federal Judge Alison Nathan asked the 58-year-old. "Not guilty, your honor," Maxwell replied while attending the hearing remotely from a federal jail in Brooklyn, New York. Maxwell was arrested on July 2 on a six-count indictment charging her with recruiting and grooming underage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein, who died Aug. 10, 2019 in prison in what officials said was an apparent suicide. Maxwell's charges include conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sexual acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two counts of perjury. Maxwell requested that a judge free her on a 5-million-U.S. dollar bond, but the bail was opposed by prosecutor Alison Moe at Tuesday's hearing, citing Maxwell's deception with a real estate agent to hide her name and identity when she purchased a sprawling estate in Bradford, New Hampshire, where she was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. Nathan set July 12, 2021 as the beginning date of Maxwell's trial, which is expected to last three weeks. Enditem Much of Ontario is moving into the third stage of reopening as the number of new COVID-19 cases has remained steadily low. Health Minister Christine Elliott said there were 111 new cases reported Tuesday morning, with one death. Locally, 28 of Ontarios 34 public health units are reporting five or fewer cases, with fully 21 of them reporting no new cases at all, Elliott said on Twitter. With 122 more resolved, there are 11 fewer active cases in the province. There are 137 patients in hospital with COVID-19 with 39 in intensive care units. Of those, 21 are on ventilators. Most of Ontario excluding the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and parts of the southwest will enter the third stage Friday, meaning restaurants and bars can serve meals indoors and gyms can reopen as long as physical distancing is maintained. Queens Park says 2,723 people have died from the virus since the pandemic struck in March, but the Star has determined there have been 2,761 coronavirus deaths in Ontario. That difference of 38 fatalities is because some were not included were not included early in the outbreak since COVID-19 tests had not been conducted before those people most of whom were elderly residents of long-term-care homes died. The government says there have been 36,950 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, a Star survey of Ontarios regional health units found a total of 38,966 confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19. Over the last week, the provinces 34 health units have reported an average of 127 new infections per day well down from a sustained peak of nearly 600 cases per day, seen in late April. Tuesdays 5 p.m. total, up 91 cases in 24 hours, did not include any new reports from Toronto, which has switched to updating just three days a week. The Stars tally includes some patients reported as probable COVID-19 cases, which means they have symptoms, travel history or contacts that indicate they likely have the disease, but havent yet received a positive test from a lab. Read more about: During my last full-time job as an executive leader, my colleagues and I were asked to stand in front of the entire company and talk about which of the organizations corporate values resonated with us the most. Our choices: self-awareness, positive energy, judgment, intellectual honesty, and empathy. These values, along with others like integrity, courage, passion, and fun, might look familiar. Theyre the list of company values taped up in corner offices and corridors around the world, even if most employees never know they exist. Empathy, said the woman two seats down from me. Because people say Im good at connecting with other people. Several nods from the crowd of supportive employees. Empathy, said the guy next to her, one seat down from me. I care about other people, and do my best to treat them as I want to be treated. More nods, and a few spontaneous claps. Intellectual honesty, I said. Because Im pretty good at cutting through the bullshit. I got a few smiles and nervous laughs but was mostly met with bewildered silence. I think I was supposed to say empathy, but I couldnt bring myself to do it. As a branding and leadership executive, with a background as an academic psychologist, maybe I knew a little too much about what the word empathy means. Or, rather, how it can mean so many different thingsyet absolutely nothingat the same time. For a word that didnt exist in the English language until the 20th century, empathy has emerged as a linguistic superstar. Since 2004, Google searches for the word have risen steadily, with frequency more than doubling over the past decade alone. With the explosion of the global coronavirus pandemicalong with escalated racial tensionsempathy has embedded itself in the public discourse, often with reference to which political leaders have demonstrated it and which have not. Outside the political ring, corporations, big and small, have become downright obsessed with empathy. Some leaders, like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, have a long track record of touting empathy as a central guiding force. There is no way we are going to be able to succeed...if we dont have a deep sense of empathy, he has said. More recently, multiple news organizations heralded Airbnbs CEO Brian Chesky as empathetic for the way in which he communicated staff layoffs due to COVID-19. I have a deep feeling of love for all of you, he wrote in an internal company memo. Leaders understand that this is good for business. A recent poll from Ipsos (on behalf of PepsiCo Beverages North America) reports that how brands respond to the coronavirus pandemic will impact shopping intentions of more than half of Americans, and that Americans see it as more important now for businesses to demonstrate empathetic qualities. This all makes intuitive sense. Like puppies and rainbows, empathy is one of those things that seem like a pure, absolute positive. As professor Paul Bloom jokes in his book Against Empathy, You can never be too rich or too thinor too empathetic. From my perspective, though, too much is lacking from this empathy discourse. As I felt when I stood in front of that room to talk about my favorite corporate value, I still dont know exactly what everyone is talking about. Empathy sounds good, but how are we defining it? Empathy is ubiquitous, but are all businesses talking about the same thing? Does being an empathetic organization mean taking an action of some kind, or just having feelings? In the corporate world, answers to these questions are hard to find. While empathy increasingly appears as a part of companies mission statements, hardly any define what they actually mean by it. The overriding assumption is that the word simply speaks for itself. (Spoiler alert: It doesnt.) The issue with companies touting empathetic messages is that while its easy to talk about doing good things for employees and customers, it is far more difficult to generate and sustain positive corporate behaviors. In the past, organizations might have gotten a pass, or even praise, for communicating empathetic messages internally and to the public. But set against the backdrop of uncertainty about the future of business, and of life in general, people are taking notice of how companies messages match up with their actions. There is a tremendous amount of collective anxiety about what our individual futures hold. Some authors have pointed out that this particular period of time may be bringing up feelings of grief and trauma at scale. At a time when most of us are thinking about roughly the same things and having many of the same conversations, the concept of widespread empathy is imperative. So it is no surprise that businesses, as part of our cultural fabric, are striving to be part of the conversation. Most of them use social media channels to tell us that they care about us as employees and customers, and that they are there for all of us during times of crisis. But often those messages are unsubstantiated, and the intentions behind them are frequently muddied. What is becoming clear is that the risk of companies simply talking about empathy without translating those words to measurable, tangible outcomes can result in catastrophe. Study after study has shown that employees, especially younger ones, will quit to work for companies that better align with their personal values. And, similarly, customers are more than happy to spend their money elsewhere, choosing to align with organizations that are willing to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. Empathy might be one of the most popular topics of scientific inquiry of our time. Within the past decade, Google Scholarwhich indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across formats and disciplinesgives nearly 600,000 citations for just the term empathy. Most of the academic curiosity around empathy focuses on exactly what it is and, correspondingly, how to measure it. In their effort to make sense of the scientific characterization of empathy, social psychologist Judith Hall and research scientist Rachel Schwartz published an article in 2019 that analyzed the state of the concept across nearly 500 independent studies. What they concluded is that often the word empathy should be bypassed altogether because there is widespread disagreement about what it means. Instead, they argue, people should refer to what they are actually talking about, be it feeling anothers feelings, reading their emotional cues, caring about others distress, listening to their stories, or any of the other various elements that comprise the empathy laundry list. Our point was not to find fault, write Hall and Schwartz, but to illustrate the many ways authors attempt to deal with a construct that is essentially intractable. The challenge to theoryis compounded by the fact that empathy is alternatively treated as a process, a trait, a capacity or competency, a response or reaction to observing anothers experiences, and interpersonal behavior itself. In other words, the research overwhelmingly shows that its dangerous to assume that we know exactly what anyone is talking about when they talk about empathy. The business world is hardly clarifying things. The word is applied liberally to what companies are saying and doing, especially as we all continue to grapple with the ambiguity that lies ahead. Companies are blasting messages about caring about each other during uncertain times, with the common refrain that were here for you and that, above all, we are in this together! In response to the senseless police murder of George Floyd, along with many more, other companies are following similar templates to talk about how they stand in solidarity, stand up against racism, and show support for the Black community. In a viral tweet, video game writer Chris Franklin poked fun at the deep uniformity of brand messages: We at [Brand] are committed to fighting injustice by posting images to Twitter that express our commitment to fighting injustice. To that end, we offer this solemn white-on-black .jpeg that expresses vague solidarity with the Black community, but will quietly elide the specifics of what is wrong, what needs to change, or in what ways we will do anything about it...We hope this action encourages you to view [Brand] positively without, you know, expecting anything from us. Within a few minutes of spotting that tweet, I saw another from CBS telling me that they stand in solidarity with our Black colleagues, creators, partners, and audiences and condemn all acts of racism, discrimination, and senseless acts of violence. And another from Pixar letting me know that they stand for inclusion. Fantastic. But what does it mean? Dont get me wrong; some companies are doing more. Several organizations have committed to donating real money to fuel the fight against injustice. Walmart, as one example, announced that it will contribute $100 million over five years to create a new center for racial equity. Others, like Ben & Jerrys, created useful resources for employees and consumers to get involved with political movements. This is progress. Still, the vast majority of organizations seem satisfied with lip service aloneand they do so at their own peril. This is not the first time that corporations have found themselves in this position. The term greenwashing emerged in 1986, back when consumers first began gravitating toward environmentally friendly companies. The term described an organization that spends more time and money on marketing itself as eco-conscious than it actually works to minimize its environmental impact. Mega conglomerate Nestle, for example, has faced wide-scale criticismand a growing pile of expensive lawsuitsfor contributing to human rights violations and global plastic pollution. Yet the company has spent millions marketing itself as creating positive impact and shared value, without sufficiently addressing its core business practices. Similarly, were now seeing a version of this we can call kindwashing: Its when an organization spends more time and money on marketing itself as empathetic than it does on minimizing practices that alienate or take advantage of employees and consumers. And in a strange way, the word empathy enables this because it is so ill-defined. If nobody can pin down exactly what the word means or what it looks like, then businesses dont have to worry about managing employee or consumer expectations. Words and actions are left up to interpretation. But people are watching, and a gulf is growing between corporate leaders and the people who make businesses run. For the past four years, the corporate benefits company Businessolver has released annual reports on the state of workplace empathy. Results from its 2019 study point to a notable trend: While 92 percent of CEOs say that their organizations are empathetic, only 72 percent of employees agree. Meanwhile, employees are clear about where their priorities lie: Ninety-three percent of employees are likely to stay with an empathetic employer, and 82 percent would consider leaving a job for a more empathetic organization. Businessolvers authors skirt around clear definitions of what they mean by empathyit is, after all, such a slippery word. But employees are clearly recognizing the absence of it. Within the past year alone, several high-profile companiesfrom WeWork and Away to Outdoor Voices and Pinteresthave endured employee outrage and worker attrition due to unempathetic business practices that contribute to work environments that have frequently been described as toxic. The message to organizational leaders is that they need to invest more care and effort to engage their employees. This makes good business sense because research shows that taking care of employees is a necessary precondition for building and sustaining a customer-first culture. This cant happen until leaders commit to defining what empathy means to them, and how that leads to specific, observable actions. This is what it means to stop kindwashing, and to start being kind. Throughout the global pandemic and the escalating Black Lives Matter movement, we have heard from hundreds of companies expressing empathy across every known medium. For the most part, though, organizations are reactingperhaps because they feel compelled to, but perhaps also because empathy (of any definition!) isnt an honest part of their core. Without a clear understanding of who they are or why they exist, business leaders words will always ring hollow, and their operations will become disorganized and ad hoc. A crisis will only magnify those problems. How does an organization fix this? It doesnt react to the moment. It looks deeply inward. Organizations need to build and install what I call a human operating system. In technology, an operating system (OS) supports basic functions that enable more complex tasks to happen. Without iOS or Android, we cant play Candy Crush. Similarly, a human OS serves as the structural glue that encodes how values like empathy propagate through all organizational operations, from internal behaviors, processes, and communication to external messages and actions. At the heart of a human OS is a core essence, a central idea. Its what that company or person is aboutand its critical for flawless execution at all levels, during a time of crisis or not. From that central idea, an operating system has space to grow. Building a human OS fortifies the connective thread from that core to an organizations vision, mission, and values. This requires business leaders and their companies to commit to articulating a clear purpose and point of view that results in more than words in a presentation or on a corporate website. After codifying these foundational elements, installing a human OS translates words into action, ensuring that every aspect of an organizations efforts is synchronized and consistent. Just as a technology operating system controls every part of a computer, a human OS drives business actions holisticallyfrom hiring and performance management evaluation to programs, offerings, services, thought leadership, partnerships, customer experiences, brand expression, and external communications. Building and installing a human OS is what allows businesses and their leaders to align what they say theyre going to do with what they actually do. This is a first step to putting a stop to kindwashing. Organizations that talk about the concept of empathy typically do so because a senior leader in the companyusually the founder or the CEObelieves that caring about employees and customers is not mutually exclusive with making a profit. At the very least, that should be their ambition. So, a challenge to organizational leaders across companies of all sizes: If your HR or marketing team is going to express empathy as a company value, it is incumbent on a leader to model that behavior. This asks leaders to do the work of explicitly clarifying what empathy means to them, and then laying out specific actions that theyre going to take for employees and customers to demonstrate their commitment to those actions. In a recent LinkedIn article, for instance, H&R Blocks president and CEO, Jeff Jones, responded to the Black Lives Matter movement on behalf of the senior leadership team, by pledging action. This is much more than a momentthis is a movement, he wrote, and promised, among other fixes, to expand the companys hiring practices. I called him to ask about H&R Blocks process, and he said it begins with an honest review of where the company has gaps. Filling those gaps means going deep on where the issues are, he says, and setting clear, specific goals by function. Its not political; its about focusing on people, individuals. That last part is key. Jones is demonstrating that the best way to model behavior is to do what most of us were taught back in first grade: Listen. No, really. Listen. Carl Rogers and Richard Farson coined the term active listening in 1957, writing that active listening is an important way to bring about changes in people...[it] brings about changes in peoples attitudes toward themselves and others; it also brings about changes in their basic values and personal philosophy. Hearing someone is easy; active listening is hard work. It requires our full mental capacity, so active listening is as draining as it is rewarding. Yet at a time when companies are confused about how to behave, it is important to remember something so simple, so basic. Active listening means paying deep and close attention to how employees and customers are doing. It means taking the deliberate time to understand how they might be feeling, and why they might be feeling that way. This isnt about investing shrinking budgets into big research studies. Its about taking the time required to understand what problem empathy is trying to solve before jumping to a presumed solution. When massive cultural moments take hold, brands are quick to react, respond, and post. There almost seems to be a hidden, driving belief that moving the fastest will win the grand prize of higher employee retention and deeper customer loyalty. Thats why we got all those Were here for you emails from brands we hadnt interacted with in years during the initial spread of COVID-19. The reality is that active listening requires deliberate time and effort. It means having difficult conversations with employees and customers. Intention, discussion, and commitment are all at the heart of what it means to engage in active listening for employees and consumers alike. Not only that, but active listening is at the core of what it means to build, install, and activate a human OS for an organization or an organizations leader. News across the past several months has left behind a trail of cautionary tales. One is of Elon Musk, who repeatedly made decisions against the will of his employees. In one case, he reopened a California Tesla factory in defiance of local health officials. He said employees werent obligated to return if they were uncomfortable, but two Tesla employees claimed they were fired when they chose not to return. Later, when Musk was uncharacteristically silent as the Black Lives Matter demonstrations began, Tesla employees threatened to stage a peaceful rally to commemorate Juneteenth. This prompted Musk to announce that Juneteenth is henceforth considered a U.S. holiday at Tesla and SpaceXbut unlike at major companies like Nike, Target, Adobe, Lyft, and Spotify, which simply gave employees the day off, Musk said his employees would have to take a vacation day to commemorate Juneteenth. Musk is well-known for his eclectic views on a wide range of topics, but his actions as a leader are under scrutiny because he demonstrates a failure to listento healthcare experts, workers, and consumers. Musk may have conviction in his beliefs, but hes holding on to an outdated OS that clashes with employer and customer values because he is not taking the time to understand what other people are feeling. Failure to do this may or may not impact Teslas financial performance, but it will result in more employees speaking out and leaving his companies for ones that better align to their personal values. Compare Musk's leadership style with that of Kenneth Chenault, who served as the CEO and chairman of American Express until 2018. He was said to consult often with his teams, asking questions like: Who is listening to you? How many people respect you? He applied a similar method toward listening to American Express customers, often organizing impromptu listening tours and engaging with customer service teams to better understand the quality of service and support that consumers would receive, and how to continually improve it. This is what allowed him to demonstrate kindness and care through measurable, observable, outcome-driven actionsand the company thrived during his 17-year tenure as the companys leader. Sometimes I reflect back on corporate life, and I think about that meeting where I was asked to explain my favorite company value. If I had been given the proper time to think about it, I might have answered differently instead of trying to make an unmemorable joke. I might have said empathy. Then, I might have gone on to say something like: Im going to say empathy because I think its really important. But I dont knowbecause Im not sure what we really mean when we say it. I wonder if this would be a good time for us to define what empathy means to us, and then discuss how were going to hold ourselves accountable to it. That response may not have earned much empathy from my colleagues. But at least it would have come from a good place. Related: Stop Talking About Empathy, and Start Acting On It 4 Ways to Continue to Get Paid from Home During Quarantine The Economy Can't Recover as Long as Day Cares and Schools Remain Closed Copyright 2020 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved A 39-year-old man accused by police of being a member of an organised crime gang involved in trafficking females for sexual exploitation was refused bail after appearing in court yesterday A 39-year-old man accused by police of being a member of an organised crime gang involved in trafficking females for sexual exploitation was refused bail after appearing in court yesterday. Iliuta Costa Andrescu was arrested in Scotland last week on behalf of the PSNI, transported to Northern Ireland and appeared in Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday. He faces four charges including human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain, and was refused bail by District Judge George Connor. The father-of-two, who is originally from Romania and who has an address at Onslow Drive in Glasgow, appeared at the remote hearing via a video-link while in custody. A detective constable from Larne CID told the court he believed he could connect Andrescu to the four charges he faced. These include trafficking a human for exploitation on October 4, 2017 and keeping or managing a brothel between October 5, 2017 and June 20, 2018. When defence barrister Joel Lindsay applied for bail on Andrescu's behalf, the detective constable told Mr Connor that police were objecting to this. The officer was then asked by the District Judge to outline the background to the alleged offences. He told the court that in July 2017 two young females arrived at Belfast International Airport with nothing but lingerie in their suitcases, and were taken to a house at Glenbrook Avenue in Belfast. The officer said police were alerted to the incident and a proactive investigation was launched by the PSNI's Human Trafficking Unit. When police attended the address, Andrescu resided there and had financial links to the property. The detective constable said that on October 4, 2017 Andrescu's Mercedes was stopped travelling from Dublin Airport to Belfast, and a female passenger told police she was on holiday in Belfast and was visiting coffee shops. It is the police case that later that night the same woman advertised her services as a prostitute. The detective constable said a second account was used to advertise another female at Damascus Street, and when officers called at that address, a man with links to Andrescu was present. When his address was later searched this man was not present but a woman working as a prostitute was. Police seized her phone and computer, and messages were recovered which the police say show Andrescu was "clearly controlling" her for prostitution. The detective constable also told the court images on the computer can be linked to Andrescu's email address, which he provided to police in Scotland. The officer said that when Andrescu's financial records were checked "a lot of money was being sent from people we know were acting as prostitutes to the defendant". When asked why police were opposing bail, the detective constable raised concerns of further offending, and said: "He is a member of an OCG (organised crime gang) that's involved in trafficking females for sexual exploitation." The officer also said if released Andrescu was likely to flee the jurisdiction. Defence barrister Joel Lindsay urged Mr Connor to release his client on bail and said that if released back to Glasgow Andrescu would be easy to monitor as this is where he works and lives with his family. Addressing the charges against his client, Mr Lindsay said similar cases are "notoriously difficult to prosecute", and it was a "big jump" for police to assume Andrescu knew the women he lived with were advertising their services as prostitutes. Bail was refused and the case will be listed again on August 10. Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili. Vinasse is a byproduct of sugar industry. Vinasse is a liquid residual left after fermentation and distillation of alcohol. Vinasse is used for production of biogas, and also for the production of methane which is used to generate electricity. The mineral nutrients present in vinasse are useful for algal and plant growth, especially for sugarcane. The use of vinasse in chemigation is increasing for agriculture areas, substituting potassium fertilizers and furnishing water, organic matter, and other mineral nutrients in negligible quantities which is increasing the market for vinasse. Get free sample copy before purchase this report@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/16693 Market Segmentation Vinasse is segmented by its type, application, form, and region. By its type, it is further segmented as beet vinasse and sugarcane vinasse. Beet vinasse is derived from the production of alcohol from sugar beet. Beet vinasse has a high fertilizing value. It provides a significant level of phosphorous and nitrogen. Beet vinasse is useful for organic farming and used as a fertilizer especially for arable crops. Sugarcane vinasse is used in alcohol. Sugarcane vinasse is high in organic matter and various nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and minerals such as zinc, iron, manganese, and others. By its application, it is segmented as animal feeding, beverages, and agriculture. In agriculture, it is useful in irrigation, especially for sugarcane. In the beverage industry, the distillery vinasse is low feed, as the sugar presents in the molasses used for alcohol production. Vinasse is used in liquid form for animal feeding, and it also used in powdered form which makes it easier to improve the intake. The use of vinasse as an additive is better for feeding and to increase weight and growth due to the presence of organic acids. It also used for feeding birds. By form, it is segmented by liquid and powdered. Liquid vinasse is useful for plants growth which shows rapid recovery. Regional Outlook There is an increasing demand for vinasse throughout the globe with the major exports accounting to the following region; North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and APAC. North America accounts for a significantly bigger market, whereas there is an increase in market demand from developing countries. Asia Pacific region is expected to grow to a considerable fraction during the forecast period. Drivers Increasing demand for beverages is projected to rise the vinasse market over the forecast period. As it is an effluent from sugarcane, it is useful for alcohol production. Vinasse has high levels of potassium, calcium, and organic matter as well as nitrogen and phosphorous which is useful for crop production. In agriculture, it used as a fertilizer and as a raw material for single cell protein production and for energy conversation which is fuelling the demand for vinasse. Along with this, vinasse is mixed with soil to obtain soil vinasse which is then used for the production of non- structural bricks. As vinasse is rich in protein, it is helpful for animal feeding. You can buy this report from here@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/checkout/16693 Increasing popularity and consumption of beverages among consumers is expected to increase the market share of vinasse over the forecast period. The use of vinasse in agriculture is important, but it has several challenges due to its high polluting potential to soil and subterranean water i.e., underground water. Vinasse has high chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) values that contribute to pollution. A high BOD can cause damage to aquatic life. Key global market players manufacturing different types of vinasse are Heineken, Carlsberg Group, Tsingtao Brewery Co, Ltd, SABMiller, Anheuser-Busch Company LLC, Suntory Holdings Limited, etc. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately stop clashes and start de-escalating the conflict, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "The Secretary-General urges an immediate end to the fighting and calls on all involved to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation and refrain from provocative rhetoric," the statement said. The UN chief also expressed full support for efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs to "address this dangerous situation and search for a peaceful, negotiated settlement to the long-standing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict." Man Killed by Police After Stabbing Over Wearing a Mask A man in Michigan was shot dead by police after a stabbing over wearing a mask inside a store. Sean Ruis, 43, was inside the Quality Dairy in Windsor Township early Tuesday when an argument broke out with another customer because Ruis was not wearing a mask. Ruis at one point pulled out a knife and stabbed a 77-year-old man, Michigan State Police said. After being refused service because he wasnt wearing a mask, and the subsequent stabbing, Ruis fled the scene in a vehicle. A female deputy with the Eaton County Sheriffs Department located the vehicle and pulled Ruis over. Thats when the fatal moment happened. She is retreating, ordering him to put his weapon, his knife down, and backs up. And at that time, she defends herself from being attacked with that knife, and she shoots that suspect, Lt. Brian Oleksyk of the state police told reporters. The Michigan State Police said in a statement that the suspect was going to use the knife to attack the deputy. Warning: Footage contains graphic images. VIDEO IS SENSITIVE IN NATURE: Eaton County Sheriffs Department Deputy Involved Shooting. The Michigan State Police 1st District Investigation Response Team is investigating the deputy involved shooting that occurred on Jerryson Drive in Delta Twp, Eaton County on July 14. pic.twitter.com/733H2iOhCa MSP First District (@MSPFirstDist) July 14, 2020 Ruis was rushed to a nearby hospital and died during surgery. He was described as a white male from Grand Ledge. Ruis worked for the state Department of Transportation as a technician, a spokesman told news outlets. The man who was stabbed remains hospitalized in critical condition, Quality Dairy CEO Ken Martin told a local broadcaster. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, ordered last all residents to wear masks in indoor public spaces. The heroes on the front lines of this crisis have gone hours without taking their masks off every daydoctors, 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, she said in a statement. Masks are considered a way to stop the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19. Others point to the dearth of research backing the widespread use of masks. Another mask-related killing unfolded in the state in May, after a security guard at a Family Dollar asked a shopper to wear a face covering. Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton said Sharmel Teague, 44, spit at the security guard, Calvin Munerlyn, when he asked her daughter to don a mask. They exited the establishment after he ordered them to do so. Shortly thereafter, Teagues husband and son entered the store and one shot Munerlyn in the head, prosecutors said. Teague, her husband, and her son were arraigned on first-degree murder and other charges. The sister of one of the men was also charged with tampering with evidence and lying to police after allegedly interfering with efforts to track them down. On June 23, sixty-seven countries signed a statement of support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), in response to President Trumps Executive Order which threatened sanctions against the Court. The statement epitomizes a discourse being promoted by many in Europe and the American Left, which prioritizes international institutions and consensus over national sovereignty and security. This discourse, which reflects a time-honored strategy of weak nations, is based on a fundamentally false conception of international institutions as unbiased and non-political bodies and is one that the United States must actively oppose. International Criminal Court Building, The Hague, Netherlands (Photo credit: OSeveno) The signatories to the June letter declared: We remain committed to an international rules-based order. The ICC is an integral part of this order and a central institution in... the pursuit of justice.... By giving our full support to the ICC and promoting its universal reach, we defend the progress we have made together.... The worldview expressed in this letter is one which aims to build a new global order based on the enlightened pillars of international law, institutions, and consensus. In this worldview, a country is expressly prohibited from taking unilateral action in connection with any other country. Even internal decisions should be based on the international consensus. Hard power is viewed in a negative light. When faced with a military threat, countries should always prefer to negotiate, regardless of the threats lethality, the identity of the aggressor or its history of violence. This discourse and worldview are highly problematic for several reasons. The first is that they ignore the fact that international law and institutions have actually done little in the past decades to prevent conflict or severe human rights violations. However, the danger of this discourse goes much deeper. At its core is an entirely false and misleading view of international institutions and their role in the international order. The founding charters and slogans of international institutions generally express lofty ideals and noble aims. For example, the UN Charter states that its aim is to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, to establish conditions under which justicecan be maintained, and to maintain international peace and security. As a result of what psychologists term the halo effect, these noble ideals are translated into the widespread but false belief that the actions of such institutions reflect elevated ideals and truths, objective analyses and a genuine commitment to promoting human rights and justice. The decisions of such institutions are therefore accorded the stamp of international legitimacy, even when facts determine a contrary response. This belief could not be further from the truth. In reality, the agendas of these institutions are governed by political coalitions which take advantage of these forums to promote national and regional interests. The supreme decision-making bodies of these institutions are generally made up of member states, which shape the institutional agendas through horse-trading, back room deal making, and economic and political levers. They are, by definition, political bodies. As Hillel Neuer, a veteran human rights activist and head of the UN Watch organization, describes with regard to the UNs Human Rights Council: Many people, especially in Europe, imagine that the UNHRC is a council of wise sages. But the reality is that the council is a political body made up of 47 countries, elected by other countries. In addition, they bargain using oil or sovereign wealth fundsThey go to countries and say vote for us. We will give you oil, investments and votes. This description applies equally well to other UN bodies such as the UN General Assembly and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Another prime example of this reality is the World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the UN. The organizations supreme policy-making body is the World Health Assembly, comprised of its 194 state parties. Even before the COVID-19 outbreak, the WHOs activity reflected its political nature. For example, the WHO refused to allow Taiwan to participate in its proceedings, even as an Observer State, due to Chinese pressure. The political bias of the WHO has been further highlighted by its response to COVID-19. While WHO Secretary General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that, this virus does not respect borders, and the WHO claimed it was, working to connect all nations to beat the virus, the organization continued to deny Taiwanese representatives the right to participate in WHO meetings. At the same time, the global health organization went out of its way to praise Chinas response to the virus in spite of clear evidence of concealment. The WHOs politicized nature is also reflected in its discriminatory treatment of Israel. For example, of the twenty-one agenda items at its May 2019 Assembly, only one focused on a particular country: Israel. The item called, inter alia to provide health-related technical assistance to the Syrian population in the occupied Syrian Golan, i.e. the Israeli Golan Heights, while completely ignoring the devastation of Syrian hospitals by Syrian strongman Assad, or Israels provision of medical treatment to Syrian civilians fleeing the war. Furthermore, the WHO continues to refuse to include Israel in its Eastern Mediterranean Region, due to the objections of Arab states, despite the regional grouping including all of Israels neighbors and the Palestinian Authority (and even the more physically-distant but religiously-Muslim Pakistan.) Instead, the WHO classifies Israel as part of Europe. As such, its classifications embody blatantly political positions, rather than public health considerations in combating a virus which does not discriminate on the basis of national borders or religion. The historian Robert Kagan has argued that the discourse which idealizes international institutions and law is a strategy used by weak nations. A powerful nation, such as the United States, remains mired in history, exercising power in an anarchic Hobbesian world where international laws and rules are unreliable. Weaker nations, such as those of Europe, have an interest in building an international order where international law and international institutions matter more than the power of individual nations, where unilateral action by powerful states is forbidden. The International Criminal Court (ICC) represents the epitome of this strategy. It is not surprising that the countries with the worlds most powerful militaries -- most obviously the US, Russia, China and India, but also others such as Turkey, South Korea, North Korea and Pakistan -- are not members of the court. While the vast majority of the worlds countries -- 123 nations -- have ratified the ICCs Rome Statute, the majority of the worlds military might has not. It is interesting to note that among all the worlds declared and suspected nuclear powers, only France and the UK have ratified the Rome Statute. The United States must lead those democracies which understand that international laws and rules are unreliable in opposing the ICCs unfounded assertions of jurisdiction, and other examples of international institutional overreach. It must declare that any UN-linked body, including the WHO, is inherently political and therefore cannot be viewed as an unbiased body. Ultimately, the creation of truly independent and unbiased expert institutions will require detaching them from the UN and similarly structured political bodies. Samuel H. Solomon is engaged in human rights advocacy in defense of democracies and has founded several non-profit organizations to address these issues. Sam has an MBA in Finance, a Masters in Philosophy and Theological Ordination. He may be reached at sam@arizal.biz. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 01:38:30|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close BERLIN, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The man who disarmed and took the guns of four German police officers before fleeing into a forest on Sunday was "classified as a weapons enthusiast," said Prosecutor Herwig Schaefer of the Offenburg public prosecutor's office at a press conference on Tuesday. The 31-year-old man, Yves Rausch, was still on the loose, local police confirmed. Around 200 police officers were on duty to find him. Rausch had already been convicted at a young age and not been allowed to own any weapons and ammunition since 2010. He was last convicted in 2019 for illegal handling of weapons and explosives, for which he was still on probation, according to Schaefer. The man would regard himself as a "ranger" who would know his way around nature and could get along well on his own, said Schaefer. Offenburg's police assumed that the man was still in the area and the operation would not be over quickly. Enditem The B-29 Doc Flight Experience Tour will stop in Omaha, Nebraska, the first weekend of August at Eppley Airfield. Doc will arrive at Eppley Airfield Friday afternoon, July 31 and will be available for B-29 Doc Flight Experience rides Saturday, August 1 and Sunday, August 2. The tour stop is hosted by TAC Air OMA (3737 Orville Plaza, Omaha, NE 68110). The flight schedule for the B-29 Doc Flight Experience rides will be 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., both days. For details about the B-29 Doc Flight Experience and to purchase ride tickets, visit www.b29doc.com/rides. Docs Friends, Inc., is taking all reasonable precautions to protect the B-29 Doc crew as well as passengers in the fight again the spread of COVID-19. All B-29 Doc Flight Experience passengers will be required to wear a mask (one will be provided to each passenger) during the flight. Additionally, the aircraft and all contact surfaces inside the aircraft will be sanitized/disinfected prior to each flight. After bravely beating breast cancer, Jolene Anderson was overjoyed to be pregnant with her and partner Shane's second child. It had been a difficult journey for the 37-year-old Melbourne real estate consultant who had endured IVF, surgery and rounds of radiation throughout 2018, all while working full-time and raising their then 18-month-old daughter, Chloe. At 16 weeks, a distraught Jolene feared she had miscarried when she discovered a pool of blood in the toilet, but doctors assured her the baby was safe and dismissed the clot as a burst haemmorhoid, common during pregnancy. She didn't know it then, but that supposedly innocuous bleeding was the first sign that a rare form of cancer was spreading from her colon to her liver. When the bleeding persisted after welcoming daughter Layla in January 2020, Jolene sought a second opinion and she was scheduled for a colonoscopy. While she waited for that appointment, she found a dense lump on her lower stomach. On May 29, just four months after Layla's birth, Jolene was given the devastating news that a five centimetre long tumour was obstructing her bowel, unrelated to her earlier battle with breast cancer. This time, the cancer is inoperable and incurable. Doctors have given Jolene a life expectancy of two to five years, which means her beloved daughters may never remember their mother. Jolene Anderson with husband Shane and their young daughters, three-year-old Chloe (centre) and newborn Layla Courageous to a fault, Jolene is taking things 'day by day' and doing her best to put her illness to the back of her mind to focus on her number one priority: her family. 'I wish it was a nightmare but we haven't woken up from it yet, obviously,' she told Daily Mail Australia. Her shattered partner Shane is finding things tougher as he rails against the thought of losing the woman he loves. 'He's in denial, I think. When he thinks about it he gets really upset, so it's probably easier not to,' she said. Jolene (pictured with newborn Layla in February 2020) is battling a rare form of bowel cancer that has an average survival rate of less than 12 months from diagnosis Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in men and women in Australia, causing the deaths of 5,375 in 2016 alone, according to figures from the Australian Cancer Council. Symptoms are vague and easily confused with less sinister complaints like stress, indigestion and irritable bowel syndrome, which often leads to lengthy delays in diagnosis. Early warning signs include blood and mucous in stools, abdominal pain, bloating, sudden changes in bowel habits like diarrhoea and constipation, unexplained weight loss and a lump in the anus or rectum. Changes in Jolene's bowel habits were attributed to hormonal changes linked to her pregnancy, and if it hadn't been for the blood in her stool she believes she would never have pushed for further testing. 'I had no idea, I felt absolutely fine other than the blood,' she said. Her shattered partner Shane (right) could be left to raise two young girls who may never remember their mother Today Jolene is fighting an exceptionally rare form of bowel cancer linked to a 'BRAFV600E' gene mutation which has metastatised (spread) to her liver, now riddled with lesions and tumours. Despite major improvements in life expectancy for many advanced cancers, patients with BRAF mutations continue to have poor prognoses with an average survival rate of less than 12 months from diagnosis, according to a 2018 study on the disease. This means treatments beyond standard chemotherapy are crucial to achieving a longer life for Jolene and others like her. She is currently undergoing chemo but all hopes are pinned on an expensive and experimental clinical trial for patients with BRAF, slated to start in October. The treatment receives no government funding and costs $8,000 a month, straight from the pockets of participants. Her beautiful baby girl: Six-month-old Layla, Jolene's youngest daughter Jolene's eldest daughter Chloe, who was not yet a toddler when her mum fought cancer for the first time Early symptoms of bowel cancer - Change in bowel habits with diarrhoea, constipation or the feeling of incomplete emptying - Thin or loose bowel movements - Blood or mucous in stools - Abdominal pain, bloating and cramping - Anal or rectal pain - Lump in the anus or rectum - Unexplained weight loss - Fatigue - Unexplained anaemia Source: Cancer Council Australia Advertisement A crowdfunding campaign created by Jolene's sister Naomi on July 5 has already exceeded its target of $100,000, standing at $122,177 at the time of writing. The money will go towards experimental treatment and Jolene said she will throw 'everything I can at this stupid cancer'. 'It just shows you how generous and amazing people can be in such tough times as well,' she said. 'We were just absolutely mind blown. We've got such beautiful people in our lives though, so in one sense we weren't surprised.' Jolene beams with eldest daughter Chloe in December 2016, two years before her battle with breast cancer and four years before she received the most devastating diagnosis Jolene hopes her story will send a message to young mothers to take note of sudden changes in their health and push for doctors to take their concerns seriously. 'If you're thinking of having kids, just get your cancer markers fully checked out. Pregnancy hormones can spark God knows what inside your body, so just go for it,' she said. 'It could mean the difference between catching something early and being at my stage.' For more information on breast and bowel cancer, please visit the Cancer Council Australia website here. China has warned its citizens they could be arbitrarily searched and have their property seized in Australia, escalating its travel advice as tensions rise between the two countries. The warning, delivered by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs over Chinese social media site WeChat on Monday night, is the third upgrade in as many months after Beijing warned students and tourists that they could face racial discrimination in Australia during the coronavirus pandemic. Tourists at Sydney's Mrs Macquarie's Chair. Credit:Brendan Esposito "Australia's relevant law enforcement authorities arbitrarily search Chinese citizens and seize their items, and these circumstances could cause harm to Chinese citizens in Australia, as well as the safety of their assets," the ministry said on Monday. Exiled Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo accused the Australian Tax Office of acting as a "despicable tool of political persecution" last year as he fought a $140 million tax bill. Huang had his Australian permanent residency visa cancelled for reasons including character grounds amid allegations he was acting as an agent for the Chinese Communist Party. Russian agents may have deliberately discarded a bottle of the deadly nerve agent novichok, used in the assassination attempt of former spy Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury in a bid to undermine UK security, the High Court today heard. The claim was made during a legal challenge by the family of Dawn Sturgess, 44, who died in 2018 after coming into contact with novichok in a fake perfume bottle which her partner had found in a park. The family are embroiled in a High Court action in a bid to get 'key questions' asked at Ms Sturgess' inquest. It comes claims by the family that David Ridley, the senior coroner for Wiltshire, has wrongly decided to limit what issues will be considered at an inquest. During a hearing at the High Court today, the family's barrister claimed the actions of the agents on the ground, as well as those who masterminded the plot from Moscow, could have led to 'many hundreds of deaths'. According to the Guardian, he also referenced then UK prime minister, Theresa May, in September 2018 in which she said: 'This chemical weapons attack on our soil was part of a wider pattern of Russian behaviour that persistently seeks to undermine our security and that of our allies around the world.' The claim was made during a legal challenge by the family of Dawn Sturgess (pictured), 44, who died in 2018 after coming into contact with novichok in a fake perfume bottle which her partner had found in a park Mr Sturgess died in hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018 after collapsing at her partner Charlie Rowley's home in Amesbury, Wiltshire (pictured) Mr Sturgess died in hospital in Salisbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018 after collapsing at her partner Charlie Rowley's home in Amesbury, Wiltshire. A police investigation after her death revealed she had inadvertently sprayed novichok on herself from a fake perfume bottle which Mr Rowley had found on the ground in a park. The deadly nerve agent had been used in an assassination attempt on Russian spy turned British double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. Retired Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal both ended up in intensive care after they were found slumped on a bench in the Wiltshire city in March 2018. Both survived the poisoning after nearly a month in hospital, while a police officer, DS Nick Bailey, who was also poisoned, also survived. Russian military intelligence agents known as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were accused of carrying out the attack - though both denied being a part of the assassination attempt in an interview on Russia TV. Russian military intelligence agents known as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were accused of carrying out the attack - though both denied being a part of the assassination attempt in an interview on Russia TV Now more than two years later, the family of Ms Sturgess have launched a legal challenge claiming Mr Ridley, the senior coroner for Wiltshire, has wrongly decided to limit what issues will be considered at an inquest. Lawyers representing family members have suggested to two judges that the inquest will be the only opportunity to publicly investigate a 'matter of almost unparalleled public concern'. They say Mr Ridley has made a flawed decision about the scope of an inquest which should be quashed. Home Secretary Priti Patel disagrees and says Mr Ridley was entitled to reach the decisions he reached. She also says Mr Ridley is keeping the scope of the inquest under review. Lord Justice Bean and Mr Justice Lewis are examining rival arguments at a virtual High Court hearing due to end on Wednesday. Representing the family, Michael Mansfield QC, said the question of who was responsible for the use of Novichok was a matter of 'almost unparalleled public concern'. But Mr Mansfield said the coroner had decided that he would not consider whether any Russian state agents, other than the suspects were responsible for Ms Sturgess's death, or issues relating to the source of the novichok. He said that meant the inquest would not investigate 'credible allegations' that other Russian state agents were involved or 'key questions' about how 'the operation' was arranged. 'The use of novichok in Salisbury was the first aggressive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War,' said Mr Mansfield in a written case summary. 'It put hundreds of members of the British public at risk and killed Ms Sturgess. 'The issue of who was responsible for it is a matter of almost unparalleled public concern. 'There is no realistic prospect that the two suspects will face a criminal trial in the UK or that the Russian state will carry out a comprehensive investigation, and no public inquiry into these events has been established. Lawyers representing family members have suggested to two High Court (pictured) judges that the inquest will be the only opportunity to publicly investigate a 'matter of almost unparalleled public concern' 'Accordingly, the impact of the senior coroner's decision is that there will be no further public investigation of these important issues.' Mr Mansfield argued that Mr Ridley's 'proposed approach' would soon 'become unworkable and ineffective'. Sir James Eadie QC, who is representing the Home Secretary, said the judges should dismiss the application. 'The background to Ms Sturgess's death is the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal on March 4 2018,' he said, in a written case outline. 'Ms Sturgess was not a target of that attempt; she appears to have been the tragic victim of chance, having come into contact on June 30 2018 with novichok discarded by the attackers.' Sir James argued that the coroner was entitled to reach the decisions he had reached regarding the scope of the inquest. Mr Ridley had also made it clear that he was not reaching a final conclusion but would keep the scope of the inquest under review, Sir James added. (Newser) The Supreme Court cleared the way for federal executions to resume early Tuesday, just hours before a man convicted of killing a family of three was scheduled to die. The 5-4 opinion, issued around 2am, determined inmates had "not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention," per the Washington Post. On Monday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia had blocked the Justice Department from carrying out the first federal executions since 2003, arguing legal challenges should be heard in court. Chutkan had also blocked executions in December, though the court of appeals later gave the green light. Early Tuesday, Supreme Court justices wrote that last-minute stays "should be the extreme exception, not the norm." The opinion was issued shortly before Daniel Lewis Lee was scheduled to die by lethal injection at a federal penitentiary in Indiana. story continues below It's unclear if the execution was carried out as planned around 4am, per Reuters. Lee was convicted in 1999 of murdering an 8-year-old girl and her parents in Arkansas. But even the lead prosecutor and federal judge in the case disagreed with the execution. They described Lee as a follower of white supremacist Chevie Kehoe, who received a life sentence for the same crime. Relatives of one of the victims had sought to delay Lee's execution until it was safe for them to travel to the prison. They cited personal health issues amid the pandemic. But the Justice Department said it was not required to consider "the availability and travel preferences" of those wishing to attend. Wesley Purkey, convicted of raping and killing a teenager in Missouri in 2003, and Dustin Lee Honken, convicted of killing five people in Iowa in 2004, are scheduled to be executed on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday the United States would treat Beijing's pursuit of resources in the dispute-rife South China Sea as illegal, ramping up support for Southeast Asian nations and triggering a furious response from Beijing. It was the latest forceful statement by President Donald Trump's administration to challenge China, which he has increasingly cast as an enemy ahead of November elections. "We are making clear: Beijing's claims to offshore resources across most of the South China Sea are completely unlawful, as is its campaign of bullying to control them," Pompeo said in a statement. "The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire." The United States has long rejected Beijing's sweeping claims in the South China Sea, which is both home to valuable oil and gas deposits and a vital waterway for the world's commerce. Pompeo's statement goes further by explicitly siding with Southeast Asian nations including the Philippines and Vietnam, after years of the US saying it took no position on individual claims. "America stands with our Southeast Asian allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights to offshore resources, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law," Pompeo said. "We stand with the international community in defense of freedom of the seas and respect for sovereignty and reject any push to impose 'might makes right' in the South China Sea or the wider region." - Rejecting basis of claims - Beijing claims most of the South China Sea through a so-called nine-dash line, a vague delineation based on maps from the 1940s. It has spent years building military bases on artificial islands in the contested areas to cement its claims, while dragging out a diplomatic process to resolve the disputes for nearly two decades. China on Tuesday responded forcefully to Pompeo's comments, saying the accusation of unlawfulness was "completely unjustified". "We advise the US side to earnestly honor its commitment of not taking sides on the issue of territorial sovereignty, respect regional countries' efforts for a peaceful and stable South China Sea and stop its attempts to disrupt and sabotage regional peace and stability," said the US embassy in Washington. The statement accused the United States of trying to "sow discord" between China and its fellow claimants in the sea. Pompeo issued his statement to mark the fourth anniversary of a tribunal decision that sided with the Philippines against the nine-dash line. Pompeo said that China, based on the court decision, cannot make claims based on the Scarborough Reef or Spratly Islands, a vast uninhabited archipelago. The United States as a result now rejects Beijing's claims in the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off Vietnam, Lucania Shoals off Malaysia, waters considered in Brunei's exclusive economic zone and Natuna Besar off Indonesia, Pompeo said. "Any PRC action to harass other states' fishing or hydrocarbon development in these waters -- or to carry out such activities unilaterally -- is unlawful," Pompeo said. Pompeo also rejected Beijing's southernmost claim of Malaysian-administered James Shoal, which is 1,800 kilometers (1,150 miles) from the Chinese mainland. The 2016 decision was issued by a tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Pompeo noted that China is a party to it and called the ruling legally binding. The United States, however, is one of the few countries that is not part of the convention, with conservatives opposing any loss of autonomy to a global body. - Friction across fronts - The South China Sea statement comes amid rising tensions surrounding China, including a deadly border clash last month with India that Pompeo called part of a strategy by Beijing to challenge its neighbors. Trump has also strongly criticized China for not doing more to stop the coronavirus pandemic, news of which was initially suppressed when it emerged in Wuhan late last year. Critics both at home and abroad say that Trump is hoping to deflect attention ahead of the November election over his handling of the virus in the US, which has suffered by far the highest death toll of any country. Trump, after bipartisan calls in Congress, has also stepped up pressure on China over its incarceration of more than one million Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims. The United States last week imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over Xinjiang, leading to a reciprocal effort by Bejiing against senior American lawmakers. BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 14 Trend: The fighting is currently undergoing at the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, Deputy Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan Chief of Main Department for Personnel Lieutenant General Kerim Veliyev told reporters, Trend reports. Veliyev said that Armenian reserves, manpower and equipment, as well as command posts are being destroyed. "I assure you that the blood of martyrs, the wounded will not remain unrevenged!" Kerim Veliyev said. Veliyev added that on the night of July 13-14, fierce fighting continued on the site of the Tovuz district. In his words, within two days, Armenia suffered tremendous damage, lost manpower of up to 100 people, numerous military equipment and facilities of utter importance. Starting from noon on July 12, units of the armed forces of Armenia, grossly violating the ceasefire in the direction of Azerbaijans Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border, opened artillery fire at Azerbaijani positions. Azerbaijan's armed response forced the Armenian army to retreat suffering losses. The tensions in Tovuz district on the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border continued July 12 night. During the night battles, by using artillery, mortars and tanks, the Azerbaijani armed forces destroyed a stronghold, bombshells, vehicles and servicemen on the territory of the Armenias military unit. Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army, non-commissioned officer, sergeant Vugar Sadigov and senior soldier Elshad Mammadov died in holding off an Armenian attack. Despite the efforts of Azerbaijani doctors, a badly wounded serviceman of the Azerbaijan Army, soldier Khayyam Dashdamirov also died. On the night of July 12-13, tensions continued on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border in the Tovuz districts direction. In the night battles involving artillery, mortars and tanks, Azerbaijani military divisions destroyed the stronghold, artillery installations, automotive equipment and manpower of the Armenian military unit. During the battles, the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani army Rashid Mahmudov was killed. Police detained two Algerian citizens in an anti-terrorism operation in Spain's second largest city Barcelona on Tuesday morning, the regional Catalan police force said. The two Algerians were preparing a terror attack, Spanish radio station Cadena Ser reported, quoting unidentified sources close to the investigation. Regional police declined to comment on this. In May, police had arrested a Moroccan man in Barcelona with suspected links to Islamic State who they believed was planning a militant attack. A total of 16 suspected jihadist fighters have been arrested in Spain from the start of the year til July 5th, according to data from the interior ministry. Islamist militants used a van to hit pedestrians in Barcelona's Las Ramblas boulevard in August 2017 and carried out a follow-up attack in another Catalan municipality, killing 16 people in total. Search Keywords: Short link: The House of Representatives is investigating why mobilisation fees worth N70.5 billion was paid by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to 1,773 contractors, without the contractors reporting to sites. In a series of financial queries, about 219, raised by the office of the auditor-general of the federation, the payments were said to have been made between 2008 and 2012. The auditor-general also alleged that 90 per cent of the contractors collected the mandatory mobilisation fees without reporting to site between 2011 and 2012, for contracts with a gestation period of six months. The query further alleged that 60 per cent of the contractors claimed they have completed the projects, but the claims could not be verified. The house public accounts committee at its hearing on NDDC which began Friday had directed the acting managing director of the NDDC, Kemebrandikumo Pondei, to tender details of the projects and a list of defaulting contractors. This, Mr Pondei was also told, should be done alongside the statements of account showing the funds recovered from the contractors, Punch newspapers reported. This, the committee said, was due to the claim made by the director of internal audit, Itu Ubi, that only N19 billion had yet to be recovered from the contractors. At its hearing on Monday, Mr Ubi, who also represented the NDDC chief, explained that the funds were released to the banks that guaranteed the contractors, Punch reported. He added that some funds had been recovered from some of the errant contractors, leaving the balance of N19 billion yet to be recovered as against the N70 billion stated in the audit queries. Mr Ubi then said that some of the contractors were unable to complete the projects due to insecurity. Not satisfied But the chairman of the committee, Wole Oke, said the NDDC failed to address the various red flags raised in the audit queries between 2008 and 2012 by the auditor-general. What the auditor-general did was to invoke Section 4 of the audit act to discover the anomalies in the NDDC, he said. READ ALSO: The main issue is whether the interim management committee (of the NDDC) has rendered the accounts up to 2018. We stopped at 2018 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But clearly, there are issues here and there. To clear the issues, the committee asked the NDDC management to provide the letters of award of all the contracts and the commissions statements of account showing the refunds. Embattled commission For many months now, the NDDC has been in eye of the storm over alleged corruption allegations, counter-allegations, and leadership tussle. It has also clashed with members of the parliament who are trying to unravel its management approaches. A top NDDC staffer recently asked the lawmakers allow the commission function in peace even as she subtly accused them of trying to manipulate it to their advantage. Established with the mandate to bridge the infrastructural gaps in Nigerias oil-rich delta region, some, including the Niger Delta minister, Goodwill Akpabio, has described the commission as a cash cow. The president had ordered that a forensic audit by carried out on the commissions finances, but not so much has been heard from the probe as the commission has been enmeshed in several controversies. Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for VH1 "RuPaul's "RuPaul's Drag Race" star Brita Filter says her mom is putting her life "on the line" in San Antonio during the city's coronavirus crisis. San Antonio's healthcare systems are under "severe" strain as a wave of COVID-19 patients have been admitted for weeks. Just as local nurses traveled to hot spots like New York City in the early days of the pandemic, out-of-town help is coming to San Antonio. The drag queen, who was cast in the most-recent season of the VH1 show, says her mom is a respiratory therapist and is part of the incoming aid. Early this century, Lodi grape grower and vintner David Lucas helped lead a successful effort to persuade the Supreme Court of the United States to allow wineries to ship wine to consumers across state lines. Thats worked out well for small family wineries that have difficulty attracting wholesale distributors. That includes Lucas, his winemaking wife Heather Pyle-Lucas, and their Lucas Winery just north of the junction of West Turner Road and North Davis Road on the west side of Lodi. Except for a couple of Lodi restaurants, they sell all their wines direct to consumer through their wine club, online sales and their snazzy tasting room. By their nature and quality, the wines pretty much sell themselves, but visitors to the Lucas Winery tasting room can expect some gentle coaxing as they ponder the lineup in the farms former tractor barn. Each guest is assigned a guide who for about half an hour not only walks the visitor through the wines but out into the vineyard behind the tasting room and then through the barrel room. The tasting and tour make Lucas Winery one of the pricier stops in Lodi, though its still a steal by Napa standards -- $15 per person. One of the barrel rooms more distracting and curious appointments is a gleaming surfboard built with staves from a 65,000-gallon redwood wine tank by Floyd Smith, a member of the International Surfboard Builders Hall of Fame. David Lucas has been a longtime surfer. He established his winery in 1978, and today he and his wife produce between 1,500 and 2,000 cases annually. The two met while working for Robert Mondavi Winery, he as senior vice president for winegrower relations, she as winemaker overseeing Mondavis reserve Cabernet Sauvignons and Opus One. Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more. Today, both tend to linger in the vineyard as much as the cellar. They are particularly keen on nurturing pristine fruit from their 3.5-acre, head-pruned, organically grown ZinStar Zinfandel vineyard planted in 1933. Early on, the Lucas house style ran to Zinfandels jammy, muscular and high in alcohol. That approach is history, succeeded by wines that strive to be more European in profile, with brighter fruit flavors, leaner structures, sharper acidity and more transparency as to place of origin. WHAT TO TRY: The Lodi Chardonnay walks a fine line between California richness and European restraint, showing suggestions of tropical, apple and pear fruit, just a hint of spice and smoke from the French oak barrels in which it was aged, and a caressingly long finish for such a lean rendition of the variety. The Lodi ZinStar Zinfandel is brilliantly colored, alluring in berry perfume, and downright razory in its zesty acidity. Late-harvest Zinfandel is rare these days, but the version by Lucas just may help revive the style. Its made via the Italian passito style whereby harvested grapes are dried on sheets of straw-mat paper and turned daily for about three weeks before being pressed, yielding a dessert wine high in sugar and alcohol, startlingly spicy and surprisingly refreshing thanks to its crisp acidity. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) has submitted at least 16 Solarium-inspired amendments to the FY 2021 NDAA. Following the release of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission report earlier this year, members of the group almost immediately identified the annual National Defense Authorization Act as a prime vehicle to implement much of their agenda. As the defense authorization process enters its final stages, theyre doing all they can to deliver on that prediction. Markups of the House and Senate versions already have a number of Solarium provisions baked in, and members have introduced dozens of proposed amendments that draw from recommendations in the report. Solarium co-chair Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) has sponsored or co-sponsored 18 additional amendments, while on the House side Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) has been involved in submitting at least 16 Solarium-related amendments to the Rules Committee. King expressed cautious optimism about the prospects for the raft of later amendments, saying were making progress and noting that a number of proposals enjoy broad or bipartisan support. In some cases, legislators have drawn inspiration from multiple recommendations in the report to place cyber initiatives in appropriations language. Following the reports release, the commission has worked to make it as easy as possible for this Congress or future ones to do just that. This week staff released an annex with over 50 ready-made legislative proposals drawn from the report -- complete with draft bill language and distributed them to relevant congressional committees and subcommittees. While some of recommendations set forth in the March 2020 report require action by the executive branch; private-sector corporations; State, local, tribal and territorial governments; and ordinary American citizens, we hope these legislative proposals will expedite the implementation process and better prepare the nation to protect itself in cyberspace, wrote executive director Mark Montgomery. Still, much depends on how this years defense authorization plays out. The commission could have many of its critical recommendations adopted into law or see them stripped out or voted down, forcing commission members back to the drawing board in a year where presidential politics and a still-raging pandemic is expected to limit the remaining congressional calendar. Some proponents expect the results to be a mixed bag, with provisions strengthening the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and promoting continuity of the economy expected to receive the strongest support. Whatever we cant do in this defense bill well continue to try to move in individual pieces of legislation or in the defense bill next year, but I think were already well on the way, King told reporters in a June 30 briefing. Cyber leadership starts at the top The most notable idea Solarium backers are still hoping to see included is establishing a Senate-confirmed National Cyber Director in the White House. Langevin has submitted an NDAA amendment to the House Rules Committee that would create the position, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House Oversight Committee, will hold a hearing on a standalone version of the legislation this week. A challenge as complex and pervasive as cybersecurity requires that our government be strategic, organized, and ready, Maloney plans to say in her opening statement at the hearing, according to an excerpt shared with FCW. Democrats and Republicans agree we need a National Cyber Director to ensure we are fully prepared for, and coordinated in, our response to cyberattacks as our nation fights this silent war. On the Senate side, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has also come out in favor the legislation, and King told reporters in June that the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity chaired by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) is planning its own hearing on the topic in July. King and Langevin said their understanding is that the White House opposes the idea, though both told FCW theyre still in the dark regarding what specifically the administration objects to in the bill outside of general concerns about maintaining executive branch prerogatives. A bipartisan group of legislators are planning to reach out to the administration soon to further flesh out potential areas of compromise. One argument Langevin intends to make in that meeting is that it would give the Trump administration an opportunity to go bold in an area where his predecessor took a more cautious approach. [President] Obama couldnt get this done -- [his team] didnt really want it or think they needed it, said Langevin in an interview. Im hoping President Trump sees it differently, just like with Space Force, hell see the importance of creating the first-ever national cyber director. Two areas where Langevin believes the lack of a cyber director has hurt the United States: coordinating the federal governments collective efforts to help states secure election infrastructure, and shaping international discourse on cyber issues at the United Nations. Last year, the U.N. passed a resolution sponsored by Russia to establish an open-ended intergovernmental council and convention on cybercrime. While the proposal would ostensibly be focused on developing a global response to the problem, more than 30 digital and human rights groups warned that the language in the resolution is so broad it could allow Russia and other repressive governments to criminalize ordinary online behavior such as political organizing and encryption -- all with the blessing of the international community. We really got our lunch eaten at the U.N. by the Russians on their cybercrime treaty proposal. We didnt have someone with the right policy authority there debating, arguing and working with our allies to point out the pitfallsthe ramifications, Langevin said. Langevin drew a direct line to that outcome from the elimination of the White House and State Department cyber coordinator positions under the Trump administration, saying no one really noticed what was going on because the U.S. did not have a robust structure in place to oversee digital security policies. This is the problem with not doing a deep dive and not having the cyber expertise present at these international bodies, he said. Enemies and adversaries are going to look to take advantage of policy forums like this where they can argue a point of viewthat maybe sounds good on the surface but when you look at the other side what their real intent it, it could really limit or infringe upon privacy, civil liberties, even the safety of individuals. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is expected to declare the results for the Class 10 Board examinations on Tuesday. Once declared, students can access their marks on the official website of the board cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in. The fresh reports come a day after the CBSE declared the class 12 board exam results. How to check your results: CBSE 10th exam results can be accessed on the boards official website cbse.nic.in. Students can also log on to cbseresults.nic.in and results.nic.in to check their scores. Apart from the boards official website, CBSE class 10th result 2020 can also be accessed via other facilities like IVRS Facility, DigiLocker App (digilocker.gov.in), UMANG App, DigiResults App and Microsoft SMS Organiser App. On July 13, after the board declared the class 12 results, its website crashed due to heavy traffic inflow. The board has made preparations so that the site crash doesn't happen again. Students can check class 10 results on the following websites: > cbseresults.nic.in > cbse.nic.in > results.nic.in UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance) is a platform for major central and state government services. Students can check their results on the UMANG Mobile App of Electronics and IT Ministry which is available on Android, lOS and Windows-based smartphones and also on www.umang.gov.in. The CBSE has decided to 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. Students will receive DigiLocker account credentials via SMS on their mobile number registered with CBSE. CBSE will also send Class 10th results to the students on their registered mobile numbers. The CBSE class 10th results will also be available on an Android mobile app called DigiResults. Results through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) The telephone numbers of NIC through which results can be accessed through IVRS are as follows: - 24300699 - For local subscribers in Delhi 01124300699 - For subscribers in other parts of the country Marking pattern: As per the Board, the subjects for which exams could not be held, marks will be based on average of best of three subjects for which the student has already given the exam. In case a student has appeared for only three papers, the assessment will be made on the basis of the best of two and for limited students who have appeared for only one or two exams, the marks obtained in the internal or practicals will be considered. As per the board, students will need at least 33 per cent marks to pass in a subject. For subjects having practical and theory both, students will have to pass in both sections. Supplementary exams: Students who fail in one or two subjects will have a chance to give another attempt through supplementary exams. However, the board is yet to release dates for the supplementary exams for class 10. The Government will spend $5.5 million on a wellbeing infrastructure package for projects in the Kaipara District it was announced today. The Maungaturoto Community Charitable Trust will receive its most substantial top up yet with $1.75 million to go towards construction of its dementia unit. The trust had been seeking a $1.8m bank loan to supplement years of community fundraising to finish the dementia unit. The project had been turned down twice for funds from the Provincial Growth Fund. Paparoa Community Charitable Trust will receive $750,000 to complete its 10-unit retirement village. The Paparoa trust has been trying to generate funds from sales in order to build a clubroom with common facilities for the village. The 29-lot village is believed to be the largest residential development in Paparoa since it was settled by Albertlanders in the 1860s. The Kauri Museum in Matakohe is also receiving $3 million for a makeover that will include a new facility for educating young people about the significance of kauri in New Zealand history. As the first stop on the Ancient Kauri Trail, the museum will build on its heritage status while supporting professional career development, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones said. These projects are being funded through the $50 billion Covid Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) set out in Budget 2020, which earmarked $3 billion for infrastructure projects. Ministers established the Infrastructure Reference Group (IRG) to work with local councils and businesses to identify a pipeline of projects to support the economy during the Covid-19 rebuild. Cabinet has decided on 150 projects worth $2.6 billion which have been approved in principle, Mr Jones said. SAN DIEGO, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty Income Corporation (Realty Income,NYSE: O), The Monthly Dividend Company, today announced that its Board of Directors has declared the 601st consecutive common stock monthly dividend. The dividend amount of $0.2335 per share, representing an annualized amount of $2.802 per share, is payable on August 14, 2020 to shareholders of record as of August 3, 2020. The ex-dividend date for August's dividend is July 31, 2020. About Realty Income Realty Income, The Monthly Dividend Company, is an S&P 500 company dedicated to providing stockholders with dependable monthly income. The company is structured as a REIT, and its monthly dividends are supported by the cash flow from over 6,500 real estate properties owned under long-term lease agreements with commercial tenants. To date, the company has declared 601 consecutive common stock monthly dividends throughout its 51-year operating history and increased the dividend 107 times since Realty Income's public listing in 1994 (NYSE: O). The company is a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index. Additional information about the company can be obtained from the corporate website at www.realtyincome.com. SOURCE Realty Income Corporation Related Links http://www.realtyincome.com Redfield said people in many states did not adopt social distancing and other measures because they hadnt previously experienced an outbreak. But he went on to say, without explanation, that he didnt believe the way those states handled reopening was necessarily behind the explosive rise in virus cases. He offered a theory that infected travelers from elsewhere in the country might have brought the virus with them around Memorial Day. Berkshire County Historical Society Taps Two New Writers in Residence PITTSFIELD, Mass. The Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melvilles Arrowhead has appointed two new writers-in-residence for the remainder of this year. Robin Catalano will be the summer writer, and Kevin O'Hara will take over in the fall. Catalano has an extensive background in writing, having written for magazines, books, blogs, websites and having published more than 75 articles and 1,000 blog posts. Her work has appeared in publications such as Travel +Leisure, the Boston Globe, Gourmet, Travel Awaits, Berkshire Living, and Berkshire HomeStyle. She is also a three-time speaker at the Women in Travel Summit. A resident of nearby Stephentown, N.Y., Catalano said she hopes to gain much from her experience as a writer-in-residence with Arrowhead. "Being part of the rich literary legacy of Arrowhead, including the writers-in-residence who have come before me, is an honor," she said. "As a travel writer, I'll be drawing from Melville's tradition of adventure to continue my work on a series of exploratory travel narratives. Whether I choose to publish them in book form, in literary magazines, or on my new narrative travel blog, Once More to the Shore, I look forward to the uninterrupted time and creative space the residency affords for advancing the craft of travel writing." The fall writer-In-residence, O'Hara, is the author of two critically acclaimed books: "Last of the Donkey Pilgrims: A Man's Journey Through Ireland" and "A Lucky Irish Lad," a story of growing up in Pittsfield during the 1950s and 60s. O'Hara is also a featured columnist for The Berkshire Eagle, and was awarded the Key to the city of Pittsfield in 2010. Born in England, O'Hara is a long time Pittsfield resident. He said is looking forward to writing in the same space Herman Melville did this coming autumn. "During my eight-week tenure at Arrowhead, I plan to put together a collection of my favorite Christmas stories that have been published in The Berkshire Eagle over the past 30 years. Once complete, I hope to self-publish this collection, and make it available for the holidays," he said. The National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on a report collecting feedback on the draft Law on International Treaties, and the issuance of a Decree on micro-insurance of socio-political organisations at its 46th session yesterday. At the meeting Deputies shared the view that the issuance of the Law on International Treaties will help continue institutionalising the Party policies and guidelines on global integration, ensuring the enforcement of the 2013 Constitution, especially at a time when Vietnam has joined a number of new-generational free trade agreements. Chairman of the NAs Committee on External Relations Nguyen Van Giau said the signing of international agreements by People's Committees of communes and districts, especially those at border areas, has contributed to tightening friendship, cooperation and solidarity, ensuring security and order, and promoting people-to-people exchange over the past years. Chairman of the NAs Ethnic Council Ha Ngoc Chien suggested that only authorities at district level and higher should be allowed to sign international agreements while those in communes, villages and hamlets realise them. About micro insurance, NA Vice Chairman Phung Quoc Hien asked the Government to review legal foundation for the pilot launch of micro-insurance, and consider adding regulations for the amendment of the Law on Insurance Business./.VNA The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry will inform its international partners and the OSCE on July 14 about the killing of a Ukrainian medic by Russian mercenaries in Donbas, which may constitute a war crime, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said. "I will start with tragic news - the murder of a Ukrainian medic who provided assistance to a wounded soldier and who had all the insignia of a medic. I want to say that from a legal point of view, this murder has signs of a war crime, and from a moral point of view, it is nothing more than an act of barbarism," he said during an online briefing on Tuesday, July 14. Kuleba added that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry would inform its international partners about another gross violation of international humanitarian law. "In particular, today I will hold a meeting with the OSCE Representative in the Trilateral Contact Group, Ms. Heidi Grau, and we will also discuss this issue in detail," the diplomat said. He said the murder of a Ukrainian doctor would not go unnoticed by Ukraine's international partners and promised to do everything possible to make the enemy pay a high price for this crime. Russian-backed forces killed a Ukrainian medic in Donbas on July 13. op Cuba's successful containment of COVID-19 through door-to-door screening of every home in the country, shows how 'shoe-leather' epidemiology could have averted the dramatic failure of the UK's response to the pandemic. In Cuba there have been 2,173 confirmed cases and 83 deaths, with no reported deaths throughout the first week in June. The term 'shoe leather' epidemiology, where much of the work is carried out on foot in the community, was first demonstrated during the Soho cholera epidemic in 1854. Writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Professor John Ashton describes how, when China first reported the emerging epidemic in Wuhan in January 2020, Cuba promptly drew up a cross-government contingency plan. When the first cases of the virus were confirmed in the country among three tourists from Italy on 11 March, the plan was immediately put into action. Screening was carried out in Cuba by tens of thousands of family doctors, nurses and medical students on foot, with testing, tracing and quarantining of suspected cases in state-run isolation centres for 14 days. Prof Ashton said: "Cuba has long been renowned for its ability to turn in world beating health statistics while continuing to struggle economically. With a health system grounded in public health and primary care, the country invests heavily in producing health workers who are primarily trained to work in the community. Their efforts with COVID-19 have been outstanding." He added: "Cuba was one of the first countries to send health workers to support the control of the epidemic in Wuhan, back in January, just one example of its unrivalled commitment to international solidarity in humanitarian disasters." ### Building a memorial out of stone and concrete is one way to pay tribute to a person, but a truly unique and symbolic way of memorializing somebody or commemorating an event is to plant trees. A stone monument may last longer, but trees are a living legacy that will grow bigger, stronger, and more mature year after year. Here are eight examples of living memorials from different parts of the world. Pine Forest Shaped Like Italy This small pine forest, shaped like the map of Italy, is located on the mountain slopes overlooking the Great Plain of Castelluccio in Umbria, in the Apennine Mountains of central Italy. The pines were planted in 1961 on the occasion of the 100th year anniversary of the unification of Italy. Photo credit: Gwendolyn Stansbury/Flickr Minnesota Forest Deep in Lake of the Woods County, in the US state of Minnesota, lies a massive forest shaped exactly like the state. It was created by an engineer of the DNR Division of Forestry in the 1990s, when he was asked to clear some parts of the forest to harvest timber. Using a simple map and compass, the engineer Bill Lockner mapped out the outline, and cleared out the trees around it to create the shape of the state. Heart-Shaped Forest Located near Wickwar, in south Gloucestershire, England, this oak forest shaped in the shape of a heart was planted by Winston Howes, a farmer, as a tribute to his wife who died of heart failure in 1995. Months after her death, Howes marked out an acre-long heart on his farm with the point facing in the direction of her childhood home. He then planted oak saplings all around. The trees have grown now but the curious shape can only be seen from the air. The small meadow had remained a family secret until about four years ago when it was discovered by a hot air balloonist. Photo credit: Adam Gray Guitar Forest This guitar-shaped forest in the fertile plains of Argentinas Pampas is another labor of love. It was planted by a farmer named Pedro Martin Ureta in 1979, on his farm near the town of Laboulaye, as a tribute to his late wife who loved the instrument. The guitar is about a kilometer long and has become an attraction of sort for both pilots and passengers of passing planes. A Tribute to Mussolini On the side of a mountain overlooking the town of Antrodoco, in the province of Rieti, Italy, is inscribed the words DVX, spelled out with an estimated 20 thousand trees. The word dvx, which is an alternate spelling for dux, is derived from the Latin word duce, which means leader. The trees were planted in 1939 is honor of the Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, who had adopted the title of dux (or dvx) to represent his leadership. The unique monument is clearly visible from the highway and is still actively maintained. Photo credit: www.bigodino.it Studebaker Forest Back in 1937, the American automobile manufacturer Studebaker planted some 8,000 pine trees in Bendix Woods County Park just outside South Bend, Indiana, that spelled out STUDEBAKER in huge letters. The corporation went out of business in 1967, but the trees, recognized by the National Register of Historic Places as one of the world's largest living advertisements, still lives. Luecke Farm A landowner outside Austin, Texas, a few miles east of Bastrop, created this giant sign thats visible to airplanes and satellites flying over. Made by clearing out a forest, it spells "LUECKE", the name of the owner. Forest Swastika For a few weeks every fall, as the leaves changed color, a giant swastika made of larch trees used to appear in a pine forest about 60 miles north of Berlin. The swastika was planted in 1938 by Nazi supporters, but escaped detection until the early 1990s when an aerial survey of the land was made. The German government made a frantic effort to have the swastika destroyed. However, the forestry workers sent to cut down the trees erred and the trees regrew and in five years the swastika was up again. The symbol was eventually destroyed in 2000. Canisteo Living Sign The Canisteo Living Sign located at Canisteo in Steuben County, New York, was created by Ed Childs and Harry Smith, and then donated the sign to the Canisteo School District. The sign that spells out Canisteo consists of 260 pine trees and is approximately 90 feet long and 300 feet wide. The sign was originally laid out in 1933, but was cleared in 2016, then subsequently replanted the same year. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. Why does India put up with an oppressive system in which nearly the whole population is at the receiving end? But that question ignores the essential truth about Indias self-image Indians do not really think they are dark-skinned. On 2 July, Hindustan Unilever announced that its product Fair & Lovely will be renamed Glow & Lovely, as part of the evolution of its skincare portfolio to a more inclusive vision of Positive Beauty'. The company was responding to worldwide protests against the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by the Minneapolis Police in the United States. In doing so, it has much company. During and after the protests roiling at least three continents, statues associated with colonialism and the slave trade have been toppled, schools and universities have removed the names of founders who are suddenly in disgrace, and businesses all over the world have discovered racist overtones in the names or declared benefits of their products. The word racism sits awkwardly in India, where our national census chooses not to recognise racial groups at all. That is a decision both political and practical political because it is a reaction to British attempts to apply European racial theories to the Indian people, as well as a government attempt to maintain communal harmony, and practical because after 3000 years of invasion and settlement by the peoples of the West Indo-Aryans, Assyrians, Macedonians, Bactrians, Parthians, Arabs, Persians, Turks, Afghans and some assimilation from the East, the Indian race is nearly undefinable. Even so, Indian racism is elemental as nature abhors a vacuum, India abhors dark skin. It is the only type of racism India understands and tolerates, and it predates Europe and America and Western civilisation itself. We Indians began to practise it 3000 years ago, when we chose the word varna, one of whose meanings is colour, for the four social classes into which we divided society in our oldest extant scripture, the Rig Veda, which we composed as early 1300 BCE. Colour-based discrimination in India is nuanced. To the Western eye, most Indians are dark-skinned, with the exception of a few who do not look Indian. I was somewhat disappointed when, on arriving in America, I was told that I was as dark as those other Indians. To Indians, our skin colour has a dozen shades, from coal-black to chocolate-brown to wheatish an aspirational word perhaps invented by matrimonial advertisements to milky-white to looks like a (white) foreigner. Our coal-blackers go about their lives much like the Prince of Morocco, pleading fruitlessly, Mislike me not for my complexion, The shadowd livery of the burnishd sun, and are somehow accommodated, sometimes attaining success far beyond their skin colour would dictate, becoming exceptions that prove the rule. In the town in Bihar where I spent my childhood, mothers console dark-skinned children by pointing out that Ram and Krishna were both dark. Indeed, Krishna was the victim of a sort of racism long before the West came by it. Writing in the 16th century, Surdas described how Balram, Krishnas light-skinned elder brother, mocked his dark skin. Gorey Nand Jasoda gorii tuu kas syaamal gaat (Nand and Jasoda are both light-skinned, so why are you dark?) But this offers little consolation to the hopelessly dark child. Krishnas skin is not the muddy brown of India, but an arresting blue-grey that testifies to his status as Vishnu incarnate. And we may assume that Vishnu, Preserver of the Universe, is blue-grey by choice, which makes Balrams racism quite endearing, unlike the colour discrimination the coal-blacker child can expect to face. In any case, Krishnas darkness is forgotten as soon as it is mentioned in the blockbusters by Ramanand Sagar and BR Chopra, Ram and Krishna were played by light-skinned actors, with a touch of blue sometimes added in an attempt at authenticity but never applied so thickly as to offend Indian eyes. For chocolate-browns, India offers some channels for subterfuge. A bit of flair and chutzpah allows them to pass, under flattering lights and from some angles, as wheatish, which is how their families describe them in matrimonial ads. For the wheatish, life bubbles with greater hope, providing cosmetic solutions and carefully chosen wardrobe hues that move the skin tone toward milky-white, but it is for the milky-white and those who look like (white) foreigners that India opens her arms. These humans we make into film stars. When they take selfies with us, glistening in their whiteness against a sea of dark faces, we are overjoyed. When they lead large troupes in dance sequences in Bollywood films, we delight in how they stand out in their light skin against the backup dancers. Three years ago, in a pleasant cafe in Yari Road in Mumbai, I met with a dark-skinned Bollywood actor who had just become highly successful. When I first arrived in Bollywood, he told me, all the roles I got were bank security guard or taxi driver because I looked Indian. His success, apparent in the number of times we were interrupted so people could take selfies with him, was the exception that proved the rule. Now, one might ask: why does India put up with an oppressive system in which nearly the whole population is at the receiving end? But that question ignores the essential truth about Indias self-image Indians do not really think they are dark-skinned. If you were to ask a coal-blacker, you would almost certainly be told, I am chocolate-brown.' A chocolate-brown thinks oneself wheatish, the wheatish one lays claim to milky-white, and so on. This idea is so deeply rooted in Indian minds that we have altered the physical world to match it the pictures of Gandhi, Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose and other figures that hang in our homes are of white people with pink lips even when, as in the case of Gandhi, countless photographs exist to prove those pictures are a lie; my childhood photos show a nearly white-skinned boy because of deliberate over-exposure in the photo studio; the women in my town wear foundation two shades lighter than their skin tones indeed some seem to believe that the purpose of powder is to make oneself look fairer. Everywhere you go, you are surrounded by people whose skins are light in their own minds, and lighter than that really dark person. In other words, we consider ourselves the beneficiaries of colour discrimination, not its victims. When Indians hear of George Floyd to the extent we hear of him at all we do not think this could have been me; we think Thank God this will never be me. This image of ourselves is not the result of marketing hyperbole, as in a matrimonial ad that sells a chocolate-brown bride as wheatish. Rather, it is born out of sincere conviction, shaken only occasionally by visual evidence. And it is this occasional glimpse of truth perhaps a candid photograph or a reflection in an unfortunately placed mirror that makes Indians, being nearly white already, open to further whitening, which brings us to the surreal world of Fair & Lovely. My father sold Fair & Lovely for decades, perhaps since it was first introduced. The picture on the tube makes its benefits clear three profiles of the same model with increasingly lighter skin and of course all Hindi speakers understand those two English words. As used in India, fair has one and only one specific meaning, and what is not fair cannot be lovely. The women in my family applied the cream regularly. Tubes lay about the house when I was growing up. On special occasions weddings, engagements, match-making ceremonies these tubes were passed from hand to hand and squeezed liberally on to dark cheeks. Having inherited the family business, my brother now sells the cream, and tells me it is by far his highest selling product. A mere 25-gram tube sells for Rs 54, not an inconsiderable sum in a small town in Bihar for a cream that must be applied daily, or more than once a day for maximum effect. Hindustan Unilevers cynicism first in exploiting the gullibility of the dark-skinned Indian and now in climbing aboard the inclusion bandwagon will go unpunished, as perhaps it should, because the people of India do not mind much. Bollywood stars with lighter skin than ours continue to vouch for the cream, and it is easy to find people in my town who will swear that, in some lights and from some angles and on some days, the cream has made their skin lighter and therefore more beautiful. And now that the stigma of the name has been removed in our newly deracinated world, Hindustan Unilever can extol the virtues of the cream without guilt, and without running afoul of political correctness. The people in my town will continue to put gobs of Glow & Lovely on their noses, rub it in, examine themselves anxiously in the mirror, be pleased to see a lighter patch here or there, and feel smug that we Indians are not so dark that there is no hope. Even coal-blackers, after all, have the consolation that there exist entire nations in the world where everyone is darker than the darkest Indian. That, by the way, is another nugget with which mothers in my town console their dark-skinned children. Sujit Saraf is a novelist and playwright. His most recent novel, Harilal & Sons, won the Crossword Award for fiction. He is the artistic director of Naatak, an Indian-American theatre company in San Jose, California. "Helping navigate the elusiveness of product market fit" is how Sanjiv Sanghavi, the co-founder of ClassPass and itinerant startup executive, describes his roles at different companies. From ClassPass through Knotel, Sanghavi has shepherded several businesses to growth and over a billion dollars in valuations; now he's looking to bring that branding and marketing savvy to the world of renewable energy as the new chief product officer at Arcadia. The company encourages renewable energy development by offsetting its customers' electricity usage by buying an equivalent amount of renewable power or investing in renewable energy projects that provide renewable credits to offset fossil fuel usage. Sanjiv Sanghavi, ClassPass co-founder and now chief product officer at Arcadia. Image Credit: Arcadia We founded Arcadia to aggregate the power of consumer demand to fight climate change, said Kiran Bhatraju, the founder and chief executive at Arcadia, in a statement. "Sanjiv's deep knowledge of creating and building engaging consumer products will be crucial in the coming years to help us continue to build a world-class home energy experience that people love, and the planet needs." Sanghavi will be integral to Arcadia's expansion into the northeast as it looks to grow its footprint across the United States. Over the past six months Arcadia has steadily built out its presence across the Atlantic seaboard as it staffs its New York office. The company is actively hiring, and recently added a senior vice president of design, Josh Abrams, who previously worked at DoorDash, WeWork and PayPal. "I was drawn to Arcadia because of its lasting power; I wanted to build something that would make an impact for generations," said Sanghavi. "I believe that what Arcadia is doing is astounding -- were building a bridge from the people who are generating renewable energy to those who want to do something good." The company has raised $70 million to date, according to Crunchbase, from investors including G2VP, BoxGroup, Wonder Ventures and Energy Impact Partners. Apple has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit against Batterygate by paying affected US customers $25 each for slowing down their older iPhone models without notice. The proposed settlement will see Apple provide a cash payment of approximately $25 to each eligible iPhone owner who submits a claim, which adds up to a total payout of between $310 million and $500 million, reports GSMArena. The exact amount each person will receive may slightly vary based on the number of claims received. According to the settlement, the payouts from Apple will cover the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus and SE devices that ran iOS 10.2.1 or later or iOS 11.2 or later. The phones will also need to have been purchased and used before Dec. 21, 2017, the day after Apple admitted to the speed-throttling practice. There is a specific website for users to submit a claim, which must be done online or by mail. All claims must be submitted online or received by letter mail by October 6, 2020, or else payment is forfeited, said the report. Apple admitted in 2017 that the software update slowed down certain iPhone models with degraded batteries. The iPhone maker said that the update was necessary to prevent unexpected shutdowns and preserve the life of the devices. However, the Cupertino-based tech giant also apologised for not communicating to users properly and offered affected customers cut-price iPhone battery replacements. France's consumer fraud group imposed a 25 million euros fine on Apple for deliberately slowing down certain older iPhone models. We May Never See as Many Business Travelers as Before: Delta Air Lines CEO Delta Air Lines executives do not expect sustainable recovery for two years or more, nor do they predict business travel ever will revert to 2019 traffic levels, they told analysts Tuesday, while announcing a second-quarter pre-tax loss of about $7 billion. Delta executives have said for months they expect to emerge from Covid-19 running a smaller airline, but like many competitors, they tried to strike a more positive tone in earlier comments. Some of that was missing on Tuesday, as they told analysts this summers domestic travel recovery not only had begun to slow, but may never have been as robust as some had hoped. The problem is money. More people are traveling now than two months ago, as Transportation Security Administration screening numbers show, but Delta remains in considerable financial distress. In June, the airline averaged $27 million in cash burn per day, a considerable decrease from $100 million in late March, but still not sustainable. And with demand growth stalled, according to CEO Ed Bastian, Delta should burn roughly the same this month. While its encouraging to see customers start to return, the revenue environment remains challenging, Bastian told analysts on the carriers second-quarter earnings call. We have thought from the start that the recovery will be choppy, and the past few weeks have shown that to be true. Short-Term Prognosis Not Good In June, when it ran a skeleton schedule, Delta announced it would add roughly 1,000 flights in August, to capitalize on increasing demand. But it is now planning to add about half that many, Bastian said Tuesday in a television interview. On the earnings call, Bastian said theres still more overall demand for air travel than in the spring, but said Delta and its competitors may have moved too fast to add new flights for the end of summer, creating a supply-and-demand imbalance. Like Delta, United Airlines also has pulled back on plans for August growth. Story continues As we look forward, it has slowed, but it hasnt stalled, Bastian said. Its very flattish, just up slightly, but its not a slump. By historical standards, Delta is now a tiny airline. For the overall summer quarter June through September Deltas capacity is expected to be between 20 and 25 percent of what it was last year. This accounts for Deltas policy of blocking middle seats to promote social distancing. It is up 10 percent compared to capacity during the April through June period. Revenue will be similar. Normally, the summer quarter is Deltas most profitable, because of strong leisure demand. But this year is different, with the airline expecting revenue will be 20 to 25 percent of last years number. Demand and revenue may stay depressed for the rest of the year, but Bastian said he is optimistic about real improvement after the summer and fall periods. I dont want anyone to get a sense that weve got a gloomy forecast on revenue or demand growth, not at all, he told analysts. This is expected. We said at the start of this pandemic that this is going to be choppy. Its going to be unpredictable. Its going to be driven by factors outside of our control, which are really advances on the medical front in containing the virus. Changes in Business Travel Typically, a new business travel season would begin in September, with Delta shifting its focus from transporting vacationers to flying road-warriors. Delta is expecting some business travelers to return after Labor Day, but Bastian said the airline is not counting on meaningful recovery among corporate travelers for a year to 18 months. Some have predicted much of business travel will be replaced by video conferences, but Bastian said he does not expect the big decrease in corporate traffic will be permanent. Still, he said, the types of trips travelers take may be different. In the past five years, many of Deltas customers were quick to get on an airplane, and some might travel for just a two-hour meeting, often paying big money for a preimum seat. Some of those trips may never return, Bastian said. The number of trips that the average road warrior takes, Im sure is going to come down in certain cases, Bastian said. The international trips that weve all been on where weve flown over to Europe for a two-hour meeting and flown back. That does nothing but beat you up, and youd certainly be much better accommodated over a video call. But its going to be trips that are focused on relationship building or interacting whether its with your customers, conventions, new contacts, reviewing performance on a global scale those are going to stay. Still, on absolute numbers, Bastian said, I dont think well ever get back entirely to where we were in 2019 on the volume of business traffic. Business travelers have accounted for about half the airlines overall revenue in the recent past. A Smaller Airline While United Airlines announced last week plans to furlough as many as 36,000 employees, Bastian said Delta may be able to avoid or minimize its furloughs. The airline has asked workers to take voluntary leaves and early retirement, and has had some success, Bastian said. He told analysts more than 17,000 employees, or about 20 percent of the company, already have agreed to leave. Many departing workers are among Deltas most senior employees, Bastian said, so the airline will save more money on each salary than United, which will furlough in reverse seniority order, as required by collective bargaining agreements. Delta also is reducing its fleet by more than 100 aircraft. In the first quarter, the airline said it would speed retirements of its MD-88s, but more recently, it took more decisive action. By year-end, it now plans to retire all of its MD-90s, Boeing 737-700s and Boeing 777s, as well as some Boeing 767-300ERs and some Airbus A320s. Tied to the aircraft retirements, Delta in the second quarter took a $2.5 billion restructuring charge. Delta also is working with Airbus to reduce the number of aircraft deliveries over the next two years, Bastian said. Clearly, were in a situation where we dont need any aircraft, we have a lot of aircraft on the ground, he said. Losses From Investments During the second quarter, Delta also took a big impairment charge because of its investments in struggling foreign airlines. It recorded a $1.1 billion write-down of its investment in Latam Airlines, and a $770 million write-down from its Aeromexico investment. Both carriers have filed for bankruptcy protection. In addition, Delta took a $200 million charge related to its investment in Virgin Atlantic. The UK airline recently avoided bankruptcy by raising roughly $1.5 billion in new funding. Subscribe to Skift newsletters for essential news about the business of travel. A Turkish court on Monday handed down life sentences to three suspects over a 2016 terror attack claimed by Kurdish rebels that left 12 people dead, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Six of the victims in the bombing of a police bus in the heart of Istanbul were police officers and the other six were civilians. The court in Istanbul found defendants Eyup Sever and Murat Bal guilty of "violating the constitution" and "premeditated murder", handing both aggravated life terms, Anadolu reported. It also sentenced them each to 893 years in prison. The court sentenced a third defendant, Gulsah Bahadir, to life for "premeditated murder" and separately sentenced her to 893 years in prison, according to the news agency. Militant Kurdish group the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- seen as a splinter group of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) -- claimed responsibility for the Istanbul attack. The PKK, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies. The Istanbul court ordered the release of four other suspects under judicial control. NEW FAIRFIELD If the amount of money donated by New Fairfield residents determined the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump would serve a second term. According to Federal Election Commission data on presidential campaign contributions, New Fairfield residents have contributed around $34,740 to presidential campaigns since January 2019. Nineteen residents donated $14,545 to Trumps campaign, while nine have contributed $3,106 to Democratic candidate Joe Bidens campaign. New Fairfielders also donated the following amounts to the following Democratic candidates, who have since suspended their campaigns: Bernie Sanders: $6,776 Amy Klobuchar: $4,218 Elizabeth Warren: $3,402 Kamala Harris: $1,105 Andrew Yang: $956 Pete Buttigieg: $634 Sherman If the outcome of the race between Trump and Biden came down to who received more campaign contributions from residents in the neighboring town of Sherman, it would be a close call but the winner would be Biden. According to FEC filings data, seven Sherman residents contributed a total of $1,883 to the Biden campaign, while four residents gave close to $1,189 to the Trump campaign. A total of 28 Sherman residents have contributed roughly $13,130 to eight different presidential campaigns since March 2019, according to the FEC data. More than $4,100 of those contributions went towards Sanders campaign before he dropped out of the race in April. Klobuchars campaign received $2,800 in contribution from one Sherman resident, five people in town gave approximately $2,400 to Buttigieg and three donated nearly $475 to Warrens campaign. One Sherman resident contributed approximately $154 and $57, respectively, to the campaigns of Democratic candidates Cory Booker and Mike Bloomberg before they dropped out of the race. There were no contributions made by Sherman residents to the Harris or Yang campaigns, according to the FEC data. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Connecticuts presidential primary election has been postponed to Aug. 11. The 2020 presidential election will take place Tuesday, Nov. 3. More than a month ago, Oregons top health administrator issued an apology and stated a grim fact: People of color were disproportionally testing positive for the novel coronavirus. A centuries-long history of racism and oppression have led to the very health conditions that exacerbate the impacts of COVID-19, Pat Allen, the Oregon Health Authoritys administrator said on June 2. And we at OHA were, frankly, too slow to recognize that threat and act on it. For that, Im truly sorry. EQT funds to acquire IFS, the leading global enterprise software provider that enables business to digitalize their core operations, for a transaction value in excess of EUR 3 billion TA Associates to join as a minority partner and will hold a significant minority stake in IFS EQT funds and TA Associates to support IFS and the management team with continued investments in the organization and product capabilities, both organically and through add-on acquisitions STOCKHOLM, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- EQT today announced that the EQT VIII and EQT IX funds ("EQT"), together with global growth private equity firm TA Associates, have agreed to acquire IFS AB ("IFS" or "the Company") from the EQT VII fund. TA Associates will hold a significant minority stake in IFS. Founded in 1983, IFS is the leading provider of Field Service Management (FSM) software and is recognized for its vertically-aligned Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software solutions. IFS is a key enabler for digitalizing core operations while contributing to more efficient use of resources and assets across its customers' value chain. The Company serves more than 10,000 customers globally reaching more than one million users. EQT and TA Associates will support IFS' continued growth and development journey and manifest its global market leadership position by further investing in the Company's organization and strengthening its product capabilities, both organically and through add-on acquisitions in targeted industry verticals. Johannes Reichel, Partner at EQT Partners, said: "We are impressed with IFS' strong management team around CEO Darren Roos and the Company's ability to continuously outgrow the market. We see significant long-term growth opportunities for IFS, and under EQT's and TA Associates' ownership, we believe that IFS is well-positioned to capitalize on thematic end market trends such as servitization within IFS' core verticals increasing the need for FSM solutions. We will now enter the next chapter of IFS' growth journey together with its management team, board of directors and TA Associates." Darren Roos, CEO of IFS, said: "We are excited to continue our journey with EQT, now with the additional support and commitment from TA Associates. Both have deep enterprise software experience, which make them ideal partners to further accelerate our growth. IFS is the global leader in FSM, a fast-growing market where we continue to win market share. This is where we believe that we can help our customers create the most value, by enabling them to provide their customers with superior service and experience. IFS' proposition in the market is compelling and differentiated, which, when combined with the market opportunity, provides all the right ingredients for continued growth." Naveen Wadhera, Managing Director at TA Associates and Co-Head of TA Associates' EMEA Technology Group, said: "We are thrilled to be part of IFS' journey going forward. We have followed IFS for years and are truly impressed by the work that Darren and his team have done establishing the Company as the global leader within FSM. We believe that there are numerous growth opportunities for the Company, and we look forward to partnering with EQT to support IFS in its next transformation phase." Per Franzen, Partner at EQT Partners and Co-Head of EQT Private Equity, concluded: "EQT looks forward to continue backing IFS and management on its growth journey. With TA Associates, EQT has gained a trusted partner for jointly supporting and developing IFS further during the years ahead." The investment in IFS is in line with EQT's thematic approach guided by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, specifically SDG 9, "Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation" and SDG 12, "Responsible Consumption and Production". The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close at the end of August 2020. JP Morgan Securities plc acted as financial advisor to EQT VIII and EQT IX, and Arma Partners acted as financial advisor to TA Associates. With the acquisition of IFS by EQT VIII and EQT IX, EQT VIII is expected to be 80-85 percent invested and the commitment period is terminated (remaining commitments to be used primarily for add-on acquisitions and strategic capital injections as well as for ongoing expenses). Simultaneously, the successor fund EQT IX is activated and consequently starts charging management fees. The fundraising of EQT IX (target fund size of EUR 14.75 billion and hard cap of EUR 15 billion) runs according to plan and is anticipated to be materially concluded during the third quarter. With the acquisition of IFS, EQT IX will be 5-10 percent invested based on its target fund size. Contacts for EQT Johannes Reichel, Partner at EQT Partners and Investment Advisor to EQT VIII and EQT IX, +49 1517 303 8314 EQT Press Office, press@eqtpartners.com, +46 8 506 55 334 Contacts for TA Associates Marcia O'Carroll, Director of Marketing at TA Associates, +1 617-852-1345, mocarroll@ta.com Philip Nunes, BackBay Communications, +1 617-391-0792, philip.nunes@backbaycommunications.com Stephen Fishleigh, BackBay Communications, +44 203 475 7552, stephen.fishleigh@backbaycommunications.com About EQT EQT is a differentiated global investment organization with more than EUR 62 billion in raised capital and around EUR 40 billion in assets under management across 19 active funds. EQT funds have portfolio companies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and North America with total sales of more than EUR 27 billion and approximately 159,000 employees. EQT works with portfolio companies to achieve sustainable growth, operational excellence and market leadership. More info: www.eqtgroup.com Follow EQT on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram About IFS IFS develops and delivers enterprise software for customers around the world who manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets, and manage service-focused operations. The industry expertise of IFS' people and solutions, has made IFS a recognized leader and the most recommended supplier in IFS' core verticals. The IFS team of 4,000 employees and a growing ecosystem of partners support more than 10,000 customers around the world challenge the status quo and realize their competitive advantage. More info: www.ifs.com About TA Associates TA Associates is a leading global growth private equity firm. Focused on targeted sectors within five industries - technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services - TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in high quality growth companies. TA has raised $33.5 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of over $2 billion per year. The firm's more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More info: www.ta.com This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/eqt/r/eqt-funds-to-acquire-global-enterprise-software-provider-ifs-and-bring-in-ta-associates-as-minority-,c3153752 The following files are available for download: The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, says the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu will reopen for normal business on August 30. Mr Sirika gave the assurance at the airport in Enugu after inspecting the progress of ongoing rehabilitation of the runway and upgrade of other infrastructure, aiming toward international standards, on Tuesday. He said the project has reached between 90 and 95 per cent completed. The minister said the federal government planned to make a quick intervention in the procurement to ensure dilapidated runway, which was a threat to the safety of operations, is fully dealt with. We were on course, but unfortunately, COVID-19 came and the workers took to their heels to ensure that they remain safe. We are back on site and we have made a tremendous amount of progress. We are about 90 to 95 per cent completing this job. However, the final wearing course is where we are on the runway while the perimeter fencing and the road is going on. Also, other works, including airfield lighting for day and night operations and for it to truly answer its name Akanu Ibiam International airport, Enugu, he said. The minister said the rainy season was also a monster in the procurement of the project. He, however, commended the contractor and the consultants for doing extremely well with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). I am happy with the progress of work. I am very confident that this procurement will be delivered on the 30th August, 2020. This, of course, is with the due consideration to the weather, but with the help of God, we will deliver this procurement on 30th of August for use with most of the associated works. I can say authoritatively that this runway is one of the best if not the best in the country at the moment. Turning pad of this runway is made of concrete. Unlike our other airports where turning pads are made of asphalt and they dont take the beating that we give to them due to the weight of the aircraft but this one is made of concrete, he said. Mr Sirika said the government would soon set up a cargo terminal that would generate economic activities around the city. The minister said Chinese terminal, which was about 60 per cent completed at the airport, would also be delivered as soon as possible. (NAN) Though the new group concluded the existing smog standard should be retained, it included an attachment in a February letter to Wheeler acknowledging legitimate questions about whether the current standard provides an adequate margin of safety for people with asthma. Microphone and US Flag View Photo During the Democratic Weekly Address, Rep. Donald McEachin (D-VA) stated that more has to be done to deal with racial and environmental injustice. McEachin was Tuesday KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words: Hello, I am Congressman Donald McEachin, and I have the honor of representing Virginias Fourth Congressional District. Americans today are recognizing we must do more to address two critical and intertwined issues in our nation: the unfinished work of racial justice and the need for environmental justice to protect our communities. People across our country are still protesting in the streets because they believe in a better America, an America where equal justice under the law is more than an empty platitude. Our communities are tired of watching African Americans maimed or killed with no accountability from our justice system. Americans tire of the endless hashtags and of shouldering the compounding weight of our collective grief, pain and rage. They deserve for their Congress to rise to meet this moment in our nations history, to make clear once and for all that no one should be above the law because they wear a badge. I urge the Senate to join House Democrats in hearing the loud, unyielding call for justice and pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to end the pervasive bias in policing and demand accountability from officers to the communities they serve. Unlike the Senate Republicans proposal, the American people deserve serious legislation that combats the epidemic of racial injustice and police brutality. They deserve a bill that contains meaningful and mandatory measures to end this countrys persistent pattern of police misconduct. This crisis is not new, but this moment has to be different. We cannot go back to business as usual until America shows with action that Black Lives Matter. The present moment has laid bare what we have known all along: the real and urgent discussions happening today about racism in this country are long overdue. Never have the deadly and insidious effects of systemic racism been clearer than the past few months as we have all weathered a pandemic that has disproportionately assailed and killed Black and brown people. The COVID-19 crisis proves that evidence of systemic racism is not always as graphic as cellphone footage of police encounters gone wrong, but its effects are just as destructive. Addressing racism and justice for all certainly means that ones own community, ones home must not be a health risk. It is no secret that the same racist economic and political forces that previously redlined Black and brown neighborhoods into environmentally hazardous areas still exist today. To begin to address this reality, I worked alongside Representative Raul Grijalva, Chair of the Natural Resources Committee and with environmental justice communities across the country to introduce the Environmental Justice for All Act, legislation crafted by the people, for the people to give them a voice and a means to fight back against the pollution that threatens their children and their families. We spent the last year and a half listening and learning from the stories of these communities, stories that should never happen in America. Stories of Black and brown communities located adjacent to toxic waste sites and factories spewing noxious air, grappling with alarming rates of asthma, cancer and even death. For too long, we have denied those communities a voice and a means to fight back against the pollution that threatens their children and families. But this Congress, in the House Democrats Climate Action Plan drafted by the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, we make clear our commitment to these communities to work collaboratively to right these wrongs. We make clear that the concerns of communities most affected by pollution and health disparities must be centered in our policymaking and ensure that environmental justice is our future. And we make clear to the polluters that are poisoning the air and waterways in environmental justice communities that enough is enough. House Democrats know that the clean, sustainable future we are fighting for cannot exist without a democracy that truly provides equity and justice for all. And while President Trump eliminates basic and necessary environmental regulations, we are working hard to ensure Americans, no matter their zip code or race or income level, are protected from environmental devastation at a time when they need our support the most. Communities that have disproportionately suffered from environmental injustice and are now hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis need the government to treat them as a strong partner in the decisions that will affect their neighborhoods and their well-being, not regulate them to an afterthought. Together, we will work to protect our environmental laws, to research and address the cumulative impacts of pollution on overburdened communities and to prioritize frontline communities in new federal spending to deploy clean energy and infrastructure. And together, we can ensure a better, brighter, more sustainable future for Americans across our country, while delivering justice to communities that have long been denied. The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-15 00:02:40|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close Photo taken on July 14, 2020 shows the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., the United States. The United States carried out its first execution at the federal level on Tuesday, putting white supremacist and murderer Daniel Lewis Lee to death by lethal injection. (Xinhua/Liu Jie) WASHINGTON, July 14 (Xinhua) -- The United States carried out its first execution at the federal level on Tuesday, putting white supremacist and murderer Daniel Lewis Lee to death by lethal injection. The execution was carried out using the powerful sedative pentobarbital early in the day at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana. Originally scheduled for 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT) on Monday, the execution was delayed by some 16 hours due to a federal judge's order to block it, but a 5 against 4 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court eventually let it and another three upcoming executions "proceed as planned". U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, who sought to prevent the execution, said Lee and another two death row inmates whose executions were scheduled later this week -- as well as a fourth whose execution is scheduled for August -- can pursue their claims that the federal government's plan to use a single drug would cause severe pain and needless suffering. The four death row inmates claimed that the use of barbiturate pentobarbital constituted "cruel and unusual punishments" as it would interfere with breathing, causing a feeling of drowning and asphyxiation. The Justice Department subsequently appealed Chutkan's order to both the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the Supreme Court. While the appeals court declined to get involved, the Supreme Court overruled Chutkan's order, saying in an unsigned opinion that "the plaintiffs in this case have not made the showing required to justify last-minute intervention by a Federal Court." Lee was convicted in 1999 of killing firearms dealer William Mueller in Arkansas in 1996, as well as his wife Nancy Mueller and their 8-year-old daughter Sarah Powell. The execution was the first at the federal level since March 18, 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for "kidnapping within special maritime/territorial jurisdiction resulting in death," according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The Trump administration resumed capital punishments at the federal level in July 2019. Enditem After the Congress resolved to remove Sachin Pilot as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and the state's party chief, Prayagraj MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi invited him to join the BJP. Another recognized Congress leader insulted.Sachin shud immediately join BJP in National interest.Another example of Rahul Gandhi's arrogance and lack of leadership@Sachin Pilot@ANI Prof. Rita Bahuguna Joshi MP Prayagraj (@RitaBJoshi) July 14, 2020 In a tweet, she said, "Another recognised Congress leader insulted. Sachin should immediately join BJP in national interest. Another example of Rahul Gandhi's arrogance and lack of leadership." A turncoat herself, Joshi was a part of the Congress for 24 years, before she quit the party in October 2016 to join the BJP. She was the chief of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee. When she had quit the Grand Old Party, Joshi had said, "Rahul Gandhi's leadership is not acceptable to people. With Rahul at the helm, nobody listens to us." Meanwhile, even after he declared an open rebellion on Sunday against the Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan, claiming that the CM no longer enjoyed the majority, Sachin Pilot had told NDTV that he will not be joining the BJP. On July 14, the Congress Legislative Party passed a resolution to sack Pilot as the Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and the state unit chief. To respond to the development, Pilot took to Twitter and said, "Truth can be disturbed, but cannot be defeated." Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi also responded to the development saying, "My advise to Sachin Pilot is to be patient, not to be emotional. Having bright future your turn will come. I also had similar hurdles but ultimately patience helped. Better not to run after power which will come automatically. Ashok Gehlot may also give due recognition to Mr Pilot." Sad to see events unfold in Rajasthan. Sad particularly because the son of my dearest late friend, Rajesh Pilot is at the vortex. We have challenges ahead that make personal ambitions and expectations insignificant. Let us rededicate our vision and energy Salman Khurshid (@salman7khurshid) July 14, 2020 Veteran Congress leader Salman Khurshid also tweeted: Visakhapatnam, July 14 : A man died and four others were injured in a massive fire that broke out at Visakha Solvents plant at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City in Parwada on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam on Monday night. The fire was put off after a seven-hour long operation involving seven fire tenders, police said. Though authorities claimed Monday night that there were no casualties, a charred body was found in the debris on Tuesday morning. He was identified as senior chemist K. Srinivas Rao, 40. Four others were injured in the incident. One of them G. Mallesh (33) was admitted to a private hospital. Three employees sustained minor injuries. Revenue Division Officer (RDP) P. Kishore said the fire was completely doused. The fire broke out in a chemical reactor and created loud explosions spreading a panic in Pharma City and nearby residential areas after recent episodes of major blaze on June 29 and May 7. People were seen shifting to safer places. Initially, the fire tenders could not reach closer to the plant due to a series of explosions. Visakhapatnam District Collector Vinay Chand rushed to the scene and monitored the fire fighting operation. Trade unions alleged that the negligence by the company management led to the incident. Police arrested CITU leader Satyanarayana when he tried to stage a protest outside the plant. State Minister for Industries, M. Goutham Reddy spoke to officials about the incident and directed them to ensure best treatment of the injured. Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu also tweeted about the fire. "Shocked to hear about the explosion in Vizag's Pharma City. The visuals coming in look dreadful. I pray that the workers doing the night shift inside the premises come out safely." The incident occurred two weeks after a gas leak from a pharmaceutical unit in Pharma City, which claimed the lives of two people and affected four others. The incident occurred at Sainor Life Sciences Private Limited on June 29. It was the second industrial disaster to strike the port city in less than two months. The Sainor fire came close on the heels of the May 7 disaster at LG Polymers plant at Venkatapuram. Styrene gas leaked from the plant and claimed the lives of 15 people and affected around 500 in the surrounding villages. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Former Jalandhar bishop Franco Mulakkal, against whom a court issued a non-bailable warrant yesterday in connection with the alleged rape of a Kerala nun, has tested positive for Covid-19, confirmed an officer. Mulakkals PRO Father Peter said the health of the bishop is not so good. On Monday, Mulakkals counsel informed the Kerala court that his client could not appear as he had been in self quarantine due to his primary contact with a Covid-19 infected person. During the previous hearing on July 1 also he had failed to appear before the Court. His counsel had then submitted that the priest could not appear as he was stuck in a Covid-19 containment zone at Jalandhar in Punjab. However, the prosecution on Monday refuted the claim by the accused saying, the place where he lived in Jalandhar was not a containment zone on July 1. The Court cancelled his bail, considering the prosecution argument that the accused was trying to delay the trial, and posted the case to August 13. The Kerala High Court on July 7 had dismissed a petition seeking to discharge Mulakkal from the sexual assault case filed against him by the nun. It had directed the deposed Bishop of Jalandhar diocese to stand for trial in the rape case, which was registered on a complaint filed by the nun of same diocese in Kerala. The court dismissed the plea by the bishop, admitting the prosecution argument that there was prima facie evidence against Mulakkal in the rape case. The senior priest of the Roman Catholic Church had filed the revision petition following the dismissal of his discharge plea by the trial court in Kottayam in March this year. The rape case against the Bishop was registered by police in Kottayam district. In her complaint to the police in June 2018, the nun had alleged that she was subjected to sexual abuse by the Bishop between 2014 and 2016. Arrested by the Special Investigation team, the bishop has been charged with wrongful confinement, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation. By Express News Service KOCHI: The High Court has imposed a cost of `25,000 on C L Anto of Chalakudy, Thrissur, for having filed a public interest litigation seeking a directive to the state and Centre to follow a Covid-19 protocol devised by him while evacuating those stranded in Gulf countries. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly observed that the petitioners pleas were misconceived and frivolous. According to Anto, he had vast experience in evacuation from Kuwait during the Gulf War, and also in disaster management during earthquakes in Maharashtra and Kutch (Gujarat). He sought a direction to the governments to consult him to create a document similar to what he had prepared during the Kuwait evacuation to get compensation for Covid victims in Gulf countries. The bench said the petitioner had no right under any statute to demand governments to consult him to make a decision. Separate drivers killed three pedestrians in a matter of hours across the Houston area overnight, two of whom remain on the lam. Houston police officers were first called to the Gulf Freeway main lanes near South Sam Houston Parkway around 10:40 p.m. Monday after two drivers struck a woman. She was apparently trying to cross the freeway, according to Houston Police Department Sgt. David Rose. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Djemi Amnifu, Fadli and Apriadi Gunawan (The Jakarta Post) Kupang/Batam/Medan Wed, July 15, 2020 10:20 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066610354 1 National pandemic,back-to-school,COVID-19-in-Indonesia,senior-high-schools,East-Nusa-Tenggara,Batam,Medan,North-Sumatra,Jambi,Education-and-Culture-Ministry,Nadiem-Makarim Free After months of studying from home, students in several parts of the archipelago returned to school on Monday in accordance with the so-called new normal protocols in their respective communities. In the meantime, a number of other regions continued to exercise caution and carried on with their online learning policies as the COVID-19 health crisis has shown no sign of abating anytime soon. In East Nusa Tenggara, students returned to their classrooms as junior and senior high schools in 13 regencies and cities across the province including the provincial capital Kupang, East Manggarai regency, Rote Ndao regency, East Flores regency, and Central Sumba regency were permitted to resume their normal educational activities this week, albeit with a renewed emphasis on physical distancing and personal hygiene. Despite the high-spirited school reopenings across the province, some parents have conveyed their collective anxiety about their childrens well-being. Habel Manafe, whose child attends SMA 3 state senior high school in Kupang, called on schools to implement strict health protocols to ensure the safety of students, teachers and other staff members. For us, it goes without saying that once schools reopen, they must [enforce] health protocols. This includes implementing physical distancing measures, for instance, by putting some distance between seats in the classroom, Habel told the press on Monday, adding that students must also be required to wear face masks. Habel went on to say that having students tested for COVID-19 was crucial as schools adjusted to new norms. Furthermore, students should also be given practical lessons on health protocols so they can develop new habits to minimize the risks of infection, Habel said. Read also: Teachers, parents fret over health risks as schools prepare to reopen Parents shouldnt simply tell [their children] to wash their hands, but they should also demonstrate how to do it properly, Habel added. Similarly, junior and senior high school students in Jambi city, Jambi, were also allowed to return to their classrooms on Monday, kompas.com reported. Jambi Mayor Syarif Fasha said the decision to reopen schools in the city was partly because hundreds of students in the region lacked access to online learning technology. He noted that the reopening was met with enthusiasm among students, as evidenced by the 50 percent attendance rate on Monday. He expected the attendance rate to reach 100 percent by the end of the month. For the time being, [studying at school] is not mandatory. If a student has [breathing issues], for instance, they will be allowed to study remotely, Syarif said. Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim allowed 104 regencies and cities considered to be green zones across the country to reopen junior and senior high schools on July 13, which also marked the start of the new school year. However, elementary school students are still required to study from home until further notice. Amid Mondays reopenings, some other regions remained cautious, with students told to continue studying from home because of health and safety concerns. Read also: Indonesia shifts from 'new normal' to 'adapting to new habits' The Riau Islands administration, for instance, has prohibited schools from reopening as the threat of COVID-19 has yet to subside in the region. Based on our field inspection, schools specifically senior high schools and vocational schools havent reopened. We will [impose sanctions] if they do reopen, Riau Islands Education Agency character building division head Adimaja told The Jakarta Post, adding that learning activities had mostly taken place online. He went on to say that a few vocational schools in Batam had been permitted to allow students to resume outdoor activities, while still adhering to strict health protocols. Akmal, who serves as a principal at Kartini Senior High School in Batam, said schools could be reopened for in-person learning as soon as the region was declared a green zone. [The reopening] also depends on the parents approval, Akmal said. In Medan, North Sumatra, however, students flocked to schools despite the local administrations restrictions. Based on the Posts observations, many students were not wearing face masks. On the first day of school, we sang together and wrote down our personal information. We had fun, said Dori, a seventh grader at SMP 4 state junior high school in Medan. North Sumatra Education Agency secretary Alpian Hutahuruk expressed dismay over the unsanctioned reopenings, saying it endangered students. Read also: Indonesian schools not ready for new normal: Survey This could put students in peril. We have prohibited [schools from reopening]. No school in North Sumatra may reopen when the COVID-19 [transmission rate] is still high, said Alpian, adding that the administration would reach out to schools that were found to have violated the regulation. Separately, national COVID-19 task force chief Doni Monardo said the government had considered allowing schools in yellow zones to reopen because of high public demand. We are reviewing several public requests to allow [students] in yellow zones to go back to school, Doni said after a meeting with President Joko Jokowi Widodo on Monday. As of Monday, Indonesia had recorded 76,981 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,656 deaths linked to the disease. (rfa) The Ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) constituted an 8-member panel of experts which has suggested a new data regulator for non-personal data. A 72-page draft report, obtained by Bloomberg notes that the data regulator will oversee how companies collect, process, store, monetise, and even destroy non-personal data or anonymised data. The aim behind this is to provide certainty for existing businesses and incentives for the creation of new ones, to tap the "enormous" social and public value from data. Non-personal data is information that does not include any details such as name, age, or address that could be used to identify an individual. It also comprises data that was initially personal but later aggregated and made anonymous. The panel of experts noted that tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Uber have benefitted from the combination of first-mover advantage, sizable network effect, and enormous data. As per the draft, the dominance of these players has left many new entrants and startups being squeezed and faced with significant entry barriers. The draft report will be submitted to India's IT ministry next week before which it will be made available to the dominant companies for consultation. As per the draft report, the data panel is required to closely evaluate and oversee the aforementioned aspects. The committee also recommended creating a new "data business" classification for those firms that collect, process, store, or otherwise manage data. Those may include health, e-commerce, internet, and technology services companies, many of whom were consulted by the committee before the drafting of the report. "Market transactions and market forces on their own will not bring about the maximum social and economic benefits from data for society. Appropriate institutional and regulatory structures are essential for a thriving data economy and a well-functioning data society," the draft report said. The proposed regulator will have integration with raw data pipes of tech companies which will help transform data from one source to the other. Through its legal power, the panel will be able to make data sharing requests. "Every data business must declare what they do and what data they collect, process and use, in which manner, and for what purposes. This is similar to disclosures required by pharma industry and in food products," the draft report states. Sher Bahadur Deuba to take oath as new Prime Minister of Nepal today Our friendship with India and China remains of 'paramount importance': Nepal at UN Stop all aid to Nepal, snap ties with it: Ayodhya seers enraged over Olis claim India pti-PTI Ayodhya, July 14: Enraged over Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli's claim that 'real' Ayodhya was in his country, several Hindu seers here on Tuesday said India must stop all financial aids to Nepal and snap all diplomatic ties with it. The seers also said India should throw all Nepalese workers out of the country. Meanwhile in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya expressed outrage over Oli's claim and demanded that he must apologize from Ram Bhakts for hurting their sentiments. Reacting to Oli's statement, Iqbal Ansari, one of the former litigants in the Ram Janmabhoomi land dispute case, said Oli has also hurt the sentiments of Muslim clerics in Ayodhya by his claim. After staking claim to Indian territories of Lipulekh-Kalapani in a new controversial map, Nepal PM Oli on Monday said 'real' Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Ram is in Nepal and Lord Ram is a Nepali. Sachin pilot to hold press conference at 10 AM tomorrow, Rajasthan crisis deepens | Oneindia News Reacting to Oil's claim, Acharya Satyendra Das, the chief priest of Ram Janmabhoomi temple, told PTI, "I appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to snap all diplomatic ties with Nepal immediately." He also said India must throw all Nepalese workers out of the country and the people must boycott visiting religious places in Nepal. 'Not meant to debase Ayodhya's significance': Nepal after backlash over PM KP Oli's remarks Mahant Paramhans Das, the chief priest of Tapasawi Chawni Temple, too echoed the views of Acharya Satyendra Das. "India must throw out all Nepalese labourers working in India as a strong reaction to the Nepalese prime minister''s arrogance regarding Lord Rama," Mahant Paramhans Das told PTI. Ayodhya priests said Nepal is speaking in a language taught by China and India must teach it a lesson for daring to speak on Lord Ram against the Hindus' faith. Going a step further, some Ayodhya seers also said Hindus cannot tolerate Nepal's arrogance and made a call to devotees of Lord Ram to head to Nepal and teach them a lesson. Talking to PTI, Acharya Yugal Kishore Sharan Shastri, the chief priest of Saryu Kunj temple, adjacent to the Ram Janmabhoomi premises, said, "I appeal to all Ram Bhakts to move towards Nepal and take revenge." "The day is not far off when Nepal will have begging bowls in its hands if India takes strong action against it," said Ram Dal Trust's chief Pandit Kalkiram. Reacting to Oli's claim, Iqbal Ansari said the Nepalese PM's statement has also hurt the sentiments of Muslim clerics of Ayodhya, "If Lord Hanumana gets angry with his statement, he can demolish entire Nepal," quipped Ansari. Meanwhile, UP Dy CM Maurya said, "The Nepalese PM's statement is condemnable and Oli should seek an apology for the same from Ram Bhakts." " Our religious scriptures say Lord Ram was born in Ayodhya situated on the banks of river Saryu," he pointed out. Maurya said the Nepal PM should not have given such a statement. "He is not a Shankaracharya or Mahamandleshwar. He has no moral right to talk about Lord Ram and Sita," he said, adding it is an attempt similar to passing of a new map in Parliament to include Indian territories. He said Oli should study Nepali kingdom's relation with Indian and must avoid such making statements. SAN ANTONIO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Whataburger is best known for serving up its famous burgers, but the company also makes significant investments in its employees. Today, the Whataburger Family Foundation announced it has distributed more than $1 million through its Whataburger Scholarship Program to employees and their immediate family members for the 2020-2021 school year. The scholarships have been awarded to 268 students from Florida to Arizona, including Chandrell Powers, Abcde Espinoza and Josue Guajardo. "My career goal is to become established in a respected company and one day start up my own business to offer jobs to a lot of the kids back home," said Whataburger employee and scholarship recipient Josue Guajardo. "I want to show them that anything can be achieved through hard work that your story's ending is always more important than the beginning." Guajardo plans to pursue a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Texas. The foundation, created in 2003, provides both opportunities and assistance for employees, and is funded by a combination of corporate investment and voluntary employee contributions. Through the Whataburger Scholarship Program, the foundation has provided over $7 million in scholarships to more than 2,700 employees and their immediate family members. "The Whataburger Family Foundation is largely funded by our own employees, who we call Family Members, so this is an incredible demonstration of coworkers supporting one another in reaching their education and career goals," said Pam Cox, Whataburger Vice President of Human Resources and Brand Communication. "At Whataburger we believe in offering our Family Members a career not just a job. In addition to awarding scholarships, we provide a unique leadership curriculum to further develop our Family Members' business and people skills." Whataburger's Family Foundation is just one facet of a larger initiative called Feeding Student Success, which the company has designated $1 million to directly support minority students. The company plans to announce additional details about Feeding Student Success in August. For more information on the scholarship program and to read more stories of students who were awarded scholarships, visit Whataburger's digital newsroom here. ABOUT WHATABURGER: Whataburger has focused on its fresh, made-to-order burgers and friendly customer service since 1950 when Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger as a small roadside burger stand in Corpus Christi, Texas. Today, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 830 locations in 10 states and sales of more than $2 billion annually. Whataburger has 45,000 Family Members (employees) and more than 14 million customers who like to customize their Whataburgers just the way they like it. Visit whataburger.com for more information. SOURCE Whataburger Related Links https://whataburger.com The United Arab Emirates said it plans to launch its "Hope" Mars probe on Friday local time from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center after a two-day delay due to poor weather there. A rocket is due to blast off at 5:43 am local time (2043 GMT Thursday) carrying the unmanned spacecraft that is bound to orbit the Red Planet in the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. The launch was postponed from 2051 GMT Tuesday because of inclement weather at the remote Japanese launch site, but remains well within the launch window which runs until August 13. The Emirati project is one of three racing to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States, taking advantage of the period when the Earth and Mars are nearest: some 55 million kilometres (34 million miles) apart. "Hope" -- or Al-Amal in Arabic -- is expected to reach Mars's orbit by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE, an alliance of seven emirates. Once there, it will loop the planet for a whole Martian year, or 687 days. The probe is expected to detach from the launch rocket about an hour after blast-off, which is when the UAE Mars mission's deputy project manager Sarah al-Amiri said the real excitement will begin. "In my heart of hearts, I'm looking forward to the initial 24 hours after separation, and that's where we see the results of our work," said Amiri, who is also Minister of State for Advanced Sciences. "It is when we first get the signal, when we know that every part of the spacecraft is functioning, when the solar panels are deployed, when we hit our trajectory and are headed towards Mars," she told AFP earlier this month. Keiji Suzuki from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is carrying the Hope probe into space, had already warned on Monday that thunderstorms forecast could delay the launch. - Big ambitions - The UAE -- which is better known for its skyscrapers, palm-shaped islands and mega attractions -- has in recent years been pushing to expand its space sector. While the objective of the Mars mission is to provide a comprehensive image of the weather dynamics in the Red Planet's atmosphere, the probe is a foundation for a much bigger goal -- building a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years. The UAE also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises. Dubai has hired architects to imagine what a Martian city might look like and build it in its desert as "Science City", at a cost of around 500 million dirhams (135 million dollars). And last September, Hazza al-Mansouri became the first Emirati in space, part of a three-member crew that blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, returning home after an eight-day mission in which he became the first Arab to visit the International Space Station. Several dozen probes -- most of them American -- have set off for the Red Planet since the 1960s. Many never made it that far, or failed to land. The drive to explore Mars flagged until the confirmation less than 10 years ago that water once flowed on its surface. "What is unique about this mission is that for the first time the scientific community around the world will have an holistic view of the Martian atmosphere at different times of the day at different seasons," the mission's project manager Omran Sharaf told Monday's briefing. "We have a strategy to contribute to the global effort in developing technologies and science work that will help one day if humanity decides to put a human on Mars." In this file photo from September 2019 a man takes a picture of an illustration of an astronaut with the Emirati national flag outside Dubai's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre The control room of the Mars Mission at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. The oil-rich United Arab Emirates plans to join an elite club of nations by sending a probe to Mars An engineer observes a model of a previous UAE space project, the satellite KhalifaSat So far only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to orbit the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first Mars rover later this month We decided to reopen on July 20 after creating a plan that carefully adheres to safety guidelines from the Illinois Department of Health and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and takes into account everything we need to do to keep patrons and staff safe, explained Executive Director Andrew Kim in an email. Since the pandemic struck, weve been monitoring scientific data and best practices as they became available. Well continue to do that as the public health situation evolves. ALBANY The state Legislature will conduct a series of hearings on New York's response to the coronavirus pandemic, including two that will evaluate the spread of the virus in nursing homes. The eight online hearings, which will include include panelists from the Senate and Assembly, will include testimony on the impact of the pandemic on higher education and veterans. They will take place between July 28 and Aug. 25. Two of the hearings, scheduled for Aug. 3 and 10, will review the COVID-19 infection rate and fatalities in residential health care facilities, including nursing homes. New York has come under fire for a controversial March directive that instructed nursing homes to accept residents who may be positive for the virus, including those released from hospitals. The pandemic has impacted every part of our lives, from work and worship to how we learn and socialize," Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, D-Bronx, said in a release. "Working together with our partners in the Senate, these hearings will help the Assembly Majority evaluate the impact the pandemic continues to have on our state and what we can do to help families, businesses and our academic and governmental institutions recover and move forward. The state Legislature previously held two hearings on the impact of the virus on minority communities and small businesses. Lawmakers have only met for a handful of days amid the pandemic to pass two large bill packages, the first on COVID-19 and the second on police brutality and racial inequalities. They are expected to return to session briefly at the end of this month. The nursing home hearings follow weeks of bipartisan calls from lawmakers and government watchdogs for an independent investigation to evaluate New York's nursing home deaths, which have exceeded 6,400, including presumed fatalities (but do not include those who contracted the virus in nursing homes but later died in hospitals). At issue are two directives from the Cuomo administration early on in the pandemic that, critics say, exacerbated the crisis among New York's most vulnerable residents. The first allowed COVID-positive, but asymptomatic, employees to continue working in the long-term care facilities; a second directed nursing homes not deny residents solely because they had the coronavirus. Both were later rescinded or altered, but the Cuomo administration has insisted that its actions were in line with federal recommendations. The Department of Health issued a self-absolving report earlier this month linking the number of deaths in nursing homes to spread from unknowing, asymptomatic workers and family members rather than the admission of coronavirus-positive patients to facilities. The state has said the report's findings have been reaffirmed by health professionals, though the independence of those who peer-reviewed the report has been questioned. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. The Aug. 3 hearing will focus on upstate nursing homes, and the hearing on Aug. 10 will review downstate facilities, said Sen. James Skoufis, D-Hudson Valley and the chairman of the Senate's investigations committee. He will co-chair both hearings, as well as two discussing "workforce failures" and the spread of the virus in hospitals. "We owe it to the people of this state to get answers and diligently examine what transpired, both as a means to hold bad-actors accountable as well as learn what worked and what didn't work in preparation for the next public health crisis," Skoufis said. "When a fire spreads, as this virus did, its essential to not only put out the fire but also identify who lit the match and understand how the fire fanned out." The full hearing schedule is as follows: RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazils government on Monday fired an official at the national space agency Inpe whose department is responsible for satellite monitoring of the Amazon rainforest, just three days after the release of June deforestation data reflected a continued increase in degradation. Lubia Vinhas was the general-co-ordinator of Brazilian space agency Inpes Earth Observation Institute, which is an umbrella for divisions that monitor the Amazon and panels to debate climate change with civil society organizations. Its unclear whether the removal of Vinhas from her position was connected to the data. Her subordinate who heads the division directly overseeing satellite monitoring of Amazon deforestation remains employed. Inpe said in a statement posted to its website Monday night that the change was part of a shake-up at the agency to improve synergies. Still, the timing of the dismissal -- coming on the heels of June data -- drew an outcry from environmentalists who claim it may be an echo of a high-profile firing at the same agency last year. President Jair Bolsonaro is a critic of environmentalists and defends fostering more economic development in the Amazon, which many adversaries see as a nod to illegal miners and loggers. Vinhas was picked in 2018 for a four-year but Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes decided to remove her after 2 years and 3 months on the job. Inpe said in its statement that Vinhas former department will be merged with others, and she will oversee implementation of a new georeferencing database. Inpe figures published on Friday showed 400 square miles (1,034 square kilometres) of deforestation in the Amazon in June, a new record the month since data started being gathered in 2015. Total deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon from January to June was 1,890 square miles (3,069 square kilometres), up 25% from the same six-month period last year. Outside observers are keeping close tabs on Brazils environmental stewardship just ahead of the so-called burning season, during which landholders use fire to clear brush and forest. That includes asset managers who say they are assessing whether to divest from Brazil and last week spoke with the environment minister and Vice-President Gen. Hamilton Mourao, . Bolsonaro also put the Army in charge of efforts to curb deforestation in May after last years fires pushed destruction to the highest level in 11 years. Yet data from Inpe show that it kept climbing. Marcio Astrini, the executive-secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, a coalition of civil society groups, alleged that the government has previously made clear its desire to intervene in Inpe. The removal of Lubia Vinhas could be an indication that the plan was never abandoned. This is happening as deforestation accelerates, when the administration needs to stop threats of divestment, Astrini said in a statement. Suely Vaz, former head of environment regulator IBAMA, said before the release of the June data that the army isnt using the technical planning and intelligence required, nor are they trained in such methods to stop deforestation. She added that it costs more than $10 million per month for the army to operate in the Amazon -- more than half what IBAMA spends on oversight in a year. Control of deforestation isnt done by sending a lot of inexperienced people to the field, Vaz said. They can help, but the operations need to be conducted by environmental authorities. In the midst of the international outcry over the Amazon fires in August, Bolsonaro accused the then-head of Brazils space research institute, Ricardo Galvao, of manipulating satellite deforestation data in order to undermine his administration. Galvao publicly countered the claims, and was fired. _____ Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. GRAND HAVEN, MI -- A Front Porch Salute seeks to sustain the patriotic sentiment associated with the annual Coast Guard Festival, a nearly century-old tradition that was canceled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic. From July 25 to Aug. 8, Grand Haven residents and businesses are encouraged to decorate their porches, yards and windows to signal their appreciation for the U.S. Coast Guard, in the absence of the 96th annual Coast Guard Festival. In May, organizers of the yearly event announced that the festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of people to the area, would be canceled. Those who decorate their homes may email photos of their transformed spaces to festival organizers. Photos may be shared on social media or included in other materials. Grand Haven was the first American city to earn the nickname Coast Guard City, USA, in recognition of its importance to the military branch, in 1998. The festival honors active duty and veteran personnel, especially those who died while serving. Last year, about 350,000 people attended for two weeks of parades, food, games, concerts, street parties and fireworks. Read more on MLive: Grand Haven flooded by crowds during 95th annual Coast Guard Festival Police ID woman, boy who died in Grand Rapids house fire where 2019 homicide occurred Nearly 1K group home residents, staff to get coronavirus tests in Muskegon County W hen a John Lewis store opens in a town, its typically to great fanfare. When one closes, it can leave a dent in a High Street or retail park. The department store retailer is often an anchor tenant in a development, meaning landlords expect it to draw footfall which will in turn benefit its retail neighbours. However, the pandemic has exacerbated existing problems at the retailer and the Evening Standard revealed last week that new chairman Sharon White had written to staff to warn some stores will never reopen. Earlier today John Lewis announced it will close eight shops, with the possibility of 1300 jobs going. Here is the full list: 1. Croydon A smaller At Home specialist homeware store opened back in 2010 and sits on Purley Way, just outside Croydon town centre, which has a longstanding reputation as a shopping hub. The At Home stores are typically around 60,000 square feet and carry fewer products, focused on homewares. 2. Watford One of two so-called full service department stores closing, the shop sits in the 30 year old Harlequin Shopping Centre branch in Watford. The centre was owned by bust malls owner Intu, and John Lewis staff there had garnered more than 2,000 signatures for a petition to save the shop. 3. Heathrow Terminal Two The closure of this smaller travel hub store in Terminal 2 of Britains largest airport underscores the crisis in the aviation industry. Heathrow is typically a hive of activity for upmarket retailers and bored travellers browsing while awaiting their flights. But with holiday travel only just returning and footfall a fraction of what it was, the store is earmarked for closure. 4. St Pancras International Similarly, this smaller shop sits within the smart redevelopment of the central London railway station. Stores in stations rely on lots of customers passing through to justify the high rents, so the dry up in rail passengers during Covid will have dented trade. John Lewis in Birmingham / PA 5. Birmingham The closure of this huge 136,000 sq ft outlet will perhaps be the biggest surprise. The store only opened in 2015 as part of the 750 million Grand Central scheme around Birmigham New Street train station after years of local anticipation. Whats more, former managing director Andy Street said the development could boost investment in Englands second city and later resigned to run to be the citys metro mayor, a position he won in 2017. One John Lewis partner said today: Morale through the Partnership is very low. Theres so much ambiguity around the future of the Partners at John Lewis and Waitrose. A lot of money was invested into Birmingham and after five years theyve decided to close it. Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood Shabana Mahmood said: "Today's news that Birmingham's John Lewis store is set to permanently close is a hammer blow for our local economy. The fact that this flagship store in our country's second city has been unable to weather the current economic challenges and those which existed before the lockdown is deeply worrying." 6. Swindon This smaller At Home store is due to close. It sits on the out-of-town Mannington Retail Park, alongside stores from fellow High Street stalwarts Next and Marks & Spencer. John Lewis' shop at the Swindon Designer Outlet is due to reopen post-lockdown on July 30. A map of store closures 7. Tamworth This At Home store sits on the Vectura Retail Park to the south west of the Midlands town. On closing the store, John Lewis director Berangere Michel said: "Prior to Covid-19 some of our shops were already financially challenged, despite the drive and determination of our Partners. The pandemic has accelerated the shift from shopping in store to online, and in order to navigate these changes we are having to make some difficult decisions. As a result, we are not planning to reopen our Tamworth shop." 8. Newbury The At Home store was the flagship tenant of the Parkway Shopping Centre development on opening in 2012. The closure of the 40,000 sq ft store puts 99 jobs at risk. COLONIE Health Department employees and law enforcement officers on Tuesday weren't yet greeting air passengers at their arrival gates at Albany International Airport. But the airport's largest carrier has stepped up its notifications to passengers that they must submit traveler forms as the state seeks to control the spread of novel coronavirus. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced measures to toughen the regulation on Monday, announcing the new procedures and $2,000 penalties for noncompliance. Those passengers arriving from one of 22 states where the virus is rapidly spreading also are required to undergo a 14-day quarantine. Southwest, the largest carrier at Albany International Airport, said it has posted information about the new procedures, along with a link to the New York State Traveler Health Form. A Southwest spokesman said the airline also sends pre-trip email reminders to passengers four days before their flight and again the day before. Announcements also are made in the gate area of all flights departing to Albany, Buffalo, Islip, LaGuardia and Rochester, the destinations Southwest serves in New York state, said Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish in an email to the Times Union. Forms also are available at the arrival gates. When Cuomo first announced the new procedure, it was apparently widely ignored, according to one passenger who flew to the West Coast during the Independence Day weekend. "We flew Southwest, so we transferred planes each way at Chicago MDW," the traveler told the Times Union in an email. "When we returned to Albany, I think I caught a glimpse of the table containing the forms that incoming travelers were meant to grab & fill out. "I think, because by the time I realized what was on the table we were past it & on our way to our car in the garage," the Saratoga County resident wrote. "There were no signs anywhere in the airport alerting travelers to NY State's quarantine order, and certainly nothing and no person directing travelers to this table. "I can tell you everyone on our plane scooted right past the table," which was located at the top of escalators to the baggage claim area. Meanwhile, Cuomo added four more states Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin to the travel advisory on Tuesday, requiring travelers arriving from COVID-19 hotspot states to quarantine for 14 days. Delaware, on the original list, was removed. The other states on the advisory are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Special Investigation 147 NY dams are 'unsound,' potentially dangerous Thousands of dams have not been inspected in over 20 years. Procedures are in place to permit the health department employees and State Police at the arrival gates, a Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said Tuesday. "State police and state health department employees will be permitted through TSA checkpoints for the purpose of health screening," spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told the Times Union. "There is a valid reason for them to be there for official state business. "Health officials will still need to go through the checkpoint screening process. Active law enforcement officers who are on duty also have a checkpoint screening process that they undergo since they are working in uniform and carrying a firearm," Farbstein added. On Tuesday, flights that weren't originating in one of the quarantine states still weren't being met by health and law enforcement officials in Albany. The health department table was still next to the baggage claim escalators. "U.S. carriers are making every effort to cooperate and be good partners as we all work to protect the wellbeing of the traveling public," a spokeswoman for the industry group Airlines for American told the Times Union. A shark documentary-maker has been mauled by a shark while swimming at a resort island while enjoying a day off in far north Queensland. The 29-year-old woman was bitten on the leg about midday on Tuesday at Fitzroy Island, near Cairns, Queensland Ambulance Services says. "I still love sharks. Sharks are beautiful," the woman told reporters as she was wheeled into Cairns Hospital. Doctors, who were guests at the Fitzroy Island Resort, applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding before a rescue helicopter and paramedics arrived. The woman exclaimed to media that she still loved sharks as she was transported to hospital. Source: Nine News "I still love sharks, sharks are beautiful!" says the 29yo shark documentary maker, just minutes after being mauled herself off Fitzroy Island. #9News @9NewsQueensland @9NewsFarNthQLD pic.twitter.com/rPrMUvprOE Maegan Gillespie (@meggillespie9) July 14, 2020 "She ended up with a possible fracture of the left ankle and some lacerations," paramedic Terry Cumming told reporters. "She was in a little bit of pain but we managed to get that under control." Mr Cumming said the woman had been swimming on a day off about 100 metres from a jetty when the shark attacked. She was flown to hospital where she remains in a stable condition. "She's great. She's in there smiling and very happy," Mr Cumming said. Fitzroy Island Resort chief executive Glen Macdonald said the woman had been on a boat before the attack and emerged from the water saying she had been bitten. #Update - A female patient in her 20s has been airlifted to Cairns Hospital in a stable condition with significant leg injuries following a shark bite off Fitzroy Island. QAS were notified at 12.08pm and first-aid was applied at the scene from bystanders. pic.twitter.com/WqwBCw1OUB Queensland Ambulance (@QldAmbulance) July 14, 2020 "She was laughing with staff and when questioned said she did not know what had caused the injury," he said. Story continues It is the third shark attack in recent weeks off Australia's east coast. On Saturday a teenager died while surfing at Wilsons Headland at Wooli Beach, off northern NSW. That was Australia's fifth fatal shark attack this year. The previous weekend, a 36-year-old Sunshine Coast man died after being mauled while spearfishing off Queensland's Fraser Island. A witness captured this image of a woman being winched into a helicopter on Fitzroy Island. Source: Charlie del Campo Lorentzen Last month, Gold Coast surfer Rob Pedretti, 60, died after he was attacked at Salt Beach at South Kingscliff in northern NSW. A shark also killed 23-year-old Queensland wildlife ranger Zachary Robba in April off North West Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef. Meanwhile, experienced diver Gary Johnson, 57, was killed by a shark near Cull Island in Esperance on Western Australia's south coast in January. 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. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Paul W Franks and Joacim Rocklov (The Jakarta Post) The Conversation Tue, July 14, 2020 13:41 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066629713 3 Health COVID-19,coronavirus,pandemic Free More than half a million people have died from COVID-19 globally. It is a major tragedy, but perhaps not on the scale some initially feared. And there are finally signs that the pandemic is shuddering in places, as if its engine is running out of fuel. This has encouraged many governments to relinquish lockdowns and allow everyday life to restart, albeit gingerly. The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has been difficult to predict and understand. On the Diamond Princess cruise ship, for example, where the virus is likely to have spread relatively freely through the air-conditioning system linking cabins, only 20% of passengers and crew were infected. Data from military ships and cities such as Stockholm, New York and London also suggest that infections have been around 20% much lower than earlier mathematical models suggested. This has led to speculation about whether a population can achieve some sort of immunity to the virus with as little as 20% infected a proportion well below the widely accepted herd immunity threshold (60-70%). The Swedish public health authority announced in late April that the capital city, Stockholm, was showing signs of herd immunity estimating that about half its population had been infected. The authority had to backtrack two weeks later, however, when the results of their own antibody study revealed just 7.3% had been infected. But the number of deaths and infections in Stockholm is falling rather than increasing despite the fact that Sweden hasnt enforced a lockdown. Hopes that the COVID-19 pandemic may end sooner than initially feared have been fueled by speculation about immunological dark matter, a type of pre-existing immunity that cant be detected with SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests. Antibodies are produced by the bodys B-cells in response to a specific virus. Dark matter, however, involves a feature of the innate immune system termed T-cell mediated immunity. T-cells are produced by the thymus and when they encounter the molecules that combat viruses, known as antigens, they become programmed to fight the same or similar viruses in the future. Studies show that people infected with SARS-CoV-2 indeed have T-cells that are programmed to fight this virus. Surprisingly, people never infected also harbor protective T-cells, probably because they have been exposed to other coronaviruses. This may lead to some level of protection against the virus potentially explaining why some outbreaks seem to burn out well below the anticipated herd immunity threshold. Young people and those with mild infections are more likely to have a T-cell response than old people we know that the reservoir of programmable T-cells declines with age. In many countries and regions that have had very few COVID-19 cases, hotspots are now cropping up. Take Germany, which quickly and efficiently battled the virus and has had one of the lowest death rates among the large northern European countries. Here, the R number reflecting the average transmission rate has risen again, below 1 until June 18, but rocketing to 2.88 just days later, only to drop again a few days later. It may be tempting to argue that this could be because the hotspots never got close to the 20% infection that was seen in other regions. But there are counter examples, albeit particularly in older and immunocompromised populations. In the Italian COVID-19 epicenter in Bergamo, a town where one in four residents are pensioners, 60% of the population had antibodies by early June. ( Shutterstock/angellodeco) The same is true in some prisons: at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville, US, 54% of inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 by early May. And more than half of the residents in some long-term care facilities have also been infected. Genes and environment So how do we explain this? Could people in places with higher rates of positive antibodies have a different genetic make-up? Early in the pandemic, there was much speculation about whether specific genetic receptors affected susceptibility to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Geneticists thought that DNA variation in the ACE2 and TMPRSS2 genes might affect susceptibility to, and severity of, infection. But studies so far have shown no compelling evidence supporting this hypothesis. Early reports from China also suggested that blood types may play a role, with blood type A raising risk. This was recently confirmed in studies of Spanish and Italian patients, which also discovered a new genetic risk marker termed 3p21.31. While genetics may be important, the environment also matters. It is well known that airborne transmission of droplets is enhanced in colder climates. Super-spreading events in several meat production facilities where the indoor climate is cold suggest this has enhanced contagion. People also tend to spend more time indoors and in close proximity during inclement weather. Warm weather, however, brings people together, albeit outdoors. Indeed, June has been uncharacteristically hot and sunny in many northern European countries, causing parks and beaches to be overrun and social distancing rules flouted. This will likely drive contagion and cause new COVID-19 outbreaks in the weeks to come. Yet another factor is how interpersonal interactions affect contagion. Some previous models have assumed that people interact in the same way regardless of age, well-being, social status and so forth. But this isnt likely to be the case young people, for example, are likely to have more acquaintances than the elderly. Accounting for this reduces the herd immunity threshold to around 40%. Will COVID-19 disappear? The lockdowns enforced far and wide, combined with the responsible actions of many citizens, have undoubtedly mitigated the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and saved lives. Indeed, in cases such as Sweden where lockdown was eschewed and social distancing rules were relatively relaxed the virus has claimed an order of magnitude more lives than in its pro-lockdown neighbors, Norway and Finland. But it is unlikely that lockdowns alone can explain the fact that infections have fallen in many regions after 20% of a population has been infected something that, after all, happened in Stockholm and on cruise ships. That said, the fact that more than 20% of people have been infected in other places means that the T-cell hypothesis is unlikely to be the sole explanation either. Indeed, if a 20% threshold does exist, it applies to only some communities, depending on interactions between many genetic, immunological, behavioral and environmental factors, as well as the prevalence of pre-existing diseases. Understanding these complex interactions is going to be necessary if one is to meaningfully estimate when SARS-CoV-2 will burn itself out. Ascribing any apparent public health successes or failures to a single factor is appealing but it is unlikely to provide sufficient insight into how COVID-19, or whatever comes next, can be defeated. --- Paul W Franks, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology, Lund University and Joacim Rocklov, Professor of Epidemiology, Umea University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Yemeni Houthis Say Attacked Saudi Arabia's Jizan Oil Compound Sputnik News 07:26 GMT 13.07.2020(updated 07:50 GMT 13.07.2020) The Houthis also claimed that they have killed several Saudi officers in the Yemeni city of Marib, during a meeting of military commanders. According to the movement, militants attacked the facility in the port city of Jizan, launching drones and missiles in an operation against Saudi forces. In the meantime, coalition forces said earlier in the day, they had destroyed six drones loaded with explosives and two ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia. "The joint coalition forces have managed to intercept and destroy two ballistic missiles, fired by the Houthi terrorist militia in the direction of the kingdom, intentionally targeting residents and civilian facilities", Col. Turki al-Maliki said, as quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency. The coalition also hit six mined unmanned aerial vehicles, launched by the movement from Yemen's Sanaa, the spokesman added. Yemen has been engulfed in a war between government forces, led by President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi, and the Houthi rebels for several years. An Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015, while the militants are targeting Saudi forces and facilities near the border. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The United States' failed policy in Afghanistan is likely to result in another 9-11. President Barack Obama capitulated to the Taliban through a series of concessions, and the Trump administration has continued the same dangerous policies. As the U.S. negotiates with the Taliban, the latter continue and plan to expand their terrorist activities. The most recent indication is their demand from the U.S. to release Afghan narco-terrorist Hajji Bashar Noorzai from prison. It's time for President Trump to reverse this perilous course. In February, the U.S. signed the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan with the Taliban, an organization that has become the de facto leadership of al-Qaeda. During this peace conference, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the current U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, shared a panel with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a mass murderer responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. soldiers. Under Baradar's leadership, the Taliban greatly increased U.S. casualties until Baradar's arrest in Pakistan in 2010. In 2009, Newsweek described Baradar as "cunning" and "more dangerous than [Mullah] Omar himself." The same article reports that Baradar said, "Rely on guerrilla tactics whenever possible. Plant 'flowers' improvised explosive devices on trails and dirt roads. Concentrate on small-unit ambushes, with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades." Incredibly, Ambassador Zalmay was still pictured shaking Baradar's hand in what had to be one of the most outrageous moments in U.S. foreign policy history. Afterward, the popular Muslim Brotherhood operative and journalist Abdel-Bari Atuan described the peace agreement between the U.S and the Taliban as an "announcement of defeat" and "surrender" by the U.S. U.S. foreign policy mistakes in Afghanistan can be traced back to 1979, but during the past decade, the policies toward the Taliban can be described as negligent at best or driven by subversive, anti-American ideologies at worst. While we might never know the real motives, the fact remains that President Obama consistently aided the Taliban for almost a decade in a clear attempt to reverse many of President George W. Bush's counterterrorism measures in the region. These actions regressed America's policy in Afghanistan to the same policies that led to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The current agreement guarantees that the mass murderers of the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organizations will operate military training grounds for every brutal terrorist organizations, transnational criminal groups, and narco- drug lords. This puts the U.S. and the entire world in imminent danger. While Trump wisely reversed Obama's catastrophic Iran deal, he continued Obama's failed approach to the Taliban. The question then becomes, why is the Trump administration continuing Obama's pro-Taliban policies? The answer to this question could be found in a statement made by Ambassador Richard Grenell, former acting director of National Intelligence, during his interview with Newsmax, where he said, "[T]he Obama administration weaponized intelligence, there is a lot of charges that people politicize intelligence[.] ... I think it's terrible when Republicans or Democrats weaponize, politicize intelligence, when they take raw intelligence and they put it out there like it is verified." The weaponization and politicization of intelligence is a double-edged sword. Once any party is involved in it, it almost always backfires on everyone, because the manipulation of sensitive data can swiftly metastasize through intelligence organs. While the overwhelming majority of counter-terrorism professionals are honest and patriotic, political leadership often pushes agencies into the wrong directions based on bad politics, misaligned priorities, and false data. It is probable that Trump is receiving bad intelligence and the wrong advice on Afghanistan, because he is finalizing a series of incredibly dangerous policies that have to be reversed. Timeline of President Obama's proTaliban and al-Qaeda policies: 1. In 2011, the Obama administration attempted to start negotiations with the Taliban. Then secretary of state Hillary Clinton said, "Over the past two years, we have laid out our unambiguous red lines for reconciliation with the insurgents: They must renounce violence; they must abandon their alliance with al-Qaida; and they must abide by the constitution of Afghanistan." As expected, the Taliban did the opposite and perpetrated numerous terrorist attacks that year, including attacking the U.S. embassy and NATO's headquarters in Kabul. 2. In 2012, President Obama's administration released five of the most dangerous Taliban terrorists from Guantanamo Bay who were closely associated with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda in exchange for the U.S. military deserter Bowe Bergdahl. 3. In 2013, not only was the Taliban not held responsible for its continued alliance with al-Qaeda and continued acts of terrorism, but the five terrorists who were released a year earlier were rewarded by the Obama administration and given their own "political office" in terror-sponsoring Qatar. 4. In 2015, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri gave official bai`a or bay`a (Islamic oath of allegiance) to the Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour. 5. In 2016, Zawahiri renewed his oath of allegiance to the Taliban's current chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, after Mansour was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Southwest Pakistan. This made the Taliban leader the acting head of al-Qaeda. After Zawahiri swore allegiance to the Taliban, Obama said, "The only way to end this conflict and to achieve a full drawdown of foreign forces from Afghanistan is through a lasting political settlement between the Afghan government and the Taliban. That's the only way. And that is why the United States will continue to strongly support an Afghan-led reconciliation process[.]" Timeline of President Trump's Continuation of the Obama Administration's Policies: 6. In 2017, Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported that Iran had provided the Taliban with military training, arms, and funds. The paper quoted the governor of the Afghan Wardak Province, who said, "The strongest factions within the Taliban are Iran's Taliban," in reference to the Afghan Taliban members who resided in Iran. In May, Iran sent almost three million Afghans back to Afghanistan, citing U.S. sanctions as an excuse. It is highly possible that among them are the "strongest" of the Taliban fighters. 7. In 2018, Pakistan released Taliban terrorist and co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, from prison, based on a request from Qatar and the U.S. 8. During the summer of 2019, the Taliban became significantly deadlier, perpetrating 3,500 terrorist attacks. It is not a coincidence that the considerable rise in terrorist attacks coincides with Baradar regaining charge of the group as its deputy commander. There is not a single indication that the Taliban will stop terrorism until it is defeated and destroyed. Last month, these people had the audacity to demand that secretary of state Mike Pompeo release narco-terrorist Noorzai. It is expected that they will do the same with other narco-terrorists such as Haji Bagcho, whom American heroes risked their lives to bring to justice. The likely reason the Taliban wants narco-terrorists released from U.S. custody is so these drug lords can resume their widescale funding of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. These national security failures were sealed by the so-called "Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan." This deal will bring nothing but death, devastation, and destruction to Afghanistan and the rest of the world. The agreement is an unnecessary capitulation that gives the Taliban a sovereign training area for transnational terrorists, organized criminals, and narco-terrorists. This agreement will make Afghanistan a playground for terrorists and revert the U.S. to the policies that led to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Cynthia Farahat is an author and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr. The Sierra County district attorney on Monday charged a 40-year-old wanted felon with murdering Danville doctor Ari Gershman over the Fourth of July weekend while the father was off-roading with his teenage son. John Thomas Conway, 40, of Honcut (Butte County), was charged with nine felony counts, including murder, attempted murder and burglarizing a gold mine, along with a number of special allegations, according to the criminal complaint. Conway allegedly shot to death Gershman, 45, and shot and injured two other individuals on July 3 near Downieville using a 9mm Taurus handgun, according to the court records. It is unclear how the felon got the weapon. Conway has been held without bail in nearby Butte County and appeared Friday in court to face two warrants, one for a stolen-vehicle case and another for battery, vandalism and making threats. He also was charged there with a new probation violation for having ammunition at his house on the southern edge of the county. The new Sierra County charges include attempted murder on two individuals, one who he attempted to rob on July 3, according to court records. He shot and killed Gershman the same day near Poker Flat in the county after the Danville father asked Conway for directions, the family said. His 15-year-old son was able to escape and spent 30 hours in the remote wilderness before searchers found him safe. On July 4, after the boy was located, investigators spotted Conway attempting to bust through a checkpoint in an ATV. At some point, he threatened a law enforcement officer and shots were fired, according to the Sierra County sheriff. Conway was shot and hospitalized in Chico. On Monday, he was also charged with assault on a peace officer, specifically two fish and wildlife wardens, according to the complaint. Additionally, Conway was charged with burglarizing the Telegraph Mine on July 3 and 4, according to court records. 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. Sierra County District Attorney Sandra Groven said the investigation was ongoing in a statement and did not respond to questions from The Chronicle. Gershman bought his Jeep the day before his day trip with his son. The internal medicine doctors wife is battling cancer. A fundraising website had raised more than $565,000 as of Monday. Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Singapore will on Tuesday see an advance estimate for Q2 gross domestic product, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. GDP is expected to plummet 37.4 percent on quarter and 10.5 percent on year after slipping 4.7 percent on quarter and 0.7 percent on year in the previous three months. China will release June figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to sink 10.0 percent on year after losing 16.7 percent in May. Exports are called lower by an annual 1.5 percent after sliding 3.3 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is tipped to show a surplus of $58.6 billion, down from $62.39 billion a month earlier. Japan will provide final May numbers for industrial production, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 8.4 percent on month and 25.9 percent on year following the 9.8 percent monthly fall and the 15.0 percent yearly drop in the previous reading. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Click here to read the full article. MILAN Milans digital fashion week kicked off on Tuesday with a digital press conference hosted by Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian Camera della Moda, Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala and Carlo Ferro, chairman of the Italian Trade Agency. While Sala touted the potential of the city to recover its past brilliance and prestige as a fashion capital, and Capasa also delivered a message of positivity, hope and trust in the industry, the Fashion Economic Trends reported by the Camera reflected the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In April alone, sales plummeted 78 percent, and in the first four months of the year they decreased 28 percent, compared with the same period of 2019. The contraction occurred on both domestic and foreign markets, due to the lockdown and the general world trade drop of 7 percent. According to a study just published by the countrys National Institute for Statistics ISTAT, 48.2 percent of companies in the fashion supply-chain are at risk. On the other hand, fashion is also the sector with the highest share of companies that claim to have started reorganization strategies. Export figures for Italian fashion were in line with the general dynamics of international trade in the first quarter, showing an 8 percent decrease. The eyewear, jewelry and beauty sectors reported a 12.9 percent drop in sales. Uncertainties, including fresh outbreaks of the coronavirus, cloud forecasts for the end of 2020. Given the easing of lockdowns in Italy, as well as a resumption of international trade flows, the Camera estimates a decrease in 2020 fashion revenues close to 15 percent, for a total of 57.2 billion euros. A second scenario, factoring in new outbreaks, sees sales dropping more than 18 percent. For both scenarios, it is assumed that the financial support measures will prevent the crisis of 48 percent of fashion companies deemed at risk by ISTAT, the study said. Story continues As per the positive scenario, exports are seen decreasing 12 percent to 48.2 billion euros in 2020. In the two months of lockdown for which official data are available, the turnover of the fashion sector (textiles, clothing, leather, leather goods, footwear) fell by 42 percent in March and 78 percent in April, with an average decrease of 28 percent overall in the first four months of the year. The negative impact of the lockdown was greater on fashion than on the rest of Italian manufacturing, according to the Fashion Economic Trends study. Indeed, fashion was the sector that suffered the largest turnover drop in the manufacturing industry. The second sector in this negative ranking is automotive, hit almost as hard as fashion. Order figures also remained still extremely negative in April, as can be easily guessed, with fashion, once again, the sector most affected within the Italian manufacturing industry. Jewelry showed a collapse and eyewear a very strong fall in March and April, the study noted. The beauty sector was helped by surging demand for soaps and sanitizing gels. While the size of the drop recorded in the past months is now clear, a big question mark remains about the companies capacity to survive the shock and to react. A study just published by ISTAT shows that fashion is in a peculiar situation, characterized by a strong polarization. On one hand, it is the manufacturing sector with the highest share of businesses at risk of survival [48.2 percent], and on the other hand, it is the sector with the highest percentage of companies that claim to have initiated reorganization and change strategies [38.4 percent], the Camera said. The overall volume of world trade in goods fell by 7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, according to World Trade Monitor statistics published at the end of June. The organization forecasts a significant deterioration with a year-on-year decline close to 20 percent for the second quarter, when the pandemic spread globally. Italian fashion exports in the first quarter mirrored the general contraction in international trade. In the first quarter, exports to China and Hong Kong fell 27.5 percent and 29.3 percent, respectively. Expectations for the second quarter are even worse than those of the first, the study stated. Should the WTO estimates be confirmed, fashion, which has been affected by the crisis more than the other sectors, could suffer a drop of 25 to 30 percent, compared to the second quarter of 2019, Capasa said during the digital conference. Based on the figures available up to April, provisional estimates point toward a drop in turnover of around 30 percent in the first half compared to the same period of 2019. Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. An artist's rendering of NASA's Mars Perseverance rover. NASA/JPL-Caltech The United Arab Emirates launched a mission to Mars on Sunday. NASA and China plan to launch their own by end of July. In total, two rovers, two orbiters, and one helicopter will explore Mars after they arrive next year. The robots will search for underground water that may harbor alien life, create the first global map of the Martian climate, and drill rock samples that later spacecraft will carry to Earth. Here's what the three missions look like and what they aim to do on Mars. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. By this time next year, Mars will be abuzz with robotic activity. That's because three countries are sending spacecraft to the red planet this month. The United Arab Emirates launched its orbiter on a seven-month journey to Mars on Sunday. In the next two weeks, the US and China plan to rocket their own rovers into space. NASA has sent five rovers to the red planet in the past, but these are China's and the UAE's first attempts. The robots are expected to make the first global map of the Mars climate, drill into the planet's surface, and search for signs of long-dead microbes that may have once thrived in Martian valleys and riverbeds. These missions could find the first footprints of life on another planet. Mars, as captured by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in 2000. NASA/JPL The launches are all scheduled for this month in order to catch Mars as it passes close to Earth. If they miss this chance, they won't have another opportunity to launch until 2022. Russia and the European Space Agency had also planned to send a rover to Mars this year, but had to back out after the coronavirus pandemic caused delays. They'll try again in two years. Here's what to know about the three new missions to Mars. NASA's Perseverance rover will stash rock samples to return to Earth An illustration of NASA's Perseverance rover using its drill to core a rock sample on Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech Engineers began assembling Perseverance two years ago at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It was previously called the Mars 2020 rover a placeholder until NASA chose Perseverance as the winner of a naming competition. Story continues "We as humans evolved as creatures who could learn to adapt to any situation, no matter how harsh," Alexander Mather, a 7th-grader from Virginia who proposed the new name, wrote in the essay he submitted to the competition. "We will meet many setbacks on the way to Mars. However, we can persevere." Engineers observe the first driving test for NASA's Perseverance rover in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on December 17, 2019. NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA has already run into some of those setbacks. It has pushed back the launch date twice, delaying it to July 30. That leaves the agency just two more weeks of flexibility until the launch window closes on August 15. If all goes well, the rover will land on February 18, 2021 in Mars' Jezero crater an ancient riverbed that could harbor signs of past microbial life. The mission, which will cost a total $3 billion start-to-finish, will drill into the Martian surface to collect samples of rock and soil, then stash them at a collection point for a future mission to bring back to Earth. After it lands, the rover is programmed to drop a small helicopter from its belly. An artist's rendering of the Ingenuity helicopter. NASA/JPL-Caltech The helicopter, called Ingenuity, is a technology demonstration. If successful, it will conduct the first-ever powered flight on another world. Perseverance itself will carry a suite of cutting-edge tools: a new navigation system to make landing on the red planet less risky, a machine designed to produce oxygen from carbon dioxide, and instruments to collect data that could help scientists better predict Martian weather. Together, all these developments could get us closer to putting human boots on Mars's harsh surface. A rendering of astronauts and human habitats on Mars. JPL/NASA "We're making history right now," NASA associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen said during the announcement of the rover's name. "It will be the first leg of the first round trip of humanity to Mars, bringing back these samples that tell us secrets about life itself." NASA flew the rover to Cape Canaveral, Florida in February to begin launch preparations. The Emirates' Hope Probe will create the first global map of Mars's climate The Mars Hope Probe. UAE Space Agency The United Arab Emirates launched its SUV-sized spacecraft from Japan on Sunday just before 6 p.m. ET (Monday morning in Japan). "Just before the launch, there was pin drop silence," Faraz Javed, a reporter at the UAE's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, said in a live broadcast of the launch, according to CNET. "Once the rocket took off there were cheers, there was joy. I actually even saw people crying." The launch was originally scheduled for July 14, but thunderstorms and other unstable weather conditions forced officials to delay it. An H-2A rocket carrying the Hope Probe, developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), lifts off from the launching pad at Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, Japan, July 20, 2020. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries/Reuters The Hope orbiter is the Arab world's first mission to another planet. The probe will join six other spacecraft that orbit Mars it won't land on the surface. While circling the red planet, the satellite will study the Martian atmosphere by monitoring how it interacts with solar wind and tracking the loss of hydrogen and oxygen. Hope's goal will be to chart a global map of the planet's climate across an entire Martian year. It would be humanity's first such picture of Mars's atmosphere. Sarah Amiri, deputy project manager of the planned United Arab Emirates Mars mission, talks about the project named "Hope," or "al-Amal" in Arabic during a ceremony in Dubai, UAE, May 6, 2015. Kamran Jebreili/AP Photo Because of its large, oval-shaped orbit, the probe should be able to capture most of the planet in each of its 55-hour orbits. "We'll be able to cover all of Mars, through all times of day, through an entire Martian year," Sarah Al Amiri, science lead for the mission and the UAE's minister for advanced sciences, told Nature. China's rover will search for underground water that could harbor life An illustration of China's rover leaving its lander to explore the Martian surface. Chinese State Administration of Science/Xinhua After its recent success sending a rover to the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is taking its space robots to the next planetary body. The mission is called Tianwen-1, meaning "quest for heavenly truth," according to Nature. If successful, it will be the first Mars mission to drop a landing platform, deploy a rover, and send a spacecraft into the planet's orbit all at once. The rover will be equipped with a radar system that can detect underground pockets of water. It will also help China prepare for its own mission to return a sample from Mars to Earth in the 2030s. An illustration of China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft departing Earth. Chinese State Administration of Science/Xinhua For its first attempt at landing on another planet, China has chosen a relatively hazard-free site at Utopia Planitia, a vast field of volcanic rock, according to The Planetary Society. Like NASA, the CNSA is planning to launch its Mars mission by the end of July. The intended date is Thursday, July 23, according to reports from Chinese state media cited by the Associated Press. This story was originally published July 13. It has been updated with new information. Read the original article on Business Insider HAMBURG (dpa-AFX) - German logistics and transportation company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG or HHLA (HHULF.PK, HHULY.PK) said that its supervisory board and executive board will propose a scrip dividend to the virtual Annual General Meeting on 20 August 2020. In times of zero or negative interest, the model for dividend distribution will provide shareholders with the opportunity to quickly and easily reinvest their capital in the company. It will allow the company to maintain stable financial liquidity even in challenging times with limited forecasting reliability. The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the major shareholder in HHLA, will support this proposal. Presumably from 21 August 2020 to 7 September 2020, shareholders will have time to decide on one of the two distribution options. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. FP Trending The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded the SETI Institute with a contract for planetary protection. The contract has been given by NASAs Office of Planetary Protection (OPP) to support all phases of current and future missions to ensure compliance with planetary protection standards. The contract is effective from 1 July. As we return to the Moon, look for evidence of past or present life on Mars and continue our missions of exploration and discovery in the Solar System, Planetary Protection becomes an increasingly important component of mission planning and execution, said Bill Diamond, President and CEO of the SETI Institute. We are proud to be NASAs partner for this mission-critical function, protecting Earth from backward contamination, and helping ensure that the life we may find on other worlds, didnt come from our own. The SETI Institute will provide technical reviews and recommendations, validate biological cleanliness on flight projects, provide training for NASA and NASA partners. Besides, it will develop guidelines for implementation of NASA requirements, and disseminate information to stakeholders and the public. The OPPs work includes protecting both Earth and mission destinations from biological contamination. It will also preserve environments, as well as the science, ensuring verifiable scientific exploration for extraterrestrial life. The maximum value of the contract is $4.7 million and it is for a period of five years. The depth of mission experience and breadth of knowledge on the SETI Institute team will help NASA meet the technical challenges of assuring forward and backward planetary protection on the anticipated path of human exploration from the Moon to Mars, said Lisa Pratt, NASAs planetary protection officer at NASA Headquarters in Washington. According to news agency IANS, the SETI Institute will be assisting the NASA in upcoming missions like the Mars 2020 and Europa Clipper missions, besides preparations for Mars Sample Return mission. The contract also includes future human spaceflight exploration under NASA's Artemis programme. BEIJING - Chinas imports of U.S. goods rose 10.6% in June over a year earlier and its global trade also increased in a fresh sign the worlds second-largest economy is gradually recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Chinas global imports rose 3% to $167.2 billion, while exports edged up 0.4% to $213.6 billion, customs data showed Tuesday. The global trade surplus was $46.4 billion. Imports of American goods increased to $10.4 billion despite higher tariffs imposed in a fight with Washington over trade and technology. Exports to the United States gained 1% to $39.8 billion. Russian President and his Turkish counterpart discussed in a phone conversation developments in and Libya, as well as the fate of Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia, the Kremlin said. Putin and Erdogan emphasized the importance of stepping up efforts to promote a Syrian settlement, including in the Astana format based on agreements reached at the Russian-Turkish-Iranian online summit held on July 1, it said in a statement on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. The parties highly appreciated the interaction between the Russian and Turkish defence ministries, which helped stabilize the situation in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib and in the country's northeast, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan reiterated the need for an early end to the armed confrontation and a return to the negotiation process in on the basis of the decisions of the Berlin Conference held on January 19, approved by UN Security Council and agreed to intensify joint political and diplomatic efforts in this area, it said. Putin drew the attention of Erdogan to the significant public outcry in Russia over the decision to change the status of the Hagia Sophia, which served as a museum since 1935, to a mosque. Erdogan said access to this unique monument of world civilization will be guaranteed for everyone, including foreign citizens, and Christian shrines will be preserved, the statement said. Putin and Erdogan also exchanged views on certain issues on the bilateral agenda, including the prospects for the resumption of tourism as the COVID-19 situation improves, it said. --IANS rt/ (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) A Boston police union and other law enforcement groups say their members are frustrated by the Massachusetts Senates passage Tuesday of a sweeping reform bill that did not undergo a public hearing. The Senate legislation follows nationwide calls to address systemic racism after recent officer-involved killings of Black people, and pushed through the Senate as a two-year legislative session is set to close at the end of the month. The bill, S.2880, if passed by the House and signed by Gov. Charlie Baker, would create a certification process for police officers; prohibit officers from shooting at fleeing vehicles; make school resources officers optional; temporarily ban government use of facial recognition; ban chokeholds and limit tear gas use. The bill also calls for limits on qualified immunity, paving the way for officers to face civil suits for misconduct. Proponents say the move helps address systemic discrimination, while some lawmakers and labor groups say the issue requires more study, expressing concerns that the bill upends collective bargaining rights and could impact other municipal workers including firefighters and nurses. While many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree with several provisions in the bill, many law enforcement, community groups and lawmakers have argued the legislation was rushed without input from some stakeholders, including minority communities and Black and Latino police officers. The men and women of BPPA are angry, frustrated and insulted by the lack of a public hearing prior to passage of S2800. Make no mistake. This is a bad bill. Weakens workers rights while discrediting all public employees, including good cops, who work hard and play by the rules. Boston Police Patrolmen's Association (BPPA) (@BostonPatrolmen) July 14, 2020 The men and women of (the Boston Police Patrolmens Association) are angry, frustrated and insulted by the lack of a public hearing prior to the passage of S2800, the union posted on Twitter. Make no mistake. This is a bad bill. Weakens workers rights while discrediting all public employees, including good cops, who work hard and play by the rules. Sen. Dean Tran, a Fitchburg Republican, said the bill circumvented the legislative process, void of any public hearings and lack the inclusion of dialogue from stakeholders, including communities of color and law enforcement, State House News Service reported. Earlier Tuesday morning, the BPPA said it was encouraged by State House Speaker Bob DeLeos desire to seek and allow public feedback on ever important issues of basic fairness which include Due Process and Qualified Immunity. In a joint statement Monday, DeLeo and Reps. Aaron Michlewitz, Claire Cronin and Carlos Gonzalez said that the House will seek public input, noting the circumvention of the joint committee process. Lawmakers aim to pass the package by July 20, which would give Baker up to 10 days to review and sign the bill into law. A virtual hearing is likely this week, with DeLeo, Michlewitz, Cronin and Gonzalez saying House leadership remains committed to working with the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus and House colleagues to take decisive action through omnibus legislation. On Tuesday Massachusetts Sheriffs Association and the Black and Latino Caucus released a joint statement recognizing the need for comprehensive law enforcement reform in order to establish trust between our agencies and communities of color. The sheriffs, the commonwealths longest-serving peace officers, said they are dedicated to a collaborative approach to ensure injustices are not repeated. Equity and justice must be the foundation for our future. The sheriffs and Black and Latino Caucus said meaningful reform must include a condemnation of police brutality, racial bias and excessive force; the creation of a Peace Officer Standards and Training system; enhanced training and protocols on use of force, de-escalation, duty to intervene, racial bias and non-lethal force; a ban on chokeholds; a commission to study structural racism; and a use of force review board with requirements standardized across the state including experts among sheriffs, police chiefs and citizens. In this unprecedented moment of societal reflection, The Massachusetts Sheriffs and the Black and Latino Caucus are committed to establishing a model of public safety that recognizes the need for substantive and permanent reform within the context of historical and institutional inequities, the groups said. We endeavor to create and sustain an open dialogue universally to promote a system of justice that safeguards our communities, while protecting the dignity and human rights of our fellow citizens. The legislation would establish a workforce development fund, shifting some funds from policing and corrections to community investment. The bill also seeks to ban racial profiling; calls for training on the history of slavery, lynching and racism; and creates an African American Commission, Latinx Commission, and a Commission on Structural Racism focused on the Department of Corrections. In a statement, Sen. Eric Lesser said the bill comes at a time of heightened stress in our country and when systemic inequities have been exposed. He said the legislation would reduce the risk of police misconduct, encourage de-escalation and combat racism. It will also ensure greater trust and cooperation between police and the communities they serve, making everyone safer, including police, Lesser said. Our Commonwealth needs a fair and just system, and that starts with reform, education, and oversight. I am grateful to my colleagues, Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz and Senator William Brownsberger, co-chairs of the racial justice working group, for their leadership on this legislation. The fight against racism continues and I look forward to continued work in the Senate on these issues. Senate President Karen Spilka created the racial justice working group in early June after the deaths of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman fatally shot during a police raid of her Louisville apartment, and George Floyd, a Black man who died while pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. Related Content: Pubs that do not serve food do not know where they stand with regard to guidelines for reopening, the Dail has heard. A number of TDs asked Taoiseach Micheal Martin to fast-track the decision regarding the pubs reopening on July 20, and to release the guidelines for publicans. Independent TD Michael McNamara said small businesses need to know when to order in stock as the planned reopening is less than one week away. You cant tell them on Monday morning that they can open at 10 oclock- they need to know in advance. When will the statutory instrument which will govern this be published? he asked. Fianna Fail TD Jackie Cahill said he has been contacted by numerous publicans who have voiced their frustration and worry about the lack of advice provided to them and what they must do to prepare. Hw said: I understand public safety is paramount and we must do everything in our power to safeguard it but a concrete plan is needed for publicans in order for them to reopen safely. Independent TD Michael Collins said publicans are at the end of their tether due to the uncertainty around reopening. He added: Stocks need to be ordered, they needed to be reordered yesterday for next week. Some took the gamble by ordering and more did not because they dont know where they stand. Theres 50,000 jobs on the line and people need clarity and they need to know if they can open on Monday and if they can reorder stock. In response, Mr Martin said the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is meeting on Tuesday to discuss whether Ireland can move to Phase Four of the road map and if pubs that do not serve food can reopen on Monday. He said: There are other issues arising in terms of the virus itself and its activity levels and all that has to be taken in the round. We will get the advice today and we will make a decision for tomorrow. I understand the points about giving people guidance and giving them time to prepare. Acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn warned against assuming NPHET would recommend moving to the final phase of the countrys reopening on July 20, under which all pubs can resume trading. I think we are concerned about the increase in cases over the last five days, he said on Monday. Mr Martin added while pubs remain closed, he is concerned about the prevalence of house parties and large gatherings. I said earlier, of more danger than anything is 30 people being in a house.. were going to have to do something about thator 60 people in a house or at parties, he said. A New Jersey police chief has stepped down after allegedly making derogatory and racist comments about an Asian-American former county prosecutor and the state's first Sikh attorney general. An undated audio surfaced in which several people can be heard talking. One person describes Attorney General Gurbir Grewal as 'that f****** guy with the turban,' and adds: 'I want to pull him like a top.' The person on the recording is alleged to be Fanwood Police Chief Richard Trigo who goes on to refer to former Union County Prosecutor Grace Park as being 'pretty hot' adding, 'she got wide ones,' before then describing her as 'Chinese.' Park is a member of the Council of Korean Americans. Fanwood Police Chief Richard Trigo has stepped down over accusations that he made racist and sexist comments toward county and state officials which were all recorded on tape The recording surfaced on YouTube last week although it is not clear where or when the comments were allegedly made. The Union County prosecutor's office announced that Chief Trigo had notified the town's mayor and council Friday night that he would step down effective Monday. Acting Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay Ruotolo said in a statement Monday that her office will temporarily oversee the leaderless department. Ruotolo said that an investigation into the recording had been launched and suggested Trigo would need to 'immediately step down' or face disciplinary action to remove him from office, if the recording turns out to be authentic. The recording allegedly contains insults aimed at former Union County Prosecutor Grace Park, left, and New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, right Captain Kevin Grimmer along with detective Nicholas Falcicchio from the prosecutor's office are to assume control of day-to-day operations of the police force in Fanwood, a township of about 7,000 people, 10 miles southwest of Newark. The search for a new chief has already begun. On Monday, an attorney representing Trigo disputed Ruotolo's version of events. 'Chief Trigo did not resign or quit,' Joshua McMahon wrote. 'Any assertion to the contrary is categorically and demonstrably false. 'Chief Trigo had previously begun the process to retire on September 1, 2020 and, until that time, elected to take leave to handle a family-related health issue.' In a statement to NBC, McMahon said that the recordings had 'manipulated and spliced,' although he would not comment on whether the voice heard on the tape was that of Trigo's. 'Chief Trigo, the first Spanish police Chief in Fanwood's history, denies making any inappropriate comments. These altered recordings have unquestionably been manipulated and spliced together by persons upset with the reform and progress the Fanwood Police Department has made under Chief Trigo's leadership, including the Chief personally hiring and promoting more minorities than any Chief in Fanwood's history,' McMahon said in a statement. McMahon said Trigo 'remains committed to the community and bringing people together, as he has done for nearly three decades.' Attorney General Grewal condemned the comments in a statement last week. He suggested that if the comments had been made in front of other law enforcement officials then they should have spoken up and called out the 'blatant misogyny and racism' that was on display. 'Because when an officer behaves in this manner, it tarnishes the reputation and good work of the vast majority of officers who know that this conduct has no place in law enforcement or in our society,' Grewal said. 'If the comments in the recording were, in fact, made by Chief Trigo, this is yet one more reason why we need to continue building a culture of accountability in policing in New Jersey,' he wrote. 'Clearly, others were in the room when these comments were purportedly made by a law enforcement executive, and they did nothing.' The mayor of Fanwood, Colleen Mahr, has said she intends to fully cooperate with the investigation. 'I have zero tolerance for any form of racism or discrimination and take these allegations and this tape very seriously,' Mahr told NJ.com. 'It is my expectation that a full investigation will be conducted and that we will cooperate with the Union County Prosecutor's Office.' What happened It started off as a sleepy Tuesday morning for shareholders of online-education platform K12 (NYSE:LRN). Then, a prominent stock analyst called this company the Teladoc of online education, and shares took off. K12 stock was up 12% today and has nearly doubled in 2020. Nevertheless, this stock analyst believes it will reach $100 per share before the end of the year, implying around 150% more upside. So what Citron Research is a firm with a large following. Perhaps best-known as a short seller, the firm does go long on certain stocks as well. Just last month, shares of Sonos spiked higher after Citron Research suggested it could go up six times in value as an acquisition target. With K12, Citron Research sees massive changes in public education due to the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, prominent school districts including Los Angeles and New York City don't plan to fully reopen on schedule, creating an education problem that desperately needs a solution. Perhaps K12 is the solution schools are looking for. As CEO Nathaniel Davis said in the company's earnings call for the fiscal third quarter of 2020, "When the pandemic first started to impact brick-and-mortar schools, our phones began to ring off the hook." As schools scramble to develop plans for the new school year, perhaps that phone is still ringing. The coronavirus pushed the adoption of telemedicine, and shares of Teladoc have risen 150% year to date as a result. It's a seven-month stock return any investor would love. Therefore, it's no wonder K12 stock spiked after being compared to Teladoc. Now what The full report is available for free on Citron Research's website, providing more details on its bullish rationale. And it's worth reading. However, as always when investing in stocks, it's important not to get caught up with a single opinion. Try to see things from various viewpoints. If Citron Research's reasoning is valid, it'll withstand patient scrutiny. Personally, K12 is a stock I intend to look at more closely going forward. It does appear the coronavirus is pushing the adoption of online education, providing a growing addressable opportunity. Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 09:48:26|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close by Bosun Awoniyi LAGOS, July 13 (Xinhua) -- The Nigerian government has vowed to continue with the fight against rampant corruption and spare no efforts to recover all resources stolen. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government on July 7 suspended Ibrahim Magu, acting head of Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over corruption claims, said there are no sacred cows in the face of anti-graft fight. Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami on Friday confirmed that Buhari approved an immediate suspension of Magu's office, which is to allow for an inquiry by a presidential investigation panel under the law. Established in 2003, the EFCC is a Nigerian law enforcement agency that investigates financial crimes such as advance fee fraud and money laundering. The agency has addressed financial corruption by prosecuting and convicting a number of high-profile corrupt individuals, ranging from Nigeria's former chief law enforcement officer to several bank chief executives. Magu, a senior police officer, is currently being interrogated by the panel headed by retired Justice Ayo Salami over allegations of mismanagement and lack of transparency in managing recovered assets by the EFCC. While responding to the investigation on Saturday, Garba Shehu, presidential spokesperson, said those who see Magu's investigation as a signal that the fight against corruption is failing have been wrong. He said that 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. Magu is granted the opportunity to defend himself, the spokesperson added. Ugochukwu Nnam of the Initiative for Leadership Development and Change said the investigation of Magu is not only a wake-up call for corrupt officers but a landmark effort to end corruption. For his part, Collins Nwankwo, a Lagos-based business expert, told Xinhua that the ongoing interrogation of Magu is a sign that nobody under the present administration is above scrutiny. Meanwhile, the main opposition party has demanded prosecution against Magu, noting that the demand becomes necessary after reviewing evidence surrounding the investigation. The People's Democratic Party said in a statement that the alleged corruption detailed in the memo by the minister of justice, as well as the report of secret police on Magu's activities, have exposed the racket under his watch. The accusations, according to the party, include the diversion of recovered funds and fraudulent sales of assets seized by the EFCC among others. Enditem CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth big time. Three countries the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession beginning this week, in the most sweeping effort yet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life while scouting out the place for future astronauts. The U.S., for its part, is dispatching a six-wheeled rover the size of a car, named Perseverance, to collect rock samples that will be brought back to Earth for analysis in about a decade. Right now, more than ever, that name is so important, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said as preparations went on amid the coronavirus outbreak, which will keep the launch guest list to a minimum. Each spacecraft will travel more than 300 million miles (483 million kilometers) before reaching Mars next February. It takes six to seven months, at the minimum, for a spacecraft to loop out beyond Earths orbit and sync up with Mars more distant orbit around the sun. Scientists want to know what Mars was like billions of years ago when it had rivers, lakes and oceans that may have allowed simple, tiny organisms to flourish before the planet morphed into the barren, wintry desert world it is today. Trying to confirm that life existed on another planet, its a tall order. It has a very high burden of proof, said Perseverances project scientist, Ken Farley of Caltech in Pasadena, California. The three nearly simultaneous launches are no coincidence: The timing is dictated by the opening of a one-month window in which Mars and Earth are in ideal alignment on the same side of the sun, which minimizes travel time and fuel use. Such a window opens only once every 26 months. Mars has long exerted a powerful hold on the imagination but has proved to be the graveyard for numerous missions. Spacecraft have blown up, burned up or crash-landed, with the casualty rate over the decades exceeding 50%. Chinas last attempt, in collaboration with Russia in 2011, ended in failure. Only the U.S. has successfully put a spacecraft on Mars, doing it eight times, beginning with the twin Vikings in 1976. Two NASA landers are now operating there, InSight and Curiosity. Six other spacecraft are exploring the planet from orbit: three U.S., two European and one from India. The United Arab Emirates and China are looking to join the elite club. The UAE spacecraft, named Amal, which is Arabic for Hope, is an orbiter scheduled to rocket away from Japan on Wednesday, local time, on what will be the Arab worlds first interplanetary mission. The spacecraft, built in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, will arrive at Mars in the year the UAE marks the 50th anniversary of its founding. The UAE wanted to send a very strong message to the Arab youth, project manager Omran Sharaf said. The message here is that if the UAE can reach Mars in less than 50 years, then you can do much more. The nice thing about space, it sets the standards really high. Controlled from Dubai, the celestial weather station will strive for an exceptionally high Martian orbit of 13,670 miles by 27,340 miles (22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers) to study the upper atmosphere and monitor climate change. China will be up next, with the flight of a rover and an orbiter sometime around July 23; Chinese officials arent divulging much. The mission is named Tianwen, or Questions for Heaven. NASA, meanwhile, is shooting for a launch on July 30 from Cape Canaveral. Perseverance is set to touch down in an ancient river delta and lake known as Jezero Crater, not quite as big as Floridas Lake Okeechobee. Chinas much smaller rover will aim for an easier, flatter target. To reach the surface, both spacecraft will have to plunge through Mars hazy red skies in what has been dubbed seven minutes of terror the most difficult and riskiest part of putting spacecraft on the planet. Jezero Crater is full of boulders, cliffs, sand dunes and depressions, any one of which could end Perseverances mission. Brand-new guidance and parachute-triggering technology will help steer the craft away from hazards. Ground controllers will be helpless, given the 10 minutes it takes radio transmissions to travel one-way between Earth and Mars. Jezero Crater is worth the risks, according to scientists who chose it over 60 other potential sites. Where there was water and Jezero was apparently flush with it 3.5 billion years ago there may have been life, though it was probably only simple microbial life, existing perhaps in a slimy film at the bottom of the crater. But those microbes may have left telltale marks in the sediment layers. Perseverance will hunt for rocks containing such biological signatures, if they exist. It will drill into the most promising rocks and store a half-kilogram (about 1 pound) of samples in dozens of titanium tubes that will eventually be fetched by another rover. To prevent Earth microbes from contaminating the samples, the tubes are super-sterilized, guaranteed germ-free by Adam Stelzner, chief engineer for the mission at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Yep, Im staking my reputation on it, he said. While prowling the surface, Perseverance as well as Chinas rover will peek below, using radar to locate any underground pools of water that might exist. Perseverance will also release a spindly, 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) helicopter that will be the first rotorcraft ever to fly on another planet. Perseverances cameras will shoot color video of the rovers descent, providing humanitys first look at a parachute billowing open at Mars, while microphones capture the sounds. The rover will also attempt to produce oxygen from the carbon dioxide in the thin Martian atmosphere. Extracted oxygen could someday be used by astronauts on Mars for breathing as well as for making rocket propellant. NASA wants to return astronauts to the moon by 2024 and send them from there to Mars in the 2030s. To that end, the space agency is sending samples of spacesuit material with Perseverance to see how they stand up against the harsh Martian environment. The tab for Perseverances mission, including the flight and a minimum two years of Mars operations, is close to $3 billion. The UAEs project costs $200 million, including the launch but not mission operations. China has not disclosed its costs. Europe and Russia dropped plans to send a life-seeking rover to Mars this summer after falling behind in testing and then getting slammed by COVID-19. Perseverances mission is seen by NASA as a comparatively low-risk way of testing out some of the technology that will be needed to send humans to the red planet and bring them home safely. Sort of crazy for me to call it low risk because theres a lot of hard work in it and there are billions of dollars in it, Farley said. But compared to humans, if something goes wrong, you will be very glad you tested it out on a half-kilogram of rock instead of on the astronauts. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Sponsorship Strengthens Efforts to Support Students, Teachers, and Families During COVID-19 Pandemic SoCalGas grant helps bring free ST Math access to over 700,000 Southern California students. SoCalGas grant helps bring free ST Math access to over 700,000 Southern California students. Los Angeles, Calif., July 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), the primary provider of natural gas to Central and Southern California, recently announced a $10,000 grant to MIND Research Institute to help sustain COVID-19 relief efforts in the Los Angeles area and beyond. The grant supports the estimated 200,000 students in SoCalGas service regions who utilized ST Math prior to the pandemics related school closures, and an additional 500,000 students who have joined the program since. According to a report published in April 2020 by NWEA, student progress in math is at greatest potential for risk due to COVID-19 related school closures, and students could return to school in the fall with less than 50% of the learning gains and in some grades, nearly a full year behind what we would observe in normal conditions. With support from SoCalGas, ST Math can help reverse that trajectory by providing students with access to meaningful math learning. ST Math is a PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems. ST Maths unique, patented approach provides students with equitable access to learning through challenging puzzles, non-routine problem solving, and informative feedback. SoCalGas is pleased to be able to support MIND Research Institute with this $10,000 grant, said Sarita Figueroa, Community Relations Manager at SoCalGas. We recognize the importance of supporting our community organizations like MIND who are helping students to learn and achieve success both inside and outside of the classroom. MIND offered no-cost access to ST Math to schools, districts, and families from March 14 through June 30, 2020 welcoming 287,955 new students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) alone. Over 1,200 LAUSD teachers joined MIND-hosted webinars to support remote implementation. In total, over 340,500 new students in LA County have received free access, joining over 1.8 million new ST Math students in more than 5,600 schools. Story continues As a nonprofit social impact organization, MIND is here to support students entire learning ecosystem, including learning from home, said MINDs CEO Brett Woudenberg. Right now, parents and teachers need access to programs that are effective, engaging, and easy to facilitate. We are grateful to SoCalGas for aiding us in offering no-cost access to ST Math during school closures, and the resources necessary for successful implementation. Together, we can contribute toward effective, continued education and mitigate potential learning gaps. About MIND Research Institute MIND Research Institute is a neuroscience and education social impact organization dedicated to ensuring that all students are mathematically equipped to solve the worlds most challenging problems. MIND is the creator of ST Math, a PreK-8 visual instructional program that leverages the brain's innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve mathematical problems. Its unique, patented approach provides students with equitable access to learning through challenging puzzles, non-routine problem solving, and informative feedback. MIND has also developed programs under MathMINDs to provide students, teachers and families dynamic ways to actively engage with math, and to close the experience gap for all learners. MathMINDs includes Family Nights, the national K-12 Game-a-thon and MathMINDs Games. For more information, visit mindresearch.org. About SoCalGas Headquartered in Los Angeles, SoCalGas is the largest natural gas distribution utility in the United States. SoCalGas delivers affordable, reliable, clean and increasingly renewable natural gas service to 21.8 million customers across 24,000 square miles of Central and Southern California, where more than 90 percent of residents use natural gas for heating, hot water, cooking, drying clothes or other uses. Natural gas delivered through the company's pipelines also plays a key role in providing electricity to Californians about 45 percent of electric power generated in the state comes from gas-fired power plants. SoCalGas' vision is to be the cleanest natural gas utility in North America, delivering affordable and increasingly renewable energy to its customers. In support of that vision, SoCalGas is committed to replacing 20 percent of its traditional natural gas supply with renewable natural gas (RNG) by 2030. Renewable natural gas is made from waste created by dairy farms, landfills and wastewater treatment plants. SoCalGas is also committed to investing in its natural gas system infrastructure while keeping bills affordable for our customers. From 2014 through 2018, the company invested nearly $6.5 billion to upgrade and modernize its natural gas system to enhance safety and reliability. SoCalGas is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE), an energy services holding company based in San Diego. For more information visit socalgas.com/newsroom or connect with SoCalGas on Twitter (@SoCalGas), Instagram (@SoCalGas) and Facebook. Attachment CONTACT: Kelsey Skaggs MIND Research Institute 949-345-8722 kskaggs@mindresearch.org Research at Michigan State University is developing new styrene-free bio renewable resins with broad applicability in the construction of countertops, bathroom fixtures, windmill blades and boats. Some of the experimentation is taking place at MSU St. Andrews in Midland. The research is from the team of John Dorgan, the lamp endowed chair professor of chemical engineering and materials science. Dorgans third-year graduate student Harshal Bambhania took the teams research to Marblecraft, a marble manufacturing company in Fowlerville, near East Lansing, earlier this year to cast a prototype of a Drop-in-bowl to modernize vanity and kitchen counters. Bambhania said the prototype is more resource renewable than current products made of petroleum-based polyester dissolved in styrene. Presently, unsaturated polyester resins are used extensively in fiberglass composites for boat building, kitchen and bathroom countertops and sinks from cultured stone, he explained. However, there is a growing awareness that styrene has several shortcomings. It is not based on renewable resources, is a volatile organic compound, and indicated as a potential human carcinogen. To overcome these limitations, the Dorgan research group including Bambhania; post-doc Bin Tan; and two former students at the Colorado School of Mines - Christopher Moran and Dylan Cousin - developed a bio renewable resin system formulated using poly(lactide) (PLA) and methyl methacrylate. Preliminary calculations show a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent) compared to current technologies, Bambhania said. Work on the project is continuing this summer. Bambhania said various mechanical tests, including tensile properties and the Rockwell hardness test, along with environmental testing (scratch and stain test, hot/cold water-resistance, etc.) will be conducted according to the appropriate ASTM standards. Dorgan noted that research on Sustainable Sinks and Countertops is often done remotely from MSUs St. Andrews in Midland. The ability to do MSU research at the Midland campus is as innovative as the research itself, he said. Harshal (MS, chemical engineering, '11) and his wife, Deboleena Chakraborty (PhD, chemical engineering 10) met in graduate school at MSU. Harshal is helping raise his two daughters, Harleen, 4, and Ashleen, 1, while Deboleena works as a research scientist at Dow. This unique and family-friendly environment was facilitated by Paul Hunt, a senior associate vice president for research and innovation, and supported by Engineering Dean Leo Kempel and ChEMS Department Chair Don Morelli. Im thrilled that MSU enabled this level of creative accomplishment, Dorgan added. Processed by Victoria Ritter, vritter@mdn.net New Delhi, July 14 : US-based online education company Coursera on Tuesday announced its partnership with the Telangana government and non-profit organisation -- Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge (TASK) -- to train 50,000 unemployed youth during the Covid-19 crisis. The Telangana government, through TASK, has been proactive in improving the employability of its youth by investing in skills of the future. With this partnership, TASK is making 3,800 courses on Coursera available to 50,000 unemployed youths across the state. "We are excited to work with the world's leading online learning platform to train our youth in the latest digital skills, taught by instructors from the best universities and companies around the world," Shrikant Sinha, CEO, TASK, said in a statement. The programme aims to develop high-demand skills like data science, cloud computing, blockchain, AI, computer science, and the Internet of Things (IoT). It will also include access to highly sought after professional certificates like the Google IT Support Professional Certificate, designed to train people with no tech background for IT jobs. According to the company, learners can enrol in the courses offered through the initiative by September 3 this year and will have access until the end of the year to complete the courses. "We are honoured to work with the Telangana state, known for its inspiring vision, innovative policies, and commitment to creating a workforce of the future, as our first government partner in India," said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO Coursera. The partnership is part of Coursera's global roll-out of the 'Workforce Recovery Initiative', where any state and country can provide unemployed workers with free access to online learning. The workforce initiative is part of the Coursera-for-government offering launched in 2017 to equip government employees and citizens with in-demand skills. With this launch, the Telangana state joins many US states and countries around the world that are using Coursera to offer job relevant online learning to unemployed workers. (Natural News) Police investigating racist messages left on a Texas A&M students car in June say all available evidence points to it being a hoax. (Article by Douglas Ernst republished from WashingtonTimes.com) School officials offered a $1,200 reward on June 25 for any evidence that identified the person who wrote All lives matter, You dont belong here, and nr messages before leaving them on senior Isaih Martins windshield. A College Station cop who watched surveillance footage from a nearby pool camera say that what they witnessed implicated Mr. Martin himself as the culprit. Martin immediately walks to the passenger side of his vehicle, but does not open any doors, a local CBS affiliate reported Thursday while citing the departments report. Martin is seen toward the front of his vehicle. A brief white speck is seen from about mid-torso of Martin moving toward his vehicle. Another white speck is seen near his chest area. Martin is then seen stepping back and onto the sidewalk in front of his vehicle, most likely taking photos and videos. He then approaches his vehicle again on the passenger side and remains there for a few moments. He is then seen walking around the front of his vehicle. Martin then enters the drivers door and drives away a few moments later. The total time spent at his vehicle is 1 minute, 15 seconds. Footage also showed two individuals near Mr. Martins car for a few seconds, the station reported. [Martin] was the only person with enough time to place the notes on his car, police added. For his part, the 21-year-old student told Twitter followers on Thursday that he has stopped working with the cops and has consulted an attorney. Im in a predicament where the topic of the case was lets find out who did this to them pointing the finger at me, the student wrote. In the end, I stopped talking to them because it seemed they were more interested in me getting the blame for this hate crime instead of finding the actual person who did it. University police said the case is now considered closed. Police also asked the county attorneys office to see if the incident would be considered a false report but were told the case does not meet the elements since Martin did not report a crime, the station added. Read more at: WashingtonTimes.com One of Ghislaine Maxwell's alleged victims is set to ask that she be forced to remain in jail at a video bail hearing today. The alleged chief recruiter for pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has made a home confinement request in the hope she will be released. Maxwell is in custody in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and is reportedly being moved from cell to cell to minimise the risk to her life. But at least one of her alleged victims is expected to speak at Tuesday's hearing to ask that she be kept in jail, according to prosecutors. One of Ghislaine Maxwell's alleged victims is set to ask that she be forced to remain in jail at a video bail hearing today She is one of several victims who have made clear they want Maxwell remanded in custody. The victims said in a 19-page document filed by prosecutors on Monday they were 'directly abused as a result of Ghislaine Maxwell's actions.' Federal prosecutors have already urged the judge to detain Maxwell on the basis she is 'skilled at living in hiding' after it emerged she refused to open the front door to the FBI when they raided her $1million home at the start of the month. Prosecutors wrote on Monday: 'There will be no trial for the victims if the defendant is afforded the opportunity to flee the jurisdiction, and there is every reason to think that is exactly what she will do if she is released.' Maxwell, 58, had offered a $5million bond co-signed by two of her sisters and backed up by more than $3.75million in property in the UK. She would be confined to a home in the New York area, surrender all her travel documents and be subject to GPS monitoring. But prosecutors argued nothing would ensure that somebody with three passports, including for France which has no extradition treaty with the UK, would suffice. The prosecutors' document states: 'While that conduct did take place a number of years ago, it is unsurprising that the victims have been unable to forget the defendant's predatory conduct after all this time, as traumatic childhood experiences often leave indelible marks. 'The recollections of the victims bear striking resemblances that corroborate each other and provide compelling proof of the defendant's active participation in a disturbing scheme to groom and sexually abuse minor girls'. It comes after prosecutors claimed Maxwell refused to open the front door to the FBI when they raided her hideaway - named 'Tucked Away' - in New Hampshire. She instead fled to another room in the house and was seen 'quickly shutting a door behind her.' The FBI smashed down the door and discovered a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil which prosecutors called a 'seemingly misguided effort to evade detection' by law enforcement. New York prosecutors said this was evidence that Maxwell was 'skilled at living in hiding' and should be denied bail. Maxwell is currently in custody in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn (pictured) It comes after prosecutors claimed Maxwell refused to open the front door to the FBI when they raided her hideaway - named 'Tucked Away' - in New Hampshire In the fortress-like Metropolitan Detention Center, Maxwell is wearing paper clothes to ensure she doesn't kill herself. Epstein hanged himself last August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges and the Department of Justice wants to ensure she does not do the same. Maxwell is accused of grooming girls as young as 14 for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 1997, a period when she was his girlfriend as well as his procurer. Prosecutors said that her conduct during the 8:30am raid on July 2 at the property in the rural town of Bradford was 'troubling'. They wrote that when the FBI arrived they were confronted by a locked gate which they forced their way through. The filing said: 'As the agents approached the front door to the main house, they announced themselves as FBI agents and directed the defendant to open the door. 'Through a window, the agents saw the defendant ignore the direction to open the door and, instead, try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting a door behind her. 'Agents were ultimately forced to breach the door in order to enter the house to arrest the defendant, who was found in an interior room in the house. 'Moreover, as the agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk, a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement'. New York prosecutors said in a filing Monday this was evidence that Maxwell was 'skilled at living in hiding' and should be denied bail After Maxwell, the daughter of late newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, was arrested the FBI spoke to a security guard who worked on the property who said that her brother had hired him from a company staffed with former British military soldiers. 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 The filing states: 'The guard informed the FBI that the defendant had not left the property during his time working there, and that instead, the guard was sent to make purchases for the property using the credit card. As these facts make plain, there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding'. In their filings to the court ,Maxwell's lawyers had argued that she is at increased risk of catching the coronavirus while in prison. They claim that the restrictions on access to her lawyers caused by the pandemic would mean it was impossible for her to get a fair trial. The prosecutors said that in fact the prison had made substantial efforts to accommodate her and keep her safe. In a 19-page document prosecutors from the Southern District of New York dismissed her offer of a $5million bail package backed up by $3.75million in UK properties as 'little more than an unsecured bond'. It was not enough that she be subjected to 24 hour monitoring and remain under house arrest because she has 'not only the motive to flee, but the means to do so swiftly and effectively'. The case against her is 'strong' and multiple victims have provided 'detailed, credible evidence of the defendant's criminal conduct' - with more women coming forward in the past week. The document states: 'While that conduct did take place a number of years ago, it is unsurprising that the victims have been unable to forget the defendant's predatory conduct after all this time, as traumatic childhood experiences often leave indelible marks. 'The recollections of the victims bear striking resemblances that corroborate each other and provide compelling proof of the defendant's active participation in a disturbing scheme to groom and sexually abuse minor girls'. The prosecutors said that it was 'curious' that Maxwell claimed to have access to millions of dollars had not offered 'a single dime' as collateral for her bond. They claimed that Maxwell's finances were 'completely opaque' and she had not even indicated which properties she would use for her bond. Some of the co-signers are 'themselves so wealthy that it would be no financial burden whatsoever' if they lost their $5million by Maxwell skipping bail, the document states. Maxwell was romantically involved with Jeffrey Epstein from around 1992, but then became his 'right-hand woman', managing his property empire and, it is alleged, his trafficking of minors Her bail request (pictured) was filed in the US District Court in Manhattan and claims she was not 'hiding' from authorities, is not a flight risk and is at risk of contracting COVID-19 if she continues to be held in the Brooklyn jail The document states that in recent years Maxwell has been associated with a Swiss bank account and multiple accounts with at least one bank based in England. In 2018 and 2019 filings by Maxwell with the US government said the English bank account had 'well over' $2million in it. The Swiss bank account revealed that Maxwell was a trustee of a family trust with a balance of more than $4million, as of last month. One transfer from last year in this account was of more than $750,000 and Maxwell paid $1million in cash for her property in New Hampshire last December. Despite this, Maxwell told court officers she had less than $1million in bank accounts which the prosecutors said should cause the court 'serious pause'. The prosecutors wrote: 'To the extent the defendant now refuses to account for her ownership of or access to vast wealth, it is not because it does not exist it is because she is attempting to hide it'. In the document they said that Maxwell faces the 'reality of serious charges' and the 'real prospect of spending many years in prison' - up to 35 years by their count. The prosecutors wrote: 'The defendant has spent the last two decades without facing consequences for her criminal actions. 'For years before her arrest in this case, the defendant likely believed she had gotten away with her crimes. That illusion has now been shattered, and she has a host of new reasons to use her considerable resources to flee. 'Moreover, the defendant's willingness to brazenly lie under oath about her conduct, including some of the conduct charged in the Indictment, strongly suggests her true motive has been and remains to avoid being held accountable for her crimes'. According to reports she had moved 36 times in the year since Epstein killed himself in jail out of fear for her safety. The FBI have said they were quietly keeping tabs on her and smashed in her door during an 8.30am raid. In her filing last Friday, Maxwell's lawyers Mark Cohen and Jeff Pagliuca wrote that Maxwell 'vigorously denies the charges, intends to fight them, and is entitled to the presumption of innocence'. They claimed that after Epstein's death last August 'the media focus quickly shifted to our client - wrongly trying to substitute her for Epstein - even though she'd had no contact with Epstein for more than a decade, had never been charged with a crime or been found liable in any civil litigation, and has always denied any allegations of claimed misconduct.' They wrote that it was 'open season' on Maxwell and she had received death threats which led her to hire security guards. Maxwell's lawyers also revealed that her family is standing by her and that she remains close to her nephews and nieces. Epstein's victims have long demanded Maxwell's arrest and lawyers for them say that a slew of new accusers have come forward since she was apprehended. Prosecutors will likely be looking to do a plea deal with Maxwell to lighten some of the six charges against her, two of which are perjury for allegedly lying during depositions. They will be questioning her about powerful men in Epstein's orbit including Bill Clinton with whom she flew on Epstein's private jet, called the 'Lolita Express', on a tour of Africa in 2002. Maxwell was also good friends with Prince Andrew and one of Epstein's victims, Virginia Roberts, claims she was loaned out to the Duke three times for sex when she was 17. Federal law enforcement agencies are surging resources in protest areas. A young man was hospitalized Saturday and required facial reconstruction surgery after being shot in the head by an impact munition that federal agents fired into a crowd of peaceful protesters in Portland, Oregon. The agents were there to carry out a recent executive order, framed by the White House as a move to protect national parks and monuments. Twenty-six-year-old Donavan LaBella was holding a speaker above his head across from the federal courthouse in downtown Portland when one of a group of camouflage-clad federal agents threw some sort of smoking, flashing canister at him. LaBella rolled the canister away from this feet, into an empty portion of the street, then held up the speaker again. Suddenly there was a loud bang, then some sort of impact munition (a.k.a. firearm-delivered projectiles, such as rubber bullets or bean bags) flying through the air. Then LaBella falls to the ground. Other protesters come to his aid and drag him out of the street. Video captured the whole horrifying incident. https://twitter.com/zerosum24/status/1282275808413966337 An American has been shot and sent to the hospital for apparently exercising his right of free speech, marveled Steven Strauss, a visiting professor at Princeton. Donavans mom, Desiree LaBella, told Oregon Public Broadcasting that her son had sustained skull and facial fractures and had to have facial reconstruction surgery. As of Sunday morning, he was responding to doctors and able to move his arms and legs. Desiree LaBella said she planned to contact an attorney Monday for a possible lawsuit on behalf of her son, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting. She spoke to her son via computer late Sunday morning and said that while he was awake, doctors were monitoring his neurological condition and continuing work to drain blood from his brain. The U.S. Marshals Service said in a statement that it was aware of the incident and it was currently being investigated. What happened to Donovan LaBella demonstrates the consequences of Donald Trump unilaterally dispatching fedl law enforcement into U.S. cities, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) tweeted on Sunday. Trump & Homeland Security must now answer why fedl officers are acting like an occupying army. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official told NPR that hundreds of federal agentsincluding members of the U.S. Marshals Special Operations Group, as well as a Border Patrol Tactical Unithad been deployed in Portland and elsewhere around the country as part of Trumps June 26 executive order. DHS sent officers to Portland; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Gettysburg National Park in Pennsylvania, according to a DHS official who spoke on background. At a military briefing in Florida last Friday, President Donald Trump asked for an update on protests in Portland, saying to the DHS head we sent you there recently.And you people are handling it very nicely. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told Trump we should have more support of the local police there. But again, the Department of Homeland Security, along with the DOJ, FBI and others are surging resources and were starting to make a difference there. NPR notes that Wolf claimed there had been violence against officers in Portland. DHS later clarified Wolf was referring to fireworks shot toward officers as well as protesters pointing lasers at federal police. Several protesters in Portland were charged with assault on a federal officer because of those actions. London, July 14 : The UK government has launched a public consultation on doubling maximum prison sentences for assaulting emergency workers. Currently people convicted of assaulting police officers, firefighters, prison officers or paramedics face a maximum of 12 months in prison, reports Xinhua news agency. The government wants the sentence to be doubled to two years, with even higher jail terms for people convicted by courts of causing grievous bodily harm or sexual assaults on emergency workers. A public consultation on tougher sentences sends a clear message to vile thugs who assault emergency workers, said Home Secretary Priti Patel on Monday. The consultation will run for four weeks and, depending on the response, legislation could be brought forward. The move would see the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker doubled for the second time in two years. Assault covers acts such as a push, shove or being spat at. When an emergency worker is seriously injured, prosecutions will take place under more serious offences such as actual, or grievous bodily harm, or attempted murder that have far longer sentences. New York, July 14 : It's official. The White House has turned on America's top infectious diseases expert, Anthony Fauci, spraying into public view a longlist of "mistakes" he has made since the COVID-19 pandemic began and seeking to undercut the doctor's reputation as a trusted voice on public health and exit strategy during a pandemic that has killed over 135,000 Americans. The White House denied that it is slinging "opposition research" on Fauci's handling of the coronavirus, hours after multiple media outlets received a White House statement detailing a laundry list of Fauci errors. On Monday, the White House went on the back foot saying it merely "responded" to questions it received from The Washington Post. IANS reported last week about the White House's efforts to sideline Fauci even as it refuses to take a stand on universal masking during an ongoing killer pandemic. The White House West Wing has taken control of Fauci's media appearances from the US government platform and effectively banished him to the podcast and livestream circuit. As cases surge to record levels across the southern states, the White House is questioning the "number of times Fauci has been wrong on things", using long-ago comments from Fauci on the threat level from the virus and the use of masks. The Fauci versus President Donald Trump battle comes amidst the resurgence of the coronavirus which has ignited fierce debate about whether to reopen schools. Fauci's view isn't very different from what he has said from the beginning: Don't jump over the reopening guidelines. Trump is pushing for an aggressive reopening, sparking alarm across the country and wall to wall coverage in the US media. Trump is reportedly annoyed with Fauci's soaring popularity even as his own polls are tanking to new lows in battleground states crucial to his re-election. Fauci said in a Financial Times interview that he had not briefed Trump in nearly two months. In multiple polls, Fauci trumps the President in popularity and trust. Since January, Americans' overall confidence in medical scientists has only grown stronger, reflective of society's anxieties during an extraordinary time. "There's no body count high enough for Donald Trump to listen to the public health experts. If we lose another 10,000, another 20,000, he's not going to do anything differently," former US Education Secretary Arne Duncan told reporters Monday. "It's a man-made catastrophe. Don't listen to Trump. Listen to the local health experts." As positions harden all around, Trump's Twitter thumb is unstoppable. On Monday morning, he retweeted supporters' messages lamenting the "most outrageous lies" being spread about the coronavirus pandemic and how the economy is tanking because everyone's staying indoors. "Everyone is lying. The CDC, Media, Democrats, our Doctors, not all but most, that we are told to trust. I think itaAs all about the election and keeping the economy from coming back, which is about the election. I'm sick of it." -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Austria has extended until July 30 the ban on scheduled passenger flights with Ukraine and a number of other countries, according to the updated resolution of the Federal Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection of Austria, which bans the landing of aircraft from a number of countries and regions with a high risk of SARS-CoV-2. The previous wording of the resolution applied to eight countries (China, Iran, Belarus, Spain, the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Russian Federation, Ukraine) and the Italian region of Lombardy and was valid until July 15. In the new wording, Lombardy was removed from the list, and the ban for the remaining eight countries was extended until July 30. At the same time, the ban on passenger flights was extended to ten more countries, in particular, North Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo, as well as Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, and Egypt. Exceptions were made for cargo flights, medical flights or flights for the purpose of transporting seasonal workers in the agricultural and forestry sectors and staff caring for the sick and elderly. Flights were also allowed "in the interests of the republic." This category includes flights that have special economic, political or socio-political significance for Austria. op Citizens conduct disinfection upon arrival in a concentrated quarantine area (Photo: VNA) Hanoi Vietnam confirmed one imported COVID-19 case on July 14 morning, bringing the total infections nationwide to 373, according to the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. The new patient is a 53-year-old man who returned home on a repatriation flight from Russia on July 9. He resides in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi. After landing at Can Tho International Airport, he was sent to a concentrated quarantine facility in the southernmost province of Ca Mau. On July 12, he was taken samples for testing and the result showed positive for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. He is being quarantined and treated at Ca Mau General Hospital. Vietnam has now gone 89 days without any community transmissions. Among the total 373 cases, 232 were imported and quarantined right upon arrival. Two more patients have been given the all-clear from the virus, bringing the total number of recoveries to 352 or 94.4 percent of all cases. Notably, there is zero death. The remaining patients are being treated at health facilities across the country. Most of them are in stable condition. Five have tested negative for the virus once, and one tested negative at least twice. A judge has ordered a Penns Grove councilman temporarily not allowed to participate in borough council affairs. The action comes amid a lawsuit from two fellow council members. In a July 10 decision, Superior Court Judge Jean Chetney granted a temporary order with restraints barring Penns Grove Councilman Carl Washington Jr., a Democrat, from participating in any council-related activities until arguments can be heard about the lawsuit that seeks his permanent removal. Two of Washington Jr.s counterparts, Carol Mincey and Michael Bercute, filed a lawsuit alleging Washington Jr.s appointment to his seat - after resigning and losing the election last fall - was a conflict of interest and a violation of the states municipal vacancy law. By Trend Armenian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was shot down and its artillery mount together with the combat crew was also destroyed, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijani Defense Ministry. "UAV belonging to the Armenian armed forces and the combat crew of the artillery mount were destroyed by targeted fire of Azerbaijani armed forces," the ministry said. Commenting on the information in the Armenian media that the shot down UAV allegedly belongs to the Azerbaijani army, the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense officially stated that this is false information, it does not reflect the reality and it is a fabrication of the Armenian Defense Ministry's representative. "UAVs belonging to Azerbaijani army are in full force in the ranks and there are no losses," the ministry. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz Apple warned users not to cover the webcam. (Apple) Mark Zuckerberg was spotted covering the camera on his own laptop, to prevent unwanted eyes peering through it but Apple isnt so keen on the idea. The tech giant this week warned users not to close MacBook laptops with a cover over the camera, MacRumors reported. The company said doing so can damage the display, and can also interfere with sensors built into the computer. The statement comes after complaints from users on Reddit and other platforms that their devices have smashed after they applied webcam covers for privacy reasons. Read more: Apple could still go higher after hitting $1.5tn valuation Apple said: If you close your Mac notebook with a camera cover installed, you might damage your display because the clearance between the display and keyboard is designed to very tight tolerances. Covering the built-in camera might also interfere with the ambient light sensor and prevent features like automatic brightness and True Tone from working. Many security experts suggest you should put a cover over your webcam (Getty) As an alternative to a camera cover, use the camera indicator light to determine if your camera is active, and decide which apps can use your camera in System Preferences. The cameras on Apple laptops are designed so they cannot be accessed without the green on light switching on, MacRumors reported. Read more: Apples new iPhone SE offers most of the features at a fraction of the price A technology repair expert told ZDNet more users have been putting tape over cameras because the pandemic has led to increased numbers of people working from home. Putting tape or a covering over a webcam means that even if hackers gain access to a device, they still cant see you. Malware such as Remote Access Trojans can give cybercriminals unfettered access to a device, including the webcam. Many security experts advise users to cover their webcams to protect their privacy. The then FBI director James Comey said in 2014: I think people ought to be taking personal responsibility for their own safety and security. So there are some sensible things you ought to be doing and that [covering the webcam] is one of them. Story continues You go into any government office, we all have our little camera things that sit on top of the screen. They all have a little lid that closes down on them. You do that so that people who dont have authority dont look at you. I think thats a good thing. Read more: Apples new iPhone SE offers most of the features at a fraction of the price Apple delayed mass production of new iPhone handsets but is still bringing out four new models this year, according to supply chain sources. A report by the Wall Street Journal suggested that Apple will release four new iPhones this year, armed with 5G connectivity for faster internet. The delay comes in the wake of coronavirus-related shutdowns in Apple factories, the WSJ reported. Apples biggest iPhone plant was hit by restrictions placed on Chinese workers earlier this year due to the coronavirus outbreak. Apple supplier Foxconns factory at Zhengzhou in Henan province, with 200,000 workers, barred workers from outside the local area. Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK Recommended Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 17:08:25|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- At least five people were killed and 38 others went missing after flash floods struck Indonesia's South Sulawesi province on Tuesday, rescuers said. Heavy downpours triggered an overflowing river and submerged surrounding areas in Luwu Utara district after midnight, said Dadan Sarkas, an official from the Search and Rescue Office in the province. Scores of houses, a school building and public facilities were damaged and submerged by muds and waters about 50 cm deep, Sarkas told Xinhua. The natural disaster also forced residents to flee home, according to Sarkas, but he did not give further details as risk assessment of the catastrophe was still being undertaken. Meanwhile, Fajri Mursalin, a rescuer in charge of the data center in the province, said the search for the missing persons was underway. "So far five people have been confirmed dead, 10 others are under treatment at a hospital in Masamba and 38 others are being searched for," he told Xinhua, referring to the Masamba city in the district. On the number of the casualties, Mursalin said, the real figure could be higher as the assessment was still underway. Indonesia has been frequently stricken by flash floods, floods and landslides during the rain season. Enditem The Trump administration told international students at U.S. colleges and universities that they couldn't stay in this country if they did not attend classes this fall in person. Shown are students at UCLA. (Los Angeles Times) From the Trump administration perspective, suddenly forcing international students out of the country must have looked like three wins in one. It would have ejected mostly non-European immigrants, advanced the administrations new demand that schools reopen their campuses despite the threat posed by COVID-19, and financially and academically harmed universities, which Trump views as bastions of liberal indoctrination. Not to mention striking a blow against science, and especially against the nations leadership in scientific research, which has come about largely because of its globally admired university programs in engineering and laboratory science. At least the odious preliminary directive was withdrawn Tuesday, though we dont know how new students and those whose visas are ending will be affected. The original version would have required the international students to leave the country unless they attended in-person classes this fall. It would have given universities that are planning to offer only online courses until Wednesday to come up with in-person lesson plans for their international students. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued and the plans chances were looking iffy in court Tuesday. Still, this ridiculous attempt shouldnt be forgotten by the American public. It was a harmful and punitive measure for no purpose other than to be harmful and punitive, and it would have injured the nations economy as well as the noble purposes of higher education. About a million international students, more than half of them from China or India, pursue their studies in the United States. They make up at least three-fourths of the graduate students in computer science and industrial, petroleum and electrical engineering, and large numbers in laboratory sciences. This country is literally richer for their presence. The United States is at the forefront in many of the sciences because of its outstanding STEM graduate programs. Silicon Valley wasnt just an accident that sprang up in Santa Clara County; it came about because of the presence of Stanford and UC Berkeley. The biomedical industry in the San Diego area grew from the programs at UC San Diego. And these students are a major reason those programs remain robust. Story continues Many students return home after graduation, but many others have taken on important roles in those science, technology, engineering and math industries and in research programs in this country. While theyre here as grad students, they contribute $45 billion a year to the economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The situation on COVID-19 is changing by the week, and in many cases not for the better. Like K-12 public schools, universities are trying to figure out a plan as the pandemics realities continually shift. They want to open but they cant change the laws of safety and science simply because Trump and the reality of COVID-19 remain strangers. Had the students dropped out of their programs, our universities would have been drained of teaching assistants, graduate students and the full-pay tuition that most international students contribute. Its true that there long has been an issue with foreigners using bogus claims of college studies to immigrate while they took courses at sham schools. But the administration knew perfectly well that the students it targeted are here legitimately, contributing to our higher education system, to our economy and in many cases, to our global leadership in science and technology. To honor and bring attention to Mandela Day -- July 18 -- the Long Walk to Freedom Foundation has teamed up with Arizona Beverages to encourage community members to complete 67 minutes of volunteer service from now through Mandela Day. As a thank you for participating, Arizona will reward five fans with a year supply of an Arizona beverage. Arizona is known for its big can drinks holding 23 ounces of iced teas, juice drinks and other beverages that retail for around the price of 99 cents. Nelson Mandela Day is an international day of service honoring the legacy of Nelson Mandela, South Africas former president, through volunteering and community service. It is celebrated each year on July 18, Mandelas birthday. The day was declared officially by the United Nations in November 2009. Mandela Day calls on global citizens to commit 67 minutes to fight poverty, as well as promote peace, reconciliation and cultural diversity, in commemoration of Mandelas 67-year fight for social justice. Last year, Arizona introduced African Rooibos Red Tea to its lineup bringing the national drink of South Africa to the United States. Arizona Rooibos Red Tea celebrates the Long Walk to Freedom Foundation and its efforts. How can fans of Arizona become eligible? Post a photo to your personal Instagram account by midnight July 18 that demonstrates you participating in an act of volunteer work and community service tagging @DrinkAriZona along with the hashtag #AriZonaxLongWalktoFreedom and #sweepstakes for a chance to win in a random drawing. We are honored to team up with Arizona and use their platform as a pop culture icon to amplify Mandela Day and the spirit our grandfathers legacy, said HRH Swati Dlamini-Mandela and HRH Zaziwe Dlamini Manaway of Long Walk to Freedom Foundation. With Arizona, we encourage Americans to celebrate the idea that each individual has the power to transform the world, starting with a single act. For more information and full terms and conditions, visit Arizonas website. Thanks for visiting PennLive. Quality local journalism has never been more important. We need your support. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work. Craving more food news? Interestingly, this is not the first time wearing masks during a pandemic has divided American public opinion. According to a recent study, face masks were resisted more than any other measure taken to combat the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. One San Franciscan was so upset by that citys mask ordinance he mailed a bomb to the citys chief public health officer. The bomb, fortunately, was discovered and defused before it could explode. Things havent reached that point in Oklahoma, but the argument has gotten intense. On the one hand are those who believe wearing a face mask or, more to the point, being required to wear one is an invasion of personal liberty. Some maintain it is unconstitutional. On the other are those incensed that their lives are being put at risk over a nebulous concept of individual freedom and what some see as sheer stubbornness. The well-meaning people who are trying to encourage mask use are really doing their cause a disservice when they mock, threaten, insult anyone not wearing a mask, said Brummel. If your goal is to help people see the wisdom in it, youre going to get that immediate shutdown reaction. Employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation and other law enforcement authorities in Crimea use torture; in particular beatings, electric shocks and suffocation, to force victims to incriminate themselves, cooperate with law enforcement or testify against others. This was said in a recently published report by the UN Secretary-General on human rights violations in the temporarily occupied Crimea, DW reports. In all the cases documented by OHCHR in which victims made credible complaints of torture or ill-treatment to the courts and law enforcement authorities in Crimea, no perpetrator has been held accountable. When presented with complaints of torture in court, judges allegedly either ignored them or ordered investigations, which, in practice, were carried out in a pro forma fashion and did not result in the identification of suspects or prosecution of perpetrators," the report reads. Violations involving torture and other ill-treatment by law enforcement agencies in Crimea, particularly the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, were especially common immediately after a persons arrest, during periods of incommunicado detention in unofficial places of detention. According to information received by OHCHR, medical personnel of penitentiary institutions were often reluctant to document injuries sustained by victims prior to their admission to these institutions, which is inconsistent with their professional duties to treat and act in the best medical interests of patients, for whom they have a duty of care. The report reminds that torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are prohibited by both international humanitarian law and international human rights law. International human rights law requires Russia to provide redress for torture and ill-treatment and to ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committed in any territory under its jurisdiction. BOSTON, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate today announced the election of Bruce A. Percelay as its incoming Chairman of the Board. As Founder and Chairman of The Mount Vernon Company, a real estate development and investment firm headquartered in Boston, Percelay brings an extraordinary business acumen and passion for helping others to the Institute at a critical juncture for democracy in the United States. Most recently, Percelay was the driving force behind Nantucket's new whaling museum and raising more than $120 million for the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, the largest fundraiser for a community hospital ever in U.S. history. Previously, Percelay served as the Chairman for both the Massachusetts chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Habitat for Humanity in Boston. Currently, Percelay sits on the President's Council at Massachusetts General Hospital as well as the Board of The Rappaport Institute at the Kennedy School of Government. "The entire Board is delighted to have Bruce Percelay at the helm of the Institute that bears my late husband's name. He is well known in the business community for his innovation and is recognized as a transformational leader in service to the non-profit community," said Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Co-founder and President of the Board at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute. "As our nation grapples with the role of government in addressing the challenges facing our nation, the Kennedy Institute is sharpening its focus on the critical importance of having all Americans exercise the right to vote and be involved in the civic life of their communities. Bruce's exceptional leadership and ability to convene have set us on a path to reaffirm the Institute's role in inspiring the next generation of citizens and leaders to engage in our democracy." Since opening its doors five years ago, the Kennedy Institute has welcomed tens of thousands of school age children and young adults into its full-scale replica of the U.S. Senate Chamber to negotiate, vote on legislation, and experience, for a day, what it means to work as a U.S. senator. Through a blend of award-winning experiential learning and interactive digital experiences, the Kennedy Institute is transforming the paradigm for civic education and participatory democracy. Like many cultural institutions facing the realities of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Kennedy Institute has increased its focus on delivering quality programming in virtual/digital learning environments, with an upcoming slate of voting-focused offerings anticipated for later this summer. "I am honored to join the Board as Chairman of this cutting-edge institution," said Percelay. "I share Senator Kennedy's belief that inspired, engaged, and knowledgeable citizens are vital for our democracy to be successful and to flourish. During these unprecedented times of national health crisis and civil unrest, the work of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute has never been more important and needed than it is right now. I look forward to working with my fellow Board members and the dedicated staff of the Institute to make a meaningful difference during this pivotal time." About the Edward M. Kennedy Institute The Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate is dedicated to educating the public about the important role of the Senate in our government, encouraging participatory democracy, invigorating civil discourse, and inspiring the next generation of citizens and leaders to engage in the civic life of their communities. Learn more via www.emkinstitute.org. MEDIA CONTACT Miles Halpine [email protected] 857.271.3372 SOURCE Edward M. Kennedy Institute Related Links http://www.emkinstitute.org The Paper Store filed Tuesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with the Acton, Mass.-based gift chain having nearly a dozen Connecticut locations including stores in Stamford, Norwalk and Milford. In addition to gift cards and ornaments, The Paper Store carries limited selections of home goods, jewelry, accessories and apparel, from brands like Hallmark, Yankee Candle and Vineyard Vines based in Stamford. Julie Freeman Its no secret that the travel and tourism industry is among the hardest hit by COVID-19, and well feel those repercussions for a long time. The U.S. Travel Association has estimated that total travel spending in the U.S. is predicted to drop 45 percent by the end of this year, and since the beginning of March, the pandemic has led to more than $237 billion in cumulative losses for the U.S. travel economy. Numbers like these are demoralizing, but were seeing an increasing number of destinations, hotels and attractions opening back up and providing glimmers of hope, leading us to confidently say the travel rebound will arrive sooner than originally expected. Our research shows the pent-up demand for travel is powerful, and it crosses all demographics. In fact, 66 percent of Americans expect to book their next leisure trip within the next six months, and more than half plan to do so in the next three months, according to our Travel Intentions Pulse Survey. This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Jul. '20 Travel & Int'l PR Magazine. Source: MMGY Global Travel Safety Barometer; June 2020 An important signal of recovery is determining how safe travelers feel getting back out there. The MMGY Global Travel Safety Barometer, a first-of-its-kind measurement of travel sentiment, provides insights into how safe Americans feel across various categories of leisure and business travel. The newest data shows that perceptions of safety are rising across all sectors as the travel industry enters the summer season, and over the course of a month we saw the needle move a full 10 points, a strong move in the right direction. On a scale of 0 to 100, consumer confidence in domestic travel rose from 34 to 44 points, and trust in international travel moved from 22 to 32 points. We still have a long way to goboth in sentiment and logisticsbut these upward trends suggest people have moved from just dreaming about traveling again to actively listening to messages about booking future travel and, in some cases, getting in their cars and starting to travel regionally. With travel restrictions now being eased around the globe, were leveraging our renowned proprietary research and insights in a signature Ready + Set + Go approach to recovery to help partners across the industry get back on their feet. While its true that were all in this together, every client is dealing with unique circumstances: varying shelter-at-home mandates and transportation capacities; different sets of assets theyre able to leverage; limited staff and budgets; and other challenges that make it impossible to create a one-size-fits-all solution. Thats why we rely on our data to inform our strategies through each stage of recovery. In a downturn, it becomes important to be judicious about where destinations and travel brands should spend their money on PR, marketing and advertising. As we know, domestic leisure travel is recovering much faster than business and international travel. Within that realm weve learned that, right now, Americans are beginning to feel increasingly confident about all forms of transportation. They feel safest in their own vehicles, but trust in air travel grew 20 percent between May and June. Theres a lot more interest in visiting state and national parks, as well as beaches, compared to other typical outdoor gatherings. Our data shows an uptick in confidence in hotels and resorts, but overall Americans currently feel safer in a vacation rental. And while cruise bookings into 2021 are surprisingly robust, prospective cruisers need to be nurtured with messages of confidence. We can measure those data-driven findings against other tools such as social listening, which checks the pulse on more emotionally-driven conversations across social media platforms. Consumers are rapidly evolving from feelings of anxiety and fear to hope and anticipation, signifying that nows the time to move from top-level inspiration to mid-level consideration. We know from our research that people are most interested in hearing messages about safety and health protocols before travel deals or value adds. Having such insights in our arsenal puts us in an enviable position to create strategic PR plans to carry our clients across every stage of recovery. Now that many destinations and brands are further into the Ready or Set stages, thoughtful campaign messaging is essential to drive both short-term and future bookings. As travel marketers, its incumbent to move the needle toward the travel industrys recovery by reimagining travel, finding new ways to tell the story and utilizing the latest technology to get people traveling again: Now that Americans are ready to get into their cars and explore, we can leverage road trip content and nearcations, health and safety tips and information on how to support locally owned businesses. Were amplifying outdoor recreation, RV and camping stories, secluded retreats and open-air experiences, all of which encourage people to explore the outdoors and maintain social distancing on their travels. The luxury travel space is ripe with potential story ideas as high-end travelers seek out inspiration such as chartered planes, villa rentals, vineyard visits and privately led tours. Theres a surge of interest in responsible travel in a post-COVID world, as we consider how to manage overtourism through reduced capacity. Secondary cities are getting attention as consumers look to travel to less-crowded or closer-to-home destinations. Virtual travel experiences, which was an instant media trend in the early days of shelter-at-home mandates, is still resonating with audiences, as is digital content from chefs, artisans and other local influencers. For international travel, we know people feel more confident booking at least six months out, so were able to target long-lead publications to deliver inspiring content. As the cruise industry returns, its essential to push concrete messages about health and sanitization protocols, flexible rebooking and cancellation policies. We anticipate travel will ultimately make a full comeback, and as it does, the marketplace will be more competitive than ever to attract visitors. Clients who stay the course now with focused, proactive and nimble PR programs that leverage insights and build on timely messaging will keep brand awareness high, putting them in the best possible position for total recovery. *** Julie Freeman is EVP and managing director at MMGY NJF. Broadway has been depressingly dark for months, so Disney produced Hamilton on TV for a large and grateful audience. However, the P.C. monitors, who never rest, criticized the play for portraying principals who were slave-owners. When the lights go on again, will they come for the theater? Could Driving Miss Daisy ever be performed again? It is a heartwarming tale by Alfred Uhry about the relationship of an elderly Southern Jewish woman, Daisy Werthan, and her black chauffeur, Hoke Coleborn. It enjoyed wide praise in various iterations on stage and in a movie, but today it would raise the hackles of political correctness officers. South Pacific? No way! "There is nothing like a dame" is male chauvinism writ large. Could it be saved if the original song were performed by a chorus of female soldiers? Or if the lyrics were changed to "there is nothing but a they"? "Climb every mountain, Ford every stream." That's not The Sound of Music for the disabled. Really, what were they thinking? Goodbye to Jerome Kern and Showboat: "Tell me he's lazy, tell me he's slow, tell me I'm crazy, (maybe I know). Can't help lovin' dat man of mine." That is a subliminal racist stereotype. These lyrics are insensitive...although Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey and Barbra Streisand recorded great renditions without getting the vapors. Guys and Dolls, a masterpiece by Frank Loesser based on Damon Runyon stories, is sexist right in the title. Are you kidding? Binaries and trans, maybe, but rhyming is hard. And it's about the Salvation Army and gamblers...not hip. No woke could tolerate "If she's getting a name for herself and the name ain't his." The average unmarried female Basically insecure Due to some long frustration may react React? With psychosomatic symptoms Difficult to endure Affecting the upper respiratory tract Achoo In other words Just from waiting around For that little band of gold A person can develop a cold. Absolutely demeaning to all "single by choice" persons of diverse sexual orientation. Forget about Oklahoma, where one half of the state has been deeded to Native Americans. That wonderful musical about lovely mornings, open skies, cornfields, the grit of the pioneers, and the American dream has been reworked into a boring diatribe on guns, corruption, and bias. Remember this old song? It's probably going to be axed. It ain't so much a question of not knowin' what to do. I knowed whut's right and wrong since I been ten. I heared a lota stories and I reckon they are true About how girls're put upon by men. I know I mustn't fall into the pit, But when I'm with a feller, I fergit! I'm jist a girl who cain't say no... In The Pajama Game, music and lyrics are by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. There is a song with a title that should please gender warriors: "Her is..." But "I wouldn't never tell this to nobody else but you, To nobody else but you I wouldn't never tell this, What I mean to say is, you're different from the rest, Baby, you're the best." You just don't call women "Baby" or "Babe" even if it's cold outside. Another great hit by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross is Damn Yankees, which includes a seduction song in which a provocatively dressed woman uses guile and sex: Whatever Lola wants Lola gets And little man, Little Lola wants you. Unacceptable. Sex as a tool? And what about Annie Get Your Gun? Gun! Did you say "Gun"? Never mind that the musical is a feminist gold mine. Imagine saying to a man... "Anything you can do I Can do Better., I can do anything better than you." But there is the complaint that "getting a man" was the only goal. Rubbish! I'm quick on the trigger with targets not much bigger Than a pin point, I'm number one. But my score with a feller is lower than a cellar- Oh you can't get a man with a gun. In fact, Irving Berlin's merry musical won a Tony in 1999. However, there is a song in it, "I'm an Indian Too," with the following lyrics: "Just like Battle Axe, Hatchet Face, Eagle Nose, Like those Indians I'm an Indian too." Now that offends American Indians, and the lyrics have been sanitized, and it could have been a campaign song for Elizabeth Warren. Finally, in the musical 1776...with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. There is a song, "The Lees of Old Virginia," actually about a Richard Henry Lee, but what's in a name for the woke? In a great scene where the liberal members of Congress leave for a fact-finding trip, the conservatives in Congress sing: "To the right, always to the right, never to the left" Those are words that give liberals hives." The woke will challenge romance and fun and frivolity and culture in the wake of their destructive path. Rest assured to paraphrase the lyrics of the Gershwin classic "Our Love Is Here to Stay": A mother, who is living in emergency accommodation with her two young children amid the pandemic, has shared a glimpse into their lives in a series of videos. Shannon Bryne, from Dublin, has gone viral on video sharing app TikTok, after uploading footage of her daily routine with her two small children Poppy and Maisie, who she lives with in a hotel for the homeless. After eating breakfast with her children and spritzing their sheets with Febreze, the family go downstairs for breakfast and then she fills the day with different activities, such as spending time with family until it's time to come back in the evening. Shannon and her daughters have been in three hotels in the two months they've been homeless, but she impressed vieweres with her positive attitude, saying: 'It's not as hard as I thought it would be'. She explained: 'To me it's just a bump in the road. To be where I am right now and to have everything that I have and that's provided for me here, I am so grateful. Being homeless couldn't be any better than this. I'm not glortifying it, but it's not the end of the world. Racking up over 70,000 views, many social media users have praised her bravery in sharing the harsh reality and admit it has made them grateful for their own lives. One touched viewer, commented: 'I didn't realise how lucky I was... but it's amazing how they can still be happy just living in a hotel. Stay safe guys'. Shannon explained that her day begins with making the beds (pictured) and spraying the sheets with Febreeze to keep them fresh Shannon began the clip by explaining that she usually starts her day by making up the beds. She then proceeds to demonstrate how her children get involved in the process, revealing she uses Febreeze to freshen up the sheets. 'I then change Poppy's nappies because she poos in her sleep. Maisie wakes up and I spray that bed too,' she said. 'Then I brush my hair, get the key and off we go. 'By this time its around half seven, breakfast starts at seven. We go down there, get to the lift and there's usually a fight about who wants to press the button.' Shannon shared a follow-up video revealing she collects her children from their father in the evening and gets a bus back to the hotel Shannon revealed that her children also fight over where to sit in the breakfast room. She continued: 'I have a cup of tea and a croissant with Nutella, Poppy has a yoghurt and Maisie's not well, so she just had apple juice today.' The mother-of-two explained that after breakfast they go back to their hotel room to tidy up and she gets the children's bottles ready. Having received a stream of positive comments, Shannon posted a video of the family's evening routine. She explained that she collects her children from their father's house, before getting a bus back to the hotel - the third they've lived in. Shannon said she then runs a bath for the children and gets them ready for bed, while preparing bottles and a cup of tea. In another clip, Shannon addressed the question of why she doesn't stay with family. She explained that she stayed on her mother's sofa for a few months, but said it wasn't a 'healthy way to live', adding that it was better to have her own space. 'I've just fallen upon a tough situation, but I'll get out of it,' the former hospital worker explained. 'People are so ignorant and think I'm a lazy slob who just had kids for money and a house. 'The situation is my own. I put myself in my situation. This is on me. I don't want to put stress on anyone else.' Many social media users praised Shannon for showing the realities of the homeless crisis, which is currently impacting thousands of families across Ireland. One person wrote: 'So much respect for someone like you showing real life and reality. Fair play to you, hope you get housed soon.' 'Omg I had no idea. I really hope things get better you deserve the world,' another said. A third added: 'So strong. Keep going and keep doing you, you're doing good' Kataib Hezbollah vows to drive US troops out of Iraq Iran Press TV Monday, 13 July 2020 6:21 AM A security official for Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah has reiterated the resistance group's readiness to end the US military presence in Iraq. Abu Ali al-Askari stressed that the Americans must know that Iraq's decision on the withdrawal of US troops is "irreversible" and that no one can circumvent the will of the Iraqi people. "The resistance must continue with popular, political, security, and media pressure, with full readiness for wide military action until those killers yield to the people's will," Askari said in a Twitter post on Sunday. "They only understand the language of force and we are ready for that," he said, adding "We will come out victorious." His remarks came a day after a US military convoy carrying logistic supplies was attacked in Iraq, south of Baghdad. The newly formed Iraqi group, Saraya Thawrat al-Eshreen al-Thaniya, claimed responsibility for the attack. Anti-US sentiment has been running high in Iraq since Washington assassinated top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani and the second-in-command of the Iraqi popular mobilization units, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in January. Following the attack, Iraqi lawmakers unanimously passed a bill on January 5, demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops. Baghdad and Washington are currently in talks over the withdrawal of American troops. Meanwhile, Iraqi resistance groups have vowed to take up arms against US forces if Washington fails to comply with the parliamentary order. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SAN FRANCISCO, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The global COVID-19 drug delivery devices market size is expected to reach USD 2.15 billion by 2027, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., expanding at a CAGR of 8.1% from 2022 to 2027. The market is expected to gain significant traction over the forecast period as various nasal drug delivery technologies for administrating COVID-19 vaccines are under clinical and pre-clinical development. For instance, in April 2020, Verndari, Inc. initiated the preclinical trials for coronavirus vaccine using its patented microneedle array dermal patch- VaxiPatch. Key suggestions from the report: North America is anticipated to capture the largest share in 2021 owing to growing investment by government organizations for vaccine development, surge in COVID-19 cases, and intensive R&D conducted by the key players By product, the prefilled syringe segment is expected to dominate the market in 2021 as these cost-effective delivery devices will be manufactured in bulk quantities for vaccine administration and will be the first among the approved products By route of administration, the parenteral segment is expected to dominate the market in 2021 as the injection devices are affordable and are among the easily available devices By distribution channel, the hospital pharmacies segment is expected to account for the largest market share in 2021 as these drug delivery devices require medical assistance for vaccine administration Market players are adopting several strategies such as significant investment in research and development and product innovation via collaborations with technology providers and universities to gain a significant share in the global market. Read 108 page research report with ToC on "COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (Prefilled Syringe, Patches), By Route of Administration, By Distribution Channel, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2022 - 2027 ' at :https://www.grandviewresearch.com /industry-analysis/covid-19-drug-delivery-devices-market The nasal, dermal, and needle-free are the alternatives to the traditional syringe vaccine platforms. These devices potentially reduce or eliminate needlestick injuries and reduce the associated treatment costs. According to the research article published in PLUS ONE Journal, November 2019, needlestick injury (NSI) is among a major burden in medical settings, leading to the transmission of infectious diseases, such as hepatitis and HIV. According to the article published in StatPearls publishing, December 2019, around 2-4% healthcare workers develop hepatitis C after suffering from needlestick injuries. The CDC further stated that needlestick injuries cost an estimated USD 3,042 per victim annually in U.S. Grand View Research has segmented the global COVID-19 drug delivery devices market based on product, route of administration, distribution channel, and region: COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020 - 2027) Prefilled Syringe Needle-free Injectors Inhalers Patch COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Route of Administration Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020 - 2027) Parenteral Nasal Dermal COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Distribution Channel Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020 - 2027) Hospital Pharmacies Retail Pharmacies Online Pharmacies COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2020 - 2027) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Asia Pacific China Japan India South Korea Australia Latin America Brazil Mexico Argentina Colombia Middle East & Africa & South Africa Saudi Arabia UAE List of Key Players of COVID-19 Drug Delivery Devices Market AstraZeneca Johnson & Johnson Serum Institute of India GlaxoSmithKline plc Moderna Bharat Biotech Pfizer PharmaJet Novawax, Inc.. Find more research reports on Medical Devices Industry, by Grand View Research: Needle-Free Drug Delivery Devices Market - The global needle-free drug delivery devices market size was valued at USD 7.37 billion in 2017. It is poised to exhibit a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period.. in 2017. It is poised to exhibit a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period.. Implantable Drug Delivery Devices Market - The global implantable drug delivery devices market size was estimated at USD 16.6 billion in 2016 and is anticipated to exhibit a lucrative CAGR of 7.5% over the coming years. in 2016 and is anticipated to exhibit a lucrative CAGR of 7.5% over the coming years. Connected Drug Delivery Devices Market - The global connected drug delivery devices market size was valued at USD 138.9 million in 2017. It is anticipated to expand at a CAGR of 25.1% over the forecast period. Gain access to Grand View Compass, our BI enabled intuitive market research database of 10,000+ reports About Grand View Research Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead. Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc. Phone: +1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: https://www.grandviewresearch.com Follow Us: LinkedIn | Twitter Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661327/Grand_View_Research_Logo.jpg Some Belgians expressed concern over Luxembourg's classification as an orange zone, while others said the figures were misleading. RTL.be reporters Fanny Dehaye and Michel Herinckx visited the Belgian-Luxembourg border to speak to Belgians passing through the country on their travels. Certain holidaymakers expressed shock at learning that Belgian authorities had placed Luxembourg in the orange zone, with one tourist claiming they had no idea of the fact, despite notices to wear masks in public. Others were aware of the fact, but did not notice any changes at the border itself. Belgian media reported that those crossing the border would need to have their temperature checked prior to entering the country, but members of the public approached for comment said this had not occurred. Belgium has designated the Grand Duchy as an orange zone country, meaning there is a medium risk of infection. The coronavirus infection rate (see details of the latest figures here) in Luxembourg has risen compared to that in Belgium, causing concern for many. Another holidaymaker, travelling through Luxembourg to reach the Vosges, said they had been extra vigilant on their journey. RTL.be's reporters also encountered Belgians who have continued to do their shopping in Luxembourg, despite the new classification. One said they thought the infection rate increase was due to the higher number of tests and did not think the virus was necessarily more contagious in Luxembourg, while another said they did not believe there would be a second wave. ATLANTA, July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- L3Harris Technologies is making a commitment to future innovators, scientists and mathematicians by investing to identify and develop talent early. Aerospace and defense company L3Harris will invest $2 million to advance INROADS' College Links. College Links is an innovative program that seeks to close the knowledge and skills gap that often plagues talented and underserved youth, particularly from racial minority communities. The company's investment will be used to establish L3Harris College Links in Orlando, expand the program in Dallas and provide nationwide support. "We are pleased to collaborate with INROADS to advance skills development among underserved high-school students. Our future will depend on the ability to identify and cultivate the talent of tomorrow and the INROADS College Links program provides us with a chance to invest in bright, young minds. This is crucial for our company, our community and the future of our aerospace and defense workforce," says William M. Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, L3Harris. For nearly a decade, L3Harris has partnered with INROADS and has contributed to the organization's ability to deliver leadership and career solutions for talented and underserved students. "L3Harris understands that now, more than ever, is a time for us to wrap our arms around our youth. Their commitment to INROADS will allow us to serve hundreds more youth across the country, help them rise above limiting obstacles in their lives, and place them on a path to college success and career advancement. The company's support will help impact more than 11,000 College Links families over three years," says Forest Harper Jr., President and CEO, INROADS Inc. Founded in 1970, INROADS has earned a reputation for providing sustainable corporate solutions for underserved and talented youth. Their programs have propelled the careers of black corporate leaders, and influential start-up founders. In 2010, INROADS saw a need to expose students earlier to leadership development, and established College Links to give high school students early exposure to skills and leadership development. College Links operates in Newark, New Jersey; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Washington, DC. College Links is in the process of expanding to 25 markets in the next three years. About L3Harris Technologies L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defense technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers' mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defense and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. L3Harris has approximately $18 billion in annual revenue and 48,000 employees, with customers in more than 100 countries. L3Harris.com. About INROADS INROADS was founded more than 50 years ago. Inspired by the famed I Have a Dream speech, Frank Carr founded INROADS to remove career barriers to corporate opportunities for people of color. Today, INROADS is credited with establishing the Black middle class. With more than 30,000 alumni, INROADS is the largest nonprofit organization committed to leadership and career development for underserved and underrepresented talent in the world. INROADS has placed students in more than 154,000 paid internships throughout its history, and graduated more than 30,000 alumni into full-time professional and leadership positions with more than 1,000 corporate partners. Currently, INROADS serves 800-1,300 interns and 200 corporate clients. Learn more at INROADS.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn: @INROADSInc. SOURCE INROADS Inc. Related Links http://www.inroads.org Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough has earned Canada a poor reputation for protecting the temporary foreign workers who come to plant strawberries, pick cherries and do the other hard farm work that Canadians are unwilling to do. She should disqualify companies that abuse foreign workers and win back Canadas good name. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 13/7/2020 (554 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough has earned Canada a poor reputation for protecting the temporary foreign workers who come to plant strawberries, pick cherries and do the other hard farm work that Canadians are unwilling to do. She should disqualify companies that abuse foreign workers and win back Canadas good name. The damage to this countrys reputation became apparent on June 16 when the government of Mexico scratched Canada off the list of countries to which it sends temporary farm workers. Three Mexican workers had died after contracting COVID-19 in the crowded, vermin-infested bunkhouses provided for them in some southern Ontario vegetable farms. The Canadian government immediately promised to fix the problem and Mexico lifted its ban a week later. There is no sign yet, however, that Ms. Qualtrough and her department have even begun to address the issue. If she fails, Mexico will once again stop sending workers to Canadian farms and Canadas food supply will be impaired. Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Carla Qualtrough. (Justin Tang / The Canadian Press files) Temporary foreign workers are in a weak position to demand improved conditions from their employers. They win the right to be in Canada because they are employed by a company known to the government; the employer obtains a work permit on their behalf. If they complain and get fired, they no longer have a work permit and they can be deported. If the overseers tell them to work despite showing COVID-19 symptoms, they feel compelled to stay on the job, despite the risk to their co-workers. In a normal competitive labour market, the worst employers would find their workers leaving to enjoy better conditions at another farm across the road. Temporary foreign workers, however, are more like indentured labour, tied through Canadian immigration law to the employer that secured their work permit. In these conditions, the worst employers encounter no competitive pressure to shape up. Want more great journalism? Get our best news and features delivered in your inbox every weekday evening. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement. In the absence of competitive pressure, Ms. Qualtroughs department is supposed to inspect the farms and see that adequate standards are being respected. But inspection can consist of as little as phoning the employer to ask for a housing inspection report completed within the last three years. Temporary foreign workers, however, are more like indentured labour, tied through Canadian immigration law to the employer that secured their work permit. In these conditions, the worst employers encounter no competitive pressure to shape up. The department issued new standards this year to require housing that protects workers from coronavirus contagion. Virus testing during the epidemic identified more than 1,000 migrant farm workers in Ontario infected with the virus, but oddly not a single employer of farm labour has been penalized for breaches of the federal rules related to coronavirus protection. An early step to reform would be to send inspectors to look at the conditions in which migrant farm workers are living and working on Canadian farms. Another step would be to identify farm companies that chronically abuse their foreign workers. The government should scratch them off the list of employers allowed to import temporary labour. Ultimately, the best solution will be to allow competitive pressure to do its work. Once workers are free to quit working for bad employers and go where they receive better treatment, working conditions and living conditions will immediately improve. The Mexican government applied competitive pressure of a kind in briefly cutting off the supply of farm labour to Canada. But that solution is hard for all the affected Canadian farms and for thousands of Mexican workers, making no distinction between the bad employers and the good. Ms. Qualtrough should give Mexico no reason for taking such a step again. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the governments top infectious disease expert, recently warned that coronavirus infections could more than double to 100,000 a day. On Sunday, Florida reported 15,300 new cases, the most of any state in a single day. Epidemiologists keep saying we told you so. We should have seen this coming. The anticipated summer-season wane proved contrary as a hot July in the countrys hottest Southern and Western states ushered in COVID-19 levels surpassing the highs of last April. The ever-burgeoning pandemic coaxed columnist David Brooks to list COVID-19 as first among five epic crises facing our country. Piling on with the pandemic he adds gigantic changes related to race, political alignment, cultural priorities, and economicsall compounding to portend what Brooks labels a moral, spiritual and emotional disaster. Left out of this deleterious deluge, as noted by a profusion of commenters, is the ever-looming cataclysm of climate change. Minneapolis meteorologist Paul Douglas, politically conservative and Jesus loving, reiterates over and over the multiple strands of evidenceCO2 levels at a 3-million-year high, temperatures and sea levels rising, rains falling harder, growing seasons longer, and crazy weather everywhere. Scripture warns of destruction by fire and famine, a portent, perhaps, of global heat to come. Jesus and the prophets tied cosmological catastrophe to wars and strife as harbingers of apocalyptic doom (Deut. 32:22; Mark 13:8; 2 Pet. 3:7; Rev. 8:7). We reap what we sow. The gospel forecast of a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells induces human longing for new birth (2 Pet. 3:13). Creation groans under the weight of that expectancy, forced into futility and frustration as it waits (Rom. 8:1925). Tensions may be high between now and then, between old and new, but no matter how bad it getsor how hard or even how goodnothing compares to the glory to come (Rom. 8:18). Such faith for the future may seem childlike to somehardly the antidote for a pending spiritual, moral and emotional disaster. Yet Jesus is clear: Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3). To be sure, childlike faith is not childish nor easy. New creation as the upshot of resurrection demands crucifixion, and not just for Jesus. Crosses are borne and shared by us all; our souls forged most intensely and meaningfully by suffering. As creatures with low thresholds for pain, humans prefer workarounds, a quick-fix salvation, and symptom relief rather than fundamental and systemic change. Alas, as creatures with low thresholds for pain, humans prefer workarounds, a quick-fix salvation, and symptom relief rather than fundamental and systemic change. Part of the problem can be a truncated view of salvationa tendency to view oneself through the lens of a Disney princess theologya chronic proclivity for reducing the entirety of Biblical salvation down to a personal transaction between Jesus and me. Exacerbated by the high value of American individualism and the ease of technology, the spiritual life happens by way of a DIY discipleship. Childish, princess wishes stand in for true childlike faith to the extent we cant even pray as we ought for the transformation we need (Rom. 8:26). Convinced we know best whats best, we resemble our wayward spiritual forebears without a king, everyone doing as they saw fit (Judges 17:6). Image: Violet Harrell Im a backyard beekeeper, and Im currently dealing with wayward bees without a queen. Without a queen, normal bee life in a hive turns apocalyptic. Worker bees reflexes activate certain bodily changes as they attempt to rescue their doomed colony. The little buzzers try to fix things by taking on the queens job themselves, a futile task theyre not built to do. Worker bees (which are all female) start laying eggs, but their eggs are not fertilized and therefore hatch as drones, useless male bees that just sit on the comb all day doing nothing. Their doom is sure. Article continues below The analogy to the futility of quick-fix, DIY deliverance might be obvious, were it not for the fact that queens dont just disappear. Deeply devoted to their daughters, queens never get up and buzz off. Queens die only when killed, whether by pesticides or the proliferation of parasites, or in my case, human anxiety and carelessness. I crushed the queen without realizing it. Most likely, I got a little frantic in my hive managementcountless thousands of bees flying around all at once and threatening to stingwho can see a single queen bee among so many insects swarming in your face? Then again, I thought I knew best. Scripture continually indicts human sin as the deadly cause and effect of so much evil, physically and metaphysically, spewing its toxic emissions all over creation: a warming and warring earth, repeating patterns of oppression, betrayal and violence that ruin and kill, displace and discriminate. Viruses may not be our fault, but their proliferation is due in part to a woefully deficient health care planning, political ineptitude and inequities, and poverty in impoverished corners with its own roots in social strife and injustice. Earth may be home to millions of species, but only one dominates. Human cleverness, inventiveness, and activities accomplish great good, to be sure, but they also drive most every global problem we face. David Brooks argues for competent government as a solution, more C-SPAN than Instagram as he so cleverly put it. But a moral, spiritual and emotional disaster requires more than good government. We know but forget that governments are not God. Governments lie and cannot be trusted. Scriptures solution is the work of the Spirit evidenced in the good works of Gods people, the redemption of our bodies which carry cosmic ramifications far beyond individual betterment. Romans actually uses the singular noun body rather than bodies in narrating redemption, leading some scholars to wonder whether Paul has a whole hive in mind, what he calls the body of Christ, our life together as communities who serve. From birth, we are wired to transcend self-interest, to surrender our individual selves to greater purposes. Only by losing your self can your whole self be realized (Matt. 10:39). Psychologists draw an analogy from bees and call it making the hive switch. A beehive survives because its whole is so much greater than any individual member. The same is true for Christians as church, and for populations as civilizations, and for human beings as humanity. Only when we recognize and surrender to our greater oneness with Christ as queen beerising above self-interest in the interest of common goodnessonly then do we experience the true honey of the new creation Jesus promises. Christian faith views crises as crossesbe they viral, racial, political, cultural, economic, ecological, or everything all at onceto be borne with self-sacrifice, due repentance, and grace. And as crosses are always subject to resurrection, we trust God will work all of it for the good of us all. Daniel Harrell is Christianity Todays editor in chief. B oris Johnsons U-turn over Huawei was entirely predictable, the former chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee said today. The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the National Security Council this morning to discuss ending the Chinese tech firms role in building the new ultra fast 5G network. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden was due to announce to the Commons a deadline for removing Huawei parts from the network a mammoth task that experts say will take a decade to do thoroughly. The volte-face, just six months after Huawei was given a 35 per cent share in the network, follows a Tory rebellion and pressure from Donald Trump and the Five Eyes intelligence allies, including Australia. US sanctions to prevent Huawei using American technology in its chips then triggered a formal review by the National Cyber Security Centre. Former ISC chairman Dominic Grieve said the Government should have heeded pressure from its allies in the first place. The truth is that it was never going to fly. The outcome was entirely predictable, he said. FILES are being prepared for the DPP in relation to 26 pubs in Ireland for potentially breaching health regulations or licensing laws. The Leader understands that none of these were in Limerick. From July 3 to July 5, An Garda Siochana conducted 6,830 checks on licensed premises throughout the country under Operation Navigation to support public health guidelines. Gardai found 2,785 individual licensed premises currently open for business. In 26, gardai found potential breaches of the health regulations or licensing laws even after providing the premises with the opportunity to rectify the situation. In many of these cases, gardai found customers consuming alcohol, but no evidence of food also being consumed and no evidence of receipts to show that food had been sold. Gardai also observed a lack of adherence to public health advice such as allowing large groups at the one table, little to no social distancing, no advisory signage, and no Covid-19 contact tracing being recorded. Councillor, publican and local Vintners Federation (VFI) representative, Jerry ODea welcomed the update and acknowledgement that the vast majority of premises open are trading as per the regulations. Under the health regulations, alcohol can only be sold to a person at the same time as they order a substantial meal. The penalty for a breach can be a fine of up to 2,500 and/or up to six months in prison. Cllr ODea said members of the VFI have put in an awful lot of work as they always do into trading responsibly. You are always going to have a few rogue operators but it certainly seems like that number is in the vast minority. We are delighted the guards are supervising the situation, said Cllr ODea. Following the release of these positive figures, Cllr ODea said: Were now looking forward to other responsible publicans being able to do the same on July 20. He said the last few months have been a fearful time for everybody. We are glad that things are looking up and we are looking forward to welcoming people back to enjoy their local pub in a responsible manner, said Cllr ODea. Under Operation Navigation an operational order was issued to all local garda managers that licensed premises in their area operating at the moment were to be checked. In conducting these visits, gardai continued its graduated policing response based on its tradition of policing by consent. This has seen gardai engage, educate, encourage and, as a last resort, enforce. Operation Navigation continued over the weekend. Christian Lee Cornerstone Government Affairs has added Christian Lee to its national security team. Lee was most recently a professional staff member on the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. He has also served as the acquisition appropriations coordinator in the Coast Guards Office of Budget and Programs, where he was responsible for formulating and defending the Coast Guards near $2 billion annual acquisition appropriation and $10 billion capital investment plan. His Congressional experience includes a stint as the Coast Guards assistant liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he conducted outreach and facilitated senior-level engagements with members of Congress and staff. Cornerstone president and managing director Geoff Gonella called Lee a subject matter expert with an excellent reputation on both sides of the aisle and in both the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Ciro Dias dos Reis PROI Worldwide has named Ciro Dias dos Reis, president of Sao Paulo, Brazil-headquartered Imagem Corporativa, as its global chair. Reis succeeds Claire Parsons of Lansons, who now takes on the role of immediate past chair, in the position. Reis, who founded Imagem in 2001, previously worked as a journalist and has also served as director of press relations & public affairs at Brazils National Association of Automobile Manufacturers. In 2019, PROI Worldwide encompassed 78 partners, with 7,300 employees in more than 165 cities and 50 countries. Mack McGee CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, a not-for-profit health insurance provider serving 3.3 million individuals and groups in Maryland and the Washington metropolitan area, has appointed Mack McGee vice president and chief marketing officer. McGee comes to CareFirst from management consulting and accounting firm SC&H Group, where he also served as vice president and chief marketing officer. In his new position, McGee will oversee all of CareFirsts marketing functions, including communications, public and media relations and customer experience and insights. Mack is an enthusiastic, dynamic marketing executive who has proven his ability to leverage brand, marketing programs and communications to drive business growth and sustain success, said CareFirst executive vice president of marketing & government affairs Maria Harris Tildon. Lauren Fritts WeWork has promoted Lauren Fritts to chief communications officer. Fritts was previously vice president of public affairs and corporate communications, overseeing stakeholder engagement and strategic communications. Prior to WeWork, Fritts served as digital director and deputy communications director for Chris Christie during his term as the Governor of New Jersey and on his 2016 presidential campaign. She also spent seven years as a producer for Fox News Channel. In her new role, Fritts will lead WeWorks internal and external communications and public affairs functions on a global basis. "Laurens steadfast and strong leadership will elevate our efforts to effectively communicate WeWorks next chapter, said WeWork CEO Sandeep Mathrani. Lawmakers of the Lagos State House of Assembly have been directed to undergo COVID-19 test following sudden death of its member, Tunde Braimoh, last Friday. Temitope Adewale, representing Ifako Ijaiye Constituency I, made the disclosure in a statement in Lagos on Tuesday. Mr Adewale said that he had submitted himself for the COVID-19 test and the result was negative. As directed by the leadership of the Lagos State House of Assembly on Sunday, I went and submitted myself for the COVID-19 test, and I have gotten my result. The test result came out negative. To this end, it is our collective responsibility to be more careful and observe all the stipulated and given rules to help us prevent the transmission of this deadly virus. Wash your hands for 30 seconds regularly, avoid social gatherings, maintain social distancing and at all times wear a face mask. The use of hand sanitisers should become a habit and finally, avoid touching your face and nose, he said. Mr Adewale, Chairman, House Committee on Transportation, said there was need to fight the pandemic, which was beyond keeping safe but also to also know their status. The lawmaker thanked his constituents for their love, support and care, adding that he wont be receiving any visitors for now The Lagos lawmaker also commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, for their proactive and tireless fight against the pandemic. (NAN) As we consider how to safely reopen school buildings, it is imperative that our efforts reflect the non-negotiable needs of Philadelphias schoolchildren and educators. The PFT today released its reopening guidance which is rooted in the need to protect students and staff from this deadly virus. The stakes are too high if we dont get this right. Since the closure of school buildings, PFT members have completed 17,000 surveys regarding remote learning and reopening models. The most favored model for reopening is a hybrid model, where students would come into buildings part time in shifts. However, recent national surges in COVID cases and plateauing local cases, combined with new evidence of childhood infection and airborne spread, certainly call the feasibility of this into question. Educators want to be back in buildings doing the job they love if it is, and remains, safe. Remote learning simply does not meet the needs of many of our students, and is particularly challenging for students with special needs, English learners, and young students. We must do all we can to ensure that vulnerable students receive the services they need to thrive. But we cannot reopen buildings on a wing and a prayer. To reopen safely, these are just a few of the critical steps that must take place: Tracking the virus to ensure sufficient decrease in cases in Philadelphia and surrounding counties; reopening efforts will be contingent upon a sustained downward trajectory of local cases; Developing a robust alternative to in-person learning, so if an in-person return is not possible, students and educators will be properly prepared; Implementing a feedback mechanism, such as a hotline, with a guaranteed swift response turnaround time; Implementing a physical distancing model, based upon the recalculation of occupancy capacities for all spaces within a building, using a minimum space value of 44 SF per student; Providing substantial soap and sanitizing supplies and operational sinks to ensure frequent hand washing; Providing personal protective equipment as a last line of defense in helping to mitigate Covid-19 transmission; Implementing a cleaning plan based on filling of existing personnel vacancies, hiring a minimum of 200 additional personnel, and provision of proper cleaning supplies; Establishing accommodations for staff and students with underlying conditions to minimize in-person instruction; Securing additional resources to implement a robust plan; the HEROES Act would bring Pennsylvania more than $3 Billion in education funding). The recent reopening rhetoric from Donald Trump and Betsy DeVos is morally bankrupt. The Presidents threat to withhold aid to schools if they fail to adopt his all caps reopen-by-Tweet mandate reminds me of a devastating example of the life-threatening consequences of underfunded schools. In a 2013 political temper tantrum, then-Governor Corbett threatened to withhold $45 million dollars from our schools. He only released the funds after Bryant Elementary sixth grader Laporshia Massey died after suffering an asthma attack at school with no nurse present due to Corbetts budget cuts. When society fails to fund education and to ignore health and safety, we are perpetuating the centuries of racism against Black and Brown people. Too often, the safety of our youngsters and educators has been flagrantly disregarded. But our union has fought tirelessly for our children and educators, and that has not changed in the face of a global pandemic. Our plan is based on science, and its based on an unwavering commitment to our young people and educators. Without implementing these components and others outlined in our plan, we jeopardize the lives of our young people and their educators, and its not something that our union will allow. Jerry Jordan is the President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers The androgen receptor is the primary driver of the initiation and growth of prostate cancer, the second-leading cause of death in men. Looking to have a better understanding of how the androgen receptor works in cancer, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine conducted comprehensive studies of the 3-D structure of the receptor. The findings unveiled the structure of a site on the receptor that seems to be at the heart of its action, called the N-terminal domain, where it interacts with activity-enhancing coactivators that together regulate gene expression that drives prostate cancer. The study, published in the journal Molecular Cell, offers new insights for the design of future treatments for this devastating condition. The androgen receptor "The androgen receptor binds to and mediates the effects of the androgenic hormone testosterone. The receptor is found in several tissues of both males and females, including skeletal muscle, heart and the nervous and the reproductive systems," said co-first author Dr. Ping Yi, assistant professor of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. "In males, the androgen receptor contributes to the development of sexual characteristics, and in both males and females it also regulates hair growth and sex drive." Previous studies had shown that when the androgen receptor binds to testosterone, the resulting molecular complex travels to the cell nucleus where it interacts with DNA, turning genes on or off as necessary to regulate development and growth. To carry on its activity, the androgen receptor also binds to coactivators and other molecules that promote its gene-regulatory function. However, how all these molecules are put together in a functional complex with the androgen receptor was not known. "The androgen receptor drives prostate cancer," said co-corresponding author Dr. Bert O'Malley, chancellor and former long-time chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular biology at Baylor. "To treat this cancer effectively, we need to better understand how the androgen receptor works. In this study, we reveal for the first time the complete 3-D structure of the active, full-length androgen receptor-coactivator complex as it interacts with DNA." Cryo-EM reveals new components of androgen receptor structure and function Before this study, researchers only had a partial idea of the 3-D structure of the androgen receptor. They were missing a part called the N-terminal domain, which biochemical evidence suggested might be crucial for its activity. Resolving the complete structure of the receptor would help understand why the N-terminal domain is key to the receptor's activity. "Cryo-electron microscopy let us see what the N-terminal domain of the androgen receptor looks like, how the protein is organized and how this and other individual domains contribute to the coactivated protein and its function," said Yi, a member of Baylor's Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The researchers discovered that the N-terminal domain at the beginning of the androgen receptor is where the coactivators bind, activating the complex that drives prostate cancer. This finding was in marked contrast with what the same researchers had discovered for the estrogen receptor, which is a major driver of breast cancer. The androgen and the estrogen receptors belong to the same family of steroid nuclear receptors and share similar 3-D structures. However, despite having general structural similarities, in the estrogen receptor the coactivators bind not to the N-terminal domain at the beginning of the molecule, but to the C-terminal domain at the end of the molecule. This finding has important implications generating drugs for cancer treatment. Therapeutic implications "The androgen receptor drug inhibitors that are currently available for prostate cancer treatment bind to the C-terminal domain, which we found is not the main interactive site of the androgen receptor," O'Malley said. "Our work strongly supports further studies to determine the effect that drugs directed at the androgen receptor's N-terminal domain have on prostate cancer growth." "Our work provides a starting point to understand what is happening to the androgen receptor molecular machine in prostate cancer," said co-corresponding author Dr. Zhao Wang, assistant professor in the Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. "Our findings also generate a broader therapeutic space for the treatment of not only prostate cancer but also related diseases, as well as new information on basic mechanisms of regulation of gene expression." Explore further Androgen receptor stops tumor growth in the most common form of breast cancer Seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the mysterious death of party leader Debendra Nath Ray, a Bharatiya Janata Party delegation met President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday and demanded dismissal of the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal. IMAGE: BJP in-charge for West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya talks to the media after meeting the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo The delegation, which included BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, party MP Raju Bista and nominated Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta among others, told President Kovind that Ray's "murder" is another one in the long series of "political killings" in the state. The body of Hemtabad MLA Debendra Nath Ray was found hanging from the ceiling of a verandah outside a shuttered shop near his home in Bindal village in North Dinajpur district on Monday. The post-mortem report, released on Tuesday, said that Roy died due to hanging and no other injury mark was found on his body. The West Bengal Police said a suicide note was found in his shirt's pocket where he blamed two people for his death. Ray's family and the BJP, however, claimed he was "murdered by the TMC", a charge denied by the ruling party in the state. "Democracy has been hanged in West Bengal. Political workers were being killed so far, and now elected leaders are being murdered and shown to have committed suicide. Anarchy prevails in the state, and its government has no right to be in power... We have demanded that the assembly be dissolved," Vijayvargiya said. He alleged that over 105 people associated with the BJP have been killed in the state in last three years. Bista alleged that the state police and other agencies were being used by the Mamata Banerjee government to "harass" her political rivals, and that a CBI probe was necessary to bring out the truth. Dasgupta said "political murders" in the state have just gone on for too long, and Ray's alleged killing was not an isolated incident. "We have seen a series of them... There is also harassment of political rivals in violation of all democratic norms," he said. The BJP has termed Ray's death a "cold-blooded murder" and alleged involvement of the ruling Trinamool Congress in it. His family has also said that he was "murdered" and sought a CBI investigation. Ray had won Hemtabad (reserved) seat on a CPI(M) ticket in 2016 but later joined the BJP. He had, however, not quit his assembly seat. According to the post-mortem report, Ray's death was due to hanging and no other injury mark was detected. The West Bengal Police said a suicide note was found from his shirt pocket where he blamed two people for his death. Spotify is expanding to 13 additional markets. Starting today, music fans in Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine can check out the platform. With the expansion, the streaming app is available in 92 countries globally. In all, Spotify says the move gives it access to 250 million potential customers. However, Russia, in particular, is a critical market for the company. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, approximately 87 percent of people in Russia stream music online. That makes the eastern European country the 17th biggest streaming market globally, and it's on pace to break into the top 10 by 2030. So as you might imagine, Spotify is going out of its way to make its platform appealing to Russian users. Besides localizing its web and mobile apps, Spotify is launching with almost 100 curated playlists made specifically for the market. Select genre playlists will also feature local artists alongside their international counterparts. Notably, one thing the Russian version of Spotify won't include at launch is podcasts. The medium has been a significant part of Spotify's plan to become profitable. The company told Reuters the market for podcasts in Russia is "nascent." "It's something that will be important to us over time," said Gustav Gyllenhammar, the company's vice president of markets and subscriber growth. As part of today's announcement, Spotify also shared new user numbers. The streaming giant currently has 286 million users and 130 million Premium subscribers. A little more than a year ago, Spotify had just passed the 100 million subscriber threshold and 217 million users total. J ohnny Depps housekeeper was horrified and disgusted when she discovered human faeces in the bed at his Hollywood home, she told the High Court. Hilda Vargas said she was on her usual cleaning rounds with a colleague at the LA penthouse when she was alerted to the discovery and noticed an awful smell. I pulled back the top sheet on the bed and saw a large pile of faeces, said Ms Vargas. I was horrified and disgusted. It was clear to me that this was human faeces. Depp told the court last week the incident was the final straw in his marriage to Amber Heard, believing that either his wife or one of her friends was responsible. However Heard insists one of the couples Teacup Yorkshire terriers, Boo and Pistol, had caused the mess. Ms Vargas said: I knew that the faeces could not have come from either of Mr Depps and Ms Heards two small dogs. I have cleaned up after those dogs many times and their faces are much smaller. Further I have never known those dogs to defecate in the bed. The housekeeper said the faeces did not look like it came from an animal / PA Ms Vargas, giving evidence at the High Court through a Spanish interpreter and via videolink from the US, said she took pictures of the fresh faeces, and was angered as she saw the incident as a lack of respect. She claims she did not see Heard for a few weeks after the April 2016 incident and stayed away from the penthouse where the incident happened because she was uncomfortable. She says the next time she saw Heard the actress claimed the pictures of the incident had destroyed her marriage. I was very nervous and so I apologised, even though I did not believe that their martial problems were my fault or that I had done anything wrong, she said. One of the pictures shown in court I also told Ms Heard that the faeces were there, that there was nothing I could do. Ms Heard argued with me saying that there were no faeces in the bed. Depp is suing The Sun newspapers publisher News Group Newspaper, as well as executive editor Dan Wootton over dubbing him a wife beater in 2018. The star claims allegations of violence against Heard are untrue. Celebrity stylist Samantha McMillen insisted in her evidence today that she had seen no signs of injury after two occasions when Heard says she was attacked by Depp. Actor Johnny Depp arrives at the High Court / PA Ms McMillen, a long-time stylist to Depp, was working for Heard ahead of a December 2015 appearance on the Late Late Show with James Corden and said there were no visible marks on the actress. The stylist claims Heard said after the show: Can you believe I just did that show with two black eyes?, and they hugged before parting ways. Ms McMillen said she was confused by the remark, adding: I didnt know what to say, I didnt want to raise anything. I just wanted to go home. The stylist, who has worked with the likes of Chris Hemsworth and Ryan Gosling, said she was in Depps Hollywood home on May 24, 2016, when Heard arrived make-up free and without visible marks. Heard claims she had been struck by Depp with a telephone three days earlier, and went to court on May 27 with a bruise on her cheek to obtain a restraining order and make the abuse allegations for the first time. Ms McMillen told the court: I knew that she did not have those marks on her face on May 24, 2016 when I was with her, and I knew from news reports that she claimed those injuries occurred when Mr Depp supposedly violently abused her on May 21, 2016. I was also aware that Mr Depp left Los Angeles on May 22, 2016. I therefore knew that Mr Depp could not have caused those marks that Ms Heard appeared with in court. Earlier, Depps security guard Malcolm Connolly said he had witnessed the aftermath of an incident in Australia in 2015 when Depp claims his fingertip was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at his hand. Mr Connolly claims he extracted Depp from the home and the star told him: Look at my finger. Shes cut my f***ing finger off. Shes smashed my hand with a vodka bottle. The bodyguard said he saw Heard in a green silk night gown screaming at Depp as they left, and feared she was going to pelt them with objects. She was not making a lot of sense: one second she was begging Johnny not to leave the house and then she was screaming at him for running away, he said. She was absolutely hysterical. Also today, Tara Roberts, the estate manager of Johnny Depps private Bahamas island, said she saw the star after he had been struck on the nose with a metal can by Heard. She claims to have seen Heard screaming abuse at Depp, calling him washed up and fat, before witnessing the actress lunge at Johnny, clawing, tugging and aggressively pulling him. Ms Roberts said she later saw Depp with a red, swelling gash on his nose, claiming Heard had thrown a quart sized can of lacquer thinner into Johnnys face. The trial continues. First day at my new job! I am so excited to be @COPearland's new Budget Officer! Eric Roche (@KansasCityEric) July 13, 2020 Eric Roche, Kansas City, Mo.'s first-ever chief data officer, has left his position for a new opportunity with the city of Pearland, Texas.Roche announced on Twitter Monday that he would be serving as Pearland's new budget officer. In an email to, Roche said the new job would still deal heavily with data.I look forward to serving as Budget Officer for the City of Pearland where we will be using data-driven management to guide the allocation of resources, improve operational efficiency and equity, and continue building public trust through increased transparency," said Roche. "Pearland is an incredible opportunity [to] marry the recent advances in city data practices with strategic funding decisions.Chris Hernandez, director of communications for Kansas City, also confirmed via email that Roche had left his position."Yes, our first ever Chief Data Officer Eric Roche, departed KCMO last week for another city government job," said Hernandez. "We are sad to lose him, but we understand that change happens, and his new city is lucky to get his talents."Roche had been with Kansas City since 2013, when he was brought on as a municipal management trainee, according to his LinkedIn . Within two years he had become CDO, a position he held for the next five years. Under Roche, the city further developed a comprehensive open data platform called Open Data KC , which allows residents to access raw data at a neighborhood level, including crime and 311 reports.Hernandez said that the city is currently in the process of evaluating what a new CDO candidate might look like."With any change comes opportunity, and we are using this opening to evaluate what requirements we would want in a future chief data officer," he said. "Our city uses an amazing amount of data to drive our decision making every day, and this is something that will continue." Dileep V Kumar By Express News Service THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The attack on health workers in the coastal hamlet of Poonthura in Thiruvananthapuram might have been condemned widely, but the medical fraternity says the incident is just one of many. Healthcare workers are battling fear, depression, insomnia, burnout and social ostracism even as they remain at the forefront of the battle against coronavirus. Collectives like the Kerala Government Medical Officers' Association (KGMOA) warn that should such issues go unchecked, worst-case scenarios like suicides among health workers may also crop up amid the public emergency. "The societal response to healthcare workers is disheartening," KGMOA state president Dr Joseph Chacko. "The incident at Poonthura is only the tip of the iceberg. At many places, they are facing discrimination and even ostracism. Doubling the stress are work-related risks. Many are taking medication for depression and anxiety. We are not that far from hearing reports on suicides by health workers because of COVID-related stress." ALSO READ | Efforts to ramp up tests move at snails pace in Thiruvananthapuram An officer with the health department said the intense and demanding work around COVID prevention and control activities has drained health workers physically and emotionally. "Healthcare workers, including field staff, have become indispensable in the fight against COVID-19. The high risk of infection, coupled with stigmatisation and understaffing, is affecting the mental health of healthcare workers. A strategy is yet to be developed to address the issues arising from exhaustion," the officer said. Documents accessed by The New Indian Express reveal the state government is also tracking the issue. On July 1, during a high-level meeting chaired by the chief minister, principal health secretary Rajan Khobragade highlighted the continuous nature of the work healthcare workers were involved in and the resultant problems. One of the solutions BEING suggested is the implementation of a rotation system and the other is using the AYUSH department staff for non-clinical tasks after sufficient training. ALSO SEE: According to statistics, as on July 6, a total of 51 doctors and nurses, 20 field-level staff -- including junior health inspectors and junior public health nurses -- and 11 Asha workers were infected. Subsequently, till Monday, a total of 32 healthcare workers have tested positive for COVID-19. By Azernews By Laman Ismayilova The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Indonesia has announced the winners of the essay contest "Icherisheher The Pearl of Baku". The project was timed to the 20th anniversary of Icherisheher's inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage List, Azertag reported. The contest was held among more than 20 students studying in Indonesian universities and colleges. During the selection process of winners, special attention will be paid to sufficient scientific ground and basis, list of the used references/literature, an indication of exact historical sources, as well as to the authenticity of the information covered in the essays. In his speech, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Indonesia Jalal Mirzayev stressed that with its rich culture and history, the Old City (Icherisheher) is a beloved spot among tourists. The Ambassador then congratulated the winners, which included Alvis Rahman Bhasuki (Padjadjaran University), Aulia Asri (ASEAN Youth Organization) and Indra Iravan, the third place. The winners were awarded with certificates and cash prizes. Notably, Indonesia has also issued post stamps dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Icherisheher's inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage List. The post stamps were issued by the state-owned company Indonesia Post at the initiative of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Indonesia in line with the relevant order signed by President Ilham Aliyev on February 27, 2020. Moreover, a webinar was held with the participation of Indonesian tourism companies titled "Azerbaijan: Look Again and Baku's Icherisheher included in UNESCO's List" in partnership with Azerbaijan Tourism Bureau. Lately, the Indonesian media has also published an article which highlighted Icherisheher's inclusion in UNESCO's World Heritage List. A man who allegedly sent 92 emails to the New Zealand Prime Minister will go on trial next year. Michael Christopher Cruickshank, 54, is accused of sending 89 emails to Jacinda Ardern between October 17, 2019 and January 19, 2020, and a further three on January 21. The alleged emails caused the nation's leader to 'fear for her safety or the safety or her family,' according documents from the Auckland District Court on Tuesday. Michael Christopher Cruickshank, 54, (pictured) is accused of sending 89 emails to Jacinda Ardern between October 17, 2019 and January 19, and a further three on January 21 Cruickshank, from Auckland, pleaded not guilty to charges of harassment, Stuff reported. He faces up to two years' jail if convicted. Joining Cruickshank's harassment allegations are three threatening to kill/do grievous bodily harm charges. The trial has been set for May 24, 2021 in the district court, but that date could change if the case is moved to the High Court. The alleged emails caused the nation's leader to 'fear for her safety or the safety or her family' (pictured: Jacdinda Ardern with daughter Neve Gayford) Matthew Burns from Northern Ireland was sentenced to 100 hours of community service after sending death threats to Ms Ardern and the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in November last year. The 20-year-old pleaded guilty to sending Ms Ardern a photo of a gun with a silencer on Twitter with the message: 'You're next.' The photo was sent five days after the Christchurch mosque shooting. He was charged with improper use of electronic communications, with messages of a menacing and grossly offensive nature. The Embassy joins the people of Ukraine in condemning the ongoing, brutal aggression of Russian-led forces in Donbas. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv says it condemns the killing by the Russian occupying forces in Donbas of a Ukrainian military medic near the village of Zaitseve during the evacuation of the body of the killed Ukrainian soldier. Read alsoUkrainian military medic killed in Donbas in enemy shelling on July 13 "We are deeply saddened by the reported killing yesterday of a Ukrainian military medic near Zaitseve. We join the people of Ukraine in condemning the ongoing, brutal aggression of Russian-led forces in Donbas and pay tribute to the heroism of many Ukrainians who have lost their lives and suffered injuries in brave service to their democracy," the Embassy wrote on Twitter on July 14. As UNIAN reported, on July 13, a Ukrainian military medic was killed as Russia-led forces fired on an evacuation team of Ukraine's Joint Forces near the village of Zaitseve in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. The team wearing white helmets with identification marks was just a few meters from the body of the earlier killed soldier when the enemy opened fire from small arms, then from grenade launchers of various systems and large-caliber machine guns. As a result, the military medic was killed, one serviceman was wounded, while another one sustained a combat-related injury. Data from Gubagoo Shows that Car Buyers Have a Growing Preference for Conversational Commerce Tools BOCA RATON, Fla., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gubagoo the leading provider of digital retailing and messaging solutions for automotive dealerships published data today showing the continued increase of online retail and messaging tools, even as automotive dealerships return to full operations. Changes to the automotive retail environment due to the pandemic have increased the importance of doing business online for dealers. Gubagoo's Virtual Retailing, which allows dealers to sell vehicles online, and Gubagoo's ChatSmart, which facilitates conversations with customers on dealers' websites, saw record usage through this period. While the use of digital tools during widespread closures increased dramatically, more notable is that the use of these tools continues to increase, even as communities across the country re-open. In the past four weeks, Virtual Retailing use has increased by 39% nationwide, and messaging has increased an additional 17% from the historic levels seen during the height of the pandemic. "As progressive dealers have adopted Virtual Retailing, customers are showing the automotive community that it is the experience they have always wanted," said Brad Title, CEO of Gubagoo. "When we actively engage and serve the customer online, they are far more likely to purchase from the dealership." Dealers who staff their online showrooms, even as they bring staff back into their physical showrooms, are seeing strong results with online sales. Tommy Coppola, General Manager at Advantage Toyota Valley Stream in New York, did just that when he implemented Gubagoo's Virtual Retailing. "Customers are really engaged with us on the Virtual Retailing platform," Coppola said. "It is simple for them to use, and we can seamlessly desk a deal in real time. We love it, our customers love it, and it is accelerating our sales as business opens up." Eastern Shore Toyota, located in Daphne, Alabama, switched to Gubagoo from a digital retailing vendor that did not integrate customer messaging, right as the pandemic was closing down operations. They are having tremendous success with online sales. "We have been absolutely delighted with our switch to Gubagoo as our digital retailing platform," said Emily Brock, Internet Manager for the store. "Our sales opportunities increased 5x. More than 100 vehicles were sold online in 30 days." Rick Campbell, of Vann York Auto Group, echoes the importance of engaging customers with Gubagoo's ChatSmart in real time when they are making a complex purchase with Virtual Retailing. "We find that when we jump in and chat with our guests online, the rapport we build helps us increase our chances of selling them a vehicle," Campbell said. Gubagoo continues to provide unprecedented levels of support to assist dealers onboarding with Virtual Retailing, and to prepare for what lies ahead, whether that be the 'New Normal,' or a continuation of what automotive dealers are facing today. "The full resources of our company are behind helping dealers navigate the months ahead," said Brad Title. "While we may be facing uncertainty, automotive dealers are resilient, and we look forward to continuing to play an important part in keeping the industry selling cars." To take advantage of a 60-day trial of Virtual Retailing, dealer representatives are encouraged to contact the Gubagoo team by chat at Gubagoo.com, by phone at 1-833-482-2466, or by email at [email protected]. About Gubagoo Gubagoo is the leading provider of conversational commerce and retail solutions for both automotive dealerships and OEMs. Used by more than 6,500 dealerships and over 90% of the top 150 dealer groups in America, Gubagoo's messaging platform instantly connects consumers to dealerships through live chat, text, video, Facebook Messenger, and other digital messaging channels, converting high quality leads, appointments, and sales for dealerships. Gubagoo's Virtual Retailing platform provides an end-to-end buying experience on dealership websites. Customers are able to buy a car online with real-time support from dealership personnel, and have the vehicle delivered at the dealership or their door. For more information, visit gubagoo.com SOURCE Gubagoo Related Links gubagoo.com Days after US President Donald Trump administration rolled out new visa law for international students, several American technology giants including Google, Facebook and Microsoft have joined the lawsuit filed against the Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) latest rule by the Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The new directive that bars foreign students from staying in the United States if they fail to attend at least one in-person course, has caused a stir among many firms. These companies are not only seeking a temporary restraining order but also a preliminary injunction citing disruption in their recruiting plans due to the ICE directive rolled out on July 6. According to the American firms along with US Chamber of Commerce and several other IT advocacy groups, the latest rule would hinder the already planned hiring of international students and thus dismantling the recruiting processes. Over a dozen US firms have relied on the placement process to identify as well as train te future employees including foreign students. Read - 17 US States, DC File Lawsuit Against Trump Admins New Visa Policy For Global Students Read - Australia Offers Visa Options For Hong Kong Residents What is the ICE directive? Basically, ICE announced modifications in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) to temporary exemptions for the nonimmigrant students taking classes online amid the coronavirus outbreak for the 2020 fall semester. These changes included the restriction of visas for international students under fully online courses and the US government even said that 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. The government directive provided educational institutions with at least ten days to update information in the SEVP. However, according to reports, the companies in the US have united to condemn the directive and even said the rule would prohibit a greater number of international students from participating in their Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT) programs. According to these firms, the US will "nonsensically be sending...these graduates away to work for our global competitors and compete against us...instead of capitalising on the investment in their education here in the US. Read - Indian Students Concerned About Deportation, Dropping Out Semester As US Announces New Visa Rules Read - Foreign Students Weigh Studying In Person Vs. Losing Visas Inputs: Agency Jimmy Fallon came back to The Tonight Show's NYC studios with reduced staff on Monday. '30 Rock, Ive missed you,' The Tonight Show host, 45, said on Instagram Monday. 'See you tonight! #FallonTonight #BackInTheStudio.' Fallon and his house band, The Roots, were in the studio, conducting remote interviews with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, actress Charlize Theron and the band Little Big Town. Return: Jimmy Fallon came back to The Tonight Show's NYC studios with reduced staff on Monday Fallon said in the opening segment of the show, 'As a New Yorker, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who helped get us back to where we are now. To all the states, going through the tough parts, friends in Florida, Texas, Arizona, California. I know how hard it is, Im not going to lie to you, its tough. 'But Im here to show you that there is a light at the end of the tunnel if we all do our part to keep each other safe.' Fallon said that 'any type of normalcy feels great' as he aimed to bring 'a bit of normal' back to the series. 'These are the hardest times to do comedy but they are also the times we need it the most,' he said. 'Maybe thats why comedy was invented - chew on that.' Fallon and his house band, The Roots, were in the studio, conducting remote interviews with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Modern times: Fallon held up a card showing off a safety sign on the set of the show In his chat on the show, Cuomo projected an optimism, noting the return of the NBC staple was a step in the right direction. 'New York is really open now that youre doing your show again,' the governor told Fallon amid his state's recent success in quelling the spread of the virus, as no COVID-19-related deaths were reported Saturday, according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Fallon's staff will largely remain working remotely, with no studio audience in attendance, according to Deadline. Fallon had been doing his show from home since the early days of the lockdown on March 17, speaking to celebs including John Legend, Adam Sandler, Miley Cyrus and Alec Baldwin. In his appearance on the program, Cuomo said that 'New Yorkers stepped up' as the state 'went from having the worst infection rate in the country' to 'the best infection rate, so we really turned the corner.' He added: 'We tamed the beast, we just have to cross our fingers and hope that it stays there.' Back in the house: Fallon had been doing his show from home since the early days of the lockdown on March 17 Staying safe: The late night host donned a mask as he got ready for his first studio broadcast in nearly four months Standing strong: In his appearance on the program, Cuomo said that 'New Yorkers stepped up' as the state 'went from having the worst infection rate in the country' to 'the best infection rate, so we really turned the corner' Cuomo said that New Yorkers practiced string social distancing methods amid a complicated time full of mixed messaging, alluding to his clashes with President Donald Trump. 'You had the President of the United States basically denying that the virus existed,' he said. 'I believe he played politics with it, you have these other states rush to reopen like there was no problem but there was a problem. 'You can't deal with a virus politically, you have to be smart, you have to get it under control, you have to close down and people.' Asked about the speculation swirling around his love life - the politician remains single - Cuomo said he was focused on getting rid of the virus before tending to his personal life. 'I think New York City will be full reopened before I get out of phase 0 on dating,' he said. OTTAWAFederal opposition parties are demanding to know why the Liberal government created a $900-million program to help students find volunteer positions rather than putting the much-needed funds into an existing summer jobs program. The call for answers comes as the government tries to chart a way forward for the new Canada Student Services Grant, which has been in limbo after WE Charity withdrew from administering the program amid controversy over its links to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family. The Liberals have billed the grant program as a way to reward tens of thousands of students who want to help with the COVID-19 pandemic and cant find paid work. Participants were told they could earn up to $5,000 toward their education costs by volunteering the maximum 500 hours. Opposition parties say the Liberals could have accomplished the same task without controversy by putting the money into the Canada Summer Jobs program, through which thousands of positions for students are subsidized by the federal government every year. The government chose specifically to ignore the opportunity of the Canada Summer Jobs and instead went for this, Conservative economic development critic Dan Albas said of the Canada Student Services Grant. It makes no sense ... They put a ton of money $912 million towards an untested concept when they have a ready-to-go program. The Liberals have expanded the summer-jobs program by increasing the wage subsidy available to companies and not-for-profit groups to 100 per cent of the local minimum wage, expanding what types of positions qualified and extending the eligible work period to early next year. Employment Minister Carla Qualtroughs office also noted the Liberals injected an extra $60 million to create 10,000 more positions than last year for students. The move brought the total budget for the program to $323 million and the expected number of summer jobs to 80,000. This additional investment is helping more youth stay connected to the labour market, save money for their return to school, and find quality jobs in safe, inclusive, and healthy work environments, Qualtrough spokesperson Ashley Michnowski said in an email. By adapting the program this year, our government is making sure that we have the resources needed to support Canadian workers, businesses, and communities dealing with the social and economic impacts of COVID-19. But the opposition says the available funding is not enough to cover demand in a normal year. The federal Employment and Social Development Department itself says on its website that in 2019, requests for funding totalled more than three times the program budget. Neither the government nor WE have said how many volunteer positions they were expecting to fill through the $912-million grant program. There has been criticism that participants receive only $10 per hour less than the minimum wage in any province. There have also been questions about many positions advertised as available through the volunteer scheme, including thousands for students to shoot videos, make websites and create other content in placements apparently created by WE to meet the requirements of the volunteer program. NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said that stands in contrast to the summer jobs program after the government asked members of Parliament across the country to identify potential positions in their ridings in the spring many of which did not get funding. We had really legitimate organizations ready to hire students to do legitimate work, and all of that was sidelined, Angus said. These were a lot more credible positions than making a video showing how to do exercises. The Liberals have indicated they plan to move ahead with the volunteer program despite WEs withdrawal, saying the federal Employment Department has taken over and is looking at ways to make it happen. But the Conservatives, NDP and Greens all say the government should learn its lesson and put the money into the Canada Summer Jobs program, which is already managed by the government and has a history of success. That starts with revisiting what the Tories and New Democrats suggested was the large number of summer jobs requested by businesses and not-for-profits and not funded because of a shortage of money. The government should be focused on a program that is transparent, that is fair, that is broadly supported by all parties, and that already has a number of applications that have been ranked and have not been filled just because theres not enough money, Albas said. Green MP Elizabeth May said organizations that applied for positions through the student-volunteer program should also be allowed to transfer their requests to the summer-jobs program. And if that is not possible, Angus said, the government should be looking at taking the money and putting it into direct financial support for students, including by adding the funds to the Canada Emergency Student Benefit for those unable to find work due to COVID-19. They have two options: One is to put that money into Canada Summer Jobs and one is to put it straight into the support for university students so they have the funds necessary to go to school and cut out all these schemes they worked out with WE, he said. I think they need to move on this immediately. The summer is getting close to half over. It may be at this point too difficult to get the Canada Summer Jobs up, but there are a lot of organizations that we submitted names for. Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, meanwhile, repeated a call on Tuesday for Trudeau to step aside in favour of his deputy Chrystia Freeland while the WE affair is fully investigated. But Blanchet said that based on whats known now, he doesnt believe the Liberal government should fall over it. Read more about: By PTI KATHMANDU: Nepal Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli and co-chair of the ruling communist party Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda on Tuesday resumed talks after a six-day hiatus in a bid to save the party from a split in the wake of growing differences between the two factions led by them. Prachanda's press advisor said that the "two chairs (of the Nepal Communist Party) have resumed discussions," The Kathmandu Post reported. They last time held one-on-one talks on Wednesday. The talks are taking place ahead of the crucial Standing Committee meeting on Friday which is expected to determine the political future of the 68-year-old prime minister who has previously alleged that his detractors were trying to remove him with India's help. The key meeting is taking place days after NCP executive chairman Prachanda said 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. Prachanda, addressing the NCP members in his hometown Chitwan on Sunday, said he was determined to keep the party unity intact as it is "natural to have differences of opinion, dispute and debate in a big party." Top party leaders, including 'Prachanda', have been demanding Prime Minister Oli's resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were "neither politically correct nor diplomatically appropriate." The differences grew further after Oli said 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. Oli and Prachanda, who have held over half-a-dozen one-on-one meetings in recent days, are nowhere close to a power-sharing deal. On Friday, the meeting of the NCP's 45-member powerful Standing Committee to decide Oli's political future was postponed for a fourth time at the last moment, citing floods and landslides which have killed at least 22 people. 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 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. As promised, a few more responses from our blog reader question today: Should Australia pursue an elimination strategy? Thanks so much for all of your responses today - we can't publish them all for space but they are all read. Keep the conversation going in the comments section of the blog with other readers. "The 'contrary' voices opposing an elimination strategy all make the same assumption - that the trade is economy vs deaths of a small number of people (~1% mortality, skewed towards older people). They completely ignore the emerging evidence that a large fraction of the infected (20%+) may suffer long term neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, or other health effects. Discounting this huge fraction of the infected ignores the massive economic disruption that comes from large numbers of disabled or incapacitated people leaving the workforce. Even those who survive may be impacted in a way that destroys the economy. Fighting for absolute control is the only strategy to preserve both life and the economy until we learn more about treatments and potentially vaccination." - Mike Loading "I'm an ICU doctor so would love it if we didnt have to care for COVID-19 patients any more. But this 'elimination' cant work. We can destroy society as we know it waiting months for 'zero' cases, but hidden transmission chains mean a single case can pop up a month after we reopen and we are back at square one. People in quarantine might need medical care which will, given enough time, inevitably lead to a case amongst healthcare workers. Anyway if it is this hard to even barely suppress the infection, it is pure wishful thinking to say we should just completely get rid of it instead." - Mark B "There is no good outcome here, just less damage. Elimination is the only way to avoid the cycle of loosening and tightening restrictions without widespread death. Other states have eliminated the virus, if it requires more work from VIC and even NSW we should do it. We should do it now while the public will comply. Harder lockdown for shorter period. People will not long-term accept that they can go to work but not see their family. It is too damaging to both health and the economy to continue this cycle of lockdowns for years until we have a vaccine. Elimination is the only way to any kind of 'covidnormal'." - Lauren "Anything less than elimination will involve repeated outbreaks, repeated lockdowns to control those outbreaks and constant, ongoing damage to the economy everytime a lockdown is required. This virus is so contagious that it is not possible to have some imaginary situation where we allow it to circulate at some low, controlled level in our society while we all going about our lives normally. Many of the people arguing against elimination seem to think that is possible - it isn't. It's really all or nothing. If we don't eliminate it, sooner or later we will not be able to control it. And a lot of people will die. We should pursue an elimination strategy to allow time to see if we can get a vaccine and also to allow time for research into what it is that makes this virus so deadly in some people, which may lead to development of improved treatments for COVID-19. If it proves impossible to get a vaccine and no effective treatment is found, then we can re-evaluate our strategy. In the meantime, we could all live relatively normally and the economy would be better off as well." - Unnamed Loading "Yes, looking at the way the pandemic is progressing around the world and the rates of infection, two scenarios could play out. One where the earths population reaches 'herd immunity', the second being that an effective vaccine is developed and deployed. In either scenarios the sensible approach is to hold the fort for as long as possible, otherwise we will be hurtling towards the inevitable." - Sam "In the short term and on paper I like the idea of an elimination strategy. No COVID-19 in the community, and life can return to some sort of normalcy. But that means shutting Australia off from the rest of the world, which means the economy will be shattered long-term. Yes, an elimination attempt and lockdown are designed to protect the elderly and vulnerable, but what about those who have lost their jobs, which in turn can result in higher poverty levels, mental health issues and suicides?" - Harriet 'The Congress party destabilised its own government in Madhya Pradesh and lost power.' 'Now it has become vulnerable in Rajasthan.' 'In the process, we lost two brilliant political leaders who could be the future prime ministers of our country.' IMAGE: Sachin Pilot, who was sacked as Rajasthan's deputy chief minister and state Congress chief, addresses the media in Jaipur. Photograph: ANI Photo Two days ago, when then Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot raised a banner of revolt against his government headed by Ashok Gehlot, it seemed that the young leader would get what he had set his eyes on since 2018: The chief ministership. In two days, not only has he been removed as deputy CM, he has also been ousted as the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee prwsident. And worse, the support of 30 MLAs, which he had claimed on Sunday, appears to have evaporated in the desert heat. Did Sachin Pilot misread the situation, overestimate his strength and discount Gehlot? Is his failed revolt, coming on the heels of Jyotiraditya Scindia's rebellion in Madhya Pradesh, a sign of a rot within the Congress party? "Sachin Pilot is a political asset like Jyotiraditya Scindia. He had every legitimate right to demand to become the CM," Sanjay Jha, who was removed as Congress party spokesperson for being too outspoken, tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com. What is happening in the Congress party? Why are Sonia Gandhi-Rahul Gandhi so suspicious of young leaders? The answer is simple, the Congress party needs to decentralise its power structure. The high command culture in Congress party has to go. More important, is to bring in new non-Gandhi leaders to lead the helm of affairs. So there is no competition to Rahul Gandhi from any young leaders in the Congress after Sachin Pilot and Jyotiraditya Scindia are pushed out. Trust me, there is simmering discontent within the party. Sachin is one manifestation of it, and you will probably see more protests from various members of the party. Did the Congress win Rajasthan in the 2018 election because of Sachin Pilot or Ashok Gehlot? Rajasthan was won entirely because of Sachin Pilot. When in 2013, Ashok Gehlot was the chief minister of Rajasthan and elections were conducted, the Congress party's figure was the lowest of all time at 21 seats. And if the figure came back to 100 seats, and that too with Narendra Modi-Amit Shah at the helm of affairs, the entire credit single-handedly goes to Sachin Pilot. If that was the case, why did only 16 legislators go to Sachin Pilot's camp while a majority of them went with Ashok Gehlot? What was the reason? Because at the end of day, Gehlot has been chief minister of Rajasthan for three terms. He has the power to distribute ministerial appointments and favours, therefore so many MLAs went to his side. Why do the current arguments in favour of Sachin Pilot over Ashok Gehlot sound so ageist? Today's problem was planted in December 2018 when instead of making Sachin Pilot chief minister, the post was given to Ashok Gehlot. Gehlot was made chief minister for the third time despite the fact that he brought the Congress party to virtual devastation in 2013. The entire debate spins on the age factor, making it like because Pilot is younger he is more preferable. Are we forgetting that the biggest economic reforms in India were wrought not by the youngest prime minister with the biggest majority but an elderly PM heading a minority government? So does really age matter in politics? All I can say is that Sachin Pilot is a political asset like Jyotiraditya Scindia. He had every legitimate right to demand to become the CM and the Congress committed political hara-kiri. Sachin Pilot has now been ousted as deputy CM and also as Rajasthan Congress chief. It looks like he was lured into a trap which he did not see coming. The Congress party destabilised its own government in Madhya Pradesh and lost power. Now it has become vulnerable in Rajasthan. In the process we lost two brilliant political leaders who could be the future prime ministers of our country. It is the Congress party that has lost, not Sachin Pilot. Is Sachin Pilot prime minister material? Really? I believe he had it in him. He had the material to become Congress president and the future prime minister of India. By rooting for Pilot, aren't we dissing what Gehlot has achieved over the decades? In politics, you live in the moment. Gehlot's track record may have been impressive in Rajasthan and nobody is denying that. In 2013, however, the Congress was badly routed in the Rajasthan assembly election and the same thing happened under his leadership in Rajasthan in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. We got zero seats. The proof of the pudding is in the performance in elections. Where does Sachin Pilot go now? What is his future? The bigger question is not Pilot, but where will the Congress go now? We gave away Karnataka from our hands, then Madhya Pradesh, and now destabilised our government in Rajasthan. And there are murmurs that even Chhattisgarh may have similar problems coming up. Old-timers recall how Rajesh Pilot was a young rebel in the Congress. Is the son out to fulfil his father's unfinished task. Is that what this is about? There is general unhappiness in the Congress party. There are many Congress leaders who recognise that we have an existential crisis and Sachin Pilot is just one manifestation of that. Some museums are exhibiting submitted and accepted items right away on websites or on social media; others are planning virtual and physical exhibits for as early as this autumn. The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, for example, is collecting masks and oral history testimonies from Native American communities and is considering the creation of a rapid response gallery, said the museums vice president and chief curator Elisa G. Phelps. If art is being sparked by something very timely, we want to have a place where we can showcase works and photos, she said, adding that this process differed from the elaborate, formal exhibit development process. Some donors, however, may not be among those to view their materials once they become part of institutionalized history at least not right away. Even though Dr. Blutinger said that he sees the historical value of his emergency room video diaries, he has yet to revisit the peak-crisis videos himself. Im almost scared to look back at them, he said. Im worried that theyll reignite a set of emotions that Ive managed to tuck away. Im sure one day Ill look back and perhaps open up one or two clips, but I have never watched any of them all the way through. Lesley M.M. Blume is a journalist, historian and the author of Fallout: The Hiroshima Cover-Up and the Reporter Who Revealed It to the World, which will be published on August 4. France will soon announce an "exceptional package" for India, including ventilators and expertise, as part of its efforts to jointly combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the French envoy to India said on Tuesday. In his message on the French National Day -- Bastille Day, French Ambassador to India Emmanuel Lenain said that since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, the two countries have shown exceptional solidarity. "India has provided much needed equipment and drugs to French hospitals. Friendship is a two-way road and France has reciprocated," Lenain said. The French development agency AFD has granted an exceptional loan of 200 million euros (Rs 1,600 crore) to provide social services to the most vulnerable population in India, he said. "We are going to announce soon an exceptional package comprising serological test (kits), ventilators and some expertise," the French envoy said in the message posted on all social media handles of the French Embassy here. Solidarity has been exceptional in the way the India government has lent support to the operation to repatriate stranded tourists, he said, thanking Indian authorities for it. Another great way to express solidarity is the involvement of French companies in corporate social responsibility, he said. Lenain cited the example of French firms partnering Indian companies for producing ventilators and a French firm contributing 65 ICU beds. Getting admitted and registered into your university of choice is something that many people wish for. Valley View University is that school for many students. Almost everyone is interested in what the university has to offer, especially the education programs. Knowing what is expected of you in terms of qualification for courses and the expected fees will help you plan better. Take advantage of this and secure a spot for yourself to pursue your dream course. Image: m.scoopernews.com Source: UGC Valley View University has a list of good courses one can apply for. This article provides you with detailed information about Valley View courses plus their fees. These programs are also open to international students. The Valley View University grading system is another perk that the school has, and the institution receives thousands of applications each year. Valley View University Ghana In 1979, the West African Union of Seventh-Day Adventists established this great institution. At the time of its conception, the school was named Adventist Missionary College and was located in Bekwai-Ashanti. After a few years in 1983, the school was moved to Adenta, Accra, and finally to its current location in Oyibi. Since a Christian institution founded the school, it is safe to assume that Christianity is the baseline of its operations. This, however, does not mean that the university discriminates against its students based on their religion. Valley View University is open to all students of any religion, as long as they will accept the Christian principles that the school was founded on. Undergraduate programs If you check your student portal and see that you are on the Valley View University admission list, the next step is to choose the course you intend to take. There are a variety of courses available in the undergraduate category. The courses are typically divided into schools, so it is important to know which school or faculty your course is in. School of Business If you are interested in taking any business course at the university, these are the undergraduate courses offered: BBA Accounting BBA Management BBA Marketing BBA Banking and Finance BBA Human Resource Management It is important to note that all the courses in this section are offered at the same fee, depending on what type of student you are. READ ALSO: Cape Coast Technical University 2020/2021: programmes and admissions Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC Faculty of Science This school also has several Undergraduate Science courses. They include the following; Bachelor of Science (BSc): Computer Science Bachelor of Science (BSc): Information Technology Bachelors of Science (BSc): Mathematics with Statistics Bachelor of Science (BSc): Mathematics with Economics Bachelor of Science (BSc): Business Information Systems Bachelor of Science (BSc): Bio-medical equipment technology. Diploma in Biomedical Equipment Technology Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC School of Education If you are looking for Education Courses in Valley View University Ghana, you are in the right place. The undergraduate programs offered here are; B.Ed. Education Information Technology B.Ed. Management B.Ed. Accounting B.Ed. Religious Studies B.Ed. Mathematics B.Ed. English Language B.Ed. Social studies READ ALSO: Regent University courses, admission and fees Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC School of Theology and Missions Only one undergraduate course is offered in this school, Bachelor of Arts Theology Studies. Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC School of Arts and Social Sciences Bachelor of Science Development Studies is the only degree course offered in this school. Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC School of nursing and midwifery Those who are interested in either nursing or becoming a midwife, the following courses are for you: BSc Nursing BSc Midwifery BSc Mental health Undergraduate program modes There are several modes for taking the undergraduate program. We have a long-distance mode, the summer mode, and the sandwich mode. There are a few points to take note of. These are: The June and July Nursing Summer Session constitutes two semester The Valley View University sandwich courses you take in August form a semester, whereas December and April form another semester. There are additional costs involved during the program. The extra fee comes in to complement the course program. This is for all the students who registered research projects, attachments, internships and teaching practices off campus. Graduate programs The school offers courses for those students who are pursuing their masters or their doctorate of philosophy degrees. Let us look at the graduate programs offered plus their costs. Master of Business Administration (Human Resource Management) Master of Business Administration (Banking and Finance) Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management) MSc Administration (International Development) Collaborative programme with Andrews University, USA Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction (MEd) Master of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction (MPhil) Post Graduate Diploma in Pastoral Ministry (PGDM) Master of Education in Administration and Leadership (MEd) Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) READ ALSO: KSTU online course registration 2020/2021 for admission explained Image: vvu.edu.gh Source: UGC Valley View University short courses In addition to the mentioned Bachelor of Science Information Technology course above, the following IT short courses are also offered at Oyibi and Nyaniba Estate Campuses. The courses take about a year to complete. Computer Software Applications Basic Courses in Computer Studies Linux Administration & Support Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer Computer Hardware & Networking Graphics & Web Design Fundamentals of Software Programming with C#.NET or VB.NET System Administration & Support CISCO Certified Network Administrator We also have the certificate courses that take around three months: Website Development & Administration REDHAT Certificate Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) Oracle Database Administrator Development. Certified Ethical Hacker Fee payment options Valley View university makes fee payment possible through the following options. You can, therefore, opt for one which suits you best. First option; Full payment of the fee. Second Option; Payment through Installments in the following breakdown: 50% before registration 80% by Mid Semester and 100% before you sit for your final Examinations. The third option; this involves Parents/Students/Guardian applying for an individual fee payment contract. Valley View University is one of the biggest universities in Ghana. You can choose to study the course of your choice at any of the universitys four campuses. Valley View University Kumasi campus is one of the branches you should consider, the others are Techima, Accra (Nyaniba Estate), Accra (Oyibi Estate), and Tokaradi. More information about the university can be found on the Valley View University bulletin, which you can download and read. READ ALSO: GIMPA courses and fees: List of programs offered in 2020 READ ALSO: Central University College fees, courses, and admission in Ghana Private universities in Ghana: Top 10 in 2020 UDS admission list: check your 2019/2020 admission status Source: YEN.com.gh Ankara (AsiaNews) At 4 pm today (1 pm GMT), Turkish television announced that the countrys top administrative court cleared the way for the Basilica of Saint Sophia to be restored as a mosque. The Council of State overturned a decree issued in 1934 under then President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk that led to the transformation of the basilica - used for almost 500 years as a mosque after the fall of Constantinople (1453) into a museum. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had championed the legal route to invalidate the 1934 decree, thus allowing one of the most magnificent Byzantine monuments, which served as a church for more than a thousand years, to be used as a mosque. In recent weeks, many people in Greece, Russia, the United States, as well as the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, had expressed opposition to turning the ancient Christian place of worship into a mosque. It is not clear whether foreigners and Christians will be able to visit the basilica. A TV report suggested that Hagia Sophia would also remain as a museum. The basilica is a UNESCO world heritage site. Last night, Ibrahim Kaln, Turkeys presidential spokesperson, said that opening Hagia Sophia to prayer will not hinder people visiting it, and that Turkey would preserve its Christian icons. (M.D.) Yasmin Boland What the current Full Moon means for you If youre one of the lucky ones, this is the Full Moon when you see yourself for who you REALLY are and therefore see your good points as well as your flaws and you decide to do something about your flaws. This is all about the [] The Big Blue River was a large source of activity in Beatrice on Saturday, as nearly 100 individuals kayaked in an event raising money for the Beatrice Mary Family YMCA. The event helped the YMCA reach roughly $4.4 million of its planned $6 million community capital campaign fundraiser for the major renovations and additions to the current facility. A channel of people entered the river under the South Sixth Street Bridge, and spent a sunny afternoon slowly meandering downstream for roughly four hours before being able to dock at a private residence and be transported back to Chautauqua Park. Afterwards, they were able to enter raffles and use the mojito bar at Biggs. Rachael Bauman, director of health and wellness at the YMCA said that members of kayak clubs in Lincoln, Omaha and Grand Island came to participate having never kayaked through the area before. They said we really have a beautiful river that runs through our town, with all of the trees lining the river. Some of them have kayaked the Platte River, and they said its barren in quite a few areas, Bauman said. The river flow was a nice pace for about the first half, and then it did tend to slow down for the second half. We had to paddle a little bit to get to that second destination. But overall, just a lot of positive feedback. Planned additions to the event were impeded, including food trucks having ball tournaments to attend, and activities on river sandbars were canceled as water levels were higher due to rain throughout the week. Bauman said it was nice to have an adults-only event to identify these obstacles, and that the YMCA plans to make this an annual event in addition to a family-friendly river event. Beatrice Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Angie Bruna participated in the event, along with her husband, and Main Street Beatrice Director Michael Sothan. She said they had an enjoyable time, and that it was great to see the turnout in an event that also allowed for social distancing. We had visitors in, which is always nice for our tourism economy. Probably those folks had to stop for something either before or after, so its fresh dollars coming in, so we enjoy that aspect of it, Bruna said. I know that there has been some conversation about whether or not we should install access points for the river. I think this shows that theres a definite interest, and maybe we should explore it a little further. Bauman also noted that getting into and out of the Big Blue without access points was a challenge. You have to know private land owners that will allow you to get out, and its not necessarily handicap accessible because theres a lot of climbing involved, and maybe some slippery mud, Bauman said. So [access points] are something that the city is open on having available for our community, and I think thats excellent. Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0 Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. Madam Juliana Abokuma Edzii, Project Officer, POS Foundation, facilitator's of the Justice For All Programme, on Monday called on thengovernment to speed up the passage of the Community Service Bill. She said the bill, alternative to imprisonment, would allow petty offenders to undertake community services. "This law does not exist in Ghana's jurisdiction so we have been advocating for it, we did the bill in consultation with the Ministry for the Interior, somewhere last year. Currently it has moved through all the stages and is back to the Ministry and is expected to go to Cabinet." She said government should also listen to the call and plea to legislate a constitutional instrument for probation and parole, which would go a long way to decongest the prisons. Madam Edzii, made the call when the Foundation donated some Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE), including tissues, hands sanitizers, toilet rolls, packs of vitamin c, automated hand washing machine, liquid soap, face mask among others to the Nsawam Female Prison. She said the Foundation believed that they were standing in solidarity with the Prison service to support them because the COVID-19 pandemic had caused a lot of havoc across the world and the prisons was one major place where an outbreak could be catastrophic. She said the series of donation which was ending today started from Nsawam Security Prisons through to Kumasi, Sunyani, Tamale and Navrongo. She said the donation would go a long way to help the Prisons Service to care for the inmates and officers. Madam Edzii said from the interactions at the various prisons, POS was calling on the President to again grant amnesty to non-violent drug users in addition those he had already granted amnesty. She said drug use was a public health problem and as such should be treated in that regard. "We are also ready together with our partners, Agencies GIZ/German Cooperation and Open Society Foundation/OSIWA, to fund such prisoners who may be granted amnesty to receive treatment". Chief Superintendent of Prisons Janet Asabea, receiving the items, expressed appreciation to POS Foundation for the donation. She said the donation would go a long way to help the inmates, adding that the Nsawam Prison was yet to record a case because of the strict adherence to the protocols, including social distancing. "We at the female prison luckily have no issues with overcrowding. Our official capacity is supposed to be 200 but currently our population is 72, so we are able to space out." She said the challenge was, however, the lack of an isolation centre, and appealed to POS Foundation to come in to get them a block to be reserved for isolation of inmates in case there was a suspected case until those in charge take over. ---GNA (Newser) Tunisian blogger Emna Charqui has been sentenced to six months in prison over a Facebook post about coronavirus prevention. The 27-year-old shared a post about hand-washing and social distancing that was written in a style that mimicked a verse from the Koran, the BBC reports. Other social media users said Charqui, an atheist, should be punished for the "offensive" post, which she shared on May 2. Amnesty International said the prosecution was "yet another illustration of how, despite Tunisia's democratic progress, the authorities continue to use repressive law to undermine freedom of expression." story continues below Days after Charqui shared the post, which was created by an Algerian atheist, she was charged with "inciting hatred between religions." Charqui plans to appeal the ruling. Weeks after she was charged, she told France24 that she had received death threats. She said she had only meant to share information about the pandemic in a humorous way. "I'm really scared because I had no bad intentions, I didn't think it would take on such a scale and that we would end up with threats," she said. "I don't have any protection so I got to the point of being afraid for my own life. I have no future in Tunisia. I'm no longer safe there." (Read more Tunisia stories.) Iraq War veteran Sean Worsley (pictured), who suffers from a traumatic brain injury and PTSD, is facing up to five years in prison after he was arrested in Alabama for having medical marijuana A black disabled Army veteran, who was arrested in Alabama in 2016 for having medical marijuana, is now facing up to five years in prison. Iraq War veteran Sean Worsley, now 33, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was on his way to visit family members in North Carolina when he and his wife, Eboni, stopped in Gordo, Alabama, for gas. The Worsleys were blasting their music at the pump, which caught the attention of a local police officer, Carl Abramo, according to a report from Alabama Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. When Abramo approached the couple, he told them that the loud music violated the town's noise ordinance. Sean, who served five years in the Army before he was injured, knew that his medical marijuana had been prescribed so when Abramo asked to search their vehicle, he assented. During the search, Abramo found the marijuana and the rolling papers and pipe Sean used to smoke it, along with a six-pack of beer, a bottle of vodka, and some pain pills, according to the Appleseed report. The pain pills belonged to Eboni, who had a prescription. Sean, a Purple Heart recipient, said he tried to show the officer that his medical marijuana card was from Arizona, where marijuana has been legal for medical reasons since 2011. According to a police report obtained by Appleseed, the officer wrote that he 'explained to him [Sean] that Alabama did not have medical marijuana'. 'I then placed the suspect in hand cuffs,' the report reads. Sean, now 33, who suffers from a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), was on his way to visit family members in North Carolina when he and his wife, Eboni (pictured together, left and right), stopped in Gordo, Alabama, for gas Abramo arrested the Worsleys for violating the noise ordinance and for illegal possession of marijuana and paraphernalia. Sean was 28 when the VA determined that he was 'totally and permanently disabled due solely to [his] service-connected disabilities'. He suffered from a traumatic brain injury that seriously impaired his short-term memory, as well as PTSD, depression, nightmares, and back and shoulder pain. The use of recreational marijuana is legal in 14 states and medical marijuana is legal in 33. According to Appleseed, medical marijuana is commonly used by veterans and others to manage the symptoms of a wide range of ailments, including PTSD and pain. The Worsleys spent six days in jail before being released on bond. 'This system's determination to punish Sean set off a spiral of job loss, homelessness, additional criminal charges, and eventually incarceration in the country's most violent prison system all for a substance that's legal in states where half of Americans live,' the Appleseed report reads. After the arrest, the couple drove back home to Arizona, where they found the charges made it difficult for them to live. They were forced to move to Nevada where they found a home and lived peacefully until almost a year later, the bail bondsman informed them that a judge was revoking bonds on all the cases he had managed. That meant the couple had to rush back to Alabama or be charged with failing to appear in court. Earlier this year, Sean was pulled over by police and once again he had some marijuana with him. He was then extradited back to Alabama where he signed a plea agreement that included 60 months of probation Since earlier this year, Sean has been in the Pickens County jail. In April, a judge revoked his probation and sentenced him to 60 months in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections When they arrived at the court, Eboni recalled that they were taken to separate rooms. To make matters worse, she said that she tried to explain Sean needed a guardian to help him understand the process to help him make an informed decision, but authorities refused. 'They said no, and they literally locked me in a room separate from him. And his conversation with me is that they told him that if he didn't sign the plea agreement that we would have to stay incarcerated until December and that they would charge me with the same charges as they charged him,' Eboni recalled in the Appleseed report. 'He said because of that, he just signed it.' Sean's plea agreement included 60 months of probation, which he was to serve in Arizona since that's where he was living at the time of the arrest. 'I feel like I'm being thrown away by a country I went and served for,' Sean said. They were then forced to pack up their home in Nevada and head to Arizona where it was a struggle to find stable housing. The couple then found themselves without a home and at a time when Eboni needed heart surgery. Earlier this year, Sean, who has two children, ages 14 and 12, was pulled over by police and once again he had some marijuana with him. According to Appleseed, the Arizona officers said they noticed that he was terrified when they pulled him over. 'They asked him why. According to Eboni, he told them everything: about this PTSD, his traumatic brain injury, the expired card, the outstanding warrant from Alabama. The officers told him not to worry; Alabama would never extradite him over a little marijuana. It would be OK,' the report says. The couple later called just to be sure and officials in Alabama said they wanted to bring Sean back to Pickens County where he was arrested in 2016. 'When the Arizona police told him, he ran. He was taken to jail, and eventually, he was transported to Pickens County,' the report reads. Since earlier this year, Sean has been in the Pickens County jail. In April, a judge revoked his probation and sentenced him to 60 months in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections. Seans mother has since hired an attorney to appeal the case. However, Sean is likely to go to prison within the next month. The Worsleys have also set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for Sean's legal fees. In recent years, local governments have been forced to adapt to a wildly changing world, especially as it pertains to sending bills and collecting payments. After a weekend when Disney World in Orlando opened its doors for the first time since March, Premier Doug Ford announced amusement parks would not be making the cut for Stage 3 reopenings slated to begin Friday in most of Ontario. Private karaoke rooms and buffets also wont open. Dancing in restaurants and bars or gambling at gaming tables in casinos wont be allowed. Instead, Ontarians in 24 regions of the province would be allowed back in to a number of venues that include bars, gyms, fitness centres, movie theatres, casinos, recreational facilities, live sporting events and dine-in restaurants. And who would be left out? The GTAs five regions, including Toronto, as well as Niagara, Windsor-Essex, Haldimand Norfolk, Hamilton and Lambton. We take a look in chart form at the progress weve made in Stage 2 and how we compare to Texas and Florida, two states that have seen cases soar since reopening. Nearly 1,500 active cases in province Todd Coleman, an epidemiologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, said he is cautiously optimistic about the provinces Stage 3 reopening plans, but he says as weve seen in other countries, it is an easy infection to pass on. There are 1,454 active cases of the virus in the province, a quarter of what we experienced at the peak of active cases in late April. But Coleman points out there are possibly that many individuals who can still pass on the virus, leading to an entirely new explosive chain of transmission. Remember, the daily numbers were seeing now are the same as the ones weve seen in early March, leading to peaks of hundreds of cases per day in the following weeks, said Coleman. If the systems set up arent air tight, we might see that again. He says that means the province should continue to expand testing so that workers coming into contact with more people on a regular basis can be tested more often. The largest number of people tested in the province was 33,492 on June 27. The number reported Monday was 20,896. Coleman says in-depth contract tracing needs to continue and the province should issue a more explicit statement about the necessity of masks, instead of leaving it up to regions to decide if masks should be mandatory. As weve seen in other places, all the cogs need to be in place for effective prevention of further COVID-19 transmission, anything out of place could lead to further spikes in transmission, he said. The GTA vs. the rest of the province New cases of the virus have held steady outside the GTA, due in part to differences in population density as well as prevalence of the disease, said Coleman. With the other regions being less sparsely populated and with lower prevalence (existing numbers of active cases), the probabilities of infection becomes much, much lower, he said. And in turn, the burden on public health and other health care resources is much lower, resulting in more in-depth contact tracing, he said. Peel reported more cases than Toronto over the weekend 65 confirmed and probable most of them in Brampton. Case investigations are underway to determine the likely source of infection but we continue to see household clusters where up to five family members were tested on the same day and all tested positive, said a spokesperson for Peel public health. In terms of ages, its mixed parents and children, multi-generational families as well as young adults who live together. On Monday, Peel Region reported another 54 cases. Toronto reported 120 new cases and three deaths over the previous three days on Monday, but Dr. Eileen de Villa said that overall, trends show our new COVID-19 case reports continue to remain low. She also said the citys health care capacity had been downgraded from yellow to green on Toronto Public Healths online COVID-19 dashboard, the result of a decline in Torontos acute care bed occupancy rate. Cases based on population Windsor-Essex, which has had outbreaks of the virus among temporary workers on farms, continued to have the highest number of cases based on population in the last week, 33 per 100,000 people. Peel was second with 13. Toronto had eight per 100,000. Those regions wont move to Stage 3 on Friday, along with the rest of the GTA as well as Niagara, Haldimand Norfolk, Hamilton and Lambton. But many of those regions, where cases have been low, say the delay is due to the fact that they moved into Stage 2 a week after the province gave the green light on June 12 to the 24 public health units that were the first to advance. Niagara has been averaging fewer than two cases per day for the past seven weeks, with a trend slightly lower over that period, Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagaras acting medical officer of health and commissioner, said in an email. The Province is assessing regions after they have been in Stage 2 for four weeks, which for Niagara, will be this Friday. We hope to move to Stage 3 in the next round of announcements on Monday, July 20. Haldimand-Norfolk also expects to enter Stage 3 soon. The areas being moved to Stage 3 have spent an additional week in Stage 2, Kristal Chopp, chair of the Haldimand-Norfolk Board of Health, said in a statement. It is anticipated that the Province will re-evaluate the status of Haldimand and Norfolk next Monday. . . . We expect to be able to move into the next stage shortly, so long as we continue to see few new daily cases of COVID-19 in the community. What happens when you open too early In his press conference Monday, Premier Doug Ford called the number of cases of COVID-19 reported in Florida on Sunday staggering. The state reported more than 15,000 cases in a 24-hour period, a record, the day after visitors entered Disney World in Orlando for the first time since the park was closed in March. Miami-Dade has become the epicentre of the virus, with cases increasing after the countys mayor Carlos Gimenez reopened restaurants and non-essential businesses on May 18. Since then, the countys percentage of occupied intensive care beds jumped from 22 per cent to 98 per cent Monday, according to media reports. There have been 282,435 cases of the virus in the state and more than 4,000 people have died. Gimenez banned indoor dining on July 9, but is waiting to see if a 10 p.m. curfew and a mandatory mask order will help bring down cases before he orders further restrictions. Texas was one of the first states to reopen in late April, allowing stores, restaurants, movie theatres and malls, as well as other venues, to operate at 25 per cent capacity. Restaurants were allowed to open with 25 per cent occupancy on May 1, but the limits were later bumped up to 50 per cent and then 75 per cent. The state now has 264,313 cases of COVID-19, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services, and has recently reported more than 8,000 or 9,000 new cases a day. More than 3,200 people have died. In June, Gov. Greg Abbott put a hold on further plans to reopen and made masks mandatory in counties with 20 active cases. He also ordered bars to close and limited restaurants to 50 per cent capacity. Huawei has reported a 13.1-percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenue in the first half of 2020. The company generated total revenue of 454 billion Chinese yuan (about $64.9 billion) during the first six months of the year. Its carrier, enterprise, and consumer businesses achieved 159.6 billion Chinese yuan, 36.3 billion Chinese yuan, and 255.8 billion Chinese yuan in revenue, respectively. It had generated 401.3 billion Chinese yuan in revenue over the same period last year. Huawei also increased its net profit margin from 8.7-percent to 9.2-percent over that period, the company said in its 2020 H1 business results on Monday. However, its growth rate was down significantly from 23.2-percent in the first half of 2019. The Chinese giant had seen an even bigger 39-percent YoY increase in Q1 last year. Advertisement The Trump administration placing Huawei in the Entity List in May 2019 has stunted the companys growth. It hasnt enjoyed the same levels of success since. The US sanctions have only grown stronger since the first strike last year. If not for those trade restrictions, Huawei looked destined to overthrow Samsung as the worlds largest smartphone vendor for once and all. Huawei did recently topped Samsung as the largest smartphone vendor in the world. But thats more of Samsungs decline than Huaweis rise. Advertisement The COVID-19 pandemic mostly affected the South Korean giant in the second quarter this year. Samsung is likely to regain the throne once smartphone demands surge globally. Businesses in China, meanwhile, resumed operations long back after a couple of months of lockdown measures early in the year. Huawei sold a good number of phones there in the second quarter to topple Samsung. In the first quarter this year, when the pandemic was at its height in China, the company saw just a 1.4-percent YoY hike in revenue. Huawei posts 13 percent revenue growth but faces more troubles Huaweis troubles arent limited to its smartphone business. While the Trump Administration has extended the trade ban until May 2021, the UK may soon join the force against the Chinese smartphone and telecom equipment giant. Advertisement The UK officials may retract on their decision to allow Huawei equipment in non-core portions of the nations 5G networks. The nations National Security Council will meet today to decide on the matter. Huawei is riding high on the back of an increased patriotic sentiment in its home country following the US ban last year. A majority of its impressive business numbers are generated from within China. But with possibly more troubles coming its way, theres now little room to grow for the company. Toddler Davell Gardner Jr. was killed and three men were wounded after two gunmen opened fire at a family cookout outside the Raymond Bush Playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood The grandmother of a one-year-old boy killed in his stroller near a Brooklyn playground on Sunday has demanded an end to New York City's gun violence. Samantha Gardner told Fox News on Monday: 'For the cowards that did this, you should be ashamed of yourself because everybody talk about black lives matter. What about baby lives? What about teenager lives? Like, you took an innocent child from her mother and father as well as the grandparents. I don't think it's fair.' Toddler Davell Gardner Jr. was killed and three men were wounded after two gunmen opened fire at a family cookout outside the Raymond Bush Playground in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood Sunday evening. The three men were expected to survive. The boy's grandma Samantha had earlier told The New York Daily News: 'So, when is it going to end? When are these young African American men, when are they going to stop with the shooting and the killing of all these innocent kids? It dont make any sense.' Calling Davell the 'joy' in her life, she added: 'They need to stop this gun violence. I feel like this: You all are ranting and raving about black lives. But you take a life that was only a year and half old. And its not fair.' She added: 'I hope they catch the b******s and put them under the jail cell.' The boy's dad, Davell Sr. said: 'The community is just getting worse and worse. Nobody's doing nothing about it. Nobody. Nobody is trying to make a change. And it's sad to say that. Like every day is just worse. You don't know if you're going to live to see the next day.' Gardner Jr. was in his stroller around 11:30 p.m. when two men dressed in black approached, fired and fled, the New York Times reported, citing police. Davell, who was hit in the abdomen, died at the hospital, the Times said. The boy's dad Davell Sr. and grandmother Samantha spoke out in the wake of his death Police said the child had been sitting in a stroller. A stroller was left at the scene as well as several chairs on the sidewalk The New York Post pictured the child's mother crying at the scene Davell Sr. added: 'You took my son's life. I can't get that back. I can't hold him no more. I can't hear him calling me daddy no more. I can't kiss them no more. I can't play with them no more. I can't do nothing with him no more. 'I've got to put my son and the ground now. He's only one. His birthday is in two months, in two months. He didn't live to see two. He didn't live life. It's like I wanted to get him out of here before something like this happened.' Mayor Bill de Blasio observed a moment of silence and declared himself 'heartbroken' on Monday over the boy's death, part of a recent surge of gun violence in the city. 'It's just horrifying,' de Blasio said at a news conference to discuss the coronavirus. 'A baby boy, Davell Gardner Jr., one years old, playing at a playground. Davell was just starting his life and his life was full of possibilities. And now he's gone.' Cops were pictured on the scene at the Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Madison Street cross-section following the shooting. Gardner Jr. was in his stroller around 11:30 p.m. when two men dressed in black approached, fired and fled, the New York Times reported, citing police. Davell, who was hit in the abdomen, died at the hospital, the Times said. Police said the child had been sitting in a stroller. A stroller was left at the scene as well as several chairs on the sidewalk. The toddler passed away around 2.30am on Monday after being transported to Maimonides Medical Center. The New York Post pictured the child's mother crying at the scene. The other victims have not been identified. The sharp rise in shootings in New York, Chicago and other U.S. cities, coming in the midst of the social disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, runs counter to a 20-year trend toward lower crime. Cops were pictured on the scene at the Marcus Garvey Boulevard and Madison Street cross-section following the shooting The toddler passed away around 2.30am on Monday after being transported to Maimonides Medical Center The sharp rise in shootings in New York, Chicago and other U.S. cities, coming in the midst of the social disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic, runs counter to a 20-year trend toward lower crime Davell's shooting was one of 11 incidents in which 16 people in New York were shot over the weekend, WABC television reported. Shootings were up more than 50 percent this year over 2019 with 585 incidents reported as of July 5, the New York Times said. De Blasio mentioned a separate weekend incident in which a 12-year-old was shot in the leg. 'You can never look away from something like this and be numb to it. I'm just heartbroken today,' de Blasio said. Agents from different components of the Department of Homeland Security are deployed to protect a federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 5, 2020. (Doug Brown via AP) Portland Police Battle Violent Demonstrators as Riots Continue in Oregon City Portland police officers clashed with violent demonstrators overnight as unrest continued in Oregons largest city with no signs of letting up. Mobs gather on a nightly basis in Portland to assault the Justice Center, a city building that includes a police precinct, and the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse. They turned their attention on Monday night to the Portland police unions building. People in the crowd hurled projectiles at officers, including frozen water bottles and metal ball bearings, the Portland Police Bureau said, and someone tried lighting a mattress on fire. Officers declared a riot and fired tear gas after the groups didnt disperse. Members of the crowd are still not dispersing despite numerous orders to leave and opportunities to do so, the bureau said around 1 a.m. Pacific Time. Officers arrested a number of people. A construction hammer, top, that authorities said was used by Jacob Michael Gaines to strike a U.S. Marshal Service deputy outside the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland, Ore., on July 11, 2020. The bottom pictures are still images from video showing the assault, authorities said. (Department of Justice) Unrest has plagued Portland since late May, causing $23 million in damage and lost business. City officials have struggled to manage the mayhem. Because the courthouse is a federal building, federal troops have challenged the mobs and arrested at least eight people, including a Texas man accused of assaulting a U.S. Marshal with a four-pound construction hammer over the weekend. Jacob Michael Gaines, 23, who was residing in a vehicle in Portland, was arrested and charged after striking the law enforcement officer three times. While being struck, the deputy managed to hold onto Gaines while other officers handcuffed him and placed him under arrest, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Oregon said in a statement. Violence against the group has been criticized by many officials, who spoke out after a man in the crowd was injured. The U.S. Marshals Service said it was investigating the shooting of a round at a protester who was captured on video hurling a canister an officer threw back towards a group of officers. Donavan La Bella, 26, required facial reconstructive surgery, his mother told The Oregonian. Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, said in a statement that he was concerned that the actions of federal officers last night escalated, rather than de-escalated, already heightened tensions in our city. A worker washes graffiti off the sidewalk in front of the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in downtown Portland, Ore., as two agents with the U.S. Marshals Service emerge from the boarded-up main entrance to examine the damage, on July 8, 2020. (Gillian Flaccus/AP Photo) We are now more than a month and a half into witnessing nightly violence on our streets. Portland continues to be used as a staging ground for violence night after night, he said. Wheeler said he put into place restrictions on local police, including limiting the use of CS gas, to stop the violence, and called on the federal government to adhere to the restrictions. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement that the injury was the result of President Donald Trump unilaterally dispatching federal law enforcement into U.S. cities. Trump and Homeland Security must now answer why federal officers are acting like an occupying army, he said. And Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said the events were the tragic and avoidable result of President Donald Trump, for weeks, continuing to push for force and violence in response to protests. The U.S. Attorneys Office in Oregon said last week in announcing seven arrests that the federal courthouse has been a repeated target of vandalism, sustaining extensive damage. Federal officers working to protect the building have been subjected to threats; aerial fireworks including mortars; high intensity lasers targeting officers eyes; thrown rocks, bottles, and balloons filled with paint from demonstrators while performing their duties, the office said. This Octobers Frieze London and Frieze Masters art fairs, the double-headed centerpiece of the British capitals busiest art market week, have been canceled in light of continued unprecedented challenges regarding Covid-19 (coronavirus), the organizers said Tuesday. Like the May edition of Frieze New York, which was also canceled because of the pandemic, the London fairs will revert to an online-only format. The in-person editions of Frieze London and Frieze Masters, which showcase international gallerists specializing in contemporary pieces and pre-21st-century art, had been scheduled to take place in their temporary structures in Regents Park from Oct. 8-11. Over the last six years, Frieze London has attracted some 60,000 visitors, according to the fairs website. The slickly presented events have been the main draw for international collectors during the hectic round of fairs, dealer shows, museum exhibitions and auctions that has become known as Londons Frieze Week. Covid-related restrictions on travel and congregation have made that untenable. It was inevitable; none of my clients were intending to go to Frieze, and normally they love going to London in October, said Heather Flow, an art adviser based in New York. Im pretty adventurous, but I wouldnt have felt comfortable, even if I could leave the country. Last month, Frieze sent a letter to exhibitors at its Frieze Masters and Frieze London fairs, asking them to confirm participation by June 26. It warned dealers that if the event went ahead it would have to be on a smaller scale, possibly combining the masters and contemporary events in a single venue. The organizers promised a full refund on prepaid stand fees if the fairs were canceled. Victoria has recorded 270 new cases of coronavirus, the state's third-worst figure since the pandemic began. A total of 85 people are in hospital with 26 fighting for their lives and 21 on ventilators. Health officials carried out 21,995 tests in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monday. Victoria suffered 288 new cases on July 10 and 273 cases on July 12. Around 1,000 new ADF troops have been drafted in to help with testing and enforcing a border between Melbourne and the rest of the state. Victoria has recorded 270 new cases of coronavirus , the state's second-worst figure since the pandemic began. Pictured: Workers carry out testing in Melbourne Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned that around 200 people will be rushed to hospital with the virus in the next two weeks. 'There's often 10 per cent to 20 per cent of all coronavirus infections who require hospitalisation, so that's a couple of hundred individuals at least,' he said. It comes as south-west Sydney suffers an outbreak with 21 cases linked to the Crossroads hotel in Casula. Kmart in the town has been closed after an employee caught the deadly disease from a friend who went to the pub. The outbreak has led the Queensland government to ban travellers from Sydney's COVID-19 hotspots - less than a week after the Sunshine State opened borders to their southern neighbours. The move comes as the NSW government introduces stricter operating rules for pubs after 21 COVID-19 cases were linked to the Crossroads Hotel since July 3. The new rules for pubs and hotels will be announced on Tuesday, including a limit of 300 people regardless of size, and group bookings capped at 10 people. Meanwhile, South Australia has postponed its border opening for travellers from the ACT and NSW, which was scheduled for 20 July. Casula Mall on Monday night (pictured) where a Kmart worker tested positive for coronavirus The Covid-19 pandemic has upended the world as we know it. In the subsequent blame game, dense cities occupy pole position. Prima facie, this looks like a fair accusation given the extent of the outbreak in Mumbai, Delhi, New York and London. However, a more granular look at the data suggests that this is not accurate. High densities and agglomeration effects, the secret sauce of successful big cities, are precisely what make them vulnerable to threats such as pandemics. Social interactions are higher in cities, and an infected person is likely to come in contact with a larger number of people, say while commuting on a train, thus hastening the spread of the disease in cities such as Mumbai and New York. But what are we to make of similarly dense cities that were able to control and contain the outbreak? Seoul, with a population density of 16,000 persons per square kilometre, had far fewer cases than New York. Taipei, whose density is comparable to New York, did not suffer from a serious outbreak. Other Asian megacities such as Hanoi, Hong Kong and Bangkok have done well too. In New York itself, Manhattan, the densest of the five boroughs has the lowest number of infections. Data suggests that in terms of share of population with Covid-19, rural counties such as Trousdale in Tennessee, with one in eight people, outstripped New York with one in 44. A World Bank study of the outbreak in China shows that population densities in cities are not correlated to the spread of the virus. Very dense cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin have remained relatively unscathed. Clearly, density is not the sole culprit, if at all. As the urbanist Richard Florida has pointed out, we must not conflate density with overcrowding. To paraphrase Robert McDonald of Nature Conservancy, there is a difference between a 500 sq ft apartment in Mumbai occupied by two people, versus the same space occupied by 10 people in a slum the latter sets the stage for the rapid spread of infectious diseases. Needless to say, a dense urban population does not imply low per-capita square footage. The latter occurs due to bad urban policies. What else might explain the conundrum? A recent study on metropolitan counties in the United States (US) suggests that socio-economic factors and levels of education were better at explaining outcomes related to mortality and spread of infection. It also suggests that dense urban areas may, in fact, have benefited from better public awareness and consequent behavioural adaptation, such as wearing masks, due to the immediacy of the threat. Obviously, big cities, even in India, have much better health care facilities, including large public and multi-speciality hospitals, and health professionals, compared to other places because these require economies of scale to be viable. Studying policies for tackling Covid-19 adopted by different countries, regions, and cities gives us further insight into why some were extremely successful. The biggest explanatory variable, besides socio-economic factors and State capacity, appears to be previous experience (including by osmosis) with infectious disease, be it in Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, or Kerala. These places simply took the disease more seriously. The suite of measures they undertook includes aggressive testing, tracing, isolation, clear communications, hand hygiene and extensive mask-wearing. Once these measures were in place, even super-dense slum clusters such as Dharavi in Mumbai, where over 800,000 people live in an area of 2.4 square kilometres, have turned the corner. At the time of writing, there are visible signs of the curve being flattened. Every crisis is an opportunity to rebuild better. Instead of calls for de-urbanisation, building resilient cities is the need of the hour. The more immediate policy responses that will earn large dividends in India include: One, addressing crowding by increasing per-capita consumption of floor area by drastically reducing regulatory barriers to construction. Two, administratively, the crisis has taught us that a pandemic response cannot be federally-mandated and requires a decentralised, proximal, and accountable response. To enable this, city leaders need to be empowered. Three, social protection systems need to be redesigned to protect the poor and vulnerable in urban areas, in addition to the current focus on rural settlements. Four, countries such as India with large out-of-pocket expenditures on private health care must restore the balance between health care and robust public health that focuses on improving health outcomes for all only a capable State can deliver the latter. Covid-19 is neither the first nor the last public health crisis to hit cities. Everything from the Black Death to the bubonic plague to the Spanish flu, not to mention world wars and terror attacks, have ravaged cities in the past. Each time, people worried that it was the end of big cities, only to watch them re-emerge stronger and more vibrant. This time will be no different. The demise of dense cities is greatly exaggerated. Reuben Abraham and Vaidehi Tandel are CEO and junior fellow respectively at the IDFC Institute, Mumbai The views expressed are personal Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi - Vietnamese goods are likely to face intense competition once the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) takes effect in early August, economists have forecast. The EUs exports to Vietnam are expected to increase by about 29 percent by 2035, or about 15 billion EUR (17 billion USD), while tariffs on EU products shipped to Vietnam will gradually fall to zero percent. The Finance Ministry is drafting a decree on preferential export-import tariffs for the 2020-2022 period. A survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of Vietnamese consumers are ready to spend more on quality and safe products - higher than the global average of 49 percent. Domestic firms therefore need to devise strategies on pricing, promotions, and packaging to meet demand. There remain shortcomings in the Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese products campaign, according to experts, including the prevalence of fake and sub-standard products and those without clear origin. They said it is necessary for the domestic production sector to restructure and use modern technology to improve human resources and navigate a market of 500 million Europeans. Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said the ministry is monitoring the consumption of Vietnamese goods at shopping centres, supermarkets, and markets while developing the domestic market and pushing the Vietnamese prioritise Vietnamese goods campaign. The ministry is also implementing Government Resolution No 84/NQ-CP dated May 29, 2020 on tasks and measures to tackle difficulties in production and trade, step up the disbursement of public investment, and ensure social safety and order amid COVID-19. Apart from State support, domestic enterprises have been urged to develop their trademarks to increase the competitiveness of Vietnamese goods at home. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Kieran Guilbert (Thomson Reuters Foundation) London, United Kingdom Tue, July 14, 2020 13:30 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066628375 2 World UK,Britain,modern-slavery,underpaid-workers,forced-labors Free Britain is home to at least 100,000 modern slaves according to a new study, 10 times more than the official estimate, as activists warned 90% of victims may be going undetected. Anti-slavery charity Justice and Care and think tank The Centre for Social Justice said the real number could be even higher, and warned that the coronavirus pandemic was likely to push more people into forced labor at car washes and brothels. The study comes in the wake of media and campaigner reports that online fashion firm Boohoo's suppliers underpaid garment workers in Leicester, central England, and failed to protect them from COVID-19. Boohoo last week said it was investigating. Justice and Care said political leadership to tackle modern slavery had waned in recent years, and that a landmark 2015 anti-slavery law may have created a "false sense of security". "Whilst Britain has made progress fighting modern slavery, not least in the passing of the Modern Slavery Act five years ago, so much more work is needed to combat the issue," the charity's chief executive, Christian Guy, said in a statement. The world-first law has been subjected to reviews following criticism that it is not being used fully to jail traffickers, drive companies to tackle forced labor, or help enough victims. "Ninety percent of victims may be going undetected and thousands of traffickers are running riot," Guy added. A record 10,627 suspected victims were identified last year in Britain - up 52% from 2018. Most were victims of labor abuse and many came from nations such as Albania, Nigeria and Vietnam. Government 'just getting started' Britain's home secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said her department would look closely at the report's findings. "While the Modern Slavery Act was ground-breaking in tackling this heinous crime, we are just getting started in the fight to rid this evil from the United Kingdom," Patel said. Government research in 2018 said the crime sets Britain back by up to 4.3 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) annually, based on an earlier estimate of 10,000 - 13,000 slaves living in the nation. The charity and the think tank said the government needed to update its estimate, and the cost of the crime to the taxpayer. The study arrived at its 100,000 estimate by taking police statistics from one area of Britain - the West Midlands - that predicted the number of victims locally using a new artificial intelligence model, and extrapolating that data nationwide. Academics at Nottingham University's Rights Lab, the world's first large-scale research platform on slavery, said the study offered a "very exciting and new way" to measure the problem. "It is very difficult to estimate the size of a hidden population and this report potentially provides a new part of the anti-slavery measurement toolkit," Zoe Trodd, director of the Rights Lab, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email. The 2018 Global Slavery Index by the Walk Free Foundation put the number of slaves in Britain at 136,000, and 40.3 million globally. But the methodology has been widely questioned and criticized by several activists and academics in the field. By Trend The Armenian provocation was aimed at involving Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member countries in the conflict, Russian expert and TV presenter Yevgeny Mikhailov told Trend commenting on the attack of the Armenian armed forces in the direction of Azerbaijan's Tovuz district along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border. According to the expert, it is no coincidence that the Armenian lobby in the media spoke of an alleged attack from Azerbaijan and necessity to do something in this connection. "It's an obvious fact that recently, Pashinyans regime has been making all efforts to switch the attention of the [Armenian] population becoming poor during his reign from internal problems to external ones. I associate the firing at the Azerbaijani military positions by the Armenian armed forces namely with this, he said. Again, in my opinion, in this provocation, there is a trace of foreign centers that need confrontation in the region. I think that Moscow adequately assesses the situation, especially amid the changeable Armenian policy and the growing anti-Russian rhetoric from Yerevan. Armenia is now a country that is trying by any means to arouse pity among the allies for alleged attack against it. This provocation is also aimed to veil the country's militaristic aspirations towards Nagorno-Karabakh, which must be returned to Azerbaijan, Mikhailov noted. It is worth recalling the statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the phased settlement of the Karabakh conflict with the start of the transfer of the occupied districts [around Nagorno Karabakh to Azerbaijan]," he noted adding that latest actions and statements of the Armenian side are links of one chain, but Moscow and Baku cannot be fooled. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz ALBANY Travelers to New York from 22 states are now facing a mandatory 14-day quarantine under an order issued June 24 by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin were added to the mandatory travel quarantine list on Tuesday. The other states flagged by the state Department of Health are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. The state of Delaware was removed from the list Tuesday. The list expanded Tuesday as travelers flying into New York airports from states with high rates of coronavirus infections now face the threat of a summons and $2,000 fine if they decline to fill out forms disclosing their travel plans. That mandate, announced Monday by Cuomo, came after tens of thousands of airline travelers have been refusing to sign the forms and brushing past tables in airports that are staffed by health officials tasked with collecting the information. "You must give officials at the airport your form as to where you came from and where you're going, before you leave the airport," Cuomo said. The new edict "will be enforced at every airport in the state of New York." The Port Authority is enforcing the new regulation at downstate airports and Cuomo had said that at upstate airports MacArthur, Westchester, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and Niagara Falls enforcement teams stationed at the regional airports would be comprised of state Department of Health peace officers and State Police. But if a flight originates in a state flagged as high risk, but makes a stop at an airport in a state not on the list, the passengers on that flight will not receive the law enforcement greeting at the gate. That is the case with a flight arriving in Albany late Tuesday afternoon that originates in Florida but is scheduled to make a stop in Baltimore. The governor's office said the law enforcement personnel will meet arriving aircraft at the gate and greet disembarking passengers to request proof that they have completed the traveler forms. The Times Union reported Monday that the TSA would need to waive regulations to allow the state workers, including troopers, to pass airport checkpoints and into so-called "sterile" areas, where police officers and other workers are credentialed to go after receiving special training and separate identification. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple, whose department has a $2.2 million annual contract with Albany International Airport to oversee security, had said he learned about the new regulation as a result of Cuomo's briefing Monday. "You need to take a class to be certified to go into sterile areas," Apple said. "Its a separate ID; it doesnt matter who you are. You need that separate ID in order to go back there. Thats through the TSA." Doug Myers, a spokesman for Albany International Airport, on Monday said there would be "approved security protocol in place" that will allow "non-badged individuals to proceed through the TSA checkpoint." A spokeswoman for the TSA said that the state workers, including law enforcement officers, will be allowed to proceed through the security checkpoint but will need to undergo screening similar to passengers and airline employees. Myers said that the state workers will be provided with tables and chairs to greet disembarking passengers at the passenger gates. State officials do not have the legal authority to obtain flight passenger manifests. Cuomo said anyone who flouts the new requirement "can then be brought to a hearing and ordered to complete mandatory quarantine," Cuomo said. "We can't have a situation where we have people coming from other states bringing the virus again." At the Elmira, Ogdensburg and Plattsburgh airports, the enforcement teams will be there only on the days when there flights arriving from impacted states, officials said. But if a traveler takes a connecting flight to a New York airport through an airport that is not in a state on the quarantine list, it's unclear how police or health officials would be able to confirm that passenger's information if they decline to fill out a questionnaire. The state Department of Health two weeks ago said government workers had collected more than 6,600 questionnaires from travelers who had landed at New York airports in the first week after Cuomo first imposed a 14-day quarantine, which went into effect on June 25. The two-page forms carry the header "New York State Traveler Health Form" and ask participants to list their personal information, including name, phone numbers, email and residential addresses as well as their ultimate destination. It asks travelers to list states they have visited and the dates, as well as to disclose any information about COVID-19 symptoms. The form ends with a warning above the signature line stating the person submitting the form is providing truthful information "under penalty of law." "Upon entering New York, if you are a traveler and do not have a suitable dwelling for your 14-day quarantine period, you must find appropriate accommodations at your own cost," the form states. "If you are a NYS resident returning from travel and do not have appropriate accommodations for quarantine, please call your local health department." Many other governors have imposed similar mandatory quarantines for people visiting or returning to their states, but New York's order imposes hefty civil penalties that can escalate up to $10,000 for anyone who violates the requirement. Other states have made the orders "advisory." In order for someone to face a penalty in New York, Public Health Law had required that they first be notified by a local health department official that they are subject to quarantine and ordered to isolate themselves or their family. But under the mandate announced by Cuomo, someone can now receive a summons immediately for non-compliance. There is no timetable for how long New York's quarantine requirement will remain in effect; Cuomo imposed it at a time when tens of thousands of people are beginning to embark on summer vacations, including to locations that include the Carolinas and Florida, which are on the list of states flagged as high-risk. States are included in the advisory if 10 per 100,000 residents or 10 percent of the total population tests positive on a seven-day rolling average. Someone who merely passes through a high-risk state, and may visit a few rest areas along the way or have a layover at an airport, are not required to self-quarantine upon entering New York. As a voter, youre supposed to trust Illinois politicians. Trust that theyll give you property tax relief. Trust that theyll start passing smarter budgets. Trust that theyll undo some of their past mistakes. Oh, and trust that theyll only slap this top itty-bitty 3% of taxpayers with higher tax rates as if higher earners are to blame for this states fiscal mess. Youll see ads urging you to trust the pols, including the most influential pol, House Speaker Michael Madigan, and vote yes on the Pritzker Tax amendment. Pritzker dumped more than $50 million of his own money into the campaign to get it passed. Tesco and NESS sign Malaysia's largest commercial solar Power Purchase Agreement HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 14 July 2020 - Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Tesco) and NE Suria Satu Sdn Bhd (NESS), a joint-venture company of PETRONAS and NEFIN Group, have entered into the largest long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) (Tesco-NESS PPA) for solar energy in Malaysia. The first phase of the Tesco-NESS PPA will see the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the rooftop spaces of 15 Tesco stores nationwide. The Tesco-NESS PPA will run for 20 years until 2040. Once the installation is completed in October 2020, the solar PV panels will collectively generate about 18 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy per year, thus reducing approximately 13,624 tonnes of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The power generated from the solar PV panels can also light up as many as 104 Olympic-sized stadiums simultaneously or 804,905 three-bedroom homes for an entire year. "The installation of the solar PV panels in 15 out of 62 of our stores is the first phase in Tesco's renewable energy push. Eventually, we will be able to generate clean, renewable energy at most of our stores and in the process, reduce our carbon emissions. This push in environmental sustainability is just one of the many ways that we are doing to reduce our impact on the environment, which already includes measuring and publishing our food waste data and reducing the usage of single-use plastic bags in our stores," said Tesco Chief Executive Officer, Paul Ritchie. "We are pleased to work with NESS in our first foray into clean renewable energy as the consortium that forms NESS has proven individual track records in delivering and maintaining major projects such as this. We look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with them," he added. NESS is a collaboration between PETRONAS through its New Energy business unit which focuses on providing end-to-end, cost-effective, and sustainable cleaner energy solutions; and NEFIN Group, which is a renowned regional bespoke solar developer and asset management group. Story continues NESS' Director Dr Jay Mariyappan, who is also the Head of PETRONAS New Energy, said: "We are honoured to be awarded Tesco's first solar project in Malaysia. With the collective capabilities of PETRONAS and NEFIN, we are confident that we will be able to support Tesco in realising its sustainability goals which ultimately will benefit all of us. This is also in line with our aspiration to be the leading cleaner energy solutions provider." NESS will fully invest in the 15 solar PV project, including the design, installation, operation and maintenance of the solar PV systems. NESS has appointed Solarvest as its local Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) contractor for this project. The Tesco-NESS PPA is especially significant for Tesco towards supporting its parent company, Tesco Group's goal of becoming a zero-carbon business by 2050. The stores which will be fitted with the solar PV panels are Tesco Mergong, Tesco Sungai Petani Selatan, Tesco Bukit Mertajam, Tesco Rawang, Tesco Ipoh, Tesco Station 18, Tesco Klang, Tesco Puchong, Tesco Bukit Puchong, Tesco Extra Seremban Jaya, Tesco Kulim, Tesco Stargate, Tesco Seberang Jaya, Tesco Jitra and Tesco Kampar. About Tesco Stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd Tesco Malaysia was established in May 2002 through its first store in Puchong, Selangor. Today, it employs over 7,000 employees across 62 stores and two distribution centres throughout Peninsular Malaysia. In 2013, Tesco paved the way in online grocery shopping through the launch of Tesco Online which started in Klang Valley before expanding to Penang, Johor Bahru, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and Ipoh. About NE Suria Satu Sdn Bhd (NESS) NESS, a joint venture between Petroliam Nasional Bhd's subsidiary for its New Energy business in Malaysia, PETRONAS Power Sdn Bhd and NEFINCO Malaysia Sdn Bhd, a member of the NEFIN Group. NESS' focus is on commercial and industrial projects in Malaysia and the TESCO-NESS PPA is the joint venture's first project. PETRONAS New Energy is PETRONAS' renewables business that currently includes M+ by PETRONAS which has more than 50MW of solar solutions under development with commercial and industrial customers in Malaysia, and its 100% owned distributed energy company, Amplus Energy Solutions that has more than 650MW of operating and under construction solar projects in India and Dubai. Founded by core management team of DuPont Solar Business, legal expert and investment bankers, NEFIN Group has collectively delivered over 300MW of utility-scale, commercial and industrial rooftop solar systems regionally. The mission of NEFIN is about achieving carbon neutrality for companies. The group offers consulting services such as due diligence, feasibility studies and lender-technical advice on top of project development, system design, engineering and asset management. NEFIN Group also offers flexible financing options to partners who opt for zero investment. Please refer to NEFIN's website www.nefinco.com for more information. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Raghu Gururaj (The Jakarta Post) Medan, North Sumatra Tue, July 14, 2020 11:59 553 6657ac82168da9fa101c8a4066622fb9 3 Opinion India,COVID-19,response,economy,self-reliance,packages,Global,supply-chain Free The COVID-19 pandemic has put the entire world in a spin and undesirable imposition on all of us. Every government suddenly finds itself in uncharted waters and faced with newer and stranger realities. Across the globe, several governments have fashioned their policy responses, keeping in view their population profile and unique challenges, to invigorate their economies in the face of the pandemic. For instance, Indonesia has adopted a number of measures targeted at the deprived sections by allocating US$2 billion for poverty alleviation, relaxation of import and export regulations and benefits extended to low income groups in housing sector. Keeping in mind its unique challenges, India, too, has recalibrated its policy approach to deal with social and economic obstacles that the pandemic has posed. India is a big country with a huge and dense population spread across several diverse regions. The pandemic has posed a host of challenges to India, which are health-related as well as economic and social in nature. Recently, the government of India promulgated the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan (self-reliant India), the objective of which is to merge domestic production and consumption with global supply chains. It is also about being self-sustaining and self-generating, without being isolationist. By its idea of self-reliance or Atmanirbhar, India does not seek self-centered arrangements or turning the country inward. The call for Atmanirbhar is not about reverting to economic isolationism. Its essential aim is to ensure Indias position as a key participant in global supply chains. Through building capacities at home, India also intends to contribute to mitigating disruptions in global markets. India seeks to identify products and commodities where it has the ability or potential to expand domestic production and enhance global availability. As such there is no contradiction between an India that is building its economic capacities, and an India that is looking to play a bigger role in global business, trade and innovation. The $300 billion stimulus scheme is directly aimed at empowering vulnerable sections of Indian society to ensure inclusive social protection and growth. The vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, as the prime minister said, would stand on the five pillars of: economy; infrastructure; Indias system driven by technology; demography and demand. The stimulus package of nearly $270 billion launched by the prime minister under the Abhiyaan aims to both reinvigorate the economy and provide a social safety net to our vulnerable sections. The program also endeavors to mitigate the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic in the short term, but also to instill confidence in Indian businesses and industries, make Indian manufacturing globally competitive; integrating Indian agriculture and small farmers with global food supply chains and embracing both investment and technology. The size of the economic relief and stimuli measures under the Abhiyaan is equivalent to 10 percent of Indias gross domestic product (GDP). Structural reforms and relief measures under the Abhiyaan cover every section of the Indian economy, including small farmers, migrant workers and laborers, agriculture, the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, small businesses, start-ups, housing, industrial infrastructure, healthcare, and education, among others. Under this pro-poor package, so far the government has already transferred an amount equivalent to $4.2 billion to 200 million families and $2.4 billion to 90 million farmers all the money directly transferred into individual bank accounts. It has further allocated $6.7 billion for creating job opportunities. Indian private sector participation has been given a big push in eight areas, including coal, minerals, defense production, civil aviation, power distribution, social infrastructure, space and atomic energy. The New Public Sector Enterprise policy will be a significant step in enabling private participation in a greater number of sectors. These are just a few examples of opening previously restricted sectors to private participation. Access to affordable capital has been made easier by GOI for small businesses, which are important economic engines and job creators. On the monetary front, the Reserve Bank of India, the countrys central bank, has slashed policy rates, eased asset quality norms, provided loan moratoriums, taken measures to support exporters and allowed states to borrow more to meet their financing requirements. It has also pumped in massive liquidity to support banks, non-banking financial companies, mutual funds as well as taken measures to push the flow of funds to the MSMEs and the corporate sector. Another innovative initiative of the government of India is the Skill Mapping of Returning Indians (SWADES), which helps returning Indians from overseas and facing job uncertainties to match their skills with available jobs. This also addresses the problem of bridging the demand-supply gap in Indian industry. While dealing with the economic and social fallout of the pandemic, at the same time, the Indian government has been very mindful of augmenting its health sector spending programs. It has committed $3 billion to expand hospital facilities, ramp up test-track-treatment capacity and extended insurance coverage to frontline health workers engaged in COVID-19 response. There is a widespread feeling that this pandemic can be brought to rest only through a medical breakthrough in the form of a vaccine. Along with several other prominent global pharma countries, India is leading world efforts in its search for a vaccine. Two Indian companies are working on a vaccine and have secured government approval for clinical human trials. India remains strongly committed to this and was among the first countries to recognize the need for global engagement in handling the COVID-19 crisis. India took the lead in engaging world leaders for evolving a coordinated response. At the recently held virtual Global Vaccine Summit, India pledged $15 million to GAVI, the International Vaccine Alliance. Prime Minister Modi also highlighted that during the pandemic India had tried to live up to the teaching of seeing the world as one family, Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam, by sharing medicines with all countries and by provide specific support to countries that sought it. Besides individual governmental domestic stimulus and welfare measures, global engagement and cooperation have become quite critical to deal with the pandemic and ensure economic recovery across the globe. It is imperative now that countries need to pool their collective efforts and resources to develop vaccines and therapeutic treatments to contain the virus, while working together to ensure that the economic fallout of the pandemic is mitigated. *** The writer is consul general of India to Sumatra Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. The state of Georgia offers 11 available public fishing areas (PFA). PFAs are managed for fishing by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division (WRD), and most offer additional experiences to entertain the whole family. A Georgia Public Fishing Area is likely within a reasonable drive for families and makes a great place for a day, or longer, trip, says Thom Litts, WRD Fisheries Management Chief. Even though fishing is the main attraction for most visitors, Georgias PFAs also offer other family-friendly activities such as hiking, bird watching, picnicking and camping. Waters on PFAs vary from lakes several hundred acres in size to ponds less than one acre with some designated as kids-only fishing ponds. Anglers can fish from a boat, along the shoreline, or from a pier at most locations. Many PFAs have picnic tables, nature and wildlife observation trails, fish cleaning stations and restroom facilities. There are camping opportunities on some PFAs (from primitive camping to RV) for those wishing to stay overnight on the area, and many facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities. All PFAs are open seven days a week, and with the exception of Rocky Mountain PFA, also allow night fishing year-round. Make plans to visit one of the following PFAs today: Rocky Mountain PFA (Floyd County). Includes two lakes totaling 559 acres. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill and redear sunfish, channel catfish, crappie and walleye. McDuffie County PFA (McDuffie County): Includes seven ponds ranging from five to 37 acres, a trophy bass catch and release pond, fish hatchery, and an education center. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish and channel catfish. Big Lazer Creek PFA (Talbot County): Includes a 195-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, channel catfish, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, and crappie. Marben Farms PFA (Jasper/Newton counties): Includes 20 ponds ranging from one to 95 acres, a wildlife management area and the Charlie Elliott Education Center. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie and channel catfish. Ocmulgee PFA (Bleckley County): Includes a 106-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, and redear sunfish. Dodge County PFA (Dodge County): Includes a 104-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish and crappie. Evans County PFA (Evans County): Includes three lakes ranging from eight to 84 acres. Species: largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, redear sunfish, brown bullhead and channel catfish. Flat Creek PFA (Houston County): Includes a 108-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie and channel catfish. Hugh M. Gillis PFA (Laurens County): Includes a 109-acre lake. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, channel catfish and crappie. Paradise PFA (Berrien County): Includes 60 lakes totaling 525 acres. Species: largemouth bass, bluegill, redear sunfish, crappie, and channel catfish. Silver Lake PFA (Decatur County): Includes more than 30 lakes and ponds totaling 537 acres. Species: largemouth bass, blugill. Need a fishing license before you go? Visit www.GoOutdoorsGeorgia.com to purchase a license online or to view a list of retail license vendors, or buy a license by phone at 1-800-366-2661. As India crossed the 900,000 mark for Covid-19 cases, the health ministry said that the rate of growth in daily cases had declined to 3.24 per cent in July from over 31 per cent in March, even though the country had seen more 28,000 new cases daily for the last three days. With various states and cities reimposing lockdown as Covid-19 cases surge, the health ministry said this was just an expansion of containment areas and should not be linked to lockdowns or unlocks. All containment areas have to follow a strict perimeter control or the cases will rise. Whenever there is a ... The victim, a Black man whose name the authorities said they would not disclose, had been accidentally released from jail and was taken to a substance abuse and mental health treatment center, Sheriff Chronister said. The man left the treatment center on Thursday morning, and deputies found him hiding behind a trailer in North Tampa, the sheriff said. The man was taken into custody, and the sheriffs deputies placed him on the ground, chest down, as they attempted to identify him, the sheriff said. The man refused to confirm his identity, and Sergeant Amin drew his gun, pointed it at the mans head and threatened his life, the sheriff said. The victim was not armed and made no aggressive actions, Sheriff Chronister said. The man was in fear for his life, the sheriff said, and has been cooperating with the authorities. Even though the victim of this crime is an arrestee, he is entitled to the same protections and rights of any victim of a crime, Sheriff Chronister said. A Sheriffs Office spokeswoman said in a statement that race was not a factor in the episode. The authorities were unable to locate video footage of the encounter, and the spokeswoman said the deputies were not wearing body cameras. Hillsborough County sheriffs deputies do not currently wear body cameras but will be doing so in the near future, the spokeswoman said. A team led by scientists at Scripps Research has discovered a common molecular feature found in many of the human antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The scientists, whose study appears July 13 in Science, reviewed data on nearly 300 anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies that their labs and others have found in convalescent COVID-19 patients over the past few months. They noted that a subset of these antibodies is particularly powerful at neutralizing the virus -- and these potent antibodies are all encoded, in part, by the same antibody gene, IGHV3-53. The scientists used a powerful tool known as X-ray crystallography to image two of these antibodies attached to their target site on SARS-CoV-2. The resulting atomic-structure details of this interaction should be useful to vaccine designers, as well as to scientists hoping to develop antiviral drugs targeting the same site on SARS-CoV-2. Prior research suggests that antibodies encoded by IGHV3-53 are generally present, at least in small numbers, in healthy people's blood. The results therefore offer hope that using a vaccine to boost levels of these ever-present antibodies will protect adequately against the virus. "This type of antibody has been isolated frequently in studies of COVID-19 patients, and we can now understand the structural basis for its interaction with SARS-CoV-2," says the study's senior author Ian Wilson, DPhil, Hansen Professor of Structural Biology and Chair of the Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology at Scripps Research. "This study provides important inspiration for effective COVID-19 vaccine design," says co-author Dennis Burton, PhD, professor and co-chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research. advertisement The research was a collaboration chiefly involving the Wilson and Burton labs, and the Scripps Research-based Neutralizing Antibody Center of IAVI, a prominent non-profit vaccine research organization. SARS-CoV-2 so far has infected more than 12 million people around the world and killed more than 500,000, in addition to causing widespread socioeconomic disruption and damage. Developing an effective vaccine to stop the pandemic is currently the world's top public health priority. Although several potential vaccines are already in clinical trials, scientists don't yet have a full understanding of the molecular features that would define a protective antibody response. In the new study, the scientists took a big step toward that goal. The team started by analyzing 294 different SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies isolated from COVID-19 patients' blood over the past few months. Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins made in immune cells called B-cells. Each B-cell makes a specific antibody type, or clone, which is encoded by a unique combination of antibody genes in the cell. The scientists found that an antibody gene called IGHV3-53 was the most common of the genes for the 294 antibodies, encoding about 10 percent of them. The scientists also noted that the IGHV3-53-encoded antibodies in their study contain an unusually short variant of the CDR H3 loop, normally a key target-binding element. These antibodies are nevertheless very potent against SARS-CoV-2 when compared to other antibodies not encoded by IGHV3-53. advertisement A powerful response right off the bat The IGHV3-53 antibodies had yet another property suggesting that boosting their numbers would be a good and achievable aim for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: They appeared to have mutated only minimally from the original versions that would be circulating, initially in small numbers, in the blood of healthy people. Normally, when activated by an encounter with a virus to which they fit, B-cells will start proliferating and also mutating parts of their antibody genes, in order to generate new B-cells whose antibodies fit the viral target even better. The more mutations needed for this "affinity maturation" process to generate virus-neutralizing antibodies, the harder it can be to induce this same process with a vaccine. Fortunately, the IGHV3-53 antibodies found in the study seemed to have undergone little or no affinity maturation and yet were already very potent at neutralizing the virus -- which hints that a vaccine may be able to induce a protective response from these potent neutralizers relatively easily. "Coronaviruses have been around for hundreds to thousands of years, and one can imagine that our immune system has evolved in such a way that we carry antibodies like these that can make a powerful response right off the bat, so to speak" Wilson says. Map for vaccine-makers, gauge for clinical trials Wilson's team used high-resolution X-ray crystallography to image two different IGHV3-53 antibodies bound to their target on SARS-CoV-2. This target, known as the receptor binding site, is a crucial structure on the viral "spike" protein that normally connects to a receptor on human cells to begin the process of cell infection. Many of the antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2 appear to do so by blocking this virus-receptor connection. "We were able to reveal unique structural features of these IGHV3-53-encoded antibodies -- features that facilitate their high binding affinity and their specificity for the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding site," says co-first author Meng Yuan, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in the Wilson lab. The detailed atomic-scale structural data should be of interest to vaccine designers and drug developers. Moreover, the researchers say, the identification of IGHV3-53-encoded antibodies as key elements of the immune response to COVID-19 suggests that levels of these antibodies might be useful as an indirect marker of success in ongoing and future vaccine trials. "Structural basis of a shared antibody response to SARS-CoV-2" was written by first authors Meng Yuan, Hejun Liu, and Nicholas Wu, all of the Wilson lab; and by Chang-Chun Lee, Xueyong Zhu, Fangzhu Zhao, Deli Huang, Wenli Yu, Yuanzi Hua, Henry Tien, Thomas Rogers, Dennis Burton, and Ian Wilson, all of Scripps Research; and Elise Landais, Devin Sok and Joseph Jardine of IAVI. The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (K99 AI139445, UM1 AI44462), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1170236) and IAVI. The Deputy General Secretary of the Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr John Sampa, has said if a proposed strategic partnership agreement between the Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL) and TAM-SUMMA Consortium, a Turkish company, concerning the management of the Kotoka International Airport is approved, the deal will force the hands of the government into privatising the national asset. Mr Sampa said per some documents available to the PSWU, the government of Ghana will control only 34 per cent shares of KIA if the deal gets the nod. According to him, even though the government has denied that KIA is being sold, the agreement, as it stands, will make the private company the majority shareholder. He told Accra100.5FMs parliamentary correspondent Richard Appiah Sarpong in an exclusive interview after a press conference in Accra on Monday, 13 July 2020 that: The KIA workers are part of this union and, so, we had a meeting with them last week. During that meeting, they showed us documentation to the effect that the KIA is about to be sold. They showed us a proposal from the government, which centres on public-private partnership and one that when approved, will give the government only 34 per cent and the Turkish company consortium 66%, he said. If you enter into an agreement with someone who will have 66 per cent shares, then it simply means you have sold the company. Mr Sampas comments come after Aviation Minister Joseph Kofi Adda denied media reports that KIA was being sold. According to the Minister, what is being considered for deliberation by the Ministry and shareholders including GACL, is a strategic partnership to improve service delivery and expansion of infrastructure at the airport to achieve the governments vision of making Ghana the aviation hub within the West African sub-region. Source: Ghanaweb Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority. Featured Video Bakery boss urges people to continue supporting lifeline village and corner shops after the pandemic This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jul 14th, 2020 A bakery boss is appealing to people to continue supporting village and corner shops which have provided a lifeline for families during the coronavirus crisis. According to Village Bakery managing director Robin Jones, local stores have saved our bacon after the lockdown restrictions were imposed and supermarket delivery slots were impossible to come by. As well as supplying major supermarkets across the UK, the Wrexham-based family firm supplies a network of independent retailers across North Wales and the borders. Among them is the community shop in Llanarmon-yn-Ial which is staffed mainly by volunteers. The admiration is a two-way street for Elaine Jones, one of the shops two part-time managers, who sent a touching thank you card to the Village Bakery. She wrote: I just write to thank you all for keeping us going not just now in these difficult times but all year round without you our shop would not be the success that it is. Your products and your customer service are fantastic Im constantly ringing you for extras. The shop and the Village Bakery also have a royal connection. Coincidentally, both received a visit from the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on the same day five years ago. Shops like ours have played a massive role during the pandemic because weve kept the nation fed and, in our case,, weve kept the local community fed, Elaine added. Were very appreciative of what the Village Bakery have done because without them we would have really struggled. We had to ring up them twice in one week to tell them bring us triple the amount of bread. The delivery drivers have kept us going and weve kept everybody else fed. Its been a great team. We were also helped by the milk man who brings the milk and the eggs and the local butcher who supplies our meat. Its a great village and the whole community has pulled together and we have some real characters who help us. Robin Jones joined van sales manager Trish Mason on the latest delivery run to the Llanarmon store so that he could tell Elaine and the volunteers how much he appreciated the role they had played since the pandemic struck. It was a sentiment echoed by Trish who said: The community shop have been very positive right the way through Covid and theyve appreciated us keeping them going with pies and bread. We were deeply touched to receive the thank you card from Elaine it meant a great deal to the whole team at the Village Bakery. Robin said: Were coming through Covid-19 and weve all had to change and adapt. One thing that we should never forget is how all the local shopkeepers stepped up to the plate. They were there for us when we needed milk, when we needed bread and so on at a time when you could not get a supermarket delivery slot for love nor money. These little stores like the community shop Llanarmon, their staff and the volunteers, made all the difference in helping us to get through this crisis. If, God forbid, there is a second wave they will be there for us again. Theyre going to be better prepared than ever and ultimately they are selling local produce, local foods and supporting their local economy, which is so important. Our local shops are national treasures that we should continue to support and cherish. As we have discovered during recent times, they are there for us in good times and bad and we should never forget that. By Sharon Bernstein and Dan Whitcomb SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's governor ordered a retreat on Monday from the state's reopening as coronavirus cases soared and the state's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, announced all learning will be online-only when classes resume in a few weeks. California Governor Gavin Newsom shut bars and banned indoor restaurant dining statewide, while closing churches, gyms and hair salons in the hardest-hit counties. Newsom acted as COVID-19 cases strained hospitals in several rural counties and as infections mounted in Los Angeles and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area By Sharon Bernstein and Dan Whitcomb SACRAMENTO (Reuters) - California's governor ordered a retreat on Monday from the state's reopening as coronavirus cases soared and the state's two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego, announced all learning will be online-only when classes resume in a few weeks. California Governor Gavin Newsom shut bars and banned indoor restaurant dining statewide, while closing churches, gyms and hair salons in the hardest-hit counties. Newsom acted as COVID-19 cases strained hospitals in several rural counties and as infections mounted in Los Angeles and parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. Los Angeles is the second-largest school district in the United States and with San Diego has a combined 706,000 students and 88,000 employees. President Donald Trump, seeking re-election in November, has demanded schools reopen nationwide for in-person learning in the autumn. His campaign views reopening schools as necessary for economic recovery, especially for working parents with young children. Trump trails his presumptive Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, in opinion polls both nationwide and in swing states that decide elections. Florida along with Arizona, California and Texas have emerged as the new U.S. epicenters of the pandemic. Infections have risen rapidly in about 40 of the 50 states over the last two weeks, according to a Reuters analysis. Despite nearly 28,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last two days, Florida has announced no new measures such as a statewide mask mandate, and Disney World in Orlando remains open for business. 'PEOPLE AREN'T LISTENING' Linda Stuart, 70, a lifelong resident of Orlando, Florida, said she and her family were staying at home except to go to the grocery and were "painfully aware" how quickly cases are rising. "But sadly, too many people aren't listening," she said. "This should be terrifying them, but it isn't. Not enough people are even wearing masks." The rise in Florida cases emerged hours after Trump took swipes at health experts in his government leading the U.S. response to the pandemic and his relationship further frayed with infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci. [nL2N2EK15X} On Sunday, Florida reported a record increase of more than 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 in 24 hours. If Florida were a country, that would rank it 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 Disney World welcomed the public on Saturday for the first time since March with guests required to wear masks, undergo temperature checks and keep physically apart. Walt Disney Co faces a starkly different response in Hong Kong where the government has ordered the Disneyland theme park to close due to rising coronavirus cases. Hong Kong recorded 52 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, bringing total cases to 1,522. In Florida's Orange County, home to Disney World, cases rose by 623 to a total of 18,624, the fifth highest outbreak in the state's counties. With over 7.5 million residents, Hong Kong has more than five times the population of Orange County. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has called the state's rise in cases "a blip" and told residents not to be alarmed. Florida recorded more than 500 deaths this past week, compared with over 300 the prior week. It is one of about two dozen states where deaths have risen in the last seven days compared with the prior seven days, according to a Reuters analysis. The number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Florida is quickly rising, with over 500 new patients in the past 24 hours raising to 8,000 the number in hospitals, according to a state agency. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles, Rich McKay in Atlanta, Lisa Lambert and Doina Chiacu in Washington, and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; Writing by Lisa Shumaker; Editing by Howard Goller) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Health officials in Colorado have announced that a squirrel found in the town of Morrison recently tested positive for bubonic plague. The plague can be contracted by humans and household animals if proper precautions aren't taken but can be treated successfully with antibiotics, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to Jefferson County Public Health, humans can be infected through bites from infected fleas, the cough of an infected animal or by direct contact, such as a bite, from an infected animal. Cats are at risk for the plague and it can be fatal if not treated promptly with antibiotics, while dogs are not as susceptible. Both dogs and cats can contract the plague from flea bites. Public health officials say pet owners should consult a veterinarian if they suspect their pets are ill. Symptoms of the bubonic plague include a sudden onset of fever, headache, chills, weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes within two to seven days after exposure, according to the CDC. Related video: China issues an alert about bubonic plague here's what you need to know Health officials offer several tips to protect yourself and your pets from the plague and note that the risk is extremely low if precautions are taken. Eliminate sources of food, shelter and access for wild animals around homes and do not feed wild animals. Get rid of litter and trash in yards to discourage wild animal habitats. Avoid contact with sick or dead wild animals and rodents. Be careful when handling sick pets and have them examined by a veterinarian. Pursue flea and tick control for your pets. Make sure pets aren't roaming freely outside, where they may interact with wild animals and bring the disease back with them. Tesla CEO Elon Musk disputed a German court ruling issued today that bans the company from using on its website or other advertising terms like Autopilot or "full potential for autonomous driving." In a tweet, Musk said "Tesla Autopilot was literally named after the term used in aviation. Also, what about Autobahn!?" The Wettbewerbszentrale, an industry-sponsored organization that focuses on anti-competitive practices, brought the case to the German courts, arguing that the terms mislead the public as to the capabilities of Tesla's advanced driver assistant system. Tesla Autopilot was literally named after the term used in aviation. Also, what about Autobahn!? Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 14, 2020 https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Tesla vehicles come standard with Autopilot, an advanced driver assistance system that offers a combination of adaptive cruise control and lane steering. The more robust and higher-functioning version of Autopilot is called full self-driving, or FSD, which includes the parking feature Summon as well as Navigate on Autopilot, an active guidance system that navigates a car from a highway on-ramp to off-ramp, including interchanges and making lane changes. The system now recognizes and responds to traffic lights, as well. Still, Tesla vehicles are not self-driving cars. The system requires a human driver to remain engaged at all times. Wettbewerbszentrale also noted that Tesla's announcements on its website imply that automated driving will work on city streets by the end of the year, which misrepresents the reality that some of the functions mentioned are still not legally permitted in Germany. A Munich court agreed. Story continues And while Musk might disagree, it's unclear if he will direct Tesla to appeal the ruling. Tesla has not issued any official statements nor has the company responded to a request for comment. TechCrunch will update the article if Tesla responds. This is not the first time that the terms Autopilot and FSD have sparked criticism and controversy. Over the years, organizations, players within the auto industry and the media have raised questions about the use of Autopilot and FSD for a system that provides Level 2 driver assistance. This ruling is more than just a strongly worded remark. It carries weight and now raises the stakes for Tesla and how it brands or describes the ADAS on its vehicles in Germany. It could prompt other European countries, which tend to have stricter regulations about advertising, to follow suit. Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime Jeffrey Epstein confidant accused of helping him sexually abuse underage girls, tried to hide from federal agents during her July arrestand even wrapped her cell phone in tin foil in a misguided effort to evade detection, prosecutors said Monday. Federal prosecutors made the shocking disclosure about Maxwells July 2 arrest at her ultra-secluded New Hampshire mansion in court documents arguing against her release from federal prison on a $5 million bond. Maxwell, 58, is in custody at a federal detention facility in New York after being charged with allegedly enticing minors, some as young as 14, to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein in the mid-1990s. On Friday, Maxwells lawyer argued that the 58-year-old has not been hiding from authorities since the pedophile billionaires jailhouse suicide in Augustbut from an unrelenting and intrusive media. Ghislaine Maxwells Lawyers Claim She Was Never in Hiding, Hadnt Seen Epstein for a Decade Prosecutors hit back on Monday, stating that the socialite does not deserve any special treatment and that her actions over the last year prove she is an extraordinary flight risk. The memo also pointed to the millions Maxwell has in various bank accounts overseas. To the extent the defendant now refuses to account for her ownership of or access to vast wealth, it is not because it does not existit is because she is attempting to hide it, prosecutors wrote, noting that there should be no question that the defendant is skilled at living in hiding. After Epsteins jailhouse suicide last summer, the hunt was on for the dead financiers longtime consort, whom he once described as his best friend and who was complicit in the sexual trafficking of underage girls, according to his victims. Prosecutors said Monday that the morning of July 2, FBI agents arrived at her remote, 156-acre property in New Hampshire, broke her blocked gate, and announced themselves at the door. Story continues Through the window, prosecutors state, agents saw the 58-year-old socialite ignore the direction to open the door and instead try to flee to another room in the house, quickly shutting the door behind her. As a result, the agents had to forcibly enter her home, where they arrested her in an interior room in the house. Moreover, as the agents conducted a security sweep of the house, they also noticed a cell phone wrapped in tin foil on top of a desk, a seemingly misguided effort to evade detection, not by the press or public, which of course would have no ability to trace her phone or intercept her communications, but by law enforcement, prosecutors wrote. Epstein Used Database to Track Numerous Underage Girls Held Captive at His Virgins Islands Hideaway: Suit The court filing states that when agents questioned a security guard on the property, they discovered that Maxwells brother had also hired a security company staffed with former members of the British military to guard her in rotations. The guard informed the FBI that the defendant had not left the property during his time working there and that instead, the guard was sent to make purchases for the property using the credit card, prosecutors stated in the court filing. In the six-count indictment against Maxwell, prosecutors allege 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, it says. 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. They also argue she should be granted bail because of the COVID-19 threat in jail. 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 defense lawyer stated in the Friday memo. Jeffrey Epsteins Madam Ghislaine Maxwell Is Behind Bars. Who's Next? Stressing that Ghislaine Maxwell is not Jeffrey Epstein, her lawyers argued she should be released from federal prison on a $5 million bond with travel restrictions, home confinement, and GPS monitoring. In the memo, her lawyers also stressed that Maxwell is not a flight risk and that she is as much of a victim of Epstein, with whom she had not had contact for more than a decade. But prosecutors said Monday Maxwell played an essential role in Epsteins scheme, and stated that additional witnesses have come forward who are willing to provide detailed, credible evidence which has the potential to make the Governments case even stronger. At least one or more victims will testify at Maxwells detention hearing on Tuesday in New York, the memo added. At the heart of this case are brave women who are victims of serious crimes that demand justice, prosecutors said in the Monday court filing. The defendants motion wholly fails to appreciate the driving force behind this case: The defendants victims were sexually abused as minors as a direct result of Ghislaine Maxwells actions, and they have carried the trauma from these events for their entire adult lives. Read more at The Daily Beast. Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now! Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more. Fossil fuel developments are rapidly increasing emissions of methane, led by the opening of coal mines and gas fields, some of which are in Australia. An international team of researchers say agriculture formerly provided about two-thirds of non-natural methane emissions with fossil fuels making up the remainder until the early 2000s. Since, the gap has begun to close with the growth of emissions of the gas from fossil fuels double those from farming. A new study has found the contribution to rising atmospheric levels of methane from fossil fuels has caught up with farming over the past decade. Credit:AP "Methane emissions have continued to rise over the past decade and are tracking concentrations most consistent with the warmest marker scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change," according to the paper, published on Wednesday in the Environmental Research Letters journal. As a greenhouse gas, methane is second only to carbon dioxide in terms of warming the planet, contributing to about 23 per cent of the heating since 1750. The average methane concentration in the atmosphere has risen about 2.5 times over the period. 14 July 2020 Type Event Proceeding The second in a series of webinars aimed at Irish pig producers, which took place last Friday 10th July Download Publication (PDF) In the latest Let's Talk Pigs webinar, Jereon Dewulf joined the webinar to discuss Biosecurity - the first step to excellent health and performance. Jeroen gave a presentation on biosecurity as well as answering viewers questions View webinar here Jeroen Dewulf graduated in 1998 as a veterinarian from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Ghent University, Belgium. In 2002 he finished his PhD on the epidemiology and control of classical swine fever. In that same year he received a master of science degree in veterinary epidemiology from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands (Cum Laude). He became diplomat in the European College of Veterinary Public Health in 2005. Since 2006 he is associated professor in Veterinary Epidemiology at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Ghent University and in 2014 he was appointed as full professor in Veterinary Epidemiology. His main research interests are quantitative epidemiology and control of zoonoses with a specific emphasis on antimicrobial use and resistance in animals as well as the prevention of epidemic and endemic diseases with a focus on the application of biosecurity measures. Click here for more information on the Let's Talk Pig series and to register for future webinars. Trenton Police Director Sheilah A. Coley will hold a symposium with Latino community leaders on Tuesday, July 14 at City Hall, 319 E. State Street, from 7:30 9:30 p.m. Organized in partnership with the Guatemalan Civic Association, the two-hour discussion will be moderated and translated by Pastor Karen Hernandez-Granzen of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Attendees, who are encouraged to speak freely on any issues, will learn about how Director Coley is reorganizing the Trenton Police Department to perform better in this time of national calls for police reform and better accountability. I want to thank Mr. Ervin Chavez and Mr. Elmer Sandoval for their assistance in organizing the symposium, said Director Coley. Police departments across the U.S. are under significant scrutiny. It is incumbent upon us to strengthen our dialogue with all the people that we are sworn to protect and serve, particularly communities of color and immigrants. This event will exercise social distancing in accordance with CDC guidelines. Please wear a mask. College of Education study finds top challenges of Kansas K-12 teachers in COVID-19 crisis Tuesday, July 14, 2020 A survey of K-12 teachers in Kansas during the COVID-19 pandemic by a multidisciplinary research team from the Kansas State University College of Education looked at four key areas: technology/access; student/parent engagement; educator resiliency; and social-emotional well-being. MANHATTAN A survey by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the Kansas State University College of Education has identified the top needs and challenges of K-12 teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 800 teachers in rural, urban and suburban school districts across the state participated in the project, "Access, Engagement and Resilience During COVID-19 Remote Learning." Questions centered on four key areas: technology/access; student/parent engagement; educator resiliency; and social-emotional well-being. The purpose of the study was to identify meaningful data for district administrators and policymakers for school reopening while informing K-State's teacher preparation program. The survey was sent in May, about two months into the pandemic. Debbie Mercer, dean of the K-State College of Education, noted Kansas schools were the first in the nation to announce closure due to the pandemic, which opened the door for substantive inquiry. "Ten days. That's how much time teachers and administrators had to move our state's half-million students to online instruction," Mercer said. "At the same time this immense transition was occurring, teachers themselves were dealing with uncertainties in their personal lives. Bottom line? Teachers need support." The findings revealed a myriad of strengths and weaknesses and identified universal needs for students' social-emotional well-being, which was the teachers' top concern; broadband access, which was deemed a dire need by teachers; educator well-being; and strengthening engagement in diverse learning environments. The survey revealed several bright spots, particularly in the area of engagement: Teachers reported that 69% of students were considered highly to somewhat engaged in learning. Among rural teachers, 36% reported a higher level of engagement with their students, while 27% of all teachers reported that their personal engagement with students had increased. Nearly two-thirds 64% of educators reported an increase in personal engagement with parents during the pandemic. But in the social-emotional well-being and technology and access areas, the survey revealed some serious challenges. Four out of 5 teachers 82% listed social-emotional well-being as their highest concern, and this was across all school classifications, from 1A to 6A, and in rural, suburban and urban districts. "I fear a mental health crisis is coming, said Jessica Lane, a member of the research team and an assistant professor of special education, counseling and student affairs. "The survey results give voice to the experiences of Kansas educators and underscore the need going forward for policymakers and administrators to address the mental health and social-emotional well-being of both our students and educators. It is critical." Lane's conclusion is particularly striking when the teachers' personal situations were addressed. Survey findings include: Two-thirds 66% of suburban and urban teachers were simultaneously serving as caregivers to either their children, other adults or the elderly. For rural educators, this number rose to 4 in 5, or 79%. Some economic insecurity was experienced by 36% of teachers. About 20% of responding educators faced food insecurity. The shift to remote instruction revealed significant inequities concerning technology and access to the internet. The survey found that broadband and educational technology are not consistently available in Kansas, and when they are, that did not translate into in-home access. This required teachers and districts to provide varied forms of instruction. Nearly 70% of teachers indicated their districts worked with local internet providers to coordinate reduced cost or even free internet. Nearly 50% reported their districts provided hot spots or worked with community partnerships to ensure access for their students. Nearly two-thirds of respondents 65% used technology to provide continuous learning opportunities, while 30% reported the use of take-home packets for students and 5% listed other means of instruction. In addition to Lane, the other members of the multidisciplinary research team included Laura Bonella, associate professor at K-State Libraries; Doris Wright Carroll, associate professor of special education, counseling and student affairs; Morgan Jobe, program coordinator; Marilyn Kaff, associate professor of special education, counseling and student affairs; Tonnie Martinez, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; Leah McKeeman, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction; and Cindy Shuman, associate dean for research. Kington, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/14/2020 -- : It comes as no surprise, the rise in the number of forgotten passwords, QuickBooks experts say, especially with the need to change passwords frequently and complex password combinations. "What can be even more frustrating is the need for a password for each data file. If you have multiple company files, you may need to have a password for each of those company file. The password requires a combination of least seven characters, including one uppercase letter and a number. QuickBooks also recommends changing the password every ninety days," E-Tech's Technical Services Manager John Rocha, said. Intuit recommended a complex password be chosen for files containing sensitive data such as social security numbers, credit card numbers and employers' identification numbers, and you can only change the password if you are the administrator. In doing so, QuickBooks believes it has significantly lowered the instances of theft. E-Tech also recommends using the QuickBooks Password reset tool helps when you've lost, forgotten, or don't have the administrator password required to access your company file. "Prior to using the QuickBooks password recovery tool, you need to first confirm the ownership of the QuickBooks company file by filling up an online form," Rocha said. On the flipside, errors such as "the old password you entered does not match your existing password" or "we're having trouble changing your password you reset the Admin password using this QuickBooks license recently," have been known to be common among QuickBooks users. E-Tech's Password Recovery Service recovers or resets the password from all versions of QuickBooks Data files. In case of a forgotten Administrator password, the service can recover or reset the password from the data file so you can open the file as the Administrator. This service works with all versions of QuickBooks including QuickBooks for Mac, QuickBooks Enterprise, Pro, and Premier. For more information, visit: https://quickbooksrecovery.co.uk/quickbooks-data-recovery/password-recovery/ About E-Tech E-Tech is the leading service provider of QuickBooks File Repair, Data Recovery, QuickBooks Conversion and QuickBooks SDK programming in the UK and Ireland. In their 20 years plus of experience with Intuit QuickBooks, they have assisted over 1000 satisfied customers with their requirements. E-Tech UK covers US, UK, Canadian, Australian versions which include Reckon Accounts, and New Zealand versions of QuickBooks through PC and Mac platforms. For media inquiries regarding E-Tech, individuals are encouraged to contact Media Relations Director, Melanie Ann via email at Melanie@e-tech.ca. To learn more about the company, visit: https://quickbooksrecovery.co.uk/ At the event, the Cabinet chief was joined by Culture Minister Alejandro Neyra and Deputy Public Health Minister Nancy Zerpa. El titular de la PCM, @VicAZeballos, sostuvo una reunion de trabajo con las autoridades de la provincia de Condorcanqui, #Amazonas, entre ellos el alcalde provincial, Hector Requejo; el director de la Red de Salud, Jaime Zuniga y el gerente subregional, Hermogenes Lozano. pic.twitter.com/X2pYg09LMl Judith Collins has been elected Leader of the New Zealand National Party. Gerry Brownlee has been elected as her Deputy. I feel privileged to have been chosen to lead the National Party at this important time in our history," says Collins in a statement released following last night's caucus meeting. My focus as leader will be helping rebuild our communities and dealing with the economic and jobs crisis by getting Kiwis back to work. Only National has the experience and skills to get us through this. We are a strong team and I look forwarding to forming the next Government. Collins and Brownlee have been elected following the shock resignation of Todd Muller. Early yesterday morning, Muller, who is the MP for the Bay of Plenty, announced he was resigning as the leader of the Opposition effective immediately. "It has become clear to me that I am not the best person to be Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party at this critical time for New Zealand. "It is more important than ever that the New Zealand National Party has a leader who is comfortable in the role." Todd says the role has taken a heavy toll on him personally, and on his family. "This has become untenable from a health perspective." Collins, 61, was first elected as an MP for Clevedon in 2002 and has been part of six Parliaments. "I think it's really important that we all have a common goal ... to get rid of the current government and put in place a better government," she said after emerging from the caucus meeting last night. "One of the things that unifies any party is if they see that we're getting the results that we want ... I think you're going to find that we're very focused on winning. "There is no chance at all that I am going to allow ... Ardern to get away with any nonsense to do with our economy. I am going to hold her to account. "I would say experience, toughness, the ability to make decisions ... that would be myself. Jacinda Ardern is someone we should not ever underestimate." "We're actually better. If you look at our team, our experience ... it's all better than Jacinda Ardern and her team." She says the party's policies would not see any major changes. -Additional reporting by RNZ WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's administration agreed Tuesday to rescind its controversial rule barring international students from living in the USA while taking fall classes online, a sharp reversal after the White House faced a slew of lawsuits challenging the policy. A Massachusetts judge announced the decision during a federal court hearing in a case filed last week by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Judge Allison Burroughs said the universities' request for the court to block the rule was moot because the government agreed to rescind the policy. Monday, 18 state attorneys general had sued the Department of Homeland Security over the rule, which would have forced foreign students to leave or face deportation if they were enrolled in only online classes this fall, when experts fear expanded outbreaks of COVID-19 cases. An international student at Indiana University waits for a bus near the university on March 20, when classes first went online because of the pandemic. The court said the Trump administration agreed to revert to a previous rule, implemented in March, when the coronavirus pandemic caused shutdowns across the country. Under that policy, international students were allowed to attend all classes online during the pandemic. Some universities plan to offer classes entirely online this fall because of concerns that college campuses could create coronavirus hot spots and add to the country's caseload. The new rule, issued July 6 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would have been devastating for students and universities alike. The Trump administration issued the tougher immigration policy as it seeks to push universities and K-12 schools to reopen in the fall despite soaring COVID-19 infections across the country. School reopening plans have become political: Teachers fear for their safety. Last week's shift enraged many educators and lawmakers, who said the policy threatened to upend careful planning by universities and the approximately 1 million foreign students who attend American colleges each year. Even as they celebrated the change, some higher education leaders struck back at the Trump administration. Story continues "We will continue, during this unprecedented time of global pandemic, to be vigilant against efforts by the administration to harm international students or force universities into rushed and unreasonable decisions regarding in-person instruction," said Mary Sue Coleman, president of the Association of American Universities, a group of research universities. University of West Florida international student Zoraida Barrios Lopez, a native of Venezuela, works on her computer at home in Pensacola, Fla., on Friday. Under a now-abandoned ruling by the Trump administration, Lopez and other international students could have been forced to leave the country if their courses were fully online. The battle against the ICE rule brought together a large coalition of governments, colleges and businesses. Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the states' lawsuit sought an injunction to stop the rule from taking effect while the matter was litigated. Healey filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, along with attorneys general from Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin. Harvard and MIT filed a similar challenge last week, which was supported by several other universities. Major U.S. technology companies and other businesses, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Google and Facebook, joined the legal fray Monday, arguing in court papers that the rule would have "serious adverse economic consequences." "Americas future competitiveness depends on attracting and retaining talented international students," the companies argued. International students benefit from studying and researching in the U.S., but they also help enrich it, said Martin Aragoneses, an economics graduate student at Harvard, who is from Spain. While he is "incredibly relieved and happy," he said, he and other international students plan to work against other policies that make it more difficult for foreigners to work in the U.S., such as the current suspension on temporary visas for foreign workers. The ICE order on international students could have dealt a major economic blow to colleges and universities, as well as the communities surrounding them, because of the loss of tuition and other revenue from foreign students, who typically pay full price. "Something to cheer about! ICE backing off new regulations for international students!!" tweeted Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. "Now let's make the fall semester as potent and safe as possible." "International students enrich the educational experience for all," added Eduardo Ochoa, president of California State University Monterey Bay. He took to Twitter to decry what would have been a "choice between sending them home or endangering the health of our community." The new order will allow universities to reopen more quickly, said Terry Hartle, a senior vice president with the American Council on Education, which represents the nation's colleges. College leaders, Hartle said, will be able to think about what practices are best for all students. The order would have put so much attention on international students that broader questions about reopening could have been pushed to the side. Nevertheless, Hartle said he expects a decline in international students this year, since some students may not be able to get a visa before the start of the fall semester due, for instance, to embassy and consulate closures from the pandemic. The number of international students studying in the USA reached 1.1 million in the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education, and they make up 5.5% of the total U.S. higher education population. International students contributed nearly $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Contributing: Elinor Aspegren This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump, ICE drop college student visa rule against online-only classes Military members and veterans can get up to four free months of Apple Music through the Apple Music military discount -- but... The word simp isnt new. In fact, its pretty old. But it has been dragged into fresh popularity. In the same way that older songs can find new audiences on TikTok, older slang emerges on the app to be championed by a broader, younger audience. Too Short, the bawdy West Coast rapper who used the word in lyrics as early as 1985, said that he was not surprised that the word is more popular than ever. It still means the same thing, he said. If I was in a room with a bunch of 20-somethings or even teenagers, I would expect them to know what Im talking about. The Evolution of Simp Simps new status as a prime insult a misogynist one, that implies a person is unmanly has lasted most of a year. Mel Magazine, an online journal quick to note cultural trends, deeply dissected the resurgence in October. The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, defines it as a shortened version of simpleton, so the phrases original meaning is rooted in calling someone stupid. The dictionary lists its first known usage as 1946, although it appeared in The New York Times as early as 1923. The most recent entry in the dictionary dates to the 2000 novel My Once Upon a Time, by British novelist Diran Adebayo, where simp appears twice in the first 20 pages. Adebayo said he had used it to inject an old-fashioned noir tone into the book. Simp would have been used in an old-school way, he said. Not the other way its been used as a very soft kind of man, who is very soft to his female friends. That newer sense of the word as an insult for being soft or overly sympathetic, particularly to women became more prominent in the 1980s and early 1990s. A set of West Coast rappers who regularly addressed pimping, including Hugh-E. M. C., Too Short and E-40, started using it in their songs. To me its like the opposite of the pimp, Too Short said. It really degrades the person who youre aiming it at. He added that it evoked the sense of something counterfeit: Like youre a knockoff pimp. Too Short said that he may have drawn it from 1970s Blaxploitation movies, where the word thrived. The 1982 B-movie Penitentiary II even had a character named Simp. In the early 2010s, the word, still used with some regularity by rappers, was seized upon by members of the nascent manosphere, the world of mens rights activism. Simp became a staple of mens rights forums, where feminism is derided as weakening men just waiting for an enterprising TikToker to dust it off and give it a new sheen. Do We Know Where Simps Going To? The words current definition isnt too far from Too Shorts. Its a person, often a man, who throws money or attention at someone else, often a woman, in order to win affection. (It doesnt work.) That usage only became popular on TikTok in 2019 and may have peaked thanks to a trope made popular by Marco Borghi, whose account, @polo.boyy, has more than 2 million followers. On Dec. 16, he posted a video that showed him posing beneath a block of text. It read: If she rants to you about her relationship problems and you comfort her, while Post Malones Rock Star played. The beat switched. The chords of OutKasts Hey Ya began to play and a text banner flashed: Welcome To Simp Nation. Borghi had been making videos riffing on the notion of simps throughout the year. But that one seems to have inspired a boom of simp content on TikTok. The @polo.boyy videos marked the first time that Sterling Fournier, 21, had seen the word on TikTok, where he himself has over 675,000 followers. He made his own video in the same format. He said he had already been aware of what it meant. If you were out with the boys, youd say, Oh, I had such a great date with Sydney. I paid for her food, and then you know, like, just as a teasing word, wed be like, Oh dude, youre such a simp, he said. Hope She Sees This, Bro The first wave of simp content on TikTok and YouTube was driven by men. More recently, a simp-related video trope driven by female creators has emerged. Lauren Halbach, 19, posted one such video in May. In it, her boyfriend is resting his head on her torso in bed. A song called Simp (Simp Nation Theme Song) starts playing. He jumps up, laughing. I feel like my boyfriend definitely fits the context of being a simp, Halbach said. The boyfriend-simp meme gave her the chance to turn the tables on TikToks alpha male culture, she said, where women are often shamed or slammed for being too clingy or being too obsessive over men, and men mock each other for doing overly special things for women. She called the dynamic very toxic. The ubiquity of the term simp has taken some of that sting out of it. Like other insults, it has been taken up by fan communities, who often refer to themselves as simps for their favorite stars. Gretchen McCulloch, a linguist and the author of Because Internet, a book about language online, compared this usage to terms like stan or trash, as in, Im trash for this. McCulloch called it a self-conscious approach to fandom preemptively putting yourself down so that other people cant, she said. So ... Its Sexist? Yes. The word expresses discomfort with equality when it comes to gender and offers a simple way to dismiss the people causing that discomfort. Its resurgence cuts against simplistic ideas about young people, who are often caricatured as beacons of political correctness woke saviours arriving at a time when America desperately needs them. Fournier said the words edginess was part of its appeal. I think it caught on because it was just, just within that perfect margin where it wasnt something that you could get like too, too angry about, but it was also something that was still pretty politically incorrect, he said. McCulloch places simp in the same category of terms as white knight and whipped, used to degrade men who are perceived as trying to curry the favour of women. These also crop up in the world of mens rights activism where simp is frequently used. Adebayo teaches creative writing at Kingston University London. He said that when he saw the word in his students work, it reflected a characters backlash or irritation, or even confusion, around quite what youre supposed to be as a man in terms of furthering your appeal to women. A simp is someone that puts like, woman on a pedestal, said Tiago Garcia-Arenas, 22, a TikTok creator with more than 2 million followers who released a song called Simp this year. Such men, he said, see women as a higher being, or something like that. And Nelson Cam, 19, a TikTok user with over 150,000 followers, said that the word has also retained its economic associations. Simps, he said, are guys that spend a lot of money on girls and get nothing in return. I feel like a lot of guys saw this word as an opportunity to, whenever theyre in an argument online with I guess, a male feminist or any male thats sticking up for womans rights, they have an automatic weapon that they can just use, he said. The Enduring Power of Simp Simp has linguistic qualities shared by a lot of timeless slang. Its short, punchy and easy to pronounce. You look at the list of words for cool you know, rad or hot or bad, McCulloch said, a lot of them are monosyllables that have like a consonant and a vowel and a consonant. Adebayo agreed that it benefits from sound alone. Its a word that sounds quite dismissive and authoritative in its way, he said. You can see it being kind of a useful, insulting term. And longtime users of the word expect it to retain that meaning. I dont know what simp will evolve into but it will always be a negative word if youre called that, Too Short said. Dhaka, July 14 : The Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) has issued a red alert at the Teesta Barrage Point area under Hatibandha upazila of Lalmonirhat district as the river was flowing more than 53 cm above the danger level. According to the Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC) of the BWDB, heavy rains might continue in northern Bangladesh and the adjoining northeastern Indian states of Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and West Bengal in the next 72 hours. Already 10 districts of the Bangladesh have been flooded. In the next 24 to 72 hours, at least three more districts may be affected. There will be no irregularities in the distribution, the real victims will be listed and relief will be given, Minister of Relief and Rehabilitation of Relief and Rehabilitation, Md. Enamur Rahman MP told IANS on Monday evening. If the rains continue, the lower reaches of Dhaka and Narayanganj could be inundated by the end of next week, according to experts. Meanwhile, 7 millions of people have been stranded in the flood-hit districts. Rural roads and crops have been submerged. Eight-month-old Alifa was sleeping with her mother on Monday morning and suddenly the baby fell in floodwater while the mother was asleep. Later, waking from her sleep, the mother found the baby floating in the floodwater that entered their house from Teesta river, confirmed Atiar Rahman, chairman of Gaddimari Union Parishad in the upazila. Many people do not want to go to shelters out of fear of being affected by COVID-19, though their homes have been flooded. Many people are dependent on selling hens, ducks and cows. The flood victims have taken shelter with their cows and ducks to keep them safe from the floods. There is no other way for the flood victims. One of them, Karim Mia thought that he would earn some money by selling four cows during Eid-ul-Adha. But now he has lost hope because of the floods. Secondery Education officer of Sunamganj, Jahangeer Alam told IANS: "A family with 700 ducks has taken shelter at the Alauddin memorial School. They are getting relief. But what about the pets? The administration is worried about how to feed the ducks." The Teesta crossed the danger mark at Dalia point in Nilphamari district on Monday evening as major rivers started rising again following onrush of water from the upper catchment in the Brahmaputra basin during the last 24 hours. Chief Engineer for Rangpur Zone of BWDB Jyoti Prosad Ghosh said water levels of the Dharla, Teesta, Brahmaputra and Jamuna rivers might continue to rise further during the next 72 hours to cause a flood situation again in the basin. "We're closely monitoring the situation round the clock and ready to take immediate steps to repair any damages or breached flood control structures on an emergency basis anywhere in all eight districts of Rangpur division," he added. "All flood control embankments and structures are remaining safe in the Bangladesh Water Development Boards's Rangpur zone where riverbank protection works are continuing at most of the 52 vulnerable points in Lalmonirhat, Kurigram and Gaibandha districts." "With sharp rise in water level, the Teesta was flowing 28 cm above the danger mark at Dalia point in Nilphamari district at 6 p.m. on July 4," Executive Engineer of Teesta Barrage division of the BWDB Md. Rabiul Islam told IANS. Some low-lying areas of four upazilas in Nilphamari and other areas of adjoining Lalmonirhat districts again went under floodwaters as the Teesta river again crossed its danger mark Monday evening. The BWDB official said water levels of all major rivers marked rises following onrush of huge water amid heavy monsoon rains from the upper catchment in India in the basin during the last 24 hours till at 9 a.m. The rising the trend in water levels of major rivers might continue during the next 72 hours and the Dharla may also cross the danger mark in the next 24 hours. During the past 24 hours till 9 a.m., 551mm rainfall was recorded at Cherrapunji, 120 mm at Shillong, 297 mm at Pasighat, 99 mm at Dhubri, 154 mm at Goalpara and 50 mm at Jalpaiguri points of the northwestern Indian states in the upstream. Besides, 103 mm rainfall was recorded at Chilmari in Kurigram, 58 mm at Kawnia in Rangpur and 53 mm at Gaibandha monitoring points of Bangladesh during the same period. Due to huge onrush of water from the upstream, water levels of the Dharla rose by 18 cm at Kurigram, Brahmaputra rose by 15 cm at Noonkhawa and 10 cm at Chilmari points during the last 24 hours. Besides, water levels of the river Jamuna rose by 11 cm at Fulchhari, 6 cm at Bahadurabad, 4 cm at Sariakandi, 2 cm at Kazipur and 4 cm at Sirajganj points in Sirajganj during the period. (Sumi Khan can be contacted at sumikhan29bdj@gmail.com) -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 21:31:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close JAKARTA, July 14 (Xinhua) -- A corruption court in Medan, the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra has sentenced the city's former mayor Tengku Dzulmi Eldin to six years in jail for graft. Eldin was also fined 500 million Indonesian rupiahs (34,626 U.S. dollars) for bribes related to projects, among others. "He is guilty of committing corruption practices," the presiding judge read the verdict on Tuesday, according to local media reports. The court has revoked Eldin's political rights for four years after he serves the main sentence. Eldin was arrested by the Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission in October 2019. His deputy Akhyar Nasution is currently serving as the acting mayor of Medan. Enditem Source: Xinhua| 2020-07-14 09:35:55|Editor: huaxia Video Player Close HARARE, July 13 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe registered 49 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the country's tally to 1,034. One patient has died and 15 others have recovered from the infection during the past 24 hours, raising the total number of deaths to 19 and recoveries to 343, the Ministry of Health and Child Care said in a statement. Of the new cases, 28 are Zimbabwean citizens who returned from South Africa, while the other 21 are local transmissions. The ministry said seven of the local cases are contacts of known confirmed cases, while the source of infection for the other 14 remain unknown for now. The country has so far done a total of 91,103 COVID-19 tests. President Emmerson Mnangagwa warned that the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown could be further tightened due to a spike in new infections. Addressing an ordinary session of the ruling Zanu-PF Politburo on Friday, Mnangagwa said the rapid escalation in COVID-19 infections required another review of the lockdown regulations. He said the country would continue to strengthen preventive measures, testing and contact tracing. Enditem The Australian high school Kelly Preston attended for two years as a teenager has paid tribute to the late American actress, who died of breast cancer at the age of 57 on Sunday. Kelly, who was the wife of Hollywood star John Travolta, attended Pembroke School, in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1976 to 1978, when she was aged 14 to 16. A spokesperson for the elite private school told HuffPost Australia that Kelly was fondly remembered by students and teachers. Tribute: The Australian high school Kelly Preston attended for two years as a teenager has paid tribute to the late American actress, who died of breast cancer at the age of 57 on Sunday. Pictured: Kelly Preston with her husband, John Travolta, in New York City on June 14, 2018 'The Pembroke community is saddened by the passing of old scholar Kelly Preston,' they said. 'Kelly's classmates remember her as a beautiful, down-to-earth person and she has remained in contact with many old scholars over the years. 'Pembroke sends their deepest condolences to Mr Travolta and family during this difficult time.' Tragic: Meanwhile, Australian stars Olivia Newton-John and Russell Crowe have shared heartfelt tributes to Kelly following her tragic death. Pictured: Kelly and Olivia at a charity event in Beverly Hills on October 10, 2002 Meanwhile, Australian stars Olivia Newton-John and Russell Crowe have shared heartfelt tributes to Kelly following her tragic death. Olivia, who has also faced her own battle with breast cancer, posted a moving tribute to her friend on Instagram on Tuesday. The Grease star wrote: 'Kelly Preston was a radiant, warm and gentle spirit - a loving, devoted wife, mother and sweet friend. Sadness: 'No words can express my sorrow for her family,' Olivia wrote on Instagram. Olivia is pictured with Kelly and John Travolta in 2006 'My heart breaks for John, Ella and Ben. No words can express my sorrow for her family. Kelly's light shines on in her beautiful children.' Russell also posted his condolences on Twitter on Monday, writing: 'Kelly Preston. Can't remember where, but, met first in late '92 I think. 'Such a lovely person. In 1995 we auditioned together for Breaking Up; Salma Hayek got that gig. I haven't seen her much, but when I did, she was always the same sparkly eyed gem. Love to her family. R.I.P.' 'Such a lovely person': Russell Crowe (pictured) also shared his condolences on Twitter Gone too soon: 'I haven't seen her much, but when I did, she was always the same sparkly eyed gem. Love to her family. R.I.P,' the Gladiator star tweeted John revealed on Sunday that his wife had died of breast cancer. 'It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,' he wrote on Instagram. 'She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.' Tragedy: John revealed on Sunday that his wife had died of breast cancer. 'It is with a heavy heart that I inform you my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,' he wrote on Instagram. 'She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many' A family representative also confirmed the news to People magazine. 'Choosing to keep her fight private, she had been undergoing medical treatment for some time, supported by her closest family and friends,' a representative said. Born October 13, 1962, in Hawaii, Kelly studied drama and theatre at the University of Southern California. She was best known for her roles in Twins and Jerry Maguire. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services confirmed that its federal counterpart is dispatching a COVID-19 Response Assistance Field Team to assist local officials. The news comes on the same day Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended Michigans state of emergency through August 11, citing an increase in new coronavirus cases. Related: As coronavirus cases climb, Kent County health leaders worry about spike from July 4 weekend In a statement, Whitmer said a rise in new cases recorded during the last several weeks prove that this virus is still a very real threat in our state. The governor highlighted that daily COVID-19 case counts exceed 20 cases per million in the Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo regions. Michigan Advance first reported that the federal team is headed to West Michigan. In an interview, Whitmer reportedly said FEMA has Grand Rapids on their radar as a place that they want to come in for a few days and study and understand whats happening. The federal team will focus on Emergency Preparedness Region 6, a 13-county region in West Michigan. State health officials recently placed Region 6 in the high risk category for coronavirus control. The rate of new cases discovered in that area increased rapidly after hitting a low point in mid-June. Region 6, covering a 13 county area in West Michigan, has experienced a new surge in confirmed COVID-19 cases during the last month. Kent, Ottawa and Oceana counties have experienced a significant rise in new confirmed cases of the coronavirus relative to their population. Oceana County recorded a weekly average of 432 new cases per 1 million residents on June 21, a figure which has since dropped to a state-high 140 cases per 1 million residents. Ottawa County ranks 10th in the state for confirmed cases while Kent County ranks fourth, reaching a total of 5,483 as of Tuesday. That represents less than 1% of Kent Countys population, but the number of confirmed cases there doubled from May 10 to July 14. The weekly average of new cases in Kent County had declined since hitting a high point in May, but began to increase again in mid-June. Members of the federal team will meet state and local officials in areas with sustained increases in COVID-19 transmissions, said MDHHS spokesperson Lynn Sutfin. The group will review response activities and determine if federal resources provide assistance, she said. Sorry, but your browser does not support frames. Kent Countys rate of testing steadily increased since Whitmer declared a state of emergency in March. There were 27,307 tests taken this month as of July 13, more than twice as many compared to this time last month. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. MDHHS reported Tuesday a total statewide of 70,306 confirmed COVID cases with 6,081 deaths. Whitmer issued another executive order Friday requiring all Michigan residents must wear masks in public indoor and crowded outdoor spaces or face a misdemeanor charge. Throughout this crisis, the vast majority of Michiganders have done their part, but we must remain vigilant and continue to do everything we can to protect our loved ones, Whitmer said in a statement Tuesday. That means wearing a mask over your mouth and nose and practicing safe physical distancing when going out in public. If we all do our part now, there is a greater chance that schools can resume in-person learning in the fall. Be smart, be safe, and mask up. 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: Masks are required in Michigan. But with no enforcement mechanism, compliance is hit or miss. Michigan sees largest one-day coronavirus case increase in 7 weeks Are shoppers wearing masks? We went to 37 stores across Michigan to find out. Michigans grocery store face mask requirement extended until July 15 Michigan retailers caught in a no-win situation of enforcing mask use If only there was an easy, cheap way to limit COVID-19. Oh, wait .... After nearly seven decades of oil exploration in the Niger Delta, the Nigerian oil industry now makes up 65% of government revenue and 88% of foreign exchange earnings. But this oil wealth has come at a terrible cost to the local people and their environment. Decades of oil spills and gas flaring have transformed the Niger Delta into one of the most polluted places on Earth. About 300 oil spills occur in the region each year and in 2011, a spill at Shells Bonga oil fields released 40,000 barrels. Over 350 farming communities were affected, and 30,000 fishermen were forced to abandon their livelihoods. Although local people are supposed to be compensated for oil spills caused by technical failures, this rarely happens because of a flawed process for determining the cause of spills. The 6.5 million local people whose livelihoods depend on fishing, and many others who survive on farming, have watched their futures drain away with the oil. Faced with increasingly desperate prospects, many young men in the Niger Delta have turned to militant violence. When Ive discussed my research on the experiences of young people in this region with friends and strangers, many have been quick to question my decision to focus on the grievances of violent young men. I have never felt that criminality is the only explanation for militancy. Instead, I wanted to shine a light on the experience of local young men to help tell the story of this exploited part of the world. Where exclusion and violence collide In a country where many young people are unemployed, feelings of economic exclusion are common. But for young men in the Niger Delta, unemployment is one problem among many. The culture in which young men are raised expects them to marry and to become providers. But marriage is often an elaborate process in Nigeria that requires lots of money. For many young men lacking modern jobs and the ability to farm and fish, marriage is simply too expensive. We are the head of the house, but we cannot control the house is a popular analogy that I often heard said. United by shared grievances, young men began launching attacks against the oil industry in 2003, torching pipelines, kidnapping oil workers for ransom and killing soldiers deployed to protect oil facilities. Politicians also found a way to use militants by paying them to terrorise opponents and help win elections. In 2004 alone, over 100 people died in violent clashes between rival militant groups and security forces. By early 2007, oil production had fallen by 40%, forcing the federal government to launch the Amnesty programme two years later which offered young men monthly payments of US$400 (318) and development projects in return for dropping their weapons. Read more: How amnesty efforts in the Niger Delta triggered new violence But many of these projects including oil contracts were awarded to militant leaders. Many more young men became militants because of this programme and the lucrative settlements it offered. Through violence, they were able to insert themselves into the oil economy through the back door. Finding a future Aside from turning to violence, young men in the Niger Delta are responding to their experiences of environmental harm in different ways. Some have become activists, demanding improved regulations and campaigning for their polluted land to be restored. Others are asking for modern jobs in the oil industry to compensate for the rural livelihoods theyve lost. Those with the means to travel are migrating to cities in search of a better life. But for Ken, a young man from Bodo village, travelling is not an option. Township life is hard, he says, but he is deeply attached to his native home. He likes the mangrove forests. He enjoys watching the dances by women in his community. He likes the friendliness of the villagers, and relishes his wifes soup made with periwinkles and freshly plucked vegetables from their backyard. He enjoys rural life and doesnt want to leave. Transforming the lives of local residents will require radical changes, starting with how the regions oil money is spent. Young men from the communities most affected by pollution shouldnt be passive recipients of oil revenue who are only brought into the oil economy when they resort to violence. While money remains a big concern, my research indicates that many local people would rather have a healthy natural environment than financial rewards from oil companies. Despite near constant protests against pollution, and the UN Environment Programmes call for immediate remediation of contaminated lands and rivers, not a lot has improved in the last decade. The hope of a better life is waning for many, and most of the young men I spoke to are convinced that oil has meddled with their destiny. Modesta Tochi Alozie, Researcher at the Urban Insititute, University of Sheffield, University of Sheffield This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The conversation The US has registered another record single-day spike of nearly 60,000 COVID-19 cases, which took the total tally over 3.36 million, according to Johns Hopkins University. On Monday, the country registered a total of 59,222 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 3,363,056, Xinhua news agency quoted the University as saying. Another 411 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the toal number of COVID-19 fatalities in the US to 135,582. With the two new figures, the US currently accounted for the highest number of cases and deaths in the world. The surge of coronavirus infections has pushed some states, including Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Arizona, to reinstate tougher anti-epidemic measures. On Sunday, Florida reported a 24-hour increase of 15,299, shattering the previous one-day high for a US state by more than 3,500. East Stroudsburg University says it will be going with remote learning for the vast majority of its offerings for the fall semester amid the coronavirus pandemic. Marcia G. Welsh, president of East Stroudsburg, announced the decision to the university community Tuesday. Today I must announce that East Stroudsburg University will be returning to remote learning for the majority of classes during the Fall 2020 semester, Welsh said in a post on the universitys website. While this will have major implications for many in our community, we must continue to always put your safety as a top priority. East Stroudsburg is one of 14 universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Last week, West Chester University announced it would be offering its fall classes online and wouldnt be having in-person classes. Based in northeastern Pennsylvania, East Stroudsburg educates about 5,400 undergraduate students and nearly 800 graduate students. Welsh said the university would be offering a very limited number of classes in a hybrid format, meaning both remote and in-person, to assist students with student teaching, clinical placements, internships, etc. In her message, Welsh seemed to acknowledge the disappointment that students would likely be feeling regarding the move away from face-to-face instruction in the fall. Keep in mind, while we planned to return to full on-campus learning this fall, we told you planning for the semester would be fluid and we were prepared to adjust if necessary. Though we didnt think we would need to make this decision so soon, we were always prepared to make it, Welsh said in the message. She said she hoped the move to remote instruction for the fall enables us to prepare for what we hope will be a more normal University experience when we reconvene for the Spring 2020 semester. Other state system schools, including Millersville University and Shippensburg University, are planning for a mix of in-person classes and online instruction this fall. Across Pennsylvania, more than 96,000 people have contracted the coronavirus and more than 6,900 have died. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine has said shes concerned about the recent uptick in cases over the past few weeks, particularly among young adults. More from PennLive The dollars and cents (and sense) of Penn State playing football in 2020; Recruits set decision timelines, more Its about choice: Levine urges Pa. residents to choose masks, choose to avoid people, businesses that reject them Pa. General Assembly sends $667 million natural gas tax credit legislation to governor UPMCs claim of less severe coronavirus strain in Pa. is not supported by science Founders like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Alphabet do not receive cash bonuses or stock-based compensation. But they control so much of their companies voting stock that they could pretty much single-handedly approve the inclusion of diversity targets in executive compensation. Facebook, for example, valued the 2019 compensation of its chief operating officer, Sheryl K. Sandberg, at $27 million. Facebook said it had made bold goals to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace, adding that leaders were evaluated on inclusion and recruitment in their performance reviews. Google declined to comment. That said, some tech companies have linked pay and diversity. Achieving diversity goals helps determine one-sixth of the cash bonus of Microsofts chief executive, Satya Nadella, a bonus that last year totaled $10.8 million. This is an important demonstration of executive commitment to creating an inclusive workplace, and we find this helps ensure there is shared accountability to make progress, the company said in a statement. Uber, which in the past was criticized for a cutthroat work culture, perhaps goes further than any other company. Diversity targets are embedded in the stock compensation of its chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, accounting for a fourth of his performance-based stock awards. Uber valued his performance award for last year at $6.25 million. The goals include achieving growth in the percentage of workers who are from underrepresented ethnic groups at the senior analyst level and above over a three-year period that has not ended. Bo Young Lee, Ubers chief diversity and inclusion officer, said the policy had really crystallized what were trying to achieve, and gave something for us to pivot off of, and explore other aspects of our diversity and inclusion strategy. But diversity-related goals may end up having less bite than advertised because they might be relatively easy to achieve, which can be hard to evaluate when companies do not disclose details about their goals. In addition, even companies that use this approach do not let it determine a sizable portion of overall pay. Chandigarh, July 14 : A psychiatrist posted in a government hospital in Haryana's Panchkula town was thrashed by staff nurses in a fit of anger on Tuesday for allegedly sexually assaulting their colleague posted in a Covid-19 isolation ward. The doctor, Manoj Kumar, who was caught on camera while being assaulted in his room, was booked by the police on the complaint of the victim. The sexual harassment incident was of Saturday night in the Civil Hospital. After the incident, the doctor came to the hospital for the first time, officials said. The state health authority has ordered a probe into the sexual assault incident. Even the women's commission took cognisance of the sexual assault incident and summoned the Chief Medical Officer. Chennai: The transgender community in Tamil Nadu's Chennai is actively participating with the government and the civic body in the battle against the coronavirus COVID-19. From creating awareness to conducting door-to-door screening and coordinating ground-level efforts, members of the trans community and their NGOs have been at the frontlines in many badly affected areas and congested slums across the city. This is said to be a first-of-its campaign involving transgenders working with the government authorities in fighting the deadly pandemic. In partnership with the Chennai Corporation, the transgenders are taking up a variety of tasks, spending up to eight hours a day on the field. As a part of a 100-day employment scheme, the transgenders are paid around Rs 15000 per month, besides being provided breakfast and lunch. We are primarily assigned 3 tasks--Awareness, Prevention and Control. Awareness involves going on foot and spreading the word on personal hygiene, hand washing, immunity-boosting measures and physical distancing. We go in groups around localities and announce via loudspeakers and also speak to people individually and clarify their doubts, said Jaya, General Manager of the NGO Sahodaran. Besides the awareness creation, they go around the assigned localities and distribute free cloth masks and immunity booster drinks. As a part of control measures, they individually cover about 150 houses and conduct fever surveillance and check for symptoms. In case, people with symptoms are found, they are advised to go to the nearest fever clinic or the primary health centre for further checks. Recently we even conducted some new initiatives where we used to dance, drama and storytelling to create awareness. We hold placards, shout slogans, and even had transgenders who won national-level beauty contests participate in the awareness campaign, Jaya added. While the 100-day scheme has been a boon to the transgender community, its not as easy as it looks. They have to fight COVID-19 and also the stigma in peoples minds. Initially the public was apprehensive, there were stigma and discrimination. Their cooperation was less and they even questioned it's on why we were coming to their houses daily. But eventually, the rapport got better and they started seeing us as family members, said Sudha, the director of Thozhi NGO. Jaya adds that their transgender community is glad to serve the society in their little ways. We are fighting corona and stigma. We could say that the transgenders are joining this fight for their basic economic needs and, but were taking these risks for the welfare of fellow members in the society, said Jaya. Dhanabashyam of Snegithi NGO says that this has been a very good experience for her and that it also helps them financially. We work for about 8 hours stating 7:30 and the corporation also provides us with breakfast and lunch. We are glad for the opportunity that has come our way," said Dhanabashyam.